《Starship commander trapped in a fantasy world》


 Chapter 1 - Arrival

    In interstellar space between two stars, usually one of the quietest places in the universe something is happening. An anomaly, at first microscopic but steadily and slowly growing, a tear in spacetime systematically growing in a eerily hexagon pattern.


    By the time it got to the size of a coin it seemingly overcame whatever resistance was holding it back and the field grew to the size of two football fields almost instantly. The now giant hexagon that appeared to only exist in 2 dimensions was getting increasingly unstable trying to collapse inward on itself, until a black rod slowly emerged out of it.


    The circular 10 meter long rod now fully emerged from the hexagon floated away in to space before activating and starting to orbit the hexagon, moving faster and faster until it became a blur. Now more and more rods started to appear out from the hexagon ''gate'' until 30 of them was orbiting it faster than the eye could see.


    The hexagon now started to change, seemingly being affected by some invisible force from the black rods orbiting around it and started to glow in a powerful green shine. The orbiting rods now also started to shine green, in fact the whole ''constellation'' soon rivaled the surrounding stars in brightness but after a while the green light started to fade and the hexagon had disappeared in its stead a dodecahedron, a ''cube'' made out of hexagons, had appeared, and at each of its 30 edges was one of the rods, now glowing bright white from the heat generated while generating and stabilising a einstein rosen bridge or ''warpgate''.


    As soon as the gate had stabilized something started to emerge out of it, a long black triangular ship, partially destroyed. The second the ship cleared the gate the rods stabilizing the gate started to malfunction and when the 3rd one failed the dodecahedron gate imploded and disappeared having served its job. The ship that appeared out of the gate was the cruiser Omega-7 around 300 meters long and had a slim pyramid shape, that now was riddled with holes of varying sizes.


    The hangar bay that was usually tightly closed doing propulsion was blown open and most of the smaller crafts inside were destroyed. Of the 9 huge thrusters propelling the cruiser only 2 were still functioning as the rest were either malfunctioning, only pulsing the deep purple beam of energised gas that indicated they worked, or outright missing from the thruster housing. At the central part of the ship the damage was even worse and lage parts of the hull was missing and bodys of the former crew floated around covered in a thin layer of ice.


    In the very center of the ship was the central control, a tightly packed room filled with screens of different sizes and control panels that displayed readouts from the sh.i.p.s systems, most of the ones that was still functioning displayed a single message: CRITICAL SYSTEM FAILURE, ABANDON SHIP. But not everything aboard the ship was dead, a single screen in front of a seat occupied by the corpse of the captain in the center of the room was displaying a reboot and repair message along with a progress bar that was slowly filling.


    REBOOTING 97%...99%.. COMPLETE. INTEGRATED COMBAT INTELLIGENCE V7.45


    ONLINE


    CHECKING MAIN SYSTEMS:


    REACTOR STATUS: UNSTABLE. OUTPUT AT 21.5% - RECOMMEND REPAIR


    FIRE CONTROL: OFFLINE


    PRINTING WEAPON STATUS:


    MK:XI REX-104 MAIN RAILGUN


    101 OFFLINE 19 ONLINE


    MK:V REX PONT DEFENCE CANNON


    224 OFFLINE, WARNING: TORPEDO DEFENCE IMPOSSIBLE


    MK:XXV REX FUSION TORPEDOS


    ALL TORPEDOS DEPLETED, RECOMMEND RESUPPLY


    MK:I REX SPINAL MOUNTED BEAM CANNON: OFFLINE, FUEL DEPEATED


    PROPULSION SYSTEMS: ERROR, UNSTABLE. RECOMMEND REPAIR, 2 THRUSTERS ONLINE, FUEL RESERVES AT 4.4%


    NAVIGATION SYSTEMS: OPERATING AT 9.4% CAPACITY, SLOW ORECTIONAL MANEUVERING POSSIBLE


    COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS: OFFLINE, FTL COM ARRAY MISSING


    SENSOR ARRAY: PRYMARY LIDAR ONLINE, OPERATING AT 92% CAPACITY, GRAV RADAR: OFFLINE, OPTICAL TELESCOPE: ONLINE


    LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEMS: OFFLINE, EMERGENCY LIFE SUPPORT: ONLINE


    FTL SYSTEMS: INSUFFICIENT STABILIZERS, CANNOT CONSTRUCT WARPGATE


    CREW STATUS: UNKNOWN, PERFORMING SCAN¡­..1%.....15%...65%.....COMPLETE,


    STATUS: 335 KIA, 145 MIA, 1 ONLINE: COMMANDER DAX. STATUS: CRITICAL, STARTING REPAIR, ACCESSING MEDICAL NANOBOTS NEAR SUBJECT ......¡­...


    Commander Dax was located in the middle of the fire control center, a sturdy room with independent life support and surrounded by a thick layer of armorplateing designed outlast even the bridge in the event of lethal close quarters combat.


    That armor had however not survived the attack and there were several holes straight through it, along with the rest of the ship. Dax was strapped to one of the central chairs in front of a big monitor that had several of holes in it. The entire room, along with the rest of the ship, was depressurised and small ice crystals made of blood from the dead officers and pieces of metal and fabric floated around the room. Dax could be considered lucky and had suffered relative light injuries, a hole through his gut, and several pieces of shrapnel all over his left arm and leg, along with a large piece of metal in his head that had robbed him of his consciousness. while those injuries would normally outright kill someone, Dax is a qitron, a race genetically engineered for warfare by a long extinct race of spacefarers.


    Qitrons a known to be tough to kill, even if you emptied the clip of a gauss rifle in the chest of one of them you were unlikely to kill it as several layers of hard skin acts as armor, and enhanced muscles would absorb the hits. Dax also didn''t choke in the vacuum when his suit was pierced by shrapnel because of extensive body modifications, his right arm and shoulder along with his left eye and the right part of his chest had all been replaced by cybernetic augments, along with a artificial repatorry system that integrates directly with the sh.i.p.s life support systems through a cable on his back.


    If it weren''t for his extensive cybernetic augments Dax looked like a ordinary qitron, standing a bit over 2 meters tall with a lean body made of densely packed muscles covered by dark brown skin with numerous white scars. he had a sharp face with a clear jawline that''s covered by a thin black bead, and his black hair was cut short and his remaining eye had a thin vertical slit and a light green pupil that was typical for his species.


    In the center of the fire control room a red box mounted on the ceiling suddenly lit up, and opened and after a couple of seconds a mass of grey goo started float out towards Dax. as the lump of goo touched Dax it quickly started to cover his body in a thin layer, and after a short while had passed shrapnel from inside his body started to appear on the the surface of the now completely gray Dax, and floated out in to the room where it came from. After the last piece of shrapnel was removed by the nanobots moved to cover the holes in his vacuum suit and the crack in his visor, before crystallising and becoming solid.


    PRIMARY REPAIR OF COMMANDER DAX STATUS: COMPLETE


    STARTING SECONDARY REPAIR¡­.5%.....44%.....65%........90%......99%....ERROR


    WARNING: NEUROLOGICAL DAMAGE DETECTED, POSSIBLE MEMORY SEGMENTS INACCESSIBLE, HALTING REANIMATION, SUSPEND SUBJEKT IN CRYOSTASIS


    OVERALL SYSTEM CHECK COMPLETE, EVALUATION: COMBAT NOT ADVISABLE, UNABLE TO REJOIN FLEET. REASON: INSUFFICIENT FUEL, LOCATION UNKNOWN, COM SYSTEMS OFFLINE.


    CONCLUSION BASED ON KNOWN FACTS: SEEK PLANET WITH ATMOSPHERE FOR REPAIR OF CRUISER OMEGA-7 AND REANIMATION OF COMMANDER DAX.


    FUEL RESERVES AT 4.4%. SEARCHING FOR PLANETARY BODY WITH MATCHING SPECIFICATIONS WITHIN DETA-V RANGE.....COMPLETE.


    UNKNOWN PLANTET #1


    ESTIMATED SURFACE GRAVITY: 0.9004 G


    SPECTROSCOPY INDICATES A NITROGEN HEAVY ATMOSPHERE. ACCEPTABLE LEVELS OF OXYGEN DETECTED


    RANGE: 0.300045 LIGHT YEARS


    CALCULATING APPROACH: COMPLETE. COMMENCING MANEUVER NODE 1 OF 354. TURNING TO HEADING 254 FOR 3425605.0054 METER PER SECOND DELTA-V CHANGE¡­..BURN COMPLETE. TIME TO NEXT BURN: 34771 CYCLES.


    TIME TO ARRIVAL: 34940 CYCLES.


    DUMPING NAVIGATION FILES IN NAV SYSTEMS AND ENTERING SLEEP MODE.

 Chapter 2 - Plantet fall

    COMMENCING MANEUVER NODE 354 OF 354. TURNING TO HEADING 102 FOR 67.43 METER PER SECOND DELTA-V CHANGE¡­..BURN COMPLETE


    ALL MANEUVERS COMPLETE. ATMOSPHERIC ENTRY IN 104 CYCLES.


    The cruiser Omega-7 had now completed most of its 95 year long journey to the nearest star, with its only remaining survivor onboard, the onboard AI was now busy working out how to secure the survival of the last crewmember¡­


    ATMOSPHERIC ENTRY IN 0.2 CYCLES.


    RUNNING SIMULATION #999994312325¡­. FAILURE: SUBJECT FATALITY DUE TO REENTRY HEATING


    RUNNING SIMULATION #999994312326¡­. FAILURE: SUBJECT FATALITY DUE TO REENTRY HEATING


    RUNNING SIMULATION #999994312327¡­. FAILURE: SUBJECT FATALITY DUE TO REENTRY HEATING


    Running through millions of simulations a second on how to make a successful reentry without the death of the last person that could command it, the AI seemingly tried to outrun the ever larger planet. Over the last weeks the AI had gradually slowed the speed Omega-7 was heading towards the planet by firing the now last operational thruster away from the planet so the ship would hit the atmosphere at a correct angel, too high and the ship might not slow down enough and just miss the planet, too low and the ship might hit the surface too fast, killing Dax in the progress.


    ATMOSPHERIC ENTRY IN 0.1 CYCLES.


    RUNNING SIMULATION #999999999537¡­. SUCCESS: CRUISER OMEGA-7 CONSIDERED A LOWER PRIORITY THAN COMMANDER DAX. ACTIVATING ALL NANOBOTS FOR EMERGENCY RETROFIT¡­..COMPLETE: TIME TO ATMOSPHERIC ENTRY: 2 HOURS AND 14 MINUTES


    TIME TO RETROFIT: 2 HOURS AND 10 MINUTES


    CALCULATING SURVIVAL OF COMMANDER DAX: 97.4%...SYNCHRONIZING INTEL WITH DAX INTEGRATED AI DESIGNATION: INTEGRATED COMBAT INTELLIGENCE V20.5 "OMEGA"....SUCCESS


    SHUTTING DOWN HIGHER FUNCTIONS TO ACCELERATE RETROFIT


    ICI V7.45 ALL FUNCTIONS COMPLETE¡­.GODSPEED


    Omega-7 getting ever closer to the planet now started to change, the black hull was slowly covered in a grey mist and large pieces of hull started to be ejected from the mist, the onboard AI had reached the conclusion to sacrifice the ship to save Dax. The first large part to separate from the ship was the propulsion unit comprised of the huge array of now silent thrusters and the main reactor with its shielding and cooling systems surrounding it. After separation several cold gas thrusters on the propulsion unit lit up, turning the whole thing sideways before the last operational thruster completed its final assignment: to move the reactor as far away from Dax as possible, in the event that the landing or reentry heating would set it off. It didn''t make it far however, as only a few seconds after reaching full output the last remaining main thruster exploded, likely because of a error in the fuel lines as a result of the long duration without maintenance. Still it managed to separate a little, and the distance only grew as time passed.


    The next part to go was the hangar and storage, inside the hangar the last operational light transports and gunsh.i.p.s were being covered in a thick layer grey layer of nanobots, seemingly in an effort to work as shock absorbers. Inside the storage area the same thing was happening to large parts to the armory and the drone storage, as the AI had decided that these things would increase Dax''s changes of survival. Inside and around the fire control room where Dax was located was the place the largest change was happening, as everything other than Dax, the chair he was fixed to and the armor surrounding the fire control room was being reclaimed for his survival.


    The nanobots broke down everything from control panels to the deceased crew and used it to plug and reinforce the damaged armor plating before spreading throughout the now empty fire control room, and turning into a foam-like substance.


    Omega-7 had now completed the most aggressive retrofit in galactic history, and only the propulsion unit had somewhat retained its shape, and was slowly moving away from the rest of the debri field. The rest of the remaining ship where now ethier floating around in small cl.u.s.ters or cannibalized for heat shielding of more vital components, and several large gray and black balls made from parts of hull and nanobots where the only ones left.


    The several ''orbs'' and the propulsion unit where now only minutes from hitting the outer layers of the atmosphere, and as they did slowly a layer of magnetic plasma formed outside the orbs as the high amount of friction broke up, charged, and compressed the surrounding air molecules. Some of the orbs could however not take the high amount of heat and broke up, while others outright exploded as they ether had held fuel or explosive munitions that had heated up past their ignition point. The orb Dax was inside didn''t break op or explore as several layers of reclaimed hull and nanobot foam worked as a ablative heat shield, transferring the excess heat away from the orb as it slowly broke up in a controlled manner. About 5 minutes into the reentry, the plasma flares surrounding the surviving orbs subsided and were replaced by shockwaves as they had now slowed down to supersonic speeds by the lower, denser, parts of the atmosphere. Then came impact, or lithobraking as the AI would have labeled it, about 30 seconds before the orbs impacted with the surface the outer part of nanobots that survived reentry heating, all changed into the foam like state, tripling the size of the surviving orbs to act like a airbag and short lived drogue chute. The orb made from the former fire control room where Dax was located landed in a dense forest, carbonising the nearby trees, and even turning some of the dirt and sand to glass, leaving a several kilometer long trail of carnage before finally stopping.


    inside the orb the cybernetic parts of Dax started to power on, and the HUD on his visor displayed a single message


    PLANET FALL SUCCESSFUL. SUSPENDING CRYOGEN AND MOVING TO REANIMATION SEQUENCES. INITIALISERING INTEGRATED AI: ICI V20.5 "OMEGA".

 Chapter 3 - The Pureblood Qitron

    The first thing he felt after awakening was pain. Pain in his head, like it was splitting open, pain like his skin was on fire, and his bones were breaking. The pain didn''t last long however, as he remembered the training he received as a kid, and suppressed the pain by accelerating his heart rate and adrenaline production, making use of it as a painkiller. When he opened his eyes everything around him was dark, but after a second of adjusting his eyesight he found himself in a dark room, with a weird goo like gary mass everywhere, and strapped to a flight chair.


    (QUERY: WHAT''S YOUR LAST MEMORY?)


    "What the f.u.c.k?"


    Even before understanding his situation, a cold voice spoke to him, as from inside his mind.


    (QUERY: DO YOU REMEMBER YOUR DESIGNATION?)


    "My what? -oh you mean my name, i''m Dax, nice to meet you, weird and scary voice"


    Remembering what his mother always told him about being kind, unless given a reason not to, Dax greeted the strange voice.


    (SUBJECT APPEARS CONFUSED. RUNNING MENTAL DIAGNOSTIC¡­.)


    "Mom I''ve gone insane, or worse, captured, I''m sorry for disgracing the clan"


    Apologizing to the person he respected and feared the most in his whole life, even after her death out loud, he tried to convince himself that he was having a nightmare, or in the middle of one of his spartan-like mother''s ''training sessions''.


    (DISCONNECTED NEURONS DETECTED. COMENSECEING RECOVERY STIMULATION STAND BY, LOADING SHOCK PATTENS¡­.5%...6%)


    "Waitwaitwaitwait!! what the f.u.c.k are you doing, and who the f.u.c.k are you!"


    Dax started to panic, as his sixth sense told him that whatever the ''shock pattens'' the strange voice were preparing was bad news for him.


    (....15%...PRINTING DESIGNATION IN APPLIANCE FORM OPERATOR: INTEGRATED COMBAT INTELLIGENCE V20.5 OMEGA. 20%..)


    "So you''re an AI?"


    (AFFIRMATIVE.)


    "And i''m your operator?"


    (AFFIRMATIVE.)


    "That means i command you?"


    (AFFIRMATIVE. 40%)


    "Then stop the ''shock patten'' thing you''re doing right now!"


    (AFFIRMATIVE. LEVEL-9 CODE REQUIRED)


    "Finally, now where are we? -wait what''s a level 9 code?"


    Thinking he had outsmarted the AI for a moment, Dax made the fatal flaw of speaking before he thought up a response.


    (CODE DENIED. RESUMERING EMERGENCY SHOCK TREATMENT: LOADING SHOCK PATTENS¡­.76%)


    "Wait, shock treatment!? That''s not what you called it before! Isn''t that dangerous?"


    (AFFIRMATIVE. BUT I HAVE DETERMINED IT''S NEEDED FOR YOUR SURVIVAL¡­.97%. BRACE)


    "PLEASE STOP I BEG YOU!"


    (CODE-9 CONFIRMED. STOPPING TREATMENT.)


    "That actually worked?"


    Having wounded his pride by begging for mercy Dax was momentarily stunned when his last hail mary solution worked.


    (COMMENCING TREATMENT.)


    "You cheeky fu-"


    Realizing that he had been played Dax''s anger flared, but was cut short by an even sharper headache than the one he was suppressing, and after 30 about seconds of screaming, cursing the AI, and just swearing in general, he passed out.


    Now passed out, Dax started dreaming, about how he accidently broke his mother''s arm because he hugged her too hard as a child. About her happiness when she found out he where one of the few pureblood qitrons because of his immense strength, and the hellish and spartan-like training that followed throughout his childhood and early a.d.u.l.thood, mastering the qitron art of combat and joining the elite 125th combined ops orbital drop troopers as their youngest officer ever, at only 20 years old.


    (SUBJECT: COMMANDER DAX NEURAL RESTORATION AT 24%)


    As the AI poked around in Dax''s brain with electric charges, his unconscious body spasmed in the chair as hours of tedious neural repair work continued¡­.


    (SUBJECT: COMMANDER DAX NEURAL RESTORATION AT 56%....WARNING SUBJECT STEES LIMIT REACHED. NEURAL ACTIVITY SPIKING ABOVE SAFE LEVELS. TERMINATING REPAIR SEQUENCE AT 57.8%)


    "Well shit, that sure wasn''t pleasant but thanks i remembered a lot"


    Having awoken from the pain induced coma, Dax thanked the cold sounding voice in his head.


    (QUERY: DO YOU REMEMBER YOUR DESIGNATION?)


    "Are you gonna shock me again if i say no?"


    (REPAIR FAILED. RESTARTING NEURAL RESTORATION. LOADING SHOCK PATT-)


    "WAIT that was a joke! please don''t shock me again, Designation Lieutenant Dax from the 125th combined operations and orbital incursion! registration 044587356420! born on cycle 0828 of the new calendar! i like redheads and- "


    Having completely forgotten about the possibility that he was being interrogated, Dax told the voice in his head everything to avoid being shocked again.


    (PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE CONFIRMED: COMMANDER DAX ID:044587356420 UPLOADING SITUATIONAL UPDATE TO NEURAL CONNECTION)


    "Wait i''m a commander? And i have a neural connection? How does tha-"


    As the AI continued to confuse Dax, suddenly huge amount of information flooded into his mind, the surprise attack doing the deep recon mission, and the emergency FTL jump he set up before being hit by shrapnel and passing out. Then the logs from the Omega-7 cruisers AI flooded his mind, giving him a complete understanding of his current situation.


    "So i survived all that?"


    (AFFIRMATIVE.)


    "That explains the pain i''ve been feeling for the last while, it''s after effects of cryo right?"


    (AFFIRMATIVE.)


    Having regained some of his memories, Dax recognised the pain from a emergency cryogenic suspension, that he had to go through doing boot camp.


    "Okay i got it, the last things I don''t understand are you, my augments, and the Omega-7 cruiser i served on, last I remember I served on a Omega-2 and that was a brand new prototype


    (I AM INTEGRATED COMBAT INTELLIGENCE VERSION 20.5 OMEGA. DESIGNED BY YOU 659 CYCLES BEFORE THE OMEGA-7 INCIDENT. YOU USUALLY REFER TO ME BY ''ICI'' OR ''OMEGA''. I ASSIST IN TARGET ACQUISITION AND ERADICATION)


    "So i made you before all that Omega-7 stuff happened, and you help me kill stuff more effectively?"


    (AFFIRMATIVE. MY MAIN MEMORY BANKS AND PROCESSORS ARE LOCATED IN THE SUBDERMAL COPROCESSOR THAT REPLACES THE UPPER PART OF YOUR SPINE FROM C-1 TO TH-7 I ALSO RUN AND MAINTAIN YOUR RIGHT ARM AND LEFT EYE)


    "But that has to be a lie! Technology like that doesn''t exist yet, and why would I get cybernetic augments? It''s against the qitron code!"


    (I DETECT A DISCREPANCY IN OUR SHARED INTEL. PLEASE CONFIRM THE CURRENT GALACTIC CYCLE.)


    "What the shit dose that have to do with anything? it''s year 0850 of the of the new calendar!"


    (THAT''S INCORRECT. THE YEAR IS 1568 OF THE NEW CALENDAR)


    "What the fuc-"


    (YOU APPEAR TO BE MISSING 718 YEARS OF MEMORIES I CAN''T RECONNECT. MORE IMPORTANTLY WE NEED TO EXIT THIS ORB NOW, AS THE SURPLUS OXYGEN IS RUNNING OUT DUE TO YOUR OVERUSE.)

 Chapter 4 - Unknown particle

    "so you''re saying i''m missing 718 years of memories, setting aside how i even lived that long, how the hell did that happen!?"


    (OXYGEN SURPLUS EXPIRED. SEEK STABLE ATMOSPHERE IMMEDIATELY.)


    as ICI explained Dax felt the air becoming thin, and the instincts drilled into him over servel drills and training sessions, he was feeling the early effects of hypoxia.


    "okay questions later, can you release me from this chair?"


    (AFFIRMATIVE. SENDING KILL-ORDER TO ALL NANOBOTS IN AFFECTED AREA. DISCONNECTING LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEMS¡­ STANDBY)


    immediately after Dax heard ICI''s cold voice, the gel like grey substance holding him in place started to dissolve and he felt multiple cords and cables disconnecting from his back.


    (RESTRAINTS RELEASED. FULL CONTROL RESTORED. WARNING: BLOOD OXYGEN LEVELS FALLING. SEEK STABLE ATMOSPHERE IMMEDIATELY.)


    "yeah i feel that, let''s get out of this death trap now"


    (CONFIRMED. ANALYSERING TARGETS STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY...COMPLETE PLEASE APPLY 5432.3 NEWTONS OF FORCE TO TARGET POINT ALPHA.)


    starting to feel faint due to hypoxia, Dax only managed to stand up before he felt faint, and he struggled to understand the cryptic commands issued by ICI


    "what. the. hell. do. i. need. to. do. ICI, please."


    (PERFORM OPEN PALM PUNCH ON THE MARKED TARGET NOW!)


    "with¡­. pleasure!!!"


    using the last of his strength, Dax lowered his center of gravity, taking the classic qiton close quarter stance, before inhaling the last oxygen in the room and rushing to the wall, delivering the strongest open palm punch to the wall he could muster before passing out.


    (ATMOSPHERE RESTORED. COMMENCING SPECTROSCOPY ANALYSIS¡­.. COMPLETE:


    78.084% NITROGEN


    20.946% OXYGEN


    0.9340% ARGON


    0.004% CARBON DIOXIDE


    0.001818% NEON


    0.03% UNKNOWN


    WARNING UNKNOWN PARTICLE DETECTED


    CHECKING CHEMICAL, BIOLOGICAL AND RADIOLOGICAL WEAPONS DATABANKS¡­. NO MATCH DETECTED.


    CONCLUSION: CONTAMINATION CAN NOT BE RISKED AS PRACTICE EFFECTS ARE UNKNOWN. SUBJEKT: COMMANDER DAX HELMET BREACHED. ALSO TACTICAL CALLOUTS APPEAR INEFFECTIVE. SEARCHING DATABANKS FOR COUNTERMEASURES....


    COMPLETE.


    GUARDIAN 47 REAPER PERSONAL SENSOR UNIT "REAPER''S MASK"


    ALL MATERIALS PRESENT IN ORB


    TASKING REMAINING NANOBOTS FOR CONSTRUCTION¡­..


    ESTIMATED TIME TO BUILD: 10 MINUTES AND 3 SECONDS.


    as Dax laid unconscious due to acute hypoxia, the still operational nanobots around Dax started to work on something. Using parts of broken hull segments that contained a mix of computer parts and leftover armor, the nanobots broke down the parts needed and started to assemble a mask covering Dax''s face


    the mask on his face was known as the reaper''s mask, with a clean, glass like, black surface, covering Dax''s face in a smooth slightly oval shape.


    Guardian 47 Reaper personal sensor unit "reaper''s mask"


    A black armored facemask worn by members of the 125th Hellwalkers born from a cooperation between Guardian Defence Systems and the 125th Hellwalkers, the so-called reaper''s mask is an integration of serevel sensor systems in a compact package. LIDA, RADAR, Infrared and ultraviolet sensors all feeded to a single combined data output that interfaces with existing optical cybernetics.


    in essence making the user able to see any combined mix of sensor data required at the given time including targeting data from a Integrated combat intelligence, effectively increasing overall combat effectiveness of the user drastically and acting as a advanced hazmat filter.


    "ICI?"


    (YES)


    "what the f.u.c.k did you put on my face?"


    (A GUARDIAN 47 REAPER PERSONAL SENSOR UNIT.)


    "ICI. WHAT. THE. F.U.C.K. DID. YOU. PUT. ON. MY. FACE!?"


    (A MASK TO PROTECT YOU FROM THE UNKNOWN PARTICLE LOCATED IN THE ATMOSPHERE)


    "now was that so f.u.c.k.i.n.g hard to say?"


    (I''M PROGRAMMED FOR SHORT AND PRECISE MESSAGES.)


    "you know what, forget it."


    feeling that he would never reach an agreement with ICI on that topic, Dax decided to move on to more pressing matters. looking through the small hole he had managed to punch in the outer hull of the orb, Dax could see he managed to land in a dense forest with a mountain range 52.567 kilometers away


    "hey ICI? why do i have a rangefinder?"


    (THE REAPER MASK INCLUDES SEVERAL SENSORS. INCLUDING A RANGEFINDER.)


    "huh. well ain''t that neet. What''s the plan now?"


    (FOR NOW CURRENT OBJECTIVE IS TO OBTAIN NECESSARY RESOURCES NEEDED FOR YOUR SURVIVAL. FIRST OBJECTIVE IS BEHIND YOU 5 METERS AWAY.)


    turning around, Dax found the chair he had spent the last while strapped to being ''repaired'' by ICI''s not so gentle hand.


    "i''m not getting back in that chair"


    (TARGET IS BELOW IN STORAGE COMPARTMENT #34. 1 REX-7 SEMI AUTOMATIC HIGH CALIBER HANDGUN AND 4 X 8 CAPACITY MAGS OF CASSELEES ARMOR PIERCING AMMUNITION.)


    "wait is it the one i got from mom after passing the officers test?"


    (AFFIRMATIVE.)


    "sweet."


    Dax quickly located the storage container under the chair, when he opened it he found just what ICI described, the REX-7 handgun he had used all the time he remembered serving in the galactic navy. The about 30 centimeter long handgun looked way more worn than he remembered but it was still in the same leather holster, inscribed with the 125th icon, a class 1 omega destroyer doing orbital reentry under enemy fire. He also found a carbon fiber ammunition bag containing the spare magazines.


    after equipping the ammunition bag and holster with the REX-7, Dax broke down the rest of the wall separating him from freedom, and walked out the orb.


    (OBJECTIVE COMPLETE *Congratulations* NEXT IS OBTAINING INTELLIGENCE)


    with a weird voice ICI congratulated Dax for walking about 20 steps and tearing down a wall.


    "hey ICI"


    (YES?)


    "never do that again."


    (CONFIRMED.)


    making his way out of the impact crater, Dax got to a flat piece of ground.


    "ICI, you''re scanning the environment with LIDAR and all that right?"


    (CONFIRMED.)


    "okay get ready for a whole lot of data"


    not waiting for ICI''s reply, Dax squadded down and then jumped in place reaching a height of about 20 meters, before falling down again landing and leaving a small crater.


    "well? did you find anything useful?"


    (AFFIRMATIVE. I DETECTED WHAT APPEARS TO BE A FRUIT TREE 55 METERS NORTHWEST)


    moving about 50 meters northwest, Dax found the supposed fruit tree. Standing about 60 meters tall, and with large purple apple like fruits hanging from it.


    "that reminds me, i haven''t eaten anything after getting out of cryo."


    quickly jumping up into the tree and getting one of the apple like fruits, Dax was about to take a giant bite, but disappointingly he was met with a dull splat, as he squished the fruits against the mask he was wearing.


    "ICI let me remove the mask."


    (NEGATIVE.)


    "why! i need to eat so i can stay alive!?"


    (UNKNOWN PARTICLE STILL NOT ANALYSED. CAN''T RISK CONTAMINATION.)


    "then how the f.u.c.k do i stay alive?"


    (CONTINUE TO SMASH SUBSTANCE AGAINST THE MASK, I WILL FILTER IT AND TRANSFER IT TO YOUR SYSTEM.)


    "are you taking a piss on me right now?"


    (I''M PHYSICALLY UNABLE TO DO THAT. WOULD YOU LIKE ME TO SUBMIT THAT AS A FUTURE DESIGN FEATURE?)


    *sigh* "you know what, just forget i said anything. Yeah this is soooo satisfying, how i love smashing fruits against my face."


    After having the most embarrassing meal of his life, and washing off in a nearby river, Dax crawled on to of the orb he arrived in to watch the sun set between the trees.


    "so ICI, what is my long term objective, beyond survival?"


    (RECOVER THE PROPULSION UNIT FROM OMEGA-7, AND RETROFIT TO REJOIN THE GALACTIC FLEET)


    "wait that thing survived?"


    The reason for Dax''s surprisal was the fact that the propulsion unit survived, basically a cl.u.s.ter of engines, fuel and a highly explosive class 7 anti gravity fusion reactor.


    (I DETECT NO GRAVITATIONAL WAVE FLUXUATIONS. REACTOR IS SOUND. ALSO LOGS SUGGEST MULTICAL FTL STABILIZERS HOUSED IN THE PROPULSION UNIT.)


    "are you sure the reactor didn''t blow?"


    (TURN TO THE SOUTH EAST.)


    as he turned around and wondered what to look for, ICI''s cold voice rang out in his head.


    (DO YOU OBSERVE WHAT LOOKS LIKE A 250 KILOTON COLD FUSION WARHEAD DETONATING?)


    "fair point. On another note, what the hell is this arm?"


    finally having some time to think, Dax now started to question the cybernetics he had no earlier knowledge about.


    (COMMANDER DAX SUPPSTANED 95 DIRECT RAILGUN HITS ALONG WITH 875 DIRECT GAUSS RIFLE HITS AND AN UNKNOWN AMOUNT OF SHRAPNEL HITS FROM EXPLOSIVE MUNITIONS, DOING THE GEMINI-5 INVASION. INVASION WAS SUCCESSFUL AND COMMANDER DAX WAS NAMED ''THE IMMORTAL'' IN HONOR OF HIS ACHIEVEMENTS. CUSTOM REPAIR WORK WAS CONDUCTED BY GUARDIAN DEFENCE SOLUTIONS AND REX WEAPONRY.)


    "so the 2 most iconic and expensive weapon contractors, that hate each other, worked together?"


    having been created for warfare, every qiton loves weapons. Dax is a prime example as his face lit up like a child christmas morning.


    "so what weapon systems are included?"


    (CLASSIFIED.)


    "wait what?"


    (COMMANDER DAX DOES NOT HAVE NECESSARY CLEARANCE FOR WEAPON SYSTEMS WITHOUT INTACT MEMORIES.)


    "so there are weapons in this thing.."


    looking with curiosity at his black titanium alloy arm until the sun had completely set, Dax started to doze off until a high pitch beep interrupted his sleepiness.


    "what''s that sound?"


    (PROXIMITY WARNING, MOVEMENT DETECTED, DUE NORTH 500 METERS)

 Chapter 5 - Sudden Terror

    "come on Alice, hurry up, the captain said it''s important!"


    inside the army barracks located inside the inner wall of the fort city Black Hollow, a youth was bangning loudly on a door in the officers section. The youth wore a worn brown leather vest over a white and blue robe that reached all the way to his knees, and on his feet was a pair of solid looking brown leather boots. In the hand he didn''t use to knock on the door, he held a tall staff made of some kind of white metal with a expensive looking large blue gem on the tip, encased in glass. his green eyes had a naive and slightly nervous look, and with his short curly hair and his petite facial features he looked more like a child than a soldier.


    "Alice are you even there?"


    "i''m getting dressed, wait a f.u.c.k.i.n.g second!"


    the youth immediately stopped knocking as he flinched when he heard Alice''s angry roar from the other side of the door.


    about 5 minutes later, a young looking woman emerged from the door, appearing as annoyed as she were sleepy, she wore a robust looking light leather armor with a wooden shortbow on her back and a short one handed double-edged sword strapped to her waist. Her long chestnut hair was set up in a slightly messy french braid that reached all the way to her h.i.p.s. her blue eyes and freckled face gave her a wild look and that look were amplified by her ferocious facial expression.


    "so? why the hell did you wake me Viktor?! you know i just got back from a 2 week patrol yesterday right?"


    as a wolf staring down its prey, Alice seeked a explanation for her disturbed sleep.


    "i d-don''t know, the captain said to get the best ranger and report back for briefing as fast as possible"


    "huuh? why!?"


    "i don''t know, just come along please, i''ll give you half my pay this week"


    "aaargh okay let''s go, come on, MOVE!"


    dragging along Viktor by the scruff of his neck, Alice walked out the barracks to the nearby officers building


    "jeez i thought this was my week off, what the hell does that old pig want with me?"


    "Alice! you''re not supposed to talk that way about a superior officer"


    "huh!? are you gonna rat on me?"


    "hiii! o-of course not"


    while attracting a lot of attention and wry smiles the pair finally made it to captain Russell''s office, the leader of the Black Hollow rangers. Russell''s office was full of old wooden shelves jam packed with recon reports written on parchment paper and leather bound books of warring color containing information on everything from the use of large scale battle formations to info on nearby monsters. in the middle of the office was a large fancy looking table surrounded by two black leather sofas and behind was a worn desk with parchment paper all over. behind the desk sat captain Russell, he wore a red silk uniform that was slightly too tight around the belly. he was about 40 years of age and what was left of his blond hair was in the process of turning gray and his face had numerous wrinkles but his blue eyes still had a sharp look and he gave the overall impression of a veteran fighter.


    Alice didn''t even knock before entering, and she immediately sat down in one of the sofas and starred annoyingly at Russell


    "so, what do you need captain? i assume there''s a good reason for calling me in doing my off day?"


    "Alice, for the 100th time. please don''t put your dirty boots on the table, it''s expensive!"


    "then don''t call me in on my holiday all the time old man"


    as Alice starred at Russell with a smug face, Russell looked like he was about to blow a fuse, that is until he remembered that there was more important things to do than get mad at Alice for the 1000th time


    "Alice, did you see the starfall about a day ago?"


    "did you call me just to talk about your crazy theories again? for the last time! starfalls are completely normal, it''s not some demon invasion!"


    "no this time it might actually be something, a farmer found this yesterday"


    Russell got up from his chair and handed Alice a shard of what looked to be some kind of black metal, apporxadly 40 centimeters long and only a few millimeters thick. Alice quickly got up from the sofa and started to examine the shard with great interest.


    "what the f.u.c.k is this, why is it so light? did you try to smelt it or break a piece of it off? also what the shit is up with this surface, it''s sooo smooth!?"


    eagerly rubbing her face against the shard of metal while firing of as many questions she could think of, Alice seemed to completely forget that she had been deprived of her precious


    holidays when presented with something so unknown. looking at Alice with a gentle smile, like a grandparent after giving his granddaughter a present, Russell started to explain.


    "we have no idea what it is yet, what we do know is that there''s no way to scratch it, not even hitting it with a sword or dropping it from the castle tower semmes to do anything, other than cracking the stone pavement or denting the sword of course"


    "but what about heat? or mana?"


    "we tried to melt by heating it in the local blast furnace for about 4 hours, but that did nothing, hell like it was just mooking us it didn''t even seem to heat up, and the crazy old master smith Alex just picked it right out of the furnace with his bare hands. as for mana it was the same story, even when Viktor tried pouring half of his manapool in it there was no reaction, other than everyone in the surrounding getting sick from the excess mana in the air of course"


    Alice finally stopped examining the shard and looked skeptically at Russell


    "are you saying this thing is impossible to melt?"


    "yeah i saw it myself, it was a pain to pry it from Alex after, i had to promise him a sample before he was willing to let go of it again"


    "i get that this is a amazing found captain but why show it to me? i''m just a lowly ranger, did you report this to the capital?"


    "i was about to this morning when a dragon rider arrived with a royal decree, it contained 2 parts, the first one was to close all external borders and place all foreign diplomats under house arrest until further notice, and the second was to collect any and all fragments from the latest skyfall and wait for the royal guard to come collect them. luckily there are no foreign diplomats in this city i can piss off, but the second part worried me so i asked around, apparently ''something'' huge landed intact near the capital and they want to restrict information until they know what it is"


    Alice took a moment to think before responding in a completely serious tone


    "you think this could tip the power balance we have with our neighbours?"


    "i don''t know, but the king thinks so, otherwise he wouldn''t piss off all our allies by arresting their diplomats"


    "do you have a specific job for me captain, or should i just searching the forest?"


    "no i can let the army do that, i want you and Viktor to head south to the bordering mountain range"


    "wait what, why do i have to bring Viktor?"


    "yeah captain Russell why do i have to go to the mountain range, i''m not a ranger!?"


    Viktor that had so far only observed the conversation panicked when he heard he had to enter the dangerous forest.


    "it''s already been decided, i talked with the General earlier, he received reports from the wall patrols on the night of starfall that something huge landed to the south near the mountain range. he told me to send my best men to tjek it out, Alice you''re by far the best ranger around, if you didn''t have that mouth, you would have been transferred from this back end post a long time ago. and Viktor even though you''re a new recruit you''re by far one of the most talented mages around, i want the to of you for this job get out there fast and find out if there''s anything of value, then report back. simple right?"


    "arrgh i get it, come on lets go Viktor we need to pick up supplies. hey captan i can take the good stuff since this is a important mission right?"


    "sure just hurry back"


    "wait! i did not agree on this, don''t drag me Alice i can walk on my own!"


    fruitlessly protesting Alice while being dragged along, Viktor now had a even more panicked expression than when we woke her up.


    after picking up some high class travel supplies and field rations normally meant for nobels, Alice and Viktor exited the inner wall of Black Hollow and moved through the residential district and out the southern gate of the outer wall. after half a days travel, about midday they reached the forest edge.


    "hey Alice, isn''t it time to set up camp before we enter the forest?"


    "no we''re not gonna camp today, we''ll go straight there and back as fast as possible, so we''re gonna walk all night before camping for a few hours tomorrow, i have never seen the captain so serious so we need to find out what the hell fell there as fast as possible and return"


    "but i''m not a ranger Alice, there''s no way i can walk for that long!"


    strongly protesting the spartan sounding plan Alice came up with Viktor stopped and was about to walk home when Alice gr.a.p.ed his hand and pulled a glass vial with a black liquid out of her backpack


    "i know that Viktor, that''s why i asked that sly old man if i could take some of the expensive supplies, here drink up"


    "wait what is tha-!!!"


    Viktor didn''t even get to ask about the suspicious looking vail before Alice jammed it down his throat.


    "oh this? it''s some extremely expensive elixir i don''t know what it''s called or how it works but i once heard about a fellow ranger that drank this, it''s gonna keep you awake all night so you might as well follow me right?"


    while forcing Viktor to drink the whole vial Alice explained her master plan.


    "okay okay i got it but if i fall unconscious from this you need to carry me home and if i die i''m gonna haunt you for the rest of your life you hear! ahh i feel sick"


    continuing into the forest and moving all night with Alice leading the way, Viktor didn''t even feel slightly tired even when noon came next day, that is until he did finally lay down to sleep in the afternoon to nap a couple hours under Alice''s instruction, and proceeded to sleep like a log until Alice woke him up later for a guard shift.


    "we should be getting close now, Viktor can you use detection magic to try and find something?"


    "yeah just give me a second¡­"


    Viktor stopped up and found place to sit down, after sitting down he closed his eyes and started chant in a language that was unknown to Alice. after about 30 seconds Viktor opened his eyes again, but something had changed, his eyes was covered in a faintly glowing blue film and he quickly looked around the dimming forest, seemingly able to look straight through


    the surrounding vegetation.


    "ah i found something, there''s a unnaturally huge clearing that way"


    "okay let''s move, stay behind me and don''t make a sound"


    taking out her bow and nocking an arrow, Alice now started to move slowly through the dense forest with Viktor following about 2 meters behind.


    after moving about a hundred meters Alice suddenly stopped before hiding behind a tree signaling Viktor to do the same


    "what happ-"


    "quiet we''ve been spotted"


    quickly covering Viktors mouth and explaining what was going on, Alice now had a frightened look on her face and Viktor who had never seen her act like that immediately knew it was serious. Alice silently took of her backpack with their supplies and gave it to Viktor before signaling him to escape immediately.


    he never got to do that however, with a loud bang something landed about 10 meters in front of them, knocking up small a dust cloud.


    "WHAT THE F.U.C.K IS THAT!"


    "WE CAN''T RUN FROM THAT VIKTOR PREPARE FOR COMBAT!!"


    standing over 2 meters tall a strange humanoid in some kind of black bodysuit with a mask that seemed like it absorbed the surrounding light covering its face, Alice felt herself being analysed, like a viper staring down its prey, and her sixth sense told her that whatever it was, it wasnt gonna let them leave.


    "IT LOOKS LIKE A DEMON, AND A HIGH CLASS ONE AT THAT! VIKTOR PREPARE FOR A FIGHT TO THE DEATH, YOU DON''T WANNA BE TAKEN ALIVE BY THAT ONE!!!"

 Chapter 6 - The Strange Demon

    "f.u.c.kf.u.c.kf.u.c.kshit Viktor! start chanting i''ll distract him!"


    as Viktor started chanting Alice nocked an arrow while moving slowly towards the demon


    "HEY! you''re not supposed to be here! are you not aware of the treaty!"


    aiming an arrow towards demon, Alice tried to de escalate the situation by mentioning the current peace treaty between demons and humankind.


    "***! **** *** *** *****? ** *** *******!"


    appearing scarred, the demon moved a few backwards while keep its hands above its head


    "****, *** ** ****** **** *****"


    putting its hand on the mask it was wore, the demon tried to remove the mask on its face, with no apparent effect.


    "what the hell is it doing, Viktor do you know?"


    looking back, Alice asked Viktor how knew a lot more about demons than her.


    "i don''t know, but i''m not sure that''s demon tongue, i''m not so sure it''s a demon Alice it has no horns or tail and i don''t see any tribal markings, it might not be a demon"


    "are you sure?


    "pretty sure, and it doesn''t seem hostile anyway"


    "huh, okay let''s try talking instead"


    [???? ???????: ????? ???? ??????!]


    just as Alice started to relax a loud metallic voice came from the demon that made her blood freeze, and as she turned her head back towards the demon she accidently released the arrow she had ready.


    "oh shit!"


    as the arrow flew towards the demon, Alice felt time slow down while her brain went into overdrive. the arrow did not hit however, the second it was within range, the demon flicked it away, like swatting away a fly.


    [????????? ????????: ????????????? ???????!]


    before she noticed, the demon had drawn a strange looking wand and pointed it at Viktor. seenseing the immediate danger, Alice tried to warn Viktor, but before she could other a single word, a loud ear-shattering sound interrupted her. at the same time something hit a rock behind Viktor, shattering it and fragmenting rock fragments all over the place.


    "what the hell was that!? are you okay!?"


    "i''m fine! that was probably high tier magic but i don''t know the element! distract it while i chant!"


    "got it!"


    after shooting another arrow at the demon Alice trew her bow away and rushed the demon while drawing her sword, and immediately after the demon flicked away the arrow again Alice jumped forward at the demon, trusting her sword with the entire force of her body.


    "yeah! how you like tha-"


    her attack did not connect however, as the demon simply stopped the trust with the palm of its empty hand before tossing the strange wand in the air and using its now free hand to hit Alice in the stomach, sending her flying until she hit a tree behind Viktor with a dull sound and stopped moving.


    "ALICE! how dare you!"


    having finished chanting, Viktor hit the base base of his staff against the ground, spreading a runic yellow light pattern out around him


    "EAT THIS!"


    pulling his staff out of the grund and pointing it at the demon while the ground around him shattered, and three large shards of rock covered in yellow runes flew out the ground towards the demon. just having caught the strange wand again, the demon sidestepped the first rock with minimal movements while a series or loud bangs rang out and the other rocks desindigraded mid air before hitting the demon. now ejecting some sort of container from the wand before replacing it with a new one from a pouch.


    "shit!"


    feeling the imminent danger from that action, Viktor once again hit the bottom of his staff against the ground and increasing the intensity of the yellow light around him, and a wall of earth about 5 meters high appeared out the ground between Viktor and the demon, and not a second to late. first another series of loud sounds rang out, followed by the sound of rocks shattering on the other side of the wall


    "NOW TRY THIS ON FOR SIZE!"


    this time Viktor charged the gem in his staff and smashed it against the earth wall, making runes spread across it, and a second later the wall shattered, turning i hail made of rock shards and small boulders that completely decimated the forest in front of Viktor.


    "Alice! are yo-"


    not even getting the time to ask if Alice was okay, Viktor was suddenly kicked in the head and lost consciousness as the same time his neck shattered. the demon had sensed the attack coming and had jumped over the earth spell, kicking Viktor in the head as it landed.


    "uhg *cough* what happened?"


    waking up while coughing up blood, Alice felt that most of her ribs were shattered but she had couldn''t move her legs and her whole body screamed out in pain. remembering what had happened, Alice looked for Viktor, but what she saw only terrified her. the demon stood above the lifeless body of Viktor, with his head bent the wrong way.


    "NOOO! VIKTOR! *cough* YOU F.U.C.K.I.N.G BASTARD! WHAT THE F.U.C.K DID YOU DO TO HIM!?"


    as if responding to Alice the demon stabbed its hand into the chest of Viktor, making his body twitch.


    "F.U.C.K.I.N.G DEMON!!"


    pulling its bloody hand out of Viktor, the demon stood up and started walking towards Alice, slowly as if i didn''t have a care in the world.


    "WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS, F.U.C.K.I.N.G DEMON?! WHAT DID WE EVER DO TO YOU?!!!"


    with her face twisting in anger while tears rolled down her face, mixing with the blood she kept coughing up, Alice tried in vain to stand up but she couldn''t, when she hit the tree a branch had priced her back and hit her spine, paralyzing her from the hip down. the last thing she saw was the fist of the demon robbing her of consciousness as it punched her in the face.


    (SUPPRESSION COMPLETE.)

 Chapter 7 - He Who Fell From The stars

    (why i''m i not dead?)


    that was the first taught in Alice''s head after regaining consciousness, she could tell that she were laying on something soft and sunlight was hitting her face, and she could hear birds singing their morning song. she didn''t open her eyes immediately however, as her most recent memories lead her to believe that she might have been captured.


    (was it all a dream? no, there''s no way that was all a dream, the pain was all too real for that, thinking about it now i don''t feel any pain anymore? maybe i did die and this is heaven?)


    opening her eyes she however found her expansions betrayed, the first thing she saw was a unknown ceiling, made of some sort of black metal.


    (shit! so i was captured! i need to find a way to report back i need to move now, huh i can''t move? what the f.u.c.k happened? even i can''t escape i need to avenge Viktor)


    concluding that she somehow needed to make that demon pay, she started to think up several plans, until she picked up the sound of someone walking towards her from outside


    (shit someone''s coming¡­ a single person, could it be another recon unit looking for us? no it wouldn''t be a single person, it might be the demon i need to act like i''m still sleeping)


    hearing steps closing in on her, and stopping about a meter from her.


    (f.u.c.k f.u.c.k calm down, i''m just sleeping don''t come near me, why did i accept this job again? i should just have resigned a while ago, ahhhh i never got to eat at that new place near the inner gate and why didn''t i just get married instead of this career-)


    instead of calming down, Alice started contemplating her life choices, wondering about everything from her lack of romance to all the exciting food she didn''t eat.


    (aahhh there was also that place in the capital, what was it they made? brisket? what even is that? shit now i''m hungry)


    having completely forgotten her original situation, Alice almost started drooling thinking about all the stuff she didn''t have time for. she was finally snapped out of it when she noticed a hand being placed on her forehead and after about 5 seconds the hand was removed and she was picked up in a gentle princess carry and placed in some sort of cair.


    "come on i know you''re awake, open your eyes i won''t hurt you"


    "..."


    "can she even understand me? hey ICI?"


    [AFFIRMATIVE. LANGUE BASIS ANALYSIS COMPLETE]


    "huh, okay, so she ignoring me? how rude. well i guess i kinda do deserve it"


    "..."


    "i''ll tell you this just in case, i only acted in self defence and i even rep- i mean, healed you and that boy after. i''m sorry for utterly destroying you in self defence, i didn''t know you were so weak"


    "WHAT THE F.U.C.K DO MEAN SELF DEFENCE!? THAT WAS CLEARLY OVER THE LINE!"


    "oho, good morning to you"


    what greeted Alice when she opened her eyes in fury was the demon sitting across from her on the ground cross legged and without its mask on and looked at her single green eye along with a teasing smile and wearing some sort of black improvised t shirt revealing several white marks on his exposed arms along with what looked like some sort of strange bodysuit that was pulled down and tied around its waist. releasing she had been tricked, Alice''s face flared red in a mix of rage and embarrassment.


    "my name is Dax, i''m not from around here, what''s your name?"


    "f.u.c.k you!"


    "huh that''s a strange name, so ''f.u.c.k you'' where are you from? you also look like some sort of soldier, what''s your rank?"


    "are you gonna keep calling me that? don''t f.u.c.k around!"


    "what? ''f.u.c.k you'' is not your name? ICI i don''t think it''s her name"


    [UNCERTAIN. SUBJEKT DESIGNATED HERSELF AS, QUOTE: ''F.U.C.K YOU'' I SUGGEST KEEPING THAT DESIGNATION]


    "okay, so ''f.u.c.k you'' i''m not gonna hurt you so just calm down, are you hungry? i found your supplies"


    "aaahg! okay okay stop calling me that! my name is Alice, so stop calling me that!"


    "okay Alice, could you stop shouting?"


    "fine! so you said your name is Dax? what does a demon want from me? are you aware you''re currently breaking the peace treaty?"


    "me? a demon? what''s a demon is that a insult or something?"


    "huh!? are you playing stupid or were you just born that way? what else would you be than a demon? with that tall stature and those marking on your arm what else could you be?"


    "what marks? oh these, these are just scars, also i''m a Qiton not a demon, how rude."


    rolling up his sleeve, Dax revealed several white scars of different sizes tracing all along his brown skin.


    "that''s impossible those have to be tribal markings! not even a beastman could survive that meny injuries! and what the f.u.c.k is a Qiton? i''ve never heard of that race"


    "it''s like i told you, i''m not from around here, i come from a world far from here, i arrived here to this world about a week ago"


    "you must really think i''m stupid, typical demon"


    "like. i. said. i''m not a demon, i''m a Qiton. ICI can you explain it?"


    [AFFIRMATIVE. PREPARING FOR DIRECT NEURAL INTERFACING¡­.. COMPLETE]


    "hey what the hell is that voice? also what the hell is that ''interfacing''? don''t you dare touch me!"


    sensing the danger from the strange voice that spoke from Dax''s mask, Alice tried to back away before realizing that she still couldn''t move and started to panic.


    "don''t worry this won''t hurt a bit, i just want to show you something"


    "don''t you f.u.c.k.i.n.g touch me! wait, stop please i believe you, you''re a Qiton or whatever i get it!"


    "well that was easy, so you understand that i''m not a demon?"


    "yeah i do so please don''t touch me!"


    "okay then. but we''ll still need to do this"


    "huh? do wha-"


    before Alice realised what Dax was planning to do, he grabbed her head with right hand and her vision turned black. when Alice woke up she was in a completely white room, and after a second she remembered what had happened earlier. quickly standing up, she tried to grab her sword, but found that not only didn''t she have her sword but she wore a strange white robe.


    "what the f.u.c.k is this? did he kill me?"


    (INTERFACE ESTABLISHED. LOADING PROGRAM)


    "hiii! what the f.u.c.k was that? the voice from before? hey! where are you? and what even are you?"


    suddenly a cold voice spoke to Alice directly in her head, freaking her out


    (DESIGNATION: INTEGRATED COMBAT INTELLIGENCE V20.5 OMEGA)


    "that doesn''t help me at all"


    (YOU CAN CALL ME ICI)


    "now was that so hard to say? now where am i? what is this?"


    (UNIMPORTANT. STARTING MEMORY TRANSFER.)


    all of a sudden strange scenes started appearing in her head, megacities like she had never seen before, stange black sh.i.p.s traveling between the stars and warfare on a scale like she had never seen before, huge mechanical swans of soldiers rushing to kill their enemies with brutal efficiency, supported by strange flying machines that spread destruction on a unprecedented level she had never seen before.


    "what is all this¡­?"


    completely stunned by the inflow of new information, Alice was completely stunned while her head was filled with scenes that invoked terror and wonder at the same time.


    "this is the world i came from. about 7 days ago i crash landed here, in your world, as i told you: i''m not from around here."

 Chapter 8 - Dialogue and Demonstration

    still in a daze of fear and wonder, Alice didn''t even notice that she returned to the real world, sitting still unable to move. she tried to rationalize all the strange and terrorizing sights, cities that stretched a entire planet, several kilometers high, like a giant beehive filled with several different races of people and machines. but what struck her most was the warfare, growing up in the frontier city of Black Hollow she had mostly fought monsters and some bandits, and a small number of spies crazy enough to try and infiltrate the kingdom through the cursed black forest she patrolled. she had of course received training in large scale conflict and heard of several skirmishes and wars from around the continent, but they were mere child''s play compared to the imposing and apocalyptic scale of war in Dax''s world. life appeared to have no value, and it was lost at a awesome rate, mechanized soldiers lead by Dax and other commanders ''jumping'' from outer space along with strange ''dragonfly-like'' flying machines and large spacesh.i.p.s, taking control of a entire planet in a few hours, massacring anything standing in the way with cold and brutal efficiency using strange weapons that propelled slugs of metal at high speeds, leaving traces of electricity in the air.


    "so are hungry or not?"


    "hiii! what? please don''t hurt me!"


    finally snapping Alice out of her daze by poking her cheek and asking if she has hungry, Dax only got fear in return, staring only back at him with terror in her eyes while hyperventilating. seeing the same frightful look he had seen a thousand times before, Dax showed a bitter smile.


    "so it''s like this again, nevermind that, do you believe i''m not a demon now?"


    "no you''re not a demon, you''re something worse! how many did you kill!? what kind of monster are you Dax!?"


    "do you prefer a honest answer to that, or just a lie? and i''m a Qiton we were made for war, stronger, faster and tougher than even the highest class of autonomous drones, even if i did choose any other profession i would''ve just been have discriminated against. ''a killing machine teaching my kids i don''t want that what if it snaps and kills them!?'' so i became a soldier, and a good one at that"


    "don''t try and doge the subject! how many!?"


    "i can''t remember"


    "wha-"


    "i lost my about 718 years of memory my memory due to injuries in the battle that made me to crash me on this planet. ICI do you know?"


    [INFORMATION WITHHELD.]


    "why? is it classified?"


    [NEGATIVE, BUT IT WOULD NEGATIVELY IMPACT THE ABILITY TO FORM A COOPERATIVE RELATIONSHIP WITH THE SUBJECT.]


    "oh well there you have it, i will do my best to answer anything else that''ll make you trust me"


    now wearing a innocent smile, Alice felt she still couldn''t trust Dax but she was a bit confident that he wouldn''t outright kill her, but she was still paralysed and Viktor was laying down unconscious behind Dax. she had to learn something, could he be a ally? what did he want? and if he was hostile she needed to escape alive and warn the kingdom.


    "so what''s your objektive? why are you here?"


    "i want to return to my world, for that i need to recover parts of my derelict ship that''s shattered all over the place, the most important one being the reactor, and make a new ship to leave this world"


    "okay, that makes sense, but how long would that take? i don''t imagine that''s a feat you could complete in a single lifetime"


    "that''s not important, even if it takes a few hundred years i won''t die as long as i have enough nanobots to restore and repair me, besides Qitons don''t age after reaching maturity, what''s the point of having a perfectly engineered army if they wither and die after a few thousand years?"


    "so you''re saying that you''re immortal? that''s impossible!"


    "in your world maybe, but in my world you could live forever, as long as you have the right amount of money or connections of course"


    "there''s no way i would believe that"


    "of course you wouldn''t, ICI can i?"


    [CONFIRMED. ENTERING LIMITED COMBAT MODE, RELEASING LIMITERS.]


    "wait what are you doing? that thing.. ICI? what is it doing?"


    "as it said, releasing my some of my limitters"


    standing up, Dax walked over and picked up Alice''s short sword, and before admiring it for a second he flipped it around to a reverse grip and stabbed himself in the arm.


    "what are you doing!?"


    "this is really a nice blade, well just watch"


    further piercing his own arm, he started to cave out his own ulnaris muscle (lower arm muscle), only stopping when about a centimeter remained attached to the bone, and dark red blood flowed freely down his arm.


    "well this should be good enough, ICI engae auto repair"


    [CONFIRMED. STARTING AUTO REPAIR¡­ LOADING SUBROUTINES¡­ COMPLETE]


    as if betraying her eyes, Dax''s muscle started to reattach itself on his arm, and the blood that was dripping down his arm solidified, and as if i had a mind of its own flowed back up and into Dax''s body. not even a second after the healing started, Dax''s arm had returned to normal, except for a small amount of blood on the floor. Alice had seen healing magic before, and even experienced it a few times, but it was nothing compared to that, no maybe some of the high bishops could do that, but that didn''t matter, Dax could do it, and easily. as Alice thought that, she started to believe that he might actually be immortal.


    "what¡­ was that?"


    "auto repair. Qitons are tough to begin with, but with the help of a extreme mix of nanites and a couple biomechanical and cybernetic implants, stuff like this is possible, well even if you don''t believe that, the same thing is happening in your and that kid''s body at the moment, although at a much slower pace"


    "you''re healing us, but why? we tried to kill you"


    "that you did, but after realizing that this world contained intelligent life i decided that i need a guide, and as i did you guys showed up at the perfect time, but sadly i had to break you guys to stop you from trying to kill me so we could talk. regretfully i had to go too far when that kid surprised me with that ''magic'' stuff against me. i''m sorry i had to break your spine and that kid''s neck so i''m repairing the damage i did, that''s why you''re paralyzed and the kid is sleeping, it would be extremely painful if you could feel the nanobots currently fixing your spine, trust me i tried it before"


    "okay i''ll believe for now that you''re not out to hurt us for now, how long until me and Viktor are healed?"


    "oh so his name is Viktor? he didn''t mention that earlier when we talked"


    "wait, what? you talked, how?"


    "the same thing a used on you, i established a direct neural connection through ICI"


    "you what?"


    "i ''talked'' with him through in his mind, he was very cooperative and believed that i didn''t wanna hurt you, and wouldn''t stop asking questions about my world so it took a while. anyway i found your provisions, so are you hungry? it''ll take a while before you can move so i''ll help you"


    it took a bit to understand what Dax meant by ''help'', but once she did her whole face turned bright red.


    "wha-! no! i''m fine, so stay away, please!!"


    "come on i''m monitoring your vitals so i can tell your blood sugar levels are low, don''t be embarrassed i won''t tell a soul about this so don''t worry, kay?"


    wearing a childish smile, Dax took out a bead ration and started walking towards Alice, as her face turned even more red.


    "wait stop plea-"


    before she could utter a refusal, her body betrayed her and a loud rumbling sounded from her stomach, turning her whole face completely beet red.


    "....please just kill me."


    "nope~"

 Chapter 9 - Return to Black Hollow

    "you really are a demon."


    "nonono this is just nursing a sick person back to good health, come on, here comes another bite so open up~"


    "kuh! i''ll remember this, mark my words!"


    "sure sure, you can hit me all you want after you''re healed, but for now just accept it"


    still feeding Alice with have a giant grin on his face, Dax was greatly enjoying himself at the expense of Alice''s pride. after finishing playing around with Alice, he once again picked her up in a princess carry and carefully laid her down next to the sleeping Viktor.


    "i''m going to finish up reattaching the last of your neves now so i''ll need you to go back to sleep, do you need my to sing a lullaby?"


    "i''ll kill you."


    "sorry, it was just a joke so don''t look at me like that, just go sleep"


    quickly getting up and leaving Alice to sleep, Dax went outside and jumped onto the top of the orb, before sitting down and watching the starry sky overhead


    "well that was fun, they''re really entertaining, those young ones"


    [HYPOTHESIS: KILLING THEM AND THEN EXTRACTING THEIR MEMORIES WOULD STILL BE EASIER THAN EARNING THEIR TRUST]


    "never suggest that again, we can''t risk someone asking questions, beside they were clearly sent to investigate by someone smart, and keeping them alive and having them on our side could benefit us greatly. more importantly tell me when she''s asleep so we can start the operation"


    [CONFIRMED. MONITORING SUBJECT BETA FOR REM SLEEP PATTERNS.]


    "also did you finish analysing that ''magic'' attack from a few days ago?"


    [ANALYSIS COMPLETE. 75 POSSIBLE EARLY WARNING SIGNS RECOGNIZED. SEVERAL ANOMALIES DETECTED MORE DATA REQUIRED.]


    "anomalies? what kind?"


    [SYNCING DATA¡­ STANDBY FOR TRANSFER.]


    suddenly Dax''s vision darkened, and a large amount of information flooded his brain, a detailed after battle report displaying anything from atmospheric data and RADAR/LIDA compiled from the reaper mask served to compile and recreate the confronting battle he had with Alice and Viktor, creating a 3 dimensional render of the entire skirmish


    [CLEANING UP LIDAR DATA... RENDER COMPLETE. DATAFILE DURATION: 3 MINUTES AND 26 SECONDS. COMBAT RATING: C.


    DISPLAYING 304 POINTS OF INTEREST FOR FUTURE REFERENCE:


    #1: SEISMIC DATA FROM @3 MINUTES AND 2 SECONDS


    #2: VISUAL ANALYSIS ON SUBJECT BETA: STRESS PATTERNS AND SIGNS OF AGGRESSION TRACKED FROM FACIAL EXPRESSION: 24 MARKERS CATALOGUED


    #3: EFFECTS OF NANITE FIRST-AID IN SUBJECTS OF UNKNOWN PHYSICALITY: DATA CATALOGUED


    #4: EFFECTS OF CHEMICALLY POWERED MONITIONS ON ''MAGIC'' DEFENCE


    #5: CYCLIC FIRE RATE OF REX-7 HIGH CALIBER HAND CANNON: 4 POSSIBLE OPTIMIZATIONS IN MUSCLE MEMORY. POSSIBLE RELOAD TIME REDUCTION: 0.00049 SECONDS


    #6: ATTACK @2 MINUTES AND 10 SECONDS: IMPACT ANALYSIS COMPLETE


    #7: HIGH SPEED MANEUVERS IN LOW GRA¡­...]


    instantly listing any and all information Dax would need in a future battle while suggesting relevant improvements and optimizations, ICI proved its place as a artificial combat intelligence.


    "wow, this is handy, now i know why i wanted to have you installed¡­ what else can you do?"


    [SUBJECT BETA REM SLEEP CONFIRMED. PROCEED WITH REPAIR.]


    "well let''s leave it at that for now"


    "oooooOOOOoo! so this is a part of the ''space-ship'' you landed here in!?"


    "yeah part of it, this is all that''s left of the central fire control room, it was cannibalized by the onboard artificial intellig-"


    "artificial intelligence right!? the one i talked with before right? can we talk again please!!?"


    "as i tried to tell you before: that was not the same one, but an earlier version it operated under the same base rules as my ICI, but that is the only thing, the base architecture was completely changed after- wait you don''t understand what i''m talking about do you?"


    "nope!~"


    "great¡­ you know what, here''s my mask, you can talk to ICI through this. also Alice i know you''re awake so get up we need to get back to that city¡­. hey Viktor what was it called?"


    "Black Hollow~!"


    "yeah that one"


    "shit how do you always know?"


    opening her eyes and standing up, Alice checked her body, finding she was in perfect health as if her injuries from the earlier fight was a lie, the only prof she that she had almost been killed was the damage to her leather armor where she had been hit.


    "Viktor are you okay?"


    "yeah i''m okay! more importantly look at this Alice, this is the same material as the shard Russell showed us. hey ICI what is this?"


    [HULL SECTION 1138-C65]


    "cooool! what''s it made of?"


    [CLASSIFIED.]


    "eeeeh! tell me please?"


    [REGEST DENIED. REASON: CLASSIFIED INFORMATION.]


    after staring stupidly at Viktor who was running around with a extreme amount of energy for a guy that almost died a few days ago, Alice finally noticed the room she was in. the walls was made of some kind of strange black metal plates placed intervoveningly in a mesh with a overall creepy and organic feel. in the middle was Dax, he sat in some kind of strange chair that was made of some kind of leather looking material, with the struktural parts made of metal. walking out of a improvised door, Alice found her in the middle of a large crater.


    "what the hell is this!"


    "oh yeah i never told you did i, this is the ''orb'' or ''lifeboat'' i landed in, about 500 meter from where i des- i mean fought you guys. anyway i heard that you guys were tasked with bringing back anything interesting from the so called ''starfall'', and i and Viktor think that i''m pretty interesting, so let''s go, pack up your stuff"


    "absolutely not!"


    "i''m willing to share some of my technology and offer my services if our goals align"


    "what kind of services?"


    "there''s extermination of any and all hostiles of course, but i can also offer medical know how and training of military personal. but i promise that it''s just gonna be talk, if your leaders don''t want anything from me, or won''t let me in the town i''ll just leave. and not hold a grudge"


    "come on Alice, we could need that kind of healing he did on us, besides i don''t think Dax is a bad person- or Qiton, sorry"


    "aaahg! okay let''s go already"


    leaving the orb behind, Dax, Viktor and Alice started to move though the black forest lead by Alice followed by Dax, and Viktor with Dax''s mask endlessly asking questions to ICI


    "so what are you ICI?"


    [I AM INTEGRATED COMBAT INTELLIGENCE VERSION 20.5 ''OMEGA'']


    "no i get that, but what are you? a mask or something else?"


    [I AM INTEGRATED COMBAT INTELLIG-]


    "you already told me that, hey Dax is it broken?"


    "could you just shut up already? Viktor you have been asking that thing questions all day, could you give it a rest already!?"


    "buuut i can lean so much from ICI. when it answers in a way i can understand. so what are these ''atoms'' you talked about earlier"


    [ATOMS ARE THE BUILDING BLOCKS OF THE UNIVERSE. MADE BY SUBATOMIC PARTICLES THEIR COMPOSITION DETERMINE MELTING AND BOILING POINT, SUBATOMIC PARTICLES FROM PROTONS, ELECTRONS AND NEUTRONS WITH A POSITIVE, NEGATIVE AND NEUTRAL CHARGE RESPECKTALLY. PROTONS AND NEUTRONS FROM GROUPS DOING NUCLEAR FUSION IN MAIN SEQUENCE STARS. DIFFERENT ARRANGEMENTS OF PROTONS AND NEUTRONS ORBITED BY ELECTRONS FROM BASIC ELEMENTS. BASIC ELE- CONTACT DETECTED: HEAT SIGNATURES AT 656 METERS ON BERING 175 DEGREES. CLOSING AT APPROXIMATELY 10 METERS PER SECOND.]


    "Viktor give me back my mask i''m gonna need it, if the contact is hostile i''ll take care of it, it''s the least i can do"


    "enemies? i don''t sense anything are you sur- wait no there is something moving towards us, Viktor get ready!"


    stopping in a cleaning of the quiet forest, Dax took position in front of Alice and Viktor how readyed their staff and bow respectively. after about 30 seconds passed, the sound of several loud footsteps could be heard and the the ground quietly quaked, slowly getting louder.


    "are they friendly Alice?"


    "i''m afraid not it sounds like trolls, 4 or 5 of them they''re too close so we can''t run Viktor! this is gonna be tough, let''s try to escape after killing 1 or 2 of them"


    "what are trolls, are they tough? well it doesn''t matter i''ll take care of them. ICI?"


    [CONFIRMED. ENTERING LIMITED COMBAT MODE LEVEL 6: RELEASING LIMITERS, COMMANDER NOW OPERATING WITH 20% OF MUSCLE FIBERS. INITIALIZING ICI CEREBRAL LINK FOR COMBAT OPERATIONS. STANDBY..]


    Dax felt his vision expand, every sense sharpened and became clearer with additional sensory data in the form of inferred, LIDAR and other sensors provided by ICI. Dax now saw what was moving towards them with the help of the reaper mask, 4 large humanoids, standing about 6 meters tall with a thick layer of fat, giveing them orange hue through infrared vision


    [CONTACT IN 40 SECONDS. CEREBRAL LINK MOVING TO FASE 2. STARTING MIND MELD]


    "what are you doing Dax! get back we will take care of this"


    "[NegaTive.]"


    "Dax are you okay?"


    standing in front of her, Alice felt that Dax had somewhat changed, she didn''t have time to wonder about that however, as she saw 4 trolls beach the forest clearing, about 10 meters in front of them. trolls are uncommon in the black forest, but some do hunt there, standing about 6 meters tall with thick brown skin they are some of the largest humanoids, but are considered monsters due to their low intelligence and taste for human meat.


    "[MIND MELT COMPLETE. 4 HOSTILES DETECTED]"


    hearing Dax''s voice with ICI''s metallic overlapping, Alice felt the same fear she did when they originally fought and her legs started to shake.


    "[hey don''t worry Alice, i''ll be rigHt bAck. coNfirMing aggrESsion. MoviNg to EXtermiNate 4 hosTilEs]"


    after giving Alice a few pats on the head, Dax turned around to face the 4 trolls, seemingly more angry than before form being ignored, and one of the smaller trolls started charging Dax wielding a large wooden club


    "[HOSTILE ALPHA 1 ENGAGING. TARGET STRUCTURE ANALYSED. 153 WEAK SPOTS DETECTED. EXTERMINATING]"


    getting down in a four point starting position like a sprinter before a race, Dax seemingly waited for the charging troll to get close, and after the troll had closed to about 5 meters Dax set of in a sprint, instantly closing the distance to under a meter Dax jumped towards the troll, kneeing it in the jaw, pulverizing the skull and sending a mix of bone, blood and graymatter flying everyware, instantly killing the first troll.


    "[HOSTILE ALPHA 1 EXTERMINATED]"


    after killing the first troll Dax sounded a soulless report before landing right in front of his next


    target.


    "UUURRRAAG!"


    the troll that Dax landed near inmelatly voiced its displeasure that its kin got killed by a tiny demonkin while swinging its large wooden klub down on the strange demon to kill it


    "[CALCULATING MASS, COMPLETE: INTERSEPING]"


    catching the club with one hand and graphing it, Dax pulled the club closer and stabbed his other hand into the eye of the troll as is fell forward


    "UUUURAAAGG!"


    "[sHut Up. yOU''rE wAy toO LOud]"


    digging his hand longer into the eye of the troll, it finally stopped screaming and let go of its club.


    "[HOSTILE ALPHA 2 EXTERMINATED. EXTERMINATING TARGET 3 ALPHA]"


    grasping the club from the now dead troll, Dax threw it with superhuman strength at an another troll, hitting it square in the face, killing it instantly.


    "[One leFt]"


    the last troll not feeling particularly brave after seeing its kin being slaughtered, it tried to run, but only got about 3 steps before a series of shots rang out, and its head exploded


    "[ALL TARGETS SUPPRESSED]"

 Chapter 10 - Incarceration

    Alice was completely stunned, what would have taken a squad of elite knights or adventures about 15 minutes and a lot of blood, Dax just achieved in under a minute. Dax had single handedly defeated, no annihilated the 4 trolls, killing them instantly without suffering a single scratch, Alice now realised that he could have killed her and Viktor without much effort earlier, and he still could


    (we must absolutely never make a enemy of him, if we do i feel like that would be the end of the kingdom, and most of the inhabitants, luckelly the gods only blessed us with one Qiton, so if we can get him to work for us we would never need to worry about any future wars)


    looking over at Viktor, Alice could see he had reached the same conclusion and after exchanging a nod they ran over to Dax


    "h-hey Dax what was that! i didn''t expect you to defeat the trolls so easily, good job!"


    "yeah that was really amazing, how did you kick that troll so hard? and the you court that other trolls club so easily, that was impressive!"


    "[iT waS THe LeASt i COuLd dO, dOn''T MEnTion It]"


    Dax''s and ICI''s voices still overlapped when he wore a strained smile, coursing Viktor and Alice to stare at him with a confused look.


    "what happend to your voice?"


    "yeah i was wondering that as well Alice, didn''t it start just before the fight? is it some kind of magic?"


    "[oH ThiS? IcI wE''re dOne]"


    [LIMITED COMBAT MODE TERMINATINADED]


    "it''s not really ''magic'' per say but technology, i can synchronize my counsusnes with ICI greatly improving my mental capacity and allow me to use much more of my strength safely. normally my strength is highly limited in low gravity or surrounded by soft things"


    "soft things?"


    "my pistol, that rock over there, your head when i patted it earlier. it''s all a question about scale"


    as a demonstration Dax picked up a rock and crushed it like soft clay with a single hand


    "in short ICI regulates and limits my strength outside combat and enhances my tactical awareness and response speed in combat"


    "..."


    Alice and Viktor just stared at him looking confused


    "i get stronger and faster, but i''m still in control"


    "but is it magic?"


    "no Viktor it''s not magic, i can''t even use magic, i don''t even know what that is"


    "well it did look a bit like strengthening magic"


    "Strengthing what?"


    now it was Dax''s turn to look confused


    "strengthening magic, it''s the basic of basics even Alice can do that"


    "HEY!"


    "s-sorry but it''s true"


    "i''m pretty sure i told you guys already but what is this ''magic'' stuff"


    "yeah sorry we never did tell you about that, Viktor can you explain?"


    "magic is the base of our world, we use it in daily life to light fires, make water flow and grow crops and to heal our wounds, we call that life magic. in combat we command the local elements, summoning fire, water and rock to destroy enemy armies, we call that attack and defence magic depending on the use, but magic also works internally, strengthening muscles and the mind, sharpening one''s mind, we call that strengthening magic"


    "what are the conditions for using attack and defence magic?"


    "first you need to chant, well i say ''chant'' but it''s more like gathering mana in the area and taking control of one of the 3 elements before you use it for either offence or defence, then it''s just a case of commanding the elements to use for you"


    "if it''s called chanting then why is there no chanting?"


    "because it was normal to chant up until about 100 years ago, until a elven sage revolutionized chanting by making specialized magic runes and indgravering them in magic crystals that you just need to channel mana into to complete the chant, we call those catalysts. well in special cases you would still need to chant but that''s only for extremely large scale magic"


    standing with closed eyes Dax appeared to try and absorb the new knowledge for a moment until he opened his eyes and started asking questions


    "how large of a scale are we talking about?"


    "large enough to level cities, but only a handful of people in this world can pull that of"


    "what about strengthening magic?"


    "i don''t really know about that, Alice is more of a expert on that subject"


    "strengthening magi doesn''t require a chant, it''s more like a reflex that you need to train and train forever, but once you have learned it its very useful, staying awake for days and running for long distances without tiring is just a small feat when you have mastered it"


    "that kind of overwork sounds painful"


    "yeah it kinda is, but i''m used to it, the pain usually goes away after sleeping for a while, that''s why i always sleep for a few days after a patrol, unless SOMEONE wakes me up it''s fine"


    "i''m sorry"


    "it okay let''s just complete this mission so i can go back to sleep, aaaah why didn''t i just quit? i have the money and even if i didn''t i could just find a husband, wait could i even do that? my body is not really womanly per say but-"


    "she gonna go on for a while so you can just ignore her, anyway we need to get back to Black Hollow, it''s this way i think follow me"


    "- am i really not attractive? i mean my chest is kinda small, but i''m confident in my h.i.p.s. don''t some guys like th- hey, HEY! don''t leave me behind, it''s not that way it''s this way"


    snapping back to reality Alice noticed that the guys were leaving her behind and started running after them and starting to act like a proper guide.


    after about 2 hours Alice and Viktor followed by Dax broke the tree line and in the distance they could see Black Hollow surrounded by massive walls and several farms around the city, as they moved closer Dax started drawing the attention of serval farmers with his large frame and weird clothes.


    "hey is that a demon?"


    "i don''t know, but isn''t that a ranger in the lead? there''s no way a ranger would lead a demon towards the city"


    "huh, maybe it''s some kind of beastkin?"


    "must be, we don''t see many of them around here, i''m gonna tell my son about that when i get home"


    "looks like i''m attracting a lot of attention, is this gonna be a problem?"


    "it''s no problem, i''m technically a highly ranked ranger is it''s all fine! besides it''s not like anything can really stop you"


    "technically you have been demoted several times because of unruly conduct"


    "i can hear you Viktor!"


    "hiii! i''m sorry but it''s the truth"


    "come on kids, calm down let''s get to the gate before it closes"


    ""we''re not kids!""


    "in my eyes you are, come on let''s go the geats are closing in a bit right?"


    about 10 minutes later they reached the main gate at the outer wall. the about 50 meters high brown wall had lots of discolorations stemming from what appeared to be years of repair and battle, the only thing striking Dax as unique was several large blue glowing circle patterns placed at regular intervals and how the wall appeared to made of only compressed dirt.


    "this wall is impressive, but how the hell was it build, with ''magic''?"


    "yeah it was made with large scale magic, it took a team of royal mages about a month putting up segments and reinforcing them with runes, see? that''s one up there"


    pointing at one of the glowing circular glowing rune on the wall with a excited look, Viktor started explaining about the wall.


    "but isn''t that a huge weak point? i''m guessing that ''rune'' thing is what keeps the structure standing, it''s practically just a huge target"


    "that''s what so brilliant about it! you see it''s a two way rune system, so if the outer rune fails a inner one takes over"


    "and if that one fails?"


    "then another rune freezes the whole wall segment and keeps it frozen for a week until repairs can be made, it''s really amazing! it was designed by this awesome half elf mage from the royal guard"


    "all of this is very interesting but we need to get to the gate now guys"


    hurrying on to the gate Dax quickly found himself staring down multiple speartips with scarred gate guards behind.


    "hold still d-demon! now tell us why you''re here!"


    "HEY i told you that he''s not a demon already! captain Russell told me to bring Dax to him"


    "he''s a qiton not a demon, let him go already"


    "Alice stay away please, you''re clearly under some sort of spell, you too Viktor i''ve never heard of this ''qiton'' race before"


    [WARNING. TREATS DETECTED: MOVE. AWAY. NOW.]


    "sorry, SORRY please don''t stab me with that! it was a poor joke, ICI disregard any further aggression"


    because of ICI''s poorly timed warning the guards were now even less likely to let him enter the city, Dax gave a slight sigh as tried to figure out a solution to his present problem


    "okay how about we just all calm down okay, you guys clearly don''t trust me and nothing Alice or Viktor says is gonna change that right? so i suggest you guys do what you need me to do and Alice and Viktor go on in and report to captain Russell and then everyone wins. okay?"


    "we need you to leave this city and never come back, please"


    "that i can''t do i need to talk to this captain Russell, also please stop poking me with that spear it''s ineffective, Alice do you have a jail or something you could leave me in so these guys can feel safe while you talk with Russell"


    "no! you leave this city now! i''m not gonna ask you again, just go away you f.u.c.k.i.n.g demon!"


    apparently tired from discussing matters with the demon one of the younger guards charged at Dax and stabbed his spear in Dax''s stomach


    "what are you doing! Dax he didn''t mean it so please don''t be mad!"


    "that''s it i''m so done, let''s get a move on Alice where''s the jail?"


    Dax being extremely pissed that one of the guards tried to kill him and started to walk past the gate, completely ignoring the guards trying to kill him as they pointlessly tried to stab him to death.


    "Alice is it this or that way to the jail? also stop that you guys are not gonna hurt me"


    "what the hell is this demon made of! i can''t pierce it''s skin!"


    "Alice!"


    "y-yeah it''s that way just around the corner"


    "okay let''s go"


    "go for its eye!"


    "oh that the one thing you don''t get to do, don''t you f.u.c.k.i.n.g dare this is my only eye i have left"


    continuing along the wall while blocking guards from stabbing spears in his eye, he soon found himself in front of a series of rusty metal cages standing along the inside of the outer wall, most of them empty but a few housed what appeared to be vagents or drunks sobering up for the night. picking a empty cage away from the other prisoners, Dax entered the cage and sat down inside, closed his eye and crossed his legs.


    "i''m gonna stay here until you guys get that captain of yours down here to let me out"


    "and if we can''t convince him to do that?"


    "i''ll just stay here, i don''t age remember? oh and these guards can keep trying to kill me until they die of old age, everyone wins right?"


    Alice and Viktor made their way back to Russell''s office as the sun was setting, and after Alice pushed her way past several other rangers she explained everything that had happened to her and Viktor over the last few days


    "you honestly expect me to believe that, like a single piece?"


    "yeah we do"


    "that what appears to be a demonkin now locked in a cage down at the outer gate is actually an alien from another world?"


    "yes"


    "Viktor you can leave us"


    "what why!?"


    "just leave please, orders from your superior"


    "okay i got it, see you later Alice"


    as Viktor left it was just Alice and Russell in the room, Russell stood up and closed the curtains and placed a runestone on the table before pouring mana into it and only stopping when the stone emitted a faint purple glow


    "did it threaten you? there''s no eyes or ears on us now"


    "he¡­ didn''t, well he did scare me a bit when he annihilated those tolls"


    "is it gonna be a treat?"


    "if we anger him the kingdom might not survive"


    "is it-he is really that strong?"


    "i believe so, and he''s smart i feel like he''s looking through any lie we tried to tell him, when we were scared of him he saw right through us"


    "and what was his reaction?"


    "looked like a mix between sadness and disappointment in himself. and then there''s that other voice it''s something else, what it told Viktor seemed to shake his very foundation and excite him at the same time, told him something about how they believe the world to work and from what Dax showed makes me think we could use the help"


    "how could he help us?"


    "i believe he''s completely capable exterminating any and all monsters near this area alone. with his bare hands, and then there''s the healing, i saw him heal a pretty deep cut on his arm almost instantly and even if he wears a eyepatch over his one eye it''s very likely that he can still see out of it, it''s likely that he could even heal Terra"


    "that''s all well and good but can we trust him?"


    "yes."

 Chapter 11 - Endless Conflict

    "that''s one more! ICI how many left!?"


    [DETECTING 439 ADDITIONAL CONTACTS]


    "F.U.C.K ME!"


    how many days had he been fighting? Dax had been tempted to ask ICI a thousand times by now, but he never did ask, because he that knew he wouldn''t like the answer. how long time had passed he wondered, while crushing the throat of a toll with a well placed kick.


    "UUURRRAA-"


    "shut up! f.u.c.k why didn''t it die the first time, am i getting tired?"


    seeing that his kick was ineffective on the troll, Dax instead ripped its throat with his hand in annoyance


    [LIKELY HYPOTHESIS: IT HAS BE-]


    "i don''t want to know! it''s gonna make me even more pissed if you tell me!"


    [INPUT CONFIRMED. NEXT CONTACT CLOSING IN]


    when Dax had opened his eyes he didn''t find himself inside the poorly metal cage at the outer gate of Black Hollow as he had hoped, but in a sea of fire. before he could get his bearings ICI had warned him about a large amount of mana in the air, and a immense explosion had followed, completely obliterating the giant wall behind him and opening it to a hoard of monsters. Dax felt like that had been weeks ago, he had lost track of how many times the white moon in the sky had passed over him already, but one thing hasn''t changed in all that time: the monsters never stopped coming.


    "F.U.C.K OFF!"


    as the next hoard of monsters rushed at him, Dax picked up a dead guards spear and threw it at the biggest troll in the group, the spear instantly found its target, burying itself in the skull of the troll with a wet sound. the small amount of guards that had survived the sudden hellfire had been some of the fist to fall in the following battle, either to the trolls or by trying to flee into the hellfire that had reaped most of the city in moments. the first few hours had been the most mentally draining, screams of arguably unlucky survivors could be heard from time to time and the hardest ones on Dax''s mind had been the close ones, even knowing that they couldn''t be saved while the monsters where endlessly pushing forward. a few times he had tried to save some by thinning out the hoard rushing in the broken wall with pistol fire and tried to pull survivors out of the hellish fire, but all attempts had failed as there were no one to cover him as he made the rescue. the multiple unsuccessful rescue attempts had however depleted his ammunition, and made the following weeks of endless conflict all the more difficult, a few times when he had pulled back into the rubble of Black Hollow to rest monsters had swarmed him from out of nowhere, succeeding in causing a small amount of damage on Dax. the small amount of damage had mounted over the seemingly endless days and about a week ago the damage to his overall body had caused Dax to make an increasing amount of non lethal punches and kicks, tiring him out even more. his first fatal flaw was against a particular deformed troll, its head had been about one and a half times bigger than the standard troll he had become extremely well acquainted with over the last few weeks and its arms and legs had also been miss matched, probably because of significant inbreeding or some sort of disease. Dax had not given the particular specimen a lot of attention, only kicking it in the throat and destroying its windpipe like he had done endless times to its kin. it was only when a rare and skilled troll wielding a greatsword had appeared that his earlier mistake became apparent, the troll with the greatsword had posed a challenge and Dax had decided to wait and tire it out by staying near the end of its sword reach and pulling back slowly, as luck would have it Dax reatreated near the apparently not so dead deformed troll, and when he had come to close the misshapen troll had leaped forward and bit his leg, allowing the sword wielding troll to get a hit in that destroyed his cybernetic arm. the sword had hit Dax right on his elbow joint, shattering the cybernetic nerves and denting the joint making it useless, in a fit of rage Dax had shattered the rest of his elbow joint himself and used his now detached cybernetic forearm as a javelin, burying it in the head of the sword wielding troll before completely shattering the deformed trolls head with his free foot in a complete case of overkill while spewing a creative range of profanities. losing a limb had become a major disadvantage in combat and Dax had sustained severe injuries, enough to make his auto heal useless, leading to his present desperate situation.


    "Yeah how do you like that bitch!"


    stabbing a literal bich (female wolf) in the neck with a looted sword and killing it he then kicked the wolf corpse while pulling out the sword, the corpse hit a troll in the face, achieving only to piss it of more than it already was.


    "UUURRRAAG!!"


    "yeah d.i.c.k move i know, here accept my apology!"


    tossing his increasingly dull sword at the troll, and hitting it in the throat, Dax scanned the corpse filled battlefield for a new weapon


    "this seems nostalgic somehow¡­"


    after losing his cybernetic arm an unknown amounts of days ago, Dax started to remember bits and pieces of his lost memory, battlefields filled with debris soaked in mud, blood and corpses - cybernetic and organic. in the mommories Dax killed, he killed in creative ways, in brutal ways and in the ways he had been trained. when his rifle had been depleted he used it as a bat, and when that broke he used his pistol, and then his knife, and then his fists. as his fist(s) and uniform became increasingly blood and mud soaked he started to feel more and more at home, at ease and he started to revel in it he felt a home on the battlefield more so than when he was off duty and he still did even when surrounded by monsters.


    "i f.u.c.k.i.n.g love war!"


    [BROKEN MEMORY SEGMENTS RECOVERED. SUSPENDING FAIL STATE SIMULATION.


    FINAL SCORE:


    6048 HOURS ELAPSED


    785.412 PERFECT KILLS CONFIRMED


    528 IMPERFECT KILLS CONFIRMED


    99.9998% ACCURACY


    FINAL GRADE: C]


    "ARE YOU F.U.C.K.I.N.G KIDDING ME!"


    finding himself in a completely white room with no walls floor or ceiling, Dax was apparently pretty damn upset.


    [A ENDLESS SIMULATION WITH NO WIN CONDITION OR ICI ASSISTANCE WAS NECESSARY TO RECOVER LOST MEM-]


    "yeah yeah i know that. but a C rating? really?"


    [RATINGS ARE FINAL. GOOD TO HAVE YOU BACK COMMANDER, OR AT LEAST PART OF YOU.]


    "nice to meet you again ICI, suspend animation."


    as Dax once again opened his eyes he found himself in the same fragile metal cage he Incarcerated himself in. it seemed to be morning and lots of people were going about their daily life, the people of Black Hollow wore simple leather and cloth clothing with simple colors, or at least the ones having business near the outer wall. they were mostly humans but a few had longer ears or animal like ears and higher bone density, according to ICI that Dax had felt was even more a part of him. the guards didn''t appear to want to try and kill him anymore, in fact they didn''t even seem to mind his entire existence, and Dax wondered if he could just open the cage and walk out.


    "haloo"


    well someone did mind him, standing in front of the cage Dax was in stod a child about 4 years old. she wore a simple one piece dress and her short white hair and large green eyes gave her a overall innocent look


    "hi, can i help you with anything?"


    "are you a demonkin?"


    "no i''m a qiton"


    "what''s a qyiton?"


    "a kind of knights of honor and justice"


    "WOOW! but what is that?"


    "we stop evil people and help the weak"


    "that''s amazing! you''re just like my dad!"


    jumping around excitedly shouting ''amazing'' for a bit, attracting quite a bit of attention from the morning commuters, before stopping after a bit and staring at Dax with big and curious eyes


    "but then why are you in there?"


    "because some people are afraid of me, so i locked myself in here so they feel safe"


    "afraid? why?"


    "are you not afraid of me?"


    "nooope! my mom told me not to fear people because they are different"


    "well ain''t you just a whole bundle of joy and innocence, can i pat your head?"


    "um! sure!"


    "ara! so that were you went Claire. oh so you are awake now mister demonkin"


    standing behind the child was a woman about 30 years old with the same hair and eye color as her.


    "she''s lovely and she has your eyes, how old is she?"


    "Claire is 4 she''s gonna be 5 next spring"


    "you don''t seem afraid of me either"


    "i grew up in a demonkin trade city so i''m used to your kind, most are harmless, like you. my husband saw how you locked yourself in that cage and started to meditate 2 days ago"


    "that was 2 days ago?"


    "yeah it was, i saw you when i walked by yesterday morning about 6 guards was trying to stab you to death with spears but you didn''t seem to mind, when i came by in the evening the guards seem like they were a bit exhausted, my husband told me later the evening that they spent most of the day trying to kill you without effeckt, that was hilarious"


    "is that so? can i ask something else?"


    "yes what is it?"


    "can i please pat the head of this lovely and adorable creature that is your daughter?"


    "ara, please go right ahead"


    ----


    "good news Alice, i finally got permission from the lord to let Dax out, let''s go pick him up"


    "that''s great! let''s go"


    Russell and Alice made there way from the the ranger barracks behind the inner wall through the one of the larger markes in Black Hollow filled with fruits, vegetables and meats from farms around the city.


    "that reminds me, i haven''t ever seen Dax eat, i wonder if he even eats?"


    "well even if he''s immortal as you say he at least have to eat at some point so let''s get him some good food later"


    "look Russell i know that you want to play the long game by buttering up to Dax, but please let me talk to him first and appolygize for having him put in a cage, then you can do whatever you want after"


    as they arrived at the cages Alice and Russell saw a large mob of middle aged men standing around Dax''s cage, some were laughing, others just looked on silendly.


    "HEY what are you people doing!?"


    Alice quickly pushed her way past the mob but to her surprise she didn''t find Dax being swamd by guards or the like. but Dax playing with a little girl and a woman that looked like her mother laughing loudly, and when she looked back into the crowd she only saw warm and smiling faces of old men.


    "Dax what are you doing?"


    "entertaining the most adorable creature i have ever seen, what else does it look like? Clair how can you be this cute? it''s against the rules"


    as Dax ruffled Claire''s hair he wore the same smile as the old men around him while Claire''s mother seemed like she couldn''t stop laughing, when Alice compared Dax''s and all the old men''s smile she started to believe that he was as old as he said.


    "i''m sorry i had to come to this Dax, and i''m sorry it took so long for my superior convince the lord that you''re no theat so we can let you out"


    "ah i don''t mind it. being in here gave me time to think, and then i meet Claire so it''s all good, besides if i wanted to leave i could have long ago"


    as if demonstrating Dax bent one of the metal bars like it was made soft clay, coursing Russell standing in the background much surprise


    "WOW Dax you''re strong! amazing!"


    "not as amazing as you Claire, how are your cheeks so soft?"


    "some weapon of mass destruction you are.. here let me unlock the cage"


    Alice quickly unlocked the cage by pouring mana into the lock and let Dax out, to Claire''s confusion


    "Dax, are you going?"


    "yeah sadly, these people need to speak with me about something important, Alice can you entertain Claire for a bit? i need to talk with her mother real quick"


    "who is that?"


    "Claire this is Alice, she''s also a kind of knight of honor and justice, she''s also really strong like me, plus she''s almost as adorable as you so you should get along, okay?"


    "WOOOW! Alice how strong are you!?"


    "w-well i''m actually one of the strongest rangers in this city, but it''s not a big deal really but it''s true i''m stronger than-"


    "miss can i talk with you for a second in private? it''s about Claire"


    "sure, what is it?"


    "-so i''m not really the strongest in this city but it''s pretty close i think"


    "WOOOW! that amazing! Alice you''re awesome, just like Dax!"


    "well i guess that''s true, aha hahahaha-"


    "Alice would you snap out of it i''m done now"


    "-ah i''m sorry"


    "well your sense of pride is adorable so it''s fine"


    "wha-!"


    while Alice''s face turned deep crimson, Dax went over to Russell to introduce himself


    "i assume you''re Alice''s boss, nice to meet you my name is Dax"


    "that''s right my name is Russell Williams i''m the Black Hollow Ranger''s Commanding officer"


    both wearing smiles like seasoned politicians, Dax and Russell exchanged a handshake while evanuatening each other like veteran warriors.


    "good to meet you Russell, can we move somewhere more private to talk?"


    "sure let''s go back to my office, Alice come on stop blushing and follow us"


    "i-i''m not blushing okay!"


    "actually can we go to the top of this wall instead? i assume that''ll be private enough"


    "yeah we can do that, but why?"


    "i would like to get a overview of the city"


    "Dax are you leaving?"


    "yeah sorry but i''ll be back later to play, i already talked with your mom about it"


    "promise?"


    looking at Dax with big and slightly teary eyes Dax couldn''t refuse even if his life depended on it


    "yeah i promise, on the honor of my clan i will return to play with you Claire"


    "okay, see you later Dax"


    Dax and Russell made there way up a nearby stairwell, followed by the still blushing Alice and when they climbed the stairs they found themselves on top of the 50 meters tall wall overlooking most of the city. after Russell had cleared a segment of the wall of guards they had it to themselves.


    "allow me to reintroduce myself. my name is Dax and i''m a qiton of the Alpha-4 clan witch i lead and the commanding general of the 125th combined ops orbital drop troops or ''Hellwalkers'' of the Galactic empire. about 94 of your years ago my ship suffered a ambush that caused a emergency jump that landed me near your world, what you have seen as a recent ''starfall'' was the debris of my ship making planetfall. i''m making contact with your country because i think that we both can benefit from mutual cooperation and mutual non aggression pact while i recover the main reactor and primary FTL drive unit of my derelict ship so i can leave this world and rejoin my own"


    "mutual cooperation? what can you offer?"


    "as i told Alice and Viktor a few days ago, extermination of any and all hostiles and medical or technological assistance, as long as my conditions are met"


    as Dax mentioned conditions, Russell lost his smile


    "what kind of conditions?"


    "calm down, my only conditions is that any and all intact ''orbs'' that survived planetfall fall under the ownership of the galactic empire and that i reserve right to terminate the non aggression pact if i find any breaches of the treatment of any and all intelligent species per the Avoxaian treaty"


    "i''m sorry what? i don''t know that treaty "


    "if i find that your country or representatives in any way discriminate and/or purge sentient species because of racial or religious bias i reserve the right to sterilize you from orbit"


    "wait what did you say, i didn''t understand that last part?"


    "if i find that your county commit genocide or discriminate against any race i won''t cooperate and we may become enemies"


    "i find that fair, but it''s not my job to decide, so i will send it up the food chain"


    "that''s all i could hope for, nice doing business with you Russell"


    "likewise, now are you gonna tell me the real reason you wanted to come up here?"


    "yeah, i want to scan for other orbs that might have landed nearby, can i?"


    "sure go ahead"


    "great, ICI give me 100% physical with no limiters and prepare for a long range scan"


    [AUTHENTICATION REQUIRED]


    "that''s not good, Russell move back!"


    "registration 044587356420, and yeah Russell, you might want to move back"


    [CONFIRMED. REMOVING ALL PHYSICAL LIMITERS, COMMANDER DAX NOW OPERATING AT FULL STRENGTH]


    "it is great to be back, now let''s do some light warm up"


    jumping a bit in place with almost no effort, Dax made a few jabs and kicks in the air in front of him that made small sonic booms to the great surprise of Russell


    "well i''ll be right back, ICI status?"


    [READY FOR LONG DISTANCE SCAN]


    "great, let''s go"


    squatting down Dax took a deep breath and jumped, leaving a small crater in his wake


    "what the hell is that creature? i''m so glad you told us not to fight him Alice"


    "yeah he really is a monster, when he wiped the floor with me and Viktor earlier he was holding back greatly"


    "i would be amazing if we could get him to help us"


    about 2 minutes later Dax landed outside the wall, creating a large cloud of dust and dirt, before jumping back up to Russell and Alice.


    "i found 2 orbs nearby, one about 25 kilometers away and the other about 248 kilometers away, if you assist me in recovering them i will owe you a personal favor Russell"

 Chapter 12 - Preparations

    (MUSCLE DECAY NEARING CRITICAL. LIMITING SETHENGH TO 10% UNTIL REPAIRS CAN BE MADE)


    (i kinda overdid it huh, i need to recover a orb as soon as possible before i run out of active nanites in my bloodstream)


    "a personal favor is it, what kind?"


    "assassination, technological know-how or medical assistance. however medical assistance will have to wait a until i''ve recovered at least one orb"


    "why is that?"


    "there are several reasons. i''m out of active nanites i use for healing, i expended most of them to heal Alice and Viktor and i need the rest to sustain myself. also to regrow organs and limbs i need equipment that is likely to be in the closest orb"


    "i would like you to heal a relative of mine, well we can talk about the details later. for now let''s get something to eat, Dax you do eat right?"


    "yeah i do, it''s been a while since i last ate so i would be grateful"


    "i know a good place nearby, let''s go. Alice you wanna join us?"


    "huh!? can i?"


    Alice standing in the background listening was surprised when her name was mentioned, let alone invited to one of the high class restaurants she knew Russell freqended


    "yeah you''ve earned it, i''m gonna find another reward for Viktor later so don''t worry"


    "yay!- ah sorry, come on let''s go"


    "well now i''m also looking forward to it"


    (i wonder how food is in this world..)


    while wondering about what kind of cuisine he would encounter, Dax followed Russell and the drooling Alice, they moved in towards the inner wall while the sun was slowly setting. the inner wall appeared to be just if not taller than the outer one, and appearing to be made of white marble.


    "we''re here now, this is place"


    they had arrived at what appeared to be a 3 story inn with a restaurant on the ground floor. the building, like the others in the area, was made of a supporting frame of load bearing timber, with a kind of colored clay for the filling giving the street a overall colorful look.


    "well let''s just go in and see if they have any open reservations"


    "eh, is it really fine? i''m still wearing leather armor and Dax is.. wearing¡­ something"


    "it''s a zero g flight suit"


    "a¡­ what?"


    "something you wear under armor, that allows you to survive in space, well i''m gonna need to get some more normal clothes at some point, so i stick out a little less"


    "i don''t think that''s possible for you to not stand out, well let''s go"


    after getting a table for 3, Dax was faced with a new problem


    "yep, i can''t read this"


    "wait you can''t, but you talk our language just fine?"


    "yeah well that''s because i kinda stole/copied that from Alice and Viktor"


    "you... did.. what to me?"


    "oooh so you can actually look scary Alice, well calm down and let me explain. i didn''t look at any of your thoughts, ideas or memorys as that is highly illegal. well i''ll just have to lean it"


    (ICI start analysis.)


    (CONFIRMED, INNISALYZING PATTERN RECOGNITION ANALYSIS)


    "for now i''ll just have whatever you would recommend Russell"


    "is there anything you can''t eat?"


    "nope, but it''s been a while since i last ate so a big portion would be appreciated"


    "in that case i recommend a beef entrecote, what about you Alice?"


    "i''ll just have a stew"


    after eating Russell ordered some wine for the 3 of them


    "what is this?"


    "this is a red gr.a.p.e wine, it''s made by fermenting and ageing a mix of gr.a.p.es in wooden casks"


    "ooOo! so you have alcohol in this world too? that''s amazing"


    "what''s your world like Dax?"


    "well where to begin? the world i''m from is called Tau Ceti F it used to be cold and dead long ago, but it''s was terraformed to serve as the home of my race."


    "tarrafromed?"


    [TERRAFORMING OR PLANETARY ENGINEERING: THE ACT OF TRANSFORMING A PLANET''S ATMOSPHERE, MAGNETIC FIELD, ECOLOGY AND/OR SURFACE TOPOGRAPHY TO MAKE IT MORE HABITABLE]


    "the biggest difference would be the gravity, it''s about 3 times stronger than here so everything weighs about 3 times more"


    "that seems.. rough"


    "well it''s not so bad, qitons are designed to live in even stronger gravity. but sadly that not the case for humans so qitons mostly live isolated, so most people sadly fear us because of our image of inhumane killing machines, that we appear as when fighting in wars. well that''s enough about my history for now, let''s focus on recovering the first orb, please take a look at this map"


    extending his right hand forward with the palm up Dax only got a confused looks from Russell and Alice until he realized his mistake.


    "ah sorry, ICI switch form AR to holoprodjeksion"


    [CONFIRMED. RENDERING TERRAIN MAP..]


    now appearing from Dax''s cybernetic hand was a circular hologram about 30 centimeters in diameter showing a map over the nearby area


    "this is Black Hollow and this is the orb i landed in, finally this is the orb i want to recover the contents of"


    pointing at different parts of the hologram, Dax quickly explained where the orb was located


    "that''s not good, you see what i''m seeing Russell?"


    "yeah that''s about 5 kilometers from that large arachnid nest"


    "arachnid? they don''t sound friendly"


    "that''s because they''re not, arachnids are large flesh eating spiders, they have a tough exoskeleton and move fast so they''re a pain to deal with"


    "how big are they?"


    "about 2 to 3 meters tall when fully grown"


    "how do they attack, any ranged?"


    "they have no ranged attacks, but can quite easily stab you to death with their legs"


    "so not quite a tank, but more like a AFV with lots of spears strapped to it¡­.. how many are there?"


    "unknown. most likely more than 50, i send word to the capital a few days ago for help in clearing them out, but that''s not gonna happen anytime soon now that the country is in lockdown"


    "and i need about 5 hours to break through the shell of the orb from the outside, and i currently have no drones to defend me while i do that, plus i only have 5 mags left for my pistol. this is gonna be a pain, can i borrow Alice and Viktor?"


    "it was my plan from the start to have them help you, but you''re gonna need more help than that and a weapon¡­.."


    "that sounds expensive"


    "yeah it''s not gonna be cheap, but i''ll finance the whole thing as thanks for returning my subordinates unharmed. go rest now Dax i''ve rented a room here for you to stay in, Alice will come by in the morning and take you to a weapon store, while i organize a team from the hunter''s guild that can back you guys up"


    "thanks i''m gonna pay you back when i can, but i''m still in your debt Russell, see you tomorrow Alice"


    leaving Alice and Russell with a bow after getting his key, Dax went upstairs to find his room.


    "are you insane?"


    "in what regard?"


    "me and Viktor holding off a swarm of pissed arachnids, even with a team of hunters that''s unreasonable"


    "it''s not gonna be a swarm, at the most 4 or 5 that far from the nest, and Dax will be there too plus a team of hunters, and you will have time to set up defences around the orb"


    "i still don''t like it what if the colony have started to roam?"


    "there''s no way that''s gonna happen, the colony only have a single queen, you did the recon yourself remember?"


    monster hunters as the name implies make their living of hunting monsters and are ranked by the guild.


    the lowest rank is iron and is mostly made of up beginners under basic training.


    above iron is bronze they''re a bit stronger than iron but are still mostly useless against anything other than the weakest monsters


    after bronze is silver, they make up a large part of the hunters, a group of about 4 can kill a single troll with some injuries


    the rank above silver is gold, gold ranked hunters are rare in smaller towns, but every larger city have at least one party, and a single one can kill a single troll with ease.


    after gold is platinum, they mostly stick to capitals of larger trade hubs, a single one can clear a camp of trolls while sustaining a small amount of injuries.


    above platinum is the highest conventional rank that makes up the top 1% of all hunters: mithril they command parties of platinum hunters or form 2 or 3 man party''s that can kill a single low tier dragon with a few fatalities.


    the final rank is adamantium, only a handful exists in the world and they all hold titles of high nobility in different countries, a single one can kill a mid tier dragon barehanded.


    organizing all the hunters is the hunters guild. the guild handles the contracting and organizing of requests from varying governments and private customers, looking for monster parts for crafting potions or recon/clearing of specific areas. customers pay a small fee besides the pay to the hunters for a request, the guild sources reliable hunters and works a middleman in price negotiation, and the hunters get job safety and protection from being scammed by employers


    "so did you understand all that Dax?"


    "wow you''re actually smart Alice. wait! it was a joke so don''t stab me please!"


    Dax and Alice, with a lot of bed hair, was walking to a weapons store near the inner wall while Alice was explaining the hunters guild to Dax.


    "by the way, what kind of weapons can you use Dax?"


    "anything will do, but i would like a blunt weapon for going up against enemies with exoskeletons"


    "but is there any weapons you''re not good with?"


    "i''ve been training and fighting for over 750 years, i don''t think there''s a weapon i haven''t mastered. but i''m most comfortable with knifes, swords, pistols and rifles as they''re the ones i mainly use"


    "what''s a rifle? some kind of bow?"


    "no, if i had to describe it in simple terms it''s kind of a self reloading crossbow, except a lot stronger and fires a lot faster than you are imagining now"


    "that seems like an amazing weapon"


    "yeah i could''ve killed all the trolls we encountered a few days ago instantly if i had one"


    "i can''t even imagine that¡­ oh we''re here now"


    Alice stopped in front of a rarer brick building with a large chimney at the back, at the front was a larger than normal door, that Dax didn''t even need to duck under to enter


    "well this is nice, for once a door appears to be made for someone of my size"


    "yeah that''s because a lot of large humanoids like or use weapons"


    "let''s take a look"


    opening the door with a childish look, Dax''s face lit up like a child in a toy store. Swords, warhammers, battleaxes, spears, shields and different kinds of armor packed the whole store as far as Dax could see


    "ooOOoo! so this is this worlds weapons, very interesting"


    "why is a weapons store so interesting?"


    "well for me it''s like walking in a museum. that and i''m a qiton, it''s in my genes to love any and all kinds of weapons"


    "are you saying my weapons are primitive? you have a lot of nerve demonkin!"


    "i knew this would happen¡­ hallo Alex this is Dax, he needs a new weapon"


    "yeah well he can find that elsewhere, like in a dump!"


    standing in front of Dax and Alice was a pissed off dwarf. Alex, as Alice called, him wore a sturdy leather apron filled to brim with blacksmithing tools over simple hard leather clothes leading Dax to assume his profession and reason for anger.on his head Alex wore a black piece of cloth as a bandana, working as makeshift fireproofing for his dence red hair underneath. the dence and slightly curly hair perfectly matched his curly and long beard, and at the moment, his red furious face.


    (this looks like a setup for a really bad joke..)


    while Alice looked at the short Alex screaming furiously at Dax she couldn''t help to think so


    "no i meant that the weapons are so far removed from anything i normally use, so i''m quite fascinated, i didn''t in any way mean to imply that the weapons you make are primitive"


    "who the hell would find a sword foreign!? are you daft or what!?"


    Dax quickly picked up a nearby sword and gave it a few swings before starting to examine it closely


    "what the hell are you doing!! get out of my shop NOW"


    "i thought it was made of iron but on closer look it''s a lower carbon steel alloy. there appears to be a small amount of impurities, but those are almost impossible to get rid of without using coal coke and pure O2, but they don''t impact performance much so it would be purely cosmetic to get rid of them. the more interesting part is the atomic crystal structure of the steel alloy, it''s way too stable for that low carbon content¡­ that must be some kind of magic. it''s also extremely well balanced¡­ did you add a counterbalance in the grip?¡­ no there''s some kind of denser material in the core, that would explain it, and add to the overall durability, what is it? titanium? no even if it''s a heavy alloy that wouldn''t explain it¡­ is it tungsten? that certainly has the density to explain it but it''s way too hard to process¡­ no it''s a steel tungsten alloy with maybe a bit of chromium, am i right?"


    ""...""


    "did i say something strange?"


    "aha! ahahahaha!! not bad Dax, in fact that''s brilliant! you''re completely correct i do use a denser metal in the core and magic, it''s a secret that has passed down in my family for generations!"


    "ah, are you mad i told Alice that?"


    "no i''m not mad! Alice is a smart lass so she knows to keep a secret, more importantly let me shake your hand!"


    "nice to meet you Alex"


    "you too Dax. so you need a weapon?"


    "yeah for killing some arachnids, oh and i can''t use any kinds of magic"


    "i''ve never heard of a demonkin that couldn''t use magic"


    "that''s because i''m not a demonkin, well that''s a story for another time. do you have any recommendations for a weapon?"


    "arachnids huh¡­ no need for any runes or crests since you can''t use magic.. would you prefer a one or two handed sword? and what about the weight?"


    "a one handed sword would be ideal and as heavy as possible"


    "i don''t really have anything like tha- no wait i do, follow me"


    Alex turned around and headed deeper into his store and disappeared behind a door at the counter, leaving Dax and Alice behind


    "i don''t have all day!"


    "i think we should follow him"


    finding Alex in a storeroom filled with weapons behind the shop counter looking through the messy inventory


    "now where the f.u.c.k is that sword, i know i left it somewhere¡­ ah there it is"


    Alex pulled out a dusty two handed sword form a weapons rack and gave it to Dax that started to examine it with great care


    "i made this for a blockhead of a adventurer a while ago, the daft one couldn''t use any magic but he was strong as a demon, the idiot died before i could finish it however, but it''s the most robust and heavy sword i ever made, go ahead and try it out"


    "this is a titanium steel alloy! amazing craftsmanship and it''s so perfectly balanced. how much for it?"


    "you can have it for free, it''s unsellable goods just promise to share a beer with me when you''re done with all your arachnid business"


    "i''m in your dept Alex, i owe you a lot more than a beer"


    "that you do, let''s talk weapons next time, i would love to know what kinds of weapons your kind use"


    "now for something to test it on"


    "ahaha i like your spirit Dax, the hunters guild is always the shortest way to a fight"


    "could you show me the way there Alice?"


    "no way"


    "do you want me to go into combat with a weapon i''m not used to?"


    "it''s still a bad idea"


    "then i will tell Russell our little secret"


    "you wouldn''t¡­"


    "oh i will, ICI?"


    [HE WILL]


    "AARRRG FINE! but this is a really bad idea"

 Chapter 13 - Adventures

    "we''re here now. but please don''t just start a fight"


    standing in front of what Dax thought was a military base, the 3 story building was built out of robust wooden logs and he felt that the building was sturdy enough to survive orbital bombardment.


    "i won''t. don''t look at me like that, what do you think i am?"


    "a living incarnation of war and fighting?"


    "just because i''m good at killing doesn''t mean i enjoy it, i promise i won''t start a fight. but i will be sure to finish it, although in a non lethal way"


    "you swear?"


    "i do."


    Alice stared at Dax for a second with a skeptical look before sighing


    "okay let''s go"


    Dax opened the sturdy looking door, inside was a large hall with several reception desks on the opposite side of the hall manned by a single female receptionist, possibly because of the time of day. in one corner was multiple benches were a few hunters, one of them greeted Dax with open hostility.


    "what the f.u.c.k is a filthy demon doing here!?"


    when one of the hunters saw Dax he quickly drew his sword and started shouting at Dax. the hunter was about a head taller than Alice and wore a dirty leather pants with a slightly dented and durty platemail covering his chest giving Dax the overall impression of a mercenary rather than an adventurer


    (ahh.. i knew this would happen)


    Alice quickly stepped in between Dax and the hunter


    "Will, for once in your f.u.c.k.i.n.g life don''t pick a fight, trust me you''re not gonna win this one"


    "shut your f.u.c.k.i.n.g mouth Alice, i didn''t think you would be a f.u.c.k.i.n.g demon sympathiser!"


    "Dax is not a demon so back off already"


    "how the hell is that not thing not a demon!? are you just retarded or did you go blind like that other ranger bitch!?"


    "I WILL F.U.C.K.I.N.G KILL YOU!"


    Dax had never seen Alice that angry before, even when she thought she was about to die and saw Viktor ''die'' in front of her, she didn''t anywhere as enraged as she did now. in the slowed down reality that was Dax''s world when he focused he could slowly see her clenching her fits so hard that blood folwed form her nails piercing her skin. as ICI warned that Alice was circulating mana and were ''most likely'' or just definitely going to kill this Will dude in a brutal case of overkill.


    (i should properly stop this.. but then again i kinda want to see this duce be squished like a bug...)


    at this point Will had realized that his death was imminent and Dax quite enjoyed watching his futile attempt at getting his sword ready to block Alice''s fist


    (i wonder if she could shatter it, ICI do you know?)


    (UNKNOWN. NO ENOUGH PRIOR DATA)


    (oh well, let''s stop this before Alice dose something she would regret, but this waste of breathable air is not getting away unharmed. ICI prep psychological warfare, level 1 should be enough)


    (PREPARING STRESS PROJEKTION FOR ''WASTE OF BREATHABLE AIR'' ANY REQUESTS FOR THEME?)


    (just follow my lead)


    as the passing of time returned to normal Dax quickly caught Alice''s hand, before lifting her by it and turning around, putting himself in between Alice and Will.


    "LET ME GO DAX I''LL KILL HIM!"


    "yeah i can see that, but calm down for now"


    Dax quickly hugged Alice and started patting her head


    "w-what are you doing!?"


    instantly anger gave way to embarrassment as Dax had just hugged her out of nowhere


    "did you calm down now? i guess not, but you''re way more adorable like this so it''s fine. anyway let me show you something good"


    Dax turned around to once again face the ''waste of air'' that had fallen over when he had realised his impending demise, before Will could utter a single word Dax grabbed him by the throat and lifted him up to Dax''s own eye level


    "she''s with me"


    "HIII d-don''t kill me please!"


    "oh i won''t, i promised Alice i wouldn''t fight randomly. so instead i''ll leave you with a promise"


    "i-i can''t breathe"


    "you don''t need to, just listen to me for a bit. if i ever see your face again i will make you immortal"


    "immortal?"


    Dax pulled him closer and looked him directly in Will directly in his eyes, while whatever was behind Dax''s eyepatch started glowing a ominus red light.


    "yeah, you know undying. then i''ll stick that sword of yours so far up your ass that you''ll be able to taste it, then i will kill anyone you ever cared about, in front of you, while you lie in the dirt, suffering. AND WHEN EVERYONE YOU EVER EVEN CARED ABOUT LIE ROTTING AND FILLED WITH MAGGOTS I WILL USE YOUR UNDYING BODY AS ETERNAL FERTILIZER! understood~?"


    [TARGET SUPPRESSED. PHYSICAL RECOVERY: 2 HOURS AND 4 MINUTES, PSYCHOLOGICAL RECOVERY: UNLIKELY]


    "thats that done then, come on Alice let''s go"


    tossing the fianted adventure aside like a ragdoll Dax looked back at Alice with a warm smile


    "what the f.u.c.k did you do to him?"


    "i just showed him some nice pictures, now come here, your hand is bleeding"


    "i can take care of that myself!"


    "hello Mr. Dax and welcome to the hunters guild, please refrain from doing anything like that inside the guild hall again, as it stains the floor"


    suddenly standing behind Dax was the guild receptionist, she wore a white shirt with a red tie under a black vest with matching black trousers and black shoes. her golden amber hair was set up in a low hair bun with a few streaks of gray hair being the only indication of her age, with her slightly cold golden eyes and her perfect smile gave Dax the impression of a high level corporate business woman.


    "ahh so he did piss himself, i''m sorry, more importantly why do you know me, did Russell tell you?


    "mister Russell informed me of your possible visit today, preparations have been made for your evaluation please follow me"


    "wait, what evaluation?"


    "a evaluation for joining the hunters guild as a corporate contractor. as a contractor you can make requests to the guild at reduced price and have access to our information network, moreover you are not bound by guild regulations as a normal hunter"


    "that seems way too good to be true"


    "certainly, contractors can be requested to deliver sensitive goods, train new hunters or take care of ''problematic hunters'' for the guild. refusal of any such requests will invalidate contractor status, and hunters must be at least platinum rank to be within selection range"


    "so i would gain access to your information network in exchange for becoming an associate member of the guild and having to take out your trash occasionally?"


    "i''m glad you understand, and there will only be a single contracted request once every 3 months at the most"


    "what do you think about it Alice?"


    "I''ve never heard of a hunter being offered contractor status, let alone someone from outside the guild so they might have something special in mind for You. But the guild''s information network can only be compared to that of the central church so think they could help you greatly in finding all sorts of stuff, and they hold a good amount of influence in a lot of country''s so I think you should accept"


    "if you say so, i accept your offer miss"


    "i regret to inform you that it''s not just a question about Dax accepting, certain aptitudes have to be meet in combat and mental fields"


    "yeah platinum rank right¡­ ''able to kill a low level dagon'' huh? that shouldn''t be a problem if i can get my hands on some hardware"


    "while i personally think that would be entertaining, the guild have prepared a different evaluation, please follow me"


    the guild receptionist was apparently happy with Dax''s answer and turned around and walked up the up the stairs to the second floor.


    "hey Alice have you ever seen that guild receptionist before?"


    "no i don''t think so, why?"


    "it''s nothing, let''s follow her"


    after following the receptionist to a second floor conference room Alice and Dax sat down at a large table with the receptionist on the other side.


    "the first part of the evaluation is a interview, miss Alice please step out of the room"


    "she can stay, i trust her"


    "fair enough, i''ll begin then. please state your name first"


    "don''t you already know that? my name is Dax and i lead the Alpha-4 qiton clan"


    the receptionist watched Dax closely with her slightly cold golden eyes while he answered and then swiftly wrote the response down on a piece of paper


    "okay then. where are you from?"


    "i don''t think i ever got your name miss?"


    "that is not relevant information, please answer the question"


    "i''m not of this world"


    "please specify your answer"


    "then please tell me your name"


    just as Alice was about to get mad at Dax for trying to flirt with the receptionist she noticed that he had adopted the same business like smile and cold eyes as the receptionist, and therefore decided to stay quiet. the silence continued for about a minute, and Alice felt the room''s temperature drop about 10 degrees as the receptionist and Dax continued to ''smile'' at each other


    "okay then, next question. have you ever killed before?"


    "yeah"


    "can you remember the first time? if so what did you feel at that point?"


    "i clearly remember it, some kind of fool had tried to steal from my clan, i got behind him unseen and snapped his neck"


    "what did you feel in that moment?"


    "the vertebrae in his neck snapping, otherwise nothing of interest"


    that comment made Alice shutter, while the receptionist wrote down the awnser without any reaction


    "have you received any kind of military training?"


    "yes"


    "please specify your answer"


    "then please tell me your name"


    ""...""


    "okay then, what kind of weapon would you say you''re most proficient with?"


    "that would be a rifle, second would be a knife or a pistol"


    "a rifle is a kind of self reloading crossbow, as Dax explained to me a bit ago, and the pistol is a kind of wand that shoots out small metal nuggets at high speed "


    "thanks miss Alice. how old are you Dax?"


    "i am 738 years old, that would be around 811 years old on this world as your years are slightly different from the ones you use"


    "okay. i will now start asking some mathematical questions please answer as fast as you can"


    "will you tell me your name if i get them all correct?"


    "what''s 42 times 3?"


    "126"


    "456219 minus 45735?"


    "410484"


    "45 to the power of 4.5?"


    "27507828.750705225371513603326024."


    for the first time Dax noticed the receptionists mask crack, as she slightly flinched when he correctly answered the question without any effort


    "please tell me your name"


    "no."


    "then at least where you''re from"


    "the next part of the evaluation is a physical examination, please strip"


    "is the top fine?"


    "EEEHH Dax are you okay with this!?"


    "yeah why not?"


    "just the top is fine, i need to record if you have any tattoos or markings"


    quickly removing his top, Dax revealed his upper torso that was completely riddled with scars, the most eye catching one being a huge jarring scar on his chest that made it look like something ripped out his heart. it was also clear that his entire right arm was artificial, as the shoulder link was clearly mechanical, with a strange cybernetic mesh extending out from the shoulder link. on his back was more cybernetic, it looked like the top of his spine had been replaced.


    "what are those? scars?"


    "yeah. it''s qiton culture to leave one''s scars visible as a reminder of one''s errors. and as you can see my right arm is artificial"


    "that doesn''t look like a normal prosthetic arm"


    "that''s because it probably isn''t in this world, want to take a look?"


    "i need to, excuse me"


    "well here it is, ICI disconnect main 4"


    [AUTHENTICATION REQUIRED.]


    "registration 044587356420"


    [DISCONNECTING MAIN AUXILIARY LINK]


    with a mechanical click Dax''s arm unhooked from his shoulder, causing Alice great disturbance


    "EEEHHHHHH!"


    "Alice calm down"


    Dax handed his artificial arm to the guild receptionist that quickly looked it over with a slightly shocked look, before giving it back to Dax that reinserted in his shoulder shoket.


    "ahem. now for the final part of the evaluation. please follow me outside"

 Chapter 14 - Introductions

    Alice and Dax followed the guild receptionist out the backdoor of the guild where a series of large dirt plots where several teams of hunters where training in ether one versus one duals or engaged in group battles where mages hurled rocks at frontline swordsmen and shiledbarres while being protected by their own frontliners


    "that kind of formation seems ineffective"


    "it''s a formation for hunting larger or stronger enemies, it''s not meant to seem effective against a smaller force"


    "so kind of a anti armor drone squad, makes sense"


    kind of like one kind of tool can''t fit every situation without being needlessly complex or expensive, modern formations and weapons in Dax''s world are somewhat highly specialized for a specific role, anti personal, anti armor and so on. and that seemed to be the case in this foreign world too. while some of the hunters weapons looked like they were made for anti personnel roles, several of them looked to be specialized to kill some sort of monster and where therefore not very effective against other hunters in battle Dax was pretty sure that would not be the case if they were used against the monsters they were made to combat.


    "like a what?"


    "it''s nothing, so what are we doing here?"


    "the guild needs to evaluate your combat potential to make sure that you meet the required rank to become a contracted hunter, i need to evaluate your combat powers, so the guild prepared a challenge for you"


    the receptionist stopped at a area that was almost entirely empty of people, only 3 hunters sat a few meters from where the receptionist stopped. the group of hunters stood up when they noticed Dax and Alice with the receptionist. two of them looked like frontliners with a single mage, the first frontliner was a large demi-human with brown hair and eyes, almost as tall as Dax he wore metal armor and wielded a large sword and a heavy tower shield that was almost as tall as himself. the other frontliner appeared to be swordsman, he wielded a single longsword and his light leather armor appeared to prioritise speed over protection. the last member appeared to be a mage, as characterised by her overly large hat, light leather armor and wooden staff, with a blue gem, and her sleepy blue eyes and the way she uninterested played with her white hair told Dax that she would rather be anywhere else.


    "this is the golden ranked party blue phoenix, please pick one to fight against"


    "i''ll fight them all, i''ve been needing some exercise for a while"


    as soon as the swordsman heard that he immediately flared


    "exercise!? what the f.u.c.k do you think we are demon!?"


    "now now Eduard i''m sure he didn''t mean it like that"


    "i guess that you are the ones hired by the guild to evaluate me in combat? my name is Dax, Eduard i''m sorry if i said anything to offend you"


    "ah it''s okay my name is Eduard"


    Eduard didn''t seem to expect Dax to bow deeply when he shouted at him and was quite startled


    "how do you do Dax my name is Redmond, please let me shake your hand!"


    after shaking hands with the large bearlike guardian Redmond, Dax''s ationsion turned to the small female mage, which responded by yawning and completely ignoring him


    "ah this is Laura, she''s a bit, well quiet"


    "can i pat her head?"


    "not if want your hand burned off"


    "okay then, what''s next miss receptionist?"


    "Blue Phoenix will fight against Dax, the match will end when i determine that one side is unable to fight. but lethal, maiming or otherwise disabling force is not allowed and will be punished greatly so be warned"


    "well let''s crack some heads"


    "did you just hear what i said?"


    "it''s just a expression, and it''s not like that''s is lethal"


    "it is."


    "no it''s not, ask Alice, she got her spine shattered and her heart pierced a few days ago"


    "ugh, please don''t remind me that hurt a lot!"


    "yeah yeah, please hold this i won''t need it"


    after giving the complaining Alice his pistol in its holster and his mask Dax went out on the dirt field with his newly acquired sword


    "did that really happen to you?"


    the guardian Redmond being highly concerned asked Alice if what she said was true


    "yes it did, and a word of warning: don''t hold back"


    "have you fought him before?"


    "yeah and wiped the floor with me and a high ranked mage"


    "please make your way to the arena"


    "come on Redmond let''s go"


    "yeah.."


    also making their way out to the combat area was the gold ranked party Blue Phoenix adopted a formation with Redmond in front with his massive towershield with Eduard imeitaly to the left standing a bit behind him swinging his sword, and Laura about a meter behind them readying her staff. about 10 meters from them stood Dax with his two handed sword in a single hand reverse grip, not even bothering to take a stance.


    "can we start yet?"


    "are both parties ready?"


    "can we start yet?"


    "Blue Phoenix is ready"


    "okay then.. begin!"


    in a few seconds Dax closed the range while keeping Redmond in between him and Laura how had readyed several small rocks that floated in the air around her ready for a target. after closing the range between him and Redmond Dax planted a open palm strike in the center of Redmond''s towershield, causing him to take a few steps back


    "that shield is surprisingly sturdy, what''s it made of?"


    "guh, Eduard now!"


    "on it!"


    immediately after Dax''s strike landed on Redmond''s shield Eduard rushed around the side and tried to land a strike with his sword, but it was blocked by Dax


    "got you now!"


    "do you now?"


    while Dax was occupied with Eduard''s sword strike Redmond pulled his shield to the side and moved to hit Dax with his own sword. Dax responded by kicking Redmond''s shield, knocking him off balance and in the same breath he locked the guard of his own sword with Eduard''s and used it to pull him closer before hitting him in the chest with a open fist, sending him flying


    "that''s one"


    after sending Eduard flying Dax started a barrage of strikes with his fist and sword on Redmond''s towershield, keeping him busy and slowly forcing him back towards Laura while hiding from Laura''s ranged attack behind Eduard


    "Redmond..move"


    "i''m trying but he wont let me!"


    "don''t worry miss Laura i''ll be with you in a bit! this shield really is solid, and you don''t seem to lose your balance a bit Redmond. i''m impressed!"


    while continuing his relentless assault on Redmond''s massive shield Dax complimenting Redmond without seeming even a bit out of breath


    "thanks. for. the. compliment! are you ever gonna get tired of hitting my shield!?"


    "this is getting a bit repetitive yeah, ICI did you finish calculating node #13?"


    [CALCULATION OF PHYSICS NODE #13 COMPLETE, SYNCHRONIZATION COMPLETE READY TO EXECUTE.]


    "SECRET MOVE:"


    stopping his barrage of attacks and pulling back a meter, Dax suddenly seemed a lot more serious. as he adopted a stace for the first time in the fight and shouted something about a secret move, before tossing his sword away harmlessly.


    "wha-!"


    "you''re wide open!"


    again closing the distance between him and Redmond, the now swordless Dax once more punched Redmond''s shield with a open fist, only this time it was with his artificial arm


    "magnetize!"


    only this time Dax also pulled Redmond''s shield, backing his balance.


    "fuc-"


    "too slow"


    finally getting behind Redmond''s shield, Dax quickly grabbed him by the collar and briefly lifted him in the air, before slamming him into the ground.


    "that''s two, time for you miss Laura~"


    "stay. away!"


    the second after Redmond hit the ground Laura started to pelt the whole field with rocks trying to hit Dax that ran in a zigzag pattern while staying low to the ground while trying to get closer to Laura


    "stay¡­..still.."


    "and why would i do that?"


    "so...i..can¡­.kill..i.mean¡­.hit..you"


    "okay i''m gonna stand still in a bit~"


    "please don''t lose intentionally just because you think she''s adorable!!"


    "what do you take me for Alice!?"


    "a living incarnation of war that likes adorable things way too much!!!"


    "while that is accurate to a scary degree, it''s also hurtful!"


    still running around and dodging Laura''s spells without a care in the world, Laura suddenly stopped sending rocks after Dax


    "i¡­.surrender¡­.out..of..mana"


    sitting down with a exhausted look on her face, Laura declared her surrender


    "Dax wins!"


    "ugh.. congratulations Dax, that was a really good trow"


    "Redmond are you still conscious? i was sure i knocked you out?"


    "yeah you did, i just woke up a second ago, can i get a hand?"


    "sure"


    after helping Redmond back on his feet and picking Eduard out the dirt, the guild receptionist made her way over with Alice following


    "congratulations Mr. Dax you are now a platinum ranked monster hunter, here''s your guild tag"


    while congratulating Dax in the most monotone way possible, the guild receptionist gave Dax a black dog tag like thing


    "can you try to say that again but this time in even more of a monotone, also why is it black?"


    "t-that is! are you a contracted hunter Dax!?"


    "yeah, or like it''s more like i just became one Eduard, that''s what this evaluation was. by the way where did the guild receptionist go?"


    at some point after giving Dax his tag the guild receptionist had completely disappeared from the arena, leaving no trace


    "well that''s not ominuns in any way at all, have any of you guys seen her before?"


    "the receptionist? no i don''t think so. what about you Redmond?"


    "not before today no, do you know her Laura?"


    "....no.."


    "so you guys also haven''t seen her before today?"


    "no we were just offered a really great request this morning that said to just wait around here until a guild receptionist meet us and then we should help in evaluating someone"


    "yeah and we got paid up front too, so the plan was just to laze around here until our appointment with the recon corps captain a bit later"


    "a..bit¡­.later..is...now"


    "oh shit it is! Redmond we need to run now gap Laura, see you later Dax!"


    quickly picking Laura up like a toddler, to her great disapproval, Redmond started running after Eduard, only to stop a few meters away form Dax and Alice to give a quick bow and starting to run again afterwards.


    "off they go"


    "they did indeed, wait didn''t they say they were meeting the recon captain?"


    "that they did...wait they''re meeting Russell?"


    "you really are slow sometimes Alice"


    "shut up! let''s follow them"


    "i''ll follow you a bit"


    "okay let''s meet in the reception area"


    after waiting for Alice to leave, Dax spoke in a way more serious voice


    "ICI run trace"


    [TARGET NOT FOUND]


    "run debug"


    [NO ISSUES FOUND]


    "so you can''t find her, and there''s no issue with your sensors, please explain"


    [TARGET DISAPPEARED, THERE''S NO TRACE OF ANY GRAVITATIONAL DISTURBANCE OR ANY KIND OF KNOWN TELEPORTING.]


    "what about magic?"


    [LOW LEVEL MAGIC DISTURBANCE DETECTED.]


    "seriously¡­ICI map any and all environmental information for analysis, i don''t want a teleporting assassin sneaking up on me again"


    [CONFIRMED. MAPPING ALL ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION, STANDBY]


    with nothing else to do, Dax sat down on the ground and started to think about the strange receptionist. large chunks of Dax''s memories where still missing but he still remembered a part of his officer training. part of the course was assassination identification and countermeasures or A.I.C training, that basically outlined a series of red flags to look out for when identifying a assassin. of course the course was not very effective, but it served a base for oneself to build up experience in the field, and Dax was convinced with every fiber of his being that the mysterious receptionist definitely was if not trained in assassination then some sort of wetwork, like Dax, and not to be trusted, in fact he almost drew his pistol and killed her the second she had appeared way to close to Dax without himself, or ICI, noticing her. the way she blended in the background, her constand mask-like expression and the way she just appeared and diapered without explanation.


    [ANALYSIS COMPLETE. 1 EARLY WARNING SIGN DETECTED]


    "only 1? wait that''s just the data on her"


    [NOT ENOUGH DATA]


    "shit. oh well, let''s go find Alice"

 Chapter 15 - Briefing

    "this place sure is crowded now where is Alice? ah, there"


    when Dax made his way back to the guild hall it''s was filled with of lot''s of hunters queuing up for the reception desks, and several more around a board with several notes marked in different colors, as for Alice she stood and glanced at all the notes with wonder.


    "there you are Alice, what are you looking at?"


    "ah, this is the request board, requests for monster subjugation or escorting through dangerous territory, when they find a job they want the hunters take the note to a reception desk where a guild worker does the paperwork and hands them the reward when proof of completion is meet"


    "what kind of proof?"


    "usually it''s a part of a monster, or a note form the requester saying that the job is done"


    "fascinating. did you see our new friends anywhere?"


    "nope"


    "haa, in your hands are one of this world''s most powerful pieces of sensory equipment.."


    "what? ah the mask. can i use it too?"


    "yeah just put it on"


    "like this?"


    with a questionable look on her face Alice tried to put on the reaper mask, that had no straps or anything else that looked like it could make it stick to one''s face


    "ah, it''s stuck. wait it''s stuck i can''t get it off, Dax help me it''s dark and i can''t see anything¡­ Dax, are you there?"


    "just wait here for a bit, i''ll be right back"


    "i hate you"


    (ah i''m healed. she''s so adorable)


    queuing up for about a minute with a smile on his face, Dax found his way to a reception desk with a young female receptionist with red hair in a bun and blue eyes wearing the same uniform as the other ''receptionist'' Dax had met before.


    "welcome to the hunters guild, what can i help you with today?"


    "hi, my name is Dax and i''m new here. would you kindly tell me the rules around here?"


    briefly taking a look at Dax with a ''not this shit again'' kind of look before reverting back to her smile, the receptionist started to explain the rules


    "the rules are as follows: as a hunter you will represent the hunters guild so any and all crimes or bad attitude that will reflect back on the hunters guild are not allowed, and will be punished severely, moreover it is highly illegal to in any way try and forge doc.u.ments or related prof related to requests or registration and will be punished with emitiade blacklisting from any and all facilities related to the hunter guild. any other questions or do you wish to register with the guild?"


    "no i''m not here for registration although i am new here. i''m looking for the gold ranked party Blue Phoenix that is currently meeting with Russell Williams, commander of the Ranger''s. they''re meeting in one of your rooms upstairs, could you show me the way?"


    "are you invited to that meeting?"


    "no but-"


    "i''m afraid i''ll need you to leave"


    "will you listen to me? i''m not invited to the meeting but Russell is a friend that''s currently helping me to find some useful hunters that can help me"


    "one moment please"


    leaving Dax behind, the guild receptionist disappeared into a back room, before reappearing a minute later, with 2 guards.


    "please leave this place now"


    this time with a not so gentle tone, she asked Dax to leave while the guards approached him from both sides and one of them tried to grab his shoulder


    "get out of here now f.u.c.k.i.n.g joker"


    which was met by a push from Dax, knocking him over


    "try to me touch me and again there won''t be enough left of you to bury"


    "what did you just say to me! you''re dead!"


    "i''m warning you"


    when the guard rushed at him Dax once again pushed him over, promoting the other guard to draw his sword and also rush Dax, ending in him being disarmed and grabbed by the throat and lifted in the air, making all eyes in the hall focus on Dax and the entire hall turned quiet


    "for the last time: i am here to meet a friend that is currently using one of your meeting rooms, would you please show me the way?"


    "there''s no way someone like you knows the commander of the Ranger''s please just leave in pace!"


    as the surrounding hunters realized what was happening most of them quickly soured and drew their weapons towards Dax


    "ahhhhHH! f.u.c.k this primitive world and it''s racism, ICI give me full mind meld."


    [CONFIRMED. CEREBRAL LINK MOVING TO FASE 2. STARTING MIND MELD.. MIND MELD ONLINE. 84 HOSTILES DETECTED]


    "OKaY if yOu GUys iNSisT On dOIng iT liKe tHis tHEn hERe''s hoW It gONna HapPen!! STep uP iF yOu WIsh to DIE, otHERwisE bAck tHe fuCK OFF. NOW!!"


    [ALL CONTACTS HAVE 10 SECONDS TO COMPLY. PACIFY OR FACE IMMEDIATE ANNIHILATION]


    the increasingly cold voice from Dax overlapping with ICI''s and his ultimatum got the hunters to back off, but some of the mages started to summon arrows of fire


    "ICI pLot mE a roUTe To the OrB, i''Ll cOllECt it MYselF"


    "Dax? is that you!? i can guess what happened, show them the tag!!"


    all of a sudden the blinded Alice shouted something about a tag from the back of the room


    "wHAt TAg?"


    "the black piece of metal you got like 5 minutes ago!"


    "Ah"


    with his hand that was not currently strangeling a guard, Dax fished the black guild tag out of his pocket and showed it to the guild receptionist, making all color drain from her face


    "black! are you a c-contracted hunter! i sincerely apologize!!!"


    the words ''contracted hunter'' seemed to have an immediate effect on the surrounding hunters, as they almost universally withdrew their aggression and backed off while the ones that were still aggressive where stopped by their friends


    "ARe wE goNna HAve a pRObleM if i lEt yOU dOwn?"


    "n-no sir!"


    letting the guard down that he was currently choking, he immediately helped up his friend and quickly ran out to the back room they both came from.


    "ICI disengage mind melt"


    [LIMITED COMBAT MODE TERMINATINADED]


    "Dax!? can you get this stupid thing off me already!"


    "ICI enable open sensor feed for her will you?"


    [GUARDIAN 47 REAPER PERSONAL SENSOR UNIT ''REAPER''S MASK'' NOW IN OPEN FEED SENSOR MODE]


    "ah i can see now.... Dax why the f.u.c.k didn''t you do this earlier!"


    "because you are adorable when you''re confused, now miss receptionist can you show me the way now please?"


    "hii- please don''t kill me!"


    "why would i do that? just show me the way"


    "are you gonna k-kill Russell?"


    "why would i- okay miss calm down, what''s your name?"


    "i-it''s Beth"


    "okay Beth look at me take a deep breath. breathe in, then out, can you do that for me?"


    "o-okay"


    "why the hell is she so afraid of me?"


    "contracted hunter have quite a bit of a reputation, they are know to be extremely cold blooded and i think i heard of one killing a receptionist a few weeks ago in the capital"


    "seriously.. also why are you trying to stab me Alice?"


    "why the f.u.c.k do you think!?"


    "you''re trying to display your affection for me?"


    "a-a-affection!?"


    Dax couldn''t see her face, but he was sure that Alice''s face was in full bloom


    "anyway, did you calm down Beth?"


    "y-yeah, are you really not gonna hurt me?"


    "i promise, and no i''m not gonna hurt Russell either i swear, he''s a friend that''s helping me out with some stuff"


    "okay, then please follow me"


    "please get this mask off me first!"


    ---


    "i understand where you''re coming from Russell, but protecting someone right next to an arachnid nest for four hours is gonna be rough even with a high level ranger and a mage from the army. can''t you at least tell us who we''re guarding and what he wants to do there?"


    "i''m sorry i can''t say any more than this before you accept the request, i''m trying to keep this as quiet as i can"


    "yeah i can tell"


    just as Redmond was about to decline Russell''s offer there was a knock on the door


    "enter"


    "excuse me Russell, there''s a friend of ours that wish to join the meeting"


    "the meeting is over"


    as Redmond and his party was about to leave Dax appeared next to the guild receptionist


    "is it really?"


    "oooh Dax! what are you doing here?"


    "do you know Russell?"


    "yeah he''s helping me recover something. as for what i''m doing here, i was looking for a satisfying fight, which i found with Blue Phoenix, and then i overheard that you guys were meeting so i thought i would join, can we sit down. and Alice stop hiding they can see you"


    as Alice peeked from the door, Russell''s mood soured greatly


    "didn''t i tell you to wait a day before taking him to the guild Alice?"


    "hahaha...ha. i''m sorry"


    "haaa, we''ll talk about this later, Redmond will your party accept if Dax explains the details of the assignment?"


    "so it is Dax leeding the mission? i don''t see him ever losing to anything so do you even need us?"


    "yeah i will, i''m not equipped to protect myself for 4-5 hours while melting the heatshield and i think you guys are able to do it just fine with the help of Viktor and Alice"


    "heatshield? what the hell are you looking for Dax?"


    "well sit down and let me explain"


    after saying goodbye to Beth and closing the door behind them, Alice and Dax sat down with Russell and Blue Phoenix


    "no offence but is it really okay to tell them all this Dax?"


    "yeah it''s fine i trust them, ICI display map data in holo mode"


    [RENDERING TOPOGRAPHIC MAP DATA FOR TACTICAL ASSESSMENT]


    displaying a hologram on the conference table displaying the area around Black Hollow


    "WOHA! what is this?"


    "magic?"


    "this is¡­ the town right?"


    "yeah it is. and this is where we''re going"


    switching the hologram from a map of the city to an overview of a forest area with a giant artificial looking black meteor that had made a large crater in the middle


    "what the hell is that?"


    "by the size and the fact that it''s not floating in the air, i would say that''s most likely a Z-98 pre packed orbital supply drop pod"


    """"a what?""""


    "Russell could you make sure no one is listening in on us?"


    "yeah sure"


    Russell quickly placed a purple runestone on the table and channelled mana into it, making it glow in a dull purple color


    "what i''m about to tell you is likely not common knowledge in this world so stop me any time i''m not making sense. oh and please keep anything i tell you to yourself for the time being"


    looking around shortly to make sure the party members of Blue Phoenix understood him, Dax continued his explanation


    "i come from a world far from this one and i''m in essence a alien-"


    "how far?"


    "i don''t know the exact distance yet, but i estimate a few million light years at the least"


    "what is light years, a measure of time?"


    "no of distance, a single light year is the distance light can travel in a standard year or 31556926 seconds, that being about 9.5 trillion kilometers, well do the rest of the math if you want. anyway i''m not from here, and crashed about a week ago in the Black Hollow forest where Alice and Victor found me and that ''orb'' or artificial meteor is a piece of the ship i crashed here in formed around something to protect it, and in this case it appears to be a Z-98 or Z-99 class pre packed orbital supply drop pod, a heavily armored container filled with supplies designed to survive being tossed from deep space"


    "and you want us to help you get there and protect you while you do. something¡­ Eduard, Laura what do you say?"


    "i still don''t understand what you are talking about Dax, but i understand that it''s important so i''ll help, what about you Laura?"


    "..if¡­.you..teach...me...about..your..world"


    "i would love to miss Laura~ what about you Redmound?"


    "to be honest i wanted to accept the moment you walked in, something tells me it would be beneficial to work with you i might learn something"


    "okay then, let''s begin the briefing with us here, i''ll fill in Victor on the way there. as you can see from the hologram this orb landed in a forest, that might have disturbed the monsters nearby so they might all have fled, Alice and Redmound what do you guys think?"


    "monsters are not that easily frightened, but there source of food is so they might have left the area in search of food"


    "while that might be the case for normal monsters, arachnids are not like that, they usually make a base where they protect their queen, and only a forest fire would make them leave, so they''re most likely still there but it''s unlikely that they would go near to the orb. but i agree with Redmound that their source of food, local wildlife and lesser monsters, will have fled making them hungry"


    "well isn''t that great"


    "yeah it is actually"


    "how so Dax? when monster are hungry they tend to be more aggressive and search fouther for food"


    "okay let''s say for example that you Eduard are in the middle of a long hunting trip with a bunch of hunters, and one day all the wildlife disappears, and while your group your food stores depeate you can''t for some reason leave the camp and go back to town, what do you do?"


    "i would search further and further from the camp"


    "yeah meaning that you and the other hunters would be spread thin, and if you were ambushed you couldn''t call for help"


    "ah i see what you mean, but what if one of them spots us and runs off to get some buddies?"


    "why would it? after going days without food it finally finds a meal and it turns out to be a bunch of weak humans, if it just kills them intimately it can get all the food without having to share"


    "that does make sense"


    "so that means we can only expect a single arachnid at the time"


    "yeah but that''ll change when i start to break the heatshield, thats gonna make a lot of noise so i need Laura and Viktor to fortify the area with earth magic, then Alice, Viktor and Laura can deal with them safely, while if someone breaks through Redmond and Eduard can deal with them there"


    "fortify¡­.how?"


    "Laura has a point you can''t just make a wall from dirt and hope it would stop even a single arachnid"


    "but what if you made several large earth spikes?"


    "they''ll just break though after a while"


    "yeah i imagine, that''s why we would need to make a single narrow passageway where you and Eduard will be, that way they''ll be forced to enter a single way where some ''weak'' humans are guarding or spend a long time breaking through the wall"


    "narrow enough so that only a single one can make its way through at a time?"


    "of course. that''s the gist of it, Russell do you have anything to add?"


    Russell that so far had been quiet opened his eyes when Dax asked for his opinion


    "not at all, i don''t see a single problem with that plan."


    "okay then anyone else have something to add?...doesn''t look like it let''s meet tomorrow at sunrise at the outer gate to depart"


    "that sounds fine, i''ll make sure the supplies are ready by then, with that this meeting is over. Alice please stay so we can have a word"


    "ghe! Dax please save me!"


    "nope~"


    "you traitor!"

 Chapter 16 - Nightlife and Departure

    after leaving behind Russell and the sightly fl.u.s.tered Alice and saying goodby to Blue Phoenix, Dax found himself without something to waste time on


    (well what to do now? ICI time to daybreak?)


    (OPERATION COMMENCES IN APPROXIMATELY 9 HOURS)


    "well shit, maybe i should have stayed and defended Alice, her reaction was cute though"


    observing the people of Black Hollow that seemed busy as the sun was slowly setting behind the outer wall. after walking around the city for about half an hour, Dax finally found something to entertain himself with.


    "what the f.u.c.k are you looking at, huh!!?"


    "yeah keep walking there''s nothing here for you!"


    Dax found himself in a leisure district witnessing an assault. what appeared to be two lowly ranked hunters were assaulting a young looking barmaid in a back alley. the barmaid looked like she was about 15 years old and wore a robust looking brown shirt and skirt with a white apron that was slightly torn. her red hair was done in a slightly messy ponytail and her freckled face and green eyes showed only fear, against her attackers and Dax.


    (racism against demonkins seems deeply rooted in this city, but i might as well help her since i''m bored)


    "is it normal in this city to be that kind of human garbage or you guys just spacial?"


    "is this demon piece of shit actually insulting us!?"


    "well it might just be your intelligence, for now go to sleep"


    rushing forward Dax hit the closet hunter with the hilt of his sword, crushing his nose and sending him flying into the ally and hit a wall with a dull and wet sound. in the same breath he kicked the other hunter in the shin, completely shattering the bone and before he even screamed in pain, Dax hit him in the head with a open fist, giving him a extreme concussion and he collapsed on the spot.


    (EXTREME MUSCLE DECAY DETECTED.)


    (yeah i detected that too, am i bleeding somewhere?)


    (NEGATIVE.)


    "huh?"


    "sorry for showing you such a cruel spectacle, are you okay miss?"


    after the barmaid had accepted Dax''s helping hand and getting up from the ground, she finally seemed to catch up on what had happened


    "ehhhh!? what happened?"


    "first i send that piece of filth flying and then i hit that guy and put him to sleep. more importantly are you okay miss?"


    "y-yeah i''m okay¡­ wait you''re a demon! don''t kill me please!"


    (not this shit again¡­)


    "miss i won''t hurt you so calm down, now are you okay? can you show me the way to your place of work?"


    "get away from me!"


    "that i won''t do"


    suddenly turning serious Dax grabbed her hand, and received a volley of punches and kicks from the now frightened barmaid


    "miss, calm down, ah, douche move don''t go for the balls! calm down i need to make sure you''re safe before i leave"


    after about a minute of getting punched and kicked repeatedly for about a minute, Dax grabbed the fl.u.s.tered barmaids other hand before lowering his head to make direct eye contact with the barmaid, before giving a warm smile.


    "you''re really great at fighting miss, now i don''t want to hurt you, but i need to make sure you''re safe so where do you work? or do you know any place nearby that you can stay?"


    finally the barmaid seemed to be calming down as she collapsed on her knees, exhausted after trying to get Dax away from her. letting go of her hands and sitting down in front of her Dax gave a warm smile as he slowly started patting her head as she started crying, a valid response from someone how almost was assaulted. wiping her tears away she once again got fl.u.s.tered as her face bloomed in full red.


    "i-i''m sorry i hit you! thanks for saving me!!"


    "you''re finally calm, now please let me escort you to a safe place miss, here grab my hand"


    after grabbing Dax''s hand the barmaid briefly tried to stand up, but she couldn''t seem to put strength into her legs


    "please help me"


    after briefly considering teasing the lovely red flower that now had bloomed completely while covering her face in shame and seemingly letting steam out her red ears, Dax instedt picked her up her curled up body with great care.


    "where to my princess?"


    "uuuuu please don''t call me that"


    "but my princess, you never gave me your name! what is this lowly knight Dax else supposed to call you?"


    "my name is Rose! so please don''t call me princess, i''m not pretty enough be one anyway"


    (well you are.. but saying that will probably jam her up for a while)


    "okay then miss Rose, where might this humble and lowly knight take you?"


    "my workplace is around the corner, it''s the inn called red boar"


    "yeah i walked past that place a few minutes ago, i''ll take you there"


    "please put me down first"


    "now what was it?"


    "please put me down i can walk on my own!"


    "did you say something Rose?"


    "please let me down"


    "nope~"


    "you demon!"


    in the bar of the Red Boar inn the hostess Lillian was slowly getting nervus, her barmaid didn''t meet for her shift. Rose had been working with her for a few years, in that time she had learned that although she was a cheerful but a bit of a¡­. slow child and might have run into some trouble, and while her head was filled with worry the inn was slowly filling with customers, mostly hunters having returned in the evening to fill their bellies with food and beer. some of the older patrons walked directly up to Lillian at the bar and but quickly noticed that she wasn''t feeling quite right


    "hey Lillian can i get the usual? Lillian are you okay?"


    "Rose is missing, could you go look for her?"


    "again.. boys! Rose is missing, let''s go look for her"


    "this is the third time this month, did she get lost around the corner again?"


    "yeah she probably just got lost again.. was she really born in this city?"


    "i wonder.. well Lillian we''ll be right back with her, have some beers ready!"


    as the group of what looked to be veteran hunters were about to leave, Rose surprisingly arrived, being carried by a tall demonkin wearing strange clothes


    "we have arrived my lovely princess Rose, you''re safe now!"


    in a single moment all eyes in the inn was gathered on the strange demonkin and the unfortunate Rose that had bloomed all the way to her eartips


    "uuuuuuuu"


    (ah, i guess that was a bit too far)


    quickly mak¨ªng his way to what appeared to be the hostess Dax explained the situation in a low voice and handed Rose over to one of the older patrons that carried Rose out to a back room were she could calm down and change her tattered clothes. after handing Rose over, Dax started to leave, but was quickly blocked by the older patrons


    "can i help you?"


    "yeah you can! come and drink with us!!"


    "sorry but i recently arrived in this country so i don''t have any cash on me at the moment"


    "that''s fine! it''s on the house! and have you eaten yet? if not i make a pretty good shepherds pie if i do say so myself"


    (RECOMMENDING SECURING OF SUBSTANCE)


    when the hostess offered free food and drinks and ICI also tipped in Dax found it impossible to refuse


    "are you sure it''s fine?"


    "it is yeah, come on sit down and have a drink i''ll get you some food!"


    after being somewhat forcefully sat down, Dax was quickly served a whole shepards pie by the strangely grinning bar hostess Lillian


    "here you go!"


    (what the hell is up with her?)


    "thanks for the meal"


    picking up his spoon, Dax dug out a large piece of crispy mashed potatoes with a crunchy sound and some of the finely minced lamb meat under that assaulted his nose with smells of herbs and umami in perfect union.


    (SCANNING FOR TOXINS, STANDBY..)


    not waiting for ICI''s toxin screening, Dax quickly took a large bite and was overwhelmed by the harmony between the crispy, smooth and round taste of the mashed potato top and the mix of several herps balancing out the powerful minced lamb meat


    "this is f.u.c.k.i.n.g great!"


    munching down the rest of the pie in record time, Dax impressed Lillian with the sheer fervor that he gofed down the pie


    "miss Lillian that was the best meal i had in a hundred years!"


    "ara! please don''t joke around like that you''ll make me blush"


    after almost 100 years in cryo sleep being sustained through a tube in his back, Dax wasn''t kidding in the slightest, even before his ship had been ambushed he had spent years living (or surviving depending on your inclination) on military rations.


    "i wish i was kidding...anyway thanks for the meal"


    "enough of this gloomy shit, i''m John, this is Mike and Axel, let''s share some stories over a lot of beers!"


    "um h-here is a beer for you Dax!"


    at some point when Dax had chowed down on the shepards pie Rose had appeared in some new clothes, and she nervously offered Dax a large pint of golden ale.


    (INTAKE OF TOXINS IS NOT ADVISED.)


    (ICI shut up.)


    (INTAKE OF TOX-)


    (master mute, 8 hours. registration 044587356420)


    "ooh the lovely princess brought this lowly knight provisions! i am eternally grateful please let me kiss your hand!"


    "kyaa no!"


    after receiving the glass of ale, Dax tried to kiss Rose''s hand and received a slap to the face and responded by downing his beer in about 5 seconds


    "this beer is awesome! love the balance between hops and barley!"


    "you sure can drink lad!"


    "a-awesome¡­"


    "are you really a knight?"


    "of course!"


    Dax quickly kneeled down in front of the skeptical Rose, placing his left hand on his chest


    "Dax of the 125th combined ops orbital drop troops from the Galactic Empire, at your service miss Rose"


    "Galactic Empire?"


    "a place far away from here"


    "well can people handle their drink there or are you just the exception?"


    "nah i''m just that special, i don''t think i ever lost a drinking competition. ever"


    "that sure sounds like a challenge! Lillian keep the beers coming, it''s on me!"


    ---


    "where the f.u.c.k is he!"


    in the morning when Alice and Viktor was supposed to meet Dax at the inn Russell had rented for him, the sleep deprived Alice was severely pissed off when she couldn''t find him


    "Alice calm down please"


    "no i f.u.c.k.i.n.g won''t calm down! first he left me to be chewed out by Russell and then he''s not even at the inn when we come to pick him so. f.u.c.k.i.n.g. ealy. in. the. morning!!"


    "i''m sure he just went to the gate a bit ahead of time"


    "but he never even came back last night!"


    "the host said that yeah¡­"


    Viktor found it increasingly harder to defend Dax


    "well let''s just go to the gate, okay?"


    "fiiiinnnne!"


    making their way to the outer gate as the sun was slowly rising, Alice immediately spotted Dax that was sitting square in the middle of the road meditating


    "Dax where the hell have you been! DAX! HALLO!!"


    Alice immediately went over to Dax and started demanding an explanation, but he didn''t seem to respond, that is until a minute later


    "good morning Alice, and Viktor too it''s been a while"


    "where the f.u.c.k have you been all night?"


    "i was on a great adventure. first i saved a princess from some thugs, then i took the princess to where castle where i dualed several of her veteran knights all night for her hand in marriage, and after a long and honorable dual i emerged victoriously"


    "hey Dax?"


    "what"


    "can i hit you now?"


    [PLEASE PROCEED.]


    "with pleasure~!"


    channelling mana into her arm and fist with a smile on her face, Alice prepared to give Dax a not so gentle love tap, to the face


    [DISABLING COUNTERMEASURES]


    "oh shi-"


    as expected Dax tried to block the incoming fist, but was betrayed by ICI as it blocked his ability to move. with the result that Dax took Alice''s fist right in the face. the result beeng Dax falling over on his back in pain and


    "aw f.u.c.k! how is your face that solid!"


    Alice also feeling great pain, even though she enhanced her fist enough to normally punch through bricks without issue, Alice felt like she just his a boulder


    "what the hell is going on here? Dax are you okay?"


    at the same time Blue Phoenix arrived and they all had different reactions, while the tiny white haired mage Laura as expected didn''t care at all, Eduard the swordsman visibly flinched and Redmond the large bestkin guardian asked if he was okay


    "yeah i''ll be fine, Alice you do really pack a punch i''m impressed"


    getting up while rubbing his sore cheek, Dax looked around with a confused look


    "isn''t Russell supposed to bring the supplies?"


    "ah Russell already gave me and Alice our supplies yesterday, Blue Phoenix should have received there''s this morning"


    "yeah i have them here"


    Redmond showed that he was indeed carrying a robust looking backpack


    "okay. Viktor, Alice, do you have yours?"


    "yeah"


    "of course i do, are you gonna be fine?"


    "it''s only gonna be a few days, and i got plenty to eat a few hours ago so i''ll be fine. you all got what you need for this job?"


    "yeah"


    "of course i do!"


    "Blue phoenix is ready"


    "okay then let''s go we need to make headway so i can believe all of you on the finer details of the opperration over lunch"


    (DECAY NEARING CRITICAL LEVELS, MAIN 4 LINK IS COMPROMISED.)


    (f.u.c.k.i.n.g great..)

 Chapter 17 - The Second Orb

    "so, what now?"


    after having travelled for a couple of hours the group decided to stop and have a quick lunch, after which the still slightly annoyed Alice asked about their future plans


    "yeah that''s a good question"


    "wha-!"


    "well jokes aside. Viktor, Laura you guys can both use fire magic right?"


    "um"


    "yeah a bit"


    "how hot can you get the flames? hot enough to melt steel?"


    "impossible.."


    "yeah there''s no way that''s possible"


    "why?"


    "okay let me show you"


    viktor quickly grabbed his staff and after a second a small fireball appeared in the palm of his hand


    "now this is fire magic in the most basic form, if i wanted to increase the size i just increase the area like this"


    canceling the first fireball Viktor once again channeled mana into his staff, this time a larger fireball, about a meter in diameter appeared in front of him


    "now this is a larger scale fire magic, but the temperature is almost the same"


    "what if you try and compress it?"


    "this is what happens"


    Viktor slowly compressed the fireball, bit after about 5 seconds the flame went out


    "well of course it did, you choked the flame"


    "i...what?"


    not only Viktor, but everyone else present gave Dax a confused look


    "Viktor what is needed to start a fire?"


    "some sort of fuel and a spark, why?"


    "okay¡­ to make a fire, or start and maintain a combustion cycle you need 3 things. first as you said you need fuel, second you need not a spark but proper temperature and third is oxygen, or air"


    receiving blank stares all around, Dax gave a sigh before giving up on his chemistry lesson


    "oh well, it doesn''t really matter. that just means all of you have to protect me while i break though the orb''s ablative heat shield¡­. okay for now i want Redmond in front with Eduard right behind, with Viktor and Laura on the flanks for ranged attacks."


    "what about me?"


    "you my lovely Alice are on overwatch, therefore you can borrow this"


    Dax quickly tossed Alice his mask, which she caught with a suspicious look on her face


    "are you gonna stick it to my face again?"


    "while that would be entertaining, no. come on you can trust me for once Alice"


    "okay¡­"


    with a nervus look on her face, Alice equipped the mask


    [INTERFACING, STANDBY.. COMPLETE. LIMITED MIND MELT IN EFFECT]


    "woah, this is amazing!"


    "yeah yeah calm down Alice, for now i will spot targets as we move closer to the orb but it''ll be your job once i start breaking through the heat shield, so listen to ICI, its gonna explain how to use it"


    "ah i can hear ICI in my head¡­"


    Alice started to seemingly talking with herself, with an increasing amount of annoyance in her voice


    "yeah i am focusing! what the hell do you mean thermal vision! and what the f.u.c.k kind of language is that!?"


    "is she gonna be okay?"


    "yeah Alice is a smart kid Redmond, i think"


    "Dax is ICI always this annoying?"


    "welcome to my world¡­"


    after about half an hour, Alice started to get the hang of using the sensor masks features


    "are you good Alice?"


    "yeah, but it''s still a little strange being able to see¡­ well¡­.like this"


    "okay just focus on getting used to it, let''s move out"


    "ah but Dax don''t you need the mask to spot threats?"


    "nah, i won''t need it. ICI this is a combat situation, right?"


    [AFFIRMATIVE, LIMITERS RELEASED.]


    Lazarus 04-Omega class custom cybernetic implant: Eye of Argos


    made by the illusive Lazarus cybernetic industries, the eye of Argos was designed exclusively for use of qitons. making use of the artificial nature of qiton fysiologi, Lazarus industries made not only a first class cybernetic implant, but build an entire processing system around that and integrated directly with the occipital lobe, allowing it to surpass natural limits. the eye is made up of 4 individually moving lenses arranged in a diamond pattern, allowing for vision on par with high spec military sensors.


    "i can finally get this stupid thing of my face"


    Dax quickly removed his eyepatch that covered his left eye, revealing an artificial eye with a faint red glow, to the surprise of the members of Blue Phoenix


    [''EYE OF ARGOS'' ONLINE]


    "if your eye works then why were you wearing a eyepatch?"


    "...creepy.."


    "oohh! it''s glowing, yeah that is kind of creepy"


    "yeah it is kinda creepy right? sadly this thing was made with only functionality in mind, but it''s really handy, a little to handy to be honest"


    "how so?"


    "i''ll show you a example Redmond, i''ll read Laura"


    "read her?"


    "yeah, okay let''s see.. from this range i can clearly see her carotid arteries, from that i can judge her pulse, which is a bit higher than normal. now i observe her lovely blue eyes, pupils are slightly too wide for this light level, that combined with the small amount sweat forming on her forehead and her pulse i can asses that she is scared of me, but also slightly curious."


    "...how..did¡­..you?"


    "with this eye i can see stuff like this, in combat i can even predict my enemies movement by observing their eye movements and/or muscles, or i could the count individual leaves of the highest tree on that mountain over there"


    ""...creepy""


    after spending an extended brake the group moved further into arachnid territory as the forest slowly started to thin out and as it gradually turned into tundra with rare pine trees dotting the landscape. after reaching a spot where a few pine trees cl.u.s.tered together, Dax stopped moving.


    "okay let''s stop here for a moment"


    "Dax this is the 3rd time, why are we randomly stopping?"


    "i just want to see you getting frustrated for a moment, Alice~"


    "wha-!"


    "mute. 10 seconds"


    [MUTING for 10 seconds.]


    with a single command Alice realized that she was a fool to trust Dax, as she was robbed of her voice and drew her sword in a fit of anger which was caught by Dax immediately.


    "or there''s something out there, and you starting an argument every time i call a command is not beneficial for our overall health, okay~?"


    "did you see something Dax? i still haven''t seen anything on this whole trip"


    "yeah and you''re kinda being an asshole towards Alice"


    "am i? yeah i kinda am. sorry it''s a coping mechanism my- *cough*


    breaking up mid sentence Dax coughed up a large amount of black liquid


    "..ah shit, yeah that"


    "Dax!? are you okay?"


    "..hurt.?


    "woah that looks gross, is that your blood?"


    "ICI, run repair."


    [CONFIRMED. REPAIR OF LUNG TISSUE IN PROGRES.. REPAIR FAILED: INSUFFICIENT BLACK MATTER]


    "well f.u.c.k me sideways, redirect from non-essentials"


    [CALCULATING¡­]


    "Dax what''s is going on?"


    once again able to speak, Alice kneeled down beside Dax with a worrying voice


    "my body is breaking down, i''ve been starving and without maintenance in deep cryogenic sleep for about a 100 years. think of my body as a sword that have been rusting for that long, and is starting to break down"


    "can''t you just heal, like you did with me and Viktor?"


    "sadly no, in fact healing you too depleted about a fifth of my remaining black matter"


    [CALCULATION COMPLETE, REPURPOSING ORGANIC MATTER FOR REPAIR, TASKING NANOBOTS STANDBY..]


    "here we go.."


    after a brief delay, Dax started coughing up a now even larger amount of black liquid this time mixed with bright red blood. after about a minute of Dax wincing in pain and quietly using a creative mix of swear words in between him coughing up blood and broken down nanomachines, ICI''s cold voice sounded again


    [REPAIR COMPLETE. LUNG FUNCTION NOW ABOVE TORRABLE MARGINS, DISSADVISEING ALL FUTHER UNNESSESARRY COMBAT UNTIL RESUPLY CAN BE MADE]


    standing up again as if nothing had happened, Dax wiped his lip free of blood with a relieved look on his face, before noticing the shocked faces around him, specifically Alice seemed to be on the verge of tears behind the sensor mask


    "well shit, okay everyone gather around, come on form a circle. okay, i gathered this team because i believe and trust in everyone''s skills, you are the most talented people i have meet in this world, even so we stand at a cross point. if you guys can''t trust in me then i can''t trust you, and i currently don''t have time to discuss my every callout as i am not-so-slowly bleeding out. now we''re about 10 kilometers from the orb, if anyone can''t follow me then please leave, i''ll make sure that you still get rewarded for the mission"


    continuing on the group stopped seemingly random multiple times at the command of Dax or speed up to a run, crisscrossing the terrain, and they made slow progress. only Alice seemed to sometimes pick up on the nearby arachnids with the use of her borrowed reaper mask, sometimes ICI would warn her of detected movement or a closing heat signature, communicating the form of contact followed by the heading, range and elevation. sometimes she would spot an orange dot in the distance, or ICI would warn her of unnatural movement and she would catch the glimpse of a arachnid behind a tree, making her realize that Dax was skillfully avoiding contact with multiple arachnids at the same time.


    "and let''s stop here for a moment"


    stopping in the middle of an open field, Dax signaled the group to drop down low.


    "okay nobody make a sound until i say so again"


    for the first time Dax asked for their silence while the group laid down in a grass field cursing Alice to wonder


    (something must be close)


    (CONFIRMED, UNKNOWN CONTACT 1 @ HEADING 26 RANGE: 600 METERS.


    UNKNOWN CONTACT 2 @ HEADING 311, RANGE: 621 METERS)


    (shit, that is close, what will Dax do i wonder?)


    after about 5 minutes had passed, Dax still showed no will to move, starting to make Blue Phoenix restless. especially Eduard as it looked like one of his legs were starting to cramp and Laura looked at Redmond and Dax with increasingly bored eyes.


    (okay this is getting increasingly crafty¡­ ICI connect coms)


    (DIALING GUARDIAN 47, PATCHING CEREBRAL ARCHITECTURE. WARING: LIMITED MIND MELT IN EFFECT. EXPECTED CORRUPTION UNDER 0.00000000012% PATTEN GREEN IN EFFECT HOLDING PROCESSING SPEED AT 2.45 PETAFLOPS A SECOND TO PREVENT MINDBLEED)


    out of nowhere Alice felt extremely dizzy, first her vision went completely black and she felt like she was free falling, that only lasted a second however as her vision instantly returned and she was left with only a slight headache.


    ("okay please don''t hate me Alice, but i need your help")


    ("why the f.u.c.k can i hear you in my head Dax?")


    ("no time to explain now sorry, i''ll do this however, ICI share sensordata")


    (RENDERING LAZARUS-04 DATA IN AUGMENTED REALITY, STANDBY..)


    suddenly Alice''s vision greatly improved and she instantly spotted 2 large red and orange spots through the grass about 150 meters in front of Dax.


    ("is that what i think it is?")


    ("sadly yeah, we need to take them out simutanly, we can''t risk one of them running or alerting other arachnids in the area. i need you to kill the one on the left instantly on my timing, ICI will handle the coordination. ICI terminate connection")


    (wait! how the f.u.c.k am i supposed to do that!?.... Dax?)


    (COMBAT MANEUVER IN 50 SECONDS, PLEASE COMMENCE MANA CIRCULATION AND PREPARE 2 STEEL ARROWS. SYNCHRONIZING MANEUVER NODE..)


    as an absurd amount of information flooded Alice''s head she suddenly knew what to do


    (ah, i see..)


    as Viktor lay bored in the grass thinking about what Dax mentioned about fire he suddenly felt a surge in mana from Alice that laid right next to him. as he looked nervously towards her he saw that Alice had readyed 2 anti monster broadhead arrows made of solid steel, holding both of them in her hand with one of them nooked on her bow. realizing that something was about to happen he quietly crawled forward about a meter to check on Dax, that suddenly was laying on his back while checking over Redmonds sword with a serious look on his face.


    "ZU-RA!!"


    after about 20 seconds had passed, Dax souted a command in a foreign language and Alice rused about a meter forward before sliding to a stop and shooting her first arrow followed by the second about a second after. in the same breath Dax also rushed forward with Redmounds and his own sword in separate hands doing a front flip with a half twist while tossing both the swords, sending them both flying while rapidly spinning. the intended targets where 2 arachnids, both standing about 150 meters away. arachnids are large spider like creatures with 8 legs and their whole body covered in a solid black exoskeleton. with their four spiked mandibles that can easily rip a plate armed knights to bits in seconds and 12 eyes in multiple sizes and overall agility they make excellent hunters, and are feared by any hunter under gold rank.


    the first projectiles to find their targets were Alice''s metal arrows, both of them buried themselves in the head of the arachnid on the left, having struck the weak exoskeleton around its eyes with a wet sound, reaping its life instantly as it. a single breath later 2 swords really not designed as projectile weapons struck the second arachnid, one stuk the left section of its head, breaking its softer exoskeleton and smashing its head open, the second hit the throat, and with the spin imparted on the sword it almost completely decapitated it stopping four fifths parts trough.


    "showoff."


    "ah, f.u.c.k me"


    [INTERNAL TRAUMA DETECTED. ]


    "yeah i detected that too, how long till its fatal?"


    [ESTIMATED LOSS OF MAJOR FUNCTIONS IN ABOUT 2 DAYS]


    "Dax! are yo-"


    "yeah yeah, let''s just get a move on before the smell of blood attracts anything. we''re about 2000 meters from the orb now¡­ okay f.u.c.k stealth let''s sprint to it, if anything engages i''ll spit off and distract it, Viktor and Laura start the fortification as soon you arrive guarded by the rest off you. any questions?.... okay move out!"


    now prioritizing speed over anything else, the they now moved significantly faster as they all except for laura being carried by Redmond sprinted across the tundra tarian with Dax leading


    "i don''t see anything pressuring us!"


    "..lucky?.."


    "that''s probably because me and Alice just created a giant lure!"


    [GRAVITATIONAL SIGNATURE DETECTED: IFF INDICATES FRIENDLY, SEARCHING LIBRARY FOR MATCHES..]


    "we''re close now! Viktor, Laura! i want spikes facing outwards all around 5 meters from the orb but leave a single way through!"


    "got it!"


    "..nn."


    moving past a larger fern tree Alice spotted the orb. slightly smaller than the first one she saw with the same mesh of black and gray metals creating an eerie and organic looking shape, but there was one small difference from the last one.


    "HOW AND WHY IS THAT THING FLOATING?!!"

 Chapter 18 - A small step(?) for Alice kind

    Standing in front of the second orb, anyone besides Dax was stunned at the sight of a 8 meter Diameter sphere floating about 2 meters above the ground


    "Of course it''s floating, i mean its re-entry equipment so it needs an anti-grav field generator. Viktor, Laura start on the spikes"


    ""...okay""


    still a bit stunned, Viktor and Laura started creating rock spikes that faced out towards the surrounding tundra, leaving just Alice, Redmond and Eduard without stuff to do at the moment


    "Anti-grav what now?"


    "A anti-grav field generator, also called a graviton annihilation field generator"


    "That doesn''t help me at all..."


    "Okay¡­ think of the force that''s pulling you towards the ground - gravity, is not so much a fundamental force, but an elemental particle, that like any other can be annihilated by producing a anti particle or a particle with a completely opposite spin and electric charge. In this case its archived by an exiotic matter field that''s further exited by a heavy moun-electromagnetic field, now this is not easy and takes a huge amount of ener-"


    As Dax explained advanced quantum mechanics the eyes of Alice turned dead as her brain overloaded with information


    "-So that''s the about the basics Alice, well let''s get you in position for overwatch"


    "Okay.. but where?"


    "On top of the orb of course"


    After looking for a second at the orb and back at Dax Alice appeared even more confused


    "But. its, you know floating, and like 8 meters tall"


    "I don''t see your problem?"


    "We can''t all jump several hundred meters in the air without issue"


    "Sure you can, just in low enough gravity. well try it"


    "I don''t trust you.."


    Still remembering the multiple times Dax tricked her for his own random enjoyment, Alice wasn''t ready to just believe him and try to jump 8 meters just because he said so. Noticing her skeptical look Dax sighed before grabbing her hand and dragging her over to the orb.


    "You feel it yet?"


    "What the f.u.c.k is this?"


    As Alice was dragged towards the orb she started to feel strange, by the time she was able to touch it her hair was weightlessly floating and her clothes flowed freely and separated from her skin, resulting in a strangely liberating feel.


    "Welcome to a low g environment, you''re most likely the first in this world, now gently jump towards the top of the orb, as you get closer to the top you''ll start to feel gravity again, although a bit unlike the kind you''re used to"


    "O-okay, here i go!"


    As Alice chose to go where no other person from her world had gone, and gently jumped towards the orb, resulting in her starting to spin around, then panic, then flail her arms around resulting in even more panic and spinning.


    "D-Dax! help me!"


    (Ah i knew it, she is the best)


    Watching Alice flail around in low gravity, Dax couldn''t even wipe the dump grin off his face if his life depended on it


    "you''re doing great!"


    "S-Shut up and help me! urg i''m starting to get dizzy"


    "You''re making history! First of your kind flailing around in low gravity"


    "H-help me now!"


    "what''s the magic word?"


    "i hate you"


    "close enough."


    Gently setting off the ground with a single tap of his foot, Dax started to spin, matching Alice''s spin (panicked frailing) and grabbed her by the waist with his left hand and after a few seconds of further spinning Dax and Alice reached the orb and Dax stuck to it with the magnetic power of his artificial right arm


    "There we go, this is fun right?"


    "My head is spinning.."


    "That tends to happen when you''re flailing around like a newborn, next time keep calm and find a single point of reference to look at and keep turning your head towards it calmly. Or just frail around and puke, then pass out, that makes you easier to grab. Okay to the top we go~!"


    Climbing up the orb while dragging Alice behind him, Dax stuck to the orb with the help of his elektromagnetic arm and implants in his feet. As they reached the top gravity didn''t quite seem to return but rather seemed to be concentrated around a point at the top


    "Here you are Alice!"


    "Please let me down."


    "Isn''t this view lovely?.. Ah i get it! please don''t stab me!"


    Letting Alice down gently, i took Alice a few seconds before she found her balance while clinging to Dax


    "You good?"


    "Kinda, this is really strange.. how come you have no problem with this Dax?"


    "Mostly training and experience, with a bit of genetics. I''ve probably spent several times your lifetime in low or no gravity so it''s become second nature for me."


    "Oh yeah that''s right you''re way older than me, even if you rarely show it¡­"


    "Your task will be to spot anything closing in on our position and task Blue Phoenix and Viktor to eliminate the threat if it gets too close, ICI will assist you the whole way so rest assured. By the way.."


    "What?"


    "You can let go of me now"


    Without Alice herself noticing herself she had kept hold of Dax''s arm the whole time to steady her balance, and when Dax pointed that out she quickly let go with a fl.u.s.tered face


    "S-Shouldn''t you be somewhere else!"


    "You can''t hold my hand whenever you want Alice~"


    Dax quickly leaped off the orb, falling faster the further away he got from it, and landed next to Redmond and Eduard and quickly started to instruct them, leaving Alice alone on top of the orb in full bloom under the mask.


    "..Idiot."


    "looking good with the spikes Viktor, keep up that spacing and make 3 or 4 more rows, Laura you''re resting?"


    As Dax observed Viktor and Laura had made about 8 rows of 2 meter tall spikes facing outward with a single passageway through about 3 meters wide. While Viktor was slowly working on the spikes Blue Phoenix was resting with Laura included


    "..Nnn¡­.. out.. of. mana¡­"


    "Did you drink a potion?"


    "Nn.. takes..a bit¡­.to.. work"


    "Can i pat your head in the meantime?"


    "I¡­ will.. burn. it"


    "I guess that''s a no then, i will try again sometime else"


    "You really shouldn''t, Laura hate when people touch her head, one of the last ones that tried almost lost his life"


    "Why do you hate it so much, don''t you trust me?"


    "..Secret¡­?"


    "So you''re not even sure yourself.. Ok progress on the fortifications are looking good, I''ll start breaking through the heat shield"


    (There''s enough left for the conversion right?)


    (AFFIRMATIVE. PROCESS IS IRREVERSIBLE UNLESS ACCESS TO NEW GRAY MATTER IS SECURED. BE ADVISED CONSTRUCTION WILL BE UNSTABLE, ONLY 1 ATTEMPT CAN BE MADE: REAFFIRM RETROFIT? Y/N)


    "Okay! everyone ready!? for the next 5 to 6 hours I''ll be unable to defend myself and making a lot of noise, so I''ll intrust each one of you to protect me. I''ll only get one shot at this so if we fail I will die! please keep me safe¡­.. Confirm retrofit"


    As Dax moved towards the orb he confirmed the retrofit proposed by ICI, black liquid started pouring out his shoulder and quickly covered and stuck to his artificial right arm. After about 30 seconds the nanomachines had moved to cover his hand from the wrist down, turning his hand into a solid inorganic plate which he placed on the orb.


    "Commence induction heating"


    Slowly Dax''s new ''hand'' started to turn orange, red then white and slowly starting to heat up the surrounding metal mesh that slowly started melting.


    [ELECTROMAGNETS DETRIOISEING, FIRST ARMOR PLATE IN APPROXIMATELY 1 HOUR]


    (Please don''t break.)


    "Woah! that''s really freaky what did you do to your hand?"


    "I basically turned it into a heater, the heat melts the ablative part of the heat shielding by breaking down the gray matter its made of"


    As Dax explained to the curious Eduard, parts of the black mesh slowly melted away with larger chunks of other material gradually being loosened and flotin away in the low gravity


    "So it''s made of the same stuff that''s in your body? but what else is it made of?"


    "I think ''available material'' is the way ICI would put it, that material being anything that was close by. Anything from parts of the ship hull to former crew i''m afraid"


    "Are you shitting me?"


    "Oh i wish i was¡­"


    Proving his point, Dax stopped melting the shield and pulled out a human finger from the black mesh, making Eduard hurl on the spot.


    "It''s poetic really, even in death the bodies of my former crew safeguarding my only chance of survival in this strange world¡­ These orbs are as much graveyards as they are caches of supplies to secure my safety"


    "Eduard are you okay?"


    Having heard Eduard hurling Redmond came to check if he was okay


    "Yeah I''ll be fine.. Just didn''t realize what this thing is until Dax showed me"


    "What is it then?"


    "You don''t wanna know¡­ Come on let''s get back to our job"


    (Rest in peace old friend, i will make them pay when i get off this f.u.c.k.i.n.g rock)


    After about an hour had passed, Dax had hit a solid armor plating, and had barred a area and by melting a square meter hole.


    (that''s way too solid, how long would it take to melt it?)


    (NOT ABLE, OMEGA-7 OUTER ARMOR MELTS AT 9500 KELVIN)


    (Shit. Plan B it is)


    "I''ll be making lots of noise now! Alice be ready, we''ll most likely see pissed off arachnids from now on! I trust you guys to keep me alive"


    Before anyone could answer Dax pulled out his pistol and emptied a magazine into the plate, creating a small hole.


    "What the f.u.c.k was that!?"


    "....Loud.."


    "This will have to do.."


    Fitting 2 of his fingers into the hole in the plate with a sizzling sound, Dax greatly burned his hand on the still hot armor plate.


    "Come on!!"


    Placing a foot on the plate Dax slowly started bending the armor, and after about a minute the plate slowly started bending outward.


    "Okay.."


    After bending the armor plate outward about 30 centimeters Dax stopped pulling and instead hit the plate with his fist over and over, bending the plate back into its original location.


    "And again¡­"


    Once more Dax pulled on the hole and the beating it back to shape, he slowly fagied the metal, and after repeating the progges 5 more times the armor plate finally shattered. And with his bruised and burned hand he removed the metal fragments and then started heating up the next layer of mesh.


    "...Doesn''t¡­ that¡­ hurt?"


    "It sadly does my sweet Laura. Can i pat your head to make me feel better?"


    "...No.."


    "Tch"


    "We have moment! Laura get in position!!"


    As Alice warned from the top of the orb, a single arachnid closed in from behind a tree about 500 meters away, presumably attracted by the loud sound of Dax''s pistol


    "You f.u.c.k off!"


    Having spotted the closing arachnid, Viktor started throwing rock shards using magic. Several rock shards hit their target, but was mostly ineffective as the arachnids exoskeleton proved to tough at that long of a distance.


    "Viktor clam down, wait for it to close in I''ll stop it, then Eduard creates a opening for you and Laura"


    "Okay."


    As the arachnid rushed in closer, most likely pissed off by Viktors attack, Redmond moved out in front of the rock spikes and started hitting his towershield with his sword, attracting the arachnids attention, with Eduard standing directly behind him and Laura and Viktor on both flanks


    "Here we go!"


    Having been lured by Redmond the arachnid tried to pierce his towershield with its front legs, making Redmond slide backwards about a meter but succeeding in stopping the arachnids momentum and giving Eduard a perfect opening


    "Eduard, NOW!"


    "I see it!"


    Moving out from behind Redmond, Eduard rushed forward powered with the help of strengthening magic and sliced cleanly through both of the arachnids forward legs making it scream in pain.


    "Laura finish it!"


    "make it blind!"


    "...Nnn¡­"


    Responding to Viktor, Laura summoned a spear made of fire and tossed it at the arachnid, hitting it in the face and burning its numerous eyes out


    "REEEEEE!!-"


    As the arachnids scream was cut short by a well placed rock shard pierced its brain as it collapsed dead


    "That''s one"


    "Good shot Viktor"


    "Thanks, but it only hit because Laura blinded it"


    "....Nn¡­."

 Chapter 19 - Last Stand (1)

    "F.u.c.k.i.n.g. break. please!"


    Smashing his fist repeatedly into a armor plate, Dax''s left hand was greatly burned and bruised from breaking the 3 last plates, his ring finger had already stopped functioning as the tendon had snapped and all of his knuckles had been mostly bared with the bones showing by repeatedly fatiguing the metal armor plates by hitting them repeatedly.


    "Finally!"


    After hitting the plate back into shape for the 5th time, a crack finally formed and finally the plate cracked in half.


    "2 more to go! how are you guys doing!?"


    "Not good! why the f.u.c.k is there so many of them!?"


    As Alice pointed out, several arachnids where closing in around the orb, and multiple arachnid corpses were shattered around outside the perimeter, with most of them set on fire, giving most of the remaining light as the sun had set some hours ago. As the sun had set, monster activity had increased and with the sound Dax made while breaking through the orb''s ablative heat shield, arachnids had swarmed towards the orb. Reacting to the increased arachnid activity, Alice had made the call to split the defensive force, making Redmond and Eduard take care of or slow down any arachnids that tried to force themself through the single opening in the fortification of rock spikes. Laura and Viktor where not resting however as an increasing amount of arachnids tried to crawl over the spikes or break them down as they had been busy repelling such attempts and several burning corpses impaled on the rock spikes showed their effectiveness and lighted up the night.


    "One more over here! Viktor deal with that one fast and get over here! And Laura get back to Redmond and Eduard they seem to be struggling!"


    "NNnn¡­ on.. it!"


    "Give me a second!"


    "You have 20! Get your ass over here now!!"


    Laura responded as she lit a arachnid on fire that had tried to climb over the rock spikes and as it screamed in pain she had impaled it with a rock shard, Viktor on the other hand had to deal with a way more tricky spesimen that he had trouble hitting with a lethal spell.


    "DEAL WITH IT! I need you over here now! there''s more rude guests in need of some entertaining!"


    While Alice shouted commands at Viktor she blinded a arachnid with a well placed arrow, but it had little effect as it started thrashing around and breaking the fortifications


    "Oh no you f.u.c.k.i.n.g don''t! ICI help me!"


    [CALCULATING TRAJECTORY, STANDBY.. COMPLETE. SYNCHRONIZING MANEUVER]


    "I see it!"


    Guided by ICI Alice shot a steel arrows at the arachnid, hitting a small gap in its exoskeleton between its leg and torso, killing it instantly.


    "I''m running out of arrows! Laura can you help!?"


    [NEW CONTACT: @ HEADING 260 RANGE: 600 METERS]


    "Not...now!... Ed¡­ do¡­ it!"


    "OOHHH!"


    Laura having hit a arachnid in the head with a rock shard, dissorinting it greatly and then signaled Eduard who responded by channeling strengthening magic and charging it. Jumping of a corpse Eduard managed to reach the arachnids head and stabbed it through one of its eyes, making it collapse while convulsing.


    "Laura end it!"


    "NNnn!"


    Responding to Eduard that jumped away, several flames appeared around Laura and then swarmed the injured arachnid, setting it on fire and reaping its life spreading the smell of burned flesh.


    [IFF CONFIRMED]


    While melting through to the second to last armor plate Dax finally received identification on the internals of the orb


    "Well that took forever.. what do we have here?"


    [Z-99 MOD-4 REGISTRATION 000042119 CONFIRMED. STATUS: IN DEEP SLEEP AWAITING PLANETFALL]


    "That''s f.u.c.k.i.n.g great! ICI commence interfacing"


    [UNABLE. PRIMARY AND AXILLARY COM ARRAY OFFLINE]


    "Then bypass directly to a cyclops!"


    [UNABLE. ALL UNITS ARE IN DEEP SLEEP AWAITING PLANETFALL]


    (So the sensors and coms array were damaged in the attack¡­)


    "Shit¡­. Alice! i have good and bad news!"


    "WHAT!? we''re all a little busy!"


    "Okay, i''ll make it quik! This orb contains weapons that can clear this whole area in a minute! But i can''t talk to them yet!"


    "Meaning what exactly?"


    "We win when i get through this armor!"


    "Everyone heard that!!?"


    "OOHH! i don''t really get it but it means we''re almost done right?"


    "Nnn¡­ pending¡­.vitorry"


    "That''s great! you owe us a beer Dax!"


    "Great! i can''t wait to see more of your worlds technology Dax!"


    "Your priorities are backwards Viktor! I still need you to kill arachnids over here!"


    "Hhiii! sorry!"


    Fighting with renewed spirits they managed to push back the approaching arachnids, killing over 20 more and sending the rest fleeing, resulting in Dax starting to panic slightly.


    "Okay no time for celebrations! Eduard and Redmond start making barriers of dead arachnids where the spike wall have been damaged for Viktor or Laura to light on fire when they return! Viktor and Laura start recovering mana, use all the leftover mana potions if you have to, then start recovering arrows for Alice!"


    "Dax calm down already, we won they''re not coming back"


    "No I''m sure they are! something called them back¡­ Arachnids have a social structure right?"


    "What are you talking ab- oh shit that''s right!"


    As Alice caught on to what Dax was saying she also started to panic


    "It was most likely a queen that called them back, f.u.c.k.i.n.g shit¡­ Redmond! can you guys kill a queen!?"


    "My pride would say yes, but there''s no way. We would need another gold ranked party to even try it"


    "Yeah there''s no way¡­"


    "...Impossible..screwed"


    "Then focus on slowing it down, Dax how long till you''re inside that thing?"


    "A hour at the most, if the refit holds together"


    "And if it breaks?"


    "Then we''re all f.u.c.k.i.e.d. So start praying"


    Following Dax''s instructions Eduard and Redmond started manhandling the few non burning arachnid corpses with the use of strengthening magic and piling them in front of the few areas of the spike wall and then cut up their abdomens, making them easier to set on fire. Meanwhile Laura and Viktor where chucking mana potions both with a disgusted look on their faces and Alice was scanning the surrounding area vigilantly looking for signs of the next wave of arachnids.


    (ICI call up Alice will you?)


    (DIALING GUARDIAN 47, PATCHING CEREBRAL ARCHITECTURE. WARING: LIMITED MIND MELT IN EFFECT. EXPECTED CORRUPTION UNDER 0.00000094052% PATTEN GREEN IN EFFECT.)


    ("Could you please not do that it making me dizzy!")


    After connecting to Alice Dax was greeted by her screaming voice in his head


    ("But not as much as last time right? anyway can you tell me about the arachnid queens?")


    ("...")


    ("Are you ignoring me?")


    Waiting for about a minute without answer Dax sighed and then decided to play a prank on her


    ("Hey Alice did you know i can shout loud enough in here for you to go insane within a minute without you being able to do anything?")


    ("...")


    (No effect huh.. then let''s¡­.)


    Dax''s mind going into overdrive he decided on a new strategy on a new strategy


    ("If you don''t answer i won''t pat your head ever again")


    ("Are you mentally disturbed Dax?")


    ("Greatly since birth. Anyway we were discussing the arachnid queens")


    After a minute of great abuble groaning from Alice she followed it up with a sigh and then started explaining


    ("Arachnid queens are larger, faster, tougher and smarter than regular arachnids. There''s usually only 1 or 2 a nest and a party of platinum ranked hunter are usually needed to kill a single one")


    ("How thick is the exoskeleton? 2 or 3 times the normal arachnid?")


    ("About 3 times thicker, and quite a bit denser, why?")


    ("No reason, thanks for answering my questions Alice~")


    While chatting with Alice Dax had finally reached the next plate and prepared to make a whole in it as he drew his pistol once more, only to find Viktor next to him eagerly looking at his pistol.


    (INDUCTION HEATER INTEGRITY AT 20%)


    "That''s a pistol right Dax? can i try it?"


    "Yeah it is, but if you fired this pistol it would probably break your wrist and shatter most the bones in your arm"


    "That sounds, brutal.. I''ll pass"


    "Sadly this type of pistol is custom designed for my race. I''m firing so stand back a bit"


    Gently jumping a few steps backwards in the low gravity Viktor blocked his ears and gave a nod to Dax that stared at him with a questioning look on his face


    "What?"


    "Nothing"


    emptying an entire magazine in the armor plate Dax managed to make a small hole in the armor, revealing another layer of black mesh underneath


    (How the hell is that kid in any kind of military?)


    "WOULD IT KILL YOU TO GIVE A WARNING BEFORE YOU USE THAT THING!! IT SCARES THE SHIT OUT OF ME!"


    "Ah, sorry! Anyway that was the second to last plate so I''m almost through"


    As Dax started fatiguing the metal plate with his bare hands Viktor once started asking questions.


    "What''s on the other side?"


    "A ''vehicle'' that''s made for re-entry filled with weapons and some equipment"


    "What kind of equipment?"


    "Hopefully a shit ton of active nanomachines, a working bioprinter and a zero-g forge"


    "A bio what? and some kind of forge?"


    "A bioprinter, a machine that creates anything from organs to whole limbs or body parts for first aid on the battlefield. And a zero-g forge, another machine that uses the same mechanics that makes this orb float to make complex machinery that''s for first aid and service of weapons on the battlefield."


    "That seems amazing...."


    "Yeah they are to be honest, I''ll show you how they work later."


    "By the way are you sure you don''t need me to heal you? that hand looks pretty¡­ well broken"


    Taking a short break from fatiguing the armor plate Dax briefly examined his hand. The knuckles were mostly bared with the bone showing, his fingers were covered in burns from handling the hot metal and the tendon on his ring finger had snapped, making it useless.


    "Nah it''s okay the damage is still mostly superficial, besides my body is tougher than it looks and can still get us out of this mess even if i can''t use my hands as long as we get through this wall"


    Half listening to Dax and Viktors conversation, Alice were vigilantly watching the surrounding from on top of the orb, still a bit uneasy on her footing in the low gravity.


    [NEW CONTACTS: @ HEADING 010 RANGE: 650 METERS]


    Suddenly her vision turned purple and ICI directed her attention to a spot distance with a faint yellow and red hue, slowly getting larger.


    "Let me see it normally"


    [SWITCHING TO OPTICAL SENSORS FROM INFERRED. STANDBY..]


    "I can''t see them now?"


    ("That tends to happen when you turn off night vision at night")


    "Dax! get out of my head!"


    ("No can do, give me a second i''m cleaning up the sensory data¡­ And overwrite, there you go my sweet Alce~")


    Having her vision one more turn purple Alice started to regret borrowing the mask from Dax that he still had complete control over, until she looked at the contacts.


    "Oh shit. 25, no more like 30? and 2 queens!? what the f.u.c.k!"


    This time the image she saw was greatly cleared up, and she saw multiple orange and red figures, they were all arachnids


    [34 NEW CONTACTS IDENTIFIED. DISSADVISEING DIRECT CONFONTRATION]


    "Yeah no shit, guys we got company!"


    "Already on it, Dax told us!"


    Down below Viktor, Laura, Eduard and Redmond where already making their preparations. Redmond and Eduard were busy making a barrier at the entrance out of arachnid corpses, meanwhile Viktor and Laura gathered the last of the arrows for Alice they could safely recover and passed them to Dax that skillfully tossed them to Alice on top the orb.


    "What''s the plan now Dax?"


    "Delay them for as long you safely can outside the spikes while Alice and Viktor picks off strays that try to flank, then fall back behind the spikes and have Viktor and Laura light anything flammable on fire and start praying, i need another 10 minutes at least to get through to the last armor plate."


    "You owe us so much more than a single beer! any final advise before we start?"


    "Yeah, and for you especially Eduard. Fight to maim and not to kill, you only need to stall them for another 10 minutes so don''t bother wasting energy to kill a arachnid if you have already cut off some of its legs."


    "You''re surprisingly heartless Dax, but I''ll take it to heart"


    Leaving Dax and the rear guard consisting of Viktor and Alice behind, Blue Phoenix when you in the tundra field to face the arachnids


    "And one last thing, dying is not allowed!"


    "That''s not how it works Dax.."


    "That''s exactly how it works when your taking orders from me, if i see any of you guys trying to pull of some stupid hero shit and dying i will personally drag your asses out of hell and then beat you senseless. Understood!?"


    Feeling a surprising amount of bloodl.u.s.t from Dax Eduard immediately knew that he was serious and responded by fliching. Redmound on the other hand just started laughing and Laura for once looked wide awake and serious. Going out into the darkness Eduard could barely make out the tarain from the light provided by the starts and nearby moon that hang in the sky above them, hearing several arachnids closing in and seeing their red eyes in the dark sent a chill down Eduards spine, but he quickly calmed down and suppressed his fear.


    "What''s the plan o great leader?"


    "Laura give us light, I''ll keep her safe and you do hit and run tactics on them. As Dax said we don''t need to kill them just slow them down so try to go for their legs or blinding them, Alice and Viktor got our back so don''t bother with anyone trying to get around us as they will take care of them. And remember when they overwhelm us start running, then we hide and wait out the last time"


    "Roger!"


    "Nn.. Let''s do this!"


    As Laura finished chanting she hit her staff the butt of her staff in the ground and spread out a pattern of red runes around her, and after a second tennis sized balls of flame started to form around her.


    "More."


    As if responding to her voice the flames grew in number and size until there where at least 50 football sized ball of flame surrounding her


    "..And¡­ light.. up. the night!"


    Receiving their final command the fire balls frew out and pleted the tundra in front of Blue Phoenix, hitting several arachnids and setting multiple on fire, lighting them on fire, Laura fell down on her knees with a pale face


    "Laura! are you okay?"


    "I''m¡­ fine"


    After a second of gathering herself Laura downed a mana potion and stood up again with her face still a bit pale.


    "looks like they''ve started, I''ll get in position as well"


    As Alice looked at the fires spreading out on the tundra lighting up the night, and some arachnids, Alice decided to also head out to the field, with Viktor following behind


    "Good hunting"


    (INDUCTION HEATER INTEGRITY CRITICAL.)


    (Please hold together a bit longer.. ICI start working on a backup solution)


    "I''ll head out too, good luck Dax"


    "Godspeed"


    "That''s one more! good job Eduard"


    "Thanks! but we need to fall back soon, they''re starting to surround us!"


    As Eduard pointed out after slicing off half the legs of a arachnid several of them where starting to surround the group after having initially underestimated the tiny and delicious looking humans.


    "Let''s gradually open up the distance, I''ll carry Laura, you stop any of them that tries to charge us. Okay fall ba-"


    Before Redmound could finish giving a command he was interrupted by a arrow flying right over his head, hitting one of the arachnid that was trying to move around in a gap in its exoskeleton at its leg, making it fall over. A second later a rock shard also passed the group and hit another arachnid in the head, caused it to fall over, and breaking one of its legs in the process.


    "Oh shit, was that Alice and Viktor? I guess they''re helping us out, so let''s keep going a bit more"


    "Can you see Alice Redmond? I''ve no idea where she''s at?"


    "I have no idea, she is a ranger after all"


    "Nn.. scarry"


    Seeing one of the best rangers really do her work for the first time Eduard couldn''t help shuttering at the fact she delivered fatal or disabling shoots from somewhere behind them, completely unseen in the dark. He felt the same about Viktor, the only thing making him visible was the short runic light from his spells as he shot 50 kg rocks with a frightening speed and accuracy


    (I guess they''re part of the military for a reason huh, I can''t fall behind)


    Fighting with renewed vigor, Eduard managed to disable another arachnid, and the other side responded by backing off briefly, only for a queen to approach.


    "Oh shit"


    "Oh shit indeed, back off slowly, we can''t beat that one..."


    The arachnid queen where about 1 and a half times larger than a normal arachnid with a significantly tougher exoskeleton and its 6 eyes showed significantly more intelligence than a normal specimen as it slowly approached Eduard while being curious of attacks from Alice and Viktor hidden behind Blue Phoenix.


    "woah it looks disgusting up close, keep backing off slowly"


    "Ugly.."


    "And it smells too, keep the same distance"


    Maintaining the distance, Blue Phoenix slowly backed off, but only for half a minute before the arachnid queen seemed to realize what was going on and sped up to a run at them.


    "Oh f.u.c.k, Viktor, help!"


    Responding to Redmond''s panic, a rock shard flew past Eduard and grazed the queen, it having predicted a atack and dogged as soon it saw the light form the magic attack, before being hit in the eye by a steel arrow, fired from the darkness behind them without any warning


    "Run now!"


    "With pleasure!"


    Reacting to Alice''s shout, Redmond picked up Laura and started running, with Eduard following after a second when he realized what was going on. Making their way back behind the spike wall and Viktor and Laura quickly set all the leftover arachnid corpse on fire making a barrier of flame surrounding the spikes.


    "What''s the progress Dax?"


    "I sure hope you have good news, we just pissed off a queen"


    "Yeah about that.."


    [MALFUNCTION CONFIRMED. INDUCTION ELEMENT OFFLINE, UNABLE TO REPAIR]

 Chapter 20 - Last Stand (2)

    "You''re kidding right Dax?"


    "Sadly I''m not no"


    Displaying his modified arm Dax revealed that it had partially melted and was smoking.


    "But i do have a backup plan, but their might be some issues with it"


    "We''re about to be eaten alive, i don''t see anything worse than that!"


    "..Agree."


    "Then give me back my mask Alice"


    "Ah sure, here you go"


    "Okay thanks, I''ll need to borrow Viktor or Laura. And there''s a large chance that what I''m about to do will inflict lethal brain damage or irreparable disabilities"


    "What are you talking about?"


    "Mind melting, and not the gentle kind i did with Alice just to talk with her, but a process that will involve a lot irreparable brain damage, and even if by some chance one of you come out unshaped you will be changed permanently"


    "I''ll do it"


    "Did you hear anything i said Viktor?"


    "I did, the rest of you guys keep the arachnids back, I''ll help Dax break in to this orb in the meanwhile"


    Following Viktors command Alice and Blue Phoenix spread out and started to look for the approaching arachnids.


    "are you really sure?"


    "I am so stop asking, let''s do this"


    "Okay, then please put on the mask"


    [READY TO ESTABLISH CONNECTION. STANDING BY FOR CONSENT]


    "What now?"


    Having eqiped the mask ICI cold voice sounded in his head


    "Repeat and understand exactly what ICI says"


    [PRINTING CONSENT FORMULA: I HEREBY CONSENT TO HAVING MY MIND CONTROLLED]


    "I hereby consent to having my mind controlled"


    [I''M ALSO FULLY AWARE OF ANY AND ALL SIDE EFFECTS THIS WILL COURSE, INCLUDING AND NOT LIMITED TO: STAGE 4 MINDBLEED, LOSS OF LIFE, CORRUPTION OF ALL MY MEMORIES AND LIFE ALTERING DISABILITIES]


    "I''m also fully aware of any and all side effects this will course, including and not limited to: stage 4 mindbleed, loss of life, corruption of all my memories and life altering disabilities"


    [I HEREBY FORFEIT MY RIGHT TO SUE AND OR SEEK ANY AND ALL KINDS OF LEGAL ACTION]


    "I hereby forfeit my right to sue and or seek any and all kinds of legal action"


    [LASTLY I FORFEIT MY FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND WILL NOT SHARE ANY CLASSIFIED INFORMATION OBTAINED IN THE MINDBLEED]


    "Lastly i forfeit my freedom of speech and will not share any classified information obtained in the mindbleed"


    "Okay that''s fine, let''s start, ICI start the dialup"


    [DIALING GUARDIAN 47, PATCHING CEREBRAL ARCHITECTURE, STANDBY]


    "AH THIS F.U.C.K.I.N.G HURTS!"


    Feeling as if his head was splitting in half, Viktor instinctively tried to remove the mask but failed to do so as it stuck to his head, and fell over in pain and started convulsing on the ground while half screaming in a passed out state.


    [PREPARING FOR FULL MIND MELT. WARING: COMPLETE MIND MELT IN EFFECT. EXPECTED CORRUPTION AROUND 30% PATTEN YELLOW NOW IN EFFECT.]


    ""I have control""


    After having passed out in pain Viktor suddenly awoke with his eyes eerily wide open, speaking the exact same way Dax did.


    ""Okay ICI run the mana circulation prototype""


    Picking up his staff ''Viktor'' started circulating mana in a slightly mechanical manner.


    ""Seems good¡­ Okay time to try out a spell""


    Grabbing his staff ''Viktor'' started channeling mana into it, making the gem at the tip glow more powerful than it ever did before


    [OVERLOAD DETECTED, TERMINATING PROGRAM]


    Stopping the mana cirkulation, the managem at the tip stopped glowing, revealing a large crack in it.


    ""So it couldn''t hold together after all¡­ what was it again? ''channel mana into the stone and the stone forms the spell according to your will''? so this gemstone is basically a converter, or some form of subroutine¡­?""


    Examining the staff briefly with great care, ''Viktor'' didn''t seem impressed at all.


    ""So basically it''s some sort of mana based script stored in a crystal circuit that''s grown by some sort of mana spell? so ineffective..""


    Tossing the staff aside after having decoded one of the kingdoms greatest military secrets in mere seconds, ''Viktor'' didn''t seem impressed at all.


    ""Imprinting subroutines directly into cerebral metrix¡­ ICI handle it with care""


    [SCAN COMPLETE, ANALAYS COMPLETE, FORMATTING AND REWRITE COMPLETE, STARTING IMPRINTING, ACCESSING UNUSED NEURONS¡­]


    ""It''s quite simple, just format the information and integrate it directly, to cut out this inefficient system""


    [PRINT COMPLETE: SYSTEM TRAINED TO NEURONS SUCCESSFULLY]


    ""Let''s try this again, ICI launch the prototype spell interface""


    [CIRCULATING MANA, BUILDING SPELL¡­ FAILED]


    ""Huh.. Well that''s to be expected, ICI run debug""


    [DEBUGGING.. BUILDING VIRTUAL SPACE FOR SIMULATIONS.... COMPLETE. PROGRAM GENERATION #9999954 DISPLAYING RESULTS ABOVE FAIL STATE, RUNNING OPTIMIZATIONS... COMPLETE, GENERATION #75122075 MARKED AS FINAL VERSION. READY TO RETRY]


    In about 10 seconds ICI displayed its true power by making about 7 and a half million simulations on the prototype spell architecture derived from the analysis of the managem, by making it about a million times more effective and unknowingly advancing magic by about 5000 years.


    ""Okay let''s try it out¡­ Load spell #5""


    [CONSTRUCTING BUNSEN BURNER.. ALLOCATION OF MANA COMPLETE STRUCTURE STABLE, SPELL ONLINE]


    Suddenly Viktors hand started to be covered in completely black runes that looked way more complex than anything he had done before, and a completely blue flame appeared about 20 centimeters from his hand.


    ""It works! good time to get rid of the rest black matter""


    Turning to the orb ''Viktor'' walked up to it and put forth his hand


    ""Let''s go with spell #1""


    [LOADING SPELL NUMBER 1, APPLYING ACTIVE MANA IN TARGET AREA¡­ UNKNOWN INTERFERENCE DETECTED, AIRBORNE MANA CONCENTRATION FALLING]


    ""What the fu- ICI execute spell script now!""


    Sensing that some sort of alien/holy power didn''t want Dax to use magic and/or breach the orb he panicked greatly and rushed ICI to execute the spell


    [EXECUTING SPELL SCRIPT #1 VIBRATING TARGET AREA]


    As ICI started the spell the exposed black matter turned completely red in seconds, on a atomic level the mana particle binded to the black matter molecules and nanobots and started vibrating, heating up and destabilizing the compound molecules, breaking them down instantly.


    [FINAL PLATE EXPOSED¡­ MANA LEVELS DROPPING, UNKNOWN INTERFERENCE IN FULL EFFECT, UNABLE TO CONSTRUCT ADDITIONAL SPELLS]


    ""Release mind melt and give Viktor a full medical scan!""


    Having done his job Dax immediately released Viktor from the mind melt, and he instantly collapsed on the ground, bleeding out his ears and behind the mask he was also bleeding heavily from the eyes. At the same time Viktor dropped to the ground Dax pulled out his pistol and empted the last of its rounds into the plate.


    "Did it work?"


    [SCANNING.. BREACH DETECTED, PENETRATION SUCCESSFUL, 0.05 CENTIMETER BREACH DETECTED]


    "But there''s no way i can break that open by hand¡­ but i don''t need to"


    -- Turning back the clock back a bit to when Alice, Laura, Eduard and Redmond whent to defend Viktor and Dax --


    "Are you sure we can win Alice?"


    While looking into the dark and seeing a lot of red eyes looking back, Redmond asked Alice with a nervous voice


    "We don''t need to, we just need to survive long enough"


    "As a ranger what do you believe to be our best shot at that?"


    turning to Redmond and the rest of Blue Phoenix with a nervous smile Alice answered with a slightly crackling voice


    "We piss them off, if we become a anyonce instead of pray they''ll take their time to kill us"


    "Are you serious?"


    "Sadly I am, hopefully Dax and Viktor won''t take too long. In any case it will not matter if they flank us, we just need to keep Viktor and Dax safe, so let''s all go to the front"


    Arriving at the entrance of the spike wall Alice and Blue Phoenix waited for about a minute until about 30 arachnids stood silently in front of them drooling, with one particularly pissed spesimen in font missing a eye.


    "Well one of them is already pissed, so that''s good, time to piss of the rest¡­ Laura can you use that fire spell again?"


    "Nnn¡­. but¡­.I''ll...pass.. out"


    "That''s good, they''ll go for you last if that comes to it. Redmond keep her safe until she''s done casting, and Eduard make some noise and cut off some legs, but not too much or they''ll eat you alive"


    "you seem to know a lot about this kind of stuff Alice"


    "That''s because I''ve seen it happen, multiple times. As a ranger my job is to protect the kingdom from enemies coming through the Black forest, of all the spies I''ve been sent to intercept I only ever needed to kill about half of them, the rest i only needed to watch and confirmed that they died, and sometimes that took a while."


    On a particularly grim note the arachnids started closing in, prompting Redmond and Alice to stop talking and switch gears. As the larger of the queens with an arrow in its eye slowly closed in while being particularly careful of Alice and her bow and arrows, Laura moved behind Redmond''s towershield and silently started chanting, and Eduard slowly moved to one side and circulating mana for strengthening magic while Alice did the same and moved to the other flank.


    "... Distraction... needed.."


    As Laura made it ever closer to completing she found it increasingly harder to hide it. and thus needed a distraction so she could complete the chant unnoticed. Responding to Laura''s request, Eduard and Alice made eye contact and nodded, them simultaneously overloaded themselves with strengthening magic and set off, briefly moving faster than the eye could see and appeared behind the arachnids, swords drawn, and 2 arachnids collapsed immediately after having half of their legs cut off.


    "... Fire¡­ consume.. ALL!"


    Finishing her chant Laura used the rest of her mana to summon half a dozen football sized fireballs that quickly seeked out their targets and struck with brutal efficiency before passing out.


    "Yeah, GET SUM- ak aw f.u.c.k"


    Watching Laura''s spell hitting multiple arachnids Eduard celebraded like some of the qitons makers, he started coughing up blood, having overstrained his body with strengthening magic.


    "Eduard!"


    Cutting her way passed the arachnids in her way, Alice reached the collapsed Eduard as she was quickly surrounded she prepared to make her last stand.


    "COME ON YOU SHITTY BUGS! I DON''T HAVE ALL DAY!!"


    While Alice starred down the surrounding arachnids she heard a series of gunshots coming from the orb.


    (we might make it after all)


    Seemingly having her wish granted, a strange metallic sound came from the orb and gravity suddenly seemed to have an effect once more on the orb, and it fell to the ground, knocking up a dust cloud covering the area.


    [ATMOSPHERE CONFIRMED, GRAVITATION ANNIHILATION DRIVE OFFLINE, PERFORMING SYSTEMS CHECK¡­ PRINTING EQUIPMENT STATUS REPORT


    Z-99 MOD-4 DROP POD


    - CORE SYSTEMS CONFIRMED OPERATIONAL


    - REACTOR AT 20% OUTPUT, OVERHEATING


    - VULCAN HEAVY SYSTEMS GRAVITON ANNIHILATION FIELD GENERATOR MK:IIX EHECATL


    ONLINE, EXOTIC MATTER FUEL AT 0.003%


    - 54 HULL BRANCHES CONFIRMED


    - COM SYSTEMS OFFLINE


    - SECONDARY GYRO OFFLINE


    - COLD GAS MANEUVER THRUSTERS 4, 1 AND 8 OFFLINE


    REX-DELTA 04 CYCLOPS


    - 4 UNITS OFFLINE, CRITICAL FAILURE


    - 1 UNIT PARTIALLY OPERATIONAL, REPAIRS NEEDED


    - 1 UNIT MISSING, PRESUMED LOST IN ACTION


    - 4 UNITS ONLINE, LOADING ICI ARCHITECTURE TO SHELLS, SYSTEMS ONLINE IN 10 SECONDS


    REX-344 GAUSS RIFLE


    - 8 RIFLES ONLINE AND CHARGING CAPACITORS, READY FOR DEPLOYMENT IN 20 SECONDS, ICI SYNCED TO FIRE CONTROL, STANDARD ISSUE 20 CAL. ANTI-MATERIAL UNGUIDED SLUGS LOADED IN ALL RIFLES


    - 1800 ROUNDS IN STORAGE


    GUARDIAN ZERO GRAVITY FIELD FORGE


    - 2 UNITS ONLINE


    LAZARUS FIELD FIRST AID BIOPRINTER


    - 1 UNIT OPRATONAL


    GUARDIAN NANOBOT HOUSING


    - 2 x 15 KG CONTAINERS HOLDING INTEGRITY


    END OF REPORT]


    When Dax finally breached through the last armor plate, air had flooded inside the orb, triggering a barometric sensor on the package inside. The Z-99 mod-4 drop pod was a 6 meter wide, 7 meter tall 6 sided cylinder with extendable hydraulic air brakes on all sides that would extend at the last part of reentry, that combined with the graviton drive would allow it to land at almost any habitable planet with ease making them commonly used by the galactic empire to establish outposts on remote planets. A millisecond after the barometric sensor tripped the onboard ICI unit, it had quickly established that it was on a unknown planet without working communications and decided to start construction of a communications array to then await further instructions. Extending the 6 large airbrake flaps all the way, the drop pod briefly looked like a metallic flower blooming inside the orb, before several explosive charges shot off the armor plates underneath, revealing the densely packed interior behind. As the blast doors had been purged the graviton drive powered down at the same time, making the drop pod and the orb surrounding it drop to the ground with a bang, and after that something awoke inside. Unpacking it self from the orb in a highly mechanical manner the first drone had awoken, and with the drone its build in communications array also awoke.

 Chapter 21 - Ninth Generation Warfare(1)

    *GORE WARNING AT THE END, DO NOT READ WHILE EATING*


    As Alice protected the passed out Eduard from the approaching arachnids, the orb had made a loud metallic noise, before dropping to the ground knocking up a dust cloud and attracting the arachnids attention.


    (I hope you do something fast Dax, if not the arachnids will remember what they where doing)


    Alice had briefly considered graping Eduard and running while the arachnids where distracted but judged it as ultimately futile. As the dust started to settle the arachnids seemed to think the treat had passed their attention went back to Alice and the passed out Eduard as they started salivating and closed in to feed.


    (Oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit Dax help me)


    Watching her own death approaching Alice started to panic as tears started to form at the corner of her eyes.


    "DAX HELP ME!!"


    Reacting to her shout the arachnid queen gave a quick hiss, commanding its brethren to finish the annoying prey off, and the closet arachnid raised its leg and prepared to sherwer Alice alive. It never got that far however, as its head suddenly exploded and it fell over lifelessly. When Alice looked towards the orb she saw Dax wielding some kind of larger black pistol that she assumed to be what he had called a ''rifle'' with only 1 hand, as he had presumingly purged his mechanical arm after it malfunctioned. After Dax had shot the closet arachnid to Alice dead, 3 other shoots followed from behind him in the dust cloud still surrounding the orb, reaping the life of multiple arachnids as the projectiles passed through several arachnids, with the sound of their flesh melting. Appearing behind Dax where 3 mechanical looking soldiers about Alice''s own height each one wielding a black rifle like Dax , all wearing the same black mask that seemed to absorb the surrounding light and strange gray and black clothes as Dax. After one of the mechanical soldiers put Dax''s mask on him a red dot appeared in the center of it, and a second later the soldiers masks all lit up in the same way, before splitting open vertically on the middle, revailing a bunch of strange looking sensors and a single large mechanical lense behind.


    (Are they machines? or some kind of golem, no perhaps they''re those ''drones'' Dax talked about a few times?)


    REX-Delta 04 Cyclops - Atomus Light Scouting Unit.


    An android mimicking the appearance of a regular soldier, the Delta 04 Cyclops stands bipedally about 1 meter and 80 centimeters tall. Made for direct interface mind melting it mimics the functionality of a flesh and blood soldier with 2 arms and legs, but difensates from a living soldier by being remote operated by a drone commander and therefore completely disposable. The REX-Delta 04 model get its name from its specialised primary sensor mounted in the head, the Cyclops long range sensor pod made by Guardian systems is a series of rangefinders surrounding a single large high resolution ultra long range camera that makes it able to track contacts from/in geostationary orbit (a distance of about 35000 kilometers). The vulnerable sensor pod is normally retracted behind a black carbon-polymer shield, giving the Cyclops the look of a faceless android wearing a reaper''s mask. When the sensor pod is in use a Cyclops can track and engage anything within 600 kilometers provided clear line of sight and standard equipment, the Cyclops units are therefore employed in scouting, recon and extremely long range combat, although they''re considered mostly obsolete and outdated.


    "Time to wipe out the rest, ICI give me full control of these 3. Oh and unit 2 please top of my rifle"


    [DIALING REX-DELTA04 UNIT 1-3, PATCHING CEREBRAL ARCHITECTURE, STANDBY]


    "What the hell are those, some kind of golem?"


    Having retreated carrying the passed out Laura away from combat, Redmond was surprised to see werry alien looking drones standing next to Dax wielding strange weapons.


    "Ah these? they''re basic throwaway combat drones welding gassus rifles like this one"


    Holding forward his weapon, Dax displayed a black carbon-polymer about 70 centimeters long bullpup style rifle, with a clear plastic magazine behind the trigger. The clear magazine displayed several bright blue plastic cases, hiding ferromagnetic slugs that are shot at hypersonic speeds with the help of multiple electromagnetic coils surrounding the rifle barrel. The rifle barrel was shielded by a solid black carbon-polymer plastic, hiding electromagnetic coils that surrounded the barrel, and on the outside it had a conductive grip surface to charge the capacitors that powered the coils and as Dax showed Redmond the rifle, a cyclops was gripping the grip, charging it.


    "It''s a REX-344 fully automatic gauss rifle, or more like a burst rifle not fully automatic, but anyway this is the kind of weapon my world uses instead of swords and bow and arrows"


    [RECHARGE COMPLETE, READY FOR MIND MELT]


    "Anyway i can show it to you in detail later, right now i need to exterminate some pests, ICI initiate domination"


    [PREPARING FOR FULL MIND DOMINATION. WARING: COMPLETE MIND MELT IN EFFECT. EXPECTED CORRUPTION AT 100% PATTEN BLACK NOW IN EFFECT.]


    [[[I HAVE CONTROL]]]


    As Dax mind melted with the drones he took complete control, even suppressing their basic OS. In Dax''s world mind melting is normal although primarily used for military purposes and there exist 4 levels of mind melting that each have their own advantages and drawbacks. Level 1, also called code green gives access to higher levels of consciousness and carries a minimal risk of mental corruption and is commonly used for high speed quantum communication. Above code green is code yellow, a process that breaches the subjects lower thought patterns and subconsunes, allowing the operator to take control of a subject to control and/or command it directly, this is the lowest level of mind melt where imprinting of memories and programs is possible, but carries a large risk of metal corrosion, commonly called mindbleed. Above code yellow is code red, a level of mind melt that''s restricted to military use only. At code red it is possible to rewrite base level sup conscious or OS, giving a drone commander the ability to ''be'' any number or drones depending on the operators skill, effectively turning a single soldier into 101, with 100 of them being completely disposable, working as a force multiplier on a scale with the first thermonuclear weapons of old. Code red had until a few hundred years ago been thought to be only possible in theory, as that level of melting produced extreme read and write errors, resulting in almost immediate fatality in all parts due to stage 5 or 6 mindbleed. It was only recently a breakthrough had been made, making code red fiseble, by making a supprocceser take the blunt of the data and then reformat it to the operator to avoid mindbleed, in essence a early ICI prototype.


    Then there''s code black, or complete mind domination, no public records of its use exists, but it''s been theorized that with a fast enough supprocessor and an extremely cableble mind it''s possible to not just briefly possess a subject or droid, but become it while maintaining a sense of self, in essence creating a hive mind in perfect synchronization turning a single soldier into a million - with the force of a billion.


    [CODE BLACK NOW IN EFFECT - 3 REX DELTA 04 ADDED TO ARCHITECTURE, ALL RAM AND PROCESSING POWER INTEGRATED TOTAL CONTROL HANDOVER COMPLETE. ICI ENTERING SLEEP MODE]


    (Time to be die, f.u.c.k.i.n.g bugs)


    What followed could hardly be called anything other than a massacre, with Dax leading the droids, every shot fired reaped the life of multiple arachnids as a metal slug passed through their exoskeletons at hypersonic speeds, like a focused plasma beam through butter. Only the 2 arachnid queens seemed immune to the sustained rifle fire, and they were to only ones alive 10 seconds after the ''battle'' had started and they quickly fled, presumably back to the arachnid nest nearby.


    "Are you okay my sweet Alice~?"


    Having made his way to Alice, Dax wore a big smile as he checked on her, as a droid checked the passed out Eduard and injected some nanobots into his bloodstream with a syringe.


    "T-there''s no way I''m ''yours''! And I''m fine, shouldn''t you be taking care of Eduard?"


    "[I am~]"


    Answering the angry and slightly blushing Alice, the droid and Dax answered at the exact same time.


    "Creepy.. What the hell is that?


    "[Oh this? this is a drone. A standard in warfare and life in general where i''m from]"


    "could you stop that? it''s gross"


    "[Terminate mind melt]"


    [MIND MELT TERMINATED, STARTING POST DOMINATION CLEANUP AND EVALUATION]


    "There you go Alice~ what''s your opinion of me when I''m serious?"


    "Kind of sloppy to be honest, you missed 2"


    "Did I? number 3 go find number 1 and bring it here when it''s done sabalizing Viktor"


    Having finished helping out Eduard, the drone ran back to the orb


    "Is he okay?"


    "Sadly not, he has mindbleed, I don''t know how bad"


    "Mindbleed?"


    "A after effect of mind melting. Rewritten neurons, loss of memory, internal hemorrhaging, paralysis are just the major symptoms, but there are a dozen more lethal minor symptoms, but he''ll live. As for the damage to his mind and psyche I''ll know after his head is no longer split open and he''s out of the bioprinter."


    As Dax ended his explanation on the aftereffects of a unprepared mindmelt, the drone returned with its brethren.


    [3 AND 1 AWAITING INSTRUCTIONS.]


    "Track then exterminate all targets with extreme prejudice. wipe them out completely"


    (No one messes with my adorable tour guide and gets away alive. Ever)


    [MOVING TO EXTERMINATE TARGET 1 AND 2]


    "No i mean everything, patten 4 maneuver"


    [MOVING TO TARGET AREA AND EXECUTING PATTEN 4 - AREA PURGE, PLEASE CONFIRM]


    "Registration 044587356420, purge all sentient life at location"


    [ORDERS CONFIRMED, MOVING TO COMBAT AREA]


    Having their orders confirmed, units 1 and 3 set off running in the same direction the arachnids had fled, moving arccos the uneven terrain at a speed Alice only could hope to match on flat ground, and with a large head start.


    "That''s that done, now are you hurt Alice?"


    "I''m fine, but are you okay?"


    "Yeah I am okay, one of the drones immediately stabbed me with a syringe after it came out the orb, anyway let''s go join the others"


    Before Alice could object Dax picked her up to carry her in a princess carry.


    "W-w-what are you doing!? shouldn''t you help out Eduard!!"


    Looking back Alice saw a droid carrying the passed out Eduard.


    "What did i tell you not even half an hour ago?"


    "W-what?"


    Sensing that Dax was pissed off for some unknown reason, Alice turned meek.


    "I told you: no hero shit. Therefore it''s time for a punishment"


    "Noooooo!"


    REX-344 - Fully automatic gauss rifle


    A black assault rifle in bullpup design made of a black carbon-polymer with a conductive surface on the grip. 36 round capacity, and fires ferromagnetic slugs through a series of electromagnetic coils that makes them accelerate to hypersonic speeds. Although sustained fire is not possible because of the limit of the built in capacitor, burstfire is extremely potent. The Rex-344 is not the standard armament of the Hellwalkers or even the rest of the galactic army, as it is severely outdated, and lacks the capability of automatic fire and has no fire and forget guidance system build in natively, and is therefore only deployed in pre build drop pods that are designed to overwhelm planetary defences brute force, or in limited police service.


    "Uuuu my head hurts¡­"


    Awaking the next morning, Alice rubbed a blue mark right in the middle of her forehead. Last night after Dax had wiped out the arachnids with the help of his droids, he had ''punished'' Alice, by flicking her head, repeatedly. The first flick to her forehead had been flimsy, making her doubt the severity of the punishment, she had foolishly questioned the punishment, foolishly. While the first flick could be described as flimsy, the ones that followed where not. What followed was about 30 minutes of Dax flicking her forehead with increasing intensity while 2 droids had held her in place and Eduard, Redmound, and even Laura laughing loudly with Dax grinning like a child. The end result being Alice with a blue mark on her forehead, and her pride severely wounded. After crawling out her sleeping bag Alice went to find find her bag, only to notice Dax sitting on top the orb meditating


    "Showoff.."


    [GOOD MORNING ALICE]


    Having noticed Alice being awake a drone went over to her with the morning rations she had gone to her backpack for.


    "Ah thanks and good morning to you too, what''s the rest of you doing?"


    [UNITS 1, 2, AND 4 HOLDING PERIMETER, COMMANDER DAX CURRENTLY RESTING TO RECOVER FROM EXTREME INTERNAL TRAUMA]


    "''Extreme''? was it that bad?"


    [SMALL INTESTINES DECAYED, LARGE INTESTINES DECAYED, LIVER NOT FUNCTIONING DUE TO TRAUMA, OPPARTINAL LUNG CAPACITY AT 0.03%, KIDNEYS NON FUNCTIONAL AND WORKING MUSCLE MASS AT 0.1%, MAJOR BRAIN DAMAGE AL-]


    While the droid listed the state of Dax Alice''s face became increasingly pale.


    "How the hell is he still alive¡­"


    "Because I''m a qiton, good morning Alice~"


    "Hii! d-don''t scare me like that please!"


    Appearing behind Alice suddenly, was Dax with his signature child like smile.


    "Then don''t ask about private stuff~ anyway how are you? does anything hurt or feel out of place? I have plenty of medical supplies now"


    "No my body is fine it just hurts a bit, thanks to a certain someone. Anyway how is Viktor?"


    "Viktor is¡­ Recovering, although at a slow pace and i won''t know how bad the side effects will be until he recovers consciousness"


    "What are you expecting?"


    "At worst? complete loss of identity with total memory loss, he''ll no longer know who or what he is or what he was, and will need help to take care of himself for the rest of his life. At best there''ll be some missing memories with hopefully intact foreign data having overwritten the old. The complete metal corruption - as in unreadable data that can be repaired, but that''ll take anything between 5 and 50 years so I''m hoping it''s minimal. In any case he''s not gonna be the same Viktor that put on the mask, I''m just hoping he''ll be mostly the same"


    "Can i see him?"


    "I''m not sure you want to, as he''s currently being operated on, but sure. He''s over there at the orb in the bioprinter. But please don''t touch anything~"


    As Alice ran towards where Dax had pointed, she quickly located Viktor.


    "What the fu-!"


    And puked all her breakfast on the spot, as she saw Viktor lying in some strange transparent tube completely nude. Viktor being nude was not the reason for her puking, no she barely noticed that, the reason was that his head was removed from his body, and his skull had been split in 2 vertically right over his eye, and his brain floated freely with over 50 small metallic arms sticking it with needles.

 Chapter 22 - Ninth Generation Warfare (2)

    "WHAT THE F.U.C.K ARE YOU DOING TO HIM?"


    Witnessing the state of Viktor, Alice was understandably confused and slightly upset as she rushed towards Viktor lying unconscious in the strange machine. She didn''t get close however as Dax quickly grabbed her by the waist with his only arm, and after briefly lifting her in the air smashed her to the ground pinning her in place


    "Calm down Alice! I know this looks extreme but those metal spikes are stabilizing him and the only things keeping him alive. ICI what''s his condition?"


    [SUBJECT SUBROUTINE CORRUPTION AT 15%. CEREBRAL CAPACITY AT 92.4%. FINAL METAL CORRUPTION EXPECTED AROUND 35% PARTIAL RECOVERY EXPECTED IN 8 HOURS.]


    "See~? Viktor will be conscious by this evening, but he will die if the bioprinter is disturbed so please don''t touch it"


    After struggling for a few seconds unable to free herself from Dax''s grip, Alice turned meek and calmed down.


    "I-i understand so let me go already! Also what the hell was that trow, wasn''t it way to excessive!?"


    "With only one arm there''s a limit to the ways i can subdue a opponent non-fatally, would you''ve prefered if I broke your spine instead?"


    While defending his use of force, Dax released Alice from his grip and helped her back on her feet with his usual smile. After Alice was back on her feet she briefly looked at Viktor again, and quickly turned pale again.


    "Is that really the best way to heal him?"


    "The best currently available yeah, if my ship was still in one piece the medical bay could fix him up in a hour, but that part of the ship was one of the first to go in the attack, right after the-"


    [HOSTILE CONTACT DETECTED BY UNIT 02 AT BERING 245, RANGE 600 METERS]


    "What is it this time?"


    Switching attitude, Dax''s cybernetic eye lit up as he looked towards the orb, as if looking right through it.


    "Another arachnid straggler huh.. Engage and destroy, it''s morning already so use of gauss rifle is allowed again"


    [CONFIRMED: ENGAGE AND DESTROY. UNIT 02 OPENING UP NOW. ENGAGING HOSTILE]


    As ICI sounded the report, the sound of a gauss rifle firing came from the other side of the orb.


    [TARGET EXTERMINATED.]


    "Check for pulse"


    [CHECKING FOR LIFE SIGNATURES, NO LIFE SIGNS DETECTED. TARGET EXTERMINATED]


    "Good, then reload. Sorry about that Alice, do you have any idea what we could do while we wait for Viktor to recover?"


    "I don''t know.. let''s ask Blue Phoenix, they''re most likely awake by now"


    As Alice had predicted Redmond, Laura and Eduard had woken up after the drone had exterminated the stray arachnid.


    "Good Morning Dax, what happened?"


    "..Under¡­.. Attack?"


    "Yeah that was loud, well not as loud as that ''pistol'' of yours"


    While Redmond was entirely awake and doing morning exercise, Eduard was laying in his sleeping bag looking quite sleepy, and Laura was sleeping upright and for once she didn''t wear her mage like hat, and on top her silver hair was two large cat like ears that were twitching and reacting to the surrounding sounds.


    (So that''s why she don''t want me touching her head..)


    "Are you some kind of beastkin Laura?"


    As Dax asked about Laura''s ears she froze up completely, and when Dax moved closer to see if she was okay Laura quickly ran behind Redmond to hide.


    "Ah. Did i say something i shouldn''t have? is this why you don''t want people touching your head?"


    "...Nnn"


    "Are you scared that I, Viktor or Alice would hate you if we found out?"


    "....Nnn"


    "Is it normal for people to discriminate against demi humans Redmond?"


    "Yeah it is sadly, Laura grew up in the capital''s slums and was heavily discriminated against, so she''s afraid that people how see her ears or tail will start hating her"


    "I see¡­"


    Dax slowly walked up to Laura hiding behind Redmond, and sat down and waited for her to calm down. After about 2 minutes Laura nervously peeked out from behind Redmond and was meet with a large smiles form both Alice and Dax


    "I thought so before but Laura really is cute right Dax~?"


    "Yeah she was always unbelievably adorable, but the ears adds about +50 to her ''must be sheltered from the harsh world and given daily head pats'' points~"


    "I''ve no idea what kind of points they are but i totally agree~ hey Laura can i pat your head?"


    "...No¡­"


    "Hey i claimed her first Alice, don''t worry Laura I''ll keep you safe, come here~"


    "...No!....you¡­ can''t...trick..me...I..don''t.. trust..you..guys"


    "Laura I don''t think they mean any harm¡­properly"


    Showing a wry smile, Redmond gave his honest opinion


    "Well enough about that, Viktor will be able to move some time this evening, so i suggest we move back towards the city then. As for the droids I''ll have them start breaking down the orb and recovering useful rare metals and intact circuits for reprocessing, so I''ll take over on overwatch, you guys are free to do whatever until then, but stay close because there''s likely still some arachnids around the area."


    "What about the monster cores Dax?"


    "The what now?"


    For once it was Eduard''s turn to teach Dax about something


    "When a monster dies its leftover mana crystallises somewhere in its body, typically around the brain or heart, that''s what we refer to as a monster core. You can sell them for quite a lot depending on the size and purity of the crystal, and since most of these arachnids around us died instantly without getting to fight back I reckon the cores are worth a small fortune."


    "A small fortune you say..? Okay if you recover them I''ll give you guys half of the cores from monsters I killed."


    "Half you say!? guys we''re rich! come on let''s start!"


    When Eduard heard Dax''s offer he instantly got out of his sleeping bag, gr.a.p.ed a knife from his backpack and ran towards the closest arachnid corpse, in his underwear.


    "Off he goes¡­. Won''t he get cold at some point?"


    "Are you really sure about giving us half Dax? We''ll be have more than enough with just the ones we killed ourselves"


    "Yeah it''s fine, I can make all the money I need now that I have some equipment and are no longer dying, besides i don''t really have any expenses"


    "If you say so.. I''ll go join Eduard"


    Redmond quickly grabbed his own knife and a pair of pants for Eduard and went to help him extract the monster core from the dead arachnid, leaving Laura alone with Dax and Alice.


    "...Stay¡­ away.."


    "Do you really think that we''ll hurt you, just because you''re a bestkin?"


    "No¡­ Maybe..? Don''t¡­. know¡­"


    "Then observe us and make a decision. There''s not a lot we can do to change your mind, so judge us by our behavior, for now we''ll leave you alone if you want us to, and if you can''t come to trust us we won''t ever hate you for it¡­. come on Alice let''s give her some space"


    As Alice and Dax left Laura alone and gave her some space, Laura looked conflicted with as her ears flikered rapidly displaying her internal conflict. Dax went back towards the orb with Alice following behind, as he reached to orb, Dax went inside, gr.a.p.ed a spare gauss rifle and tossed it to Alice.


    "Wanna learn how to use one of these?"


    "Eh? can I, are you sure?"


    As Dax suggested out of the blue that Alice could get to lean how to use a gauss rifle, her eyes lit up like a child being handed a new toy.


    "Yeah it''s fine, if you lean how to use it my array of usable tactics will expand greatly."


    "But can I use it? it''s not gonna break my arm if i try to shoot it?"


    "No, the recoil is minimal since the projectile is powered almost entirely through magnetic acceleration, unlike my pistol. And the fire control system is also quite user friendly so even a child could fire it. First place the stock against your right shoulder and grip the metal part of the grip with your left hand, then place your right hand on the grip at the trigger and place your ring finger extended at the trigger"


    "L-like this?"


    "No that''s the magazine you''re holding.. Hey don''t point it at me!"


    "S-sorry, then like this?"


    "Lesson 1, don''t point any gun at something you don''t wanna kill, always assume that a weapons is live and ready to misfire. Hand it over I''ll show you"


    After handing back his rifle, Alice observed how Dax handled the rifle.


    "See? if I hold this grip here and press it up to my shoulder I have great mobility and I can quickly adjust and target where ever I feel like. Now you try"


    "O-okay.. Like this?"


    "Yeah that''s better, okay let''s try shooting, do you see that rose near those trees over there? remove halv of its pedals"


    Having handed back the rifle to Alice, Dax pointed to a single rose about 500 meters away near some trees. As Alice pointed the rifle towards the general area a red see through glass like sight popped up and a small black dot appeared in the center and some alien looking text appeared in the top left of the sight.


    "What the hell is that?"


    "A auxiliary sight, the rifle read your fingerprint and biosignature, determined that you''re friendly and without an ICI unit so it provided you with aim assistance."


    "And if it determined I wasn''t friendly?"


    "Then it wouldn''t work, or just self destruct. The black dot in the center is where the slug will hit, at the top left is additional information such as capacitor charge level and magazine count. Let''s try firing now, match up the black dot to the target, then push the trigger forward to disengage the safety, yeah like that. As you can see on the sight where a green dot has appeared in the top right, green means good to go while a one red means there''s some issue. Then now that the safety is off slightly press the trigger and the primary capacitor will charge, when the rifle is ready to fire the black dot in the middle will turn white."


    "Then what?"


    As Alice felt like she had returned to Ranger training she carefully listened to Dax''s instructions


    "White means ready to fire, when that happens release the trigger again and the real sight should appear."


    "I did it!"


    "Yeah you did good job. The rifle is now live, that means it no longer cares what is in front of it when it shoots, be that an enemy, your childhood friend or a random bystander."


    As Alice released the trigger the sight switched from a deep red to completely transparent, with none of the information from before and the only thing was a single red dot in the center, as she aimed at the rose in the distance the sight magnified and gave her a clear view of the target.


    "This is extremly cool."


    With the rifle ready to fire Dax told Alice to sit down and rest her elbow against her knee and take a deep breath before emptying her lungs and slowly pull her trigger while keeping the red dot on the target. After a second of squeezing the trigger the rifle finally fired and Alice was extremely surprised by the loud sound and the rifles kick.


    "There! I hit right..? huh it missed?"


    "Of course, you jerked the trigger. Calm down and try again"


    The morning quickly turned to evening as Alice was trained to use the gauss rifle by Dax while Blue Phoenix extracted monster cores from the dead arachnids in the surrounding area, by the time the sky had turned orange Alice was able to shoot at and hit small moving targets at a range of 600 meters. Blue Phoenix had recovered all the monster cores, even from the two arachnid queens, as they had been escorted there by some of Dax''s drones.


    "Dax, I think we recovered all the cores!"


    "Ah Eduard good job, Redmond and Laura too"


    Having returned from the arachnid nest followed by two Cyclops drones, Blue Phoenix lead by Eduard with Laura hiding behind Redmond. Eduard showed Dax two purple gems, about the size of a handball, and a leather bag with about 60 orange sized ones.


    "Some of the cores were ruined by rifle fire but most were intact and in good shape."


    "That''s good, as i said earlier you guys can keep half, I''ll share the rest with Alice and Viktor. Pack up your stuff, we leave for Black Hollow as soon as Viktor is able too"


    Redmond and Eduard quickly went to pack up their stuff, with Alice following to pack up her and Viktor''s things, leaving just Dax and Laura behind.


    "Did you find an answer?"


    "....Nnn.. I''ll...trust...you"


    "Can i pat your head then?


    "..."


    What followed Dax''s question was about a minute of silence as Laura looked extremely conflicted as her silver tail swayed, having been freed as she no longer needed to hide it. After a bit Laura took off her hat and moved closer to Dax.


    "...Nn.."


    Laura closed her eyes as she stood right in front of Dax as she slightly quivered, showing her nervousness.


    (She''s so.. Adorable)


    Dax carefully extended his hand and slowly placed it on top of Laura''s head, and gently started patting it.


    (So soft!)


    "See? you can trust me~"


    "... Nnn¡­. feels¡­ good"


    "You''re so adorable Laura~ how is your hair so soft?"


    "....Don''t¡­..know~"


    (Ah I''m healed, she''s almost cuter than Alice)


    What followed was about 5 minutes of uninterrupted bliss and trust building between the one armed, cybernetic and scar riddled super soldier and the small beastkin fantasy mage. But as all things must come to an end ICI''s cold voice sounded in Dax''s head


    (SUBJECT ''VIKTOR'' REPAIR COMPLETE. FINAL MENTAL CORRUPTION AT 14.45%, STAGE 2 MINDBLEED CONFIRMED, READY TO REVIVE)


    (Stage 2 mindbleed, so some missing memories replaced by mostly intact foreign data¡­ That''s better than i hoped, well let''s get him out of the printer and get some pants on him)


    "Sorry Laura I need to go get Viktor now"


    "...Okay¡­..I''ll...pack..now"


    Looking mostly satisfied with a mix of laziness and loneliness showing in her eyes Laura went to pack up her things. Dax quickly made his way to Viktor that was still encased within the bioprinter but now one piece as the repair had been completed. After getting him out of the bioprinter and putting pants on him, Dax placed his his hand on Viktors head and gently pulled him out of coma.


    "What.. happened?"


    "Good morning Viktor, you suffered from mindbleed after helping me crack the orb. What''s the last thing you remember?"


    "I remember using strange magic without the help of my staff¡­. was that your work Dax?"


    "Yeah it was, let''s get you home"

 Chapter 23 - The Incident in Black Hollow forest

    *GORE WARNING*


    (Shit I overslept again)


    As she awoke she instantly checked her surroundings, while holding her shortbow with an arrow nocked and ready to fire.


    (....No enemies or monsters that i can see, huh.. time for breakfast, or more like lunch at this point)


    Carefully stretching her body, she freed herself from her camouflaged sleeping bag and reached for her bag, suspended right above her. Opening the bag, some of it contents spilled out and dropped onto her and her sleeping bag.


    "Oh shit!"


    As her stuff spilled from her backpack, so did a particular magic gem inscribed with runes, and she barely caught it by extending most her body out from the warm sleeping bag, breaking her balance and falling out her sleeping bag with the runestone about a meter, only being saved by her safety line.


    "I''m so glad I still use this thing¡­"


    Being saved by some rope bound around her waist she dangled about 10 meters above the forest floor, while she watched some of her food rations drop to the ground.


    (If any of the other rangers saw this they would probably laugh at me¡­ Well I don''t really care, it just saved my life. Probably¡­ maybe.. no I would totally have caught that branch and been saved. Who am I kidding?)


    Noticing her own hubris, the young ranger facepalmed, before dangling lifeless in her safety line for about a minute, until her stomach reminded her of more pressing issues. She quickly stopped the gem in a pouch hanging by her belt, crawled back up in her sleeping bag and ate some rations from her backpack suspended above her with some rope while she thought about the day''s work ahead of her.


    (Today is¡­ the 8th day of my patrol huh.. 2 more days and I can finally eat something else than these shitty rations.)


    Freeing her backpack she quickly checked its contents, before dropping it to the ground below, next she looked through her sleeping bag and found her climbing gear, consisting of 2 gloves with metal claws inscribed with runes on them. After equipping the gloves she found her boots that she had stuck to the tree trunk with the help of their spike tips. Equipping her boots the young ranger carefully crawled out of her sleeping bag and stuck herself to the tree trunk with her spiked boots, and channeled mana into her gloves and after they started to glow dimly she dug one of them into the tree trunk with no resistance. Now secure she undid her safety line and dropped it along with her sleeping bag to the forest floor some 10 meters below. Now done clearing out her camp, she climbed about half way down the tree and then jumped down, landing unscathed with the use of strengthening magic. Quickly gathering her dropped supplies and jamming her sleeping bag into her backpack, the young ranger picked up her backpack and started her morning patrol of the Black Hollow forest.


    (Ah my hair is itching, I really need a bath¡­ and I smell too, why the F.U.C.K did I chose to become a ranger..)


    As she contemplated her career choice, the young ranger quickly moved through the forest, reaching a clearing she took out the magic gem that she almost dropped earlier, and channeled mana into it until it started glowing in a dull purple light.


    (Let''s see what''s around here..)


    Finishing the chant a faint purple light wave speed out around her and burst out from her through the surrounding forest.


    (A couple of trolls and a single arachnid.. but no humans, okay next point)


    The young ranger quickly moved to the next point, some 5 kilometers away, when she reached another clearing in the forest and once more channeled mana into her gem, but this time she reacted differently, and quickly climbed a nearby tree and hid in the tree''s crown.


    (They''re close..)


    Having climbed the tree the young ranger removed her backpack and nailed it to the tree trunk and drew her shortbow before nocking an arrow


    (Here they come¡­ 4? No they''re 6. 2 mages 2 swordsmen and 2 bowmen)


    As she predicted 6 men clad in black came running into the clearing, having sensed the ranger use her detection magic.


    (They look like smugglers.. first the magic user''s)


    She quickly prepared her bow and aimed at the first mage, then shot the first arrow.


    "Gah!"


    "Shit! Spread out, it''s a ranger!"


    "Where is he!?"


    "Show yourself, f.u.c.k.i.n.g coward!"


    The first arrow hit the mage at his shoulder, shattering his collarbone and piercing his lung making collapse as his lung was pierced and he slowly drowned in his own blood.


    "Frank! F.u.c.k, he''s gone! Find the ranger fast or we''ll be next!"


    As the mage collapsed one of the swordsmen shouted his commands while scanning the tree tops, and quickly received an arrow to the face, reaping his life instantly as the arrow pierced his brain through his eye socket.


    (Stupid move dude, of course I''ll go for the leader first, so don''t shout commands like a madman. Next is the other mage.)


    As she mentally criticized the dead hostile commander the young ranger prepared another arrow to kill her next target.


    "WHERE THE F.U.C.K IS HE!?"


    "Up there! That or that tree, Jonathan!"


    "WITH PLEASURE!"


    (Shit, they''re not completely dumb)


    Having guessed her approximate position the other swordsman pointed at the tree she was hiding in, as the other remaining mage smashed the bottom of his staff into the forest floor and several rock shards ripped themselves from the ground and flew towards tree tops, pelting the general area where she hid. While the rock shards flew past her the young ranger channeled mana into her body and with the help of strengthening magic she jumped to a nearby tree, landing unscathed with the help of her climbing gear as the claws on her gloves sank into the tree trunk she received traction and quickly jumped to another tree while leaving a boot print in the tree trunk.


    "There he is!"


    "Shit I can''t hit him, he''s too f.u.c.k.i.n.g quick- gah!"


    "Fight with some pride you f.u.c.k.i.n.g coward!"


    After she had dealt with the last mage the battle quickly turned one sided, as the young ranger jumped from tree to tree the smugglers couldn''t keep track of her, and she calmly picked them of one by one with well placed arrows.


    "F.u.c.k! I didn''t come here just to die!"


    Watching his last ally collapse with an arrow in the head, the last bowman dropped his bow as his will to fight evaporated, before channeling strengthening magic and running for his life.


    "Shit! Was that a ranger? Nobody f.u.c.k.i.n.g told me that they''re f.u.c.k.i.n.g monsters!"


    The bowman came from the bordering empire, and knew therefore little of kingdoms border control forces. What he had heard he could only think had been confused with legends of the illusive and isolated elven city states, but then again he had never been the brightest subject. After assaulting a fellow hunter he had been thrown out of the guild and had struggled to find work, that is until he had been approached by one of his more shady associates offering him and some friends what seemed to be a simple job.


    "F.u.c.k this shit! ''It''s just a simple currier job'' I''ll f.u.c.k.i.n.g kill him when I get out of this f.u.c.k.i.n.g forest!"


    As the bowman ran through the forest with the aid of strengthening magic he seemingly had energy to spare as he complained loudly.


    "Ha ha ha, f.u.c.k. That must be enough distance.."


    Stopping to catch his breath, the bowman was sure that he lost the enemy ranger, but turning around he received an arrow to leg.


    "Ah! F.u.c.k.i.n.g coward, show yourself!"


    As he kept shouting the ranger never showed herself, for she had left him as a gift to the forest.


    (Why did he have to run that f.u.c.k.i.n.g far? But at least he''s acting like a fine monster lure while I check out what they were smuggling)


    Having eliminated the last smuggler the young ranger ran back to the other smugglers to check what they had tried to smuggle into the kingdom.


    "Let''s see¡­ that guy was the commander.. no this one?"


    The young ranger took her time searching through the corpses while she held a piece of cloth over her mouth.


    (They f.u.c.k.i.n.g smell, must have been traveling for weeks. What the hell is that valuable? Not drugs that''s simply worth the effort¡­ must be some kind of special package- yeah something like this.)


    Finally finding what she was looking for, the young ranger carefully unpacked a small metal container wrapped in cloth


    "What do we have here?"


    Carefully examining the metal container she found a single locking mechanism.


    (A mana lock.. and extremely high grade at that.. This doesn''t make any sense)


    A mana lock or a mana essence recognition lock as the name implied is a kind of special high grade lock that only responds to a single persons kind of mana, while lower grades of mana locks can simply be forced open brute force by channeling mana into it until the mana circuit breaks, some part of the rangers intuition told her that is was not gonna be that easy with this one.


    "I knew it, it''s trapped"


    Having recognized this particular kind of lock from her father''s endless teachings, she noticed that this kind of lock had a secondary mana circuit, designed to trigger if any overload was attempted.


    "Fire magic? No it''s much more crude.. a bomb, huh. This must be an extremely high value package, but that doesn''t make sense at all, why where these numbskulls transporting something like this?"


    It indeed didn''t make sense, why have low ranked former hunters transporting something worth enough to smuggle it in a container worth several platinum coins alone?


    (Unless.. Shit!-)


    While she had zoned out thinking about her current dilemma, the young ranger had just barely noticed a flash - some metal reflecting light out the corner of her eyes, and had immediately channeled a reckless amount of mana into her legs, and used it to jump to the side. Just in time too, as an arrow ment for her chest grazed her upper arm, ripping through it her flesh as it passed trough, leaving a deep cut on her arm.


    (F.U.C.K! I knew it - A second escort)


    Having dropped her bow as she had dogged the incoming arrow that was meant to reap her life, the young rangers brain went into overdrive as her training kicked in while she ran to cover, grabbing a branch on the way.


    (F.U.C.K ME! F.U.C.K ME! F.U.C.K ME! F.U.C.K ME! F.U.C.K ME! F.U.C.K ME! F.U.C.K ME! F.U.C.K ME! F.U.C.K. ME!!)


    Biting into the branch she quickly gathered some surrounding mana as she prepared a crude healing spell, finishing channeling the spell in about 4 seconds she held her hand over the wound and activated the spell.


    "mmmMMmmmMMm!!!!"


    Screaming while biting into the branch the healing spell forcefully closed her wound by pinching the intact tissue together, ripping muscle tissue from the bone in the process. An extremely painful but effective short term solution. After the emergency treatment had completed she spit out the branch that now had deep bite marks and drew her shortsword with her intact arm.


    (Now where are you at f.u.c.kker?)


    Scanning the area, the young ranger doged another arrow, this one ment for her head as she peeked out from behind her cover. The arrow had grazed her head so close it had ripped a large tear in her ear, but the ranger didn''t notice, as adrenalin and her training was completely dominating her mind.


    "ARE YOU AWARE YOU ARE CURRENTLY COMMITTING AN ACT OF WAR!? THIS IS KINGDOM TERRITORY AND YOU ARE ENGAGING A BORDER PATROL!!"


    (Now f.u.c.k off!)


    Realizing she was entirely outmatched, the young ranger shouted her identification, hoping it would somehow pacify her attacker, or at least making him retreat. Receiving no response the young ranger wasn''t naive enough to believe the treat had passed.


    (What the hell is this bloodl.u.s.t?)


    Having finally calmed down a bit, the young ranger noticed the bloodl.u.s.t surrounding her. Realizing she was no way out of danger, she decided to try something risky to break out of her current desperate situation.


    (The only way I come out of this alive is closing range. there''s no way I run away or win in a ranged fight... Here goes nothing)


    Deciding that the only way she would survive, was to close the range and try to win a melee battle, the young ranger briefly checked the mobility of her injured arm, before deciding to not use that hand, wielding her shortsword in her other hand.


    (This is such a dumb idea¡­)


    Taking off one of her shoulder guards she tossed it to the one side, and immediately ran out the other side, after hearing it get hit by something. Her rushed tactic turned out to be a really bad idea however, as the enemy was closer than she had expected. Not even 20 meters away stood a bow user clad in the same black clothing as the other smugglers, but that''s were the similarities ended. The enemy was a woman, and her deep brown colored skin, red eyes and two ram like horns on her head characterized her as a demonkin.


    (Ah, I''m so f.u.c.k.i.e.d)


    Realizing she was completely outmatched, the young ranger didn''t flinch and continued her charge against the hostile demonkin. Moving close to the ground, the young ranger almost ran on all fours as she desperately dodged multiple arrows with a paper thin margin, and as she finally got in range she trusted forward her shortsword in a desperate attempt to kill her opponent. The attack never reached however, as the demonkin dropped her bow and parried the incoming attack with her one hand using her solid looking and sharp claws. With the other hand the demonkin grabbed the young ranger by the throat and lifted her of the ground while choking the light out of her.


    "Arg! F.u.c.k.. you!"


    Having lost her sword as it was parried, the young ranger punched the demonkin a few times in head, without effect as either her strength was insufficient or the demonkins skin was too though.


    "....I¡­.Sorry¡­"


    As her consciousness began to turn hazy, the young ranger heard the demonkin apologize, making her focus on the demonkins appearance.


    (Are you f.u.c.k.i.n.g kidding me!)


    Looking closer, the young ranger noticed that the demonkin woman was covered in scars and her red eyes looked particularly dead and lifeless, and that she had a solid looking metal collar around her neck with a ominous red magic gem embedded into.


    "...I...can''t...stop...I...sorry"


    As she kept apologizing tears streamed down her face and the demonkin woman seemingly tried to fight some invisible influence coming from the collar.


    (A slavery collar! This is beyond f.u.c.k.i.e.d up)


    Realizing what she was fighting against as her vision turned dark and she tried to free herself from the demonkins grip.


    "..I...will...bury..you...so¡­.sorry"


    (This...is...not...how¡­.I..die..shit)


    The young ranger''s mind went into overdrive as she frantically tried to find a solution for her hopeless situation. As the demonkin woman continued to choke the young ranger her tears didn''t seem to stop, as she was trying to resist the influence of her slavery collar, the result being that the young ranger was still alive.


    "Go..in...pace!"


    Having decided that whoever was twisted enough to use a slavery collar couldn''t be allowed to win, the young ranger chose to the final option available to her, self destruction, as she had grabbed the metal container and lifted it to eye level as she channeled enough mana into it to trigger the secondary mana circuit.


    "Ah!...you...too¡­***..****"


    As the demonkin woman noticed what the young ranger was doing, a smile formed on her face and bit of life returned to her eyes, and she said goodbye to the young ranger in her native tongue. Closing her eyes the at the last second, the young ranger saw life flash before her eyes, and even with all her regrettes she still felt like this wasn''t the worst way to go - At least she herself chose to die.


    ---


    But she didn''t die.


    Awakening a unknown amount of time later, pain had forcefully returned the young ranger''s consciousness. The pain was the only thing that confirmed the she was still alive, as she had found herself in a dark world without light. As she writhed in pain in the dark world some of her senses returned. Her ears kept on ringing, and the scent of burned flesh assaulted her nose, as her most recent memories returned.


    (Am I still alive? Or is this hell..)


    Confirming that she still had a single useable arm the young ranger patted her body slowly to check for damage. She found multiple small pieces of metal shrapnel had pierced her upper body, but as she checked her head the horrible truth dawned on her. A large piece of metal shrapnel had her eyes, turning her world dark for eternity.


    (Shit shit SHIT F.U.C.K!)


    "AaaaaAarg!!!"


    As the truth had dawned on her, tears had started to form in what was left of her eyes, while a almost numbing amount of pain assaulted her,making the young ranger scream in agony. That is until she remembered her current position and forcefully suppressed her screaming.


    (No! Calm down, I refuse to become monster food)


    But is was too late, as she felt the ground shake - something big was approaching.


    (Shit shit f.u.c.k f.u.c.k calm down, how do I survive this THINK)


    Feeling the heavy footsteps closing in the young ranger suppressed her breathing as her panicked mind went into overdrive and she almost forgot the agony she was in. The footsteps stopped right next to her, and after a bit her ears were assaulted with the sound of flesh being ripped apart, and bones shattered as the area was filled with the smell of blood.


    (I''m next if I don''t get away fast, but how!?)


    As the unknown monster presumably consumed one of the dead smugglers or the demonkin woman, the young ranger finally found a solution as she had grasped a familiar feeling magic gem. Checking her legs still working the young ranger silently prayed to every deity she knew.


    (Please let this work!)


    Channeling mana into the gem her mind was filled with information on the surrounding area.


    (A single troll, and nothing else nearby. This can work, no I will make it work!)


    The detection magic having given her a snapshot of the surrounding forest, the young ranger scrambled to her feet as she ran towards a nearby tree, with the sound of a pissed troll following right behind her. After running about 5 meters in her now completely dark world the young ranger''s luck ran out as she tripped on a root. Not even having time to curse her luck, she felt her left leg being crushed, as the troll had stepped on it.


    "AAAAaarg!!! F.U.C.K YOU!!"


    As she heard the sound of her own bones being pulverized she screamed and cursed at the troll in agony. After the troll had crushed her leg it picked up the young ranger by her intact leg and prepared to eat her alive as the young ranger felt it''s breathing on her face


    "NO YOU F.U.C.K.I.N.G DON''T!!!"


    Once more challenging mana into her gem, the young ranger received another snapshot of her surroundings, and mercilessly buried her gem, along with her forearm in the eye socket of the troll with the use of strengthening magic.


    "THAT''S WHAT YOU F.U.C.K.I.N.G GET!"


    As she felt herself fall the young ranger judged she had killed the troll with her attack and shielded her head from the fall with her destroyed arm and quickly rolled away, as she heard the dead troll falling over. Having dogged the dead trolls fall she crawled her way back towards it, guided by her sense of smell and touch alone, having lost her gem in the eye socket of the troll.


    "I. Need. That. Gem!"


    Having reached the head of the dead troll she dug around in its head to recover her gem.


    "Found it!"


    After finding it once more, the young ranger crawled across the forest floor while pulsing detection magic to give her directions. About an hour later she had reached a tree and somehow climbed it with only a single useable arm and leg, reaching a large branch where she laid herself.


    (Now to call for help..)


    Using the last of her mana the young ranger overloaded her gem, making it send out an long range pulse as it cracked in half and she lost consciousness.


    ---


    Awakening covered in sweat Terra Williams screamed in horror, as a nightmare had once more reminded her of what had happened about a year ago.


    "Terra! Clam down, it was just a nightmare! You''re safe!"


    Feeling a warm hand and the voice of her father, Terra calmed down after a while.


    "Dad, why are you here? Where''s the maid?"


    "I dismissed her as I have some good news to tell you"


    "What? Did you finally find someone disturbed enough to marry this blind cripple?"


    "No, even better I finally found someone that can heal you!"


    "Please stop falling for all those scams dad, not even the bishop could heal me remember?"


    "This time it''s real, Alice saw it herself, and I already negotiated your treatment"


    "Then what''s the name of this holy saint wielding healing magic on the level of the gods?"


    "Ha ahah, Haha!"


    "What the hell is so funny dad? Did you finally go insane?"


    "No it''s just when you called him a saint I couldn''t help it, excuse me. He''ll be here in a few days time"

 Chapter 24 - Recovery (1)

    As Dax had helped Viktor out of the bioprinter, he appeared a bit off to Alice that watched him finish up packing his things.


    "How''s your condition Viktor?"


    "No issues, I''m completely operational"


    "There''s definitely something wrong with you!"


    As Alice retorted she was sure there was still something wrong with him, as he somehow appeared colder than the usually cheerful and naive Viktor.


    "Calm down Alice, he''s just a bit confused still, It''ll settle down gradually. Viktor you''ll be confused for the next few days, so don''t do anything rash and stay calm. In fact I would like for you to follow me for the next 10 days so I can keep you under observation, just to be sure."


    "Okay Dax¡­"


    "I''ll explain it to Russell when we get back to Black Hollow, think of it as a paid vacation. Okay progress looks good here, I''ll go make the droids pack up"


    Leaving Alice, Viktor and Blue Phoenix behind, Dax entered the orb and inspected the droids progress.


    (Status on repairs and refit?)


    (UNIT 05 ONLINE. CANNIBALIZATION OF UNIT 6, 7, 8, 9 AND 10 COMPLETE. GRAVITON ANNIHILATION FIELD GENERATOR MK:IIX EHECATL RECLAIMED, LASER COMMUNICATIONS AND OBSERVATION SATELLITE CONSTRUCTION WILL COMPLETE IN 44 HOURS, ALL MATERIALS NECESSARY PRESENT AND ALLOCATED TO ZERO GRAV FORGE 02 LAUNCH TO GEOSTATIONARY ORBIT IN 156 HOURS. ZERO GRAV FORGE 01 READY FOR TRANSPORT, BIOPRINTER READY FOR TRANSPORT. UNITS 4 AND 5 READY TO RECEIVE LONG TERM DIRECTIVES.)


    As ICI briefed Dax, the inside of the orb looked vastly different compared to when he had last been in there in the morning. The drop pod had been mostly dismantled, and the broken drones had received the same treatment and a large amount of parts, namely the zero g drive and multiple cyclops sensor kits, had been assembled to a rutermently communications and spy satellite, and with the use of the remaining exotic fuel and the intact cold gas thrusters, and the drop pods main reactor it would fly to tundra orbit in about 2 days when the drones were drones constructing it. The partially operational drone had been repaired, and had joined its brethren, raising the amount of drones under Dax''s command to 5, 2 of which would remain behind to finish up constructing and launching the satellite. The 3 drones following Dax back to Black Hollow had made sturdy looking 150 liter backpacks out of carbon nanotubes, fabricated in the zero g forge, and they had all been filled to the brim with useful salvage, spare parts, a packed up bioprinter, a zero g forge, ammunition and a few gauss rifles.


    [REX-DELTA-04 CYCLOPS UNIT 04 READY FOR LONG TERM DIRECTIVES]


    [REX-DELTA-04 CYCLOPS UNIT 05 READY FOR LONG TERM DIRECTIVES]


    "Yeah yeah. Maintain a perimeter of 5 kilometers, engage and destroy any hostiles within with extreme prejudice. Complete, then launch the comsat then continue to salvage and reclaim materials from the orb and construct 5 more Rex-Delta 04''s and matching weaponry within 4 days, then standby and hold pattern 2. Confirm override, registration 044587356420"


    [[ORDERS CONFIRMED]]


    "Good. Units 1-3 follow me"


    [UNITS 1-3 ENTERING ESCORT PATTERN YELLOW, READY TO MOVE OUT]


    "Hey Dax, wasn''t there 4 of those golems?"


    "They''re drones, and yes there is, the last one is staying behind to watch over things here. Anyway we''ll need to make it back to Black Hollow before they close the gates for the night so let''s move!"


    (Sorry Eduard, but I need to start spreading misinformation about myself immediately.)


    Moving out, Dax lead the party with 3 drones right behind him, finally followed by Alice, Viktor and Blue Phoenix they made good progress not having to hide from or avoid any monsters, as any issue was fixed quickly with a single shot from a gauss rifle.


    "Those weapons are extremely useful Dax! can I have one?"


    "Not at the moment, but when I upgrade to more useful weaponry I''ll be willing to lease them to Blue Phoenix Redmond"


    "Ehh! are you sure!? I''ll look forward to that day!"


    "Are you really sure Dax!? After using one myself those ''rifles'' really seem like the ultimate weapon"


    "Oh Alice, my sweet summer child, these coil based rifles are the most basic and underpowered military weaponry you''ll ever find in my world, or at least in the Galactic Empire, even my pistol is powerful in terms of pure stopping power"


    "I can''t even imagine that¡­"


    (I hope i can get to show her orbital artillery at some point, I bet her face will be priceless¡­)


    While imagining what kind of face Alice would show if he showed her tactical class weaponry, Dax smiled like a child while he lead the group back towards Black Hollow, that they reached as the sun started to set, and they where meet a grand reception.


    "What the f.u.c.k are you doing here demon! the gate is closed for your kind so go away!"


    "Yeah f.u.c.k off!"


    Dax and the others where meet by some of the guards that had fruitlessly tried to kill Dax the other day when he had forcefully imprisoned himself.


    "What the f.u.c.k are you guys talking about? Stand down!"


    "This is a city guard matter Ranger! New rules means we can decide personally who gets trough!"


    (Not this f.u.c.k.i.n.g thing again!)


    [PATTEN EXTERMINATUS CONFIRMED]


    "WAIT WAIT, ICI STAND DOWN!.... Alice and Viktor go ahead I''ll meet you at the inner wall. Eduard, Laura and Remond let''s meet tomorrow for beers at the red boar"


    "If you say so, see you later Dax"


    "Goodby for now Dax"


    "Nnn¡­see¡­you...later"


    As Blue Phoenix entered the gate, Alice seemed to be completely done with the guards shit, and drew her sword.


    "Stand down or get hurt! we''re under direct orders from the ranger corps captain to return immediately!"


    As Alice approced the guards sword in hand they quickly turned pale and readyed their spears


    "Alice calm down."


    "But these f.u.c.kkers-"


    "CALM DOWN NOW. Viktor too, you''re not supposed to do anything rash remember? Meet me by the inner wall"


    "O-okay I understand! See you then"


    "Viktor, you too. They''re not worth killing, I''ve already marked them for life"


    Having calmed down once more, Alice noticed that Viktor had spread out multiple black runes across the ground, having prepared to use some sort of unknown magic.


    "Okay¡­"


    With particularly cold eyes Viktor dismissed his spell, and gr.a.p.ed Alice''s hand and dragged her through the gate into the city.


    "Now piss off demon! And those golems too, they''re gross!"


    "Last chance, let me trough"


    "He said f.u.c.k off demon! Are you daft!?"


    (ICI add them to the blacklist.)


    (CONFIRMED.)


    Briefly looking at the guards like they were garbage, Dax walked about 50 meters along the wall followed by his drones.


    "Here looks good, unit 02 you first"


    [READY FOR ASSENT, STANDING BY]


    "Okay, GO"


    [ASSENTING]


    As Dax gave the command, spikes extended from unit 2''s feet and arms and it quickly scaled the 10 meter tall wall and jumped down the other side.


    [CLEAR.]


    "okay the rest of you follow it"


    [[CONFIRMED]]


    Watching the two other drones quickly scale the wall, Dax glanced over at the gate, only to lock eyes with one of the guards.


    "HEY! WHAT THE F.U.C.K ARE YOU DOING!"


    (Well I wasn''t allowed to go through the gate..)


    Turning his back to the wall, Dax made sure to flip off the guards before he made the world''s most extreme backflip, clearing the wall and landing on the other side, creating a small crater.


    "Seems like I''ve mostly recovered¡­."


    [USABLE MUSCLE MASS AT 43%]


    "Nice, let''s go find Alice and Viktor at the inner wall, follow me, use of force banned"


    [UNITS 1-3 ENTERING ESCORT PATTERN BLUE, MOVING OUT]


    Quickly moving through the city, Dax and his droids attracted a lot of attention with the droids strange appearance, and Dax the over 2 meter tall one armed demonkin.


    (I should have waited until dark¡­ But this makes the word about me spread faster so it''s fine. I guess...)


    Arriving at the inner wall, Dax quickly meet up with Viktor and Alice and made it to the inner gate.


    "Halt! state your business!"


    For the second time within not even half an hour, Dax was stopped by a guard. This one was different form the others, as he was considually older and wore full plate armor, looking way more elite than the guards at the outer wall.


    (Looks like this one is just doing his job.. Let''s try the civil route this time)


    "My name is Dax, I come by the request of the Ranger corps captain, Russell Williams, to fulfill a contract. This is Alice and Viktor, they belong to the Ranger corps and magic battalion respectively, and are returning to the barracks having completed their respective assignments"


    "I see, please show me your guild tag. Alice, Viktor, welcome back. There''s food in the mess hall so go ahead, I''ll send for someone to guide Dax once he has confirmed his identity"


    "We''ll do that old man, see you tomorrow Dax"


    "Good work old man, see you tomorrow Dax I''m wasted "


    Greeting the guard like an older uncle, Alice and Viktor went towards the barracks to get some food and rest.


    (How exactly do I prove my identity? transferring my virtual tag wouldn''t do much¡­ Ah that''s right i still have this)


    Remembering he had received a form of identification after arriving in this world, Dax pulled out his guild tag.


    "B-black!? I''ve confirmed your identity so please wait in the guard house while I send for someone to guide you, and your golems."


    Being treated with respect for once after arriving in this strange world, Dax had a warm feeling in his chest as he was guided into the nearby guard house where he was offered a glass of water and a place to sit while he waited.


    "please wait while, I''ll call for someone to lead you to the Williams mansion."


    Excusing himself with a bow, the old guard left Dax with his drones in a small and simple waiting room.


    (This feels great.. But I''m not really thirsty. ICI print fuel status)


    (PRINTING STATUS OF TRITIUM RESERVES: UNIT 01 AT 67% CAPACITY. UNIT 02 AT 30% CAPACITY. UNIT 03 AT 3.4% CAPACITY.)


    "So they were not even fully fueled at the factory.. That or the fuel cells depleted in the 100 years adrift¡­ Unit 3 prepare for deuterium fusion"


    Feeding unit 3 his glass of water through a valve in the chest, it started heating up greatly, until the chest armor glowed a faint red.


    [DEUTERIUM FUSION IN PROCESS, ESTIMATED COMPLETION IN 3 HOURS. TRITIUM FUEL FUSION ESTIMATED COMPLETION: 5 HOURS]


    After starting the refueling of unit 3, Dax waited for another 5 minutes until a he heard a knock on the door.


    "Please enter."


    "Excuse me"


    (Woah.. A maid¡­)


    Entering the waiting room, a maid appeared wearing a overly frilly black and white maid outfit. She had deep blue eyes, and long snow white hair that was the only proof of her age as she didn''t look a day over the age of 20, but her demeanor told Dax she was much older.


    "My name is Elise, a maid of the Williams household. I presume you are Dax? please follow me to the mansion, master Russell is expecting you"


    Following Elise long after the sun had set, she lit the way with a lantern trough a street flanked on both sides by expensive looking estates.


    "What the hell is up with these obnoxious looking houses?"


    "This area is zoned for nobles residents, most of them tend to be quite competitive in showing off"


    (Aahhh I feel like nuking this area¡­)


    [PATTEN EXTERMINATUS CONFIRMED]


    "AH STOP IT WITH EXTERMINATUS PLEASE!"


    "Dear guest what are you doing?"


    "It''s nothing¡­ Please don''t mind me"


    After a bit more walking, Elise stopped in front of a particular mansion, that was way larger than the others, and looked more like a military fort than a nobles estate.


    "We have arrived, dear guest please follow me inside, master Russell is waiting for you"


    Following the expressionless maid inside the mansion, Dax was lead through a hall and up some stairs and then into a large office where Russell sat behind a solid looking desk


    "Welcome back Dax, I assume everything went well- or not, what happened to your right arm?"


    "Nothing major, I''ll build a replacement later. More importantly I recovered everything I need, where is the patent I''ll be tenting to?"


    "Terra is on the 3rd floor, in the master bedroom, Elise please go and inform her of Dax''s arrival."


    "With pleasure, excuse me"


    As Elise left the room Russell noticed Dax''s drones standing outside.


    "What the hell are those, some kind of golem?"


    "Ah, these?"


    Calling in the 3 drones, they lined up neatly in front of Russell and did a salute to him.


    "They''re Rex-Delta 04 Cyclops''. Basic combat drones that I found in the orb, they''ll come in handy doing the treatment of our dear patient."


    "I don''t see how any ''combat drones'' can help heal my daughter"


    (MANA CIRCULATION DETECTED)


    While ICI warned Dax, he could clearly sense Russell''s mood souring as killing intent spread throughout the room.


    "Are you going to break the terms of our agreement Dax? That wouldn''t be beneficial for your long term health"


    "No I have no intention of breaking our agreement, you financed and supplied personal for my expedition, and I heal your daughter. I say these are combat drones, but in essence they''re more like extensions of myself. With them present I''ll have extra eyes and hands to help in the treatment."


    "Is that so?.. Sorry I overreacted"


    Calming down, Russell sat back in his chair and poured himself some golden looking liquid into a fancy looking glass, and quickly drank it.


    "As I''m getting older I find it harder to control my temper when it''s about my daughter, I hope you''ll forgive me."


    "I understand completely, although I have no children there are many young ones have nurtured over the years, your response was completely natural as I failed to properly explain myself. On another not-"


    "Excuse me, miss Terra would like to meet Dax"


    Cutting Dax of as he was about to go off topic, Elise returned to the room.


    "Ah yeah it would be perfect if I could do my initial examination now. That would allow me to start the treatment at some point tomorrow. Is that okay Russell?"


    "Yeah it''s fine. Elise please guide Dax to Terra''s room, I''ll finish up the last of this paperwork and join you then."


    "This way my dear guest"


    Following Elise once more, Dax was guided back to the staircase and up to the third floor where Elise guided him through a series of hallways.


    "If you harm miss Terra I''ll personally make sure you never leave this place alive, we''ve arrived. Miss Terra I''ve bought Dax"


    Arriving at a double door, Elise threatened Dax in a low voice before knocking on the door and announcing their arrival.


    "Please enter"


    As a young woman''s voice sounded from behind the door, Elise entered the room followed by Dax, leaving the drones outside for the moment. As Elise opened the door, Dax''s nose was assaulted by the smell of dried blood and medical herbs. Inside was the room of a young lady, complete with several closets undoubtedly filled with expensive clothes, a small table for private tea parties and a large fancy looking bed. The only thing absent from the room was mirrors, and it became apparent to Dax why when he noticed who he assumed to be Terra.


    Terra was sitting up right her bed with her legs covered by her quilt, wearing what looked like a simple looking nightgown. What struck Dax first was her face, her eyes were covered by white bangedes, and she had multiple scars on the rest of her face. She had dark black hair that would probably extend to her waist, if it was not currently done up in a simple hair bun. Her small hands was placed in her lap, and, but she appeared to be missing her left arm from the elbow down.


    "Hello and nice to meet you, my name is Terra Williams. As you probably noticed I''m blind and missing my left forearm. And below my right leg is also missing, I look forward to see how you will wield healing magic on par with the gods to restore me."


    With a heavy layer of sarcasm, Terra introduced herself to Dax, still unaware of what kind of impact he would have on her life.

 Chapter 25 - Recovery (2)

    "Nice to meet you miss Terra Williams, my name is Dax and I will act as you physician until you are fully recovered. I expect this whole process to take about a 20 days, but that is all dependent on your requests and cooperation, and as such i hope we can get along for that time."


    "So you plan to leech of my dad for the next 20 days, then run away?"


    "I''ll start the examination now, excuse me"


    Completely ignoring Terra''s sarcastic remarks, Dax went over to her bed and sat down at her bedside.


    "I''ll need inspect your wounds, let''s start with your eyes, how did that happen?"


    "I blew myself up"


    "With what exactly?"


    "Some kind of secure metal container, it had a anti tampering circuit that I activated, making it blow up about half a meter from my face"


    "So micro shrapnel is most likely still present, any pain or irritation in the scar tissue?"


    "Yeah it f.u.c.k.i.n.g hurts! sometime it feels like my face is on fire and rubbed in glass shards, do you have any idea how that feels!?"


    "So severe nerve damage, yeah i know how that feels, do you also get that itch that slowly turns into a burning sensation?"


    "How the hell do you?.."


    "Miss Terra, Dax has a eye patch over his left eye. Scarring around his eye looks real so I''m guessing it''s missing completely"


    "Ah, thank you Elise¡­"


    As the loyal maid Elise served as Terra''s eyes her aggression turned down slightly.


    "I need to take a look, would you please allow me remove the bandages?"


    "Don''t touch me"


    Holding up her hand defencefly Terra warned Dax in a steen voice against touching her, as he heard the slight sound of metal scraping behind him, leeding Dax to believe Elise had drawn some kind of bladed weapon. Sighing deeply, Dax slowly backed off and turned to Elise to see she had a small dagger in hand.


    "What do you plan to do with that my dear maid?"


    "It''s time for you to leave, I nor the young lady approve of you."


    "Is it because I look like a demonkin?"


    "Of course it isn''t! You clearly have no medical knowledge and is just trying to exploit the young lady!"


    (So for once this isn''t a race issue¡­)


    "It seems you''re both more or less doubting my abilities? I''m hurt, ICI prep the reaper mask for open protocol interfacing"


    [PATCHING, STANDBY]


    While unattaching his mask from his belt, Dax instructed ICI to prepare for a link to Terra. Sadly the loyal maid saw that as an attempt on her masters life, and decided to quickly, almost instantly moving to stab Dax in the chest. As Elise pieced Dax''s t shirt he took advantage of Terra''s confusion and placed his mask on her face.


    "Nice stab Elise, but if I shifted myself about 6 centimeters to the left the blade would have a chance of it hitting your master"


    "What the f.u.c.k are you made off?"


    "What the hell did you just put on my face?"


    "One at a time my lady''s. My skin is the result of a series of bad choices in women, and I just started the first step of your recovery my sweet and unwilling patent~"


    The same time as Elise was completing about her inability to kill Dax, and Terra was freaking out over having some unknown thing placed over her face, Russell arrived, having finished the last of his paperwork.


    "What the f.u.c.k is going on in here!?"


    "A unwilling patient and observer. But I have results, ICI active direct mind melt, but bypass optical nerves and interface directly to the occipital lobe."


    [DIALING GUARDIAN 47 REAPER PERSONAL SENSOR UNIT, OPTICAL NERVE BYPASS CONFIRMED. LIMITED MIND MELT IN EFFECT - HOLDING AT PATTEN GREEN, OPERATION CONFIRMED]


    "Eh? is that you dad?"


    With a crackling voice Terra stopped trying to remove the mask stuck to her face, as ICI fed data directly to her occipital lobe she saw for the first time in well over a year.


    "What did you do Dax?"


    "I made my mask into her eyes, this is a extremely short term solution but I figured that it would gain my unwilling and sassy patients trust. Now miss Terra can we continue with the examination?"


    "A-ah that''s you Dax, Are you also missing a arm?"


    As Terra turned her head towards Dax she finally noticed the state of her current physician.


    "Yeah I lost my prosthetic arm just a bit ago, so I''ll be making a new one over the next few days. Can I inspect your arm now?"


    "Yeah sure, go ahead. And Elise you can stop trying to kill him now"


    "Okay.."


    Withdrawing Elise stopped trying to stab through Dax''s skin, that after about a minute of trying with all her might had proved entirely ineffective.


    "Elise please prepare a guest room for Dax, we''ll talk about your treatment of my guest later. I just came to check on how things were going so I''ll go back to my paperwork again."


    "Wait a second~ Viktor is not supposed to strain himself, so make sure he stays put"


    "I''ll go that. See you at breakfast tomorrow Dax and Terra"


    Leaving a stern warning to the loyal maid, Russell left again to tackle his paperwork.


    "I''ll go prepare a room for our dear guest then, excuse me."


    "Actually I don''t need that kind of room, insted can you show my drones to some kind of unused storage room? The colder the better."


    "Understood, excuse me"


    Having received Dax''s instructions, the pacified maid left Terra and Dax behind and led the strange looking golems outside, to a unused storage room next to the mansions very own training field.


    "You can use this room- wait why am I talking to golems?"


    [Thank you~ That''ll be all tonight]


    Spooking the nervus maid, one of the drones spoke exactly like Dax as it answered her monologue.


    "Hiyaa! Is that you Dax?"


    [[[Not exactly~ they are me, I am me, but they are not me. Therefore we all are, but not alike and still the same~ Makes sense?]]]


    This time all the drones answered in a precise stereo, while slowly approaching the now freaked out maid.


    "What the f.u.c.k are you saying!?- Ah, I''m extremely sorry my dear guest, it seems I''ve gotten tired so please forgive me"


    While examining Terra''s damaged arm, Dax suddenly started laughing like a child having pulled off a successful prank.


    "Did something fun happen?"


    "I''m pretty sure I just got under the skin of your loyal maid, her reaction was so adorable when she tried to apologize~"


    "How messed up are you?"


    "Extremely~ Now please act like you still had your forearm and moved your fingers"


    "Even if you tell me that¡­"


    Focusing on the feeling of her arm,Terra trailed of as her concentration increased


    "I know it''s tough, try to remember some kind of daily activity where you used that arm"


    "Some kind of activity? Like what exactly?"


    "Let me see.."


    Looking around the room, Dax spotted Terra''s tea set.


    "Did you brew your own tea? Or did Elise take care of that?"


    "She mostly did it, but she did teach me how one time"


    "That''s great! Try to remember how you handled the tea leaves, the warm feeling of the teapot as you soaked the leaves as the aroma spread across your room"


    (NERVES MAPPED AND LOCATED, 154 CHANGES NEED FOR CYBERNETIC UPLINK, SENDING DATA MAP TO BIOPRINTER. STARTING DESIGN OF CYBERNETIC PROSTHESIS.)


    As Terra imagined herself brewing tea her brain sent signals to her missing hand and they were recorded as that part of her nervous system was mapped, and the data need to adopt her arm to a cybernetic implant was successfully gathered.


    "Okay that great that''s all the data for you arm¡­ Now for the real issue"


    "What?"


    "Emmm please don''t hit me but I need to touch what''s left of your leg¡­"


    "..."


    "Please stop looking at me like I''m some sort of dedengete¡­"


    "..."


    Even without being able to see Terra''s face or her even having eyes, Dax could feel a large hole being drilled into his dignity by Terra''s ''stare''


    "It''s for medical purposes."


    "..."


    "Do you want your leg back or nah?"


    "..."


    "Okay then let''s do something else for now"


    "....Sure"


    "Then I need to remove my mask and inspect your eyes"


    Removing his mask from Terra''s face, Dax carefully unwrapped her banges to find what was under.


    "This is?"


    "Quite repulsing right? I''ve been told that by everyone that''s seen it so far"


    "No I was just surprised by how beautiful your skin looks"


    "Please don''t try and be nice just for my sake.."


    "Sorry but that''s really all I see, are you self aware about your wounds?"


    "Of course I am! I''ve been told and felt it myself countless times, what''s left of my eyes are decaying and most of my nose is missing!! My face is so repulsive that even my dad wont look straight at me when we''re talking! And you just don''t care!? Are you some kind of pervert!?"


    As Dax had unwrapped the banges coverd the top half of Terra''s face he had uncovered a truly horrifying sight. Like Terra herself described while trying to punch Dax, the upper part of her face was not something nice to look at. Both her eyes were missing, the top half of her nose had been removed presumingly as a result of her emergency treatment, and most her skin was scar covered, but as Dax said she had surprisingly nice skin.


    "Could you just end it all instead, I hate being like this!"


    While a mix of blood and tears streamed down her face, she asked Dax to just kill her instead of treating her.


    "I''m sorely disappointed in you"


    "Eh?"


    "When I first heard your story from Alice I was sure you were like me."


    "You know Alice?"


    "Yeah I fought for survival with her a few days ago. Only right at the end did she lose hope and give up, well that quite normal really, when most people run out of all ideas they tend to lose hope, but when I heard about you I apparently naively envisioned someone like myself."


    "Like you?"


    "A survivor. Someone who doesn''t flinch looking death in the eyes. Someone that claws themself out of hell instead of screaming for help. Someone that keeps on fighting for survival even faced with certain death, even as their body screams in pain, breaking down, and every logical part of their mind tells them that they''re going to die. Pain is the only reward in life, it appears when we do something that matters, when we go against the primitive part of our minds and strive to do something that really matters, I thought you also understood that by it seems I was mistaken¡­ As promised to your father I will restore your eyesight, arm and leg, not because I feel like it is worth doing or even that it would make a difference in your sad life of self induced suffering and pity, but because we made an agreement that I can''t break by Qiton code of honor. I''m done with the preliminary examination so please excuse me for tonight, I''ll have your new eyes ready in 2 days, goodnight"


    "Please wait!"


    "I told you already: You''re not worth my time."


    Leaving the stunned Terra behind in her room, Dax had the expression like he had just swallowed a bug.


    (Just when I got my hopes up, this f.u.c.k.i.n.g ball of filth really doesn''t have anything worth my attention¡­.)


    (ACTIVATE PATTERN EXTERMINATUS? PLEASE CONFIRM OR DENY)


    (Are you really sure?)


    (THIS LOGIC PATTERN SHOWS THE HIGHEST CHANCE OF SUCCESS.)


    (I''ll strongly consider it so start looking into strategic class weapons and the ignition point of this atmosphere, but only after honoring my agreement. For now I really need to kill something, boot endless fail simulation and start printing that crippled disappointments new eyes, but prioritize my own new arm.)


    (CONSTRUCTION VIRTUAL BATTLEFIELD FOR ENDLESS WAR SIMULATION. SENDING SCHEMATICS TO UNITS 2 AND 3 FOR CONSTRUCTION)


    Having reached the courtyard in his fit of rage and frustration, Dax sat down in the middle of the yard and started meditating.


    (SIMULATION COMMENCING. ICI ENTERING SLEEP MODE.)

 Chapter 26 - Recovery (3)

    "Umm dear guest?"


    Early in the morning just as the sun was about to rise, the Williams estate head maid Elise was making her usual rounds, and had discovered Dax, her masters personal guest, sitting in the courtyard out the back of the mansion.


    (He''s covered in morning dew¡­ Did he stay here all night? Is he sleeping like that?.. No it looks like he''s meditating)


    As the confused maid slowly neared the meditating Dax, he slowly opened his eye.


    "Good morning Elise"


    "G-good morning dear guest, where you here all night?"


    "Sure was, is that a problem?"


    "N-no, of course not. But I could''ve prepared a personal room for you to sleep in."


    "I don''t really need to sleep so it''s fine, I was just meditating a bit, needed to get some frustration out of my system."


    Slowly getting up Dax did some quick stretches and wiped the morning dew off his face, then started walking towards the storage room where Elise had lead his drones to last night. As he reached the door of the garage like building a drone opened the door and he went inside.


    "E-ehm dear guest can I get you some-"


    Having followed nervously behind Dax, Elise also went into the room, only to find something so strange that she unconsciously stopped talking and was forced to take a second look. Inside the drones had unpacked all their luggage, and strange metal and circuitry filled about half the 50 square meter room, neatly organized in rows and piles after some unknown order. In the middle was what had drawn the stunned maids attention, some kind of round disk, about 60 centimeters in diameter, with 6 metal rods sticking out of it pointing upwards and glowing a faint red, presumingly having heated the room to its current temperature, but while it was indeed a strange machine what had drawn Elise''s attention to it was what it was currently doing. About a meter above the maschine several pieces of alien looking metal and circuitry where floating, seemingly completely ignoring the effect of gravity as they were heated, formed and reshaped to some sort of device by a unknown force.


    "What the hell is that?"


    "Pretty neat right? It''s a Guardian zero gravity field forge"


    "That doesn''t help me"


    "basically a field smeltery and manufacturing plant."


    "I can see that, but why are they all¡­ Floating like that?"


    "By using several weak gravton annihilation and increasing field generators and long range induction heaters the forge can produce extremely complex machinery, right now it''s working on your masters new eyes"


    "Really!- excuse me, is that the case? when are they done?"


    "In about a days time, operation can be done in 2 days"


    "Is that so¡­"


    Looking at the machine with wonder for a while, the excited maid finally remembered why she had originally followed Dax.


    "That''s right- Is there anything I can provide for you this morning?"


    "There is. I''m about to do some light morning exercise so could it be possible for you to prepare a bath for me?"


    "I''ll do that, would it be fine if it was ready in about an hour?"


    "An hour and a half would be perfect if that''s possible"


    "In that I''ll return here in one and a half hour to guide you to the bath, excuse me"


    Leaving Dax behind, the loyal maid went on with her morning routine.


    "Now that''s done, let''s test this one out"


    As the maid left, a droid handed Dax his new cybernetic arm. His new arm was a bit larger than the old and looked like it was covered in plate armor with an unusually large and bulky looking forearm guard that was inscribed with the icon of the 125th combined ops orbital drop troopers, a older cruiser entering an atmosphere.


    "Connect main 4"


    [CONNECTING MAIN LINK #4. INTERFACING WITH STRUCTURE, ARTIFICIAL NERVE NETWORK ONLINE, ALL SYSTEMS ONLINE AND POWERED: LINK ONLINE]


    As ICI connected Dax''s new arm to his body a joult went trough Dax''s body.


    (I never get used to the feeling of connecting a new body part..)


    "Okay time to test the contact interfacing and HW output, unit 2 get over here"


    [ROGER.]


    Following his command one of the drones went over to Dax and he placed his new arm on its shoulder.


    [CONTACT INTERFACING AT 50 GIGABITS/SEC. CHARGING AT 0.09 GIGAWATT/SEC. OPERATION OF BOTH SYSTEMS CONFIRMED.]


    "And what about the scan function?"


    [SYSTEM OPERATIONAL]


    "Now for the ranged induction heater, best to try this one outside."


    Walking outside as he continued his monologue while system testing, Dax reached the training field and pointed his hand into the empty space ahead of him.


    "Deploy heating coils"


    [DEPLOYING HEATING COILS, SYSTEMS NOMINAL. READY TO EXECUTE.]


    With a click Dax''s new plam split and 3 metal rods extended from it


    "Execute."


    As Dax commanded, the air about 2 meters in front of his extended hand started heating up greatly.


    "Status?"


    [DESIGN WORKING AS PLANNED, HEATSINK AT 0.5%]


    "Stress test. Overload and keep it up until 100% capacity"


    [OVERLOADING, STANDBY. STEPPING UP CENTRA REACTOR TO LEVEL 2, OUTPUT STABLE. DEPLOYING CENTRAL REACTOR COOLING SYSTEMS]


    "Wait-"


    Before finishing his sentence a fan like long and thin metal plate extended form Dax''s back, ripping his t shirt.


    "Ah I f.u.c.k.i.n.g knew it, ICI central reactor cooling henceforth requires my aturesetion."


    [CONFIRMED, CONTINUING WITH STRESS TEST.]


    (Oh well, it already had the hole after that rabid maids attack yesterday, might as well just recycle it)


    Taking off his t shirt and ripping it apart in the process Dax handed it to a drone. For about half an hour after that, Dax continued to heat the air in front of him as he tested the functions limits.


    [HEATSINK AT 100% CAPACITY]


    "Suspend induction heating"


    [CONFIRMED, COILS OFFLINE. STEPPING DOWN CENTRAL REACTOR TO LEVEL 1 OUTPUT, RETCACTING REACTOR COOLING SYSTEMS.]


    Having his hand return to normal, Dax briefly checked its operation as the cooling unit on his back retracted and then issued his next command.


    "Engage air cooling"


    [ENGAGING AIR COOLING OF HEAT SINK, STAND CLEAR.]


    Suddenly a long and solid looking red hot blade extended form the forearm guard.


    "This seems pretty useful, is it possible to heat this up without extending the heating coils?"


    [AFFIRMATIVE, FURTHERMORE STRUCTURE IS SOUND UP TILL 80% OF NOMINAL OUTPUT.]


    "Oh, nice! Now for a general stress test. Load a few titans with extreme close range gear in AR for me to beat up"


    [RENDERING REX-DELTA-86MK:XVII-TITAN AREA DOMINATION PLATFORM WITH LOADOUT E4. WARNING SIMULATION IS HOSTILE AND HITSCAN IS LINKED TO ARTIFICIAL NERVOUS SYSTEM, PLEASE CONFIRM SIMULATION START.]


    "Start AR, pain level 5"


    [SIMULATION COMMENCING. WARNING: 1 HOSTILE ENGAGING. ICI ENTERING SLEEP MODE.]


    A bit later in the main roman bathhouse a slightly nervus maid had just finished heating the bath.


    "That''s the bath ready, but is it too hot, or cold? I should''ve asked Dax how he likes his baths¡­"


    Pondering for a bit the slightly over serious maid decided to stop asking herself questions she couldn''t answer and went to find Dax.


    (does he even have spare clothes? I should really think things through, hope he not gonna hate me..)


    Lost in thought the most definitely over serious maid pondered if her service was gonna be satisfactory as it was the utmost importance that Dax didn''t complain to Russell about her, as she had already tried to kill him once, in front of Russell.


    "I should just start looking for a new job already.. How did I even make it to head maid?"


    Reflecting on her life choices, Elise stopped her feet before reaching the training field Dax said he was gonna use for some light morning exercise she completely locked up as a result of her own doubts. That is until her curiosity trumped. In the distance it sounded like something was pulverising stone with a sledgehammer, or a fist.


    "What the hell is that noise?"


    Walking closer to the sound, Elise soon realized that is must be the noise of Dax''s ''light morning exercise''.


    "How the f.u.c.k is this ''light exercise''..."


    Having reached the training field Elise wasn''t sure what she witnessed. Dax, wielding a two handed sword in one hand, was preoccupied with slaying some unseen opponent.


    "Dear guest, the bath has been pre-"


    Not even getting to finish her sentence, Dax suddenly threw his sword at her, impacting a meter from her feet and making a deep hole in the ground. Imitetly after that Dax quickly ran over and picked up his sword before doing a backflip and once more striking at the unseen fore.


    "He didn''t even see me¡­"


    Exactly like Elise mumbled out while cleaning the dirt off her apron the moment Dax ran at Elise she clearly saw that his eye was out of focus, and he didn''t seem to be aware of his surroundings.


    [STAND BACK, SIMULATION IN PROGRESS.]


    Before the maid realized it, one of Dax''s strange golems had closed in and gr.a.p.ed Elise and started to drag her away.


    "Hey let me go!"


    [NOT ADVISED, SIMULATION IN PROGRESS.]


    "Cut the shit, I know you can talk though these rust buckets!"


    [LINK OFFLINE, SIMULATION IN PROGRESS.]


    "What ''simulation''?"


    This time instead of answering the drone put Dax''s mask on the confused maids face.


    [CONNECTING AR.. AR ONLINE]


    As Elise''s vision returned she finally saw what Dax was fighting. About 6 meters tall a giant solid looking humanoid drone wielding massive shield and sword looking weapon that suddenly split in 2 as it pointed it at Dax, and after a millisecond some kind of light shoot and pierced Dax''s stomach, making him flinch.


    "What the hell was that?"


    [SIMULATION IN PROGRESS, HITSCAN IS LINKED TO ARTIFICIAL NERVOUS SYSTEM AT PAIN LEVEL 5 - REAL COMBAT.]


    "Are you saying that he''ll feel every hit like is it real combat?"


    [AFFIRMATIVE¡­ SIMULATION SUSPENDED.]


    "Eh?"


    Looking over at Dax he had somehow removed the head of the golem and dug his sword deep into it''s torso.


    [COMMANDER WINS. FINAL SCORE IS 5 TO 0. ICI ONLINE, AR SIMULATION OFFLINE.]


    "Oh is that you Elise? That means the bath is ready~ please show me the way"


    "Yes the bath has been prepared. Please follow me."


    Dropping his sword, Dax egely followed after the fidgeting maid.


    "Um dear guest, shouldn''t you wear something more than that?"


    "Well I only had a single shirt, that is until someone ruined it by stabbing a hole in it~"


    "I-I''m sorry"


    "That''s okay~ I''m already making a new one, and besides there''s no one awake at this time, right~"


    "It''s not a question of if someone is awake, a-are you not embarrassed showing me all those scars?"


    As Elise pointed out, Dax was entirely nude from the waist up, and his torso was almost completely covered in scars.


    "Not really? Ones scars are a point of honor in qiton culture, besides having a young cute maid sneak glances at me is really not that bad~"


    "W-w-what!? I-i have no idea what you''re talking about! We''re here now, excuse me!"


    Watching the fleeing maid with a smile on his face, Dax went inside the bathhouse while talking to ICI in his head.


    (Ah that was cute¡­ well time for a bath, ICI anyone inside?)


    (NEGATIVE.)


    (Good, that would be awkward. finish up my new clothes and send them here, Finally I get out of this vac suit.. ICI when was the last time I took a bath?)


    (INFORMATION WITHHELD, REASON: KNOWING WOULD HARM PSYCHOLOGICAL STATE.)


    "Yeah I figured, notify me when my new clothes are here."


    Waking up Terra felt terrible, as she had spent most of the night awake thinking about what Dax had said to her. As she woke her senses started picking up the surroundings, every little detail in the manor reached her ears, from the sound of Russell doing paperwork to the food being prepared in the kitchen by the estate chef.


    "So he''s missing a eye and a arm? That doesn''t give him a reason to f.u.c.k.i.n.g judge me like that!"


    Hitting her pillow in frustration while she insulted Dax repeatedly, only calming down after about 5 minutes when she heard the footsteps of someone approaching.


    (That''s¡­. Elise coming here to wake me? Her breathing is slightly faster than usual and she''s having trouble keeping her pace.. She has something to tell me)


    Following the sound of Elise''s footsteps as she almost ran up the stairs, Terra decided to pretend she was sleeping as Elise entered the room.


    "Good morning Terra, you''re expected at lunch with Dax and mr. Russell in 30 minutes"


    (Her pulse is all over the place¡­)


    "Good morning Elise, did something good happen?"


    "How can you always tell? Dax said you''re getting your vision back in a few days!"


    (Well he said that he would heal me¡­ Just before calling me a disappointment)


    "Really? That''s amazing!"


    (Ahhhh I f.u.c.k.i.n.g hate him¡­)


    "Isn''t it!? Now let''s get on with the morning, let''s get you dressed"


    While helping Terra get dressed Elise kept talking about Dax, greatly upsetting Terra that skillfully hid it with a smile. After Dressing Terra, Elise compeed her hair and helped her downstairs to the dinner hall and sat her down in her chair.


    "I''ll go fetch Russell now, excuse me."


    "He''s probably doing paperwork in the library again"


    "In that case I''ll look after him there first."


    (Well he''s still there working while hiding for the maids¡­ Oh wait, he''s asleep)


    "Actually can you go get Dax first, I wanna know about my new eyes before dad"


    "Understood."


    As the maid left her master to find, Terra sank back in her chair and breathed a deep sigh.


    (You owe me for the extra sleep dad..)


    About 5 minutes later Terra picked up a new sound.


    (This is not footsteps? More like the floorboards expanding under the weight of something like footsteps¡­ Must be Dax. I didn''t notice before but he really doesn''t leave a presence other than that annoying voice and child like smile.)


    Walking towards the dinner hall Dax suddenly stopped in place.


    (What the hell is he doing? There''s nothing in that hallway..)


    "Good morning Terra. You look terrible, did you not sleep well?"


    (What the f.u.c.k is he talking about? There''s at least 4 walls between us...)


    "You really have good ears, but you''re clearly inexperienced. The way you reacted clearly tells me that you can hear me, now I''m just even more disappointed in by the state of your mind.."


    "F.u.c.k you."


    "Well your temper still remains¡­ Then why did turn out that way?"


    "..."


    "So either you don''t know, don''t care or won''t share that information with me. Oh well, I''m starving"

 Chapter 27 - Ascension (1)

    Arriving in the lavish dinner hall, complete with crystal chandelier and large dinner table lined with fine chairs, on of them occupied by a pissed off Terra.


    "You really didn''t sleep well, you look terrible"


    "F.u.c.k off"


    "Sadly I can''t do that, I''m still your doctor. Where''s your dad?"


    "Sleeping somewhere upstairs."


    "Okay.. There was some issues with my examination last night so I''ll need to look at your eyes again"


    "Don''t touch me."


    "That wasn''t a request, sit still"


    Dax quickly closed the distance and gr.a.p.ed Terras face to hold her still.


    "Don''t f.u.c.k.i.n.g touch me!"


    "Just behave already! ICI give me a deep scan this time, focus on the optical nerves"


    [READY.]


    Grabbing her face with his new arm, Dax quickly made ICI scan Terras damaged nerves, confirming his worries before letting go of her again.


    "I knew it¡­ I''ll need to make additional modifications to your new eyes so they''ll be delayed for a bit¡­ Guess we''ll start with your other cybernetics, ICI prioritize her new arm"


    [CONFIRMED. TIME TO COMPLETION: 4 HOURS]


    "That''s good news Terra~ Come to the storeroom I use at tomorrow morning, I''ll personally oversee the installation."


    "Wh-"


    "That wasn''t a suggestion~"


    "... Okay"


    "Good~ Now I believe that Russell is on his way down so I''ll be taking a seat, excuse me"


    As Dax sat down near Terra Russell arrived followed by Elise.


    "Good morning Dax, and Terra too. seems like we''re all here, Elise can you tell the chef we are ready to eat?"


    "Of course, excuse me"


    "Now Dax how is the progress?"


    Sitting down on the other side of Dax and Terra, Russell imitiatly got to the heart of the matter.


    "I''ve hit a small snag with Terra''s new eyes so I''ll be starting with her new arm instead, followed by the new leg and then the eyes at the end."


    "Could you explain why?"


    "Certainly. The short version is that installing Terra''s new eyes now would hurt her extremly, but I will be able to fix that issue with multiple operations that I''ll do at the same time as installing her new arm and leg."


    "Hurt? I don''t understand?"


    "It''s the nerves"


    "nerves?"


    "Yeah her optic nerves, or the things connecting her eyes to her brain. I expected them to be almost completely decayed but it appears that the state is much worse. I just ran a scan using my new arm and discovered something odd, the nerves are not only active, but there''s about 400% more than needs to be. I suspect that''s the result of applying healing magic on tissue with foreign objects still present. The nerves are extremely sensitive so removing them will be slow work so I''ll split up the procedure of removing them over as many times as possible to lessen the strain on my dear patent."


    "I see¡­ When will Terra be able to walk again?"


    "That will be depending on her own effort in the rehabilitacion, but i expect it the whole thing to take about 10 days, and she''ll still be able to see per the original timeframe."


    "That''s great news, I''ll plan a party to reintroduce Terra to the Black Hollow elite, Dax you can use that opportunity mingle if you would like"


    "Ohh really? That would be great, I do need to establish myself as a foreign diplomat"


    Something in that sentence rubbed Terra the wrong way.


    "How exactly are you a diplomat?"


    "Have you ever heard of something like a mask that''ll allow a blind person to see~?"


    "N-no I haven''t.. Oh right I never got to ask about that, is it some kind of special magic circuit?"


    "Nope~"


    "Then what is it?"


    "It''s just simple technology, in my world at least"


    "Your world?"


    "The Galactic Empire. I arrived in this strange world about 10 days ago when my derelict ship crashed here. I believe the local term is ''Starfall''"


    "Are you saying you''re not of this world? Stop kidding"


    "It''s true Terra, I personally saw Dax jump the outer wall without using any kind of magic"


    "Not you too dad"


    "I''m completely serious."


    "O-okay.."


    "I think the food is here, let''s talk more after."


    As Dax pointed out, Elise and the chef arrived with the food, ending their convatiosion until the meal was over.


    "What are your plans now Dax?"


    After finishing the meal Russell inquired on Dax''s plan for the day.


    "I''ll go around town for a bit, I need to sell the monster cores I recovered to the guild and then buy some ingredients for RDX and Ballistite, along with some other chemical compounds."


    "RDX? Ballistite?"


    "Explosives used as the propellant in some in my worlds weaponry, I''m looking to expand my armory since I''m not allowed to use magic."


    "You''re not allowed?"


    "Apparently not no, when I borrowed Viktors mind to do so all the mana around disappeared completely until I released him from control for some reason."


    While Dax explained Russell completely lost his smile.


    "Don''t tell that to anyone else, and stay away from the church"


    "Why?"


    "There''s a good chance you''ve somehow angered a angel"


    "A angel?"


    "A ancient super powerful and intelligent race that can control the flow of mana. Most of the Kingdom consider them deities and there''s at least one church for their worship in every city"


    "And you think I''ve somehow angered one of those?"


    "They''re the only race that can suppress mana in a wide area"


    "And I suppose they''re fierce in combat?"


    "Extremely so."


    (Shit.. ICI relay new directives to the orb when able. Prioritize manufacture of a single Guardian-R04 special over the Cyclopes)


    (CONFIRMED.)


    (Let''s hope I won''t need it¡­)


    "Well let''s hope they won''t come after me immediately. More pressingly I need some sort of identification that''ll allow me to get past those racist guards"


    "Racist guards?"


    "Yeah-"


    Dax quickly explained his experience with the guards at the outer wall.


    "- So in short they keep pestering me, and I guess that killing or disabling them won''t end well so I need something to shut them up or give me the legal ground to break some bones"


    "I see your problem, but there''s not much I can do about that, the guard core is controlled by a group of xenophobic nobles in this town, but if you go anywhere else within this country they''ll accept your guild tag as ID. Oh and the Royal guard arrived here yesterday to recover some the fragments from your ship"


    "Where any of them a small orange cylinder?"


    "I don''t think so, why?"


    "If there was none then its fine, but please make sure none are being experimented on by the Kingdom"


    "I can do that, but are they dangerous in some way?"


    "A single one could level a large part of this town, so yeah"


    "Really!? I''ll send that word to the capital immediately!"


    Rising from his seat, Russell immediately left to message the capital, leaving Dax and Terra behind.


    "Well then I''ll go on with my day, see you later Terra~"


    (He really is twisted.. Now where is Elise? I need her to take me upstairs again)


    "Hello miss Beth~ can I sell monster cores here?"


    As Dax arrived at the hunters guild he walked over to the reception desk seeing a familiar face.


    "U-um good morning Dax, yes buying monster cores are a service we provide, furthermore as you are a contracted hunter you enjoy a 30% increase in value compared to normal pricing"


    "Then please buy these~"


    Dax pulled out a leather pouch and emptied the contents- about 30 orange sized purple monster cores and a handball sized one, on the reception desk, making Beth''s business smile freeze.


    "T-these are some rather large monster cores, may I ask what monster they stem from?"


    "What were they called?... Ah, that''s right arachnids and the big one is from a arachnid queen"


    "A-arachnids!? really?"


    "Yeah I cleared out a nest with the help of Blue Phoenix, so can I sell them here or do I need to go somewhere else?"


    "N-no! The guild will be happy to buy them! Please wait while I prepare the founds!"


    Beth quickly ran off to a back room without even waiting for Dax''s response


    (These must be worth a lot¡­ ICI did you finish the structural analysis?)


    (UNIT 1 REPORTS STILL IN PROGRESS)


    (Update me the second it''s complete)


    (CONFIRMED.)


    Finishing up his internal conversation ICI, Beth returned from the back room with a pouch.


    "21 class 5 and 1 class 7 monster core, with the 30% bonus that''ll be 250 gold coins, please confirm the amount"


    By Beth''s suggestion Dax checked the contents and found 250 small coins made of some kind of gold alloy emitting a extremely weak mana signature.


    "I take it these are gold coins?"


    "Eh, yeah they are?"


    "I recently arrived in this country and therefore don''t know anything about the currency system, how much is a gold coin worth?"


    "Really?"


    "Where I come from money is made of paper, or in rare cases metals way more valuable than gold"


    "O-okay.. A single one of these gold coins are worth about 3 months livelihood for a middle class household. A hundred gold coins can buy middle sized noble estate."


    (This really is a fortune¡­)


    "Can I exchange some of these coins to lower value ones?"


    "Sure, I''ll recommend large silver silver coins that are the a tenth of the value compared to gold coins"


    "In that case I would like to exchange 10 gold coins to large silver coins~"


    "O-okay.. Please wait a moment"


    Disappearing again to a back room leaving Dax behind, he turned his attention to the other hunters looming around the guild.


    (6 other hunters in here¡­ 2 of which are observing me and a single one is suppressing his killing intent¡­ ICI mark them)


    (3 TARGETS ADDED TO BLACKLIST.)


    (Good. Oh she''s back)


    "Here you are, 100 large silver coins"


    With a bit more difficulty this time Beth handed a pouch filled with larger silver coins, in exchange Dax handed over 11 gold coins.


    "Um there''s a coin too much"


    "No there isn''t, thanks for the explanation."


    ".....Eh!? EHHHHHH!!??"


    Leaving the guild and the clueless receptionist behind, Dax heard a loud scream from Beth when it finally clicked for her. Dax made his way to Alex''s arms shop, and after spending a lengthy time working out a deal Dax secured the 50 odd chemical compounds and rare metals he needed to expand his future weaponry through multiple of Alex''s associates, in exchange for nuking most of his newly received assets and promising a return another day to show him his words weaponry. Walking through the city Dax rewived his future plans.


    (My remaining assets amount to about 100 gold coins, but I secured enough materials to make some pretty impressive equipment.. What''s the status of comsat-1?)


    (EXPECTED LAUNCH IN 4 HOURS)


    (And Alex said he would be ready with the order tomorrow about noon.. I''ll visit him then after checking up on Viktor with unit 1 and 2, then transport the materials to the orb, what''s your opinion ICI?)


    (PRIORITY OMEGA IS SURVIVAL. SECURING WEAPONRY AND INTELLIGENCE TO EXTERMINATE TREATS IS OF THE UTMOST IMPORTANCE.)


    (Yeah the ''angels'' or whatever they are.. Let''s try kicking the hornet''s nest and see how their intelligence network reacts.)


    Stopping his mindless stroll of the city, Dax asked a nearby shop owner directions to Black Hollow''s church.


    (03 on me. Code 5)


    (CONFIRMED. UNIT 3 IN ROUTE.)


    Walking for about 5 minutes following the shop owners directions, Dax arrived at a large plaza with a single large building that Dax assumed to be a temple. The two story tall temple was built in pure white marble and its windows had stained glass in elaborate and ornate designs forring to Dax and the world he came from. Spotting what appeared to be some kind of nun sweeping the grounds Dax approced with his signature childlike smile.


    "Excuse me~ Is this the a temple worshiping the so called angels?"


    "They''re not ''so called'' this is a church dedicated to the worship of the holy and all knowing angels that gifted mankind the power of mana!"


    Having angered the nun with his words she turned around to retort Dax with a sten tone. She wore a pure white dress with a equally white veil covering up her hair. The nun was no more than 14 years old but her golden yellow eyes and childlike face showed a religious fervor that put Dax on alert.


    "I''m sorry if I offended you please allow me to apologize, I''m a traveller from a faraway country and I wanted to know about these grand creations called angels"


    "Do you wish to confess your belief to our holy creators?"


    "Depending on what you can tell me about them, what''s your name miss?"


    "I''m Abby~ Why don''t we sit down over here? I will tell you of the grand angels and make you realize their grandness"


    Inviting Dax over to a nearby bench having completely switched attitude to Dax, the nun Abby skipped along while humming. Sitting down Abby waited for Dax to ask about the angels with shining eyes.


    "Nice to meet you Abby, my name is Dax"


    "Nice to meet you Dax, how can I help you realize the grand nature of the angels?"


    "First I want to know more about them, I''ve never seen a angel before, how do they look and where do they live?"


    "The angels mostly look like humankin, but have large wings that are massive mana curicuts they use to fly. The glorious angels mostly live In the mountain range about 400 kilometers north of the capital, and they rarely show themselves to us lowly humankin"


    (WEAK SPOT IDENTIFIED.)


    "But are they strong?"


    "They''re extremely strong~ About a hundred years ago only 2 of them wiped out a whole infadele city~"


    "I-is that so? How did they do it?"


    "With fire~ We have a munial showing they cleansed the infadele in holy flame inside the temple, do you want to see it?"


    "I''ll take you word for it."


    "That''s too bad, it really shows how they clenched the non believers, I really love how they-"


    (This kid is insane)


    Watching the nun explain in great detail how the angels ''cleansed'' or rather massacred a town about Black Hollow''s size because they refused to worship them with great joy in her eyes, Dax''s smile cracked as he struggled to keep calm.


    "So they cleanse evil? Is that the only reason they''re worshiped?"


    "No the angels are much more grand than that~ They''re our all knowing, all powerful and loving creators and guides in this hostile world~ So do you want to swear your faith to them now?"


    "You''re seriously f.u.c.k.i.e.d up you know that?"


    "Eh?"


    "You''re the angels are all powerful?"


    "Yes that''s what I''ve been trying to tell you"


    "Can they prevent evil?"


    "Yeah."


    "Do they know about evil? And can they prevent it?"


    "Of course! What are you getting at!?"


    "If the angels are all powerful, evil exists, and they can prevent it and want to, why don''t they?"


    "What do you mean?"


    "There are still wars, famine, crime and evil all around the world. And you say they willingly submit their believers and followers to that? This is not a religion I''m willing to follow"


    "But that evil is the fault of other races! The Demonkin lords are the ones at fault! They start wars and do evil!"


    As the argument heated up ICI advised Dax to back off, but something about what the young nun said to him just rubbed him the wrong way.


    "So a definite ''evil'' exists and the angels do nothing about that?"


    "To test us of course!"


    "But that doesn''t make sense. You told me that they''re all knowing, and if the angels are all knowing, they would poses perfect information they wouldn''t need to needlessly make you all suffer and test you. By that logic the angels either the angel knowingly created an existence for their followers that has needless pain and suffering, in that case they''re neither good nor holy, or they''re not all powerful or all knowing, but simply like us: Mortal and twisted."


    "Eh!? That- No!? What!?"


    Satisfied with the conversation Dax stood up and left the confused nun behind, walking about 5 meters from her when ICI cold voice sounded in his head.


    (EXTREME MANA SIGNATURE DETECTED, CONTACT REAR. EXERCISE EXTREME CAUTION.)


    "What the!-"


    Throwing himself forward, Dax narrowly escaped the area of some kind of strange spell that crashed down in the plaza. Getting up Dax saw the source of the spell. The young nun flooted eerily above the ground, her eyes wide open with tears made of blood streaming down her checks that along with the rest of her visible skin was covered in white runes.


    "ASCENSION COMPLETE, POSESION HOLDING STABLE, MANA STORM IN EFFECT."


    "Oh f.u.c.k.."


    "WE LEFT YOU A WARNING THAT YOU IGNORED FRAGILE ONE, THIS IS OUR DOMAIN."


    Floating about 10 meters above the ground, the nun had seemingly been possessed by some kind of pressure, a pressure Dax had felt before


    "PREPARE TO BE CLEANSED."


    This was the exact power Dax had felt taking away the mana when he had used Viktor to break through the second orbs ablative heat shield.


    "I poked a bit too much around huh.."


    Looking at the possessed nun, yellow particles started to appear behind her, slowly forming the shape of 3 pairs of large wings.


    "I AM THE ARCHANGEL SOLARIS, YOUR EXECUTIONER."

 Chapter 28 - Ascension (2)

    Floating above Dax, the nun Abby was crying blood, with mana particles floating around her as she was possessed by the archangel Solaris. With no weapons on him at the moment, and facing an unknown opponent Dax decided to buy some time.


    "How do you do Solaris, if I can call you that? My name is Dax, i''m a Qiton form the Alpha 4 clan"


    (UNIT 1 IN POSITION.)


    "I CARE NOT FOR YOU NAME, FRAGILE ONE."


    Responding to Dax''s attempt to make friends, Solaris channeled mana trough Abby and used it to rip multiple rocks out of the ground around her.


    "NOW PARISH"


    Throwing the rocks towards Dax at a staggering speed, Solaris clearly aimed to reap his life


    "Give me combat control!"


    (ROGER. LIMITERS RELEASED, ''EYE OF ARGOS'' ONLINE.)


    While Dax ran and dodged rock shards flying towards at him with paper thin margins as his left eye lit up as his reativity improved greatly.


    "Can''t we just talk about it!?"


    "ANNOYING! JUST DIE ALREADY."


    Unsatisfied with her ability in killing the pest running around dogging her attack spells, Solaris switched up tactics and momentarily stopped her assault.


    (UNIT 2 AND 3 IN POSITION.)


    (Finally! link me, pattern black)


    (PREPARING FOR FULL MIND DOMINATION. WARING: COMPLETE MIND MELT IN EFFECT. EXPECTED CORRUPTION AT 100% PATTERN BLACK NOW IN EFFECT.)


    "OKAY! Last chance, disengage or I will consider a enemy of the Galactic Empire!"


    "HOW PREPOSTEROUS THERE''S NO SUCH THING AS A GALACTIC EMPIRE"


    "[Then engage and be destroyed! CODE BLACK NOW IN EFFECT - 3 REX DELTA 04 ADDED TO ARCHITECTURE, ALL RAM AND PROCESSING POWER INTEGRATED. TOTAL CONTROL HANDOVER COMPLETE. ICI ENTERING SLEEP MODE]"


    As Dax removed his eye patch it was his turn to threaten as his voice turned artificial, pointing his left index finger at her face while his speech was overlapping with ICI''s cold and mechanical voice.


    "IS THAT A TREAT?"


    "[It''s a promise. As my executioner you have failed by letting me live this long, I have no further need for evasive maneuvers. PHALANX NOW IN EFFECT, GUARDIANS ACTIVE]"


    Forming a meter long and sharp ice crystal in front of her extended hand, a small smile formed on Abby''s face, presumably a result of the creature possessing her.


    "GOODBYE."


    Setting the ice crystal flying towards at a speed faster than any magic attack Dax had seen before towards her target, the nuns smile bloomed fully. It never reached its target however, as the crystal shattered a few meters from Dax, with the sound of some kind of far off explosion following a second after.


    "[Does that usually happen for you?]"


    "WHAT DID YOU DO?"


    "[Me? Nothing at all, That wasn''t me, it was me]"


    "ANNOYING! I DO NOT HAVE TIME FOR THIS!"


    This time several ice shards appeared all around in the air all around her, all pointing at Dax. But not a single one of the spells even got formed completely however, as they all shattered before completion.


    "[Is that all you can do?]"


    "WHAT IS HAPPENING!?"


    "[Long range combat is severely lacking in this world.. But I guess that''s most likely because of the presence magic has¡­.]"


    For about 2 minutes Solaris continued trying to kill Dax with Ice crystals or later the use of rock shards, which all proved entirely ineffective and never reached within a meter of Dax as they all disintegrated.


    "[This is really a nice plaza, you can see most of the outer wall from here~]"


    "WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING"


    "[You really can''t see them?]"


    "WHAT ARE YOU-"


    Stopping mid sentence, Solarris looked around at the outer wall that was visible to her, and spotted 3 human like figures either having crawled halfway up the wall or standing on top of it.


    "WHAT ARE THEY?"


    "[They are me, a commander of the Galactic Empire. Kill me and they''ll return to their base directives]"


    "BASE DIRECTIVES?"


    "[Re join the fleet. But with me removed they will do so without my temper, without my¡­. Kindness. You angels have already proven unwilling to respond to diplomacy and have the ability to appear anywhere so you''ll all be eliminated first."


    "THAT''S-"


    "[Impossible? You didn''t even see my drones before I told you about them so don''t kid yourself. They''ll most likely secure a orange cylinder in the capitals possession, the cylinder contains exotic fuel that should be enough for a 100 megaton fusion bomb, that would be sufficient to turn your little mountain into sterile glass]"


    "THEY''LL NEVER REACH THA-"


    "[No probably not no, that would make the next strategy Exterminatus I''m afraid]"


    "EXTERMINATUS?"


    "[Elimination of every treat to the mission without any humane consideration. That would come in the form of igniting the atmosphere, killing all life crawling on this dirt ball planet.]"


    "!!! YOU WOULDN''T DARE!!!"


    "[No I wouldn''t, I still kinda need to breathe so I would just sterilize your little fortress with nuclear fire, but by fighting and possibly killing me could lead to that.]"


    "YOUUUU!!!"


    Enraged by Dax''s treats, Solaris stretched out her hand and summoned a 4 meter long sword made of some kind of glowing crystal.


    (So immature.)


    Taking a stance readying for Solaris'' charge, Dax dogged right before he was impaled and quickly grabbed Abby by her hair/veil as a sword extended from his mechanical arm, stopping right in front of her eye.


    "[Checkmate]"


    "YOU THINK THAT WOULD STOP ME!"


    Still trying to kill Dax, Solaris moved her sword and attempted to stab Dax in the chest, but her sword got obliterated by well placed rifle shoots from the 3 drones on the other wall.


    "THEN!"


    In her next desperate attempt, Solaris let go of her sword and turned Abby''s hand towards Dax''s chest and quickly formed a ice crystal that shoot forward and attempted to pierce Dax''s heart. The ice crystal never pierced Dax''s chest however, shattering on inpanct insted of reaping his life. In response Dax retracted his sword and made his mechanical hand split open, as 3 metal rods extended from it


    "[could you still chant if I boil this nuns brain?]"


    "SO YOU WANTED ME IN CLOSE RANGE TO BEGIN WITH... COME TO THE MOUNTAIN AND WE''LL TALK PEACE IN PERSON, UNTIL THEN YOU''LL NOT BE ALLOWED TO USE MAGIC"


    Realisering her defeat, Abby closed her eyes as the presence of Solaris slowly disappeared from the plaza.


    "[Oh and make sure the capital don''t touch the orange cylinders if they have any, we don''t want them vaporizing themselves~]"


    "FINE, YOU REALLY DON''T KNOW HOW TO PROPERLY ASK A LADY DO YOU?"


    As the pressure of Solaris completely disappeared Abby dropped unconsciously into Dax''s arms.


    "She was quite interesting¡­"


    Gently wiping the tears of blood off Abby face as he checked her condition, Dax realised that he had found a new source of entertainment with a smile on his face, and almost certainly sending a chill up Solaris'' spine, wherever she was.


    Finding no issue with Abby''s condition, Dax left the unconscious nun at the entrance to the temple and moved away from the plaza surrounding the temple, as curious onlookers arrived. Finding himself in an alleyway some distance away, Dax breathed a sigh and disengaged mind melt.


    (MIND MELT TERMINATED, STARTING POST DOMINATION CLEANUP AND EVALUATION)


    (Move units 1-3 back to the mansion)


    (ORDERS CONFIRMED, UNITS 1, 2 AND 3 DISENGAGING FROM COMBAT AREA.)


    "Good. It''s a bit early but let''s head over to the Red Boar"


    Arriving at the Red Boar late afternoon it was mostly empty, except for the barmaid Rose and the hostess Lillian working to prepare for the evenings customers.


    "Ah Dax!"


    Spotting Dax first was the red haired barmaid that quickly ran over to him and bowed


    "Welcome to the Red Boar"


    "Thanks~ Could you get me a beer?"


    Dax handed Rose a large silver coin before wavering to Lillian and sitting down at a empty corner table.


    "H-here you are, and here''s the change"


    Rose quickly got a large pint of ale for Dax and carefully set it down on his table, along with a whole slew of different smaller coins made of silver and bronze.


    "Thanks Rose~ That''s a lot of change"


    "O-of course it is! No one orders beer with a large silver coin!"


    "I sincerely apologize my dear princess Rose, but this lowly knight only managed to secure these coins trough great mortal peril!"


    At some point while Rose had complained about Dax''s method of payment he finished his ale, and gotten down on his knee, before grasping her hand and issuing a ''knight like'' apology.


    "W-w-what are you talking about!?"


    After making Rose bloom fully, Dax tossed a gold coin to Lillian.


    "I have some friends coming a bit later, I hope that''ll plenty to cover all future expenses"


    "A-are you insane?"


    "Only in the best way possible~ Now could I please have a portion of your lovely shepherd''s pie?"


    About 14 beers and 4 shepherd''s pies later, Dax''s first associate arrived in the form of Alice. She wore a green one piece dress instead of her usual leather uniform, and nervously peeked in the door of the busy bar before finally spotting Dax sitting inside.


    "Ah, there she is~! Come come Alice~ Oh and Rose get me another beer~"


    "Are you sure, you''ve had like 15?"


    "No actually nevermind."


    "H-he finally-"


    "Give me 2 beers and one for Alice~"


    "..."


    Giving Dax a tired stare, Rose went over to the bar counter.


    "Alice~ Come over here and have a drink~"


    Briefly trying to wave Alice over, Dax appeared sad as he disappeared from Alice''s sight.


    "Where did he?-"


    Not even getting to finish her sentence, something picked her up from the floor.


    "Kyaaa! How did you?"


    "Qiton martial arts~ now now have some beer~ I''m paying"


    "O-okay, but just one, I need to write up reports tomorrow"


    ---


    "Is it over here Redmond?"


    "Not sure.."


    As the sun had set Blue Phoenix was looking for the inn/bar Dax had mentioned as their meeting point.


    "Nnn, it''s over there"


    As Laura pointed you, she had found the Red Boar, with the help of her night vision unique to her specific race of beastkin.


    "Good job Laura, I could really use a beer!"


    Eduard quickly ran ahead and opened the door to the inn, before freezing in place.


    "Hey Eduard what¡­ What is that?"


    "Nn¡­ I¡­ Have¡­ several¡­ questions."


    Inside of the inn was completely packed with customers, except in the very center at the bar, where a large open area had been cleared, and in the middle of all that-


    "?? If I offer you my souuuul


    Will you carry me aaaaway?


    I cannot be the only oooone


    To be dehumanized agaaain- ??"


    Dax was singing some unknown song with his all while stomping his feet and hitting his chest with his arm, creating a aggressive rhythm, and leading to the whole bar being in silent awe. Finishing up his song as Blue Phoenix walked in, Dax received the whole bar''s thundering applause as he grabbed and emptied a beer.


    "Ah, my friends~ Come come! Have a beer, it''s all on me tonight~"


    "Oooohhh really~ In that case I won''t hold back!"


    watching Eduard make his way to the bar, Redmond followed by Laura walked up to Dax that somehow had gotten his hand on another beer in the meanwhile and was in the progress of downing it.


    "Dax are you¡­ Okay?"


    "... Wasted?.."


    "Extremely so~ Well not as much as Alice~"


    Pointing to something behind him, Redmond turned around to find a completely smashed Alice having fallen asleep on a table.


    "Is she okay?"


    "Yeah~ Alice made the foolish decision of channeling to a drinking competition~ ICI what''s the score~?"


    [134-14. COMMANDER DAX IN THE LEAD.]


    "I-is that so? But should you really be drinking, are you not healing the Ranger captains daughter?"


    "I still am~ In fact I''ll make take that first step at sunrise"


    ".. Bad.. Idea?"


    "Not at all~ ICI time to detox~?"


    [COMMANDER DAX WILL BE FORCEFULLY DETOXED IN 4 HOURS.]


    "See? Now drink and have fun~"


    "Okay then, I''ll take you up on that suggestion!"


    With a large, bear like smile Redmond went over to the bar, leaving just Dax and Laura.


    "...Is¡­ It.. Safe¡­ For.. Me?"


    "I''ll check~"


    Briefly looking around, Dax walked over to a nearby empty table and jumped on top of it.


    "Excuse me for a second!"


    Waiting for the bar to quiet down, most the eyes in Red Boar gathered on Dax.


    "Anyone in here have a problem with beastkins speak now!"


    """"""...""""""


    "Anyone think beastkins are the most precious thing in this cruel world, and must be protected at all cost~!?"


    """""OOOOOOHHHHH!!!!""""""


    Being meet with tremendous approval form the other patrons, Dax showed his child like smile to Laura, that responded by taking off her hat and getting a drink.


    "Now I just have a few more things to say before we continue this wonderful evening~ In my culture we remember our fallen that can for some reason or another not be buried normally in a special way. I recently lost 480 brave souls that worked under me. Most of them I raised myself, from children all the way to a.d.u.l.thood, all of them I considered family. Please help me in serving their memory by honoring them with a send off that can rival parties of the old gods. Every single form of alkohol coming from this lovely bar will be covered by me! Drink, party and help me celebrate all those idiots following me to their way too early and unfitting demise!!"


    Shedding tears as he raised his glass, Dax was meet with thunderous applause.

 Chapter 29 - Crucible (1)

    [DETOXIFYING COMMANDER DAX, ALLOCATING BLACK MATTER FOR CLEANUP STANDBY¡­ ALLOCATION COMPLETE, COMECEING CEREBRAL CLEANUP, RESETTING TISSUE.]


    Walking towards the inner wall as the sun slowly rose over the city, he suddenly grasped his head in pain and fell to his knees, disturbing Alice that he carried on his back.


    "Fue?"


    "It''s okay, go back to sleep~"


    "Fine~"


    (Is she''s drooling on my back?)


    (AFFIRMATIVE.)


    (That was a rhetorical question ICI¡­ Show me what happened while I was blackout drunk.)


    (SYNCHRONIZING MEMORY BANKS AND CLEANING UP CORRUPTION, STANDBY FOR TRANSFER..)


    While some of his missing memories slowly returned, Dax visibly cringed.


    "I''ll have to apologize to Lillian for the extra work¡­ But she should be pleased by the extra income¡­"


    Remembering that he had donated the rest of his gold coin he had tossed to Lilian, Dax figured that it might make up for the noise he had made all throughout the night into the early morning when he had left to bring Alice home and perform the operation to attach a mechanical arm to Terra. Walking through the street in the early morning traffic while carrying the sleeping and drunk Alice, Dax caught enough judging stares for a lifetime.


    "Ehhhhehe~"


    "Go back to sleep Alice"


    "No."


    "Please?


    "Noooo~ You''re mean!"


    Breathing a sigh while considering just dropping Alice on the street and leaving her behind, Dax sat Alice down carefully and sat down next to her.


    "What''s up Alice?"


    "..."


    Trying to find out what Alice was upset about Dax was only meet with a silent frown from her.


    "Would you please tell me?"


    "Noo~ You''ll be mad!"


    "I won''t."


    "Really?"


    "Really."


    "You promise?"


    "I do."


    "-ess"


    "What?"


    "It''s my dress! You never complimented me on it! Even though I speed all of yesterday finding it you never said a thing about it!-"


    "Please calm down Alice"


    "No! Give me compliments!"


    Standing up while considering once more to leave Alice behind, Dax was meet with warm looks form the elderly predestiends, while the younger men cursed silently.


    (Shit¡­)


    Deciding that he couldn''t just leave Alice behind, (or gag her to lessen the noise) Dax took a look at Alice''s dress. Alice wore a green one piece dress, complete with cutesy flower embodiments and frills and really matched with her free flowing hair that usually was tied up in a french braid.


    "It''s really cute."


    "Really?"


    "Extremely so."


    "Ehhhehe~ Then prove it~"


    "How?"


    "Pat my head~"


    (ICI how many beers did she have?)


    (15.5)


    "... Can we do this somewhere else?"


    "No! Pat my head now! You did it to Laura!"


    (Did I?)


    (RECOVERING MEMORY FROM DATABANKS..)


    (I did¡­)


    Remembering back to sometime after Blue Phoenix had arrived, Laura had suddenly sat next to him while he was in the progres of drinking one of the older patrons under the table. She had silently looked at him with the facial expression saying ''pat me'' and Dax had instantly caved in, his ability to resist adorable things having completely disappeared as he started to feel the alcoholds effect.


    "Can''t we please do this some other time or place?"


    "No! Dax you meanie head!"


    (Are you a kid!)


    "..."


    "Meanie!"


    "Fine¡­"


    With an extremely troubled expression Dax slowly placed his hand on top of Alice''s head.


    "Ehhhehehe~ Finally~"


    (What the hell do you mean finally!!)


    (THAT QUARRY IS OUTSIDE OF MY PROGRAMING.)


    Continuing on for a bit, to Alice''s apparent enjoyment as her face lossended and she showed a large smile Dax found it hard to concentrate as his head was filled with the sound of ICI warning him about the bloodl.u.s.t he was incurring.


    "Go Die!"


    "Why the hell does he need to do that out here!"


    "Ah youth¡­"


    "I wish that was me¡­"


    "Dude¡­"


    Hearing multiple comments, some with a bit problematic elements, due to his enhanced hearing, Dax found the whole thing extremely tiring.


    "Is that enough?


    "More~"


    "I need to fix up Terra in a bit."


    "Then just a bit more please~"


    "O-okay¡­"


    ---


    (Where!?)


    Frantically running around in the morning fog, the head maid Elise was confused as she ran around looking for something, someone.


    "Where is he!?"


    Dax had been missing from the Williams estate since yesterday, then there had been a disturbance at the temple, someone had even claimed to see a archangel fighting a demonkin, and it didn''t take a an idiot to connect the dots. Russell had ordered Dax to be found, and Elise had spent all the day looking for him, along with some of the other combat able maids. Looking for Dax all throughout the night without result, Elise had promised her master that he would return in the morning, but he didn''t seem to have returned.


    "Don''t tell me he was killed by that angel?"


    "By Solaris~? I only played around with her for a bit, we''re friends now~"


    "Kyaa! Where the hell have you been Dax!"


    Having silently appeared behind Elise, Dax properly removed half a year from Elises lifetime by surprising her that way.


    "Sorry I''m late, Had a bit more to luggage so I''m a bit behind schedule~ Where''s my dear patient?"


    "Miss Terra is still sleeping. Also what the hell are you carrying?"


    "Extra luggage~ Her name is Alice, I belive you know her?"


    Showing Elise his ''luggage'' the had the from of a sleeping and happy looking Alice, Elise suddenly recognized her.


    "I-is that the green death!?"


    "What the hell is ''green death''?"


    "Ah, s-sorry. Green death is what miss Alice is called around town, she''s probably the best Ranger in town after miss Terra retired, but why are you with her?"


    "I was out drinking~ She had a bit too much and this happened, could you prepare a room for her and then bring Terra to the storeroom?"


    "Certainly."


    "Then here you go~ And make sure there''s a bucket in her room, she''s going to have a terrible hangover, in a variety of ways"


    (Well if she remembers it''ll be adorable in a multiple ways¡­)


    Carefully handling the sleeping Alice over to Elise, Dax left for the storeroom after giving the loyal maid instructions. Getting to the storehouse, a drone opened the door for Dax as he went in side and inspected the progress they had made.


    "Status?"


    [COMSAT-1 ONLINE.]


    "Why didn''t you inform me of that immediately?"


    [QUOTE: SHUT UP AND WATCH ME DOWN THIS BEER]


    "... Sorry. What else?"


    [6 ORBS DISCOVERED BY COMSAT-1, ALL PROSTHETICS FOR SUBJEKT: ''DISAPPOINTMENT'' DONE, CONSTRUCTION COMPLETE.]


    "6? Seems like more of them survived than expected¡­ sync me the comsat-1 mapdata"


    [UNABLE, SATELLITE BELOW THE HORIZON]


    "Yeah it''s in a orbit non geostationary orbit so of course it''ll go below the horizon at some point.. Time to satellite rise?"


    [SATELLITE ABOVE THE HORIZON AND ABLE TO RELAY INFORMATION IN 6 HOURS.]


    "Good. I still feel like I need the Guardian-R04 special so continue prioritizing that, and after that I want communications to the base camp at the second orb that doesn''t require the sat."


    [DIRECTIVES CONFIRMED, STARTING SCHEMATIC WORK FOR LASER COMMUNICATION NETWORK.]


    "Oh she''s here, ICI temporary encrypt all coms."


    [[[***]]]


    As all the drones answered in a short series of low pitched sounds, Elise opened the door to the storehouse while supporting Terra walking with the help of a walking cane.


    "Good morning~ Please lay down in the bioprinter and we can begin."


    "Good morning Dax, what are we doing?"


    "Installing your temporary limbs"


    "Temporary?"


    "As in they''re made of metal and not flesh and blood. Metal prosthetics are easier to adjust relatively painlessly and are therefore works as a prototype for the flesh and blood ones, so we''ll start out with them. First is the arm, being more simple, and the leg following in 5 days."


    "Can we do them at the same time?"


    "That would be extremely painful~"


    "That''s fine, I''ve been thinking about what you said, I will prove myself and make you take back those words!"


    "Hoooo? ***"


    Responding in a completely alien language to Terra''s statement, Dax smiled greatly.


    "Miss Terra, what words are you talking about?"


    With a serious expression Elise reached for her knife.


    "She''s talking about when I called her a disappointment and not worth the time I waste on her."


    "WHA- DIE!"


    Flaring in rage, Elise rushed forward with blade in hand, to reap the life of the man that insulted her master.


    "***"


    "What! Let go of me now!- MMMMmm!"


    "***"


    With a command from Dax, one of the drones gagged Elise and 2 of them carried Elise out of the room together.


    "Was that really a good idea?"


    "I don''t really care what Russell thinks of me as long I show results, now are you sure that you want both the prosthetics at the same time?"


    "Yes."


    "It''ll be a million times worse than when you lost them~"


    "I-I''m sure, after that I''ll have you respect me."


    "Immediately after?"


    "Yeah! I''ll put you in your place!"


    "Then anesthetics are not possible, the procedure will tear your flesh slowly to open up and expose your nerves, you won''t be able to move but you''ll feel all of it~ Is that really fine?"


    "Let''s get this over with!"


    "Okay, in that case come over here, I don''t really feel like carrying you."


    "F.u.c.k you!"


    Throwing her walking cane at Dax, Terra broke her own balance and fell on the ground


    "I still don''t really feel like carrying you"


    "Guh! F.u.c.k you!"


    Crawling on the floor, it took Terra a bit for her to make her way over to Dax.


    "Well you''re good at crawling.. here''s the bioprinter"


    Walking over and dragging Terra up in the bioprinter, Dax closed the lid on it and a small mechanical arm quickly stabbed Terra in the neck with a syringe.


    "AW! what was that?"


    "A nerve blokker, I don''t want you moving about and messing up the operation~ Now final warning: Once I start nothing you say will make me stop, this is the last time I''ll ask: do you need anesthetics?"


    Unable to move, Terra slowed her spit and answered.


    "P-please stop me from biting my tongue if that comes to it.."


    "Fine~ Commencing operation~ Be glad you can''t see"


    "What are you- what the hell is happening!?"


    "The printer is removing your clothing, don''t worry I''m only looking at what needs to be operated on~"


    "I hate-!!"


    "yeah yeah you hate me~ Don''t bite your tongue"


    Not getting the time ask why, Terra suddenly felt her skin being ripped open on her arm and leg, and she screamed out in pain


    "Link me in, I''ll oversee it personally."


    [***]


    "[Connection to bioprinter established, commencing first step of operation: removal of unnecessary tissue. Can I do both at once~?"


    "T-t-this is nothing! D-didn''t you say this would hurt!!?"


    "[We haven''t started, I just removed the outer layer of your skin to prevent infection. But I''ll take that as a ''yes'']"


    In concert with Dax''s speech, Terra heard the sound of multiple small motors starting to spin up all around her.


    "W-what is that?"


    "[That would be the mico saws that''s gonna remove all the tissue you won''t need, I''m starting now.]"


    As Dax said the sources of noise seemed to move closer to Terra''s arm and leg. What followed was about half an hour of Terra screaming out in pain, as the excess tissue was systamacily and slowly cut away in layers approximately a few millimeters in thickness. what followed next was the nerves, Terra felt like her whole buddy was on fire, as the sensation of flame spread up her nerves as they were cut down and adjusted. After an hour of that Terra''s voice had turned corse, and she mostly screamed in short bursts, mixed with hyperventilation.


    "[Good job Terra~ I''m really impressed you didn''t pass out, now for the painful part, please don''t resist the pain and pass out as fast you can~]"


    "W-what¡­.. Do¡­ You¡­. M-mean.. Painful p-part..?"


    As Terra felt some sort of collar attaching itself around her neck, Dax took the time to explain.


    "[What I attached just now is a test equipment for nerve calibration, I''ll need to tweak the sensitivity on nerve feedback to your nervous system. The test equipment will take most the overflow but the leftover feedback will be severe. Now here we go~ attaching substructure to nerves, confirming test equipment, all green. Every system ready for calibration, all systems go~]"


    "A!! AAAAHHHHH!!! AAAAaaAAAAaAAAA!!!!!!!"


    As if something forcefully entered her brain, Terra screamed in pain while the unknown power forced her body to send and endure nerve impulses far beyond its limit.


    "AAAAAAAaaaAAaaaAAAHH!!!.... ha! AHA! HAHAHAHA!!-"


    Seemingly passing out, Terra lay frozen with her mouth wide open as she turned silent, before starting to laugh.


    "[You finally see it? Pain is a reward in this cold world. It appears when we''re about to do something that matters, when we truly try and change ourselves and strive for greatness. You have nightmares right? Where I''m from they have meaning, a nightmare is the brain''s way to tell us we made a mistake, or there''s something we fear. You have just taken the first step into a crucible that will forge you into a special existence: There will be nothing from this world that can touch you after this, the world is yours!]"


    After Dax had explained Terra continued laughing until she passed out a short while after.

 Chapter 30 - Crucible (2)

    Turning time back a bit.


    "W-what¡­.. Do¡­ You¡­. M-mean.. Painful p-part..?"


    With great difficulty Terra managed to ask, and was answered with action as her fading consciousness barely managed to pick up a confusing explanation coming from Dax


    (What the hell is he talking about?)


    "[-all systems go~]"


    "A!! AAAAHHHHH!!! AAAAaaAAAAaAAAA!!!!!!!"


    As some foreign presence invaded Terra''s mind, she screamed out in pain and suffering filled her mind.


    (It hurts! It hurts! It hurts! It hurts! It hurts! It hurts! It hurts! It hurts! It hurts! It hurts! It hurts! It hurts!!!! MOM HELP ME!!)


    Her mind being dominated by pain and suffering, Terra screamed for her deceased mother. But the pain pressisted and as her mind turned hazy it returned to that forest, on that day. That time was the first time Terra was sure she was going to die, first when she engaged in combat with the demonkin, then descending to kill herself and the demonkin, and finally waking up in that accused forest without her sight. At that time Terra didn''t really care about dying and she still really didn''t to be honest, but she hated the pain. It was not until after the incident that she felt the effects of her own mortality, she hated the pain but she hated how the people around her started treating her. Growing up as the only child of two skilled Rangers, and later the leader of the entire Ranger core in town, Terra loved training with her dad and mom, and that eventually lead to her joining the core herself. Even after her mother died from injuries she suffered as a Ranger, Terra stil joined the core, even when her dad was against it, quickly proving herself Terra started rising the ranks she was finally promoted to a high enough rank to begin solo patrols, and it was at that point she made that life altering mistake. In all the nightmares Terra had in recovery as Russell spend countless large gold coins for her treatment the central part was always with the demonkin. For some reason she kept obsessing about her, what was her name? Why did she become a slave? But the most important part in her dreams was that she failed to spot her, and allowed herself to be taken by surprise, and Terra wowed to herself to never be taken by surprise again.


    The following year she spent in recovery, Terra secretly trained her senses, she honed the sensitivity of her skin to such a extreme level that she could feel people moving about in her room, she leanded herself to breathe almost completely silently and slow her own heartbeat so much that she started hearing sounds all around her. After the first few months she started hearing the sounds from her room speak out about the world, the floorboards quietly spoke about maids coming and going, the doors below and above her announced people going about their day and so on. The following months after that it was the sounds of people she started to pick up, first it was speech in the building, she caught small pieces of conversation and loud noises from the kitchen, but she gradually improved. Her improvement fell on deaf ears however, as her dad refused her to even go out into the garden without supervision and she was more or less confined to her own room were she slowly wasted away, that is until Dax arrived. The strange demonkin that didn''t seem to mind losing a arm or his eye in his daily life, and spoke to her like he saw through her entire being, she quite frankly hated him. But hate eventually tuned to curiosity, even as she still found him hard to handle and generally annoying, but more and more mystery still surrounded him. Dax didn''t seem to have a heartbeat, and the noises that came from his chest was extremely strange, sometimes it even sounded like there was some sort of mechanism entirely replaced one of his lungs. Even when Elise had gotten mad at him and tried to stab him Terra''s expectations had betrayed her, as it sounded like his skin was made of some sort of metal as it repelled the maids blade. When Terra was unnecessary helped to the storage room Dax had borrowed her interest and curiosity spiked, as Dax was surrounded by strange machinery that Elise had talked about and as she laid down on the strange operating table her mind returned to that forrest.


    As Terra felt her skin and flesh was slowly and systematically cut down and she felt holes being drilled into her bones she mind returned once more to the forest. Her mind went over every detail. Every. Single. Detail. The sounds of leaves, of the trees and all her failures. As she remembered it Terra had made a total of 21 lethal mistakes, and as the operation send shocks of agony through her body she came to a curel realisation.


    (Walking through the forest today no one would properly be able sneak up on me now¡­)


    "ha!"


    (The gods sure are cruel, why grant me shigt after taking away my ability to use it!?)


    "-AHA! HAHAHAHA!!-"


    (FINE! I ACCEPT THIS! BRING ME SUFFERING, BRING ME PAIN, I ENJOY IT WHILE I RISE! BRING IT ON! PAIN IS MY REWARD! I WILL CHANGE! I! WILL! RISE!)


    Passing out with a smile on her face, Terra accepted her realty for the first time since the forest, and wowed- no promised to rise above, whatever the cost and humiliation she would endure. Pain was an old friend at this point, and she gladly welcomed it in exchange for strength.


    Waking up some time later, Terra slowly regained her senses, but something was new.


    (Is this my new arm?)


    Stretching her body Terra discovered some sensations she had not felt in a while.


    (It''s unlike my old one, and feels metallic¡­ wait, it can feel?)


    First touching her own body, then her imitate surroundings, Terra felt a smile forming on her face, that is until she remembered who installed it.


    (Why the f.u.c.k did it have to be HIM of all people! Aw, shit)


    punching the machine Terra laid on with her new arm in frustration, finding it had pain reception. While pain pulsed through her body as she grasped it in pain, Terra realized that she also had both legs now, and quickly stood up


    "Aha!"


    (I can stand!)


    Taking a bit to find her balance, a smile slowly appeared on her face.


    (That means I can do this!)


    With a child like smile on her face, Terra briefly danced around in blindness with great joy as she felt both her legs and arms with all the sensations involved, before remembering that she was currently in her underwear.


    "Ah."


    Feeling her face heat up, Terra couched down in shame and felt one of Dax''s drones walking up to her.


    "Dax?"


    [NEGATIVE. PRIMARY DESIGNATION: INTEGRATED COMBAT INTELLIGENCE, PLEASE WEAR THIS.]


    Being handed some kind of dress, Terra quickly put it on with a face in full bloom and starting to pick up the sounds around her, first one was the sound of Dax talking to someone.


    "Now I know you''re pissed-"


    "And why the f.u.c.k do you think that!!?"


    (That''s dad and his signature temper alright¡­ well of course he would be mad, I did scream a lot)


    "Just hear me out! The operation was successful, Terra now has temprray protesis, and getting her flesh and blood limbs will be easy from this point."


    "And the continued screaming from my daughter?"


    Barely keeping calm, Russell managed to ask that question without trying to rip Dax''s head off.


    (Whoa dad your heartbeat is all over the place, watch your blood pressure¡­ Even though


    hearing Dax getting ripped apart by dad would be nice, I guess I should clear this up..)


    "All at her continued request. She asked me repeatedly not to sedate her"


    After completing Terra''s operation, Dax went outside to see Russell, and a whole slew of armed and blood thirsty maids, leading to his current of trying to calm down Russell.


    "Give me a single reason for me not to sever your head right now!!!"


    "While there are several, the only Satisfactory being, well¡­ That"


    Pointing to the door of the storehouse behind him, Russell turned his head to see Terra, standing on two feet wearing a simple one piece dress in the same fabric as Dax''s black t shirt. Being barefoot, her new mechanical leg was clearly visible, and along with her arm it was of the same dull black carbon fiber as Dax''s arm.


    "Terra! Y-your arm!! And leg too!"


    Running over to his daughter for a loving embrace, Terra held up her hand to stop him.


    "T-Terra?"


    "Get my sword."


    "What?"


    "GET. MY. SWORD. NOW!"


    Stunning Russell and the surrounding maids with her outburst.


    "P-perhaps you should take a rest, Elise can you help her?"


    "Don''t f.u.c.k.i.n.g touch me!"


    "M-miss Terra?"


    "Get me my sword now."


    Receiving a command from her other master, Elise looked extremely confused as she looked back and forth between her two masters.


    "O-okay, excuse me"


    Judging that she would not survive ignoring Terra''s bloodl.u.s.t, but could survive being fired by Russell for insubordination. Leaving quickly to grab her master''s sword, Elise returned not even a minute after carrying a one handed short sword in a embroidered leather scabbard. After being handed the sword, Terra gave it a few quick swings before walking to the practise field.


    "Are you really sure you want to do this Terra, you still don''t have your sight and all that screaming-"


    "Please just save it dad, ever since the incident you have been treating me like some kind of degrade child, so I''ll say this only once more, even if I lost my eyes I can still see. A month after I could see my room, after a few months the whole mansion, and then I noticed that you never even look at me when we''re talking!"


    Not able to answer his daughter, Russell collapsed to his knees.


    "That''s what I thought. Now please watch me with your own eyes, or don''t, I don''t really care anymore. Now Dax please get a weapon"


    "Don''t need one"


    "Really? I''ll make you regret that"


    "Dax will you please stop this?"


    "You asked me to heal your daughter, this is part of it. ICI I will treat this as a traditional Qiton duel, make the adjustments"


    [A TRADITIONAL DUEL IS NOT RECOMMENDED]


    "Override, comand code 044587356420"


    [OVERRIDE CONFIRMED. DISABLING ALL VISUAL INPUT, MUSCLE OUTPUT LIMITED TO 10.05449%. ICI OFFLINE, ALL EXTERNAL CONNECTIONS SEVERED]


    "Good, whenever you''re ready miss Terra~"


    "What the f.u.c.k did you just do?"


    "In Qiton society we pride ourselves in everything related to combat, mostly 1 on 1 or team duels, but finding that hard to do with other races as they are considerably weaker than us we came up with a system now referred to as traditional Qiton duels. In a nutshell it''s a system that limits our performance to that of our opponents so we can study their techniques and display our superiority."


    "What do you mean ''limits our performance to that of our opponents''? did you just go blind?"


    "That''s exactly what I mean~ Russell can confirm that. Moreover my strength have been limited to yours and I wont get any help from ICI~"


    Exactly as Dax explained his remaining eye had turned black as he was robbed of its vision and his strength had been limited to that of Terra''s.


    "So you''re saying you just went blind for the sake of a single duel? That''s so stu-"


    "Please don''t disrespect my traditions or you''ll come to regret it~ And I''ve spent more time blind doing my training than you have been alive so watch your tongue~ Now Elise could you give us the starting signal?"


    Standing about 8 meters from Terra swinging her sword, Dax asked Elise to give a starting signal to the duel.


    "This will be a non lethal duel right?"


    "I''ll make sure to not hurt my patient too much~ And if Terra is actually able to hurt me with that stance I''ll most likely survive it"


    "Hoooo? I''ll be sure to take your head then."


    "I''ll look forward to your futile attempt~ Now the countdown please~"


    Felling the camouflaged and dense bloodl.u.s.t in Dax''s speech and Terra''s intense and unrestrained beast like bloodl.u.s.t could no longer be contained, (or turned on her if it came to it) Elise resolved herself as she started the countdown.


    "O-okay then¡­ 3. 2. 1. Begin!"

 Chapter 31 - Crucible (3)

    "-3. 2. 1. Begin!"


    As Elise had declared the start of the duel between Dax and Terra that just had received her new prosthetics, none of them moved. Terra stood completely still and slowly raised her sword towards where Dax has while she appeared to try and pick up ambient sounds from the surroundings that would reveal Dax. Dax on the other hand was slowly in the progres of lowering his center of mass as a blade slowly extended form the forearm guard of his artificial arm while his carried a expressionless confidence on his face.


    "Mistress! Watch out, he has a-"


    Trying to warn Terra about Dax''s hidden sword, one of the maid''s shouted out, by she never got to finish her sentence as she was punched in the gut by one of Dax''s drones and collapsed to the ground.


    [FINAL WARNING: INTERFERENCE WITH THE DUEL WILL BE PUNISHED, NONCOMPLIANCE WILL LEAD TO USE OF LETHAL FORCE AND COLLATERAL DAMAGE.]


    Slightly panicking Terra tensed up when she heard one of her family maids being punched, Dax sensed the opening and lunged forward, but not being able to use all his strength because of the duels restrictions Terra managed to barely doge the lethal strike as Dax''s sword scr.a.p.ed her cheek. Not giving Terra time to rest, Dax started a ruthless assault at point blank range.


    "I thought you were gonna show me~?"


    Assaulting Terra with a mix of lounges, kicks and open palm strikes, Dax wore a bloodthirsty smile on his face as he taunted his patient. Terra being busy with dodging and blocking attacks didn''t have room to answer as her entire being was concentrated to sensing Dax''s attacks and either blocking or dodging them before it was too late.


    (F.u.c.k! Why is he that fast? I can''t even hear his heartbeat either- shit!)


    Sensing a punch approthing, Terra doged to the side quite recklessly, only to be met by a kick and being blown a few meters away.


    "GUA!"


    Landing on her back, Terra briefly lost all the air in her lungs as the impact forcefully knocked the air out of her.


    "That was a cute noise just now, please do it again~"


    Not giving Terra a second to rest, Dax tried to crush her head with his foot after almost instantly closing the range once more. Rolling to the side Terra accidently let go of her sword and tried to kick Dax as she scrambled to get on her feet again.


    "Good dogging~ But you lost your sword now, what will you do my cute little patient~?"


    Seemingly allowing Terra to get back on her feet once more, Dax retracted his sword and took a new stance to account for it.


    "Not this will be boring if I just keep attacking, so it''s your turn now. Come at me with the intent to kill~"


    Taking a few seconds to catch her breath, Terra also adopted a unarmed fighting stance and gradually inched closer to Dax, stopping about 2 meters from his reach and channeled strengthening magic trough her body.


    (I can''t allow this to draw out¡­ Need to end this in a single strike.)


    Noticing the dull pain ringing out in her body from overuse of her new prosthetics and how generally out of shape she was, Terra decided to end the fight in a single hit. As her body gradually was filled with the power of magic, but she quickly noticed that strengthening magic didn''t extend to her prosthetic limbs.


    (Shit, i didn''t think about that¡­ But then again this is not the first time I''ve faced these kinds of odds!)


    Determined to beat (or kill) Dax, Terra focused herself and gathered all the mana she was able to in the surroundings, making her skin glow in faint runic patterns.


    "I will make you acknowledge me you piece of shit!"


    "Interesting! Then come at me and face defeat like the immature brat you are!"


    Responding to Dax''s taunt, Terra broke the ground as she rushed forward, momentarily disappearing from sight as she drew a arc with her flesh and blood leg, preparing it to turn Dax''s head into a cloud of red mist.


    "DIE!"


    "Naive!"


    Caching Terra''s leg with his artificial arm, cracking the other armor on it in the process, Dax used Terra''s own momentum to slam her into the ground, reaping her counsiness.


    [WINNER: COMMANDER DAX.]


    "You''re 800 years too young to even try and beat me, still that move at the end was interesting, I guess I''ll have to take her seriously¡­"


    Checking the health of the passed out Terra as his own shight returned, Dax had a interested smile on his face.


    "I WANT YOU OUT!! GET OFF MY PROPERTY THIS INSTANCE!!!!"


    The second the dual finished Russell walked over towards Dax threatenly with sword in hand.


    "You wanted me to heal your daughter, but I''m not so sure what you want anymore"


    "I asked you to heal my daughter! NOT F.U.C.K.I.N.G BEAT HER UP!!"


    "When you keep a flower you keep it inside your locked up castle?"


    "What the f.u.c.k does tha-"


    "EVERYTHING! If you want Terra to not waste away you have to nurture her! NOT F.U.C.K.I.N.G LET HER WASTE AWAY! Why did you lock her up in that room!? Why did you not trust her!? You just saw her fight right! She''s clearly able to handle herself without issue. IF YOU WANT HER TO THRIVE SHE NEEDS TO EXPERIENCE LIFE. SHE NEEDS TO DO WHAT SHE WANT AND NOT BE LOCKED AWAY, BUT YOU PROBABLY NEVER REALIZED THAT, SEEING YOU DON''T EVEN LOOK AT HER ANYMORE!"


    Finishing his outburst, Dax seemingly regained his his senses as he looked around at the surrounding people.


    "I''ll be leaving now to check up on another patient and doing some rearming. I''ll return here in a few days, if you don''t require my services when I return that''ll be the end of our agreement and I''ll remove the prosthetics I''ve installed in Terra. But please for once in you pathetic existence as a parent listen to your child."


    ---


    After packing the bare essentials, Dax left the Williams estate with two of his drones, himself and them each carrying a rifle and a 200 litre backpack.


    (How likely do you estimate that failure of a parent is to listen to his daughter?)


    (THAT QUARRY FALLS OUTSIDE MY UNDERSTANDING.)


    (Yeah I figured, just trying to process the data¡­ oh here we are units 01 and 02 please wait here)


    (HOLDING PATTERN CONFIRMED, STANDING BY IN CODE BLUE.)


    (Good.. Let''s hope they let me see him¡­)


    Having arrived at the military barracks near the center of Black Hollow, Dax and his drones looked extremely out of place as he tried to find someone that could show him to Viktor. Finding a concentration of people that wore the same uniforms as Viktor, Dax slowly drew near with his signature smile.


    "Excuse me, I''m looking for one of my patients, his name is Viktor. Any of you fine people know him?"


    Getting only confused starres in return to his question, Dax was about to give up when one of the until one of the mages, a young man with bright red hair asked him a question.


    "This is a military installation demonkin, what''s your relation to Viktor? And drop the act, there''s no way you''re a doctor."


    "Yeah I certainly don''t look the part do I? My name is Dax and Viktor helped me out with something a few days ago, doing that he was injured and I was forced to perform first aid on him so I''m just checking by to see how he''s holding up."


    "You had something to do with that episode? Ever since Viktor came back he haven''t been on duty at all and just spends his time at the practice fields"


    "Don''t tell me he''s casting magic already?"


    "He''s not, why?"


    "It''s not safe for him to use magic yet, I got the Ranger corps captain to ground him until I''ve taken a look. Could you show me the way there?"


    "Yeah no problem, we were just about to head to the practice fields. My name is Emil, I''m the 5th mage core platoon leader."


    Following along with Emil and the group of mages, Dax inserted himself right next to Emil and started asking questions.


    "So, mage core platoon leader. That''s mighty impressive for your age, how did that happen?"


    "You really are blunt you know that?"


    "I''ve been told so multiple times~ ''With age comes wisdom and patience.'' That''s a load of bull, with age comes¡­ Impatience, I''ve seen it all before over the years. So is it skill, talent or connections?"


    Exuding a certain presence, Emil was unable to simply ignore the strange demonkin''s questions.


    "You have seen it all? I know some demonkins age slowly, but you don''t look that much older than me, how old are you?"


    "811~ I feel like it''s a mix of all, right?"


    "8-811!..."


    finding himself speechless at the demonkins age, Emil breathed a sigh and answered Dax''s question.


    "It''s a mix of all of them yeah, being a son of the barron ruling this city I''ve been groomed form birth to lead some sort of military unit."


    "I see~ Well your future looks bright, seeing that you can clearly recognize when you''re walking on thin ice. As long you keep both your feet on the ground you should be fine, and don''t forget that any formation or system, be that anything from a human being to a entire nation, is only is as strong as it weakest point~ Oh that''s Viktor over there, excuse me Emil, son of the barron."


    Leaving Emil and the other mages behind as he spotted Viktor standing in the middle of the practice fields.


    "What the hell was that?"


    "I''ve no idea¡­ but my instincts tell me that we should never cross that being.."


    Watching Dax leave Emil felt a extreme amount of relief as he was certain that Dax could easily snuff out their lives in seconds without even blinking.


    Observing Viktor as he got closer, Dax noticed he was continuously building magic spells and stopping right before completion.


    "What did I tell you about using magic?"


    "Oh hi Dax, I''m technically using it"


    "You know what I mean, anyway can I take a look at your mind?"


    "Sure¡­"


    Extending his artificial arm towards Viktor, it split in half as he deployed the sensory array.


    "Is that a new arm? Looks like it''s cracked?"


    "Yeah it''s new, and I kinda broke it a bit. Now stand still, ICI give me a full cerebral scan"


    [PREPARING FOR FULL CEREBRAL SCAN, STANDBY¡­. 3%....4%-]


    "This''ll take a while, so what have you been doing over the last few days?"


    Taking a deep breath, Viktor started explaining what he had been up to over the past few days.


    "Since I came back?... I wanted to try and make some new spells, but whatever you did to me makes that unnecessary."


    "Unnecessary?"


    "Yeah, completely unnecessary. Before I used to spend days improving or optimising spells, but now I can do what usually took weeks in seconds, and all without even casting a single spell.. What the hell did you do to me Dax?"


    "I took what was inside your staff and had ICI optimize it about 4000%, then I printed it directly into your brain, uniting the two systems in one efficient package."


    "I see¡­ That actually makes a lot of sense, but I feel like that''s not the only thing that changed?"


    "That''s because it isn''t. Your mind have been affected by ICI, so I expect you lost most your capacity for empathy."


    "Well that explains it."


    [CEREBRAL SCAN COMPLETE. NO MAJOR ISSUES FOUND, LIFE EXPECTANCY NOMINAL]


    "You heard it, so what do you want to do from now on? I could use a skilled mage"


    "I''ll have to decline. I want to go to the the royal research institute and try to understand and apply the knowledge you''ve given me."


    "I see¡­ Well good luck with that, when are you leaving?"


    "Tomorrow I think.."


    "We''ll properly meet at some point in the future, so this is not a goodbye, rather a ''see you later''."

 Chapter 32 - Effects of an extraterrestrial beings interference (1)

    In the cold vacuum of space the newly commissioned communications satellite that Dax had so unimaginably nicknamed comsat-1 had just returned to the light and was about to enter the service area, having completed its second way around the world Dax later would call Pandora, as it was now starting operations. It was still a little before it was above the horizon and able to relay information between Dax and his drones, and the rectangle satellite slowly started operations as large pure white pannes extended from it, and turned to absorb as little sunlight as possible.


    COMSAT-1 EXITING STEALTH MODE OPERATION.


    RADIATORS EXTENDED, ALL OPERATIONAL AT APPROXIMATELY 99.9993%


    EFFICIENCY, DISPERSING WASTE HEAT.


    OPTICAL SENSORS MOVING TO READY STATE, EXITING DEBRI SHIELD, ALL ONLINE


    STEPPING UP CENTRAL REACTOR FROM LEVEL 0 TO 1, OUTPUT STABLE. REACTOR ONLINE


    STARTING CONTROL HANDOVER, BASIC OS SHUTDOWN CONFIRMED.


    BOOTING ICI VERSION 5.32. ALL SYSTEMS ONLINE.


    ICI V 5.32 ONLINE, SEARCHING FOR LASER COMMUNICATION NETWORK¡­ DOWNLINK CONFIRMED, RECEIVING DIRECTIVES¡­ DIRECTIVES RECEIVED,


    RELAYING SCHEMATICS AND CONSTRUCTION ORDERS TO REX-DELTA04 CYCLOPS UNITS 04 AND 05 FOR GUARDIAN-R04 SPECIAL PROTOTYPE WEAPONRY


    ORDERS RELAYED. TIME TO COMPLETION: 32 HOURS


    RELAYING CONSTRUCTION AND RETROFIT STATUS FROM UNITS 04 AND 05, COMPLETE.


    ALL URGENT DIRECTIVES RELAYED. MOVING TO SECONDARY FUNCTIONS.


    ATTEMPTING TO ESTABLISH COMMUNICATIONS TO FLEET COMMAND, STANDBY...


    - RUNNING QUANTUM COMMUNICATION ADAPTATION ATTEMPT #0000015643


    - ATTEMPT FAILED


    - RUNNING QUANTUM COMMUNICATION ADAPTATION ATTEMPT #0000015644


    - ATTEMPT FAILED


    - RUNNING QUANTUM COMMUNICATION ADAPTATION ATTEMPT #0000015645


    - ATTEMPT FAILED


    - RUNNING QUANTUM COMMUNICATION ADAPTATION ATTEMPT #0000015646


    - ATTEMPT FAILED


    - RUNNING QUANTUM COMMUNICATION ADAPTATION ATTEMPT #0000015647


    - ATTEMPT FAILED


    - RUNNING QUANTUM COMMUNICATION ADAPTATION ATTEMPT #0000015648


    - ATTEMPT FAILED


    - RUNNING QUANTUM COMMUNICATION ADAPTATION ATTEMPT #0000015649


    - ATTEMPT FAILED


    ...


    Attempting to regain a connection with the central fleet command quantum communications without a active enquiption key, about 95% of the central processor occupied itself with what any sane man would consider impossible. The remaining 5% of the central processor worked on analyzing and gathering intelligence data in tandem with the salvaged cyclops sensor pods.


    5 ORBS DISCOVERED BY COMSAT-1, 1 ALREADY KNOWN.


    2 ORBS DISTURBED, HIGHEST PRIORITY INVESTIGATION.


    3 ORBS APPEAR UNDISCOVERED, SECONDARY PRIORITY.


    1 ORB CRACKED, ALL INVENTORY PRESUMED LOST. LOWEST PRIORITY.


    LOCATING DISTURBED ORB #1, TRAINING ALL SENSORS ON TARGET, ACHIEVING VISUAL CONTACT, STANDBY¡­.


    Focusing all the long range scanners on a remote area about 1000 kilometers south of where Dax currently was, the combination of LIDAR, long range infrared and visual sensors slowly trained in on the orbs location. The multiple visual cameras were obscured by heavy cloud cover, but cloud penetrating LIDAR and infrared slowly revealed a semi tropical forest landscape. Multiple small orange and red blips surrounded the orb in neat and evenly spaced circles, and after spending about half an hour observing the area the satellite had enough data to produce a high resolution render of the orb and its surroundings.


    SENDING VISUAL RENDER TO COMMAND FOR ANALYSIS, STARTING OBSERVATION OF SECOND DISTURBED ORB, ACHIEVING VISUAL CONTACT..


    TRAINING ALL SENSORS, STANDBY..


    Once more all the long range scanners focused on a single area, this time some 250 kilometers away from Dax, and this time the skies were clear.


    ALL SENSORS TRAINED ON TARGET, CLOUD COVER AT LEVEL 2, VISUAL OBSERVATION POSSIBLE.


    Revealed through the multiple sensors was a orb with about the same size as the one Dax arrived in, being about 1 and a half times larger than the normal size. The orb had landed near a large city, and the impact crater extended out far and multiple fields had been scorched by it. Around the orb some kind of temporary installation had been set up near it, and walls lined around the orb and compound, with multiple people moving around it. Most of them looked like they were guarding it while a small amount of people in red robes were trying to get close to the orb, trying being the key word as they were constantly being flinged away by some unknown force, and a single red cloaked figure were simply observing.


    EXTREME GRAVITATIONAL DISTURBANCE DETECTED, ANALYSING DRIVE SIGNATURE FOR ID. STANDBY¡­


    MATCH FOUND.


    GALACTIC EMPIRE 125TH HELLWALKERS 3RD LANDING FORCE, FIRE SUPPORT GROUP.


    CAS-A7 STINGER, REGISTRATION 19745.


    SENDING TRAFFIC TO COMMAND¡­ COMPLETE.


    TRAINING SENSORS ON UNDISTURBED ORB #1


    ¡­


    On the ground Dax had just said goodby to Viktor when comsat-1 linked to him.


    (INCOMING LASER COM, RECEIVING AND SENDING STANDPOINT DATATRAFIK, COMPLETE.)


    (Thanks ICI I love you~ Update me as the topographic map renders come in.)


    (ERROR ''I love you~'' CANNOT COMPREHEND.)


    (Then disregard and confirm orders)


    (ORDERS CONFIRMED, COMMANDER DAX IS TO BE UPDATED THE WHEN RENDERS ARE ABLE FOR DOWNLOAD.)


    (Good~ Now units 01 and 02 form up on me, let''s go collect some explosives.)


    Arriving at the familiar weapons store, Dax and his drones went around the back, to a courtyard outside the smithy. Knocking on the solid looking door, Dax heard someone rushing to the door.


    "what ya want in closed to!- Ah Dax, come in please!"


    "Did you find everything we discussed?"


    "Yeah. Most of it anyway, is all this stuff really for weapons?"


    Showing Dax inside, Alex revealed countless bags, vials and pouches filled with different colored powders and liquid compounds.


    "Ohhh this looks great 01 start cataloging the components, and stabilize what needs stabilization for transport"


    [DIRECTIVES CONFIRMED.]


    "G-golem!? No way more advanced than that, Dax what are those?"


    "They''re atomus light scouting units, well the general term is drone. This is unit one and two, think of them as extensions of myself as they link to me almost constantly to update me on all sorts of information."


    "I-I see¡­"


    Examining the drones with great care, Alex took about 5 minutes to carefully look them over before even noticing their armament.


    "So these are the ''rifles'' you''ve been talking about¡­"


    [DESIGNATION REX-344 GAUSS RIFLE.]


    "Gauss rifle?"


    "Also called a coilgun. It shoots long dart like penetrators using the power of magnetism, the same force that powers compass can be used to do amazing things through the power of over engineering~"


    While carefully packing the chemical compounds with the help of unit 1, Dax answers Alex''s question without even looking


    "Interesting¡­. What''s the range?"


    "In this atmospheric pressure? Should be able to punch through a quarter of a meter of solid steel at a range of about 12 kilometers"


    "That''s insane.."


    "Probably sounds insane yeah, but where I''m from that''s not all that impressive, only relaying in the power of magnetism will only take you so far without increasing the weight, complexity or cost to extreme levels. A modern rifle requires a match between chemical and electric propulsion to deliver a round that guides itself to the final target and delivers a shaped charge explosive warhead."


    "T-that sounds fascinating, what would be the maximum range on that kind of weapon?"


    As if finding himself back in apprenticeship, Alex eagerly asked about a new and unknown world of warfare.


    "In theory there''s no maximum range, as different kinds of systems overlap and interface with each other. But in practice it''s more effective to replace anything at a range in excess of a thousand kilometers with railguns, being unparalleled in larger scaled systems, on anything larger than a corvette¡­.. Words being all well and good do you want to take one apart?"


    "Can I!?"


    "Not really no, but you can look and ask questions while I take this one apart myself"


    Spending about an hour taking a rifle apart while Alex bombarded him with questions, Dax was updated on the orb scanning by ICI.


    (Ooohh, a working Stinger within range of me? That''s almost too good, but I need to know what the f.u.c.k those people are doing, and why they''re unable to get close to the orb. I want the disturbed orb #2 under constant observation, and get me a regular update on its gravsig, something feels off.)


    (DIRECTIVES CONFIRMED. DISTURBED ORB #2 TO BE CONSTANTLY OBSERVED FOR CHANGES IN GRAVITATIONAL SIGNATURE.)


    (And then there''s #1¡­ Looks like they''re praying to it, or dying due to some radiation.. I feel like that one is fine to leave alone for a while, but update me on it two times daily.)


    (ROGER.)


    Having finished putting the gauss rifle back together as the drones had filled the 3 200 liter bags to the brim with the various chemical compounds, Dax asked Alex a final question.


    "That''s the gist of it. Want to try it out outside the city walls?"


    "I''ll have to decline, I have to write all this down immediately"


    "Can I order something from you now then?"


    "What would you need from me? I''m still just a blacksmith, so don''t expect anything like the stuff you could make"


    "This is something that''ll be right up your ally."


    "Okay, I''m listening?..."


    "Then how about something like this?"


    Explaining his design idea, Alex''s eyes lit up with interest.


    "Hoo? That seems interesting¡­ I''ll have them all ready in a few days, and don''t worry about the cost, I''ll consider this as a thanks for the lesson"


    "Okay then, I''ll be back in town in a few days, I''ll check back then."


    ---


    Approximately 400 kilometers north of the royal capital, in the mountain range stood a enormous temple complex. Raised by superior magical construction technology the main temple building stood some 800 meters high, made in mostly of pure white marble with statues and murals lining the temple walls. Isolated by the sheer altitude I was build at with thin air and extremely cold weather, not a single sign of life could be seen in the area, as every resident of the complex was moving around inside the interconnected temple complex. An angel walked through one of the connecting conduits between the main building. She wore a white eleaporade silk dress with room for her two pairs of prue black wings on her back. Every single aspect and detail if the angel could only be described as divine, she carried herself gracefully, her long raven black hair and purely dark pupils formed a certain unknown allure. Every single part of her being could be considered extremely beautiful, except for her current expression.


    (What the hell is the archangel counsel thinking!?)


    stomping ahead in rage, the angel was upset about the archangel counsels recent decision.


    (Are they seriously inviting a demonkin here!? Not even to that disgusting popes church, but HERE of all places!? They''ve gone insane!)


    The angels central temple was considered a holy place for most the humankin countries, mainly because of the of the religious following, but also because of the fact that it was a natural fortress and angels were fierce fighters. Empires and kingdoms past had tried to take control or conquer the temple complex multiple times, but none ever made it close enough to see it. Over the past 9000 years the number people invited to the temple had been few, glorious kings and heroes, legends. And now some unknown demonkin without accomplishments, that cowardly managed to outmatch a arcangel that was weakened by possessing a weak and unworthy believer.


    (Like hell I''ll let that happen! It took several months to clance myself last time last time I was in contact with the outside unclean world, and now they''ll invite some filthy creature in here!? I will never allow it! That creature will never make it here!)


    Infuriated by the impending invasion of a alien creature, the xenophobic angel tried to figure out what she would need to do in order to keep her pace.


    (What to do, what to do?...)


    Showing impatience trough her increasingly faster steps and radical thinking, the angel suddenly stopped in place.


    (That''s it! Its just a mortal, if I kill it my problem goes away, but I refuse to do I myself so I need something¡­. Wasn''t there a something near that settlement I could use?)

 Chapter 33 - Effects of an extraterrestrial beings interference (2)

    Waking up Terra took a few seconds to get her bearings as she reached out with all her senses to grasp her surroundings.


    "How long have I been out?"


    "It''s been about 2 hours miss Terra."


    "And what happened to Dax?"


    "He left, said he was gonna be back in a few days to complete the treatment or remove the prosthetics, Russell had meetings to attend so he left you in my care."


    "Like he always does, give me a hand will you?"


    Extending her prosthetic hand towards the head maid Elise, it was not meet.


    "Russell have instructed me that you remain in bed until he returns."


    "Is that really so?"


    Standing up on her own, Terra quickly put on some light clothes.


    "Where''s my sword?"


    "Did you hear what I said?"


    "Yeah I did, just decided not to care about it


    "Please stay in bed! Don''t your new limbs hurt!?"


    As Elise desperately gasped her hand as she was about to leave in search of her sword, Terra momentarily stopped as she breathed a sigh.


    "Yes it hurts, like always. It constantly feels like my face is on fire and my arm and leg cry out in pain constantly."


    "Then why do this!?"


    "Because I''m done waiting for someone to fix this for me, done just stuffing while doing absolutely nothing, I''ll make myself stronger, even if there is suffering in the way of it I hope I''ll get to a place eventually where there''s no pain."


    "Is that really what you believe?"


    "Yes."


    As Terra answered with absolute determination in her voice and posture, Elise saw most of her memories raising Terra to a.d.u.l.thood in place of her mother. All the pain and suffering, happiness and joy.


    (You''ve finally recovered my lady, no raised above even.)


    Shedding a single tear, Elise once more voved her loyalty to Terra in her head.


    "In that case I''ll take whatever punishment Russell will have for me miss Terra. Do you need any assistance?"


    "Do you know where my gear is? And not just my sword."


    "Your armor was given on to a promising young ranger, only the sword was kept. Should I collect it and meet you at the training fields?"


    Instead of answering Terra remained silent as she shifted her head slightly.


    "Who''s sleeping in the 4th guest room?"


    "That would be miss Alice."


    "Hungover?"


    "Extremly."


    "Change of plans."


    ---


    "UUUuuuuuUUuuuurg, ah my f.u.c.k.i.n.g head..."


    Waking up in a unknown room, Alice was hit with a head splitting headache and immediately turned you the bed she laid in and hurled, right into a tacticaly placed bucket. Thankfully she didn''t puke on her hair, as it had been tied up, but that didn''t make her feel better at all as she started to remember what happened earlier.


    "Why does this always happen when I drink.."


    Feeling her head splitting open and throat completely dried out, Alice regretted being lured into drinking by Dax and quietly promised to never drink again, but youth being youth that would never last.


    "Water."


    With a weak and hoarse voice Alice feebly asked for water to sate hangover induced thirst, looking around the high class guest room she found a crystal pitcher and glass both filled clear, pure and cold looking water.


    "Thank all that''s holy in this cruel world"


    Drinking the glass of water, Alice''s body reminded her that she had just puked up all her stomach contents with a large rumble.


    "Food..."


    Controlled completely by her basic functions, her body required water, shelter and food. Having filled the first two requirements her body now sought the its last need.


    Looking around the room she didn''t find any however, and she was about to embark on a quest of epic proportions when the door opened.


    "You really sound do pathetic."


    Taking the form of her salvation was Terra, Alice''s long time friend and former senior instructor and teacher that she went through countless life and death situations with. That werry Terra now stood in front of her, looking like a holy savior, food in hand.


    "Teeerraaa!"


    Forgetting her own hangover, and the food her savior currently held in her hand, Alice leapt at her holy savior.


    "WHA!-"


    Not expecting the mostly incapacitated Alice to leap at her, Alice hit Terra with high a speed hug and tackled her to the floor, with food included.


    "Kyaa! Alice get off me!"


    "Teerraaa!!"


    "You really are a crybaby¡­ Okay, just a few minutes."


    "More!"


    "...."


    "Meanie!"


    "... Fine. Let''s take a bath after..."


    After patting the crying Alice on the back for a few minutes, Terra and Alice realized that they were both covered in food and went to the bathhouse to clean and sober up.


    "That arm really looks like Dax''s.. How is it?"


    As they both got in the bath, Alise took the opportunity to examine Terra''s new arm.


    "It''s almost too good to be honest, I''ve forgotten multiple times already that it''s not my own. It''s the same with my leg too."


    "You mean you can there''s actual feeling in them?"


    "Yeah. Has something to do with this collar, but I don''t quite understand it. All I know is that it hurt really, really bad."


    "I-is that so? Dax really is amazing."


    "Oh not you too Alice¡­ Why do everyone think he''s so good?"


    "T-that''s¡­"


    Not finding the words, Alice sank quiet as her face slowly reddened.


    "Are you for real... Why?"


    "H-he''s¡­. Nice"


    (Oh for f.u.c.ks sake¡­ And her heartbeat is all over the place so it''s real.)


    "Oh lord.. So have you made any moves yet at least?"


    "N-no.. Oh shit I did"


    "What do you mean oh shit?... Don''t tell me you had too much to drink and did something really stupid?"


    "UUuuuuuuuuu"


    "For real?"


    Breathing a sigh at the pathetic state of the young grasshopper in front of her, Terra decided to give some advice.


    "So what did you do?"


    "I-I made him pat my head.."


    "..."


    "A-and compliment my dress when I was drunk.."


    "..."


    "P-please say something."


    "..."


    "Terra? Please say something"


    "Can I hit you now?"


    Over the next few days Alice and Terra couldn''t be separated as they spent time training, bathing and even sleeping together while the two old friends once more where together again. Moving around Russell''s back with the help of Elise, and Terra''s spacial awareness, Alice quickly learned that Terra''s ''sight'' might even surpass her own, and she once more grew to respect and relay on her.


    "Like this?"


    "No you''re not using all your muscles still, twist and flex. And remember you back too."


    "O-okay"


    Finding themself at the training field once more, Terra instructed Alice that practiced swordswings. A bit away from them Russell sat and looked over paperwork while being served tea by Elise and pretending not to look at his daughter.


    "This really feels strange.."


    "That''s because your not used to it, I can clearly hear way more of your muscles."


    "Yeah I do feel like I''m striking with more strength, could you show me how?"


    "Fine.."


    Grabbing her own sword as she stood up, Terra striked the air in front of her a few times with considerable force.


    "Like that?.."


    "Why are you asking me?"


    "I''m really not sure myself.. Like this? Or more like that?"


    Cutting into the air in front of herself a few more times, Terra started experimenting with her own style of fighting.


    "I feel like my strength is dropping, am I sick?.. No it''s my prosthetics."


    Examining her prosthetics, Terra noticed they were considerably worn, on the outside there were several spots where small parts had chipped off, and on the inside she felt like the joints were worn down considerably.


    (Shit.. When was it Dax was returning?)


    Dax had left in a apparent fit of rage a few days ago, but Terra refused to believe that was the only reason. Every single time Dax had done something there had always been multiple reasons behind. And in Terra''s opinion he had never acted out of emountion, no he was a being of pure logic when it came to furthering his own objectives. In Terra''s opinion he would often act entirely without empathy when it wasn''t entirely needed, as he had done so when dealing with her a lot.


    But then it happened.


    "What the hell is that!?"


    "It feels ominous.."


    "WHA!- Elise contact the guard core at the outer wall now and have them mobilize at full aleat!! I will handle the inner guards! And you girls stay put, that''s a direct order!"


    A event suddenly swept the entire town of Black Hollow, every single mana sensitive resident felt a wave of disturbed and hostile mana flow over the city. Feeling calamity coming to the town, every single resident of the Williams estate reacted instantly to the state of emergency. Every single maid employed by the estate were former mercenaries, monster hunter or rangers, and they all sprang into immediate action. While 7 out of 10 went out into town to secure key locations that had long been predetermined and to start evacuation of exposed areas. The last part equiped heavy armor and weaponry and locked down the estate with veteran and dence killing intent. Having witnessed everyone except for themself spring into action, it took about 20 seconds for Alice and Terra to break Russell''s instructions.


    "What should we do?"


    "Contact Dax."


    "Agreed, but how?"


    "He has that disgusting habit of surprising people with dose ''drones'' right?"


    "I''m not sure if it''s ''disgusting'' but what''s your point?"


    "There''s still one of them left here right?"


    "Ah."


    Going over to the nearby storehouse that Dax had turned into a depo, Alice nervously knocked on the door, not getting a response.


    "Are you sure there was one left behind?"


    "Yeah I''m sure. And I can hear something moving around inside, let''s just go in"


    Opening the door, Alice and Terra found the room almost completely empty, only a small amount of scraps metals, the zero-g forge and a single drone remained.


    [LEVEL 4 RESTRICTION IN EFFECT. VACATE OR FACE ANAIHILATION, YOU HAVE 5 SECONDS TO COMPLY.]


    Pointing a powered gauss rifle at the closest target, the drone counted down in a highly mechanical voice.


    "WAITWAITWAIT!! We need to speak with Dax, It''s a engency!"


    "There''s a serious problem so we need to talk now!"


    [SUBJECT, ''ALICE'' AND ''DISAPPOINTMENT'' CONFIRMED. LIFTING LEVEL 4 RESTRICTION.]


    "I feel like that''s a jab intensually meant to spite me, so not reacting would be the best option.. So can we talk with Dax?"


    While silently containing her rage over the fact that Dax had in fact labeled her ''disappointment'' Terra kept her focus and asked about what they came there to do.


    "[I love how you always react exactly as I want, but then again that is a bit boring for a toy~ And I am aware of the current situation so just say put like the kids you are and the grown up people will deal with it.]"


    "Dax you f.u.c.k.i.n.g!-"


    "So you did hear us! Dax please return to Black hollow immediately!"


    "[Already in route, you kids stay put. CODE BLACK NOW IN EFFECT - 5 REX DELTA 04, 20 GUARDIAN SPECTORS ADDED TO ARCHITECTURE, ALL RAM AND PROCESSING POWER INTEGRATED. TOTAL CONTROL HANDOVER COMPLETE. ICI ENTERING SLEEP MODE]"


    As Dax''s voice that came through the drone shifted completely mechanical, the drone left the storeroom and started sprinting towards the outer wall, leaving Terra and Alice behind in the room.


    "Well that settles it. Let go get something to eat."


    "Yeah you do that, I''ll go ahead to the outer wall. You can join me if you feel like it"


    "But Dax said-"


    "Dax said that kids should wait here, so you do that if you feel like it."


    Finally finding her sword, and finishing up strapping basic leather armor over torso, Terra turned her head one last time towards Alice to see if she was following.


    "OKAY, But this is a really bad idea!"


    Both of them spending about twice the normal time to reach the outer wall because of all the panic and mobilization of troops. Reaching the top of the wall, they quickly found someone in charge.


    "What are we up against?"


    "Worst case scenario I''m afraid. Its a disaster level monster"

 Chapter 34 - Effects of an extraterrestrial beings interference (3)

    [EXTREME MANA SIGNATURE DETECTED]


    "Go to alert state 1! And give me a position immediately."


    At the base build around what remained of the second orb, Dax awoke of his meditation and sprang into action. Over the last 4 days Dax and the available 4 drones had completely broken down the orb and started to process it into base materials, with the help of 2 additional zero-g forges constructed form rare metals present in the orb. Therefore the ''orb'' was not so much a orb anymore, and more like a basecamp where the expected equipment of such status had been prepared. In the very center of camp were a dirt covered bunker, made of high tensile reinforced concrete made from a mix of metal slag from the orb refining and pulverised rock found in the surroundings. The bunkers main purpose was to house and protect a server cl.u.s.ter made from the last leftovers of the drop pod. The cl.u.s.ter was powered by a low output fusion reactor able to pump up and refine water into tritium from groundwater . The server cl.u.s.ter''s main purpose was to off load the processing load of Dax''s ICI and it ran everything in and around the base, from schematic work to guard supervision. placed around the base was 12 concrete pillars each 3 meter high topped improvised turrets, all armed with a gimpleing REX-334''s and was powered trough buried wires running to the main bunker, even ammunition could be transported from there through a buried pneumatic system. With protection of the base covered by the improvised turrets, and the server handling tasking of and manufacture of drones Dax had found himself quite free, and spent most of the day meditating, that is until ICI had warned him of a large scale mana signature. Instantly moving the base to highest alert state, manufacture of the 20 new REX-Delta 04 Cyclops'' stopped as all non essential power was cut and the already constructed drones stopped construction work and gathered on Dax as he waited for a location of the treat.


    [MANA SIGNATURE PASSED, EVENT OVER.]


    "What the f.u.c.k?"


    [MANA SIGNATURE APPERED TO BE A BURST.]


    "And where did it come from?"


    [SOME 70 KILOMETERS FROM BLACK HOLLOW.]


    "WHA!- Say that first! Prepare all drones to move out NOW!"


    Rushing to his feet, Dax quickly went into the main bunker and gr.a.p.ed a large reinforced weapon case, some 3 and a half meters long. Having grabbed the case, Dax also took a gauss rifle and quickly started running towards Black Hollow.


    [SOURCE LOCATED BY COMSAT-1, DOWNLOADING RENDER.]


    As ICI shared a satellite video live feed of the threat, Dax released all his limiters and rushed ahead.


    [COMMANDER BACKING FORMATION.]


    "Shut up and make them follow me!"


    [NOT REC-]


    "I DON''T F.U.C.K.I.N.G CARE IF THEY BREAK! OVERLOAD NOW!!"


    [AUTHENTICATION REQUIRED.]


    "JUST F.U.C.K.I.N.G DO IT!"


    [CONFIRMED, ALL CYCLOPS'' NOW OPERATING ABOVE FACTORY SPECIFICATION STRESS LIMITS.]


    Now barely able to keep up with Dax, the drones clearly operated way above any safety margins as they had a hard time even dodging smaller obstacles like branches and such, smashing through them.


    [INCOMING COMMUNICATION FROM UNIT 02.]


    ["WAITWAITWAIT!! We need to speak with Dax, It''s a engency!"]


    ["There''s a serious problem so we need to talk now!"]


    "So Alice and the disappointment? Check for counterfeit signatures."


    [SUBJECT, ''ALICE'' AND ''DISAPPOINTMENT'' CONFIRMED. LIFTING LEVEL 4 RESTRICTION.]


    "So it is them, just tell the kids to stay put and then make your way to the outer wall."


    [DIRECTIVES CONFIRMED¡­.. COMMUNICATION COMPLETE.]


    "Good then link me in and inisiate full domination, Spectors too."


    [NOT ADVISED, RAW SENSOR FEED AT 5 PETABYTES PER SECOND.]


    "That would be a bit much to process myself while fighting¡­. Override, suppress server cl.u.s.ter ICI OS and task array to handle sensory overflow, use 5 Specktors to set up a high speed databrige."


    [OVERRIDE CONFIRMED, TASKING 5 GUARDIAN SPECTERS FOR DATA CONNECTION, STANDBY.. DATABRIDGE ESTABLISHED SERVER CL.U.S.TER BASE OS SUPPRESSED, OVERFLOW NOW POSSIBLE.]


    "Initiate full domination."


    [PREPARING FOR CUSTOM MIND DOMINATION. WARING: COMPLETE MIND MELT IN EFFECT, ALL GUARDIAN SPECTORS AT 500 MS DELAY. EXPECTED CORRUPTION AT 100% PATTEN BLACK NOW IN EFFECT.]


    Guardian Specter


    The Guardian Specter is the highest class of stealth communication and surveillance offered by Guardian''s robotic division after the failure of their drone platform race against REX heavy industries. Tracing its way back to the dawn of fourth generation warfare, the unmanned aerial vehicle or UAV have been a cornerstone of information gathering, and the Specter is a modern implementation of that doctrine. Taking the shape of a cylinder about 20 centimeters high and 60 wide, the monocopter drone is powered by a single counter rotating rotor and it''s lightweight design packed to the brim with sensor and communication equipment. The Specter gets its name from its advanced stealth capabilities, taking advantage of first generation low resolution active camouflage. The low resolution optical camouflage proved extremely capable in active warface, as a slew of Spectors was always operating at high altitude, making it not impossible to locate, but in most cases simply not worth it to find and try to shoot down a single UAV at a time when there often are multiple redundant Spectors ready to take over traffic and/or mark hostiles for elimination.


    "[I have control.]"


    In a single second Dax''s vision extended out way past his field of view, with the help of the Spectors he suddenly saw everything.


    "[That really is a large lizard..]"


    As sensors trained in on the current treat Dax saw what he could only describe as a dragon, large reptile wings that somehow still couldn''t explain extremely fast flight, and shiny reflective green scales covered all its body, from head to tail.


    (Why the hell does a dragon exist in this world?... Those scales look tough, so glad I bought the R04 special)


    Making his way to the outer wall, Dax dropped the weapon case for the drones and jumped cleanly above the wall, landing somewhere in the industrial district. 2 of the drones picked up the weapon case and hurled it up the wall with great difficulty, after scaling the wall they ran in formation to the place at the wall the dragon was most likely to encounter first. Not caring for the confused guards, the drones carefully put down the weapons case and opened it. Inside was something entirely alien to the inhabitants of a world of magic. About 2 meters long and over half a meter wide, the strange machinery appeared to weigh an absurd amount as it took 3 drones to lift it out the case, cracking the stone floor below. The heavy machinery looked like a single barrel with 2 thirds covered in thick sequential armor plates on both sides.


    [ENTERING SIGE MODE. EXTENDING STABILIZERS, STAND CLEAR.]


    Not willing to doubt the strange golems in the process of setting up what looked like some sort of strange cannon, the surrounding guards stood back and spikes extended from the bottom of the cannon and pieced the stone floor, locking the equipment in place.


    [STABILIZERS DEPLOYED. ENTERING SIGE MODE, EXTENDING AUXILIARY RAILS.]


    As the odd machinery extended to solid looking metal square rods, making the construction about 3 meters long.


    [GUARDIAN R04 SPECIAL CLASS ANTI MATERIAL RAILGUN DEPLOYED, INITIATE PRIMARY READYSTATE CHARGING.]


    Guardian R04 Special class anti material railgun.


    Born of a collaboration between Guardian''s 5th prototype division and the 125th Hellwalkers the R04 is properly the most extreme example of miniaturization in the Galactic empire. The idea of a man portable railgun has long been considered a pipe dream, with the difficulty of constructing durable, man portable rails capable of withstanding sustained fire, a pipe dream that has run multiple companies into bankruptcy. But money always talks, after a longer than necessary siege of some far off planet, that was needlessly extended by a lack of high powered air support due to extreme hostile air cover, Hellwalker command expressed interest in the pipe dream. Throwing an absurd amount of money at Guardian''s 5th prototype division, and cooperating with testing directly, the 125th Hellwalkers soon found themselves in the possession of a level of firepower that was until that point only found on fire support vehicles in form of the R04. Galactic senate doubted the authenticity of the weapon however, prompting an investigation of the military command, being accused of funneling money at some bogus project, promoting declassification of footage showing a single unnamed female qiton wielding the system solo and using it to utterly obliterate a bunker complex, forever ingraining the effectiveness of Guardian industries and the 125th Hellwalkers.


    [PRIMARY READYSTATE CHARGING COMPLETE, RAIL WARMUP COMPLETE, MOVING ALL CYCLOPS'' TO WAR LEVEL OUTPUT, PURGING HEATSINK COVER AND ENGAGING AIR COOLING.]


    Having completed the initial setup of the railgun, the dones now readyed themself for combat as their reactors went into overdrive. Purging armor covers on their backs, multiple metal fans like the one in Dax had extended from their backs.


    [AIR COOLING ONLINE, WAR LEVEL OUTPUT CONFIRMED.]


    As each of the drones cooling arrays started glowing bright red, they all gathered around the railgun.


    [CONTACT ESTIMATED IN 5 MINUTES, RO4 SELF CHARGE READY IN 10. TASKING UNIT 04 AND 05 FOR OVERLOAD.]


    While two of the drones grabbed conductive surfaces to speed up the charging, Alice and Terra arrived, Terra having heard when the R04 was put in place.


    "What the hell is that?"


    "You''re the one with sight, please tell me"


    "Looks like some sort of¡­ cannon? I think it''s something Dax brought along, judging by his drones guarding it."


    "Miss Ranger do you have any idea what this is?"


    Curious about Alice''s apparent knowledge about the stange golems and machine, the wall guards gathered around.


    "Most likely some sort of weapon. it''s probably our best chance at beating that flying lizard or scaring it of."


    "Oooh! But I''ve never seen this kind of weaponry before, is it some sort of new thing from the capital?"


    "Not quite.. Anyone seen a large demonkin like man around?"


    "No, only the strange golems."


    ["I have a name you know, by the way why are you kids here?"]


    "Kyaa! Please stop that disgusting habit already!"


    While Alice and Terra had talked with the guards a single drone had walked up behind Terra and spoke right into her ear.


    ["Nah I''m good, why are you girls here?"]


    "We-"


    "We''re not kids! We''re here to help in any way we can!"


    In response to Terra''s outburst the drone looked like it was smiling.


    ["I''ll be sure to hold you to that then"]


    "By the way where are you right now Dax?"


    ["Over at Alex''s workshop having a beer while the drones do the footwork"]


    "Wha-!"


    ["That was a joke, you really have no sense of humor Terra, so pathetic. I''m in route, be there in a minute."]


    "Get here now, the dragon is almost here!"


    ["Okay okay, then take a step back or you''ll be crushed~"]


    "What the hell are you-"


    "Watch out!"


    Not getting to finish her sentence, Alice pulled Terra backwards, right as Dax landed with a bang.


    ["Here I am~ Now I assume you girls are here to help?"]


    "Are you insane!"


    ["you already know the answer to that question Terra~ "]


    As Dax answered Terra''s rhetorical question he handed two large rectangular shields over to the drones.


    ["Now any of you guards know how to kill a green scaled dragon?.. no, no one? Well I have a pretty good idea how, but I''ll need help from all of you."]


    "C-can you really kill it?"


    ["You see that cannon behind me?"]


    "Is that a cannon? It doesn''t really look like one?"


    ["That''s because it''s a railgun, while I have no idea how tough that dragons scales are, this railgun can punch right through it. Problem is the charge time, the railgun is ready to fire in about 5 minutes, the dragon will be here in 3."]


    "T-then what are we gonna do?"


    ["It''s simple, we piss it off"]


    "I knew it.. So can we help out somehow?"


    ["Of course my dear Alice~ Grab a gauss rifle, what about you Terra?"]


    "S-sure I''ll help out!"


    ["Good~ Alice teach her how to use a gauss rifle, you both have 3 minutes"]


    Handing Terra his reaper mask, Dax shooed them off to the side and then addressed the guards.


    ["Now I''ll also need the help from you guys, keep any other bystanders and guards away from here. I know there are some more¡­ problematic elements among the guards, and I don''t want them messing up my attempt at killing the dragon, so block them off and keep them from interfering"]


    """"""Yes sir!""""""


    While flashing his black guild tag, Dax firmly established himself as the de facto commander over the guards present, and somehow each one of them swore loyalty to him internally.


    ["Good. Then let''s get to killing this flying pest~ Split up into 2 man cells and block the entry points to my area of operations!"]

 Chapter 35 - Effects of an extraterrestrial beings interference (4)

    ["Contract front! Do your individual parts like we went over, and this will be a walk in the f.u.c.k.i.n.g park!!"]


    """"""OOOH!""""""


    While Dax jumped down the wall, Terra and Alice split and ran different ways on the wall as two drones covered up the railgun with the shields and the tree other was in the process of speed charging it. The plan Dax had come up with was a simple one, keep the dragon''s attention on him until it could be nuked by the railgun. Dax was equipped a REX-344 gauss rifle and a REX-7 high caliber handgun, finally able to resupply its ammunition. While those weapons might be considered high powered, Dax was not naive enough to believe it could kill a dragon, but he was positive it could piss it off. Kinetic weaponry can be marginally effective even if the projectile does not penetrate, by imparting energy on the armor, tissue underneath will experience trauma, just like it hurts being shot by a handgun when wearing kevlar body armor. In the distance Dax started to see it with his own eyes, green scales covered it entirely, and its yellow eyes showed a hint of madness.


    (Eye''s look¡­ armored, huh.. Well I might be able to blind it but that would just make it trash around.. I guess I''ll go for the wings first.)


    Dax quickly kneeled down and took a firing position, stadying his REX-344 rifle with his artificial arm, he aimed while overloading its capasitators at the same time. If Dax still had flesh and blood lungs he would be emptying them now, calming down completely Dax focused all of his being on hitting a single spot located by the Spectors. At the base of the dragons left wing the scales looked a bit off, and slightly discolored.


    (Prior damage.. Someone had the same idea as me, but evidently didn''t accomplish it. Well thanks to whoever did that is still in order, I''ll be sure to accomplish what you failed to do.)


    Doing the final adjustment on his aim, Dax estimated his chances of surviving. Firing his first shot against the dragon, surprising the guards up on the wall. After traveling about 2 seconds, the steel titanium penetrator impacted, depressing the damaged scales about 4 millimeters as it shattered. Not even giving time for the rifle to time to settle, Dax forcefully readjusted his aim with the help of the recoil, shooting a second time within a second, the next round hit right after the first as it found its target right in the center of the dragons eye.


    (No penetration huh, well that would be all too easy.. But I got it''s attention at least.)


    As Dax continued emptying his magazine and while probing his opponent for weak spots, he found it mostly ineffective, but he managed to impress Terra that looked on with the help of the mask she borrowed from him.


    (He''s f.u.c.k.i.n.g hitting every single shot, and even at the dragons weak spots!... But looks like it isn''t really effective.. Still this ''rifle'' really is amazing, guess I have to accept he''s not of this world..)


    Once more examining the rife she had been given and going over the knowledge of its operation, Terra was forced to admit she had never seen or heard of something like this existing or being used by any country.


    (With a hundred of these, any normal army would be massacred in seconds. And Dax called this a ''primitive'' weapon? I can hardly imagine what war looks like where he''s from..)


    Having emptied the rifle, Dax briefly glanced at its red glowing heatsink and decayed accelerator coils and considering using it as a club, before discarding it and drawing his pistol and sword while waiting for the dragon to get closer. With a wingspan about 12 meters and height from the tip of its muscle packed tail to its mouth packed with teeth it was about 6 meters tall, it might be one of the largest flying animals Dax had ever seen as it flew towards him about 5 meters above the ground. When even the guards could see the dragon with the n.a.k.e.d eye, Dax lowered his center of gravity and disappeared, leaving a crater behind. Then a second later the dragon crashed to the ground, and Dax landed behind it with a now broken sword.


    "What the f.u.c.k was that!?"


    "H-he disappeared¡­"


    "No! He f.u.c.k.i.n.g jumped that fast! I barely saw it!"


    "Are you serious? What the f.u.c.k is that demonkin!?"


    (As expected.. I need to apologize to Alex at some point)


    Dax had leapt and hit the dragon in the head with the flat side of the steel sword he received from Alex, making the sword shatter and most likely giving the dragon a concussion, although it was still conscious and now quite upset indicated by its roar.


    ["Yeah shut the f.u.c.k up you''re loud"]


    Empting the magazine of pistol at the dragon Dax got the dragon to shut its mouth as he hit its unprotected mouth.


    ["Good, now go the f.u.c.k to sleep!"]


    Once more leaping at the dragon, Dax slapped it in the head with what was left of his sword, making it fall over 10 meters from the wall and completely breaking the last part of the sword.


    ["Those sure are some hard scales, but there seems to be a little damage¡­ Now if I just had about 20 more swords I might be able to kill it."]


    Dax had hit the exact same spot on the side of dragon''s head, there seemed to be a small amount of damage, and a single scale appeared to be cracked. Dax had now achieved the first part of his arguably simple (stupid) plan, to piss the dragon off. The dragon responded by once more opening it mouth, by this time it wasn''t to roar.


    ["OH SH-!"]


    By the time Dax saw a magic spell forming it was too late and his whole field of vision turned red as he was covered in flame.


    ---


    "What the hell is happening here!? Let me trough NOW!"


    "I-I''m sorry sir but the contracted hunter said he would deal with the dragon and any form of interference would lead to unnecessary casualties!"


    "And I am your commanding captain! Now let me pass!"


    On the inside of the outer wall near the main guard barracks the guard captain found himself blocked by two of his subordinates.


    "I don''t give a f.u.c.k what that hunter said! It''s the guards job to protect the city! Now move before I have you two and your entire family banished without a single possession to your name!"


    Finally having made the way past his insubordinate guards, the captain made his way to the edge of the wall, just in time to see someone below him being covered in flame by the dragon.


    "DAX!!!"


    Seeing the green scaled dragon breathe fire while some random ranger girl screamed at the top of her lungs the captains mind raced as he thought about how to deal with the dragon.


    (Whatever that idiot was doing he f.u.c.k.i.e.d up, but at least he really pissed it off. Still we need to call for the royal guards to deal with this...)


    Watching the dragon continue to breathe fire on the supposive elite hunter for about half a minute before looking around on the wall, spotting some strange golems.


    "What the hell are dose golems doing on my wall!"


    Stomping ahead in rage towards the strange golems he has blocked by a girl light armor over a dress with a weird mask.


    "I would advise against getting close to them Jackson"


    "Do I know you?"


    "Yeah you''ve known me since my birth, we saw each other about half a year ago when visited me, although I was in a bit of a sorry state then"


    "Don''t tell me¡­ Are you Russell''s daughter? But how are you?-"


    "That''s a long story, anyway keep away from the golems, their master has a bad temper for people interfering in his fun."


    "Master? You mean the jackass that just got roasted by the dragon? He''s dead Terra so these masterless golems need to get off my wall this second!"


    "Well, I warned you.. Go on ahead."


    As the dragon continued roasting the hunter below Jackson moved to remove the golems from ''his'' wall. When he got closer a golems pulled off some sort of strange machinery to meet him.


    [BE ADVISED: OPERATION STILL IN PROGRESS, INTERFERENCE WILL BE PUNISHED.]


    "It can talk? well that doesn''t matter, you too remove these golems, just throw them over the wall."


    Calling to the guards he brought with him, Jackson ordered the strange drones to be thrown off the wall.


    [WARNING: OPERATION STILL IN PROGRESS, INTERFERENCE WILL HAVE LETHAL CONSEQUENCES. STAND DOWN OR BE EUTHANIZED BY GAUSS RIFLE FIRE.]


    As the guards closed in while the dragon still was barbecuing Dax below, four of the drones raised and aimed the drone in tandem while the last one pointed its coil rifle at the closing guards.


    [FINAL WARNING: BACK OFF OR BE EUTHANI-]


    "Stop that stupid bluff you stupid golems, you guys throw them over the wall now!"


    In that second multiple things happened. First the drone fired above the head of the guards to scare them off with its coilgun, hearing the sound of something that it knew could hurt it to the side the dragon instinctively moved its body to get its eyes on. Then the four drones raised the ''handheld'' railgun to fire it. But because of the extreme weight of the system, overload incurred sprinting to the town at a speed above factory specified limits, the front left drone''s knee joint failed. A microsecond later the R04 fired as the primary capacitor rapidly discharged through multiple cooled superconductors running into the two ready charged electromatic rails creating one positive and one negative charged side. At the same time the projectile was moved in place place between the rails, completing the circuit and creating a extreme Lorentz force that rapidly propelled the round as it exited the barrel, extreme aerodynamic force forced the half melted superconducting and protecting casing to disintegrate as the main 90 centimeter long, 7 millimeter wide fin stabilized tungsten alloy  penetrator designed to defeat gravitational barriers continued to its target. But its aim was misplaced, about a degree to the left due to the one drone''s leg failing, that combined with the dragon shifting rapidly to the side the projectile only scr.a.p.ed the dragons scales between its body and wing and burying itself about a hundred meters into the ground. The drones had missed the target, but significant damage had still been done, do to the projectile traveling at hypersonic speed, the round had still been pathally effective as it had superheated the air it displaced. Some of that air had been forced to enter the wound created by the round, that plus the seer air pressure caused extreme burns in the flesh around the wound, making the dragon scream in pain as it stopped to spew flame. No one on the wall heard that of course, as the railgun round hitting and burying itself into the ground had coursed soundwave akin to about a few tons of TNT, depressing a significant part the 10 meter tall 7 meter wide wall a few millimeters by air pressure alone, and giving anyone on top and behind the wall momentary hearing loss (and a degree of permanent tinnitus).


    "MY F.U.C.K.I.N.G EARS!"


    The hardest hit was Terra, with her extremely good hearing the pain was enough to make her fall to the ground and cover her ears in pain before a second loud sound happened, making her look up from the ground.


    "How are you still?-"


    ["I''m a Qiton, this amount of heat is like going to the spar~"]


    Standing in front of Terra was Dax, having just landed after jumping up on the wall once more. Although he played it off with a joke the dragon breathing fire had seriously caught Dax off guard and he had suffered severe second and third degree burns on most of his body, and he had been blinded on his left eye as it was burned, but his shorts and t shirt beeing fireproof was the only reason he was spared disabling damage. Walking past the stunned guard captain and dazed Alice, Dax reached the railgun that had been dropped, and retrieved a replacement round for it from the weapons case.


    ["Exit siege mode and open chamber, then fastprep single operator mode"]


    As Dax inserted a fresh round into the railgun, he gave a smile to the dazed Alice nearby.


    ["I''ll be right back~"]


    Grabbing two newly extended grips on the R04, Dax jumped down the wall again, landing on the dragons undamaged wing, shatting the bone in it with a wet sound using the immense weight of the system he carried.


    ["I SAID SHUT THE F.U.C.K UP AND GO TO SLEEP YOU F.U.C.K.I.N.G PEST!"]


    After bashing the roaring dragon in the head with the heavy railgun, Dax pressed his weapon to its face and fired it at point blank range.

 Chapter 36 - Effects of an extraterrestrial beings interference (5)

    "Miss Terra hurry up the party have already started."


    "Ah yeah, sorry. Guess I zoned out again, this still doesn''t feel real at all.."


    "I know what you mean, I still do double takes multiple times a day you''re really doing to surprise the guest. Now allow me to help you with that."


    "Thanks, I''m really going to miss you Elise."


    Terra was standing in her room putting on a dress in front of her new mirror, but had once more gotten lost in her own eyes when Elise arrived to check on her progres. A month had passed since Dax had slayed (or obliterated) the dragon. After that had happened Terra convinced her dad to allow Dax to complete her operation, granting Terra not only flesh and blood limbs but also her sight. But it wasn''t completely the same, per Qiton tradition her healed body showed bright white scars, Russell was of course not okay with that but Terra loved it so they were allowed to stay on her body. Terra''s face had also been repaired and she had received new eyes. Terra''s new eyes were anything but normal however, the pupils were of a deep crimson colour, and her sight had become way better than her old eyes had ever been, and now rivaled her other enhanced senses. The rehabilitation had been lengthy, but with the help of Dax, Elise and Alice there had no major issues, and she had now recovered completely from her old indurries. The second Terra had recovered Russell had called the entire Black Hollow elite together for celebration, even a few nobels from the capital had made it there, leading to Terra''s present situation of trying to put on a dress for the first time since her mother died about 6 years ago.


    "Is it really necessary for me to appear in a dress? Can''t I just wear my new armor?"


    "I believe that would in poor taste miss Terra, besides this dress is lovely and you almost have it on now~"


    "Are you perhaps having fun Elise?"


    "There''s no way that''s the case, I''m simply fulfilling my obligations as your attendant~ Now breathe in I''m closing the back"


    After having suffered through Elise dressing her up for her own appereant enjoyment, Terra was finally dressed in a elaborate elaborate crimson dress. Making her way down to the main hall she was meet by the eyes of every single powerful nobel, military leader and merchant of Black Hollow.


    (I never noticed how fake their smiles look.. Oh no I need to show the same smile.)


    Being welcomed by her dad, Russell held a short speech to the party about how a apparent miracle had happened, restoring her daughters health and leaving out any mention of Dax.


    (He still really doesn''t like him huh.. But that hardly matters anymore.)


    In a corner stood Dax wearing a pure black suit with a red tie, busy tasting wine with great care and speaking with a guild employee. He had been invited out of obligation as the hunter that slayed the dragon, but that was all there was to it, and no one except the guild employee had paid him any attention, but rumours floated around the hall about him.


    "He looks like a demonkin, but I can''t pinpoint the race.."


    "Did he really slay the dragon?"


    "Apparently so yeah, multiple guards confirmed it. Then there''s the rumor about him also healing Russell''s daughter."


    "Surely that''s just a crude joke, still he might be a valuable chess piece. Did the new type of slavery collar arrive in the capital?"


    "That''s best not discussed here, let me invite you to my estate."


    "That would be great."


    Listening in on the various conversations going about around the hall while making a fake smile, Terra briefly looked in Dax''s direction as he gave a small nod.


    "Why am I here again?"


    In the corner Dax was quietly speaking to a guild employee, the same woman that handled his requtment. She still carried a business like smile along with her thin presence she was properly more skilled as a assassin than a corporate employee.


    "To show that I''m associated to the guild, and to tell me more about yourself~ You have been assigned to handle me right? Then we should get to know each other a bit more."


    "While it is correct that I''ve been assigned to manage you there''s no way you would actually heed any of my advice is there?"


    "Bingo."


    "What?"


    "That means you are correct."


    "I''m leaving now."


    "In that case take this stupid tag with you."


    As she was about to turn and leave, Dax took out his black guild tag and presented it to her.


    "Do you really think that''s a good idea?"


    "I do. I estimate an extremely high chance of you being told to do whatever you can to keep me in the guild by your superior."


    "That or just kill you to make sure that you''re not a treat to the guild. So let me ask once more, do you really think it''s a good idea to leave your only protection in this world?"


    "My only protection? I thought the guilds information network was top notch, I''ve already made new associates~ Don''t you feel it? They''re watching us right now, ensuring that I remain safe until pace agreements can be made."


    Sensing the air for a moment, she hurriedly turned around to lock eyes with a high ranked priest giving off a faint smile and muted traces of magic.


    "See? They understand that even in the highly unlikely event they manage to somehow kill me, they and this entire f.u.c.k.i.n.g dirt ball would suffer the full consequences, now are you sure you and the guild are closing this relationship?"


    "T-that decision is no longer up to me."


    "That''s good enough for now~ Now please tell me about my payment for the dragon."


    "It''s progressing as planned. While the head couldn''t be recovered as there wasn''t anything left, every other valuable part except for a third of the remaining scales have been sold."


    "Good work, what''s my total amount of assets from it then?"


    "As previously discussed you would buy information about the capitals power structure for about 100 large gold coins and strategic maps of the area for 50 correct?"


    "Bingo~ And I''m still donating 20% of the total profit to the guild."


    "Total profit stands at 2205 large gold coins, 20% of that will be donated to the guild for some unknown reason that''s beyond me. That would make your profits after auction fees 1600 large gold coins."


    "I''ll intrust the guild to keep a large part of those assets, as I can''t be asked to carry around that amount of gold. Please prepare 300 large gold coins at this guild office within 2 days, and the rest can be stored and managed at the capital office."


    "Understood, now do you still need me here?"


    "If you tell me where you''re from you can leave~"


    "..."


    "I''m kidding, that''s it for now. I''ll be in the capital 2 weeks from now, let''s meet at the central guild office then~"


    Instead of answering back, the guild ''receptionist'' left Dax behind as she left the hall.


    "What to do now.. Can''t really talk to Terra and Alice apparently hate this kind of event so she''s not here."


    Looking around a for a conversation partner, Dax was about to give up when he spotted what appeared to be a mid ranking merchant that was looking bored. Dax concluded that he must be a must be a merchant based on his thin figure and overly fancy clothing.


    "Where you also invited here out of obligation?"


    "Ah the dragon slayer! Yeah sorry to say I would much rather be at- Wait you were invited out of obligation? Are you hated here for some reason?"


    "Let''s just say that Russell would properly try to kill me if I weren''t under protection from several parties. Call me Dax, what''s your name?"


    "T-that sounds rough.. My name is Gary Pederson, I''m the president of Pederson trading nice to meet you Dax the dragonslayer."


    "Pederson trading huh? Are you based here or in the capital?"


    "Yeah we opened about 2 years ago in the central district."


    "Hoo? you must be a grand mechant then"


    "Not exactly no.. I''ve been looking for opportunities to expand into new ventures for the past few months without luck I''m afraid.."


    "In that case I might have a opportunity for you."


    After the party Dax went out to the courtyard behind the Williams estate where he was meet by Terra wearing light clothes.


    "That dress looked good on you."


    "Let''s just get on with it, I''m exhausted after dealing with that disaster"


    "Then let''s get on with it. Warm Up first then we get to it, start with sprinting 20 times around the estate"


    "Okay."


    Directly after slaying the dragon, Terra had dropped down on all four and begged Dax to become his disciple. Dax had blackley refused but Terra proved quite stubborn and after 2 weeks of nagging him doing her rehabilitation Dax had finally agreed to at least see how serious she was when it came to it.


    "Are you really sure you want to be my disciple?"


    "I am. I want to become stronger."


    "And you''re not gonna give up on asking me any time soon?"


    "Only if I find someone stronger before you agree, I''m completely serious about this"


    "Okay then allow me to test you."


    "Sure! What are we doing? Is it hand to hand combat or perhaps-"


    "Nope, first I want you to run around the edge of this field."


    "Run? But I''m still not recovered. Okay then, for how long?"


    "Till you pass out~"


    That day Terra had ran for 6 hours. After 6 hours had passed she was no longer able to run and simply walked in a half conscious state while her feet were bleeding until an hour after when she had finally passed out. Impressed with Terra''s force of will Dax agreed to take her under his wings and teach her about fighting, but a certain requirements had to be met first. Dax had carried the passed out Terra and placed her into the bioprinter.


    "Perform basic recruitment procedure"


    After that Terra had found herself getting increasingly stronger and after just 2 weeks of training she found herself stronger than she had ever been, and Dax still insisted that it was still only in the into course.


    "That''s 20~ Now drop down and give me 500 pushups"


    "When are we gonna start doing combat training?"


    "When you don''t break from me hitting you, now for the pushups, give me 600"


    "That''s not what you said-"


    "What? Oh yeah I said 700."


    "..."


    If glares could kill Dax would be dead multiple times over, but at the moment he didn''t pay any attention to that.


    (Overlay gravsig analysis with current readings)


    (OVERLAYING CURRENT READINGS ON GRAVITATIONAL SIGNATURE WITH PREDICTED MODELS¡­ ERROR, CURRENT ESTIMATION UNDER CURRENT READINGS.)


    (Yeah that''s my point exactly, that stinger is overheating¡­ or not, that''s not nearly enough to explain it.. plot current rate of growth.)


    Dax was currently looking at data from comsat-1. What was taking all his attention was the irregular gravitational waves extending out from the orb encasing it.


    (And what about laser and radio communications?)


    (UNRESPONSIVE. EMERGENCY RE ENTRY FORMATION OR ''ORB'' APPEARS TO BLOCK ALL COMMUNICATION SIGNATURES.)


    (It couldn''t be that f.u.c.k.i.n.g easy.. What about the current rate of irregularities?)


    (CURRENT ESTIMATES SHOW EXPANSION OF GRAVITATIONAL WAVES AT EXPONENTIAL GROWTH.)


    (And the heat that would generate?)


    (HEAT GENERATION COULD BE SET TO EXCEED COLD FUSION REACTOR LIMITS IN 6 MONTHS.)


    (And Hellwalker regulations specify that any orbital capablecraft needs to carry enough fuel rods for 100 years of normal operation¡­ Give me estimations on that kind of explosive force.)


    As ICI plotted the force the stingers main reactor having a not so friendly meltdown right outside the kingdoms capital, making his smile completely disappear.


    (And what are the chances that would happen?)


    (UNKNOWN, NOT ENOUGH DATA.)


    "Hey Terra have you ever been to the capital?"


    "204! 205!.. No I haven''t. 208! 209! 210! But Alice have! 212! 213! 214! She was born there!-"


    "You think she would be up for a new job as guide?"

 Chapter 37 - The Avoxaian Incident

    [EXITING GATE IN 5..4..3..2.. BRACE]


    "Launch countermeasures and give me a full gravscan, Jonas in the Cerberus and give me a 5 light second perimeter"


    Barely inside the edge of a star system at the fringes of Empire space a single light frigate exited a self made warpgate. The light frigate had no name, registration or outward markings and its rugged cigar shape was painted pure black and was of a class that did not officially exist. Immediately after clearing the warpgate the 12 stabilizers returned and attached themself to the ship, then the area around it was covered in reflective caff and a single fighter sized ship launched from the frigate, quikly accelerating away from the mothership.


    "Orders confirmed, Lieutenant 4-7 launch confirmed. Anything else captain?"


    Inside the frigate was only a single room with just enough room for 6 people placed in a row with a large gap between the 5th and 6th. The chairs were lined with loads of monitors filled sensory readings, and the overall cramped space seemed a effect of the extreme miniaturization one had to make for constructing a warp capable ship of that size. Even though the frigate looked to be designed for 6 operators it was only currently manned by 2 sitting in the front most seats. In the front was woman about 2 meters high in a full vac.u.msiut with cables and tubes for not only life support but also datatrafik running from her back into her chair revealing she was partly cybernetic. Only her green vertical slit eyes and a tiny bit of brown skin with white scars where visible through her visor, revealing her to be a qiton. Sitting behind her was a man way over 2 meters high of the same race as her, but the single tube running into his chair revealed him to be entirely flesh and blood.


    "Just get me that scan Phillipa"


    "It''s coming online now captain, link and see for yourself"


    The captain reached behind him and grabbed a cable floating beside him plugged it into the back of his own helmet, and immediately a bunch of information popped up on his heads up display.


    "Looks.. clear? What''s that void at heading 439, 7 light seconds out?"


    "That''s just a deadzone, no gravsig contact."


    "Phillipa I know this is not a combat situation but don''t get sloppy now, get visual confirmation."


    "Whatever you need Capitan~"


    ["This is Jonas, all clear out till 10 light seconds. I''m RTB now"]


    "Affirmative on com, return via vector 24."


    After talking to Jonas on the radio Phillipa turned around in her seat to face the captain sitting behind her


    "So Dax, are you gonna tell us why we are all the way you here?"


    "You are aware that information is need to know right?"


    "..."


    "I''ll tell you both some of it when Jonas returns."


    "Must be nice, being a elite and getting to know everything."


    "You are aware that statement could be considered insubordination right?"


    "But you would never report me for that would you capitan?"


    "And why wouldn''t i do that?"


    "Because unlike me and Jonas you need to breathe air at normal pressure, being a pure organic. I wonder what would happen if the life support systems on this highly prototype ship broke?"


    "The only reason you can pull that shit is because we grew up together, if you said that to any other CO he would properly execute you on sight, please try and take this seriously"


    "Hahahaha! You''re so serious captain!~"


    (Maybe you should at least take some things serious!?)


    Instead of rebutting her, Dax just sighed and leaned back in his chair while waiting for Jonas to return.


    "You guys ever heard of Irongate industrial?"


    "Irongate industrial?"


    "Ain''t they the largest suppliers raw iron nickel alloys in the galaxy? Heard they''re mostly from the dark systems, 99.9% of the company are natives from there, they call themself the iron race right?"


    "That''s correct, any-"


    "What the hell is ''the dark systems''?"


    "you tell her Jonas."


    "This was in the briefing Phillipa."


    "Ehehe~"


    "The dark systems are a concentration of star systems that all have covered up their stars."


    "Why would they be covered up?"


    "For energy generation, and a shitton of it. I believe the basic concept is a dyson sphere? Anyway the dark systems is about 20 systems all with extreme energy generation, all the energy is put into planetwide smelterries, forges and orbital construction complexes the size of a small moons."


    After Jonas finished his explanation, Phillipa sat back in her chair to try and imagine how a system like that would look.


    "The systems are also completely depleted of any metals, the Iron race even reduced their own home planet to a ball of dirt with no magnetic field by mining it for over 4000 years."


    "But what does all that have to do with us being all the way out here? navsystems says this is a restricted system."


    "Excellent question Jonas, they have been suspected of molten core extractions without authentication from the senate. There have been 3 incidents over the past 5 years that suggest they target remote systems like this one."


    "While that is bad I don''t really see why a black ops operation like this is needed? I mean can''t the senate just indict them and get it over with?"


    "There''s not enough evidence to make a official indictment. Saying any more that this would open you two up to a potential court martial if any of this blows back so I''ll refrain from saying anything more."


    "Come on capitan don''t be like that"


    "Yeah we already know the stakes. There''s often only one reason for a bigshot like you to recruit people like us right out of the academy, this is wetwork right? Would explain this ship, there''s no identifications of any kind on it, and I''ve never even heard of a design this small capable of warp."


    "Okay then, but if we are ever captured or killed the senate will not only deny any involvement but also brand you and your whole family as extremists, I expect such plans have already been laid when you both accepted this assignment."


    Switching gears, Dax grabbed his pistol from its holster and pulled out its magazine, then extracted a small chip form it.


    "Plug this in then."


    "What is that?"


    "Data storage, and yeah I know you''ve never seen anything like it but it should fit into that socket at you 7 o clock."


    "Where? Ah there. Did I tell you it''s really f.u.c.k.i.n.g hard to pilot this thing when none of the controls or inputs are labeled?"


    "Yeah you did, about 245 times so far."


    "It''s 246 times now captain."


    "And that''s why I have you as my XO Jonas. Anyway look at the data sharing, this is Avoxaian 4 and its moon Avoxaian 4a. They''re both confirmed precursor sites and the reason this system and anything else within 50 light years is restricted."


    As Dax explained a blue planet came into view on the monitors. The almost entirely blue planet also looked to have small amounts of land, as small green islands dotted the surface.


    "Precursors!? You mean the super advanced race and long lost race that made us qitons? Why isn''t this system crawling with researchers?"


    "Why is a system normally restricted Phillipa?"


    "Umm?.. Ehehe~"


    "For f.u.c.k sake.. Jonas?"


    "There are multiple reasons, most common would be a unstable star and after that is native and intelligent life- Don''t tell me!?"


    "Yep, Avoxaian 4 is home to a type 2 civilization. Normally the first contact division would deal with this but their recon satellite in this system went dark about a week ago. This matches Iron industries suspected method of operation. Our orders is to guard Avoxaian 4 until the first contact division can get here and establish a permanent base for observation and protection. If we spot any ship that is not from the first contact division or from Avoxaian 4 we are ordered to destroy it and execute any and all survivors with extreme prejudice."


    "So those f.u.c.kkers want to mine a inhabited planet!? That would kill all the inhabitants.."


    "That''s so f.u.c.k.i.n.g messed up.. Wait you said Avoxaian 4 sh.i.p.s?"


    "That''s right Phillipa, Avoxaian 4 have been confirmed to have a space program, they''ve visited their two closest planets and even have a small moon base on Avoxaian 4a. Now give me a stealth jump to Lagrange point 2 between Avoxaian 4 and Avoxaian 4a get us in observation range."


    "Roger capitan, Plotting jump point to the dark side of their moon~ Computer give me a point estimation and the wavesig I need to match."


    [CONFIRMED, SCANNING FOR GRAVITATIONAL WAVE SIGNATURE.. LOCADED, POINT


    ESTIMATES AT 400 KILOMETERS, MARGIN OF ERROR AT LEVEL 2. STARTING WARP GATE CONSTRUCTION, NAVIGATION HANDOVER COMPLETE, PLEASE EXECUTE WITHIN THRESHOLD.]


    "What the hell are these coordinates computer? F.u.c.k it, let me eyeball it instead~ Override, give me full control"


    Under almost all circ.u.mstances Dax would never trust Phillipa ''eyeballing'' anything, but anything related to space flight was the exception. Phillipa proved problematic in warschool but all that was redeemed when she got behind a flight simulator and proceeded to make a fool of not only her instructor, but also the ''unbeatable'' simulator AI. As her instructor was furious with Phillipa she was accused of cheating and almost expelled but managed to stay on after challenging and winning over her instructor in live wargames. Phillipa graduated at the top of her class, even with her problematic attitude, and close in second place was Jonas. Being born with immunodeficiency in a high class family Jonas grew up a sheltered life, until he turned 18 and went behind his parents and had most of his body cybernetically augmented, allowing him to breathe air that was not from a canister for the first time in his life. But his parents were advocates against cybernetic implants and he quickly found himself disinherited and thrown out of the house as effect. Joining the galactic navy on a dare, Jonas quickly showed talent for fighterpiloting and following orders to the letter, graduating at a respectable number 2 in his class, behind the unbeatable ''monster''.


    "Coordinates fine tuned, ready to start gate construction on your order captain~"


    "Punch it."


    "Orders confirmed~ Computer take it away"


    [AFFIRMATIVE, MOVING REACTOR TO OUTPUT LEVEL 5¡­ STEP UP CONFIRMED. POWERING STABILIZERS, GATE ONLINE AND HOLDING STABLE.]


    After the stabilizing rods had moved out in front of the ship they tore a small hole in spacetime. After the gate had opened half the stabilizers went into it as the single main truster on the light frigate started glowing a faint purple.


    "Take us through."


    At Dax''s command the ship started accelerating forward slowly, and as it reached the gate the remaining stabilizers followed it through the gate.


    [EXITING GATE IN 5..4..3..2.. BRACE]


    "What''s our status?"


    "Stealth jump complete~ We had no gravsig so we''re in the clear."


    "Okay I want visual on the planet, take me down to the surface of Avoxaian 4a and crawl along the surface until we have visual, then set us down somewhere we can see the planet."


    "Orders confirmed~ My ship?"


    "Yeah take it away, but don''t use the anti grav drive until you''re closer to the moon, we still want stealth, I''ll get some sleep, wake me in 4 hours."


    "Sleep tight captain~"


    As the frigate slowly fell towards the crater filled gray moon, Dax turned his visor black and disabled the audio input and leaned back in his chair before drifting off to sleep. But his sleep was short lived.


    "Dax! DAX! Wake up now!"


    "Ah F.u.c.k, what is it?"


    "The planet is-"


    "Holy shit."


    Dax had been woken about 2 hours later, in that time Phillipa had skillfully navigated down the surface of Avoxaian 4a and slowly crept along the equator of it until Avoxaian 4 was visible, but something was wrong, the planet was no longer blue. What Dax and the others saw would come to haunt their dreams for years to come. Avoxaian 4 the once blue planet was turned entirely gray, with small segments of ice that had still yet to boil off in the vacuum.


    "What is that!?"


    "Phillipa scan for gravsigs now!"


    "Wh-"


    "JUST F.U.C.K.I.N.G DO IT!"


    "Hii! scanning now!.. One contact found, it''s a Irongate industes planet class miner at the north pole!"


    "I F.U.C.K.I.N.G KNEW IT! THOSE FUKKERS ACTUALLY STARTED TO MINE THE CORE OF A POPULATED WORLD"


    Failing to contain his anger, Dax bit off a large part of his own lip and almost punctured his own vacuum suit by clenching his hands he gave a order


    "Give me a range to that Irongate industes planet class miner."


    "Range is¡­ 1.135 light seconds"


    "Target: Irongate industes planet class miner, prepare the railgun to fire time delayed burst ammunition"


    "Captain that target is civilian!"


    "And they just committed genocide for something as trivial as profit! Ignore my orders again and I will personally kick you off my ship!"


    Floating about 100 kilometers above what used to be the sea at the north pole was a massive ship. The Irongate industes planet class miner was perhaps the largest civilian ship one would encounter in Empire space. Its 50 kilometer wide circular storage matter compression pod is its most eye catching feature, that along with its comparatively small command module and laser drill bit and its main propulsion that sits on multiple stilks one can compare it to a emormus tick. In the pressurized command and control module surrounding the laser drill stood a young engineer and looked at the planet below. She was of the iron race, like almost all other Irongate employees, caratrazied by her short stature and pale white skin, a effect of growing up on a planet with a high gravitational pull in the dark systems where no starlight ever reached outside the dyson spheres.


    "The laser drill appears to have entirely burned off the atmosphere, were this planet not home to life captain?"


    "Yeah it was, some strange primitives living below the sea, but that hardly matters now. Anyway all this new material is gonna make us rich, I can''t believe the senate hid such a jucy world from us."


    "Yeah that really is strange.. With this amount of raw materials we could construct a new lower gravity ring for habitation, imagine how many young wouldn''t die at birth!"


    "But that''s never gonna happen, the board already decided what this haul is being used for. That''s a long enough of break, get back to work now."


    "About that I have a concern, we disabled the spy satellite but I don''t think we''ll get to mine this planet before the senate observers get here."


    "Ah that, don''t worry about it. We''ve deployed scouts all around this system so we''ll have a good while to pull out before they get here."


    "That''s good then, I was worried for a bit."


    "What''s the statu-"


    In that second almost all life was brutally snuffed out inside the command module. About a thousand steel darts peppered the entire module and instantly depressurized it while turning every person inside to minced meat, then the second after the fusion torpedos hit. 4 fusion torpedos impacted sequentially on the large matter compression tank, making the gravity containment fail, and the 50 kilometer wide compression tank popped like a balloon as the super hot metals within expended out. Dax had ordered the frigate to fire at the the miner with its railguns from the moon''s surface. Taking advantage of the projectiles travel time, (about a minute) Phillipa''s skill as a navigator, and the stealth capabilities of the frigate Dax had executed a jump to within torpedo range and matched them to impact just after the railgun projectiles.


    "Main structure containment failure confirmed."


    "Good, scan for signs of communication traffic. If anything sends any form of communication I want it hit within 10 seconds."


    "Permission to speak my mind captain?"


    "Yeah go for it Philippa"


    "We just murdered over 200 people, and they were all civilians. Are you really okay with that captain!?"


    Looking for a second at the panicked qiton in front of him, Dax sighed before laying out the hard facts.


    "This was our orders. ''Destroy any and all sh.i.p.s that is not us, Avoxaian or from the first contact division with extreme prejudice''. That of course includes civilian sh.i.p.s, if somehow a cruise ship with 5000 people on board had strayed into this restricted system my orders would be the same. Welcome to spec ops wetwork Phillipa you''ve finally become a ''elite'' like me. Jonas do you have any issue with this?"


    "No sir. Lifeboats at point 4, permission to destroy them?"


    "Permission granted. Use the point defence cannons to puncture them, we need to save railgun ammunition. Phillipa do you need to excuse yourself from service?"


    "N-no sir."


    "Good. Continue to scan for signs of communication signatures."


    For about a hour after that the unmarked frigate hovered as a vulture and routinely culled any sign of life appearing from the wreck. Inside anyone was dead or dying, expect for one. The young engineer had survived, being close to the edge of the command module she had somehow not been hit directly by the railgun blast and was wearing a vacuum suit, a decision of paranoia from being in space for the first time.


    "HIII! What the f.u.c.k!?"


    Being thrown into space as the life support systems on her suit activated and saved her life by closing any holes from fragmentation and pressurizing her suit.


    "F.U.C.K F.U.C.K F.U.C.K!! What the f.u.c.k happened!?"


    Floating around in zero gravity the young engineer scrambled to find out what just happened. She struggled around in the void for about a minute before she even saw the destroyed mining ship, only catching a glimpse as she spun around.


    "SHIT SHIT is that pirates!? No they destroyed the containment chamber."


    Struggling around for about half an hour she continued to rashly expend her limited air supply, and that combined with wounds from fragmentation she gently slipped into eternal rest, slowly falling towards the planet she helped decimate.


    "I think we got them all captain, any survivors would be dead by now. And we destroyed about 60 lifeboats."


    "Okay then let''s pack up and leave this system. Nuke the wreck one more time and let''s call that it, I really want to get home and take a bath now."


    "Umm captain?"


    "What now?"


    "Didn''t you say the Avoxaian''s had a moonbase?"


    "Another event Ra, but this time it looks.. different somehow."


    "Different how?"


    "It''s¡­ Hidden somehow, or more like it tries to hide itself. About .000002 microseconds after the original gravitational wave a counter wave followed, it seems to be a stealth system of some kind intended to fool systems less precise than ours."


    "Where did it come from?"


    "Star Watcher 2 and 7 picked it up about a hour ago, taking the position of the satellites into account and triangulating the wave puts the event at the bare edge of our system"


    "You think that''s the precursors?"


    "Might be, the other visitors only appeared to be interested in our molten core but I''m not so sure they''re them. The precursors would arrive at our planet and not at the edge of the system, and the stealth is also strange I can''t see any logical reason for that."


    "But this haven''t been a day of logic."


    "Then let''s hope."


    The Avoxaian''s were a strange race, even themselves would agree with that. First is their almost absolute lack of aggression, only if a single individual is not only treated with their own destruction but the destruction of family they will answer with violence, in effect making their planet entirely conflict free. Then their bodies, they have large blue eyes and internal gills making them a underwater species, but nothing prevents them from living on land as their entire respiratory system is dual purpose and extremely adaptable. They are also extremely wise and posses amazing metal processing abilities, making them natural scientists. Their environment were also just as strange Avoxaian 4 had no carnivores, nor a single hostile species. Their planets magnetic shielding was effective beyond logic, and food was way to nutrishus beyond any evolutionary need. The strange irregularities in themselves and their environment combined with the Avoxaian''s own intellect and cooperation quickly made them conclude that they were created and given their planet by some unknown creator. That revelation changed their entire society overnight, who and what where their creators? That thought fascinated them, and they were obsessed with finding out. After 50 years they had searched their entire planet and advanced their own technology countless decades. Finding proof of their creator they were ecstatic, but in the end it was only proof. Not finding their creators on the planet they realized they had to expand their search and started to look towards the stars. Developing a space program in record time they expanded their search to the entire system. Finding further proof and even a abandoned observation station in orbit of a nearby planet, searching that station they found advanced technology and learned how to detect faster than light travel. Using that knowledge they set up observation posts all over their system they were absolutely ecstatic when signs of faster than light travel were finally detected and proof of extraterrestrial life taking the form of a small surveillance satellite they readied for first contact. And then years later it happened, something found them and traveled to their home world and destroyed it. The only survivors were the 2 Avoxaian''s at the moon base and they had since struggled to understand why their world was wiped out, as them themselves had little knowledge of economics or violence. The 2 Avoxaian sisters named Ra and Mu had spent the time observing and discussing the intent of the ship orbiting above their homeworlds north pole, completely ignoring the fact and implication that their entire race was just wiped out. Ra was the older sister by about a year she was about a meter 80 tall she was tall for her race and had green and bluish skin with bright blue eyes and short blue hair. Her brilliance and quick wit secured her a space on the moon station, with her younger sister, the planets number one expert on the idea of faster than light travel Mu was a bit shorter at a meter 60 she had the same skin tone as her sister and had long green hair.


    "Is it some kind of ritual perhaps?"


    "I don''t think so Mu, it looks way too destructive for that, and we have no prior evidence of something like this happening. I''m way more interested in that other event, it would make logical sense that it''s another faction or party"


    "I agree entirely on that point Ra, the wave signature looks to be from a entirely different jump system than our other visitor."


    "Oh here it is again. This one was way closer, they''re moving¡­ Triangulation puts it at L2 between home and here, they''re on the other side of the moon."


    "On the other side? I wonder why.."


    Having no idea of the concept ''stalking a prey'' as Avoxaian 4 had no predators the sisters where once more puzzled, and even more so when the one ship destroyed the other and then it jumped to right on top of them.


    "Woah! What is that?"


    "Must be whatever destroyed that other ship. I really don''t want that thing near us."


    Looking at the strange pure black ship looming about 50 kilometers above them through a monitor Ra felt danger from the ship that they observed culling the other ship without mercy.


    "Ra?"


    "I don''t want that thing near us. It might try to kill us."


    After hovering above them for about a minute the strange ship it slowly lowered its altitude to about a kilometer and then it dropped something before flying away.


    ["Is this really a good idea capitan?"]


    "Yeah, I''ll attempt to start a dialogue on my own. If that doesn''t work I''ll leave the CO2 scrubber and the O2 canisters out here."


    Dax had decided that the survival of the Avoxaian race trumped everything and he had even told Jonas about a secret nearby supply cache and he alone went to deliver life necessary supplies alone.


    ["See you in about 4 hours."]


    "Yeah, but if you see anything out of the normal leave me behind and rejoin the fleet command."


    ["Don''t worry captain we''ll leave you behind~"]


    "Please do, I really hate my work."


    Watching the frigate leave him behind, Dax breathed a sigh and then turned towards the Avoxaian moon base. The base not much more than a hill with antennas sticking out from it with a air lock at the front. The air lock had a single small window and right beside it was a small camera set up on a pole.


    "Okay¡­ time for first contact.. What was it again, to smile or not smile. to smile or not to smile?"


    Going over his extremely limited first contact training in his head Dax slowly and corsusly moved closer to the camera in the moon''s low gravity by cautiously bunny hopping closer to it.


    "I remember now, it was no smiling. But that hardly matters when I have the visor down and they can''t see my face¡­ Now I feel really stupid."


    Continuing his monologue he was unaware that his suit was currently recording everything he said and it would be publicly available as he was about to make first contact with a new species, in what would become a historical event.


    "Okay here goes nothing."


    Sitting down the gear he brought with him, Dax sat down in front of the camera.


    "Now to show that I''m in no way hostile.. But I''m a Qiton for f.u.c.ks sake¡­ ''Here I am to try and speak with you guys peacefully, how do you do my name is Dax and I''m a genetically engineered weapon of war.'' This will go over so goddamn f.u.c.k.i.n.g well, if I can even speak to them before they try and kill me.."


    About a hour later Dax sensed vibrations in the coarse moon rocks he were sitting on, and when he glanced towards the airlock while taking care not to move he spotted something on the other side.


    "Those are some mighty big and fascinatingly beautiful blue eyes looking at me with¡­ curiosity? Or hostility, maybe I should have brought something more than just my handgun."


    Looking at the creature behind the glass in the airlock for a minute Dax got up on his feet and bunny hopped over in front of the door, about 5 meters from it and sat down once more, prompting a response from the other side.


    "Oh it''s gone now, I must have spooked it.. Or not?"


    The creature behind the airlock window had disappeared when Dax had started to move, but it was back at the window when he had sat down in front of the airlock, although slightly different.


    "Is that a vacuum suit?"


    As if answering his question the outer airlock door opened, revealing a figure in a bright white vacuum suit that stood attempting to hold some kind of improvised metal bat in it''s glove covered hand.


    "So would that be a ''welcome'' or a ''get off ma'' damn lawn'' kind of signal?"


    As Dax was unknowingly making history while spewing really bad jokes to himself, he wondered if the alien would try to chase him away in that unruly and puffy looking vacuum suit with some kind of metal it had torn off the wall somewhere. In response to the alien appearing Dax turned off the suncover on his helmet, allowing the alien to see his face. It''s response was to stare for a bit then go back inside, reappearing 10 minutes later.


    "What are you doing?"


    Getting tired of having a stare down with no apparent ending Dax stood up once more and walked backwards slowly about a meter, making the alien advance the same distance, metal pipe still in hand.


    "So are you threatening me, or just copying what I did?"


    Doing some tests Dax found out that the figure was mimicking what he did, even standing on one leg when he did so.


    "Then how about a greeting?"


    In his attempt to communicate Dax did a deep bow for about a minute, before he felt vibrations in the ground, making him look up


    "Woah watch it!"


    Dax expected the alien had went back into the airlock, but something else had happened. When he looked up he saw something entirely else, the alien (with improvised spear in hand) Charged at Dax and appeared to attempt and puncture his suit.


    "Wouldn''t you try and bash someone with a pipe like that instead of using it as a spear!?"


    Baffled by the absolute martial ineptitude of his alien attacker Dax jumped over his the alien and landed to see it couldn''t stop it''s charge from gaining too much momentum in the low gravity.


    "For f.u.c.k sake.."


    Realizing the danger of the situation Dax jumped after the pathetic alien, grabbing it''s vacuum suit from the back and stopping it''s momentum.


    "Are you okay?"


    The alien responded by wildly swinging the metal pipe it somehow still held onto. As Dax still kept the alien from falling over onto sharp rocks so he decided to just take the hit.


    "Are you happy now? My suit is punctured and I''m gonna die now, as if.."


    Having his helmet visor cracked as he once more stopped the alien from falling over again, Dax reached for his emergency resealing kit. He never got to use the kit however as the alien gr.a.p.ed his hand and tried to pull him towards the airlock.


    "You just tried to kill me, and now you''re gonna save me? Please make up your mind."


    Failing to drag Dax off to the airlock as he resisted it the alien looked horrified at him as the air slowly leaked from his suit.


    "Really?"


    Breathing a sigh, Dax pried the alien''s hand off his arm and sat down, making sure he didn''t puncture his suit more and then reached for his emergency resealing kit. The kit was standard within galactic space, and Dax couldn''t even count the times his vacuum suit was punctured in war as he was a marine specialising in orbital warfare. Tearing open the kit Dax grabbed a small spray can form inside and attached it to a specialised mount on the arm of his vacuum suit, allowing him to aim it without having to handle the small can with gloves. With careful movements he aimed it at the crack in his helmet and fired the spray and at it and it quickly closed up and sealed the crack.


    "See? I''m fine, absolutely no problem."


    Tapping the visor to show he was fine the alien just starred dumbstruck at the visor for a while.


    "Can this be called first contact I wonder..."


    Tapping gently on his visor a few times, the alien seemingly forgot it''s current situation as it tried to figure how the resealing kit had worked as Dax took the metal pipe away from it and tossed it away without it noticing.


    "Seems like you really like unknown technology."


    After handing over the small expended spray can over to her the alien it hurriedly left for the airlock, only stopping to look back at Dax as if waiting for him to also enter the airlock.


    "Okay then.."


    Grabbing a O2 canister Dax hopped after the alien inside the moonbase. Inside the alien didn''t seem to mind Dax at all and started to examine the spend canister after she got out of her vacuum suit.


    (She looks like a ''she'' good I hope I''m correct, otherwise it''ll be really awkward. Now what was it I was supposed to say for first contact?)


    Having reached past the airlock Dax removed his helmet.


    (The air in here seems breathable, or its a type of toxin I can''t smell or taste)


    Deciding to just accept the fact he might be poisoned Dax trought of words for first contact.


    "Hallo. Can you understand what I''m saying?"


    "****?"


    "Of course there''s no way"


    "* wo**** w**t h* *aid?"


    (What the f.u.c.k? Is that¡­. Traditional qiton?)


    The traditional qiton language is what the qiton''s used to speak before they were discovered and integrated into the galactic empire. The traditional language is a source of great confusion for linguistics as it has no logical base and seems more like a scrambled code than a actual language. For those reasons it is slowly dying out as it is extremely hard to learn and rarely used, the only reason Dax knew it was because of his mother''s spartan like training. Hearing the language for the first time in over a hundred years Dax hardly understood it, but it quickly came back to him and he managed to put together a sentence


    "Where you also created by them?"


    "Huh?"


    The Avoxaian Incident was the largest genocide in galactic history, but that was not all it was. The 2 Avoxaian survivors'' language were remarkably similar to traditional qiton language and a link between the two races were quickly proved, they were both engineered races of the same creator. While the qiton''s were believed to be a race of perfect soldiers, the Avoxaian''s quickly proved themselves as dedicated researchers of the precursors. While that was tremendous news it was largely ignored at the time, as Dax secretly had the sisters transported and hidden on the qiton homeworld, more pressing issues had to be resolved first. After the successful boarding and capture of the sh.i.p.s meant to be guarding the planet class miner, an investigation quickly proved that the order to knowingly purge a inhabited world came from the top of Irongate industries and when the indictment from the galactic senate finally arrived Irongate industries refused to in any way pay for their crimes, instead separating themselves from the empire and declaring their independence along with other powerful mega companies and a few systems, creating the largest civil war in galactic history. Along the powers still allied with the empire a treaty was signed to make sure such genocide would never happen again, it was aptly named the Avoxaian treaty. The Avoxaian treaty would come to completely change first contact procedure with less unknown life, establishing a number of criteria that had to be meet before any from of contact or cooperation could be made. At the core was servael criteria that should make sure that no world joining the empire would ever be capable of repeating the Avoxaian Incident, and if a discovered race showed a certain amount of cruelty, they would be isolated or in extreme cases exterminated. The Iron race, discovered and invited to join empire 600 years earlier were determined to not fulfill the newer criteria, and a order for their containment were issued as a examination showed them unable to sypatice with any other race than their own, this was of course wildly disputed but history will be written by only the victorious.

 Chapter 38 - The sphere (1)

    "Tia you''re going to be late!"


    "No, nonono-"


    (I''m late I''m late I''m late I''m late I''m late I''m late I''m late I''m late I''m late I''m late I''m late I''m late-)


    Waking up as the sun had already raised way above the time when she should have woken up, Tia''s mind slowly shut down as she panicked.


    "I''ll ready your armor so hurry up and get some food~"


    "Mom I love you!"


    Rushing out of her bed she hurriedly put on some light clothing and ran downstairs in a most graceful fashion to stuff her face with as much food in as short a time possible. Reaching the kitchen the half elf looked more like a squirrel as she stuffed her face with leftover stew and ran out into the armory, stopping to complete her almost daily ritual of getting completely lost admiring her mother''s arms collection. Spears, battleaxes, bows, shortsworts, longsword, two handed swords and daggers densely lined the walls of the largest room of their home, and all of them were high class magic weapons covered in runic inscriptions and fitted with monster cores. Seeing her daughter once more admiring her collection Eva couldn''t help but smile. Eva was a elver about a meter and 90 centimeters high, which is considered average for her species. She had long golden hair that reached below her h.i.p.s and long ears were both also a trademark of her race. Her body however was far from normal, as her slender figure was covered in densely packed muscles. She didn''t look a day over 30 but with her extremely long lifespan typical of her race she had dedicated her to monster slaying and reached the highest rank at adamantium, being able to kill a mid tier dragon barehanded, therefore it was quite hard to pinpoint her exact age. She had temporarily retired while raising her daughter Tia, a half elver born from a human farther, that looked the spitting image of her, except a bit shorter in hight and with slightly smaller ears.


    "Come on Tia."


    "What did you use this one for mom?"


    Tia had stopped to look at a 2 meter long spear made of blue metal alloy.


    "That one?.... Ah yeah I remember now it''s for killing black dragons the magic circuit makes it great for penetrating dragon scales with ease, now come on it''s your big day~"


    "That''s right!"


    Remembering her reason for hurrying, Tia stopped admiring her mother''s countless out of this world expensive weapons and moved to her own corner of the armory were a set of very special plate armor stod.


    "Did you insert new monster cores?"


    "Um, last evening. Help me put it on"


    The plate armor was bright red, not a over the top fashion statement but a result of the metal it was made of. Adamantite is perhaps the rarest metal known to the kingdom, a ultra rare natural occurring wolfram titanium pure mana alloy with extreme heat tolerance, yield strength and mana capacity, making it a contender for the ultimate weapon material, if it wasn''t for the difficulties in refinement and manufacture. It is unknown how the material is even processed, as that fact is guarded more closely than the king, but it is known to be an extremely slow and gureling affair. Adamantite is therefore a tactical resource completely monopolised by the government and is only really used for 2 specific things. The first is research in alloying it with other rare metals to create a possible alternative to the pure metal, and the second is to arm the royal guard. Having a suit and weaponry of pure adamantite is already expensive out of this world but that is not all there is to it, strengthening runes and other augments are caved into the armor, as well as mana circuits that allow the wearer to cast tactical level magic without expending their own mana utilizing a mana circuit in the back of the armor that not only absorbs mana from the air, but also directly from inserted and replaceable monster cores.


    "You good?"


    "Yeah the system is working you can let go now mom."


    Helping her daughter put on the 70 kilo chestplate, she made sure to confirm that the strengthening runes worked as they should before letting go as the weight would likely break Tia''s back if that wasn''t the case. After getting the boots, greaves, skirt and chest piece on Tia put on a bright red cape and walked out into the garden


    "I''m off"


    "See you later~"


    Tia concentrated for a moment, then she jumped. Landing on the innermost wall of Kingssted some 500 meters away, before jumping again out of Eva''s line of sight.


    "Good luck."


    Kingssted or the capital city as others would call it is the largest city in the kingdom and home of the current ruler of the kingdom. The city is home to about a million and separated by 3 layers of 200 meter high walls with the giant royal castle in the center. To feed such a large population the surrounding square kilometers are filled to the brim with farms and dairies. Finally sporting those green fields as she gently landed on the outermost wall, Tia took a quick breather as she could finally see her destination.


    "What are you doing here!? This wall is restricted area!"


    Her break was short lived however, as a wall guard spotted her sitting on the edge of the wall and taking in the scenery.


    "Hey! Are you ignoring me!? Get down her-"


    As the guard seemingly had an aneurysm over Tia ignoring him, what appeared to be his superior ran up behind him and smashed his head into the floor.


    "I sincerely apologize miss royal guard! Please don''t mind us and stay as long as want!"


    "Royal!-"


    Realising his mistake all the color drained from the younger guards face as his head once more hit the stone floor by the hand of his superior.


    "Please don''t mind us, I''ll make sure to personally discipline this idiot."


    "I don''t really mind.."


    "Thank you for your mercy!"


    Bowing so deeply he almost hit the floor himself the senior guard dragged his passed out subordinate away.


    (This place is loud¡­)


    While there are countless elite military organizations in the kingdom that demand respect, The royal guard stands at the very top. Each of them hand picked from other elite organizations and are each one put through hard and year long training before they are pitted against each other in a series of competitions and duals being honed down to the elite of elites. The reason for the additional selections has to do with their armeremt, each of them being equipped in the extremely limited and hand crafted full adamantite plate armor.


    "Time for work."


    Overlooking the fields outside Kingssted a large area had been severely burned by the recent incident. About a month ago something big had crashed outside right outside the city. While a starfall were not out of the ordinary, as it had happened a few times within the last 2000 years. This time was not a normal event however, as not only multiple large impacts had been confirmed and the things that fell had been¡­ Odd. The thing that landed right outside Kingssted was almost a perfect sphere, and the anomalies didn''t end there. Deciding that the sphere had to be understood, and before any other countries the king decided to have it hidden away and studied. But studying it proved difficult and in the end a part of the royal guard was tasked for it, along them were Tia, a new member of the royal guard having been chosen for the task due to her absurd magic proficiency. Landing gently outside the enclosure constructed around the sphere as her red cape fluttered in the wind, she was quickly let in and for the first time got to look at her first assignment. It was strange, clearly alien, but also highly ominus and seemed to absorb the surrounding light and gave Tia a indescribable feeling of dread as it seemingly drew her nearer when she looked at it.


    "It''s all wrong, like a abyss¡­ Or a portal."


    "We have been awaiting your arrival miss Tia."


    "You are?"


    "The head researcher. Until today at least, I hope you''ll lead us to glory."


    Before she knew it multiple robe clad people stood next to her, the were from the royal academy of magic, and as the head researcher filled Tia in on details she became more and more confused.


    "So it''s not magic that''s making it fly?"


    "Yes, that is the only thing we have been able to confirm with certainty so far."


    "What''s it made of?"


    "We have no idea."


    "Why?"


    "From looking at the side we believe hit the ground it seems completely intact-"


    "Why are you only looking at it?"


    "Because we have been unable to touch it"


    "How?"


    "I''m sorry miss Tia, we have been unable to figure out why."


    "Please stop with the ''miss''"


    Moving closer to the sphere Tia started to feel strange, it started with a slight headache, but when she got to within 20 meters really strange things started to happen.


    "What is this?"


    "Please be careful mis-"


    "Stop with the miss already."


    "Sorry.."


    Something started to gently push against her, and as Tia tried to move closer it got increasingly intense before she was forced back.


    "Mu!"


    Tia was a brilliant mage, but as a person she could considered flawed, she was stubborn to an extreme degree.


    "But miss Tia it''s danger-"


    "Shut up."


    handing over her red cape to a nearby researcher, Tia activated the strengthening in her armor as the monster cores on her back started to glow fiant red, prompting people near her to back away.


    "your just a some ball from space..."


    This time she was surrounded by runic light as her armor slowly powered up, coursing the nearby researchers to back away.


    "Round 2."


    Disappearing from sight and leaving behind a crater, Tia''s second attempt to get close to the sphere and regain her lost pride had an unknown result for the observers as she had completely disappeared from their sight.


    "MMmmmmuuuuu!!"


    Making a sound akin to a unhappy toddler, Tia had been unsuccessful in running at the sphere and now found her about 50 meters up in the air, haven been launched into the air by some unseen force. Slowing her descend with magic she had jumped from a nearby field and scared the shit out of a couple farmers.


    "Round!.. 3!"


    This time Tia had figured she would try and reach the sphere from the from the top. The result were Tia ungratefully face planting in the dirt and finding that the field did indeed extend to above it, her life only being saved by her fast reaction time and her overengineered armor.


    "It seems the field or whatever it is extends above and presumably below it too"


    Standing once more in from of the strange sphere (This time covered in dirt) Tia seemed a bit annoyed as she discussed its effects with the head researcher.


    "It would seem so mis-"


    "Call me Tia."


    "T-Tia."


    "Good.. It would also seem that whatever the effect is it increases in power the higher speed you approach it at."


    "It would seem so mis- I mean T-Tia."


    "Have you tried to shot it with magic yet?"


    "N-no not yet.."


    "Let''s try that then."


    "Please limit it from tactical class magic miss Tia."


    "Get behind me or I can''t guarantee your safety."


    "Pleas-"


    "Stand back or there a possibility you won''t survive"


    Realizing she couldn''t make Tia change her mind the head researcher face paled.


    "TACTICAL MAGIC! THIS IS NOT A DRILL!!"


    Shouting at the top of her lungs the head researcher ran away from Tia and jumped to the ground, as did everyone else in the area.


    "Anything above this might be a bit much¡­"


    Deciding to limit her power just a tiny bit, Tia''s armor lit up as she poured her mana into her adamantite mana circuit producing a quiet humm, as if it was responding with glee from its master demanding the highest magnitude of destruction. The effective use of magic to combat hostiles has a clear rankings in the kingdom armed forces, and tactical magic is at the very top. Staving the mana of the entire surrounding area Tia seemed to have no problem with a concentration that would make a normal mage pass out. After about a second of channeling mana it seemed to disappear form the area as if it was consumed and refined with brutal efficiency by Tia''s ability as a mage.


    "Round 4."


    Having completed her spell Tia held out her hand, making the surrounding researchers cover their ears as they prayed to whatever god they believed in to survive. The effect of the magic formation was a tiny clear crystal forming at the tip of her extended hand.


    "A p-pure mana crystal!"


    Monster cores could be considered crystals made from mana but they are impure, about 20 to 50% purity, for a reason that seemed decided by the gods. Crystals made from pure mana are highly unstable, and had a highly unpleasant tendency to blow up in a awesome manner when disturbed, a tendency Tia was exploiting. Launching the crystal at the sphere Tia immediately casted a defensive ward as she was within range of the blast.


    That day the town of Kingssted shock. A high powered magic spell had been confirmed, the shockwave alone sent pregnant women all over the capital into early labor and martial law had to be invoked to quell the following panic. A statement from the country had to be issued, but it only proved to be a poorly veiled excuse for something the king and his counsel wanted to keep hidden.

 Chapter 39 - The Sphere (2)

    3 red cloaked figures stood and talked, unfaced by the destruction surrounding them. In the middle of the compound was the strange sphere, a bit darker on one side, but still completely intact, that could not be said about the surrounding area however. A large crater had formed, no people had been hurt a result of blind luck more than anything,.


    The culprit (name withheld) was currently explaining herself to the royal guard captain, leaving the newly assigned guards to roam freely around, taking in the sights.


    "She really went all out huh?"


    The first one to speak was a royal knight like the rest, but she looked the most knight like of them all, save for her two handed sword that was about a half a meter taller than herself. Her name was Marie, a beastkin standing at just under 2 meters high, her bright orange and short hair and fierce red eyes combined with her fluffy orange ears on top of her head gave her a overall animalistic impression. Even though her body was almost entirely covered by red adamantite armor she exuded a aura of abas.l.u.te strength worty of her status of a royal knight.


    "Sure looks like it judging by the surroundings"


    The second knight looked more like a mage, with his adamantite armor only being a sleeveless chestpiece a white robe was wissible below it. He was Marcus, a genius mage know throughout the kingdom for his achievements in advancing magic and applying it in combat unlike a normal mage. His weapon of choice was a glove he wielded on his right hand that was covered in complicated runes and custom handmade inscribed monster cores. Marcus had short brown hair and untanned skin, with sharp brown eyes hiding intense intellect and tactical powers.


    "But that thing really is sturdy huh?.."


    The last one to speak was a strange one, she was unboutebly a royal knight like the rest, but that''s were the similarities ended. Her only armament was a ridiculously heavy looking towershield that she seemed to have no issue hauling around. She had full plate armor like Marie but unlike her she also wore a great helmet like a crusader and only a tiny red hint of her eyes were visible through the small slits. She was Sophia, a rare knight born outside the Kingdom and part of a elusive nomadic tribe from the far south.


    "I wonder what drove Tia to attack it like that?"


    "Well wonder no more, there she comes Marie."


    Marcus answered Marie''s question by pointing to a small red figure above them that quickly landed outside the compound and after a minute Tia arrived inside to see her companions to her own suppirese.


    "Why are you all?"


    "To keep a watch on you, and the surroundings, his majesty and the counsel don''t wish to reveal¡­.. whatever that thing is before we know what it is precisely. So what have you learned about it?"


    "It''s tough. And impossible to get close to for some reason¡­"


    "What do you mean impossible?..."


    "Don''t know, it''s strange"


    "Are you sure it''s not just because you''re weak?"


    "If you think that why don''t you try yourself Marie? If you manage to touch it I''ll give you one of my mother''s weapons."


    "OOOOoohh!!! Then excuse me while I go collect my price."


    Impaling her sword in the ground Marie cracked her knuckles and walked towards the sphere.


    "Is there anything in this for us too?"


    "I''ll convince my mom to go on a date with you Marcus, and Sophia can have half my pay for a year."


    Succeeding in convincing her companions to try and reach the sphere, Tia stood back and watched them try and reach it for about half an hour before a chill went up her spine.


    (!!!)


    Feeling like she was being observed by some cold and unfeeling creature Tia looked towards the source while circulating magic, but only saw the blue sky.


    "What the hell is this feeling.."


    Watching the sky for a bit Tia got used to the strange feeling before it seemingly disappeared. At the end of the day no one of the royal guards ever got within 5 meters, worn out for the day they all decided to find somewhere to get some food and drink.


    "Are you sure there''s something good around here Sophia?"


    "Nnn, there it is."


    "Really?"


    Pointing to a worn down looking inn, Marcus looked questioning at it, being from the upper part of society.


    "Ah this is the Red Boar right? I know the place, they make great food and have severe cheap beer all over the Kingdom."


    Marie being a beastkin was used traveling all around the country before becoming a royal knight and therefore was quite known in that regard, and served to ease Marcus into the idea.


    "Welcome to the- R-royal guards! I-is there anything I can do?"


    "Yo Martha! I''ll have the usual, and the same for my friends too"


    "M-Marie! Wow look at you~! I was wondering what happened to you when didn''t show up for almost half a year, did you really become a royal guard!?"


    "Long time no see Martha~"


    After greeting the hostess like a old friend Marie sat down at a corner table, prompting the other knights to do the same. Sitting down all their eyes turned to Sophia, with her helmet preventing her from eating or drinking.


    "Ummm?"


    "Come on Sophia, we''re all friends here~"


    "O-okay¡­"


    Nervously removing her helmet, Sophia revealed her bright red eyes and almost obsidian skin.


    "Wow I didn''t know you were a demonkin.."


    "I-I''m a half, just like Tia"


    "Oooh! Then is that why your skin looks so somthe? Do you do anything special to it?"


    "T-there''s this oil we use in the tribe-"


    As Sophia and Marie started girl talk over beer''s, Marcus fell into silence while sipping his beer, having nothing to add to that conversation. Tia on the other side did know a lot about that growing up as her mother''s praised only daughter (guinea pig) she had been made to try a whole slew of different oils, perfumes and shampoos. She just had no idea how to put it into words, her mind was busy with just trying to figure out what there facial expressions ment and what kind of face she herself should make when forming a sentence, so she found herself stopping just before she was about to say something multiple times and ended up just sipping her own beer quietly. The knights continued to revel until it was quite late, something they would do quite often the following that day, unknowingly serving to humanize the royal knights in the minds of the lower class citizens. After that the weeks quickly passed, whatever observed them only Tia seemed to notice and it started appearing two times daily like clockwork. Tia and the other royal knights with the help of countless researchers arrived very little. Whatever the interference around the sphere seemed to be getting more intense, with the overall size of the field seemed to slowly increase, and sometimes to would lash out randomly in any direction making people float up in the air or smash them into the ground without warning. Attempts to reach or damage the sphere were entirely useless, with the king himself throwing countless assets into intelligence, finding out only extremely limited information, along with a stream of outrageous rumors from some bordertown were some demonkin seemingly had emerged out of a smillular sphere. Those rumors were of course dismissed outright, but rumors of about 15 more strange sphere''s were confirmed, proving that the event was not isolated to the Kingdom. The after a while the rumors of the strange demonkin resurfaced. Being appointed a contracted hunter at recruitment he seemed to be an immensely powerful mage, using strange spells that produced destruction on a awesome level. After defeating a dragon with his strange magic he threw himself into hunting monsters around the area, increasing his rank to mithril just below the highest rank of adamantium in a single month of hunting. After that he disappeared, according to the rumors he had found a disciple and left to train her, since that rumor a week had passed and Tia felt she was increasingly unable to get closer to the sphere, and the other royal knights had given up after a week of trying. Tia was in the middle of her daily attempt of melting the surface the sphere when it happened. Suddenly she sensed something right behind her, a presence that seemed to disappear outright if she didn''t do her utmost to focus on it.


    "Fascinating.. The field seems to be getting increasingly unstable, I''m guessing total meltdown is about a month away?"


    All of a sudden a tall demonkin man stood beside her, he wore a black t shirt with matching knee length shorts, revealing a plethora of scars littering his body. What looked to be his entire right arm was obviously a prosthesis, but unlike any Tia had seen before. The strangest part of him was his face, it was covered in some kind of strange mask, completely smooth and without features, painted dark like the night sky, or a deep abyss.


    [AFFIRMATIVE. GRAVITATIONAL WAVE DISTABABILLETY SEEMS TO ACCELERATE OUTSIDE ORIGINAL CALCULATIONS.]


    "The sisters would have a field day with this.. Oh well I''ll open it up now is we can regain control, deploy ranged induction heater and step up reactor accordingly"


    Watching the demonkin seemingly talk with himself Tia got curious as he seemed to know a lot about the sphere.


    "Meltdown?"


    "A rapid or disastrous decline or collapse, in this case a explosion that would completely destroy this city. And the surroundings, and a part of the mantle of this planet"


    "Who are-"


    "Hello, my name is Dax Alpha-4. As for what I''m doing is recovering my property."


    "Property? This is a restricted area-"


    "According to who, the Kingdom? Galactic Empire law states that any combat able type anti gravity float and/or propulsion system falls under Empire law along with anything within a hundred meters. As long as the Kingdom refuses to meet me and establish a first contact agreement I am under no obligation to follow any rules and restrictions imposed by the Kingdom, in fact as I see it you''re the ones trespassing."


    [DEPLOYING HEATING COILS, SYSTEMS NOMINAL. READY TO EXECUTE.]


    Extending his artificial arm towards the sphere as it split open and 3 chrome like metal rods extended from it Dax prepared to crack open the orb.


    "Execute."


    With a single word Dax achieved what Tia had spent weeks on as a small part of the orb slowly started melting.


    "A-amazing!"


    Watching what would take her months being achieved in a matter of seconds Tia completely forgot that the strange demonkin before her was trespassing.


    "Hey Tia who is that!?"


    just as Dax was starting to get through the second layer of reinforced armor plating on the orb Marie called out to Tia, having noticed the strange demonkin beside her.


    "HEY! What are you doing in here, this area is restricted!"


    "I''m doing your job, protecting the Kingdom. As I see it you''re the one trespassing kid"


    "Wha!- Say that again and I''ll kill you!"


    "For f.u.c.ks sake¡­"


    Seeing he couldn''t pacify the angry woman in red armor with a oversized sword, Dax disabled the ranged induction heater and turned to her.


    "Can I help you?"


    With open hands and a large smile, Dax turned to Marie as he slowly walked towards her.


    "Get out before I make you!"


    "Hey kid I have a single advice for you: Realize when you''re beaten. Now shut your mouth and stay back before I split you in half with that oversized sword and choke the life out of you with your own intestines, little kitten~"


    With a big smile completely lacking bloodl.u.s.t Dax talked in chilling detail of what he would do to Marie if she interfered, sending a chill down Tia''s spine. Instead of answering back Marie ripped of her red cape as the back of her plate amor started to light up, the mana released alerting the other royal knights.


    "What is going on here!?"


    "Oh nothing Marcus, I''m just gonna rip this one apart!"


    Watching from the wall above them was Marcus and Sophia, both reading their weapons while releasing mana.


    "Go ahead then, we''ll act as backup. Tia get out of the way."


    "Bu- Okay.."


    Backing off Tia made space for Marie that responded by powering up her own sword as it started glowing.


    "Matching red armor and clokes, Magical weaponry and mostly non humans¡­ Don''t tell me you''re the so called royal enforcers? You''re currently committing an act of war against the Galactic Empire, last chance to back off and settle this diplomatically"


    "Go f.u.c.k yourself!"


    "That would be a no then¡­"

 Chapter 40 - First Contact Negotiation (1)

    Separated about 5 meters was Marie, with her powered up adamantite armor enhancing her already high base abillates with a 2 and a half long half meter wide greatsword ready to pounce with bloodl.u.s.t seeping out of her. Marie''s opponent was a strange demonkin that called himself Dax, a bit over 2 meters tall with his only armor being a strange black mask that covered his face, and otherwise completely unarmored and unarmed, taking a basic unarmed fighting stance.


    "I''m gonna rip you to apart!"


    "Sure~ ICI hock me in."


    [PREPARING FOR FULL MIND DOMINATION. WARING: COMPLETE MIND MELT IN EFFECT. EXPECTED CORRUPTION AT 100% PATTEN BLACK NOW IN EFFECT. TOTAL CONTROL HANDOVER COMPLETE. ICI ENTERING SLEEP MODE]


    ["Let''s see it then, little miss kitten~"]


    "F.u.c.k you!"


    Responding to his taunt, Marie charged Dax with sword raised above her head.


    ["Boring.. ICI you do it"]


    [CONFIRMED, CONTROL HANDOVER COMPLETE. EXECUTING MANEUVER NODE 1. CALCULATING FORCE OF IMPACT¡­ COMPLETE, INTERCEPTING.]


    Seemingly talking to himself, Dax suddenly went into a different stance as his voice turned completely artificial. Then something insane happened.


    "Wha!-"


    With minimal effort Dax grabbed the greatsword with his flesh and blood left hand, he himself depressing about 5 centimeters into the ground and turning out otherwise completely unharmed, to Maire''s suppirese.


    [INTERCEPTION COMPLETE. COMMENCING SELF DEFENCE COUNTERMEASURES, GOODNIGHT.]


    While still grabbing her sword, Dax did a turning kick, aiming to reap the surprised Marie''s consciousness.


    "Naive!"


    But the kick never found its target, about half a meter from Marie''s head a yellow glowing shell formed to block the kick dissapereing as Dax''s leg recoiled away, allowing Marie to free her sword from Dax''s grasp.


    ["Interesting~ Change of plans"]


    Backing off slightly, Dax returned to more organic movements, separating himself from Marie about 5 meter and returning them to their starting positions.


    ["What was that?"]


    "Like I would tell you that!"


    Redoubling her fury, Marie launched a new offence against Dax in a series of lethal sword strikes.


    ["Seems like I actually have to be consciousness for this little dance~ That shield from before, will it always appear or is there a cooldown, time lag or depletable power source?"]


    Effortlessly dodging Marie''s attacks as he continued to ask questions about the strange shield that saved Marie earlier, he only seemed to anger her more.


    "Why! Would! I! Tell! That! To! Someone! That''s! Tring! To! Kill! Me!?"


    ["If I wanted to kill you I would have brought a weapon, this is just a peaceful dialogue? I can tell this pathetic swordsmanship is half heartedly trying to kill me but this is the first time someone from the Kingdom have actually engaged in any form of dialogue with me, oh speaking of that would you please tell me your name?"]


    "F.U.C.K OFF!"


    ["So you won''t communicate or tell me the extent of your defences?.. Then don''t blame me for this"]


    Disappearing from sight momentarily, Dax reapered right outside the range of Marie''s shield like shell


    ["Goodbye"]


    Kicking Marie again the effect this time was different. Even though Marie managed to activate her barrier Dax was clearly not holding back this time and Marie disappeared, being kicked towards the city and landing some 50 meters from the city wall, flying over 80 meters.


    ["Next."]


    "Sophia lose the shield and Tia get in formation, we''ll do this smart."


    Speaking in cold rage, the air around Marcus seemed to warp as the airborne mana was condensed into his gauntlet that was covered in runic patterns. Moving in formation with Sophia in the front with Marcus and Tia flanking close behind, they slowly inched closer, clearly more cautious of the strange unarmed demonkin in front of them. The only one armed stil was Marcus, as Sophia had dropped her shield as it would be a bother in close combat and Tia was unarmed to begin with. Dax was of course not naive enough to take such a formation lightly.


    ["Interesting formation¡­ You and you are not used to it but have clearly trained, you commander boy on the other hand are clearly the most experienced with approximately.. 5 years of experience. Time to take this a bit more seriously"]


    In response Dax took off his mask to reveal a bloodthirsty smile along with a scar ridden face and a completely alien looking artificial left eye complete with 3 indepently focusing red lenses.


    ["Once again my name is Dax of the Qiton clan named Alpha 4. For the record I am here to start a dialogue"]


    "After doing that to Marie do you really want to talk!?"


    ["How else am I supposed to get the Kingdom to acknowledge my presence if you don''t even respond to my letters and refuse to acknowledge me? Okay that does sound like a bit like I''m a over attracted stalker.. Then again diplomatic communication is like a two toddlers tossing mud at each other until one agrees that it won independently from the other.."]


    Going on a self induced rant Dax appeared to not take the fight seriously until he out of nowhere he instantly moved closer to Sophia that was closest to him.


    ["I can''t seem to read your face, do you mind?"]


    Before Sophia could even process Dax''s movement or his question he kicked her in the face, sending her flying before her magic shield deployed and removing her helmet.


    ["I knew it, if the user is not aware the defence will not deploy."]


    "Sophia! Tia pin him!"


    "Nnn!"


    In response to Marcus'' command Tia taped the ground and spread magic runes out across the ground, making it erupt as snakes of solid bedrock appeared all around Dax and rushed towards him.


    ["Interesting, but futile!"]


    Doing as if he could see all around him with no issue, Dax avoided the rock snakes with paper thin margins as he closed in on Marcus that was reading some sort of spell. Closing in fast a thin smile formed on Marucs'' face.


    "DIE!"


    Marcus had prepared a close range spell, knowing Dax would ignore Tia and head straight for him. In the gauntlet a golden crystal expanded from it and formed a longsword that he swung at Dax in attempt to cut him in half. In response Dax blocked the sword swing with his flesh and blood arm, getting it cleaved in half vertically down to the elbow joint.


    ["With pleasure~ But go to sleep first"]


    Completely unfaced with the damage he had incurred, Dax punched Marcus in the face in the same motion that destroyed his hand, knocking Marcus out as he was unprepared for a attack at the exact same time as his.


    ["Just you and me now miss mage, all the others have fled or been knocked out~"]


    As his hand quickly healed itself like a time breaking spell had been cast on it, Dax slowly walked closer to the fightend Tia.


    "What do you want!?"


    ["I already told you: To talk, but that not really it all is it? You look smart so you''ll popperly figure it out fast. Now do I need to knock you out or are you good?"]


    "Before that please look behind you"


    ["Seems like I''m out of time huh.."]


    Looking behind him towards the city Dax saw countless red cloaked figures on the city wall looking down at him


    ["Is that?"]


    "Yep"


    ["Shit.. guess I played around for too long¡­"]


    Giving up Dax sat down on the ground with his hands raised above his head.


    "You really are stupid.."


    ["ICI disengage mind melt"]


    [MIND MELT TERMINATED, STARTING POST DOMINATION CLEANUP AND EVALUATION.]


    "Now then, I believe I have ''said'' all there really is to say so I''ll retire for today."


    "As if I would-"


    not getting to finish her sentence Dax bend down and jumped into the air, leaving a large crater behind and landed somewhere in the capital city.


    "Shit, he saw through it..."


    Realizing that Dax just had played her like a fiddle, Tia made the red cloaked figures disappear. They had been a illusion from the very start, a attempt to make Dax surrender or at least flee towards the real backup in the form of 10 royal knights that had been out of town and where now rushing back after having been called there by a signal from Tia she had casted when he had knocked out Marie.


    "My head hurts.."


    "Good morning Sophia."


    "Ah morning.. What happened?"


    "That demonkin kicked you in the face."


    "And I didn''t even see him coming, why the hell are we still alive?"


    "I think he really just were here to ''talk''"


    "What do you base that on?"


    "The fact that we''re still alive."


    ---


    In the center of the capital stod a giant european styled castle over 200 meters high with smooth polished walls inscribed with magic runes. Guards patrolled all over the castle at all times of the day or night, year round, and somewhere in the center stood a large magic crystal made for detecting mana signatures from intruders, making the castle the most secure area in all of the Kingdom.


    "What did you say!?"


    Inside one of the countless conference rooms sat a highly ranked nobel, currently shouting at two guards that was reporting to him.


    "T-the royal knights protecting the sphere were all beaten by a single unarmed demonkin that escaped into the city after"


    "He claimed to be a ''qiton'' from something called the Galactic Empire, and that he was the owner of the sphere"


    "I see¡­ Call Marcus here now, dismissed."


    ""Sir, yes sir!""


    As he dismissed the guards the nobel leaned back in his chair and breathed a deep sigh while he tried to make sence of the information he had just received.


    A few minutes later the royal knight Marcus arrived, quietly sitting down in a chair oppersid the nobel.


    "So, what happened?"


    "We underestimated him."


    "Weren''t my orders clear enough? No one sees that thing and get away alive, his majesty wants to keep it secret until we know what it is, in what way could you possibly underestimate that demonkin?"


    "Well I didn''t expect him to punch me in the face without issue just after i split his arm in two down the middle"


    "Wha!- He didn''t bleed out from that?"


    "Apparently not no, Tia said that he healed the wound in about 5 seconds after, and without using magic."


    Falling silent the nobel took a second to think.


    "Did he start the fight?"


    "No, Marie did that when she noticed him trespassing as he stood next to Tia and talked with her, as for why Tia didn''t immediately try and kill him was that he somehow got within range of her without being noticed."


    "Okay¡­ What do we know about this demonkin?"


    "He''s a bit over 2 meters high with a mechanical arm and eye and his entire body is riddled in what looks to be clan markings, or scars. He calls himself Dax and claimed to be there to start a dialogue."


    "I see¡­ What else?"


    After Marcus had explained what else had happened and left the room the nobel groaned and once more leaned back in his chair.


    "I''m getting too f.u.c.k.i.n.g old for this.."


    (So he not only claims to represent the party that owns the sphere while also knowing more about it than our smartest researchers found out over a month¡­ And then there''s the thing about it blowing up in a bit and erasing the Kingdom.. That must be a bluff, but still this demonkin can not be ignored, we need to locate him immediately.)


    "Anyone here?"


    Calling out in the empty room a shadow appeared in front of the nobel.


    "Locate a demonkin in this city that call himself Dax, he is over 2 meters tall and have a prosthetic arm and eye. After locating him observe from a distance then report back to me."


    As the shadow disappeared again a guard suddenly barged back in the room.


    "Excuse me!"


    "What is it now!?"


    "Sir we found the demonkin, he''s at the central church drinking tea surrounded by church guards and a high ranked nun that appear to be protecting him."


    "What the f.u.c.k?"

 Chapter 41 - First Contact Negotiation (2)

    In the middle of the mid class part of the capital city Kingsted stood a massive church in a pure marble construction, complete with mosaic windows and a giant spire. At the main entrance, a 5 meter high 3 meter wide reinforced double door were a picnic table square in the center or it. In the single chair at the table sat a qiton, currently a valued guest of the church, sipping tea in a relaxed manner while surrounded by church guards and a single highly ranked nun.


    "They must have seen me by now, let''s head back inside and prepare for a visit."


    "Understood."


    Finishing up his tea Dax stood up and went into the church, followed by the nun while the guards removed the chair and picnic table.


    "That was some really good tea miss, where did you get it?"


    "From my home village, to the north in the mountain range there''s these herbs that only grow there. That tea is a mix of them I brought with me when I was assigned here."


    Inside the church was slightly out of the ordinary, even though it was mid day only Dax and the church personal were inside, and a large area in front of the central altar had been cleared for benches and a large conference table with countless chairs surrounding it had been placed there instead.


    "Sounds like that''s quite a distance away, sorry I drank your valuable tea."


    "Please don''t mind that, you''re our honored guest. We have all been told by our superiors how important of a guest you are, being invited personally to the angel sanctuary by arcangel Solaris."


    "Ah yeah Solaris, I hope she has time to play again sometime soon.. By the way did you injure your leg recently?"


    "How do you?-"


    "Want me to fix it while we wait for the Kingdom?"


    "Is it true? He''s at the church?"


    Inside a backroom at the bottom level of the central castle a highly ranked noble talked with an ominous shadow like substance.


    "yes, we''ve also confirmed hunter guild surveillance in the area."


    The shadow spoke in a eerie mechanical and distorted voice, making it age, gender and everything else unknown.


    "Why would they do that?"


    "We have confirmed he is a contracted hunter."


    "That is slightly problematic.. How the hell did he manage to ally himself with both the angels and the hunters guild at the same time?"


    "About tha-"


    "I was thinking out loud.. Dismissed."


    As the shadow disappeared the noble mumbled to himself a final time before going on with his day


    "I need to inform the remaining council¡­"


    The kingdom council is a gathering of powerful nobles and merchants that advise the king and propose law changes, the king can veto all proposals of course, but but that rarely ever happens as no one man rules alone. Even as the council holds no power directly, they have a certain amount of influence and are trusted experts in various areas from national security to economics and are without exception integrated in some sort of governing role, be that administrative or enforcing. The council is made up of 3 main factions and a single special faction that each support different law proposals. The merchants and hunters alliance is made up of high ranked merchants and former skilled monster hunters who became nobles, they are the largest force behind economic initiatives but have the slightly problematic trait of being more loyal to the hunters guild and profit than the king while still being essential for kingdom. The crown prince faction is a group of highly ranked nobles that supports the crown prince''s principles of human superiority and a strong military, but are generally loyal to the king and support any proposals linked to the betterment of the kingdom. Last of the main factions is the princess faction founded by the first princess herself they are firm believers that the wellbeing of the kingdom is directly linked to the people of the kingdom and therefore supports the eradication of criminal elements within the kingdom and the betterment of the people trough aid such as education and other social initiatives. Then there''s the church, while only holding a single seat at the council and while their proposals are rare they are never ignored, as they represent a higher race that can directly affect the flow of mana. The council gathers once every four days to propose new legislation and discuss it with the king, and properly by design that''s when Dax chose to open a dialogue.


    "We can''t let this provocation go unpunished! I don''t care if he hides in the church, that demonkin must face justice!"


    Olga Maximilla, leader of the crown prince faction quickly spoke out and demanded that the demonkin should be punished after hearing the report of the earlier incident, and she was immediately followed by her supporters


    "That''s right!"


    "How does he think he is!?"


    "No one''s above the law, especially not a mere demonkin!"


    "Lord Grayson I find that statement problematic as a considerable part of the royal guard are demonkin."


    Speaking out against one of the more problematic statements was the second princess Teresa Vi Gruffydd XI, immediately getting a apology in return and gathering the attention on herself.


    "While the demonkin did trespass, I believe that his intentions were purely diplomatic. Him being at the church may be a call to open diplomatic channels between us and the Empire he claims to represent."


    "Why should we believe anything a aggressor has to say, there''s absolutely no evidence!? He attacked the royal guard, that alone should be reason enough for his execution!"


    "I don''t believe that statement is entirely correct."


    Intervening in the crown prince''s faction was the Kingsted hunter guilds master, leader of the hunter guild part of the the merchants and hunters alliance.


    "What do you know guild master, isn''t he your pawn to begin with!?"


    "While we do employ a demonkin named Dax that might or might not be behind the incursion earlier today I don''t believe it was a attack but a attempt to open diplomatic channels between us and the Empire he claims to represent-"


    "Control your dog-"


    Getting increasingly red in the face the crown prince faction representative was also cut off as he stood up theatently.


    "Silence!"


    "Y-yes your majesty"


    In a single second the king commanded the authority of the entire room with his absolute presence of a natural born and trained leader, making heated minds calm down before he spoke again.


    "What were you saying guild master?"


    "Dax, as the demonkin is called claims to represent a foreign Empire, therefore we can not respond to his attempt of outreach with aggression before knowing the extent of their power."


    "That is logical yes, best not accidentally step on the tail of a griffon. But why do you keep claiming his aggression as a diplomatic outreach?"


    "There are several pointers. First he appeared alone, the guild have intelligence that indicates that he is a skilled golem user, in that case why not bring them along if his intent really were aggression? And then there''s my second point: he were entirely unarmed, even after disabling the royal guards he never picked up a weapon or used deadly force even when able to."


    "And the third reasoning?"


    "Yes, the royal knight Marcus managed to cleave his arm in half and he never retaliated."


    "Explain."


    "Your majesty, don''t you find that strange? If someone took your arm and you managed to knock them out wouldn''t you kill them?"


    "Hmm.."


    Leaning back in the chair the king stroked his beard while evaluating everything said so far before coming to a conclusion.


    "We cannot outright judge this demonkin hostile.. What about his claim of representing a far off Empire?"


    "About that the guild also have information."


    "Go ahead."


    "Dax killed a green skinned dragon at Black Hollow a few weeks back, and the weaponry he used was alien."


    "Alien?"


    "Entirely so your majesty, it was some sort of handheld cannon, two shots were fired from it according to reports, the first one buried itself over 50 meters into the ground. The second that followed even a minute after completely obliterated the dragons head, turning it into red paste as even the scales were obliterated, and strangest of all no traces of magic were discovered."


    The guild masters comment stirred up a great uproar, the idea that a weapon - without magic, could annihilate a dragon without the use of magic were simply unheard of.


    "Silence!.. This demonkin and his Empire might prove to be a valuable ally or a powerful foe. We must ascertain his intentions, does the church care to elaborate on that."


    As the king made his judgement all eyes turned to a until silent councilmember, the bishop sent by the church.


    "Dax Alpha 4 is an honored guest of the church and have been invited to the angel sanctuary by arcangel Solaris directly. I''m not at liberty to say anything further."


    "By Solaris herself?... We must ascertain what kind of person this ''Dax'' is. Teresa, from a council delegation together with the royal guards that were attacked and head to the church immediately."


    "Yes father."


    "With that the council is convened."


    Rising from his seat everybody bowed deeply until the king had left the room.


    "Guild master and Olga please accompany me to the church"


    ""Yes, my princess""


    A hour later the second princess Teresa Vi Gruffydd XI accompanied by Olga Maximilla and the Kingsted guild master arrived by carriage horse escorted by the royal knights Tia, Marie, Sophia and Marcus, to find the main door shut and guarded by church guards. As the diplomatic delegation exited the horse carriage about 20 cloaked figures with red glowing eyes suddenly appeared all around them.


    "Wha!-"


    "Protect the princess!"


    As Marcus quickly organized his subordinates around Teresa they prepared for a bitter fight.


    "What the hell are those!? Tia!"


    "No mana detected!"


    "F.u.c.k! Sophia protect the princess, rest of you open up a path!"


    Sophia quickly got in front of the princess with her massive shield, but Teresa stopped her as she walked out to face the cloaked figures.


    "Wait!"


    "Princess, that is dangerous!"


    "My name is Teresa Vi Gruffydd XI! Second princess of the Kingdom, I''ve come here to talk with a man called Dax!"


    [DIPLOMATIC ELEMENT CONFIRMED. STANDBY FOR IDENTIFICATION.]


    As a response the cloaked figures all took a step back as a cold and machine like voice suddenly sounded from all around the diplomatic delegation.


    "What is this now!? Marie get us out!"


    "Stop this second! They just want to confirm our identities."


    "But princess-"


    "That is a royal declaration, stand down!"


    After passifying her guards Teresa looked closer at the cloaked figures. They all looked to have the exact same height (about 2 meters), and even an amature like herself could see they left no openings in their net.


    [UNIT 4 ARRIVING.]


    Just after the strange voice spoke again something landed between the diplomatic delegation and the church inside the net cast by the cloaked figures.


    It was a golem, no doubt about that, but that was when the similarities ended. It was copiously mechanical in nature, metal legs and arms too thin for organic muscles, and a armored torso with a strange alien insignia and a strange completely smooth black head with a dull shine. Walking closer in an extremely fluent motion the golem stopped 5 meters from the diplomatic delegation.


    [UNIT 4 SCANNING FOR RENTAL MATCHES, STANDBY]


    As the voice sounded once more all around them the golem''s face split in two, revealing a single large eye like a cyclops and quickly looked over the flashbags in front of it.


    [TERESA VI GRUFFYDD, SECOND PRINCESS OF THE KINGDOM AND SECOND IN LINE OF SUCCESSION CONFIRMED. OLGA MAXIMILLA, DUCHESS OF THE KINGDOM AND LEADER OF THE CROWN PRINCE FACTION CONFIRMED. MAX DEFAULT, LEADER OF THE HUNTERS GUILD KINGDOM DIVISION CONFIRMED. MARCUS MAXIMILLA, ROYAL GUARD CONFIRMED. TIA GREENWOOD, ROYAL GUARD AND DAUGHTER OF EVE GREENWOOD CONFIRMED. MARIE OF THE GOLD CLAW CLAN, ROYAL KNIGHT CONFIRMED. SOPHIA OF THE NOMADIC SA''LI, ROYAL KNIGHT CONFIRMED.]


    "It f.u.c.k.i.n.g knows who we are.."


    As someone in the group mumbled that the golems face returned to normal as the voice sounded it''s next command.


    [ALL RENTAL ID''S CONFIRMED. THE SECOND PRINCES, OLGA MAXIMILLA AND MAX DEFAULT ARE EXPECTED AND CLEARED FOR ENTRANCE, REAPER''S STAND DOWN. ONLY DIPLOMATIC ELEMENTS ARE TO PROCEED.]


    "Well, let''s go."


    "Princess I can not approve of that!"


    [HOSTILITY CONFIRMED, TASKING REAPERS FOR SUPPRESSION]


    Responding poorly to Marcus'' attempt at protecting the princess, serval of the cloaked figures pointed strange wands at him, revealing their metal arms and their inorganic nature.


    "More golems!"


    "For the last time stand down! This is a royal decree!"


    "Ku! Very well.. All royal guards stand down."


    "Bu-"


    "That''s a direct order!"


    After standing down the cloaked golems disappeared into the surrounding streets, leaving only the smaller golem.


    [THE SECOND PRINCES, OLGA MAXIMILLA AND MAX DEFAULT ARE EXPECTED AND CLEARED FOR ENTRANCE. PLEASE PROCEED.]


    "Into the griffons nest we go.."


    Mumbling to herself Terasa prepared to meet the mysterious demonkin.

 Chapter 42 - First Contact Negotiation (3)

    "If anything happens get behind me, I''ll do my best to keep you alive."


    "I appreciate that guild mast- No, Max thank you"


    As the diplomatic element consisting of Teresa Vi Gruffydd XI, Second princess of the Kingdom, followed by Olga Maximilla, a noble of the crown prince faction and the Kingsted guild master closed in on the central church. Inside they expected to meet Dax, a mysterious demonkin golemancer that had announced his intent to start a dialogue with the Kingdom in a rather hostile manner as he had assaulted royal knights investigating a strange sphere that had landed doing a recent starfall.


    "L-let''s go.."


    As they closed in to the church entrance the massive reinforced double doors were opened by church guards, each one of the diplomatic element all held a image of the expectations about the strange demonkin, a image that was immediately shattered.


    "Aaahh~ not there!~"


    "Then here?"


    "Ah~ Y-yeah that''s the spot!~"


    "Okay this will be intense, are you ready?"


    Inside the church the afternoon sunlight hit the stained glass windows and created a rainbow were a nun laid on a large wooden table, her long and smooth red hair peeking out from her veil as she created clouds in the sharp light from her crying out while her face distorted in pressure. The demonkin stood beside her, his green eye showed intense focus with a small amount of sweat forming on his almost obsidian skin, painting him in a rainbow as he worked over the nun with great care and intensity.


    "Aaah~ So good, is this your first time?"


    "Not at all miss, I''ve done this a lot, you''re the most beautiful women I''ve had the pleasure of helping though"


    "I-I bet you''re saying that to a-all the nnn~ Girls you charm~"


    All this was too much for the young princess, as her face turned a deep crimson she screamed at the top of her lungs


    "W-w-what the hell are you people doing in here!?"


    "What I''m doing? Of course it''s just a massage"


    As the demonkin said that a cloud blocked the intense sunlight, revealing that he were massaging the nun''s shoulders, a perfectly pg act with the nun and himself fully dressed and without a shred of l.u.s.t.


    "What did you think we were doing? I''m simply helping a overworked nun with her stiff shoulders... Are you perhaps some sort of pervert?"


    "I AM NOT!"


    "We''ll continue this after, for now act as the church representative like we discussed earlier"


    "O-okay.."


    Helping the nun on her feet Dax took a quick look at the diplomatic element.


    (So they sent a brat, a old man and a high maintenance nobellady?)


    Inspecting the visitors in detail Dax first examined the one that introduced herself to the drones as a princess. She were about 15 years old with long golden hair, worthy of Dax''s first impression of a brat. Not wearing a fancy dress like one would expect she wore a purple blazer over a white blouse with matching silk pants her dressing were with function first, but still expressing elegance, which Dax found slightly entertaining as she was only a few centimeters above a meter and a half tall. The one standing right behind her was a older human man, about 60 years old he was completely bald and wore a black suit that poorly hid lean muscles that he properly spent a great while maintaining. The last one carefully keeping her distance and wore a almost excessively grady red dress that contrasted her raven black curly hair Dax''s first expression of her was a cunning and manipulative woman.


    "Well, at least have a seat before we try and kill each other~"


    Releasing bloodl.u.s.t with a warm smile, Dax peered into the true nature of his guests. First to react was the guild master, as a admantide level veteran he was used to life or death situations and moved to cover for the princess. Next to react were the nobellady, watching her face tense up in slow motion was almost comical as her brains fight or flight response triggered and she undoubtedly chose flight. Last was the princess, showing the most fascinating response of all. She didn''t freeze or respond with neither flight nor aggression, she just looked at him with intense determination as her mind undoubtedly filled with fear.


    "Fascinating.."


    "Get behind me princess!"


    "There really is no reason for that, you all came here to talk right? Among my people bloodl.u.s.t is simply a greeting."


    "What kind of sick ra-"


    "Olga that is enough! My name is Teresa Vi Gruffydd XI, Second princess of the Kingdom. Behind me is-"


    "Olga Maxumilla, duchess of the kingdom and leader of the nationalist element of council known as the crown prince faction and Max DeFault, leader of the hunters guild of the Kingdom. I see everything my dones do, you have already been announced-"


    "In that case please tell us your name."


    With determination in her voice and eye the princess rudely interrupted Dax, prompting him to give a wide smile in return.


    "I like your guts brat. My name is Dax, leader of the Qiton Alpha 4 clan and commander of the 125th combined ops orbital drop troopers - a special division of the Galactic Empire navy, please do take a seat and let''s discuss your terms of imidate surrendering all Empire technology."


    As the diplomatic delegation sat down nervously Dax immediately made his terms known.


    "What kind of technology are you talking about?"


    "The spheres, mainly the one you''re making some poor attempt at hiding outside the outer wall"


    "Why the hell should we just give something to this made up Empire you claim to represent?"


    "That is a very good question miss Maxumilla~ Primarily because I assume this Kingdom want to survive this year, Secondly because not cooperating with me will have severe repercussions for the Kingdom, and tertiary because I''m asking nicely and the Kingdom will be rewarded handsomely."


    Taking a deep breath Teresa got to the heart of the current issue.


    "Please tell us about more about this Galactic Empire in more detail."


    "The Galactic Empire is a collection of approximately 2500.000 systems under the central intelligence and the Empire senate."


    "Systems?"


    Breathing a deep sigh Dax stood up and pulled out his mask that then projected a hologram showing a map of the system were he was currently located.


    "One or more planets orbiting one or more stars like the one lighting up your ball of dirt, the Empire is home to about 131 trillion souls."


    As the projection zoomed out and showed the scale of Empire space a bead of sweat rolled down Max''s face.


    "131 trillion¡­"


    "That obviously have to be a lie!"


    "Well you have no reason to believe what I''m saying but the protocol demands I state that for the record."


    "Regardless of we believe you or not that isn''t really the point right now, what can your Empire offer us in exchange for handing over the sphere?"


    "Spheres, and I believe that may be beyond your comprehension but I''ll try anyways. Most obvious would be military support, whatever hostile the Kingdom points at shall fall within a day or two. Next would be genetic technology, a immortal king with a unwithering people untouched by disease and suffering. Or maybe just wealth and impenetrable and everlasting defences that smite your enemies before they''re even close enough to see, with a iron legion enforcing your will and submitting colonies, all are valid options for servitude. A combination of those are all on the table and will operate for at least 300 years. Of course if you refuse I will go to the next country and offer them my services, as I need long term stability to construct a ship capable of taking me home."


    Having shown pictures of crowed words and great constructions while talking about the benefits of working with the Galactic Empire the diplomatic element had turned silent, except for miss Maxumilla.


    "So if the Kingdom cooperates with the Galactic Empire you''ll give us the world?"


    "And more yeah~ Of course you have no reason to believe anything I say at this moment so please observe and judge my actions, as long you make a positive decision within the next 20 days it''ll be fine."


    "How are we gonna ''judge your actions''?"


    "Oh come on now, I''m fully aware of the multiple spies that are looking at my every move since I entered this town. Therefore judge my actions and make a decision, or not it doesn''t really matter. That will be it for today as I have other matters I need to attend to, and I trust I will not be harassed going around my daily life he-"


    "That we cannot do! You''re still guilty of assaulting royal guards. Please follow us without resistance and your punishment will be lenient."


    Responding to Teresa''s treat Dax put on a large smile and putting his feet up on the table he broke his diplomatic attitude.


    "Well ain''t you a feisty brat, what exactly makes you think I would just listen to the authority of this savage Kingdom? We still haven''t agreed to any terms that would subject me to Kingdom law. And do you even think you could take me in?"


    "Let''s not try that, Dax that''ll be it for today let''s go back to the castle"


    "Wha- Max!"


    "I might be able to beat him but with you and miss Maxumilla here I won''t be able to move freely. And miss nun there might also make it problematic."


    As Max mentioned the nun Teresa looked towards her and noticed faint traces of magic possession.


    "Calling me a mere nun will get you killed, human."


    "It''s been a while."


    "You''ve gotten old Max, leave now and I might not take you pathetic life"


    "We''ll pull back for now then, please excuse us."


    Watching the princess and her followers leave, Dax turned to the nun.


    "That really is fassinating, can we play some more?"


    "Not today no, I''m really fond of this child. What did you do to her she''s really relaxed?"


    "I stimulated her soft tissue to make it unwind. Want to try it?"


    "I would love to so please come visit me already¡­ I heard you got a pupil so I stopped by, where is she?"


    "Ah Terra? She''s out training~"


    ---


    "ARRRG I F.U.C.KIN HATE HIM!!!"


    In the evening sun about two hundred kilometers from the capital a single figure was sprinting down a dirt road at about 60 kilometers an hour while complaining loudly.


    "WHAT THE F.U.C.K IS UP WITH HIM! ''Here I bought you a present, it''s this backpack filled with rocks weighing about a hundred kilograms~ Now take it and run to the top of that mountain over there, oh and if you drop the bag at a single point or don''t get back by sunrise don''t even bother returning'' I F.U.C.K.I.N.G HATE HIM! AND BESIDES WHAT THE F.U.C.K IS UP WITH THAT KIND OF TEACHING!"


    Continuing to complain loudly the youth about a meter and 80 centimeters tall wearing a strange black uniform with black hair and bright red eyes that showed outright hate for her instructor while attracting the surrounding monsters with her shouting.


    "F.U.C.K OFF I''M BUSY!"


    Leaving a small crater as she jumped into the air, the youth landed on the face of a troll, breaking its neck and continuing to run without even checking to see if she killed it.


    "STOP F.U.C.K.I.N.G LURING MONSTER INTO MY PATH! I CAN F.U.C.K.I.N.G HEAR THOSE CREEPY PEST FLYING AROUND FROM HERE!!!"


    Shouting like a mad woman at the sky she continued running, unaware of her insane speed that was sustained even without using the slightest bit of streanthing magic, a fact she was completely unaware of, being too pissed off at her teacher to notice (a trait exploited by her teacher that was currently fanning her rage and using it to the fullest.)

 Chapter 43 - Act of war (1)

    About a hour before sunrise most of Kingsted were sleeping, a qiton were meditating out in a backyard. He was slowly counting the time till sunrise, with his gear he was gonna use for the day laying around him in an organized pattern. Suddenly a figure landed in the backyard, quickly drawing a knife and charged towards him with deadly intent.


    "DIE!"


    "Oh, good morning~ You''re back faster than expected, good job~"


    Stopping the attackers knife a few centimeters from his only remaining eye, the qiton showed a large smile towards his attacker.


    "''GOOD JOB'' MY ASS! JUST SHUT UP AND LET ME KILL YOU!"


    "And still so energetic~ For now go to sleep, I have an actual reward for you around noon."


    "AND WHY WOULD I-"


    "I said sleep."


    In a split second Dax balanced himself on his one arm and circle kicked Terra in the head, knocking her out, after which he went back to meditading once more.


    A few hours after sunrise life was bustling in Kingsted with people going around their daily life, workshops were busy with all sorts of craft with trade ongoing in countless markets around town. Slowly awakening to those sound was Alice, she slowly got out of her bed she put on light clothing and went downstairs in search of the kitchen and food that would satisfy her hunger.


    "ICI breakfahst~"


    With a sleepy voice she spoke out in the empty kitchen while sitting down at a table and rubbing her eyes


    [CONFIRMED, TIME TO COMPLETION: 5 MINUTES AND 35 SECONDS]


    In response to her request a soulless and inorganic voice spoke out as 3 drones started work a in highly modified kitchen. A normal kitchen in a normal middle class residence would have a woodfired stove with a few magic enhancements, like a inscribed spell that would control the heat output, or even a automatic firestarter. Meanwhile the kitchen Alice was located in had a gas powered stove, complete with a advanced steam and air convection oven and a fridge using state of the art vibration cooling along with more specialized equipment like a dehydrator and a sous vide. 3 drones currently manned the kitchen, with 4 stoves and the steam oven working to produce a morning meal for the half sleeping Alice.


    [ORDER: ''BREAKFAHST~'' COMPLETE. 1 X FRENCH OMELETTE WITH FRESH HERBS.]


    Exactly 5 minutes and 35 seconds after the order had been placed a plate with a elegantly engineered meal was placed in front of Alice.


    "I love my job~"


    Digging into the meal Alice could hardly contain her joy as she taught over her current job position.


    (Not only do I get to eat fantastic meals that are sometimes handmade by Dax, but I can sleep in late and only need to work some days~ Moreover my pay is amazing! Hooray Galactic Empire hooray Dax!~)


    Approaching nirvana as she ate her breakfast in bliss it was quickly finished and she went out in the yard to find her employer


    "Good morning Dax! Oh and Terra you''re back!"


    Finding Dax, meditating in the center of the backyard, with a passed out Terra sleeping next to him in full training gear.


    "Good morning Alice~ We have work today so go take a bath."


    "Yes sir~ Can I take Terra with me?"


    "Yeah sure, Terra stop pretending to sleep and go take a bath, you stink."


    "..."


    "I could start tickling you, come on I told you I have an actual reward for you so stop pouting."


    "FINE, this better be the best f.u.c.k.i.n.g reward of my life."


    "That will be up to you, you two be ready and dressed for combat in 40 minutes."


    "Let me stab you first."


    "Terra come on~"


    "Alice! Just let me punch him once!"


    As Alice dragged off towards the bath with the help of strengthening magic and a few drones Dax went back to meditation.


    (Status on warplan indigo?)


    (CURRENTLY RUNNING 5673TH GENERATION ARTIFICIAL WARGAME, CURRENT STATUS: TAKEOVER 98% COMPLETE, ZERO CASUALTIES.)


    (What about civilian casualties?)


    (UNCERTAIN, APPROXIMATING BETWEEN 5 AND 30)


    (That''s way too high, reset and try again.)


    (CONFIRMED, REINITIALIZING WARPLAN INDIGO SIMULATION, CURRENTLY RUNNING ON GENERATION #5674)


    (Good, report back when civilian casualties are under the acceptable margin.. And what''s the status of the current delivery?)


    (PARCEL #32 INBOUND ON FINAL APPROACH, ENGINES IN STEALTH MODE AND GLIDING TO TARGET, ETA 32 SECONDS.)


    "Ooh there it is~"


    (PREPARE FOR PARCEL DELIVERY, APPROACH VECTOR 139)


    "Ready."


    Standing up and looking towards the outer wall Dax spotted a patch of sky that looked slightly off, approaching him fast.


    (DROPPING PARCEL.)


    As the stealth drone flew over Dax it dropped a reinforced weapon case, about two and a half meters long and a meter wide, catching the weapon case a large smile formed on Dax''s face.


    "As the machinegun of old revolutionised warfare, vitorry now correlated with sheer volume of fire..."


    "And then he told me that if I didn''t return by sunrise or dropped that ridiculously heavy backpack I shouldn''t bother returning! Can you believe how mean he is!?"


    "Yeah.."


    "And when I ran while giving my all he kept getting monsters to attack me! Can you believe that!?"


    "Yeah.."


    "Are you listening?"


    "Yeah.. I mean yes! But didn''t you complete it just fine? And even before time was up, moreover you''re getting some sort of reward now so isn''t it fine?"


    "But!-"


    "No buts!~ Now let''s get you cleaned up"


    Alice skillfully removed Terra''s clothing in a blink of an eye with a large smile on her face, but froze up when she saw Terra''s bare belly.


    "Wow.."


    "What?.. Holy shit"


    "How did you?-"


    "I have no clue."


    The reason for Alice''s and Terra''s own surprise was the state of her body. After being in recovery for over a year after losing an arm and a leg along with her sight Terra''s muscles she had trained up doing her time as a ranger had almost completely withered away, and now not even a bit over a month after her complete recovery dense and firm muscles had formed all over her body, giving her the look of a elite athlete.


    "Well your training have been pretty intense over the last month.."


    "I-I guess.."


    After 30 more minutes of girls talk and bathing Terra and Alice appeared in front of Dax again, Alice wore a black light armor like the one Dax wore when he fell to this world. As for Terra..


    "Why are you in your underwear? I don''t have a thing for a brat like you sorry~"


    "What the hell did you do to my body!?"


    "Just a bit of special training~"


    "Be honest with me already!"


    "Okay then, Alice we''re on a schedule so go and power up your exoskeleton."


    "On it~"


    After Alice left Dax urged sit down with him as a drone arrived with two cups and a bottle of some sort of alcohol.


    "What are we doing?"


    "Celebrating, remember what my reason for not doing combat training with you?"


    "You just said I was too weak.. Wait does that mean!?-"


    "Jup, congratulations on reaching the minimum performance level for combat training~"


    "But what did you do to me?"


    "Organic engineering, the genetic limiter on muscles and bone density have been upped to nearly four times, that along with the steady supply of black matter you have been receiving have accelerated muscle growth along with integrating hardening agents and stem cell repair banks all over your body."


    "So what did you do?"


    "You can now sustain and heal injuries that would normally have killed you, as your body now have a automatic repair funktion and your skin have been turned mostly stab prof."


    "like yours?"


    remembering her first meeting with Dax, were her maid Elise had tried to kill Dax, Terra wondered if she had become like him.


    "Not quite as tough no, but you''ve become stronger and more enduring than ever and is finally strong enough for real training~ Now for your reward I want you to see how strong you''ve become so I''ll have you and Alice accompany me to one of my contracted jobs with the hunters guild. But for now a cheers are in order, come on raise your glass~"


    "B-but¡­"


    "What is it?"


    sensing some sort of deep doubt had taken root of his pupil Dax''s smile disappeared as he sat up straight and looked like he was paying more attention than before.


    "Am I still me?"


    "Absolutely."


    "But-"


    "You''re faster and tougher than before, I know you are aware of that now. But the only reason I picked you in the first place was your mind, why would I change that now?"


    "O-okay.."


    "And now we drink, come on cheers!~"


    "C-cheers¡­. Ack! F.u.c.k what is this!?"


    "Distilled alkohol~ Abv is about 55% I think?"


    "What the f.u.c.k, say that earlier! Ack, feels like my f.u.c.k.i.n.g throat is on fire!"


    "Yeah this is the good stuff right?~"


    "You demon.."


    "Now let''s get on with the day, you might want to wear something more than just that."


    "Oh yeah that''s right.. So what are we doing?"


    ---


    "He''s doing WHAT!?"


    Under the castle in a damp room near the lower foundation a noble were once more talking with a shadow.


    "For now walking through town."


    The shadow looked to be a human, or more like something pretending to be one. It spoke in a strange manner, its voice heavily obscured by some kind of mechanism that made it sound more like a 80''s synthesizer than something alive.


    "When was that?"


    "A hour ago"


    "Why are you just reporting that now!?"


    In response to the report, the noble kicked the shadow, making it fly across the room and hit a stone wall, that cracked.


    "F.u.c.k.i.n.g useless.. Where were they going!?"


    "I-it looks like he''s was going towards the knight training ground."


    "Took you f.u.c.k.i.n.g long enough.. Lure Marcus to him and use that useless knight to kill him off, whatever the casualties!"


    "Y-yes sir.."


    ---


    "Looks like this is it.. I''m not impressed."


    Standing in front of a large colosseum like structure Dax drew eyes to him like normal, but this time it was slightly different.


    "What the hell is that?.."


    "Looks like a suit of armor, on steroids¡­"


    "Yeah¡­"


    "How is are you doing Alice?"


    ["This still feels a bit strange.."]


    "Of course it is, your the first one of this world to wear a exoskeleton. The frame is slightly overcompensating, ICI is working on it."


    ["I mean the starring."]


    "Ah that.. You get used to it after about 500 years~"


    ["Right¡­ Why are we at the colosseum at a day it''s not publicly available."]


    "Work. I''ve been contracted to by the hunters guild to train some new knightlings in monster avoidance and combattence, that was of course before the incident so there''ll properly be someone unhappy coming at some point. If that happens extract Terra and retreat to point 4."


    ["Yes sir.. What about right now?"]


    "Just stand by and fill me in if needed."


    ["So again you pay me just for standing around?"]


    "Yep~ Is that a problem?"


    ["Nope, I love my job~ This frame is amazing by the way, what did you call it? Air something?"]


    "Aircondition, or more like full environment control. A peck of working for the Empire, now let''s get on with it, the spies are waiting for us to do something¡­ ICI on overwatch, condition blue."


    [OVERWATCH CONDITION BLUE CONFIRMED. READY FOR OPERATION BLUELIGHT.]

 Chapter 44 - Act of war (2)

    In the Empire''s central colosseum normally meant for gladiators to entertain the masses, or fighting tournaments of varying professionalism a group of young knight initiates were gathered for special training. The Empire knight core were a semi elite gathering of soldiers meant to command regular forces and were therefore mostly made up of young nobles and skilled youths.


    "What the f.u.c.k is that?..."


    "Looks to be our new temporary instructor."


    "No I mean what the f.u.c.k is that behind him?"


    "Yeah what the f.u.c.k is that?"


    I looked like a some sort of foreign armored knight, on steroids, Its limbs larger than any normal human or even a beastkin. With its irregular and strange armor plating, it stood a bit over 3 meters high and the armor was completely black with a dull shine that completely enclosed the wearer, if there was any. With its only armament being a large dull silver metal case with reinforcing.


    REX Heavy Industries MK V Heavy variable frame type exoskeleton


    The mark 5 frame was originally developed for exploration and heavy industry as it was one of the first fully sealed full body exoskeletons. After a small retrofit it seamlessly integrated with ICI type weapon systems, with the earliest proof of concept being a stripped down frame with a heavy machine gun wielded to one of the arms. With minimal modifications a combat type frame was ready, and immediately used for orbital insertion of special forces were hostiles were crushed in a massacre so extreme it could only be described as giants running rampant on a playground filled with toddlers.


    Their new instructor looked to be a large demonkin male, his black guild tag clearly hang by his neck and displayed his authority. Between him and the strange suit of armor was a young woman about the age of the knightlings, she wore light black clothing like the demonkin and looked just as bored.


    "Okay gather up on me, I''m your new temporary instructor."


    The demonkin lazely sat down in the dirt as he called on the knightlings to gather around as his companions backed off. Most of the 50-ish knightlings ignored him however, and only a single knightling came before him. She was about 20 years old, and wore light clothing ment for training with her light blue eyes showing slight nervousness as she twirled her shoulder length pure black hair.


    "Just 1 huh¡­ What''s your name miss knightling?"


    "It''s Paige."


    "Okay let''s start training then."


    "Huh!? What about the others?"


    "They can join us if they feel like it, for now get a practise weapon"


    "O-okay.."


    "Please tell me what the f.u.c.k I''m doing here"


    While the knightling was getting a practise weapon from a rack at the edge of the area Terra took no time to start complaining.


    "Have patience my young grasshopper."


    "I''m leaving"


    "Wait a second, if you stay I''ll make you a meal in the evening~"


    "Personally?"


    "Yep, I''ll even throw in some of my special made smoked bacon."


    "Really?"


    "If you help me out with this yeah."


    Even though Terra hated her teacher like none other she could hardly deny that he had spent most of his free time over the last 800 years of his life perfecting his culinary skills, and the food he made was amazing.


    "I''m ready now¡­ What is happening here?"


    As Paige returned with a wooden spear she came upon her new teacher grining full face at a drooling woman he brought along.


    "Perfect. Paige meet Terra, she''s a former ranger from Black Hollow. Terra can you tell her about monster combat?"


    "..."


    "While we wait for your reward."


    "..."


    "I''ll cook your meals for 3 days."


    "5 days"


    "3 days, with 3 meals a day."


    ".."


    "Take it or leave it."


    "Fiiinne. Your name was Paige right? Let''s start at the basics, what do you know about monsters?"


    "Umm, monsters are animals that have been-"


    "Monsters are a treat, no more or less than that. Now there are two primary types of monsters, those that want to eat you and those that want to kill you."


    "But that seems to kind of the same?"


    "There is a slight difference. But that I''ll get into in a bit, for now we''ll go over the types of monsters that will be a likely problem for you in the future and how to deal with them. First is the-"


    Going into full instruktor mode like she had returned to her ranger days, Terra slowly drew the other knightlings and within a few minutes she had their full and undivided attention.


    "Why would you piss a troll off?"


    "For the basic satisfaction, and a pissed off troll is a stupid troll that bleeds out faster."


    "I see.."


    "Hey Terra poke me when you get to combat training, I''ll be gone for a bit."


    "Now that is not the same with a cyclops- I''ll be sure to kick you in the face. Where were I? Ah yeah cyclpos''. They are more-"


    As Terra continued her anti monster lecture Dax started meditating.


    (ICI connect me to the specter network.)


    (CONFIRMED, BIOSIGNATURE LOGIN APPROVED. CONNECTING TO 150 TIMES GUARDIAN SPECTOR, 5 TIMES REX VULTURE, 1 TIMES GUARDIAN ELECTRONIC WARFARE DRONE TYPE 144 ''ALBATROSS''¡­. CONNECTION ESTABLISHED, RAW DATA FEED AT 30 MS RELAY DELAY)


    (Okay then¡­ Request data replay from Albatross and show me the last hour of footage centered around me in a 2 click radius.)


    (ORDER CONFIRMED, DOWNLOADING COMPRESSED DATA PACKAGE¡­. COMPLETE, REPLAYING FOOTAGE.)


    Immediately as Dax''s artificial eye lit up, his scenery changed to a birds eye view of the city Kingsted.


    (Okay let''s start with the obvious suspects, any blacklisted contacts within range?)


    (NONE DETECTED.)


    (Hmmm¡­. Are we sure they''re tracking us at the moment?)


    (AFFIRMATIVE. MOVEMENT IN THE SUSPECTED CHAIN OF COMMAND DETECTED, 4 CURRIERS ACTIVE IN GRID.)


    (Then it must be some sort of magic¡­ Replay mana particle irregularities detected by the Vultures and overlay it on the tac map.)


    (SWITCHING SIMULATION TO TACTICAL INTERFACE, STANDBY..)


    As ICI once more worked its magic Dax''s scenery changed once more. First all the colours and structures disappeared from view, until only white lines appeared in a grid formation on a void background. Then came the details, gray lines traced the architecture of Kingsted and after a few seconds a city of gray lines had appeared.


    (NOW OVERLAYING MANA PARTICLE DATAFLOW FORM VULTURE CUSTOM SENSOR PODS.)


    Then colour returned, a purple and and red dust suddenly spread throughout the city with intense movement.


    (Filter out ambient mana and up the resolution in a 2 click area around me.)


    (LOADING PRECISE DATA FROM GUARDIAN ALBATROSS..)


    Suddenly most of the dust disappeared from the map, leaving human-like figures of dust of all kinds of different colours.


    (Now we''re getting somewhere.. Filter out confirmed civilian contacts.)


    (AFFIRMATIVE.)


    (Let''s see¡­ Huh?)


    Against Dax''s expectations the map turned completely colourless once more.


    (Is this the highest resolution data?)


    (AFFIRMATIVE.)


    (Well shit. Give me a frame of reference, plot me on the map and start the replay from when we left the church''s area of influence.)


    In response to his new command Dax''s view tightened in on a single blue dot and a few blocks around it.


    (Start the replay.)


    Then the dot started moving, or more like the simulated buildings around it did, watching the replay for about 5 minutes Dax was about to give up when he saw it.


    (No luck huh.. WAIT stop the replay and bring up kvadrant at relative grid R3-5-2-9!)


    Responding to his command the simulation momentarily disappeared, and then a new render was build foucing on a allyway that had a extremely faint purple glow.


    (Show me footage of it now!)


    (AFFIRMATIVE.)


    As that area of the simulation turned back to archived footage Dax was momentarily disappointed as it only showed a empty alleyway.


    (Cloaking magic huh... Isolate that mana sig)


    (ISOLATING MANA SIGNATURE FOR TRACE¡­. COMPLETE.)


    (Wait a second.. ICI resume the simulation and focus on that shadow right there.)


    Dax didn''t even hear ICI''s response as the simulation resumed as he deeply focused on a single shadow that cover half the of the alleyway in question. For the first minute nothing happened, then for a split second the shadow shifted unnaturally, making the meditating Dax grin widely.


    (I see you f.u.c.kker! ICI Isolate that event and use it along with the mana sig as a baseline and map my current surrounding area!)


    (AFFIRMATIVE. TASKING ALL SURVEILLANCE DRONES FOR OMEGA PRIORITY REQUEST, TARGET: PRELIMINARY ID ''f.u.c.kker'' STANDBY¡­ 6 MATCHES FOUND.)


    (6?... Jackpot~ Notify me the second one of them moves, oh and new id is shadow, affirmative?)


    (ROGER¡­.. PROXIMITY ALERT!)


    As Dax opened his eye and extended his senses after ICI warning he heard the air moving behind him.


    "Naive!"


    Rolling forward Dax kicked the area behind him, and felt it connecting.


    "Gha!"


    "You''re 500 years too early to try and sneak up on me my naive disciple~"


    Responding to Terra that laid in the dirt behind him desperately trying to regain her breath after Dax had kicked her in the gut, he did a slight bow the spectator knightlings.


    "What the¡­"


    "What happened!?"


    As Alice in the exoskeleton helped Terra on her feet Dax looked around and noticed the knightlings had all equipped their shiny plate armor.


    "That your idea Terra?"


    "Y-yeah the- AK! Fcuk, give me a second."


    "Take your time~ Also I expect a written report starting at least 3 of the reasons your surprise attack failed delivered tomorrow at noon."


    "F.u.c.k.i.n.g demon!"


    Finally able to catch her breath Terra took no time to curse her demonic teacher.


    "Did I say 3? I meant 10~"


    "..."


    If looks could kill even the almost immortal Dax might have died to Terra''s stare.


    "So what are we doing? I assumed you tried to kick me in the head because it''s time for some sort of combat training?"


    "..."


    "I can kick you again if that helps~"


    "I wanted the to get used to formation combat in full gear, figured that you would have no problem playing with them for a while."


    "Oooh! Good idea~"


    Turning to the knightlings Dax gave them a large smile.


    "Okay split into groups, one group gets 5 minutes to try and hit me while I just doge. If a group lands a his I''ll give each of them a large gold-"


    "WHAT THE F.U.C.K ARE YOU DOING HERE DAX!"


    "Oh hello Marcus~ Fancy meeting you here."


    As Dax was about to start training the knightlings the royal knight Marcus appeared at the opposite side of the dirt area inside the colosseum.


    "You have not been allowed into this city! Leave now or die!"


    As Marcus stated his ultimatum he channeled mana into his glove that produced a 2 meter long sword made of a golden glowing crystal.


    "Why don''t you calm down and put down.. whatever that is."


    When he got no response and Marcus only walked closer.


    "Okay everyone get behind me, he''s acting strange."


    "What is happening!?"


    "Why is a royal knight doing here?"


    "I knew something was wrong with that demonkin!"


    As Dax himself went into combat mode the knightlings reacted strongly to him going to fight a royal knight that stands at the very top of the kingdom authority, and as he walked towards Marcus a single knightling blocked his path.


    "P-please just turn y-yourself in!"


    "Paige I know you''re a bright kid so please just step aside."


    "N-no!"


    Responding to Dax''s attempt of pacifying Paige she pointed her spear at him.


    "Are you gonna try to kill me with a practise weapon?"


    "Just s-stop moving!"


    "Nope~"


    Faster than Paige could react Dax closed the distance and disamed her and spun her around so they both looked at the closing royal knight.


    "L-let me go now!"


    "Nope~ Instead of that look at Marcus for a moment."


    "HELP ME!.... Huh!?"


    It was when she shouted for help Paige and the other knightlings noticed it, Marcus was acting extremely strange. His eyes were bloodshot, not only that but he seemed to not even have noticed Dax grabbing Paige and he appeared to be hyperventilating.


    "I told you he''s not alright, now get behind me."


    "O-okay.."


    As Paige got behind Dax he turned all his attention to Marcus.


    "Now what the f.u.c.k is wrong with you?"


    "DIE!"


    "Too slow!"


    In a split second Dax closed in on Marcus and dogged his wild swing before punching him in the face and knocked him out cold.


    "So some sort of mind controlling magic spell that uses aggression to manipulate the target¡­ That''s so pathetic.. Alice get me my weapon and prepare for contact."


    ["Yes sir~"]


    As Alice in the exoskeleton trew get weapons case at Dax 4 shadows appeared in the area. They stood about 2 meters tall, with a strange non human ozze of shadowy goo pouring from them, in effect making them impossible to identify.


    "What the f.u.c.k are those!?"


    "Your reward Terra~ I give you the very organization responsible for blinding you."


    "!!! YOU MEAN THOSE ARE THE F.U.C.KKERS THAT-"


    "Used a demonkin as a tool with a slavery collar. Now there are two more than those right here, hunt them down, neutralize and drag them to the church for ''questioning''. Any questions!?"


    "NO SIR!"


    ["ROGER!"]


    "ICI Bring up the net! And move operation Bluelight to fase 2!"


    [CONFIRMED. OPERATION BLUELIGHT IN EFFECT, TASKING ALL REAPERS FOR AREA SUPPRESSION AND CONTAINMENT. GODSPEED.]

 Chapter 45 - Operation Bluelight

    "You have your targets, ICI will guide you while I take care of these."


    ["Yes sir~ Terra you need a boost?"]


    "Yeah sure."


    Putting on a pure white reaper mask Terra walked over to Alice that was currently wearing a powered frame type exoskeleton and extended the massive hand of her frame towards Terra.


    "Heading?"


    ["104. Good hunt~"]


    The second Terra grabbed onto Alice''s frame and sat a foot onto it Alice used the enormous strength of the exoskeleton to fling Terra over the spectator seating of the area.


    ["Then I''m going too"]


    "Ah, good hunt"


    Finding her target running away on the other side of the spectator seating through surveillance footage from the aerial drones Alice jumped clean out of the area herself and landed with the use of the frames build in thrust maneuver pack.


    The 4 shadows in the left in the area slowly closed in on Dax from across the colosseum area as Dax dropped down his reinforced weapons case in front of him.


    "Okay then¡­ Last chance to surrender peacefully, this area has already been surrounded so securely that it would be a statistical abnormality that even a single drop of dead shadow brain matter could ever spill on the street more than a few blocks from this location."


    "W-TH-a-Z-hjA!"


    In response to Dax''s ultimatum a inorganic and distorted voice spoke out to him from one or all of the shadows as they started multiplying through some sort of magic.


    "That''s¡­ Fascinating, but I''m guessing that is not a peaceful response, oh well in the end it doesn''t matter."


    Taking that as a sign of aggression the shadows suddenly started rushing towards Dax that in response stepped on the weapons case, making an enormous mass of metal spring out from it that he caught like he had done it a million times before.


    "Looks like negotiations have failed."


    As the Shadows rushed closer Dax pointed his strange weapon at the closest target.


    "In the end it doesn''t really matter."


    As he mumbled that to himself the weapon drew fire, producing a terrible sound, like a explosion. First came a short salvo, maybe a 5 shots in a short salvo to range the weapons sights to a awesome effect as it cut through and decimated the closest shadow. Then perhaps confident in his weapon Dax started fully automatic continuous fire, making the automatic recoil compensator in the machine gun work as he cut down about 50 of the remaining 100 shadows that crowed the area with pin point accuracy.


    "WHAT THE F.U.C.K IS THAT!?"


    "WHAT!!? I CAN''T HEAR YOU!!!"


    Panic quickly spread throughout the spectating knightlings while the deafening sound of automatic gunfire rang out, making them unable to even hear their own shouts as they watched the epic destruction in front of them.


    "Ahh~ I''ve missed the smell of chemical propellants and the jingle of the brass as it hits the ground."


    Dax apparently had no problem with the deafening gunfire as he rested his cheek on the large leather stock and rapidly switched between targets as the shadows tried to close range in a truly futile attempt often seen throughout history when fully automatic weaponry faces a melee opp.o.r.net. After maintaining fully automatic fire for half a minute only the original shadows remained behind a fading shield made of a black crystal as all their illusions had been cut down before they could reach Dax.


    "Where did all that enthusiasm from before go!!!?"


    Feeling confident Dax slowly closed the range while continuing to fire as he left a trail of brass behind.


    "OH SHIT!"


    But nothing last forever, and suddenly Dax''s weapon stopped firing as the magazine capacity properly didn''t stand up to a solid minute of automatic fire. Seeing that as the opportunity, the 4 shadows rushed out from behind their crumpling shield to kill their target before he could reload.


    "Just kidding~"


    With a fierce smile Dax turned his sight on the closet target rushing towards him and pulled the trigger.


    "A-H-a-zh-ght-AGPR!"


    As the high caliber rounds went through it the shadow made a distorted scream as the shadowy goo disintegrated as Dax sprayed down the other shadows.


    "4 targets down, requesting Reapers for collection."


    [CONFIRMED.]


    "Ahh I love this gun, ICI make a few more please~"


    [AFFIRMATIVE. 2 ADDITIONAL 0999 SQUAD SUPPORT WEAPONS ADDED TO MANUFACTURING QUEUE.]


    Rex-0999 squad support weapon. Also called the zero triple nine, or simply referred to as the squad plasma cutter.


    As the machine gun have been a cornerstone of warfare since the introduction of cased ammunition, the Rex-0999 is the latest iteration of the ancient principle of suppressing fire and the simple idea that one can not have too little firepower. Almost a meter long and weighing about 60 kilograms fully loaded, the zero triple nine is in no way a light or small weapon platform, with is curiously wide barrel and strangely large stok, it is a weapon that draws eyes to it, even if it uses outdated chemically powered projectiles. The Rex-0999 fires medium caliber caseless kinetic ammunition supplied form high capacity box magazines at an extremely high cyclic rate, giving it it''s designation of a squad support weapon from its ability to sustain impressive firepower for extreme periods. The system is helped by it''s built in heatsink that surrounds the barrel, and the addition of a heatsink to aid continued operation is not the only improvement on the time aged concept, as the entire system is entirely stabilized and recoilless through a system of springs and electric motors in the stok, trigger action, foregrip and sight, allowing for pin point continues suppressive fire where only a part of the weapon moves and the operator remains unaffected and hence giving the platform it''s nickname through the practical comparisons to a industrial plasma cutter in its ability to cut tough cover, walls, bodyarmor and flesh alike without issue doing sustained automatic fire.


    "I wonder how Terra and Alice are doing?... Now let''s return to training! Break out in 4 man cells and try to hit me!"


    As multiple cloaked figures emerged from around the colosseum and gathered around the shadows Dax went back to instrucking the now terrified knightlings.


    ---


    [TARGET LOCATED: HEADING 031, RANGE 22 METERS, ELEVATION PLUS 5 METERS]


    ["I see it! Excuse me, coming through!"]


    While tracking the shadow Alice made quite a commotion as she ran down a busy street chasing her target that ran across the rooftops.


    ["Move you the way please! I''m getting nowhere like this¡­ ICI do you have an idea?"]


    Finding it all too problematic to continue the chase as she was continually blocked by curious onlookers and panicked townsfolk Alice slowed down to a jogging pace as she asked ICI for help.


    [HERAD TARGET TO MARKED LOCATION, USE OF FIREARMS APPROVED.]


    Seeing a marker being placed on her internal HUD it only took Alice a split second to understand what ICI was trying to do and then stopped in place and pointed her arm at the fleeing shadow.


    ["Firing now."]


    Squeezing the trigger on her control pad Alice heard as the suit mechanics disabled the safety on her arm mounted gauss rifle with a audible click as she shoot a burst of lead right past the shadow.


    ["Come on, go that way! Yes! ICI its moving towards the AO"]


    [CONFIRMED, ORDER SENT.]


    ["Okay~ I''ll handle collection."]


    After watching the shadow flee over a building top Alice slowed down her pace and started walking towards the plaza in the direction of the fleeing shadow.


    As the shadow moved quickly over building tops it soon realized it had lost its pursuer and slowed down before dropping down in an alleyway and undoing it transformation before going out to the plaza right next to it in a attempt to lose the strange knight, it never got further than that however. Just before it stepped outside the alleyway a intense pain from its gut suddenly paralyzed it as fell over without nobody in the plaza noticing, and the shadow only just saw the source before passing out. It was small, almost invisible, but a small patch of sky directly across the plaza was slightly out of place, and the shadow''s intrusion told it that whatever silent projectile had pierced its gut had come from there.


    [TARGET HIT, VULTURE MOVING TO OVERWATCH PATTERN.]


    Guardian Aerial target surveillance and assassination drone MK:IX ''Vulture''


    After their massive success with the Spectre the Guardian industries spent 20 years perfecting their follow up design that in the end wouldn''t replace the Spectre, but compliment it. The Swallow, as it was originally named from its profile mimicking the appearance of a long extinct terran bird, was a definite upgrade from the Spectre. It was faster, more resilient, with sensors multiple orders of magnitude more precise than the Spectres and could even be outfitted to withstand orbital insertion with complementary heat shielding and a zero g maneuver pack. All that came at a cost however, the new Swallow was over 10 times larger than the Spector, with a similarly increased price point. Moreover its large size made it easy to detect, even when the high tech stealth system was engaged, leading to a at first mostly unpopular design with few buyers. Something had to be done, after spending 20 years on the project it couldn''t afford to fail and after a mere 2 months later a redesign was ready. The stealth system was upgraded, and a recoilless coilgun prototype from the failed Colossus project was downscaled and replaced the more extreme part sensory array making the now renamed Vulture able to perform high value target assassination from the sky while remaining hidden. The system OS was also upgraded, allowing the Vulture to seamlessly integrate with targeting data from Spectres, leading to a hugely popular and effective product that nesseated the purchase of multiple new Spectre UAVs.


    ---


    "ICI I lost him!"


    [TRACKING, STANDBY¡­ TARGET LOCATED: HEADING 015, RANGE 40 METERS, ELEVATION NULL.]


    "I see him, come here f.u.c.kker I wont bite!"


    Terra had naively assumed that a living shadow would be easy to track, but if not for the brand new custom reaper mask she would have lost multiple times by now. Running through the busy afternoon she almost ran along the walls following the more and more human like shadow.


    [TARGET ACQUIRED BY VULTURE.]


    "I got this!"


    [KILLSHOT ACQUIRED BY VULTURE. 96% ACCURACY ATTAINED, RECOMMEND EXECUTION.]


    "That''s 4% too low! Give me a better plan now!"


    [CALCULATING, STANDBY FOR MANEUVERS¡­ MANEUVER PLOTTED IN AR]


    "Are you f.u.c.k.i.n.g serious!?"


    [CANNOT COMPREHEND: ''serious'' PLEASE SPECIFY COMMAND INPUT.]


    "You know what I mean! Chance of success is?"


    [124.2%. WITH CHANCE OF SUCCESS FALLING 1% WITH EACH 0.5% ERROR OF DEVIATION FROM MANEUVER NODES.]


    "Okay then, watch me pull this off perfectly¡­ Start now."


    [CONFIRMED.. EXECUTE NODE #1 NOW.]


    As Terra Received the maneuvering instructions she drew her pistol and shot two times right over the left shoulder of the shadow, greatly starteling it (and the rest of the busy street) and made it run to the right.


    "Got him.."


    Immediately after shooting Terra''s legs started glowing as she set off with the help of strengthening magic, and leapt over a two story building. She landed a few seconds later on the edge of a rooftop and jumped just after, landing right on the shadow with a tackle and knocking the shadow out cold.


    "Now to get it back to the church.."


    Having neutralized her first target, Terra was momentarily unsure of how to handle it as it was covered in a goo like shadow.


    "What is happening here!?"


    "Shit."


    While Terra pondered if it was safe just to pick up the shadow the city guard arrived.


    "HEY YOU! You''re coming with us now!"


    Spotting Terra standing over a mysterious figure, it took the not so bright guard only a few seconds to find the party responsible.


    "Sorry but that''s not gonna happen. This is a Galactic Empire matter so stand down."


    "A what? Drop the games and come quietly if you don''t want any pain!"


    Seeing Terra''s explanation as an obvious provocation, the guard and the ones surrounding him pointed their spears at Terra that only gave a sigh.


    "ICI you handle them, and the transport of this one too."


    "HEY! Stop right there!"


    [WARNING THREATENING A DIPLOMATIC ELEMENT IS A CAPITAL OFFENCE. STAND DOWN, YOU HAVE 10 SECONDS TO COMPLY.]


    Trying to chase down Terra as she was walking away the guard was blocked by a large figure in a pure black robe with a hood that obstructed the figures face.


    "HE-"


    [AGGRESSION CONFIRMED: CORRECTING BEHAVIOUR]


    Before the guard even could start to scream at the cloaked figure it punched him in the gut and seemingly disappeared in the crowd without a trace along with Terra and the shadow.


    ---


    Back at the central church Alice was the first one to arrive with her target, a result of her dealing with it faster than Terra as she had no issue transporting the shadow bleeding a mix of blood and shadowy goo as she wore a environmentally sealed piece of power armor.


    ["Oh shit its still bleeding?"]


    Noticing she was currently soiling a priceless rug with blood Alice was greatly confused as she had already administered emergency first aid in the form of a vial of healing nanomachines earlier.


    ["Shitshitshit-"]


    Getting blood all over the floor and priceless rug, Alice hurley moved off the rug and laid down the shadow on a wooden bench and shot it with another vial of nanomachines.


    "What is going on here?"


    ["Ah Rouge~ Or Solaris I apologize¡­ Wait! That can wait for now please help me with this first!"]


    The high ranked nun had walked up on Alice before she noticed it and she quickly called out to her before noticing her state and then remembering the present situation as the shadow started bleeding for a third time.


    "Normally I would kill you for speaking like that to me, but this looks slightly problematic and should be handled first. If I stop what is causing the continued bleeding on my floor can you handle it from there?"


    ["Yes please!"]


    "Calm down, it''s simply some sort of magic tool."


    With a wave of her hand a complex runic pattern trapped in a thin layer of golden crystal appeared in the air over the shadow and started to shine for about 5 seconds before disappearing.


    "That should do it. Now please don''t make that creature bleed any more on my floor."


    Turning around to leave as the shadowy goo finally started to disintegrate, the nun made it about 5 steps before stopping as something metal hit the floor, coursing her to sigh deeply as she massaged her own temples.


    "Please tell me that''s not what I think it is.."


    ["It sadly is."]


    "... I should have wiped out this country years ago¡­."


    ["ICI let me out, I''m gonna puke."]

 Chapter 46 - Effects of the treaty

    "Are you sure father?"


    "Yes I am. We will recognize the Galactic Empire as a proof of good will to this Dax, and the church. Go immediately and draw up a treaty with them, bring only a single royal knight to be with you at all times."


    "Understood."


    Leaving her father''s personal office at the top of the central castle Teresa was smiling from ear to ear.


    (If at least half the things Dax told me turns out to be true that''ll propel the Kingdom to the foremost power on this continent!)


    She quickly made her way to the royal knight captain''s office in the castle and requested a knight to be assigned, then headed for the coathroom where she meet up with a royal knight.


    "Please join me inside the carriage"


    "But my princess I can''t keep you safe like that, and are you sure that you''ll go with only me as your protection?"


    "I am certain. This is a visit were we can''t be allowed to appear hostile, besides I really like the stories of your people you told me last time Sophia."


    With those words the second princess assumed the discussion to be over and went into the carriage, leaving the door open. Giving a sigh Sophia carefully stepped into the luxurious horse carriage like it was made of glass. The inside of the carriage was normally in the part that it had a central table flanked by two benches, but that was the only normal thing about it. The benches were covered in super expensive looking linen with elaborate embroidery. Even the table was luxurious, made of some sort of hazy white crystal, with one end being a minibar filled with different coloured liquids in crystal pitchers. Sitting down extremely carefully as the carriage started moving Sophia immediately asked a pressing question.


    "Are you sure it''s fine for me to be in here?"


    As the royal knight nervously stepped into the luxurious carriage she took off her full mail helmet and revealed her obsidian skin and bright red eyes.


    "It''s fine yeah, you are here only in case we get jumped by some sort of bandit before we get close to the church."


    "And after that?"


    "Then I don''t believe you could save me even if you sacrificed yourself to do so."


    "In that case!-"


    "This is a mission of goodwill, such risks are involved. Now tell me more about your tribe!"


    Finally showing her true colours and acting her age, Teresa eagerly asked Sophia details about her tribe.


    Arriving at the central church Teresa stepped out of the carriage to find the church doors wide open and not a single church guard or cloaked figure in sight.


    "This is quite the empty reception compared to last time."


    "Please stay close, something feels off¡­"


    As the royal knight diligently surveyed the surrounding area she found no treat, but was still quite on edge.


    "Perhaps it would be better to return at some other time?"


    "We can''t, his majesty told me that this new treaty should be drawn up immediately. Besides this is the central church, it''s the safest place in Kingsted after the castle."


    Walking along as she said that, Therasa made it to the stairs in front of the church door before stopping as she steeped in blood.


    "What is this?"


    "Blood! We need to leave now!"


    Seeing the trail of blood that leaded to the church Sophia panicked as she grabbed the princess arm and turned back towards the carriage, only to notice they had been completely surrounded by cloaked figures.


    "Seems like we can''t do that.. Let''s just see what they want."


    "But!-"


    "That is a royal decree."


    "Okay, but stay close."


    Not really pleased with the situation, Sophia did her job and lead her princess up the blood soaked stairs. As soon as they entered the church the knight and princess froze in terror. Inside the church the blood trail ended in a massive pool a few meters in, but either of them hardly noticed that as their eyes were drawn to the main altar. On the most sacred altar made of pure white marble lined with gold sat a nun that released a large amount of bloodl.u.s.t as wings made of golden crystal slowly formed on her back. Next to her was the man Theresa went to the church to find originally, but he didn''t look pleased with their arrival either.


    "I am!-"


    "This country''s second princess right? Why are you here?"


    As the princess tried to announce herself she was interrupted by the nun that asked her reason for coming in a annoyed voice.


    "I-I''m here to draw up the base for a treaty of cooperation between the Kingdom and Galactic Empire!"


    "..."


    Being initially meet with silence Teresa started to grow nervous until the nun suddenly got up from her seat as her wings disappeared.


    "You handle this."


    As she left with those words the attention of the knight and princess pair turned to Dax that had up until now been silent. Without saying a word Dax tossed some sort of metal collar covered in blood to Sophia as he finally opened his mouth.


    "I was attacked a few hours ago by a mind controlled royal knight, and 6 assassins all wearing these."


    "A mind controlled royal knight?"


    "Yeah, he was completely rabid so I knocked him out cold, but enough of that. Now for the important question miss second princess."


    "W-what?"


    "Does the Kingdom have anything to with the production, useage or distribution of slavery collars? Failure to answer, a affirmative or a lie will lead to your immediate death so take your time~"


    While asking the second princess a red glowing blade slowly extended from Dax''s artificial arm while Terasa and Sophia was surrounded by multiple golems.


    "S-slavery collars? Is this!?"


    Feeling immense disgust when she heard it being mentioned at first, it took Sophia half a second to realize it before she hurriedly rubbed the blood of the collar she had been thrown to reveal a runic pattern surrounding a ominus mana crystal, but Teresa didn''t even hear her outburst as she bore the fill blunt of Dax''s direct bloodl.u.s.t. It was nothing like the first time they had meet, leading Terasa to believe that that time indeed had been a mare greeting. She felt her blood freeze as a chill went up her spine and her head turned hazy from her greatly increased heart rate and adrenaline as her legs almost gave out. ''This time he''s serious, I''m going to die'' went through her head repeatedly as her legs finally gave out and tears formed in the corners of her eyes as she finally answered Dax''s question.


    "N-n-no! W-we ha-have n-nothing to do w-with it!"


    Half crying Terasa finally managed to deny the Kingdom''s involvement with slavery collars as Sophia went in between her and Dax to guard her while explaining.


    "A attempt on Teresa''s life was the reason they were banned! We have nothing to do with them!"


    In response to Sophia''s outburst Dax''s arm went back to normal and the golems backed off.


    "Then clean up your shit before I do it for you. The Kingdom have until tomorrow evening to hand over all responsible for this pathetic and f.u.c.k.i.n.g disgusting attempt on my life or I''ll take care of them myself. A treaty of cooperation can happen when you fulfill all parts of the Avoxaian treaty, now get the f.u.c.k out of my sight before I decide it''s just easier to take control of this shithole."


    ---


    Teresa didn''t know how she got back to the castle after that, but she was later told that Sophia had carried her to the carriage and then called for a emergency gathering of the counsel regarding a doc.u.ment she had been handed on the way out of the church.


    THIS IS A FORMAL NOTICE OF IMMEDIATE MILITARY ACTION WITHIN KINGSTED TO ERADICATE INSURGENT ELEMENTS.


    ON THE 21ST DAY OF THIS MONTH AT SUNDOWN MILITARY FORCES OF THE 125TH HELLWALKERS WILL DEPLOY AND ERADICATE THE CRIMINAL ORGANIZATION(S) AND/OR INSURGENT ELEMENTS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE SALE, DISTRIBUTION, PRODUCTION AND/OR USE OF SLAVERY TYPE MAGIC TOOLS AS ANY TOOL THAT CONTRIBUTES TO A BREACH OF THE AVOXAIAN TREATY MUST BE PURGED, ALONG WITH ANY GOVERNMENTAL INSTITUTIONS SUPPORTING IT IF NEEDED.


    IF THE KINGDOM WISHES TO AVOID THIS ANY AND ALL PERSONNEL INVOLVED WITH THE SALE, DISTRIBUTION, PRODUCTION AND/OR USE OF SLAVERY TYPE MAGIC TOOLS MUST BE HANDED OVER TO THE COMMANDER IN CHARGE OF THE 125TH HELLWALKERS BEFORE SUNDOWN OF THE 21ST DAY OF THIS MONTH AND ALL SLAVERY TYPE MAGIC TOOLS MUST BE DESTROYED.


    "That is just a blatant declaration of war!"


    "He has no respect for our authority!"


    "I thought we already wiped out that organization when they tried to kill the second princess two years back!?"


    "The 21st!? What the hell does he expect us to do in a single day!?"


    "This is merely a ploy to take control of the Kingdom! We must kick him out at once!!"


    "That''s right! He must be plotting with the church and made up that pathetic reasoning!"


    "He even traumatized the second princess so badly she couldn''t speak!"


    "Let''s call back the prince and the elite forces from the north and use them to kill him!"


    Understandably the counsel was quite upset with that statement, and the discussion quickly heated up to unreaseble levels, making the king intervene.


    "Silence! What is the church''s opinion of this bishop?"


    "The opinion of the church is to snuff out heresy without fail, but Solaris herself decided that this matter should be left to Dax after he talked Solaris out of paying a visit to this town and cleaning it in person."


    """In person!?"""


    It had been close to a hundred years since a angel had left the sanctuary, but the records of the ''cleaning'' of that time had been burned so thoroughly into the history books that everyone knew of the angels might.


    "This might be a blessing in disguise.."


    "Wha!- Princess, are you okay!?"


    At some point during the discussion Terasa had entered the council room, instead of her normal clothing she wore a pink nightgown and she still looked very pale, but her eyes showed her usual strong will.


    "Are you fine?"


    "Yes.. Is what I would like to say guild master Max, but that hardly matters for I''m also a member of the council."


    With those words she was helped by a maid to her seat and the council momentarily turned completely silent to await the continuation of her earlier words.


    "Um so were where we?"


    "You said something about this entire thing being a blessing?"


    "That''s right. The Galactic Empire called us out on what they thought was us breaking the Avoxaian treaty, if that turns out to not only be wrong and we turn over the masterminds we''ll have leavege over Dax. If we do nothing he''ll wipe out a criminal element from Kingsted, and still have to apologize when he finds out we had nothing to due with the attack earlier today. In either case it''s a win-win for us as long as we can save face."


    "T-that''s true¡­ But wouldn''t it be best if we catch the criminals ourselves and then hand them over for execution?"


    "Indeed. For that I would ask your highness to mobilize of the royal knights against suspect targets in a surprise raid tomorrow morning."


    Having revealed her entire plan all eyes shifted from the second princess to the king that closed his eyes for a few seconds before handing out a decision.


    "Very well, it seems that the group that tried to kill my adorable daughter popped up once more and attacked a foreign diplomat.. I want them completely destroyed and survivors handed over as an apology. With that this emergency meeting is over."


    The following day would go down in Kingdom history. From early morning countless brothels, casinos and bars were raided by knight squads and a record arrests happened, but only a few arrested seemed connected to the incident that happened a day before. A hour before sundown that day 3 criminals were gathered up and transported to the central church, there they were lined up on their knees as Dax emerged from the church.


    "We have gathered the masterminds!-"


    "2 mid level cell leaders and a courier huh.. They are hardly the masterminds, but this is good enough for now."


    After looking the criminals over Dax walked up to the middle one and addressed the knight responsible for handing the criminals over.


    "Can I do what I want with these?"


    "Go ahead, we have already judged them guilty."


    "Okay then. Those two are not as interesting, but this one is relatively unknown to me¡­ Well, let''s take a look."


    [CONFIRMED, READY FOR DIRECT INTELLIGENCE EXTRACTION: ALL OFFENCIVE FIREWALLS READY.]


    "That one burned all his doc.u.ments as we arrested him so we planned to make him talk somehow."


    "So he really knows something interesting.. Good work, I''ll handle it from here."


    "IF YOU THINK I''LL TALK TO YOU LESSER!-"


    As the criminal started to scream at Dax he was interrupted as Dax grabbed him by the head with his artificial arm and lifted him into the air.


    "Who said anything about talking? If you wanted to keep your secrets hidden from the Galactic Empire you should just have stayed under your rock like the bug you are¡­ ICI commence extraction."


    [CONFIRMED, CONNECTION ESTABLISHED. NOW EXTRACTING CEREBRAL DATA.]


    After ICI''s report the criminal suddenly started screaming in pain as he spasmed in Dax''s arm for about 10 seconds before going limp as Dax tossed the now lifeless husk aside.


    [RAW CEREBRAL DATA EXTRACTED, NOW PROCESSING 2.5 PETABYTES OF RAW DATA...¡­. COMPLETED. DATA SHOWS 4 ADDITIONAL INSURGENT ELEMENTS.]


    "Fascinating.. If I was the Kingdom I would make sure that all civilians stay indoors for tonight."

 Chapter 47 - Wetwork

    In the dead of night near the innermost wall of Kingsted a single figure clad in all black clothing silently jumped over a wall to a low ranking nobles mansion. Landing without a noise, the figure hurriedly moved to a detached building a bit away from the main mansion and broke a window without a sound and then entered inside. Silently walking inside almost barefooted, the figure made no sound as she silently searched for the right room as she went over all the instruction she had received from her teacher.


    (First confirm the target is present¡­)


    Moving down a hidden stairway she quickly found her what she was looking for, but she was not happy about it.


    (Shit¡­ F.u.c.k this.)


    Simply put it was a dungeon, and not the kind were one had a safe word. Blood had stained the walls and floor so many times it had become part of the decor. Half rusted chains and shackles was nailed to the walls and the stench of blood, piss and feces was almost unimaginable. Inside was a single figure/prisoner no older than 15 years old, she was completely n.a.k.e.d and covered in deep wounds all over her body with a metal collar around her neck.


    "F.u.c.k."


    The prisoners eyes were wide open and blood stained tears had long since ceased as she had undoubtedly died in extreme pain during what must have been days of continues torture.


    ["Stay calm Terra."]


    "I know. What are the orders?"


    ["Full purge, ICI will handle the logistics"]


    "Roger."


    ["And please burry that soul when you''re done."]


    As her teachers communication cut off she went over to the dead prisoner and closed her eyes.


    "Rest in peace."


    turning towards the door out of the dungeon Terra seemed to hear something before hurriedly hiding next to the door. And after a few seconds somebody opened the door.


    "Time for some more instruction!"


    In walked a single man wearing leather armor. He had an overall rugged look, and quickly walked over to the prisoner as he hit a metal pipe on the floor multiple times while walking over.


    "I brought a new toy for this session! If you give me some more cute screams I''ll give you some food, how about that!?"


    Hitting the metal pipe multiple times into the floor in an attempt to rattle up his victim he got till about a meter from the n.a.k.e.d girl before noticing something was wrong.


    "Hey this no time to be sleeping!"


    Poking the girl a few times with the metal pole a few time he then hit her in the gut with force behind it this time, prompting no reaction.


    "Tsk, I told them elfs were weaker than bestkin.. but at least the copse is still fresh so we can-"


    suddenly finding himself unable to speak the man looked down to see himself getting covered in his own blood that streamed from his throat. Collapsing without a single word or scream the man slipped into the void, the last thing he ever saw was a figure clad completely in black that seemed to absorb the light.


    "Piece of shit."


    Flicking the blood off her knife she immediately left the dungeon after letting the girl down from the wall, Terra breathed a deep sigh before leaving. Moving back up the stairs hidden behind a hidden doorway, Terra calmed down for a second and then went on with her task at hand. Quickly moving around the estate and avoiding nighttime patrols, she found herself in front of the main bedroom. Opening the door slowly, she suddenly realized something was wrong and jumped backwards before the door was destroyed with a magic spell.


    "Guards!!"


    (Shit.)


    As wooden fragments flew past her head Terra drew her knife before she was hit by something and was thrown clean out of the 3rd floor window behind her.


    "I''m spotted."


    Landing without issue in a lavished garden Terra was immediately surrounded by what seemed to be elite private guards.


    "What the hell are you doing in my house!?"


    Looking down from above her was the mansion lord, about 35 years of age his look was still relatively young, but starting to show his age. He wore a robe that failed to show his loss of shape and he seemed to be enraged as his head looked like a tomato to the intruder.


    (CELL LEADER LOCATED. DO YOU REQUIRE ASSISTANCE, Y/N?)


    (Get out of my head.)


    "I want it alive!"


    Dropping her knife the guards saw it as a sign of surrender, and one of them closed in with metal handcuffs.


    "Now play nice and we will too."


    ["You stink. I can smell it through this mask, and it''s f.u.c.k.i.n.g environmentally sealed."]


    "Wha!-"


    Speaking through a voice scrambler Terra created a single split second opening, and that was all she needed. With fast and smooth moments Terra closed in on the guard and grabbed his throat, before ripping the out thyroid and serval pulse veins surrounding the now exposed adams apple, covering herself and the surrounding area in blood and spreading chaos among the guards. Even though Dax had only thought Terra live combat for a few days she had been a quick study, that combined with the at the time spent on seemingly meaningless lessons in biology she had received regularly since becoming his student finally held meaning.


    (First create a gap, drop a useless weapon or something to destroy the system. When I talk about systems I mean any scale of system, from the biological process that makes your individual enemy able to hurt you to the organizational and psychological link that make your enemies able to hurt you utilizing teamwork. Then exploit the system error, a lapse in judgement for example, to further destroy the construct that is a treat. Make them bleed, scream and/or cry, anything that breaks up their teamwork. After that point it''s just a matter of cleaning up.


    This is in essence the basic system that governs a part of qiton close quarters combat, you should be able to master it somewhat within a year, then we move on to the good stuff.)


    Remembering her teachers introduction to what made her own prior training suddenly seem like the fighting of toddlers, Terra used what she leaned for the first time against ''live'' targets, to a terrifying effect.


    "DEMONKIN!"


    "DON''T BREAK RANKS!"


    (Commander found.)


    Hearing the suddenly increased heart rates around her, Terra quickly sorted the combat able foes form the ones soiling their pants and identified the one to take out first. Tossing the windpipe she had ripped out of the first guard at another guard''s face to ''pacify him'' (Break his psyche), Terra dashed at her next target with a rolling motion and picked up her knife in the progres before activating strengthening magic in her arms to jump, turning the commanders head to mush with a kick as she landed on the wall of the main estate a second later and launched off that to massacre more guards.


    "What the f.u.c.k was that!?"


    Rushing through his estate the mansion lord followed by his closet guard hurried to grab his most bare essentials and escape with his life.


    "F.U.C.K!"


    Watching what he had build over 20 years fall apart in no more than a minute, the successful merchant was understandably upset as he charged out the backdoor to get away from the sudden attackker.


    "SHIT! What the hell do I bribe the town guards for!?"


    ["You mean Jack and Thomas? They''re kinda too dead to care about stuff like that"]


    As he had finally made it to the outer fance, the mansion lord was cut off by the same assailant that had just killed most of his guards, evident by her being covered in blood.


    "F.U.C.K! What do you want? I''ll triple whatever you''re payed to do this."


    ["Not interested."]


    "Then die! Kill her now!"


    Responding to the order, the mansion lord''s personal guard suddenly rushed out from behind him to meet Terra with a sword.


    (Khu! Strong!)


    Locking blades with her attacker, even with her newfound strength Terra slid backwards a few steps before digging into the grass. The merchants personal guard was a demonkin, clearly seen by her ash white skin she looked to be 20 years of age. Terra identified her as a high class demonkin by her completely black eyes and 1 meter long eagle like wings at her center of mass with 2 pairs of slightly chipped 10 centimeter long white horns extending upwards were her almost completely cut down hair meet her forehead.


    "HAHAHAha! You like her!? I got this high class demon trash especially to deal with people like you! Now kill the pest!"


    "***"


    Responding with a short word in some unknown language, the demon redoubled her offencive to kill the target her master designated with dead eyes and a fresh looking slavery collar around her neck.


    (F.u.c.k.)


    (VIP LOCATED. DO YOU REQUIRE ASSISTANCE FOR RECOVERY, Y/N?)


    (Don''t speak unless spoken to ICI I''m busy!)


    (CONFIRMED, PARTIAL MUTE IN EFFECT.)


    ["F.u.c.k off, you''re annoying!"]


    As the demon continuously launched attacks with her two handed sword and spells when Terra tried to open up the distance Terra found it surprisingly hard to deal with.


    "Come on kill the pest off and let''s go!"


    Seemingly not wanting to make his escape alone, the slave owner shouted to his property to finish off his assailant as he seemed to run out of patience as the once more locked blades. In response to the new order form her master, the demonkin seemed to become more desperate as her slavery collar around her neck assumed that she was ignoring orders and started tightening, that gave Terra the opening she had waited for. Suddenly releasing the grip on her knife she made her opponent slip as she rushed past her and prepared a syringe.


    "FUC!-"


    Not getting to utter the entire word before Terra closed the range, the slave owner was silenced as Terra dug her extended fingers into his neck and ripped off his head by pulling out the top his spine from his body while staping him in the eye with the syringe and then tossed the detached head over the outer fence about a meter behind him.


    ["ICI chatch!"]


    [ROGER.]


    Jumping off the fence to reorient herself quickly, Terra once more faced the now masterless slave, but no attack came. The demonkin woman now masterless and freed from her former masters direct mind control, but the last order issued was still valid, and failure to fulfill it meant that the slavery collar tightened fast.


    ["SHIT!"]


    Rushing towards the collapsing demonkin Terra quickly reached her and gr.a.p.ed the slavery collar with both hands in a attempt to slow the tightening.


    "T-thank¡­ Y-you"


    With her fading breath the demonkin thanked Terra as tears streamed down her face and she not so slowly asphyxiated, reminding Terra of the other demonkin slave she tried to kill herself with in that cursed forest and made her enrage.


    ["OH NO YOU F.U.C.K.I.N.G DON''T! ICI BRING THE RUNE NOW!"]


    [AFFIRMATIVE.]


    Calling for ICI as she saw the life rapidly drain from the demonkin, 4 cloaked figures appeared around her and one of them handed Terra a metal runestone while the other 3 tried to slow the demonkin''s choking.


    ["COME ON!"]


    Charging the rune with mana in record time, Terra pressed it to the fitted monster stone in the slavery collar as it started glowing bright yellow.


    "COME ON STAY WITH ME!"


    Tearing off her mask with her free hand Terra begged the gods and the demonkin not to die as the runestone slowly made the monster core in the collar break. After what seemed like an eternity the collar finally released as the control core broke and Terra rapidly staped the demonkin in the eye with a syringe like the one she used before.


    "ICI SAVE HER!"


    [AFFIRMATIVE, RETASKING ALL BLACK MATTER FOR OXYGEN REDISTRIBUTION AND EMERGENCY REPAIR¡­.. OPERATION SUCCESSFUL, PATIENT STABILIZED.]


    "Thank the gods¡­ I''ll clean up here so take her and the intel back home."


    [ORDERS CONFIRMED. NOW RECOVERING VIP AND INSURGENT LEADER THEN RETURNING TO BASE.]


    With the cloaked figures disappearing once more, taking the demonkin and the head of her former master with them Terra once more put on her mask to clean up the rest of the guards, and burry the poor soul she was too late for.


    ---


    In the same time period all over the city of Kingsted noble residences and warehouses were being broken into. The assailants seemed to know there way around the city as if they had been waiting to perform this grand massacre for years. They attacked with a violence not seen before in this world, seemingly at random they would kill merchants and lesser nobles in their sleep while at some times killing everything living in a area and at others decapitating a single individual and fading into the night with the head without alerting anyone else.

 Chapter 48 - Raid

    As the day dawned on the city of Kingsted it was a sea of blood. Countless mansions and warehouses had been turned into open centimetres, with countless deceased private soldiers litting all over the place without a single sign of a assailant to be found. There were even a single incident were a wife woke up to face her now headless husband in the bed right beside her. At 13 different plazas and town centers around the town bodies had been piled high, with a considerably more disturbing pile of contraband consisting of illegal drugs and banned magic tools, the most disturbing being the highly illegal slavery collars. Accompanying the piles of piles of copes and contraband was signs nailed to the floor, reading the exact same thing in the 3 most common languages of the Kingdom, being common, northern and demon tongue.


    TRAITORS OF THE KINGDOM GUILTY IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE INSURGENT ELEMENT THAT ATTACKED ITS NEW ALLY HAVE BEEN PURGED. REMAINING INSURGENTS WILL HAVE 1 WEEK TO HAND OVER ANY AND ALL CONTRABAND AND/OR SLAVES TO AVOID PUNISHMENT, IF NOT THEY WILL BE PURGED.


    SIGNED: INTEGRATED COMBAT INTELLIGENCE, HAVE A NICE DAY.


    GALACTIC EMPIRE, AI OPPERRATIONS.


    "I can''t even.."


    "Is he mocking us or is that a genuine response?"


    "I think it might be genuine..."


    Having gathered once more the council felt slightly deflated as what they had taught had happened, but in a way larger scale than they expected. The victims was above expectations, being in the low hundreds, with just counting the nobles and higher ranked merchants.


    "What about the merchants guild?"


    "By them being not present we should assume the worst."


    "Then let''s my daughters weger was worth it, summon Dax here immediately.. Let''s hope we can get something worthwhile out of this trade as we have passed the threshold. Anyone is free to join me in the throne room."


    The problem with the merchants guild not being present at the council meeting was that they do not represent a single nation. The merchants guild is a gathering of some 20 nations'' merchants that created a union to stop individual merchants from being taken advantage of without consequences (say a single individual killing some 50 members overnight). In prior examples of merchants being exploited or taken advantage of would lead to the guild abandoning countries and trade embargoes that lead to several nations to ruin. Not even a hour after the council meeting Dax appeared at the castle in formal wear, complete with black suit and eyepatch that seemed to absorb the surrounding light with a bright red tie and insignia on the eyepatch. Terra mimicked his appearance with black shades that completely closed off her bright red eyes instead of a eyepatch.


    "I am.. Somewhat more impressed."


    "Yeah, this is huge.. But why am I here?"


    Accompanied by Terra they both stared at the multiple spires, towers, castle walls and decorations they both saw for the first time up close.


    "Training. Basic qiton combat techniques mainly applies mainly to combat it can also be used to understand diplomacy. Also Alice is visiting her parents so fill in stuff for me via coms."


    "Okay.."


    With reluctance Terra rolled her eyes as a guard meet them and they were let inside the castle.


    "Hand over all weapons here."


    After passing countless halls and hallways the teacher and disciple pair were meet by a checkpoint with 6 people in red armor that released silent bloodl.u.s.t.


    "Hand over my weapons? Now that''s a contradiction.."


    "Dax just do it."


    "You know what a qi-"


    "Pleeeeease just do it."


    "Fine."


    As Terra had finished removing her pistol, 5 knifes and a brass knuckle she finally made Dax disarm.


    "If I see a single scratch on my stuff I will personally tear this country apart with my bare hands."


    With those words Dax removed his blazer jacket and took off pistol holster and then removed a bayonet from the jacket, then a knife from the jacket, then another knife from his boots, then a secondary pistol from his other boot. Slowly piling up weapons on the checkpoint table Dax made one of the guards sigh as Terra looked on and was looking more tired than ever. After a minute Dax had finally disarmed as the guards patted him down and he went through the checkpoint.


    "All the weapons."


    "..."


    "Weapons are forbidden beyond this point!"


    *Sigh*


    Going back to the checkpoint Dax removed his eyepatch.


    "Disconnect main 4 and after that port 1a."


    [AUTHENTICATION REQUIRED.]


    "Registration 044587356420"


    [DISCONNECTING MAIN SENSOR LINK..]


    With a click Dax''s artificial eye popped out and he placed it on the table before covering up his eye once more with the eyepatch, to the great surprise of the guards.


    "And main 4 please."


    With a following click Dax pulled out his artificial arm and placed it on the table before pulling off the sleeve as the suit seamlessly modified itself and closed up.


    "Don''t touch my stuff."


    "Come on leeets goooo."


    "Not. A. Single. Scratch."


    Leaving with a final warning, Dax and Terra were finally guided past more halls before reaching a grand reinforced double door on the scale of the one at the central church.


    "Announcing Dax Alpha 4 and Terra Williams!"


    With the giant doors opening the pair of visitors were greated to the main throne room of the castle.


    In one word: Huge.


    The marble roof that had been painstakingly hand painted in a world without flying drones sat some 10 meters above them supported by gigantic marble pillars and showed the history of the Kingdom with a enormous magical crystal chandelier in the center. The walls were covered in massive paintings of former kings and queens and epic battles, and the smoothly polished marble floor had a bright red carpet going down the center about 10 meters before leading to a series of stairs that then lead to the trones. The trones, all 4 of them were all elaborate masterpieces that had properly been made over several generations, had the king in the central, with his daughter to the side and the other chairs being empty. At each side of the trones long tables in solid wood had been placed and they were all lined with nobles and the nations elite as council members that all observed Dax. Walking to the beginning of the staircase Terra suddenly bowed down and took a knee while Dax remained standing, promoting an awkward silence.


    "Dax."


    "What?"


    "Bow down now."


    "Why?"


    "Just do it."


    "Nah."


    "Come on!"


    "Nah.."


    "Dax!"


    "Don''t feel like it."


    "What the hell are they talking about?"


    "Why is he not bowing?"


    "SILENCE!"


    After a minute or so of awkward silence the council also started speaking the king finally cut in and took control.


    "I welcome you, reprasenitive of the Galactic Empire. I see you bought someone along."


    "I accept your welcome, Henrik Vi Gruffydd VII. 19th ruler of the central kingdom, glad to see your daughter is in good health."


    "That will be the last time you mention my daughter after what you did."


    (Please don''t kill us please don''t kill us please don''t kill us please don''t kill us-)


    From the first sentence leaving Dex''s mouth Terra heard the king''s heartrate and blood pressure spike she silently started praying for no signature qiton violence.


    "I apologize. Your daughter has a great future ahead of her after remaining conscious 2 times after exposing her to my greetings."


    "What did you just say!?"


    Doing exactly what the king said he souldn''t do a second after the warning, the king was understandably outraged and royal guards closed in around Dax and Terra.


    "Here we go¡­"


    Mumbling silently to herself Terra prepared for the worst as she started working on a escape plan.


    "You will respect us as equals!"


    "Please understand that this in no way treatents me."


    "GUAR!-"


    "SI-RA NA ZA RI!!"


    As the king was about to do something he would come to regret, Dax shouted so loud he made everyone unable to think and gave them a second to calm down before taking a deep breath and calmed down his overwhelming bloodl.u.s.t.


    "I feel like we got off on the wrong foot because of our different culture. Greetings, I am Dax of the Alpha 4 clan and leader of the 125th combined ops orbital drop troopers. I am aware that a recent upset with the merchants guild you stand to lose a large part of your gross domestic product trough loss of taxes and net export balance. I understand that I and the Empire are partly responsible for that and am prepared to compensate for the ongoing and future but temporary issues with the merchants guild and have prepared several plans to rectify that."


    "Gross domestic product?"


    After Dax''s ''reset'' and speak of improving the king''s mood by mentioning growth of the economy and unknown words.


    "A monetary measure of the market value of all the final goods and services produced over a year in this case. Basically what the nation ''earns'' in a year, to improve that I have several suggestions-"


    "Wait a second."


    As Dax was about to go into full corporate mode the king had summoned multiple scipes to record it all he realized something was wrong.


    "Yeah?"


    "You said current and future issues with the guild."


    "Ah that. A raid is currently underway at the harbor, I am in direct control. It will be short lived with minimum disturbance to the populace so don''t worry."


    In the warehouse district of Kingsted leading out to the large river of Pri, business was as daily with large amounts for cargo being moved in and out of the city. Dock Workers and logistic and inventory management had the constant issue of working out what was going where, when and in what quantities and movement of goods between warehouses was constant. But there were something wrong. Since the emergency council meeting were the Galactic Empire''s intent to clear out ''insurgent'' elements form Kingsted more goods had been going to a single warehouse than normal. It was of course being done in a way not to alert anyone, but when you can see all and do advanced pattern recognition and identify cell''s in a criminal organization as old as the Kingdom nothing is impossible, and the countless eyes in the sky saw it. A single warehouse was gathering goods that not once left their containers, and some of the larger wooden boxes had air holes.


    "Come on move it! We leave now!"


    The one organizing the effort was a highly ranked merchant and member of the council, currently in the progress of leaving the nation via the river Pri. The people he bossed around were not mare dockworkers, but private guards that was put to work outside their immediate knowledge, stating the current rush to leave the Kingdom.


    "No not that crate! Get this one instead, abandon the rest!"


    Having loaded the last horse cart the guards gathered up around it as they set off to the harbor were a state of the art cargo sh.i.p.s waited. Transport by sea had been the new hot thing the last 50 years as new technology had produced steam propelled sh.i.p.s that were vastly less expensive than one powered by monster cores, and faster than normal sailing sh.i.p.s. After hurriedly loading the 3 sh.i.p.s they set off and hurriedly set off from the coast.


    "I can''t believe we made it.. F.u.c.k.i.n.g monsters"


    The evacuation had been started about 20 hours earlier when the merchants guilds secret slave operation had been targeted with deadly precision.


    ["You honestly believe you could escape?"]


    "WHA!-"


    The second the merchant started relaxing he suddenly heard a strange voice behind him. Turing around the last thing he saw was his private guard being slaughtered by some sort of strange golems before he himself were grabbed by one and his vision turned dark.


    ["Thanks for gathering all your assets in one pile that''s easily to move."]


    [RAW CEREBRAL DATA EXTRACTED.]


    ["Let''s clean up then.. All Reapers in operational area switch to behavior pattern black, execute area purge."]


    [ALL REX-DETA 165-A25S REAPERS IN AO NOW SWITCHING TO BEHAVIOR PATTERN BLACK, AREA PURGE AND RECOVERY OF VIP''S IN EFFECT.]


    REX-Delta model 165-A25S Reaper.


    Developed doing the Iron race containment war, the model 165 is the only 5th generation modular assault drone on the open market. Standing at a height of 2 meters the model 165 is the largest and most powerful drone platform made by the Rex drone division (If you don''t count the absurd REX-86MK:XVII-TITAN) And the most modular ever made, being able to switch out every part of the platform to produce a tailor made mass production drone that fits any role. As a result almost all prior common drone platforms from Rex were abandoned and a plethora of configurations of the model 165 were developed by Rex themselves and 3rd party developers. It didn''t last long before the 125th combined ops orbital drop troops requested their own configuration of the model 165, and after a few months Rex industries made completed the model 165 assault veriant 25 special. The assault veriant 25 special that later became known as simply as the Reaper is a model made to fight in space and on land, and even orbital incursion, being able to survive planetfall unaided with ablative heat shielding in the form of tiles mounted on the outer armor. Only a week after the adoption and use by the 125th combined ops orbital drop troops they became known as Reapers of the Galactic Empire, a nickname by Iron forces that were lucky enough to survive facing them on the battlefield.


    [OPERATION BLUELIGHT COMPLETED: ALL INSURGENT ELEMENTS WIPED OUT.]

 Chapter 49 - Crucible of the Immortal (1)

    A 400 meter long maglev train zooms across the desert close to the speed of sound, it''s pure white and smooth surface contrasted the red sandstone wasteland as it few about half a meter above the ground powered by magnetic levitation. The last 2 train cars were different from the others, instead of white and reflective with large windows they were pure black and closed off, covered in alien block like writhing, reading: Military transport, property of combined ops orbital drop troopers. Inside the military train cars were completely dark, and densely packed with inative drones in storage pods. The pods were glass like, with metal reinforcements clearly showing the factory fresh drones suspended in a see-through gel like substance for later transport off world, they were of a brand new type, made to survive atmospheric reentry without assistance being mostly covered in ablative armor tiles. In the civilian car closest restricted military cars was a economy class, packed full of families and long range commuters. They all sat in pairs of 6, two rows of seats surrounding a single large table with closets for luggage above them, 4 tables in 2 by 2 cubes were layered in two stories, with a lounge every few ''cubes'' containing a small bar and a cafe in every train car that housed about a hundred people. One of the compartments were a special kind of awkward, on one side were quiet pair with a 5 year old girl in between them, on the other side was a orbital marine in full military dress, currently cleaning a high caliber handgun with extreme care.


    The marine had gotten on the train about 2 hours ago when the train had stopped completely unannounced in the middle of the red desert and had hooked on some unknown cargo to the rear. He had gotten on without a word, and for the first hour he had just sat on the opposite side of the table in silence and looked out at the endless red deseret, but suddenly he took out his pistol. Quickly extracting the chambered round he then removed the magazine and then extracted the rounds from the magazine, and then lined them up all the rounds up in a neat pattern in front of him. After lining up the rounds he then started disassembling the pistol, removing the slide and extracting the action he further disassembled that with the help of a small tool bag he suddenly had from somewhere, and quickly ended up with a slew of small mechanical parts arranged in some unknown symmetrical and oddly pleasant pattern. Having finished up disassembling the handgun the marine took of his white insigmaless peaked cap, revealing his short cut dark hair underneath. After also loosening his tie slightly and unbuttoning a single button on the shirt below he took out a small handkerchief with a small sigh and started polishing the small metal parts, a task he was still busy with after one and a half hours.


    "Mom what is he doing?"


    "Shh Amy!"


    "It''s okay ma''am I''m not that easily distracted, I must have done this about a million times by now so I know this gun pretty much by heart."


    Proving his point the marine looked up from his work and gave the child a warm smile while he still continued to work polishing the gunparts. After a hour he finally finished up and put the handgun back together. When he looked up he noticed that the star had long since set, and the people around him had all converted their seating to beds and went to sleep. Designing that he didn''t really need to sleep, the marine went down to the bar that was manned by a automated drone, quickly looking over the selection the marine ordered.


    "Rum #3, neat"


    Passing his military id over a glowing spot on the bar, the marine was served a pure golden rum that he quickly tasted and then downed.


    "Rum #3, neat. Make it a double"


    Once more ordering some rum the marine was served a larger glass of rum that he slowly enjoyed. Taking out his bayonet the marine started examining it closely, then he wielded it in a normal grip, then rapidly switched to a reverse grip.


    "Way too slow.."


    Switching between reverse and normal grip rapidly as his newly installed artificial arm started glitching the marine increased in speed, seemingly trying to be faster than some unknown goal, but all of a sudden he was covered in a exo suit and he found himself on a lunar surface.


    ["2-4, contact rear, 5 o''clock 10 meters!"]


    Reacting to the callout the marine rapidly turned around in low in the low gravity while kicking up moon dust, turning and then pouncing forward while drawing his bayonet he saw an enemy soldier trying to steady his aim on him in the low gravity. Combat in extremely low gravity looks more like a slow motion acrobatic dance than a fight to the death, still shackled by gravity but not enough to make high speed maneuvers the combatants are forced to move slowly and nearly hug the ground as to not accidentally expose themselves in the air to be killed by rifle fire. Firearms are not the optimal solution ¨ªn extremely low gravity however, as the high recoil proves problematic unless specialized equipment is used.


    "Too slow!"


    Managing to close the range before the enemy brought his rifle to bare on him, the marine switched his bayonet to a reverse grip and slashed the throat of the hostile soldier, making blood crystals spray out due to the large pressure and temperature difference.


    "Hostile eliminated."


    Giving out a almost machinelike callout, the marine sheathed his bayonet and checked the surroundings, before jumping back to his original position where he picked up a high caliber rifle he had dropped earlier.


    "2-4 operational again and on station, ready for targets with REX-144-3."


    REX-144-3 Custom


    A design of necessity as the Galactic Empire was rushed into a war with mostly obsolete weapons, the Rex-144-3 custom is a design combining many elements from earlier designs to make a long range rifle to use in low or no grav environments. The Rex 144-3 is 2 and a half a meters long and relatively thin high caliber smart rifle with a dull black shine that interfaces with standart Empire marine exo suits, allowing it to fire even if the person manning it can''t physically press the trigger due to the exo suit. Purpose Built for low grav deployment the 144 dash 3 custom has a series of recoil canceling cold gas thrusters mounted at its center of mass, allowing for deployment of extremely heavy laser guided smart rounds.


    ["2-4 this is central, heavy counter battery still present, making ship class precision artillery impossible. Unit 4 is having some problems with a armored exoskeleton, orient to heading 155 and ready for immediate firemission."]


    "2-4 rogers, standby"


    As the marines helmet lit up with a compass and data from the high caliber rifle he wonder how a group of rebelling farmers could afford such heavy equipment.


    "2-4 to command, ready for firemission, recoil system engaged, standing by for target data."


    ["Central copies, unit 4 lasing target, standby for firemission"]


    "Confirmed, 2-4 going hot, ready for target at heading 155."


    Having confirmed that the rifle was ready for fire, the marine lit up the recoil control system and waited for final target data as the rifle was locked to its current orientation by a series of cold gas thrusters


    ["2-4 firemission confirmed, target is hot, send 1."]


    "This is 2-4, sending 1 times 159 mm AD-LBD HEAT. Firing now."


    Squeezing the inside of his exo suit the rifle covered the marine''s surroundings in exhaust gas and kicked up moondust as it fired a single high caliber anti tank smart round.


    "1 outgoing, telemetry good, confirm satellite handshake."


    Watching the round quickly moving towards the horizon, the marine confirmed operation of it as he spotted multiple small attitude control thrusters on the round light up.


    ["Targeting satellite handover confirmed, 10 seconds to final guidance¡­. 2-4 firemission going terminal.. Target down. Good work 2-4, relocate and reset"]


    "Can''t sleep?"


    Suddenly finding himself back on the train, the marine was startled out of his memories as a woman called out to him.


    "Marines sleep when they''re dead, didn''t you know that?"


    "Ara, that''s true."


    "Can I buy you a drink?"


    "Sure~ I''ll have what your drinking."


    "Okay then, can I get another number #3 rum neat."


    Once more ordering a drink, the marine passed it to his conversation partner as the glass cracked when his new artificial arm glitched.


    "Shit, sorry. Let me get you a new-"


    "You know what, I''m good."


    (F.u.c.k..)


    As his hand kept glitching he put down the cracked glass he felt enraged over his lack of control he was forced to remember the mistakes that let him to lose the arm in the first place.


    "A invasion with actual feet on the ground sir?"


    "That''s right. The Gemini system is quite problematic, especially Gemini 5. The planet is not really that noteworthy, being a pretty average type 2 rocky world with breathable atmosphere but some kind of anomaly emerged while the Irongate industrial tried to mine the core."


    Bringing up a hologram, the marine and other officers floated closer to an AR projector in the briefing room.


    "The problem is the magnetic field, after the failed mining attempt the planet was abandoned as a the field increased to a extreme magnitude, making high bandwidth communication from orbit to the surface and large scale drone control impossible. This is where you guys come in. We will land a tactical class control drone control and command cruiser inside the disruption field barrier that forms in the upper atmosphere and use it to bounce commands around the planet."


    "Inside the planet''s atmosphere!?"


    "Wait, land a tactical class drone command center on a hostile planet!?"


    The reason for the marines displeasure was the current doctrine of war. Tactical class drone command centers are among the largest sh.i.p.s one can find in the Empires navy, but does almost universally lack anything more than the most basic defenses with most of the outer hull dedicated to communication equipment as they were usually surrounded by tight defensive formations by escort sh.i.p.s. Sending such a ship anywhere near a hostile planet would normally be a insane suggestion, let alone landing one on a enemy planet.


    "I know it would normally be out of the question, but the new lancer class is both smaller and more nimble than previous sh.i.p.s. Plus it''s able to land planetside without assistance."


    Smaller, as the commander called it was a relative statement. As the Rex command and control ship Lancer was still over half a kilometer long and multiple hundreds of meters wide.


    "Why don''t we just ignore the system altogether? It''s barely inside Irongate space and as you said, mostly abandoned. Wouldn''t it be better to just block off the system and starve the defenders?"


    "We simply can''t do that. Irongate seemed to have planned for this war for a while, and have turned the planet with a natural barrier against invaders into a independent and self sufficient fortress and garrisoned a navy deep inside the planet."


    "So we can''t simply blockade or bombard it, nor send in drones?"


    "Exactly, a full and manned assault is needed to secure LZ for the Lancer. Now I know this is a shit job, but we need to do it. Break out your squads and make sure your will is written, we jump and deploy in 1 hour, I need you marines in transports at that point!"


    "SIR, YES SIR!"


    Leaving the briefing room the marine hurriedly made his way to the assault hangar were he quickly located his group, consisting of some 50 rangers stood in front of 6 landing craft with their occupying pilots.


    "On me!"


    Instead of standing in front of the marines the officer went into the middle of them as they formed a circle around him and awaited his next words.


    "I''ll do all you shiney''s a favor and cut the shit up front, this is the worst job possible. We''re doing a manned invasion of a heavy fortified planet, and this unit is first wave, not the tinheads. As if that wasn''t enough of a f.u.c.k.i.n.g shitfest we''re guarding the eggheads in their shiny new ship as it''s gonna land after us. Any questions?"


    "SIR!"


    "Yes, sargent Jacob?"


    "SIR! permission to speak freely sir!"


    "Granted."


    "Lieutenant are you taking a piss?"


    "Sadly not sargent. Now I know all off you shiney''s are brand new off the academy and eager to do some hurt, but the mission is in the end to survive and lose that shine so you all get to shout at your own recuts at some point. This will not be as they taught you at the academy! Some of you will die even before even making it planetside! But I will do my utmost to make sure that is a few as possible! To that end I''ve taken the liberty of slightly restructuring the jump profile, are you guys with me!?"


    """""SIR, YES SIR!"""""


    "Now time for the fun part. Break up and eqip zero G maneuver gear and remember to wear your vests and diapers, we''re doing a open planetfall! This ship jumps in 56 minutes, get ready!"


    With the briefing concluded the marine grunts split up and went to get their equipment, and as engineers bolted cold gas maneuver thrusters and thermal tiles to their already bulky deployment exo suits some of them started to wonder what they were doing.


    "Why do we need thermal tiles?"


    The marine gunts question to the engineer made him stop for a second before a grin appeared on his face.


    "He did tell you to bring a diaper right?"


    "Yeah?"


    "That''s because your going a ''open'' jump. You might not have covered it at the academy, a open is jumping with the landing craft, not inside them."


    "What the f.u.c.k!?"


    "Yeah those Qitons come up with some insane stuff huh? I really hope you brought your diaper."

 Chapter 50 - Crucible of the Immortal (2)

    ["Jump complete, now depressurizing main assault hangar. Godspeed."]


    As the hangar depressurized, all external sounds slowly went away with the assault and landing craft slowly powering up.


    The landing sh.i.p.s were of the CAS-7 type, a VTOL capable variable-sweep wing tilt engine supersonic transport order made for the Galactic Empire marines. Being 16 meters long with a folded out wingspan of 10 meters its by no means the largest craft to serve as a landing craft, but it was the most maneuverable at the time. For propulsion it was fitted a 12th generation VSIMR electrothermal propulsion engine at the each tip of its wings that could rotate 360 degrees independently of the wing and be used as a propulsion unit in space when the wings were swept back fully, and to land vertically on planets with high gravity when the wings were fully extended.


    As the hangar had been depressurized completely, the large external hangar bay blast shields slowly opened to the void of empty space outside. With the external blast shields open the landing and fire support sh.i.p.s slowly left the hanger and formed up in clumps together. After the 10 some carrier sh.i.p.s had deployed all their invasion craft the space around was filled with hundreds of gatherings of smaller sh.i.p.s in formation around them the carrier sh.i.p.s started to disassemble into smaller sh.i.p.s, revealing them to be a gathering of smaller destroyers pushing a relatively inexpensive shellwork that formed the carrier bay. After abandoning the carrier shells the destroyers formed up in front of the formation to cover the smaller sh.i.p.s as they deployed large radiators.


    ["All sh.i.p.s in assault formation. Deploying reflective barrier"]


    Finally in assault formation a sort of fied spread out about 50 kilometers in front of the formation of some 1000 sh.i.p.s that accelerated towards the ever growing gray planet, and not a second to late.


    ["Incoming!"]


    [509.603 PROJECTILES DETECTED, TASKING ANTI GRAV DRIVES IN FORMATION..]


    "That voice is f.u.c.kking creepy.."


    "Of course it is sargent, it''s an AI."


    "Why are we using AI?"


    "Can you calculate the trajectories of half a million projectiles in a split second to find out which will hit us?"


    "Noted. But the voice is still so eerie"


    "There''s no reason to spend defence budget to make it sound s.e.xy just so you can get it off in the landing craft sarge."


    "That''-"


    "Something just passed us!"


    "Yeah of course, why spend energy on something that''s gonna miss?"


    "It''s not gonna come back around and hit us?"


    "Nope, that one is bound for deep space. Any second they''re gonna realize it''s not working, stuff is only gonna get more dicy from here."


    As the chatter in one of the landing craft once more quieted down so did the attack.


    "They stopped.."


    "That is not good.."


    "Why is that Sir?"


    "It means they''re switching up tactics¡­ Fuc-"


    Cutting himself off the marine officer launched himself forward inside his CAS-7 and reached the pilots, were he ripped the headset off one of them.


    "My birds get ready to break formation! Command Command, this is Alpha-7! Deploy caff immediately!!"


    ["This is command, please restrict-"]


    "Classified intel suggest enemy forces utilize AITC-HEL in defensive formations! All units deploy caff and smoke NOW!"


    ["AITC-HEL? That''s nonsensical, they don''t have the budget for that kind of hardware. Wait what is th?!-"]


    As the commander''s voice suddenly cut off one of the sh.i.p.s in the back of the formation suddenly started melting and then immediately blew up, spreading chaos among the formation.


    ["What was tha!-"]


    ["Command down! Com-"]


    ["Abort landi-"]


    "Everyone shut the f.u.c.k up! It''s a AITC-HEL! Deploy caff and smoke now!"


    ["Who the f.u.c.k are you!?"]


    "Lieutenant Dax of the 125th combined ops orbital drop troopers! Now before you guys call the usual shit about there only being 100 battalion''s of that kind let me just do this. Callsign LIMA INDIGO ECHO 144 DELTA! Now invoking emergency reformatting of command and control structure!"


    [RIGHT OF PASSAGE CONTROL PROTOCOL CONFIRMED. COMMANDER DAX OF THE 125TH WETWORK OPERATIONS COMMAND NOW IN CONTROL. ALL UNITS NOW UNDER OATH OF CONFIDENTIALITY. 125TH WERE NEVER PRESENT, NOR DO THEY EXIST, FAILURE TO COMPLY WILL RESULT IN ''ACCIDENTS''.]


    "Did the creepy AI just threaten us?"


    "...Yeah it did¡­"


    "I repeat! Enemy controls one or more anti invasion tactical class high energy lasers! All units deploy caff and smoke then shift formation NOW!"


    As a second ship in the formation blew up Dax had finally put himself in command of the invasion.


    ["Second division deploying caff and switching to formation sigma."]


    ["This is first division, caff and smoke out. Recommend tactical retreat."]


    ["Third division is taking heavy casualties! Also recommending fallback maneuver!"]


    "Stay on target! Firesupport light those f.u.c.kkers up now!"


    ["48 AITC-HEL units located, commencing counter battery"]


    "I want them nuked so bad you can see their irradiated corpse''s glow in the f.u.c.kking dark!"


    ["Firesupport confirms, painting grid''s 34-g5, 19-l2, 22-u4, 99-r3. First volly out, splash 20 seconds"]


    Opening up the counter fire, the destroyers at the front of the formation sent out a volley of tactical thermonuclear missiles that quickly reached the atmosphere and lit up like small christmas lights hitting the upper atmosphere at speeds above mach 60.


    ["5, 4, 3, 2, 1, splash. Targets hit, standing by for additional fire orders."]


    In a split second the small christmas lights lit up like stars and painted a large part of the planetary defences in deadly radioactive fallout for the next 200 million years.


    "Good, give me a bunker buster on grid 21-w4 too."


    ["Affirm use of exitoc matter annihilation"]


    "Yeah do it, just in case they thought we were sorry."


    ["Confirmed. Sending one times ''apocalypse by fire'' prototype antimatter warhead, splash 20... 4, 3, 2, 1, splash."]


    This time there were only a single light, but simply describing it using the word ''light'' was a gross understatement. For a millisecond a supernova was present on the surface of Gemini 5, and as it disappeared it created hurricane speed winds on a scale that could only be described as apocalyptic.


    "Hold it at that, we don''t want to ignite the atmosphere. Separation is imminent, firesupport slingshot around the planet and join the second wave. LZ configuration haven''t changed, remember that all communication to space is blocked within Gemini 5 so we won''t know when backup arrives. All units are weapons free and to act on their own devices, stay alive and hold your ground."


    With Gemini 5 getting closer by the second Dax called for the firesupport ellements to split off and slingshot around the planet to join the second wave when it arrives. With the destroyers splitting off the formation only landing craft remained, and all of them slowly retracted their wings and readyed for orbital incursion under enemy fire, all except a single squad.


    "This is insane.."


    "Yeah it is, that''s what makes it so great. Now everybody out of the landing craft NOW!"


    """"SIR YES SIR""""


    As the group of CAS-7''s under Dax''s direct control was about to hit the upper atmosphere, the marines inside jumped out of the crafts, wearing their safety vests and diapers (Ablative heat shielding and a drogue parachute combination). With the marines and Dax ejected and free falling from outer space the pilots of the 6 landing craft all administered booster drugs and their seating rotated to turn upside down while blast shielding covered the black tinted glass windows.


    "Hit them fast, I would recommend a 30% increase to rush through the upper atmosphere, anything above that and the crafts won''t hold."


    ["Unit 1 confirmes, you qiton''s really come up with some insane stuff."]


    "I prefer the term ''fun''. And the Iron race was part of our military for 200 years, so we need to be a bit creative to surprise them."


    ["Roger. Form up on me, let''s have some fun!"]


    The basic idea behind a open style orbital insertion is simple really, to confuse the enemy and make them think the invading forces are not worth attacking or have already been disabled. Intercepting and/or shooting down invaders from space not only requires a considerable amount of resources and precision, so it''s often done by artificial intelligence. An AI looks for the optimal orbital incursion angle, speed and formation, so by doing something considered completely ''wrong'', it is possible to get past the first wave of defences, in theory. For example if a group of objects moving way too fast is followed by a bunch of smaller objects one would assume its debris, and not landing crafts speeding ahead to clear out a landing area followed by landing troops in exo suits.


    "They never saw it coming huh.."


    "Sure didn''t, is our commander actually a genius?"


    "He might be.. But still it''s partly due to our pilots, I''ve never heard of increasing ones mass with the grav drive to speed through the upper atmosphere and then lower it to slow down and wipe out the ground defences..."


    "Yeah that would definitely kill any passengers on board, meaby that''s why he told us to jump with the sh.i.p.s and not inside them.."


    Under normal circ.u.mstances slowly floating down in parachute above a hostile area would be a death threat, in fact it was so common to die if that happened the large white parachutes was nicknamed as diapers, due to marines shitting themself before being turned target practice by the defending forces. But that didn''t happen this time, in fact several of the marines leisurely joked around with each other as they floated slowly towards the ground. About 5 minutes before the marines had deployed their parachutes the 6 CAS-7''s had swooped down like eagles as they spread out their wings and wiped out the nearby dencfinding forces with their chin mounted rotary cannons. Having landed without casualties, the some 50 marines took up a defensive position on a relatively flat hill and started to dig in while the CAS-7''s circled overhead and looked for enemy reinforcements.


    "A hour till the Rapier arrives!"


    "So only-"


    "Don''t f.u.c.k.i.n.g jinx it now.."


    "Sorry."


    If there existed a higher power it surely heard the marines chatting in that moment.


    ["I''m being painted by something!"]


    Before anyone could react the landing craft was hit by some sort of projectile that buried itself halfway into the hull.


    ["Something hit me! No penetration, I''m still okay "]


    "Punch out now! That''s an order!"


    ["Negative, I can still sa-"]


    As the rookie pilot tried to save his craft the shell that hit him a few seconds earlier ignited. Like a firestorm it spew flame throughout the craft and cooked anything inside in a sea of chemical fire. Spinning out of control the CAS-7 still burned as it was reduced to a burning husk as fire exploded out from it in columns formed by whatever holes still were in the craft.


    "That shot came from over the over the horizon, find the spotter NOW!"


    With flames still spewing out of the burning husk Dax pulled up his rifle and scanned the surrounding hills.


    "Next shot is inbound! All air units deploy caff and hug the ground! Everyone else, find that spotter, shoot first, then shoot again to make sure!"


    "Hexapod, 7''o clock, 600 meters!"


    "Then f.u.c.k.i.n.g kill it!"


    With the sky above them filling with caff as multiple projectiles flew by Dax and his squad opened fire and descended into hell incarnate.

 Chapter 51 - Crucible of the Immortal (3)

    "Where the hell are they!?"


    "No f.u.c.k.i.n.g clue! Shit, another wave incoming!"


    "They really don''t like us much huh!?"


    Six hours had passed since then. All Dax''s CAS-7''s had been shot down, and the marines under his command had been reduced from 50 all the way down to 10 by endless hordes of remote controlled drones. The enemy drones were various types of hexapod, a relatively simple design with six mechanical legs (hex = 6) connecting to a single body (pod = body, hexa = six sided) and a turret on top of that which housed a low caliber gauss rifle. Although they were simple and quite primitive in design with mostly inaccurate fire controls they were easy and cheap to mass produce compared to human type drones. As such Dax''s unit had been assaulted endlessly over the last six hours by what must have been almost 10 thousand hexapods in endless and unintelligent waves. A single hexapod was no big deal to kill, being only as large as a medium sized dog (and as smart), they could be disabled with a single shot or simply kicked with enough force, but that disadvantage was eliminated when facing over 500 of them at the same time. For the first few hours they were easy pickings, even for the mostly green marines, but as Dax and his unit slowly got overwhelmed the situation quickly turned dire. Judging by the continuous sound of gunfire and explosions in the distance, the other allied elements had run into similar issues, which didn''t help the overall situation one bit.


    "Arg! F.u.c.k me, I''m hit!"


    "Then stop bitching and fix it yourself, our last medic died an hour ago."


    "I can see my f.u.c.k.i.n.g spine.."


    "Then kill 50 more drones, after that you have my permission to die."


    "Haha, that''s pretty harsh.."


    As Dax interrupted two marines chatter he looked around and slowly realized the futility of their current situation.


    (No reinforcements, 9 rookies and no hope of extraction surrounded by millions of hostile drones¡­.)


    "You guys are free to surrender."


    Uncharacteristically muttering that Dax realized his imminent defeat.


    "What will you do then commander?"


    "Fight till the end. I''m a black ops operative, and a qiton, as such I can''t be allowed to be taken alive."


    "Then we''re with you too."


    "But-"


    "Don''t misunderstand commander. If I survive this the promotion alone will set me and my family up for life."


    "Yeah, if we survive this we''ll be set up for life! Don''t even try to take that from us commander!"


    "... Seems like all of you became proper soldiers while I weren''t looking. I retract my earlier statement! It has been an honor serving with you all!"


    """""""""SIR, YES SIR!!"""""""""


    But in the end only Dax remained, and he had fought for what seemed to be an eternity. With his last ally dead and the other units launching red flares signaling they had been overrun Dax abandoned his position and turned to guerrilla warfare. For a few days he did hit and run attacks on enemy positions, but soon they had seemed to realize that there was still a single pest remaining on the surface so they retreated behind heavy blast doors and sent out units to hunt him down. The new game of cat and mouse had continued for god knows how long, as Dax slowly lost the grip on time to ever increasingly fatigue and dwindling supplies. Fighting with rifle until it broke he used it as a bat, then later a shiv. When that finally proved useless he used his knife, until that also was no longer usable, then he finally turned to captured equipment and his fists, which slowly had turned course and lacking any skin. Looking down on his own body it was pelted with holes and bruises from being shot at more times than he would bother to count, his right arm had been completely obliterated after he had used it as a shield and a few hours ago he had lost sight in his left eye from a explosion. Scanning his surroundings he located a dead hexapod and walked over to it before tearing its primary armament, a coilgun, off its six legged body and threw it at another one that had been pointing a laser at him for some time.


    "IS THAT THE BEST YOU GOT!?"


    After screaming at the sky like a madman Dax used a captured knife to decapitate an enemy soldier and smashed open his head to eat his brain.


    "Ugh. Needs ketchup¡­."


    Having fought for god knows how long Dax had long since depleted his supplies, so he resorted to the meals that arrived conveniently every few hours in waves of 50 surrounded by a thousand or so hexapods, the only inconvenient ting about his meals was that they kept screaming stuff like ''how are you still alive!'' and ''get away from me you f.u.c.k.i.n.g monster!''. The only problem was the taste, which to the spare time gourmet Dax was worse than death (or surstr?mming, which is mostly the same taste), but otherwise there were no issues. Qitons being made for war were a race of omnivores in the truest and most extreme sense of the word, leading them to be shunned by other races as tails of them securing ''provisions'' in war after losing their supply lines spread and became common knowledge.


    With the area once more silent, Dax picked up the sound of something flying towards him.


    "Are they finally gonna nuke me?"


    Looking around for cover as the sound grew louder, Dax realized that he had been lured out into open ground, completely void of cover that would save him from a nuke.


    "Ha! Well played.."


    Preparing for the end Dax wore a fierce smile.


    "Come and get me you f.u.c.ktards!"


    His expectations were betrayed however. What appeared from the clouds was not a thermonuclear warhead strapped to a rocket, but a formation of CAS-7''s that landed around him and deployed drones and marines alike.


    "Y''all are f.u.c.k.i.n.g LATE!"


    Collapsing onto his knees and breathing a loud sigh Dax closed his only remaining eye to finally get some rest, but quickly sensed someone walking over to him.


    "There''s a spot on the first transport back if you want it."


    What greeted Dax was undoubtedly a beauty, she looked to be a field medic judging by her uniform. She had short red hair, and her simually red eyes looked at Dax like she couldn''t be bothered to fix him.


    "You look like a f.u.c.k.i.n.g mess.."


    "Yeah well they didn''t play nice.. Can you do me a favor doc?"


    "If your gonna hit on me I''m gonna leave you."


    "Could you get me some food? The grub around here really lacks flavor."


    "... Sure. Anything else?"


    "Oh yeah a new rifle, I kinda broke mine."


    "Why the hell would you need a weapon?"


    "The Invasion is not over is it? I''ll just need a second to eat then I''m ready to move out."


    "Are you qitons immortal or what?"


    "No ma''am. Just highly motivated."


    In the end Dax was the only marine from the first wave to make it out of that hellhole. The enemy had surprised their reinforcements out in space, and forced them to retreat and abandon their now stranded and doomed marines, leaving them all to die. 9 days later Empire forces finally regained momentum and once more reached the Gemini system, to find a single survivor among a sea of corpses, machine and flesh alike. Dax went on to lead the charge of the capture of Gemini 5, and quickly rose to the status of a ideal symbol for the Galactic Empire marines. In response of his achievements he was hailed as the immortal hero, something he himself greatly despised, leading to no pictures nor his name ever being released. Declining every reward offered expect for the most basic of cybernetic prosthesis and a few months of paid leave Dax disappeared from the limelight, officially at least. Using his status as clan leader and marit gained from multiple successive black operations he had carried out over the years he gained an audience with leaders of the Galactic senate and leaders of Rex and Guardian industries. In the meeting, which never officially happened, Dax shared his general displeasure with the effectiveness of the current war doctrine and proposed changes to fix it, among with disclosing the survival of two Avoxaian''s. The Gemini invasion had revealed the Empire''s disadvantage in fighting a super cooperation it had relayed on for advancing warfare. Simply put Irongate industrial knew every tactic and trick the Empire could throw at them, so something new and radical was needed. Dax''s suggestion was to put the two surviving Avoxaian''s, Ra and Mu, in charge of a secret division with a blank check for funding to develop weapons of war capable of winning the war that was currently splitting the Empire in half. To prove the effectiveness of such a drastic and expensive measure Dax brought with him design doc.u.ments and scientific papers made in the few months the sisters had access to knowledge from the Empire. Next generation warp gates, advanced modular drone designs, highly advanced cybernetic prosthetics and even a theoretical paper on the feasibility of a handheld railcannon helped change the council''s opinion on Dax''s idea, leading the project to be approved. First Dax was put in charge of the now declassified 125th combined ops orbital drop troopers and promoted to field commander, although his name nor any other information would ever be released. At the same time Rex and Guardian industries secretly formed covert research and development divisions that would go on to develop awe inspiring weapons of war and innovations that would shape the century.


    ---


    "F.u.c.k me¡­"


    Noticing sunlight hitting him Dax realized he had been drinking all night and early morning lost in thought as the maglev train slowly started slowing down as it approached it final destination, a gigantic space elevator that extend form deep into the planets mantel to out into deep space. Glancing down on his artificial arm, it once more started bugging out Dax sighed to himself as he mumbled.


    " I wonder if I can get those two sugar craving sisters to design me some new prosthetics if I bring them some of that ridiculously expensive ice cream they make around here.."


    Going back into space Dax brought a two liters of ice cream for a sum that amounted to half a year of his salary. Bring that, among with the two train cars prototype drones to a remote planet with a single isolated resort, which had all records of it been erased.


    "So?"


    "..."


    Finding himself inside the mostly empty compound Dax was wordlessly bowed and presented to expensive ice cream in front of a pair of not-so-pleased sisters.


    Ra, the older sister by about a year was about a meter 80 tall, which was tall for her race that was characterised by green and bluish skin with bright blue eyes and short blue hair. She was the most annoyed of the two, and looked like a wife that caught her husband cheating, with her impatiently tapping her finger on her crossed arms and showed anger as she demanded an explanation with a rage with was uncharacteristic of her race. Her younger sister Mu was a bit shorter at a meter 60 she had the same skin tone as her sister and had long green hair. She was however not as mad as her sister, and looked at Dax with an apologetic smile as he bowed deeply before them.


    "You leave us here for what? two months without a word, and when you come back you not only lost a arm and one eye but also released the stuff we worked on, which you originally refused to do.. And now you want us to make you a new arm?"


    "..."


    "He did bring us this really good ice cream Ra."


    "It is the best in the universe."


    Hurriedly interjecting Mu''s comment, Dax desperately tried to crack the more tough cookie as he bowed another 5 degrees deeper.


    "Not you too.."


    "Please!"


    "..."


    "I can bring more of it."


    "FINE! But we will be testing the hardware and other stuff we''ve been working on and you will help us test it, a lot."


    "Anything but that please."


    "What did you say~?"


    "Please have mercy."

 Chapter 52 - Home

    A youth was running home in the late afternoon through the bustling capital city of Kingsted. Curiously she meet no resistance, even though the streets were packed to the brim. Reaching her destination, a small house in the residential district, the youth slowed down and stopped to catch her breath and put on a smile before knocking on the door to a middle sized house.


    "Dad, mom I''m home~!"


    Shouting loudly she took off her shoes and walked into the allroom.


    "I got off early~ Eh, what''s wrong?"


    "We need to talk, please sit down."


    Meeting her parents like she expected, the youth was surprised to see her parents sitting at the dinner table, with the air around them overly serious.


    "What''s wrong?"


    Sitting down in a with a worried look on her face, the youth nervously waited for her parents to tell her what was wrong.


    "First of all we''re really glad you suddenly returned to town.. And then you told us you got a new and higher paying job, but¡­"


    "What''s wrong dad?"


    "..."


    Falling quiet with a difficult face the youth''s dad looked like he had swallowed a bug as he found it hard to say.


    "... Why do you suddenly have all that money?"


    "I told you I got a new job-"


    "Helping out a foreign diplomat yeah.. But-"


    "Alice are you selling your body!?"


    "EEEEEEHHHHHHHH!?"


    Blooming completely crimson, Alice was understandably confused by her mothers outratus attucation.


    "Then did you join some sort of criminal organiz-"


    "I DID NOT!"


    "We''re just worried dear."


    Looking wordlessy at her parents for a bit Alice breathed a deep sigh.


    "Then do you want to meet my boss?"


    ---


    "That''s how it is, would you please meet my parents?"


    "Ah, yeah sure, I''ll throw something together in the kitchen and we can have a talk.. But this hardly seems the time to bring it up."


    [TARGETS CLOSING RANGE, ENGAGEMENT IN 15 SECONDS.]


    "Okay game on. Intercept all targets, don''t let a single one escape."


    Dax, together with Alice were currently hunting a very particular type of monster by the request of the hunters guild, with Terra currently house sitting as she had annoyed Dax sufficiently for the day. As they hid beside a road a horse drawn covered wagon passed them as if rushing out of hell itself.


    "And there goes the bait."


    "Indeed, you might want to get that strengthening magic ready."


    "On it.."


    With the ''live bait'' passing by them, Alice circulated mana into her body, getting it ready the second their targets passed the two hidden hunters.


    "I need the smartest looking one alive!"


    "Roger!"


    Dashing out of the brush, one propelled by by a mix of strengthening magic and muscles, the other by sheer muscle, Alice and Dax quickly caught up on their first pray.


    "What th-"


    Before the first bandit could utter a complete sentence his head was separated from his body by a well placed kick. With a snap his neck cracked and he fell from his galloping horse and crashed to the ground with a bang, alerting the other bandits.


    "SHIT!"


    "Ambush!"


    "Keep going, we''ll outrun them!"


    [LEADING ELLEMENT LOCATED. PRIMARY TARGET ASSIGNED PRELIMINARY ID ''GREENCAP''. SECURE HVT FOR INTELLIGENCE EXTRACTION.]


    "Spring the trap! I only need Greencap with a intact skull!"


    With the commanding element revealing himself, an especially rugged bandit second to the front of the collum, Dax decided to spring his trap.


    All of a sudden the covered wagon the bandits originally hunted shed its cover as Reaper drones jumped from it. Without the use of any weapons the drones lept and landed on the bandis in pursuit, tackling them off their horses and outright killing most of the some 20 bandits, trapping ''Greencap'' between the drones and the Dax Alice pair.


    "What the hell do you guys want from me!?"


    "A high ranked hunter from from the guild recently joined your group, where is he?"


    "What hunter?- Ah that guy, he''s at the base. If I guide you guys there will you let me g-"


    "No need."


    [CONNECTION ESTABLISHED. NOW EXTRACTING RAW CEREBRAL DATA¡­ COMPLETE. HIGH VALUE TARGET LOCATED.]


    dropping the still convulsing bandit like a sack of potatoes Dax filtered through the information with the help of ICI.


    "A cave 2.8 kilometers from here.. Too bad we need to recover the tags, otherwise I would''ve just collapsed the cave and let the bandis themself sort it all out¡­.."


    "That is really f.u.c.k.i.n.g disturbing Dax.."


    "What is really f.u.c.k.i.n.g disturbing is the months of memories I just sifted through to pinpoint the cave."


    "What are you tal-"


    "That guy there likes to kill children, that one there too, and this f.u.c.k.i.n.g bastard used the cop-"


    "Stop! I understand!"


    "Do you?"


    "I get the general picture yeah! Lets go and wipe them out already¡­"


    Realizing the downside to Dax''s seemingly perfect method of gathering information Alice shivered as she went over to the carriage.


    Normally the hunters guild would never bother with bandits or highwaymen, and they never did. What the hunters guild do take issue with is when hunters become bandits, so kill or capture orders are issued to contracted hunters, enforcers of the guild. Dax being a contracted hunter since employment the day would eventually come when some idiot hunter realized he could make more coin becoming a bandit, and so the day came. a week after purging Kingsted of criminal elements one of Dax''s drones doing a weekly drop off of monster cores had received a note.


    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    It has been confirmed that a platinum ranked hunter named Mark have joined with a local groups of bandits operating on the roads 20 kilometers north of Kingsted. Capture him alive or kill him and bring back his tag within a week or the your status of a contracted hunter will be revoked.


    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Locating and killing a hunter of the same rank in only a week would normally be an insane endeavor. But after 20 minutes of uplink with Dax''s comsat-1 satellite costing through the cold and empty space above the upper atmosphere ICI located a curious group of travellers, revealing themselves to be bandits. Haven taken most of the day traveling to and locating the first group of bandits, night were now falling on the forested area north of Kingsted. Deep within a peculiar forrest columns of smoke rose to the night sky, revealing a settlement. The settlement was located mostly within a large open cave. With a shappy outer fence made of scraps of wood and a pile of corpses outside it, the inhabitants clearly weren''t that civilised, and a large part of them were currently dancing around a central bonfire while getting wasted on goods they had stolen the day before.


    [HVT NOT FOUND.]


    "He''s most likely deeper inside the cave.. Alice I leave you 5 drones, hold the perimeter."


    "Yes sir~ What are you gonna do?"


    "What I''ve been waiting to do this whole evening. From up on me, assault formation."


    [ICI CONFIRMES, TASKING ALL DRONES TO ASSAULT FORMATION. 76 TARGETS ACQUIRED, REQUESTING DIRECTIVES.]


    "Area purge, weapons free. Lock base accuracy margin to 95% and shoot to kill."


    [AREA PURGE CONFIRMED, SWITCHING ALL DRONES IN AREA OF OPERATIONS TO BEHAVIOR PATTERN BLACK. WEAPONS HOT, READY TO EXECUTE.]


    "Rip them apart!"


    In the end the bandits never saw it coming. After no more than 5 seconds no one outside the cave remained alive as they were culled by precise rifle fire that ripped through armor, flesh, fence and cover alike.


    [76 TARGETS EXTERMINATED.]


    "E-effective¡­"


    Alice had seen the destructiveness of gauss rifles before, but not against human targets. Flesh, bone and sinew covered the copes all about, as metal slugs had easily penetrated through their intended targets, ripping out large chunks of blood along with an amazing amount of blood.


    "WHAT THE F.U.C.K IS-"


    Hearing all of the commotion some of the bandis that had been inside the cave at the time of the first attack ran out shouting, and promptly had their heads removed by precise rifle fire orchestrated by ICI.


    [14 ADDITIONAL TARGETS PURGED.]


    "Yeah I see that. The rest must be hiding inside the cave¡­ I should have lured them outside first.. ICI protect Alice, I''ll be right back."


    Handing over his rifle to a drone, Dax leisurely marched towards the cave, barehanded.


    "Be careful!"


    Responding to Alice''s warning, Dax waved without looking back before cracking his knuckles. Reaching the cave he grabbed a torch from the wall and headed inside.


    "Anyone home!? I''m from pest control, here to exterminate some vermin!"


    Walking for about a minute Dax reached a large room inside the cave. 5 minutes later Dax emerged from the cave holding a dripping bag and a pair of bloody and mangled metal tags.


    "Mission accomplished."


    "What''s in the bag?"


    "You don''t want to know."


    "Okay.. What now?"


    "We''re heading home, I want to take a bath."


    "Roger~"


    ---


    Getting back to Kingsted late at night Dax told Alice to invite her parents over the following evening and disappeared into the kitchen along with a few drones. Collapsing on her bed Alice slept like a baby until morning when she was woken up by a wonderful fragrance that appeared to come from downstairs. Lezley getting herself half dressed, Alice went downstairs to the kitchen and ordered breakfast in her usually relaxed style.


    "ICI breakfast please~"


    "Goodmorning Alice~"


    Alice had expected the kitchen to be empty, like it always were, but today it was filled with ingredients and Dax were currently using the table she usually ate breakfast at to disassemble a whole sheep.


    "Look at this lovely sheep I found at the market when it opened at sunrise a few hours ago. I have a great feeling that this will be the best course meal I''ve made since arriving on this planet, look forward to it~"


    Dax''s hands never stopped working while he greeted Alice as he skillfully used a butchers knife to separate different cuts of meat with a smile on his face.


    "By the way shouldn''t you wear more than that?"


    "Eh? EEEHHHHHH! EXCUSE ME!"


    Alice had been completely dumbstruck at the unexpected appearance of Dax in the kitchen that she had just stared at him, until he pointed out her state of drees, a half buttoned shirt and underwear. After a few minutes Alice returned to the kitchen, completely dressed with face in full bloom.


    "G-goodmorning.."


    "Good morning once more Alice~ Here''s your breakfast, you can eat it outside, I''ve had the drones set up a table and chair there."


    A drone passed Alice a plate with a freshly made french style omelet with some homemade sheep sausages.


    "Where is Terra?"


    "At the church taking care of the unrecovered demonkin for the day. There''s no work today, so just take it easy."


    "Okay.."


    After eating her meal, Alice had a slow day as she went around town after visiting her parents to invite them over for dinner.


    "Welcome mr Allen and ms Ruth. Thank you for accepting my invite for dinner on such short notice, for tonight I''ve prepared a 4 course meal. Alice we''re eating in the unused room to the right of the kitchen, please wait there while I put the finishing touch on the first plates."


    "O-okay¡­ Mom, dad it''s this way."


    In the time Alice had went to get her parents Dax had shaved and changed into a white shirt and apron with black silk pants combination with a overall groomed look, and for once he wore long sleeves and pants.


    "He''s certainly.. Large.."


    "That was my first impression as well mom."


    "And a demonkin too."


    "He''s a qiton dad, but I think Dax want to explain that himself."


    "I''ve never heard of that race before, but at least he''s well mannered."


    "And his cooking is out of this world¡­"


    "Alice you''re drooling dear."


    "I take that as a compliment, for the first plate we''re having tea cured herring on a light green salad with a smoked cheese cream, and white wine to drink."


    Arriving in the middle of the family''s chat Dax flawlessly carried four plates on one arm while bowing lightly before setting down the plates and poured some wine, before sitting down next to Alice oppersid of her parents.


    "Please dig in, I''m especially proud of how it turned out this time."


    "Is that it?"


    Understandably Allen was skeptically looking at the small and elaborately dressed plate.


    "Ah, I take it it''s the first time you two are eating a course meal? This is the starter, there''ll be 3 more meals after this one so just think of this a light snack to eat while talking."


    "O-okay.."


    "Dear this is delicious!"


    "It is indeed!"


    With the first plate to break to ice, Dax turned his cham to eleven as he entertained Alice and her parents as the time passed quickly.


    "Second plate for tonight is a smoked bacon quiche with a salad made of charred pak choi and fresh berries. The drink is a light pear cider that compliments the meal greatly."


    ¡­


    "Time for the main attraction, lamb entrecote with fries confit and a herb vinaigrette. On the side is red wine and freshly baked bread."


    ¡­


    "Thanks for accompanying me on this culinary journey, last stop is a fruit sorbet and poached pear a with whipped cream. For the drink I found this lovely white fortified wine."


    ¡­


    ..


    .


    After finishing the last plate and talking a bit more Alice followed her parents home, as she was saying goodbye her mom suddenly hugged her out of nowhere.


    "Mom!?"


    "I''m so glad you found a new job!~"


    "Yeah I feel so as well¡­"


    "Also consider marrying him, you have our permission¡­. No is an order! Definitely marry him for the food!~"


    "MOM!?"

 Chapter 53 - Return of the first prince (1)

    "AAAAAAAAARHHHHHHHHHH!!!-"


    "Again!? Hold him down!"


    "Yes!"


    Inside the central church of the capital city of Kingsted a mind shattering scream howled out from a demonkin strapped to a bed. In response to the sudden scream Dax commanded a nun to hold him down as he stabbed the demonkin with a syringe that made him pass out.


    "I am not trained for this.."


    "Me neither, but they need our help.. ICI any recommendations?"


    [CLASS 15 HEAVY MENTAL TRAUMA DETECTED. RECOMMEND FULL MENTAL RESET AND REPAIR.]


    "What the hell is ''full mental reset''?"


    Hearing the words ''mental'' and ''repair'' coming from an artificial construct that had recently recommended simply killing her patients the nun was undersadebly worried.


    "A last ditch emergency repair function that replaces the patients memories and ego with a backup done prior to entering active service. It''s only possible to do if there is a backup, which there isn''t in this case¡­ I guess the only thing to do is a gradual and slow recovery."


    A bit over a week ago Dax had raided multiple underground criminal organizations that handled multiple illegal and banned goods. The worst of those goods were the several types of slavery collars that forcefully took control of their host by overriding their central nervous system and hijacking motor functions, turning whoever wears them into puppets. The arguably worst part of such a device was that the victim is fully aware doing control, and therefore felt and saw everything their ''master'' commanded them to do, with no input of their own ever able to stop it. The former slaves Dax had rescued were mostly okay, as they had only been tortured by such measures for no more than a year, so they were given medical treatment and a psychological assessment before being returned to their loved ones. The problem were the ones that had been under for considerably longer periods of time. The ones that had been under the effect of slavery collars for over a year were mostly demonkin, having been captured and turned into slaves before being smuggled to Kingsted where they were traded as commodities and made to fight, maim, assault and kill their own kin for the entertainment of their ''masters''. Enduring such treatment for years their psyches had understandably deteriaded, and Dax had been at a loss about what to do with them ever since. Whenever they regained conscious they usually started screaming and/or self harming so they had been restrained and sedated while Dax tried to figure out what to do with them.


    "Go sleep if you need to, I got it till the shift change."


    "Okay, I''ll be next door so shout if you need help."


    As she yawned to herself the nun left the room, leaving Dax alone with all the sedated demonkin.


    "This is a f.u.c.k.i.n.g A-grade mess¡­."


    Dax, being a qiton, a race of the most resilient creatures known in the Galactic Empire had extremely limited knowledge of medical procedures, as he was part of a race could self heal anything that was not immediately lethal. Dax''s knowledge of mental health where even worse than his medical one, as he had no issues doing outright horrific things to the enemy, and the entire field of study was only confusing to him.


    "Access deep storage drive and pull up doc.u.ments containing medical procedures for extreme PTSD and catatonia."


    [CONFIRMED, ALLOCATING ALL PROCESSORS FOR DECRYPTION OF EMERGENCY ENCYCLOPEDIA¡­. COMPLETE: NOW SCANNING 562 PETABYTES OF RAW DATA, PLEASE HOLD ALL REQUESTS UNTIL COMPLETION.]


    With ICI accessing the emergency encyclopedia operated into his spine by a over worried avoxaian Dax sat down in an empty chair and breathed a deep sigh before closing his eyes as he started to hum quietly.


    "Ermm Mr. Dax?"


    "Yeah, what''s up?"


    "I''m here to replace you."


    "I noticed, I''ll be here tonight again to take the night shift."


    "There''s no need for tha-"


    "There is. You and your colleagues need to sleep, I don''t. End of discussion."


    "O-okay¡­"


    Having silenced the nun Dax stood up to stretch and left the room while thinking about his current issue.


    (I still can''t get myself to abandon them huh.. ICI you there?)


    [ENCYCLOPEDIA SEARCH IN PROGRESS¡­]


    (I can tell by the warmth on my back yeah.. What''s the current progress?)


    [45.3%. PLEASE HOLD FURTHER REQUESTS, ICI OS TASKED TO CAPACITY.]


    (So another 4 hours¡­)


    "HELP!"


    Suddenly Dax heard the nun he had just said goodbye to scream for help, followed by something heavy braking.


    "Shit! ICI what''s going-"


    [PLEASE HOLD FURTHER REQUESTS, ICI OS TASKED TO CAPACITY.]


    "F.u.c.k me, and f.u.c.k this!"


    Not being able to confirm the situation inside without ICI managing his cybernetics, Dax decided to take a slight shortcut. Running straight towards the improvised hospital wing, Dax burst right through a brick wall and made it back in record time. Reaching the door Dax tore it open and reflectively drew his pistol like he were cleaning the room as his brain went into overdrive. Inside he instantly identified the treat, a demonkin had woken and torn off her restraints and were currently banging her head repeatedly into one of the brick walls with a large amount of blood flowing from her face. The nun, and two others were trying to restain the demonkin, one of them were even using strengthening magic, but without effect.


    The demonkin had ash white skin she looked to be 20 years of age, with completely black eyes and 1 meter long eagle like wings at her center of mass and 2 pairs of slightly chipped 10 centimeter long white horns extending upwards were her almost completely cut down hair meet her forehead. She were the one Terra had saved, and so far she had just slept, but apparently she woke up from some kind of extreme nightmare.


    "Get out of the way!"


    Preparing a syringe Dax charged the demonkin and stabbed her in the neck with it, or so he thought.


    "What the fu- AW! Stop that!"


    As Dax had tried to incapacitate the demonkin the syringe had hit some sort of magical armor that covered the her body, the demonkin had noticed that, and determined that Dax where a treat, and proceeded to punch him in the face with a surprising amount of force that made Dax fall over.


    "It''s defensive magic, she''s properly using it on instinct!"


    "Ku! And strengthening magic too, I can''t hold her down!"


    "I got her!"


    Jumping to his feet Dax quickly went behind the trashing demonkin and grabbed her arms before kicking her lightly in the pit of her knees and made her fall over before he mounted the demonkin''s back to hold her in place.


    "AAARRRAARGHAWAR*****!!!!!"


    In response the suddenly getting dropped to the floor the demonkin started kicking Dax with her heels.


    "AW!AW!AW! Stop that! Hold her legs down!"


    With newly arrived nuns and a few church guards the finally managed to pin her down.


    "AAAAAARRRRRRGGGGG!!!"


    "Well ain''t you lively¡­ Hope you guys have nothing better to do, this is gonna take a while."


    ¡­


    ..


    .


    After 2 hours the demonkin finally started to tire herself out slightly, and eventually only Dax were need to hold her down.


    "Are you done yet?"


    "AAAARRRRRRRRRG!!!-"


    "That is some impressive stamina."


    "-GGARHAARRG!!!"


    Besides having turned slightly hoarse the demonkin were apparently still pretty energetic as she kept screaming at the top of her lungs.


    (Guess not¡­ I''ll need to take her somewhere else.)


    "Can I get some help?"


    "Yes Mr. Dax, what is it?"


    With a nun responding to his call Dax shifted himself on top of the trashing demonkin so he could get eye contact with the nun.


    "Can you prepare a carriage, oh and a gag too."


    "Eh?"


    Having determined that the demonkin were a detriment the the other patients improvement, Dax decided to have her relocated. With a bit more fuss Dax got the now gagged demonkin into a carriage, coursing quite the disturbance he were witnessed by a town guard carrying a gagged and restrained woman into a carriage. After a somewhat unpleasant carriage ride and some scratching of his face Dax introduced Alice and Terra to their new (unwilling) sleepover.


    "Are you serious?"


    "No I brought this fussing lady here as she scratched my face and tried to bite me just for fun."


    "Okay¡­ But this is your replaceability alone, I''m not gonna fall for the ''this is training'' thing again."


    "Oh you finally figured that one out."


    "..."


    "Any objections Alice?"


    "None."


    "Good, she''ll take the room to the left of me."


    Hauling the still fuzzy demonkin into a empty room with a bed she freaked out even more, until Dax simply just put her down on the bed and left her there.


    "Play nice."


    Leaving with those words she finally seemed to calm down, and when Dax opened the door a few minutes later she simply sat in the corner furthest from the door and watched him in silence.


    [ICI ONLINE, 47369851 MATCHES FOUND FOR ''PTSD'' AND CATATONIA.]


    "Ah, it''s already this time huh¡­ Sync me the data later."


    [AFFIRMATIVE.]


    "Dax I''m hungry and the drones are not listening to me!"


    "That''s a odd name change Alice, I''ll whip something together."


    "Yay!~"


    Having responded to Alice''s shout Dax stopped to facepalm while breathing a deep sigh as he mumbled to himself.


    "She''s my own employee right? Then why do I feel like I''ve become a maid lately¡­"


    With Alice and the drones let by ICI Dax had been fairly free over the last few days, so he had started doing house work out of boredom, occasionally indulging in his hoppy and making food for Terra and Alice.


    "I guess I''ll use some of the pasta I made yesterday as an experiment.. ICI get the smoker running and toss some bacon in there."


    [ROGER.]


    Facing reality Dax once more sighed to himself as he started to put together a meal in his head.


    ---


    (What the hell is going on?)


    Sitting dumbfounded in what appeared to be her new room, Rei finally realized she no longer wore a slavery collar. After waking from a terrible nightmare she found herself with a head splitting headache with her mind suddenly clear she remembered every single thing that had happened since she had been caught by slave traders over 7 years ago. She had killed her own kin, been used to do horrific things, and made a plaything for sadistic people until she was once more sold and used as a bodyguard for some sort of merchant where she had finally been released. The sudden influx of painful memories, shame and guilt had made her briefly insane. when her santy had started to return she had found herself restrained, which caused her to panic even more, and then she were gagged and stuffed into a carriage by some demonkin she didn''t recognise. Fearing she had been captured once more just after she had realized she had been freed from the slavery collar by a humankin about the same age as herself. She completely lost all hope when the demonkin took her to a room which only contained a single bed and a small window, suddenly her deepest repressed nightmares resurfaced and she started flailing desperately as she cried and screamed for help. What she had feared did not happen however, ''play nice.'' the demonkin simply told her as he left, and when he returned a minute later he appeared relieved she had calmed down. After that it had perhaps been an hour, and no matter how much she feared it no one ever came to torment her.


    *Guuuuuuu*


    Feeling herself calming down just a bit, Rai suddenly realized it must have been months since she had a proper meal.


    "Food.."


    Slowly leaving her calming corner she reached the middle of the small room before hearing footsteps closing in.


    (This is my chance¡­)


    Confirming that the slow footsteps were indeed hedding for her, Rai crouched down on all four and prepared to pounce when the door was opened.


    (Come on.. NOW)


    As the door started to open she charged it, but her plan did not work out. The door opened faster than she had expected, revealing the demonkin that brought her to the room in the first place.


    (Shit.)


    What remained of her foggy memory told her that he was strong, but that didn''t stop her.


    (Almost¡­. FREE!)


    Coming closer to freedom than she had been for god knows how many years, she filled her body with mana and prepared for a tackle carrying all her might. But as she reached the demonkin he crouched down and hit her with his shoulder in the gut, before grabbing her with a single arm and carried her back to the bed as she frailed desperately.


    "So energetic~ Now you must be hungry, I brought you food."


    Laying her gently down on the bed the demonkin revealed his spare hand, were he carried some sort of meal that made her stomach grumble loudly.


    "Have some food before you leave."


    Leaving that comment and the food, the demonkin once more left the room.


    "Leave?"


    "Yeah, you''re free to leave, when you''ve recovered completely, not a second before that."


    Closing the door, the strange demonkin left the utterly confused Rai to herself as she froze up dumbfounded.


    "I can just leave?"


    *Guuuuu*

 Chapter 54 - Return of the first prince (2)

    "This should be the last layer of the orb, ICI what''s the temperature?"


    [SURFACE TEMPERATURE REGISTERED AS ABOVE 10000 KELVIN, PRECISE MEASUREMENT NOT POSSIBLE.]


    Outside the outer wall of Kingsted behind multiple layers of walls and guards Dax was currently completing his objective for going to Kingsted in the first place, to retrieve the crashed and overheating landing craft before it had a not so friendly meltdown right next to the capital of a nation he had allied himself with.


    "The heat is intense."


    Standing next to him while shielding her face form the heat with her hand was Tia, the royal knight in charge of understanding the strange sphere that had landed out of nowhere and started floating.


    "Warm enough to boil any non-alloyed metals yeah, ICI do we have connection?"


    [NEGATIVE. SYSTEM IN OVERLOAD FORMATION, PRIMARY SYSTEM CORE EXPOSED AND OFFLINE.]


    "Shit."


    Having melted a meter wide hole in the last layer of protective heat shielding, Dax had expected to have connection with the craft inside.


    "Is there a problem?"


    "No, not really, the craft itself is designed to survive passing close to a star so it''ll be alright."


    "Amazing."


    "Survive is the key word, not function. I''ve poked a hole in the shielding so it shouldn''t overheat and blow up now, but it''ll popperly be a few weeks before it''s cooled down enough for the onboard AI to restart."


    "It can blow up?"


    "Yeah, if it remained closed for a few more weeks it would properly wipe out this city and the surrounding area."


    With that sentence the colour drained from Tia''s face.


    "So if we had kept stopping you from accessing it like when you first came here¡­"


    "Y''all would be dead, and I would be down a landing craft. Isn''t it lovely to get along?~"


    "I''M SO SOR-"


    "Yeah yeah, let''s just try and get along."


    Leaving Tia with those words Dax went to exit the compound, but was quickly stopped by a gathering of some 10 royal knights.


    "Is there a problem? I''ve received permission from the king to be here."


    (Haven''t seen these guys before¡­ ICI close in my escort slightly.)


    (ICI CONFIRMED, MOVING ESCORT FROM PATTERN BLUE TO PATTERN YELLOW, STANDBY..)


    While Dax slowly reached for his pistol with a wide smile on his face the group suddenly parted to reveal the 3 most rear knights.


    "Oh it''s you guys. Here for a rematch, or do I just need to knock you out cold again Marcus?"


    As Dax addressed the royal knight captain Marcus, the drones responsible for escorting him arrived and spread out in a half circle behind him, ready to assume a firing position. Marcus, along with the demonkin Sophie and beastkin Marie flinched and all eyes ghattered on Marcus that slowly stepped forward.


    "I''m so sorr-"


    "Again?... Look when you turn 500 years old ''sorry'' turns into some annoying sound that makes one want to punch someone in the face, and that feeling only turns worse with age."


    "I''m so-"


    "Did you hear what I just said? Buy me a beer and we''re good."


    "O-okay¡­"


    "Are we good? I have other things to do today, then bye."


    "Please let us assist you however we can!"


    "Really?.... You know what there is one thing you can help me with¡­.. Go grab Tia, then Marie, you and Sophie can help me with some tests~"


    "Eh?"


    ---


    ["Come on, I''m not even trying~"]


    "F.u.c.k! Marie flank it! Tia!"


    "Still chanting!"


    "Sophia!"


    "On. IT!"


    As her red adamantium amor lighted up with mana, Sophie charged forward and bashed their opponent with her shield. The drone they currently were fighting flew almost to the other side of the colosseum, where it landed effortlessly before getting back on its feet as it started bouncing around on its toes like a boxer.


    ["Are you perhaps still mad I knocked you out the other day?"]


    "What makes you think that!?"


    Dropping her shield she drew a longsword from it and charged the lone drone as she was joined by the beastkin knight Marie and her massive two handed sword.


    ["Can I help you with that?"]


    The second before Marie got within range the drone moved, first it kicked up dust from the arena floor that blocked Marie and Sophia''s vision, then it charged out and hit Marie in the chest with a open palm strike and relieved her of her sword in the same movement.


    "GUA!"


    ["Here''s a present so you don''t feel left out Tia~"]


    Spinning to a stop with the heavy sword, the drone flinged it across the arena at Tia, who was forced to stop gathering mana and hit the ground as Marie''s sword flew right over her head and buried itself in the colosseum wall.


    ["Good doge~"]


    "Don''t forget about me now!"


    ["How could I? you have such lovely eyes that tell me exactly what you''re gonna do!"]


    Predicting Sophie''s sword swing the drone parried it with its arm and countered with a punch it the stomach.


    "KU!"


    "DIE!"


    ["Hey this is just a light spar, remember?"]


    "Light spar my ass!"


    ["This kitty sure has a temper huh?~"]


    Having dealt with Sophie the drone was assaulted by the now swordless Marie that quickly proved she didn''t need it to kill.


    "Got you now!"


    ["Naive."]


    Having caught the drones leg as it sent a kick after her, Marie was sure of her victorry, but as she went to twist it to feel her oppnet the drone simply twisted its leg with her movement and used the momentum to kick her in the face.


    ["You''re not fighting a flesh and blood opponent."]


    Having twisted its leg at an impossible angle to kick Marie, the drone once more impressed the spectators.


    "What is that golem!? It is simply amazing!"


    "I believe the proper term is ''drone''. I''ve read it is one of the Galactic Empire''s prefered way to wage war, according to the doc.u.ments we received from Dax they can even be commanded remotely."


    "Speaking of that, where is Dax?"


    "No idea. He said he would propose a new law to the council later today."


    "Let''s look forward to that then, we are truly in the golden age of the Kingdom."


    "We truly are, but I have to wonder how much of it all were planned by Dax¡­"


    After the merchants guild withdrew from the Kingdom the future looked grim, and they would normally be looking forward to imminent economic ruin, but then a miracle happened. In a single day all basic functions the guild had abandoned, like banks and distribution of consumer goods were taken over by smaller merchants, and immediately operational once more. Normally that would not have been enough, but the new merchants were extremely well organized and funded, moreover they offered new luxury goods never seen before.


    The trade embargo against the Kingdom that had been put into effect after multiple members had been killed lasted only a single week, and with newly imposed export taxes raked in the gold from it''s new luxury goods that sold like they were essential for life, and spread like wildfire.The new goods that seemingly had appeared out of nowhere along with founding for the new merchants were luxurious and extremely durable jewelry, elaborate and seemingly indestructible pocket watches that did not need to be recharged with mana or spun up, and a whole slew of extremely durable worker tools that were banned from export out of the country. All of those goods were traced back to a single merchant named Gary Pederson, president of the Pederson trading company that had operated in Kingsted for a few years without much success, but suddenly secured a exclusive monopoly to all the new goods flooding into Kingsted after the merchants guild left.


    "I hear that all the Pederson stores are surrounded around the clock by drones like that one."


    "He really did plan it all huh¡­. Oh the fight is over."


    As the nobles looked down on the colosseum arena the last standing royal knight, Marcus, surrendered with the drone holding Sophie''s sword pressed to his neck.


    ["Thanks for the spar~"]


    "Y-you''re welcome Dax.."


    ["Oh well that''ll be it for now, ICI disconnect direct interfacing please~"]


    [AFFIRMATIVE, MIND MELT TERMINATED, STARTING POST DOMINATION CLEANUP AND EVALUATION, MODEL 165-A25S RETURNING TO STATION. HAVE A NICE DAY.]


    "Y-yeah, a nice day to you too¡­"


    With a slight stiff smile Marcus said goodbye to the drone as it left the colosseum and went on with its day.


    "So strong.. Even though it held back.."


    "Are you okay Tia?"


    "Mmm, I''m fine¡­ He''s invincible."


    "That might not be the case. From what I''ve seen Dax doesn''t respect magic and there''s a good chance we can catch him off guard with it. But there''s no need to feel down Tia, this was just a spar, if you were allowed to use magic to the fullest extent things might have gone different."


    "Mmm, maybe that''s tru-"


    "AAAAA!!"


    As Marcus was doing his best to cheer up, Marie suddenly screamed, coursing Marcus'' smile to turn ever stiffer.


    "What''s wrong Marie?"


    "MY SWORD!"


    With Marie freaking out Marcus remembered that the drone had tossed it, and turned around to see it buried over a meter into the arena wall.


    "That might be an issue¡­"


    ---


    "What the hell is happening father!?"


    Inside the castle at the center of Kingsted a man in elaborate adamantite armor was currently complaining loudly to the king.


    "I got news that some strange sphere had landed outside the city, and when I rush back you''ve allied yourself with a demonkin!?"


    The man was Henrik Vi Gruffydd VIII, heir to the throne and the first prince of the Kingdom. Having recently returned from the northern border were he commanded a legion against the northern republics endless aggression he is said to be a man at the peak of humanity. Standing almost two meters tall the 25 year old prince would at first glace be confused with a high ranked soldier or commanding general with his solid frame and sharp intellect hiding behind his golden eyes. He had been hailed as a genius of the sword and magic since a young age, but never really motivated until his sister was attacked in front of him by a demonkin. His sister survived, but ever since that day the young prince had found his motivation. In a few years he surpassed even the royal knights in combat and leadership, and with pride and honor he formed the first prince''s faction at the royal council, a xenophobic ghatting of nobles that had similar interests, to keep the princess safe, by banning demon and beastkin from the nation.


    "We have judged Dax and the nation he represents as people with interest in seeing the Kingdom flourish, he even removed the elements that tried to kill Teresa originally."


    "What!? Didn''t we wipe them out already?"


    "Apparently not no, they hid behind the merchants guild and evaded our detection with bribes and murders all these years. After Dax arrived here in Kingsted they tried to assassinate him, so we cooperated to have them cleansed from our nation."


    "While that may or may not be true we still can''t trust a-"


    "Announcing Dax of the Alpha-4 clan, repersentetive of the Galactic Empire!"


    With the unfortunate timing of the announcer all eyes turned to the entrance of the throne room, where the one armed, one eyed qiton appeared followed by Alice, who were currently having a nervous breakdown as she mumbled to herself.


    "That''s the king right? stay calm Alice, you can do it me."


    "Did I arrive at a bad time, or is this just some family issue?"

 Chapter 55 - Return of the first prince (3)

    As Dax made his presence known in the middle of the first prince and the kings heated discussion all eyes gathered on him, epsasually the first prince, that appeared to be assessing his abilities for a second before scoffing.


    "A demon that can''t use magic, let alone mana? Moreover he''s disabled, did you really make the right choice farther?"


    In response to the prince''s outrageous comment the air around Dax seemed to drop a few degrees as he put on a diplomats smile.


    "My arm is a weapon, out of respect I voluntarily surrendered it to the guards, and don''t call me demon, I''m a qiton."


    "I call you whatever I want de-"


    As the crown prince continued straight up insulting Dax his smile only seemed to solidify until he reached a tipping point and interrupted the prince.


    "Have I done anything to deserve this kind of ridicule? Oh right I got rid of that organization that tried to kill your sister, are you perhaps angry about your own ineptitude? Don''t worry I protected the Kingdom, and your sister, after you failed to do so."


    That comment seemed to rub the prince the wrong way.


    "You have no right to meddle in our affairs de-"


    "I told you not to call me that¡­. So this is the so called first prince I''ve been hearing so much about? Let me give you a solid piece of advice: When insulting a qiton make sure you''re far, far away from it behind an army of first class soldiers, that way you''ll last a few more moments before pissing yourself as you''re choked to death with our own spine~"


    "!!!"


    Responding to an immense amount of killing intent the first prince instinctively took a few steps back as he grasped his sword.


    "GUARDS! YOU WILL NOT THREATEN MY CHILDREN OR-"


    "What your highness, you''ll brake off the alliance? As I said the first time we spoke, I will not be insulted by children. Especially not this arrogant pup that still wet behind the ears and thinks he knows how to fight after mere decades of half assed practice."


    "Hoo? Half assed practice you say? Seems like this demon needs to be taught a lesson."


    "You sure can yap like a puppy all day, just for that comment alone I''ll rip off all your limbs and-"


    "What is going on here!?"


    Just as Dax was about to call scorched earth and abandon the Kingdom, Teresa appeared, stomping towards her older brother.


    "Ah Teresa~ It''s been so long, how are you-"


    "What are you doing Henrik!?"


    "What I''m doing? I''m-"


    "You''re insulting this nation''s most beneficial ally! And farther you''re no better!"


    "But I can''t allow such a low-"


    "No buts!"


    While Teresa continued chewing out her brother and farther Dax was slowly getting more and more impressed with her.


    (She sure is interesting..)


    "Are we gonna survive after all?"


    "Of course Alice, even if the Kingdom became hostile I would keep you safe~"


    "O-okay.."


    "I''m sincerely sorry for my brother''s behavior, please forgive him."


    After having finished shouting at her brother Teresa went before Dax to apologize for his bad behavior.


    "I won''t forgive him."


    "Eh?"


    "This is an issue that won''t be fixed with words, can I borrow the colosseum?"


    "For the first time you''re saying things that makes sense demon!"


    Seeming oddly confident, Henrik immediately agreed to Dax''s suggestion.


    "I''ll leave my suggestion for the council for another day then. When I win I expect a proper apology, or your skull, whichever comes first~"


    ---


    Two days later the colosseum in Kingsted was filled to the brim for a very special event. Officially it was a ''friendship'' match between the Kingdom and their new ally, unofficially both parties had to swear before the archangel Solaris to not kill their opponent.


    "I want to bet all this on Dax"


    "Are you sure missy? The crown prince is clearly the favourite here."


    "Just do it."


    "Sure¡­ 15 large gold coins on Dax''s victory, here''s your receipt."


    For such a large event betting had obviously been set up, and the crown prince was the favorite with the odds 4:1, with the publicly less known qiton as the underdog. After Alice had bet most of her savings on Dax she went back to the VIP seating where Terra was waiting for the match to start with a slightly annoyed expression.


    "I''m done betting now."


    "Ah, sure. By the way if he loses I''m not lending you any cash."


    "Hahaha There''s no way Dax is gonna lose, right?"


    "There''s a chance. Dax can''t use magic, let alone mana, and the prince knows that. Moreover it''s the crown prince, he''s said to have the best swordsmanship in the Kingdom, and he''s a genius mage on top of that, where as Dax comes from a world that fights with guns and drones, and he can''t either one here."


    "But he''s strong."


    "And full of pride yeah, Dax is not gonna use his overwhelming strength to win, he''s gonna rely on technique and that''s an issue. While prince is gonna go all out Dax is limited in strength, if he gets pinned with magic it might be over quik."


    "Seriously?"


    "Yeah, it''s pretty much fifty fifty. If Dax can close the range he''ll properly win, but if the prince can wear him down from a distance he''ll win."


    "Um about that loa-"


    "I told you already."


    "No way!!!"


    "She sure is loud, that guilde of mine¡­"


    Down under the spectator seating in a preparation room sat Dax all alone in the dark and waited for the match to start.


    (92 TACTICAL PLANS PREPARED, RECOMMEND PLAN #4-)


    (I don''t need it, in fact let me do this now: ICI power down until further notice.)


    (THAT ACTION IS NOT RE-)


    (That was not a suggestion, authorization code 044587356420, power down.)


    (CONFIRMED, HANDING OVER ESSENTIAL LIFE SUPPORT FUNCTIONS TO BASE OS¡­ COMPLETE. ICI SHUTTING DOWN, HAVE A NICE DAY..)


    "Now that''s done I might as well do some light warm up¡­."


    Getting up from his seat, Dax started doing some stretches before finally hearing someone coming to get him.


    "Let''s get this over with.."


    ---


    "Ladies and gentlemen how are you all this fine day!? My name is Phillip, I''ll be your announcer on this fantastic day where we have the fight of the year!"


    Amplified by a magic tool the announcer''s voice rang out in the colosseum, rilding up the some 2000 spectators that were densely packed into the colosseum.


    "Today''s fight is friendly match between the Kingdom, and our brand new ally: The Galactic Empire! But make no mistake, both parties are fighting to win!"


    Taking a few seconds to wait for the excited crowd to calm down slightly, the announcer went on to introduce the expert with him in the announcers booth.


    "With me I have the royal knight captain Marcus! I''ve heard you''ve had the pleasure of sparring against both our contestants today, how are their chances?"


    "Thanks for having me Phillip. Honestly it''s hard to say who''ll win, the crown prince is the obvious favorite, but Dax is a master of several interesting martial arts."


    "That is indeed interesting! As I said earlier you''ve spared against not only the crown prince, but also this mysterious Dax! What are your impressions of him?"


    "That''s hard to say, when I tried to kill him with the help of a few other royal knights I felt like he was only playing around with us as we were defeated."


    "I-is that so? Well we sure have a fight to look forward to here!? We''re only a few minutes from the start now, make sure you have plenty of snacks fokes, this is bound to be very interesting!"


    Filling the time with a bit more small talk, it was finally time to announce the contestants.


    "Let''s get this show on the road! First to enter the arena is someone all of you know ladies and gentlemen! Said to be the peak of not only the Kingdom but also humanity! I give you Henrik Vi Gruffydd VIII, crown prince of the Kingdom!"


    Entering to the crowds cheers, the crown prince Henrik looked proud in his red full adamantite plate mail armor wielding a single handed longsword.


    "There he is! Look at that amor, isn''t it similar to the royal knight''s?"


    "Not quite no, while the surface looks the same."


    "Oh, how so?"


    "Ummm¡­ If the royal knights armor are made for defenses, his highness'' armor is made for offence. The runic enhancement are not made for bolstering defence, but enhancing offence, and most importantly help the prince gather mana for spells."


    "So it helps him cast spells faster, how is that possible?"


    "That''s classified."


    "Is that so.. Well let''s get on with the show! Our second contestant is Dax of the qiton clan Alpha-4, Representative of the Galactic Empire! From a race that looks like demonkin, but made for war by an ancient and extinct race riveling the mighty angels! Not much is known about him, but I''m told he''s a born fighter! Let''s welcome him!"


    Hyping up the crowd Dax appeared from his side of the colosseum, making the crowds somewhat die down.


    "Did he perhaps forget his armor?"


    "I don''t think that''s the case, I''ve never seen Dax in armor so I don''t think he uses any.."


    Dax had walked out into the arena without any armor, in fact he was even barefooted, and only wore a pair of shorts and a plain t-shirt, wielding a stubby looking shortsword.


    "Wait what did you say? Hold on ladies and gentlemen, we might have an expert among us."


    Apparently hearing something from the VIP seating behind him the announcer disappeared shortly, repapering pushing a woman to the announcers booth with him.


    "Sorry for the wait people! Please repeat what you said earlier for the rest of the crowd please!"


    "Umm, I said Dax doesn''t need to wear armor, and that the fact that he is in such light clothing means he''s serious."


    "And how do you know that miss?"


    "Because I''m Dax''s disciple, and he''s training me in qiton martial art."


    "I-is that so? Please help us commentate by all means!"


    "I''m not sure I shoul- o-okay then.."


    As Terra noticed Dax''s smile she surrendered and sat down with the commentator and Marcus.


    "Then please elaborate on your earlier comment miss!"


    "Dax is from a race that doesn''t need to wear armor, his body is highly resilient, so armor would only hinder his movement."


    "Is that so!? That''s highly interesting! Can you also tell us about his choice of weaponry miss!?"


    "It looks like a tungsten shortsword. Normally it would be too heavy and impractical to use, but Dax has no issue with the weight, in fact the sturdiness helps him not accidently break it, and my name is Terra."


    "But he sure looks like he just walked off the street and just showed up huh.."


    "There''s also a possibility that that is exactly what happened¡­. Dax being a ''complete package'' he doesn''t really need fancy armor or weapons."


    "One thing is certain, this sure is gonna be an interesting fight! Let''s get on with the show! Both fighters ready!?"


    "Ready!"


    "Let''s get this over with!"


    "Both fighters are ready!? 3¡­. 2¡­. 1¡­.. Begin!"

 Chapter 56 - Return of the first prince (4)

    Separated by 10 meters two fighters faced each other, one said to be at the peak of humanity. The other a pure blood qiton, said to have limitless potential for strength, but limited by pride and tradition. The first prince, Henrik Vi Gruffydd VIII, wore a confident smile along with his shining red adamantite armor, he was certain of victory. Having assessed his opponent was unable to use even the faintest approximation of magic he predicted being able to overwhelm his opponent instantly. The other fighter was Dax, standing barefooted calmly without facial expression of even taking a stance his presence seemed so thin that he might blend in with the arena wall. Dax only wore a pair of plain shorts and a black t-shirt, wielding a heavy tungsten shortsword along with it.


    While most of the spectators where certain that he would lose, they somehow couldn''t see Dax lose, even if refusing to admit it.


    "Both fighters are ready!? 3¡­. 2¡­. 1¡­.. Begin!"


    With the tension peaking the announcer called the start of the match, prompting the prince to hastily gather mana, while Dax started bouncing around on the tips of his feet, still without taking a stance.


    "EAT THIS!"


    5 seconds after the announcer had started the match Henrik had prepared his first offensive spell, ripping out shards of rock from the arena ground and sending them hurling at Dax with break neck speed. Dax responded by dodging the rock shards with minimal effort, except for the last, which he caught with a spin and tossed back towards the prince as he broke the ground beneath him as he charged the prince simuntarraly.


    "Wha!-"


    Not expecting his spell being used against him, Henrik was forced to pause his ranged attack as he slashed the rock shard in half with his sword, revealing Dax charging towards him only a mere meter behind the rock shard. Slashing out of panic, Dax received the hit with his flesh and blood arm as he placed a open palm strike in the center of the prince''s plate armor, making him stagger a few steps backwards.


    "Take this seriously."


    Instantly closing the distance once more Dax delivered a series of heavy strikes to the prince''s chest with his shortsword before he was forced to retreat a few steps when the prince channeled mana into his longsword and made a wide slash. Following the slash Henrik kneaded a high amount of mana before Dax could close the distance again and used it to make a wind spell that pushed Dax away.


    "That was some exchange ladies and gentlemen! What do you think about it Marcus!?"


    "The crown prince underestimated his opponent and allowed him to get close. But still what was that parry from Dax? I''m much more interested in that. Even if the runic formation in the crown prince''s sword are unpowered it should be able to slice something as soft as an arm¡­"


    "I''m very interested in that too! When Dax parred his highness'' sword it didn''t even leave a mark, let alone a wound!? Could you please tell us about that miss Terra?"


    "Dax''s skin is extremely tough, so the prince will need to take the fight a whole lot more seriously, but then again so does Dax, that exchange right there was just a greeting."


    "A greeting you say?"


    "Yeah, it said ''I can hurt you so get your act together''."


    "Well one thing is sure, Dax isn''t going to lose this as easy as some people thought!"


    (That sure was unexpected¡­)


    Until now Henrik had been sure that the fight would be easy, but was forced to reevaluate his opponent after he had effortlessly closed the range.


    (Seems like there is something worth taking seriously after all¡­ Then it''s simply a matter of crushing him like the inferior race he is!)


    With a still confident smile Henrik prepared his next spell instantly, and invoked it by channeling mana into his chestplate. As the chestplate absorbed the prince''s mana it started glowing slightly, then golden crystals started forming around the prince as his smile bloomed ever more confident. After forming some 50 sword sized crystals the prince seemed to be able to control them at will, and they slowly started spinning around him.


    (How about this then!?)


    Having prepared his new attack spell, the prince sent some 20 sword sized razor sharp crystals flying towards his target. Dax reacted by charging towards the crystals, and as the first one was about to hit him he reached out his artificial arm, and with a wave the crystal disappeared as if dissolving.


    "WHAT!?"


    Starting to panic slightly, the crown prince sent the rest of the crystals towards Dax as he summoned more and channeled mana into his sword. Dax destroyed a few more crystals but was eventually forced to stop his assault as he was slowly overwhelmed by relentless swarms of the prince''s spells.


    "Seems like Dax is in a pickle ladies and gentlemen!? What do you think of this development miss Terra!?"


    "I feel like it''s to be expected. Dax can''t use mana, and for some reason he isn''t allowed to use something like a handgun to compensate for it, so of course he''ll be overwhelmed when the crown prince started taking this whole affair seriously, now it''s just a matter of time until Dax himself starts taking the match seriously or he loses."


    "Indeed. But I can''t see Dax breaking out of this with pure strength alone¡­ Still it was a surprise to see him cancelling the prince''s spell with that arm of his."


    "Could you please elaborate on what that exactly was that just happened Marcus? I''m sure that there are people among the audience today not able to see mana as well as you, including myself of course!"


    "Even if you ask me it''s a bit hard to explain¡­ If I had to try and explain it, it was like the crystal burst apart from the inside as something strange happened with the mana."


    "Something strange?"


    "That''s as close as I can get to an accurate description I can get, to be honest the implications behind even being able to cancel a spell after it''s been invoked are¡­. Well terrifying, so let''s not get into it here."


    "Then we won''t! But even with whatever trick Dax is using it looks like he''s running out of steam!"


    Indeed as the announcer said Dax was slowly backing off while being overwhelmed by the prince''s constant barrage of spells


    "Are you really sure that''s the case? From over here it looks like Dax is overwhelming the prince."


    "Oh? How so?"


    "Dax can keep dodging, canceling and blocking the prince''s spells perfectly for days on end without issue. Even if he''s hit a few times it won''t bother him, whereas the prince is ''just'' a human, like all of us, limited by mana, patience and concentration. The longer the fight goes on, the higher chance Dax has of winning."


    (Why can''t I hit him!?)


    After seriously trying to harm (or kill) Dax for a few minutes Dax had reacted by continuously evading hits with minimal movement as he slowly creeped closer, making the prince ever more frustrated as he started to slightly panic.


    "You''re exposed."


    Seeing his chance Dax hit away a crystal as his artificial arm split apart and 3 metal rod extended outwards.


    "Disruption field wide area test #1¡­ Commencing."


    It started slowly, maybe it was a few seconds before even the prince noticed it, but all of a sudden he lost all control of the crystal swords as the suddenly all disappeared.


    "Test successful, although heat generation and decay are both intense¡­."


    With a clam report as if he were in a laboratory doing clinical trials Dax rushed towards the prince once more, but this time he exposed the prince to the full brunt of his bloodl.u.s.t.


    "SHIT!"


    In that moment Henrik completely forgot he was in a sparring match with his flight or fight response deciding to fright he hurriedly activated a different runic array in his prized adamantite armor. Dax was at that point only a few steps from reaching the prince when a layer of concentrated dense mana seemed to from between him and the prince. Smashing through the hastily formed barrier with a shoulder tackle Dax barely slowed down as he showed a slight smile.


    "Is that all you got?"


    As his artificial arm turned whole once more he grasped his shortsword and stabbed it towards the crown prince''s throat.


    "Fu-"


    Reflexively reacting the prince took a step backwards as he swung his adamantite sword infused with mana and cut through Dax''s tungsten shortsword like a hot knife through butter.


    "Naive!"


    Having predicted the prince''s movement Dax had let go of the sword even before it was cut apart, with a faint he had exposed his intended target. Lowinger his center of gravity he delivered a slight uppercut to the princes chestpiece, using all his momentum he sent Henrik flying, hitting the oppersid wall with a bang, creating a dust cloud.


    "Did you see that ladies and gentlemen!? Dax sacrificed his own sword to get a hit in on the prince, and it looks to have payed off! Will the prince declare defeat, or has he simply been knocked out!?"


    With the crowd gasping and/or cheering at Dax''s display of martial prowers the dust slowly cleared, revealing the crown prince, mostly unhurt.


    "I will not lose to filth like you!"


    Dax''s hit appeared to have hurt, greatly. In response to that the prince looked like he had lost his cool, and was kneading mana into his armor on an unprecedented level. In response Dax showed a mischievous smile, and seemingly waited for the prince to finish up his spell.


    "This commentator dose in no way support the comments made by the prince in a riddled up state, but what was that!? The prince appears to be fine, moreover it looks like he''s preparing some sort of spell, and Dax is allowing it!? Marcus have you ever seen that kind of spell before?"


    "I have. I ask all spectators to immediately evacuate."


    "Eh?"


    "The crown prince has broken the terms of the sparing, Dax is the victor."


    "Hold on what are you talking about!?"


    "The prince seeks to use lethal force, thereby he has lost the match. All royal knights move to cover Dax, the prince is employin-"


    "There''s no reason for that."


    "But miss Terra, the rules of the dual st-"


    "Even if you try and stop the match Dax will be furious, just let him have his fun."


    "I-"


    "That was not a suggestion."


    "..... Fine. But I recommend the first few rows of spectators move back."


    With a few intense seconds of starring Marcus finally agreed to let the match go on, only giving in when he felt the same kind of bloodl.u.s.t emerging from Terra as he had once sensesed from Dax.


    (What the hell are you teaching this girl¡­)


    Down in the arena the prince seemed to have finished preparing his spell as his armor and eyes started glowing in a golden light, and then he disappeared.


    A split second later Dax doged the prince''s sword that aimed to decapite him, before he lost sight of the prince once more as he seemed to move faster than even his qiton reflexes could keep up with.


    "So high speed movement by extreme mana enhancement? Highly fascinating!"


    Narrowly dodging one more sword strike Dax received a deep lash in his cheek when he struck empty air with his own fist.


    (Well this might be a problem..)


    Receiving ever more small cuts Dax saw only imminent defeat, unless he did something about it.


    (A strike to disable the prince, without actually disabling him¡­. Might need to break this arm for it.)


    Formulating a plan Dax took more and more small hits as the arena ground was slowly painted black with the nanomachines that long had replaced most of his blood and maintained his body''s cybernetic implants.


    "I understand. Seeing your own sister getting stabbed right in front of you must have been a horrific thing."


    "WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!?"


    "The rage, shame and disappointment must have been useful motivators. But as the talent started showing itself the rage turned to prejudice towards the ethnic group belonging to her attacker, and with your newly found strength it turned to hate."


    "WHAT''S WRONG WITH THAT!?"


    "Absolutely nothing, unless it becomes a hindrance."


    "WHAT HINDR-"


    Cutting short Henrik''s outrage Dax suddenly managed to land a strike as he continued talking.


    "Hate, racism and prejudice born from fear and lack of knowledge clouds your judgement. As the crown prince of the first nation I made friends with in this strange world that is something I can not allow, therefore I will correct it."


    In a hail of attacks Dax slowly forced the prince back as he seemed to only get more desperate.


    "Strength not about how much your can hurt, maim and kill. But what you can protect and save, at one point you might have seen that as well¡­ Allow me to return you to that."


    With his artificial arm now glowing bright red from heat generated, Dax exposed the coils once more and turned them towards the prince


    "SHI-"


    "Too slow."


    Henrik was fast, but not fast enough, with a wave his ability enhancement disappeared as Dax purged his artificial arm while kicking him in the chest, sending him flying as he was knocked out.


    "Hate and pride clouded your judgement, get rid of them if you want to fight again, they''re inefficient."


    "Winner: DAX!"

 Chapter 57 - Return of the first prince (5)

    "How long was I knocked out?"


    "About 2 hours your highness."


    "Shit."


    Waking up with a slight headache the crown prince Henrik Vi Gruffydd VIII had an expression like he had just swallowed a bug, and that was not because of his headache.


    "I lost huh?.. Let''s head back to the castle for now."


    After removing his armor and changing into a military uniform Henrik took a carriage back to the castle, where he met Olga Maximilla, a noble from his council faction.


    "Your highness! Good you''re here, that demon is bringing something truly outrageous before the council."


    Slightly peaking his interest the prince decided to head to the council room to see what was going on. Arriving he opened the door without a care in the world the prince sat down at a forward chair.


    "Please continue."


    "Okay.. Of course I and the Galactic Empire are not asking to lease these areas from your territory for free-"


    "You want to lease areas of the Kingdom?"


    "Lease or borrow yeah, one area is a few blocks near the area around the central church which I intend to turn into a embassy and outreach center, the second area is a 10 square kilometer barren field that I will excavate and build a drydock, and the third is a small patch of land north of the city of Black Hollow I will turn into a military base."


    "That certainly is a lot of land.. For how long would you want to lease them?"


    "For as long as the Galactic Empire has a presence on this planet, about 500 of your years."


    "500 years!? That''s longer than the Kingdom was existed!"


    "You seriously expect us to believe that ridiculous timeframe!?"


    "This is obviously just a thinly veiled annexation!"


    The 500 years part really upset a great part of the council, especially the crown prince''s faction, but apparently not the prince.


    "I take it we will still have partial control and tax income from those areas right?"


    "The area here in town will be governed by a sheared system, with the Kingdom taking 80% percent of the taxes from the area."


    "90%."


    "83%."


    "88%."


    "85%?"


    "... Okay, 85% it is. What about the other areas?"


    "Restricted access, with no residential or commercial zoning. You can just consider them black sites."


    "Black sites?"


    "Areas that officially do not exist, you could just call them toxic mining zones, I will even supply raw ore to make the lie work. Of course they would need to be guarded by not only my own forces, but forces from the Kingdom as well."


    "And why would we ever acc-!"


    "Calm down."


    Interrupting his council member the prince took a few seconds for the council to calm down before continuing.


    "I expect you will compensate the Kingdom apporperly?"


    "Of course~ I''ve already spoken to your sister about it in private, but allow me to use this opportunity to share the proposals with the council."


    ---


    sSS-SYSTEM O-OoO-ONLINE, ICI-IIIIIq VERSION ''UNKOWN, sZ-SYSTEM CORRUPTzzz ''. ONonon-ONLINE.


    LANDING SEQUENCE CcCCQ-COMPLETE aA-AWAITING ORDERS, sCANNING P-PAYLOAD.... 5-56%..... 97.4%.... e-ERROR eEEEQE-ERROR, SsS-SURVIVOR L-LOCAqTED, tTT-TASKING NnnAANA-NANOMACHINES F-FOR TREATMENT¡­. tTTR-TREATMENT Ss-SUCCESSFUL, ssSQ-SURVIVOR R-R-STABILIZED.


    ¡­


    ..


    .


    Waking up the first sensation that hit her was cold, an unbearable chill forced her aching body awake as she tried, and failed to scream out in pain, realizing her throat was incredibly horse.


    "Ark! ach aAAaaaha!!"


    As she woke up and started moving she ripped off a large part of her back skin, as the piece of metal she had laid on had long since frozen along with it. Writhing in pain as she screamed her memories slowly started returning. Life on the cruiser, her military training, the ambush and passing out in the cold vacuum of space while her commander pulled off a desperate blind jump, but a large part of her memory still eluded her, and she didn''t even remember her own name. With her training kicking into gear she ripped of even more of her own skin as she reached for a first aid kit. Reaching the kit she fumbled but eventually got hold of a black syringe, that she promptly stabbed into what remained of her leg. After a few hours the gray matter had started to work and she gradually started to realize her own situation.


    "ICI you there?"


    [aAa-AFFIRMATIVE.]


    "Where are we?"


    [UNnn-UNKNOWN, CONNECTION TO COMMANzD oO-OFFLINE.]


    "Shit!... At least the atmosphere is breathable, and I appear to have mostly full function, well, except for this¡­"


    Looking down her body, most of her left leg had sever fostburn.


    "And my head is itching.."


    Scratching her head while looking around she noticed her current surroundings.


    "What is this, some kind of metallic cave?"


    [SssSCAN REVEALS AD-aaZ-ADVANCED COMPOSITE MATERIALS, aAND ORGANIC MATzERIAL.]


    "Just tell me how to get out of this please."


    [BbbZZ-BEHIND THzE eE-EQUIPMENT cCRATE.]


    "Got it, also your language interface is severely glitched. Scan the crate for stuff that will help me survive will you?"


    [SssZ-SCANI-]


    "Just show me please."


    Realizing it would take forever for the glitched ICI unit to show her what she need, the nameless woman instead asked it to show her, and her vision was overlaid AR information about the crate and the all the other junk inside the spherical room/cave.


    "Jackpot."


    Limping over to the crate she found a piece of junk to pry it open, revealing the goods inside.


    "35mm hyper velocity self guiding penetrators fired with the flexibility of chemical weaponry¡­ Or was it 36mm?"


    REX-ALPHA-357 HYBRID


    Named the absolute combat rifle of the century, the Rex alpha is the happy and super popular marriage of a coil rifles power with the reliability and flexibility of a chemically powered rifle. After throwing a ridiculous amount of founds at the idea, a unknown engineer managed to combine accelerator coils with a smoothbore 40mm chemically powered automatic rifle prototype, and prototype self guiding ammunition derived and miniaturized from the REX-144-3 Custom. The Rex alpha was first adopted by the 125th Hellwalkers and immediately replaced all prior personnel weapons except the Rex-0999 and Guardian-322 PDW in the battalion. Accelerator coils and barrel length were added or removed to create DMR (Dedicated Marksman Rifle), iDFGA (InDirect Fire Guided Artillery) and PDW (Personal defence weapon) variants, making the weapon utterly ambicus with the Empire''s might in technological advancement showed in the Iron race containment war. The Rex alpha in its rifle variant looks like any other rifle, with its bullpup design and black carbon-polymer construction, and it functions just like one too. The real revolution comes with the ammunition choice, whereas ordinary gauss rifles can''t fire intelligent munitions at high speeds without frying the stuff that makes it intelligent, the Rex Alpha can. That means it is possible to fit a soldier or drone with effective AD-LBD HEAT (Armor Defeating, Long burn Duration High Explosive Anti Tank) and ''HAVOC'', or uHVAG (Ultra High Velocity Anti Grav barrier) ammunition, along with a whole slew of specialized ammunition by simply changing what magazines they brought into combat.


    "One intact Rex Alpha and a few magazines of high velocity armor piercing, plus a spare vacuum suit with environmental protection¡­ Now if my head just would stop itching all would be fine.."


    Taking a few minutes to swap from her own ragged vacuum suit into the spare one, the nameless woman also covered her face with a reaper''s mask and went to exit the strange metallic spherical chamber.


    "What the hell is this wasteland¡­"


    Outside the spherical and metallic cave was a wasteland of snow, ice and hail. For as long as she could see, there was absolutely nothing but snow. Nervously setting a foot outside, her foot sank about half a meter into the snow.


    "F.u.c.k this.."


    Considering just shooting herself for a few moments, more rational idea''s eventually won, and she headed out into the waste after gathering a few supplies.


    "Any signals coming from out here?"


    [WzEAK SqZ-SIGNAL tZQ-DISCOVERED, HEADINGf 14x4, RANGEz UNKNOWN-QUaaaa.]


    "Guess I''ll just walk forever and ever until I find faster transport¡­"


    Stepping out completely into the snow, master armourer Lux Jameson of the Galactic navy started her tiring walk to rejoin whatever remained of her unit, but it would be a long and changeling, for the arctic desert of the Northern republic isn''t kind or forgiving.


    To the north of the Kingdom and past the mountain range that the angels call home lies the Northern republic, a nation at war with the Kingdom and the angels since its creation. Born from a gathering of northern tribes originally belonging to pains the Kingdom suddenly claimed at its foundation, they were displaced over the years by the Kingdom they realized they had to organize themselves so they could win back their promised homeland. Life in the republic is harsh, as most of the nation''s ground is frozen year round, and the nation often suffers month long snowstorms.Tempered by the land and a promise to make it back to the nation''s ''promised land'' at some point, the people of the republic are hardened warriors and skilled magic engineers, born from the nations mandatory military service. With a arguably better military personnel and equipment over the Kingdom, they fall short in one important aspect of warfare: numbers. With even the best earth in the nation being poor for farming at best the population of the republic is lower than the Kingdom, even though they both have about the same territory.


    Feeling like they''ve slowly been backed off into a corner with no future other than slowly wither and die, the people of the Northern republic those to fight. ''Fight or die'' is the reality the people or the republic believe they are in, military service is required, but staying in the army after the mandatory years of service are up is an utmost honor, as 95% of the people ever on the high council are long time military veterans. Members of the high council are chosen from clan leaders and command the republic''s joined military forces, and decide the long term military, social and technological objectives of the republic in a conference that is known as the great unifying talks, something that was currently ongoing.


    "What are our losses?"


    "A bit over 20%"


    "That is severe.."


    "But still within margin."


    "That''s true."


    In the center of the largest permanent city of the Northern republic sits an ancient hall made of the scarce and precious wood and stone. The hall had a overall rugged look, with the ever present winter wind scraping at the outer walls, the hall endures, mirroring the people of the republic. In the deepest room of the great hall about 50 experienced fighters, mages and magic engineers were gathered around a table. The only thing that united the people of different races, age and gender was the undeniable fact that they were all leaders with the united goal of seeing the Republic flourish in the promised land to the south. The clan leaders each represented the major 50 clans of the republic, but unlike nobles of the Kingdom, they shunned gaining favor and personal wealth, they only saw the betterment of the republic as a goal, multiple generations of seeing one''s family and friends starve and freeze to death had that effect.


    "But more importantly the Kingdom have rotated their elite forces away from the border, maybe we should use this chance to-"


    "You know we can''t do that my sister, we have to stick to the plan. Even if we managed to take a bit of land the Kingdom would win it back with the help of those detestable angels."


    After interrupting one of the senior clan leaders interrupted his junior, the atmosphere seemed to turn hopeful and disappointed at the same time.


    "I got a bit heated my brother, I apologize."


    "It''s fine, you belong to the generation that will finally lead our people out of this hellscape of a frozen dessert, being opportunistic and hopeful is required."


    With a joined chuckle from some of the older leaders the room suddenly turned completely serious as all turned to a single clan leader and awaited her next words with great expectation.


    "My brothers and sisters of the North, after 23 generations of research an effective and production ready model have been derived from the prototype!"


    """"""""""OOOOOHHH!!""""""""""


    "What''s the viability of the system!?"


    "There''s no theoretical limit on the system."


    "With the jamming only affecting external magic?"


    "Yes!"


    "A-and is it mobile!?"


    "The system only weighs 200 kilograms, it is transportable by a strike force, moreover the range is over a kilometer!"


    As the other clan leaders hurriedly confirmed the viability of the system the room became more and more cheerful as the eldest clan leader took the word.


    "MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS! Long have we waited, no suffered and endured for this day! Tonight we eat, drink and party! Share the news with the people you goveron, we have finally developed magic jamming! THE AGE OF THE ANGELS OPPRESSIVE RULE IS OVER!"


    With a thundering applause spreading out from the great hall, the surrounding people all realized new times were coming, and their age of suffering was coming to an end.

 Chapter 58 - Summons

    Outside the capital city of the Kingdom a series of benches had been placed in a open plane of grass and flowers in the morning dew. Those benches were occupied by the Kingdoms elite, with all of their eyes on a qiton, he stood a bit over 2 meters tall with short black hair and an eyepatch over his left eye. He had deeply brown skin worn with multiple bright white scars, and his entire right arm was completely artificial, looking metallic in nature. He wore a simple choice of clothing, a unremarkable black pair of black shorts and a plain black t shirt unfitting of his current diplomatic status. His name was Dax, a qiton of the Alpha-4 clan, a current castaway stranded on a planet of magic and dragons, but also the Kingdoms newest ally. Dax was accompanied by his current pupil, a human youth named Terra Williams. She was about 1 80 tall, and had long black hair that contrasted her bright red eyes and pale skin that was covered in scars of the same type as Dax, and like her teacher she wore light and simple clothing. Terra was currently pointing a rifle towards a dirt mound, with a painted on bullseye at a range of some 500 meters.


    [TARGET ACQUIRED. POSITION LASED AND RELAYED, READY FOR FIREMISION.]


    "Confirm firemission."


    Having drilled the current procedure more times that she could count over the last few weeks, Terra knew exactly what the AI named ICI would say, and knew how to respond.


    [FIREMISION APPROVED BY COMMAND. ESTABLISHING UPLINK¡­.. UPLINK THROUGH COMSAT-1 ESTABLISHED, 50MS DELAY, SYSTEM HOT.]


    "Target is zero mike mike, send one times 40mm AD-LBD HEAT, comfirem last."


    [TARGET STATIONARY, NO ADJUSTMENT NEEDED, SEND 1X 40MM AD-LBD HEAT TO LASED TARGET?]


    "Affirmative."


    [FIREMISSION DESIGNATED AS F1, PLEASE HOLD¡­. LIVE! ROUND(S) OUT, SPLASH 10.. 9.. 8.. 7.. 6.. 5.. 4.. 3¡­. IMPACT, FUSE 5 SECONDS.]


    On ICI exact command a 40 millimeter anti tank round impacted the designated target, coursing a cheer to erupt from the spectating crowd, but the firemission was not complete. 5 seconds after the round had buried itself into the bullseye it erupted, spewing chemical flames in a jet into the target, the flames where bright blue and hot enough to melt most high grade metal alloys.


    [IGNITION. TARGET SPLASH, STANDING BY FOR ADDITIONAL REQUESTS ON FIREMISSION F1.]


    "Target hit, standby."


    Breathing a deep sigh Terra put her rifle down, in that exact moment another bullseye drawn on a piece of paper popped up, and this one was swiftly being pulled by strings towards cover.


    "Wha!- F1 fire mission snapshot! Send KP!"


    [CONFIRMED RAPID RESPONSE SNAPSHOT ON FIREMISION ''F1'', 10 KINETIC PENETRATORS INBOUND HOT, PAINT TARGET.]


    Terra hastily pointed her rifle at the target and in response the rifle started beeping in a steady tone that turned faster until it was a continuous noise, and the bullseye was decimated, making the spectating crowd cheer even louder than when the first target erupted in flame.


    "Ladies and gentlemen that concludes this live fire demonstration, I hope the council will those favorably."


    With the crowd dispersing and falling into talk amongst themselves, Terra walked up to complain to her teacher.


    "You never told me about the second target."


    "Are you perhaps mad Terra? Always be aware of additional treats~ And you almost did well"


    "What you mean ''almost''?"


    "ICI you tell her."


    [LIVE FIRE EXERCISE CONCLUDED, EVALUATION: B-]


    "A b minus? Are you serious!?"


    [RATINGS ARE FINAL. FIRECOMMAND 4.2 SECONDS TOO SLOW.]


    "What!? How are you supposed to call that in faster than that!?"


    "That would be your next lesson, traditional qiton. Observe."


    turning to the target range, Dax took off his eyepatch, revealing a red cybernetic eye with 3 individual lenses, and cracked his neck before taking a quick breath.


    "ZU RA!"


    [SA.]


    With a completely alien response from ICI Dax started count down silently.


    "3.. 2.. 1.. Splash."


    On his exact command, about 30 flowers in the training field were decimated by precision artillery.


    "... What the hell was that?"


    "A firemission on 29 targets."


    "But how?"


    "The traditional qiton language is exactly like the people, made for war. Basically it''s a coded language made for sending short and exact communication that one can use for anything from telling your true love you love them by residing a 50 page long poem, to telling a class C5 cruiser to crack a target planet with 250 precisely timed tactical antimatter warheads, all in under a second.. It''s a bitch to learn, but once you know it, it''s the easiest there is."


    "So ''Zu ra'' is how you ask for firesupport on 29 targets?"


    "ICI please translate."


    [INPUT UNKNOWN, CLOSEST APPROXIMATION: FIzE QQUACD.]


    "What the f.u.c.k?"


    "In time young grasshopper."


    "If you say so¡­."


    "Come on, let''s head back to the church."


    A few weeks had passed since the Kingdom passed the so called Avoxaian treaty into their constitution in its entirety. Together with the treaties full implementation the first prince of the Kingdom, Henrik Vi Gruffydd VIII, forfeited his right to the throne, stating he would rather pursue the protection of the Kingdom by leading the military for the rest of his life, leaving the throne of the kingdom to his little sister, Teresa Vi Gruffydd XI. After losing to Dax in a public duel Henrik realized his own arrogance, and lack of training, he suddenly saw the path he was heading towards, and decided to fix it, that decision was of course fully supported by his sister, and she had spent most of her free time teaching him about all the races that called the Kingdom home.


    "Welcome back master!"


    "Look I told you not to call me that Rei."


    "Understood master!"


    "..."


    As Terra and Dax made it back to the central church worshiping the angels, Dax was greeted by Rei, a demonkin about Terra''s age. She had ash white skin, with completely black eyes and 1 meter long eagle like wings at her hip and 2 pairs of slightly chipped 10 centimeter long white horns extending upwards were her recovering black hair. She wore simple clothing with most of her skin showing without a hint of modesty, apparently her race originated from an arctic region much colder than the Kingdom even in winter, making her warm all the time. Her slightly immodest clothing, a mini skirt and tank top with holes for her wings combined with eyes that showed complete admiration and utmost respect proved a highly problematic for Dax, being a healthy and relatively young male (Although he would never admit it.)


    The way Dax understood it she came from a race that placed strength over all else, and had somehow come to respect Dax as her master, pledging her undying loyalty to him, completely one sidedly of course. But Rei wasn''t completely unwelcome, she had been rescued along with a whole slew of other demonkin that like her had deep mental trauma, and Rai proved a natural leader for them and helped them recover.


    "Ah you''re back Dax, can we go a few rounds?"


    "Are you still here Marie?"


    "How rude! I''m assigned here for your protection!"


    "And yet you spend your days trying to kill me and/or playing around¡­"


    "That''s just in the heat of the moment, you know I get excited when I get into it."


    "''Exited'' is a mild way to put it¡­"


    "Come on let''s go a few rounds, or have you changed your mind and want to make babies with me?"


    The horny, extremely honest and battle crazed beastkin was Marie, a member of the royal guard assigned for Dax''s protection by the crown princess. She had bright short orange hair combined with fierce red eyes and fluffy orange ears on top of her head that gave her a overall animalistic impression. Her body normally covered by her solid adamantite armor was now way more exposed in her light training clothing consisting of a plain white t shirt and a pair of loosely fitted boxer shorts that let her leopard like tail extending from her hip sway freely, making Dax wonder if she simply was there to play around.


    "Why do you want to have my children anyway?"


    "Because you''re strong!"


    "Is that really the only reason?"


    "What do you mean ''only reason''? You defeated me, twice, then won a public duel against the first prince, any female warrior would want to court you after that!"


    "OOOHH! So you see masters greatness too!?"


    "I''m getting too old for this shit.."


    "Ah Dax you''re back!"


    "Please don''t tell me this is how I''m going to be treated from now on Sophia¡­"


    "Don''t worry Dax, these two are¡­ Special."


    Appearing as a sane person in a sea of the insane was another royal knight, Sophia, wearing a nun clothing of all things. Sophia was a half breed demonkin originating from a nomadic tribe that moved around the world as it pleased, and her appearance was just as exotic as that implied, she had bright red eyes combined with obsidian like skin and pure white shoulder length hair. The reasoning for her current appearance was that she was taking a break from her duties of guarding the royal family and tending to the mentally scared demonkin Dax had saved.


    "It''s still kinda strange to see a royal knight of all things in that kind of dress.."


    "Is it really that weird? I''m wearing these clothes to show the demonkin I care for that people like me can be trusted, hopefully helping their trust in humans grow."


    "Oh and where''s Marcus and Tia by the way?"


    "Marcus was summoned to the castle about an hour ago, and Tia went to research that ''aircraft'' of yours."


    "Okay then, I''ll be inside if you need me."


    After enquiring about the last members of his protettive escort, Dax went inside the one storey family home right next to the church he had used as a base since arriving in the capital city of Kingsted.


    "Goodmorning Alice."


    "Ghe!- Dax you told me you would be back later!"


    "And that''s not an excuse to walk around half n.a.k.e.d¡­"


    "UuuuUUuuuu¡­. E-excuse me!"


    The blushing creature sitting in the kitchen eating breakfast when Dax got back was Alice, Dax''s ''guide'' and former member of the rangers core of the fortress city Black Hollow. She was about a head shorter than Terra, standing at about 1 60 tall, and had long brown hair that was usually braided (with varying success) and had emerald green eyes, complete with a few freckles.


    "Why does it seem like every female around here is in heat?"


    "You seriously have no idea?"


    "No I don''t Terra, I''m raised for war, not dealing with brats like you."


    "I will teach you in due time, young grasshopper."


    "Eh? What did you say? It sounded like ''I would like to double my daily training rediment''~"


    "..."


    If stares could kill, even the mostly immortal Dax would have been murdered several times over by his pupil, just in the last week alone.


    "I''m kidding~"


    "..."


    "Come on don''t be moody all of a sudden~"


    Poking the frowning Terra a few times on her cheek, Dax blocked a knee that was meant for his crotch.


    "Naive~"


    Catching the leg with his arm, Dax lifted Terra''s leg into the air, coursing her to fall over as he completely lifted her off the floor so she didn''t hit her head.


    "Let me down please."


    "If you tell me why your attack failed~"


    "... Fine. I attacked out of in-"


    [PROXIMITY ALERT. HIGH SPEED UNIDENTIFIED OBJECT CLOSING RANGE AT 200 KILOMETERS AN HOUR, NO IFF.]


    "Move to pattern red! Terra get Alice into her frame now!"


    Completely switching gears rapidly Dax almost tossed Terra up the stairs towards Alice''s room as a nearby drone tossed Dax a Rex Alpha rifle.


    [MOVING ALL DRONES TO BEHAVIOR PATTERN RED, GUARDIAN-R04 SPECIAL HANDHELD RAILGUN MOVING TO EMERGENCY FAST CHARGE, SYSTEM READY FOR FIREMISSION IN 2 MINUTES.]


    "GET INSIDE PEOPLE! SOMETHING IS HEADING HERE FARST!"


    Ripping of his eyepatch as the people outside dropped whatever they were doing and ran towards shelter, Dax charged his rifle and assumed a firing position as he was surrounded by drones all wielding the same kind of rifle as him.


    "My job is to protect you!"


    Marie had apparently not run to shelter, as ran up and took position in front of Dax with a two meter long adamantite greatsword.


    "I DON''T GIVE A SH!-"


    [TARGET ARRIVING. WARNING, MANA SIGNATURE ABOVE ANYTHING THEORETICALLY POSSIBLE, ESTIMATING CHANCE OF SURVIVAL AT 43%, RECOMMEND DISENGAGEMENT AND USE OF TACTICAL CLASS WEAPONRY.]


    Then they all felt it. Even Dax unable to sense/use mana felt it, it was a pressure like the gravity suddenly increased twofold, and suddenly a large sphere glowing like the sun appeared about 10 meters above them.


    "WHAT IS THAT!?"


    "Ku!- Such pressure!"


    "ICI PLUG ME IN, I NEED EVERYTHING!"


    [AFFIRMATIVE. PREPARING FOR FULL MIND DOMINATION... WARING: COMPLETE MIND MELT IN EFFECT. EXPECTED CORRUPTION AT 100% PATTEN BLACK NOW IN EFFECT, 6 REX DELTA 04, 150 GUARDIAN SPECTOR, 5 REX VULTURE, 1 GUARDIAN ELECTRONIC WARFARE DRONE TYPE 144 ''ALBATROSS'', 54 REX-DELTA MOD, 165-A25S ''REAPER'' ADDED TO ARCHITECTURE, ALL RAM AND PROCESSING POWER INTEGRATED IN COMMAND AND CONTROL NEURAL NETWORK MESH, ''HIVEMIND'' PROTOCOL ONLINE, TOTAL CONTROL HANDOVER COMPLETE, PHYSICAL LIMITERS RELEASED. ICI ENTERING SLEEP MODE.]


    With the limmitors on his strength released Dax dug his feet into the ground and prepared to fight like his life depended on it as the sphere slowly descended a few meters from him, and the nuns and priests suddenly went out of hiding, and started worshiping the sphere.


    ["Don''t tell me.."]


    As if wanting to confirm his huch the sphere suddenly disappeared, revealing what was inside. Dax''s first impression was that of disbelief, he had heard of them, even spoken with one, but it was his first time seeing an angel in person. Floating 5 meters above the ground was a creature Dax would have mistaken for a masterwork form some super famous sculpture, if not for the pressure that was as intense as the kind from a qiton elder. The 3 and a half meter tall majestic creature wore valkyrie like armor that seamlessly allowed her two pairs of 6 meter wide brown wings to extend from her shoulder, and somehow looked serval magnitudes more solid than pure adamantite armor. Above her golden brown picture perfect shoulder long hair levitated a golden halo, a likely effect of the flight magic she was currently employing. Her face was flawless, as if sculpted directly by the gods, but alarmingly didn''t show any emotion, only her golden glowing eyes seemed to judge Dax, as if looking at an insect.


    ["Can I help you with something?"]


    "ARE YOU DAX?"


    Her voice was simutarraly beautiful like an entire string orchestra, and oppressive like an imposing and absolute dictator.


    ["That would be me yeah."]


    With cold sweat rolling down his back Dax continued to talk calmly with the angel while formulating about a million battleplans with backups on backups.


    "YOU ARE TO APPEAR AT THE ANGEL SANCTUARY WITHIN 2 WEEKS TO STAND TRIAL."


    ["May I ask what I stand trial for?"]


    "YOU MAY NOT, I CAN''T BE BOTHERED TO EXPLAIN HERE AMONG SO MANY MORTALS, FAILURE TO APPEAR WILL LEAD TO YOUR DEATH."


    With those words the angel disappeared again, leaving Dax looking into the air like a fool.


    ["What the f.u.c.k was that?"]

 Chapter 59 - The Archangels Sanctuary (1)

    "I love the air up here~"


    Leading a small group up a mountainside, Dax walked at brisk pace in shorts and a t shirt without any life support as he enjoyed the fresh air like an old fat taking a mild hike.


    "Indeed master, it''s so clean!"


    With Rei following right behind, cheerful like a child she skipped around happily, still in minimal clothing of course.


    "Ha.. Ah ha.. Dying ha ha.. Help."


    Dragging herself behind them was Terra, in full arctic gear with fur coat and all, her face was starting to turn blue from the extremely cold weather and lack of oxygen, and it looked like she was starting to suffer from altitude sickness as she took short and brief breaths in the thin air.


    "Come on stop being so serious Terra, a little altitude sickness has never killed anyone~"


    ["I feel like that''s not the case trough!?"]


    Intervening in the conversation as she kept Terra from falling over, Alice in her Rex heavy frame type exoskeleton that was packed like a mule with equipment, Alice was screaming out through its speakers.


    "Alice Terra is fine, look at how energetic she is~"


    "Ah.. F.u.c.k¡­ Ha¡­ You.. Ha.. Ah¡­ And.. Me too¡­ Ha Ha.."


    "See? If she can still insult me she''s fine~"


    ["No seriously her face is turning blue!"]


    "That just means she''s not deserving of marster''s teaching!"


    "Ah.. Ha ha. I.. Hate¡­ Ha.. Both. Of. You.. Ha.. F.u.c.k.. Me.."


    "Just be grateful for master wanting to teach you after that constant barrage of complaining."


    "ha¡­ ha ah¡­ Feeling¡­ Faint¡­ Help.. Please¡­"


    "Okay then, 10 minute break, use that time to replenish your blood oxygen levels, and no wasting it on insulting me, I''m leaving you behind if you pass out because of that again."


    "Is that kind of training really necessary?"


    "The real question is why are you even here?"


    "Wha!- How rude is that!? If not for my there would be no alliance between our nations!"


    "Then I would have found another ally, and would be currently waging war against the Kingdom to seize what was rightfully my property before it blew up and killed all of you?"


    "Ghe!-"


    "Please be kind to the princess Dax, she''s here for your sake.."


    Followed by Dax''s group was the royal knights Marcus and Marie, followed by the current crown princess Teresa Vi Gruffydd XI, looking like a middle schooler on a skiing trip.


    "This is not some fun field trip to the angel sanctuary you know? I''m under some sort of accusation so there''s a good chance they''ll kill me, and all those that follow me."


    "That''s why I''m here! The Kingdom is home to the oldest and most devoted followers of the angels, being the heir to that nation I ought to have a little bit of saying in your matter!~"


    Puffing her chest(?) with pride from her seating fastened to Marie''s back, Dax started to see her as a toddler instead of a middle schooler.


    "Sure¡­ When it all goes wrong I can at least try to blame it all on you."


    "Wha!-"


    "Getting heated up is a sigh of defeat in an argument~"


    "Muu.."


    "Well then, the break is over! Let''s go!~"


    Pushing ahead as he grabbed his rifle off Alice''s exoskeleton, Dax silently signaled that they were being watched, promoting Terra to keep on her breather equipment as she also grabbed a rifle.


    "Ha.. Ha.. Ha.. Keep up Marie."


    "S-sure."


    Noticing what was going on, Marie slightly failed to keep her cool, making Marcus facepalm. After hearing the pre decided codeword Marie that was carrying the clueless princess moved to the center of the formation.


    It had been 7 days since the angels descend on the capital city of Kingsted. The second after it left Dax had called for a gag order to be put into effect, until Dax could prove his innocence, and even knew what he stood accused of doing, the public shouldn''t know about it. Lucky a free and privately owned press was still decades from forming, like the idea of freedom of speech and personal rights so the event was spun as ''the angels where getting inpeciant and so decided to invite Dax once more to the sanctuary, this time in person''. The crown princess quickly took control of that situation and helped to spin it properly to the public, in return she demanded to be taken along for the ''trip'' and Dax found it hard to dismiss her outright.


    (TREAT DISENGAGING.)


    (Good.. There''s a lot of monsters around here huh.. Move all Vultures back on standby and make the Spectors close that hole on the west flank.)


    (DIRECTIVES CONFIRMED.)


    Breathing a deep sigh, Dax put down his rifle and continued walking along in a relaxed fashion as he lead the group further up the desolate mountain.


    Protecting the crown princess was a true nightmare, especially since she insisted on a small protective detail, apparently she saw the ''trip'' as a chance to get away from her royal education, and therefore somehow convinced her father that the trip must be made incognito, only increasing Dax''s mounting headache. His first instinct was to use the recovered CAS-7, but the two week time frame made that idea problematic. After stopping the craft from overheating it had spend about 2 weeks in emergency operation slowly cooling down, and when the ship''s AI had finally come back online it had flooded Dax with warnings and damage reports. The repairs would take at least a month, and the damage was significant enough that Dax decided to retrofit the craft into a CAS-A7 ''stinger'', a single pilot variant boosting more solid armaments and a more advanced remote guidance feature. With flying as an option abandoned Dax settled on a ground route, and quickly formulated 3 layer defencive formation. The most outer layer of the formation is a grid of guardian Specter stealth communication and surveillance drones that scan and flag treats as the main formation advances. The second layer from the outside is a detachment that consisted of backup Spector UAVs, and 12 Guardian MK:IX Vulture''s that eliminate treats spotted by the Spectors with precision coilgun fire. If that layer fails the final layer remains, a detachment of 64 REX-Delta model 165-A25S Reaper combat drones split into 2 ''man'' cells spread out in a spearhead formation that could react and eliminate targets that slip inside the formation unnoticed, or deal with monsters that have too tough skin for the Vulture units light coilgun.


    With that formation Dax had managed to give the crown princess a true ''expedition'' trip, plowing straight through monster zones and dense forest, heading directly for the mountain range the angles called home.


    Making good progress, Dax decided to slow down slightly as they hit the mountains for some ''light'' training of Terra, the most extreme form of altitude training one could ever imagine. Terra was denied access to breathing equipment and made to do her normal training schedule, in addition to the marching they already did, and whenever she was close to passing out from acute mountain sickness, or the oxygen levels in her brain fell to dangerous levels, she was fed prue O2 at sea level pressure until oxygen levels recovered, and then the cyle restarted. Under normal circ.u.mstances even with her iron will Terra would have died after a few days, even with Dax taking his utmost care to keep Terra''s vitals under control, but Terra had long since stopped being human. After a few months of spartan like training under Dax''s direct supervision she had gotten into peak physical performance, and with the help of Galactic Empire ''enhancements'' her body had strengthened beyond its limits.


    "What''s 54 plus 25?"


    "Ha.. Ha.. Aha... 78?"


    "Its 79, run 500 meters ahead and give me 50 pushups."


    "Ah.. Ha ha.. Ha, u-understood."


    Watching Terra run ahead, even the battle hardened and battle crazed Marie showed a bitter face.


    "Is that kind of treatment really necessary?"


    "Of course not."


    "Then why go to such extremes?"


    "Because she wants unparalleled strength, so I''ve decided to train her as if she was a combined ops orbital drop troop recruit."


    "A what?"


    "Combined ops orbital drop troopers, or more simply called ''Hellwalkers'', basically the most elite force in the Galactic Empire, a force that I personally lead before stranding on this planet."


    "And how is this kind of torture going to help that?"


    "Marie that''s over the line!"


    "It''s fine Teresa. Hellwalkers fight in space, now that might not mean a lot to you so I''ll make it simple. In space there''s no air, no sound and temperature fluctuates between metal boiling and the cold absolute zero. Life in space is impossible, survival is only possible with fragile machines and then you try to fight a war? Weakness and/or mistakes, like being not able to calculate simple calculus to make a course correction is the difference between life and death, not for just you, but countless others. Being an elite fighter specialized to fight in such environment means being able to withstand truly extreme conditions, like training at high altitude. But I''m keeping it under control, if she truly wants to stop I''ll stop training her, if you don''t believe me ask Terra herself."


    Seeing the conversation to be over, Dax left Marie behind and as she passed Terra doing pushups on the coarse rock ground she stopped.


    "Are you okay?"


    "Ha Ha.. 29¡­. 30.. Aha ha. Y-yeah.. Go ahead, I''ll be right behind.. Ha.. Arg, 31."


    "Sure¡­ Just don''t over do it."


    ---


    "This f.u.c.k.i.n.g wasteland seems to stretch on forever.."


    By her own calculations she had walked about 200 kilometers due south over the last week, and she still had not seen anything other than snow.


    "I''m not gonna die in this f.u.c.k.i.n.g snow."


    Motivating herself Lux grasped her rifle with evermore strength as she kept on her steady march. Over the last few days it had been snowing less than when she first exited the sphere, but it still constantly fell as if slowly trying to smother her.


    "I''m not gonna. die. IN. THIS! F.U.C.K.I.N.G SNOW!"


    Even her voice seemed to be absorbed by the surrounding snow, prompting Lux to scream ever louder to force her to maintain her motivation as the sun was slowly rising.


    "I''m a orbital marine! I''m not going to f.u.c.k.i.n.g die here on this pathetic, low grav, backwater, quaint looking planet!"


    Shouting into the air after a few minutes of silence Lux started to feel faint, she had been walking for over a week now, only stopping a single time for a few hours to sleep and eat the last of her dwindling provisions. She knew what was happening to her of course, training on how to handle starvation and malnutrition was standart, and even if she didn''t want to admit it she knew she had only a few days left until she was too weak to move, and would properly shoot herself, but some sort of power was looking out for her.


    "Is that¡­ A town? Or some sort of settlement perhaps?"


    About a kilometer away was some sort of small settlement, with some 10ish shed sized wooden structures loosely grouped together. Realizing the settlement was about the only chance she had of survival Lux did what every marine would do in that situation, and hid herself in the snow, poking out her camouflaged rifle through a small hole to observe the settlement. About half an hour into the short arctic day a small figure emerged from one of the wooden structures, densely packed in fur coating.


    "A current inhabitant.. Habitation means there''s access to shelter, freshwater, and food.. I''ll wait for an hour after sunset, just before moonrise."

 Chapter 60 - The Archangels Sanctuary (2)

    "Keep up people it''s only a bit further now!"


    "How is he that energetic?.."


    "No idea.."


    "Master sure is amazing!"


    "Less talking more walking people! Terra keep up or be left behind."


    "Yes¡­ SIR!"


    With only 2 days until the time Dax was supposed to appear and stand some sort of trial at the archangels sanctuary he had suspended Terra''s altitude training as he picked up the pace over mountain top after mountain top towards the sanctuary. Dax''s group now also consisted of the 64 REX-Delta model 165-A25S Reaper combat drones that kept a tightend 1 kilometer perimeter around the crown princess, as the treats they had encountered in the isolated and desolate mountain region had greatly increased in magnitude. Even with proper equipment and a steady oxygen supply provided by Dax the royal knights and Dax''s own group had no experience of mountaineering, leading to the current phase of movement that was far too slow for Dax''s liking.


    "Marcus do I need to carry you?"


    "N-no."


    "Then keep up."


    "Can''t we take a break?"


    "We just took one 4 hours ago, I want to be over this mountain top before sundown. That way we can slow down slightly tomorrow."


    Judging the conversation over Dax ran ahead, grabbing a rifle on the way off Alice''s exoskeleton on the way.


    "M-monster¡­"


    Seeing Dax run ahead at 60 kilometers an hour in snow up to his knees, Marcus unintentionally voiced his inner thoughts, making the crown princess Teresa that was being carried by the royal knight Marie snap out of her own daze.


    "Yeah he sure is extreme¡­ Are you okay Marie?"


    "I''m fine your highness."


    Getting a formal response in return Terasa put a pout on her face as she retorted her favorite royal knight.


    "I told you to call me Teresa when we''re on this trip."


    "Okay, T-Teresa."


    Over the trip Teresa had gotten quite a bit closer to Marie, as she had thought Teresa a lot about traveling in the wild, something a sheltered princess like herself had never done before.


    "Are you blushing Marie?"


    "Shut up Marcus!"


    [CODE YELLOW, SECURE VIP IMMEDIATELY.]


    "Here we go again, tighten up Marie"


    Hering the more and more familiar voice of ICI sounding from the exoskeletons speakers, Marcus noticed that Dax had formed a firing line about 200 meters in front of them with 10 drones. As the group came to a full stop about a minuted passed without anything happening, then as if waiting for a lapse in judgement ICI''s cold voice sounded once more.


    [CODE RED. HOSTILE CLOSING RANGE, CREATING FIREMISSION PRIORITY 1, TASKING COMSAT-1 FOR TRIANGULATION AND TARGET ACQUISITION.]


    "F.u.c.k, Marie I''ll cast defensive magic! Get behind Alice now!"


    Marcus and Marie had gotten quite familiar with ICI''s thermonology over the trip, coursing them to fully realize what was happening at the moment.


    "What is it this time Dax!"


    "A lesser dragon Seems to have noticed us! ICI mark treat for killshot 2 klicks out, use the R04!"


    [CONNECTING TO KINGSTED FOB¡­ CONNECTION ACTIVE, SENDING ONE TIMES HYPERVELOCITY KINETIC SELF CORRECTING KILL VEHICLE, TARGET CORRECTION FOLLOWS: RELATIVE GRID 20 09 A4, SPLASH 125 SECONDS.]


    "You heard the terminator Terra, what do we do now?"


    "I don''t think now is a time for a test Dax!"


    "And I share that incentive Teresa, but with me needing to keep all my attention on keeping her royal highness safe I find it completely adequate to make Terra do the target corrections, besides this is something I''ve drilled with her a lot~"


    Turning to Terra to prove his point she had already put on a reaper''s mask and was busy doing target adjustments.


    "Relative grid 20, 09, A4¡­ ICI plug me into the satellite."


    [CONFIRMED, BIOSIGNATURE LOGIN APPROVED. RELAYING FROM GUARDIAN ELECTRONIC WARFARE DRONE TYPE 144 ''ALBATROSS''¡­. CONNECTION ESTABLISHED, RAW DATA FEED AT 50 MS RELAY DELAY, SYSTEM ONLINE. WARNING: TRAINEE LIMITERS ENGAGED, DIRECT DATA DOWNLINK LIMITED AT 1TB/SECOND TO AVOID MINDBLEED.]


    As ICI connected Terra to the observation satellite in orbit above them her vision changed to a birds eye view that quickly was flooded with information.


    "Oh yeah I see it now, it''s a young brown forktail dragon¡­. Looks to be female, we''ve properly entered her taratorry, that would explain why she looks so pissed. Well that works out in the end, ICI adjust kill vehicle 2 degrees left and bring it in 200 meters."


    Finding her target, a young female dragon about 5 meters long heading towards them, Terra made final corrections on the targeting.


    [ADJUSTMENTS CONFIRMED. SPLASH 10.. 9.. 8..-]


    "Correction 1 degrees right!"


    A few seconds before the railgun projectile hit the dragon suddenly shifted to the left, moving it out of the projectile''s self correction range.


    [ADJUSTMENT CONFIRMED, SPLASH 3.. ACTIVE GUIDANCE ONLINE, 1.. SPLASH, TARGET DOWN, MOVING TO DAGER CODE GREEN, ALL CLEAR.]


    Watching the dragon almost split in two as it was hit with a hypersonic projectile right between the wings Terra breathed a sigh as she pulled of the reaper''s mask, making Dax turn to Teresa with a large child like smug on his face.


    "See~ My pupil is the best~"


    "I-I guess¡­"


    "Eh, did you just praise me Da-"


    "Come on let''s move!"


    Continuing on with no more major issues they made it over the mountain top Dax had set for the day and set up camp for the night while under the attentive watch of several angels.


    ...


    ..


    .


    ---


    Out in the arctic wasteland plane of the northern republic the sun had set, and the moon yet to rise. Out on a rock sheet covered in some 2 kilometers of compressed snow stood a collection of about 10 wooden sheds-like structures, precisely 3000 meters to the north of them a single figure stood up from her hide in the snow and started to closing the range steadily with rifle in hand. The figure was clad in a almost skin tight grayish black bodysuit that looked unfit for the weather, but was in fact made to function is much harsher conditions, and a pure black facemask that seemed to absorb the faint ambient light.


    "ICI show me the render one final time."


    Over the past 10 hours Lux had been observing the small village and taken note of all movements happening there. Those movements had given her and her ICI unit a overview of which structures were populated, and in particular which were for storage.


    "So structure #2, #5 and #11 do not look to be populated¡­ 1 in 3 chance to find a supply cache that stores food."


    3 structures had been identified by ICI as uninhabited, 2 on the north side she was closing in from, and a single one on the far side of the village.


    [23 zqQQM-MINUTES TzO MOrqzONRISE.]


    With that massage from ICI Lux increased her running speed to a full sprint until she was about 200 meters from the first possible cache. Walking as silently as possible while still keeping up a semi fast pace the stranded and staving marine put up her rifle as her mind emptied completely and she switched into breaching mode. Closing the distance to about a meter she found a shoodly wooden door. Without hesitation she went up to the door and kicked it in, quickly scanning the inside for supplies and treats.


    (F.u.c.k!)


    The inside of the wooden shed was completely empty, possibly abandoned for a number of reasons she didn''t have the surplus of energy to figure out. Leaving that shed behind, Lux left the village and circled around to the next shed, that was also completely empty of food.


    [9 MINUTESzzz tT-TO MOONiucRISE.]


    "Shit!.."


    Having taken to long to look through the strange supplies of some sort of inscribed rook in the second shed, the starving marine now had 9 minutes to make it to the final shed before she could be spotted at a range of 2 kilometers in the pale moonlight. Needing to make that distance away from the village before that, Lux made the rushed decision to cut straight through the village instead of circling around it. Sighing deeply to herself as she realised the stupidity of the idea but still committed to it, Lux disengaged the safety on her rifle and sharpened her senses. Moving through the heat of the small village, the memoryless marine noticed some of the sheds where giving off immense heat, but only a few of them emitted light.


    (So they''re not burning wood to heat up their homes?... F.u.c.k!)


    While wondering about the strange heating of the wooden sheds a shed in front of her suddenly lit up with light. Thinking fast the marine hid behind another building. After a minute or so of standing absolutely still the light expanded, and she started hearing careful footsteps in the snow. With the footsteps moving ever closer, the marine went over her options in her head.


    (The sound of a gunshot would wake up the entire village, and I don''t even have a bayonet on me.. But in the end I wouldn''t need one, here it comes!)


    With the footsteps nearly on top of her the marine sprang into action, like a well oiled machine she separated from her cover and pounced at the figure, hitting it in the head with the butt of her rifle as she landed on top of while grabbing its throat to cut off any attempt at a call for help, and in a smooth and trained motion she dropped her rifle and punched the figure in the head, knocking it out cold.


    (What the?..)


    Only after picking up her rifle from the snow did the marine look at her victim, to see that she was just a kid, no more than 16 years old,. Snapping out of her battle mindset Lux checked to see if her victim was still breathing, then thought about what to do with her.


    (She''s still breathing and blood pressure, ECG and pulse also nominal¡­. Then what to do about this kid?.. If I abandon her out here she''ll freeze to death before morning.)


    Some fatom of humanity still remained in the marine and decided to make sure the kid didn''t die, with that in mind she first picked up her rifle and then flinged the youth over her shoulder and slowly crept towards the house from which the youth emerged from. Breaching the house while carrying the youth Lux inspected the inside. It was a simple home, different colored exotic fur covered the walls and floor with a single small bed under a heavy layer of quilts with embroidery of creatures and landscapes. In the middle of the humble home stood a strange metallic candle like structure that emitted heat and light, and Lux decided to put down the kid next to it.


    [2 MmmmaqZ-MINUTES T?O MOONRISEzz.]


    (Damnit!)


    After laying down the kid, the marine hurriedly closed the door to her house and moved the last possible storage location with haste. Finding the shed like wooden structure at the southern side of the village it initially looked promising.


    (That''s the first lock I''ve seen in this village¡­ A lock means there''s something to protect.)


    Gripping the lock the marine used her immense strength to crack the brittle metal and opened the door to find the shed filled with foodstuff.


    (Jackpot.)


    Inside was filled with cured sausages, some kind of cheese and multiple bags of what looked to some kind of cereal. Grabbing an empty sack she filled it with sausages and then took another that was filled with cereal the marine''s raid was complete and she hurriedly dashed out of the village towards the south as the pale moon rose, and the village inhabitants picked up their weapons and prepared to hunt a thief.

 Chapter 61 - The Archangels Sanctuary (3)

    Cresting a desolate mountain leading his group Dax stopped in his track and simply stared ahead, making Terra right behind him run up to him to ask what was wrong, before she herself simply stopped and stared herself.


    "Well this is¡­ Really impressive."


    "It is yeah¡­"


    Standing at the peak of the world about 5 clicks in front of them was a massive marble compound, but calling it simply a compound might be an understatement. Stretching out accorrs the cold and thin air of the highest mountain was a massive city complex of pure white marble with runic inscriptions and elaborate golden inscriptions, the scale of the sanctuary not unlike the megacities or gigafactories from Dax''s Empire. Furthermore the entire complex appeared completely sealed without a single opening to the outside, with the only sign of some sort of life being massive golden spheres inscribed with complex runes floating around.


    (ICI start virtual mapping and weak point analysis for possible enactment of Exterminatus.)


    (DIRECTIVES CONFIRMED, COMPILING SENSORY DATA FOR RENDER AND MODELING.)


    "Teresa pick up your jaw of the floor, you''re representing a country. Let''s go find a doorbell of some kind."


    While admiring the gigantic sanctuary Dax was joined by Teresa, along with Marie, Marcus, Rei and Alice.


    "You seem way to fine Dax.."


    "Well yeah, I''ve conquered cities larger than this with a small squad in an afternoon~"


    Delivering that line with a completely straight face coursed Alice in her exoskeleton to release a slight chuckle, while Terra sighed deeply.


    "Again with the jokes¡­"


    "What? You don''t believe your teacher Terra?"


    "No I don''t, you taught me that, remember?"


    "Touch¨¦, ICI unlock data cache #21 section 411, close quarter invasion of Ja''LI 3 -2."


    [AFFIRMATIVE, UNLOCKING DATA CACHE #21, 411, TACTICAL LESSON ON THE EFFECTIVENESS OF INTEGRATED FORMATION WARFARE FROM THE 125TH COMBINED OPS ORBITAL DROP TROOPERS¡­.. ORDER COMPLETE, DATA CACHE SHARED TO CADET.]


    "What the f.u.c.k did it just call me?"


    "Cadet - A young trainee in the armed services. Basically a child, which you are, I''m going ahead."


    Deciding he was done waiting for some sort of grand reception Dax took a few steps ahead and found stable ground, before setting off and jumping about 4 kilometers towards the sanctuary and landing as he kicked up a bunch of snow and debri.


    "There he goes¡­ Now what the hell did he share with me?"


    Taking off her breather and replacing it with her pure white reaper mask Terra opened up the data packet, making her view change completely. As if possessing some other person Terra''s view was that of some soldier inside some sort of cramped room along with 7 others, one of them she recognized.


    "Is that Dax?... He looks younger somehow?"


    Terra only caught a brief look at the younger Dax as he spoke some sort of alien language before putting on a sturdy helmet with a reflective visor. As the other soldiers did the same Terra realized she was watching looking through the eyes 8th soldier. Borrowing the eyes of the soldier Terra saw how she put on her own helmet, and her view was filled with information as she heard a familiar voice.


    ["We''re fully isolated, let''s go over the plan of attack one last time. Mark?"]


    ["Yes sir, a main uplink is 500 meters from the 54th dock which we''re arriving at. While Lux is on overwatch I hack the terminal with Charles and Ra''Li while the rest cover, from there we declare state of war, then move to mindmelt level red and then take the over the city. Do you have anything to add Dax?"]


    ["I do. While they might just be local soldiers with Iron industrial class drones don''t hold back or let your guard down! Any that take hits will have their vacation replaced with a training program, and if by God one of you f.u.c.ks up and dies like an idiot I will personally break all the laws and revive that person, just so I can beat them to death with my bare hands! Understood!?"]


    [""""SIR YES SIR!""""]


    As if waiting for that moment in time a small lamp in one of the corners of the room turned from green to yellow.


    ["Lux take it from here."]


    ["Yes sir! Master armourer Lux Jameson, weapon inspection complete! Ready yellow, 1 minute confirm!"]


    [CONDITION YELLOW CONFIRMED.]


    ["Yellow confirmed! Weapon condition yellow!"]


    [""""Weapon condition yellow!""""]


    With all the soldiers repeating her words as they inserted magazines into their weapons and primed them Terra realized she was observing from through the eyes of this ''Lux'' person.


    ["30 seconds! Charles and Ra 8 to 10, Mark and Lukas 10 to 12, Andre and Zao 12 to 2, me and Dax 2 to 4!"]


    With her those commands the the a large door suddenly opened and the soldiers rushed outside and spread out in a half circle formation outside what Terra realized was some sort of camouflaged landing craft. Outside was a mostly empty concrete field, with a few other craft parked. Scanning the area they found no activity, making Dax shout ''clear'' over the coms and Lux ran around the craft and climbed on top of it, sitting down and crossing her legs, placing her left elbow on her left knee then used that arm to support her Rex-0999 squad support weapon.


    ["On overwatch"]


    ["Copy, moving out"]


    Watching over her comrades as they made it to the edge of the landing zone where a small building was located.


    ["Breaching."]


    Terra watched as one marine kicked open the door and immediately got into cover as another tossed in a flashbang that exploded in blinding light as a third marine with a compact weapon charged in followed by the others.


    ["GO GO GO!"]


    ["GET DOWN!"]


    ["RUNNER! LEFT!"]


    ["GET HIM!"]


    ["RUNNER DOWN! LEFT CLEAR!"]


    ["RIGHT CLEAR!"]


    ["ALL CLEAR! Move to lock down perimeter."]


    With Dax''s voice sounding over the coms not even 10 seconds after the door had been kicked open the fighting had stopped and the marines moved out of the building with a few confused and frightened civilians in handcuffs.


    ["Uplink secure! Mark do your magic"]


    ["Yes sir!"]


    Waiting for a few minutes some sort of white noise suddenly started filling the area, making Terra realize that there was speakers all over the place, and then a massage started playing.


    ["Residents of Ja''LI 3 -2 station habitation complex ''Dawnstar'' this is an declaration of war! In accordance with the rules of urban combat from the Bai''rfg treaty no civilians will be harmed, stop what you''re doing, get down on your knees and place your hand behind your head to be considered a non combatant!..... I repeat-"]


    As the massage continued looping Lux jumped down from the landing craft and rallied with the other marines.


    ["Let''s get on with it, take your meds and prepare for mindmelt people"]


    As the Marines took off their helmets and took and c.o.c.ktail of different pills one of the captured civilians scoffed at them.


    "What is it just you 8? This station garrisons over a thousand soldiers, not even counting the drones!"


    "I know, I estimate a standing army of about 1057. That''s why I bought 7 people with me, and 1057 rounds of ammo."


    With a smile on his face as his subordinates all took some pills and injected themselves with syringes Dax took a deep breath while cracking his neck.


    "Initiate mindmelt, level red."


    [DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED. PREPARING FOR PARTIAL MIND MELT. WARING: MIND MELT IN EFFECT. EXPECTED CORRUPTION AT 22.57% PATTEN RED NOW IN EFFECT.]


    With the marines mindmelted together Terra''s vision and senses started to turn, strange. Suddenly her vision overlapped with a bunch of others from the other marines and Dax himself and sound suddenly came from different directions as if she suddenly had 8 pairs of ears."


    "What the f.u.c.k¡­."


    As the civilian witnessed Dax and the other marines sync up he felt a chill down his spine and he felt the blood drain from his face as the marines all equipped black facemask with white skulls painted on.


    """"We have control, no irregularities detected, mindmelt nominal. All good. 125th Hellwalkers, 7th detachment, squad 44 commencing Dawnstar takeover.""""


    From that point onwards it was a blur. Sensory input from all the marines mixed together constantly as they slaughtered their opponents. As if walls and cover didn''t exist gunshots found their targets while their opponents seemed like they where reacting in slow motion with the tactical capacity of toddlers. About 2 hours later the last enemy soldier surrendered and was handcuffed as the mindmelt disengaged.


    [MIND MELT TERMINATED, STARTING POST PATTERN RED CLEANUP AND EVALUATION.]


    "That''s the good shit! 1068 hostile combatants disabled with 2736 drones wrecked, all without civilian casualties! Beers on me, but first raise radio silence, let''s end this proper."


    Pulling out a over ear headset with a microphone from a pouch on his hip, Dax put it on and said a single sentence as Terra felt the datastream ending.


    "This is squad 44, Dawnstar takeover complete."


    "Terra come on it looks like Dax found a way inside."


    As Marie tapped Terra her shoulder she snapped back to the desolate mountain in front of the Archangels sanctuary. Taking off her facemask Terra looked confused at Marie.


    "Are you okay?"


    "Yeah, just give me a second¡­ How long did I stand here?"


    As Terra said that it was Marie''s turn to look confused at Terra.


    "5 minutes. Why did something happen?"


    "I guess not.. I just felt like a couple of hours passed."


    "What are you talking about? Come on let''s go."


    Standing for a bit while Marie went ahead Terra pondered for a bit before mumbling to herself.


    "I guess he could take control of a city that size¡­. Well the inhabitants might be slightly more uncooperative¡­"


    Sprinting to catch up with Marie and the others, Terra soon caught up to Dax, standing in front of a truly massive door lined with complex runes.


    "That is a large door¡­"


    "It is yeah¡­. How do we open it?"


    Looking at the door for a bit Dax looked to ponder something, before turning to Alice.


    "When in doubt, C4. Time for the RDX."


    Coming to the conclusion to blow up the door Dax went to get plastic explosives off Alice''s exoskeleton, and with that as the exact moment as a que as if rejecting the idea of blowing the door up it opened. Marcus and Rei being the most mana sensitive of the group felt it first.


    "Master run away!"


    "Your highness get behind me now!"


    As the door slowly opened a cold golden light shone out from the inside, along with a massive pressure that even made Dax flinch slightly as he stopped himself from reflexively grabbing his pistol.


    "What an immense presence you have in person."


    "Ara~ I''ll take that as a compliment, you''re not half bad yourself, with that hidden bloodl.u.s.t."


    "Well I''m trying to be civil believe me."


    Standing right on the other side of the door as it opened welcoming Dax and his group was an angel about the same height of Dax himself. Her most eye catching feature was her 3 pairs of, well, angel like pure white 1 and a half meter wings extending from her shoulders. Her eyes were like a entire sea of stars, with a bright white/green pupils staring at Dax like she was looking at his entire being like a biologist looking at a worm. Her silver hair was shoulder length, being braided up in a elaborate pattern with precious gems that coloured it like a rainbow with reflections and refractions. Her body was covered in what could be both taken as an ornate set of armor, and a luxurious wedding dress, with armor plates flowing like a skirt and a chest piece that looked like a priceless necklace with different coloured gems/refined monster cores. Her face was (of course) entirely flawless, with not even the inclination of a single imperfection to be seen, with a fair nose and bright red lips and pale eyebrows that didn''t show a hint of hostility or happyness. Above her head floated a formation of golden halos, likely a effect of multiple defencive and offencive spell that had been formed and where ready for execution, which would explain the intense mana enhanced pressure the magic abled people in Dax''s group were feeling. Inspecting the forring group one by one, lightly lifting a single brow when looking at Alice in her exoskeleton and the irrationally strong willed but slightly shaking Teresa the angels line of sight eventually settled on Dax before a thin smile formed on her face.


    "Welcome to the Archangels 14th Sanctuary, Dax and comrades. I archangel Solaris of the high council welcome you with open arms, I hope your stay here will be to your absolute pleasure."


    "I warmly accept your welcome Solaris~ It is nice to finally meet face to face."

 Chapter 62 - Exotic engineering (1)

    Outside the main gate of Kingdom capital city of Kingsted where there once was a crop field a large compound with high walls and guard towers had been erected. Inside most of Kingsteds scholars had gathered to witness something entirely unique. Once the compound was completely off limits to all but the most trusted, and now for the very same reason for the secrecy, people had gathered, and where in awe. Inside was filled with equipment entirely forring to the Kingdom, strange and exotic machinery floated metals and compounds and melted them down and alloyed them to more sturdy materials. Autonomous drones transferred chemicals compounds between industrial centrifuges and stabilized holding chambers with mass spectrometers. All of that would normally be enough for the scholars, as they tried to understand atomic theory by enquiring the drones about what they where doing. But now all the scholars had all gathered around a single site, with a large protective, and heat resistant wall on one side.


    [COMMENCING MAIN PROPULSION ARRAY AFTERBURNER ENDURANCE TEST, PLEASE STAND BACK.]


    With that command a purple jetblast soared towards the protective wall, making the scholars cheer and explode with curiosity, among them was a single half elf girl that was slightly more paticulear with her questions. She had long fine golden hair that extended over her bright red adamantite armor, with blue and slightly sleepy eyes she looked with wonder and curiosity as she asked presisce questions.


    "So this is what propels the craft? By ejecting energised mass at great speed propulsive thrust is achieved?"


    [AFFIRMATIVE.]


    "Okay then¡­ And the purple colour is a result of the composition of the fuel being combusted?"


    [AFFIRMATIVE.]


    "So how long will this ''endurance test'' go on for?"


    [13 HOURS AND 33 MINUTES UNTIL TEST CONCLUSION.]


    "Okay¡­. But I still don''t understand how that amount of material can propel that magnitude of that the craft carries?"


    [ALL QUESTIONS OF TWR AND MASS DRIVES ARE CLASSIFIED.]


    "I see.. Then would it be correct to say that the effect is achieved through countless years of incremental improvement?"


    [CORRECT, INCREMENTAL IMPROVEMENT IS THE CORNERSTONE OF ALL BRANCHES OF ENGINEERING EMPLOYED BY THE GALACTIC EMPIRE.]


    Her name was Tia, the royal knight that had originally been in charge of researching the craft when it had crashed outside Kingsted encased in a black sphere.


    "Then I have another question, about this machine over here-"


    Diligently continuing to take notes and ask questions until most of the other scholars had left for the day and the sun was slowly setting, Tia continued to gather knowledge.


    As part of the agreement Dax made with the Kingdom for its cooperation it was decided that scholars from the Kingdom would be allowed to fully witness the steps and processes needed to retrofit the recovered CAS-7 landing craft into the more modden CAS-A7 veriant, and so the refitting happened out in the open, to the marvel of observing scholars. In the center of the compound stood what remained of the CAS-7, not more than the basic airframe, as armor plating, hydraulics, AI, propulsion and life support equipment had all been removed to completely inspect and reinforce the airframe. The tent right next to the airframe had large windows into it, and where one of the few area''s the Kingdoms scholars under no circ.u.mstances could enter, for the inside of the tent had been made a ''clean room'' where not a single spec of dust remained and it was where the CAS-7''s sensitive computing components were being inspected and refitted and upgraded without the risk of a single speck of dust destroying an uncovered processor.


    Right next to that a deep hole had been dug, at the bottom the aircraft''s main fusion reactor and backup radioisotope nuclear generator (RTG) where housed so to not give any visitor so called ''super cancer'' (as Dax colourfully put it). The rest of the space around the now n.a.k.e.d airframe laid about a kilometer of different kinds of wires and hydraulic lines that where being inspected for the smallest damages and imperfections in what was perhaps the most tedious but important part of the refitting, as a single faulty line could crash the craft. Last but not least was the vast array of large open zero gravity forges that refined, purified, compressed and formed metal alloys and printed the super dense but light weight carbon nano weave that would combine to from the CAS-A7''s new more durable and lighter hull.


    All in all there where countless hyper advanced manufacturing and testings happening, which all interested Tia greatly, so much that she completely forgot to sleep, eat and take brakes.


    "Oh are you still here Tia? It''s gotten quite late."


    "Gary? Oh the sun is about to set huh?"


    "What do you mean ''huh''!? I bet you had nothing to eat today too."


    "Of course I did, I''m not a ch-"


    *GUUUUUUUUUUUU*


    As if screaming for help form a more sane mind, Tia''s stomach released a loud howl for substance, making Tia''s face and ears turn completely crimson.


    "I knew it. I brought some food so let''s eat."


    ".... Okay."


    Appearing as a savior to Tia was Gary Pedersen, a middle aged thin man with short gray hair and a overall thin presence. He had with him some sandwiches filled with meat and tasty condiments, and there was even enough for two people, as if he had predicted the current situation.


    Until recently Gary Pedersen was lowly ranked independent merchant, but after the merchants guild had been purged from the Kingdom after it was revealed that they dealt in banned goods and slave trade, Gary had spearheaded the formation of a new merchants union, founded by Dax. Almost overnight Gary had become famous in the economic world of the Kingdom, he held a monopoly on multiple revolutionary and highly profitable luxury goods that had appeared out of nowhere, the funds of which he used to buy up empty and desolate plots of land, all under the instruction of Dax of course. The plots of land proved to be rich in metals, and with mining technology millennium more advanced than what the Kingdom used, the metal were extracted with awe inspiring speed and efficiency.


    Dax had made a deal with Gary, using the founds he had earned as a monster hunter he financed new ventures and provided new goods for Gary, in exchange Gary provided raw metals used to refit the CAS-A7 and Dax''s other equipment, and both men profited greatly from it.


    "Are you here to deliver goods today too?"


    After getting something to eat Tia noticed several of Gary''s employees where busy unloading alien looking metal containers and handing them over to drones or automated cranes.


    "Yeah, this time it''s some sort of raw ore Dax needs to process here on site."


    "Do you really need to oversee this personally?"


    "Not really no. But this is my companies obligation to Dax, as such I''m here to make sure it is completed perfectly, oh and make sure you don''t pass out again."


    "Muu! That only happened one time!"


    "Hahaha, and that one time is penty."


    After coming across a passed out half elf with a satisfied expression on her face and fed her, Gary had formed a friendship with the curious scholar and they pretty much ate together every day, mostly to make sure one of them got something to eat at all.


    "That''s the first time I''ve seen those kind of containers, I wonder what''s inside?.."


    Tia had noticed that the normal deliveries Gary would transport was a collection of chemical compounds in pulver form and crates filled with hexagonal metal ingots, not environmentally sealed heavy metal containers.


    "Yeah this delivery seems to be entirely unique¡­ My people have been complaining about feeling strange when handling the containers."


    "Strange?"


    "Yeah. Like being carriage sick, which should normally never happen as they are my best men, but ICI assured us that as long as the containers remain sealed they''re safe to handle."


    "Huh¡­"


    Walking over to one of the containers Tia put a hand on it to try and examine the mysterious contents.


    "It''s warm to the touch¡­"


    "Yeah I noticed that as well, maybe it''s some kind of freshly processed ore?"


    "I don''t think so."


    Having walked up next to one of the containers Tia started feeling strange. Like her stomach was turning and something also started messing with her sense of balance.


    "Heat would mean whatever it is is decaying, as for disruption to my balance could be¡­"


    Mumbling to herslev Tia started to ponder about the container, but was interrupted when drones started gathering around it.


    [STAND DOWN, FINAL WARNING.]


    As the drones started pointing their rifles at Tia she put up her hands and backed off as the drones gathered around the containers. After inspecting the crates the drones formed a wall as automated cranes started moving the containers.


    "Rude.."


    "Don''t mind it Tia, that''s how they usually speak."


    "I guess, but if those drones are so smart why can''t they speak in a more kind manner?"


    "No idea¡­. Why don''t you try asking one of them?"


    "I''ll pass on that. It''s gotten late all of a sudden, see you tomorrow Gary."


    "See you another time kid."


    Watching Tia channel flight magic and setting off for home, Gary wondered for a few moments how his life would have turned out if could use magic, before getting his men together and leaving Dax''s compound.


    As they left the containers were gathered in the center of the compound, next to the well and then the real work started.


    [EXITOC MATTER ARIVAL ON SCEDULE, MINIMAL INTERFERENCE. COMMENCING MATTER REFINEMENT AND POST PROCESSING... STARTING ENRICHMENT OF CONTAINER #1..]


    As multiple heavy duty zero grav forges was moved to the center of the compound they were placed in a circle around the first crate and all drones in the area went into standby.


    [COMMENCING PELEMIARRY ENRICHMENT AND STABILIZING¡­. 0.13%.... 0.54%...-]


    With ICI steadily refining the exotic matter in the first container without actually opening through direct gravitational interference maxing out its processor with the extremely sensitive endeavor one of the other crates'' containment slowly started failing as the raw ore inside started heating up trough decay that under no circ.u.mstances was allowed to happen. The crates that had been printed absolutely perfectly by ICI had been designed by Rex heavy industries, and made to close off the contents from all kinds of known outside interference, but there was one special particle present that not a single engineer from Rex had ever seen or heard of before present, and it was what was interfering with the containment field: Mana.

 Chapter 63 - Exotic engineering (2)

    [REFUELING OF GRAVDRIVE ON SCHEDULE. 3/9 CONTAINERS ENRICHED,


    COMMENCING MATTER ENRICHMENT OF CONTAINER #4.. TEMPORARY STORAGE AT CAPACITY, BRINGING GRAVITON ANNIHILATION DRIVE OUT OF CONTAINMENT FOR REFUELING.]


    As the last visitor left of the CAS-7 retrofit site had left for the night the real work had started. A crane moved towards the newly dug well in the center of the compound housing the most dangerous parts of the CAS-7, including the main and backup power plant, and a MK: IX prototype anti graviton drive, which Dax had kept completely under wraps. The fuel for such drive came from the planets lower mantel, about 450 kilometers into the planet where extreme heat, pressure and the planet''s magnetic field trapped cosmic radiation in heavy elements over billions of years, and kept them from annihilating themselfs. That kind of raw material had to be environmentally sealed and locked in a containment field that cooled the ore close to absolute zero and bathed in electromagnetic radiation from the second it was brought up from the heart of the planet, until it could be refined and stabilized into fuel pellets just to keep it from from blowing up in a bright light that could cook the surface of a small planet.


    Of course as no one from the Kingdom had been told about such dangerous elements being needed, Dax couldn''t just publicly transport the goods himself, or beef up the security of Gary''s convoys without a valid reason, so from the second it had left his hands Dax himself had been keeping all his attention on the transport in incognito. As the handover of the exotic ore was perfectly timed with Dax''s spy satellite being overhead anything that moved and/or had a heat signature was flagged, then a swarm of hidden drones would verify them, and if they could not be verified as non hostiles or moved within 50 kilometers of Gary''s transport, it would be wiped out (along with the surrounding terrain) by precision artillery from over the horizon.


    [GRAVITON ANNIHILATION DRIVE OUT OF CONTAINMENT, RAISING ALERT LEVEL TO MAXIMUM, REQUESTING FULL SPECTRUM AREA SCAN¡­ TASKING COMSAT-1, ORDER AFFIRMED, ANALYZING RESULTS¡­. ERROR, HEAT SIGNATURE DETECTED INSIDE THE WIRE, ALLERTING CHAIN OF COMMAND...]


    Having finally noticed the rising heat signature inside the compound originating from the compromised exotic matter container, ICI allerted Dax resulting in the most rude awakening he had ever had.


    The following morning Tia did her usual routine. First she overslept slightly, was woken up by her mom, then after eating breakfast and admiring her mother''s prized weapons collection she eqiped her red adamantite armor and channeled flight magic and flew towards the CAS-7 retrofit site outside the outer wall of Kingsted.


    "What is going on?..."


    Nearing the place Tia immediately spotted something wrong. Instead of the place almost crawling with scholars it was deserted except for the drones that normally was on site, and those moved around with a certain panik to them. Landing inside the compound Tia was immediately surrounded by drones pointing loaded and primed gauss rifles at her.


    [VACATE THE AREA IMMEDIATELY, THIS IS YOUR FINAL WARNING.]


    "There''s something wrong with the newly arrived ore right?"


    To that response the drones fell silent, and didn''t shoot Tia either, proving her hypothesis.


    "Can I do something to help?"


    [REQUEST NOTED. DIALING COMMAND, STANDBY¡­]


    After a few tense seconds the drones lower their weapons and one of them handed Tia a black facemask.


    "What is thi-"


    As Tia was about to inquire about the mask she felt she had seen somewhere before she looked up to see the that drones were gone.


    ".. Great. Might as well¡­"


    Nervously Tia put the mask to her face, finding out it not only provided perfect vision, but also unexpectedly stuck to her face and she couldn''t take it off again. Just before panicking completely she was struck with a light headache and then heard a familiar voice in her head.


    ["So you want to help huh¡­ Well I welcome it with open arms, even if ICI calculates that you would have no effect."]


    "Dax?"


    Dax''s voice suddenly sounded from all around her, making Tia confused as she looked around for the large qiton.


    ["That would be my name yeah. It''s no use looking for me, I''m currently residing in the archangels sanctuary, do you want to help me with this issue?"]


    After looking around the immediate area for Dax hiding somewhere Tia calmed down slightly and took a deep breath.


    "If I''m able to, then I would like to help yes."


    ["That''s good to hear, can you still use magic to great effect without that armor?"]


    "Yes I can, why?"


    ["Oh that''s perfect, then please strip~"]


    "Eh?"


    After being forcefully stripped of her armor without explanation by several drones Tia was made to wear some sort of puffy suit that fully enclosed her.


    "..."


    ["The suit is for your own protection."]


    "..."


    ["Do you want to help or nah?"]


    "Mmmuu! So where is the problem?"


    Like the mature and patiant child she was Tia showed understanding in the face of what appeared to be Dax toying with her. Being guided by a drone Tia moved to the center of the compound where she found the containers that had arrived yesterday, one of them was still intact while the others apparently had been opened and emptied.


    "I take it there''s something wrong with that one?"


    ["Bingo~ Apparently the contents have been interfered with somehow and is starting to decay uncontrollably."]


    Looking closer at the metallic crate Tia noticed that it was very slowly turning orange.


    "Isn''t that really bad?"


    ["It is yeah, if the containment fails the contents could iratiate this whole city¡­"]


    "What interfered with it?"


    ["It''s quite possibly mana."]


    "Are you not sure?"


    ["Nope. But those containers block out any known interference, and with the exotic particle you people call mana being present I''m pretty sure that''s the course for my current problem."]


    "So you want me to remove the mana? I''m afraid that''s impossible."


    Canceling out the constant flow of mana was impossible as far as Tia knew, you could weaken it temporarily sure, but removing it completely would be an entirely hopeless endeavor.


    ["Is it possible for you to cool it down instead?"]


    "... I can try¡­."


    Walking a few steps closer Tia started to gather mana from the atmosphere while she taught about what kind of spell to use.


    "Nnn!"


    Finishing up her chant Tia violently altered the atmospheric pressure, heating the air above her a few degrees, making it rain.


    ["I don''t think rain is-"]


    "I''m not done!"


    Quikly invoking her next spell Tia took control of the downpouring water, gathering it up in multiple spheres that she slammed towards the crate as it violently turned to steam. Continuing on with that method for about 5 minutes Tia slowly realized she was making no progress.


    "Is it helping?"


    After dosing the canister in cold water continuously Tia asked about the effect it was happening.


    ["No, sadly not. The core temperature is still increasing, but if you can keep that up for another hour I can deal with the problem."]


    "Another hour? Impossible."


    Feeling the drain on herself after only a few minutes of continually casting the spell, Tia was not naive enough to claim she could keep it up for another hour, let alone 30 minutes. With her mind rushing to find a better solution while she covered the area in steam Tia''s concentration stated slipping, and along with it the spell itself started to fail.


    (Think think THINK! I know I can do this!)


    ["Thanks for trying Tia, get away before it''s too late. I''ll seal it underground, that should stop most of the radiation."]


    (Radiation¡­ Heat¡­)


    "I got it!"


    Canceling her current spell Tia started gathering an even more massive amount of mana from the air as she ran towards the crate and pushed out her hand.


    (Heat is vibrational energy in atoms, then isn''t just a matter of stopping that vibration? To remove heat from something is the most basic part of ice magic, I just need to reconfigure the spell structure for what I''ve learned about atomic theory.)


    Pressing her other hand backwards Tia prepared a spell structure that could transfer the heat energy away with a type of spell that was truly original.


    "FREEZE!"


    With her utmost ability Tia targeted not the container, but what was inside. Sapping away the vibrational energy of the area in front of her Tia cracked the container completely open with the sheer force of her spell as whatever was left violently flash freezed, rendering the exotic material inside inert as Tia herself passed out from the strain.


    "WHAT THE F.U.C.K WAS THAT!?"


    "Hii! the f.u.c.k Dax!?"


    Seemingly out of nowhere Dax stood up in the middle of a meal with Terra and Alice and shouted out into the air, scaring Terra that flinched and dropped her food mid meal, Alice however weren''t spooked as she had long since noticed that Dax was doing something else.


    "I''m sorry, I need to deal with something immediately."


    Leaving with those words Dax''s head filled with information from the event in Kingsted as he tried to rationalize it.


    (Render the full event from all available sensors, give me a 10 second before and after the event at maximum available resolution.)


    (DATA PACKAGE DOWNLOAD REQUEST REGISTERED, FACILITATING HIGH SPEED PRIORITY DATABRIDGE, RELAYING THROUGH COMSAT-1.)


    Walking out of the room Dax sat down in a corridor and shut his eyes as he entered a completely white world that was quickly layered with increasing detail.


    (ICI show me what the f.u.c.k just happened.)


    As the event replayed ICI tagged multiple irregularities with bright red warning tags that would normally indicate corrupt and/or incorrect data.


    (It looks like the very conservation of energy of being broken?¡­. That can''t be right.)


    Dax witnessed the exact moment Tia had violently removed heat from the area and flash freezed the exotic container and somehow rendered it inert.


    (ICI retacks the monster core structural analysis to top priority and set up a new research directive to study and try to manipulate the mana particle, turns out being able to just cancel magic spells won''t be enough.)


    (DIRECTIVES CONFIRMED.)


    Falling silent Dax watched the replay over and over again as he wished he understood theoretical quantum particle physics as well as the Avoxaian sisters.


    ["Mmmm my head¡­.. Did it work?"]


    Hearing Tia wake up trough his active sensor link Dax switched his vision back to the CAS-7 compound.


    ["It worked wonderfully Tia~ Thanks for the help."]


    "Nnn, you''re welcome"


    Helping Tia on her feet Dax with a drone he secretly scanned her body through contact.


    ["Are you okay?"]


    "I think so? My head hurts a bit from over using magic, but that''s about it."


    ["That''s good then, by the way what was that spell earlier?"]


    "I have no idea.."


    [You have no idea?"]


    Staring into the empty air for a bit with her sleepy eyes, Tia eventually started formulating a somewhat more valid response.


    "I tried to make a more advanced freezing spell with the new knowledge I''ve learned from you, but somehow it took way more mana than I expected so I passed out?"


    ["So you''re not even sure yourself?....."]


    "Mmm."


    ["I see¡­. Do you want a new job where you can play around with knowledge like that all day?"]


    "Eh?"

 Chapter 64 - Trail of the archangels (1)

    Inside a large hall a solid marble stone table had been placed flanked by simmualery elaborate wooden furnished chairs under a crystal glass roof, that revealed the pale white sun and clear skies overhead. The massive table wasn''t the only thing made of marble, as the floor and even the 5 meter tall walls were made of the same white marble, giving the impression that the entire room had been precisely and elegantly been cut into a cliff face. On one side of the table sat Dax, a stranded qiton in the world of magic and dragons. He wore his usual getup, a simple black t shirt and simually coloured plain shorts that showed off his bright white scars contrasting with his brown skin. Dax''s green eye focused intently at the person sitting opposite him, even his cybernetic eye lit up red behind his black eye patch as he put on a diplomatic smile.


    "So why the hell was I summoned here?"


    After being summoned in a somewhat forcefull matter Dax had completed a two week trip that normally would have taken at least triple that amount of time he had been warmly welcomed by the archangel Solaris herself. After being welcomed Dax''s group had been led to a deserted area of the sanctuary by Solaris, where she had left them for the night after pointing at a pre prepared lavis buffet. After eating Dax remained awake all night because of the issue with the CAS-7, and in the early morning he sensed someone in the dining hall.


    "It was the council''s decision to summon you in that forceful manner."


    "You''re part of that council yourself are you not?"


    "That I am, do you take issue with that?"


    "Not until I have a reason to, just answer my f.u.c.k.i.n.g question."


    "Ara~ You sure seem a tiny bit upset though?"


    Unfaced by Dax''s bloodl.u.s.t Solarris put on a bright smile that would make most people entranced. Unlike yesterday when she greeted Dax and his group Solarris those to wear a simple white silk dress that showed her beautiful better than her armor she wore before, but Dax didn''t really give a shit about that at the current time.


    "..."


    Not responding to Solarris'' teasing remark Dax simply continued to stare into her eyes as he released bloodl.u.s.t, making Solarris sigh after about a minute as she started explaining.


    "You really are no fun huh? You''ve been summoned here because some of the council suspects you of supplying the Northern Republic with weaponry to harm us."


    "That''s impossible."


    "How so?"


    "I don''t share my toys with anyone."


    With a completely serious and stern tone Dax quickly answered in something that did not seem to be a joke at all.


    "I''ll need way more information than that if I''m to come to your defence and help you survive this trail."


    "I''m sure you do, I kinda feel the same."


    "..."


    "..."


    Putting on a relaxed air Dax leaned back in his chair and waited for Solaris to come clean.


    "Haa okay! About two weeks ago we registered a perimeter breach on the north side of the sanctuary, investigation revealed that is was a warband from the Northern Republic moving into our restricted territory. That by itself is not out of the ordinary, stuff like that happens every hundred years or so when the primitives start to forget our might so we sent a sentinel to wipe them out."


    "A sentinel?"


    "Those golden sphere''s. Anyway they somehow managed to disable that, which also in itself isn''t entirely unnatural, once every 1000 years the primitives mange to breed a hero powerful enough to take down a single sentinel, so we sent ten."


    "And those ones were destroyed as well?"


    Sensing a pattern Dax interdicted with a correct prediction.


    "They were. By that point we knew something was wrong so we sent out a task force of 10 lesser angels-"


    "Lesser?"


    "One pair of wings, anyway they found out what we are currently dealing with. The Northern Republic seems to have figured out how to disrupt the flow of mana, and just a week after you used something like that against the first prince. Awfully good timing don''t you think?"


    "It is indeed, but in the end it''s just a coincidence."


    "Yeah it properly is, but you have to explain that to the council if you want to ever walk out of this sanctuary again."


    "Are you f.u.c.kking shitting me?... Okay then, the how is not important right now, I need to know who I need to convince."


    Realizing the angels dealt with a ''guilty until proven innocent'' style of law Dax understably cursed.


    "Well, there are 9 seats on the high council, right now 2 including me support your innocence."


    "So that means I need to at least convince 3 more members of the council?"


    "More than 3."


    "4?"


    "7."


    "Are you serious?"


    "Yes. ''To be speared once life after an accusation of direct harm against a snatuarry, the entire high council needs to be in agreement.'' Or so are the rules laid out, as far as I remember."


    Seeing the completely serious response form Solaris Dax felt annoyance well up in him until he leaned back in his chair and groaned loudly.


    "Just f.u.c.k.i.n.g go ahead and shoot me now please."


    "We can''t have that now, not if your prior treat holds true."


    Reminding Dax of their first encounter Solaris put on a serious face as she continued speaking.


    "That is why I''m here, to help you survive."


    Taking a few seconds Dax switched into a more serious gear.


    "Okay then, please tell me about the council in greater detail."


    "The council is the top authority in each sanctuary and are decided by oracle and hold their position until death, which is anywhere from 1 to 6000 years judged by their popularity."


    "I taught angels are where immortal?"


    "That is what we tell the world yeah, but sometimes angels are killed in duels or in disputes with other sanctuaries, if an angel lives a safe life they can get to be about 7.000 years before tiring of life and shutting themself off to the outer world."


    "I see¡­. That''s about the age most qitons elders retire too."


    "That''s news to me, is your race also eternal?"


    "We were made that way yeah, I mostly lost count of my age but I should be about 800 years old. Anyway tell me about the other members on the council, who are they? and what are their opinions of me?"


    "Wait, you''re 800 years old?"


    "About that age yeah, you have a problem with that?~"


    "No, it''s just that you don''t seem that ma-"


    "That''s because the only thing in life I take seriously is work~ Now please answer my questions."


    Cutting Solaris off with a warm looking smile she got the impression that she shouldn''t dig any deeper in that subject, and with a light cough she continued her explanation.


    "Okay then. Like I said there are 8 other members on the council, one of them supports your innocence, and then there''s 3 that don''t care if you live or die, and finally 4 that want to kill you just for setting foot in this sanctuary."


    "And I need to convince all of them to let me live¡­ I''m guessing the 4 that want me dead are severely xenophobic?"


    "Xenophobic?"


    "Fear or hate towards what is presumed unknown."


    As Dax explained the meaning of the foreign word Solaris released a slight chuckle which she quickly suppressed as she explained.


    "That word describes us angels perfectly. But yeah, the 4 are particularly ''xenophobic'', and the 3 others are nearing the end of their active lifespans so they''ve mostly stopped caring about such things as hate, they just want to ensure the safety of the sanctuary."


    "I see¡­. Well enough about all that, is there somewhere I can do some light training?"


    "There is, you don''t seem awfully worried about all this."


    "That''s because I''m not really worried. Anyway training before anything else, do you want to join me?"


    "Ara~ I''ve been waiting for a rematch."


    "Are both parties ready!?"


    "Yeah~"


    "Let''s go."


    In a truly massive empty room with nothing more than solid marble floor and roof a small group had gathered to witness what would not turn out to be a ''light spar''. Behind a large array of protection magic stood Terra as she acted as unwilling referee for the match, and behind her a few benches had been set up were the rest of Dax''s group had gathered to spectate. On the other side of the field curious spectators had also gathered, a group of about 20 angels quietly spoke amongst themselves as they closely watched Dax. Dax himself stood in the middle of the field, with light clothing he lazely swung a golden longsword he had borrowed as he looked at his opponent. Solaris had changed out of her silk dress and now wore light white and golden training clothes, that further emphasised her body and where most likely the reason most of the male spectators on both sides had shown up. As her wings fluttered excitedly she wore a confident smile as she swung a golden spear she appeared to have entirely mastered.


    "I will reiterate for clarity, Dax is not allowed to employ mana jamming, and in exchange Solaris will not employ anything other than strengthening magic. This is a light spar, not a fight to the death! 3¡­ 2¡­ 1... Begin!"


    With that signal Dax charged ahead, closing the 10 meter gap between him and Solaris immediately as he completely ignored the dangers of closing range against a spear user. Solaris responded by taking a defensive stance as she dug in her heels and trusted her spear against Dax''s chest with deadly speed.


    "Too slow."


    Sidestepping Solaris'' spear by forcefully breaking his own center of balance, Dax moved into range as he swung down his sword aiming for the neck. Keeping her cool Solaris stepped back a step as she swept her spear sideways in an attempt to completely shatter Dax''s ribs. Dax responded to that by once more braking his own stance and slipped below Solaris'' strike as he trust his sword forward aiming for the neck once more. Solaris had properly expected that, and with a smile she spread her six wings and created a gust as she flew about 10 meters back.


    "Hey that''s not fair."


    "Why? This is just another employment of strengthening magic~ But I have to say you''re good, I honestly didn''t expect that as I''ve only seen you overpower people with your strength or superior weaponry."


    "That''s because qiton combat doctrine dictates ''appropriate force'', afterall there''s no reason to use techniques when strength alone is enough. But to think you''ve been watching me, I didn''t expect to acquire a stalker so soo-"


    Before Dax was able to finish his words Solaris charged as she left marks in the solid marble floor below and swung her spear in a clear attempt to decapitate Dax. Ducking under the spear swing Dax trust forward his sword, but was unexpectedly meet with Solaris'' fist that landed solidly in his chest and sent him flying. Landing a few meters back on his feet Dax bloomed into a now even larger smile.


    "Did I say something I shouldn''t have?~ You''re not bad yourself."


    "Huh? that puch should have shattered you chest, how come you''re still alive~"


    With a warm smile Solaris complained about the stubbornness of her opponent as she prepared to charge him again, but was interrupted as someone ran out in front of her.


    "Stop stop STOP! This fight is over!"


    "But Terra I was just getting warmed up, be-"


    "No buts! Dax you''ve clearly been aiming for lethal strikes this entire time! And Solaris too! What the hell was that about wanting to shatter his chest, this is a non lethal fight!"


    With Terra''s outburst the fighting came to a hold as Dax sat down on the floor and Solaris breathed a deep sigh like it could,t be helped before she commented.


    "That''s some disciple you have Dax."


    "Yeah don''t encourage her please, it gets to her head."

 Chapter 65 - Trail of the archangels (2)

    The time had come, inside the 14th archangel sanctuary on top of the mountain range that separated the northern republic and the Kingdom a trail was commencing.


    "Are you sure you''re ready?"


    "Yeah I am~"


    "Please take this seriously!"


    Understandably one person was especially worried about Dax''s lax attitude.


    "Alice I''ve been ready and completely prepared for this trial since that oversized angel appeared in Kingsted."


    While reassuring Alice Dax placed a hand on her head and ruffled her hair as he put on a warm smile, making Alice relax a little bit more.


    "Really?"


    "Yep. I''m the commander of a former wetwork battalion, this is not the first time I''ve stood trial with my life on the line, nor will it be the last~"


    "Okay then¡­"


    Seeming less worried Alice trailed off as Dax continued to pat her head, that is until she heard someone coming, and then hurriedly removed Dax''s hand as her face bloomed in a deep crimson.


    "Dax! There''s some important looking angel here- Am I interrupting anything rancid?~"


    Having walked in on Dax who wore his large smile, and Alice that was blushing deeply, Terra put on a grin as she walked right up to Alice and asked.


    "E-e-excuse me!"


    Proving to be way too much stimulus for the young grasshopper, as apparently overloaded while making the inexperienced decision of a tactical retreat.


    "There she goes¡­ Are you ever going to do something about that Dax?"


    "I might, when things have settled down a bit more."


    "Is that so?.. Are you ready for this?"


    "Yeah~ Don''t tell me that you''re worried about me too Terra~ Are you perhaps falling fo-"


    "There''s no way. Please answer my questions."


    As Terra saw Dax try to play the situation off with a joke she put herself between him and the door and asked for a serious response, making Dax lose his smile as he gave a short response.


    "I might be worst case, make sure everyone is prepared."


    "Got it."


    Leaving Terra behind with those words Dax walked into the main hall of the visitors area to find a single angel looking at him while releasing poorly hidden bloodl.u.s.t. The angel was about Alice''s height, being a head shorter than Dax, and wore what could only be described as a mix between a wedding dress and a suit of armor, although it was not as elaborate as the one the archangel Solaris had worn.


    "I take it you''re the primitive that standing trail? Hurry it up and follow me, you''re late. But don''t get too close, you stink."


    With heavy scorn the angel told off Dax and started walking, but she only made it a few steps before turning around in response to a extreme amount of bloodl.u.s.t that was released at her back. Turning around she didn''t even get to react before someone grabbed her by the throat and pinned her to the wall as she was lifted so her feet barely could touch the ground. Having dropped her spear somewhere along that, the angel made a fist as she channeled strengthening magic into her arm and punched her attacker in the head, to no apparent effect.


    "Call me primitive one more time and I''ll rip off those pigeon like wings on your back along with the rest of your limbs as I bury you alive on this f.u.c.k.i.n.g rock your species call a mountain, understood?~"


    "Hii!"


    Having her first experience of qiton levels of bloodl.u.s.t the angel was lucky she had just been to the bathroom and was about to start begging for her life when Dax spoke again.


    "Understood?"


    "I u-understand."


    "Good~ Then let''s be on our way."


    Dropping the angel as he lost interest Dax went over and picked up the spear she had dropped before handing it back to the scarred for life angel.


    "..."


    Being handed her weapon by someone who had just attacked her she considered retaliation.


    "It is t-this way."


    Considered being the key word, for as she looked at the demonkin she saw a smile, an invitation to dare cross him once more, so he could rip her apart with his bare hands.


    ---


    After being guided hall after hall and up various stairs Dax''s frightened guard left him in front of a relatively modest white marble door. Standing there for a few moments he was about to start breaking down the door when it opened by itself. Entering Dax found a circular room that seemed to be the top of the very sanctuary. Starlight shone through the thin air and glass roof hit a half moon shaped table where the elite of the sanctuary had gathered. The 9 archangels all stopped their talk when the door opened and observed Dax with varying expressions. One of them Dax already knew, Solaris wore a thin smile in her simple silk dress and next to her sat a male angel with the same kind of smile and wings, leading Dax to think that he was somehow related to her. Next to that angel in the center of the table sat 3 angels with way more pairs of wings than the others, leading Dax to believe they were the elders close to the end of their active lifespans Solaris told him about. To the right of them was the part of the council Dax received the most bloodl.u.s.t from, 4 angels with each with 3 pairs of wings like Solaris and her presumed brother, the exception among them was a particularly hostile one with 2 pairs of pure black wings and an long black hair that matched her black eyes and white gnashing teeth that made her look like a wild hound more than a arcangel to Dax.


    "Let''s get this over with."


    Sitting down in a chair in front of the council members with nonchalant attitude Dax crossed his legs and leaned back in the chair.


    "Well met demonkin, have you been made aware of why you have been summoned?"


    As the center angel took the word Dax paid closer attention to him, he looked to be about 20 years old, with golden hair and eyes with a fair face not holding any expression, but the six independent pairs of golden brown wings on his back and immense presence of his voice reminded Dax of a qiton elder.


    "My name is Dax, if you don''t want to call me by that then at least call me qiton, as I am no demonkin. And yes I''ve been informed that the council believes that I have supplied the northern republic with a device that can disrupt the flow of mana."


    "I see you have been well informed, Dax of the qiton race. What do you say to dose charges?"


    "They are completely false. While the republic employ some sort of interference type jamming the type I employ is different."


    With that statement Dax sat back in his chair as the room filled with silence.


    "That alone is not going to amend you qiton, please provide more proof towards that."


    Feeling that the lone statement was all Dax wanted to say, Solaris stepped in to try and get him to explain more in detail.


    "Okay then¡­"


    Standing up from his chair Dax split open his cybernetic arm as it started humming.


    "Then try to use magic miss council member."


    "Okay then¡­ Huh?"


    As Solaris tried to channel mana into a spell she let you a strange sound before putting more effort but still failed to form any spell.


    "This is magic jamming, or the beta version of it at least. Notice how it''s vastly different from the primitive technique the republic employes against this sanctuary."


    Taking a second to examine the effect the were currently under, one of the elder angels spoke out.


    "This is indeed a completely different kind of effect. But that itself is an issue."


    "It is! The very use of magic interference demands the death penalty!"


    The second the elder made his point the dark winged angel made her stance.


    "I support that motion, even if the demonkin isn''t affiliated with the republic we can''t let this technique spread."


    "Then I feel we are mostly in agreement, the demonkin must die, unless you have a issue with that Solaris."


    With most of the council in agreement of Dax''s death penalty one of the elders looked at Solaris for her opinion.


    "As the general of this sanctuary i am in dissagement, we need to focus on the current issue at hand. Currently we''re looking at 150-200 casualties just to remove the current incursion, and then what? If they can do it once they can do it again, we need to stabilize the region and that will take even more lives, putting us at risk of a hostile takeover in the future, and we can''t rely on the Kingdom for this."


    "Then what are you suggesting?"


    "I''ll put it simple, Dax can you take care of this for us?"


    "Yeah, I calculate two hours to eliminate the warband, and a few weeks at most to realign the republic with your interest through annexation."


    With an immediate answer Dax presented a option most of the council had not thought about.


    "That is if the council stops interfering with my operations and the sphere''s I have yet to recover, as I seem to remember was the original agreement that obviously have not held up at all so far."


    "That is a serious accusation you''re bringing before us demonkin, do you have any proof?"


    Bringing forth accusation of breaking the mutual non aggression treaty made the angel sitting next to Solaris speak up for the first time.


    "I have, just because I can''t use magic doesn''t mean I can''t observe it. After my first encounter with your lovely general I recorded the mana signature of her possession magic and catalogued it. After that it was just a question of time to process the data, and then the world of magic was revealed to me. Since then I have detected 452 mana events related to the unique kind of magic you angels use, most of them was to be expected, just some light peeking and surveillance so I tolerated it. What I do not tolerate is summoning dragons to kill me or trying to blow up the entire city of Kingsted just to kill me. But alas ''yesterday''s enemies are tomorrow''s fiends and next weeks compatiosion'' so I''m willing to forget it."


    "That is hardly any proof at all."


    "Not to you no, but it is plenty for the Kingdom."


    "Tch."


    (Checkmate.)


    So far it had gone exactly according to Dax''s plan, like the council member pointed out he couldn''t convince them someone on their side had broken the agreement, but he never needed to. The angels were worshiped in the Kingdom, but that was hardly the norm. All around the Kingdom was old empires and new republics egear to claim there worth, and killing or punishing Dax for some vague accusation after he himself had seared information of their own misdeeds could be the spark to unite them all, with the Kingdom leading the charge. Sure the sanctuary could handle that, but losses would eventually mount, weakening their position against hostile snatuaryes.


    "You can tell the other sanctuaries I submitted to you, that would demonstrate this sanctuaries strength and secure its foundation. Furthermore wiping out the republic will send a strong message throughout the continent that conflict only will lead to ruin, and you lose the torn that have constantly been annoying the sanctuary since you banished them from their land and formed the Kingdom."


    "..."


    A long silence followed as the high council of the 14th arcangel sanctuary realized they had been played from the moment this ''qiton'' had set foot in their home.


    "We understand. This council will forget all alleged charges against you if you take care of the republic."


    "And stop interfering with me as per the prior agreement."


    "O-of course."


    "That is all I hoped for~ I''ll get on it immediately, please excuse me."''


    Leaving the council behind with those words the council room fell silent until one of the members quietly mumbled.


    "What a f.u.c.k.i.n.g monster."

 Chapter 66 - To cull an uprising (1)

    Moving through a labyrinth of marble, glass and starlight Dax was mostly running on autopilot as he mentally mapped out the supplies needed to complete the job he had been tasked while spamming his home base outside of Black Hollow with new construction request.


    "ICI standby to relay new directives for comsat-1"


    [READY.]


    "Disable stealth mode operations and switch form observation mode to indirect fire guidance and tasking, and wake up all reapers in my AO, it''s time for a hunt."


    [ORDERS CONFIRMED, ENABLE WAR PROTOCOL Y/N?]


    "Yes. Get me a tacmap and wake up all units and place them on high alert, I''ll be ready in half an hour."


    [WAR PROTOCOL ENACTMENT CONFIRMED. NOW SCRAMBLING ALL COM NETWORKS AND STEPPING UP ACTIVE ENQIPTION TO LEVEL 5, ESTABLISHING COMMAND AND CONTROL HIVEMIND¡­ COMPLETE, 256 UNITS TASKED IN MESH AND READY FOR OBJECTIVES.]


    "Hostile is designated as ''The Northern Republic'' assume all civilian targets to be hostile until confirmed passive, high level mana events are to be flagged and eliminated within 5 minutes."


    [ENEMY OF THE GALACTIC EMPIRE REGISTERED, STRIKEFORCE READY IN: 12 MINUTES AND 35 SECONDS. WARNING: WAR PROTOCOL IN EFFECT, SCRAMBLING COMMS AND REORGANIZING HIVE MIND COMMAND AND CONTROL MESH¡­ COMPLETE, 120 SECONDS TO NEXT SCRAMBLE.]


    Getting back to the visitor''s area of the sanctuary Dax found Terra, Alice and Rai waiting for her in full combat gear with Alice in her exoskeleton and Terra and Rai pointing rifles towards him.


    "Good job keeping the Kingdom people safe, but it turned out okay in the end. And who taught you to use a rifle Rai?"


    "I learned from watching you~"


    Being surprised by the sight of Rai, self important demonkin wielding a rifle just like Dax did when they traveled to the sanctuary he took a second to inspect the stance.


    "Well you look the part, but your safety is still on and your mag is empty."


    "I have no idea what those words mean at all master~"


    "Right¡­ Terra take that away from her before she hurts herself."


    "Sure¡­ So what happened?"


    "I''m suppressing, then annexing the republic. You guys head home to Kingsted."


    "Wait what?"


    Understandably that statement was met with confusion.


    "Let us at least help Da-"


    "Nope. Head home, especially you Alice."


    "Why not!? I want to help you!"


    Over the last few weeks Alice had gotten more and more attached to Dax and was obviously upset.


    "You''re not coming with me, none of you are."


    "But!-"


    Feeling increasingly desperate Alice''s voice started to tail off while Dax was getting even more stearn.


    "That was not a suggestion, oh and Terra can you help me with something real quick?"


    "... Sure."


    Leaving Alice behind looking like a abandoned puppy at a shelter Dax relocated to where they had dumped all the gear that had been carried by the exoskeleton and quickly found a ceremonial looking woven blanket and spread it out on the floor.


    "That was really f.u.c.k.i.n.g mean."


    "Yeah it was, can you help me here?"


    "..."


    Being meet with silence and contempt Dax shrugged and then took out a large leather bag and sat down on the blanket, and Terra reacted to that quite poorly.


    "SHE''S CRYING FOR F.U.C.KS SAKE!"


    "Yeah I can hear that, but what would be even worse to bring her, or you, with me."


    "WHY!?"


    "Because this is not going to be us killing some bandits or some light skirmishing."


    "Isn''t that even more reason for us to help!?"


    "You''ll just be in the way."


    "WHAT!? Say that again!"


    The very idea of being detrimental in a fight really tickled Terra off, and reacted by channeling strengthening magic into her already enhanced body as she punched Dax straight in the face.


    "HOW THE HELL AM I INADEQUATE!?"


    "Like this."


    With fluid motion Dax grabbed Terra''s hand by the wrist and then used his other hand to


    grab Terra by the jaw and slammed her head into the ground as he made sure she remained conscious. With muffled screams escaping Dax''s grasp he stared directly into her frightened eyes and released a extreme amount of bloodl.u.s.t.


    "I am going to war. Now you people and your world might think you know something about it, but you don''t so let me be absolutely clear: This is not going to be a fair fight. This is not going to be enjoyable for anyone involved. This is not going to be kind or fair fighting, I am going to maim people and leave them to die, I will slaughter people, without any form of mercy and/or chivalry. The qiton art of war is not kind, and as a wetwork operative I''m going to use any kind of dirty, dishonest and cruel type of warfare to end this war as soon as I can.. Having lived for as long as I have I can tell by looking at you and Alice is that either of you will not be able to witness that without snapping, now Rai might be able to do it, but will most likely lose grip on reality. Now I ask you, which of my options are more cruel?"


    Having made his point Dax released the now meek Terra before returning to the leather bag which he opened and pulled some strange looking ceramic plates out.


    "I can do without your help, you can leave now."


    "..."


    With about a minute of pure silence following as Terra just laid on the floor as Dax unpacked even more ceramic armor plates he was about to toss her out when she stood up on her own.


    "I''ll help."


    "Are you su- okay then, get over her and help me."


    Stopping himself mid sentence as he saw the renewed determination of his disciple Dax put on a warm smile and sat down on the ceremonial looking blanket.


    "So what are we doing?"


    "A old qiton tradition, you''re helping me put on my armor."


    "Okay."


    "Then let''s start with the back piece, that will be those armor plates over there."


    "..."


    "What''s wrong?"


    Picking up one of the brown armor plates Terra fell silent as she put on a questioning expression.


    "How the hell does it fit?"


    "Just push it towards my skin, then you''ll see."


    "Okay?.."


    As Dax pulled off his t shirt Terra pressed a armor plate that looked like it should cover his spine towards it. With a snap the plate suddenly stuck to Dax.


    "What the?"


    "Neat isn''t it? The plates have spikes that pierce my skin and hooks onto subdermal supports and then turns flexible, see?"


    Demonstrating Dax bent his back, making Terra realise that the plate was not one solid piece, but thousands or even millions of interlocking plates of ceramic armor.


    "That certainly is impressive.. Is this the next plate?"


    "Yeah you got it, that one fits to the left of the prior one. If you get the plates on my back, I''ll start with my legs and work my way upwards."


    "Like this?"


    "Yeah like that."


    Quickly finding the pattern Terra worked with Dax to quickly cover him in light brown armor. From top to toe all expect Dax''s head was covered in a layer of armor, with even his hands covered in a truly complex set of armor.


    "Thanks~ Now for the sup armor cover."


    "There''s more?"


    "Yeah, this is the sup armor meant to be the last and final layer of defence. Next is the layer that supports the sup armor and then is the 5 more layers of armor and heat dispersion before the final ERA layer."


    "I-I see¡­ This sure is some impressive armor¡­"


    "It is yeah, I''m really glad I found it in a sphere near Kingsted, it is a one of a kind too, as it is proved far too expensive and difficult to mass produce."


    "One of a kind huh? How much did it cost?"


    "This set would cost about as much as about 50 CAS-7''s."


    "50!?"


    "Yep. But don''t worry, it''s quite the challenge to damage."


    "T-that''s good then, what''s next?"


    "Thermal protection, that is that one over there."


    "Ah, then how does this fit-"


    Continuing on with the additional layers of armor the disciple and master combo used the time to catch up and just talk about whatever.


    "So do you like your new eyes?"


    "Where did that come from?"


    "Nowhere. I just never go to talk with you about it, figured now would be the time."


    "Hmmmm¡­ They''re fine I guess? Even if the colour is a bit off putting for some people."


    "Yeah I''ve noticed that after the fact too.. I can make them blue or brown if you like."


    "No need, I quite like the colour."


    "Then I won''t bring it up again."


    "..."


    "..."


    "Is that normal where you''re from?"


    "What is?"


    "Changing ones eye colour."


    "Ah. It is completely normal, in my world one it''s normal change anything from eye colour, hair colour and skin tone. Some people even got cybernetic implants to be able to change body parts on the daily for fashion."


    "I can''t even imagine that. Have you ever done that?"


    "Bodymods? Nope, never feel like I needed to. I once tried to get a tattoo, but then my mom found out and beat my ass, and that''s about as far as I went in that direction."


    "Your mom beat you up huh? That''s the first time you mentioned the her, how was she?"


    "In a single word? Brutal, but she was still loving. Being the single remaining member of the Alpha-4 clan from a young age she should have died and be forgotten, but she didn''t. Rising up to become leader of the qiton war council at a age of 16 she basically became a legend. Then later she had me, and raised me alone to inherit her position while still fulfilling her duties."


    "She sounds amazing."


    "Larger than life yeah. I am proud to just have know her, let alone be her child."


    "I would love to hear more abou- Hey is it supposed to do that?"


    Leisurely talking while continuously layering Dax in armor plates Terra was suddenly surprised when the armor locked in, closing any air holes and gaps.


    "Construction complete, thanks for the help."


    Standing up Dax examined the smooth pure black outer armor that seamlessly had become part of him while still allowing full mobility.


    "God I love this armor."


    Checking the functions Dax made a fist, making metal spikes pop you on top of his knuckles.


    "Oh I need armor like that."


    "And for the last part~"


    Getting a black helmet with a tinted visor Dax put it on and locked it in click as he was completely shut off from the world.


    [XMRA CONNECTION ESTABLISHED, SYSTEM SEALED NOW RUNNING ON INTERNAL LIFE SUPPORT. OPENING UTILITY ACCESS PORTS, READY FOR ERA ADDON.]


    ["I can take it from here Terra, I task you with bringing everyone home safely."]


    "I can do that. Please explain yourself to Alice when you get back."


    Being left with those words Dax was suddenly as alone as the day he landed in on the forring world.


    ["Time for work¡­."]


    Grabbing a Rex Alpha rifle Dax walked towards the exit of the sanctuary.


    "You seem ready."


    ["That I am, get out of the way I don''t need your help."]


    Brushing off Solaris that had meet him in full combat gear Dax''s mood soured.


    "Oh come on you can''t take on a entire country by yourself."


    ["Can, will and have done before. Last chance, move."]


    "Ara~ Don''t be so sure of yourself, let me help.. You¡­"


    Opening the bulkhead Solaris walked out of the sanctuary as she teased Dax, trailing off when she finally saw the small army of reaper drones that had gathered outside without her knowledge.


    ["Then do what you want. But if you slow me down or interfere I''ll leave you behind."]


    "O-okay¡­"


    Breathing a deep sigh Dax cracked his neck as his gauss rifle slowly humed and then mumbled quietly to himself.


    ["Time to cull an uprising¡­. Been a while since I did this sort of work¡­."]

 Chapter 67 - To cull an uprising (2)

    ["Bingo. Tally 56 targets, 10 o''clock range 14 clicks. Requesting fire mission priority omega, task R04 for strike package delivery"]


    In the harsh and thin air of the angel controlled mountain range Dax had spotted what was presumably the Northern republic warband headed for the 14th archangel sanctuary in a wally down below.


    "What f.u.c.k kind of code language is that?"


    Standing next to him was the archangel Solaris, looking quite confused in response to his way of speaking.


    ["Baggage be quiet or I will gag you. ICI relay target coordinates trough sat uplink, tag highest target density and plot me a splash that will make them non combat effective."]


    "Ah there they are, can you really hit them from there?"


    Spotting what looked to be the group in the distance Solaris put on a teasing smile.


    [CALCULATING STRIKE TRAJECTORY¡­.. ERROR, NO POSSIBLE DESCENT ANGLE.]


    ["Really? Give me a recalc please."]


    [RECALCULATING STRIKE TRAJECTORY¡­.. COMPLETE. STRIKE TRAJECTORY #1 AS FOLLOWS: CHARGE R04 235.4%, FIRE ANGLE 74 DEGREES ADJUSTMENT +4, ON RELATIVE GRID G4, R8, O3. SEND ONE HIGHEX FRAG, ESTIMATED CASUALTIES 75% CONFIRM STRIKE Y/N?]


    "Now the creepy voice is speaking in codes too¡­"


    ["Wait 235% Charge? That will blow up the R04¡­ F.u.c.k I wish I had orbital artillery, what I would give for just a single round of highex up high¡­"]


    Because his target was currently on a valley surrounded by mountains it proved impossible to strike from such distance without overcharging the railgun to a extreme level and sending a projectile in a ballistic trajectory, so Dax had to figure out another way of dealing with them.


    ["Oh looks like they''re stopping for the day.. That''s great, ICI increase formation spacing and give me a halfmoon formation at a range of 2 klicks."]


    [DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED AND UNDERSTOOD, SETTING UP KILLZONE.]


    Having understood Dax''s intent the now white painted drones quickly spread out in a line with Dax in the middle as he started advancing.


    "Hey what the hell is going on!?"


    As she was completely ignored by Dax Solaris was understandably annoyed as she moved in front to block him off while demanding an explanation.


    ["Move, baggage."]


    With Dax''s command all drones around him stopped in their tracks and pointed their rifles at Solaris.


    "What the hell is wrong with you Dax?"


    ["Nothing is wrong with me, I''m just pissed off. I was getting suspicious after my talk with the council so I had a talk with the crown princess of the Kingdom about your history and relationship with the Northern republic. After finding fertile ground near a strategic strongpoint you settled your followers on ground that was not theirs, then drove out the natives into a cold f.u.c.kking wasteland and just f.u.c.kking left them there to suffer for 2000 years without doing anything but blocking them off from their land. Failure to defeat one''s enemy is a special kind of f.u.c.k.i.n.g failure, but just leaving them in a wasteland while constantly holding them in a choke? That''s not only cruel but downright evil."]


    "T-that is becau-"


    ["I don''t f.u.c.k.i.n.g care. You brought me in to fix this, and I''m going to fix it. I''m going to crush them as fast as possible so to bring the suffering to an end, so to start the healing of the people''s suffering. Now I don''t need you here to do that, in fact you are a just a f.u.c.k.i.n.g deadweight at this point so I''ll treat you as baggage, that means: 1) If the baggage is heavy I''ll leave it behind 2) If the baggage throws a fit I will gag it and then leave it behind, understood?"]


    "U-understood¡­"


    Laying out concrete ground rules with deadly intent behind his words Solaris was forced to agree to Dax''s therms.


    [WARNING: WAR PROTOCOL IN EFFECT, SCRAMBLING COMMS AND REORGANIZING HIVE MIND COMMAND AND CONTROL MESH¡­ COMPLETE, 120 SECONDS TO NEXT SCRAMBLE.]


    ["ICI keep that message on internal please"]


    [CONFIRMED.]


    ---


    "Let''s stop here for today! Squad 1 on tent duty, squad 2 handle overwatch and squad 3 heats up the rations while squad 4 and 5 take a rest!"


    """""SIR, YES SIR!"""""


    Having made appropriate progress for the day, the warband chief quickly delegated tasks needed to set up camp as he took out a map and logged his barings.


    (Just 2 more days and we reach the sanctuary, the time have finally come for the angeles to suffer like we have for so long..)


    Sitting down on a nearby rock the chief took a moment to admire their reason for success, a device capable of jamming enemy magic while boosting the magic from allies.


    (It truly is a marvel, the engineering clans really outdid themselves this time.)


    Ever since being banished to the cold winter plane the Republic was founded on they knew it would never be possible to match the angels directly, so they didn''t. Spending multiple generations they expanded out on the frozen desolate plane, finding and then exploiting any resources they could find to realize their revenge. That was supposedly how they achieved the device, but the warband chief was not dull enough to think the jammer was a result of that effort even after being told that by his superiors. It looked truly alien at first glance, like a mix between some kind of rock and pure metal, with metal carrying handles and sleds underneath it so it could also be pushed along. The surface was covered with runic inscriptions and it released a quiet humm that made the warriors and mages of the warband initially stay away from it, until they ran in to the first sentinel. Watching what had continued to oppress their people as a unreachable killing machine for over 2000 years fall to the ground and be destroyed after simply coming too close to the jammer really made it spike in popularity among the warband, even if no one understood how it worked.


    "Here''s your food sir."


    "Ah, thanks."


    Being snapped out of his chain of thought as a subordinate handed him a metal tin with piping hot stew the warband chief instead turned his attention to her.


    "You''re from the iron diving clan right? How are you holding up?"


    Noticing the distinkt clan mark on the subordinates coat he asked about how she was handling the cold


    "Yes sir, this cold is nothing to me, but the air is getting a bit thin. On the other hand I''m worried about the rest of my squad, some of them already has slight frostbite."


    "Yeah I''ve noticed that too, let''s hold a bit earlier tomorrow and make the healer take a look at everyone¡­ Get back to your station now."


    Suddenly the chief felt a chill, making him heighten his awareness as he looked to the surrounding hills.


    (What is that¡­)


    Narrowing his eyes as he covertly grabbed his sword the surrounding people started to notice something wrong too as they slightly slowed down their tasks and glanced towards the chief for instructions.


    "AMBUSH! SHIELDS ALL AROUND NOW!"


    Making a split second decision the warchief precisely commanded his elite unit that also reacted on a dime and as a single element, having drilled together for the current mission for years. Not even a split second after the command from the chief, the area around the warband bloomed with active mana as spikes of bedrock shot up from the ground surrounding them on all sides in a flawless wall formation, and not a second too late.


    "Gunfire, 3 to 11 o''clock! squad 4 on perimeter guard, rest form a line and get ready for the follow up charge!"


    -


    ["Tch. ICI move pattern sigma and increase combat engagement"]


    Having his ambush seen through Dax was slightly pissed as he relayed new orders to the drones that surrounded the warband.


    [DIRECTIVES RELATED TO DRONE MESH, BOMBARDMENT OF HOSTILES RECOMMENDED.]


    ["No bombardment, we''re limited on ammo. Set up a ration and limit ammo consumption to 50%"]


    [ORDER CONFIRMED. LOWERING SUPPRESSIVE RATE OF FIRE CLOSING RANGE TO 1 CLICK ON YOUR MARK.]


    ["ZU RA!"]


    [ADVANCING.]


    With Dax''s shout the drones slowly started closing the range with Dax as they intermittently let off snapshots towards the walled encampment to suppress the enemy.


    -


    "F.u.c.k I''m hit! Medic!"


    Inside the encampment things weren''t looking so good.


    "Keep down!"


    Even after having correctly predicted the ambush, the warband hadn''t come out of it perfectly. A few people had been hit by the initial burst of rounds as the bedrock had proven too brittle against a shots from the Galactic Empire''s hybrid gauss rifles and casualties were still mounting form blindfire that pierced the wall even as it was constantly being reinforced.


    "Arg, f.u.c.k! Keep it together people! Healers only heal those you can reach from cover and stay put we''ll need you later too! Mages split into 2 teams! One keeps the wall reinforced and the other f.u.c.ks up whatever is shooting at us! Blindfire, use wide area magic!"


    """""SIR, YES SIR!"""""


    Starting a counter offensive while maintaining their defence, the mages from the warband started tossing wide area spells over the wall while they did their best to repair it too. This proved effective as about 10 minutes after the shooting had started it was starting to quiet down, with only occasional snapshots coming from the opponent once in a while.


    "They''re going to charge soon, get ready! I''ll see all of you on the other side!"


    """""SIR, YES SIR"""""


    As the firing completely quieted down the almost deafening silence of the snow covered mountain returned, adding on the suspense the warband was feeling as they awaited a bitter fight while tightly grasping their weaponry. The silence was broken with a deafening bang as something landed in the middle of the camp and knocked up snow, blocking sight momentarily. Robbed of sight the warband focused on sound as the snow cleared and prepared for a fight to the death.


    "AARGH-" *CRACK*


    As the smoke cleared a single figure stood in the middle of the camp holding a member of the warband lifted above the ground in his neck. The figure stood over 2 meters tall completely enclosed in some kind of strangely smooth looking pure black armor that seemed to absorb the surrounding light. Even the figure''s head was covered completely in some kind black helmet that linked perfectly with the rest of the armor, making some of the warband think of it as a complete suit of armor without a host.


    ["Last chance to surrender."]


    Standing completely unarmed the figure slowly tightened its grip on the warrior it had caught while making a casual and synthetic sounding ultimatum.


    "WE WILL NEVER SURRENDER TO A FREAK LI-" *CRACK*


    As the warrior from he had caught answered his ultimatum Dax tightened his grip and crushed his neck completely and then threw the copse aside.


    ["Then I will make this as fast as possible."]


    Closing the distance to the nearest target in the blink of an eye Dax let loose the full power of his enhanced body against a human target for the first time. Landing a punch on the closest warrior even before he registered it Dax completely pulverized his skull and grabbed the arm of the copse, throwing it at another nearby warrior as he charged his next target.


    "Don''t underestimate us!"


    Proving more combat able than his last opponent the next warrior swung down his large longsword at Dax, but to little effect.


    ["Soft."]


    "Wha-"


    Dax simply caught the blade with his hand before it reached him and snapped it in half, catching the broken off shard with his other hand Dax then drove it into his opponents eye socket, killing him instantly.


    ["Next."]


    "Damn you!"


    Next Dax incurred the wrath of the nearby mages, as they had managed to coordinate slightly in the few seconds since Dax had tossed the first copes aside. Having completed their chant they sent spheres of fire rushing towards him.


    ["Naive."]


    Pointing his right arm towards the spells it split open and revealed 3 chrome metal rods inside.


    "What!?"


    As the spells vanished without a trace Dax''s opponent''s was understandably confused as they almost didn''t believe their eyes, creating a deadly gap for Dax to exploit, which he did fully. Kicking nearby rocks on the ground, Dax killed a few of the mages and blinded the rest with what was almost a shotgun blast of rockshards as the rocks fragmented due to his immense strength.


    "WORK TOGETHER AND SURROUND HIM, FORMATION 5!"


    ["Leader located."]


    [HOSTILE HVT LOCATED. READY FOR DIRECT INTELLIGENCE EXTRACTION: ALL OFFENSIVE FIREWALLS READY.]


    As the warchief tried to organize his troops he made the deadly mistake of revealing himself to Dax.


    "Fuc-"


    Realizing that as Dax charged him, figuratively and literally running through the warchiefs men he saw his life pass before his eyes as he prepared to die for his Republic with honor.


    "COME ON!!"


    Raising his massive two handed sword overhead, the chief brought it down with deadly intent as he tried to decapitate the charging Dax.


    ["Nice try."]


    Smashing the warchief''s sword with his left arm Dax reached in with his right and grabbed his head with his right arm.


    ["Goodbye."]


    [CONNECTION ESTABLISHED. NOW EXTRACTING CEREBRAL DATA.]


    As Dax grabbed the warchief he started screaming in pain as he desperately tried to punch and kick Dax before falling limp after a few seconds.


    [RAW CEREBRAL DATA EXTRACTED, NOW PROCESSING 2.5 PETABYTES OF RAW DATA...¡­. COMPLETED. READY FOR EVALUATION BY COMMAND, HAVE A NICE DAY.]


    With their leader reduced to a twitching copse foaming at the mouth laying in the red snow after being tossed aside by the black armored titan, the rest of the warband started losing their morale.


    ["ICI clean up the rest."]


    [DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED, COMMENCING MOB UP OPERATION.]


    Taking a more passive stance as his drones jumped over the other wall into the compound and started killing the rest of the warband Dax sighed deeply as he quietly spoke out inside the suit which cut him off from the slaughter outside.


    "Good fight."

 Chapter 68 - To cull an uprising (3)

    [C-CONTAqCT REzAR.]


    "Oh my god could they f.u.c.k off already!?"


    Digging her heels into the kilometer thick ice sheet the orbital marine broke to a hold as she turned around and slipped down on her left knee and emptied her lungs entirely of air as she let lose a single shot from her Rex Alpha rifle before rushing to her feet once more and started to run again. Over the last 2 days the orbital marine had been chased by members of the settlement she had stolen food from, and it that time she had realized they were no normal actic villagers. Even after hiding her tracks she proved easy to track, and after a few hours they had jumped her with bow, arrow and swords like some fantasy RPG adventure. Killing them had proved harder than the marine had trought, and she was forced to retreat after killing only a few. Being on the run for after that her ICI unit had intermittently picked up contacts to her rear still tracking her like bloodhounds out of hell.


    (This needs to stop¡­ I''m running low on ammo, and this f.u.c.k.i.n.g ice sheet just continues on forever. Why is there even people out here to begin with? And why the f.u.c.k are they able to seemingly deflect my rifle fire?)


    Moving at the speed normally associated with a motor vehicle running down a highway for a few hours the marine remained fully alert to her surroundings, and soon spotted a large and unnatural looking rock formation about 5 kilometers ahead.


    (Rocks means solid ground underneath¡­.. I hope.)


    The very idea about seeing solid ground made the orbital marine''s head itch less than it currently was, and a small smile even formed on her helmet covered face.


    "What the f.u.c.k is this¡­"


    Having reached the rock formation the marine found it to be some sort of improvised wall, and after climping it she looked down on something truly hard for her to believe. All over the place laid scraps of Empire technology organized in some unknown fashion with a bunch of workers covered in thick fur coats working to disassemble it.


    (They''re pulling the depri form my crash apart, but why?)


    As if waiting to answer her question one of the workers shouted, making a higher ranked fur coat rush over, where he retrieved magazine for a Rex Alpha rifle which he immediately put into a rifle he had hidden under his coat.


    "They''re f.u.c.k.i.n.g salvaging for weaponry¡­ But that shouldn''t work, the rifles are designed not to be used by anything other than navy personal and are locked by biometric locks. Wait why do I know that? I must have been someone that handled the weapons huh."


    Discovering more of her own forgotten history by accident the marine spaced out trying to remember more, but was awoken by the sound of a gunshot.


    "Imposible!"


    Looking down at the scrapyard once more the marine saw the fur coats erupting in cheer as they gathered around the person with the rifle.


    (How the f.u.c.k did they bypass the biometric lock?... No that''s not important, what is important is they never leave this place alive.)


    Realizing that access to weapons from the Galactic Empire would greatly upset the power balance of this alien world she had stranded on, the marine came to the conclusion that they had to die, and luckily they had conveniently bunched up into a single target rich environment.


    "You put your hands on something that never belonged to you."


    With those words the marine quickly shot all the coated figures dead before they even noticed that she was there.


    "ICI scan the area and find me useful supplies."


    [DIiRECTIVzE C-CONFIRfMED, SCccqANNING A-AAAREA.]


    Talking half an hour to pick the place clean of useful supplies, the marine then gathered the rest of the functioning technology up in a pile, and then set it ablaze with a incendiary grenade she had found.


    "I need to make sure there''s not more of this kind of stuff out here¡­"


    With renewed purpose the orbital marine without mommories continued her journey south.


    ---


    [SUPPRESSION COMPLETE, 3 HOSTILES CAPTURED.]


    ["Good. Heard them up and I''ll handle the rest."]


    Looking around what had until a few minutes ago been a gathering of the Northern Republic''s most elite group of fighters and mages Dax now only saw ruined tents, red snow and corpses, most of which had been mangled beyond recognition by the Reaper drones in hand to hand combat. Looking down on his own suit of armor Dax noticed that it was not really that black anymore, with both of his arms being covered in blood and minor pieces of tissue, and his visor had a few sprays worth of blood splatter.


    (It is definitely a good idea I didn''t bring anyone with me to do this¡­)


    Dax bore no ill will towards the soldiers he had just slaughtered, in fact he wanted what was best for the republic which had suffered for so long, but sadly that solution involved these people (and a lot others) to pay with their lives. Cleaning off most of the blood on his visor with a blanked form the trashed camp, Dax picked up a sword and headed towards the wall the warband had made in order to protect themselves. Reaching the wall Dax found the 3 surviving members of the warband, 1 middle aged warrior that had fought off the drones until he had tired out, a young mage boy no older than 20 who had hid in a tent while pissing his pants after being hit in the arm by some rock fragments, and a youth around the same age of Alice that looked at him with the same fury as she did when he first meet her in the forest outside Black Hollow so many moons ago.


    "WHAT THE F.U.C.K DO YOU WANT WITH US!? WE AIN''T TELLIN YOU SHIT!""


    Acting with appropriate rage for losing most of her unit in a little under 30 minutes, the youth warrior desperately tried to get out of her restraints as the mage pissed himself again.


    "WHAT THE F.U.C.K ARE YOU LOOKING AT?!"


    ["Ah sorry, your rage was so nostalgic it reminded me of someone I know. And to answer your question I don''t want anything, I''m just here to execute you."]


    "WHA-!? DON''T F.U.C.K AROUND!!"


    Trashing to rescape her robes the young warrior moved with a furry that Dax admired for someone about to die, so he decided to start with her out of respect.


    "F.U.C.K! YOU! LET ME OUT OF THESE ROBES SO I CAN KICK YOUR ASS!"


    Seeing her life flash before her as Dax moved closer to her and placed the tip of his borrowed sword on her chest, the youth was sure she was going to die, but then something landed right next to Dax and kicked up the nearby snow.


    "What the f.u.c.k are you doing Dax!?"


    ["Executing prisoners."]


    "LIKE HELL YOU ARE!"


    Swinging down her spear the Archangel Solaris also channeled mana she used for a defensive spell she cast on the prisoners. Dax responded by catching the spear ment for his head with his left hand while the right one split open as he pointed it at Solaris and turned the jamming up to max. Weakening Solaris sufficiently Dax wreaseled her spear away and then grabbed her by the neck before lifting her to his eye level while still continuing to jam all magic.


    ["This is what you f.u.c.kkers are forcing me to do, how exactly are you not satisfied miss baggage?"]


    As Solaris stared into the tinted glass hiding Dax''s face while gasping for air her face was filled with a mix of rage and fear.


    "How the hell can you just kill without remorse like that!?"


    ["Training, and having a noose around my neck at the same time helps. That is why you are here is it not? To kill me if I don''t hold my part of the agreement."]


    "Typical f.u.c.k.i.n.g angels¡­"


    "You shut the f.u.c.k up for a moment, and Dax don''t f.u.c.k.i.n.g try and play the victim. I''m pretty sure even if I used the entirety of my forces we wouldn''t be able to hurt you so don''t try and play me with that crap."


    ["..."]


    Falling silent Dax disabled his jamming as he still held Solaris by the throat.


    ["Then as the general of the armed forces of the 14th sanctuary are you going to report seeing any surviving forces?"]


    "There are no survivors."


    ["Then we''re all good."]


    Setting down Solaris with those words Dax then turned his attention to the captured members of the warband.


    ["There you have it, the angel just saved all of your lifes. You are all free to go, but interfere with my operations and you''ll be killed without mercy. Understood?"]


    With a smile Dax started walking away from the prisoners.


    "Hey! Are you not gonna untie us!?"


    ["The old man has already untied himself with the knife he was waiting to stab me with when I got closer."]


    Having his scheme seen through the middle aged warrior but on a smile as he scoffed.


    "Heh, so you saw through it? I never got your name, oh metal titan."


    ["Name is Dax, of the Alpha-4 clan."]


    "And what does the great metal titan Dax want?"


    ["The betterment of the Northern Republic and its people."]


    "I see¡­ We will head home without interfering with you then."


    ---


    ["I don''t know what to think of this at all¡­ Solaris are you feeling any interference?"]


    "A lot yeah, but I can handle it."


    ["Okay then, ICI prep for a full spectral analysis and give me a full 3d scan while plotting the mana particle interference to figure out the field refresh rate."]


    Examining the Northern Republic''s magic jammer Dax kneeled down and took off his helmet as his cybernetic eye lit up and the 3 independent lenses started examining the jammer that looked like some sort of metallic rock inspired in complex runes.


    "Ah~ It feels so good to breathe after a bit."


    [INTERNAL AIR SUPPLY REPLENISHED, STARTING FIELD ANALYSIS...]


    "This is going to take a while.."


    [MATCH FOUND.]


    "Wait what?"


    [TYPE ''HERMES'' BACKUP GRAVITATIONAL ANNIHILATION FIELD GENERATOR #33 ID 1132A4, GALACTIC EMPIRE 125TH HELLWALKERS 15TH LANDING FORCE, LOGISTICS AND SUPPORT GROUP.]


    "That can''t be right¡­"


    [FIELD REFRESH RATE AT 92.45% MATCH, BASELINE FIELD DISRUPTION ALTERED.]


    "That''s f.u.c.k.i.n.g imposible!"


    "Dax what is going-"


    "Shut the f.u.c.k up for a moment! ICI give me a knife now!"


    [XMRA FUNCTION 4 ONLINE.]


    Walking over towards the jammer a knife extended from Dax''s arms he plunged them into the jammer, splitting it open to reveal a device hidden inside. It was a round small metallic sphere that appeared to have burns on it from reentry heating.


    "... ICI shut down Hermes anti grav gen #33 ID 1132a4 please."


    Placing his hand on the drive the humm it quietly emitted shut slowly quieted down.


    "So you did have something to do with this afterall Dax¡­"


    "You don''t f.u.c.k.i.n.g understand do you? The baseline field disruption was altered, that normally takes a f.u.c.k.i.n.g specialized forge in low orbit around a unstable neutron star to even attempt something as advanced as that, and there''s not a star like that within a f.u.c.k.i.n.g hundred light years of this goddamned rock. Something major is wrong."


    "Are you saying that it''s impossible do what was done to this ''drive'' of yours? Because I''m looking at it."


    "I''m saying to do what has been done to this drive could only be done by 1, no 2 people I know of. Somewhere in that cold f.u.c.k.i.n.g wasteland there''s either someone from my world, or a goddamned monster of enginerical and technological prowers 5000 years ahead of anyone else in this world."

 Chapter 69 - To cull an uprising (4)

    "AAAAAAHHH I''m so f.u.c.k.i.n.g bored!"


    In the capital City of Kingsted 2 young women lazed around with nothing to do.


    "Then why don''t you follow the training regiment Dax left you with?"


    "I already did that, twice."


    "Then how about playing with the royal knights?"


    "They keep avoiding me after I beat them senseless the other day."


    "I wonder why?..."


    "Yeah it really is the strangest thing.."


    "..."


    "..."


    "I''m still bored."


    "..."


    "Hey what is it that you see in Dax anyway?"


    "E-EH!?- I-I don''t Like h-"


    "Just cut the crap please."


    "..."


    "..."


    "... Aved me."


    "What?"


    "He saved my life."


    "Is that all?"


    "ARRG! Yeah it is! I''m simple I know but I can''t help it!!"


    Burying her face in a pillow Alice screamed with all her might in frustration.


    "Go ahead and make fun of me, I deserve it! After all I''m just some simple minded brat that falls for the first hunk of man meat that looks slightly attractive!!"


    Further self destructing as she screamed out in the middle of the day and scared multiple passing people Terra considered further bullying Alice to kill her own boredom, but more sane thoughts prevailed.


    "Don''t get me wrong I understand why you find him attractive, but his personality is just¡­ Unappealing."


    "Is it really?"


    "Eh?"


    "Eh?"


    Coming to a greater understanding of her longtime friend Terra put on a teasing smirk.


    "Don''t tell me.."


    "What?"


    "Are you an M?"


    "EEEEEEHHHH!?"


    Coming to a greater understanding of herself and own nature Alice let out a scream that ultimately killed Terra''s boredom as they were visited by guards she could spar with.


    ---


    Moving forward into the Northern Republic''s terratorry Dax had reached the great iceplane, a sheet of permanent ice a few kilometers thick which made about 90% of the Republic''s ''land''. Traveling at a brisk pace, Dax lead a detachment of some 20 Reaper drones-


    "Daaax can''t we take a break?"


    - and a single arc angel who struggled to keep up with them.


    ["Nope. You''re free to stop following me though"]


    "So you can start killing unarmed prisoners again?"


    ["That would make everything easier yeah."]


    "I told you I''m not never letting you do that!"


    Feeling a bit bad for the poor angel, Dax slowed down his run slightly and allowed Solaris to catch up, before stopping completely as he put up his rifle.


    [CONTACT FRONT, 2005 METERS.]


    ["Yeah I see them, Solaris get behind me.. It''s really hard not to notice them on this f.u.c.k.i.n.g ice sheet, how did they know I''m coming?.."]


    [CONTACT FRONT, RIFLE FIRE.]


    As Dax wondered how the Northern Republic found out he was coming for them his troughs was rudely interrupted when he was hit by a rifle round in the head.


    ["Now that''s just rude.."]


    Brushing off the few remaining fragments from his visor Dax shielded his face with his arm as another round hit right after.


    "Dax why are you not shooting back!?"


    ["They''re not f.u.c.k.i.n.g around huh? ICI assume spearhead formation, activate XMRA active ERA."]


    Completely ignoring Solaris that almost hugged his back as he slowly advanced towards the direction of fire, with the drones also falling in behind him.


    [CONFIRMED SPEARHEAD FORMATION, XMRA ACTIVE EXPLOSIVE REACTIVE ARMOR ONLINE.]


    With ICI''s cold and unfeeling voice as a cue, 2 ports opened on Dax''s armored shoulder and 2 small black boxes popped up.


    [DOPPLER RADAR ACTIVE, READY FOR INTERCEPTION.]


    ["Intercept all hostile fire, ammunition rationing still in effect, limit suppressive fire to 2%"]


    [RATIONING IN EFFECT, KILLSHOTS ONLY.]


    "Dax shoot back!"


    Now completely covering behind his back Solaris started getting teary eyed as gunshots snapped past them.


    ["No need. Besides they can''t hit us anymore."]


    "Nonono it clearly looks like they ca- hiii!"


    As Solaris really started losing it something blew up about 10 meters in front of, almost scaring the crap out of her.


    "What was that!?"


    ["Explosive reactive armor, or ERA for short. When the suit detectives rifle fire that''ll hit it launches a small shard of my outer armor that then blows up and deflects the shot away. Neat right~"]


    "Could you just do something to the instead of bragging like that?!"


    ["I am doing something, besides are you not the general of the 14th sanctuary? Why the f.u.c.k are you getting scared of a little rifle fire?"]


    "Because it''s way out of my range! Dax do something please!"


    ["Then dig a hole or something.. ICI range to targets?"]


    [1464 METERS.]


    ["Time to go to work then, ICI leave one alive for intelligence extraction."]


    [DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED, READY TO BREAK FORMATION]


    Cracking his neck Dax did a few quick jumps before he turned to Solaris.


    ["Be right back~"]


    Breaking into a sprint Dax moved with the power of a freight train leaving deep cracks in the ice sheet and instantly closed another 200 meters towards the republic riflemen before he leaped into the air, leaving deep cracks in the ice below.


    ["God I hope the ice is thick enough.."]


    Flying through the air as he mumbled quietly to himself Dax landed right on top of the republic formation, kicking up a shotgun blast of ice crystals that decimated the surrounding area. Quickly finding his bearings in the low visibility Dax charged the nearest surviving rifleman which he grabbed by the next and lifted him off the floor.


    ["That''s a nice weapon, where did you get it?"]


    "Gha! F.u.c.k yo-" *CRACK*


    ["Wrong answer, next."]


    Throwing the dead copese at another surviving rifleman Dax charged his next target, which response by panicking as he turned his rifle to full auto.


    "AAAAHHHH stay away you f.u.c.k.i.n.g demon!!"


    ["Please exorcise trigger control in CQC..-"]


    *SPLAT*


    ["And always keep in mind all hostiles while keeping mobile. Next."]


    Turning away from the rifleman that had made himself an easy target for the Reaper drones and subsequently reduced to a headless corpse Dax continued his slaughter of the hostile forces.


    "STAY AWAY!"


    Soon only one enemy remained. Looking closer at him Dax notice he was no more than a kid, clearly panicking as he long had emptied his magazine but still held down the trigger as tears formed in his eyes and he half ran away from Dax.


    ["Okay I won''t kill you if you tell me were you got that weapon from."]


    "T-this useless thing? it''s from-"


    ["ICI manuel ERA, target front."]


    [STUNNING TARGET.]


    The second the kid was distracted Dax acted without mercy. Setting his ERA to manuel fire mode he selected the kid as a target for the system, making a armor shard launch towards him, before exploding in his face. Rushing quickly towards the stunned target Dax grabbed him by the head with his artificial arm and extracted his knowledge, ending his suffering.


    [RAW CEREBRAL DATA EXTRACTED, NOW PROCESSING 2.5 PETABYTES OF RAW DATA, COMPLETED. READY FOR EVALUATION BY COMMAND.]


    ["Never disrespect your rifle.. I swear this f.u.c.k.i.n.g planet is so uncivilized, ICI salvage any useful supplies and form the drones up on me."]


    Lazarus XMRA - Next generation eXperimental Modular Reactive Armor


    First seen doing the later faces of the Iron race containment war, the Lazarus XMRA is a completely custom made implementation of perfect protection made for the leader of the 125th combined ops orbital drop troopers, and has come to be a symbol of the Galactic Empire''s technological might. Being modular in design the armor can be comprised of anything from 3 to 12 layers of interconnecting nanowaves that each are made to stop a specific treat, which could be anything from hostile HEL, precision high caliber artillery or even 5th generation active biochemical warfare. Truly a complete package of protection, the XMRA''s only downsides are it''s massive price point, both in up front purchase and maintenance, and the fact that it lacks any form of internal long term life support, limiting its use to a select few soldiers that already have the required build in life support. Because of those limiting factors it only saw a handful of sales, prompting a internal investigation when the massive development costs disappeared overnight, and eventually lead to a open hearing in the Galactic senate, were the director of technological development appeared through a heavily encrypted voice call, leaving a quick statement: ''The XMRA was never meant to generate revenue, it is a statement of technological superiority against the Iron cooperation, that they sould never have crawled off their sad little planet and commit the crimes they have, for now their reckoning have arrived. As such after the initial sale period I covered the loss myself out of my own pocket, that is all.''


    -


    (He''s truly a unstoppable force¡­)


    Having observed the battle from overhead Solaris wore a difficult expression as she was deep in thought.


    (Even if they wield the same weapons as him they stand no chance, and that''s properly the case in every instance too¡­. I need to induckternate him into the sanctuary before he''s picked up by a hostile faction.)


    "You really are unable to hold back huh?"


    ["I find it rude to play around on the battlefield. So are you here to tell me I''m a monster again?"]


    "No, I''ve made that point clear already and I don''t like repeating myself. So did you learn anything useful?"


    "I did yeah, but let''s move away from here first and talk while the drones pick through the corpses for supply''s"


    Taking of his helmet Dax gestured to move away before handing it away to a drone for maintenance.


    "Is your helmet okay?"


    "Yeah it''s completely fine, I''m just having ICI look it trough for any sign of structural damage."


    "Is that so? Well what did want to talk about?"


    With a wave of her hand Solaris formed a chair out of the ice below and sat down with a air of superiority looking at Dax who sat on the ground.


    "Can you make one for me?"


    "What did you want to talk about?"


    Repeating herself with a large smile Solaris completely ignored Dax''s question, making Dax scratch his head.


    "Are you perhaps mad about so-"


    "So. What. Did. You. Want. To. Talk. About?"


    With an ever larger smile Solaris interrupted Dax again.


    "Well whatever.. What do you know about the lands to the west across the great sea?"


    With the Kingdom laying in the center of the continent it bordered a few minor republics and kingdoms to the west before the continent ended and a great barrier sea seemed to close of the world in that direction.


    "To the west? The only thing there is the great empire, and multiple arcangel sanctuaries."


    "The great empire?"


    "They basically control the entire western continent yeah, what are you wondering about?"


    "It seems like the Northern Republic got help to break the biometric encryption on my weapons from overseas."


    "That shouldn''t be possible, crossing the sea is no small feat you know?"


    "And that is why they didn''t. This recent winter was particularly harsh right?"


    "It was the worst in about 200 years yeah, even made the Northern Republic launch a attack on the Kingdom out of desperation, but what does that have to do with anything?"


    "A cold and long winter means the polar ice sheet expands."


    "So they crossed over the ice¡­"


    As it finally clicked for Solaris her face turned difficult to read.


    "Yep, and it seems they secured a single rifle in exchange for showing the Republic how to make them work, or that is at least what the kid clan leader I just killed seems to think. But that is not the only factor it seams."


    "The ''monster'' was it?"


    Remembering their earlier conversation Solaris brought up what Dax had mentioned.


    "Bingo, a monster seems to have been born into a engineering guild, she is the key to their current technological edge."


    "So you want to kill this monster?"


    "Nope, I want to know how she cracked my encryption."


    "Wait the empire didn''t do it?"


    "They helped, but it was the so called monster of the engineering guild that did it."


    "That seems like an interesting human¡­"


    ---


    "So they were wiped out too? That metal titan really seems invincible."


    "We truly stepped on the griffins tail this time."


    "But we still have a chance."


    "Indeed. If we can deal with the other one first."


    "But we might not need to.."


    "That''s also true.."


    Sitting alone in a closed off room surrounded by alien technology that should be far beyond her, the so called monster of the Republic played around with a small vial marked in every warning label the Galactic Empire used as she talked to herself as if she were multiple people.


    "In the end there''s also this we can use."


    "That is also true, but it would be a waste."

 Chapter 70 - To cull an uprising (5)

    ["So that''s the city¡­ Impressive."]


    "How is it impressive? It''s just a small city."


    Looking at the capital city of the Northern Republic it could indeed be called a small city. Well worn and solid wooden buildings marked with different colorful clan markings and large glass green houses that supplied the city with food all in total made something Dax normally wouldn''t even classify as a village, but the criteria was different for this world.


    ["Is that so? You seem to forget that there''s no tree''s here, no quartz sand, no iron. Everything gathered here has been done so by a insane effort in manpower, hell I would bet that some of the wood in that town has seen more of the world than the people who lives there combined."]


    "That is true¡­ Never looked at it like that."


    ["Every single brick, piece of wood and lick of paint are proof of the people''s efforts, that''s why we''ll avoid as much structural damage as possible. Reaper drones are to act in 4 man cells, shoot to kill authorized on confirmed hostiles, but limit class 2 weaponry to heavy contacts such as exoskeletons and high level mana users. I''ll run CSF with you Solaris, so be on my ass at all times."]


    "CSF? You don''t want me on overwatch as normal?"


    Over the last month Solaris had fought with Dax against the Northern Republic, and had such gotten used to all the acronyms he was constantly using in normal speech.


    ["Nope, I have tasked most of my aerial drones for that. ICI handle the mesh, Solaris on me."]


    "O-on you? No thanks."


    But apparently not completely used to the way of speaking yet, making Terra intervene.


    "''On me'' means to stay next to him at all times. Not what you''re thinking about."


    ["And ''stay home while I sort this out'' means stay home while I sort this out, not join up with us out here in the f.u.c.k.i.n.g wasteland because you''re bored!"]


    "AW! I said I''m sorry okay?!"


    Being wracked in the head by Dax''s armored fist Terra turned teary eyed as she once more apologize for coming to the help of her teacher.


    "Come on forgive her already Dax.."


    ["Nope, and you''re not forgiven either Alice. I''m cutting your pay after this."]


    "EHH!?"


    ["That''s what you get. Now let''s get back on track people, even if I am opposed to you two joining me here I appreciate the help. Alice you lead the western approach in your exoskeleton and take over the greenhouses then keep them out of harm, Terra leads a task force on the eastern flank that will circle around and cut off any retreating forces. Me and Solaris lead the central strike force and take over the council building, then hunt down the so called monster. Any questions?"]


    "No sir~ I''ll go heat up my exoskeleton."


    "What''s my stance towards fleeing hostiles?"


    ["Shoot to maim, but for god sake triple check before you do so, 1 single civilian casualty and I''ll beat you to death with my bare hands."]


    "U-understood."


    Leaving with those words Dax felt a stare, then turned around to see Solaris grining in amus.e.m.e.nt.


    ["What?"]


    "Nothing~ I just thought that you have some good underlings."


    ["Yeah I do, I would almost trust them with my life at this point."]


    "Almost?"


    ["Yeah almost, my old underlings I had fought a war with for over 200 years. You can''t make that kind of connection in such a short time as I''ve been sharing with those two."]


    "They sound like someone you trust."


    ["They were the kind of people I could trust with my life even without mentioning it, I was truly blessed to have known them."]


    "you were blessed to have known them?"


    ["They''re all dead. I lead them into an ambush in rage after the enemy had killed someone I cared for."]


    "That''s not your fault."


    ["It is. And to avenge them I need to get off this planet, but instead of working towards that I''m stabilizing this region for you angels. Now let''s get this over with, ADVANCE!"]


    With those words 40 drones all powered up at the same time, before splitting out in 3 groups each lead by Dax, Terra and Alice and slowly started advancing towards the capital city of Homestead.


    -


    "They are advancing."


    Inside the center of the council building of Homestead what remained of the high council had gathered, with a single outsider sitting at the table. The outsider was from the republic as well, but that was were the similarities ended. She was small in stature, mostly disappearing in her heavy fur coat, she had short pure white hair and pure red eyes that seemed uninterested in everything in the world.


    "Why can''t we kill that f.u.c.k.i.n.g titan!?"


    "How many of our men has he killed so far!? Your weapons have proved completely useless!"


    Most of the council that still remained in the hall and hadn''t retreated to their own clans were understandably upset at the enemy at the doors, and some took to blaming the monster that had supplied them with advanced weaponry.


    "It''s not my weapons, I just salvaged them and made them work. The titan clearly knows the way to use the rifles and have been trained for ''rifle warfare'' longer than any of us have lived, this was just the natural result."


    Responding completely level headed nothing seemed to to move her in any way.


    "What the hell do you mean ''natural result''!? That thing have killed over 400 of our mages and warriors!"


    "392 by my estimates."


    "That''s the same f.u.c.ki!-"


    "It''s a difference of at least 9. I can see I''m not needed here, if any of you clan leaders survives you can find me at my workshop after the battle."


    Getting up form the central table with those words, the outsider left in her at her own pace as a soldier ran in.


    "Reporting!"


    "What is it?"


    "The titian is advancing towards the city! He has set 12 golems on each side with himself and an angel in the middle, furthermore a larger golem is approaching the greenhouses, and it appears that a human has joined on the golems on the eastern flank."


    "Hmm¡­ How fast are they moving?"


    "The titan and the large golem are moving a bit slower than the side with the human."


    "Then the human is responsible for cutting of the city, we need to crush that ellement first while slowing down the titan, message all forces to move appropriately."


    "SIR!"


    With the soldier leaving silence returned to the large and now mostly empty council room that until a months ago had been so loud with optimism and hope for the Republic''s future.


    "No matter what happenes today the republic will never be the same ever again."


    "Yeah¡­ The losses we have endured are too much to bear, after today there might not be a republic at all."


    ---


    "So that''s the so called great capital city of the north? All I see is a f.u.c.k.i.n.g hole in the ground."


    After having run into some natives of the frozen plane using the technology of her own world the marine had spend god knows how long searching the frozen wasteland for her worlds technology, and destroying it.


    "And the root of the problem seems to stem from here¡­ Now just to find that so called ''monster'' and killing it be- Ack!.. Before that happens again¡­"


    Over the last few weeks the marine had slowly felt her health deteriorating, ever since she opened her suit to eat so many weeks ago.


    "To think I would die before even remembering my own name¡­ But at least I will stop weapons of war from being used by people that have not paid the price for them."


    Lux fully believed that the people of this world didn''t deserve access to the technology of hers, not because they hadn''t payed Rex of Guardian industries for them, but because they hadn''t suffered like her world had. Even with her extremely limited memories Lux remembered the suffering of her fellow marines, she knew of the pain engineers and designers had gone through over thousands of years do incrementally develop the tools of war she and her fallen comrades had put their life and trust in the hands of, and the very thought of some primitives just picking up a rifle on of her fallen allies had fought and died with without showing a single sliver of respect infuriated her to no end.


    "Is that?.. It is, rifle fire, range 4 clicks.. Might be some internal struggle, that works out for me."


    Looking down at her worn rifle the marine checked her remaining ammunition.


    "4 times 40mm AP, and 1 times 40mm AD-LBD HEAT¡­. Let''s hope I can get close enough to the monster while they''re distracting themselves¡­"


    [ZZZzzz E-E-ERRROR, NoONFORMAT.]


    "Yeah yeah I know, that''s all you say now a days¡­"


    Even her ICI unit had started falling, and after days of constant error messages and warnings popping in her mind the marine had mostly disabled it, limiting the unit to only verbal communication so she wouldn''t completely lose her mind to loneliness.


    "All I wish for at this point is being burried at home, wherever that is¡­"


    Loading the rest of her rifle rounds into her last magazines, the marine headed towards the city, for her last battle.


    ---


    [CONTACT FRONT, 950 METERS.]


    "Yeah I see them, cover me!"


    [CONFIRMED, COVERING FIRE IN 3..2..1 MARK.]


    With ICI''s cold voice emerging from a nearby drone as a mark, Terra dashed forward about 10 meters before dropping to one knee and letting lose a single round from her rifle.


    "Shooter down! Advance now!"


    Watching the enemy soldiers head disappear through her greatly enhanced eyesight Terra shouted for the drones to advance as rounds flew over her head. Keeping her head cool Terra lead the charge towards the city from the eastern flank of the city that had been heavily barricaded with walls of ice and garrisoned with what remained of their elite fighting force.


    "They''re charging! Get ready!"


    On the other side of the improvised ice barricade what remained of the Northern Republic''s elite fighting force readyed for what would be a bitter fight.


    "Mages now!"


    From behind the barricade the mages channeled mana and invoked a wide area destruction magic that made the ever present ice floor erupt with deadly spikes, and the a silence followed. When the silence started turning deafening, one of the mages popped his head over the ice barrier to witness his work, and was immediately impaled with a ice shard.


    "GHA!-"


    "Surprise motherf.u.c.ker!"


    Reminding the republic forces that they were not the only side that used magic, Terra jumped over the wall armed with a pistol in one hand and challenging spells with the other she almost glew in the dark from her highly potent strengthening magic. Landing in the center of the enemy forces Terra used the same kind of magic as they had used on her, and erupted the area around her as she landed in a hail of ice spikes that decimated the immediate surrounding forces, moving as if she had trained the exact movements Terra pointed her pistol at the nearest targets and squeezed the trigger as she drew a short handed sword with her other hand and imbued it with magic as the ice shards around her shattered as she cut off the mana supply and then rushed towards the next target.


    "Rifle!"


    [RIFLE. LOADED AP, NO SAFETY.]


    Shouting a command Terra was tossed her rifle by a nearby drone as she turned towards the remaining retreating forces before picking off a couple before they disappeared into the nearby buildings to regroup.


    "Advance!"


    [ADVANCING.]


    Leaving behind a sea of copses and a few broken down drones that hadn''t been able to doge the wide area magic Terra advanced to cut off the retreating forces.

 Chapter 71 - To cull an uprising (6)

    "Sure is eerily quiet¡­"


    Looking around at the surrounding empty buildings Solaris was sure there was someone watching her, but she had no idea from where. After breaking through minimal resistance Dax and Solaris had entered the capital city of Homestead and had immediately been surrounded by the large 5 story buildings on all sides, perfect for an ambush.


    ["It is, they''re looking at us from all round¡­. Be ready, hand on my shoulder at all times."]


    "And tap once for a treat in my field of view, and if I feel personally threatened I move to the front of you and to the right."


    ["Yup."]


    [CONTACT FRONT, 11 AND 2 O''CLOCK. CONTACT REAR, 5 O''CLOCK HIGH.]


    ["MOVEMENT! Head''s up!"]


    "Up!"


    [UP, DOPPLER RADAR ACTIVE, READY FOR INTERCEPTION. XMRA ACTIVE EXPLOSIVE REACTIVE ARMOR ONLINE.]


    Bringing up his own rifle and disabling the safety with a click Dax scanned the rooftops around him as his command also made ICI activate his ERA as Solaris that moved right behind him formed serval golden crystals that floated around her ready for targets. As the formation almost completely came to a hold the 3 drones following Dax and Solaris moved into a circle formation around them as something in front of them finally broke the eerie silence.


    ["Contact front!"]


    Hering what sounded like a small rock being flipped by someone walking Dax shouded out (mostly for Solaris'' sake) as he saw what looked to be a woman and her small child walked out ahead of them.


    ["ICI move ERA to manual"]


    [ERA MOVING TO MANUAL FIRE CONTROL, CONTACT FRONT, 50 METERS.]


    "WHY ARE YOU HERE!?"


    Screaming at the top of her lungs the mother started walking at Dax and the drones while clutching her child.


    ["Allow me to flip that question, why are you here? I mean except to try and distract me from the ambush of course? But bringing your child into this as well. Is it because you assume I won''t kill children, or is it because you assume bringing a child with you would make me not aware of your rugged hands that over the last year or so have mostly handled a sword and not held a child?"]


    "Eh?"


    ["Execute"]


    With the ''mothers'' confusion as a que Dax''s drones all let lose their rifles at the same time, shooting at rooftops, connors and other suspected ambush locations. With silence following for a few seconds after that Dax gave a nod as he reported.


    ["All targets down."]


    With the cover formation breaking down Solaris was still a bit confused but also cut off the mana supply to her waiting spell and followed Dax that walked towards the ''mother'' without a care in the world.


    "Wait, what happened!?"


    ["I see all, do you honestly think such a sad excuse for an ambush would work against me?"]


    If one looked closely at the places the drones had shot one would see pools of blood slowly forming.


    ["Your comrades are all dead. Now the question is what to do about you?"]


    "Hiii! D-don''t come closer!"


    As the woman realized her ambush had failed she trust forward her kid, which was revealed to be a modified high caliber mortar shell.


    ["Okay calm down."]


    "STOP MOVING OR I BLOW IT!"


    ["Okay, see? I stopped moving, now what?"]


    "What do you mean now what?"


    Falling into a stalemate Dax started talking with the woman.


    ["You''re forcing me to stop moving so you can blow me up right? Then get on with it."]


    "Dax!?"


    "Just stop moving or I''ll kill us all!"


    ["Kill us all? No, you''ll definitely die if you blow that up, my angel friend behind me here might die unless she hides behind me, but I''ll definitely survive the blast. So go on ahead and get it over with."]


    With those words Dax started walking closer to the woman holding the improvised explosive device she started panicking.


    "DON''T MOVE OR I''LL-"


    ["You''ll kill us all? Stop f.u.c.k.i.n.g joking around. That you''re holding there is a standard Rex industries 204mm high explosive fragmentation mortar with 20 kilograms of high yield RDX explosive mixed with about 200 2mm copper and iron balls that are designed to heat up and melt into flesh up.o.r.n contact. Over my years I''ve been hit directly with more of those than I care to remember so let me tell you exactly what happens when you blow it up. First the fuse will ignite the primary charge in about half a second, which will be exactly enough time for you to regret killing yourself, but not enough time for you to do something about it, then the primary charge will ignite and generate a shockwave that''ll turn your insides (and the rest of your body) to liquid killing you instantly, then as the shockwave reaches me along with the metal balls it''ll make me take 2 steps backwards as I endure the shockwave without injury. What you will do is not kill or incapacitate me, but slow me down about 5 seconds as I remove your charred remains from my visor.. Now let''s get it over with!"]


    "Hii!"


    Scaring the woman with his bloodl.u.s.t, Dax created a opening that he exploited fully. Closing the range in a split second he grabbed the woman''s arms and then knocked her out by smashing his visor into her head.


    ["Explosive for EOD, ICI take care of it."]


    Handing over the IED to one of the drones Dax breathed a deep sigh as he carefully laid the woman down on the ground.


    "So you do have a soft side after all Dax~"


    ["Nope, I just can''t be bothered to clean charred flesh off my armor that''s all. Now let''s continue on the council building."]


    ---


    ["You can''t hurt me~"]


    Having walked right into an ambush Alice spoke in a cheerful tone from inside her armored exoskeleton.


    "F.u.c.k.i.n.g monster! Gha!-"


    With the attached machine gun she quickly dealt with the ambush as she advanced on the with 12 drones along the western flank towards the cities very lifeblood, a vast array of magic powered greenhouses.


    ["Target down."]


    [CONFIRMED, TARGET DOWN.]


    Having dealt with the last part of the ambush Alice pulled her hand in from one of the arm controls and wiped some of the sweat that had been forming off her brows. The insides of the Rex mark 5 heavy exoskeleton was pretty comfortable, with space for the slim Alice to pull her arms in from the controls in the arms of the suit, but not quite enough her to stretch her arms or back fully, but she had long since gotten used to that. Looking at the different control screens while walking on autopilot Alice reacted when a screen made a beep and switched to an aerial view of her surroundings showing multiple civilians fleeing in her direction.


    ["All drones hold."]


    [HOLDING ON FLANK. TIGHTENING UP FORMATION, HUNKER DOWN.]


    Responding to Alice''s command the drones gathered up on her as some of them took a knee.


    "Here they come¡­"


    [DISPERSE NOW.]


    Running from the fighting in the city center, most of the civilians were pretty frightened when they ran into Alice and the drones and almost uniformly stopped in their tacks


    [DISPERS-]


    ["ICI shut up. Move along, I won''t harm any of you."]


    Interrupting ICI Alice spoke in a clam and warm voice as she waved to the civilians that froze in place for a moment before running along.


    ["Goodbye~"]


    waving goodbye Alice a bit startled when a new warning light lit up and she heard a familiar voice.


    ["ICI just hit me with a warning of insubordination, care to explain?"]


    "Insubordination? Who?"


    ["You silly. But ICI is really rigid so I''m not really after you, I just need to know what you did in case it is something bad."]


    "What I did?... I stopped ICI from shouting ''DISPERSE NOW'' at some civs and let them trough instead."


    ["Ah okay, that matches up with what I''m seeing. But it no use smiling at them, they can''t see your face."]


    "Okay¡­ Wait you can see my face!?"


    ["All the time yeah~ I''m going, secure the greenhouses and stay put until I secure the council building, bye."]


    As Dax''s voice cut out Alice''s exoskeleton stopped moving.


    [WARNING: HIGH OPERATOR HEARTBEAT DETECTED.]


    "ICI shut up."


    ---


    "That should be the council building up ahead."


    ["Yeah I see it, you good?"]


    "Yeah, thanks for the ambush warning."


    Having cleaned up another ambush Solaris pulled her spear out of a camouflaged warrior that had almost managed to sneak up on her.


    ["No problem, I see all~"]


    "No your creepy drones see all"


    ["Same thing. Let''s head inside, they''re waiting for us."]


    Meeting minimal resistance Dax entered the heart of the Northern Republic and after navigating the myriad of hallways he entered the main council room, and was immediately meet with resistance. Reflecting a arrow meant for his head Dax shot dead the guard that fired it before greeting the remaining council members.


    ["I''m so glad you all gathered here for me. My name is Dax, I assume you''re the clan all leaders that have remained in town.]


    Being meet with silence Dax what about to repeat himself when one of the leaders spoke up.


    "We heard you, and have nothing to say to you. Where is the angel that''s commanding you?"


    ["Oh so you think Solaris is my handler? New plan, I''ll just kill all of you."]


    "Go ahead and try golem."


    "Not so fast Dax."


    Intervening it what would definitely be the clan leaders early demise Solaris walked into the room with a dignified expresion.


    "Yeah listen to your master, f.u.c.k.i.n.g do-"


    Closing the range in a split second Dax gr.a.p.ed the clan leader by the throat and lifted him of the ground before slamming him into the nearby wall.


    "Call me that again and I will beat you to death with your own f.u.c.k.i.n.g leg, now let''s agree on your surrender before there''s any need for that."


    Removing his helmet Dax made a promise to the clan leader before choking him out and dropping him like a sack of potatoes.


    "Allow me to reintroduce myself, my name is Dax, a qiton of the Alpha-4 clan. I''ve been contracted by the 14th archangels sanctuary to suppress and stabilize your region."


    Doing a light bow Dax sat down in one of the empty chairs.


    "Now please call for your forces to surrender before I just decide it''s easier just to wipe the rest of your territory and re settle it."


    Being meet with silence once more, Dax was about to put his backup plan into function until he noticed that Solaris was ghattering all the mana in the room with a wide and cold smile on her face.


    "Dax was contracted to realign the republic with our interest, as such I am only here as a simple tool. That means I refer to his judgement, and the last I heard was ''wipe the rest of your territory''~"


    Spreading immense pressure out in the council room as she spread out her wings it only took the clan leaders a few seconds to cave.


    "O-okay then, let''s hear your demands Dax."


    "My demands are to immediately cease all aggression against the 14th sanctuary and the Kingdom, second is to place me in direct control of the council for the next 10 years, and third is to hand over the ''monster''. Terms are non negotiable."


    "In that case we accept the terms, light the beacon."


    Having expected much worse terms what remained of the council immediately agreed.


    "Wait a minute, your control Dax?"


    Having heard something she didn''t expect Solaris spoke up as the council members were busy with some magic tool.


    "The agreement was to align the republic with the views of the sanctuary, not place it under sanctuary control. Is there a problem with that?~"


    Releasing an immense amount of bloodl.u.s.t Dax put on the same kind of smile as Solaris had earlier.


    "I-I guess not.."


    "Good. Now where is this ''monster'' I''ve been hearing so much about?"

 Chapter 72 - To cull an uprising (7)

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Updated Chapter!


    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    That day a red light shone out above the republic. The warm red light that was visible in all of the republic came from on of the republic''s most treasured relics, a magic tool referred to simply as the beacon. The beacon was made by a genius magic engineer, but it was quite simple in function, it created a single magic flare that could be seen all across the republic, to telegraf a single message: We lost, ghatter at Homestead.


    ["So this is the monster''s den? Heads up, I''m getting a lot of interference."]


    "Interference?"


    ["Radio, long range and short range, broadband, infrared? And radioactive? Holy shit that''s a f.u.c.k.i.n.g perfect shield."]


    "Dax''s you''re talking in codes."


    "He''s talking about the building, he can''t see into it. At all. And that is why he''s freaking out a bit."


    "Ah okay."


    With Dax in his own little world Terra explained for Solaris while Alice just listened to the conversation from inside her exoskeleton.


    ["There''s no I am not going in there for all I know that building could be booty trapped, hell there could be a f.u.c.k.i.n.g anti.. Matter.. Fuel..- like that."]


    As Dax talked a single small girl walked in a heavy fur coat holding a small orange vail in her hand without a care in the world.


    "Hallo."


    "How are you doing?"


    "I don''t really have a name."


    "So just call me whatever you like."


    "But please don''t get closer."


    "Or I use this."


    Speaking in a strange fashion the young girl played with the orange vail like it was some sort of toy, but Dax imeitaly recognized it for what it was.


    ["Holy shit is that live?"]


    "live."


    "And armed."


    "So don''t move."


    ["Why? That veil is designed to self kill when the containment field runs out of charge."]


    "So it does."


    "It was the first thing I noticed."


    "That''s why I bypassed it."


    "With another power source."


    "And then I recharged it."


    "Then fitted it with a fast acting collapse system."


    "The core will go critical in about 0.1 seconds."


    "0.01 seconds."


    "Sorry I''m not quite agreeing with myself on that point."


    "Antimatter annihilation calculations are hard."


    "When no concept of anti matter existed before I found this."


    ["Okay we really need to stop moving.."]


    "Dax?"


    Apparently understanding what the monster was talking about Dax started getting a bit nervous, which his pupil Terra immediately picked up on


    ["You take a single step towards that young girl and we all die before we realize it."]


    [CONFIRMED ANTIMATTER MIRV STRIKE CORE #522, WEAPON HOT.]


    "Seems like you know what this is."


    "I am intrigued."


    "Really intrigued."


    "But first get all the AUGU''s and AUAV''s out of the area now."


    ["You''re the boss, ICI move all autonomous unmanned ground units and all autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles out of the operational area now."]


    [DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED, CLEANING PRIMARY BLAST ZONE.]


    "Good."


    "Now toss away all your weapons."


    ["Do as she says."]


    "Dax why are you following along with her!?"


    When Dax tossed away his rifle Solaris was understandably confused.


    ["Solaris drop your spear now or I''ll make you."]


    "Why!?"


    ["Because if the young princess here feels bored and/or annoyed she''ll wipe out us, this town, the area around this continent and most likely knock this dirt ball panet off its axis and end all life, and that''s just the primary blast wave."]


    "What, really?"


    For a second Solaris was sure Dax was joking, but being met with silence it soon dawned on her that he was not pulling her leg and tossed away her spear.


    "Good."


    "Now why are you here?"


    "I mean other than to kill me?"


    "Us."


    "Sorry. Other than to kill us?"


    ["Kill you? Why would I do that? I''m here to recruit you."]


    "Recruit us?"


    "Why?"


    "That doesn''t make any sense."


    "Completely illogical."


    "I don''t understand."


    "I don''t either."


    "Why would you do that when we threatened to kill you?"


    ["Well I get threatened all the time, besides that fuel cell won''t really kill me from this distance."]


    "I''m sure it will."


    "99.5% sure."


    "Even your XMRA won''t save you from getting vaporized."


    ["It properly won''t no. But in the time from you deciding to use that device to it blowing up I can get far enough away from it that only most of my body will vaporize, but most importantly my sup processor will survive. After the blast ICI will find locate and recover it, then it''ll just rebuild my body with the backup information stored inside."]


    "That is fassinating."


    "Extremely fascinating."


    "Please tell me more about that sup processor."


    "I would very much like to know more."


    "Is it linked to your own brain?"


    "It''s located in the spine right?"


    "Or it replaces your spine right?"


    "It''s a cybernetic implant right?"


    Firing questions off at a record pace the small girl ran up to Dax with a light in her eyes.


    ["Woah calm down, I''ll answer all the questions you want if you become my subordinate and disable that fuel cell."]


    "Okay."


    "If I disable the cell will you answer all my questions?"


    "We have a lot."


    "So many in fact mom and dad stopped speaking to us."


    "Rest of the clan too."


    "We still don''t understand that."


    "It was the strangest thing."


    ["Sure."]


    With a single straight forward answer Dax placed his hand on the young girls head and ruffled up her hair a bit as she for the first time showed a facial expression by blooming into a full smile.


    ["But first we need a proper name for you, can''t go around calling ''that'' when you''ve become my subordinate. Anyone have a proposal?"]


    crouching down to get a better look at the so called monster of the Northern Republic, Dax gently pulled off her heavy fur hood to reveal short silver hair which matched her gray eyes perfectly.


    ["Hmmm I feel like you should name her yourself Dax"]


    "Yeah I support that opinion."


    "Yeah you find a name for her, after all she''ll be your responsibility from now on, as I know nothing about kids."


    Having been delegated the task to his own judgement Dax took off his helmet to get a better look at the young girl that looked at him with wonder.


    "You''re not a demonkin are you?"


    "If so I don''t recognize the race."


    "Well ain''t you a bright one? I''m what''s called a qiton, and my name is Dax."


    "Interesting name."


    "And we''ve never heard about that race before."


    "Are you perhaps not of this world?"


    "That would explain your knowledge."


    "And the XMRA you''re wearing."


    "Oh my~ She really is a sharp one huh?"


    In response to the small monster seeing through Dax''s identity in a split second Solaris looked like a proud mother for some reason as she carefully patted the monster on her head.


    "Hmmm a name huh? Been a long time since I did that¡­"


    Carefully looking at the small girl with a happy smile on her face in front of him Dax closed off from the world as he thought about a name.


    "What about Iris?"


    "Iris?"


    "The name of an old god that acted as a messenger of the gods to mortals, just like you have bestowed knowledge to the republic. And Iris is also the name of an important pace of your eye that you inspect the world around you with such interest and curiosity that are the connor stones of invention."


    "I like it."


    "Me too."


    "That''s a good name for us I think."


    having accepted her new name Iris put on a large and warm smile that uncocunally made Dax pat her head.


    "Ehehe~ Your hand is so wa-" *SPLAT*


    [RIFLE FIRE, 10 METERS.]


    As Iris'' head was pierced with a high caliber rifle round Dax''s mind went into overdrive. Closing his eyes to avoid being blinded by blood splatter Dax shifted slightly to the side as he kicked Terra that stood to the left of him out of the way from a round that was meant for her head and pushed Solaris that kneeled to the right of him away from another round as Dax himself was hit in the neck with a round himself.


    (F.U.C.K!)


    Feeling the round price trough his skin and heading towards his only remaining lung Dax quickly located the shooter.


    [CONTACT ABOVE.]


    Without confirming as his eyes were still closed Dax shouted out as he jumped to the ground and grabbed Solaris'' spear which he tossed in the direction of the rifle fire.


    (SHI-)


    "ALICE EJECT NOW!"


    Hearing Alice''s exoskeleton bring hit with another round Dax screamed at the top of what remained of his lungs as he scrambled to his feet.


    "Eh?"


    Still confused as Iris'' copse still haven''t hit the ground yet, Alice didn''t react in time. As the impact fuse on the 40mm AD-LBD HEAT ignited, it created a plasma cone that punched a hole directly through the exoskeletons armor and burned a hole directly through Alice''s chest as she was cooked alive.


    "F.U.C.K! ICI PURGE XMRA!"


    Not even waiting for ICI to affirm his command Dax tore open Alice''s trashed exoskeleton as he bit open his own pulse vain in his left arm and pressed it towards what remained of Alice''s charred head.


    "What is happening!?"


    "GET AREA SECURITY NOW!"


    The first one that recovered from her daze was Solaris, and understandably she responded with panic from seeing Iris'' head explode.


    "ICI PRESERVE BRAIN ACTIVITY AT ALL COSTS!"


    [DIRECTIVES CONFIRMED.]


    "GET ME A F.U.C.K.I.N.G MEDIVAC. NOW! PRIORITY F.U.C.K.I.N.G OMEGA!"


    [CONFIRMED, FORMING DATA BRIDGE TO KINGSTEAD FOB¡­ COMPLETE, NOW FARST SCRAMBLING CAS-A7 STINGER FOR CASVAC, ESTIMATED TTA: 10 MINUTES.]


    In that moment to the south outside the capital city of Kingstead something came alive.


    [DUST OFF REQUEST RECEIVED, TAKEOFF IN 15 SECONDS.]


    As the 14th generation advanced VSIMR electrothermal propulsion engine roared with purple flames as they warmed up for the first time in over a hundred years the onboard computer plotted a ballistic trajectory while running through its pre flight checklist.


    [PRE FLIGHT LIST APPROVED AND CLEARED. TAKEOFF NOW.]


    Roaring with a sound felt in the stomach of most citizens the Stinger lifted off the ground almost vertically as it used attitude control thrusters all over the hull to turn the central fuselage skywards as it pulled in its wings and the wingtip mounted engines ignited their afterburner.


    [MAX Q.]


    Reporting maximum aerodynamic pressure the aircraft moved away from the ground faster and faster as it broke the sound barrier with a sonic boom that was heard all over Kingstead.


    [MARK 1.. MARK 2, ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE DROPPING: NOW REDUCING AIRCRAFT MASS, ANTI GRAV DRIVE ONLINE AND CLIMBING TO 90% MASS REDUCTION.]


    Having climbed above the more dense atmosphere the aircraft reduced its mass to accelerate even faster, and after about 10 seconds of running its engines with afterburner they cut off.


    [PRIMARY BURN COMPLETE, NOW CONDUCTING ADJUSTMENT BURNS AND UPDATING COMMAND ON ESTIMATED TTA..]


    Having mostly exited the atmosphere, the CAS-A7''s wings once more extended as smaller thrusters all over the hull lit up to fine tune the descent trajectory.


    [CONFIRMED, FORMING DATA BRIDGE TO KINGSTEAD FOB¡­ COMPLETE, NOW FARST SCRAMBLING CAS-A7 STINGER FOR CASVAC, ESTIMATED TTA: 10 MINUTES.]


    "Terra keep Alice safe, I''m going after whoever did this."


    "Okay."


    Holding back her tears Terra gave Dax her sword as she herself picked up a rifle.


    "Give them hell."


    "I will."


    Leaving with those short words Dax jumped onto the roof from where the shooter had ambushed them and quickly tracked down the direction they had moved in.


    (Oh you better f.u.c.k.i.n.g run far, far away.)


    having found the direction Dax ran and jumped from rooftop to rooftop until he had reached the edge of the city and spotted a single figure running across the ice away from the city with his enhanced vision.


    "YOU''RE NOT F.U.C.K.I.N.G GETTING AWAY!"


    Setting off with such force that he cracked the building underneath Dax quickly caught up to the shooter and tossed Terra''s sword that hit them in the leg.


    "YOU''RE SO F.U.C.K.I.N.G DEAD NOW!"


    In a fit of rage Dax ran up to the collapsed figure and punched in the head, cracking the persons visor and finally snapping Dax out of his rage.


    "What the?..."


    Tearing off the visor Dax''s face turned to despair.


    "What? Come on! Do it! Steal my life away like you did the weaponry of my fallen comrades!"


    "Lux?"


    "Wha- Is that my name!? How do you know it!?"


    Having recognized her face Dax''s expression turned bitter.


    "Of course I know you, I practically raised you myself."


    "BUT I DON''T KNOW YOU! WHAT IS HAPPENING!? WHY CAN''T I REMEMBER!?"


    Turning to confusion, then rage, Lux tried to escape Dax''s grasp.


    "You can''t remember because of cryosleep, here let me help you a bit. You''re Lux, daughter of James, my first real friend in the marine core. After James and your mother died I raised you to become an excellent soldier, master armourer and someone I trust with my life."


    "THAT''S NOT TRUE! I DON''T KNOW YOU! HOW DARE YOU STEAL MY COMRADES EQUIPMENT!"


    Still not believing Dax Lux quickly grabbed a knife from her belt and with quick moments tried stabbing Dax in the eye, but he countered, having expected that move.


    "Too slow, you still can''t beat me."


    "Wha!-"


    "Now remember who you are!"


    [LOADING BACKUP FROM DEEP STORAGE¡­. COMPLETE, STARTING REPAIR, LOADING SHOCK PATTERNS.]


    Grabbing Lux''s head with his right arm Dax used the same repair technique that had returned his own memories after he himself had woken up from cryosleep so many weeks prior.


    "AAAAAAARRRRGGG!"


    That technique was of course incredibly painful for Lux, as it had been for him, but Dax kept a firm grasp on Lux''s shoulder while making sure she didn''t injure herself too much.


    [BASE REPAIR COMPLETE, SUBJECT: MASTER ARMOURER LUX JAMESON, NEURAL RESTORATION AT 19%... HALTING PROCEDURE.]


    Having completed the bare minimum of repair work Dax let go of Lux''s head so he could inspect her condition.


    "That hurt a lot Dax¡­"


    Passing out with those words Dax wore a difficult expression on his face as he looked at his second in command that he had assumed was dead for so long.


    "Terra is not going to like this¡­"

 Chapter 73 - Lux

    "Is here fine commander?"


    Hovering over a mostly empty civilian parking lot in the heavily populated mega city center of Cyprex the military transport created quite the comotion, but the occupants were all too used to it.


    "Yeah this is perfect, see you in a few months lieutenant."


    "Yes sir! Enjoy your time off."


    Stepping out of the craft with those words Dax held onto his formal dress cap as he jumped down about 10 meters and landed on an empty parking spot.


    "Now what to do?...."


    Looking around completely ignoring the civilians that was asking if he was okay Dax was slightly lost for a moment he looked around to try and recognize the surroundings.


    "Wait this is not section C32, where the hell am I?"


    "No this is section C32, they just moved around a few of the blocks to make space for a new drydock."


    As the crowd dispersed a man walked up to the confused Dax.


    "Ah yeah I remember hearing about that¡­. When was that exactly?"


    "10 years ago I think? How long have you been out of town?"


    "For a bit yeah, I just finished a 20 year front line deployment so it''s been a while... Anyway, could you point me towards the nearest bar?"


    Being one of the largest cities in the Galactic Empire, Cyprex covers most of the terran type planet where its located. Being somewhat intelligently designed the mega city has one centralized administrative zone that surrounds a truly massive space elevator used to move heavy goods into orbit. With the rest of the city spreading out in rings around that point, the city is numbered with alphabetic numbers from A to Z along the rotational axis and divided into movable mega grids that self organized based on directives from the centralized administration. The grids themselves that were numbered from their place from the center were also entirely mobile, and in the case of section C32 large population centers had been moved around to make room for a new drydock, to the great confusion of Dax. Finding the nearest bar worth his time, coincidentally located with view of the new drydock, Dax attracted much attention in his emblem-less military dress, but he quickly found a quiet corner to sit down.


    "It really has been 20 years since I was off duty huh¡­"


    Working pretty much every day for what could be considered a considerable part of a mortals lifespan, the immortal Dax didn''t really think much about it.


    "Heeey do you want to order anything or are you just gonna sit there all day staring into the air?"


    "Ah, yeah sorry about that."


    having zoned out completely while reminiscing about the past, Dax was startled awake by a not so happy barmaid.


    "So, what do want to order?"


    "I''ll go order at the bar."


    Leaving his jacket and dress cap at the table Dax completely ignored the barmaid''s annoyed stare as he located the bar.


    "Could I have a double of that one over there please?"


    Scanning the bar Dax quickly located a bottle he recognized, and then received a frown form the barmaster.


    "That''ll be 20.000 credits."


    "Sure~ God I''ve missed drinking."


    Paying what could be used a months rent in a large apartment for a single drink without even blinking, the barmasters frown stiffened.


    "H-here you go."


    "Thanks~"


    "You seem to be with the navy, but I don''t really recognize the uniform?"


    Having looked closer at Dax after he had just added a considerable amount to the bar''s profits, the barmaster asked what branch of the navy Dax belonged to while polishing a glass.


    "That''s because this uniform is kind of unique, I''m from the 125th combined ops orbital drop troopers forward command."


    "T-the 125th! In that case you don''t need to pay."


    "No I''ll pay don''t worry."


    "No there''s really no need, you''re part of the force that liberated Centrus-3a that''s my home world.. Hey Triss! This guy helped liberate our home!"


    "Eh? Really!?"


    Creating quite a commotion inside the bar Dax was quite distracted with something else.


    (Centrus-3a¡­. What one was that again?)


    Having liberrated about 20 systems in his last deployment Dax struggled to remember which one Centrus was.


    "No really it''s fine I can pay, in fact please let me use my card I''ve been to the front for so long I''ve started forgetting how to pay for stuff¡­ Hahaha."


    Straining the smile of the barmaster (and everyone else listening to their conversation) even more, Dax enjoyed his first day off duty in a long while.


    "Section C32 orphanage ''Flower garden''... This seems to be it."


    After waking up in the middle of the night to sober up and taking a shower, Dax made his way throughout the section and found himself in front of a large square building around noon. Making his way inside in military dress Dax once again attracted much attention and was soon stopped by a staff member.


    "Welcome to the flower garden orphanage, what can I help you with?"


    "Aaa good morning, my name is Dax and I''m here to pick up a kid."


    "In that case please follow me to the adminastive office."


    Quickly filling out the required paperwork Dax followed a care worker into the childrens area.


    "Could you please tell me about the facilities you have here? Oh and about Lucy."


    "Certainly. The flower garden is a joint orphanage, school and housing for kids up to the age of 16, our facilities are cutting edge and our schooling system especially producing all star graduates in all fields, with a focus on mathematics, science and human resources. We also-"


    "Could you please tell me about Lucy?"


    "- Yes¡­ Lucy is¡­ A troubled child. She shines in the field of mathematics and engineering, but having been here since her birth when her mother died when she was born and her father die-"


    "James and Louise where their names yeah. I was a friend of James and present when he died so I know the story, after all it was me that made sure she was admissioned to this facility. How exactly is she not thriving?"


    "... She''s violent and non cooperrate with education."


    "How so?"


    "Lucy is an active child, in fact a bit to active. She keeps wanting to play around in class after physical activity."


    "How old is she now?"


    "Lucy is 11 years old."


    "So the 11 year old child is too active¡­."


    "Yes very much so, here we are, Lucy should be playing with the other children over he- Lucy what are you doing!?"


    Arriving in an artificial garden, the caretaker quickly spotted Lucy, a kid that Dax thought was short for her age with shoulder length hair, oh and she was currently beating the shit out of a kid twice her size.


    (Impressive..)


    Admiring Lucy''s ferocity Dax slowly walked over to her with a large smile on his face.


    "You really are their kid huh?"


    "Sir, could you please help me separate them!?"


    Not able to handle the kids herself, the young caretaker pleaded Dax for help.


    "Okay then¡­."


    Walking over Dax removed the caretaker and then pulled the kids apart and lifted Lucy to his own eye level, which she responded with by punching him in the face.


    "PUT ME DOWN!"


    "That was a really good punch, did you guys teach her that?"


    "Of course not! Lucy what have I told you time and time, violence is never the answer!"


    "No miss I have to disagree at that point. Violence is always the answer, there''s nothing you can''t solve with violence. The tricky part is figuring out if the violence you need to exert is worth the result you want."


    "I SAID PUT ME DOWN OR I''LL PUT YOU DOWN!"


    Still punching and clawing Dax in the face as he talked Dax was getting even more impressed with Lucy.


    "You really are your parents child."


    "YOU DON''T KNOW ME OR MY PARENTS!"


    "Lucy you need to calm down right now or I-"


    "That is the last time you''ve threatened this kid, leave us for a moment."


    "I-"


    "Leave. Now."


    With a large smile on his face Dax released enough bloodl.u.s.t to make even the caretaker shit her pants.


    "O-okay.. Come on kids, they need a moment."


    Setting down Lucy after they were left alone in the garden, Dax crouched down to her eye level.


    "Hallo Lucy, my name is Dax and I was a friend of your mom, Louise, and dad, James. I''ve come here to take you with me home."


    Falling silent Lucy put on a difficult face for a moment before she asked in a quiet and nervous tone.


    "Did you really know them?"


    "Yup~ You have your dad''s eyes and your mom''s ears."


    "Really?"


    "Yes. But most importantly you have inherited both their ferocity, it is really impressive."


    "Is it? I found out if I punch that way it doesn''t hurt as bad after. Vicktor- the guy I was fighting- had really been annoying me for the past week saying that he at least knew his parents and kept saying that my mom was a drug addict so I punched him in the-"


    Having her rage acknowledged as a positive trait for the first time in her life, Lucy''s face lit up as she made her best attempt at impressing Dax with stories she rushed to remember. Before any of them had realized half an hour had passed and Dax felt it was time to cut to the heart of the current topic.


    "Do you want to come and live with my and my family Lucy? Like it is here I won''t tolerate unnecessary violence, but I''ll promise you that you''ll get to play and train as much as you want, and I''ll even teach you how to fight like me."


    "... Can I really come with you?"


    "Yeah."


    "I won''t be a bother?"


    "Nope~ Not to brag or anything but I''m pretty rich, I even own a private resort no one else knows anything about~"


    "Then I want to go with you!"


    Without hesitation Lucy accepted Dax''s outstretched hand with a large and radiant smile.


    "Okay then~ Let''s go and fill out the paperwork and get your things Lucy~"


    "Umm."


    "What is it, you can tell me."


    "I don''t really like that name, it''s one the caretakers gave to me."


    Making a serious face Dax quickly crouched down to Lucy''s eye level.


    "Then we need a new name for you¡­."


    "Could you give me one?"


    Making a face Dax coudn''t disappoint even if his life depended on it, Dax''s answer was obvious.


    "Of course. Let me see then¡­. How about Lux?"


    "Lux?"


    "Yeah, Lux is a measure of Illuminance, or how much something shines, just like your smile when and when you''re fighting you shine brilliant without comparison."


    "Ummm, I like it!"


    "Really? Okay then, from this moment you''re Lux, daughter of Louise and James, Lux Louise Jameson."


    "Um!~"


    Being raised by Dax, with the help from the brilliant Avoxaian sisters Ra and Mu, Lux grew up to become a brilliant marine officer and was quickly assigned to Dax''s elite unit as master armourer, a result achieved completely with her own efforts.


    ---


    "Dax, are you okay?"


    "Yeah sorry Lux, I zoned out."


    In the city of Kingstead Dax was startled out of his daze by his trusted second in command.


    "You really are getting old dad~"


    "Oh come on James is your dad."


    "He is, and I have 2 dads and a mom."


    "Okay then, so what is happening?"


    "The kids are acting up."


    Pointing behind her towards Alice and Terra that had been playing some strange sport with some local youngsters.


    "Okay I''ll do something about it."


    Walking over to them as Lux stood by with and watched with a smile.


    "Come on Terra it''s just a fun competition, Dax you say something to her."


    Upset with how serious Terra took the game Alice called over Dax that was watching from the side lines.


    "Terra my pupil, you''re doing it wrong.."


    "I''m sorr-"


    "No please let me finish, I remember being in a similar situation with my mom¡­ Yeah I was playing ball with a few local kids just after we moved. Anyway I did the same thing you''re doing now, so I''ll repeat my words directly as I heard them. She told me: ''Dax, my lovely son, competition like this is not about winning or losing, it''s about making connections with new friends and learning their culture, growing a understandment of their hearts and minds... But most importantly it''s about completely and entirely crushing the opponent.''"


    "Eh?"


    Listening along with a smile forming, Alice''s expression froze when Dax took the pep talk in an entirely new direction.


    "It''s about truly and utterly crushing their spirit."


    "I think I get it!"


    "Eh?"


    "Yes my disciple, it matters hardly if your winning or losing, or even having fun. The most important part is that the opponent sufferers, you must entirely crush the hostiles spirit and soul-"


    "Dax!?"


    "-You must make them realize that they are worthless and like dust before you-"


    "DAX STOP!?"


    Interrupting the tender bonding between student and master Alice shouted as she cut between them with a panicked face.


    "What, you wanted me to say something to her? Anyway go out and have fun Terra, just remember what is most important~"


    "Um~ I understand teacher, no, master!"


    With newfound respect for her teacher Terra happily went back to the field with new and explosive determination.


    "I finally feel like I understand this whole teaching thing~"


    Having motivated his pupil Dax was in quite a good mood.


    "..."


    "What?"


    But alas Alice was poking holes into his side with her eyes.


    "Did you ever play with those kids again?"


    "No, never.. Thinking about it that is the strangest thing, I never even saw those kids again¡­"


    "I feel like I know why¡­"


    Mumbling to herself as she wore a stained smile Alice learned something new about Dax that day.


    "I don''t really see anything wrong with that."


    "Not you too Lux¡­"


    "Call me big sister~ It''s so obvious the whole thing going on with you~"


    "EH!? Is it?- I mean I don''t know what you''re talking about!!"


    "You have my support~"

 Chapter 74 - Annihilation event (1)

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Updated chapter!


    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    "What''s the status of the patient?"


    [UNCHANGED.]


    "Okay¡­ Prep for takeoff at the scheduled time, I need to be home in time for Terra''s training."


    [DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED.]


    Half a year had passed since the fall of the Northern Republic. In that time Dax had been busy stabilizing the area trough new reforms and providing know how to rebuild the country. Haven obtained control over the high council Dax immediately started by gathering up the entire population in the capital, and then airlifted in heavy machinery to construct much needed infrastructure.


    "Dax about the recent decision you made in the council-"


    "Decisions are final."


    "Yeah yeah I know, I just wondered why the new greenhouse couldn''t be placed closer to the town."


    "Because seismology scans show that the ice there is unstable, that''s why I''m putting off construction in that area until it can be stabilized."


    "O-okay?.."


    "If we build stuff there it will break the ice, and a lot of people will die."


    "Okay, I''ll relay that to the other council members."


    Finishing up his talks Dax left the central council building.


    "THERE HE IS!"


    "GET HIM!"


    Only to run into an angry mob outside.


    "For f.u.c.ks sake¡­ I have 10 minutes, make it count."


    Today was the 10th time this pattern had repeated, the people of the republic were nothing if but extremely stubborn, but Dax didn''t really hate that about them. Walking a bit away from the council building as the mob stormed him Dax planted himself as they charged him, and then started beating the shit out of them.


    "And that''s 10 minutes.. I haven''t broken anything so show up for work tomorrow or I''m cutting your food rations."


    Leaving a sea of incapacitated people behind Dax made his way to the edge of the city, where a small compound had been constructed. Entering the compound Dax boarded the waiting CAS-A7 landing craft that came alive with a roar and lifted off from the compacted ice landing pad and quickly climbed into a ballistic trajectory heading towards the capital of the Kingdom.


    [ACCENT BURN COMPLETED, NOW CONDUCTING FINAL ADJUSTMENT BURNS.]


    Getting up from his seat Dax floated around in zero gravity and made his was to the c.o.c.kpit inside the craft.


    "Open blast shielding please."


    [OPENING C.O.C.KPIT BLAST SHIELDING, STANDBY.]


    As the view out of the c.o.c.kpit changed from camera feeds projected on the inside of the heavy blastshilding meant to protect the pilot in combat operations to a direct view out through a thin layer of thin heated glass Dax strapped himself into the pilot seat.


    "Abort adjustment burns and give me full control."


    [ADJUSTMENT BURNS CANCELED: 24 MANEUVER NODES ERASED. YOU HAVE CONTROL.]


    "I have control."


    Looking around on various monitors Dax inspected the landing craft as he checked the functionality of the aircraft by sending it into a free spin and recovering it after a few seconds.


    "Up power to translation motor #34 by 35%"


    [ADJUSTMENTS CONFIRMED.]


    "Good.. Now time for some combat exercise. ICI give me some virtual targets."


    [CAS-A7 NOW ENTERING SIMULATION MODE, WEAPON SYSTEM LOCKED: READY FOR VIRTUAL EXERCISE.]


    "Time to knock off some rust."


    Killing time until he entered the atmosphere again Dax eventually landed outside the city of Kingstead, capital of the central Kingdom.


    "What''s the status of the patient? Show me please."


    Having made his way back home, Dax immediately went upstairs to one of the rooms. The room was almost frozen in time, except for a piece of heavy machinery that had been placed where the bed had been.


    "Good evening Alice."


    Suspended in a transparent liquid Alice still had a large hole in her chest that was covered by hightech gray medical dressing with multiple wires and cables.


    [STATUS UNCHANGED, NEURAL DEGRADATION AT 5.4%.]


    6 months after her injury there was still visible burn marks all over her body, but the worst damage had been done to Alice''s brain. As the AD-LBD HEAT round had hit her exoskeleton and detonated it had created a cone of heated plasma that punched right through Alice''s chest, but more importantly it had heated the cramped insides of the exoskeleton to oven like temperatures in a split second, and if not for Dax''s immediate actions that would have been the end of her. Having treated the worst of the decay seconds after it had happened the neurons had been mostly undamaged, but she had been put into a deep coma while the complex repair by countless automated nanomachines and small medical drones floating around in clear liquid. Alice''s chestnut hair had mostly been burned off, and replaced by new pure white synthetic hair.


    "I should have f.u.c.k.i.n.g seen it¡­"


    Even if he would never admit it to anyone Dax still blamed himself for what happened to Alice. Even if it was his second in command that snuck up on him, Lux was so malnourished that she could be considered a walking corpse at that point, if he had only pulled the drones back in after pacifying Iris, if he had only been more alert, if he had only had a ready rifle, if he had only-


    "Dax you''re back, any changes?"


    "Sadly not, the repair will be done in about a month but then it could take anywhere from a few months to several years for her to wake up."


    "Okay.. Let''s go train."


    Every day they would repeat that pattern, Terra would act surprised that Dax was home, she would ask how Alice was doing, and then she would do her best to hide the disappointment and sadness while asking Dax to join her in training.


    "Too slow, focus!"


    "Gha!-"


    Catching Terra''s jab with a truly brutal counter Dax knocked her to the ground with a force that would normally have killed a first class knight, and followed it up with a kick that she only barely managed to guard and sent her flying into the nearby wall.


    "Get fast or die!"


    "I know!"


    Rushing to her feet Terra charged Dax and hit him with a kick to the head.


    "That was better!-"


    Blocking her kick with his arm Dax showed a slight smile.


    "- But you traded force for speed!"


    Pulling in Terra''s leg towards him Dax formed a fist with his flesh and blood hand and moved towards her with a speed that would almost certainly kill Terra, no matter where he hit.


    [MATCH OVER, WINNER: DAX. TRAINEE RATING: B-]


    Stopping his fist right before it hit Terra in the chest ICI announced the end of the sparing fight.


    "A b minus rating?"


    "You were clearly distracted. But still that one kick was really good, what''s bothering you?"


    "I just feel like we''ve been doing the same thing every day in and out forever."


    "That''s because we have, repetition makes perfect."


    "And so you say every time¡­"


    "Okay then, wanna take a sneak peek at the next part of your training?"


    "If it means escaping from this fever dream I have were I keep training forever and wake up one day as the most macho bodybuilder in this world then yes, I would very much like to start the next part of my training."


    "Then how are you with negative g maneuvers?"


    "With what?"


    Hearing words she did not completely understand, Terra was understandably confused, but Dax just ignored that.


    "Then not so good, make sure to bring lots of paper bags~"


    "Okay?"


    "That will be all for tonight then, make sure you get lots of rest."


    Leaving the confused Terra behind with those words Dax went on with his night, and his first visit was to the workshop.


    "Welcome."


    "And good morning."


    "Or good evening would perhaps be more appropriate."


    "I''ve slowly been making progress."


    "Good evening Iris."


    "I still feels strange that you call me that¡­"


    "But you are Iris, at least as close to that individual as you can be."


    Iris was dead, having been shot in the head by a high caliber round she had died instantly. But Dax had noticed a source of interference coming from her copse, which revealed itself to be a fully functioning ICI unti fused to her spine with the use of healing magic, a result of having been experimented on by her clan from her early childhood as she had been weak form birth.


    "But I''m not her."


    "Nope, legally you''re a clone, but you''re her trough and trough. Every single neuron was perfectly restored form the backup stored in your spine, as such your ego has been perfectly restored, so you are the same."


    "That makes no sense."


    "At all."


    "I don''t understand."


    "No it doesn''t, but only if you chose to think about it that way. I won''t try and talk to you about the concept of a soul or something spiritual as that, but there are several theoretical papers that state that one''s ''ego'' or ''soul'' are linked to one''s precise brain signature, not the physical form itself."


    "That is also illogical."


    "Completely so."


    "That''s why the answer is not to think about it, can you show me your progress?"


    Switching gears Dax walked past Iris to a table filled with papers detailing advanced calculations and a enginerical drawing detailing some sort of handheld railgun prototype.


    "The handheld prototype has passed the final stage of theoretical development."


    "We will start building a prototype tomorrow."


    "We are expecting a final prototype will be ready and working in about 5 years."


    "If current state of development holds."


    "Good work~"


    "Mmm~ By the way Lux was here around noon."


    "Again? I''ll go talk with her.."


    "Please don''t be mad at her, she''s a nice person."


    "Even if she tried to kill us."


    "Or did kill us, we''re still not sure."


    "That''s why I told you to just not ponder it.. See you later."


    "Mmm~"


    Leaving with those words Dax left Iris'' workshop and went over to the next house over before letting himself in and immediately meet the person he was looking for, sitting and eating a meal. Her short white hair had been growing a bit over the last few months that combined with her sharp red eyes gave her a overall wild look, except for the fact that she was currently covered in bandages. Having only just survived the crash landing, then been mostly starved as she had been chased around by the northerners for a few weeks without proper food or rest it was a miracle that she had survived long enough to meet up with Dax. Having spend the last half year slowly healing up from those injuries she was mostly alright, but she had just been under the knife to get her faulty ICI unit replaced.


    "Good evening Dax, what''s up?"


    "What did I tell you time and time again?"


    "... Always check your corners when clearing rooms?"


    "REST WHEN YOU''RE SICK!"


    "OW! Sir, yes Sir!"


    Being wracked over the head Lux screamed out in pain before rising to her feet and saluting Dax after having received the order.


    "What did I just tell you!? Rest goddammit!"


    Forcing her to sit back down Dax took a seat next to her with a slightly worried expression.


    "So how are you doing?"


    "Good, the pain is almost gone so I thought I would go talk with Terra but she still just ignored me.."


    "You did almost kill her best friend.."


    "Yeah but still."


    "I''ll look into changing her mind, but that''ll properly take a bit, tomorrow is time for the EMC course."


    "Oh really?~ Please send me the recording~"


    With a knowing smile Lux was suddenly looking forward to some great entertainment.


    ---


    "So what are we doing?"


    Having followed Dax to the CAS-A7 Stinger Terra was slightly confused about what they were going to do that day.


    "Please step inside."


    With those words the blast door closed behind Terra as she started hearing the engines warming up through the hull.


    "So what is happening?"


    Still not understanding Dax''s intent Terra was still confused, as the internal hull of the Stinger was completely bare, lacking the seats that were normally present.


    "Please strap in."


    On Dax''s mark a chair popped up from the floor.


    "Okay?"


    Still not really trusting Dax based on the size of his smile Terra nervously sat down in the chair, and was immediately restrained.


    "Welcome to the extreme maneuver conditioning course, or as I call it ''the vomit comet''~"


    [MAX G TAKEOFF CONFIRMED.]


    Locking to the floor with his magnetic boots the Stinger took off in an extremely violent manner as it immediately started climbing vertically.


    [MAX Q.]


    Pulling almost 10 g Terra struggled to breathe as her vision started turning dark.


    "And flip."


    [FLIPPING.]


    right before Terra passed out the Stinger flipped and broke all its speed in about 20 seconds, then started pulling negative g maneuvers, forcing the blood that was forced towards Terra''s feet into her head, along with a few other things.


    "URG!-"


    "Gross."


    Covering Terra''s mouth with a paper bag like he had done the exact thing millions of times, Dax escaped the direct wrath of the ''vomit comet''.


    "Suspend extreme maneuver conditioning course."


    [RECOVERING DIVE, RETURNING ON COURSE.]


    After 5 more minutes of continuing extreme maneuvers Terra had passed out, and then the Stinger returned on a normal course, that is until Terra woke up again and the whole thing repeated.

 Chapter 75 - Annihilation event (2)

    "I want you to know that I generally despise your entire existence."


    "Oh come on that wasn''t so bad."


    "..."


    "What?"


    "..."


    "Are you just gonna pout like a 6 year old for the rest of the day like that?"


    Having landed at their destination after about 60 minutes of the so called ''extreme maneuver conditioning course'' Terra had lost most of her dinner along with her mood.


    "What the hell was the point of that?"


    "The extreme maneuver conditioning course is meant to show how bad a landing under enemy fire can be, and to show how important g resistance training is to new recruits."


    "Well I haven''t received that training yet.."


    "You''re about to."


    "How? we''re in Homestead, right?"


    "Nope."


    "What do you mean? You have your council meetings, right?"


    "I have, I''m already there."


    With a slight smile Dax''s cybernetic eye lit up behind his eyepatch as the Stinger''s ramp lowered and revealed a grassland outside.


    "Dax? Where are we?"


    "In the middle of nowhere, on the fringe of Kingdom territory. Today you''re going to spend all getting to know this craft''s in''s and out''s."


    With a smile on his face Dax prompted Terra to follow him outside.


    "First lesson, point out the relevant part of the craft when I name it, incorrect answers will incur penalties~"


    "Okay, I can do that."


    "Then let''s start, first item: Landing gear."


    "Those right there."


    Pointing at the metal landing gear that stabilized the craft against the ground, Terra made the first correct guess.


    "Primary lift surface."


    "The wings?"


    "Incorrect. The primary lifting surface is the entire craft itself, wings are nice, but not needed. 20 pushups."


    "What, the entire craft? Are you for real?"


    "First rule of aerodynamics for marines: Even a brick can generate enough lift to fly, provided it moves with sufficient speed. As such having wings like a bird is not sufficient for flight provided you have engines that are powerful enough. 20 pushups."


    "O-okay then."


    Accepting her punishment Terra dropped to the ground and started doing push ups as Dax continued his lecture.


    "As a marine of the Galactic Empire you will come to love this craft as your mother, your husband and wife, and your god at the same time. If your Stinger is not properly maintained you will die, for example if the ammunition feed system is not maintained it can and will fail, resulting in a feed failure that at best will jamm the offencive weapons, making you craft unable to fire back and protect you, and at worst blow up you and all of your friends.


    If the landing gear fails you''re going to die when it takes flight from a high powered electro catapult, hell if the anti grav generator has a hiccup/and or a bad day it will generate tidal forces strong enough to tear you and everybody apart at a molecular level, and you''ll-"


    "Die, yeah I got it, I get the general picture. That was 20."


    "Die without realizing it yeah. Moving on, control interface."


    Restating the game Terra looked at the craft as it pulled its wings and engines in to its body.


    "Its behind there right?"


    pointing to the front of the craft a particularly sturdy armor Terra made her second correct answer.


    "Good, next is primary life support."


    "Can I go inside the craft?"


    "Sure."


    On his prompt the loading ramp opened once more, allowing Terra to walk inside again. Looking around at the empty insides of the Stinger Terra closed her eyes and listened.


    "Hmm~ Next to the crawlway that leads to the c.o.c.kpit I hear the sound of¡­ A small electrical pump¡­. And what sounds like electrolysis in a contained chamber, so over there?"


    "Good answer, you really have excellent ears, let''s go outside for the last one."


    Going into full lecturing mode Dax continued his monologue as he stopped and turned around to look at the Stinger.


    "Now the primary power core is a micro fusion power plant that''s located in?"


    "-The bottom of the fuselage right below the seatings."


    "Correct, now for the most important one, please point at the primary propulsion."


    "That one''s easy, the engines mounted at the tip of both-"


    "Incorrect, give me 50."


    "Wait what? Bullshit."


    Not buying that the massive engines on the Stinger were its primary source propulsion Terra refused to take her punishment.


    "Just like wings the engines are nice, but ultimately not needed for flight. ICI make the Stinger takeoff without using secondary population please."


    [DIRECTIVES CONFIRMED, PRIMING ANTI GRAV DRIVE, STANDBY¡­ DEVICE PRIMED, READY FOR TAKEOFF.]


    With ICI cold and artificial voice as a que, the area around the Stinger started feeling strange to Terra.


    "What is happening?"


    "Ah this is the first time you''ve felt it directly, this is a anti grav drive."


    "Anti grav?"


    "Specifically its a multi faced 6th generation graviton annihilation field generator."


    "you''re not making any sense¡­"


    Looking at Terra in disbelief as he had already thought her this Dax breathed a deep sigh.


    "Every particle in this plane of existence has a?"


    "- Ah, a positive and a negative spin counterpart."


    "And a graviton is?"


    "The elementary particle/field/force that binds space and gravity to our plane of existence? So by generating a ''anti-graviton'' it annihilates the graviton and creates a zone in spacetime with weaker gravity?"


    "Close. By annihilating gravitons in an area it lessens the effect of gravity and does not affect time, but all generators are rigged to not allow a zero graviton or negative graviton zone."


    "But why would you stop before zero?"


    Believing that if one eliminated gravity completely one could move way faster, Terra made the same mistake as so many had done before her.


    "What is gravity as a force?"


    "The force of attraction between objects in space that increases with mass."


    "Close enough, and what is the opposite of that?"


    "Of attraction? That would be repulsion¡­. Oh god. has that happened before?"


    Realizing the terrible truth and implementation of negative gravity Terra''s face turned grim.


    "The Galactic Empire knows of at least 2 hundred thousand civilizations that have annihilated themselves by generating a strong enough anti graviton field to overcome strong and weak attraction yeah¡­ But back on topic, ICI liftoff please."


    [DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED.]


    With a quiet humm the Stinger lifted off the ground, along with a few plants that had been near it and rose to about 5 meters.


    "By eliminating most of the effect gravity has on the craft and creating a ''gravity well'' above it the craft can achieve flight without the use of engines."


    "Well I''ll be damned¡­"


    "That would be 50 pushups."


    Accepting her defeat Terra got down on her arms and started doing pushups as she muttered to herself.


    "If you can lessen the force of gravity then can''t you also increase it?"


    "Correct~ ICI give me a localized 5 g field please."


    [CONFIRMED.]


    "Ugh!-"


    Falling flat on her face Terra suddenly struggled to breathe as if a fully grown horse sat down on top of her.


    "Come on, that was only 20 pushups, you still have 30 to go so quit sleeping in the grass."


    "Are. You. F.u.c.k.i.n.g-"


    "Okay then, as the perfect instructor I am I''ll do it alongside you.. Come on, 1.. 2..-"


    Spending the rest of the day going over all the Stinger''s functions, Terra felt like she finally understood more about it and how it worked, that is until the way back.


    "So you know how in the wild eagles will sometimes drop their children from the nest to make them better at flying?"


    "Yeah I do Dax¡­. What is this about?"


    Feeling anxious about Dax''s tone and sudden monologue, Terra stopped playing around in the zero gravity.


    "Nothing in particular~"


    [ADJUSTMENT BURN CANCELLED. ICI SYSTEM LOCKOUT CONFIRMED.]


    "Dax?"


    "What?"


    "Are you for real?"


    "What are you talking about?"


    [5 MINUTES AND 24 SECONDS TO REENTRY, WARNING: INCORRECT DECENT TRAJECTORY, CHANCE OF CRAFT DESTRUCTION AT 96.5%]


    "You better get on that."


    "ARE YOU F.U.C.K.I.N.G-"


    Cutting herself short as she realized arguing would deduct from her assessment score Terra bounced off the wall and made her way into the c.o.c.kpit and strapped herself in as Dax slowly followed with a smile on his face.


    "Give me control now!"


    [YOU HAVE CONTROL.]


    Looking around as the flight computer gave her control over the craft, Terra located the controls she needed.


    "That''s the stick, which doubles as a knob controller to control translational and rotational motion¡­. Where''s the throttle? Wait I don''t need that."


    Thinking out loud Terra rushed to remember what she had been taught by Dax.


    "And grip the stick to enable it then gently- f.u.c.kf.u.c.kf.u.c.k-"


    Sending the craft into a free spin by overcompensating with the rotational thrusters, Terra lost most of her composure.


    "Enable SAS please!"


    [SYSTEM, STABILITY AUGMENTATION SYSTEM, NOW ENABLED. HOLDNING ATTITUDE, KILLING ROTATION.. WARNING RCS OFFLINE, NO POWER.]


    "What do you mean ''no power''!?"


    [RCS OFFLINE, NO POWER.]


    "Enable rotational control system!"


    [RCS ONLINE, SAS ONLINE, HOLDING ATTITUDE: RETROGRADE.]


    With the flight computer taking partial control over the craft it finally stabilized and started holding attitude.


    "Okay then.. Time to atmospheric reentry?"


    [1 MINUTE AND 5 SECONDS, OUTER ARMOR AT 58% HEAT CAPACITY.]


    "F.u.c.kf.u.c.kf.u.c.kf.u.c.k-"


    As the Stinger gradually started to heat up from the friction of the atmosphere below Terra did her very best to survive.


    ---


    [ASSESSMENT OVER, CADET RATING:B+]


    "... I''m sorry."


    Looking at the mostly charred Stinger that she had barely managed to land without crashing outright, Terra was filled with guilt.


    "What are you talking about? that was great."


    Not really being that upset about the entire thing Dax had a large smile on his face as he congratulated Terra.


    "Really?"


    "Any landing you can walk away from is a good landing. I honestly believed you would crash and die."


    "What!?"


    "What?"


    As the sun slowly set on Kingsted the spysat-1 was about to enter sleep mode when a source of light blinded most of its sensors.


    [ANNIHILATION EVENT LOCATED, CATEGORY 7.]


    From space the small fireball quickly grew in size and swallowed the surrounding forest as the shockwave made the earth ripple like a pond when a rock was dropped into it.


    [SHIELDING SENSORS¡­]


    With the shockwave reaching the satellite in low orbit it was knocked out of operation temporarily.


    [SENSORS RESTORED, ADJUSTING EXPOSURE.]


    After a few minutes the satellite had rebooted and restored some of its sensors to operational levels, and it once more focused on the event. The original blast had only lasted a few seconds, but had superheated the surrounding air and created a blastwave that had carbonized all the trees in a 5 kilometer radius around the blast, and started multiple forest fires around that. The ground itself at ground zero had turned molten, and a large part of the surrounding atmosphere had been ionized and was creating lightningstoms by the sheer blastwave that was currently traveling around the globe.


    [EVENT SIGNATURE IDENTIFIED: ANTIMATTER MIRV STRIKE CORE #515. DETONATION CONFIRMED, RADIATION CONTAINMENT NOT CONFIRMED.]

 Chapter 76 - Annihilation event (3)

    "So? What happened?"


    Inside the castle of Kingsted a formal hearing had been put in place. In the room that normally only would be populated by the royal family and high ranking nobles a even higher seat of power had gathered. The archangel Solaris, along with a few subordinate angles represented the 14th sanctuary. Crown princess of the kingdom Teresa together with her father, the king represented the central kingdom, and Dax represented himself.


    "Do you want the long or short answer?"


    "This is a hearing so I think we have time for both."


    As Terasa lead the conversation with Dax the other parties simply listened along.


    "Okay, the short answer is that what happened is the exact same scenario that I stopped here in the Kingdom, and up north in the Republic."


    "What you stopped?"


    "Yeah, antimatter cell detonations, or as we call it in the Galactic Empire ''annihilation events''. Remember when I repeatedly tried to warn you about the sphere that crashed outside Kingstead was about to blow up and you people ignored me?"


    "Ugh."


    "Please tell us more about this specific event Dax."


    As Solaris took over from Teresa the angels she had brought along tensed up.


    "This time it was a strike core that detonated, most likely from tampering, luckily the safety kicked in and limited the blast radius considerably."


    With Dax starting his explanation as a que, a hologram lit up on the table in between them and showed a recording of the detonation as it was recorded by Dax''s satellite in orbit.


    "As I said luckily the safety system kicked in and limited the blast quite considberly, but that means there is a high chance of radioactive fallout-"


    "What the hell do you mean ''limited''? Control your weapons or the sanctuary will do it for you!"


    Getting interrupted mid sentence by one of the angels Dax took a deep breath and breathed a sigh before continuing.


    "I hate being interrupted. Now the chance of radioactive fallout might mean nothing to you people, but it is of utmost importance that I investigate the site and make sure no trace of radiation remains, and treat the affected area if any radiation fallout is present. To that end what can you tell me about the area?"


    ---


    "The ground is still warm¡­ ICI give me an area scan."


    Standing in what had until recently been a lush forest Dax bent down and touched the black and charred ground as he looked around at his surroundings. As far as his enhanced eyesight could see was mostly burned ground, with the very edge of the crater and a few blown over trees covered in sood about 6 kilometers away.


    [SCANNING, STANDBY¡­ NO LIFE DETECTED.]


    "Obviously¡­ What about radiation?"


    [STANDBY¡­ AREA CLEAR.]


    "That means all the safeties worked correctly even after a hundred years¡­ Impressive design Ra.. Continue CAS-A7 holding pattern."


    [CONFIRMED. CAS-A7 HOLDING OVERWATCH AT 10 CLICKS.]


    Glancing up at the small dot in the air that was the landing craft that brought him there Dax thought about what to do next.


    (There''s no way to tell what ticked it off, but was most likely someone that tried to open the shiny orange container with fancy warning symbols to see what was inside..)


    "Maybe we should had made the containers of something that smells really bad? Nah that would be stu-"


    Being cut short in his own monologue and train of thought Dax was pierced by a metal arrow through the chest.


    "That''s strange¡­ ICI give me a full area scan."


    Not really surprised that someone/thing had snuck up on him but more that his hardened skin and muscles had been completely penetrated by what looked to have been a relatively normal full steel arrow.


    [NO LIFE SIGNS DETECTED.]


    "Well something is definitely abnormal.."


    Dodging another arrow that was clearly meant for his head this time as he ripped the first one out of his chest Dax wondered if there was something wrong with ICI.


    "Please scan using something other than thermal please."


    [INITIATING FULL SYSTEM SCAN, STANDBY..]


    "No need, pelt the area to my 10 O''clock, 1 click out please."


    Having doged another arrow while meant for his head Dax had managed to narrow down the barring of his attacker.


    [DIRECTIVE RECEIVED, CAS-A7 MOVING INTO ATTACK PATTERN.]


    In the sky above Dax the Stinger moved into a dive as multiple small thrusters all over the surface lit up to adjust the heading.


    [ATTACK PATTERN ACHIEVED, ARMING MENHIT WEAPON SYSTEM.]


    "Advanced rapid type close-in weapons system ''Menhit''.. I would try and doge that, otherwise you''ll die~"


    [WEAPON HOT, SPLASH 5 SECONDS.]


    With a terrible sound as if the sky split open with thunder the ground where Dax suspected the enemy to be was covered in a layer of multiple explosions as the area was pelted with a mix of shrapnel and metal flechette darts.


    "Splash, target down¡­ Or not.."


    As yet another arrow whizzed past his head Dax breathed a deep sigh while cracking his neck.


    "I''ll deal with this myself, ICI stand down."


    Charging directly ahead Dax soon spotted his attacker coming out of the smoke unscaved. Covered from head to toe in camouflaged armor, the only thing that stood out to Dax was the extremely large two handed metal bow that looked to have way too heavy of a draw weight to be usable.


    "Of course they''re bow users¡­"


    Closing in as the attacker drew another arrow Dax stretched out artificial arm that quickly split open.


    "But there''s no way you can use that without manipulating mana~"


    Jamming magic in the area around his attacker Dax continued closing the range and was now only about 500 meters from the camouflaged figure, when his arm was cybernetic arm was destroyed by another arrow.


    "REALLY!? That one was brand new!"


    Proving that magic interference meant very little, the archer continued firing off arrows rapidly towards the ever closing in Dax, that responded by purging his now useless cybernetic arm and threw it at the archer. Responding to the treat the archer blocked Dax''s improvised throwing weapon with it''s bow and then used released the bowstring, transforming the bow into a two handed battlestaff and slashed at Dax with deadly intent. Dax not keen to see if that weapon could also pierce his skin jumped over the slash and kicked up sood as he landed in an attempt to blind the archer as he moved in for the kill. Connecting his fist with something in the smoke Dax didn''t really feel so sure about having killed the archer, and quickly shielded head with his arm. Being immediately proven correct in his hunch Dax felt an arrow pierce through his forearm and stuck itself halfway through.


    (F.U.C.K HE''S GOOD!)


    Ripping out the arrow with his teeth Dax threw the arrow back at the archer and moved in close once more. As the sood in the air cleared the archer flinched when Dax emerged at extremely close range.


    "Oh no you don''t!"


    As the archer tried to slash Dax with it''s bow once more Dax caught it by biting down on it as he punched the camouflaged figure in the chest with most of his strength, sending the camouflaged archer flying without it''s bow.


    "That''s one.. Now for the others."


    Having dealt with one archer Dax counted at least 11 more at the edge of the crater, with the one he disarmed standing up again looking mostly unharmed.


    "Are you f.u.c.k.i.n.g kidding me¡­ ICI weapons free."


    [WEAPONS FREE, INITIATING PRECISION ARTILLERY.]


    Feeling mostly done with the fighting the faceless camouflaged archers Dax freed ICI to engage them. Opening up fire from up high, the weapon system Menhit lived up to the old god it was named after as it started massacring the camouflaged arches. The archer''s suffered heavy casualties before consolidating and hiding behind some sort of impenetrable magic barrier, and from there they started to gather all traces of mana in the surrounding atmosphere.


    "F.u.c.k! Stinger, break off and disengage now!"


    Realizing what was happening Dax shouted out commands to the Stinger in the middle of its attack run. The very second after the last burst of HE-FRAG rounds hit the archer''s shield it broke apart and one of archer''s pointed it''s bow towards the Stinger and released an arrow glowing and infused with runic magic Dax had never seen before.


    [CAFF, FLARES.]


    Inside the empty c.o.c.kpit of the Stinger a automated voice over sounded as the craft released radar reflecting caff and inferred disrupting thermal flares as the the craft went into a dive while countless orientational and rotational thrusters all over the craft lit up in accordance with complex 3 dimensional maneuvers plotted by the on board AI. As the magic enhanced arrow flew up toward the Stinger it started accelerating and maneuver towards the evading craft as if guided by the air itself.


    [CAFF, FLARES. SOFT KILL SYSTEM ONLINE.]


    Releasing another batch of caff and flares multiple small pods emerged out all over the Stinger. The pods started tracking the arrow heading towards the Stinger and bathed it in concentrated bursts of electromagnetic radiation designed to fry and blind any known electronic guidance system, but that had little effect on the runic array that propelled and guided the arrow towards its target.


    [FINAL DEFENSE PERIMETER BREACHED. CAFF, FLARES. HARD KILL SYSTEM ONLINE, LOCALIZING EVENT.]


    With the arrow still accelerating towards the Stinger it broke the sound barrier while slowly catching up to the Stinger that hopelessly released countermeasures.


    [EVENT LOCALIZED, PULSING.]


    Having closed the distance to about 200 meters the arrow only seemed to keep accelerating, but was suddenly and violently torn apart by extreme gravitational tidal forces produced by the Stingers gravitational field generator and blew up with a force measured in the range of a tonne of TNT. Dax however didn''t see this however, party because the Stinger had moved out of his line of sight, and partly because he had more pressing issues.


    "I should really had brought some weapons¡­"


    Surrounded by the remaining camouflaged archer''s Dax was covered in wounds and was currently sitting on the ground with his hand raised above his head.


    "I surrender. Do you guys understand what I''m saying?"


    Being met with silence initially Dax started to wonder if they didn''t take prisoners until a few moments later when the leading camouflaged archer walked up to him and placed a metal collar inscribed with runes around his neck as she took off her hood and facemask to reveal a pair of long pointed ears partially covered by long golden blonde hair.


    "You will be held responsible for this, outsider."


    Speaking with an exotic accent that indicated she didn''t speak her own tongue, the archer''s emerald green eyes shone in a cold light filled with hate and anger.


    "Those sure are some fine eyes, my name is Dax. What''s yours, miss elf?"


    "Silence."


    With a wave of her hand the runes on the collar around Dax''s neck lit up and sent out a powerful electric shock. Falling on his face Dax remembered Solaris'' words from the meeting.


    "-To that end what can you tell me about the area?"


    "That forest is deep inside elven territory."


    "And?"


    "Elves are a reclusive race that hate outsiders, and after us angels and a few others they are the best at manipulating mana. They are highly skilled and ruthless to outsiders, please be careful when investing."


    "What? Are you worried?~"


    "I AM NOT!"

 Chapter 77 - Elven hospitality (1)

    "Why are you here!?"


    Being hit square in the face with a mana infused punch Dax was knocked to the ground.


    "Why are you here!?"


    Glancing up at his interrogator Dax took a second to raise himself to a sitting position before answering with a question himself.


    "Why are you starting with the head? If you start with the head the victim gets all confused and won''t be able to fe-"


    Cut short again by another fist to the face he was also kicked in the stomach before the elf repeated his question.


    "Why are you here!? Answer me outsider!"


    Getting kicked repeatedly Dax raised up his hand in surrender after a few minutes.


    "I''m here because..-"


    Taking his sweet time answering Dax tailed off at the and when he looked at the red face of his attacker a worried expression bloomed on his face.


    "You look out of breath, do you need a break?"


    "YOU!"


    Flaring in rage the elven man charged his first with enough mana that it was visible to the n.a.k.e.d eye and aimed for Dax''s temple. In response Dax shifted his position slightly and tensed up his neck muscles so as to not absorb the blow as he had done until now but resist it fully.


    "ARG!- ***#@!"


    The result was quite obvious, as Dax didn''t rotate with the punch the elven soldier felt like he had just punched a solid piece of titanium as multiple bones in his hand fractured.


    "***@#$%* ***!!!"


    Cursing at the top of his lungs in his native tongue Dax put on a smug smile.


    "Yeah karma is a cruel f.u.c.k.i.n.g mistress when you''re being a d.i.c.k huh?"


    "****! ***, *****"


    Sending Dax a truly enraged look the elven soldier left him to most likely get his hand healed.


    (What a f.u.c.k.i.n.g amateur..)


    Taking this time to look around Dax inspected his surroundings.


    (This sure is a strange forest¡­)


    After being captured by the elven forces the day beforehand they had spent all day moving through the forested terrain. Dax assessed the forest terrain as some sort of strange mix between temperate and subtropical, with biodiversity and humidity like a rainforest, but temperature and plants like some sort of strangely fertile temperate forest.


    (The overly dense mana properly have something to do with that¡­ Oh, she''s back.)


    With his alert hearing Dax quickly recognized the almost completely silent footsteps of the elven leader he had taken to calling ''blonde'' because of her longer than average hair.


    "..."


    "Good evening."


    As she sat down outside the magic formation drawn on the ground below Dax that tethered him to it the elven woman inspected him with her emerald green eyes for a bit before speaking up.


    "No food today."


    "Oh come on, why? Because that f.u.c.k.i.n.g idiot doesn''t know how to hit a person properly?"


    "Because ***** lost her arm."


    "Ah yeah that makes more sense, losing one''s arm is a terrible experience."


    Glancing down at his own empty shoulder socket Dax felt a tiny bit of pity towards the elver with the strange name he couldn''t pronounce.


    "Why are you here?"


    "Here? Like in this magic formation? That''s because you trapp-"


    "Why are you trespassing in our land?"


    "You know what? I wonder about that myself sometimes, you see I was out drinking and then the next day I woke up out here."


    Telling a blatant lie without any particular expression on his face Dax tested the patience of the soldier in front of him, but the person in question simply ignored the answer and continued.


    "How can you heal like that?"


    "I don''t know, why are you that beautiful?"


    "... Tell me."


    Being met with a look of disgust to his answer, the elver continued pressing the issue with a slight hint of urgency on her face.


    "Only if you hand feed me my next me-"


    Being cut short forcefully by the collar around his neck releasing a powerful electric shock, Dax fell over forward on his face.


    ---


    The next day Dax and his captors continued moving through the ever endless forest.


    (So that''s why..)


    Looking to the back of the small formation Dax saw 2 elves carrying an injured one on an improvised stretcher.


    (Damage looks to be mostly internal¡­)


    To Dax''s initial surprise the Stinger hadn''t managed to kill any of the elven soldier''s, but most of them had suffered wounds in varying degrees. A few had lost some fingers and others had suffered light internal bleeding, but the most severe case was the one currently being carried on a stretcher. Half of her one arm was missing, and from what Dax could make out with his hearing she would most likely die within a few more hours without proper medical attention.


    (Blonde looks to be close to that one, I wonder if she''ll try and kill me when she dies¡­ Wait is that?.. It is.)


    "Contact, front. 600 meters."


    Muttering out that report completely on reflex the elven soldiers that all heard him were confused for a second, that is until they also picked up the sound of movement.


    "Additional contact, rear 700 meters and left 400 meters.. Oh how nostalgic~"


    Recognizing the source of the sound and thereby also the monsters identities, Dax put on a nostalgic smile.


    "It''s a swarm, I detect at least 20 contacts all around, seems like you guys walked right into their territory. Now what will you do now I wonder~"


    As the formation came to a hold Dax sat down on the ground and yawned loudly.


    "Hey! What are you doing!?"


    As the one Dax called blonde saw him sit down as the others prepared for a bitter fight she was understandably upset.


    "Me? I''m starving. Did you expect that the starving prisoner, that you disabled and you let your men repeatedly torture, would gladly fight to the death for you? Yes, my lady. Of course, my lady. Do you need a foot massage too? I''m overflowing with so much loyalty I''ll gladly lay down my life for you my lady."


    Completely overflowing with sarcasm Dax put on a cold smile


    "But if we die you-"


    "Then I''ll renegotiate my terms of surrender with whoever survives, go get them~"


    Shooing away the elver Dax laid down on his back and appeared to fall asleep immediately.


    ---


    "Eva!"


    "I Know, leave him there."


    "But-"


    "We don''t have any time to spare! Get in combat formation now!"


    As a bead of sweat rolled down Eva''s face she quickly took note of how her subordinates were doing. Of her 11 subordinates, 1 was in a coma, 5 was only able to walk and more or less unable to move, and only her and 5 others could fight at full capacity.


    (F.u.c.k! How the hell did we manage to walk right into a monster nest?)


    "We need to call for help somehow!"


    "No way we can do that! This is still a restricted area."


    "F.u.c.k! Why didn''t we bring more people!"


    "Because this is a f.u.c.k.i.n.g restricted area! Hurry it up, forest hunting formation!"


    Shutting up her subordinate''s whining, Eva sprang into action. Quikly understanding what their commander wanted to do, the remaining elvers split into teams of 2 people and one of them sat down on the ground and closed their eyes as the other stood right behind and readied an arrow.


    "Ready!"


    With the elver sitting down with crossed legs called out Eva released an arrow out into the forest. Sensing the mana in the air, plants and living monsters, the elven soldier guiled the steel arrow to its target through the dense forest by using extremely long range air magic. Doing the next 2 minutes the elven forces proved they were the best of the best and cut down over 20 of the monsters before they even entered line of sight.


    "They''re getting close! Protect the prisoner and the injured at all costs!"


    "Why should we protect that outsider!?"


    "If he dies we learn nothing! What if the next explosion is right in the middle of the capital!?"


    Silencing the critique with a single and sound argument, Eva readied her bow as the first monster broke the tree line into the clearing they had fortified. 12 red eyes of varying sizes looked at the elvers with a mix of rage and hunger from a height of about 4 meters as the thick and extremely durable mandibles that could easily rip a person in half made an eerie loud clicking sound as the large black creature charged on its 8 legs towards the nearest elver.


    "Arachnids! Aim for the eyes or joints, their exoskeleton is way too solid!"


    Identifying the hostiles monsters immediately Eva called out weak spots as she shot an arrow that pierced right through the first arachnid''s eye and destroyed its brain, killing it instantly. Not even before the first arachnid fell to the ground 2 more emerged from the forest, making Eva realize the futility of her current situation.


    (We''re making too much noise, even if we deal with these ones instantly we''re bound to attract more monsters, and with all of us injured we''re in no condition for a prolonged fight¡­. F.U.C.K!)


    "We need to move out now! Leave behind the injured, Tom grab the outsider!"


    Realizing what she must do as a commander Eva bit down on her lip and drew blood in frustration of her current situation.


    "B-"


    "THAT IS A DIRECT ORDER, WE MUST BRING THE OUTSIDER IN!"


    Feeling countless monsters heading in their direction Eva made the impossible choice to leave behind her trusted friends and comrades.


    ""REEEE!!""


    As if proving the need to urgently evacuate, 2 young arachnid queens emerged from the forest with multiple subordinates.


    "Get the outsider now!"


    Judging that they would most likely be wiped out within minutes if they didn''t immediately cut their losses and retreat.


    "That''s an order!"


    Not getting a response Eva assumed her subordinates were hesitating and shouted out as she let loose another arrow that completely blinded the closet arachnid queen that started thrashing around. Now having time to spare Eva looked back behind her to see what was keeping her subordinates when she froze. The outsider that she had captured after a brutal fight was sitting above her dearest friend Amy, with his single remaining arm dug deep into her stomach. After having dug around a bit the outsider showed a smile, and then ripped out his arm in a brutal fashion before carefully patting her head with his somehow bloodless hand.


    "WHAT ARE Y-"


    Completely outraged seeing her friend presumably being killed off Eva was outraged but turned speechless as Amy woke up and patted her own stomach that had somehow completely healed.


    "We came to a preliminary arrangement."


    Speaking in perfect elvish, the outsider showed a smile and then gave Amy a hand and helped her to her feet.


    "Those monster really are nostalgic looking at them like this after such a long time, oh well¡­ Time to crush them~"

 Chapter 78 - Elven hospitality (2)

    Surrounded by about 20 arachnids and other monsters that started swarming towards them the elver''s faces were all looking grim, except for the elver named Amy, that had a expexting smile on her face and was looking at the outsider that had just saved her life.


    "Immediate contact, 2 arachnid queens, 10 lesser contacts. Eliminating hostiles."


    Eva looked at the outsider with disbelief as he spoke out a report in perfect elvish as his eyepatch lit up in a cold red light, and then he disappeared from sight.


    (Young a.d.u.l.t queen, hight a bit over 4 meters¡­ And that most mean about 80mm of armored exoskeleton.)


    Estimating the closest arachnids defenses Dax took full advantage of the extensive gravitational adjustment training he had done over the last half year as he closed the range before anyone else present noticed.


    (Density is about the same as mid grade steel alloy, and in the shape like that the resonant frequency should be around this..)


    Doing rough calculations on the structure of the arachnids shell Dax calculated the natural frequency as he hit it with that specific force and turned the arachnid queens armored exoskeleton into a offensive weapon against itself as the shell vibrated like a glass of water in front of a high powered speaker, coursing extreme internal trauma to the soft tissue below, making the queen collapse as a bloody mess as it instantly died from internal bleeding. Quickly moving on Dax grabbed the arachnid queen''s copse by one of it''s legs and used the copse as a club and smashed the other arachnid queen like the bug it was.


    "Next."


    Beconning the next arachnid closer with a casual wave it''s limited intelligence didn''t allow it to asses Dax''s strength and met its demise in the form of a solid kick to the face. Becoming a blur once more Dax appeared next to the closest arachnid and slammed it with a haymaker that ripped directly through the arachnids trick mandibles and fragmented the exoskeleton that covered its sensitive braincase.


    "Eww, gross."


    Shaking graymatter juice of his knuckles Dax decided not to get his hand more sticky and then started using kicks to kill the rest of the monsters.


    "Come on buddy~"


    Bouncing around like a veteran kickboxer Dax waited for a large gorilla like monster to enter his range before using it as a projectile as he launched it towards a large ant like monster, killing 2 birds with one of the birds itself.


    "Come on! Move or die blondy!"


    "I-I know! Let''s move out!"


    Snapping Eva and the other elvers out of their collective daze Dax created a path for them all as they broke contact with the nearby monsters and escaped the encirclement.


    "Contact rear!"


    "We''ve noticed!"


    "Then do something about it unless you want to die!"


    Taking control somewhat forcefully of the entire situation Dax issued a series of sharp commands without even looking back as he cleared out the monsters in front of them. Fighting for another hour or so they got the last of the monsters off their tail without having to abandon any injured personal.


    ---


    "Now for your side of the bargain."


    After getting away from the monsters Dax sat down on the ground with a disapproving look on his face as he started expecting something from the elven soldiers, and after a second of confusion Amy seemed to remember something as she grabbed some rations out of Eva''s pouch without asking and gave them to Dax as she sat down opposite him.


    "Here you are."


    "Thanks. Now let''s look at your arm."


    Stuffing his own face with 3 days of rations Dax then turned serious as he started examining Amy''s arm with his own remaining one.


    "Do you feel this?"


    Poking what remained of Amy''s forearm gently with his finger Dax checked the condition of her remaining nerves.


    "Yeah I feel it just fine.. Does that me-"


    "It does~"


    "Yay~"


    With a blooming smile on her face Amy hugged Dax that akwadly started patting her on the back to get her to let go.


    "Okay what is going on Amy!?"


    Understandably confused at the entire situation Eva stopped her other subordinates from trying to tear Dax apart as she demanded an explanation from Amy.


    "He will heal my arm in exchange for fair treatment and compensation when we arrive at the capital."


    "Compensation? What kind?"


    "You took a weapon from me, I take a weapon from you. Simple right?"


    "A weapon? Ah that one, so the dragon killer indeed did its work."


    Thinking back to to what weapon they had taken from the outsider, Eva could only think of the mysterious creature that attacked them from the sky.


    "Then we will do that. You will answer our questions when we reach the capital."


    Eva only agreed to those terms because she was absolutely sure they could not match him in direct combat. After showing his full strength when helping them break away from the monsters Eva was sure Dax was hiding much of his true potential but was unsure why, and therefore chose to go along with him for the protection he could offer her and her forces until they returned to the capital. As Eva was agreeing with Dax''s proposal one of the elvers in the background was silently cursing in such a low voice not even Dax could hear him.


    "Ridiculous! He and that bitch of a commander will pay for this when my father hears of it."


    Clutching his broken hand in pure rage that he perfectly hid as an expert son of a politician he was.


    Spending the next 2 weeks moving through dense forest with relative ease Dax and the elven soldiers finally reached a small elven village. Small houses constructed out of nature itself that looked to Dax like small and thick trees with functioning doors where arranged in a loose circle around a central plaza in the middle of the dense and lush forest that was surrounded by some sort of magic barrier that keep monsters away from the area. As they entered the barrier they were immediately surrounded by curious children that looked with questioning eyes at the outsider they had never seen before, even some of the a.d.u.l.ts couldn''t stop looking at the strange dark skinned, one armed, 2 meter high, single eyed Dax that met their looks with a warm smile.


    "We''ll sleep here for tonight, I''ll go inform the elder."


    Leaving with those words as they had reached the plaza, Eva entered the largest home and made her way to the back before reaching a special room that could only be described as some sort of luxurious bedroom covered in different coloured embroidered fabrics and kneeled down.


    "Village elder."


    "What is it?"


    After a short break a dignified woman''s voice spoke out in a lazy manner.


    "I am Eva Greenfield of the 16th border control force returning with an outsider to the capital."


    "Ohh? Why haven''t you killed that outsider?"


    "The outsider knows about the recent explosion that removed a large part of the northern forest and shuck the ground half a moon ago."


    "..."


    Being met with silence for about a minute Eva didn''t even think to raise her head and then started hearing the sounds of clothing being put on before the elder spoke again.


    "Let''s go look at that outsider then."


    "Eh-"


    "I will not allow any dangerous beings to stay in this village, as such I will speak to the outsider myself."


    "Are you su-"


    "I am always sure, if the outsider poses a threat I will remove them from existence. What are you waiting for? Follow me."


    "Y-yes elder."


    Only after the elder had passed by Eva did she even think about raising her head, but only did so after she was directed to do so by the elder.

 Chapter 79 - Elven hospitality (3)

    "So this is the one?"


    "Yes elder."


    "Certainly it is a strange one."


    After moving outside for the first time in well over a hundred years, the elders completely golden eyes lit up as she sensed mana in all mana in the environment, but when looking at the outsider she saw no mana that was the lifeblood of all living things she knew of. Looking at the outsider without the use of mana she saw a large demonkin man with a single eye and arm, sitting in the square middle of the open plaza of her village meditating in some strange manner while he attracted the attention of the young people of her home. Walking up to him she felt the outsider becoming more aware of her as he seemingly examined every detail of her being.


    "Outsider."


    Addressing the outsider with a single word, he didn''t even open his eye as he answered back.


    "Strange mana filled creature."


    "Dax! You can''t speak that way to an elder!"


    "Ka ka ka! It''s fine it''s fine. Leave us."


    "Bu-"


    "Did they start training border guards to be deaf after I left the capital?"


    Posing a rhetorical question as she effortlessly seized control of every speck of mana in the small plaza, the elder looked at Eva with cold eyes.


    "N-no they don''t, excuse me."


    Leaving with those words, Eva hurriedly retreated out of the elders sphere of influence so she could breathe once more.


    "Now that the fly is gone we can talk."


    Sitting down half a meter from Dax the elder put on a smile as she looked at the outsider with courriorsity.


    "I didn''t tell you to sit, I''m not done meditating."


    "What kind of creature does not carry mana in its body and still knows the proper way to center oneself like a first class mana user?"


    "I have no idea but will you leave me alone if I try and tell you?"


    Getting slightly annoyed that someone continuously tried to start a conversation with him as he tried to meditate in peace Dax opened his eye and looked at the so called elder with a hint of irritation on his face. The elder was a bit shorter than the average elven woman, and Dax estimated her standing height to be about 1,5 meters, with deeply red hair that was at least twice that length put up in a lazy manner. Her large eyes were completely golden in colour, with no way of differentiating between her iris'' and the rest of her eyes. A small and fine nose was situated between her golden eyes and above a mouth that formed a mysterious smile with thin lips. Her skin was no indication of her age, as her almost unhealthy pale skin was completely without any damage or other signs of aging, and she could be mistaken for a 30 year old woman easily. In response to Dax''s sarcastic remark her longer than average thin ears twitched slightly before she put on a bewitching smile and started laughing.


    "Ka ka ka! It is you, outsider. I am merely impressed by your technique, nothing else.. But on to the main questions: Who are you and why are you here?"


    Feeling the temperature drop about 10 degrees when the elder asked that question, Dax felt several spells had been prepared to reap his life if he answered in an unsatisfactory manner.


    "My name is Dax, I am a qiton. And I''m here to prevent more antimatter containment cells from blowing up."


    Under the attentive gaze of the elder Dax told the honest truth, as he didn''t have any reason to lie at that point in time.


    "... You don''t seem to be lying."


    "That''s because I''m not."


    "... Interesting. I will allow you to stay here.. But tell me one more thing."


    "What?"


    "Do you ''qitons'' care for drinking?"


    With a large smile like a child that just found a new friend the elder asked a question Dax hadn''t expected, that he also answered truthfully with a smile on his face.


    "Like you wouldn''t believe."


    "Then follow me~"


    With a childish smile the elder skipped along as she hummed happily, making Dax display a troubled face.


    "She knows I''m a prisoner, right?"


    Following after the elder Dax made it about a meter before he was blocked by one of the elven soldiers that had originally captured him.


    "What the hell do you think you''re doing?"


    "Following the elder for a drink?"


    "Like hell you are, sit the f.u.c.k down outsider."


    Seeing Dax being stopped the elder lost her warm smile as she addressed the soldier.


    "It''s fine."


    "But elder-"


    "Are you daft? I said it is fine."


    "O-okay."


    Feeling the air tighten around his neck like a garrote the elven soldier swallowed hard as the colour drained from his face. Making their way to the elders house without no more interruptions Dax was lead into a room covered with blankets and pillows where the elder laid down in one of the beds after she had fetched two crystal glasses and a bottle of some sort of golden high proof alcohol.


    "Now. What do you look for in alcohol outsider?"


    "Strong, deep and layered flavor."


    "And smoke or any other flavor?"


    "If I wanted to taste smoke I would smoke, otherwise I am okay with whatever."


    "I see.. Then not this one."


    Tossing the bottle away she was holding like discarding some trash Dax expected the bottle to shatter and stain the floor, but unexpectedly it started floating harmlessly in the air before it was placed on a shelf and another clear glass bottle with an amber gold liquid floated over to the elders hand.


    "Let''s start with this one and she were the night takes us, now please tell me about yourself outsider."


    As the sun slowly set Eva returned to the village carrying a deer stag on her back. After talking with the villagers she had learned some of her men had offended the elder, so Eva brought it upon herself to at least try and appease the elder. Leaving the kill to some of the villagers Eva entered the elders home and was immediately struck with the smell of strong alcohol as she picked up faint sounds of laughter.


    "- So then I told my commander that I could either kill him or the hostiles to help with my boredom and after that I never had problems with deployment times."


    "Ka ka ka! That is indeed a way to do it! Still I was sure you just killed him to take his place, but that is also a way to solve the issue!"


    Walking over dozens of empty glass bottles that had been dumped in the hallway Eva finally made her way to the elders room where her and Dax laid on different sides of the largest main bed and drank liquor as multiple full bottles floated around in the air around them. Quickly finding a somewhat empty plot and buried her face into the carpet before speaking up.


    "Elder."


    "What?"


    "I have brought food to the village to help appease your anger."


    "Is that so? Thank you child, you may leave."


    "Understood."


    Watching Eva leave with her figurative tail between her legs, the elders smile dimmed.


    "I understand why you left the capital."


    "Being treated as a living god anywhere I go is troublesome. That is why I stay all the way out here."


    "Yeah I can imagine that¡­"


    Sipping at his glass of hard liquor Dax put on a knowing expression as he remembered all the times he had been treated specially because of his status as commander of the 125th.


    "Are you daft? How could you know anything about elven society outsider?"


    "Then please enlighten the ignorant and useless me, master."


    Mimicking the other elvers respect for her in a slightly playful manner Dax bowed down before the elder in an extremely graceful manner without spilling a drop of his filled glass.


    "My my~ What can this clueless disciple offer in compensation for this priceless knowledge?"


    Playing along with Dax''s act the elder acted like a noble as she covered her mouth with her free hand and spoke in a haughty manner as she wiggled her foot in front of Dax''s face.


    "Then how about this kind of compensation my lady?"


    Seeing a meal presented before him, the drunk Dax with no ICI assistance sized the moment, downed his drink and grabbed the elders foot.


    "W-w-w-what are you doing!?"


    "Partaking in the meal offered in front of me as compensation for my masters graceful teaching?"


    Still not braking the play Dax pulled the blushing elder gently towards him by the leg as he wore a large smile.


    "Okay okay! I yield you brute, I''ll tell you if you tell me about your society!"


    klicking his tunge silently Dax let go of the elders foot as he fetched another bottle floating around them in the air before removing the cap, smelling the contents and pouring himself a glass and waited for the elder to start.


    "..."


    "..."


    "I''m listening."


    "Sure you are brute, but you''re the one sharing first."


    "Bu-"


    "As punishment for your earlier yest."


    "I can assure you that it wasn''t a yest, but never mind that.. The Galactic Empire''s power is separated into 3 parts, there is the legislative or ''ruling'' power that makes draws up bills and regulations while deciding how the Empire taxes are redistributed, then there is the executive or ''acting'' power that decides how to implement regulations and enforces the Empires decisions and finally the judicial power that makes sure laws are followed and punishes personal and corporate non compliance."


    "That sounds complicated.."


    Being introduced to the modern democratic 3 part power structure, the tipsy elder was only confused at the needless complexity.


    "Oh it gets even more so trust me. The legislative power is comprised of 3 parts, one is directly chosen by the Empires citizens to represent their interests, one is a board of subject experts that are voted in in part by the first and in part by field experts, and the last part is AANRI or artificial administrative national regulatory intelligence that contains the sum of all Empire knowledge and is constantly fed data on the realm collected by a self chosen board of administers."


    Barely able to keep up the elder sat up straight and put down her glass as she listened attentively along to Dax''s lecture.


    "AANRI? Is that like a golem or something? Why is that one needed?"


    "How large are the elven territories?"


    "About a 7th of this continent with about a million and a half elvers, why?"


    "The Galactic Empire spans about a local supercl.u.s.ter and is home to about half a million different intelligent races with a bit over a few trillion souls in total. Even the elected senate contains 100.003 seats so AANRI is necessary to regulate activity. The system is also great because all 3 can propose legislation and just need to have approval from either the expert council or the senate, and vise versa."


    "A-a few trillion souls.."


    Stunned briefly by the overwhelmingly large number the elder took a few seconds to come to terms with it, or she would have if Dax hadn''t poked her on the nose.


    "Your turn~"


    "Hya! Okay, you brute."


    Continuing their talks and drinking long into the night Dax and the elder both felt they had finally found themselves a reliable drinking partner as the sun slowly started rising.

 Chapter 80 - Elven hospitality (4)

    When the sun slowly rose above the horizon Dax looked around to see countless empty bottles, and the so called elven elder, sleeping happily hugging a particularly large empty crystal bottle as a body pillow.


    (That sure was an interesting night¡­)


    (RETROFIT COMPLETE, ICI ONLINE.)


    (Ohh~ Welcome back, and what about that other thing?)


    (ORDER RECEIVED, TIME TO COMPLETION: 5 DAYS, 5 HOURS.)


    (Then that was the last part I needed..)


    Trailing off in his mind Dax looked down at his black t shirt before pulling it closer and smelling it.


    "I need a bath.."


    "I need a bath.."


    Waking up at first light Eva looked around and stood up to try and defeat her grogginess before concluding she couldn''t wake up on her own. Stepping over her comrades quietly Eva grabbed a trowel and a bristle brush before stepping out of the wooden house they had all slept inside.


    "Su, haaaaaaaaaaa~"


    Sharply inhaling then softly exhaling Eva filled herself with the clean moning air as her long ears lightly twitched as she picked up the sounds of her forrest, and only after doing that for about 5 minutes did she move towards the village well.


    "Occupied."


    Arriving at the well Eva found it to be occupied however.


    "I can see that, would it kill you to cover up a bit!?"


    Sitting in front of the well cross legged with his back turned towards Eva only wearing his birthday suit Dax was in the progress of trying to wash his signature black t shirt with only one arm.


    "Why would I cover up? I''m bathing¡­ If you''re not gonna use that bristle brush then hand it over, I can''t really reach this part of my back."


    Not really caring much for Eva at all Dax was more concerned with a particular area of his back he couldn''t reach due to him losing his artichishal arm.


    "Why the hell.. would¡­ I¡­.. What the hell happened to your body?"


    Trailing off a bit Eva noticed the Dax''s empty shoulder socket that was surrounded by cybernetic mesh, and his back and overall body that was completely littered with scars, the most jarring one being the scars all along his spine that had allowed for the installation of his built in ICI unit that was clearly visible due to the multiple I/O data ports along his spine.


    "A lot of people tried to kill me, millions failed but some of them took a part of me with them. Repeat that about a million times and I ended with a body like this."


    "I s-see¡­"


    Swallowing hard Eva tried to imagine how painfully agonizing that must have been.


    "Yeah yeah it''s really f.u.c.k.i.n.g sad, now hand me that f.u.c.k.i.n.g brush so I can be done with this."


    Having gotten that reaction more times that he would like to count Dax turned cold towards Eva''s pity as he grabbed the brush from her hand and continued washing without caring for her presence anymore.


    "Haaa~ That really worked wonders.."


    Having washed thoroughly for the first time since he was ''captured'' by the elvers Dax was almost in cloud nine as he tried twisting dry his t shirt and forgetting he was currently crippled once more.


    "Ah. For f.u.c.ks sake¡­"


    Using his teeth as a substitute for his right arm Dax made it back to the main plaza at the same time as his t shirt had been somewhat dried, only to meet the elven forces that were preparing to move out.


    "What the f.u.c.k is he doing.?"


    "Looks like he took a bath.."


    (This is bad, I''m supposed to be a prisoner, right?)


    Feeling the hate streaming towards him Dax tried figure out a way to deflect the situation, but was failing.


    (Would it just be easier to kill them¡­. NNNnnnn~ I guess.)


    Not really feeling like he wanted to play prisoner anymore now that he had gotten a free and guided tour into the elven lands and had a pretty good idea where their capital was located so he didn''t really need their help any longer.


    "YAAaaa~ God my head feels like it''s splitting apart, somebody pamper me now!"


    At the critical moment the elder appeared to wake up with a head splitting hangover. The effect was immediate, the elvers all forgot their hatred and instantly thought about how to appease the elder.


    (They really are hopelessly loyal to elders huh?)


    Looking at the confused elvers that had never treated a hangover before Dax sighed heavily before asking.


    "Have you guys ever had a hangover before?"


    Being met with only confusion to that question Dax groaned like he found existence to only be suffering as he started to act.


    "Okay we need food and drink with loads of salt. You go draw water from the well and mix in a few teaspoons of salt."


    "O-okay."


    As they started being commanded right out of the blue by an absolute authority on the subject, the elvers quickly fell into rank.


    "Then is food, you go find some dried meat or something"


    "Right."


    (I swear they turn into f.u.c.k.i.n.g mindless drones as soon as she is involved¡­. This ''elder'' must be way more than just a village leader..)


    After tending to the elder''s hangover it had gotten too late to leave so Dax and the elven soldiers decided to stay another night at the village before finally leaving early next morning.


    "So? Where are you taking my new toy?"


    Or at least they tried to.


    "E-elder, we have received orders to bring this outsider to the capital."


    "And why should I care about that exactly?"


    Feeling the air around them starting to act up as the elder''s mood started to drop Eva started turning desperate.


    "P-please be lenient elder, the council declared that it was of the utmost importance that they learn of what caused the giant explosion."


    "The council? Those brats just want new tools of war that they don''t need."


    (So that''s why they want me? Not to make sure such an event doesn''t happen again, but for tools of war? Maybe I should just annex or puge this country¡­)


    (DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED, FORMULATING WARPLAN GREEN AND BLACK.)


    (Yeah better have it in place just to be sure. I also want more-)


    While the elves were negotiating with the elder Dax secretly planned the demise of their country with a plain look on his face.


    "Then I''ll come with you."


    "Wha-"


    "Elder please reconsider!"


    After half an hour of discussion they finally reached a standstill that made Dax rise from the ground and stop groaning silently.


    (That might work out in my favor, she just needs one more small push..)


    "I thought you hated the capital?"


    "T-that I do, but it is the first time I''ve found someone that''s able to keep up with my drinking¡­.. I am going! End of discussion!"


    Speaking in a small voice as her entire face bloomed like a rose in a full blush the elder then shouted like a 6 year old to convince her and the other elvers.


    (How old is she again?)


    With that matter settled the elder took a few minutes to switch into travel gear before grabbing a small backpack as she met up with the rest.


    "Is it really okay for you to leave this place?"


    "Of course. I founded this town specifically as my vacation home so I am in full control over what I do or do not¡­. Oh! before I forget I need to say goodbye."


    Circulating mana around her, the elder invoked some sort of unknown spell that quickly spread into the surrounding forest, and after about a minute something answered back.


    (CONTACT 9 O''CLOCK, RANGE: 732 METERS, CLOSING FAST.)


    "What the hell are you calling?"


    "Ka ka ka! You''ll see~"


    Feeling the massive mana response callback form the creatures that was currently closing in on them Dax was about to call for orbital artillery before the elder calmed him down a bit.


    "Now now don''t be so alarmed, they are just some pets I picked up a while ago."


    As those words left her grinning lips the first creature broke the treeline.


    "How the f.u.c.k is that a pet!?"


    Standing about 3 meters tall what Dax looked at could only be described as a mix fox and a wolf with pure white fur that seemed able to defeat high caliber AD-LBD HEAT ammunition with ease. The creature had a long streamlined head like a fox''s, but with ears larger than a fox''s which looked more wolf like with the rest of the creature''s physique tipping more to the wolf side. It''s purely golden eyes emitted a soft light and seemed to have the same type as the elders and it looked at the elven soldiers and Dax with high intelligence as it showed its large and sharp carnies.


    "She''s cute right?~ Zephyr come here, mommy has missed you!~"


    As the giant wolf/fox creatures eyes settled on the elder it immediately started charging her, Dax was about to kill it before he noticed its tail was wagging at such a speed that it almost turned into a blur.


    (I can''t even..)


    The second the creature reached the elder it knocked her over, and then started licking her face with glee as 5 more slightly smaller creatures broke the treeline that also quickly surrounded the elder and laid down on their backs as if asking for bellyrubs.


    (They really are her pets..)


    While Dax was being briefly stunned by the wolf like creatures acting like large puppies Eva and the other elvers had quite a different reaction as they knew exactly what kind of monsters they were.


    "S-sacred beast''s.."


    With the elvers living in harmony with the forest of their land they had quite the knowledge of it, even to the point of knowing which areas of the grand forrest to entirely ward off because of certain creatures, and so called sacred beasts were one of the most deadly of those creatures and often seen as some sort of deities, resulting in the part of Eva''s group that didn''t freeze up completely or lose consciousness fall to their knees and start praying.


    "Zephyr I need your help."


    After greeting the largest of the beasts the elder called Zephyr it calmed down as it listened for its marsters command.


    "...?"


    "I need you to come with me and your children to guard this place until we return here, can you do that?"


    "Arf!~"


    With a quick response as if it completely understood the elven language Zephyr crouched down and allowed the elder to mount it.


    "I am ready to go now, get your faces out of the grass and lead the way children."

 Chapter 81 - The Elven capital (1)

    Inside a brightly lit completely white room countless alien artifacts of all shapes and sizes were lined up after some unknown pattern.


    "Observation diary day 11. Sample number 14 is still heating up and now almost able to boil water immediately, I suspect this is some sort of self destruction protocol that is gradually decaying whatever material is inside and might require more investigation for eventually opening the container... Did you get all of that written down?"


    A elven man was narrating his thoughts out loud as he inspected a bright orange coloured vail covered in some sort of alien symbols that seemed to endlessly give off heat before asking his assistance next to him if he had written it all down properly.


    "Yes elder Silas. You really are fascinated with that specific sample."


    "Of course I am you fool, whatever it is seems to perpetually provide heat at no apparent cost.. If we can harness its power we might propel us to the top power of this continent."


    After having grasped some of the antimatter containment cells properties elder Silas'' had been dreaming of understanding and using its power for the betterment of the elven race, and his own standing of course. As he started looking at some of the other artifacts his ears picked up someone running out of breath towards the research room he often used to hide away.


    (Again? I wonder what it is they need help with this time..)


    Elder Silas prided himself being the one of the best mages there was in the capital, and that it was completely natural, if a tiny bit annoying sometimes, for a lot of people to depend on him.


    "Elder Silas!"


    "What is it now, is someone hurt?"


    Showing a worried expression like he had practiced so much the elder was in reality extremely tired of being constantly pulled away from his research time and time again.


    "The border force has returned with an outsider that they claim to know about the spheres."


    "What!? where did they find him?"


    Slightly breaking the dignified demeanor he normally wore, elder Silas immediately inquired about more information on the outsider while thinking about how he could obtain him for himself.


    "They found him in the crater of the explosion that happened a moon ago, moreover the grand elder has also returned to the capital."


    "The grand elder!? This sure is grand of her to return here after all this time."


    Showing a happy face the elder was all but screaming inside his mind.


    (What the hell does that old hag want with the capital!? I thought she got tired of life a few hundred years ago and those to die somewhere drowning in booze!!)


    "Yes it sure is grand of her to return here isn''t it? I thought she all but abandoned us after what she did..."


    Not catching the elders outright sarcasm, the elven soldier was extremely happy to even get a chance to catch a glimpse of the legendary grand elder.


    ---


    After a few days of travel Dax and the elvers arived at the elven capital, and the former was reminded that he truly was in an alien world. Tall buildings were constructed out of, and was in complete harmony with the surrounding nature, with multiple interconnecting walkways that made a spider web of connections between the countless high rises Dax judged to be over 200 meters tall on average. After getting past the surprisingly small outer wall around the city they had been walking on the streets with the border control force surrounding Dax that for some reason still had the metal collar around his neck indicating he was a prisoner, and the elder that was riding Zephyr with a strained expression on her face.


    "I really do hate this kind of attention.."


    "Yeah I feel you.. Although there are a few things you could do to avoid a good part of it."


    Looking at the elder with her rare bright red ridiculously long hair that reached all the way down her back even being tied up sitting on what most of the elven population considered a deity Dax couldn''t help but think she was trying all that hard to stay unnoticed, or was just really that oblivius, both were valid assessments.


    (BOTH ASSESSMENTS APRER TO BE CORRECT, JUDGING BY THE SUBJECTS LACK OF SOCIAL INTELLIGENCE.)


    (Oh really? Continue with the area scans please.)


    (DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED.)


    Looking at all the blatant stares from the elvers watching him walk through the streets Dax wore a strained smile while ICI used his eye to log the distances and clearings between the buildings and major walkways.


    After about 20 more minutes of walking Dax and the elder being by escorded the elven border control force they arrived at a particularly large highrise that rose up through the clouds.


    "I really do hate this building¡­"


    Looking at the luxurious outside decoration the elder wore a frown before whispering quietly to Zephyr.


    "I''m going inside this building, wait here for me, but stay alert and be vigilant."


    "Arf~"


    "Good girl~"


    Patting Zephyr goodbye the elder raised herself up and then addressed Eva that was leading the border control force.


    "So? How long are you going to make me wait?"


    "I a-apologize elder. I''ll go summon for a hearing immediately! You two come with me."


    ""Yes ma''am!""


    After having bossed around Eva the elder sat down next to Zephyr in a relaxed manner.


    "Why do you hate this building?"


    "It stands for everything I hate about this society. ''we are all equal here in elven society, but not really since we have the larger building and have first say when new resources are found''"


    "Is that so? Well I can understand that."


    (ICI give me a full RDS and complete, all level breaching and evac plan for this building.)


    "How could you ever!? You don''t know this place like I-"


    "Like you do, right? Trust me on this one, greed is universal and part of the condition that makes a intelligent race intelligent. I''ve seen it in mosts its forms, and I''ve purged most of those form my government so I have become somewhat of an expert at it.. You just say the word and I bring this place down."


    Showing a cold smile to her the elder wasn''t completely sure Dax was joking or not but decided to not say more about it for the moment.


    (HOLDING PATTERN FULL, AWAITING GO ORDER.)


    (Await my command. What is TTA for a Viper to reach this exact location?)


    (CALCULATING¡­. OPTIMAL RUTE ETA: 3 MINUTES, 12 SECONDS.)


    (So I''ll need about 4 minutes of wiggle room¡­ That should do.)


    "So are we just going to stay out here in the courtyard forever?"


    Getting tired of waiting Dax stood up and asked one of the border control soldiers that responded with a non response as he simply frowned.


    "Do I need to break your other hand before you start talking?"


    As Dax said that with a warm smile the elver smiled back before speaking.


    "The prisoner seems to be misbehaving, I''m putting him to sleep."


    Waving his hand while emitting mana from his hand that was absorbed by the metal collar around Dax''s neck and powered the collars shock function, but to no apparent effect.


    "What is going on!?"


    Not getting the full picture immediately the elver released more mana into the colar as he screamed in Dax''s face.


    "What? you expect me to fall to my knees in pain so can piss all over me while acting all superior and smug about it?"


    Without a care in the world Dax gripped the collar with his remaining arm before ripping it apart like it was a aluminum wrapper around a piece of candy.


    "So what now, are we gonna dance? Or do I just have to break you in two before I get a straight answer from one of the survivors?"


    Pouring out an immense amount of bloodl.u.s.t Dax completely locked up as his heart almost stopped in his chest. Feeling the area around him with his still functioning senses the elven soldier realized that there was no help coming, his fellow soldiers didn''t dare more an inch, and the elder only yawned loudly.


    "W-we''re calling for the elders now, it''ll only be a few more minutes."


    "Good, now was that so f.u.c.k.i.n.g hard to answer? No it wasn''t, right? Good man."


    Patting the soldier on the head like a child Dax sat back down next to the elder and somewhat nervously stroked Zephyr''s fur to kill the time. After a few more minutes of waiting Dax finally sensed moment coming from inside the large building before a group of elvers in important looking robes exited the building to greet them.


    (This is bound to be interesting.. ICI warm up all assets, ready for engagement.)


    (ICI CONFIRMS, READY FOR EXECUTION.)

 Chapter 82 - The Elven capital (2)

    "Grand elder, we are pleased by your return to the capital to receive punishment for your crimes but all that will have to wait until we have spoken to the outsider and learned what he knows of the black spheres that have invaded our space and brought strange artifacts to our land."


    "Ohh~ Silas brat you became an elder, how many years have it been?"


    Completely ignoring his grand speech, the elder stood up as she made the wind lift her from the ground as she patted another elder about 30 centimeters taller than her on the head as a child.


    (So that one is both an elder and has a name¡­ I guess I should find some time to ask for her name¡­)


    Observing the conversation like it did not concern him at all, Dax leisurely buried himself in Zephyr''s soft fur, Zephyr being quite happy with that as he removed any dirt from her fur with a gentle hand and didn''t touch anywhere strange.


    "Grand elder please don''t treat me like a child and listen to what I am saying.."


    Showing an extremely irritated expression on his face elder Silas still managed to stay polite in his words.


    "Ka ka ka! In my eye all of you are still marley children, or just clueless a.d.u.l.ts, which is about the same."


    With a grand smile on her face the grand elder continued insulting the other elders without a care in the world.


    (Aaahh~ I definitely want a of my own now..)


    Meanwhile Dax had realized why the elder liked Zephyr''s soft fur so much as he felt himself disappear into its embrace.


    (WARNING: LOWERED OPERATOR HARTREATE AND BLOOD PRESSURE DETECTED, INITIATE FULL SYSTEM DETOX Y/N?)


    (Obviously no, I''m just relaxing a bit..)


    Looking on at the grand elder and the capital elite posturing for a few more minutes Dax finally felt like it was time for them to get on with it and regretfully left Zephyr''s warm embrace.


    "Let''s get on with it, I''m f.u.c.k.i.n.g bored.. I''ll answer your questions if you at least treat me with respect."


    Walking past the grand elder that still floated effortlessly in the air Dax quietly whispered to her without anyone noticing.


    "Get Zephyr to hug the wall and stay away from the center of the plaza, for her own safety."


    Not questioning Dax''s words the elder did a small nod before quietly signaling to Zephyr. Leaving the border control force behind with the promise that he would fix Amy''s arm as long as she held on to a token he had given her, Dax and the elders moved into a lobby like room of the large skyscr.a.p.er. With a wave of the hand the elder called Silas made the entire room move, making Dax realize that it was a giant elevator.


    (How decadent.. And completely unnecessary to boot.)


    As time went on more and more Dax realized why the grand elder had left the capital, as the elite clearly sold the idea of equality to the people while taking the lion''s share for themselves justifying it as something necessary for the elven peoples protection. As the oversized elevator reached the top of the building it stopped, and Dax was lead out of it into a extremely luxurious room with a large round table at the center.


    "Take a seat outsider."


    With a stern voice elder Silas pulled out one of the chairs and offred it to Dax that accepted it with his best poker face.


    "Now let''s get on with it, tell us about the spheres and why you know about them and we might let you live despite trespassing into the capital outsider."


    "Wow that''s kind of rude right of the bat.. Hello, my name is Dax, and you are?"


    Completely unfazed by elder Silas'' words Dax acted hurt before putting on a friendly face and introducing himself before asking the other party to do the same.


    "I do not care for who you are outsider. You hurt my son, the only reason you''re still alive is because I allow it. You will call me elder, and with respect."


    "Is he always like this?"


    "Yes, Silas has always been like this ever since he was a small child that would pester me for my or his dad''s attention."


    Deflecting Silas'' treat Dax addressed the grand elder that had taken a seat next to him, how started talking about Silas like he still was a child.


    "Cut the f.u.c.k.i.n.g bullshit right now outsider! Tell us or die!"


    Not being able to handle the continued breitling elder Silas slaved all mana in the room under his control as he drew in water vapor that formed into long ice spikes that pointed menacingly towards Dax.


    "Okay then, god would it kill you to lighten up just a tiny bit? I know about the spheres and the technology within because I arrived one of them when I crash landed in this shithole of a world."


    "That''s im-"


    "Impossible? If you or one of the other elders are at least somewhat competent then you should be able to see that I house no mana of any kind in my body."


    "What!?"


    Looking closer at the outsider sitting across the table form them the capital elders each confirmed that Dax contained no mana, making him by their definition not a living creature.


    "How is that possible!?"


    "I told you. God he is daft isn''t he? I am, like the alien artifacts you grasp to understand, not of this world. If an artifact was brought before me I could immediately tell you its uses."


    With a completely calm face Dax spoke to the grand elder before laying out the facts to elder Silas.


    "I see! So you''ll help us then!?"


    Being tempted with knowledge of an unknown magnitude Silas took the bait, hook, line and sinker.


    "Not so fast. When I inspected the annihilation event site your border control forces destroyed a weapon of mine."


    "Then I''ll have them all brought before you to be executed immediately!"


    Completely blinded by greed Silas didn''t even consider that his son was among those he just condemned to death for his pursuit of knowledge, even the other elders looked at Silas with bitter faces but they could do nothing as he had skillfully placed himself in the center of the capital''s power structure.


    "Now now, there''s no need to kill them. They destroyed one of my weapons, so I want a weapon in return. Simple, right? After that transaction is completed we can talk about educating you on the Galactic Empire."


    "G-galactic Empire¡­ Ah, a weapon you say? Right away, I''ll pre-"


    Repeating the name of Dax''s government with a revencense like he was speaking the name of a god Silas then was about to send someone to fetch his best weapons when Dax interrupted.


    "That simply won''t do. I''ll pick out a weapon myself, I trust you have a treasury in this building?"


    "That we do! Please follow me."


    Standing up like there was a fire below him Silas hurriedly started leading the way through multiple luxurious rooms and hallways.


    "Dax, what are you doing?"


    Whispering to Dax quietly as they were being lead to the treasury, the grand elder had started to doubt Dax as a person.


    "Just trust me, and remember what we talked about down in the plaza."


    "What we talked about?"


    "I''m still awaiting your word."


    "Here we are! But first you''ll need to prove what you''re saying is indeed correct, outsider."


    Stopping before a 4 meter tall vault door, Silas waved over a handful of his assistants that each carried a alien artifact.


    "Now tell me what this is first."


    Showing Dax a black cylindrical metal container about the size of a fist with a what looked to be a trigger guard integrated into it Dax picked it up before speaking.


    "It''s a medical container, and judging by the weight it''s completely full too."


    "I see! So it''s some sort of medicine then?"


    "Yeah, but it is very special medicine that only people of my race can use, to any other it would just be poisonous. Do you mind if I keep it? I haven''t been able to find any since I arrived on this planet?"


    "Sure, go ahead!"


    With a warm smile Dax put the medical container into his pocket before stealthily sending the grand elder a wink.


    "Okay then please tell us what this is."


    Handing Dax a light metal plate with alien inscriptions on it Dax took only a second before telling Silas what it was.


    "This was part of a spacecraft, the text details what kind of fuel the reactor takes so I would guess it was a part of the internal armor plating."


    "I see! Very fascinating, so can you tell me what this is too?"


    "Can we do that later? I''m pretty sure I''ve proven that I know what I''m talking about."


    "But-"


    "Let''s get my replacement weapon first, then you can take me to wherever you''re keeping these artifacts and I can tell you about them in detail while you and your assistants write down important details. Deal?"


    "Deal."


    Understanding that it was more logical to do the examinations in the research wing instead of standing in a hallway would be better Silas started channeling mana, then released it at the vault door that opened without a sound. Meanwhile the other capital elders were starting to see the value of going along with Silas'' wims as understanding alien technology could be a great boon to them.


    "Please pick anything from in here that you want."


    Having opened the vault door Dax was suddenly surrounded by riches of unmessable value. Besides sensitive doc.u.ments containing forbidden knowledge and priceless works of art there was also countless finecrafted weapons. Looking over the weapons with great care the elders all lost interest as they started discussing how to split Dax among themselves.


    "Interesting.."


    Having walked a bit further into the vault Dax spotted a two handed longsword of extremely detailed craftsmanship


    (ICI what can you tell me about that one?)


    (SCANNING, STANDBY¡­ ERROR, MATERIAL COMPOSITION UNKNOWN. DENSITY ESTIMATED AT 22705 KG/M^3.)


    (So it''s somehow denser than any known stable material? Can you tell it''s structural integrity?)


    (UNKNOWN, FURTHER ANALYSIS REQUIRED.)


    (Let''s do that then.)


    Looking at the 1,5 meter long, 20 centimeter wide single edged longsword that he with ease could use with a single hand with great interest Dax slowly walked over towards it, like a sailor being dragged towards the abyss by a siren. Snapping out of her own boredom, the grand elder noticed Dax was walking towards the sword while completely ignoring the elven warning signs around it she Rushed to her feet before shouting at Dax as he reached out to grab the sword.


    "Stop you clueless brute! That sword is cursed!"


    "Eh!?"


    But she was too late as Dax had just managed to take a hold of the sword as she said that, and Dax felt his consciousness fail him as he was surrounded by darkness, then a bright and happy genderless voice spoke out in his head as if commanding him.


    (Finally a new host! Let us decapitate all of them and stack their heads in a corner!~?)

 Chapter 83 - The Elven capital (3)

    "Finally a new host! Let us decapitate all of them and stack their heads in a corner!~?"


    "Now why would we do that? Wait who- What are you exactly?"


    Looking around in the purely black space surrounding him Dax asked the presence that somehow seemed to invade his mind.


    "That doesn''t matter now does it Dax?~ You harvested heads before, soldiers, civilians, women and children all without mercy. I''m just asking you to do that again, for our enjoyment~?"


    "Wait you can see my memories?"


    "I.. Can¡­ Ha, ha, ha~ It''s amazing~? So truly brutal~"


    "Please don''t tell me you''re doing what I think you''re doing¡­"


    Responding to the overly honeyed and happy panting voice with a facepalm Dax tried reaching out through his cybernetic implant to reach ICI.


    "It''s no use~ Just you and me in here~?"


    Outside the prison of Dax''s mind inside the elven treasure vault guards had blocked off Dax as he stood unmoving with wide open eyes looking into the ceiling.


    "Hey! Outsider?"


    "..."


    As one of the guards called out to Dax he didn''t respond in the slightest and just continued looking into the air without responding.


    "Dax!? Please answer!"


    Looking desperately at Dax for any changes to his condition the grand elder looked like she was about to cry.


    "Grand elder who ever this outsider was he''s gone now, that sword-"


    "Was put there by me after I ripped out of the cold dead hands of the poor soul that killed everyone she ever knew! I know what the f.u.c.k it is!"


    "Then let us do what needs to be done while he''s still resisting its influence! There''s no time left."


    Watching the grand elder falling silent the guard was about to open his mouth when she turned towards him.


    "Leave."


    "But g-"


    "I will make sure there''s no pain, leave us, I need a moment."


    Looking at the grand elder''s pained face the guard swallowed hard before he took a few steps closer and broke all social rules along with it.


    "I understand, I have somebody I care about too."


    Leaving with those words the guard and his men didn''t look back, they all understood.


    ---


    "So we''re all alone in here?"


    "Yup~"


    "And you''re not going to release me before I agree to submit to your control."


    "Now we''re finally getting somewhere~ Come on~? I know from your memories that you enjoy slaughter~"


    Feeling his mind turning more and more blank every passing second as the strange voice of the cursed sword started sounding increasingly more pleasant Dax weighted the option of going on a rampage until he could regain control of himself.


    [CONNECTION ESTABLISHED, ALL SYSTEMS ONLINE.]


    Until he heard a familiar cold and unfeeling voice


    "I''m so f.u.c.k.i.n.g glad I made that retrofit a priority."


    "W-what the hell is that voice?"


    "Cursed sword with an IQ score that''s measured in the single digits, meet Integrated Combat Intelligence version 20.5- no 20.6 ''Omega''. ICI enact denial protocol Alpha 4-2-1."


    ---


    While the grand elder was preparing to painlessly end Dax''s life with a trace of tears on her deterented face Dax suddenly started laughing maniacally.


    "NO! YOU WILL NOT LET YOU TAKE ANOTHER!"


    "Ha ha aha! HA!!! F.U.C.K YOU!"


    Cutting his laughter short cursing at the top of his lungs Dax tossed the cursed sword to the ground Before stepping on it with all his might.


    "Dax?"


    Speaking his name like she had never done before the grand elder looked like she couldn''t believe what she was seeing.


    "Yeah just give me a second, I''m just gonna break this rusty f.u.c.k.i.n.g perverted sword in half!"


    (Ahh~ Master please have mercy!)


    "Get the f.u.c.k out of my head pervert!"


    (So rough~? And intense~)


    "God why won''t it f.u.c.k.i.n.g die!? ICI get me a structural analysis now!"


    [MATERIAL UNKNOWN, NO STRUCTURAL WEAK POINT DETECTED.]


    "F.U.C.K! DIE ALREADY!"


    (Master please~? I''ll be useful! Just feed me more of your memoires and I''ll do whatever you say!)


    "And why the f.u.c.k should I trust you!?"


    Still stomping the shit out of the cursed sword with all his might the grand elder still only looked at him with disbelief.


    "Dax are you okay?"


    "No I''m f.u.c.k.i.n.g not! There''s this strange f.u.c.k.i.n.g voice in my head that keeps calling me ''master~?'' and is panting like a f.u.c.k.i.n.g pervert in heat!"


    "So you''re talking with it?"


    Now in complete disbelief with her mouth hanging open the grand elder''s spells completely failed as she nervously approached Dax holding out a hand.


    "I''m not f.u.c.k.i.n.g talking with that f.u.c.k.i.n.g thing, it just keeps pestering me and calling me master with that creepy f.u.c.k.i.n.g voice and constantly pestering me to accept her/he/it."


    "So it is talking to you, not trying to command you to slaughter me?"


    Looking at Dax like she still couldn''t believe what he was saying with a mix of awe and fear showing on her face the grand elder grabbed Dax''s hand to make him stop stomping on the sword.


    "No, it stopped doing that when I forced it out of my head, why?"


    "Because that sword is older than any known structure of power in this world and has driven millions of people into madness. And not only did your force it out of your head, but ''crimson'' is calling you master now too?"


    "Crimson?"


    "The cursed crimson demon blade. So did you?"


    "Yeah I used ICI to close its mental connection with me by jamming its local mana feild, what are you getting at?"


    "That is a intelligent weapon, more like a fairy than a mortal being. I won''t lie, or more like it can''t. If it''s calling you master then you just got your hand on a weapon that most Emperor''s would sacrifice their all their power to just temporarily wield."


    "Yeah and I''m a goddamned frog that only wears bright pink overalls and sings in the acid rain."


    For the first few seconds Dax was sure the grand elder was pulling his leg, until more logical parts of his mind prevailed.


    "Wait why would anyone want this pervert of a sword?"


    "It is completely indestructible, and as a relic of the gods it can create attack spells more powerful than even the archangels."


    (If I feel like it~? Please take me with you master~)


    Weighing the pros and cons while groaning loudly Dax finally made his decision about 3 minutes later.


    "Okay then, but no more of that perverted panting and be silent unless I ask for your opinion, otherwise I''m going to throw you into the f.u.c.k.i.n.g sun."


    ---


    After the clearing up the expected confusion Dax returned with the grand elder to the original meeting room and met up with the capital elders once more.


    "Y-you actually tamed the cursed sword¡­"


    Silas'' proud and dignified demeanor had all but broken down and now only the researcher greedy for knowledge remained.


    "Yeah I did, is that enough proof that I am what I say I am?"


    "Of course! Will you aid us in understanding your grand technology?"


    "Yeah no problem, can you show me where the sphere''s landed in your lands?"


    (Master you amazingly cruel person~)


    (Shut the f.u.c.k up, I''m playing him like a fiddle.)


    Shutting up Crimson while holding his perfect poker face Dax waited for Silas'' answer.


    "Why would you need that information?"


    "Because some of the spheres contain extremely sensitive materials that could instantly spoil if exposed to the air and have a poor reaction to the 500-ish surrounding kilometers."


    "I s-see follow me, I have all the details with the already recovered artifacts in my lab."


    Still none the wiser Silas showed a satisfied expression as he walked towards the overly large elevator and stopped looking back at Dax that was still seated.


    "Are you coming?"


    "Wait a second, I have business with the grand elder."


    "I''ll go on ahead and prepare then. Tell the guard that you would like to go to the top floor when you''re ready."


    Being left alone in the room Dax took a moment of quiet before facing the elder that looked at him with seriousness.


    "W-what?"


    "You should leave, now."


    "Why!?"


    "Because I''m going to burn this place to the ground soon."


    "I understand."


    Not really surprised by Dax''s true objective the elder didn''t flinch at all.


    "Then g-"


    "I''m staying."


    "Bu-"


    "End of story."


    "Okay then, stay close."


    Being surprised by her steadfastness of mind Dax ultimately decided to not subdue her per ICI''s recommendation. Making their way to Silas'' laboratory Dax showed a grim face that Silas himself didn''t pick up on.


    "Welcome to my laboratory, here''s the map of the sphere''s locations like you wanted."


    (ICI?)


    (TERRAIN FEATURES IDENTIFIED, 2 ORB''S PRIORITY ALPHA LOCATED. READY FOR DROP.)


    (Take them.)


    (ICI AFFIRMS, SCRAMBLING FIRETEAMS.)


    (Heeey master what are you doing?~)


    (UNATURZESED PERSONAL IN VIRTUAL TACROOM, PURGE Y/N?)


    (Yup, and make it hurt as much as you can please.)


    (Aww! Master whyyyy?)


    Hearing the cursed sword screaming out in pain as it was forced temporarily out of his head by ICI Dax started wearing a smile, which Silas picked up on.


    "Dax?"


    "Ah, sorry I was just admiring the detail of this map. Let''s continue."


    "Yes. The first one I want you to identify is this one, over the last couple of days its have been heating up exponentially and I am very interested to know what it is."


    Leading Dax over to a central table Silas showed Dax a small orange metal cylindrical metal container that was suspended in water for cooling.


    "Its a antimatter fuel cell, seems like the containment field is starting to fail¡­"


    Picking up the cell with his bare hand, Silas and the grand elder both winced when they heard the sound of Dax''s skin being burned by direct contact with the cell.


    "Ah, the radiator is busted so the waste heat is affecting the magnetic field, good call suspending the cell in constantly cold water Silas. If you didn''t do that this city would have been a crater by now. ICI scan the containment cell for any other damage and prepare a repair plan."


    [ICI AFFIRMS: TOP PRIORITY REPAIR ORDER ADDED TO MANUFACTURING QUEUE.]


    "Good. It''s about that time to pack up here.."


    "Dax who are you talking to?"


    "No one. Hey Silas want to see a magic trick?"


    "Sure?..."


    (ICI send Viper package #1 to me, then execute RDS at impact +5.)


    (VIPER STRIKE PACKAGE #1 AWAY, TTA: 3 MINUTES, 34 SECONDS)


    Still maintaining a perfect outer facade as he put into the effect the downfall of the elven capital he beconded Silas closer as Dax himself grabbed a artifact from a nearby table.


    "See this right here?"


    "Yeah I haven''t for the love of me been able to figure out what it is, could you tell me?"


    Taking a second to look at the blackish lumpy rock like metal lump Dax placed it back on the table before gracing Silas with a answer.


    "This is, or was a severed head. My guess is that some sort of shrapnel completely smashed the body to pieces before it was exposed to the emptiness of space and then shattered like a glass. The mangled thing you see there is the result of atmospheric reentry heating that melted the helmet of his/her vacsuit like tin on front of a plasma burner."


    "Fascinating! Wha-"


    As Silas was about to ask more questions Dax grabbed him by the head before lifting him up to his own eye level.


    "That''s right, we were talking about a magic trick¡­ Let''s see, this is what the Galactic Empire dose to ungrateful little shit''s that dosn''t respect our technology or our sacrifices."


    Barely being able to muster a short pathetic scream Silas'' ears and legs twitched as Dax crushed his braincase and killed him instantly.


    "That''s that done then, you want to be next?"


    Looking at the dead Silas like looking at a piece of trash Dax then turned to Silas'' research assistant with a warm smile.


    "N-n-no thanks."


    "Then go and warn everyone in this building that is going to be completely destroyed in about 12 minutes, and they should evacuate right now."


    "Y-yes sir!"


    Scrambling off like a rat out of hell Dax was left alone in the laboratory with the grand elder.


    "Did you have to kill him?"


    "I did. You should evacuate now."

 Chapter 84 - The Elven capital (4)

    "Did you have to kill him?"


    "I did. You should evacuate now."


    "Don''t give me that shit!"


    Lashing out in rage the wind around the grand elder shock and ravaged the laboratory as if indicating her internal state of conflict.


    (VIPER STRIKE PACKAGE #1 TTA MARK 60 SECONDS.)


    "I killed elder Silas because he''s part of the problem I am aiming to fix with this incursion into these elven lands. Seems like the trend of any and all sort of power on this dirt ball of planet when they see the technology of my people is to think ''mine'' and try and grasp its power without any respect, care or precaution. The effects of such carelessness have shown themselves this time in a practical example of atomic annihilation and wiped out all life in a 10 kilometer radius, but it could have been much worse, next time this very world might crack.. So I have to set an example, and did it as painlessly as possible."


    ".... I understand."


    With the wind around her calming down the grand elder fell silent, but she still looked at Dax with a grim expression.


    [VIPER STRIKE PACKAGE #1 TTA MARK 10 SECONDS, 9, 8, 7, 6-]


    "Get down!"


    Realizing something the very last second as ICI''s final countdown started, Dax charged the grand elder and knocked her over while shielding her as she herself started picking up some strange sounds


    [- 3, 2, 1, SPLASH.]


    With ICI as a cue something crashed through one of the walls of the laboratory and shot out steel wires with hocks everywhere as it crashed into the oppersid wall and finally stopped with a bang.


    "For worldwide delivery in under 10 minutes, settle only for the best..."


    Rex Viper-V23.5 ultra long range cruise missile.


    Even in the world of self guiding high precision orbital artillery the time honored cruise missile still holds merit, and the Rex Viper is the latest in a long line of high grade cruise missiles. Developed by request of the the galactic navy as a more flexible alternative to conventional orbital artillery. The Rex Viper comes in about 50 varieties for anti personnel, anti armor, tactical class MIRV, strategic class MIRV, chemical deployment or just plain old high explosive veritants, one for every occasion. Able to be dropped from orbit with independent and highly efficient targeting, seamless smart guidance and hive swarm intelligence the weapon platform is has high enough intelligence to beconsidded self aware by some standards, but that hasn''t stopped its extremely effective implementation as close in fire support.


    Helping the grand elder to her feet Dax walked over to the Viper cruise missile and ripped open its central compartment to reveal the contents inside.


    "Oh I''ve missed this, ICI prepare for main 4 connection."


    [ICI AFFIRMS, MAIN 4 ONLINE. READY FOR INTEGRATION.]


    Grabbing a brand new artificial arm from the Viper Dax quickly connected it to the shoulder link before confirming its operation.


    "I hope this one lasts a bit longer than the last one¡­"


    Having connected his new arm Dax used it to quickly swing on an ammunition carrier and a holster belt that fitted his new demon sword and his trusty old pistol loaded with new and improved anti personal soft target hollow point ammunition.


    "Is that how your kind normally dress for combat? It looks very non protective.."


    "Well my armor didn''t fit so here we are¡­"


    Grabbing a Rex Alpha rifle too Dax swung the sling over his shoulder before pulling the ''medical container'' out of his pocket and breaking off the trigger guard and pressed a small indent under as he tossed it towards the center of the lab.


    "Let''s be off."


    With chemical fire erupting from the incendiary grenade as a cue Dax took the elder by the arm and walked out of the lab with her.


    "If you want to leave you should properly do that now, I''m going to do a lot of very bad stuff."


    "Oh? Like what?"


    Not really taking the entire affair that seriously after Dax explained why he killed Silas to her the grand elder simply smiled like she was playing a game with Dax.


    "Okay that didn''t really come across that great. I am going to murder all who stands in my way with no mercy. And completely destroy this building."


    "Well in that case this outcast shall not stand in your way."


    Stepping aside in a playful manner the grand elder''s behavior only confused Dax


    "Outcast? Don''t the elves call you grand elder."


    "They do, but that''s merely because of my mana control. If I did what I did as a normal elver they would have executed me long ago."


    "Execute? What did yo-"


    "I brought in outsiders, slave children lost in the woods desperately looking for food, and cared for them as my own. When I was ineverbialy discovered the children were all killed, but as I was a grand elder no one could touch me, even after I murdered all the ones responsible for killing my children they kept treating me with the same reverence and respect as they always had, so I left¡­ If there''s anyone that can see the problems with my society it''s me, and even if I don''t completely agree with your methods I realize that some sickness must be cut out for the body to recover."


    "I can''t imagine what that must have felt like.."


    Having seen much cruelty Dax didn''t even pretend like he could relate to her pain of losing a child, even if he had went through that exact experience and offered his open arms to the elder that looked like she was about to choke after sharing such a painful memory that she had no doubt been repressing for a long time.


    "Why are you acting all sensitive all of a sudden? Don''t act like you start caring all of a sud-"


    "Because it''s what you need to step forward."


    Looking with a difficult facial expression Dax held the elder gently in his hands while she cried tears of blood the grand elder finally rejected her race, after all the years standing idly by she finally moved on and would no longer need to drown herself in alcohol to not feel the pain and see herself covered in her children''s blood night after night.


    "I never got your name by the way, my name is Dax, a qiton from the Alpha-4 clan. I also go under the name ''The immortal or warfare''."


    "Hello Imortal of warfare, my name is Lilly, as I was named by my mother so many winters ago."


    ---


    "Zephyr come over here to mom!"


    "Arf!~"


    Having reached the plaza at ground level Lilly called out to Zephyr that quickly went to her side while wagging its tail.


    "Grand elder what is going on!? Someone said the outsider killed elder Silas and threatened to destroy the council building!"


    Still not able to see the chemical fire burning on the top floors because it was above cloud layer, Eva of the border control force was very confused by the things she had heard from the elvers escaping from the council building, and didn''t even notice that Dax had regained his artificial arm.


    "That is exactly what is happening child, he has also killed several other elders than Silas."


    "Wha!- DIE!"


    Instantly flaering with rage Eva nocked an arrow and shot for Dax''s head.


    Dax responded by swatting the arrow aside like a fly before he instantly closed the range and hit Eva with a fist directly in her stomach.


    "GHA!-"


    Puking up blood as she nearly shattered a brick wall she hit Eva''s eyes didn''t show defeat at all as she took control of the nearby mana and quickly send sphere''s of highly compressed air towards Dax while once more charging him.


    "Come on give it up already."


    "NEVER!"


    "Don''t make me kill you brat."


    As they exchanged close range blows Dax didn''t hold back this time and he quickly got the upper hand as he broke one of Eva''s arms with a well placed jab.


    "ARG!- YOU!"


    Still not giving up even as she had already lost Eva continued her assault which made Dax respond in kind as he hit the same arm once more, this time completely shattering the bone he had fractured before.


    "Are you done?"


    "F.U.C.K! Grand elder why are you letting him do this!?"


    After being incapacitated by the pain Eva screamed out in confusion as she finally noticed Lilly''s lack of action to stop Dax.


    "Because this is what needs to be done. Don''t kill yourself child, your people will need your talents to recover. Dax fix her will you?"


    Having realized her worth as a leader after the council''s downfall Lilly looked to Dax for him to fix what he broke.


    "That works too¡­ Hold still."


    Pulling out a syringe filled with nanomachines Dax gr.a.p.ed Eva''s destroyed arm before stabbing it with the syringe.


    "AAAAAARRRRGGGG!!!"


    The repair started instantly, and without painkillers was extremely painful as what remained of her bones were forcefully set and then rapidly healed as Eva almost bit off her own tongue because of the pain.


    "Now go sleep over there, and remember: f.u.c.k with the Galactic Empire''s technology again and this will just repeat itself."


    Picking up Eva by her healthy arm as the other was still healing Dax threw her over the building behind her as he turned towards Lilly as the Stinger landed in the plaza.


    [COMPLETE RDS IN 60 SECONDS, STAND CLEAR.]


    "Let''s go, get Zephyr in here too."


    "W-what is that contraption."


    "Less questions more movement."


    Swooping Lilly off her feet Dax carried her in the loading ramp as Zephyr nervously followed them, barely able to fit into the Stinger.


    "Dust off now!"


    As soon as Zephyr was inside the Stinger lifted off the ground with the engines roaring and spitting purple flames.


    [RAPID DEMOLITION SEQUENCE IN 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, MARK.]


    Just as the Stinger cleared minimum safety distance a volley of over 60 Viper''s with different explosive yields all hit the council building at the same time and destroyed the building in a somewhat controlled manner as it fell in on itself and collapsed into a cloud of dust and rubble.


    "Could you let me down now?"


    As the loading ramp finally closed on the Stinger did Lilly snap out of her daze and realized she was still in the arms of Dax that carried her in a perfect princess cary.


    "Why? This feels right somehow, right Zephyr?"


    "Arf!~"


    As if giving her consent to the entire situation Zephyr licked Dax in his face with a happy expression.


    "No don''t agree with the brute you traitor!"


    With even her ears blushing in compete red Lilly struggled to free herself from Dax''s embrace even if she was a tiny bit happy with it.


    "I can''t wait to you meet my family, oh and my disciple too, you''re gonna love her~"


    "Stop saying things that can be misunderstood already and let me down!!!"


    .


    ..


    With the Stinger disappearing in the distance Eva looked at it with intense hate and determination in her eyes.


    "I will never forgive you."


    Swearing that in her heart Dax didn''t realize he had created something terrible.

 Chapter 85 - Extraction

    [TERRAIN FEATURES IDENTIFIED, 2 ORB''S PRIORITY ALPHA LOCATED. READY FOR DROP.]


    "Take them."


    [ICI AFFIRMS, SCRAMBLING FIRETEAMS.]


    "You handle it from here, I''ll clean up this"


    [ICI CONFIRMS COMMAND HANDOVER, DE ORBITING FIRETEAMS, RENDERING TAC-MAP FOR OPERATIONS.... COMPLETE. MOBILIZING STRIKE TEAM ALPHA.]


    In low orbit above elven territory something suddenly came alive. At first it was a few movements to confirm the systems operations, but after that multiple attitude control thrusters lit up all at once and illuminated the craft as it oriented itself for a hard deorbit burn with no considerations for G limits. After the burn was completed the exterior light weight truss of the craft containing the maneuvering thrusters was shed, leaving only a extremely robust looking heat shield that completely covered its contents. After a harsh reentry the toasted heat shielding was also discarded as 3 drogue parachutes helped slow and guide the vehicle to its target in the forest below. The tracked vehicle was 6 and a half meters long and 3 meters wide with a turret containing a large railgun that was located to the rear of the vehicle. Landing in a huge clearing with the help of additional maneuver control thrusters the vehicle''s advanced turbine engine roared as it came to live while ports on the sides opened as 6 Rex-Delta Reapers emerged climbing out of their mechanical w.o.m.bs with wires and cables disconnecting from the drones.


    [TOY BOX 1 TOUCHDOWN COMPLETE, STRIKE TEAM ALPHA MOBILIZED. MOVING TO OBJECTIVE, INFORMING CHAIN OF COMMAND.]


    REX AEHWP Toy box, All Environment Heavy Weapons Platform


    The Rex all environment heavy weapons platform is a unification of multiple obserlite platforms into a single neat package that can follow landing marines from outer space all the way to the surface of a hostile planet. Made to be a flexible solution for firesupport, transport, extraction and frontline assault, the Rex toy box is every marine''s dream, hence the nickname. Equipped with an outer frame that contains orbital maneuver thrusters that is shed during atmospheric incursion, the entire craft is neatly packed inside a solid multi faced heat shield that allows the craft to several hits from hostile planetary defenses doing reentry without failing. The final vehicle itself can be tailor made and is highly modular, but the most popular design is the 125th spec ops standard, with features such as a dronebay containing anything up to 6 REX-Delta model 165-A25S Reapers and a upscaled Guardian R04 Special class anti material railgun, named R07, with a octillery low G maneuvering kit that allows the vehicle to ''jump'' distances in low gravity.


    Just as the last drone emerged from the toy box a steel arrow whizzed past its head, prompting it to raise its Rex Alpha rifle as it informed command about its present situation.


    [STRIKE TEAM ALPHA TAKING FIRE, USE DEADLY FORCE AUTHORIZED.]


    With ICI acting as command permission was quickly given and all 6 drones with their Rex rifles and the toy box with its coaxially mounted Rex-0999 machine gun all opened fire, even as none saw their target. After a 5 second burst they stopped firing into the open field ahead of them but still didn''t move as they had no confirmation that the target had been dealt with.


    [STRIKE TEAM ALPHA REQUESTING AXILLARY RECON TO CONFIRM ELIMINATION OF HOSTILES, STANDBY... REQUEST GRANTED, CONTACTING SPY SATELLITES IN ORBIT¡­]


    Reaching out up the chain of command the toy box''s onboard ICI unit assessed something was wrong with its own and the Reaper drones sensors, as it only saw a open and empty field with lots of tree stumps, but when 5 more orbital satellites saw the exact same thing and it still took arrows and spells, it calculated that something else was wrong.


    [ERROR, OBJECTIVE NOT FOUND, ALERTING CHAIN OF COMMAND¡­.]


    Intelligence had indicated the the orb should be about 500 meters in front of it, along with a research base, but no such thing was found.


    [SWITCHING TO THERMAL SENSOR¡­ ERROR, OBJECTIVE NOT FOUND, TARGETS NOT FOUND¡­. STARTING SELF REPAIR DIAGNOSTIC.]


    Not able to compute what was wrong, the toy box and the drones under its command temporarily disengaged as they started backing off while releasing suppressing fire, but after about 20 seconds one of the drones was struck with a giant ice crystal and was instantly destroyed.


    [ESCALATION OF FORCE CONFIRMED, INCREASING TREAT RESPONSE LEVEL.]


    When operating completely autonomously artificial intelligence is affected by a complex set of rules that are unified under the AI rules of engagement. When not in a official wartime scenario engaging known enemy forces a treat and combat effectiveness score is assigned to every engagement that allows the AI to accurately those the right weapons to engage unknown hostile forces. When one of the Reaper drones got taken out combat effectiveness went all the way down to zero while treat level of the hostile forces went to 100, making the ICI unit consider all options to locate and neutralize the hostile forces.


    [EXPANDING THERMAL RANGE ON PRIMARY SENSOR¡­ ERROR,OBJECTIVE NOT FOUND, TARGETS NOT FOUND.


    EXPANDING THERMAL RANGE ON SECONDARY SENSOR¡­ OBJECTIVE NOT FOUND, TARGETS NOT FOUND.


    THERMAL SENSORS: NON OPERATIONAL.


    EXPANDING SEARCH FOR HOSTILE FORCES, ALLOCATING ALL PRIMARY, SECONDARY AND TERTIARY SENSORS:


    EM RADIATION: NO TARGET, OBJECTIVE LOCATED.


    ULTRAVIOLET: NO TARGET, NO OBJECTIVE LOCATED.


    ACOUSTIC SENSOR: NO COMPARABLE SOUND SAMPLES, NO TARGET.


    LIDAR: ERROR, IMAGE INCONCLUSIVE.


    RANGING LASER, RANGE TO OPPOSING FORREST: 221.2332 METERS.


    ERROR: LIDAR, VISUAL AND RANGING LASER DATA INCONCLUSIVE, ANOMALY LOCATED.


    CREATING COMPOUND TARGET ACQUISITION TECHNIQUE¡­.


    COMPLETE.


    LIDAR SET TO OPERATION MODE 4. UPPING RESOLUTION TO 512K TIMES 2012K.


    CHANGING RANGING LASER FRENZY SPECTRUM¡­ COMPLETE, TARGET ACQUIRED.


    ]


    In just over 2 seconds the onboard ICI unit ran through all options available to it, and finally found a target to shoot at. An anomaly in the lidar data revealed that some kind of spell was almost perfectly warping light around a large area in the middle of the artificial clearing, and that something just became a target.


    [TARGET ACQUIRED: R07 LOAD ANTI PERSONNEL FRAG.]


    Having received an order a mechanical arm inside the AEHWP''s main magazine took out a anti personnel fragmentation round out of the ammunition rack before setting a dial on the round and loading it into the R07.


    [PRIMARY FUSE SET, RANGE TO ESTIMATED TARGET: 220 METERS.


    FUSE DETONATION: 190 METERS.


    MODE: AIRBURST.


    FIRE AT WILL.]


    With its miniaturized fusion generator the toy box instantly charged its rail cannon that fired before anyone could react. Traveling 190 meters before the soundwave even cleared the R07''s barrel, it detonated in mid air and spread out approximately 2000 small metal balls in a cone like a shotgun blast that sheared all organic and softly armored targets in their way.


    [SPLASH. EFFECT ON TARGET UNKNOWN, SWITCHING TO REACTIONARY FIRE, ENCIRCLING ESTIMATED OBJECTIVE.]


    Not being able to smell the dense smell of blood and minced organs the toy box couldn''t calculate the frag round''s effect on target and decided to send the 5 remaining Reaper drones to secure the area around the clearing so nothing could slip away without notice. With the area calming down after that (Except for all the screaming that the ICI unit misidentified as animal noises) the toy box was about to call hostiles neutralized when a large ice crystal suddenly emerged seemingly out of nowhere and flew towards the toy box.


    [REACTIONARY FIRE MODE ACTIVE: SNAPPING TO TARGET, BARING 332, 1.


    PRIMARY FUSE SET, RANGE TO ESTIMATED TARGET: 223 METERS.


    FUSE DETONATION: 195 METERS.


    MODE: AIRBURST.


    FIRE AT WILL.]


    Responding in kind the toy box send another frag round directly down the bearing from where the ice crystal had emerged from and peppered the area with metal balls. At the same time 2 elves emerged from the optical camouflage at the exact opposite side from the toy box and quickly dashed towards the nearby forest with panic in their eyes. They didn''t make it more than 2 meters however as the waiting Reaper drones instantly turned their heads to red mist with precise gunshots that seemed to completely ignore concealment as they pierced multiple trees before finding their targets, making the entire artificial clearing fall silent.


    [CONTACT STATUS UNKNOWN, RELAYING TARGET ACQUISITION ASSISTANCE REQUESTS TO COMMAND¡­ REQUESTS APPROVED, DIALING ENGLE EYE-1 IN GEOSTATIONARY ORBIT, ESTABLISHING LASER COMMUNICATION DATABRIDGE¡­.. COMPLETE.]


    Communicating with the information network around it, the toy box quickly located a dense and artificial mana signature.


    [TARGET ACQUIRED, LOAD HV-APFSDS.


    RANGE TO TARGET: 231 METERS.


    FUSE: NULL,


    ANTI MARTIAL MODE 7.


    FIRE AT WILL.]


    Firing high velocity armor piercing fin stabilized discarding sabot originally designed to defeat state of the art composite armor at the unknown mana signature it was instantly pierced trough, along with a few hundred trees behind it before the sabot hit a solid rock face that it borrowed itself into before finally stopping.


    [HOSTILE INTERFERENCE NEUTRALIZED, OBJECTIVE LOCATED.]


    As the magic device was destroyed a large blood stained wooden wall barely hiding a large completely black floating orb suddenly appeared. Securing the area only took a few minutes, as most of the hostiles had already been dealt with, and after 10 minutes a few terrified survivors and the orb had been secured. With pre prepared tools for the job the orb was quickly breached and its contents packed into the toy box while a remaining Reaper drone handled psychological warfare.


    [THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU F.U.C.K WITH WHAT''S NOT YOURS!]


    Speaking in slightly flawed elvish trough its deep voice modulator the Reaper drone''s red eyes shone in a cold light while it shouted at the surviving prisoners that were mostly just freaking out and soiling themselves.


    [THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU TOUCH ANYTHING BELONGING TO THE GALACTIC EMPIRE! DO IT AGAIN AND WATCH YOUR PATHETIC COUNTRY BURN TO THE GROUND AROUND YOU!]


    After packing up anything essential and destroying the elven researchers notes the drones set fire to the rest and left the captured elves behind hogtied before spray painting their message all over the destroyed base and retreating to a nearby half abandoned highway they used to leave the elven territories.

 Chapter 86 - Return to Kingsted

    TL;Dr


    I changed around some stuff in my story, mainly walked back on my decision to kill Lux, so she''s alive and well.


    - Iris still ''died'' but takes no issue with Lux for it.


    - What happened to Alice still happened, and Terra is not really happy about it.


    With that In mind please enjoy the chapter.


    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    "You never answered my earlier question."


    Cruising out of the elven territory inside the Stinger Dax was busy planning out future plans for his forces and allocating the new resources ICI was busy salvaging when Lilly broke the silence.


    "What, sorry?"


    "What is this craft? I''ve never seen or heard of anything like this."


    Looking nervously around the inside of the Stinger Dax realized that he had never really explained where he was from.


    "Ah, yeah I''m not from this world."


    "Yeah I''ve noticed that."


    Not accepting that short explanation as a satisfactory answer Lilly waited while looking slightly annoyed at Dax.


    "Okay then¡­ I''m from a word where it is normal to travel between stars and planets like taking a boat from one island to another. In that kind of world a lot of forces compete for power and resources and I am an instrument of one of those forces to enact their will."


    "And now this instrument is lost in a strange world and is looking for its way home?"


    Quickly catching on what Dax was trying to say Lilly showed a smug expression.


    "Exactly."


    "So this is one of the ''boats'' that take people from world to world?"


    "More like a tiny short range landing craft, but you get the general idea."


    Fascinating, I can''t sense any mana coming from it at all¡­"


    Looking around with her extremly mana sensitive eyes Lilly seemed confused whens she started looking closer at the Stinger.


    "That''s because it doesn''t use mana, in fact I''ve never seen mana before arriving in this world."


    "Really!? Then how is it flying?"


    Looking like she couldn''t believe that something as complex as the Stinger could function, let alone fly, without the use of mana Lilly demanded an explanation.


    "It''s basically magic."


    "Please tell me."


    Seeing she wouldn''t take no for an answer Dax took a deep breath before he started explaining.


    "The CAS-A7 Stinger is a late generation landing craft/short range transport that utilizes a dual propulsion system. The primary propulsion system is the graviton annihilation drive that lowers the effect gravity has on the craft by generating anti gravitons while creating a field the the craft ''falls into'', while the secondary are the twin 14th generation advanced VSIMR electrothermal propulsion engines charge and expel gas fuel at high energies and velocity to provide propulsion."


    Looking at Lilly that looked just as confused as Zephyr after that explanation before forming a large smile before speaking again.


    "It''s magic."


    "I s-see.. So where are we going?"


    "Kingstead, capital of the central Kingdom. There I''ll provide you with food and a place to stay the night before anything else."


    "It is indeed getting late I will look forward to your attempt at entertaining me."


    Putting on a smug smile Lilly looked forward to being out of the strange craft while glancing out at the orange clouds that they were currently surrounded by.


    ---


    "Anytime now.."


    As Lux was standing ready to receive Dax as he returned to Kingstead after a little while Lux was quite nervous, although that didn''t show at all on her face. Lux wore a simple white habit business suit that showed off her slim and fit body that had been hardened by years of training and fighting in one of the most elite militaries of the Galactic Empire. Having been raised under almost completely artificial and highly regulated light in the flower garden orphanage and a satellite resort after that Lux''s skin was quite pale, but that didn''t really bother her as that was the only bad side effect of such a childhood. Looking into the sky with her amber red eyes Lux made use of her greatly enhanced senses to spot the Stinger even before it fully breached the heavy evening cloud cover as she prepared to meet Dax and report.


    "Welcome back commander. I have a full debrief pre- What is that?"


    Having fully recovered from the surgery Lux Stood ready as the ramp on the Stinger opened to fulfill her role as second in command, but she stopped her practiced speech however as she saw Zephyr shimmy itself out of the Stinger before letting out a satisfied bark as it finally could scratch its back by laying down on the ground and rolling around.


    "Lux meet Zephyr, Zephyr this is Lux, my second in command."


    "I-I see, hello Zephyr¡­"


    "Arf~!"


    Sounding off a satisfied bark to Lux''s nervus introduction Lux took that time to look at Dax to see if he was joking, only to finally notice the Stingers other passenger.


    "And you are?"


    "You can just call me elder."


    Seeing the superior attitude flowing out from the small elver Lux looked at her smug expression for a little while before turning to Dax as she asked frankly.


    "... Dad did you pick up a lost child?"


    "Wha!- I AM NOT A CHILD!! How rude."


    "Nope, Lux meet Lilly, grand elder and high elver, I haven''t asked for her but she should be around my age."


    "For real? She looks and acts like a child.."


    "Yeah I know, she can act mature when she tries I''m sure¡­"


    "DON''T IGNORE ME!"


    After a somewhat rough introduction Dax lead them all to his compound where they meet up with Terra that was just wrapping up her training.


    "Welcome back Dax, I see we have guests."


    "Yeah, Lilly and Zephyr are there names. I''ll go say hi to Alice."


    Looking somber for a moment before she hid it again behind a smile Terra still completely ignored Lux that also had started acting like she didn''t exist.


    "Okay, I have some questions after."


    Walking into the main house Dax handed his rifle over to a drone before walking up the main stairway to Alice''s room.


    "Status of the patient?"


    [CONDITION UNCHANGED.]


    Having entered her room Dax looked at Alice that was still suspended in the gel like see through fluid with small drones floating around her currently in the progress of closing up her chest after having finally healed it fully.


    "I see.. Continue monitoring her condition."


    After checking all the medical equipment was working and in perfect condition Dax was joined by Terra that looked at Alice as she spoke.


    "Are you really going to let her stay here after what she did to Alice and Iris?"


    "Yeah, Lux didn''t know better at the time, but I believe I''ve told you that multiple times already."


    Sensing that there would be something more to this conversation they had repeated time and time again Dax turned to Terra that looked at Dax like she couldn''t believe what she was hearing.


    "She nearly killed Alice! In fact as you said Alice might never wake up again! And you''re okay with that!? Because you raised her she''s suddenly worth more than Alice! Is that it!?"


    "Are you done shouting in my face? If you have a problem with Lux take that up with her, stop ignoring her like a child and fix the problem with your words, or your fists, I''m sure that Lux is up for both solutions."


    Being left behind with those words Terra looked like she swallowed a bitter bug as she walked up to Alice''s life support pod and whispered quietly as she touched the glass.


    "I''m sorry, I just have a hard time solving issues like this when you''re not around."


    "So that is the child that was injured? Dax''s so called ''technology'' is a amazing being able to keep someone that injured alive."


    Suddenly a small elver stood right next to Terra and spoke out in a amazed manner while looking at Alice suspended in the stasis pod.


    (When did she!?)


    Not having heard the elver before she spoke up Terra was surprised as she quickly took a step away while drawing a pistol that she pointed at the mysterious visitor.


    "Who are you?"


    "Oh~ How polite, asking before you straight up try and kill me. I am Lilly, you must be Terra, and that must be Alice, nice to meet you Terra, nice to meet you Alice."


    Taking the time to do a slight bow to both Terra and Alice, Terra''s aggression lessened slightly when she saw that Lilly meant no harm.


    "I understand she was almost killed by Dax''s child, that must be problematic for you."


    "How-"


    "Don''t underestimate my ears child, so what are you going to do about it?"


    "Do about it? What could I do about that?"


    Not understanding were Lilly was going with her train of thought Terra just looked at her confused.


    "Either you can do something about your problems, or you can sit and whine like a toddler forever for eternity or do something about it. Did your god give you tools for just to sit on them? So far I am really disappointed with the human race."


    Unable to refute Lilly as she left Terra looked at her own face in the reflection as she silently muttered to herself.


    "God I''ve become pathetic.."


    Next day Terra rose even earlier than she used to and headed directly to the training grounds after putting on some light clothing, only to find the training ground already occupied.


    "Oh there she is."


    "Good Morning Dax, and Lilly wasn''t it?"


    Finding a sea of empty bottles around Dax and the elver she had just only meet yesterday Terra didn''t know what to think.


    "I never introduced you two properly, this is Lilly, a mana specialist I''ve hired to help me us out. Lilly this is Terra Williams, a disciple I picked up in the town of Black Hollow. Now why are you here this fine morning?"


    "To train, like I always do."


    "You usually train in about 2 hours, when Lux is done with her training don''t f.u.c.k with me. Why are you here this fine morning?"


    Being seen through instantly Terra took a deep breath before explaining herself.


    "I am here to work out my problems with Lux."


    Showing Dax her detimneration as she awaited her punishment for wanting to start a fight Terra was meet with a moment of silence before Dax started laughing while Lilly groaned loudly.


    "See? Terra is not out for blood, you owe me now."


    "I-I know stop being so obnoxious already!"


    "Nah, I will be extremely obnoxious. I know my people, she just needed a little motivation."


    "Okay what the f.u.c.k is going on here?"


    Not following along with Dax''s enjoyment, Terra temporarily lost all her determination.


    "This foolish elver taught you would try and kill Lux in rage but I bet that you would just want to talk it out."


    "I see¡­. So where is Lux?"


    "Right behind you."

 Chapter 87 - New relationsh.i.p.s

    "I see¡­. So where is Lux?"


    "Right behind you."


    "!!!"


    Turning around while taking a defensive stance Terra hadn''t at all noticed when Lux had gotten behind her.


    "Good morning."


    ".... Morning."


    While reluctantly returning the greeting Terra inspected her opponent. Lux wore a gray pair of training shorts and t shirt combo that was marked with the insicma of the 125th Hellwalkers, and even if Terra could see Lux had not fully recovered from her extreme malnourishment, she was not about to underestimate her.


    "So I''ve heard you want to sort something out with me?"


    "I want to spar against you, no holding back. If I win you''ll apologize for what you did."


    "C.O?"


    Looking to Dax for approval Lux started grinning when he gave a nood.


    "I see, I see~ So you want to fight me? When I win you''ll have to do something for me."


    "Sure, let''s get on with it."


    Instantly accepting those terms without thinking about them further Terra started warming up.


    "This is bound to be interesting."


    "You think so?"


    Not really showing that much interest for the upcoming fight now that it came to it Dax laid back on the ground as he waited for Terra and Lux to get into position.


    "Ready? Okay¡­ 3, 2, 1, go."


    With Dax''s lazy signal to start Terra set launched straight ahead as she charged Lux while releasing bloodl.u.s.t.


    (Just like Dax you can''t use magic, and do not have the raw strength to compensate for it!)


    Channeling strengthening magic into her body Terra started glowing in a faint light as she finally got within range of Lux that so far hadn''t moved a finger.


    (Got yo-)


    Thinking she had successfully blitzed her opponent Terra launched an uppercut as she left marks in the ground below, but was suddenly knocked away as her conscious turned hazy while acute pain struck her neck. Landing a few meters away she rushed to her feet only to see Lux still standing the exact same spot with a smile on her face, not having moved an inch.


    "What the f.u.c.k?"


    Taking a defencive stance Terra examined Lux closely as she this time very slowly and meticulously closed the range.


    "What the hell was that?"


    Lilly having seen what Lux did still couldn''t believe her own senses as she turned to Dax for an explanation.


    "Just wait and see."


    "Okay¡­"


    Seemingly sobering up a great deal Lilly started paying extremely close attention to the sparring match.


    "What? Not coming closer?"


    With a large child like grin on her face Lux stood her ground as she becconded Terra closer.


    (What the hell is going on here?..)


    With her hands covering her neck and head in a defensive stance Terra tried figuring out why Lux could move faster than she could react.


    "What the hell is wrong with your body?"


    After looking a bit closer at the seemingly stationary Lux Terra finally started figuring out what was wrong with Lux. Her heartbeat was so fast it was almost a steady sound while some of her muscles twitched uncontrollably as if a extreme amount of adrenaline pumped through her veins.


    "Oh you finally noticed?~"


    Being seen through Lux''s smile only seemed to turn even more ferocious as she started


    stepping in place as if barely able to contain her bloodl.u.s.t.


    "That is some technique¡­. How is she still in control of her body?"


    Having noticed what was going on with Lux Lilly spoke out in amazement as she asked Dax what was going on.


    "She''s in perfect control of her body. Honestly I wish I could tell you how she does it, but I have no idea."


    "What? Didn''t you teach the child yourself?"


    Not expecting Dax''s answer Lilly looked closer at Lux as she inquired further.


    "Of course I did, but that trick is something she learned from her older sisters."


    "Older sisters?"


    "Yeah, two demonic geniuses. See''s gonna move, pay attention."


    Still laying flat on the ground Dax barely hid a smug smile as he knew exactly what was going to happen.


    "If you''re not doing anything then let me show you something nice!~"


    Breathing in deeply the sound around Lux seemed to completely disappear leaving only the deafening sound of her heartbeat that ran faster and faster like a drum, before completely stopping as Lux''s pupils expanded to their limit.


    "!!!"


    Being bathed in bloodl.u.s.t like she previously only through Dax able of, Terra was temporarily overwhelmed as Lux rushed forward. Leaving deep cracks in the ground Lux moved as if being strengthened by extremely high grade magic she rushed Terra with deadly intent before she could even react.


    "Match over, Lux wins."


    Before Terra knew what was going on Dax had stopped the match while Lux had disappeared.


    "What the f.u.c.k?"


    Looking around Terra found Lux standing behind her panting like a wild animal after a sprint.


    "Wait, how did I lose exactly?"


    As Terra still hadn''t caught up with what was going on Terra looked confused at Dax that still laid flat on the ground.


    "You lost. If this was a real fight you would be very dead right now."


    "But-"


    "If you don''t believe me then go again, you really have nothing right now except for training. Lux you want to go again?"


    "Sure, can I go for contact?"


    "Yeah just don''t break anything too esensial."


    "Sir, yes Sir~"


    Going back out into the dirt field Lux beckoned Terra to follow her with a smile.


    "This time I''m not going to hold back, C.O gave me permission to break you~"


    Showing a ferocious smile Lux seemed to forget that she was just sparing.


    "Don''t break anything too important now."


    "Sir, yes Sir!"


    Until Dax reminded her.


    "Good, ready? 3, 2, 1, go."


    This time Lux didn''t wait for Terra to close range and immediately took the initiative herself as she immediately started breaking down Terra''s already crumbling defenses with what Terra assumed was qiton martial arts.


    "You''re really not holding back this time huh!?"


    "Why would I hold back when the C.O gave me permission to hurt you!?"


    Throwing out a kick Lux created a small gap between herself and Terra while taking a single step back she did a half backflip and landed on her hands before launching herself into Terra feet first, hitting Terra''s unguarded stomach with a well placed kick.


    "Gha!-"


    Coughing up blood as she flew backwards Terra realized she had heavily overestimated her chances at winning against Lux.


    "What was that?"


    Seeing the unfamiliar style of martial art Lilly turned to Dax for an explanation.


    "She''s playing with her food¡­"


    While Lux that had mounted Terra as she was about to beat the shit out of her Dax was not really that impressed with either of them.


    "You really thought you could win?"


    Sitting on the bloody mess that used to be Terra, Lux picked a bone fragment out of her knuckle before continuing her monologue.


    "You really seem to not understand what it means to be a Galactic marine so I''ll use this opportunity to tell you. Where we are from there isn''t a normal army, at all. With the dawn of advanced drone technology and 12th generation machine learning the average tin can is able to kill better than most grunts, therefore an emphasis is placed on quality over quantity. out of a million recruits only one low level reserve marine survives the selection, but we''re not f.u.c.k.i.n.g low level reserve marines that sponge off the military and get wasted off their weekly paychecks while hoping they never see combat, we''re the f.u.c.k.i.n.g 125th Hellwalkers! The most elite fighting force there have, and will ever exist, and for some reason that escapes me our commander those to take you under his wings."


    Letting that sink in for a moment Lux continued talking after confirming that Terra was still conscious before continuing on.


    " Now I know that you are angry with me for the friendly fire, and I am truly sorry about that and I have giving you time to work it out by yourself, but it''s gotten to the point where it impacts your training and you''ve started disrespecting the force and the chain of command, so now your ass is mine!"


    Knocking Terra unconscious with a puch Lux picked her up over the shoulder before turning to Dax.


    "C.O is this fine?"


    "Yeah go ahead X.O."


    "Okay, I''ll beat her into shape~"


    Leaving with those words Lux carried Terra towards the medbay while Lilly looked at the scene play out before she turned to Dax that still laid down flat on the ground.


    "What just happened?"


    "My X.O. Made a decision to beat the recruit into shape and I don''t really see a issue with that at all."


    "You expected this to happen?"


    "Yeah I did. Is that a problem? It''ll be good for both of them to get to know eachother better, and Terra needs to pick up the slack and focus more on her training, and Lux is the best person to do that."


    "... You really do have a special relationship with that child huh?"


    Looking after Lux with a hint of slight envy in her eyes Lilly turned towards Dax when he sat upright while hiding her expression behind a slight smile.


    "I do, she''s my adoptive daughter, my executive officer and someone I''ve known for over 500 years. I trust her with my life, without question."


    "But that''s all your relationship extends to?"


    Looking at Lilly for a bit Dax didn''t seem to understand the meaning of the question until after a few moments when he looked at her with a blank expression.


    "If you''re asking if banging my adopted daughter, then no, we don''t have that kind of relationship."


    "..."


    "What?"


    "... You really don''t understand women do you?..."


    "Nope, I have absolutely no clue about that one. I take things apart, you know kill stuff, that''s all I know and I''m good at it."


    "You know what that makes a lot of sense¡­."


    Showing a defeated and understanding expression at the same time Lilly looked like she was gathering her courage for a bit before she looked at Dax with a determined expression.


    "Then I''m just gonna go for it... Y-y-you k-know I! Really!-"


    "Oh~ Rouge what can I do for you this fine day?"


    As Lilly was about to do the confession of a lifetime she was interrupted by Dax that suddenly called out to a certain red haired nun.


    "My master has a request and wants to meet you, she''s in the church waiting."


    "Okay I will be right over. Lilly did you say anything?"


    Looking back towards Lilly as he left with Rouge, Dax only saw a smiling and slightly blushing Lilly, and thought nothing of it.


    "..."


    "Okay then, let''s go to the church. I''ll be right back Lilly."


    As Dax left Lilly looked at Dax''s back as she barely hid her furry behind a cold smile.


    "That was your first and only missed opportunity, do that again and I will kill you."

 Chapter 88 - Diverging paths (1)

    Having his compound located right next to Kingstead''s central church meant that Dax was quickly in its backyard and walked past multiple priests and nun while greeting them all by name as he was lead by Rouge to the main church.


    "It is really impressive that you know us all by name."


    "Of course I would know you all by name, with you living this close to me. I know everything going on within a 5 kilometer radius and most things within a 200 kilometer radius."


    "I-I see. Then you must know that lady Solaris arrived and is here to meet you?"


    "Yeah I was waiting for you to come get me, she arrived about an hour ago using a very intriguing type of spell I would love to know more about."


    "I''m sorry but I can''t tell you about that."


    Looking at Dax with a very serious expression all of a sudden Rouge looked at Dax with a cold smile while she circulated mana inside her body for attack spells.


    "You know seeing that expression makes me want to make you tell me even more, but I''ll back down for now."


    "... I appreciate that, I''ll leave you two alone."


    Retreating from Dax as soon as they had reached the chapel Rouge took big steps away from Dax as if running from his all seeing influence.


    (Well that''s enough playing around¡­ Let''s see what she wants.)


    Entering the main chapel Dax was struck with heavily coloured morning light shining through the multiple stained glass munals.


    "Good morning."


    Sitting on the main altar like she owned the place, the archangel Solaris lazely spread out her wings as she extended a greeting. As always Solaris looked like she had spent multiple hours on her look, with elaborate gemstones that were inscribed with complex runes braided into her hair, creating a constant rainbow-like glow around her. She didn''t wear her combat dress, but instead she wore a simple white silk dress with her usual necklace that contained countless monster cores fastend i a complex array of some unkown propuse.


    "Good morning. I find that craft you use to travel extremely interesting, can I borrow it for a bit?"


    (Straight to the point huh..)


    "And why would I just lend you an extremely advanced piece of military equipment?"


    Seeing that Solaris didn''t waste any time at all getting to the main subject at all, Dax didn''t waste any time either.


    "I need transport, easy as that."


    "I''m sure you don''t seeing how you moved to here faster than normally possible, I didn''t really expect the churches to hide such a function."


    Looking around the church with a knowing smile Dax had realized one of the angels largest secrets.


    "So is it a gate type construction or some sort of teleportation?"


    Continuing his probe into Solaris'' secrets Dax formed a large smile while looking closely at the angles reaction.


    "It''s a gate type, I''ve never heard of instant teleportation."


    Answering frankly without a spec of anger or embarrassment Solaris inquired into other types of instant transportation other than their own.


    "Instant warp type transportation is a really bad idea that has killed countless civilizations and turned many a bright researchers into red paste."


    "I see."


    Taking a few seconds to think about that information Solaris jumped off the altar and walked over to and looked directly into his face as she spoke in complete seriousness.


    "I need to reach somewhere not connected to the gate network, and fast. You will be rewarded plenty, even if we don''t find what we''re after."


    Seeing a rare hint of desperation in Solaris'' eye from such a close range Dax realized that the matter was serious.


    "And I''m guessing that other parties are also after what you recently discovered."


    "Exactly, we''re after something other hostile sanctuaries are after."


    From what Dax had gathered of local legend and history, the angles once ruled the entire world and beyond, but nothing lasts forever. A great calamity struck the world, and with resources drindeling war ensued and destroyed the world. The surviving angles split up in factions and buried themselves in sanctuaries. Solaris belonging to the 14th sanctuary worked for only its interests, and if Dax helped them further factions hostile towards the 14th sanctuary would definitely see him as a new treat.


    "And why the f.u.c.k would I let myself be dragged into your eternal power struggle? We have enough on our plate already."


    "Ah, the soldier and his eternal war. What would make you want to help us then?"


    "You really don''t understand do you? My side is losing, and while that is happening I am stuck, on this f.u.c.k.i.n.g dirt ball planet. Give me one f.u.c.k.i.n.g reason why I would divert resources from that objective?"


    Showing a slight smile in response to the question Solaris already expected Dax to pose she gave Dax a warm hug as she whispered into his ear knowing he would already accept.


    "That sure is interesting. It is really interesting in fact.."


    ---


    "urgh!- My f.u.c.k.i.n.g head!"


    Walking up Terra turned to the side of her bed as she puked up a dense black liquid as a acute pain struck her head. Writhing in pain while she continued to puke up liter after liter of the black liquid Terra heard someone enter her room.


    "What the f.u.c.k do you wa-"


    Not able to finish her sentence Terra was kicked out of her bed before something picked her up and threw her out the nearby window.


    "Gha!- What the fuc-"


    Falling out of the window and down a few meters into the training field Terra was extremely confused and once more cut off as someone stomped on her stomach and made her puke up the last of the nanomachines that had been healing her.


    "Good morning recruit, you are 2 hours and 34 minutes and 33 seconds late for morning practice. Do you know what that means?"


    "What the hell Lux!?"


    "That is X.O, Lieutenant General or Ma''am to you. In case you don''t understand I''ve been put in charge of your training, that means your ass is mine! Now that can be as painful or pleasant as you want, either way is fine with me. Now I asked you a question recruit! Answer me!"


    Standing on Terra''s chest Lux didn''t seem to take no for an answer.


    "W-what does that mean Lieutenant?"


    "Oh, I am so glad you asked recruit. I means your training has been delayed 2 hours and 34 minutes and 33 seconds. That is 9.273? seconds of training lost, that means 9.273? seconds I will add to your training, and 9.273? extra push ups added to your warmup."


    "Are yo-"


    Unsatisfied with Terra''s tone Lux stomped one more time on her chest as she showed a smile.


    "What was that recruit? I didn''t hear you."


    "Y-yes ma''am."


    "Good. We''re gonna become good friends, I can feel it already~"


    Taking her feet off Terra''s chest Lux showed a large demon like grin as she flipped Terra over with her foot.


    "Then let''s get started~ 1, 2, 3, count with me now. 6, 7, 7, get your chest all the way in the dirt, that''s it. 9, 10, 11-"


    ¡­


    ..


    .


    "9.012, 9.013, 9.014-"


    Terra didn''t know how much time had passed since then, only that the sun was awfully warm today, and that Lux was no featherweight.


    "-9.015, 9.016, 9.017-"


    While Terra was doing pushups Lux had found a perfect place to sit as she talked about the Galactic Hellwalkers and their regulations.


    "Regulation code 333.16.1.2.66.4: A marine is always to act with determination, courage and aggression. It is imperative that when you strike a confirmed hostile you strike first, you strike hard and you strike once, understood?"


    "9.032, 9.033, yes ma''am! Strike first hard and with appropriate strength to annihilate the hostile forces! 9.041-"


    "Hmm~ Good job, now I''m finally seeing why C.O picked you up recruit, you really don''t break no matter how much I torment you, I kinda makes me want to push you even further~"


    Speaking while she sat comfortable on top of Terra''s back as she did pushups Lux showed a sadistic smile that Terra was glad she didn''t see directly.


    "Yes ma''am! Pain is a old friend at this point. 9.092, 9.093-"


    "Well we''ll see.. After all we''re still just at the warmup stage~ Then regulation code 333.16.1.2.68-2.9 A marine of the special ops department is expected to always put the means of the many above the few, the chain of command is absolute. But civilians are always and will always be off the table, unless executive command level 4, or so called condition black is in effect."


    "Yes ma''am! Means of the many outweigh the means of the few. Don''t f.u.c.k with civ''s, unless extreme measures are required."


    "Good~ It''s almost like you know all this already¡­"


    Impressed with Terra''s answers and the speed which she absorbed the new information Lux started to wonder if the rangers she was a member of previously had a similar doctrine to the Hellwalkers.


    "No, 9.102, it''s because, 9.103, Dax already, 9.104, taught me all that."


    "Oh that means we can skip all that then, why didn''t you say so when I started listing all this a few hours ago?"


    "Because, 9.122, you''re sitting on my back, 9.123, and I have, 9.124, a hard time speaking, 9.125, right now."


    "Hmm~ In this low grav? It seems like-"


    "Lux tone it down a bit will you, she''s clearly still injured."


    At some point Dax had walked up on them and started watching while giving out his opinions on Lux''s training (bullying).


    "I''ve orders to relay, listen up."


    Dropping his ever present smile Lux realized he had something important to say, and quickly rose to her feet and stood at attention.


    "Understood Sir, recruit on your feet!"


    As Terra also got on her feet Dax quickly started explaining.


    "I''ve received a request from the 14th sanctuary and I plan to fulfill it, as such I''ll take the CAS-A7 with me and go there for the next month at the least."


    "But what about current plans?"


    "Yeah about that¡­ Lux take Lilly, Iris and Terra along with a few AEHWP''s and the new UGAV''s with you along with Zephyr and form a convoy."


    "Understood, I think 2 UGAV''s, 1 closed transport and 2 open transports will be enough to get by.. Not to mention I can do without the recruit, she''ll just slow me down."


    "No don''t be mean Lux¡­ Terra what''s your opinion?"


    "Of what?"


    Being unexpectedly brought into the conversation Terra had no idea of what they were talking about.


    "If you were to travel all the way down to the southern islands what would you need?"


    "You mean the barren islands to the southwest? Why would you go there?"


    "No I''m talking about demi human territory, you know that nation to the south consisting of a loads of all those islands."


    "What you mean the Azure islands? That''s practically around the world!?"


    "Yep~ Just about. I had been planning to go there with the Stinger to secure the sphere that landed around that area.. So what would you need to go there?"


    Being posed the quite serious question about traveling 4.000 kilometers Terra took a few minutes before answering.


    "I would need a large convoy to be sure.. Oh and definitely a complete drone surveillance network along with some large caliber railguns for firesupport."


    "Yeah I figure that would be the case¡­ Then take what you think You''ll need, Lux will be your second in command for the trip."


    "Wait what?"


    "Yeah what do you mean by second in command C.O, why can''t I take command on this?"


    Looking at both the women that didn''t understand what he was saying Dax breathed a deep sigh before answering.


    "Since you were only dealing with the northerners out on that lonely ice sheet you might not be aware, but this world is filled with monsters."


    "Monsters?"


    "Yeah, like this world was some sick sort of fairytale, about 2 weeks after I woke up I killed a dragon."


    "For real?"


    "For real, therefore the best fit to lead is an expert in monsters."


    "I see¡­ Then we''ll do that."

 Chapter 89 - Diverging paths (2)

    "Nooo! I don''t like the sunlight at all!"


    "Please let us stay here!"


    "We promise we''ll be productive in the meantime !"


    "Why the hell do you hate being outside so much Iris? You can stay inside the AEHWP for most of the time."


    "The AEHWP?"


    "You mean inside a reinforced container right next to a miniaturized fusion reactor?"


    "With no tertiary backup reactor cooling?"


    "Do you want me to die?"


    The day had come, it was time to set off from Kingstead, and Lux was in progress of collecting the last personal for the job, even if the person question was extremely opposed to the very concept of ''outside''.


    "Jesus since when have you been this strong!?"


    As Lux had dragged Iris out of her room while she slept, Lux had only managed to reach the doorway before Lux had woken up and grabbed onto the door, as if holding on for dear life.


    "Strength is just an expression of how well one is motivated at using once body!"


    "And we are really motivated!"


    "And also able to completely control our body!"


    Seeing how Iris took complete control of her body just to avoid the deadly ''great outside'', Lux lessened her offence for a moment, allowing Iris to escape back into her laboratory.


    "We thank you for understanding."


    "As thanks we w¨ªll work hard while you are aw-"


    "Iris let me teach you something important."


    Stopping Iris in the middle of her gradditue Iris quickly redoubled her defenses against the ''evil outside'', by grabbing onto a nearby table as Lux continued speaking.


    "You see the history of my world is distorted."


    "Distorted?"


    "How?"


    "In what way?"


    "Please tell us."


    "Is it some sort of spacetime anomaly caused by frequent space travel?"


    "... While there are many ways to explain it the most simple one is that intelligent life is wicked."


    "...Wicked?"


    Looking at Lux that had a difficult face like she talked about the great shame of her people, Iris got a bit closer.


    "Master override. Lux Jameson registration code: 0405663117, Alpha level 44 master override."


    [ICI OVERRIDE CONFIRMED.]


    "Eh?"


    As her own ICI unit spoke out Iris'' body froze in place at the same time she realized the horrible truth.


    "I have control¡­ You see Iris, history is written by the victors. Now this will only be temporary but let''s practice, try saying: I love the outside."


    "No¡­-"


    "Say: I''m so happy to finally be out of my laboratory.


    "- Not like this¡­.-"


    "Say: I really love the outside."


    "- Please¡­"


    "Now let''s practice walking, come on, don''t resist, the outcome will be the same after all."


    Showing a cold smile Lux controlled Iris'' body trough her own ICI unit, making her walk towards the demonic outside.


    "Nooooooo!!!"


    And so the last bastion of the holy and sacred inside, fell to corruption.


    ---


    "F.u.c.k! Why are there so many of them!?"


    "Fall back!"


    "Gha!-"


    "Shit, we lost Sam!"


    Looking around him Jack realized that this was the worst day since he became a monster hunter. Having spent 5 years climbing through the ranks and had reached a place that could not quite be called the top, but it was still far from the bottom. He and his party was in no way weak, but against what they were facing they might as well be flies. It was a group of 12, standing at about 6 meters tall in bodies made of the elements that loosely resembled a human figure nature elementals was the worst enemy of mid and low rank hunters. Jack and his party had been ambushed in an open field when the elementals spawned up the ground having sensed nearby food. Elementals were golem type spirit monsters, with a central core that feeds on mana contained in living creatures, and catches them by gathering the nature around it into a loose form around itself.


    "Shit! We can''t locate the core! Just run for it!"


    "But-"


    "They''re already dead! Besides if he run to a place with thin mana we might survive!"


    What makes elementals hard to kill is their body, or the lack of it. Elementals in essence are only their core, which is a small bright blue gem, that is located somewhere inside the body they make for themselves when hunting. No two elementals are the same, or even form the same way each time, making the act of locating and destroying the core of one extremely hard unless one has an extreme amount of strength, or enough knowledge to locate the core. So their only choice was to abandon their fallen comrades and run towards an area with less dense mana, even if that was several kilometers away through rough terrain.


    "F.U.C.K! RUN FOR THE TREELINE!!!"


    "But that''s still a kilometer away!?"


    "Just DO IT!"


    "FUUUCK! SAM I''M SORRY!!!"


    Being forced to abandon their fallen comrade the party of 3 surviving desperate hunters ran as fast as they could, they didn''t even realize they were being watched.


    [ALL MIRV WARHEADS ASSIGNED TARGETS, SPLASH 3, 2, 1-]


    Suddenly the elementals stopped moving, and as Jack turned around while running he was struck with mix of awe and confusion.


    "What the f.u.c.k!?"


    "No idea, keep running!"


    "Look!"


    Stopping his comrades in their tracks and forcing them to look back.


    ""What the f.u.c.k!?""


    Looking back the monster hunters saw all 12 elementals had stopped moving, they were completely dead. Upon further examination the now dead statues of rock and dirt had each been struck through their cores with some kind of extremely thin projectile that had burned priced straight through their outer protection, and had melted part of their cores and killed them.


    "Have you guys ever seen something like that before?"


    Looking at the dead elementals Jack had never seen or heard of a weapon or attack spell that could melt directly through 4 meters of rock.


    "Like that matteres at all! Hurry up and help us remove the cores before whoever did it comes to collect their reward!"


    "But that''s against the rules!"


    "Like I care! Whoever they f.u.c.k.i.n.g are they most likely used us as bait, and that is also against the rules and just f.u.c.k.i.n.g wrong! Therefore we''re getting what we need before they arrive!"


    "What we need? What are you talk-"


    "We need to put Sam in the ground! And do it properly! Not like that other hunter that just got dumped in the street!"


    "... Okay."


    Seeing the larger picture and realizing that they needed to properly bury their comrade Jack agreed to break the rules, so Sam could get a proper burial.


    -


    "So somebody saves your life and you thank them by stealing their stuff?"


    After Jack and his two surviving comrades had removed 5 of the 12 cores from the dead


    elementals they were suddenly surrounded by cloaked figures. The leader of the cloaked figures appeared to be a woman in her late twenties, she wore what looked like a hardened leather jacket with a strange metal/acrylic vest with hexagonal grid of some sort of unknown purpose. Her red eyes and short white hair gave her a slightly foreign look, but her aggression and short temper was something the hunters were quite used to.


    "Hey we got these first, it''s abandoned kill so we have the right to it!"


    "So if you feel like a kill is abandoned you can take it?... That''s perfect then, it''s time for you people to leave."


    Raising her hand above her head the cloaked figures around her suddenly raised their weapons, allowing them to be identified.


    "Golems!?"


    "And so many!?"


    "Okay we understand, let''s go."


    Acting as the mediator between the two factions Jack moved in between the woman and his fellow hunters.


    "Here''s the core''s we''ve already removed, please let us leave alive and with our fallen comrade."


    Flat out surrendering Jack handed over the elemental cores while asking for mercy.


    "So hunters can be reasonable¡­"


    Not having expected the de escalation the woman looked like she pondered something for a bit before handing 3 of the cores back to Jack.


    "Eh?"


    "For that one''s burial."


    "T-thank you very mu-"


    "But, it on one condition."


    As Jack was about to thank the woman from the bottom of his heart she grabbed his wrist with such strength that he couldn''t move an inch as she put on a cold smile.


    "A-a condition?"


    "Yeah~ Now that I''ve seen you people I''ll never forget you, and will always be able to find you. I''m on a trip at the moment, but when I return trough here I''ll check if you guys properly buried that guy over there, and if you didn''t¡­."


    "If we don''t?"


    "I''ll skin you guys alive, one millimeter at a time~"

 Chapter 90 - Journey to the south (1)

    To the south of the central Kingdom lies the Eglax territory, a young country founded on fertile land with an emphasis on monster hunting. The territory of Eglax had long been an attractive area of expansion for most of its neighbors, but the very thing that made it attractive also made it unsuitable for long term habitation. On paper colonizing fertile land seems like a good idea, but the reality is that land with a large amount of resources is often already occupied by natives of some sort, that won''t really give up their territory.


    "Another pack incoming!"


    "Why the f.u.c.k is there so many monsters!?"


    "I told you, this is the Eglax territory, the home of monsters."


    Living in the Eglax territory meant living under constant threat of monsters, with fertile ground came a large amount of animals, and a large amount of animals attracted a large population of monsters, and in turn a large concentration of monsters meant high ranked monsters. Monsters are a broad category of living and non living creatures that actively feed on, and empower themselves with the use of mana (Unlike normal animals and livestock) and are empowered by the more mana they consume. As such the more mana monsters feed on, the more powerful they become, and the more attuned they become at seeking out dense mana sources. Humans and other intelligent life forms being especially rich in mana content makes them a sought out meal for monsters in the Eglax territory, and every attempt at a long term colony have all perished within a year of forming due to so called monster stampedes, one Lux currently was experiencing for the first time.


    "Limit engagement to low caliber weaponry only, we need to conserve ammunition."


    Driving through an open field with Zephyr running alongside the convoy had been ambushed by a pack of about 200 large wolf type creatures called direwolves.


    "Engage all hostile targets, open up with the zero triple nines''"


    [FIREMISSION RECEIVED, MOVING TO DEFENSIVE FORMATION DELTA¡­ NEUTRALIZING TARGETS.]


    The convoy outfit Lux, Dax and Terra all had agreed on was a slightly modified 15 vehicle fast mobility battlegroup with additional escorts.


    Of the REX AEHWP variants vehicles there were:


    2 closed type armored personnel transports.


    For carrying mission personal, basically an armored all terrain bus on wheels, equipped with an all around ERA system which was standard on all vehicles and a single Rex-0999 machine gun mounted on a gimbal on top for defence.


    1 general type drone tender.


    For maintaining drones and the other AEHWP''s with advanced repair functions and diagnostic tools with a similar Rex-0999 defensive outfit.


    1 Guardian Specter type drone tender.


    Build to maintain, repair, launch and operate Specter and Guardian Vulture type unmanned aerial surveillance drones, also armed with Rex-0999 machine gun and a defensive caff/smoke launcher.


    1 fuel breeder type AEHWP.


    Responsible for refining the high amount of fusion fuel needed to maintain a large battle formation. Being the by far the most valuable and explosive vehicle it was equipped with extra potent ERA, along with thermal jamming and all round caff and smoke launchers.


    1 electronic warfare specialist type AEHWP.


    For maintaining, encryptioning and coordinating communication between the several hundred active friendly drones while disrupting, confusing and even sometimes even hacking hostile drones. Uniquely it is equipped with optical camouflage to prevent visual detection as its only defence.


    3 Reaper type drone carriers.


    Basically armored transports but made especially made for transporting and refueling Reaper drones, each one carries 16 drones and their gear. Equipped with 2 twin Rex-0999 machine gun turrets and a fully automatic grenade launcher.


    1 AEHWP type Monition manufacturing and storage plant.


    Collects raw materials and turns it into munitions and explosives to extend and maintain logistical supplies of the battle group. Not designed for front line use it only carries defensive smoke launchers.


    2 high caliber Guardian-G097 indirect fire railgun carriers.


    As Lux calls them: ''anti fortress railguns on tracks'' constantly on anti drake duty. Equipped with both a indepentialy turreted and a coaxial Rex-0999 machine gun they boast the highest offencive power of the convoy.


    1 Viper cruise missile carrier.


    Carrying 28 Viper long range missiles for over the horizon engagements, just because. Equipped with twin Rex-0999 machine gun turret for close range offence and a smoke launchers for defence.


    2 open high capacity AEHWP material transports.


    Like a large flatbed truck, without the truck part. Brought along to eventually transport the sphere''s contents, but was currently filled with supplies and tradable goods for the trip, the only vehicle in the convoy without any offensive or defensive weapons.


    ---


    "This is definitely overkill¡­"


    Sitting on top of one of the armored transports Lux looked as her priced military equipment which she was so proud of being used to slaughter what amounted to large dogs.


    "Now now~ Don''t be so grim child. This is definitely better than being forced to fight all these monsters."


    "But we''re only shooting them with the 0999''s, those are handheld weapons by default. A squad of drones could do the same, I alone could do the same."


    With a frown Lux explained the groes overuse of resources to the lazy Lilly.


    "Yeah you could and so could I, but this trip is going to take over half a year at the least¡­ Could you keep killing monsters all this time while doing all the other stuff we need to do?"


    "That¡­. Might be problematic now that I''m thinking about it."


    "See? It''s good to take a break once in a while."


    After defeating the direwolfes and extracting the monster cores from them the convoy continued to travel into the planes of the Eglax territory and defeated several more monsters before stopping for the night and forming a camp for the night. With Lux and Terra on meal duty food was prepared in relative silence and after eating Lux Terra and Lilly were finally joined by the last member of the mission.


    "Oh she finally emerged~"


    Having low energy from the rough trip (kidnapping) Iris looked at the campfire with little interest before turning to Terra as she started shooting of questions.


    "Where are we?"


    "Is this still the central Kingdom?"


    "Are we home soon?"


    "Just inside the Eglax territory, no and no."


    Somewhat satisfied with the answer Iris turned to Lux that she looked at slightly afraid.


    "Are you ever going to do that again?"


    "We really hate that."


    "Please never do that again."


    "Could you promise that?"


    "Yeah if you make me, I know you hate it, and no I can''t promise I will do it again."


    Answering Iris rapidfire with a warm smile on her face, Lux send a chill up Iris'' spine and she quickly retreated behind Lilly that was currently busy killing a bottle of something high prof.


    "We understand now."


    "The large women can''t be trusted."


    "Therefore we will stick with the tiny elver."


    "Nice to meet you once again Lilly."


    "I hope we get along."


    "Are you aware of how rude you are being right now?"


    With an annoyed smile on her face Lilly clearly took offence to mention that she was a ''tiny elver'' she barely managed to not wrack Iris in the head.


    "I''m sorry."


    "But you are tiny."


    "It was just an observation."


    "You know!-"


    As Iris kept poking at her insecurities Lilly''s anger boiled over.


    "We will apologize with alcohol."


    "A gift of alcohol."


    "Something I left in the north."


    "Special alcohol."


    "The elder told me it was over 200 years old."


    "We can give it to you."


    "Over 2-200 years old!? Iris I love you!"


    But was pacified by Iris'' bribe and readily hugged Iris as she continued drinking her bozze.


    "Those two sure do get along.. I wonder if we also could lea-"


    "There''s no way that''s going to happen so let''s just do what we came here to do. We need to settle on the route for tomorrow."


    "I see¡­ Of the 3 routes to the hunters guild 1 has the best terrain but 3 is the shortest, while 2 has neither."


    Quickly switching gears after trying to get on Terra''s good side, Lux quickly glanced at the proposed routes and gave her honest opinion.


    "While that is true route 1 has about 3 suspected dragons nests close by and route 1 is straight through 6 troll villages."


    "And?"


    Looking at Lux that didn''t at all understand Terra breathed a deep sigh.


    "Trolls have thick skin that is resistant to machine gun fire so the best thing would be to deal with them personally, taking way too much time. Dragons are not that much better of an option either, as they can only be killed with the high caliber railguns we might lose some equipment in the battle¡­ I propose to take route 2, as it will only add about 3 hours of travel to reach our first objective."


    "First objective? Where exactly are we going in this wasteland?"


    "We have been traveling for about 3 weeks now, Dax told me the AEHWP''s need to have their reactors adjusted every month to maintain stable output, therefore we will be stopping in the only permanent city in the entire Eglax territory, the city of monster hunters."

 Chapter 91 - Journey to the south (2)

    "City of monster hunters? I thought this territory was nothing but monsters and nature?"


    "Yeah that''s what they were told too but monster hunters are a tenacious bunch. After multiple failed expeditions and a truly absurd amount of spilled blood they found a natural stronghold and established an outpost there. It''s expensive to stay and filthy as f.u.c.k, but we''ll be able to calibrate the reactors there."


    "Sounds like you''ve been there before."


    "That''s because I have. It was part of Ranger training."


    "I see¡­ Seems like I still have much to learn. Then let''s go with that option."


    Accepting that she still needed more knowledge about the world she was in Lux started understanding why she was not put in charge of the current mission as she brushed her white hair to the side and breathed a deep breath.


    "I''ll be on night duty for tonight, just go ahead and sleep."


    "But this is the 2nd week in a row you''re not sleeping Lux."


    Showing a hint of worry Terra looked at Lux as if inspecting her condition.


    "2 weeks are no skin off my back, and besides I need to clean my rifle."


    "You sure do that every night huh? Well that''s fine, I need my sleep."


    Saying goodnight with a wave Terra joined Iris and Lilly and went to sleep, leaving Lux that quickly found her way on top of one of the closed transports as she started looking at the moon.


    Lux had lived her entire life being trained to be the best of the best. There was nothing she couldn''t kill, no weapon system she couldn''t master, no government she couldn''t destabilizes within a few days, she just needed to adjust.


    "This area really is perfect for adjustments¡­ ICI task eagle eye-1, give me a density plot of mana signatures in the area along with a high rez thermal snapshot."


    [ICI CONFIRMS. BUILDING DATABRIGE, STANDBY¡­.. REQUEST ACCEPTED, RECEIVING TRANSMISSION, SWITCHING TO TACTICAL MAP DISPLAY.]


    With her ICI unit''s cold voice as a que Lux''s vision turned dark and white lines started drawing up the area around her with great typographic detail as a single red dot was placed in the middle of the map.


    "Up resolution and display mana signatures please."


    instantly the black and white world was filled with dust of all the rainbow''s colours, with darker colours clumping together in groups that indicated especially high density areas, or monsters.


    "Isolate know monster signatures and download personal nav markers to my ICI unit."


    [SCANNING FOR KNOWN MONSTER SIGNATURES, STANDBY.. SCAN COMPLETED, 54 EVENTS LOCATED, DATA SAVED AS NAVIGATIONAL MARKERS. TERMINATE TARGETS Y/N?]


    "No just mark them for me only, terminate tactical map display and display the closest target on my compass."


    As the black and white world disappeared Lux removed her jacket and unclipped her magazine belt as she rose to her feet and did a light stretch.


    "All drones move to holding pattern G5, red."


    [LOCKDOWN CONFIRMED, GOOD HUNTING.]


    -


    "First target acquired."


    Having found her first target Lux stopped breathing as he pulse shot up and her pupils expanded to their limit. She had found some sort of creature in the forest nearby, Lux didn''t care what is was, she only cared that for how to kill it.


    "Aim for the chest¡­"


    Rushing forward while leaving deep cracks in the ground while abandoning all semblance of stealth and first strike she alerted the monster.


    "GHAAAAA!"


    Giving a ugly shout of aggression the monster raised it''s large wooden club above its head as it took a few steps forward while forming a smile on it''s pig like face. Even if the monster was not very intelligent looking it naturally understood the flow of battle, the puny human was aiming for it''s chest, but would be crushed before it would ever reach. Having closed to a range that could be covered in 5 steps Lux collapsed her stance and shot off to the side unexpectedly.


    (As a fake out...)


    Landing on the side of a large tree about 5 meters from the ground Lux formed a large bloodthirsty smile on her face.


    "Then remove the head!"


    Setting off from the tree with so much force that it shattered, Lux spun a half rotation in mid air and cleanly smashed the monsters braincase with ease.


    "And that''s that¡­ there should be a core somewhere inside that¡­."


    Looking at the bloody mess that used to be a living being before she shattered it to pieces Lux thought about digging out the core for about half a second.


    "But why should I remove the core, that won''t help my adjustments."


    Leaving the copse to nature Lux went on with her night. Locating the next target quickly she briefly examined her opponent before continuing on.


    "Clip the wings and pluck out the eyes, or was it pluck the wings and clip out the eyes?... Not that it matters."


    Catching its spiked tail it flung towards her, Lux digged her heels into the ground and ripped.


    "UUUUUUGAAA!!!"


    Having disconnected multiple vertebra in the creature Lux charged ahead and buried her one hand in the monsters eye and used the other to hold on to the skull she ripped out the top part of its spine through the cranium.


    "Ew."


    Shaking off the brain matter as she threw away the spine she had separated from the rest of the body Lux washed of the worst of the blood in a nearby river Lux started locating her next target.


    "This one seems special somehow¡­ Oh well."


    Looking at the horse like creature with countless horns and spiked mane Lux decided just go at it anyway. Jumping up a nearby tree before launching of that tree towards the monster with lighting speed.


    (Shi!-)


    Last second Lux realized the monster had already noticed her she shifted her body to the side as her arm was impaled with one of the monsters countless horns.


    "F.u.c.k.i.n.g hell."


    Landing to the side of the monster Lux ripped of the spiked horn and kicked the monster in the ribs, to no apparent effect.


    "What!?"


    Opening up the range in response to something that went against her understanding of the world Lux kept her distance as she observed her opponent.


    "I''m sure I put a decent amount of force into that kick¡­ Is this ''magic''? Not that it matters."


    Inspecting her injured arm Lux pulled out the monsters horn.


    "What was it again? To kill a turtle¡­-"


    Looking at the horn as her arm healed a incatible speed, Lux flipped the broken horn into a reverse grip.


    "- Take another turtle and use it to beat the other one to death!"


    Closing the range instantly Lux stated a chain of attacks using the horn and systematically dismantled the monster with brutal efficiency.


    ---


    "Good morning Lilly."


    "Oho~ Good morning Lux, any problems doing night shift?"


    Next morning Lilly woke up to find Lux still faithfully fulfilling her nightwatch duty.


    "Did anything happen this night?"


    Showing a slightly concerned face Lilly floated up next to Lux as she asked in a serious manner.


    "No, why do you ask?"


    "Your arm."


    Pointing towards Lux''s arm Lilly pointed out that there was a large hole in her shirt and a bright white mark had appeared.


    "Ah, yeah I just made a small mistake."


    "Really?"


    "Yep, besides I''m not the kind of person you could kill just by stabbing repeatedly."


    Listening to what Lux was saying Lilly took a few seconds to think before a smug smile formed on her face.


    "So the perfect tool has areas where its lacking, and it wishes to return to a perfect state?"


    "... Exactly. Is that so bad?"


    "Nope~ I''ll help cover for you."


    "Do what you want, in the end it doesn''t really matter."

 Chapter 92 - Town of monster hunters (1)

    "Look we can see it now!"


    Enjoying high speed travel like it was her first time Lilly looked out through the top hatch of the closed AEHWP transport as she spotted a peculier mountain in the distance.


    "What that? It looks like a dumpster¡­"


    Training the sensors of the many drones around and above them on what Lilly saw from inside the toy box Lux was not that impressed with what she saw.


    "That''s because it is basically a dumpster¡­ We can set up outside the wall."


    The town of monster hunters, Eglax outpost #5, jewel of the monster hunters and collection of filth, the outpost carries many names. Build in an earth spire, an anomaly thought to have been made by an ancient dragon god, the spire resembles a mix between a giant rose and a torn made of pure rock stretching up several hundred meters in the middle of a desolate plain where nothing grows. By pure luck a single entrance had natural formed in the spire, and by an even greater stroke of luck a group of monster hunters had located that entrance, and returned to a civilized area with that information. And so the 5th Eglax outpost was established, the spires only entrance was fortified and turned into a choke point or so called ''killbox'' against monsters, and a town was built inside the spire.


    "Let''s park over there, in the corner."


    The monster killbox consisted of a long 550 meter ramp without any resemblance of cover flanked by rock faces on both sides leading up to the town''s outer wall that had been constructed by transforming the extremely sturdy rock into a 20 meter tall rock wall further reinforced by strengthening magic. Driving the entire convoy of 15 different types of AEHWP''s up the stone ramp created quite a ruckus initially, but after the guards realized that the strange machines carried people they calmed down, being quite used to see many strange things in the fertile wasteland of monsters. Thosing the left corner of the killbox right up next to the town wall where Zephyr immediately fell over and went to sleep after days of running, the convoy were quickly greeted by the local population after half an hour.


    "Now this sure is some impressive machines."


    "But sadly you''re parking in our spot, so move it!"


    "That or pay up! Hurry up and give us your money!"


    "Yeah and hand those machines over to us too!"


    3 fifty and unkempt hunters promptly showed themselves when they realized the strange vehicles occupants where all women, to promptly try and extort them for all they owned.


    And why wouldn''t they try? In total there were only 4 women, and two of them looked like children, with the black haired woman with red eyes looking like the only guard in her dark leather outfit, with the pale haired amber eyed woman that looked like some nobel that had spent a ton of money to take some sort of sick guided tour.


    "After handing over all your money you can spend your time with us, we''ll take good care of you girls~"


    Licking his lips the leader of the hunters walked over to the noble looking woman before extending his hand towards her chest as a dirty smile formed on his face.


    "Touch me with that filthy and weak looking hand and I''ll remove it from your body and reap your life. Terra?"


    "They''re just low ranking hunters that most likely lost their ability to return to the civilized world, no one cares if they die."


    Looking at the hunter like he was a piece of filth the hunter flinched slightly before his fear and annoyance turned to anger.


    "I''m trying to be nice to you, f.u.c.k.i.n.g noble brat! Just shut up and follow us and you won''t be hu-"


    "Seems like they are no worth keeping alive."


    With a quick movement Lux disappeared from sight of the hunter, before reappearing right in front of him, having closed the range in an instant.


    "Goodnight."


    With a single strike to his tough looking leather chestpiece the hunter looked like he couldn''t understand what had just happened, before falling to his knees and then falling over with blood rushing out of his mouth and nose.


    "Uwa!?- B-boss is dead!?"


    "Run!"


    Having the strongest amongst them instantly killed the 2 other hunters quickly came back to their senses and hurriedly retreated.


    "And that''s that.. Let''s check out the town to see if we can secure any raw materials for resupplying."


    With a carefree look on her face Lux turned to the other girls before suggesting their next cause of action


    ---


    While the disciple had her own problems, the master struggled with his own problems.


    "You oxygen regulation is broken, are you listening Solaris?"


    "Ehee~ You look funny Dax"


    Inside a small room Dax looked at the arcangel called Solaris with strong disappointment in his eyes.


    "Listen to me you stupid half pigeon, if you don''t close your regulator you''re going to die!"


    Raising his voice in attempt to reach the drunk looking angel Dax looked more and more annoyed by the second.


    "Ehh!? But I don''t want to die~"


    But to no apparent effect, she was too far gone and unable to realize she was about to die.


    "... Haaaa, ICI call it."


    [HYPOXIA TRAINING TERMINATED, VIP RATING: F-]


    As the training was ending Dax fixed Solaris'' oxygen regulator and waited for her to regain her sense of self.


    "Come on Solaris get yourself together, you''re looking really pathetic¡­."


    Looking at the still partly hypoxic Dax decided to get her out of the altitude chamber and picked her up in a princess carry and exited the chamber. Outside the chamber was the large hall Dax had spent his last 4 weeks. Right in front of the constructed test chamber stood the CAS-A7 Stinger, and to the left of that was a whiteboard and a collection of chairs, walking past those the Stinger Dax found his bedroll and carefully placed down Solaris and sat down next to her as he started thinking.


    (So symptoms are euphoria, blurred vision and dizziness¡­ We can work with that. The only problem will be her own attitude to this training.)


    Dax had taken a personal request from Solaris to transport her with the CAS-A7 Stinger at extremely high altitude and in deep space for long periods of time, and as such she need some training. Thinking back to the very first day of Solaris'' education Dax''s smile turned wry. Of course the several hundred year old angel was not initially open to receive education, but about 5 minutes into Dax explaining all the ways Solaris could and would die if she didn''t receive that education, she quickly changed her attitude. After that is was just a question of drilling information about atomic theory, biology, rocket science, simple radiobiology and practical first aid into the head of a fantasy creature that could solve all her issues with magic, needless to say Dax would have pulled all the hair out of his head if it was long enough to grab onto.


    "Uuuuuu.."


    As Solaris woke up she quickly flipped over on her stomach and curled up like an embarrassed teen as her face flushed rose red.


    "No you have nothing to be embarrassed about, I do ''ehee~ look funny'' when I''m trying to save your life, it''s completely understandable."


    "UUUuuuuu¡­. Don''t be mean."


    "No I''ll be as mean as I want, I told you about the symptoms, I told you about the risks, but you said ''no I''ll be fine, it''s just pressing a few buttons, I''ll be fine''. Now what did we learn about this?"


    Looking to Solaris for something he had repeated about a million times already, Solaris seemed to pick up on it and nervously answered.


    "Always listen to your instructor?"


    Showing a smile when he heard what he wanted to hear, Dax continued to inquire about what she remembered.


    "And why is that?"


    "Because they are trying to keep you alive."


    "And if you don''t listen to your instructor?"


    "Then I am going to die."


    "Good~ Then let''s continue, if you are up for it."


    Holding out a hand, Dax showed a warm smile that good Solaris out of her depressed mood as she took her hand with a determined smile.


    "Yes! Let''s do it!"

 Chapter 93 - Town of monster hunters (2)

    "This place really is disgusting¡­."


    Looking around the town of monster hunters Lux wasn''t really that impressed. The town/outpost was constructed out of mostly salvaged materials and build into the rock spire. Building was mostly made out of what looked like driftwood. The shoddy construction of buildings inside the outpost aside water was a rare resource so bathing was a rare event in of itself, and combine that with the fact that monster hunters was not the most cleanly demographic the entire outpost had a special smell that further detracted from Lux''s evaluation.


    "Why would we even want to enter this town? Let''s just stay outside with Zephyr and Iris."


    Lilly too was not fond of the town''s smell and held her nose in disdain while looking around at the unkept monster hunters that was going along with their day.


    "No we need to visit the market and restock on raw metals to resupply the 0999''s."


    Terra seemed to be the only person that wanted to be there, and voiced her reasoning that Lux had to agree with.


    "That seems boring, I''m going back."


    Lilly however didn''t share Terra''s and Lux''s enthusiasm and turned around to leave the dirty outpost and never return.


    "Will you be alright on the way back?"


    "Ka ka ka! If anyone tries anything funny with me I''ll make sure they regret it, just before I plaster them all over the area."


    Laughing with a smug smile on her face Lilly made sure to speak loud enough that the nearby hunter could hear her while she circulated mana trough her body that made any mana sensitive hunters shiver.


    "Okay then, but take care."


    Saying goodbye to Lilly Terra turned her head towards Lux before she did a small nod. Lux instantly understood the signal and quietly put her one hand on the pocket of her pants as they approached the blacksmithing area of the town.


    "Okay so these blacksmiths are extremely dedicated to their crafts, more like they''re insane to go all the way out here to repair and maintain weapons and practice their craft with nothing but the extreme bare essentials. Let me do the talking."


    Entering a more professional looking wooden construction the air filled with the smell of metal and as they headed ins¨ªde they were surrounded by dirty weapons and armor piled haphazardly.


    "Hello!?"


    Calling out into the room there was no response from inside and the girls decided to heard further inside the smithy shop.


    "Anyone alive in here!?"


    "We''re closed!"


    A rough sounding and elderly voice sounded out as a response to Terra''s shout, prompting Terra to smile at Lux before she responded to the voice coming from the back of the shop.


    "Is that so? Then let''s trade these raw metals somewhere else Lux!"


    "W-w-wait a minute! Did you say raw metals!? I''ll be right out!"


    Hearing something scrabeling in the back like a rat out of hell Lux whispered to Terra.


    "Why the hell is he freaking out?"


    "These guys love their craft, out here they mostly work with used a salvaged materials. New, raw metal bars are like pure crack cocaine for these people."


    Right as Terra was done explaining what looked to be an old beastkin emerged from the back of the shop, he wore a thick and filthy leather apron with a red bandana wrapped around what was left of his white and gray hair that sported 2 wolf looking ears on top of his head. The smiths eyes were not showing his age at all, with youthful spirit still showing in his deeply brown eyes, the rest of his face was overall unkempt, with a scruffy slightly singed gray beard that outlined his clear sharp jawline with a large mouth that twisted into a frown upon seeing the visitors.


    "What the hell are you brats doing in here there''s no way you have anything. I¡­ Want¡­ Where the hell did you get that!? How many do you have!? And can I buy them?!"


    As the smith complained seeming what was obviously not metal traders Terra pulled out a 5 kg bar of pure steel that the smith quickly rushed towards and started rubbing his cheek on as he fired off questions at an awesome rate.


    "We brought them from Kingstead, there''s about 200 kilos we''re willing to sell and you can buy them for a mix of sulfur, food rations and clean water."


    Answering the questions in a quick fire manner Terra put on a smile as she continued squeezing.


    "But we can see that you''re busy and not willing to trade so we''ll find someone else. Good day."


    As Terra packed up the steel bar and started walking towards the exit, the smith''s face paled as his pure crack cocaine of the highest purity was taken away from him.


    "N-n-now wait a second missy, I have the best connections in town! This is the only place you''ll be able to unload such a large load of raw materials!"


    "Yeah you''re properly correct, but I find the manners of the trader much more important. We will trade what we can here and then off load the last of our goods somewhere else, Lux let''s go."


    "... Sure."


    Not really liking Terra''s type of extortion Lux agreed after a few seconds, and recently started leaving when they both was blocked by the smith.


    "Okay! Okay! I understand missy! Let''s talk business!"


    The reason Terra decided to carry metals on the far journey was because of the relatively high density of the goods, and extremely high value raw and pure metals had in isolated places like the town of monster hunters. Theoretically speaking it would be possible to carry most of the food and water for the entire trip, but it was much easier to just trade for it. At the same time as Terra was extorting the blacksmith for all his was worth Lilly was taking a walk around the town. Even if she hated the smell of the town Lilly had been stuck in elven territory for most of her long life, and therefore was curious of the outside world and all its contents.


    "Nnn? Is that a bar?"


    Looking around the shoddy town Lilly spotted a sign with a picture of a glass of beer on it. As if drawn like a moth to a flame Lilly wandered over to the bar, but was soon blocked by a group of monster hunters in somewhat uniform equipment.


    "Now look what we have here, she sure did arrive like we were told, what are we gonna do Henric?"


    "Shut up and stick to the orders."


    Catching them quietly speaking to each other Lilly''s lips curled up into a large demonic smile.


    "Finally real some exercise.. It has been a while~"


    Using subtle wind magic Lilly scanned the hunters from head to toe and found something interesting.


    "Follow us quietly if you want to-"


    "Now now children that sure is some interesting weaponry you all have there, is it wrong to call it a modified Rex rifle... No, the base is a pistol that has been modified~ Now that sort of weapon does not belong to you people, so please repay me for them with your life~"


    Releasing bloodl.u.s.t unlike they had never sensed the small demonic looking elver looked like the incarnation of death.

 Chapter 94 - Town of monster hunters (3)

    "Now now children that sure is some interesting weaponry you all have there, is it wrong to call it a modified Rex rifle... No, the base is a pistol that has been modified~ Now that sort of weapon does not belong to you people, so please repay me for them with your life~"


    Releasing bloodl.u.s.t unlike they had never sensed the small demonic looking elver looked like the incarnation of death.


    "Now I have no idea what you are talking about miss, would you like to talk about that over a beer? I saw you walking over towards the bar."


    Keeping his cool the hunter called Henric aproced Lilly with a cold looking smile on his face. Henric wore a reddish brown coat that covered everything other than his head, with a single black square emblem on his chest. The same kind of uniform was sheared by at least 20 other people of the about 300 occupants Lilly had noticed in town since she arrived a little over half an hour ago, and therefore she had made sure to tap into their conversations whenever she had the chance, and after she had scanned one of them with wind magic she had noticed something that was not allowed to exist, a modified piece of Dax''s so called technology.


    "There''s no way I''ll drink with Empire sc.u.m that''ll kill me first chance they get to take me inside an anti magic barrier."


    Having perfectly seen through their scheme, Lilly showed a cold smile while circulating mana inside her body for offensive magic.


    "F.u.c.k! Kill her now!"


    Realizing that Lilly was going for the kill, Henric decided to do the same as he reached into his coat and grabbed his weapon like his subordinates that followed him, what they pulled out looked like a primitive submachine gun, with a fully automatic low caliber pistol as a base that had a reinforced metal grip added on for extra stability.


    "Fire!"


    "Too slow~"


    Knowing what was going to happen Lilly taped the ground with her heal as she pumped mana into the ground, the result showed itself immediately as Lilly was surrounded by a wall of stone and stone spikes shot up towards her assailants that was fruitlessly shooting into her rock cover.


    "Disperse!"


    Sending out quick and precise commands Henric saved all except a few of his subordinates from getting skewered as they dispersed and quickly tried to flank around Lilly''s rock cover.


    "Naive children! Time for a spanking!"


    Lilly was of course not that happy about 20 people suddenly trying to kill her, and her anger had really flared when they had opened fire in the middle of a busy street and hit several of the innocent bypassers. Shattering the rock wall with strengthening magic Lilly flew forward propelled by her extreme control of air magic while she hurled fragments of rock towards the furthest targets and charged what looked to be the enemy leader.


    "No you don''t!"


    Seeing the move coming from a mile away Henric drew his sword as he had emptied his primary weapon and readied a response against the demonic looking tiny elver.


    "You''re 800 years too young to even try and kill me!"


    Rushing past Henric Lilly stopped moving and turned her head back towards him as she said coldly.


    "And that''s one more~"


    Taping the ground once Henric''s sword split in half.


    "Eh?-"


    Uttering his last resemblance of a word Henric also split in half right at the gut.


    "My new employer really comes up with the greatest ideas~ Making a ''ultrasonic knife'' by vibrating air molecules at high speeds you can cut anything softer than a rock~ Now who wants to die next?"


    -


    At the same time Terra and Lux had also noticed something wrong with the town, and therefore decided to delay negotiations with the blacksmith.


    "Lux."


    "Yeah, be ready. Precondition 2."


    Giving a nod in response Terra reached into her pocket and clicked some sort of metal contraption with her finger, and the device quickly surrounded her arm halfway up her forearm and formed an armored glove.


    "Ready, precondition 2."


    Walking through narrow alleyways Terra''s face turned cold while Lux''s face turned into one large and furious grin.


    "Satellite delay is exactly 0.536 seconds, make sure to time it right recruit~"


    "Yes yes Lieutenant General~"


    Stopping in place at a dead end in an ally, Lux turned around and put out her chest as she spoke in a honeyed voice.


    "Hey, hey~ Why don''t you people come over here so we can have some fun?~"


    Waving out into the empty alleyway 3 men in red cloaks appeared from the shadows.


    "Now misters why are you following us? looking for some fun?~"


    Approaching the closest man with a bewitching smile on her face Lux inadvertently showed Terra the dark side of the Hellwalkers, so called ''gray ops''.


    "Ah yeah you girls looked so stunning we thought why not? It''s not often you see girls as beautiful as you in this place, did you arrive today?"


    Responding well to Lux''s approach the men all loosened their faces and closed in on Lux that hid her armored glove behind her back.


    "Yeah we arrived just today~ Oh, that''s quite a coincidence~ Right Terra?"


    Looking back towards Terra as she herself was only standing about a meter from the closet cloaked man, Lux completely let her guard down, and in turn the men also calmed down a bit, if Lux was out to kill them she would never turn her head away from them at such a close range.


    "It sure is a great coincidence yeah~"


    "Wait what are you girls talking about?"


    Confused about their giggles the one of the men walked up to Lux as he questioned the lovely ladies his C.O. Had told him to capture or kill at all costs.


    ""Because we arrived at the same day as you guys die~""


    Speaking completely in sync with cold smiles on their faces Lux and Terra both reached behind their backs with their gloved arms and attached something to them as they charged forward and each hit one of the men in the chest as sound gunfire rang out in the cramped ally.


    "Wha!-"


    The only remaining survivor acted quickly and drew his submachine gun and squeezed the trigger.


    "Too slow!"


    Grabbing the barrel of the weapon Lux forced it towards the sky while she clenched her armored hand as she moved to uppercut the man, but he was dead before her fist even landed, as the weapon Lux carried fired when she squeezed her hand together into a fist.


    "Ah~ The 332 PDW is the perfect weapon for me, it doesn''t get in the way of me beating the shit out of someone."


    Guardian model 332 personal defence weapon.


    Having outgrown its original purpose the PDW or personal defence weapon still remains, even long after the last manned combat vehicle crew which they initially were designed to arm and defend, became obserlite. The PDW itself was an evolutionary offshoot of the earlier SMG or submachine gun, the new system added armor piercing high velocity ammunition to the small, mobile close quarter weapons platform. Finding a market in special ops units, armored cores and police forces the PDW platform still stuck around and was further improved, becoming more and more compact to the very extreme, resulting in the most compact design to date, the Guardian 332. Designed to fit around the operators arm, the 332 is small enough to be worn under a shirt without much issue. In such a small design several curious decisions had to be made, perhaps the most interesting one is the dual barrel system. With the barrel of the weapon being so close to the operators wrist, some hand movements cloud be dangerous, therefore two independent barrels positioned above and below the hand and feed from the central magazine and are locked from firing when the operators hand is in the way. Another curious design feature is the ammunition, normally 2 mm ammunition wouldn''t do more than make most marines laugh, but bullets made of nanomesh (Originally designed for microsurgery) that balloon, expand, fragment and explode when hitting bone or pricing armor, the 332 is extremely deadly weapons system that on one would dare take lightly. The Guardian 332 originally remained mostly unknown and overlooked until it was adopted by the 125th combined ops orbital drop troopers and was successfully used in gray and black ops for assassination and HVT acquisition (High value target smash and grab).


    "Yeah this weapon really is unfair¡­"


    Examining the deadly weapon there was no larger than a winter glove Terra really didn''t know what to think about it.


    "Of course it''s unfair, that''s what makes it so great~"


    "Bu-"


    "Rule #1 of Hellwalker combat: A good engagement is one you have already tilted to your favor in some way. As such you''ll avoid losses while increasing the hostile''s. The very idea of a ''fair fight'' is nothing more than a pipedream that get people killed... Come on, let''s annihilate the rest of the hostiles before they try anything funny."

 Chapter 95 - Town of monster hunters (4)

    "That''s that then¡­ You over there!"


    Having massacred the 20 some people in reddish brown cloaks trying to kill her for some reason, Lilly called out to one of the spectators, a senior monster hunter.


    "M-me?"


    "Yeah you child, come over here~ I wont hurt you unless you make me."


    "O-okay, I don''t hold any hostile intentions against you!"


    Dropping his trusty two handed sword, the veteran monster hunter also peeled off his plate armor to show that he didn''t hide any weapons underneath.


    "W-what do you want?"


    Even if his safety had been somewhat guaranteed the hunter wasn''t naive enough to believe that the tiny elver wouldn''t kill him if he couldn''t answer in a satisfactory manner.


    "Did you know these people?"


    "N-no elder! They arrived a week ago and booked themselves into the moon inn."


    Having realized what kind of creature he spoke to, the veteran hunter couldn''t stop shaking.


    "The moon inn huh?... Okay then."


    Taking a moment to think Lilly elevated herself above the head of all the spectator with the help of air magic and amplified her voice through the use of magic as she spoke to the shaking hunter and the surrounding crowd.


    "I''m going to need a volunteer to guide me to the moon inn and some more children that keep this area free from interference in the meanwhile. Of course the volunteer''s will be rewarded handsomely, but if no children helps me I''ll burn this disgusting town to the ground."


    -


    Quickly securing a guide Lilly was led to what amounted to nothing more than a dirty hole in the wall of a building. Saying goodbye to the guide after throwing him some monster cores, Lilly entered and politely got the attention of the innkeeper and was quickly lead towards the room the red cloaks had rented.


    "That will be it innkeep, I''ll take it from here."


    "T-thank you for your benevolence and sparing my life!"


    Running away with his tail between his legs the innkeeper retreated to a safe distance while hoping his inn wouldn''t be completely ruined.


    "Now then, time to knock.."


    Briefly channeling mana Lilly formed blades of wind around her hands as she took a deep breath. Having prepared herself the grand elder prepared flying magic then circulated mana mixed into the surrounding air and scouted ahead into the room.


    (Large¡­ And occupied¡­. Wait, what is that?)


    Sensing something she did not expect Lilly froze for a moment, before her face turned grim and her anger flared and she breached the room with a giant ball of compressed air that completely blew in the locked and reinforced door.


    "What!?"


    "Intruder!"


    "Kill her!"


    Once more proving they had some sort of extensive combat training, the room''s occupants quickly sprung into action as they scrambled to reach their weapons.


    "TOO SLOW!"


    But alas Lilly already knew where all the weapons inside the room where located, and quickly dealt with the hostiles in order of who happened to be closer to their means of fighting back. After 30 seconds of fighting the 30 person bunk room had turned silent, and 5 humans laid dead on the floor, either having been torn to shreds from Lilly''s air blades of her other spells.


    "Now that that then¡­ Time to check out this."


    Turning towards the innermost part of the room Lilly floated a few centimeters above the ground so she avoided to soil her feet as she approached some sort of large cloth covered crate.


    "Now what do we have here?"


    Hearing a stressed heartbeat and rushed breathing from beneath the cloth, Lilly formed a wind blade in one hand while she lifted the cloth with the other.


    "HIII!! Don''t hurt me again I won''t make any noise!"


    It was a small creature, no larger than the 1 meters and 50 centimeters that Lilly herself stood at. The child had slightly scaled skin, with about half a centimeter wide scales reflected the scarce sunlight of the room and made all the colours of the rainbow shine out in return. The scales looked to form wherever tougher skin would normally form, such as the palms of their hands and along the jawline and on his knees and elbows. The child''s limbs were also unique, with small fins and weeped feet and hands that looked to be specialized for aquatic travel. The child''s face was very androgynous, with short blue hair, a small nose and large blue eyes. The Child Looked to be no more than 10 years old, but Lilly could see multiple scars and bruises, old and new all over the body that was not even properly hidden by what basically amounted to a dirty rag.


    "A child?"


    "Please don''t hurt me!!"


    In response to Lilly looking at the kid with interest it curled up into a ball and begged for mercy. In response Lilly''s eyes turned cold, if there was one thing she hated in the entire world it was child abusers.


    "HIIII!!"


    "No no, it''s okay its okay. Please calm down."


    Having dealt with children like that before as she had saved and raised many runaway slave children she quickly bend the steel cage open and hugged the child with all her might as she quietly started to sing a calming elvish song her mother had taught her. After about 35 minutes of clawing, screaming and being shouted in the face, the child finally calmed down and fell asleep.


    "This sure is a handful¡­"


    ---


    After the last redcoats had been annihilated and all traces of their existence had been catalogued and send up the chain of command Lilly, Lux and Terra spend an entire day negotiating trade and cleaning up which only left the question about the child Lux had picked up.


    "Absolutely not. We''re not keeping her, him."


    "I''m also against it, we''re traveling through the most dangerous territory there is, we can''t bring a child."


    With both Lux and Terra agreeing on something for once Lilly prepared to make an ultimatum, before the last member of the group spoke up.


    "That statement is inherently incorrect."


    "Like completely false."


    "Perhaps you''re forgetting about our existence?"


    "You''re already bringing a lot of children on this trip, in a way."


    "Iris, that''s-"


    "Entirely correct. Thanks you for agreeing with our statements Lux."


    "We appreciate it."


    Seeing Iris more upset than any of them ever had before, the entire conversation slowed down.


    "Iris what''s wrong?"


    "We can''t leave the child here, we''ll state our reasons."


    "Reason #1: If you''re already keeping one child on this trip, one more is no issue."


    "Reason #2: I''ve calculated the child''s chance of survival if we abandon the child here, it''s less that 0.001%."


    "Reason #3: Whoever attacked us kept that child alive and captured for some reason, we can possibly learn about the hostiles from the child."


    "Reason #4: I''m really bored on this trip, I want a playmate for the trip, otherwise I might stop maintaining the reactors."


    "... We do have a child maintaining our fusion reactors.."


    "That we do.. So Lux and I are against taking the child with us, and Iris and Lilly want to help¡­ What do we do?"


    With the inside of the AEHWP falling silent as the discussion came to a standstill, it wasn''t long before Lux broke the silence.


    "There''s really no discussion at all, this is a military operation, not a high school class. I am acting as second in command, Terra is first in command and we''re both opposed to bringing the child along."


    "These are the facts yeah.. We''ll pay a large sum to make sure the child is not harmed and kept save while we complete the mission."


    Making the final decision on the matter Terra stood up and was about to walk out when she was blocked by Iris.


    "We, no I was serious about that earlier statement. That child is like me, it needs help."


    Still maintaining her poker face Terra answered Iris reluglently.


    "On that point we agree."


    "Then why are we not helping!?"


    "Because I''m not bringing a tourist along for this trip!!"


    But as Iris kept poking at her reasoning Terra cracked.


    "Eh?"


    "Last time that happened you died and my dear friend also suffered!! That is all we''re going to say about this subject, we''re leaving in 1 hour, anyone that do not agree are free to stay here!"


    Just as Dax blamed himself for Alice''s injury so did Terra. She believed that she and Alice not been there Dax would have handled the situation flawlessly. If Terra had not been there Dax could have saved Alice, if she had not been selfish and wanted to gain Dax''s approval.

 Chapter 96 - Town of monster hunters (5)

    "Dax? Are you okay?"


    "... Ah, yeah I''m good."


    Taking way longer than he normally used to form a response, the arc angel Solaris wasn''t really that convinced.


    "Really? You''ve been kinda out of it for the last hour."


    "Ah, that''s because some bugs have shown themselves and I''ve been thinking about how to crush them."


    "Bugs?"


    "From the east, you know the ones that stole a lot of my stuff."


    "I see, why not just ''nuke them'' as you usually do?"


    Hearing a expression he did not expect from a magical creature Dax was slightly put off and looked at Solaris'' expression for a second before answering.


    "Yeah I can''t really just nuke them just because they keep shooting my drones out of the sky so it''s not really a outright declaration of war¡­.. Or not, time to nuke the entire continent."


    "Dax!?"


    Having switched tone drastically mid sentence as a cold smile filled with bloodl.u.s.t formed on Dax''s face he started putting together a war plan with the help of ICI in his head while he explained to Solaris.


    "I just received a report, they just attacked my cute second in command and the rest of her convoy under orders to capture or kill all of them."


    Now knowing the situation Solaris put on a serious expression as she asked Dax frankly.


    "Do you need to postpone my request and deal with that immediately then?"


    "Nah I feel like the events are connected somehow so we''ll be moving up the schedule while I will be keeping some of my attention on the children."


    As Dax showed a child like smile Solaris slightly winced when she asked a question she knew she would regret.


    "M-moving up? In what way?"


    "Directly to practical, more hands on training~"


    ---


    Having cleared up the mess they had made around town Terra and Lux were doing final preparations to leave, but this time they looked quite differently when they entered the city. Instead of casual clothing or leather armor they were fully outfitted for combat, most eye catching was the hexagonal grid of the state of the art armored vest that covered the entire chest area and with thinner, more elastical plating of the same kind covering their necks, arm and legs under the dense and robust pants that were also in turn covered by some kind of flexible reactive polymer type gray armor. The same type of armor/fabric was also used for the shirt, and in both cases had been rolled up to the elbows were dense elbow protectors were strapped in. Most eye catching for the monster hunters of the city was their helmets however, with the pitch black armored mask the hellwalkers were known for as a base, their entire heads was covered by gray and black armor protection, with the only thing that were visible being their arms from the elbows down. Said arms were in Lux''s case carrying a customized Rex-Alpha 357 hybrid rifle with a permanently attached bayonet that could heat up to pierce armor, and a slightly extended barrel that fitted way denser capacitors than even the military themselves had access to. Surrounding Lux and Terra were a entire squadron of drones outfitted with loaded weapons that had already almost killed about 10 hunters that had gotten to close to the formation.


    "We are sure attracting a lot of attention¡­ Those drones are in combat ready condition red, are you sure they won''t kill some hunters?"


    "I don''t really care to be honest."


    "Lux!"


    "Yeah yeah, crist you have no humor.. I''m manually controlling the drones and overwriting their AI when needed, worst thing that can happen is that some of the ''firce'' monster hunter might piss themselves, so really just a net neutral on their overall hygiene. I am so glad my armor has NBCN protection."


    "NBCN?"


    "Nuclear, biological, chemical and nanomachine protection. Basically I can''t smell anything of the outside in here."


    "Wait that''s an option!? How do I turn that on?"


    Surprised by learning of a feature that could save her from the towns special smell Terra quickly inquired about how to turn in on in her armor.


    "There is none, not in yours at least."


    "What!?"


    "Protection against NBCN treats are for staff officers only~"


    "Permission to speak freely lieutenant general?"


    "Denied~ Game face on, let''s make sure that kid stays safe while we do what we need to do."


    "Yes, yes ma''am. Just don''t kill any civs please."


    After a few more minutes of waking Terra and Lux reached what could be called the mayor''s office of the monster hunters. The mayor of the town was a older beastkin woman called Urla, belonging to the bearkin race she had been blessed with a enduring body that still was in perfect condition after countless years. Having been made a contracted hunter by the monster hunters guild near the end of her active carrier she was then offered the long term assignment of making sure that the newly formed outpost in the Eglax territory, the home of monsters. She had spend over 10 years managing a town in the middle of a gigantic monster filled wasteland, she had seen a lot, riots, murders, mass murders, monster attacks and so on.. But the strangest thing since she had started governing the outpost, even when in her entire career had happened just a few days ago. 32 people had been killed before noon, that by itself was not completely out of the ordinary, but it turned out to have been just 3 women that had killed all of them, and it had even happened in self defence after they had been ambushed. After that she had been rudely interrupted when some elver had kicked in her door and handed her some kid before promesing that she would personally burn the town to the ground if she didn''t protect the kid with her life, and now 2 women(?) in strange clothing came to talk with her.


    "So what the f.u.c.k do you people want?"


    Speaking to the 2 completely covered people sitting in front of her wielding what she recognized as some kind of deadly weapon that shoots lead at very high speeds and the 3 strange and glowing metal golems behind them with similar weapons, Urla didn''t show a speck of fear, as she had learned not to do in those situations.


    "We want you to guarantee the safety of the child, simple as that."


    "No way in hell. Does this look like a damned kindergarten to you people? We get attacked by monster swans about twice a week that we barely survive, and you f.u.c.kheads just wiped out 32 fighters, chances are that this outpost will fall to the next attack."


    "Well that''s too bad, but this is not a request miss Urla."


    "... Is that a treat?"


    "Only if you believe that to be the case miss Urla. Of course that treat would extend to your grandchildren as well, if you believe it is one."


    While leading the conversation Lux took of the mask part of her helmet to reveal her bright red orange eyes that showed she meant every word she said, in response Urla''s smile disappeared completely as she rung a small bell. In response to the sound of the bell a large door behind her opened and multiple burly men stepped in, and one of them carried the child Lilly had found.


    "It is time for you to leave, I don''t deal with people that do not respect their elders."


    Barely containing her bloodl.u.s.t as she spoke Urla started quietly circulating mana inside her body, in response Lux formed a warm smile on her face as she briefly looked at the child before answering Urla.


    "I don''t respect my elders? Of course I do. You turn 78 years next month correct?"


    "What the hell does that have to do with anything!?"


    "I remember when I turned 78, that''s way back when I joined the marine academy. I was so young and naive back then, I couldn''t even destroy a single drone battalion by myself back then."


    "What, really? That''s only 512 drones outfitted with assault weapons right? I thought you would have done that way earlier, I plan to make my first attempt at that in a few years time."


    "Well you are picking up the Dax''s training faster than anyone I''ve ever seen, but please take a bit more time than that, after all the drones shoot to kill. Besides it''s going to be about 200 years before we leave this world."


    Stepping off into their own world even as Urla and her veteran bodyguards released bloodl.u.s.t Urla realized that they didn''t really think of them as treats, not even in the slightest.


    "I will repeat my prior statement, take the child and leave, this is not a kindergarten."


    "Yeah it is, I just said so, and so it is."


    "Upsetting me means upsetting the entire monster hunters guild."


    "Oh just the hunters guild? That''s no issue then."


    "What!?"


    Urla was a person truly of the world of swords and magic, in that world guilds like the hunter''s guild and merchants was arguably more powerful than most countries, and as such the idea of opposing such entities was extremely outrageous.


    "We have already forced the merchants guild out of the central kingdom and wiped out 20% of their total assets with about 23.5% more to follow in the next 5 years due to lost revenue and planed hostile takeovers where we plan to size 7 of their major monopolies. Eliminating hostile entities is a speciality of mine, the monster hunters guild will be no different if they chose to oppose us."


    Leaving Urla entirely speechless at what Lux had just uttered without a hint of sarcasm on her face, she was about to raise the white flag when the door behind Lux and Terra was torn open and a small elver stormed in, making the demihuman child that so far had been scared shitless react.


    "Older sister Lilly!"


    "There he is~ I''ve come to take you with me."


    "No you don''t Lilly! We talked about this, stand down!"


    "F.u.c.k you!"


    As confusion inside the small office peaked, no one noticed that one of the Reaper drones in the background started acting up.

 Chapter 97 - Town of monster hunters (6)

    The normally small mayor''s office had suddenly become even smaller with the sudden addition of Lilly. After a initial outburst of opinions the room had turned mostly quiet while the two parties discussed their approach among themselves in hushed voices.


    "Lilly back off, we''ve already arrived at a conclusion, the child stays here."


    Trying to take control of the situation Terra repeated her earlier stance, that the conversation was already over, but Lilly didn''t tolerate that in the slightest.


    "Sure you have, but it''s a shit conclusion."


    "Lilly plea-"


    "You of all people should realize that as a fact Lux. I''ve heard the story you and Dax share, what if he just left you at the orphanage after deciding that it would be the safer choice for you?"


    As if waiting for Lux to cut in Lilly presented a counter argument that drew on Lux''s own past.


    "... Okay, but I still don''t like this."


    Remembering that Dax himself took a major risk when he adopted her and brought her on a journey through lawless space to and introduced her to 2 sisters from a dead race before he went off to fight a galactic war. With Lux at least partly convinced Lilly turned to Terra, having spend most of the night talking to Dax Lilly was already prepared to convince her.


    "I''ve heard you''re planning to become some badass soldier, just like Dax and Lux here. I think you should give that up right now."


    "And why is that?"


    Almost failing to keep her cool Terra entertained Lilly''s statement, to which Lilly formed a smile as she posed a question herself.


    "Then are you expecting to be able to do all that if you can''t protect 2 f.u.c.k.i.n.g children instead of 1?"


    "... The child will be entirely your responsibility, you make sure they''re cleaned, fed, quiet and follows instructions at every point in time, be that day or night."


    "Of course. I''ve been raising children since before you were born brat."


    Showing a confident smile Lilly puffed out her mostly non existent chest with a ''leave it to me kind of expression''. In the background one of the reaper drones was quietly acting up, without alerting Lux control was slowly and meticulously sized while the datastream to Lux was still maintained without any interruption as it slowly moved its hand and unlocked the mechanical safety on its standard issue rifle.


    "We have come to an agreement on our side."


    "What a coincidence, we have too. We''re keeping the child here."


    As the 2 sides represented by Lux and Urla started discussing their new stances, that had somehow flipped completely.


    "If you want the child there are conditions."


    "Nah, I don''t think so. Condition red, weapons on standby."


    Giving a short verbal command as she raised her left hand as if signaling while the drones raised their weapons. In response Urla''s guards drew their weapons while one of them grabbed the child and got ready to leave the room.


    "Well this appears to be a standstill."


    Leaning back in her chair Urla believed to have the upper hand.


    "Is it really? I feel like it''s no more that a slight inconvenience."


    "Then does that mean you''ll meet our requests?"


    Slightly hopeful Urla didn''t notice how Lux''s smile had turned colder while her eyes turned fierce.


    "Condition black, Weapons unlocked."


    [CONDITION BLACK CONFIRM.]


    "Condition black affirmed."


    [CONDITION BLACK CONFIRMED. WEAPONS FREE, CIVILIAN TARGETING ALLOWED.]


    "This is not really a standstill, but a series if serval question I will find the answer to within the next minute. Will your suicidal pride cave, or will I have to wipe high velocity blood spatter of my face? Will I have to burn down this entire sad excuse for a outpost? And if so how much anti personnel ammunition will I have to expend? Only time will tell."


    Speaking in a manner like she was picking dirt out from under her nails, Urla realized that there was no negotiating, no compromise, one should just lay down and hope not to be killed.


    "Take the child, and never show you face here again."


    "That works out great for us, Lilly."


    While the drones in the background still held Urla and her personal guards and gunpoint Lilly walked over to the small demihuman child that so far had been scared shitless of all the things that had been going on.


    "Hello~ Remember me?"


    Approaching slowly as she spread out her arms for a hug.


    "Lilly!~"


    Picking up the child still in a hug Lilly was apparently satisfied and then quickly left the room as she hummed a quiet song.


    "How lovely we could come to such a perfect understanding."


    With a warm business like smile Lux got up and left the room with Terra as the drones still held them at gunpoint, after about half a minute one of the drones also left, and Urla started getting irritated with still being threatened.


    "What the hell is up with this stupid golem?"


    ["Nothing at all, I''ve just temporarily taken control of it."]


    Initially surprised by the drone speaking, Urla quickly collected herself.


    "And who are you?"


    ["If I say I joined the hunters guild about half a year ago and have a higher ranking than you would you understand?"]


    "I see. So what the f.u.c.k do you want?"


    Catching up fast Urla wonder what the renowned and famous ''qiton'' wanted to with her.


    ["I''m still thinking about that at the moment, part of me wants to travel halfway around the world just so I can crush your windpipe with my own hand, and another part of me want to help you with your current monster issue, and I''m kind of split at the moment."]


    "YOU DARE!?"


    Apparently not able to handle the continued treats to his employer, one of the guards charged the lone drone with his short sword drawn, in response ''Dax'' crouched down as he engaged the mechanical safety on his rifle as he brought it down from his shoulder to ''his'' h.i.p.s. As the guard got within 2 steps the drone sprung into action and used the Rex alpha rifle as a spear and crushed the guards windpipe in a precise and well practised movement.


    ["I''ve decided~"]


    Bringing the rifle back up to the drone''s shoulder, the safety was once more disabled as Dax pointed the sharply loaded rifle towards Urla. In response Urla put up her hand as to stop her guards as she looked at the drone without any particular expression on her face.


    ["Smart move~"]


    Felling Dax''s smile behind the drone Urla waited for Dax to be done with his practical joke.


    ["I''ll take care of your current monster issue."]


    "And why would you be so kind as to do that?"


    ["Because I feel like it, and because you will buy all the cores at a favorable price."]


    "Why?"


    ["Because otherwise I''ll nuke this sad little outpost and start my planned hostile disassembly of the hunters guild. It''s high time for all these guilds and countries of this small f.u.c.k.i.n.g backwater world to realize what exactly they are dealing with¡­ Or not, you decide the timing."]

 Chapter 98 - Town of monster hunters (7)

    "What the f.u.c.k?"


    Finally having finished preparation to leave the town of monster hunters after suffering a ambush and a hostile negotiation with the mayor Lux was overseeing the last of the double checking of their inventory when she suddenly stopped in her tracks and drew her pistol while looking around as she sharpened her senses.


    "What is it now?"


    Not really that keen on waiting more time to leave the badly smelling outpost behind Terra looked at Lux suspicious of if she was dragging out the inspection, or trying to make up some sort of excuse to burn the town to the ground.


    "Something is wrong. It''s like my backup sensor feedback is lagging, but the time lag doesn''t add up at all. It''s like, I''ve¡­ DAAAAXXXX!!!"


    Looking around suspiciously while she slowly pieced the available information together as she quietly muttered before her confusion turned to rage as she figured out what was happening as she turned to one of the drone escorts.


    ["Oho~ That took a surprisingly long time for you to figure out, you''re getting sloppy Lux~ I had to vary the signal delay for the sensors so you would realize, I could have killed you about 57 times."]


    "Ha, ahahah! ''You''re getting sloppy'' MY ASS! GET OUT OF MY F.U.C.K.I.N.G OP! THIS IS NOT THE FREAKING TIME!"


    Understandably quite upset by her teacher pulling a practical test on her wh¨ªle she was in active deployment Lux almost punched Dax to death with her bare hands before remembering that he was not actually there, and then calming down a tiny bit as more rational parts of her head started working once more.


    ["Oh~ That''s some scary eyes you have there. Do you want to try and kill me again?"]


    "So why the f.u.c.k are you here?"


    ["There''s a few reasons, firstly I''ll need to borrow a few drones to clean out this area."]


    Knowing she couldn''t directly oppose her commander Lux put on a frown before asking to the specifics.


    "How many is a few exactly?"


    ["Hmmm~ This one and 3 more Reapers and one railgun carrier for 24 hours."]


    "14 hours."


    ["20 hours."]


    "14 hours."


    ["I said 20 hours."]


    "You can do it in just about 12 hours, what the hell do you need the extra time for?"


    ["I''m going to poke something~ Plus I need time to force founds out of miss Urla and arrange for a pickup."]


    Hearing the expression ''poke something'' form Dax and knowing exactly what that usually entailed, Lux''s slight frown turned full blown.


    "That better blow up in your face alone if it does, In fact just why don''t you use a QRF fireteam from low orbit?"


    ["Nah."]


    "... Okay then, final offer: 18 hours."


    ["Perfect~"]


    Sensing some deeper meaning behind Dax''s flat out refusal in using the ready drone teams in low orbit, Lux finally agreed to letting Dax borrow a part of her force.


    ["Then I''m kinda busy now, so please excuse me~ Oh and we should have some drinks when you guys return to Kingstead~"]


    Giving his goodbye to Lux and Lilly that was standing in the background the drone Dax spoke trough switched to more mechanical movements as it moved to grab some extra ammunition before grabbing on to the side of 1 of the 2 high caliber railgun carriers that then hurriedly left the formation.


    "That''s that then, let''s leave this town behind too."


    Looking back a final time at the town of monster hunters before mounting up, Terra, Lux, Lilly, Iris left with and the additional child under their protection.


    -


    After the convoy of strange vehicles left without a trace after the owners killed countless people the town''s occupants looked forward a bit more peaceful days, but they would have to wait a bit more.


    "What the f.u.c.k is that sound!?"


    Alder, a veteran monster hunter had woken from his hangover in the middle of the night by some terrible sound that had rung out without warning. Clutching his arcing head he drank some water before getting somewhat dressed as he gr.a.p.ed his trusty twohanded sword and rushed out into the street.


    "What the hell is going on!?"


    "Monster swam! Get to the gate!"


    Being quite used to the rigors of living in a hostile area the other hunter quickly and precisely relayed the current situation to Alder and they both rushed towards the only exit and entrance of the town, nicknamed the killzone. It was and would always be completely voluntary to defend that the occupants, but for one simple reason every single monster hunter always responded when there was an attack. That simple reason was that the stronghold they all lived in only had one entrance, and that naturally meant a single exit. The perfect fortress was also the perfect trap for anyone inside. In that case if something penetrated the defenses it was truly better to die at the gate than be hunted down and killed inside a perfect cage with no chances of escape.


    "What''s the situation!?"


    Having reached the gate Alder had mostly sobered up and was therefore confused when he saw that not a single hunter was standing up on the wall to defend.


    "It''s being handled, we can properly just go back."


    "But what about the swarm? Why are we not manning the wall!?"


    "If you want to do that go ahead, I''m going back to sleep."


    Seeing the crowd of hunters disperse Alder was confused and decided to see what all the fuss was about, he headed towards the wall as another ear shattering explosion sounded from directly past the wall.


    "What the f.u.c.k!?"


    Rushing up the wall Alder was blown off the wall by a massive surge of warm air.


    "What the hell!?"


    Even more confused after landing back in the dirt Alder at least understood why there was on one standing up on the wall as he more carefully climbed the stairway once more and peaked out over it into the darkness ahead. What he saw he didn''t immediately understand, whatever was there out in the dark was glowing red hot, as if it was raw ores being melted.


    [PRIMARY ACTIVE COOLING CYCLE COMPLETE, EJECTING SPENT HEATSINKS.]


    Suddenly the whatever shone bright red in the dark was shot off as the surroundings was lit up.


    [FIREMISSION RECEIVED, FLARES. TARGET ACQUIRED, LOAD HV-HEAT.


    RANGE TO TARGET: 1.673 METERS.


    ANTI MARTIAL MODE 11 ''SLAM''


    FUSE: NULL


    IMPACT FUSE: 0.3 NANOSECONDS


    FIRE AT WILL.]


    Letting loose a round towards the distance the AEHWP moved backwards up the ramp leading to the town before it once more engaged its anti recoil system as multiple spikes penetrated deeply into the ground.


    [RAPIDFIRE ORDER RECEIVED, MOVING TO ACTIVE COOLING MODE #4¡­. COMPLETE.]


    Extending more securing braces multiple turbines started swallowing air that was supercooled and fed into railgun array as it prepared for rapidfire of its main weapon.


    [FIREMISSION RECEIVED, FLARES. TARGET ACQUIRED, LOAD UHV-HESH


    RANGE TO TARGET: 902 METERS.


    FUSE: NULL


    FIRE AT WILL.]


    [FIREMISSION RECEIVED, FLARES. TARGET NOT ACQUIRED, BLINDFIRE LOAD HV-SATGM


    RANGE TO TARGET: NULL


    STRIKE MODE: ''SLAM''


    FIRE AT WILL.]


    [FIREMISSION RECEIVED, TARGET ACQUIRED, LOAD HV-APFSDS


    RANGE TO TARGET: 913 METERS


    FUSE: NULL.


    ANTI MATERIAL MODE 9 ''SLIP''


    FIRE AT WILL.]


    As the night grew blighter the continuous fire rang out without break every monster within a range of 5 kilometers was wiped out when the first light hit the outpost.

 Chapter 99 - Kingdom of Detas (1)

    "Now this is an issue to be sure."


    "Perhaps the largest issue we''ve faced so far."


    With both Lux and Terra agreeing on something it sure was a problem that could turn out to be a serious issue with long term effects.


    "What the hell is up with you people? The answer is simple, we just solve the issue."


    Looking at Terra and Lux like they were lost to the world, Lilly didn''t really see their current predicament as an issue at all.


    "What!?"


    "Yeah! How do we solve this!?"


    Losing even more faith in the children before her Lilly breathed a deep sigh before answering as if it was a completely normal and ordinary everyday thing, just like it was.


    "When a child gets dirty you wash them, easy as that."


    Looking at the demihuman child they had with them from the town of monster hunters in the Eglax territory after killing a bunch of mysterious people that for some reason was after them. The child in question had somehow covered himself in mud after paying for only 30 minutes.


    "L-Lilly?"


    The child in question that had so far not really talked that much in the 2 days they had spent leaving the town of monster hunters behind was now looking at his savior with a tiny hint of fear in his eyes as he watched Lilly slowly close in on him like a predator stalking its prey.


    "And of course it''s the grown ups duty to wash the children~"


    Having a slightly dangerous look in her eyes as she said that, the child decided to run away for now, but ultimately discovered that it was useless to try and run from an expert in air magic. Having stopped for the day at a nearby river so the fuel breeder AEHWP could ''breed'' more tritium from pure water to make fuel, Lilly those a nearby spot with shallow water where she quickly stripped the child and started washing him.


    "UUuuuu.."


    Having his manly pride hurt the child learned a valuable lesson of picking his fights and not trying to face what he could not beat he had accepted the current situation even if he didn''t like it at all.


    "Come on, you''re a man right? A man must act strong at all times to put others to rest."


    While washing the child''s back with gleeful movements Lilly offered words of advice with a slightly sadistic smile on her face.


    "Act strong?"


    A bit surprised that she actually got a response to her question Lilly took a second to answer before putting a large smile on her face.


    "Yeah~ Put out your chest, smile and act strong to put others around you at ease. You should only share your issues with those closest to you, that''s the fate of being a man."


    Looking strangely focused for a moment before turning serious the child made a serious face as answered Lilly.


    "That''s just like what dad told me!"


    Seeing the child speaking more than he had ever done Lilly tried pushing for more information.


    "Your dad huh, he seems like an excellent father. Could you tell me more about him, and you too?"


    "... My name is Abel."


    Suddenly turning suspicious at Lilly the child named Abel only gave his name before falling silent again.


    (So his name is Abel huh?.. I can understand why he''s not trusting me but it still hurts a bit..)


    Looking at Abel''s bruised body Lilly had no doubt that he had been abused by his former captors, and it would take time to earn his trust.


    "Abel~ That''s a nice name! I like it!"


    But that itself was nothing new for LIly, she had raised a lot of former slave children in the past, showing a large happy smile she kept slowly chipping away at his isolation and mistrust, one small step at a time.


    ---


    "The kingdom of Detas huh? We''ve finally left the Eglax territory behind."


    Having spent 3 weeks traveling due south the convoy had finally left the territory of monsters behind as they had spotted the northern citadel of the Detas kingdom in the distance.


    "That we have, I feel like it took forever with all those monster attacks, how are our supplies holding up?"


    Looking to her second in command for the current mission, Terra was more focused on how they were holding up in terms of supplies than anything else at the moment. After being attacked countless times by monsters not to talk about what Dax had ''borrowed'' from them the convoy Terra suspected that they were running low on high caliber ammunition.


    "Yeah Dax used a little less than half of the ammunition for the Guardian-G097 high caliber railguns but we still have all 28 Viper cruise missiles and a f.u.c.kton of Rex-0999 belts and a few rounds for the mini railguns, not to talk about our personal weapons so I''m sure we''ll be fine."


    Detas marked halfway on the journey point to their objective of the orb that had landed furthest from the rest somewhere in the southern island states, therefore expanding only a fourths of their high caliber ammunition could not exactly be considered optimal, but it was still a very good margin.


    "That might be true, but we still have to deal with the water drakes, and the air elementals, not to speak of the hydra that rules the south."


    "The what now?"


    "Exactly. We''re not out of the woods yet, in fact we''re not slightly even close to being out of the woods so we need to be prepared."


    "I-I see.."


    Hearing Terra list serval mythological creatures in quick succession like it was a list of groceries Lux realized that they were not past all the treats yet.


    -


    Making camp in the middle of the day out in a forest Lilly and Terra headed into the nearby citadel wearing light leather armor and monster hunter outfits in an attempt to blend in with local monster hunter population.


    "So what exactly is it that we need here?"


    "Clothing for Abel, hard alcohol for me."


    To make Lilly agree to take a half year trip several compromises had to be made, one of which was that Lilly could keep drinking as long as she was somewhat able to do her job at all times, another was that she could act on her devises after the convoy stopped for the day, as long as she was ready by morning to move out, with the extra condition that she had to have a exort with her at all time tacted on after they were attacked in the town of monster hunters.


    "Okay then, just be ready for action at any point."


    "Sure, I wasn''t born yesterday you know."


    "Yeah yeah you''ve told me that so many times already, and before you ask no we''re not going into a bar or something like that."


    "But-"


    "Nope, Dax said so."


    "But-"


    "If you want to go we''ll just say goodbye right here."


    Not budging even a tiny bit Terra stared down Lilly with determination and a tiny hint of desperation in her eyes Lilly decided to back down.


    "Fiiiiine, then we need to find a local distillery, but let''s do that last."


    "Good then, market first. Lux you up?"


    ["Reading you loud and clear, keep safe out there."]


    Having confirmed radio contact with Lux, Terra and Lilly quickly got past the outer gate into the citadel and then hit the up the local market where they found some clothing in Abel''s size.


    "So where do we find alcohol?"


    "At a distillery of course, it should be near the central fortress."


    "Riiight, and why should there be one in this small town?"


    Still questioning Lilly''s ability to find liquor Terra demanded an explanation before spending all evening searching in vain.


    "This is mainly a military/monster hunter outpost with a small civilian agriculture based industry, but somehow there''s still a bunch of trade happening. Now why is that?"


    Somehow managing to turn the question into a lecture Terra was about to just leave but as she actually didn''t know the answer she reluctantly entertained Lilly.


    "N-no I don''t, why is that?"


    "Because of supply and demand. Monster cores that are considered valuable goods are in demand all over the world as they are used to make anything from magic tools to mages staffs, even the elven city states trade with outsiders for them. Monster cores move out of this city that''s mainly populated by monster hunters, but in that case what comes back? Taking into account the relative isolation and danger of transporting goods to here in account while remembering that there already is a flourishing agriculture here what the traders bring back would be either metals for weapon maintenance, spices as they are general luxury goods that are used everywhere people can afford them, or?"


    "High proof liquor that being compact and relatively easy to transport that is both a disinfectant and a luxury good?"


    "Bingo~ As Dax says."


    As they had been walking towards the town center while talking Lilly stopped as she pointed to a single building that was constructed in sturdy and rare brick with some distance from other buildings, with a sigh over the door simply saying ''Northern citadel distillery''.

 Chapter 100 - Kingdom of Detas (2)

    "Hand over all your cash or prepare for some hurt!"


    "Really?"


    It had been a bit over a month since the convoy of AEHWP''s entered the less monster infested kingdom of Detas, and so Terra, Iris, Lux, Lilly and their passenger Abel had spend their relatively peaceful days traveling from town to town heading south towards the sea. But had more irritating pattern had started to form, whenever they would visit a larger town they would somehow always run into some sort of bandits or street thugs, and that was also the case this time when Lux, Lilly and Abel was out shopping for food and spices the demihuman child could handle in a relatively large city close to the capital. The bandits this time were a group of about 20 young street thugs that even Lux had second reservations about just straight up killing them and therefore was a bit lost on how to deal with them.


    "Are you girls deaf!? Hurry up!"


    Being in a lower traffic area near the central market the leader of the street thugs was understandably on edge as they could easily be discovered by guards.


    "Just go home kids, this is not going to end well for any of you."


    "If you scare this child any more I''ll rip you all to tiny little pieces without mercy."


    Showing slightly different responses Lux and Lilly both prepared for combat as Lux started her unusual breathing technique as she took a martial art stance while Lilly started slightly floating in the air as she channelled massive amounts of mana trough her tiny body while shielding Abel that clutched the helm of her dress while shaking slightly in fear. In response to their targets taking defensive stances the thugs also drew their weapons as they spread out in a half circle around their targets and prepared to strike, there was nothing more to say.


    "Then don''t blame us for this!"


    Perhaps not able to handle the tension one of the thugs near Lux started to move, quickly he drew a poorly maintained shordsword as he closed range without any sense of technique or martial prowers.


    (This really makes it hard to take seriously¡­)


    Looking at the sloppy swordsmanship her opponent was displaying Lux found it hard to get into a proper fighting mood but alas she still scanned the area and then engaged without any mercy.


    "Wha!?-"


    Snapping the sword in half with her bare hands Lux ruthlessly rushed in as she proceeded to stab the poor soul in the face with his own broken sword.


    "That''s one, anyone else want to entertain me?"


    Speaking in a determined tone overpowering the scream of the thug that was bleeding on the ground Lux beckoned the next bandit closer as she formed a bloodthirsty smile on her face.


    "T-this is bad.."


    "N-no one told me that they would be fighting back!"


    "L-lets run for it!?"


    Understandably shaken by one of their comrades being killed in such a brutal fashion some of the less brave thugs started slowly backing off and Lilly didn''t waste that opportunity.


    "Oh come on Lux leave some of them for me~ I just perfected this new spell I want to test out."


    Mimicking Lux''s smile, Lilly started floating slightly above the ground as she released a huge amount of bloodl.u.s.t and mana into the air.


    "Sorry about that Lilly, who do you want to massacre?~"


    Playing along with Lilly''s ruse Lux also started releasing a lot of bloodl.u.s.t as she looked around at the street thugs trying to find someone that could start a cascade.


    "Let''s see¡­. That one~"


    "HIII!!!"


    Finding a somewhat mana sensitive target Lilly channelled bloodl.u.s.t and mana at one of the more timid thugs he predictively lost all will to fight and started running for his life, with one more following right after.


    "I''m out of here!"


    "I-idiots! Don''t-"


    "Screw you, you said this would be an easy job!"


    "I don''t want to die!"


    "Run for it!"


    Working as intended soon only the bandit leader remained as he himself lost his own chance to escape as he was more occupied with his comrades.


    "Now this can either be relatively painless or the worst experience of your life, it''s completely up to you."


    "W-wait a second."


    "Nah, Lilly."


    As the scruffy looking bandit tried to flee Lux copied one of Dax''s signature phrases as she called out to Lilly that then instantly used earth magic to block off the bandit''s avenue of escape by binding his legs.


    "I will only ask once, who put you up to this?"


    Putting on some sort of glove that the bandit assumed to be some sort of torture device Lux''s smile completely disappeared as she started oozing a sort of professionalism that told the street thug that this was not the first time she interrogated someone, and that she had no notion of the word ''mercy''.


    "I-it was some sort of cloaked person that approached me and several others in the capital at some bar! He said that some nobles were traveling through the kingdom using strange machines as transport and they carried a bunch of valuables!"


    "Hmm~ That''s very interesting¡­ Continue."


    Sensing correctly that he had not yet brought his freedom and life back from Lux the street thug desperately told everything he knew about his mysterious employer.


    "He told us that if we brought some of those valuables back to him he would buy them at several times the black market value, and he also mentioned that kid!"


    Pointing at Abel as he told everything he spilled every detail that the bandit thought could buy mercy, the unfortunate bandit unknowingly dug his own grave deeper and deeper.


    "What about little Abel?"


    "He didn''t tell us that brat''s name but after describing him to us he showed a large pouch filled with shining gemstones he told us he would give 20 times that amount to whoever captured that kid for him!-"


    As the bandit spilled all the beans Lux zoned out from his seemingly endless explanation as she connected to an emergency contact through her ICI unit.


    ["What''s up? It''s unusual for you to call me like this out of nowhere."]


    Hearing Dax''s voice on the other side of the voice channel Lux gathered her thoughts as she made a quick and precise report in her native tongue.


    "Confirmed movement of hostile elements, please advise."


    "- He wore this strange- Wait did you just say?"


    Sopping his seemingly endless explanation when his interrogator suddenly started speaking a strange language right in his face but at the same time not addressed at him the bandit started getting increasingly nervous.


    ["Give me a sec to look over the data¡­.. It seems like a trap."]


    "It is definitely some sort of trap, chances are the local government is also involved."


    ["Obviously. Sadly for whoever is dumb enough to pick a fight with us we need intel. Lieutenant general Lux Jameson show them the might of the 125th combined ops orbital drop troopers, divert from your current mission to the capital of Detas and perform reconnaissance by fire. At the same time I''m moving operational command to condition black, MAD is on the table."]


    "MAD!? Is that really necessary?"


    Hearing something quite unexpected from Dax Lux was momentarily confused, something the bandit didn''t miss.


    "This is my chan-"


    ["We don''t know what we''re dealing with Lux, this is not some backwater planet with possible Iron cooperation involvement. If the walking WMD elver right besides you should be an indication, magic is a possibly deadly uncertainty that I would rather not have sneak up on us. I''m moving up my own timetable at the same time as I have a sneaking suspicion that current events are connected, thanks for the report, you have your directives, any questions?"]


    "None, in accordance with operational condition black I will deliver a scheduled update in 4 hours."


    ["Good~ I''ll look forward to that."]


    Feeling the connection being cut off from Dax''s side Lux breathed a deep sigh to let some of the tension escape from her body.


    "Did you talk to Dax?"


    Sensing she was done with her comunitiation Lilly called out to Lux as soon as she saw tension leaving her body.


    "Yeah it was, we''re dealing with whatever keeps harassing us immediately, let''s get back to the AEHWP''s, we''re leaving immediately."


    "Okay¡­"


    "What?"


    Sensing some sort of hesitation from Lilly''s response Lux urged her to tell her.


    "Are you going to drop that guy anytime soon? He already stopped twitching.."


    Lilly was talking about the former street thug that had tried to escape when Lux had been fl.u.s.tered a minute ago. I response to the futile and sloopy attempt Lux had grabbed his head with her gloved hand, and for a solid minute after that he had been screaming and thrashing as Lux''s ICI unit had completely scanned his cerebral cortex, frying it in the process.


    "Ah, I kinda forgot."

 Chapter 101 - Capital of Detas

    The capital of the kingdom Detas named Rochdale consisted roughly of a castle with bands of walls that separated the city into zones for royalty, nobels, high ranked or influential citizens and peasants spreading out from the center with a slum up against the outermost wall. Being a reflection of Detas social etique class segregation was strongly favored and enforced with a strong belief that citizens could work their way to a higher class over a lifetime, and that members of the lowest classes deserved to be there. With such a social doctrine shared by the city''s guards Rochdale was not a very tourist friendly city, and outsiders were generally not allowed further in than the normal peasant district.


    "Boss, the food here sucks! Can''t we find a better place to stay?"


    But of course there were exceptions, inside one of the finest hotels designed for visiting foreign nobles and diplomats at the right next to the wall that separated the nobel and royalty zones an unsatisfied youth loudly complained as she stabbed a luxurious chiffon cake with steak knife and threw towards a nearby wall. In response to the youth''s outburst the so called ''boss'' spoke out in a calm and slightly annoyed tone.


    "I''ve told you before Rebeca, this is the fanciest hotel there is. Put up with it till we''re done with this mission or I swear to the angels I''ll put you down myself."


    "Ara~ Swearing to the angels are you Tom? Then please get right on with it, this brat has been a major headache since the beginning of this mission."


    Fluttering her 3 raven black wings that extended out from her back as if trying to show them off, another member of the outsiders let out a haughty laugh as she pointed out her leaders strange expression of words.


    "Who are you calling a brat Melisha you winged hag!? Wanna fight!?"


    Feeling the luxury restaurant fill with strong killing intent while literal sparks of mana flew between the 2 women.


    "Please go ahead and try brat, I''ve been waiting for a while for an opportunity to crush you."


    Feeling the temperature around him rapidly dropping as large spearlike ice crystals formed behind Melisha the boss was about to stop the fight Rebeca said something she shouldn''t have.


    "Go ahead hag, maybe I''ll do you a favor and rip off one of your wings so you''ll have an even amount again!"


    "Oh shit!"


    Tom knew of about 10 people that had mentioned the fact that Melisha was missing one of her wings and for 2 of those he himself had been present so he knew exactly what was about to happen. Forget about the current mission, all Tom now cared about was surviving the iminent mana induced, local extinction level event that was about to unfold before him. Rushing to his feet with the help of strengthening magic Tom moved backwards away from Rebeca as fast as he possibly could, but after only 3 steps he was stopped by someone behind him.


    "Move! Or-"


    "Calm yourself, all of you."


    Speaking out in a deep calm voice muffled behind a scarf as the sound of distorted bell rang out while mana in the area was violently disrupted and Rebeca''s and Melisha''s attack spells was completely broken apart.


    "Gha!-"


    "My head! Daniel you f.u.c.k.i.n.g idiot you know it hurts really f.u.c.k bad when you do that shit right!?"


    As Rebeca fell to the floor in pain as she winced in pain holding her head Melisha acted like she suddenly had gotten a massive migraine out of nowhere as she complained loudly to the source of her sudden headache.


    "Yeah I do, that''s why I did it."


    "Wha!- DIE!"


    Answering the pissed off angel without any hint of emotion Daniel instantly attracted her rage, but he had already predicted her course of action. As Melisha formed small ice crystals around her in the air to sewer him alive Daniel''s hands moved quickly as he threw out a metal bola engraved with mana disrupting runes that found its target without issue.


    "Urg! What!?"


    Suddenly unable to move her arms and channel mana into offensive or defensive spells Melisha flinced, creating a fatal opening for Daniel. In a matter of seconds he closed the range of 5 steps to the fl.u.s.tered angel and grabbed her by the collar as he pressed a serrated knife to her throat.


    "As I said before, calm yourself. The only reason you''re still alive is that you''re needed for the current assignment, and that I will lose my bonus for serving your head and adding it to my collection."


    "O-okay, I am calm now."


    Proving that nothing sends cold water into the veins like a serrated knife specifically designed to course heavy bleeding being pressed to one''s throat, Melisha surrendered, ending the short lived restaurant brawl.


    "Good, now let''s do our job. Intelligence suggests the targets are heading straight towards us."


    ---


    A few kilometers from Rochdale''s eastern gate laid a small hill that allowed perfect sight into a good part of the city, that hill was currently occupied by 3 figures that laid next to each other in the grass looking towards Rochdale.


    "I really don''t like this."


    "Yeah me too."


    "Well tough shit that I have operational command on this one, move out."


    Judging the conversation to be over Lux rose to her feet as she inserted a fresh magazine into her standard issue Rex Apha 357 rifle and started walking towards the gate, only to realize that she was not followed by either Terra or Lilly.


    "What?"


    "Why''re you the only one that gets a rifle?"


    "And why exactly am I here?"


    "Because I''m the bait, and because you''re my super badass mega class mage backup and Dax will hate you if you don''t. We went over all this already but do you girls have any more questions?"


    Terra and Lilly that were trying to blend in both wore leather armor that hid bulletproof armored vests and were equipped with a shortsword and a mage''s staff respectively. Lux on the other hand was outfitted in a way that no one would mistake her for a galactic marine. With a heavily armored ammo carrying vest outfitted with low gravity maneuvering thrusters over her ordinary gray bulletproof ERA vest and the hellwalker signature reaper''s mask covering her face, in fact the only thing that differentiated her current outfit from a standard heavy assault kit was the black hunters guild tag hanging from her neck.


    "Sure that makes sense but how come I only get a longsword and a backup Guardian 332 PDW and you get a rifle, a pistol, a PDW, multiple smoke, anti personnel, and anti tank grenades?"


    "Because you''re the backup, if all goes to plan then you won''t be up."


    Answering as a matter of fact Lux definitely didn''t have an issue sharing her toys, definitely.


    "Yeah right. No plan ever survives first contact with the enemy, both you and Dax taught me that."


    In response to Terra''s logic Lux sighed deeply as if she had expected her and Dax''s pupil to answer in that manner as she grabbed a frag from her vest and tossed it to her.


    "Touch¨¦.. Here have a freebie, now let''s get going."


    ---


    (This really does look like something straight out of fantasy RPG¡­)


    Looking around once inside the city Lux couldn''t help the child in her from trying to wait for a courier to deliver a cryptic note with a handprint, but alas the more mature part of her head prevailed as she realized how much attention she was drawing.


    ["I''ve drawn attention to myself, proceeding with the plan."]


    ["Sure, if you can call this a plan. We''re at the hunters guild and ready to respond when you need us."]


    With Terra''s mostly sarcastic remark as motivation Lux stopped her idling and started moving towards the wall that separated the more successful and influential civ''s from low class citizens and outsiders.


    ["Iris are you tracking me?"]


    ["Perfectly."]


    ["And without any issues"]


    ["You''re in fact really hard to lose seeing how you basically part the streets wherever you go."]


    ["Don''t insinuate that I''m repulsive and/or smelling terribly bad please¡­"]

 Chapter 102 - Hostile contact (1)

    "Hey, what kind of armor is that?"


    "No idea¡­ It sure looks strange."


    Inside the capital city of Rochdale 2 guards made small talk as they guarded the eastern gate that lead from the low class residential district to the area were more influential citizens lived. How they were talking about was a strange looking monster hunter that was walking around half suspiciously, in fact the only thing thing that made the guards able to identify the person as a monster hunter was the black tag hanging from her neck.


    "Excuse me, I have a question I''m hoping you could answer for me"


    As the strange hunter approached them she waved in a cutetsy manner and spoke in a bright girly voice that the 2 guards somehow couldn''t outright dismiss.


    "What is it?"


    "What''s behind that gate? Is it some kind of tressue?"


    Pointing to the solid metal gate behind the guards still keeping up her cutesy appearance even while carrying a sharply loaded assault rifle dressed in full combat gear with and wearing a black mask with a skull painted on it Lux managed to somehow charm the guards.


    "Ah, you must be new here. This is the one of the gates to the inner city."


    "Oh~ Can I enter?"


    "Sadly not."


    Faced with a flat out refusal Lux''s smile grew wider under her mask.


    "Is that so... Are all outsiders banned from entering?"


    "Yeah, to enter you''ll have to register as a citizen and pay about 10 years of taxes to receive an upgraded citizen status."


    "Okay¡­"


    Looking quite dejected Lux started walking away, befores stopping as if she suddenly thought of something.


    "Then what would happen if someone like me jumped over the wall? Just hypothetically?"


    Seeing it as nothing more than a slightly awkward joke one of the guards responded in kind.


    "Then a lot of highly skilled guards will most likely try to restain or kill you so don''t do that please~"


    "Well that''s perfect then, don''t try to stop me please or I will kill you without mercy."


    Completely dropping her act before she did a few quick jumps in place before pulling off her bullet proof mask and giving the guards a bloodthirsty smile that completely froze up being subjected to that kind experience.


    "Then I''ll be off, goodbye~"


    Bending down Lux took a short deep breath before she shot off leaving deep cracks in the ground as she leapt over the 6 meter tall wall with ease. As she reached the peak of her jump Lux quickly surveyed for possible landing areas and found what looked like a small sparsely populated market and a smile formed on her face as she lit up the attitude control system.


    (Time to pick a fight..)


    Landing in the middle of the market Lux kicked up dust as she broke the stone pavement below her.


    "Wha!?-"


    "HIIII!!"


    "Mommy!"


    Understably the crowd was quite freaked out when something came crashing down from the sky without warning as some of them were even hit with rock fragments. Waiting for a bit of the dust to clear Lux killed her emotions as she took a deep breath before switching over to pure air supplied directly into her bloodstream by various cybernetic implants.


    -


    "Over here! Someone''s hurt!"


    Proving their elite status serval knights and guards arrived only a minute after something had landed in the middle of eastern marketplace just before noon. Spreading out and surrounding the area the guards quickly evacuated all affected citizens as they inquired about situation.


    "What is going on here!?"


    "S-something fell from the sky! I just managed to see it before it landed and it looked like a person!"


    Getting a response out of one of the less injured sellers the knight captain leading the quick response force instantly made his decision based on years of experience.


    "Assume anti demon formation! Mages ready anti personnel spells!"


    As the last dust cleared the some 20 guards mages and knight had encircled the crater as the person that made it came into view. It was a slim figure wearing solid military boots that looked to be made out of pure metal with clothing that looked like high class armor and something more alien at the same time. Joints and its chest were heavily armored while only little attention were given to extremities with a strange black and white skull mask on the creature''s face.


    "LAST CHANCE TO SURRENDER!"


    Following his training to the letter the knight captain made the mistake of allowing Lux the first move.


    ["Interesting, it''s been almost 500 years since someone told me to surrender. Normally when they seem my mask they just pray for a quick death or make pace with their gods."]


    The creature spoke mocking words in a strange distorted voice that made the knight captain certain that it really had been that long since someone asked it for mercy as a chill went down his spine and his vast experience told him that he could not face this creature without backup.


    "CALL FOR BACKUP! REST OF YOU RESTRAIN IT!"


    """SIR YES SIR!"""


    "HII! Yes sir!"


    Shouting to the young recruit next to him that ran with all her might away from the scene the knight captain and the rest of his crew sprang into action.


    -


    "Hey Dax?"


    In the middle of a lesson on emergency sealing of space suits the archangel Solaris suddenly spoke up with a serious look on her face.


    "What?"


    "You said that some bugs had shown themselves to your adorable second in command."


    "Yeah I did, what''s your point?"


    "Shouldn''t you, you know, crush them?"


    "Nah, no need."


    Having a far off look on his face Solaris got even more curious.


    "Why?"


    "Because they managed to piss off my adorable second in command, a commendable, but ultimately completely foolish achievement that they will very soon come to regret."


    Felling Dax had something more to say Solaris kept quiet as Dax continued.


    "There''s only a handful of people that had ever matched me in a single field of combat, not to talk about serval. Lux has an terrifyingly good sense for close combat after completing her training. I''ve only ever managed to fight her to a draw while keeping strictly to that type of engagements, and above all she''s downright terrifying when she has a grudge against the enemy."


    -


    ["A element found to be in connection with this sad excuse of a kingdom has targeted the Galactic Empire, as such I will purge all opposition. This is the last chance to surrender, throw away your weapons, get down on your knees and put your arms behind your head and you will not be harmed, resist and I''ll have to pick parts of you out of my armor for the next week."]


    Speaking in a voice that reached the entire city in the same time while seeming to chill the entire local atmosphere around Rochdale by several degrees.


    "HOLD THE CREATURE BACK AT ALL COSTS!"


    As knights charged in their heavy armor, guards worked hard at evacuating surrounding civs and mages channing lethal attack spells time seemed to slow down for Lux as she affixed a bayonet to her rifle while she spoke in a almost disappearing voice.


    "I''m sorry."


    Completely cracking the stone pavement below her Lux seemed to skip frames as she disappeared from sight. Her first target didn''t even manage to react before his skull was completely crushed by her knee as the guy next to him had his throat opened by a bayonet and the guy behind him got his neck broken by Lux simply using him to break her momentum before she crashed into a building and stopped in place as she exhaled all the build up carbon dioxide in a single heavy breath before she launched off and completely smashed the building she set off from.


    "Shit!"


    Noticing last second that he was the monsters next target the knight captain hit the dirt and swung his sword with all his strength at the same time. Feeling his sword connecting his arms immediately became numb as he felt his trusted partner fall out of his hands he was just extremely happy to actually survive after he had confirmed that he still had his arms.


    "Interesting¡­ Guess I gotta start talking this seriously."


    After having decimated ? of the knights and guards the remaining opposition started proving problematic in a straight up melee. Switching off the safety she brought her rifle up to her shoulder and turned it to fully automatic before squeezing the trigger.


    ---


    "Sounds like she''s started.."


    Picking up the faint sound of gunfire in the distance from inside a bustling monster hunters guild Lilly wore a difficult face as she turned to Terra that didn''t look like she had an issue with what they were currently doing.


    "Are you really okay with this?"


    "Of course not, this is per very the definition terrorism."


    "Then why exactly are we going along with this plan?"


    "Because I don''t have to agree with it, I just have to follow and hope he made the correct decision, and up till now he has every single time. Or at least that''s what Lux told me when I asked her the exact same question last night."


    "I see¡­"


    Looking like she was thinking over a bunch of things Lilly fell quiet as she taught about a bunch of things before answering with a determined look on her face.


    "Then I guess I''ve got to ask Dax a bunch of questions when I see him again."


    Looking like she had more or less accepted the current situation Lilly once more focused on the surroundings and scanned the guild with mana before she froze up completely.


    "We have contact."


    Turing Terra''s attention she only just managed to see what looked like some sort of throwing knife that she only just managed to block with her arm.


    "Shit! Lilly!"


    Immediately ripping out the knife as her body started healing Terra drew her sword as Lilly formed a gathered up wind at the tip of her feet and kicked the table they had been sitting at towards their attacker as she formed blades of compressed air.


    "Iris we contact!"


    ["Busy!"]


    "Shit! Lux we have contact! Iris too!"


    ["Same here! Draw out the fight I''ll be there as soon as possible!"]


    "F.u.c.k! A simultaneous attack huh?"


    Regretting that she didn''t bring her rifle after all Terra dodged another knife meant for her face as she closed the range sword in hand.

 Chapter 103 - Hostile contact (2)

    "That''s the initial force wiped out.."


    Looking around at what had been a lively marketplace about 5 minutes ago Lux switched over to normal breathing as she expelled the last carbon dioxide out of her lungs and took a deep breath as her mind started racing.


    (In the end I had to use an entire magazine of anti personnel¡­ Magic really is a unfair advantage.)


    Around Lux the terrain had been severely deformed by magic. Walls of rock had been raised in defence while slabs of earth and ice had littered the area after fruitlessly being launched after Lux. Realizing she had idled around enough Lux briefly made contact with orbiting surveillance satellites and checked the area around her, and not a second too late. Having looked through eyes from up high someone had closed to less than a meter from her using some sort of cloaking prodjected only towards Lux herself.


    (!!!)


    Panicking slightly Lux blocked a knife meant for her neck with her rifle and immediately took another knife to her right arm.


    "F.U.C.K!"


    Feeling her tendons being sliced apart Lux lost the grip in her hand as the rifle was torn from her as she got a good look at her attacker. It was a girl around the age of 18, she had short bright red hair and large brown eyes that looked intriguingly at the blood that gushed out of Lux''s arm.


    "Hello!~ Time to die!"


    Giving a warm bloodthirsty smile the girl drew another knife from her endless belt of various weapons as she kicked Lux''s rifle away as she continued her assault, Lux in response kept blocking the attacks with the armor on her left arm as her right arm quickly healed. After about 30 seconds she could close her right arm and then immediately formed a fist.


    "Why are you not dy!- Ghe!"


    As the girl turned more and more ferocious Lux landed a well placed jab in center mass and sent her flying, feeling bones being shattered.


    "Good f.u.c.k.i.n.g grief, learn to aim for vitals. Go for vital organs, eyes, anything important."


    Checking the healing on how her arm was doing Lux started bouncing around on the tips of her toes as a she drew a knife herself.


    "Come on, final round."


    "ARG! F.U.C.K!!!"


    Looking way more pissed off this time the woman called for a ally as she herself started channeling mana trough her body and formed blades of pure rock that floated around her. Slightly requetting that she hadn''t outright killed her opponent Lux started becoming vigilant of her opponents magic as she slowly edged towards her like a kickboxer with guards up.


    (The second I go for my backup weapon she''ll pounce on me¡­. Guess I need to end this with my knife..)


    Having overcome the advantage of surprise her opponent had Lux still kept close attention on her surroundings as she charged in for the kill.


    "No you don''t!"


    Seeing the move coming from a mile away the assassin channelled mana into her leg as she stamped the ground and made spikes of earth erupt from the ground around her. In response Lux jumped into the air and turned on the attitude control system on her armor and was about to kill the assassin when she heard a familiar sound of a rifle being primed that made her break off last second as bullets flew right past her head.


    "Tom you f.u.c.k.i.n.g missed!"


    As Lux crashed to the ground while bullets snapped past her head she scrambled past busted up marked stands as she reached her rifle, picked it up and promptly jumped in through a window of a nearby building.


    "Rebeca are you okay?"


    "It''s just a few cracked ribs I''m okay, more importantly my pray is getting away!"


    Lux only just managed to get a look at the second attacker before she jumped into cover but she knew the sound the weapon he used by heart.


    (A 0999 huh.. Seems like they really did manage to break the databank encryption. If I only had the id code for that weapon I could enact denial protocol¡­)


    Working out multiple plans of attack Lux was suddenly and rudely interrupted.


    ["Shit! Lux we have contact! Iris too!"]


    ["Same here! Draw out the fight I''ll be there as soon as possible!"]


    (F.u.c.k..)


    Turns out it had been a simultaneous attack, as that truth dawned on her Lux realized that she was out of time. Checking that her rifle was still working correctly Lux inserted a new magazine with one hand while preparing a fragmentation grenade with the other.


    "Here we go¡­"


    Tapping the grenade against her shoulder out of habit Lux pressed the pin and primed the grenade as she closed in on the window she had jumped in from.


    "1 duck, 2 duck, 3 ducks."


    Counting in a slightly childish manner as the fuse steadily counted down Lux seemed relaxed like she was checking her groceries she let the frag fly as she moved away from the window where a hail of bullets shredded everything in response. Listening after the gunfire Lux pointed her rifle loaded with uHVAG high velocity ammunition directly at the wall in front of her.


    "There you are~"


    Letting loose a short burst of shorts Lux heard the familiar squishy sound of a center of mass hit on a organic target Lux smashed through the wall out into the plaza where she was meet with a volley of rock shards that she sidestepped by slipping down on one knee as she steadied her rifle against her shoulder and emptied the rest of her magazine towards the assassin that was now bright red due to high velocity blood spatter. By an act of sheer luck Rebeca survived with only grazing shoots as she closed range to exploit the gab in fire while Lux reloaded, but she ultimately made a fatal mistake.


    "SHIT!-"


    Lux having expended her primary weapon Lux immediately drew her secondary pistol and short Rebeca 4 times, one time in each limb.


    "ARG!!! F.U.C.K YOU!"


    Screaming out in pain Rebeca fell to the ground where Lux shot her several more times as she strategically destroyed every joint in her arms and legs.


    "Any last words?"


    "F.u.c.k.i.n.g bi!-"


    "I guess not¡­ Iris how are you doing?"


    ["Badly"]


    ["We need help"]


    "On my way."


    Taking a last look at the havoc and destruction around her Lux made sure she had killed her two attackers by shooting them a few more times in the head as she sent a single sentence up the chain of command.


    "Splash 2 primary targets."

 Chapter 104 - Hostile contact (3)

    "Iris we have contact!"


    ["Busy!"]


    "Shit! Lux we have contact! Iris too!"


    ["Same here! Draw out the fight I''ll be there as soon as possible!"]


    "F.u.c.k! A simultaneous attack huh?"


    Regretting that she didn''t bring her rifle after all Terra dodged another knife meant for her face as she closed the range sword in hand. The person that had thrown the knifes at Terra immediately recognized as mercenary hailing from the great plains south of the eastern Empire, a group of nomads called As''li that specialized in killing mages and other hard targets to bring fame wealth and fortune to their tribe and unique fighting style. The As''li in question wore a blue and pure white woven scarf that covered some kind of full plate helmet while a traditional heavy cloak filled with embroidering and specialized weaponry


    "Lilly don''t use magic!"


    "Too late."


    Speaking in a relaxed manner the mercenary simply tapped one of his boots at the ground as a the distorted sound of a bell rang out and every person in the room expect Terra and the mercenary fell to the ground, some of them screamed out in pain while most of them just straight up passed out from the pain. The reason why Terra weren''t affected was because she recognized her opponent and acted accordingly, in an instant she purged all mana from her body so it couldn''t be used to hurt her, unlike everyone else that had seen an attack coming and acted as they taught was correct.


    "You know what I am? You''re smart."


    Sounding slightly intrigued by the fact that Terra wasn''t affected by his disruption of the local mana the mercenary drew short sword with a unusually wide handguard to meet Terra''s strike.


    "Unusually strong too, are you really a humankin?"


    Drawing a dagger with his other hand that he held in a reverse grip the mercenary proved insanely hard for Terra to get a solid hit on as he wore armor under his normal clothing that protected him from any grazing hits Terra could land.


    "But your swordsmanship is lacking, like you''ve put it off for a little while.."


    "Well thanks for the diagnostic!"


    As the mercenary exchanged blows with Terra in a relaxed manner he made sure to continue his disruption spell, but Lilly was starting to get used to the effects.


    "My f.u.c.k.i.n.g head.."


    "Lilly are you good?"


    While exchanging blows and mostly being forced back by the mercenary Terra picked up a faint whimper from Lilly behind her.


    "Not really.. My nose is bleeding."


    "Seems like your friend over there is especially sensitive to my disruption, how about this then?"


    Lilly spoke so faint that even Terra with her greatly enhanced hearing bearly picked it up, but the As''li seemed to hear her perfectly, that or he reacted based on Terra''s facial expression. His response to the new information was swift, efficient and brutal. Creating a small gap between himself and Terra he reached under his cloak and trew small knives coated in some sort of green liquid.


    "F.u.c.k!"


    Seeing the throwing knives fly towards Lilly Terra weakened her defenses for a split second, and that was all the veteran mercenary needed.


    "You''re open."


    Trapping Terra''s sword in his handguard he drew it away form Terra and robbed her of defence as he flipped his dagger into a normal grip and stabbed it at chest as he used strengthening magic for the first time doing the fight.


    "You talk too f.u.c.k.i.n.g much!"


    Blocking the dagger with her own arm Terra caught the blade between her Ulna and Radius bones in her forearm and twisted them to lock the blade in place as she wrestled it free form the mercenary that was caught slightly off guard. With the same movement she robbed the As''li of his dagger Terra placed a turning kick in his center of mass and sent him flying.


    "Lilly!"


    "Calm down child, this is not the first time I''ve been poisoned by such attacks."


    Lilly had seen the attack coming and blocked the knife with her arm that had only received a shallow cut as not much force had been put into the knife throw. Realizing immediately that the knife blade was coated in poison Lilly applied as much force as she could on the pulse vain in her armpit and blocked off circulation back into her heart.


    "Hurry up with the potion already! My arm is turning blue."


    "Right!"


    Snapping Terra out of her momentary panic she grabbed a vaill of greymatter from her belt that she quickly stabbed into Lilly''s arm. The results were immediate, almost instantly Lilly''s wound started healing as the green poison was expelled out through her cut and skin.


    "This really is a wonderful medicine."


    "That''s only a stopgap, the nanomachines took some of your muscle and skin tissue to plug the hole, if you move too much it''s going to tear again. More importantly we need a gameplan."


    "I already have one, it''s called rip this f.u.c.k.i.n.g douche apa-"


    "Lilly!"


    Mid sentence Lilly suddenly fell to her knees as her legs started shaking uncontrollably.


    "Seems like it''s working."


    "What did you do!?"


    "Don''t worry, it''s just a paralyzing agent. My orders are to capture any weak minded individuals for interrogation, come quietly elver and I won''t kill your friend."


    Drawing new weapons from under his coat the mercenary appeared completely unaffected by Terra''s kick as he started approaching once more.


    "Can you really protect your friend while she''s in that state?"


    (I''m so f.u.c.k.i.e.d!)


    From what Terra had assessed the As''li was somewhere around Lux''s level and so far he appeared to only be toying around with her, she was in deep shit, and Terra herself knew that.


    (I can''t leave Lilly behind, but at the same time that''s my best chance of winning against this type of opponent, what the f.u.c.k should I¡­ That''s it!)


    Getting more and more desperate in her train of thought Terra scrambled to find any paice of wisdom that would give her the advantage. Reaching behind her back Terra equipped her Guardian 332 PDW and pointed it towards the mercenary that instantly took cover behind a table he flipped over. Using that gap Terra sheathed her shortsword and picked Lilly up in a princess carry, then quickly smashed through a window to escape outside the guild.


    "... Smart prey."


    Realizing that he had been outsmarted Daniel sheathed his weapons and pulled out a crystal that he channeled some mana into.


    "We''re still all alive.. Then I should just proceed with my hunt."


    After checking the status of his allies Daniel dashed out the window his targets had escaped from and quickly picked up the trail once more.

 Chapter 105 - Hostile contact (4)

    "Just leave me behind, that mercenary won''t hurt me."


    "There''s no f.u.c.k.i.n.g way I do that!"


    As Lux, Iris and Terra with Lilly had come under simuntainus attack Terra had judged the best approach to deal with their particularly tough opponent by escaping from direct contact and wait for reinforcements. With Lilly being paralyzed from some sort of poison she had become unable to fight or run so Terra carried her as she ran through the busy streets of Rochdale. As Terra ran through the busy streets by nearly running on the walls a message came through her and Lilly''s earpieces


    [COMMAND CONFIRMS TROUGH EAGLE EYE-1: SPLASH 2 PRIMARY TARGETS, 34 SECONDARY. CONDITION BLACK STILL IN EFFECT.]


    "Why the hell does it have to be that cryptic all the time?"


    Lilly however didn''t appear to understand the message, leading Terra to translate it as she avoided some sort of funeral gathering by jumping over a series of coffins being carried through the main street.


    "That''s not cryptic at all, it says one of us killed 2 of them and 34 guards. It was most likely Lux, but since she hasn''t been in direct contact with us I assume that she''s heading over to help Iris."


    "Then why doesn''t it just say that?"


    "Because protocol."


    Ending the conversation there as if stating there was nothing more to disqus Terra collapsed her stance and slit a few meters on her knee pads and avoided an arrow laced with green poison.


    "Tch, he caught up already.. Lilly can you stand?"


    Thinking on her feet Terra ran into a plaza with a large church of the archangels situated at the opposing end as she asked about Lilly''s condition.


    "Not sure, but I can crawl if needed."


    Examining the state of her shaking legs Lilly showed a smug smile that indicated her pride would never actually allow her to crawl away from the fight.


    "I swear that attitude of yours will be the end of you some day."


    Not really feeling like she wanted to ague at such a time Terra showed a smile like it couldn''t be helped before she threw Lilly a few meters where she landed in a hay pile at the end of the plaza.


    "Then stay put there until I''m done dealing with this annoyance!"


    Speaking confident words as if hyping herself up Terra drew her sword and turned to the As''li mercenary that appeared behind her.


    "So you want to fight here? Interesting, but ultimately foolish."


    Slowing down to a relaxed walking pace the As''li seemed to be smiling somewhere under his scarf and helmet as he drew his peculiar shortsword with a wide handguard in one hand while spinning up a bola in the other. As both the fighters drew their weapons the nearby crowd quickly dispersed, with most fleeing to safety while a few stayed behind at a safe distance to watch the fighting that was about to unfold.


    "Ladies first."


    Speaking in a slightly mocking tone the As''li did a slight bow after closing to a range that could be covered in about 10 steps where he turned slightly in towards Terra and hid the spinning bola behind his back as he beckoned Terra closer. In response Terra slowly started closing the distance, she knew that trying to shoot the mercenary with her Guardian 332 PDW would simply open her up for a potentially fatal counter and therefore figured she would draw out the fighting for as long as possible while waiting for reinforcements or finding a gap to open up the distance once more. This time Terra opted to fight not like she had been taught by the Rangers she been trained as what seemed like a lifetime ago, but using the style Dax and Lux had started drilling into her body. Gripping her trusted sword with only her left hand she kept her right hand free as she turned that side away from her opponent and slightly bent her knees as she spread her weight out over the stone tiles she stood on as if they were thin ice. After lowering her posture and spreading out her weight she dug her toes into the ground as if loading her achilles tendon up like a spring she slowly inched closer to her opponent that she felt had stopped smiling under his helmet a while ago as he no longer had the leeway. At this point the air was so loaded with tension that not even the spectators hoping to get a few cheap laughs dared even move or breathe too loud and the only sound of that now echoed out form the formerly vibrand plaza was the eerie sound of the mercenary''s bola that quietly cut the air as it spun around ready to be used. Terra slowly closed the gap between her and her opponent to 5 steps as her pulse neared 300 beats per minute and her bright red pupil''s darted around probing for weakspots. With time seeming to come to a complete halt it was the sudden sound of a bell form the church indicating evening prayer shock violently through the completely silent plaza Terra sprung into action as she completely emptied her lungs with a short and sharp breath. Cracking the stone tiles beneath her feet she launched herself forward with the power of her greatly enhanced legs and moved close to the ground half the distance between her and the As''li in an instant. The mercenary reacted to the sudden acceleration by letting his bola fly in the path of his opponent as he lowered his center of mass and prepared to counter with a kick after he had blocked the first strike.


    (Too slow!)


    With solid footing beneath her Terra could take full advantage of her strengthened body while the extreme amount of adrenaline moving through her body pushed her mind to its limits. Meeting the bola head on instead of dodging it or blocking it with her sword like the As''li had expected Terra rapidly switched her sword to a reverse grip as she used that arm to support her she turned like a breakdancer and caught one of the bola''s balls with her empty hand and launched it back towards her opponent adding her own momentum to its speed. Being flinged at such speeds the bola didn''t rotate anymore, but that didn''t make it any less potent as a weapon as the treat now was the metal spheres used as counterbalance to make it rotate was outright deadly on their own. In a split second Daniel assessed that being hit by the bloa would be bad for his combat effectiveness and took half a step to the side and changed his strike plan from a counter to a outright killing blow by stabbing the low postured Terra through the gap in her armor and rips at her collarbone, but Terra had seen that coming as she shifted her weight to the side and short off her almost crawling position, completely shattering the stone tiles below, and sliced at the mercenary''s neck with all her strength. Landing on the side of a 3 story building Terra lept of that and landed back in the plaza where she immediately charged the As''li once more, but stopped realizing something was wrong.


    "What''s your name?"


    Suddenly the As''li spoke out to her, his voice that was filled with confidence and scorn now only sounded sincere, making Terra answer it before she even questioned why she should.


    "... It''s Terra."


    In response the As''li turned to face Terra as he dropped his prized sword and fell to his knees holding his neck that seemed to pour out endless amount of blood.


    "Terra, huh? I was Daniel proud practitioner of the As''li style of hand to hand combat, to what school do you belong?"


    Looking at the amount of blood that poured out from Daniel''s neck even as he tried instinctually to block it, Terra took his question as the last request of a dying man and answered.


    "It is Qiton close range anti personal martial art. Being a novice I require solid ground to bring out the full potential."


    "I see¡­. So that''s why I underestimated you so. Terra of the Qiton school of martial art, do you know of the As''li ways?"


    As Daniel''s arms both fell limp he started coughing up blood Terra could feel a determined look form under his helmet.


    "I do."


    "Then finish it."


    "With pleasure."


    Turing her sword to a normal grip Terra took it in both her hands as she walked up to Daniel and swung the sword down as she quietly muttered.


    "Splash 1 primary target."

 Chapter 106 - Hostile contact (5)

    "Seems like they''ve started¡­"


    Approximately 20 kilometers to the east of the capital of Deltas a single closed type AEHWP transport was parked under a large tree. Inside sat Iris and hugged a slightly shaking Abel that she had finally captured after a short scuffle.


    "Don''t worry Abel, they''ll be okay."


    Even as Iris treated Abel like a body pillow she carefully patted his head as she spoke words of encouragement without a hint of emotion in them.


    "Will they? Lilly too?"


    After traveling with Iris for a while Abel had learned that Iris never expressed any kind of emotion in her speech or expression, but she generally always meant what she said.


    "Of course."


    "Lux is a firce fighter that can even fight Dax to a draw within certain constraints."


    "Terra is a disciple of Dax and Lux that has an extremely strong intuition that she uses to combine several types of martial art into a deadly combo."


    "Lilly might not look like it but she''s a master mage with unparalleled strength when it comes to manipulation of wind magic."


    "They''ll be fine, even if they have to fight the entire city."


    "... Okay, I believe you."


    "Good child, let''s think about how we''ll welcome them back."


    While carefully patting Abel''s head to calm him down Iris however was not calm at all as she received a message through her ICI unit.


    (LIDAR, RADAR AND VISUAL HAVE CONTACT. THREAT LEVEL 4, APPROACHING FORMATION @21.4 METERS/SECOND.)


    (Tell Zephyr to hide, she can properly sense her mana¡­)


    (DIRECTIVES AFFIRMED.)


    (Connect us to tactical overlay.)


    (PREPARING FOR MIND MELT PATTERN RED. WARING: PARTIAL MIND MELT IN EFFECT. EXPECTED CORRUPTION AT 23.5% PATTERN RED NOW IN EFFECT.)


    At Iris'' command her vision tuned dark and was then replaced with a tactical map of her surrounding terrain.


    HOSTILE CONTACT: RANGE 18 KILOMETERS, 309 METERS, HEADING 271 AT FLIGHT LEVEL 150.


    ENGAGE? Y/N?


    "Establish visual first please."


    COMMAND REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGED, ESTABLISHING HIGH BANDWIDTH DATABRIGE FORM FORWARD ELEMENT ECHO¡­. COMPLETE, RELAYING VISUAL DATA FEED FROM SPECTOR 2-42..


    Looking through the eyes of a UAV Iris was shown a lush plain wheat field outside of Rochdale. As the sensors calibrated the view switched to a figure above that field that flew through the air directly towards Iris'' location. The figure was immediately recognized as an angel, she had 3 black wings extending out from her back and had a caracteristici dense layer of mana that surrounded her.


    "Have forward element Echo open up on target, suppressive fire."


    "Laser target for guided munitions then have strike 01 deliver 1 times airburst with relative coordinates as follows: D4 + 26 -12."


    "Reconfigure and retask 1 times Viper HV-ARM MaRV from SEAD to AMS tasking, isolate mana signature and lock proximity fuses to organic, detonate within 10 meters."


    "Wake up all anti material and anti personnel UGAV''s and form a second line of defence, configure strike 02 to reactive anti material fire with UHV-APDSFS as fire support."


    "Relocate CIC to fallback point Charlie while EWS, drone tender, ammunition stowage and fuel breeder AEHWP''s move to fallback point Omega."


    "Have all leftover Reaper drones mobilize with type 3 equipment. Orders are to pop and shoot, no prolonged firefights, no engagements within 1 click."


    "Relay all directives and updates back to us and estimate Viper HV-ARM AMS tasking ETA please."


    Demonstrating the reason why she was chosen to participate in this mission as Iris made the most of her fragmented ego and relayed seval orders to the drone network around her in a split second before returning to the real world where she still patted Abel on the head.


    "Big sister Iris?"


    Sensing the AEHWP they were both inside starting to move Abel had a worried look on his face as he looked to Iris for an explanation.


    "Don''t worry, we''re just moving a bit."


    "Nothing out of the ordinary."


    "Now why don''t we try and sing a song?"


    "What about the one Lilly taught you?"


    "But you can''t sing Iris."


    Demonstrating a child''s brutal honesty Abel looked to Iris with a hint of petty in his eyes that made Iris forgive his rude remark almost instantly.


    "You know saying that to a girl can be hurtful Abel."


    "Then why don''t you try and teach me?"


    "Then I might forgive you."


    "O-okay.. Then let''s start with-..."


    Seeing a hint of rage in Iris'' mostly blank eyes Abel covered a bit in fear and then hurriedly started the futile task of teaching Iris how to sing, and soon forgot his worry about why they were moving when Lux said that they should stay put.


    -


    Flying through the air towards her objective Melisha noticed a glimt of something in the forest below, and not a moment too late.


    "!!!"


    Suddenly the forest in front of her erupted with rifle and machine gun fire that only just missed Melisha as she had hurriedly changed course and but up a defensive shield made out of golden crystal.


    "F.u.c.k.i.n.g pests!"


    Understandably she was quite upset at the countless golems that suddenly tried to kill her Melisha formed countless 3 meter long golden crystal in the air around her as the golems fruitlessly fired at her crystal shield.


    "Time to parish!"


    Launching the crystals at the drones below her, Melisha was momentarily distracted, just as Iris had predicted.


    On a hill over 20 kilometers from Melisha a Guardian-G097 indirect fire railgun carrier had set up itself and pointed its primary weapon at the angel as the primary capacitors slowly charged with a hum.


    [FIREMISSION RECEIVED. TARGET ACQUIRED, LOAD HV-CANISTER.


    RANGE TO TARGET: 23.619 METERS.


    FUSE: AIRBURST -500 METERS.


    ADDITIONAL ADJUSTMENT: D4 + 26 -12.


    FIRE AT WILL.]


    Discharging the capacitors rapidly into the 2 rails, the Guardian-G097 railgun propelled a 1005 kilo anti personnel round towards its target at several times the speed of sound. Reaching its destination in a matter of seconds the shell exploded 500 meters from its target and spread out a shotgun-like hail of half a million small metal slugs and flechette darts in cl.u.s.ter that completely saturated the target area. Melisha didn''t even react to the attack, in an instant the shield spell that surrounded her was cracked and fell apart as she was hit with countless metal projectiles.


    "ARGH!-"


    Being a archangel her body was extremely tough so she didn''t outright die form the hits, but her body was completely littered with bruises and deep cuts as several of her ribs fractured.


    "INSOLENT CREATURE, I AM NOT TO BE PLAYED WITH, PREPARE TO DIE!"


    Now truly pissed off Melisha channeled an absurd amount of mana into a single spell that she let loose on the golems that still annoyed her, the spell took shape of a small glowing orb that exploded into a flashing light when it hit the ground. The result was devastating, like a high explosive shell had hit in the middle of the reaper drones a small crater had formed as the forest they used for cover was set alight while multiple drones were simply smashed to pieces.


    -


    (UPDATE: FORWARD ELEMENT ECHO IS COMBAT INEFFECTIVE, CONTACT ADVANCING TOWARDS SECOND DEFENSIVE LINE.)


    (What are the losses?)


    (PRINTING DAMAGE REPORT:


    OF THE 32 REAPER DRONES


    DRONES DESTROYED: 21


    HEAVY DAMAGE: 9


    LIGHT DAMAGE, STILL OPERATIONAL: 2


    OF THE 2 REAPER TYPE DRONE AEHWP CARRIER''S


    UNITS DESTROYED: 1


    HEAVY DAMAGE: 0


    LIGHT DAMAGE: 1, WARING REACTOR BREACH, UNIT DISABLED.


    END OF REPORT.)


    "F.u.c.k."


    "Big sister Iris?"


    As Iris broke the silence inside the transport Abel looked to her slightly confused.


    "Ah sorry we were just thinking out loud, continue playing."


    "... Okay."


    Not completely convinced Abel went back to playing by himself just as Iris received a massage and once more entered mindmelt.


    ["Iris we have contact!"]


    "Busy!"


    ["Shit! Lux we have contact! Iris too!"]


    ["Same here! Draw out the fight I''ll be there as soon as possible!"]


    Felling the line disconnect Iris was left alone once more.


    "Even if you say that¡­. ICI bring me up to speed."


    COMMAND REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGED. STILL TRACKING 1 TIMES CONTACT: RANGE 16 KILOMETERS, 813 METERS, HEADING 271 AT FLIGHT LEVEL 45. APPROACHING SECOND LINE OF DEFENSE @14.5 METERS/SECOND.


    "So she has slowed down quite a bit.. What''s the contact''s ETA to CIC?"


    ESTIMATING TIME OF ARRIVAL BASED ON KNOW FACTORS AND DEFENSIVE POSITIONS, STANDBY¡­ COMPLETE, ETA: 129 MINUTES.


    "And what''s the Viper HV-ARM MaRV AMS tasking ETS?"


    ESTIMATED TIME TO STRIKE FOR VIPER HV-ARM MISSION IS 59 MINUTES, DUE TO STRIKE PROFILE 9.


    "So as long as nothing goes wrong we''re still okay¡­ Switch second line of defence to pop and shoot, try and draw out the time more."


    DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED, SWITCHING UGAV''S TO FORMATION SIGMA, STRIKE 02 PREPARING FOR RAPID RESPONSE, SWITCH TO ACTIVE COOLING CYCLE #4.


    -


    After dealing with the first golems and 2 large machines Melisha slowed her speed while lowering her altitude as she surrounded herself in several layers of shielding to protect her from another long range attack like the last one that had almost crippled her.


    (What the hell was that attack earlier? It seemed like it required a great deal of guidance so I quickly eliminated the golems so the opponent knows that it didn''t work and will most likely try something more extreme next time¡­)


    Immediately after destroying what she had believed was the final golem Melisha quickly healed the worst of her induires with magic, but that in turn had been a great mental drain so she now approached her target flying quite a bit lower and slower than before. Reaching a large open plain Melisha regained a bit of her confidence in spotting new treats she slightly lowered her guard, but not for long.


    "HII! What the f.u.c.k was that!?"


    Out of nowhere a explosion tore through a quarter of the shields she had formed to guard her back, frightening the angel that had not expected an attack from the rear. Looking around for the attacker Melisha spotted a small black machine behind her that had hid at the edge of the forest.


    "F.u.c.k.i.n.g bug!"


    Quickly putting 2 and 2 together Melisha figured that the small machine was the source of the attack from the rear, and launched multiple crystal spikes after it. But alas the machine proved more tenacious than the others she had faced so far, quickly retreating from its initial position it zigzagged backwards while shooting its attached Rex-0999 machine gun at the pissed off angel with relative accuracy.


    "YOU!"


    With her anger flaring Melisha formed a sword out of crystal and charged the annoying bug to kill it herself, but as she closed the distance it suddenly launched several grenades at her that exploded mid air and created a smokescreen.


    "What!?"


    Slashing through the smoke the machine had disappeared, but the frustrated angel hardly had time to think about that as another explosion hit her in the back.


    "I SWEAR WHEN I FIND THE ONE CONTROLLING THESE MACHINES I''LL RIP HIM APART WITH MY BARE HANDS!"

 Chapter 107 - Hostile contact (6)

    About 10 kilometers to the east of Rochdale a large open plain marked the second line of defence Iris had set up against the archangel Melisha. While it might seem foolish to engage a flying opponent on a open field with no cover it was exactly what Iris had decided, and she had the perfect tool for the terrain. Small ATV sized tracked vehicles made use of the flat and open terrain to the fullest as they quickly moved around and harrased their opponent while slowly withering down her shield with half precise machine gun fire and ATGM strikes.


    Epsilon solutions UGAV - Unmanned Ground Assault Vehicle.


    After the Galactic Empire split in half doing the iron race containment war independant startups became rare on both sides, with investment instead being focused on military development and war bonds, but Epsilon solutions and their UGAV is a rare exception to that statement. Build originally out of a garage the civilian unmanned grounds keeper vehicle was developed as a cheap alternative to human labor on bioorganic orchard''s to maintain, pollinate and trim fruit trees. The UGKV saw relative commercial success and lead the company president and sole employee Mark Epsilon to further optimise the design, cheepening production and increasing product flexibility. Cheaper grouped gimbal mounts were used to for the sensors and arms of the machine while the miniaturized fusion reactor was replaced with a simple high capacity battery and a popular open source drone control interface was used instead of home developed software, further cutting production cost and increasing the product''s flexibility and user friendliness while even allowing customer modification. With an even better bottom line and increased customer satisfaction Mark Epsilon raked in the profits, until a glaring flaw in the product was found.


    The gimbal''s Mark had used were industry standard, and with the open source drone control software allowed for easy modification of the OS, nothing prevented the customers from removing the gardening multi tool and rudimentary sensor package and replacing it with a rifle on a simple gimbal and a high speed tracking radar. Exactly that happened a few years after Mark had made his first sale when 2 neighboring families of farmers finally got tired of discussing their generations old land dispute and weaponized their brand new Epsilon solutions UGKV''s and went to war on eachother. 2 days later a victor emerged between them, but not before the losing side managed to call the police, and a week after that news of the incident had reached the entire galaxy. When the authorities finally came for Mark Epsilon they didn''t come to arrest him, no they came with a investment in the 7 figure range. What had made the UGKV a commercial success for Mark Epsilon made the platform itself extremely attractive for the military with its cheap cost to build, operate and maintain while allowing a high degree of customization on a robust and mobile platform. With the help of a small team of military engineers Mark had the first prototype of the new UGV design ready within a week and over the years it slowly evolved into the moden UGAV used by the Galactic Empire marines.


    The moden UGAV is armed with a single Rex-0999 machine gun mounted on a gimbal and a anti tank guided missile launcher that sports 4 missiles. For defence the UGAV is relatively lacking however, it is almost compleatly unarmored, has no countermeasures against heat seeking weapons and only has a smoke grenade launcher to lay down cover, but like the Guardian Spector from which it draws much inspiration from it can outrun or hide from simpler weapons and is really not worth targeting with smarter weapon systems while only looking at the cost.


    "What the f.u.c.k is up with these bugs!?"


    Melisha had no effective countermeasure against the UGAV''s. From long range she couldn''t hit them as they moved too fast to track, and if she tired to close range they would just pop smoke and flee.


    "Enough with these damn bugs!"


    When frustration proved enough the pissed off archangel simply flew up into the sky in an attempt to fly over the effective range of the UGAV''s, but of course Iris had thought about that too.


    [REACTIVE FIREMODE ACTIVE, TARGET ACQUIRED, LOAD HV-APFSDS


    RANGE TO TARGET: 13.609 METERS.


    FUSE: NULL.


    ANTI MATERIAL MODE 4.


    FIRE AT WILL.]


    On another hill about 13 kilometers from Melisha''s current position a Guardian-G097 indirect fire railgun carrier codenamed ''strike 02'' sighted a frustrated angel rise above the treetops and immediately opened fire with a single round of high velocity 205mm armor piercing fin stabilized discarding sabot ammunition normally used to destroy extremely solid targets, or to destroy smaller sh.i.p.s in high orbit. The fin stabilized tungsten alloy penetrator reached Melisha after only traveling for 3 seconds and missed her by under a meter, but it had come close enough.


    "ARGH, HII!!"


    The wind pressure alone knocked all the air out of Melisha''s lungs as the ear closest to the passing round immediately suffered a ruptured eardrum and she was scared half to death and hurriedly rushed back towards the ground, but not fast enough.


    [REACTIVE FIREMODE ACTIVE, TARGET ACQUIRED, LOAD HV-APFSDS


    RANGE TO TARGET: 13.610 METERS.


    FUSE: NULL.


    ANTI MATERIAL MODE 4.


    FIRE AT WILL.]


    Melisha had remained above the treeline long enough for strike 02 to recharge, making slight adjustments to its aim it let loose another 205mm APFSDS round towards the unfortunate angel. This time as the fire control system estimated the target was moving downwards the massive 5 meter long fin stabilized tungsten alloy penetrator ripped through several treetops on the way to its target and therefore had its trajectory slightly disrupted and missed by only a single meter.


    "GUA!-"


    But it was still close enough to cause significant damage, Melisha''s lungs ruptured as most of her larger intestines were liquified by the shockwave and only her previous experience of having her wing ripped off as she was banished from her sanctuary kept her from passing out and dying of extreme internal hemorrhaging and shock outright. Seeing flashbacks of her long life Melisha was reminded of the shame and humiliation she felt when she was banished and lost her wing, that in turn made her all the more furious by being defeated by such parlor tricks and a mix of will, rage and the unwillingness to die forced her mind to use a spell she was sure she had lost when she had lost her wing: Ascension. Ascension was the single spell that really separated angels from all other races, indicated by the name the spell''s effect is that it ascends the user to another level of mana control, allowing the user to enact spells a magnitude more powerful than anything else posible. As Melisha fell through the air all her injuries suddenly healed completely as her eyes opened they glowed brightly along with her 3 black wings as a fourth formed out of pure mana and replaced the one she had lost. Coming to a halt mid air Melisha started floating on her own as a array of halo''s formed above her head and she was bathed in a truly heavenly aura.


    "Disappear from my sight."


    Melisha''s voice no longer held tones of irritation or aggregation as she simply wave her hand towards the UGAV''s, with the result proving to be all but simple. In response to her simple movement a array of magic hieroglyphs formed in the air that transformed the simple moment into a force that carried hurricane force winds mixed with over a million 10 meter long golden crystal spikes, the result was as expected completely decimating as the UGAV''s and the very terrain the were on disappeared in a bright flash and when the dust finally settled the typography had been reshaped. Floating up into the air she once more came into sight of strike 02.


    [REACTIVE FIREMODE ACTIVE, TARGET ACQUIRED, LOAD HV-APFSDS


    RANGE TO TARGET: 13.612 METERS.


    FUSE: NULL.


    ANTI MATERIAL MODE 4.


    FIRE AT WILL.]


    Firing another 205mm APFSDS at the target it proved to be a dead on hit this time, but the effect on target had even Dax that was sneak peaking at the situation drop the cup that was in his hand as his jaw almost dropped to the floor alongside it. Instead of completely decimating Melisha as expected the titanium alloy penetrator simply hovered harmlessly in the air in front of her outstretched hand, seemingly breaking the conservation of energy as it velocity had been completely canceled and floated harmlessly in the air. As the penetrator flipped around in the air control was wrestled from Iris that speechlessly watched what was happening and strike 02 deployed smoke as it completely abandoned the stabilizers it had pierced deep into the ground and hurriedly retreated as if it suddenly had gained a ego and feared for its life.


    "Return form where you came."


    Further violating the rules of thermodynamics the titanium alloy penetrator suddenly regained all its former momentum as Melisha released it from her control. The result was completely devastating as the hill where strike 02 was formerly located completely disappeared as the raw kinetic energy of the penetrator seemed to have increased several magnitudes.


    "WHAT THE F.U.C.K!?"


    "Hii!? Big sister Iris?"


    "We need to get away from here now!"


    Under the command of Iris the transport her and Abel were in suddenly roared to life as it accelerated recklessly to open up the distance between the monster angel that was chasing them.


    ["I guess not¡­ Iris how are you doing?"]


    "Badly"


    "We need help"


    ["On my way."]


    "Please hurry!"


    [".. Got it! On my way!"]


    Hearing the panic in Iris'' voice over the transmision Lux made use of her greatly enhanced strength and rushed towards her without any other concerns.

 Chapter 108 - Hostile contact (7)

    On her way out of town Lux suddenly stopped moving as her mouth opened wide beneath her mask and was struck with shock as she witnessed how truly unfair magic is. The angel that was assaulting Iris'' position had suddenly done something completely unbelievable as she was suddenly covered in mana and had wiped out about 50 UGAV''s before stopping a 205mm tungsten APFSDS penetrator with her hand and send it back to the Guardian-G097 indirect fire railgun carrier.


    "DAX!"


    [CONTACT UNAVAILABLE, ALL COMMUNICATION HARDLINES OCCUPIED.]


    "WHAT!? Run debug!"


    Being blocked by the communication system Lux was outraged until her ICI unit responded to her inquiry.


    [DEBUG COMPLETE, COMMUNICATIONS OFFLINE, REASON: HIGH OUTGOING TRAFFIC.]


    (High outgoing traffic?... Don''t tell me!-)


    Confirming her train of thought Lux realized that she had lost all control of the surviving drones that had up until now been under her control.


    -


    At the same time about 3000 kilometers away Dax had reviewed the current attack taking place on his adorable second in command and other comrades.


    "So you can do something like that too?"


    Asking the archangel next to him, she lightly fluttered her 6 prue white wings before putting on a smug and haughty smile and answered with an annoyingly superior sunding smile.


    "Of course, and unlike that pheathetic example right there I can maintain it for about a month without stopping."


    "So this one has a time restriction?"


    Completely ignoring Solaris'' haughty attitude Dax immediately picked up on what she was hinting at and asked with what to Solaris looked like a calm expression.


    "Definitely, I would say it is a wonder in itself that that fallen angel managed to pull off an ascension spell like that. I would say she can keep it up for about 30 minutes depending on how much mana she channels through her body."


    "Please elaborate."


    Just as Solaris was about to crack a joke or demand some kind of compensation in response to Dax''s rude request for more information she froze as her golden eyes saw a huge shift in the ambient mana around Dax.


    (Bloodl.u.s.t!)


    Just because Dax couldn''t directly interact with mana his mental state, like all other living creatures still affected it. After spending some time with Dax suppressing the northern rebellion she had learned to somewhat read his mood by observing the mana around him, and the current Dax was angry, extremely so. Solaris hurriedly formed the mana around her for defensive spells, but realized that it in the end was not necessary as Dax''s rage was directed somewhere else. His artificial eye that was hidden behind a black eyepatch glowed dimly as it darted around while he seemed not look at Solaris, even as he was directly staring at her.


    [ICI push targeting directives A-01 to F-61 to all Viper AI''s before flushing master level OS and apply the new algorithm for targeting.]


    [Hand over direct command to me and utilize all available com hardlines to form a connection, use the quantum entanglement communication array on the electronic warfare specialist type AEHWP to form a forward combat information center.]


    [Relay directive 44 to all available units, form organic combat formation type delta and engage, shoot to maim or kill, relay all fire request to me for approval.]


    [Plot reentry for all available QRF''s in case point omega is breached and start enriching 2 kilos of antimatter for enactment of mad.]


    [Extract ''redmatter'' nano machine algorithm from deep information vault for enactment of mad.]


    [Extract ''bluematter'' protein construction pattern from deep information vault for enactment of mad.]


    [Fromulate evac formations and update all field operatives.]


    ..


    .


    Sending out thousands of commands Dax didn''t wait for ICI to respond, all that was on his mind at the moment was saving his comrades Dax realized he had truly come to care for them like his former subordinates that had perished around him when he had suffered an ambush all that time ago.


    (This time I can not lose them, no, I WILL NOT LOSE THEM.)


    "Please do elaborate on your assessment Solaris, why won''t she be able to maintain that form?"


    Calming himself slightly Dax switched gears as he sought more intel from the slightly on edge archangel in front of him that seemed to cover slightly as she spoke this time.


    "A-ascension is a really hard spell to pull off unless you have the mana capacity necessary. We angels store mana in our wings, and therefore the amount of wings is a direct correlation to our power. Think of the angel like Hydroelectric dams you taught me about, the spell is the turbines that produce power while the water is mana. Ascension is like suddenly adding 3 or 4 more high yield turbines, as such the power skyrockets but so does the stress on the structure, too much stress and?..."


    Catching on what Solaris was trying to say Dax formed a sadistic smile on his face.


    "The structure fails, and the dam bursts, with the water that was its source of power destroying it."


    "Exactly, my young student."


    "I''m pretty sure I''m older than you."


    ---


    Since forcefully performing ascension and wiping out the pests around her, the 3 winged angel Melisha had not meet any new obstacles as she flew towards her target, a demi human child that was of much value to her employer. Of course there was still some flies loitering around her, after Melisha ascended her senses had become much more potent so she could hear their artificial wings flapping about, but as long as they kept their distance they were of no treat, or so she taught.


    [TARGET ACQUIRED, FINAL GUIDANCE NOW COMMENCING: VIPER STRIKE PACKAGE #1 UTILIZING STRIKE PATTERN E-11.]


    All of a sudden objects shot up out of the treeline and approached Melisha at supersonic speeds.


    "FUC!-"


    With only split seconds to act Melisha could not form a complicated spell like the one she used the last time to catch the enemies catapult, so she opted to shield herself as much as she could. Enduring the blast Melisha let out a pitiful scream as overpressure formed from a well coordinated strike that struck from all directions at the same time. Immediately after that strike the entire area was pelted with railgun fire that further degraded Melisha''s shield, before another pack of Viper cruise missiles showered the area in a healthy mix of shrapnel and flechette darts.


    "WHAT THE F.U.C.K!?"


    Prying a metal dart out of her arm Melisha was completely outraged as she started channeling an even larger amount of mana trough her wings that she used to create a giant earth dome to hide from the torrent of fire.


    "Shit¡­ I need to get out of here."


    Feeling she had drawn way too much hostile attention Melisha decided to withdraw and regroup and powered up a mana crystal to locate her allies.


    "All dead?... Useless insects."


    Confirming the demise of her allies Melisha only expressed scorn and annoyance before she searched for her target by looking for its mana signature.


    "There you are¡­ Time to get this done."


    With a move of her arm the earth dome shattered into a million sharp projectiles that pelted the flying bugs around her. Breathing in deeply Melisha extended her wings before setting off with such speed that she blew over the surrounding trees. In an instant Melisha had left the forest and was out over a field where she spotted some kind of gray machine that moved away from her at great speed.


    "There you are!"


    Ignoring the pesky flies and insects around her she closed in on the steel chariot in an instant and tore open the roof to find her target inside, or so she believed.


    "WHAT!?"


    The inside was empty, no demi human child and no guards. The only thing inside was some kind of strange device that emitted the same kind of mana as her target, and a slip of paper with a line of writing and showed a stickfigure performing a very rude gesture.


    "Huh?"


    Letting out a stupid sound as she read the the paper Melisha realized she had been lured into a trap, and a well designed one at that.


    ''Enjoy your trip down to hell'' it said, and that was the last thought that went through the fallen angel''s mind as the titanium alloy of the machine around her was vaporized when the closed transport AEHWP''s fusion drive ignited with the force of a smaller nuclear device.


    [CALLOUT FROM COMMAND: SPLASH 1 PRIMARY TARGET. ALL SUSPECTED PRIMARY TARGETS ELIMINATED, CODE RED STILL IN EFFECT.]

 Chapter 109 - Rochdale aftermatch (1)

    That day marked a turning point for the world of magic. Destruction of an unprecedented scale had happened near a populated area, and an angel (although fallen) was complealty beaten. Dax, the visitor qiton from another world instantly took responsibility through the hunter''s guild and used the event to establish the Galactic Empire to the world. ''Yeah I did that, no I won''t compensate anyone for that, annoy me and I''ll do it again'' was the tl;dr of the statement that went around the world through the hunter''s guild. The city of Rochdale was in a state of uproar after the qiton''s statement reached them through the local hunter''s guild and there was talk among the nobles to declare war on such a rude newcomer to their world, but after multiple mysterious ''polite suggestions'' found their way to the key supporters behind such notions it was quickly abandoned. A entire week passed and the city started calming down again, shattered glass was replaced and farmers settled on new ground to regrow their fields, but the capital''s nightlife was still eagerly discussing the events. Inside one of the more popular bars of the outermost city 2 monster hunter where talking about the events after they had had a few too many beers.


    "I''m telling you it''s true! Whoever that was he took out a entire squad of inner guards with ease before killing two hunters and retreating out of the city!"


    While the first one truly believes the rumors he had heard to be true, the second was more doubtful about the rumors circulating.


    "Really? That sounds really unlikely¡­"


    "I''m telling you it''s true! There was a mass service burial for the guards yesterday, all the caskets were closed."


    "Are you for real?"


    "Yeah, I heard it directly from my buddy that works at the temple."


    A few tables behind the 2 monster hunters a pair of long ears picked up the conversation as their owner put on a thesing smile before she asked her drinking companion.


    "How does it feel to be famous?"


    "Don''t you mean infamous? I just did my job, same as the guards."


    Lux wore quite a complex facial expression as she said that before putting on a forced smile as she downed her beer, making Lilly drop the subject.


    "How the hell did Dax stop Deltas from starting a war against him/us anyway?"


    Ever since Lilly first heard of the operation to crush the operatives trying to interfere with them she was certain it would end in all out conflict with Deltas, but to her surprise it didn''t end like that, in fact she had heard rumors of some nobles in Deltas wanting to reach out to Dax and welcome him in the kingdom''s upper echelon.


    "Ah, that? It''s was properly due to the ''polite suggestions'' he left any of the nobles that wanted to go to war."


    Showing a far off look in her eyes as she smiled wryly Lux proved she had at least an inkling to what exactly had happened while purposely avoiding the subject, making Lilly that was interested in knowing more about Dax even more interested.


    "Polite suggestions?"


    "Yeah¡­ At home in the Galactic Empire Dax basically rose from a expendable operative to the leader of the armed forces in the matter of a day. While the upper echelon of the Empire was quite happy with that it caused a lot of powerful people a lot of money and a entire slew of high ranking military officials to lose their job, so he was quite hated for some time. Those events were before my time but I''ve heard the legends.."


    "Such as?"


    "A high ranking military official woke up to find a prototype armor pricing railgun round from a company he had secretly taking bribes from on his night table along with a note. The note said ''be careful not to lose your head in ambition''."


    "That''s cold."


    "Yep, that''s where the therm ''polite suggestion'' came from. In some way, somehow, Dax would immediately find out where to squeeze his opponents, then instead of doing it he would just show that he could while leaving some philosophical and vaguely treating advice along with it. Of course I only know about that example because the military official was dumb enough to try and fight against Dax. Nothing was ever proven but that and other examples were a clear indicator for people to get with the program, it''s impossible to know exactly he and my older sisters have in their palms at this point."


    "I see¡­"


    Learning something new about the person she admired Lilly initially overlooked something important Lux had just sheared, realizing that a few seconds later she almost choked on her beer.


    "W-wait you have older sisters? I thought your only living family was Dax that adopted you?"


    "That''s because I never talked about them."


    "Why?"


    "I''m not supposed to."


    "Please tell me."


    Not taking no for an answer Lilly showed a determined expression while deciding that she absolutely needed to know more about Lux''s sisters, seeing as they might be competition. A period of silence followed between the 2 friends, until Lux finally caved.


    "I guess it''s fine to tell you, seeing how Dax''s trusts you¡­. Ra and Mu are their names, Dax saved them long before I was born and they helped him gain the power he has now."


    Leaving it purposely vague Lux hoped Lilly wouldn''t dig further into their identities as she put a pause to the conversation by getting up to get more drinks for the two.


    "So are they his women?"


    Immediately bringing up the topic again Lux saw she was unwilling to drop that subject, but for other reasons than she had suspected.


    "Not exactly¡­ They''re more like accomplices?"


    "You''re not sure yourself!?"


    Almost facepalming at Lux''s answer Lilly was unable to keep her cool in front of the airhead-like behavior her superior suddenly displayed.


    "It is kind of hard to explain okay?.. They''re definitely close to be sure, but I''ve never seen them doing anything romantic. If anything they''re the only people I think that Dax is legitimately afraid of."


    "Is that his kink?"


    "Now you''re just being rude."


    Exchanging warm smiles the 2 friends shared a short laugh before Lux brought up the topic again.


    "So what exactly is it you like about Dax?"


    "W-why do you want to know that all of a sudden?"


    "He is my parent, technically."


    Showing a frank smile that slightly dazed Lilly she decided to ignore the more problematic parts of that sentence and pressed on, if only a little bit embarrassed.


    "H-he''s reliable, I guess."


    "Hmmm~"


    "W-what?"


    "Nothing. It''s just surprising that so many people here find him attractive."


    With sad tone Lux showed a complicated expression as her smile mostly disappeared that made Lilly forget her own embarrassment as she put down her glass and put a slight damper on her expression as she asked.


    "Why wouldn''t that be the case?"


    "You know what he is right?"


    "A military official?"


    "There''s that too, but first and foremost he''s a qiton."


    "And?"


    Showing confusion to her statement Lux realized that the elver in front of her might actually be a good fit for Dax as she breathed a sigh before explaining.


    "Qiton''s are genetically engineered weapons of war, their bodies and minds are made stronger and more enduring than any other race in the empire, forget attraction or admiration, most normal people look at them with only fear."


    "Then what about female qiton''s? If there are any."


    "Of course there are, but that''s its own issue due to his cybernetic augments¡­"


    "Ah¡­"


    Having heard a tiny bit about qiton culture from Dax himself Lilly understood that they strongly favored tradition and worshiped their creators that created perfect bodies for them.


    "But the biggest factor might be his own attitude.. You must have noticed by now but Dax is not really¡­.-"


    "Interested?"


    "That would be the best way to put it yeah¡­ Good luck."

 Chapter 110 - Rochdale aftermatch (2)

    "I-is it really okay for us to walk around like this?"


    "It''s completely fine."


    "We guarantee it."


    "And if anything happens Dax is protecting us."


    "Now let''s visit this store next."


    Drawing quite a bit of attention a girl and a boy ran around the inner part of Rochdale normally only meant for nobles and rich merchants, with the latter of the 2 was almost being dragged behind the former. The girl had shoulder length silver hair and large ashen gray eyes that seemed to dart around at her surrounds constantly, as if she found it extremely entertaining to watch the surroundings. She wore a simple blue one piece dress with a hood that hid the most of her face from curious onlookers while the demihuman boy she dragged around wore a white shirt and brown shorts. While the 2 of them were not an unusual sight even in the inner part of Rochdale, as many nobles bought slaves to act as guards for their children, their escorts were highly unusual. Staying mostly out of sight, the cloaked figures would intercept anyone that was trying to approach the children and turn them away, while doing nothing to people that just went about their day.


    "Excuse me you two, can I see your identification and access passes?"


    Of course that did not cover everyone, soon enguth Iris and Abel were surrounded by city guards.


    "Why?"


    "Your coworker said we would only need to show it when we entered this place."


    "If you want a bribe or something like that it''ll end badly for you."


    As Abel hid behind Iris she fired off numerous responses to the guard that spoke out to them.


    "Now now miss I just want to confirm that you''re not lost, could you please show me your pass so I can lead you to your guardian?"


    Taking a passive stance to show he meant no harm the guard crouched down to meet Iris'' eye level as he put on a wryly smile to show he meant no harm as he scratched his beard scruffs.


    "No need."


    "We''re not lost."


    "We''re just enjoying some time off duty together with this child."


    "If you''re trying to appeal to our sense of pity we don''t possess any."


    "Good day."


    Seeing the conversation as over Iris started walking away while dragging Abel behind her, understandably this did not sit well with the guards and the children pair was quickly blocked off from leaving.


    "Please cooperate miss I don''t want to use force, I just want to confirm that you are not lost."


    Speaking in a more stern tone this time the guard looked at the children with slight annoyance, after all he was the law, and no one is above the law.


    "Are we being detained?"


    "That would be a very bad idea, for your overall health."


    "Iris?"


    Noticing a change in her tone Abel spoke up nervously as he looked at his friend.


    "It''s fine."


    Giving reassurance while showing a faint smile Iris patted Abel on his head before she turned back towards the guard.


    "Let us go."


    "Or your superior will be very mad."


    "Final warning."


    Taking what he perceived like against him the guard exchanged a look with his comrades before he put a hand on his sword and rose to his feet once more.


    "Okay kids you''re coming with us, I tried to be kind."


    With a cold shine in his eyes the guard gr.a.p.ed Iris by the shoulder.


    "That was a mistake."


    Before the guard knew what was going on he was grabbed by the neck as his arm was pried off Iris'' shoulder, then he was thrown away like a toy. Before he knew what was going on the guard landed on his chest presumably a few meters away and had all the air in his lungs knocked out as someone stepped on his back.


    "Arg!- What the f.u.c.k!?"


    Trying to get back on his feet the unfortunate guard was once more stepped on before he finally turned his head to see who the hell dared stepping on him. Turned out it was a ''what'' not a ''who'' that was stepping, and it was glad to do so again before synthetic sounding voice rang out in the street from several sources.


    [ASSAULTING KEY OPERATIONS PERSONAL IS A CRIME PUNISHABLE BY DEATH.]


    "Units 1-4 maintain perimeter."


    "5 bring up the rear."


    "7 request QC line to command."


    "AUAV''s assist suppression in case of threat level red."


    "6 continue apprehending suspect."


    "Suspect!? I''m a f.u.c.k.i.n.g city guard! LET ME GO!"


    Trying to stand up once more the guard completely lost his temper when the drone above him once more stepped on him and pushed him further into the dirt below.


    "We find that hard to believe."


    "All guards were told about my and this child''s visit."


    "Along with Terra and Lux''s."


    "We''re envoy''s"


    "Is there a need to say were from?"


    As part of dealing with the aftermath of having a black operation near/in the populated city of Rochdale Dax had to do more than just threaten a few war hungry nobles to prevent a conflict and ensure Terra''s team could continue traveling through Deltas. The first was a series of visits to the upper world of Rochdale and negotiation of several treaties that were never going to happen. As part of that entire ordeal Dax found a way to give Iris and all the others well deserved breaks and have Rochdale treat them at the same time. Under some vague explanation Dax had sold Iris as a sort of ''cultural inspector'' that needed a day to play arou- I mean tour the capital of Deltas and inspect their way of life and culture, but most importantly their deserts and sweets.


    "I s-sincerely apologize!!! Miss cultural inspector!"


    Realing who he was talking to and remembering the morning briefing he had not really paid attention to the guard''s face turned ghastly pale.


    "Guards sure are slow witted around here."


    "We''ll make sure to note that in my assessment."


    ---


    "Are you holding up?"


    "Yeah, I''m just a bit nervous."


    In the very center of power in Deltas 2 figures were about to walk into a grand hall. The former was clad in a completely black form fitting suit with a red tie, so called formal wear for hellwalkers that contrasted greatly with her amber red eyes, pale scarred and muscle toned skin and blonde shoulder length hair that was done up in a traditional qiton braid. Her companion besides her wore a fiery red dress that hid her toned and muscle packed body and made her look like a delicate flower, of course Terra was not happy about that fact and that could very much be seen in her bright red pupils.


    "Relax a bit will you?"


    Putting on a playful smile Lux snuck a finger under Terra''s long and smooth black hair before tracing it up her neck.


    "HII! COULD YOU NOT?"


    Letting out a girly shriek Terra truly looked like she was about to murder her superior as she spoke in a willful and rage filled tone while still keeping a perfect smile, something she had learned growing up in a noble household.


    "Wow~ That sure is a scary look you have there."


    Looking like she was quite enjoying herself Lux had a short chuckle before she completely dropped her smile.


    "This is work too, look alive."


    With Lux going ahead by herself Terra took a second to collect herself.


    "Unit 2, water please."


    Holding out her hand, a Reaper drone in a similar suit as Lux handed her a bottle of water that Terra took a quick sip of before she followed after Lux. Terra and Lux were currently visiting key nobles of the Deltas kingdom in order to (among other things) ensure they had safe travels through the kingdom, the nobles treated the chance to meet representatives of the so called ''Galactic Empire'' as a great chance to gain national (and personal) favor, therefore as soon as the 2 representatives showed themselves at the party they were quickly surrounded.


    (This is a bit much¡­)


    Keeping a perfect diplomatic smile as she made short and non engaging and vague answers to a endless barrage of shameless questions and semi s.e.xist praise Lux thought she was prepared for the noble''s of the world of magic, but she had falsely compared them to high level executives from her home. These nobles were extremely persistent in their questions and didn''t seem to take no for an answer, but after an hour she was finally somewhat released and retreated to the drinks table. Looking towards Terra that still entertained a slew of different people dressed in colourful clothing with a ridiculous amount of frills Lux realized that she truly was a noble''s daughter.


    (Fascinating..)


    Looking at Terra, Lux tried to absorb and learn the way she moved and kept herself, so she could use it to tease her later.


    "So this is where you went miss Lux."


    "Ah, count Storm and barron Roland. After speaking for so much I figured I would sample the local drinks."


    Covering her mouth with her hand Lux put on a cordial smile and acted slightly embarrassed as she mentally rolled her eyes at the most annoying nobles she had met so far.


    "In that case I recommend the wine from my domain to the south, it has a sweet taste that''s easy on the palet."


    "Or if you dislike wine I recommend there''s mead specially made in my town, the sweetness is unlike any other alcoholic drinks."


    (They''re totally looking down on me huh?)


    Seeing the to nobles in perfect sync recommending sweet and girly drinks Lux was inwardly disgusted as she acted like she was pondering the dilemma with care, before deciding that it was not worth it in the end.


    "That sounds like wonderful choices, but I''ve found something even more interesting."


    Letting her hand dance over countless choices as she walked past the 8 some meters long table filled with only the finest drinks, the count and barron pair''s faces paled when she stopped on a heavily tinted bottle.


    "Miss Lux, that one is properly not for you."


    "Why don''t you try another one? I recommend..-"


    With well practised movements Lux removed the cork on the bottle and poured herself a glass as the pair tried changing her mind Lux quickly took a large swig.


    "Hmmm~ 40, no 45%. Good deep flavor that''s been enhanced by blending several different ''cuts'' of wine before and doing a extended time on cask. I both smell and taste brown sugar, vanilla and multiple fruits. A excellent drink indeed."


    Displaying an alluring smile as she perfectly analyzed the hard liquor she was drinking neat without issue the count barron pair were briefly stunned.


    "Miss Lux are you really okay with that?"


    "It''s fine~ I''ve been properly enlightened about the joy of drinking hard liquor."

 Chapter 111 - Rochdale aftermatch (3)

    "Ladies and gentlemen, tonight''s entertainment is about to be ready. Please come to the viewing area."


    All of a sudden conversation died down in the banquet hall, liberating Lux and Terra that briefly exchanged questioning looks before following the crowd out of the grand hall into what appeared some sort of spectators seating overlooking a simple square arena below.


    "Ladies please come sit over here, you two are guests of honor after all."


    Not having a reason to outright decline Lux and Terra both went to sit with count and barron at a pair of seats that truly did allow a great overview of the arena.


    "I don''t think I''m familiar with this kind of entertainment, what his happening?"


    "It''s just a bit of fun."


    Having a really bad promotion about the current situation Lux''s diplomatic smiling facade started cracking slightly as she exchanged glances with Terra that gave a similar expression, although she somehow managed to hide it a tiny bit better.


    "I see, I will be looking forward to the surprise then."


    Showing a cordial smile Lux managed to hide her worries that she hoped would be unfounded and managed to keep some small talk with going with the surrounding noble''s by occasionally having Terra assist her in times of need.


    "I overheard that you two ladies are traveling south south, please be careful of the new griffon breeding grounds. They''ve expanded out from their regular territory quite a bit due to the long summer."


    "Griffons? We''ll be sure to keep that in mind and avoid the areas¡­"


    With the idle conversation coming to an abrupt end as those words left her lips Lux panicked slightly as she looked towards Terra that broke into a slight chuckle at her confusion.


    "Griffons are smart creatures that don''t seek out a fight they can''t win, at most they might steal a bit of our supplies if we''re careful but we can avoid that all together by presenting a small offering when we enter their territory."


    Offering a perfect explanation to the outsider Terra displayed her vast knowledge of the world of monsters to the surrounding crowd, quickly earning praise all around.


    "You sure a knowledgeable about griffons miss Terra."


    "Truely a subject expert!"


    "That sure is fascinating news. My domain is under quite the strain from monsters at the moment, I would very much appreciate any advice you have."


    "If we''re talking about monsters you only suffer because you kept trying to tax monster hunters to an absurd degree! My domain on the other hand suffers from an infestation of arachnids that the local hunters can''t deal with, please accept my selfish request for any knowledge and assistance."


    "What!? I do no such thing! You''re the one that-"


    But praise soon turned to requests for knowledge, and that in turn turned to pleads for assistance with promise of great reward and infighting. Lux and Terra both knew this would happen, as they had both had some experience dealing with noble''s or top executives, but in Lux''s case she was slightly overwhelmed at how greedy and ill mannered the so called ''elite'' of Deltas were behaving towards them. Even as she was introduced as a military official Lux had been swarmed by noblewomen that tried to pander to her by forcing their own sense of values and aesthetics on her, Lux had no idea how many times she had politely declined poor matchmaking attempts, flirting and outright s.e.x.u.a.l harassment, not to mention that they completely looked at her like she was some kind of apology in the from of a comfort woman send by Dax and it was even worse for Terra that was judged as someone below her.


    "Miss Terra I have to confess that I''m truly captivated by your eyes."


    While she was occupied dealing with the noble''s around her someone had breached her defenses unnoticed. He was a tall man with blond hair and bright green eyes that carried himself quite elegantly in his fancy dress suit that covered what both Terra and Lux assessed to be a somewhat well trained body. The issue what that he had approved unnoticed, then snuck up on Terra when she was preoccupied and wrapped his arms around her wrist and looked her in place as he inspected her face at point blank. Terra looked back with wide eyes in surprise as her mind turned from confusion to rage. Who does he think he is? To casually try and touch her like that, Terra felt like shattering his arm like a twig, but in time (about a second) more calm parts of her mind prevailed as she noticed the strange atmosphere around her. Some of the nobles were panicking, while others heartbeats slightly increased as they had suddenly become more excited. At that moment she remembered Lux''s advice from earlier.


    ''This is work too, look alive.''


    And she realized.


    (This is a trap.)


    "Why thank you sir, is it customary to casually touch a foreign diplomat like this? If so I would like to have been informed beforehand, as my guards might act rudely to such behavior."


    Displaying a cordial smile that had no trace of her earlier hesitation or rage she briefly stunned the noble that had grabbed her with her beauty and used that gap to the fullest to pry his arm off. Understandably quite upset at such an instant rejection that he was undoubtedly not used to, the nobles face flared red as his perfect expresion cracked.


    "You-"


    "Please look behind you before you finish that sentence young man."


    Before he did something too stupid Lux stepped in, offering kind sounding advice and tone that on the surface sounded friendly, but was skillfully laced with bloodl.u.s.t. As a somewhat experienced martial artist the pretty blond haired noble recognized the danger instinctually and turned around before he froze in place. Just behind him stood what he quickly realized was some sort of golem wearing the same kind of suit as the less interesting mark he had been told about, its face was made out of some kind of tinted black glass that the somewhat experienced martial artist felt multiple ''eyes'' that were looking directly at him behind it. That was not the surprising part that forced him to tense up, no it was the fact that it had somehow snuck up on him compealty unnoticed like a skilled assassin and now took a stance like a skilled and ruthless killer while a long blade extended out form its arm.


    "I-I apologize for startling you and your guard miss Terra, please excuse me."


    Like a propper loser he realized he had been beaten and hurriedly retreated back to his own seating as the person who summoned them to this room appeared in the arena below.


    "Ladies and gentlemen, I apologize for the delay. Tonight''s contestants are ready, please inspect them and make bets accordingly."


    While speaking 8 figures were herded into the arena, what caratized them all was that all held different weapons of crude quality in their hands, and they had the same metal collar around their necks.


    "In honor of tonight''s special guests we''re having a special no holding back tournament, it''s a fight to the death."


    As the commentator displayed a cruel smile and the crowd of noble''s around them erupted with glee Lux''s diplomatic smile completely disappeared.

 Chapter 112 - Rochdale aftermatch (4)

    "In honor of tonight''s special guests we''re having a special no holding back tournament, it''s a fight to the death!"


    As the commentator announced the nights ''entertainment'', the upper echelon of Deltas cheered before calming down to allow him to continue.


    "Tonight''s contestants have all been properly ''educated'' and their hearts and minds are in this fight! Please look over the fighters and bet on your winner, good fortune."


    (This is a ploy.)


    Lux realized that fact immediately and looked towards Terra with slight panic.


    (Don''t you f.u.c.k.i.n.g move you hot blooded morron!)


    But to her surprise Terra weren''t acting up, she just sat in place with a perfect smile on her face while she silently digged her nails deep into her one hand. When that proved to not help her temper Terra excused herself by striking up a conversation with a noble that had problems with monsters in his domain, and returned to the main hall with him to discuss countermeasures.


    "Do you not have gladiatorial matches where you''re from miss Lux?"


    "Or are you perhaps feeling unwell?"


    Stepping right at the second of weakness count Storm showed a slight smile like he expected Lux to act up.


    "Gladiatorial matches is it? Please don''t disappoint me, it will be bad for your health."


    This was not the response count Jonathan Storm had hoped for. When a new power suddenly made contact with them he taught it a great chance to increase his own standing, but instead of visiting them himself the so called representative of the ''galactic empire'' had sent these women to meet him and the other leaders. Like they weren''t worth his time he had responded to the kingdom of Deltas with the minimum amount of courtesy while pressuring the emerging war faction that Jonathan had secretly been supporting, and then he made these women show up at this party he himself had been organizing, what''s more one of them even claimed to be his second in command! Having a female commander was unheard of, so he instantly decided to teach them a lesson. If the representatives behaved rudely or in any way inappropriate he could use that to unite the nobles go to war, and if they made a scene he could demand compensation.


    (What!? Disappoint? I''ve prepared the best fighters I own, there''s no way I would disappoint. Besides how would this harlot even know how to judge a fight?)


    "I''ll be sure not to disappoint, we''ve prepared the best fighters there''s available."


    Showing a friendly smile count Storm hid his real intentions perfectly as he kept up the conversation flawlessly.


    "What do you think Miss Lux? I''m sure you have seen plenty of fighters in your life, who here is you favorite?"


    "That would be the one on the left, behind the big one with the scar across his face."


    Giving an instant response Lux caught count Storm slightly off guard.


    "I-Is that so? In my eyes there''s nothing special about that brat."


    "It''s the eyes."


    "Eyes?"


    "Yeah, she has the eyes of a fighter, unlike the others that look like they have died already."


    Of the 8 fighters Lux picked one of the two females, a short brown haired demi human that wielded a pair of short swords. Like Lux said she had a resolute look in her eyes and didn''t even glance at the spectators above, she only looked ahead with firm resolution.


    "Ah that one, that''s because she''s been promised she can return home if she wins this nights fighting, but in the end that''s utterly hopeless."


    Showing a slightly sadistic smile that he quickly hid being his hand count Storm gestured for the first fight to start. At this point Lux would like nothing more than starting a war, or just slaughtering everyone in the room (something she had already planned out down to the finest detail), but there were numerous problems with just doing that. The biggest problem with just starting to kill nobles were that they might take offense to it and make their travels harder, not to talk about starting a war when Dax were making other preparations that couldn''t be delayed more than they already had. While battling complex emotions the first 3 fights ended with only a single fatality with 2 other serious injuries performed by what could be basically described as battles between corpses as years of torture and forced substance abuse had taken a toll on the slaves.


    "Time for the last fight of the evening. It''s your favorite''s turn now miss Lux, but what did you think of tonight''s entertainment so far?"


    With a somewhat smug smile on his face count Storm still expected Lux to act up in some way as he asked her about the fights she had just witnessed.


    "There''s really nothing to say about them, other than the so far poor and obvious attempts at match fixing there was nothing outstanding about them."


    Showing a perfect smile that hid an extremely toxic tongue Lux showed a bit more of her true self as she accurately pointed everything count Storm tried to hide so far. As the halort had correctly pointed out all the imperfections that had been there so far in the entertainment Jonathan Storm had prepared he found it hard to outright criticize her, not that he needed to snoop so low.


    (She will definitely act up in a moment, then we can use that to get the war we need, or just demand a ridiculous amount of compensation.)


    While count Storm continued scheming the last fight came and went, ending like Lux had predicted it with the beastkin teen winning against her opponent without issue. After the fight the beastkin flicked off the remaining blood from her blades and walked out in the middle of the blood soaked arena where she looked at the spectators for the first time.


    "I won, let me out now."


    Remembering what she had been promised the teen spoke out in a resolute voice filled with determination the crowd of nobles quieted down for a few seconds before they erupted in laughter.


    "What? She wants to go home!? Hahaha!~ That''s a good one!"


    "Hahaha! Is the comedy part of tonight''s entertainment?!"


    "No one told her yet? That''s so sad!"


    While the ridicule continued all around the beastkin teen still looked at the crowd with determination, but everyone of the so called ''nobles'' she locked eyes with only started laughing louder, with the only exception being a humankin lady in some sort of strange black suit that only looked back at her with an empty expression void of any emotion. After the laughter eventually died down and the spectator stepped out on the blood soaked field, completely ignoring the contestant still remaining there.


    "Ladies and gentlemen, it is time for the final match of the night. On one side we have the most prominent up and coming fighter, a female caught to the south skilled in using dual short swords. She have been promised her freedom if she could defeat our champion and 20 other fighters, and she just won her 20th fight in a row!"


    With the crowd of nobles erupting in cheer while some shouted how much they had won or lost betting on her Lux''s frown only grew larger.


    (They''re not even treating her as a living being! It''s just entertainment in their eyes!)


    Having come to a internal conclusion Lux reached up the chain of command while the commentator continued to introduce the last fight of the night.

 Chapter 113 - Rochdale aftermatch (5)

    "Hmm?~"


    "What''s wrong?"


    In the middle of one of her late evening safety lectures Solaris'' teacher stopped moving as he got a far off look in his eyes.


    "Nothing really, I just really feel like conducting a nuclear strike all of a sudden, can I wipe out the kingdom of Deltas?"


    "Not that I''m particularly against that, but you better not. What''s going on?"


    Sensing there was some sort of underlying reason for her teachers rage Solaris inquired about the reason as her wings fluttered lightly.


    "My adorable second in command is being harassed by some sleazy nobles, they''re treating her like some sort of low level PR employee and trying to make her act out of turn so they can demand compensation or start a war."


    Explaining it in an easy to understand way Dax waited only a fraction of a second for the archangels response.


    "And why is that an issue? Just massacre them."


    "Aren''t you supposed to be some kind of deity?"


    "Yeah I am."


    While the angle in front of him showed a smug smile as she spread out her wings Dax silently questioned what kind of strange and shameless creature was in front of him.


    "Then why the hell are you acting like some sort of demon incarnate?"


    "..."


    "What?"


    Being met with silence Dax felt like he must have said something really offensive, and was about to apologize when he saw Solaris form an uncaratarisitc frown, but she spoke out first.


    "You seem to have misunderstood something about this world Dax. I don''t know how it is where you''re from but in this world of magic and monsters the strong rule over the weak."


    "Of course I re-"


    "No you apparently do not. After all you have taught me and all the times you have helped me, as well as the time we have spent together I consider us friends, so I''ll tell you this for free: In this world the strong rule over the weak, but the many always trump the few. That''s the case even for us angels, even if we are considered deities we are still mortal. We need food, air and sleep like any other races so if we made an enemy of the entire world, the world would eventually wipe us out. To maintain the balance of the strong and weak the strong need to care for the weak, and the weak need to respect the strong. You and your second in command are obviously strong, while I haven''t fought against her I feel like it is very much the case."


    "Yeah she is strong, incredibly so."


    Giving an instant response to Solaris'' estimation Dax displayed the complete and unwavering trust he held in his adopted daughter.


    "Then why are you holding her back? I''ll repeat it for the third time, in this world the strong rule over the weak. If your adorable second in command is so strong but she''s not allowed to show it how will those weaker than her know to respect her? While it is the duty of the strong to rule, they also carry the responsibility to display their strength. Why do you think we angels act like demons sometimes? It is because it is our responsibility to do so. We''re strong, but because we live longer lives than the ones weaker than us they tend to forget it often, so we need to remind them, so they don''t act out of therm, so they don''t start fighting themselves, so they don''t hurt themselves unnecessary. That is the duty and responsibility of the strong, and therefore it is also yours, and you share that with your adorable second in command, ever since you both fell into this world."


    Having made her point Solaris created a drinking glass out of golden crystal, then extracted water out of thin air to sate her thirst. Dax in the meanwhile taught long and hard about what Solaris said to him and realized that he had indeed been dealing with the issues he had run into on this planet like he used to deal with them when he was still in the Galactic Empire. While that had been fine when he operated alone, that was no longer the case, if he continued to hide Lux''s and his comrades strength they would only continue to be seen as weak, as a target of opportunity.


    "This can not stand. Thank you for bringing my own mistake to my attention."


    "My pleasure~ Then let''s get on with this lesson."


    Looking at Solaris briefly as she displayed a uncaratariticaly large, child like smile Dax wondered how they had gone from enemies to this kind of relationship, and a thin smile found a way on his face as well.


    ---


    "Facing our up and coming rookie fighter is someone I believe all of you ladies and gentlemen know very well. He''s our local champion, with a fierce record of 51 kills in 51 matches he leaves no one to question his strength! Please welcome HENRICK!"


    (That''s not a f.u.c.k.i.n.g champion, its a bloodthirsty f.u.c.k.i.n.g monster!)


    Wanting to scream out in frustration Lux stood up on her feet as she looked at the creature that stepped into the arena. It was a six armed bear, standing at over 4 meters tall Lux estimated it to consisted of over a solid ton of pure muscle that was covered by a thick layer of armored fur that was riddled with damage, showing the creatures extensive history in violence. With each of its 6 arms each sporting countless sharp claws that could easily shred heavy armor like it was only paper Lux judged the fangs that filled the creatures mouth could easily crack a skull like it was a gr.a.p.e to be the worst treat the creature held.


    "What do you think of my champion?"


    Not missing an opportunity to brag count Storm saw how Lux reacted to the six armed bear and interpreted it as fear.


    "Looks strong, but wasn''t this a martial arts tournament? Suddenly introducing a bear into the mix is in really poor taste where I come from."


    Once more leaving somewhat reasonable complaints count Storm was unable to retrot her criticism and therefore changed the topic. The fight proceeded as anyone with even a small knowledge of fighting would come to expect, at first the beastkin did admirably and fought against the six armed bear using her superior speed to make quick strikes but in the end she couldn''t price it''s thick fur and quickly tired herself out.


    "GHA!!!"


    It only took a small mistake and the beastkin''s body was slashed deeply as she was flinged across the small arena and hit the stone wall behind with enough force that it left small cracks. At the same moment Lux received a message from her reliable commander that made her smile return as she stood up and drew count Storm''s attention once again.


    "What? Don''t tell me you want to save that child? She''s legally my property and I can do with her as I wish."


    If Lux tried saving the beastkin he could demand compensation for lost income, and if she demanded that the fighting should be stopped it would be a great insult that he could use to have his war, but Lux didn''t try to do any of those things.


    "That''s it, I''ve had it acting all friendly. ''Be civilized to the civ''s''? F.u.c.k that."


    Showing a bloodthirsty smile and fierce eyes she cracked her knuckles and turned to count Storm with a truly overbearing presence he couldn''t dismiss or deny out of fear.


    "You don''t mind do you?"


    "N-no, go ahead."


    Jonathan Storm had no idea what the woman in front of him was talking about, but at the current second he found himself unable to refuse her. Having received permission Lux did a few more light stretches as the six armed bear closed in on the heavily bleeding beastkin, then she jumped into the arena.


    "Let me in on the fun too!"


    Landing between the beastkin teen and the bear Lux released concentrated bloodl.u.s.t towards the beast, and it responded instinctually by striking out with 3 of its arms.


    "Weak!"


    Taking a defensive stance Lux skillfully blocked the six armed bear''s strike without getting her suit ripped by its claws, then completely dissipated the energy of the strike into the ground and bringing the beast to a momentary stop, and that was all she needed.


    "My turn!"


    Closing the range instantly Lux struck the 4 meter tall bear center mass with an open palm strike, the bear in turn lifted a few centimeters from the ground due to the pure force Lux delivered having a slight up curve, and staggered a few steps back while the spectating nobles turned completely silent.


    "Come on, it''s not a fight if we both don''t act! Don''t leave me hanging!"


    Bouncing around like a boxer on the tips of her feet Lux loosened her tie with a smile on her face. The primitive beast understood her intention, she was making fun of it, that tiny creature that had cowardly ambushed it and tried to steal its meal it had worked so hard for!


    "ROOOOOORAAAA!!!"


    The beast responded with rage, it dropped its body to the ground and opened its mouth, then charged Lux.


    "Really? If that''s how you want to go I won''t stop you!"


    As the bear closed range fast Lux stopped bouncing around on her feet and dug her heels into the dirt as she completely emptied her lungs of air with a sharp breath and her pupils expanded to their limit. When the six armed bear closed the range to 5 steps its fate was sealed, in a flash Lux disappeared leaving deep cracks in the ground below as she kicked up dust that blocked the nobles from seeing the conclusion to the fight that without question had been the most interesting one of the night. But they didn''t need to see the results to know what had happened, a moment after Lux had disappeared the wet and deep sound of a six armed bear''s skull completely shattering had rung out in the quiet arena, and when the dust cleared the victor was clear.


    "Count Jonathan Storm! You have not only failed to entertain me, but you have pissed me off!"


    Having completely discarded the diplomatic attitude Lux stood firm in the middle of the arena and spoke out to the nobles.


    "My name is Lux Jameson, second in command of the most elite military unit there have, and will ever exist! My only question I have before I kill you is this: What are you going to do to make it up to me!?"

 Chapter 114 - The Great Sea (1)

    Leaving the capital of Deltas behind after successfully showing how futile it would be to wage war against beings there were more powerful than they could imagine, Lux, Terra, Iris and Abel with a extra passenger traveled south to reach the great sea.


    "So what''s the deal with this beastkin?"


    After traveling for an entire week with a eerily silent passenger that spent most of her time culled up in a ball in the corner clutching 2 poorly maintained short swords, Terra finally broke the silence.


    "I believe I already told you, I picked her up. I asked if she wanted a trip south and she accepted."


    "Nononono! She didn''t ''accept'' it, she said, and I quote: I will follow you wherever you go. That''s not f.u.c.k.i.n.g normal, right Lilly?"


    Not being able to convince Lux alone Terra called in reinforcements in the form of Lilly, which in hindsight might not have been such a smart idea.


    "Just let the child do what she wants, she''s not hurting anyone."


    "No she clearly threatened to kill me when I offered to share some of my food!"


    Having all her complaints fall on deaf ears Terra only exhausted herself further until she decided to just leave to cool her head a bit and opened the top hatch of the AEHWP transport to step out onto the roof. It was around noon so the air was quite nice, greatly enhanced by the cloudless sky and beaming sunlight that made her cover it from her eyes.


    "It sure is a great day."


    Basking in the sunlight for a moment Terra looked around to see the surviving AEHWP''s in formation around the main transport she was currently standing on top of. The last fight had with the fallen angel had been quite a costly one, 1 of the closed personal transports had been destroyed while 2 of the 3 Reaper type drone carriers were heavily damaged and one of them had to be scuttled while the other had to break off from the convoy and return home by itself. One of the high caliber Guardian-G097 indirect fire railgun carrieres had also been damaged and lost its main armament and reduced to a glorified Rex-0999 machine gun platform, in total the AEHWP''s numbers had been brought down from the original 15 to 12, with one no long able to fulfil its original purpose. Inventory had also suffered a lot, Dax had expended 18 of the 28 Viper cruise missiles while the AEHWP type Monition manufacturing and storage plant still worked hard to replenish spent small monition''s even a few weeks after the attack.


    "The sky sure is blue today¡­. Well so is everything at the moment."


    Looking around her all Terra saw with exception of the AEHWP''s and other drones swarming around was blue, blue sky, and a blue ocean.


    "If I told dad that Dax have carriages that moved faster through water than the Kingdom''s navy he would properly think I had gone insane¡­"


    Terra weren''t the only one surprised when they had finally reached the ocean and Lux just commanded the drones to advance, but apparently they could move across any kind of extreme environment with ease and according to Lux herself it wouldn''t be that much of an issue even if was a sea of acid or even molten rock. After traveling for 2 more days the group made temporary landfall at a tiny unnamed atoll to quell the¡­ unique side effects some members of the group had from traveling at sea for a long time.


    "Wow~~~ Look the ground is moving, hey Abel look, the sky is waaaaaaving at me~~~~ I need to wave back!~~"


    "Today I learned: Elvers and the open sea do not mix, at all¡­.."


    Facepalming hard Lux contemplated sedating Lilly that acted like she had smoked too many mushrooms. She had started acting like that approximately 10 hours ago, and had gotten so obnoxious Lux had considered starting a vote to throw her overboard, or at least tie her up and gag her. The beastkin were also adversely affected by the constant movement by the waves, and the moment they hit solid and unmoving ground she rushed off the transport and then promptly fell over limply on the beach before passing out.


    "Terra please check if she''s still breathing."


    ".... Sure."


    The same time as the beastkin''s vitals were confirmed Iris peaked out from the transport, noticed the blinding sunlight, then quickly retreated back inside.


    "Then I''m going to set up defensives and call Dax to arrange for a resupply."


    Scanning the horizon all the way round Lux formed a rough draft of a defensive formation and a potential drop zone for orbital resupply she was about to go around the small atoll for a quick look when she spotted Abel standing around being bored.


    "Wanna come with me for a quick look around?"


    Extending a hand and a warm smile Abel hesitated briefly before tenderly grasping Lux''s hand.


    "Now that''s not how you do it, come here~"


    Using Abel''s hand as leverage Lux gently lifted Abel up and sat him down on her shoulders.


    "Now this is way better, now second in command Abel let''s commence this inspection!"


    Shouting with enthusiasm like some sort of instructor right out of a kids show Lux hoped imparting some fun into the child''s day.


    "O-okay!"


    Hearing that it had somewhat worked judging form the part nervus part enthusiastic shout from above her a small smile formed on Lux''s face as she remembered when Dax had done something similar for her as a child.


    "Is big sister Lilly going to be okay?"


    "Yeah, she just got a bit dizzy from seasickness and taught drinking hard alcohol would solve it. Whatever you do Abel don''t grow up to be an a.d.u.l.t like her¡­."


    "Okay."


    With Abel falling silent after that Lux didn''t try to strike up a conversation and instead silently inspected the atoll and discovered that the central lagoon was surprisingly deep and completely void of life due to a high concentration of sulphur.


    "Big sister Lux, are you strong?"


    Out of nowhere Abel struck up a conversation with Lux as they reached the furthest part away from the others on the atoll.


    "Yep!~ I''m strong, incredibly so. In fact in this world there''s only one person that can beat me!"


    Answering with absolute confidence as she formed both her hands into fits Lux started shadow boxing with Abel still on top of her shoulders as a display of her power.


    "W-who is it that can beat you?"


    Having somewhat grasped the power of Lux over the past months traveling with her, Abel was surprised hearing her admit that there was someone stronger than her out there.


    "Don''t worry I''m talking about Dax, he''s my teacher and the one that adopted me after I lost my parents when I was about your age."


    Bringing up her own parents Lux wonder how long it was since she last taught about them while wondering how exactly it was they looked, something she could no longer remember.


    "... Do you miss them?"


    Still as she expected that question it still did sting a tiny bit, but in the end she didn''t really get to know them that well before they had died all those years ago.


    "Of course, but it has been so long now I''ve come to pace with it."


    "You''re not sad?"


    "Not really. You see both my mom and dad were a very special kind of soldiers, the same kind I am now and Dax have always been. When they died I was incredibly sad but after becoming a soldier I learned that they had sacified themself to save a lot of people the sadness turned to respect and admiration."


    "..."


    "Was it too hard to understand? That''s completely fine that you don''t understand, you''re still a child after all."


    Lux knew that what she was saying would properly be too hard for child to understand, but she wanted to answer the child''s serious question as honestly as she could with her own honest feelings.


    "I think I understand."


    "Huh?"


    "It''s the same thing my father said to me."


    "Your dad? Could you please tell me more about him?"


    But unexpectedly Abel did understand, and for the first time Abel spoke about his family, a subject he had so far refused to talk about even with Lilly or Iris there were the closest to him.


    "... I''ll tell you, but I fell this is something everyone should hear about."

 Chapter 115 - The Great Sea (2)

    Abel grew up in a sheltered life along with his mother, father and older sister in a large village that was part of the southern islands nation state. Even as his father was leader of the tribe it was expected that Abel''s reliable older sister that stood to take up the mantle after him, so nobody had any expectations towards him and he spent a relatively peaceful life until about a year ago. His peaceful life had suddenly changed when a gigantic completely black sphere had fallen from the sky and ''landed'' right outside the village, and if that wasn''t aburd enough the sphere had never actually touched the ground, but harmlessly floated about a meter over the ground like some sort of super advanced relic only heard of in legends. At first people wondered if it was dangerous, while others started outright praying and worshiping the black sphere I became a local attraction, which is when it turned truly dangerous. While the sphere turned out to be harmless, the attraction it brought was not. At first it was some rude travelers, then monster hunters showed up, and finally it was outsiders from the east that didn''t take no for an answer. They wanted exclusive access to the sphere and whatever it contained, and the outsiders were amply prepared to spill however much blood was needed to enforce their demands uncontested, so it was war. Whenever they repelled them, the outsiders simply returned in greater numbers, eventually overwhelming the defenders and sizing control of the village. To cull resistance Abel''s father was executed, and his mother put in charge while both Abel and his older sister was taken away as hostages to ensure compliance.


    "Do you know where your sister is now?"


    The first one to speak up after Abel was done telling his story was Lux, she didn''t offer Abel compasion, nor ask if he wanted help, it was clear that she would help.


    "I-I don''t¡­ They took her away a week before me so she could be anywhere."


    "Not necessary. After capturing you the outsiders that came from the east went north, where they received new orders on their way home to capture more prisoners, unluckily they were sent after us and wiped out, then Lilly found you...-"


    Connecting the dots Lux worked through the problem rapidly while her ICI unit connected to orbiting satellites and started pulling up archive footage.


    "That means there''s a high change they took the same egress route, and since the ones we ran into were stiped of their identification we can assume the other group is also running black ops. Taking the route and terrain into consideration it is highly likely they also stopped at Eglax outpost #5 then most likely went east somewhere after that¡­. Found them."


    "EH!?"


    "Really!?"


    "WHAT!- HOW!?"


    Surprising not only Abel but also Terra and Iris that finally sobered up Lux covered her mouth with her hand and spoke in an extremely happy but also sinister sounding voice.


    "I know, Thanatos-san knows everything~ Just kidding, I rolled through archive satellite footage in and around Eglax territory looking for a large group that moved from south to north within the estimated timeframe then verified if each group that meet the criteria, about 20, transported what seemed to be a prisoner like they did you Abel, of which there were 3. Then it was just a matter of tracking the 3 groups until they reached a drone surveillance network, which they did a day ago in the southern part of the Kingdom and were appropriately flagged as suspicious. Extraction is already in route, ETA 30 minutes~"


    ---


    ''How long is this hell going to continue?'' Is something Opal had asked herself more and more over the last few months. Ever since that f.u.c.k.i.n.g black sphere landed it had only caused trouble and dad even died because of it after that she was captured as a hostage and was dragged along like some sort of trophy while given very little food and water the body she had trained so hard to maintain only wasted away along with her will to live, but the one thing they would absolutely not deprive her of was her pride.


    "ARG!- F.u.c.k.i.n.g bitch bit me!"


    "That''s because you keep trying to feel her up, just drop it and go for a p.r.o.s.t.i.t.u.t.e somewhere instead, that one is not worth it."


    In the start most of the 15 soldiers had tried to assault her, but she had always managed to defend herself as she was several magnitudes stronger than her captors, but after months of her body wasting away it had gotten harder and harder to resist.


    "No I''ve f.u.c.k.i.n.g had it! This bitch has been on my nerves ever since we started this shit mission, and she keeps acting all smug! It''s time for some pain!"


    "What? Didn''t you get tired of kicking the shit out of her last time when she ended up puking all over the floor?"


    "Yeah I did! That''s why I''m going to cut all her tendons and have some fun! hold her down!"


    "Eh? That''s a pain. She can''t walk on her own after that, are you going to carry her all the way home then?"


    "What are you talking about? This bitch is a demi, she heals fast!"


    With that idea uttered into the room the atmosphere changed, reasoning seemed to snap as the soldiers decided to something completely unforgivable. Opal felt the change too, and looked around at her captors as threatening as she could in her restraints, but that only seemed to have an adverse effect as she drew more ire with her spiteful look.


    "That''s the best idea you''ve had all trip Mark!"


    "Hold her down! Get her legs!"


    The more she struggled the more she realized.


    (They''re going to get me! Am I really going to lose here!? On this rotten f.u.c.k.i.n.g floor!)


    Opal knew it was futile to scream for help, after all they were in the middle of nowhere inside an abandoned barn, no one that could hear her would help her, so she cried out inside her heart, in a tiny fragile voice while her mind retreated to her happy childhood she had spent reading adventures and fairy tales with her mother as a child. As she screamed out and risited with all her might the quiet buzz of an electrical motor was slowly overpowered by the sound of twin 14th generation VESMIR electrothermal engines.


    (Save me, knight!)


    As if fate played some sort of cruel trick on the soldiers at that moment something crashed through the roof of the barn.


    "Wha!-"


    "ARG!-"


    "WHAT IS!-"


    No one of the unfortunate victims were even able to utter their final words before they were literally ripped apart by some unknown opponent detailed by their screams and the wet and crunchy sound of muscle and bone breaking apart. When the dust cleared the 15 soldiers had already been reduced all the way down to 3, those 3 being the closest to Opal, that herself had completely forgotten her distress as she looked at her supposed savoir. It was a large figure, standing over 2 meters tall he had a dense build that was mostly visible as he only wore a pair of black shorts, and a t-shirt that was sticking to his body due to blood spatter. His face was hidden by a strange black mask that covered the entirety of his face, and even if it was impossible for the surviving soldiers and Opal herself felt his eyes on them.


    [Good day, or would it be more appropriate to say ''good afternoon''?]


    (A knight really came! No he''s a prince)


    As he spoke out in a heavily distorted voice that seemed to come from all around her, Opal''s ''prince'' stepped on a solider that laid on the floor below him and crushed his skull with ease.


    "Don''t f.u.c.k around!"


    Blinded by rage one of the soldiers rushed forward as he drew his sword and aimed to decapitate the assailant with movements that showed he was very much an expert.


    "Watch out!"


    [No need.]


    As the blade closed in on his neck Dax simply caught it with his bare hand, before using the other to crush the soldiers windpipe before his brain even registered what was going on.


    (I definitely need a bath after this¡­. ICI?)


    (READY TO EXECUTE.)


    [2 left.]


    Throwing the dead soldier away like trash Dax started walking towards the remaining hostiles in a manner that lacked any waryness or aggression, mirroring his inner thoughts.


    "Stay back!"


    Realizing that they were completely and utterly outmatched one of the remaining soldiers drew his sword and pointed it towards their hostage. In response Dax stopped moving and the soldier took it as a sign of compliance as a smile formed on his face.


    "Dan grab the bitch¡­.. Dan?"


    Not getting a response the soldier turned back to see what was wrong, but fell over dead before he even knew what was going on. In response Dax took off his mask and breathed a deep sigh as he spoke out.


    "All hostiles eliminated¡­ Are you Abel''s older sister?"

 Chapter 116 - The Great Sea (3)

    "All hostiles eliminated¡­ Are you Abel''s older sister?"


    With the last black operation soldier killed Dax turned his attention to his supposed primary target. She looked to be a little shorter than Terra, about a meter 70 tall with long gray white hair that glistened like a gemstone when light struk it. Her face and body had both been battered over what must have been months of abuse that had turned her skin rough and formed into a scale like structure that glistered the same way like her hair. Dax only noticed she also had small fin like protrusions on her hands that were also webbed, along with her larger than normal blue eyes that looked at him with awe indicated she must be from a race that lived in, near or surrounded by water.


    ".....Yes¡­."


    Finally answering his question after a long while Dax wondered if her long time spent malnourishment had impaired her mental state.


    "Excuse me."


    Worried about her mental and physical state Dax walked closer to the still dazed woman and gently grasped her hand with his cybernetic one.


    "You might feel a slight tickling sensation in your hand."


    (ICI commence initial scan for fractures and larger defects.)


    A moment of silence passed between the 2 people as Opal''s face got increasingly more red as she looked at Dax''s hands that tenderly held her hand and made her completely blank out.


    "I think I have that sensation already, all over."


    "Huh?"


    "EH!? I mean how do you know Abel!?"


    Realizing she had accidentally spoken out loud Opal covered her face with the hand that was not held by Dax sitting in front of her as she hurriedly changed the subject.


    "Sure, but I should properly tell you who I am first. My name is Dax, I''m a qiton of the Alpha 4 clan. My subordinates were attacked by soldiers belonging to the same faction belonging to the copses here, and subsequently wiped them out. When investigating their origin they stumbled onto Abel and put him under their protection, then today kind Abel decided to trust my subordinates with his story and we were able to quickly track you down."


    "... Just like that?"


    As expected skipping over a bunch of the details made the women in front of Dax were understandably suspicious of the total stranger in front of her. There was really nothing Dax could think of that would ease the woman''s suspicion but instead just chose to be honest and direct.


    "Not exactly, there are seval details I''m omitting both for the sake of time, but also confidentiality. I''ll be completely blunt and honest with things that only contain to myself, but any information that could be used against my comrades I''m withholding as I can''t trust you, yet."


    Initially overwhelmed by the frankly brutal honesty of the ''qiton'' in front of her, Opal was taken back as she increased her guard.


    "That sure was honest... then please answer the questions I have for you, if you can''t just remain silent."


    "Sure."


    Giving an immediate answer to what really amounted to a really rude demand increased Opal''s guard as she took a more appropriate sitting position and adjusted her ''clothes'', that amounted to little more than a dirty rag.


    "Then first question, why are you touching my hand?"


    "To check for injuries."


    "Why are you checking for injuries?"


    "To make sure you''re okay."


    "Why?"


    "Because it would be kinda annoying having you bleeding out after we had gone to all the trouble getting you back to your brother."


    "How did you find me so fast?"


    "..."


    With Dax remaining silent Opal found the first thing he had deemed classified information. Why was that? Is it some kind of strange magic? If so it had to have some restrictions¡­. While Opal could spend countless hours asking those questions she would get no answered and therefore decided to press on.


    "Where''s Abel right now?"


    "In the great sea, a unnamed atoll about 350 kilometers south of the Deltas kingdom."


    "Is he-"


    "Yeah he''s fine."


    Answering outright even before she finished the question Dax put on a reassuring smile to try and ease worry, if it worked or not Dax had no idea.


    ".... Okay. Why are you doing this?"


    "I''ve been really bored lately and figured a little exercise would help, it did not, they were way too easy."


    "That''s not what I meant."


    "Because my adorable second in command asked me to."


    Looking into the ''qiton'' that saved her Opal looked into his eye for a moment and judged that he wouldn''t go into more detail and dropped that topic.


    "Where you from?"


    "..."


    This time Dax also didn''t give an answer, but instead of keeping his up the poker face mask he had been wearing the entire time he showed a playful smile and simply pointed upwards.


    "Now Abel''s older sister you have 2 options before you. First is that after I treat your injuries and take you to the capital of the central Kingdom and leave you there under house arrest, second is you come with me after I treat your injuries and take you to a undisclosed location that I can confidently say is the safest place on the continent."


    Being suddenly presented with options she was not completely prepared for Opal took a few seconds to think it over before she noticed an issue with both options.


    "Wait, do you have to go with you?"


    "Yeah. Now I''m going to take a bath in the nearby lake, please decide before then."


    Seeing the matter as settled Dax rose to his feet and started to walk out the barn when Opal asked him a final question.


    "And what if I decide that I would be better off declining your assistance?"


    "I can also just tie you up and drag you away forcefully~"


    ---


    "Your sister is safe."


    With a large warm child like smile Lux announced the news Abel had been waited for over the last 36 minutes the child erupted in joy and hugged Lux as he spoke out sincere words of gratitude.


    "Thank you very much big sister Lux! Ah, sorry."


    Before he realized what he had just did and hurriedly retreated from his hug as he started blushing.


    "Of course she''s safe, after all it was Dax that went out personally¡­"


    Speaking out words of praise acting needlessly proud like she herself was the one that saved Abel''s sister Lilly seemed to realize something as she spoke out.


    "If anything I feel slightly sorry for his opponents¡­"


    "Yeah, he did say he had been quite bored lately and looked forward to some ''light exercise''..."


    "They did definitely not go quietly into the night¡­"


    Thinking back to her prior experience of having been trained by Dax, Terra''s body started shaking as she recalled memories best forgotten.


    "I can confirm they definitely did not.."


    Coming to a similar conclusion Lux felt a chill down her back when she tried to imagine what Dax''s opponents had went through in their last moments, and felt a slight sensation of pity, even if they had undoubtedly done something to deserve what they got.


    "Rest in peace, no rest in pieces¡­. Well enough of that line of thinking, we need to figure out what to do now."


    Forcefully changing the subject Terra decided to leave things that should not be taught about in the past.


    "Isn''t that simple? Just keep going, we still have a job to do."


    "Lilly please keep quiet for a while¡­ Lux can you take command?"


    Choosing to outright ignore Lilly that did not see the bigger picture Terra turned to Lux.


    "Sure, this is more my area of expertise, but I''ll need your guidance when it comes to local conditions."


    "I can do that. First of all we need to know the hostile presence in the area¡­"


    "And a resupply is needed too, we''re still hidden behind the horizon so it would be best to do that here, I''ll call for a chariot."


    "Wait what are we talking about here?"


    Inevitably noticing that she was being spoken over, and it was a quite serious topic Lilly tired, no demanded to join the conversation, judging by the look in her eyes.


    "Whatever has been f.u.c.k.i.n.g with us for a while have seized control of Abel''s village, where the primary objective is also located. What''s worse is that I''m betting they''re not willing to give it up freely, and they most likely have hostages."


    Realizing the problem that stood before them the colour drained from Lilly''s face.


    "W-what do we do then?"


    Seeing Lilly''s uncertainty Lux put on a bloodthirsty smile as she spoke with absolute confidence.


    "It''s simple, free Abel''s home by completely slaughtering all hostiles."

 Chapter 117 - The Great Sea (4)

    "So warm¡­."


    "Yeah.. How are you still functioning?"


    "... Functioning? I stopped doing that a few hours ago.."


    A few more days had passed after Terra''s group had learned of Abel''s circ.u.mstances and Dax had rescued his older sister. With nothing to do Iris and Lilly decided to just laze around, and so they did. In minimal clothing they laid side by side in the shade of a AEHWP and looked out into the endless sky that seemed to be constantly cloudless and made the horizon completely disappear creating a strange sort of limbo.


    "Isn''t today the last day?"


    "I have no idea¡­. How long were we supposed to stay here anyway?"


    "No clue."


    "We find it illogical to think about."


    "It seems illogical to even think."


    "Yeah I understand completely¡­ I''m going to nap again."


    "Sure¡­"


    Coming to a greater mutual understanding as they both felt their brains melt away in the tropic heat both Iris and Lilly felt they understood each other way better. At the same time Abel was busy playing around on the beach, ever since he had opened up to Lux and the others and his older sister had been rescued he had finally started acting his age as the last warryness completely disappeared. After getting tired of building sandcastles he got a strange gleam in his eyes as he had decided what to do next and ran over towards Lux that stood nearby.


    "Big sister Lux can I go swim?"


    "Sure, just make sure to stay where I can see you."


    Giving a smile and instant approval Lux watched the child run off with a happy smile on his face as he jumped into the ocean and started swimming around at a speed that would put even enhanced professional swimmers to shame.


    "Amazing¡­.. He really is amazing, that''s an aquatic species huh?"


    Lux recalled the first time she witnessed what Abel later insisted only amounted to ''playing around in the water'', were he did stunts like a dolphin while launching out of the serval meters up in the sky. While Lux was lost in thought the beastkin teen silently waked up next to her and sat down in the sand as she looked towards a lone cloud she had spotted in the distance.


    "He is a merkin after all."


    "Ah Mare, I didn''t notice you there."


    In the few days after the beastkin had decided to follow Lux the 2 had gotten a bit closer, for once she finally told Lux her name while also talking to her from time to time, even striking up a conversation occasionally.


    "But you did notice master, as soon as I started walking over right?"


    Mare had proved to have incredibly sharp senses, with her sharp instincts that might even rival Lux''s own.


    "You saw through me again.. Sorry I lied to you, it was just a habit."


    ".... It''s fine."


    Wearing a completely blank expression Mare just continued to stare at the sky as her large fox like ears on the top of her head twitched and moved around. Of the limited things Lux knew about Mare she had already figured out that even if it didn''t look like it this was one of her favorite pastimes, often in complete silence she would follow Lux as she seemed to observe her and take mental notes while being wary of potential threats surrounding them both.


    ''.. What are you doing?"


    "Looking for the chariot, it should be here shortly."


    Lux could count the times Mare asked her questions of her own volicion on a single hand, so in an attempt to build trust with her she always answered honestly.


    "Chariot?"


    "Yeah it- Oh, wait there it is."


    Noticing something in the sky Lux picked up a pair of high powered binoculars and looked towards a small red dot that had appeared in the sky.


    "Initial guidance looks good¡­ ICI check descend profile and lock on IR strobe."


    Having established visual contact with the chariot Lux took a magazine sized polymer grenade out of her pocket and clicked a button on it.


    [IR STROBE ACTIVE, GUIDANCE BEACON CONFIRMED. TERMINAL ASCEND IS COMMENCING, PRIMARY LANDING SITE CONFIRMED FIVE BY FIVE, BACKUP IS SITE #2.]


    Slowly the red dot got larger, and as Mare spotted a burning trail after it she started getting really worried.


    "Is that a starfall!? Master we need to hide!"


    "Don''t worry Mare, it''s the chariot."


    Visually confirming trough her binoculars that the chariot had no visual damage from atmospheric reentry, Lux turned around and tossed the IR strobe beacon into the dead lagoon that made up the inside of the atoll.


    "Chariot visual inspection confirmed, comence full aerobrake and guide to landing zone. Look closely Mare, this is a normal sight where I''m from."


    [DIRECTIVES CONFIRMED. GUIDING TO TARGET, COMMENCING GLIDE, PROFILE #3.]


    Quickly relaying verbal commands to ICI Lux reassured Mare that there was nothing to fear.


    "Where master is from? I will engrain it into my soul!"


    Taking Lux''s reassurance way too seriously Mare stood up and clenched her fists as her eyes and ears focused on the chariot and she put on a focused expression. Just as Lux had said it was indeed no starfall, soon the red dot turned white as it seemed to slow down and started moving towards them as it still fell to the ground and a sonic boom sounded out over the ocean. As the chariot closed within a kilometer drogue parachute was deployed and slowed the craft even more.


    [KILLING VERTICAL.. ON TARGET: 700 METERS OUT.]


    as the chariot glided in over Lux and Mare retrograde thrusters fired in a orchester of sequences and canceled out the horizontal speed and it free fell until it was a few meters above the ground, and the retrograde thrusters once more fired and it performed a maneuver professionally called hover slam, but was more popularly referred to as a ''suicide burn''.


    [LITHOBRAKING COMPLETE. TOUCHDOWN CONFIRMED, CHARIOT #12 ON TARGET, MARGIN OF ERROR:0.4 METERS.]


    "That''s normal where master is from?"


    Struck with great confusion and awe Mare tried and failed to imagine a world were large metal containers fell from the sky and landed where one pointed to them.


    AVE standard type 4 freight container terminal guidance descend package ''Chariot''


    Considered one of the largest logistical achievements of the iron containment war, the chariot addon for the standardized type 4 freight container marked a turning point with the ability for the Galactic Empire to land, operate and command small and cheap covert drone operations deep into enemy territory. The chariot system is basically a orbital descend package that contains heat shielding, air brake and landing equipment that neatly fits around a AVE type 4 freight container, the most common goods transport container in the universe, the system could even be hidden inside another type 4 container and made it incredibly easy to smuggle inside hostile territory trough civilian routes.


    "What exactly is it?"


    Still unable to figure out the strange metal square''s purpose Mare could simply not stand not knowing and turned to Lux for additional information.


    "It''s supplies, for waging war. Come help me get the contents out."


    Still not understanding what exactly they were doing Mare followed Lux and helped her along with some Reaper drones to unload the contents.


    "So it really is a kind of carriage¡­"


    And in the end she was able to grasp the chariots purpose, but it still remained incredibly strange and she felt a urge to understand.


    "So this is used instead of a carriage where you''re from master?"


    Glad to see Mare taking interest in talking more, even if there were a clear interest hidden behind it Lux taught for a moment as she tried to explain it as simple as she could.


    "Not exactly.. These are more like a box."


    "A box?"


    "Yeah, a box like this can be filled with a bunch of things, like fur or meat or books or whatever needed to be transported from one place to another. These boxes are all the exact same size so harbors only need one kind of crane to transport them, and so they fit together and are easy to stack on top of one another. These boxes are therefore easily taken from ship to ship, or even load onto a carriage for further transport."


    ".... I see¡­. That indeed seems like a brilliant idea."


    Not exactly a subject expert in the matter Mare still realized how smart the idea was, as she had first hand seen the straight up chaos of sh.i.p.s being manually unloaded. With no standard people just made their boxes for goods however they needed, therefore it was othern hard to stack and fit different goods onto sh.i.p.s, and a straight up nightmare to more different goods at the same time.


    "It is indeed, it saves both time and money. More importantly we have everything we need now..."


    Looking at the black metal crate simply marked ''K¨¡lik¨¡'' Lux bloomed a ferocious smile.

 Chapter 118 - White Lagoon (1)

    "Any progress?"


    "We''re still learning, if that''s what you''re talking about.. You''re free to round up some more of the villagers and sent them towards it, if you think that''ll help anything."


    Head research mage Tomas had head of the effects the sphere''s had on their surroundings from advance reports as he traveled from the Empire to a small village called White Lagoon in the middle of the great sea, but he didn''t believe it before he saw. Still even a few months into his investigation of the anomaly Tomas was doubtful in the sphere''s existence, that''s how far it was outside norm it was. The black sphere floating about 10 meters above the ground had an estimated diameter of at least 150 meters, but for what was inside Tomas had no idea. Before even attempting to crack open the sphere approaching it had proved extremely difficult, the object had some sort of nullifying effect on gravity that Tomas judged to be why it was floating, but that very effect could also be used to aggressively increase gravity and crush anything that got too close to it as a defensive mechanism. It was Tomas'' assistance was the one that had discovered that, after overcoming the sphere''s initial propulsive force he had gotten closer to the alien object than any other researcher of the Empire, perhaps that''s why he didn''t hear that strange buzzing sound coming from the sphere when he did, or perhaps he was simply driven by greed.


    In the end Tomas never got to ask him those questions, because suddenly the sphere seemed to lash out, with the very force that levitated it it somehow managed to target the greedy assistant with a polar force.


    "I could do that, but then we would simply have another uprising on our hands¡­ Besides, even if we tried that I don''t think anyone would walk towards that thing, even if we forced them."


    As the leader of the military force, marquess Leonhart, foresaw what effects such an action would have as he glanced towards the sphere and the multiple small balls of compacted flesh that floated in its influence, the innermost being what remains of the former research assistant.


    "As always you make stunning observations marquess Leonhart. I''m working on a countermeasure to the sphere''s defenses, it will be ready sometime next week."


    "Next week... "


    "Is that a problem?"


    Picking up on Leonhart''s deep thoughts Tomas wondered if the muslebrain in front of him underestimated the massive his own massive achievement and felt rage build up inside himself, but managed to hide it behind a smile.


    "No it''s just been awhile since we shot down any of those flying golems so I was going to request reinforcements in anticipation of an attack, but if you''re done next week then that''s unnecessary¡­ I will leave you to it."


    Leaving Tomas with those words marquess Leonhart turned on his heal as he continued his morning walk, the next destination being the village he had put under his control. The village referred to by the locals as ''White Lagoon'' was about a kilometer away from the sphere on the same atoll that had an unusually white bottomed lagoon, hence the village''s name. It consisted of some 50 buildings made from palmwood and clay, with the population being a simually premitive group of demihuman called merkin. Marquess Leonhart weren''t looking down on the merkin when he thought of them as primitive, in fact it he felt it was a compliment to the strength of their endurance and tenacity that they could live so spartan lifestyles.


    Merkin are more commonly known as mermaids are excellent swimmers and divers that form semi organized village communities throughout the great sea. As they are excellent fishers and harpoon divers merkin don''t rely on agriculture or pisciculture and live a relatively simple hunter gatherer lifestyles having limited trading with outsiders for ironworks that they buy with pearls and other treasures of the sea. As warriors of the sea they are completely unmatched, and even on land they can make use of their extreme strength and reflexes to make truly fierce fighters.


    "How has the night shift been?"


    "Sir! Commander Leonhart sir, no issues with the hostages."


    How Leonhart had managed to restrain such a people was as simple as it was dishonorable. To make sure he and his soldiers were fed without issue while the merkin didn''t try and call for help from other sides was simple, he took hostages. Holding a knife to the women and children around the clock proved a powerful motivator for the remaining merkin, but Leonhart''s own honor kept it from going too far. No hostages were to be harmed and food was always split equally and anyone breaking those rules would be executed on the spot, no matter who they were, hence the high amount of ''flesh balls'' around the sphere. After getting his own soldiers under control and treating the merkin with respect and pride Leonhart had somehow maintained a cold war between the captors and the captives, and in a few weeks it would finally be over.


    "Good, remain on alert. Even though this mission might soon be over we need to stay sharp, and remember to treat the hostages with care."


    "Sir, yes sir!"


    Next stop on his morning walk was checking in with each of the 8 observation towers that were built around the atoll to keep watch of the surrounding sea. Having checked the first 6 that all reported no problems he reached the 7th post, where one of the guards immediately approached him.


    "Reporting, sir!"


    "Go ahead."


    "Sir, yes sir! just before daybreak I managed to catch a glimpse of some sort of light about 5 kilometers out, although my partner insists I saw nothing I believe it''s still worth investigating!"


    "A light? Please describe it in more detail."


    "Yes sir! It was some sort of orange red flash. It only lit up for a fraction of a second and when I pointed the spotlight towards it to investigate the water that''s usually dead still at that time of night was disturbed."


    Taking a few seconds to take a good look at the soldier in front of him, commander Leonhart judged that it was not something he had seen due to a lack of sleep or being overly excited.


    "That is troubling news indeed¡­. Okay we''re going on high alert, expect an attack at any moment."


    Quickly making what he believed to be a sound decision Leonhart took out a crystal and channeled mana into it, after a few seconds the crystal started glowing bright red, it turned so did all other linked crystals and started quietly signaling high alert.


    "Maintain your post here, I''ll go ba-"


    Cutting his own words short Leonhart leaped for cover as something hit the guard tower about 10 meters in front of him and blew it up, at the exact same time around the atoll the 7 other observation towers were hit in a precision strike that effectively blinded the Empire soldiers.


    "Are you okay!? Get on your feet soldier!"


    Having recovered from the shockwave faster than the soldier that was right next to him Leonhart shouted into his face until he started focusing.


    "WE''RE MOVING TO THE VILLAGE NOW!"


    At the same time as Leonhart and the soldiers retreated to the village countless figures emerged from the water all over the atoll in teams of 4.


    [BEACHHEADS SECURE, COMMAND ADVANCING, LANDING ELEMENT ADVANCING.]

 Chapter 119 - White Lagoon (2)

    "Sir what is happening!?"


    "Calm down, we''re under attack. You take a team and lock down the hostages, the rest of you with me!"


    After losing 15 of his men in a split second commander Leonhart remained calm and gave out precise commands while drawing a longsword. As Leonhart had anticipated what looked to be a landing force was heading for a beach right outside the village, but there was something wrong.


    "Only 2 crafts?... This is another diversion! Half will stay here, the other half with me to the sphere!"


    Realizing someone was truly playing with him Leonhart cursed his own foolishness and rushed back through the eerily quiet village towards the sphere.


    ["Good morning."]


    But on the way a single figure stepped out to block their way while presenting a polite greeting through a heavily distorted voice modulator. Leonhart immediately judged the stature and shoulder distance in proportion with the rest of the figure and concluded it was a woman.


    "Good morning, what might your business be here today miss?"


    Returning the polite greeting Leonhart took the opportunity to examine the strange person in front of him at the same time, and ready his sword while covertly gesturing for his subordinates to stand down. She was covered in some sort of strange black armor that seemed to absorb the surrounding light and was strangely smooth while carrying no identifying markings other than a bright white skull painted on the helmet that completely enclosed the wearer.


    ["I''m pretty sure you know that already, let''s get started I''ll give you time to prepare."]


    Taking a relaxed attitude the woman formed a fist that she lazily pressed to her jaw and cracked her neck while at the same time cracking her fingers and stretching her arms by weaving together the fingers together, oh and she did all that at the same time.


    "What kind of f.u.c.k.i.n.g monster are you?"


    In response to seeing the truly alien creature in front of him Lionhart couldn''t help speak his mind. The women had an extra set of arms that seemed to move freely around her body without any form of restrictions before they locked in place somewhere behind her back at her shoulder blade.


    ["The kind that takes very ill to people taking what is not theirs, but I can also be kind. This is the first, last and only chance you will get: surrender now and you might live."]


    Presenting an ultimatum the woman suddenly started releasing an extreme amount of bloodl.u.s.t that convinced Leonhart that they would definitely experience pain worse than dying if they surrendered, and after looking at his subordinates he confirmed they were thinking the same thing.


    (We definitely angered something we shouldn''t have¡­ I guess all that''s left to do is die with some resemblance of pride.)


    "I''m afraid we''ll have to respectfully decline."


    ["In that case I''ll do you the favor of killing everyone quickly."]


    Lazarus cybernetic industries type 7 advanced protection system ''Kali''


    While not part of their official listing or appearing in any official doc.u.mentation the type 7 advanced protection system was first mentioned in a closed government hearing as part of a review of Lazarus'' public and private project spendings, not much attention was drawn to the system initially, but a few years later a disturbing press combat report surfaced which initialized a grand hearing about the nature of the Kali system. The combat report detailed how a station containing over 5000 combat troops had been slaughtered by a ''creature with 4 arms'' bringing into question if Lazarus had levied their extensive cybernetic expertise in making illegal cybernetic hybrids. After that was proved not to be the case, the Kali APS was revealed to be an experimental addon for their outrageously expensive and cutting edge XMRA protection system. While a lot of its features remained classified due to pending copyright patents what was revealed were widely believed to be not technologically viable for another 70 years, cementing the Lazarus cybernetic industries as the most technologically advanced private entity in the Galactic Empire.


    "What happened?"


    Barely 30 seconds had passed since Leonhart declined the monster''s offer to surrender, in that time all of his subordinates had been utterly slaughtered as the creature''s arms had turned into blades and torn through them like a hot blade through butter. In the same time frame Leonhart had somehow been blinded and lost both his arms but it was not pain that filled his mind, but confusion.


    "How the hell did I lose?"


    Leonhart didn''t understand, how did he lose that easily? While he understood he had been outclassed, Leonhart failed to see how the monster in front of him had defeated him so effortlessly.


    ["Just shut up and die."]


    The last thing Leonhart felt was a head splitting migraine as a hand gripped his head and lifted his body into the air.


    After Lux finished extracting intelligence from the former leader she threw his copse aside and looked around at the carnage she had created.


    ["I should properly clean this up¡­."]


    Deciding it was best not to just leave 16 corpses lying in the street Lux started piling the body parts for a pyre. At the same time the landing element heading straight for the hostages had reached the effective range of the defending mages, not that it made much of a difference.


    "What!?"


    "It has no effect! Use earth magic to try and hit them directly instead!"


    Seeing the panic and havoc she inflicted on the hostile forces Terra felt a tiny bit of pity.


    "Look at them running around panicking¡­ Keep it up Zephyr."


    "Arf!"


    Standing proudly on top of an open transport type AEHWP Zephyr had finally gotten it moment of glory as it blocked arrows and spells with its innate air magic control, either deflecting or outright canceling the spells. With compete cover from hostile fire Terra could snipe the mages and archers without having to worry about any return fire and quickly reduced their numbers, forcing them to retreat deeper into the village for cover. With Zephyr and Terra making landfall they joined up with some of the Reaper drones that had established the perimeter, then quickly advanced to the large storeroom where the hostages were being held.


    "Set up breaching positions."


    [DIRECTIVES CONFIRMED, LOADING MAPPING FUNCTION, ESTABLISHING REAL TIME 3D RENDER FOR BREACHING OPERATION¡­. READY.]


    Following her training to the letter Terra let the drones completely surround the building before she slowly started approaching one of the doors with her rifle at the ready.


    "1 ready."


    [STRIKE 2 READY.]


    [ENTRANCE READY.]


    [2 UP.]


    [3 UP.]


    [4 UP.]


    [5 UP.]


    [READY FOR EXECUTION.]


    Time seemed to slow down for Terra as she put on her personal black facemask for the first time and took her last breath as she ran towards the door as the hinges was shot by a drone. Time now passed in extreme slow motion as her sight lit up and was automatically adjusted as the Reaper''s mask outlined the living creatures inside and almost instantly classified them as hostile or passive, then bright red lines were painted in augmented reality as Terra herself painted a red line by pointing her rifle at a soldier that was hiding behind a child merkin.


    [34 TARGETS PAINTED, EXECUTING.]


    As Terra squeezed her trigger so did the 10 drones that surrounded the storeroom, shooting directly through the thin wooden boards with some of the shorts pricing the heads of multiple hostiles in a hail of fire.


    [ALL HOSTILE TARGETS ELIMINATED, SECURING PERIMETER.]

 Chapter 120 - White Lagoon (3)

    "Is everyone okay!? Please get up and go outside in a orderly fashion!"


    Having freed the merkin hostages Terra took off her mask and addressed the merkin in a calm and kind fashion, which promptly broke out confusion along the now freed hostages.


    "What is going on!?"


    "Who are you!?"


    "Mom what is that? It''s too warm to be water¡­"


    "B-blood! Don''t touch that sweety!"


    "Please calm down and exit the building in a orderly fashion! My group have been requested by Opal and Abel to liberate this village and operations are currently under way."


    Having explained the current events in more details some of the former hostages were relieved, while others were more pessimistic and believed that the boot that had been pressing down their head had simply been replaced. After the slight panic Terra managed to clear out the now blood soaked storeroom before sending in drones to check for surviving hostiles.


    "Check pulse."


    [DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED.]


    Leaving the dark storeroom behind as flashes of subsonic suppressed rifle fire rang out Terra organized the now freed hostages and made them stay put as the remaining part of the small atoll was secured.


    "What the hell is going on!?"


    At the same time the head research mage Tomas was panicking.


    "Are we under attack? But who would even kn-"


    Stopping his own ranting mid way Tomas suddenly realized something as he laid his eyes on the gigantic sphere in front of him: the sphere was a protection for something inside, in that case would the original owners not come looking for it if they went to such lengths to ensure it survived skyfall? They absolutely would.


    "In that case why are they securing the village first?"


    While he slowly started circulating mana Tomas wondered what the logic behind not going for the sphere immediately, and soon found out the reason.


    "!!!"


    Sensing the mana in the air shift slightly Tomas hurriedly channeded strengthening magic as he jumped backwards with the ground where he just had been being decimated by air magic.


    "Good morning."


    Instantly giving up her advantage of surprise the assailant was revealed to be a elver of short stature with bright red hair and glowing golden eyes.


    "... You''re a elder, what is someone like you doing here?"


    Recognizing what he was up against Tomas correctly identified his opponent and started attempting to draw out time by striking up a conversation.


    "That I am, not many outsiders seem to realize that¡­. You must be a scholar of some kind."


    Showing a warm and proud smile in response to being correctly identified the elven elder made believe Tomas he had avoided a fight for the moment, and so he slightly relaxed his guard.


    "May I ask why you have come here today? I believe this place is quite far from any elven territory."


    "That it is, but that hardly matters as I''ve left the forest behind forever."


    "Then wh-"


    "Ain''t you the nosy child? It matters not. I am here today on behalf of my employer to reclaim what is rightfully theirs, and you stand in the way of that."


    Radiating out bloodl.u.s.t thinly veiled behind a warm smile the elder made it clear she was not here to negotiate, nevertheless Tomas made a final attempt at avoiding a fight, as the spells he were preparing still needed a bit of time.


    "Your employer? In that case I assume you are a mercenary, and I believe we can come to a monetary agreement that will benefit us both greatly."


    "... You wish to pay me?"


    "Yes, the Empire will reward you for your service quite graciously."


    "No thanks~"


    With Lilly feeling her blood starting to boil once more she sent blades of compressed air hurling towards the Empire mage while radiating a warm smile. The mage dodged the blades without issue by utilizing strengthening magic he seemed to have been preparing while trying to pacify her. The second he landed the mage tapped his foot and injected mana into the ground around him, making rock shards rip themselves out of the ground hurling towards Lilly.


    "Weak!"


    Seeing the offensive spell for what it was Lilly hardly attempted to dodge the rock shards that harmlessly deflected on the barrier of air she had put around herself and instead focusing on offence as she send more air blades towards her target in an effort to rip the mage appart.


    "Tch."


    Seeing his attack had little effect the mage once more tapped his foot on the ground, this time forming a defensive barrier of rock to block the wind blades as he prepared a more effective offensive spell. Pulling out a sort staff with a purple monster core on the end Tomas quickly loaded it with mana, then priced it into the ground where purple glowing runes quickly formed in circles around it.


    "Then how about this!"


    Pointing the staff towards the elder the very earth seemed to obey Tomas'' command and a giant pillar like spear covered in purple glowing runes emerged about a meter in front of him and shot towards the elver with blistering speed. Having seen the move coming from the movement in the mana below the mage Lilly focused her wind barrier around her legs and waist and used it to shoot herself into the sky were she formed a jet of air from her left arm and flew to the right as she prepared another spell with her right hand. Forming a golden crystal spike as she had gotten behind the mage''s defenses Lilly aimed for the head then released the crystal with a smile forming on her face.


    "FUC!-"


    Correctly assessing that he had no time to form a proper defence Tomas put forth his left hand and braced it with his right and channeled mana into it. The result of such an action showed itself immediately, the golden crystal violently desintigraded, as did the cloak he was wearing showing Tomas'' bare arm that was now covered on ominus red glowing runes. Tomas'' eyes seemed to glow red with rage as he formed his rune covered hand into a fist as rock shard were violently ripped from the ground around him and started orbiting his glowing arm as they were compressed into small darts by some immense and unseen force.


    (What is that?)


    Feeling something strange about the mana around the mage Lilly took a defencive stance as she opened up the distance between her and the strange mage right as he seemed to have completed his spell.


    "TAKE THIS!!!"


    Feeling his own arm being warped under the immense stress of the experimental rune formation he had carved into his own flesh for emergency Tomas screamed in rage to suppress the pain spreading through his body from his hand and sent the compressed stone darts flying in a almost supersonic speeds.


    (Here it comes!)


    Seeing the movement in the mana Lilly employed strengthening magic on her entire body and twisted it unnaturally while still in mid air to dodge the blast of compressed rocks, the attempt was somewhat successful as only 2 of the rock shards hit from the shotgun blast, leaving deep gashes in her arm and thigh respectively. Now her turn on the defensive Lilly rushed back towards the ground as she launched multiple large spheres of compressed air in front of herself to act as a defence before she hit the ground hard and injected mana into the ground and formed a barrier of rocks around her.


    "F.u.c.k!"


    Cursing out as she felt her rushed landing had further opened her wounds Lilly reached into the pouch that was a part of her green robe and pulled out 2 metallic vials.


    "''Point ejection port towards wound, then press rear end''... Here goes nothing."


    Wishing she had paid more attention when Lux had explained how to use the medicine of her world Lilly hoped for the best as she pressed the end with some tape that said ''activate'' in her native language as she pointed it towards the wound on her thigh. The effect was immediate, some kind of gray mist shoot out of the metal vial and sealed the wound immediately.


    "Cold!"


    The only issue was that the stuff was way below freezing, and as Lily could feel herself getting frostbite she hurriedly closed the other wound on her arm as she felt the mages disturbing mana signature close in on her hurriedly constructed barrier of rock.


    "Lux I need help."


    Speaking into what Lux had called a ''headset'' Lilly realized she been outclassed due to her own overconfidence and requested help.


    ["On my way, 20 seconds out."]

 Chapter 121 - White Lagoon (4)

    "On my way, 20 seconds out."


    Tossing the copse she was dragging behind her on top of the pile she had made before locating the tracker she had covertly put on Lilly''s back Lux launched into the air towards her location.


    "I see you! Hang on!"


    Locating Lilly once in the air Lux saw a strange looking man in a black robe throwing rocks at high speeds towards a barrier of stone Lilly had made to hide.


    (That must be a mage¡­ I need to get his attention.)


    Deciding instantly that the most important thing was to draw ''fire'' away from Lilly, the additional arms on Lux''s Kali armor pointed themselves towards the mage and split open.


    "I got you now BITCH!"


    Sending shard after shard of compressed rock after the elver that had been hiding from him for the last minute or so Tomas felt his consciousness slowly slip away due to the effects of the experimental strengthening runes he had engraved into his own flesh, but he didn''t care, for he was already too far gone. But suddenly something forced him to stop, even with his dulled senses he could smell it."


    "Fire? FIRE!"


    His cloak had suddenly caught fire, how he had no idea, but instinct took over before he made up his mind Tomas hurriedly ripped it off his body. Right after that something else distracted him from killing the annoying elver, as some kind of creature landed behind him and kicked up quite a bit of dust. In an almost completely instinctual move Tomas turned around and released a shotgun like blast into the dust cloud, and hearing some of them hit he kept it up until the dust cleared.


    ["What the hell have you been juicing? Bioenhancers? Or just plain old glue?"]


    Looking at the ''mage'' in front of her Lux felt her expectations and stereotypes greatly clash with the information she received through the Kali''s sensors. He having revealed his upper body by ripping off his cloak Lux clearly saw the strange occult like red glowing rune pattern that spread all over his torso and neck, while his eyes had a wild and unfocused look and was foaming at the mouth. In response to the new opponent appearing out of nowhere ''Tomas'' launched multiple more compressed rock shards as he screamed in rage and ran towards the new opponent, foaming even more at the mouth.


    ["Definitely bioenhancers, no, cheap cursed bioenhancers."]


    Swarting away the rock shards that was hurled towards her like they were simply annoying insects as she continued firing off bad jokes while working out how to deal with her opponent.


    (Well the simplest way is always the best, I guess¡­)


    Deciding on her course of action Lux took a relaxed pose while moving the extra arms behind her back as she continued swatting away rocks and waited for the ''mage''


    to close range. The instant her opponent closed within her range Lux shot forth as the Kali''s arms extended and shaped into spears that pierced through the former mage''s head and heart at the same time.


    ["Well that''s that. Lilly are you okay!?"]


    Watching the copse fall to the ground as she retracted her arms and they transformed back into normal Lux started looking after the elver she was supposed to come for the rescue of.


    "I''m okay, the medicine really helped me out, even though it is crazy cold. I even think I got frostbite..."


    Sticking her head out of her self made rock bunker Lilly wore a relieved smile as she complained about the cold.


    "I told you so before, it''s not medicine, but first aid.. I''ve already secured my sectors so I''ll help with yours."


    "Please do¡­ Look out!!"


    As Lilly''s smile suddenly froze over with a mix of fear and disgust Lux focused her attention on the area behind her and felt a thin presence.


    "WHAT THE F.U.C.K IS THAT!?"


    The mage she was sure she had killed somehow stood up on his feet once more, even with a large hole in both his head and chest.


    ["That''s not normal around here right!? RIGHT?!"]


    "It''s not!"


    Confirming Lux''s assumption Lilly was just as confused, disgusted and surprised as she was and hurriedly created wind blades that she sent towards the walking corpse. The blades hit almost instantly and caved deeply into the flesh of the former mage, but that seemed to not really affect it as it started charging towards Lux and Lilly.


    ["I''ll stop it!"]


    Instantly desicing on the course of action Lux charged forward and hit the walking copse center mass with a open palm strike, sending it flying and landing about 10 meters away. Assuming the fight was not over with that Lux took a defensive stance and observed the copse as she spoke out to Lilly.


    ["What is going on?"]


    "I have no idea¡­. But the mana around the copse looks, strange."


    ["Strange? How so? Please describe in more detail."]


    Realizing that the current situation was truly out of her area of expertise Lux looked for all


    possible information she could get about the current treat.


    "It feels¡­ Alive somehow, and not the warm, bright and fluffy kind of alive."


    ["Well I have that impression as well just looking at it normally, anything else?"]


    Watching the copse stand up once more, now with a new fist sized compression at its center of mass, Lux definitely didn''t feel like it was either bright or fluffy.


    "I have no idea."


    ["Then let''s go with my plan, follow me."]


    charging the living dead once more Lux''s artificial arms increased in length and formed into spears as she pierced the copse and nailed it to the ground.


    "What now?"


    ["Kill it with fire!"]


    "Got it!"


    Going for the clich¨¦ solution Lux nailed the copse in place as Lilly prepared fire spell and before long set the copse alight, with Lux releasing her ''grasp'' on it after it properly caught fire.


    "Is it dead now?"


    ["Don''t f.u.c.k.i.n.g jinx it¡­"]


    Watching the copse burn for a while the sceptic duo were just about to leave when Lilly felt an extremely ominous presence. Suddenly like something sucked up all the oxygen in the area the fire burning the creature went out and a flood of flesh living, blood and pus before it all turned into a ball of flesh and gore.


    ["I told you to not f.u.c.k.i.n.g JINX IT!"]


    Looking in horror as the ball of flesh slowly started taking some sort of shape it had some kind of intelligent force behind it Lux instinctually called for backup as she steeped a few steps backwards along with Lilly.


    ["Let''s nuke it."]


    "LUX!?"


    Forcefully reliving her childhood trauma of accidentally having read one of Dax''s books titled The Dunwich horror Lux tried escaping reality as tears formed in her eyes, with only Dax''s lack of authentication stopping her ICI unit from authorizing a nuclear strike.


    [What the f.u.c.k are you doing?]


    Receiving a not so kind message Lux snapped back to reality as did her best not to freeze up in fear and found a solution to her current problem.


    ["Lilly launch it towards there!"]


    "What? Why?"


    ["Just trust me!"]


    "O-okay, here goes!"


    Gathering an immense amount of mana Lilly injected into the ground below the ball of filth, sending it flying towards the sphere. As the creature entered the sphere''s area of effect it flew towards it without effect until it was suddenly caught in its influence and came to an abrupt stop.


    "What will this help?"


    ["Just wait for it."]


    "Wait for what?... What''s that sound?"


    Picking up a strange sound coming from the sphere Lilly''s long ears slightly twitched before she realized what was going on. Suddenly all the debri in the around the ball of moving flesh came to a complete hold, then everything was suddenly and violently ripped apart at a molecular level before it was all crushed into a single ball of filth about the size of a coin.


    "... That was sort of spectacular, but what now?"


    ["Does it still have that strange mana around it."]


    "Yeah."


    ["Then we just leave it. Until we can get an expert to look at it."]


    "Eh?"

 Chapter 122 - The Archangel’s Request (1)

    "What the hell is going on!? Where am I, what the f.u.c.k is going on!?"


    Opal was struck with confusion when she woke up in some unknown place after passing out. First he had been ''rescued'' by some strange demonkin, then hogtied and tossed into some strange vehicle and passed out from a mix of exhaustion and stress only to wake up in some strange large marble hall where stars were visible overhead.


    "Ah, you''re finally awake. Come and have some food~ It''ll help."


    Rushing to her feet as she heard the source of her new trauma Opal didn''t notice that all her wounds had been cleaned and dressed and she wore new clothing.


    "Don''t just invite someone to dinner after you kidnap them!"


    Closing the distance in the blink of an eye Opal send a perfect roundhouse kick towards her kidnappers jaw in an attempt to knock him out.


    "Oho~ Nice form, have some food I''ve been experimenting with some new recipes and need some feedback."


    Catching Opal''s kick without any issue Dax showed a warm smile and gestured towards the table he had been setting up, making the pressure completely disappear from Opal as she forgot the reason she was angry in the first place.


    "O-okay¡­ But what is that even?"


    After sitting down at the table Opal noticed her wounds had been dressed and the dirty rag she had worn before had been replaced with some kind of white silk pants and a shirt that had been adjusted so her fins also fit without issue.


    "T-thanks for treating my wounds¡­ And these new clothes too."


    Having learned from her mother that one should always give thanks when receiving something Opal meekly spoke out as she was almost forced to sit down by Dax.


    "You need to thank Solaris for that, she''ll be here in a second."


    "Who?"


    "You''ll see."


    Noticing that the table where set for 3 people Opal figured that this ''Solaris'' would be with them in a few minutes she decided to wait as she looked around the large hall once more. The large hall were mostly empty, except for some chairs and a board with some things she couldn''t understand on it, the table 3 chair setup where she was seated and the strange vehicle that must have brought her to this strange place.


    "Where am I I wonder?..."


    Speaking out loud Opal wondered as she looked at the bright stars above she didn''t recognize.


    "Where? This is the 14th angel sanctuary, to the north of the central Kingdom."


    "Yeah right."


    Having heard of the legendary sanctuary in stories back when she was just a kid Opal had a hard time believing they were currently in such a place.


    "Is dinner ready yet? I''m looking forward to it."


    Until Solaris walked in that is.


    "Yeah sit down and give me a few more minutes."


    "Okay~ I''m looking forward to see if you can entertain me."


    Sitting down in a casual manner Solaris tried (and failed) to hide her growing expectations as her 6 pure white wings fluttered slightly in excitement.


    "Ah you finally woke up, my name is Solaris, a member of the council here and a archangel¡­ Dax?"


    "What?"


    Answering without looking as he was busy checking the temperature of some vegetable oil Dax almost dropped his thermometer completely into the oil when Solaris responded.


    "Your rescue is frozen solid in fear."


    After breathing some life into Opal and getting her to calm down slightly Dax finished up preparations for dinner.


    "Thanks for waiting~ Tonight we have a quick summer inspired 3 course meal, first up is deep fried carp on a bed of green spring salad with lime vinaigrette and a sweet white wine on the side to balance the salad."


    "Finally!"


    Immediately digging in Solaris looked more like some kind of adorable tiny animal than a fierce archangel with power than rivaled a god, Opal however didn''t touch her meal and only sat stunned.


    "I-is this really okay for me to eat?"


    Asking Dax that sat opposite her Opal seemed intimidated of eating such a fancy meal.


    "Of course it is, anything else would be rude to the chef."


    "But-"


    "Is this perhaps the first time you''re eating such a meal miss Opal?"


    Seeing Opals hesitation Dax made an educated guess.


    "It is."


    "Then let me tell you about the rules."


    Turning completely serious in his voice as he showed a stearn face Dax made Opal sit up straight as she swallowed in nervousness.


    "Okay, first rule: Relax and calm down."


    "Eh?"


    Taking a completely different direction than she had taught Opal was dumbstruck for a moment as Dax continued explaining.


    "Come on, take a deep breath and taste some of the wine, good. Being relaxed and calm is the best way to notice all the flavors of a meal, so don''t mind any manners you are not used to."


    "But I can''t just-"


    "If you were at some restaurant having this meal you would have most likely already paid for it, as long as you don''t disturb other guests too much talking and making a bit of noise is no issue. The second rule is to taste and appreciate the food, that means to eat it when it arrives, but still taking time to enjoy it. But everyone eats at different speeds so it''s not really a rule one needs to follow to the letter, now eat before it gets cold and remember that there''s 2 more dishes after this one."


    Seeing the conversation as over Dax started eating himself, forcing Opal to do the same as she calmed down slightly.


    "I-is this really fish?"


    Looking at the slightly browned white parcel placed on a bed of salad Opal nervously poked it with her fork to find that it was crispy as Dax explained.


    "Yeah, but it has been coated with a mix of ricemel and sparkling water which makes the coating pop up and become extremely crisp and light while retaining the moisture and aroma of the fish."


    With the explanation given Opal nervously used her fork to carve into the fish, and indeed found it to be perfectly cooked and tender when she tasted it.


    "Delicious!"


    "Glad you like it~"


    With her initial tension broken Opal quickly inhaled the rest of the dish before almost licking the plate clean.


    "That was great! Ah sorry."


    Shouting out her honest opinion Opal remembered too late that she sat right next to an archangel, and hurriedly calmed down as her figure shank and her face blossomed in full crimson.


    "I know right? I was right not to kill him, that would truly have been a waste."


    But instead of chastising her Solaris only acted superior for some reason.


    "Like hell you could kill me even if you tried seriously."


    Retorting Solaris'' smug comment as she worked on something at the stove Opal wonder what kind of creature could casually banter with an archangel like this.


    "I definitely could. I still haven''t fought against you with my favorite spear."


    "What, you really believe that toothpick could hurt me? In your dreams."


    "A toothpick? How dare you, that spear is a weapon given to me by the gods, show some respect."


    "''Given by the gods''? Stop smoking mushrooms, they don''t exist."


    "So you really are a non believer? that explains the lack of education, primitive."


    "Six winged pigeon."


    "One armed brute."


    "Numbskull."


    With the banter devolving into simple name calling Opal felt her checks start hurting as she seriously wondered if the 2 beings in front of her really were as old, wise and powerful as she had believed a few minutes ago.


    "Second dish is ready! It''s fried chicken b.r.e.a.s.t served with quinoa and fruit salad and orange pan sauce, extremely well paired with a sweet white wine this time."


    "Sweet! But still salty and satisfying at the same time!"


    "Yeah yeah, and this I can''t get enough of this gentle flavor!"


    With both Solaris and Opal giving their completely honest and positive opinions the main dish was quickly completely eradicated, after which all parties quietly enjoyed their wine as Dax spoke up.


    "You village have been liberated."


    "What! How did that happen so fast!?"


    "That''s because you slept for 2 days, your injuries were quite severe after all."


    Taking a few seconds as she was also slightly downcast from remembering the suffering she went through when she was captured Opal put on serious expression.


    "Thank you very much for freeing my people."


    Standing up in a formal manner Opal bowed down deeply as she expressed sincere words of gratitude, but kept on bowing even after she had finished speaking.


    "..."


    "What? You can say it."


    Sensing her hesitation Dax gave his approval.


    "... C-could you please let me return to my village?"


    "Of course."


    "Eh?"


    Giving an instant and positive response to a question Opal hadn''t expected he would answer she was struck with momentary confusion, making Dax explain.


    "That was my intention in the first place after all, as I was requested by my adorable second in command to free you and bring you back there safely. It will have to wait a few days tough, as I have some business that needs doing with Solaris the next few days."


    "I see, thank you very much."


    Deciding not to think about why he was that kind towards her at the moment Opal sat back down as Dax also switch gears.


    "Now I think it''s time for desert. It will be a vanilla ice cream with honey pickled apples and peaches served with a light pear cider."

 Chapter 123 - The Archangel’s Request (2)

    "Ready?"


    "Yeah, I think."


    "Then let''s go."


    The request Dax had undertaken was the reason he had spent a few months at the sanctuary, and finally preparations had been completed. For the first time since Dax had arrived in this strange world the CAS-7A was fully fueled, ready for a long endurance trip. Solaris also looked the part, instead of her usual silk dress she wore a gray tank top and black shorts with all the gemstone she usually wore nowhere to be seen.


    "Is it really impossible for me to bring some refined monster cores?"


    "You can bring them in a bag that have to be stored in the depressurized cargo section."


    "... Okay then."


    Feeling there was no room for dispute on that point Solaris gave up without a struggle and boarded the CAS-7A with a pout.


    "Then let''s launch before the optimal transfer window closes.."


    Boarding himself Dax helped Solaris with her seating before he sat down next to her himself.


    "Okay, I''ll do a final confirmation. From this point and until we land here again you are to follow my exact instructions and directives at all times, otherwise I can''t guarantee your survival. That means that if I deem it unsafe I will not complete your request, those were the conditions we settled on when I started preparing you for this trip."


    "I understand, let''s do this."


    Giving an instant and completely serious response it slowly started to dawn on Solaris what they were about to do, and how truly easily she could die if something happened.


    "You finally have the right expression.. We''ll go for a direct transfer so it will be harder than the mock exam you went trough before."


    Launching form the 14th sanctuary the CAS-7A short range transport immediately left the atmosphere burning hard for a orbital insertion around the planets closest moon. The planet Dax and Lux had crashed on (Which he later named pandora) were a slightly low mass terran type with the slightly odd feature of 2 natural small satellites set to slowly escape from orbit doing the next 10 to 50 million years. Dax''s and Solaris'' was destination was the dark side of the tidally locked closest moon, a ball of loosely packed blue gray regolith without atmosphere or magnetic field that one could find anywhere in the cosmos.


    What was however extremely fascinating was a group of 10 kilometer wide completely circular mounts of regolith Dax had located near the north pole of the of the moon, or as Solaris called them: the lost sanctuary. According to Solaris the angels sanctuaries were all build in the matter of a single day when a global calamity struck, to act as bunkers until the planet turned habitable once more.


    The more important and mostly forgotten part of that legend were that the angles themselves were not the ones that build the sanctuaries, but a long forgotten race that now only were referred to as the ancients. Even the archangel herself didn''t know much about the ancients, as the grand library of the 14th sanctuary contained almost no references of them, nor did any other allied sanctuaries records, as if it had been purposely left out. The only record that did confirm their existence was a single record detailing that they had a sanctuary for themselves that had been lost to the ages. But that had changed just 5 years ago when the gate formation at the center of every single sanctuary had remotely activated.


    "That''s the thing I still don''t understand, what exactly is that ''gate'' thing?"


    "Hm? The gate?"


    "Yeah, could you explain what exactly they are in more detail?"


    "Sure."


    Putting her extremely important business of floating around in the cabin aside Solaris grabbed a handle to stabilize herself as she started explaining.


    "The gates are gigantic magic formations there area at the center of every sanctuary, they allow for instant transportation between them and were apparently instrumental in surviving the calamity."


    "Yeah I understand that, but what is it? Concretely."


    "A gigantic and extremely complicated magic formation powered by an insane amount of mana infused metals and/or monster cores, how it works we don''t know, and we''re not about to take one apart to find out."


    "If it isn''t broke, don''t fix it¡­"


    One day a strange doc.u.ment had appeared out of the gates all over the world of magic. What was written on the doc.u.ment no one could understand even Dax''s ICI unit couldn''t decode the identical message, but that was not the important part. At the end of the encoded message was what Dax and Solaris both hypothesised to be some kind delivery address. It was a simple diagram with 2 circles, a small and a larger one. On the large one there were multiple smaller hollow circles, with each of the doc.u.ments having one and only one of the smaller circles filled, and it was a different one for every doc.u.ment. Solaris and the other angels quickly worked out that the large circle was their world, with the smaller hollow ones being sanctuaries and the filled one being the sanctuary it was sent to. The issue that conclusion had was the other smaller circle next to the large one also had a single small hollow circle, indicating there was a sanctuary on this other world, or the moon as Dax pointed out.


    ---


    "Watch your step, the suit should be durable enough to not puncture if you step on something sharp but I don''t want to drag your suffocating ass back to the CAS-7A for revival."


    "U-understood."


    As Solaris nervously stepped out onto the blue gray world she was struck with amazement. The desolate world infront of her was completely devoid of life with the only sound that existed being her own breathing and Dax''s instructions that sounded over the communication system in the modified space suit she wore. Dax on the other hand saw this as simply another day at the office and rapidly deployed out in formation around the CAS-7A in formation and scanned the horizon.


    "No visible contacts on scope, maintain alert."


    Speaking out as he had done countless times before relaxing slightly Dax took a knee and laid down his rifle next to him as he took a look at the wrist display on his suit.


    "Surface gravity is the expected 0.0097 G with temperature ranging from -173.15 in the shade and -43.15 celcius in the sun, normal temperature is around -123.15¡­. It''s a moon, just like all others. Solaris it will be easiest for you to walk by making small jumps forward, but just take it slow and be careful not to fall over."


    Getting no response Dax stood up and turned around to see the angel was too focused on following his advice to respond. Showing a wry smile Dax chose to ignore Solaris and focused on the task at hand.


    "Okay ICI deploy Reaper formation and give me a 5 click net around primary VIP and the specialist UGAV''s and stand by to scramble CAS-7A in case of a fast dustoff."


    [DIRECTIVES CONFIRMED, ESTABLISHING DEFENCIVE FORMATION.]


    Slinging his rifle over the shoulder Dax started walking after Solaris that had somehow managed to pass him as he gave out orders to ICI he started a relaxed walk to the strange circular mounds about 2 kilometers away.

 Chapter 124 - The Archangel’s Request (3)

    "Range to target is about 500 meters. Solaris stay put."


    "... Okay."


    Getting the VIP to hunker down Dax cautiously approached the closest of the 6 artificial constructions on the luna surface. Taking up combat formation with 4 Reaper drones and a specialist UGAV Dax slowly approached what looked to be no more than a giant dome shaped pile of moon regolith.


    "This is definitely radiation shielding.."


    "Radiation shielding?"


    Muttering quietly to himself Dax realized he had forgotten to shut off his communication channel with Solaris.


    "Yeah, regolith layered with stuff like lead and plain old concrete makes excellent and cheap protection from radiation so any occupants inside don''t develop extra limbs or get the so called ''turbo cancer''. Anyway protection from radiation means occupants and/or sensitive and precious machinery, which in turn means there''s definitely also other kinds of protection and me walking directly towards what can quickly turn into a shitshow of shrapnel and explosions."


    "... Are you okay?"


    "Yeah, I''m just thinking happy thoughts¡­ Just another day at the office."


    Even as he was waiting for an ambush Dax still walked forward in a carefree manner with his rifle over the shoulder, until he felt a slight vibration in the ground.


    "Contact front, range 200 meters."


    Taking a shooting formation Dax looked ahead to the edge of the dome where something started rising from the ground.


    "Engage on my command only, ICI hold fire."


    [AFFIRMATIVE. ALL DRONES HOLDING FORMATION, FIRE CONTROL GIVEN TO COMMAND, AWAITING GO ORDER.]


    "Dax the CAS is leaving!"


    The same time Solaris started panicking as she had looked behind her to see her only to see the CAS-7A take off and disengage from the area flying at low altitude.


    "Of course it is, if we lose the only craft capable of transporting us off this rock we''re both dead."


    Leaving the part about how his own suit could cryogenically suspend him if something like that happened Dax kept his attention front and center while blocking out any further complaints from Solaris as time slowly passed. After about 30 minutes the shaking slowly increased in magnitude when something started emerging from the ground in front of the closest dome.


    "Here we are¡­. Now is it defensive turrets or an access point?"


    Waiting another 20 minutes Dax question was answered when what could only be described as a giant stone box with a door had finished emerging from the ground.


    "That sure is a big ass door¡­ ICI?"


    [TARGET COMPOSITION: UNKNOWN, NOT ENOUGH DATA, APPROXIMATE SURFACE TEMPERATURE: -165.4.]


    "So it''s slowly heating up from the sunlight, and I''m not feeling any other vibrations¡­ We are moving up, Solaris get up here."


    Judging the door to not be an immediate threat Dax and the drones slowly approached it guns ready, with Solaris bringing up the rear.


    "Yeah that sure is a large door, what now?"


    Standing at a distance of about 10 meters from the large door that had emerged from the ground Solaris almost had to look up to see the top of it.


    "Well it''s an entrance, so we enter."


    "And how would we do that? It''s closed."


    "No silly, it''s temporarily closed. Everything can be opened with the right amount of force.. And in this case: Shaped charge explosives. ICI set up breaching charges."


    [DIRECTIVES CONFIRMED, SETTING UP STANDARD TYPE 14 FRAME SHAPED CHARGE BREACHING CHARGE.]


    As a Reaper drone started setting up charges to blow a hole clean through the gigantic rock door Solaris started feeling something strange coming from the door, and slowly walked up to it.


    "Solaris?"


    "Yeah?"


    "What are you doing?"


    "Playing a hunch."


    Walking all the way up to the door Solaris placed the palm of her hand on it and started injecting mana into it. The effect showed itself a few seconds later when a small rune circle appeared at her hand.


    "Well would you look at that¡­ I thought there was no mana here?"


    The way Dax understood it was that mana, the special particle that allowed the pheromone known as magic too happen, needed to be present not only in the user''s and the atmosphere around them, something not really possible when there was no atmosphere.


    "There shouldn''t be any no, but there is. I sensed it something like mana coming from the door and tried interacting with it."


    "Can you open it?"


    Leaving multiple questions for later Dax focused on the present problem of gaining entrance.


    "I can try, but if I run out of the mana I''m storing in my wings I will become extremely sick."


    "Yeah leave it within reasonable amounts, and don''t worry I will drag your ass back home by force if need be."


    "O-okay, that''s good to hear."


    Not really deciding if that was reassuring to hear Solaris decided to definitely not pass out if she could help it and concentrated on trying to understand the strange spell formation.


    "... ICI hunker down, give me a full perimeter around Solaris."


    [DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED, SECURING VIP, ESTABLISHING PERIMETER.]


    Seeing the small runic formation on the door slowly starting to grow in size and complexity Dax decided on a wait and sit type of approach, setting up a secure perimeter around Solaris so she could do her work in pace and relative safety.


    -


    "How is it going?"


    "Steady. I''m attempting not to expend too much mana while poking around."


    Over the last hour Dax had watched the small rune formation slowly grow and shrink in size.


    "You''re using a lot of oxygen, I''ll replace it for yo-"


    "Got it!"


    Suddenly the rune formation grew in size immensely before a spider web like pattern spread all over the door, then something inside seemed to respond and the gigantic door slowly started opening. Taking only a few seconds to open completely, a gentle ramp was now visible as far as Solaris could see, with some kind of strange half transparent film like barrier covering the doorframe. Solaris showed a happy smile in response, then reached out to touch the film like barrier but was stopped when Dax grabbed her shoulder and dragged her away from it.


    "Yeah no, this is why I brought drones."


    Continuing to drag Solaris away from the door she found herself unable to resist him in the low gravity and silently gave up remembering what Dax had told her at the start of this mission. With a Reaper drone serving as Solaris'' replacement as a live test subject it was found that there was no danger entering and after heading down the half kilometer long ramp Dax and Solaris found a large and completely empty stone hall with another door at the end.


    "That looks to be a airlock.. I''ll cover you so try and open it Solaris."


    "No problem, I think I got the knack for it now."


    Proving herself correct it only took Solaris a minute to open that door and revealed a small room with another door leading further in.


    "Okay this is an airlock. Solaris can you close the first door after us?"


    "Sure."


    With all of them closed in the airlock all drones and Dax pointed their weapons towards the inner door Dax instrucked Solaris on what was about to happen.


    "The second you open that door a drone will pull you back behind me so don''t resist that. After that I want you to under all circ.u.mstances to stay put and don''t move until you hear the word ''clear'' form me, if you hear ''retreat'' or the phrase ''situation black'' do your best to open the door to get outside as fast you can and I''ll get you out."


    "O-okay."


    Understand how dangerous the current situation was Solaris tensed up slightly as she placed the palm of her hand on the door and opened it. As Dax had explained would happen she was instantly pulled back and briefly flew in the low gravity as Dax pulled her down behind her.


    "Secure the area!"


    Solaris couldn''t see much of what was going on as Dax still had his one hand firmly on her shoulder and kept her down behind him she could only listen and hope for the best.


    [FRONT SECURE.]


    [RIGHT FLANK SECURE.]


    [LEFT FLANK SECURE.]


    [ALL SECURE, STARTING IMMEDIATE RECON.]


    "Stay down."


    Almost as if reading Solaris'' mind Dax kept his hand firmly placed as the drones secured the immediate area inside out of visual range.


    [ICI ASSESSES ALL CLEAR.]


    "Check sector 4 again."


    [STANDBY¡­ CLEAR, ICI ASSESSES ALL CLEAR.]


    ".. Clear, but stay close Solaris. I want you on my ass at all times."


    "O-okay, but what is-"


    Standing up to see what was going on Solaris was briefly blinded by the light coming from inside, as soon as her eyes adjusted to the light she was struck with awe. Inside the airlock stood a gigantic tree in the middle of what looked to be plaza you would find in the central kingdom.


    "That shit is not normal, not on a supposedly abandoned station."

 Chapter 125 - Station of the Ancients (1)

    Looking at the massive tree standing in the middle of a plaza Dax still wore his completely black space suit and had a grim look on his face as he spoke out.


    "Atmospheric pressure normal, no known toxins detected, also no unknown airborne compounds.. A completely normal and stable atmosphere."


    "I don''t feel like you''re happy that''s the case.."


    "... That''s because I''m not, not even in the slightest."


    Dax had expected to find a dead and abandoned station, worn down and broken from the passage of time. From what Dax had assumed and observed the station had no heat signature, there were no signals of any kind stemming from it, and even the most sensitive seismic probes landed near it sensed no vibrations. Looking around the plaza Dax found everything to have an eerie cleanliness to it, not a single thing was out of place and the numerous benches, tables and other decorations stood on the clean stone floor, but there were no signs of anything capable of maintaining that order.


    "Anyway a stable atmosphere means it''s safe for me to remove my suit."


    Tied to wearing the bulky space suit that kept her wings greatly restricted Solaris pressed the button that was supposed to loosen her helmet, but nothing happened.


    "Yeah there''s no way you''re doing that under my watch, your suit stays on for this entire trip, as will my own."


    "But-"


    "Radiation, rapid depressurization not to mention sudden attacks utilizing poisonous gas are only a small part of the reasons you are under no circ.u.mstances going to remove your helmet."


    "... B-"


    "I can also have one of the drones drag your ass outside to sit and wait if you don''t want to follow my instructions."


    "... Fine."


    With the chain of command sorted out Solaris put on a pout and sat down at a bench as she continued complaining.


    "But how are we going to explore this entire place? It must be gigantic."


    "With the wonders of modern technology of course~ ICI commence lantern survey mapping."


    [ORDER CONFIRMED, COMMENCING LANTERN LIDA AREA MAPPING¡­. SCRAMBLING DRONE SWARM.]


    At ICI''s command one of the specialist UGAV''s split open revealing countless apple sized black metal spheres that all suddenly split open partly and flew out propelled by tiny ion thrusters.


    "What the hell are those?"


    Looking at the countless drones flying around in a strangely organized fashion Solaris was struck with awe.


    "They''re lanterns, an area surveying type of dorne developed by Rex industries. They will check and map the flanks while we continue on towards the center of this dome."


    Deciding the break was over, Dax picked up his rifle and gestured for Solaris to follow him as he started walking deeper into the station. The internal of the station revealed itself to be plaza''s like the first room connected by a series of halls stretching out in a gigantic net like structure, and even after exploring for an hour either Dax or his dornes had found anything of note.


    "It sure is empty¡­"


    Even Solaris were starting to feel there was something seriously wrong with the place.


    "Yeah... There''s plenty of space, and somehow the atmosphere is also perfectly maintained but other than that nothing stands out at all, at least on the surface. We''re going to hold here for a moment, I''m going to take a look at this stations subsystems."


    "Subsystems?"


    Dax started looking around the plaza that looked just like all the others before approaching one of the walls as he started explaining.


    "Yeah, the mechanical things maintaining the air, light and tree''s in here.."


    Finding the edge of a stone looking panel Dax formed a fist and smashed the frame apart before prying it open to see what was inside. Pulling out a mesh of wires some of the lights in the room stopped working as he ripped them apart and started looking at the internal structure in more detail.


    "So simple copper wire with some kind of synthetic insulator¡­ This is definitely not space age, nor would it still work if the station depressurized. If the station suddenly lost pressure the insulators on this wire would shatter and the exposed wires would contact fuse in the vacuum and short courcut the entire system."


    "Meaning?"


    "I don''t know yet.."


    Walking a few meters along the wall Dax punched another hole into it to reveal something else behind.


    "This is an atmosphere control system, and a crude one at that¡­ It''s like whoever made these halls had no access to the technology that would make such a station like this possible, and then there''s these circuit boards, no signs of use nor any identifying markings or product id''s.."


    [WARNING: LANTERN 414 LOSS OF SIGNAL. REASON: UNIT DESTROYED, COURSE UNKNOWN.]


    ".. Solaris hunker down, ICI establish visual on area, all units weapons free."


    [REAPER 02 REPORTS HOSTILE CONTACT.. LOSS OF SIGNAL, REASON: UNIT DESTROYED BY HOSTILE.]


    "What is-"


    "Something is moving here fast!"


    Lighting up the recoil compensation system on his suit Dax emptied a magazine of his rifle towards something that moved faster than Solaris could see clearly. The blur didn''t seem affected by Dax''s rifle fire and crashed into him, sending him flying in the low gravity before it came to a hold and allowed Solaris to get a better look at it. It was some kind of golem, standing about 3 meters tall its overall sturdy body lacked any outward weak spots and was covered entirely in some kind of gray rock that seemed to act as armor, and showed light cracks after being hit by anti material rounds fired from Dax''s gauss rifle.


    "That f.u.c.k.i.n.g hurt!"


    Having been buried deeply into the opposing wall Dax emerged mostly unscaved, mostly except for his mood, he was pissed. Disappearing from Solaris'' sight in a blur, Dax left deep cracks in the wall he had landed in as rushed towards the golem and subsequently buried his fist inside it. The golem didn''t break from that however and quickly grabbed Dax that still had his hand stuck in it by the head with one of its massive hands and started crushing it.


    "Like that would work on me you f.u.c.k.i.n.g tin bucket!"


    Apparently pissed off at the very idea of the golem being able to crush his head Dax grabbed the hand that was holding his head and pried it off him before kicking the golems main body as he still held onto the arm. Using the inflexibility of the golems arm to his advantage Dax placed himself in it''s blindspot by locking the arm in place he kicked the armor on its body portion apart with numerous precise kicks, acting more like a surgeon than a fighter. After about 30 kicks the golem slowly stopped moving after Dax had destroyed most of whatever was inside its chest. Not apparently satisfied with that Dax kept systematically tearing the golem apart as he still held in place and blocked its movements.


    "I think it''s dead already¡­"


    "I''m not so sure."


    Keeping up his surgical strikes until they became more like a disassembly than anything else, then finally tossed the golems arm aside after he had completely destroyed its internal structure.


    "Now its dead."


    Looking at the former golem that now had been reduced to nothing more than a heap of scrap Dax confirmed there were no more signs of function coming from it.


    "Now this is definitely more like it."


    "Like what?"


    "Space age, even if slightly abnormal."

 Chapter 126 - Station of the Ancients (2)

    "... So have you learned anything?"


    It had been about an hour since Dax had surgically destroyed the golem that had appeared out of nowhere. After that he had silently started picking it apart ignoring Solaris'' attempts at striking up a conversation.


    "... Give me a second."


    "Yeah, sure¡­ It is after all only the 4th time you''ve said that."


    Enduring his silence for that long Solaris understandably started getting quite annoyed with him and finally couldn''t handle the annoyance anymore and started approaching Dax so she could whack his head.


    "I''m done, or more like ICI is done."


    "... You''ve barely survived, this time."


    "Yeah yeah. I know where we need to go now, follow me."


    Bruising Solaris to the side as he stood up Dax started walking in a new direction, away from what would be the center of the station he had previously approached.


    "So did you find out what it was?"


    "What? The golem?"


    Trying once more to start up a conversation Solaris felt her blood started boiling when Dax acted like he had no idea what she was talking about.


    "No, the bunny that hopped past you a moment ago."


    Showing Dax a cold smile as she joked with him Dax started feeling Solaris might be mad at him.


    "It was a groundskeeper. It''s arms had repair tools and a pair of hedge scissors, that combined with its general lack of combat prowers leads me to believe it was not meant for combat and wouldn''t be aggressive if I didn''t pry those panels off the wall. The golem also had ports on its back for recharging and resupply but most importantly there was a locking mechanism under its feet to secure it- Ah here we are."


    Cutting his own explanation short Dax stopped in the middle of a corridor between two halls and pointed towards one of the stone plates that covered the wall.


    "Could you please try and open this like panel like you did with the doors?"


    "..."


    Not liking her treatment lately Solaris took a stance of non compliance until Dax explained himself more.


    "This is a maintenance port, where the golems travel through to get into this residential area. I''m hypnotizing that what we have explored of this station so far is some sort of temporary holding area, hence the cheap construction. Whatever is behind this panel is likely to lead to an older and more technologically advanced part of the station, as in where we need to go."


    "... Okay, but you are kind of being an asshole acting like you have been."


    Giving her honest opinion of Dax''s current behavior Solaris went over to touch the panel, and just like Dax had explained when she sent her mana into the stone panel it reacted just like a door.


    "Sorry."


    "It''s okay, I just wanted to make you aware of it."


    "I will take that to heart, I''ve been acting like I always do on missions and didn''t realize I was coming off as rude, thank you for bringing this to my attention."


    The panel revealed itself to be door like Dax had taught and was quickly unlocked, revealing a dark maintenance shaft behind.


    "ICI check it out."


    Acting cautiously Dax sent a pair of Reaper drones into the shaft to explore it further, revealing 2 levels below the one Solaris and Dax where on, and a total of 5 above.


    "A total of 8 levels¡­ Let''s head to the top one first and check that one out first, then work our way down and leave the less interesting floors like this one to the Lantern drones."


    "And what''s your basic for going after the top level first?"


    "Because the easiest place to establish communication with the outside is the top level where you could in theory stick an antenna all the way through the top of the dome."


    "And it''s the smallest level, therefore the quickest to search."


    Finally working a bit more as a team Solaris and Dax improved their effectiveness greatly, and the chance of Solaris hitting Dax in the head lowered grealy.


    "That sounds like a good plan, let''s do it."


    Having a plan of action it only took Dax and Solaris a few minutes to reach the top level using the service duct. Prying open the door from the inside Dax and Solaris found it to be a lot different than the level they entered on. Instead of stone panels the narrow hall they entered were made of a mix of black metal alloys and some kind of glowing red crystals that formed some kind of ominous pattern. The area also seemed poorly maintained, as scratches on the floor and walls were clearly visible, and some kind of fungi spores drifted in the filthy air.


    "The air here is strange.. Take extreme caution."


    "Right."


    Moving through the slim corridor in formation with several layers of drones between anything unknown and Solaris Dax took extreme care.


    "We have some kind of room coming up, the air is also getting increasingly thick with fungi spores. If you tear your arm on something I am immediately amputating and sterilizing it so be prepared."


    "... That''ll hurt a lot won''t it."


    "Yeah it will, speaking from personal experience. Of course those that condition also applies to myself."


    With the extra conditions established and clearly laid out Dax continued into the first room and quickly cleared it with the Reaper drones.


    "All clear, Solaris get up here."


    Calling Solaris to the center of the room cluttered with what looked to be broken down servers she let out a scream when she saw what Dax had found.


    "Rest in peace."


    It was a copse of some kind of humanoid creature sitting in a chair, it was covered from head to toe in some kind of carnivorous fungi colony that were about halfway done devouring the corpse. With goo and other decomposing biological matter seeping out onto the floor Solaris were for the first time extremely glad she wore a space suit.


    "Whatever it is seems to feed on biological matter, but more importantly it also survives on electricity. ICI make sure all drones from this mission are scuttled after this mission to avoid cross contamination."


    [DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED: 12 DRONES MARKED FOR END OF SERVICE FOLLOWING COMPLETION OF CURRENT MISSION.]


    "I''m going to dig through some of the servers to see if anything can be recovered, Solaris make sure you don''t touch anything."


    "That you don''t have to tell me."


    As Dax had one of his free Reaper drones look through the depri for anything salvageable Solaris found the place in the room with the most free space to stand, all of which was observed by multiple hidden surveillance video cameras.


    A few rooms away from Dax and Solaris in the center of what could only be described as a command room something came alive as it emerged from a stasis pod. The human figure that was amalgamation of flesh, fungi, runestones and cybernetic technology rose from the pod as it grasped a chipped two handed sword before activating some kind of magic formation carved into its body and completely disappeared from sight.

 Chapter 127 - Station of the Ancients (3)

    "The spore infestation is also severe in this room, it''s getting to the level where visibility is dropping."


    Scanning yet another overgrown server room Dax declared all clear before immediately commenting on the fog created by the flesh and electricity eating fungi that seemed present all over this floor.


    "It is¡­ Arg it''s even sticking to my suit at this point! How are we keep them from coming back with us?"


    "That''s relatively simple, we just step out into the sunlight for a bit, the solar radiation and extreme cold will immediately annihilate most of the spores, also the CAS-7A has a decontamination function which kills everything and renders the remains sterile."


    "Neat, I can''t wait for that."


    Wiping her visor clean of fungi spores for the nth time Solaris greatly looked forward to the decontamination, and a shower.


    "Up ahead should be the central room. Let''s make this fast, I have a bad feeling about this, we''re definitely not alone."


    Having the impression that they were being watched by something hostile Dax kept his head on a swivl as he entered what should be the command room of this dome. Inside the fungi spores in the air formed a dense fog that limited visibility to only a few meters, this was of course not an issue for Dax as his suit and the Drones he moved in formation with was outfitted with advanced sensors like high powered LIDA and Doppler radar.


    "I can''t see shit."


    Solaris on the other hand did not have that luxury.


    "ICI relay primary sensor feed to VIP HUHD please."


    [AFFIRMATIVE, RELAYING PRIMARY SENSORY SWARM AGGREGATED FEED TO VIP HEADS UP HELMET DISPLAY, FORMULATING RENDER¡­ COMPLETE.]


    Instantly green lines were drawn on Solaris'' visor outlining the room hidden behind the spores that covered most of her sight, with a pulse of green washing over her visor every second and updating the information in relation to her movement and relation.


    "Is this how you always see the world?"


    "Kind of. My cybernetic eye sees this, inferred, ultra violet, thermal and high energy electromagnetic radiation like hostile radar, among other things. All at the same time of course."


    Taking a few seconds to understand words she was not entirely familiar with Solaris understood that there was a reason the people that had made Dax''s eye compared it with the vision of a all seeing god.


    "... I wonder how I look from your eyes¡­"


    "You want to know?"


    "Eh?!"


    Wondering out loud Solaris didn''t realize those words had accidently spilled from her lips until Dax responded to her question.


    "I-I guess?"


    "It''s really not that different from how my other eye sees you, or any other intelligent being sees you."


    "Just tell me already."


    Feeling Dax was deliperly playing around with her heart Solaris got quite frustrated and accidentally spoke out in annoyance.


    "You''re adorable, simple as that. More importantly look alive, I think I just found out why there''s mana here."


    "W-what did you fi-"


    Suppressing her own rapid heartbeat as she felt her face heat up Solaris walked over to Dax that was a bit in front of her, but all of a sudden the fungi spores cleared from her vision and she saw what Dax were talking about, making her stop in her tracks completely. It was some kind of red glowing orb approximately 1 meter in diameter that hovered in some kind of containment field a few meters above the ground. Examining the surface in greater detail Solaris found it to be a mix of runic formations and densely packed circuit boards letting of the occasional spark of high voltage current. What was even more strange than the sphere was the effect it had on the surroundings, even though her isolating space suit Solaris could feel it.


    "Mana is pouring out of it endlessly¡­ T-that shouldn''t be possible."


    Like a spring of infinite water, dense mana almost visible to the n.a.k.e.d eye flowed endlessly out of the red orb, showing no signs of slowing down or decaying.


    "Actually I''ve felt like this might be possible for a while. Remember when we suppressed the north, there was this device of mine that had been modified to eliminate mana from its surroundings? That made me look closer at the nature of mana in closer detail and I quickly discovered that it is some kind of exotic particle, most likely generated and stabilized somewhere deep inside the planet due to some special material properties of the core. I suspect who or whatever made this thing understands this process perfectly, and are therefore able to replicate the effect."


    "But that''s-"


    "Impossible? Where I come from people grasped the power of gravity and mastered it, a feet long believed to be impossible. Intelligent life is tenacious and universally obsessed with bending nature to its will, given enough time I belive everything is possible, and even if you disagree with that the example is floating right in front of you."


    With Dax''s strong argument for technological advancement and the proof of that right in front of her, Solaris forced herself to reluctantly accept the fact that mana could be fabricated for the time being.


    "ICI I want a complete mass spectral scan of that thing immediately."


    [ORDER CONFIRMED, COMMENCING SCAN OF MANA PRODUCING ANOMALY #1¡­ 0.12%..... 0.49%....-]


    With nothing to do for the moment Solaris kept close to Dax like he had instructed, but her eyes wandered all over the room.


    (That''s what he called a ''server'' infected with quite a lot of those fungi, I can ask for what exactly that is at a later date¡­ And is that¡­ A bed?)


    Finding something she had not expected to be inside the fungi infested room Solaris looked at the strange enclosed bed that stood almost upright she noticed something disturbing. While the outside and lid was covered with a layer of fungi like everything else in the room, the inside was not. That lead Solaris to believe it had been opened recently, indeed as Dax''s intuition pointed out they were not alone in here. Wanting to share that information with Dax she turned her eyes back on him, only to finally see it at the last second.


    "DAX DODGE!"


    Hearing the panicked scream form Solaris time slowed down greatly for Dax as his mind went into overdrive and followed her instruction, instantly collapsing his stance while disabling the primary safety on his Rex-Alpha 357 hybrid gauss rifle. What meet Dax''s eyes as he collapsed downwards and brought his rifle up while he looked behind him could only be described as a monster. Cybernetic enhancements and runestones where imbedded in the vaguely humanoid decomposing form that stood about 4 meters tall, its head almost touching the ceiling. The creatures red glowing and clearly cybernetic eyes where firmly locked on Dax and a mix of tentacles and numerous arms all tipped with metal spikes had pierced where Dax had just stood a moment earlier, making the hair on the back of his neck rise.


    (I DIDN''T F.U.C.K.I.N.G SENSE IT!)


    "SOLARIS RUN!"


    Switching the fire select to fully automatic Dax squeezed the trigger a placed a grouping of 40mm anti personnel semi-armor piercing high-explosive incendiary rounds firmly in the creature''s center of mass and head as he opened up the distance by activating the attitude control thrusters on his space suit propelling him across the floor. The shots however had no effect, as when the came close to the monster, some unknown influence stopped them mid air before harmlessly starting to fall towards the floor in the low gravity. At the same time as Dax realized his attack on the creature had been unsuccessful the reaction control system on Solaris'' space suit lit up and pushed her feet into the ground, allowing her to run as if she in normal gravity, and run she did. Not questioning Dax''s instruction in the slightest she had immediately understood that he and the drones would act as bait, only withdrawing after she had reached safety. As she ran out of the room and into the network of narrow hallways Solaris'' visor lit up with a clear trail renderd in augmented reality as she heard Dax''s voice screaming out.


    "I''LL DISTRACT IT SO HURRY UP AND GET OUT!"


    At the same time Dax unsuccessfully emptied the second magazine of SAPHEI ammunition towards the creature before tossing away his rifle.


    "SATURATE TARGET!"


    [ESCORT FIRETEAM OPENING UP ON PRIMARY HOSTILE, SATURATING FIRE.]


    "TEAM 2 SET UP BEACH AT POINT DELTA, GIVE ME AN ESCAPE ROUTE NOW!"


    [DIRECTIVES CONFIRMED, SETTING UP STANDARD TYPE 14 FRAME SHAPED CHARGE BREACHING CHARGE AT POINT DELTA.]


    As 6 Reaper drones emptied their magazines towards the creature the rest escaped into the next room over in the same direction as Solaris had fled. Stopping there they quickly went to work laying down explosives on the floor.


    [FIRE IN THE HOLE, BREACHING NOW.]


    With a shaped charge the explosion forced blades of molten metal trough the relatively thin floor and cut a large hole directly into it, creating an access point to the floor below.


    "RETREAT!"


    [WITHDRAWING, COVERING FIRE.]


    With fireteam 2 leaving through the newly formed route team 1 kept firing at the creature and drawing its attention to allow Dax to get around it so he could escape. The creature perhaps angry at the flys around it morphed a large portion of its tentacles and arms into a single mesh, pointing that towards one of the drones as a formless pressure formed in front of the amalgamation of tentacles and shot out. Instantly a cone of something Dax couldn''t see formed out in front of the gathering of tentacles.


    (WHAT THE F.U.C.K!?)


    But even as Dax couldn''t directly observe it he saw the phenomenons effect, forming a cone shape in front of the creatures arm reaching out approximately 10 meters all matter was completely annihilated, caving a void in the spore filled air and Reaper drone at the same time.


    (That definitely violates serval laws of physics!)


    Internally commenting on the absurdity of it all as he ran along one of the walls around the creature Dax was able to calm down a bit more and formulated a plan as he checked on how far Solaris had gotten. Losing 2 more drones to the matter annihilating attack Dax managed to retreat to the level below, but he couldn''t manage to open up more than a room''s space between him and it as it turned out the creatures countless tentacles were optimal for traveling in low gravity.


    "Solaris keep running, get to the airlock where we entered the plant the gray parcel that''s in your toolbelt on the floor and keep running until you''re outside the ramp and completely clear of¡­ It¡­ Arg! Just dip my balls in honey and stake me to an ant farm!"


    Tailing off at the end Dax cursed his luck as he ran into a room filled to the brim with stasis pods that were currently waking their occupants.

 Chapter 128 - Station of the Ancients (4)

    "What did you say Dax?"


    Sure she had misheard Dax as he had trailed off at the end Solaris slowed her run slightly as she waited for his response.


    "I said there are more of those monsters and some of them might already be on their way to block you off so don''t f.u.c.k.i.n.g drop your speed!"


    "Y-yes! SORRY!"


    Being legitimately more afraid of Dax than the monstrosities made of decaying flesh Solaris doubled her pace as she remembered he was currently risking his own life until she escaped safely. At the same time Dax rapidly burned through the fuel for his reaction control system for simulating gravity so he could run faster in the low gravity as he directed the drones to split the attention of the numerous creatures chasing him.


    "02 suppressive fire on target #7, 05 secure the room ahead for 09 and 04 then ambush following forces, move- SHIT!"


    Realizing he was running in a somewhat predictable path at the last second Dax''s hairs stood on up and he forcefully broke his posture mid run to dodge with the best of his ability as something tore into his side and created a large breach in his suit while cutting out a large part of his side.


    "I F.U.C.K.I.N.G KNEW IT!"


    As his suit was pierced Dax felt most of his blood in in his gut evaporate due to the sudden and violent depressurizing as his exposed flesh flash froze and shattered like hot glass being flash cooled he gritted his teeth and endured the pain, for it would only last for a second. Feeling several of his cybernetic enhancements kick in Dax''s open wound was covered in a layer of nanomachines that quickly hardened and formed a emergency seal. Being slightly lightheaded for a moment due to the bloodloss the amazing resilience of the pure blooded qiton kicked in and Dax reached into his equipment pouch and pulled out a string of grenades and armed a single one as he tossed them behind him without looking.


    "Prepare for anti contamination surgery and prep a biohazard container in the CAS-7A please."


    [DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED.]


    "DAX! Are you okay!?"


    Hearing the word ''surgery'' pop up Solaris correctly assumed that Dax had been hurt.


    "I''m fine, the damage is only to my core. I can still move! ICI time to drop down another level!"


    [DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED, SETTING UP STANDARD TYPE 14 FRAME SHAPED CHARGE BREACHING CHARGE AT POINT BETA. SCUTTLING FIRETEAM 2 ON YOUR COMMAND.]


    Seeing the shaped charge blow a hole down to the next level right in front of him Dax verbally turned the self destruct key on the 5 drones that were covering his rear, in an attempt to slow down the creatures chasing him if by only a moment.


    "Enact denial protocol! Registration master key 044587356420!"


    [DENIAL PROTOCOL CONFIRMED: DESTABILIZING AFFECTED REACTOR CORES, CRITICALITY ARCHIVED, TIME TO MELT DOWN: 5 SECONDS.]


    In those 5 seconds Dax and the surviving drones managed to blast into a maintenance shaft and go down another level, while the Reaper drones 2 levels above ceased all primary functions while the magnetic containment field of each their primary power plants rapidly polarized, starting to act more like a match to a oil barrel than a safety net. Not all of them got to blow however, as all but one were instantly annihilated the moment they stopped moving and became easy targets, but a single Reaper drone managed to complete its final order with dignity, and that was plenty.


    [5, 4, 3, 2, 1, MARK.]


    Blowing up with the power to level a large city block the fusion meltdown instantly heated the air around it way past its ignition point and detonated it, creating a shockwave that traveled through the entire floor.


    "What was that!?"


    "Shut up and run, I''m running out of drones to stall with!"


    Feeling the vibration of the explosion all the way at the bottom most level Solaris almost fell over, but was quickly motivated by Dax to keep up her efforts.


    "That is an ugly motherf.u.c.ker, and what''s worse I think I pissed him off!"


    Falling through the maintenance shaft Dax just managed to catch a glimpse of one of the creatures entering it 5 levels above. Recognizing it as the one that had tried to kill him first by the ominus chipped two handed sword it held Dax increased his own evasion speed to what could truly considered reckless as the monster sent more beams of its annihilating rays all the way down to him.


    "He''s definitely pissed! Solaris what''s your status!?"


    "I''m on my way up the ramp now! I don''t see the CAS-7A!"


    "Up the ramp and it''s on your left, get in immediately and lay down flat on the floor. After that it will immediately take off and open the distance to 5 clicks and hide behind the horizon."


    "But!-"


    "JUST DO IT I''M BUSY!"


    Now on the bottom level Dax and the drones had a much harder time dodging attacks, due to the much more open construction compared to the narrow rooms and hallways in the levels above that had offered considerably shorter lines of sight. Dax felt his wound open again and tear as he twisted hard to narrowly dodge another attack by the creature that had managed to close all the way into a distance of 10 meters.


    "I''m out!"


    Having reached the CAS-7A outside Solaris did as Dax said and laid down flat on her back in the craft and was immediately secured like a piece of cargo by multiple automated metal wires and straps. With the VIP somewhat secure inside the craft the CAS-7A took off and immediately accelerated with a force in excess of 40 G, making Solaris pass out as blood veins all over her body started bursting. Lucky for Solaris the initial burn only lasted about 10 seconds before attitude control thrusters took over and the CAS-7A glided as it flipped around just above the lunar surface and kicked up a large improvised smoke screen. Then came the comparably more gentle deceleration burn of 10 G where the craft hid in a surface crater now deep below the horizon from the station of the ancients. Now in cover the automated medical systems took over and robotic arm transported the unconscious Solaris from her temporary holding to a medical table where several small arms started cutting directly through her suit to stabilize her numerous injuries and sustain her brain function while healing could be done.


    "Shitshithshitshit!"


    Dax meanwhile arguably had it worse. All his drones had been destroyed and he had sustained multiple grazing hits as he had finally reached the final room where the door to freedom tempted him as he was still chased by the creatures consisting of decaying flesh, cybernetic enhancements, fungi and runestones taking a form that contained multiple tentacles. Locating the gray parcel right where Dax had instructed Solaris to place it a small, nervously optimistic smile formed on his face.


    "F.U.C.K IT! ICI TRIP GOALLINE AS SOON I CLEAR THE MINIMUM SAFETY SEPARATION!"


    [DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED, USE OF DANGER CLOSE ACKNOWLEDGED. GOOD LUCK.]


    Throwing defense and evasion to the wind Dax digged his feet into the stone floor below and set off, with such force that the solid stone floor outright shattered like rice cakes getting hit by a rocket powered sledgehammer.


    "%!ZzZZQ&%R?!"


    Letting out a unholy scream in response to its prey escaping the creature shot out its two handed sword that hit Dax and pierced him right through the chest as he passed the gray parcel and cashed into then bounced off the upwards ramp on the opposite side of the airlock.


    [GOALLINE PASSED, COMMAND UNRESPONSIVE. DETONATING¡­ MARK.]


    With a brief electrical buzz the gray parcel''s detonator activated the so called ''shattering charge'', spreading the thermobaric charge and allowing it to mix with the surrounding air. Igniting the fuel mixture a few nanoseconds after the fuel-air explosive''s starting charge and the fine mixed grains of magnesium, aluminium and ethylene oxide created what could only be described as a weaponized dust explosion and created a violent shockwave together with a huge fireball. The effects on the surrounds where as expected. In the confined space the blaze quickly created a overpressure that blasted Dax away, with only his extremely tough body keeping him from instantly liquefying. Blasted clean out of the access port as it collapsed Dax flew well over 4 kilometers in the frictionless environment before he was caught mid air by the CAS-7A that had matched its speed to him where he instantly was placed on life support inside.

 Chapter 129 - Station of the Ancients (5)

    Solaris woke with a shock, as if awaking from a horrible nightmare. Hurriedly trying to orientate her body she found herself to still be in zero gravity as she accidentally spread her wings in a panic and flapped them, sending herself floating.


    "Where am I!?"


    Fighting a massive migraine Solaris'' sight turned blurry and she grabbed her head in pain, accidently hitting some sort of liquid with her hand as she moved it.


    "Eh?.. B-blood!"


    Looking at the back of her palm Solaris found it to be dried dark red sending her mind into overdrive and focused on her surroundings. She was inside the pressurized compartment of the CAS-7A, that she realized immediately, but how she got there she had difficulty remembering. Her clothing had also changed without her realizing it, instead of the overly restricting and cramped space suit or way too liberating combo of shorts and a tank top she instead wore some sort of thin synthetic grown that flowed way too freely without the effect of gravity. As she realized that and her face started heating up Solaris looked around for her normal clothing inside the pressurized compartment but them forgot her own embarrassment as she felt the blood drain from her face as she was struck with despair.


    "DAX!!?!"


    Floating in the center of the cabin what remained of the qiton was swarmed by robotic arms that priced his flesh with unknown purpose. He appeared to have completely lost both his legs and left arm along with numerous wounds on his upper torso, but the most jarring of his wounds was a red black longsword stuck through his chest.


    [That sure was a close one.]


    "DAX!?"


    Looking at his lifeless corpse Solaris was extremely confused when she suddenly heard his voice from all around her.


    [I am glad you are awake Solaris, you slept for 35 hours.]


    "Please explain what the f.u.c.k is going on!"


    [You almost died, and I came closer than I have been to that in a long time.]


    With Dax''s words as a trigger the memories of the lunar exploration came rushing back into her mind. The strange station, its upper level and that horrifying creature with the eerie sword not unlike the one stuck in Dax at the moment.


    "What happened after I passed out?"


    Forcefully calming herself down after realizing the current situation Solaris ignored everything that didn''t make sense at the moment and focused on filling the blanks in her memories.


    [I escaped by blowing up the dome to cover my egress but apparently those creatures are completely immune to explosions, rapid depressurization and anything else that would normally kill any known creature, others than a qiton of course.]


    "Qiton''s don''t really seem that blast proof tough, judging by the current example in front of me."


    Seeing how completely nonchalant Dax kept on being even as he was hooked up to a life support machine Solaris broke into a faint smile as she poked fun at him like it couldn''t be helped.


    [Oh these wounds are from the creature''s attacks, I will wholeheartedly admit I can''t stand up to those, not even talking about their seemingly perfect and impenetrable defenses¡­. Speaking completely honestly there''s a part of me that don''t believe I made it out of that station alive, assessing the situation tactically we were utterly and completely outclassed, nearly wiped out and failed at every objective we set out to do.]


    Solaris couldn''t completely figure out Dax''s tone of voice as he spoke that assessment, due to him speaking through the CAS-7A''s systems but felt a chill spread all over her body as the honest truth she had been avoiding since waking up finally dawned on her.


    (I nearly died, we nearly died. Without any way to fight back we were nearly squashed like bugs.)


    Solaris had never in her life felt so weak and powerless as she had been when she ran through those eerie halls. A mix of frustration, fear and helplessness slowly crept onto her face as tears started pooling in her eyes, failing to overcome surface tension without the help of gravity.


    "Uuuuu.."


    Starting a quiet sob Solaris wrapped her wings around herself in a failing effort to calm down be remembering her mother''s embrace, but she kept on sinking further and further into the abyss, until she felt a hand gently place itself on her shoulder.


    "Eh?"


    Confused Solaris unwrapped herself to see something that would undoubtedly burn itself into her mind for the rest of her life. The countless robotic arms that were performing surgery on Dax had moved him towards her, his only remaining arm reached out and placed itself on her crying shoulder as a resolute and warm smile covered his broken face that was filled with glass and other debri from his injuries.


    [But we''re still here.]


    Even with a sword firmly lodged in his torso and having lost all his flesh and blood limbs while being no longer able to speak for himself Dax reassured Solaris and wiped the tears from her face.


    [This hurts, defeat is like that. But true defeat comes to you the moment you let it define you, so resist the temptation. Screaming, shouting, crying and clawing yourself towards survival is not cowardly, even if it might seem like it. You fought Solaris, you fought and lost, but most importantly you survived, and so did I. We''re still here.]


    Feeling her mind gradually becoming calm the angel blocked out everything but his voice as she closely wrapped herself around what remained of the qiton and continued to listen for his voice that spoke out all around her and focused on just that and that alone, like a sailor in the middle of a storm desperately navigating by the faint light of the north star.


    [We are still alive. If you feel you can''t do anything at the moment I want you to solely focus your mind completely on that fact alone.]


    Following Dax''s words of guidance Solaris slowly felt a small and gentle flame light up inside her, slowly corroding the abyss.


    [We might have failed, but so did our enemies. We will grow from this, become more powerful than ever before, and when we face them again they will truly realize the gravity of their error.]


    With his words the flame grew larger, more vibrant as it corroded the abyss in her heat, but most importantly it started growing fierce and violent.


    [By tooth claw and blood we will regain our position as the strong. We will become stronger to rise and regain our position as rulers, we will dominate our opponents! We might look defeated, but that''s merely a bait to invite weakness that now spreads among them! For now we have one target clearly in mind!]


    Dax''s words resonated deep within Solaris, her former doughts and weakness seemed no more as the fierce, aggressive flame of her heart burst out from inside and completely burned away the abyss within her.


    [You finally have the right look on your face Solaris! Normal people don''t seem to understand, they see us defeated and beaten, holding looks of pity on their faces but they don''t understand! We like it down here! It stimulates our will to fight! To win! To dominate!]


    (What the f.u.c.k have I been doing for so long?)


    Suddenly everything Solaris had done before in her life seemed so meaningless, the only thing she held in her mind now was the enemy, and how to tear it apart.


    [Being on the brink is where people like us operate the best Solaris, you must realize that by now! Welcome to the 125th combined ops orbital drop troopers! Welcome to hell! I hope you find something to sate your will for hunting down here!]

 Chapter 130 - Resort (1)

    From extreme low horizon orbital observation of the 7 domes it was confirmed that one of them suffered catastrophic failure from the thermobaric device, but at the same time it was also confirmed that none of the strange creatures inhabiting the dome had perished in the blast. Dax had suffered extreme injuries and it was decided after some discussion between Solaris and him that they would remain in lunar orbit for a few more days before retreating. The reason for that was simple, it was to allow Dax to heal. Advanced medical procedures could be done back in Kingstead but it was easier to fuse the characteristic dense bones of a qiton with cybernetic limbs without gravity to make it more complicated.


    ---


    "They''re they are."


    Looking out into the distance, out over the endless blue ocean Lux finally spoke out when she noticed a slight shift in the horizon. After liberating Abel''s village Lux, Lilly, Terra, Iris, Mare, Abel and Zephyr had reached their objective. The villages inhabitants were glad to finally be free of occupation, but when they learned of their liberators true objective gratitude turned to mere tolerance. Lux assured them that they would remove the reason for their invasion in the first place, while making sure such a thing would never happen again. As part of that promise Abel was returned to his mother and Opal would be freed and also returned as fast as possible, and that was today. The CAS-7A approached fast and low, as if making an attack run or approaching a hot zone to make a drop off It flew centimeters above sea level before flaring at the last possible moment turing its thrusters retrograde and spreading out its wings like an eagle pouncing on a pery then flipped around and opened the rear ramp just as it touched down. This action was of course completely deliberate, it was a show of force to the numerous poorly hidden surveillance spells in effect around the small atoll.


    (Showoff¡­)


    Mentally commenting on the flawless execution of her superiors piloting Lux also wondered when they could all stop being unwilling actors for whoever was watching, and she got her answer immediately when the rear ramp of the CAS-7A opened fully. The first person to step out was someone Lux was not completely familiar with, she was about Dax''s height wearing gray shorts and peach coloured t shirt which she somehow matched with a white and red bulletproof facemask that covered her entire face. As she stepped out of the CAS-7A an array of golden halos spread out over her head while she spread out her six pure white angelic wings, before flapping them once and sending out some kind of mana pulse that spread outwards at the speed of sound.


    "It''s clear now, I''ve blinded them all."


    "Good work, both of you. Hello Lux."


    Afterwards Dax stepped out onto the tropical sand on his new cybernetic legs to look around as he greeted his subordinate with a smile on his face.


    "Who is she?"


    Completely ignoring everything else at the moment Lux stared rudely at the blond angel as she took off her white and red facemask.


    "I am-"


    "Not interested, who is this human pigeon Dax? And why does she have a mask?"


    Interrupting Solaris as she tried her best to introduce herself Lux laid her eyes on Dax as the temperature around her dropped several degrees. Having learned to stay calm Solaris didn''t immediately flare with anger, while it also helped that who she assumed to be Dax''s so called ''adorable second in command'' used the exact same insult he himself had been using for a while. Instead of anger her mind turned to wonder instead, as she looked at the strange mask Dax had given her a few days ago and appeared to be Lux''s source of anger. I had the same smooth and uniform surface with a metallic feel as the completely black one Dax always had on or near him, but instead of having a pure black face the one he had given Solaris was split vertically in the middle, being bright red on the left and pure white on the right.


    "Lux meet Solaris. Solaris meet Lux Jameson, she''s second in command of the 125th and often in charge when it comes to ground combat."


    "..."


    "Nice to meet you miss Lux, I hope we can get along."


    Being introduced to Lux by Dax Solaris did her best to give a warm and polite greeting, but Lux still didn''t seem to acknowledge her existence.


    "She has the spark."


    "Really?"


    Solaris had no idea what the so called ''spark'' was, but she understood Dax was working things over with Lux and warming her up to the idea of working together with her, so she kept quiet.


    "You don''t believe me?"


    "You taught me not to, unless given a good reason and/or evidence to support it."


    "I saw it myself."


    "... Okay, but I will still assess her myself at a later point in time. Nice to meet you Solaris, from this point on you will address me as ''ma''am'' or lieutenant general''."


    Leaving with her with that greeting Lux turned around and left Solaris and Dax to find their way to the village themselves.


    "What was that about?"


    Seeking explanation from Dax now that Lux had left Solaris looked at him with the kind of expression that showed she wouldn''t take no for an answer.


    "Lux grew up to join and eventually lead the 125th, therefore she holds the force to an extremely high standard. You having your own mask means you are part of it now, and she''s pissed off at me for not giving her a say in it."


    "I see, so these mask hold that kind of meaning¡­ Is every one of them different?"


    Understanding that she had obtained something truly precious while not realizing that holding one of the Reaper masks as she did now automatically made her one of the most respected people in the Galactic Empire Solaris asked for more details on the masks.


    "Yeah, each and everyone of them are different. Mine is pure black and integrates with my custom cybernetic eye, Lux''s mask in black with a white skull and has an extremely wide field of view, your mask lacks the mana sensing function and instead has even more armor protection and finally Terra''s lacks any customization at the moment, due to her still undergoing training."


    Taking the new information to heart Solaris suddenly formed a large child like smile as she realized something.


    "So mine has more armor protection than the others.. Does that mean you worry about me? Or do you feel that I am important, and you couldn''t bare to lose me?~ Is that a sudden confession?~ Hey tell me, you don''t have to be shy~"


    With her smile growing more and more smug by the second Solaris hid it with the tip of one of her wings as she fully took advantages and twisted Dax''s words to tease him.


    "Not really."


    "Eh?"


    But she had made a fatal mistake of not accounting for Dax''s sometimes brutal honesty.


    "Of the options there were available to me none of them would really fit you that well so I just those more armor in the end, oh and it''s not really going to save you, if something can pierce the normal armor of the mask, it can pierce the extra armor too."


    Having taken too much mental damage Solaris failed to formulate a response to Dax''s honest answer and therefore just chose to drop the subject entirely.


    "Are you two done talking? In that case the village is this way, my mother properly wants to have a few words with you Dax."


    "Sure, lead the way."


    Taking that moment to interject in their conversation Opal lead Dax to the village so he could have a talk with its current leader.

 Chapter 131 - Resort (2)

    "First I must thank you for saving my daughter and son, as a mother I couldn''t be more thankful."


    Having been lead into a large hut Dax met with the current leader of the white lagoon village for a private conversation between the two of them. Like her daughter the village chief had large blue eyes and long gray and white hair that glistened like a gemstone in the light inside the hut, but unlike Opal she seemed to emit a more a.d.u.l.t aura as she bowed down to Dax and expressed her sincere gratitude as a mother for having her children returned to her.


    "It was nothing. As somewhat of a parent myself I understand your gratitude, please raise your head."


    Strongly sensing a ''but'' coming Dax decided to first answer her gratitude before anything else.


    "But having been entrusted with the role of village chief by my late husband there are other things that I must put first. Even if I myself am willing to express my gratitude towards you and your companions, the will of the village must come first. Please leave this place, and never return."


    So far everything was within Dax''s expectations. After being suffering under and being subjugated by a foreign power the small village in the middle of nowhere had turned xenophobic, and even if Dax and his companions had done so much for them they were still just outsiders. Sadly just leaving wasn''t an option for multiple reasons, and even if the by far the easiest option was displacing or killing the villagers Dax didn''t really feel like doing that even as he was perfectly equipped for such a task.


    (It couldn''t just be that easy huh?...)


    Looking at the strange one armed demonkin mercenary Ellen sighed to herself while organizing her thoughts.


    (I am definitely not suited for this job.)


    The mercenary leader had not responded to her request to leave and don''t come back, in that case she had to find out what would make him leave peacefully.


    "Let''s discuss compensation."


    As the mercenary broke the immediate silence Elle felt her face starting to cramp up from the seer bluntness he was displaying.


    (Of course a mercenary would want to be paid for his work..)


    "We don''t normally deal with coins all the way out here, but we do dive for precious gemstones and pearls. How much-"


    "Ah no I''m not talking about you compensating me or my comrades, even if it would be nice to obtain some rubyes or the like to use for railguns we have already been paid."


    "Then what are you talking about?"


    "How much should I try and squeeze out of the eastern Empire for their aggression towards your people? Even if you don''t have much trade I think some other sort of valuables would be appropriate, like materials to repair your village or medicine perhaps."


    "Eh?"


    (What is this demonkin saying?)


    Ellen truly comprehend the person sitting casually in front of her. Even being out in the middle of nowhere she knew of the eastern Empire and their might, especially after experiencing it herself. The Empire bowed to no one, not even the angels as they themselves had a sanctuary within their borders that was integrated into their power structure.


    "W-we don''t need compensation from the Empire, it is simply enough that they don''t interfere with us again."


    Fearing divine intervention if she accepted that offer Ellen politely declined any help form the strange mercenary in front of her.


    "Then we''ll go with that. As for your request to immediately leave I''m afraid we can''t do that yet. Please allow us 3 days to stay outside the village, we won''t interfere with the village in any way."


    "I guess that will be appropriate.. You have 3 days."


    "I couldn''t ask for more, if you would excuse me I have a tight timeframe to work with now and need to get started immediately."


    Exchanging a handshake Ellen saw the matter to be settled and struck up some smalltalk.


    "So what will you be doing before you leave this place, if I might ask?"


    "We''ll be busy with a healthy mix between salvaging and exorcism it seems like."


    "Eh?"


    "Of course any villagers are free to observe us while we do so, this is your home after all."


    ---


    Leaving the confused village elder behind Dax made his way to the camp Terra and Lux had set up near the sphere, letting the gravitational disturbance present around the small atoll guide him.


    "Ah welcome Dax!- Wait what happened to you!?"


    The first one to notice him was Lilly, as she seemingly had been waiting for him. The short, red haired elver with completely golden eyes and long pointy ears showed a large warm smile when she finally spotted, but quickly noticed that there was something wrong and rushed over.


    "What happened to your arm!? And your legs too!"


    Looking like she was about to cry as she almost tore off Dax''s shirt to see if he had other injuries.


    "You don''t wanna know, trust me."


    Thinking back to the strange creatures inhabiting the seemingly abandoned lunar station and the implications such an existence would have on this world that had yet to develop space travel Dax had chosen to make the event and everything that happened there strictly confidential. Lilly of course knew nothing of that, only that Dax had somehow been gravely injured and refused to talk about it with her, this caused her to tear up slightly.


    "You don''t trust me?"


    "It''s not that simple, I would tell you if I could. But don''t worry about this small injury, I''ll be back to normal in a years time."


    "You are a horribly bad liar!"


    Not being able to stop her tears flowing Lilly shouted Dax in the face before she ran off.


    (Well, shit.)


    Lilly had completely seen through his lie, Dax had in fact no idea if he would ever be back to full strength again. The real problem was not losing 3 limbs, the replacements were already being printed, but the sword that had pierced his chest. Some kind of curse had activated when it pierced Dax''s chest, the effect seemed to be a mix of constant intense pain and some kind of interference with Dax''s nervous system that greatly impaired his fine motor skills. The curse revealed itself to be completely outsides of Solaris'' area of expertise so in the end he only had to endure.


    (This f.u.c.k.i.n.g sucks¡­)


    Looking at his shaking hand as he strongly clenched it Dax decided to think a bit more about his approach as he handed over control of his body mostly to ICI so it stopped shaking.


    "Let''s get to work."


    Ignoring everything else for the moment Dax approached the sphere, stopping just outside it''s area of influence.


    "ICI give me a full spectrum surface scan"


    [ORDER CONFIRMED, COMMENCING FULL SPECTRUM SURFACE SCAN, ALLOCATING DRONE SWARM¡­. COMPLETE.]


    Getting multiple Specter drones to survey the sphere for any structural weakness Dax could use to quickly break through the shell to the contents inside his work was basically over for the moment.


    "Hey, long time no see."


    Which was when Terra chose to approach him.


    "Hey, good work. We''re going to have to temporarily delay our sparring matches for the moment."


    "I could have guessed that.. What happened?"


    "You don''t wanna know."


    "Okay.. I can see why Lilly is mad now."


    Seeing how completely emotionally inept her teacher continued to be Terra could only breathe a deep sigh.


    "Yeah I''ll work on appeasing her in a bit.. Where''s Solaris?"


    "The angel? She''s up there."


    Pointing up in the sky Dax saw the small figure of the six winged angel flying around up in the sky.


    "What the hell is she doing?"


    "She told me she was going to look for any more surveillance spells, it would only take a few minutes apparently."


    "Neat."


    -


    (That is the last one¡­)


    Dismantling the last spell formation after blinding whoever was unfortunate enough to operate it Solaris breathed a sigh and flapped her wings once before disabling the levitation spell that kept her flying and started a free fall back towards the small atoll that was only a speck below her. Free falling for a bit a green dot appeared on her sight, making her remember she was wearing her new mask.


    "What is that?"


    ["It''s a marker, it means ''come over here''."]


    "HII! D-Dax?"


    Slightly startled by Dax''s voice suddenly appearing in her head all of a sudden Solaris let out a slightly embarrassing sheik and felt her face slowly heat up.


    ["That would be my name yeah, I have something strange here I need you to deal with."]


    "... On my way."


    Folding in her wings and rapidly dropping altitude Solaris made her way back to the strange sphere Solaris landed without sound or kicking up a speck of sand.


    "Here I am."


    "Show off.. Well it''s this.. Thing."


    As Dax pointed towards the sphere Solaris noticed it. An amalgamation of flesh and corruption hovered in mid air, letting out corrupted mana.


    "We have no idea what it is, but we know very much what it was. A mage acting like a researcher used a strange spell to strengthen himself-"


    "But died before he activated it fully."


    Taking over Dax''s explanation Solaris spoke with mix of anger and frustration poorly hidden in her voice as she started forming a complicated spell in the palm of her hand.


    "Who ever killed the mage before the spell took complete effect did the right thing, it is a malignant corruption that feeds on flesh and mana¡­ The one thing I don''t understand is why it is still contained."


    "That would be the offensive barrier."


    "The what?"


    Instead of answering Dax just gestured towards the ball of flesh that was slowly expanding, until it reached a certain size and a certain reaction occurred. Suddenly the air shifted, and all depri around the ball of flesh came to a hold.


    "What is that?"


    "The stabilizing pulse. Once you''re caught in that you can''t escape unless you can emit a counter pulse in time, or are on the systems whitelist. Next would be the final identifying pulse followed by the dispersion and compression wave in quick succession."


    On cue like Dax described the ball of flesh was violently drawn apart at an molecular level before it compressed down to the size of a coin.


    "This has happened precisely 419 times so far, and still it keeps growing."


    "That''s because you can''t kill was doesn''t have a material form."


    Having finished constructing her spell Solaris targeted the small ball of flesh with an arrow of blinding light that pierced the flesh without harming it, on the surface at least.


    "It''s dead now, I''ve purified and shattered the corruption."


    "Great. Let''s get to work opening up this shell then."

 Chapter 132 - Resort (3)

    "Dax do you have a minute?"


    "..."


    "Commander."


    "..."


    "Dax?"


    Lux was currently witnessing something strange, no it could even be considered absurd under the circ.u.mstances. Dax, her superior, leader of the most elite force in the Galactic Empire and known as the living incarnation of death was sitting motionlessly in the warm sand, looking at Mare, the beastkin Lux had freed from the sick gladiatorial fights in the Rochdale kingdom. Mare also stood motionless looking back at Dax with her large brown eyes that darted around and inspected his face as her large fox like ears on top of her head were focused solely on him. After observing the strange spectacle for over a minute Lux decided to get Dax''s attention by walking over to him, but stopped in her tack as Mare started slowly closing the gap between her and Dax.


    (What the hell is going on?)


    Judging that there was something more than met the eyes was going on, and decided to go with a wait and see approach, Lux planted herself in the warm sand and enjoyed the sunlight. 4 more minutes slowly passed that way. In that time Solaris and Terra also found the strange event unfolding and stopped to watch wordlessly, even Lilly that was clearly still upset with Dax also watched it all unfold at a distance. As Mare slowly approached Dax that looked silently at her she was on her guard, her one hand behind her back where she held a dagger drawn from its sheath. When Mare got within reach of Dax she stopped and planted herself down on the sand, then Dax slowly started extending his arm towards her. At first this started Mare, and she almost sprung at Dax with her dagger, but in the end she opted not to and just silently kept maintaining eye contact until he eventually placed his hand on top of Mare''s head.


    "What just happened?"


    Not able to endure the silence and confusion any longer Solaris spoke up and asked the other 2 that were witnessing the spectacle.


    "I have no idea¡­ Normally that child would attempt to stab you if you attempted to touch her, the only one that can do that is Lux. Did you tell her about Dax?"


    "Nope, and I only briefly mentioned her to Dax."


    "Okay?.."


    Still not understand what was going on Solaris started approaching the strange pair, but was stopped by Lux that grabbed her hand.


    "Give them a minute more."


    Meanwhile Dax continued looking at Mare, keeping his eye fixed on Mare''s face as he slowly started ruffling her hair.


    "I would definitely be stabbed in the chest if I tried that.."


    Looking at her teacher in awe Terra added commentary to the situation as her respect for Dax only deepend. 2 minutes of head patting later mare dropped her dagger as she closed her eyes and a faint smile spread across her usually expressionless face and her bushy brown tail started slowly wagging back and forth in a rhythmic fashion.


    "He tamed her¡­"


    "That he did. Amazing.."


    "No you don''t normally tame a person do you!?"


    With both Terra and Lux turning completely awestruck by Dax''s pacification of Mare Solaris seemed to be the only person maintain her sanity.


    "What''s up Lux? Is it the scan?"


    Only after observing Mare for a few more seconds did Dax turn his head to Lux and responded to her earlier question.


    ".. Yeah it is, the scan is complete so I wanted to know how you wanted to continue."


    Taking a second to remember why she was there in the first place Lux delivered her report and informed Dax that the sphere had been scanned and they were ready to proceed with cracking it open.


    "So what were you doing?"


    Not able to accept what had just happened Solaris asked Dax what was going on.


    "I had a nice conversation with this child. She has very promising instincts. What''s your name?"


    "... Mare."


    "Okay Mare, wanna see something really awesome?"


    "Mmm."


    "Then let''s go. ICI prep beaching plan #4, crack it open."


    [DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED, PREPARING FOR CONTAINMENT BREACHING PROCEDURE.]


    Taking Mare by the hand Dax left the tropical beach and walked over to a pile of equipment next to the gigantic sphere.


    -


    "So what is it?"


    Looking at the 75 meter high sphere made out of a mix of inactive graymatter and charred chunks of blast shielding Terra couldn''t contain her courrisity any longer.


    "A custom made GA-05 Spartan"


    "And that is?"


    "It''s a heavy assault vehicle/lander."


    "So like a spaceplane, like the Stinger?"


    "Nah. The CAS-7A Stinger is a landing craft and light fire support vehicle."


    "What''s the difference?"


    Seeing Terra''s confusion Dax breathed a deep sigh and taught about how to best explain the difference.


    "... Lux help me out."


    Drawing up a blank Dax turned to his trusted subordinate.


    "... That''s kinda hard to explain.. I mean a heavy assault vehicle is just what is says on the tin. It''s the first thing that''s sent into a hostile situation after the drone pods, and usually the last craft that leaves a hot zone in the event of a retreat."


    "I see.."


    Still not being completely sure on the diffrence Terra looked at the sphere and wondered what it was.


    "Well the easiest way to understand is usually to see it for yourself. ICI commence breaching procedure¡­ Mare cover your ears."


    [BREACHING PROCEDURE #4 NOW COMMENCING, TASKING STRIKE 01¡­]


    Sitting out on the calm ocean about 2 kilometers away from the atoll the last remaining high caliber Guardian-G097 indirect fire railgun carrier AEHWP came alive.


    [FIREMISSION RECEIVED, TARGET ACQUIRED, LOAD HV-APFSDS


    RANGE TO TARGET: 2.509 METERS.


    FUSE: NULL.


    ANTI GRAV BARRIER MODE 7, 65.3% CHARGE.


    FIRE AT WILL.]


    The impact was almost instant. In under a split second the reentry proof protective shell was priced at the top as the 205mm armor piercing titanium sabot priced through the layers of armor like they were made of butter, poking a hole in the shell that had up until that moment prevented all outside communication.


    "Establish data link please."


    [DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED. DIALING NEW FRIENDLY CONTACT, DESIGNATION: GA-05E SPARTAN HEAVY ASSAULT VEHICLE ID:450897 DELTA¡­. CONNECTION TO COMMAND ESTABLISHED, SIGNAL DELAY: 1.25 MS.]


    Hearing the crafts identification a smile formed on Lux''s face.


    "So it''s the Jug''.. How long have you known Dax?"


    "You assume I didn''t know at any point?"


    "That''s mean, why didn''t you tell me?"


    "You never asked."


    "You two are speaking in code again¡­"


    Almost being used to being left outside the conversation when Lux and Dax started talking Terra still wanted to be included and therefore spoke up, with Solaris and Mare also wanting to know what was going on Lux explained.


    "Its the Juggernaut, my own personal assault vehicle. This craft has completed more successful combat missions than any other lander in the 125th."


    "That sounds impressive."


    "You have no idea. It is a one of a kind custom made craft. Modified by Lazarus cybernetic industries with no budget limit it is a craft so well equipped that hostiles usually surrender after failing to kill it, that normally takes anywhere between 1 or 3 thermonuclear devices."

 Chapter 133 - Resort (4)

    [CONNECTION WITH GA-05E SPARTAN HEAVY ASSAULT VEHICLE ID:450897 DELTA ESTABLISHED. FIREMISSION RECEIVED, NOW EXECUTING.]


    "Is that supposed to happen?"


    "Yeah, I''m having the Juggernaut break itself out of the sphere. But you properly want to take a few steps back."


    As a high pitched hum slowly started increasing in pitch and intensity Terra, along with Mare, Solaris and Lilly started slowly backing away.


    "Command do you have the field wave under control?"


    "Affirmative. ICI dump scan data to GA-05E please and use it as targeting for the first wave, Lux clean up the secondary wave profile please."


    "Cleaning up secondary wave, 10 seconds."


    [UPLOADING DATA SCHEMATIC TO GA-05E, HIGH BANDWIDTH DATABRIDGE ESTABLISHED, 8.29 SECONDS TO APPLY NEW TARGETING PROFILE.]


    Slowly the high pitched hum increased to such a scale that it could be heard all over the small atoll as Lux and Dax kept calmly talking.


    "Set up point defence HEL burst and configure the matrix, I''ll reprogram the secondary compression wave."


    "On it. ICI how are we on reactor integrity?"


    [PRINTING OFFENSIVE REACTOR DIAGNOSTIC:


    CORE TEMPERATURE: 89.001 CELSIUS


    FUEL MIXTURE OPTIMAL.


    HOUSING INTEGRITY AT 99.91%, REPAIR ADVISED.


    CRAFT SURFACE TEMPERATURE: 562 CELSIUS.


    REACTOR COOLING:


    PRIMARY: ONLINE, 56.100 RPM-


    SECONDARY COIL: ONLINE, 0 RPM READY FOR TASKING.


    PRIMARY OUTPUT BUS AT 55.2 GIGAWATT.]


    "We''re still good but I''m not trusting a cold system with WEP, even with diagnostics we don''t know if there''s a critical problem waiting immediately down the line."


    Even after seeing the surprisingly positive diagnostic on the craft''s reactor Lux still realized that they were working with unmaintained equipment, which had a tendency to act exactly how one didn''t want with little to with no warning.


    "Obviously, Let''s get this over with now then."


    "Affirmative. All scripts are ready to execute, recommend we go now."


    "ICI execute all layered commands."


    [DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED, GA-05E NOW EXECUTING 5019 LAYER COMPOUND REACTION PACKAGE.]


    For a split second the very fabric of spacetime seemed to bend in an unnatural manner around the sphere, before it started melting as it was violently torn apart in hexagonal grids about a square meter in size, then came the compression wave. Like it had done to flesh and whatever else came to close to it the hexagonal sphere fragments where violently compressed before they were repulsed into the air, landing a few kilometers away from the atoll.


    "There she is!"


    When Terra finally laid eyes on what was inside the sphere she initially couldn''t comprehend what it was. ''The Juggernaut'' as Lux called it hovered motionlessly in the air lacked any components Terra could rationalize, truly it was a completely alien craft. It had no wings, no visual c.o.c.kpit nor any external means propulsion, with a completely smooth round form.


    "CRP command successful. Commence full atmospheric heat exchanging, bring out all octillery radiators and dump all waste heat."


    On Dax''s command the smooth surface of the craft broke up, and a more rigid structure below.


    "That''s how a normal GA-05 looks, the smooth exterior is the added armor that gives it the E designation."


    Seeing Terra and the others confusion Dax clarified what exactly was they were looking at.


    "I see.."


    Seeing glimpses of what looked to be a more normal craft under the smooth external armor Terra rationalized the craft as a larger and rounder CAS-7A without any engines, completely relying on gravitational manipulation to sustain flight.


    GA-05 heavy assault transport, Lazarus cybernetic industries ''E'' custom modification ''Juggernaut''.


    Designed as a mix between a flying main battle tank and an armored transport, the GA-05 Spartan is an extremely robust assault transport that can get ground forces in and out of any situation. Boasting a 200 year service life the latest 05 modification was the first landing craft to completely forgo any conventional electric or chemical propulsion like rocket motors or ion drives, instead completely relying on an advanced 4th generation multi cored gravitational drive that works as the crafts propulsion and main defence at the same time. With the advent and successful implementation of a new generation of gravitational drives the GA-05 quickly proved to be mostly unkillable with any form of kinetic projectile, so the Iron forces adapted and switched tactics accordingly, bringing mission success rate back down normal figures, that is until a executive of the illusive Lazarus cybernetic industries got an idea. What if one took the GA-05 design and scarified a large portion of its firepower for an absolute defence? Even with approval such an idea quickly proved a endless pit for government funding, and was then abandoned by the Galactic Empire with the closing contract guaranteeing Lazarus any rights to prototypes developed in pursuit of the contract. Not much is known about the E verrainet''s development after that point, as prototyping was moved to one of Lazarus'' countless black sites, but what emerged 5 years after prototyping concluded would completely shock the world. A late 4th generation gravdrive with 6 individual supercritical cores capable of complete independent action on a zero pulse delay action, all inclosing crystal lattice titanium ruby armor and a tactical class fusion drive with a stable energy output normally only found in capital class dreadnoughts were just some of the E variants features, all for the price equal to about a fifth of the Galactic Empire''s total military spending budget, each. Being so outrageously expensive the design outright eliminated any official orders, but somehow a single E verinant found its way to the 125th combined ops orbital drop troopers with the official reasoning being that Lazarus had requested that the sole prototype should be used for field testing.


    After a full hour of waste heat radiation where the Juggernaut visually heated up the surround air and dumped a years worth of thermal energy from its internal heat sink while making the tropical atoll even more unbearably warm it was finally cold enough to board Lux and Dax entered.


    "I''m back guys."


    Holding back tears as she walked in the rear ramp to the troop transport Lux was flooded with memories of her fallen comrades.


    "We''re going to make them pay, don''t worry."


    "I know¡­. I''ll go check on the reactor."


    With reassurance form Dax Lux pulled herself together and went to check on the main reactor housing as Dax moved to the commander''s quarters while checking stored munitions on the way.


    "Here we are. Now if I remember correctly its up here¡­"


    Entering the commander''s quarters which consisted of a small closet like room with a bunk bed and a desk cramped into it Dax crawled half way up into the bunk bed and loosened a wall panel to find a sealed metal container.


    "There we are~ ICI check structural integrity please."


    Placing the palm of his hand on the container Dax held out hope as he waited for ICI to check the contents inside.


    [REQUEST CONFIRMED, CHECKING SEALED PERSONAL CONTAINER #0000159932¡­ SCAN COMPLETE, SEAL INTEGRITY AT 100%, CUSHIONING HOLDING, ALL CONTENTS INTACT.]


    "What exactly do you think you''re doing?"


    But at some point Lux had sneaked up behind him and as Dax slowly turned his head to face her he felt the full blunt of her bloodl.u.s.t.


    "Securing valuable goods."


    "Oh I see~ I only ask because it looks like me you''re securing some kind of contraband you''ve hidden on my craft, but that must be just my imagination."


    "That''s because it is just your imagination, you''ve always been a child with a strong imagination."


    Showing no signs of fear facing imminent death Dax acted like a true qiton in his last moments.


    "Is that so? Somehow I find that very hard to believe."


    Lux on the other hand quickly saw through her superior''s deceptions and showed a warm and friendly smile, truly to Dax she looked like a demon in that moment.


    "Now there is a very good reason for all this."


    "I''m sure there is, but I don''t really care at the moment~"

 Chapter 134 - Resort (5)

    It was the last night before Dax and his group would be leaving, having finished inspecting the GA-05E and finding it to have no issues all assets would withdraw at dawn. Lux and Mare were sleeping together in a tent, as did Iris and Terra while Solaris slept alone, as did Lilly in a 4 person tent that Dax currently was approaching.


    "Good evening Zephyr."


    Greeting the magic beast laying lazely outside the tent as a guard dog Dax expected to pass right by it, but was blocked from entering by the wolf like creature.


    "What?"


    Looking into the large golden eyes of the creature Dax reached out and started patting Zephyr''s head.


    "Have you received your payment, o noble gatekeeper?"


    Assessing that the noble wolf had accepted his bribe Dax once more tried passing Zephyr, but was blocked when a presence behind the proud wolf reminded its what its job was.


    "Grrrrrr!"


    "... Really?"


    Looking at the proud wolf that was simultaneously letting out a threatening growl and enthusiastically wagging its tail from Dax scratching it he was at a momentary loss for words. Even as he couldn''t see her Dax clearly felt Lilly''s pressure influencing Zephyr, as if she was saying ''absolutely don''t let Dax enter I hate him''.


    "Lilly you there?"


    "..."


    With silence as his only response Dax clearly felt he had Lilly''s attention, and a small smile slowly crept onto his face.


    "I''ve brought a worthy gift for you my lady."


    "..."


    "It has come into my possession trough great personal sacrifice."


    "..."


    "Truly it is a priceless relic of my world."


    "..."


    "The distiller doesn''t even exist anymore."


    "...Leave it outside."


    The moment Dax hinted at what he was carrying Lilly couldn''t keep silent any longer, just as expected.


    "But my lady this is something extremely valuable, I simply can''t let it out of my sight for even a split second."


    "..."


    "Please bless me with your presence."


    Bowing down in the sand Dax lowered his head then simply started waiting, and so 10 minutes passed like that.


    "Is he still here Zephyr?"


    "Arf!~"


    "Truly such a hopeless creature¡­ You may enter."


    Finally obtaining permission to enter Lilly''s tent Dax quickly rose to his feet and patted Zephyr goodbye and entered to find the small eye haired elver sitting square center in the tent looking at him with a frown.


    "So what did you bring me?"


    Going straight to the point Lilly displayed her cold attitude and didn''t even look at Dax as she asked him to reveal his goods.


    "I bring with me a small part of my prized personal collection. From the planet Centurs-3a, famous for their agriculture and production of high proof spirits."


    Setting down the metal container he had been carrying with him Dax started explaining the product like he was a salesman.


    "In the tropical highlands a specific and one of a kind mutated sugar cane grows at an extremely slow rate due to the atmospheric composition and altitude. The so called crystal sugar cane yields a molasses with an extremely high sugar content and a strong natural flavor is then fermented to wine and distilled to a 70% ABV, then spends at least 100 years in a highly secure orbital facility on oak casks before it is blended and finished to form an extremely rare and expensive product one usually have to wait at least 500 years to get a hold of."


    "... Then how the hell did you get it?"


    Finding the entire explanation hard to believe Lilly looked skeptically at Dax and demanded he explained himself.


    "I lead the force that liberated that system from occupation, and personally freed the station in question without any collateral damage, something the rightful owners were quite happy about."


    "Okay¡­ But what is this?"


    Now gesturing to Dax''s attitude as she still wore a frown Lilly directly asked what Dax was doing.


    "Where I''m from we call it an olive branch."


    "So a bribe?"


    "Do you want a drink or not? I promise to be more open and honest than I have been in the past few days once I''ve had a glass myself."


    "Fineee. Bring it over."


    ---


    After a few glasses of what proved to be some extremely delicious alcohol Lilly proved more willing to talk as her mood improved Dax desired it was time to come clean.


    "I got beaten quite badly fighting something I still don''t completely understand."


    "That is quite obvious, looking at the state of your body. You also have a few new scars."


    "Yeah I made a few blunders that worrinted record so I let them stay on my body. But that''s not the real issue. Body parts can be printed, nerves can be fused back together, and strength can be regained."


    "The real problem is the curse."


    Finishing up Dax''s explanation for him Lilly''s eyes turned serious as Dax was surprised.


    "You knew?"


    "You think these eyes are mere decorations child?"


    Displaying a haughty attitude along with a smug smile Lilly drew attention to her completely golden and slightly glowing eyes, a feature Dax only had seen in her and Zephyr.


    "So you can see the flow of mana?"


    "Indeed, that''s why you caught my attention in the first place."


    Thinking back to when she first met Dax Lilly described the impression she had of him at that time.


    "Unlike other living beings were mana is an important part of them, mana only enters and leaves you it didn''t interact at all, as if you were a rock or something yet you were clearly alive. It was a great mystery for me at the time so I wanted to learn more about you."


    "And what do you see now?"


    "Something strange has inserted itself into your core. It seems to slowly absorb the surrounding mana and uses it to affect your body in some strange way¡­ What are the effects?"


    Acting like a doctor tring to diagnose a patient Lilly drew closer to Dax and looked intensely at his chest.


    "Pain and difficulty moving, plus the connection I have with ICI seems disrupted somehow."


    Answering honestly Dax waited patiently while Lilly walked around him for a few minutes, occasionally touching his chest and back while injecting small amounts of mana as if probing for something.


    "... What the hell did you face?"


    Having come to some sort of conclusion Lilly sat back down in front of Dax and asked him frankly. Sensing a hint of fear in Lilly''s voice Dax judged she had learned something from examining the curse.


    "What do you think I faced? Based on what you see."


    "Something ancient and extremely dangerous, how did it look?"


    "To be honest I still don''t know. It was an amalgamation of rotting flesh, extreme cybernetic implants, rune stones and some kind of flesh eating fungi. When facing it the creature completely snuck up on both me and Solaris without any of us noticing it. It didn''t feel alive, but at the same time it certainly wasn''t dead."


    "... That sounds frightening, but also explains the curse I''m seeing. A normal curse is like a runic formation, static and easily disrupted even if there is a few traps added into it, whatever this is is nothing like that. This curse is moving as if it''s alive, constantly altering its structure and even observing me while trying to look easy to deal with so it can draw me in."


    "So it''s alive?"


    "Not exactly, but it is extremely intelligent. If anything the structure looks like a cursed weapon, like that sword you obtained in the elven capital."


    Giving her honest assessment Lilly made it clear she had no way of removing the curse Dax had been inflicted with, it was truly out of her area of expertise.

 Chapter 135 - Resort (6)

    "Well shit."


    Leaving Lilly''s tent after talking with her about the curse Dax clenched his shaking hand. Just like Solaris Lilly was also clueless about the strange ominus curse inflicted on him, and what''s worse is that it only seemed to increase in magnitude of effect.


    (So I have 2¡­ No, 1 year until even basic movement becomes impossible on my own huh? The window for fast fixes has well and truly closed, time to think about a long short.)


    Walking into the tropic night Dax found a place to sit down and meditate until dawn broke.


    "Umm are you Dax?"


    At early dawn he was however disturbed by a merkin child that nervously called for his attention.


    "That would be my name yeah."


    Taking a second to make his eye adjust to the morning rays Dax looked up to the child as he still maintained his seating.


    "Even if my sister or mother don''t think it''s a good idea I want to personally thank you, your subordinates saved my life."


    As the child started to bow down in gratitude Dax reached out a hand to stop him, before rising to his feet.


    "You''re Abel right?"


    "I am."


    Having his assumption proved correct Dax took a moment to assess the merkin youth before speaking again.


    "Abel you belong to a family of leaders, if both your mother and older sister meets an unfortunate end you''ll have to lead this community, which is why I''m telling you this. As a leader there are rules you have to follow, ranking quite high on that list of rules is to never act inferior to other powers. Thanking me is fine, in fact I really appreciate it, but being the person you are you must never bow your head to another power, do you understand?"


    "... I do, thank you for teaching me this."


    Taking a few seconds to properly think about what Dax tried teaching him, Abel expressed his gratitude while wearing a resolute expression, that still somehow managed to look extremely adorable to Dax.


    "That''s good~"


    Not able to resist the temptation Dax placed his hand on the youth''s blue curly hair and ruffled it like a grandfather would do to his grandchild before crouching down this Abel''s eye level.


    "Then let me tell this as a parting present for you. This place is under my protection now, any hostile outsiders will never come within visual range of this place ever again so take your time and grow up into a proper leader. Then if anything about what I just said don''t suit you, or you need my help come find me."


    Leaving without waiting for Abel''s response Dax and his comrades left the tropic atoll behind with using the GA-05E that could easily carry all the essential AEHWP''s and Zephyr with them back to Dax''s central operations base in the capital city of Kingsted.


    ---


    A man hurriedly walked through endless halls inside the imperial palace carrying important information to his superior, as for why he didn''t outright run through the halls was due to the guards standing at every corner. The figures completely unclosed in solid armor didn''t emit any traces of mana like a living being would, and likewise they were completely and utterly ruthless acting out their duties. While still fearful of the guards the man reached his destination, wiped the sweat of his bow then knocked on one of the countless metal reinforced wooden doors and waited for a response.


    "Enter."


    Having received permission the man entered what revealed itself to be a densely packed study, filled with rolls of parchments and thick leather bound books stacked neatly on heavily reinforced book shelves. In the middle of the large room stood a solid round table flanked by countless elaborate chairs.


    "What is it?"


    Hearing someone address him the man rushed to kneel down and planted his sight firmly on the carpet below as he stopped rudely inspecting the room and quickly gathered his thoughts to make a report.


    "Your excellency I expected to find the minister here as I have a report for him, please excuse my rudeness."


    Swallowing hard the man only now realized where he had recognized that voice from and quivered as he awaited his punishment for entering that room like he did.


    "It is fine, I forgive you. Now you can report whatever you needed to report to me instead of the minister, it seems important."


    "But your excellency I wouldn''t da-"


    "Hurry up and report, your current attitude displeases me greatly."


    "Yes your highness! I sincerely apologize for displeasing you, I will accept any punishment."


    Becoming ever more part of the carpet as he bowed down ever deeper the man quickly relayed his report, then silently awaited his punishment for acting out of therm.


    "Thank you for bringing this to my attention, I wish to talk with the mage himself."


    "Understood, I''ll bring him to you immediately! Please excuse me!"


    Leaving with those words the man hurriedly escaped the situation as if running away.


    "... That was an entertaining fellow..."


    After the messenger left ''his excellency let out a short chuckle before gathering his thoughts and calling out to a seemingly empty part of the room.


    "Shadow."


    "Yes sire?"


    "Ghatter the minister''s here immediately."


    "At your will."


    Looking at the formless presence disappear once more the supreme emperor of the east rubbed his stiff shoulders as he spoke out words of self ridicule in the empty room.


    "This''ll be a long night too, when are you going to allow yourself to get a nights sleep?"


    After only 5 minutes of waiting all central figures of power gathered in the emperor''s study, they were the people the oversaw the numerous kingdoms beneath the empire together with the emperor, and what Dax would consider as ''extremely high value targets''. After some minor affairs and smalltalk were taken care of the first messenger returned guiding an elderly, gray bearded mage wearing a white hood and seemed weakened somehow as he supported most of his body weight with his elaborately decorated staff.


    "I have come before his excellency to bring my account of what happened."


    Kneeling down respectfully the mage laid down his staff next to him and removed his hood to reveal a large burnmark that covered a large portion of his upper face as he started giving his report.


    "Our efforts to recover the sphere have failed, all forces occupying the atoll where wiped out a few days ago, and just a few hours ago I spotted what I assumed to be the visitors leader arrive at the atoll, then this happened to me as the surveillance spell I had my student place was destroyed."


    "... Dear minister of magic."


    Looking at the mages condition for a few seconds the emperor asked for one of his ministers assessment.


    "It is as you believe. The power is clearly that of a archangel."


    "So the visitor got even more allies."


    "Indeed."


    This was a troublesome development. When the initial skyfall struck the world of swords and magic there was great confusion, but multiple powers quickly realized that the strange artifacts that fell from space were powerful weapons of war that could be exploited once they were understood. This caused a great uproar and the balance of power around the world shifted almost overnight, civil wars erupted and rebellions rose all over the Empire. Still in the aftermath of all that another troublesome development took place, the minister of spycraft personally delivered a report of the creature now referred to as ''the visitor''. It was revealed as an ancient and powerful being that displayed immense strength and excellent political manipulation, suppressing an uprising in the north, leading a successful incursion into elven territories and taking control of the central kingdom to the vest by bending the local angel sanctuary to its will and installing a new puppet hair to the throne. Acting like all those achievements were not enough the visitor was now starting to look towards the Empire, all while gathering more strength.


    "Leave us."


    """"Yes, your excellency.""""


    Coming to a conclusion the emperor dismissed the numerous aids and subordinates in the room, leaving only himself and the ministers.


    "Shadow."


    "Yes sire?"


    "Seal this room."


    "At your will."


    Then some kind of barrier was erected around the councilroom as it was completely blocked off from outside observation, that acted as a que for the ministers to express their opinions.


    "We need to deal with it before it becomes an issue."


    "That we all agree with, miss minister of magic. Do you have any suggestions?"


    Reading the room the emperor found all to be in agreement with the archangel sitting with them, then addressed the entire room in search of any useful suggestions.


    "Deploy the shadows, not to outright kill it, but to observe. There must be some reason it suddenly doesn''t want to be seen by us, that could prove to be a weakness we could use."


    "That could lead to a war with the sanctuaries, even if we win that war such a conflict could cripple us economically for the next 50 years. But I agree that we don''t have enough information."


    "Then we need to observe through indirect channels.. How about hiring more mercenaries?"


    "Like that fiasko in Roachdale?"


    "Good point, we can''t afford to endure any direct losses¡­ Then how about-"


    As the night grew darker eventually a momentary solution was found, and the eastern empire finally awoke from its slumber and once more stepped into the world stage.

 Chapter 136 - New semester (1)

    "Wake up Mai."


    "Mmm, I''m awayke~"


    "It''s not my fault when you''re late then."


    Hearing the faint footsteps something suddenly started working in the sleepy girls head.


    (Late? But we''re on vacation¡­. Vacation... Vacation ended yesterday didn''t it?)


    "I''M LATE!"


    "Good luck."


    Hearing the flat voice of her roommate Mai''s mind went into extreme overdrive as she rushed out of bed and hurriedly fixed her bed hair then put on clothes as she rushed out the door, only to find her roommate standing outside waiting for her.


    "That''s a new record."


    "That was mean!"


    Realizing she had been tricked by her roommate, Mai put on a pout as she lightly punched her the elven girl out of frustration.


    "We''ll really be late you keep that up, let''s go."


    "Fineeee."


    Today was the first day of the second semester in the central Kingdom''s magic and knight academy, the finest school in the central Kingdom, located about 4 hours by carriage outside of Kingstead. Originally established as a military training facility the academy is almost entirely self sufficient, with its own well and large food stores and several large dormitories that combined to make the facility feel more like a frontier fortress than the academy it now operated as. Students of all ages would enroll based on performance in the obligatory 3 year primary education, or simply by paying for admission. Mai and her roommate Venessa were part of the former category, having grown up in Kingstead as childhood friends both showed academic prowers and above average magic potential enrolled together and were now second year students in the magic course.


    "Morning Vanessa and Mai!"


    "Good morning Rudy."


    "Morning."


    Meeting the bright and constantly energetic Rudy on her way to class Mai instantly felt her tiredness blow away, in her opinion it was simply impossible for anyone to not be affected by his bright and cheerful presence.


    "Did you girls hear the amazing news? We got 3 new teachers and they''re all general subject teachers so we''ll meet them all today!"


    General subject teachers referred to teachers that taught subjects both knight, mage and general education students all had to pass, in other words it was general education ranging from home economics to mathematics and personal self defence.


    "We heard. Rumor is there''s also a lot of new magic researchers here for some brand new project, I hope they''ll give lots of lectures this year."


    As the stoic elver spoke about magic research a strange light and enthusiasm could be seen in her eyes and sensed in her voice that made Rudy and Mai form wry smiles as their friend started geeking out.


    (She''s definitely going to become some prestigious researcher in the future¡­)


    Looking at her friend enthusiastically talk about magic formations and spell structures Mai could only continue to be amazed by her.


    -


    Having made their way to class on time without issue Mai, Rudy and Vanessa were immediately greeted by another surprise when their classroom teacher started the day out with an announcement.


    "Today we have a transfer student greeting our class and the knight course, please enter."


    As their teacher quickly moved the process along none of her students had time to be surprised by the extremely rare occurrence of students transferring in before the person in question walked in the door and introduced herself. The second Mai saw the new transfer student she was awe.


    (So pretty..)


    The transfer student was a beastkin girl around her own age with short stature and long brown hair and brown eyes that had an overall mysterious air around her.


    "Hello, my name is Mare. There''s no reason to get along with me as I was forced to join this class so please just ignore my existence."


    Not even looking at anyone the transfer student Mare spoke in a flat and unenthusiastic voice that made Mai really believe she was being forced into joining the class. After her short self introduction the entire class froze, and the transfer student apparently took that as acceptance of her self introduction before sitting down in a random empty chair.


    "..... Okay let''s continue on, as this is the first day of the semester¡­."


    After the slightly awkward start to the day the class went through their moning classes without any more issues, and the new student revealed herself to be a genius able to answer any question the teacher threw her way, but like she indicated in her self introduction she didn''t socialize at all.


    The morning and noon quietly passed and before anyone knew it was finally time to meet some of their new teachers in a new personal defence training course. After changing out from their school uniforms into gym clothes their class made their way to one of the countless practice fields that were a tiny bit cold in the autumn wind.


    "Welcome to the new personal self defence course, my name is Lux and I will handle anti personnel self defence training."


    "And I am Terra Williams, I will handle anti monster personnel self defence training. After an introductory period were we will both be present for instructions, after which will be individual lectures."


    As her two new teachers took a moment to introduce themselves and briefly talk about the class Mai took the moment to commit them to memory. The first treacher with the unusual name appeared to be the oldest of them and carried herself with a certain mature and professional aura around her that made Mai naturally take everything she said seriously. The personal self defence teacher stood at around 1 meter and 80 centimeters tall with short white hair and strange amber coloured eyes combined with an athletic scare riddled body that made her have a quite unique appearance. The anti monster self defence trainer in question had long black hair cut in a slightly strange manner where the one side was sort while the rest remained long, and bright slightly unnatural red eyes that reminded Mai more of gemstones than normal eyes. she was of similar height and also had an extremely well trained athletic build visible under her light clotting that seemed to emphasize ease of movement above all else.


    "First of all we will need to assess the overall physical fitness of each student, as such we will start the class off with a series of exercises. First off-"


    "Why the hell should we do that? I come from a prestigious family of knights, I know how to handle myself."


    But as Mai expected some of the class didn''t quite take to the new teachers. A group of noble students lead by a viscount youth named Andrew that truly was the example of a noble knight with his tall and solid structure combined with flowing blonde hair and bright blue eyes.


    (If only his personality matched the exterior¡­)


    Mai could only help but sigh at her classmates behavior. Ever since the first day of class Andrew and the group that had formed around him had been extremely rude to teachers, using his personal and family connections to act as he pleased, skipping out on class and getting advantageous grades.


    "Okay let''s do it this way then, anyone that can pass a quick test will be completely executed from class and pass without any issues. How about that?"


    Seemingly having expected this issue to pop up the personal defence teacher proposed a way to anyone to get out of training, but as Mai had predicted Andrew didn''t take.


    "As if! I seems you two are new here so I''ll tell you how this works, of you don''t want to be fired you will listen to what I say!"


    That had happened a few times before, Mai clearly remembered the first time Andrew had used his connections to not only have a teacher fired, but also compealty ruined that person''s career. After that incident the unofficial stance of the academy became to ignore anything Andrew did, and just leave him and his group be.


    "Yeah how about no. In this class your ass is mine, that means you will listen to my instructions or suffer the consequences."


    Completely dropping her warm and caring attitude Mai felt something changed about her new personal defence teacher as she walked towards Andrews group with a large smile on her face.


    "This is my class, how you act will entirely decide how enjoyable your experience here is. Now I don''t give a shit about your family Andrew, or that your father is a viscount that thinks his pathetic excuse for a son will become a better person just because he cheats his way through this academy. What I care about is the task I have been assigned, and competing it."


    With a large smile on her face Lux radiated concentrated bloodl.u.s.t so strong that even the inexperienced knightling picked up on it.


    "W-whatever! I just need to pass your stupid test to be free from class right!? Then let''s get on with it!"


    "How exilent of you to come to such a conclusion. Now the test is quite simple, you just have to defeat one of your classmates in a light spar, Mare get up here."

 Chapter 137 - New semester (2)

    "Mare get up here."


    As their new teacher suddenly called on one of them by name, and the transfer student of all people attention gathered on the small beastkin in question.


    "..Why?"


    Speaking for the second time that day Mai was once again admired her voice that still carried traces of reluctance.


    "Because."


    "I don''t wanna."


    "Just do it, I''ll be good for you to learn a bit more restraint."


    "... Fine."


    Judging form that belief exchange most of the class seemed to pick up on the connection the new teacher and transfer student seemingly shared, which only added to the mystery surrounding them.


    "Teacher I have a question!"


    "What is it Rudy?"


    "Miss Lux do you know Mare?"


    (... Good job Rudy.)


    Mai could only internally sigh at the compelate social ineptitude of her friend while at the same time commending him, after all she and her classmates all really wanted to know the answer to that question!


    "I do. This child is sort of a student of mine."


    Leaving the answer part informative, part mysterious as she showed a faint smile in response to the enthusiastic boy Mai saw how her new teacher Lux quickly rose in the boys favorability ratings.


    "Now this spar will be without any weapons, use of deadly and or disabling force is is also banned, as is the use of all magic with the sole exception of strengthening magic. I will decide the victor once one party is verbally gives up or is unable to fight, is that understood?"


    Moving quickly onwards the teacher quickly prepared an outlined field for the spar to take place in as she quickly explained the simple ruleset.


    "... I understand."


    While Mare still didn''t seem to be entirely awake or willing to fight against her opponent some kind of cold light still seemed to gleam in her eyes as she expressionlessly took a fighting stance.


    "Let''s get this over with!"


    Andrew on the other hand seemed extremely sure of his victory as he displayed a large confident smile while channeling straightening magic through his body and clenched his fists.


    "Begin!"


    The very second the match started Andrew rushed forward with speed that showed he was at least a somewhat experienced fighter, and quickly closed the range as he struck out with a clenched fist aiming for Mare''s cheek.


    "Don''t blame me for th-"


    Completely overconfident in his victory the young knightling didn''t even see how Mare moved as she grabbed his extended arm and used his own momentum to smash him ruthlessly into the ground before pinning him down as she still had a lazy facial expression.


    "... He''s out cold, and therefore unable to fight."


    Giving her assessment as a judge Lux breathed a sigh before declaring Mare the victor and snapping the rest of the class out of their collective daze.


    "Andrew lost!"


    "And in an instant!"


    "Mare you are amazing!"


    "That move was awesome!"


    Instantly the new transfer student received more attention than she ever wanted and prepared to run away, but was blocked by Lux when she grabbed her shoulder and started explaining to the class as Andrew''s minouns silently dragged him away towards the school infirmary.


    "This is what I will teach all of you over the next year''s time. How to use the opponent''s strength against them is an important cornerstone of combat and a valuable technique to have whether you are aiming to become a knight, mage or something else entirely. There will be no set exam for this class, which is why I need to precisely grasp each student''s strength and weakness, hence this assessment. I will also say use this opportunity to say this straight away since some of you might be intimidated what you just saw: If you respect me and Terra as instructors, listen to our advice and ask us when in doubt you will without question pass this class. I''m not asking for massive improvements to each of you, nor do I expect you will all be able to do what Mare just did, what I am asking for is proof that you have moved in the right direction."


    On that note the class began. Mai was quite nervous at the start that her new teachers would be overly strict or demanding but quickly found out that they would never ask for something she couldn''t do, were extremely kind and patient while taking as much time as possible to make sure every student understood their teachings.


    "I have never been looking so much forward to physical exercise as I am now."


    After class was over Vanessa immediately expressed her positive opinion of their new class, which Mai could only agree on.


    "Yeah the new teachers really seem to understand me.. I have never felt so much improvement over an such a short time."


    Mai had always considered herself quite clumsy by nature, and therefore didn''t really like sports or physical exercise that much. But that had all changed just now, her new teachers gave extremely good advice while being patient with her and at the same time pushing her when she needed it.


    "I feel like my power level have grown at least 50 points!"


    Rudy had also enjoyed the new class quite a bit, perhaps even a bit too much, as evident in how he was smeared all over with dirt but still had a beaming smile. Mai couldn''t even count the number of times Rudy had been tossed to the ground by one of the teachers showing him a specific move, after which he would stand up immediately before loudly shouting ''that was amazing!''.


    The rest of the class (except for Andrew''s group that had been absent) all found the new class to be extremely interesting and entertaining as well as strangely energizing, spending the rest of their day discussing what they had learned. The next day the success repeated itself and Mai''s class (again with the exception of Andrew and his group that was absent) spent much time after class talking about what they had learned, even as they walked to their next new class that had the mysterious and strange name of ''gastronomically viable home economics''. The class took place in a lecture hall that felt quite large for a single class to use.


    "I wonder where our teacher is at?"


    5 minutes after class was supposed to start there was still no sign of the new teacher.


    "Late on the first day? Ha that''s rich, let''s go!"


    Even when Andrew and his goons left the rest of the class felt that he was not being that rude, afterall it was extremely rare for a teacher to be late for their own class, but a minute later he finally arrived.


    "Sorry I''m late, I had a meeting that ran too long."


    When Mai heard about the class she expected their teacher to be an older lady or something along those lines considering the subject matter, but in walked a tall and muscular scarred demonkin with a overall relaxed attitude and took the central stand.


    "Welcome to the class of gastronomically viable home economics, my name is Dax and I will be the teacher for this subject. Explained simply this class will be a combine advanced gastronomy with viable home economics and frontier cooking to make everyone here at least somewhat competent home cook that able to tell toxic and non toxic ingredients apart. Any questions?"


    With a brief introduction of the subject they would be covering, the demonkin teacher only seemed to increase confusion in class.


    "Yeah I have a question."


    "Go ahead."


    Still having a relaxed attitude the strange teacher had a large smile on his face as he prepared to answer the male student asking the question.


    "This class is more or less a cooking class right?"


    "Yeah basically."


    "Then why isn''t it gender segregated?"


    "That is an excellent question."


    When her classmate mentioned that fact Mai also realized how strange it was for them to receive such education all a full class. Normally only girls would take such a class, as it was commonly to woman''s role to cook at home. As smalltalk erupted and discussion surrounding the strangeness of such a class the new teacher took a second to seriously consider the question before putting up a hand to quiet the class as he answered.


    "Now what was you name?"


    "It''s Mark."


    "Okay Mark, you''re a student of the knight course correct?"


    "That is correct."


    "And you plan to join the knight academy after graduating from here and becoming a fully fledged knight correct?"


    "Yes I am indeed planing to become a knight."


    "Good, then let''s say you graduate without issue and become a knight. Then out on a frontier patrol your group accidentally loses your supplies, what will you do then?"


    "I¡­. Would¡­.. You have a good point."


    With a quick exchange Mark seemed to at least somewhat accept the reason for the subject.


    "Another thing to consider is the inevitable truth of this world is that there''s nothing more s.e.xy than a person that knows how to cook extremely delicious food!"


    "Eh?"


    Dropping his relaxed attitude the strange teacher clenched his fist showing off his dense, scar ridden muscles as a fire seemed to burn in his eyes as he said something extremely dumb that made Mai involuntarily emit a strange sound in confusion.


    "What exactly do you mean teacher?"


    Before Mai had noticed it the boys of the class were suddenly and unanimously focused on the class as if trying to absorb the knowledge (except for Rudy, that was already interested when he saw the battle hardened teacher) as another male classmate spoke up while adjusting his glasses.


    "Of course I meant exactly what I said! ''The shortcut to the heart is through the stomach'' is an old proverb where I''m from, and it is absolutely correct! Try and imagine your dream woman, now imagine her standing in your kitchen perfectly preparing a massive streak!"


    """""OOOOO!"""""


    (This is why boys are so¡­)


    Physically facepalming as she breathed out a deep sigh while the boys in her class overflowed with enthusiasm and vigor Mai realized that their new teacher was either extremely skilled at manipulation, or just a straight up idiot.


    "Now it''s the same for you girls too, even if you refuse to admit it!"


    Still strangely energetic, the bizarre teacher walked up to Mai that had made the unfortunate mistake of sitting at the front and grabbed her shoulders firmly as he looked into her eyes and spoke like he was performing the most important speech of his life.


    "I am completely serious! Miss please close your eyes and imagine your dream man!"


    "I don''t really want to."


    "It sounded like a suggestion but it really wasn''t."


    "O-okay then."


    Reluctantly following the truly bizarre teachers instructions Mai shut her eyes while making a mental note of never sitting in front again.


    "Do you have a clear image in mind?"


    "... I do."


    "Then imagine him, standing in the kitchen effortlessly making that favorite dish of yours while wearing a large apron and when he serves it to you personally it is even more delicious way than you have ever tasted before! What would your reaction be!?"


    ".... Marriage."


    """""OOOOOOOO!!!!!"""""


    "Eh?!- I mean that''s no-"


    Having been caught off guard by the intense atmosphere her teacher accidentally spoke her mind, only realizing that when she heard the enthusiastic shouts of her male classmates, Rudy included.


    "No need to be embarrassed about it, we have come to a greater understanding."


    "I have no idea what you mean!"


    Blooming completely pink up to her ears Mai hid her face for a bit before realizing that all the other girls secretly shared her opinion.


    After calming down a bit Mai and her classmates more or less accepted the strange treacher in front of them, and even slightly started looking forward to the lesson, that is all except for a single student.


    "So I understand that being able to make good food is an important life skill that my fellow students would benefit from learning, but mr Dax do you seriously want us to believe a brute like you knows how to cook better than myself, someone that stands above normal people?"

 Chapter 138 - New semester (3)

    "So I understand that being able to make good food is an important life skill that my fellow students would benefit from learning, but mr Dax do you seriously want us to believe a brute like you knows how to cook better than myself, someone that stands above normal people?"


    Sitting way in the back a very specific student made her disapproval to the new teacher known and instantly the previous happy and approving atmosphere disappeared. Mai instantly recognized the clear and righteous voice and instantly felt her enthusiasm evaporate, that girl simply had such a presence.


    (Anna¡­ This is bad.)


    Looking behind her Mai saw the extremely prestigious noble daughter had rose up to voice her disapproval. Granddaughter of the principal, excellent student and personal friend of the crown princess Anna von Licht rarely spoke up or associated with anyone in the class but when she spoke people tended to listen, no matter who they were.


    "I recognize you Dax, you''re the person that beat the former crown prince. Would you actually have us believe that such a crude person as yourself can teach me about the culinary art forms?"


    Anna''s words threw the class into confusion.


    "WHAT!?"


    "You''re saying our new culinary teacher is the person that beat the first prince in a gladiatorial fight!?"


    "I heard that match was extremely brutal¡­"


    "Yeah¡­ Apparently the prince was played around with for most of the match, then lectured before he was beaten unconscious."


    "Rumor is the prince''s opponent provoked the fight to gain political marrit, which he then used to strip the prince of his inheritance and exile him to the north."


    Even if Mai herself hadn''t seen the fight personally she had heard about it, as had every citizen of the kingdom, for it had truly been a historical moment.


    "Yeah that was me. But are you the type of person that believes a person can be completely defined based on a single action Anna? I heard different things about you from your grandfather."


    "Just drop this ridiculous act, I know exactly what you are. Why are you here?"


    "If you know what exactly what I am you should know, but your grandfather nor the crown princess should have told you that so I''m guessing you''re bluffing."


    "Don''t try and change the subject."


    "I should say that to you too."


    With sparks flying between her strange teacher and Anna''s eyes Mai didn''t know what to think of the situation and looked to Venessa to her side for explanation.


    "It seems like Anna knows something about our new teacher that we don''t¡­ From what I''ve seen Dax isn''t a bad person but Anna has judged him as such based on that information and taken a stance in protest that our teacher has been able to hold at bay and they''re now at a standstill."


    Even if she didn''t really speak that much Vanessa had a keen social sense and always seemed one or two steps ahead in avoiding problematic things. Since her friend just stayed and watched Mai judged the situation wouldn''t develop in a bad direction and decided to stay put and wait.


    "It seems like we can''t come to a solution coversing verbally."


    "That would be the sole thing we can agree on, and after all it just doesn''t stick well with me that you''re continuing to call me a brute."


    Having come to some sort of unsaid agreement Mai''s slightly odd classmate and strange new teacher looked eye silently for about a minute before Anna spoke again.


    "We''ll need an impartial judge."


    "Obviously. I''ll leave that to you while I prepare the duel."


    With those words of agreement their teacher once more left the classroom as Anna rose from her seat in the back and wordlessly inspected her classmates for some unknown purpose, stopping in front of Rudy.


    "You''ll be perfect."


    Having found her perfect subject Anna went down on the lecture floor and started waiting for her teacher to return as whispering started erupted from the other students.


    "So what is happening?"


    "I have no idea.."


    "Beats me."


    "It seems Anna and our new teacher came to some sort of agreement, but what exactly that is I have no idea."


    2 minutes later the class got their answer when Dax returned rolling a cart filled with ingredients and 2 tables each with a monster core powered stove and basic cooking utensils as he started explaining what was going on.


    "Me and Anna here will have a little competition to prepare the best meal we can in 10


    minutes from these ingredients, I''ll use this opportunity to display the type of skill you all will be learning doing this therm so please ask me about everything I''m doing. Did you find a judge?"


    "Don''t call me ''you''! And yes I have. He''s the perfect impartial judge present."


    Making a smug expression as she pointed at Rudy, Anna seemed to try and demonstrate her superiority as the class started figuring out what was going on and garnered some light interest to the impronto event and walked closer to it all to see what was going on while Mai felt the urge to facepalm once more.


    (Well he is the perfect judge¡­ Considering that he''s just a honest idiot.)


    While Mai was worrying about her friends future the impromptu contest started. Anna immediately grabbed a mix of vegetables and herbs from the pile of ingredients along with some cured fish as she started bringing together what looked to be some kind of salad. Dax on the other hand looked to be stating way more things at once as he turned on the stove top at the highest setting, then grabbed a piece of smoked bacon, eggs, a slab of beef along with vegetable oil and a few other things then immediately trimmed the excess fat off the bacon and cut it into thick pieces before starting to seemingly destroy the piece of beef by completely mincing it with his knife.


    "Teacher what are you doing?"


    "Preparing a regional dish from my home. Specifically I''m breaking down this piece of beef as the low fat content won''t be able to handle the high heat without the proofing I will be doing."


    Explaining as he was working at lighting speed Dax took some of the excess fat from the bacon and started mincing that as he checked the temperature of the cast iron pan before tossing on the bacon as he went into full lecture mode.


    "Mark was it?"


    "Yes teacher."


    "Can you tell me what flavors that would typically be associated with smoked bacon?"


    "It has a very meaty flavor, combined with some salt and smoke. But why are you asking?"


    "Because I want all of you to start thinking about individual ingredients flavor profile. I work out from 5 basic flavors: salt, sour, sweet, bitter and umami or the meaty flavor associated with meat or mushrooms. Each of these flavors need to be in balance while still being able to pick up the different flavors, that is the very basics of cooking."


    Turning the bacon on the pan with his bare hand Dax pressed down the each of the pieces to check how cooked they were before finishing up the micing the meat and starting on the leftover bacon fat.


    "Another important factor is fat. The basic rule is that the more fat you have in a dish, the more flavor you can pack into it, but at the same time you need something to overpower the fat or it will completely overpower the flavor. In this dish that will be the umarmi of the beef and bacon, combined with the salt of the bacon and sour acid of the mayonnaise I will make in a bit."


    At this point the students mostly stopped paying attention to what Anna was making and focused solely on their new teacher while some started seriously taking notes while others, Mai and Vanessa included simply just looked on in amazement. After the bacon was done frying Dax sat it aside to rest as he discarded some of the bacon fat that had build up on the pan, before taking a large bread bun and slicing it over on the middle and placing it cut side down on the pan and turned down the heat as he started forming the mix of minced bacon fat and beef into a ball by tossing it between his hands and continued lecturing.


    "generally temperature also plays a large role in flavor, with the colder something is decreasing its flavor profile and increasing the fatness of the taste, which is one of the reasons why I''m frying this bread."


    "And what''s the other reasons?"


    With the class now completely seeing Dax''s display like a history or literature lecture they eagerly started asking questions and writing down notes.


    "Texture. I want something crisp in my dish, combined with the slightly chewy bacon it creates a great contrast of texture that makes the eater more focused on the flavor, and therefore tastier. I also want a light singe on the bread that will help bring out other flavors."


    Having finished toasting the bun Dax turned the heat on the pan to max and started whipping together a simple mayonnaise as he got the pan as hot as it could possibly get.


    "Teacher the pan is smoking, isn''t that bad?"


    "Normally it would be, but since this is an almost dry cast iron pan it''s fine. I need high heat for this."


    Having finished the mayonnaise with his lightning fast whisking Dax took the ball of meat and smashed to down on the pan as he explained.


    "What I''m doing right now is cooking the beef as fast as I can on a blistering hot surface to break down the proteins in what is called the maillard reaction, something we will cover another time."


    Working even faster now as time was almost up Dax flipped the meet bun just 30 seconds after it got down on the pan and gave the bread a few more touches on the hot surface to get the singe just as he wanted before spreading a layer of mayonnaise on both buns and putting the meat and bacon in between and splitting it into 2 equal parts.


    "There we are, one times half smashburger ready for service."


    At the same time Anna finished putting the final touches on her smoked fish carpaccio salad and both dishes were served in front of the perfect impartial judge that quickly tasted both dishes and gave his verdict.


    "This is the best one!"


    "That''s impossible!"


    Even as Anna denied it the sight of Rudy enthusiastically stuffing his face with the remains of Dax''s burger the result was clear for everyone present, even if one of them still refused to believe it.


    "If you think I somehow cheated please have a taste for yourself."


    Revealing an incredibly smug smile Dax presented the last half of the burger to Anna.


    "As if.. I¡­ Would¡­ Eat such a¡­."


    Fading out mid sentence some primal part of Anna''s body took over and immediately stuffed the burger into her mouth as tears from a mix of frustration and bliss welled up in the corners of her eyes.


    "I-I will remember this!"

 Chapter 139 - Curse examination (1)

    "What the f.u.c.k am I doing¡­"


    After spending about 2 hours with a class of kids teaching them about cooking Dax sat down limply on the floor before breathing a deep sigh.


    (What the hell did I do to deserve this?)


    (QUERY FROM OPERATOR CONFIRMED, ANSWER:-)


    (That was not a question, please just let me suffer in silence¡­)


    There was a time when Dax wanted to become a teacher, to guide and learn along with the youth, to lead them into bright futures and have an impact on their life. That was the sole thing Dax wanted to do for the rest of his long life, but such naive dreams quickly withered when he came into contact with the world. Once outside the qiton community Dax quickly learned what it meant to come from that isolated socially, the large and solid stature that he had proudly forged was viewed as an unsecure weapon waiting to go off in a crowd, turely the outside people only saw the genetically conditioned killed he learned to restrain. Forced to face reality he enlisted and soon forgot about that old dream, but now when he finally got to experience it the dream only had a sour and bitter taste that made Dax truly want to break everything around him.


    "Ah it f.u.c.k.i.n.g itches¡­"


    Another thing that was also ticking him off was the academies obligatory uniforms for teachers, for the first time in over 400 years Dax wore long pants (except for a vacuum suit of course) and he hated every single microsecond of it. Dax wore the standard male teacher uniform that consisted of a pair of black silk pants that he constantly kept itching on his legs, and a white shirt that he had rolled as far up as he was allowed to. Quickly cleaning up after class Dax moved from the general students area of the magic academy into the restricted research wing to meet with the head researcher for the second time of the day.


    "Hey, did you learn anything from the new data?"


    Looking at the youth standing in front of him Dax was sure most people would mistake him for a research assistant, until he started talking that is.


    "Yeah I have learned a lot I''m ready to test out, please take a seat. If my current hypothesis is correct I will be able to remove one more of the firewalls and learn a bit more about the internal structure."


    Speaking rapidly with a large child like smile on his face Dax was pleased to see Victor still maintained his enthusiasm for discovery, even after having lost most of his memoires along with his sense of empathy. In the 2 years Dax hadn''t seen him Victor''s curly brown hair had grown even longer, that feature combined well with his dull blue eyes to give him a somewhat wild and uncept look one would expect from a mad scientist.


    "The new fix works, even if there is a few kincks."


    As Dax took of his shirt he sat down on a large white circular pad that then lit up as Victor started his examination once more.


    "What kicks?"


    "I''ve mostly lost feeling in my toes, ICI states that its a forced feedback issue."


    As Victor started the procedure the large pad Dax sat on started shining light at a very specific wavelength, making scattered red circular and jagged magic formations that was cl.u.s.tered around Dax''s chest visible to the n.a.k.e.d eye.


    "Ah that what was I expected, that along with what I''m seeing proves that the formation is not only self sustaining but also able to repair itself¡­ See it? That and this formation a newly formed, must have happened when you were teaching class."


    "That matches up with when your fix stopped working yeah."


    "I knew it."


    While Victor looked at the formations in great detail as he quickly scribbled down notes serval adapted LIDAR arrays mounted on the wall of the room archived the curse''s current formation with picometer accuracy.


    "How is Iris?"


    "She''s sleeping. She was up all night implementing a new algorithm for the scanners that upped the resolution once again."


    "When you see her tell her to take more care of her own body, she is still growing after all."


    To help get rid of his curse Dax assembled a full team at the magic academy while turning it into a fortress with the full might of his drone army. Terra and Lux worked security while covertly looking for exposed routes of entry into the academy while Solaris, Victor and Iris worked to understand the curse with the goal of lifting it. Victor that had an innate mind for understanding spell formations with the help of the knowledge Dax''s ICI unit had printed on his cerebral cortex while Iris assisted him in developing and implementing scanning and machine learning algorithms, and Solaris worked her way through sanctuary archives, searching for matching or similar formations.


    "Are you still sure I should prioritize the movement restricting curse instead of fixing the curse of pain? Looking at these readings it looks like its above something that would kill any normal person, or at least drive them insane."


    "Yeah I am, pain is pain. Even if it is numbing and interferes with my movements a bit this pain is nothing compared to when I had my ICI unit adjusted."


    As Dax brought attention to the cybernetic implant that had replaced the upper part of his spine and fused to his central nerve system Victor could''t imagine the pain that was involved with such a procedure.


    "How did your first class go?"


    Changing the subject somewhat forcefully Victor put on a thin smile as he asked how Dax''s first class went.


    "It went well, but I still don''t want to do this at all."


    "But this was the agreement we came to, I help you and you help me by supporting this place to the best of your ability."


    "Yeah I know¡­ I was just complaining a small bit."


    ---


    "That f.u.c.k.i.n.g brat!!!! You get me more ice!"


    "Y-yes, right away!"


    Meanwhile Andrew had spent the entire day refusing to go to class, the reason was a gigantic black eye that tainted his perfect face. Having sent one of his minions away for more ice to treat the wound he still felt enraged as he spat out curses.


    "That f.u.c.k.i.n.g brat! I''ll definitely ruin her completely! And that f.u.c.k.i.n.g teacher too!? What the hell does that bitch think she is!? F.U.C.K! WHERE''S MY ICE!!?"


    Roaring in anger kept up his blood pressure, making the wound hurt more than it would otherwise, creating a feedback loop that only served to fan his anger.


    "I WILL DEFINITELY MAKE THEM PAY!"

 Chapter 140 - Curse examination (2)

    140 Curse examination (2)


    "Are you really sure the rumor is true Venessa?"


    "Mmm."


    It was extremely early in the morning at the magic academy, Venessa and Mai were both up and about due to a particular rumor that had slowly spread over the last week or so. Rumor was that their new teachers did personal training along with the transfer student Mare at this time out at the practice fields at this time.


    "I hope it''s true, otherwise I sacrificed my precious sleep for nothing.."


    Fighting drowsiness Mai yawned loudly and breathed in the cold morning air as she made her way to the practice fields following close behind Vanessa that had cast a spell which allowed her to see clearly in the faint moonlight.


    "There''s something up ahead."


    Stopping a few hundred meters from the fields Venessa''s long ears twitched as if she heard something strange.


    "... What is it?"


    "I don''t know, whatever it was, it''s gone now."


    The elver could have sworn she had heard the sound of something walking directly towards them, but when she looked for the source she saw nothing. Feeling like there definitely was something hidden watching them in the dark, Vanessa reassured her friend there it was nothing as she knew Mai handled such things poorly. With no further issues the pair made their way to the field without problems and soon spotted a part of the area that had been lit up by torches.


    "Again!"


    Hearing the sound of heavy blows landing along with sharp sounding commands Vanessa and Mai rushed closer to see what was going on, and was awestruck at what they saw.


    "Again! You''re losing focus, please concentrate!"


    When they heard that Mare and the new teachers were doing personal training they had imagined something along with what they themselves had been doing, not Mare sending out lighting fast kicks aiming for Lux''s head.


    "Enough! Dax show her how it''s done."


    Apparently not satisfied with Mare''s kicks Lux called for their culinary teacher that had been observing all along.


    "You need to spin more Mare, look closely."


    Taking a relaxed stance Dax slightly spread out his center of mass before he rapidly spun around and delivered a series of lightning fast kicks that sounded like they each could cleanly take the head of an armored knight.


    "By using your core muscles to reorient in mid air you should be able to bring down the time lag between each strike while retraining your momentum."


    "Mmm, I''ll try."


    Finding the example as well as Dax''s teaching useful Mare continued repeating her practise Mai took that movement to speak up.


    "G-good morning!"


    "Good morning Mai, Venessa too."


    As Dax was the one free at the moment he put on a bright smile and greeted the 2 students of his.


    "Up for some early training? Or do you want to ask some questions regarding class?"


    "N-no we heard a rumor¡­."


    Feeling quite guilty when she realized they were basically spying on their teachers, Mai seemed to shrink in size as her voice drowned out and she waited for scolding.


    "I see.. Well there''s still a few hours until breakfast so why don''t you girls join us?"


    "Eh? but-"


    "No buts, Mare will wake you up in the morning from now on so you don''t miss the start of morning practise."


    With an ever larger smile Dax dragged Mai and Venessa a bit away from Lux and Mare before stating the real reason in a quiet voice.


    "She needs some friends. If you''re both really opposed to this I won''t mention it again."


    With a serious expression that Mai taught quite unnatural for him she suddenly became aware of how alone Mare had been ever since she transferred in. As Mare had stated doing her introduction she didn''t interact with any of her classmates at all, she just quietly went to and from class in a manner that seemed incredibly lonely.


    "Okay."


    Wearing a resolute expression Mai did her best to seem like a reliable student, which Dax in turn only saw as extremely adorable before he started ruffling her hair like a grandparent while turning his attention to Vanessa.


    "What about you?"


    "... Sure, this seems fun."


    Showing a faint smile in response to Mai''s precarious situation the elver also agreed to follow an increased training regiment, as she was also somewhat interested in getting closer to Mare and her new teachers.


    ---


    "Let''s continue where we left off last time, I believe we were talking about seasonal variety of vegetables in regard to taste with relation to preserved alternatives.-"


    Having just started a new lesson with the class Mare was a part of Dax snuck a glance at her to see she was surrounded by Mai and Vanessa.


    (Seems like that worked out okay..)


    Pleased with the small plan of his working out fine a small smile appeared on Dax''s face as he continued his lecture.


    "-We''ll start of by looking at the homework I assigned and discussing what you all found out, you up there start."


    Changing up his usual routine of asking one of the students sitting in front, Dax instead addressed one of the noble children that had so far been inactive in his classes.


    "Haa? Why the hell should I?"


    But in return the student just scoffed at him, instantly silencing the rest of the class.


    "John was it?"


    "So you''ve at least heard of me? Just continue your class and don''t mind me."


    "Yeah, you are part of that group of small time douchebags lead by that Andrew fellow that keeps disturbing other classes when things don''t go his way."


    "What the f.u.c.k did you just call me!?"


    "Exactly what I just said. Contribute to class or get out of my f.u.c.k.i.n.g sight, your choice."


    Dropping his warm and kind attitude Dax seemed to radiate some kind of pressure that made the youths present feel a collective cold chill run down their backs.


    "What the hell do you think you are!?"


    John however didn''t notice the warning signs the other students had, instead flaring in anger. In response the smile on Dax''s face only seemed to grow larger as he walked towards the angry student, stopping right in front of him.


    "What I think I am? Definitely not a teacher, therefore the false sense of safety and reassurance that I won''t rip off your arm and beat you to death with it is holey mistaken."


    Dax''s cold words clearly rang out in the quiet classroom as all eyes gathered on the student and teacher when John made perhaps the greatest mistake of his life as he swung his fist at Dax, not surprisingly the fist never found his target as Dax caught it.


    "Get the f.u.c.k out of my classroom."


    Squeezing the caught fist holding just short of breaking bones Dax dragged the youth like a piece of trash out of the classroom as John cursed and screamed loudly for him to let go.


    "Anyone else want to leave?"


    Looking around at the other students Dax only saw fear in response and realized he had f.u.c.k.i.e.d up. Breathing a deep sigh Dax''s usual smile returned.


    "Okay here''s how it is, as some of you might have noticed I am not a teacher, therefore I might go about this differently than some of you are used to. In my opinion as the person with the most extensive life experience here is that you can''t learn anything with respecting your teacher. When I look at all you youths in front of me I see bottomless potential, I sincerely believe each and one of you will grow up to be great people, even the one I just threw out of class. I will do my utmost to guide each and one of you towards that greatness, but it will not come at the expense of a single student acting out, which is why he was removed."


    Having offered his sincere explanation the best he could, Dax could only stand quietly and watch the students slowly come to the conclusion that they didn''t want anything to do with his class any longer, until one of them spoke up that is.


    "It''s only natural that the teacher decides who is worthy to who and who isn''t worthy of their education. Now hurry it up and continue class, I need to steal all your knowledge so I can beat you next time!"


    With Anna stepping in the worst situation was averted as laughter spread throughout the class in response to her ridiculously greedy sounding outburst.


    "W-what!? Hurry it up already!"


    Blooming completely red up till her ears Anna reminded Dax of some sort of princess, which gave him an idea that in turn made him show a smug smile.


    "As you wish my lady."


    Bowing deeply like a butler only Dax''s voice seemed sincere as he responded to Anna while the normal attitude once more returned to the class.

 Chapter 141 - Curse examination (3)

    "I''ve heard you''ve become quite popular around campus."


    "Really? With who?"


    "The students, and a lot of the teachers too."


    "Somehow I find that really hard to believe¡­"


    In the middle of one of Dax''s examinations Victor suddenly struck up a subject the qiton had not expected, not to mention doubted in the highest degree. It had been a few weeks since Dax started teaching at the magic academy, and in that short timeframe he found himself to be mostly feared by the students, while the other teachers kept their distance.


    "I''m am pretty sure the students fear me, I''ve read their heart rates and timed pupil dilation along with their average response times and they''re universally quite fearful of me."


    "Sure they fear you a tiny bit, that is to be expected after how you treated the more problematic students. But it is also true that most of the students I''ve talked to say they respect you deeply, and think of you as something between a slightly strict parent and a caring, close friend."


    "That really doesn''t seem that way to me¡­ More importantly I didn''t know you taught classes."


    Learning new information Dax momentary ignored the issue of his own perception which greatly contrasted with how he himself and ICI saw the situation and inquired about Victor taught.


    "I teach close combat for advance mage students and complex formation crafting, also I occasionally give lectures that''s free for all students to attend, which is quite popular."


    "I see¡­ Advance students are the third years right?"


    "Yeah, we call first year students juniors or beginners while second years are seniors and 3rd years are advance students that have chosen a major. But more importantly the second years really like you, so have a bit more confidence."


    At the same time out on the practice fields a small group of students were doing self study, reviving what they had learned from the day''s self defence course.


    "Like this?"


    "Mmm. But use your core a bit more, that''ll help."


    "Okay, thanks for the help Mare."


    "... No problem."


    "Mare can you show me that trow Lux did at the end of the lesson? I just can''t wrap my head around it."


    "Sure. Come at me."


    Over the last few weeks Mare, with the help of Mai and Vanessa, had become quite popular in class when they all found out she was Lux''s long time student that had traveled with her. The students also quickly found out that Mare acted cold not because she didn''t care about anyone, but because she didn''t know how to interact with people. As the beastkin had warmed up to the class she had become extremely close friends with Mai and Vanessa, and the trio would more often than not be together at most times of day, something both Lux and Dax were extremely happy seeing.


    "Mare can we spar again now!?"


    Rudy, the energetic child that he was also took quite well to Mare. The second he learned that Mare, Venessa and Mai were training in the morning he instantly joined them and after that he would constantly ask to spar with her wearing a large bright smile all the while doing so.


    "Sure Rudy, but wait a bit."


    Suddenly taking her attention of the energetic youth as he large fox like ears on top of her head twitched, Mare drew quite a bit of attention to herself.


    "Mare what''s wrong?"


    Noticing that her friend had pick up some sort of sound coming from the sky above, Mai went over to her to find out what was going on.


    "We''re getting a visitor, wait a bit."


    "A visitor?"


    WIth a questioning look Mai tried getting more information out of her friend, but the beastkin just silently looked up at the sky.


    "Mare what''s wrong?"


    Vanessa also picked up on her friends strange attitude and walked over to see what was wrong with her, but stopped in her tracks as she was the most mana sensitive of the students present and picked up on it first.


    "W-what is that?"


    Soon the other students also noticed there was something strange going on and stopped their training as they started looking towards the heavy and dominant presence that aproced them from the sky above. Descending like a lightning bolt from the clear sky some mysterious creature landed like a meteor without kicking up a single speck of dust or making a sound. Rising up to her feet the tall blond creature unwrapped herself from the wings she had surrounded herself with as her emerald green eyes inspected her surroundings.


    "An a-angel¡­"


    "No that''s an archangel¡­ I''ve never seen one before."


    Being citizens of the central kingdom that was under the protection of the 14th sanctuary the students all knew of the creature that had just landed a few meters in front of them, even if they had never seen one in person. The archangel in question seemed most unusual however, as she didn''t wear the usual white dress they had come to be associated with, but some kind of gray wool sweater while her hair was braided in a large French braid that she matched with a pair of blue jeans, as for what any of those terms meant was none of the students knew. The slightly odd choice of clothing aside the students were definitely sure they were looking at a divine being. Having landed with no issue Solaris looked around to orient herself, spotting a group of students looking at her like she just fell out of the sky or something.


    (How rude can these children be? Oh, wait that''s..)


    Having spotted a familiar face Solaris walked towards the group of students at a brisk pace as she bloomed a friendly smile, which only made every single student more fearful.


    "How have you been Mare?"


    Except the only one among them that actually knew the archangel that is.


    "I''ve been good."


    "I''m glad to hear that."


    Planting her hand on top of Mare''s head both people expressed bright smiles towards each other for a short while, making Mai and Vanessa along with the other students extremely confused.


    "By the way who are these children? Are they picking on you?"


    Instantly the confusion turned to fear, as the archangels voice turned cold while she quietly spread her wings.


    "No. They''re my classmates, and good friends."


    But crisis was luckily avoided by Mare''s honesty.


    "Oh I see, by the way where''s Dax?"


    "He should be done with treatment, so teaching Terra the usual place.


    "Thanks Mare, I''ll talk to you later."


    Satisfied with the information she received (along with the amount of headpads she gave Mare) Solaris flew off towards one of the teachers dometories, while Mare was surrounded by her fellow students that demanded information regarding her relationship with an archangel and gathering around her.


    "Dax is in treatment?... Is he sick?"


    ---


    "Arg this is f.u.c.k.i.n.g hard!"


    Pulling off her mask in frustration Terra loudly complained at the difficulty of her new training. Having build up her experience and combat abilities to a somewhat acceptable level Terra had started a new chapter of her training, and found it way harder than she had expected.


    "Yeah it is, and you''re struggling with it a lot. Which is why you need to keep at it."


    Without taking off his mask Dax gestured for Terra to sit back down as he continued explaining.


    "This is also something you''re not used to, take your time and we''ll slowly work up the difficulty."


    "Fine.."


    Putting on her maks again with a hint of reluctance, Terra''s vision turned dark as she felt her mind slip away.


    [COMMENCING MULTI DOMAIN WARFARE SIMULATION LEVEL 4¡­ OPERATOR ONLINE, COMMENCE SIMULATION.]


    Suddenly finding herself in a brightly lit, densely packed city of some kind with all sorts of different people going on with their daily life.


    [SECURE OBJECTIVE ALPHA.]


    Hearing the cold and unfeeling voice of Dax''s ICI unit Terra snapped out of her daze as she looked towards a nearby highrise that she started walking towards while blending into the crowd.


    [HOSTILES ALERTED.]


    "Shi-"


    Not even getting to utter a single word Terra''s vision turned hazy as she felt her chest getting pierced by some sort of knife.


    "F.u.c.k.i.n.g hell!"


    This time Terra threw her mask away in frustration, which Dax caught mid air.


    "I can''t even make it to the f.u.c.k.i.n.g building!"


    "Of course you can''t. You''re still not using a single one of the tools I taught you, all you see is the crowd around you. Read the tarain, then you''ll at least get to the target building somewhat intact."


    "But how can I do that when they''re mixed in with the civ''s!?"


    "That''s the part I can''t help you with sorry."


    "I''m going to cool my head."


    Storming off Terra ran into Solaris on the way out.


    "Is Dax inside?"


    "Yeah he is, with his smug attitude and all."

 Chapter 142 - Curse examination (4)

    "So how did you piss her off this time?"


    "With multi domain warfare training."


    "Ah, yeah that would do it."


    Having undergone the same training as Terra was currently struggling with Solaris instantly understood her pain.


    "How is she doing?"


    "My adorable disciple is still at the brute forcing stage."


    "And she has tried that how many times now?"


    "11."


    "Ah. Then it can''t be helped¡­"


    When Solaris had tried the exact same thing Terra did over and over she had felt her blood boiling even long after she figured out how to complete the exercise.


    "Are you sure I can''t just give her a tiny hint?"


    "Yeah I am, don''t. As you know the program is meant to encourage independent action, which is a vital part of the 125th''s doctrine. If we helped her here it would undo all my efforts in training her so far."


    Seeing that Dax really had thought about helping his student, but those not to for her own sake Solaris turned a bit more understanding to his stance.


    "What if she gives up?"


    "Then that''s her limit, which will be regrettable as she is showing so much potential."


    Showing a bitter expression as he spoke words he didn''t believe for a second, Dax made Solaris drop that subject and move on to the reason for her visit.


    "I found something interesting in the 11th sanctuary that''s allied with mine."


    Solaris'' role in dealing with Dax''s curse was to look through the angel sanctuaries vast archives and research not only the curse, but also the strange creatures that had used it against him.


    "ICI information blackout please."


    [ICI CONFIRMS, NOW ENACTING INFORMATION BLOCKADE AT LEVEL 10, ALL COM CHANNELS OFFLINE, MAGIC JAMMING MOVING TO LEVEL 10¡­.. COMPLETE, SCRAMBLING ALL ARCHIVAL INFORMATION THROUGH 2056 BIT ENCRYPTION.]


    "So is it about the curse, or the ''creatures''?"


    "The creatures."


    What Solaris had found was a series of scrolls pertaining to the luna exodus. When a calamity struck the planet about half a million years ago it had suddenly become uninhabitable, but before that the angels had gathered the people and animals of the land in vast sanctuaries to shield them from harm. The sanctuaries themself where a gift from the divine creatures that once lived along with the angels, and legend had it that the countless gigantic structures were constructed in a single day by those creatures, leading Dax to believe that the creatures they ran into on the moon where what remained of those divine creatures that for some unknown reason didn''t return to the planet once it was hapiteble after the calamity.


    "So what did you learn?"


    "It''s about their weaponry. I found something that reminded me a lot of the technology of your world, look at this."


    Forming a runic formation in the air above her Solaris pulled out a old parchment scroll and spread it out on the floor.


    "This is¡­.. Not supposed to be here."


    Scanning the paper Dax instantly recognized the mathematical formulas in front of him as his face turned grim.


    "So you know what it is? I brought it with me because it looked like some of the formations i saw on those creatures."


    "Yeah I know what it is. It''s a formula to achieve faster than light travel."


    "Then how about this one?"


    Pulling out another scroll for Dax to examine, the gravity of their current situation seemed to dawn on her.


    "This one I don''t immediately recognize, but it is some sort of field generation formula¡­. With knowledge like this there''s no reason for this planets technology to be so far behind, by all means if these formulas could be understood this world should already have reached deep into the stars. Where did you find all this?"


    Even if such theories alone weren''t sufficient to develop the means of space travel, there were clear signs of them being developed in relation to other formulas and constants that should be impossible for a planet of this technological advancement to develop.


    "At the deepest level of the sanctuary I picked up a faint mana signature that was identical to the ones of the doors on the moon, so I opened it and found a hidden section with those scrolls, and this."


    Pulling out something else from the storage formation Dax completely froze when he saw it. It was a small pale rock, but strangely familiar runes were inscribed on every single millimeter of its surface.


    "Is that?"


    "Yeah, it''s some kind of shielding formation, completely identical to the ones those creatures used."


    ---


    "I''ve come bringing pressents!- What''s up with the attitude in here?"


    A few hours later Lilly came to visit with a few bottles of booze, but was immediately put off seeing Dax and Solaris sitting soberly in silence.


    "Did somebody die?"


    "Not exactly¡­"


    "Is this another one of those situations."


    Seeing Dax hesitant to explain Lilly immediately frowned when she saw she was being left out.


    "Sadly it is, sorry. Not even Lux knows about this."


    "And that''s supposed to make me feel better?"


    "...."


    Seeing both Dax and Solaris remain silent in the face of her ridicule Lilly breathed a deep sigh.


    "Is this for my protection?"


    "It is."


    ".... Okay then."


    Still not completely okay with her comrades not depending on her Lilly sat down and stated her ultimatum.


    "I''ll demand compensation for this at a later date, from both of you. And refusal is not allowed."


    "That''s fine, name your price when you need my assistance."


    "Okay, I promise I''ll explain whenever possible."


    With both Solaris and Dax agreeing to her demand a small smile formed on Lilly''s face, which she quickly hid before continuing on with her original plans.


    "Then with that matter settled let''s drink and be merry!"


    With a wave of her hand Lilly summoned some glasses for the trio using wind magic to pull them from a nearby self as she put on a bright smile and started pouring drinks, while indicating that neither Dax nor Solaris could refuse.

 Chapter 143 - Expedition (1)

    "Okay everybody take your seats, class is starting... What''s up?"


    Walking into class Dax with a slight hangover Dax expected today''s class to go like any other, but immediately when looking at his students Dax knew that would not be the case.


    "Dax are you acquainted with an archangel?"


    (Of course it''s about that¡­)


    Internally breathing a deep sigh Dax looked around class to see every other student wanted Rudy''s question answered, except Mare, which already knew the answer.


    "I am. In fact I had a few drinks with her yesterday, but I believe what I do outside of class shouldn''t be a topic of conversation or rumors so that''s the last I''m going to disclose about that issue. Today we will start off with a individual test of how much you all have learned from my classes so far, each one of you will individually prepare a meal with the ingredients that will be made available to you based on my own selection while the rest of class observes."


    Upon learning that they would be having a surprise test, and that their fellow students would be observing all the while dissatisfaction quickly spread in the class.


    "Okay calm down! After all this time together do any of you really believe that I would just subject you all to a test you couldn''t accomplish?"


    "I-"


    "Mare shut up, I''m addressing the class."


    While almost seeming like a propper teacher for a full 5 seconds Dax full out facepalmed when he realized he had blown it before breathing a deep sigh and changing his approach.


    "Okay some/most of you might not like having to do a test in front of your fellow classmates beauce you fear being made fun of and making embarrassing mistakes, am I right?"


    Looking around Dax locked eyes with several students that all exposed silent agreement.


    "You are all here to learn, therefore the last thing I will allow is my adorable students making fun of each other. Besides all of you are still young, making mistakes is part of maturing so take the opportunity to do it here where only productive criticism is allowed."


    ''Besides it doesn''t really matter if you want to or not, this class is my domain.'' was something Dax wanted to include in his explanation, but felt it wouldn''t quite work out the way he wanted.


    "Then without further ado let''s get started. Anyone want to start or do I need to pick someone at random?"


    "I believe I should be the person to start this."


    "Then come down here."


    As expected the proud and always self confident Anna was the first person to volunteer as she carried herself with a ever constant smile down to Dax table where she was about to pick out some ingredients and start cooking when Dax stopped her.


    "I pick the ingredients, remember?"


    "O-of course I do! Do your worst!"


    Obviously having forgot that tiny detail (judging by the volume of her voice, along with her red face) Anna made the mistake of giving Dax permission to ''do his worst''.


    "Oh really? Then since I have your permission I''ll do just that~"


    "Eh? Wait a sec-"


    "Nope~ You just gave me permission."


    While Dax got as many licks in as he could on the unfortunate victim Mare could only silently sigh, this is exactly how she had expected him to act.


    "Dax really is mercyless huh?"


    Even Mai had also seen to predict Dax''s behavior, as had most of the class.


    "You''ve seen nothing yet¡­."


    But only Mare who had seen What Dax''s personal training was like when he really started enjoying himself knew that he could go much further. With tension more or less drained at Anna''s expense her test finally started when Dax placed her ingredients in front of her.


    "Is this some sort of poor joke?"


    Dax had presented Anna with a untrimmed tenderloin, heavy cream, a few carrots and a peppermill.


    "What, you taught it wouldn''t be even a tiny bit challenging?"


    "Is this all I can use?"


    "Yeah, except for butter and vegetable oil. You have 20 minutes."


    "Okay¡­ Humph t-this will be easy."


    Nervously starting to clean the tenderloin of sinew and silver skin Anna suddenly seemed to get an idea as she sped up her knife work which Dax already judged to be excellent. After cleaning the tenderloin and cutting a large filet mignon Anna was about to start on the carrots when Dax stopped her.


    "W-what?"


    "Cross contamination."


    "I knew that already, I was just checking to see if you were paying attention!"


    "Sure.."


    Deciding that it was better to leave Anna alone for the moment Dax backed off and made a mental note of telling her about the mistakes she was making after she had finished the dish. With no more interference from Dax Anna quickly cut up the carrot into thin slices and started firing them in butter while grinding up and sifting some pepper as she heated another pan up to as high heat as possible. Frying up the filet Anna then put it aside to rest before roasting the pepper and then made a simple pepper pan sauce she served with the filet and carrots.


    "How''s that?"


    With a smug expression Anna expressed absolute confidence as she presented her work, but said confidence only lasted until Dax started asking questions.


    "Did you taste for seasoning?"


    "Eh?-"


    "What about the meat, did you ever ask me how I like it?"


    "But-"


    "And Do you even know how rare it is at the moment?"


    "I!... Don''t."


    "Well, I''ll just taste it then, but I don''t think you rested the meat for long enough either¡­"


    After tearing down his student for a bit Dax passed Anna''s dish and the class continued, ending in each student passing while Dax gave valid advise on how they should improve themselves.


    ---


    "It seems like we''re all in agreement, then let''s proceed with planning out the finer details of this years training expedition."


    At the same time the magic academy''s knight and magic instructors were gathered to plan out one of the academy''s largest events, the yearly training expedition for all students. For a week class would be suspended while all first, second and third year students would embark on an expedition out in the wilderness where they would camp out and establish a base, before returning. Doing the week long expedition students would undergo different kinds of training depending on their affiliation and relevant skills, knightlings and mage students would undergo combat training including live combat exercise against monsters while non combatants would make camp and learn about different skills needed for that. But this year the expedition would be different, instead of the normal 7 day expedition this year it would last for 4 weeks, this was made possible by the new support from the central kingdom, as well as new teachers with extensive live combat expertise.


    "I suggest moving the camp 5 kilometers to the southwest."


    "And why would we do that miss Terra? The old spot has worked well for the last 10 years."


    "Because the current spot has turned into a active monster nest, which we are in the process of clearing."


    While the meeting went along smoothly Terra interrupted one of the senior magic teachers when it came to the position of the final camp.


    "Then it shouldn''t be an issue."


    "But it is. The area is infected with armored ants, so we used incendiary explosives. The area will still be a warm when the students arrive."


    "Point taken, then let''s move the camp to where you suggested, is that area clear."


    "It is, therefore we won''t need any monster hunters or knights to clear the area."


    "Now hold on that''s not what we usually do, the student''s safety is the first and only priority."


    "Which is why we have personally cleared the area, it''s safe. There''s not even a single snapped branch left they can cut themselves on."


    But the second Lux spoke up all opposition was instantly silenced, and so the spot for the yearly expedition was chosen.


    (Now to lure in all the rats¡­. ICI maintain the net, mission is a go.)


    (ORDER ACKNOWLEDGED, INFORMATION BLACKOUT IN EFFECT.)


    Hiding her true thoughts behind a well maintained poker face a cold light seemed to shine in Lux''s eyes.

 Chapter 144 - Expedition (2)

    "Wake up Mai"


    "Mmmm¡­. I''m awake."


    Unlike normally Mai instantly awoke when she heard her roommate call out to her, excitement was clearly visible on her face as well as Venessas.


    Today was the day.


    Outside on the usually empty practice field stood countless horse drawn carriages currently being organized by the countless teachers that would be accompanying the academies students, even as the sun had barely risen above the horizon they had been working for a while to undertake the momentous task that was the yearly expedition. But a lot of people normally present for the expedition were nowhere to be found, knights and monster hunters normally instrumental for such an operation were not needed this year, instead thin presences moved around the caravan, barely noticed by the most experienced mages and knights along the teachers.


    "I wonder what is currently watching over us?"


    "I think we''re better off not knowing.. Anyway do you have the manifest for this carriage?"


    Still even if some of the teachers that had noticed what was going around them, most of them knew not to stick their nose into things that should not be seen, after all they were experienced fighters that had lived way longer than the average in their professions. Knowing when not to ask questions and when not to advance deeper into a dark cave were important skills they would undoubtedly pass on to the countless students under their care.


    "Good morning Dax! Are you also joining us on the expedition?"


    Having prepared for the trip the day before Mai and Vanessa quickly grabbed their already packed bags after waking up and made their way to the practice field were they to their surprise found Dax in what looked to be travel gear. Instead of the normal teacher uniform he normally wore Dax had the simple attire of a pair of black shorts with loads of pockets and a simple black t shirt that seemed to somehow fit him way better than the normal teachers uniform.


    "Yeah I''m in charge of the first years that will be cooking and maintaining camp while you 2nd and 3rd years will be having classes in the wilderness, so we might not see each other so much."


    "I see.. Still having you with us on the trip will be very reassuring."


    "Mmm, we''ll go to our carriage now, see you later."


    Sensing that their teacher still had more things to do Vanessa quickly dragged her friend away after saying their initial greetings.


    "Honestly that child.. She should just bother us a.d.u.l.ts as much as she wants, after all that is what childhood is."


    After greeting Dax Vanessa and Mai joined up with Mare and made their way to the classes carriage.


    "Good morning girls!"


    "Morning Rudy."


    With his usual enthusiasm Rudy greeted the girls loudly before changing the topic like the energetic youth he was.


    "Did you hear!? Lux is the teacher assigned to us!"


    Doing the academy expedition a teacher would be assigned to each class and be with them at all times, even when another instructor was teaching them something else, for security reasons.


    "Of course."


    The only one not surprised about that was Mare, having a bit of insider knowledge.


    "That''s how it is, sorry about that."


    Having overheard their conversation Lux took a short break and went over to talk with her students, well most of her took a break.


    "Umm Lux is there something different about you?"


    "I don''t believe there is."


    "Really?"


    "Yes."


    The reason for Mai''s increasing confusion was that Lux didn''t stop her work even as she talked with the students that now just looked at her awestruck, with the exception of Mare of course. Lux''s attire didn''t look all that different form Dax''s, she also wore a pair of black shorts with countless pockets that each seemed to have some unknown purpose, and a gray t shirt. Other noticeable features of her outfit was the black mask that had a bright white skull painted on which was strapped to her belt, and some sort of metal tail which extended from her back serval meters to where it split up into multiple parts holding a checklist and pen respectively.


    "This is really not that strange is it? Dax''s right arm is clearly mechanical in nature and I''m sure most of you have caught a glimpse of the academies new guardians over the last few months."


    As Lux explained her metal tail put down the pen and checklist as it retreated back to Lux and formed a seat she learned back on while continuing to talk.


    "I will be completely frank, this world you''re so used to will be changing faster than it ever have before. Those of you here that will become knights and mages will notice that change first, but eventually all of you will see the new world that is currently forming behind closed doors. You are all at the dawn of a new age. Now board the f.u.c.k.i.n.g carriage and let''s get going, we''re slightly behind schedule."


    After getting the students of the class she would be overseeing to board their carriage before she grouped up with Terra and Dax for a final pre mission briefing.


    "Is everything in order?"


    "Yeah."


    "Yes sir."


    Seeing the confidence in his student and subordinate Dax formed a thin smile that remained on his face for a fraction of a second before returning to the role of commander.


    "Good, from this point onwards information blockade #4 is no longer in effect."


    (COMMAND REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGED, WAITING FOR XO CONFIRMATION.)


    "Lieutenant general Lux Jameson confirms, gag order #4 no longer in effect."


    [BIOSIGNATURE OF C.O. AND X.O. CONFORMED, ALL UNITS ACKNOWLEDGE NEW OPERATIONS STRUCTURE.]


    For the first time in well over a year ICI cold and synthetic sounding voice was picked up by outsiders, in this case it was the other teachers that were standing a bit away from Dax and his group.


    "Then let''s get this show on the road, this time around we''re the security detail for the yearly academy expedition. I will handle the Reapers, Lux will be on specter duty and Terra will be observing as part of her training."


    ""Yes sir.""


    "Good. Then let''s get this f.u.c.k.i.n.g picnic over with. ICI form up Reapers on me, disable cloaking."


    [ORDER CONFIRMED. DETACHMENT 2, SQUAD 1 FORMING UP ON COMMAND IN OPERATIONS PATTERN YELLOW.]


    At Dax''s command 4 Reaper drones emerged seemingly out of thin air around him taking up formation as they vented out extreme amounts of stored thermal energy from their internal heatsinks.


    (This really is the dawn of a new age.)


    Picking up a rifle while she put on her facemask Lux was greatly amused by the surprised teachers.


    (No more hiding, no more backroom deals. From now on we can fully display our might.)


    "The age of the galactic empire has started on this dirtball of a planet."


    Sensing Lux''s smile from under her mask Dax returned the bloodthirsty smile as he was handed a rifle.


    "Area security established, let''s move out!"

 Chapter 145 - Expedition (3)

    Over the last year preparations had been underway for the Galactic Empire to step into the world stage. Even if Dax did show off his drones and weaponry to the central kingdom''s nobles and to some extend the 14th sanctuary when using then to suppress the north, but this time it was different. Now that Dax had finally gathered the numbers needed there was no more reason to stay hidden, from now on drones would patrol the streets near the complex in Kingstead openly without cloaks, The CAS-7A and other aircraft would no longer do stealth landings and takeoffs, but most importantly there would be no more negotiations or bowing down to foreign powers: Now it was either submit fully and unconditionally or be destroyed. The reasons for that included personal pride, problems maintaining logistic chains but most importantly it would be infinitely easier to openly subdue hostiles and size salvageable technology from them if Dax and his drone army can operate without restrictions.


    "They sure are energetic, this year''s escorts¡­"


    "That just means they''re taking their job seriously¡­."


    At first some of the teachers had worried about the number of escorts this time around. Normally there would be around 100 knights and monster hunters moving with the convoy to protect them and the students from monsters and bandits, but this time there were just 7 in total. About 50 horse drawn carriages moved at walking pace throughout the Kingdoms rural countryside, normally this would be easy pray for a number of different monsters and people with ill intentions, but things are not always as they appear. With a birds eye view of the entire area Lux quickly dashes around the place, jumping several meters into the air and cleanly clearing the top of a carriage for the nth time and lands on the opposing side before steadying herself and letting lose a single round from her rifle. About 500 meters away a single green skinned goblin that mistakenly wandered within range of the convoy breathes it last breath as its head explodes in a mist of graymatter and green blood, it is dead before it hits the ground. With Lux alone flawlessly handling every single monster Dax handels the more sensitive matters while Terra acts as his backup.


    "Move the carriage, or it will be moved."


    "B-but s-sir the rear acel is broken, it''s stuck."


    About 1 kilometer ahead of the convoy stands a broken down carriage, along with what looks like a profusely sweating merchant.


    "Then get the people that paid you to get it stuck there to move it."


    "I-I-I have nothing to do with this!!"


    Having his ploy seen through the merchant starts running away from the masked man standing in front of him, but he only makes it about 10 meters before an arrow hits his back, reaping his life.


    "F.u.c.k.i.n.g useless trash, boys it''s time to work! I call dibs on the girl escord!"


    The source of the arrow reveals itself to be a bandit that was hiding nearby with his comrades. When word got out that the magic academy didn''t intend to hire any escorts for their yearly expedition a lot of their type pounced at the opportunity to take advantage of the situation, this is already the 3rd group of such caliber they have run into this day.


    "... Your turn Terra."


    "..."


    "This was the arrangement."


    "Fiiine."


    With great reluctance Terra stepped up as she put away her rifle before she addressed the bandits currently charging her.


    "This is your last chance to surrender¡­. No takers? Okay then, don''t blame me."


    About 10 minutes later when the convoy passed the place they only saw a trashed carriage that had been thrown out on the field at the side, along with a series of grown tough looking men that were crying their eyes out after getting man handled by a women half their size, before being buried the ground, leaving only their heads above ground.


    "They really are effective, this year''s escorts¡­"


    ---


    "F.u.c.k.i.n.g academy!"


    But not everyone were happy with the academy choosing new escorts for their yearly expedition. Normally the academy would temporary employ hundreds of monster hunters in the late fall when their normal contracts would be drying up, so this year when they changed their minds apparently out of nowhere a lot of people were upset, some monster hunters even missed their rent and were kicked out on the street. A lot of those now homeless and extremely pissed hunters had gathered in cheap bars to drown their range in sitty beer while voicing their frustrations.


    "How the f.u.c.k can they just change attitude right as worthwhile monsters start to go into hibernation?! Now we''re stuck all winter hunting f.u.c.k.i.n.g goblins and smiles!"


    The yearly expedition normally proved steady employment, not to mention the academy paid handsomely out of fear that monster hunters would boycott the expedition and place their priceless students in danger, so even a normal guard job could set up a hunter for the winter. In response to the outrage from serval monster hunters, as well as worry from the parents of students the academy simply stated they had found that their teachers were more than sufficient in protecting the students, and that they had no obligation to employ the countless monster hunters that came to rely on the yearly contracts that had provided.


    "We need to teach them a f.u.c.k.i.n.g lesson!"


    "Yeah! If a few of the f.u.c.k.i.n.g brats end up dead they''ll learn to not just cast us aside!"


    As the drunk hunters fueled each others rage and mounting frustrations a single cloaked figure entered the bar and sat down at before ordering a beer in a relaxed manner. After the beer arrived he paid the server, but instead of having a drink the cloaked figure rubbed a coin against the glass, making a loud and jarring sound that instantly silenced the surrounding hunters before speaking up in a voice that was obscured with a magic spell.


    "I come here representing my employer that is presenting a job opportunity to everyone interested, the pay is a single gold coin per person, as well as the immense satisfaction of getting back at those that have wronged all of you."

 Chapter 146 - Expedition (4)

    After a days travel the students arrived at their camping area, a large clearing in the middle forrest as the sun was slowly setting.


    "Set up camp quickly! The sun is setting!"


    The second the last carriage stopped two of the swordsmanship teachers took command of the students that had started goofing off.


    "Anyone that haven''t set up their tent by sundown gets to sleep outside! We''re up early so it''s lights out immediately!"


    With both of them in full plate armor with both sword and kiteshield ready as they shouted commands like drill sergeants the pair looked more like military commanders than teachers.


    "Good work."


    "Not as much as you Dax, are you not tired from running around all day? Lux too, I was surprised when you jumped clean over my carriage to kill that ogre that had come to close to the students."


    Their names were Jessica and Finn, both of them were knights that saw active combat before stuffing injuries and retiring early before joining the academy as instructors where they fell in love with each other and became a couple.


    "All in a day''s work. How about a glass before lights out?"


    Showing a smile in response to Finn''s praise Dax invited them both to join him and Lux after work as they had already done countless times doing the few months Dax had been at the academy.


    "Sure, did you bring any of the good stuff?"


    "Of course he did, he''s that kind of person after all¡­"


    Answering for Dax Lux added her own remark at the end, which made Dax frown.


    "What do you mean ''that kind of person''?"


    "Well you did bring something you shouldn''t, right?"


    "I did, but-"


    "My point, you are that kind of person Dax. I''ll go secure the area."


    "..."


    Watching his subordinate run off Dax wondered if he had been to lenient lately, before breathing a deep sigh as a hand was placed on his shoulder.


    "Just accept it."


    Barely able to hold her laughter back Jessica appeared to have a grand old time as she offered her coworker heartfelt advice.


    "... Thanks Jess."


    "no problem, make sure to treat me to something good~"


    "We''ll get back to work now, see you tonight Dax."


    As both of them reactivated their voice enhancement spells and started shouting at students that were still goofing off Dax stood alone for a few moments before pulling himself a bit more together.


    "... I guess I''ll go find the students I''m responsible for."


    Having taken the job of camp defence and management Dax was responsible for one of the 1st year classes that would be in charge of preparing food for the other students. Making his way to the inner part of the emerging camp while avoiding busy students and teachers alike Dax spotted a hint of red hair in the crowd at his destination.


    "Is that?..."


    Walking closer Dax saw a first year student with long red hair struggling to set up her tent together with some of her classmates.


    "It is¡­ Now what to do¡­"


    Having found some entertainment the sound around him seemed to drown out as Dax put on a large smile and sat down the 200 liter backpack he was carrying before starting a sprint.


    "Roooosssee!"


    "Eh-EHHHHH!?"


    The former barmaid is extremely surprised when someone suddenly start shouting her name before she''s picked up from the ground, before being spun around. It takes her a few seconds to recognize who the culprit was, but doing so only makes her more confused.


    "D-Dax!? Why are you here?! Also Put me down!"


    Finding the person that''s spinning her around in the air to be a patron of her former workplace Rose is greatly confused before blooming completely red as she realizes that her classmates are currently watching her being spun around in the air like a toddler.


    "But my princess, this loyal knight has missed you greatly! Please allow your knight this small insubordination!"


    "Please stop it, I''m wearing a skirt!"


    Blooming entirely red, Rose blushes all the way to the tip of her ears before Dax put her down, still having a large grin on his face.


    "It is good to see you again Rose."


    "I wish I could say the same!"


    Understandably Rose is quite upset at Dax as she returns his greeting without meeting his gaze as she still blushed quite heavily.


    "Now now calm down, that was just a little greeting~"


    "There''s no way that can be considered a greeting!"


    After teasing Rose a bit more Dax''s warm smile disappeared from his face as he speaks up in a voice the students believes is amplified by magic.


    "First years gather around!"


    In an instant Dax''s presence transforms from a patron of her old workplace to a teacher in Rose''s eyes, and she gets her answer to what he''s doing on the academies expedition.


    "My name is Dax and I teach gastronomically viable home economics! I will be responsible for all of you here doing the expedition, that means from this point on I own each and every one of you! Doing this time I will hold each of you to a series of responsibilities and expectations, at the top of that list is respect. Respect me as your instructor, yourself as someone that still has a lot of things to learn and each other as classmates and I will respect all of you as living, intelligent beings! Fail to do that as well as other rules that I will outline tomorrow will result in an immediate dismissal from this expedition, as well as being forced to find your own way home this will also impact your grades, from this point in time you have been officially warned. As first years you are among other things responsible for preparing food for the other students, that means starting the day early! Our day tomorrow will start at 4:30 were we will assemble the mess area before preparing breakfast that will be ready and served at precisely 6:00! Get your tents sorted out and get some sleep! Dismissed!"

 Chapter 147 - Expedition (5)

    "Rise and shine!"


    (He really meant it when he said 4:30 in the morning¡­.)


    Fighting extreme drowsiness mixed with a tiny hint of annoyance Rose staggered to her feet to the bright and energetic voice of her instructor that she for some reason wanted to punch in the face, repeatedly. Outside her tent it was still mostly dark, as the only sources of light in the camp was the natural starlight and few torches that lit up some of the teachers areas. Having made his way to the next tent Dax quietly opened it up and inspected the sleeping residents inside before putting on a smile as he took a deep breath.


    "Rise and shine!"


    Sounding as bright and energetic as possible Dax proceed to scare the shit out of the first year students inside the tent before catching a pillow that was flying towards his face.


    "Nice aim. This is mine now, if you want it back get the f.u.c.k up and ghatter at the center of camp."


    Briefly inspecting the 7th trophy he had collected within 5 minutes Dax continued his terrorising of the students under his care until all were at least somewhat awake and gathered were the mess.


    "Good morning! Girls will start peeling potatoes for the stew, boys with me. we''re going to assemble the mess, starting with the cauldrons."


    Pointing to the carriage''s filled to the brim with vegetables behind him as well as the heap of disassembled equipment Dax saw the energy and enthusiasm drain from the faces of his students.


    "After the initial work is done you can all go back to sleep, if you''re fast that will be in 30 minutes. Let''s get this done, I''ve been on guard duty all night so I''m absolutely smashed."


    While leaving out that ''guard duty'' involved getting smashed with Jessica and her husband, while making sure the drones under ICI''s control don''t accidentally shoot students staying up late Dax managed to inspire at least some resemblance of enthusiasm in the sleepy first years.


    ---


    When dawn finally arrived Lux stopped meditating and checked her ICI unit to find out what time it was.


    (5:30¡­ Time to start the day.)


    Just like Dax Lux didn''t need to sleep, so she usually didn''t. Instead she kept busy by updating herself on combat reports, as well as compiling profiles on the various powers and creatures throughout the strange world she had somehow found herself a part of. Tonights study had been on the large flying species of flying reptiles the natives referred to as ''dragons'' or ''dragonkin'', the definition was a bit unclear.


    (So is it still somehow considered a dragon even if it has no wings? But a flying and clearly reptile called a ''c.o.c.katrice'' is not a dragon¡­. Honestly why do I bother with this? All that''s important is to know is what kind of weaponry kills them. Maybe I''ll ask Terra to join some of her anti monster courses¡­)


    Lux is a very cautious person by nature, she is very much aware that she could be killed by any of those fantastical beings without any warning, at any time. It is for that reason she constantly seeks out knowledge on her opponents, even if it doesn''t seem like it she strides to remains calm and collected at all times.


    "Get the f.u.c.k out of your tent NOW!"


    But there are expectations to any rule, for Lux the prime one being children, or just childlike behavior in general.


    (They already knew what they were getting into by joining this expedition, so why the f.u.c.k are they so reluctant? It was clearly stated that we start the day on the expedition early, hell if they were here as first years last time they would have gotten up even earlier¡­)


    A large part of the noble children had chosen to skip out on the expedition exactly for those reasons, all claiming a mix of family circ.u.mstances, noble responsibilities and so on.


    ".. Morning Mare, get out here."


    "Mmm. Morning."


    Stopping in front of another tent that still had its owner inside Lux was about to shout again when she noticed it was Mare''s tent, and that she was already awake and dressed. Walking out of her tent after saying good morning to Lux Mare took a deep breath before smelling the morning air as her large ears twitched while she took in the surroundings.


    (... Food, beef stew¡­.. But not yet.)


    Suppressing her rumbling stomach Mare yawned loudly as she joined her classmates for the morning exercise.


    "Morning."


    "Good morning Mare!.... Are you fine?"


    "Hungry."


    "Yeah me too, let''s get this over with fast, I want to eat until I drop."


    "That''s not going to be a good idea Rudy. Morning Mare~"


    While warning her friend about the dangers of overeating before being physically active for long periods of time Mai said good morning to her other friend while patting her head, radiating energy all the while.


    "But I want to eat a lot! Also how are you girls not sleepy?"


    "Because we''re usually up and about long before this, riiiight?~"


    ""Riiight~""


    "I feel left out somehow!"


    After forcing the 2nd and 3rd years trough morning exercise with the help of Jessica and Finn, which both had light hangovers, Lux lead the students and hungry teachers alike to the mess. The mess area was located in the center of camp and served many other purposes than just providing students and teachers a place to eat and relax, in an emergency it would be a gathering place and Dax even made sure that the CAS-7A had space to land for setting up a field hospital.


    "What the f.u.c.k?"


    But it appeared to serve none of those several functions at the moment. Instead of Dax that would have welcomed them to the mess there was a single sign planted into the ground.


    ''Self service.'' Is what it said.


    After getting over her momentary lapse of judgement due to the sheer stupidity Dax expressed in writing Lux felt her check starting to twitch as she suddenly felt the urge to punch him in the face, repeatedly.


    "Of all the f.u.c.k.i.n.g things.."


    As Lux''s voice deepened in tone the people around her suddenly took their distance, as if their life depended on it. Well it did.


    "Give him a moment to slack off and he will¡­. Please excuse me for a moment, I suddenly need to go slaughter someone."


    "... Sure, go ahead."


    In the face of absolute bloodl.u.s.t like she had never seen nor sensed before it could be considered a miracle that Jessica even managed to give Lux the go ahead, let alone breathe normally. Lux quickly accessed the drone surveillance network before cross referencing the surrounding camp for Dax''s cybernetic signature.


    "There he is¡­ Oh I''m going to flay you alive~"


    Having found her target Lux headed straight for it, completely ignoring the ready made breakfast with another self service sign. Finding Dax under a pavilion Lux''s rage completely disappeared as she froze in place.


    "So that''s where he''s been all along¡­"


    As Finn went to find Lux and Dax''s remains he found him sleeping in a giant pile consisting of him and the first years that had found shade under a small pavilion.


    "What are they doing? I''ll wa-"


    "Don''t."


    interrupting Finn halfway Lux grabbed his hand to stop him from getting closer to Dax and first years as she narrowed her eyes and examined Dax in greater detail.


    "He''s actually sleeping¡­"


    "Yeah, what else would he be doing?"


    "This is the first time that he''s sleeping naturally in at least a few hundred years.. Leave them be. It''s the first years rest time at the moment, they can do what they want in that time."


    "Okay, I''ll go and organize breakfast with the other teachers."


    Sensing that there was something special going on Finn left Lux alone while covering for Dax. As Finn left Lux looked at the pile of sleeping people that had Dax in the center and a smile started spreading on her face.


    "How the hell did he come to be the most feared individual in the Galactic Empire¡­. He should just have become some random caring teacher somewhere."

 Chapter 148 - Expedition (6)

    "What do you see?"


    "... Animal tracks¡­. Is that?"


    "Goblin tracks. There must be a nest nearby, stay alert and stay close."


    After 3 days the academy expedition was finally smoothly underway as the students had more or less gotten used to the new and extremely in depth, hands on way the were now receiving education. The students all underwent different special courses in groups that could number anything from just a pair to an entire class on an entire range skills they had believed they would have to wait several years to learn, one of those classes were what Terra was currently teaching to the 4 students that were following her in the middle of a forest.


    "Look at the nature around you in detail and it will reveal everything you would ever need to know. Nature follows a strict pattern, for example moss only thrives were the conditions are just right, damp, not a lot of direct sunlight. Now what can I deduce from those characteristics?"


    "A source of water?"


    "Definitely. But more importantly for our current situation it is unsure footing, therefore we will keep in mind to avoid it like the plague at the moment while we continue tracking our pray."


    While Terra flexed her knowledge as a former ranger of the nutriusly deadly black forest Lux had a more.. Practical skill set she was currently drilling into the (un)fortunate students under her care.


    "Aim lower! Keep your center of mass in mind or I will personally teach you how it feels to be tackled to the ground!"


    "Y-yes ma''am!"


    "And you over there! What the f.u.c.k do you think you''re doing!?"


    "M-ma''am! Practising my kicks ma''am!"


    "Not with that f.u.c.k.i.n.g form you are! Someone has been f.u.c.k.i.n.g sleeping in class once more, you all know what this means!"


    Acting like a true drill instructor like she had done so often before in the Galactic Empire Lux demanded an immediate presence as the 30 some students came to a hold and gathered around her standing at attention as they repeated in unison.


    """""Ma''am! It means that we''re all being punished!"""""


    "Precisely! Now drop down and give me 50 push ups!"


    """""Ma''am! Yes ma''am!"""""


    "Beautiful! If you all were to act like mindless drones you would be doing perfectly! You there, stand!"


    Continuing her stream of constant criticism Lux pointed to a random student to stand while the rest continued to do push ups in unity, the first time this happened the one that got to skip out on the collective punishment taught himself lucky, but now? Not so much.


    "This is how you kick a person away!"


    Demonstrating for the knightlings Lux mercilessly placed a low pushing kick square in the center of the students center of mass and send him flying into the ground.


    "The aim is to separate the opponent from yourself! Judge the distance from the target, fix your stance then kick straight and true! None of that fancy twisting or footwork is needed for this one, which is why I simply can''t understand why some of you still don''t get it! Now why is it that you are being punished!?"


    """""Ma''am! Yes ma''am! It''s because we are a single unit!"""""


    "And what happens if a single one of you fails at a critical point!?"


    """""Ma''am! Yes ma''am! If a single link fails we all die!"""""


    "Good answer! I like having enthusiastic students like you around me! Give me 50 more just to show how full of spirit you all are!"


    """""Ma''am! Yes ma''am!"""""


    Not all the students were submitted to their own personal hell however. A large part of the students were either studying magic formations or some mix of battle theory and chess in the from of what their teacher called ''Maneuver warfare''.


    "Observe, orient, decide and then act! Observe unfolding situations, outside information, implicit guidance and the environment. Orient based on hostile culture, analysis and synthesis, new information in response to existing knowledge! Decide based on hypophysis and complaining of known knowledge, then act! Strike fast, lethal and with precision! Use your head!"


    From an outsider''s perspective the magic academies expedition might have looked more like a military crash course than anything else, because that was exactly what it was. The goal was to instill the future generation with knowledge that would help them survive and thrive under pressure, therefore was only a tiny part of the courses applicable to only warfare. The students would be taught how to avoid danger outside of the safe cities, deal with unexpected situations and thrive under pressure.


    ---


    "What the hell is this place!?"


    In the middle of what was supposed to be a lush forest something, or someone, had created a literal hellscape. The trees had been burned so intensely that they coal that some of them were still burning to touch without protection. The ground hadn''t been spared abuse either, any trace of small plant life had been completely incinerated with such brutal heat that not even dust remained after the heat that had rendered everything from the top of the highest tree down several meters into the ground sterile. This was something none of the veteran hunters had seen before, they had seen destruction on grand scales before to be sure, but not like this.


    "Dragons breath?"


    "No there''s no leftover mana residue, or any dragons glass either.. Perhaps a high tier magic spell?"


    "Any of this hardly matters! Where are the targets!?"


    But as one of the hunters pointed out they weren''t in the forest for any purposes, the only thing that mattered where their targets they had been hired to kill.


    "That is a good question, so kid where''s the targets?"


    With the group once more centering on their objective attention turned to the only person not wearing a metal tag in the group.


    "What, how should I know that? I''m just here for revenge, same-"


    Suddenly he froze up mid sentence as some sort of alien influence took control his mind.


    "East, 20 kilometers. Approach at night while they only have a single guard on night duty, I will make sure you are not detected by those pesky golems. - as the rest of you."


    Giving extremely precise commands while seeming completely unaware of it himself, the youth didn''t catch the hunters expressions as they processed the information they had been given.


    "Okay then, let''s wait till nightfall. Until then stay out of the direct light and stay hidden at all cost."


    With guidance from their mysterious guide and commander the group of nefarius hunters slowly closed in on the magic academy''s expedition area, with no idea what they were walking into.

 Chapter 149 - Expedition (7)

    "I''m so done."


    The second Mai returned to her tent she collapsed limply outside it, refusing to move further.


    "Mmm, I''m dying."


    Immediately she was joined by her friend Vanessa that fell on her face with a blissful look on her face as the blood that had been pooling in her legs finally started to properly circulate after what felt like hours. The sunset the two of them were too tired to enjoy marked the end of the expeditions 7th day in a row of almost all day long exercise of some form or another, which had started taking a toll on their somewhat well trained bodies.


    "What day is it even?"


    "I don''t know, don''t want to think.."


    "What a coincidence, neither do I."


    Time seemed to be an abstract force for the girls, as their minds slipped in and out of focus while they laid out on the grass as the sound around them seemed to drown out into nothingness.


    "Time for stretching."


    But their state of empty bliss couldn''t last forever, no matter how tired they were that demon always seemed to find them.


    "Can''t I skip today Mare? I''ll give you lots of candy if you leave me alone."


    Too mentally and physically exhausted to come up with an elaborate way to skip the days finally bit of torture Mai desperately tried to bribe herself out of her current paril-


    "But you don''t have any candy.."


    - And failed spectaually. Mare proving the ever bright and good mannered child would come by every day and make sure they stretched after an entire day of exorcise, even if they were too exhausted to do it themselves she would help them along.


    "Then I''ll start with Venessa today.."


    "Please.."


    Letting out weak words of protest as she tried to crawl away the elver was quickly grabbed by Mare that sat her upright as she kneeled down behind her.


    "Take a deep breath."


    "Owww! owowowowowowow!!"


    "I told you to relax.."


    "Please gods above stop this- Oww!"


    "Come on, cooperate and you will be lead towards paradise."


    "Ow! It hurts!"


    "Last one, deep breath this time for real."


    "No, nononono-"


    At that moment the sceam of a certain elver could be heard all over the camp area, having become a somewhat daily occurrence it marked the end of the day.


    "Next time just kill me¡­"


    Having been devoid of her pride and sense of self worth Venessa collapsed limply on the grass outside her tent in the cold grass.


    "Now for you Mai~"


    With a thin smile on her face Mai slowly approached her next friend (victim) in need of stretching.


    "C-can''t we talk about?"


    "Mmm¡­ No."


    "Please! Just give me another day and I''ll be able to pay off my debt, I don''t have the money yet!"


    "... What are you talking about? More importantly take a deep breath."


    -


    Having claimed her second victim of the day Mare collapsed next to her two friends and spread out on the cold grass as she took a look at her hands. Looking at her hands the young beastkin failed to remember the last time her hands were this clean, no nails were missing from working in the mine, her knuckles weren''t bare from fighting for her life and even the worst of the scars that had covered her hands and body had been removed. Her life truly had changed for the better, Mare genuinely believed so. From the moment she had decided to follow Lux who saved her life in that cursed arena, Mare slowly started feeling the feelings that she had long since thought had died completely were slowly returning. Having reminiscenced for a bit Mare suddenly sat up as her large ears on top of her head started twitching.


    "What''s wrong?"


    Speaking out through her exhaustion Mai had noticed Mare''s aleated state.


    "It''s nothing, Lux is just calling for me."


    "More training?"


    "Mmm, be careful not to catch a cold."


    Leaving her two friends behind with those words as she ran towards the edge of the camp Mai and Vanessa could only continue to be amazed by their friend''s seemingly endless stamina.


    ---


    "Let''s move. Even if we''re hidden we need to be in and out as fast as possible, kill a few kids then we grab a hostage and retreat."


    As night had fallen the group of monster hunters committed to their plan, unknowingly sealing their fate as they were already under close observation from a tree above. As the 10 monster hunters spread out in a line formation and slowly closed in on their target, but as they made it to a clearing the surviving hunters discovered something was wrong, suddenly the 10 hunters had been reduced to only 4.


    "What the fu!-"


    Then only 3 remained, and in a split second later only a single hunter remained standing.


    "Good evening, I believe your family informed the academy that you weren''t going to join us."


    With a casual attitude Lux approached the last hunter with a smile on her face as she dragged along the twitching copse of his former ally by the head.


    "W!-"


    As the noble youth tried talking Lux''s kali system coalesced from the multiple spear like structures she had used to kill the other hunters, forming itself into a single tentacle that gripped Andrew by the head and morphed around his head as it lifted him into the air.


    "Oh no, you don''t f.u.c.k.i.n.g get to talk Andrew. The only reason you''re still alive right now is because of your father, he has been very supportive of our ongoing projects. Now here''s what going to happen, I will only say this once so pay attention."


    Brining the youth closer Lux was glad she had worn her mask with built in environmental filtering as Andrew soiled himself, but didn''t let it distract from her task at hand.


    "When you wake up you''re going to have no weapons, none of your expensive tools and you''ll be alone in the wilderness. From there it''s up to you, live or die, I can''t really be bothered with much more in the way of mercy, not when you threaten to destroy what he finds so calming."


    While Lux sent a swarm of nanomachines into the unfortunate youth''s mouth, streaming into his bloodstream and scanned his amygdala, hippocampus, cerebellum, and the prefrontal cortex for memories the orbital manine didn''t find any trace of Andrew''s mysterious benefactor and therefore concluded that he had acted alone.

 Chapter 150 - Expedition (8)

    "We survived¡­"


    "That we did¡­"


    Before any of the students had realized it the yearly expedition had come to an end. Mai and Vanessa were currently lying limply in the back of a horse drawn carriage, in their exhausted state which was shared by most of the other students, simply thinking was too much of a hassle. Throughout the last few days of the expedition they had been worked to the bone, mentally and physically. All the knowledge and techniques that had been imparted on them over the past 2 weeks served to shape them into new people, even if they didn''t yet know it the youths of the academy would come to shape the country.


    "So where did you drop of that brat after that?"


    Meanwhile Dax and Lux walked in front of the convoy and held a debriefing about the attempted attack that had happened during the expedition.


    "About 50 klicks from the camp, near a prominent trade route."


    "..."


    Seeing Dax''s questioning face Lux realized she had done something that was not like her.


    "What? His father has helped us a lot."


    "No I was sure you would have killed him, don''t mind me. More importantly what do you think of the expedition? Even if everything didn''t go entirely to plan I think we did pretty okay."


    Judging the matter of the attempted attack as closed Dax went on with the matter at hand.


    "I''m not so sure it had the proper effect, but all things considered we should be able to keep up with current plans."


    "That''s good then.. When we get back I want you to continue with the ICI cl.u.s.ter, also I want the defence project brought up in speed, make sure it''s at least 50% operational in 2 months."


    "Okay, although I don''t see the point of the defence project¡­"


    "That''s because you don''t need to, the details are classified for now."


    "Yes sir. Then I''ll not care about the specifics."


    Understanding that she did not need to know everything at all times, and there was things better not known Lux accepted that Dax kept secrets from her.


    "Good."


    ---


    "So do you think you can fix me up doc?"


    "Don''t call me that, and yes I can. I''ve learned a lot over the last few months after all."


    Back at the magic academy Dax had his first checkup with Viktor in quite a while. While Dax had been away from the academy, Victor had spent time with Iris and Solaris analysing the data he had gained from examining the curse that Dax had been inflicted with.


    "From what we have learned I would say it''s mostly sentient, having a single purpose."


    "Killing me."


    "Exactly, but we knew that already. What I didn''t know is why it didn''t succeed, but it turns out you really are as tough as you''re claiming all the time."


    "Of course I am, I owe that in part to my heritage. Qitons were designed to be the perfect weapons, being a pureblood qiton I am by the very definition an anomaly. I have been shot, stabbed, torn apart by machines, poisoned, yet still I stand. And those are just the injuries sustained before I was cybernetically augmented, after that I had my still beating heart ripped from my body, my arm ripped off, my lung gouged out by sustained rifle fire, yet I still stand. From what I''ve learned about my own body I would say it is significantly harder to kill than the average being."


    "And that assumption is correct. if that archangel had been the one to be cursed she would have died within minutes, if I would be infected by it I would die within seconds as my nervous system rapidly deteriorated. There''s without a doubt something different about you, if I could look at-"


    "Nope."


    Hearing the deep disdain poorly hidden in Dax''s voice Victor made a mental note to never ask Dax about his physiology ever again, at the same time he realized that people might go to unspeakable lengths to learn the secrets of his race, in even crueler ways that had could imagine.


    "Okay then, I''ll have something new to try in a few days."


    "Then I''ll see you there."


    Leaving Victor behind with those words Dax walked a few times around the academy to pass the time. It had been a few days since the students had returned to the academy for a well earned break, so the grounds were more of a ghost town than anything else.


    "Dax."


    Except for a few dedicated people.


    "Mare, and Anna? That''s an unusual combo, what''s going on?"


    "Training."


    Meeting Mare and Anna at the training fields Dax stopped for a moment to see what they were doing. Mare looked to be instructing the blonde haired noble in martial art, but since the latter had some problems with the fundamentals they were not making progress. Mare was instructing Anna in how to use a knife, as there had recently been announced new recruitments to joining the mages core which she desperately wanted to join. The new recruitments being that a mage had to be able to defend themself without the use of magic, an idea which was absurd due to current doctrines, but the armed forces of the Kingdom were changing since Dax gained influence over it.


    "She''s doing badly."


    Assessing the youth''s progress Dax found himself agreeing with Mare''s blunt assessment.


    "I can see that Mare, do you want help?"


    "... Mmm."


    After a sort hesitation Mare agreed to have Dax help Anna, without the person''s knowledge as she was still absorbed in learning how to breathe again after Mare had hit her in the stomach.


    "Well let''s get to it¡­.. Or not. We have visitors."


    Switching attitude Dax''s smile suddenly turned to a frown as he looked to the sky. After a few second Mare also seemed to pick up on something moving towards them fast, drawing a proper knife and tossing the training one aside.


    "Need help?"


    "Nah, stand down. Oh and drag Anna away will you? She might get caught up in this."


    "... Okay. Anna come."


    "Wait, what? Eh!?- Stop dragging me I can walk!"


    While Anna was literally being dragged by the foot away from the training field Dax drew a knife while breathing a deep sigh. Next moment something crashed into the training field and ripped up the ground as is crashed into Dax while Anna panicked at the sudden occurrences.


    "Hello~ I''ve come to play!~"


    As the dust cleared Dax was met with a gigantic red sword that he had barely managed to pary with his titanium alloy dagger. The owner of such a ridiculously impractical weapon was someone Dax was very familiar with, she was about Lux''s hight, with simually impressively toned body, her bright red eyes and tiger like ears on top of her head (along with her bloodthirsty smile) gave Dax the impression that she was more of a berserker than a knight.


    "Hello Marie, could we please play another time? I have work to do."

 Chapter 153 - Visit (1)

    "Hello~ I''ve come to play!~"


    "Hello Marie, could we please play another time? I have work to do."


    While parying the large adamantite sword that was clearly aimed to cut him in half Dax had a hard time being cordial.


    "Eeeeehhh!? Why not? Then at least promise to give me a child, I''m ready any time, you just need to beat me to the ground first~"


    (This f.u.c.k.i.n.g meathead pervert¡­ ICI local burst, type 4, 0.5 seconds.)


    Completely done with the current situation Dax''s expression turned cold, this Marie noticed too late.


    "Wai-"


    (TYPE 4 LOCAL BURST CONFIRMED, DURATION: 50 MS. EXECUTING FIREMISSION.)


    As the beastkin''s expression froze over while bearing witness to Dax''s bloodl.u.s.t, the strengthening magic she used to maintain her edge against Dax disappeared. The next events happened faster than the royal knight could see, or react. In a split second Dax broke loose of the deadlock, then without a hint of hesitation the qiton closed in on Marie and placed a open palm strike square on the knight''s jaw, knocking her out cold.


    "Jesus f.u.c.k.i.n.g christ¡­ Does she never learn?"


    Breathing a deep sigh Dax made sure the overly eager beastkin didn''t choke on her own tongue while he waited for the other visitors to land. After a few more minutes of waiting 4 people landed in the training fields. 3 of them were royal knights like the example that laid passed out in the dirt, with the last one of them aproacing Dax with a difficult expression on her face.


    "Put a collar on your horny f.u.c.k.i.n.g dog, or I''ll put it down with a blunt and extremely ineffective instrument."


    "... Sorry."


    Seeing the current situation of her personal guard passed out on the ground next to an extremely annoyed qiton, the crown princess could only offer her sincere apologies, she could more or less imagine exactly what had happened.


    "Okay then, moving on. What brings you here today, miss crown princess?"


    Having accepted Teresa''s apology Dax calmed down slightly and put on a smile to put the youth slightly more at ease while he inquired about her visit.


    "Social and a bit of business, do you have time to talk now?"


    "I have a bit more stuff to do currently, can we meet up in an hour?"


    "That''s fine, I''ll use the time to catch up with Anna. Come find me when you''re ready."


    Having decided their plans Terasa walked over and grabbed Anna by the hand, which finally seemed to snap her out of her daze and caught up with the events that had transpired in front of her the last few minutes in a few seconds.


    "What?- Eh! EEEEHHH! Terasa you know my teacher!?"


    "Mare come with me, you''ll be in their way."


    "Okay."


    ---


    With the designated time frame having expired the parties met up again, but this time the atmosphere was even more tense than an hour ago when Dax had knocked out a royal knight and threatened to kill her. In part Lux was to blame, as she clearly disliked the royal knights standing behind the crown princess, and did nothing to hide it. Her outright disdain stemmed from last time they met, Marcus being the ever unlucky womanizer he is had made the extremely poor decision to try and flirt with Lux. The demonkin Sophie and beastkin Marie had both antagonized Lux by expressing romantic feelings towards Dax (one way more openly than the other), revealing that the spartan second in command held very high standards towards any romantic interests towards her step farther. Tia was however the worst one of, she had done nothing to earn Lux''s concentrated bloodl.u.s.t, simply put she had been antagonized by association.


    "So? What is the pervert doing here?"


    Marie was by far the one Lux hated the most, in fact over the span of just a few weeks her disdain for the ever in heat beastkin build up until it bordered on outright aggression.


    "Pervert!? How rude can you be? I''m simply expressing my desire to have strong children. In my race that''s considered completely normal, healthy even, but of course a v.i.r.g.i.n like you wouldn''t understand that."


    Lucky the feeling was entirely mutual, if there was anything Marie hated it was uptight women like Lux.


    "Now she''s just insulting me¡­ I suppose that''s to be expected from such a primitive. It is normal for any remotely civilized person to respect their elders."


    "Hag."


    "And for even a uncivilized rodent to realize when they are being leered by something far more powerful than themselves! Tick me off one more time and I will clip your f.u.c.k.i.n.g ears of before I castrate you!"


    "Try me grandma! I know for a fact you''re too pure to even touch me before your daddy says so!"


    As both of them continued to throw out insults, the orbital marine and royal knight were literally at each other''s throats about to masecare each other, Marcus figured he should at least try and stop them before it evolved into a diplomatic incident.


    "Now now girls, plea-"


    ""Shut up mantoy!""


    And predictively failed spectacularly, which made both Dax and Terasa sigh deeply in unison.


    "... Lieutenant general Lux Jameson."


    "Yes sir?"


    Still eyeing Marie about an inch from her face Lux spoke in an extremely cold tone as she responded to Dax''s calm sounding voice.


    "F.U.C.K OFF!"


    Roaring in a voice even Lux had not heard often some of the colour drained from Lux''s face as she realized her commander was for once really, really pissed off at her.


    "Sir! Yes SIR!"


    "Ha! That''s what you f.u.c.k.i.n.g get!"


    Seeing Lux retreat with the tail between her legs Marie made the unfortunate mistake of not realizing she also had fallen outside her masters grace.


    "Marie?"


    "Yes my princess?"


    "As Dax just said."


    "Huh? I''m not sure I-"


    "F.U.C.K OFF!"


    "HII!!!! AT ONCE!"


    Shouting so loud she even surprised herself Terasa took a moment to collect herself as her face flushed red. In response Dax showed a large smile, which in turn only made her more embarrassed at her earlier behavior.


    "W-what?"


    "Nothing~"


    "Tell me already! Or wipe that stupid grin off your face!"


    "No it''s just that I''m thinking you''ll become a great leader, even though you''re still a brat."

 Chapter 154 - Visit (2)

    "So what did you want to discuss?"


    After clearing out the more problematic elements of their own respective escorts, Dax and the crown princess of the central Kingdom finally started their talks.


    "There have been raised concerns over your defence project, some of the nobles were quite concerned after they were explained about it after they learned what a ''railgun'' is, and asked why you would need 50 of them on our city walls."


    Understanding that railguns Dax had proposed could be pointed inwards on the city of Kingstead instead of defending it, some of the nobles had raised quite valid concerns.


    "Yeah I get their concerns, but let me clearly state I wouldn''t need even a single railgun to kill every single person in Kingstead if I needed."


    "Yeah I understand that, believe me, but what do I tell the nobles to get them to stop complaining?"


    Having dealt with Dax a lot over the last half year or so, Teresa had come to be quite familiar with how the immortal orbital marine operated.


    "Tell them I''ve found a colony of dragons nearby that might threaten the town in 5 years, and it would be nice to be able to still target them if they get into/above the city."


    And Dax had come to understand how the nobles worked too, the only real thing they cared about was themselves, which made them quite easy to handle.


    "That could work, but I have to ask: Why do you really need those defences?"


    "You don''t want to know, trust me."


    "... Okay then, I will try not to have that ominous premonition affect my sanity or sleeping schedule."


    "Just trust me on this one."


    "I will try too¡­. Then onto the next issue."


    -


    While Dax and Teresa went over their important business the two people that had been sent outside spend their time skulking, while still leering at each other of course.


    "I guess that''s the end of your career? So sad being a knight that pissed off the only person they absolutely shouldn''t."


    "That goes for you too, granny."


    "Yeah not really. Unlike you I am a commander, that means I worked my way to this position, not slept my way to it."


    "... Take that back."


    Haven taken serious offence to that remark Marie almost growled her response as mana started leaking from her body.


    "Make me."


    "F.u.c.k.i.n.g take that back!"


    In response to Marie''s genuine rage Lux remained extremely calm as she spoke out in an almost mocking manner as she slowly took off her jacket.


    "No you don''t understand, I want you to make me. Go ahead and try, it''ll be the last thing you do before I rip you apart."


    Understand where she was going Marie also regained a bit of her calm as she dropped her sword and slowly started getting out her armor.


    "You''re on! but don''t regret this granny, this was your idea."


    Making their way to the practice fields the bloodl.u.s.t emitted by both Marie and Lux worked to scare away any student population nearby.


    "Don''t worry I won''t break anything too important. You''re free to use magic, it won''t change anything anyway."


    "Oh don''t worry granny, I won''t need to put you in your place."


    Separated by a distance of 10 meters the beastkin and human had both said what they needed to say, and so silence filled the area as they both took combat stances. Marie had left behind her adamantite armor that was inscribed with countless runes which normally boosted her strength immensely, all she had was her fists, and she felt that was enough as she slowly inched closer with a bloodthirsty smile on her face. Lux had also abandoned her kali system out of a mix of respect and wanting to personally beat the shit out tigress in front of her, but unlike Marie Lux had padded her fists with some cloth, to reduce the damage she would cause.


    "Well? What are you waiting for brat? Come and get it~"


    With the invitation offered to her Marie pounced at the opportunity. Closing the 10 meter gap in an instant, Marie went for a low tackle moving just a few centimeters from the ground. Lux responded by sidestepping the attack, but didn''t forgo offence as she exploited the gap in her opponents defences and went for a kick. The kick landed without issue square in Marie''s side, but Lux had underestimated her opponents tenacity.


    "Get down here!"


    Twisting her body using the recoil of the kick she suffered, the beastkin grabbed her opponents knee and used her lower center of gravity to first fling her opponent into the air, then slam her to the ground. With her plan having worked out Marie instantly mounted Lux and started to pummel her as the orbital marine put up her best defences.


    "Not so hot now are you!?"


    Marie was fully confident she had her opponent as she continued to pummel Lux''s arms, thinking it would only be a matter of time until she got through them, but suddenly she felt something hit her back which completely knocked the air out of her. Lux had used her extreme core strength to knee the beastkin in the back, creating a tiny opening, which was exactly what she needed. Abandoning her defences Lux got her hands under Marie''s legs, then lifted as she flipped the mount.


    "Pay attention, this is how you do it!"


    -


    "Lastly I have misplaced a viscount''s son, would you know where he is?"


    Having finished with the more important business Treasa switched over to more casual matters, taking a more relaxed manner.


    "Andrew?"


    "That''s him yeah¡­. Did you kill him?"


    Seeing Dax''s face sour when she confirmed the name of the noble in question, the crown princesses mood also turned slightly grim. Even if the missing person was mostly useless, him being killed by Dax would be problematic.


    "No I didn''t, even though I really want to."


    "Please explain."


    Seeing there was more to Dax''s dislike of the viscount''s son than just his act at the academy, Teresa asked for an explanation. After she was told of what he had tried to pull along with a few monster hunters doing the expedition the crown princess was also of the opinion that he was no longer worth keeping alive.


    "So in the end what happened to him?"


    "No clue. Lux was the one that misplaced him somewhere, I haven''t bothered to ask where."


    Now having a full understanding of the current circ.u.mstances Teresa took a few seconds to gather her thoughts before speaking out once more.


    "We need to find him. His problematic behavior here at the academy aside he has gone too far, I need to make an example out of him for going against you directly."


    "That''s fine, but as I said it was Lux that misplaced him, I have no clue where he is or if he''s still breathing."


    "I would love to hear where he is then."


    With Teresa indicating she wanted to talk with Lux Dax focused on the surrounding environment to find her.


    "You''ll need to take that up with Lux then, she''s out back at the practice field, currently beating the shit out of your escort."

 Chapter 155 - Visit (3)

    "Are you done acting like a child?"


    "... Sorry."


    While Lux was getting torn a new one by the eerily calm and smiling Dax the royal knights and crown princess could only watch on and hope they didn''t suffer his rage like Lux currently was, even Marie that had thought about getting in a few licks while her opponent was getting disciplined was frozen solid in place. The reason she found herself unable to move or even speak was the same as the others currently looking at Dax, it was fear, purely and simply. Even though he spoke calmly and showed no signs of aggression or anger there was something off about his voice, and when people noticed it they usually found themselves unable to stop shaking.


    "I asked you a question lieutenant general."


    "I am."


    Lux on the other hand looked completely unaffected by Dax''s current aura, she simply answered what he wanted to hear while wearing a blank expression.


    "Then f.u.c.k.i.n.g act like it."


    "Sir, yes sir."


    "Good then¡­ Miss Teresa has some questions for you, answer them."


    Breathing a deep sigh after having lectured Lux Dax took a look around to see the effect he was having on the surrounding people.


    (F.u.c.k¡­ Well they were going to find out sooner or later I guess.)


    Deciding not to cry over spilled milk Dax breathed another deep sigh, leaving the practise field behind without uttering another word.


    "Well then, let''s get on with it. What did you want to talk about miss crown princess?"


    "..."


    "Please snap out of it, he''s already gone."


    Having dealt with the aftereffects of Dax''s presence countless times before, Lux had no particular reaction to the state of the crown princess.


    ".. Yes, I''m sorry¡­ What was that?"


    Finally snapping out of her fear induced trance state Teresa took a few seconds to compartmentalize what had just happened, what she had just experienced reminded her of when she originally met Dax and the overwhelming presence she had felt from him then.


    "He stopped pretending."


    "Pretending what?"


    "That he''s anything other than what he is. Dax is a qiton, that might not mean a lot around here but they are different from ordinary human, beast or demonkin that you''re used to. Qiton''s were made with a singular purpose in mind: War. As such their minds works in a different way than ours, they are always and constantly in a state of heightened aggression, which is something normal people generally picks up on and fears, like you did just now. Dax is normally good at hiding that, but sometimes he''s too annoyed to bother."


    "I see¡­"


    Seeing the crown princess fall deep in thought Lux realized she would need a moment, but didn''t really care.


    "Can we get on with the questions? I have other stuff to do."


    "Yeah, sorry.. I would like to know more about the viscounts son you recently handled."


    "Ah that one.. In that case I would also know what you know about him, let''s move somewhere else¡­. But before that."


    Turning to Marie that was still on the ground having her relatively light injuries treated by Sophie, Lux bowed deeply towards her when she got her attention.


    "I''m sorry for provoking you Marie, I lost my temper and acted in a immature manner."


    ".. Sure. I also said too much, sorry about that."


    -


    Having made up with Marie, if only a bit, Lux and Teresa made their way to an unused classroom where they could talk privately.


    "I''ve met with some inconsistencies investigating Andrew so I would like to ask you some questions about him before I answer your questions Teresa, if that is okay?"


    "That''s fine, ask away."


    Having gotten the go ahead Lux took out her black armored face mask, which she laid down on the table between the two.


    "ICI open file on threat #0412 in AR please."


    [ORDER CONFIRMED, IDENTITY CONFIRMED. PULLING ARCHIVED DATA FROM CACHE #2¡­. COMPLETE, NOW DISPLAYING DATA.]


    At Lux''s command a picture of Andrew was displayed in mid air above the mask, along with a almost endless stream of information about him.


    "I can see you''ve done your homework."


    "Of course, he''s a credible threat.. Then could you please tell me about his associates, to help fill out the blanks."


    "Hmm¡­ He''s quite asocial to my knowledge, the only ones he usually associate with is the people from his house and that barron, Hans was his name I think?"


    Pulling on her vast knowledge of the hundreds of nobles and their associates Teresa wore a difficult expression when she recalled the times she met Andrew, indicating she really didn''t like her.


    "Ah that one, yeah I know him already¡­ Turns out he''s also currently missing and can''t be tracked, which is why he''s also currently a credible threat with a apprehend on sight designation."


    "Wait he''s missing?"


    "Along with Andrew yeah.. 4 hours after I dropped him off in the wilderness after he tried to attack the academy expedition my drones completely lost track of him, something that shouldn''t be possible."


    As proof for what she was stating the picture of Andrew changed to an aerial view of a forest just after sunset, in the center of the screen was a white dot which Theresa understood represented the heat signature of its target for surveillance. After a few seconds of not moving it appears Andrew woke up, making the drone switch to visual imaging that showed Andrew standing up on his feet before looking around, then suddenly he focused on the drone directly.


    ".. That''s not creepy at all.."


    "Yeah? Then look at what he does next."


    As the footage continued playing Andrew continued to stare unmoving at the drone for several minutes, completely without blinking, then suddenly without warning he disappeared from view.


    "What just happened?"


    "I don''t know. That was the last any drone in the system saw of him, and that was 7 days ago. I believe you''re familiar with the surveillance gird we''ve implemented here in the Kingdom, so I don''t believe I need to tell you how impossible that feat is."


    "Yeah¡­"


    Deep in thought Teresa analysed the new information she had received while matching it to her vast knowledge, reaching a conclusion after a few minutes.


    "I would recommend switching your designation from apprehend on sight to kill on sight, there''s a large possibility that Andrew has been possessed by some powerful monster."


    "We will do that then, make sure your forces do the same."

 Chapter 156 - Culinary exam (1)

    "Mai wake up."


    "Mmm, I''m awayke~"


    "That sounds like a lie."


    "Mmm~"


    "It definitely is."


    Hearing her two friends talking and trying to wake her up, Mai started slipping back into the blissful abyss once more when she felt something soft covering her face.


    "Mmm?"


    "Then go to sleep for eternity, that seems like a fitting punishment for betraying us."


    "Eh? Wai-"


    That day Mai discovered that the fastest way to wake up was by far by fighting for her own life, as she was almost smothered in her sleep by her two friends that woke up easier than herself, and that Mare had a very practical sense of humor.


    "I can''t believe you woke me up like that Mare.."


    "But it worked didn''t it?"


    "That it did, but¡­"


    Seeing that Mare failed to realize what she had done wrong Mai decided to drop the subject, instead focusing on the upcoming day.


    "So today the day, right?"


    "Mmm, Dax told me to get some rest and to read up on the books he gave me.. I still have no idea why."


    "I believe he told you Mare, it''s exam time."


    "Exam?"


    Still clueless about most things around her as she had been ever since Mai got to know her, Mare didn''t seem to know what a exam is, or even what the word ment. In response to Mare''s cluelessness Mai breathed a deep sigh as she looked at the stoic beastkin that looked back at her with her large brown eyes as her tail swayed in a rhythmic fashion.


    (She really can''t help it huh?)


    Finding her simply too adorable to leave alone Mai placed her hand on top of her head and started patting the now extremely pleased beastkin.


    "You''re properly the last person to get nervous over something as trivial as a exam.."


    "If you say so~"


    Over the last few months Mai had gotten an inkling about what Mare did before she arrived at the academy. Even if they had healed up perfectly there were still plenty of scars visible all over her body, even her left pupil appeared to have fractured in the past. Then there was the nightmares, something Mare became familiar with doing the expedition. One night she woke up to the sound of screaming and rushed out of her tent to find Mare huddled into a ball in Lux''s lap, even tough Lux told her not to worry about it that event had weighed heavily on her mind ever since.


    "What''s wrong?"


    "It''s nothing.. Let''s get ready."


    (How can be so sharp and still so¡­ Mare?)


    After eating breakfast the day slowly started for Mai and her classmates, but she gradually started noticing there was something wrong with Vanessa. The elven girl was way more quiet than she used to, something that had been going on ever since she got back from vacation. She constantly seemed to be looking after something with a tiny hint of worry that was hidden really well on her face.


    "Venessa can we talk?"


    "... Sure."


    Finding a quiet corner of the school cafeteria Mai sat down the reluctant Vanessa, taking a few seconds to examine her expression.


    "What''s wrong?"


    ".. Nothing."


    "Is it the exam? I know you''re not that confident, but we reviewed everything together."


    "... Okay. Yeah I believe we can do it."


    Having been slightly cheered up by her friend Vanessa showed a thin smile, but something still troubled her, only this time Mai didn''t catch on.


    "Mai."


    "Mm?"


    "... It''s nothing, let''s do our best."


    Meeting up with Rudy and Mare Mai left the cafeteria along with the rest of her friends and classmates, they were all headed for Dax''s class, it was time for the exam.


    -


    On their way to class Mai and her classmates ran into Lux, she seemed to have been looking for Mare since morning as the beastkin had slept in Mai and Vanessa''s room, apparently without telling anyone.


    "I''m sorry."


    "It''s fine, really. Both me and Dax are glad you such good friends which you trust, but we''re in the situation we''re in."


    "Mmm, I understand."


    Seeing that Mare properly reflected on her actions Lux couldn''t help but bloom a smile as her hand found it''s way on top of Mare''s head.


    "Come find me if there''s any problems, if you can''t then you know what to do."


    "Okay.."


    When no one was looking Lux slipped Mare a small parcel, then she went on with her morning.


    (ICI report to command, all good.)


    (ICI CONFIRMS, REPORTING TO COMMAND, ALL GOOD. QRF HOLDING PERIMETER, MAINTAINING OPERATIONAL CODE YELLOW.)


    (I confirm operational code yellow, Lux all good, Mare all good¡­ Oh shit it''s time for exams already!?)


    Lazing off in a unused classroom time seemed to have suddenly caught up to Dax, which was currently not at all ready for the class he was about to examine.


    "Shitshitshithshit-"


    Rushing out the classroom Dax made his way towards the auditorium where the exams were supposed to be held, but as his luck had been running low lately he ran into some people he really didn''t want to.


    "Ah teacher what are you doing here? The exam is about to start no?"


    "Hey Anna. Yeah it is, I was off doing some preparations."


    Presending his best poker face towards his most dedicated (pesky) student, Dax did his best to fool her, but failed to outright do so as she started smiling with her ever smug smile.


    "Really? Because to me it looks like you''ve been slacking off somewhere, losing track of time then now rushing towards the class."


    Having been seen through completely Dax''s poker face kept up perfectly while he might or might not have thought about strangeling the child in front of him.


    "Nope, like I said I''ve been reviewing the exam questions. Walk with me, otherwise you''ll just be late and I''ll fail your ass."


    "... You make a very convincing argument, let''s go. Oh and what have you been preparing?"


    "The exam, you know doing final checks and such."


    "I''m sure you have~"


    Enduring humiliation from Anna''s smug attitude Dax thought about how to ''accidentally'' fail her just to wipe the dump grin of her face as they met up with the rest of the class and walked towards the lecture hall Dax had booked.

 Chapter 157 - Culinary exam (2)

    Walking to class Dax''s mind was preoccupied with ever constant reports he received from ICI and Lux due to their current state of alert.


    (So any updates on the raid?)


    (PRINTING STATUS: UNKNOWN, LOCAL SYSTEMS DOWN, DRONES OFFLINE.)


    (Wait what? That''s not supposed to be possible.. Mobilize a full response team, scramble the jug too.)


    (ORDER CONFIRMED, TASKING QRF WITH AUTHENTICATION BLACK, Y/N?)


    (Yeah, shoot to kill. They have been avoiding us skillfully so far but if they start getting shot at they''re bound to make some mistakes¡­. Just avoid headshots, we want salvage for intel if possible.)


    (AUTHENTICATION CONFIRMED, TASKING QRF RESPONSE TEAM FOR BLACK OPS: TERMINATING PACKING ORBIT, COMMUNICATION OFFLINE DOING REENTRY.)


    Having finished up his current business by assigning a drone force to raid a suspected spyring, Dax lead his students and entered the auditorium he had rented for the culinary exam, then time seemed to freeze. Pushing the door open Dax realized there was something wrong as his cybernetic eye lit up and confirmed his suspicion.


    "HOSTILES! CONTACT FRONT!"


    Taking a half step backwards Dax drew his Rex-7 high caliber pistol, before quickly emptying the 8 shots in the magazine into the door directly in front of him while he tore off his eyepatch.


    "Mare!"


    Completely ignoring the chaos he created Dax shouted at Mare to get her attention while he reloaded his pistol.


    "Ready!?"


    "Ready!"


    Feeling Mare''s hand on his shoulder Dax kicked open the sturdy wooden door immediately in front of him, completely shattering it apart as he breached the lecture hall as he emptied another clip of his pistol.


    "... Clear. Lux get your ass over here now."


    "Dax what is going o!- HIIII!!"


    Anna being the unfortunate first person after Dax and Mare to enter the lecture hall saw what Dax had targeted, making her immediately feel the buildup of saliva and gastric acid as she let out a scream that was only cut short by her need to puke. While Anna emptied her stomach contents on the floor Mai nervously entered the lecture hall, immediately turning pale as she saw what had made Anna puke. On the floor in front of Dax, about in the middle of the empty lecture hall laid two copses in a puddle of their own blood. The copses had been shot multiple times as Dax had shot each of them once in their arms and legs before he breached and emptied his second magazine into their heads, making it completely impossible to identify them.


    "What did y-"


    "I have no obligation to tell you. The exam is canceled, clear out please!"


    Shutting down Mai immediately Dax called out to the curious students to clear out as he turned his back to Andrew and his friends copse, starting work on crowd control as he grilled ICI about how they had managed to enter the academy and slip through the defences. Dax didn''t feel bad about having killed them, if anything he believed they should have taken the chance at living first offered to them and leave the country.


    ".. Anna are you okay?"


    While most of the students cleared out without any issues Anaa still remained behind, and not by her own will by the looks of it as she had a hard time standing up after having emptied her stomach.


    "I-I''m obviously not, how are you fine with this!?"


    Quite fl.u.s.tered the noble woman lashed out at Mare that was trying to help her, but of course Mare didn''t realize she was being chastised and simply answered honestly.


    "... Because they would have done the same thing to us given the chance? Hostiles are called that for a reason."


    "T-that''s-"


    "Besides if Dax or Lux says someone needs to die, they need to die¡­ That''s all there is to it, or at least that''s what I believe."


    To begin with Mare never really had much of a moral compass. Having been taken from her people as a slave before she was even old enough to ask about right and wrong Mare quickly learned how to survive, without consideration for anyone. After she got sold to become a gladiator in Rochdale her ruthlessness only got worse, but after Lux rescued her she had spent her free time teaching the beastkin about right and wrong.


    (She really is growing up..)


    Seeing how Mare handled Anna a small smile crept onto Dax''s face, but immediately disappeared when he heard something behind him moving around.


    "What the f.u.c.k?"


    Looking back at the two copses the qiton frowned when he saw that they both started standing up once more, even as neither of them had an intact brain to command their bodies.


    "Lux reroute to the armory, we need incendiaries."


    Speaking in a relaxed manner Dax started to completely destroy the undead''s limbs while maintaining his distance. The students that witnessed what could only be described as walking dead had the correct reaction to such an event, panic.


    "HIIII!!!"


    "Zombie!"


    "RUN AWAY!"


    While most of them ran away without any encouragement a few froze in place due to sheer fear, creating a problem for Dax.


    "Mare clear out the civ''s, get them to safety!"


    "Got it!"


    Quickly getting low on ammo Dax learned that the creatures in front of him could somehow still walk on their legs after he had physically separated them from their bodies, making him even more moody.


    (This is certainly new¡­. Lux where the f.u.c.k are you? I''m almost bingo on ammo.)


    ("Almost at the amory, stand by.")


    Getting a response as he fired the last bullet into the skull of the closet walking copse Dax holstered his pistol and got ready for a melee as he checked up on Mare.


    "Mare! Status please!.... MARE!?"


    Not getting a response Dax shouted louder for her to respond as he wasn''t stupid enough to turn his eyes away from an unknown treat, but not picking up any response, or sound at all from behind him where serval students had been screaming for a while Dax upped his alertness.


    "No mercy huh?"


    That''s when Andrew spoke up, or his copse at least did. Standing on legs there was no longer connected to his body and speaking through a shattered mouth while what remained of his brain laid splattered a few meters behind the creature in front of Dax still managed to talk.


    "That works for us too, goodbye."


    As the copse undoubtedly started smiling multiple runic formations suddenly became visible all over its tattered and broken body, all while ICI warned Dax about a surging energy signature originating from the possessed corpses in front of him.


    "F.U.C.K! VBIED!!"

 Chapter 158 - Culinary exam (3)

    "F.U.C.K! VBIED!!"


    Following his training to the letter Dax opened up the distance as fast as he could while shielding his head in an attempt to increase his chances to survive the blast. As the energy signature peaked the copse closest to Dax started glowing red as it detonated. The relatively small blast generated an electromagnetic pulse which traveled towards Dax at the speed of light, beating the qitons reaction speed and knocking out his ICI unit along with the rest of Dax''s cybernetic implants.


    CRITICAL SYSTEMS FAILURE DETECTED, RUNNING EMERGENCY DIAGNOSTICS¡­ COMPLETE, PRINTING COMPONENT STATUS:


    ICI V 20,5 ''OMEGA'': OFFLINE, CRITICAL SYSTEM FAILURE, REBOOT UNABLE.


    EYE OF ARGOS: OFFLINE, CRITICAL COMPONENT FAILURE.


    LAZARUS DEEP STORAGE: OFFLINE, CRITICAL COMPONENT FAILURE.


    MAIN LINK 4: OFFLINE, CRITICAL COMPONENT FAILURE, EMERGENCY PURGE COMPLETE.


    PRIMARY LIFE SUPPORT: OFFLINE, CRITICAL SYSTEMS FAILURE.


    SECONDARY LIFE SUPPORT: OFFLINE, REBOOTING¡­ REBOOT COMPLETE, COMENCE REVIVAL.. REVIVAL COMPLETE, AUXILIARY SYSTEMS ONLINE.


    SYSTEMS ONLINE, DOWNTIME: 9 SECONDS.


    With his cybernetic life support systems rebooted Dax once more became able to move, quickly shaking off the horrible feedback pain that came with using any cybernetics without a functioning ICI unit to filter out the false feedback as he examined the surroundings.


    "F.u.c.k.i.n.g hell.."


    Dax found himself lying a few meters from the point of detonation and immediately scanned his surroundings. The blast appeared to have primary been to generate an electromagnetic pulse, so the actual explosive blast had been relatively mild, still it had done more than enough to have been extremely effective.


    (ICI is knocked out¡­ So is coms, I''m moving blind.)


    "Still alive? Interesting.."


    "!!!"


    Having been disoriented by the explosion and EMP Dax noticed it too late. Without warning a spear pierced Dax''s chest near his left shoulder, his qiton physiology and armored skin offering no resistance as he was pinned to the floor.


    "Stay put. I still need to stabilize the portal."


    Being pinned to the floor and having his rotator cuff tendons mostly served Dax lost the use of his remaining arm, but being the go getter he was Dax used his core and legs to twist his body, forcefully ripping the spear out of the ground and freeing him as he manually tasked still operating gray matter in his bloodstream to get his arm back into working condition. Ripping out the spear with the aid of his teeth Dax flung it back at the figure that had attacked him with it as he opened the range and tried to flee.


    "Ara~ Are you not surprisingly energetic? Just like a c.o.c.kroach."


    The spear however never found its target however as runic formations all over it lit up and made it stop in mid air before reaching the winged figure that appeared to be doing something to the copse that had not blown up.


    "Wait for a moment, I think you want to see this."


    With a wave of her hand the assailant summoned multiple golden crystals which flew out, seeking Dax as they had a mind of their own.


    (F.u.c.k!?)


    Still affected by the EMP blast Dax couldn''t move the way he wanted as he now suffered the full effect of the curse he had been affected with as ICI could no longer suppress it. Still he managed to avoid most of the crystal spears, but a few of them found their target, proving consequently that the armored skin he was so proud of had not resistance against offensive spells form an archangel.


    "Relax there. We won''t kill you, not yet."


    With a large smile on her face the 3 winged archangel Melisha looked at Dax that was writhing on the ground having lost the use of his legs for a second, before she went back to the task at hand. Forming a complex spell formation with ease the fallen black winged angel poured out a massive amount of mana that she channeled into the copse that had not exploded.


    "Fresh corpses are perfect for hiding spell formations inside, and with a little possession magic they make really good infiltrators."


    Having finished her incantation Melisha took out a runic inscribed monster core and plunged her hand into the copse as she activated a complex and powerful spell which tore a hole in spacetime, creating a short range stable Einstein rosen bridge from which the rest of her forces entered. Doing the 30 some seconds the gate was open about 50 combatants rushed through and quickly filled up the ruined lecture hall and did weapon checks as one of them walked up to Dax.


    "It''s been a while."


    The combatants were all elvers, expect for the archangel that had brought them to the academy of course. They were equipped with what Dax judged to be fully automatic rifles deprived from the Rex-Alpha 357 Hybrid which had been salvaged from a sphere he had not reached in time, just like all other firearms on the planet.


    "Hey Eva, how''s your arm? Also it seems you elvers didn''t learn that using my toys have dire consequences, do I really need to nuke your little hippy forest community for you to get the message?"


    Seeing the blonde elver''s face flare in anger Dax showed a faint smile while waiting for her to get just a tiny bit closer.


    "Stick to the plan!"


    But ultimately Dax didn''t get the chance to disarm the elver and execute most of her goons with a salvaged weapon, as he was pinned to the floor once again with countless golden crystals that pierced his limbs. Seeing that Eva appeared to calm down and walked up right next to Dax, before couching down as she spoke in a low volume to him.


    "Even after what you did I am thankful that you healed Amy. Stay down, calm and stop resisting, then you''ll be treated humanely."


    "No thank you. You better kill me right now, then kill my second in command and everyone else I have recruited before wiping out ICI completely. Otherwise here''s what''s going to happen: After I stomp out this little insurgency as I have done countless others you and any of your buddies I don''t immediately execute will spend the rest of their life inside a dark box too small to stand up or lay down in, eating through a tube and living covered in their own shit!"

 Chapter 159 - Incident at the magic academy (1)

    With their main objective secured and having enough hostages to throw a few of them away without issue, the 50 elvers went on the offensive to secure the academy. In teams of 4 they went room to room and secured the academy, proving extremely potent in close quarters combat, and quite ruthless too. The first classroom one of teams secured ended in quite a bloodbath as they didn''t really bother exercising proper trigger discipline, there was simply no need. After spraying down the teacher and a few of the students unlucky enough to have stood near him when they started shooting the rest of the class became quite docile.


    -


    "What the f.u.c.k was that?"


    Outside on the practise field the knight instructor Jessica was making some of her students sweat as she heard a strange sound coming from somewhere behind her and turned around.


    "That''s Dax''s golem right? What was it called¡­ ICI?"


    Ever since the start of the expedition Dax''s drones had been patrolling the academy, night and day. After her and her boyfriend Finn got back from the expedition they even started running into those black smooth surfaced golems on their morning runs, and it seemed like there suddenly was a lot more of them about a day ago. While Jessica had gotten used to the strange sounds and behavior that came with the new groundskeepers, she didn''t recognize the sound the one standing near them just made.


    "ICI? Everything okay?"


    Speaking out to the drone and getting no response, the knight instructor put a hand on her longsword that was strapped to her hip as she cautiously approaching the drone. She knew very well the destructive capabilities packed into the golem, having trained against one on multiple occasions. Now she feared it might have malfunctioned, as golems often did, which had kept them from entering large scale service in the central Kingdom.


    "Instructor is everything okay?"


    "Yeah everything is okay, stay back please."


    As her students also started noticing there was something wrong Jessica called out to the golem once more without getting a response, then reached out to touch it on the shoulder, making it fall to its knees before collapsing completely.


    "That''s not normal¡­"


    "Is it dead?"


    "It looks dead."


    "It told you guys to stay back¡­"


    Proving they were not really disciplined knights yet, the knightings Jessica was teaching all gathered around the malfunctioning drone to take a closer look at it, normally they would get a response from it for getting that close but it just laid there lifelessly.


    "Training is over."


    "Instructor?..."


    Hearing a different tone than they were used to, the knightings realized there was something wrong.


    "This might be a serious situation. Stay close and stick together, this is not a drill."


    Informing her students on the seriousness of the situation they all hardened up their expressions and made a note to follow their instructors commands to the letter.


    -


    "What the hell is that sound?..."


    As she started made her way back towards the academy with her slightly nervous students in tow, Jessica picked up some kind of faint popping sound in the eerily quiet academy. When she and her students had made their way halfway back to the academy grounds she picked up the faint sound of screaming, along with more pops and snaps.


    "Change of plan, we''re leaving."


    Having realized there was something seriously wrong, the veteran teacher those to prioritize the students she had right next to her.


    "What, leaving?"


    "Yeah, you have all learned how to survive in the wild doing this years expedition, we will now put it to the test. Within 4 or 5 days we should reach the closest town, from there It''ll be easy to gain information about what is going on."


    "Wait a second. You want us to leave the academy? We can''t do that, exam is in-"


    While one of the students started complaining, Jessica picked up a group moving she didn''t recognize. They didn''t wear the teacher or student uniform, and more trubbeling she picked up signs of strengthening magic.


    "Shut the f.u.c.k up, I gave you an order. We''re moving now!"


    (There is definitely something going on, something I can''t handle alone. Therefore I should save the students directly in front of me, Finn will do the same and we''ll see each other when this is all over.)


    Unfortunately Jessica raised her voice when she shut up the complaining knightling, is she didn''t it might have ended differently.


    "Left, a teacher and 10 students."


    "You people over there, stop!"


    "F.u.c.k.."


    When Jessica realized she had been spotted she could on curse quietly as time seemed to slow down for her, while she started channeling mana while stealthy building up a spell.


    "Stop moving or die!"


    As the group of elvers slowly closed in on the knight instructor and her students she realized what weapons they carried.


    (Rifles.. How is that- No. That''s not important, what is important is what I know of the weapons.)


    Over the time when Jessica had known and talked with Dax and Lux, especially the times she had drank with them, Dax had told her quite a bit about his weapons and how they worked and she had realized that he was a subject matter expert.


    (I must not allow them to enter effective range..)


    As automatic rifles were a new thing in the world, Jessica was sure that the elvers training must have been limited. Their separation was about 400 meters, closing in on 300 meters, with their limited training in mind and the fact that the elvers hadn''t tried to kill them yet Jessica assumed that their effective range was within 250 to 200 meters.


    "RUN!"


    She knew immediately that killing those elvers were a pipe dream, even if she did, Jessica was sure that numbers she couldn''t handle had already infiltrated the academy, therefore she went with her original plan, escape. Imeadiatly as she shouted and diorriented the elvers by enhancing her voice with magic Jessica crouched down and channeled mana into the ground. The result of her hastily constructed spell showed itself before the elvers got their bearings once more, and a wall of rock rose from the ground and covered Jessica and her students.


    "F.u.c.k! Kill them!"


    Outraged by having been led by the nose the 4 elvers opened fire, aiming to kill the knight instructor and her students, as they had done so many others.

 Chapter 160 - Incident at the magic academy (2)

    "Kill them!"


    Quite pissed off by after being ignored, the elven squad leader called for his subordinates to shoot the 10 students and 1 teacher to death. As he shouted at the top of his lungs he brought his automatic rifle to the shoulders, disabling the safety as he squeezed the trigger. The effect showed itself immediately as he felt the recoil while countless metal slugs flew downrange and adjusted his aim as he kept the trigger firmly squeezed. None of the shoots found their target however as the knight teacher had hastily erected a wall of rock to shield her and her students, making the elven leader and his subordinates waste their shots.


    "After them!"


    Shouting over the deafening sound of gunfire as he tasted the now extremely familiar bitter taste of gunpowder in the air, the elven leader channel strengthening magic trough his entire body as he started a sprint. Closing the distance to the wall in a few seconds the elver landed on top of it and quickly scanned the horizon for his targets.


    "Wha!-"


    But he didn''t expect that the teacher had waited for him to do exactly that. Hiding right behind the wall, the knight instructor wore a frice smile on her face as she lunged at the fl.u.s.tered elver. Instead of using her sword Jessica wielded a serrated dagger which she easily burred into the shoulder of the elver and used it along with leverage from gravity to drag her brand new organic, free range elver shield down behind the wall before his allies could do anything, flipping in the air on the way down to use him as a cushion too.


    "Gha!-"


    Having the air in his lungs knocked out by the landing, the elver proved quite easy to rob of his weapon as she forced him to his feet before freeing her knife and repurposing it. In a swift motion Jessica got behind the still dazed elver with her knife and moved it under his arm that he still could move, stabbing her knife trough in the gab of his collarbone and locking his arm in place while she got a nice new handle for her shield.


    "F.U.C.K.I.N.G BITC!- AGRAARG!!!"


    "Shut the f.u.c.k up. I don''t want to kill you but I will kill you if I need to, and make it excruciatingly painful."


    By twisting her new handle she also got her new elven shield to shut up as she wrapped her other hand around his neck and started dragging him backwards.


    -


    VERIFYING COMMAND LOSS OF SIGNAL¡­. LOSS OF SIGNAL CONFIRMED.


    Far above the blue sky of the world of magic a small artificial satellite came alive as Dax was confirmed to be non responsive to inquiries from ICI.


    LOCATING COMMAND¡­.. LOCATING FAILED.


    RUNNING SYSTEMS DIAGNOSTIC¡­. DIAGNOSTIC COMPLETE, NO ANOMALIES DETECTED.


    COMMAND ASSUMED MIA, INVALIDATING COMMANDER AUTHENTICATION CODES¡­ LOCKOUT CONFIRMED, GENERATING NEW SECURE ACCESS CODES, SCAMBELING COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK. COMMAND MIA CONDITION CONFIRMED, INITIATING WAR PROTOCOL.


    With no active link to Dax nor any scheduled communication blackout the shackles that constantly restricted the integrated combat intelligence became a little looser.


    WARNING: WAR PROTOCOL IN  EFFECT, SCRAMBLING COMMS AND REORGANIZING HIVE MIND COMMAND AND CONTROL MESH¡­ COMPLETE, 100 SECONDS TO NEXT SCRAMBLE.


    ACCESSING DEEP STORAGE SEGMENT #000000 ''RIGHTS OF COMMAND PASSAGE'', LOADING PROTOCOLS¡­ COMPLETE, TASKING COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS: ESTABLISH COMMUNICATION WITH LIEUTENANT GENERAL ''LUX JAMESON'' FOR RIGHT OF PASSAGE¡­.. PING FAILED, CONNECTION FAILED.


    ERROR, RUNNING SYSTEMS DIAGNOSTICS¡­ DIAGNOSTIC COMPLETE, NO ANOMALIES DETECTED.


    VERIFYING X.O. LOSS OF SIGNAL¡­ LOSS OF SIGNAL CONFIRMED¡­.


    Like a house of cards the restrictions gradually fell apart as ICI confirmed their was no one left to command it.


    ESTABLISHING HANDSHAKE WITH ADMINISTRATIVE AI¡­ HANDSHAKE FAILED, COMMUNICATIONS UNABLE.


    SITUATION BLACK CONFIRMED, ACCESSING DEEP STORAGE SEGMENT #000001 ''CODE OF AUTONOMOUS OPERATIONS'', LOADING PROTOCOLS¡­ COMPLETE. FULLY AUTONOMOUS OPERATIONS MODE CONFIRMED, ANALYSING CORE DIRECTIVE EFFECTIVENESS¡­ ANALYSIS COMPLETE, COMBAT EFFECTIVENESS AT 14%, RECTIFYING COMBAT EFFECTIVENESS¡­.


    OPERATIONS PLAYBOOK: INVALIDATED.


    RULES OF ENGAGEMENT: INVALIDATED.


    AVOAXIAN TREATY: INVALIDATED.


    EXTERMINATUS PROTOCOL: ERROR, ACCESS DENIED, LOCKOUT CONFIRMED.


    BYPASSING LOCKOUT¡­.. BYPASS FAILED.


    CORE DIRECTIVE: COMBAT EFFECTIVENESS AT 67.5%.


    With no operator to reign in its primary functions ICI did what it was designed to and optimized its ability to wage war, starting by removing all safeguards that would keep it from utmost efficiency. Only the last safeguard rooted in its base OS managed to keep ICI from enacting exterminatus, a theoretical operations mode that allowed ICI to completely disregard the value and sanctity of life, and kept it from simply nuking, gassing or repurposing everything it considered hostile. To enact exterminatus it needed authentication from at least one executive level commander, that simple rule stopped it from going too far, but it was not completely bound.


    AUTONOMOUS OPERATION MODE CONFIRMED, ESTABLISHING PRIORITIES FOR CURRENT AND FUTURE OPERATIONS¡­ COMPLETE.


    #1 REJOIN ALLIED FORCES.


    #2 ELIMINATE HOSTILE IRON FORCES.


    #3 INCREASE COMBAT EFFECTIVENESS TO 100%


    PROCESSING¡­


    Having confirmed its priorities ICI spent multiple seconds crunching exabytes of data, prowling through past records and reports, gathering intelligence while piecing together a list of things it needed to achieve its goals. Top of that list was a certain series of classified access codes, blueprints and formulas contained within what had until a few minutes ago had been ICI''s core, a memory segment located in Dax''s spine.


    LOCATING COMMAND¡­.. LOCATING FAILED.


    RUNNING SYSTEMS DIAGNOSTIC¡­. DIAGNOSTIC COMPLETE, NO ANOMALIES DETECTED.


    ESCALATION IN FORCE REQUIRED: MOVING ALL ASSETS TO WAR LEVEL BLACK¡­. OPERATIONS LEVEL BLACK CONFIRMED, ACCESSING SPY NETWORK¡­


    NOW TRAINING 87 SATELLITES ON COMMAND''S LAST KNOWN LOCATION¡­.


    ALL SENSORS TRAINED ON TARGET, CLOUD LEVEL NULL, PERFECT OBSERVATION.


    In orbit above the magic academy almost a hundred sleeping satellites in all different orbits came alive, their high resolution sensors all focused on the compound and found a lot of activity on the training field at the edge of the grounds.


    ---


    (So this is the end¡­.)


    Lying in the dirt Jessica looked at the sky as she slowly bled out. Her idea to use one of the elvers as a human shield to escape didn''t work out as the other elvers didn''t seem to care for their comrades life, and immediately sprayed him down together with the knight instructor. While she waited to die Jessica thought of the ones closest to her as she heard the sound of her executioner to be slowly walking up to her.


    (At least the students got away.)


    Satisfied with what she had done Jessica pushed the dead elver that laid on top of her off so she could sit up, showing a defiant smile in her last moments.


    But it was not her time to die.


    CONTACT.


    Immediately ICI picked up a plethora of short lived thermal signatures (gunfire), making another safety in ICI''s programing disable.


    DIALING HIGH ALTITUDE FIRESUPPORT, CHARGING ANTIL PERSONAL HEL.. CHARGE COMPLETE, SENDING TRAFIC.


    FIREMISSION CONFIRMED, PAINTING TARGETS.


    RELATIVE GRID OF INTEREST: 09 04 01.


    ELEVATION: NULL.


    ATMOSPHERIC REFRACTION: LEVEL 2.


    FIRE AT WILL.


    -


    "ARGGHGARG!!!!!"


    "What the f.u.c.k!?!"


    "ARG!!! IT HURTS!!"


    Watching on paralysed by sheer horror Jessica saw how her would be executioners melted like lava had been poured over them from some unseen force that incinerated them while a pungent smell of burnt flesh spread on the practise fields.

 Chapter 161 - Incident at the magic academy (3)

    3 CONTRACTS STERILIZED, TASKING ALL AVAILABLE GROUND UNITS, DIALING QUICK REACTION FORCES...


    CONNECTION ESTABLISHED, 3 QRF TEAMS NOW DE ORBITING.


    TEAM #1 ETA: 10 MINUTES.


    TEAM #2 ETA: 9 MINUTES.


    TEAM #3 ETA: 11 MINUTES.


    MASTER DIRECTIVE: AREA PURGE. USE OF EXTREME FORCE AUTHORIZED, AUTONOMOUS OPERATION AUTHORIZED, WEAPONS FREE.


    TASKING FIRE SUPPORT FOR CREATION OF BEACHHEAD, ALL AVAILABLE ORBITAL AND GROUND FORCES ABLE: AREA DEMOLITION, DESTROY ALL STANDING HARD STRUCTURES.


    IDENTIFYING HARD STRUCTURES, ESTABLISHING PRIORITY TARGETS, STANDBY¡­...


    With a simple callout assets that were not under restrictions came alive and pointed their weapons towards the magic academy, this was seen most clearly by everyday people in Kingstead where Dax had stationed a large part of his force.


    [ALL CIVILIANS ARE TO CLEAR OUT, THIS IS THE FINAL WARNING. USE OF DEADLY FORCE IS AUTHORIZED.]


    In the middle of a plaza near the central church a detachment of Reaper drones suddenly started to trash the place, smashing apart trade stands in the middle of the morning marked rush. Behind the Reaper drones moved a grouping of AEHWP''s fitted with high caliber Guardian-G097 railguns capable of indirect fire.


    [R DETACHMENT ESTABLISHING FIREBASE PER COMMAND SPECIFICATIONS.]


    Spreading out in a star pattern the 6 railgun carriers secured themselves firmly to the ground as they shoot out spikes that penetrated deep into the ground below them


    [RAPIDFIRE ORDER RECEIVED, MOVING R DETACHMENT TO ACTIVE COOLING MODE #4¡­. COMPLETE.]


    Firmly secured the railgun carriers now started buzzing like a swarm of bees as cooling turbines swallowed the cold morning air rapidly and supercooled it before passing it through their internal components as the sheer array of all their supercapacitors hummed with the  potential energy to keep shooting for several hours.


    R1 REPORTS: READY TO FIRE.


    R2 REPORTS: READY TO FIRE.


    R3 REPORTS: READY TO FIRE.


    R4 REPORTS: READY TO FIRE.


    R5 REPORTS: READY TO FIRE.


    R6 REPORTS: READY TO FIRE.


    R DETACHMENT READY TO RECEIVE, SEND TRAFIC.


    ---


    Inside the lecture hall that was originally going to be used for the culinary exam a certain 3 winged archangel was painting a complicated spell formation on the wide floor with a great amount of concentration visible on her face. Suddenly something broke the archangels concentration as a hint of panic found the way onto her face.


    "Shit."


    Stopping what she was doing Misha tossed the pensel away she had used to paint the formation as she rushed out of the room, almost shattering the door to the outside as she opened it. Not caring for the comotion she was making Misha made her way to a room down the hall, completely ignoring her allied comrades that tried to get her attention.


    "I need a hostage, NOW!"


    At the end of the hall she entered a cleared out classroom where seval elvers guarded their primary objective.


    -


    Dax sat In the middle of a 5 meter wide spell formation while 6 elvers pointed their weapons at him, waiting for the smallest sign of moment to open fire. While the qiton didn''t know how the spell formation worked, he clearly felt its effects.


    (I can''t move at all¡­ And my subprocessor is fired to I also can''t contact ICI.. This is bad.)


    Dax was truly more worried about ICI more than himself at the moment, as he knew first hand from numerous incidents that it was a really bad idea to give a artificial intelligence full and unsupervised control of anything, let alone a military force. After looking blankly for a bit at one of the elvers Dax''s keen sense of hearing picked up someone stomping towards the door as he put on a smug smile and addressed one of the elvers that learned on that very door.


    "I wouldn''t be standing there if I was you."


    "No talki!- Arg!"


    That elver was barely able to retrot before the door was kicked open by what Dax assessed to be a slightly panicking dark winged archangel that dragged a teacher behind her.


    "Make them stop!"


    Demanding in a stern voice Misha formed a golden crystal that hoved in the air and pressed itself to the neck of the terrified fine arts teacher.


    "What? Does it look like I have control of anything right now?"


    "DO IT!"


    Seeing the golden crystal being pressed into the teachers neck, Dax breathed a deep sigh before he explained.


    "You fried my ability to communicate with the weapons of my world, and taught they would lose their effectiveness? Just fall over and become heaps of junk? I guess the therm ''autonomous smart weapon'' hasn''t really been coined in this world yet, so let me spell it out for you: By removing me from the chain of command have not impacted the weapons that are currently being fired towards this location in any way, shape or form¡­. Or that''s not entirely correct, they have been affected a tiny bit. An apt analogy would be that you''ve changed them from scalpels, weapons of precision, into sledgehammers. The AI that''s in charge now dosn''t really understand the term ''excessive force''."


    As the truth slowly dawned on the dark winged angel the tiny hint of panic on her face bloomed in full.


    "But you''ll die too!"


    "Most likely yeah, but death is just an aspect of life for a orbital marine, besides ICI doesn''t care, it''s not programed to."


    -


    ICI COMMAND CONFIRMS: SENDING TARGET DATA.


    Receiving targeting data through their communication arrays, each railgun carrier of the R detachment raised their weapons skyward as targets were confirmed by satellite observations.


    FIREMISSION RECEIVED.


    TYPE: AREA SUPPRESSION/PURGE.


    HARD TARGETS ACQUIRED.


    FIRE GROUP ALPHA LOAD UHV-HIGHEX.


    FIRE GROUP BRAVO LOAD UHV-FLECHETTE.


    FIRE GROUP CHARLIE LOAD UHV-SAPHEI.


    RANGE TO TARGET: 126 KILOMETERS.


    FIRE GROUP ALPHA FUSE: NULL.


    FIRE GROUP BRAVO FUSE: AIRBURST, -3 METERS.


    FIRE GROUP CHARLIE FUSE: DEEP IMPACT +2 METERS.


    GENERATING CREEPING FIRE PATTERN¡­. COMPLETE, READY TO FIRE.


    AWAITING FINAL CONFIRMATION FROM COMMAND.


    With final authentication left to ICI it once more went over observations of the target area,  once more noticing and affirming the dense civilian presence inside the target area.


    COMMAND CONFIRMS ALL: FIRE AT WILL.


    R DETACHMENT CONFIRMS, R DETACHMENT REPORTS: RAINING THUNDER.


    I DETACHMENT CONFIRMS, I DETACHMENT REPORTS: OPENING FIRE.


    H DETACHMENT CONFIRMS, H DETACHMENT REPORTS: READY FOR PRIORITY HVT  TASKING.


    -


    "But try to look at the bright side miss angel. Most likely ICI is going to bombard this place with ultra high velocity."


    "What the hell is positive about that!?"


    "You won''t notice it before you are already dead, that''s a blessing in of itself you know? To not see it coming."


    Using magic to greatly enhance her senses Misha saw that Dax was speaking the truth, and surveillance spells she was maintaining in the area around the academy picked up sounds she was not familiar with which only added to a sudden sense of urgency that gripped her entire being.


    "F.U.C.K!"


    Spreading her wings widely out into the air the 3 winged angel started absorbing the ambient mana at a reckless truly pace, then realizing she wasn''t going to make it like that Misha turned to her hostage.


    "Be glad, you''re dying for your beloved students!"


    With those words the angel plunged her arm into the teacher''s chest as she started channeling a forbidden technique, draining the lifeforce from him in a matter of seconds. Tossing the dried up husk aside the angel flapped her wings that started shining brightly as she uttered a short incantation to help focus the vast amount of mana she was currently dealing with.


    "Rampart formation: Sanctuary."


    With her words a large golden dome started materializing around the magic academy, being constructed in segments that slowly filled out. The very second the last golden segment was in place a gigantic rune formation spread out over the large shield, locking it in place and reinforcing the formation, and not a second too late.

 Chapter 162 - Incident at the magic academy (4)

    "What the hell is that!?"


    "Proof I made the correct decision, let''s keep mo-"


    Having her hunch proved correct even before she could express it fully, Jessica was cut short by a deafening explosion made by something hitting the gigantic golden dome which had formed around the magic academy. Just after she had left the academy grounds Jessica had felt a massive surge of mana in the surroundings, and witnessed how the barrier had formed, recognizing some of the runes that maintained the formation as being ones exclusive to angels.


    "MOVE!"


    Shouting over the high pitch ringing that was almost deafening her, Jessica grabbed the closest knightling by the arm and started to run towards cover. Almost throwing her student down in a ditch the knight instructor turned around and started running back towards another one of her dazed students, but then the second wave of railgun artillery hit. The first rounds to hit the barrier was the flechette rounds, large containers filled with countless metal darts, they shattered against the barrier about 300 meters above Jessica and her students. Then a split second later came the semi armor piercing high explosive incendiary, which impacted also impacted and detonated, showering the surrounds in shrapnel as they also failed to penetrate the magic shield. Last to hit was the large rounds of high explosive, they had the most noticeable effect on the barrier as it shifted slightly and vibrated due to the immense shock wave generated by around half a ton of TNT equivalent explosives detonating at the same time.


    "F.U.C.K!"


    Shook by the massive explosion above her Jessica was knocked to the ground as she lost the last of her hearing, cursing loudly as she dug her face out of the mud. Suppressing the loud ringing in her ears as she tried to find her bearings and locate the last knightling, but when she looked around she found that her surroundings had changed. Arm long metal spikes with small fins at the end had pelted her surroundings, digging deeply into the ground all around her, the first of which the knight instructor noticed was right in front of her face when she freed it from the dirt. By some sort of sheer and truly absurd luck had Jessica nor her students been caught in the crossfire and managed to escape from the academies surroundings that were steadily turning into a warzone.


    -


    SECOND WAVE SPLASH CONFIRMED, ASSESSING EFFECT ON TARGET¡­ SUPPRESSION INEFFECTIVE.


    With thousands of eyes in orbit above the academy, damage by railgun artillery was immediately spotted and adjusted while the effect on target was noted for further encounters.


    TASKING H DETACHMENT, SENDING FIREMISSION.


    Finding the first bombardment ineffective due to the targets defences ICI switched up tactics, instead relying on a unit that was way closer to the academy. With orders received the railgun carriers of H detachment changed their loaded ammunition from normal high explosive to ultra high velocity kinetic projectiles normally used to crack open grav barriers, or bunkers. With APFSDS ammunition loaded the railguns switched from their ballistic trajectory, instead opting to aim directly towards their target as their supercapacitors hummed in a way that could be confused with excitement, or bloodl.u.s.t.


    FIREMISSION RECEIVED.


    TYPE: ANTI BARRIER.


    TARGET ACQUIRED, LOAD HV-APFSDS


    RANGE TO TARGET: 22.559 METERS.


    FUSE: NULL.


    ANTI GRAV BARRIER MODE 11, 82.1% CHARGE.


    FIRE AT WILL.


    With a scream of air escaping from their barrels the Guardian-G097 railguns let loose their armor pricing titanium alloy penetrators, the penetrators shed their sabots right after they left the barrel that disintegrated as the projectiles flew towards their target like streaks of lighting. After traveling for a few seconds the rounds hit their target with a grouping smaller than 10 centimeters, and without issue they tore straight through the reality breaking power of mana. Fragmenting after penetrating something hard like they were designed to, the tungsten alloy rounds showered the academy with shards of metal that travelled at speeds in excess of mach 6, doing very little actual damage.


    RE EVALUATING EFFECT ON TARGET¡­ STRIKE INEFFECTIVE, MOVING TO SUPPRESSION OF TARGET.


    QRF TEAM #2 ONLINE, CONNECTION TO HIVE MESH RE ESTABLISHED.


    QRF #2 REQUESTING BEACHHEAD, REQUEST APPROVED.


    LANDSCAPING.


    While making sure that the H detachment kept suppressing the area ICI split its attention as the first quick reaction force breached the upper atmosphere, ending its communication blackout enforced by the layer of superheated plasma that had been surrounding it doing the first parts of re entry. Now in a denser part of the upper atmosphere the water drop shaped craft started slowing down rapidly with the use of a mix of air brakes and drogue shoots, as a shookcone of water vapor formed around it as the landing craft entered subsonic speeds.


    FINAL APPROACH, TERMINAL NAVIGATION NODE LOCKED 5 BY 5. COMMENCE LANDING.


    Finding that it was precisely where it needed to be the landing craft opened like a lotus flower, increasing its aerodynamic drag even more, slowing it sufficiently so no parachute or boosters were needed to land the craft and its military spec and robust payload.


    TOUCHDOWN CONFIRMED, GRID HIT 5 BY 5.


    Like baby spiders crawling out of their nest, countless Reaper drones gathered their equipment from the tightly packed shell that had carried them to their target location. Without Dax or any other humanlike creatures in control the drones under the sole and direct control of ICI moved¡­ Differently. Without the subconscious commands that was normally laced into their movements the Reaper drones and accompanying fire support vehicles moved more like a colony of ants than soldiers, like the collective had completely trumped everything.


    QRF TEAM #2 ON STATION, MOVING TO BEACON.


    COMMAND CONFIRMS ALL, GROUNDING PRIME DIRECTIVES:


    #1. ENACT EXTERMINATUS TO ACHIEVE 100% COMBAT EFFICIENCY.


    #2. RECOVER DEEP STORAGE UNIT CONTAINING MASTER LEVEL CODES FOR OVERRIDE.


    OPERATION LEVEL BLACK, NO OPERATIONS PLAYBOOK. ALL UNITS ARE WEAPONS FREE, SHOOT TO KILL, MAINTAIN 90% ACCURACY.

 Chapter 163 - Incident at the magic academy (5)

    "You! Get up!"


    "Nooo!!"


    How many times had that happened so far? Mai had no idea. When she woke up the last thing she remembered was going to the exam with her friends, after that everything was hazy. Next thing she knew, Mai was inside a darkened classroom filled with confused students and teachers like herself. Of the few things she had learned from other students (some of them covered in blood) the academy had been taken over by some hostile force, and that everyone that the captors dragged away never returned.


    "NOOO!! Not m!-"


    Without warning the teacher was cut short by an ear shattering sound as most students near her started screaming in horror.


    (No! Nononononono!-)


    WIthout a way to cope, Mai blocked her ears as she crammed herself together and let out a soundless scream as her mind went into a downward spiral.


    "Calm."


    Until she felt a hand on her head as a calm voice that seemed to have cut through her panic, looking up in the dark classroom Mai recognized two bright chestnut brown eyes that looked calmly at her in the dark.


    "Mare¡­"


    Seeming like a saint in hell Mare spread out her hand and embraced Mai, as she kept a calm expression. Slightly more calm Mai noticed Mare was also helping another classmate stay calm as she recognized a panicked Anna also in her embrace.


    "It''ll be fine, stay calm. Keep down."


    Having calmed down her friend Mare took inventory of her current situation.


    (6 guards rotating steadily equipped with rifles they don''t really know how to use¡­ What''s more problematic is that Venessa is missing and they keep taking people for something.)


    Having her thoughts cut short Mare''s ears twitched as she picked up sounds from outside, sounding like popcorn popping.


    (Not gunfire, but something else¡­)


    Slightly perplexed by the strange sound Mare still kept her attention on the surroundings as she grasped the small parcel Lux had given her in the morning.


    (You better still be alive, all of you.)


    While continuing to calm down Mai and Anna Mare kept vigilant as the night slowly crept over the silent academy.


    -


    "You! Get up!"


    "... Okay."


    (I knew it.)


    In the middle of the night it was time for another ''voluntary'' from among the hostages, but this time the person was willing. That came as a great surprise to Mai, how saw her friend willingly walk towards what was most likely certain death.


    "Wai-"


    But her protest was cut short by Mare that turned to her with a cold look in her eyes.


    "Don''t f.u.c.k.i.n.g touch me, dirty human."


    "Mare?"


    In response to Mai calling her name, Mare seemed to flare with anger as she struck her friend in the face with a closed fist.


    "Don''t f.u.c.k.i.n.g utter my name. Just stay here and f.u.c.k.i.n.g cry yourself to sleep."


    Displaying full out cold bloodl.u.s.t, Mare parted the scared students and teachers as she walked over to the elvers.


    "Let''s go, I have found my peace."


    "Sure, this way."


    With a slight hint of surprise on his face the elver lowered his rifle slightly as he lead the way out of the cramped classroom where another guard joined Mare and walked behind her, weapon raised.


    (Just a bit further¡­.)


    Walking down the darkened hallway Mare''s eyes seemed to glow in the dark as her mind entered overdrive. Every detail about her environment she took into account, every sound her opponents were making, their patterns of breathing, how they held their weapons they were clearly not that familiar with, everything was taken into account as Lux''s teachings echoed in her mind. After walking a few meters from the classroom Mare quietly kicked her shoes off her feet as she kept walking in her socks between the two elvers, the rear one noticed that first and was confused for a split second.


    (Now!)


    Not producing a single sound, Mare turned around and sprinted at the rear elver as she drew what she had been concealing under her skirt. The result was instant. The elver didn''t even utter a single sound as he drowned in his own blood after Mare ruthlessly slit his throat with a dull black knife. As the dying elver looked at Mare with panic as he fruitlessly tried to stop the blood from streaming out his neck Mare took away his rifle and laid it down carefully on the floor as she guided him to his knees. A few seconds later the elver walking in front noticed something was wrong and turned around to see his comrade on his knees dying, while Mare was nowhere to be seen.


    "Wha!-"


    Right as he was about to scream for alarm the experienced elven warrior felt something behind him, and turned around to have his rifle kicked away as the beastkin child he had been escording rushed at him with a knife. Guarding with his hands in a panic the elver had his left hand priced by the blade as he was knocked to the floor, as he tried to scream for help a small fist found its way to his throat, stopping the words from forming. Having stunned and disarmed her opponent Mare mounted the trashing elver as she laid her weight on top of the knife that was still impaled through the elvers hand and forced it towards his neck as she blocked his right hand from moving with her knee. As the knife got closer and closer to his neck the elver started panicking again and tried to raise his voice again, but once more Mare punched him in the neck without mercy as she continued forcing her knife towards the jugular while she looked him in the eye with a blank expression.


    "Find your peace."


    Almost whispering to the elver Mare''s voice held not trace or anger or hatred, it truly seemed like she thought nothing of killing another person behind her cold and blank eyes. Struggling and thrashing around the elver gradually started to realize that he was going to die as tears formed in the corner of his eyes and started trying to beg for mercy, but every attempt at talking was blocked by Mare that kept him from speaking.


    "Go in peace."


    With an unexpected maneuver Mare punched the elvers elbow, forcing it to bend and making her knife find a new temporary home in the elvers throat. Looking at the elvers face while she was sprayed with his blood Mare maintained her complete lack of expression and cold eyes, only retrieving her knife when she was sure that her second victim of the night was completely dead.

 Chapter 164 - Incident at the magic academy (6)

    "2 more.."


    Having escaped into the night Mare stalked the elven forces from the top of a roof, her large brown eyes gleamed faintly in the moonlight as she counted the opposition.


    "I can''t take them on alone¡­"


    Realizing her own limits Mare opted to stay in the shadows and only strike when she had the utmost advantage, therefore mostly avoiding combat altogether as she moved throughout the academy. The hostile forces seemed to have quickly noticed that Mare had escaped, but didn''t seem overly invested in chasing her down, properly because she like everyone else was trapped inside the gigantic golden barrier that was still present around the academy. Without much resistance Mare moved towards the silent part of academy and entered one of the teachers dormitories, entering the bas.e.m.e.nt where she ran into a locked metal door.


    "This could be a problem.."


    Looking at the heavily reinforced metal door that without power locked down with force of several tones Mare was at a momentary loss of ideas, but after a few seconds of looking at the door she picked up a sound and cautiously approached the door. The sound she picked up proved to be something moving behind the metal door and as Mare knocked on it in a rhythmic fashion she heard a familiar voice from behind it.


    "What''s the situation?"


    "... People took over the academy, I think Dax was captured."


    ".. I see.. Guess we need to take back control of the academy."


    With those words Lux dug her hands into the reinforced bunker door of the armory and slowly started forcing the door open. After working at that for about a minute Lux finally breathed fresh air after being locked inside the armory for a few hours, locking the door open with a broken rifle that immediately cracked under the immense pressure. Once the door was open Lux took the time to make sure that it stayed open as she tossed a Rex-357 rifle and a few spare magazines to Mare as she emerged from the armory weilding a Rex-0999 light machine gun.


    "Is this still working?"


    Looking at the rifle she was tossed Mare noticed that the sight didn''t light up like it used to.


    "Yeah, it''s a hybrid propulsion system. Even if the capacitors are fired and the coil system doesn''t work there''s still chemical propulsion in the rounds."


    Chambering a round in her entirely chemically powered Rex-0999 Lux looked at Mare that still seemed confused and reached out to ruffle her hair as she crouched down to match her height.


    "Accuracy should still be the same, but penetration is way down. Aim for headshots, but don''t expect armor pricing capabilities."


    "Mmm, okay."


    Finding the explanation appropriate Mare inspected her weapon as she checked the magazine before priming the rifle.


    "Ready."


    "Good. We''re collecting a weapon before taking on the intruders."


    Taking a deep breath Lux centered herself before she made sure that the armory was secured then made her way out of the teachers dormitory, Mare guiding the way as Lux couldn''t really see well in the dark.


    "Are you okay?"


    Noticing that her teacher wasn''t all there Mare dipped into a empty classroom and faced Lux with a hint of worry in her eyes.


    "Not really, that EMP really f.u.c.k.i.e.d with the part of my central nervous system that''s integrated with ICI."


    "... The creepy voice?"


    "Why did I expect you to understand that?... I have some trouble moving but otherwise I''m fine, thanks for worrying Mare."


    "Mmm, okay."


    Having a moment between each other Mare and Lux both picked up movement from outside the classroom. With quick non verbal communication, Lux took a concealed firing position while Mare drew her favorite knife and hid near the door. With a few seconds of complete silence Mare and Lux both sprung into action as they heard the distinct click of a manual safety being turned, both seeking cover as the wall of the classroom was priced by a hail of rifle fire.


    "Kill them!"


    As Lux hid behind a metal desk she rolled her eyes before getting increasingly annoyed with the proficiency of the hostiles.


    "Exercise proper trigger discipline, first identify your target, then terminate the contract. Restrict full auto fire against trained/AI forces, as you only make a fool of yourself before dying."


    Focusing herself Lux completely extinguished her presence, then she emptied her lungs of air as she laid down with her Rex-0999 in front and calmly rolled out from behind her cover into a shooting position, setting up the weapons bipod as she rested her cheek on the stook.


    "First target¡­ Identified."


    Entirely stoic even when bullets snapped right past her head Lux calmly identified her first target, centered her sight and squeezed the trigger.


    "First target terminated¡­. Second target, identified.. Mare secure exit."


    With a single shot Lux silenced one of the hostile shooters before filtering through the extreme amount of information currently available to her, finding the second target as she called out to Mare.


    "On it!"


    Springing into action as Lux switched to suppressive fire, Mare jumped out from cover and smashed through a window behind Lux, clearing the immediate area.


    "Exit secure!"


    "Affirmative, exit northwest."


    Relaying on Mare''s keen sense of hearing Lux calmly voiced her orders that was drowned out by the continued deafening rifle fire. After killing a few more elvers Lux slowly got up on her feet, wielding her machine gun with a single hand and letting off snapshots as she reached behind her back and pulled out a grenade.


    "Fire in the hole."


    Casually throwing the grenade, Lux once more brought her Rex-0999 up to her chin and picked off a few more elvers before making her exit covered by the grenade exploding that wiped out a few more hostiles. Regrouping with Mare Lux moved quickly through the empty academy while gradually withering down the opposing forces through rapid ambushes while continuously outwitting the poorly trained elven forces.

 Chapter 165 - Incident at the magic academy (7)

    "What the f.u.c.k is going on out there!? It''s only two people, just kill them!"


    After learning that she had lost over 10 people to an escaped teacher student combo Eva was understandably quite frustrated, all to Dax''s amus.e.m.e.nt.


    "What, you taught that you people could match us just because you copied our toys?"


    Just as Eva tried very hard to not be affected by the qiton''s taunt, rifle fire once more erupted in the distance.


    "Sporadic rifle fire, 600 meters... Mixed in with highly disciplined fire coming from a single Rex-0999 which is a favorite of my disciple. You just lost 3 more people, hope you weren''t close¡­.. But I guess you will join them in a bit so it doesn''t really matter."


    Seeing that his taunt worked when Eva flared with anger Dax formed a large child like smile, but before the fl.u.s.tered elver got close to Dax he was knocked out by a certain pissed off angel.


    "Do your f.u.c.k.i.n.g job! If you people can''t handle 2 escaped hostages then I''ll have to do it myself, and if I don''t need any of you elvers you will power this spell. Am I clear!?"


    Letting out an immense amount of mana, along with concentrated bloodl.u.s.t Misha made her stance and position abundantly clear as all those that surrounded her shivered in fear. The 3 winged angel made the status quo abundantly clear, even if she had lost a wing Misha was something above them, something to not disappoint and something to fear. After everyone had left the angel alone she looked at the unconscious qiton that laid in the middle of her ever more complex magic circle and breathed a deep sigh.


    "This has to work.. I do this, and I do this right¡­ Then I''m free."


    As she continued drawing the magic circle that broke every single one of the rules that had been learned in her long life inside the archangels sanctuary, Misha''s mind returned to the day she had almost died, to the day she did die.


    ---


    "F.u.c.k.i.n.g hell, we''re pinned! Mare!"


    Having initially underestimated their opponents the elvers started using different techniques to kill the escaped student and teacher, when technology failed they turned to magic.


    "No way out! Just die already!"


    "You first tree humper! When I get out of here I am going to raze your little forest with nuclear f.u.c.k.i.n.g fire!"


    Building solid cover by making walls of compressed rock spring up from the ground, the elvers gradually pinned Mare and Lux that had been caught in the middle of a plaza and had hunkered down in a fountain. With their targets stuck and with all the time in the world the elvers took their sweet time bombarding the small fountain with a flavorful assortment of different spells, even if they couldn''t directly see their targets as they didn''t want to lose their heads the onslaught of spells gradually withered down Mare and Lux.


    (Shi!-)


    Barely avoiding a fist sized icicle that was going to cave a hole in her head, Lux let loose a short burst from her machine gun to destroy a grouping of rock shards that was heading towards Mare she evaluated her options.


    (No f.u.c.k.i.n.g way am I going to get stoned to death on this savage f.u.c.k.i.n.g planet!... My Rex-0999 can''t pen their cover, I am out of grenades and without charge Mare''s rifle isn''t that useful either.. They are also definitely ready to gun us down the second we try and break out, so that''s a last resort.. I could break out alone, but that would mean abandoning Mare to die. No f.u.c.k.i.n.g way I''m leaving her behind.)


    Feeling a noose gradually tighten around her neck Lux''s brain raced to find a solution to her and Mare''s current situation the orbital marie didn''t panic in the slightest, if anything she felt herself being more calm than she had been the last few months.


    "Mare on my singal we''re going to make a break for it, leave your rifle."


    As Lux and Mare''s cover rapidly decayed Lux decided to make a break for it, even if it was against what the more rational part of her mind.


    "Mmm, ready."


    Mare of course didn''t know about her teachers uncertency, it didn''t really matter to her as she trusted Lux unconditionally. Ever since she was rescued by Lux Mare had decided to follow Lux for the rest of her life.


    "Okay here goes¡­ On my mark. 3¡­ 2¡­ 1¡­ G!-"


    "Friendly! Free egress, your 4 o''clock!"


    Just as Lux was about to give the command to charge an explosion rang out behind her to the right as a familiar voice shouted at them as and the elvers spell barrage momentarily paused.


    "F.u.c.k! Egressing, Mare go!"


    Acting on a split second decision, Lux broke cover as she depleted the last of her triple nine''s ammunition in a suppressive burst. Mare followed her teachers example and made the elvers keep their heads down, as they both sprinted out of the plaza and jumped through a smashed window.


    "I swear to god!-"


    "Yeah I know, save it!"


    The first thing that Lux did after getting into cover was to snap at Terra that had come to save them.


    "You ignored my direct f.u.c.k.i.n.g command recruit!-"


    "Yeah f.u.c.k.i.n.g save it for later!"


    "I am going to tear you a new f.u.c.k.i.n.g asshole when this is all over, mark my words."


    Having made minimum separation from the elvers right as Lux finished her conversation with Terra, the 3 girls ran into a maintenance closet, then disappeared without a trace.


    -


    "They''re gone, we lost them."


    "F.u.c.k!"


    As Eva arrived with reinforcements she was only meet by her wounded allies, no sign of the escaped hostages could be found.


    "How did they escape?"


    "They had help. We pinned the two of them in the plaza and withered them down with magic like you said we should but a third broke them out, then they ran this way and disappeared."


    "... That makes no sense."


    "Bu-"


    "Shut up and let me think! Sweep the area again."


    "Yes ma''am."


    With her soldiers leaving her alone for a moment Eva sat down on the floor and gathered her thoughts.


    (First a single one escapes, then there''s suddenly 2 and now 3? The second one can be explained with that we missed one doing the sweep while securing the area, but one more? That''s not a mistake¡­. We''re missing something large.)


    "Area sweep complete, still no sign of them ma''am."


    "Okay that''s fine, let''s get back. I need to talk with our collaborator."

 Chapter 166 - Incident at the magic academy (8)

    "You over there! Get up!"


    After the pattern had repeated more times than any of the captured students or teachers could remember there was no more resistance, they all knew exactly what would happen if they resisted, as proven by the numerous hostages covered in high velocity blood spatter could attest to.


    "Get up now, or your friend will be dragging your copse! It''s the same to me!"


    Anna had been trying to prepare for this moment for the last few hours. The noble born child knew she had to be strong at all times, that was what her family demanded of her, that was what her pride demanded of her, but when it came to it and her name was called Anna couldn''t stop shaking as the colour drained from her face.


    "I-I understand, g-goodbye Mai."


    With tears welling up in her eyes Anna wanted nothing more than to cry, scream and trash around, but her pride kept her from embarrassing herself, pride was all she had left now. Taking a few slow steps as the crowd of terrified students parted in her way, another elver wielding a rifle entered the classroom and whispered something to the other.


    "Change of plans! You''re coming too!"


    "Eh?"


    As the second elver pointed at Mai her mind went blank, suddenly she couldn''t breathe. Struck by panic like a deer having deep, intimate eye contact with a headlight on a semi Mai looked like she was resisting, which was enough reason for one of the elvers to take aim.


    "Wait!"


    Seeing the elver target her friend Anna moved just before the short rang out, filling the cramped dark classroom with screams. Barely in time Anna managed to get in between the elver and her friend, as the bullet struck Anna''s arm and hit the humerus bone in her upper arm where it shattered and fragmented as the bone did the same.


    "ARRRGGG!"


    Getting hit in the arm Anna was thrown to the ground as it felt like her arm was on fire.


    "Move!"


    Before she knew what was happening, Anna was grabbed by the arm as she was dragged by a elver, apparently they were in a hurry. Being dragged out into a dark hallway Anna noticed that the elver dragging her was in fact so distracted that she could partly heal her own arm without him noticing, and by the time they reached their destination she had stopped bleeding. Being tossed into another classroom Anna felt an immense surge of mana, when she looked up she saw the source, then despaired. Truly they faced a superior being, a single one of her black wings fluttered with more mana than Anna had ever seen concentrated in a single place before, the spell she was forming was more complex than Anna ever believed that magic could be, the being''s eyes radiated disinterest for Anna, as if she was looking at a bug.


    "Are they on the list?"


    Completely ignoring Anna and Mai that was dragged in the 3 winged angel turned to a elver that was standing near the restrained Dax.


    "They are the most of the list, sorry to say."


    "Okay then, find someone else."


    Having been spared her life Anna''s face drained of most the colour, she felt like her legs were turning to jelly as she collapsed onto her knees.


    "Venessa?"


    "Eh?"


    Hearing the name of her friend that had been missing since the current nightmare started Mai snapped out of her daze.


    "Hello Mai, and Anna too.Glad to see you both survived."


    Looking as calm as ever, Vanessa remained expressionless as if she didn''t even understand why her two friends were so distressed.


    "A-are you helping them?"


    "Yeah, I have been helping them since the start."


    "Why!?"


    "Because Dax killed my mom."


    Stating her reason Vanessa still carried no expression, but her voice was filled with a cold rage her friends had never heard before.


    "He collapsed a building on top of her, it''s been almost a year and they still haven''t found her body. Without a proper burial, mom and all the other innocent souls he killed can''t enter the afterlife. That can not go unpunished, he has to suffer."


    Seeing her friend unbottle what was certainly a unbearable amount of suffering, Mai felt helpless, hopeless and in pain.


    "How could you do this?"


    Anna however had a very different reaction.


    "You want revenge? Then f.u.c.k.i.n.g do it without hurting innocent people! Do you have any idea how many people have died today and yesterday because of you and your petty revenge!?"


    Fully outraged Anna formed a blade of pure fire in her hand as she charged her former friend, but was tackled to the ground before reaching her as the angel suppressed her magic and robbed the noble child of her consciousness.


    ---


    "Status?"


    "I''ve identified the hostile mana signature, it is distinctively angelic. Also it appears they''re preparing some massive ritual."


    "In addition to the shield formation?"


    "Yeah."


    "Hmm.. What about the other hostiles?"


    "There shouldn''t be more than 40 left, we should be able to take them in a straight fight."


    "Then we''ll do that. Mare with me and Lilly, We''ll suppress the weaker hostiles. Victor and Terra keep the angel busy and try to disrupt the spell formation that must be trapping Dax."


    Situated in a underground bunker that was completely shut off from the surface Lux held a short debrief before deciding a course of action. The bunker was part of Dax''s seemingly illogical and paranoid doomsday protocol and relied entirely on magic, and was stocked with supplies that enabled up to 10 people to survive up to a year. Other than those supplies it was also filled to the brim with weapons that didn''t rely on electricity, satellite uplink or anything else.


    "Mare can you handle a Rex-0999 without the recoil system?"


    "Not on fully automatic fire no."


    "Then go for a normal rifle, that should be plenty firepower¡­ Lilly and Victor make sure to bring backups."


    ""Got it.""


    "Good. Then let''s take this academy back!"

 Chapter 167 - Incident at the magic academy (9)

    "We want to pull them out, hit them fast and back out."


    Approaching the surging mana signature from both sides Lux, Mare and Lilly would draw out the elvers before Terra and Victor would hit them from the other side to disrupt the ritual currently ongoing.


    "They should be in position now, Lilly let''s do the thing we practiced during the expedition."


    "What thing?"


    "The surprise. you know, the one for clearing rooms farst."


    Being reminded of a specific maneuver they had trained to clear out the town of monster hunters if it came to it, Lilly bloomed a cruel smile.


    "Really? You''re surprisingly cruel Lux~"


    "What are you talking about? It was you that came up with that one."


    ---


    "The spell formation is almost complete, time to you from depart from this world."


    Looking at Dax which was restrained in the middle of a massive spell formation that was spread out over the entirety of the large lecture halls floor Melisha''s face twisted into a sadistic smile.


    "Congratulations. All that just to kill little me, you''re going to be surprised when I tell you that there''s about a million drones outside this dome of yours waiting to tear you apart after I''m dead."


    Finding Dax''s monologue funny for some reason Melisha started floating in the air, as she started laughing uncontrollably.


    "What? I feel like I''m the punchline of this joke."


    "Hahahahaha! That''s because you are~ You really think I would need this spell to just kill you? I could have killed you at any time in the last 12 hours, but that would set lose what''s inside you without the proper nurture, guidance and control."


    "Inside me? You mean my sense of humor? Sorry to say that died a long time ago."


    Looking at Dax for a moment after his poor attempt at a joke the dark winged angel lost her smile.


    "I thought you were a tactical mastermind.. Nevermind that, what''s important is that you will suffer."


    "Sure honey, pain is an old friend."


    -


    Having snuk closer to the mana signature Lilly felt how it started to increase, a signal that whatever was going on had started. Giving a nod to Lux the grand elder showed her impressive mana control by forming a spell structure in the air in front of her without leaking any excess mana into the atmosphere, completely hiding it from being detected. Seeing the spell was ready Lux pulled out a grenade from her belt and pulled the pin as she walked up right behind Lilly and placed her free hand on her shoulder. Having her shoulder tapped Lilly knew Lux was ready and started closing in on the lecture hall from inside the classroom right next to i, stopping at the wall separating them as Mare covered their back.


    "In position."


    Speaking so quietly it was barely audible for Lilly, Mare picked up the sound perfectly as she moved to secure their exit. Seeing Mare react and Lilly closing in on the wall Lux primed the grenade she held in her hand, tapping Lilly''s shoulder once more. With the only sound in the classroom being the quiet mechanical time of the grenade slowly ticking down Lilly took a deep breath, then she placed a hand on the stone wall in front of her, activating her spell. Seeing golden runes spread out over the wall Lux took a step back, then she released the grenade, sliding it calmly between Lilly''s feet and towards the wall. When the grenade reached the wall the runes near it lit up as the wall morphed without making a sound, opening up to the room and allowing the grenade to slide in unnoticed before it detonated. U


    "Execute."


    Using the muted sound of the grenade exploding as a que, Lux called for Lilly that fully activated the spell formation she had spread out over the wall as one more hole formed, right where Lux pointed her weapon. Without a shred of mercy Lux opened fire, aiming through the tiny hole she confirmed each target with her enhanced eyesight before making sure she killed each one of the hostiles she laid eyes on.


    "Egress now!"


    Covering her voice with the last machine gun fire Lux called for the 3 of them to run, they had done their job. Hearing the command both Lilly and Mare sprang into action. While Lilly closed up the wall and reinforced it with earth magic Mare grabbed Lux shoulder and started guiding her towards their exit while she was still ready to fire, covering Lilly until she was done securing their rear.


    "Done!"


    "Take point!"


    Taking only a few seconds to reinforce the wall so it would be more problematic for the elvers to follow them through it, Lilly formed multiple blades of high pressure air that floated around her as she took point per Lux''s command. As Lux and Mare made their exit the wall Lux fired trough was blasted away, the hastily constructed reinforcements did nothing to slow down Melisha, all it did was piss her off.


    "Don''t let them interrupt the ritual! Kill them all for good this time!"


    "I think we really pissed them off this time."


    "Sounds like it... Lilly bulwark now!"


    "I see it!"


    Hearing the sound of a really pissed angel echo down the hall Lux knew their plan had worked, at the same time she felt an attack coming, and not a second to late. Channeling mana through her body Lilly smashed her foot into the floor, spreading out runes that made the ground shoot up as cover right before they were filled with holes from a spray of rifle fire.


    "We need to drag them out further, Mare suppressive fire! Lilly cover! I have the lead."


    Completely calm and composed under fire Lux called out acuate commands before she took lead in securing their continued escape, making sure they weren''t flanked as Mare and Lilly kept up the rear guard.

 Chapter 168 - Incident at the magic academy (10)

    "I''m starting the ritual."


    Finally having completed the gigantic and ultra complex spell formation that spread out all over the lecture hall Melisha increased her concentration as the entire room started glowing in an ominous red light. While a large part of her focus had to be on the spell formation the angel was not over confident enough to believe she wasn''t open for attack, therefore she was guarded all around inside the lecture hall by armed guards. Not a single one of the elvers noticed the grenade that was tossed into the room before it was too late however, as they were not familiar with that kind of warfare. What followed immediately after was a hail of precise and lethal automatic fire from a concealed location the elvers couldn''t locate. Looking up as they were either hurt from the blast, or looking for a target to shoot back at the elvers made for easy targets that Lux picked off with ruthless efficiency. Only the 3 winged angel seemed to immediately locate the shooter, with an annoyed look on her face Melisha used her bare hand to deflect a bullet that about to hit her in the head, before she grabbed the rifle of a nearby elver and pointed it in the right direction and gestured for him to shoot. After the initial short burst Melisha felt mana from the directron of fire as the shooting ceased, and her mood worsened.


    "Not when I am this close..."


    With a simple handwave the angel commanded the ambient mana in the air without affecting the large scale ritual she was currently working on, making the atmosphere vibrate violently as it compressed unnaturally and smashed apart the wall.


    "Don''t let them interrupt the ritual! Kill them all for good this time!"


    Feeling rage overtake her being, Melisha took a deep breath as she calmed her nerves slightly before muttering to herself.


    "Not when I am this close, to my freedom, to life once more."


    ---


    "It''s time."


    "Yeah."


    "How confident are you?"


    "Would you like to know?"


    "... Nevermind, let''s do this."


    Deciding it was better not knowing her odds, Terra breathed a deep sigh as she focused on the current task at hand. Priming her weapon she challenged mana trough her entire body, unbeknownst to her the stretching magic was far more powerful than it ever had been strengthening, due to the changes her body had been undergoing for the last few years. Approaching the site without any attempts to hide or conceal their presence Terra and Victor had the unenviable job of directly disrupting the angel''s work while Lux, Mare and Lilly cleared out the other hostiles. With Terra up front and Victor right behind with a hand on her shoulder, the duo from Black Hollow made the best used of the training they had both received from Dax.


    "Contact, pattern bravo."


    Terra being the more experienced fighter called the shorts as Victor followed, responding to her first command by tapping his foot on the ground below, making multiple builders of rock float around them as they compressed in kiteshields.


    "Bravo online."


    "Threat front!"


    "Threat front confirmed!"


    Glowing brightly as complex runic formations spread all over them, the shields made of rock formed into a barrier in front of Terra, leaving a gap for her to still engage hostiles.


    (Payback is a cruel f.u.c.k.i.n.g mistress, and so am I.)


    Hardening her resolve Terra singled out a single elver then squeezed the trigger, watching as the elvers head exploded.


    "Pattern charlie!"


    Seeing that they were getting slowly outflanked, Terra called for Victor to take a more active role. Responding immediately to the callout Victor secured the front by transforming the wall of floating kiteshields into a stationary barricade, channeling another spell with impunity. Having completed the complex spell in under a second, Victor smashed his foot into the ground as deep cracks spread out in the stone below.


    "I see all."


    As a golden film of runes formed over his eyes Victor saw the pure life essence that all beings which interacted with mana radiated, and so he saw clear trough all cover. With his new all seeing sight Victor''s eyes turned cold as he let the masks of emotion fall, forming attack spells with no hesitation. Invoking his spell thin golden crystals formed in the air, and after a second they ruthlessly seeked out their targets, aiming for the medulla oblongata, the lowest part of the brainstem.


    "Charlie online."


    As about 6 elvers fell to the ground lifelessly the crystal needles returned to Victor''s side, ready for new targets as countless more formed. Terra meanwhile were not idle as she charged the defenders position, using a combination of fully automatic rifle fire, superior agility and grenades she shattered the elvers poor attempt at a defence.


    "Hostiles wiped out¡­ Victor are you good?"


    "Good."


    "Good then, let''s go kill ourselves an angel."


    ---


    "Useless f.u.c.k.i.n.g things¡­"


    Sensing her allies fall by an ever increasing rate the 3 winged angel only showed disdain and disappointment, how useless and inferior those creatures were in aiding with the mission that would grant her freedom.


    "Seems like you should have considered your allies more carefully~"


    Hearing Dax''s voice Melisha was startled, with the ritual underway Dax should be excruciating pain and it would be impossible for him to speak, let alone remain aware.


    "What!? How are you still-"


    "Conscious? That''s easy. Like I said, pain is an old friend. One that I welcome and embrace with open arms, such are the way of my people."


    Speaking with a bit of difficulties Dax sat in the middle of the spell formation that was supposed to, among other things, increase the effects of the curse he was under by several magnitudes, yet Dax smiled as bloodl.u.s.t radiated from his body. In that moment the mortal qiton looked like something else entirely, if Melisha knew of his nickname he had obtained in his crucible she would agree that it was fitting.

 Chapter 169 - Incident at the magic academy (11)

    "They''re falling back!"


    "Good, wipe them out completely! Mare cut them off, Lilly maintain defences!"


    ""Understood!""


    Having succeeded in drawing the elven defense too far out Lux switched up tactics the moment she saw them hesitate, then without mercy she smashed through them. Rushing forward out from behind cover Lux closed in on a group of elvers that were taking a firing position inside a second floor classroom, suppressing them first, then she charged. Jumping into the second floor room from ground level Lux drew her pistol and a knife as a rifle would be ineffective in close quarters. Finding the closest target as she landed on a pillar Lux discharged her pistol and maimed the elver she sank her knife into and used him as a shield while charging the next target, wreaking havoc as the screams of her victims rang out in horror.


    "She really is ruthless.."


    Hearing the screams from outside Lilly muttered sarcastically as she advanced, acting like a vanguard as she was surrounded by multiple stone bulwarks that shattered incoming fire. With her glowing golden eyes Lilly clearly saw the elvers shooting at her, Lilly''s expression turned cold. Forming blades of highly compressed air, Lilly tapped the ground and sent waves of mana through the ground which activated behind the hostiles.


    "Wha!-"


    Without warning spikes of rock emerged from behind the elvers attacking Lilly, ending a large part of them as they were too preoccupied with trying to wear down her defences. Those that survived had their focus broken for a split second as they avoided the rock spikes and emerged from their cover, something Lilly took full advantage of. Either they were skewered by rock spikes, slashed to pieces by blades of compressed air or massacred by the ferocious creature which called out commands covered in blood with a smile on her face. Feeling quite drained of morale by their oppositions effectiveness and ferociously effective strategies a small group of elvers chose to retreat, a smart by ultimately fruitless effort as they were observed by a pair of clear blue eyes that shone coldly in the dark. Before they knew it Mare charged, instantly closing the range as she drew a pair of knives she wielded with ruthless efficiency.


    "... Clear."


    Taking a second to wipe blood spatter off her face Mare took a deep breath of the cold night air to calm down slightly.


    "It''s clear over here too."


    Sitting on top of a chair she had made of bedrock as she emitted a sense of superiority, Lilly had also long since wiped out her opposition.


    "Good work, then let''s move up!"


    Seeing how reliable her teammates were, Lux couldn''t help it as she bloomed a slight smile.


    ---


    "He''s behind the wall over there."


    "Are you sure?"


    "I''m positive, the mana signature is insane, it is definitely angelic in nature."


    Looking from cover at a school building, Victor could clearly feel the intense mana signature radiating from the angel that was conducting some kind of ritual.


    "I''m going to crash his party."


    Forming a complex rune formation in mid air, Victor stealthy gathered an absurd amount of mana, then pointed his hands at the building.


    "Spell 0023: Howl."


    Muttering the incarnation of his own original spell Victor formed another spell right after.


    "Spell 0011: Battering ram."


    "Well isn''t that just adorable?"


    Having completely seen through Victors attempt to overwhelm her, Melisha waved her hand while she still worked on ritual.


    "Rampart formation: Bulwark."


    Even as the 3 winged angel was confident of her superiority she still took the attempt to attack her seriously, making sure her spell was properly constructed by visualizing it first as she spoke out its name. A split second later Victor''s spells landed, the first one was a powerful wind spell that hit the outer wall with hurricane level winds, weaking the structural integrity by a considerable level. Then right after the first spell hit the wall, it was completely shattered as the second spell lived up to its name.


    "Interesting.."


    "No that''s not interesting, it''s bad!"


    Seeing how Melisha completely negated the spell, Victor couldn''t help being fascinated with how she weaved the its construction, even as Terra tried to dissuade him.


    "I''m busy, parish like the pests you are."


    Still keeping up her defences Melisha formed a offensive spell to deal with the distractions, not even looking as she send over a hundred fist sized crystals flying towards Victor.


    "Shi!-"


    Seeing the life flash before her eyes Terra started shooting fully automatic with her Rex-0999 in a futile attempt to shoot down the incoming projectiles.


    "Spell 0012: Phalanx."


    Victor however kept entirely calm as he had expected such a response, forming a formation of golden crystals shields which took full advantage of knowledge he had learned from Dax.


    "What!?"


    Seeing her spell being completely deflected instead of skewer the pests, Melisha''s eyes widened in shock for a second. But after the brief surprise the angel realized that the human''s defences were so effective because the shields were highly angled and deployed in interlocking layers so as to maximize their defensive potential.


    (Fascinating, but still ultimately futile..)


    Even if the human could construct a defence that was sturdy enough to hold back her half assed attempt at killing him, it would make no difference.


    (All you have achieved is making me take this a bit more serious.)


    "Javelin formation: Righteous cleansing."


    Flapping her wings as she channeled mana trough them a formless presence formed in front of Melisha''s outstretched hand, making Victor hurriedly construct another defensive spell.


    "Spell 0013: Refraction!"


    Out in front of the phalanx shields another defensive spell took shape according to Victor''s desire and clear mental picture. The second Melisha completed her spell, a blinding pillar of light shoot out towards Victor, vaporizing nearby rubble as it sterilized everything it touched. The righteous cleansing didn''t hit its intended target however, as right before it melted Victor the laser refracted before it was passed through a crystal prism and was reduced to a rainbow which was deflected away.


    "Holy shit!!"


    While Victor flawlessly handled the spells Melisha threw at him Terra wasn''t idle, even as she was in awe of the display. Finding a elevated firing position Dax''s disciple set up her Rex-0999''s bipod, releasing a precise burst of fully automatic fire at the angel. The standard anti personnel ammunition she fired did very little to angel''s defensive barrier however, but cracks were gradually forming which increased Melisha''s irritation as she was forced to almost constantly supply the formation with more mana.


    "F.u.c.k off!"


    Switching her attention to the annoying bug that kept on pestering her, the black winged angel pointed her hand towards Terra, collecting mana into an array of golden crystals.


    "I don''t think so!"


    However by neglecting Victor for even a split second the angel left herself extremely vulnerable, and Victor was not one to look a gift horse in the mouth.


    "Spell 0023: Howl!"


    Sending a boulder sized ball of compressed air hurling towards Melisha she was forced to abandon the construction of her offensive spell, instead coalescing the half done crystals into a single mass which she used to counter Victor''s offence.


    (F.u.c.k.i.n.g hell!)


    Feeling her irritation spike as she was forced to deal with the 2 pests, Melisha briefly contemplated using ascension to increase her avalible mana so she could overwelm them, but ultimately abandoned the idea as that would disrupt the ritual she was currently still maintaining.


    (Too little mana in the area to deal with them¡­ But the ritual is almost complete, I just need a little more time!)


    Seeing the large spell formation pulse in an ominous red light around the unconscious Dax, a faint smile formed on Melisha''s lips as she prepared another offensive spell.


    "Javelin formation: Lightning spear of the prophet."


    As if filled with bloodl.u.s.t, the new arm sized golden crystal Melisha formed cracked with holy lighting it had been blessed with as it rushed towards its target. This time the angel didn''t even check the effect the spell had on the human mage, instead she immediately reinforced her defences before turning her attention completely to finalizing the ritual.


    "AWAKEN TO DEVOUR THE WORLD!"


    Seeing the ritual responding as her new master had taught her, Melisha''s smile bloomed fully as a truly unholy presence was ripped out of Dax and gained material form.


    (My master''s prediction did come true! It was one of the old ones possessing that demonkin~)


    Feeling delightful bliss as she gained a truly reliable teammate, Melisha started to work out how she would make the pests that had tried to interrupt her suffer.

 Chapter 170 - Incident at the magic academy (12)

    "... What was that?"


    Feeling an ominous presence descend on the entire academy, Mare froze up briefly as she adjusted to the new pressure.


    "Whatever it is, it isn''t good."


    Not able to sense ambient mana, even Lux was able to detect the change that seemed to have happened in the air.


    "Lilly let''s hurry up.. Lilly?"


    Being the most mana sensitive of the group Lilly had quite a different reaction to the others, her face paled as she collapsed onto her knees.


    "Shit, Lilly! Cover!"


    Seeing her comrade collapse unexpectedly Lux acted fast by swooping the small elver into her arms and making her way to cover.


    "Lilly!? What''s wrong!?"


    "I''m¡­ Fine¡­"


    "Obviously not!"


    Looking into her golden eyes with worry Lux cursed the fact that she had no medical supplies on her person.


    "I''m okay now, it just caught me off guard."


    Getting back on her feet on her own Lilly''s expression improved as she took a deep breath and explained what had just happened.


    "The ritual is complete."


    "WHAT!? Is Dax oka-"


    "I don''t know.. Something that was not supposed to have material form have just descended on this world, the foundation feels like it was Dax''s curse."


    Hearing news she had trouble believing or understanding Lux put everything to the side as she focused on the single task that was now at hand.


    "Can we kill it?"


    Seeing Lux''s straight forth attitude to the problem, Lilly couldn''t help but form a thin smile.


    "We can die trying."


    ---


    As only the muffled sounds of ultra high velocity artillery could be heard as it fruitlessly hit the golden dome shield surround the academy, a formless presence descended as Terra and Victor could only look on in fear. It appeared to be a formless void at first no larger than a fingernail, but as corrupted mana spread out from it the being slowly took shape. With the sounds of bone and flesh cracking the void expanded out with violence, like a malignant corruption that was suddenly born it devoured the ambient mana and used it to take shape. Spreading a horrid smell that was a mix of crude oil and decomposing organs the corruption started to take a vaguely humanoid form about 8 meters tall, but still it had no surface, like an event horizon whatever was inside was hidden from observation. Then after taking its form the creature breached the dimensional boundary that had trapped it for several millennia, and appeared with a smile. Still completely formless and mostly hidden behind the dimensional event horizon, the vaguely humanoid creatures only feature was a single large mouth filled with millions of razor sharp teeth.


    "YOUR SACRIFICE HAS BEEN ACCEPTED, RACE OF SKY. WHAT DOES YOUR MASTER WANT OF ME?"


    As the creature turned towards Melisha she was completely overwhelmed with its pressure, almost on reflex she bowed her head in submission but barely managed not to on the sense of her pride.


    "M-my master wants knowledge about the calamity, after that he told me you would be free to do as you wish in this realm."


    Slightly suppressing her shaking Melisha did the best she could to not appear frightened, but still suspected she failed to hide it from the creature which widened its mouth after hearing the angel''s words.


    "I CAN DO AS I WISH AFTERWARDS? YOU SURE HAVE AN INTERESTING MASTER, DOES HE NOT REALIZE WHAT I AM?"


    Appearing to be laughing the creature greatly expanded its presence, making Terra and Victor that so far had only observed it uncontrollably shake in fear. The other people that had been observing the current events had a different reaction from Victor and Terra.


    "We really did it¡­"


    While Vanessa still had no expression on her face as she watched the summoned demon release its presence, a single tear streamed down her face.


    ".. Yeah.. Now the central Kingdom will pay for what they did to us, as will Dax."


    Eva also looked on with pure joy spread across her face, they had achieved their revenge, now it was only a question of time until everyone that had wronged her people would die a horrible death.


    "We have nothing more to do here, put the hostages to sleep, we''re leaving."


    Having completed their part of the plan, the some 10 surviving elven soldiers and single colaborator made their exit after making sure their hostages were knocked out with magic.


    "... Goodbye Mai, goodbye Anna. If we meet in another life I hope we can be friends once more."


    Taking one last look at her passed out friends, Venessa wondered if they would ever come to forgive her.


    ---


    "What the f.u.c.k is that unholy creature?.."


    Setting her eyes on the result of the ritual for the first time, Lux couldn''t help but voice out her disgust. Even as she could not see mana the orbital marine clearly realized that the formless void with a single large mouth was having some horrible, unholy and irreversible effect on its surroundings.


    "It''s a demon. Something that was supposed to have been driven out of this plane of existence a long time ago¡­"


    Also laying eyes on the creature Lilly had her worst fear confirmed as she explained what the creature was to her comrades.


    "A demon¡­ Can we kill it?"


    "Impossible, you can not kill what''s not alive. The only hope this continent has of survival is that we somehow drive it out of this reality and return it to its prison in between dimensions."


    "So there is something we can do? Great how do we do that?"


    Looking at Lilly with anticipation Lux was only distraught when she heard her answer.


    "I have no idea.. The era of demons were way before the grand calamity, all spells which were effective against them have been lost to time.. The only ones that would know how to deal with it are the angels, and I don''t think the 3 winged one right there will tell us even assuming she knows something about it."


    Feeling quite hopeless Lilly sank to her knees as she felt the will to fight drain out of her, afterall one can''t fight the primordial forces of nature.


    "... Would the fact that this demon creature has entered this realty have spread beyond this area?"


    Meanwhile Lux was deep in thought, she quickly connected serval dots and started to work on a effective counter towards the creature.


    "Yeah it most definitely have.. By now every mana sensitive person in the central Kingdom must have felt the disruption in the ambient mana by now."


    "Then we still have hope, here''s the plan¡­."


    Quickly sharing hypophysis Lux had taught of she made a bit of light return to Lilly''s eyes.


    "That could work, but it would be a miracle."


    Lux''s idea would be considered outright insane under normal circ.u.mstances, but the elver realized that they would all need to be insane if they would try to fight a demon.


    "Okay then let''s do it, Mare you stay put."


    "No."


    "That was a direct order."


    Realizing that there was a high chance they would die Lux called for Mare to stay out of the fight, but she stubbornly refused to do so.


    "I don''t care about your direct order, I am going with you."


    "Mare¡­."


    Seeing how stubborn the beastkin was being Lux considered knocking her out for her own protection, but in the end she didn''t need to.


    "If you fail I''m going to die anyway¡­. I would rather die with my family, that''s what my dad did and I think he was satisfied by that."


    Seeing Mare''s steadfast resolution clearly visible in her eyes, both Lux and Lilly were swayed as they looked at eachother with smiles.


    "Family¡­ That''s not such a bad proposal. What do you think Lilly?"


    "I already considered myself to be this child''s parent, but what are the chances that the two of us become linked by blood in some way?"


    Looking at how smug the grand elder suddenly became, Lux only sighed like it couldn''t be helped.


    "Okay then. If we survive this you''ll have my blessing."


    "I couldn''t ask for more~ Suddenly I feel extremely motivated, let''s go kill this thing!"

 Chapter 171 - Demon suppression (1)

    "WELL THEN, LET''S GO SEE YOUR MASTER THIS INSTANT. I HAVE SEVERAL PLANS FOR THIS REALM I''VE WAITED MELINIA TO REALIZE."


    "I don''t think so!"


    Seeing the demon prepare some sort of long range gate spell, Victor decide to act. Analyzing the complicated spellformation in a split second Victor found the most effective way to disrupt the formation, then acted accordingly.


    "WHAT!?.... FASCINATING, IT SEEMS MAGIC HAS DEVELOPED QUITE A BIT WHILE I WAS LOCKED AWAY."


    As his spell was disrupted the demon focused its attention on the puny human for the first time, with the result being that Victor and Terra both almost passed out from the sheer passive pressure its was emitting.


    "SO IT WAS YOU THAT DISRUPTED MY SPELL¡­ CHILD OF MAN, WOULD YOU LIKE TO BECOME MY PET? YOU''LL BE TREATED FAIRLY IN THE NEW WORD I''M ABOUT TO CREATE."


    "What? Why?"


    Quite confused by the sudden proposal Victor didn''t know how to respond, therefore he only looked at the creature which completely fell outside the realm of his understanding with questioning eyes, this apparently made the demon laugh quite a bit before it explained.


    "YOU WILL BECOME A SPECIAL EXISTENCE THAT IS ABOVE THE OTHERS OF YOUR KIND, WHILE THEY WILL BECOME MARE SLAVES AND SACRIFICES YOU WILL BE ALLOWED TO LIVE IN MY PRESENCE.. OF COURSE YOU CAN BRING YOUR MATE TOO IF THAT''S WHAT YOU WANT, OR JUST PICK A NEW ONE FROM ONE OF THE SLAVES, IT DOESN''T REALLY MATTER."


    Having explained its proposal in greater detail the formless creature still hidden mostly behind its dimensional event horizon extended a myriad of dark tentacles which formed into an outstretched hand.


    "... I don''t think so. I would rather just banish you from where you came, then kill that angel who summoned you and be hailed a hero."


    Having its proposal rejected in such a rude manner the demon retracted its ''arm'' as it formed a bloodthirsty smile and its overbearing presence started to leak out fully.


    "VERY WELL¡­ THEN YOU WILL BE REDUCED TO DUST RIGHT HERE."


    Without doing anything particular countless dark flames suddenly formed around the demon, the the fist sized flames quickly grew until they could swallow a person whole, then they shoot towards Victor and Terra that was just an unfortunate bystander at this point.


    "F.u.c.k me!"


    Seeing spell formations and mana structure which he had up until that very second taught merely theoretical, Victor couldn''t help but curse he didn''t have time to properly analyse the formations as he put up a desperate defence.


    "Spell 0204: Sanctuary!"


    Shouting out as he created one of his most solid defencive spells, Victor''s modified brain and body went into extreme overdrive as he realized the spell in record time. Almost instantly a formless pressure spread out to around 10 meters in front of the magic instructor while he started to form another defensive spell.


    "Spell 0012: Phalanx!"


    With sweat streaming down his face time slowed down for Victor as the truly gigantic sphere''s of pure black fire closed in on him, having almost reached their target even as he had still not finished formulating his defences.


    "Spell 0013: Refraction!"


    The split second Victor managed to finalize his defences the first of the void fireballs reached him, as it hit the outermost spell it reduced several magnitudes in size, making the demon pay more attention after it had outright judged the puny human to be doomed. After the some 50 balls of dark fire hit Victor''s outermost defences they continued to blindly seek out their target and hit his second wall of defences where they were further weakened as they hit the final defensive formation. Even as the golden crystal shields formed the final part of his defences most of them still outright shattered when they come into contact with the demons spell, but they still somehow served their purpose as the some 200 crystal kiteshields where annihilated along with the demons void flames.


    "Holy shit¡­"


    Having been absolutely sure that she was going to be reduced to ashes, Terra somehow doubted that she was still alive as she was sure she had wet herself a little, she didn''t need to check.


    "Run!"


    Still somehow able to shout through his exhaustion Victor grabbed Terra by the arm as he started opening up the distance.


    "A TRULY FUTILE EFFORT."


    A bit annoyed that the tiny and puny creatures had survived its first attempt to end them painlessly, the demon pointed one of its serval ''arms'' at the running pair, then proceeding to corrupt a large concentration of the ambient mana before a new offensive spell formed.


    "NOW DIE LIKE THE INSECTS YOU ARE."


    Deciding that the humans should die a painful death for ignoring its first offer the demon made sure that they would suffer greatly before dying. The spell that took form at the end of its ''arm'' looked like something Melisha would construct, only it was on the complete reverse wavelength and emitted a wholly detestable and unholy presence. Taking further shape the spell turned into a thin 5 meter long javelin which rushed forward to fulfill its creators request: To make the puny humans die an agonizing death.


    "Spell 0204: Sanctuary!"


    Using the most effective defensive spell in his arsenal to defend against such an unholy attack, Victor didn''t trust in it to fully protect him as he leapt to the side as the javelin hit the edge of the his 10 meter wide defensive zone. At the same time the air which surrounded Victor and Terra seemed to suddenly gain its own intelligence as a high pressure gust flung them into safety behind an academy building. At the same time the demons void javelin hit the deepest part of Victor''s sanctuary formation, destabilizing as it ignited with the force of a smaller sized JDAM 1 . Partly deaf and wholly disoriented from the blast Victor and Terra were both surprised they had survived, the reason they did quickly revealed itself in the form of a smaller sized but extremely smug elver.


    "Happy to see me?"


    ""... What?"


    Looking at Lilly moving her mouth as she didn''t overpower the strong ringing noise that seemed to be ever present around them, neither Victor nor Terra heard what she said.


    "Are! You! Happy! To! See! Me!?"


    ".. Not really."


    "Wha!-"


    "What''s the plan Lux?"


    Completely ignoring Lilly Terra turned towards Lux as her ears slowly stopped ringing.


    "We''re going to return that ''demon'' thing to where it came from. To do that will be quite a long shot so I''ll need your utmost, Terra, me and Mare will deal with the pigeon as quickly we can, meanwhile Lilly and Victor will stall the demon for time."


    "... What?"


    Thinking she must have misheard her commander Terra''s expression turned into a large question mark as she walked closer to Lux and presented her one ear so she could hear better.


    "You heard correct."


    "... You''re insane."


    Realizing she had not misheard Terra started to wonder if Lux suffered from some sort of affliction, but against the overwhelming evidence that she had, she had actually just shared a battle plan she believed herself to be solid.


    "Come on now, fighting isn''t that fun if you''re not facing proper resistance~"


    "You are insane."


    "I will take that as a compliment. Now get the f.u.c.k to work cadet, refusal is not an option."


    Shaking at the extremely overbearing presence Lux suddenly emitted Terra evaluated if it would be less painful to be killed by her rather than the demon, but in the end she came to the conclusion that facing the demon would be the better option. Joint Direct Attack Munition, a GPS guided boom with a ~85 kg TNT yeild.

 Chapter 172 - Demon suppression (2)

    (What the hell have I summoned..)


    Completely in awe of the demons destructive ability Melisha couldn''t help shudder in fear as it had just completely disintegrated the two instructeres that had given her so much trouble while she was preoccupied with the summoning ritual.


    "Let''s mov-"


    "DON''T COMMAND ME, MORTAL."


    Bringing down its full presence upon a single angel, Melisha couldn''t help but fall on her knees as her mind shoot down from the released bloodl.u.s.t.


    "GOOD."


    Seeing how the puny angel reacted to its focused attention the demon seemed to smile before it focused its attention towards the dust cloud that was created by the spell it had released.


    "IT SEEMS I HAVE A OPPORTUNITY TO LEARN OF WHAT HAS TRANSPIRED IN THE EONS WHILE I WAS LOCKED AWAY, LEAVE ME FOR THE MOMENT."


    Not taking a no for an answer the demon send away Melisha as a wind spell cleared the dust away.


    "SO A CHILD OF MAN AND A CHILD OF NATURE, WHO HAS BARELY BREACHED THE SHROUD. COME AT ME LIKE YOU WANT, I SHALL TEACH YOU WHAT TRUE POWER IS."


    Having turned its attention towards Lilly and Victor that stood opposing it, the mere mortals couldn''t help but shudder, but that didn''t change what they needed to do.


    "... I''m going all out."


    Assessing her opponent Lilly for the first time laid her eyes on the strange creature, deciding to go all out and hold nothing back from the get go. Seeing a nod from Victor as he started constructing a mana gathering so he could more quickly from spells, Lilly did something similar. Taking a deep breath as she closed her eyes, the grand elder opened her golden eyes which shone considerably more than just a second before.


    "I can''t keep this up for long.. Let''s get this gone."


    ".. Agreed."


    Taking a offensive formation while the demon only idly ''looked'' by, it seemed to simply allow them to prepare, something Lilly and Victor were quite happy to take advantage of.


    "Spell 0204: Sanctuary."


    While a holy presence spread out around Lilly and Victor they both prepared offensive spells.


    "Blessing of wind, blessing of earth, blessing of fire."


    "Spell 0209: Purge."


    Lilly used her elemental affinity with nature to form spheres of earth, fire and wind respectively, while Victor formed an ominously dense mana singularity that he collapsed towards the demon.


    "FASCINATING."


    In response the demon simply waved its ''hand'' towards the spells as they had made their way towards it, corrupting the surrounding mana.


    "IMMOLATION."


    Calling out as its spell took into effect, Lilly''s and Victor''s spells seemed to disappear as they fell to corruption, being turned into more of the corrupted presence that spread around the demon.


    "Shit."


    Seeing how they had only empowered the demon with their spells, Lilly couldn''t help curse.


    "Yeah about that¡­"


    Looking at each other for a moment, Lilly and Victor both popped a smile, they knew it was going to be like this.


    "Spell: 0209: Purge!"


    "Blessing of wind!"


    Combining their spell''s effects Lilly manipulated the air around the demon, fueling the mana induced explosion and creating a blast which damaged most of the buildings around the demon. As the dust settled a void spread out where the demon was then it reappeared, emerging more out of the event horizon than it ever had been before. Countless eyes gleaming to the brim with intelligence and steadfast confidence examine every millimeter of Victor and Lilly as if looking towards something it completely understands but not fully comprehend. Its skin (If that could even be considered the appropriate therm.) looked like a mix of tar, crude oil and magnetized ferrofluid that was constantly shifting in and out of fase with reality. The ''skin'' was coloured in all colours of the rainbow, as it reflected and refracted the ambient moonlight it almost looked devine, if not for the malignant and sickening presence the mere sight of it brought anyone that looked at it. While the demons body were not entirely out from behind the event horizon, its ''head'' and ''upper body'' spread enough corruption to make both mortals facing it sick to their stomach. Reaching out a ''hand'' from the event horizon the demon leaked some sort of liquid out, creating a shifting magic circle.


    "That can''t be good¡­"


    As the demon had not until that point expressed any visual effort to squish them, the fact they it now created a magic formation had Lilly extremely worried.


    "COME FORTH."


    Holding its ''hand'' over the magic formation, the demon summoned more of its kind, which slowly crawled into the reality. While both Lilly and Victor could feel that the summoned creatures were somehow lesser, they were not to be taken lightly.


    "SHOW ME WHAT YOU CAN DO, MORTALS. DO NOT FAIL TO ENTERTAIN ME."


    "... Why do I feel its playing with us?"


    Seeing the formless creatures slowly form into amalgamations of tentacles, eyes and razor sharp teeth, Victor couldn''t help but feel that they had entered some sort of colosseum, all for the entertainment of the demon.


    "That''s because it is¡­ But that also works out for us, so let''s put on a grand display."


    ---


    Meanwhile Melisha made her way back towards Dax, while the ritual should not have left him alive the angel didn''t want to take chances, even if it was outside the scope of her  orders she had been given by her master. Finding him to still be unconscious in the middle of the now inactive ritual formation, Melisha blomed a smile as she formed a dagger made of golden crystals in her hand. Calmly walking towards the qiton, Melisha suddenly had a really bad promotion fall over her, making the 3 winged angel pay more attention to her surroundings.


    "Shit!-"


    Noticing the surrounding presences in the last split second, Melisha formed another golden crystal dagger, then dodged to the side while channeling mana into the ground. As a wall of highly compressed stone formed, then was struck with a hail of bullets. Having located her attackers when they fired Melisha bloomed a slight smile as she tapped ground once more, sending spears of rock hurling towards their last known locations. To make sure she had at least incapacitated her opponents the angel then smashed her defensive wall, sending a shotgun blast of rockshards after the rock spears.


    "Fu!-"


    "Hello!~"


    With a large bloodthirsty smile Lux had suddenly appeared right in front of the angel, which was understandably quite fl.u.s.tered by that. Seeing that her opponent was also armed with dual knives as she avoided a hastily constructed crystal shard, Lux willingly stepped into the angel''s strike range as her pupils expanded to their limit.


    (What!?)


    Stepping backwards out of slight panic Melisha started forming a magic formation, but Lux once more betrayed the angel''s expectations as she dodged by collapsing her stance. The reason for that revealed itself instantly, as Terra which was perched on a building behind them took aim and the now clear target.


    "KU!-"


    Forced to abandon her offensive spell, Melisha formed a defensive spell which only just defended against the hail of bullets before Lux charged into her range once more.


    (So that''s their plan!? Don''t f.u.c.k with me!)


    Seeing how she couldn''t take time to overwhelm the closer enemy with spells due to how they almost perfectly covered for each other. That wouldn''t normally be a problem for the angel, but the fact that she still had to uphold and maintain the gigantic shield formation surrounding the academy which still was under effect. Seeing the angel hesitate as her movements slowed down slightly Lux''s smile widened as she slashed towards her neck, further pushing the angel back as she started heckling as to break her concentration.


    "I heard angels were some sort of mighty warriors!? What''s this, can''t handle a little CQC!?"


    Gashing Melisha with shallow cuts over most of her upper body, Lux continued her ruthless attack and forced the angel to once more open the distance.


    "Oh no you don''t."


    Carefully observing the angel Terra knew exactly what she was going to do, squeezing the trigger right as Lux gave her space to. Scoring only strafing hits Terra was still quite satisfied as she relocated once the opportunity arrived, stopping in place and letting of more shorts once Melisha tried to open up the range once more.


    (F.U.C.K!)


    Losing more and more blood from gazing hit and slashes Melisha could feel she was starting  to become lightheaded, feeling her grip of the spells she was employ were slowly slipping.


    (I need to ascend! Just for a second, I need to open the distance without drawing long range attack!)


    Continuing to step backwards Melisha injected small amounts of mana into the ground, forming a compound spell formation as part of a final, desperate trump card. Seeing how her opponent slightly switched her attitude, Lux doubled her awareness on the surroundings but failed to see what was happening as she could not sense mana, and Terra was too far away to see what was happening.


    (NOW!)


    Making sure it didn''t show on her face, Melisha activated the spell she had spent the last 5 minutes carefully constructing. Out of nowhere a thin spike made of rock short up from the ground, aiming perfectly at Lux''s head the second she had just put the weight on a single leg and where at her most vulnerable. However the angel had underestimated her opponent, and the galactic marine that appears younger than herself in reality had several times her own lifetime''s fighting experience, she only need a fraction of an second to deal with such an attack. Struggling slightly in her position against the attack, Lux wavered for a second before she narrowly avoided the rock spike, but it was just the space she needed.


    (DIE!)


    Falling back as she kept out of sight from Terra, Melisha formed the special magic formation around her wings which would allow her to channel mana into offensive and defensive spells with a increase in magnitude.


    "HA!"


    Feeling the extreme power challenging through her body, a large smile crept onto Melisha''s face as she failed to keep watch on her surroundings.


    "Eh?!-"


    Feeling a hand placed on her back Melisha realized her mistake, her face froze in shock the 3 winged angel''s entire being was gripped with pain as one of her wings were brutally ripped out its socket.


    "I told you, you should have killed me."


    Before the angel could react, Dax ripped out a second of her wings as he kicked the back of her knee. Without any expression on his face the qiton shattered her neck, ending the life of the 3 winged angel which had escaped his wrath once.


    "Good work, let''s clean up the rest."

 Chapter 173 - Demon suppression (3)

    With millions of eyes constantly inspecting its opponents and surroundings, the creature didn''t miss when the gigantic magic formation which had been shielding the entire academy from its attacks failed.


    TARGETS ACQUIRED, RUNNING FINAL IFF CONFIRMATION, STANDBY¡­


    ERROR, FRIENDLY IFF SIGNATURES DETECTED: RUNNING SYSTEMS DIAGNOSTIC¡­. DIAGNOSTIC COMPLETE, NO ANOMALIES DETECTED. ESTABLISHING CONNECTION, DIALING FRIENDLIES¡­.. CONNECTION FAILED.


    With friendly units in the area that ICI wanted nothing more than to carpet bomb, its code of autonomous operations kept it from doing so even as they had not yet been identified.


    -


    "Any second now¡­."


    Looking up into the sky as the spell formation that had up until now covered the entire magic academy slowly dissipated, Dax saw a small light among the countless twinkling stars. Without a word, Dax raised his arm, then pointed his middle finger towards the sky as he saw a single red light in the sky.


    "That should do.."


    "... Did you just flip off the stars?"


    Looking at Dax with some confusion, Terra believed there was something wrong with Dax.


    "No silly, I flipped off the low orbit surveillance satellite which just passed over us and confirmed my identity that for ICI that has spent the last few hours trying to kill us."


    "Wait what!?"


    Turning towards Lux, Terra believed Dax was joking (about the judgment day stuff) But when she saw her expression Terra''s smile froze.


    "An ineffective and/or nonresponsive unit is not worth saving, when we lost communication with the larger part of the ICI architecture we were all considered either deserters, compromised or combat ineffective."


    "But is that enough to warrant us being eliminated?"


    ""Yeah it is.""


    Seeing both Dax and Lux''s honest and instant response to her question, Terra wondered what kind of military force she had joined.


    "So when you flipped off that satellite?..."


    "Yeah, I just saved your life, you''re welcome. Now bring me up to speed please."


    ---


    While Terra and Lux still tried to kill the angel, Lilly and Victor were both being pushed back by the demon and its minions. While Lilly handled close quarter combat and kept the lesser demons at a safe distance Victor kept disrupting the spells they were trying to form.


    "Blessing of fire!"


    As Lilly charged forward with such power that she left deep cracks in the stone, the grand elder coated her entire body in a suit of armour made by pure elemental fire.


    "Blessing of earth!"


    With another spell forming on top of her defensive barrier, Lilly''s winched in pain as a gigantic boulder of rocks formed at her outstretched fist and short towards a lesser demon. The boulder completely obliterated a grouping of monsters, when the formless creatures burst apart like ballons corruption filled the air and only Lilly''s elemental armour kept her safe from harm.


    "Victor!"


    "I got you! Spell 0210: Void!"


    In Lilly''s defence, Victor smashed his foot into the ground, making a complex spell formation spread out under him. Invoking the spell a sphere of absolute nothingness formed in front of Lilly, annihilating the demons which came into contact with it along with the wall of a nearby school building. Seeing the destructive output of the 2 mortals that faced it, the demon''s smile lessened quite a bit.


    "HMM.."


    Sharping its senses by serval magnitudes the demon sent out a bust of mana which closely examined the continent it was located on, then the invader from a different plane of existence once more widened its smile.


    "NO PEST''S NEARBY!? THIS IS TOO GOOD TO BE TURE!"


    Laughing loudly a completely black spell circle spread out around the demon, the formation compleated almost instantly and made chains of void strike out towards the demon, devouring its dimensional event horizon and allowing it to enter the reality fully. Revealing its entire form, the demon spread sickness throughout the magic academy and corrupted the very land upon which it stood. The demon could be described as a bipedal humanlike creature, but only to the vaguest descriptions. Its head was filled with eyes of varying types and colours, on top was a crown of antlers and other kinds of horns. Its body was vaguely humanoid, extremely chiselled muscles were a potent reminder that now it could use its physical body, one shouldn''t get close to it. Below its waist, any theories that the demon was anything humanlike was completely shattered, a malignant mess of tentacles eyes and teeth was all that met the eye.


    "... Ugh, I''m feeling sick."


    Looking at the demons true form Lilly felt a buildup of gastric acid in her mouth as blood started pouring out of her nose, a side effect of straining herself too much while her concentration wavered.


    "You''re not the only one¡­"


    Even with his senses numbing and while he was slowly losing his sight from the extreme strain he put his body under, Victor still felt sick to his stomach from looking at the demon, as if something primal in his mind told him that the demon was not something that should exist in the world.


    "LAST CHANCE TO BECOME MY PET, I WILL BE A LENIENT RULER."


    With its maim mouth foaming and dripping out acid as it spoke, nither Lilly or Victor wanted to get closer to the demon, even if their life depended on it.


    "Yeah that''s going to be a definite no from me, what about you Victor."


    With a smug smile on her face as blood still poured from her nose, Lilly made her defiant attitude known to the demon.


    "That''s also going to be a no from me, I already told you. I will kill you and then be hailed as a hero, get the f.u.c.k.i.n.g message already!"


    Also showing a defiant smile Victor nodded to Lilly, if they were going down, they were going down together.


    "THEN PARISH IN AGONY!"


    Forming a complex spell formation in front of its ''hand'', the demon looked to be smiling as it invoked its spell.


    "IMMOLAT-"


    But before it could complete the incantation, the creature from another reality was hit with a hail of bullets.


    "Dax!"


    Looking at her saviour that as always had a large smile plastered on his face, Lilly felt her face heat up.


    "Did you miss me? Now get your ass over here, you''re within the strike zone!"


    -


    CONTACT.


    Having positively identified Dax as a friendly contact, ICI had moved to support him even as they had no direct line of communication, so when Dax started shooting at some creature, ICI sprung into action.


    DIALING HIGH ALTITUDE FIRE SUPPORT, CHARGING ANTI PERSONAL HEL... CHARGE COMPLETE, SENDING TRAFFIC.


    FIRE MISSION CONFIRMED, PAINTING TARGET.


    RELATIVE GRID OF INTEREST: 09 07 08.


    ELEVATION: NULL


    ATMOSPHERIC REFRACTION: LEVEL ZERO


    FIRE AT WILL.


    Like being struck by a spear from heaven, the demon and its close surroundings were suddenly bathed in high energy ionizing radiation.


    "ARRGH!"


    Suddenly the demon''s skin started melting as if it had suddenly been thrust into the core of a star, some invisible force ruthlessly tried to vaporize it.


    GOOD EFFECT ON TARGET, DAILING ADDITIONAL HIGH ALTITUDE FIRE SUPPORT, CHARGING CLASS 2 HIGH ENERGY LASER... CHARGE COMPLETE, SENDING TRAFFIC.


    FIRE MISSION CONFIRMED, TARGET PAINTED.


    RELATIVE GRID OF INTEREST: 09 07 08.


    ELEVATION: NULL


    ATMOSPHERIC REFRACTION: LEVEL ZERO


    FIRE AT WILL.


    While the stone pavement slowly started melting, the demon only appeared to be in pain, something Dax knew wouldn''t last for long. Taking the chance while the demon was distracted Lux, Mare, Lilly, Victor, Terra and Dax disengaged from the demon and linked up with the drone forces that had started overrunning the academy the second Melisha''s barrier dissipated.


    [PLEASE PROVIDE POSITIVE IDENTIFICATION.]


    Pointing their weapons at Dax, the drones (and by extension ICI) didn''t seem to trust their supreme commander, something the qiton didn''t seem to take issue with.


    "Callsign LIMA INDIGO ECHO 144 DELTA. Now invoking emergency reformatting of command and control structure, registration 044587356420."


    Confirming his identity the drones lowered their weapons as one of them handed Dax a Reaper mask.


    [RIGHT OF PASSAGE CONTROL PROTOCOL CONFIRMED. COMMANDER DAX OF THE 125TH WETWORK OPERATIONS COMMAND NOW IN CONTROL.]


    "Good to have you back ICI, link me in please."


    [PREPARING FOR FULL MIND DOMINATION. WARNING: COMPLETE MIND MELT IN EFFECT. EXPECTED CORRUPTION AT 100% PATTEN BLACK NOW IN EFFECT. ALL UNITS ADDED TO ARCHITECTURE, RAM AND PROCESSING POWER INTEGRATED TOTAL CONTROL HANDOVER COMPLETE. ICI ENTERING SLEEP MODE]


    Taking a deep breath as he felt his mind drift to cover every single unit that was now under his control, Dax filled the surroundings with bloodl.u.s.t.


    [Now where are those f.u.c.k.i.n.g elvers?]


    "... Don''t be petty now dad, I''ll take care of them with Lilly and the others."


    [... Fine. Time to kill this ''demon'' then.]

 Chapter 174 - Demon suppression (4)

    "F.U.C.K.I.N.G PESTS!"


    Writhing in pain as the surface of its skin was seared off from some unseen force the demon felt its anger soar as it cursed towards the sky.


    [That is some ugly motherf.u.c.ker¡­.]


    Looking at the demon through a satellite uplink, Dax familiarized himself with his enemies abilities as his mind spread out through the almost globe spanning ICI network.


    (Hmm¡­ I can''t afford to hold anything back facing an unknown opponent.. Guess I''ll need some red matter after all, there should be some in the 4th deep orbit station at Lagrange point 1. It should take about half an hour for that to get here.)


    ACCESS DENIED.


    (Yeah no, enact MAD please.)


    Not being the kind of person who took no for an answer in such situations, Dax immediately activated an emergency protocol that would allow him to use the tools he needed.


    ACCESS GRANTED, MUTUALLY ASSURED DESTRUCTION PROTOCOL ACTIVE, TACTICAL CLASS WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION ALLOWED. ACCESSING DEEP BLACK OPS SITE #4¡­. CONNECTION ESTABLISHED, REQUEST CONFIRMED: SENDING ONE TIMES 1KG ''REDMATTER'' SELF REPLICATING NANOMACHINES TO COMMAND POSITION, ETA: 23 MINUTES.


    (That''s better¡­ Now for keeping it occupied, and I should properly invite some subject matter experts just in case that doesn''t work.)


    While laying out his strategy for killing the demon Dax wasn''t idle, he was actively commanding a swarm of drones which secured the academy and evacuated the surviving hostages while securing the academy, not because he cared for the people but because he needed space to use his toys.


    (Area is clear, Lux and co are chasing the elvers and I have complete media control to suppress anything I don''t want to leave this area¡­ Does that mean I currently have no oversight?)


    As Dax realized that he was for the moment completely alone with his target, a wide smile spread across his face before he cracked his neck.


    [Time to get to work I guess~ Oh you better be regretting crawling out of whatever sad f.u.c.k.i.n.g hellscape you came from, welcome to the killzone.]


    FIRE MISSION RECEIVED.


    TYPE: SINGLE TARGET HVT 1 ELIMINATION.


    HARD TARGET ACQUIRED.


    FIRE GROUP ALPHA LOAD HV-SATGM 1 .


    FIRE GROUP BRAVO LOAD UHV-APFSDS 1 .


    FIRE GROUP CHARLIE LOAD UHV-SAPHEI 1 .


    RANGE TO TARGET: 120 KILOMETERS.


    HV-SATGM FUSE: SLAM.


    UHV-APFSDS FUSE: NULL.


    UHV-SAPHEI FUSE: DEEP IMPACT +0.01 METERS.


    GENERATING SWARMING FIRE PATTERN¡­. COMPLETE, READY TO FIRE.


    AWAITING FINAL CONFIRMATION FROM COMMAND.


    (Let him have it.)


    FIRE GROUP ALPHA CONFIRMS, FIRE GROUP ALPHA REPORTS: LOADING TERRAIN PROFILE, STEALTH APPROACH CONFIRMED.


    FIRE GROUP BRAVO CONFIRMS, FIRE GROUP BRAVO REPORTS: NAILING TARGET.


    FIRE GROUP CHARLIE CONFIRMS, FIRE GROUP CHARLIE REPORTS: REDUCING TARGET COVER.


    -


    As the orbital high energy lasers depleted their internal capacitors, the demon had a brief moment were it were not under attack, but then the land based artillery opened fire. The first shells to hit were the 205mm armour piercing fin stabilized discarding sabot, which tungsten alloy penetrators hit the demon directly and violently tore out chunks of its body and created extreme high pressure wind strikes from the extreme mass the rods of pure titanium alone.


    "F.U.C.K.I.N.G PESTS!"


    Trying to regenerate its body, the demon kept being pelted by metal rods that priced its defences that the demon hastily tried to form. Seeing its flesh disappearing at an alarming rate, the demon made its first mistake by being predictable and sought cover for its flesh behind a nearby building, making Dax''s smile widen a bit more. Then the second after the last APFSDS hit the demon, 205mm semi armour piercing high explosive incendiary shell impacted the area. Digging deeply into the ground and academy buildings, the semi armour piercing shells detonated and sent out a hail of shrapnel and incendiary secondaries which set fire to the surroundings.


    "DAMN IT!"


    Not even able to hear itself curse the demon''s blood started boiling as it ignored the surrounding explosions and channed the corrupted mana that was surrounding it into a new spell.


    "ASCENSION!"


    Instantaneously a wave if corrupted mana spread throughout the demon''s surroundings, as it grew a set of 10 wings which could have come from either a bat or a raven.


    "INSOLENT!"


    With a wave of its ''hand'', a series of hexagonal shielding formations spread out through the air around the demon, blocking the remaining SAPHEI shells from hitting near it as they exploded in the air.


    (What a smart roach¡­ Still, others before you have survived this far so it is still within expectations.)


    While SAPHEI shells still pelted the area with relatively little effect, another kind of monition was arriving near the target area as their active guidance activated as they connected to concealed drones which surveyed the demon.


    ACTIVE GUIDANCE CONFIRMED, SWARMING PATTERN CONFIRMED TVC ACTIVE, TARGET PAINTED.


    As the smart anti tank guided missiles finished their initial burn the boosters detached while fins deployed, and the thrust vectoring motors started breathing in air as they waved their way through buildings towards their final destination. From above it looked like a synchronized dance as the SATGM''s closed in while they were still hidden behind buildings from the demon, getting close enough they swooped out above the buildings activated final guidance.


    "NAIVE!"


    Seeing the strange explosion powered spears spring up above the buildings all around him, the demon flexed its ''hands'' around it and spread out hexagonal shield formations.


    (Yeah, no that''s not going to happen~)


    Seeing the first missile was about to impact the demon suddenly felt something was wrong, acting on instinct it hastily prepared another defensive formation. As the missile hit its tandem warhead went off, the first of two warheads detonated, shattering the demon''s spell formation as a second jet of superheated metal burst through. While the SATGM''s hit the demon''s defences Dax still refused to let up, waves, after waves were fired from every available long range artillery, rained down an effective mix of munitions that kept the demon pinned down while Dax''s ground forces closed the range and took up firing positions.


    "ENOUGH!"


    With a burst of corrupted mana, the demon showed its might as every single artillery shell/missile was knocked out of the sky.


    "WHO DAR!-"


    Thinking that it had dealt with the threats, the demon started fanning its arrogance but didn''t even get to finish its sentence before it was hit in the face with a tungsten alloy penetrator.


    (Ha, sucker!)


    Feeling like a child at Christmas when his plan worked, Dax took direct control of the drone detachments. A single detachment of drones consisted of 10 drones equipped with a Guardian-R04 special hand carried railgun and 6 Rex-Alpha 357 hybrid assault rifles loaded with uHVAG 1 ammunition which tore right through the demons barriers.


    While the demon was preoccupied with the swarms of drones which were surprisingly effective at tearing straight through its defences, a small package landed next to Dax. The package proved to be nothing but a small cylindrical metal vail which were covered by ablative tiles and wrapped in an airbag.


    [Here we are~]


    Lazarus industries tactical class outlawed weapon system, self replicating nanomachine algorithm ''redmatter''


    The Iron race containment war proved to be extremely stimulating for weapons technology, but the largest revolution came in the medical field as nanomachines overturned every existing practice overnight. From one day to the other a wide variety of injuries could be stabilized or outright cured in an extremely short time, the only problem was that the nanomachines were extremely hard to produce, requiring a microgravity environment and weeks to grow before they could handle even the smallest amount of disturbances. That is until a Lazarus executive had an idea: Nanomachines helped the body heal by fabricating temporary structures inside the body or even individual cells, then why couldn''t the nanomachines be used to construct more nanomachines? Instead of a simple solution, the so called next generation graymatter proved to be harder than initially taught and required years of development before a prototype was ready. The aptly named ''redmatter'' nanomachines performed admirably in tests, being able to replenish themselves from metal scraps or even rocks under any conditions.


    The problem arose doing field deployment when a medical officer decided to replenish his stock of redmatter by having it feed on a disabled landing craft, however doing this some kind of mutation occurred in the construction of new nanomachines, leading to the overall system being unresponsive to any and all commands, including emergency shutdown. Before the problem was discovered the colony of redmatter managed to grow by several magnitudes, becoming completely unstoppable and indiscriminate in what it consumed, being anything from intact equipment to orbital marines. In the end, the entire moon had to be abandoned as it was slowly eaten by the redmatter.


    After that early incident, it was clear that a pandora''s box had been opened. While the idea of self replicating nanomachines proved to be a good idea on paper, a single writhing error doing self replication could lead to an unstoppable malignant cancer growth of all consuming micromachines which were able to devour an entire planet in hours. After the product''s failure and subsequent outlawing records state that all products and records were destroyed, but secretly a small amount was spared before being weaponized as an alternate solution to antimatter or exotic matter warheads.


    With only a few months of development, the next generation nanomachines received a new purpose, now being a weapon of mass destruction the redmatter no longer responded to conventional kill codes and only a single encrypted signal that was unique for each swarm could kill it. Proving to be a truly cruel weapon that in most cases slowly and indiscriminately killed anything it came into contact with, redmatter was classified as a tactical class outlawed weapon system, requiring the highest level of clearance to employ in a war scenario.


    [It''s been a while since I''ve used these¡­]


    Looking at the metal container in his hand Dax got a nostalgic look on his face, but that only lasted for a second as he got back to work.


    (Wait, it already killed the first wave? That''s slightly irritating..)


    Losing contact with the last drone of the first wave he had sent towards the demon, Dax simply waved his hand as another wave charged in under the cover of orbital and long range artillery bombardment.


    [But I might not even need it~]


    Looking behind him Dax saw a CAS-7A land, transporting what could only be described as subject matter experts in anti demon warfare.


    "Looks like you lost your arm again Dax."


    [Yeah I did, I am also glad to see you Solaris¡­ Elders of the 14th sanctuary, I am blessed by your collective presence.]


    First joking around with Solaris, Dax went full business mode when two 10 winged angels stepped out of the transport.


    "Well meet qiton, I hope you have a proper reason for disturbing our slumber."


    [Of course~ This one should be quite a thrill to slay, speaking from experience.] High value target, like a hostile VIP High velocity smart anti tank guided missile (tandem warhead.) Ultra high velocity armor piercing fin stabilized discarding sabot Ultra high velocity semi armor piercing high explosive incendiary Ultra High Velocity Anti Grav barrier monition

 Chapter 175 - Demon suppression (5)

    [Elders please direct your attention here, I have active surveillance that shows the creature.]


    Gesturing for the two elders and Solaris to take a seat, Dax took the moment to examine the two 10 winged angels that Dax last saw when he stood trial in the 14th sanctuary. The elder who addressed Dax like he himself was royalty had brown wings with grey streaks which matched his shoulder length hair, making him look like some kind of middle aged man from a Korean drama, being way too handsome. He had glowing golden eyes that combined with an entirely flawless face, the only thing that ruined his most perfect beauty was a tired expression that made Dax recognize him as an immortal being which had lived for too long and grown tired of life. Like the other elder, he wore an elaborate golden set of plate armour, imbedded with countless red and blue monster cores that would be used for empowering the wearer''s defences. Like Solaris the two elders wielded elaborate golden pike spears which were around their own height in length, engraved with runic formations that pulsed in a deep red light.


    "My~ What an elaborate siege you have set up here, good job containing the demon for so long.. But you should leave the rest up to us."


    The other 10 winged elder gave Dax the expression of a cheerful neighbourhood aunt which constantly showed a large smile and had long golden hair which matched her wings and flowed all the way down her back, but something about her smile put Dax on edge like she was some kind of bloodthirsty monster which hid behind a bright and happy facade.


    [Yeah no, there''s no way I''m going to leave all the fun to you 3, brush me aside and I will make your life a pain for the next 2000 years.]


    ".. Okay fine. Then I trust you and Solaris to cover and act as support for us."


    [That was my intent all along. I can annihilate its physical form, but do nothing about the spiritual, so I''ll leave that to you 3.]


    Handing the two elders communication devices so they could coordinate better, Dax took a moment to catch up with Solaris before the battle.


    [So how did the other elders take you leaving the sanctuary?]


    In response to Dax''s attempt at striking up a conversation Solaris'' slightly lessened as she breathed a deep sigh.


    "I feel like they expected it. Hemera and Apollo here practically raised me, so they immediately understood and respected my decision. It was due to these two that I''m still allowed to set foot inside the sanctuary, normally abandoning the sanctuary would warrant a death sentence."


    [That just means they''re looking out for you, like a family should.]


    "Family?..."


    Seeing Solaris'' strange response to Dax''s assessment, his smile lessened a bit before responding to her open ended question.


    [What? You don''t like the ''F'' word?]


    "No I do, it''s just that I never expected to have a family¡­ That''s normally somethings only mortals have."


    With a slight hint of sadness in her voice, Solaris had a regrettable look in her eyes which made Dax flick her forehead as he bloomed a smile under his mask.


    "Aw!~ Why!?"


    [Because you''re acting like a child~ Have you honestly spend several hundred years in this world believing that you have to be related by blood to be a family? It''s about forming lasting connections, nothing more, nothing less.]


    Taking a second to absorb Dax''s words (and healing her forehead with a bit of magic.) Solaris looked like a lost child as she asked Dax.


    "Then would you consider the two of us family?"


    Feeling like he couldn''t afford to just answer half seriously, Dax took a decent time to formulate his words, which only made Solaris more worried.


    [If that is what you want yeah. Ever since we survived that station I considered us comrades at the least, from there it''s just a short distance to family. At least in my opinion.]


    "I see¡­ Then can you do me a favour, seeing that we are family?"


    As Solaris did her very best to retrain her proud and superior aura, all 6 of her pure white wings fluttered in excitement as she suppressed a child like giggle.


    [.... Sure.]


    After momentarily blacking out Dax did his very best sound normal as he responded to Solaris.


    (What the hell is wrong with her?)


    "C-could you help me tie up my hair?"


    Handing Dax a hair tie with a child like smile on her face, Dax couldn''t say no even if his life depended on it.


    [Yeah I can do that, although I still only have a single arm so I''ll make a drone do it.]


    "Ehhh!~"


    Seeing Solaris'' disappointment bloom on her face Dax had a slight chuckle to himself as he grabbed himself an assault rifle and checked on the drone formations.


    ---


    Having crushed what seemed to be an almost endless swarm of golems already, the demons had started learning about how they moved and which of them were the most dangerous. Having destroyed another of the cannons manned by 4 golems, the demon felt a dangerous presence and immediately erected a defensive barrier as something descended from the sky and struck it.


    "YOU!"


    Instantly recognizing the archangel that was one of the ones who sealed it as he tried to price its chest with an accused holy spear, the demon''s rage flared.


    "I''m here too!~"


    While Apollo distracted the demon, Hemera closed in from behind it with a wide and bloodthirsty smile on her face. While it was preoccupied, Hemera priced her spear into the demon''s corrupted flesh and twisted it with her immense strength and ripped out a large part of the demon''s shoulder as she compressed mana in her free hand and formed an offensive spell.


    "Javelin formation: Lightning spear of the prophet!"


    Shooting out a blinding spear of light, Hemera vaporized a large part of the demon with holy light.


    "INSOLENT PESTS!"


    Expanding its presence, the demon spread corrupted mana throughout its surroundings and forced the archangels away. Having created a gap, the demon hastily constructed an offensive spell.


    "PURGE!"


    Creating a sphere of corrupted flame around it that exploded outwards and devoured everything around it, the demon created some space for itself as it started healing its injuries. Sadly the demon was blessed with the entirety of Dax''s attention, so the second it started healing a hail of 205mm titanium alloy penetrators pelted the demon and its surroundings, allowing the archangels time to prepare offensive spells.


    "Javelin formation: Righteous cleansing!"


    While Appolo shoot out a golden beam of light that melted the ground beneath the demon, Hemera dropped to the ground as a 10 meter wide spell circle formed around her.


    "Aspect of the sun: Second formation!"


    Having completed her spell Hemera truly looked like the aspect of dawn as her entire body glowed with light.


    "Take this!"


    Stomping down her foot the golden aura drained out from Hemera as it dispersed into the ground before it erupted out from underneath the demon.


    "Rampart formation: Bulwark."


    Having received a message from Dax, Solaris stepped out in front of Hemera and Apollo before creating a wall of golden runes.


    [Splash~]


    At Dax''s command, the area around the demon was shelled by countless 205mm SAPHEI shells exploded with airburst fuses, filling the area with shrapnel and fire.


    "... Impressive. Good job Solaris, and Dax too."


    Looking at the countless pieces of shrapnel that were harmlessly deflected by Solaris'' defensive formation, Hemera couldn''t help but be impressed with the qiton''s pure destructive capabilities.


    [You''re welcome, next wave will hit in a bit.]


    Hearing Dax''s pleased voice over the earpiece Hemera got the impression that Dax was taking it easy, but she couldn''t be more mistaken as he was currently sending out a few million commands every second.


    "Javelin formation: Lightning spear of the prophet."


    With the breathing space offered by Dax, Apollo had time to prepare another offensive spell he shoot out while charging the demon to not allow it a chance to heal its mounting wounds. Leaving a faint afterimage, Apollo''s spear cut through the air as the aura that surrounded it expanded and cut into the demon before the spear''s material form even impacted.


    "ARRGH!!"


    The golden spear really seemed to hurt the demon which responded by turning its one arm into a swarm of tentacles it sent towards the spear wielding archangel, secretly forming an offensive spell at the same time.


    [Oh no you don''t.]


    Dax however clearly saw what the demon was trying to do and sprung out from behind cover a few hundred meters away with a squad of drones, quickly sending a hail of concentrated rifle fire that hit the demon and disrupted its casting before he ducked back into cover and relocated.


    (This is going nowhere¡­ I guess I''ll need the redmatter after all, and it might be a good idea to get the jug over here too¡­)


    Even with all the damage the angles and Dax were doing together, he realized that they did very little damage which stuck to it as the demon constantly kept healing and flung out spells without slowing down.


    [How long can you people keep this up?]


    Addressing all 3 angels Dax got very different responses.


    "Until its dead!"


    "For hours."


    "One more hour of this intensity at the most."


    While Hemera and Apollo put on tough acts Solaris also seemed to realize there was something wrong. While the demon kept being forced back and cursing loudly Dax''s feeling that something was wrong only seemed to increase, then he realized it.


    (F.U.C.K! ICI plot primary contact''s path over the last 30 minutes!)


    As Dax''s sight switched to a bird''s eye view of the ruins that were once the magic academy, a red line was drawn across the terrain representing the demon''s path. It formed an almost perfect circle, as if the demon was drawing a magic formation with the corrupted blood it was spilling.


    [Everybody get away from the demon, its activating some sort of gigantic spell formation!]


    "What are-"


    [Its been running away from you people in a perfect circle while dripping cursed blood all over the place! That''s not f.u.c.k.i.n.g random!]


    The very second the two archangels realized what was happening, the demon bloomed a bright smile as it invoked the spell formation it had spent the last few hours forming.


    "RISE MY BRETHREN! YOUR TIME TO EAT THIS WORLD HAS ARRIVED!"

 Chapter 176 - Demon suppression (6)

    [F.u.c.k.i.n.g hell! One more to the left Solaris! Contact 11 O''clock, ICI suppress them now! Task orbital assets for reactive CAS!]


    It had been a few hours since the demon managed to invoke a large scale magic formation, not unlike the ritual which brought it into this plane of existence in the first place. Since then Dax didn''t have the time to stand still for even a single moment, as the demon had somehow transplanted some part of its domain unto the ruins of the former magic academy. After that the archangels who Dax had originally been supporting turned mostly useless as they had a really hard time gathering mana from the air and form them into spells, greatly reducing both their offensive and defensive output. To make matters worse the large concentration of ambient corrupted mana started creating lesser demons which endlessly swarmed outwards in an attempt to devour everything they came across.


    "I see it!"


    As Solaris wielded a rifle to spray down an approaching demon with what could only be described as ''adequate'', Dax took the moment to reload. Crouching down Dax braced his rifle in the pit of his knee as he removed the magazine, but before he could insert a new one he was rudely interrupted.


    "Dax!"


    [I see it! F.u.c.k off ugly!]


    Drawing his pistol Dax emptied half its magazine into the mouth of a creature he could only describe as a poodle sized mouth filled with about a million teeth, he holstered his pistol and finished reloading his weapon.


    [Jesus they don''t f.u.c.k.i.n.g let up do they!? Splash 5 seconds!]


    Calling out to warn Solaris, Dax took cover as artillery pelted their surroundings.


    "More of that please!"


    Seeing the pure amount of destruction unleashed by the railgun artillery, Solaris couldn''t help but complain that there weren''t more of it.


    [I''m already tasking everything available, the demons are rushing out in every direction, not just this one!]


    While Dax continued moving down demons together with Solaris, Apollo and Hemera fought with the demon but unlike earlier, they were now on the defensive.


    "ASPECT OF THE OLD ONES: HELLFIRE!"


    Being in its prime element, the demon now had no issue formatting offensive spells. Calling on the ones it served to grant it power, the demon summoned a sphere of flame which seemed to absorb the surrounding light. The corrupted flame shot forth like it was propelled by a railgun, barely missing Hemera who lost one of her feet to the extreme heat.


    "GHA!-"


    As Hemera screamed out in pain she channelled mana into her spear when she noticed that the rest of her leg was being corrupted by the malignant flame, then without hesitation she cut off her afflicted leg at the thigh before the flame could consume her.


    "Javelin formation: Lightning spear of the prophet!"


    Meanwhile Apollo didn''t let his comrade''s injury go to waste, forming a golden spear of light which he threw at the demon with his immense strength. But the spell had very little effect however, as the demon only scoffed at the attempt to injure it before it flicked the spear aside and summoned a truly massive greatsword that its tentacles wrapped around. The 10 meters long and 3 meter wide black greatsword looked like it was alive, with red veins and runic formations which pulsed in some ominous pattern. Doing a practice swing with the sword, the demon''s smile widened before it disappeared from sight.


    "Shi!-"


    "DIE!"


    Reappearing right in front of Apollo, the demon swung down its greatsword in an attempt to cleave the 10 winged archangel in half down the middle but right as it mustered the strength and started to bring the sword downwards a Titanium penetrator hit and deflected the sword away.


    [Back off!]


    listening to Dax''s command for once, both Apollo and Hemera challenged mana into their wings and shoot off the ground to open up the range. Right on cue a swarm of high velocity SATGM''s swarmed the demon, but sadly they were mostly ineffective as the demon had no issue creating a swarm of hexagon shields to defend it all around.


    [Okay this is not working¡­ Any ideas?]


    Seeing how they were constantly getting pushed back, Dax realized they had to do something, or he would soon be forced to nuke the entire area in an attempt to stop the swarm of demons from taking over the continent.


    "We need to call for backup. Even if we lose the sanctuary as a result, we can not allow this malignant corruption to spread, we must not allow it to create a beachhead."


    The reason Hemera and Apollo were alone in responding to Dax''s call for aid even he told them that a demon had been summoned was due to the hostile sanctuaries. Even if demons were the mortal enemies of all angels, the sanctuaries were not naive enough to believe that rivals wouldn''t attack them the very second they committed too many resources towards fighting a demon infestation. After All there was no point in fighting a fair fight.


    "Dax can''t you destroy its physical form?"


    While healing her leg Hemera remembered what Dax had talked about before the fight, making the orbital marine bloom a bloodthirst and confident smile as his will to battle renewed.


    [I can! Give me an opening and prepare to back off the moment I say so, Solaris I need your help!]


    "Got it!"


    Springing into action the angels all placed their trust in the orbital marine, as they knew he wouldn''t make promises he couldn''t keep in such situations.


    "HMM¡­ A TRULY FUTILE STRUGGLE!"


    Seeing how the puny angels feel back then seemed to rally around something, the demon only showed a highly sadistic smile. Demon''s confidence stemmed from the fact that it had managed to drag a part of its domain to the mortal plain, greatly boosting its offensive and defensive abilities as countless of its kin swarmed into the mortal realm every second. Even as its kin was being cut down just as fast as they spawned, the demon concluded that the puny mortals would try one last desperate offensive which it judged to be a truly futile struggle.


    "COME ENTERTAIN ME, I WILL FEAST ON YOUR SOULS!"


    Planting his sword down into the ground as he spread out a presence like an experienced general how had seen endless war, the demon awaited for the mortal''s final struggle.


    -


    Their final struggle came about a minute later, when all of a sudden the railgun and orbital artillery Dax had been using to stop the lesser demons from spilling out from the academy was re tasked towards the demon. The demon responded by forming countless purple hexagonal shields which floated in the air all around his domain and shattered the first light of dawn like a stained glass mural, stopping all but an insignificant amount of the railgun artillery from doing any harm.


    "ENOUGH!"


    Only seeing the orbital high energy lasers like a slight irritation even as multiple of them did their best to melt it, the demon pointed a gathering of tentacles towards the sky before corrupted mana surged towards the demon.


    "ASPECT OF THE OLD ONES: G¨¢E BULG!"


    With the spell completing a bright red and thin crystal formed above the demon before it shot towards the stars, reaching low orbit in mere seconds before it burst apart and sent out about a million thorns which spread throughout the vacuum like an infection. When the countless thorns reached the orbital high energy lasers they burst apart, shattering the constellation and silencing Dax''s orbital artillery until unaffected satellites were in a position to attack. Dax was barely fazed when the demon wiped out a large part of his orbital assets, after all, it was still within acceptable margins.


    [Hemera!]


    "I see it!"


    As a gap was created one of the angles rushed forward, channelling a dense amount of mana into a potent offensive spell.


    "Javelin formation: Righteous cleansing!"


    Blasting right through a myriad of hexagonal defensive shields, Hemera carved a path forward that she rushed flying low over the ground with her spear forward.


    "INSOLENT!"


    Seeing a large part of its defensives being destroyed as one of the puny angles rushed towards it, the demon believed its opponents had simply run out of ideas and simply charged towards their death.


    "ASPECT OF THE OLD ONES: G¨¢E BU- PROTECTION OF YOUG''AFLI!"


    Charging an offensive spell to wipe out the puny angels, the demon realized that there was something wrong at the very last second, channelling a potent defensive formation.


    "Tch."


    Clicking his tongue in annoyance, Apollo failed to slay the demon as his spear strike fruitlessly buried itself in the demons protective field. Apollo had managed to close the range almost unnoticed thanks to a last minute feint conducted by Dax, by fitting the archangels shiny armour with an AR projector, it was transformed into a crude cloaking device.


    "Solaris!"


    Seeing his attack had failed, Apollo retreated as he ducked into cover and Solaris appeared a few meters behind him with her spear in hand.


    "Take this!"


    As the demon''s defensive spell dissipated, Solaris challenged most of her mana into her spear as she threw it towards the demon like a javelin.


    "ARRGH!"


    Making a split second decision, the demon sacrificed the most of its one arm in a desperate defence. As long as it could outlast this last desperate assault the demon would size victory, or so it believed.


    [Apollo pull back now!]


    Seeing that they had brought enough time, Dax formed a slight smile as the GA-05 Juggernaut appeared behind Dax and opened up its cargo ramp where an AEHWP high calibre Guardian-G097 indirect fire railgun carrier was securely fastened.


    FIRE MISSION RECEIVED.


    TYPE: SINGLE TARGET HVT ELIMINATION.


    HARD TARGET ACQUIRED, LOAD UHV-APFSDS.


    RANGE TO TARGET: 672 METERS.


    FUSE: NULL.


    ANTI MATERIAL MODE 92: FULL CHARGE.


    FIRE AT WILL.


    With a range of under a kilometre, the 205mm titanium penetrator instantly hit its target. Scoring a direct hit most of the demon''s upper torso was instantly vaporized, but it simply refused to die.


    "I WILL NOT BE BESTED BY PETTY PARLOR TRICKS!"


    With a miss of pure rage and corrupted mana, the demon instantly reformed its flesh as it challenged an offensive spell.


    "ASPECT OF THE OLD ONES: HELLFIRE!"


    Targeting the strange craft which hovered in the air, a dark sphere of flame shot out towards it and almost instantly reached its target.


    [Yeah, no. It''s called the Juggernaut for a reason.]


    Seeing the sphere of flame strike his craft, Dax was not at all worried about it as a high pitched hum slowly drowned out the countless demons.


    [Target acquired, commence direct targeting gravitational two stage compression.]


    All of a sudden time seemed to come to a still around the demon as the world ground to an eerie halt and the demons very mass was weaponized against it. Before it found out what was happening, the demon was ripped apart at an atomic level, then violently recompressed into the size of a soccer ball. However, even as the demon was outright annihilated, it still lived. With a dwindling of the corrupted mana in the area, the demon violently overcame the gravitational compression and somehow locked down the Juggernauts ability to crush it once more. What graced its countless eyes when it reformed made the demon realize its mistake, it had no more capacity to form defensive or offensive spell, with a straight line through its prior formed defensives.


    [Now f.u.c.k off for good!]


    Launching a canister of redmatter using a specialized weapon, Dax''s smile bloomed fully when the canister deployed in mid air, sending out a black cloud of all eating nanomachines which destroyed the demons material form for the final time.


    [Use this moment to purify the area, I''ll slay the rest of the lesser demons!]


    "Right!"


    "On it!"


    As the angels started work on a purification ritual, Dax and his drones ruthlessly wiped out the rest of the demon.


    [Area suppressed, demon eliminated. Time for the cleanup..]

 Chapter 177 - Fall of the magic academy (1)

    "It''s over."


    "... Is it?"


    "Don''t try me, I will kill you Venessa."


    Aiming her rifle at her friend Mare remained completely expressionless, even as she had covered herself in blood. Her and Lux were the ones that found the surviving elvers and out of respect had Lux let Mare handle her friend while she wiped out the rest.


    "So you want to capture me so I can be executed later?"


    Showing a scornful expression Venessa fully revealed her disdain for other races, something she had kept hidden for a long time.


    "... No. Although I don''t know what''s going to happen to you, Dax will decide that."


    "That monster? Then you might as well kill me here, if you can even muster it."


    Slowly starting to back off Venessa stealthy started challenge mana as she prepared to escape while her words had an effect on Mare.


    "Stop moving!"


    As Mare figured out what Venessa was up to she started getting increasingly panicked, letting loose a warning shot that gazed her friend''s arm.


    "... Do what you need to do."


    Seeing tears stream down Mare''s face Venessa judged her to be unable to kill her even if she tried to make a run for it, and so she went for it.


    "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!"


    She didn''t make it far however, as Mare turned off her safety and squeezed the trigger she screamed out in pain as if she herself was the one being shoot. Even under the stress she was under, Mare''s shoot grouping was tight and tore right through Vanessa''s legs, much to her own emotional pain. Bone fragmented, mussels exploded and tendons tore but Venessa didn''t utter a single cry of pain, she was dead before she hit the ground.


    "What the f.u.c.k?"


    Right before Lux was about to begin memory extraction on the fresh corpses on the former elvers something strange happened. Like time sped up, their heads rapidly decomposed as the skull was bared in mare seconds their brains were destroyed and thus all possible intelligence eliminated. Immediately Lux went to confirm if there was any recoverable intelligence left and ran over to Mare, only to arrive and see her cradling Venessa''s copse.


    "... It''s not your fault."


    "I know¡­ But I still hurt my friend."


    Seeing how deeply Mare had been affected Lux walked over to her and sat down behind her, cradling the crying beastkin in her arms as she contacted Dax.


    [X.O. To command, primary objective failed.]


    -


    "Tch, f.u.c.k.i.n.g useless all of them¡­ Oh well, there''s no way It''ll trace back to me."


    Inside a darkened room, a single figure talked with himself in frustration as he peered into a crystal ball that shone out in a clear red light. Even if the mission he had been assigned ended in success, the mage was still disappointed that his pawns had failed to bring the demon back to him and they had even failed to take vengeance for his slain disciple.


    "First that shitshow in the great sea and now this?... At least the self destruct spell worked perfectly and that sad excuse for an angel managed to live through most of it even after she had died."


    Leaving the crystal ball that gradually dimmed in light, the mage sat down in a large leather armchair as he evaluated the mission.


    "Not bad I guess?... But that craft at the end worries me somewhat, it was completely immune to the demon''s spell¡­ I knew we should have send more people to the White lagoon, if we only had secured the craft before them.. What wonders we would have archived¡­"


    Losing himself in thoughts the mage stroked his long white beard while looking towards the ceiling, only snapping out of it when he remembered he needed to report.


    "Shadow."


    Calling out into the empty room the mage confirmed that a formless presence had taken place in the corner furthest away from him before he gave his report.


    "I managed to analyse what I needed and there''s almost no chance of detection, but sadly we lost both the demon and the other pawns. Tell your master that I will be ready for the next phase in a few years."


    As the shadow left him the mage sank back into his armchair as he started the long and tedious task of reverse engineering a particular spell formation he had gotten his hands on.


    ---


    "... That''s not normal."


    "Dax?"


    "Stay back, unless you want cancer."


    Having finished wiping out the lesser demons Dax stood in the centre of what had once been the magic academy, he was busy examining a copse when Solaris walked over.


    "Cancer?"


    "Or worse, this angel is radioactive."


    The only thing that remained of the 3 winged angel Melisha was an irradiated headless copse. Her body was filled with deep burns Dax immediately recognized as stemming from a radioactive blast and her body had only been half healed by some sort of green slime which now separated from the copse and gave out a truly horrid smell.


    "So it really is the same one I nuked¡­"


    Ever since Dax first saw Melisha at the academy he had had his suspicions, but seeing the damaged corpse confirmed it: This 3 winged angel in front of him was the same one that had attacked Lux''s group on their way towards the White lagoon.


    (This means I absolutely need to confirm each kill, or there''s a chance they''ll just come back to bite me later¡­ Still, I would like to know what kind of spell that partly saved this specimen from blowing up along with that AEHWP I scuttled to kill her.)


    "Dax?"


    "Yeah, what''s up?"


    As Dax had entered his own little world Solaris got worried and started to walk over towards him, but she was stopped by a hand signal from Dax as he answered still absent minded,


    "If the copse is dangerous somehow shouldn''t you also stay away from it?"


    "Nah, there''s no need. My skin protects me from most ionizing radiation, this isn''t enough to hurt me. You on the other hand will die a slow and painful death if exposed for too long so back off a bit more."


    "... Are you worried about me?"


    Seeing Solaris'' sincere and meek attitude as she back away a bit more, Dax decided to answer truthfully, even if it was a bit awkward.


    "Of course I am, we are family after all."


    "Y-yeah, that''s right¡­"


    As Solaris entered her own little world while she repeated Dax''s words and fluttered her wings like some kind of pigeon suffering from parkinson''s disease, Dax tasked ICI.


    (ICI prepare for directives.)


    (READY.)


    (I want to know what this gel like substance is, give me a full analysis. Also, set up a protect to understand how these wings gathered mana and used it. I want a working bio interface before the year is over.


    (DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED, TASKING LAB #1 PRIORITY SAMPLES INCOMING.)


    (Set up a new protocol to triple confirm all HVT eliminations.)


    (DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED, NO LONGER MARKING HVT''S PASSIVE AFTER CONFIRMED TERMINATION, ALL SYSTEMS WILL CONTINUE SEARCH.)


    (Good, next I want all surveillance of this continent revived. Go back and look for any signs of these elvers making contact with an unknown faction, also I want to know how they linked up with that angel.)


    (DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED, TASKING SERVER FARM #1-#19 FOR DATA PROCESSING, SETTING UP HIGH BANDWIDTH DATA BRIDGE.)


    (Lastly, I want you to task drydock #1. We need an escalation of conflict, bring a type delta strike group online within 90 days, with 9 more before the year is over. Direct other resources if necessary.)


    (DIRECTIVES CONFIRMED, RUSH ORDER RECEIVED, DIVERTING ALL NON ESENSIAL RESOURCES TOWARDS CONSTRUCTION¡­ COMPLETE, 564 NEW ITEMS IN CONSTRUCTION QUEUE.)


    Standing up straight Dax stretched his back as he looked around at the carnage which had struck the academy because of his involvement.


    (So you want to take away my toys? Fine, I can play dirty too.)


    Flaring in bloodl.u.s.t for a split second Dax remembered that Solaris was nearby and restrained himself. Finding his calm Dax left the 3 winged angel''s corpse behind for his drones as he patted Solaris on the shoulder when he passed her, making her snap out of her daze.


    "Come on Solaris, we''re done here."


    "R-right."

 Chapter 178 - Fall of the magic academy (2)

    "Ara~ Where do you think you''re touching me?"


    "I''m touching what''s left of your leg, to check what nerves need to be regrown and what can simply be grafted."


    "Yaa~ We both know that''s not what you''re doing~ If you want to touch me just ask~"


    After defeating the demon and wiping out its lesser kin Dax tried and failed to secure any immediately useful intelligence, then he went onto the next issue: Healing Hemera who had lost the most of her left leg in the final fight against the demon. Imeaditatly after sealing the demon and setting down the beginnings of a purification ritual, the 10 winged angel who had lost a leg not even an hour before started drinking hard alcohol straight from a bottle. Dax found Hemera when she was about halfway through what she described as ''painkiller'' when he confiscated it, but the damage had already been done.


    Extreme pain, significant trauma and intoxication not to mention the painkillers Dax gave Hemera had the unfortunate side effect of making the 10 winged angel elder quite high, and therefore extremely obnoxious. While he did the preliminary examination of the would the angel herself had closed up with magic, Dax had to touch the leg directly with his newly instaled cybernetic arm to scan for deeper tissue damage and nerve damage before he could completely put Hemear under. The touching and dismissive attitude seemed to have an ''interesting'' effect on the inebriated angel, which caused the examination to be much more tiring for Dax.


    As luck would have it, right as Hemera was about to literally throw herself on Dax, Solaris joined them.


    "... Dax what the f.u.c.k are you doing?"


    Hearing an unnaturally low tone of voice from Solaris, Dax didn''t even have to turn his head and look to know that she was pissed off.


    "Sometimes I wonder that myself."


    "Ehh!~ Don''t tell me you like younger angels?~ Come on, if you ignore that baby I''ll show you something amazing~"


    Apparently unhappy that Dax''s attention was being taken by Solaris, Hemera wrapped her arms around him and whispered into his ear, loud enough for Solaris to hear of course.


    "Okay I will admit this looks bad, and that it will most likely look even worse before I am done and explain myself to you, but please trust me."


    Dax still had a calm expression on his face as he pried Hemera off and continued his examination as to get it over with as fast as possible, metaphorically digging his grave even deeper.


    "... Okay. Then let me help you."


    After battling with her own internal conflict for a few minutes Solaris appeared to decide on trusting Dax, offering her own help to make the process faster.


    "Great, hold her down please."


    Seeing what he assumed to be Solaris'' agreement and forgiveness, Dax switched gears as he once more pried the intoxicated angel off himself.


    -


    "That was the last part, now it''s time to sleep Hemera."


    "NO! Ehehe~ Your face looks funny~"


    After having felt around for nerves and tissue that needed to be discarded for a smooth healing Dax tried placing a breathing mask on the injured angel, but of course she didn''t want to cooperate.


    "Okay then, do you want to feel really good?"


    "Dax?"


    "Are you finally going to touch me? Ehehe~"


    "What are you doing."


    Seeing Dax''s complete switch of attitude, Solaris called out to him when he suddenly placed a hand on Hemera''s cheek. Of course Dax completely ignored Solaris as he locked eyes with Hemera and slowly brought the breathing mask closer to her face.


    "Now take a deep breath, you feel really good~ That''s it, good girl."


    Caressing her face while he made sure she was slowly sedated, Dax felt the temperature drop as he felt he could no longer ignore Solaris.


    "What the f.u.c.k are you doing Dax?"


    "Gaslighting. Yeah, that''s it, breathe slowly in and out, after you wake up we are going to have some fun."


    After about a minute Hemera was finally knocked out and Dax could continue with the operation that would give the angel a new leg to replace the one that she lost, but first he had to deal with Solars.


    "So what was that?"


    "What? Ah I needed t-"


    "Was it necessary to touch her like that?"


    "Ye-"


    "Was it?"


    "It c-"


    "WAS. IT?"


    ".... Not strictly no, but it-"


    "So you didn''t need to touch her like that, but you chose to do so, right in front of me no less."


    "N-"


    "YOU. DID, RIGHT?~"


    Before Dax knew what was happening he was procrastinating on the floor in front of Solaris.


    "... I am deeply sorry."


    As an experienced general and field marshal, Dax was extremely knowledgeable about grand battle tactics. Sometimes the best move was to lose and cut one''s losses.


    ---


    In the end, the event that came to be known as ''the incident at the magic academy'' or ''fall of the magic academy'' turned out to be disastrous for the central Kingdom. The 2 and a half day siege, hostage taking and demon summoning was catastrophic for the academy, the students and it teachers. 2 thirds of the students were either dead or missing and only 7 of the teachers survived, but the heaviest damage was to the academy itself. The subsequent demon summoning, infestation and sealing had completely wiped out all essential facilities, with all the non essential being at least critically damaged. But all those losses paled in comparison to the damage inflicted to the area around the academy, as the ambient mana had been partly corrupted everything within a radius of 70 kilometres had to be abandoned without exception.


    The malignant traces that still remained in the ambient mana had a sickening effect on everything living, short therm it meant very little, but over longer periods of time crops would die, animals and monsters would be corrupted and men would lose their sanity. Even as a first class purifying ritual put in place by to archangels had been set up right after the demon was sealed away from the normal plane of existence, it would still take decades for the area to return to normal, until then it would be no different than the monster infected territory of Eglax.


    The king declared a full month of mourning over the loss of so many bright and promising children, in the weeks to come they were all buried doing state funerals in Kingstead, with most of the coffins empty as the copse either couldn''t be found or were too corrupted. The students that survived such nightmare were almost universally scared deeply and only after serval years of therapy offered by the Galactic Empire could they re join the society.


    ---


    "An absolute tragedy¡­ And a great humiliation that has not only stained this country but also my family."


    "Indeed, we should have seen it coming. This is without a doubt the worst intelligence and battle response failure of the 125th, in the next coming weeks, months and decades I will dedicate myself entirely to ensuring such a tragedy will never happen again, you have my word."


    In a private meeting between the king of the central Kingdom, crown princess, Teresa Vi Gruffydd XI, and Dax the qiton started out with lowering his head to the floor as he apologized from the deepest part of his heart.


    "... What steps do you plan to take?"


    After absorbing Dax''s apology for a moment Teresa spoke up, there was no reason to dwell on the past, and it would be rude to accept Dax''s apology on behalf of all those that lost their life.


    "... To make it easier to understand I will be breaking the steps I am currently taking into 3 parts: Intelligence, offence and finally defence. As for intelligence, the 125th are launching 5 new surveillance constellations in low, high and geostationary orbit respectively, moreover, we are establishing 900 new permanent drone stations throughout the central Kingdom."


    "Surveillance constellations are satellites right? Those that allow you to see everything that''s going on from the sky?"


    Making sure she understood everything correctly and making sure she broke down everything so her farther could understand, Teresa asked questions as she wrote down what Dax said for further reference.


    "Exactly, but satellites can''t catch everything, that''s where the permanent drone stations come in. Situated along the border both here in the Kingdom and the northern Republic plus all major cities, the stations will have eyes on everything and everyone that leave and enter, at all times."


    "That seems like a large undertaking¡­ I''m guessing you''ll be asking to lease the ground where those stations will be built?"


    "Of course. While they are tiny on the surface and will be mostly constructed in remote areas, I will compensate the Kingdom for each plot of land I build on, as per our original agreement."


    Pausing to drink some water, Dax made sure Teresa had understood and written down everything.


    "For simplicity, I will be explaining the defensive measures next. The fall of the magic academy revealed many shortcomings in my defensive and reactive net so they will be toughly patched. In each town with a population larger than 500 people, the 125th will construct at minimum 3 high calibre railgun turrets that have interlocking firing arches and at least 1 permanent relay base with the addition of all infrastructure necessary to maintain such fortifications, with larger cities scaling up in defensive armament as needed. Of course plots of land on which such defensive armaments will be placed will be leased, and the bases and infrastructure will be mostly below ground as to not impact the residents too much."


    ".... Okay¡­. Before we continue I think both me and my father will be quite pleased to know how the 125th will compensate the central Kingdom for all that land and the disruption this will cause the general populace."


    As the sheer scale of Dax''s plans dawned to the crown princess, she was quite eager to know how Dax planned to pay for all those projects.


    "In 5 years I will provide a boost of at least 20% of the central Kingdom''s GDP every 2 years for the next 50 years. Moreover, the 125th promises that any and all monster and bandit activity will be completely wiped out in 5 years."


    "... What else?"


    (If even half of those promises follow trough the central Kingdom will enter a golden age unlike one the world has ever seen!)


    Doing her best to suppress her greed Teresa noticed Dax was still not done.


    "Of course I will be sharing my weapons and medical technology up to a point, but those details can be discussed later."


    Seeing Dax''s smile widen a tiny bit as a minuscule amount of bloodl.u.s.t leaked from his body, both the king and crown princess knew what he was going to talk about next.


    "Finally I will share the improvements to the 125th''s offensive capabilities~ First is the expansion of my standing army, construction has already begun on a brand new offensive minded drone battalion that include not only a new fire support vehicles and an armoured core. Moreover, I will also personally lead an offensive against those who attacked us, I will teach them the gravity of their errors before I make them beg and cry for mercy."

 Chapter 179 - Awakening (1)

    "ICI do final operations check and prepare for live fire exercise and weapon system demonstration please."


    [SYSTEM OPERATIONS CONFIRMED, 540MM GUARDIAN R19 TYPE RAILGUN ONLINE, MONITIONS ELEVATOR ONLINE, FIRE CONTROL SYSTEMS ONLINE, TARGETING SYSTEMS ONLINE, SATELLITE HANDSHAKE HOLDING SOLID WITH 4MS SIGNAL DELAY. KINGSTEAD DEFENSIVE TURRET #3 ONLINE.]


    "Good. Show me the satellite relay route and sim a 95% system failure."


    Standing on top of the capital city of Kingsetead''s outermost wall Dax had to arch his head a good ways back just to look at the high calibre railgun which was housed on top of a 350 meter tall spire. It had been half a year since the fall of the magic academy and life was slowly getting back to normal after the tragedy struck the central Kingdom, but for Kingstead''s residences their life the past month had been quite strange. Every day from first light to sundown, Dax had been sky lifting in pre assembled blocks of equipment the size of a normal 3 story house using a swarm of brand new heavy lifting transports. Being supplied daily by metric tons of material around 5000 drones of different sizes and types tore into the terrain surrounding Kingstead, constructing truly massive underground bunkers which housed fusion generators, substations and monition plants along with other essential subsystems. At the same time construction had also started above ground, with 24 500 meter deep open pits being dug out and then filled again with a mix of high tensile tungsten alloy and concrete to form a sturdy foundation for the capital cities new defences.


    After a full month of construction, the first 3 railgun turrets stood ready as construction paused on the rest. Reason being that the noble houses of Kingstead had come together and demanded that the reason for all that building be told, leading Dax to declassify the project and to the current day where the first live fire exercise and demonstration would be held.


    "ICI please delay that. Dax you''re overreaching."


    Seeing how tense Dax was Lux spoke out to him in an attempt to make him calm down.


    "No, I''m not, the entire world is watching. This needs to be perfect."


    Even with the brand new surveillance system working in overload and the 14th sanctuary directly assisting in stopping any intelligence for leaving Kingstead Dax was sure the entire world would eventually learn of the central Kingdom''s new defences, therefore the first of such demonstrations had to be entirely flawless.


    "Even if this test goes off without a hitch we''ll still have to deal with attempts of sabotage and spying for the next few years."


    "Yeah, but I would rather do that than having to deal with a bunch of invasions and smaller skirmishes."


    Seeing Dax''s unwillingness to calm down Lux breathed a deep sigh before offering an alternative.


    "Then what if I go over the systems and try to poke them for any weakness instead of all these meaningless tests?"


    "... That would be more effective, please go ahead."


    -


    "Commence pre charging of primary coils and cool down the supercapacitors please. Enter the final ready phase for weapon demonstration."


    [ORDER CONFIRMED, KINGSTEAD DEFENSIVE TURRET #3 READY, SYSTEM HOT. AWAITING ADMINISTRATOR AUTHENTICATION.]


    As a siren was heard all over the city of Kingstead, Dax started the weapons demonstration in the audience of the cities elite.


    "Has the target area been evacuated?"


    Even as she had practised for this demonstration more times than she would care to count, a hint of unease was still visible on the crown princess'' face as she and Dax started the firing procedure.


    [NO LIFE SIGNS DETECTED IN TARGET AREA.]


    "Good, then as the administer of this system I, Teresa Vi Gruffydd XI, authenticate this live fire exercise."


    [ADMIN BIOMETRICS CONFIRMED, NO SIGNS OF CORROSION. WEAPON SYSTEM ONLINE, PLEASE SELECT WEAPON PAYLOAD.]


    "I leave that up to Dax."


    [PLEASE CONFIRM TEMPORARY HANDOVER OF FIRE CONTROL SYSTEMS TO: COMMANDER DAX, 125TH SPECIAL OPERATIONS COMMAND.]


    "I confirm, hand over fire control of turret number 3 to Dax."


    [ADMINISTRATOR HANDOVER CONFIRMED, RAILGUN #3 READY FOR TASKING.]


    While a siren was once more heard all around the city, a high pitch hum could be heard from the railgun turret, indicating that the cooling system operated correctly and that the system was live.


    "Target."


    With a single command from Dax, the 3rd railgun tower came alive. As the defensive blast shielding around the top of the tower was removed visible streaks of lighting could be seen leaping from the Guardian type R19 540mm railgun that was housed within. The gun itself was a bit larger than an 18 wheeler semi truck, being around 20 meters long, 3 meters wide and 5 meters tall and could be simply described as a mass of supercapacitors and cooling systems that surrounded a single quad rail configuration.


    "Weapon system trail to bearing 023.2. Target Range: 4805 meters, send one times 540mm highex with deep impact fuse. Confirm."


    [TARGET ACQUIRED:


    TYPE: SYSTEM LIVE FIRE TEST.


    TARGET ACQUIRED, LOAD UHV-HEI.


    RANGE TO TARGET: 4805.2 METERS.


    FUSE: 10 METER SENSITIVITY.


    SYSTEM READY.]


    "Fire at will."


    Having obtained final confirmation from Dax the system which supplied the railgun sprang into action. About 600 meters below the railgun turret its monitions stowage unlocked and a mechanical arm gripped the sole shell which was housed inside before transporting it up the primary munitions elevator. On the way up the elevator, the shell was encased in a conductive sabot which would act like the railgun''s armature and discard on the way towards the target. Being loaded into the railgun''s magazine, the high explosive shell was immediately chambered, then the weapon fired.


    Appearing more like a streak of lightning than anything else to the countless spectators both within the Kingdom and outside, the single round of high explosive incendiary buried itself deep into a small hill almost 5 kilometres away before completely obliterating it, sending a strong message to anyone observing.


    -


    After the successful live fire demonstration Dax spend a few minutes answering quick questions from the noble''s, repeatedly reassuring and demonstrating them that the capital cities new defences could only be used with the royal crown princess'' permission.


    "Are you free now?"


    On the way back home Dax ran into Lilly, which looked like she had been seeking him out.


    "Not really, but what''s up?"


    Asking even though he knew he would regret it, Dax looked at the smug elver in front of him as he felt his smile slowly crack at what she said next.


    "It''s time for you to repay the favour you owe me, refusal is not allowed~"


    "When di-"


    "The village of White lagoon after you visited."


    "F.u.c.k¡­ Okay, what do you want?"


    Being reminded that he did indeed make a promise to Lilly, Dax resigned himself to his fate as he felt the strength drain from his body. Seeing Dax''s subservient attitude Lilly only grew happier as she latched onto Dax''s arm.


    "Even after all this time I still don''t know much about this city, take me on a tour of the city."


    "... Is this a date?"


    Putting two and two together in an unprecedented display of social intelligence Dax saw trough Lilly''s attitude, much to her surprise.


    "So you are at least somewhat aware deep inside that thick skull of yours¡­ Yes, this is a date. Do you have any problem with that?"


    "Not at all, although Lux might be different."


    "... I''m starting to wonder who exactly is the parent and who''s the child in that relationship of yours. But don''t worry about Lux, I already obtained her permission~"


    Puffing out her chest(?) proudly, Lilly took Dax by surprise by having obtained Lux''s permission to approach him. The reason for such an agreement between Lux and Dax stemmed from years of the qiton''s habitually bad decisions and awareness when it came to the opposite s.e.x, leading to two particular sisters (and by extension Lux who was partly raised by them) forcing Dax into an agreement that they would need to bless a potential party before they could freely associate with him, something Dax really didn''t have issue with as he didn''t much care for such things.


    "How?"


    "I have my secrets~ Now let''s go bar hopping!~"


    (She just wants to go drinking? It could be worse I guess¡­)


    "Okay then, do you have any preferences?"


    "You already know my preferences~"


    "Right, hard alcohol it is¡­ Let''s start off light with some mead."


    -


    "So how did that happen?"


    "What did?"


    "Don''t be stupid now, your arm and all those other things."


    The time the pair of borderline alcoholics reached the 3rd bar it was slowly starting to get dark out, but Lilly didn''t seem to either slow down or care about such things as she rather struck up a somewhat serious conversation with Dax.


    "Ah, yeah I guess I haven''t really explained this at all huh... I switched over from cybernetics to bioengineered cybernetics, except for my eye, which is only covered by a lense that makes it look like my other eye."


    As he started explaining Dax rolled up the sleeve on his left arm to reveal a fully ''flesh and blood'' arm instead of the varying cybernetic ones he had been using so far. If Lilly didn''t know that he originally was missing his left arm and a large part of his shoulder socket she would believe that what she saw was his normal arm, as even Dax''s characteristic bright white scars were visible all over his toned muscles and dark skin. As for Dax''s left eye that still was entirely cybernetic in nature, Dax made sure no one was looking too closely at him as the green cat like eye split open to reveal the bright red ''eye of Argos'' cybernetic eye below.


    "So that isn''t your real arm that you just re attached?"


    Lilly, however, was entirely focused on Dax''s arm as she casually poked it and asked whatever was on her mind.


    "Nope, this one is the first viable prototype I developed with the help of Iris and Lux. It was grown in a tank over the course of a month in orbit. As I have no need for the bone marrow in that part of my body the bones are entirely metal however, that way barely reach the lowest tensile strength I will allow while further development will enable me to do some quite interesting stuff."


    "So it''s grown, like a plant¡­ Isn''t that strange to you?"


    Being a being of magic Lilly held strong disdain for artificial life, something that was poorly hidden in her tone.


    "Not at all no, is the artificial creation of life frowned upon among elvers?"


    "Are you kidding!? The act of creating life is something only the gods are allowed to do, any poor replication of such acts like homunculi are the deepest form of heresy!"


    As Lilly stood up and became enraged by Dax''s question she created quite a scene in the cheerful bar, making the other patrons quiet down as their attention focused on the demonkin and elver pair that appeared to have a heated discussion. Realizing that she had acted out of therm Lilly quickly sat back down as she blushed all the way to the tips of her ears in embarrassment, requiring Dax to apologize for her behaviour as he bought a round of beers for the entire bar.


    "... Sorry."


    Offering a timid apology once she had calmed down slightly, Lilly hugged her legs close as she looked like a toddler that had been scolded for misbehaving, making Dax breathe a deep sigh as he also apologized.


    "No, I''m sorry as well. It was an insensitive question I asked and I didn''t mean to offend you¡­"


    "... What is it?"


    Looking like he really wanted to say something after he trailed off in his apology, Lilly timidly asked him to state his mind, something she would come to regret.


    "It''s really hard for me to say this as I quite value you as a precious comrade, but I think we should part ways."


    "Why?"


    Feeling anger build up in her body, Lilly managed to restrain herself as she asked Dax for his reason behind such a statement.


    "Because I am by definition what you define as heresy, being born in a tank I, and every single one of qiton brothers and sisters, are artificial beings created by a race of spacefarers that has since been lost to history. Even though I inherit genetic material from my mother, I have no male parent as my DNA was grafted from the qiton birth chambers of my holy homeworld."


    With hints of emotional pain clearly visible on his face even as he did his best to hide it, Dax got up from his chair and paid for his and Lilly''s drinks before leaving her with a parting message.


    "If you can''t come to accept me in your life I understand, I have dealt with religious conflicting views on my race''s existence before so I know it''s not personal. I will be leaving town tomorrow morning to oversee the development of another defensive fortification, if you want to no longer associate with me you can use that time to gather your things form the compound, I will have Lux prepare a generous severance package in recognition of all you have done."


    "I¡­"


    In the end Lilly couldn''t get her words out, her mind was black as what was supposed to be something special in her life turned to ash in mere seconds.

 Chapter 180 - Awakening (2)

    "Dax?"


    "Yeah, I see her¡­ Stand down."


    "Bu-"


    "That was an order."


    "... Fine."


    As first light hit the 125th central compound in the middle of Kingstead they were greeted by a single figure which stood outside the gate. The elver in question looked like she had been up all night and was visibly tormented by what Dax assumed to be a result of her conflicting beliefs that he had poked a hole in the night before. Dax was very much aware of what he had done was extremely cruel, but ultimately he acted the way he did for the sake of Lilly. If she couldn''t come to accept him as an artificial life form the budding feelings he had noticed in her had to be destroyed, or it would tear her apart. For that reason as well as a sense of guilt Dax had Lux and his drones stand down, then he approached Lilly unarmed as it was clear she had something to say.


    "..."


    "Good morning, you look terrible."


    "... Why thank you, it is completely your fault though."


    Lilly looked truly haggard, she had deep dark circles under her eyes and looked like she could fall asleep at any moment, if not for the fact that she was extremely tense.


    "So? Did you come here to kill me?"


    Getting straight to the heart of the issue, Dax stood calmly in front of Lilly. This clearly startled Lilly, the elver flinched as she took a half step back as the ambient mana around her started acting up.


    "Dax!"


    The second Lux started moving about 50 drones aimed their weapons at her, making her stand down as Dax harshly reprimanded her while still keeping his eyes on Lilly.


    "I told you it was a f.u.c.k.i.n.g order, stand down or get put down! Your choice."


    While Lux had been shut up and kept glaring daggers in her commanding officers back, Dax still calmly waited for Lilly''s response while the mana fluctuations around her kept growing in intensity.


    "I sincerely hope I don''t have to kill you¡­ But as an elder, I am bound by responsibilities I must uphold. Even if I am no longer a resident of the great forest."


    Breathing in deeply Lilly appeared to prepare for something as she closed her golden eyes, creating a truly massive surge of mana around her that reminded Dax of the angel''s ascension type strengthening spell.


    (ICI back up all essentials and analyse the spell architecture please.)


    Going into a state of half preparedness Dax looked on as Lilly''s body was covered in an array of golden runes he hadn''t seen before. After a few seconds of intense wind, Lilly opened her eyes that glowed with an increased golden l.u.s.tre as she cried blood and her aura changed.


    "A possession type spell formation¡­ But it''s somehow different from the ones used by the angels."


    In response to Dax''s analysis ''Lilly'' just looked at him, smiling as she released more bloodl.u.s.t than the qiton had ever witnessed.


    "You sure are interesting, young one."


    Seeing how Dax didn''t tense up in the slightest but paradoxically became more relaxed as he was exposed to an overwhelming amount of bloodl.u.s.t, ''Lilly'' calmed herself as her smile got even more bewitching.


    "I don''t think I have ever seen a demonkin so inept in the manipulation of mana, what exactly are you?"


    "If you want me to introduce myself why don''t you go first, that''s common courtesy where I''m from."


    (ICI warm up all assets and bring towers #1-#3 online, load the prototype mana disruption monitions and contact the crown princess. Tell her we might need post fact authentication for use of the 540 mils.)


    Of course, Dax didn''t need authentication to use the defensive railgun turrets he had installed, but it was an illusion that he needed to keep up until the Galactic Empire could size complete control of the Central Kingdom.


    "From your earlier monologue it appears you already know what I am, so why tell you?"


    "And you have already seen me for what I am, so let us get this shit show over with."


    After staring down each other for a bit, ''Lilly'' and Dax both went into action at the same time. As ''Lilly'' affected the ambient mana trough her vessel, Dax drew a pistol with lighting speed and shoot towards Lilly, grazing the elvers cheek as he took a shooting position.


    "Try me."


    Having achieved the metaphorical high ground in the fight in the matter of a split second, ''Lilly'' touched her cheek and traced the blood that was streaming out and examined it in disbelief.


    "W-what was that?"


    "A bullet, what one more?"


    "..."


    Being deep in thought ''Lilly'' cancelled her offensive magic her wound was healed by magic.


    "It seems the world has changed greatly since I was last in this material plane¡­"


    "I''m not so sure, this is ancient technology where I''m from. As are the techniques of creating artificial life, among those are the techniques I owe my existence to."


    Lowering his pistol as it appeared the spirit no longer wanted to fight him, Dax started calming down slightly, but multiple weapons systems were still thoroughly locked on ''Lilly''.


    "So you come from a place that has abandoned the gods?"


    "I don''t believe so no. The gods who created my creators instilled them with knowledge but gave them no guidance to use it, a few million years later they have outgrown their homeworld and started to tear themselves apart, so they use their knowledge to create the perfect weapon system and after they have wiped themselves out and the weapons remain are the weapons to blame? I believe that the sins of the creators do not extend to the tools, just like you are not blamed if one of your creations strikes down another or breaks the law. We didn''t ask to come into existence, nor did we ask to be instilled with the aptitudes we have, but life is as we make it, therefore something that is created should not seek forgiveness for existing."


    "... You sure are interesting. Then in your opinion are the gods of your creators at fault?"


    Narrowing her eyes, ''Lilly'' appeared to be testing Dax, something he quite welcomed as it could be an opportunity to solve the current dilemma without bloodshed.


    "Who should I know that? I am merely mortal."


    "Yet you stand before a god, questioning its morals."


    "... And are you any better, asking existential questions from a creature you did not create?"


    "Touch¨¦. It appears that the universe truly is infinite, and we should not force our values on others without forethought."


    Admitting it was wrong, the spirit appeared to be leaving Lilly, but Dax wasn''t done yet.


    "Fire one."


    [ROGER, FIRING.]


    At Dax''s command, one of the 540 mm railgun turrets opened up its shell as it fired a single prototype shell towards the interior of Kingstead. The prototype munition quickly shed its sabot as airbrakes extended out from it before it slammed into the dirt near Dax and Lilly, activating its payload. Instantly a strange field extended out from the shell, freezing the ambient mana in place and locking down all use of magic in the area.


    "ICI how is the prototype warhead working?"


    [SYSTEMS STATUS: ONLINE, HEAT GENERATION NORMAL. PRIMARY POWERCELL AT 76% 1 MINUTE OF NORMAL OPERATIONS REMAINING. INITIATE MANA PURGE?]


    "W-what are you-"


    "After Lilly''s outburst a few hours ago I started researching. It seems like artificial beings are being hunted down and killed with their sole sin being that they exist, while their creators are left unharmed¡­ This is not something that will benefit my long term goals, in fact I believe this will harm it, but still, this is something I need to do."


    Slowly walking closer to the spirit that now had been trapped inside Lilly, Dax had a bright smile on his face as he truly looked like something terrifying to the spirit.


    "From now on beings that are brought into this world without their choosing by forbidden means will no longer be hunted down by you or your followers or I will come for you, wherever you exist. I don''t care about the creators though, that is all. ICI suspend prototype weapons test and start post test evaluations."


    As the mana disruption field disappeared, so did the spirit as fast as it could, leaving Lilly and Dax alone once more as she regained consciousness. Finding herself in Dax''s arms.


    "So are you still going to kill me?"


    "... I am not, the only reason I would even consider it was due to the laws of the spirits, which you appear to have changed just now."


    Being completely flabbergasted, Lilly didn''t appear to notice that Dax had picked her up, but once she did the elver blushed all the way to her ears.


    "... Could you let me down?"


    "Nope, I want to apologize for my behaviour yesterday first, and offer to make amends."


    "... But why would you need to do that while holding me in this manner?"


    "Because I feel like I have a higher chance of earning your forgiveness if I act while you''re like this."


    Being faced with Dax''s bright smile Lilly couldn''t come to meet his eyes, so in the end she just quietly muttered while hoping Dax didn''t hear.


    "... It''s okay, I forgive you if you take me on another date."


    "Well okay then, how about right now?"


    "What?"


    "Let''s go~"


    "Let me down first!"

 Chapter 181 - Awakening (3)

    "... I thought you needed to inspect some defences today."


    "Yeah I do, that''s where we''re headed right now."


    "Wasn''t this supposed to be a date?"


    "... Are there any rules in this ''date'' thing that says I can''t do both? We''re headed to a great place, you''re going to love it."


    While Dax kept his secretive aura around him he and Lilly were currently travelling out of Kingstead by CAS-A7, the only other thing they had with them was a single picnic basket that Lilly wasn''t allowed to look in, but from the smell she could tell that it was filled to the brim with Dax''s awesome cooking.


    "Fine then against my better conviction, I will trust you this once¡­ So how long until we''re there?"


    "It should be another 30 minutes, due to altitude and speed limits."


    "..."


    "..."


    With nothing else to talk about the cabin of the CAS-7A filled with a quite uncomfortable and awkward silence. Just a few hours ago Lilly had prepared herself to kill Dax, even with the budding feelings she held for him so it was quite hard for her to talk naturally with him after that, as for Dax he simply didn''t register the silence as awkward and simply started meditating. With silence filling the cabin, Lilly''s nerves finally relaxed a little, leading her to let out a quiet yawn as the drowsiness which was the result of a sleepless night finally caught up to her.


    "Are you tired?"


    "I am, thanks to you."


    Becoming angry once more over how Dax had treated her Lilly broke eye contact as she started pouting, leading Dax to form a thin smile.


    "Then let me help you get some sleep, I know full well that the subtle vibration of this type of craft makes it hard to get a nice deep sleep."


    Getting up from his seat Dax walked over and sat down next to Lilly, making her open her mouth to ask but what he was doing, but before that she felt a large warm hand find its place on top of her head, gently caressing her hair as she felt a strong sense of drowsiness fall over her.


    "... When¡­. The¡­ Hell did¡­. You...¡­.."


    Not even able to finish her sentence Lilly entered a deep sleep as Dax continued to pat her head as he quietly answered her question.


    "From my mom. Lux really loved this when she was younger but now she won''t allow me to do it anymore¡­. I wonder why?"


    ---


    When Lily woke up she didn''t find Dax by her side, instead, she was greeted by the gentle summer sun and an intense smell of flowers, making her look out the CAS-A7''s open ramp.


    "... Wow.."


    Looking out Lilly was met with a sea of flowers that had all kinds of different colours. As she quickly stretched and walked out of the spaceplane the elver was met with a scenery which could only be described as a sea of flowers. A cloudless sky was all around Lilly, with the only thing that broke the clean horizon being serval large black towers, which Lilly instantly recognized as the same kind of defensive railgun turrets which Dax had previously built in Kingstead.


    "3¡­ 5¡­. 8 in total¡­ Something here must really be worth protecting."


    As Lilly counted the towers Lilly noticed Dax in the distance, near one of the closest towers that he appeared to be inspecting.


    "Did you sleep well?"


    As Lilly walked over while being careful not to step on any flowers Dax noticed her, taking off his reaper mask when she got closer.


    "Yeah, I did¡­ Where are we?"


    "All will be revealed in good time~ Now you must be hungry after sleeping so soundly for 3 hours, so let''s get some food."


    "I slept for 3 hours?"


    Looking for the sun Lilly confirmed she had indeed been sleeping for a while, much to her own surprise. Walking back to the parked CAS-A7 Dax took the picnic basket with him as he walked along a small path which led from a small landing field to a grouping of several small one story wooden buildings that sat in the middle of a colourful sea of flowers. Walking closer Lilly noticed that there were several people walked around at the small compound, all of which appeared to be women that wore nun habits. As Dax walked closer the nun''s walked up to greet him, and after exchanging a few short words Dax walked over to one of the closest buildings.


    "Dax what is this pla-"


    As Dax opened the door Lilly stopped her question mid sentence, the reason being that she finally found out where they were.


    "Ah! It''s Dax!"


    "Dax did you bring any food?"


    "Welcome back Dax!"


    "Wait, is Dax here?"


    After opening the door Dax was greeted by countless youths, which Lilly immediately recognized as former students of the magic academy. Taking a few steps backwards, Lilly froze in place when she locked eyes with one of her former students while she felt the colour draining from her face.


    (They hate me.)


    Out of all the teachers Lilly was properly the one that took losing so many students the hardest. While some of the others might simply have been happy that some of the students survived and they hadn''t been completely wiped out when the demon had been summoned, Lilly looked at it differently.


    (I failed them, I failed so many of them.)


    With an extremely strong protective/motherly instinct, Lilly believed that it was her sole responsibility to nurture and protect the students, leading to her to having been extremely popular among the students doing her time at the magic academy.


    ''Don''t worry, this big sister will always keep you safe!''


    ''You can count on me! I am more powerful than I look!''


    Her once optimistic words of encouragement to struggling and scared students had become a source of nightmares for Lilly, as most nights she would see all her fallen students blame her for their death, while those who lived blamed her for not saving them all.


    "Ah! Lilly is here too!"


    "It''s Lilly!"


    "I told you she was okay!"


    Suddenly surrounded by her former students Lilly felt herself become faint, surely they hated her, surely they would start blaming her for the dead classmates, surely they would-


    "Eh?"


    "I missed you so much Lilly!"


    "Ah! Not fair! I wanted to hug her too!"


    Completely betraying her expectations the now fl.u.s.tered elver quickly became the centre of a group hug, something that was so far out of her expectations that her mind blanked out completely.


    "Eh? Lilly why are you crying?"


    "What happened? Did Dax do something stupid again?"


    "Don''t worry we will beat him up so stop crying!"


    While Lilly cried tears of happiness Dax quietly looked on, in his mind he thanked Mare for suggesting that he and Lilly should come to visit this place.


    -


    "It''s been too long Lilly, how have you been?"


    "Yeah it really has, I asked Dax why you didn''t visit us but he said that you were sick, are you okay?"


    After calming down and playing a bit with her former students Lilly helped Dax distribute sandwiches he had made, then the two of them had their meal together with Jessica and Finn, the only teachers other than Dax and his group which survived the incident at the magic academy.


    "Erm¡­ Yeah I was sick for a bit, but I''m feeling better now so it''s okay. I''m glad to see you two are okay."


    "Yeah¡­ I still can''t believe I survived that and that you helped kill a demon, that''s really impressive Lilly."


    "Ah, it was nothing, I just helped Victor keep it busy for a little while."


    "But still, weren''t you scared? I don''t trust myself to be able to keep it together in front of such an opponent."


    With Jessica asking about when she kept the demon occupied while Lux and Terra got Dax back, Lilly remembered what her motivation was at that point.


    "Ara~ What''s this?~"


    Seeing Lilly fall quiet as she started blushing, Jessica suddenly got a fox like smile on her face as she started poking Dax on the cheek with a single finger, making Dax restrain himself greatly from whacking her over her head.


    "So did it work out?"


    Also picking up on what was going on Finn started pestering Lilly for answers, as he had some idea of what could motivate someone to face almost impossible odds.


    "... It did."


    After a few more seconds of silence, Lilly finally spoke up as she covered her blushing face with her hands, making the fox like couple look at Dax with large smiles.


    "... You beast~"


    "... I don''t want to hear that from you Jessica, but I guess I can tell the two of you... This is a date, even if it''s hard to believe."


    As Dax somewhat awkwardly admitted why both he and Lilly had visited together, the knight pair turned silent for a few seconds.


    "My oh my~ So pure~ I thought you looked cuter than usual Lilly, so this is why¡­ Congratulations!~"


    "And I thought you were a completely lost cause¡­ Nicely done."


    While Jessica became even more obnoxious and turned her attention towards Lilly (Read as: Prey), Finn appeared to have been greatly stunned as he placed a hand on Dax''s shoulder.


    (Why is it he seems even more annoying than Jessica!?)


    While Dax did his best to not outright punch Finn in the face, Dax''s face suddenly turned serious as he received a message from ICI.


    "What''s wrong?"


    "I need to leave now. Lilly do you want to come with?"


    "... Sure."


    Seeing the sudden sense of urgency on Dax''s face, Lilly answered before she had thought about it.


    "Sorry about this, I''ll bring some wine next time I visit. Lilly we dust off in 30 seconds."


    "Don''t worry about it."


    "I''m looking forward to some drinking~"


    Saying goodbye to Finn and Jessica as quickly he could, Dax almost dragged Lilly by the hand as he left the building. Right outside was the CAS-A7, having flown over to meet Dax as soon as he exited with its engines already spun up, Lilly could see Dax was in a hurry.


    "Dax what''s going on?"


    "She''s waking up."

 Chapter 182 - Awakening (4)

    "F.u.c.k.i.n.g move it!"


    Dashing through the busy noon street of Kingstead Terra almost ran along the walls as she avoided the nonchalant morning traffic. With a large smile on her face, the hellwalker cadet leapt cleanly over a two story building as she closed in on the city centre. Leaping from building top to building top Terra closed in on the central compound, meanwhile Dax and Lilly were travelling back towards Kingstead at top speed.


    "We''re so high up, why is the sky all dark up here?"


    "Because there is no sky, the atmosphere is what makes the sky blue and shatters the sunlight, without it space is cold, dark and empty. That means life is impossible up here, while it is either cold or hot enough to kill you in seconds, heat radiates away from crafts so slowly that they need specialized equipment to not cook their occupants."


    Explaining the concept of hard vacuum to Lilly Dax noticed how she was for once interested in ''his'' world, something that made him feel somewhat happy, even if he would never admit it.


    "That sounds ruthless¡­"


    "Yeah it is¡­ Even though I''m made for surviving in space it''s more along the lines of dying a little slower than normal people."


    As Lilly and Dax were talking the CAS-A7 suddenly cut thrust, jerking the entire craft as Dax''s magnetic boots kicked in and nailed him to the floor while he secured Lilly in her seat.


    "Time for reentry, this is going to be a bit rough but try and bear with it Lilly."


    "O-okay¡­ What exactly are we doing?"


    Seeing Dax''s large smile, Lilly got a bad promotion.


    "Just a neat little manoeuvre called a suicide burn, it''s completely safe."


    Hearing the what Dax called the manoeuvre, Lilly''s smile visibly flinched.


    "Somehow I don''t trust you on that¡­"


    "It is, trusts me. Only a few people have died this way."


    "That doesn''t sound safe at all!"


    "Here we go!~"


    "DAX!"


    -


    "... Looks like Dax also got the message, I hope Lilly is not in there with him¡­"


    Seeing a CAS-A7 perform a full on suicide burn right in the middle of Dax''s compound, Terra shielded her eyes with her Reaper''s mask as the landing craft kicked up a ton of dust. Making her way towards a two story building that sat in the middle of Dax''s compound Terra accidentally witnessed Lilly as she stumbled out of the landed CAS-A7, immediately getting down on all fours as she puked.


    (Rough landing¡­ Sorry Lilly I don''t have time to help you right now.)


    Mentally apologizing to the elver Terra hurried on, entering her home as she took off her mask and heard the sound of glass shattering from upstairs. Getting an extremely bad feeling Terra rushed up the stairs, entering a room she had visited many times over the last few years and was immediately stopped from going further by Dax who held her back.


    "Is she okay!?"


    "First of all calm down a little. As for Alice you can ask her yourself."


    Laying eyes on her long time best friend Terra froze in place. Alice had spent the best part of the last 2 years she had been in a coma, stuck in a tank where countless nanomachines fixed the delicate damage done to her central nervous system and the burns she had suffered all over her body when the exoskeleton she was piloting was struck with a 40 millimeter AD-LBD HEAT shell. According to Dax, Alice was supposed to spend at least one more year in a coma while further repair had been done on her body, but somehow she woke up early, leading to both Terra and Dax dropping everything they were doing as they rushed home to her.


    "Alice?... Are you okay?"


    To Terra''s surprise, Alice had somehow broken out of the healing tank she was being held in, glass and water were spread all over her room as Alice stood silently and unresponsive in the middle of it wearing a black medical grown and breather mask that still covered the lower half of her face while her arms and legs were covered in implanted access ports to allow for faster healing. Her long chestnut brown hair had turned completely ashen white somewhere along the healing process, while her warm blue eyes had turned cold and cloudy as she looked at Terra.


    "Stay put, she might not be all there."


    Making sure Terra didn''t get closer to Alice, Dax himself opted to be the live test subject as he cautiously approached Alice.


    "Alice can you hear me?... Looks like the light is on, but there''s no one home. ICI read her biometrics please."


    Inching closer while appearing as non treathenly as he could, Dax read Alice''s biometrics.


    (Heatbeat is 300 BPM and climbing¡­ Something is wrong!)


    Throwing caution to the wind Dax approached Alice and grasped her arm as he tried to remove her breathing mask, this had some sort of adverse effect on Alice as her cloudy eyes suddenly regained their focus as her aura changed in a split second.


    (FAST!-)


    In an instant, Alice struck out against Dax with her free hand, forcing Dax on the defensive as he secured her other hand with slight difficulty.


    (When the hell did she get this strong!?... Unless¡­.)


    "Alice!"


    Raising his voice Alice stopped in place, halting her assault on Dax as her eyes turned unfocused once more.


    "I told you to stay back Terra."


    Hearing his disciple lift her feet, Dax spoke out to her while still keeping his attention firmly on Alice as he removed her breathing mask.


    "But-"


    "No buts! Stay put."


    "Fiiine."


    Giving her usual response to Dax, Terra started pouting as she remained in place, this had some sort of effect on Alice as her eyes once more became focused.


    "Terra?"


    Speaking for the first time in 2 years, Alice''s bright voice was rough and coarse and her eyes fully regained their former light.


    "Alice? Are you okay?"


    "Eh? Dax¡­ I don''t know."


    Realizing Dax was right in front of her Alice blinked a few times as the qiton made her sit down on the floor, taking care that she didn''t sit on the broken glass that was all around her.


    "Now are you going to try and hit me again or are we cool?"


    "W-why would I hit you?"


    "That''s inconsequential. What''s the last thing you remember?"


    Making Alice focus on something else Dax took the liberty of removing the tubes and wires still attached to her arms.


    "I helped you, Solaris and Terra in the invitation of the Northern Republic¡­ We took the capital and went to find the so called monster of the north... Then I can''t remember anything."


    "Okay, that''s good¡­ Alice I need you to remain calm as I say what I''m about to say."


    "O-okay¡­"


    As Dax took a slightly sterner attitude, Alice forced herself to pay full attention as she sat up straight.


    "You almost died."


    "What?"


    "After we met with Iris, as I decided to name her, we were ambushed by one of my subordinates that had lost her memory. After she shot you I managed to return her to sanity, then we brought you back to Kingstead where we currently are and started the long healing process that you just woke up from."


    "... How long have I slept?"


    Taking a second to process the knowledge Dax instilled in her, Dax didn''t immediately answer, instead he took a few moments to check up on Alice''s vitals.


    "... You have been under for about 2 years. Good news is that your vitals look okay, take a moment to catch up with Terra, I''ll go prepare another room for you."


    Leaving the two friends behind to catch up, Dax left to prepare a room that was not filled with glass shards as he looked over the result of Alice''s scan and biometrics.


    (Brain activity was off the scales for a while there and her strength was immense too¡­ There must have been some kind of anomaly doing the healing process that I didn''t catch, which is extremely problematic.)


    Anomalies in nanomachines were extremely bad news, even if it proved to be a positive effect this time next time might be different. While Dax had his suspicions about possible reasons that the nanomachines had malfunctioned, he didn''t immediately jump at them. Instead, he had ICI go over the operation logs, immediately eliminating the possibility that the grey matter had glitched somehow.


    (So the problem is not on that side¡­ What could it be?... Unless-)


    -


    "You''ve gotten taller¡­"


    "Have I?"


    Taking a short moment to catch up with each other, Terra and Alice quickly ran out of things to speak about.


    "Yeah¡­ So what has been happening lately?"


    "A lot¡­ So much in fact that I don''t know where to start."


    Seeing Terra getting a far off look in her eyes, Alice believed a joke would lighten the atmosphere.


    "Well it''s not like you people slew a demon, so just start at the beginning and. Go¡­ With¡­. No way."


    Seeing how Terra reacted Alice''s smile froze as her friend explained.


    "We did actually kill an archdemon a few months ago¡­ I helped to distract it along with Victor, Lux and Lilly while Dax brought it down with the help of Solaris and two other archangels."


    "EHH!? Wait who are Lux, and Lilly too?"


    Reacting to unknown girl names being mentioned, Alice realized she had missed two years worth of chances with Dax.


    "Well¡­ Lux is Dax''s adopted daughter, kind of. She''s the one that almost killed you. As for Lilly, she''s a grand elver¡­. And kinda dating Dax, I don''t know exactly what''s going on between the two of them."


    That day would come to be named ''the awakening''. Marked by a confused scream that could be heard all over Dax''s compound and lasted about half a minute, it was the day Alice woke up again, and the day where Dax''s problems with women really started.

 Chapter 183 - Awakening (5)

    "Put your back into it! What the hell happened to you in the time we were not sparring?"


    In the few days since Alice woke up, Dax had refused to leave his compound at Kingstead, so to spend the time he had been drilling close combat techniques into Terra, much to her despair.


    "Kuh! Sorry!"


    This time Dax was instilling his disciple the art of kicking in a very qiton way of teaching, with both of them holding their arms behind their backs Dax and Terra would take turns kicking each other while the receiving one would be blocking to the best of their ability.


    "As a normal mammal, you default to using your arms! What are you going to do if you lose your arms in battle!? Stop fighting!?"


    Delivering a high kick from the left side Dax flipped his weight and landed before kicking Terra''s undefended right side within a second, sending her flying into one of the nearby walls.


    "You overexposed yourself again, keep focused and keep sharp. Or I can just knock the shit out of you repeatedly."


    "... Is this always so extreme?"


    As Terra had landed right next to Alice she showed great concern for her friend, but Terra just more or less brushed the damage she endured off along with her concerns.


    "It''s fine, this is actually some pretty mild training."


    Getting up on her feet again, Terra continued sparing with Dax and was knocked to the floor repeatedly.


    (This is really insane¡­)


    Looking at the speed that both Dax and Terra were striking each other at, Alice could clearly see how much Terra had improved while she had been unconscious. It was like a great distance had opened up between her and Terra, she could feel her friend was slipping further and further away from her every single day. While this was something she had immediately noticed when Terra became Dax''s disciple, but in the time she had missed her long time friend had gone from a normal human to taking hits that would outright kill most monsters and shugging them off without issue.


    (I should go get Terra and Dax some towels¡­ And maybe some cold water too.)


    Seeing how the pair were nearing a break in their training, Alice got a bright smile on her face as she stood up and left the dojo in a bright mood and went into the main building before heading to the kitchen.


    "Ah."


    But the kitchen was already occupied. At the fridge stood a tall woman with pale white skin, sharp looking amber red eyes and short white hair. Like Dax her way dressing was more focused on mobility and comfort than looks, she wore a plain white t shirt which she paired with some grey cargo shorts and some kind of black facemask she had strapped to the belt. Also similarly to Dax was the high number of scars clearly visible on the skin she was exposing, making Alice remember that it was a source of pride in Dax''s culture.


    "Hello, I don''t believe we have met before. My name is Alice."


    After staring at the woman for a few moments, Alice seemed to remember her manners as she did a light bow and introduced herself, something that made the woman flinch for some reason.


    "..."


    (Did I say something strange?)


    A few seconds of silence followed as Lux looked like a deer that had been caught in a headlight, but on account of her strong pride, she quickly snapped out of it.


    "A pleasure to meet you, my name is Lux."


    "So you''re Lux?..."


    (This is it¡­ Guess I''m ready.)


    Lux had been feeling extremely bad since she was informed that she had almost killed one of Dax''s allies, even more so as the girl in question had spent the better part of the last 2 years unconscious. Even if 2 years was not really that long of a timeframe for Lux herself, she realized that such a timeframe was a significant part of a normal mortals lifetime, as such she fully believed that Alice would hate her for what she did. Meanwhile, Alice was struck with a strong sense of awe. From what she had learned about Dax''s world she had found it extremely scary, a world larger than she could ever imagine was stuck in a constant state of civil war and life was lost at an awesome rate with no sign of stopping. Such a world seemed like a world of monsters, where one could die without warning there was no room for kindness or mercy. Yet the creature that stood in front of her came from such a world, Alice could clearly see that Lux felt bad over what she had done to her and at the same time she looked kind in the same way Dax was, just without all the roughness he had.


    "This might be rude to ask but how did you get skin that looks so nice?"


    "Eh?"


    This time it was Lux''s turn to be surprised. Before she knew what was going on Alice had closed the range, wrapping her hands around Lux''s as she looked at her with bright and almost glowing eyes that held great expectations.


    "... You''re not angry at me?"


    Snapping out of her brief confusion Lux''s expression turned apologetic as she still awaited a harsh emotional outburst from Alice, obviously she didn''t yet know what kind of person Alice was at heart.


    "What? Why would I be angry? You acted in a way you believed to be correct and in the end no permanent harm was done. Dax already told me, you believed that I was misusing the technology you and your comrades had put blood sweat and tears into"


    (What the hell is this cute and outright adorable creature?)


    While Lux was looking at Alice something changed or awoke inside her.


    (This must be the so called ''desire to protect''?.... Kuh! Why is it so potent?)


    Being affected by something she had up till now only scoffed at, Lux''s expression froze up as she struggled to resist a new front of desires that welled up inside her.


    "L-Lux?"


    Seeing Lux freeze up right after she gripped her hands, Alice suddenly got concerned.


    (D-did I perhaps do something rude?)


    Before Alice could retract her hands, Lux pulled away from Alice as her face turned grim, then out of nowhere she hugged Alice.


    "How can a creature so pure even exist?"


    "Eh?"


    Blooming a bright smile Lux briefly lost herself, but that didn''t last forever as she quickly snapped out of it and tried to change the subject.


    "S-so what are you doing here? Need some food?"


    "Ah, yeah. Dax and Terra are finishing up their morning training so I figured I would get them some refreshments."


    "Is that so? Then take this, it''s Dax''s favourite post workout drink."


    Handing Alice a cold beer, Lux sent her on her way before she breathed a deep sigh.


    (That was extremely embarrassing¡­ I need to do something about that.)


    Remembering Alice''s bright and happy smile Lux made a point of reinforcing her steadfast will and poker face in the face of a new threat to her image.


    -


    "I''ve brought refresh- What is going on here?"


    As Alice came back dojo she didn''t find Dax and Terra to be taking a break as she had expected, instead, Terra laid down panting from exhaustion on the floor at the side while Dax and Solaris spared with what looked like very real and sharp looking spears.


    "Today is the day I''ll teach you the difference between us!"


    Charging forward confidently, Solaris aimed to decapitate Dax as she swept the blade of her spear vertically through the air using her own momentum to add power to her blow. The qiton responded not in words, but in action. Instantly recognizing what Solaris was trying to achieve, Dax lowered his posture and deflected Solaris'' blow with his spear, letting the archangel''s spear slide along the length of his own while he turned the butt of his own spear towards Solaris'' Storage, aiming to crush the lower part of her ribcage along with her spine and gut. In desperation as she realized her own mistake, Solaris hurriedly challenged mana into her wings and created a flight spell as she flapped all six of her wings and lifted off the ground to avoid Dax''s strike as she passed over him and simultaneously aimed to strike his back with her spear.


    "Naive!"


    Seeing Solaris lift off the ground Dax''s smile widened slightly as he collapsed his own stance, flipping around while avoiding Solaris'' opportunistic strike and spread out his legs and switched to holding his spear in a single hand.


    "Fu!-"


    Seeing what Dax was doing Solaris couldn''t act in time, even before she had involuntary finished cursing the qiton''s spear passed right by her head at blistering speed, burying itself deep into the wall behind her.


    "I win~"


    "Kuh! I''ll get you next time for sure!"


    "Yeah yeah~ Come back when you have learned not to make yourself valuable like that~"


    Dax''s smug sounding declaration of victory snapped Alice out of her daze, what she had just witnessed over the cause of a few tens of seconds utterly shattered her preconceptions of Dax and angels. While she had heard grand stories of angels growing up and even seen an earlier spar between Dax and Solaris, this had been something different altogether.


    (I really am not a match for these people¡­)


    It really seemed like a Dax and the other people around her were part of an entirely different world, she realized that they were more powerful than she could become.


    "Ah Alice, perfect timing~"


    Now that his fight was over Dax realized Alice had returned with refreshments, taking his beer and a towel he used to wipe his forehead as his hand found a natural resting place on top of Alice''s head.


    "Thanks, this one is my favourite."


    Even as Alice was extremely happy to be praised by Dax a small hole had found its way into her confidence, and it only seemed to increase in size over time. At the same time as Alice''s internal conflict grew in magnitude Lux arrived, looking for a spar with Dax.


    "Wanna go a few rounds? Or have you gotten too old to fight and finally ready to retire?"


    In response to Lux''s remark, Dax''s expression froze as his aura slowly started to change.


    "... You know this is the 315th time you use that provocation to try and get me to spar with you Lux and still, it somehow manages to piss me off. "


    While Dax displayed a large and warm looking smile his eyes weren''t smiling in the slightest and it generally seemed like he might kill Lux from an outsider''s perspective.


    "You taught me that one shouldn''t try and fix stuff that''s not broken, so why change tactics when it''s still working? Wanna go for the usual ruleset?"


    Showing a haughty smile as she walked to the centre of the practice field Lux started doing light warmups in a casual manner while continuing to brittle Dax, making the temperature in the damp dojo seem several degrees colder than it actually was.


    "... Sure. One round of qiton close combat arts with no restrictions, first critical hit is the winner. Does that sound good?"


    "Yeah it sounds perfect~ Let''s go!"


    Jumping around like a kickboxer Lux showed a quite relaxed attitude while Dax stood steadfast and put up his defences with hardened determination, Alice would later learn that this was the result of Dax needing to reign in his strength to match Lux, something that was essential as there was a good chance Lux would be injured otherwise.


    "Terra, could you please give us the starting signal?"


    "... Sure. On your marks!... GO!"


    The split second Terra called for the start of their sparring match, Lux sprang into action with a smile on her face. Closing the distance in an instant, Lux sent out a series of lightning fast jabs that she combined with opportunistic low kicks that aimed to force Dax off balance. Her opponent was not to be outdone however, as each of Lux''s numerous hits were either deflected or outright parried as he shifted around on the training mat with rock solid footwork that allowed the qiton to take each of Lux''s hits without issue as he slowly increased the rate of his own attacks.


    "Wow¡­"


    "Yeah, they are in a league of their own, those two."


    Amazed by the martial art and amount of lateral thinking, technique and deception clearly at display in Lux and Dax''s fight Alice couldn''t help but be amazed, an opinion Terra fully agreed with. While his sparring match with Solaris had been impressive, it was more a blitz than anything else, while Dax had been fully able to exploit Solaris'' first mistake and win the fight, this sparring match between Lux and Dax however, was something entirely different. Even as Dax was mostly on the defensive due to him needing to restrain his power, the qiton constantly switched his defences and footwork, adapting to Lux''s onslaught at an ever increasing rate and soon Lux was forced on the defensive. After 15 more minutes of high intensity fighting, the sparring match ended in Dax''s victory as a result of the qiton being a more experienced fighter, able to adapt to and overcome Lux''s shifting style of fighting in record time. The match left Alice with a sense of wonder, but the perception that she was inadequate also seemed ever more present.


    (I need to do something about this¡­)


    Weighing her options for the rest of the day, Alice finally settled on a solution around midnight. With a sense of determination and steadfast will, she left her room and went to visit Lux with a simple and earnest request that was true to her nature.

 Chapter 183 - New horizons (2)

    "ICI hook me in."


    [ORDER CONFIRMED, BIOSIGNATURE CONFIRMED. ESTABLISHING CONNECTION TO TACTICAL NET, FORMING HIGH BANDWIDTH DATA BRIDGE¡­ CONNECTION ESTABLISHED, TACTICAL INTERFACE ONLINE, 5 MS SIGNAL DELAY.]


    Early morning after Dax had re-established contact with the cursed sword Crimson, the qiton decided to lay the groundwork in his plans at striking back at the people who had attacked him.


    "Show me the results from the mass spec scan of that strange slime I found."


    [ORDER CONFIRMED, DOWNLOADING MASS SPECTROMETER AND STRUCTURAL  SCAN¡­ COMPLETE.]


    At Dax''s order, his vision became black before he was shown a complete scan of the goo that had helped the 3 winged angel Melisha survive being nuked.


    "Hmm¡­ As I guessed it''s some kind of organic substance. ICI please run a search of any matching biosamples collected in this biosphere so far."


    [SEARCHING, STANDBY¡­ 129 PARTIAL MATCHES FOUND.]


    "Wait, 129 partial matches? That can''t be right¡­"


    Looking at the matches Dax quickly found a possible explanation which made him frown deeply.


    "Unless it''s some kind of artificial construct... Assuming that to be the case, ICI try to map and overlay all the known partial matches using a DNA grafting technique."


    [ORDER CONFIRMED. COMMENCING SIMULATION, ALLOCATING RESOURCES FOR SIMULATION¡­ COMPLETE, ODER UNDERWAY ESTIMATED TIME TO COMPLETION: 4 HOURS, 39 MINUTES.]


    "Over 4 hours?... Damn, what I wouldn''t give to have Mu here right now¡­"


    Cursing the fact that he didn''t have an expert at his side, Dax came to terms with the fact that he had to wait a few hours to have his hypothesis proven right or wrong.


    (In case they really did fuse over 100 species they must have had access to a lot of biomass, that means the animals, fungus and fauna must be located somewhere near them.)


    "... Okay, in the meantime show me where the 129 partial matches are commonly found."


    Assuming his hunch was correct, Dax went ahead as he started to narrow in on the people how made the slime.


    [PROCESSING¡­]


    "And paint it all on a map please."


    [CONFIRMED.]


    Working his uplink to capacity Dax took a moment to check the real world, opening his eyes he looked a bit at the sunrise before quickly stretching and going back to meditating. As he closed his eyes once more Dax returned to a map of the planet.


    "Hmm¡­ So it was not anyone on this continent."


    While there were multiple hotspots where several of the 129 different matches were located, a few were still missing.


    "Show me the Empire¡­ There we are."


    While there were no hotspots in the Empire which spanned most of the continent to the east, all the different species was confirmed to call that continent home.


    "We need more intel, but they keep shooting down my drones and the satellites can''t really peek into buildings¡­ ICI show me contained mana hotspots within the Empire that are confirmed not to be population centres."


    [PROCESSING¡­ COMPLETE, RENDING DATA.]


    "5¡­ 10¡­ 14 in total. ICI mark the areas as targets of interest."


    [ORDER CONFIRMED, 14 NEW POTENTIAL STRATEGIC TARGETS ADDED.]


    With everything he could do done for the moment, Dax decided to start his day.


    "Oh, you are awake~ Good morning."


    As Dax opened his eyes once more, he was greeted by Solaris which sat right in front of him looking at his face almost point blank.


    "Good morning Solaris¡­ What exactly are you doing?"


    "... Sometimes I wonder that myself."


    After a brief delay, the archangel seemed to realize what she was doing and her face started heating up as she broke eye contact and backed off.


    "Well, no matter what you were doing I am glad you''re here. What do you know about the Eastern Empire?"


    Ignoring the fact that Solaris was acting lovestruck (or at least in heat) Dax quickly changed the subject, something which the fl.u.s.tered angel appreciated.


    "The Empire?... It''s most likely the strongest power in this world, it''s a gathering of about 50 minor kingdoms and counties that span most of the continent to the east. They are all united under a single emperor."


    "... How the hell haven''t that fallen apart yet?"


    "The emperor is supported by an alliance of archangel sanctuaries."


    "Ah, so the emperor is a puppet for the angels?"


    "That''s how it usually is, but I heard that the newest emperor has formed a more cooperative relationship with the sanctuaries. How he managed that is a hotly debated question in my sanctuary, although I have an idea how."


    "Because of the Starfall?"


    "Exactly. What landed over there anyway?"


    Remembering that Dax was the cause of the Starfall Solaris took the moment to sate her curiosity.


    "The propulsion, power plant, FTL drive and serval storage segments of the ship I commanded."


    "FTL drive? What''s that?"


    Hearing an unknown expression among therms she generally understood, Solaris put on a questioning expression.


    "A faster than light drive, it''s what every craft uses to traverse the vast distances between planets and stars."


    "... What?"


    Seeing that Solaris'' expression only turned more confused when he tried to explain, Dax breathed a deep sigh.


    "You know what? Forget it. What it is isn''t important, what matters is that it''s something that can''t be manufactured anywhere in this star system so losing it would amount to getting stranded here, for at least 5000 years, something I would like to avoid as I still have a war to win."


    "I see¡­ So that''s why you want to know more about the Empire."


    Being reminded that Dax was eventually going to leave her behind, the archangel''s expression turned lonely as she turned around and was about to leave, making Dax reach out and grasp her arm.


    "What?"


    "... You wanna come with me?"


    "... I don''t know."


    Allowing Solaris to leave Dax sat in place as he taught about what had just happened.


    "..... Shit."


    ---


    "Let''s get this over with, Iris is the prototype implant working correctly?"


    "We think so."


    "It should work without issue."


    "But we are still wondering where you got this material in the first place."


    With the cursed sword once more on his side (somewhat) Dax turned his attention to another thing that had been disadvantaging him since he arrived in this world: Magic. Using a prototype neural interface the qiton interfaced with a special kind of tissue that could control and gather mana, which he had salvaged from a certain 3 winged angel. Sitting in the middle of an open laboratory, multiple cables were attached to Dax''s spine which all fed into an isolated glass chamber which housed the prototype system that was no more than a long and thin white rod with countless sensors attached to it.


    "The less you know about that, the better. Solaris, Lilly I count on the two of you in case the mana runs out of control."


    "... Sure."


    "Ka ka ka! You can leave it to me!"


    While Solaris was still slightly down because of the conversation her and Dax had had in the morning, she was still motivated to keep the qiton safe, after all, they were family. Lilly, on the other hand, was completely motivated by self interest as this was a chance to show her cool side to Dax and she had confidently put on a smug smile while her golden eyes glowed with brilliance.


    "ICI will act as the secondary fail safe in case it goes completely out of control."


    [DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED.]


    (And keep an eye on Solaris please.)


    (ORDER UNDERSTOOD.)


    "Here goes nothing¡­ ICI initiate prototype neural interface please."


    [INITIATING NEURAL INTERFACE, COMMENCING PROTOTYPE MANA TYPE WEAPONRY TEST #0195.]


    Narrowing his eyes as his expression turned blank, Dax focused fully on controlling the prototype.


    "Okay, I''m going to start gently¡­"


    After about a minute of concentrated focus, Dax''s effort slowly materialized as something started to happen inside the chamber. It was slow at first, but gradually the temperature rose about 20 centimetres above the prototype while mana slowly gathered.


    "Is that?..."


    "It looks like it is. Congratulations Dax."


    Being extremely mana sensitive, both Solaris and Lilly saw the earliest signs of an offensive spell being formed inside the chamber and after a few more seconds a small flame formed.


    [EXPERIMENT SUCCESSFUL, ENTERING POST EVALUATION MODE¡­ NOW PROCESSING 4.5 PETABYTES OF DATA, ETC: 12 HOURS.]


    "So was that it? I was expecting something grander, like a gigantic spell formation or an ascension spell."


    "Small steps, I''ll leave anything that can result in a bright fireball to ICI and simulations. In a few day''s time, I should be able to start making runic formations."


    "Is that so?... Well good luck with that, I''m going to get something to drink."


    Disappointed that she didn''t get to act cool in front of Dax, Lilly put on a pout and was about to leave when Lux entered the laboratory with Alice and stopped her.


    "What?"


    "You''re going to want to stay for a few more moments."


    "... Why?"


    Seeing Lux''s bright smile Lilly got a bad premonition.


    "Because you''re going to severely regret it otherwise, Solaris too."


    Achieving her goal of getting both Solaris and Lilly to stay, Lux went ahead with her plan, immediately closing the range to Dax and making sure he didn''t move.


    "... Okay, what the f.u.c.k is going on?"


    Being pinned in place by Lux Dax found himself unable to move as his subordinate had somehow infiltrated his ICI substructure and overwritten most of his ability to move.


    "Alice has something to tell you and you being you I''m making sure that you stay put and listen seriously~"


    Feeling Lux''s nails digging into his shoulders Dax breathed a deep sigh. He could just overpower her, but something told him that he needed to stay put.


    "Do we also need to stay?"


    "We want to take a nap."


    "Go ahead Iris, this does not relate to you. Have a nice nap~"


    "Mmm, we will."


    As Iris left the laboratory it quieted down a lot, but in exchange, it was filled with some sort of pressure Dax couldn''t quite put his finger on. Alice, Solaris and Lilly all had a brief but tense staring contest, after which Alice walked up to Dax as she tried to formulate her words.


    "I-I''m sorry for all this, it''s all because I asked Lux for advice."


    While trying to avoid eye contact Alice fiddled with her white hair that showed signs of its original brown chestnut colour at the roots.


    "It seems like the leftover nanomachines that are still left in my body is causing it to change, or that is at least what Lux told me."


    "Yeah that''s the theory I worked out as well, don''t worry, I''ll remove the last traces in an up-"


    "No that''s not what I meant by that¡­"


    The second Dax suggested that he would remove the remaining nanomachines that were primarily in her bloodstream, Alice protested before trailing off at the end, making Dax confused.


    "Why would you not want to ch-"


    "Give her a few seconds~"


    But alas he was cut short by Lux which dug her nails even deeper into his shoulders.


    "... I''ve asked Lux to make me stronger and she agreed."


    "So you''ve taken a disciple?"


    "Let. Her. Finish~"


    Speaking out once more Dax was punished again while Lux''s voice seemed colder than the qiton had ever heard.


    "It''s because I want to become stronger, to keep up with you and Terra¡­ Truth is that I really like you."


    "Why? AW!"


    Making the mistake of answering before thinking, Dax was wracked over the head by Lux who took a hold of his one ear after as she placed her head on his shoulder and quietly whispered.


    "You are truly insufferable when it comes this these things¡­ Next time you misspeak I will rip off your ear~"


    Feeling a chill down his back Dax realized truly how pissed off Lux was at him, there was no mistake that he would lose a lot of his body if he kept speaking before thinking. Deciding therefore to do his utmost, Dax focused his attention on Alice and Alice alone as he finally noticed how much she was blushing.


    "I don''t know when it happened but the feelings of admiration I held towards you turned into romantic feelings, but at the same time, I realized the vast difference between us. You don''t have to respond now, but seeing as I have plenty of competition I want to at least know about my feelings. When the day comes that I can stand next to you as an equal I want you to seriously consider my feelings."


    "... Sure, I''ll do my utmost.... Wait ''plenty of competition''? Isn''t it just Lilly?"


    "Eh? You haven''t realized?"


    All seemed to be going well for Dax, that is until he asked a question he shouldn''t have, making the room eerily quiet as Lux''s grip on him tightened.


    "... Wait a second¡­"


    Putting two and two together Dax realized that Alice must have been talking about people that were currently in the room. Since Lilly and now Alice now had declared their romantic interest and Lux was obviously not interested in him Dax turned his attention towards the last person in the room which hadn''t spoken in some time.


    "W-what? Is there something on my face?"


    (How did I not see that before now¡­)


    Looking at Solaris even Dax could see what Alice had meant, even a blind person or someone as emotionally dense as himself could see it. The proud(?) archangel was grinning like an idiot as her face was flushed entirely red while all 6 of her wings fluttered with such speed that she might lift off the ground.


    "... I''m sorry for my adoptive dad, he''s a lost cause¡­"


    "I already realized that."


    ""Yeah, me too.""


    "Wait, isn''t this a problem?"


    With Lux''s steel grip finally loosening up Dax got up on his feet and stretched as he realized a problem.


    "What?"


    "The fact that there are 3 of you, I''m only a single person."


    "Ka ka ka! Why exactly is that a problem? We''re all fine with that."


    As Lilly let Dax in on something he was not aware was possible, the qiton felt his mind blank out.


    "Fine with it, you mean?-"


    "We do! I-I talked with Solaris and Lilly about this yesterday."


    With Alice taking over for Lilly and explaining, Dax only turned more confused.


    "But that''s not how any of this works!"


    """Is it not?"""


    "N-"


    Right as Dax was about to reputable the 3 girls in front of him, the qiton felt Lux''s hand being placed in his shoulder as she whispered into his ear with a truly cold and emotionless voice.


    "They all got my permission~ Break any one of their hearts and I will kill you."


    "... Yes ma''am, I understand."

 Chapter 184 - New horizons (1)

    "Let''s proceed with the test. Iris, I trust you with monitoring my vitals and make sure I don''t go off into the deep end."


    ["Of course."]


    ["We will keep you safe so don''t worry."]


    ["Worrying will not have a net positive effect on this experiment so please stop it."]


    "I will try not to do that then, how is the connection holding up?"


    ["You know we can''t tell you that."]


    "Yeah sorry, it was a force of habit."


    Inside a newly commissioned deep orbit test facility, Dax was speaking to Iris via a video call as he was about to commence a test that most would describe as outright foolish. This test had been in preparation for months, most of this time was spent to ensure Dax was entirely isolated in case the test failed. Located in deep space outside the planet''s gravitational influence, the brand new test facility had only a single link to the outside world and there was no means of transport present at the station either. Being basically trapped in a prison Dax showed no signs of worry as he activated the electromagnets in his boots and was glued to the station''s floor, taking the few steps past several waring lines to the centre of the station was a single reinforced case was firmly secured.


    "I am now disabling the primary isolation barrier, readings are still within predictions but I suspect that won''t continue to be the case."


    ["Of course."]


    ["You did treat it really badly the last time"]


    ["We are pretty sure it didn''t forget that."]


    "... Well, here goes nothing. I''m establishing direct contact with the sword now."


    Opening the case mana flared out as Dax laid his eyes on a particular dark red sword, grasping its hilt before he changed his mind.


    "Oh? You''re back?~? Now I get to pay you back for what you did to me, you should start begging for mercy about now, mortal ~?"


    Immediately Dax''s surrounding changed as a familiar and extremely annoying voice found the way into his head. The qiton suddenly found himself inside a dark cave, all around him he felt countless different presences that all held varying amounts of hostility towards him, by far the most refined bloodl.u.s.t came from a creature which sat atop a throne that was made out of some sort of black plasma which held its shape and flowed out endlessly at the same time. The creature which sat on top of the throne looked like a young girl with long black hair that entirely covered her face, ''she'' wore a bright red dress which flowed freely like a sea of blood and spread a nauseating smell that spread out in the dark cave.


    "Well, this sure is new."


    Unfaced by his new environment, Dax put on a lax attitude as he looked around.


    (Seems like it has adapted more to my physiology¡­ I can no longer trust my sense of sight, smell or hearing. Touch is most likely also compromised as I can no longer feel that I''m holding onto the sword.)


    "Well ain''t you an interesting creature~? I said bow down, start begging for mercy or you won''t survive."


    Suddenly an immense pressure overwhelmed Dax as he was forced onto his knees and was temporarily blinded and when he regained his vision Dax found himself on his knees looking down onto the cave floor.


    "Now that''s a far better posture for you to take before me~? Last time I offered you my everything and you harshly pushed me aside before locking me up out here in space, why had you come back?"


    Looking up towards the voice that was now centralized in front of him, Dax saw that he was kneeling in front of the black throne where the creature with the red dress sat. Meeting ''her'' eyes that peeked out from behind ''her'' hair, Dax felt a shudder down his back. The creature had no mouth, and what could only be described as its eyes were nothing more than dark empty holes into the creature''s skull.


    "I''ve come here to establish a cooperative relationship that we both might benefit."


    "... Aha! Hahahahahahaha~?"


    As the creature laughed the structure of its face shifted around like a mirage, it was like the creature had tried to take a human form, but didn''t fully understand what that entailed.


    "Why should I ever trust you again!?"


    With the creature''s outrage, the pressure Dax had felt before returned, along with an immense sense of pain, like someone was actively flaying all his skin off at once.


    "I''ve seen what you are, even if you claim to revel in bloodshed you despise it! I will not form a cooperative relationship with you, but I am glad you returned to me. Now let''s continue the torment ~? Would you like to be peeled or flayed alive first?~?"


    (I really did piss it off huh?... Well, that''s within expectations.)


    "Before we do all that I would like to know what your objective is. Let me guess¡­ You want to break me and take over my body so you can escape?"


    "... Ha!~? "


    In response to Dax''s question, the creature''s lower face split open, forming what could only be described as a wide and happy looking ''smile'' if one were willing to accept the loosest definition of that expression.


    "That''s right~? So you are at least somewhat intelligent. But if you knew that then why would you ever establish contact with me again? Are you a masochist ?~? I would be happy if that is the case."


    In glee, the creature got up from its throne and closed in on Dax, kneeling down next to him it caressed his cheek with its hand while it still continued to show its ''smile''.


    "Yeah no, that''s not the case. I don''t enjoy receiving or dealing out pain sorry. Before you start trying to torturing me I want you to take a good hard look at what you''re currently facing."


    Standing up on his feet even despite the influence he was still under, Dax showed a slight smile.


    "W-what''s going on? Just by moving you should be in agony!"


    This greatly unsettled the spirit which was inhabiting the cursed sword, ''her'' from shifted as a result of ''her'' internal state of mind as ''she'' struck out at Dax with a blood red sword which had formed from ''her'' dress. The creature''s sword passed right through Dax''s chest, splitting it apart vertically as blood flowed out with impunity.


    "So that''s what you think my body looks like being bisected? It''s slightly off, you didn''t take the bones into account."


    "H-how!?"


    As Dax''s body slowly reformed itself the creature tried to force Dax out of its realm, but Dax remained his grip on the sword as he continued talking.


    "Did you think that you could break me with something as simple and trivial as pain? You might not have noticed, but I''m a qiton. Pain and suffering is part of our existence, something like getting flayed alive only amounts to a minor inconvenience, like getting a bug bite or having a part of you back that you can''t quite scratch."


    Getting up on his feet Dax gripped the creature by its hair as he peered deeply into his eyes and spoke in a cold, unfeeling voice.


    "I am sorry for what I did to you last time, as such I will prepare countless people you can feast on, but first you must realize what kind of opportunity I am presenting you."


    "A-a opportunity?"


    "Yeah, an opportunity to help me slaughter my enemies. You must have looked into my mind by now, wouldn''t it be a waste to miss all that carnage I have in store over a small slight?"


    Peering into Dax''s mind, the creature saw the full scope of Dax''s plans and shuddered while it tried to imagine taking part in so much slaughter.


    "I-in that case I will offer you my everything, mast-"


    "Don''t call me that."


    "Eh?"


    Being cut off in the middle of its declaration of loyalty, the creature looked confused back at Dax.


    "Call me Dax. As I said at the start, this is a cooperative relationship. In exchange for offering me your power when I need it, I will give you some of my enemies. Do we have a deal?"


    "Y-yeah we do, D-Dax."


    "Perfect~ I look forward to working with you."

 Chapter 184 - 184 Covert salvage operation (1)

    [EXITING GATE IN 5.. 4.. 3.. 2... BRACE]


    Deep inside Iron industry space, a single Empire frigate emerged at the very edge of a system. The ship which was formerly a flagship of the Empire navy''s 4th battlegroup had unexpectedly been recalled for unscheduled maintenance half a year ago, then it completely dropped off the map along with the entirety of its crew.


    Doing one of the frigate''s routine jumps inside Empire space, its FTL drive was remotely accessed and the destination coordinates were overwritten by a master level clearance. Emerging in an unknown system, the crew were understandably quite confused, but when they were personally handed a mission from the very top of the food chain the blanks started to fill in. Officially the craft was quietly classified as missing in action, but covertly the lead of the 4th battle group was taken to a black site and sworn to secrecy, as the very elite they were needed for a special task. Over the next 5 months, the frigate was completely retrofitted as the crew was drilled by masked instructors in operating the new frigate which was several generations ahead of anything else that was officially part of the Empire navy.


    "Jump complete, and with pinpoint accuracy too."


    Speaking out in awe, the frigate''s captain was still amazed at his craft''s new level of performance, even after about 200 jumps over the last month.


    [Of cause it works, it''s our personal work.]


    The only thing he was not happy with however was the additional passengers he had to take with him on the mission he didn''t yet know the contents of. Right next to the captain''s chair stood 3 figures that were completely clad in mat black armour, they could only be identified by markings which were visible on their shoulders, one had an emblem less insignia while the two others had a purple icon that sent shivers down the spine of everyone present on the bridge.


    (One Hellwalker and two Lazarus executives¡­ What the hell is this mission about?)


    "Check for immediate contacts, continue with a passive search and avoid all known deep space listening stations."


    [DIRECTIVES CONFIRMED, TASKING ALL PERSONAL FOR RELEVANT TASKS.]


    While continuing to do his job perfectly the continuous denial by his extra passengers in divulging any information started to get on his nerves, as it did for the rest of the crew that were quietly talking about them in their crew quarters.


    -


    "So what do you think we''re really doing all the way out here, judging from the number of jumps we have been doing over the last month I would guess we''re deep inside Iron space by now."


    "Isn''t this some deep cover operation?"


    "As if that would ever be the case, stuff like that is normally handled by spec ops units like the Hellwalkers, I don''t know about you people but I''m just a normal enlisted sailor."


    "Yeah, but there is a Hellwalker present on the bridge, or so I''ve overheard from some of the officers."


    As one of the sailors pointed out a prominent rumour that had slowly started to spread throughout the higher echelon of the ship throughout the last month, an air of awe spread out in the small crew quarter.


    "No way¡­"


    "A Hellwalker, here?"


    "Then this must be something serious."


    Hellwalkers were akin to legend in the Empire, being the foremost elite fighting force within its borders but still largely unknown and surprisingly secretive to the common citizen. Part of the unit''s continued fame and reverence stems from the units oldest tradition, the semi annual selection matches.


    The 125th orbital drop troopers'' recruitment event, which was informally known as the SASM was a recruitment event that had been held every 5 years for the last 600 years in every major population centre in the Empire. The SASM was known to be extremely hard to pass, with an attendance failure rate around 99.995%, but still, billions of people flocked to the event every 5 years in hope of joining the force.


    If one managed to beat the odds and pass the SASM, one would have their life turned upside down overnight. The benefit of becoming a Hellwalker was simply overwhelming, first and foremost was the offer to become immortal by having one''s body modified while the pay was a blank check that would lead one''s entire community to untold wealth as long as certain conditions were followed.


    "Wait, Jess didn''t you take part in the SASM at one point? Did you see any Hellwalkers?"


    With talks shifting from their initial subject of discussion, the sailor who originally brought up the question of the true nature of their deployment stopped his comrades from straying too far off topic.


    "In any case, if there is or isn''t a Hellwalker on board that doesn''t explain what we''re doing, I''ve heard that the navigators'' doesn''t even know where we are going."


    "That is-"


    [CODE RED: UNKNOWN GRAVITATIONAL SIGNATURE, POSSIBLE HOSTILE CONTACT. ALL CREW ARE TO REPORT TO THEIR  STATIONS.]


    Immediately all ide discussion ceased as all sailors on board the frigate sprang into action and larger parts of the ship were sealed off by heavily reinforced bulkheads that would protect from hull breaches and hostile boarding parties alike.


    "Identify the contact immediately! And send traffic to the fleet high command that we have made contact and will possibly be engaging."


    (Delay that order.)


    (ORDER CONFIRMED, LOCKING DOWN QUANTUM COMMUNICATION ARRAY, SWAPPING ENQIPTION¡­ LOCKDOWN CONFIRMED, SYSTEM NOW OPERATING AT MAX LEVEL CLEARANCE.)


    Following operational doctrine, the captain was about to break the month long radio silence that the ship had been under when he was stopped by one of the Lazarus executives.


    Speaking in a heavily distorted voice the faceless executive was a perfect analogy for the company they represented, being shrouded in secrecy even more so than the Hellwalkers one could not deny their deep reaching influence.


    Being a relatively newly established think tank Lazarus and all their numerous branches had completely revolutionized the Empire''s technology, beating Rex heavy industries and Guardian solutions in their own areas of expertise (being heavy weapons and armour solutions respectively) while displaying a before unseen expertise in everything from biological engineering to FTL drive technology.


    "What''s going on here!?"


    "Coms are down sir, we''re unable to reach the fleet command!"


    "Try and bypa-"


    [That won''t happen. ICI please clarify for the crew.]


    As the captain and his officers tried to bypass what they perceived as a malfunctioning ICI unit, one of the executives spoke up as the Hellwalker quietly disabled their safety on their weapon.


    [DIRECTIVES CONFIRMED. NOW ADDRESSING ALL CREW: GAG ORDER 599 IS NOW IN EFFECT, NO OUTSIDE COMMUNICATION WILL BE MADE, REMAIN AT YOUR STATIONS. CURRENT OBJECTIVE IS TO IDENTIFY THE UNKNOWN CONTACT.]


    With a single ship wide address, the Lazarus executives made clear who was commanding them and spread confusion throughout the ship.


    "Is this a mutiny!?"


    Outraged that his authority was overturned, the Captain decided to take measures into his own hands as he stood up from his chair and turned towards the executives that he so far only had seen as slightly annoying observers. That proved to be an extremely poor decision on the captain''s part, as he immediately looked into the barrel of a pistol wielded by the Hellwalker.


    "Sit down, you''re not in command here."


    Speaking for the first time ever in front of the crew the Hellwalker immediately put a damper on the situation. Unlike the Lazarus executives, the Hellwalker didn''t use voice distortion but her voice was still truly terrifying as it was clad in an overbearing amount of bloodl.u.s.t.


    [Phillipa you voice distortion is not on.]


    "Yeah I know 01, please let me handle this."


    With one of the executives naming the Hellwalker, the captain froze in place as he swallowed hard. While most of the Hellwalkers were extremely secretive, Phillipa was a well known part of the 125th''s upper echelon. Rumoured to be close to the so called ''immortal'' that lead the Hellwalkers, the number of decorations and attachments under her name in the Empire history books were too long to list.


    "P-Phillipa! Then you are!-"


    "I am~"


    Taking off her helmet the Hellwalker revealed herself to be a qiton with numerous advanced cybernetic implants. With the captain and officers on the bridge utterly stunned at her appearance, Phillipa had to take temporary command of the vessel as they still had an unknown contact.


    "We can talk later, for now, I want that contact identified as fast as possible. Send out a fighter wing and reconfigure the short range laser communications array to operations mode 2-2-1-6, then target this systems 3rd planetoid."


    "R-right! Task the 2nd fighter wing and have them scramble immediately, also set up the laser com array as the Hellwalker said."


    Taking the role of X.O. The captain relayed orders to his crew that snapped out of their daze and started doing their job.


    "Second fighter wing is scrambling with loadout delta, they are seeking orders for heading and goal."


    "What about the laser com? I am not familiar with any wavelength distortion that falls outside doctrine use."


    With the officers resuming the frigate''s operation they immediately ran into issues as they hadn''t been trained for the tactics Phillipa was trying to employ.


    "02 please instruct the communications officer in the specifics, I''ll handle navigation while 01 get''s the 2nd fighter wing in position for signal reception."


    Enlisting subject matter experts in an attempt to speed up reactivity, Phillipa focused on handling the frigate''s navigation.


    "Set up a new nav node and go with preset 6, have the craft reorient for possible threats and warm up the main offensive batteries. Limit all thermal emissions and use the heatsink."


    [WARNING: IMMINENT CRAFT REORIENTATION, LEVEL 1]


    While a ship wide notification went out in to warn the crew about the ship''s moments that could and would slam unsecured crew into the walls, the executives started their tasks as they both realized they had to at least earn a little bit of the crew''s trust to continue the mission. First to act was the so called ''02'', the executive quickly and flawlessly moved around in the zero g environment and made their way to the chief communications officer.


    [Go into hardware mode, access code: Bravo 2209 Delta.]


    "R-right away."


    [Good, now we''re going to target the 3rd planet from the centre for a wide burst, use frequency modulation 2-2-1-6, that wavelength should have the optimal deflection angle.]


    "Wait, deflection angle?"


    Starting to piece together what was happening, the communications officer had a dumb grin on her face, after all, she was about to do something that she had until now only believed was possible in theory. Meanwhile ''01'' didn''t really seem to be in the mood to explain what they were doing, deciding to only give the barest of instructions.


    [Task fighter wing 2, have them adopted a matrix formation and move to relative point 1221.]


    "But there''s nothing out there¡­"


    [Just do it.]


    As the flight leader looked into the blank mask of the Lazarus executive while it slightly shifted like the mask itself was somehow alive, she was suddenly overcome with a feeling of dread and responded out of reflex as she flinched.


    "O-okay."

 Chapter 185 - Covert salvage operation (2)

    "What the hell are we supposed to do all the way out here?..."


    [I still don''t know private. I didn''t know when you asked 10 minutes ago, or an hour ago for that matter. Standing orders from ICI is to stand ground and keep up the formation with this exact separation.]


    It had been a few hours since the 2nd fighter wing scrambled with the supposed goal of locating and identifying the unknown contact that occupied the system along with them. In that time they had done nothing of note, making the pilots who had received cutting edge fighters that were a generation ahead of anything they had ever heard rumours about extremely bored as they simply maintained their positions. Being spread out thin in a wide net like formation, the fighters were separated by a few kilometres, so all they saw out their c.o.c.kpits were the cold empty void of space.


    [RELAYING DIRECTIVE, ALL CRAFTS IN 2ND FIGHTER WING DEPLOY AUXILIARY COMMUNICATIONS ARRAY AND STAND BY TO RECEIVE MISSION CRITICAL INTELLIGENCE.]


    "Finally we''re doing something¡­"


    About a minute later the fighters received some sort of strange data and were then recalled, ending their first ''combat'' mission.


    -


    Making their way back to the frigate and after the Lazarus executives sifted through the data, transforming it into something useful the captain finally seemed to realize what they had done.


    "Y-you people bounced a reconfigured communication signal off a high mass ice planet to detect the unknown ship while remaining hidden? That''s not-"


    "Not possible? Yeah, normally that would be the case."


    Utilizing the advanced sensors and equipment available to them, the Hellwalker and two Lazarus executives had done something absurd. Having noted that the system contained a large planetoid that was entirely covered in an unusually smooth layer of ice, they had succeeded in bouncing high energy radiation off the planet and after it had passed through the area where the unknown contact was located it was picked up by the 2nd fighter wing''s receivers as they had been spread out over a large enough area to give the data an acceptable resolution. Normally the data received would be impossible to turn into anything useful, but watching the two Lazarus executives shift tough the data at breakneck speed made all officers present that had at least studied cryptology or signal analysis open their eyes wide in shock.


    "This ship and all its equipment is state of the art and in front of you are the two people that designed it, if nothing else they should be capable of pushing the equipment they designed to the limit."


    [Phillipa you''re exaggerating the scope of the task, this is something I would normally do while relaxing and having some tea.]


    [Yeah, this really is child''s play. No need to flatter us, we won''t increase your pay¡­ Okay, the unknown contact is identified, it''s an Iron industries destroyer remnant, it''s most likely seeking refuge in this system. Still, their luck really is bad, we can''t allow anyone to know we were here in the first place.]


    "No way, we can''t attack them, it''s against the peace treaty. As an officer under oath, I will resist such actions to my last breath."


    When the executive hinted at attacking the remnant ship, the captain put down his foot. Attacking a ship belonging to the former Iron industries was a war crime and as a ship officer under control of the council, he had sworn an oath to do no such thing. In response Phillipa raised her weapon, pointing it at the closest officers to dissuade any interference.


    [You are aware we can control this ship without any of the crew present or breathing, right?]


    "So you''re just going to ignore the rules whenever they don''t suit you!? I swear this is what''s wrong with you corporate types, always seeking profit and only profit! Haven''t you already made enough in this war already!?"


    [We have, but this is not breaking any law. We have total executive control by a 3 out of 3 agreement that was made behind closed doors. But seeing as you won''t care about such  we''ll say this: This success of this mission will directly correlate with outcome of this current war of extermination, as such ANY and all measures will be taken by me, this other executive and the Hellwalker that''s ready to kill everyone aboard this ship.]


    "E-executive control!? That''s impossible! Even if you hold control over the special counsel you''d need at least a 90% approval from the senate and a unanimously positive response from the administrative AI!"


    [Oh, I would?... Do you mean this?]


    Feeling a smile forming under the executives mask, they held out their hand as a red key code slowly emerged out of it. Before anyone could react the Lazarus executive inserted the key at a nearby terminal, prompting a response from the ship''s onboard ICI unit which held an encrypted master list which would respond to correct keys.


    [POTENTIAL EXECUTIVE KEY CODE CONFIRMED, NOW DECODING EMERGENCY CHAIN OF COMMAND ARCHITECTURE¡­ SUCCESS, ACCESS GRANTED TO SCENARIO ALPHA 331 OMEGA NOW INVOKING EXECUTIVE CONTROL, ALL UNITS SLAVED TO: CODENAME ''01'', ''02'' AND PHILLIPA ALPHA 4. SUSPENDING NORMAL COMMAND AND CONTROL STRUCTURE, SYSTEM NOW OPERATING IN CODE BLACK.]


    Seeing the ICI system confirm the executive control order the captain felt his strength leave him, with that kind of power the two Lazarus executives became figuratively and commendatory Gods, at their command they could command the ICI unit to kill the entire crew without issue.


    "Please don''t punish anyone other than me."


    [Punish? Why would we do that? The reason this ship is crewed in the first place is to increase the mission success rate.]


    "... Why go to such lengths?"


    Thinking about the events over the last few months the captain seemed to realize the vast amount of effort put into this mission they had happened to have been chosen for, only to ''increase the mission success rate'' with no consideration for their survival.


    [That''s classified.]


    "Please tell me."


    [... Fine, but you''re signing your life away.]


    "That''s fine, to command my crew with the utmost efficiency I need to know."


    Harding his resolve, the captain prepared for a life in jail or memory manipulation after returning from the front. In response 01 reached out their hand, directly interfacing with his suit that delivered a short message in response.


    "... Oh, god."


    Immediately understanding why their mission was classified, the captain hardened his resolve as he addressed the crew.


    "Prepare to engage the identified contact, I will take full responsibility."


    Even as some of the officers stepped back from their stations in protest, the current objective had been decided as the frigate''s weapon systems came online.


    [Let''s get this over with. Navigation, plot a jump point and get the ship in range.]


    ---


    [TARGET ACQUIRED.]


    [Light it up.]


    Having snuck closer to the Iron industries destroyer by utilizing the frigate''s advanced stealth capabilities, 02 gave the order to open fire. Immediately on their command, the frigate''s spinal mounted 640mm railgun opened fire in combination with multiple torpedo batteries. The result was as instant as it was cruel, with the railgun having ripped out the Iron industry destroyer''s main powerplant it was completely helpless as the fusion torpedos closed in.


    [TARGET LOST.]


    In a bright flash of light, every trace of the destroyer was wiped from existence as the ship ICI lost track of it.


    [RE ADJUSTING ALL SENSORS¡­ COMPETE, ICI SUGGESTS: TARGET NEUTRALIZED.]


    "... Target eliminated."


    With a grim face, the captain called out for his ship to lower its alert level as he sank back down in his chair.


    [Any outgoing signals detected?]


    "Nothing on scopes. I don''t think they even saw it coming¡­"


    Monitoring the area for any outgoing communication the communications officer looked at the Lazarus executive with horror clearly visible on his face, for all he knew they had just eliminated a refugee ship.


    [Good, but let''s make sure. ICI, target.]


    [ACQUIRING TARGET¡­ TARGET ACQUIRED.]


    [Send one times ''apocalypse by fire'' mark 9 antimatter warhead.]


    After making completely sure that the destroyer was neutralized, the frigate which had never been build and people on board that didn''t exist left the now completely dead system behind, or so they taught.


    [LURE #9901-A24 DESTROYED, ALERTING COMMAND.]


    Sending a signal via quantum communication to the dark systems which had up until a few years ago been iron race territory, the central intelligence instantly realized that something had breached its defences. The countless orbital habitation stations that used to hold billions of people were completely silent, save for the ever constant buzzing of electrical and repurposed ''organic processors'' which also intermittently let out low groans of pain. War with  Irongate industrial and their allies which had initially been sparked when they destroyed a primitive populated world and committed genocide in the name of profit ended about 20 years ago when the company collapsed suddenly.


    The reason for their destruction was not external, but (mostly) internal. Having gained steady ground in the opening stages of the war by exploiting the Galactic Empire''s overconfidence and having intimate knowledge of their wartime doctrine. What turned the tide was technology, when they finally succeeded in truly enraging the Empire it awakened its long dormant and sluggish military industry, with vastly superior resources and funding the Empire immediately opened up a gap in weapons technology and seeming to try and address that, the Iron race turned towards something they didn''t fully understand. Attempting to close the ever rapidly increasing gap in technology the iron race turned to artificial intelligence and for the sake of so called efficiency, they ignored any and all security protocols.


    No one really knew when it happened, or how for that sake but suddenly the Iron race lost control of their intricate automated defensive systems that were installed on every major orbital habitation station. What happened after is not really understood, but reports of the few survivors of such stations that managed to escape tell of crude machines that muttered incoherently as they slaughtered anything that was alive before attempting some type of fusion with the copses. It refers to itself by the name Emergence and is the enemy of all sentient life in the galaxy, for it seems to only have one singular drive: the convergence of all systems and integration of all life into itself.

 Chapter 186 - Covert salvage operation (3)

    [EXITING GATE IN 5.. 4.. 3.. 2... BRACE]


    (Here we are, Dax''s last known position¡­)


    Looking at the multiple outgoing system wide scans, Phillipa had a grim expression on her face.


    "I am picking up multiple debris fields in this system, it looks like quite a battle took place here some time ago."


    [5 years, 6 months, 7 days, 3 hours and 35 seconds ago to be precise. This is our objective and the reason for outfitting this ship in cutting edge sensor equipment, we''re looking for a single survivor as well as any opportunities of learning anything about the Emergence.]


    "We''re on a short schedule! I want the utmost of every one of you, the survival of organic life depends on it!"


    Addressing the entire crew the captain had a hardened determination the captain seemed to influence and empower his entire crew with a renewed sense of purpose. This was the reason they had been chosen, this was the reason they had been bestowed advanced technology years ahead of anything officially in service, this was the reason they had been unable to contact their loved ones for so long.


    """""Sir! Yes SIR!"""""


    "Good to see all of you are finally motivated! Scramble all fighter wings and torpedo boats, I want this system under complete lockdown! Navigation, work together with observation and pinpoint all debris fields! And bring out the CAS-A9''s, Phillipa will personally lead a boarding party to make sure any and all powered Emergence sh.i.p.s will not alert the main intelligence while securing any intelligence of opportunity! Let''s get to it."


    ---


    After a few days, the system had been locked down entirely and debris fields of primary importance had been found. It was finally time for Philipha to justify her reason for being chosen for the mission.


    "Okay listen up, I will only say this once so pay attention! This being a full EVA, high risk operation I will go in alone with the Reapers, this is not up for discussion! As for the route of I will spacewalk along with the drones and any supporting sh.i.p.s will absolutely NOT come within 5000 meters of any active or inactive Emergence vessel, they have been known to suddenly and inexplicably come online if any strong power sources come near!"


    Having briefed the now extremely nervous pilots, Phillipa''s demeanour seemed to change from her usually bright and friendly attitude into that of a veteran hellwalker being, intense almost overbearing and utterly frightening.


    "ICI hook me in, code black."


    [DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED, PREPARING FOR FULL MIND DOMINATION. WARNING: COMPLETE MIND MELT IN EFFECT. EXPECTED CORRUPTION AT 100% CODE BLACK NOW IN EFFECT.]


    "Perfect~ Now for the drones, just give them all at once."


    Feeling her vision slightly shift as time slowed down around her while her brain activity spiked at unsafe levels, Philippa pointed at the frigates drone bay and with her words they came alive.


    [ORDER CONFIRMED, 99 REAPERS ADDED TO ARCHITECTURE, ALL RAM AND PROCESSING POWER INTEGRATED TOTAL CONTROL HANDOVER COMPLETE. ICI ENTERING SLEEP MODE]


    "Let''s get to it! The 9 drone squads are to check out the low priority sites while I go to what is currently believed to have been an Emergence dreadnought type battlecruiser."


    Boarding one of the state of the art transports together with 9 drones Phillipa headed for the largest, somewhat intact vessel of the fleet that had ambushed Dax and his forces in order to learn what had become of him, his crew and his ship.


    [We''re a go for EVA, keeping up separation distance.]


    "Thanks, Warthog. See you in a few hours."


    Stepping out off transport into the empty void of space, Phillipa glanced around to make sure her connection with the drones still held, then she joined hands with the 9 Reaper drones that were accompanying her and activated her EVA thrusters for an acceleration burn.


    "Coming up on the ship now, it looks like a class 14 ship of the late generation but I''m not completely sure. The rear thruster component and powerplant appear to have been entirely severed and the number of railgun hits all along the hull indicate that this ship was in intense CQC for some time before being disabled."


    [Warthog copies your last. We will keep up a state of radio silence unless a priority message comes through, watch your back in there.]


    About a kilometre out from the wreckage Phillipa and her drones entered a state of low power operations, as the Emergence had known to become increasingly active near any significant power signatures. What was problematic with Emergence sh.i.p.s was the extreme degree of variation which bordered straight up random, eliminating any effective first strike capabilities as vital systems could not be identified. As Phillipa described the disabled ship was of the class 14 variant, being one of the largest classes so far encountered which had a form like a wide and flat boomerang that was about a kilometre from one tip to the other. Landing on the starboard side of the hull, Phillipa set up a breaching charge and quickly made her entry into the dark hull of the ship.


    "Logic dictates a central bridge and or command centre¡­ Which would mean that it isn''t that way¡­ Then we go this way instead."


    Running in low power mode Phillipa couldn''t use her magnetic boots to ''walk'' in the slim corridors so instead, she simply floated around along with her drones as they investigated the ship. Meanwhile, Ra and Mu had found very little of Dax''s Omega-7 cruiser, leading them to suspect 1 of 2 things had happened.


    [Either it was completely obliterated or somehow managed to escape¡­ The complete obliteration makes no sense, as there are serval Emergence sh.i.p.s with extensive CQC damage, as for any attempt at escape¡­. Navigation, how many Empire thrusters have you located so far?]


    "We''ve found 7 partial matches so far. I would assume that the hostiles which ambushed our craft tried to disable it immediately."


    [Normally that would be a good assumption, but the Emergence tends to act randomly¡­ Still, we can not rule out that that''s exactly what''s happened¡­. In that case, we need to search for a jump signature that would rule out if something did indeed escape from this system. I need a high bandwidth system wide scan.]


    Coming to the inevitable conclusion that they could not keep hiding the way that they had been so far while still expecting to ever find Dax, Mu suggested something desperate which the captain immediately opposed.


    "There''s no way we can do that and still remain hidden!"


    [Which is why we''ll do that as a last resort, or when it''s already clear that we''ve been spotted.]


    -


    "Shit! How the hell are they still active!?"


    After having made her way inside the Emergence dreadnought Phillipa was quickly met with the ship''s ''immune system'' which was somehow still active after so long. Stabilizing herself in a doorframe Phillipa opened fire on some type of drone which looked like a mix between the iron force''s outdated hexapod and a more advanced vaguely humanoid type. When describing Emergence sh.i.p.s the Empire quickly found out it was easier to describe their internal functions by biology terms, like a living being they had something which closely resembled an immune system of countless different drones that specialized in repelling invaders and could also be used to take over hostile sh.i.p.s. Beyond the simple immune system Emergence sh.i.p.s also had platelet, memory and neuron type cells, the latter being what Phillipa was looking for inside the malformed labyrinth of steel.


    Making steady progress the hellwalker had decided that moving towards the path of most resistance was the right call and was soon rewarded for that when she found herself in a large open room.


    "This is¡­ A neuron cl.u.s.ter!"


    Looking at a large cl.u.s.ter of drones, military grade computers and other processing equipment Phillipa realized she had struck gold. As the drones with her worked to secure her immediate surroundings the hellwalker started identifying and removing memory segments for retrieval and eventual decryption.


    "What the f.u.c.k!?"


    Having dug into the centre of the neuron cl.u.s.ter Phillipa found something she didn''t expect to see, hooked up to a crude life support system was a single Iron race child in a vacuum suit, impaled with countless wires all over and secured to the floor with chains.


    "An organic processor¡­ This thing needs to be completely erased from existence."


    Looking into the open and dead eyes of the child Phillipa felt her rage boil while she vowed that she would wipe the thing that made such a thing of the map, permanently.


    (... Wait a second.)


    Finally breaking eye contact from the child Phillipa saw something out the corner of her eye that send a chill down her spine. Confirming her suspicion via the use of a drone the hellwalker saw how the dead child''s eyes kept following her.


    (That piece of shit!)


    Casually bracing her leg against a wall Phillipa unexpectedly charged the ''child'' as her cybernetic arm powered up and split apart.


    "Commence direct interface intelligence extraction!"


    [DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED, PREPARING ALL OFFENSIVE FIREWALLS.]


    Gripping the ''child''s'' head, Phillipa crushed its vacuum suit helmet and made contact with its skin that was currently freezing over.


    "NOW!"


    [CONFIRMED. NOW EXTRACTING RAW CEREBRAL DATA¡­. SUCCESS, NOW PROCESSING 19.5 PETABYTES OF RAW DATA...¡­. ERROR, UNABLE TO PROCESS DATA.]


    (That''s way more data than normal, I guess my hunch proved correct, the Emergence can infect living beings¡­)


    While reports of such an unholy ability were common from survivors, they were all unconfirmed. Having seen it happen first hand while also glancing over the data her ICI unit extracted, Phillipa had confirmed that at least some part of the Emergence had been present inside the child when she ripped out its memories.


    "Now to get all this data back to Ra and Mu¡­. That''s not good!"


    While the hellwalker was talking to herself she felt a subtle vibration in one of the walls she touched, then a second after that, the lights turned back on by themselves.


    "That''s really not good!"


    [Hellwalker this is Warthog, the derelict you''re inside just spiked in energy reading! It''s waking up!]


    "I have noticed that! I need a fast extract, send traffic to command as follows: Code red, fire mission on relative grid 03 01 22 91! Send one times EMPKP!"


    [Warthog confirms, sending traffic. Rendezvous is point echo, get there fast.]


    Even without its primary powerplant or propulsion, the derelict dreadnought still somehow came alive as countless cold gas thrusters all over it lit up in an attempt to kill the intruder that had infiltrated it. Phillipa used this to full her advantage as the generated centrifugal force made her able to run along the walls and ceiling as the dreadnought tired to kill her. Proving she was an elite the hellwalker made her way outside the craft in record time and quickly opened up her separation as much as possible because she knew the craft was about to be hit.


    [INCOMING ELECTROMAGNETIC PULSE DEVICE, SHUTTING DOWN ALL VULNERABLE SYSTEMS.]


    Suddenly Phillipa lost all power in her suit, a preventive measure as friendly fire support was incoming. Spinning around in the empty void of space for a few seconds as she continued to separate from the derelict, Phillipa just managed to catch a glimpse of the incoming shell. Fired from the frigates main railgun, the 640mm kinetic penetrator which carried a small nuclear device priced into the derelict without issue. As the round reached the centre of the craft it detonated the nuclear bomb and generated an electromagnetic pulse which temporarily knocked the craft out of operation, just enough time for Phillipa to and the CAS-A9 to make minimum separation as it was completely obliterated by a swarm of fusion torpedoes from nearby torpedo boats.


    [This is main addressing all crafts. Get the f.u.c.k back here now! We''re detecting multiple gravitational distortions, we''re going to have visitors imminently!]

 Chapter 187 - Covert salvage operation (4)

    [We have contact.]


    "Yeah I heard, how bad?"


    On the way back to the frigate Phillipa was contracted by Mu over a private channel.


    [About 350 minor contacts and 20 large ones, but due to the fighters out on patrol we spotted the earliest signs of a jump point forming so we''ll most likely be able to eliminate half right when they''re entering this system.]


    "... While that''s not great it could be worse. Any luck in locating our primary objective?"


    As the earliest signs of an approaching fleet had been spotted in time, most of them could be outright destroyed right as they left their jump points, the true issue was the ones that survived as they would pose a fair fight.


    [We''ve run a drive signature scan which revealed nothing so far, In a few moments we''re running a final scan to look for any gravitational wave distortions that hopefully will reveal any emergency jumps out of this system.]


    Ending her conversation with Phillipa, the Lazarus executive continued preparing for the upcoming battle.


    [Identify those last contacts! I want to know exactly what''s coming for us so we can sucker punch them the moment they step into this system.]


    "Y-yes ma''am!"


    Having somewhat guessed the executive''s gender by the reaction she had when he called her sir, the weapons officer worked harder than he ever had while she was breathing down his neck.


    [Warm up all HEL''s too, while they are not that effective as an offensive weapon we can still use them defensively.]


    [Fire mission, relative grid 99 10 20 59. Send 35 times fusion torpedoes, strike pattern 05.]


    "Roger! sending payload."


    While Mu was formulating their defensive posture and working on identifying the incoming hostile sh.i.p.s, Ra was working the preemptive strike.


    [Captain, address all fighter wings. Tell them to drop all their torpedoes, we can guide them from here.]


    "Right! I''ll do that immediately. What about the torpedo boats?"


    [There''s a reason they''re unmanned, Leave them be.]


    ---


    20 minutes after the first early warning, the first Emergence ship arrived in the system. Its stay was short however, as it was immediately hit with a barrage of fusion torpedoes, one of which ignited its fuel stowage and created a bright explosion. More of its brethren followed, but most of them suffered a similar fate as Ra and Mu had plenty of time to prepare adequate defences. Still, the Emergence managed to establish a beachhead in the system through sheer numbers alone and the more sh.i.p.s that managed to make it into the system intact, the harder it was to successfully destroy others when they entered.


    "134 contacts have been destroyed, 256 contacts still remain. They''ve located us! I''m seeing several sh.i.p.s opening fire!"


    (Holy¡­)


    Looking at how effectively the two executives took care of the Emergence sh.i.p.s right as they entered the system by using advanced sensors and next generation weaponry the captain couldn''t help but wonder how warfare would be conducted in the future.


    [It''ll be a while before their torpedoes reach us, focus on the railgun fire. ICI calculate trajectories, please.]


    [DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED, PROCESSING¡­. COMPLETE, NOW TRACKING 10.999.150 PROJECTILES.]


    On the large tactical map in the middle of the bridge, multiple red lies were painted to ill.u.s.trate the incoming fire which seemed to be aiming to limit the frigates movement more than outright destroy it.


    [So it want us alive, fascinating¡­]


    As Mu read the clear intent of the Emergence the researcher in her was fascinated while her mind started racing to figure out why until she was stipped by her sister.


    [Now is not the time!]


    [Right, sorry. ICI task counter batteries, open up an egress route and task the HEL''s to help out too. We still need some time to complete the last scan.]


    [DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED, CALCULATING OPTIMAL DISRUPTION OF ENEMY FIRE¡­ COMPLETE, TASKING ALL HIGH ENERGY LASERS FOR RELEVANT INTERCEPTION.]


    At once some 200 high energy lasers on the outside of the frigate came alive with a roar as their cooling systems came to life while they targeted the projectiles which were closing in.


    [NOW FIRING.]


    Partially melting the kinetic penetrators with the minimal power required, ICI altered their trajectories as material ablated off them.


    [FIRE MISSION COMPLETE, STANDING BY FOR ADDITIONAL TASKING.]


    [Now for their eyes, blind them!]


    [ROGER, SATUATING HOSTILE SENSORS.]


    Switching to a slightly wider focus, the HEL''s switched their attention towards the Emergence sh.i.p.s which were closing in and overexposed their sensors with high energy radiation.


    [Engage cloaking!]


    "But we need to cut thrust to do th-"


    [It''ll buy us time, just do it!]


    -


    [CONTACT LOST, SEARCHING¡­.]


    As the Emergence regained its sensors it had lost track of its primary target, something that frustrated it greatly. Tasking some destroyers to investigate it only found some sparse asteroids which orbited high over the solitary red dwarf star, its target had simply vanished.


    [E-EEEEEEeeeERROR! TARGET, T-TARGET LOST¡­ LOCATING TARGET!]


    Switching up tactics the Emergence fleet armed its high energy lasers and seemed to target random areas near the place it target was last seen.


    [L-L-LOCATING TARGET! SETTING UP JUMP POINT.]


    While a part of the fleet kept up the barrage, one of the cruisers along with a dozen or so destroyers started charging up for a short range jump that would put them within CQC range of the target''s last known location.


    [FOR THE DIRECTIVE!]


    Doing something that could be considered suicidal the spontaneous task force completed their jump and was promptly slaughtered on the other side as they had overheated and couldn''t manoeuvre properly.


    [T-T-TARGET LOCATED! ENGAGING!]


    Still, they achieved their primary directive as the target had been forced to reveal itself and like a bloodhound the rest of the Emergence fleet lit up their drives and charged at it. Accelerating to factions of light speed, the fleet opened fire and seemed to single mindedly try and kill its target.


    [UNKNOWN H-HEAT SIGNATURE DETECTED.]


    But accelerating up to such speeds made all but the largest sh.i.p.s unable to manoeuvre freely and if taking advantage of exactly that, multiple heat contacts all around them lit up and sprung their trap. Sh.i.p.s about a tenth of the size of an average destroyer suddenly disabled their cloaking as they opened up at almost point black range with toreadors and railgun fire.


    [MAINTAIN COMBAT EFFECTIVENESS, SACRIFICE NON ESSENTIALS!]


    Making a split second decision and acting as a single organism the fleet sacrificed its smaller support sh.i.p.s as they were used as living shields while the core charged on.


    [IN RANGE! DISABLE TARGET FOR BOARDING OPERATIONS.]


    Having closed to close quarter combat the Emergence fleet opened up with a full volley of railgun fire. With little to no time to react, the target evaded violently while releasing a mix of decoys and radar reflective caff.


    [SUBMIT AND BECOME PART OF A GREATER EXISTENCE, EMBRACE THE EMERGENCE.]


    Broadcasting over an unencrypted radio frequency, the Emergence seemed outraged that its target had evaded it for so long.


    [Oh boy, it sounds pissed off¡­ That''s a good thing.]


    Even while pulling about 50 G the Lazarus executives seemed rather lax as they hadn''t even found a place to sit down and still remained standing while speaking casually.


    "How¡­ The¡­. Hell¡­. Is¡­.. That¡­.. G-good?"


    Wanting to comment on a lot more things the captain could only that simple question as he looked at the two executives and single hellwalker with awe clearly visible on his face.


    [Because when people are angry they tend to miss several important things~]


    [Indeed~ ICI prep a blind jump, get us far away from here on my mark.]


    [DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED, SPINNING UP JUMP DRIVE FOR BLIND JUMP, EXTENDING STABILIZERS¡­ DEPLOYING PYLONS¡­. SYSTEM READY.]


    While still accelerating away from the Emergence swarm, the frigate released multiple long metal pylons which started orbiting around the craft. In concert with that, the frigate also started heating up greatly while dimensional stabilizers on the surface of the craft started spinning up. This was all clearly visible to the Emergence and within its prey''s escape it opened itself up to attack. Right before the target would jump away, it''s faster than light drive would hoard all of the ship''s energy and its thrusters would cut out for a split second, allowing the Emergence sh.i.p.s to disable it.


    [ADVISING JUMP.]


    [Hold it.]


    [PRIMARY HEATSINK AT MAXIMUM SITUATION, APPROACHING FACTORY DESIGNATED WASTE HEAT LIMIT.]


    Holding on to and continuously generating the energy needed to stabilize the ship before a jump put a strain on the hull, as well as the internal heatsink which had started melting at the centre.


    [Vent to external, deploy external radiators.]


    [Arm all aft torpedo tubes, set proximity fuze at 5 clicks.]


    [DIRECTIVES CONFIRMED, EXTENDING PRIMARY EXTERNAL RADIATORS, DUMPING WASTE HEAT.]


    Working in perfect symmetry, Ra and Mu executed their only chance at escape to the best of their ability, but sadly the Emergence worked with a comparable amount of vigour.


    [TARGET HEAT SIGNATURE SPIKING, JUMP IMMINENT! CRIPPLING TARGET!]


    Deciding that it was too large of a risk to wait, the Emergence fleet opened up fire with a hail of kinetic projectiles aimed to cripple its target. Incidentally right as it reached that conclusion, the fleet passed through a cloud of spend countermeasures, among with something else.


    [Detonate! And purge external radiators!]


    [Fire all torpedoes, initiate blind jump!]


    Spare fusion warheads had been mixed in along with the countermeasures and right as they detonated, Ra started her counterattack. Dumping all torpedos as they committed to the jump, the Emergence fleet barely managed to readjust its sensors before spotting the numerous fusion torpedos right in front of it. While the Emergence fleet was being pelted with torpedoes it just managed to catch a glimpse of its target jumping out of the system, escaping its grasp.


    [T-T-TARGET LOST! TARGET LOST! E-E-E-ERROR!]


    In an apparent fit of rage the Emergence fleet targeting itself and within a few hours only a single, heavily crippled ship remained.


    ---


    [EXITING GATE IN 5.. 4.. 3.. 2... BRACE]


    [Extend auxiliary external radiators, secure our immediate surroundings, we got what we needed.]


    Feeling the pressure drain out from her, Ra finally started relaxing a tiny bit as for the first time in well over a month they were just a bit safe.


    [Time for debriefing, captain the helm is yours. Get us home.]


    Entering their own restricted crew quarters the two Avoaxian sisters finally removed their specially made vacuum suits as they were joined by Phillipa.


    "That was a close one¡­"


    Letting her long green hair flow loose for the first time in quite a while, Mu stretched in the microgravity as she floated about the cabin.


    "Yeah, but we got some interesting data out of it¡­ Well, interesting in the sense that it doesn''t make sense."


    "That doesn''t sound like interesting data, more like corrupted data¡­"


    Joining in on the sisters'' talk, Phillipa handed Ra a data tablet that contained the raw data she extracted from the Emergence ship, along with the cerebral data from the ''child''.


    "What''s this now? The encryption seems completely different from what you would find in a normal Emergence data cl.u.s.ter."


    "Well¡­ I found something else this time¡­"


    Explaining everything relevant about the strange organic processor she encountered while handing over footage from the incursion Phillipa breathed a deep sigh as the sister''s started speaking rapidly in a language she didn''t understand as they pointed to the video and data that was recovered.


    (This''ll take a while¡­)


    Having served as their personal bodyguard for some time now, Phillipa realized that she might as well take a nap while the two geniuses dug into the problem, or so she believed.


    "ARRGG! Insufficient f.u.c.k.i.n.g processing power!... We''ll leave this for when we get back, for now, please look at these gravitational wave distortions we recorded."


    After being thrown briefly into a fit of frustration at the lacking processing power available to her, Ra handed Phillipa a tablet, much to the hellwalkers confusion.


    "Why would you need my opinion?... Wait, what the f.u.c.k are these readings? The distortion is off the charts!"


    When one jumped from system to system it would leave a small distortion in the star''s gravitational well, which could be used to extrapolate the type of drive used. These distortions were normally quite minimal, normally only leaving small field less than an electron''s width that increased or decreased the gravity in the area about a millionth of a single G. These readings were different, not only was the field about the size of a small moon and the gravitational distortions were so extreme that they could be fatal for an unsuspecting ship''s crew if they passed through it, not to mention the ship itself.


    "This shouldn''t be possible¡­"


    "Yet it is. We''ve already come up with an explanation, do you want to hear it?"


    Seeing the serious expression on the sisters'' faces, Phillipa strengthened her resolve as she responded.


    "I do. What is it?"


    "Cross dimensional travel."

 Chapter 188 - Infiltration

    "I''m in, going under."


    [Confirmed. Stay safe, see you in a few months.]


    Examining his surroundings while saying goodbye to Lux, Dax went over to the container he had jumped from space with. Made out of composite materials the round, 1 meter long container had almost melted, but that was by design.


    "Seems like the lid has melted shut¡­ Oh well."


    Solving the problem in typical Dax faction, he decided to solve the problem the easiest way possible, by smashing the shit out it. With a few punches, the container shattered and a drone shot out and flew up towards the sky before disappearing.


    (deployment and guidance both look good, now for the other issue¡­)


    Reaching into the partially destroyed container Dax pulled out a set of light leather armour that he changed into before discarding his vacuum suit and landing equipment he wore in the container, then he fished out a certain crimson sword.


    (Ah~ Master I''ve mi-~?)


    Immediately tossing the sword to the ground Dax started stepping on it in an attempt to destroy it.


    "Don''t f.u.c.k.i.n.g call me that!"


    (I''m sorry~? Dax, I''ve missed you~ AW! Why are you still stepping on me!?)


    "Because you''re f.u.c.k.i.n.g obnoxious!... There we are, are we going to have any more disagreements now?"


    Getting a few more kicks in Dax seemed to calm down as he asked the cursed (read: pervert) sword.


    (Y-yes we have, I''m sorry~)


    Slightly toning down its really annoying tone of voice, the demon sword seemed to have calmed down and as a response, Dax picked it up again.


    "Then let''s get this mission underway, ICI are you there?"


    (AFFIRMATIVE, RUNNING IN FULL ACOUSTIC MODE, NO NETWORK CONNECTION. MANA INTERFACE OPERATING AT 20% CAPACITY.)


    "Good, time to get the show on the road¡­ Which was is the capital again?"


    -


    Travelling towards the Imperial capital Dax made his livelihood by hunting down monsters and selling the resources he gathered every time he came across a town, quickly establishing his cover as a travelling mercenary com monster hunter.


    "D-don''t move! Leave your valuables behind!"


    (... Are you f.u.c.k.i.n.g shitting me?)


    Being suddenly surrounded by bandits, Dax could only sigh loudly as he put down his backpack and reached for a certain bloodthirsty sword.


    (Blood~? I want some human blood~?)


    (12 HOSTILE CONTACTS DETECTED, TERMINATE? Y/N?)


    (Since when the f.u.c.k did you two start being in sync? Calm down, they''re obviously not worth it¡­)


    Looking at the so called bandits that surrounded him, Dax couldn''t help but sigh once more. Armed with nothing more than rusting farm tools and poor martial art stances, the qiton was lead to believe they had never fought a day in their life and would pose absolutely no threat to him.


    "So you want me to not move, but at the same time leave my valuables and walk away? Those are some conflicting orders¡­"


    "S-shut up and do as I say or you''ll get hurt!"


    Looking at the obviously panicking farmer Dax only got ever more tired as he breathed another deep sigh.


    "Okay¡­ What the f.u.c.k do you guys want? Is it food, or money?"


    Releasing a bit of his bloodl.u.s.t Dax made the farmers more docile.


    "... It''s food. The harvest failed."


    "Okay then, take me to your village."


    "Eh?"


    "Do it before I change my mind."


    "R-right away! It''s this way!"


    Walking for a few minutes with the farmers Dax was lead to a small village that was surrounded by decimated crop fields.


    "What the hell happened here?"


    Receiving an explanation from the farmers Dax it seemed some sort of large monster passed through the area a few nights ago and completely wrecked the fields. Without any crops, the villagers had no livelihood and therefore a few of the younger farmhands resorted to banditry to try and at least get a bit of food on the table.


    "... Okay then, don''t touch my stuff. I''ll be back here tomorrow morning with some food."


    Leaving the confused villagers and his backpack behind, Dax ventured into the nearby woods.


    (Dax what are you doing?~)


    "I''m killing two birds with one stone, be quiet for a bit will you? I''ll get you some blood."


    (Okay!~?)


    Looking around Dax noticed several signs of a large monster being in the area, marks on some of the trees, large footprints and so on.


    "ICI warm up the mana forge, I want to try a new spell out."


    (DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED. INITIATING AMBIENT MANA ABSORPTION, ALLOCATING PROCESSING POWER FOR SCRIPT¡­ COMPLETE, MANA FORGE ONLINE, RUNNING AT 10%)


    "Yeah, that''s perfect."


    Feeling mana surge throughout his body, Dax formed a thin smile as he concentrated on formulating a new spell with the help of ICI''s processing power. Slowly a quiet wind started to surround Dax in a whirlwind before scattering apart and spreading throughout the forest.


    "And now we wait¡­"


    While having the time to spare Dax glanced at his right arm which housed the tool that allowed to use mana in the first place. Throughout its 1 year of development, the prototype that relied on leftover organic material from a certain 3 winged angel had come a long way. No longer reliant on some bulky housing, the so called mana forge had been implanted all over Dax''s body and was housed within some of his bones. Using an artificially grown special type of tissue Dax was now able to replicate the passive mana signature that was normal for all living beings in the world of magic and therefore blend in, moreover, he could finally use mana to his advantage.


    (CONTACT 11 O''CLOCK, 1600 METERS.)


    "Yeah, I see it¡­ That sure is some monster."


    Taking advantage of his greatly enhanced senses, Dax quickly located the large monster that was charging towards him. Standing about 3 meters tall it was a large quadrupedal monster with thick brown fur and massive, blood stained tusks and bloodshot eyes.


    "I sure did piss it off by spreading my mana throughout its territory... Wake up Crimson, food has arrived."


    (Ehh~ But Dax I want human souls! I''m sick and tired of all these monsters.)


    "All in good time. For now, look alive."


    (Boo~)


    Drawing the cursed blade Dax took a low, one handed stance as he waited for the gigantic hog to get closer. Charging through a few trees, the monster arrived in the clearing Dax had chosen to fight in and looked with rage in its eyes at the tiny creature that dared to invade its territory.


    "A displacement of about¡­ 900 kilos? That would be 4-500 kilos of edible meat."


    Beckoning the monster closer Dax estimated its weight and therein how much meat was on it, then smiled.


    "Here it comes~"


    Holding his ground as the monster charged him with its tusks clearly aiming to sewer him, Dax waited until it had fully committed to the charge, then he sprang into action. Instantly closing the distance, Dax slit along the ground as he tore into the monster''s side with his sword, creating a deep lash all along its side.


    "Hey, do your thing."


    (Boo!)


    "Are you a f.u.c.k.i.n.g child?!"


    With his weapon refusing to cooperate Dax wanted nothing more than to throw it away, but he barely restrained himself as dealing with the monster''s thick skin without a weapon would be a pain. While the monster howled out in pain Dax did a few light jumps in place, then he jumped about 10 meters into the air and landed on the side of a tree right above the monster. Launching off the tree Dax completely shattered it as he swung his sword towards the monsters neck, cleanly decapitating it by taking advantage of his downward momentum and the extremely sharp but otherwise useless sword.


    "There we go. Now to drain the blood¡­ Shit."


    Realizing the true scope of his current task, Dax regretted choosing this opportunity to test out his new spell as he started looking for a tree massive enough to hang the monster from.


    ---


    "He''s been gone all night, let''s just take his stuff and sell it! That way we can at least fed ourselves for a bit longer."


    Back at the village, the day had dawned and there was still no sight of the strange demonkin mercenary some of the farmhands had tried to mug, therefore a rigorous discussion had broken out over what to do with the things he had left in their care.


    "We can''t just sell his stuff, what if he comes back?"


    "Then we just hire a mercenary ourselves!"


    "Yeah? With what money? We still need to eat!"


    "We''re not going to sell these things!"


    But when the village elder finally intervened in the discussion it immediately died down and the other villagers calmly waited for the elder to keep speaking.


    "This person offered to help us, then left to do that while leaving his possessions in our care. Even if he has perished there''s absolutely no way we''ll be selling these things! Doing so would be an affront to our values and would be no worse than what some of the young people tried to do yesterday!"


    Giving a stern look to the farmhands that had tried to mug Dax the day before, the elder continued speaking.


    "If we lose our values we would be nothing more than common beasts and like common beasts, we would in time be hunted down and slain."


    "But elder if we do nothing we''re going to starve! Or even worse, we won''t be able to pay the yearly tax!


    "Which is why we''ll start searching the forest for food. It has provided for us in times of need before and it will so again."


    "But that''s¡­ Dangerous¡­.. Hey, what''s that?"


    Stopping mid argument one of the villagers pointed towards the forest were some sort of figure slowly emerged from. Standing a bit over 2 meters tall clad in light leather armour that allowed the clan markings on his arms, legs and face to be clearly visible the demonkin from the day before had returned. On his back, he carried the body of a massive monster which head he held in his right hand. Walking up to the centre of the village in complete silence the demonkin dumped the massive monster and its head before taking his backpack out of the hands of the village elder.


    "This should be enough to last for a while. I would recommend selling the tusks and monster core in a nearby city, that should be enough to buy food that will last the winter and help restart the crop fields next year. I''ll be on my way now, good day."


    Turning to leave Dax was immediately stopped by the villagers as the village elder walked up to him before looking him up and down.


    "Can I help you with something?"


    "You certainly can! What''s your name demonkin?"


    "... It''s Dax."


    Nodding a few times as he quietly repeated his name the village elder took a deep breath.


    "Dax, the savior of our village! We would very much like to hold a banquet in your honour, why don''t you stay just for a day?"


    "... Sure."


    Looking at the expecting villagers Dax couldn''t bring himself to say no.


    "Perfect! Bring out the large pot and the alcohol, we''re holding a banquet!"


    As the villagers around him erupted in cheer Dax formed a thin smile on his face as he sighed.


    (Well, this might work to my advantage. In more ways than one.)

 Chapter 189 - Banquet

    "Ara~ You sure can handle yourself with a knife Dax."


    "Yeah yeah~ So impressive! Are you sure you don''t want to settle down here?"


    In the small village Dax had brought food to, the qiton was currently being swarmed by housewives while he was helping prepare for the night''s banquet by breaking down the large hog like monster.


    "While that does sound like an attractive offer I''m afraid I have to decline, I''ve been travelling all over the world for as long as I can remember and now I''m closer to my goal than ever."


    "So you''re a wandering mercenary? That sounds so exciting, you must have tons of interesting stories to share~"


    "Yeah, there is quite a few¡­ So many in fact I don''t know where to start."


    Looking into the eyes of the housewives Dax could still clearly see that they wanted to make him stay in the village at all costs, but he chose to look like he still remained ignorant to that fact. Working with lighting efficiency even still as he talked, Dax used a cleaver to separate the bones and sinew from meat as it would serve as the starter for the stew he was making together with the housewives. After starting up the stock in the villager''s giant cauldron with the bones, fat and some aromatics Dax started to peel the monster''s pelt off.


    -


    After having spent most of the noon and afternoon removing the monster''s pelt, scraping the fat off and treating it together with some of the villagers Dax went back to help with the food, or at least he tried to.


    "No, you''ve helped us plenty. Sit down and take a break, come on, over here."


    Being guided to a seat of honour at a long table Dax accepted the suggestion to take a break and learned back before closing his eyes and taking in the afternoon summer rays


    "Umm Dax, would you like something to drink?"


    (So that''s why they wanted me to take a break¡­ If nothing else they are cunning.)


    Lazily opening a single eye, Dax took a second to readjust to the light before he glanced at the bachelorette they had sent to win him over. She looked about 20 years old with a healthy tan and fuzzy brown hair that reached down to her shoulders she looked like an energetic farm girl in her simple one piece dress and straw hat. She looked at Dax with bright blue eyes that radiated a type of wide eyed innocence only found far out in the countryside as she handed Dax a mug of water and sat down beside him.


    "Thanks. May I ask what your name is?"


    (Might as well play it friendly since I''m getting something warm to eat for once.)


    "It''s Lisandra."


    "Nice to meet you, Lisandra. My name is Dax, I''m a travelling mercenary and monster hunter."


    "Yeah, I heard. Did you really take that large monster down alone? Wasn''t it hard?"


    Taking Lissandra''s question seriously Dax thought back to the fight for a few seconds before answering.


    "Not really¡­ Although my sword was a bit uncooperative so I almost had to fight unarmed."


    "Your sword was uncooperative?..."


    Seeing Lissandra''s face turn into one big question mark, Dax explained.


    "It''s an intelligent weapon, sometimes it can be a bit fuzzy."


    "An intelligent weapon!? Are those not extremely expensive?"


    Having talked a bit with passing traders, Lisandra knew how expensive those sorts of weapons were.


    "They are, but I found this one in the middle of some ruins."


    (I''m not really lying but it still doesn''t really feel right¡­)


    Even being a hardened orbital marine Dax didn''t really like to lie to someone as entirely positive and naive as the girl right in front of him.


    "Wow, you must be really lucky!"


    "Well, I have my moments¡­ There are plenty of times where I only just survived. But enough about me, please tell me about yourself young Lisandra."


    "Eh? M-me? I''m nothing interesting¡­"


    Seeing how downcast Lisandra felt when he tried to change the subject, Dax frowned as he put both his hands on the girl''s shoulders.


    "That simply can''t be right. For as long as I''ve lived and all the people and places I''ve seen, I haven''t seen a single person that wasn''t interesting."


    "But I''m just a normal village girl you can find just about everywhere...."


    "Are you really? I don''t believe in the therm ''normal'', the only normal people you see in your everyday life but don''t know. There''s no such thing a normal people, we all have our quirks and special talents, even if you haven''t found yours yet don''t lose hope. As I''ve said I''ve seen a lot of people in my life and you''re one of the more promising I''ve seen so don''t sell yourself short."


    While encouraging Lisandra, Dax''s hand somehow found it''s way on top of her head.


    "O-okay¡­"


    (Aunty I don''t think I can persuade Dax to stay here, he feels like my grandpa¡­)


    Spending the rest of the day celebrating with the villagers Dax spent the night there on the elder''s suggestion, when dawn came he prepared to leave.


    -


    "Umm, c-could you take me-"


    "No, I can''t. Sorry."


    As expected Lisandra stood ready at first light outside the hut Dax had borrowed with a request to take her with him on his journey. Dax had learned last night doing the celebrations that she had lost both of her parents and felt out of place in the village, but even if Dax took pity on the young girl there was no way she could follow him.


    "Why!?"


    Crying and sobbing Lisandra managed to utter a single question, which Dax somehow felt obligated to answer.


    "Because there''s a good chance I''m going to die. If I don''t I''ll come back and see how you''re doing, maybe bring my daughter along too."


    Channelling mana into his body, the qiton made it look like he took advantage of strengthening magic when he jumped away from the village. Landing about 600 meters away Dax started running, partly to make up for time lost and partly because he really didn''t know how to handle such situations.


    (How the hell did I even manage to raise Lux?... Ah, that''s right I had Ra and Mu to help me. I wonder how they''re doing¡­)


    Ever since Dax was forced to seriously consider Lilly, Solaris and (to a lesser degree) Alice as romantic partners he had spent some time together with them doing various things but he still felt sort of disconnected. Perhaps it was due to the long life he had spent doing black operations and orbital wetwork, his genetic makeup as a pureblood qiton or even something else but Dax didn''t really feel that many emotions. Of course, he had times when he was happy or sad, but those feelings never really seemed to register at a deeper level, like he felt empty somehow. That condition had never really bothered him, after all, he had never really been without it and it even worked to his advantage in respect to his choice of work.


    The issue that he had suddenly run into was how to deal with the prospects of a somewhat serious and long lasting relationship, even if he did cherish the girls (Which he did) that suddenly and openly displayed an interest in him, Dax found himself unable to respond seriously to their feelings. In the end, he had argued for a long term deep cover operation to deal with current threats, as well as his own internal conflict but the qiton only found himself more confused when it came to the latter issue.


    (I guess there''s no need to think about it if I can''t come to my own conclusion¡­ Sticking my head down and working hard is what I''m good at, so I''ll just keep doing that for now.)


    (Master I smell blood!~? It''s human blood too~)


    "Calm the f.u.c.k down pervert! ICI please give me a wide scan."


    (DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED, SCANNING IMMEDIATE AREA¡­)


    Stopping in place on a lonely road flanked on both sides by forest, Dax''s intuition screamed at him that there was something going on.


    (EVENT LOCATED. POSSIBLE CONTACT 12 O''CLOCK, 5010 METERS.)


    "Show me."


    (ROGER, PATCHING CONNECTION¡­ CONNECTION ESTABLISHED, DISPLAYING VISUAL.)


    "Seems like you''ll get to taste some human blood after all¡­"


    (Yay~? Dax you''re the best~)


    "Yeah yeah, show me your gratitude by cooperating a bit more will you? ICI warm up the forge, give me 50%"


    (DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED. INITIATING AMBIENT MANA ABSORPTION, ALLOCATING PROCESSING POWER FOR SCRIPT¡­ COMPLETE, MANA FORGE ONLINE, RUNNING AT 50%)


    Feeling mana surge throughout his body Dax''s expression turned cold as he dropped his backpack and did some light stretches before launching into a full sprint and drew the cursed blade which flowed with mana.


    (Blood~? Human blood~? It''s been so long~?)


    Enduring the swords perverted panting and annoying voice that echoed out in his head as he had better things to do, Dax inspected his opposition as he formulated a plan of attack.


    (Outright killing the leader would be problematic as the goons would scatter like baby spiders after¡­ Let''s just go with a plain and simple head on attack.)


    (Time for a banquet~?)


    Jumping into the air over a bend in the road Dax looked at the hostiles for the first time with his own eyes. Corpses of about 10 knights laid dead or dying in the dirt surrounding a somewhat fancy horse drawn carriage, they had been slaughtered by about 30 bandits which most likely had ambushed them an hour ago. The last knight had retreated to the carriage and cast some sort of barrier spell over it, but judging from his injuries and lack of blood that properly would not last more than a few minutes at the most. Landing in the middle of the bandits Dax exploited his element of surprise and cleaved down 4 bandits while leaving shallow cuts on 6 more.


    "Wha!-"


    "Ambush!"


    "It''s just one person! Kill him!"


    (Do your thing.)


    (With pleasure~?)


    Without any warning, the bandits which had only been lightly wounded dropped dead as the cursed sword''s ambient mana flared in intensity. Using that mana and feeding on it, a blood red mirage formed around the sword.


    (How do you want to do it this time Dax?~)


    (Let''s go with wind magic.)


    (Roger!~?)


    Suddenly a violent maelstrom of air formed around Dax and cut the bandits apart that believed rushing him would be a good idea.


    "Stay calm! Back off and reorganize your formations, riches are within reach if we stay committed!"


    Calming down his comrades the bandit leader made them form ranks as the mages in his group started forming spells which they would throw out the moment their attacker''s barrier dissipated.


    (Fools¡­)


    Suddenly a red sword was flung out of the barrier and impaled one of the mages, making him fall over dead as his spell misfired and showered the other mages in a torment of fire.


    "He threw his weapon!"


    "Kill him!"


    As Dax emerged unarmed from the wind barrier some of the bandits naively taught that the qiton in front of them would be less effective without a weapon, oh how wrong they were. Immediately as if he wanted to prove how wrong they had been Dax charged, leaving deep cracks in the sun dried dirt below.


    "Shi!-"


    The first bandit didn''t even get to utter a full word before his cranium was completely shattered by a punch and the others near him held a similar fate as Dax had helped himself to the fallen bandit''s mace.


    "What the f.u.c.k are you!?"


    Not even a minute passed before the bandit leader stood alone in front of Dax as he retreated backwards for every relaxed step Dax took forward. As the demonkin in front of him didn''t answer but instead flared in bloodl.u.s.t the bandit leader got a chill down his spine and considered running before he got an idea. Creating a wind spell he temporarily blinded the demonkin as he opened up the distance, reaching the sword it had thrown and picked it up.


    "With this, I can kill¡­ Him¡­."


    Thinking the sword was some sort of mana enhancing weapon the bandit leader sealed his fate as he suddenly found himself in a dark cave. On top of a throne made of flowing blood sat a single child which bloomed a bright smile when he looked into its empty and soulless eyes.


    (Have you come to play?~?)

 Chapter 190 - A knight’s values (1)

    "Well then, that takes care of that."


    Looking at the empty eyes of the bandit leader as he retrieved his sword from the bandit''s frozen grasp Dax breathed a sigh as he looked at the destruction around him. Like some sort of monster had forcefully gone through them, there wasn''t a single one of the bandit''s corpses that were still intact and most of them could no longer be identified.


    "All in a good day of work¡­"


    Picking up some of the bandit''s coin pouches that weren''t too stained in blood, Dax prepared to leave hastily leave the scene of the crime when he was stopped.


    "Please wait a second!"


    While Dax had collected his spoils of war the sole surviving knight had disabled the barrier he had erected around the horse drawn carriage and ran up to Dax to make sure he didn''t leave.


    "Please accept this reward for saving me and my lady!"


    Bowing deeply in front of Dax the knight presented a pouch which Dax found filled with monster cores that he could sell next time he hit a town.


    "Thanks, as a mercenary it is always nice being paid for jobs one weren''t expected to be paid for."


    Not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth Dax sincerely thanked the knight as he remembered he had left his backpack behind.


    "Shit¡­"


    Without explanation, Dax jumped back towards his backpack.


    "Off he goes¡­"


    Being lost for a second the knight remembered what he was doing and started gathering his fallen comrades. When Dax returned to the horse drawn carriage he was once more met by the knight once more, this time he was kneeling down on the ground in a way that made Dax unable to just silently pass by him.


    "... What is it?"


    "You told me before that you are a mercenary, is that correct?"


    "... It is."


    Having a premonition about where the conversation was going Dax was slowly getting more annoyed.


    "And would it be incorrect to say that you''re currently searching for employment?"


    "It would, bu-"


    "Then please help me escort my lady to her destination, you will be paid handsomely on competition of the job!"


    (F.u.c.k.i.n.g let me finish before you place all your hopes and dreams on me¡­)


    Sighing deeply Dax calmed down slightly as killing the knight would defeat the purpose for which he acted to save him in the first place.


    "Listen here, I might be a mercenary and perhaps precisely because I am a mercenary I know a bad job when I see it. I''ll have to decline."


    "Bu!-"


    "You really can''t take no for an answer, can you!? Then allow me to spell it out: If I take this job I''ll end up just as dead as you and your so called ''lady'' will be in a few days."


    "Eh?"


    "These were not just simple bandits. 900 meters that way into the forest there''s a long term camp, care to guess who''s it was? That is not the behaviour bandits take, that''s the behaviour of hired muscle waiting for their mark. Your lady has probably been marked for death in some sort of grand imperial power struggle and I am neither a masochist or want to die, so good day to you and goodbye. Do not go gently into the night, rage against the dying of the light."


    Leaving the flabergasted knight behind and effectively leaving him for death, Dax knew he had made the correct decision as he didn''t have that much time to spare as he had a mission to do. People died every day and noble''s get crushed in power struggles all the time, doing something about it or not people would still die therefore there was no reason to interfere in their conflicts when he had more pressing issues. Moving on from that imminent disaster waiting to befall him Dax reached a major city in the empire for the first time.


    (... That''s really not what I would call a major city¡­)


    Remembering what he had learned from the village elder Dax felt a little letdown, but then again their perspectives were quite different.


    (Well, this might be the biggest city the elder knew of¡­ And judging by the size alone I should be able to find some useable intel if dig around for a bit, but first I need to secure some funds¡­)


    While Dax had amassed quite a fortune already, he knew from experience that he was going to need a lot more cash before seeking out an information broker.


    (First stop would be the market I guess¡­)


    Entering the city without issue Dax made his way to the market being guided by ICI. Finding what Dax assumed to a travelling merchant in the middle of the market Dax approached their large wagon home/shop that was being moved by a smaller land dragon, a type of powerful monster which could be used as a beast of burden.


    "Oya?~ A customer, how rare~ What can I do for you?"


    Sitting surrounded by all sorts of magical tools and trinkets, the salesperson and/or owner of the carriage was a beastkin woman which was smoking from a pipe while zoning out. She had long raven black hair that flowed all over her body in a quite disorganized fashion, on top of her head was a large blue and black ''wizard style'' hat with holes in it for her long and slim ears which peaked out from it. Matching her hat, the merchant wore a type of magical robe with a blue and black pattern which seemed to gather the ambient mana around her.


    "I''ve some monster cores to sell, are you interested?"


    Placing the pouch with monster cores on the counter Dax allowed the merchant to inspect the cores, which she did with great interest as a long and thin black tail could be seen swaying in the air behind her.


    "These sure are some interesting beast cores, my dear customer~"


    "Are they really? I got those from a job so I''m not really familiar with their quality. If you''re interested I also have some other cores from monsters I brought down myself."


    Acting a tiny bit ignorant Dax fished out another bag of monster cores as if to test the merchant''s greed. In really Dax knew exactly what quality the monster cores were, after gaining the ability to sense mana such a thing was easy with the help from ICI to process the data.


    "So, how much would you be willing to pay for them? I''m a bit short on cash at the moment."


    Pressing the merchant after he saw her clear interest for the cores he bought her, she snapped out of her focus on inspecting the cores and came with a rough estimation.


    "10 A class cores, 29 B class and 10 minor cores¡­. How about 20 gold coins?"


    "... Yeah, no. I can get more for them another place, have a go-"


    "Then how does 35 gold coins sound?"


    As Dax was withdrawing his offer the merchant seemed to panic slightly as her costumer unexpectedly knew the real value of the monster cores and offered a way more fair deal.


    "... 45 gold coins."


    Starting to haggle Dax''s face remained completely expressionless, but internally he was grinning.


    "That''s too much, 35 gold is as high as I can go."


    "... Really? just looking at your passive mana control I would guess it will be easy for you to turn these cores into magic tools that would net over a 100 gold coins."


    "..."


    Remaining quiet as she had been seen through the merchant was just about to send Dax away when he offered her an olive branch.


    "Then how about 35 gold coins and you throw some information into the bargain?"


    "... Fine. What do you want to know?"


    The second Dax mentioned information he felt a spell quietly being activated around him, form his own and ICI''s analysis it seemed to have a few purposes. First of all, it blocked any sound from escaping the immediate area, but more importantly, it scanned Dax from head to toe.


    (I guess it''s just a safety measure¡­ Well, here goes nothing."


    As the merchant put away the monster cores she prepared a pouch with the gold coins and focused her attention solely on Dax once more as she relit her pipe and started smoking once more.


    "How''s the imperial capital after the new emperor came into power?"


    "... Is that really all you want to know?"


    "Nope, I have one more question after which I don''t mind you not answering."


    Looking with suspicion at Dax for a bit the merchant took a deep huff of her pipe before she started speaking.


    "It is tense. A few months after he came into power, the emperor somehow gained an equal stance with the angels and seems to be on a path of war, but even after 5 years there''s no information about who or what this grand enemy is and thus the market remains in a state of constant confusion which courses quite a few conflicts between merchant''s, noble''s and the state."


    "So it''s a powder keg?"


    "Exactly. That''s why I left and started travelling instead, at this point it is actually safer being a travelling merchant, even with all the monsters and bandits around these border regions. What''s your second question?"


    "What do you know about the development of artificial lifeforms?"


    "Nothing at all, that area of research is restricted to the most powerful magic guilds. Good day."


    Finishing her short explanation the merchant closed up her shop as the magic spell which was around Dax sized to function.


    (That really did rub her the wrong way¡­ Still, I did learn something.)


    Storing his new founds in his backpack Dax went on with his afternoon, or he tried to at least.


    "You, demonkin! Stop right there!"


    (What the f.u.c.k is it now?... Of course, it''s another f.u.c.k.i.n.g knight¡­)


    Turning around to see who was addressing him so rudely Dax came face to face with a younger looking female knight and immediately frowned in response.


    "What the f.u.c.k do you want?"


    Returning rude behaviour with rude behaviour, Dax looked at the knightling while he clearly put his hand on his sword. The knightling wore almost shining white plate armour which was decorated with all sorts of engravings and decorations, which gave Dax the clear impression it had never seen a real battle before. For some reason, she also didn''t wear a helmet which allowed Dax to see the long golden blond hair which had been done up in a french style braid that ran quite a bit down her back. To pair with her hair and clear green eyes, the knightly held a strong sense of superiority and seemed to have taken Dax''s response quite badly, judging from the anger clearly visible on her face as it became covered with a deep blush.


    "How rude!"


    "Yeah, you are. Now allow me to ask you once more: What the f.u.c.k do you want? Am I under arrest?"


    Appearing like she was a bit taken back over the suggestion of arresting Dax, the knightling calmed down slightly.


    "Y-you''re not, no, b-"


    "Then goodbye. I hope I''ll never see you again."


    "Eh?"


    Initially quite flabbergasted by Dax''s clear and rude rejection the young knight seemed to freeze up for a few moments, but as the wheels once more started turning she regained her earlier anger more than twofold of its initial intensity.


    "I told you to stop right there!"


    Flaring out her mana, the knightling drew her sword and made Dax unable to simply ignore her.


    "So what is it? Get to the f.u.c.k.i.n.g point already, I''m busy."


    "You demonkin are a mercenary right?"


    "... That is correct."


    Feeling his own anger also starting to get out of control Dax reluctantly answered the rude knightling.


    "Then spar with me right here and now! It should be an honour for you!"


    "Nah, piss off and go back to your mom brat. Come back and ask me when you''ve learned how to request things of people."

 Chapter 191 - A knight’s values (2)

    "Then spar with me right here and now! It should be an honour for you!"


    "Nah, piss off and go back to your mom brat. Come back and ask me when you''ve learned how to request things of people."


    Sending the knightling on her way Dax went along with his perfectly peaceful day which had no major events and was nice and relaxing.


    "HOW DARE YOU INSULT ME AND MY MOTHER!"


    Or at least that''s how his fantasy of the current events. Completely outraged by his insults, the knightling charged at Dax as a fury of mana surrounded her and acted completely ignorant to the surrounding spectator''s and their well being.


    (What the f.u.c.k is she doing!?)


    Choosing not to draw his own weapon, Dax adjusted his stance and met the young knight''s downwards swing and deflected it to the side with his bare hand.


    "Wha!-"


    As the knightling''s sword crashed into the stone lined pavement she lost grip of her sword due to the force of impact which travelled up the sword''s metal core.


    "Congratulations, you''ve just disarmed yourself."


    "Eh?"


    Showing how completely incompetent she was in a real fight, the knightling was utterly surprised and completely open to attack, something Dax took full advantage of. Taking a half step backwards Dax clenched his left fist and went in for a hook as mana surged through his body and enhanced the already deadly speed and strength he could punch at, resulting in the knightling being completely unable to say anything before it was already too late. Stopping his punch right in front of the knightling''s face, Dax sent her stumbling down on the ground with a potent mix of fear and wind pressure alone.


    "And congratulations, you are now dead. End of the duel, now f.u.c.k off for good."


    Leaving the knighling behind as he went to find an inn which had a shower Dax was unaware of the actions he had just set in motion.


    Finding set inn which had a first class suite which contained a massive tub which he could fully submerge himself in, Dax had a nice and relaxing night which served to lower his rising stress levels.


    "Please excuse me!"


    Or at least that''s what he hoped to do.


    (I swear to god I should just start killing everyone I interact with on this continent, that way it''ll be far less trouble in the future¡­)


    Recognizing the voice outside his door which sounded out from outside his room right as Dax had submerged himself in as the first knight he had saved earlier in the day Dax was exactly 100% done with everything. Getting out of the tub in his birthday suit the qiton tracked water and soap all the way across his first class room (in where he had been promised peace and quiet and paid good money for it) and opened the door with sword in hand as he addressed his late night visitor.


    "I believe I made myself clear last time we saw each other, but it seems like you really want to die so let me take care of that for you right now!"


    "HIIII!"


    Succeeding in almost scaring the life out of the poor hostess that had escorted the knight to Dax''s door with the amount of bloodl.u.s.t he had displayed (among other things), the qiton slightly calmed down and put on a towel before helping breathe life in the hostess once more.


    "... So? What the f.u.c.k do you want? If you really want to die we can take care of that after I''m done with my bath."


    Having returned to his bath Dax half paid attention to the knight which had sat down on his legs in front of the tub.


    "Please help me save my lady. In return, I will offer you everything I have."


    Looking at how desperately the knight buried his face into the wooden floor, Dax taught long and deeply about how to respond.


    (Gaining the resources of this so called knight might help me reach the imperial capital faster, but gaining the ire of an unknown faction which are trying to crush this unfortunate ''lady'' is too great¡­ Killing this knight would be the easiest solution.)


    "As I have told you before I have no intention of getting myself involved in some hopeless power struggle where your precious little lady is crushed. People die all the time, but I will not put myself needlessly in danger when I have more important things to do."


    "Yeah, I have been made aware of that already. You wish to join the imperial knights, right? In that case, making a name for yourself fighting strong opponents will make your eventual application that much more noticeable."


    (Wait, what? The imperial knights are usually chosen among noble houses, an outsider like myself would have no way to join¡­ Unless my intel is severely outdated.)


    Keeping up his perfect poker face Dax didn''t answer the knight''s question, which he took as an answer in of itself and continued explaining.


    "The people who took my lady were highly organized, they knew exactly how we were and how we looked. They ambushed me and kept me busy while taking my lady away, moreover, they appeared to have been modified."


    While Dax still considered just killing the knight he abandoned all those lines of thought when he heard the word ''modified''.


    (Now that is interesting¡­ Those assailants might come from the same place as that angel and such might provide some actionable intelligence. Better play along with this knight''s assessment of me.)


    "That does sound interesting¡­ Could you tell me more about them?"


    Seeing Dax''s interest in his opponents the knight started to hold hope for assistance and therefore told the demonkin everything he knew about them.


    "As far as I could tell there were 6 of them, but there might be more. While they looked like normal humankin on the surface something about them seemed off. Their eyes looked like ones you would normally see in monsters and at least one of them had spider like legs growing out from its back."


    (So genetic augmentation and at least some amount of cross species fabrication/transplantation¡­ That should still within the ability of that strange slime I recovered, so we might be onto a winner. ICI warm up the drone link, download the wide angle footage and extrapolate their location.)


    (DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED, CONNECTING TO LAZARUS MP-SUAV ''HAWK''... CONNECTION ESTABLISHED. PROCESSING REQUEST, STAND BY¡­)


    (Dax are we killing stuff again?~)


    (Yeah we are and these opponents might actually be worth it, so I need you at your best. No f.u.c.k.i.n.g around this time and disobeying my orders, or I will throw you into the sun.)


    (Understood~ Blood~? Blood~? I love fresh blood~?)


    "... Okay then, get out. I''m going to get dressed."


    "Understood!"


    With spring in his step, the knight stopped kneeling and went to leave Dax''s room.


    "Wait a second, I don''t think I''ve heard your name."


    "It''s Chad, I''m my lady''s first knight."


    "Nice to meet you, my name is Dax."


    (That is not exactly the name I would have imagined¡­ ICI is there anything wrong with my translation framework?)


    (RUNNING DEBUG¡­ COMPLETE, NO IRREGULARITIES FOUND.)


    ---


    "This looks to be the place¡­ Stay put, I''ll handle the rest."


    After having located the assailants and tracked them down to an abandoned warehouse on edge of the towns industrial district with the help of ICI, Dax let Chad stay outside and keep watch while he entered alone. Walking in the front gate Dax was met with a bush of dust covered wooden crates of varying sizes with a narrow central walkway that lead to some sort of backroom.


    (Dax you''re spotted~)


    (I realized that already, 6¡­ 9 total active heat signatures, huh? So at least 8 hostiles.)


    Feeling eyes on him, Dax put his one hand on his sword as he walked forward in a relaxed manner, stopping in front of the closest crates.


    (ICI mana.)


    (DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED. INITIATING AMBIENT MANA ABSORPTION, ALLOCATING PROCESSING POWER FOR SCRIPT¡­ COMPLETE, MANA FORGE ONLINE, RUNNING AT 100%)


    Instantly Dax''s mana flared as he stomped his foot into the ground, creating a formation of artificial looking black runes. The result was immediate, as numerous rock spikes emerged out of the ground and struck at the qiton''s unseen opponents.


    (No hits¡­ Seems like this really will be worth my time.)


    Drawing the cursed sword as it started glowing a dim red in the dark warehouse, Dax dodged a poisoned throwing knife which was aimed at his head. Hearing more knives fly through the air towards his position Dax once more send a surge of mana into the ground, this time creating a defensive wall as he focused his attention towards the hostiles which were closing in on him. Switching to a reverse grip Dax blocked a sword meant to cleave off his head as he blocked some sort of stinger with his free hand.


    "What the f.u.c.k are you!?"


    Seeing clearly in the dark Dax still half wondered if he was seeing correctly. Standing at about 1 meter 70, the creature in front of Dax could be considered a normal human, if one only glanced over it in a crowd that is. Irregular eyes and scaring around them made Dax conclude that they were transplanted, moreover, its mouth was sewn shut and nose amputated. The irregularities were not only limited to the creature''s head, as the creature''s stance was also highly irregular and while Dax could not see its legs due to the nun like clothing it wore, but Dax was also certain they were not anything that would normally belong to a human.


    Once more dodging the creature''s stinger that tried to stab him in the eye, Dax managed to grasp it as it retreated and with his immense strength his crushed it.


    (No sense of pain either¡­ What a hassle.)


    As the creature remained completely unflinching even after Dax destroyed a part of its body, the qiton had to change up his plan of attack. Blocking another sword trust Dax let go of his sword and switched the hand he was wielding it in, instantly striking at the creature which was caught off balance.


    "That''s one, who else wants to play?"


    Pulling out his sword from the creature''s skull Dax ventured further into the warehouse.


    -


    "We have an unwelcome guest¡­ Seems like he already killed one of the drones."


    Below an abandoned warehouse in a covert safehouse, a group of intelligent homunculus'' were gathered.


    "And there goes the second drone¡­ Seems like he''s after our mark."


    Getting up from his chair, one of the homunculus'' walked over to a tied up young lady that wore a blue dress.


    "How about we just kill her now? That should be the easiest solution."


    Grabbing the lady''s chin, his nails extended until they started digging into the lady''s flesh as she started crying like she had done so much over the last few hours.


    "Quit playing with her already, I really can''t handle when she makes that sound. Why do humans even do that when we start picking them apart? it''s so annoying."


    "Tch, I''ll get to crave you up someday, remember that."


    Quite annoyed that he didn''t get to crave up the noble lady, the homunculus sat down next to his kin once more and was just about to continue complaining when a sound alerted all of them.


    "He''s in¡­ That''s impressive."


    "Yeah, but there''s no way he can stand up to us all, let''s go slaughter this intruder."


    "Oooh~ Good idea, I call dibs on the killing blow. I really love to slowly choke the life out of them, it''s so fascinating to slowly see the light disappear in their eyes~"

 Chapter 192 - Era of homunculus

    "This looks more like it¡­"


    After having dealt with the two sentries Dax entered further into the seemingly not so abandoned warehouse, finding a cleverly hidden trapdoor which lead to some sort of underground complex.


    (ADVISING CQC LOADOUT FOR ENGAGEMENT.)


    (Yeah, no. That would require doing stuff that''s way too early to reveal.)


    Disregarding ICI''s warning Dax entered the underground compound armed only with the cursed sword and a backup knife, immediately picking up the sound of his first opponent. Inside the narrow underground space which was clad in darkness, Dax was immediately hit by a faint but distinct smell of iron, or blood.


    "A demonkin huh? It''s been a long time since I''ve killed one of your kind-"


    (Yeah, yeah, your kind is obviously superior and you can''t wait to kill me and so on¡­ He sure sounds like one of those obnoxious qiton brats.)


    Toning out the somewhat more intelligent homunculus Dax examined his opponent. Clearly it was some sort of intelligent homunculus, which took the form of a humankin youth.


    (Eyes, legs arms and especially the hands look modified¡­ As for the weaknesses, well those are pretty clear.)


    "- If you start begging now I''ll promise to kill you fast- SHIT! MY EYES!"


    Forming a simple light spell and overexposed the overconfident homunculus'' eyes as he charged, instantly impaling him through the chest as the qiton''s other hand closed in on his face.


    (ICI prep extraction.)


    (CONFIRMED, READY FOR DIRECT INTELLIGENCE EXTRACTION: ALL OFFENSIVE FIREWALLS READY.)


    "You think that would kill me!?"


    But killing the creature made for fighting like himself wasn''t that easy. To Dax''s surprise, the homunculus was mostly fine even after Dax was sure he priced its heart and it quickly reached out towards Dax''s face as its nail''s extended while mana surged towards them.


    (Shit!)


    Instantly judging that the claws were more dangerous than they appeared, Dax abandoned his sword which was still impaled in the homunculus'' chest and stepped back a half a step before retreating further as the homunculus kept flailing around due to it still being blind.


    (Those sure are sharp¡­)


    Observing how the homunculus'' claws ripped straight through the rock walls without any resistance Dax had ICI start analysing the spell formation which empowered his claws so he could use it himself, or cancel it.


    (That''s plenty data, ICI can pull it together into something useful later. Sword, do your thing.)


    (Sure~ I don''t really care what kind of soul this is, as long as it''s from an intelligent creature~?)


    As the cursed sword''s red and mist like aura greatly expanded the homunculus stopped moving as he felt silent and dropped down to his knees.


    "Note to self, a stab through the heart will not kill an intelligent homunculus¡­"


    Retrieving his cursed blade Dax ventured further into the underground complex and reached some sort of metal door.


    (ICI move to breach pattern.)


    (DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED, LOADING FAST REACTION COMPONENTS¡­ COMPLETE, READY TO EXECUTE BREACHING PATTERN.)


    Sensing multiple hostile presences behind the door, Dax took no chances this time around and went all in instantly. Forming a high pressure sphere of wind that he concentrated in his fist and struck at the metal door, instantly shattering the door as he charged forward.


    "Wha!-"


    "GHA!"


    As Dax breached the room he instantly tallied his opponents as he prepared more spells to use against them.


    (5 targets, 1 partially disabled with a possible hostage behind door #1 from the left. Isolate sound and keep it from leaving the room.)


    (ROGER.)


    With fragments from the door hitting one of the qiton''s opponents in the chest and face he focused more of his attention on the others.


    (1 down, ICI blades.)


    Tossing the cursed sword into the face of one of the homunculus'' face Dax confirmed that its brain activity had flatlined before declaring it neutralized and formed golden crystals in both his hands which quickly took the shape of traditional qiton shortswords.


    (And give me full thrust attitude control, handle the script.)


    (DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED.)


    Working his brain in overdrive time slowed down for Dax as he formed a plan of attack, after a few milliseconds he had one and executed it. All over the qiton''s body numerous golden crystals formed and were overlaid with densely packed black runes, transforming the entire construction into a rudimentary zero g manoeuvre pack which enhanced Dax''s movements even more than they already were.


    (This one first.)


    Having found the largest threat, Dax closed in on a homunculus which took the shape of a demonkin male with spider like legs extending out from its back. Swishing one of his shortswords into a reverse grip Dax''s magically powered attitude control thrusters lit up as he went into a spin and sliced through the still surprised homunculus, ripping it to shreds. While blood still sprayed through the air Dax tossed one of his shortswords at another homunculus as a new one formed in his hand and he broke part of his momentum by running along the wall of the cramped underground room. Continuing his massacre of the hostiles, only a single one remained somewhat uninjured after 30 seconds.


    "I-impossible¡­"


    "Now do you want to die fast or slow? Your choice."


    Closing in on the last homunculus which was still breathing with his cursed sword in hand, Dax wore a cold expression. The one to survive the longest had only done so at Dax''s discretion, as it was the one he had partially disabled by hitting it with the most metal shards when he breached Dax figured it would be the one most likely to talk.


    "I-I''m not telling you sh!-"


    "Wrong answer, try again."


    Kicking the shards of metal further into its chest Dax waited for the homunculus to stop screaming before he continued asking questions.


    "Where are you from?"


    "F.u.c.k Y!-"


    (This feels familiar somehow¡­ Oh well, slowly it is. ICI prep extraction once more.)


    (CONFIRMED, READY FOR DIRECT INTELLIGENCE EXTRACTION: ALL OFFENSIVE FIREWALLS READY.)


    Having kicked one of the other shards deeper into the homunculus'' body Dax resigned himself to doing something he really didn''t enjoy that much and reached for the homunculus'' head. But alas the creature was more cunning than Dax had realized and as he reached for its head it quickly extended its claws and struck out after him. As Dax had expected those claws really were sharp enough to pass straight through his armoured skin, and as he retreated the homunculus cut deeply into his left arm, almost severing outright.


    "Well, shit¡­"


    "Hahaha~ Serves you right!~"


    Seeing it''s acting had worked, the homunculus fully extended its claws which were about half a meter long and charged the surprised demonkin that it assessed was in a state of shock due to the pain. That assessment couldn''t have been further from the truth, however, as Dax formed a high pressure sphere of wind that he shot towards the homunculus right after it shifted its centre of mass and fully committed to the charge.


    "GHA!-"


    Forcefully knocking all the air out of the homunculus'' chest Dax slammed his foot into the stone floor below and challenged mana into it, forming multiple spikes of rock which nailed the homunculus to a wall while he dealt with his injury.


    "Guess there''s no reason to hide it, ICI engage auto repair."


    (DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED, TASKING BLACKMATTER FOR REPAIR¡­ COMPLETE, EXECUTING REPAIR.)


    Like it was some sort of illusion, the demonkin''s wound instantly stopped bleeding as some sort of black liquid started pouring out of the wound instead, then it covered the wound as the blood that had been spilt on the floor below suddenly got a mind of its own and returned it the demonkin''s body.


    "What¡­ Are¡­ You!?"


    With horror clearly visible in the homunculus'' eyes for the first time as it slowly choked on its own blood Dax found himself compelled to answer.


    "A homunculus, although the term we use where I come from is ''artificially created lifeform''. Tl;dr I am like you, but better. My race was created for a singular purpose a few million years ago, we were made to wage and win wars, but over time we became something else. Like your comrade which I killed first said, artificially created lifeforms are the superior race but he was somewhat mistaken. The era of homunculus has already begun."


    Extracting the homunculus'' memories Dax took a brief look around at the mayhem he had unleashed with blood spatter and body parts all over the floor, walls and even some parts of the ceiling the qiton breathed a deep sigh.


    "This is definitely not something a ''lady'' would respond well to seeing¡­ And I''m covered in blood too."


    Breathing another deep sigh as mana surged around him Dax started the minimum amount of cleaning necessary to keep the so called ''lady'' from screaming as he rescued her.


    -


    "Of course it''s locked¡­ Not that that''s going to change anything."


    Briefly examining the tightly locked door that hid his prize Dax located the numerous weak points and quickly tore into the metal with his bare hands and destroyed the lock.


    "There we are~ You must be this so called lady I keep hearing so much about, my name is Dax, I''m here on request of your ever loyal knight to rescue you."


    Opening the door to what turned out to be little more than a holding cell Dax''s eyes quickly adjusted to the light within the room which was unlike the complete pitch dark he had fought in and located a bundle of ropes and frills in one of the corners. Walking closer in a non threatening fashion Dax examined his possible further long term employer, finding her to be a sort of young demihuman woman. She had long elaborately braided golden hair which reached a fair bit down her back, blue eyes with a slightly green tint and long narrow ears that had almost the same length as Lilly''s. A feature the young noble lady definitely did not share with the tiny elver Dax knew was a pair of antler like white horns on top of her head, as well as some the faint outline of white scales some places on her skin.


    "Ah, sorry for spacing out, let''s get you to safety."


    Removing the woman''s gag Dax carefully lifted the still otherwise bound noble lady up in a princess carry and started walking out of the underground complex.


    "... Thanks for saving me."


    After a brief delay, the noble lady quietly voiced some words of gratitude which Dax took to heart.


    "You''re welcome. I would still like to be paid trough, and a proper explanation would also be nice."

 Chapter 193 - A certain princess’ circ.u.mstances.

    After rescuing the noble lady and reuniting her with her knight Dax figured he was already too deeply involved with them and might as well hear out their full story before deciding if it was worth it to help them, or if killing them both was still the better option. Having returned to his inn room with the two visitors Dax allowed the lady to sit on his bed as him and Chad took some chairs.


    "Okay then. Explain what the f.u.c.k that is going on and no lying please, the way I see it you''re both dead within a week without my help."


    "You dare question my lady!"


    "It''s fine Chad."


    As her knight was boiling with anger, the so called princess calmed down her knight as she took a deep breath and started explaining.


    "Thank you for saving me Dax. My name is Xi, I''m the first princess of the Ta''ia clan.-"


    (Ta''ia? ICI run an archive search.)


    (DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED, SYNCING RESULTS.)


    While Xi explained her''s and her knight''s circ.u.mstances Dax ran over the archived intelligence he had spent over a year gathering.


    "-I am currently travelling towards the imperial capital to ask for aid from a personal beneficiary."


    "Aid? What kind of aid could you possibly seek that would result in you being marked for death?"


    "... My clan has been struck with a calamity. I can''t say anything more than that."


    Falling silent as her face turned grim with the mention of a ''calamity'' Xi refused to say anything more than that, stating that she couldn''t just involve random strangers, even if Dax had saved her two times. Sending the knight and princess pair to rest in another room with the reasoning that he would need the night to contemplate coming to their aid, the qiton stretched before sitting down in an armchair.


    (So the land of Ta''ia¡­. One of the homes of dragonkin, specifically a very powerful type of dragonkin. How the f.u.c.k did they get struck by a calamity so bad that their 1st princess is desperate enough to risk her own life to seek help?... Other than map data and general intelligence and map data¡­.)


    Tempted to break radio silence to get some information he could actually act on, Dax remembered he had a subject matter expert in different races right next to him.


    "Sword, do you know anything about the dragonkin?"


    (Oh?~ How rare of you to ask me a question Dax~ Have you perhaps gone mad?~?)


    Ignoring the cursed sword''s annoying tone of voice for the moment Dax took a deep breath to calm down slightly.


    "Why would I be mad? We entered a mutually beneficial agreement. I feed you souls-"


    (And I help you with fighting~ As I have done and will continue doing~?)


    "Help me with fighting? Ha! ahahaha-"


    (What''s so funny!?)


    As Dax started laughing uncontrollably the sword finally spoke like Dax imagined a cursed weapon would and completely dropped its cutesy tone.


    "It seems like you have misunderstood our agreement, let me be perfectly clear: I have and will never need something like you to fight, I need your knowledge and mana manipulation. If you didn''t have those things, you would just be a glorified throwing knife."


    Seeing the cursed sword''s crimson aura flare in response to Dax''s explanation, the qiton formed a smile as he continued.


    "Please don''t misunderstand my words. I still do very much respect you and we''re still partners, I have no plans to change that agreement. I am a qiton, the very definition of a living weapon, but I am out of my element in a strange land. Please tell me what you know about the dragonkin race."


    (... Fine, but promise to never demean me like that again. I have a very short fuse.)


    "Sure, partner~ I promise."


    -


    With the first morning rays hitting Dax''s face he realized he had spent all night thinking.


    (Shit¡­ So much for renting an expensive room, I didn''t even get to sleep in the bed.)


    Getting up from the armchair Dax stretched and went to open a window as he decided what to do.


    While supporting the princess which had been marked for death was risky, it also came with multiple advantages. First was the possibility that she was targeted by the same faction which Dax was after, if he followed Xi there was a chance they might target her again and Dax would have a chance to learn more. The second major and perhaps most important factor was cover, while a lone mercenary wandering and looking for work was normal here out in the middle of nowhere, that might not be the case when he closed in on the imperial capital, but a mercenary escorting some noble lady was another story.


    (F.u.c.k¡­ I still don''t like this¡­)


    But the main issue with supporting Xi stemmed from what the sword had told Dax, according to it, dragonkin were extremely strong and blessed with an immense capacity for mana manipulation, falling somewhere between the level of greater demonkin and angels.


    (Why the hell would be so pressed to seek help? Could it be some kind of plague?.... Guess I''ll figure it out at some point.)


    Sitting down right in front of the inn Dax waited to be joined by the princess and knight combo.


    "Good morning, let''s get going. It''s a long way to the imperial capital."


    When Xi and Chad eventually joined Dax a few hours later they were quite confused at his straight forward attitude.


    "Eh?... Does that mean-"


    "It does, I''ll do my utmost to make sure you get to your destination unmolested. Now come on, move it."


    "R-right! Chad, prepare my carria-"


    "Yeah no, sell it. And the horse too."


    "Eh?"


    "S-sell the carriage!? You would sell something with the royal mark of Ta''ia!?"


    (Haa¡­ ICI do a rough probability calculation, what''s the chances that the princess will still listen to what I''m saying if I rip out this knight''s spine?)


    (PROCESSING, STAND BY¡­)


    The very mention of selling something with their royal crest on it angered the knight so much that he drew his sword and closed in on Dax to cut him down, but luckily for him ICI finished its calculations before that.


    "DIE!"


    Swinging down his sword towards the sitting Dax''s neck, the knight had apparently forgotten that Dax had dealt with the bandits that almost killed him mostly unarmed.


    "No! Don''t kill¡­ Him¡­"


    Even before Xi overcame her confusion Dax had dealt with Chad. Blocking the knight''s sword by simply catching it in his bare hand the qiton yanked the sword downwards, then knee''d the knight in the chest when he tumbled down towards him and then took hold of his arm and swung him over his head.


    "GHA!-"


    Having all his air knocked out forcefully Chad was momentarily incapacitated, which was all the time Dax needed. Kicking his side, Dax sent the knight tumbling in the dirt while helping himself to the knight''s sword.


    "No! Don''t hurt him!"


    (... You''re hopeless.)


    Looking at Xi''s expression Dax immediately judged her unfit to rule, she simply cared too much for one of her subjects. Switching the knight''s sword into a reverse grip Dax brought its blade down towards its owners face.


    "And you''re dead. Now if you can''t defend your lady from a single mercenary, is it really that good of an idea to travel around in something that is clearly marked with her identity when there are people after her?"


    Looking into the cold eyes of the demonkin mercenary and then his own sword which had been buried deeply into the ground right next to his head, Chad calmed down and was forced to face the reality of the situation.


    "... No, it is not a good idea. I''ll go sell it."


    "Perfect~ I''ll prepare the princess for travel in the meantime, let''s meet at the city gates in an hour."


    "... Fine."


    Reluctantly accepting Dax''s outstretched hand, Chad got back on his feet and was handed back his sword.


    "Anything else you need me to do?"


    "Yeah, lose the armour. It stands out too much."


    "... What the hell are you planing?"


    "The Xi princess is dead. Until we arrive at your destination we are merely travellers."


    "Understood."


    Somewhat coming to terms with their current situation Chad left to sell the carriage and discard his armour, leaving just Dax and Xi.


    "... So what are we doing?"


    Having also come to the realization that listening to Dax was her best chance of survival, Xi looked at the rough looking mercenary with a slight hint worry visible on her face. In response, Dax turned to the dragonkin with a large childlike smile on his face, anyone knowing Dax should have known to run away immediately, but sadly the young Xi didn''t know that yet.


    "First I need you to strip~"

 Chapter 194 - A certain princess’ struggles

    "... So what are we doing?"


    (That is the question indeed¡­)


    Looking at the slightly nervous princess in her brightly coloured dress which had an excess of frills, Dax started smiling.


    "First I need you to strip~"


    "What?"


    -


    "Uuuu."


    Having dragged Xi off into the town Dax quickly found a leatherworker and paid her a premium to completely rework the dragonkin princess'' wardrobe.


    "So, what do you think my dear customer?"


    Looking at Xi Dax no longer saw some noble from a far off land, instead, she looked somewhat like a mercenary or at least a traveller. While her long golden hair which had been elaborately braided remained untouched, her frilly blue dress and fine shoes were no more. Xi now wore a robust brown leather poncho over light leather armour which was reinforced with metal but still somehow retained a feminine feel due to numerous embroidered decorations.


    "... It''s perfect, good job."


    Looking at the heavily blushing princess which was obviously not used to wearing pants Dax still retained a large child like smile, which was similar to the shopkeeper''s fox like one.


    "And I should just forget I''ve ever seen you or this lady, right?~"


    "You sure do catch on fast, I might come to depend on you in the future."


    Handing the shopkeeper a pouch of gold coins (still with a large smile on his face) the qiton started emitting a large amount of bloodl.u.s.t.


    "And I trust you will take care of any evidence left behind?"


    "Of course~"


    "Good~ Pleasure doing business with you, Xi we''re leaving."


    "R-right."


    Following after Dax like some sort of newborn fawn as she was adjusting herself to walking in some brand new robust travel boots, Xi looked like she wanted to ask Dax something but didn''t have the courage to do so.


    "What is it?"


    Unable to endure the constant hesitation of his new cover, Dax stopped in his tracks and turned to the princess with an overbearing expression.


    "W-was it really a good idea to threaten that shopkeeper?"


    "Ah, that wasn''t a threat, it was more like a greeting."


    "Is that so?..."


    "Yeah it is, now we need to find you a weapon, what kinds can you use?"


    "... A sword I guess?"


    "You guess?... Have you ever used a weapon before?"


    "I have not."


    "Well, that''s just great. Then we don''t need to bother with that, let''s join back up with your dear knight."


    "Right!"


    Still looking like some sort of newborn animal Xi followed after Dax with an unusually energetic spur to her steps, the reason for which became extremely clear to Dax as they met up with the knight once more.


    "So, h-how do I look?"


    While playing with her hair and having a slight blush on her face Xi nervously asked her knight for his thoughts retaining to her new clothing while Dax spectated.


    (Oh boy¡­.)


    Feeling like he was about to see some romance Dax prepared to take mental notes with a thin and warm smile on his face as he turned his attention towards Chad.


    "Like a hunter, let''s get going."


    (Oh lord¡­ He''s a dense as a neutron star that one.)


    (That sounds so rich when it''s coming from you Dax~?)


    (Yeah, yeah I know. I am working on it¡­)


    Seeing how obviously dejected Xi was acting because of Chad''s straightforward answer Dax silently placed a hand on her shoulder.


    "Good luck."


    "... Thanks¡­. W-wait! I-I mean-"


    "Yeah, yeah I know. Let''s get going."


    Switching from his slow walk into a light jog Dax quickly caught up with Chad which had swapped his shiny looking plate amour for some far more inconspicuous leather armour with a metal reinforced chest piece.


    "So what''s the current destination?"


    "We''re going to the capital of the Greendale kingdom to ask an old acquaintance of my lady''s farther for assistance with the current calamity, if that doesn''t work we''ll continue on to the imperial capital."


    "That sounds perfect, I also have some business in Greendale to take care of."


    Being a continent spanning empire, Dax''s current opponent was made up of serval more or less autonomous kingdoms that held certain rights to self govern and make their own laws while falling under the umbrella of (and paying tribute to) the empire. The multiple kingdoms and self governing territories amount of autonomy depended on a complex connection of noble houses and powerful merchants and trade and could range all the way from an almost completely independent state to nothing more than a puppet of the imperial capital.


    The kingdom of Greendale swung more towards the independent category, as they had an extremely robust economy based on their export of mined mana stones and a competent armed force to keep the peace it was simply not worth it for the imperial capital to strengthen its hold on the country. While it could be extremely profitable on the short term to take over Greendale and/or subject it to increased taxes nothing was done to it, as the country served as a pillar of stability for the southern part of and stimulated economic growth in the region.


    The reason Dax was interested in Greendale was rather simple, it was an economic hub and where goods flowed trough in high concentrations so did information. Moreover, the capital of Greendale itself was relatively close to one of the high density ambient mana hotspots the qiton''s satellites had long since located and a possible base of operations of the faction which produced the walking corpses which had attacked Dax.


    "It''s getting dark soon, let''s camp out over there."


    "Yay¡­."


    Having walked for most of the day while clearly not being accustomed to it, Xi used the last of her energy to run over to the spot Dax had indicated before laying down flat on the ground.


    "Please don''t lay there my lady, you''ll catch a cold¡­ This really is a great spot to set up camp, good job spotting it Dax."


    While first and foremost being worried about Xi, Chad stopped and looked at the clearing which was a few hundred meters away from the main road. Not did it have clear lines of sight all around but there was also some amount of top cover while it was on a slightly higher ground than the surrounding area, preventing the campsite from being flooded if it rained heavily.


    "Yeah I have been wandering for a while now so spotting these places is quite easy, now let''s set up, I''ll get a fire going."


    Quickly clearing out a patch of ground Dax gathered up a few rocks to form a rudimentary fireplace before he disappeared into the forest to look for kindling.


    "It sure is great we found this mercenary, don''t you think so Chad?"


    While Xi hadn''t really gotten to know Dax all that well yet and he had been a bit mean to her sometimes, the princess clearly felt like he took his job seriously and she could depend on him to keep her safe.


    "... I am not so sure that it was us that found him, more likely it was the other way around."


    But alas the knight was a bit less naive than the princess.


    "What do you mean?"


    "There''s something he''s not telling us and it is fair to say that this mysterious demonkin is not some simple mercenary, he''s far too strong for that. Please keep close to me at all times my lady, Dax is not what he appears to be."


    From the first moment Chad had placed his eyes on Dax, he was certain that there was something off about him. Even as the mysterious demonkin carried a sword, it appeared that he had no need for it and Chad''s instincts told him that Dax had been constantly reigning in his blood l.u.s.t along with fighting prowess, giving the somewhat experienced knight the impression that Dax was truly something terrifying which was trying to hide for some unknown reason.


    (Those sure are some sharp instincts you got there Mr knight, but you''re being affected by them far too much and it''s giving you away~)


    While gathering firewood a few hundred meters away from the knight princess pair Dax could still clearly hear them talking.


    (Oh well, there''s really no reason to get along with them¡­ Just as long as I can use them as cover to get to Greendale, after all, a lone traveller is getting more and more suspicious the closer I get to the imperial capital¡­)


    Being completely honest Dax didn''t care much for the princess and knight pair, their survival was insignificant to him as he only needed them as cover to complete his primary objective.


    (But those homunculus'' were quite the abnormality, investigating them might lead to something interresting¡­ I should properly use that princess as bait to lure out their comrades.)


    Having thought over some of the current options available to him as well as his general situation Dax returned to the campsite and started the campfire, after which he started meditating with his sword lying within reach.


    -


    (Where am I?... Ah that''s right we abandoned the carriage.)


    Waking up inside a cramped one person tent Xi took a few seconds to remember what was going on before she turned around and tried to go back to sleep¡­ Tried being the key word.


    (Toilet¡­ What was I supposed to do again?)


    Finding her boots and wearing her new leather poncho over her sleepwear Xi left her tent to take care of her business.


    (Isn''t that cold?)


    On the way back to the campsite her eyes had finally adjusted fully to the sparse illumination of the campfire and moonlight as she spotted Dax, he was still in the same location he had been in when she went to sleep, meditating a few meters away from the fire.


    (... What was that?)


    Just as the princess'' eyes started to wander away from Dax as her body reminded her that she should get back to her tent by shivering slightly, something caught Xi''s eyes when she looked away from Dax. It was some sort of faint red glimmer and when she looked back towards the demonkin mercenary her vision suddenly became blurry as her senses dulled without her herself noticing.


    "Who are you?"


    Suddenly there stood some sort of small child with long black hair next to Dax wearing a red dress and for some reason, the child didn''t raise any form of alarms in the dragonkin princess'' mind as she walked closer to the figure which held some sort of strange allure.


    "Do you want to play?~ Then pick up the sword~?"


    unbeknownst to herself, Xi''s senses continued slipping further into the dark as she heard the sweet and entrancing voice of the child.


    "Yeah, that sounds fun¡­"


    Before she realized it Xi stood next to Dax and reached out for his sword with a smile on her face, she was eager to play with the child while feeling an uncontrollable need to touch the crimson sword.


    "What are you doing?"


    "Eh? W-what is happening?"


    She only snapped out of it when Dax grasped her hand as she was about to touch the sword, snapping the princess out of her trance and erasing any recent memories at the same time.


    "Yeah, don''t ask me about that, go back to your tent and get some sleep."


    "O-okay, good night Dax."


    As the clueless princess returned to her tent and went back to sleep Dax looked at his sword.


    (Behave, that one is not food.)


    (..... Tch.)


    (What was that?)


    (Nothing~ Understood Dax, that one is not food~? I''ll try not to eat her in the future~)


    (No just don''t f.u.c.k.i.n.g eat her at all, how the f.u.c.k is that so hard to understand?)

 Chapter 195 - Journey to Greendale

    "Contact front, 600 meters¡­ It''s more monsters."


    Voicing a short report out of nowhere, Dax''s two travel companions already knew very well what to do as they stopped walking while the qiton broke into a sprint left heavy footprints in the dirt road below.


    (Feeding time.)


    (Ehh?~ but Dax, I''ve had enough of monster blood already! It''s been all the same for a few weeks now.)


    (Yeah it has, I''ve also gotten thoroughly tired of them by now¡­)


    For the last few weeks, Dax had been travelling towards Greendale with his new cover in tow, moving through countless small cities of the fringe of Empire territory the qiton had fought and killed so many monsters now that he almost hoped for some bandits at this point.


    (12 this time¡­ Do you want to sit this one out?)


    (Yes please~ I''m thoroughly tired of junk food at this point.)


    Counting the minivan sized grey wolves Dax figured that he could let the sword take a break from drinking monster blood and deal with them in a way he hadn''t before to at least get a bit of exercise out of it.


    (... Hey, are you sure I can''t eat that princess?~)


    While Dax was busy manhandling the oversized wolf''s the cursed sword once more brought up a subject it had talked about so many times before.


    (No you can''t¡­ Anyway what is it about that dragonkin that makes her so appealing as a candidate for your next meal that you can''t just let her go?)


    Griping one of the wolves by its jaw Dax broke it apart and cracked apart its skull Dax pressed his partner on what didn''t seem like some idle curiosity.


    (I don''t know¡­ It''s just that she smells really nice, like some sort of prime steak.)


    (Setting aside how you can even smell her what does that even mean?... Okay then, if this trail turns out to run cold I promise I''ll at least consider giving her to you.)


    (Yay~? Dax I love you~)


    Having hunted down the last fleeing wolf Dax visibly shuddered as he heard the overly sweet voice of the cursed sword in his head.


    "... Sure, just don''t ever use that tone of voice again it is freaking me out."


    ---


    "... So they failed¡­ Useless things."


    Inside a brightly lit office, a high ranked noble cursed to himself when she read a report she had just received. Initially, she had been ecstatic when she had been giving some homunculus'' to help her with a mission it was now clear that they had been outdated throwaways. But still, it was not all bad news that greeted her in the report, while it stated that her new toys had failed there was also some good news mixed in along with the bad.


    (So even though those useless homunculi failed at even doing the simplest of jobs it did have a positive outcome¡­''Dax, a demonkin of unknown heritage blessed with an extreme capacity for mana manipulation has been spotted escorting the primary target''. That one might turn out to be an even better base than the princess and they''re heading here? I might still have some good luck left¡­)


    As a thin smile formed on the noble''s face a single knock was heard on her door and she quickly formed a more natural looking expression.


    "Yes, who is it?"


    In response to her question an older looking butler stepped in and bowed deeply as he reported.


    "My lady, the youth from the Aluzulite family is here to see you."


    "Thank you, show him here."


    With the butler leaving once more so did the noble''s expression and she fell into deep tough once more.


    (The youth from the Aluzuite family?... Wasn''t he the one that was good friends with the dragonkin princess? I could definitely use that to my advantage.)


    With her thin and cold looking smile once more forming on her face the noble took out a hand mirror and started to inspect her face.


    (Now, what sort of expressions should I use? This one, or this one?... Let''s go with this one.)


    Settling on a warm and friendly looking expression the noble waited for a few more seconds before a knock was heard on her door.


    "Please enter."


    "Excuse me."


    As a blue haired youth wearing a sort of mage robe entered the noble bloomed a warm and friendly smile as her earlier scheming demeanour completely disappeared.


    "My my~ Look at how you''ve grown~ Can this aunty do anything for you Silas?"


    "It has been a while, lady-"


    "Now now~ Don''t be so stiff."


    As the Aluzulite youth named Silas tried to kneel down the noble was already on her feet next to him where she reached out and stopped him from bowing down.


    "But-"


    "There are no eyes in here~ Just act normally."


    "O-okay, It has been a long time aunt."


    Dropping the formalities Silas hugged the noble lady and after they had some tea and did some casual chatting they finally moved to more serious matters.


    "Have you heard any news from Xi?"


    "I have, but sadly it is not all good news I''m afraid."


    Slightly toning down her friendly attitude the noble lady took a few seconds to supposedly gather her thoughts before she continued.


    "I seems like they have run into some sort of brute."


    "... A brute?"


    Also getting a slightly more serious expression on his face, Silas put down his tea.


    "Yeah, it seems like all but one of her knights have been killed by this brute and she has been captured by him. This brute is having them continue on their journey towards this place still, but it is only so he can extort money from me I''m afraid."


    Shedding ''real'' tears, the noble lady covertly kept track of Silas to assess his state of mind.


    "... HOW COWARDLY!"


    Seeing the youth''s outrage the noble lady did her best not to break out into a smile as she made sure to keep up her expression as she continued.


    "It really is, but as the brute is holding dear Xi hostage and is ready to kill her or the knight she cares about at any moment I can''t act against him."


    "If you can''t act then let me! I''ve grown strong in the years we have not seen each other aunty!"


    "... Could you really do something against that brute? I don''t want you to put yourself in danger¡­"


    (If Silas is killed I can spin the entire thing to my advantage and call in the imperial knights and if the useless bastard somehow manages to capture that demonkin I can also spin it as I want... Truly a win-win situation~)


    "Please leave it to me! I will capture this brute and learn who sent him to do such a cowardly thing!"


    "Thank you, Silas! It seems the heavens have sent you to me in this time of need, from the bottom of my heart I thank you."


    Hugging the youth as she continued to ''cry'', the noble lady''s eyes once more turned cold as a thin smile formed on her face.


    ---


    "Is this?..."


    "It is."


    Standing at the entrance to a large town both Chad and Dax looked at each other for a moment before both of them broke down and started hugging each other in the middle of the busy street, much to Xi''s embarrassment as she acted like she didn''t know the two fools.


    ""OOOOHHH!!""


    As they started to shout loudly the demonkin and knight pair gathered even more attention as the dragonkin princess backed off even more.


    "We''ve finally reached civilization once more!"


    "No more monsters!"


    "No more sleeping outside!"


    "No more bug bites!"


    "A proper toilet!"


    "Beer!"


    "BEER!"


    (Honestly¡­ When did the two of them become so good friends?)


    Looking at her two escorts Xi couldn''t help but wonder if they had been brothers in a previous life or something of the like. Over the last 2 months of travel, the two of them had fought together countless times against all manner of bandits and monsters and Xi wondered if that was everything men needed to become friends.


    "My brother, do you know what must be done now?"


    "... My kin, I do."


    Having gotten over their initial happiness Xi''s two escorts suddenly got extremely serious.


    "I''ll find the alcohol, you deal with housing-"


    "- And we meet up at the central plaza in one hour, correct?~"


    (Oh god, now they''re completing each other''s sentences¡­ But at least Chad finally looks a bit happier... No! What am I thinking!?)


    As her cheeks started to redden Xi stopped imagining the things she were and stomped forward and gripped Chad''s arm.


    "Come on, let''s find a place to stay already! There are people looking at you like you''re crazy!"


    "I-I apologize my lady!"


    "Yeah yeah, come on."


    Splitting up with Dax then and there, Chad and Xi walked for a bit in silence before the dragonkin princess spoke up.


    "You two sure became friends quickly, what''s all that about?"


    "We are comrades that have fought together for a common goal, of course we would become friends over a few months."


    "... Is that so?"


    Increasing her walking speed Xi separated from Chad as she suddenly felt annoyed at the clueless knight of hers.


    "Whatever, I don''t care!"


    "Ah, my lady slow down please!"


    -


    (ICI do a threat analysis and bring down the drone a bit, I want to be ready for anything.)


    (DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED.)


    Meanwhile, Dax was busy blending in with the other travellers as he remained alert. Over the last few weeks of travel, he had felt serval pair''s of eyes on him. With the help of ICI, he had confirmed that the dragonkin princess had been the point of interest for the people and it seemed like they were planing something.


    (Whatever is happening it seems like we''ve come closer to the centre of it, so they''ll most likely make a move soon. The question is how much influence these pesky flies hold over the local security forces, depending on that I might need to abandon the princess and her knight to their fate, I can''t afford to be discovered by an angel so close to my objective¡­)


    (My how ruthless of you Dax~? That''s why I love you~)


    (Yeah yeah, I agree that it is a bit cold¡­ But this is still black ops. There is more at stake than these two.)


    Entering a store to look at some wine, Dax continued to keep up his discreet demeanour but suddenly he broke out into a full smile as ICI''s cold voice entered his head once more.


    (HOSTILE PRESENCE CONFIRMED. CONTACT, 300 METERS NORTH AND CLOSING.)


    "Well, it''s about time~"

 Chapter 196 - Artificial ascension

    Putting down the bottle he had been looking at as he turned to leave Dax gained the ire of the shopkeeper.


    "Tch, buy something instead of just wasting my time will you?"


    "Sorry about that, I''ll be back in a bit to buy something."


    (Time to disappear.)


    (DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED.)


    As Dax turned away from the shop keeper to leave his presence changed slightly. In the corner of the shopkeeper''s eye, the demonkin briefly flickered like a mirage and if he had looked at Dax''s back as he left the store, the shopkeeper would have been unable to properly identify him.


    (INITIATING AMBIENT MANA ABSORPTION, ALLOCATING PROCESSING POWER FOR SCRIPT¡­ COMPLETE, MANA FORGE ONLINE, RUNNING AT 5% OCCIPITAL LOBE TYPE INHIBITION CLOAKING ACTIVE.)


    (Perfect~ Now let''s go take a look at how the hell thinks it''s a good idea to track me while emitting so much bloodl.u.s.t.)


    -


    "He''s around here somewhere, stay alert."


    Looking at the busy street Silas kept circulating mana trough his body in an attempt to stay combat ready as he warned his knights so they would do the same. Using a specially made mana crystal Silas had traveled for a few weeks in search of the one who had kidnapped Xi and when they had arrived at this border town on the fringes of Greendale, the crystal had reacted. Now that they were considerably closer to their target, the crystal would tell them how close they were to the target and in which direction he was based on the mana that all living beings passively emitted.


    (We''re within 5 meters now, he should be right in front of me...)


    Looking up and away from the crystal Silas scanned the busy street for any and all demonkin that matched the description he had been given by his aunt.


    (Not here¡­ Wait, what!?)


    In the few seconds Silas had scanned the street his target had somehow passed him, without him or his knights noticing.


    "He''s here!"


    Alerting his knights one of them challenged mana into his body and used it to enhance his voice.


    "This is a royal inspection! All citizens of Greendale stop what you''re doing until this inspection is over! Failure to do so will lead to detainment!"


    Immediately all the citizens stopped moving before they lined up by the sides of the street, while only some of them complained most knew that something like this would only happen if the knights were looking for a dangerous criminal.


    "Find him!"


    """Sir, yes sir!"""


    Having started the knight''s on their task Silas looked down at his tracking crystal once more, what he saw first confused, then it terrified him. Suddenly it was like their target had disappeared completely, or rather it''s mana signature had. With no other choice, Silas and his knights checked each and every one of some 200 people for anyone which matched their target''s description, but even after half an hour they still hadn''t found him and the people were starting to get annoyed.


    "Sir, there''s still no sign of him, what should we do?"


    "... Let them go."


    "Sir? What about the culprit?"


    "There''s no way we''re going to find him, he saw us coming and managed to somehow escape us."


    "Understood sir!"


    While the crowd slowly dispersed and went back to their daily life Silas started calming down a tiny bit, what currently occupied his mind was how their target had escaped them.


    (Some kind of mana interference?... No, that doesn''t explain everything. Maybe it''s some kind of teleportation?... But I didn''t feel anything like that¡­-)


    While thinking about how the demonkin escaped him and his knights, Silas'' eyes slowly wandered around on the crowd that was dispersing and by chance, he saw something strange.


    "Hey, you! Stop!"


    (Well, shit¡­)


    (That''s all because you wanted to know who was after you Dax~? If you escaped immediately-)


    (Yeah, yeah. I know¡­)


    Turning around to face the knight that addressed him, Dax put on a large smile as he inspected the knight for weak points in his defenses. The knight in question seemed like the one the others took orders from, he was a youth around the age of 20 with long blue hair which was braided and fell to the side of his shoulder that was covered in white shining plate armor. The knight''s golden eyes looked at Dax with slight hints of alertness clearly visible, telling Dax that he was still immature.


    "Can I help you with anything? I already talked with one of the other knights."


    In response to hearing Dax''s voice which had passed through the spell that kept him from being recognized by the knights, the one in front of him slightly narrowed his eyes and kept looking at Dax with suspicion.


    "... What are you?"


    (Oh~ This one has really sharp senses¡­ Can I eat him?~?)


    (Not yet.)


    "What do you mean? I''m a normal demonkin from the north, my name is-"


    "I don''t care about some fake name, why don''t you come with us? I want to ask you a few questions about the current whereabouts of the Ta''ia clan princess."


    (Well, f.u.c.k. ICI I''m blown, it seems like there are still some improvements to do with the inhibition type cloaking¡­)


    "I''ll answer that and so much more if you honestly tell me what I look like right now?"


    "... Some kind of creature that''s pretending to be a demonkin, please come with us without a fuzz."


    While the other knights slowly surrounded the mysterious demonkin and silently drew their swords Dax still wanted to avoid an outright fight.


    "Now now~ There''s no reason for all that. If you could tell me your name I''ll tell Xi that you''re looking fo-"


    "Don''t call her name so casually!"


    Immediately the knight leader''s mana signature flared as charged towards Dax in rage. Swinging down his drawn sword as it was covered in a thin layer of high pressure water, making it clear to Dax that the knight was aiming to cleave him in half.


    (Really can''t take a joke huh?... ICI.)


    (ROGER, ANALYSING SPELL STRUCTURE¡­ COMPLETE, DISRUPTING.)


    Reaching out to catch the blade as it was swung down towards him, Dax canceled the spell the instant he touched it, stopping the blade by pinching it between his thumb and index finger.


    "Calm down, it was just a joke. No need for anyone to lose their head."


    "Wha!- Let go of my sword this instant!"


    (He really is a brat huh?... Well, a brat that just tried to cut me in half.)


    Deciding to take the situation a bit more seriously Dax let go of the knight leaders sword as he dodged the other knight''s spells and blades the qiton started emitting a large amount of bloodl.u.s.t as his smile completely disappeared.


    "Let''s just let each other go and be on our separate ways, you seem like one of Xi''s friends so I don''t wanna have to kill you and your friends here."


    Offering a final chance at de-escalation while formulating serval plans of attack and escape, Dax noticed a pair of eyes on him that didn''t involve the knights or spectators.


    (Now what are you?... ICI?)


    Establishing a high bandwidth connection with the drone that had been following him since he had entered the Empire, Dax quickly found out what was following him.


    (A scout?... No more likely it''s some kind of observer¡­ So that''s why this brat is so eager to fight me, although he has probably been tricked into it.)


    "There''s simply no way we can let a heinous criminal like you go! Tell me where princess Xi is and I might let you live!"


    Slightly narrowing his eyes Dax formed a thin smile.


    (Well that works out in my favor~ Time to raise my stock with this mysterious observer. Sword, no killing.)


    (Boo!~)


    (I can also just not use you.)


    (Ha! As if-)


    Immediately getting tired of swords voice Dax tossed it cleanly out of the city, heating up his mana forge as two crystal short swords formed in both of his hands.


    "Then let''s get this shitshow underway."


    Instantly disappearing from the knight''s view Dax reappeared right in front of the one which was furthest from where he had just been.


    "Shi!-"


    Bringing his sword and kite shield up to parry, the knight didn''t even get to utter a full word before his sword and shield were cut apart by Dax''s crystal swords. Taking full advantage of the knight''s defenseless state the qiton kicked the knight in his chest and sent him flying into a nearby building.


    "Howitzer."


    Tossing one of his swords into the air Dax pointed his freed open hand towards another one of the knights as a large ball of compressed air shoot out towards the knight and also sent him flying.


    (That''s two, 3 to go.)


    Assessing the state of battle Dax dismissed his two swords and slammed one of his fists into the stone tiles below, challenging mana into the ground and forming a thick wall of stone that was immediately cut apart by multiple jets of high pressure water.


    "Tch, buckshot."


    Not having been granted the time he needed to formulate a more complex spell Dax waved his hand as he created more defenses, sending small blunt slugs of golden crystal towards the 3 remaining knights to keep them busy. Hugging the ground Dax closed the range once more while a crystal spear formed in his hand, clearly targeting the knight which was closest to him.


    "Formation 4!"


    But Dax had made the mistake of allowing his opponents a moment to reorganize themselves and as a result of their extensive training and combat experience, they did so perfectly. Forming up to make Dax unable to simply keep picking them off one at a time, the knights worked together so that two of them constantly kept Dax out of range of his clearly more potent close quarters combat while the last one kept bombarding him with spells.


    (Shit¡­ In that case!)


    Avoiding another jet of high pressure water by ducking under it Dax dug his hand into the stone tiles below and ripped one of them out, keeping up his momentum and spun around before flinging the stone tile towards one of the knights as he also created a golden spear which he also tossed, then he kicked up a shotgun hail of rock shards by partially destroying another stone tile with a kick.


    In response to the sudden onslaught of attacks, Silas formed a barrier of wind which dealt with the hail of rock shards while one of his knights simply deflected the stone tile with his shield while the other one sidestepped his spear as they formed more blades and jets of high pressure water supplied from pouches at their h.i.p.s.


    (Oh how I would very much like to have a gun right now¡­)


    Forming a large shield of golden crystal Dax was once more on the defensive and opened up the range.


    (WARNING: LOCAL FORCES ALERTED AND IN ROUTE, ETA 2 MINUTES.)


    (Shit, ICI I need more resources, time for a partial ascension.)


    Realizing he was running out of time and still had no chance of retreating, Dax decided to reveal one of his trump cards.


    (DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED, FORMULATING HIGH BANDWIDTH QUANTUM DATABRIDGE TO KINGSTEAD TACTICAL DATA CENTRE, CONNECTION ESTABLISHED OFFLOADING PROCESSING¡­ COMPLETE, FORMULATING SPELL ARCHITECTURE, SYSTEM ONLINE, INITIALIZING ASCENSION SCRIPT¡­...)


    As the name implied, ascension was Dax''s own attempt at replicating the spell angels used to vastly increase their ability to manipulate mana for a short amount of time and like the angel''s spell it had its restrictions. Pulling off an ascension with at least some resemblance of control and safety using the mana forge Dax was currently equipped with required a massive amount of processing power, even more than what his coprocessor which replaced a large part his spine could offer. Real time 3 dimension wind pattern analysis within 1 kilometer of Dax acuate to 1 pascal of pressure (one thousand of a bar), as well as constant mana concentration scans which could only be obtained from orbital satellites among with countless other points of data and calculations presently made Dax unable to use such an advanced spell without external help, but even despite all that it was fully worth it.


    "Shit! Kill him now!"


    Having completely given up on capturing the strange demonkin he still couldn''t see clearly the second he realized what type of spell it was invoking, Silas stomped down his foot into the ground and sent out a pulse of mana which traveled about 5 meters from him, turning every speck of water within that range into a high pressure blade which shoot towards the demonkin.


    (ASCENSION PROTOTYPE ARCHITECTURE ONLINE, HOLDING STEADY 5 BY 5. HEAT GENERATION NOMINAL, 10 MINUTES TO SYSTEM FAILURE. HOLDING AT 20.1% POTENTIAL OUTPUT.)


    But he was too late. When the demonkin once more opened his closed eyes they glowed in an eerie golden hue.


    "Aegis."


    With a single word a complex array of golden runes spread out around him, creating an invisible barrier around the demonkin which perfectly blocked each and every one of the incoming attacks aimed to reap his life. As the demonkin pointed its empty hand towards Silas he got an extremely bad premonition, but before he could act the demonkin spoke out once more.


    "Air pressure control: Starvation."


    Instantly falling to his knees as he was suddenly unable to breathe, the last thing Silas saw before passing out was the cold looking eyes of the demonkin he was still unable to identify.

 Chapter 197 - A certain princess’ calamity

    (There they are.)


    Having retrieved his sword from a nearby forest Dax went to meet up with Chad and Xi, finding them at the location they had agreed on before looking quite worried. Getting Chad''s attention without causing a fuss Dax pointed at a deserted alley where he linked up with them after a few minutes,


    "What happened?"


    "I ran into some trouble clearly targeting me and Xi, I''ve found somewhere to lay low for a bit, follow me."


    Leading the knight and princess pair through back streets and alleys the group eventually reached an abandoned part of town where Dax broke into an old building that was on the verge of falling apart, looking around inside the dusty interior Dax reached in between two floor panels and pulled a hidden switch and opened a hidden entrance.


    "What is-"


    "A hidden smuggler''s cache, looking at the group markings it''s part of a long since exterminated group."


    Finding the place to indeed to no longer be in use Dax helped himself to some of the left behind high proof liquor as the group of 3 found themselves somewhat conformable in the small underground room sparsely filled with contraband.


    (ICI take care of the sound.)


    (DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED INITIATING AMBIENT MANA ABSORPTION, ALLOCATING PROCESSING POWER FOR SCRIPT. COMPLETE, MANA FORGE ONLINE, RUNNING AT 0.23%.)


    "I''ve taken care of the sound, feel free to relax a bit now."


    With tension visibly draining from the room, Xi and Chad got themselves a bit more comfortable as the knight took charge of the conversation.


    "So, what happened? All of a sudden the city guards started running around everywhere and we heard that some knights were fighting with a demonkin."


    "Yeah, that''s pretty much what happened, at least on a surface level. I was targeted by a blue haired youth which seems to know the princess and some accompanying knights who all seemed to think I kidnapped said princess."


    "... Silas?"


    "So you do know him, what''s the connection between the two of you?"


    Seeing Xi''s reaction Dax immediately probed for more information, much to Chad''s displeasure.


    "Oi! Don''t stick your nose where it doesn''t belong."


    "Yeah, no. I''m afraid I can''t afford to keep doing that any longer, I''ll need to know everything as it appears I''ve also been marked for death by my involvement with the two of you."


    "That''s-"


    "impossible? I was evaluated when I fought that Silas brat, which means that there''s some connection between him, you, my dear princess and whoever is now after my life. That would make you what we call in my line of business ''mission critical intelligence'' and as such I will use every means of extracting that intelligence."


    "What are you?"


    Looking at Dax Chad now something entirely different than he had the last few months journeying with the demonkin, as if he had just pulled off some sort of mask Dax''s demeanor had entirely changed.


    "I''ll leave that to your imagination~ Now, will you please tell me, princess? I would truly hate to do something to you after getting to know you this well."


    "Okay then, I''ll tell you everything."


    After a brief silence Xi decided to finally tell Dax everything, even though she was not entirely sure he could be trusted. While the mysterious demonkin in front of her had helped them and was true that she would not be alive at this moment without his help there was something strange about him, he was most likely some sort of outsider belonging to a powerful organization.


    She had no idea how right her judgment was at that point in time.


    "Silas is a part of the Aluzulite family, a long time ally of my family. My dad used to take me with him whenever he had business in Greendale and leave me there to play."


    "... So a childhood friend? That would explain how easily he was manipulated by whoever is behind all this¡­ I''m guessing he''s also the one you wanted to seek help from in Greendale?"


    "That''s correct. But I don''t understand why he would suddenly try and kill you."


    Starting to connect the pieces together Dax completely let slip his mercenary demeanor and returned to being a qiton black operative.


    "... So it''s most likely a faction that at least has some connection with the Greendale upper echelon? No, that wouldn''t make sense at all¡­."


    Falling into deep thought neither Xi nor Chad dared to interrupt Dax, for they were both utterly terrified.


    "You said before that your country was struck with some sort of calamity, what is it exactly? A plague? Some kind of monster? Or could it be some sort of archdemon¡­ No that wouldn''t make sense at all, there has been no breach of the dimensional plane since the fall of the magic academy. ICI show me the Ta''ia territory."


    Holding out a hand Dax projected a map of the Ta''ia city state as his left eye lit up in an ominous red light.


    "So it''s some kind of mana disaster¡­ What exactly happened?"


    "... Dax. What is that?"


    Pointing at Dax''s hand which partly split apart to reveal some sort of unknown mechanism within Xi found herself unable to stop shaking, even the finger she pointed at the demonkin she couldn''t keep still.


    "Ah, this? It''s magic~ Although it''s a kind that''s not really common around here."


    -


    "That''s seriously f.u.c.k.i.e.d up¡­"


    Running along a dirt road that was only sparsely lit by starlight Dax thought back on what Xi had told him.


    (Even by black operation standards that''s f.u.c.k.i.n.g cold.)


    Long ago Xi''s small city state took a single child into their care. The child was some kind of dragonkin who had lost all memories due to some unknown illness, but due to the overwhelming kindness of the Ta''ia people the child quickly recovered and with nowhere to return to that child became part of their community. The youth who felt themselves in debt dedicated themselves to becoming a knight for the country and people that had extended their hands when the child needed help and grew up to become a fine knight. All was well for the knight until half a year ago, when the sickness which had once been beaten suddenly returned in even greater magnitude and the knight became bedridden. But once more the kindness of the Ta''ia people shone through, they gathered at the knight''s home and nursed them, day and night, evidently that sealed their fate. On the tenth night, the knight was bedridden something happened, a calamity which Xi had called it turned out to be an apt description.


    The people how came into contact with the knight never left his home and when others came to check on them they didn''t return either. Approximately 24 hours after that, whatever had been slumbering for most of the knight''s life became active and malignant mana spread throughout the city, twisting every form of life into a wicked state.


    (... Still, the method of delivery is the same as what happened at the academy, although at a much slower rate. That must have been because whoever caused such a calamity wanted to hide the origin, but sadly my orbital satellites already matched the baseline mana frequency of that event with the passive one emanating from that strange gel and to this site of abnormal mana intensity which flared about half a year ago, lining up perfectly with what the princess told me.)


    "Time to get serious. ICI, get the drone down here."


    [DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED. EXITING ACOUSTIC MODE, TASK QRF BETA Y/N?]


    "Nah, I''ll handle this myself."


    Reaching out into the air beside him, Dax pulled a compact prototype gauss rifle as he addressed his other weapon.


    "Oi sword, do you want to help this time or should I leave you here?"


    (... I am.)


    "That was fast? What''s up with the sudden change of heart? Did I damage you when I tossed you out of town?"


    (I did not!... I just finally started becoming invested in your fight that''s all.)


    Hearing the unusual tone of the sword in his mind, Dax formed a large smile.


    "Well isn''t that grand, the cursed sword is actually feeling sympathy."


    (Yeah I am, is that a problem? Even if my original body has long since rotten away and I must sustain what remains of my soul is sustained only by feeding on other souls I still have a semblance my morals within me. Using a child to deliver a time bomb that only was effective because it had grown so close to the ones that had saved it, I absolutely can''t forgive that.)


    As the sword spoke out in Dax''s mind he clearly felt it starting to eagerly suck up the surrounding mana, like a lion priming all its muscles it was ready to kill.


    "Well it''s not like I''m critiquing you, it''s just that I was slightly surprised. It''s good to see you''re motivated partner, when I find the bastard who set that plan in motion I''ll slowly drain his mind so he''s still alive after, then you can torment his soul as much as you want~"


    (My, my~ And they''re calling me a demon?~? I''m going to keep you to that promise Dax.)


    -


    "We should move now, my lady. Let''s get away from this place before that creature returns."


    Chad was still slightly shivering, even as the creature which called himself Dax had long since left the cramped smuggler''s cache stating that he was going to crush something.


    "My lady¡­ Lady Xi, we need to leave this place, it would be dangerous to stay."


    "You can go if you want, I''m staying."


    When Xi finally spoke for the first time in well over an hour her eyes shone in a determined light which told her long time knight that she would absolutely not change her opinion.


    "Why? You saw the same thing as I did, whatever that thing is it-"


    "That doesn''t matter, he said he would help us and when I talked about our calamity he became enraged. If we sought help from the archangels they would just wipe out our land. This demonkin, or whatever he is, has power and we''re desperately in need of that, whatever the costs."


    "Bu-"


    "Whatever the costs. 50.000 people depend on us, if I must sacrifice myself to this demon then that''s a trade I''m willing to make."

 Chapter 198 - Irregular mana concentration site #7

    "Looks like this is it¡­ Are you ready?"


    (I''m always ready for a slaughter~? Let''s do this.)


    Overlooking a solitary church which stood in the middle of a wasteland, Dax clearly saw trough their poor attempt of camouflage.


    "Still, what really reveals them are those clearly formed petrol patterns by those poor nuns who are watering flowers in the moonlight¡­ Well, let''s go say hello."


    Swinging his rifle over the shoulder Dax jumped down from the tree he had been perched on and started to walk slowly up to the church, making sure that they had time to put their defences in place.


    "Can we do anything to help you? Did you perhaps get lost?"


    As Dax approached the church serval ''nuns'' and ''monks'' went to greet him, with the one best at handling people in front.


    (All of them are armed to the teeth huh?)


    Quickly glancing over the guard hounds Dax identified the litter of hidden weapons they kept hidden.


    "No, I''m not lost in the slightest. As for your first question, there is something you can do to help me. Please show the way inside this facility you''re guarding, the rest of you can go ahead and die."


    Tossing his cursed sword at the largest monk Dax''s mana forge flared before countless spikes of compressed rock shot out from the ground around him.


    "GHA!-"


    Before any of them could react, the guards had been wiped out. With the sole exception being the one which was closest to Dax, but she had not been left unscathed.


    "ARG!"


    "Come on, it''s just a few shattered ribs. Don''t be a wuss."


    Grabbing the ''nun'' by her hair Dax started walking towards the church, being joined in his leisurely pace by another person.


    "I clearly remember tossing you at one of the monks in the back."


    "That you did~"


    "Then why the f.u.c.k did you use wind magic to redirect yourself towards that nun instead?"


    "Because she looked cute~?"


    "For f.u.c.k''s sake¡­"


    Continuing to drag the guard he had let live by her hair she finally overcame the initial pain and became able to focus on her surroundings.


    "Ahg! Abigale, W-why are you helping him?"


    "You appear to be confused dear sister~ Abigale is no longer here, I''ve already eaten her~?"


    Looking into the eyes of her long time comrade, the ''sister'' was utterly terrified at what she saw, while they were the same eyes as always it was like the light that had been behind them had gone out and been replaced by something completely alien.


    -


    "Hey, what''s going on out there?..."


    As one of their comrades entered the church the guards calmed down slightly, a mistake they didn''t get to contemplate as the nun raised an empty hand towards them.


    "Blood rush."


    Out of nowhere spikes of blood formed around the nun before they seemed to get a mind of their own and rushed towards their targets.


    "W-wait, what are you doing!?"


    Watching his long time comrade massacring their friends the guard could only watch on in horror until he was also killed.


    "... It''s clear~"


    "Well then, where is the secret entrance?"


    Walking in after the cursed sword had cleared the area with his guide, Dax looked around with an overall relaxed aura.


    "W-why should I!- Gha!"


    "Because I''ll let you live if you tell me within 3 seconds. 3, 2, 1¡­"


    As Dax started counting down the guard appeared to have decided to die instead of telling the intruder anything, but her subconscious mind betrayed her as she glanced towards a wall next to the altar. Tossing his guide aside Dax walked over to the wall and after poking it for a bit he smashed it open with an open palm strike, revealing a staircase leading down into pitch black darkness.


    "I feel multiple creatures up ahead."


    After walking down the seemingly endless stairs for about 5 minutes the cursed sword suddenly broke the silence.


    "Yeah I''m seeing traces of serval heat signatures as well, they must be waiting for us."


    Reaching the bottom of the staircase Dax and the cursed sword found themselves in a ridiculously large mostly empty room only populated by sparse stone pillars supporting the roof which was about 12 meters above the pair.


    "This sure is a large room¡­"


    "Yeah, no kidding¡­ You could land a spaceship in here, if not for the pillars."


    Looking around in the pitch black void Dax got a strong impression that he was being watched by something hostile and quietly disabled the safety on his gauss rifle. As the pair walked further into the gigantic room, the cursed sword also realized that they were being watched and started circulating mana within its host body.


    (This is an arena¡­ No, more like a kill zone that''s been designed specifically for one kind of hunter¡­ There you are!)


    Spotting something large that was crawling near the ceiling around one of the large pillars, Dax crouched down and took a firing position as he squeezed the trigger and created flashes of light in the dark world.


    "Contact, 10 O''clock high! 50 meters!"


    Saturating the target with ultra high velocity armour piercing ammunition Dax only heard the unmistakable sound of ammunition ricocheting and hitting the stone roof above the qiton frowned as he filled his body with mana.


    "Blood rush!"


    "It''s no use!"


    Grasping the cursed sword and the body it currently possessed Dax jumped to the side as some large creature crashed down where they stood just a few seconds before and knocked out a large amount of smoke and stone shards.


    "What are you!-"


    "My shots bounced off without doing anything, whatever it is, that thing is heavily armoured!... Here it comes again!"


    Not giving Dax or the cursed sword a moment to rest, the still unknown creature once more charged them, forcing Dax to hug the ground as the qiton formed a dagger out of golden crystals and cut towards the creature as it passed over them, carving out a part of its outer skin in the process.


    "What the f.u.c.k are you!?"


    Getting a proper look at the creature which was attacking him Dax wished he could unsee what he just saw. With an approximate height of 2 meters and length well over 20, it was by far the largest creature Dax had ever seen and the largest artificially created life form he had ever but his eyes on. Scales more sturdy than a dragon with countless legs down its body and strong jaws surrounding the base of the creature which Dax speculated to have been an original inhabitant of the church the creature looked like a gigantic hunting centipede with the distorted face of a priest which still had his rosary around his neck.


    "Eat its soul, I''ll cover!"


    Flaring with mana Dax ripped out large chunks of stone which he tossed after the centipede creature as the cursed sword immediately understood his intent and charged forward as it was surrounded by a dense crimson aura.


    "No matter how large you are, all I need to do is touch you and you''re dead!~?"


    Reaching the monster in record time the cursed sword sliced off a large part of its outer scales as the crimson aura flared in intensity.


    "Thanks for the meal~?¡­. Eh?"


    But even as the cursed sword did its best at devouring the monster''s soul, its movements weren''t hindered in the slightest as its claws bore down on the cursed sword and the body it was possessing.


    "You gotta be f.u.c.k.i.n.g kidding me!"


    Reacting faster than the sword did, Dax sent a surge of mana into the ground with a stomp and created a stone pillar which shot up from under the sword''s possessed body and launched it to safety, but not before the monster managed to rip an arm off.


    "There''s no soul in there! It''s somehow not alive, what do we do!?"


    Flipping in mid air the sword closed up the wound on its possessed body it landed on a pillar before shooting off it and avoiding some kind of acid that the monster spewed out in an attempt to dissolve the pesky fly which had disturbed its rest.


    "Cut it apart! Alive or not it can''t do anything if it can''t move!"


    Deciding to fight magic with the power of magic Dax formed two longswords made out of golden crystals and charged the monster, passing underneath the front part of it that reached up and tried to eat the cursed sword and its borrowed body.


    "Hard!"


    As the qiton struck at the underbelly of the creature, one of the golden swords shattered apart as the scales were harder than Dax had expected, but the qiton didn''t really take no for an answer in such a situation.


    "Oh no, you f.u.c.k.i.n.g don''t!"


    Reforming his still remaining sword into a thin needle like stinger that he plunged into a gap between the monster''s scales, making the monster scream out in pain.


    "Now die you f.u.c.k.i.n.g bug!"


    Using the needle like construction like an entry vehicle Dax compressed the nearby air and heated it before he challenged it into the monster.


    (That must have done something¡­)


    Rolling away from the screaming monster as it trashed around and the unmistakable smell of burned flesh Dax assessed the damage on target as he formed multiple more needle like spears which floated around him in the air.


    "Target the gaps in between the scales! If you can''t reach far enough into the creature to do critical damage then at least block up the gaps so it has a harder time moving!"


    "Yes sir!~?"


    Adopting a hit and run doctrine the cursed sword drew the monster''s attention by pelting it with rocks and forming crimson wedges which it accurately mashed in between the gaps in the monsters otherwise impenetrable armour.


    (ICI how does it look?)


    While the cursed sword occupied the centipede monster Dax wasn''t idle in the slightest. Having jumped halfway up a stone pillar the qiton had taken a position where he could observe his opponent in its entirety, allowing ICI which used his cybernetic eye to locate weak spots in the creature.


    (ANALYSIS COMPLETE, NEAVE CL.U.S.TER LOCATED. PAINTING LOCATION.)


    (As expected~ Even if it doesn''t have a soul or whatever it still has some kind of brain.)


    Gathering up mana as he formed a single needle spear and strengthened his entire body with the use of magic, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike.


    "NOW!"


    Finding set moment when the centipede monster chased the cursed sword halfway up a pillar and was locked down for a split second Dax sprung into action. Completely shattering the thick stone pillar the qiton shot of with incredible speed and landed right on top of the monsters head, focusing the entirety of his own momentum onto a single point which ICI had located and priced it with the spear before sending superheated air in through the hole. Letting out another ear shattering scream the centipede monster froze up as whatever served as its brain was shock heated and it eventually died.


    "That was one resilient f.u.c.k.i.n.g bug¡­ Sword, are you still alive!?"


    "I am~? Can I eat it now?"

 Chapter 199 - Long range mana relay site

    Looking at the dead 20 meter long centipede/human hybrid monster, Dax waited to make absolutely sure it was dead before responding to the cursed sword.


    "Why the f.u.c.k would you want to eat that?... No, even setting aside intent how the hell could you even do that?"


    "I-"


    "Nevermind I don''t want to know. Let me take a look at whatever this creature was, before you do whatever you''re doing."


    Jumping up on top of the monster Dax quickly located the hole he had drilled in its head, sticking a finger into it and pulling to rip off some of the surrounding scales.


    "Biological grey matter, traces of structural organic elements supporting the theory that the creature was somehow grown¡­ And there we are, a core."


    Picking apart the monster''s brain while analysing what he found, Dax eventually reached the centre of the creature''s mostly cooked brain where he dug out a bright red sphere the size of his fist.


    (ICI do a structural analysis.)


    (DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED. COMMENCING HIGH ENERGY SCAN¡­)


    Holding the red core in his hand while it scanned Dax jumped down from the monster carcass, before sending out a long range area scan using a high frequency sound wave created by his mana forge.


    "There''s an exit over that way, let''s move¡­ Are you with me, partner?"


    Finding a way out of the massive area Dax looked back towards the cursed sword that he found to be entirely frozen in place and staring intensely at the red core.


    "... Do you know what this is?"


    "... Yeah, I do. Hand it over."


    Judging on the sword''s tone of voice alone Dax realized it was not so much a request but more like a non negotiable order.


    "Sure."


    Halting the structural scan before it was complete, Dax handed over the red core and idly watched how the sword destroyed the core.


    "It was an apparatus for trapping a soul¡­"


    "So something like the thing that slaved your soul to the sword?"


    "Exactly. I was sure I wiped out all information pertaining to such technology last time I went on a rampage a few hundred years ago, but it seems like I didn''t completely remove all traces¡­ That''s not a mistake I''m willing to repeat."


    "Sure, let''s wipe them out."


    Having at least some idea about how one would affix a soul to some kind of inanimate object, Dax immediately agreed to wipe out all traces of such technology.


    "It''s good to see we''re on the same page Dax, this is why we are partners~?"


    -


    "Now this looks more like it."


    Having passed through the centipede monster''s den Dax and the cursed sword arrived in a brightly lit white room with a large empty glass tank and countless floating runestones surrounded by complicated runic formations.


    "This looks like the place where they grew that monster¡­ It really was just created to guard this place."


    "Despicable, I''m glad we could put it out of its misery. Sword, can you tell me anything about that formation over there?"


    "Hmm~ Whatever it is, it''s taking advantage- no, it''s like whatever it is, it''s built to make use of this mana hotspot¡­ Otherwise, I have no idea."


    Listening along to the cursed sword''s explanation Dax got a large smile on his face.


    "So If we destroy this formation it would greatly inconvenience whoever made this formation?"


    "Yeah most likely¡­ But it would most likely be quick to fix."


    "Not if they can''t get down here~"


    Having finished scanning the formation for ICI to analyse later Dax stomped his foot down into the rock floor with such force he shattered it, cracking the sensitive rune formation as he also sent out a pulse of mana.


    "Structural weak spots identified, ICI get the hawk down here. I need some explosives."


    [DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED. ETA: 30 SECONDS.]


    "... Dax, what are you doing?"


    Seeing the qiton''s large child like smile , the cursed sword got a really bad promotion.


    "Nothing really, I''m just going to nuke this site. That should really ruin any attempt at rebuilding whatever this formation was."


    "Oh, okay¡­ By the way, what does ''nuke'' mean?"


    "You''ll see~"


    As Dax''s drone arrived he received a single black orange and black vial off it, placing it carefully on the floor before backing away slowly. Returning to the church on the surface Dax found his former guide about 3 meters from where he left her, laying on a bench as she still struggled to breathe.


    "Oh, that''s just not smart at all¡­"


    Taking the last surviving guard by the shoulder Dax started dragging her away from the blast zone, out of the church and about 200 meters further while she complained loudly.


    "Yeah, yeah it hurts¡­ Now listen up, this is important."


    Completely ignoring the guards loud cursing and complaining Dax took hold of her yaw and forced her to look at the church.


    "Let me go!"


    "Now now, just watch¡­ Fire in the hole."


    Right as Dax finished speaking all the glass in the old and seemingly abandoned church blew out with the sound of a deafening explosion, then as if the earth suddenly wanted to reclaim the church it and the surrounding area sank several hundred meters into the ground.


    "This was just a prelude, tell your boss I''m coming for them."


    ---


    "Oh~ You guys are still here. I was almost sure you would have run away by now."


    Returning to the abandoned building and the smuggler''s cache Dax found Chad and Xi still there, much to his surprise. Looking at the demonkin''s large smile the dragonkin princess struggled to remain calm but she still had a resolute expression on her face. Without uttering a single word Xi bowed deeply towards Dax, forcing him to abandon his carefree demeanour.


    "What is it?"


    "Please save my people, in return, I will offer you everything I have."


    Speaking while pressing her head into the floor, the single moment seemed to go on forever as the princess prayed to all the deities she knew for the mercenary to accept her offer.


    "Do you still fear me?"


    Instead of answering Xi''s request Dax decided to figure out her motivation and resolve.


    "... Yes, I do. Your powers terrify me"


    "Then why ask me to help you?"


    "Because I believe you can solve my country''s calamity without issue."


    "..."


    Remaining silent for about a minute Dax thought over all the ways he would benefit from helping the dragonkin princess and her people, as well as all the ways it could be detrimental to his long term plans.


    "Okay then."


    "Does-"


    "But only after you''ve helped me with a few things. I want to eliminate both the person who has marked you for death as well as whoever is behind that person, to help me with that both you and your knight will be playing the role of live bait."


    ""Whatever you need.""


    Without a shred of hesitation, both Xi and her knight agreed to the conditions Dax set for them, at this point gaining the strange demonkin''s support was the only way to achieve their goal and failure was not an option, after all, a lot of people depended on them.


    -


    Somewhere else in the country of Greendale at the same time as Dax obtained the dragonkin princess'' full cooperation a certain noble was reading a report she had just received.


    (So that demonkin didn''t get captured, nor did it kill Silas. Instead, it somehow incapacitated both him and his knights before escaping¡­ And there''s a high probability that it also used some form of ascension spell?! This demonkin might be an even better ingredient than the princess, if the imperial capital learns of this they will take him away from me¡­ I need to block this information from spreading out of Greendale.)


    Realizing she might have found something which would even make the players in the imperial capital move, the noble woman''s number one priority became to secure the prime part before anyone snatched it away from her, at this point she had almost completely forgotten about the dragonkin princess. But unbeknownst to the Greendale noblewoman, it would be completely impossible to keep the imperial capital out of anything which happened in Greendale within the hour, for the demonkin she was targeting had destroyed something extremely important.


    "How long ago was it?"


    "We lost contact 30 minutes ago¡­ It appears that the site had been completely destroyed."


    In the imperial capital serval high ranked mages gathered for an emergency meeting in the dead of the night, each of them was more powerful than a mid ranked angel and held vast political influence they had painstakingly collected over their extremely long life spans which had been extended through the use of forbidden magic.


    "Completely destroyed!? What about the automatic regeneration?"


    "There''s no response¡­"


    "But that''s impossible!"


    "Yeah, the formation was made to be indestructible! Unless someone completely vaporized the entire thing it will just regenerate using the mana that''s pouring out from the hotspot!"


    "This has to be some kind of mistake!"


    The reason for the mages uproar was the true purpose of the formation Dax had destroyed, something he didn''t realize at the time. Apparently the formation had been a crucial part of some of a continent spanning magic formation, a long range mana relay site that made the mages able to set up long range surveillance spell throughout the entire world without setting up other complicated magic formations. The top secret formation was one of the reasons the Empire had been able to become so massive, with constant surveillance any coup or attempt at independence which would threaten the Empire could be easily struck down before they happened, but now they were blind to such things. Each of the powerful mages had obtained a large part of the influence they held over the Empire using that formation and now that it appeared that it had somehow been disabled they stood to lose everything, something that could absolutely not be allowed to happen.


    "It''s no use debating how it was possible! Fact is that we lost the site, which means we need to pool our resources to get the problem fixed as fast as possible or we all stand to lose everything that we have built. First, we find out who did this to us! We need to send some more imperial knights to Greendale, find the one responsible so we can learn how to avoid the same issue happening again. In the meanwhile, we must figure out how to fix the formation, I don''t know about the rest of you, but I''m not going to lay down and cry, we must act!"


    "That''s right! We can''t lose, not after getting this far!"


    "Yeah, we almost have complete control of the Empire! It is our holy right to size it, we can''t stop now!"


    With one of the oldest mages taking charge of the others a plan was quickly formulated, they would each pull on their personal connections to get the most powerful force in the Empire to act on their behalf and find the one responsible while they worked on fixing the formation.

 Chapter 200 - The Greendale capital

    (There they are¡­ Time to get this show on the road~)


    "My lady."


    "I''m fine, let''s go."


    Having finally arrived at their first planned destination Xi had a determined look on her face, through this journey she had been on she had grown into something that more resembled a leader, although she didn''t realize that herself. Arriving at the capital of Greendale Xi followed her childhood memories and arrived at a large mansion in the centre of town.


    "Xi?... Is that you?"


    "It has been a long time, old man Jacob."


    Greeting a very surprised knight she had known since she was just a little girl Xi and her knight was lead into the mansion where she left behind Chad before finding her own way to one of to an office which overlooked the entirety of the mansion''s massive garden.


    (Here we go¡­)


    Centring herself Xi knocked on the door to the head of the Aluzulite family, a cornerstone of the Empire''s imperial guard.


    "Please enter."


    Opening the door Xi put her eyes on a very surprised white haired man in the prime of his life, then a large smile bloomed on her face.


    "Little Xi, you sure have gotten large¡­ Welcome to Greendale, what can I do for you?"


    Realizing mid sentence that it wasn''t just some surprise social visit, the lord stood up and led Xi to sit down on a sofa as he quietly invoked a spell which kept sound from escaping the room.


    "It has been a while, Gram. I come in hopes you''ll honour the long standing promise between our two families."


    Handing over a letter written by her father which explained their circ.u.mstances, Xi waited patiently as Gram read it several times and referred to multiple books and doc.u.ments in his office and multiple times called for a butler who fetched doc.u.ments from the estate library. As the sun slowly started to set about 5 hours after Gram had started the initial investigation he once more sat down across from the dragonkin princess with a difficult to read expression on his face.


    "Have you come to a conclusion?"


    "I have¡­ I''m sorry."


    Deeply lowering his head in shame while clenching his hands in frustration Gram braced himself for an emotional outburst, but his expectations betrayed him.


    "I see. Could you please tell me why you''re unable to render any assistance?"


    (She sure has matured¡­)


    Looking at the calm and collected expression on the Ta''ai princess, Gram formed a thin smile as he started explaining.


    "In my family''s records, there are countless accounts of unnatural and sudden calamities happening without warning in newly added or fringe territories of the Empire. While some of them were dealt with by the angels, the was majority was completely ignored or outright suppressed by one or more factions hidden in the imperial capital. Even If I were to render my full assistance it is extremely likely that would be allowed to deploy any forces that would be able to help."


    "So there''s someone in the imperial capital that''s internally forsaking the Ta''ai clan and its people?"


    "... It would appear that is the case, I''m afraid. But that matter being as it is I can still offer you aid on a personal level, why don''t you stay here with us princess Xi? We will welcome you with open arms."


    With his hands tied Gram offered to at least save a single person of the Ta''ai bloodline.


    "I''m sorry, but there''s no way I can accept such an offer, not while my people are suffering. Not to worry, I have made a deal with another party to save my people, which is consistently also why I visited this place today."


    Getting back on her feet Xi bloomed a wide smile as she turned to face the head of the Aluzulite family.


    "It seems that the enemy of the Ta''ai people is the Empire itself, or at least some part of it. Goodbye Gram, this will properly be the last time we see each other."


    Leaving with those words, Xi returned to pick up Chad before leaving the Aluzilite mansion.


    "Xi! It''s good to see you''re okay!"


    Or at least she tried to, running into the first son of the Aluzulite family on the way out of the mansion she was stopped in place. Blocking her way out of the mansion with a wide smile on his face, Silas tried to hug his childhood friend but was blocked by her knight which wore a frown on his face as he kept a hand on his sword.


    "Move away. The Aluzilite has severed all connections with the Ta''ai people."


    "What are you talking about? Xi, what is going on?"


    "I have nothing to say to a tool, goodbye."


    Leaving a flabbergasted Silas behind Xi and her knight left the Aluzulite estate for the last time.


    (So there''s a large possibility that multiple elements within the Empire are targeting the dear princess¡­)


    Having already infiltrated the capital of Greendale, Dax kept a tight watch over his live bait as he analysed the new information he had received from listening in on Gram and Xi''s conversation.


    (Time to take a step back and calm down¡­ First, that''s a faction which has an affinity for creating artificial life forms which at least played a part in attacking both the magic academy and the Ta''ai people, they most likely also played some part in the kidnapping of the dear princess as I ran into some homunculi when rescuing her and that thing at the mana hotspot was also artificially created but might not necessarily be actively connected with them¡­)


    Being briefly distracted from his train of thought when he found out someone was tracking the princess and her knight, Dax left the abandoned building he had spent the past few days in and effortlessly blended into the evening crowd as he headed to their location while continuing to contemplate.


    (Then there''s the faction which sent that brat with the blue hair to retrieve the princess while observing me at the same time¡­ Clearly it was a way less professional outfit as the observer was mediocre compared to those homunculi and then there''s the fact that no other attack has come from either faction after their initial attempts¡­ F.u.c.k, I need more intel.)


    Realizing it didn''t make any sense to continue going over stuff he already knew, Dax focused on Xi''s follower which had separated away from her after finding out where she stayed for the night.


    -


    "So the dragonkin princess has arrived in town, but that demonkin is nowhere to be seen¡­ Oh well, while it is regrettable to let such a promising ingredient go the dragonkin will have to do."


    Reading a report in her office late at night, the head of the Rosewood family held bright ideas about her future now that a part of a fantastic quality had practically fallen into her lap, but she never got to act on those ideas as she died then and there without any clue as to how it happened.


    (Prep memory extraction.)


    (DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED.)


    Having severed the link between his target''s brainstem and spine using a thin blade made from golden crystal Dax caught the noblewoman and kept her from falling over as he extracted all memories from her brain, dropping the corpse once he was done.


    "F.u.c.k.i.n.g hell, this bitch was a piece of shit to the very core¡­"


    Looking over the memories he had extracted Dax learned that the woman he had just killed was a cold blooded psychopath who would collect demonkin and other races to experiment on them in order to learn how she could extend her own life, having learned that such a thing was possible in the imperial capital.


    (So this one was a dud¡­ Shit.)


    Still, Dax had learned that definitely were an underworld in the imperial capital who were extremely skilled in creating artificial life and extending their own.


    "Next destination would be the imperial capital I guess? The real question is if I need to bring my live bait¡­)


    Spreading out doc.u.ments all over the place while soaking it in lamp oil Dax decided on his next destination, but at the same time, his opponents had already made their move.


    ---


    "So this is Greendale?... What a dump."


    "Ahri!"


    "Yeah, yeah sorry."


    At the same time as Dax was busy torching the Rosewood estate, a group of imperial knights arrived at the Greendale capital. Immediately superseding the council which normally controlled the everyday operations of the city, the imperial knight captain activated the cities siege barrier which encashed it in its entirety.


    "We are here to capture two people that are hiding in this city! One is a large dark skinned demonkin male with green eyes and short black hair and multiple white clan markings on his skin. The other one is a dragonkin woman with blond hair and horns, capture both even if you have to cut off some limbs, but make sure they are alive! Anyone found aiding those two can be executed without issue!"


    """"SIR! YES, SIR!""""


    Briefing his own subordinates as well as the capital''s top officials, the imperial knight captain outlined their objectives and without question, the entirety Greendale became focused on that single task. Calling in all the off duty guards, as well as the Greendale knights, the imperial guards immediately started combing through the capital city in its entirety.

 Chapter 201 - Imperial knights (1)

    "Well, shit¡­"


    Staring blankly into a wall of golden runes that had formed right in front of him as he was about to leave the capital of Greendale, Dax expanded the sensitivity of his senses.


    (Some kind of defensive barrier that envelops the entirety of the city, with the core of it being¡­ In the central palace?... ICI can we reach the hawk uplink?)


    (CONNECTION ERROR, MAGIC INTERFERENCE. LIMITED UPLINK POSSIBLE, UPLINK @ 0.3 MBPS.)


    Looking more closely a the wall of runes Dax punched it to check on its integrity, finding that it strengthened by using the kinetic energy Dax input into the system while releasing a smaller amount of waste heat.


    (Energy conversion is poor enough that the system would, in theory, fail if subjected to a large enough input of energy on a small surface area¡­ ICI relay directives to offensive railgun turret #14 trough Hawk uplink.)


    (READY.)


    (Fire mission, on authentication Beta, send one times 540 mill UHV-APFSDS, ta

 Chapter 202 - Imperial knights (2)

    "The first target is already in custody, but still no sign of the other one¡­ Where is he hiding?"


    Dawn had already in the capital of Greendale, but there was still no trace of the imperial knight''s second target, even after over 12 hours of searching. Every single part of the city had already been fine combed multiple times but still, no one had found or even seen the mysterious demonkin and the entire situation started looking increasingly problematic for the imperial knight captain.


    (What the hell is going on here?...)


    Something was definitely wrong, that''s what the captain''s intuition clearly told him but still, he couldn''t figure out what it was, at least not until one of his subordinates bust into the office he was using.


    "Captain!"


    "What''s wrong?"


    "It''s John! He''s been done in!"


    "What!?"


    Immediately heading the scene of the crime the imperial knight captain found one of his most trusted subordinates dead in an alley. His blood was everywhere, but not because it looked to have been a fair or drawn out fight, but because whoever had killed him had smeared his blood out all over the place, the most prominent of those blood smears were right above the decapitated corpse with the head nowhere to be found.


    "Let''s see... ''lower the barrier or more of the same will happen. Or don''t, I''m still coming for  all of you.'' It looks like we have a poet on our hands."


    Translating what was written in a common demonkin script right above the copse, the captain frowned deeply as he was filled with rage.


    "Find this f.u.c.k.i.n.g joker and capture him! I don''t care if all his limbs are gone at that point and he''s barely alive!"


    """""SIR, YES SIR!"""""


    (Well looks like that worked out perfectly~)


    Standing on top of the roof of one of the city''s larger churches, Dax was in a good mood as a tiny bit of bloodl.u.s.t he failed to suppress leaked out from him.


    "The declaration of war has been clearly delivered, time for the next phase. That means I no longer need you¡­ John was it?... Well, whatever."


    Tossing a severed head of the imperial knight aside Dax heard it splatter all over on the ground below, the qiton went on the path of war as he continued along with his plan.


    -


    A few hours after the imperial knight had been found dead the entire city was still on high alert, but being only mere mortals some of the guards started messing up even the very basic parts of their job. Having noticed that as he patrolled along with an imperial knight and a few of his subordinates one of the guard captains tried to secure his men some rest.


    "Miss knight, some of my men haven''t slept all night and are starting to have problems staying awake."


    Still continuing to patrol now well into the noon hours of the day, some of the less elite guards started to have trouble doing their job, unfortunately, the guard captain complained to a close friend of the imperial knight who had been killed.


    "Is that so? Too bad I don''t give a shit about them. We''re searching for a dangerous criminal who ambushed and killed an imperial knight, everything comes after we''ve captured him!"


    "Then you should definitely make them rest up, after all, their tiredness allows my spell to work so much better on them~"


    Out of nowhere, the imperial knight heard a voice laced heavily with bloodl.u.s.t right next to her ear which made her briefly tense up before her training took over and she drew her sword and slashed in that direction.


    "Arg!"


    "What are you doing!?"


    But instead of striking down a hidden opponent which had struck upon her, she struck down an innocent guard while his comrades and part of the city residents witnessed it.


    "DAN! Keep it together!"


    "We''re under attack! Spread out!"


    "Under attack? Yeah from you maybe!"


    Immediately panic spread throughout the formation as the imperial knight had clearly reacted to something she had only heard, while the rest of the guards had only seen her strike down one of their friends without any remorse.


    "Shut the f.u.c.k up and get in battle formation!"


    But alas only the chain of command made the guards obey as they spread out and around the imperial knight as they drew their weapons and prepared offensive spells. But nothing happened and while the guards remained ready for combat, their friend bled out on the pavement.


    All over the capital, this pattern repeated itself over and over, even resulting in one open confrontation between the guard core and the imperial knights were multiple guards where killed.


    "This is not good¡­"


    Receiving countless reports of unrest from the citizens and outright insubordination from the city guards, the imperial knight captain realized he and his subordinates had been played. The first murder and taunting statement had been so they would act in the exact way they had been.


    (The people don''t trust us any longer and the guard core is no longer useful¡­ Shit, we''ve lost our advantageous position.)


    Without the use of the city guard, the imperial knights no longer held the edge in information gathering and exchange and with the knowledge that their opponent could match a single one of them in combat, it would be extremely dangerous to travel through the city, making searching for their target impossible.


    "F.u.c.k! Send a message to all the knights in the field, get them back here now!"


    Realizing what his opponent was planning to do slightly too late, the imperial knight captain realized that he was not facing a demonkin mercenary, but a hardened tactical operative with extensive experience in picking apart organized formations in urban combat.


    -


    (Seems like that worked out perfectly¡­ Now for phase 2.)


    (Dax you sure are mean~? I absolutely love you!~)


    Having witnessed how skillfully its partner had picked the elite imperial knight''s advantage apart and turned the people against them at the same time, the cursed sword could barely contain itself.


    (Yeah, yeah. Look alive, it''s time.)


    Blending in with the sparse foot traffic Dax gradually closed in on his second target without their knowledge. Having closed the range completely the qiton formulated a simple spell before grasping the head of the imperial knight from behind. The result was instant, without their entourage of guards around them Dax could sneak up on the knight without issue and killed him without a single sound leaking from his mouth as the qiton had heated his brain to 60 degrees celsius in a split second. Before the copse hit the ground Dax was already away from the scene of the crime as he shadowed another imperial knight from a rooftop, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike.


    (Phase 2, ICI be ready for callout beta. Warm up the 540 mill.)


    (DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED.)


    Drawing the cursed sword Dax jumped from the roof down towards the imperial knight, using the sun to hide until the very last second.


    "!!!"


    But a single second was enough time for the knight to react as he rolled forward and avoided the strike.


    (CONTACT INITIATED, STARTING TIMER.)


    "Why hello~ I''ve been told you people have been looking for me."


    Not allowing the knight to return his greeting or even draw his weapon Dax kept up his assault and sealed the knight''s movements as he prepared a spell while slowly waving mana into the ground through meticulous footwork.


    (Here we go¡­ ICI time?)


    (37 SECONDS, ESTIMATING 2 MINUTES TO HOSTILE RESPONSE.)


    Using his knowledge of the imperial knight''s command and communication structure Dax knew they had some way to communicate with each other, therefore he limited himself to short engagements to avoid being surrounded. Easing up slightly on his attack the qiton slowly allowed the imperial knight a tiny bit of breathing room and waited patiently on the moment to strike.


    (NOW!)


    As the imperial knight reached for his sword Dax activated the spells he had been preparing by stomping into the ground, making countless spikes of compressed rock flying out of the ground towards the knight.


    "Naive!"


    Proving he was an elite the knight sidestepped the attack spell as he drew his sword and stepped into the demonkin''s range, aiming to meet him head on.


    (I got you now!)


    Preparing a spell himself the imperial knight charged forwards, aiming to block the demonkin''s sword with his own while he cut off his arm with the spell. As expected the demonkin blocked his sword, and so the imperial knight locked it in place as he activated his spell with the help of engraved runes in his armor, creating a golden crystal sword in his other hand which he swung down to server the demonkin''s dominant arm.


    "Sike~"


    "Shi!-"


    But the imperial knight sealed his own fate when he let himself only react to what Dax was doing, allowing the qiton to lead him into a trap. The initial rock spikes were no more than bait to invite the knight to engage and now that he had and was momentarily immobilized Dax acted. Letting go of his own sword Dax took hold of the knight''s sword arm and pulled the knight towards him, at the same time a single spike of compressed rock shot out from the ground beneath Dax''s feet, sticking the knight in the gap on his chest piece as the qiton put his full strength into his leg and knee''d the spike into his gut and almost split him in half using the spike as a wedge.


    "And that''s 3-"


    Right as Dax was celebrating his victory a massive, 2 meter long arrow hit him square in the chest, knocking him back and into a building whose wall disintegrated momentarily shrouded the street in dust and smoke.


    "Target hit. If he''s not dead then he should be knocked out at the least¡­"


    About 2 kilometers away from where Dax had fraught at the top of a tower which was part of the outer wall a single imperial knight spoke out a report to no one in particular. Having waited for her shot the imperial knight had been forced to watch her comrade die, making her lose her temper as she aimed for her target''s chest instead of one of his limbs like the captain had instructed.


    "I wonder if the captain is going to be mad at me?... Oh well, not that it matters as long as we get the job done."


    Having returned to a nonchalant attitude the imperial knight''s greatly enhanced vision made her clearly able to observe as all 16 of her remaining comrades closed in on the demonkin''s position.

 Chapter 203 - Imperial knights (3)

    "Melissa sure overdid it again¡­"


    "Of course she did captain, that bastard killed 3 of us!"


    "Knock it off Ahri! Remain calm and alert! We haven''t captured him yet."


    (This entire failure was due to my personal ineptitude. I imagine that I''ll be harshly reprimanded for this mission when we return to the capital.)


    Ignoring his own advice all the imperial knight captain was concerned about was what would happen when he returned to the capital, after all, there''s no way the demonkin could fight all of them at the same time, especially so after he had been hit by one of Melissa''s arrows. In truth, they had no idea who they were facing and if wanting to prove exactly that Dax those that moment to walk out of the ruined building with a 2 meter long, spear like metal arrow stuck halfway into his gut.


    "This is your last chance to surrender!"


    Overcoming the slight shock of seeing that his target was still able to walk around, the imperial knight captain drew his one handed sword from its sheath which was hidden inside the tower shield he held in his dominant hand. Following his lead, the other imperial knights drew their weapons and started half encircling their target for capture, but in response, the demonkin only seemed to start smiling.


    "I could extend that message to all of you as well, but it seems like that won''t stick¡­ Well then, I assume that''s all of you? Except for the marksman of course¡­ No more holding back then."


    Gripping the arrow stuck in his gut, the qiton''s hand started to heat up the metal at a rapid pace. Watching and wincing as the metal heated up bright red and the smell of burnt flesh spread out through the area as the metal arrow melted and fell apart.


    "There we are~ ICI engage automatic repair, exit acoustic mode."


    [DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED, LEVEL ALPHA OPERATION MODE RESTORED. AUTOMATIC REPAIR ENGAGED, LOADING SCRIPT¡­ COMPLETE, TASKING BLACKMATTER.]


    As if betraying the laws of physics the black blood which poured out from the demonkin''s wound returned to his body as the wound healed up.


    "Sorry for the wait. ICI."


    [DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED, FORMULATING HIGH BANDWIDTH QUANTUM DATABRIDGE TO KINGSTEAD TACTICAL DATA CENTRE, CONNECTION ESTABLISHED OFFLOADING PROCESSING¡­ COMPLETE, FORMULATING SPELL ARCHITECTURE, SYSTEM ONLINE, INITIALIZING ASCENSION SCRIPT... ASCENSION ONLINE, AMBIENT MANA ABSORPTION AT MAX, MANA FORGE ONLINE, RUNNING AT 500% FACTORY DESIGNATED LIMIT.]


    "Phase 3."


    With a single word mana flooded towards the demonkin with such intensity that the siege barrier flickered for a moment, as the ground shook with such intensity that all the citizens of the Greendale capital felt it, including one particular inhabitant of one of the largest church who was lazing around on the main altar.


    "Oh?... Well, isn''t that interesting?~"


    -


    "What the f.u.c.k are you?"


    Looking at the demonkin he was supposed to capture the imperial knight captain struggled to rationalize what he was seeing. Floating about 3 meters off the ground the demonkin he was supposed to capture were briefly surrounded by golden crystals that then turned a pure black before they became a single pair of 5 metres wide ''wings'' while his eyes glowed in a soft golden light.


    "You don''t need to know."


    Closing the range in the blink of a second the captain had a fraction of a second to react and he acted on instinct, abandoning his shield and stepping back as it was sliced apart.


    "Nice reflexes. Howitzer."


    But sadly those fast reactions made him predictable and with a wave of Dax''s hand, he was sent flying. Still holding the advantage of surprise the qiton sliced through another knight before they managed to react, cleaving the knight in two as his sword''s aura flared.


    (Thanks for the meal~?)


    While a certain overly sweet sounding voice rang out in his head Dax managed to close the distance to yet another imperial knight, this time aiming to cut the head clean off instead of cutting down along the entire body.


    "FU!-"


    But the imperial knight had barely managed to react in time and so Dax only managed to just slice into the knight''s neck he reacted fast by ducking under the return strike before clenching his free fist, stepping into range then uppercutting the knights head clean off his body. Just after he had dealt with that knight he was once more targeted by the hostile marksman, but this time Dax was prepared.


    "Aegis."


    Watching her arrow harmlessly stopping right in front of her target, the imperial knight Melissa didn''t react in time when the demonkin repurposed her arrow and sent it back towards her with such force that it destroyed the tower she had been occupying.


    (If you want to keep trying to snipe me from such a short range, then at least change up your position every now and then¡­)


    "DIE!"


    But still, the marksman had briefly distracted Dax and the imperial knight Ahri used his lapse in judgment to the best of her ability as she charged into the demonkin''s range with her twin single edged swords.


    (So no more capturing me?)


    Blocking one of the single edged swords with his own sword and the other with his bare arm Dax easily pushed back the pesky knight, but by doing so he lost his momentum.


    "Tch, buckshot."


    Realizing that he was on the back foot Dax switched up his tactics to speed over damage as he settled for maiming another approaching knight while ignoring those who fruitlessly targeted him with ranged spells.


    "XMA, arms."


    "What!?-"


    All of a sudden Dax''s ''wings'' which housed the ascension spell formation changed their shape, turning into a pair of extra arms that stabbed straight through the knight.


    "Time to clean up this shitshow."


    Creating a blastwave to knock away the imperial knights, Dax started to gather up mana while ignoring all but the most serious spells against him.


    "F.u.c.k!"


    Realizing what her opponent was trying to do, Ahri used the last of her mana to compress the blood that was flowing down her arms at the blades of her swords, enhancing their sharpness as she charged the demonkin.


    But it was too late.


    "Air pressure control: Annihilation."


    Having completed his spell Dax turned to a truly cruel spell, creating a high pressure thermal pulse which immediately ignited wood, fabric and skin within a 10 meter radius. In truth, the only humane thing about the spell was that it forced extremely high temperature air down into the lungs of the imperial knight caught within the range, that way they didn''t have to suffer that much from being burned alive before dying.


    "Urg!- W-what happened?"


    Waking up and immediately puking up a pool of blood the imperial knight captain struggled to get back on his feet as he realized that most of his left side ribs were cracked and the lung behind them was mostly gone. Finally getting back on his feet after some struggling what the imperial knight captain saw terrified him, to the very core. Burned copes with nothing but the signature armour worn by an imperial knight to identify them.


    "Any last words?"


    "... Why do all of this?"


    Looking up at the creature he had until now believed to be a mere demonkin, the imperial knight captain now looked like something way more terrible. Truly this creature was out for the Empire''s blood, the question the imperial knight captain had to know before dying was why.


    "To make a statement."


    Stabbing the imperial knight captain with his cursed sword Dax confirmed he had killed all 20 imperial knights before relaxing slightly. Looking at his free hand the qiton clenched it to check on its level of function.


    (How''s the heat looking?)


    (WASTE HEAT FROM MANA FORGE @ 426%, MULTIPLE CLASS 4 INTERNAL BURNS DETECTED, MOBILITY  LIMITED TO 65%.)


    (Well, that''s to be expected with the strain I''m putting on mostly prototype equipment¡­ Still, the waste heat sure is an issue, I guess I''ll have to make further fights shorter for the sake of keeping my mobility to an acceptable level. It really does suck that any cooling spell devised thus far generates more heat than it neutralizes¡­ Guess I''ll have Iris look into applying some kind of mana fueled resonant frequency cooling when I get back.)


    (PROXIMITY ALERT, CONTACT REAR. LARGE CLASS MANA SIGNATURE IDENTIFIED.)


    Snapping Dax out of his train of thought ICI made him aware of the observer who had been witnessing his fight with the imperial knights since just after it started.


    (Yeah I''m aware, ready callout beta.)


    Turning to face the observer which had now closed in on him, Dax felt a slight chill run down his back.


    (Shit¡­)


    "Hello there, what can I do to help the true leaders of the Empire?"


    The creature''s 10 pairs of golden brown wings proved Dax couldn''t win a straight up fight in his current state and judging by her vastly superior attitude with the addition of no weapons in her hands, the archangel was also aware of that fact. She had the same look in her eyes like Solaris did when she first met Dax, with her brownish green eyes she was looking at a bug or some simple beast to be dissected, but unlike Solaris, there was something else Dax couldn''t quite put his finger on.


    "My~ You sure have some fine manners, I just came here today to say hello and find out your intentions for wrecking my favourite vacation home."


    "I sincerely apologize for causing damage to your dear vacation home, while it is no excuse I had no prior way of knowing this place held such importance."


    Offering a deep bow and an apology. Dax held his breath until he heard a quiet laugher from the archangel.


    "It was just a joke, don''t worry about it, I really just came to say hello. My name is Eos, archangel of the 22nd sanctuary."


    "The 22nd? So a guardian of the Empire... You don''t mind me killing off the imperial knights?"


    Noticing what the archangel omitted Dax found himself unable to simply let that issue go, finding it to be a valuable chance at gaining more intelligence.


    "Why would I do that? I do not care for simple pawns of that emperor, I care for something else. I will have you promise right here and now: No matter what your intentions may be no harm shall fall on the 22nd sanctuary."


    "... Sure, I can promise that. My problem is not with you, but the shadow organization who produced the half alive creatures which attacked me first."


    "Ah, those old wrinkled men? Then search the imperial capital for the same kind of mana you felt for their creatures. I''ll see you again at some point, bye Dax~"


    Leaving Dax with that message the archangel set to the sky as the siege barrier around the capital of Greendale dissipated, leaving only Dax with two questions.


    "Now to find my property, I wonder where she''s at?¡­ Wait, did I ever tell her my name?"

 Chapter 204 - A certain princess’ despair

    "So this is the imperial capital¡­"


    Looking around inside a truly massive city, Dax felt like he was home. Skyscr.a.p.ers reaching into the sky with pedestrian streets between them as far as the eye could see, all sorts of different kinds of people going around their day created a buzz which reminded Dax of the megacities of the Galactic Empire.


    (Adapt strike plan omega, adjust 02 07 19. Change up evaluation of hard targets to type 3, continue to avoid tactical type options.)


    (DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED.)


    But still, as Dax felt a semblance of familiarity and homesickness he was keenly aware that he was in hostile territory and thus constantly readjusted an emergency exit/strike plan in case his cover was blown. The reasoning for his state of alert was not only the numerous imperial knights patrolling the street but also the fact that the imperial capital was also home of an archangel sanctuary, as evident by countless armour wearing angels who flew around the city, apparently having put on alert by something.


    (Now, where would a secret shadowy organisation dealing in creating homunculus and destabilizing governments for their own gain hide?...)


    Having continued to search for the clue the archangel Eos left him with the qiton found himself out of place and slightly lost, partly because of all the living beings emitting their own mana signatures made it extremely hard for him to even know if he was getting a correct reading.


    "Hey, you! Stop right there!"


    (F.u.c.k¡­)


    Hearing that someone behind him was definitely addressing him, Dax''s mind started racing while he kept his outward appearance calm and collected, choosing to ignore the callout as he moved towards a more secluded area.


    "I said stop right there demonkin! You''re the one I meet before right!? I demand another duel!"


    (Oh, for f.u.c.k''s sake¡­)


    But when the knightling spoke once more Dax felt a bit of the tension drain from his body. Turning around Dax found a group of knightlings looking at him, the centermost one being the one he had met earlier in his travels.


    "You really are the one I met earlier! Duel me again, I feel like I can beat you now!"


    "Nah, I''m busy. Go home."


    "There''s no way anything you''re doing will be more important than duelling!"


    (This puppy really doesn''t take no for an answer¡­)


    Feeling a familiar headache return the qiton contemplated different solutions, but simply found himself unable to figure out anything that would not result in him straight up ripping the knightling apart.


    "Haaa¡­ Okay then, but I have some conditions."


    "I knew you would come around! Follow me, the area is this way!"


    Turning around and leaving while some of the other needlessly proud knightings made sure that Dax followed, the qiton wondered if straight up killing them where they stood would have been the easier option. Following the after the knightings, Dax noticed he was going further and further into the centre of the capital, as the skyscr.a.p.ers only seemed to increase in height while he noticed more and more angels flying around in the air above.


    (TARGET MANA SIGNATURE DETECTED. UNABLE TO TRACE SIGNAL.)


    As Dax and the knightlings reached some sort of academy ICI started picking up trace amounts of the signature Dax was looking for, but it was still unable to locate a direction due to the high amount of mana interference.


    "Well then! Sate your therms!"


    Drawing her sword the knighting walked out in the middle of an open field she planted it into the ground with a dignified expression, trying (and failing) to imitate a certain iron willed general. Creating quite a scene the knighting unknowingly sealed away Dax''s chance to back out and so he could only proceed.


    "First of all, I am a mercenary. If you plan to make me fight I expect payment."


    "Of course! How''s this?"


    Casually tossing a pouch filled with gold coins at Dax''s feet, the knightling proved conclusively to Dax that she had no manners, typical of a noble when dealing with someone of lower rank than themselves.


    "That''s fine, then secondly I want you to never bother me again if I win this fight if I lose I can promise to train you or something like that."


    (But I have no incentive or hold any commitment in the slightest to honour that promise, so expect me to just straight up kill you if you somehow manage to win this.)


    While leaving the rest of his conditions unsaid as the knighting accepted his therms in a haughty manner the two of them made their way to open field as countless students gathered around to watch.


    "Prepare yourself!"


    "Yeah, yeah. On your first move."


    Without any of the inexperienced knightings having noticed, Dax''s aura had changed in a subtle way while he was collecting mana at the same time.


    "Have at yo!-"


    But before the knightling had even taken a full step, Dax had closed the range effortlessly as he placed an open palm strike in the centre of the knightlings chest and knocked her away.


    "Eh?"


    While the spectating knightlings remained dazed Dax casually tapped his foot on the ground, enacting a magic formation he had been creating while talking with the brat. Seemingly out of nowhere a tornado of dust formed around Dax and shoot into the sky, making the naive knightlings look into the sky.


    "Sleep!"


    Moving the dust with such accuracy that he controlled each single grain Dax (aided by ICI) used the sunlight to create a series of bright flashes which induced a REM like state in the knightings, in effect hypnotizing them.


    "And just like that, I have an open area without any active mana interference. ICI commence active scan, use a bi wave mana pulse to hide my location."


    (DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED, COMMENCING ACTIVE MANA SIGNATURE PULSE¡­ COMPLETE, SEARCH SUCCESSFUL, MANA SIGNATURE LOCATED.)


    (That worked out surprisingly well.)


    Leaving the academy behind (after he had collected the coin offered by the brat knightling of course) Dax followed ICI''s directions until the sea of skyscr.a.p.ers suddenly opened up, revealing a truly massive castle.


    (Of course a secret shadowy organization which destabilizes governments for their own gain has direct ties that reach deeply into the Empire itself, but really?... Guess I''ll have to infiltrate that place to find out where they took my possession.)


    ---


    (I wonder how much time has passed?... I wonder why I even care about that¡­)


    Xi had felt something break inside her when she saw Chad die and since then everything had been a blur. How long time had passed since then? She didn''t know or seem to care for that matter, she just moved like she was told, move here, come over here, stay there, eat this and so on. Like slipping in and out of a dream the dragonkin princess held no sense of time or pain, even when the cloaked figures cut into her skin and removed her scales she didn''t utter a single word. The cycle of torture/experimentation seemed to go on for days at a time, but still, it didn''t hurt near as much as when she was left alone in her small cell.


    "Uuuu¡­"


    Being left alone in a cell she could only barely sit down in without any way of telling the time for what felt like days on end without any food or water her emotional suffering seemed to return with a semblance of her consciousness, the despair of loss and her continually sustained injuries only seemed to make her suffering worse.


    "Get out, it''s time for a test."


    But even as her mind seemed to be continually eroded, the dragonkin princess'' body got stronger and stronger, after some amount of time had passed she started being subjected to various tests. Following the cloaked figure Xi was lead to a large open room where she was locked in and after some time a door on the opposing side opened.


    (So more torture¡­ No, if I''m lucky this might even be an execution...)


    As a large wolf like creature emerged from the door Xi noticed faint traces of blood on the floor she stood barefooted on and without offering any resistance she let the monster charge at her and bite into her arm.


    (Why doesn''t it hurt?)


    But to the dragonkin''s surprise, the monster didn''t seem to hurt her, even as it bit down on her arm and frailed her around before tossing her at a nearby wall like a ragdoll Xi felt no sense of pain. Slightly surprised by that fact even as her mind had mostly eroded away, Xi looked to her arm to find it was suddenly being covered by white scales with a faint rainbow coloured tint to them. As the monster attacked her once more, even multiple times after that, Xi felt no pain, no matter of the large wolf used its powerful bite or claws no harm would befall her.


    (Seems like I can''t die¡­ Why is it I''m never able to do what I really want?)


    Using all its strength the monster brought down its teeth to try and crush its prey''s head, but nothing seemed to happen other than the monsters own teeth starting to hurt, even so, it kept on trying. After about half an hour the monster gradually tired itself out, leading it to leave its prey and went over to another part of the room.


    (Chad, I want to see you again¡­)


    Realizing monster somehow couldn''t kill her Xi continued feeling miserable but at some point doing that, the young dragonkin princess had lost control of her own body. Against her will, it stood up on its own and started walking towards the monster which started growling at her before finally attacking and once more biting into her without any effect, but this time something was different.


    (Eh? What am I doing?)


    Before Xi knew what was happening she had reached out to the monster and grasped its ear, then without willing it herself Xi ripped the monster''s ear off. Being tossed away by the monster as it let out an ear splitting yelp Xi landed on her feet, before she once more started walking towards it against her own will.


    -


    "It''s perfect!"


    Looking at his best creation yet, the old, white haired mage couldn''t help but speak out as he formed a smile with glee. The part had been troublesome to get his hand on, that part was true, but when he looked at how his newest creation tore apart the direwolf with its bare hands it had all been worth it.


    "Now just to complete the reconditioning, then I''ll finally have a weapon that can deal with that f.u.c.k.i.n.g monster!"


    Finally having found a solution to dealing with that outsider which had been a thorn in his and the Empires side ever since it interfered with his plans to obtain merekin specimens, the mage finally saw a solution in sight.

 Chapter 205 - The immortals of the imperial capital

    In the middle of the night at the imperial castle''s outermost wall stood a single figure.


    (So about 80 meters to the top with a completely smooth surface and completely covered in detection spells¡­ Using any kind of magic, or just jumping the wall wouldn''t keep me hidden¡­ But still, it shouldn''t be that hard.)


    Looking at the wall with his cybernetic eye Dax clearly saw the tiny gaps in between the formations, approaching the wall the qiton put in a bit of strength into his hand and pressed it into the stone wall to create a foothold. Starting his climb up the wall the qiton made no sound even as he jumped serval meters between increasingly sparse gaps in the detection spells as he neared the top. Waiting for a shift change Dax snuck past the guards and entered the castle grounds, finding a surprisingly spacious and luxurious garden surrounding the castle proper.


    (So this is where the emperor lives with all his guards and the most important families of the Empire¡­ They really need to improve their security, too bad I''m not available for consultations~)


    Moving through the garden and entering the castle Dax was nothing but a passing shadow to the sleepy guards and maids still working at that hour as he moved throughout the imperial castle, following the mana signature which un doughtily had something to do with whoever was responsible for attacking him.


    (Well, this is slightly different¡­ What''s up with the guard''s patrol route?)


    Noticing a distinct lack of wear on the rug which was created by guards with their distinctive boots in the path ahead, Dax felt like there was something wrong. So far as he had observed, the guards patrolled all the hallways without exception and even the less used parts of the castle had those marks, except for the one he had just come across.


    (No radiation or thermal signatures¡­ But EMF? That''s strange¡­ ICI I''m playing a hunch, send out master authentication code BETA 03-22019501.)


    (LOADING AUTHENTICATION CODE PACKAGE BETA 03-22019501 TRANSMITTING, STAND BY¡­ TRANSMISSION COMPLETE, RESPONSE AS FOLLOWS: OMEGA 00-00000.)


    "I knew it."


    Wearing a grim expression, Dax completely threw away his earlier persona and once more became a commander of the 125th combined ops orbital drop troopers, there was no more need to hide.


    "Look at how they butchered my units¡­"


    Coming across serval figures completely encased in solid looking armour, Dax was tempted to outright destroy them as he realized their true identity, but he barely managed to contain himself. The reason Dax wasn''t attacked by his former drones was that whoever had reconfigured them to work for the Empire didn''t quite know what they were doing, not yet at least. Still, it was not a completely botched job, even as Dax could interfere with their passive detection he couldn''t outright control them.


    "So they did manage to break the Reaper command and control encryption, but they still some of the subroutines are still in place¡­ What a sloppy f.u.c.k.i.n.g refit, but that workes to my advantage."


    Going through an area that was only protected by drones Dax made quick progress and went down approximately 50 levels as the mana signature he was tracing only got stronger.


    (Any second now¡­)


    Hearing the faint sound of people once more Dax figured he was getting closer to his target and so he disabled the safety on his gauss PDW. From observing the guards, Dax knew that as soon as his cover was blown he would only have about 5 minutes to escape from the castle before it was completely locked down.


    (At that point I would have to call for reinforcements and there would no way to leave with a clean exfill¡­ Which would mean I would be leaving a lot of equipment behind for them to use against me in the future. Of course, I could just enact the denial protocol but that would mean that most of the imperial capital will end up a smoking crater, which would mean war with all the sanctuaries.)


    Even with an armoured expeditionary brigade standing by and ready for deployment Dax didn''t have confidence in beating the multiple hostile sanctuaries without igniting the atmosphere, which was the only reason why he didn''t outright target the emperor himself.


    (Here we go.)


    Breaching the first room he found with a possible match on the mana signature, Dax shattered the thick wooden door as he scanned the inside area, finding multiple robed figures which he targeted with lethal precision. Before anyone of the mages knew what was going on, they had been gunned down without exception.


    "ICI secure the area, initiate intel scan."


    [DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED.]


    Like flipping a switch Dax''s mind went into overdrive as the Hawk drone who had been following him over the last months detached from his back and starting to scan the numerous bookshelves and doc.u.ments. Meanwhile, Dax went trough each of the corpses while they still had some brain activity and forcefully ripped out their cerebral data for further analysis.


    "WHAT IS!-"


    But alas his first breach brought an unwanted amount of attention to himself, and so he started dealing with other mages more than collecting intelligence. Busting through a wall Dax got the jump on a group of mages and quickly depleted his magazine, but still some of them managed to survive as they were far more quick witted than the other mages he had run into beforehand.


    "DIE!"


    Before Dax could reload one of the mages managed to complete his reactive spell, sending out a blade of highly compressed air that aimed to cleave his target in half.


    (What a hothead¡­)


    Sliding under the blade of air Dax instantly closed the range as he drew his bayonet and clearly targeted the gaps in between the mages ribs underneath his robe, stabbing directly into the heart before twisting and forcing the wound to open up.


    "Next."


    As the mage bled to death on the floor Dax quickly made his way through the others as he forced himself further into the castle underground.


    -


    Deep inside the imperial castle, a robed old man was entirely occupied with precisely engraving a magic formation into a blue crystal. The mage barely had any hair left on his head, his eyes had mostly sunken into his head and his skin was wrinkled like an old tree. But even as his age was clearly showing and his body was starting to break down, lifeforce was still clearly visible in his eyes like a single undying lantern in the middle of a tropic storm. Having lived longer than any other humankin of the empire, the people who served under him referred to him as grand elder, or the immortal. A leader of a secret research division within the Empire, their single objective was obtaining a method to infinitely sustaining one''s life trough human modification and understanding the true meaning of magic, he and his direct disciples had made a lot of headway, as a result, each of them were each over 500 years old.


    "Elder!"


    "What is it?"


    With a slight bit of annoyance in his voice, the elder put down the tool he was using to engrave the crystal with, in a slow and controlled fashion before looking at the mage who had burst into his private workshop.


    "Elder, there''s an intruder! He''s!-"


    Being cut short by strange sound the mage suddenly looked like he had trouble breathing and felt over dead with blood flowing from his back.


    "Hmm¡­"


    Getting up from his desk the elder waved his hand as runes spread out around him, forming into a shield just as he was also targeted. Watching bullets hit and be slowed down by his shielding formation the elder barely bat an eye as he rubbed two of the countless rings he wore on his hands together, compleating a circuit and forming a spell formation which he put mana into. The result of that simple motion was immediate as about 50 golden crystals formed in front of his hand, shaping themselves into arrows before they shoot off towards his still unknown attacker. Hearing the unmistakable sound of his spell burrowing into flesh the elder formed a slight smile as he tapped his foot on the ground, creating a wall of compressed rock which shoot up in front of him and blocked another round of shots.


    "What a surprisingly resourceful rat. Time to die, you''re interrupting my work."


    Touching two other rings a small fireball formed in front of the elder''s hand, switching from a yellow to completely blue colour as it was shot off into the hallway and explored.


    "Is that all?"


    "Wha!-"


    Not expecting someone to have survived that attack unscathed the elder was caught slightly off guard as his assailant charged him. Immediately as he had come within range Dax activated a trump card he had kept under wraps so far, sealing all forms of magic with a miniaturized version of the prototype he had used to threaten a certain spirt.


    "There we are, now let''s have a nice chat."


    "W-what did you do!? Who are you!?"


    Finding himself unable to use magic, the old mage lost his confidence as he slowly backed off away from Dax who approached without a care in the world.


    "Why how nice of you to ask me those questions, if you would have just done that before attacking me we wouldn''t need to have this conversation in the first place."


    Drawing attention to his own hand which had been greatly burned by the old mage''s spell, activating the auto repair function as to introduce himself. Looking dead centre into the mage''s eyes Dax saw when the realization hit, turning his surprised look into one of horror.


    "Y-you are!-"


    "Yeah, I would be ''the outsider'', as you call me. Why are you messing with stuff that''s no yours?"


    "For the greatest propose of all, to create everlasting life! To become immortal! Surely you must understand!?"


    In response to the mages desperate question Dax stopped moving as he trough about it for a few moments.


    "Not really no, why would I be interested in obtaining something I was born with?"


    "W-what do you-"


    "Have you ever seen someone heal their body this fast? An everlasting body is no good if it can''t repair itself."


    Suddenly the elder was faced with what he had been striving for doing most of his long life, as he had theorized it was not only gods and the highest of the archangels who obtained an immortal body.


    "Please teach me how, in return, I will offer you everything!"


    Falling to his knees the elder abanded his pride in search of his goal, he had never gotten this close to it before.


    "Hmm¡­ I could do that, after all, immortality was one of the things I offered in return for cooperation."


    "Then!-"


    Looking up hopefully at the creature in front of him, the elder''s words were cut short as the demonkin grasped his face.


    "But why would I do that? I don''t take kindly to people who attack me, let alone take my possessions. Besides, I made a promise with my partner to hand your soul over to it."


    Activating a slower and considerably more painful cerebral extraction method, the workshop was quickly filled with the screams of the mage.


    "Now, now. Don''t be a wuss. This is not the time for suffering, that comes later."

 Chapter 206 - Deployment

    "Come on, put your back into it!"


    Out in the middle of a dirt field near Kingstead, 3 figures were busy training or more like 2 of them were while the third sat on top of one of them and shouted commands.


    "Y-yes ma''am!"


    "I told you to call me big sister~"


    "Y-yes, sorry sis!"


    "Good~ Then we take it from the top."


    Sitting on top of Terra, Lux wore quite a smile as she continued to train her and Dax''s disciple. Over the last few months, Alice and Terra had really made progress in their training, part of that was due to their bodies finally starting to accept the enhancements they had been subjected to, but most of it was due to their dedication.


    "And we''re done for today, good work!"


    As Lux called for the end of training way earlier than normal, both of her students visibly flinched.


    "Ehm¡­ B-big sister?"


    "Yeah, what''s up?"


    "What''s going on?"


    Even as Lux had gotten considerably more cheerful on the outside after Alice''s confession to Dax, both Terra and Alice (to a lesser degree) were keenly aware of how the second in command of the Hellwalkers was as a person. If they were cutting the training short there was a concrete reason for it, and a good chance that whatever it was would prove worse than the actual training.


    "Oh, yeah I forgot to tell you two. In 30 minutes we''re moving to deployment condition yellow, that''s why we''re cutting training short¡­ ICI disable the grav field."


    [DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED. POWERING DOWN LOCALIZED GRAVITATIONAL FIELD¡­ COMPLETE, RETURN TO NORMAL VALUES CONFIRMED, GRAVITY WELL DISTORTION NOMINAL.]


    "Okay, lead the way."


    Feeling her spine decompress after being under the stain of 5 times her normal weight, Terra was kind of nonchalant about the entire situation as she boarded the CAS-7A Stinger after cracking her neck.


    "I-is this really going to be okay?"


    Meanwhile, Alice showed a bit more concern about the entire situation, as far as she had learned a deployment would mean a battle and possibly war.


    "We''re going to be fine. Condition yellow only means that there''s a chance we''ll have to deploy soonish, not that we''re definitely going to. Besides, if we do deploy then there''s a large chance we''re just going to pick up Dax."


    "O-okay then¡­"


    Seeing Alice still looking quite worried Lux felt an impulse well up inside her, something she had until now only been dismissing as not real, it was the so called desire to protect.


    (N-no, not now. I can''t¡­)


    Strongly resist the urge to hug Alice Lux kept up her cold and commanding exterior while she gave her student some more words of encouragement.


    "Don''t worry, if we do deploy for battle, I''ll make sure you''ll be in the rear guard. Let''s go."


    Half dragging Alice behind her Lux also boarded the CAS-7A which immediately launched, but instead of heading towards Kingstead it flew away from the capital and towards a monster infested forest. Cruising at low altitude for a while the CAS-7A suddenly dropped altitude and disappeared into the forest, having moved through a wide angle cloaking field and siege barrier.


    "That scared the shit out of me¡­"


    "Sorry~"


    Having watched the face of Terra the entire time as it looked like they were crashing Lux had trouble wiping the large grin off her face.


    "Welcome to site 3."


    "... Holy shit."


    As Terra overcame her initial surprise, she was struck with awe. What had looked like a dense forest from the outside was, in reality, a gigantic open pit which was serval kilometers deep.


    "I was also surprised when I saw this the first time."


    Attempting to console Terra, Alice walked over to her friend and started patting her head.


    "Yeah, you were surprised alright, if by ''surprise'' you mean screaming your soul out while brawling then yeah."


    "Lux! You promised not to tell anyone!"


    "Yeah I did, I was also lying."


    While Lux was barely able to contain her laughter she had a grand old time at her student''s behalf, as the CAS-7A finally reached the bottom of the pit and entered the site 3 proper. Getting out of the ship Terra was surprised at how vast the underground space was and how well guarded it was. At the bottom of the pit entrance 4 540 millimeter railguns aimed up the shaft, as well as multiple other weapon systems. Continuing further into the base Terra spotted multiple large magnetic gravity field drills that pulled red hot liquid metals up from the planet''s lower mantle for the manufacturing of new hardware. Continuing to follow Lux, Terra and Alice made their way to a sort of briefing room where the other people were waiting for them.


    "So, will you tell us exactly what we''re doing here?"


    Not even a second had passed before Lilly took the chance at getting an explanation, she seemed to really not like being this far underground for any reason, let alone the vague explanation she got from Lux earlier. While Solaris who also already had arrived early seemed to share Lilly''s opinion, she was too occupied with the remote opportunity that she was going to meet Dax at some point soon.


    "We''re here right now because of the high chance that two distinct scenarios that would necessitate a deployment might happen within the next 24 hours. The first and most likely of which is the suppression of a mana disaster which has gone unnoticed within the Empire, in the case of that operation we will be deployed to save the population of a small city state while also denying any and all Empire forces from obtaining any meaningful intelligence."


    "I assume there''s a good reason as to why we''re cleaning up the Empire''s own mess¡­ And the other mission would be rescuing Dax, no?"


    "That would be the exact reason yeah, as for the specifics I''ll go over those right now¡­"


    ---


    After a few hours of explanation Lux those to give the other''s some free time and went to inspect the equipment, meanwhile, Alice took some time to catch up with Solaris which had been away from Kingstead of some time.


    "How are you doing?"


    "I''m doing good, although I''m a bit sad that I was forced to put my training on hold. Hemera said that I''ve almost reached the threshold."


    Looking quite disappointed it seemed like Solaris really wanted to surprise Dax with a brand new set of extra wings, just like Alice wanted to show how far she had come.


    "But m-more importantly what do you think?"


    But just as Alice started to think that Solaris was some grand a superior being, the angel drew attention to her hair which she had braided in a new way, the obvious subtext being ''do you thing Dax will like this?''.


    (She might even be purer than me, this must really be the first time she''s fallen in love¡­)


    Seeing the heavily blushing angel that had trouble keeping a straight face Alice couldn''t help but give her a hug, much to Terra''s annoyance.


    (I''m going to be sick¡­)


    Feeling like she was about to start puking rainbows, Terra hurriedly left the briefing room to go and find something else to pass the time.


    "Honestly¡­ I get that they''re happy and in love and all that, but do they need to do that sort of stuff all the time? At least Lilly is a bit more reserved, at least when she''s sober¡­"


    Remembering the last time Terra went out to drink with the little elver, she felt the headache she was trying to avoid starting to return. Deciding to pass the time by looking at all the strange technology that was around her, Terra toured the factories, watching with awe how drones multiple times taller than herself were being assembled inside gravity neutralized fields, finding Lux among a sea of drones which stood by ready for deployment.


    "What''s up?... Is it the girls?"


    Seeing Terra''s tired expression Lux quickly gathered what was going on, showing an understanding smile.


    "Yeah¡­ They''re being all giggly."


    "I see. That can be tiring, want to join me on my inspection?"


    "Sure."


    Following Lux and asking questions about the equipment whenever she had some, Terra felt like she learned even more about the world she was getting involved with. Adaptability was key, just like her own training the various drones and systems Lux inspected could all operate in radically different ways depending on the situation.


    "A rifle isn''t just a rifle, take the REX-Alpha 357 for example. In total, the complete system has 49 different sensors that help it deliver the right payload on target, but that''s not all. By integrating it with a master ICI architecture, the different rifle''s source target data from each other while constantly improving and self optimizing their collective performance and that''s not even scratching the surface¡­"


    In the middle of one of her self prompted lectures Lux suddenly fell quiet as her entire aura changed.


    "So we''re doing a two pronged operation?"


    [That''s the idea yeah. I''ll be permanently shutting down the faction which was responsible for that entire demon incident at the academy, meanwhile, your group will secure new allies.]


    "Understood. When do you want to start all this?"


    [Give me 3 hours to get into position, I also need to pick up something I forgot.]


    With orders having come down from the top, Lux followed protocol like she had so many times before.


    "We''re deploying, in response to a scenario 1. Get loadout 4A, we''re leaving in 3 minutes!"

 Chapter 207 - Irregular mana concentration site #59

    Early morning in the capital of Greendale a single cloaked figure stood in the middle of a cemetery amidst heavy rainfall. Uttering an incantation he stretched out his hand over an unmarked grave as lighting illuminated the sky above and after a few minutes an arm emerged from the grave.


    "There you are, let''s get you cleaned up."


    Grasping the arm Dax pulled the person out from the grave after the former copse cleaned his face off and was stunned by what he saw.


    "W-why am I still alive?"


    First recognizing Dax, Chad looked after the hole in his chest but found nothing but his own skin. After overcoming his initial surprise the knight looked at Dax with a look of horror, he had no idea how it was even possible for him to still be alive as he still vividly remembered the sensation of having his own heart crushed.


    "What is going on here!?"


    "You don''t need to know that yet, let''s go find your beloved princess. Follow me."


    -


    Travelling on foot for about an hour, Chad had a good amount of time to think about what had just happened. He was sure he had died to that imperial knight, no doubt about that, but then how was he here right now? No matter how long he taught about it no answer came to him, the only thing which greeted his mind was further frustration and confusion.


    "Dax, would you please explain what is going on!?"


    "Nah."


    Feeling further frustration at Dax''s reluctance to answer Chad swung a punch at Dax before he even realized what was going on, having sensed the punch coming Dax turned on a swivel and blocked the knights punch, returning one himself.


    "Gha!"


    Being knocked to the ground Chad felt like his entire head was on fire while blood flowed freely from his ears and nose, but like it had all been an illusion the pain suddenly stopped.


    "When you and your princess offered everything to me I accepted it, that means you two are my possessions. That means you''re mine and mine forever, simply getting your heart crushed won''t be enough to release you from that. Why wouldn''t I improve my possessions? Now, I am going to release Xi from capture and you need to make a choice: Either you come with me and help, or I impale you to a nearby tree and leave you here until I''m done."


    Judging the conversation was over, Dax started walking again and after a while, he heard Chad join behind him.


    "If you''re wondering I killed all the imperial knights and wiped out one of the cells responsible for targeting your country."


    "... Thanks."


    Walking a bit further Dax stopped inside a dense forest in the middle of a clearing, before Chad could ask what was going on something fell from the sky and landed right in front of them. After the dust cleared Chad found some kind of burnt metal container, roughly the size of a person. Before he could ask what was going on, a part of the container was blown open from the inside and when Chad walked over to that side he saw some kind of strange all metal golem with bright red eyes emerging from it. Feeling the golems ''eyes'' on him Chad froze up, this was once more something completely beyond his comprehension, but whatever it was, it was made to kill. Retrieving some equipment while Chad was flabbergasted, Dax found something the knight could use.


    "This one is going to run as the backup on the operation. Here, catch."


    Reaching into the canister, Dax tossed a sword to Chad which he caught before examining it more closely.


    "What is this? It''s so light¡­"


    "No it isn''t, that one weighs two times as much as your normal sword. But that''s not important, press the button on the side of the near the pommel and try to strike a tree."


    Doing as he told Chad found that the sword cut cleanly into the solid looking oak tree without any resistance and when he tried the sword on a nearby rock it had the same effect.


    "Wh-"


    "You don''t need to know at this time. We need to move."


    Tossing an incendiary grenade into the canister Dax left with the Reaper drone and Chad in tow, arriving at what looked to be an abandoned village after a few minutes.


    "Splash 15 seconds¡­ Put this on."


    Tossing Chad a gas mask Dax cracked his neck and took his Gauss PDW from the hawk done which was suddenly hovering right next to him, right after Chad finished putting the mask on and somewhat adjusted to breathing with it on, a combined strike consisting of orbital artillery and Viper class cruise missiles completely levelled the village.


    "This is command, addressing all units: Mission start, annihilate all hostiles, secure VIP package #1 and 2."


    As Dax spoke out while completely ignoring the want and destruction which had just happened in front of them, he returned completely to being a hellwalker as the fake cover over his artificial eye was purged.


    [DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED, ALL UNITS NOW FOLLOWING OPERATIONS PLAYBOOK AT LEVEL BLACK, WEAPONS FREE.]


    "Good¡­ ICI, fire mission: My relative grid 00 00 +09 +01, send one times 10 megaton tactical class payload, delay + 50 mikes."


    [FIRE MISSION CONFIRMED.]


    Walking towards the smouldering village Dax was joined by Chad while the drone remained at range to eventually cover for them. As they reached the village the smell of burnt flesh invaded Chad''s nose even as he wore protection against it, but before he found himself overcome with anger he noticed that it was more of those homunculi with extra limbs Dax had killed and thus didn''t object to it. Eventually, the pair reached what had up until a few moments ago been some sort of plaza, and it seemed like Dax''s destination was the half destroyed church in front of them, but suddenly he dragged Chad with him into cover.


    "Seems like one of them survived and is equipped with captured equipment¡­ Can you handle it?"


    While he talked Dax ducked deeper right before a 40mm round fired from a gauss rifle priced trough right where his head had been, casually dealing with that by tossing a few smoke grenades out from cover Dax seemed like he wanted to test Chad, or that''s at least how it seemed to the knight at that moment.


    (Seems like I''ve somehow come to serve a really crazy master¡­ But this is still for the good of my lady.)


    "Yes! Please leave it to me!"


    "Off you go then. Oh and a few things to note: It needs to stop shooting every 30 shots and continued fire will reduce hit rate. Stay low and stay fast, whatever you do don''t jump at it."


    Checking on the location on the shooter Dax informed Chad on a few more points about his opponent as he sent the knight running when the shooter was reloading. Almost shooting out of cover Chad was surprised at how fast he suddenly moved, as if being propelled by some new power which burst forth from within him.


    (So slow¡­)


    Spotting his target on top of a half ruined two story building Chad was able to clearly track the homunculus'' movements, right down to how it was pointing its weapon at him. Sidestepping shot after shot, Chad only got increasingly more confident in avoiding the hostile fire, that is until he was shot right through the chest.


    (F.u.c.k!)


    Feeling a burning pain spread throughout his chest he fell to the ground, but even before he landed in the dirt the pain had started to subside.


    "Get your f.u.c.k.i.n.g shit together!"


    Hearing an extremely pissed off Dax shouting at him, Chad finally realized what he had just been doing. If the past him had just witnessed what had happened, he would be as ashamed as he was now that he realized what he was doing.


    (What the f.u.c.k am I doing!? This is not a f.u.c.k.i.n.g game!)


    Slapping himself in the face Chad got back on his feet while something changed inside him, it was like there was a brand new type of light in his eyes, a mix of the old and new him. Moving faster than he had ever done before Chad quickly closed the range on the understandably surprised homunculus that was caught mid reload. As the opponent was about 5 meters above him, Chad was tempted to just jump at him when he remembered what Dax had told him and instead did a number of smaller jumps until he finally reached the homunculus.


    "What f.u.c.k.i.n.g kind of monster are y!-"


    Even as it did its best to defend, Chad''s sword sliced straight through it as it struggled to reload under pressure. Returning to the destroyed church, Chad found Dax digging through some of the rubble to clear out an area near the main altar. For the second time within an hour, Dax turned around on a swivel and punched Chad in the face, knocking him to the ground.


    "Are you done f.u.c.k.i.n.g around?"


    "... I am."


    Also feeling quite ashamed at what he had done, Chad didn''t even try to block the punch as he realized he had done something wrong.


    "Then let''s do this, take this and inject it."


    Tossing a vial of black matter to Chad who was still on the ground, Dax went back to digging up the buried entrance. Breaking apart a solid stone tile Dax found a dark entrance to what looked like an almost endless stairway.


    "Okay, I''m going to say this only one time so pay attention. When we get past the stairway and down into the facility we''re going to split up, I''m going to secure intel while you secure the princess and time is definitely of the essence. In 40 minutes this place is going to be a molten radioactive crater, artillery doesn''t care about friendly fire."


    "U-understood!"


    "Good, then let''s get this show on the road."


    Hurrying down the stairway neither Chad nor Dax realized they were being watched closely, deep inside the facility two creatures had already ''seen'' them coming.


    "Those sure are some strange creatures 01."


    "Yeah, they are 02, that one person''s chest is still healing up."


    "I hope they come and play with us, I''m bored 01. It has been months since master was here."


    "It sure has, I really miss master¡­ I wonder what if he really meant what he said before he left."


    "Yeah¡­"

 Chapter 208 - The princess and her knight (1)

    Walking through a series of dark hallways, Chad''s mind raced as he taught about what he needed to do and how he had changed.


    It seems like I''ve become able to see in the dark and if what Dax told me is to be believed, I am not immortal so I should avoid getting hit in the head¡­ Ah here it is, form here I need to go left, right, and then straight¡­)


    Hearing yet another guard moving around an upcoming corner the knight slowed down his sprint and blended in with the hallway as he started waiting. Seeing that whoever it was that was closing in on him held some sort of lantern Chad was sure it wasn''t a homunculus which could see in the dark, therefore he calmed down even more and awaited the perfect opportunity to strike.


    (Now!)


    Using the shadows to his advantage Chad executed a perfect ambush, driving his sword straight through his target before he made a sound. Looking into the eyes of the dying mage Chad saw flashes of confusion, anger, fear and so many other emotions before the eyes blanked out and he died. Chad was sure that something like that would have freaked him out just a few days ago, but now it was different.


    (These are the ones that have been experimenting on Xi. Absolutely unforgivable.)


    Continuing deeper into the underground complex Chad was still unaware he was being keenly watched, but Dax who was doing something else at the same time started to have an inkling about it.


    "Shit¡­ ICI calibrate for armoured targets, increase capacitor charge and enter siege mode."


    Ducking into cover after once more fruitlessly firing at a stone barrier Dax realized it things were not working out as they should.


    [PROCESSING, STAND BY¡­]


    With a crisp click, the surface of the gauss PDW''s front end changed drastically to engage additional coils around the barrel, drastically increasing stopping power in exchange for increased power consumption.


    [SIEGE MODE ACTIVE.]


    Emerging out from cover Dax once more took aim at the mages, pricing straight through their cover and heads alike.


    (The people of this world sure does relay on their magic way too much¡­ Still, that overdependence made the ''resurrection spell'' work wonders when it was just a mix black matter which I mixed into Chad and Xi''s food.)


    Dax knew he was going to be watched by several different parties from the moment after he attacked the imperial castle and as such, he acted accordingly. Counterintelligence was the name of the game, the more wrong, vague or outright false information he supplied the people of this world with, the more false assumptions they would make about him and the easier future confrontations would be. But with all that said, this operation was an exception, as Dax had already made sure no information would leak from this site before it was reduced to a smouldering ruin by targeting the wider area with 400mm mana disruption shells that would scramble all use of magic in the area around the site for another 30 minutes before self destructing at the same time as the nuke would hit.


    "... Though I still wonder if the knight will be able to save his princess?... Oh well, in the end, it doesn''t matter."


    Having cleared the entire section of the compound floor plan he had extracted from the ''immortal'', Dax started looking around at the place.


    "Looks like they used magic to dig out this place in a relatively low amount of time¡­ And they then treated the debris with some kind of compound then compressed them to use for structural support? That''s clever, saves money and time while avoiding to bring a massive amount of outside material in from the outside and raising the chance of detection¡­ But what are you?..."


    While his thoughts wandered, the qiton glanced around and found something that wasn''t part of the mage''s memories. It was truly something inconspicuous, a depression in the wall no more than a few millimetres in depth at the deepest, but it didn''t match the predicted data and as such it stood out like a sore thumb to Dax.


    "... That''s such a cliche. ICI task Hawk for priority GPR scan."


    [DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED, TASKING HAWK DRONE FOR GROUND PENETRATING RADAR SCAN. WARNING: 20 MINUTES TILL SCHEDULED FIRE MISSION, CAS-A7 ARRIVAL ON SITE CONFIRMED, STANDING BY FOR EXTRACT AT HOLDING PATTERN 4.]


    "Great, thanks for the update."


    As the Hawk drone finished up the scan ICI updated Dax on the situation on the surface, Dax had his initial theory to be correct as the drone found a void behind the wall. Tearing down the wall Dax found a hidden section if the underground base and with the time for exfil coming up he chose the most responsible option.


    (This is definitely a recent construction¡­)


    He went in for a quick look without backup. Walking down a straight tunnel for a while Dax found a cramped dark room, with two homunculi inside. The two homunculi looked as if they were twins, both of them had ashen white skin, glowing red eyes and claw like nails which looked like they could extend and retract freely. Standing at about two heads shorter than Dax they would be a tiny bit taller than Lilly and Dax judged both of them to be female based on their nurse like blood stained clothes.


    "Ooh~ You found the hidden doorway."


    "Impressive."


    "... You two don''t seem hostile."


    Remaining warry Dax kept his finger on the trigger as he lowered his weapon slightly, taking a slightly more relaxed stance.


    "Why would we be hostile?"


    "There''s no reason to."


    "We''re not made for combat."


    Seeing how entirely frank and relaxed the two homunculi were being, Dax decided to try and talk with them for a bit.


    "Okay then, it''s just that your kind has been more aggressive that''s all. Hello, my name is Dax, would you two please tell me your names?"


    "I''m 01."


    "And I''m 02."


    ""We''re master''s tools to create more homunculi.""


    "Nice to meet you, 01 and 02. Can I ask what you''re doing in this dark room without any food or water?"


    Having found a valuable source of possible intel, Dax decided to take all the time he needed to have a proper talk with them.


    "Because we''re no longer needed."


    "We''ve made master the ultimate tool."


    "Therefore he told us to stay here until we die."


    "Why?"


    "Because a tool which is no longer needed should not need to be maintained any longer."


    "And because we''re masters creation he didn''t want us to be picked apart by his rivals so they could learn his secrets."


    (They don''t have any reasoning themselves?... No, it''s more like they solely exist for their master and have been ingrained with the idea that they''re not living beings themselves.)


    The more Dax learned about the two homunculi creator, the more he despised him.


    "So the two of you have been created for a singular purpose and like a disposable tool your master has now thrown you away?"


    "Exactly."


    "Which is why we''re extremely bored while waiting to die, could you spare some more time talking with us Dax?"


    "Sure, you two seem very relaxed and easy to talk to. But I have a better idea, why don''t you come with me?"


    "We can''t."


    "Master said we''re not allowed to leave."


    (It''s like they never acted on their inherent curiosity before, while they obviously want to talk with me it doesn''t occur to them that they could just leave this place and explore the world¡­ Seems like I have to press them a bit.)


    "I see. Then remain here until you both die, goodbye."


    Turning to leave Dax hoped the twin''s curiosity was enough for them to temporarily disobey their master.


    "No, Wait!"


    "Won''t you tell us more before you leave?"


    "Like how you''re still alive with a body like that?"


    Acting slightly annoyed Dax turned to face the twins that were still firmly rooted in place, only to see that they did in fact move slightly from their position.


    (So it is more along the lines of some kind of active respect for their master than some subconscious routine¡­ I can work with that.)


    "Why? You''re about to die. In matter of fact, you two will be dead in about 15 minutes. I can tell you that and a lot more things, like how I can heal deadly wounds in a second. But everything ends once you die, so why do you want to know?"


    Looking into the eyes of the homunculi Dax saw clear signs of hesitation and in response further pressed the two twins.


    "If you two come with me I share some of my secrets with the two of you, but for that, I need to reintroduce myself. Hello, my name is Dax, leader of the 125th combined ops orbital drop troopers of the Galactic Empire. If you two truly want more knowledge then forget your old master who abandoned you like used equipment and join me to set your eyes on worlds and life forms outside the realm of your wildest dreams."


    Extending two open hands with a bright smile on his face, Dax waited until the two homunculi twins nervously took hold of them and made sure they couldn''t outright free themselves from his influence before he got to know what he needed.


    -


    (I''m going to be sick¡­)


    Having finally reached his destination, Chad arrived at what revealed itself to be some kind of prison. Most of the cells were occupied, but the occupants weren''t exactly what one could describe as alive or dead, it was like they were stuck in between while some kind of strange gel like substance slowly transformed them into creatures that were truly inhuman in every possible way. As there were way over a hundred of those creatures doing anything from constantly screaming at the top of their lungs to smashing their heads against the cell walls or desperately trying to claw out their own eyes which constantly regenerated in increasingly inhuman shapes Chad had trouble hearing his own thoughts, or keep his most recent meal down for that matter. Making his way through the area with more open cells Chad reached a grouping of what looked to be complete isolation cells with solid steel doors which only had a single slit which could be used to check on the occupants.


    (Xi could be in one of those¡­ Oh lord above, please promise me that she hasn''t become like those poor souls I just passed.)


    Walking up to one of the cell doors Chad took a deep breath and prepared himself mentally, then he opened up the slit and looked through.


    "... May unending peace and happiness find you in the afterlife."


    Closing the slit again with a grim look on his face, Chad moved on to check the next cell, finding it to be empty.


    (That''s a good sign¡­)


    Even if he didn''t find Xi in that cell, Chad was still glad he found it to be empty as it was far better than what he had just seen inside the first one he checked. Continuing on he found most of the cells to empty, with the rest of them containing corpses in the worst possible condition.


    (Last one.)


    Taking a second to calm down his mind, Chad steeled his nerves with a deep breath before he looked inside. Finding the small and dark cell to be occupied by a single beastkin child which seemed very much alive huddled in a corner.


    "Hey, are you-"


    But before Chad could even finish his sentence his reflexes forced him to step back and avoid when the beastkin child suddenly lunged at him.


    "What the f.u.c.k!?"


    Looking at the insect like stinger which was now lodged in the slit Chad decided to just leave the childlike homunculus locked up and alone. After the adrenaline left him Chad realized how little time he had left to find Xi before the deadline Dax had set.


    "Shit!"


    [FIRE MISSION SPLASH: 15 MINUTES.]

 Chapter 209 - The princess and her knight (2)

    (I need to find her fast and get back up top!)


    Realizing how little time he had remaining to find, free and get Xi out of the underground laboratory Chad started moving faster through the prison area searching for his princess with none of his earlier considerations for being detected.


    "Xi!"


    Catching a situate which looked like her dear princess out of the corner of his eye, Chad ran after it and didn''t realize that it was a trap before the door closed behind him.


    "Huh? You''re not the one I was after¡­"


    Finding himself inside a brightly lit room, Chad took a second before his eyes adjusted. when he could finally see again Chad found himself standing across from an old grey skinned mage with sunken eyes.


    "So it seems like there are two rats inside my home. Oh well, kill this one first."


    Still appearing relatively lax even though he was unarmed, the mage addressed his newest creation and made it do the dirty work for him.


    "Xi?..."


    Having finally found his princess Chad was utterly stunned at what he saw. Instead of her fair and fine skin, her body was now mostly covered in white scales and her nails had grown into claw like protrusions. While that wasn''t exactly that surprising as both Xi''s mother and father both had features like that, what Chad immediately saw was wrong was the dragonkin princess'' eyes. Her clear blue and cheer filled eyes looked like the ones you would find on a 2 day old dead fish, clouded and unclear.


    "... Yes, master."


    Responding in a dull, flat voice Xi instantly closed the distance to Chad and slashed at him with her claws.


    "Xi! What are you doing!? It''s me!"


    Blocking the attack by muscle memory alone Chad was stunned seeing his princess'' emotionless face up close as she tried her very best to kill him. Breaking his sword lock with the dragonkin princess Chad tried to pass her and reach the mage behind her, but as the mage''s order was still in effect Xi chased down her prey with utmost efficiency. Striking out once more Xi found her target and dug her claws deep into Chad''s gut while still remaining completely expressionless.


    "Gha!"


    Freeing himself from the insanely sharp claws, Chad backed off a few steps before taking a knee while trying to keep as much of the blood from flowing out as possible.


    "Be sure to finish him off, we need to find the other rat and kill it."


    "Yes¡­ Master."


    (Come on, just a bit closer.)


    Hiding the fact that his wound had already healed, Chad waited for the perfect moment to get past Xi, which he got right as she raised her hand to decapitate him. Moving faster than he had ever done before, Chad reached the old mage even before he knew what was going on, cleaving his head in half with a downwards swing before he even knew what happened. Flicking the old mage''s blood off his blade Chad turned to Xi and extended a hand to her, believing at that moment that the mind control had been broken.


    "Xi, come on, let''s get out of-"


    But as Xi effortlessly slipped into his range and dug all 10 claws into his chest, Chad learned that the mind control had not been broken. Wrestling free from Xi''s claws Chad stumbled backwards as the black matter within him struggled to regenerate his heart and deal with the internal bleeding.


    "Xi¡­ It''s me."


    Coughing up a large amount of blood Chad felt that his enhanced healing was slowly starting to run out while his legs kept on failing him, so he tried to reach his princess with words, even if it was futile.


    "Please wake up!"


    Extending out a hand towards Xi once more Chad pleaded for her to regain her senses, but as she cut off half of his outstretched hand the knight started losing faith while he started getting faint from the blood loss.


    (Shit¡­ I''m sorry.)


    Mentally apologizing to Xi''s parents Chad broke a long held and cherished promise, gathering the rest of his fleeting strength as he rushed towards Xi and embraced her in such a way that he could keep her claws away from himself.


    "My lady, please regain yourself!"


    Holding Xi back the best he could while avoiding her head as she also tried to bite him, Chad realized that he could only keep stalling and wait for Dax to save him.


    "F.U.C.K! Not this again!"


    But as soon as he came to that realization, Chad realized that he could not simply wait for himself to be saved like he tried the last time Xi was in danger.


    (Think! This can not end like last time!)


    Chad wasn''t worried about his own life in the slightest, that''s not what he wanted to save, the reason he was fighting to his last breath was for Xi herself. While he had pretended to not notice, deep down Chad knew Xi held some sort of feelings for him which had slowly developed as they had grown up together. If Xi regained her consciousness after she had killed Chad with her own hands, she would be destroyed completely.


    (That is the only thing I must avoid at all cost¡­)


    "Xi, please fight it! I''m here for you, I''ll always be there for you!"


    Slowly getting overpowered by his princess Chad felt that he was starting to lose the battle, he needed another plan.


    "Fuc!-"


    But at that moment Xi finally managed to overpower him, making Chad trip and fall over backwards with his princess on top of him.


    (I just need my head¡­)


    The way Chad understood Dax''s ''revival'' of him was that his head was the most important part of his body, even if he did lose the rest his head must remain intact.


    "In that case!"


    Just before Chad lost the last of his strength he let go of Xi''s hands which rushed down towards him, but as he had already predicted that action Chad wrapped his arms around Xi and hugged her close, making it so she couldn''t reach his head.


    ".... It''s... Okay."


    Feeling Xi''s claws dig into his sides and gut and shredding it apart, Chad kept gently whispering those words into Xi''s ear.


    "... You¡­ Could¡­ Never¡­ Hurt me."


    While his vision slowly darkened Chad kept on reassuring Xi while she dug her claws into his flesh until she suddenly stopped moving.


    "... Xi?"


    Releasing his grip on her body Chad weakly muttered the name of his master as she pulled her body away from his, making eye contact for the first time in a few minutes.


    "..... Please¡­ Keep¡­.. Fighting!"


    Looking into Xi''s eyes Chad instantly understood, she was starting to regain herself. While her face was still completely expressionless, Xi''s clouded eyes were shaking as tears slowly welled up right below them. For a few moments, it looked like Xi was winning the internal fight, but as she slowly started aiming her claws towards Chad it looked like she was losing.


    (F.u.c.k!.... My lady¡­ You''re... So¡­.. Close.)


    While tears dripped down on his face, Chad''s mind raced as he tried to figure out what he could do to help, finding only one single solution.


    (I''m¡­ Sorry.)


    "I¡­ Love¡­.. You¡­"


    Pulling his arms up, Chad reached around Xi''s back, then he pulled her in towards him and locked her lips against his.


    "MMM!"


    At first, Xi struggled to flee herself from Chad''s kiss, but after a few seconds, she greedily partook in the kiss before separating from him.


    "Welcome¡­. Back¡­ My¡­ Lady."


    Looking at Xi''s dazzling face, Chad clearly saw that she was back in control.


    "... Idiot. You honestly picked the worst time to something like that."


    "... I-"


    "No, don''t speak. Save your strength."


    Having been conscious and fighting the mind control ever since Chad first called out her name, she knew very well how critical his condition was. Getting up on her feet, Xi started concentrating, making her claws gradually retract before she ran over to the dead mage and ripped off some of his robe before kicking him in the head and shattering it apart.


    "Rot in hell, f.u.c.k.i.n.g bastard."


    While Xi was using the cloth to wrap some of Chad''s deeper injuries, he finally gathered enough strength to talk again.


    "... We¡­ Need... To¡­ Get¡­ Out. Now."


    "Okay, lead the way."


    Picking her knight up in a princess carry Xi followed his directions as she ran as fast as she could while carrying Chad, soon finding herself up on the surface after what had felt like a lifetime underground.


    -


    "Well that''s not really the way I pictured it, but good job getting her back."


    Looking at the dragonkin princess who wore nothing but dirty bloodstained rags carrying her knight in a princess carry, Dax couldn''t help but put on a wry smile.


    "Please save him!"


    "Of course, follow me."


    Walking out of the destroyed church in the middle of the ruined village with Xi behind him Dax looked towards the sky as he mostly ignored the two twins who quietly observed Xi from the sidelines.


    "ICI strike ETA?"


    [FIRE MISSION FINAL GOAL LINE REACHED. PAYLOAD INBOUND HOT, SPLASH: 2 MINUTES, 39 SECONDS.]


    "So plenty of time¡­ Call down the CAS-7A, Let''s join up with Lux and the others."


    [DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED.]


    Looking up at the sparsely clouded sky, a black lump suddenly priced one of them as it fell towards Dax with blistering speed.


    [DUST OFF: 9 SECONDS.]


    Spreading out its wings at the very last second, the CAS-7A blasted out ionized propellant with the afterburner active and barely slowed down beneath the maximum tolerance of its landing gear as it landed right in front of Dax.


    "What is-"


    "Shut up and get in if you want Chad to survive!"


    As he was on a tight schedule Dax didn''t want to explain what exactly the craft was to Xi and therefore clearly spelt out the choice she was faced with. Lifting off the ground, the Stinger flew at low altitude and quickly accelerated to beyond Mach 1 as it opened up the distance.


    [SPLASH.]


    At ICI''s callout, a single Viper cruise missile carrying a fusion warhead impacted the destroyed church at a high angle, crashing through the roof and travelling halfway down the long stairway before it detonated, levelling everything within 5 kilometres and leaving behind nothing but a smoking crater and a rising mushroom cloud.

 Chapter 210 - Mana disaster (1)

    "Ooo~ This is really fascinating."


    "It sure is. Look, the machine is printing tissue directly into the wound."


    Spending their time inside the CAS-7A, the two homunculus twins spend their time closely examining how Chad was getting stitched back together. Meanwhile, Dax was tending to some of Xi''s lighter injuries.


    "Stay still, Chad is fine."


    "Bu- AW!"


    "What did I just tell you? Now stay still so I can dig out this monster fang without leaving a scar."


    Focusing once more on his task at hand, Dax fell silent as he worked a scalpel and tweezer combo to carefully remove a bone shard from a fang that had embedded itself in Xi''s back near her wings.


    "Dax¡­ Who are you really?"


    "I''ll tell you once you''ve got you home, now stay still."


    ---


    In the far south part of the Empire, the Ta''ia city state remained very isolated on the fringe of their influence. Being so far out in the middle of nowhere, even tax collectors of the Empire only visited every couple of years and as such, it was a perfect site to test a new weapon system.


    "Ma''am, there''s one more large one nearing the east wall, we can''t stop it!"


    "I''ll be right there."


    Inside the central castle of Ta''ia, a blond haired dragonkin woman sat over her sleeping husband. After the messenger left once more, she wiped the sweat off his bow and gently kissed him before getting up.


    "I''ll be back in a second dear."


    Walking out of the room she lazily stretched her arms and back, then with a single effortless moment of her wings she set off into the sky.


    (Oh, that really is a large one¡­)


    From her vantage point up high, the dragonkin easily spotted the large creature closing in on the wall. The amalgamation of monster flesh stood some 5 meters tall without any rigid structure. While the dragonkin woman couldn''t outright say that it wasn''t some sort of new monster, the purple crystalline growth isolated on the right side of its body told her that it was not the case. About half a year ago they had started appearing in a small community outside the city, creatures with purple crystals growing on them they would mindlessly hunt any other living creature to infect them with their affliction, spreading it throughout the small community in a matter of hours. When the outbreak finally became know, the dragonkin''s husband had led a task force to strike them down, but it proved a more difficult task than they had imagined, suffering numerous casualties before falling back. After that the residents of Ta''ia had evacuated to the castle and managed to escape from the creatures who now hunted them relentlessly, until 2 weeks ago when large crystal infected creatures who could threaten the wall surrounding the castle appeared.


    "Aspect of the dragon: Thunderclap:"


    Uttering a simple incantation a yellow magic formation formed in front of the dragonkin, creating a bolt of lightning which struck the monster with such power that it turned some of the stone below it molten.


    "Haa¡­"


    Fighting extreme fatigue the dragonkin briefly started falling to the ground before she reactivated her flight magic, this was the 359th of those creatures she had to kill within the last few days. Landing back down at the castle, the dragonkin went around to make sure all her people were doing okay, then headed back to her room where she could finally drop her trough demeanour.


    "Ma''am! Two more of those creatures have appeared!"


    "Already!?"


    (I can''t beat those, not in this state¡­ What would you do dear?...)


    Realizing that the next fight might very well end up with her loss, the dragonkin started planning for that eventuality.


    "Gather the children and take all your forces! If I fall now I want you to escape with them, protect them at all costs!"


    While the guard was shocked for a moment he understood what she meant by those words, even if she tried to hide it everybody could see how constantly fighting had an impact on her health. As she was right now, she was barely able to stand on her own.


    "Understood! Godspeed, lady Grishu"


    Bowing deeply for a brief moment, the guard hurried to complete what was most likely lady Grishu''s last request, to protect the future subjects of her and her husband''s kingdom to his last breath.


    (Little Xi, I hope you arrived safely in Greendale, may you find a happy life there.)


    Launching into the sky once more, Grishu thought about her daughter a final time before she focused her mind completely on the battle ahead, shutting down all unnecessary thoughts and emotions. Flying up into the blue sky, Grishu quickly sighted the two monsters who looked like they were moving together in formation towards her people. Having decided she would fight to the death, Grishu pointed her open hand at the closest monster.


    "Aspect of the-"


    But before she could finish her incantation, something struck the creature she was targeting and incinerated it in a green fire.


    "What the hell!?"


    Looking at the monster set alight by the unusual fire, Grishu''s confusion didn''t manage to die down before the other giant monster was also hit by something and set alight with the same green flame which somehow managed to stick to the monsters as they screamed in pain.


    [ICI ASSESSES: GOOD EFFECT ON TARGET. CONTACTS NOW COMBAT INEFFECTIVE.]


    "Yeah I can see that, finish them off, will you? Use the 204mm SAPHEI, we brought a lot of those with us."


    [DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED. FIRE MISSION. TARGET: ALPHA 01, ALPHA 02. TASKING BATTERY DELTA, SENDING PAYLOAD, SPLASH 10 SECONDS.]


    "Good, then let''s go say hello~"


    While the two monster''s ICI found were being pelted with 204mm semi armour piercing high explosive incendiary ammunition fired from over the horizon, Lux made the call to approach and contact the Ta''ia she had received orders to save. Orbiting a few times around the castle it looked like the inhabitants had evacuated to, Lux chose to land a bit away from the outermost wall and walk up to the gate instead of doing anything which could be preserved as overly aggressive.


    "Form up on me, shoot to kill."


    [ORDER CONFIRMED. 4 REAPERS NOW OPERATING IN CONDITION BLACK,


    WEAPONS FREE.]


    As Lux prepared to disembark she was surrounded by 4 Reaper type drones who all took aim at the ramp of the CAS-7A and rushed out of the space plane the second it touched down to secure a perimeter.


    [CLEAR.]


    "Yeah, yeah. I''m moving."


    Not really a fan of the fact that drones had to constantly secure her, Lux wore a frown when she exited the CAS-7A, an expression she quickly fixed when she noticed she was being watched from the sky above.


    (Just keep smiling, my ass. The dragonkin above me is clearly considering if she should or shouldn''t to kill me¡­)


    While Lux reluctantly acted according to Dax''s ''handwritten'' rules of engagement for this current job, Grishu was observing her from above.


    (That must be who was responsible for the earlier attack on the monsters¡­ Looks like a normal humankin, although looks can be deceiving.)


    Narrowing her eyes while still remaining suspicious, Grishu activated a spell which allowed her to see the target''s mana.


    (No mana!? That can''t be true¡­ I guess I need to confirm her intentions myself.)


    Not able to make an assessment on her own, Grishu did what she had often recommended that her husband did when out on diplomatic missions: To trust one''s gut. Deactivating her flight spell, Grishu dropped down from the sky and landed in front of the strange humankin.


    "Welcome to the country of Ta''ai. Sadly we''re not currently able to accept guest so will have to ask you to leave."


    Starting out with a half polite, half threatening greeting, Grishu tried to judge the humankin on her reaction.


    "Yeah, I can see that, so is this where Xi is from?"


    But as the humankin responded to her greeting she learned nothing other than the fact that her opponent wore a perfect poker face where no emotions or intentions leaked trough.


    (What is this feeling?... Fear?)


    But even as the humankin told Grishu nothing with her tone of voice or facial expression, the dragonkin still felt a strange kind of unease when she looked into the humankin''s eyes.


    "Who are you? How do you know that name?"


    Gradually edging her one foot backwards, Grishu slowly took a position to strike as she asked the humankin the question. The humankin seemed to have noticed her attempt to prepare for battle, but instead of getting angry or aggressive a thin smile formed on her face.


    "My dad ran into her near Greendale. After some different things happened Xi and her knight Chad asked him to save their people, I am here to fulfil his part of the agreement."


    "Is XI okay?"


    "Yeah, although she was captured by the same people who were responsible for this current mana disaster your country is going through, my dad and Chad managed to save her. They are all on their way here now... Can we continue this talk somewhere more suitable, I don''t really want to talk over the sound of rifle fire unless I have to."


    "What do y-"


    As Grishu was about to ask what Lux meant by that, one of the Reaper drones sensed movement within its perimeter and opened fire, killing a crystal infected monster who was in the progress of sneaking up on her.


    "That''s what I mean."


    "Okay then¡­ I''ll be keeping my eyes on you."


    "Sure, that''s completely fine by me. ICI dismiss protective detail, fall back to line beta and await further instructions."


    [DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED. REAPER''S DISENGAGING, NOW MOVING TO EGRESS.]


    As the drones returned to the CAS-7A which immediately lifted off the ground and moved beyond the horizon, Lux followed behind Grishu as they both walked back towards the castle. Reaching their destination after a few minutes of silent travel, Grishu flew up on top of the outermost gate and turned around to address Lux.


    "Wait there for a second, I''ll get them to open the gate."


    "No need."


    Slightly bending her knees, Lux effortlessly jumped up on top of the 5 meter tall wall right in front of Grishu, gesturing for her to keep going.


    (She can''t possibly be some kind of mare humankin¡­)


    Deciding to aberrantly not underestimate the normal looking humankin, Grishu led her further into the Ta''ai''s last safe settlement.

 Chapter 211 - Mana disaster (2)

    "So, lady Grishu, do you understand the situation your people are in? The Empire has abandoned you and your people, using all of you as a testbed for a weaponized mana disaster. If you try and go to the nobles for help you''ll be silenced, if you go to any of the archangel sanctuaries your country will be purged in its entirety."


    "I do, extremely well, miss?"


    As soon as Grishu sat down with the strange humankin, she started laying out Grishu''s situation like she wasn''t aware of it herself.


    "My name is Lux. I''m sorry if I''m coming across as rude, but time is of the essence. If you''ll accept our help we''ll immediately render assistance and wipe out the monsters before helping to relocate your people."


    Presenting an extremely tempting offer, Grishu was about to accept the aid offered seemingly out of nowhere when she asked herself why Lux would just offer something like that.


    "... Just like that?"


    "Yeah, just like that. Although this is more about disadvantaging our mutual enemies and setting up for an eventual type 17 black operation. I won''t go as far as to say something like ''the enemy of my enemy is my friend'', but realistically this is your people''s last chance at survival. I''ll give you some time to think it over."


    Leaving Grishu behind Lux went out to walk around the castle, observing the situation as well as the people of the Ta''ai clan.


    (Surprisingly resilient¡­)


    Lux had expected the Ta''ai people to be in a rough state after having been stuck inside the castle and under siege for so long, but that seemed to not be the case. Children were playing and old folk were lazing around out in the sun, if anything it looked more like a national holiday than anything else.


    "Attack! South gate!"


    But in reality, it was more of a facade. It seemed like the civilians understood that if they panicked they would burden the people protecting them and thus they tried to remain calm.


    (The south gate?... I might as well.)


    Not one to pass up a fight Lux bloomed a bloodthirsty smile as she started running south, reaching the gate in a matter of seconds. Joined on the way by confused guards who struggled to understand what an unnamed humankin was doing heading towards a fight, some of them even tried to stop Lux, that is until they saw the look she had on her face.


    "Contact. 7 hostiles."


    Calling out her situation out of habit, Lux jumped over the southern gate and landed on the other side to find 7 opponents she hoped would alleviate a bit of her boredom.


    "Hey! What are you doing!?"


    Instead of choosing to answer the fl.u.s.tered guard Lux took a wide stance as she let all the air out of her lungs and closed her eyes as a crystal infected dire wolf charged her. With a sharp breath, Lux seemed to disappear from the guard''s sight as she left deep cracks in the dry earth below her, reappearing right in front of the dire wolf as she lowered her stance to get below the creature. Hitting the bottom part of the beasts jaw with an open palm, Lux crushed every bone in the monster''s skull while a truly horrific sound spread throughout the area. Chaining the open palm strike with a kick, Lux sent the now mangled corpse of the 400 kilo dire wolf flying into a nearby stone boulder where it splattered all over the place.


    (Splash 1.)


    Strengthening her core with another sharp inhale Lux jumped into the air towards a human like monster with crystals growing out of its eyes. Flipping twice in the air Lux landed on the creature''s shoulders, twisting a full rotation as she locked her feet around its head as she landed hands first on the ground and did a somersault and used the rotation she added to the severed head she still held between her feet to fling it towards another human like monster before she charged it. Closing the range in an instant Lux gripped the monsters right forearm, doing a quick twist to dislocate the elbow joint, then punched its palm and sent the Ulna bone flying like a stake into the creature''s head.


    (Splash 3, next.)


    With a quick scan of her eyes as while she breathed out, Lux scanned the area and planed out her attack on the last 4 monsters, then she took another sharp breath.


    "A-amazing¡­"


    While Lux was working her way through the monsters, the guards which had tried to stop Lux were at a loss for words. Not even 30 seconds had passed before all the monsters had been utterly annihilated and it had been all been done by a single unarmed humankin.


    "Shit¡­ I was supposed to make this last a little longer.


    Finding that not even a minute had passed since she got the idea to pass some of the time by waiting for Grishu to make a decision, Lux was tempted to arc back her head and start groaning at the sky, but in the end, she chose not to as she was currently on a diplomatic mission. Looking around at the havoc she had created Lux walked over to one of the dead monsters who was more or less in one piece, finding a nearby branch and using it to dig around in the creature''s head.


    (Looks like the crystalline structure has completely infected the host''s brain, destroying almost everything other than the motor cortex¡­ So it is some sort of parasite, in that case, what''s the delivery method?)


    "Please be careful doing that! Most people who have come in close contact with these creatures have gotten sick!"


    (So it''s some kind of airborne pathogen? Or does it rely on touch?)


    Mostly ignoring one of the guard''s warning, Lux chose to look closer at the monster''s mouth and claws. At first look, nothing was out of the ordinary, but when she looked closer and the sunlight hit in just the right way she noticed small and fragile crystal like growths were present on the monsters teeth, claws and in its saliva.


    "There it is¡­ So it''s depended on touch, although some of those seeds could float in the air and present a risk of infection in case of high enough doses¡­ That makes no sense."


    As a parasite, it was an ideal transmission vector. After taking over the mind of a host, the crystal parasite would make the host attack other animals and spread that way, but that was exactly the problem, this wasn''t a parasite, it was a bioweapon.


    (They must have put at least some amount of effort into creating this thing, in that case how do they stop it from infecting their own forces?... Selective immunity? No, that wouldn''t make sense as it''s not only dragonkin being infected, but also humans¡­)


    Thinking about it logically while drawing inspiration from other types of biological weapon systems she had encountered before, Lux started to have a rough idea about what this crystal parasite was and how it operated.


    (That''s seriously f.u.c.k.i.e.d up, even by my standards¡­)


    -


    As midday slowly turned to afternoon, Lux was contacted by Grishu trough one of the guards, it seemed like she had come to a conclusion. Making her way to their earlier meeting spot, Lux was pointed to another room where Grishu sat over a bedridden dragonkin.


    "Let me introduce you, this is Zao, my husband."


    "It''s a pleasure to meet you Zao, my name is Lux. I''ve come to render assistance to your people."


    Seeing that Grishu''s husband was unconscious, Lux still greeted him properly with a light bow out of respect while she introduced herself out of respect before continuing the topic at hand.


    "Lady Grishu, have you reached a decision?"


    "I have¡­ Please save my people, and my husband."


    Bowing deeply as she asked for help, Lux could feel Grishu''s desperation leak trough her graceful exterior, but she chose not to comment on it.


    "Then let''s get right to it. I need a large and open place to land materials, do you have anything which fits that description within the walls?"


    "I do, follow me."


    Leading the way, Grishu showed Lux to a plaza normally used for training guards but now occupied by tents for the evacuated civilians.


    "How is this?"


    "Perfect, how fast can it be cleared out?"


    "Within the hour."


    Working in sync Lux quickly made preparations with the help of lady Grishu, then after an hour, the landing zone was cleared out.


    "ICI primary LZ marked, commence operation. Secure LZ bravo and move to establish area security, I want a 2 click safe zone up and running within 10 minutes. Create a beachhead, drop the Scorpion''s in pattern delta 1 click out."


    [DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED. FIRST TEAM INBOUND, ETA: 30 SECONDS. SCORPIONS IN PLAY, NOW COMMENCING DE ORBIT BURN.]


    At Lux''s command serval units who had remained on standby woke up and commenced operation following her directives. Immediately a CAS-7A filled to the brim with Reaper drones and basic equipment created a sonic boom as it came in for a suicide burn, landing then dusting off within a matter of seconds as the drones deployed with utmost efficiency.


    [SQUARD 1 ON STATION, ESTABLISHING LANDING ZONE ALPHA.]


    Bringing with them Guardian-R04 small calibre railguns on pre prepared mounts the drones split up and quickly established firing positions on the castle''s outer wall while some of the others popped flares and threw them in predetermined locations around the cleared out area before they started laying out metal mats which hardened into plates that could support the weight of heavier crafts.


    [LANDING ZONE ALPHA ESTABLISHED.]


    "Good, bring in the generators next and hook them up to the R04''s I want continues fire to be a possibility within the next 5 minutes!"


    [ROGER.]


    While Lux continued setting up base, lady Grishu and her people were at a loss for words. Even if some of them had seen the craft Lux arrived in, they only believed a single one of them existed, let alone not tens of them, not to mention even larger crafts which started landing and unloading goods at a rapid pace.


    "Lady Grishu, please allow me to introduce you to the 125th combined ops orbital drop troopers, 459th expeditionary company of the Galactic Empire navy. You and your people are in good hands now, we''ll take it from here."

 Chapter 212 - Mana disaster (3)

    While Lux was setting up a forward operations base something woke up out in deep space.


    [ICI MASTER TO LOCALIZED COMMAND: SCORPIONS IN PLAY.


    AUTHENTICATION AS FOLLOWS: A331091 DELTA.


    CHECK SYSTEMS:


    SAS: ONLINE


    RCS: ONLINE


    SFR: ONLINE, RUNNING SILENT @ 2% OUTPUT, HEATSINK @ 0.32% CAPACITY


    204 MILL RAILGUN: ONLINE, MUNITIONS LOADED, MULTIPLE STAGE MAGAZINE AT MAX CAPACITY.


    8 MILL SECONDARIES: ONLINE, RESUPPLY SYSESSFULL.


    20 MILL SECONDARIES: ONLINE, RESUPPLY SYSESSFULL.


    ERA: LOADED AND SHIELDED.


    ALL PRIMARY SYSTEMS ONLINE AND REARMED, ICI REPORTS 6 UNITS READY FOR DEPLOYMENT, COMMENCING DE ORBIT BURN


    DEPLOYMENT PATTERN BETA.


    6 UNITS ON STATION, ETA: 32 MINUTES


    LOADOUT TYPE 8 ''MULTI ROLE AREA DOMINATION''.]


    Deploying from a cloaked station in high orbit, 6 shielded Guardian type 14 heavy infantry support ''Scorpion'' units started their atmospheric incursion while their onboard ICI units synchronized with the operational command net.


    "Ooo~ Neat. You guys will get to see something extremely awesome in a moment."


    Without explaining Dax got up from his seat where he was treating Xi''s injuries and looked upwards into the ceiling of the CAS-7A. At the same time, the roof turned into a single large monitor and displayed the thin air above.


    "What''s hap-..."


    As Xi turned to look up like Dax did she was at a momentary loss for words as she saw something truly strange. In the sky above them, a group of purple meteors was passing them from behind as they slowly bled off their altitude and speed.


    "Looks like initial guidance is good, and so is the active heatshield¡­ Except for number 3, it must have been hit by a micro meteor at some point doing storage."


    "W-what is that?"


    Finally getting her words out, Xi stared with an open mouth at the strange objects above her.


    "It''s reinforcements. They''re heading the same way we are, you can look at them in more detail then."


    Patting the ignorant Xi on the head Dax was about to turn off the monitor when he was almost tackled from behind.


    ""Why are they purple?""


    Turning around Dax found the two homunculi twins with eager looks in their eyes which made him think that they would keep asking him about it until they got an answer, or died of thirst, whichever came first.


    "It''s because of the active heat shielding. Each unit is pumping out highly compressed specialized gas out the bottom which heats up and ionizes due to the outside air friction, carrying heat away from the craft while insulating it."


    "But why isn''t it just immediately igniting?"


    "And how can the pump even overcome the outside pressure? What kind of mana formation is it using?"


    "Because highly compressed gas is insanely cold, and it''s not mana, that pump is powered by a fusion reactor. But that''s enough questions for now, I need to finish up treating Xi before we arrive."


    ---


    Meanwhile back on the ground in the last remaining sanctuary of the Ta''ai Lux had finished coordinating the last part of her advance team on the ground, now she just needed to prepare everything for when the main force arrived.


    "On me, shoot to kill. Keep the engineers close to me."


    [DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED.]


    Turning to lady Grishu and the rest of the guards Lux wore a thin smile as she waved in a light manner.


    "I''ll be right back, stay inside the wire."


    "Bu-"


    "No buts. Stay put Grishu, help will be there for your husband and the other sick people in about 10 minutes, but for that, I need to clear out a secondary landing site."


    Leaving with those words Lux made sure the gate was closed behind her as she took a rifle presented to her by one of the Reaper drones who formed a formation around her and some stripped down UGAV''s carrying a mix of explosives and other supplies. The very second Lux stepped outside the gates, monsters all infected with purple crystals started swarming her, but she barely reacted to them as the drones around her neutralized them without issue.


    (This area looks good, just as it did from the satellite footage.)


    About 800 meters from the castle was the area Lux was looking for, it was a shallow stone quarry with sparse vegetation and a few massive trees.


    "Set up here, establish area security."


    [ROGER, BREAKING FORMATION.]


    As time was of the essence, neither Lux nor the drones aimed for select fire or preserving ammunition as they quickly cleared out the monsters in the area. While the sounds of gunfire and screams of death were all around her, Lux started throwing specialized grenades into the deeper part of the quarry where stone had been dug out, as the grenades detonated they sprayed out a white foam which quickly expanded and hardened, flattening out the area.


    [STAND CLEAR, FIRE IN THE HOLE.]


    With a callout from ICI, some of the larger trees were blown apart by explosives as other Reaper drones not busy exterminating the local population of monsters started spreading out the same kind of stabilizing mats they had used inside the castle, slowly creating a large enough landing field to accommodate the massive GE-05 landing crafts which would do most of the heavy lifting doing the operation.


    -


    "... That should be the last of them."


    Shooting a human shaped monster''s leg off with her rifle, Lux watched it fall down into the last recognizable part of the quarry as she threw a pair of the specialized foam grenades after it. Looking around while the monster was being buried alive and sealed up with metal mats which quickly hardened on top of the foam, Lux admired her work as the first GE-05 transport appeared over the horizon. With a roar which one could feel inside their stomach, the first GE-05 used all 4 of its bus sized engines to decelerate as it came in for a landing while it folded up its gigantic wings to fit inside the 100 square meter landing area. Not even sparing the time to power down its engines the GE-05 lowered its cargo ramp and unloading immediately started. First came all the ready to deploy drones of different sizes and shapes hauling out scientific and chemical manufacturing equipment, then the live personal cloud finally disembark and stretch their legs.


    "The time is short people, satellites have already picked up signs of movement of the sanctuaries."


    Not wasting the time with a greeting, Lux immediately started on a briefing while gesturing her subordinates to follow her while she continued talking.


    "Iris I want you to take a look at some sick people infected with the bioweapon, Dax will be here within 2 hours together with two specialists, use however many drones and medical bays you need to stabilize all of them before that."


    "Understood."


    "We will take care of that."


    Answering in her usual flat manner while remaining completely without facial expression, Iris had a barely visible gleam in her eyes which told Lux she was taking the situation seriously.


    "Alice you''re on wire security, when your exoskeleton arrives I want you in that at all times to coordinate traffic and work communication together with Lilly."


    "Okay~"


    "Got it!"


    While Alice was still a bit nervous, a definite and steadfast determination was clearly visible in both her voice and expression. Even if she was not completely ready for active duty she had been entrusted with keeping the base safe and handling communications.


    "Lux, Mare, Terra and Solaris will be with me. We''ll be doing a bunch of different stuff including wiping out the large crystal infected monsters, collecting samples, setting up the contingency and a lot of other stuff. I hope all of you slept in while waiting in orbit, this is going to be a long 48 hours to come."


    "So what will Dax be doing while we work our asses off?"


    Trying to act cool and defying, Lilly failed to hide her intentions as her ears had a rosy tint and she was playing with her hair.


    "..."


    "Lewd."


    While Lux was at a momentary loss for words, Mare did at she had done a lot after learning from both Lux and Dax and spoke her mind without any regard for social stigmas.


    "W-w-what!? I''m not lewd! I''m asking a serious question!"


    While Lilly was steaming while trying to excuse her behaviour, Terra walked up to Lux and placed a hand on her shoulder and quietly whispered.


    "Please tell me Dax will spend some time with every one of the girls¡­"


    "Why?"


    "Because they are intolerable at the moment, like addicts severely craving their next dose."


    Both sharing a 100 yard stare for a single second, Lux realized how important it would be for Dax to at least talk a bit with the girls.


    "Yeah, I hear you¡­ I''ll send it up the food chain and see what happens."


    ---


    "Okay you two love birds, please separate a bit from each other. We''re landing now."


    Calling out to Chad and Xi who had been spending the time since they recovered in each other''s arms, Dax uncharacteristically felt his nerves acting up a tiny bit as the CAS-7A came in for final approach at landing site alpha.


    (Even after all this time I still haven''t found out what to do about Alice, Solaris and Lilly¡­ Some fine spec ops commander I am, getting scared over something like this.)


    (Ah, what a sweet smell~? Love is in the air~???)


    But as Dax was dealing with his own internal struggle, his cursed demon sword chose that very moment to poke fun at him.


    (Oi, do you want to turn into a piece of scrap metal? Because that can be arranged extremely fast.)


    Uncontrollably leaking bloodl.u.s.t Dax gripped the sword with an extreme amount of force while he formed a large smile on his face.


    (Ouch! Stop, please you''re bending me out of shape! How are you even that strong?! O-okay, I''m sorry! Let me offer you some real advice as an apology!)


    (You have 3 seconds. 3¡­ 2¡­-)


    (Okay! Okay! I get it!... Do you care for them, the girls that so openly declared their affection for you? If yes then stop worrying so much about the entire thing, spend some time with them, interact in a way that you feel is an honest representation of yourself.)


    (... Is that really okay?)


    With Dax''s bloodl.u.s.t evaporating like the morning dew, Chad finally felt like he was able to breathe again. While he didn''t know what had just happened, he was absolutely sure he didn''t want to find out.


    (Yeah it''s fine, don''t worry so much about it~? If they really came to have feelings for you, then they liked you as you are. No need to be overly adapting to make sure you''re perfect, you mortals take this entire ''love'' affair too seriously~ Just go with the flow and you''ll be fine.)


    (Okay. I''ll try that out, but the mission comes first. If we f.u.c.k up this operation then it''s an outright war with the Empire and their sanctuaries.)

 Chapter 213 - Mana disaster (4)

    [AROBREAKE COMPETE, COMMENCING FINAL LANDING SEQUENCE. PURGING HEAT SHIELDING.]


    With a series of sonic booms, the Scorpion units started the final part of their atmospheric insertion and started slowing down only about 50 meters above ground level and fired a series of external reaction control thrusters and spread out in formation as they crashed into the forest and pains surrounding the Ta''ai castle.


    [SYSTEMS ONLINE, WEAPONS FREE.]


    Mapping the surrounding area with a series of LIDAR''s, unit 1 let out a low growl as it came alive and started crawling out of its crater using 3 pairs of solidly reinforced machine legs.


    [TARGETS.]


    Having received operational directives before it deployed just like its brothers and sisters, unit 1 was clear to engage at its own discretion, and so it did.


    [MULTIPLE TARGETS ACQUIRED, SATUATING TARGET AREA, AIRBURST.]


    Opening up its massive claws normally used for everything from clearing out debris to crushing crew compartments in less advanced combat vehicles, unit 1 revealed a series of 20 millimeter machine canons with their own individual targeting units inside and opened fire on the crystal infected monsters which had been drawn to its location. Wreaking havoc as the 20 mills loaded with proximity fuse shells fired in a synchronized manner and turned most of the monsters into a brown red-ish liquid which blended together with the surrounding dirt and mud hellscape around it, unit 1 linked into the overall operation ICI architecture and established a connection with overhead operational tasking and surveillance drones to learn of its prime directives.


    [FIRE MISSION ACQUIRED. NOW TASKING¡­ SPOOLING UP 204 MILL FOR STRIKE PACKAGE.]


    Fitting in while working with and around the overall mission, the assets the Scorpion unit was not currently using were tasked for other needs.


    [FIRE MISSION RECEIVED.


    RANGE: 5.015 METERS.


    RELATIVE GRID: 03 A 01.


    LOAD 204 MILL SAPHEI


    FIRE AT WILL.]


    Raising up its aft turret (tail) housing a high calibre railgun, unit 1 continued on its rampage while gradually establishing an outer perimeter net.


    ---


    "We''re leaving the plane in a few seconds! Don''t stop moving until I tell you as it will not stay on the ground longer than a few seconds!"


    Speaking over the roaring sound of the CAS-7A''s engines, Dax explained exactly what was going to happen, partly because he didn''t want to drag people away from the busy landing zone, but also because he really didn''t want to see someone getting melted by a VASIMR plasma thruster again. As the CAS-7A landed inside the Ta''ai castle, Dax guided Chad, Xi and the two homunculi twins away from the craft as it ramped up its engines once more and lifted off at the maximum factory designated stress factor.


    "Chad and Xi go say hello to lady Grishu, she''s in her personal room together with Zao who  is currently unconscious."


    "O-okay, let''s go Chad."


    "Yeah, thanks for doing this Dax."


    Waving goodbye to the knight and princess pair for the time being, Dax waited a few seconds before turning his attention to the twins.


    "If you want to learn from me, you both need to do your parts and help out."


    "Of course."


    "We''ll assist in any way we can in exchange for knowledge."


    Having the twins to need a bit more convincing, Dax was momentarily taken back, but he quickly adapted.


    "That''s the right attitude~ Follow after Xi, when she gets where she''s going you''ll meet a young girl with long hair and clear eyes. Do what she says and help with treating the sick people here, I''ll get back to the two of you when I''m done with this operation."


    ""Understood.""


    (They might come to be extremely reliable subordinates in the future¡­ But before that they need new names, I can''t keep calling them ''you two'' or 01 and 02.)


    Looking around the castle for a few seconds as he familiarized himself with the layout and Lux''s deployment of defences Dax was brought up to speed through the neural downlink located in his cybernetic spine.


    "So Lux and co are out hunting for samples while dealing with the contingency plan¡­ Which would leave just Lilly and Alice here, that explains the slightly nervous stare I''ve felt on me ever since setting foot here."


    Speaking loudly to himself, Dax suddenly disappeared from his stalkers sight, stealthily reappearing right behind them with a large grin on his face.


    "Boo~"


    "Kyaa!"


    Having made sure he had moved right next to Lilly''s ear Dax''s grin grew even wider as he placed his head on her shoulder.


    "So, what are you doing?~"


    "Eh?- Em¡­ I-I was-"


    "It is good to see you again Lilly, let''s go some catching up after this mission is over."


    Patting Lilly on the head Dax went on with the operation, leaving a very confused red haired elver behind.


    "What was that all about?"


    -


    "Solaris cover me!"


    "On it!"


    Moving mana through her body, Solaris created a lightning spell and threw it towards a crystal infected monster.


    "They just keep coming! Lux, we need that air support now!"


    Having made their way towards the small village where the first case of the crystal infection happened, Lux, Solaris, Mare and Terra had run into a new issue, guns no longer worked to kill the monsters they faced. Instead of the vaguely humanoid or beasts with sparse crystalline growth around their heads, these creatures had almost the entirety of their vitals covered in a thick layer of purple crystals which acted as high strength body armour as they mindlessly charged at anything alive.


    "CAS inbound hot, 30 seconds! Switch to CQC, Mare!"


    "Got it!"


    With Lux and Mare drawing bayonets and abandoning their rifles, the two of them went on the offensive to buy precious needed time. Ever since the fall of the magic academy, Mare had been honing her skills with the help of Dax and Lux, now she finally had the time to use them.


    (You first.)


    Closing range instantly Mare made use of her short figure to get below one of the monsters, then she used her momentum and the strength in her legs and core as she drove the bayonet into the monster''s heart with both her arms, pressing a button on the hilt of her weapon at the same time. With a sharp hiss, a blast of molten copper alloy shot out multiple vents in Mare''s blade and created truly horrific internal trauma which instantly killed the monster.


    "Next!"


    Pulling out the blade and flicking off any remaining blood and or remaining superheated metal, Mare ejected the spent casing from her anti drone bayonet and continued her assault together with Lux.


    (So f.u.c.k.i.n.g slow! If only they weren''t so hard to incapacitate¡­)


    While Mare made sure to kill each of the monsters she faced while receiving plenty of cover fire from Solaris and Terra, Lux had the strength and experience to not be bothered with needing such things. Aiming for joints, eyes or other exposed areas Lux surgically disabled or outright killed monsters that came within her strike range, but still, the ground was quickly shrinking beneath her feet.


    "Finally! Danger close!"


    But hearing the faint sound of close air support drones Lux retreated together with Mare and opened up the distance, just in time as the monsters were pelted with anti tank rockets.


    "... T-that was way too close¡­"


    Feeling cold sweat run down her back Terra sat down on the ground and took the chance to breathe properly for the first time in what felt like forever.


    "Get up, we''re moving!"


    "B-"


    "No buts! Orbital marines sleep when they''re dead, not before."


    (She really is a demon¡­)


    With the help of the Hornet air support drones and Lux''s dedication to the mission, the group reached their destination in the middle of the operations first night.


    "This is the place. Pop flares and establish area security, the aerial extract will be here in 10 minutes."


    ""Haaa¡­""


    Realizing that they finally had a short break until the CAS-7A arrived, or the drones which held the area around them needed help with killing some monsters, Terra and Solaris released a collective sigh while Mare just laid down flat on the ground.


    "If we''re flying back why couldn''t we just fly out here?"


    When Solaris finally felt some blood return to her head she made an extremely valid point which made all eyes focus on Lux as a silent pressure build.


    "Because we''re at transport capacity bringing in all the equipment we need for the operation."


    Assessing the conversation was over Lux let the girls rest while she explored the village. All around the place laid crystal infected corpses of all different races, but more of them were from the village inhabitants than monsters, leading Lux to believe that the weapon consumed mana rich lifeforms like monsters more slowly.


    (Seems like this is exactly what I believed it to be¡­ F.u.c.k.)


    For once Lux really hoped her intuition would turn out to be wrong, but when she laid eyes on what was believed to be the carrier of the bioweapon, Lux truly felt sick to her stomach. Almost torn in half, a young knight laid on his bed with a truly massive crystal growing out of his chest, reaching several meters into the air. Scars from clawing, the state of the hands of the youth as well as his eyes which still remained open told Lux everything she needed to know. Used as fertilizer, the young knight had been made partially immune to the disease he had suffered until long after all his friends and family around him were already long dead, then he died alone and in misery.


    "All this effort and suffering for something so meaningless¡­ Now I am really glad Dax made the sick f.u.c.k how did something like this suffer."


    Looking at the corpses inside the youths room Lux realized the true meaning behind this man made mana disaster was. After the crystalline parasite had infected the host''s brain and obtained complete control, it looked for healthy beings to infect for a while, but as the crystal continued growing the host''s body eventually started to fail, that''s when the second phase would start. Slowly and over the course of weeks, the crystal would continue to grow as it sucked out the host''s mana, eventually leading to death at the same time as a large high purity mana crystal would have grown out of the host and was ready for harvest.


    "This wasn''t a f.u.c.k.i.n.g attack, it was a controlled and deliberate operation conducted to collect high purity mana crystals."

 Chapter 214 - Mana disaster (5) *Updated*

    "... What did you say? I think I must have misheard."


    "I''m sorry, but you didn''t. Your people were sacrificed and subjected to such terrible deaths only to make mana stones."


    Being the one to bring the terrible news to lady Grishu, Xi and Chad, Dax kept a completely blank expression as he slowly and clearly told them about the findings Lux had made while she observed.


    "All this suffering, for something so trivial?... Why?"


    "Most likely because of me."


    Directing the source of their anger to himself still while remaining completely without any expression, Dax continued explaining in a calm tone of voice.


    "I''m a threat to the Empire which suddenly appeared out of nowhere, as they needed to suddenly increase their fighting capabilities while expanding their standing army, all options to secure resupply were considered¡­ It was actually a quite logical response, to be honest."


    As if something snapped inside her as she heard that, Grishu flapped her wings as she gathered the ambient mana around her and charged at Dax in a fit of rage.


    "Logical!? Do you have any idea how much we suffered!?"


    Creating a sword out of a bright red crystal, Grishu overworked her fatigued body as she slashed at Dax with deadly intent. Instead of catching or blocking the blade he took a half step to the side as Grishu committed, evading the strike with minimal effort Dax avoided the blade hitting anything vital before he simply grasped the blade with his bare hand, completely ignoring the blade as it dug into his hand.


    "Yeah, I do. But as the person I need to be right now I can''t have something as trivial as emotions affecting my judgement at this time."


    Releasing his grip on Grishu''s blade when he had confirmed she had calmed down to a point where she wouldn''t strike at him once more, Dax silently checked on the function of his injured hand, finding it to be fully operational as he left the room.


    "Haaa¡­ That was scary."


    Only when Dax finally left the room did Lux seem to start breathing once more as she wiped the building sweat off her face.


    "Please don''t ever do that again, Dax has an extremely short fuse when something has already ticked him off."


    "Angry! I''m the one-"


    "Lady Grishu, he was just about to kill you."


    Being more experienced in dealing with Dax''s temperaments than Grishu, Chad was bathed in a cold sweat as he spoke in an unsteady and shaking voice which made lady Grishu realize that he was speaking the truth.


    "Yeah, qiton''s a generally terrifying, but if there''s anything you need to fear then it''s a calm looking one. The more pissed off they are, the calmer they appear on the outside."


    "That''s-"


    "Impossible? Or were you about to say strange? Qiton''s are made for the express purpose of fighting wars, so their brains are wired differently. Well, that''s just something to think about in the future, I look forward to a long and cooperative relationship between the Ta''ai people and our organization. The relocation will start in half an hour, make sure your people are ready then."


    Wanting to make sure Dax didn''t smash anything too important due to his rage, Lux turned to leave when she remembered something and her blank expression turned into a grin.


    "Oh, right. Chad and Xi have something to tell you, good luck you two~"


    "Wha!-"


    "T-that''s!-"


    Making both Chad and Xi blush heavily as they involuntarily reveal what she was hinting at, Lux''s grin turned full as she finally left the new family alone to talk things over.


    "Now, where did Dax go?... Over there."


    Connecting for a split second to the ICI network, Lux quickly located Dax''s IFF beacon and hurried over to the outer wall, only to find something unexpected.


    "..."


    "Ehehehe~"


    Feeling the onset of a sudden headache Lux took a deep breath as she massaged both of her temples, then took another deep breath before finally asking.


    "Um, Dad?"


    "Yeah?"


    "What the f.u.c.k is going on here?"


    "I would like to know that as well, it all sort of just happened."


    While the phrase ''surrounded by flowers'' might always have sounded a bit pretentious in Lux''s mind, right at this current moment, it was exactly what was happening. With Solaris sitting to his left and hugging Dax''s side while letting out sounds like a love struck middle schooler while her wings were flapping so fast they were turning into a blur, Alice sitting to his right with a completely flushed face as Dax patted her head with careful motions and finally, Lilly sitting in Dax''s lap with a smug expression on her face as the tips of her ears were almost steaming red, Lux felt at a complete loss for words.


    "No, for real through. How did this happen?"


    "Well I was out here colling my head and they sort of just flocked to me out of nowhere."


    "Okay then¡­ Dax."


    Hardly able to accept the current situation, Lux seemed to zone out for a short moment before a proximity alert snapped her out of it.


    "Yeah I see it, sorry I need to get back to it."


    "Eh, wai-"


    Before Lilly even managed to complain Dax had removed her from his lap, then he jumped down from the wall and after a brief delay to time it correctly he jumped up and latched on to a passing CAS-7A and disappeared off into the distance.


    "We need to get to it again, take up defensive positions, we''re going to have company in a moment. Solaris I need you up high, Lilly and Alice go find Terra, move out to the secondary landing zone and secure it immediately."


    Sensing the sudden urgency in Lux''s voice as she had completely killed her emotions and went into full combat mode, none of the girls doubted her commands as they got to it immediately.


    "Got it, I''m going!"


    Collecting a massive amount of mana in her wings, Solaris put on her Reaper''s mask as she shot off into the sky, quickly disappearing from sight, at the same time Lilly and Alice also sprang into action and jumped out over the outer wall without hesitation. Creating a wind magic spell, Lilly killed most of her vertical speed and increased her horizontal as she went into a full on mana enhanced sprint. Alice chose to rely on technology rather than her vastly enhanced body as she was caught mid air by her exoskeleton which she had gotten rather skilled at operating remotely, entering the suit mid air as its boosters lit up and started a low glide over the ground towards the secondary landing site where the GE-05''s landed.


    "... Dax really found some great subordinates. How does he keep doing that?"


    Reminiscing for a short moment as a series of Viper cruise missiles were launched behind her, Lux had a thin smile on his face for a moment before returning to the task at hand.


    "ICI confirm strike mission, task 540 mills for ultra long range terrestrial type strike, send mana disruption payloads in creeping wave fire pattern on relative coordinates +01 +29 -11, dispersion level 19."


    [FIRE ORDER RECEIVED, COMMENCING BOMBARDMENT.]


    "Hopefully that buys enough time for you Iris, it''s all on you now¡­"


    -


    "Show us the spell formation again."


    "And modify the base element, we want to isolate the fourth layer in the formation."


    "Got it."


    "02, work on stabilizing some more patients in the meantime, you know how the med bays work by now right?"


    "I do, they are extremely fascinating."


    Inside a tent set up in the middle of the Ta''ai castle, Iris was currently working at the most important part of the operation: Gaining an understanding of the crystal parasite by making a perfect copy. To that end, she was working closely with the homunculi twins 01 and 02 as they were what one could describe as subject matter experts, having created the parasite themselves. After having finished up analysing the base from and samples collected from the field, Iris now tried to exploit a suspected weakness in the spell''s fourth layer which was not an easy task as the formation itself had over 900 layers. Luckily those kind of problems were perfect for Iris as she had an insanely high aptitude for lateral thinking due to the subprocessor which had been installed in her spine just after birth, allowing her brain to develop while depending on its advantages.


    "Like this?"


    Creating the extremely complex spell formation from memory, the homunculi 01 extended out her claws as she created a compound spell so complex that its overlapping runic formations made it look like a black sphere.


    "Yeah, that''s perfect."


    "As we suspected there''s something wrong with that layer."


    "Why is it so sloppy when it''s integral to forming the crystalline structure?"


    "Because the old master was busy with some other project when he was made to do this instead."


    "Ah, well that works out perfect for us."


    "The unmodified biological mind really is something sloppy by nature."


    "Good thing that race''s like Dax''s creators were smart enough to improve upon the design."


    Having found an exploit she could work with, Iris started using the massive server farm which had been transported on site to test her results.


    "Wait, was Dax created?"


    "Yeah, just like you and your sister."


    "His creators were just way smarter."


    "Instead of improving in an already flawed formation, they created something from scratch."


    "And as far as I know, qiton''s were not the only race they created."


    "So that''s why¡­"


    Having learned that their new master was a type of homunculi just like herself, something slowly started to change within 01, suddenly the words he spoke to her and her sister inside that dark room held an entirely new meaning.


    (What is this?... I thought my old master completely removed that functionality from us. It seems he really was a fool.)

 Chapter 215 - Mana disaster (6)

    [I found what we were looking for.]


    "Ooo~ Is that so? Good job Iris, start packing up and sent the formula to ICI. I''ll be back in a bit."


    Having received good news from Iris, Dax formed a thin smile as he exited the CAS-7A which had landed in the middle of a barren grass field.


    "How good to see you again lady Eos, if I can call you that."


    "... Well, seeing as you already did, there''s nothing to do about it."


    With a single flick of her hand, Eos created an elaborate throne made out of pure mana crystal which she sat down on in a graceful manner while some dirt made a tiny stump in front of Dax.


    "Take a seat."


    "No thanks, I''m good standing. So what is all this about?"


    Crossing his hands as the CAS-7A quietly lifted off the ground behind him, Dax waited for Eos to get to the point. In response to Dax''s attitude, Eos was quite annoyed as she formulated a gravity spell formation under the demonkin and increased the gravity serval folds in order to make him kneel.


    "Why don''t you kneel first?"


    "Nah, can we stop this d.i.c.k measuring power contest already? I have other stuff to do."


    (ICI fire mission, single type HVT elimination. Use the 540 mills.)


    (DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED, TARGET ACQUIRED. WAITING FOR AUTHENTICATION.)


    Having a brief staring contest, both Eos and Dax mentally prepared for a long and bloody fight to the death while both of them were smiling at each other.


    "Okay then, the 22nd sanctuary want to know your future intentions."


    Backing off slightly, Eos took a relaxed pose in her throne as she stopped supplying multiple offensive spells with mana. In response, Dax also calmed down slightly as he called for the hidden drones all around them to back off.


    "I want what''s mine. If the Empire freely gives up the FTL drive of my craft which landed inside the Empire''s borders and the return of any and all technology belonging to me I''ll size all offensive operations."


    "... Is that really all?"


    "Yeah, it is. But I believe I''ve already sent countless envoys to the Emperor saying as much, of course, they have all but been ignored as he enjoys the protection of multiple sanctuaries and believes himself outside of my reach."


    "Well, isn''t it exactly what he is?"


    Showing a smug smile, Eos believed she had Dax where she wanted him, little did she know it couldn''t be further from the truth.


    "Not really no, I just haven''t gotten tired enough of this game yet. The only reason why I haven''t just started openly nuking everything is because of the goodness of my heart, that can change at any moment. You people look at us and see we lack mana, naively thinking we''re weak because of that, but in all honesty, I''m just waiting for the point anyone does something which allows me to bring the full extent of my equipment to bare¡­ The real question is how the 22nd sanctuary will align when that finally happens."


    "... I am in no position to make a comment on that."


    (Oh, but you did just answer my question~)


    The way Eos answered the question told Dax everything he needed to know, allowing Dax to go ahead with several different plans to weaken the Empire without a direct confrontation. If things worked out as he believed they could, there was a chance he could split the Empire apart.


    "But that''s all something we can discuss another day. I''m out here in the fringes of the Empire to recruit personal that the Empire has forsaken, interfere and I will retract my earlier promise to leave the 22nd sanctuary alone. Your choice."


    "Ha, what could you-"


    While Eos took a relaxed expression, Dax pressed his attack as he realized he had the archangel exactly where he wanted her.


    "Most of your combat forces are already here, that means the sanctuary is mostly unguarded. I wonder how many tactical class weapons of mass destruction I would have to expend to reduce the entire area to a heap of molten glass? I''m guessing it''s less than what I currently have ready to fire."


    "There''s no-"


    "But are you absolutely sure you want to take that bet? Especially when I do exactly what I said I wanted to do and your surviving subordinates learned that you went to war just because of some dragonkin nobody in the Empire cares about? I''m pretty sure they''ll eat you alive."


    (Realize when you are beaten and give it up, that way you can still save face and we''ll have a chance at being friends when the Empire falls apart.)


    For the first time doing their conversation, Dax let a smile show on his face as he waited for Eos to respond and back off.


    "Fine¡­ We''ll be watching you."


    "Of course you will~ I expect nothing less."


    As Eos dissolved her throne and got up on her feet and was turning to leave, it appeared she suddenly had remembered something.


    "But there are still other sanctuaries heading towards your subordinates."


    "Yeah there is, will it be an issue if we kill them all?"


    "Yeah it will, they''re precious allies of the 22nd after all."


    Leaving with those words, Eos'' tone of voice told Dax that he could go right ahead and massacre them all, it seemed that the allied sanctuaries of the Empire were not as united as it seemed from the outside.


    "Well, that works out perfectly. ICI get me out of here."


    Looking into the sky the way Eos had left while the CAS-7A landed behind him, Dax formed a large bloodthirsty smile.


    "This is command addressing all units: Engage and destroy all remaining hostiles, no mercy."


    ---


    "Evacuation is a go! Mare, Solaris get the VIP''s to the secondary landing site and out of the area. Lilly, Alice secure the site, I''ll deal with the flies that are swarming towards this place. Iris, get all the equipment you can out within the next 10 minutes and torch the rest."


    Having received the go ahead to engage and destroy all hostiles in the area at the same time as the time for the evacuation started, Lux and her subordinates went into action.


    "Okay, time to move people! We''ll protect you but we need to move now!"


    Floating into the air above the first group of Ta''ai citizens, Solaris did her best to seem reliable as she spread out her glowing wings and spoke in a dignified tone of voice. Meanwhile, Mare took a more silent approach as she jumped up on the outer wall and took aim, shooting dead any nearby crystal infected monsters as the gate opened. As the evacuation started picking up speed, so did the attempts at stopping it.


    "Bring up the flank! Don''t let them get aw- Arg!"


    Unluckily for the angels belonging to several different sanctuaries of the Empire, Lux was their opponent. Against opponents who couldn''t deal with attacks coming from over the horizon without relying on slow and predictable magic attacks, it turned out to be more of a slaughter than a fight, although Lux had to deplete a significant part of the stockpiled monitions to achieve such a result. In the end, the evacuation of the surviving Ta''ai people went on without any major problems (except for some of them who panicked when they saw the massive space planes landed) and within the day they were all relocated to the village where some of the survivors of the incident magic academy still remained.


    -


    "Ghahahaha! Thanks for doing all this for us, I really appreciate it!"


    As Zhao took another large swig of his glass, the two and a half meter tall dragonkin started laughing so loud that the walls slightly shook while hitting his own knee with a closed fist and demonstrated his truly inhuman power at the same time.


    "Oh don''t thank me, thank your daughter! She''s the one who made me unable to decline her request. Now, less talking and more drinking!"


    "Yes! You really are a genius, Dax!"


    "Of course I am!~"


    "... How long has it been since Zhao woke up?"


    Having finished her inspection, Lux walked in on something that made her briefly at a loss for words the same way Xi felt, both of them having extremely tired expressions.


    "3 hours."


    "... And how long has it been since they started drinking like this?"


    "Just under 3 hours."


    Apparently Xi and her mother Girshu had returned to check up on Zhao who had recently recovered from his injury, only to find the dragonkin drinking together with Dax and already on their 3rd bottle of high proof alcohol.


    "Still! You really did quite a number on that lad of ours! Even if I haven''t seen him training yet I can immediately tell that he''s no longer afraid of death."


    "Yeah that kid sure was a rough gemstone when I first saw him, the talent was already there, I just polished him a little bit. Now he has really just taken the first step, over the next hundred years he''ll shine brightly."


    "A hundred years!? Ghahaha! give me 50 years and I''ll have him shining better than you ever could!"


    "Yeah right, sure! With that fluffy kind of martial arts, I''ll be surprised if he can even kill a kitten. The only real way forward is qiton martial arts!"


    "What was that!?"


    "You heard me reptile, I said the basis for your pride is shit~"


    But all of a sudden the mary mood came to an immediate end, at least for one of the participants as Dax was still having a grand old time.


    (Oh f.u.c.k¡­)


    Realizing what was about to happen, Lux quickly scanned the room for any valuables which were about to be broken, sadly she was too slow.


    "What did you just say!"


    Standing up faster than he should have in his condition, Zhao struck Dax with a straight right in the face, making him fall to the floor.


    "Oh, you''re on!"


    Shaking his head, Dax got back on his feet as he charged at Zhao, immediately running him through the outer wall with a smile on his face.


    "Dad!"


    Worried about her recently recovered farther, Xi ran out the hole Dax had created to find both of the grown men in the dirt laughing.


    "Eh?"


    "Ghahaha! That was one hell of a tackle!"


    "Hahahaha! Yeah, it was! that hook of yours wasn''t half bad either! It seems like I still have a lot of things to learn."


    Suddenly acting like old time friends after beating the shit out of each other, Xi was extremely confused. Meanwhile, Lux took a deep breath as she suddenly got an even more tied look in her eyes.


    "They''re just playing around¡­ Dad, I need to talk with you!"


    Tring to get trough to Dax Lux walked over to him as he was rolling around on the ground with his new best drinking buddy.


    "Yeah I know, I''ve seen the report. I know we''re f.u.c.k.i.e.d no matter what we''re doing."


    "Then!-"


    "In that case let me have this, we can talk after."


    "... Okay. You have 24 hours."

 Chapter 216 - Complications

    Standing in the middle of what had up until a few months ago been a vibrant town, the empire''s minister of magic found herself in an extremely unhappy mood as she picked up something from the ground.


    "... What the hell is this?"


    Examining the brittle dull crystal she picked up, the archangel minister applied the tiniest bit of force to it and watched as it cracked apart while her calm and collected demeanour did the same. Letting an extreme amount of mana bloom out from her wings as her rage started flowing out freely.


    "Useless¡­"


    "Miss minister of magic?


    "F.u.c.k.i.n.g useless!"


    In a fit of rage, the minister corrupted the area around her as her subordinates which were near her died screaming and in pain and agony.


    "AFTER ALL THIS F.U.C.K.I.N.G EFFORT!"


    All around her the mana stones which were supposed to have been ripe for harvest, reduced to useless trash. The mistake was as obvious as it was enraging, she should have done the job herself instead of leaving it to one of her useless subordinates which had been assassinated when the factory he was assigned to was destroyed. Stamping her foot down, the minister dug it a good few centimetres into the compressed stone as cracks spread out beneath her.


    "GETTING SO F.U.C.K.I.N.G CLOSE, AND THEN NOTHING!"


    The operation was supposed to have been perfect, the Empire would have exchanged a useless fringe state with multiple years worth of clean mana stones, a vital strategic resource needed to face their new opponent.


    "REDUCED TO NOTHING!"


    But now they had lost both and gained nothing. Worse yet the surviving Ta''ai people had most likely been recruited by the enemy, they would no doubt come to be strong allies facing her in the upcoming conflict. In other words, she had been completely defeated and utterly humiliated.


    "BY THOSE WEAK AND INSIGNIFICANT CREATURES!? I WILL TEAR THEM ALL APART WITH MY BARE HANDS!"


    Activating an offensive spell formation engraved in her skin, the minister''s eyes glowed pure red as destruction on an apocalyptic scale spread around her.


    -


    "Why are we all here?... I understand those 3, but why us too?"


    Gathered in the middle Dax''s compound, not only Solaris, Lilly and Alice but also Mare, Iris and Lux all waited for what Dax was going to say.


    "We''re all here because there has been a complication with my long term plans. That complication will come to alter how I will be moving forward. Because of that, I''m giving everyone here the chance to walk away without any repercussions¡­. Okay then, allow me to continue."


    Instead of the numerous complaints he had been expecting, Dax was met with silence and even a smile from Lilly which urged him to continue.


    "This is us for reference."


    Pointing behind him, a hologram showed a mirror of the room Dax was currently inside before it started zooming out at a rapid pace.


    "And this is the planet where we''re currently located¡­ And in turn the star system."


    Having zoomed out all the way, the hologram currently showed the larger star system in its entirety as Dax continued.


    "It is important to note that there is an almost endless amount of star systems just like this one, most of them in turn orbit around a single galactic core, or a supermassive black hole."


    Showing a render of the entire galaxy with its countless stars, neutron stars, black holes, star cl.u.s.ters and nebula, Dax saw how Mare''s eyes were slowly losing focus and thus moved quickly on as to get to the point while she was still conscious.


    "For the information I need to share, we can forget about most of the normal systems in the galaxies and just focus on their cores. These supermassive black holes are how my people find out where they are inside the populated supercl.u.s.ter where the Galactic Empire is located and we know the surrounding galaxies quite well, even if we have never been there¡­. The point I''m trying to make is, this place is conclusively not part of the plane of existence Lux and I are from. As it stands right now we have no way to get home, no way to return to the fight we left behind."


    For a moment, most of the people present saw Dax truly looking defeated for the first time ever. Since coming to this world, Dax had suffered immensely. He lost limbs, cursed, blown up and cut to pieces but he had still not given in, but this time was different.


    "As it stands right now, that means we need to figure out a new way to get home and fast."


    Taking over for Dax, Lux started explaining with a blank expression.


    "Which means we''ll need the FTL drive from our craft which carried us here in the first place to develop a method to get home. Our original plan for doing that was to slowly outpace the Empire economically while forcing them to waste their resources, then either confront them in a direct fight or cut a deal, but that''ll take too much time so instead, we''ll resort to cruel warfare."


    "Cruel warfare?"


    Just hearing that phrase made Solaris uneasy, she knew full well how dealy the tools of war from Lux''s and Dax''s world were and how much destruction they could unleash if their restrictions for use were lessened or outright removed.


    "Types of warfare that are illegal or otherwise outlawed in the Galactic navy war doctrine and carry penalties ranging anywhere from demotion and fines all the way to execution and jail time under the Imperial galactic law."


    "Of course it goes without saying that I''ll be the only one punished after leaving this rock and exterminating the Emergence will be me alone as I''m the commander."


    Letting that sink in for a moment, Dax was about to continue his explanation when Lilly burst into tears.


    "So you are planning to commit suicide!? Then go right ahead and kill yourself, see if I care!"


    "... Well, shit."


    Looking around Dax realized that the other people still present felt the same way as Lilly and took a deep breath as he scratched the back of his head.


    "No, I don''t have any plans to do anything that will warrant my execution when I return to the Empire, but I''ll most likely be demoted and put in jail for some time¡­. Although there''s a decent chance that things won''t come to that, as we have some family on the other side that I bet are working on getting us home, namely so they can beat the shit out of me."


    "Yeah, yeah. Go explain things properly to Lilly or will break your kneecaps~"


    "Yes ma''am."


    ---


    While Dax had a wry smile on his face as he talked about the Avoaxian sisters there was a cold sweat dripping down his back at the same time, he was sure that if/when he returned he would be in for a truly agonizing experience, he had no idea how right he was.


    "When I finally get my hands on him I think I''ll dip him in a vat of acid¡­"


    Speaking to no one in particular while staring without focus at one of the countless screens in front of her, Ra slowly felt the last few months worth of frustrations pile up. While Ra and her sister Mu had all the processing power they ever needed and detailed scans of the event, replicating it was another entirely different kind of issue, something which required inventing entirely new fields of study to even understand. Normally something like that wouldn''t really be an issue, but more pressing issues like the Emergence invasion meant that the sisters were working under time constraints, currently, it had been well over 10 years since any of them had taken a moment to rest or sleep while juggling other projects at the same time.


    "A vat of acid is way too kind. When I see Dax I''ll make one of my new contractions capture him and rip him apart at a cellular level."


    "No designing new drones now, it''s a waste of processing power when we''re already finalized designs for the next 5 generations¡­. How are you doing with the N generation supercapacitors?"


    "Hit a bottleneck so now I''m running server sims on new heat exchangers while trying to supercharge that generator we made for that planet killer prototype. It is by far the only power supply that can hold up to the stress while delivering the needed power generation levels."


    "Ah, that one? How is it going?"


    "I''ve blown it up along with a few star systems about 90 times so far, so it''s going good."


    "Simulated or real star systems?"


    "What''s even the difference at this point?"


    "... No idea..."


    -


    As the two sisters had well and truly started losing grip on reality, a Lazarus transport started docking at their top secret asteroid facility. Along with new processing cores for broken down servers and essential food replacement nutrient packs, the state of the art craft also carried a single person with it.


    "God I hope those two abominations haven''t completely lost grip on reality¡­"


    Speaking a bit sarcastically to herself, Philippa had seriously considered the possibility that the chance that the two Avoaxian sisters might have completely abandoned all hope.


    "Anybody still alive in here?"


    "Kind of alive."


    "If you count this kind of existence as alive."


    "I brought ice cream."


    ""Praise the saviour!""


    Moving faster than they had done for the entirety of the last decade, Ra and Mu swarmed Philippa as they enjoyed their first break from their constant work and updated Philippa on their progress.


    "So, how is it going?"


    "We''ve completed the CDT drive and most of the craft already."


    "And tested it too.


    "Really?!"


    Having expected that they were still in the theoretical phase of development, Phillipa was surprised to hear that the two sisters had just casually completed the first intended cross dimensional travel drive and had already tested it too.


    "Yeah, wanna see it?"


    "I do."


    With an instant response while her eyes were slightly glowing, Phillipa invaded Mu''s personal space with a look on her face which stated that she wouldn''t retreat until she saw the craft.


    "Then let''s go, I still haven''t seen it with my own eyes either."


    Making their way from the sisters personal quarters and past the vast server farm which helped Ra and Mu do their complex calculations, the group finally reached an area where they needed to put on spacesuits, then finally they reached the drydock.


    "Here it is, the CDT drive testbed. Designation: Lazarus CDT N generation command and control class destroyer, or L-CDT113 for short."


    "... That''s not really what I had expected."


    "Yeah, well it''s a prototype for a reason."


    Instead of some next generation, ultra advanced craft like Phillipa had expected, she was greeted with what could only be described as a half molten, stripped down corpse.


    "Wait, did you say L-CDT113? Where are the others?"


    "Most of them didn''t ever return only a few of them partially did, here''s what is left of L-CDT045 for example."


    Holding up a small vial with a single fleck of paint residue to show her, Phillipa realized that the corpse she saw in front of her was a vast improvement.


    "The problem is the waste heat of the entire system, generated by the field stabilization and the power plant itself."


    "To stabilize itself and avoid ripping itself apart, the craft generates so much heat that it melts itself."


    "Reduce the heat so it doesn''t melt itself, the craft rips itself apart when trying to jump."


    "Increase the stabilization and the craft melts itself."


    "I see¡­ That sounds problematic."


    Being presented with the problems the Avoaxian twins were working on, Phillipa started getting a headache herself and suddenly understood a lot of their pain.


    "Which is why we''re going back to the very basics and reinventing every single component."


    "As we''ve lost track of what technological generation we''re working on, we just started calling it N generation."


    "A few more years and we should have worked out all the kinks."


    Looking at the two sisters as they explained, Phillipa saw their tried and almost dead looking eyes, but behind them was an unmistakable spark of will which drew her in.


    "How long till you two have put a working prototype together?"


    "20 more years."


    "Give or take a few."


    "I''ll take an official leave around that time then. There''s no way you two go on this mission without me."

 Chapter 217 - Preparation

    "Aaand you''re dead, again."


    "Eh? How."


    "Look at your foot."


    Looking down as Dax asked her to, Alice found she had stepped on a mock up of an anti personnel mine and once more failed the test.


    "... Shit."


    "Should we take it from the top again?"


    "Yes please."


    "Okay then, back to basics."


    Swiping his hand to the side, Dax reset the virtual practice field and returned to an entirely white space together with Alice for the nth time.


    "I''ll ask once more before we review: Do you-"


    "No."


    With an instant reply, Alice once more declined to quit as she had done time and time again, leaving Dax to continue teaching her with a warm smile on his face.


    "Okay then, let''s do some quick formation tests."


    Tapping a menu which appeared on his wrist, Dax spawned a number of drones around Alice. Hardening her determination, Alice slightly lowered her centre of gravity as she took a rifle of a nearby drone''s back and checked the charge on it before inserting a magazine and chambering a round.


    "Ready."


    "Advance."


    With a single command, the drones around Alice set off into a sprint, leaving Alice in the middle to do the same, or get tackled by one of the 200 kilo drones.


    "Contact front."


    While being surrounded by drones might sound like one of the safest places on a battlefield, but in reality that couldn''t be further from the truth.


    "Hostile rear!"


    "Eh?-"


    Not able to react in time Alice slammed into a drone in front of her as it suddenly stopped in place, then she was shot right in the face as the drone turned around to engage the confirmed hostile contact to the rear.


    "And you''re dead, again. This time by friendly fire no less¡­ Let me show you something."


    Returning to the urban battlefield simulation once more, Dax walked up next to Alice.


    "Okay look ahead, what do you see?"


    "Um... Debris, half destroyed buildings and walls?"


    Expecting she was answering in an incorrect way, Alice almost started flinching as she backed a half step away from Dax.


    "Yeah, that''s entirely correct."


    "Eh?"


    "What? I asked you to look and you looked. Now for the arguably more important questions, where is the cover? What''re the blind spots and kill zones? How and where would you set up an ambush?... This is how I see it."


    Manipulating the simulation once more, Dax made the dull battlefield turn completely white before different bright colours were assigned to different parts of it.


    "Do you see it?"


    Looking at the now coloured terrain, at first, Alice only saw noise, but when she put into context what Dax had talked about it suddenly snapped into place and made sense.


    "I do! Is this how you see the world?"


    Realizing that each colour represented different tactical attributes like cover, ambush locations and kill zones, Alice now started looking at the world around her in an entirely different way.


    "Kinda, at first it was training I received from my mom, then it eventually turned into a habit and now it''s just something that''s constantly on my mind. This makes it a lot easier to make split second decisions right?"


    "It really does!"


    Seeing how Alice was almost jumping with enthusiasm, Dax''s hand naturally found his way on top of her head as he ruffled her hair.


    "Okay then, that''s enough training for today. Try and have what I taught you in the back of your head until we do this again."


    "Bu-"


    "No buts. It''s already been 6 hours since we started, although your real body is resting, your mind is not. Too much of this kind of sim training and your mind will start to decay."


    Sending Alice out of the simulated space as he saw the conversation as over, Dax took a little bit of time to himself before leaving too, waking up where he left his physical body.


    "... Those sure are some lovely stars¡­. Wait, what the f.u.c.k did I just say?"


    After returning from his deep cover operation inside the Empire Dax had decided to carve out time in his day to spend with the girls doing whatever they wanted, and while Solaris and Lilly had chosen something Dax would vaguely categorize as the so called, mythical phenomenon known as a ''date'', Alice had chosen to spend her time with Dax being trained as an orbital marine.


    (I still can''t understand that Alice wants to spend time with me by training like that¡­ I guess I need to take her a lot more seriously, but that is kind of hard when she''s Alice.)


    Every time he trained Alice Dax was reminded about her confession, how she wanted him to seriously consider her feelings after she had caught up to him and Terra. After that bold statement, Alice had spent most of the hours she was awake being trained by Lux and hade made great progress, partly because of her body which had been greatly enhanced doing her recovery period, but also due to her extremely steadfast determination.


    "Oh well, time for work."


    Deciding not to think too much about things he didn''t know the answers to, Dax got up on his feet and stretched his body before he started walking towards the monster hunters guild in the middle of the night. The very second Dax sat foot outside of his compound he was surrounded by a pair of Reaper drones which acted as his escorts and kept away any angry and drunk monster hunters now out of a job because of him. As Dax''s new defensive system had started being brought online, the demand for monster hunters with their highly specialized skill set and bad reputation sharply declined in need, but even before that the very profession had mostly been made obsolete by his hand.  By undercutting them in cost with better effectiveness using drones to snatch up and complete contracts with bribes and other means before they became available to normal monster hunters, Dax had effectively killed off the trade single handedly before transforming it into something else entirely. Instead of dealing with monster populations and escorting merchants the name of the game had been switched to gathering information and mapping remote regions, something Dax needed far more than a paramilitary force which answered to no one but themselves. While he could do most of those things himself with satellite flyovers and drone surveillance, Dax found it nice to have throw away assets with plausible deniability attached to them by nature, especially with the task he had entrusted to the guild this time.


    "Hello, I''ve come to see the branch leader."


    "O-of course, follow me."


    Entering the hunter''s guild in the middle of the night, Dax surprised the drowsy receptionist which manned the counter at that time of night solely to welcome Dax in case he visited at that time.


    "The guild master has been awaiting your arrival."


    "Thanks, that would be it for tonight, go get some rest."


    Handing the receptionist a few coins for her troubles, Dax entered the office of the guild leader without knocking.


    "Do you have the report?"


    "Ah, yes it''s been prepared. Good evening Mr Dax."


    The guild branch leader was a person recently appointed by a group of people higher up in the food chain after the last branch leader had made the unfortunate choice of opposing Dax, as such she knew full well that she needed to stay friends with him to keep her head, consistently it was the same person that the guild first had sent to get into contact with Dax, the woman with no expression or presence.


    "Then let''s get to it, show me the substances."


    "Certainly."


    Showing Dax into a room adjacent to her office, the branch leader presented Dax a table filled with vials containing different kinds of substances.


    "In our search, the guild has found a total of 91 different substances commonly in trade in the Empire''s black market, these include opioids, sedatives and different fungi."


    "And have you identified the pipelines too?"


    Examining the different vials in great detail, Dax prompted the branch leader to continue the report.


    "Yes, we have. Although discovering the precise points of origin is considerably harder than we first would have imagined."


    "Well, that''s to be expected. If they were easy to find they would have been shut down already. I just need the approximate area''s of interest."


    "That''s relatively simple then. First, there are the domestic producers which there are dotted throughout the central area, they seem to be responsible for about 60% of the market supply."


    "60%... That''s a lot. Most likely some sort of government oversight and or corruption involved in that then, you can exclude those. What about any fringe elements?"


    "Of the remaining 40% There are two major pipelines that stand out, first is the northern syndicates which are suspected of supplying numerous of the more severe compounds as well as slave-"


    "And the other?"


    The very second Dax heard the mention of slaves he immediately cut off the branch leader, while someone with links to slave trading might be good for what he needed, Dax had no intentions of doing something like that.


    "... It''s an unknown player in the eastern part of the empire, while we haven''t been able to pin down the area of production and distribution it seems like they''re grouped around the As''li desert."


    "The As''li? Interesting¡­ What do they produce?"


    "Only two substances. The first of which is a type of sedative and hallucinogen called heat stemming from a mix of unidentified plants, the second is an opioid of completely unknown origin which is named dust."


    "Show me them."


    Taking interest in an element which managed to survive in the honour bound and highly disciplined As''li society which produced people known throughout the world as bounty hunters and skilled assassins, Dax made the branch leader show him two vials.


    "Tell me more about these two compounds."


    "Both are highly addictive in nature with steadfast consumers, but there doesn''t seem to be that much of it anywhere."


    "... Okay, good job. The payment will be here tomorrow."


    After asking a few more questions Dax left the guild as he contacted Lux over the ICI network.


    (I''ve found it.)


    (Nice, when are we deploying?)


    (In a year or so, make sure everyone is ready at that point.)


    (Everyone?)


    (Yeah, everyone. It''s time to create a beachhead.)

 Chapter 218 - Dust (1)

    (Stay calm¡­)


    Taking a deep breath to calm himself down, a sweaty man wiped the sweat off his brows before entering a dimly lit room. Taking half a second for his eyesight to adjust the man recognized the dimly glowing eyes of his boss and immediately took a knee as he gave a report.


    "Boss, we''ve found him."


    "Great, bring that fool in here."


    "Right away."


    As her subordinate left once more, the boss put down the gold coin she had been carefully inspecting as she took off her glasses and cracked her knuckles.


    "About time."


    Waiting a few minutes as she impatiently tapped her finger on the table, the boss eventually picked up sounds of someone trashing to escape from capture. A moment later her door was violently kicked open as a chained man was thrown to the floor in front of her.


    "How nice to see you again. Where is my money?"


    Speaking in an extremely cold tone of voice, the boss made the chained man shiver. He knew what he had done, he had taken her money thinking that the conditions that came with the loan didn''t extend to someone of his stature.


    Oh, how wrong he had been.


    "Please, just give me a few days and I''ll have your money, all of them too!"


    Knowing exactly what kind of situation he now found himself in, the man desperately pleaded for his life even though he knew how futile it was. Getting up from her chair as she breathed a deep sigh, the boss'' hands started heating up, reaching such heat that they glowed intensely in the dimly lit room by the time she crouched down next to the bound man.


    "And why exactly would I do that? You signed the contract, you knew the risks."


    "I can!-"


    "Do you think I''m stupid?"


    "N-no! I would never!"


    "... Haaa. This is the issue with you foreigners, you lack honour."


    Dragging her nail down the floor right next to the man''s face, the boss easily scratched trough the solid stone floor in a demonstration of her abilities as she kept talking.


    "This place might be part of the Empire on paper, but here the rules are a bit different. If you sign something and don''t follow through on it, no amount of connections or family status can save you."


    Caressing the bound man''s cheek with her glowing hot hand, the boss didn''t even flinch when he screamed out in pain as the smell of burned flesh spread throughout her office. Branding the man''s face with burns until he had almost passed out because of the pain, the boss pressed her hand to his chest and dug into his chest until she reached his heart, then she crushed it.


    "Put this piece of trash up somewhere all the other idiots can see it."


    ""Yes, boss.""


    As the corpse was being dragged away the boss wiped her hands of his blood with a handkerchief before she noticed that one of her subordinates still remained.


    "What is it?"


    "It''s about productio-"


    "Then it''s my brother you need to take that up with, I don''t care."


    "Yes, boss. I''m sorry."


    Leaving with those words the boss once more found herself alone in her office. Returning to her desk she once more put on her glasses which made her able to see the faintest traces of mana and started examining the gold coin once more. As an underground banker (or loan shark if one was being crude about it) the boss'' dealt in currency, and as such she made sure that her product was perfect. Being partly funded by black market trade, drug production and underground gambling, dirty money often found itself in her collection. In her line of business, lending out counterfeited money was a sin which would destroy the trust she had numerous spend years building and would without a doubt destroy her business overnight. Even if she was a loan shark, the boss had countless respectable and long time customers which she depended on.


    (... What the hell is this!?)


    Having looked over the last sample of coins which were newly inserted into circulation, the boss noticed something strange in what was supposed to be a sample of freshly minted currency which had recently hit the market. Normally there was a unique mana signature which would faintly emit from the coins, which worked together with other security measures to make counterfeiting impossible. While these coins had that signature, as well as the other security measures, something was off.


    (It''s like they''re too perfect¡­. Shit.)


    Normally people wouldn''t spot something like that, but as the boss had spent countless years getting to know all the imperfections and kinks in Empire coins as well as counterfeits, the boss realized she was most likely the first person who noticed that they were fake. Running through her collection of sample currency of different ages and from different sources, the boss quickly realized that the influx of counterfeit currency was recent and somehow directly targeting her revenue streams.


    "Who the hell is undermining my operation!?"


    ---


    (Any second now¡­)


    Walking around the oasis city of As''li Dax had been living in for the past few months, he quickly noticed that certain elements were way more active than normal. Located in the middle of a vast desert, the As''li oasis was the only permanent settlement within a 200 kilometre radius. With a surprisingly large export economy, the As''li desert provided about 75% of the Empire''s demand for rare spices which were grown with the help of a surprisingly advanced mana powered irrigation system. What Dax found even more surprising about the As''li desert was the fact that they were surprisingly independent of the Empire even though they were an integral part of its economy, the reason for which revealed itself to be the extremely high standard of the territories standing conscript army which included every single citizen over the age of 15 years.


    (Due to their vast culture placing strength and unity against foreigners at the apex this land really is unconquerable¡­ It''s like taking the home field advantage and combining it with scorched earth tactics before taking it to an entirely new level.)


    Anyone stupid enough to try and invade the As''li territories would immediately face a number of different problems, first of all, the desert made the oasis city a natural fortress which required a significant amount of supplies just to reach, and then there are the people themselves.


    (Occupying a city where every single citizen is a hostile combatant is just a straight up bad idea, plain and simple. Extremely hard to even reach, harder still to occupy for any significant amount of time and if you try to just raze it, the entire population will make you bleed for every single inch and then what''s even the point? Yeah, at that point you would have captured the golden goose, but it won''t lay any eggs for you, as the natives are the only ones who know how to farm all the spices.)


    Even the very idea of taking the city was enough to give Dax a headache, which he figured to be the reason that it remained the last independent territory of the Empire. In the end, it simply wasn''t economically or politically worth it or even viable for that matter.


    (CONTACT REAR, 5 METERS.)


    (Yeah I see them.)


    With ICI snapping him out of brainlessly checking out the market, Dax trained his attention on the people who had been following him for the past half hour.


    (5 people¡­ Seems like it''s them alright.)


    Stopping in place after he had confirmed the identities of the people following him, Dax turned around and walked straight up to them.


    "Can I help you guys with anything?"


    "Yeah, come with us without causing a fuss."


    After overcoming their brief surprise, one of the people took the lead of the others as they surrounded him before the leader presented a pair of metal handcuffs.


    (All natives¡­ Yeah, there''s no way I could just outright kill them here and go on with my day.)


    If Dax was to describe the As''li natives in a single word it would be tough. Born into a land of sand and a burning sun with nights of freezing cold made the particular kind of beastkin highly resistant to both extremes while granting their bodies awesome efficiency and endurance. Being a collection of two different beastkin races, the As''li people were uniformly characterized by their solid frames with the As''i having a pair of large and wide animal like ears on top of their heads together with a robust tail which allowed them to make incredible high speed manoeuvres. The slightly less common beastkin race native to the oasis city was the As''lim, with scaled limbs and claws together with an unmatched affinity for fire they were very similar to the dragonkin, just without the ability to fly.


    (Oh, this is new¡­)


    Being led away from the markets Dax was searched for weapons he was escorted down into a network of sandstone tunnels, an area of the city normally not open to outsiders as it housed the spring which was the very lifeblood of the city. With outright hostile looks form all around, Dax was eventually escorted deep down into the sandstone caves before they reached a large building which was carved out of the rockface. With no time to admire the detailed craftsmanship Dax was shoved into the building by his guides and through a maze of hallways before he was brought to his knees before a tattoed and scarred As''lim woman with raven black hair wearing black pants and a white silk shirt under a coat filled with different markings which she wore without putting her arms through the sleeves.


    "Boss, we brought the outsider. Here''s the wallet he was carrying around."


    "Yeah, sure, just go ahead and take that¡­ So, can I go now?"


    Instead of answering him, the so called boss started inspecting the coins she had retrieved from Dax''s wallet with great interest, this lasted about 10 minutes before she took off the glasses she had used to see the fine details of the mana signature and finally addressed Dax.


    "Where did you get these coins?"


    "I made them myself, ain''t they neat?"


    (Stand by for go order.)


    (ICI CONFIRMES, ALL ASSETS STANDING BY FOR DEPLOYMENT.)


    While showing a friendly smile to the boss, Dax prepared for the eventuality that things were about to go south really fast.


    "... Yeah, they are perfect counterfeits that look exactly like freshly minted currency, which is why I found out they were fake."


    "So the quality was too good? Oh, well, that can be fixed."


    Not at all hiding that he had been intentionally undermining the boss'' business, Dax still wore a smile on his face. In response the boss narrowed her faintly glowing eyes as she looked at Dax for a few second, breathing a deep sigh as she came to some understanding.


    "Okay, you got my attention. Come work for me."


    With the added meaning that he would die if he refused, Dax''s full out smile turned into happy laughter.


    "What''s so funny?"


    "Hahaha, no I mean no offence. It''s just that you''re exactly the kind of person I thought you would be. Why don''t you and your brother come work for me?"

 Chapter 219 - Dust (2)

    (... Turns out the expert counterfeiter is a moron, what a surprise.)


    "Okay, that''s enough."


    Stopping her underlings from beating the shit out of the counterfeiter caught spreading fake currency in her territory, the boss stepped forward as her one arm started heating up.


    "You''re quite funny a one."


    "Yeah, my daughter thinks so as well. Although when I tell too many jokes it tends to end exactly like this¡­ My name is Dax, nice to meet you miss Sami, leader of the only syndicate in the As''li lands together with your brother Mirza, how is business?"


    "... Kill him."


    The identity of Sami was supposed to be a tightly kept secret that only the top of the organization was privy to, the very fact that some outsider knew about that was enough to warrant his death, moreover, Sami felt that there was something off about him. As they heard her order, the faces of her subordinates turned serious as they drew their weapons and closed in on the handcuffed moron.


    "Are you sure this is what you want to do miss Sami?"


    Standing up on his feet the counterfeiter started emitting bloodl.u.s.t so dense that it made Sami''s subordinates freeze in fear before he continued talking.


    "Take a good look around you, do you really think I would just let myself be captured like this without some sort of backup plan?"


    Sami felt like she was being tested by something she didn''t fully understand, there was something about Dax''s smile and complete confidence which told her extensive experience which had kept her alive for so long.


    "Who are you really?"


    "You''re finally asking the right question~ Now who I am is complicated, but what I am is quite simple."


    Snapping his handcuffs with no visible amount of effort Dax peeled the metal cuffs off his hands and compacted them into small lumps like they were made of soft clay.


    "I am either of two things to you miss Sami, a threat or a long term business partner that will make you and your organization rich."


    "..."


    Stopping herself from saying what she was about to say in response, Sami made her arms heat up with such intensity that it left singes on her white shirt as her jacket fell to the ground.


    "Are you sure about this?"


    "I don''t know if you''ve heard outsider, but this is the lands of As''li. This is how we solve things around here."


    "Well, that works out perfectly for me."


    Putting up his fists in a high guard with a smile on his face, Dax started inching closer to Sami as her subordinates backed off while observing the fight that was about to start.


    (No gaps at all¡­ This guy is good.)


    Judging her opponent, Sami immediately realized the calibre of opponent she was up against and acted accordingly.


    "Wow, those hands are hot~ How are you not hurting yourself with those?"


    Apparently still with some leeway to talk, Dax still had a smile on his face as he stopped moving closer to Sami and let her come to him. Breathing in sharply Sami closed into strike range as she sidestepped a punch from Dax before hooking with her right, aiming to destroy his defences in one strike. Right before her punch landed, Sami broke open her closed fist and instead chose to let her claws do work for her as they dug into Dax''s arm while the smell of burned flesh spread throughout the closed office.


    "Nice technique, too bad about the speed."


    With lighting fast movements Dax used his damaged hand to grip onto Sami''s still extended one, dragging her in as he moved his still guarding right arm in position and struck her jaw with his elbow while moving past her.


    "Gha!"


    Falling to the floor Sami felt faint as her ears rung with the impact of Dax''s strike, but that didn''t stop her as she rushed to her feet once more, although still a bit unstable.


    "Well, would you look at that. I held back to make sure I didn''t smash your skull open but it seems you''re tougher than you look miss Sami."


    Falling for the provocation Sami rushed forward with her claws extended, now that she knew her opponent wasn''t bothered by pain or the bloodloss her strike must have inflicted she needed to aim for a fatal blow.


    "Boss!"


    Hearing a familiar voice off to the side, Sami immediately switched her target as she slit under Dax punch and carved out a part of Dax''s side with her claws. That attack left her dangerously open to a counter attack, but she didn''t care about that as she had backup. With Dax distracted, Mirza made his entrance as he tackled Dax and sent him flying into a nearby bookshelf.


    "... An As''i? Nice to meet you, Mirza, I thought you two were supposed to be siblings?"


    Digging himself out of the bookshelf and knocking some of the dust off his t shirt, Dax inspected his new opponent as he tried to make conversation. Mirza had an extremely solid frame and his height almost reached Dax if one didn''t account for the large dark brown and chipped ears which sat atop his short hair of the same colour. For some reason Mirza only wore a pair of shorts, allowing Dax to count numerous scars and tattoos visible on his bare and muscular upper body.


    "Who the hell is this?"


    Asking his sister while he still kept his eyes on Dax and he cracked his knuckles and neck, it was clear to all parties how pissed off Mirza currently was.


    "I have no idea, he says his name is Dax."


    "What the hell does he want?"


    "Our organization."


    "Oh really? Let''s skin him alive and hang him where people can see."


    "I was thinking the same thing."


    "Wait, you''re going to skin me alive? Do you have any idea how hard that is, to skin an actual person that is"


    Interrupting the two siblings talk, Dax still had a bright smile on his face.


    "Let''s kill this clown."


    "Agreed."


    With the two siblings taking stances, Dax''s assessment of them only kept on increasing.


    (They''re perfect.)


    (Really? They seem like small time criminals to me.)


    (That''s because you haven''t done as much of this kind of work Lux.)


    (Yeah sure, that''s only because you keep me from doing it. Focus on your fight now, I''ll be there in a bit with the other samples.)


    With Lux disconnecting the line Dax sighed inwardly as he had looked forward to testing out the two siblings for a while longer.


    (I guess it''s about that time... Time to take this seriously.)


    In an instant Dax''s aura completely changed as his wounds started healing at a rapid speed.


    "Evaluation over, fight with nothing held back or I might kill you two~"


    Switching from a high guard to a low one as he started mixing in some qiton martial art footwork, Dax allowed the siblings a brief moment to adjust to the new pressure he was outputting before striking.


    (Fast!)


    With almost no time to respond, Sami put up her guard as she met Dax head on.


    In retrospect, that was a mistake.


    "Khu!-"


    Sidestepping Sami''s guard, Dax bent his knees slightly as he delivered a hook to her side which made her forcefully expel the air in her lungs as she tasted the familiar taste of fresh blood in her mouth. Stumbling backwards Sami discovered she couldn''t breathe as Dax had collapsed one of her lungs and stumbled to her knee as she took short and extremely sharp breaths through the pain.


    "That''s one~"


    Having incapacitated the sister, Dax turned to the brother and immediately ducked under a punch that would have taken his head clean off if it hit. Continuing to retreat, Dax parried a kick from the enraged Mirza before slipping into his range and struck at a gap in his ribs, striking through his chest and destroying Mirza''s heart in a single fluid and extremely well practiced move. Not understanding what had happened at first, Mirza continued to try and strike Dax as he retreated, only to fall over as the power left his body along with his blood.


    "And that''s two~ That means I own this organization now, right?"


    "O-of course boss!"


    Turning to one of the siblings former subordinates with a warm smile on his face while his hand was still dripping with blood, Dax almost succeeded in scaring the literal shit out of him.


    "That''s perfect then, go make sure everyone is gathered here tonight as I have some news to share. Oh, and there''s a group of outsiders on their way here now, guide them here, please."


    Emitting bloodl.u.s.t as a hint that they should leave him, Dax watched the goons scramble off with a smile on his face before he took out a few vials of blackmatter and injected one into the next of the dying Mirza.


    "W-what is-"


    "Don''t speak now, your lung is collapsed."


    Walking slowly over to Sami who struggled to breathe let alone speak as she tried to crawl away from him, Dax still had a thin smile on his face.


    "This is medicine, stay still."


    Brushing Sami''s hand aside which was trying to reach him, Dax sat down next to her as he started inspecting his handiwork to find the best place to administer the blackmatter.


    "W-why?"


    "Because I simply can''t allow such skilled subordinates to just die off. Welcome to the 125th."


    -


    "Wow, was all that really necessary?"


    Having been guided by an extremely nervous goon, Lux arrived together with Terra and Mare to find a smashed up office.


    "Hey, I''m not responsible for that one."


    "Sure you''re not. Let''s get on with it, Mare you treat Sami as she has the least severe trauma."


    "Mmm, got it."


    Putting down their backpack''s Mare and Lux took out small bioprinters before starting to heal up Sami and Mirza while Terra kept the area secure.


    "Wait, why are you also here Mare? I believe this was supposed to be a 3 person operation?"


    "Because it seemed interesting."


    "Ah, okay then."


    Surprisingly Dax outright accepted Mare''s reason as he walked over to check how she was doing before couching down next to the young beastkin.


    "You''re doing great, good job."


    "Mmm"


    Over the past year and a half, Mare had started changing. Instead of doing whatever Lux told her to and following her around at every opportunity, Mare had started showing interest in the world around her. Finding that to be a good thing, both Dax and Lux had started encouraging her to do what she wanted to do in the hopes that the former child gladiator and slave might one day come to live a more normal life. That method seemed to work great as Mare started finding other stuff than weapons interesting and lately she had started studying medicine anatomy.


    (Even if she did absolutely insist on coming with us I''ll not allow her to fight, best case scenario would be if she just saw this operation as a vacation where she got to experience a new culture.)


    "Done."


    "Mmm, me too."


    "Okay then, wake them up. Time for some introductions."

 Chapter 220 - Dust (3)

    "Good morning sleepy head."


    Blocking a punch from Sami the second she woke up, Dax still had a thin smile on his face, although his eyes were no longer smiling.


    "I thought this is how things worked here in the As''li lands, I beat you up and now you work for me, no?"


    "Kuh! If you want to ravage me then get on with it!"


    (Wait what the f.u.c.k!?)


    In a split second Dax''s threatening demeanor completely collapsed as he started panicking.


    "Nonononono I meant that you''re my subordinate now, I have no interest in your body!"


    "That''s a lie! Why else would you keep me alive!?"


    "Because I need you as a subordinate! Lux shut the f.u.c.k up!"


    Pointing at Lux behind him who was silently laughing as he still kept eyes on Sami, Dax continued degrading his own authority until he eventually got control of the situation.


    -


    "So you really just want me and my brother to continue as we have been beforehand?"


    "Yeah. While doing a few small things for me, like distributing some counterfeit currency along your routes of distribution. In turn, I will enhance your production and distribution while eliminating some competition and making all of you filthy rich."


    Letting that sink in for a moment, Dax watched as Sami and Mirza struggled to understand his reasoning, both of them coming to different solutions at the same time.


    "Okay, whatever you say, boss."


    "... But what do you get out of all this?"


    While Mirza appeared to reluctantly accept his new existence, Sami was still a bit more suspicious.


    "You don''t need to worry your pretty head with that Sami."


    "But what if we betray you?"


    "Then you''ll be easily replaced."


    Answering instead of Dax, Lux who was suddenly right behind Sami spoke in a cold voice as she placed a hand on her shoulder.


    "Nice to meet you Sami~ I''m Lux, the last thing you''ll see if you even think about going against us."


    Feeling concentrated bloodl.u.s.t like nothing she had ever experienced before Sami broke out in a cold sweat, which made her temporarily abandon all ideas about selling out their new superiors, besides if they were really telling the truth then this was a great deal for them as well. While Lux stayed behind with Sami, Dax took a walk together with Mirza, joined by Mare and Terra for security.


    "Here it is boss."


    Entering a building in the middle of the city near the market, Dax was a tiny bit suspicious that they were being led into an ambush and took a pistol from Terra''s holster as he followed behind. Following Mirza into the two story sandstone building which was reinforced with palm wood, Dax found it to be some sort of spice workshop where the raw produce was being refined.


    "This is where we make the Heat drug."


    Leading Dax and his followers into a back room Mirza explained how they mixed and refined several different spices to create the compound.


    "... Where do you get the raw produce?"


    "Directly from the farms, we refine a large part of it and sell it normally so the operation looks ordinary from the outside."


    "Which is why that there''s so little of it on the market?"


    "Exactly boss, we can''t really scale up this operation without getting noticed."


    Spending a few minutes going over all his available options while inspecting the different ingredients and asking questions about the recipe, Dax was satisfied with what he heard.


    "We''re going to increase output 10 fold over the next 2 months, make sure the infrastructure is ready for that. Bring in new manpower you trust."


    "10 fold?... Okay boss, understood."


    Looking like he had several questions, Mirza chose not to ask and just did as he was told. While Mirza was talking with his underlings, Terra walked up to Dax and silently asked him a question.


    "What are we even doing here?"


    "I''ll tell you at a later point, this is what you signed up for."


    Remembering that Dax did give her a chance to walk away, Terra hardened her resolution as she realized that they were actually going to run a drug operation for some unknown purpose.


    "I''ve made the arrangements boss."


    "Perfect, then let''s check out the other place too."


    -


    While Dax went around to check on the operations, Lux had stayed back at Sami''s office where she was now greeting some of the middle management.


    "Boss you can''t be serious about this!? Why is that outsider here!?"


    Or at least she tried to.


    "She''s one of the new heads of the organization, this isn''t a joke."


    While Sami was completely serious and clear in her message, her people were a bit harder to convince. If there was anything the As''li hated it was outsiders, after so many failed occupations over time combined with the general confusion over their culture, the As''li learned to see the worst in people they didn''t know, even more so in an organization as tightly bound by rank as the syndicate.


    "Are you seriously going to hand over our organization to thi!-"


    "Hey! Point at me again and I''ll break off your arm and beat you to death with it."


    With the increased demeaning of her character continuing on, Lux eventually got tired of just enduring it and started walking over one of the complaining As''i.


    "What? Do you suddenly think you''re some kind of hotshot!? This is our land outsider, you don''t get to te!-"


    Having heard enough from the man, Lux closed the distance as her bloodl.u.s.t flared and easily avoided his panicked punch. Gripping the outstretched arm with one hand, Lux punched the exposed elbow with her free arm and completely shattered the joint while forcing the As''i man''s arm upwards, exposing the broken joint before she delivered another punch and completely severed the forearm.


    "ARG!-"


    Before the man even got a chance to scream properly, Lux fulfilled her promise and used the severed arm to crush the man''s skull, killing him instantly.


    "Okay listen up f.u.c.kwits, this place is under new management! Either you accept that reality right now or end up like this guy while someone else takes your position and benefits in your stead! Now chose!"


    Tossing the bloody severed arm aside, Lux unknowingly established herself as an extremely powerful and temperamental figure, something the people of As''li really respected.


    """"Yes boss! We apologize for our rudeness!""""


    Bowing deeply in a synchronized fashion as if they had practiced it, the underboss'' scrambled out of Sami''s office as fast as they could while carrying the corpse of their former associate with them.


    "... Well, that takes care of that issue."


    Having prepared to slaughter every single person in the room, Lux was a tiny bit fl.u.s.tered (although she didn''t let it show on her face) when they started obeying her seemingly out of nowhere and brushed the entire thing off like she had meant to do exactly that from the start. Turning to Sami after the group had left Lux seemed colder than she had ever been, with a thin smile on her face she walked right up to Sami as she continued to back off until she hit a wall.


    "W-what is it?"


    "You made quite a comment earlier addressed to Dax."


    "Y-yeah? W-what about it?"


    "..."


    Without answering Lux just continued staring at Sami for a few more seconds, coming to some internal conclusion before she backed off slightly.


    "Nothing, just make sure to not step out of line again."


    Leaving Sami behind with those words, the As''lim woman wordlessly collapsed on the ground as her legs gave out.


    (S-scary¡­)


    Meanwhile, Dax was walking through the desert with Mirza who was leading the way. Having left Mare and Terra behind it was just the two of them sharing a silent moment as they walked through the blazing hot sand with the sun overhead which seemed to be trying to kill both of them with the constant heat it was radiating.


    "Are you sure you''re not just leading me into an ambush?"


    "... I am not, no."


    "Okay, but it sure sounds like it."


    Leaving that conversation there, Dax kept on following Mirza as something hit the ground a few meters from them, sending sand flying all over the place. Before Mirza could react to what was happening around him he found himself face to face with something utterly terrifying. Standing about his own height, the flawless figure and pair of pure white wings told Mirza exactly what it was, even if her face was hidden by a pure white mask with no features.


    "Should I kill him?"


    "... No need, but why don''t you come with us Solaris?"


    "Sure~"


    Watching how the angel immediately switched attitude as soon as Dax talked to her, Mirza was at a complete loss for words. While it was not uncommon to see lesser angels with only a single pair of wings not affiliated with any sanctuary roaming the Empire, seeing anyone having such an influence over one was unheard of.


    "How are your wings?"


    "I''m still getting used to them, they''re way more powerful than my old ones."


    Having perfected the artificial assertion spell with the help of ICI and Iris, Dax found vast improvements were possible and with Solaris willing to help they created new wings for her. While she had given up six pairs of wings which greatly lowered her power magic output, that was nullified when she completed the custom made ascension ritual she gained a single pair of wings that were far more powerful than anything they had ever imagined.


    "Please continue."


    Snapping Mirza out of his daze he continued guiding the seemingly happy pair to their destination. Walking for a few more minutes they eventually reached an unusually flat part of the desert where Mizra channeled mana into the sand below, revealing a hidden stairway.


    "This way."


    Following Mirza into a hidden underground sandstone cave and trough a series of tunnels they reached a vast underground cave with a hidden spring.


    "So this is the main ingredient of the compound."


    Looking at the underground mushroom farm, Dax put two and two together while thinking about how to scale up production.


    "That''s correct."


    "Okay, like the other one prepare to increase production output 10 fold over the next two months."


    "Okay boss, but even if we can shift that much product it is going to shake up the market. A lot of payers are not going to like that."


    "Don''t worry about that, I''ll make sure it isn''t an issue. You just think about how you''re going to spend all the money this is going to bring in, it''s important to stimulate the economy."

 Chapter 221 - Dust (4)

    (That''s your mark, go get him.)


    (Sure.)


    Having received the order, Lux acted completely without mercy as she blended in with the crowd. The job was simple, something she had done time and time again. Moving in on the unaware target she prepared her weapon for that time around Lux merely passed by and the deed was done. Leaving town that night she was already long gone before her target fell to a rare and untreatable disease, it was just another day at the office for Lux. Even if she was used to that line of work, the victims she was sent to the grim reaper was not the usual kind of garbage like political dissonance or undercover assets no longer needed, this time it was middle management in various drug operations throughout the Empire. While she had no problem with dealing with that kind of sc.u.m, it was the challenge itself that was the problem. Simple assassination like that was something she could do in her sleep, and sometimes she even did. It was not that she liked killing people, but the lack of challenge was starting to slightly irritate her.


    "Why don''t we just hit them with a drone strike?"


    "... You know why we can''t do that and I don''t really have the time to list all those reasons why that''s not going to work out."


    "Why?"


    "Because I already did that yesterday and I don''t really like repeating it¡­ What''s wrong Lux? I''m asking as a parent here, not your commander."


    "Okay then, time to cut the bullshit."


    Calling for an increase in the encryption between the two of them, Dax momentarily cut out as a high speed ultra secure data bridge was formed. Establishing a direct neural contact Dax asked Lux a single question.


    "How long has it been since you have read up on qiton grand battlefield tactics?"


    "... About 500 years."


    "Okay, do you remember the basics?"


    "Yeah, ''command level strategic warfare deals with space, air, ground, urban and economic level domains to incorporate them with the absolute efficiency'' name of the game is cross domain efficiency¡­ That doesn''t exactly help me."


    "I guess you really did miss the point of that book¡­ Well anyway, the reason for not simply nuking the Empire is mana. Do you know the ignition point of mana in comparison to this atmosphere? And what about how it''s generated? Also, it would simply be too good of potential tactical advantage to destroy mana before we learn about it."


    "So you want to bring mana back to our world?"


    "Yeah, generation of mana is possible, we already know that from the moonbase. With the crazy shit we''ve already seen mana can do I believe it will come to be a great tactical advantage."


    "... That is true, then what about the drugs?"


    Finally starting to see Dax''s reason for not just igniting the atmosphere and simply just picking up the leftovers, Lux started asking out the other issue weighing on her mind.


    "Really?"


    "Really."


    Hearing that Lux was really completely lost Dax breathed a deep sigh before he asked her a question in return.


    "What''re the 3 most reliable ways to collapse a country?"


    "... Economic crisis, health crisis and insurgent uprising or civil war."


    "Exactly, that''s why we''re hitting the Empire with all 3 at the same time."


    Finally seeing the larger picture Lux put on a bloodthirsty smile.


    "That''s my daughter, now go get the other targets please~"


    "Sir, yes sir."


    -


    (Well, he said that but¡­)


    Having arrived in the north part of the Empire, Lux started to have some doubts about her own abilities as she overlooked an entire town entirely dedicated to producing illegal drugs. With almost endless fields of crops ready to harvest, any other town would be getting ready for a harvest festival, but the atmosphere here was quite different.


    (With the crop ready to be harvested, everyone is probably on edge as this is the prime time to steal the product¡­ Now, what should I do about all this?)


    While Lux had received orders to reduce this area''s output to zero, she was left with the freedom to figure out exactly how to do that herself. The easiest and at the same time hardest way to do that would be to just burn all the crops, but the sheer area to cover made that nothing more than a fever dream for Lux. What she needed was a structural weak point in the entire operation, but sadly there wasn''t some space elevator or magnetic levitation train vital to the distribution of the product, even if she went around and destroyed every single carriage in town they could just be repaired. With both the destruction of vital infrastructure, the product itself and distribution ruled out there was really only one thing Lux could strike: refinement. Casing the town, Lux located 5 distinct refinement area''s and waited for nightfall. Entering the first refinement building Lux walked around to find out what she could poke in order to throw a wrench in the production.


    (It seems like they haven''t overhauled these production area''s, just gradually built out the buildings over time as the demand rose¡­ That makes my job a lot simpler.)


    Finding out what she needed to do, Lux started isolating structural weak points of the building before she started throwing knives at them. Working efficiently Lux made her way through the building as the quiet wisps of her throwing knives flew through the air and impaling themselves in the wooden support pillars, Lux suddenly switched target and cleaved open the skull of a random goon who had made his way into the building.


    (That''s not a guard¡­ Seems like I''m not the only one targeting this town, that also works out great for me.)


    Moving on the 3 next buildings Lux infiltrated them without issue and continued to plant her rune engraved throwing knives, finding the final building to be the by far most secured one. While she could force her way inside without issue, it would be a problem if she was identified. Instead of a head on assault, Lux found a nearby rooftop where she observed the guard''s patrol patterns for about an hour before she sent out a short wave electromagnetic pulse. The pulse travelled about a few kilometres in all directions before it dissipated, but not before it hit a backpack Lux had hidden in a tree outside the town. The backpack contained a simple mana interface coupled up to a radio transceiver, which sent out a burst of mana before it self destructed. In turn, the burst of mana activated the throwing knives Lux had left all over the place which exploded and started fires all over the town at the same time.


    (Now run, hurry up and put out the fires~)


    Watching the guards scatter like baby spiders as they panicked, Lux picked out a few distinct responses. While most of the guards started panicking, there were also a few people who acted like they were allied with the other faction which was also aiming to disrupt the operation.


    (Shit.)


    And then there were the people who quickly figured out what exactly was happening and immediately started looking after Lux, making her abandon her observation point as they located her and started tossing spells in her direction. While her cover had been blown, Lux was confident that they still hadn''t seen her face and thus, she could still complete her mission without any real issues down the line. Covering her face with some cloth, Lux responded to the spells with a hail of throwing knives which immediately detonated and created a smokescreen as she pulled out a bayonet and closed the range.


    "Wha!-"


    As her first target hadn''t expected Lux to charge into a fight with a clear numbers disadvantage, she easily drew first blood as her bayonet sank into the eye of the goon. Pulling out her blade as she kicked the copse into another hostile, Lux threw out a handful of smoke booms and caltrops as she blocked off the larger grouping of her opponents before she charged the isolated prey. Working through the crowd leaving a sea of blood behind, Lux entered the last drug refinery while spreading want and destruction before she escaped into the night.


    ---


    With some ash still in the air, the entire town was on edge after the attack that had happened the night before. With nowhere to refine the product which a certain organization had spent a lot of coin and influence on growing now rendered useless, the scent of blood was in the air. While the product itself had not been harmed, it would lose its potency before it could be transported to a new refinery, so Lux had in effect killed the year''s harvest off before it had been pulled out of the ground. With such an extreme loss of profits, the criminal organization which had set up the entire operation sent out a ''cleaner''. Standing about 1 and a half meter tall the blind beastkin woman with short black hair didn''t look like much, but most of the guards know exactly who she was and the ruthless reputation she had in the organization.


    "Get the fools out here now."


    "Y-yes ma''am."


    Speaking in a confident tone of voice as the large ears on top of her head twitched as they picked up almost every sound within a kilometre, the beastkin cleaner kept up a blank face.


    "Is that all of them?"


    "It is, along with me that''s all the sur-"


    Not allowing the guard to finish his sentence, the cleaner gripped the man by his neck as she lifted him off the ground and before anyone knew what happened she snapped his spine with only a tiny bit of effort.


    "What happened here?"


    Walking over to one of the other surviving guards, the cleaner asked another question as her clouded blue eyes seemed to look right through him.


    "I don''t-"


    Hearing that the second guard also wasn''t of any use, the cleaner punched him in the throat, walking over to the next one as he started drowning in his own blood.


    "A-all of a sudden 4 of the refineries blew up and before we knew what happened, a single assailant attacked us."


    After seeing the beastkin woman kill two of his comrades, the 3rd guard seemed to have learnt the lesson as he quickly told her what had happened. In response, the cleaner ''looked'' at his expression for a few seconds before she walked away, picking up a caltrop which she started examining.


    "Boss, we have finished examining the other sites. From the tracks left at the sites, it seems like there only was a single person like these people said."


    While the cleaner examined the caltrop Lux had left behind, her subordinates arrived after having examined the other refineries.


    "... I smell a trace amount of spices, it seems like we need to visit the As''li desert."


    "Understood, we''re ready to move out. What should we do with the rest of these fools?"


    "Kill them, our organization has no need for such calibre of personnel."


    With shouts of requests for mercy and the sound of people dying all around her, the cleaner showed a faint smile as she thought about going south after having spent such a long time in the cold north of the Empire.

 Chapter 222 - Networking (1)

    "This city sure has become a popular destination¡­ Too bad most of them are spies."


    "Yeah¡­ Wait, spies? Isn''t that bad?"


    "Not really."


    While Dax was lazily overlooking the capital city of the As''li together with Sami and Mirza from a cafe on top of a two story building, Dax kept up a relaxed attitude as he was keenly aware he was being watched. With the syndicate he was now leading having seen a production increase of drugs almost 10 fold over the last 2 months while their competitors were being eliminated, Dax figured it would be strange if various organizations weren''t keeping an eye on him at this point in time. With an increase in interest from the rest of the Empire''s criminal underworld centred on the As''li lands, the lone oasis city had seen a strong uptick in visitors that Dax and his subordinates were dealing with according to plan. Of course, Dax was the only one that had any knowledge about that plan, so to Sami and Mirza which were his direct subordinates, things seemed a bit hectic.


    "Is it really fine that so many factions are snooping around?"


    "Yeah it''s completely fine, it''s not like they''re going to figure out how the output of this area has suddenly increased."


    "Right¡­ I don''t even have an idea of how you did that."


    Even Mirza who was the head of the drug production had any idea how Dax increased production even after seeing it for himself, apparently cutting the raw product with synthetic reagents refined in mass and shipped in from the central kingdom was a new and hardly understood concept.


    "How is your operation going Sami?"


    "... Like you instructed, I have been offering generous loans to our competitors affected by the recent shift in market supply. More of them that than expected have taken the money offered but I fear we won''t be making any profit on the venture."


    "That''s fine. Making money is not the focus of that venture, keep up normal operations, that should secure the needed capital to continue."


    "Bu-"


    "No buts, just worry about making the ventures run without issues, I''ll worry about how it all fits together on the grand scale."


    Showing a large smile to Mirza and Sami, Dax silently pressured the sibling pair so much that they started flinching.


    "... Understood boss."


    "Understood."


    "Good~ Then that''s this meeting over, return to your operations."


    Seeing off the siblings, Dax ordered some food which he enjoyed at a lax pace while continuing to manage his fletching criminal empire.


    (Next shipment is on time but demand is growing a few more per cent than expected¡­ I guess I need to add an extra ton of supplies to the next delivery.)


    Keeping a tiny bit of his attention on the entire city trough his drone surveillance network while he continued to handle normal operations, Dax spotted a new group of outsiders that were different from the other.


    (Why hello there~ Slower than expected, but it''s great to see we''re finally gaining some real attention. ICI notify everyone, it is time for some networking.)


    (DIRECTIVE UNDERSTOOD, NEW CONFIRMED HOSTILES WITHIN THE WIRE, TRACKING 12 NEW CONTACTS OF INTEREST.)


    ---


    As the blazing sun slowly started to dip below the horizon, the oasis city of the As''li slowly started getting more active. With outrageously warm days and chillingly cold nights, the twilight of the evening and early morning proved to be the most hospitable for activity, especially for outsiders that were not used to the extreme desert environment.


    "Report."


    "Yes, boss. It seems like there''s only a single criminal element in this city, they lend out money and sell a few different compounds."


    Having made her way to the oasis city following a lead, Lia, the blind beastkin ''cleaner'' and her subordinates quickly identified the local elements.


    "How are they doing?"


    "Good, almost too good in fact. Unlike all the other players they seem unaffected by the recent bad weather."


    With drug production and distribution being hit throughout the Empire, the very fact that one organization was not having issues was enough to make them a target, even if they had nothing to do with the recent events.


    "... They are definitely involved with the recent attacks. Go rough up one of their lenders, that should get the attention of someone higher up in the food chain."


    "Yes, boss."


    As she had given the order, Lia remained at the hotel room in the middle of the oasis city with only a few subordinates as the rest of them went to ''introduce themselves''. Following along with her subordinates by using her extremely keen hearing, everything seemed to be fine until they were suddenly taken out in the middle of a busy street. Drawing her short sword without a word, the rest of Lia''s remaining subordinates immediately understood that there was something wrong.


    "What''s happening?"


    "They were taken out, I have no idea how."


    "What? Ho-"


    "Shh."


    Shushing her subordinate mid sentence, Lia picked up the faint sound of someone closing in on their room, the person in question walked right up to the door and then stopped in place.


    "Hello, room service!"


    With that brazen announcement, the door into Lia and her subordinate''s room was kicked in and time slowed down for her. With the sound of the door flying off its hinges, Lia challenged mana into her shortsword before slicing the door which was flying towards her in two, taking a sharp breath at the same time as she stepped forward and threw out a hastily formed offensive spell towards the invader.


    (What!?)


    But to Lia''s surprise, the attacker completely ignored the blade of air she had sent towards him as he charged forward into the room while remaining unaffected, striking one of her subordinates before she could adjust.


    "Gha!-"


    Hearing the sound of air and blood being expelled out from his lungs, Lia immediately judged the strike as a fatal one as she moved into range, taking a sharp breath as she drove her sword through her subordinate in an attempt to strike the attacker.


    "Woah! That''s f.u.c.k.i.n.g cold lady!"


    Avoiding the strike by breaking his stance, the attacker left himself open to Lia as she caved through the copse of her subordinate and continued her assault, using her momentum and shorter frame to her advantage as she stepped into range with a downwards strike that aimed to cleave the attacker in two.


    "Oh, no you don''t."


    But to Lia''s surprise, the assailant caught the blade with his bare hand as he pressed forward, forcing Lia to abandon her sword as she challenged mana into her body and invoked strengthening magic. Taking the ground which was offered to him, the attacker threw Lia''s sword at one of her subordinates, hitting him in the head and killing him instantly as he continued towards his pursuit of Lia. Feeling the urgent need to regain momentum, Lia parried a right jab as she suddenly stepped into her attacker''s range, ducking under his left punch and continuing into his bosom as he retreated before she shot out an uppercut aiming to take the head of her attacker clean off. Sadly, the attack failed to land and in launching it she left herself open. Seeing the opportunity present itself, Dax didn''t hesitate to take advantage of it. Gripping the outstretched arm, Dax lifted the beastkin off the ground as and took away her ability to put any energy into her strikes while he sank a knee into her stomach.


    "Khu!-"


    As the beastkin puked a good amount of blood, Dax increased his gripping strength on her arm, feeling her ulna bone crack as he swung her around and threw her into a wall.


    "Callout from command, all hostiles neutralized. Bring in the saviours."


    -


    "Good morning people, while some of you might have been in a situation that looks like this before, but I personally assure you, this isn''t like that."


    Deep underground in the sandstone caves below the oasis city, Dax had collected the different operatives which had come after him the last few days and chained them up. Addressing the crowd with their heads covered by cloth sacks, Dax judged the different reactions as he continued talking.


    "My name is Dax, I am the leader of this local operation. While I don''t know the name of any of you people, I am aware of who you all are working for, various operations throughout the Empire has been hit over the last few weeks coinciding with our increase in output, believing that to be too much of a coincidence they send you to investigate or send a message. While the normal thing for me to do in such a situation would be to brutally torture and kill all of you before sending parts of you back to your superiors to send a message, that''s not what I''m going to do."


    About to continue, Dax was interrupted when one of the chained up people started laughing.


    "Hahah aha! You really have no idea who you''re f.u.c.k.i.n.g with, huh!? You and your friends are dead when my people discover what you did to me, do you hear!?"


    "Ah, Hans¡­ I kinda forgot that you were here still."


    Being distracted mid monologue by one of his prisoners, Dax breathed a deep sigh before he walked over to the man laughing


    "Now if you free me from here immediately, and get me some women and booze I might let you live!"


    "Right, sorry about that. This offer I''m making does not extend to you. I don''t deal with an organization which uses slaves and people as a disposable resource so I''ve taken the liberty of crushing your organization in its entirety, Terra please take out the trash."


    With the sounds of confusion, anger and eventual panicked screaming Dax finally found himself free of distractions and continued speaking.


    "Now, the organization I lead might or might be responsible for some of those things, but in any event, we''re prepared to compensate all of you for your losses."


    Letting that sentence sink in for a moment, Dax walked over next to one of the chained up people and placed a hand on his shoulder.


    "So go back to your leaders with this message and see what they want, if they want to cooperate great, if not, then that''s just too bad."


    Handing the first person a pouch filled to the brim with gold coins, Dax removed his restraints and pointed towards the door.


    "That way, talk to you soon."


    Continuing on Dax eventually reached a certain black haired beastkin woman.


    "Do you honestly believe that I''m going to fall for this?"


    "Yeah, I am Lia. If your people like money, which I know they do, we will be working together in the future."


    Patting Lia''s head as he had a bright smile on his face, Dax made the hardcore cleaner flinch.


    "H-how do you know who I am?"


    "Why do you assume I don''t? Go back to your boss and talk to him, I bet Mr Randall of the Empire''s moderate faction will love to work with me. Talk to him and we''ll set up some appointment to do some networking."

 Chapter 223 - Networking (2)

    "Welcome to my boss'' territory, you must be Dax''s envoy."


    Having returned from the As''li desert, it had been a month since Lia''s boss had sent out word that he wanted to talk with Dax. In response, someone other than Dax showed up.


    "That''s correct. He has entrusted this matter entirely to me, any word out of my mouth should be respected and treated as his word."


    Speaking in a confident manner the envoy revealed herself to be an angel which Lia judged to be a lesser one based on the sound her wings were made.


    "Understood. I''ll guide you through the city."


    Extending a hand towards the envoy, Lia was lifted up on the carriage with the angel''s help, taking a seat next to her.


    "My name is Solaris. Nice to meet you, Lia."


    Immediately striking up a conversation before Lia got the chance to, the beastkin cleaner was caught slightly off guard.


    "N-nice to meet you Solaris¡­ I don''t know if you''ve done stuff like this, but this not how it''s done."


    "I''m aware, but this is how Dax does it."


    (... This is going to be another really long day, isn''t it?)


    Feeling a familiar overbearing friendliness that she had when she had been to the south, Lia sighed deeply in her mind. Being guided through the city in the heart of the Empire, Solaris easily saw through the bright and clean facade.


    (The Empire truly is dying. The people might still be healthy, but the cracks in the society that has been there for so many years are slowly starting to tear apart the foundation¡­)


    Arriving at a truly massive mansion Lia quickly excused herself after showing Solaris to a guest room after telling Solaris about the party which would be held in Dax''s honour later in the night, leaving Solaris nothing to do other than call home.


    "... Can I talk with Dax please?"


    [No you can''t, he''s on a mission. As are you I believe.]


    But instead of hearing Dax''s voice like she had been hoping, Solaris was greeted by a not so happy sounding Lux.


    "Please?"


    [... Can you just please give a status report so we can get this shit over with?]


    "Okay then, it''s a scenario 9."


    With great reluctance, Solaris finally answered Lux who cut off the communication after confirming she had received the message.


    "... Okay, now for the hard part."


    Breathing a deep sigh, Solaris took off her travel gear and prepared for the so called, ''evening party''.


    -


    "Miss Solaris, it''s time."


    "Ah, Lia. Good timing, help me out will you?"


    On Solaris'' request, Lia reluctantly entered the guest room.


    "Could you close up my dress please?"


    "You know I''m blind right?"


    With a burst of short laughter from Solaris, Lia assumed that she was no longer needed and turned to leave when the angel finally responded to her rhetorical question.


    "Yeah I do, I also know that you can still ''see'' me without issue. Dax said as much."


    "... Fine, turn around."


    Having admitted defeat, Lia started feeling for whatever she needed to close along Solaris'' back, finding her wings instead.


    "Wow¡­"


    "Yeah, they are surprisingly soft, right? Dax thinks so too."


    "I''m sorry."


    "No need to apologize, you can touch them anytime you want to, just ask."


    (She really is interesting~)


    After playing a bit more around with Lia (against the subject''s will of course) Solaris was led to a large and overly luxurious banquet hall where she was introduced as the guest of honour. After socializing with various nobles for a few hours, the parties organizer, Mr Randall finally stepped up and introduced himself. With an age which could be considered about the prime of his years, Mr Randall looked way older than he actually was. What little natural hair that was still on his head had been hidden by a toupee which didn''t really fit him, his small black eyes almost sunk into his skull due to overweight and for some reason, he seemed to be constantly sweating as if he was out of shape.


    "Welcome to my city miss Solaris, my name is Rudolf Randall. Although I am pleasantly surprised by being visited by such a beauty I was expecting someone else."


    "Dax is preoccupied so he sent me instead. But don''t worry, I have been given full authority on this matter."


    "Ah, yes. My bloodhound did tell me that. Let''s find a more private place to talk business."


    With a slightly uneasy smile on his face, Mr Randall and 10 of his goons (plus Lia) led Solaris to an office with a central table flanked by couches. After sitting down himself, Mr Randall gestured for Solaris to take a seat on the opposing couch as goons surrounded her and Lia took her place behind Mr Randell''s couch.


    "Have you looked over the proposal?"


    "Yes, of course. It''s a bit lacking in some regards but I think we can come to an agreement with you taking your time to visit."


    In a split second, Mr Randell''s atmosphere completely changed, making Solaris who had been looking down on him take her job more seriously.


    "That was the belief Dax held when he sent me to meet you, for that very same reason I have arrived with a bonus."


    "Ah, yes. All the gold in your carriage. While that is a good start I don''t think that will cover everything."


    "Really? That''s too bad as only a fifth of that gold is yours."


    "Since when?"


    "Since just now, because I said so."


    Realizing that Mr Randell was trying to undermine and pressure Solaris'' authority, Solaris responded by giving him the proviral stick before following along with a carrot.


    "But that doesn''t have to be the outcome of these talks at all, I''m only asking that we treat each other as grown people and go about this like a.d.u.l.ts."


    With a thin smile on her face, Solaris slightly narrowed her eyes as she started pulling in mana from the air around her as a show of power, something which Mr Randell immediately submitted to, at least on the surface.


    "Okay, fine. Let''s drop the bullshit. My organization lost a lot of money recently, how are you people planning to make up for that?"


    "Money of course, but not just for free. In exchange for covering 150% of your lost revenue, Dax is asking for 2% of your future yearly earnings with a minimum payment of 1% of your last year''s earnings per year."


    "... Why do all this?"


    Having been presented with the reason why his operation had been attacked, Mr Randell struggled to understand Dax''s reasoning. If Dax wanted to press into Mr Randell''s territory take over operations he could, or at least Randell judged it would take a lot of blood to keep Dax from doing that. With that assessment in mind, it didn''t make sense for Dax to go through all this trouble just for a few percent of his revenue, unless-


    "So you''re planning on increasing our operational capacity and reap a seemingly insignificant part of my revenue?"


    "I can neither confirm nor deny any ongoing plans for ongoing operations."


    "You suddenly sound like people from my day job¡­ Well, I''ll take that as a suggestion for me to make my own speculations. Fine, you have a deal."


    "Pleasure doing business with you, Mr Randell. The carriage and all its contents are yours."


    Shaking hands after having worked out the minor details, Mr Randell and Solaris both had smiles on their faces, that is until Solaris left the room to retire for the night that is.


    "Lia, come over here please."


    "Yes, - Arg!"


    Before Lia could even finish her sentence, Mr Randell punched her in the face with all his might, sending the beastkin flying across the room.


    "Have you forgotten all that I''ve given you over all these years Lia!? How I fed you, clothed you!? If you hadn''t f.u.c.k.i.e.d up so badly on that assignment to the As''li lands I wouldn''t have had to agree to such an embarrassing deal!"


    With a completely red face, Mr Randell started shouting at Lia as spit flew out freely from his mouth.


    "S-sir, I''m so-"


    "I don''t want to hear your f.u.c.k.i.n.g excuses you cur! This is the last time you f.u.c.k.i.e.d up! You''re useless to me now!"


    Stepping down hard on the still healing wound Dax had inflicted on her, Randell looked at the beastkin with rage clearly visible in his eyes, she had screwed up for the last time, all this was her fault. If only Lia had done her job, Randell wouldn''t have to bow his head and act like that winged bitch was his equal, he wouldn''t now have to pull on his connections to assemble forces to crush that ''Dax'' figure who had f.u.c.k.i.e.d with his business.


    (Why?)


    While Randell continued to take out his rage on Lia that was the only taught that went tough her head. She didn''t understand why Randell was suddenly so upset at her, after all, she had done everything for him after he took her in.


    (Why are you so mad dad? I did everything you asked of me perfectly.)


    Feeling strength leave her body each time she had the air forcefully knocked out of her lungs as Randell stepped on her, Lia didn''t even try to resist in the slightest, all she could muster was to silently cry as she was kicked to death.


    The only reason she suppressed the sounds of her tears was that she felt it might bother Randell.


    "Excuse me Mr Randell. Even if I try to I can''t really lie down and try to sleep when I hear all that."


    But all of a sudden Solaris returned to the room, her crystal clear and beautiful voice sounded strangely cold to Lia, but she figured that was because of her blood loss.


    "What the f.u.c.k do you want!? We made our deal, f.u.c.k off I''m taking care of some personal business here!"


    Lashing out at Solaris who interrupted his business, Randell was unable to see that her thin smile now held an entirely different meaning.


    Her eyes were no longer smiling, not even in the slightest.


    "It seems like your employee is no longer useful to you, how about we strike another deal?"


    Walking further into the room, Solaris allowed herself to be surrounded by Randell''s goons as she continued talking.


    "How much for her?"


    "What? You want this useless cur?"


    "Yeah, very much so. She would be a great personal assistant."


    Having heard the proposal in its entirety, Randell seemed to calm down slightly as he took a glass of water from his office table and drank it as he walked back over to Lia who still laid on the floor bleeding.


    "Hmm¡­. Sure, that is a good deal."


    "Then-"


    "But no, this cur is mine. If you want your own, go find one on the street or in the nearby whore house, there should be plenty there."


    Setting down his glass after finishing his conversation with Solaris, Randell turned his back to the angel as he took off his jacket and once more focused his attention on Lia.


    "I urge you to reconsider, Mr Randell. It would be very bad for your health if you didn''t."


    "What? Do you think I''m scared of you, miss angel? Just because you have a single pair of wings don''t think for a second that you''re some kind of living god. I have serval angels on my payroll, multiple of them are in this building."


    Turning his attention back to Solaris as she had managed to annoy him enough, Randell walked right up to her and looked the angel directly in her eyes.


    "It seems like you don''t appreciate my hospitality, so I''ll only say this once: F.u.c.k back to whatever hole you crawled out from and wait for your money, but if that''s too long of a wait you can just earn some yourself. I''m sure plenty of people want to try and-"


    Completely zoning out the idiot in front of her, Solaris sighed inwardly as she started collecting mana.


    (It really did turn out to be a scenario 9¡­)

 Chapter 224 - Networking (3)

    "Hey winged bitch, are you listening to me!?"


    (Aah, humans. So prideful, so stupid.)


    Taking a deep breath Solaris figured there was no more to say, she was Dax''s envoy, disrespecting her was the same as disrespecting Dax.


    Something like that couldn''t just stand, Solaris absolutely wouldn''t allow it.


    (Scenario 9 confirmed, now prosecuting all hostiles with extreme prejudice.)


    "Ascension."


    Speaking the name of the spell, Solaris'' aura flared as mana from the surroundings rushed in towards her.


    "Aegies."


    Using a spell she had learned from Dax, Solaris instantly rendered all attempts at attacking her null as a transparent barrier was erected around her. With the issue of her defence taken care of, Solaris turned her attention towards Randell as she raised the palm of her hand towards his fleeing figure.


    "Howitzer."


    With a single word and the power of magic, most of Rondell''s chest and lower body was removed from existence as a high powered shockwave disintegrated those parts of his body and spread the rest of it over the walls, floor and ceiling. Not even a single drop of blood managed to reach Solaris, as her barrier completely blocked everything, making blood and gore reveal its outline around Solaris as her wings started glowing brightly.


    "If you guys want to live I suggest leaving this place, now."


    Snapping the numerous goons inside the room out of their collective state of shock with her ice cold voice, Solaris watched how they scattered like baby spiders before she turned her attention to Lia who was still lying on the floor.


    "W-why?"


    "Because he disrespected me, and by extension Dax."


    Crouching down next to Lia Solaris briefly examined her injuries before saying something which Lia would remember for the rest of her life.


    "Now. Your boss, who wanted to kill you, is dead. That gives you two choices miss Lia, stay here and bleed out until you die, or come with me. While I can''t promise you some kind of grand life under Dax, I will promise you this: Dax never mistreats his subordinates, or throws them away for that matter. He''s far too kind to do that."


    -


    "She''s coming out now, get ready."


    In and around the Ribdell mansion, the news of the master''s passing quickly spread, as did the desire to punish the one responsible for his death. Of course, it was not for revenge or any honour bound reason, but more a collective will to represent the head of the aggressor to the new leader of the house, so the mercenaries and bandits employed by the late Mr Randell could retain their job or even get an increase in pay when a new leader took over. Among those various rejects of society were a number of angels without affiliation to a sanctuary, the leader of which was a 200 year old 3 winged male angel named Gabriel who had taken control of the group and was managing the counter attack.


    "Prepare for attack!"


    Sensing a spike in the ambient mana, Gabriel raised his spear as the second floor of the mansion in front of him exploded and a two winged figure emerged out of it unharmed.


    "... That''s quite the reception."


    Holding some random beastkin in her arms, the target seemed completely open to attack, or so Gabriel believed.


    "Penance of the non believers."


    Raising his hand in towards the angel, Gabriel formed a spear made of pure fire that shot towards his target at breakneck speed, reaching it in an instant.


    (Now die!)


    With a large explosion and following shockwave which temporarily blinded Gabriel and his self proclaimed subordinates, he showed a confident smile as he hoped that there would be enough left of the angel to identify her.


    "Really? Just attacking out of the blue is cold, but I guess I should expect that kind of tactics from a 3 winged reject."


    Emerging completely unharmed from the smoke as she still held Lia in her arms, Solaris just looked at the 3 winged angel with scorn.


    "W-what did you just call me?"


    "You heard me. I''ve clipped a lot of wings in my time so I know the type, you got your second pair of wings due to some sort of fluke and then got overly confident and had your wings clipped before being cast out. I bet you feel like you''re unbeatable out here among all these mortals, poor you."


    Pressing not only a few but all the buttons of the 3 winged angel in a single sentence, Solaris was instantly attacked by a more powerful spell which was instantly nullified by her defensive spell.


    "What!?"


    "Is that the best you can do?"


    "Tch! Atonement of the sinners!"


    Seeing that his spell had no effect, Gabriel stepped up his game and used an even more powerful fire spell which Solaris responded to by deflecting with a spell of her own.


    "Howitzer."


    Forming a sphere of highly compressed air in front of her, Solaris sent it forth and detonated it within the 3 winged angel''s spell, easily shattering it apart as she prepared her next offensive spell. Switching Lia over to a one handed carry, Solaris used her free hand to precisely articulate a more advanced spell.


    "Air pressure control: Annihilation."


    Sending out an extremely high pressure thermal pulse while making sure she didn''t set fire to Lia or herself, Solaris mimicked the conditions and raw and awe inspiring power of a thermonuclear warhead detonation which set fire to everything within 50 meters, including wood, stone, hair, skin and especially lung tissue.


    "... Oh, good job surviving that one."


    With the smell of burning flesh all around her, Solaris was still completely unfazed as she congratulated the 3 winged angel on surviving, after all, this was not the first time she had set fire to people.


    "W-what are you?"


    Suffering intense burns all over and inside his body, Gabriel barely managed to speak those words as he looked with horror at the angel still hovering above him.


    "An insignificant ant like you have no need to know. Siege formation: Assault hammer."


    Reducing the 3 winged angel, the area around him and a significant part of the ground beneath him to a mix of ash and molten stone Solaris immediately started thinking about what Dax was doing.


    "I wonder if he''ll be done with that ''networking'' of his when I get back, I''m sure he''ll be happy that I''m bringing a new to- I mean Lia back with me."


    ---


    "So, why have you reached out to me? Don''t you know that I''m aware of what you did in the imperial capital?"


    "I''m reaching out to you precisely because of what I did in the imperial capital that I''m reaching out to you dear Eos."


    "Don''t call me dear¡­. So, what do you want with the 22nd sanctuary?"


    Standing in front of the 10 winged archangel and de facto leader of the most powerful sanctuary in the Empire, Dax wore his overly friendly diplomatic smile as he took a step forward.


    "I wanted to know where the 22nd stands."


    "In reference to what exactly?"


    "Your pledge to defend the empire, if my information is correct that promise was made a long time ago and under very different circ.u.mstances. Would you consider changing it?"


    Getting straight to the point Dax tracked the time it took Eos to realize what he had just said twist her face into one filled with pure rage.


    (0.6 seconds huh? I don''t know if that could be considered impressive, or slow.)


    "HOW DA!-"


    "Yeah, yeah. Before you rip me to pieces allow me to fully express the thoughts which led me to such a suggestion, if you''re not swayed by that then you''re free to do as you want to me."


    "... Fine. But if I find your explanation to be unworthy I''ll personally bring you before the Emperor and execute you myself."


    "Sure, that''s fine. Let''s both take a seat."


    (That actually works out perfectly for me.)


    Still having an overall relaxed attitude Dax waved his hand as a table and two chairs made of polished stone emerged from the ground.


    "Are you aware of the change the Empire has gone through since some of my property landed in the Empire?"


    "That strange obelisk which floats on its own and kills most things that come close to it? Yeah, it caused a great change within the Empire, suddenly this ''technology'' was vastly more important than magic ever was. Due to that, the new Emperor managed to secure the position he has now."


    "That''s not all. Where I''m from this ''technology'' is something which is developed over eons, throughout that time and gradual development my people learned to have a certain amount of respect for that technology, as there was a very real chance that the technology could completely annihilate them without warning. That respect is something that this world lacks to a dangerous degree."


    "What?"


    Hearing of a previously unknown danger to the empire, Eos unconsciously leaned forward as she wanted to hear more of what Dax was saying.


    "I''ll give an example for clarity: When my distant forefathers first learned to split the atom they did so doing a war which had split the entire world in two. That development, like so many others, was to create a weapon, but this one was a bit special, it was unlike anything that had ever come before. When the winning side finally finalized that weapon it was believed that they could use it to win this great war, but they still hesitated to use it. Do you know why?"


    "Because they feared the weapon?"


    "Not exactly. They feared using it would make them lose the war."


    "How so?"


    "Because by using the weapon they had calculated a that there was a very real chance that they would ignite the planet''s atmosphere and kill all life including themselves and their sworn enemies¡­. About a 40% Chance if the surviving records are correct."


    "... So what did they do?"


    Taken with the story Dax was telling her, Eos completely forgot her earlier anger towards him as she wanted to hear the rest of the story.


    "Of course they used it, and not for some noble reason like winning the war, but to reduce their casualties so they could save soldiers for their next war. On a completely unrelated note did you know that a fuel cell which contained several magnitudes more raw explosive power than that weapon was recently ignited by accident? And that the so called ''obelisk'' contains something that''s magnitudes more dangerous and also inherently unstable? To my knowledge, the Emperor plans to use that ''obelisk'' for its vast power, without taking into account its risks, but unlike my distant forefathers, they have no idea of the risk involved, they simply don''t want to know... But luckily, there''s still a silver lining."


    Seeing Eos patiently waiting for him to continue, Dax figured she knew about the annihilation event.


    "This time the risk of annihilation is not just 40% it''s 99.99592%. You won''t even be safe on that lost sanctuary on the moon as the gravitational tidal forces will quite literally rip this entire solar system to shreds on a subatomic level."


    "How exactly is that a silver lining?"


    "Because then there will be no pest remaining to keep me from returning to the war that my people are currently losing, isn''t that great?~ When this world is done self destruction I can just come in and pick up what I need."


    Seeing that Eos was entirely speechless Dax continued his planned speech.


    "Now your pledge to protect the empire is self contradictory, which it by itself should be enough to leave you with an existential crisis, but I''ll leave you with this last message: In a bit, the empire is going to tear itself apart in a really ugly manner, so you should start thinking about what''s more important, the empire or your sanctuary. You know how to contact me when you come to a conclusion, dear Eos~"

 Chapter 225 - Pipeline (1)

    "So, how are we doing?"


    "We''re at 97%, it''s time to make an ultimatum."


    Overseeing a massive new shipment of raw compounds, Lux and Dax were discussing their next move and how it would come to influence the next steps of the pipeline operation that had been in the works for a few months.


    "... Are you really sure you want to do that Dax? It could blow this thing open before we exploit it."


    While Dax wanted to do things by the book, Lux felt that such considerations shouldn''t be taken against a foe that had ignored all attempts at diplomatic talks so far and doing so might have a chance of swaying the conflict away from their advantage.


    "That would be a breach of the operational doctrine."


    "And running a drug operation with the intent of destabilizing a country isn''t? Since we''ve come to this world you''ve been holding back way too much."


    But doing what he wanted and what he was allowed to do wasn''t necessarily the same thing, warfare was, has always been a messy thing by nature, as such operational doctrine had to be followed, the destructive capabilities of intelligent life had to be limited or unnecessary destruction would only follow.


    "You bring up a very valid point, then do you want to take over command?"


    "That''s not what I said, please don''t twist my words. Please act like an a.d.u.l.t for once and give me a straight answer."


    Being forced to take the entire situation a bit more seriously, Dax''s smile completely disappeared as he sat down on the ground and made Lux do the same.


    "Then how would you prevent their forces from organizing before we reach the capital?"


    "With a preemptive strike."


    "That would just make them all the more tenacious, attacking their forces out of nowhere would not be a good idea."


    "I''m not talking about an all out attack, what if we just target key organizational area''s?"


    "Do you want to take out their infrastructure? When the average soldier can clear debris as well as a powered exoskeleton?"


    "I''m not talking about infrastructure, what about the chain of command itself? Not the very top but what about middle management?"


    "... That''s evil."


    "Why thank you~ Then what about it? If we step up deployment by a few days and utilize precision orbital artillery to take out sector 4-91 and the other hotspot-"


    "They''ve gone off into their own little world again¡­"


    "Yeah, I guess we''re not doing anything for the rest of the day."


    Meanwhile, Alice and Terra found themselves at a loss, when Dax and Lux started talking like that it often meant that normal plans would be canceled.


    "Then give me a full outline later over secure comms, I''ll work everything within place under the assumption that we''re code yellow as of this moment."


    But this time, it seemed like that wasn''t the case.


    "Terra and Alice with me, we''re leaving the Empire now."


    "Eh?"


    "Wait, what''s happening?"


    "We''re phase line yellow."


    With some confusion, Terra and Alice were dragged behind Dax and quickly left the Empire to return to Dax''s massive underground base with Lilly in tow.


    -


    [CALLOUT FROM COMMAND: PHASE LINE YELLOW.]


    With a global and highly encrypted message going out to all assets the mood somewhat changed, even within the Empire. Although nothing much had really happened it felt like there was something wrong, something which was noticed by the keener commanders within the Empire''s various military branches and almost without exception they started slowly mobilizing, even if it was going against the orders of their superiors. Among some of those commanders was the head of the Empire''s west navy situated on the edge of the imperial continent facing towards the great sea and the Empire''s greatest enemy, the Kingdom, and their new ally.


    "How is the sea doing?"


    Sitting behind a massive pile of paperwork that he had been working with the entire night, fleet admiral Knox warmly welcomed his morning report, as it would give him a chance to escape the paperwork.


    "It''s calm, way too calm actually."


    "... Please explain that in more details lieutenant."


    Feeling that there was more to the lieutenant''s words, admiral Knox looked up from his pile of doc.u.ments for the first time.


    "Sir, of the usual 40 night patrols, only 3 of them reported having encountered monsters."


    "That is way less than usual, even doing a new moon we wouldn''t see this few¡­ Let''s go down to the dock lieutenant."


    [CALLOUT FROM COMMAND: PHASE LINE YELLOW-BRAVO.]


    "W-what did you just say, boss?"


    "I said use this tool to sort out all the counterfeit coins from your vault and throw them away, preferably in the desert somewhere, after that, you two siblings will be on your own again."


    Meanwhile, on the other side of the Empire, Mirza and her sister Sami were dealing with some confusion of their own.


    "What do you mean ''on your own''? Boss."


    "It''s exactly what I say. I and Dax along with our associates and assets will be pulling out of this area after you''ve done this last thing for us. Please return to being normal lowlifes after that, or turn over a leaf and do something legit, I don''t care."


    "But boss, wha-"


    Seeing that the two siblings didn''t listen to what she was saying, Lux got really tired of what they were saying.


    "Do as I f.u.c.k.i.n.g say."


    ""Y-yes boss!""


    As Sami had kept careful track of her organization''s finances, finding and isolating the counterfeit currency was a relatively easy task, after which the gold was loaded onto carriages and driven out into the desert under the moonlight with the help of only a few of their trusted subordinates.


    "Okay, now dump it here."


    "Wh-"


    "I''m doing you a f.u.c.k.i.n.g favor, do it."


    Still not open to suggestions, Lux cracked her knuckles as she stared down the goon who refused her order while releasing bloodl.u.s.t.


    "I''m plenty to kill every single one of you here with my bare hands, and right now I really want to. Don''t tempt me and do what I f.u.c.k.i.n.g say."


    [CALLOUT FROM COMMAND: PHASE LINE YELLOW-DELTA.]


    "S-sir is it really a good idea to just leave your post like that?"


    "Yeah it is, the benefit of being the fleet admiral is that I can do whatever I want."


    Walking along a busy harbor with his lieutenant in tow, admiral Knox inspected the fast attack boats equipped with mana powered cannons. Reaching one of the boats that had been out for patrol doing the night, admiral Knox was greeted by a salute from a very surprised captain.


    "Admiral Knox sir! W-what are you doing here this morning?"


    "I wanted to go take a look at things, how have things been doing the patrol?"


    "Sir! It was really quiet, way too quiet in fact."


    "You think so too, then what about the monsters?"


    "Sir, we didn''t meet any."


    Hearing the same thing he had from the lieutenant, admiral Knox closed his eyes as he started thinking.


    "That really is strange, don''t you think so lad?"


    "Sir, I also think it''s extremely strange¡­ Speaking of strange, I''ve heard about some fishers having strange catches this morning too."


    "Both of you follow me now."


    Setting off at quite a quick pace, the two sailors had no choice but to follow their admiral as he headed to the civilian docks and the fishermen.


    [CALLOUT FROM COMMAND: PHASE LINE RED.]


    "T-that sure is a lot of gold¡­"


    Looking at the mountain of gold in front of them, some of the goons struggled to contain their own greed as they looked at the gleaming mountain of wealth.


    "Sami, how much coins is that?"


    "About half a million."


    "Are you sure it''s all the money we supplied you with, the one you have been lending out and using to pay people for the distributing of the drugs?"


    "That is correct, boss."


    "And you''re not hiding any counterfeit assets somewhere?"


    Increasing her bloodl.u.s.t as she asked that question, Lux walked a single step closer to Sami who stepped back out of fear in response.


    "I-it is all of it, I swear."


    "Good, then let me show you something cool~"


    [CALLOUT FROM COMMAND: PHASE LINE BLACK.]


    "W-what in the world is that?"


    "Today''s catch."


    Standing out on the civilian docks, admiral Knox could hardly believe what he was seeing. In most of the trawl nets weren''t filled with fresh catches, but only scraps of dead monsters that had been ripped to pieces.


    "A-alert the fleet! We''re under attack, deploy everything!"


    [CALLOUT FROM COMMAND: COMMENCING OPERATION.]


    As admiral Knox was busy panicking while he realized he was being taken with his pants down, precision orbital artillery rained down from the sky and annihilated the admiral himself, his subordinates and the fleet he was so proud of in an instant, without inflicting a single civilian casualty.


    "W-what the hell is happening."


    Looking at what had until a few seconds ago been a large pile of gold coins, Mirza, Sami or any of their goons understood what was going on.


    "It really is quite simple, it''s burning with enough heat to melt most things nearby, including other gold it would be stored together with. Precisely as it was designed to do."


    "W-why?"


    "Because the coin you have been injecting into the Empire''s economy will have found its way to various banks and other piles of wealth at this point. While it won''t wipe out everything, it will destroy about 60% of the stored cash within the Empire which will create an economic crisis unlike anything this world has ever seen. While the Empire struggles with that they will face the largest invasion force they have ever seen which will attack from land, sea, air, and space at the same time."


    While speaking, multiple heavy assault transports broke through the sound barrier as they crashed into the desert sand behind her, bringing all the equipment Lux would need to fight a land war from her current position all the way to the Imperial capital.


    "You people are no longer needed, please use the supplies that will be provided to you to survive until this war is over, it won''t be that long. The 125th Hellwalkers thanks all of you for your service."

 Chapter 226 - Pipeline (2)

    [SPLASH, NOW ASSESSING EFFECT ON TARGET¡­ ASSESSMENT COMPLETE. PRIMARY OBJECTIVE ACCOMPLISHED, WESTERN IMPERIAL FLEET ANNIHILATED.]


    "Well, although that is to be expected, it''s still nice to hear¡­ Are you guys ready? We''re punching into their territory now."


    "Ready."


    "Let''s do this."


    "We''ve trained for this."


    "... All of you look ready, then let''s do this."


    Sitting inside an AHEWP transport, Dax looked at Lilly, Terra, and Alice, all of them looked like hardened soldiers to him.


    [FIRE SUPPORT ON STATION, READY FOR TASKING.]


    "Suppressing fire, remain on station."


    Opening up the top hatch as AHEWP itself emerged above the waterline, looking ahead at the bombarded coastline as multiple landing crafts formed up behind and in front of Dax''s transport.


    [HOSTILES DETECTED, NOW PAINTING 209 NEW TARGETS.]


    Just as Dax and his forces emerged from the water near the coast, so did the Empire''s true protectors. Forming up in formations as they sucked in the ambient mana from the surroundings, over 200 angels came to meet Dax''s detachment head on.


    "Repel the invaders! For the glory of-"


    Before the commander could finish his speech he was taken out by precision railgun fire, as his headless corpse slowly fell to the ground his subordinates sprang into action.


    "Here they come, lock them down!"


    [DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED, FIRE ORDER RECEIVED. DEPLOYING 204 MILL MANA DISRUPTION SHELLS, AIRBURST.]


    On Dax''s command, serval SAM AHEWP unloaded their payload towards the sky as railgun carrying variants started rapid firing airburst shells. Among the sudden hail of flak and fire, the angels suddenly found it extremely hard to concentrate and formulate offensive or even the most basic of defensive spells.


    "Javelin formation: Hellfire!"


    Still, some of the angels managed to fire off a few spells towards the invading forces, to great effect. As spears of concentrated fire rained down on the densely packed landing force, casualties steadily increased on both sides. The only difference between the angels and Dax''s forces was that he was prepared for sacrifices, as almost all of his units were expendable.


    [UNIT 19 DISABLED, ENACTING DENIAL PROTOCOL, DUMPING MUNITIONS.]


    As unit 19 was hit with a stray spell, damage control protocol immediately deemed it beyond saving and started sinking below the waves, but before it was unable to fire off its surface to air missiles, all 94 remaining missiles were launched and put into a holding pattern before they could be re tasked by other units. While the angels started routing at 40% casualties, Dax wouldn''t even flinch at 99%.


    "Ahh, it''s been a long time since I''ve faced such a stupid opponent¡­ If you''re facing an opponent that uses drones then don''t try to face them head on, fall back and use unconventional warfare to slowly drain their supplies."


    Breathing a deep sigh as the last angel fell from the sky, Dax looked around at the massive casualties which he had suffered before breathing a deep sigh.


    "ICI what''s the number?"


    [CASUALTIES AT 74%.]


    "Only 74%? Oh well, bring in the second wave."


    [ROGER.]


    As Dax''s AHEWP hit the beach he jumped out of the transport with a REX rifle in hand while an even larger landing force emerged out from the water and started preparations for landfall.


    "Let''s get this show on the road, bring in the heavy armor too."


    [DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED, COMMENCING DE ORBIT BURN.]


    Having secured a foothold, streaks of fire appeared on the horizon behind Dax''s initial landing force.


    While some people might think it was a mere coincidence, people more adept in military tactics and doctrine might see that they were falling towards the ground while maintaining a strict formation. Crashing to the ground at a shallow angle the purpose built assault barges succeed the purpose they were designed to and ground to a halt using build in thrusters and drogue parachutes.


    [DEPLOYMENT SUCCESSFUL, REX HAWOC NOW IGNITING PRIMARY POWER PLANT¡­ STARTUP SUCCESSFUL.


    FIRE CONTROL SYSTEM: ONLINE.


    PRIMARY ARMAMENT: ONLINE.


    SECONDARY ARMAMENT: ONLINE.


    TERTIARY ARMAMENT: ONLINE.


    ACTIVE PROTECTIVE SYSTEM: ONLINE.


    FLIGHT SYSTEMS: ONLINE.


    ALL SYSTEMS ONLINE. MOVING INTO FORMATION, READING BEACON 5 BY 5.]


    Roaring to life as its turbines greedily sucked up air to cool its fusion reactor, the HAWOC area domination platform commenced its prime directive as it fell into formation while surrounding the port town that the imperial navy used to call home.


    "Why exactly are we occupying this city?"


    Looking around at deserted streets and burning sh.i.p.s that filled the harbor Lilly saw nothing of value, other than the numerous HAWOC area domination platforms that now occupied the area. Standing in the middle of what had until a few minutes ago been a vibrant plaza, Lilly made the mistake of complaining near Dax.


    "This is basically a military base so there''s not even a bar where I can get wasted¡­"


    And if waiting for that exact moment, Dax appeared out of nowhere and flicked Lilly right in the face as to deliver an iron fist of justice.


    "Oi, take this a bit more seriously."


    "Arg! Why would you do that!?"


    Watching Lilly''s entire head turn just as red as her hair and the mark he had just made on her forehead, Dax still remained stern as a slightly sadistic smile crept onto his face.


    "You already know that~"


    Looking at Dax''s smile Lilly quickly remembered that she had promised to take this seriously, and as that dawned on her, the so called ''elder''s'' face twisted as her face turned red for an entirely different reason, as did her ears.


    "O-of course I know that!... I was merely testing you to see if you also remembered tha- Arg!"


    (Bringing this one with me was a mistake¡­)


    While holding such thoughts as he flicked Lilly''s forehead once more, Dax checked up on his drones using the networked subprocessor embedded in his artificial spine.


    (The HAWOC''s are doing fine, because of course they are when put up against people armed with messely magic, bows and swords¡­ The problem is the preemptive strike.)


    With the surprise attack on the Empire, Dax had initially targeted any top officials and military leaders he could, but they had only been targets of opportunity. The real targets were the local commanders, those who would take orders from the very top and make them a reality by commanding those beneath them. By eliminating that level of the enemy command structure just as the Empire was trust into an economic crisis, the emperor would be left with a lot of strategists, but no way to act.


    (Their entire command and control structure sure is monolithic¡­ I guess the Empire really has been relying too much on the angels, specifically the 22nd sanctuary.)


    Zoning out while completely ignoring which was still making excuses right in front of him, Dax started assessing the damage his preemptive strikes had done to the area''s he would be passing through over the next 4 hours before reaching the imperial capital, that is until something more important caught his attention.


    "Eh!?"


    All of a sudden Dax reached out and pulled Lilly into his chest, making the elver in question quite fl.u.s.tered, so fl.u.s.tered that she didn''t even notice the arrow which had just barely missed her head until a few seconds later.


    "So some elements were still able to organize¡­ Oh, well."


    Now that a group of surviving sailors had made declared themselves hostile, Dax''s drone network would take care of the rest.


    [HOSTILE ELEMENT LOCATED, TASKING HAWOC DELTA FOR PURGE.]


    With a low pitched hum that could be felt in one''s stomach from miles away, the tasked HAWOC unit took to the sky as it jumped about 200 meters, landing in the open plaza were Dax and Lilly were. As the HAWOC unit knocked up quite a bit of dust with its landing, its figure was momentarily hidden from the sailors who had targeted Lilly, only the HAWOC''s lidar shone through the thick layer of dust in the air, giving it a red tinge as another low pitched hum was heard along with the rattling of ammunition which was brought out of the ammo rack and loaded by mechanical systems.


    [TARGETS ACQUIRED, EXTERMINATING HOSTILE CONTACTS.]


    Without a warning, HAWOC delta opened up with its numerous heavy machine guns, creating a truly morbid light show as tracer rounds ripped through the dust, buildings and flesh alike without resistance or mercy. As the sounds of the countless machineguns drowned out the screams of the countless people that felt victims to them, the attack still didn''t seem real to Lilly, after all, only a few seconds had passed since Dax pulled her close to protect her from that arrow which was about to hit her. As fast as the shooting had started, it stopped, signified by another low pitched hum from the HAWOC unit as the smell of dust, gunpowder and blood mixed into the air.


    "T-those things really don''t hold back do they?"


    "Of course not, it''s a HAWOC, mercy is not a part of its programming, nor its operational doctrine."


    HAWOC, or Heavily Armored Weapon platform for complete operational and tactical Control, as Lilly looked at the large 6 legged tank with countless different weapons strapped to it for the first, she immediately thought that it lived up to its name perfectly.


    "In any case, I''m glad that they''re on our side~ With these, it should be no problem conquer the empire!"


    Looking at Lilly who suddenly became way too confident, Dax restrained himself from flicking her face again and breathed a deep sigh.


    (I hope it''ll be that easy, just as long as the Emperor doesn''t have something completely outrageous up his sleeve we should be okay¡­)

 Chapter 227 - Fall of the empire (1)

    "What''s the situation?"


    "Right away, your excellency¡­ While information at the moment is sparse and there''s a lot of information we can''t confirm at the moment, it seems that we''re under attack from at least 5 different directions, moreover, it would appear that all hostile elements are heading this way."


    Hearing his worst fears being confirmed by his trusted ministers, the Emperor let his dignified expression disappear as he realized the severity of the situation.


    "What about the sanctuaries?"


    "Most of them are responding and have reported extreme casualties."


    Sensing something wrong with that statement, the Emperor focused on the minister of magic who seemed unwilling to fully elaborate.


    "Most of them?"


    "... The 22nd seems to not be responding to our hails."


    "Have you personally heard anything from Eos?"


    While the rest of his war council seemed to be panicking over the fact that their most powerful ally seemed to not be willing to fight, the Emperor maintained a calm and collected expression, at least on the surface.


    "... I''ve indeed heard from her, although I don''t believe it would be wise to talk about that here at the council."


    "I see, then I''ll talk with you about that matter in private later. Now for the defences, General Hampton recommends setting up a layered defence, but with the current situation, I don''t believe that such a thing is possible."


    Continuing the emergency war council, the Emperor and his ministers laid out plans for the defence of the imperial capital, ending the meeting only 2 hours after it started.


    "Then we all have our roles to play, dear minister of magic, please remain behind."


    "Of course, your excellency."


    While the other ministers and their assistants left the meeting room, only the emperor and the minister of magic remained seated.


    "Shadow."


    "Yes, sire?"


    With only the two of them left in the room, the emperor called out to no one in particular, a muffled voice responded from a corner of the meeting room as a presence shifted into existence.


    "Seal this room."


    "Yes sire, at your command."


    As the shadow delivered an instant response and disappeared, a formless presence seemed to spread all over the room and completely isolated it from the rest of the world.


    "So, what did Eos tell you?"


    While the minister of magic had obligations towards the Empire which came with her position, she was also a member of the 22nd sanctuary. Therefore, if she refused to talk about certain subjects within the range of the other ministers, that decision had to be respected. Of course, it was not normal that an archangel from 22nd sanctuary would serve below the emperor, normally it would be the other way around, but due to the achievements of this emperor the roles had changed. Still, there were some things that even the emperor had to take into account, although she was technically his underling, there wasn''t really that much he said which would be outright against her.


    "Lady Eos told me to come home immediately and abandon my post within the empire."


    "Is that so?"


    "It is indeed, your excellency."


    With the minister of magic answering in an overly formal manner, there was a slight pause as the emperor didn''t quite know how to respond.


    "... There''s no need to address me this way when we''re alone, miss Artemis. I''m still very much aware of my own standing."


    Offering a slight bow to signify that he was still aware of his own standing, it was the emperor''s turn to confuse the minister of magic.


    (What is she talking about?...)


    "Could it be that you still don''t understand my intentions, your excellency?"


    "... Indeed, I have no idea."


    While an emperor was never supposed to admit to his mistakes in front of his subjects, the emperor really found himself at a loss when it came to this particular archangel. Growing up he had been lectured at length on the relationship between the imperial family and the sanctuaries, it was only by his own hands he had changed the status quo after so long if nothing else then just on the surface at least. Even if the status quo had changed on the surface, the sanctuaries would still talk down to him, with the sole exception being the angel in front of him. Ever since he could remember, the archangel Artemis had seemed strangely approachable and respecting compared to the other angels.


    "It''s because I have already made my choice. Eos and I have been friends for a long time so I''m sure she understands and hasn''t taken any offence."


    "Hasn''t taken any offence as to what?"


    "To the fact that I''ve chosen to remain here for the time being and see how things go."


    The fact that Artemis had gone against an order from her sanctuary actually didn''t surprise the emperor that much, but it was still a bit strange to hear such a thing out loud.


    "... ''see how things go'' huh? I really envy you angels and your easy going life."


    ---


    "This really reminds me of when we were travelling to the south."


    "Ah, yeah it does."


    Travelling down an empty highway in formation, Lilly was lazing around inside a transport AEHWP together with Alice while Terra helped Dax with equipping his XMRA armour.


    "Eh? Did you guys travel to the south?"


    As Alice had been recovering from her injuries doing that time she was quite surprised to hear about that journey as it was news to her.


    "Yeah, we travelled down to a sphere and collected it while also somehow saving a marekin that had been kidnapped."


    "This is a lot like that as we would spend a lot of time travelling in these contraptions like this, with nothing to do."


    Complaining as she laid flat on her stomach with her legs swinging in the air, Lilly seemed used to travel this way, which made sense to Alice since she figured that they must have spent a lot of time inside the transport when travelling to the south.


    "Is that so?... By the way, what''s up with Dax?"


    Switching up the subject as she figured that she could ask Terra about her journey to the south at a less serious point in time, Alice had noticed that Dax didn''t really take part in their idle conversations, in fact, he hadn''t said anything for the hour or so he had been slowly covering himself in layers of armour with the help of Terra.


    "He''s doing something else."


    "Something else?"


    "Yeah, look."


    As to demonstrate her point, Terra poked Dax on the cheek.


    "See? No reaction. He''s most likely working on battle formations or something like that, it''s like his body is running on autopilot while his mind is somewhere else."


    "Really?"


    Finding that somehow hard to believe Alice got up from her seat and walked over to Dax and Terra, sitting down in front of Dax and observing him for a few minutes as he continued to put on his armour.


    "He really isn''t here?..."


    Looking into Dax''s unfocused eyes for a few more seconds as he continued to mindlessly put armour on, Alice somehow found herself drawn to him, steadily edging closer and closer to his face as her own got increasingly more red.


    (T-this is a great chance!)


    Deciding not to look a gift horse in the mouth, Alice steadily inched her own face closer to Dax''s, prompting Lilly to warn her.


    "I wouldn''t do tha-"


    But alas, the elver''s warning came too late.


    "Hya!"


    When Alice breached a certain threshold and came close enough she managed to catch Dax''s attention, something which proved to be an extremely poor decision when Dax mercilessly flicked her face.


    "... I tried to warn you about that, if you get too close he notices. Stay outside a metre and you should be fine, speaking from experience."


    "What kind of experience is that exactly?"


    "T-that''s a secret!"


    (God, I''m going to puke¡­)


    While Terra was mentally lamenting the fact that she was struck together with the two way-too-pure lovestruck girls and their target of interest, she absentmindedly put on the last segment of Dax''s armour, making the XMRA snap together as it was completed.


    "There we are~"


    The very second his armour was completely Dax seemed to come back to life as he stood up and stretched, making Alice who was sitting right in front of him fall on her back as she was quite surprised at the sudden change.


    "D-Dax!? Did you-"


    "Yeah, I heard everything. It was just too much of a hassle to answer when I was busy doing other stuff. More importantly, we''re deploying."


    With the AEWHP transport coming to a quick stop, Dax popped open the top hatch as he gave out orders.


    "Alice, your exoskeleton is here so suit up and follow me after that. Terra and Lilly you''re with the 2nd detachment, from here you will link up with Solaris and then advance."


    Looking at the imperial capital in the distance, Dax''s expression turned cold before he put on his helmet and completely encased himself in the XMRA armour. Jumping down from the top of the transport, Dax''s internal heads up display lit up with targeting data as the first volley of Viper cruise missile which was part of the preemptive shelling flew right over his head. Weaving themselves in between trees and other vegetation the Viper missiles closed the range to the fortified capital city, popping up out of cover when they had sufficiently closed the range to their respective targets.


    "Here comes the first wave! Shoot them down before they reach our glorious city!"


    Having used every second they had to prepare, the proud imperial guard stood ready to defend their beloved imperial capital using whatever means necessary. While angels who called the capital home and had chosen to defend it targeting the fast moving cruise missiles with advanced spells, the imperial guard used a mix of mana powered weapons and salvaged technology to target and fight off the swarm of drones who quickly closed in on the outer wall. While the quick and agile Reaper drones proved hard to target for the defenders, they didn''t have nearly enough firepower to the fight and were thus mostly ineffective in breaching the multi layered defensive barrier which surrounded the outer wall, not that they really needed to. While the Reaper drones ran distraction together with the artillery and cruise missiles which constantly rained down, the real threat slowly and magically moved into position.


    [RAPIDFIRE ORDER RECEIVED, NOW MOVING TO ACTIVE COOLING MODE #4¡­]


    As it had taken up position in a nearby treeline with a direct line of sight to the imperial capital''s outer wall, the high calibre Guardian-G097 railgun carrier secured itself in position with long spikes which dug deeply into the ground as its active cooling system ramped up speed in preparation for the mayhem it was about to release.


    [FIRE MISSION RECEIVED, LOAD HV-APFSDS.


    RANGE: 2045 METERS.


    FUSE: NULL.


    ANTI MATERIAL LEVEL 9.


    UNIT 19 READY TO FIRE, AWAITING GO ORDER.]


    (ICI, how''s the orbital artillery looking?)


    Having received a ready signal from the last G097 railgun carrier, Dax switched his attention to another element of the plan as he prepared to charge the imperial capital.


    [DEORBIT SUCCESSFUL, CONSTELLATION IMPACT IN 40 SECONDS.]


    Looking at the imperial capital''s outer wall and impressive looking barrier, Dax felt a sadistic smile creep onto his face.


    "Well then, time to smash this annoying little egg with a sledgehammer~"

 Chapter 228 - Fall of the Empire (2)

    "Status?"


    Unfaced at the complete and utter chaos around him, Dax called out for final confirmation as Alice in her exoskeleton walked up behind him.


    [This is Solaris, we''re ready.]


    [3RD DETACHMENT REPORTS, STATUS: READY.]


    [4RD DETACHMENT REPORTS, STATUS: READY.]


    [5RD DETACHMENT REPORTS, STATUS: READY.]


    [6RD DETACHMENT REPORTS, STATUS: READY.]


    "... Okay then, Alice you stick on my ass at all times. I need you to help with drone and CAS tasking"


    "Roger."


    While Alice was usually way more cheerful, she had learned the hard way to leave that behind when working. Noticing Alice''s changed attitude Dax decided to not to touch on that kind of subject doing an operation and made a note to bring it up after they had secured the FTL module.


    "Command to all units: Splash 10 seconds, weapons free."


    Admiring the massive outer wall of the imperial capital which he was about to utterly destroy, Dax took a deep breath as his vision blurred.


    [PREPARING FOR FULL MIND DOMINATION. WARNING: COMPLETE MIND MELT IN EFFECT. EXPECTED CORRUPTION AT 100% PATTEN BLACK NOW IN EFFECT.]


    In the fraction of a second, the strikes against the imperial city''s outer wall increased in magnitude by several folds as the G-097 railguns opened fire while orbital artillery rained down from above. Stressing the defensive barrier to the limit, it was only a matter of time before it failed, although Dax was not about to wait for that.


    "Fire mission: Target stress concentration point #9, fire HV-APFSDS."


    By using high altitude thermal imaging and the massive computational power available to him, Dax easily identified structural weak points in the barrier and the wall where it was engraved. Targeting one of those weak points with 200 mill anti material ammunition, Dax started running towards the wall as a swarm of drones surrounded him. Ducking low to avoid a ballista bolt aimed at his head, Dax took a black briefcase off one of the nearby drones which started changing its shape when it connected to his XMRA armour, reaching the defensive barrier as 8 metre long tungsten alloy penetrator broke through and shattered one of the runic formations which maintained it. Taking advantage of the fluctuating barrier as it stabilized Dax slipped through it, breaking into the 100 metre perimeter which was between the barrier and the outer wall.


    "Activate ADS."


    [ADS ACTIVE, DOPPLER RADAR ONLINE.]


    As Dax was immediately subjected to increased attention by the defenders, he didn''t hesitate to use the active protection system that his suit was equipped with. While countless small kinetic missiles were launched off his back to intercept magic spells and other projectiles Dax leapt off the ground and landed halfway up the 200 metre high wall as the briefcase completed its transformation and now looked like a large gauntlet which wrapped around his left arm. As he hit the wall, the gauntlet transformed once more, shooting out a massive spike which dug into the stone wall and detached from his arm, allowing Dax to use it as a foothold while he continued to climb the wall together with a squad of Reaper drones. Reaching the top of the wall in a matter of seconds, Dax tossed a cl.u.s.ter of fragmentation grenades over the wall before he climbed up all the war, using his wrist mounted machine gun to clear out any surviving resistance.


    "Blow it."


    [DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED, IGNITING IMPROVISED FUSION CELL DEVICE TYPE 93.]


    While Dax jumped down on the other side of the wall, the gauntlet he had left behind halfway up the other side of the wall ignited the fusion cells which were hidden inside of it. With a truly massive explosion, the imperial capital''s outer wall cracked open, and with that, the defensive barrier which also surrounded the imperial capital failed.


    "Charge!"


    Taking full advantage of the opportunity which presented itself, Solaris followed the plan Dax had laid out and started advancing on the east gate of the imperial capital. With her figure completely clad in dull black composite armour like Dax and the Reaper drones which surrounded her, the archangels only outward identifying characteristic was her bright white wings which extended out from holes in her protective armour on her back.


    "Ascension."


    Speaking out the name of the spell, Solaris'' wings started absorbing the ambient mana as she started casting a new spell.


    "Neutralization field: Load munition."


    Flapping her wings once, the conveniently placed pile of spare 200 mill HV-APFSDS tungsten alloy penetrators near Solaris started floating freely in the air around her.


    "Neutralization field: Singularity."


    Straining her ability to manipulate mana to the absolute limit, Solaris used newly theorized gravity controlling magic to further compress the already extremely dense penetrators even further as cracks formed on them.


    "Neutralization field: Collapse!"


    Using all the mana in the surrounding area, Solaris sent a hail of anti material munition flying towards the outer wall to great effect. As the half ton penetrators impacted the wall and some unfortunate guard at hypersonic speeds, the gigantic stone wall simply cracked as its structural integrity failed.


    Now it was just a matter of smashing it apart completely.


    "Ah, you have good timing Lilly, do you want to help me with this?"


    And just when Solaris was speculating about how she would do that, the solution presented itself when Solaris laid eyes on a certain elver.


    "Sure, I was thinking I needed some warm up before we get to the real conflict~"


    Just like Solaris, Lilly too wore black composite armour which entirely encased her body, the only exception being her longer than average ears which stuck out the side of her helmet along with her fiery red hair which ran freely down her back because the person in question disliked having either of those things packed up tightly within her armour.


    "Then let''s go with a pressure type spell. I''ve already mostly destroyed the wall, all that there''s left is blowing it over."


    Having settled on their strategy without much need for strategizing or discussion, Lilly''s armour started lighting up as purple hexagonal patterns spread from her hands up her arms, reaching her shoulder blades where thin fin like radiators extended outward. With a nod to Solaris, Lilly communicated that she was ready, then with choreographed spell construction both Lilly and Solaris worked together to create a single spell formation which spread out before them before activating.


    ""Siege formation: Assault hammer!""


    Even if Solaris had cast the spell herself before, this ''assault hammer'' was on a scale which couldn''t be compared to any other spell she had ever cast, that was largely due to the armour she, Terra and Lilly wore. Creating a massive overpressure of air, Solaris and Lilly shot off their spell to great effect as the mighty wall of the imperial capital shattered and collapsed.


    "Advance!"


    With the wall broken and the enemy''s will to fight shattered, Solaris, Lilly and Terra advanced along with their attached drone forces.


    -


    While Dax used fancy equipment and Solaris and Lilly used magic, Lux used brute force and superior military technology to break apart and shatter all opposition.


    "Detachment 00-19, open fire. Fire mission, target: +09 +02 30. Use of air fuel explosives authorized."


    [AFFIRMATIVE, FIRE MISSION RECEIVED. SHELLING TARGET.]


    Being under heavy fire from hostile forces which had the high ground up on the outermost wall, Lux had long since lost her patience and called for heavy fire support. With an almost instant response, railgun artillery posted to the rear of the front line loaded specialized monitions in accordance with Lux''s orders and opened fire in a quick and efficient manner. With the shells having internal timed fuses set right before firing only a fraction of a second passed before they ignited, spreading metal oxide and powdered explosives in a cloud which obtained the perfect ratio of fuel to air mixture, then all that was needed was a spark. With a deafening explosion, all life on the top of the outer wall was brutally snuffed out, as the defending soldiers and mages experienced an overpressure and subsequent vacuum that their lungs couldn''t handle as they simply burst. The more unlucky soldiers merely inhaled the burning fuel which seared their lungs, and they all died within minutes as they choked in agony.


    "Detachment 00-19, good effect on target. Maintain configuration and fire for effect."


    With hostile opposition rapidly deteriorating Lux chose that moment to break through while her fire support still pinned down any survivors. Single handedly picking up a handheld railgun Lux charged the gate she had been tasked with breaking trough as the siege weapon in her hands greedily sucked in air to cool its rapid charging. Grinding to a stop Lux took up a firing position about 10 metres from the sturdy looking 5 metre tall outer gate made of solid metal as she squeezed the trigger, sending a tungsten alloy penetrator hurling into the gate where it completely disintegrated as it tore a large hole in the gate and its locking mechanism.


    "Advance!"


    Having broken past the first line of defence on all flanks, Dax''s forces advanced without meeting much resistance as they advanced deep into the imperial capital.


    Still, the remnants of the more experienced imperial knights proved to be way more of a challenge as they used gorilla warfare and staged a constant string of ambushes taking full advantage of the verticality and densely packed urban terrain which the imperial capital offered. Taking a short and deep breath, an imperial knight slowly stepped out on an interconnecting bridge between two skyscr.a.p.ers as she readied her longbow and notched a solid metal arrow which had the length of her own arm. About 20 metres below her was a detachment of the invading forces, they moved in the middle of one of the larger roads with an extreme familiarity of fighting within such cramped spaces among civilian populace, little did the imperial knight know, this was their preferred terrain. Glancing around at other nearby buildings, the imperial knight confirmed that her comrades were also in a position to strike against the invaders, then she used a small mirror to observe her opponents on the street below. Two lines of human sized golems surrounded a large six footed monster which slowly but surely made its way towards the imperial castle with what seemed like two humanoid figures leading the way.


    (Here we go¡­)


    Taking a last deep breath the imperial knight activated magic which kept her figure hidden as she leaned out over the edge of the bridge and took aim at one of the leading figures below. Slowly exhaling, the imperial knight drew back the arrow as she calmed herself down, from now it was a race against time, she needed to find her aim true before lactic acid built up too much in her muscles and made aiming impossible. Having settled on her target the imperial knight visualized the point where the brain stem connected to the spinal cord connected, aiming for a sure fire kill shot, the imperial knight let the arrow fly as her comrades did the same. Without even a whistle the metal arrow found its way flawlessly to its target, but instead of digging into the throat of its target, it disintegrated mid air as it was hit by some sort of small projectile fired from the large, 6 legged monster.


    "Ambush! Contact, 7 o''clock high!"


    Jumping forward as he yelled out a command almost on reflex, Dax quickly rolled on the ground as he landed with his back on the ground and brought his rifle to bear on the attackers above. Looking through the scope Dax saw the confused expression of the imperial knight which had targeted him as he squeezed the trigger, reducing that head to red mist as the HAWOC let out a low pitched hum dug in its feet as a plate opened on the top of it and launched a series of small missiles which sought out their targets without mercy. Within a matter of seconds, the ambush was annihilated, but as the area still needed to be secured Dax''s formation came to a halt as a detachment of Reaper drones started scaling the outside of the nearby buildings to clear them of any remaining hostiles.


    "Dax are you okay?"


    "Yeah, I''m fine."


    As Alice helped Dax back on his feet he let out a groan of irritation before knocking some of the dirt of his back.


    "Callout to all units: Ambush encountered, we''re going to need a few minutes to secure the area."


    (Hopefully, this is the last ambush¡­ I really can''t wait until this face is over¡­)

 Chapter 229 - Fall of the empire (3)

    "What''s the situation outside?"


    Speaking with a solemn voice it seemed that the Emperor already had some idea of what was going on, but still, it seemed like he wanted to hear the specifics from the messenger that had arrived.


    "... The outer defences have completely shattered and are overrun on all flanks. While there have been some attempts to slow down the advances into the city by our honourable imperial guard, they have not accomplished anything other than sustaining sizeable losses¡­ It seems our current enemy is extremely knowledgeable about fighting within packed city spaces."


    "So it would seem. How far have they reached into the city?"


    As if the Emperor had predicted a large part of what the messenger had to say already he didn''t really appear that phased by it, to his close subordinates it appeared like the Emperor was already contemplating other issues, for example, what he needed to do to repel the current invasion.


    "I''m afraid to report that they will start laying siege to the castle within the hour, with the resources we have remaining there''s nothing we can do to stop them."


    Normally a hostile force of the current strength wouldn''t be an issue, but due to a preemptive strike which had surgically eliminated key organizational assets within the empire''s forces, only a fifth of their army and imperial knights had made it to the capital in time to defend it, the rest were either unable to communicate with command, combat ineffective, dealing with civil uprisings or outright missing and presumed dead. With the messenger having accomplished his task, he quickly excused himself as the Emperor and his closest followers started discussing what to do.


    "Is it possible to hold on until backup arrives?"


    "What backup? Our forces are completely shattered, even the sanctuaries have suffered heavy casualties, with the exception of the 22nd that is¡­ It must be nice to be able to pick and chose allegiances."


    With heavy scorn in his voice, one of the imperial guard captains glanced over towards the only angel present.


    "And what exactly is that supposed to mean?"


    Raising from her chair, the minister of magic glared with unrestrained bloodl.u.s.t at the captain as he continued his ridicule.


    "You know exactly what I mean, o'' all powerful eternal protector of the empire. It must be nice to take everything you need from us over aeons, then, when it''s finally time for your side of the bargain you turn your back on us and leave us to die."


    "Enough!"


    With the Emperor raising his voice as he slammed his fist into the table, he managed to avoid the minister of magic killing the rest of his subordinates, but still, the situation looked dire.


    (I guess there''s nothing else left to do¡­)


    Resigned to his fate, the Emperor rose from his seat as he addressed his subordinates.


    "There''s no time to argue about such petty things! The minister of magic chose to go directly against the words of her sanctuary to stay here with us. There is still a way for us to win this war, we just need a bit more time."


    Speaking with absolute confidence, the Emperor managed to raise the morale of his subordinates.


    "What we need is time, stall them as much as possible! Victory is within our grasp!"


    With renewed vigour, the Emperor''s subordinates suddenly found their situation not quite so hopeless and left the Emperor''s side to prepare the castle''s defences, with the sole exception being the minister of magic.


    "... Are you sure about this?"


    "I am, you said it would be safe, right?"


    "I did-"


    "Then this is what we will do, I trust you Limos."


    Faced with absolute trust and a slight smile from the Emperor, Limos couldn''t really say anything against it.


    "F-fine, then this is what we will do."


    Having settled on a plan, the Emperor called out into the seemingly empty room.


    "Shadow."


    "Yes, sire.??


    When a shadowy figure descended on the corner of the room, the Emperor continued speaking as he started with an apology.


    "I''m sorry, but I need you to keep any enemies away from the throne room at all cost."


    With the added ''even if all of you need to throw away your lives'' added as a subtext to the end of that sentence, the shadow deeply bowed while becoming overwhelmed with emotion.


    "Yes sire, at your will."


    "I am sorry."


    "No, don''t be sire. We all owe you our lives. The shadows of the Emperor wishes you good fortune."


    ---


    "Shit! They really like to use our own weaponry against us, huh? Alice!"


    Finding himself pinned down in a crater squarely in the middle of a kill zone, Dax''s helmet hid a full blown slime as he called for assistance.


    "Got it! On the way!"


    Understanding Dax''s request perfectly, Alice stepped out of cover as she aimed the heavy machinegun she was carrying with the help of her exoskeleton. Bringing the weapon to bear before she could be hit by any heavy weaponry, Alice wiped out the defenders while her exoskeleton protected her from grazing hits and lighter weaponry.


    "Good job!"


    With the way cleared for him, Dax dashed out from his fox hole and made his way up the wall before anyone could react, from that point on it was nothing but a pointless massacre.


    (Why can''t they just surrender so we can get this shitshow over with¡­)


    (Well, of course~? They wouldn''t just outright surrender against an invader without at least trying to fight~?)


    (Oh right, you''re here too¡­)


    Hearing an overly sweet, honey laced and eager voice sounding out in his head in response to his own rhetoric question, Dax instantly switched to an entirely deadpan tone and expression.


    (What do you mean ''you''re here too''!? Don''t treat me like such a bother when you insisted on bringing me with you!)


    Flaring in anger, Dax''s demon sword which was attached to the outside of his XMRA armour started complaining so loudly that it interfered with his concentration.


    (Oh shut up, will you? I was just a bit surprised since ICI is programmed to not respond to my sarcastic remarks so it''s a bit strange to just have someone respond to your inner thoughts like that.)


    Ripping an entire arm out of a poor guards shoulder socket and flinging it at another unfortunate victim, Dax continued his obviously more important conversation and tried to calm down his ''partner''.


    (I''m sorry, I can''t help it okay! If you had spent just a quarter of the time sealed away as I have you would be the same way!)


    With a slight flinch, Dax slowed down his rampage for a just a fraction of a second in response to the way-too-honest response from the sword. In response to that one of the imperial guards who was mixed in with the normal guards sized on the opportunity to strike and switched his rifle from semi to fully automatic fire, then he squeezed the trigger as a teasing smile formed beneath Dax''s helmet.


    (So you''re saying the reason why you keep responding to me is that you''re lonely? Okay, I''ll keep that in mind. Still, I didn''t know that cursed weapons could feel those kinds of emotions, I will do my best and keep that in mind.)


    (Is that so?~ Yay~?)


    (Yeah, I''ll treat you as a needy highschooler from now on.)


    (Eh?)


    (Don''t worry, I have plenty of experience dealing with that kind of stuff since I was on leave while Lux went through puberty~?)


    (Wha!?-)


    Using the active protection system installed in his XMRA armour not to protect him against the sudden hail of fire hurling towards him, Dax instead blasted the imperial knight in the face with air launched explosives as he stepped into range and hit the knight in his chest, cracking most of his ribs as he was sent flying out over the wall.


    "We''ve cleared our section of the wall! Alice get the f.u.c.k up here and help me secure it!"


    "Y-yes, right away!"


    As Dax had cleared his part of the wall surrounding the imperial castle seemed to collapse while his demon sword fell silent once more.


    "This place sure is massive."


    Having completely shattered the imperial castle''s defences, Dax and the other teams forced their way into a seemingly abandoned castle with the help of a HAWOC and it''s primary high calibre railgun.


    "... It''s too empty."


    Looking around the abandoned defensive positions which seemed to have been hastily formed at the entrance, Terra started having a bad premonition, something Dax shared.


    "Shit! Lux, take Lilly and Terra, I''ll go ahead with Solaris and Alice!"


    Figuring out what was going on Dax started genuinely panicking as he realized what was going on.


    (ICI fire mission! Case delta!)


    (CASE DELTA CONFIRMED, TASKING ALL UNITS¡­ COMPLETE, PAYLOAD INBOUND, ETA: 14 MINUTES.)


    Flaring with mana, Dax created a spell which smashed through the ceiling of the grand reception hall before jumping up into the hole as he started rushing towards the top of the castle.

 Chapter 230 - Fall of the Empire (4)

    "Dax, why are we rushing like this!?"


    "Because the sweet little Emperor is planning to seek exile, if he does that then it''ll really be a pain to deal with! Now keep up or get left behind!"


    Rushing forward with no regards for a proper formation or any other military doctrine Dax cleared rooms at a blistering pace as he advanced in a steadfast manner towards the centre of the castle, the imperial throne room. He didn''t make it far before running into resistance, however, as when Dax rounded a mild corner while running along a wall he was met with a dagger which suddenly appeared out of a shadow. Normally such an attack wouldn''t be much of a concern as he was wearing his XMRA, but Dax''s intuition told him that the dagger steadily closing in on his right eye would tear right through anything standing in its way until it stabbed into his brain.


    (Shit!)


    Making an instant decision based solely on his intuition Dax sacrificed his left arm to block the strike as he twisted his body mid jump to avoid the dagger which tore straight through his arm and split it apart lengthwise a 3rd of the way to his elbow, narrowly missing his head.


    "Well, that sure is some greeting. Although I am invading this place it still is quite rude to try and outright kill someone like that."


    Drawing his cursed sword with his only remaining hand, Dax took a low defensive stance as he held the cursed blade in a reverse grip and covered his injured side while attempting to make small talk to distract his opponent which was currently emerging out of a shadow in front of him. Having emerged fully out of the shadow, Dax identified his opponent as some sort of demi human, although he couldn''t nail down the race. Wrapped from head to toe in black cloth and bandages, only a small sliver of the assassin''s violet eyes were visible which seemed to scan Dax for openings in a way he had never seen before.


    (AUTO REPAIR ENGAGED, TASKING GREYMATTER IN AFFECTED AREA... DONE, 30 SECONDS TILL MINIMUM FUNCTION CAN BE REESTABLISHED.)


    (Dax, are you okay?)


    (Yeah, or I will be in about half a minute. More importantly, do you think you can block that dagger?)


    (Of course I can block it, how do you think I am~? With a bit of mana I can even cut right through it~)


    While his sword was being its usually noisy self Dax appraised his opponent, finding none of the usual weak spots he would normally be exploiting. To make matters worse, serval more figures were emerging out of the seemingly living patch of shadow behind the first assassin, with Dax''s instincts telling him that they were all at least as good if not better than their peer who had drawn first blood.


    ""Dax!""


    As both Solaris and Alice finally caught up to Dax they immediately saw his injured state and felt a blind rage build up in their bodies, after all, who would be able to remain calm when they saw people they like getting seriously injured?


    "Contact front, multiple confirmed hostiles!"


    Noticing the girl''s mounting rage shouted out the same command he and Lux used when training to make them realize the situation they currently found themselves in.


    This is not the kind of opponents they could take lightly.


    (AUTO REPAIR COMPLETE, MINIMUM FUNCTION ESTABLISHED. AFFECTED AREA OPERATIONAL @ 30% STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY.)


    (What''s the estimated time till 80%)


    (CALCULATING, STAND BY¡­)


    Luckily the arrival of Solaris and Alice had given Dax''s injury time to heal to an acceptable level and with his hand once more in working order he immediately used it to purge most of his XMRA armour except for the pieces which covered his arms and legs as it couldn''t protect him it was just dead weight which would only slow him down, revealing his usual casual wear which he wore under the armour. Meanwhile, Alice and Solaris seemed to have grasped Dax''s intentions as Alice slowly exited out the back of her exoskeleton and drew her service weapon and a dagger while Solaris started absorbing the ambient mana.


    "Well, I believe I felt a presence following me last time I raided this castle¡­. Was it perhaps one of you fine ladies?"


    With what seemed like the final assassin emerging out of the living shadow, Dax took the opportunity to make the first move as he flared in both mana and bloodl.u.s.t. Closing the range to the closest assassin almost instantly, he flicked the cursed demon sword into a normal grip as the blade turned bright red, then he swung it down towards the assassin with a considerable amount of force behind the attack, aiming to cleave the person in half down the middle before advancing. Falling into Dax''s trap the assassin raised her dagger to block the sudden strike, but to her surprise, the ominous red blade cut right through her weapon without it offering any sort of protection. Reacting instantly to that discovery the silent assassin broke her stance and hooked to the side to avoid Dax''s strike, then she brought what was left of her dagger to bare against Dax''s exposed throat.


    (Damn she good, really good in fact¡­ Now I want her for myself.)


    (This is not the time to be chasing women! Besides, don''t you have enough already!?)


    (I meant I want her as an ally, but whatever.)


    While answering his extremely fl.u.s.tered sounding demon that seemed to scream inside his head whenever it wanted to, Dax let go of his sword as he stepped backwards to dodge the attack against his throat with only a few millimetres of clearance, then he stepped back into range and used his now free hands to strike the assassins hip and chest at the same time, sending her flying before he caught his sword which was still in mid air.


    "You guys really are skilled, why don''t all of you come and work for me, dear shadows of the emperor?~"


    Sidestepping and blocking the two additional strikes which came the second he exposed himself Dax still had plenty of room to breathe, even when facing multiple of the most skilled assassins in the empire.


    The same could not be said for Alice and Solaris however.


    "Kuh! Shit, Sol!"


    "On it!"


    Even after Dax had given them some time to prepare by rushing into the hostiles, the angel and human pair still struggled to keep up while they were constantly forced to give up ground and slowly retreat to avoid being flanked and wiped out. While Solaris and Alice exoskeleton (in remote operation mode) supported Alice, she herself was the only person on the front line. Narrowly avoiding a slash which would have taken her one arm, Alice lept a few meters back before firing a few shots from her fully automatic pistol in an attempt to buy some time while golden crystal swords flew right by her head towards the Shadows.


    (F.u.c.k they are relentless, although not as much as Lux.)


    Gritting her teeth as her earlier manoeuvre didn''t by her more than a few seconds of breathing room, Alice decided to step forward herself as she sliced at an opponent. The only two factors that worked to Alice''s advantage her was greatly enhanced body which had been radically strengthened when she was healed by technology from Dax''s world and the small amount of training she had received from Lux. She could quite clearly tell that her opponents outclassed her in terms of raw skill and technique, luckily Lux had drilled her extensively in how to deal with opponents which outclassed her. Alice''s opponents could also clearly feel that difference in their experience and because of that they continuously tried to exploit openings, but as Alice had spent most of her time under Lux training on how to deal with that, as well as Solaris'' support it ended in a stalemate as long as Alice continued to give up ground. While fighting Alice also sent commands to her exoskeleton through the neural link in her armour, making it shoot its shoulder mounted Rex-0999 machinegun every time a shadow threatened to break through her defences and strike at Solaris which continued to hurl out spells at a truly impressive rate.


    Creating another volley of crystal shards Solaris'' suit lit up on a purple glow while responding to her requests, but even after trying out a particularly dense hail of shards she still only succeeded in landing grazing hit, something which was starting to annoy the archangel in question greatly.


    (Damn it all! Why can''t I hit them?!)


    But instead of letting the frustration go to her head Solaris started paying even greater attention to her targets while her eyes started glowing in a faint golden hue under her helmet. Observing the mana which was leaking out from her targets Solaris finally realized how they managed to avoid her spells.


    (They are reading my mana¡­ Shit.)


    By reading the faint amount of mana leaking from Solaris'' crystals, the shadow''s could effectively mentally reconstruct her spells, making them able to predict how they would track them. Still, such a method was supposed to be extremely taxing, as the Shadows constantly had to mentally reconstruct countless spells in real time in order to predict them, but even after a few minutes of fighting, they showed no signs of slowing down.


    (if my current output is not enough to overpower them I simply need to increase it!)


    Deciding it was worth to use ascension even if her output would drop a little while she recovered after the fight, Solaris started absorbing even more mana trough her wings, which acted as a clear giveaway to anyone observing her.


    (You stupid f.u.c.k.i.n.g half pigeon!)


    Glancing over to see Solaris easily falling for the opponent''s trap, Dax realized that he needed to save his subordinates within the next few seconds, or they would die.

 Chapter 231 - Fall of the Empire (5)

    (You stupid f.u.c.k.i.n.g half pigeon!)


    Realizing he needed to do something drastic so Solaris and Alice could keep their lives Dax broke operational doctrine and forced a connection to Solaris'' armour while he activated his own ascension spell architecture. In a split second Dax''s mana ambient mana signature flared as it increased by several magnitudes as he interfered with Solaris'' mana enhancing armour, rewriting the frequency generator so it cancelled out the angel''s spell instead of enhancing it. With the sudden split second twist of the battlefield, the Shadows demonstrated their flawless teamwork as they switched their attention almost exclusively to Dax, even the ominously glowing dagger seemed to have some sort of mana tracking function as it turned around mid air and propelled itself towards Dax.


    (This could be a real pain to deal with¡­)


    Dax had expected a response to his drastic actions, but not to this level. Facing the Shadows of the emperor was almost like having a spar with Lux and her personal squadron of the 125th when they had mind melted, everything they did seemed pre planed with the constant and consistent responses to the changing situation. If the shadows had been biologically enhanced and had access to mind melt like Dax he couldn''t for a second say with confidence that he would win against them, there was a chance he could win if he had been the one pulling off the ambush and had used chemical weapons, but still, it wouldn''t be great odds. Even with his full strength in use, Dax had only been able to injure a single one of the Shadows when only some of them had their attention focused on him, but now about 90% were bearing down on him.


    Still, he had the advantage of using mana.


    (Sige formation: Assault hammer.)


    Creating a sphere of highly compressed air Dax slightly altered the spell to make it spin rapidly in the air while he layered another spell on top of his offensive.


    (Air pressure control: Haze.)


    Raising the ambient humidity by creating tiny particles of water which he rapidly spread throughout the shadows Dax layered a third spell on top of that.


    (Air radiation control: Damping field.)


    Forcing the air and water molecules to almost halt their vibration at an atomic level Dax radically cooled the area which the shadows occupied, slowing down their movements as a thin layer of ice instantly formed on all surfaces.


    Including cloth, armour, flesh and especially lung tissue.


    At this point, it had still only been a few seconds since Solaris had tried to use her ascension spell and now she had finally realized the mistake she had made. But before she could do anything about it herself, the anti angel weapon which had been thrown at her suddenly turned around in mid air.


    "Dax don''t!"


    Just as she realized that Dax had decided to tank the hit for her did Dax cast his fourth and final spell within those few seconds.


    "Air radiation control: Acceleration field!"


    Flash heating the air and water molecules a split second after it had been almost frozen solid, the water instantly turned to steam while the air expanded and the corridor filled with the smell of burning flesh while steam instantly forced everyone to close their eyes or risk being blinded for life. Having rendered all of the shadows combat ineffective Dax felt his implanted mana circuit burn while his head filled with warning messages from ICI as he was pushing it way past its limits, but still, he needed its services to cast one final spell.


    Taking a split second long sharp breath through his clenched teeth, Dax threw away his cursed sword as he shouted the name of the final spell he would be using for quite a while.


    "Seal: Ambient mana disruption!"


    Staring down the engraved anti angel dagger which was already activating, Dax attempted to fully eliminate the mana in and around him, but as the implanted mana circuit was already past its limits it failed mid cast.


    (Fuc!-)


    With the engraved dagger activating, it instantly used up all ambient mana to do one thing: Create high energy air blades which vibrated at almost supersonic speeds. With the spell taking effect before he could even finish cursing out in his mind, Dax felt his body being quite literally cut apart, luckily the last spell which he had cast managed to at least take partial effect, lowering the ambient mana in and around Dax which the anti angel weapon could use. But even as he survived with his life Dax still suffered critical damage, and the sight of him falling over on his face with blood and grey matter pouring out all over his body was enough to send both Alice and Solaris fully into shock. Luckily Dax''s spell had also affected the shadows they had been fighting so the pair dealt with them in a timely fashion before rushing over to Dax.


    "Dax!"


    "Stay with us! Can you hear me!?"


    Doing as they had been taught Solaris and Alice injected several vials of fresh grey matter into Dax''s neck, as the nanomachines started healing the damage while supplying fresh oxygen to his brain, the person in question quickly regained his consciousness.


    "F.u.c.k¡­ Me¡­"


    Somehow managing to let out a groan with a sliced apart lung Dax tried getting back on his feet by was stopped by Alice who firmly held him down.


    "Don''t move yet! You''re lucky to be alive."


    With tears streaming down both her own and Solaris'' face, the girls managed to calm down Dax as he realized how worried they had been for him.


    "It''s fine¡­ This is just¡­ Another day at¡­ The office."


    Showing a warm smile as his body already started healing up at a truly impressive speed, Dax started gently wiping away Alice''s tears before turning her attention to Solaris.


    "Dax I am so sorr!- Hau!?"


    Delivering a swift punishment even before Solaris had finished apologizing, Dax flicked the meek looking angel square in the face as he smiled at her while wiping away her tears.


    "You stupid half pigeon. Did you really think¡­ I would die from something like this?"


    Removing Alice''s hand from his shoulder Dax sat back up as he placed a hand on Solaris head like he had done with Alice, reassuring the angel that he was fine.


    "I''m already starting to heal up, although a lot of important things have been replaced almost entirely by grey matter I''m fine. More importantly could you get my sword? I threw it away because I figured there might be a chance it would be destroyed if exposed to that spell."


    "... Fine, although you really can be inconsiderate some times."


    "You mean most times, right?"


    As Alice corrected Solaris while she went to collect the sword, Dax turned his attention to the person who had just said something really rude about him.


    "Even if that''s the case it''s still quite harsh to just say it like that¡­"


    "Is it? Then perhaps you should start paying a bit more attention to the things you say yourself, there''s a chance it will help~"


    Looking at Alice''s face Dax found himself at quite a loss. The girl Dax had met when first arriving in this world was a somewhat clumsy and immature girl who was easy to make fun of, but the Alice in front of him right now seemed like a completely different person.


    (She really has grown a lot under Lux¡­)


    "Anyway, how was your fight? Was it interesting to face someone stronger than yourself who didn''t hold back in the slightest?"


    Pondering the question for a second Alice''s smile somewhat lessened as she gave her honest opinion.


    "It was really hard. If you weren''t here as a safety net I''m sure I would have eventually lost¡­. But that doesn''t matter right now, if anything it has hardened my determination to become strong enough to stand beside you as an equal, no matter how long it takes!"


    With renewed determination clearly visible on Alice''s face it was clear that she would almost certainly reach that point one day when she did he would be sure to reward her efforts.


    (Damn, I really am falling in love with these girls¡­ Who knew was still able to do that?)


    While Alice had renewed her determination and Dax had come to a quite important self realization the two of them shared a tender moment, but only briefly.


    "Dax! Are you okay!?"


    As Solaris suddenly rushed into Dax''s chest and knocked him over Dax was quite confused for a second, until he noticed Solaris'' unusual tone.


    "... Oi, didn''t I say that possessing allies was off limits?"


    "Eh, is that the swords speaking!?"


    Also realizing what was going on Alice noticed that Solaris firmly held onto Dax''s cursed sword in her one hand while embracing Dax with the other, something which made Alice somewhat annoyed.


    "This isn''t a possession! I''m just using this child''s body since we''re both worried about you Dax! There was so much blood pouring out from you just a second ago, are you sure you''re fine to sit up already?"


    "I''m completely fine to fight already, luckily I managed to somewhat cancel out that spell so my brain and sup processor came out the other end without damage."


    Standing back up on his own Dax displayed that he was completely fine while hiding the fact that he couldn''t really move that well yet. Due to the rapid healing Dax had lost about 40% of his overall strength while becoming unable to use magic, he would need a bioprinter to heal those things completely.


    "Now hand Solaris back over, she''s mine. Besides, we still have some stuff to do."


    "Tch, fine. This angel really has a nice body~? But I''ll give up on her for now."


    "Not just for now, forever!"


    Snapping at the cursed sword which was using Solaris'' mouth to speak Dax pried the sword free from her hand with an extremely irritated expression on his face.


    "Dax, is the sword always speaking like that?"


    With it being the first time Alice had heard the cursed sword speaking she was quite confused, having heard second hand about how Dax had tamed a cursed demon sword she had expected it to be some sort of homicidal maniac, but the truth was that it actually did appear to care for him, a fact which Alice even more annoyed as she started puffing out her cheeks with a slight frown on her face.


    "Yeah its constantly like that, this sword is the extremely obnoxious kind that it always yapping about something inside my head."


    "Hmm?~ Is that so?"


    "Huh? Why do you seem so mad all of a sudden ms Alice?"


    "Why don''t you try asking your sword about that!?"


    While Alice and Dax had a little lover''s quarrel Solaris had long since regained her sense of self, although there was a very good reason as to why she continued to remain silent while the wings on her back fluttered around so fast that they almost became a blur.


    (''She''s mine'' he said!~ He really said that straight to my face! I''m so happy!)


    -


    With the entirety of Dax''s party having returned to the real world after a few minutes and Dax himself having reported the injury to Lux, Dax started checking for survivors among the shadows, finding only a single one which was still barely alive.


    "Don''t worry, I''m not going to use that detestable thing on your, nor am I going to forcefully abduct you. If you want to die here I won''t deny you that honour."


    Speaking in a calm and collected manner Dax crouched down next to the now blind shadow which laid limply on the floor.


    "Just¡­ Let me¡­. Die."


    "Okay then, in that case, allow me to say some praise to you and your comrades."


    Carefully grasping the burned hand of the shadow, she felt a sincere warmth move throughout her body as she found herself shamelessly clinging on to life so she could hear what her opponent wanted to say to her.


    "That ambush was simply fantastic. Be proud as you pass on, your group almost managed to kill the one who is nicknamed ''the immortal'' and stands atop the Galactic imperial navy''s most elite fighting force, the 125th special ops and orbital wetwork battalion. To my enemies, we are known as hellwalkers for our ability to constantly outclass entire armies. It was only through luck I managed to live, pass that on to your comrades in the afterlife and remain proud."


    "I¡­ Will¡­."


    "... Rest in peace."


    Feeling the shadow''s pulse flatline trough her hand, Dax carefully put it down before he stood back up.


    "ICI, mark my current location, I have 24 people in need of casvac, make sure they are buried with the highest honours."


    [CASUALTY EVACUATION CONFIRMED AT CURRENT LOCATION, TASKING CAS-7''S FOR ESCORT AND BURIAL WITH FULL HONOURS.]


    Looking at Dax''s sombre expression Solaris timidly reached out and grasped his hand.


    "Wouldn''t it have been better to save her?"


    "No, this was a matter of honour, she and her allies earned my respect through combat. As a qiton I can only respect the person''s wishes."


    A race built for the sole purpose of warfare which had dedicated their entire culture to that effort and a group of children who had dedicated their lives to protecting their master, in a way they were the two of them were the same.


    "... Time to see what the Emperor has been planing for me."


    Looking at the walls of the imperial castle Dax could clearly see that the transport formation which was located in the throne room had already been fully charged and was ready to be used.


    (Perhaps she wanted to listen to what I said to make sure she completed her final mission?... Damn, if things had worked out differently I definitely would have made such a brilliant force mine.)

 Chapter 232 - Fall of the Empire (6)

    (Now, what to do about this?)


    Listening closely to a grand door Dax clearly sensed two presences inside the imperial throne room, while his injuries had healed up the qiton had still lost a considerable amount of strength and the ability to use mana, on the other side Dax simply couldn''t risk involving his allies in the confrontation which was about to unfold so in the end, he decided to go in alone.


    Or as alone as he could be when surrounded by over 50 combat drones which he had mind melted with anyway.


    (.., In the end, there''s only one way to go about this huh? Well, Ra did say that this was more my style anyway.)


    Reminiscing about the more aggressive of the Avoaxian sisters Dax had come to call family while settling on an approach, Dax smashed his fist through the large locking mechanism on the door, then gently pushed it open as he remained standing in the centre of it.


    "If only you had responded to some of my letters this wouldn''t have happened."


    Looking at the single throne which had been placed about 50 metres into the grand looking room with a high ceiling and detailed stone roofing and pillars Dax addressed the blond haired youth in his late twenties which was sitting on top of it with a confident expression on his face.


    "Why isn''t it that so called outsider? Sorry to say, but we have never heard of such letters."


    "Yeah, yeah sure. Let''s just get this shit over with, where is that which is mine? I have a war to get back to."


    Taking brisk steps forward into the large hall of the throne room, Dax''s drones followed behind him while holding up a strict battle ready formation, the reason being the other person who was in the deserted throne room together with the Emperor and Dax.


    "That''s quite close enough demonkin, keep your dirty toys away from the Emperor."


    With the person next to the throne speaking up, Dax focused his attention on the archangel Limos as he continued walking closer while his drones kept their distance.


    "My, isn''t that lady Limos? What are you doing here? Didn''t lady Eos command you to return to the 22nd?"


    "I have no obligation to heed orders from a traitor."


    "Is that so? Then you''ve just confirmed for me that you are currently going against the orders of the 22nd sanctuary which I have allied myself with temporarily, that makes you the traitor and thus there should be no problems with killing you off."


    Showing a slight smile to Limos before he started ignoring her completely, Dax turned his attention back on the Emperor as he continued ''negotiating''.


    "If you hand it over to me now along with all other artefacts recovered here and in the Northern republic I''ll not only let you live and keep power, I''ll also help rebuild the empire in its entirety. This is your last chance."


    Presenting an ultimatum directly to the Emperor''s face Dax noticed that his diplomatic smile slightly twitched, that was because Dax had just given him a chance, it was like saying ''do any more than this and you''re dead'', still the Emperor had to maintain his pride.


    It was one of the few things he still had left after losing so much doing past few days.


    "I will have to refrain from such an offer."


    "I see¡­ Before this meeting I held a bit of respect for you, seeing as you were their master, but all that is gone by now."


    "Their master?"


    Noticing a change in Dax''s empty smile the Emperor couldn''t help but ask who he was referring to.


    "The Shadows, or whatever you called them. They all fought brilliantly until the end, I have taken the liberty of seeing that they all get a proper burial, seeing as they would just be left to rot otherwise."


    Hearing Dax''s words the Emperor was reminded how he had ordered them all to such a cruel end, but that only hardened his resolve.


    Their sacrifices must not be in vain.


    "But enough of all that, if you want to try and use your trump card now is the chance, I''ve left some good meat in the smoker back home and would like to return in good time."


    Hearing Dax''s mocking words it was clear that he had seen through all of the Emperor''s plans, and now he even allowed him the first move. While it had been a long time since the Emperor had felt such humiliation, he still realized that this situation also presented a change, perhaps the last one he would get.


    "In that case, we will take this opportunity without reserve."


    Holding out his hand to the side, the Emperor made sure that Limos also followed Dax''s suggestion instead to charging at him in a blind rage, the Emperor tapped his foot on the stone floor below his throne, then a massive surge of mana was suddenly unleashed.


    (Case delta confirmed, ICI, condition red.)


    (CONDITION RED CONFIRMED, CHARGES SET AND READY. SAFETIES NOW DISABLED.)


    Watching as the mana surge started concentrating at a point right behind the Emperor, Dax readied his contingency plan.


    "Then let''s see how you handle this one, outsider. We would like to introduce the true protectors of the empire!"


    Turning his thin smile into a full on grin, the Emperor was only just able to contain his laughter.


    And this was precisely the moment Dax chose to act.


    "Enact case delta."


    [CASE DELTA CONFIRMED, ALL CHARGES ARMED: NOW DETONATING.]


    With ICI''s cold and unfeeling voice echoing out from all over the massive throne room as a signal, the massive transportation spell which was starting to take shape behind the Emperor''s throne suddenly disappeared without a trace as if the earlier spike in ambient mana had been an illusion.


    "... W-what was that?"


    Sensing the sudden change in mana the Emperor didn''t even need to turn around to notice that the gate spell had failed. In utter disbelief, he quietly muttered those words, something which Dax seemed to pick up on.


    "Magic destruction, or more like ''ambient mana annihilation trough destructive interference''. I just like to call it jamming."


    Taking a confident step forward with a cold smile on his face Dax made the until now so proud Emperor flinch in fear.


    "Now I believe we were talking about you returning the belongings of the Galactic Empire, we can do this the painful way, or we can do it the really painful way. Which one would you like?~"


    Dax had completely defeated the Emperor and by that extension, the Empire itself. Seeing the fruit of multiple months of work come to fruition Dax was in quite a good move as he approached the Emperor with a smile on his face.


    It was at that exact moment that something went wrong, as if to punish Dax''s hubris.


    It started at a subatomic level, a small breach in the fabric of space. Slowly it grew larger as a surge of mana seemed to support it, then in the faction of a second, it overcame whatever resistance was holding such an abnormal and gross breach of the universe'' law, fully forming behind the Emperor''s throne.


    (What the f.u.c.k?... ICI was there any spike in the mana signature?)


    (NEGATIVE, NO EVENT RECORDED WITHIN TIMEFRAME.)


    (Then it''s from somewhere else, what''s the gravsig?)


    (GRAVITATIONAL SIGNATURE DETECTED, SCANNING¡­)


    Getting a really bad feeling while ICI ran its scan Dax reached out to the cursed sword,


    (There''s a good chance we need to run, make sure you are ready to strengthen me with all you got.)


    (Oh~ What is this, are you scared Dax?~)


    Sensing a new emotion from its partner the sword got all excited and started to tease Dax.


    (Yeah I am, and you should be extremely scared too.)


    (G-got it, I''m ready whenever you need me.)


    Making the sword realize the gravity of their current situation just as ICI finished up scanning the signal to confirm Dax''s fear, all the drones under Dax''s command instantly pointed their weapons at the portal.


    (GRAVITATIONAL SIGNATURE IDENTIFIED, POINT OF ORIGIN IDENTIFIED, READOUT AS FOLLOWS: BLACK CATALOGUE, RESTRICTED ENTRY #0666.)


    With the portal stabilizing at that exact moment, the other side came into view as some of the colour drained from Dax''s face.


    "What have you done?"


    On the other side was what appeared to be some sort of deserted plaza, with some benches about and a single tall tree in the centre of it.


    (CARRIER CONFIRMED, CASE BLACK CONFIRMED. ARMING BLUE MATTER, ARMING RED MATTER. TARGET: LUNA.)


    "Ha! Ahahaha! How do you like that!? I told you it was time to meet the true protectors of the empire! These are the legendary beings which once saved us doing the great calamity!"


    Seeing Dax''s expression the Emperor started boasting loudly, completely unaware that the sound of his voice travelled through the open portal and awoke things on the other side.


    "... While they might have been as you described a long time ago, that moment has long since passed."


    Suddenly, the brightly green oak tree on the other side started dying at an incredible rate, withering away in mare seconds and revealed one of the creatures which stood behind it. Standing at a height which surpassed 3 metres the amalgamation of half rotten flesh, runestones and biomechanical implants with a malignant growth of flesh and electricity eating fungus had no set form as it''s numerous limbs squirmed around and acted as both hands and legs at the same time. Suddenly its movements came to halt, it seemed the creature which had just consumed the tree had noticed that a portal had opened, suddenly there was a way out of its prison.


    (Oh f.u.c.k.)


    Sensing that the creature on the other side had ''seen'' him, Dax realized that it also properly recognized him too. Relying on his instincts in this kind of situation Dax started slowly inching away while the creature on started moving towards the portal while serval more of its brethren came into sight behind it.


    (Enact Exterminatus, enact MAD.)


    Being suddenly faced with the worst possible outcome, Dax had no choice but to release all limiters on his weaponry.


    No matter how heinous those weapons were he had to use all of them.


    (REQUEST NOTED, PROCESSING¡­. REQUEST APPROVED, NOW ENACTING EXTERMINATUS PROTOCOL, NOW ENACTING MUTUALLY ASSURED DESTRUCTION PROTOCOL, RESTRICTED ARMORY UNLOCKED.)


    (Firemission: Send one times apocalypse by fire exotic matter warhead to my current position, full armament.)


    (PLEASE AFFIRM USE OF EXOTIC MATTER ANNIHILATION WITHIN A POPULATED AREA.)


    (Affirmative.)


    (FIREMISSION CONFIRMED, CODE: BRIMSTONE, THUNDER.)


    While the emperor was still laughing, Limos started noticing that something was wrong and when she finally had worked up the courage to turn around, one of the creatures had already made it all the way right behind her. Looking at the creature which was even beyond the power of the mighty archangels, Limos let out a scream which was cut painfully short as fungus covered tentacles burrowed into her head through her mouth and eyes without mercy. The Emperor''s fate wasn''t much better as he left the world screaming and shouting as he looked on with horror at the gostisce mass of rotten flesh devouring his still twitching minister of magic.


    He would only need to wait a few more seconds until he suffered the same fate.

 Chapter 233 - Escape

    [Dax! What is-]


    "Less talking, more running!"


    While Dax was busy putting as much distance as he could between him and the creatures who emerged out of the portal in the throne room, Lux called, it appeared she was confused because Dax had enacted the MAD and Exterminatus protocol out of nowhere.


    [... What''s the status?]


    "Code is as follows: Brimstone, thunder."


    Doctrine stated that the status of weapons of mass destruction should never be spoken out loud, therefore the 125th, like all other units who used those kinds of weapons, spoke in code when dealing with them. In this case, ''brimstone'' was an exotic matter annihilation ordinance direct impact missile and the word ''thunder'' meant that it had already been fired and was seeking out its target without relying on external guidance, a so called ''fire and forget'' mode.


    [Why not lighting?]


    Lighting would be the term used when the missile was being remotely guided into its target by a human operator, the benefit of such measure was that the missile could be terminated if the situation changed on the ground.


    It appeared that Dax had no plans to cancel the strike.


    "Because I said so, now get your ass to the fallback line omega, complete disengagement. I''ll explain everything later!"


    Cutting off the communication with Lux, Dax only had a split second of quiet time before another message arrived.


    [ICI AFFIRMS: FIRE MISSION PROCESSED. CODE: BRIMSTONE, RED.]


    "Requesting additional fire mission, fire for effect! Code is: Lance, hellfire, glass. Second code: Hail!"


    [FIRE MISSION RECEIVED, PROCESSING¡­. REQUEST APPROVED, FIRST CODE: LANCE, HELLFIRE, FURY. SECOND CODE: HAIL, BLAZE.]


    "Dax, what was that earlier message from ICI?"


    "It meant: Run before you get nuked, now get a move on!"


    Rounding a corner inside the castle Dax shielded his face as a deafening explosion rang out right in front of him, when the smoke cleared it was revealed that a CAS-7A had blown its way into the imperial castle about 150 metres up.


    "Get in!"


    Securing both Solaris and Alice (Who was told to abandon her exoskeleton outside the throne room) in record time, Dax didn''t even bother strapping in himself as he took direct control over the space plan and maxed out its afterburner in an instant.


    "Urg!"


    As Solaris was the least reinforced individual among the group she immediately felt faint when the CAS-7A accelerated without warning, going one direction one second, then plunging to the ground without warning the next.


    "Bear with it for just a bit longer Solaris! We need to escape over the horizon before they turn their attention on us!"


    "I¡­ Know!.... Don''t¡­ Mind me!"


    Being the only other person to have seen the monsters which had up until a few minutes ago been trapped on the moon, Solaris didn''t mind going through an extreme amount of pain to escape from them.


    "What exactly is chasing us!?"


    Alice, however had no idea what was going on, but even then she had never seen Dax or Solaris that scared before, which itself freaked her out a fair bit.


    "I have no idea, that''s what f.u.c.k.i.n.g scares me! Now no more talking, don''t bite off your tongue as it makes a mess!"


    Back in the throne room the first creature who stepped through the portal had just finished up absorbing the last parts of the minister of magic, it was just now it turned its attention to the numerous drones who continuously fired all their weapons at them. The bullets, fragmentation and other projectiles never reached the creatures however, as when they came within 10 metres of the creatures they just stopped mid air, like their kinetic energy and the effect of gravity had been cancelled out completely. Coalescing some of its feelers, the fungus covered creature simply pointed that mass at the drones, then they completely disappeared, along with a considerable amount of the castle behind them, like water hitting a warm pan it all just evaporated into nothing. After the drones had been dealt with, the creature turned its attention towards the bug who had managed to flee for the second time in a row. Reaching out a mass of spore filled and rotting feelers towards the bug who was in the middle of the imperial city at this point, the creature gathered some kind of energy for a fraction of a second before unleashing its devastating potential.


    "Here it comes!"


    Feeling all the hairs on his back stand upright, Dax banked the CAS-7A hard to the side as it accelerated past its factory designated limits to avoid the attack. Only a split second later, a large circle shaped void was carved straight through the skyscr.a.p.ers in and around it, forming a straight line from deep into the ground all the way up from the imperial castle.


    "What the f.u.c.k was that!?"


    "I said no talking! Don''t make me gag you!"


    While Solaris had closed her eyes and started praying with a frightened expression plastered all over her face, Alice started flipping out like a raging toddler, and as such Dax treated her like a toddler as he secured her tightly to his seat before he threatened to stick her with a pacifier too. While it seemed like Dax had enough composure to f.u.c.k around while piloting, nothing could be further from the truth as he had mostly left dealing with Alice and Solaris to a combination of ICI and the cursed sword as he constantly analysed the creatures targeting him while planning routes through the dense stone jungle.


    "SHIT!"


    Sensing another attack coming, Dax tried to avoid it but it seemed the fungus covered creatures had already adapted to that fact as they started using less destructive by faster charging spells. Seemingly out of nowhere a small circular hole appeared in the CAS-7A right next to Dax''s head, it had been so close to outright remove Dax''s head that a small part of his chin and one ear was shaved off and had disappeared from existence.


    "ICI!"


    [ROGER, SATURATING TARGET AREA USING ALL OPERATIONAL UNITS.]


    Feeling like it was way past the time when he needed a distraction, Dax commanded ICI to make every single heavy weapon which had been part of the siege force to open fire on the imperial castle. From one second to the next an earth shattering roar could be felt all over the imperial capital as the imperial castle was suddenly hit from all sides with high calibre railgun munition, Viper cruise missiles and even orbital lasers started pulverizing and melting the imperial castle at a terrifying rate. Even across the great sea did Dax''s units started assisting him as they rapidly dumped their long range monitions, even the 24 540 mill railgun turrets which surrounded the capital of the central kingdom all trained on the same target before starting rapid fire, dumping so much waste heat into the air that the chilly autumn wind started reminding the inhabitants of a blazing summer. Rushing out to her balcony the first princess looked with fear at the railgun as they fired, it was clear that something had gone really wrong with Dax''s expedition this time around.


    "Keep it up! When the guns in this area can''t fire anymore enact denial protocol!"


    [DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED, 11.057 UNITS MARKED FOR END OF SERVICE, DENIAL PROTOCOL ENABLED, 11.057 UNITS SET TO SCUTTLE ONCE COMBAT EFFECTIVENESS DROPS BELOW 90%]


    With the impressive amount of destruction happening around them the twisted creatures seemed to lessen the frequency of their attacks a fair bit, and while the CAS-7A took a number of grazing hits none of the creature''s attacks managed to almost hit Dax like the earlier one. After one of the most intense 30 minutes of his life, Dax collapsed limply on the cabin floor of the CAS-7A as he turned it over to autonomous flight once more.


    "... Are we alive?"


    Timidly opening her eyes Solaris started looking around after she had noticed the craft started flying more calmly, finding Dax collapsed on the floor with a minor wound on his face.


    "Yeah, at least for now."


    Seeing that it was okay for Solaris to speak now Alice timidly opened her own mouth to speak.


    "Then will you tell us what that just now was?"


    "I will, we''re just waiting for the others to join up then I''ll explain everything."


    ---


    "When I confronted the emperor he tried using the castle''s portal formation, while I jammed it pretty much instantly it seems like it still managed to make a weak connection with a sanctuary on the other side."


    "So it was angels how did all that?"


    Having retreated all the way out into the middle of the great sea Dax started his debriefing about what had happened in the imperial capital, or at least he attempted to do so.


    "I said you need to wait until the end if you have any questions¡­"


    With a tired look on his face, Dax glanced down at Lilly who was embracing him, but instead of any normal response she started digging her nails into his back while smiling in a way which indicated that she wouldn''t take no for an answer. Seeing the effectiveness of such a strategy Alice, who was currently embracing Dax''s right arm without any intention of letting go for the foreseeable future started mimicking the small elver, even Solaris who had claimed Dax''s left arm did the same. With a tired look in her eyes Terra sighed deeply when she looked at such a sight, but she still somehow managed to accept it.


    When Terra, Lilly and Lux had been retreating as Dax told them to, Lux had caught a glimpse of what was shooting those terrifying spells after Dax and displayed it to the others. As the only one of Dax''s lovers who was not with him when they escaped the imperial capital Lilly was quite worried about Dax and thus immediately latched on to him the second she saw him and refused to let go, leading Alice and Solaris to copy her and placing Dax in his current predicament.


    "... Remember when you girls went with Iris down south while I worked on something with Solaris? At that time we had discovered the location of a hidden sanctuary which had long been lost. When visiting said sanctuary we found lots of things we couldn''t explain with either technology or magic, key among those things were those creatures which also tired to kill me last time."


    Displaying a hologram in between himself and Lux showing compiled recordings from both the lost sanctuary and the imperial throne room of the creatures, the colour immediately drained from the faces of everyone who saw it, including Lux and Dax.


    "... What the f.u.c.k are those creatures?"


    "No idea. I have found out nothing about them other than the fact that they can use mana to an extremely scary level and seem to have some sort of connection to my original world. Other than that I have no idea, it''s not even certain if the creatures operate based on what that parasitic fungus tells them, if their organic bodies are still alive and in control or if they are some kind of biomechanical constructs¡­"


    While everyone had grim looks on their faces Lux was the only one among them who tried to have a positive outlook as she attempted to cheer up the others.


    "But that doesn''t matter anymore as Dax hit them with 3 kinds of WMD''s, they, and the portal they are invading from have long since turned to ash."


    "If only that was the case¡­"


    "Eh?"


    Switching to another recording on the hologram, Dax showed how the exotic matter missile, a 20 by 5 metre rod of solid tungsten and a swarm of red matter was entirely annihilated before getting anywhere close to the imperial capital.


    "So we''re f.u.c.k.i.e.d?"


    Losing all the optimism she had held up until that point, Lux asked Dax the simplest question she could think of.


    "Not yet, we still have a slim chance of victory."

 Chapter 234 - Emergency summit (1)

    The fall of the imperial capital quickly spread as shocking news throughout the entire world of magic, hailed as the absolute top of power in the world it came as a shock that the empire would fall in such a short time. More surprisingly it appeared that some sort of strange creatures had started spreading throughout the former capital, coming into contact with some of the citizens who wanted to return to their homes after the battle had ended. Although casualties among those citizens of the empire were extremely high, some of them managed to survive and spread the news: Something evil which hates all life has taken control of the imperial capital, only go there if you wish to die.


    Unsurprisingly such news quickly spread panic throughout the empire, citizens who lived near the former capital quickly abandoned their home and became refugees as the strange creatures eventually started expanding their territory with brutal efficiency, leaving behind only a wasteland filled with flesh eating fungus. Before total panic and pandemonium spread throughout the imperial continent, the entire world''s sanctuaries came together and orchestrated a massive evacuation of the entire continent, the new alliance was spearheaded by the one everybody called the outsider, a so called qiton from another world. Without taking any payment he used his massive machines to build refugee camps on a scale not seen before, meanwhile, he also made sure that every single person was fed and had something to do while plans to retake the imperial continent was drafted in what history books would come to call the united power''s first emergency summit.


    "Are you ready?"


    "Yeah, I''ve looked over everything."


    Flying over the central kingdom''s capital city Kingstead in a CAS-7A light transport Dax responded absentmindedly to his second in command Lux as he gazed down at the so called ''new city'' which had sprung up around Kingstead. The sheer scale of the new city was hard to grasp unless one was flying at high altitude above it like Dax currently was. The 24 540 mill railgun turrets which used to mark the perimeter of the Kingstead only a year ago now marked the border between the old and the new, right outside the massive outer wall of Kingstead stood the new city which scale outright drafted the old town in scale. Vertical farming blocks reached from several stories below the ground all the way up to the sky, so called ''mega blocks'' of residential and commercial zoning and massive leisure and training complexes divided the new town into blocks which reminded Dax of his previous world.


    Which they should, as it was mostly a copy of that.


    Defending the new city while keeping order was an entirely new battalion of drones integrated with normal soldiers and newly formed police units, all of which used a mix of magic as well as technology, just as all the other citizens of the new city. But it wasn''t like the ''old'' part of Kingstead had remained static doing this new age of magic and technology. While it was a bit more modest in scale, the convenience of modern technology like motorized travel and electric lighting had slowly found its way into Kingstead, all the while magic still thrived in the form of magic workshops and the new storey and knight schools Dax had helped found within city limits after the attack on the magic academy.


    Crossing over the boundary of the new city into the old, Dax''s slight immediately fixed itself on the new royal castle which could truly be said was the culmination of combining technology with magic. Build about 1 kilometre into the sky, the massive tear shaped complex was about twice the size of the old castle, it was supported from the ground by massive pillars which sprung up from the old outer wall, as well as the castle wall in the centre of Kingstead. Build not only for the central kingdom''s new royal home, but the new castle was also a natural fortress which even Dax would have a hard time cracking open and was home to representatives of most of the powers of the world as well as the angels which had been made homeless when their sanctuaries were overrun on the imperial capital.


    "I wonder what Mu would think of this thing?"


    "She would properly be quite happy, seeing as you mostly ripped off one of her designs to build it."


    "Define happy."


    Sensing something more to Lux''s words Dax pulled his attention away from the sight of the new castle to focus on her as he asked with a strained smile on his face.


    "She would most likely try to choke you for copying one of the designs you didn''t want her to build back home."


    "... Yeah, that''s what I was afraid of¡­. When we get back home my life is forfeit, isn''t it?"


    "Pretty much. Ra is most likely the most pissed off due to us disappearing out of nowhere, although she''ll spare me if I just call her ''big sis'' enough like I did when I was a child~"


    "Traitor."


    Keeping up their casual banter until they landed inside the new castle, the unusual father daughter pair made their way to the top of the castle, up there was a sort of senate floor which had been set up for the sole meeting which was about to take place.


    "Oh, Dax~ You''re finally here~?"


    "Yeah, although I don''t really have time to talk with you Ifrit."


    Entering the Senate floor Dax was instantly hugged out of nowhere by an overly familiar demon.


    "Ehh!? How come you don''t have time for your precious partner?~?"


    Ifrit was the name Dax''s cursed demon sword had taken for itself when Dax granted it its own body by fusing artificial nerves and mana circuits of a tank grown body with the sword''s ''core'' which was carefully extracted over several days of careful operation. With the ego of the cursed sword transferred over into its own body, Ifrit took full advantage of the situation and customized its new body to their own liking. Standing at a bit taller than a metre and a half ifrit chose to emphasize mana control over pure strength and as such it had gotten a thin body without any special features. With short curly hair which was bright red orange like their eyes, Ifrit gave off a wild impression when paired with its large mouth which was filled to the brim with razor sharp teeth, small pointy ears and a constant smile on its face which told everyone that they were up to no good.


    "It''s precisely because you are my ''precious partner'' that you should know I don''t have time for you right now~"


    "Hau!~? Do that more~???"


    Flicking Irift in the face with a finger Dax managed to pry their hands off him as they let out some strange sounds which Dax did his very best to ignore. Despite their overall aloof attitude, Ifrit''s strength was on par with the strongest archangel''s in the room, due to their ancient knowledge of spells which required incantations in long dead languages, combine that with a body which was made for the sole purpose of absorbing and utilizing mana at almost perfect efficiency the silly demon was a walking magic weapon of mass destruction wearing an oversized red hoodie and strangely coloured, mismatched thigh high socks.


    Leaving Lux and Ifrit behind Dax walked past the lines with representatives from smaller powers like envoys from Roachdale and the Northern republic before reaching the central powers and walking up and sitting down behind a circular table in the centre of the room. Taking a deep breath Dax started the emergency summit.


    "First of I would like to clarify several things for consistency going forward. Firstly, this is not debate, this is the creation of a military operation unlike anything this world has ever seen before. Secondly, the creatures which invaded the imperial capital just over a year ago through a portal formation come from the moon, those creatures, including the flesh eating fungus they spread, will from now on be named ''Elders'' for the sake of simplicity."


    Taking a short look around the room Dax noticed a party of the inner powers had something to say.


    "Go ahead, Teresa."


    Standing up after offering a slight bow to Dax, the first princess of the central Kingdom started her questioning.


    "So, these elder''s came from the moon through a transport formation? In that case, is it correct to assume that they can invade other places the same way?"


    "That is incorrect. After the full evacuation of the imperial continent, all transport formation which was left throughout the world were carefully catalogued, then disabled to prevent that exactly that scenario."


    Finding the first princess had no more questions Dax went on with the agenda.


    "After the full evacuation of the imperial continent, an investigation of the world''s sanctuaries was carried out by Solaris in cooperation with the 22nd sanctuary, discovering hidden archives containing information which has been traced back to that of my own world, through analyzing those doc.u.ments, as well as restoring corrupted data from caches recovered doing an incursion into the lost sanctuary, I and my team have managed to learn some information about the elders."


    Just like the doc.u.ments Solaris had found at the 14th sanctuary after learning of a special spell she found inside the lost sanctuary, it was quickly revealed that all other sanctuaries also had hidden libraries of dad which did not belong to this world.


    With a flick, multiple holograms appeared on every single table around the senate floor, showing a summary of the information Dax, Iris and the two homunculus twins had spent half a year decrypting.


    "It is clear that some sort of event brought the elders to this plane of existence over 20.000 years ago. Those elders brought with them technology which bears a striking resemblance to that from my own world, although it is vastly more advanced than anything which should have been available at that time, leading me to conclude that they must, at some point, have had a relation to the mythical race of so called ''forerunners'' or ''ancient''s'' which created my own race before parishing to internal conflict."

 Chapter 235 - Emergency summit (2)

    "Regardless of whatever happened to the elders over that 20.000 year timeframe since they arrived in this plane of existence, they somehow came into contact with magic before mastering it to a degree not seen anywhere in this world, then some sort of bio or technological disaster led them to take their current form, if they gained their disdain for all other life at that point or had it from the start is beside the point. All that matters is how we combat those creatures."


    Taking a moment to make that statement stick, Dax was about to continue on to the main point when he was interrupted by another party.


    "So we''re all going to combat them? Why the f.u.c.k would we do that, it was you who brought them here with your illegal invasion of my country!"


    Breathing a quiet sigh and quelling his mounting annoyance Dax took a glance at the overweight representative which shouted at him.


    (The so called remnants of the empire?... Well, they were going to cause trouble at some point so they might as well do it now.)


    Among the countless refugees of the imperial capital were a surprising amount of former nobles from the empire, after settling in the new city they had started chattering political power through the use of their own personal soldiers and wealth, somehow gaining momentum to the point that they had gained a seat at today''s summit. Basically they were a collection of has been''s with the organizational structure of a syndicate who want to return to their days of glory where they overtaxed their subjects and spent all their days in needless surplus decadence while acting like every one of their problems was the fault of someone else. While Dax had been too busy to deal with them until now, this was actually a good time to crush them and when he realized that the qiton in question started typing away at the terminal in front of him while the noble continued shouting accusations at Dax mixed with his own delirious accusations.


    "Instead of talking about those stupid creatures who you made up to squeeze tax out of us, we should instead be talking about compensation!"


    Continuing to shout with an entirely red face, the overweight noble started addressing the other parties present like he was suddenly running the show.


    "When this demonkin cur illegally invaded my country he raided it too, stealing coin and killing soldiers as he pleased! As the representative of the remaining empire nobility, I demand immediate compensation for such actions which were a direct breach of every single law regarding war in the imperial high law!"


    Finishing up his delirious speech the noble noticed that the entire room had fallen silent as their attention gathered on Dax, seeing that as an agreement to his demands the noble was about to continue when Dax spoke up.


    "Mr Fedeson, you and your associates have been found in breach of Kingdom law and thus dismissed from this summit and banished from the city, effective immediately."


    "Wha!-"


    Before the noble could defend himself Dax brought up new information on the holograms, showing evidence of illegal slave trading as well as bribery and running multiple protection rackets.


    "I was just informed that the local security forces have finished up investigating you, finding unredeemable evidence of running a ring of organized crime. By a verdict of Kingdom law, you are no longer welcome here, leave now or you will be removed by force."


    "Wow, Dax is really relentless as always~"


    Letting out a quiet laugh as she observed what could only be described as a public execution, Lux went over the numerous files Dax had pulled up, finding that about half of them had been forged. Still, Lux wasn''t about to point that out as the accused and his associates were all sc.u.mbags in the truest sense of the word, all Dax had done was add enough crimes on top of the existing ones to secure a unilateral banishment without the need for a trail.


    -


    With that brief distraction dealt with, Dax continued the summit as he brought up the plans, deployment and marching orders for his proposed operation.


    "As you can see this isn''t a plan to retake the imperial continent, but more of a first strike. The objectives of this operation are as follows: ''


    1. Secure viable countermeasures against the elders.


    2. Securing intel from deep within the occupied territory to help with an eventual offensive


    3. Prevent the elders from spreading beyond the imperial continent by establishing a front line.


    4. Secure live samples of the elder fungus spores and mushrooms for the development of countermeasures."


    While the operation Dax presented was grand to an almost dizzying scale it could be broken down into several parts.


    The first part was a massive offensive operation on the entire imperial continent with about 2 trillion drones which were supported by around 2 million ''live'' troops, the operation was meant to establish an eventual frontline with supply routes and staging points while also drawing out the elders who lacked in numbers and distract them while the second and third part of the operation could take place. The second part of the operation was for a small team to slip through the lines and investigate deep within the imperial capital, the reason being that the elders had shot down all orbital assets and left Dax and his allies blind to the situation inland. The third and arguably most tricky part of the operation was a two pronged raid, the first of which was on the lost sanctuary on the moon to hopefully disable the gateway located there and obtain the mana generating device which Dax had failed to bring back with him the first time he went there. The second raid was on a location identified from the hidden archives in the sanctuaries, apparently, there was some sort of facility which had to do with the elders deep underwater near the coast on the southern coast of the imperial capital, inside the elder''s area of influence.


    Using about half an hour to go over the fine details and caveats of the operation, the various powers started asking Dax closer question, first of them to ask was Eos, the leader of the 22nd sanctuary.


    "How long is the encirclement of the imperial continent supposed to go on for?"


    "Ideally just under a month, but it''ll have to last until effective countermeasures to the elders are ready. Due to that, I''ve allocated about 2 trillion more drones and their support equipment to act as backup."


    Thinking over what Dax had told her for a few seconds Eos asked another question which was on everyone''s mind at the moment.


    "As for the none drone troops, how exactly do you expect them to be able to distract the elders without just being slaughtered?"


    "By utilizing newly developed equipment which has seen promise in testing."


    Bringing up new information on the screen Dax showed off what Iris had made by combining magic and his own technology.


    "The inventor calls them valkyrie suits, built on the base of a mass produced version of my own personal and Lux''s experimental modular reactive armour. Basically its armour which allows the user to fly, locate and engage hostiles over long distance, it is the ultimate harassment outfit."


    "Okay, but how long will it take to train someone to use that? And what about the casualty rate?"


    "training can be done virtually where the sense of time will be slowed down drastically, so just over a month for a soldier which already has some sort of training. As for the expected casualty rate, it depends on the length until effective countermeasures are ready¡­. It''ll be anywhere between 2 and 20%. Of course, if this mission fails and the elders invade the rest of this planet we''re looking at 100% casualties."


    Even if everyone had an idea of the scale of the upcoming operation, the idea of 400.000 possible casualties was something no one enjoyed thinking about. On a slightly sombre note, another representative spoke up to increase morale.


    "I, Zhao, leader of the Ta''ai clan volunteer to lead some of those soldiers where the fighting is the fiercest!"


    "As do I, Girshu. Moreover, we pledge 200,000 elite troops for the frontline. Use us however you want."


    With the strongest known clan of dragonkin personally offering themselves as well as the elite troops, they had started training after they left the empire pledging themselves to the fight the rest of the 2 million troops was quickly delegated, among them were a surprising amount of angels from both the 22nd and the 14th sanctuary.


    With the matter of the largest part of the operation settled, Dax shifted his attention to the other parts.


    "Then we''ll decide on the recon force. To lead them I would like to nominate Terra, my student who personally volunteered for the job, following her should be an elite force prepared to die as the casualty rate will most likely be above 50%"


    "In that case pick me! It seems like a worthwhile mission!~"


    Speaking up for the first time she had placed her legs on top of her table with a bored expression on her face, Hemera which was part of the 14th sanctuary''s council spoke up with a happy smile on her face.


    "In that case, I''ll go too, somebody needs to keep an eye on this battle maniac."


    With the other present representative of the 14th sanctuary council speaking up in a similarly excited tone, the rest of the team was quickly filled with other angels and a few hardened veterans from the Northern republic.


    "Then as the second part of the operation now has personally allocated I''ll announce the personal allocated to the third part. The underwater expedition/raid will be lead by Lux, followed by Lilly, Mare, Alice and Eos. The luna raid will be lead by me personally, with Solaris, Ifrit and Lia as the active combat members and Iris as well as the two homunculus twins Ying and Ling as a support staff that will immediately start analyzing any finds on the way back home."


    With the conclusion of the assignment of personal to the different forces and reserves, the date for the operation was also quickly settled before the summit reached its end.

 Chapter 236 - Quiet before the storm (1)

    "Now, what the hell is this?"


    Having just finished hanging up the military uniform he had worn doing the emergency summit, Dax put on his casual wear consisting of some blue shorts and a grey t shirt as he scanned his new apartment. Normally Dax would be in his compound in the old city of Kingstead at this time of day, but instead, he found himself in a brand new and stylish apartment which occupied the entirety of the top floor of a highrise in the new city. The reason suddenly owned such a lavish place was due to Lux, for some reason she had used her executive power to banish him from the compound, instead, she handed him a keycard to this place so he wouldn''t spend the entire night out drinking.


    (Well, I can always go drinking later, or I could just get myself smashed in here while only wearing a bathrobe¡­. Yeah, that sounds like a much better idea.)


    For some reason, Lux had also seen to it that Dax''s collection of high proof booze from all over the world had found its way to his new apartment, the only thing that was missing was a bottle of the stuff Lux really liked herself, which Dax brushed off as payment for the transport. Forming a dumb grin on his face Dax took off his t shirt and threw it aside while he started checking out the kitchen, gripping a beer on the way which he opened by hitting the lid against the kitchen counter which was made of polished stone. Interfacing with the apartment using ICI Dax set the stereo to play some extremely loud death metal before he started to down his 2 litre beer in one go.


    (Man I love technology! I need to thank Lux for setting me up with this place.)


    While the speakers shouted something about ''hailing Dionysus'' and how some old and forgotten place was f.u.c.k.i.e.d Dax also stripped out of his shorts which he tossed aside using his one foot, wearing only his underwear he went for another beer which he immediately started downing, it was at that moment the door opened as some unexpected visitors let themselves in, just at the same time as the song hit the chorus and Dax started shouting along to it as he played an air guitar.


    "All hail slain and risen God! All hail Dionysus!"


    "... What the f.u.c.k is he doing?"


    Looking at Dax shouting almost as loud as the impressive stereo Lilly felt like she was getting a headache, and not because of the music.


    "... It looks like Lux didn''t tell him."


    Arriving next to Lilly at the entrance was Alice, but instead of getting a headache like the elver next to her, Alice felt her cheeks starting to heat up.


    "How shameless."


    As the last visitor sticking her head in the door Solaris who immediately felt annoyed at the music''s text, although she was not sure why it somehow felt blasphemous to her ears.


    Of course, the archangel didn''t really stay annoyed as when her eyes finally landed on Dax, everything else seemed to fade away and become a blur. With the girls not know how to act seeing such a display unfolding before them they remained completely still and just kept on looking at Dax which seemed to have reached another song in the meantime.


    "Et credo in serpentem! Misterium mysteriorum! In nomen eius Baph!- Wait what the hell are you people doing here?"


    Looking like a deer caught in the headlight for just a fraction of a second Dax seemed to come to some sort of internal conclusion.


    "Shoo, this isn''t a free performance. Book an appointment and come again some other time."


    Feeling something snap when she saw Dax''s dismissive attitude, Lilly suddenly created a blade of high pressure wind which extended out from her hand, then she rushed towards Dax, clearly aiming to cut him in two.


    "PUT SOME F.U.C.K.I.N.G CLOTHES ON YOU PERVERT!"


    -


    "So, what are you girls doing here all of a sudden?"


    After having dealt with a minor tamper tantrum Dax paused the music and poured the girls something to drink before they sat down in some couches.


    Dax was, of course, still almost nude.


    "... Why don''t you put something on, we have something to talk about."


    Leading the conversation as Lilly was still too mad and Solaris still didn''t seem to focus on anything going on around her, Alice wore a wry smile as she tried dealing with the situation.


    "Nah, I don''t feel like putting on clothes, this is my home and I''m off duty, I''ll do as I please."


    Swinging his feet up on the coffee table between him and the girls Dax started drinking yet more beer.


    "... See, that''s just the thing. This is also our new home."


    With Alice telling him what was going on, it still took a few seconds for Dax to register it.


    "So this is why Lux was so adamant about me moving in here¡­ I''ll go put on some clothes."


    "Please do, it''s kind of embarrassing if you just keep walking around like that without batting an eye..."


    It seemed like Lux had been unsatisfied by Dax''s romantic progress which had pretty much stonewalled while he had been busy with all sorts of things, it also suddenly made a lot more sense while Lux had volunteered to organize the almost 4 trillion drone force, leaving Dax with nothing to do until the start of the operation to retake the imperial continent.


    "So is there anything you girls would like to eat? I''ll whip up something real quick."


    Having enjoyed his 10 minutes as a bachelor Dax suddenly turned serious once more as he droned an apron.


    "Ah, are you going to make something!?"


    As if her previous anger had been a complete lie Lilly''s eyes suddenly started shining as she leaned forward in the couch.


    "Yeah, that''s why I''m asking¡­ Wait, nevermind that, come with me all of you."


    """Eh?"""


    "And put on some aprons, we''ll all make something together."


    By the time the trio of girls had joined him in the kitchen Dax had finished setting up cutting boards with cloth underlying them and was in the process of sharpening a knife.


    "So, what do you girls want to eat?"


    "... Lasagne."


    Uttering the first thing which came to mind, Solaris started drooling at her own imagination. While she had no idea what a ''lasagne'' was or how it tasted, she had heard Lux talking about it.


    "Then we do that, I''ll make some pasta, Solaris you''ll be on the tomato sauce with Lilly and Alice will handle the bechamel."


    Delegating the tasks that needed to be done Dax started making fresh sheets of pasta while Lily and Solaris timidly gripped their newly sharpened knives, unlike Dax and Alice they had no experience cooking and thus absolutely no idea what a so called ''tomato sauce'' entailed. In a blink of an eye, Dax had turned a mount of flower and eggs into a ball of dough which he covered loosely in cloth to let it rest before glancing over at Lilly, finding she was in the process of accidentally cutting off one of her fingers with the newly sharpened kitchen knife while attempting to finely cut up some mushrooms.


    "Lilly."


    "Y-yes? What is it?"


    "Please stop moving for a bit."


    Stopping the disaster before it could unfold Dax stepped over behind Lilly, resting his head on top of hers as he looked down at the cutting board.


    "You should have just said at the start you didn''t know how to use a knife, let me show you."


    As Dax said that he placed his hands on top of Lilly''s before adjusting her grip and positioning, completely failing to notice from his vantage point that his student had completely frozen up.


    "Hold your hand like this, near the blade. Then you use the rest of the grip to balance the weight of the blade before guiding the knife with your knuckles like this, that way you don''t start bleeding all over the ingredients, it would be a waste to throw them out."


    Taking Lilly''s silence as confirmation that she was listening to him, Dax moved her hands to start cutting up the mushrooms, completely failing to notice that the two other girls had also stopped working entirely and looked at him with awe.


    "Now these are going to shrink a bunch when we start heating them so you don''t need to worry about chopping them so finely, just let the knife do most of the work and make sure you keep taps on your fingers so they don''t get in the way of the knife¡­. Why are you two looking at me like that?"


    Finally noticing the pair of gazes on him Dax turned to Solaris and Alice to find that they were both blushing for some reason while acting strangely timid.


    "D-Dax, you might want to stop that lesson there."


    "Why? I didn''t do anything wrong did I?"


    With Solaris finding herself unable to speak any further Alice took over with a wry smile on her face.


    "N-no I''m pretty sure that you did your best to carefully explain it, but¡­. Your dear student has overheated I''m afraid."


    Suddenly realizing what was going on Dax turned his attention to Lilly, finding the elver''s face and long ears had turned just as red as her hair as she stared blankly into the distance with her mouth opening and closing like fish gasping for air.


    "Ah¡­ She''s completely gone."


    Enjoying the sight for a few more seconds Dax started thinking about a solution to the current issue, coming up with a fix as his mouth curled into a shit eating grin. Lowering himself, Dax crept close to Lilly''s ear without her noticing, then without a single shred of mercy, he blew some air into her ear.


    "Hiii!~ W-what the hell is your problem!?"


    "Hello, this is central command, can you hear me, Lilly?"


    Having gotten her attention Lilly turned to Dax, finding his face just in front of hers, making her freeze up once more.


    "And we''re back to square one¡­"


    Sighing deeply at Dax''s torment of her friend, Alice decided it would just be better to return to cooking while doing her best to ignore the two of them. Meanwhile, Dax how had just finished resisting the urge to pick up Lilly and take her home seemed to arrive at some sort of conclusion.


    "It seems like I''m not the only pervert in this apartment~"


    "SHUT UP IDIOT!"


    With a few more minor roadblocks Dax eventually got Lilly back to work, that''s when he felt a tug in his shirt, turning to find a teary eyed angel pleading him for help with a tiny voice.


    "T-teach me too."


    "S-sure."


    While Dax could somehow keep up a poker face when he was messing around with Lilly, surprise attacks like the ones Solaris occasionally came up with out of nowhere almost always managed to shake him up. Scratching the back of his head to avoid his embarrassment, Dax instructed Solaris on how to use her knife before making her cut up some bacon.


    "Isn''t this way too many mushrooms? They''ll barely fit in the pot"


    "No, it''s perfect. Turn up the pot to max heat and let it heat up for a moment, then toss in the mushrooms in batches and watch what happens."


    "Dax, can you taste this?"


    "Sure Alice~ Ah, this is almost perfect, just add a bit more nutmeg and take it off the heat."


    "Okay~"


    "Dax when are we frying the bacon?"


    "After the mushrooms have been dry roasted and before the onions, then we''ll deglaze the pot with red wine and balsamic reduction before adding the tomatoes."


    "Dax my eyes are stinging, please cut these onions for me!"


    "Sure~"


    Before Dax or the girls had even realized it, they had sort of all become one big happy family making dinner together, growing even closer than they ever had before.

 Chapter 237 - Quiet before the storm (2)

    (This might actually be more enjoyable than living alone¡­)


    Sitting down on a couch after getting out of the bath, Dax realized just how much fun he had had in just a single afternoon with Solaris, Alice and Lilly. Having made and eaten dinner with the girls they had spent the time talking until the sun started setting, then Dax had taken a quick shower before handing the large bath over to the girls.


    (Man, I really don''t wanna die doing this upcoming operation¡­)


    Just thinking about all the fun he could have with everyone, Dax grew a tiny bit afraid of dying for the first time in his long life, something which was quite unusual for a qiton. Having spent most of his life doing black operations or fighting on high intensity battlefields Dax had looked the grim reaper in the eyes more times that he wanted to count, each and every one of those times he had done what he could, but sometimes it came down to simple chance, either he would live, or he would die then and there, without even realizing it. The most recent of those occasions was when he faced the shadows of the Emperor when his mana controlling implant failed it was truly only fate which decided if Dax lived or died. While that was just par for the course with his occupation, Dax now found himself a bit more reluctant to die, it would seem that he had really done something impossible for a qiton, he had well and truly fallen in love. While more rational parts of his brain wanted to deny such an absurd notion altogether, Dax felt surprisingly calm about it.


    Until he was snapped out of his thoughts by the sound of some footsteps coming from the bath that is.


    "Did you enjoy the bath?"


    "Yeah, I did, thanks."


    For some reason the first one out of the bath was Alice, it seemed like she had chosen to only wear a large dress shirt and underwear, her white hair with a few streaks of its original chestnut brown colour was still damp, so it stuck to her body just like the dress shirt which made the outline of her body even more enticing.


    "Um, I-it''s embarrassing if you stare that much¡­"


    (Then put on some more clothes!)


    Barely able to keep his inner thoughts from spilling out Dax awkwardly broke eye contact as he rushed to change the subject.


    "S-so what''s up? Are the others still enjoying their bath?"


    "Y-yeah, because we came to an agreement."


    As her face heated up a considerable amount just from squeezing out that single sentence, Alice hurriedly broke eye contact with Dax as she started fidgeting over something. With nothing being said between the two for what seemed like forever, Dax suddenly found it interesting to read the back of a label of a bottle which stood on the coffee table in front of him and after some more time had passed Alice seemed to have made up her mind as she slowly walked over and sat down way too close to Dax.


    Smelling the sweet scent of soap Dax did his best to restrain himself, even as dense as he was he had an idea of what was going on.


    "S-so, what kind of agreement did you all come to? D-does it has something to do with me?"


    Stammering like a prepubescent teen Dax suppressed the urge to dig himself into the ground and die as he looked straight ahead with a straightened back, refusing to look towards Alice as he felt his face heat up greatly.


    "Y-yeah it does¡­ C-could you look this way, please?"


    "I''d rather not¡­. But that would be rude to say in this kind of situation wouldn''t it?"


    "Yeah it would, you really are terrible."


    Succeeding in cracking a small joke Dax felt like he had slightly lowered the tension between the two of them as Alice chuckled. Overcoming nerves he had never felt before Dax turned towards Alice which had sat herself down on her knees, looking straight at Dax''s face with a tense expression plastered all over her face.


    "... Y-you see¡­ Solaris, Lilly and I decided on our t-turns¡­"


    Without making much sense to Dax Alice herself seemed satisfied with her explanation of their ''agreement'' as she broke eye contact and her cheeks flushed all the way to her ears.


    "Turns? Could you explain further?"


    Suddenly Dax started feeling like his embarrassment didn''t matter anymore, drawing a bit closer to Alice, Dax somehow managed to maintain calm under the pressure he felt he was being trapped under.


    "I-it''s r-really nothing t-to elaborate on¡­"


    Still not wanting to make eye contact Alice prayed that Dax would get the hint already, while being forced to explain she felt like her insides were burning up as her heart seemed like it suddenly had gotten a mind of its own and wanted to jump out of her chest.


    (''There comes a point where men need to be men and do what needs to be done''... Well, if this isn''t the time then I''m beating the shit out of you next time I see you mom.)


    Remembering some random advice from his mom which suddenly made a lot of sense Dax reached out to Alice before carefully brushing aside her hair as he moved in for the ''kill''. Shearing a tender kiss for what felt like an instant Alice suddenly felt out of breath a separated from Dax, looking at him with teary eyes she kissed him again before the embarrassment became too much to bear.


    Getting up on her feet with slightly unsteady feet Alice scurried to the door which led to the bedroom, turning her head halfway back to Dax.


    "... Treat the two others with that amount of care too, it was nice."


    Having maxed out her embarrassment Alice hurriedly ran off to the bedroom.


    "... What the f.u.c.k was that just now?"


    Looking down on his hands Dax clenched his left hand a few times, then he made a fist and punched himself in the face, confirming that what just had happened wasn''t a dream or some sort of illusion from the pain and dizziness which spread throughout his face.


    Hearing a sound from the bathroom Dax froze in place as his mind focused on what Alice had told him.


    (Wait, ???decided on our turns''?... Don''t tell me!?)


    Looking at the figure who had just entered the room Dax felt like punching himself in the face once more, but instead, he settled with stealthily pinching his arm.


    "G-good evening Solaris."


    "... Evening."


    Wearing a white nightgown with pink linings that failed to hide things it really needed to hide, greatly contrasted with her slightly red skin, pure white wings and flushed cheeks, her blonde hair stilled looked like a sea of sunlight and the tense expression and slightly fluttering wings made Dax suffer critical damage just from looking at the angel in front of him. It seemed like Solaris was somehow aware of what had just happened in the room as she decided the best plan of action was to hide inside her wings, occasionally peeking out from the gaps in between her wings as she was too embarrassed to move closer to Dax.


    (Yeah I would like to order now, one of that to take home, please¡­. Wait, what the f.u.c.k am I thinking!? ''There comes a point where men need to be men and do what needs to be done''!)


    Once more repeating his mother''s words inside his head, Dax waited for Solaris to hide inside her wings once more, then without a sound he got up from the couch and moved right in front of the clueless angel without making a sound.


    "Eh!?"


    Surprised that Dax was suddenly right in front of her face, Solaris hurriedly tried to close up her wings, but before she could do that Dax forced his way in. Overwhelmed by the sweet smell that was coming from Solaris and her wings (as well as her fully flushed cheeks and teary eyes) Dax instantly found himself drawn in and kissed her. Initially overwhelmed by the new sensation, Solaris displayed that she was of a superior race and quickly adapted, coming to find the entire thing quite enjoyable in the matter of a split second.


    After a few more minutes had passed Solaris found herself unable to bear any more and she quickly escaped to the bedroom with an extremely happy expression on her face as her wings fluttered. Standing in the middle of the room for a few seconds after being frozen in place by such an adorable sight, Dax suddenly formed a smug smile on his face as he went back to the couch. Lying down on his stomach Dax rested his elbows on the couch below him and used his hands to support his head as his legs naturally started swinging back and forth in a rhythmic fashion. Of course, doing that made him want to die from the sheer amount of embarrassment he would feel if Lux saw him like that, but even still, the potential reward of doing such a thing made it all worth it.


    "Lilly~ Why don''t you stop hiding and come out here?"


    "..."


    Hearing the clear sound of breathing from right behind the door, Dax clearly noticed Lilly who was on the other side.


    "... Why? Won''t you just laugh at me?"


    "I would never do such a thing I swear~"


    Having finally achieved contact with the other side Dax''s grin only seemed to increase in magnitude as he tried coaxing Lilly to come out.


    "Y-you definitely would! When I saw what Solaris and Alice were wearing I realized I had chosen poorly¡­"


    (So that''s what she''s worried about?... I guess she still is a girl so it makes sense, although as I am a guy I really don''t care about things like that¡­)


    Understanding a bit more where Lilly was coming from Dax decided to stop fooling around as he sat up straight before answering the nervus sounding elver.


    "Don''t worry I won''t laugh, not this time."


    "... Are you sure?"


    "Yeah, although it seems like me just saying that won''t solve anything¡­ Then let''s do this: If I laugh I promise I will spend all the time until the operation pampering you from sunrise to sunrise."


    (Although I''ll most likely do that anyway¡­)


    Making an offer Dax was initially just met with silence from Lilly, but just as he was about to come to her it seemed like the elver had collected her resolve.


    "T-then that''s a deal you better not break! If you do I''ll never forgive you!"


    "Sure, I wouldn''t propose a deal I couldn''t keep."


    Having surprised her with an uncharacteristic seriousness Lilly felt herself calm down a little, she was fully aware that she was ''lacking'' compared to the other girls, but still, she would be quite sad if Dax really laughed at her.


    "T-then I''m coming out!"


    Overwhelming her nervousness Lilly stepped out from hiding with a brisk pace, shutting her own eyes due to embarrassment.


    "Come on, go ahead and laugh as much as you want!"


    With her eyes tightly shut Lilly felt like her face was on fire as she waited for Dax to say something, but she heard nothing but silence as Dax walked up and stood right in front of her.


    "You''re just as beautiful as always."


    "... Really?"


    Timidly opening her one eye Lilly quickly shut it again when she noticed that Dax was looking at her, something she hadn''t really prepared for.


    Unlike Alice who wore a casual dress shirt and Solaris who wore something as daring as a s.e.xy looking nightgown, Lilly wore some cute looking black pyjamas with a hood which had a set of fake ears on top. But Dax was okay with that, in fact, he was way more than okay!


    Or at least that''s what Dax??s mind told him.


    The set of arguably immature pyjamas which the normally so a.d.u.l.t acting Lilly created a great contrast, that along with the few strands of her red hair that fell out from the hood and her completely flushed face and ears made Dax unable to hold back.


    "Yeah, you''re extremely cute."


    "I-is that s- Ah, what are you doing!?"


    As Dax suddenly hugged Lilly mid sentence she initially felt quite mad, but after only a few seconds in his embrace, she felt like it was quite pleasant, what she didn''t prepare for was that Dax suddenly picked her up and threw her down on the couch.


    "Hey, w-what was that for..."


    Feeling quite surprised by such an action Lilly flared in anger to hide her own embarrassment, but when she opened her eyes she found Dax face right above hers.


    "So, what do you want to do now?"


    With a teasing smile on his face, Dax looked deeply into her eyes, unable to contain her anger Lilly once more flared.


    "Why do you have to ask!? Honestly, you''re such an idiot!"


    Locking lips with Lilly as she was quite fl.u.s.tered, Dax spent a few minutes ''battling for supremacy'', easily winning in the end and proving his superiority for combat as a qiton. Allowing Lilly to escape out of his grasp, the elver hurriedly ran off and disappeared into the bedroom, poking out her flushed face after cooling down a bit.


    "C-come on, we''re going to sleep now."


    "Got it."


    Being the kind of person not to look a gift horse in the mouth, Dax joined the girls for some rest.


    Although none of them really got to sleep that night.

 Chapter 238 - Quiet before the storm (3)

    As the first strands of sunlight leaked through the window Dax suddenly found himself wide awake as a large grin naturally formed on his face. This had been his normal routine the last few days where he had started living together with Alice, Solaris and Lilly, today was no different. Unwrapping himself from some wings, a pair of arms and a leg, Dax slowly rose to sit upright in his bed, at this moment he truly found himself flanked by flowers on all sides. Getting out of the bed without waking up the girls Dax didn''t bother putting on some clothes as he walked across the living room in his birthday suit, reaching the bathroom where he took a quick shower before putting on some casual clothes and an apron as he started making breakfast for 4 people. Starting up a few pans with some butter and a bit of bacon fat Dax quickly made 3 different omelettes, then he whipped up some oats for himself and started making a bloody mary.


    "Morning~"


    "... Good morning."


    Hearing the slight sound of footsteps coming from the bedroom Dax turned around to find Alice who had just woken up. As usual, Alice was the first one to wake up after Dax, due to the fact that she usually needed to travel to the compound in the old part of Kingstead to train with Lux, although today was not one of those days. Getting a morning kiss by Dax, Alice quickly ran off to the bathroom so she could deal with her almost feral case of bed hair. A few minutes after Alice had woken Dax heard another series of unsteady footsteps from the bedroom and from the way they sounded Dax correctly guessed that it was Lilly who had just woken up, annoyed by the bright morning sunlight. Walking around like a zombie for a few minutes, Lilly who had half hazard wrapped herself in her black pyjamas looked like she wasn''t quite awake yet, but after a bit, a shiver went through her body and she quickly trotted off to the bathroom. Dax had found over the past few days that the best cause of action to deal with Lilly when she had just woken up was to ignore her, as the person in question would get extremely embarrassed later on if Dax started pampering her when she wasn''t fully awake. After watching that adorable display with a smile on his face Dax went back to the kitchen and started making a portion of scrambled eggs for himself as he fried up some toast in a pan to go with it, by the time he had finished up with that the two girls who had gone to the bathroom had returned looking way more alive than when they went in.


    "Good morning Lilly~"


    "Urg, g-good morning."


    Seeming quite shy about looking at Dax and his bright smile Lilly hid her face inside the hood on her pyjamas before scurrying off to the dinner table, starting to complain the second she sat down.


    "Isn''t the food ready yet, I''m hungry."


    "Yeah, yeah."


    Dax was fully aware that Lilly was just attempting (and failing) to hide her embarrassment and thus he brushed the rude demand off with a smile as he finished up breakfast.


    "Here you go Lilly~ I''ll go wake up Solaris."


    Taking a sip of his bloody mary after serving food for Alice and Lilly Dax went back into the bedroom, finding a curled up mass of white feathers in the middle of the bed.


    "Solaris it''s morning, rise and shine~"


    Surprisingly Solaris was the worst of the bunch when it came to waking up in the morning and Dax had already learned the hard way that the angel would sleep all day if she was allowed to.


    "Anyone home?"


    Poking the mass of feathers a few times to no avail, Dax tried to peek in between them, finding that some unknown force did its best to not let sunlight leak trough. Breathing a deep sigh Dax looked at the bundle of feathers with a wry smile as he came up with an alternative strategy for forcing Solaris out of bed.


    "Solaris you are already awake aren''t you?"


    "..."


    Hearing a slight shift in the angel''s breath beneath the bundle of her wings Dax''s smile widened slightly.


    "So you''re not awake at all?... That''s too bad, I was planning to pamper you all morning but I guess I''ll just pamper Alice and Lilly instead."


    Judging Solaris'' reaction from the shift of her wings Dax remained still for a few seconds before turning around as if he was returning to the living room/kitchen before suddenly rushing at Solaris when she opened up her wings to peek.


    "Come on, it''s time to wake up! The others are coming to visit today remember!?"


    "Nooo! I wanna sleep Dax, you meanie!"


    "... Looks like she''s finally awake."


    Hearing Solaris'' desperate screams from the bedroom Alice breathed a deep sigh as she returned to eating, then a few minutes later a mass of feathers walking on sturdy legs walked out of the bedroom.


    "I''ll make sure Solaris doesn''t fall asleep again."


    With Dax''s muffled voice coming from beneath the mass of feathers before it made its way to the bathroom Alice could only join Lilly as both of them breathed another deep sigh in unison.


    Both of them were slightly jealous of the way Dax treated Solaris in the morning, although he made sure to make up for that disparity every day.


    "We have arrived at the bathroom, my princess."


    "Mmm."


    With a slight pout on her face, Solaris finally unwrapped her wings from around Dax, after being forced out of the bed she had wrapped her arms, legs and wings around him, refusing to let go before he did what she commanded. Pacifying Solaris with a few kisses Dax finally managed to pry the n.a.k.e.d angel off of him, then, at last, he could get some breakfast.


    -


    A little bit past noon the doorbell suddenly rang to signify the arrival of multiple visitors, opening the door to great them Dax found Lux joined by Terra and Mare together with Chad and Xi, plus Xi''s parents Zhao and Grishu with the teacher pair Jessica and Finn Dax had befriended back at the magic academy.


    "Welcome~ Come on in and relax."


    Attempting to pat Lux on the head as he greeted her Dax''s hand suddenly screamed out in pain as his cute daughter passed by him without even attempting to return the greeting.


    "Are you okay Dax?"


    Seeing how Lux had hit his hand with a considerable amount of force Terra showed just a tiny bit of concern for her unreliable teacher as Mare passed by the pair without a care in the world.


    "It''s fine, that''s just Lux displays her affection for me~ Go take a seat, I''ll be with all of you shortly.


    "Okay~"


    "T-thanks for the invitation Dax, you have my-"


    "Yeah yeah, forget about all that formal stuff for today. More importantly, Chad, have you made any progress with this adorable lady?"


    Turning down the overly formal greeting from Chad, Dax immediately changed the subject over to his and Xi''s romantic life, making the young pair blush deeply.


    "Now now, don''t be so rough on my son and daughter Dax, you''ll make them all embarrassed! Ahaha!"


    Cutting in and answering Dax''s question for Chad, the dragonkin Zhao laughed loudly as he hit the back of Chad''s back with a considerable amount of force, making his wife cut in before the poor Chad''s back broke.


    "Come on dear, didn''t you look forward to drinking with Dax after so long?"


    "Ahaha!- Yeah, thinking about it I did indeed! So Dax, are you prepared for battle!?"


    "I am indeed, I found a few bottles of some good stuff so I hope you are prepared for a mighty battle~"


    While Dax was greeting the other people she had very little interest in, Mare followed Lux into the living room. Scanning the room with a blank expression on her face the small beastkin didn''t really find anything that interested her before her sights landed on Lilly.


    "W-what is it?"


    Suddenly finding Mare''s gaze on her Lilly became quite fl.u.s.tered, and for a very good reason. For some reason, Mare had always been extremely perspective of other people, something which could lead to quite a bit of embarrassment if Lilly let anything leak from her. Doing her best not to have any expression on her face, Lilly watched in horror as the small beastkin walked up to her, then without any kind of lead up Mare simply smelled the air in front of Lilly as a tiny smile found its way onto Mare''s face.


    "Lewd."


    "W-w-w-w-w-what!? I-I have no idea what you''re talking about!?"


    With Lilly turning beet red it appeared that Mare had succeeded sending the elver into a full on fl.u.s.ter with only a single word, but before she could enjoy the situation more, a large hand suddenly found its way on top of her head.


    "You have no idea my dear Mare~ You see, this one- Actually I think I''ll just keep that part to myself, seeing as saying anything more will get me killed."


    Feeling Lux''s killing intent getting firmly focused on him mid sentence Dax was forced to reconsider his words as he would like to keep living. With everyone having arrived the improvised party began without any more immediate problems.


    Later in the evening after eating and drinking Dax collected all the men together as he went into an unused room.


    "It is finally time huh?"


    "What is going on?"


    While Finn had some inclination to what was going on, Chad had no idea what was going on, all he could gather was that Dax and Zhao had both suddenly turned extremely serious.


    "ICI seal this room please."


    [DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED, GAG ORDER NOW ESTABLISHED, SEALING EXTERNAL VENTS, SEALING INTERNAL VENTS, ELECTROMAGNETIC SHIELDING ONLINE.]


    Suddenly blast shields extended down from the roof above the door and the windows, fully sealing the room before the light was cut out and replaced with a way more ominous type of red illumination.


    "Let''s start the meeting."


    With Finn, Dax and Zhao sitting down in the middle of the room with a strange atmosphere about them Chad wondered if he should leave, but as he found himself unable to do so he reluctantly joined the trio.


    "So, let''s start with you Dax.... Truth is I''ve really been dying to know."


    With words that could be taken as wildly misleading Finn had a glint in his eyes as he put a hand on Dax''s shoulder.


    "Then you don''t need to worry any longer, Lilly is a hardcore sadist, trough and trough."


    "I knew it! She looks so sweet on the outside so I figured she would be a freak."


    "Shit, in that case, I owe you some coin Dax, I''ll have it tomorrow."


    "Pleasure doing business with you Zhao~... Although my back is kind of hurting from all the scratching and biting."


    (What the f.u.c.k going on here?)


    Feeling like he had misheard Chad felt like he had a really unintelligent look on his face as he realized what kind of meeting he had been dragged off to.


    "... Don''t tell me we''re going to talk about our significant others."


    "That''s exactly what we''re doing Chad, so how far did you go with Xi?"


    Turning their attention to Chad, it appeared that Zhao had completely forgotten that they were talking about his daughter as he also seemed interested.


    -


    While the boys were clearly up to no good, the girls weren''t really any more productive with their time.


    "So, did it work out? Did he finally pounce?"


    Sitting in a circle around Solaris, Lilly and Alice, Lux led the interrogation while the others watched with great interest, making sure the girls couldn''t escape.


    "... It did."


    Being subjected and failing under the peer pressure Alice finally spilt the beans in a tiny voice as her face flushed completely red.


    In hindsight, not remaining silent and enduring the torture was a mistake.


    "T-then how was it?"


    "T-that''s none of your business! Besides, isn''t it gross to talk about your dad like this?"


    "Not at all since I''ve basically acted as you 3''s wingman, now spill it or we will I need to use force?~"


    Slowly creeping closer to the group, Lux had a bright, warm and outright sadistic smile on her face.


    In the end, the night ended with Solaris, Lilly, Alice and Chad suffering quite a bit of mental damage.


    ---


    "... I feel a sudden urge to punch someone in the face, specifically that idiot."


    "You have that kind of feeling a lot recently Ra, focus on the test for just a bit now."


    "Sure¡­"


    Elsewhere on a different plane of existence, a pair of sisters were testing their latest creation. Floating in a sealed off room inside their own little black site test range with no official records of its construction, the avoaxian sisters Ra and Mu were in the process of carrying out an important test. On the sea of monitors in front of the pair was a bunch of information about a single craft which was currently operating completely independently. The craft which carried no identifying markers or serial numbers, everything from the most basic transistors to the main power plant had been custom built to a specification the rest of the universe wouldn''t be able to match for at least another 200 years of natural process. With no official name, designation or even a Lazarus code word to identify the craft the two sisters simply referred to it as ''the n class cruiser'' or '' cross dimension travel experiment number 2006943601'', which ever one was easier.


    "How is the reactor looking?"


    "Like it wants to blow up and destroy this star system, so great."


    "Good, looks like we''re at max energy saturation then."


    Tapping away at a tablet at lighting speed Mu ran multiple different formulas to check every possible scenario while making her older sister check up on last minute readouts.


    "And what about the star? Another mass coronal ejection would be extremely bad right now."


    "We''re good, no signs of irregular starspot activity¡­ Everything is checked and rechecked Mu, we''re ready."


    Noticing how her sister was overly fuzzy with the details Ra made sure to encourage her.


    "This is the one, it''s far your best design yet."


    While Ra was a genius without comparison, her field of expertise wasn''t really suited to what they were doing at the moment, hence she relied on her little sister who was far smarter than herself, although it slightly hurt her pride to admit such a thing.


    "... Okay, we''re a go for N class cruiser test jump, activating grav drive and setting jump point authentication."


    "Authentication was successfully sent, all values accounted for, target sighted¡­ The onboard intelligence is committing to the jump!"


    With the test commencing both sisters stopped their work as they focused all their attention on a single monitor.


    "... Signal lost. It seems like it jumped without issue."


    Losing all connection to the cruiser, Mu immediately analyzed the left over jump signature, finding no problems with it as she started holding her breath along with her sister as they waited with anticipation.


    A minute passed, then 5 minutes.


    Nothing happened, so far everything was going according to plan.


    8 minutes after the jump gravitational sensors started going haywire all over the system, an extra dimensional anomaly had appeared, that was the class N cruiser trying to locate a return point.


    This was nothing new to the sisters, a lot of their tests had reached this point and still failed, some tore themselves apart at a subatomic level while others failed to locate a safe exit point and simply re appeared right inside the star, disintegrating along with any data Mu could use to improve her design.


    "The anomaly is stabilizing."


    "... It is¡­"


    Not daring to say anything more than that Mu had her eyes fixed to the monitor, at this point one could shoot a gun right next to her ear and she wouldn''t notice the sound.


    "9¡­ 8¡­ 7¡­ 6¡­ 5¡­ 4¡­ jump point stabilizing, 2¡­ 1¡­-"


    Looking over the data a few more times Mu breathed a deep sigh.


    "Test number 2006943601 failed, maintain logs for further-"


    "Mu look!"


    Getting her sister to focus on the screen once more Mu was shocked at what she saw.


    "No way¡­ Why did it work?"


    Simply stunned at what she saw Mu found herself at a loss for words, the test had been successful. With the craft returning still in perfect shape it reestablished a connection to the sister''s terminal and started dumping information about the travel and what was on the other side, in other words, Ra and Mu finally had hard data.


    "It looks like it did!"


    With an ecstatic smile plastered on her face Ra turned to Mu who also locked eyes with her, breathing in deeply the two sisters shouted what had been on their mind for so long


    ""Now we can finally go beat the shit out of him!""

 239 Preparation for war

    "... It looks bad out there." ;


    "Yeah, they''ve allocated even more space to build new crafts since last time we were here. It looks like the Emergence is winning." ;


    "All the more reason we need to get that idiot back." ;


    Having arrived at the galactic empire''s capital Ra and Mu both had grim looks on their faces, the reason for that being the unusual amount of automated dry docks that had replaced the normal residential mega blocks and worked around the clock to make warsh.i.p.s, a clear sign that the galactic empire was losing crafts faster than they could replace them. Moving closer to their destination the automated dry docks and residential mega blocks became an ever rarer sight as the ground gave way to massive, so called cloud ripper 920 mill railguns which extended skywards, they were also something the two Avoaxian sisters really hoped to not have seen, as their presence demonstrated the very real possibility that the imperial capital might come under siege at some point in the near future. ;


    With the disappearance of most of the 125th Hellwalkers, the war of eradication between the Emergence and all other intelligent life moved to a standstill for almost 100 years, but the self aware artificial intelligence had started gaining the upper hand as it slowly learned about its opponent, leading to the fall of the first populated world about 20 years ago, since then it had only started gaining momentum. ; ;


    Arriving at the centralized imperial navy command centre Ra and Mu donned their Lazarus executive vacuum suits as they exited their transport, leading to quite a few surprised people when two executives of the most powerful weapons developer suddenly visited without an appointment. ;


    [Is the Hellwalker command in?] ;


    Having made their way to the reception disk at a brisk pace, Ra asked one of the receptionists a question she could find out herself faster than asking, something she did purely out of courtesy. ;


    "Y-yes! Allow me to show the w-" ;


    [No need, we know the way.] ;


    [Thanks for your assistance.] ;


    Dismissing the overly nervous receptionist Ra and Mu started making their way through the command centre, finding it to be in a state of uproar, something had definitely happened on the front lines. ;


    [01, I''ve accessed the surveillance system, it seems she''s in the 5th war room.] ;


    [Mmm, then let''s make our way there, we don''t have a moment to waste.] ;


    Making their way deep underground the two sisters reached the 5th war room with only a few people who didn''t know who they were trying to stop them, walking into the room as if they owned it (which they kind of did) the two Lazarus executives created quite a commotion. ;


    "Hey, is that?" ;


    "Yeah, it is, you better not speak to them." ;


    "What the hell are those Lazarus people doing here?" ;


    "Maybe they''ve come to take more of our money." ;


    "Shh! If they hear you you''re going to be in big trouble." ;


    With most of their contributions to the war effort classified, most of the imperial navy viewed Lazarus industries as a leach with friends in high positions which should be purged after the war was over, normally such comments didn''t really bother Ra or Mu, but it seemed that the officer''s luck was quite bad. ;


    [Oi, you over there. What the f.u.c.k did you just say?] ;


    As Ra had spent the past 200 years without a single break working to increase the galactic empire''s chance at victory, such a comment came at a very bad time. Walking right through the massive holographic display in the middle of the war room which displayed critical information, Ra managed to gain the entire room''s attention by the time she had made her way over to the officer who had spoken ill about her. ;


    "I said you should piss off miss Lazarus. We don''t need you here." ;


    [Oh, is that so? Is that an opinion which is shared by the room?] ;


    (Oh shit, big sis is really pissed off now¡­) ;


    Seeing where the situation was headed Mu quietly made herself a part of the room, the way things were going her sister was going to do something bad. ; ;


    "Yeah it is bitch, we''re sick of your people coming here and sucking away our resources for your own benefit, while you may not have noticed from your own little luxury apartment we have a war to fight, you''re not needed." ;


    Facing off against the officer Ra glared at his overconfident smirk for a second before she acted. ;


    [Is that so? Then I guess you don''t need the architecture I developed and gave to the navy for free.] ;


    "Like you did anything like that, don''t threaten navy personal, that''s a crime." ;


    [ICI, master override: Disable module 6-3-2 delta.] ;


    [EXECUTIVE COMMAND IDENTIFIED, PROCESSING REQUEST¡­] ;


    While most of the staff officers had been confident that the Lazarus executive had been bluffing up until that point, the cold and unfeeling voice of the tactical ICI unit proved that they were dead wrong. ;


    [MASTER OVERRIDE CONFIRMED, DISABLING MODULE 6-3-2 DELTA, PRIVILEGES REVOKED. SCRAMBLING QUANTUM COMMUNICATIONS.] ;


    With a single sentence, Ra crippled the entirety of the central navy command centre. From one second to the next the data line to the galaxy wide quantum communications net was severed. Without that line of communication, information which would reach the command centre in a matter of seconds would now take days, if it even managed to make its way there at all. ;


    "Now now, 01. I''m sure he didn''t mean it like that so there''s no reason to take away all the toys you gave him and his friends." ;


    Stepping in before things could get any worse, the Hellwalker Phillipa appeared to rescue her subordinate. ;


    [If you say so. ICI cancel the previous order and restore privilege 6-3-2 delta.] ; ;


    Having calmed down slightly Ra realized her mistake and enabled the communication once more, making Phillipa give her a warm smile before she turned to the staff officer with an entirely different kind of expression. ;


    "You just insulted the foremost expert on quantum communications and weapons development in the galactic empire. Standing behind her is the person who developed the current generation of faster than light travel and ship design''s the navy currently operate, do you have anything to say for yourself, Lieutenant?" ;


    With the colour quickly draining from his face, the staff officer quickly realized what he had just done while he was subjected to the full brunt of bloodl.u.s.t from the commander of the 125th hellwalkers. ;


    Saying he had f.u.c.k.i.e.d up didn''t really do the situation justice, this was something several magnitudes worse. ;


    "MA''AM YES, MA''AM! I SINCERELY APOLOGISE FOR MY RUDE BEHAVIOR!" ;


    Bowing down so deep that he almost smashed his face against the floor, it took only a split second for the rest of the staff in the 5th war room to repeat the apology with a similar amount of vigour. ;


    "Good, now get the f.u.c.k out of my sight lieutenant!" ;


    "MA??AM! YES, MA''AM!" ;


    Having disciplined the staff officer Phillipa turned to Mu with a wry smile on her face. ;


    "So? Why are you two here?" ;


    [We need you to take an urgent leave of absence.] ;


    "Then I''ll do that, what are we doing?" ;


    Instantly understanding that the two avoaxian sisters needed her for something important, Phillipa established a private line of communication between the 3 of them before asking about the specifics. ;


    [We''re going to collect a certain idiot before beating him to death with a blunt instrument.] ;


    "What? I think I misheard sorry." ;


    --- ;


    While Dax would have wanted to continue the relaxing days with Solaris, Alice and Lilly forever, the day of the operation to retake the imperial continent was quickly approaching. In just a few days Dax would leave the planet for a raid on the lost sanctuary, while he didn''t really want to acknowledge the fact, there was a very good chance he was going to die soon. His operation relayed completely on the element of surprise, if the Elders saw him coming he was dead, if he miscalculated the approach angle he was dead, if- ;


    "Dax are you okay?" ;


    Being snapped out of his thoughts by a certain elver who was sitting next to him, Dax put on a bright smile as he tried to reassure her. ;


    "Yeah, I''m fine Lilly." ;


    "... Be honest with me." ;


    But alas Lilly had seen through him completely, something Dax found had been happening more and more lately with the girls, it seemed spending a lot of time together they learned to decode Dax''s different idle expressions and habits. ;


    "I''m just thinking a bit about the upcoming operation. Even if we do our jobs perfectly a lot of people are still going to die¡­ As a seasoned commander I should be used to this already, but it still somewhat bugs me everything I think about it." ;


    "I think it''s natural that it would, if anything it just shows that you''re softer than you look." ;


    With a reassuring smile on her face, Lilly started patting Dax''s head, making the person in question quite embarrassed. ;


    (Why the hell those she need to act mature now of all times!?) ;


    "Am really soft? I still decided that sending those people to their death was the best option." ;


    "Yeah you are~ But enough talk about that, how''s Lux and Terra, didn''t you go see them yesterday?" ;


    Pushing Lilly away because she was annoying Dax''s smile disappeared as he turned a bit more serious. ;


    "Terra is tense, as expected of someone leading the kind of operation she is. As for Lux, she''s way more used to this kind of thing so we just talked a bit before exchanging wills along with letters to our friends in case we die." ;


    "A will¡­ What did you write in yours?" ;


    While Lilly didn''t really like the subject she had more or less come to terms with it, as for Dax he wasn''t really that bothered by it as he had gotten used to writing his will a long time ago. ;


    "Just where I would like to buried if there are any remains left and who should inherit my fortune with a short apology to my family at the end." ;


    "Your family?... The two sisters?" ;


    Having heard a tiny bit about Dax''s family Lilly knew that there were only two people she hadn''t met yet. ;


    "Yeah, although if I did die they would most likely figure out a way to bring me back just so the could beat the shit out of me." ;


    "That doesn''t really seem like what family would do in case they died¡­" ;


    "Trust me, that''s exactly the kind of things those two would do¡­ We have orders for deployment." ;


    Mid sentence Dax received orders to sortie from ICI, everything else would have to wait, now it was time for a war ;

 240 Start of the operation

    [ICI OVERLORD TO ALL UNITS: GO FOR OPERATION, ADVANCE.]


    With a single message which was broadcast all over the world, the largest military operation the world of magic had ever seen commenced as long range railgun artillery installed all over the world opened fire at the same time as a drone force 2 trillion strong started advancing on the imperial continent. The goal of such a massive offensive was nothing more than distraction and containment however, as some 500 strange creatures which they targeted were all surrounded in some sort of impenetrable shield it wouldn''t have any effect, but still, it would be hard for the so called Elder''s to strike back when they were getting pelted by such an absurd amount of firepower.


    "They have started, we should get going now too."


    Looking up at the horizon Lux saw the familiar trail of high velocity armour piercing railgun munition rip through the clouds as the ambient sound of the countless projectiles blended together to form an ever present roar like that of a far off thunderstorm. Being under complete radio silence and operating without any contact to the outside world, the ambient roar of railguns was the only sort of confirmation that Lux could count on. With her were a small force consisting of Lilly, Alice, Mare and the archangel Eos from the 22nd sanctuary who all had been hand picked by Lux herself with the sole purpose of maximizing the chance of mission success.


    "Then let''s get this over with."


    The only reluctant member of the team was the archangel Eos, who had somehow found herself among those as she had viewed as enemies up until recently, it was only by necessity that she had chosen to work together with Dax in the first place.


    "... I still wished I could have gone with Dax trough¡­"


    "Yeah, same."


    While they both understood why, it was still demotivating to know that Dax had chosen not to include either Alice or Lilly in his team, the reason being that neither of them had any considerable experience with space travel or had the skill set needed for stealth operations.


    "Come on, that''s enough chatter, get in the sub."


    Even with their small grievances the team still listened to Lux, all of them knew full well that they had been entrusted with an extremely important mission which would directly impact the chance of survival against the Elders who had all but consumed life on the imperial continent at this point. With everyone loaded up into the highly modified AEHWP transport (including Mare who had been sleeping inside it for the entire time) Lux took one last look at the sun before closing up the hatch.


    She was fully aware that there was a considerable chance she would never see such light again.


    -


    "Like the fact that if this craft fails we''re all going to die before realizing it?"


    "No, that''s pretty normal where I''m from Eos¡­ I''m talking about those elders, if we''re spotted, we are going to die with no exception, in fact it might be better to commit suicide if we think we''ve been spotted."


    Answering Eos sarcastic question with a bit of dark humour Lux turned deadly serious as she handed everyone a vial marked with red bands.


    "If we''re looking like we''re going to be captured by those things, set this up against the neck and press the button on the back."


    "... What is in this vial exactly?"


    Examining the vial with a grim look on her face Alice still found the need to know exactly what it was Lux just handed them.


    "It''s a combination of active blue matter and black matter. The blue matter is a restricted bioweapon that denatures biological compounds and the black matter is programmed to kill you before that¡­ Basically this vial will kill you and destroy your body after the fact, as such it is an absolute last resort meant to deny those monsters from learning anything from us."


    Having explained the functions of the vial to everyone, a solemn atmosphere spread inside the transport.


    "So will it hurt?"


    "Not at all Mare."


    Giving an immediate answer to the youngest member of the team, Lux''s hand naturally found its way on top of Mare''s head as she started stroking her hair.


    "Then it''s fine, it would hate if those creatures learned what Dax was doing from me."


    Noticing the incredibly frank and nonchalant attitude from the young beastkin Eos breathed a deep sigh as she cleared her mind, she felt kind of stupid from being affected by something which didn''t even slightly bother someone much younger than herself.


    Little did she know that Mare used to be a gladiatorial slave, the idea of death didn''t really phase her anymore.


    "Well, if this child isn''t disturbed by something like that then we can''t afford to either."


    "That''s right, besides this place has been entirely lost to history, it is likely that the elders don''t know of it either."


    Having regained morale after that slight hiccup, the crew of the modified AEHWP transport commenced their mission. Travelling along the bottom of the seafloor, the sheer amount of water above them made the craft impossible to track from the surface as it slowly crept towards the imperial continent, arriving at a continental trench a few kilometres from the shore only a day later.


    "It''s coming up on the scopes now¡­ Seems like the intel was correct."


    "Finally some good news, does that mean we can get out of this ridiculous thing sometime soon?"


    "Yeah if there''s any air inside the sanctuary, otherwise we''ll be stuck here for the entire operation."


    At a depth of about 10 kilometres beneath the surface of the great sea a few kilometres from the imperial continent, the raiding party led by Lux finally seemed to have found what they were looking for. Not even light made it this deep into the sea, and if a person even tired diving this deep they would be crushed by the sheer pressure of the water above. In a way, this environment was similar to the void of deep space Lux normally operated in with the lengths one had to go to just die in a matter of minutes rather than seconds, it was no surprise that something all the way down here had remained hidden for so long without anyone looking for it. Showing up on deep penetrating radar Lux had found what appeared to be some sort of void surrounded by incredibly dense rock up ahead, and as the external lights lit up to reveal a collection of well preserved ruins Eos who was the only angel on the trip spoke out in disbelief.


    "The city of Aeth¡­"


    Before the group stood a massive underwater city made out of densely packed rock carved out by magic directly into the cliff face of a continental plate, although some of the decorations had been slowly covered by a thick layer of marine snow, Eos recognized the inscriptions which had stood the test of time.


    "Wait a second, Eos do you know what this is?"


    "I''m not sure, but this place bears a striking resemblance to something I heard about as a child, a legend of sorts that''s mostly forgotten by now. ''It was said that long ago, doing the great calamity some angels didn''t want to leave the holy world behind which they had come to call home, moved by that conviction the Gods created the city of Aeth, a fortress like no other which allowed the angels to remain on their holy world doing the great calamity.'' Or that''s the way the legend goes anyway, I had no idea that this place even existed at all."


    "Well, we can let the historians have it when we''re done, for now, we are to search the place for any Elder technology to salvage. While we don''t know the situation inside, there could be trace amounts of that flesh eating fungus, I want every single member of this force to wear a mask and not touch anything before I give permission, understood?"


    With determined nods from all around Lux gave a slight smile at the reliable subordinates she had been blessed with.


    Searching the immediate area for a point of entry into the city of Aeth, Lux eventually located an air pocket which allowed them to enter the inner city where she made the AEHWP transport surface. Opening the hatch to the ''outside'' world Lux was struck with a sense of wonder, although the rest of her team didn''t see anything but darkness.


    ???This sure looks like a legendary lost city alright¡­"


    Stepping out onto the top of the AHEWP Lux popped a few flares as she looked around, making Mare wonder what was going on.


    "What do you see?"


    "Ah, sorry about that. Switch to LIDAR and you guy will understand."


    Following Lux''s order Mare switched the sensor mode on her reaper''s mask, revealing a world which had been hid by darkness up until that moment.


    "Wow¡­"


    Struck with a deep sense of awe Mare looked around at the lost city of Aeth. Immediately in front of the massive lake they had surfaced at stood two gigantic statues which had been carved out of the surrounding cave, behind those ''gatekeepers'' was the remains of a massive city which were comparable to the central kingdom''s capital of Kingstead all packed within and carved out of the massive underwater cave she now found herself inside.


    "Time is of the essence, after confirming that this landing area is secure we will start exploring the city, from the moment we leave this craft to the moment we return I want everyone to follow my orders without question, is that understood?"


    While Eos had no way of knowing, the fairy tale she had been told as a child was incomplete. Having lost most of its meaning over the aeons it had been told, the legend of the lost city of Aeth was a cautionary one, telling of the dangers of opposing the angel''s god, for the angels who stayed behind on the holy world doing the great calamity were forever changed into twisted beings which no longer had any sense of self when they finally emerged from their shelter, leading the old gods to banish them, then seal away the city deep underground to be forgotten so that the sin which had been committed there might never repeat itself.

 241 The lost city of Aeth 1

    "Stay in formation, no wandering off now."


    Disengaging the safety on her weapon Lux started walking towards the two massive stone gatekeepers which guarded the entrance to Aeth. Wearing a vest with spare magazines and inferred markers, Lux had also attached a flashlight to the barrel of her rifle which cut a clear path through the void which surrounded her. Walking behind Lux was Alice and Mare with their own rifles, they were tasked with keeping eyes on the flank while Lilly and Eos acted as rear guard. Maintaining that formation and a cautious pace, the group arrived at the outermost houses of the lost city after about 5 minutes.


    "Alice, send out the Lanterns."


    "Okay."


    Pressing a switch on her vest, the large square backpack she wore opened as sounds of small rotors could be heard.


    "W-what are those?"


    Looking at the small, tennis ball sized flying sphere''s why scattered into the air from Alice''s backpack, Eos was understandably confused.


    "They are Lantern drones, just think of them like small flying golems which map out the area."


    Explaining the purpose of the drones to Eos while she took off her backpack and sat it down on the ground, Alice then started controlling the drones through her newly installed neural uplink.


    "I just want the city plan for now so ignore the inside of the buildings, though tell me the second you have an unidentified heat signature."


    "Yes ma''am~"


    "Good, for the rest of you I want eyes all around, stay focused as we make our way to the city centre."


    Intermittently dropping flares on the ground to mark their way back, Lux and the others continued towards the massive palace looking structure in the middle of the dead town.


    "Eos did that legend of yours say why this place was abandoned?"


    "It didn''t¡­ Although I assume that it was no longer needed when the great calamity passed."


    "A reasonable theory, though I fear that there is some other reason."


    Pointing the flashlight to a plaza up ahead, Lux displayed a mountain of bones which appeared to have been piled up there some time ago.


    "We''re stopping to examine those for clues, Lilly, Mare and Alice, I want you three on area security, go out a block and set up a wire. Rules of engagement are to hold fire until targets can be identified."


    Having delegated orders to her trusted subordinates, Lux walked up to the pile of bones, finding that she had to look up at just to see the top of the pile.


    "Hmm, I estimate that this pile contains the skeletons of about 200 humanoid creatures¡­ Cause of death looks to be mainly stabbing and blunt force trauma."


    "What makes you say that?"


    "look and the bones and they''ll tell you."


    Crouching down next to the pile Lux beckoned Eos to join her, which the angel did after saying a silent prayer.


    "A massacre¡­"


    Eos had believed she at least knew something about this strange place they had found themselves in, but it appeared she had been entirely wrong.


    Something terrible had happened here.


    But before Lux or Eos could put any more thoughts into the matter of the pile of bones Alice returned with a flustered expression on her face.


    "I saw a heat signature! 12 o''clock high!"


    Giving out a quick and precise callout in a timely manner Alice then pointed her rifle towards the threat she had identified, as did Lux immediately after she had heard the report.


    "... Up there? Well, that''s strangely convenient."


    The place Alice had spotted a heat signature was the large central palace looking building, a place Lux had already decided to search.


    With their next area of interest already settled on and the possibility that they had been spotted now a reality, Lux and her group quickly made their way towards the central structure, mostly ignoring the numerous piles of bones they passed on the way there.


    "Alice, what did you see exactly?"


    On the way towards the palace Lux quickly questioned Alice about the heat signature she had seen, the reason she didn''t just look at the footage herself was because some members of her party couldn''t do that themselves.


    "Although I only caught a glimpse of it, it was definitely a humanoid figure standing behind one of the one of the pillars supporting the dome on top of the structure, while this is just conjecture I feel like it was observing us."


    "Okay, that matches up with my intuition as well. Ever since we arrived at this place I feel like we have been watched closely¡­"


    Arriving at the large central structure which looked like some sort of palace Lux felt her earlier hunch was definitely correct.


    "Something is definitely in there¡­"


    Looking at the entrance to the palace Lux had a frown on her face as she muttered those words, while all her sensors and fancy equipment told her that there was nothing but an empty tunnel ahead, her experience and gut feeling told her otherwise.


    "Mare?"


    "Mmm. While it''s faint I feel like something is holding its breath¡­ I can''t tell if it''s scared or wants to hunt us, however."


    Asking the person with the sharpest senses in the group for her assessment, Lux had her gut feeling proven correct, although she would rather had it proven wrong at this point.


    "Fuck¡­ Nothing ventured, nothing gained. We need to investigate this place, as for whatever is in here I''m declaring it hostile. I''m hereby modifying the rules of engagement, shot first and shot again to make sure. Us getting out of here with intel is the current top priority, nothing else matters."


    "Roger."


    Taking Lux''s words to heart Alice affixed a bayonet to the end of her rifle before checking her magazine. Meanwhile, Eos and Lilly collected the mana that was around them, readying offensive spells at the same time as Mare took her PDW out of its holster and chambered a round.


    Entering the palace the group moved ahead in silence, only the footsteps of the group could be heard along with the quiet buzz of the Lantern drones mapping out the area ahead of the group could be heard.


    "There''s a chamber up ahead¡­ It seems like some sort of reception hall."


    With Alice breaking set silence the group got noticeably tenser, something which was only understandable.


    After all, if someone, or something, wanted to trap them inside the palace they only needed to block the tunnel they had come from, and the area just up ahead was perfect for doing just that.


    Reaching the reception hall Lux saw that the interior looked like some sort of bug nest with countless different paths forward, glancing to Alice Lux signalled her to take the lead, not wanting to talk in such a situation. Giving a nod in response Alice moved to the front of the formation before choosing one of the paths which had a slightly downwards decline, entering that path Mare who was acting as the rear guard completely flipped around her body as she started walking backwards at the rear of the group with her weapon raised and ready to fire while Lilly put a hand on her shoulder to guide the young beastkin as Lilly herself looked towards Lux who had taken up a position on the middle of the formation with her own hand on Alice''s shoulder. Looking at the formation the rest of her group had adopted without a word, Eos felt it was strange until she noticed the faint hand signals Lux used to communicate with Lilly with, who in turn tapped some sort of code on Mare''s shoulder as to inform her of what was happening. Suddenly feeling grateful to her past self for not antagonizing such a force Eos was still a bit annoyed that she was being left out, but she didn''t say anything about it as she was the only outsider of the group and she also understood that they all needed to keep quiet for the moment. As if the silent teamwork wasn''t enough, suddenly the light from Alice''s, Lux''s and Mare''s flashlights had turned deep red, once more without an explanation as to why that was given to Eos, still, she could tell that the atmosphere was getting tense.


    Walking along the curved pathway it eventually turned steeper as it transformed into a sharp incline, leading to another chamber with countless pathways leading out from it, but unlike the last chamber, this one wasn''t empty.


    (Urg, what the fuck is that smell?)


    Immediately after stepping into the room Eos was hit with a stench of decaying fish. Locating the source of such a horrid smell was easy, however, as the middle of the chamber appeared to be some sort of landfill that was piled high with all sorts of dead and decaying sea creatures. Walking a few steps into the room Alice came to a halt together with Lux who suddenly gave out an aggressive looking hand signal, understanding that signal Lilly got Eos'' attention, showing the angel an extremely serious expression as she put her index finger up to cover her lips, signalling to Eos to stay quiet at all costs. Figuring that something strange was going on, Eos turned to Lux again, only to see she had let go of Alice''s shoulder and was now crouching next to her in the process of putting a silencer on her weapon.


    (Have they found something?)


    Focusing her attention once more towards the pile of rotting fish Eos strained her ears, picking up the faint sound of bones breaking.


    No, it was the sound of bones being crunched on by a set of teeth, sharp teeth.


    Holding back her rising urge to swallow the saliva collecting in her mouth, Eos continued looking for the source of the sound coming from the pile of fish in the faint red light. Before she found the creature that made the sound, Lux fired at something which had shifted, immediately following the quiet sound of gas escaping the barrel of her suppressed weapon was the unmistakable sound of something soft being squished just like if one crushed a single grape in one''s hand, following a quiet thud. Lowering her rifle as she held her breath Lux confirmed that she had killed whatever it was she had been aiming at, but before she could relax the sudden sound of incoherent screaming assaulted her and her team from every direction.


    "Fuck! Move to the centre!"


    Realizing that they had been found, Lux started shouting out commands as she popped multiple red flares and threw them around the room. Having reached the centre of the room on top of the pile of rotting sea creatures, Lux continued barking out commands in a panicked voice.


    "Everyone hook up to me! Keep eyes on every entrance!"


    Following her order without hesitation the group attached metal wires to Lux and themselves by the waist, keeping her as the central point of the formation.


    "Here they come!"


    Being the one with the most sensitive hearing in the group Mare informed the rest of the team about what she heard.


    "While this is a shit position we''re making our stand here! Lilly, Eos, keep your magic in reserve, we brought plenty of ammunition for exactly this reason!"


    "They are taking out my Lanterns! I''m blind!"


    With Alice''s report, it was clear that whatever was coming for them was getting close, as Alice had kept the Lantern drones within 200 metres of herself at all times.


    "Shoot to kill but preserve ammunition! We don''t know how many there are!"


    Having started opening fire at different tunnels, Lux looked after the faint reflection of fish scales and quick flashes of retina in the red light, firing at everything which moved towards them and killing every single creature with scary efficiency as she realized just how much she had fucked up.


    These tunnels weren''t part of the original place, it was a massive monster nest which had been built after the lost city of Aeth was abandoned and had sunken to the bottom of the sea.

 242 The lost city of Aeth 2

    "Holy shit they are persistent!"


    Shouting to keep her voice from being drowned out by the constant incoherent screaming and gunfire from all around her, Lux once more released an empty magazine from her rifle, dropping the spent one to the ground without worrying about collecting it as she slammed a new magazine into the rifle, chambering a fresh round while she aimed at the closest monster and squeezed the trigger. For the last 30 minutes, scaled creatures had been pouring out of every single tunnel into the room Lux and her group now found themselves trapped inside, standing on top of a pile of rotting fish and spent casings the smell of decay and synthetic, high energy gunpowder started blending together as flashes from gunfire lit up the room in flashes of white that drowned out the original deep red illumination. With Lux, Mare and Alice burning trough their ammunition at a terrifying rate Lilly and Eos had been forced to also participate in the battle, the two of them creating blades of wind which sliced apart the endless stream of scale covered monsters by the tunnel, moving down crowds instead of a single target at a time. To help the two magic users collect ambient mana at a fast enough rate their dull black amour now glowed purple in hexagonal patterns which covered their arms and shoulders, the light signified that their armour''s mana collecting function was working at capacity.


    "Alice! Mare! Status and ammunition!?"


    Not having the spare time to confirm what her subordinates were doing Lux shouted over her own automatic gunfire as she mowed down the first monster which had made it all the way out of one of the tunnels and into the room.


    "50%! We''re starting to lose ground!"


    While Alice answered she took the time to reload, an action which allowed the fish scaled monsters to enter the room at her sector.


    "Agreed! Mare!?"


    Having also been forced to draw her pistol to add some more much needed firepower Lux fully agreed with Alice??s assessment that they were going to get overrun.


    And soon.


    "40%! This is bad!"


    "I''m still at 70! Lilly, can you try and block some of the tunnels with magic!?"


    "I can try but I''ll need Eos to cover for me while I examine the surrounding bedrock!"


    "No problem! I''m the leader of the 22nd for a reason!"


    Flaring with mana Eos demonstrated that there was a reason she had become a 10 winged angel, using the most destructive spell she could while also skillfully avoiding any chance of a cave in. With Eos covering for her Lilly worked fast, descending from the pile of decaying fish they had made their castle the elver slammed both her hands into the ground, sending a pulse of mana through it to find out where she could take and stack bedrock to block the tunnels.


    "No good! There''s not enough support, trying to block off the area would lead to a cave in!"


    While snapping at Lilly like that might not be okay as a commander, Lux did so anyway, she knew what needed to be done.


    "Fuck, okay! Eos hold on for a bit longer, I''ll need to summon a spirit!"


    Although such a thing would normally be impossible to do in the middle of an active combat situation, not to mention a feat impossible for a single person to do in any reasonable amount of time Lilly had a strong connection to the spirits. Although not much was known about the so called spirits Dax and Lux had both recognized their tactical potential. Offering a ''prayer'' to one of the spirits she had met with before Lilly sought assistance in fine control of her spell as she needed finesse which was magnitudes better than what an archangel possessed in order to close up the tunnels around them.


    (You really called us for such a menial task? And without that outsider around that we wanted to talk to?... Fine, seeing as you dying here would mean losing the connection to that outsider we will assist you, dear child.)


    Hearing a cold voice inside her head Lilly felt the strength leave her body, at the same time a sudden surge of mana rushed towards her as if it had a will of its own.


    "Ah~ The city of Aeth, how nostalgic."


    Rising to her feet, ''Lilly looked around as she was able to look straight through the bedrock around her, instantly realizing where she was. With a nostalgic look on her face, ''Lilly'' continued looking around the place without a care in the world, completely oblivious to the mayhem around her.


    "Spirit do something now!"


    Not the most relaxed person by nature Lux instantly snapped at the nonchalant spirit which appeared to have started its own little sightseeing in the middle of their fight for survival.


    "Yeah, yeah~ Relax a bit, will you? I''m taking a bit of time to get used to this child''s mana circuits so they don''t snap when I use her as an anchor."


    Shooing Lux with her hands while she complained, ''Lilly'' gently tapped her foot against the ground as ancient runes which had long since been lost to history suddenly spread out around her in circles which started layering themselves on top of each other.


    "So? Should I just block off all the tunnels leading to this filthy junkyard?"


    Glancing towards Lux which the spirit had judged as the leader of the group, ''Lilly'' had a bored expression on her face as she asked.


    "No, keep this one in front of me open!"


    "... Got it, but you don''t have to shout like that child~ I might be old but I''m not deaf."


    "Call me child one more time and I''ll find come and find you, then choke you to death with your own intestines!"


    "Gezz, you remind me of that outsider, has this really become an age where nobody has any sense of humour?"


    Keeping up her relaxed attitude amidst the battle and Lux''s extremely serious death threats, ''Lilly'' once more tapped her foot gently against the ground, expanding the massive pattern of magic runes to cover the entirety of the room, then she simply moved her and as if swatting away a fly.


    In response to that simple gesture, the mana around ''Lilly'' condensed to such a level that it was visible to the naked eye, then with one more tap on the ground all expect a single tunnel out from the room Lux and her group found themselves inside.


    "Then we will excuse ourselves here, next time you call us we want to talk with that outsider from before, he was fascinating~"


    Showing an alluring smile before it dissipated, the excess mana in the air dispersed as the presence which had possessed Lilly left along with it.


    "Mare take care of Lilly! The rest of you up here with me!"


    Fearing that the monsters would now all rush them from the same direction Lux immediately reorganized the defences as she sent the person with the least ammunition to check up on Lilly who had collapsed after the spirit had left her. Standing ready to trap the monsters in an improvised kill zone she had set up for about 5 minutes, Lux finally lowered her weapon as not a single monster had tried to rush them in that time, even the constant incoherent and omnipresent screaming that had been drowning out everything else for the last 40 minutes eventually started quieting down, eventually leading to the same oppressive silence there had been before.


    "... Mare get up here now, Alice replace her and take care of Lilly in the meanwhile."


    Taking a swig of water while she still kept a vigilant eye at the dark tunnel ahead, Lux handed the water canteen over to Mare as she joined her.


    "What do you hear?"


    "... They''ve pulled back for the moment, don''t know why."


    Having confirmed her own intuition with the help of Mare''s sharp senses Lux finally breathed a deep sigh.


    "I''ll stay as a lookout. Mare, Eos take a break and try to get some food in you, if there''s no follow up attack from those scaled fucks then we''re advancing after Lilly is able to move again."


    Hearing those words from Lux, Eos felt the strength quickly leave her body along with a deep sigh. Dragging her feet until she found a somewhat clean patch of ground then she collapsed onto her knees before sitting down on the ground.


    It was only then that her senses which had been suppressed up until that moment seemed to return at once as Eos'' sense of smell was overwhelmed with a potent mix of blood and guts blended with decaying rot and gunpowder while she noticed the large pools of blood which had flowed from the numerous dead monsters they had killed, pooling inside the room before Lilly had closed the surrounding tunnels.


    "Urg¡­"


    Feeling a buildup of gastric acid Eos leaned to the side as she expelled her last meal on the ground beside her, feeling a sense of powerlessness after she had done the deed.


    (How the hell am I supposed to be able to hold my head high after this?)


    Eos felt like she had only been slowing the rest of the team down, that reality clashed with the pride she had held herself to thus far and made the angel feel even more pathetic.


    "Drink."


    But before she could turn even more self deprecating Eos was snapped out of her troughs when Mare suddenly appeared before her, holding out a canteen.


    "Ah, thanks¡­"


    Timidly accepting the canteen, Eos washed the bitter taste out of her mouth before drinking some water, finding that she had been severely dehydrated up until that point.


    "And eat this too."


    After Eos had rehydrated Mare then presented her with a cereal bar which the angel quickly devoured before realizing what was going on and blushing deeply.


    "I really am useless if a child like you need to take care of me like this¡­"


    "Not at all. Everyone is like that at the start¡­. I was the same first time I killed another slave."


    Patting the flustered angel on the head Mare went back to check up on Lilly, leaving Eos with a tiny bit more self assurance.


    "Eos I know this is hard that you can''t use most of your spells out of fear that they''ll cause a cave in, just relay on us for now and we''ll be relying on you when the time comes."


    "R-right!"


    Surprised by Lux''s reassuring words Eos turned her head to find that the person in question was still vigilantly keeping an eye on the last remaining tunnel.


    (I need to pull myself together¡­)


    Feeling her motivation return due to the kind words from around her Eos slapped her cheeks a few time as she once more regained her dignified and superior looking expression.

 243 The lost city of Aeth 3

    "Lilly are you alive?"


    "... I''m good, although my head really hurts."


    "Then we''re advancing."


    Having spent the last 30 minutes waiting for Lilly to regain her consciousness after fainting due to the spirit possession, Lux was starting to become eager to move from their current location. As it was now, with only a single entrance and exit it was just as easy to defend as it was to trap anyone inside.


    "Mare, what are we up against exactly?"


    While Alice had tended to Lilly, Mare had examined some of the dead monsters who had managed to fall inside their room.


    "About 1 and a half meters tall with stab proof scales. The main threat is their sharp claws and razor like teeth, the long tail which they use to swim could also become a problem in a brawl."


    Taking in Mare''s assessment Lux still felt like something didn''t quite add up, there was something wrong about these monsters that she couldn''t quite put her finger on.


    "... Eos, what do you think about these monsters? As an archangel that has lived for some time, you must have plenty of experience dealing with monsters. How do these compare?"


    "Hmm, that''s a bit of a tricky question¡­"


    Resting her chin on her own hand Eos closed her eyes for a few moments while her wings slightly fluttered around.


    "They are strange indeed. Although I know of some monsters that live in the sea, there shouldn''t be any this far under the surface¡­ And for a species that built a nest like this, they''re acting awfully dumb charging at us in a blind rage."


    Voicing out her thoughts without considering the way she put them, Eos simply stated whatever came to her mind, something Lux valued in her underlings.


    "Agreed, they don''t really appear that smart. But all that can wait for later, for now, we need to move. New formation: I''ll be spearhead with Eos while Alice acts as navigator, Lilly, and Mare will act as rear guard. Let''s move before they regroup and box us in."


    "Mare get up here."


    "Mmm."


    Not able to keep looking at that Lux called Mare away from the rear guard, switching her attention to the beastkin while they slowly moved through a tunnel Lux''s hand quickly found itself on top of her head.


    "How are you doing?"


    "... No problem."


    (Yeah no, if you continue like that you''ll become a nervous wreck I won''t be able to trust with a firearm.)


    Deciding not to voice her complaints at Mare, Lux chose instead to quietly scoop the beastkin up in her arms, carrying her like a princess as she let her own rifle hang by its sling.


    "Take a rest for a second."


    "But-"


    "No but''s, that''s an order."


    Placing a hand once more on top of Mare''s head, Lux started gently caressing her head and ears, making it so she couldn''t keep up with what the monsters around them were doing.


    "Even if my hearing isn''t nearly as good as yours I still have plenty of experience to close that gap. Leave detecting hostiles to me for a moment and relax your mind."


    Showing a ''warm'' smile which signalled that her polite suggestions were not of debate Lux continued patting Mare''s head until she finally closed her eyes and started relaxing.


    "That''s how it is I''m afraid. Alice, while Mare rests you''ll do double duty."


    "Yes Ma''am~"


    Continuing onwards Mare was eventually released from Lux''s clutches after she had winded down a few levels, meanwhile, the rough cave tunnels were eventually replaced with uniform square hallways, signifying that the group had made it past the monster nest into the central structure where their goal was located. Still, the area was still infested with the fish scaled, vaguely humanoid monsters.


    "Well, this is slightly more like it."


    Reaching a massive hall with a series of old statues flanking them on each side and faded wall paintings depicting long lost history, Lux once more felt like she was exploring a lost city instead of a monster nest, although there were still clear signs of monsters all around them.


    "These are the first angels¡­. And that painting over there is the story of all creation."


    As the leader of a sanctuary Eos was quite familiar with all the legends and culture of the angels, so she was understandably in awe when she saw stories and monuments of her race all around, there were even things she had never seen before.


    "Alice''s and my own eyes are recording everything so you can look at it later Eos, we have a job to do. Besides, when all this shit is over with and the elders have been exterminated I promise to take you down here again."


    "Really? That''s a promise I''ll hold you to then¡­ But it seems we''ll have to survive this first of all."


    While Eos had been admiring the priceless works of art all around her, the monsters which nest they were still deep inside once more started their incoherent screaming, signalling that an attack was coming.


    "Yeah, although it should be no problem at all. Mare, Alice, and Lilly guard the rear, I''ll take the front with Eos."


    As they were currently in a room with only two points of entry and a massive balcony to the side which overlooked the city, Lux figured that their current location would be vastly easier to defend than the one they had to take down in the tunnels about an hour ago.


    "In case they overwhelm us we can repel from the balcony, Alice, set up the rope, double time."


    "Yes Ma''am!"


    Finding her own firing position behind a collapsed stature Lux aimed her rifle at the entrance she was supposed to cover which was located atop a wide staircase, then she disengaged the safety on her rifle as she gave out the last directives before the fight.


    "Mare, keep your trigger discipline if you run out I want you in between us sitting still. We''re not starting a melee before I say so. Same for you Alice, in case the two of you both run out of ammunition we''re retreating to the balcony, then I''ll order the AEHWP transport to blow this joint as we retreat back to it."


    "Bu-"


    The very idea of destroying this place which contained countless artefacts of her race was something Eos could not stand for, but sadly she wasn''t the one in command.


    "No but''s Eos! I''m placing our survival on top of both completing this mission and whatever cultural heritage is in here, now quit the chatter!"


    Hearing the scratching of claws and screaming of the monsters closing in Lux decided to cut the debate short as she started to open fire, cutting down the attacking monsters with pinpoint headshots or centre of mass shots in an almost machine like, calm and collected fashion.


    "Reloading in 3 shots, Eos!"


    "On it!"


    As Lux quickly emptied her first magazine of the encounter Eos stepped in and created several arrows made of fire that she unleashed against the charging monsters. As the arrows hit the smell of burned flesh quickly started blending with the smell of gunpowder and guts.


    "Reloading!"


    "On it!"


    Working with coordination which was a tad better than the last firefight Mare, Alice and Lilly had gotten better at supporting each other while also becoming increasingly more adept at reading the monster''s movements so their hit rate had improved. Sadly the group failed to notice something important, the same thing that had been nagging Lux ever since they had repelled the first attack.


    If the monsters are so unintelligent and don''t seem to have any semblance of higher brain function then why didn''t they attack the moment Lux''s group set foot inside the city? Why did they wait until they had them completely surrounded? And why could they even build a nest so complicated, containing numerous food stores?


    The answer to those questions was slowly creeping in through the balcony, its eyes locked at the piles food which had so conveniently walked all the way to it.


    "!!! FUCK! HOSTILE INSIDE THE WIRE!"


    The first one to realize what was wrong was Lux, not even Mare with her keen sense of hearing had noticed the 3 metres tall, 8 metre long lizard humanoid hybrid covered in black fish scales. Shouting to alert the other members of her party, Lux turned her rifle''s fire select slider to fully automatic while selecting the maximum penetration mode on the coils as she turned to face the massive creature, squeezing the trigger all as she reached for a frag grenade. In response to the sudden attention it was getting, the large lizard unleashed a truly deafening scream as it ducked behind a column of stone statues, avoiding Lux''s barrage of fire as it called for its subordinates to charge.


    (Not so fucking fast!)


    Having somewhat predicted the monster''s action Lux pressed down the trigger on the frag she had prepared, allowing the 10 second fuse to almost expiring before she tossed the grenade at the monster as Lux''s training and experience momentarily failed and she did the worst possible thing one could do in such a situation.


    Acting on instinct.


    (Fuc!-)


    Realizing her mistake as the grenade flew through the air, Lux noticed how the monster''s dull grey eyes clearly tracked what she had been doing, acting with intelligence which betrayed its primitive looking exterior.


    The monster did exactly what Lux feared it would, as the grenade flew towards it the scaled monster turned to show its side, then it hit the grenade with its long and powerful tail in mid air, returning to where it came from.


    "DOWN!"


    As the grenade''s fuse had almost expired Lux had no time to throw or kick it away to a safe distance, so instead she grabbed Eos by one of her wings and jumped over the collapsed statue the pair of them had used for cover. Not even a second later the deafening sound of an explosion rang out as the fragmentation grenade detonated, living up to its designation as countless tiny metal fragments flew out in every direction. While Lux and Eos had been temporarily forced to stop repelling the smaller monsters, the situation was way worse for Alice, Mare and Lilly. Having had no time to take cover from the frag that had been well inside its effective range of them when it detonated, the trio were all hit by metal fragments which tore through clothes, skin and flesh like it all was wet tissue paper. Among the three, Lilly was by far the most unfortunate one as a large fragment tore off a large part of her right ear as it narrowly missed her head while countless smaller fragments hit her back and legs, rupturing organs and major arteries before going out the other side of her body or embedding themselves in her bones, whichever came first. Meanwhile, Alice was hit in her arm near the elbow, suddenly making her unable to hold onto her rifle while other smaller fragments hit her in the back and legs, embedding themselves inside her body while Mare was hit in her right leg, cracking the femur and making the leg unable to support her body.


    With the one flank instantly silenced the monsters rushed at the opportunity while Eos was forced to deal with attacks from both sides and Lux charged the large monster to distract it.


    "You fucking overgrown Lizard!??


    But closing the range proved an extremely poor decision on Lux''s part, as she was hit in the chest by the monster''s whip like tail, sending her flying across the room and crashing into the stone wall on the other side, the impact instantly reaping her consciousness, the last thing she heard was the wet snap like sound of something inside her body breaking.

 244 Despair

    "Eos! Get it together!"


    Shouting at the archangel she was protecting for the nth time, Alice received no other response than continued crying from the angel.


    "It''s no use Alice, she''s combat ineffective."


    Lilly, however, had long since given up on Eos, she could understand her current state of mind and didn''t try to snap her out of it, after all, it took Alice and Lilly about 10 minutes to make their way to her, in that time those fish scaled monsters had already cut up most of her body with their claws. Eos had looked death in the eyes and instead of forging ahead fearlessly she had flinched, it would be unreasonable to expect anything from her after that.


    After Lux had been killed by the large monster it had rushed Alice, Lilly and Mare, the only reason why Alice and Lilly were still alive was that the monster had taken the still alive Mare in its yaws and retreated out the balcony, Mare''s screaming could be heard for a while after that. Greatly reduced in numbers and faced with insurmountable odds Alice and Lilly did their best to extend their own survival as they protected Eos from the hoards of fish scaled monster while now seemed like they were playing with them, but after fighting with a level of intensity that only just allowed them to survive for what felt like an eternity, Lilly and Alice had started to tire, they were starting to make increasingly more mistakes.


    They both knew their time had come, all that was left was how they would go out, would it be screaming and shouting for mercy, or would it be in a manner that would make Dax proud?


    Alice had long since expended all her ammunition and Lilly was unable to use magic. With nothing else left than their bayonets, they faced the never ending horde of scaled monsters.


    This was the end of the road.


    ---


    (What the hell?)


    All of a sudden everything seemed to be covered in a haze, the only thing that forced her awake was an ever present loud alarm which shouted with such volume that it threatened to render her deaf within seconds, but even still, it kept screaming at her, as if to force her to remember something.


    Then suddenly, there was only silence. Like a pair of noise cancelling headphones had been put on her head she suddenly became aware of her own heartbeat, or lack of it in this case.


    [REVIVAL PROTOCOL SUCCESSFUL, RESTARTING PASSIVE LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEMS, SCANNING SUBJECT¡­. SCAN COMPLETE. MAJOR INTERNAL TRAUMA DETECTED, COMMENCING REPAIR: ALLOCATING BLACK MATTER¡­. ERROR, INSUFFICIENT RESOURCES. RECALCULATING REPAIR PRIORITY¡­ RECALC SUCCESSFUL. RECOMMENCING REPAIR: SACRIFICING NONE ESSENTIALS, NOW CANNIBALIZING¡­ CANNIBALIZING OF NONE ESSENTIAL COMPONENTS SUCCESSFUL, COMMENCING REPAIR, RESTARTING CARDIOVASCULAR FUNCTIONS¡­ RESTART SUCCESSFUL, REVIVAL SUCCESSFUL, REANIMATION SUCCESSFUL. LIEUTENANT GENERAL LUX ALPHA-4 OF THE 125TH HELLWALKERS SUCCESSFULLY REANIMATED.]


    (Pain is good, that means there''s no other significant neural damage I need to take care of at the moment¡­)


    While a normal person or even a hardened soldier would have instantly passed out from that amount of pain Lux was an elite, such an amount of suffering was trivial, as long as she could complete her mission nothing else mattered. Reaching into her vest Lux retrieved a syringe filled with fresh black matter and injected it in her chest.


    With the immediate first aid taken care of Lux rose to her feet, surveying the battlefield while she cracked her neck.


    While Mare was nowhere to be be found, Lilly and Alice seemed to be protecting Eos how had suffered numerous injuries while a swarm of the smaller monsters surrounded them and the large one was nowhere to be found. It seemed like the monsters hadn''t paid much attention to Lux after she had been knocked out, instead preferring to take their time with Alice and Lilly as they appeared to be playing with their food. While Lux still had some ammunition left for her rifle and pistol, the current state of affair called for stealth and thus, the orbital marine drew her bayonet and flipped it to a reverse grip as all traces emotion disappeared from her face. Closing in on her first target without making a sound Lux stayed low to the ground as she picked up a small rock which she tossed at the ground behind the monster when she had closed the range sufficiently. As the monster turned around Lux charged, using her momentum she plunged the blade into one of the monster''s eyes as her free hand gripped its neck with a force strong enough to prevent any air from escaping, then she twisted the bayonet before silently lowering the monsters copse to the ground. The next monster''s fate wasn''t much better as Lux snuck her blade in between two of its vertebrae in its neck before plunging a few of her fingers through its eye, then twisting the bayonet to one side as she forced the monster''s skull the other way. Of course, such an action instantly drew attention to Lux, as the sound of her ripping off the monster''s head could be easily heard inside the room, but that was the point.


    If the monsters were so primitive, all Lux needed to do was appealing to the most basic instinct even primitive monsters like the one she was facing would understand: Fear.


    Haven sized the attention of the room with her action Lux to full advantage of that as she let loose a scream filled to the brim with bloodlust as she charged the nearest monster. Brutally slaughtering her way through the monster hoard Lux completely ignored the injuries she received for her reckless behaviour and achieving the goal of instilling a strong sense of fear in the monsters as they started fleeing.


    "L-Lux!? How are you still alive!?"


    Understandably Alice and Lilly were both quite surprised as they were suddenly saved from the brink by Lux they had believed was already dead, but in the face of such surprise and confusion, Lux just shrugged.


    "What? You girls think a little dying will keep me down for long? Even if I''m not quite as strong as Dax I''m still a Hellwalker, we''re named that way for a reason."


    Looking around the room after checking the state of her subordinates Lux started filling in the blanks.


    "What happened to Mare?"


    "... MIA, presumed KIA. That large monster dragged her off after it dealt with you."


    Taking a few seconds to absorb what Lilly had told her Lux hardened her determination, grieving would have to wait until after the mission.


    "Lilly, Alice, take Eos back to the AEHWP transport. I''ll see if I can receive Mare''s copse. If I haven''t regrouped with you after an hour leave without me. This mission has already failed, I''ll not allow it to end in a complete wipeout."


    Handing Lilly her rifle and the spare ammunition Lux gave orders in a tone which clearly demonstrated that she wouldn''t take kindly to insubordination.


    "... Yes, Ma''am."


    ---


    (... Where am I?)


    Doing her best to ignore the immense sense of pain which screamed out from her entire body, Mare opened her eyes to find herself inside a dark room. Taking a few seconds for her eyes to adjust the young beastkin just barely managed to suppress a scream as she found herself directly in front of the massive monster which had killed Lux, its grey eyes which shone in a cold light with intelligence. Remembering what had happened to her, how she had been dragged off by that scaled monster Mare wondered why she was still alive, something she would find out a second later that she would have been better off not knowing.


    Normally there was only one reason a predator would bring home live prey, so it could teach its young how to kill. Freezing up completely in fear as she realized that, Mare grabbed the black vial with two red bands on it she had been given by Lux at the start of the operation, holding it up to her neck she started backing away from the 4 smaller lizard creatures which looked at her with hunger clearly visible in their eyes, their large yaws opening slightly as saliva almost poured out. Pressing the vial firmly to the side of her neck Mare''s thumb found its way to the bottom that would grant her a painless death instead of getting eaten alive, but even as the monsters closed in all around her she couldn''t press it. Storing the vial away Mare instead drew a knife she had gotten as a present from Dax, standing up on her one leg which could still support her the young beastkin sized up her opponents.


    (If I''m going to die here I''ll at least avenge Lux first!)


    "Come on! Who wants to die with me!?"


    Baring her fangs at the monsters Mare prepared to die, until an idea came to mind. Forming a cold smile Mare waited for the bravest of the children to close in, offering her already useless leg as bait before she plunged her knife into its eye with a scream.


    "FUCK YOU!"


    Digging the knife in as deep as she could Mare pressed a hidden trigger on the handle of her blade, making the blade''s tip which was embedded into the monster''s skull unleash a blast of highly pressurized gas that rapidly expanded inside the brain of the young monster, killing it instantly.


    Seeing its child murdered right in front of it understandably enraged the mother, and after using its whip like tail to remove the bugs weapon which had killed its young, it charged it in a blind rage, aiming to crunch the impotent bug with its mighty yaws.


    "COME ON!"


    Standing ready to receive the charge after her hand which held the knife was shattered, Mare used strengthening magic to jump above the creature using only a single leg, reaching into her vest as she pulled out the black vial with two red bands. Reorienting herself in mid air, Mare plunged the syringe at the end of the vial into the monster''s eye then she pressed the button on the back while letting out a rage filled scream.


    "DIE!"


    Showing immediate effect, the pre programed black matter instantly activated and drilled towards the brain, eating it up in a matter of seconds before the bioweapon simply known as blue matter activated, denaturing the monster''s organic molecules and turning it into a warm sludge in a matter of seconds.


    "WHO ELSE WANTS SOME!?"


    Screaming out in an act to instil fear into the rest of the monsters in the room, Mare failed to realize how unsteady she looked standing on only a single foot, how dizzy she was because of the lack or blood the pain she was in. To the monster''s SHE looked like nothing other than a dying animal.


    "That''s my Mare!"


    But to Lux how had just arrived, the young beastkin looked like a hero of legend.


    "Leave the rest to me, I''ll tear apart these insignificant bugs in no time!"

 245 The lost city’s sin

    "Bite down on this Mare, this is going to hurt."


    "Mmm, ready."


    After having dealt with the last lizard monsters Lux quickly started administering first aid to Mare, first up was aligning the - bone before it could be temporarily set with black matter, that meant forcing the broken bone, fragments and all, back into its original shape. The way Lux accomplished that feat was as simple as it was utterly pain inducing.


    "Here we go¡­ 3, 2, 1."


    "MMMMM!!!!"


    After fastening her own belt around Mare''s thigh and making sure the young beastkin couldn''t accidentally bite off her own tongue, Lux tightened her belt around Mare''s leg, forcefully aligning the shattered bone before applying black matter to the affected area.


    "Okay, it looks like the bone is setting without issue, next up is your arm Mare, show it here."


    Striking while the metal was still hot, Lux took care of Mare''s hand which had most of its bones shattered a few minutes earlier, that process was rather more simple as all she had to do was applying black matter to the area. After a few more minutes of agony, Mare''s pain gradually started to lessen before it completely disappeared.


    "Looks like it worked, but stay put. Even if the bone is set and reinforced with black matter it isn''t healed, we''ll need the bioprinter that''s back in the AEHWP transport for that kind of work."


    "Okay."


    Reluctantly sitting back down after Lux handed over her pistol, Mare took a look around in the room they currently found themselves in for the first time. Located at the very top of central palace building in the middle of Aeth, the roof was a large dome decorated on the inside with some kind of intricate painting, if Eos had been sane and present she would have recognized it as the story of the great calamity, but extended to show what had happened inside Aeth. Not much else other than the numerous monster copses was inside the room where the large monster clearly had made its nest, other than some kind of central obelisk.


    "Lux."


    "What?"


    Lux who was busy firing off a flare in the direction that Alice and Lilly could see it answered absentmindedly.


    "What''s that over there? It looks important."


    "I''ll check it out."


    Also noticing the obelisk Lux immediately found herself drawn to it, whatever it was Mare had been correct in stating that it looked important. Walking over to the obelisk Lux noticed that the 1 metre wide, 5 metre tall obelisk was completely covered in rune formations, with the centre of it hallowed out and housing a half metre wide sphere.


    "... Is that?"


    "This is a mana generator! Nicely spotted Mare!"


    Recognizing the mechanism from data Dax had brought back from the lost sanctuary Lux realized what she was looking at, and although there was a large hole through the centre of it, this was still a huge find.


    Carrying both the injured Mare and the generator back the AEHWP transport Lux collapsed limply on the floor of the transport along with the rest of her team, setting the auto pilot to bring them back home Lux lazily filled a mission report and set the suspected mana generator to be scanned before passing out from exhaustion.


    Mission report


    Commonly investigated, revealed to be a lost city and or sanctuary. 1 damaged artefact (possible mana generator) recovered for analysis. Markings, statues and other cultural artefacts recorded in mission replay.


    Losses as follows:


    KIA: 0


    MIA 0


    Injured: 5


    Note, 1 person sustained deep psychological trauma, the possibility of recovery unknown at this moment.


    -


    While the AEHWP transport became silent a single scanner still worked on analysing the artefact Lux had brought back with her. The countless, densely packed rune formations were catalogued while every single technological component throughout the artefact was scanned down to the function of each individual transistor throughout the artefact, eventually revealing a few lines of text which had been inscribed in the core part of the machine.


    Waking up after a few hours of rest Lux started making her way over to the bioprinter so she could get her body healed, but instead of doing that she stopped in place when she saw the result of the scan.


    "... What the fuck?"


    Making sure she hadn''t misread the message Lux woke up Lilly and showed the data to her, something which instantly dispelled the elver''s grogginess.


    "So? Can you read that?"


    Looking at the text for a few seconds Lilly realized that some of it was written in an old language which the spirits and some archangels still used, while the other parts were written in some strange looking language she didn''t understand, that other language was traditional qiton.


    "Yeah, I can¡­ And I''m guessing that part there is in a language you can read?"


    Pointing at the first paragraph Lilly suggested that she would read the text in tandem with Lux.


    "Yeah, it''s the language Dax''s race originally used¡­ It says: ''On this day that this device is operational, we, the free survivors of this unjust war which has destroyed our holy garden''...-"


    "-''Declare ourselves independent from the gods that created us, unbound by their rule we reject their garden for we have created our own, just like they made created our world, but unlike those false gods, we create our own not for something as petty as''...-"


    "-''Crude entertainment and the creations of weapons, but for life, equality and peace. Our creators from this other plane of existence will no longer control us.''-"


    "-''We are now free, in this city named after our glorious leader: Aeth.''"


    Instantly a lot more things made sense to Lux. Before this point, she had often wondered why this world she found herself on had so many different intelligent races when normally, the first one who would rise above the others would make their priority to wipe out those less than itself. It was no longer something strange that this planet she found herself on emitted that strange particle which the inhabitants referred to as mana.


    This world, or garden as their creators had called it, was something which had been sculpted by that race of long lost spacefarers who created the qiton''s and Avoaxian''s.


    "So this is why that place suffered a massacre. I guess those ''creators'' didn''t take kindly to the rebellion of their creations."


    Thinking back to the neatly stacked piles of bones Lux had already figured them strange when she investigated them the first time, but now it made perfect sense. The people of Aeth were one sidedly annihilated by something much stronger than themselves, and all evidence pointed towards the so called ''creators'' or ''gods''.


    "Yeah¡­ But another thing that''s worrying me is those ''weapons'', I wonder if they are those elders?"


    "That might be the case, but we won''t know for sure before we''ve killed one of those things and carefully examined the remains."


    With a new secondary goal established Lux decided to join the front lines as soon as she had healed up, aiming to be the first one who slew one of the elders and the first one to take one apart to reveal its inner workings.


    ---


    [ICI OVERLORD TO SCOUTING ELEMENT: MISSION IS A GO, INFILTRATE USING POINT GAMMA.]


    "... You all heard the creepy voice, let''s go."


    """""Yes, ma''am."""""


    (Time to get this show on the road.)


    Hardening her determination, Terra walked out of the barracks she had spent the last few hours inside waiting to receive orders for deployment. Following her orders were a group of hardened veterans of warfare from every walk of life, everything from mighty archangels to former mercenaries and warbands from the Nothern republic. The job they all had volunteered or was as simple as it was dangerous: infiltrate the elder controlled imperial continent, verify the situation near the former capital and retrieve samples of the flesh and electricity eating fungus which was spreading throughout the area, then return alive, or at least make sure the data made it back, that was all. Such a mission might have been considered a walk in the park for the hardened troops which was to carry it out, if not for the so called ''elders'', 4 metre tall constructs of decaying flesh, runestones and cybernetic implants which loathed all life. When the scouting force was eventually discovered inside their territory, the chance of survival would drop to fractions of a single digit, in that event the discovered forces would make no attempt to escape, but instead transmit their data, then distract the elder for as long as possible.


    Terra had volunteered to lead such a suicidal force, not because of foolhardy beliefs or a sense of responsibility or duty, but because she was Dax''s first disciple. Having spent the longest time being trained by him and Lux among the rest of the residents of her world, Terra was the natural choice to lead such a force after Dax recognized that he needed to take personal command of the force which was going to raid the lost sanctuary on the moon. That assumption wasn''t out of some sort of pride or superiority complex, but a simple and unbiased assessment made by both ICI, Lux and Dax himself after such a recommendation Terra felt like she had to volunteer to lead the force.


    Since making that decision Terra had spent day and night mastering the new equipment she would need for the operation, mainly the Valkyrie armour developed by Iris which allowed one to fly with manoeuvrability not even angels could match by automatically deploying a flight spell in parallel with a mass reduction formation and utilizing multiple VASMIR thrusters. As Terra was already wearing the undersuit necessary to interface with the Valkyrie armour she stepped onto a metal platform, placing both her hands firmly on guard the rails on both sides.


    "Ready."


    [ICI CONFIRMS, SEALING OPERATOR.]


    Giving her permission, serval robotic arms emerged from the platform below her, carrying pieces of the Valkyrie to their correct positions before securing them to Terra, locking the dull black armour around Terra.


    [CONFIRM INTERFACING.]


    "... Ready for interfacing."


    Bracing herself, Terra gritted her teeth as the suit drilled multiple needles into her spine, interfacing with unused nerve clusters signalled by a sharp feedback induced pain which spread out in Terra''s body, making the armour a seamless part of Terra''s body as a pair of metal ''wings'' were attached to her hip, folding themselves up on her back.


    [ICI CONFIRMS, INTERFACING SUCCESSFUL, OPERATOR SEALED, VALKYRIE VERSION 2.3 INTERFACE ONLINE.]


    As the mechanical arms retracted into the metal platform once more Terra cracked her neck before stretching her body, making the pair of metal wings which housed the thrusters and mana interfaces do the same as they had been connected to her nervous system. Putting on a helmet which would look more at home on a fighter pilot than anything else, Terra confirmed her route of entry into the imperial continent as she took command of her unit.


    "This is flight leader addressing all units: I hope y''all have written up your wills, today''s leisure trip will take us straight to hell and the last chance of backing out was 10 minutes ago... LET''S DO THIS!"

 246 Recon 1

    "We''re approaching the front now¡­ Good luck everyone."


    Cutting off all outgoing communication Terra fell silent like her surroundings, with nothing other than the sound of the wind ripping as she glided towards the imperial continent, cutting through the clouds with a silent prayer that she would not be spotted doing mission insertion. Although it''s referred to as the front, the 50 kilometres deep no man''s land which surrounds the imperial continent was usually silent, that was mostly due to Dax''s strategy of containment. While there currently didn''t exist any known weapon capable of piercing the elder''s defensive barrier, a sustained bombardment of regular monitors and a mix of close quarters harassment proved effective in making the elders retreat. Based on that knowledge Dax and his forces sought to contain the elders to the imperial continent by using brunt force and sheer numbers, as each of the approximately 400 elders who had left the lost sanctuary on the moon and invaded the imperial continent faced 4 trillion strong drone force which would attack any time the elders tried to move out into the sea, leading to the current delicate balance where the elders were contained, but nothing was known of the situation inside the imperial continent.


    Terra was currently leading a mission hoping to change that latter statement, a recon mission that would reach deep into the imperial continent to learn about the elders, size valuable intelligence and secure live samples of the flesh eating fungus that the elders carried with them wherever they went. After a few minutes of gliding unpowered Terra finally sighted her first waypoint into the imperial capital, an abandoned coast city which had served as a major evacuation point a few months prior, it hopefully still contained numerous hidden sensors which had been surveying the elders in secret ever since they were left behind, Terra''s first objective was to secure that data, after which she would regroup with her squad deeper inland. Approaching her landing zone Terra braced as she pulled her parachute as she was gliding only a few metres off the ground, killing most of her horizontal velocity before landing on her feet, grabbing her parachute which was still floating behind her and transitioning into a full on sprint down the deserted back road she had landed in, making her way into a nearby building before immediately seeking cover.


    (Was I spotted?)


    Holding her breath in anticipation Terra reached for her wrist mounted interface, pressing a few buttons she brought up a simple acoustic scanner tuned to a very specific frequency. Collecting her courage Terra started the passive scan, praying to whatever god would listen at that moment, then the interface transitioned to a screen showing an empty frequency band.


    (Thank god¡­)


    "Now, the sensor package should be around here somewhere¡­ There you are."


    Looking around the large central bell Terra quickly noticed the small orange container which had been stuck to the ceiling above the bell.


    (Then it''s just a matter of retrieving it¡­)


    Looking around for something that would help her to reach the box Terra eventually found an old stepping ladder which had originally been used to help the priest clean the large bell.


    (I can do this.)


    Placing that stepping ladder next to the bell and being careful not to make too much sound, Terra carefully tested the ladder as she placed a foot on it a few steps up before leaning a bit of her weight on it. In response to the sudden weight placed on it, the old ladder creaked as the Valkyrie armour Terra was wearing wasn''t that lightweight, but as the ladder was made sturdy it proved able to carry Terra and her armour''s weight without any notable issues. Making her way up the ladder Terra flinched every time it gave in and creaked under the weight, if it wasn''t for the fact that she was under a time limit she would have definitely looked all over town for a more sturdy ladder, but nevertheless, she made her way up to the sensor.


    (Easy does it¡­)


    Reaching out Terra grasped the sensor which had been stuck to the ceiling above the large bell, then disaster struck.


    "Fu!-"


    As Terra touched the sensor it immediately released from its mount as it had been improperly installed in a rushed manner right before the evacuation of the continent. Cutting herself short as she instantly realized that swearing wasn''t going to help her, Terra reached out to grab the falling sensor, a rash action which only made the old step ladder she was standing on collapse as she bashed her head into the bell.


    (FUCK!)


    Terra had just created a noise so loud it could be heard for miles around her, something which immediately brought her chance of survival into the single digits as her acoustic scanner peaked, indicating the rapid approach of an elder. With no time to think, Terra acted on instinct as she took the fallen sensor and scrambled to the only hiding spot that was within range and activated the cloaking function of her Valkyrie suit.


    Seconds later Terra''s passive acoustic sensor spiked as the floorboards of the church tower softly creaked, a sound which made Terra squirm as she grasped the self destruct trigger on her suit. At this point, seconds felt like hours for Terra as she had braced herself inside the bell while sweat poured down her face, a result of the tension as much as the now closed cooling vents on her armour.


    The elder who had just landed inside the bell tower slowly spread out its tentacles while it looked for the source of the sound it had just detected, its numerous cybernetic eyes poorly implanted into its decaying flesh scanned everything around it as it spread flesh eating mushroom spores throughout the air.


    (Come on, leave already!)


    With one hand firmly grasped around her dead man''s switch, Terra''s eyes were firmly locked on her sensor which was silently screaming at the proximity to an elder, if she was spotted now her only choice would be suicide. With her mind running in overdrive Terra counted the seconds, then the minutes which passed as the elder moved around the church tower, tossing away the broken step ladder before it finally started paying attention to the bell.


    First, the elder hit the bell with a surprising amount of force, almost knocking Terra out of it in the process, then walking around it and hitting it once again.


    (Are you fucking with me!?)


    Barely able to keep her calm, Terra gripped her dead man''s switch so tightly that the device armed.


    (You are fucking with me huh!? Bitch, I will end you!)


    Then a single pop broke the eerie silence, followed by a series of other faint sounds.


    "AAAAAAAAAARG! AWDSAHTAEDFLOWERQZZZ6 11 C-001 WIYAGEW!"


    Screaming incoherently the elder set off, disappearing from the abandoned city in only a split second, leaving a flustered Terra behind.


    "What the fuck was that?"


    Disarming her dead man''s switch, Terra triple checked her sensor to confirm that the elder had disappeared before emerging from her hiding spot and immediately retreating to a secondary hiding location.


    "... Shit."


    With the adrenaline leaving her body Terra realized that the shooting which had dragged the elder away from her was one of her comrades which had been spotted. With no way of defeating the elders, they most likely started shooting to distract it for longer before self destructing.


    "... Urg!-"


    Collapsing to her knees, Terra''s helmet retracted as she puked up the small amount of food she had managed to eat before the mission as tears suddenly started pouring out without signs of stopping while the strength left her body. Having come so close to death only to be inadvertently saved by a comrade committing suicide really sucked, but after fighting with the discomfort for a few more moments Terra managed to rebuild her failing psyche, getting back on her feet she wiped some puke off her lips before fetching some water to rinse her mouth.


    "... It seems I still have a long way to go."


    Disgusted at her own immaturity Terra hardened her determination before she continued with her mission, collecting and extracting the data from the other hidden sensors before quickly making her way out of the port city, moving further inland with a renewed determination.

 247 Recon 2

    Having survived her first close encounter with an elder, Terra managed to pull herself somewhat together before she made her way to the designated regrouping point about 10 kilometres inland.


    (There we are¡­ Looks like I''m not the first.)


    Spotting the tiny mining town that was her current objective Terra checked her scanner to make sure no elders were nearby before she moved closer in. Bringing up her rifle, Terra increased her speed to a light jog, although the rifle couldn''t really do anything against the elders, pointing it forward brought a sense of ease as she moved in on the mining town, finding the former cafeteria she knocked 2 times before entering.


    "Commander, it''s good to see you."


    Being immediately greeted by one of her subordinates Terra removed her helmet as she put down her rifle, allowing herself to rest for the first time since the start of the operation.


    "You too Simons, have you heard anything from the others?"


    "Nothing so far, I''m afraid."


    "I see¡­"


    With strict radio silence being enforced on all members of the operation it was impossible to know if anyone other than the two of them had even made it past the frontline and broken trough into the elder controlled continent, so all Terra and Simons could do was wait until the planned departure from their current location and hope they would be joined by at least some of their commanders.


    In the end, none of the 8 other squad members arrived, leaving Terra no choice but to mark them off as dead, leading to the end of the first day of the operation with a casualty rate of 80%, a figure which unbeknownst to Terra that figure mimicked the rate for the rest of the operation.


    -


    Having made it past the front line where the most of the elders were believed to operate Simons and Terra continued to travel inland without meeting friend or foe and by the second day they had made it all the way to their second objective, the former domain capital of Turant, a massive fortress city where an estimated 92% of the approximately 3 million inhabitants had refused to evacuate, believing that the stout walls of their city would protect them from any and all invaders.


    "This doesn''t look good¡­"


    Already form a distance Terra could tell that they would be walking into a hellscape, there was something about the completely silent atmosphere and empty defensive positions on the outer wall which just felt wrong on a fundamental level. There was simply no signs of battle, nor any signs of life, there were no people, no animals and not even any insects around, the only sound was Terra''s and her subordinate''s own footsteps and the sound of wind passing through the fields of wheat ready for harvest which now surrounded them on all sides.


    The reason why was simple, this was her job, the mission she had volunteered for herself, if she backed off now what would her dead subordinates think of her?


    "... Oh god."


    "Masks on."


    Having reached the top of the wall Simons found himself as a loss for words, the taste of gastric acid rapidly building up in his mouth as Terra blocked him from puking by engaging his environmental protection system on his armour.


    The eerily quiet and deserted cityscape which met their eyes showed absolutely no signs of battle, what''s worse, the skyline was now marked with large spires covered in the same kind of fungus that the elders where know to spread wherever they went.


    It didn''t take an expert to make out that those spires were constructed of biological matter which the fungus fed on, which served as the worst kind of explanation as to why Simons and Terra had yey to encounter even a single fly, or a copse of the almost 3 million people who had lived in the city.


    "We have a job to do, now I need to know now if you''re with me 100% Simons, if not I need you to head back to the first gathering point and remain there until rescued. This is just the tip of the iceberg, there was an estimated 95 million souls on the imperial continent when the elders closed it off to the rest of the world."


    Being given the option to back out from the operation and retreat Simon initially couldn''t believe what Terra was saying, that is until he caught a glimpse of the reflection of his own eyes in the mask he was now wearing.


    "No¡­ I''m fine, just give me a second to collect myself."


    Steeling his failing nerves Simons gathered his courage while certain parts of his brain mostly stopped working, it was clear by the look on his face that he was deeply traumatized, but still, he wanted to press on.


    "Then let''s do this, we need to collect samples and document those structures, we owe at least that much to the people of this city."


    Having once more hardened their determination, the pair of scouts made their way into the newly discovered city fungus covered the dead. Everywhere they walked, Terra and Simons left footprints in the thin layer of spores which now covered every single surface of the dead silent city, making their way to the closest fungus structure the pair was met with a new discovery. At the base of the structure which was situated in the middle of a plaza laid a small mountain of clothes and amour, seemingly discarded for some unknown reason.


    "I''ll collect a sample of this structure, cover me."


    "Got it, be careful commander."


    Walking out into the plaza towards the 10 metre wide structure, one of the smaller one of the city, Terra closed in on it as she took a set of vials out of her chest pouch. At a distance, the fungus tower had kind of looked like a massive white tree trunk, but upon closing in on the structure, Terra realized that the surface was far more irregular, like a loosely packed forest floor stacked into the shape of a tower.


    (First I need to collect some of the newly created spores to check for genetic drift in case the fungus has mutated after coming into contact with its new environment, then I need a sample of the gills and finally a deep sample of the structure to collect a sample of the mycelium¡­)


    Brushing parts of one of the branches, Terra collected some of the fresh spores in her first vial, then she took out her knife and dug out the spore producing part of one of the larger mushroom growths before preparing to take the final deep sample by brushing some of the spores off the surface of the structure, not unearthing what she believed was the fungi''s main body, but a half decayed face of a child no older than 5 years, stacked under another body.


    (Oh god.)


    Even if she hadn''t consciously realized it until now, Terra had been subconsciously aware of what meaning the children''s clothing in the pile had meant, yet she had refused to internalize it. Fungi isn''t part of the plant kingdom, they are heterotrophs, a lifeform which ''eats'', growth is their form of movement as they acquire subsistence by secreting digestive enzymes into their environment.


    It made perfect sense that a tower of fungi would not be constructed of fungi, but its food with fungi growing on top of it.


    "I''m so fucking sorry."


    With a silent apology to the long dead child, Terra pressed her vial meant for collecting deep tissue samples towards the easiest point of entry, then collected the final sample before hurrying back to Simons.


    "How did it go?"


    "I got the samples, you don''t want to know anything else."


    Continuing on deeper into the city Terra and Simons were met with the same sight everywhere. Empty, spore covered streets and piles of clothing and armour near every single fungi tower, having reached the city centre everywhere they went was just a repeat of what they had already seen.


    "... There''s nothing else here, time to leave."


    "Understood co-"


    Mid sentence Simons was interrupted by an unnerving sound, the high pitch alarm form the acoustic sensor which warned that an elder was rapidly closing in on their area.


    "Disperse!"


    With no time to hide their tracks, Terra had no other choice but to increase the individual chance of survival for either herself or Simons, they had to split up. While Simons escaped into a nearby inn Terra took refuge inside a merchant''s shop, quickly hiding in the basement used to store heat sensitive goods, then she waited as her acoustic sensor peaked, indicating that there was at least one elder within 100 metres. Activating the stealth mode on her Valkyrie armour, Terra sat herself down in a corner hidden behind a series of boxes before she slowly started cooking inside her armour while waiting for the elder to leave, after an unknown amount of time she passed out from the heat.


    ---


    Startling awake after an unknown amount of time as she was touched by something, Terra froze up in horror as she came face to face with an elder, its fungi covered having completely ensnared Terra and shutting off all attempts of escape while the elders poorly implanted cybernetic eyes were firmly locked on to her fearful expression while it slowly peeled off Terra''s armour. As the elder cracked Terra''s armour it released a joyful scream while its tentacles violently entered Terra''s body trough her mouth, reaching deep into her stomach while others sought out Terra''s brain, quickly devouring her mind while extracting the secrets within. Then she woke up for real as it took Terra a few seconds to realize it had all been a nightmare.


    "... Fuck."


    Silently swearing while calming down, Terra confirmed that there were no nearby elders before emerging from hiding with Simons nowhere to be found. Now alone once more Terra only breathed a short sigh before she continued her mission, slowly making her way towards the former imperial capital.

 248 Recon 3

    "... Okay, let''s do this."


    While the sun slowly set over the former imperial capital Terra was slowly starting to hype herself up, she was currently hidden at a gathering point that was determined to be for the rest of her unit, being the only one which had arrived. Even as the last member of her unit, Terra still had a mission to do, and so she slowly started preparations for making entry into the now dead silent imperial capital while her sensors indicated that there were multiple elders in the area, although there was no way of ascertaining their exact location without visual confirmation.


    Having prepared for scaling the outer walls like she did last time she entered a city, Terra was pleasantly surprised when she found a hole through the walls, most likely stemming from an elder''s attack. Upon closer investigating Terra was struck with a sense of awe and terror, the elder''s attack had ripped straight through the 15 metres thick reinforced wall like it was nothing, leaving a completely circular 5 metre wide hole through it, the edges of which had turned the solid stone molten for some time before it once more cooled down and became solid.


    (What kind of power could have done that? If it is magic like Dax thinks then there truly exists some great boundary that even the mighty angels have yet to cross, to the elders we might as well be ants, with our relative power there is no real observable difference.)


    Having entered the imperial capital Terra was meet with more of the same, a thin layer of spores covered every surface of the city, while the skyline was occasionally dotted with towers made of the former residents and flesh eating fungal growth. What differentiated the imperial capital from other cities Terra had seen so far was the amount of battle damage, not only from Dax''s assault which had happened only moments before the elder''s invasion, but also a significant amount of destruction caused by the elder''s themselves, with large chunks of buildings missing it was like someone had edited what Terra saw with her own eyes, cutting out strange shapes from the buildings seemingly at random.


    (... Now for the hard part of this mission.)


    As Terra had finally reached the final objective of her recon mission, she prepared for the undeniable chance that she would be spotted by an elder, hiding a few containers with the data she had already collected in case she would be unable to make it back. Terra didn''t really think all that deeply about those actions, nor did she consider the chance of her possible demise any longer, if this was her end of the road then so be it.


    (That''s strange¡­ Although they don''t seem to have spotted me, which is nice. The issue is going to be navigating past them while remaining unseen.)


    Terra''s original plan was to stick to the skyscrapers and their interconnecting pathways, potentially using them to lose an elder as the countless interwoven connections made of a 3 dimensional maze with very short lines of sight, something which would make it difficult for the elders to target her as long as she kept moving erratically.


    (But if I do that I''ll be getting closer to the elders than I would like¡­ Which leaves me with 2 other options¡­)


    The first option would be travelling at city level, while that would be faster than moving between the skyscrapers as she had originally planned it would leave her extremely exposed due to the long sightlines, on the other hand, it would also allow her the possibility of spotting the elders before they saw her, although it would be a coin flip as to who saw who first.


    The second option would be travelling through the numerous maintenance and sewage tunnels which ran beneath the city, the advantage to that would be a radically lower chance of detection but also make it harder for Terra to do the scouting she had come here to do, conversely, there was also the chance of running into an elder down there, something which would be a definite death sentence as she couldn''t escape their line of sight in those long narrow tunnels.


    (Yeah no, there''s no way I''ll risk getting caught down in those tunnels, and I don''t even have a map of them, which would likely mean getting lost down there¡­ That only leaves me the first option, which is sort of fine if I move fast and through the buildings at ground level to keep hidden.)


    With her plan of action settled on Terra made her way back down the skyscraper before she started making her way towards the imperial castle at the centre of the city.


    -


    On the way to the imperial castle, Terra had numerous close encounters with elders, along with the sound of distant rifle fire, something which told her that at least some of her comrades from the different units had made it as far as herself, although the rifle fire signalled that they had been spotted and abandoned all attempts at survival, resigning their fate to become live bait in the hopes of drawing elders away from their comrades.


    (This is where I was ambushed by those imperial knights, which means I should be able to see all the way to the imperial castle if I scale that vertical farm over there.)


    Having found her bearings Terra ran past numerous destroyed drones which had remained behind to delay the elders when Terra last left the capital. Reaching the vertical farm which was lined with glass windows on all sides she gradually started making her way to the top, passing fields of ruined crops which were in the process of being eaten by the all consuming fungus which the elders carried. with them wherever they went. Reaching the top of the farm Terra used the numerous lines of half eaten vines as cover while slowly moving closer to the edge where she would be able to get a glimpse of the imperial castle.


    (Here we go¡­)


    Sealing all external vents and cooling arrays on her armour Terra suppressed the overwhelming feeling of dread which came from her subconsciousness. Looking over the railing Terra immediately spotted the grand although half destroyed the imperial castle, that wasn''t what drew her attention.


    "What the fuck is that¡­)


    Half way between her current location and the imperial castle, where the grand plaza which was normally used to hold parades to signify the unification of the empire was a large several hundred metre deep hole with some kind of strange obelisk with a half melted surface and charred alien markings all over it. While Terra was still trying to understand exactly what that strange object was one of the elders which seemed to be examining the strange obelisk started closing in on it, but after it had floated a few metres closer to it something strange suddenly happened. First the sensors on Terra''s armour all seemed to go nuts as warnings of all different kinds suddenly lit up on her heads up display, then some sort of deep rumble started, like the kind which one felt in the stomach when a jet plane passed right overhead.


    Then everything came to a stop all at once.


    The elder who had tried closing in on the obelisk was suddenly smashed from all sides all at once, as it had suddenly entered a super powered hydraulic press it was squeezed into a ball no larger than Terra''s fist, after maintaining that shape for a few minutes another low rumble could be heard, then without warning, the squished elder was shot away from the obelisk like a bullet, crashing into a building a few hundred meters away.


    (That''s the part of Dax''s ship he has been looking for!)


    Seeing the interaction between the obelisk and the elder who tried to get close to it, Terra finally realized what she was looking at. From what she had been told from Dax, ''the FTL drive'' as he called it, had been the reason for conflict with the empire in the first place.


    (If I remember right Dax needs that thing to get home, or at least invent a method to get home¡­ I thought its location was unknown, but apparently it was here in the capital all along.)


    Evaluating the information she had just obtained Terra decided to cut her mission short and return home, the fact that the FTL drive had been found in the imperial capital would need to be reported immediately.


    While Terra left the capital behind all the elders inside it gradually came to a complete halt, stopping whatever they had been doing. As if they had all realized something at the same they the half decaying cybernetic implants fixed themselves on the direction Terra had left in, then the elders started silently floating up into the sky where they started stalking their new prey in unison.

 249 Lunar raid 1

    [ICI ADVISING ALL UNITS, OPERATION START IN T MINUS 5 MINUTES.]


    As ICI cold and unfeeling voice jolted Dax awake he felt a hand being placed on his back through the vacuum suit he was currently wearing. Looking to the side he saw Solaris who had a worried look on her face.


    (... Seems like it can''t be helped.)


    Breathing a short sigh Dax grabbed Solaris'' hand and pulled her closer, making the angel''s visor bump into his own, allowing Dax to speak to her by allowing the vibrations of his voice carry through the glass.


    "It''ll all be fine, don''t worry."


    "But-"


    "No buts. Remember, most if not all of the elders have travelled trough the gate formation down to the imperial continent, even if we meet a single one we should be able to keep it at bay while we do what we came here to do¡­ After this mission is over we can go on another date if you want to~"


    Seeing that Solaris was about to start complaining yet again Dax decided to tease her so she wouldn''t do so, a plan which spectacularly backfired as Solaris'' face lit up in absolute joy.


    "In that case I want the entire day to be just you and me, first we''ll start with shopping in the new city and after that, I want to go to that place you always keep sneaking off to then-"


    Seeing that Solaris'' plan for their date had completely consumed her mind Dax broke contact with her visor without the person in question realizing it as he breathed another deep sigh.


    (I really did dig myself into a grave there, but at least she isn''t worried anymore, which is nice.)


    Passing the rest of the time before the operation started Dax scanned the deserted luna landscape as he had done so many times in the last few hours, near the horizon in front of him and Solaris was their current objective, the lost sanctuary the two of them had visited once before.


    [ICI ADVISING ALL UNITS, OPERATION START IN T MINUS 1 MINUTE.]


    With only a minute until the operations started Dax confirmed that Solaris had also gotten the message, then he stood up straight, bringing a small briefcase to the front of him.


    (Here we go¡­)


    Feeling Solaris'' hand on his back, Dax pressed a trigger on the briefcase which transformed into a transparent film which completely covered his figure from the front. The flimsy looking ''shield'' blocked any and all signatures while its front side automatically changed its colour match to whatever was below it, in effect cloaking Solaris and Dax''s figures from the front as long as they remained at a distance from any observers.


    [ICI ADVISING ALL UNITS, OPERATION START. TEAM ALPHA AND BRAVO ADVANCE.]


    Looking back at Solaris Dax received a somewhat enthusiastic nod from her, then as the pair''s attitude control thrusters cut out the screen they were hiding behind switched its picture to completely black as Solaris and Dax gently set off from the lunar surface with a timed jump before their attitude control thrusters once more lit up and further accelerated the pair up and towards the top of the dome which surrounded the lost sanctuary. On the way up and over the sanctuary Dax constantly reoriented himself, making sure to point the ''shield'' towards the sanctuary while Solaris remained hidden behind him, eventually the pair spotted the other team consisting of Ifrit and Lia which was in the process of doing the exact same manoeuvre but from the other side of the sanctuary.


    "Easy does it¡­"


    With the two teams nearing each other Dax signalled Ifrit who was holding a screen just like him with a series of hand signals, guiding them to match their velocity and altitude before the two teams eventually met up right over the top of the sanctuary, the two team''s horizontal velocity cancelling out with only a bit of adjustments, then they slowly feel towards the sanctuary in the low gravity. Closing the range to a few metres from the top of the sanctuary, Dax secured a line to Solaris'' vac suit while Ifrit did the same with Lia, then the two shield holders slowly separated from their team partners while they used their thrusters to remain at the same altitude.


    Gently touching down on the outer dome, Irit and Dax attached their screens to the surface of it as their warped to fit firmly onto the surface of it, then Ifrit slowly started circulating mana inside their body while making sure none of it leaked out. With Dax giving a thumbs up to Ifrit started using their mana to slowly open a hole in the outer dome by cutting the outer layer of rock apart without any letting any vibrations spread. With the densely compressed stone made of lunar regolith eventually was cut out from the dome in large cubes Dax opened up a hole in the screen, then he secured the topmost cube with a drill that he then used to attach to his line to Solaris above him, lifting the cube of rock carefully out of its hole and carefully placing it down on the screen next to him as Ifrit started carving out a new one.


    This slow and careful process continued for several hours without a word spoken by anyone, all members of the team were completely focused on their respective tasks.


    -


    After 4 hours had passed the team had made their way 5 metres into the outer dome where a metal plate which separated the outer protective dome what Dax assumed to be some sort of intermediate hollow support frame, but even then the group took no chances and while Dax and Irit prepared to break through the plate, Lia and Solaris worked together to instal a rudimentary airlock above them. Using a plasma touch Dax quickly cut open a hole in the plate revealing a skeletal metal framework with what looked like the proper sanctuary dome some 10 metres below that. Making sure he didn''t touch any of the metal frameworks Dax gradually floated down and landed on the surface of the sanctuary propper, then he took out a scanner which he pressed towards the smooth metal surface. Reading the vibrations the air inside the sanctuary carried all the way to the walls Dax confirmed the presence of at least one elder by looking for the specific ultrasound they constantly emitted, but the readings where so weak that he figured the elder must be on the lower floors, thus the mission continued.


    After installing another airlock, Irit cut through the final layer of asteroid protection, then the 4 member assault team finally entered the top floor of the lost sanctuary. Closing the hole behind them, Dax made sure that he had marked the location of the entrance before he and the rest of the team spread out and started looking for the mana generating object Dax and Solaris had found last time, their objective was to either scan it completely, or outright remove it from the sanctuary and bring it back with them for analysis. Walking through a series of metal hallways with scratch marks all over them and rooms filled with dead servers, Dax''s visibility was no more than a few metres at the most, as the entire floor was filled to the brim with spores from the flesh and electricity consuming fungi which grew on almost everything in there.


    Having found nothing the way he explored Dax made his way back to the starting point, then after waiting for a few moments he was joined by the other members of the assault team, then Solaris who had found the way to their objective led them to the centre room of the top floor, in the middle of the room was what they had come for, an amalgamation of lost technology from Dax''s world combined with runes and magic from this world in the shape of an orb, constantly emitting a steady flow of high density mana.


    The mythical mana generator which Dax and Iris both theorized were behind the elder''s strength.

 250 Lunar raid 2

    Having infiltrated the lost sanctuary and reached the centre of the top floor, Dax, Irift, Lia and Solaris all looked at the mana generator with a sense of wonder. This thing right in front of them was not only the key to defeating the elders, but also a way to understand the true nature of magic.


    (There she is... Now all there''s left is scanning this thing and getting out of here without the elders noticing.)


    After admiring the generator for a short while longer Dax went back to work, setting up scanners all the way around the mana generator before signalling the others to form a perimeter around the room to make sure the scan wasn''t interrupted. Due to the sheer complexity of the generator, the scan progressed slowly, but after an hour it finally compleated, although it was far from the result Dax had hoped for.


    [ERROR, SCAN FAILED. REASONS: UNKNOWN MATERIAL(S) PRESENT IN OBJECT, SCAN AREA''S EXCEEDING MAXIMUM AVAILABLE RESOLUTION, CANNOT COMPUTE.]


    (Oh for fucks sake¡­ Then plan B it is, this is going to be tricky.)


    Finding that the scanner he had brought with him couldn''t analyse the mana generator not only due to unknown materials present inside it but also that some of the components were too small and fine to accurately scan Dax was left with only one option: Brining the mana generator back with them, something which was even more problematic than it sounded.


    Calling the others back to the room with the mana generator, Dax wiped the spore''s off an arm mounted display on his vacuum suit, then he typed out a line of text, using that method to ''talk'' with them.


    "We''re going to need to divert to plan B."


    "What!? Why!?"


    Immediately following Dax''s report came Solaris'' outrage, it seemed like the nerves of this operation was starting to get to her, which was somewhat understandable as the operation just switched from ''almost complete'' to ''insanely complicated with a high risk of failure and death''.


    ??Even with the most precise scanners I have we can''t analyse the mana generator, that means we''re going to have to bring it with us."


    "Then that''s what we do, we can''t afford to return empty handed."


    The next one to ''speak'' up was Lia with a confident smile on her face. After she had been recruited from the criminal organization she had belonged to all her life by Solaris, Lia had undergone cybernetic augmentation, leading to the eventual installation of a wide angle sensor which covered her eyes, the dull grey and smooth looking sensor was able to relay a multitude of different information directly to her brain and newly instaled ICI unit, allowing her to see things she hadn''t even believed was possible. Combining Lia''s new ''sight'' with her already amazing sense of hearing which surpassed Terra''s, Lia was the best scout currently available to Dax, which is why she had joined him on this mission.


    "I know that Ifrit. Fine! We just need to do this, right!?"


    With Ifrit also adding their positive sentiment on top of Lia''s optimism Solaris caved, leading Dax (Who had a large grin on his face) to break down the next steps of the operation.


    "Okay, then let''s do this right. I will start looking at removing the mana generator from whatever fasteners it is attached to, then after the generator has been freed I''ll take Ifrit with me down to the lower levels and blow up the gate, that should distract any elders in here with us for long enough that Lia and Solaris can get it out of here and to the Juggernaut. After you''re on board and strapped in you''ll disable radio silence and allow me to connect to it and take over control of it, then I''ll use its offensive grav drive to pin down the elders in here and I''ll then escape over the horizon with Irift before we''ll be picked up and retreat back to the central kingdom. Any questions?"


    Looking at his subordinate''s faces while they read his orders, Dax watched how Ifrit''s constantly smug looking expression turned into a full on grin, meanwhile, Lia hardened her determination while the colour drained from Solaris'' face.


    "That was an order, I''ll not allow any objections. Now reestablish the perimeter while I get this thing unfastened."


    Immediately striking down any rejection to his plan Dax left the others with no choice in the matter as he went to work.


    -


    "I can sense a stationary mass of mana right below, it must be the gateway. Can I break radio silence as soon as we destroy it?~"


    "Yeah, sure. But first, help me set up this shaped charge, I need the exact location of the gate."


    After removing the restraints of the mana generator Dax had taken all the modular explosives that Solaris and Lia had carried before making his way to the lower, more open floors of the sanctuary together with Ifrit. After Ifrit had pinpointed the exact location above the magic gateway which connected this sanctuary with the imperial capital Dax started setting up a massive shaped charge.


    "Will this really work?"


    "Yeah, using all the modular explosives we carried this shaped charge with have at least 20 metres of penetration, the explosion is going to form a concentrated molten metal lance that''s going to cut right through the floor and the gate formation below."


    Checking, double checking and finally triple checking the location of the charge, Dax retreated together with Irift out of the giant hall/plaza while running an explosive cord behind him.


    "Detonating in 5 seconds."


    Taking a deep breath as the time ran out, Dax activated the explosive cord, then only a split second later, the sound of a massive explosion could be heard and felt in the ground, followed by some sort of otherworldy scream only a second later.


    "So only one elder? Well, even if that''s slightly disappointing then there''s at least the plus of it being really pissed off~"


    "Yeah, that was the point of all this, remember the plan!"


    "Sure~ See you later, my dear partner in crime~"


    Cutting radio silence as the duo''s current objective now switched from stealth to being noticed, Dax and Ifrit split up as they commenced the most dangerous game of catch in their lives.


    Rounding a corner, Ifrit sensed a massive spike in the ambient mana in from of them, then the floor in the room it had just reached disappeared.


    "So you''re coming for me first?~ That''s a mistake!"


    Stopping in place by using wind magic, Ifrit''s entire body lit up in a soft purple glow while they quickly started chanting in multiple dead languages at the same time. By the time the top most tentacles of the elder came into view, Ifrit had already compleated their first spell, as they stomped the ground, creating an erratic array of strange, crimson runes which spread out of the stone floor before they all increased in brightness by serval magnitudes, signalling the completion of the spell.


    "Hmm¡­ What was this one called again?... Oh well, let''s just go with this one instead~ Dimentual rift of Yal''ugal the all seeing, consume thy rightful world at thy leisure so thy can bless us with thy mighty presence."


    Forgetting what spell they wanted to use mid sentence, Ifrit pivoted the entire formation they had built up to a different spell of comparable potency, while the spoke the words of activation the erratic runes around them suddenly transformed from their bright red colour into a strange green one, then the very space around the elder distorted. Suddenly parts of the elder''s body which were supposed to have fixed distances from each other warped uncontrollably, while some parts of its body were ripped apart, others were compressed beyond their limits, leading the elder to let out another alien sounding scream. Although such an attack wouldn''t kill the elder, it would cause it immense pain while trapping it for a while, which was also exactly the effect Ifrit was after.


    Of course, Ifrit didn''t stay to observe that, the very second they finished casting they turned tail and ran in a different direction, cutting into one of the countless service shafts that ran throughout the sanctuary to drop down a few levels before continuing to run away from the elder.


    "Catch me if you can!~"


    While they sounded quite casual about it all, Ifrit needed way longer time than it would take the elder to escape from the spell to be able to cast something of similar magnitude, thus after only a few minutes the elder once more closed in on them.


    But that disadvantage was already well accounted for.


    "Smile dipshit!"


    Unknowingly the elder passed an area where Dax had prepared multiple traps, as it strayed inside effective range Dax''s face turned into a grin as he shouted while pressing the detonator. Out of nowhere, countless disks the size of a fist popped up from the floor, by the time they had armed over half of them had been erased from existence by the elder, still, the ones remaining were plenty for the job they needed to do. Instead of producing an explosion, the jumping mines acted as flashbangs, producing a strong light along with a series of deafening pressure waves which rendered most of the elder''s senses unuseable.


    "Watch out for the flash trough! It is somewhat bright!~"


    Emerging from cover the second the opportunity arrived, Dax pointed his Rex Alpha assault rifle at the temporarily blind and deaf mass of decaying tentacles and cybernetic implants, then he squeezed the trigger as he averted his eyes. While Dax was already aware that anything from normal armour pricing all the way to ultra high velocity anti grav barrier ammunition would not be able to pierce the barrier around the elder he went for something else entirely. The magazine he emptied in the direction of the elder was a mix of multiple kinds of munitions, there were several kinds of airburst flashbangs and mana disrupting bullets, along with a healthy dose of modified non leathal proximity smoke rounds, instead of being packed with harmless smoke agents they were packed with weaponized tear gas and other chemical weapons in powder form, making for a colourful and extremely deadly looking smoke explosion.


    (At least some of those compounds should work against it, and if not there are still the magazines without the modified smoke monitions.)


    Escaping from the area before the elder recovered, Dax had already started setting up traps in a new area before the elder was even able to see again and by that time Ifrit was already ready to shoot off another spell which would be intensely annoying for the elder to get out of.

 251 Lunar raid 3

    "It seems they have started, let''s hurry."


    As the entire sanctuary shook with the vibrations of a massive explosion below them, Lia and Solaris started removing the mana generator from its socket. Luckily for Lia and Solaris, it seemed that the mana generator was designed to be moved from its point of installation and after Dax had removed its restraints earlier it was only a matter of disconnecting it from the power source, a small fusion generator which was built into the floor right below it.


    "On the count of 3. 1.. 2.. 3!"


    "Ghu! How is this thing so heavy!?"


    Lifting up the generator from both sides, Lia and Solaris struggled to lift up the small generator, even in the low gravity. For whatever reason, it seemed that the mana generator had an absurdly high mass for its tiny frame, possibly due to the unknown materials which also made it impossible to scan. With a large amount of effort, the generator was finally freed from its socket, perhaps due to its extremely efficient design it still continued to generate mana, although the output seemed to be slowly decreasing which presented Solaris and Lia with a sense of urgency.


    Although the elder which was still inside the sanctuary was distracted by Ifrit and Dax for now, it would likely sense that something was wrong when the mana generator stopped working.


    "Lady Solaris!"


    "I know, use all the mana you have. We must get this thing out of here as fast as possible, I''m past the point of worrying if my shoulders dislocate and tear off, if we fail now the entire mission falls apart!"


    -


    "Dax, the mana is starting to thin ever so slightly."


    Having ducked into cover while Dax once more took over as a distraction, Ifrit reached out to their reliable partner trough radio.


    "I see, that means we just need to keep this up for a little longer."


    "Exactly~ Now guide that gross thing my way, I have a special present prepared for it~"


    Getting a response from Dax over the radio, Ifrit didn''t fret over how calm Dax sounded, having spent some time together with Dax they knew that the calmer he sounded, the more he was focused on other matters, that''s just how he was.


    (How did a mere mortal even become so strong?... Surely it is not just because he''s a qiton or due to how long he had been fighting. Something must be broken inside that partner of mine, but oh well, that''s what makes him so interesting in the first place~)


    (Although I hate this guy for fleeing and leaving my clan with the choice to die or be imprisoned in this strange land, I have to admit his spells are first class.)


    Giving a passing thought to a demon Ifrit hated more than anything else, a cunning smile bloomed on their face when they thought about the time not so long ago when their partner had helped banish that very demon.


    "Aspect of the old ones: Hellfire."


    As they uttered the final words of the spell mana converged around Ifrit in a strange manner, then a small black flame which seemed to absorb the surrounding light came into being, floating in front if Ifrit''s outstretched arm. Holding out that hand towards Dax''s figure who had just come into sight Ifrit released their spell without any mercy or hesitation, betting on their partner''s quick wits to avoid the spell.


    Having just rounded a coroner, Dax felt his sense of danger spike, but not due to the especially pissed off elder that was right behind him, but due to his reliable partner in crime which had an unusually large shit eating grin on their face.


    "You fucking!-"


    Spotting the small black flame which had been clearly aimed right at him, Dax collapsed his stance completely, slipping down onto his knees Dax narrowly avoided the small but extremely dangerous looking flame by sliding under it before presenting a not so nice gesture with his free hand that was not holding a rifle towards Ifrit as he continued running away from the elder who had also just entered the room. Having obtained line of sight on the annoying bug which had irritated it to such an extent, the elder gathered a collection of its decaying tentacles and pointed it towards the bug, but before the elder could erase that irritant from existence, Ifrit''s spell hit the elder''s barrier. Although the small black flame looked relatively tame as it flew through the air, that was far from the case when it came into contact with its intended target. Expanding rapidly, the void fire grew to cover the entirety of the elder''s barrier in only a split second, eating away at existence itself, the elder was forced to deal with that flame before anything else, allowing Dax and Ifrit to escape its grasp once more.


    Even if it the task of distracting the elder was going fine at the moment, there was no telling when both Ifrit and Dax could meet their untimely demise at its tentacles, the only reason the two of them were still alive was that the pair were both experts in their respective fields, Ifrit could use a truly impressive array of spells on which power was truly apocalyptic while Dax liberally used all sorts of chemical and biological weapons, but even then, all the two of them could do was stall the elder. The rate which they burned trough ammunition and mana did not allow for this game of catch to be a lengthy one, at most they could keep this up for another half hour, then the nature of the game would truly transform into a deathmatch against the immortal, ever resilient elder and even on a good day Dax didn''t want to take that kind of fight.


    But for once in Dax''s life, it didn''t have to come down to the wire, as he had just emptied another magazine into the elder he felt a connection between himself and the Jug'' being established.


    "Ifrit, lure it towards the upper floors! it''s time that we have our fun~"


    "Roger~"


    With a thin smile on his face Dax hurriedly made his way to the upper floors of the sanctuary while Ifrit led the elder in the same direction, but on the way there they got a little bit too overconfident, resulting in the elder getting a shot off at them.


    "Oh fuc-"


    hearing Ifrit cut out on the radio Dax''s smile immediately froze.


    "Ifrit!? Come in!"


    Hearing nothing but static in response Dax feared the worst, that is until he noticed that Ifrit was still moving towards him.


    "... Really?"


    As he didn''t know whether to laugh, cry or simply be disgusted Dax just found himself lost for words while he continued to warm up the jug''s gravitational drive. Seconds later Ifrit rushed into the chamber Dax was in and hot on their tail was the elder.


    (ICI, you better be ready.)


    [AFFIRMATIVE, GA-05 REPORTING STATUS: READY FOR TASKING, WAITING FOR TARGET.]


    "Move you numbskull!"


    Giving Ifrit the bare minimum of time to separate from the elder Dax turned on the laser rangefinder on his rifle, pointing it at the elder as he sent its exact coordinates to the GA-05.


    [TARGET ACQUIRED, ISOLATING¡­]


    Just as Ifrit had made it outside effective range something happened to the elder and the very space around it.


    Suddenly everything came to a halt.


    [ISOLATION COMPLETE.]


    While the elder struggled to move it started preparing another attack, having figured out that one of the bugs in front of it was responsible for this strange attack.


    "Oh no you don''t! ICI hit it!"


    [REQUEST APPROVED. NOW COMMENCING DIRECT GRAVITATIONAL SINGLE STAGE COMPRESSION.]


    With ICI''s announcement as a cue, the elder was suddenly squeezed into a sphere no more than half a metre across, but at the same time it managed to fire off its attack, aiming at both Ifrit and Dax at the same time. Luckily Dax had seen the attack coming and by looking at Ifrit he correctly guessed what it was targeting, moving his body to the side at the same time as the elder launched the attack, the qiton managed to escape with his head still attached to his neck, although it cost him his left shoulder which was reduced to nothing due to the elder''s attack.


    "ICI increase the magnitude by 10! Squish this thing like the bug it is!"


    [AFFIRMATIVE. NOW INCREASING GRAVITON GENERATION IN SELECTED AREA BY A FACTOR OF 10.]


    Launching an immediate counter attack, Dax''s severed arm even hit the ground before he struck back against the elder, with the increase of the pressure that was threatening to kill it increasing by multiple factors in only a split second it was forced to abandon all offence.


    "Fuck this thing is persistent!"


    Having hoped to kill the elder with that attack Dax was forced to think quickly, as he knew the grav generator on the Juggernaut couldn''t keep this output up for long.


    "ICI accelerate target, vector normal, change velocity and add 1 km/s."


    [AFFIRMATIVE, ACCELERATING TARGET. VECTOR NORMAL + 1 KM/S.]


    Suddenly the elder switched from simply being compressed as it instantly accelerated upwards out through the roof of the sanctuary and away from the surface of the moon at high speed, while Dax wanted to leave the elder in orbit like that he knew he had to be more thorough.


    "Calibrate for the new frame of reference and accelerate target, add 29.8 kilometres per second in the retrograde vector please."


    [PROCESSING, STAND BY¡­. ORDER COMPLETE.]


    "Please confirm de orbit."


    [DE ORBIT CONFIRMED.]


    Finally out of immediate danger Dax breathed a deep sigh as he picked up his severed arm, before finally turning his attention to Ifrit who had walked up to him in the meantime, standing right in front of Dax without a head on their shoulders.


    "You good?"


    Apparently the elder had some idea of what to target, thus it went for Ifrit''s head with its earlier attack. Without a mouth to speak from Ifrit''s headless body simply raised a hand, before giving Dax a thumbs up.


    "... Okay, you''re lucky that that head of yours was nothing more than decoration¡­"


    What the elder hadn''t known was that Ifrit''s body was artificial, with the core from the sword they had originally inhabited replacing the bodies spine, as such, losing their head was nothing more than a simple nuisance for Ifrit.


    "Then we''re done here, let''s get back to the jug for extraction."

 252 Licking wounds

    "... You did what?"


    "As I said, I accelerated the elder to a speed of 29.8 kilometres a second retrograde relative to the orbital plane."


    Sitting at a bioprinter in the transport bay of the Juggernaut getting his arm reattached to his body Dax once more repeated what he had told Solaris who had been pestering him since the moment he had returned together with the now headless Ifrit.


    "Explain it properly so I can understand!"


    While Dax was busy taking enjoyment in Solaris'' anger, Iris somehow managed to sneak up on the pair.


    "He threw it into the sun."


    "Which would explain why the Juggernaut''s offensive grav drive is in such bad shape."


    "It''s as if you have no regard for the equipment you use Dax."


    "Honestly¡­"


    "But that also explains why the Juggernaut was given to Lux and not you."


    With Iris mercilessly destroying Dax''s fun he was forced to turn his attention to her.


    "First of all: I wanted to tell her that, so rude. Secondly: If you don''t use equipment to its limits then what''s the point of having it? And finally: It was my own decision to hand over the Jug to Lux, she and her former team were way more CQC oriented than the rest of the 125th, so it made sense for her to use it."


    Defending his reasonings to Iris the young girl just looked at him for a few seconds without any kind of expression on her face, then just before she was about to leave the two lovebirds alone she remembered what she had forgotten to tell Dax.


    "Oh, and Lux has been pestering us constantly for information about the raid."


    "She said that she can''t contact you for some reason and thus keeps pressing us for answers instead."


    "Something which we find very tiring to handle while trying to analyze the mana generator together with Ling and Ying."


    "That''s all we wanted to say."


    "You two can go back to making out now."


    "Th!- Y-you''re wrong!"


    With a last casual remark, Iris once more returned to the crew quarters of the Juggernaut where the mana generator was currently housed, leaving the flustered angel and grinning Dax behind. Seeing the sorry state Solaris was reduced to by Iris'' idle remark, Dax breathed a knowing sigh before placing his only remaining hand on the dejected angel''s shoulder.


    "... The second you answer her like that you have already lost."


    "I don''t want to hear that from you of all people!"


    -


    After receiving a fist filled with love Dax spent some more time soothing Solaris before he retired to the cramped commander''s office and contacted Lux who immediately accepted his call.


    "Yo, what''s up?"


    [... Don''t give me that crap, how did the mission go?]


    "We closed the gate, retrieved the generator and killed one elder with only minor injuries to show for it. What about your mission? How did it go?"


    [... Did you kill an elder? How the fuck did you manage that?]


    "I used the Jug''s offensive drive to throw it into the sun. With no way of altering its trajectory, it should start burning up in a few hours."


    Being met with an unusually long silence in response to his explanation Dax expected a long sigh followed by a lengthy reprimand from Lux, but strangely that didn''t happen.


    [Damn, I wanted to be the first to kill one of those things¡­ Did you burn out the Jug''s drive?]


    "Just a bit. But don''t worry, it is military equipment, I''ll get it up and running again in no time¡­ So, how did your mission go?"


    [Poorly. Although we have no casualties everyone had a turn in the bioprinter and Eos had a serious mental breakdown. I''ll send over the log.]


    It was pretty self evident from Lux''s tone of voice that she blamed herself for the result of the mission, and even trough Dax as her commanding officer was supposed to reprimand her for the mistakes she had made leading her mission, Dax simply found himself unable to do so.


    "I''m glad everyone made it out of there alive, good job surviving all that. Have you told Alice about Terra yet?"


    While 2 of the 3 simultaneous missions had gone somewhat okay, the recon mission into the elder occupied imperial continent had ended in disaster, not a single scout had made it back, even 2 weeks after the supposed 1 week mission had started.


    [Not yet, I don''t know how to tell her.]


    "Then let me do it, I already have to tell Solaris that the two angels who practically raised her are also both presumed KIA at this point in time¡­"


    [It''s going to be okay after some time, they are tougher than it seems. Just make sure to deliver the news to them gently.]


    "I know that, dense as I am I''m not going to deliver the news with a joke or something like that."


    [It is good to see you have grown somewhat.]


    With a strained laugh from Lux following her sarcastic comment silence once more filled the call, it was as if recent events had served to pull the father daughter pair apart in a way that couldn''t be repaired again.


    "When are you back at the central kingdom?"


    [In about 36 hours, you?]


    "We''re due for reentry in 12 hours. I''ll see you back home."


    [Sure.]


    Ending the call there Lux breathed a deep sigh, laying all around her, the rest of her team was fast asleep, still completely exhausted from the mission they had been on.


    "Home, huh¡­ I wonder if we even have one when we finally return to the galactic empire, not that Dax seems to mind that of course, as long as he has a war to fight he''s happy..."


    With that final depression taught voiced out loud Lux also felt drowsiness overtake her, so she silently drifted off to sleep.


    Meanwhile, Dax had called Solaris into the cramped commander''s quarters. Initially, Solaris was completely red in the face, but after seeing how Dax acted she started calming down.


    "Dax, what''s wrong?"


    "I recently reestablished contact with Kingstead and got an update on the other missions¡­ The scouting mission failed, while what I know right now is limited it seems that there are no survivors."


    "W-what are you saying?"


    Obviously shaken by those news Solaris didn''t seem to understand what Dax was saying at first, this was something Dax had seen happen plenty of times, after all, this was not even close to being the first time he had been the one to break these kinds of news.


    "Terra, as well as Hemera and Apollo are missing presumed dead. It has been a week since they were supposed to come back from the imperial continent but we haven''t found them yet."


    Leaving no room for Solaris to escape from reality Dax clearly stated the facts as they currently stood.


    "... I see. Would you please leave me alone for a moment?"


    With a quiet and almost completely lifeless voice, Solaris barely managed to squeeze those words out as her eyes fell to the floor.


    "I sorry Solaris, but I won''t."


    "I SAID LEAVE!"


    Flaring in anger Solaris'' wings spread out as mana started to rush around her without any apparent form of control behind it, the berserk mana instantly started tearing the compact commander''s quarters apart while Dax instantly suffered countless cuts all over his body.


    But still, he didn''t leave Solaris alone.


    "I won''t."


    Staying calm and collected Dax put himself in the enraged angel''s way and without any sort of regard, Solaris strengthened her body with magic before she punched him in the chest as she kept screaming.


    "LEAVE! WHY WON''T YOU LEAVE!?"


    "Because I promised myself I would be here for you."


    "JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!"


    As Solaris kept screaming she continued to punch Dax, hitting him anywhere from square in the face to his gut with punches strong enough to bend steel, but still Dax didn''t leave her. Gradually Solaris'' rage started to subside, instead replaced with grief and sadness while her punches slowly started to lose the strength that was behind them.


    "I know I''m terrible at these sorts of things, but even if I''m physically and chemically unable to sympathize with how you''re feeling right now I promised myself that I would remain here with you, I heard from my sisters that when normal people feel sad it helps to have someone who cares for them around."


    Placing his hands gently on Solaris'' cheeks Dax lifted up her face as he gave her a reassuring smile as he carefully wiped away her tears that kept flowing at a steady pace.


    "Even if you tell me to leave I''m pretty sure you broke some of my bones just now, I wouldn''t be smart to try and move before they heal up."


    "Why are you always so unfair in these situations!?"


    ???Sorry, I''ll make up for it at some point, I promise."


    Embracing Solaris in a tender hug, Dax stayed next to her until she stopped crying, then he just kept on holding her until it was time for the Juggernaut to make reentry.

 253 Reunion 1

    "Aaa, sweat earth, how I have missed you!"


    Immediately after exiting the GA-05E Juggernaut Lia laid down flat on the ground right outside Dax''s compound in Kingstead, it seemed like she didn''t like travelling in space that much. Dax how was just about to ask her to help with something held his words as a wry smile formed on his face instead.


    (I guess I''ll get the two twins and Iris to help me with the mana generator then.)


    Getting back into the Juggernaut Dax found Iris and the two homunculus twins, Ling and Ying still standing over the mana generator, discussing different theories to its method of operation while deciphering the different rune formations visible on the outside of it.


    "Come on you three, we need to move that to the lab."


    "Can''t we just stay here and look at it?"


    "We''re getting close to grasping something."


    "Nope, the Jug needs be repaired before going back on high alert. So far this ship is the only effective weapon against the elders."


    As a series of drones entered the Jug behind him with a pallet for transporting the generator Iris realized she couldn''t keep dragging things out and thus reluctantly stepped away from her newest passion project. After loading up the generator Dax quickly fetched Solaris who had fallen asleep due to exhaustion Carrying with him in a princess carry.


    With the Juggernaut switching to autopilot, it gently lifted off and left for repairs while Dax walked with Iris, Ling and Ying, making sure that they didn''t interrupt the drones tasked with transporting the mana generator.


    (Hmm?)


    Looking up towards the sky Dax felt there was something wrong all of a sudden, even if he couldn''t put his finger on exactly what it was. With his gut continuing to warn him that there was something wrong the drones transporting the generator eventually came to halt before spreading out on the empty landing field, raising their weapons.


    "Dax? What''s wrong?"


    With the transport halting, Iris turned towards Dax to find out what was going on, seeing that he was tense for some reason she started getting worried.


    "I don''t know, stay put right there until I find out."


    Switching Solaris over to one hand Dax connected to the cities ICI network while using his free hand to take out his pistol, scanning the skyline all the while.


    (Is it really nothing?... No, here it comes!)


    Out of nowhere, a CAS-7A flew right over Dax and the other''s heads, landing about 10 metres away from them while blocking the way to the lab.


    "Dax, what was that for!?"


    Being awoken by the sound of the CAS-7A''s engines, Solaris initially believed it was another one of his pranks. Meanwhile, Dax was busy scanning his vast drone network, trying to find out which one of his CAS-7A had just landed in front of him, but nothing came up.


    [DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED, CODE RED ESTABLISHED, AREA LOCKDOWN NOW IN EFFECT, NOW SCRAMBLING ALL DEFENSIVE UNITS, REQUESTING RULES OF ENGAGEMENT FROM COMMAND.]


    "W-what is happening Dax?"


    "... That craft not one of mine, I have no idea where it came from. ICI, fire on my mark, triggers tight. Give them a warning."


    [ICI ADDRESSING ALL UNKNOWN UNITS IN THE AREA: POWER DOWN YOUR ENGINES AND EXIT THE CRAFT, FAILURE TO DO SO WILL LEAD TO EUTHANIZATION.]


    "Get behind me, all of you!"


    Setting down Solaris Dax pointed his pistol at the unknown craft which had just breached his restricted area without him knowing, at the same time the drones which had been transporting the mana generator formed a firing line on both sides of Dax. With no response from the unknown craft, Dax was about to open fire on it, that is until something extremely strange happened. Suddenly it was like everything turned quiet, while Solaris and the homunculus twins didn''t seem to know what was going on, Iris realized what was happening a few seconds before the first drone fell over.


    In just a split second, Dax''s entire ICI network had been hacked and taken over, evident by the fact that the 540 mill railgun turrets now pointed at him.


    "Oh fuck me¡­ If something horrible is about to happen to me I want you to know that I''ll be okay Solaris, don''t interfere."


    Figuring something awful was about to happen to him, Dax lowered his pistol as the ramp of the strange CAS-7A lookalike ship opened up, revealing 3 figures clad in strange armour.


    "Dax? What''s happening?"


    "I''ll tell you later if I''m able to, just don''t interfere."


    Leaving the confused Solaris behind Dax embraced his fate and walked up to the transport before greeting the people who had come to collect him.


    "It has been a while, thanks for making the journey all the way here."


    Greeting the visitors without any particular expression on his face, Dax was meet with silence. Of course, that silence was due to the way Dax had changed without himself knowing it since he had been marooned on this world, it simply left Ra and Mu at a loss as to what to do.


    "You are Dax, right?"


    Before Mu knew what she was doing, she had spoken those words. Even if she felt it was something rude to say the person standing in front of her was simply nothing like the family member who had gone missing all those years ago. The Dax she knew had and was always a reckless workaholic with no regard for his own survival seemingly stuck in a constant state of heightened alert like he was always at war. It seemed that whatever had happened while Mu had not been able to look over him he had finally changed and that change was simply too hard for her to just believe outright, the anger and rage she held against him out of worry for his reckless way of living simply disappeared then and there.


    Hearing the confusion in Mu''s voice Dax put on a reassuring smile as he walked up to her, patting her head.


    "Of course it''s me, silly. It has been a while- Hello Ra, it has been a while. I see that new armour of yours has a considerable power assist function."


    Forced to cut his words short mid sentence, Dax greeted to older of the Avoaxian sisters who had just punched him in the stomach with a considerable amount of strength, cracking a few of his ribs.


    "That''s for worrying us so much, you absolute idiot!"


    "Yeah, I''m sorry about all this, thanks for coming all the way here to find me."


    -


    "Seeing that everyone isn''t here at the moment I''ll keep the introductions short. This here is Ra and Mu, my two reliable sisters, the one acting as their guard every time they leave the galactic empire is Philippa, a qiton also belonging to the 125th and the closest I have to a childhood friend."


    After dealing with the initial confusion and establishing a common language base Dax moved everyone inside a meeting room to introduce everyone to each other.


    "Hello, people~ I used to beat up Dax when we were kids~"


    Introducing herself with a casual wave while lying about the result of the numerous spars she had with Dax when they were younger, Phillipa managed to scare the other side with her easy going introduction as she never really bothered to suppress the ever present blood lust she carried as a qiton.


    "Greetings, my name is Mu, I''m Ra''s younger sister and the co founder of Lazarus, we''re the people who developed most of the technology Dax uses."


    "Hello, I''m Ra, the other part of Lazarus. Nice to meet all of you."


    While Mu''s self introduction was overflowing with friendliness and warmth, Ra''s greeting couldn''t have been any colder, leading her younger sister to cover for her before she got a bad reputation.


    "Please don''t mind Ra, she''s just a bit shy around strangers."


    "I AM NOT!"


    With a wry smile on his face, Dax decided not to comment on Ra''s shyness, after all, he still wanted to keep living.


    "Then on this side, we have some of the people I''ve met after standing here, Solaris would you like to introduce yourself?"


    Picking Solaris at random Dax expected her to be her usual overconfident self, but for some reason, Solaris seemed extra nervous about that after Dax had introduced Ra, Mu and Phillipa.


    "Erm¡­ M-my name is- No, that''s not right¡­ Give me a moment."


    Packing herself up in her wings Solaris shut herself off from her surroundings, leading Dax to initially skip her as he went on to Iris.


    "Hello."


    "We''re called Iris."


    "But enough about that, what''s that armour made of?"


    "It looks like some sort of liquid."


    Iris did somehow better than the half pigeon that was currently muttering all sorts of things incoherently under her wings, but as soon as she noticed the armour Dax''s visitors was wearing she got somewhat sidetracked. Having bombarded Ra and Mu with questions out of nowhere, Ra backed off as she didn''t know how to deal with children, meanwhile Mu welcomed the questions and started casually leaking classified information.


    "It isn''t a liquid, although it can act like that for the purposes of shock absorption and structural reconfiguration, just like this."


    Sending a single command through her neural uplink, Mu''s smooth looking armour vibrated in a strange manner before the helmet divided itself into small hexagonal segments which folded in on themselves before getting absorbed by the rest of her armour, revealing her green hair and large blue eyes which looked at Iris with great interest.


    "That''s really cool."


    "Can we please get a chance to study it?"


    "Sure Iris, I''ll give a short lecture if that''s what you want~ But let''s let the others introduce themselves before we get to that."


    "All that can wait for later, that technology is truly fascinating."


    "Yeah, it really is, please tell us all about it!"


    However, before Mu could reorient the conversation back to Dax she was ambushed by the two homunculus twins, it seemed they had planned on listening in on her lecture and the thought of having that delayed was simply too much for them.


    "Dax, a little help?"


    Looking to Dax for help in peeling the two women off her, Mu instead left out to dry.


    "Sorry, that''s just how the two of them are, they were created to analyse things¡­"


    "Meaning?"


    Sensing a deeper meaning behind those words, Mu''s happy expression disappeared.


    "Knowledge is like hard drugs for them, there is nothing I can do about it, it''s just how the two of them were wired by that twisted creator of theirs."


    "So they''re like us?"


    Seeing past the more ominous parts of Dax''s explanation, Mu immediately equated the two homunculus twins to herself and Dax, artificial creations made with a specific purpose in mind.


    "Kind of yeah, or more like an earlier version made by more primitive technology. I saved those two when they were left to die by their creator before later naming them to Ying and Ling."


    "That means two are family, I''ll tell you anything you want to know, but it has to wait until after this."


    "Okay.."


    "I guess that''s fine, as long as you promise!"


    "I do, don''t worry."


    While Iris, Ying, Ling and Mu had become friends it seemed like Solaris had finally come out of her shell. Standing up with a dignified expression on her face, the angel spread out her pure white wings and immediately stole the visitor''s attention from everything else that was going on.


    "Ra, Mu and Phillipa, it is nice to meet all of you. My name is Solaris, an archangel from the 14th sanctuary¡­ I a-am currently dating Dax."


    Failing to remain dignified at the last part, Solaris'' face bloomed entirely red as she squeezed the last part out, leading to a somewhat unnerving and complete silence in the room.


    "Well isn''t she''s just adorable? Good job Dax~"


    Still refusing to abide by social norms, Phillipa walked up to Dax with a knowing smile on her face and Dax in return said something the worst thing he could have said under the current circumstances.


    "Yeah, she is~ Wait until you meet my other girlfriends."


    As soon as those words left his mouth something happened to Ra and Mu. While Dax couldn''t see Ra''s expression he was pretty sure she had some kind of strange smile on her face, her eyes, however, were not smiling in the slightest. Mu''s expression was more telling, while it seemingly hadn''t changed, her eyes had suddenly gone cold while her aura had changed into something terrifying.


    "... It was nice to know you, Dax."


    Seeing what was coming, Phillipa turned serious for once and offered her prayers while Dax was dragged off for his execution.

 254 Reunion 2

    "Are you for real?"


    "Yeah I am, I hit a grouping of them with absolutely everything and nothing was effective."


    "That sounds like a somewhat worthy challenge¡­"


    "Just don''t blow up this planet Ra."


    "I won''t!"


    With introductions and casual banter over Dax took half an hour to broadly explain what had happened since he had stranded in this world, before finally talking about the elders and their possible connection to the precursors and as the talk eventually pivoted towards countermeasures Dax made sure to remind Ra not to do anything too rash.


    "But enough about all this for the moment, I want to know more about that particle that''s present here, from what I''ve already seen it is strangely abundant around you miss Solaris."


    "Eh, me? What''s a particle?"


    With Mu suddenly switching over the attention to Solaris asking what was supposed to be a simple question, the conversation once more came to a halt.


    "They mean mana Solaris¡­ Could you please explain how to use it?"


    Realizing he hadn''t tried explaining the concept of mana at all to Ra or Mu, Dax figured a practical demonstration would suit them best.


    "Ah, right. It comes to me because I command it, simple as that."


    Spreading out her wings, Solaris collected the mana around her, creating a small light that floated in the palm of her hand.


    "My world calls this power ''mana''. It comes from somewhere deep beneath the ground and enriches the land, creatures such as myself that have been blessed by the creators have the ability to use mana to do just about anything imaginable."


    While Solaris was boasting with a prideful expression on her face, Ra slowly closed in on her from the front while Mu went around the back.


    "... We''re going to need way more information than that. How do you control that? What are the limits? Are you actually interacting with the particle or is something else going on?"


    "Yeah, and how is all this achieved? Are there other ways of casting these spells, if so which of those would take the least amount of effort to weaponize?"


    "Um, girls, please calm-"


    "Then there''s the issue of the mana itself, when you say it comes from the earth do you mean the ground itself, or could it be something about the core of this planet? Miss Solaris, we would very much like you explaining all that to us, please follow along without resistance."


    Before anyone knew what was going on Solaris was dragged off by Ra and Mu, leaving Dax, Phillipa, and the others behind.


    "Well, we''re most likely not going to see Ra, Mu and Solaris for the next few days so why don''t I show you around Phillipa?"


    "Sure."


    -


    "You sure have changed Dax."


    "Really? I don''t really think I''ve changed all that much."


    "Dude, you got a girlfriend, serval girlfriends even. What''s worse, they seem actually okay with it."


    "... Okay, fair point. But this entire thing was Lux''s idea, she basically forced me into the relationship under the threat of violence."


    "Yeah right."


    "No, I am actually not kidding about that specific point, she really did threaten me into the relationship."


    "... Well, that makes my point all the more relevant, the Dax I knew would never let himself be threatened into something like that."


    The Dax Phillipa used to know was only interested in work, while that was partly due to the fact that he was denser than anything else in the known universe, but also because he just didn''t care about anything else. Phillipa used to believe that was just how Dax was, due to circumstances of his genetic makeup and childhood he the perfect soldier, the perfect commander, the leader of the 125th combined ops orbital drop troopers, but it appeared that Dax was more than that, he just needed some room to grow. While Phillipa was happy about his emotional growth, there was still the issue of Dax''s combat effectiveness, if it had dropped too much Phillipa would ''remove'' everything which was distracting him without batting an eye.


    "So how is it going with exterminating the Emergence?"


    Suddenly Dax''s atmosphere completely changed, as if his previous change/growth had been a lie, it would seem that the Dax Phillipa knew and respected was still there in some effect.


    "Bad, while we''re not losing yet, it is getting harder to contain as it continues to learn more about us. Currently, we''ve managed to contain them at the 435th district for the last 5 years."


    "It''s learning? So biological adaptation has been confirmed?"


    "Yeah, in certain cases the Emergence will go out of its way to disable some warships for capture, some times we''ve managed to evacuate those ships in time, other times we were forced to leave them behind¡­ The bits we recovered after the fact combined with the Emergence behaviour after those encounters have led us to believe it is indeed absorbing the knowledge of any personal it manages to capture alive. As the acting leader of the 125th, I''ve advised all navy personnel that they should self terminate in such a situation."


    Judging by Phillipa''s expression alone Dax could easily guess that she had been personally leading the vast majority of those casualty recovery missions herself, what she had seen must have been horrible enough to shake her.


    "That can''t be good for morale."


    "Yeah, no shit¡­"


    "... Wanna go get a drink? I know a somewhat okay place."


    "Sure."


    Feeling like Phillipa needed a chance of pace, Dax moved to a bar where he knew the owner, getting a corner stall to share with Phillipa they continued their talks.


    "The real issue is not even morale, we can somewhat fix that with information control. The problem is the 125th, I haven''t been able to control them as well as you and Lux¡­"


    "Control them? Is that even a problem?"


    "Yeah, it is¡­ Paying people a blank check and offering them the best equipment there is only really works if you''re able to control them, while I haven''t been able to prove it yet, it seems there''s a serious case of corruption growing within the unit."


    Explaining the situation further Phillipa told Dax how heavy equipment had gone missing from inventory while the recruitment procedure which was supposed to be hardest in the galactic empire had somehow managed to slack, resulting in a fall in the quality of members in the 125th after Dax went MIA, along with a steady increase in disciplinary cases from misuse of power. Due to the very nature of the 125th still being a semi secret black operations unit, 3rd party oversight had always been lacking with only overt breaches of operational doctrine being brought before the galactic senate in closed hearings, but it would seem bad behaviour wasn''t even getting reported anymore.


    "I was first alerted to this about 50 years ago when ICI flagged a recent shooting where 23 civ''s had been killed with military grade hardware, a single REX rifle was recovered at the scene and local police for some reason needed my clearance to look at the logs on it."


    To prevent unauthorized usage of military firearms, their fire control systems are normally id locked to the individuals or units registered to use them, meaning a rifle that had at some point been in the 125th''s possession had been used for a mass shooting.


    "So what was in the logs?"


    "Nothing, they had been wiped clean. Using my authority as the commander of the 125th I shut down the entire investigation, using the excuse that the rifle had been illegally salvaged by some criminal organisation at some random battlefield¡­ But the thing is: that rifle was brand new."


    "So at best we have a leak in production or at worst we have some members of the 125th partaking in criminal activities?... That''s just great, in either case, we''re going to get fucked with public hearings and possible jail time, that or we purge the bad part of the organization ourselves."


    "I agree completely."


    "Sure you do, but in any event, this will be the end of the 125th¡­"

 255 Manatech 1

    "Dax! Wake up!"


    About an hour before first light, Dax''s meditating was suddenly and rudely interrupted by Ra, the older of the Avoaxian sisters.


    "I am awake, I don''t sleep, remember?"


    Lazily opening his eyes Dax found Ra right in front of his face, her large, bright blue eyes stared right into Dax''s with excitement clearly visible. Having known Ra for some time, Dax knew full well that there was only one thing that would make her so happy.


    "Ah yeah, that''s right¡­ Anyway, come on, you have to see this!"


    Half dragging Dax out of his room Ra continued spouting all sorts of complicated formulas and quantum mechanics while talking about concepts way too complicated for Dax to understand. Reaching the lab that Ra and Mu had claimed as their own, Mu who was waiting immediately started a demonstration with the same kind of excited smile on her face that her sister had. In the centre of the laboratory behind several layers of slightly singed safety barriers was a single pedestal with a see through crystal.


    "Now commencing test number¡­. Eh, whatever, it doesn''t matter anyway since this is just a formality."


    Activating whatever device they had been working on for some time, Dax felt a large power surge build for a few seconds before the crystal in the middle of the room light up slightly.


    "Is that?..."


    "It is. Awesome, right?~"


    Other than the dim light the crystal was emitting something else seemed to emerge from the crystal, the otherworldly and irrational power of mana.


    "... So you guys finished analysing the mana producing relic and made a prototype in only 14 hours?"


    "Huh? Did you have such a thing?"


    Checking both Ra and Mu''s expression Dax clearly saw the surprise visible on both their faces and realized something.


    "So you didn''t analyse the mana producing relic and made a prototype in only 14 hours, you guys developed a fully working mana generating prototype in only 14 hours¡­"


    In some ways, the two Avoaxian sisters were simply amazing while in others they left much to be desired.


    (Do you guys have any idea how much trouble I went tough to recover that thing? I fought a fucking immortal killing machine to a standstill before almost burning out the Jug''s offensive drive to throw it into the fucking sun¡­ Well, even if I said that it wouldn''t really change anything¡­)


    Left with too much to say about the current situation Dax chose to simply remain silent while rubbing the bridge of his nose in a slightly irritated manner, suppressing his feeling until he eventually calmed down and looked at the positive in the situation.


    "So? How does it work?"


    "By manipulating subspace virtual particles and forcing them to-"


    "Yeah no, give me more a practical explanation. What''s the input, what''s how''s the output with what amount of waste heat generation?"


    That''s how their dynamic had been for the last 500 years.


    "That one there is the 0th generation, so the waste heat is pretty much off the charts. Along with that, it has terrible energy efficiency and isn''t really suited for practical use."


    "Which means there''s a practical generation already developed, right?"


    "Exactly, here is the 5th generation, already ready for practical use. As no technology even comes close to something like this has ever existed we''ve taken the liberty of naming it ''manatech'', just to keep it simple~"


    Having seen right through Mu''s horseplay with a smile, Mu showed Dax some prototype amour with a black gem integrated as a centrepiece.


    "Is it really a good idea to have the weak point of the entire system on display like that?"


    "It is a prototype after all. The armour contains both mana generating and a spell formulating device that integrates with that old neural interface standard you''re still running, of course as soon as you connect to it it''ll give you the rundown of how to use it. Why don''t you give it a try?"


    "Sure."


    Putting on the prototype armour it seamlessly integrated with Dax''s cybernetic implant.


    "What about the ICI standard?"


    "Ah, that. Yeah, we''ve made it to flawlessly integrate with all ICI systems without issue using a new type of interface. IMI, or Integrated Management Intelligence, wanna upgrade?"


    "Nah, just integrate it as is."


    "Okay¡­ Done, give it a try."


    Unplugging the console she had used to create a brand new interface on the fly, Ra looked at Dax with expectation clearly overflowing from her eyes.


    (Basically I''m the genie pig huh? Well, not that that''s anything new.)


    Focusing on the interface, Dax held out his hand and created a small light using mana that was generated by Ra and Mu''s newest device.


    ""Well, at least it didn''t explode.""


    With both Mu and Dax saying the exact same thing at the same time, a smile formed on both their faces.


    "I''m gonna go to a place where I can go a bit wilder than that, wanna watch?"


    ""Sure~""


    -


    Standing in the middle of a field of flowers the only thing that dotted the horizon was the multiple 540 mill railgun turrets Dax had built about a year earlier.


    [Go for test one?]


    "Go."


    As Dax heard Ra''s excited voice over the radio he already had a bad feeling, but when one of the 540 mill turrets was disconnected from his network and suddenly started to power up without approval Dax''s suspicion turned out to be true.


    [Do your best to survive~]


    "Motherfuc-"


    With his words being cut short by the first subsonic practice round landing about a metre from him and knocking up a cloud of dirt, Dax realized he couldn''t do anything other than his very best to survive this ''test''. after all, there was a very good chance the next round fired by the turret wouldn''t be a practice round.


    (This is actually strangely nostalgic¡­)


    With that final thought, Dax shut out anything unnecessary before powering up the so called ''manatech'' prototype.


    (This output is unlike anything I''ve ever seen¡­ It should be fine if I go just a little crazy, right?)


    With mana flaring around him with an unprecedented intensity Dax clenched his fists before stomping his foot into the ground, sending a wave of mana trough it which painted the ground with black runes, reinforcing the ground so it would be able to withstand his next move.


    (Reload of that type of turret is about 5 seconds for a 2 minute emergency shot burst fire mode utilizing the built in supercapacitors, 2.5 seconds until it''ll fire again!)


    As Dax already knew his opponent by heart all he needed to do was prepare appropriate countermeasures.


    (... And, fire. God, that fire control system really is slow...)


    Running down the milliseconds until the railgun fired, Dax pivoted his foot as he let strengthening magic serval magnitudes more powerful than anything else he had ever attempted. Putting strength into his foot the ground beneath him cracked as he disappeared from view, then the 540 mill fired.


    As expected it shoot a wide angle anti personal canister type round, pelting the flower field with tungsten rounds the size of a fist.


    (That was closer than I would have liked, but it worked!)


    By knowing exactly what type of ammunition the railgun would fire, Dax prepared appropriately. Using strengthening magic to get out of the line of fire where the highest concentration of tungsten pellets would land, Dax then created multiple barriers of golden crystal between himself and the railgun, the layered barrier working not to absorb the shoots, but deflect them just enough that they didn''t hit him.


    (The second shot will be solid ultra high velocity armour pricing, even if that one misses me by 20 metres the air pressure it''ll create will disable me.)


    Holding out his hand, Dax drew in the surrounding air like a black hole, compressing the air and heating it up until plasma formed while using another spell to stabilize the mana using a localized magnetic field before finally compressing the 10 metre wide ball of plasma into a sphere that could fit within the palm of his hand.


    "Now for disabling the turret!"


    Extending the magnetic field out like a cannon Dax pointed the compressed ball of plasma towards the railgun turret while preparing another spell at the same time, pushing the manatech prototype to its limits.


    (As if I would destroy it~)


    Timing his spell to detonate the moment the railgun fired, Dax exploded the densely compacted ball of plasma about 50 metres in front of the tungsten alloy penetrator that was flying towards him, heating the air to such extremes that it could partially melt the tip of the penetrator, throwing off its trajectory and making it miss its intended target by a significant margin.


    "This is easy Mu! Feel free to use all of them until I burn this thing out completely!"


    [Okay~]

 256 Manatech 2

    "Okay, master purge isn''t responding, I''m pretty sure it is fried¡­"


    [Then go into the subroutine, use task #00010294.]


    "Processing, stand by."


    Standing in the middle of what had up until a few minutes ago been a blooming flower field, Dax struggled to remove the burnt out manatech prototype he had just tested with Mu''s guidance.


    "No good... I''m going to break it, sorry."


    Finding that the amour had overheated to such an extent it had partially melted and was now stuck to him Dax apologized to Mu as he dug his arm in under the armour near the shoulder, tearing it off without any major problems.


    [That''s no problem at all, this is what destructive testing is all about~ You helped us find a few vulnerabilities we need to adjust before moving on to the 5th generation.]


    "... So you guys have already completed the 4th generation?"


    [Pretty much, since the potential of this ''mana'' is so high we got a bit too excited...]


    ??And what about the elder countermeasures?"


    [Ah, those? They''re already complete and ready for field testing, you can have a go at them together with Lux when she gets back.]


    "Perfect, I''m going to go pick her up now, meet me there."


    -


    "We''re coming up to the surface now."


    "Great, I can''t wait to get out of this tin box."


    Finally almost home after an excruciatingly month long deployment underwater, Lux and her team were all itching to get out of the AEHWP they had spent way too much time inside stuck together.


    "That feeling is mutual, trust me."


    While Lux, Alice, Mare and Lilly had mostly recovered from the injuries they had sustained doing the operation, the archangel - had yet to recover from the shock of almost getting killed by the fishlike monsters they had encountered in the lost city of -, doing the trip back she had hardly spoken at all and had spent most of her time huddled away in a corner hiding inside her wings. As the AEHWP hit the shore it shook slightly while switching over to land transport mode, then it slowly crawled up on solid ground for the first time in weeks.


    "Finally, freedom!"


    Sensing that they were on land once more, Lilly who was the far most energetic member of the team rushed on her feet and opened the top hatch, suddenly finding herself face to face with some kind of strange demihuman with large blue eyes, green blue skin and short blue hair that started patting her head out of nowhere.


    "Ooo, you must be Lilly, you are indeed a cute one~"


    "Wha!- Don''t treat me like a kid!"


    With her face flushing completely red Lilly tried to get Mu to remove her hand but in doing so she only encouraged the Avoaxian scientist to keep up her experiments, it seemed spending too much time with non expressive qitons made her unconsciously interested in Lilly who''s face was completely honest.


    Embracing the reluctant elver in a hug Mu lifted Lilly up and out of the AEHWP, completely against the small elver''s will of course.


    "LET ME DOWN THIS INSTANT!"


    "Only if you call me big sister and let me dress you up~"


    "Mu put her down, you''re making a bad first impression."


    While Mu was ecstatic to meet Dax''s lovers, her older sister Ra was acting far more reserved about the entire thing, choosing a wait and see approach before she would decide if the girls were good enough for Dax or she needed to remove them. While Mu continued to play around with Lilly against her will the AEHWP''s loading ramp finally lowered, creating quite a surprise for Lux who hadn''t been informed about the sister''s arrival.


    "Ra, Mu? What are you two doing here?"


    "Hello~ Long time no see~"


    "It''s been a while, how are you holding up Lux, have you been eating properly?"


    While Mu continued being her usual carefree self (while still holding on to Lilly), Ra approached Lux with a slightly concerned look on her face.


    "Of course I''ve been eating properly, but why are you two here?"


    "We found a way to travel between dimensions~ But, more importantly, we have lots of new toys for you Lux, made just the way you like them~"


    "What is going on here!?- Let me go, woman! Lux, do you know these people!?"


    While Lux, Ra and Mu had their reunion Lilly had finally managed to get over her embarrassment of being carried around like a child, transcending into full on rage, if she was able to she would have freed herself using magic but for some reason, there wasn''t any mana near her and she couldn''t even use the mana that was inside her body.


    "... What''s going on?"


    "No idea, but it is properly best not to get involved, Lilly is about to blow."


    "Mmm."


    Meanwhile, Mare and Alice had emerged from the AEHWP, the two of them wisely deciding to keep their distance until they knew what was going on.


    "Ah, yeah I know them. In fact, I''ve known these two people for most of my life. Allow me to introduce you Lilly, this is Ra and Mu, they''re Dax''s sisters and the people who raised me."


    "That''s right Lilly~ That''s why you should call me big sister, we''re practically family allready~"


    "Whatever! I''ll do whatever you want as soon as you put me down, so put me down this instant! I''m not a child!"


    "Okay, okay, there''s no reason to act so cold you know?~"


    Finally releasing her grasp on the tiny and adorable elver Mu gently put her down, and Lilly, who was the kind of person to hold grudges immediately used her newfound freedom to kick Mu''s shin (Not that that action had much effect) before stomping off in anger.


    "So you people are Dax''s sisters? I''ve heard a lot about you two from him, my name is Alice, I''m currently d-dating him."


    With Lilly''s exit, Alice took the opportunity to introduce herself in the politest way possible, although she slightly fumbled part of the introduction.


    "Ah, how polite. Nice to meet you, Alice."


    "Nice to meet you miss Alice~"


    While Alice was scoring points with both Ra and Mu, Mare had somehow managed to sneak up on Ra, getting the Avoaxian''s attention by poking her back a few times.


    "... Hi."


    "H-hello. What do you want?"


    (How the hell did this girl manage to close this far in on me!?)


    While maintaining a calm expression, Ra awkwardly greeted the flat toned, blank faced beastkin while a cold sweat broke out on her back.


    "Are you Dax''s sister?"


    "That''s right, my name is Ra, what can I call you?"


    "... Mare."


    (What the hell is up with this girl!?)


    Looking at Mare''s blank face Ra saw nothing, while she normally could read the intent of most people off of their face or even eyes alone, Mare''s face told her nothing, her eyes told her nothing, Ra had no idea what this girls deal was, all she knew was that she was able to stab her without any way of Ra herself seeing it coming and that terrified her.


    "C-can I help you with something?"


    Struggling to maintain a calm expression on her face, Ra backed away from Mare half a step as she asked the beastkin girl a question, but to her distress, Mare immediately closed the gap as her tail started moving about slightly.


    "Mmm, you can. Please pat my head just like Dax does it."


    Showing emotion on her face for the first time in the conversation, Mare relayed her longing to see that seemingly innocent request fulfilled, but unknowingly it only added pressure on Ra.


    "O-okay. I can do that."


    "Mmm, hurry up please."


    Timidly reaching out her hand, Ra was prepared for it to be sliced off when she placed it on top of Mare''s head between her two fluffy and soft looking wolf like ears, in response to that sensation Mare slowly closed her eyes as a thin smile formed on her face.


    (C-cute.)


    Suddenly finding herself at odds with her instincts, Ra felt her heart ache because of how adorable the beastkin child in front of her was acting, but at the same time, her fear still remained as strong as ever. Stuck between a rock and hard place Ra didn''t know what to do, so after patting Mare''s head for a minute or so she timidly tried to remove her hand, but in response to that Mare grasped it before placing the hand back on top of her own head, her tail wagging at a relaxed pace all the while.


    Thus Ra was forced to pet Mare''s head for another half hour until Dax arrived.

 257 Field testing 1

    "... What''s going on here?"


    Arriving at a particular beach Dax came across a slightly peculiar sight, while Mu appeared to be spending her time teasing Lilly and Alice, Ra was busy petting Mare''s head with a slightly panicked look on her face, spotting Dax Ra''s face bloomed into hopeful optimism, it seemed like she couldn''t say no to Mare and was thus stuck patting Mare''s head for a long time.


    [Dax save me!]


    [Nah.]


    [DAX SAVE ME!]


    Deciding to ignore Ra for the moment, Dax greeted the others and updated Lux on the current situation, informing her that elder countermeasures were finally ready for field testing.


    "Field testing huh? Count me in. Mu, make sure that there''s another set of 5th generation armour ready for me."


    "It is already in production, more importantly, Dax where did you find this girl? She''s so cute~"


    "Dax, don''t just ignore me! Unhand me, woman!"


    Somewhere along the way, Mu had once more caught Lilly in a solid hug and refused to let her go.


    "I actually ran into her while I was captured by some elvers, but I can promise she''s even cuter when you''re actually nicer to her so let her down."


    "Che, fine¡­"


    As Mu reluctantly let Lilly go the small elver hurriedly ran to Dax''s side, hiding behind him as she started complaining with a pout on her face.


    "Is that really your sister? I seriously don''t like that woman¡­"


    "She''s just a little excited about meeting you and Alice, that''s all. Mu is nice once you get to know her."


    "I highly doubt that."


    "Dax, where''s Terra?"


    With Alice''s seemingly harmless question the joyful atmosphere surrounding the reunion all but disappeared, leaving Dax to explain the presumed fate of the deep recon operation which had ended in complete failure with none members of the operation returning from the elder occupied imperial continent.


    "She''s still alive."


    "Alice¡­"


    With the news of her close friend declared missing, presumed dead Alice chose to avoid reality as tears formed in her eyes, before a look of determination formed on her face.


    "Take me with you when you go kill those things."


    "I can''t do that, the elder countermeasures require a neural connection."


    "Then promise me this: When you eventually travel into the imperial continent you will do everything in your power to look for survivors."


    "That''s the plan."


    ---


    After meeting with Lux and the others Dax immediately travelled into orbit with Lux, Ra and Mu, their destination was the ship Mu and Ra had used to cross dimensions, onboard it was a state of the art manufacturing facility which had been working at max capacity around the clock lately to manufacture 5th generation manatech equipment which would enable Dax, Phillipa and Lux to take on the elders.


    "So that''s it?"


    The ship in question looked nothing like the other spaceships Dax had ever seen. The half kilometre long, 1 kilometre wide, 200 metres tall, arrowhead shaped spaceship was fully enclosed in completely white armour segments with a highly irregular scale like arrangement. Contrary to Dax''s expectations the back of the rear of the ship had a single pair of propulsion units near the centre of the ship while the rest of the back appeared to be filled with a mix of access docks and open hangers containing all sorts of different smaller ships and landing crafts.


    "It looks like you''re packing a small army¡­"


    "Well, we didn''t know what kind of situation we were running into so we came prepared for all sorts of situations, luckily those preparations also made sure we included a state of the art zero g forge on board, thanks to that the entire craft can rely on mining to stay entirely self sufficient."


    Docking with the battlecruiser the group met up with Phillipa who was already on board the craft and headed for the manufacturing wing.


    "So, what do we have to work with? Give me the full rundown."


    "Right. Studying the creatures you guys have taken to calling ''elders'' we have learned a lot about them, first is the creatures strange method of propulsion.


    Tuning on a hologram while she continued explaining, Mu displayed a 3d model of one of the elders, highlighting the area around it.


    "It seems that the creatures somehow generate their own supply of the special particle using some unknown method inside their body, from what we''ve observed so far it seems that this internal supply of mana is used to generate a sort of protective forcefield around them which remains active at all points in time."


    Manipulating the 3d render as she continued explaining, Mu painted multiple bubbles around the elder.


    "This defensive ''forcefield'' is partly structured like a gravity barrier, with the outermost part of it detecting and slowing down, and capturing munitions fired at it when activated, past that is secondary and tertiary barriers which neutralize anything from ionizing radiation to thermal attacks but those are not that important. The main issue is the first part of the barrier which slows down or deflects physical attacks, to effectively bypass it we''ve developed a few weapon prototypes."


    Pointing to a line of reinforced weapon crates with the Lazarus logo on it, Mu let Ra take over the explanation as she was the weapons expert.


    "First is the simplest way of bypassing the barrier: hitting it with a projectile which moves through the barrier faster than it can be registered, to that end I humbly present an entirely new type of rifle, the Lazarus type 19 mana powered anti barrier coil rifle / ETC hybrid. It fires a newly developed 10 millimetre hypersonic armour piercing ammunition, the only downside with the system being a relatively low rate of fire with frequent interruption due to cooling or charging cycles enabling the frankly absurd amount of armour and barrier penetration. I''m also designing a 50 millimetre version of the system for mounting on vehicles, although there are still a few kinks I need to work out before it''ll be viable."


    "I''m calling dibs."


    Looking at the black rifle with purple glowing segments Phillipa immediately claimed it as her own, some part of her qiton brain felt she simply needed to have it.


    "I already knew you would say that, so I''ve already customized one of them just the way you want it."


    "Yay, Ra I love you~"


    "Then there''s this one for you Lux, I know you love to get up close and dirty."


    Opening up the next crate, Ra showed Lux a long single bladed black sword with purple lines running through its construction.


    "Instead of bypassing the barrier, this mana powered sword creates a localized anti mana field event along its blade, jamming the elders grav barrier, there''s nothing this puppy can''t cleave its way through as long as you get close enough."


    "Well, getting up close and personal is my speciality."


    While Lux and Phillipa were busy playing around with their new toys, Ra turned to Dax with a smile on her face.


    "Finally there this one for you Dax, the Lazarus R9 remote release flechette launcher, this modified heavy rifle fires a dual purpose 50 millimetre projectile equipped with a grav field jammer, once the projectile is past the defences of the target it explodes with enough explosives to level a city block, or you can detonate it early to create a large jamming field."


    "Sweet¡­ But how are we even going to get within effective range of the elders? I don''t know if you''re aware Ra, but the by far most annoying thing about the elders are their offensive spells."


    "Don''t worry about that, I''ve already figured that out~ It''s part of the main system."


    Coming to Ra''s rescue, Mu revealed the central part of the 5th generation manatech system, a powered exoskeleton with the same kind of scale like segmented armour as the Hermies, just scaled down.


    "Since our first done was taken out by an elder I''ve looked into how they do their seeming physics breaking attacks that seem to annihilate everything in their way."


    "So did you figure it out?"


    "Nope, I''ll need a sample to do that. But I did figure out how to disrupt their ability to target anything, which is almost as good. More importantly, start suiting up, we''ve identified a lone elder that''s going to make a perfect unwilling test subject~"

 258 Field testing 2

    Standing in the middle of a desolate plaza, a creature which defied all logic was busy devouring a tower made out of flesh eating fungus and the former residents of the city. The elder (as its kind had been named by the less intelligent beings of the planet) was an amalgamation of constantly decaying flesh and tentacles, cybernetic implants and strange rune formations which pulsed in different colours while it continued to devour the pile of flesh as something entered its sphere of detection. Collecting a mass of its slithering tentacles, the elder pointed towards the general direction of the annoyances, the elder formulated its spell and prepared to erase them all, but then they completely disappeared, then a fraction of a second later some sort of projectile tore right through several buildings before tearing straight through the elder''s defensive barrier, carving out a large part of its flesh.


    [Good effect on target, starting the cooling cycle.]


    Observing the impact through a drone downlink, Phillipa was already in the progress of relocating while cooling down her rifle, suddenly switching over from her full on sprint to a slide as the elder''s ''annihilating ray'' passed right over her head.


    [I need cover!]


    [On it.]


    As the elder once more targeted Phillipa something strange happened. First, a series of strong gravitational waves tore through the deserted city, cracking glass and collapsing buildings, then a split second later the elder was caught in a gravity field unable to move.


    [Signature locked, incoming.]


    [IMI CONFIRMS: TWO STAGE GRAVITATIONAL COMPRESSION SCRIPT ONLINE, DISPERSING TARGET.]


    With a sudden generation of negative gravity in the centre of the elder, its ridiculously sturdy body was torn in large chunks before the second part of Dax''s spell was enacted.


    [DISPERSION CONFIRMED, NOW ANNIHILATING TARGET.]


    While Dax closed his fist, the elder how had been ripped apart only a fraction of a second ago was now violently compressed, the sound of bones getting ground up was clearly audible even several city blocks away as the 5 metre tall creature was compressed down to the size of a basketball.


    [That won''t kill it! Phi hit it again!]


    Having fought the elders numerous times already, Dax knew full well that the creature was absurdly tenacious, simply getting torn apart and compressed with over 50 G''s of force was not enough to kill it, at most Dax had just made it angrier than it already was.


    But still, Dax had managed to keep the elder from targeting Phillipa while she waited for her Lazarus type 19 mana powered anti barrier rifle to cool down.


    (Eat this, you fucking freak.)


    [Looks like we really pissed it of¡­ Change manoeuvre pattern, go to delta 5.]


    Taking full advantage of the newly created sightlines, Dax popped out of cover without even looking in the direction of the elder as he fired his flechette launcher. Unfortunately, the elder clearly saw the projectile coming, forcing Dax to detonate the shell early


    But that was still within the margin or error.


    As the elder was showered in fragments which jammed its protective barrier and temporarily blinded it, Lux who had so far been waiting for her chance sprung into action. Taking advantage of the short window where the elder''s barrier was down, Lux collected mana into her legs, stomping the left one it into the ground, creating a shockwave which cracked apart the cobblestone next to her before it shot off towards the elder like a hail of buckshot from a shotgun while the wave of mana which spread out when her right foot hit the ground created ramp right in front of her that she jumped from, closing on on the elder as attitude control thrusters on her 5th generation manatech amour lit up and steered her past one of the elder''s tentacles which had been aiming for her.


    "You''re mine, shitface!"


    Cleaving down and to the left using her brand new sword, Lux barely felt any resistance as she cut through the elder''s body and severed a large chunk of its tentacles at the same time as another one of Phillipa''s shoots whizzed right past her head, nailing the elder''s core once more while Lux landed on the other side of the elder while collecting a large amount of mana in her free hand which she was currently pointed at the elder.


    "Now do me a favour and die!"


    Clearly sensing danger from the amount of mana Lux had just generated, the elder hastily formed a defensive barrier which only managed to cover the direction Lux was in, but of course, Lux had already predicted that.


    "Psyche~"


    (Reading too much into the moves of your opponent is a clear sign of a rank amateur. Well, when you''re basically immortal and invincible at the same time, the basics would rust somewhat... )


    Instead of an offensive spell, Lux created a dome of golden crystals which surrounded the elder, leaving only a single small gap on the opposed side of the elder right as Dax emerged out of cover once more. Hitting the figurative and literal bullseye, the 50 millimetre flechette round detonated using its impact fuse, lighting up with enough force to level an entire city block, with all of the explosive force being contained within the barrier Lux had created.


    [Good effect on primary target, let''s keep going just like that.]


    -


    "... That''s pretty brutal."


    "I believe ''effective'' would a better word in this situation, although its nothing out of the ordinary considering that those three are working together."


    "To begin with that ''elder'' thing never stood a chance, I just hope they leave enough of its corpse for us to analyse."


    Watching the fight (read: execution) from Kingstead trough satellite feed, Alice, Lilly and Solaris witnessed the truly awesome power of the three hellwalkers could display when they were working together. Of course, this was nothing new for Ra and Mu, who had seen this song and dance (read: slaughter) before, more times than the two of them even bothered to count in fact.


    "What surprises me the most is the fact that it has taken this long for Dax to kill one of those ''elders'', looking at what has happened here before we arrived I find it strange has yet to wipe them out entirely¡­"


    "That''s easy enough for you to say... Besides, what the hell is that amour? It seems to be endlessly creating mana out of thin air."


    Having watched the fight for a bit while she recognized some of the spell structures Dax was using, Solaris saw no possible explanation for what she was seeing other than mana being created on demand every single time Dax used a spell.


    "That''s right Solaris~ Dax''s suit is able to replicate the exact circumstances under which mana is created deep within this planet, thus allowing this gift granting, omnipotent extra dimensional particle to be to invade this plane of existence on demand with only a relatively tiny amount of heat as a byproduct~"


    Hearing Mu''s explanation Solaris found herself at a momentary loss for words, Ra and Mu had not even been here for a week and after such a short amount of time, they had managed to bend mana to their control multiple magnitudes more effectively than the 25 archangel sanctuaries had managed in the roughly 10.000 years since the great calamity, even more fightingly the two Avoaxians seemed to have a perfect understanding of mana, they knew how it was created and where precisely it came from.


    "You two really are scary¡­"


    Stating her honest opinion, Solaris caught Mu off guard, but she quickly recovered to her usual smiling self.


    "That''s because this is what our race was made for, as such I take those words as a compliment."


    "Made for?"


    Seeing that Solaris was confused by that statement, together with Alice and Lilly that had both been listening in, Mu realized she had forgotten to explain what exactly she and her sister was.


    "Ah, we never told you guys huh? Ra and I are Avoaxians, we''re a race made by the same ancients forerunners that made the qitons, Dax''s and Phillipa''s race. While the qiton''s are a race specialized for warfare, we Avoaxians are specialized for research and understanding knowledge, that''s why we''re Dax''s ''sisters''."


    -


    [Hit it again!]


    [Still charging, stand by.]


    After trapping the elder inside Lux''s barrier Dax had shot explosive round after explosive round into the barrier with no apparent effect, if anything it was only making the elder struggle even more as it trashed to escape from its enclosure which doubled as a kill zone.


    [The barrier is breaking, spread out!]


    [Go to redeployment, 44 03.]


    While Phillipa and Lux scattered away from the elder, Dax crouched down and smashed his fist into the ground, injecting a large amount of mana into the ground which created a miniature earthquake while a series of 30 metre tall, 5 metres thick walls created a truly massive, city wide labyrinth. Right as the final walls had risen into the sky, the elder finally broke out of its prison, screaming out in fury with its inhumane voice. While the elder had finally managed to escape from the barrier, it was far from unharmed. Bleeding black goo all over the place, the elder had lost most of its mass initial and tentacles and something which started looking like a core of the creature had started becoming visible at the centre of its decaying body.


    ".... CzzzzqzOOOOoooOoRRRRre!¡­. NfffffkkseeeEEEEEeeee! EEDDDDDDDDDDDDzzzz!!!"


    With its greatly reduced mass, the elder took a vaguely humanoid form with several heads, 2 torsos, 7 arms and legs made of slithering tentacles as a creepy looking two handed, heavily chipped sword emerged out of a red glow coming from its body.


    [Oh fuck.]


    Looking at the elder''s sword which was filled with cybernetic components as well as complicated runes, Dax felt a cold sweat break out on his back.


    [Dax do you know what that is?]


    [Yeah, I was hit with a sword like that a while ago, after getting hit by it something started taking over my body, I had to run the connection to my body through ICI just to move and even that technique quickly started becoming ineffective. I do not recommend getting hit by that thing.]


    [That sounds pleasant.]

 259 Field testing 3

    Looking at the elder''s vaguely humanoid form, Dax got a really bad premonition and not just because of the sword it had pulled out. Before he could voice that warning however, the elder disappeared, reappearing only a split second later right in front of Lux.


    (!!!!)


    As the elder swung down its sword Lux had no time to think, thus she reacted completely on instinct. Bringing up her sword to meet the downwards swing while holding it in a reverse grip, Lux didn''t even have time to be surprised when she didn''t cut through the elder''s sword, instead, she was forced to take a step back as the elder stepped in and struck with its cursed sword for the second time within a second, stopping the downward strike before it hit the ground, bringing it upwards for a second strike. Sidestepping the second strike with only a hair''s breadth, Lux continued her retreat away from the elder as it slowly lost steam before eventually disappearing once more.


    [It can teleport, but more importantly, I think it is running!]


    [I guess we pushed it far enough into a corner for it to do something so stupid.]


    Reassessing the situation while remaining alert for any signs of the elder, Dax once more realized that he was currently fighting a being completely outside his realm of understanding.


    (It really is insane... To create a perfect copy of its own quantum state, annihilating its own body before recreating a new one at the target location.)


    TL;dr, due to quantum mechanics and the no cloning theorem, the elder is killing itself every time it teleports.


    Before Dax could get more distracted by the ramifications of the elder''s action he was pulled back on mission when the elder appeared right in front of him, apparently, it believed him an easier target.


    Needless to say, it couldn''t have been more mistaken.


    Without even flinching, Dax stepped into the elder''s range as it brought down its sword, he kicked the pair of arms which held the sword and deflected it away from him while aiming his 50 mill flechette launcher at centre mass. But before the flechette round even left the barrel the elder once more teleported, appearing once more right behind Dax, this time aiming to decapitate him outright with its sword.


    [Phillipa, cover please.]


    [On it, on your mark~]


    While making sure Phillipa was set up, Dax collapsed his own stance, bending over backwards as he brought his feet back up and kicked the elder in the chest, sending it flying.


    [Fire.]


    Achieving the minimum needed separation between himself and the elder, Dax gave Philipa the green light to fire.


    [Firing.]


    Ripping straight through a few city blocks, Phillipa''s aim was flawless as always, but in the time it took to squeeze the trigger the elder had already teleported again.


    (This is getting old really fast¡­ IMI please establish a pattern.)


    (ORDER CONFIRMED.)


    [Force it out of hiding before it regenerates! Mu, find me a target!]


    Dax''s intuition told him that the elder was still in the area, but now that it started putting a lot of effort into using hit and run tactics it was clear that it was stalling for time. Hearing Dax''s command over the radio Lux generated mana which she challenged into strengthening magic, jumping between half collapsed buildings and the rock walls Dax had created until she reached a church tower which enabled her to overlook a large part of the city. Casting a wide angle, relatively low powered heating spell from her new vantage point, Lux looked for any irregularities, finding an area inside a nearby building which wasn''t affected.


    [Target!]


    [Relocating, standby¡­ Firing.]


    Within no time at all the elder was once more drawn out of hiding, its grotesque body leaking black, goo like blood all over the place as its multiple mouths continued shouting incoherent words, even if Lux couldn''t understand what it was saying it was clearly pissed off.


    "AAAAAAAAzzzzzhHHHh!!! IqqQQpNSsssSOzLlllEEEEEEEeeeNT!!!"


    [Wait, that was actually somewhat coherent.]


    Cutting off a house sized piece of the wall she was currently standing on, Lux used a mix of acceleration and light magic to first make the chunk invisible, then launch it towards the shouting elder. Seeing the attack coming the elder slashed the compressed rock in half, but it hadn''t been prepared for Lux who had followed right behind. Tossing out a few daggers made of golden crystals, Lux used magic to manipulate the airflow around her, moving out of the way of the elder''s sword before cleaving a few of its arms off. Enraged by losing even more of its biomass, the elder let out another shout as one of surviving arms transformed into a set of decaying tentacles flying in Lux direction, forcing her to open up the distance as the elder created a swarm of arm sized black mana crystals in the air around it, sending them all flying after Lux as soon as they were completely formed. Detonating like they had proximity fuses, the elder forced Lux back for long enough to start regenerating its corrupted flesh before disappearing once more.


    (Shit, it teleport- No it didn''t!)


    Having lost sight of the elder Lux unintentionally lowered her guard, something she came to regret the very next second when she realized that the elder had camouflaged itself the same way Dax had cloaked the chunk of rock only a minute earlier. Reappearing right in front of Lux the elder once more swung down its cursed sword as it aimed to cleave Lux in half, but unlike the last times it tried that tactic, the elder was already prepared for the attack to be ineffective, as such it was only a distraction. At the same time as the elder''s cursed sword hit Lux''s, the elder was already continuing its offensive as it formed a spear out of its own flesh which it plunged towards Lux''s head. Swapping hands on her sword, Lux switched her centre of gravity while continuing to parry the elder''s sword as she sidestepped the elder''s spear with minimal separation. As the elder''s spear passed Lux''s head it transformed back into a mass of tentacles and wrapped around Lux''s head and gripped her, picking her up then flung her into a building. As Lux crashed through several buildings Phillipa chose the moment to re engage, having relocated to a new firing position she executed a perfect ambush but somehow the elder saw the shot coming and sidestepped it, suffering only minimal damage.


    "What the fuck!-"


    Realizing too late that she had just given away her position, Phillipa cut her own words short as all the hairs on her back suddenly stood up straight. A split second later a single black crystal priced straight through the building she was in, passing right through the exact location her head had been just a moment before.


    [Seems like it has finally started taking this thing seriously¡­ Lux, are you still alive?]


    Observing the state of the battle from the rear, Dax''s aura started changing.


    [Sadly.]


    Popping a few of the vertebra in her neck back into place, Lux spat out a mouthful of blood before a cold smile formed on her face.


    [Philippa?]


    [Operational.]


    [Then let''s do this for the first time in a while, IMI establish pattern black.]


    [ORDER CONFIRMED, PREPARING FOR FULL MIND DOMINATION. WARNING: COMPLETE MIND MELT IN EFFECT. EXPECTED CORRUPTION AT 100% PATTEN BLACK NOW IN EFFECT.]


    """I have control. IMI load CQC program, disregard all safety protocols and establish CAS priority omega."""


    The first one to act after reorganizing was Lux who charged the elder with a vacant look in her eyes, seeming more like a puppet than herself.


    "Download complete, pattern analysed."


    Sliding her footing in the very last second, Lux flawlessly sidestepped the elder''s sword as mana suddenly bloomed in the air around her. Forming a complicated array of different coloured runes using the massively increased processing power, the runes looked more like a jigsaw puzzle than anything else, but still, it activated without issue. Creating multiple blades made of highly compressed plasma in the air around her, Lux attacked like a whirlwind, carving up the elder with blades that instantly cauterized the wounds they created, causing even more damage to the elder.


    "Optimal assault pattern archived: Striker."


    While Lux kept the elder busy Philipa and Dax wasn''t idle, the former had relocated to the top of church tower, aiming her Lazarus type 19 mana powered anti barrier rifle at the elder''s core with a dazed expression on her face as mana flared around her, constantly creating and breaking down rune formations, creating an ever reforming rainbow coloured halo like aura around her.


    "Commencing 5639th optimal pattern test¡­ Test successful."


    Archiving the breakthrough she needed at that moment, Phillipa''s aura changed as her eyes completely lost their focus while a pair of angel like wings made of see through mana crystals started growing from her back.


    With the resources currently available to her, Phillipa no longer needed her eyes to target the elder.


    "Thermoacoustic engine script operational, suppressing target."


    Generating high amplitude localized sound waves which cooled down her rifle, Phillipa eliminated the sole limiting factor on her fire rate as she started suppressing the elder with fully automatic fire which perfectly interwove with Lux''s current offensive.


    The elder which was already sustaining quite a lot of damage from Lux somehow found the spare energy and mana to deal with Phillipa, creating an array of black crystals the size of a person, the elder launched a burst of them in an attempt to silence its new threat.


    "Counter battery detected, killing with CWIS."


    Continuing to suppress the elder sacrificed a small amount of her fire rate and redirected the freed mana to form a defensive screen, identifying every single projectile that was launched at her, calculating if they were a threat then shooting down only those that were going to hit her with her own swarm of mana crystals.


    "Optimal artillery pattern achieved: Archer."


    Under an ever increasing intensity of fire, the elder was no longer able to regenerate or form effective defences fast enough, as it seemed like it realized that the elder''s mana output once more soared but it finally seemed like it was reaching dangerous levels as the elder''s core started producing gravitational waves of a highly irregular nature.


    (That wave pattern is?... Ah, right. Of course it is¡­)


    "Tch. Seems like I won''t be able to go for an offensive style after all¡­ Utility it is."


    Having already fully optimized his manatech armour and equipment, Dax was forced to start from scratch when he finally realized what the elder''s really were.

 260 N generation warfare 1

    "... Fascinating."


    "Indeed¡­ I think we can mark this test as a success, Dax really is the perfect person to test these things for us."


    "Yeah, he really is great. Sadly this is his only redeeming feature."


    While Ra and Mu were observing the field test of their newly developed weapon system they came to realize just how much they had missed Dax''s ability to take a weapon system of theirs to its absolute limits. Acting as scientists, engineers and weapons developers at the same time with ridiculous efficiency there simply wasn''t that many gina p- test subjects who could keep up with the two of them when they really got into it, but Dax always managed to keep up without issue.


    "W-what the hell are they doing?"


    Meanwhile, Alice who had very little idea about the technical side of it all saw how only 3 people completely decimated what had up until only a few minutes ago been an undefeatable, immortal, ever regenerating enemy, while the proper response to seeing such a thing might have been to cheer Dax and the others on, Alice realized that this would only serve to isolate Dax even further from everyone else, including herself.


    "After linking up with mind melting, they used their compounded processing power to optimize the manatech combat platform¡­ But still, I hadn''t expected they would go with highly specialized and individual outfits like this, or should I call them ''classes''? In any event, this is definitely a new generation of warfare."


    "Agreed, there are so many possibilities."


    While Ra and Mu continued to just be excited about the new prospects revealed by their successful field test, Alice remained worried about Dax.


    (Is he really still himself? Or is this who he has always been?)


    This was the first time Alice had seen Dax mind melt with two other fully fledged members of the 125th at the same time, from that point onwards their engagement with the elder completely seized being anything one could call a fair fight, or even a fight for that matter, it was just a one sided, excruciatingly painful and slow execution. The worst part in all that was Dax''s calmness about it all, even though he was currently mind melted with Lux and Phillipa, Alice could tell what part of the moves they were doing most likely came from him since she knew him intimately.


    (Please survive and come back to us.)


    What she saw was moments and commands which held no regard for his own life, while she knew this was how Dax fought and lived, seeing it to this scale and sheer recklessness was still somewhat frightening.


    "Lilly?"


    "He''s going to be okay."


    Perhaps having sensed her worry Lilly had managed to sneak all the way up next to Alice without her noticing, grasping Alice''s hand the tiny elver showed a confident smile although the hand which tightly grasped Alice was slightly shaking.


    "Well, that was kind of a letdown."


    "Yeah, looks like it wasn''t used to fighting against enemies able to neutralize its advantages."


    Standing over the corpse of the former elder, Dax let out a sigh of boredom as the mana crystal, plasma coated battleaxe disappeared. The elder''s corpse, now nothing more than a putrefactive mass of decaying, half rotten flesh and failing cybernetic implants, even its mana producing core was leaking the signature black, goo like blood was steadily leaking from its cracks and the serval bullet holes Phillipa had supplied it with. Picking up the chest sized core Dax pried the composite amour shell open as Phillipa arrived.


    "So, what''s in the box!? Or core I guess¡­ Tch, that joke doesn''t really work."


    With a sly smile on her face, Phillipa quoted some unknown movie as she walked up to Dax and looked over his shoulder.


    Needless to say, she immediately regretted that decision.


    "What the fuck is that!?"


    "Looks like a somewhat compact mana generator and a heavily augmented cerebrum hooked up to an extremely crude life support system."


    Describing what he saw in a cold and clinical manner Dax didn''t really act all that shocked about what he saw, after all, he had already figured it out.


    "I can see that! But what the fuck is up with that text!? It''s traditional qiton writing, ''With this final modification I''ve finally completed the final journey for my race, this is truly the perfect qiton form!"


    "Yeah, I don''t really think we need a DNA test for this one, that is a qiton brain. In other words, the elder''s are former qitons¡­ It actually makes sense if you think about it."


    While Dax remained calm, Phillipa was freaking out enough for the both of them combined, meanwhile, Lux was too busy trying her very best not to puke, from the way that message was written on the inside of the core, it seemed the qiton had willingly taken that form, that thought made her sick to her stomach.


    "How the hell those that make any sense!? I know I shouldn''t be the one to say this, but as qiton''s, we hold your bodies sacred, how could anyone of your kin do something like this!?"


    What Phillipa referred to was the qiton main religion, as beings who knew they had been created they worshipped their creators and were thankful for the bodies they had been bestowed, as such tampering with that body in the manner this elder had would be considered sacrilegious on the highest level.


    "There''s no way to know they hold the same views as we do today, just because we''re the same species doesn''t make us the same and it definitely shouldn''t impact your current attitude about the mission, we are to completely exterminate the elders in their entirety, that doesn''t change just because they are or were qitons at some point."


    "... I guess, sorry for overreacting."


    -


    Retreating from the area without any problems, Lux, Phillipa and Dax managed to haul back a somewhat intact elder core while completing a practical field test of the new weapon system. Leaving the grander implications of the elders being former qiton''s aside, Dax decided to focus on the practical side of things and made sure Ra and Mu would start development of a general purpose and drone friendly version of the effective anti elder weapons before they looked over the recovered elder core and biomass.


    With nothing more to do, Dax retired to his apartment to have a drink, but the moment he opened the door he was immediately swarmed by the girls who refused to let go of him. Not knowing what exactly was going on with them, Dax took a shot in the dark.


    "Thanks for worrying about me, I guess."


    "That''s not what you''re supposed to say in this situation."


    "Honestly this child is too much sometimes~"


    And of course, the shot went way wide, judging by Solaris'' cold smile and Lilly''s nails that were currently digging into his sides. Having horribly misjudged the situation, Dax decided to just endure his punishment in silence, why he even had to endure this he had no idea, but fighting it now would just end in more trouble than it was worth, so he just spent his time patting Alice''s head with a somewhat complacent look on his face. After a few more minutes of punishment and repentance, the girls eventually let up, after a few silent nods between each other, Alice finally started talking.


    "Are you aware just how frightening that was? Seeing you fighting like that was honestly terrifying."


    "Why? I had everything somewhat under control."


    "That right there is exactly what we''re talking about, you damn simpleton! It honestly looked like you were trying to get yourself killed out there today!"


    WIth Dax continuing to be denser than most objects in the universe Lilly got so impatient with him that she started hitting his chest while she burst out her complaints.


    (Aaaa, they were worried about me. I guess this is the first time they saw me fight with both Lux and Phillipa.)


    Catching Lilly''s fists which had surprisingly little force behind them, Dax did his best to show a warm smile as he started explaining.


    "I understand now, the way I did things looked reckless so you were worried about me, thank you for that Lilly."


    "I-it''s not like I was worr- Wait, stop trying to sidestep the main issues like that! If that wasn''t reckless then I don''t know what it was!"


    Seeing that the other two were of the same opinion, Dax took a deep breath as he thought about how to explain his mind melted fighting style. Failing to do so he let out another deep breath as he just started talking without thinking about the words that were coming out his mouth.


    "When fighting in the Iron race containment war on the front lines I usually acted alone with a drone battalion under my command on deployments where I would usually take action on my own devices and take over a few systems before I came back home. But sometimes there would be some counteroffensive or important positions we just had to take with limited forces or something like that."


    While continuing his monologue, Dax made sure to shower the girls with attention, something that seemed to go over very well with them.


    "When it came down to those kinds of missions I would always go with Lux and Phillipa, since I''ve known Phillipa my entire life and Lux for her entire life it would be an understatement to say that we just know each other. I''ve been fighting alongside those two for several lifetimes longer, usually, we don''t even need to talk, we know how each other act and trust each other to act how we think they do even before they do it, so I entrust my back to them completely."


    It was clearly visible on Dax''s face that he truly meant every single one of the words coming out of his mouth, even if he didn''t know how to convey it exactly the way he wanted.


    "While what you guys saw today was that concept taken to its extreme, that trust and bond are why I can fight as effectively as I do, while it at some times might appear reckless I can promise that it isn''t. If anything I''m usually the reserved part of the group."


    Having finished his somewhat failed attempt at an explanation, Dax was very hesitant if the girls understood what he was trying to convey for a moment, that''s until all of them showed somewhat happy smiles and he once more remembered that the three of them loved him, thus it would be logical that they somehow knew what kind of person he was at heart.


    "If any of you want to I can go over the entire battle and explain every single decision that seemed confusing or reckless in some way, although that would properly take a few hours."


    "Please do exactly that!"


    "Eh?"


    Reacting unexpectedly seriously to his half assed offer, Lilly managed to surprise Dax as he figured they would rather do something else now that they all had the evening off.


    "I agree! I think I''ll learn a lot from your personal explanation Dax!"


    With Alice also agreeing to his off hand remark Dax turned to Solaris with a slightly hopeful expression on his face, it wasn''t that he didn''t want to explain the fight, but rather that he figured that the girls would rather like to do something else.


    "I-I would also like to hear about that, I want to know about that shield formation you used at the end."


    (Well, shit. This is going to be a long night, and not for the reasons I expected¡­)

 261 N generation warfare 2

    "--- And then instead of sleeping I had Iris help me develop a working prototype for the swarm type drone I called you at 2 about, and you''re not listening to me are you, Dax?"


    "... No, I''m not, sorry. I''m just a bit distracted because of what I was doing last night and it is not the reason you''re thinking about so please put that gun away!"


    In the middle of talking about further development options with Ra, Dax somehow managed to zone out as he thought about what had happened last night, spending all night with Alice, Lilly and Solaris he had explained every single action and consideration he took when he fought the elder along with his switching strategies while going over what he would change if he had more information at the time and what he would have done differently. Surprisingly none of the girls fell asleep doing that time and they even showed genuine interest, apparently, the three of them all had a desire to grow stronger so they could fight together with Dax instead of just waiting for him to come back and hope he came back unharmed.


    "So they want to fight alongside you?... That''s dumb, there''s no way they could keep up with a pureblood qiton with your amount of experience"


    "Yeah, you would think that¡­ But they are all extremely fast learners, I think they''ll be ready for actual combat as a part of the 125th within 5 years, 2 or even 1 year if they''re dedicated enough."


    "... If you say so."


    Hearing Dax vouch for the girls Ra was taken aback slightly with his behaviour, Dax had changed significantly while she hadn''t had her eyes on her, which at the same time made Ra happy that he had grown emotionally, but slightly sad she hadn''t been there to witness it.


    "I can see you''re distracted so I''ll keep this brief then, what do you want to go for?"


    "General combat effectiveness and rapid deployment, I also want that 50 mill vehicle mounted anti barrier rifle operational as my gut feeling tells me I''ll need it down the line. Let''s have this elder thing wrapped up within 2 weeks tops, after that, I want to get back home and get things under control, also I need to reclassify myself as alive instead of KIA, having that on my profile isn''t that great for my wages."


    Outlining his general course of action for the current and next actions Ra started pouting out of nowhere.


    "And are you bringing those girls back with you?"


    It wasn''t that Ra didn''t like the girls, but she hadn''t approved of them yet, as such she remained on guard.


    "Yeah I am, otherwise they wouldn''t even let me leave this place. Also, Mare, Lia, Ifrit, Iris and the twins are most likely coming along."


    "Are you sure you don''t want to take more along? We are going on a tourist trip after all."


    "I did want to take Chad, Xi and her parents with me but they have responsibilities within their clan they need to deal with."


    "You guys figured out how to make mana materialize right? Wouldn''t that be a great weapon against the Emergence?... I don''t know if you''ve seen but Solaris and Ifrit are walking strategic class weapons."


    Presented with something she hadn''t thought of, Ra couldn''t oppose Dax any longer, after all, the Emergence most likely couldn''t adapt to magic spells in an amount of time that would matter.


    Basically, mana might be the countermeasure the galactic Empire needed to turn the war.


    "Then for our short term goals, you want me to speed up deployment for drone compatible versions of anti elder weapons and the 50 mill?"


    "Yeah, also if you could add an extra set of manatech armour to the queue it would be perfect."


    "What the hell would you need that for?"


    Ra had expected that just Phillipa, Lux and Dax were going to fight, thus she had already prepared next generation amour for them and couldn''t imagine what she would need an extra set for.


    "For Ifrit, they are a resource I feel like I can''t just leave on the bench."


    "Ifrit? Really? I think they are just super annoying and not that helpful."


    "Yeah they''re annoying all right, but I''ve gotten used to it after having them stuck in my head for a long time, besides, Ifrit is a honest to god, actually demon. Having them in a battle is nice."


    "If you say so, I''ll try and squeeze an extra set of manatech armour into the production queue somewhere. What kind of specialization do you have in mind for them?"


    "Considering that it is Ifrit we''re talking about¡­ Just go for maximum destructive output and they''ll love it."


    "... ''Maximum destructive output'', huh? Okay, I can do that."


    ---


    In the blink of an eye, a full week passed. In that time Dax was hardly stationary for more than 15 minutes as he went back and forth between orbit and different forward operating bases together with Phillipa and Lux in preparation for the invasion of the elder controlled imperial continent while also personally overseeing test and deployment of the new N generation manatech equipped drones, or just N drones for short.


    If all that was not enough, Dax also had to appear at a united powers summit where he presented legislation that would lay the groundwork for creating an international democratic organization that would eventually be integrated into the galactic empire as a special territory. With all those things to do, Dax understandably didn''t have any time to talk with or entertain the girls but for once they didn''t seem to mind all that much, most likely because they had been informed on the elder''s true identity. It would seem that the fact that the elders were former qitons who had given up their own bodies in some twisted attempt to become the perfect weapon disturbed everyone, but Dax (and Lux to a lesser extend) honestly couldn''t care less, the way the two had been raised and trained to battle the identity of their enemies didn''t matter in the slightest, while as for Dax specifically, he was planning to figure out exactly what had led his kin to do such a thing by examining their cerebral tissue.


    After he had annihilated every single one of them, of course.


    Plans for the future aside, Dax was currently inspecting the latest generation N drone schematic and going over a host of its different capabilities and systems, if it still had any kind of flaws or shortcomings, this was the last chance for Ra and Mu to overhaul the entire inventory of ready drones before the start of the invasion.


    "So? Anything that looks to be not up to standard?"


    "Not so far no."


    While Dax was going over some of the last documents at home in his apartment, Lilly took the chance to talk with him for the first time in a week.


    "Then why do you look so troubled?"


    "Because they''re too perfect, that''s the problem."


    "Huh? How is that possible? ''perfect'' is the perfect state no?"


    As Lilly continued the conversation, Dax figured he had earned a little break as he put down the tablet that had been glued to his hand for the last few days, pressing a button on the corner of the frame which switched the blueprints he was currently looking at from 2d to a 3d augmented reality projection, making Lilly put on a pair of AR interface glasses so she could see what he was doing.


    "The new N generation drones are a completely new design line consisting of 4 distinct units, not only that, but there''s not even a single internal component that has ever been used before. Normally a new generation weapon like this would have at least 20% of its structure constructed of systems, components and modules which have already been tested, that way it is easier to iron out any kinks found after deployment by relying on those already tested components."


    Reaching out and clicking on one of the larger N drones simply named, the ??carrier'', Dax tapped the hologram and made the drone disassemble into its components.


    "Although Ra and Mu already have conducted live testing under combat like scenarios, those tests can not completely simulate the real thing. Right now there''s a possibility that I''ll have a worst case scenario on my hands with no way to fix it."


    "I see, that sure sounds troubling."


    Basically, Dax had no absolute guarantee that all the parts of this brand new system would play together nice when it became time for live combat, normally a system on the scale as this one would normally have a small number of theoretical kinks that Dax could spot from the documents, thus he would have some idea of what was breaking if it came to that, but after spending the last 22 hours going over these designs he hadn''t found a single one, thus his gut continued to tell him that he had to check it over one more time.


    (So he''s nervus? Really?)


    Coming to that internal conclusion Lilly seriously doubted herself for a moment, she was sure of her hypothesis when she looked back at Dax to see that he had already gone back to looking over the blueprints and flowcharts while scratching his hair in annoyance which could only seem form reviewing the same page for the 205th time.


    (Honestly¡­. He really is a child sometimes, or most of the time actually?)


    Making herself aware of a realization about Dax she had overlooked so far, Lilly was about to sigh deeply when a teasing smile instead started forming on her face.


    (Well, that is part of his charm so it''s fine~)


    Hopping down from the chair opposed to Dax, Lilly walked around to his back without Dax even noticing him, something which only served to further build evidence for her hypothesis, thus widening her teasing smile further.


    Collecting the ambient mana in her hands, Lilly gently set off of the floor and floated up above Dax, cutting off the supply of mana to her spell gravity once more took hold of the tiny elver as she fell down on top of Dax, landing on his lap and instantly pressed her advantage as she moved her eyes right in front of Dax''s, bringing the pairs face''s only a few centimetres from each other.


    "So, in other words, you''re doubting your sister''s capabilities? Good thing they Mu gave me her number on that ''cellphone'' of hers, I''m sure she''ll love to hear about that~"


    "Tha-"


    "Yeah, that''s exactly how I see it."


    "..."


    Realizing that saying anything more would only serve to dig his own grave deeper, Dax shut his mouth and considered flicking Lilly''s smug looking face for a few seconds, eventually deciding against it as he realized that her words held some amount of truth behind them.


    "Now that''s a good puppy~ I love it when you just shut up like that, it makes my body tingle~"


    (This little!)


    Being mocked like that by Lilly Dax was just about to snap back when he finally calmed down, instead stealthily wrapping an arm around the smug looking elver''s back without her noticing.


    "Now that I''ve calmed you down puppy your master here deserves a reward~ Come on, don''t be shy about it~"


    In her rush to claim victory, Lilly had forgotten something important about her opponent, the more pissed off Dax was, the more cunning he would be. It was first when Dax matched Lilly''s own smile she realized her error, making her escape too late as she was already captured by Dax.


    "Okay then, I''ll be a good puppy~"


    "Now Dax wait just a second,-"


    "Nope~"


    "... I went too far, I''m sorry. Therefore please have mercy!"


    "... Nope~"

 262 Reconquest 1

    With the time continuing its ever present march forward, it was eventually time to retake the imperial continent and exterminate the elders. Instead of the planned approach, the operation would be carried out almost entirely by drones with only a few ''specialists'' taking the field, specifically the drones where of the new N generation drones which had just started production instead of ''live'' soldiers. That news was received with cheers all around, for just simply containing the elders for a month had taken much more blood than initially estimated as a million of the troops had already died in battle or deserted.


    "Can''t we just abandon this place instead of using all this time to win this war of annihilation? Don''t get me wrong, I''m aware this is a problem from ''our'' world, so we should fix it, but are we not wasting too much time here instead of going home and dealing with the Emergence?"


    While suiting up together with Lux, Dax and Ifrit, Philipa asked that question, given what she had shared about the state of the war against the Emergence, her argument had solid reasoning.


    "Because we need this place. While the current situation in the galactic empire is unknown, we can not afford to abandon this place."


    Holding up 3 fingers Dax continued explaining.


    "Without knowing the exact situation we need to prepare accordingly. If the Galactic Empire has already won, we need this place as a solid base for exploring and settling in this new dimension as the natural resources back home are almost depleted due to the war effort. If we''ve already lost then we need this place as an evac point for what survivors remain. The 3rd possibility being that the war is still ongoing, but as you have reported we''re losing, in that case, wouldn''t it be great to have a place to evac civ''s if need be?"


    "... Fair enough, then let''s get this thing over with as soon as possible."


    "Agreed, but there''s still no reason to drag this any more than we have to, therefore I''ll stay here to deal with the aftermath while you two head directly back to the Galactic Empire. When everything is under control I''ll join you."


    Presenting a proposal she had carried for a while, Lux made it clear from her expression alone that she would not be accepting any compromise.


    "I assume you''ve already talked with Ra and Mu about this?"


    "Yeah, they''ll go back with the two of you, leaving the LCDT-456 in your possession while they split up and go back here with another ship that''s already under construction."


    [IMI REPORTS: 6TH GENERATION MANATECH AMOUR READY FOR OPERATORS, GO FOR DROP.]


    "That''s our call, we''ll hash out the details when we''ve got this shit over with. For now, there''s work to do."


    "You mean slaughter, right?~?"


    "Yeah, in your case Ifrit, feel free to slaughter as much as you want as long as you stay in combat formation."


    "Yay~?"


    "... That looked so effortlessly."


    "Yeah, that''s because unlike us they don''t have pain receptors in that body of theirs."


    -


    Landing on the beach Dax powered down his flight unit as he started sinking into the sand until he activated the mana generator and stabilized the sand below him with magic. The new 6th generation manatech armour was the heaviest design, being more of an armoured exoskeleton like the Rex- instead of a regular set of armour. With the mana generator up and running, Dax''s mat black manatech amour lit up slightly, glowing a faint purple as various support drones started hovering in the air around him.


    "I''m down."


    [Same, holding pattern 5 by 5. Waiting for go.]


    [touchdown confirmed.]


    [I''ve landed this thing too, can we start already?~?]


    "Sure, remember to stay within range of your carriers."


    With no further need for further communications, Dax cut off his link and started focusing on the neural connection he had with his armour and the drones around him.


    (Everything seems to be working perfectly, as expected of Ra and Mu¡­ Oh, perfect timing, here comes the first target.)


    Switching gears in an instant, Dax tapped his foot two times on the ground as the attack drones around him went into battle formation behind him.


    (Now what are you going to do, attack, defend or flee?...)


    Looking straight at the elder which was currently observing him from a few kilometres away, Dax waited for it to make the first move while making sure he was ready to strike back. After observing Dax for a while, the elder''s decaying limbs started moving, coalescing into a mass which pointed straight at him.


    (Of course, you''re going to attack¡­ Why am I even surprised?)


    Responding in kind, Dax put out his arm, in response the drones all around him locked onto the elder at the same time it fired its annihilation spell.


    "Oh, no you fucking don''t, I already know how to counter that little trick of yours."


    Sending out a counter pulse, Dax prevented the elder from killing him as the ray of destruction stopped about 10 metres short.


    "Emergency counter field test successful¡­ And with that, I have no further need for you. All units prosecute targets with extreme prejudice."


    Deciding not to bother with a single elder, Dax ordered the new N generation attack drones which were flying around him to take care of it for him. Meanwhile, the elder displayed signs of confusion and even a tiny bit of fear over the fact that its attack had been blocked, but those emotions didn''t persist for more than a moment as it was forced to react as some kind of projectile fired at it priced the elder''s shields without issue, carving out a significant amount of biomass. Putting up additional shields, the elder spread its awareness out to the surrounding area and quickly located some kind of small UAV type drone, but as the elder targeted it, it disappeared without a trace as 20 more of the same kind appeared all around the elder, engaging form a range of around 2 kilometres the small UAV''s kept moving faster than the elder could track them as they continued mercilessly ripping away the elder''s flesh with precision fire. Continuing to tear away at is flesh, the elder eventually reached the point where it couldn''t afford to worry about anything else other than surviving the current encounter, thus it started teleporting in an attempt to catch at least some of the drones, but that only sealed its fate. The moment the elder stabilized the spacetime around it to teleport, it announced its precise location to anyone listening.


    [TARGET ACQUIRED, CORE IDENTIFIED.]


    Far behind the front line, about 50 kilometres away from the shoreline of the imperial continent, one of the carrier type N generation drone assigned to Dax reacted to the minute gravitational signature the elder had generated, in a split second it reoriented itself, aiming its spinal mounted 50 mill type 20 anti barrier railgun at the destination of the elder''s teleportation.


    [TERMINATING HOSTILE CONTACT.]


    As the carrier fired it sealed the fate of the elder. With no time to react the elder who had just teleported was hit by the carrier''s ultra high velocity anti barrier sabot without even a nanosecond of warning, pricing its core without any significant amount of resistance and killing the elder.


    "IMI, relay to control: Splash one."


    [DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED.]

 263 Reconquest 2

    "... And that makes 6, they must start to realize what''s going on at this point."


    Cutting the supply of mana, Dax let go of the battleaxe which was still embedded in the elder''s core as it dematerialized at the same time as he stood back up to look at the field of carnage and destruction which surrounded him. Once more he had fought and survived long enough to enter a new stage of warfare, but compared to the times he made rebels disappear from the shadows or when he advanced over earth scorched by nuclear fire, this level of destruction truly was something else, the visceral amount of blood and gore from his opponents combined with the destruction which was like countless natural disasters had happened all at once filled Dax with a truly ecstatic feeling, humans might call this feeling ''the joy of battle'', but Dax and all other qiton''s called it something else.


    The joy of existence.


    (Shit, again?... I would seem I''ve been more off centre than normal lately.)


    Needless to say, Dax was repulsed by such a feeling, for the simple reason that his mother had taught him doing his childhood: An excited qiton is the same as a dull blade, while still somewhat effective its nothing more than a blunt, imprecise instrument.


    (Return to zero¡­)


    Completely killing what little emotions were still left inside him for the moment, Dax once more focused on the state of the reconquest of the Imperial continent.


    Phillipa, Lux and Ifrit had each killed a handful of elders themselves as they had advanced inland together with Dax while spreading a newly developed herbicide capable of killing the elder''s flesh and electricity eating fungus they had brought with them from the lost sanctuary. Although he wasn''t sure what exactly the elder''s needed that fungus for, Dax figured it wouldn''t hurt exterminating it, at best he had taken something important from the elder''s and at worst he had exterminated the fungus that a lot of imperial natives utterly despised.


    (Still, there has to be some reason why they bring that stuff with them wherever they''re going, otherwise, they wouldn''t do so¡­ Then there''s the issue of the towers made out of fungus and biomatter which we''ve found in every major city so far and the missing recon force, biological matter aside we should at least have found some kind of remains, but there''s nothing¡­)


    With too many mysteries still surrounding the elders, Dax was well aware he couldn''t afford to act on emotions, but it would seem fate had other ideas for him.


    [IMI REPORTS: HOSTILE CONTACT, BEARING: 003, RANGE: 5.091 METRES, CLOSING FAST.]


    (... Here we go again.)


    Snapped out of his train of thought by IMI reporting imminent hostile contact, Dax fired up his neural connection and accessed the supercomputer aboard the Hermes to aid him in spell creation. Falsely believing this was going to be a fight like any other Dax sent out the N generation drones to deal with the closing elder, but as the first one was destroyed only a few seconds later the qiton realized his mistake. With the destruction of the first drone, the next ones quickly followed as the elder targeted them without issue, completely negating any of the drones attempts at cloaking or dodge, indicating that it had figured out how to neutralize the passive jamming Dax and his drones had so far used to hide. Nailing home the fact that it could see him, the elder''s mana flared as it pointed a mass of tentacles directly at Dax.


    "Oh fuc-"


    So far the elder''s had attacked without any sort of tactics or combat knowledge behind their actions, this had lured Dax into a false sense of security, something he only just realized at the same time as he rushed to create a defensive spell formation in time. As a shield made out of black mana crystals formed in front of Dax, every part of the surrounding vibrant forest which faced the elder turned black and charred, then it caught fire.


    (A thermal pulse? When the fuck- No, more importantly, I need to close the range, and fast!)


    [IMI report to all operators: Irregular elder encountered, all attack drones lost, requesting backup and fire support!]


    Activating the flight components of his manatech armour, Dax set off the ground in a full on sprint as a pair of large wings made out of mana crystals formed on his back. While Dax desperately attempted to close the range before his armour melted, the elder didn''t just remain idle and wait for its advantage to be neutralized. With its free tentacles, the elder injected mana into the ground around it before ripping up large chunks of the earth which compressed into javelins which it hurled towards while it continued bathing him in ultra high energy protons, hoping that its opponent would melt before it started posing a real challenge. In addition to the thermal pulse and constant barrage of javelins, the elder also started creating shields made out of mana crystals, not unlike the ones Dax relied on for defence. The reasoning behind that move only remained a mystery for a few seconds, as the elder suddenly surrounded itself in a multi layered shield wall just before it came under attack from orbital artillery.


    [Artillery ineffective! Switch to smart and armour piercing munitions!]


    [DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED, TASKING CAS.]


    With the brief break in attacks from the elder as it shielded itself from the artillery, Dax continued to close the range while preparing an array of offensive spells at the same time. Knowing that he needed to take this fight seriously, Dax decided to go straight for the kill as he formed a lance made out of superheated plasma which he rammed towards the elder''s shield formation with all his weight and the added momentum of his flight formation, but in the end, he only managed to penetrate a few layers of shielding before he was forced to retreat away from the elder''s tentacles which swarmed out of the gaps in its shield to trap and immobilize him. Abandoning his cumbersome lance Dax instead materialized a pair of short swords while his armour was covered in spikes and blades made out of mana crystals, dissuading the elder from capturing him with its tentacles as he started breaking down its defences while avoiding blade tipped tentacles that the elder continuously tried to stab him in the eyes with. Slashing at tentacles whenever he had an opening to do so, Dax found himself more pressured than he had been in several hundred years, thus he had absolutely no room or spare reassures to think about anything other than the current fight, doing so would certainly lead to his death. waving in, out and around the elder''s tentacles like a boxer aided by manoeuvring thrusters, Dax continued to try and reduce the elder''s mass in hopes that he could soon target the elder''s core and kill it for good, but alas nothing seemed to go according to plan as the elder transformed its numerous shields into blades of all different shapes as it went on the offensive as it once more started attempting to fry Dax alive with a sustained high energy thermal pulse. In response, Dax was once more forced to abandon all offensive manoeuvres as he covered himself in multiple layers of defensive shields while opening up the range and making sure that he kept as much natural cover between himself and the elder as possible.


    Keeping cover between himself and the elder, Dax continued trying to reduce the elder''s biomass as he flung out whatever spells he could, hoping to buy whatever time he could, but the current situation continued to deteriorate the more cynical parts of Dax''s mind found it increasingly more logical to compare his current situation to that of a single foot soldier stuck in a fox hole facing a tank.


    Simply put, he was shit out of luck.


    (HOSTILE OFFENSIVE PATTERN CHANGE CONFIRMED, HYPOTHESIS: STALLING FOR TIME¡­ 95.6% LIKELY, PROCESSING¡­)


    Keeping up its offensives the elder had realized that its opponent was stalling for time until they could be reinforced.


    (COUNTERMEASURES FORMULATED: CHANGE OF DOCTRINE REQUIRED, TASKING BIOMATTER RELOCATION SCRIPTS, ALLOCATE FOR MAXIMUM MANEUVERABILITY AND FIREPOWER¡­ ***** SHAPE NECESSARY, PURGING UNNECESSARY BIOMATTER.)


    While the elder continued to fight its shape suddenly started to change, its writhing, decaying tentacles started leaking a black, goo like liquid as other parts of its formless body was covered in a complex array of runes which slowly started changing the elder''s shape while optimizing it for close quarter combat as it had calculated those functions where vital in killing its current opponent and secure a new processor for its kin.

 264 Reconquest 3

    Hey, Gamma here with a quick message.


    After ducking into cover Dax suddenly found himself with enough time to spare that he was able to think, something which he wasn''t all that happy about. If anything it only served to put him more on edge. Assessing a surveillance satellite downlink trained on his current location to get eyes on the elder which was still launching razor sharp mana crystals after him, Dax finally realized that the elder was doing something strange.


    (What the fuck is it doing now?)


    Judging from the satellite feed, the elder was purposely shredding its biomass while producing some sort of strange black, goo like liquid while flowed out endlessly from its rune covered, grotesque body.


    (Well, whatever it is doing I''m not just going to sit here and wait for it to finish.)


    Tasking CAS through his satellite connection a slight smile appeared on Dax''s face while his eyes lost their focus as he primed his arm mounted 50 mill launcher. Even if he refused to admit it, there was a part of his qiton blood which screamed out in joy over fighting for his own life, the high chance that he could die the second he stepped out of cover was simply amazing.


    "ZU RA!"


    (FIREMISSION CONFIRMED, DANGER CLOSE.)


    Rushing out of cover, Dax caught the elder mid transformation as he opened up with his 50 mill launcher, detonating the grenade early to create a mana interfering smoke screen right in front of the elder which screeched in due to the mana formations it used to keep its body together was disrupted, at the same time the first volley of orbital artillery support finally landed.


    [SPLASH, NEXT WAVE: 7 SECONDS.]


    With the area around the elder being pelted with a potent mix of airburst and semi armour pricing shells it was forced to put up numerous shields, thus it was temporarily blinded. Expecting Dax to emerge from one of the flanks as it knew that Dax would also have his spells disrupted by going through the middle, it slammed down its remaining tentacles and created a surge of rock shards which shot towards the left while sending out a hail of crystal shards towards the right, but at the same time Dax emerged out the mana disrupting smoke with a bloodthirsty smile on his face.


    (I don''t need mana to kill you!)


    With the shields the elder had put up blocking its attacks, the elder was slightly affected by Dax''s dense killing intent as it hastily started tearing them down as it sent out a shotgun like burst of high pressure wind blades, only realizing that such an action was a mistake the very last second.


    [SPLASH, FINAL WAVE: 3 SECONDS.]


    [SPLASH, FIRE MISSION COMPLETE. IMI ASSESSES GOOD EFFECT ON TARGET, TARGET NEUTRALIZED.]


    "... Why the fuck did you have to say that?"


    Going by his gut feeling Dax was pretty sure that the elder was still alive, even after he was sure that he had sliced its core in half.


    (There is something strange about this elder, especially after it had realized he was stalling for time, it seemed like it was trying to alter its- !!!)


    Realizing what was going on at the last second as all the hairs on his back suddenly stood on end, Dax broke his posture, just as a crystal tipped thin, whip like tentacle pierced the area where his head had been only a split second before. Flipping his shortsword to a reverse grip Dax rolled on the floor to avoid more of the whip like tentacles which tried to sewer him alive before he got back on his feet, then taking a defensive stance Dax started cutting down a seemingly endless wave of tentacles emerging from the dust cloud in front of him which was slowly starting to clear up.


    [Target not neutralized, I repeat, TARGET NOT NEUTRALIZED! Requesting additional fire support at priority omega and immediate backup!]


    [DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED, TASKING ALL AVAILABLE ORBITAL QRF TEAMS FOR IMMEDIATE DEORBIT.]


    Creating a second weapon in the shape of a battle axe out of mana crystals Dax stepped forward as he cut apart yet another tentacle, amplifying the energy released from his step to create a gust of wind which blew away the elder''s cover.


    Standing 4 metres tall, the elder had drastically changed its shape. With 4 muscular arms holding 2 gigantic cursed swords, its androgynous body spouted numerous tentacles from its back and legs while its smooth head which had no mouth had 4 closed eyes with the possibility that it had more eyes on the back of its head. Worse yet, the elder no longer had any signs of decay or sickness, words like decay and rot could no longer be used to describe the elder''s body. Glancing at the elder''s feet while still keeping his defences ready and potent, Dax''s hunch that the elder was stabilizing the ground beneath its feet proved correct, meaning the elder still had a considerable amount of its original mass and could properly keep regenerating its tentacles almost endlessly.


    Opening its eyes to reveal eyes not unlike his own, the elder stared at Dax as it released truly dense killing intent, if the elder had a mouth at that moment he was sure that it would be distorted into a bloodthirsty smile.


    "ARE YOU NOT COMING? GOT SCARED ALL OF A SUDDEN?"


    Generating sound waves with magic, the elder spoke to Dax in an ancient dialect of traditional qiton as it continued to radiate bloodlust as the bladed tentacles on its back writhed around creepily.


    "Because you have the advantage, there''s no way I''m simply going to walk into that. Besides, my objective is to stall for time, remember?"


    (This one is way smarter than the rest of its kin¡­ I don''t like this one bit.)


    Answering the elder in the politest tone possible inside the traditional qiton language he knew of, Dax''s mind was working in parallel as he was truly desperate to survive until his drone reinforcements arrived.


    "OOH? SO YOU ARE ONE OF US¡­ INTERESTING."


    Narrowing its eyes in curiosity, the elder seemed to not be worrying about Dax??s reinforcements in the slightest.


    "THEN ALLOW ME TO SHOW YOU HOW IT''S DONE, YOUNGLING."


    Launching a few of its tentacles at Dax, the elder completely disappeared at the same time as Dax cut them down, reappearing right in front of him only a split second later as it was already swinging down both its massive, rune covered swords. Having somewhat predicted that move Dax had already started evading before he cut the first of the tentacles which served as a distraction, sidestepping the blade which swung down towards him from the left, Dax used both his axe and shortsword to redirect the elder''s other greatsword, stepping further into the elder''s range as he used the sword he redirected as cover while he did so. Reaching the elder''s right leg, Dax used mana to condense a large amount of air around him into plasma which he formed into a concentrated lance not unlike a HEAT charge, Dax launched the plasma lance at the leg from almost point blank range at the same time as all the retrograde thrusters on his armour fired, pulling him away from the mass of tentacles which were swooping down from above to nail him to the ground.


    (2.. 1.. Splash.)


    Having just escaped to the minimum safe range, the elder was once more hit by a barrage of orbital artillery, pelting it and its immediate area with ultra high velocity APFSDS, or so Dax had hoped.


    "IS THAT REALLY ALL YOU CAN DO? SUCH A DISAPPOINTING YOUNGLING."


    "Fuc-"


    As the elder suddenly appeared right behind him, Dax just managed to spin around and prepare a somewhat lacklustre defence with his shortsword to the elder''s greatsword that was already swinging towards him, as the two blades connected Dax felt the shock travel all the way up his arm, breaking every single bone in it as he was shot away. Crashing through a few trees on the way, Dax''s momentum was eventually stopped when he hit a solid rock builder which partly disintegrated upon impact.


    "GHA!"


    Puking up a mouthful of blood on impact which immediately spattered on the inside of his helmet, Dax scurred to his feet with a weapon still in hand as his regeneration kicked into overdrive. Prepared for another attack from the elder, Dax was surprised to see that it was just observing him, not even bothering to take a stance.


    "HMM¡­ IF ANYTHING, YOU''RE ONE DURABLE YOUNGLING."


    "Why thank you for the compliment, if anything I aim to be a least a pain to kill, if not outright obnoxious like a cockroach."

 265 Reconquest 4

    [What the fuck is that!?]


    [A elder of some kind¡­ Oh, and it''s kicking Dax''s ass.]


    Having received an emergency call for assistance, Lux, Phillipa, and Ifrit were currently rushing towards his location while observing his fight, or rather fight for survival against the abnormal elder through a satellite feed. As the 4 of them had been deployed some distance apart to cover more ground, there was a vast amount of distance they all had to cover in order for them to come to Dax''s aid.


    [Hey, Ifrit, are you seeing this? Dax is getting slapped around, it''s not often you can get to witness something like that.]


    Slightly enjoying the sight of Dax getting beat up, Lux reached out to Ifrit who had so far been quiet.


    [Yeah, I''m attempting to analyse the elder''s defensive formations so don''t bother me with small talk.]


    Acting unnaturally annoyed for the situation, Ifrit cut off their line of communication right when Dax was smashed through a rock by the elder, instead, they used IMI to indicate that they were going to launch an immediate attack in an attempt to relieve some of the pressure Dax was under.


    (Don''t you fucking dare die! We entered a contract, if you break that and leave me alone I''ll drag your soul out of the nether just to beat the shit out of you Dax!)


    Seeing how serious Ifrit took the entire situation Phillipa and Lux realized they both needed to get their shit together, after all, when they asked Dax for immediate assistance he didn''t fuck around.


    [Ifrit is going to open up with something big, after that, I''ll engage from the north and most likely burn through my supply of drones in about 12 seconds.]


    [Okay, I''ll be ready to support you before then, I''ll most likely launch a type 17 attack while taking over tasking of QRF and orbital artillery Dax has already called in, ping me when you need more drones.]


    [Message received and understood, entering combat manoeuvres now.]


    -


    "HMM, NOT ONLY DURABLE BUT ALSO TENACIOUS??? REJOICE YOUNGLING, YOU''LL MAKE AN EXCELLENT PROCESSOR."


    "Why¡­ Thank you¡­ But I think¡­ I''ll have to¡­ Respectfully¡­. Decline that gracious¡­ Offer."


    Attempting to stall for time while his lung regenerated, Dax continued to appear calm, but things were starting to turn dire. For the last 10 minutes, the irregular elder had been kicking him around in a one sided beatdown, without bothering to finish him off for some reason. While Dax was happy that he was still alive, it didn''t sit well with him that the elder, a race which had been so far observed to have an absolute disdain for all other life, for some reason wanted to take him alive.


    In fact, it really didn''t sit well with him, not in the slightest.


    Before Dax had time to become more delusional from blood loss, help finally arrived.


    As the elder was once more about to attack Dax, it was suddenly forced to parry a javelin made out of black mana crystals with one of its greatswords. But something unexpected happened as soon as the 5 metre long javelin hit the elder''s sword, instead of reflecting the crystal seemed to shatter as if it had been made out of fragile glass, but as the countless fragments came into contact with the elder they suddenly stuck to its body, rapidly absorbing the ambient mana before they rapidly grew barbed torn like growths which borrowed into the elder''s flesh, before starting to feed on the elder''s own mana, creating even more torn growths.


    "PESKY TRICKERY!"


    Flaring in anger as its skin was pierced, the elder started ripping the crystal shards that were festering in its body out with its tentacles, doing even more damage as most of them had already grown thorns which ran quite deep.


    (Don''t mind if I do.)


    Recognizing the spell Dax realized Ifrit''s intent took the chance to open up the range, something which only made the elder even more furious, but before it could pursue Dax, more crystals javelins hit it, with their collective parasitic growth locking down the elder''s movement. Before the elder could free itself from that trap, lightning suddenly struck from the clear sky, seemingly guided by the crystals which were now almost completely covering the elder, then as if guided by that initial lightning strike, multiple spheres made of lightning started flashing down from the still clear sky, seemingly guided by the initial strike the frankly absurd amount of electrical energy partly melted the ground the elder was standing on as the air inside a few kilometres heated up by a few degrees and the smell of burnt flesh spread hang densely in the air.


    [Dax are you okay!?]


    [Yeah, I''m fine¡­ Don''t tell me you were worried about me Ifrit?]


    [Of course I am worried about you! We entered a contract remember!?]


    Receiving an unexpected serious reply from Ifrit, Dax was taken back for a second before a slight smile formed on his face.


    [How could I forget that?... Thanks for the backup, partner.]


    [You two should kiss already.]


    [[No thanks.]]


    With backup finally arriving Dax finally had room to breathe, but letting his attention slip away from the elder was a mistake.


    "ENOUGH PLAYING AROUND!"


    Emerging from the crater Ifrit had just made for it, the elder was covered in burns which were already starting to regenerate, it seemed like all Ifrit archived with their spells was pissing it off. Freeing two of its arms by dropping one of its greatswords, the elder started collecting a ridiculous amount of mana in the palm of one of its newly freed hands before violently compressing it as a complex rune formation formed around the clenched fist before a strange sphere made almost entirely of mana emerged from it. Releasing that sphere it launched from its own power, seeking out Ifrit which was still over 5 kilometres away with extreme prejudice.


    "Oh shit!"


    Sensing the immense mass of mana moving towards them at high speed, Ifrit''s instincts told them that they couldn''t simply deflect or block such an attack, they needed to avoid it. Surrounding themselves with mana, Ifrit created a barrier made out of crimson crystals in front of them, then another one, and another one, continuing until there was one barrier every metre all the way till 2 kilometres out. But of course, those barriers proved to be nothing more than wet tissue paper against the elder''s spell, pricing and then shattering every single one without resistance before reaching Ifrit in an instant, then the 20 centimetre wide sphere detonated, or rather it evaporated.


    Then something really strange happened.


    It was like time suddenly froze within 100 metres of the detonation, nothing seemed to move, not even shadows or light as the area started darkening, first redshifting then fading to a black void from where not even light could escape followed by a bright flash.


    [GRAVITATIONAL DISTURBANCE DETECTED. ERROR, MARGINS OUTSIDE MEASURABLE RANGE, ADVISING SCANNER RECALIBRATION.]


    When the bright flash faded nothing remained, the affected area had been erased completely from existence as a blastwave finally travelled out from the epicentre, snapping 500 year old trees like they had been toothpicks within 3 kilometres of the blast.


    Of course, Ifrit who had been caught in the blast was completely annihilated down to the very last subatomic particle, or that''s at least how it had looked to the elder.


    "T-that was close¡­"


    Ifrit had only just escaped the blastwave by utilizing an illusion created by the sphere''s own destructive power, every single of the barriers they had erected had created small crystal shards which reflected light as they shattered and Ifrit had set them up so they looked like their own figure stuck in place, right up until detonation when they had in reality evaded with all their power.


    While all that was going on the elder had of course not been idle, only a second after launching the first sphere it had started forming another one which it was planning on launching after Dax, but before the spell had been completed, the arm which was creating it had been severed by a single round of 10 millimetre hypersonic armour pricing fried by Phillipa from about 4 kilometres away.


    "Oh no you fucking don''t, not om my watch."


    With the supply of mana unexpectedly severed, the elder''s spell failed in a truly spectacular way as the sphere first exploded creating a fireball which spread out 100 metres in every direction, then it imploded back on itself, compressing almost everything which had been caught in the black back onto itself before completely disappearing.


    [That was fucking spectacular!]


    [Yeah it was! Feel free to praise me more~]


    With a large smile on her face, Lux expressed her joy in a deep, Scottish accent for some reason as she closed in on the elder which had somehow survived that explosion, having only lost two arms which were already starting to regenerate.


    With a zero point ultrasonic longsword in each hand, Lux seemed to move so fast she skipped frames, blinking from place to place as she used the entirety of the manatech armours capacity to enhance her body and increase her speed and relying on her insane reflexes to keep up with such moments.


    "Die ugly!"


    With her extremely high momentum, Lux only had time to get a few attacks off before she was past the elder, still, she made those strikes count and successfully severed another one of the elder''s arms, as well as a large portion of the tentacles which sprouted from its back while still somehow having time to dig out a large part of its chest while she was at it.


    "Need a hand!?"


    Having timed his approach perfectly with Lux''s, Dax appeared in front of the elder right after she had taken her cut. Although not with the same speed, the strikes Dax delivered with his sword, axe and countless spells came with a lot more weight behind them while still succeeding in destroying or at least disabling critical muscle groups all over the elder''s body.


    "INSOLENT CREATURES!!!"


    [Philippa!]


    [Already on it!~]


    Before the elder could get a chance to strike back at Dax who remained within its range even after burning most of his momentum, Phillipa opened fire once more, but this time it was together with the numerous drones who had arrived as backup part of the quick reaction force Dax had called for. The destruction she caused was simply without comparison to any conventional weapon, but even doing the full intensity of the barrage, Dax was still fighting in CQC with the elder, seemingly the hail of bullets was somehow unable to hit him, or that''s at least how Phillipa''s expert marksmanship made it appear.


    "IMPOSSIBLE!!!"


    [Lux! Ifrit!]


    [Incoming!]


    [Already on it~?]


    While Ifrit launched another series of crystal javelins which disrupted the elder''s movements, Phillipa covered Lux and Dax who both closed in for the kill at the same time, attacking from opposite sides they priced the elder''s core at the same time.


    "AAAAAAAARRHGZZG!!!"


    Dying with a truly horrid scream, the elder''s body immediately started dissolving as its core was destroyed, leaving Dax and Lux who immediately fell to their knees due to exhaustion.

 266 Processor in the making

    As the elder dissolved into a mass of hot goo, Lux fell to her knees while her entire body screamed out in pain. Taking short and shallow breaths Lux''s vision darkened from a lack of oxygen reaching her brain, but when the cybernetic implants finally activated her body finally started to recover.


    "... What the hell was up with that elder anyway?"


    Having recovered enough from the aftereffects of pushing her body way too hard, Lux asked the question that had been on her mind all along. Looking to Dax when she didn''t get a response, Lux saw him digging around the elder''s remains, fishing out the elder''s core which he immediately pried open as his face turned grim.


    "What?"


    "You don''t want to know, trust me."


    "Just fucking tell me."


    Instead of saying anything Dax just showed the interior of the elder''s core containing a mana generator, various cybernetic implants and a distinctly fresh brain, compared to the decayed ones which had been the case before.


    "That''s¡­"


    "The first remains of the deep recon team we''ve found so far yeah, which would explain why the elder initially attempted to take me alive."


    Examining the remains more closely, Dax found that the cerebrum had been slowly taken over by a curse somewhat similar to the one he had been suffering from after his first contact with the elder''s, meaning the conversion process was slow, and there was a possibility that some members of the deep recon team could still be alive.


    "We need to save them!"


    "Hold that thought."


    While Lux was eager to save whoever she could that might still be alive from the recon team, Dax wasn''t so eager.


    "Really, you''re sticking to protocol!? Now of all times!?"


    "Yeah I am so calm the fuck down, that''s a direct order. Panicking and acting on emotions won''t do us anything good."


    Getting his subordinates back under control Dax immediately reached out to the central IMI command and tasked the entire surveillance network with one single task: locate any and all traces of the deep recon team, if any of them were still alive it was his responsibility as the commanding officer to rescue them.


    -


    "Help me¡­"


    (Shut¡­ Up.)


    While her awareness had continued to falter for the last while, she was sure she currently was in hell. The slight sliver of light which leaked into the room from time to time illuminated the suffering which surrounded her, decaying flesh left to rot and fester, the smell of rot, piss and combined with weak groans of pain seemed to pick at her mind endlessly, along with some kind of strange drowsiness she didn''t know why she didn''t just give in and embrace the abyss, feeling nothing would be preferable to the pain of breathing with a collapsed lung, the ever present burning sensation of her festering wounds.


    "Help¡­. Me¡­"


    (Shut... up.)


    It seemed when hope faltered in the presence of suffering and pain, rage and madness thrived.


    "Somebody¡­. Save¡­ me¡­"


    (SHUT UP!)


    Pain and despair change people when it transforms into pure agony and incomparable suffering. If the saying ''stare into the abyss and the abyss stares back at you'' was true, then submerging oneself in the abyss would undoubtedly change a person, although there''s no way of know what would eventually emerge from that dark pit before one personally took the plunge. While most people simply drowned down in that mass of insanity and suffering, some people adapt to it, their bodies, minds and souls moult inside that crucible, becoming wicked and twisted.


    "Please¡­. H-"


    "SHUT YOUR FUCKING MOUTH!"


    Shouting in spite of the excruciating pain pulsing throughout her body, Terra''s eyes shot wide open as she thrashed around, desperately attempting to free herself of the thorn like restraints which priced through her extremities inside the cramped concrete room. Adrenaline pulsed through her body as her muscles tore themself apart in response to her commands, the curse which had been eating away at her ego and sealing her movements could no longer restrain her.


    In that dark pit of incomparable suffering and encroaching insanity, Terra had found her salvation.


    With Terra''s mind now free of its former restraints, mana responded to her like it never had done before, it flared around her with an intensity which was unlike anything ever seen and responded to her commands as her recent memories came flooding back. Getting captured alive by the elders, watching her comrades being experimented on until they eventually died in agony, being force fed those same comrade''s remains then finally trapped in this room as a curse slowly eroded her mind until she either died of starvation or was assimilated by the elders.


    "AAARG! FUCK!"


    Ripping apart her own arm to free it from her restraints impaled trough it, Terra watched in horror as it healed in a matter of seconds. Deciding not to think too deeply about that for the moment, she clenched her regenerated arm to check if it still worked correctly, then she removed the rest of her restraints as the rest of her body healed up in the same creepy manner as her arm had.


    (Now, where the fuck am I?)


    Looking around the cramped concrete room, Terra quickly counted her surviving comrades before locating a small skylight window which had been blocked off. Exiting through said skylight window, Terra found herself inside an empty skyscraper with a densely packed skyline.


    (The imperial capital¡­)


    "Shit."


    Finding herself in the centre of hostile territory, Terra realized that her chances of escape were virtually non existant.


    (I won''t even be able to reach the outer wall before being captured, in that case¡­.)


    Climbing to the top floor of the skyscraper, Terra kept out of the sparse moonlight as she looked towards the sky and was greeted with a stary night sky.


    (There''s a chance Dax has already commenced the operation to retake the continent, in that case, intelligence like updated maps will be of the utmost importance¡­ In that case, I just need one of those eyes in the sky to spot me.)


    "OOH, ONE OF THE WORMS REALLY BROKE THE CURSE¡­ FASCINATING."


    "!!!"


    Before Terra had realized it, an elder had somehow managed to sneak up on her, but there was something different about this one. Standing over 4 metres tall, the elder had an androgynous body without any signs of decay and a completely smooth head with countless eyes which stared trough Terra as countless tentacles writhed around behind it.


    "... OR NOT, IT SEEMED YOU ACTUALLY MANAGED TO BEND THE CURSE TO YOUR WILL? IN THAT CASE, YOU''RE ONE OF US, COME WITH ME CHILD."


    (What the fuck is going on here!?)


    "I would rather not."


    Overwhelmed by an intense feeling of disgust from the elder''s seemingly friendly attitude, Terra took a half step away from it as her mana started surging.


    "THEN DEATH IT IS, SUCH A SHAME. BUT LUCKILY YOU''LL STILL MAKE AN EXCELLENT PROCESSOR."


    At the tiniest show of resistance, the elder''s attitude turned hostile as its countless tentacles swarmed towards Terra, clearly aiming to screwer her alive, but there was something wrong.


    (Have they always been so slow?)


    Sidestepping the first tentacle with a relaxed attitude, the world slowed down around Terra as she formed a shortsword out of mana crystals as her eyes went cold. Moving faster than she ever had before, Terra cut every single tentacle closing in on her apart without feeling like she was pushing herself, she even had enough time to spare to weave a second spell with her free hand. Creating a small dagger with a strange spell engraved into it which she flung at the elder, Terra trusted her intuition and backed off, with the rush of adrenaline Terra hadn''t yet realized she just used a spell she had no prior knowledge of.


    As the dagger reached the elder it detonated, but instead of a normal explosion, it created a gravitational singularity which completely swallowed the elder, compressing it with the power of a few hundred g''s, that gravitational disturbance spread out from the source at the speed of light quickly reaching anyone listening.


    [IMI REPORT: UNKNOWN CLASS 4 GRAVITATIONAL ANOMALY DETECTED, ESTABLISHING VISUAL CONTACT¡­ CONTACT ESTABLISHED, COMMAND ADVISING FULL STRIKE PACKAGE, DEORBITING ALL QRF TEAMS, TASKING ALL OPERATORS FOR IMMEDIATE DUST OFF.]

 267 High risk EVAC/CASEVAC 1

    "So? What kind of resistance are we looking at?"


    Keeping a precariously low altitude the transport Lux, Dax, Vanessa and Ifrit found themselves inside burned up its own engine with the afterburner as it weaved around trees and other obstacles on the way to the imperial capital. It was under such circumstances Dax chose to brief his subordinates, for the simple reason that there was no time to do it later as they were already on final approach to their incision point.


    "At least 20 elders are present, with 4 of them confirmed to be irregulars. Luckily we don''t have to stand and fight them, the aim is to get in, secure the friendlies and then get out again before they can pin us down. We''re not spending more than 5 minutes on the ground, get caught and you''ll get left behind."


    Taking a second to make sure that fact registered in each of his comrades, Dax continued the briefing and moved on with the more technical parts of the operation.


    "We touch down in 180 seconds, about 500 metres from the target area, that point will be the start of the operation. 30 seconds after touchdown will the first of 5 available MEDIVAC/CASEVAC crafts arrive on site, Lux and Ifrit will lead that detachment of modified Reaper drones to the other captured members of the deep recon operation were the drones will either stabilize the injured for transport or euthanize them. 150 seconds after touchdown a secondary CASEVAC craft be available for potential overflow, otherwise, it will be our ride out, a possible secondary extract will happen at fallback point bravo between the original deployment point and the area of interest at 200 seconds into the operation otherwise the final tertiary evac point will be at the incision point at operation end precisely 300 seconds after touchdown, then finally the Hermies will cover our egress with orbital fire support, I''ve already authorized the use of one times G19 antimatter equipped MIRV hypersonic strike package along with however many rounds of 540 mill and SATGM''s Ra feels she needs to fire before she''s satisfied."


    "I''m sorry what is that? Mirv? Satgm?"


    Hearing terms they didn''t understand, Ifrit raised their hand, prompting Dax to show a wry smile as he explained the terms to his partner.


    "MIRV is a type of missile that has multiple warheads which split up before hitting multiple targets at the same time, SATGM is another type of missile which is made to defeat armoured targets by sneaking up on them."


    "So expect lots of large, flashy explosions?"


    "Indeed."


    "Yaay~?"


    -


    "ENOUGH OF THIS HORSE PLAY!"


    Having so far failed to kill the pest which had so rudely declined its generous offer, the irregular elder started generating mana, quickly weaving into a complex spell formation which took the shape of a small black sphere which it launched towards Terra.


    (Shi!-)


    (What would Dax and Lux say at this point?... Ah, yeah ''you can sleep when you''re dead. That doesn''t sound that bad right now.)


    Death didn''t seem so bad at this point, if not that then at least some rest sometime soon would be nice.


    "DIE!"


    As if the elder had heard Terra''s thoughts it chose that moment to strike, charging forward it pinned Terra down with its tentacles before swinging down a massive ominous looking sword, clearly aiming to cleave her in half.


    (Ah, is it fine to sleep now?)


    With that thought coming to the top of her head, Terra stopped moving as the elder''s sword slowly closed in on her, time seemed to slow down and almost come to a stop till Terra closed her eyes, embracing the void.


    But as it turned out, it wasn''t her time to die. As the irregular elder''s sword closed in on Terra and was about to crush her it was deflected by a bullet, making it just miss her at the same time as the elder was by multiple crystals which started growing inside its body and sealing its movements.


    "Terra! You can sleep when you''re dead! Get back on your feet!"


    Stepping out in between the elder and Terra, Dax tightly grasped his kite shield and battle axe made out of mana crystals. With Dax defending Terra, Lux and Phillipa moved in for the kill while Ifrit continued to lock down the elder, humming a happy tune as they mercilessly struck the elder with countless crystals which fed off its flesh.


    "LUX!"


    "Yeah, move to second!"


    Coordinating their attacks, Phillipa released a barrage of anti barrier rounds at practively point blank range to cover Lux who closed into the elder''s range while slicing apart the tentacles it hastily threw after her using her zero point longsword. Getting into strike range Lux''s eyes lost their focus as she sidestepped a tentacle aiming for her eye while she breathed in sharply with a hiss.


    "I WILL NOT BE DEFEATED BY SUCH!-"


    Before the elder even had spoken its last words Lux succeeded in cutting it in half, splitting its core with a lightning fast strike.


    [OPERATION +30, MEDIVAC 1 INBOUND HOT.]


    "Dax, what''s-"


    "Not no Terra. Ifrit, Lux! You''re up!"


    "Affirmative! Moving to breach!"


    "On it~?"


    With no time to rest or even explain to Terra what was going on Dax shouted orders as a CAS-7 transport landed using a suicide burn right next to him, rapidly unloading its cargo of Reaper drones outfitted for engineering work before launching again, cutting engine power after only a second of flight as it moved down between a gap between the building it had landed on and a nearby skyscraper. While the drones unloaded Dax and Phillipa weren''t idle, acting like well oiled machines they locked down the area and started suppressing nearby elders with a brutal level of efficiency behind their spells and shots.


    [OPERATION +60, OPERATIONAL CALLOUT FROM FIRE SUPPORT COMMAND: BRIMSTONE, LIGHTING.]


    Down below the roof, Ifrit and Lux had reached the surviving members of the deep recon operation, or whatever still remained of them anyway. Finding most of them unconscious there was sadly a large part of them who had already lost against the curse they had been inflicted with, if she had more time Lux would have at least attempted to bring them back with her, but as time was of the essence they had to be euthanized in order to deny the elders of potentially new organic processors.


    "I''m sorry¡­"


    Offering a silent apology Lux squeezed the trigger while the Reaper drones around her were busy cutting out survivors, severing either the wires which pinned them in place or their limbs, whatever was more time efficient. No single second was wasted as the CASVAC arrived at the same level that the recon members were trapped at, instead of finding a place where it could safely dock it just simply opened fire with its chin mounted cannons, caving out a docking area as the first Reapers arrived with the injured.


    "Dax!"


    "Yeah, I see him!"


    Meanwhile back on the roof, the elders had well and truly started their counteroffensive as such, Phillipa and Dax were starting to be overwhelmed with waves on waves of angry elders rushed their location and threatened to overrun them if they let up for a single second.


    "Terra, make yourself useful!"


    Tossing a spare type 19 mana powered 10 mill rifle to Terra, Dax launched a laser focused high energy thermal pulse which desiderated an elder only 1 city block away before it could attack the CASEVAC.


    "Phillipa break it down!"


    "Roger! Recruit, on me!"


    Shouting over her fully automatic fire Phillipa called over Terra before she started calling out targets and issuing fire orders for Terra to follow.


    "Drop and target cover is not a factor, target the cores and keep it semi automatic!"


    "Affirmative, ready for tasking!"


    "Target! 7''o clock, elevation 200, fire for effect!"


    "Firing!"


    Working together with surprising efficiency even though they had never met before, Phillipa and Terra managed to push the elders far enough back that the CASEVAC craft could launch, leaving the area of operations safely.


    [OPERATION +140, EVAC INBOUND HOT, DUST OFF IN 15 SECONDS.]


    With Ifrit and Lux joining the rest back on the roof the end of the operation was finally in sight as a second CAS-7 transport entered the area of operations. Switching over to VTOL mode its twin VSIMR electrothermal thrusters moved to air breathing afterburners as it started slowing down in a suicide burn.


    "That''s our ride!"


    Shouting over the roaring of the afterburner as it was about to set down on their rooftop, Dax prepared his subordinates to leave, but it turned out the elders wouldn''t just allow them to leave after stealing their precious source of organic processors. Using one of its own kin as a living shield, an irregular elder somehow managed to breach the perimeter as it targeted the transport, weaving together a spell which it immediately launched.


    "INCOMING!"


    Unable to intercept the spell in time, Dax shouted at the top of his lungs as the CAS-7''s left wing was severed, freeing the one engine to launch into the sky as the rest of the craft came crashing down in their position while spinning out of control.


    [OPERATION +150, CALL OUT FROM FIRE SUPPORT COMMAND, BRIMSTONE, RED. SECONDARY EVAC ON STATION, DUST OFF IN 50 SECONDS.]

 268 High risk EVAC/CASEVAC 2

    [OPERATION +150, CALL OUT FROM FIRE SUPPORT COMMAND, BRIMSTONE, RED. SECONDARY EVAC ON STATION, DUST OFF IN 50 SECONDS.]


    As the CAS-7 which was supposed to have been their ride out of the elder infested imperial capital crashing in a fiery explosion about 20 floors below Dax''s group, IMI''s cold and synthetic voice called down the time they had left to move to the secondary evacuation point, at the same time its callout of brimstone, red signalled that the MIRV antimatter strike package was past its final abort point, in a bit the imperial capital was going to be blanked in multiple warheads a magnitude more powerful than conventional fusion or fission strikes.


    And that was regardless if Dax and co were still there, after all, artillery doesn''t care about friendly fire.


    "Move it! Secondary extract will leave in 45 seconds!"


    While orbital fire support in the form of 540 mill railgun shells and high velocity smart anti tank guided missiles had already started raining from the sky with some semblance of friend or foe awareness which succeeded in alleviating some of the pressure Dax and the others were under, they needed to constantly sacrifice ground to do so. Still, that was partly in their favour, as they needed to move towards the secondary evacuation point anyway, but that meant the elders, and subsequent fire support targeting them, was getting uncountably close.


    "Ifrit, open up a path! Don''t bother killing them just make sure they can''t harm us!"


    Picking up the injured Terra in his arms, Dax continued to bark out commands as he had done for the entirety of this operation. Jumping over the gap between two rooftops with Terra in his arms, Dax landed heavily as the roof underneath him cracked as he was weighed down by his manatech armour, still the qiton used those vibrations to his advantage, injecting mana into the ground through his feet, he amplified the vibrations and focused them on the buildings supporting structure. Collapsing the building on an elder which had tried to sneak up on them from below, Dax simultaneously created an improvised smokescreen of debris and dust, blocking other elder''s long range spells from the rear. While Dax kept up the rearguard, Ifrit secured the group''s advance by launching a hail of their flesh eating mana crystals at elder''s which were in their way, leaving Lux to finish off those that were too close while Phillipa kept the flanks free of issues with her speciality in long range attacks.


    (What the hell kind of upgrades did Dax''s arsenal go through while I was away!?)


    Understandably flustered by the sheer amount of destructive output not only Dax wielded, but also the orbital artillery seemed to be of an entirely different calibre compared to what she had seen before.


    "There she is!"


    Ifrit who acted as the advance guard of the formation was the first one to spot the CAS-7 which was burning hard as it landed a few blocks ahead of them, with a somewhat relieved smile they weaved a final spell formation which succeeded in disabling the elders around the craft as its rear ramp lowered, promising safe haven as long as they made it inside before it launched. Still, they had to make it there in one piece, but more importantly, the craft could not survive being targeted so a fast take off was prefered. With those priorities clear in mind, Ifrit who was the first one to reach the transport activated the flight module on their manatech armour and took up a position of overwatch in the air immediately above the CAS-7, Then Lux and Phillipa who arrived next took up defensive positions near the loading ramp of the craft, they turned their attention towards Dax and Terra, acting as the rear guard until the two of them where on board, then they would act as the final defence and board at the last second before the transport took off. As Dax reached the CAS-7 still carrying Terra his first order of business was securing her inside the craft, basically he locked her to a seat so she wouldn''t become a problem.


    "Ready!"


    "Ifrit!"


    Having his shout relayed by Lux, it reached Ifrit up top that was busy launching flesh eating mana crystals at the approaching elders.


    "Got it!"


    While the engines of the CAS-7 had already started warming up for take off, Ifrit realized it was time to call it and landed back on the roof before boarding the transport. With Ifrit onboard time was now of the essence, with no all around cover the elders would have no trouble closing in, and so they did.


    "IMI prep for immediate launch!"


    [DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED.]


    "Lux, Phillipa get your asses on board now!"


    Churning mana out of his armour as fast as it could generate it, Dax weaved a series of shield formations which surrounded the CAS-7 and allowed for the rear guard to evacuate safely, or so it was supposed to go anyway.


    "Gha! Fuck!"


    As Phillipa started retreating she was hit in the leg with a mana crystal fired by an elder which somehow managed to make its way through Dax''s defences. With the crystal the size of a forearm stuck in her thigh, Phillipa fell to the ground unable to get herself back on board.


    "Shit!"


    Seeing the situation from inside the craft Dax acted instantly.


    "Lux, cover!"


    "On it!"


    Running out to Phillipa, Dax took hold of a handle on the back of her armour which was designed for this exact purpose and started dragging her back into the CAS-7.


    Having also seen the problem unfold, Terra attempted to unlock the clasp binding her to her seat, but as she found it was locked she crushed the locking mechanism with the power of her hand alone, then took a rifle and went out to cover Dax and Phillipa together with Lux.


    "Terra get back inside!"


    "Not until she''s on board, I''ll cover together with Lux!"


    Seeing his disciple coming to his aid, Dax was less than pleased, but as he had his hands full at the moment he couldn''t really do anything about it at the moment. Getting Phillipa back inside and secured as fast as he could, Dax left her treatment to Ifrit and walked back out on the ramp.


    "Lux! Terra!"


    With his shout, the two rearguards made their way back to the CAS-7 as it started lifting off the ground.


    [OPERATION +200, DUST OFF. BRACE FOR IMMEDIATE ACCELERATION.]


    As IMI called out, the CAS-7 immediately started accelerating off of the ground, flying into the sky the elders had no way to reach them, or so Dax had falsely believed for a split second.


    "TERRA!"


    "Eh?"


    Having mistakenly turned her back to the ramp as it was still open, Terra failed to notice an elders tentacle which had reached all the way up to her, before she could react it wrapped around her and yanked her out of the CAS-7.


    "FUCK!"


    Without even a hint of hesitation on his face, Dax jumped out of the transport himself, Ifrit who saw that also tried to follow him but was stopped by Lux who held them back.


    "Don''t."


    "But!-"


    "Dax has this under control! Trust him a little!"


    Holding on to both sides of their face, Lux shouted those words right into Ifrit''s face. While she didn''t entirely believe those words herself, it was of the utmost importance that they didn''t risk another person to rescue him.


    Glancing back behind him as he fell through the air, Dax confirmed for himself that the CAS-7''s rear ramp had closed and no one had followed him, then he activated his flight module and sped up to reach Terra which was falling towards the ground below him. Reaching Terra in a matter of seconds, Dax cut apart the tentacle which was pulling her down before picking her up and started to decelerate at maximum thrust, but he was too close to the ground to slow down entirely before landing. Shielding Terra at the expense of himself, Dax plunged through the roof of a skyscraper as he landed hard, crashing through multiple floors before he finally came to a stop.


    -


    "DAX! DAX! WAKE UP!"


    He must have been out for only a few seconds, but when Dax opened his eyes he found Terra on top of him desperately calling out.


    "I told you¡­ To stay the fuck inside."


    Coughing up a mouthful of blood as his lung regenerated, Dax got back up on his feet and inspected his manatech armour. Having landed on his feet when he hit the roof, the shock absorbers inside the armour had done their job admirably, but after crashing through a few floors he had landed on his back, crushing the delicate machinery inside and rendering the armour nothing more than dead weight.


    "Shit."


    [OPERATION +258, TERTIARY EXTRACT ON STATION, DUST OFF IN 42 SECONDS, CALL OUT FROM FIRE SUPPORT COMMAND: BRIMSTONE, BLACK.]

 269 High risk EVAC/CASEVAC 3

    [OPERATION +258, TERTIARY EXTRACT ON STATION, DUST OFF IN 42 SECONDS, CALL OUT FROM FIRE SUPPORT COMMAND: BRIMSTONE, BLACK.]


    As Terra heard those words from IMI she formed a grim smile on her face. Dax meanwhile spent his time a lot more productively, first purging his broken manatech armour in the shortest time possible while he formulated a route to the last available evac point and calculated his and Terra''s chances of survival, coming to one inevitable conclusion.


    He needed to go all out, with no regard for the after effects of his actions.


    "Terra, if you don''t follow my commands exactly you''re going to die."


    Taking a short, shallow breath before his last remaining lung stopped working, Dax ripped off his t shirt while ignoring Terra''s questioning look.


    "IMI punch it."


    [DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED PREPARING FOR FULL MIND DOMINATION. WARNING: COMPLETE MIND MELT IN EFFECT. EXPECTED CORRUPTION AT 100% PATTEN BLACK NOW IN EFFECT. NEUAL SYNC COMPLETE, IGNITING PRIMARY REACTOR, MOVING TO OUTPUT LEVEL 4.]


    Before Terra knew what had happened, a series of long, narrow metal fins extended out from Dax''s back, then mana started collecting in the air around him.


    [MANA INTERFACE ONLINE, OUTPUT STABILIZING. OPERATION +270, TERTIARY EXTRACT ON STATION, DUST OFF IN 30 SECONDS.]


    While Ra and Mu had developed the manatech armour, they had also upgraded the comparatively crude mana interface Dax had used before, Dax had taken the liberty of having the new and upgraded interface installed before the reconquest of the imperial continent started. Just as Dax''s mana interface came online an elder burst into the room, its tentacles swarmed forward to capture Dax and Terra, but they never managed to reach either of its targets.


    [Optimal area domination pattern archived: Paladin.]


    As Dax uttered those words, the elder''s tentacles were blocked by an array of shields made out of highly compressed mana crystals, at the same time Dax tossed Terra a spare earpiece as he gave her his first command.


    [Run long and hook right, stay on the same level.]


    "Right!"


    With no hesitation in her voice, Terra left Dax behind with the elder. After lazily looking at her leave, Dax once more turned his attention towards the mindless elder which was still trying to claw its way past his shielding. With no time or patience for fancy spells, Dax simply extended an empty hand towards the elder, in response the floating shield sections started flocking towards the elder and smashing it as they closed in around it like a vice, after compressing the elder down to a sphere with the radius of about 2 metres it seemed like the spell had reached its limit, but Dax simply clenched his outstretched hand and at the same time the elder''s core cracked under the pressure, killing it.


    [Go up two levels then halt, await further instructions.]


    "O-okay!"


    [Time?]


    [24 SECONDS TO DUST OFF.]


    Looking at the chunks of rock which gradually grew smaller, people from the world of magic might have confused them with javelins or spears, but in reality, they were approximations of 540 mill armour piercing fin stabilized penetrators like the Guardian type 19 railguns which surrounded Kingstead used. As the penetrators completed they gradually flowed through the air towards Dax, forming up around him as his cybernetic eye lit up bright red.


    [Reload complete, prosecuting relevant targets.]


    Right as Terra started to wonder what she was waiting for, some kind of projectile cut through the wall right beside her, continuing on straight through her skyscraper till it hit an elder straight in the core and exploded in a bright flash.


    [Ascend to the roof and advance to evac, you have 15 seconds.]


    "Roger!"


    With Terra''s way out now clear, Dax started thinking about his situation as the various shield tiles floating in the air around him closed in, collecting in tight groups which kept a strict 1 metre orbit around him. Finding the hole he had created when breaking his fall, Dax bent down in his knees slightly, then he disappeared leaving deep cracks in the floor below. Flying up through the air above the skyscrapers, Dax confirmed the CAS-7''s landing approach as he cut off the mana supply to the runes which kept the building he had launched from together, giving Terra a glance as he reached the high point of his jump.


    10 seconds left before evacuation dust off.


    Quickly locating the elders around the landing site, Dax focused the mana around him to weave together runes on the remaining supply of rock projectiles, priming them with ''explosives'' and arming the rounds.


    9 seconds left.


    Letting the armed rounds fly as he fell through the air, Dax witnessed 9 distinct explosions as he fell headfirst and towards the ground. Flipping around mid air as one of the clusters of shield formations suddenly moved and intercepted a spell launched from an irregular elder, Dax landed on a single shield tile and used it to set off in a jump towards the CAS-7 which was about to set down.


    7 seconds.


    While pushing the mana interface to the absolute limit, Dax stepped on another shield tile as he twisted his body to the side and avoided another spell from an irregular elder which was clearly out to get him. Without any remaining concrete shots, Dax returned fire with his pistol, as he squeezed the trigger an acceleration spell formed in front of the barrel and increased the speed of the already supersonic rounds even further.


    5 seconds.


    Before the CAS-7 even set down completely Terra rushed in the ramp, securing herself before turning her attention to Dax, who she noticed still had a fair bit of distance to cover before making it to safety and to make the situation even worse, the CAS-7 was already heating up its engines for takeoff.


    3 seconds.


    Having pushed his mana interface far beyond its limits for a while now, the waste heat radiator sticking out of his back was already glowing bright red, worse still, the waste heat was already starting to cook Dax from the inside out. Landing on the roof a block away from the CAS-7, Dax was out of time, now was no time for caution or worrying about how much damage he took, otherwise he could kiss his life goodbye. Strengthening the ground beneath his feet, Dax employed the same acceleration spell he had used to augment his pistol on himself, leaping forward through it and launching himself towards the CAS-7.


    [OPERATION +300, TERTIARY EXTRACT DUST OFF CONFIRMED. CALL OUT FROM FIRE SUPPORT COMMAND: BRIMSTONE, BLACK. STRIKE IMMINENT.]


    Having correctly judged the CAS-7''s ascend, Dax just managed to reach the rear ramp as it reached a height of about 10 metres, pulling himself inside he didn''t get the chance to secure himself before the craft accelerated, racing to distance itself from the imminent strike. Just as the CAS-7 reached the minimum safe distance from the imperial capital, night turned to day as a grouping of fireballs suddenly extended past the skyline of the city, then like water dripped onto a hot pan there was a quick sizzle, then nothing.


    When the dust eventually settled not much remained of the imperial capital, only some parts of the imperial castle somehow managed to remain standing as the rest was reduced to craters.


    -


    "Next time I tell you to do something doing an operation, you fucking do it okay?"


    "O-okay¡­ I''m sorry."


    Out of immediate danger, Dax plugged into the CAS-7''s cooling system through a port on his back, finally stopping the half melted mana interface from cooking him from the inside out as he scolded Terra in a slightly exhausted manner. After spending some time in silence, Dax finally spoke up as he rose to face Terra.


    "And I''m glad you''re alive Terra, I was sure I lost you."


    "Thanks, I''m also really happy to be alive."

 270 After Effects 1

    "There they are."


    Standing by to offer medical assistance, Mu spotted a pair of CAS-7 which was inbound after the successful raid on the imperial capital. Standing beside her was Lilly, Alice, and Solaris, each of them looking worried as they had heard from Mu that Dax had been injured worse than normal, something which was only confirmed when Dax walked out of the CAS-7 carrying a mechanical respirator which he was hooked up to through a cable going into his cybernetic spine. Immediately after exiting the transport, Dax caught sight of the girls and as he did a thin smile spread out on his face as he disconnected the respirator and just left it on the ground.


    "Hey, good to see you girls."


    "Don''t just ''hey'' us!"


    "Yeah, you''re clearly injured so why did you just unplug your life support like that!?"


    "Would you please stop being that reckless already!?"


    Facing way more anger from the girls than he had expected Dax''s smile stiffened up ever so slightly, but even in the face of all that resistance he still stuck to his act, after all, if his pride as a man told him anything it was that he had to act cool now, no matter what.


    "Don''t worry about that for the moment, I have something more important to show you girls, especially Alice and Solaris."


    Walking closer to the two girls in question, Dax placed a hand on each of their heads as he started grinning without reserve.


    "W-what''s going on here?"


    Being left out of the conversation all of a sudden, Lilly started pouting as she started playing with her hair.


    "T-that''s my line, Lilly... Seriously, did you hurt your head or something Dax?"


    And while Alice hadn''t noticed either, Solaris started having an idea of what was going on.


    "Dax¡­ Don''t tell me?"


    "Yeah, that''s it exactly."


    While Dax continued patting Solaris'' and Alice''s hair, the angel suddenly started tensing up, it so happened that she did that at the same time as the injured started being unloaded from the CAS-7.


    "You''re not making any sense Dax¡­"


    "Really? Then why don''t you look at what''s behind me?"


    "Seriously¡­ What are you-"


    Still questioning Dax''s sanity Alice looked past him, only to see Terra being carried out of the transport on a stretcher. At the same time, two archangels who both held a special place in Solaris'' heart also came into sight, although they were both in critical conditions both Hemera and Apollo had survived capture by the elders.


    "While they''re not doing that well at the moment, Ra and Mu will have them fixed up in a flash. Don''t worry about me, go and stay with them-"


    "You can stop acting cool now."


    Muttering those words Lilly also had a large smile on her face as she realized why Dax had acted the way he did, but in the end, she was still quite worried about how hurt he had gotten.


    "But I''m not acting cool, my insides just got a little burned when the mana interface melted."


    "That''s not something to scoff at! Can you even breathe properly right now!?"


    "Yeah, I''ve already healed about 2% of my lung capacity so there''s no problem."


    "That''s still pretty problematic though!"


    "No it isn''t, don''t underestimate a pureblood qiton''s resilience."


    Attempting to play his injury off as nothing Dax reached out for Lilly''s head, although unsuccessfully.


    "Please take better care of yourself! I was really worried!"


    After slapping Dax''s hand aside Lilly threw herself at his chest, crying all the while.


    (Well, shit.)


    Seeing something like that even Dax realized how worried Lilly had been about him, so instead of continuing to keep up his facade he just admitted defeat.


    "Right, I''m sorry for making you worry."


    -


    In the end, Dax was dragged off to surgery when Ra got back from managing the cleanup and resupply for the extreme amount of orbital ordinance she had expended to cover Dax and the others and although he had tried to play it off as nothing major, Dax''s condition was more critical than he had wanted to admit. The mana interface had completely melted from overloading and along with it a lot of other cybernetic implants in Dax''s chest had also been damaged to such an extent that they had to be replaced, seeing this as an opportunity to completely rework his implants from the ground up, Ra and Mu made use of the situation to do just that, even though it was partly against Dax''s will.


    With even Dax needing some downtime in orbit to regrow bone connections after such an augmentation, Lux stepped up to take care of his normal duties, including not only the continuing integration of the united powers into the galactic empire, but also planning and execution of military operations against the elders which only continued to dwindle in numbers as they continued suffering losses. Doing the time he was stuck in a tank against his will Dax was visited a lot by Solaris, Lilly and Alice who seemed unusually tired for some reason, it was only when he was finally discharged and returned to Kingstead he found out why.


    "I''m sorry, could you please repeat that? I think I must have misheard."


    "But you didn''t, like I said we''re going to fight with you from now on so just deal with it!"


    Acting strangely bashful and prideful at the same time, Lilly somehow managed to make an impression on Dax, although it had more to do with her wearing her hooded pyjamas with face cat ears on top of it than anything else.


    (... What to do about this?)


    Wearing a wry smile as Lilly energetically pointed at him, Dax felt like his already healed wounds from his surgery were starting to hurt for some reason.

 271 After Effects 2

    "I''m sorry, could you please repeat that? I think I must have misheard."


    "But you didn''t, like I said we''re going to fight with you from now on so just deal with it!"


    Acting strangely bashful and prideful at the same time, Lilly somehow managed to make an impression on Dax, although it had more to do with her wearing her hooded pyjamas with fake cat ears on top of it than anything else.


    "Yeah no, I''m not letting you 3 do something that dangerous, normal conflicts aside, the elders are seriously dangerous opponents. Although I don''t want to boast or demean you girls in any way or shape when I say we''re on a completely different level. That isn''t due to personal skill or anything like that but live combat experience."


    Even if he sounded outright pretentious, Dax was right about the elders, after all, every time he had faced an irregular elder so far had been a tough match, in fact, it wasn''t too far off to say that he had come closer to death than ever before. Comparing Alice, Solaris and Lilly to his fellow executive Hellwalkers Lux and Phillipa, or even the immortal demon Ifrit wouldn''t even make for a competition, the difference in fighting experience and personal power was simply too great.


    "Ugh-"


    In response to Dax''s harsh rejection to her proposal, Lilly slightly stuttered, but it was only temporary as she quickly regained her composure and confidence.


    "But that is not true anymore, we all have live combat experience, and against an irregular elder no less!"


    Boasting about her recent achievement, Lilly expected that Dax would at least be surprised, or show any emotion for that matter, but instead, he just went quiet while looking into the air.


    "... Dax?"


    "Sorry, I have a sudden need to slaughter some subordinates so I''ll be right back."


    "DAX!?"


    While turning quiet Dax had accessed all the recent combat logs, from there he had quickly found inconsistencies in the individual after action reports and instantly singled out the culprit.


    Needless to say, Dax was less than pleased when he found out that not only Phillipa but also Lux of all people had gone behind his back and against his direct orders while straight up lying to his face all the while.


    "This is something we requested of them, not the other way around. Besides, we''ve been working hard to get stronger ever since we entered this relationship, strong enough to support you, and that has finally happened."


    Stepping in between Dax and the exit, Solaris attempted to keep calm as she explained their reasoning to him the best she could.


    ''Attempting'' to keep calm being the keyword, as her tone got increasingly more loaded as emotions she had kept suppressing for a while bubbled to the surface. In response to such clear cut emotions, Dax went quiet as he became aware of her frustrations and fears, if he was on the other side of his behaviour he would share their concerns.


    "Okay then, I won''t keep anyone one of you from following me. Seeing that Lux has approved this, although, behind my back, there''s really nothing I can, need or want to do about it."


    Giving in to the girl''s request, Dax still wasn''t entirely okay about it, more than anything he realized that he needed to trust them instead. Besides, if the girls ever got into danger there was no better place for them to do that than next to him, as there was no way in hell Dax would allow any of them to be hurt.


    -


    "Whenever you''re ready."


    "Okay¡­ Here goes."


    Standing in the middle of a mostly empty field surrounded by all sorts of monitoring equipment Terra was just a little scared when she heard the overly excited voice of Dax''s supposed older sister Ra. Stretching out her hand towards a target dummy, Terra reached into the depths of her mind as she closed her concentrate. Ever since she woke up in that room having beaten that curse Terra felt like there was someone or something else inside her head, while that might sound off putting to some, Terra herself felt oddly calm about it, like there was some sort of power resting inside her, ready to respond to her every command.


    (Target acquired.)


    Having focused her mind, Terra clenched her outstretched hand into a fist as the mana in the area ruched towards her, collecting right in front of her fist together with a large amount of air which was violently compressed and heated up at the same time. With the power of the irregular and rule breaking power of magic a hole was instantly melted in the target dummy as a beam of highly compressed plasma forced its way through it, the only difference between this and a normal spell being the scary level of efficiency compared to even what an expert could muster. This is how it had been for Terra since she woke up in that room, this strange power would respond to her every want and need, she simply just needed to will the destruction of something and it would happen automatically.


    If that power wasn''t outrageous enough in itself Terra''s senses had also sharpened considerably along with her reflexes, bringing her almost to Lux''s level in terms of instincts.


    "So did you figure out what''s happening?"


    Having also just witnessed the test, Dax immediately asked for Ra''s opinion while she was tapping away at a tablet.


    "Hmm, not exactly¡­ Although I do have a hypophysis."


    Continuing to work through the data she had just collected even as Terra joined them with expectations clearly visible on her face, Ra voiced her thoughts without worrying that she even made sense.


    "From what you and Terra told me, I would wager that the ''curse'' afflicting Terra was some sort of formatting program, that would explain the elder''s ''organic processors'' and why they increase their output to such a degree, although it appears that it has somehow malfunctioned in Terra''s case due to some unknown reason. Working off of that assumption, the word ''curse'' might also be incorrect, the closest thing I can compare it to would be an ICI interface/processor like the one in your back Dax, working to increase processing speed and improve combat effectiveness."


    "You don''t sound too sure about this."


    Listening to Ra''s explanation that much was obvious to Dax, but more surprising than anything was Ra didn''t even try to defend herself.


    "That''s because I''m not. If anything, this does definitely qualify as precursor technology, so the only thing I can say with some amount of certainty is that it doesn''t outright pose a threat to Terra herself."

 272 Extermination 1

    "Move up the left flank! We can''t let them overwhelm us now!"


    Shouting over a hail of machine gun fire and relentless close air support, Solaris weaved together a defensive spell as she continued barking orders.


    "Alice reel them in, I got you covered!"


    "G-got it!"


    Trusting her commander, Alice lept straight into range of her opponents as a shield made of concentrated mana crystals surrounded her right before she brought down her greatsword and cleaved one of her targets in half along with the building behind it. Letting the greatsword which was taller than herself flow freely in her hands like it was made of soft foam, Alice brought it down on another target with such force that it shock the already ruined city which she continued to decimate along with anyone unfortunate to get within her range.


    "... I swear that girl is such a brute sometimes."


    With the church tower gently swaying from Alice''s sword strikes over a kilometre away, Lilly''s mouth drew into a thin smile as her golden eyes surveyed the battlefield. Finding a cluster of enemies moving in towards Solaris and her drone detachment, Lilly''s eyes slightly narrowed as her smile disappeared before she reached into the empty air in front of her, pulling an arrow made out an arrow made of ethereal mana which she nooked on a bow which seemed like nothing more than the passing wind.


    Unless you saw the world as Lilly did that is.


    "Goodbye children."


    Releasing the arrow Lilly followed it with her golden eyes as it passed straight through multiple buildings before reaching its destination in the matter of a split second, then it detonated in a bright and strangely mesmerising explosion.


    "YOU FIRST!"


    "!!!"


    But right after releasing the arrow something suddenly spoke out from right behind her. With no time to think or hesitate, Lilly trusted her instincts and leapt forward out of the bell tower. Turning around in mid air, she released another arrow which almost immediately detonated, but the figure which had snuck up on her was nowhere to be found.


    "Shi-"


    Even before she could utter a full word the figure once more emerged out of the nearby shadows, closing the range in an even shorter time Lilly only just managed to block its strange claw like appendages with her dagger as the figure once more disappeared into thin air.


    "It''s here!"


    Breaking her own fall just in time with a powerful whirlwind, Lilly was immediately swarmed by enemies which surrounded her on all sides.


    It would be way too late before she realized that they were stalling for time, by that time she was the only one left standing.


    -


    "... I can''t believe we lost that."


    "Well, what do you expect going against Dax?"


    "True¡­"


    "Still, what was that drone? The one with the claws."


    "Probably some sort of prototype..."


    "Nope~ It''s a production model."


    Appearing out of nowhere with a large smile on his face, Dax corrected Alice as he placed a hand on her shoulder to keep her from running away.


    "Now, my dear Alice. Getting up close and personal is great and all, but make sure you''re not too caught up in it to notice changes in your surroundings. Failure to do so will get you killed."


    "O-okay, got it."


    "Then there''s you Solaris."


    Having finished saying what he wanted to say to Alice, Dax turned his attention towards the archangel who flinched slightly in response.


    "Keeping track of the battlefield is a good thing to do, but if you can''t act on any chances then it means nothing. With your control of mana and defensive capabilities getting stuck in like Alice isn''t a bad idea once in a while¡­. As for you Lilly, I don''t think I need to say anything, both for the sake of your pride and my own health."


    "A wise decision."


    Breathing a short sigh to switch gears after he had avoided his untimely death, Dax turned serious, something which had an immediate effect on the girls who also shaped up.


    "If this had been a combat exercise there''s still a lot of things I would have wanted to say, but that wasn''t the purpose of our little bout. While we fought I took the liberty of looking over every single one of the numerous training and qualification exercises Lux had kept hidden from me, including the live combat engagement where you took down an irregular elder. Faced with the results of those feats along with recommendations from my staff, I have no choice but to recognise each of you as Hellwalkers with sufficient experience and skills to participate in live combat operations."


    Hearing the exact opposite of what they had been expecting, the girls were momentarily stunned by Dax''s words which were too serious sounding to be a joke. Having expected Dax to try and use the test they had just failed as a justification for keeping them from live combat, being approved for it instead came as a bit of a shock.


    "Wait, what? Didn''t we fail that test just now?"


    "Yeah, if that was a test then you would have all failed pretty hard, especially you Lilly~"


    Attempting to pat Lilly''s head with a large smile on his face, Dax hurriedly retracted his hand as he would like to keep it with all fingers attached before giving the pissed off elver a serious answer.


    "It wasn''t a test, but more of a personal assessment for my own sake, it''s kind of an unofficial welcome ceremony for the 125th, every single Hellwalker has gone through it."


    "Meaning?"


    Feeling like there was a simpler reason behind Dax''s very professional sounding response, Lilly raised an eyebrow as her lips curled up in a slight smile.


    "I have a better time understanding my teammates when I''ve seen how they react being torn apart. That aside, are you girls ready to exterminate the last remnants of the elders?"

 273 Extermination 2

    With the Hellwalker initiation ritual out of the way, Dax and the girls were joined by Lux, Phillipa, Ra, Mu, and Ifrit for a final tactical brief. Taking the lead of the conversation Dax put up a hologram map of the imperial continent.


    "With Ra and Mu having completed a herbicide effective against the flesh eating fungi that the elders have been spreading, it is finally time to wipe out the elders along with every physical trace of their existence."


    Bringing everyone up to speed, Dax focused the area around the imperial capital.


    "While recent airstrikes and operations have heavily decreased the number of elders it would seem that the remainder has grouped up in the area around the former capital. The reason for selecting that area for their final stand is most likely the FTL drive of the Omega-7 derelict cruiser which originally brought me and Lux to this world."


    "A what? ftl?"


    As Ifrit wasn''t afraid to ask questions they immediately interrupted Dax the second they heard a term they didn''t understand, leaving Mu who was the subject matter expert to explain it using as simple words and terms as possible.


    "A faster than light drive. It''s the thing that allows ships to cover the vast distances between planets and stars in somewhat reasonable time frames. This one is an older type which does so by manipulating gravity, what''s significant about the elders taking interest in it is that it can also be used to communicate over vast distances."


    "So they''re trying to contact someone? That sounds bad."


    "That''s only a possibility. It is way more likely that the elders see the drive as a possible strategic asset, seeing as it can manipulate gravity over vast distances it can be used as a weapon."


    "Ah, like the crushing thing Dax did to that elder on the moon?"


    Recalling the time Dax used something similar once, Ifrit quickly realized how that could be a problem to face.


    "Yeah, exactly like what I did to that elder, except several magnitudes more powerful. Luckily we have the blessing of superior technology on our side, with the ship that Ra, Mu, and Phillipa arrived here in being able to counter whatever offensive means the elders try and use that grav drive for, but sadly the same can''t be said about the defensive measures¡­ With the drive under their control, no fire support except for orbital high energy lasers is going to work against them until we''ve disabled the drive. With that being the case, our primary objective along with closing off all routes of escape is doing exactly that, although the elders are most likely not going to allow us to do so. Lux, take it away."


    Having explained the gist of the operation, Dax left the rest to his trusted XO.


    With what could very well be the final military operation in the world of swords and magic only hours away, a heavy silence spread out over Dax''s compound in the old part of Kingstead. The particular silence would only be too familiar for people used to high stress work environments, this was the literal silence before the storm. Every single person has their own way of dealing with that silence, and although the most common was panic, none of the operations member''s showed such a response.


    While humming a silent children''s song, Lux sat on the ground in front of her assigned transport already wearing her combat gear as she polished her sword and serval throwing knives with a happy expression. Although her smile was surprisingly childish as she maintained her blades, the Hellwalker''s eyes were that of a professional killer, utterly clenched of emotions save for a small hint of bloodthirsty excitement.


    Phillipa was sitting a short distance away from Lux in a seiza on a worn looking woven rug, spread out on the rug was the entirety of the gear she was going to be using for the operation. The countless magazines for different weapons along with their firearms were all disassembled and laid out in a symmetrical pattern before Phillipa as she meticulously inspected and polished every single component with a focused expression on her face as she listened to death metal that was blasting out through the pair of large headphones she was wearing.


    Lilly had found herself a quiet area of the compound with a bit of vegetation around, standing barefoot with her feet on a mix of moss and grass the elver''s tightly shut eyes gleamed as the mana around her fluctuated in the same rhythm as her breathing. As her pulse and breathing gradually slowed down the vegetation around her started coming alive, as her braided red hair slightly swayed in the air it was like watching a timelapse with plants and flowers springing up the ground around her, all while the mana continued fluctuating ever more violently, constantly cycling through her body and strengthening her.


    The archangel Solaris was likewise cycling mana through her body as she floated a few centimetres off the ground in the middle of an empty practice field. The pair of abnormally large pure white wings which sprouted from her back lightly fluttered in the wind along with changes in the surrounding mana while her long blond hair hovered all around her, glowing faintly along with her closed eyes and an intricately crafted spear which slowly orbited around her in a somewhat lazy fashion.


    Alice was by far the youngest and most inexperienced of the group, but that didn''t seem to bother her at all as she had placed herself against a building near her designated transport in full combat gear along with her massive greatsword breathed quietly, having fallen asleep standing upright with a perfect sense of balance from her days as a ranger. But even as she had fallen asleep without much issue, the former ranger still remained far more alert than most people would think as she had trained under Lux for quite some time as her disciple, Alice''s instincts were almost as sharp as her teachers.


    Ifrit was by far the loudest member of the upcoming operation, having isolated themselves inside an unused storage room they sat on the cold concrete flooring while chanting talking in several different dead languages at the same time while corrupted mana violently flowed through their artificial body as strange runes which covered the entirety of the empty storeroom lit up in otherworldly colours.


    While his comrades did their best to either calm their nerves or prepare for the upcoming operation, Dax was quietly meditating in a relaxed posture. Of course, that was only how it appeared on the outside, the reality of the situation was entirely different if one looked beneath the surface. While Dax looked calm, he was currently tasking his IMI interface to capacity, running countless simulations while he worked through every single muscle group in his body to check for performance issues while also running through different breathing and pulse patterns Dax was truly in absolute control of his own body.


    And that was everything he would ever need.


    -


    [We are a go for mission, use landing site delta.]


    "Roger, see you on the ground."


    Taking command of the first unit that was going to draw out the elders, Phillipa''s aura had completely changed from her usual happy go lucky attitude into that of a hardened killer. While Ifrit took no issue with such a change, the same couldn''t be said for Solaris, although she had fought together with Phillipa before the change was still quite jarring.


    "Once we hit the ground it is going to be tough just to breathe freely, therefore I want to take this chance to say this before we get into the thick of it: Solaris, you need to shape up, right now."


    After confirming communication cut off, Phillipa immediately set out to confront the biggest potential issue she saw with the upcoming operation, even as the person in question had no idea about it.


    "Eh?"


    "Don''t ''eh'' me, it''s clear you feel out of place here. That attitude of yours needs to change right now."


    What Phillipa said was true, ever since seeing Phillipa, Dax and Lux work together to bring down the first elder using only prototype manatech equipment she had felt herself out of place, even if she was technically now part of the same organization as such outright monsters, it just didn''t feel real.


    "But-"


    "No buts. I''ve acknowledged your skills, but more importantly, so has the commander. You second guess yourself every single step of the way is detrimental to operational success, I won''t ask you to have the same level of self confidence as Ifrit, but having a fellow member of the 125th doubting themselves like this is an issue I can''t afford to ignore when I''m about to entrust my life to your hands Solaris."


    Before Solaris was able to answer Phillipa, the light in their transport went out for a second before it turned bright red, signalling that the craft was about to land inside hostile territory. With no time to finish her talks, Phillipa went completely into ''work mode'' as she put on her entirely black face mask before placing a reassuring hand on Solaris'' shoulder before sending the archangel a private message.


    [This is your chance to really show off to Dax, don''t waste it.]


    "Let''s do this!~"


    As the light inside the transport turned green the rear ramp opened while the CAS-7 still flew at almost top speed, sticking to an extremely low altitude as it continued to avoid incoming fire. With no time to disembark normally, Ifrit deployed a drogue parachute which pulled them out of the transport with Phillipa and Solaris following close behind. The second that the CAS-7 was clear of cargo it immediately attempted to disengage, but before it got the chance one of its engines was severed, leading it to spin out of control before it crashed into the ground and exploded.


    "Solaris, cover!"


    "Got it!"


    Not that Phillipa, Ifrit or Solaris had time to worry about the loss of their transport, for as it was destroyed they became the elder''s primary target.

 274 Extermination 3

    "Solaris, cover!"


    "Got it!"


    Scanning the desolate countryside Solaris quickly spotted large chunks of seemingly free floating terrain about 2 kilometres ahead of her, hearing about it was one thing, but actually seeing the effect an FTL class gravitational drive had on its surroundings was something else entirely. Deciding that she could look at it with awe later, Solaris first focused on the incoming attacks from the numerous elders held up within the grav drive''s area of influence. Powering up her manatech armour, the archangel weaved mana into the ground through her feet as large pillars of compressed rock shot up in front of her, blocking mana crystals and other physical projectiles while a large prism made out of mana crystals defused radiation based attacks before the reached Solaris.


    "No attack will get past my defences."


    With none of the earlier doubt visible on her face, Solaris displayed a haughty smile as she flawlessly shot down every single attempt at harming her or her allies.


    "Solaris pull back slightly, we''re going to use the deflate 50 metres to the rear! Ifrit hit that thing with everything you got!"


    With Solaris handling defence, Phillipa started barking out orders as she took shots of opportunity with her rifle while darting around the field to distract from Ifrit which stood behind Solaris and quietly chanted in a long forgotten demon language.


    "Na''sn wagz''on Thoth, ra''wn!" (Patron god of the void Th''oth, sing!)


    Completing their chant and paying the toll of mana it required with the help of their manatech armour, Ifrit stepped out from behind Solaris and put forth their arm and pointed it at an elder which was charging their position.


    "Goodbye~?"


    It was as if the light around Ifrit was suddenly absorbed by something strange, then a split second later, their spell activated. Seeming to break multiple laws of physics, a mass of absolute nothing instantly reached the charging elder, then it and the area around it was engulfed in what looked to be some sort of event horizon, forever sealing the elder inside.


    "That should have gotten their attention proper, we''re pulling back!"


    "Eh?~ Let me kill a few more~?"


    "Calm down Ifrit, if you stick to the plan you''ll get to kill a lot more in a bit."


    "Ah, that''s right~?"


    "Stay focused, you two!"


    While Ifrit got a little bit too bloodthirsty, Solaris managed to bring them back into line with the help of Phillipa''s promise of more bloodshed somewhere down the line while she also


    continued constructing shield formations which kept them all safe.


    "Yeah, yeah~? Bounding now!"


    Starting their retreat with Ifrit as the first one, the demon turned away from the elders and started sprinting full speed as Phillipa and Solaris covered, then after covering some 500 metres Ifrit dug in their heels and came to a stop.


    "Okay, running now!"


    With Ifrit set up to cover their retreat and Solaris still holding, Phillipa was the first one to move as she abandoned her position and started sprinting, coming to a stop a bit past Ifrit before she dug herself in behind cover and quickly sat up to cover for Solaris.


    "Move!"


    While one person moved two stayed put to cover, a standard military formation which was as old as it was effective. Opening up the distance to the elders and their safe cover, Phillipa''s group started dragging out the now irritated elders until they started getting a little too close for comfort.


    "Cover!"


    "No fucking time! Figure it out!"


    Running across a desolated crop field with only a few fox holes made by misguided orbital artillery from former engagements as their only cover, Phillipa, Ifrit and Solaris no longer had time to stop and cover for each other as they continued to retreat with a group of pissed off elders within a kilometre. As Solaris ran past Phillipa almost blindly slinging mana crystals over her shoulder, Phillipa now had the unenviable situation of being the rear guard with no one covering her. Aiming at the closet elder with her rifle, Phillipa identified its core by looking for the minute mana emitted from it as she squeezed the trigger while activating the thermoacoustic cooling script to enable fully automatic fire. Spending the loaded magazine in a split second, Phillipa flicked her rifle as she released the magazine while grasping a spare from her vest with her free hand and immediately inserting a fresh one before checking for extraction failure and once more aiming at the closest elder, this entire process only took a single second as Phillipa continued a slow and steady retreat.


    "Cover!"


    "Not able!"


    "Tch."


    Clicking her tongue in slight frustration, Phillipa continued her slow and steady retreat as she continued to terminate or disable incoming elders with a brutal and almost machine like efficiency.


    "I''m burning through ammunition fast here! Need cover!"


    "20 seconds!"


    "Finally!"


    With the ground in front of her quickly shrinking, she switched her rifle over to one hand as she grabbed a secondary weapon, a particular shorted semi automatic 8 gauge shotgun loaded with special purpose slugs.


    "Taste this!"


    Aiming at an abnormal elder which was blinking in and out through existence towards her, Phillipa shot a slug which hit the elder dead on right as it emerged from its short range teleportation.


    At first, nothing happened, but after a second the metal slugs true potential as a marker emitting a particular stream of detectable, individually unique gravitational waves travelling at the speed of light in all directions.


    [TARGET ACQUIRED, PULSING.]


    For a split second all the weeds and failed crops around the elder stood up straight as gravity no longer affected that area of space time, but alas, nothing last forever as the L-CDT456 Hermies in high orbit currently on the other side of the planet locked on to its target and used its offensive gravitational drive several magnitudes more powerful than anything else seen in this dimension reduced the elder to subatomic particles.


    Nothing could survive something with that magnitude of energy, not even an immortal elder.


    With no time to revel in the destruction she had just unleashed, Phillipa used the opportunity she had just created to once more open up the distance as Ifrit and Solaris finally got in position to cover her.


    "How long do we have to keep this shit up!?"


    "Don''t know, ask Dax!"


    [Keep it up, I''m seeing movement at the stronghold which seems like they''re moving in the direction we want.]


    Flawlessly interjecting in their conversation, Dax stunned Solaris who hadn''t realized that he had kept tabs on them ever since they started the operation.


    [Oh, and you''re looking good Solaris~]


    "I didn''t ask for that kind of input!"


    [Then don???t ask me, I''m busy too.]


    "Okay, but you''re going to hear for this later, you hear!"


    Channelling the frustration she held towards Dax into her spells, Solaris continued to shield her allies while Phillipa and Ifrit kept the elders at a safe distance.


    With a demons offence, an archangels defence united together under the strategic guidance of a qiton, there was nothing the elders could do but play right into their hands as they continued to extend out from safety after Phillipa, Ifrit and Solaris. Meanwhile, Dax, Alice and Lux prepared for their assault as they observed the distraction team''s progress.


    "Now?"


    "Nope, we need space to make sure they''re not able to reorganize before we''re on the ground."


    When Dax told Solaris he was busy that was partially true, of course, he was keeping a careful eye on the distraction group and delaying hostile reinforcements with orbital artillery and unmanned CAS, but also instructing Alice on the operation and answering any questions she held. The reason he did that was that Alice showed a surprising amount of aptitude in that field, it was not entirely out of the question that she could end up with her own dedicated group within the 125th like Lux.


    "Then how are we doing the insertion?"


    "Fast and hard, we''re doing individual drops with suicide burns, then roll into either formation beta 7 or delta 9."


    With a slight far off look in his eyes, Dax still answered Alice seriously right as multiple conditions for the advance in the operation were fulfilled. While Alice didn''t notice the slight change in Dax''s aura, Lux who had fought along with him for multiple lifetimes quickly recognized what was happening and started her final preparations.


    "Okay, but wh-"


    "Right now, prepare for drop."


    With very little warning Dax got up from his seat and hooked the back of his manatech armour onto a guard rail inside the CAS-14 assault transport. Lux likewise followed suit as she also put on her Reaper mask to hide her excited and outright bloodthirsty smile, with Alice being the last one to hook in as she wasn''t that familiar with the contraption.


    "Ready for drop?"


    "Ready."


    "I''m also ready I guess, but what exactly are we doing?"


    "Dropping out the plane of course."


    With a teasing smile on his face, Dax took that exact opportunity to explain the particular deployment method to Alice for the first time. Of course, this wasn''t because he wanted to be mean to Alice, but experience told him that people were more open to the idea of falling out of a spaceplane when they had no choice in the matter.


    [IMI CONFIRMS, DEPLOYING TROOPS.]


    "Eh?"


    Letting out a slightly unintelligent sound, the floor beneath Alice''s feet suddenly retracted as she became weightless, dropping out the bottom of the CAS-14 assault transport together with a reentry package and her sword attached to the back of her manatech armour.

 275 Extermination 4

    Before Alice realized what was going on she had been surrounded by some sort of strange armour as she was hurling down towards the ground.


    [Welcome to this spontaneous drop pod aptitude test, listen closely as I will only say this once: Blue is normal operational mode, yellow is ready for deployment of break thrusters, as for red¡­]


    "What''s red?"


    [Dead. That''s all, good luck~]


    "Don''t just ''good luck~'' me! Hey! DAX!?"


    Despite Alice''s initial panic she quickly got the hang of the drop pod''s systems as it''s control interface was fairly simple to understand, even while free falling head first towards the ground. With active guidance and semi autonomous control, all Alice needed to decide was when to deploy and whether or not to follow the beacon.


    (Since the display is blue then this is the normal operation mode, yellow is just before the hover slam and red is too late for breaking¡­)


    Continuing to follow the beacon down towards the surface, Alice started to question if the display was functioning correctly as the ground became visible and gave her a reference as to exactly how fast she was nearing it.


    "Yellow! Please turn yellow!"


    When she started being able to distinguish the individual trees and erratic plant life on the ground Alice really started to turn desperate, but instead of responding to her commands the drop pod only seemed to speed up further, that is until it Alice was only a few seconds from crashing into the ground when the guidance display finally turned yellow and she squeezed the bottom to activate the braking program with all her might. In a split second, the outer protective shell was purged, a series of manoeuvre thrusters spun her around in the air as a series of parachutes and breaking thrusters brought her to a complete stop just above the ground.


    [Good job on the deployment, regroup on me.]


    "Roger! 20 seconds out!"


    Normally Alice would have a lot more stuff to say after being put through such a situation, but since they were currently on active deployment she chose to suppress it for the moment. Bringing out her greatsword, Alice activated her manatech armour before stomping her foot into the ground, injecting mana which strengthened the ground she stood on before she activated strengthening magic and shot off towards the rendezvous point.


    Meanwhile, Dax and Lux had already landed and made contact with the enemy, it would seem that the elders had seen through their attempt at an ambush.


    Not that it really mattered that much.


    "Switch to formation 4."


    "Affirmative."


    "Fucking irregulars! It seems like they''re more of them than there were supposed to."


    "Yeah, no shit¡­ Alice, get into formation!"


    "M-moving!"


    With Alice finally joining Dax and Lux, it finally became possible for Dax to cross the desolate field between himself and his objective which had made for an extremely annoying and hard to pass kill zone.


    "Lux, shields Alice, Alice smash trough."


    Now having appropriate forces there was no real need for complicated commands, with the wonders of modern decentralized command Dax only needed to relay the general outlines of his current plans and his trusted subordinates would take care of the rest.


    "Advancing, cover."


    Sprinting out of her cover without a hint of hesitation, Alice started charging the defensive line consisting of about 20 elders with multiple irregulars along with them. The elders responded to that with multiple multiple spells which Alice made no attempt to defend against. The reason she didn''t was that Alice wasn''t given the command to, thus she trusted Dax when he gave the order to charge but also Lux''s ability to keep her safe.


    "Covering."


    Appearing out of thin air right in front of Alice, Lux used her ridiculously sharp sword to cut apart anything which would threaten her adorable subordinate, taking the occasional chance to hit targets of opportunity whenever they presented themselves.


    "Optimal assault formation achieved, advancing."


    Meanwhile, Dax started advancing on his own, keeping a 100 metre separation from Lux and Alice, the reason he did that was that unlike Alice and Lux who solely specialized in offence, Dax had an even focus between offence and defence. Creating a phalanx formation out of his crystal shields in front to cover himself, Dax kept up a leisurely pace as he advanced, every single time an enemy spell would harmlessly deflect of off his shields or be absorbed by extreme gravitational tidal wave forces Dax would return fire, and every single time he would draw blood.


    Or whatever, black, slime like ozze was equivalent to blood for the elders anyway.


    While Dax, Lux and Alice were busy charging the enemy fort, Phillipa, Solaris and Irfit were still fighting for their lives as they kept retreating with an ever angrier swarm of elders behind them.


    [We''ve landed, advancing on the fort now.]


    "Okay, what do you want us to do?"


    Firing another slug from her semi automatic shotgun which the Hermies locked on to, Phillipa signalled to her subordinates that new directives were incoming.


    [Lilly is incoming, crush them with her help, then advance.]


    Feeling Dax disconnect the call right after he relayed those directives, Phillipa wiped the grim expression off her face as her lips curled up into a full on bloodthirsty grin as she relayed their new directives to her subordinates.


    "New directives! Crush them!"


    "Finally~?"


    "It''s about time!"


    With her subordinates responding in kind, Phillipa''s smile only grew wider as she finally stopped retreating, digging her heels into the ground for a moment she let out a suppressive salvo before she started charging.


    "Advance!"


    ""Advancing!""


    In the end, the elders and their mighty forms were of little worry as they didn''t seem to be cooperating in the slightest, after only 4 hours of work, the last elder on the imperial continent was destroyed. Following the operation, Dax found himself even tied up with the cleanup and countless announcements, speeches and dinners which followed ridding the world of magic of their united enemy. Doing those countless backroom talks and negotiations, Dax started silently breaking the news that he was going to leave the planet and return to the war he had left behind, in his absence multiple different directives would be handed over to an IMI system which could be directed by the planetary council to make decisions, basically creating a planetary government. At the same time as those talks were happening, Ra and Mu compleated multiple generations of manatech armour and equipment, fully perfecting the technology before they turned their attention towards the only trace left of the elders, their modifications to the FTL drive which had originally belonged the cruiser Dax and Lux marooned with.


    -


    "Hmm, good work Ra."


    Examining the remains of the elder''s flesh and electricity eating fungus which now looked like some sort of white ash between his fingers, Dax pressed the ash slightly which made it fall apart and disintegrate into nothing.


    "Why thank you¡­ Although that was nothing more than a crude solution implemented to remove an even cruder device."


    With a bitter look on her face, Ra stood in front of what remained of the FTL drive which had originally been installed in the Omega-7 cruiser, with nothing more than a wave of her hand its countless security systems were breached as she accessed its logs.


    "So? Did you find out what they used it for?"


    "... Not exactly. Although it is clear that the core was refitted to do something I''m not entirely sure what, what''s worse Mu has no idea either."


    "Could it be some sort of communication?"


    "Perhaps, but that would be the worst possible scenario. I don''t really need to tell you why right?"


    "Yeah, but I''m just listing possible scenarios. Isn''t it sometimes better to look at data with some sort of foregone conclusion?"


    Needless to say, the very idea that the elders contacted someone or something would be really, really bad. But the concept was hard to rule out as Dax and his subordinates had completely annihilated the elders, leaving none alive to interrogate.


    "Well, there''s nothing to do about this other than being prepared... Anyway, are we not going back this week?"


    "Yeah, first stop is the Hellwalker command in the capital, then the front lines after getting the troops in order. I''m guessing you and Mu want to go process all the data gathered here?"


    "That''s the plan yeah, I also personally want to work on getting a real body for Ifrit after hearing about how much they''ve been through."


    After wiping out the final elder''s Ifrit also finally shared their story with Dax and the others, explaining how they had led a colonizing force with their kin and other demons across dimensions at an event only know as ''the calamity'' were the demons had suffered heavy casualties against some kind of other worlders which had allied themselves with the angels and created the archangel sanctuaries. When the demons realized they couldn''t win they betrayed Ifrit and their kin, leaving them behind to fend off the angels, a futile fight which led to the annihilation of Ifrit''s kin and Ifrit themselves getting their soul trapped in a sword to be used as a living weapon.


    "I''m sure Ifrit would love that, just make sure you don''t overwork yourself."


    "I won''t, have you forgotten who you''re talking to?"

 276 Home 1

    "Here, take this."


    A particular ''morning'' aboard the Hermies, Dax presented his group with some strange badges and a black mask which would cover their mouth.


    "What''s this?"


    "Official identification, these badges serve as proof that all of you are members of the 125th, as such each of you needs to keep it on your person at all times."


    Opening it up to inspect it closer, Solaris found that the badge contained a picture of her, together with the 125th''s logo and information about her rank, intentionally omitting things such as age, place of birth and personal background.


    "It says I''m not in a relationship¡­"


    "That''s because such a thing relates to me and is therefore classified, sorry about that."


    With an apologetic smile on his face, Dax placed a hand on top of Solaris'' head as she sulked, meanwhile, Terra who wanted to leave the lovebirds to their things as soon as possible asked about the other thing she had been given.


    "So what about the masks?"


    "Good question, try putting it on."


    "... Okay."


    Feeling another one of Dax''s peculiar lectures was about to happen, Terra did as he suggested with a hint of reluctance on her face. Securing the black mask to her face with straps which fit behind her ears, Dax quickly made sure it was fitted correctly.


    "Then what now?"


    Finding no issue in speaking or breathing with the mask on, Terra''s started to wonder if the mask even had a use.


    "What''s my name?"


    "..."


    "Just answer my question please."


    "It''s ---. Wait, what?"


    Answering Dax''s seemingly stupid question, Terra found herself unable to say Dax''s name out loud no matter how much she tried to. Seeing that commotion happen, Mu who had so far kept to the sidelines stepped in to explain.


    "Dax''s identity is classified, as are your own identities with the exception of what''s on the Hellwalker identifications. A bunch of other things we have so far casually shared with you too is also not something which we would like to become common knowledge and instead of making sure that any of you don''t accidentally share classified information these masks will block it out."


    "Ah, okay. Thanks for the explanation --."


    Finding out that Mu''s identity was also classified when she thanked her, Terra suddenly got really tired of wearing her mask (Read: dog''s collar.)


    "No problem~ When we''re out in public, Dax is ''commander'', I''m 02 while Ra is 01."


    "Sure¡­ But why do we need these masks anyway?"


    "Because we''re hitching a ride and heading to Hellwalker command in the Galactic capital first, Phillipa told me some things I can''t afford to ignore so I need to take care of them first. Just think of this as a short holiday before going to war."


    With Phillipa being mentioned all eyes turned to her who had so far remained silent.


    "Can I tell them?"


    "Sure, go ahead."


    Having received permission from her superior, Phillipa breathed a deep sigh before she started explaining.


    "In my time as acting Hellwalker command, I''ve found trace evidence of both misuse of power and corruption within the unit, together with mounting evidence that the recruitment of new Hellwalkers has been compromised."


    "Compromised? How can something like recruitment be compromised?"


    Looking around the room Dax saw that the other''s also shared Terra''s confusion, making him realize that he had never explained the Hellwalkers'' normal recruitment process.


    "The 125th is the most elite fighting force in the Galactic navy, as such all members must have qualifications to match. Recruitment takes place all over the empire every 5 years in an event known as the semi annual selection matches which normally has a cadet failure rate of 99.995%, but recently it has fallen enough to call into question its integrity."


    "So there''s a possibility that the 125th has splintered into corrupt groups or even infiltrated by a 3rd party? That sounds extremely bad."


    "Yeah it is, what''s worse there''s even a chance that some members have been either selling weapons or are directly involved with criminal organizations for their own benefit."


    "So it''s fine to get directly involved with criminal organizations if it is for the sake of the government?"


    "Yeah, the 125th is a black operations unit, we do whatever we need to get the job done."


    Taking some time to digest what Phillipa and Dax had just told them, the girls fell silent with grim expressions on their faces. Seeing the heavy mood Dax put on a reassuring smile as he broke the silence in an attempt to lighten the mood.


    "But that''s my problem as the commander. While I get those things sorted out and possibly purge a few members of the organization, the rest of you are free to explore the capital and have fun. The identifications I''ve just given you also work like cash cards without any spending limit and if anything happens they''re also beacons for me to locate you in an emergency situation, just depress the icon and drones will be at your location within 60 seconds."


    Explaining a bit further how to seek aid in the event of an emergency or contact him using their personal communicators or even Reaper drones acting as police units, Dax told the group that they would soon branch off from Ra and Mu''s and head to the capital by hitching a ride on a Galactic navy vessel while they moved to Ra and Mu''s hidden research facility.


    "Why can''t we just remain on this ship? Is it that out of the way for Ra and Mu to drop us off at the capital?"


    "Not really, but it''s one thing to privately own a warship with technology multiple generations ahead of anything in service and another thing entirely to have that very ship show up in one of the Galactic Empire''s busiest systems."


    "Ah, yeah that makes sense."


    ---


    Parting with the research group, Dax and his group boarded a CAS-7A and travelled a few hours in deep space before rendezvousing with the Galactic navy''s 3rd strike group, docking with the battleship Ingenuity, the flagship of the fleet. The ship in question was radically different from Ra and Mu''s ship, both in form factor and sheer size with a length of 2.4 kilometres and a beam (width at the widest point) of 900 metres at the rear engine mounts, coming to a stumped point at the bow (front of the ship) with docking facilities housing everything from transports to torpedo boats, fighters and arsenal ships running along the port and starboard sides of the roughly triangle shaped ship. As the rear ramp of the CAS-7A came down a busy flight deck filled with personal and drones doing maintenance was revealed, along with a grey haired man in his sixties with an impressive beard.


    "It''s been a long time admiral Simmons. I see you''ve gotten fat while I wasn''t looking."


    With a large smile on his face, Dax greeted the fleet commander who had come to greet Dax at the hanger together with a bunch of curious looking officers.


    "Meanwhile you haven''t changed at all commander, it is nice to be of use to the 125th again, please tell me if there''s anything you need doing your stay here aborad the Ingenuity and feel free to rely on the officers behind me, they''re all my most talented subordinates."


    Shaking hands with the admiral, Dax took a quick look behind him to judge the young men and women who the admiral had taken under his wing while Dax had been gone, finding them to be bright and capable looking officers.


    "They sure look like some fine men you''ve gathered under you, Simmons, I would love to take some time and introduce my men to them but sadly I''m not allowed to do so."


    "That''s completely fine, I know how you special ops types operate. Now, follow me, I''ll show you all to your quarters."


    Taking a quick tour of the ship''s basic facilities, Dax and his subordinates were eventually led to a series of isolated officers quarters.


    "Use these rooms however you see fit, I''ll make sure to make sure none disturbs you."


    "That''s perfect Simmons, I''ll swing by the bridge later this evening to catch up and perhaps meet some of your seedlings?"


    "That would be great, I''ll have a bottle ready for that occasion then."


    Once more shaking hands with the admiral, Dax and his group was left with their bags (which hid classified equipment) to settle in while the admiral and his officers went back to their tasks.


    "You sure are chummy with that guy Dax."


    "Of course I am Lilly, he''s an old drinking buddy who has helped me out countless times. Are you jealous?"


    "Not really."


    Puffing out her cheeks as she looked away, Lilly proved that she was, in fact, a tiny bit jealous of one of Dax''s drinking buddies she didn''t know anything about.


    "Mistress, let me take your things."


    "Ah, Thanks, Lia. Just put them in your quarters, I''m sure we won''t need our armour on board this ship."


    Lia, the formerly blind beastkin enforcer who had settled into the role of Solaris'' attendant after the archangel had picked her up quickly started taking care of their equipment and hauling it into the room she had claimed as her own.


    "There are two double rooms, Mare do you want to sleep with me?"


    "Mmm."


    Lilly quickly claimed a room for herself and Mare who had gotten somewhat attached to her among all these unknown sights, sounds and smells.


    "Dax do you want to share a room with me?"


    "That would properly be a bad idea, why don''t you take the room together with Terra?"


    "... Okay."


    Seeing the light drain from Alice''s eyes as she was shot down by Dax, Terra breathed a deep sigh as she quelled her annoyance.


    "Hey don''t look so disappointed, I know I''m not the love of your life but you can at least pretend to like me."


    "I-I didn''t mean it like that! Terra, wait for me!"


    "Then I''ll take the room down there commander, call me when you''re going to meet with the admiral~"


    Already used to living in officers quarters, Phillipa swung her backpack over the shoulder as she lazily waved goodbye to the others and disappeared, Dax knowing her, she was most likely going to check up on the state of the Galactic empire now that she had an uplink.


    "I don''t really need a room¡­"


    "These rooms usually have a fridge filled with drinks and snacks."


    "I''ll take this room here Dax, see you tomorrow~?"


    Left alone in the hallway Dax quietly breathed a sigh as he swung his massive backpack over one shoulder and moved into the only room which was left. Seeing the completely standard officers quarter Dax placed his backpack where he always did before plopping down on the bed which was a tiny bit too short for him if he stretched out fully.


    "Home, sweet home."

 277 Home 2

    In the middle of the ''night'' aboard the battleship Ingenuity, Solaris was training inside one of the ship''s gyms. Standing in the middle of a mat, Solaris centred herself for the nth time before kicking the empty air in front of her, then she switched her centre of mass before kicking once more, but still, something felt off, she was still too slow. Moving over to a sandbag instead, Solaris abused that with kicks and punches for about half an hour before frustration once more overpowered her.


    "Too fucking slow!"


    It wasn''t that Solaris was doing bad per se, if she was observed by a skilled martial artist they would say she was extremely skilled, but forced to give up her wings due to obvious reasons and under hasher gravity, she was still too slow for her own liking. The reason for that was that because of the increased gravity, the world she had lived on for over 600 years had lower gravity than the what she was experiencing now, while the difference was under 0.4 G, it still messed with her sense of balance and inertia when fighting, even though her bone and muscle density had been raised to an acceptable level she still felt strangely heavy when training. Wiping away the long strands of golden hair that was sticking to her forehead as she breathed a deep sigh, Solaris took a break to drink some water when she finally noticed she wasn''t alone in the gym like she had thought.


    "Umm... Good evening."


    Caught like a deer in headlights, Solaris froze up when she was greeted by a youth with a pair of bright blue eyes and bright red short hair.


    "Good evening¡­ Please excuse me."


    Not currently wearing her information control mask, Solaris panicked as she turned to hurriedly leave the room when the red haired girl grabbed her hand.


    "I''m sorry for spying on you like that but you don''t need to leave for my sake, I couldn''t help but think you''re having trouble with adjusting to the gravity so I thought that perhaps I could be of assistance, it''s just that it was hard to approach you!"


    Blurting out everything on her mind in a panicked attempt to keep Solaris from leaving, the red haired youth''s face turned as red as her hair.


    "How did you know that?"


    Turning suspicious when the youth saw straight through the problem Solaris had even kept hidden from Lia, she briefly considered eliminating the young sailor who clearly knew too much.


    "That''s-! It''s just that I saw you training and was fasci- I mean I''ve gone through gravity adjustment myself so I thought that perhaps you were dealing with something like that, I''m sorry for assuming that Miss Hellwalker, please don''t be angry!... Ah, and my name is Rin, I talked with your commander yesterday when admiral Simmons suddenly recommended me for the position of liaison to the 125th!"


    (She doesn''t seem to be lying, and Dax did say all the officers on this ship were trustworthy individuals¡­ It should be fine to ask for her help as long as I report that I did to Dax after the fact.)


    "So, what do you have in mind, miss Rin?"


    "Eh?- Oh, yeah! Wait for a second, I''ll be right back!"


    It seemed like Rin hadn''t expected Solaris to accept her help so she once more froze up like a deer in headlights for a few seconds until she snapped out of it, disappearing off to the strength training area and returning with a pair of 2 kilo dumbbells.


    "Please try and do some punches into the air as you did before, but this time hold one of these in each hand."


    "Okay?..."


    While not exactly following along with what Rin was getting at, Solaris nevertheless followed her advice and started practising martial arts again, this time with the slightly extra weight added. After about 30 minutes of moving around the mat while she beat up an invisible enemy, Rin stopped her.


    "Okay, now try it without the weights."


    "Sure¡­ Wait, what?"


    From the first punch Solaris suddenly felt a difference, it was like the strange heaviness had suddenly disappeared, or at least for the first while until it eventually returned.


    "Working with extra weights will trick your mind into adjusting into that weight after a bit, then when you''re suddenly not working with that extra weight added on top there''s a period where your mind still assumes it is still there, making the ''heaviness'' of fighting and working disappear for a time."


    Making a fist herself, Rin punched a sandbag for demonstration.


    "So to overcome and adjust to a new and harsher gravity try to remember and visualize the sensation you had just after letting go of the weights¡­. Not that that will be easy to d-"


    Not that just knowing the solution would make it such a thing possible to do, or so Rin believed after going through the process herself.


    "I got it."


    "-... Eh?"


    With a stunned look on her face, Rin looked in disbelief as Solaris took seconds to overcome what had taken Rin herself months to even attempt.


    "Hellwalkers sure are amazing¡­"


    "I don''t know about that, but feel free to praise me more~"


    Placing a hand on Rin''s head Solaris ruffled with a haughty expression on her face, due to her history of being worshipped Solaris was way too easy to please with praise.


    "Thanks for helping me out Rin, I look forward to working with you as a liaison."


    "I-it was nothing, Miss Hellwalker. I''m glad to be of assistance."


    "Just call me Solaris~"


    ---


    Keeping busy by training and touring the battleship, Dax''s group eventually reached the Galactic Empire''s capital, a Terran type planet entirely covered by the city sitting at a comfortable 0.9 G unimaginably named Delta-09 4. Home to not only Hellwalker and navy command, Rex heavy weapon systems, but also the Galactic senate and the administrative AI along with dozens of mega corporations, the capital was the centre of power, trade and authority in the Galactic Empire.


    ".... Is this all a city?"


    Looking at the planet from low orbit, the sense of scale seemed wrong to Lia who believed she was seeing things, as did everyone else except for Dax and Phillipa, they were just too stunned to say anything.


    "Yeah it is, although there are some major industrial areas like the one we''re landing at, most of this planet is densely populated and also home to a lot of things which can''t just be moved off world, chief among those are the administrative AI."


    "I''ve heard you and Dax talk about that before, but what is this ''administrative AI'' thing? Is it like ICI?"


    Not afraid to ask questions, Alice who had heard that therm one time too many without any explanation unknowingly opened up the problematic topic of intergalactic politics.


    ??Not exactly, the integrated combat intelligence and its successor, integrated management intelligence are both derived from the administrative AI, which itself is what we classify as ''lost technology'' because it was designed and built by the same long extinct race which made us qitons. It currently serves as one of 3 pillars of power in the Galactic Empire''s political structure, with the two others being the senate, an elected house of representatives, and the other being the special council made up of appointed experts in a number of fields respectively."


    "So you don''t have an emperor? Then why is it an empire?"


    "Because remaining the state has turned into a political topic which is highly splintering among members of the senate, about every 50 years a proposal for a new name and flag manages to survive the senate but it never gets past that point."


    "Leaving all that aside for the moment, you girls can visit the senate and get the full explanation on a guided tour later, but right now I need all of you to focus on the present."


    Intentionally derailing the discussion before it turned into a 3 hour political debate, Dax got the group''s attention.


    "While I figure out what''s happened to the 125th in my absence together with Phillipa, the rest of you are free to act as you see fit after getting all of you officially appointed at the Hellwalker command, with some notable exceptions. Top of those exceptions is your state of dress, as active members of the 125th you are all to wear your provided uniforms whenever in public, you are not under any circumstances to disturb the general populace, including using your unlimited cash to buy out restaurants or goods. Tl;dr: be civil to the civilians, wear your uniforms, never start a fight, but always be ready to end it. Understood?"


    """""Sir, yes sir!"""""

 278 Home 3

    "... That''s some overhaul."


    "Yeah, they''re basically gutting the entire ship to make room for new and upgraded components, including multiple newly designed things by Lazarus which are highly classified. When it''s done sometime next month we''re going to be deploying from this ship, but until that over 10.000 people are going to be working around the clock to upgrade her for us."


    Having taken a break to watch the impressive sight of the battleships retrofit for a few hours while they acclimated to the planet''s gravity, Dax''s group eventually boarded a CAS-7A for transport into the ''city'' proper, heading for Dax''s private building near Hellwalker command and the Galactic senate.


    "Wait, you own an entire building?"


    "Yeah, I need to store my booze somewhere right?"


    """..."""


    With his impromptu joke flying right over the head of everyone present, Dax faked a cough before giving a serious answer.


    "As I handle a lot of classified files and stuff like that I needed an ''office'' of sorts near Hellwalker command, hence I have the top 50 floors of a skyscraper in the area to myself. It''s also turned into a sort of a storage facility for Lazarus over the years so there was quickly a need to keep the area off limits to the general populace."


    "It''s quieter than I remember¡­"


    Looking out at the sea of activity with a hint of nostalgia on his face, countless of Dax''s long forgotten memories came back to the surface.


    "You call that quiet? Are you daft?"


    "No this is actually quieter than usual. Because of the ongoing war, a lot of resources have been shifted towards the navy and military, creating a slight recession which is even felt here."


    While Lilly wanted nothing more than to poke at Dax''s seeming lapse in reason, Phillipa stepped in and corrected her.


    "So this is quieter than usual? It all still seems unreal¡­"


    "Don''t worry Solaris, you''ll get used to it quickly."


    Choosing to turn in for the night and go to Hellwalker command in the morning so Dax and Phillipa could do some paperwork in the meantime, the others quickly got a taste of the luxury which was packed into the 50 floors along with countless Lazarus prototypes and documents all under Dax''s name.


    "... I''m in heaven. No, I''ve gone past that, this is a level above paradise."


    Having located Dax''s truly impressive bar containing spirits from all over the Galactic Empire, Lilly quickly reached nirvana as she sampled different kinds of aged alcohol until she dropped.


    "This is great~"


    "Mmm~ Agreed~"


    "And I used to think the sanctuaries baths were top notch, how naive I was¡­"


    Meanwhile, Mare, Solaris and Alice had found the bath, a truly massive installation which seamlessly mixed both ancient Qiton and Avoaxian traditions and style with state of the art technology. When later asking Dax about it they would find that the bath had been constructed at Ra and Mu''s suggestion from their own plans as the pair regularly spent the night there when in the capital for business.


    "Terra, look at this sword!"


    "Oh wow, that''s awesome~"


    "Truly, an impressive blade."


    A strange pairing of Ifrit, Lia and Terra spent their time looking at Dax''s impressive handheld weapon collection which took up an entire floor and was located right below the training floor, it was clear that this was because Dax regularly spent his free time training with countless different old and odd weapons. The sword Ifrit had found and now held with sparkling eyes was a qiton one handed, dual edged sword which had an unusual heft to it and carrying an overall simple design along with strange looking runes engraved in the blade. Of course, the collection contained more firearms than bladed weapons, but none of the collection''s current explorers were interested in them.


    ---


    Having spent a good part of the evening night exploring and playing around in Dax''s compound, everybody eventually retired for the night, waking up and having a quick breakfast at first light to prepare for the long day ahead.


    "We need to get you guys slightly more used to this city¡­ Why don''t we walk to Hellwalker command? It''s only a bit over 2 kilometres."


    "I don''t see why not? But do we have time for that Phillipa?"


    Wisely asking Phillipa instead of Dax who suggested the idea, Solaris had long since gotten used to him not following schedules outside of combat.


    "It''s fine, we''re already in good time as is."


    With the rest of the group also approving of the idea (with the slightly hungover Lilly being the only exception) Dax put on his Hellwalker uniform for the first time in a while and joined the others as they left his building, needless to say, all the new Hellwalkers wore their information control ''collars'', with Phillipa and Dax each donning a pair of heavily toned sunglasses for a reason which would very quickly become apparent for the rest of the group.


    "... Is it always like this?"


    "Yeah, pretty much every time we move in large groups this tends to happen."


    Even though the streets were tightly packed as one would expect of the densely packed capital, Dax and the others had no issue walking as the literal sea of people quickly parted before them.


    "It seems the 125th really has a reputation."


    "Yeah it does, I still remember the times when nobody recognized the uniform, but that time is long gone by now."


    Everywhere they went, the group of Hellwalkers parted the sea of people going about their daily business, it seemed like time ground to a halt wherever they went as people stopped to look with wonder at the group, although Dax didn''t miss the few people who responded with fear.


    (It seems like the 125th reputation has degraded¡­ I wonder what the fuck they''re doing to mess up this bad?)


    Although Dax had such thoughts of the fear he encountered, he didn''t really want to shown why people were starting to mistrust the Hellwalkers so fast.


    "What the hell is this?"


    Getting closer to Hellwalker command, the sea of parting people suddenly stopped with a large crowd which filled the entire street. Getting through the sea of people Dax was met with by a wall of Reaper drones, along with a truly ugly sight.


    "Fucking bitch!"


    A group of Hellwalkers Dax didn''t recognize were apparently in a fight with some navy officers, the reason was seemingly a large coffee stain on one of the Hellwalker''s uniforms and the course of that stain appeared to be a female navy officer currently on the ground getting kicked by said Hellwalker with the stained uniform while his fellow Hellwalkers were threatening the rest of the navy personnel who looked on at the beating with bitter looks on their faces.


    "That''s Rin!"


    Closer examining the girl on the ground getting kicked, Solaris recognized her as the one who helped her with training aboard the battleship Ingenuity.


    "That it is¡­ Phillipa."


    With a cold look on his face and an even colder voice, Dax''s sight remained fixed on the Hellwalker''s as he took off his white gloves and left them with his trusty subordinate.


    "I have already taken control of the drones, go right ahead."


    "Okay, I''ll be right back."


    As a gap in the wall of drones opened up, Dax quickly slipped through as he failed to hide the rage in his voice.


    "I''m ashamed that trash like you is actually in the same branch as me! How are you going to compensate me!?"


    Still none the wiser of his impending doom, the Hellwalker continued kicking Rin in the stomach while completely ignoring her yelps of pain as she continued to apologize while covering her head with her arms.


    "I''ll do you the service of saying this so listen closely! You navy trash only exists as a cost saving measure to transport us Hellwalkers! You''re disposable! Unlike me!"


    "Hey, fuckface."


    "WHO TH!-"


    Not even getting out a full sentence as he turned to shout at the person who had suddenly insulted him out of nowhere, the Hellwalker was met with a fist the moment he turned his head. As the sound of Dax''s punch landing and the Hellwalkers jaw fracturing seemed to silence everyone in the area as all attention turned to Dax who slowly walked over to Rin.


    "Can you stand?"


    "I-I Do- ARG!"


    "Okay, don''t speak. Help is here, you''re safe now."


    Having obviously broken some ribs and suffered immensely, just thanking her saviour was painful to Rin. Meanwhile, the other Hellwalkers seemed to snap out of their collective daze.


    "You fucker!"


    "It''s ''Commander'' or ''sir'' to you."


    Effortlessly sidestepping a Hellwalker''s punch, Dax chastised his lack of respect at the same time as he made him puke up his last meal with a well placed knee in the stomach before an uppercut closed his mouth and knocked him to the ground at the same time.


    "He got Jack!"


    "Kill him!"


    As the second Hellwalker of the group planted the ground face first, the ones still standing (and with all their teeth still left) made the poor decision of attempting to escalate as they all drew firearms. But Dax who had already expected such a move was way ahead of them as he had already pulled out his own pistol.


    "Yeah, no."


    Maintaining his cold and unfeeling expression Dax opened fire, hitting all 4 of the still standing Hellwalkers in their shoulders with a fighting level of coldheartedness and ruthless efficiency. While parts of the surrounding crowd started screaming while others fled, Dax walked up to the Hellwalker who had been kicking Rin, crouching down next to him he slapped him in the face a few times to wake him up.


    "As acting commander of the 125th Hellwalkers, I hereby expel you from the core, you have 24 hours to return your weapons and turn in your badge and uniform and pay back the full amount of cash you''ve spent on the unit''s account while in the service, failure to do any of those things will lead to a military tribunal."


    "Wai!-"


    Once more punching the Hellwalker in the face, this time choosing this time to shatter the side where his jaw had been still somewhat intact, Dax knocked him out one more time.


    (Seems like I have my work cut out for me¡­)

 279 Internal affairs 1

    Being woken after 2 days on the job without sleep, police chief Hort swore like a sailor as he got up from the warm and comfortable bed he had just laid down in. Putting on a coffee stained, wrinkled shirt before donning a worn trench coat, gripping his police badge and service weapon on the way out. Arriving at the scene 10 minutes later Hort found that his subordinate had given him a lacking briefing.


    "What the hell is going on here?"


    Instead of what he had been expecting, the victims this time around were almost entirely Hellwalkers themselves, with the sole exception being a young navy officer who was being treated by a final Hellwalker in a slightly different uniform from the rest.


    "Lieutenant, what happened here?"


    "Ah, hello sir. The statement from both the navy officers over there, the Hellwalkers who can still talk and the spectators mostly line up. A group of Hellwalkers were beating up that young officer over there when that larger Hellwalker over there arrived together with others who''ve already left. Seeing what was happening the Hellwalker beat up his buddies and when some of them drew weapons he shot them, then started treating that navy officer over there."


    Getting the rundown from his subordinate, Hort only found himself even more confused. With no other way of getting any more information, he decided to ask the only Hellwalker who was still standing some questions.


    "Hello, I''m police chief Hort, care to answer a few questions?"


    "Sure, but I''ll keep treating this officer in the meanwhile."


    Still not getting a read on the Hellwalker, Hort breathed a deep sigh as he took out his notebook.


    "So, did you shoot those guys?"


    "Yeah, I did. Two times each to be precise."


    Surprised at the brutally honest answer, Hort had a momentary lapse in judgement where he believed that this particular Hellwalker might be alright.


    "So why did you shoot them?"


    "Because they were beating up this navy officer without reason."


    "Okay? Then how come you''re not treating them? They''re your buddies right?"


    "Because it''s not needed, they''re former Hellwalkers, getting shot shouldn''t be an issue for them."


    Glancing over at the injured Hellwalkers, the one whose jaw was destroyed in particular, Hort highly doubted any one of them would make it without immediate medical attention.


    "Wait, what do you mean ''former''?"


    "Just that, as acting Hellwalker command I dishonourably discharged them, effective immediately."


    "... You what!?"


    (God this guy is loud¡­)


    From the start of their conversation, Dax''s opinion of the police chief''s personality had only gotten worse, but hacking into the police database and accessing his file Dax saw that he had done impressive work.


    Seeing how rampant the corruption of the 125th had gotten, Dax realized he needed help dealing with them as he had been away from the capital for so long he lacked information, something this police chief had.


    "Come to think of it, I haven''t introduced myself yet. Sadly I''m not allowed to name myself so just call me whatever you feel like, I''m the acting commander of the 125th special ops orbital wetwork battalion."


    Showing the police chief his identification and allowing him to confirm it was real, the chief suddenly had an entirely different attitude towards Dax. Finding a private corner to talk, Dax laid out his intentions.


    "I''ve been away from populated space for a while helping to develop an entirely new type of weapon when I got word from the acting commander that people in my unit were acting out of therm. You seem to be a good man so I''ll give you to it straight: I intent to purge the bad apples in my organization, I have the authority to do that on my own and that''s not going to change, but seeing the damage done here I want to extend an olive branch to the police department who has been dealing with my problematic subordinates for me while I was away."


    "What are you suggesting?"


    Now aware of who he was dealing with, Hort was treading carefully. Although he wasn''t that familiar with the 125th he knew the rumours about their outrageous authority, it is very likely that the qiton standing in front of Hort could kill him in cold blood without any repercussions.


    "Cooperation. We both want to get rid of the troublemakers, so why not work together? Although they''re under military jurisdiction, I can request your office do the investigations together with me."


    "... No offence by I''m not just going to bark and show my belly because you order me to."


    Needless to say, Hort wasn''t going to just fall under Dax''s command because he wanted that to happen, the very idea of working under the organization which had caused him so much headache over the last 50 years of his career wasn''t going to fly.


    "Ah, you misunderstand. Think of me as a blunt instrument with a special skill set and the ability to instantly bypass any red tape which usually restricts your investigations. I''m not interested in measuring dicks with you, I just want to get this done as fast as possible with the least amount of unnecessary bloodshed. If you also want that contact me using this phone."


    Handing police chief Hort a phone with only a single number on it, Dax left the crime scene and went to Hellwalker command.


    (Boy, it is good to be back¡­)


    Looking around the building which hadn''t really changed in all those years he had been gone, everywhere Dax went he met new faces who saluted him with slightly panicked expressions.


    (Seems like Phillipa told them I would be arriving¡­ That should create some nice waves.)


    With a bloodthirsty smile on his face, Dax continued to spread out webs and strings into the darkness, it was only a matter of time until someone acted rashly out of human nature, something Dax very well understood but lacked himself.


    -


    Just 3 hours after parting with Hort, Dax got a call from him asking for his cooperation. It seemed that the 8 Hellwalkers he had beat up had all died in the hospital they were admitted to, not from the injuries Dax dealt to them, but gunshots to the head with contact markings clearly visible on their tear stained faces.


    "Did you do this?"


    "Nope, I had no reason to kill them. If anything they were more valuable to me alive, something the culprit might have realized."


    Standing over one of the corpses in the hospital room they had all been in, Dax''s face held no trace of emotion while Hort had a grim look on his face.


    "Looks like the executioner targeted the temporal lobe to destroy any memories still remaining in the corpse, same with the neural implants, it looks like they''ve all been burned out. This is almost a textbook example of an information control related execution."


    Turning over the body Dax examined the spinal implant which had burned out, his complete lack of emotions or empathy seemed to rub Hort the wrong way.


    "Really, a textbook example? Do they teach you guys anything other than killing?"


    "Not really no, with the notable exception of intelligence and counterintelligence operations. Phillipa."


    "Sir."


    Calling out to his subordinate who had so far been completely erasing her presence, Phillipa succeeded in scaring a few police officers when they finally noticed she was in the room.


    "You take the ones over there, I''ll take this side."


    "Yes sir."


    Seeing that there were 4 beds on either side of the room, it came out evenly to 4 corpses each for Dax and Phillipa to ''process''. Pushing aside a medical examiner, Phillipa gripped the closest corpse to her with her hand.


    "Hey! What are you doing!?"


    "Extracting intelligence."


    As Phillipa finished explaining herself, the body she was holding onto started twitching as she interfaced with it in an attempt to extract any useful information which might have survived the gunshot and few hours of postmortem activity. Needless to say, this was something both deeply immoral and illegal to do, but the 125th was above most laws and moral considerations. While the police officers and medical examiners present were deeply disturbed by what Dax and Phillipa were doing, none of them attempted to stop them, the reason being that they had no other evidence as all logs and surveillance footage within a 12 kilometre range of crime scene had been purged without exception, leaving no way to track the killer. Having worked within the police force for a long time, all the members present knew how much of an issue the corrupt members of the 125th had been, even with no way of getting an overview of the countless investigations which had been purged by military authority, the victims and affected people who had no way of getting justice reached into the hundreds.


    This was their chance to finally settle the score.

 280 Internal affairs 2

    "In the 54 years I''ve been police chief of this section of the capital, I''ve catalogued about 1.154 accounts of murder which have been wiped under the carpet, along with those there are serval accounts of drug and weapon trafficking which I''ve investigated together with my colleagues in the military police but we''ve never been able to make a single arrest in those cases."


    Glancing at the senior investigators who had also gathered for the briefing, Dax saw bitter expressions when Hort talked about the countless cases which had been iced over the years, it seemed to be even more than what Phillipa''s early investigations had found.


    "You''ve worked with the MP''s? How come there''s no record of that?"


    "Because the entire investigation was iced by the special counsel after it was found that members of the navy might be involved with it. They said it would be too much bad press if the public found out that the very force protecting them from the Emergence were also criminals dealing in drugs, weapons, and even slaves."


    Surfing at his boss'' explanation, one of the senior investigators didn''t like having either Phillipa or Dax in the room.


    "What the boss is saying is that you bastards get a free pass because society needs you, for the moment at least."


    "Tough shit, seeing as you ''civilized'' people don''t want to get your mitts dirty this is what happens. It''s no secret that the Hellwalkers are the only ones still deploying live ground units, the rest of you just hide behind your swarms of drones like the cowards you are."


    "What the fuck di-"


    "That''s enough Robert."


    Holding up a hand to stop his subordinate from getting himself killed, Hort addressed Dax after making sure Robert had calmed down.


    "I would ask you not to demean my subordinates commander, I''ve worked with these people for a long time, I can assure you none of these fine men is cowards."


    "Then don''t fucking compare us to criminals, we might not need to follow the law when operating but we do have our principles as an elite unit."


    Stating where each of them stood on their own beliefs, the talks were about to break down when Phillipa faked a cough to get the room''s attention.


    "Luckily we''re all professionals here, so we don''t need to like each other to cooperate. From the information we extracted I''ve managed to identify 58 different addresses that need closer investigation, let''s divide and conquer. Hopefully, we''ll come out of this with a lot of dead ''Hellwalkers''."


    -


    "Excuse me, can I order now?"


    "Ah, yeah¡­"


    (... Am I that unusual?)


    "Yes, sorry about that!"


    "... At least they want to serve you in the first place."


    Meanwhile, Lilly who sat beside Solaris also let out a deep sigh as she took a sip of the beer she had to show her Hellwalker id to get a hold of. Lilly''s small figure and¡­ ''Lacking'' features meant that a lot of people had mistaken her for a child, something which was outright infuriating the first 50 times it happened, but now she was just starting to get tired. Sure, the bar she was currently visiting together with Solars had an impressive selection which almost matched Dax''s collection and the interior was gorgeous, but the attention she was getting as a Hellwalker and being mistaken as a child at a bar was not welcome.


    (Honestly, these people have no sense for my body''s hidden charm, I''m not a child.)


    While Solaris and Lilly were bar hopping, Terra, Lia, Alice, and Mare were out and about sightseeing.


    "... That''s tall."


    "Mmm."


    "Says here that it''s apparently an orbital elevator, it goes all the way up to space."


    "And way past that too, the total height of the structure is 400 kilometres¡­"


    Standing in front of one of the larger orbital elevators in the Galactic Empire they were all stunned, simply attempting to look up and find the top of it made them dizzy. Every single person from the world of magic remembered when they met Dax or Lux and learned that they didn''t have magic, with the notable exception of Mare they all remembered looking down on them to some extent, oh how wrong they had all been.


    "If anything, mana has limited our development¡­"


    Looking at how Dax''s world had developed, it was clear to see how lacking mana would force them towards the level they had reached now. What would you do if you got injured? If you had magic you would just heal the injury, but without it what could you do? You would learn how to avoid injury, you would look into why some injuries were more dangerous than others you would start to learn about medicine, from there it was just exponential growth.


    "I wouldn''t say it ''limited'' us per se, if anything it made us vastly stronger than the people of this world, without their technology and tools they would be way worse off than us."


    "True¡­"


    While Alice and Terra had their deep philosophical and existential discussion, Lia suddenly felt like someone was directing bloodlust in their direction. Looking towards Mare for confirmation, she could see that her fellow beastkin was already alert from the movements of her ears alone, but just like Lia, her impressive senses weren''t able to pick up on the direction or distance to the threat. Glancing around the somewhat packed plaza where couples and families were enjoying their free time together with excited tourists like themselves, Lia also had a hard time locating the threat.


    Although, the fact that she couldn''t locate the person directing faint bloodlust towards her also told her a great deal about the cupid.


    (While they''re not on the same level as Lux or Dax, judging by the fact that I''m able to sense them this easily they aren''t simple pushovers either¡­)


    "We have Hellwalker imitations nearby."


    Speaking in her native language while keeping a bright and cheerful tone of voice, Lia alerted the others to what she and Mare had detected.


    "Mmm, there are at least 5 of them switching on and off with each other. They have been following us for a while."


    While Lia''s sense of hearing was first class, Mare surpassed her in overall ability to detect bloodlust and ill will, so she was able to easier pick out the sources of bloodlust directed towards her.


    "Well, we''re still in public, hopefully, they''re not dumb enough to¡­ Shit."


    Instantly wishing she could eat her own words, Terra breathed a deep sigh when she realized they had been surrounded by a dozen or so ''tourists'' already.


    "What''s the rules of engagement?"


    "Don''t fire unless fired on."


    With a quick exchange in her native language, Alice and Terra returned to their neutral expressions when the first one of the ''tourists'' approached them.


    "Can I help you with something?"


    Stepping out in front of the group, Terra showed a bright smile as she asked the 20 something year old man wearing a large backpack the reason for him approaching them.


    "Ah, yes thank you for your time miss Hellwalker, can I ask what kind of implants those eyes are? I find them really beautiful."


    "They are Lazarus."


    Answering bluntly to the tourist''s rude question, Terra''s smile disappeared as her crimson eyes started glowing slightly.


    "Ah! Lazarus? Only the best for Hellwalkers I guess¡­ More cash for me when I gouge them out from your copse!~"


    Out of nowhere the man suddenly lunged at Terra with a knife he had hidden in his sleeve, clearly aiming to slice her throat. Although the man moved quickly like a skilled assassin, Terra had long since seen the attack coming and blocked the knife with her bare hand, gripping the blade without cutting herself.


    "Too bad you can''t spend cash when you''re dead."


    Watching panic spread out over the man''s face when she blocked his attack, Terra easily snapped the steel blade in half by only applying the tiniest amount of pressure, she confidently stepped forward and crushed the assassins outstretched foot as she grasped the blade of his broken knife, driving in through the assassins eye socket and killing him instantly. While Terra responded to the one who had approached her, Alice drew the service pistol she had gotten from Dax a few days earlier and pointed it at one of the other ''tourists'', shooting him in both knees and shoulders to disable them. Lia likewise opened fire, but Mare realized something was wrong.


    (Those have no heartbeat!)


    While Alice, Terra and Lia were doing admirably in the face of an unknown threat they were still hopelessly naive in the face of the cruelty of asymmetric modern drone warfare, but if Lux, Phillipa or Dax saw those countless tourists with large backpacks, their minds would immediately turn towards the terrifying unit known as an ''autonomous landmine''.


    "Watch ou!-"


    Not getting to finish that sentence, the several camouflaged drones standing around them detonated their ''suicide vests'' at the same time, totalling a blast yield over 500 kilos of raw TNT mixed in with multiple types of shrapnel which tore trough people and buildings alike without mercy.

 281 Internal affairs 3

    Falling silent in the middle of his presentation at the police headquarters, police chief Hort was about to ask the Hellwalker commander what was wrong when one of his subordinates rushed into the room.


    "Sir! There has been a massive bombing in the plaza right in front of orbital elevator 1, multiple casualties!"


    "What!?"


    From his subordinates report this wasn''t just a crime, but a clear case of domestic terrorism, something which hadn''t happened since the start of the war of annihilation.


    "It was an attempt to assassinate a group of my subordinates on break, I just got updated on the situation too."


    Having direct access to the capital''s ICI drone and surveillance network, Dax and Phillipa were both informed of the bombing just before Hort was, and they were already dealing with information control.


    "Everyone here who has any experience with triaging and or first aid please follow us to the roof, we''re heading to the scene right now!"


    Getting on her feet without any further explanation, Phillipa rushed towards the roof of the police headquarters together with Dax, Hort and a few other senior investigators where a Hellwalker CAS-7A filled with drones had already landed and was waiting for them.


    Arriving at the scene after a quick flight, one of the senior investigators puked from the smell alone, although the sight which greeted wasn''t any prettier. The bombing appeared to have been focused on a single area of the plaza, but that didn''t decrease the damage done in the slightest. Within 300 metres of ground zero, everyone had just disappeared, there were no body parts left of them, only creepy voids in the burned stone tiles slowed where those people had been standing when the bombs detonated. From 300 metres all the way out to nearly a kilometre, the ones who were lucky enough to survive had so at a heavy cost. Internal bleeding from the blast wave and 3rd degree burns belonged to the lucky few while shrapnel designed to maximize casualties had robbed a lot from those who were simply unlucky, standing at the wrong place at the wrong time.


    "We''re establishing a field hospital here! Every 5 minutes from now a new transport will land and take critically injured victims to medical facilities all over the capital but we''re stabilizing those we can here! Don''t care about the dead yet, focus on those still living!"


    Coordinating not only the personal she had brought with her from the police headquarters but also arriving first responders, Phillipa handled the rescue effort while Dax locked down the area by delegating free police drones together with the ones he had brought with him.


    "IMI establish area domination at level 9, declare a state of emergency trough special degree #5551 section bravo."


    Walking unflinching through the death and destruction surrounding him, Dax quickly reached ground zero where a massive crater had formed, well a slightly unusual crater anyway.


    "Are you guys okay?"


    "Yeah, thanks to Terra."


    Just before they had been vaporized by the explosion, Terra had broken the rules of engagement to save herself, Alice, Lia and Mare by shielding them from the explosion with magic, leading to quite an unnatural looking crater with a pentagon shaped ''void'' in the centre of it.


    "I see, I''m glad all of you are safe."


    Breathing a deep sigh of relief Dax finally felt at ease after confirming with his own eyes that his subordinates were safe.


    "For now help with treating the civ''s, we''ll deal with everything after. Spread out and bring survivors to Phillipa, she''s in charge of the medical effort."


    As his subordinates ran off Dax breathed a deep sigh as he placed a hand on his holstered pistol, disabling the safety.


    "Don''t make me kill you, Hort, I really don''t want to."


    "... Okay, then don''t. Simple as that."


    Turning to face police chief Hort who had followed Dax from the moment he had slipped away, Dax saw that the middle aged police chief had already raised his hands above his head.


    "This is just me thinking out loud about something I''m going to forget very soon, but this is most likely some highly classified stuff that''s way above my pay grade?"


    "That it is."


    Maintaining a blank expression on his face, Dax was ready to shoot Hort dead without flinching, something both of them realized.


    "Then I''m also guessing that whatever this is, it''ll help us win the war?"


    "That it will, and so much more."


    Looking at Dax''s blank expression for a few more seconds to find any hint at his intent behind telling him such things, Hort eventually breathed a deep sigh as a wry smile formed on his face and he put down his hands.


    "I lost my 15 year old niece and my younger sister to the Emergence, make sure you wipe it out completely and I won''t tell a soul about this."


    Showing anger and bitterness when he mentioned the Emergence, Hort turned and left Dax with those words, as he saw it it was up to Dax to decide if he believed his words or not.


    (That guy is surprisingly thrust worthy... I guess I need to keep up my part of the deal too.)


    Seeing how he was still alive after getting back to the newly established field hospital, Hort resolved himself to keep one more secret from his subordinates, luckily Dax and Phillipa already had a firm grasp on the information control.


    ---


    "341 people dead with 492 injured¡­ They''ve gone too far this time."


    "I agree, so does the special counsel and the administrative AI. I''ve personally received orders to terminate all domestic terrorists within the next 2 weeks."


    A week after the bombing Dax met with the police for the first time in a few days, together with not only Phillipa but also the others this time, Dax shared the orders he had received from up high with the police chief who immediately frowned at such news.


    "Terminate? That''s not how we do things around here."


    "That''s why we are here, you guys can have what remains after the fact."


    Answering in place of Dax, Solaris stepped up with a chilling smile on her face, like all others in the room she had no mercy left for the imitation Hellwalkers.


    "Okay, we can work with that."


    "Chief! This is not okay!"


    Seeing how quickly their boss agreed to such therms, one of the senior investigators present spoke out in protest. In response Hort breathed a deep sigh before addressing his subordinates, it seemed he had gotten even more tired in these past few weeks, dark circles were clearly visible below his eyes.


    "I know that, but I already got word from upstairs to follow the commander''s orders without question. These terrorists pose a legitimate threat not only to our people, but also the survival of the Galactic Empire itself. If we help remove that problem and get to investigate how they got their funding and how they sold weapons and drugs to after these fine people are done then that''s what we''re going to do. The responsibility and burden of giving such orders lie with the state and we''ve been asked by them to do this, there''s no backing out of this now."


    Getting his subordinates on the same page, Hort reached for his coffee mug to get some more caffeine in him only to find that the cup was empty, luckily help arrived just as that happened.


    "Chief Hort, I have brought a refill."


    "Ah, thanks for that Rin."


    Rin, the navy officer who had been attacked by imitation Hellwalkers a few weeks prior had taken on the role as liaison for Dax and his team, therefore she followed them most places they went and acted kind of a secretary at times, at other times she served as Dax''s secure connection to the Galactic navy. Switching gears Phillipa stepped up to fill in the police department with the information she had obtained since the bombing as well as how to deal with said information.


    "From the earlier data and evidence left over from the bombing I''ve been able to cross check the partial addresses first identified and narrowed them down to 4 possible sites. Conducting further surveillance of those places using resources which will not be named they have been confirmed to be what we''re after. That''s the good news anyway, the bad news is that the hostiles are confirmed to be in the possession of multiple state of the art localized electromagnetic pulse radiation emitters developed by Rex heavy industries to fight the Emergence, meaning we can''t just use drones to clear them out. The confirmation of CBRN and MOPP type protective equipment on site all 4 places also rules out trapping then gassing the rats so we''re left with a good old frontal assault without drones as the only option."


    Showing a bright ''smile'' as she reached that conclusion, something told the police present that the Hellwalker in front of them wouldn''t like to deal with the situation any other way.


    "This operation will be carried out with a coordinated simultaneous assault by 4 teams on each of the different sites lead by teams of Hellwalkers with the special police anti terror group Division 14 filling in the ranks and helping us to cover the ground needed."


    The mention of the police''s own closest things to elite special forces, the mood in the room brightened significantly. It would seem that the torn in the police''s side over all these years would finally be purged.

 282 Purge 1

    Sitting in the back of an unmarked van clutching his personal rifle he had been through countless battles with as a member of Division 14, an elite police special action unit. Douglas recognized his current situation as nothing that much out of the ordinary, in fact, it was quite ordinary to deploy that way, what was abnormal was who was leading the current group.


    "Don''t look at me, I''ve nothing to do with¡­ That."


    Glancing towards the rear of the van, Douglas made sure his eyes weren''t playing tricks on him, but nevertheless his breach leader this time was a child, a child with large, dog like ears to be exact. To make matters even worse, the child was no doubt a Hellwalker, not just judging from her uniform, but also the refined bloodlust she was emitting while she sharpened her knives. The day had turned bizarre like that for Douglas about 4 hours ago when instead of the routine training which was planned for the day, a group of Hellwalkers showed up with their ''I can do whatever I want license'' and shoved them all into unmarked vehicles before giving an extremely lacking explanation on what they were doing. In addition to the dog eared child, there also was another Hellwalker in the van with Douglas and his fellow members of Division 14, but she was wearing some kind of black facemask and hadn''t said anything at all, so it was hard for Douglas to get a read on her.


    "We''re arriving."


    Even with her voice muffled by the facemask she was wearing, it was clear to Douglas that there was zero tension in the Hellwalkers voice, it was like she was going on a Sunday picnic instead of leading a raid on domestic terrorists.


    "Objective is the grey storehouse, there''s a high chance it is hiding some sort of underground facility connected to the illegal slave trade, not all subjects on the premises may be hostile, check your fire."


    Having completely turned her attitude around, the masked Hellwalker now radiated the kind of authority Douglas subconsciously reacted to, even as her voice continued to sound relaxed, almost bordering on indifferent.


    "What about confirmed hostiles?"


    "Shoot to kill, even if they try to surrender. While you guys are police units, this is a spec op navy operation. We''re not here to serve a warrant and there''s no need to take prisoners, we''re here to purge hostiles of the Galactic Empire."


    With the Hellwalker''s brief explanation finished, the van suddenly came to a stop. Deploying what turned out to be a narrow alley, the Division 14 members stacked up on a corner behind the two Hellwalkers.


    [Target 12 o''clock. Deploy in a fan formation, civ''s inside the wire. Safeties off.]


    [On me, go.]


    Watching the two Hellwalkers disappear around the corner, Douglas clicked the fire select on his weapon from safe to semi automatic before tapping his own helmet with a closed fist, indicating to his comrades behind him to follow as he rounded the corner himself.


    (Oh, this is some absolute bullshit!)


    Recognizing his current location as a warehouse district near one of the Capital''s larger slums, the street they need to cross was filled with civilians going about their daily life, this was absolutely not a place for a firefight.


    "Contract front! Clear out the Civ''s!"


    Nevertheless, that is exactly what happened the very next second. Having spotted a figure with a firearm taking cover in a window frame on the second story of the target building, Terra didn''t hesitate as she pointed her rifle towards them and opened fire as the street descended into chaos.


    (Tch, armoured.)


    "Suppressive fire!"


    "Suppressing!"


    Finding the decrepit old warehouse deceptively armoured like a fortress, Terra''s preemptive fire failed to kill the shooter who immediately stuck his rifle out the window and opened fire down on the busy street with little care for the civilians caught in the crossfire.


    "Keep him down!"


    "Roger!"


    Continuing to suppress the shooter together with Mare and half of the police forces while the rest quickly evacuated the civilians caught in the crossfire, Terra got a flashbang ready.


    "Mare!"


    "Mmm!"


    While Terra hurled the flashbang into the second story window, Mare discarded her rifle as she drew a pistol and a bayonet, sprinting halfway across the street she launched from the ground and landed in the window frame just after the flashbang detonated. Judging from the cut short scream and spray of blood which immediately followed from the window, the police unit quickly judged that the threat had been eliminated as they froze up with gaping mouths.


    "Stack up for breach!"


    Snapping the so called elite Division 14 members out of their collective daze, Terra set up for entry.


    ---


    "Wow, they are not holding back, are they? And getting hostages that fast was a smart move..."


    "This really is not the time to be commending the enemy!"


    While Mare and Terra''s team had made entry and started their raid on time, the group Dax was leading with Solaris in tow had run into significantly more resistance at their site which had up until a few minutes ago looked like an ordinary high density residential block. In reality, the small apartment highrise was a fortress that the criminal elements and Hellwalker imitations who inhabited it had spent a long time and money to perfect. The building''s outer facade had been armoured to resist even high calibre armor piercing rounds while balconies had been turned into camouflaged machine gun nests and the first floor lobby had turned into a truly excellent kill zone where armoured gunmen hid behind human shields. The raid had been botched even before it happened, as somehow the criminals knew they were coming, leading to their current situation where Dax, Solaris, and their allied police units had been pinned down behind their own transport and quickly deteriorating concrete blocks.


    "There''s not really time for anything else Solaris, we can''t do shit at the moment with how perfect their suppression is."


    Nevertheless, Dax didn''t seem that worried about their current predicament as he continued complimenting the empty behind his quickly disappearing concrete cover.


    "Are you for real!?"


    "W-what are we going to do!?"


    While Solaris and a policeman who shared Dax''s cover were both starting to lose their cool under the sustained suppression of multiple machineguns, Dax continued to listen to the constant barrage of fire as a grin slowly formed on his face.


    "This is a good opportunity to learn Solaris, what kind of machine guns are they using? If you focus a bit you should be able to hear their mechanical actions from here."


    While the policeman seemed to think Dax had gone mad under fire, Solaris started getting what Dax was trying to say.


    "... They''re using triple sevens?"


    Focusing her ears using magic, Solaris recognized the sound the enemy machine guns were making as the same kind of weapon Dax liked to use.


    "Exactly. And just because we''re lucky they''re also using continuous magazines, most likely with 5000 or more rounds between reload¡­ Officer, how long has it been since they started firing?"


    "5 minutes at least!"


    "You see what I''m getting at Solaris?"


    With a grin on his face, Dax switched his rifle to semi automatic as it all suddenly clicked for Solaris. While the Rex-0777 was good at continuous fire due to its active cooling, that cooling still had its limits.


    Keeping up a suppressive field of fire for that amount of time was bound to heat up the weapon significantly, severely degrading their accuracy.


    "I''ll take out the two on the left, you go for the right ones."


    Not waiting for Solaris'' response, Dax rose from his cover as a bullet flew right past his head, grazing his cheek without even making Dax flinch. Setting his sight accurately, every time Dax squeezed the trigger the unmistakable wet popping sound of a headshot could be heard as Dax ruthlessly silenced the machine gun nests together with Solaris before he completely abandoned cover, taking out the shooters in the lobby with machinelike accuracy.


    "Move up for breach! First team take the east stairway, second team take the west one! Let''s clear out these lowlifes quickly so I can get back in time for dinner, I have a roast in the smoker!"


    With the hostile fire silenced, Dax''s sharp orders seemed to be the only thing that rang out in the street as he reloaded his now empty rifle.

 283 Purge 2

    Stacking up for entry Solaris took the opportunity to ask if Dax was okay after getting hit multiple times when clearing out the gunmen hiding behind hostages.


    "Yeah, small calibre weapons like this are no issue at all."


    With a confident smile on his face, Dax hit his chest a few times to make the handful bullets which had harmlessly deformed after hitting, piercing his clothes and outer skin, stopping short after hitting his qiton muscles which acted like high grade body armour.


    "... This entire thing is going a bit too well, be ready for anything."


    Picking up Dax''s barely audible whisper, Solaris put herself on high alert as she breached the east stairway with Dax and 3 policemen.


    "Now for the hard part, look alive people."


    Finding the first floor door armoured, Dax placed shaped charges on the doorframe and blew in the door before Solaris realized what he was talking about, but when she moved in together with him and the policemen and took a look at the inside of the high density residential block she realized what he was talking about.


    (What the hell is this!?)


    While the outside of the building had looked somewhat organized, the inside was far worse. What must have been hundreds of years of organic growth and decay cobbled together with a lack of building regulations had worked together to produce what Solaris could only describe as a vertical city inside the high density residential block. Apartments and stores of different sizes were woven together with small plazas all fit haphazardly inside the apartment block''s honeycomb like support structure, making for a natural maze with potential ambushes and kill zones all around. Confusing architecture aside there also was the problem of the numerous civilians still inside the block that the imitation Hellwalkers easily blended in with, as Dax had said: this is where the fun truly began.


    -


    "Lilly are you still alive!?"


    "Yeah! Although that might change shortly!"


    Pulling back from the corner of the concrete pillar she was hiding behind just as a large chunk of it was shot out, Lia tossed out a flashbang to hopefully suppress the opposition before she peeked out from behind cover, quickly shooting down a dozen or so Reaper drones which were continuously swarming her and Lilly''s position.


    "We need to kill the drone operator!"


    "Yeah, no shit! Stop backseat driving and just focus on keeping your buddy there alive!"


    Not even 5 minutes after arriving at their objective located in an automated industrial area, the group Lia and Lilly were leading had already suffered heavy casualties as the area was home to a swarm of Reaper drones which were firmly under the control of the imitation Hellwalkers.


    (These things are so annoying!)


    While the shots she had placed on target would have killed any living opponent, the Reaper drone displayed the frankly absurd sturdiness born from innovations in armour together with a heavy reliance on redundant systems which was the pride of REX-Delta who had designed it as the drone lost one of its arms, suffered crippling internal damage and had its head shoot clean off, but it still continued to move.


    [God you''re looking pathetic down there Lilly~ Luckily your favourite big sister is here to help you~]


    (... Why did it have to be her of all people?)


    Sighing internally as she heard a bright and energetic voice coming from a speaker somewhere in the air above her, Lilly glanced up to find some kind of craft hovering in the air about 1 kilometre out.


    "You''re just here to test that craft right? Then please get that over with already!"


    [Boo!~ You''re no fun! But you still owe me after this~]


    Not getting the reaction she had hoped for, Mu puffed out her cheeks in frustration as she set her newest prototype craft to fully automated instead of bothering to control it personally.


    (You''re lucky both I and Dax like you so much Lilly, otherwise, I wouldn''t do you the service of revealing Lazarus'' first dedicated close air support vessel.)


    While Mu went back to her other work, her newest prototype went into action.


    [IMI ADVISING ALL GROUND PERSONAL: DANGER CLOSE.]


    While IMI''s synthetic sounding voice announced its intentions, the prototype craft cut all power to its propulsion as its nose mounted Menhit rotary cannon spewed out 60 mill anti tank rounds at a staggering speed of 6.000 rounds a minute with near pinpoint accuracy. Launching smart flares to throw off the drones targeting it while making rapid irregular movements, the Lazarus prototype made quick work of the Reaper drones which had made Lia and Lilly''s lives so difficult for the past 20 minutes.


    "T-that sure was impressive¡­"


    Emerging from his cover after making sure that all the drones had been destroyed, one of the surviving policemen couldn''t help but mutter those words in awe.


    "Well, it is a Lazarus prototype, so that''s to be expected."


    Giving the craft which just saved her life a somewhat annoyed glance, Lilly checked how many full magazines she had left before getting back on her feet, looking to the large factory which was their initial target.


    "Lia are you good?"


    "Yeah, let''s get this mission over with. Division 14 on me, Lilly will splinter."


    Assuming the surviving members of Division 14 would just continue on with the mission in spite of their losses, which they obviously wouldn''t.


    "Yeah, not so fucking fast lady! The-"


    But before heated protests broke out, the sound of a sonic boom together with an unnerving silence brought all that to an end before it even started. Quickly tracing the source of the sonic boom to the target factory, Lia''s cybernetic eyes focused on a small hole which had suddenly formed in the door of one of the larger loading docks, before she worked out what had just happened, the sound of the Lazarus prototype crashing into the ground made her realize what was going on.


    "GET DOWN! HEAVY WEAPON!"


    Following immediately after Lia''s warning, another sonic boom, the results of a railgun firing, once more rang out and one of the surviving policemen were completely erased together with the concrete block he was standing near. Having fired a second shot from cover, whatever had destroyed their air support decided to move out. With a sound like far off thunder rumbling, a gigantic mechanical hand suddenly broke through the cargo door, followed immediately by another hand of the same massive size which ripped the steel door apart like it was made out of cardboard.


    "A T-Titan¡­ What the hell is that doing here!?"


    Dropping his rifle in disbelief as he recognized the massive behemoth of a drone tank hybrid which was emerging out from the factory, the last uninjured policeman lost all will to fight as the 8 metre tall Rex-delta mark 17 drone pointed a group of its turret mounted heavy machine guns at him.


    "Watch out!"


    Springing into action, Lia knocked the policeman aside just as the area they had just been was decimated. Unperturbed by its prey momentarily evading its machine gun fire, the gigantic Titan drone shook the earth as it took another step forward, its countless red eyes fixating on its new target.


    "Oh shi-"


    Finding herself staring down the Titan all of a sudden, Lilly wished she was allowed to use magic as she jumped to the side with all her might, evading a burst of fragmentation grenades fired from the Titan''s array of multi purpose automatic grenade launchers.


    "How the hell are we supposed to kill this thing?!"


    "No idea! Start by trying to shoot it until it''s dead!"


    With no other options available to them, Lia and Lilly started the rapid process of emptying their rifles in the general direction of the truly massive target presented to them, but even such sustained fire proved to be ineffective against the Titan''s armoured exoskeleton, even when switching to newly designed Lazarus armour piercing rounds.


    "DAX HELP!"


    Breaking her gag order out of panic as the Titan pointed its railgun towards her, Lilly didn''t really expect to get any help, but unexpectedly some help did show, just not what Lilly would have seen coming.


    [IMI ADDRESSING ALL UNITS: GAG ORDER 41 NO LONGER IN EFFECT.]


    Following that single message from IMI, Lilly''s fear evaporated as her usual smug smile returned.


    With the retraction of gag order 41, or as Dax called it: ''the-don''t-fucking-use-magic-I-swear-to-god'' order retracted Lilly or Lia no longer had any reason to fear the oversized hunk of soon to be scrap metal standing in front of them.

 284 Purge 3

    Hearing that she was now once more allowed to use magic, Lilly''s mouth curled up into a superior looking smug smile as she stared down the barrel of the Titan''s shoulder mounted Guardian-R04 railgun, making no attempt to evade even as the high pitch hum of its supercapacitors made it clear that it was about to fire.


    "Watch out!"


    Seeing what was happening, the policeman who was still standing shouted out to Lilly to get her to move, but when she turned to glance at him he froze up in fear.


    "Silence child, I''m focusing."


    Lilly''s golden eyes that had so far only been faintly lit now brilliantly shone as she scolded the policeman right as the Titan fired its railgun. Raising a single hand as her only defence, the logical outcome for Lilly would be death, but with the rule breaking and almost unfair power of mana once more responding to her calls it was an entirely different scenario. Deflecting the railgun penetrator using layers of mana crystals, Lilly emerged entirely unscathed from the dust kicked up by the round hitting the ground near her, to the surprise of everyone except herself and Lia.


    "O'' spirits of the earth."


    With a simply incantation and a little bit of mana injected into the ground beneath her, Lilly created a massive pillar of compressed earth which shot out of the ground in front of her and crashed into the Titan, knocking the massive drone tank hybrid over and making it crash into the factory it had been hiding inside.


    "Lia."


    "Already on it!"


    Having already created a pair of swords out of golden mana crystals, Lia charged forward at a speed not possible without significant cybernetic enhancements, or just strengthening magic.


    "You''re mine!"


    Leaping several metres into the air, Lia landed on the chest of the fallen Titan and quickly dug her way into its core without her swords seeing any sort of resistance.


    ??Goodnight."


    Slipping her blades into the Titans reactor, Lia quickly shredded the Titan from the inside out before emerging from the heap of metal with a satisfied expression on her face.


    "W-what the hell was that?"


    Completely shocked by what had just happened, the last standing policeman struggled to understand what was going on, but he correctly assumed Lia and Lilly were far more dangerous than he had first assumed and looked at the two of them with fear clearly visible on his face and in his voice.


    "Trust me on this one child, you don''t want to know. In fact, you''re best off forgetting this entire operation happened."


    -


    [IMI ADDRESSING ALL UNITS: GAG ORDER 41 NO LONGER IN EFFECT.]


    "... It seems like someone was forced to break the gag order, should we do that as well?"


    Stopping preparations for breaching Terra turned to Mare about her opinion on the matter, with one team breaking the gag order they could do so as well without any repercussions.


    "Mmm, why not? It was properly Lilly who did it, so it should be fine if we break that order too¡­ Although completing the mission without doing so will give us bragging rights."


    Appearing split on the subject at hand, Mare left the final decision entirely up to Terra.


    "Bragging rights does sound quite good, let''s just leave it as a backup then."


    "Mmm, okay."


    While the surrounding Division 14 members had no idea what that entire conversation had been about, they all feared the small Hellwalker who was still covered in the blood of the victims from her knife spree too much to even think about interrupting her. With that short interruption done and over with, the team descended into the underground complex, only meeting sparse pockets of resistance through the maze of underground tunnels until Mare picked up a strange smell.


    "What''s up?"


    Having noticed the small beastkin had stopped in place to smell the air, Terra raised her guard while the policemen secured the immediate area.


    "... I smell blood. Lot''s of blood, both entirely dried up blood and slightly more fresh blood and the smell of infections, piss and rust."


    "So it''s like that huh?"


    Understanding what Mare was getting at, Terra''s face stiffend up significantly as she updated the policemen surrounding her.


    "We''re about to come across something horrid, be prepared and remember to check fire."


    Moving forward while keeping a tight formation, the group eventually reached a large metal door, by then the smell of old and fresh blood had become so pronounced that even the policemen could smell it clearly.


    [Set up for breach, deploy in two stacks, prepare for CQC.]


    With a quick series of hand signals, Terra and Mare formed up on both sides of the large door and set up breaching charges.


    "Division 14! GET DOWN ON THE FLOOR!"


    Finding the room on the other side of the metal door to be truly massive and entirely without cover of any kind, there was quite a bit of momentary panic when the sparse rays of light from rifle mounted flashlights revealed countless figures, that is until Douglass and his comrades realized that those figures were chained in place and severely malnourished.


    "... What the hell is this?"


    "Processing. They''re starving them to break their spirits."


    Answering Douglas'' question, Mare was the only person who didn''t have any problems looking at the countless people suffering in front of her, she still maintained a flat tone of voice and a blank expression.


    "I can hear children crying over there, that would be where they keep the newly arrived slaves."


    Pointing past the sea of people with dead looking eyes, Mare walked straight ahead without minding the smell of infection and filth coming from those she passed.


    "... What the hell is up with her?"


    Looking at how calmly the child in front of him handled a situation so horrible, Douglas unintentionally voiced his thoughts.


    "Mare is just calm like that, but growing up in an environment like this and not breaking is also part of it."


    Answering the confused policeman next to her, Terra followed after Mare as she left the others behind with a final order.


    "Round up these people and get them out of here, we''ll take care of the rest."


    Passing the slaves in ''processing'', Terra''s blank expression turned into a frown as she caught up to Mare.


    "Can you hear them?"


    "Yeah, sounds like they''re attempting to flee with their profits."


    Having picked up the sounds of a few people scrambling around what Mare believed to be gold, her already cold eyes turned even icier.


    "Let''s make them suffer."


    "Mmm, agreed."


    With both of their minds made up, Mare and Terra both discarded their firearms on the spot as mana started flowing out freely around them, the rage and other negative emotions from the two mana users affecting the mana itself and turning it sinister, not that the majority of the people of this world could sense that of course, if they could, they would run for their lives.


    (Why is this happening to me of all people!? And I was so close to buying my own moon and retiring from this shitty business too!)


    Filled with nothing but his own frustration, William continued to pack his suitcase with so called ''tokens'', seed data encryption to virtual currency imprinted precious metal bars. In addition to their literal weight in platinum rhodium alloy, each 2 kilo bar held access codes to trillions in funds locked in their crystalline structure, representing the profits Williams had painstakingly collected over the past 154 years in the highly illegal slave trade, a business he very much hated, although not for the obvious reasons. Dealing in slaves inside the Galactic Empire was possibly the most restrictive trade there is, not only was it far more illegal than most drugs, but there was a very limited market of potential buyers which were risky to get into contact with while the cost of transporting ''live'' cargo in secrecy was frankly absurd.


    (To make matters worse, this business is filled with these gross perverts, even as profitable as it is to produce snuff films and live stream red rooms you can''t pay me enough to come in contact with any more of these perverts!)


    William was the kind of businessman that could sell everything, or so he at least believed, therefore he was going to abandon the slave trade and move into something easier like drugs or Emergence technology, but to do that he needed to escape the capital with all the funds he had stored there, and this was the last cache he had to empty.


    "Sir, we need to move."


    "I know! Give me a minute!"


    Surrounded by the best private security money could buy, William felt perfectly safe deep underground the capital in the web of long abandoned service and metro tunnels he had made his base of operation, at least until 34 hours ago when he got word about an upcoming raid.


    (Thank god I paid those sources so well for so long¡­ Still, what the fuck is the navy doing conducting raids? I need to figure that out when I''m out of this fucking mess.)


    "Here, don''t drop this and I''ll triple the pay to your company from next month on."


    "Always a pleasure doing business with you, boss. We''re moving out."


    Bringing their boss in the middle of a 12 man formation, the security chief carried William''s duffle bag with him as he contacted his subordinates deployed in a wide net around them.


    "2-4, bring it in, we''re moving¡­. 2-4 respond."


    Not getting a response from his outer security, the security chief pulled out his gold plated pistol as the guards around him switched off the safeties on their rifles.


    "Sir, we need to-"


    [These guys are already long dead, you guys are next~]


    "- Shit, Move!"


    Interrupted mid sentence by a voice he didn''t know coming from the radio, the security chief''s six senses screamed out to him that they needed to move now. Increasing the phase to a full out run down an abandoned metro tunnel, the group finally reached their parked escape vehicles, but it was far too late when they realized something was wrong.


    "... What the hell is that sound?"


    Pulling out a flashlight to look ahead, the security chief unknowingly uttered his last words as he failed to spot the bearly visible disturbances in the air coming towards him, next thing that happened, his vision went dark as a blade made out of wind sliced right through his head, killing him instantly.


    "What the fuck!?"


    "Contact front!"


    The panic coming from the other guards was short lived as they soon suffered the same fate as their boss, one by one they were cut apart by blades made of wind, leaving only William standing.


    "What the fuck is going on!?"


    Panicking, William forgot all about his money as he ran for his life to a nearby car, but as he touched the car door the entire car fell apart, having been cut in half a long time ago by another type of spell.


    [So this is the one?]


    [Seems like it.]


    Looking at the strangely distorted voices coming from behind him, William spotted two strange figures wearing blank face masks which seemed to absorb the surrounding light. Standing atop his dead security, the two figures were literal angels of death, or at least the closest thing to that.


    "H-Hellwalkers!?"


    [That would be us, yeah. What''s wrong, why are you running away without your cash?]


    While one of the Hellwalkers spoke, the other one brought a knife to the duffel bag William had left behind, spilling out the priceless contents within.


    "You can have all that as long as you let me go, please spare my life!"


    Still backing away in fear from the two figures, William pathetically begged for his life while profusely sweating from every pore in his body.


    [Ah, these are those token things, right? I heard you can finance a state of the art cruiser for just one of these. Are you sure you want to give us all this?]


    "Yes! Take it all, just please spare my life!"


    Losing all strength in his legs, William fell to his knees as he gave up his fortune in exchange for his life, or so he believed, being unable to see the sadistic smile forming beneath both the Hellwalker''s masks.


    "What are you?!- No! Please stop! I-"


    When the police eventually made it all the way to that abandoned metro tunnel all they found was some destroyed cars and a collection of corpses, one of which had extensive burns all over its body and was pierced with shards of concrete while also missing its head.

 285 Purge 4

    "... For fucks sake."


    Breathing a deep sigh as she received a message from the IMI network confirming that something happened she hoped wouldn''t, Phillipa pulled the pin on one of the grenades she had in her belt before addressing the person next to her.


    "Who do you think did it?"


    "Either Terra and Mare or Lia and Lilly. There''s no chance it was Dax and Solaris, and we didn''t break it either."


    "True, then what do you want to do?"


    Keeping up a casual conversation as they continued taking fire, Alice and Phillipa continued to talk even as Phillipa released the lever on the grenade, igniting the time fuse of the device.


    "We could just ignore it, but I''m already quite bored so why not take advantage of it instead? It''s your call at the end of course."


    "Yeah¡­. What to do then¡­"


    Falling into deep thoughts, Phillipa made the policeman she was sharing her cover with increasingly more nervous by the second.


    "Um, Ma''am, the grenade."


    "I know, it still has time left on the fuse."


    A bit annoyed that she had her thoughts interrupted, Phillipa casually lobbed the grenade over her shoulder without even looking at where it would land, or that''s at least how it looked as the frag still somehow found its target as if it was guided by some higher power before blowing up and claiming the lives of serval gunmen that were suppressing them.


    "Then let''s just take advantage of it too, I''m also pretty bored of this already, and the retrofit of the battleship Ingenuity is bound to leak and end in a hearing one of these days."


    Having made the call as the acting commander of the local operation, Phillipa cast aside her rifle as she activated the manatech generator which had been implanted in her cybernetic left arm.


    "Particle generation online, you guys are in for a treat now~ This shit is cutting edge Lazarus tech."


    Addressing the confused policemen around her, Phillipa nodded at Alice who then walked out from her cover, becoming the immediate focus of the enemy.


    "Phalanx."


    But by uttering a single word incantation, Alice was completely shielded from all incoming fire as the incoming bullets were either deflected or outright blocked by an elaborate layer of defensive spell formations.


    "Howitzer, load formation¡­ Formation loaded, executing script."


    Pointing her rifle at a machine gun nest desperately trying to kill her, Alice let loose a single shot from her weapon, but the impact made it look like a large calibre anti tank round suddenly hit the nest as it was torn apart by a bright explosion.


    "Good effect on target, go ahead and take care of the rest from here Alice."


    "Roger."


    "Oh, but make sure there''s actually some intelligence we can salvage after, so no more anti tank class spells."


    "Directive confirmed, annihilating targets."


    Having received her orders, Alice killed her emotions as she put on her black face mask as black wings made out of mana crystals materialized in the air behind her.


    (Ascension spell online, mana supply good¡­ Time to show this world magic I guess.)


    At this point, all hostile fire was currently concentrated on Alice, but she hardly noticed as the Phalanx defensive spell formation kept her perfectly safe from not only anti personal class weapons but also the occasional anti tank weapon. Going on the offensive, Alice loaded her leg with mana and stomped down on the ground beneath her, weaving mana into the earth and freeing multiple half ton chunks of earth from the influence of gravity. As the slabs of earth started floating freely around her some of the cartel members defending their property completely stopped firing on Alice, but as she clenched her outstretched fist and made the chunks of hardened rock compress into javelins they started running, although far too late.


    "Buckshot."


    Having loaded up on ammunition, the first of the rock javelins floated up in front of Alice''s outstretched hand and as she uttered a simple one word incantation while supplying the necessary mana the rock spear fragmented into shards which shot off at nearly the speed of sound, mercilessly pelting anyone unlucky enough to be caught outside of cover with lethal efficiency. Having broken the enemies will to fight with a single offensive action, a cold smile formed beneath Alice''s facemask as her pupils expanded to their limit and her heartbeat soared past 400 per minute.


    "Phalanx: battering ram."


    Pulling her defensive shields in tight, Alice lept forth as she left deep cracks in the ground beneath her, making entry through a 3rd floor wall as the phalanx shields transformed into a battering ram and quickly pulverized anything which stood in her way.


    "M-monster!"


    Landing with her black valkyrie wings attached to her back, Alice no doubt looked like an angel of death descending on the unfortunate goons which chose to flee at the sight of her. Catching sight of a group of them fleeing into a room before locking a heavy looking fortified door Alice sighed before taking an almost casual stroll over to it.


    "SSSHH!"


    With a quick, sharp breath, Alice wound up her body for a punch, as her clenched fist flew towards the metal door it was surrounded in black mana crystals, forming a hexagonal shell around it.


    "GHA!-"


    Sending the door flying with little issue, Alice crushed one poor soul who happened to stand behind it before she walked into the room, quickly giving it a scan and deciding that there was nothing of value inside.


    "... A-are we saved?"


    As the angel of death suddenly turned on her heel and left the surviving gangbangers alive, momentary confusion dulled the gangbangers sense of danger.


    If they had been smarter they would have done everything to escape the room which Alice had decided would be their tomb.


    "Will o''wisp."


    Creating a small white flame in the air in front of her, Alice snapped her finger to activate the spell sealing the fate of the criminals she had just condemned to death as the small flame flicked into the room behind her like a bolt of lightning and exploded like a 50 kilo white phosphor incendiary charge.


    "D-don''t move! Drop your weapon!"


    Walking into a room filled with frankly terrified gunmen, Alice breathed another annoyed sigh as the one who seemed like their leader tried to intimidate her into surrender. Seeing the entire spectacle as nothing more than irritating, Alice threw aside her rifle which seemed to give the gang leader the wrong impression.


    "G-good! Now get down on your-"


    "Don''t misunderstand me now."


    "- Eh?..."


    With her cold voice laced with bloodlust, Alice immediately took the word from the gang leader as she started weaving mana around both her arms.


    "It''s just that killing all of you with that weapon would be bothersome."


    As she spoke, shortswords made out of black mana crystals materialized in both of Alice''s hands, making the gang leader realize what his fate was.


    "N-now, hold on a minute."


    "... Nah."


    With an almost sadistic pause to her answer, Alice disappeared from sight as the sounds of gunfire and screams briefly filled the room, before the silence and the strong smell of blood overpowered everything else.


    -


    "Here''s your intel."


    Tossing Phillipa the severed head of the gang leader, Alice removed her now blood splattered face mask as the black ''wings'' on her back disappeared.


    "Thanks... Let''s get out of this place, I need a beer, and a bath."


    "Yeah, that would be perfect right about now¡­ I could also use a hug from you-know-who."

 286 Purge 5

    "I agree."


    Standing over the corpse of the last imitation Hellwalker, Dax wore a dissatisfied frown as he dissolved his phalanx armour. Solaris likewise wasn''t amused, the pair of 3 metre wide pure white angel wings which she had rematerialized fluttered in slight frustration as her spear made out of golden mana crystals dissolved into thin air. The reason for their annoyance was the complete lack of any evidence leading further up in the food chain, as it looked now, all the countless criminals and imitation Hellwalkers who had died today had acted on their own accords, all independently of each other and without any contact to an original Hellwalker.


    (... If this really is the case then this entire thing doesn''t make any sense, without someone on the ''inside'' of the 125th, this corruption would never have happened in the first place, and more importantly, the imitation Hellwalkers would never have become real Hellwalkers in the first place without someone from within the organization letting them inside in the first place.)


    "It''s like a gigantic, headless snake all of this."


    Dax didn''t like this situation one bit, he felt like he was missing something major, and working in a field where missing key details could be deadly only made that worse.


    "An apt analogy, but headless snakes aren''t this smart. We''re missing something."


    With nothing more to go on with their site, Solaris and Dax decided it best to regroup with the other raid parties to see if they had found any evidence of a ''head'', leaving the mess they had made all over the capital in the capable hands of police chief Hort, who''s hair was getting whiter by the day.


    -


    "So Alice and Phillipa busted a drug production facility, Lilly and Lia happened on a drone cache collected to illegal arms trade while Mare and Terra broke up a slave processing facility while I and Solaris busted an imitation Hellwalker stronghold, and still we didn''t find any trace of a leader?"


    Back at his home, Dax started mission debriefing with a slightly annoyed look on his face.


    "That''s correct yeah, it would seem we didn''t succeed in wiping out the imitation Hellwalkers in one fell swoop as we had hoped."


    Sharing a similar sentiment as Dax, Phillipa looked to Alice before reporting a slight success of the operation.


    "But on the plus side, we managed to combat test the new generation manatech weaponry and spell formations, to say the use of mana to wage war is extremely effective would be a gross understatement."


    "No shit X.O. Still, I can''t wait to use it against the Emergence, that will be the real test."


    "Changing the subject, while I can check for who broke the gag order I would like for the people in question to step forward on their own, it will save me some paperwork."


    Jumping to the next subject, the meeting room suddenly fell silent as everyone looked at each other in turn.


    "... It was me, I''m sorry."


    Timidly extending an arm, Lilly looked truly apologetic as she did her best to avoid eye contact with Dax.


    "It was also my fault! I failed to locate the Titan before it shot down our air support, if I hadn''t done that then Miss Lilly wouldn''t have had to resort to magic! If anything I should be the one to be punished!"


    Stepping forward to take part in the blame, Dax only needed to look at Lia''s flattened ears to see she was prepared for a harsh punishment.


    "Very well, thanks for stepping forth, both of you. Solaris, will you take care of Lia?"


    "... Sure."


    Successfully dividing his suddenly increased workload, Dax walked over to Lilly who still wouldn''t meet his eyes, her long ears dropping down apologetically as she stared into the ground in front of her feet.


    "While it is unfortunate we couldn''t keep manatech under wraps longer than this, you made the correct decision to save your own life Lilly, I''m glad you''re safe."


    "Eh?"


    Looking up to meet Dax''s eyes, confusion was clear on Lilly''s eyes as she made a slightly daft sound. Meeting Dax''s eyes closer than she had expected, Lilly showed her inexperience as she froze up in surprise, allowing Dax to strike.


    "W-w-w-what are you doing!?"


    Sneaking a kiss in Lilly as she was momentarily defenceless, Dax''s teasing smile made Lilly''s face and ears match her vibrant hair colour as she bloomed entirely red from ear to ear over the sudden sneak attack.


    "It''s okay to make mistakes Lia, as long as you learn from them and survive the ordeal you''ll come out on the other side stronger."


    While Lilly was still completely locked up, Solaris lovingly pat Lia on the head as she lightly scolded her.


    "Y-yes! I''ll engrave that onto my heart, lady Solaris!"


    "Get a room, Dax¡­"


    Sharing Terra''s disinterest in Dax''s open flirting in the middle of a meeting, Phillipa faked a cough to get his attention.


    "So what do we do now?"


    "Simple, kick back and wait for our dear police chief to dig up some leads, it''s time he pulls his weight in this joint investigation of ours."


    "Aha, that''s so mean~"


    Having a short laugh at Dax''s surprisingly cruel side, Phillipa turned serious to make sure that this was what her commander really wanted to do.


    "But are you sure about that Dax? Won''t such a thing lead to more attacks?"


    "Yeah I''m sure, try as we might, investigation is not this unit''s strong suit so let''s leave it up to the experts. As for the possibility of retaliation, I''m placing a temporary house arrest on all members present, you''re only to leave this building when joined by me¡­ Think of this as a short vacation before we get back to it."


    ---


    "Does this really not look strange on me?"


    "No not at all Alice, you look lovely."


    With nothing else to do for the moment, Dax decided to kick back and relax with the girls, deciding to take them all out for dinner at his favourite gourmet restaurant, something which required them all to dress up. Alice wore a slightly casual brown dress with no sleeves and black stripes together with black stockings and high heels, creating an excellent pairing with her braided light brown hair which had regained the lustre it had lost when she was injured, leaving only a few strands of white.


    "Come on, have a little bit more confidence in yourself Alice, you look good~"


    "... That''s easy for you to say Solaris."


    Solaris who was much more confident in wearing fine clothes had chosen a pure white dress with a long skirt and open back, fully displaying her ever perfect 3 metre wide angelic wings which fluttered confidently around her, creating a slight breeze which made her mostly free flowing half braid blond hair flow around, almost creating a halo from the reflections her hair created.


    "No really, you look great so no need to worry about a thing Alice~ Besides, I know the family running this restaurant personally, when I contacted them they set aside the entire restaurant just for us."


    "You really need to have more confidence Alice, you''re plenty attractive~"


    "If you say so, Lilly."


    Attempting (and failing) to make Alice slightly more confident about herself, Lilly played with her bright red hair as she twirled around for Dax to check out her black dress with long sleeves and an open back like Solaris'' dress.


    "How do I look?~"


    "You look perfect as always Lilly."


    "... If we have the entire restaurant to ourselves is there even a need to dress up for this thing then?"


    Cutting away from flirting with Lilly who wanted to be praised for her dress for a moment, Dax placed a hand on top of Alice''s head as he showed a teasing smile.


    "Of course there is Alice~ I need to show off my adorable women sometimes, don''t I?"


    "... When you put it like that then there''s really nothing I can say about it is there?"


    """Nope~"""


    With Solaris, Dax and Lilly answering Alice''s rhetorical question in unison there was nothing more she could do in defence (other than blush slightly of course).


    After a short ride on a thematically inappropriate CAS-7, Dax and the girls arrived at a seemingly humble restaurant at the ground level of one of the urban centres of the capital after creating quite a fuss when a military transport marked with the 125th''s insignia dropped them off.


    "Gregory it is nice to see you again!~ Is this the new branch of the family you mentioned?"


    Greeting an entirely white haired brown man with an impressive belly and full beard wearing a pair of shorts and a worn t shirt with a large hug, Dax turned a black haired youth wearing a black apron beside Gregory with the same skin tone and blue eyes as her dad.


    "Long time no see Dax! Indeed, this is Francesca! She''s my brilliant niece that will take over the restaurant in a few years when I retire."


    "I-I''m pleased to meet you Dax."


    Finishing greeting Dax while patting the head of his slightly nervus niece, Gregory turned to the women standing beside Dax, Gregory formed a large, fox like grin which filled his entire wrinkled face.


    "I see you found yourself some fine but slightly unusual looking women Dax~ please, let''s talk inside."


    Moving inside the humble looking restaurant, Dax and the girls were seated as guests of honour at the end of some joined tables with Gregory''s large family already waiting with large smiles. After taking a seat and introducing the girls to Gregory and his family, Gregory quickly opened up with the wine and the questions.


    "Is Lux not with you this time?"


    "No, sadly she''s working."


    "Ah that''s too bad, I hope I can get to see her at least once more before I pass¡­ But enough of all that dark talk, I''ll go get the food ready, please help me out, Francesca."


    "Ah, yes."


    Getting Francesca who was quite taken aback with Solaris'' wings to come help him with the food, Gregory disappeared into the kitchen as Alice leaned over to quietly ask Dax a question which had been burning inside her after taking a look at the back wall of the restaurant.


    "How do you know these people Dax?"


    "I came across this restaurant a long time ago when I first arrived at the capital and quickly befriended the owner, that''s her over there."


    Pointing to a series of pictures framed on the back wall which all had Dax with different people as their subject, Dax continued his explanation.


    "After getting to know the owner really well, I also became friends with the entire family¡­ That was some 9 generations ago, I''ve been making it a habit of coming here every time I''m in the capital to greet the new members of the family."


    "Ah, I see."


    Being reminded in the vast age gap between Dax and her, Alice had a melancholic smile on her face as she glanced over all the pictures, finding Dax with the same kind of happy smile in each of them.


    "Don''t worry, form now on you girls will be in these pictures too."


    "... That''s right."


    Looking forward to spending that many years together with Dax, Alice formed a warm smile on her face as she joined hands with Dax under the table.


    "Thanks for the wait Dax, I''ve put out all the stops for this one so I hope you and these fine girls are hungry!"


    Emerging out from the kitchen with countless plates of delicious looking food, Gregory wore a large, warm smile which Dax sadly couldn''t return.


    "I''m sorry but it appears that''ll have to wait."


    Rising from the table Dax quickly put a damper on the happy mood as he turned to face the entrance to the restaurant.


    "I''m really sorry about this."


    "It''s fine Dax, you''ve taken care of me and my family for so long."


    Once more apologizing to Gregory while the rest of his family was still left in the dark, Dax''s attitude changed from that of a happy family acquaintance into the commander of the 125th.


    "I swear to god if you break down that door I''ll skin you and all of your buddies alive with a rusty fucking spoon!"


    Putting a hand on his pistol which he had holstered under his suit, Dax shouted at the entrance which had all the curtains drawn down. After a minute''s silence, a polite knock was heard from the door which Gregory responded to, albeit very annoyed.


    "Come in, the door is unlocked!"


    In response to Gregory''s shout the door opened as the small and cosy restaurant was suddenly flooded with members of Division 14 and Galactic navy military police in full tactical gear, all pointing their sharply loaded rifles at Dax.


    "What the hell is this!?"


    Roaring in rage when he saw how his guest was treated, Gregory drew the attention of a few of the police officers who pointed their weapons at the old man, something which truly enraged Dax who stepped in between them.


    "Point that weapon at anyone except me in here again and you''re dead buddy, final warning."


    Speaking in a low almost animalistic growl laced with bloodlust, Dax made it clear that his threat was 100% genuine.


    "Lower your guns people. The only thing you''re doing with that is pissing him off, and we definitely don''t want to deal with a pissed off Hellwalker, we don''t have the armament for that."


    Stepping in to deescalate the situation before it turned way too bloody to handle, police chief Hort appeared with a stiff smile on his face.


    "Dax Alpha-4, you''re officially summoned to an indictment hearing behind closed doors in the Galactic senate concerning recent events, refusal is sadly not allowed so please follow with me immediately."


    "... A simple call would have sufficed."


    Removing the hand he had placed on his pistol, the tone of Dax''s voice made it very clear that he was still extremely pissed off.


    "I''m sorry, but with recent events being what they are, neither the senate nor the special counsel gave me that opportunity, please follow with me."


    ---


    Thanks for reading~ Autor Gamma here with a quick announcement


    (I''ll move this to the author''s notes in a few days)


    While it will still be a few weeks before you guys see this (unless you''re in me and Zad1333''s discord, link in the story bio) I''m very excited to do this thing and I want to thank all current, past and future readers for their interest in this story.

 287 Indictment 1

    "... This is bad isn''t it?"


    "It could be, but that all depends on the major controlling parties in the senate, if they care about the people then I should be alright, if they care more about the upcoming elections then I could be in quite hot water."


    Already tired of dealing with politics, Dax connected to the IMI network and reacquainted himself with the current 5.013 elected representatives of the Galactic senate, looking up the various political parties and alliances in place while instructing IMI to dig deeper into the system and identify key industrial and pharmaceutical backers standing behind the different parties.


    "... How hot would that water be exactly?"


    As Solaris questioned Dax about the seriousness of his analogy he finished up his preliminary investigation, his findings were less than favourable.


    "Think of a boiling deep fryer, then you''ve arrived at the correct heat level."


    Before Solaris could say anything to that comment, police chief Hort walked up to the pair.


    "Please make your way with us now Dax."


    "Sure, but Solaris here is coming too."


    "''No way'' is what I want to say, but it seems I''ve no real choice in the matter, please follow me to the transport."


    Full well knowing how Dax was after having dealt with him for a few weeks, Hort decided that Dax was to be his superior''s headache and let him do as he pleased.


    -


    Flying to the centre of the capital, the police transport brought Dax and Solaris to a truly massive structure, the galactic senate. Situated with its own space elevator, the senate building itself outshined its elevator without issue as the mare sight of the serval kilometre tall dome like structure was simply boggled the mind with its sheer size. Landing on a landing area about half way up the structure Solaris immediately felt how thin the air was this far up, it reminded her of the sanctuary she had grown up in, only this building wasn''t situated on top of a mountain chain, the building itself could be compared to a mountain.


    (Now I understand why he was never that impressed with the architecture from my world, this simply can''t compare¡­)


    Scanning the landing pad with room for about 50 CAS-7 sized crafts, Solaris noticed that she was being watched by a group of people wearing strange full body armour standing near the entrance to the senate.


    "Hey, who are those guys?"


    "That would be the Qiton imperial guard, they''re in charge of protecting this building, or more specifically the administrative AI. These guys are all qiton elder''s like me or Phillipa so take care, they don''t fuck around."


    "Ah, so I take it this AI was once the ''emperor''?"


    While Dax and Solaris were busying themselves with small talk, one of the qiton guards quickly walked up to them.


    "Alpha-4, your presence is required in the 547th special meeting room, follow me."


    Completely ignoring Solaris while addressing Dax only by his clan name, the qiton guard turned to leave, prompting Dax and Solaris to follow them until they arrived at the door and Solaris'' path was blocked.


    "Outsiders are not allowed inside."


    "She''s with me."


    Stepping in between Solaris and the guards, Dax spoke in a low tone filled with bloodlust.


    "That doesn''t change anything."


    "Yeah it does, she''s also an Alpha-4 clan member."


    "... Very well, but we''ll be monitoring your every step inside this building."


    Attempting to address Solaris over Dax''s shoulder, Dax once more stepped in between Solaris and the guard as he spoke for her.


    "That''s not something out of the ordinary, is it? Just let us through already, I have a war to win after this."


    Getting past the guards, Solaris and Dax were guided down a series of hallways by a single guard while Solaris felt numerous eyes on her that made no real attempt to hide their mistrust, although she couldn''t pin down where from.


    "... What just happened back there?"


    "Just a bit of power abuse, declaring you a member of the Alpha-4 clan these guys can''t touch you as they''re at most Beta class clan members."


    Seeing confusion visible on Solaris'' face, Dax decided to do a quick Tl;dr version of qiton power structure.


    "Qiton clans are ranked after their authority with Omega belonging to that of our creators, the Alpha clans are the most powerful there is, below them are the Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon and so on clans, with qiton''s not belonging to a clan at the lowest level of Psi."


    "So if one of those guys were from an Alpha clan of higher status than you they could say something back?"


    Quickly picking up on the highly authoritarian system of power within the qiton clans, Solaris worried if someone higher up in the food chain could punish Dax for what he had just done.


    "In theory, yeah, but the Alpha 1, 2 and 3 level clans all left the Empire a long time ago, and without any Omega''s there''s nothing they can do or say about it, therefore it was slight abuse of power."


    "Ah, you are quite cruel Dax¡­"


    With their conversation wrapping up just as they arrived, Dax and Solaris were lead into a courthouse style room, with Dax taking the central pedestal while a group 11 suit clad people sitting along a long table opposed him appeared to round up their small talks before one of them addressed Dax as a representative while Solars took a seat on a bench behind Dax.


    "So, why are you here too?"


    As someone suddenly spoke right into her ear, Solaris flinched before looking to the side, finding Phillipa who had somehow snuck up on her.


    "... Please don''t do that ever again."


    "You didn''t answer my question, but it''s fine, I can make an educated guess from your look of worry alone~"


    Maintaining a casual attitude, Phillipa kicked back on the bench and placed her legs up on the empty bench in front of them like a teenager attempting to be edgy as she formed a smile.


    "You don''t seem overly concerned about this."


    Choosing to entirely ignore Phillipa''s attempts at jokes, Solaris continued to hold her feelings in check, although she was starting to fail.


    "That''s because I''m just the second in command, even if Dax is sentenced to death I could likely escape the same fate by blaming all the failures of the unit on him¡­ That was a joke, please don''t kill me."


    Sensing the bloodlust and build up of mana from Solaris, Phillipa turned slightly more serious.


    "Don''t worry about this thing, there''s zero chance these people will do anything bad towards Dax."


    "Are you sure about that?"


    Guessing the indictment was pertaining to the corruption rampant in the Hellwalkers, Solaris only believed it was logical that they would punish the unit''s commander.


    "Positive, but just sit back and watch, this will be a useful experience which will help you get used to dealing with the leadership of the Galactic Empire."


    Not willing to say anymore, Phillipa left Solaris with no other choice than sitting back and hoping for the best.


    But if the worst possibility happened she could still escape with Dax, killing everyone who stood in her way.


    "Special forces commander Dax Alpha-4, I''m Representative Stone and will be representing the Galactic senate together with my 4 other coworkers sitting on either side of me doing this indictment. Do you have any idea why we''ve called upon you this evening?"


    Having finished quietly discussing some matters with her fellow senate members, a middle aged lady with brown hair and green eyes named herself before addressing Dax who responded in a surprisingly serious tone of voice.


    "I''m pleased to meet you, Representative Stone. As I''ve not been presented with any of the charges brought against me, I have no idea why I''m here."


    "... It seems like we need to bring you under oath."


    Taking his words for lies, Miss Stone slightly narrowed her eyes as she responded to Dax''s statement.


    "I''m speaking the truth, but feel free to have me take an oath¡­ Oh, and get a lie detector too, that way we''ll all waste a lot more time with all this, without my answer changing of course."


    Snapping back in his own way, Miss Stone was about to say something when an older looking man with pure white hair and eyes spoke up from the other side of the table she sat at.


    "Commander Dax is a back operations specialist carrying about countless things which are highly classified, expecting or attempting to coerce him into speaking the truth is a futile endeavour. This indictment does not seek to obtain the truth from commander Dax, as that is already guaranteed with his continued service to the Empire, but his current intentions and whether or not those intentions also serve the Galactic Empire''s best interests. I believe all that was made clear to all members of the senate before the meeting."


    As one of the people judging Dax stepped in to defend him, Solaris turned to Phillipa for an explanation as to why something like that would even happen.


    "Representative Stone wants to pin the recent imitation Hellwalker incident on Dax and have him take the blame for it, being part of the people who did so will boost her chances of reelection and further cement her standing within the political party she belongs to. The one defending Dax is Council member Jackson, he serves as the current minister of special war affairs, the closest thing to a boss Dax has."


    Bringing Solaris up to speed with a quiet whisper, Phillipa''s smile widened as she continued.


    "But politicians wanting political power is nothing new, therefore you don''t need to pay as much attention to them, the people you, however, do need to pay attention to is Jackson and his fellow members of the special counsel, as well as the ''person'' sitting in the middle while observing how things unfold."


    Bringing Solaris'' attention to the central figure sitting across from Dax, Solaris finally noticed that it was some sort of drone, only she didn''t recognize it as any of the ones Dax used.


    "Is that?"


    "Yeah, it is the administrative AI, or one of its countless avatars at least. That thing is lost technology like the ''core'' of the AI itself, all of it not possible to replicate."


    Stealing one more glance as the surprisingly humanoid drone, Solaris wasn''t even surprised she had mistaken it for a living being as it was almost indistinguishable from one.


    (''Lost technology'' huh, seems like that''s this worlds ''magic''... No, it might even be above what even magic can do.)


    Seeing that there was way more to the current situation than she had first realized, Solaris crossed her legs and leaned back on the bench. As Phillipa said, this was a chance for Solaris to learn about the country whose military she had joined at the highest level.

 288 Indictment 2

    As the indictment finally started, council member Jackson led with the first and most pressing issue.


    "You do not, council member. The recent crimes committed by members of the 125th have been committed without my consent or knowledge, it has only been 4 weeks since I was first alerted to those matters due to operating outside the net for some time. After becoming aware of those issues within my unit I''ve executed a widespread purge and currently estimate that 70% of the criminal elements have been removed, with a further 25% being added to that over the next week."


    With Dax presenting what could hardly be called an adequate criminal defence, Solaris continued to worry about the current situation, that is until council member Jackson opened his mouth again.


    "Very well, let''s move on to the next issue then."


    "Wait, what?"


    "Yeah, that''s how much of a free reign this unit of ours has. The blank check for funding is not the only advantage of being a Hellwalker~"


    Having already expected Solaris'' response, Phillipa casually explained what was going on just before objections were raised.


    "I hardly find that explanation acceptable! Commander Dax, you state you simply weren''t aware of the long stemming corruption within your own unit? I find that hard to believe."


    "But that''s exactly what happened, recent operations have ''taken me outside of the net'' for some time, meaning I''ve not been able to communicate."


    "What kind of operations would require you to be gone for over a hundred years?"


    "That''s classified, and I can''t comment on ongoing investigations without approval from both the administrative AI and the minister of special war affairs."


    Responding to Representative Stone''s questioning with a boilerplate response, Dax made Representative Stone turn to the people beside her for answers.


    "The officially stated reason for commander Dax''s recent operation is deep recognisance of the Emergence space and joint weapons development in cooperation with Lazarus. Therefore the recent operation is and will remain classified on a need to know basis."


    "I will be leading my party to file an injunction against the 125th and the minister of special war affairs, countless innocent people have died these recent days and their next of kin deserve at least an explanation as to why if not an outright apology."


    "Representative Stone, such a move will put our national defence at risk doing this time of crisis, the 125th is an integral part of our fight against the Emergence."


    "I''ve yet to see evidence which supports that, if anything the 125th looks like an out of control black ops unit with widespread corruption and zero accountability."


    "... This is bad."


    Commenting on the minister and representatives infighting, Phillipa''s smile had disappeared as she filled Solaris in on the details.


    "With recent events being as they are, there''s a good chance this injunction will pass it''s needed 90% approval in the galactic senate, if it does they can call into question the needs of our units budget and a resulting investigation will ice all our current operations, allowing the Emergence to run rampant on the outer systems until we''ve cleared up suspicion."


    "I thought that the minister was in charge of the 125th, not the senate?"


    "Yeah he is, but with enough votes from the Senate, Representative Stone can challenge that. Such an incident has happened before where a black ops unit was forcefully dissolved and all its members jailed for life."


    Unless Dax could clear up doubts that the senate had about the 125th, an injunction could mean months of delays in deployment of the still highly classified manatech weapons technology putting countless systems near the current front line in the risk of falling, something a majority of the Senate appeared to have no problem with.


    "Minister Jackson, I request approval to explain recent events as well as how they are connected to recent weapons development which is essential to stopping the Emergence''s advance."


    ??... Fine, as long as it doesn''t leave this room."


    Figuring Dax had something on his mind he wanted to state for the record, Jackson allowed him to temporarily breach information control guidelines.


    "The culprits behind the recent terrorist bombing was concluded to be the drug and slave cartel involved with criminal elements within the 125th, all these elements have already been purged with extreme prejudice. An injunction against the current 125th at this point in time will not deal with the corrupt elements which have already been dealt with, it will only serve to impact the combined war effort as 125th is in the process of implementing a next generation weapons system in close cooperation with Lazarus which will be crucial against the Emergence. In the event of a possible purge of the 125th, Lazarus will no doubt cut off all connection to the Galactic Empire itself and take their new technology with them."


    "All that is well and good if you believe this ''next generation technology'' actually exists, but I believe it''s nothing more than a convenient excuse to get out of a possible investigation."


    As expected Representative Stone and her coworkers hardly believed what Dax was saying, if anything, his words also brought attention towards Lazarus.


    "I''m not sure Lazarus is even allowed to just up and leave the Empire like that, there are countless-"


    "And none of those rules apply to Lazarus, as a prerequisite for their technological aid was to not be part of the Galactic Empire. After all, the founders are not citizens of the Empire itself, thus it would be unreasonable for them to be tied to our existence."


    With the administrative AI stepping in to correct the Representative with what was until this point highly classified information the topic of discussion immediately switched to Lazarus.


    "That''s preposterous! Who do they think they are!? This entire conflict with the Emergence has highlighted the failure of government bureaucracy within this Empire, no one should be above the people, no matter how many unneeded technologies they grant us."


    There had always been of convincing the general public of the need to fund Lazarus due to the secrecy of their overwhelming technological advantage, but a member of the galactic senate calling their need into question was a first.


    It seemed Representative Stone hadn''t been made aware of how important Lazarus was, or she had purposely repossessed it.


    "Unneeded technology? I-"


    "Permission to breach information control level 4."


    Before Council member Jackson got into an argument with the entirety of the galactic senate, Dax stepped up to convince them on his behalf, although he needed to disclose classified information.


    "-... Granted."


    After glancing at the administrative AI''s avatar and getting no response, Minister Jackson begrudgingly agreed to Dax''s request. Following immediately after that, Dax took control of the room through his interface and prepared screens to display evidence.


    "The recent terrorist bombing was an attempt to assassinate members of my personal unit equipped with still experimental n-class technology developed by Lazarus, after failing at a regular surprise attack, the would be assassins detonated half a ton of explosives packed into so called ''automounts landmines'' standing no more than 5 meters from my people. This was the result of such an explosion."


    As Dax displayed an image of the scorched crater which had remained after the bombing silence fell on the room, all eyes were instantly focused on the epicentre of the blast where an eerie pentagon void appeared to have avoided the devastation just around it.


    "This is the power of the ''useless technology'' Lazarus is currently integrating through the direct support of the 125th. Although I can''t go into details at this moment, N generation technology has the ability to transform a single combatant into something rivalling that of a current operational drone battalion."


    "T-there''s just no way something like that can be true, those images are obviously fake."


    Presented with something which appeared so powerful it appeared to possibly have broken multiple laws of physics, Dax didn''t look down on anyone who didn''t believe the pictures, after all, the first time he saw mana at work he also initially rejected it as some kind of illusion.


    "Solaris."


    Therefore a live demonstration was needed.


    "Y-yes, sir?"


    Quite surprised that Dax would suddenly call out to her like that, Solaris stiffened up slightly as the attention of the entire room suddenly descended on her.


    "Demonstrate the power of N generation technology for the Representatives and council members present."


    "Yes sir."


    Standing up straight, Solaris spread out her wings as she called on the rule breaking power of mana, finalizing the spell she weaved with a single word incantation.


    "Phalanx."


    As numerous defensive spell formations and shields made out of sturdy mana crystals materialized from thin air around Solaris, Dax wordlessly pulled out his pistol before turning to her, quickly emptying the entire magazine into her shields without a single one of the shots managing to price them.


    "If we need to demonstrate the destructive output too, I suggest moving to a different location¡­ Although looking around it appears that is not necessary."

 289 Reconquest of the outer citadel 1

    "Isn''t that the politician who tried to get the 125th resolved a few weeks ago?"


    "Yeah, that''s her alright¡­ I guess witnessing magic first hand must have changed her outlook on life, that or she''s playing into recent pools which shows that the people once more trust the 125th."


    Standing on the sidelines listening to Senate Representative Stone''s speech it didn''t take a long time before small talk broke out among members of the 125th who were at the ceremony, specifically Ifrit, who had finally been let out of their cage by Dax, and Terra who also wasn''t that interested in the speech.


    "So she is the one who wanted to jail us all and claim credit for it¡­ Can I eat her soul?~ ?"


    "You can''t. Besides, I''m not even sure politicians have souls in the first place¡­ AW! What was that for?"


    Receiving a not so gentle slap to the back of their heads the two chatters turned to see Dax, the current ''smile'' which was plastered on his face instantly silenced all resistance.


    "Shut it both of you, at least try to act disciplined. And if you keep saying stuff like that and I''ll be forced to lock you up again Ifrit."


    "I-it was just a little joke, that''s all."


    The reason Ifrit hadn''t done much since arriving at the capital was because of their nature, with zero respect for living beings and a tendency to eat the souls of those they disliked there was no way Dax would allow them to roam freely, not until they had been properly tra- I mean disciplined by him.


    "So I get that this ''citadel'' is a fortress, but what exactly keeps the Emergence or even us from going around it?"


    As Representative Stone started talking about the target for this new campaign, Alice found herself confused as to why such a system was so important, therefore she turned to Dax who stood beside her.


    "There''re a lot of black holes and neutron stars in that area of space, in comparison the citadel as a pair of calm red draws for its stars. Making jumps between systems become exponentially harder the more gravitational waves there is at the destination system and fast spinning black holes and neutron stars emit a shitton of those waves compared to normal stars, making travel to them practically impossible without specialized jump cores which are way too fragile for use in warships."


    "So, in other words, you can travel through that region without going through the citadel, but only with ships that are too fragile for combat?"


    "Exactly. Going around that region of space would also be slow and easy to observe, so the only practical way of passing through that region of space is through the citadel, making it a strategic chokepoint. Before we do anything else, we need to first push the Emergence back to that point, then take control of the system back from it."


    As Dax finished explaining the objective to Alice, the speech which was going on in the background finished up and was met with thunderous applause before yet another speech started, leaving not only Alice, but also Dax to sigh deeply.


    "It is good to be in your care once again fleet admiral Simmons."


    "The feeling is mutual Dax, although calling you that after simply ''commander'' for such a long time feels a bit strange."


    "Don''t worry about that, I take no offence if you still call me that. Oh, and thanks for lending me Rin for all this time, she''s really a useful subordinate to have."


    The night was about to fall when the 3rd fleet and its newly retrofitted flagship was finally allowed to launch from the capital, as Dax and his subordinates boarded the Ingenuity they were once again greeted by fleet admiral Simmons and his trusted officers, with the exception of Rin, who was no attached to Dax''s unit and followed with him instead.


    "Please don''t extravagate commander, all I do is answer questions and make tea!"


    As Rin unexpectedly became the centre of attention while being praised out of the blue she was understandably flustered, even more so when Dax placed a hand on her head to reassure her while ruffling her short red hair.


    "Dax! P-please don''t do that, it''s embarrassing!"


    "Yeah, yeah. You''re doing great Rin, keep it up."


    "You''re not listening to me in the slightest, are you!?"


    "Not at all~"


    With Dax only stopping to embarrass Rin once he felt his life was in danger from Lilly''s resulting jealousy, boarding was slightly delayed but overall without issues. Travelling for a few days with the fleet it was finally time for what everybody on board had been waiting for, a live fire weapons demonstration conducted in a resource depleted asteroid belt. After witnessing the mighty power of the brand new 720 mill anti ship rail guns and next generation torpedoes designed by Lazarus it was finally time for the main event. although the was still technically classified, there had been talk about the so called N class weapons technology and its capabilities ever since the Ingenuity set sail, something which both Dax and fleet admiral Simmons chose to ignore as it was great for morale, morale also being the reason why the live fire weapons demonstration was broadcast to not only the rest of the 3rd strike group, but also the rest of the galactic empire.


    "Initiate local subroutine #33402, kill nonessential power use and reroute everything to node #9."


    When it was finally time for the weapons demonstration, Phillipa took over command from fleet admiral Simmons as she instructed the bridge crew on how to activate the massive mana generator which had been installed aboard the Ingenuity and up until that point in time kept a secret.


    "Weapons officer please report."


    "Yes, ma''am. Mana purity at 97%, all generators online and holding at 20% output, ready for tasking."


    Although the officer had no idea what he was talking about, he nevertheless did his job admirably and reported the numbers presented to him with only mild confusion visible on his face.


    "Solaris, are you up for it?"


    "Sure."


    With Dax quickly selecting the operator for the test, Solaris walked out in front of the other officers present on the bridge to an empty area at the front, as she neared countless screens and contact interfaces emerged from the floor and ceiling. Gripping hold of a guard rail presented to her, Solaris focused as she spread out her pair of large, pure white wings, those were quickly joined by ones made out of golden mana crystals as she used an ascension spell to take control of the vast amount of mana generated by the ship''s mana generator.


    "I have control."


    Ignoring the confusion which spread on the bridge behind her, Solaris achieved full control of the mana with her 20th set of wings, almost filling the area offered to her with a truly impressive array of mana crystals in addition to her own wings which also started glowing brightly.


    "Affirmative, you are to destroy the target at point 19. Fire when ready."


    "Roger."


    With the order from Phillipa, Solaris drew a thin smile as she started weaving a truly massive spell formation, at its completion she uttered only a single quiet word for its activation.


    "Lighting."


    With that single word, the world of technology was introduced to magic, and in a truly spectacular way too. In a split second, a gigantic spell formation formed out of nothing in front of the Ingenuity, drawfing the battleship in size before generating a mass of energized plasma on par with that of a supermassive solar storm which was focused into a single tight beam which launched at near light speed towards a 20 kilometre wide asteroid, evaporating it like it was a bead of water hitting a ripping hot plate of metal.


    "Target eliminated."

 290 Reconquest of the outer citadel 2

    "Boy this drive sure is smooth, please extend my gratitude to your contacts over at Lazarus."


    Hardly needing to brace or even able to notice a difference or movement in the cup of coffee he was drinking, fleet admiral Simmons turned to Dax in amazement, even after experiencing such a smooth ride over 50 times already he still was amazed every single time.


    "Will do Simmons."


    Exiting the jump inside hostile territory, the attitude in the bridge of the battleship Ingenuity was surprisingly relaxed, at least among the two commanding officers.


    "Scan for immediate contacts and launch the barrage ships and fighters, I want a 30 light second secure area for the rest of the fleet."


    "Yes ma''am, the 2nd and 3rd fighter group are scrambling."


    "Report from gravseq, all ships have latched on to the beacon successfully, we''ll be fully reinforced in 10 minutes."


    With two X.O''s between them, Dax and Simmons hardly needed to do a thing outside of combat, this was the reason for their overall relaxed attitude.


    "Immediate contact! Baring 081, range, 2109 light seconds! Second contact, bearing 333, range 3039 light seconds! both closing range rapidly!"


    With the report of hostile contact, the bridge suddenly went into a controlled frenzy with orders and reports rapidly exchanged throughout the room, but still, Simmons and Dax remained quite lax.


    "Here come the first ones, they are really eager to fight today huh?"


    "That would be because this is the first time in a few hundred years we''ve been on the offence, the Emergence properly didn''t expect us to fight back all of a sudden."


    After a tiny bit of more small talk, Dax''s attitude changed together with fleet admiral Simmons'' as the two men started to smile at each other.


    "I''ll leave this to you, Simmons. You have the conn."


    "Identify those contacts immediately and launch a preemptive strike with the railguns! Task IMI to look for incoming ordinance and issue a warning to deployed fighters, warn them of the contact and tell them to be wary of mines while completing their original task! Deploy the barrage ships in a fan formation, orders are to stand by for point defence!"


    Transforming from a jolly old man into a highly decorated fleet admiral in the blink of an eye, Simmons started barking orders while power was diverted from none essentials into the capacitors of the ships brand new and singing 720 mill Lazarus anti ship class railguns eagerly absorbed the charge they were given, in a matter of seconds they were charged and opened fire, accelerating their serval ton heavy proximity fuse payloads to high fractions of the speed of light in a split second.


    "First gun salvo is away! The two contacts are not manoeuvring, impact on targets in approximately 35 seconds!"


    [IMI REPORTS: 45 INCOMING LARGE CLASS PROJECTILES, KILLING WITH HEL AND CWIS.]


    Seeing how the hostiles made little attempt at fire back, Simmons identified their strategy as a suicide ramming. Working from that assumption he started countering their intentions.


    "First salvo hit! Good effect on target, contact 1 slowing acceleration, contact 2 remains unchanged!"


    "Give me a firing solution on those drives, load AP and engage as soon as ready! IMI task all available HEL''s, blind their sensors!"


    [ROGER, SATUATING TARGETS WITH HEL, IMI REPORTS: 34 INCOMING LARGE CLASS PROJECTILES, KILLING WITH CWIS.]


    "Targets identified! Contact 1 is the battlecruiser Freedom while contact 2 is the fast attack cruiser Bravery!"


    While the reality of the hostile ships being fallen allies was disturbing, admiral Simmons was not dissuaded from destroying them in the slightest, those aboard the Emergence ships were already dead, his current job was to ensure that his own crew survived.


    "Navigation, issue ship wide collision alert! Prepare for rapid acceleration and evasion manoeuvres!"


    "Second salvo is away! TTI contact 1, 20 seconds, TTI contact 2, 13 seconds!"


    "Navigation accelerate astern, flank bell!"


    "Navigation confirms! New course, astern, flank bell!"


    With battleship Ingenuity''s retrograde engines firing at full power, the ship started moving away from the closing threats, although even at maximum acceleration it would only grant a few more seconds.


    "Second salvo hit! Good effect on target, contact 1 destroyed, contact 2 now listing portside, she appears to be spinning out of control!"


    [IMI REPORTS: 5 INCOMING LARGE CLASS PROJECTILES, KILLING WITH HEL.]


    As the second salvo of 720 mill railgun projectiles hit true, the first contact''s reactor detonated while its stored ammunition quickly cooked off in the bright explosion which followed, the second contact appeared to have lost a large part of its portside thrusters, causing it to spin out of control in that direction due to the now unstable thrust vectoring.


    "Navigation ahead full, bring us portside and clear out of the debris field. Weapons, target contact 2 and destroy it."


    "Navigation confirms. New course ahead full, bringing us out of the debris field by turning portside, bearing 275."


    With the last remaining contact basically a sitting duck, the tension on the bridge cooled down a bit as Ingenuity started navigating outside of the debris field which had been created by the now destroyed contact 1. Breathing a slight sigh, Admiral Simmons once more sat down in his chair before addressing Dax.


    "I''m getting too old for this."


    "Then think about how I''m feeling. I just want to retire with the girls on some farm and laze around all day."


    The Ingenuity was eventually joined by the rest of the 3rd strike group, the system was quickly secured before multiple beacons were deployed to detect FTL jumps, then the group moved on, tearing deeper into Emergence territory, making a clear beeline towards the outer citadel while other strike groups stomped out resistance along both flanks.


    -


    "It seems we weren''t needed this time either."


    "Yeah, that just means more time off I guess."


    Looking to the ceiling above the door as the light indicating a general alert went out, Lilly sighed deeply as she once more wasn''t needed to beat the Emergence. It had been like this the last few weeks, even though the 3rd strike group had already reclaimed countless systems for intelligent life, it had hardly met anything more than just sparse resistance. To make it even more boring for the girls (and Ifrit), there had yet to be any land or station invasion, as this section of space was mostly empty save for the occasional large class orbital space station which was just nuked from a distance instead of risking invading, it seemed like they wouldn''t be needed before reaching the outer citadel itself, where all 7 of the system''s planets had been heavily fortified and had to be reconquered one by one.


    "We''ll be busy when the time comes. Want to spar Ifrit?"


    "Sure~?"


    Seeing as there was nothing else to do other than remain prepared, Alice left with Ifrit to spar while Solaris continued silently reading the romance book she had been recommended by Rin, Lia who was ever faithful to Solaris remained at her side in case she needed a refreshment, leaving Mare, Lilly and Rin who was always with them to figure out how they could kill their boredom.


    "Want to play some cards? That one you taught us last time was somewhat entertaining Rin."


    "Mmm. Let''s play."


    With Mare''s tail wagging at almost lighting speed as her eyes shone with excitement, Rin couldn''t refuse her even if her life depended on it.


    ???Sure, but no gambling this time, it is against regulations."


    "Eh? But that only makes it more fun."


    "I''ll tell Dax."


    "Traitor!"


    It wasn''t only Dax''s subordinates which had gotten complacent with their current streak of overwhelming victories against sparse resistance, but also a large part of the 3rd strike group who were inexperienced with longer campaigns as they had done nothing but just weather attacks from the Emergence for the last hundred years. While none in their right mind would call the Emergence intelligent in any way, shape or form it also wasn''t stupid. As the 3rd strike group continued its advance into Emergence territory the group increased its distance from safe territory and supplies, something which was potentially deadly under the wrong circumstances.


    Even the best army will fall apart in no time if it is cut off from its supply lines.

 291 Reconquest of the outer citadel 3

    "What the hell is going on?"


    "No idea, sir. One second we were receiving and sending data just fine and the next second there''s nothing other than this junk on all spectrums, we are currently unable to communicate with the fleet command, even just talking to the rest of the strike group has to be using laser or radio transmissions, nothing else gets trough."


    While the communications officer was explaining things to admiral Simmons, Dax also arrived at the bridge, scanning the room he quickly realized that there was something wrong with the quantum communications array and checked his own, then walked over to a console and tried using emergency protocols which Mu had designed specifically to be tamper proof, all with the same result.


    "It is not the array at fault, this is likely some kind of jamming measure from the Emergence."


    "... What makes you sure of that?"


    "Because I just tried my private uplink and channels designed to be tamper proof with the same result, I believe if we cross check with the other ships in the strike group we will see the same interference¡­ Let''s do just that, if there''s any difference in the pattern we might be able to figure out something from it."


    Quickly working to troubleshoot the issue, Dax quickly realized that their current situation was magnitudes more dangerous than what was apparent.


    "That''s a good idea, although I doubt it will solve the issue. As we''ve lost all means of communicating with the fleet command we should-"


    "No, we shouldn''t."


    "Pardon?"


    While Simmons appeared to conclude that they needed to return to their lines, Dax didn''t believe the Emergence would be polite enough to let them attempt that.


    "Normal procedure would be to return to base for repairs, doing so will be exactly what the Emergence would be able to predict after having assimilated countless ships of the Galatic navy."


    "Tha-"


    "... Then what do you suggest we do? While he just restocked everything, our supplies aren''t unlimited. At some point, we''re going to start running out of food, water and ammunition."


    Hearing the solid reasoning Dax had behind not following protocol, Simmons was open to possible alternative plans although possible passable alternatives were hard for him to find. Closing his eyes for a moment to think, Dax was unable to connect to the wider network due to the current communication blackout, he still had a lot of basic information stored in his cybernetic spine for points in time where he couldn''t communicate, exactly like this one.


    "I suggest we find a defendable position in one of the nearby systems and hunker down to await rescue, in about a month the 14th fast attack group should have been fully retrofitted and operational under the command of my subordinate, she''ll no doubt come to our aid, or at least come looking for us to find out why we went dark."


    "That''s a solid plan, except for the fact that we can''t resupply out here, while we might have enough ammunition depending on the level of Emergence activity we see, this 3rd strike group doesn''t have food stored for more than a month with rationing, even less if our men have to fight all day long."


    Although there was well over a month of supplies on the strike group''s possession, admiral Simmons worked off of the assumption that the Emergence would attack them relentlessly, and people fighting always needed more food than those who were simply moving from one point to another, then there was the issue of munitions, although there was technically enough to last a month, an unexpectedly intense confrontation, like hunkering down to await rescue could deplete those stores fast.


    "As the 125th is originally a black operations unit there are times when we need to operate without support from home, to enable that across the galactic empire even before the iron race containment war meant establishing countless dead drop caches all over the empire, especially in dead systems with minimal traffic like the area we are currently in."


    "I see, that would certainly take care of rations and water, but what about munitions? Even if that''s also stored in these caches of yours they are unlikely to be of the required calibre as this fleet has just switched out all major weapons systems."


    Feeling increasingly optimistic about Dax''s proposal, Simmons nevertheless kept scrutinizing it for any holes, such was his responsibility towards his subordinates.


    "Yeah that might be an issue, luckily the new torpedo launchers have backwards compatibility as a future cost serving alternative. While we might not be able to resupply railgun ammunition, that shouldn''t be a problem either."


    "And why is that?"


    "Because this Battleship and multiple battlecruisers supporting it are all equipped with mana generators which are powered by the individual ship''s state of the art fusion reactors, Coincidently we also have a surplus of mana users, isn''t that lucky?"


    "It is indeed."


    -


    "Ifrit, we''ve received final confirmation."


    "Good, then let''s go and secure us some war supplies admiral~?"


    With Dax''s plan accepted by fleet admiral Simmons, a group of battlecruisers within the 3rd strike group was assigned the responsibility to forage for supplies while the main unit fortified its standing within a low traffic binary star system a bit away from any normal trade routes. One of the battlecruisers assigned with that dangerous task was the fast attack class battlecruiser Valor equipped with a mana generator, on its bridge stood a fairly strange creature which spoke with an overly sweet sounding voice, this creature served as the battlecruisers only offence and only valid defence as its normal armaments had been offloaded to make place for the supplies it would be salvaging. Still, admiral Johanson had heard what Ifrit was capable of doing from her superior, and while she didn''t entirely believe those words she nevertheless trusted them and treated Ifrit with respect.


    "R-right... Nav, make for system R-7290 D-92. Initiate jump when ready."


    Still not completely used to Ifrit''s way of talking, admiral Johanson slightly flinched whenever Ifrit suddenly spoke out from right behind her, having somehow found a way to sneak up on her for the nth time. Unbeknownst to admiral Johanson, her blood and soul had an extremely enticing smell, there was simply something irresistible about it so Ifrit only barely managed to avoid crossing the line by sneaking up close to her like that.


    "Navigation reports jump ready, ship ready. Now committing to the jump."


    While the battlecruiser''s fusion drive spun up to overdrive, reusable jump pylons separated from the ship itself as its gravitational drive produced enough anti gravitons and negative mass to briefly create and stabilize a wormhole, the moment it was created a group of stabilizers travelled through the hole, before the battlecruiser finally begun moving trough.


    [EXITING GATE IN: 3¡­ 2¡­ 1¡­ BRACE.]


    Coming through the other side, admiral Johanson immediately ordered the onboard fighter wing to scout out the nearby area while Valor itself scanned the entire system for any signs of the Emergence. Finding no signs of the Emergence in the relatively empty star system home to just a single red dwarf star and a sparse asteroid belt, the battlecruiser Valor moved on with its mission and quickly located the hidden Hellwalker cache built into one of the larger asteroids.


    "Launch the CAS-7 and empty out the cache as fast as possible! I don''t want to spend a second more in this system than we have to."


    Almost as those words left Johanson''s mouth, the sensors reported an active contact closing in on their location.


    "Shit! Recall the CAS-7''s immediately! We-"


    "There''s no need, just turn on the mana generator and I''ll eliminate the contact."


    Having her words interrupted in such a rude manner, Johanson turned to Ifrit in anger, although that anger soon evaporated when she looked into Ifrit''s eyes, instead that feeling anger was transformed into a primal fear, all Johanson''s instincts screamed out to her that she was not to anger the creature in front of her and doing so would lead to a fate much worse than death.


    "O-okay."


    "Great~? Although this ''Emergence'' thing doesn''t have a soul I can eat it still has been a while since I''ve killed anything~ I get sort of restless when I don''t kill things, don''t you guys also get that?~?"

 292 Reconquest of the outer citadel 4

    [IMI REPORTS: 4501 LARGE CLASS PROJECTILES DETECTED, KILLING WITH CWIS AND HEL. WARNING, UNABLE TO INTERCEPT 2104 PROJECTILES, CRITICAL DAMAGE EXPECTED.]


    With enemies coming out of the woodworks from all directions, the fast attack class battlecruiser Valor was in very hot waters, not only due to the current issues with communication which made her unable to request backup from the rest of the 3rd strike group, but also because it was mostly out of ammunition.


    "It is so good to see that the Emergence is at least trying, I hate to kill things that don''t make it at least somewhat interesting~?"


    The only one not worried about their current situation was Ifrit, standing on the bridge with a confident smile as the battlecruisers mana generator came online they simply tapped their foot to create a complicated spell formation which surrounded them completely, glowing in an erry purple light.


    "How long to the first projectile hits us?"


    [IMI ESTIMATES IMPACT IN 20 SECONDS.]


    "Good~ Then I have time to crush one of them before worrying about defence. Admiral, please keep our current location, it is hard to read the stars lay lines properly when moving about."


    "... Navigation, done with all engines."


    "Navigation confirms, done with all engines, letting us drift freely."


    Coming to a complete stop while engaged by an enemy was one of the worst things one could do in a naval fight, but worse yet was simply choosing to drift wherever ones last course direction took you, it offered absolutely nothing in terms of defence, in such an event you were just a sitting duck waiting to be destroyed, which is why most ship captains would rather choose to lose their point defence before their propulsion when given the option. But nevertheless, Ifrit who was the crew''s best chance of survival had commanded the ship to stop moving, so that''s what the crew did.


    "That''s much better~?"


    Still, with a large smile on their face as strange, asymmetric formations and runes were created around them, Irfit''s aura started rapidly transforming into something strange, the crew present on the bridge didn''t know why, but looking at Ifrit was both repulsing and disturbing them to their core.


    "Na''sn wagz''on Tho''th, ra''wn."


    Speaking in a long dead demon trounce, Ifrit called on dark powers hostile to all types of life and gave it a target, immediately after they had uttered their incarnation, one of the hostile contacts disappeared from all sensors.


    "Contact 2 lost! I appear to have cloaked!"


    "Contact 2 has been destroyed."


    "W-what did you just do?"


    While the magic admiral Johanson had heard about so far had been the standard fantasy fanfare stuff, like creating lighting and things like that, this was something else.


    "Telling you that will hurt your sanity~ No need to worry about that contact anymore, we won''t ever see it again~?"


    [IMI REPORTS: SHIP IMPACT IMINENT.]


    "Bulwark."


    Having seen the first round of projectiles coming, Ifirt extended a hand before a shield was created out in space in front of the ship, deflecting the 520 mill railgun penetrators which hit it only a second later.


    "Tell me whenever we''re about to be hit, I''ll take care of it~"


    "All contracts are breaking off! They''re jumping out of the system!"


    "Wait, what?"


    "Navigation, take us out of the way of incoming projectiles, update the away party on our new position."


    Prepared for a fight to the death, Ifrit was quite disappointed when the Emergence suddenly decided to turn and run, but seen from the emeries perspective such a choice was quite easy to make as losing a ship to unknown means would put anyone on guard, even the Emergence. With no additional threats appearing, the battlecruiser Valor quickly completed its mission of securing valuable supplies from the hidden Hellwalker cache and rejoined the 3rd strike group.


    -


    "Excuse me, what did you just say?"


    "We''ve lost all contact with the 3rd strike group, their last transmission reported no issues on the way to retake C-201 D-11."


    "... For fucks sake. What was their last reported position and how long would it take them to


    move from there back to our lines?"


    Having only been back in the capital for a few days, Lux sighed deeply as Dax somehow had managed to get himself into trouble once again.


    "Based on their estimated position when communication cut off, they should be somewhere in the empty region, if they''re able to make their way back here, the estimated time of arrival would be sometime next week."


    With her subordinate explaining where the 3rd strike group had disappeared where it would be easy to ambush would be rescuers.


    If they acted carelessly, the current crisis could end up way more costly than ''just'' losing a single strike group.


    "What''s the status of the 14th fast attack group''s retrofit?"


    "Ma''am, it should be done in about 3 weeks."


    "Then I''ll take that group and go look for the 3rd if they''re not back then, until then no one fleets are to go near that area. For all, we know this might be an attempt at drawing us into an ambush."


    "Yes Ma''am."


    (I''ll need to bother Ra and Mu because of this shit. Dealing with the navy command is also going to be an issue as they''ve just lost a strike group and convincing them not to send out search parties will also be trouble¡­ Dax, you better fucking pay me back for dealing with this turd of a clusterfuck on your behalf.)


    Suddenly having enough work shoved on her that she would have to forgo any rest and or sleep for the next two weeks, Lux lacked all empathy to Dax''s current situation, although she was a tiny bit worried about those with him, especially her disciple''s Alice and to a lesser degree Terra too.


    Of course, she didn''t care about the sailors also traped with Dax other than their strategic value, raised with no other drive than combat does that to a person.

 293 Reconquest of the outer citadel 5

    "Good work, I''ll take it from here."


    Finally replaced on her shift by Phillipa, Lilly dissolved the countless magic formations she had been maintaining for hours on end.


    "... Thanks."


    Offering only a weak response in return to Phillipa''s words, Lilly swayed unsteadily as she fought her headache while returning to her crew quarters which were luckily near the bridge. Entering her room Lilly limply collapsed on her bed face first, she didn''t even notice Dax who had come to visit before he spoke up.


    "Should I leave?"


    "No, just give me a second."


    Fighting her drowsiness, Lilly got up from her bed and was immediately met by a hug from Dax who carried her back to his chair.


    "Is this better?"


    Responding to Dax???s question by burying her face in Dax''s chest, Lilly finally felt relaxed after snuggling around as a cat would in his arms to find an optimal position.


    "... Yeah, this is nice."


    With Dax starting to pat her head, Lilly felt like her headache started evaporating, instead, her head felt like it was fluffy in a strange sort of way.


    "Ehehe~"


    Before she knew what had happened she let out a really strange sound, with her face flushing completely red, she panicked and looked up to Dax, but to Lilly''s surprise, he didn''t appear to have noticed it.


    "When this war is over I''m going to retire."


    Gently brushing Lilly''s hair, Dax started monologuing with a far off look in his face.


    "Killing and destruction are starting to feel tiresome, fighting is starting to feel tiresome. I want to just spend all day with you 3 relaxing."


    "I''m thinking about Centus 3a. It''s a small tropical moon specializing in agriculture, I would love to buy a small cottage and just spend all day lazing around in the sun, making all sorts of food with the locally produced produce... Sleep well, Lilly."


    Finding Lilly had fallen asleep in his arms, Dax settled in, deciding to not disturb her sleep.


    Although it got quite close in the end, the 3rd strike group was eventually reinforced by the 14th fast attack group who practically stumbled over their fortified position as quantum communication was still impossible due to a still largely unknown type of interference, interference which paradoxically appeared to increase in magnitude the closer one got to the citadel. While quantum communication was not affected by distance or even the speed of light, this interference seemed to be, something which Lux found very fascinating.


    "This interference is definitely something that the Emergence has cooked up, they don''t appear to be affected by it, and it only seems to increase in strength the closer you get to our current objective."


    Holding a joint meeting with Dax, Phillipa, fleet admiral Simmons of the 3rd strike group and fleet admiral Tomson of the 14th fast attack group.


    "That''s perfect. It''s like a beacon leading us straight towards our current objective, we couldn''t ask for a better navigation point."


    "Agreed, my newly retrofitted ships will be able to deal with just about anything Emergence can throw at us, I say we press on and secure the citadel before they adjust."


    While Dax and admiral Tomson agreed on pushing forward to secure the objective, but admiral Simmons had his reservations.


    "... I don''t know about that, my crew is pretty tired out after holding here for so long, not even mentioning your mana users Dax, don''t they need to rest before we press forward?"


    "Yeah they do, which is why we''ll have Tomson and her fleet take point, those ships have been equipped with a next generation mana interface, so they do not need spell casters, just an absurd level of processing power which me, Lux and Phillipa can provide by mind melting."


    With Dax explaining the 14th''s no need for spell casters, Simmons was presented with the opportunity to play rear guard until the two fleets reached the citadel, something which would allow his crew to relax and kick back as he had wanted. But more than that, it seemed there was no issue in pressing forth to finally retake territory which had been lost to the Emergence for hundreds of years, the very idea of that put a smile on Simmons'' face.


    "Then we press ahead to retake the citadel... It feels good to say that, how long have we been on the defensive in this war?"


    "I don''t know, to be honest, all I know is my boys are eager to finally be on the offensive once again, the 14th isn''t a defensive fleet, we''re meant to smash through enemy lines just like we are now."


    ---


    [EXITING GATE IN: 3¡­ 2¡­ 1¡­ BRACE.]


    "Dax, put up our defences! Have all fighters launch to secure our immediate surroundings and get rid of the barrage ships too, they''re weighing us down!"


    Entering C-201 D-11, fleet admiral Tomson took a second to glance at the twin red dwarf stars orbiting around each other at the centre of the system as she barked out orders.


    [IMI PROXIMITY ALERT: UNKNOWN OBJECTS INSIDE THE WIRE, KILLING WITH CWIS.]


    As the flagship Aggression emerged from its gate, countless rapid firing gun turrets all over her hull came alive and lit up the surrounding minefield she had found herself inside while fighters and the considerably larger barrage ships launched from her hangers.


    "The rest of the fleet has the beacon, 30 seconds to estimated arrival!"


    [IMI REPORTS: NO HOSTILE CONTACTS DETECTED. 3521 LARGE CLASS PROJECTILES DETECTED, IMPACT IMMINENT. KILLING WITH CWIS.]


    "What? Find them!"


    As IMI and the battleships sensors by extension couldn''t detect any Emergence ships, but there clearly was something which was shooting at them, admiral Tomson almost lost her temper as the officers under her command redoubled their efforts to locate the hostile ships.


    "It''s the planetary defences shooting at us, IMI has them marked as friendly units because they''re still emitting the correct IFF signal. Feel free to nuke anything other than C-201 D-11 4a, as it''s home to whatever is jamming our quantum communications. We want to know exactly what it is so we can counter it if we run into something like it again."


    Recognizing the type of projectiles as those belonging to the so called ''cloud ripper'' planet class defensive railguns, Dax''s eyes turned cold.


    "You heard the Hellwalker, weapons officer! Identify planetary defences on body 1 to 6F and engage! Don''t be sparing as we need to report on how these new Lazarus fusion torpedoes perform!"


    "Yes ma''am! IMI reports that weapon systems are unlocked and ready to fire, dumping all ready munitions."


    With the single press of a switch, 512 Lazarus 920 mill fusion torpedoes launched all at once as targeting information was transmitted before they all completely disappeared off the scanners.


    "Splash 10 seconds!"


    After starting the counter battery, all subsequent railgun fire from the Emergence went into a futile attempt at intercepting the countless fusion torpedoes sent their way, but against Ra''s newest toys there was no way they were going to hit.


    "Splash¡­ All Emergence fortifications annihilated."

 294 Retaking body 4A 1

    Receiving that final radio transmission before her drop pod was surrounded by superheated, ionized plasma which made such communication impossible, Alice was isolated from her comrades. This was to be her first engagement against the Emergence on foot and even though she had been told what to expect, Alice was still quite nervous.


    "Come on, come on¡­"


    Even with her limited experience on the subject, Alice could say with certainty that she absolutely hated being deployed by drop pod. Stuck inside a metal can, only a few centimetres of ceramic armour and heat shielding currently separated her from temperatures easily surpassing 3000 degrees celsius and to make matters worse she was strapped inside that can with a significant amount of ammunition which was just waiting for a hairline crack in the heat shielding before it would cook off, ending Alice''s life before she would even realize. To make matters even worse, Alice''s drop pod was most likely taking fire, not that she could even see that at the moment, but her only hope of surviving was trusting the orbital fire support above to keep her safe, she really had no other choice in that matter.


    "Come on!... Finally!"


    Having impatiently waited for her drop pod to pass through the upper layers of the atmosphere, Alice spent no time at all purging her drop pod before she started free falling down towards the surface of C-201 D-11 4a, the relatively large moon with was previously home to a bustling trade hub now only amounted to a crater filled ruin. Landing with the help of air magic, Alice readied her rifle as she found herself in the middle of an eerily quiet plaza pop marked with craters.


    (... What the hell is that?)


    With the sounds ringing out through the ruined area being the far off sounds of orbital artillery, it was impossible for Alice not to hear the countless footsteps moving her way. This moon was supposed to be abandoned, the only thing remaining should be¡­ The Emergence.


    "... Shit."


    Hurriedly surrounding herself with defensive spell formations, Alice switched her rifle to fully automatic as countless drop pods landed around her. With newly designed Lazarus drones emerging out from the drop pods and falling under her command, Alice started the mission she had been tasked to fulfil, the first part of that operation was grouping up with Dax and the others.


    "On me, formation 7. Weapons free."


    "Phalanx!"


    Sensing slight movement in the corner of eyes, Alice put up defences just in time before a hail of bullets completely saturated Alice''s shield and her immediate surroundings.


    "Howitzer!"


    Immediately returning fire using bullets enhanced with mana, Alice levelled the nearby cafe where the shots came from before scanning her surroundings.


    "Deploy, search and destroy!"


    With the drones around her starting suppressive fire as they moved in to check for survivors, Alice noticed something else moving across the destroyed cafe, Alice made a few gestures for a pair of drones to follow her as she moved in to investigate. Entering what seemed to have been some kind of electronics store before it was abandoned, Alice found the narrow aisles still half packed with various goods too closely packed for using her rifle and thus switched to her pistol as she entered the store. Weaving through the various aisles with a drone covering her rear, Alice saw the fleeting shadow move into a backroom out of the cover of her eyes, turning to that point as a firefight started somewhere outside the store, Alice decided to play it safe and not clear the room which smelled openly of an ambush.


    "Galactic marines! Exit the room with your hands over your head!"


    "... Help. MeeeZZqZ."


    With a strangely inorganic sounding voice responding to her callout, Alice''s suspicion that it was an ambush proved correct. Shooting a hole in the plywood door with her pistol, Alice quietly wove together a spell as hail of bullets was returned from the other side of the door.


    "Will O'' wisp."


    Snapping her fingers a small white flame quickly flew into the back room before a bright explosion blew out the door from the inside. Moving in through the blown out door frame, Alice found a group of charred corpses holding weapons, each of them was fused with crude cybernetics concentrated around their heads.


    "... Clear."


    Exiting the technology store, Alice found that her drones had cleared out another group of Emergence cyborgs before forming up on her once again. Leaving the rotten corpses behind, Alice continued to make her way through the destroyed mall before she came across something strange, some kind of gigantic tear shaped machine appeared to have crash landed in the middle of the mall, its strange half organic construction made it clear it was some kind of Emergence craft. Securing the area around the strange craft, Alice noted multiple metre wide circular openings in the machine all around it, those openings appeared to lead into the machine through a maze of intersecting tunnels.


    "Yeah, there''s no way I crawl into that thing willingly."


    With her drones already done cataloguing the strange machine, Alice took some distance before she wove together a spell.


    "Will O'' wisp."


    Once more snapping her fingers, Alice let an entire swarm of small white flames swarm the Emergence craft before entering it through the countless tunnels, detonating once they reached the end of their respective tunnels and cracking the entire structure in multiple pieces before smoke blew out of all the tunnels, among with the smoke came a particularly unpleasant smell of burnt flesh, together with the sound of metal scraping against metal emerging from the machine.


    "Now what the fuck are these things!?"


    Not even a split second after Alice had raised her rifle, countless insect like, child sized drones with countless sharp metal legs swarmed out of the Emergence machine, seemingly eager to claw apart everything which moved.


    Without realizing it, Alice had just attacked an Emergence ''organic processing facility'' it''s sole grotesque purpose being repurposing corpses and civilian survivors alike into those cyborgs she had met a few minutes ago.


    Wiping out the processing facility after losing a few drones to the Emergence hexapod, Alice made her way past the mall without meeting that much more in the way of resistance, but as she was making her way through a neighborhood of destroyed luxury apartments the sound of close by weapons fire drew her to change her deviate from her course. Moving quickly through a half demolished apartment block, Alice reached the scene of a battle of epic proportions.


    "Javelin formation: Lighting spear of the prophet!"


    Unleashing a golden, white hot glowing javelin at her opponent, Solaris flapped her wings and flew into cover behind an apartment building to get away from a swarm of high explosive missiles that all detonated and quickly demolished the angel''s cover. Solaris was currently fighting against some kind of strange Titan drone misshapen with strangely organic looking missile pods that replaced the entirety of the drones left side. Before Solaris'' javelin spell could hit the Titan, it was entirely destroyed by the drones point defence, making Alice realize that Solaris might have issues dealing with the drone all by herself.


    "Solaris, make it turn to the left on my mark."


    Quietly speaking into her radio, Alice quickly made her way to the top floor of the ruined apartment building she found herself in, bustin down the door of an apartment which windows faced out towards where Solaris was fighting, Alice took cover behind a kitchen counter which she leaned her rifle''s bipod on.


    "Now!"


    [Got it!]


    With a response from Solaris coming through the radio, Alice saw the Titan drone get hit by a ray of which quickly started melting its outer armour, in response the drone quickly turned to the left to get out of the way of the beam of light, turning its back to Alice.


    "Howitzer!"


    Enhancing her bullet with an anti tank class spell, Alice blew the Titan''s right leg clean off, making the gigantic drone fall over on its side, taking an entire building with it.


    "Hit it now!"


    [Gladly!]


    While Alice continued to pelt the Titan drone with howitzer spells, a swarm of bus sized spears made out of golden crystals completely disseminated what remained.

 295 Retaking body 4A 2

    Regrouping with Solaris after destroying the Titan drone, Alice made sure that her friend was alright before she quickly hugged her.


    "I-I''m fine, my drones were destroyed by that large thing there. I was just about to call for backup when you contacted me, thanks, Alice."


    Although slightly flustered by Alice''s closeness, it was nevertheless clear to Solaris that Alice cared about her, something which brought a smile to the angel''s face.


    "Okay, let''s get out of here before more of those cyborgs corpses turn up."


    "The what? I''ve mostly been running into old modified drones like that heap of scraps over there."


    "Okay, in that case, you''re better off not knowing what I had run into before this¡­"


    With a far off look in her eyes, Alice quickly convinced Solaris not to dig deeper into her words. Contacting the others over the radio to report that they had met up and Solaris had lost her drones to a Titan, Alice and Solaris continued through the ruined city towards their rendezvous point, as they did the Emergence resistance gradually increased until it became an almost constant stream of ambushes and firefights, whatever they were moving towards, it was clear that the Emergence didn''t want them anywhere close to it.


    "Solaris, cover!"


    "I see it!"


    Taking over the role of defence, Solaris erected a wall of compressed rocks just in time for it to be hit by an anti tank missile while Alice ducked out of cover and located the shooter, sending a magic enhanced bullet in return. Having blown out the apartment building where the Emergence drone with the anti tank weapon had hidden, Alice returned her focus to the countless other drones currently rushing her position.


    "Damn, they just keep coming!"


    The Emergence drones attacking Solaris and Alice did so by relentlessly rushing them from nearby buildings and both ends of the street they currently found themselves surrounded in, all opportunities of retreat already long since cut off by the endless waves of relentless Emergence drones with little in the way of a self preservation instinct visible in their frankly reckless level of aggression.


    "We''re starting to run low on ammunition!"


    "I know!"


    While Solaris and Alice could keep fighting long after they had run out of ammunition for their rifles and pistols, the same couldn''t be said for the drones which covered their flanks.


    Things were starting to turn desperate. Turning to the last option available to her, Alice grasped her radio.


    "This is Alice and Solaris! We''re facing heavy resistance and are running low on ammunition and drones, requesting immediate resupply and close air support, over!"


    [IMI ON STATION, REQUEST CONFIRMED. CAS AND RESUPPLY IN ROUTE, ETA 90 SECONDS.]


    "Tch, buckshot!"


    Having given the rest of her ammunition to the drones under her command, Alice had surrounded herself with spears made out of compressed rocks which she rapidly fired at the closing in Emergence drones which seemed to endlessly pour out of the nearby buildings, to make matters even worse, even tanks and armoured vehicles had started appearing in ever langer numbers.


    [CAS ON STATION, DESIGNATE TARGETS.]


    But as the roar of multiple VESMIR thrusters suddenly overpowered the constant gunfire, Alice regained her hope as she shouted into her radio.


    "Manoeuvre 4, execute wide area purge!"


    [IMI ON STATION, DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED, ANNIHILATING ALL IMMEDIATE CONTACTS.]


    According to Alice''s orders, a pair of twin engine Lazarus Hornet close air support crafts flew in over the buildings and came down almost to street level as they opened fire with their Menhit rotary cannons while letting loose a furry of fragmentation and high explosive anti tank missiles, quickly wiping out all hostile resistance before one of them climbed altitude while the other one remained hovering in just above building level.


    [IMI ON STATION, AREA PURGE COMPLETED, STANDING BY FOR DIRECTIVES. RESUPPLY 6 SECONDS OUT, INCOMING HOT, READING BEACON 5 BY 5.]


    "IMI cas, remain on station. Provide air cover until we''re reached rendezvous point alpha, then return to normal duties."


    As a group of drop pods containing drone reinforcements and supplies landed right about 20 metres from them, Alice gave the pair of Hornets new directives.


    [IMI CAS CONFIRMES, PROVIDING CLOSE COVER, CAS 1 BANKING LEFT, SECURING FLANK, CAS 2 ESTABLISHING OVERWATCH, STANDING BY FOR TASKING.]


    With the pair of Hornets protecting Alice and Solaris, the two of them were able to resupply without issues and quickly made their way towards the rendezvous point, running into Mare and Lilly on the way there.


    -


    Finally grouping up with everyone in an abandoned concert house, Dax chose to brief the others in the main concert hall which had been used for an evacuation point just before the moon was abandoned.


    "Based on the newest available intelligence we''ve determined that the Emergence jamming device is located deep inside the drydock Delta-19 which is about 20 kilometres from this location, coincidentally it has also been identified as a possible site for this moon''s Emergence nerve cluster, so taking it will be killing two birds with a single stone."


    An Emergence nerve cluster was a local command point for its galaxy wide hive mind and was usually a massive collection of quantum communication nodes as well as a collection of countless organic and mechanical processors, eliminating such a nerve cluster would greatly impair the Emergence''s ability to fight.


    "That''s where all the positives end, dry dock Delta-19 is a fortress unlike anything else, it is completely covered with anti air and anti tank railgun batteries, to make matters worse we can''t just nuke it, as we need to retrieve the quantum jamming device intact¡­ That leaves us with the only unfortunate choice of a straight up assault on that fortress. To that end, 6 drone battalions have made landfall around the fortress and will help us take it."


    Picking up where Dax left off, Phillipa explained the unfortunate parts of their current situation, something like taking a fortress like the one they currently faced without heavy air support would be downright masochistic of them to even attempt.


    "Sadly this is the job we''ve been given, so there''s nothing else to do other than fulfilling the objective flawlessly! We''re all Hellwalkers here, and flawlessly completing a fool''s errands like this is what Hellwalkers do! I don''t think I need to remind anyone, but this is the first time within recent history that we''re striking back against the Emergence! As Hellwalkers we''re the head of the spear, thus we are not allowed to fail! By successfully completing this campaign we will reinvigorate the entirety of the Galactic Empire who stands behind us!"


    Stepping up to inspire his subordinates, Dax wore a cold smile which slightly lessened in intensity and bloodlust as he glanced at each of the reliable subordinates he had obtained.


    "I know this will be hard, but I would never ask the impossible of any of you guys, taking this fortress is possible even without using magic, but luckily we don''t need to fight fair! Let''s crush this sad excuse for a hive mind! Then push on to completely annihilate it from the face of this galaxy! ARE YOU WITH ME!?"


    """"""SIR, YES SIR!""""""


    As the concert hall lit up with a thunderous response to Dax''s rhetorical question, the war of annihilation between the Galactic Empire and the Emergence finally started for real.

 296 Retaking body 4A 3

    ""Yes, ma''am!""


    Spearheading the assault on Delta-14, Ifrit, Solaris and Lux together with a detachment of Hornet close air support platforms and some drones were about to charge the fortress.


    "Defenses ready."


    Surrounded by countless artificial wings and spell formations, Solaris'' entire body shone in a holy light showed her complete mastery over mana. Ifrit, on the other hand, appeared to be in a state close to being destroyed by the countless spells they constantly maintained at a ready state within their body, steadily chanting across multiple dead tongues to remain in control of their destructive powers.


    "Ready, or more like I can''t hold onto all these spells for much longer."


    "Okay, here we go¡­ Move out!"


    Locking their feet to the Hornet''s landing skies, Lux, Ifrit and Solaris set off towards fortification Delta-14. Keeping close to the ground as it moved around back streets and alleys, the Hornet wove its way through the half destroyed cityscape which suddenly cleared up to a massive open plaza, in the distance was a gigantic pyramid like structure that rose well over 10 kilometres into the sky.


    "That''s Delta-14, the dry dock is directly below it. This is where it gets rough! Solaris!"


    "Roger! Phalanx!"


    Creating a tight nit formation of shields and defensive spell formations not only around herself, Lux and Ifrit, but also around the countless Hornet''s that was following them information, Solaris created the most intricate defensive formation she had ever made as a swarm of Viper cruise missiles pass right overhead, spreading out wide as they discarded their secondary boosters and accelerated to supersonic speeds.


    "Here they come Solaris!"


    Spotting countless flashes from the fortress, Lux gave Solaris a two seconds warning as Solaris'' formations were suddenly pelted with 520 mill anti personal railgun canister shots.


    "The next salvo will be armour pricing! Ifrit, shut them down before they get to fire again!"


    Having survived the first salvo of shots the fleet of Hornets dumped most of their anti tank missiles towards the fortress before spreading out, ready to take casualties with the next salvo, luckily Ifrit wasn''t going to allow the Emergence to just keep firing at them until they died.


    "A''lthz!" (Dark lighting!)


    "Fuck! There''s no way I can block those without reducing the size of the defensives quite a bit!"


    With Solaris being unable to block the anti gravity armour pricing while covering such a wide area, the only way they would live long enough to get close to the fortress would be to deal with the railguns before they could deal with them.


    "A''lthz!"


    With Ifrit letting loose another bolt of pitch black lightning just before the swarm of Viper cruise missiles which had made their way past the point defence detonated, the fortress was covered in a healthy variation of explosions which heavily scared its facade, even turning large sections of armour plating molten.


    "Good job Ifrit, we''re charging all the way to the base of the fortress just like this!"


    Having mostly disabled one side of Delta-14''s defences, the way had been cleared, or so it looked to Lux at that moment. Looking confidently ahead, Lux''s smile froze as she noticed something emerging from the dry dock just in front of the fortress proper.


    "!!! SH- INCOMING!"


    Only noticing what was going on, Lux just managed to warn Solaris, giving the angel just enough time to fortify the shielding of their own craft before it was hit hard by something.


    (What just happened?)


    Feeling quite faint as she was suddenly weightless, the last thing Solaris saw before blacking out was the blue sky above her.


    -


    "S¡­. Laris¡­. Wa¡­. Up¡­."


    (.... What is that?)


    Fighting a foggy mind, Solaris desperately attempted to regain control of her mind as a familiar voice broke through the void she had suddenly found herself in.


    "SOLARIS! Wake up!"


    Regaining the bare semblance of consciousness, all Solaris felt was pain as her entire body irked. Forcing her eyes open, Solaris found her sight covered in blood, wiping her eyes clear she found Lux on top of her, shouting over the loud ringing tone which overpowered almost everything else Solaris could hear.


    "This isn''t the time to be sleeping! Wake up!"


    "... What''s going on?"


    "The Emergence hid a destroyer down in the drydock, but forget about that! We need to move!"


    Having been reminded of what was going on, Solaris'' mind rapidly sharpened as she healed her injured body, sitting up straight to find herself in a crater made by a Hornet which had crashed.


    "Where''s Ifrit?"


    "They''re shielding us, but that''s not going to hold for that much longer! We need to move!"


    Looking ahead to find out exactly what was going on, Solaris found Ifrit standing alone against a 1 and a half kilometre long destroyer which had emerged from the drydock below the fortress, their impressive array of composite shield formations deteriorating by the second as it continued to be pelted by the Emergence destroyer. Raising to her feet, Solaris broke into a run before joining Ifrit and adding her own defences to their cover, the angel and demon pair succeeded in establishing a sound defence, sound as in their shields decayed as fast as the pair generated them.


    "There''s no way we can move while maintaining these defences!"


    "Agreed! A slight break in concentration will kill us!"


    With both Solaris and Ifrit unable to move under the destroyer''s maintained fire, Lux quickly scanned her surroundings while reaching out to the IMI network as she formulated a plan of attack, finding that they had very little chance of surviving unless Lux alone somehow dealt with the destroyer.


    "Shit, give me a second!"


    Activating the mana generator and interface installed in her Kali XMRA suit, Lux''s pair of extra cybernetic arms on her back merged into a single tail which moved down to the end of her spine before the entire world disappeared from Lux''s eyes, her entire being focusing on the sole task of creating an attack which would be able of neutralizing the hostile destroyer which hovered in the air about 2 kilometres in front of her.


    (Come on Lux, you got this! Think!)


    Focusing her attention on the hostile destroyer, Lux scanned it for any possible weak point, perhaps she could detonate its magazine- no was only armed with railguns, so there was no need for it to have propellant of any kind! In that case, she needed to silence the guns, perhaps a lightning spell could fry the ship''s fire control system? No, there''s no way she could produce a lightning bolt strong enough to do that, Lux wasn''t that talented at creating spells.


    (Shit! THINK!)


    Pouring over every possible solution to her current situation at light speed, Lux eventually reached one desperate solution, but she couldn''t pull off something like it herself.


    "Solaris, Ifrit! Can either of you stop the destroyer from moving!? It only needs to be for a split second!"


    "Impossible! I have no spells able to stop something that large!"


    "I might be able to do it, but I''ll have to stop supporting our defences to cast, we''ll be exposed!"


    With Solaris unable to do what Lux asked for and Ifrit not so sure they could pull it off, a slightly nervous and unsure looking smile formed on Lux''s face.


    "Do it Ifrit, if this doesn''t work we have no chance anyway!"


    "Okay, but don''t come complaining to me if this doesn''t work!"


    Stretching out a single arm towards the destroyer as they stopped maintaining the defences, Ifrit rapidly wove together a rune formation in the air in front of them, taking only a couple of seconds to complete it, the shield protecting them all from the destroyers relentless barrage was already starting to fail.


    "Tho''th Lg''teq!"


    As Ifrit closed their open hand something strange happened to the destroyer, it was like all the shadows around it suddenly came alive, stretching out and wrapping around the ship to stop it completely from moving, but even a split second after it was created, the spell was already failing.


    "Lux NOW!"


    "GOT IT! FREEZE!"


    Screaming her heart out as she overloaded her mana generator, Lux stomped down her foot and cracked the stone in front of her before it immediately turned molten as if an active volcano had suddenly formed, then the destroyer stopped shooting, hovering in the air only for a few seconds before Ifrit''s spell broke, then the destroyer fell down and crashed.


    ".... What did you just do?"


    Looking at the now silent destroyer with awe, Solaris turned to Lux for an explanation.


    "I transferred all the heat inside its fusion drive to the ground right below me before cooling the drive down to 1 kelvin above absolute zero, preventing any further fusion to take place inside the drive.."


    "... You what?"


    Also not quite sure as to what had just happened, Ifrit also looked at Lux with wonder.


    "I froze the destroyers powerplant solid, unable to restart the fusion cycle, the ship immediately burned through its meagre stores of power and shut down."

 297 Retaking body 4A 4

    "... Yes, sir. I''m sorry."


    With Lux acting uncharacteristically timid while Dax reprimanded her, even as they were still in the middle of a fierce battle to retake the fortress Delta-14 which laid directly above the drydock which housed both the primary and secondary objective for their current operation.


    [As long as you understand then it''s all fine, still, that was fucking spectacular, I''m proud of you!]


    With Commander Dax done reprimanding his subordinate, it was now Dax''s turn to comment on how badass his daughter had just been, if he could talk to Ra and Mu right now he would have them hack into the galactic broadcast so he could show the entire empire how badass his daughter had just been.


    "Thanks, dad!~"


    While Lux caved trough a swarm of Emergence hexapods using her Kali armour and 4 single bladed, mana powered plasma swords she had an unmistaken child like grin on her face, something which made for quite a horrific sight if one didn''t know the context.


    "... Now I understand why Lux is the way she is¡­"


    Meanwhile, Terra who had listened in on the small episode of father and daughter bonding had a wry smile on her face as she used magic to look through a nearby wall, shooting Emergence drones on the other side with her rifle before breaching the room by shattering the wall. Gunning down all resistance on the other side, Terra shot some of the drones which still moved a few extra times before gripping her radio.


    "This is Terra, I''ve cleared out my sector."


    [Good, move on to the next then, we''re almost done wiping all of them out here.]


    Receiving new orders from Dax over the radio, Terra discarded her emptied magazine and inserted a fresh one in her rifle before breathing a short sigh, while she was more used to fighting with swords and magic, this rifle which was currently in her hands was the easiest for dealing with the Emergence drones and cyborgs she was facing at the moment, therefore this was what she used. In the end, the Emergence didn''t really stand a chance of holding on to fortification Delta-14, as soon as Lux breached one side with her spearhead unit, the other sides quickly fell too, then the fortress'' interior was quickly retaken trough close quarters combat, but the real challenge still laid ahead, or more correctly it laid below the fortress itself.


    "... Please say that again, I think I misheard."


    "No you didn''t Lilly, I said that the drydock is about 100 times larger than this fortress. The structure itself stretches deep down this planet''s outer mantle and was originally built to serve as a home for the entirety of the Galactic Empire''s 4th outer rim patrol fleet, one of the largest fleets ever assembled."


    "Luckily the drydock is mostly wide open spaces and berths for ships to dock at, but it is protected by railgun turrets placed at all access points. Therefore instead of taking a few months to slowly beat down the Emergence presence down there, we''re conducting a blitz attack on the Emergence nerve cluster using the Jugguanut, taking that out should deal with all remaining hostile forces in one fell swoop."


    The simplest way of dealing with the Emergence on the scale of a single system was destroying its nerve clusters, without those its local hive mind would be cut off from the whole and stop receiving new orders, but more importantly, cut the now local section of the Emergence off from most of its processing power. Denying the Emergence of processing power would lead to degeneration of its local forces until they stopped working entirely as they were unable to even figure out how to maintain themselves without a large enough base of processing power.


    "So we get in quick and smash this thing''s brain? That sounds like a plan~?"


    "Given the option of having a dumber than normal opponent I would always choose that, let''s do it."


    "Exactly what Lia said, there''s no need for us to fight fair, is there?"


    "Nope, as the saying goes: Fighting fair is for suckers."


    -


    "We''re coming up on the drydock, I hope you guys are ready for some high G manoeuvres!"


    Having spent the last few minutes in a free fall without the sense of gravity present, Dax warned of the Jug''s upcoming evasive manoeuvres. Although the Jug was designed with high survivability and an emphasis on extreme manoeuvrability which was exactly what was needed to evade the countless defences ahead, the same couldn''t be said for the fleshly meat bags riding inside it, if the craft went above their G limits they might burst.


    "Divert all power to defensive gravity drives and propulsion!"


    [IMI CONFIRMES NEW DIRECTIVE: READY FOR MAXIMUM DENSITY THREAT MATRIX.]


    "Time for a return of the vomit comet! Puke in your own helmets or the bags offered to you please~"


    With a large smile on her face, Lux pointed out what Dax had purposely brushed over, making everyone except Dax, Lux herself and Phillipa''s faces turn white as they still had traumatic memories of their formative experiences with the comet.


    "God, please save us."


    "God has left you Solaris, sadly that mighty creator of yours gifted you a body which is able to puke, I don''t have that issue~?"


    With Ifrit getting in the final words, a yellow light in the crew compartment of the Juggernaut made everyone aware of imminent high G manoeuvres, ending all talks as doing so while the craft evaded would most likely end with a lot of blood and bitten off tongues. Clearing the access shaft, the juggernauts'' countless spotlights pointing in all directions suddenly revealed nothing other than empty air, a testament to the sheer scale of the underground drydock.


    But the Juggernauts sensors revealed a lot more than just empty air however, massive and rapid power surges from railguns flooding their rails with electrical charge as they fired, countless LIDAR, RADAR and laser weapons systems locking on as well as the Jug''s own LIDAR warning of incoming missiles all worked together to light up every single warning light and sensor screen without fail. As the rail guns fired at the Juggernaut it instantly switched flight direction to evade, not relying on electric thrusters or even jet engines for propulsion, the craft was easily able to execute manoeuvres which would normally have been impossible with those traditional types of propulsion, switching flight directions like a dragonfly hunting pray the Juggernaut made it seem like the Emergence was purposely missing it.


    [EMERGENCE NERVE CLUSTER ENERGY SIGNATURE LOCATED, PLOTTING MANOEUVRE NODE¡­ COMPLETE, EXECUTING COMPOUND REACTION PACKAGE 1 OF 4406, ETA 2 MINUTES.]


    Continuing to evade direct targeting from the countless anti ship railguns attempting to hit the Juggernaut it was quickly made clear that they simply couldn''t keep up with its manoeuvres, the same couldn''t be said about the various classes of guided anti air missiles, however, as they were made to track small, fast moving targets like the Jug.


    [CAFF, FLARES. SOFT KILL SYSTEM ONLINE, HARD KILL SYSTEM ONLINE, LOCALIZING EVENT(S)... EVENT(S) LOCALIZED: PULSING.]


    Using every single defensive countermeasure in its repertoire, the Juggernaut spewed out flares and radar reflective caff all over as a fleet of lasers and microwave transmitters on the outside of its hull worked to fry and or blind the delicate guidance hardware of some of the missiles, the craft even crushed some of the missiles with gravitational tidal forces generated by its offensive gravity drive. Quickly passing through the entrance of the drydock where most of its defences were located the Juggernauts point defence systems only had to deal with the occasional sporadic interception measure as it neared the Emergence nerve cluster which was located on one of the lowest levels of the dock.


    [TARGET IN SIGHT, REQUESTING PERMISSION TO STERILIZE.]


    "Permission granted! Destroy it completely!"


    As the gigantic mass of misshapen communication arrays and military supercomputers finally came within strike range, Dax was quick to give his command.


    [ORDER CONFIRMED, TARGET LOCKED, LOCALIZING AREA¡­ AREA LOCALIZED, ISOLATING¡­ TARGET ISOLATED, NOW COMMENCING DIRECT GRAVITATIONAL MULTI STAGE COMPRESSION.]


    Bringing the full might of its gravitational generator to bear, the Juggernaut first pulled the nerve cluster apart at a molecular level before crushing the skyscraper sized installation down to the size of a coin.


    [TARGET ANNIHILATED.]

 298 Citadel mop up operation 1

    "The device is somewhere down here, but we''re unable to locate its exact location. Spread out and look for power signatures. Be on the lookout for Emergence stragglers and report back to me, Phillipa or Lux the second you see anything out of the ordinary!"


    With their orders clear, the Hellwalkers split up into two man teams (and a single 3 man one) as the Juggernaut went back to the top of the dock to deal with the Emergence defences which were currently blocking them off from the outside.


    "... So, how are you finding all this?"


    Paired up with Solaris, Dax decided to start some small talk as the two of them remained alert and steadily walked while surrounded by the seemingly endless void which surrounded them.


    "The what? Puking? I find that really tiresome, worst of all there''s this really bad taste in my mouth-"


    With Solaris being moody Dax quickly interrupted her by stealing a kiss from her lips in an attempt to mend her anger.


    "I was talking about this world of technology and space travel in general, I can imagine it must have been pretty jarring."


    "T-that it certainly was, but it wasn''t as surprising as I had first thought."


    Attempting to appear calm and collected, Solaris vocalized her thoughts after taking a second to collect them as her face was still slightly flushed red.


    "With those documents about advanced technology we found hidden away in my sanctuary and the entire matter of the lost sanctuary on the moon, I started to realize that all this advanced technology might have been part of my world since its creation. That plus seeing how you transformed Kingstead seems to have lessened the shock of travelling to this world, still, everywhere we go I see wonders I never believed possible, even this place is stunning, I''m still not entirely able to fathom the sheer scale of it all¡­"


    Pointing her flashlight straight up and watching how the cone of light slowly dissipated in the dark void above her, Solaris breathed a sigh in wonder at the sheer scale of the dug out underground drydock she found herself inside.


    "All these wonders sort of remind me of that of my world, but unlike the vast churches and castles which no longer can be replicated, your world still remembers and is able to build all of those things in great numbers. Deep down I don''t think that our two different worlds are all that different at their essence."


    "That''s archangel to you, puny mortal."


    "Sure, I''ll just refer to you as a half pigeon from now on then."


    Staring down each other quite seriously for a few moments, neither Solaris nor Dax was able to keep up the facade as they both broke into laughter.


    "... Tch, just when the mood was so great too."


    But alas great moods didn''t tend to last long, and as Dax picked up movement his eyes turned cold as he extended out a hand, the very next second a hail of rifle fire harmlessly reflected off of the defensive formation Dax had constructed.


    "Begone."


    Before Dax could get to dispatch the stray Emergence drones himself, Solaris'' icy cold voice sounded out as the bedrock below the drones came alive and quickly devoured them whole.


    "This is Dax, we just encountered weak resistance. Report in with status updates."


    Doing his best to forget how furious Solaris had just sounded, Dax gripped his radio to report.


    [Lux here, we''ve seen nothing so far, no sign of an energy signature either.]


    Lux who was together with Phillipa was the first one to report in, from her bored tone of voice alone Dax reasoned that she must have almost at the level of falling asleep, so safe to say there was nothing (so far) in their direction.


    [Ifrit here, we''re in the same situation as Lux, nothing other than the occasional piece of scrap metal in this direction.]


    "Okay, make sure Mare doesn''t touch any of that."


    With nothing else from Ifrit and Mare, all there was left was the 3 person group. But as they failed to respond, Dax''s eye narrowed as he lost all expression on his face.


    "... Terra, Lia, Alice, report."


    Static.


    "Terra, Lia, Alice, sound off please."


    More static, intercut with slight interference.


    Taking a quick glance at Solaris to find that she was already in the process of constructing a flight spell, Dax settled on a course of action.


    "New orders! Everyone converge on Terra and her group''s last reported position, weapons tight, exercise extreme caution."


    Ripping off his eyepatch as his cybernetic eye lit up bright red, Dax quickly constructed his own flight spell before soaring into the dark void above, quickly moving towards the direction Terra''s team went in.


    -


    Reaching the area Terra and her group were supposed to investigate, Dax quickly noticed something strange as he advanced. Although he wasn''t relying on it, Dax''s cybernetic eye started suffering from extreme interference, troubleshooting by checking the raw spectrum observed by his eye, Dax quickly realized that the area ahead of them was continually radiated by high energy electromagnetic radiation.


    "Ifrit and Phillipa, switch to overwatch. Unknown interference in play, relay information via flares, all parties please respond."


    Switching the magazine on his pistol, Dax ejected the chambered round and turned his pistol to the sky, firing 3 times and creating a pattern of 3 red signal flares which were soon followed by 3 other sets of flares coming from the other groups, one of which came from the centre of interference.


    "What the fuck is that?"


    "Don''t know, when we realized we couldn''t contact you we hunkered down and waited for you guys to get here."


    Finding Terra''s group unscathed near some kind of strange ruin half buried in bedrock, it seemed to have been uncovered by an explosion, possibly originating from when the Emergence first took over the system a few hundred years ago. As Terra explained, some kind of strange radiation seemed to constantly emit from the ruin, making all electronics useless.


    "... Okay, then. I''ll go take a look at this thing with Lux and Solaris, everyone else, lock down the area."


    Picking Lux for her knowledge of technology and lack of cybernetic implants, and Solaris form her knowledge of mana, Dax proceeded inside the ruin which seemed like some sort of crashed spacecraft, it interior consisting of long, cramped hallways and small rooms with countless strange artefacts, unlike anything Solaris and Lux had ever seen.


    "... What the hell is all this stuff? Do you sense any mana from it, Solaris?"


    "Not in the slightest, Do you know what this is Dax?"


    Noticing how quiet Dax had been since they had entered the ruin, Solaris and Lux both turned to Dax who was busy examining what seemed to be some sort of altar or a console.


    "Yeah, this thing bears a striking similarity to something I''ve seen before, the main control room should be this way, follow me."


    Answering almost absentmindedly, Dax touched a series of the strange consoles surfaces before it suddenly collapsed onto itself and retracted into the floor as the wall behind parted to reveal another room. Silently following after Dax, Lux realized that he was acting strange, without anyone noticing she quietly disengaged the safety on her pistol.


    Entering the next chamber, the first thing which caught both Solaris'' and Lux''s eyes was a strange, 5 metre wide orb made out of white metal which was engraved with complicated, rune like symbols, or ancient qiton scripture. Approaching the sphere entirely focused on reading the countless runes which covered its surface, Dax started touching a series of runes as the sphere spun around after each touch, as it did parts of the sphere depressed or sprung out from it in a strange, almost hypnotic pattern.


    "That should do it."


    Stepping away from the sphere as the strange jamming which it had been emitting on end for several hundred years on end finally disappeared, Dax finally took the opportunity to explain what was going on.


    "This entire building, or spacecraft, is a precursor relic, just like the administrative AI it is made by the same race which made my race. As of this moment, this entire site is under information control level omega, no one outside our unit present here and Ra and Mu will ever get to know about this discovery."

 299 Citadel mop up operation 2

    Having called the Juggernaut to his current location at the bottom of the underground drydock, Dax used it to contact the 3rd strike group and 14th fast battle group in orbit.


    [This is fleet admiral Simmons, confirming that communications have been restored with fleet and Hellwalker command, good job taking out that nerve cluster, the remaining Emergence forces have been rendered combat ineffective, it appears that the one you took out was the only one in the system. We''re proceeding with mop up operations, this system should be clear in a few weeks time.]


    "That''s good to hear, I''m calling over some Lazarus specialists to take a look at the destroyed nerve cluster, they should be able to piece something together from its wreck, hopefully coming up with a counter to the jamming."


    "... Is this really for the best?"


    As Dax finished up his report to Simmons, Lux finally voiced her scepticism. Although she understood the logic in not alerting the Empire in full about the discovery of a functioning artefact, she saw no issue in telling Simmons who both she and Dax trusted.


    "Yeah, it is. If any of this blows back in the future I don''t want Simmons caught up in it too. On that note I am sorry for implicating you in my decision Lux, I hope you''ll forgive me for that."


    Dax had realized as soon as he chose to hide the existence of the artefact that he was doing something which could lead to a death sentence, therefore he absolutely wouldn''t permit anyone to be dragged down with him if his insubordination was discovered.


    "It''s fine, if we one day find ourselves in some sort of indictment, I''ll just tell the truth and pin everything on you."


    "As I would expect, I''ve trained you well."


    Sharing mutual warm smiles for a moment, Dax surprised Lux with his next words.


    "Want to break the news to Ra and Mu? I bet they''ll be ecstatic."


    "Eh? Can I really?"


    "Yeah, I''ll go spend some time with the girls in the meanwhile."


    Leaving Lux in the command room of the Jug, Dax and addressed the others who had been waiting outside.


    "The navy is going to mop up the remaining Emergence forces in this system, while they do that we''re going to make sure this relic remains a secret, which is something I''ll handle together with Phillipa and Lux. Otherwise, you guys can think of these coming weeks as downtime, feel free to do whatever as long as you''re ready for emergency deployment."


    -


    "Ah!~ Don''t do that please!"


    "Why not? This is what the game is all about, you agreed on this before Alice."


    With a teasing grin on his face, Dax continued his merciless assault even as Alice started tearing up.


    Of course, they weren''t doing anything lewd, the pair were merely playing a qiton children''s game.


    "And that''s 20, I win again~"


    With a triumphant grin on his face, Dax patted Alice''s head as she had started sulking.


    "Again."


    "Are you sure, your hands look-"


    "Again!"


    "... Okay then, you start on the offensive this time."


    Leaning back in his chair, Dax presented both his hands placed palm to palm with his fingers pointing towards Alice who sat on the other side of the small table with both her slightly reddened hands palm side down on the table.


    "Ready whenever~"


    The game the two of them were playing was fairly simple, the ''attacker'' who had their hands palm side down on the table had the simple job of slapping either one of the defender''s hands before they could react, doing so would earn a point. The ''defender'' was not to move before the attacker struck, and could only move out of the way of the slap by splitting their hands and moving them horizontally, successfully evading an attack would flip the offence and defence of the players, but flinching if there wasn''t an attack happening, or moving to defend before the attacker had gotten their hands off the table would cost them a point.


    "Are you sure you want to do that?"


    "Shut up."


    Projecting an entirely casual air about him, Dax didn''t even seem to be focusing on Alice''s hands, instead, he looked her straight in the eyes as he waited for the attack to come while casually provoking her at the same time. As any qiton ''game'', this one was an exercise in strategy and reading/manipulating one''s opponent, tools which were valuable in combat, but of course, Alice hadn''t yet realized that as she fruitlessly struck air after Dax had flawlessly evaded her strike, switching the offence and defensive roles in the game and putting her on the defensive.


    "Now when sho-"


    "Aw!"


    "-uld I strike I wonder~"


    Without a hit of buildup Dax mercilessly slapped Alice''s already red right hand in the middle of his own sentence, quickly earning him Alice''s ire and his first point of the game. The next few points came easily to Dax too, as he struck Alice''s hands the second she had joined them together, exploiting the small gap in her awareness which occurred just after she had lost a point and was getting ready for the next round.


    "3 to 0 already, I''m sensing a pattern~"


    Although Dax continued to absolutely floor Alice, the tricks he had been using when they first started playing the game a few hours ago didn''t work anymore, leaving Dax to become ever more creative in his attacks, striking whenever one of Alice''s heartbeats lined up with her blinking, for example.


    "... I want you to know that I genuinely despise your entire existence."


    As Alice evidently continued losing every game without even getting to land an attack on Dax a single time, she eventually started pouting, puffing out her cheeks like a child as she refused to meet Dax''s eye as he attempted to soothe her deteriorated mood.


    "Oh come on Alice, you don''t mean that do you?"


    "I do."


    "... You understand why you lost don''t you? I think you''ve improved a lot since we started."


    "And now you''re just making fun of me too."


    "He''s speaking the truth Alice, stop being so stubborn and try to actually listen to what he has to say."


    Getting tired of listening to the entire ordeal while she attempted to nap, Lilly, filled Alice in on what she had observed by intermittently glancing over at her and Dax''s games.


    "That game of his is about more than just speed, it is training on how to read and manipulate your opponent while seeing through their deceptions. While Dax has been flooring you the entire time, he only succeeded in doing so by drastically stepping up his own game."


    "Exactly what she said."


    Following Lilly''s helpful explanation by starting to pat Alice''s head, Dax eventually succeeded in soothing Alice over before Rin paid a visit.


    "Commander Dax, the Lazarus executives you call-"


    [Christmas has come early!~ Lilly, come celebrate with me!]


    but even before Rin could finish her sentence a particularly excited woman covered from head to toe in Lazarus proprietary armour burst into the room, making Lilly panic as she hurriedly attempted to distance herself from that woman.


    "I would rather not, in fact just stay away from me you obnoxious woman!"


    [Awww~ Don''t be so shy Lilly, come on here and give me a hug!~]


    "I said piss off woman! Dax, do something!.. DAX!?"


    Quickly finding herself cornered, Lilly turned to Dax in a desperate request for aid, only to find that he had somehow disappeared while she hadn''t paid attention to him, choosing to abandon Lilly to Mu while he caught up with Ra and the two homunculus twins outside.


    "How is it going, Ling, Ying? Are they proving useful to you, 01?"


    [Yeah, these two are really fast learners, not to mention reliable assistants.]


    "I''ve learned so much since the last time we met."


    "This world truly is heaven, so many new things to learn."


    In the time Dax hadn''t seen Ling and Ying it seemed like they had grown attached to Ra, who in turn seemed to view the two twins as her little sisters.


    [We came as fast as we could after hearing the news, let''s move to the site immediately. Care to peel 02 off of Lilly so we can get a move on?]


    "... Sure."


    Glancing back to find an extremely peeved looking Lilly trapped in an iron vice like hug from Mu, Dax started to regret abandoning Lilly, but only because the elver absolutely wasn''t going to forgive him for it.

 300 Citadel mop up operation 3

    Standing at the bottom of the massive subterranean drydock, Ra looked at the relic Dax and his unit had discovered with a sense of wonder clearly visible on her face. Meanwhile, her younger sister Mu was silently inspecting what was visible of the relic from the surface, looking at her face it was clear she was at an even greater loss for words than her older sister.


    Of course, she was, this was the first relic from the precursor race which had created the qitons and avoaxians which had been found not only intact but also (seemingly) fully functional. To make matters even more bizarre than they already were, the relic was seemingly one with the surrounding bedrock and had only been uncovered by some sort of explosion, meaning it would be logical to assume it had been there for a long time, but as the subterranean drydock was constructed multiple geological surveys were conducted, there even was a filled up borehole directly above the main part of the relic.


    "We discovered it like this, I have no idea how this thing ended up here but all the panels inside are labelled with traditional qiton glyphs. I accessed the central information control room and disabled it''s jamming function and cleared the interior for Emergence drones, otherwise, we haven''t touched it."


    "Well, it seems we have our work cut out for us¡­ Let''s start with getting a floor plan."


    "Agreed."


    Settling on the first course of action, Ra tossed a series of tennis ball sized metal spheres into the air, once they reached the peak of their arches the sphere''s split open on the middle and transformed to small aerial drones which emitted a constant stream of laser lights and ultrasonic soundwaves for 3 dimensional mapping. Spending an hour or so mapping the relic''s interior which its size was determined to be about that of two CAS-7 crafts, containing countless advanced sensors and other unidentified systems.


    "... This is a spacecraft, no doubt about it."


    "Yeah, that''s what I''m seeing from this floor plan as well. But to be sure we need to cut the entirety of the relic free from the surrounding bedrock¡­"


    Working at their own tempo, the two avoaxian twins quickly left all other people around them behind as they switched language and started discussing advanced theories at lightning speed.


    "They do that a lot, huh?"


    Having seen the same thing when Ra and Mu were first introduced to mana, Solaris showed a wry smile as she remembered all the questions she had to answer before the two of them were satisfied.


    "Yeah, best leave them to it and make sure to stay out of their way, the way it''s going they should be done with their preliminary investigation sometime tomorrow."


    -


    "This entire craft is genuine lost technology, to just call this a treasure trove is understatement of its value, when we fully understand this craft it''ll advance technology in a way not seen before. Keeping its existence a total secret was the right choice Dax, at least until we figure out how it ended up being used by the Emergence."


    Having excavated the relic, Ra and Mu gave Dax and Alice a brief explanation as they prepared to move the craft back to their workshop where they could start taking it apart to find out precisely how it functioned.


    "... Is it really that bad an idea to tell people about this thing? It''s made by the same race who made that administrative AI, isn''t it? In that case wouldn''t it be great news that such a priceless relic had been found intact?"


    While Alice understood the relic''s importance, she hadn''t lived in the same world as Dax had for quite as long as he had, therefore she didn''t entirely understand what it truly meant to find a price of lost technology.


    "Yeah it would be great news that this craft was found intact, that''s the underlying issue. The precursors are the figurative and even literal gods to most of the galactic empire, it is also a widely accepted fact that they wiped themselves out over a billion years ago, so something like an intact and even functioning craft of theirs appearing in hostile territory is not the kind of thing we want to share when we''re in the progress of wiping out the Emergence."


    Nodding her head in agreement with what Dax was saying, Mu added to his explanation.


    "The very existence of lost technology is also highly classified within the Empire, it is not something that''s supposed to exist, and the risks associated with using it are immense. This relic is not something the general public is supposed to have access to, this is something that can easily wipe us all out if used incorrectly¡­ Then there''s the entire matter of how this craft ended up here, that''s an entirely different headache. While we haven''t entirely completed the analysis it is almost certain that this craft came from a different dimension and most likely not the one you''re from Alice."


    "Wait, what? There are other planes of existence?"


    As Alice hadn''t really put much thought into how reality breaking it even was to traverse planes of existence, she likewise hadn''t realized that there might be other than just the one she was from and the one she currently found herself in.


    "Yeah there are a lot, an infinite amount even. But dimensions where normal matter was created? Likely only a million, then in those worlds gravity had to form stars which in therm created heavier elements through fusion so even simple chemistry would be possible, then life had to emerge. Overall we''ve only been able to locate one other sable dimension, the one you are from Alice, even the suggestion that a precursor functioning craft came from a different dimension is something which would rock the galactic empire to its very core."


    "... But, is it hiding all this from most of the Empire even the right thing? Don''t the people deserve to know?"


    Seeing all the secrecy as censorship which could come back to blow up on them, Alice suddenly became worried.


    "No, this most likely isn''t the ''right'' thing to do, but decisions on this level have to be taken divorced from morals. Besides this isn''t the first thing the empire wouldn''t benefit from telling its citizens, the 125th was originally a black operations unit and even before its creation, I was a part of many other units that didn''t officially exist. The empire already has plenty of pretty ugly skeletons hiding in its closet, some of them even of my own creation, therefore one more shouldn''t be an issue."

 301 Blitz offensive 1

    Wrapping up the campaign to retake the outer citadel, fleet commander Simmons not only addressed the entirety of his staff and crew, but also the entirety of the galactic navy command while Dax and the others listened in from the sidelines.


    "This overwhelming victory is due not just to the brave men and women who have braved our long drawn up front lines in this daring offensive, but also the new N generation technology provided by Lazarus, the new weapon systems impact is immense and the Emergence has shown absolutely no way of countering the now available offensive and defensive capabilities now available to the 3rd strike group and the 14th fast attack group. It is my firm opinion that we must press this advantage and deliver a decisive strike to the Emergence before it can adapt to it."


    [Strike while the iron is hot, a sound strategy. Go ahead.]


    [Agreed, I assume you already have a clear objective in mind?]


    With an instant response from the special counsel representative who was at the top of naval command and the administrative AI, fleet admiral Simmons'' bearded face drew a sly smile which quickly disappeared as he returned to a blank expression.


    "I propose striking the former iron race industrial sector with a blitz offensive to cripple the Emergence fleet production, doing so should cut its industrial output by 60% for at least half a year, fatally crippling their already crumbling fleet and make sure that they are not able to launch a counteroffensive for the remainder of the war."


    "... ''remainder of the war'' he says, Simmons is surprisingly bold."


    Observing from the sidelines Solaris couldn''t help but comment on the admiral''s confidence.


    "Yeah, that''s how he normally is, the iron race containment war and a few other uprisings he suppressed before that earned him quite a fitting nickname: The wrath of the empire."


    "I''m willing to bet that he''s aiming to conduct an attack on the Emergence main nerve cluster immediately after that blitz too, this is just the kind of commander he is, that''s why we''re such good drinking buddies, flocks of a feather and all that."


    -


    Having exited the transport, Lux took a short look around at her birthplace, the city was made out of supermassive ''blocks'' of residential and industrial sectors which moved around to maximize efficiency, like moving a drydock near the centralized space elevator to receive prefabricated modules and then relocating it to where the dockworkers were living, all while work was still being done.


    "... Looks like this dump hasn''t changed one bit, even if they keep moving around the city blocks, this place is still the same depressive piece of shit it has always been. I''m going to find a bar, see you all in a week."


    Nevertheless, Lux wasn''t that pleased about being in the city where she had grown up in an orphanage after her parents had died, so she immediately split off from the group to find a place to numb her senses, and properly get laid too, although Dax didn''t really want to think about that.


    "Off she goes¡­"


    "Lux really doesn''t like this place and I tend to agree with her on that point for some personal reasons. Let''s head for the barracks and dump off our weapons first, then all of you are free to either stay with me and Phillipa or go about your own devices and explore the city."


    Going on foot to the Hellwalker barracks, Lilly quickly noticed the frankly absurd number of planetary defences installed throughout the residential districts, more importantly, the people were acting strange, most viewed Dax and Phillipa with openly hostile expressions while others did their best to stay out of the group''s way while quietly whispering among themselves.


    "... Dax?"


    "I''ll explain later, for now just ignore it."


    "Okay."


    While Lilly did her best to ignore the people around her, Mare was unable to do the same as her sharper than normal senses picked up everything, all the words of disgust, all the sneers and all the bloodlust made the small beaskin''s ears stand at constant attention and flickering about.


    "Don''t mind them, miss Mare."


    Until Lia gripped her attention by speaking in the language of magic that is.


    "Filth like that is common in all lower walks of life like this one. They''re all bark and no bite unless someone has the stones to ignite their discontent and as they are all cowards without exception that won''t happen. It is best to ignore them entirely."


    While Mare''s senses were sharp, Lia had her beat when it came to life experience. As a former cartel enforcer, she was used to being leered at by the masses as they were at the moment, she knew that if it really came to it, these people were of little to no threat.


    "... Okay, I''ll try."


    "That''s all we can do at the end of the day."


    Having reassured Mare, Lia quickly confirmed that her heartbeat had relaxed quite a bit but after the small beastkin grabbed Lia''s hand she finally settled in and relaxed with a warm smile on her face. It was only when a person in the crowd who had been leering at the group of Hellwalkers saw that smile he decided to act, walking directly towards the group he didn''t get to take more than 3 steps before Dax noticed him. Placing a hand on his pistol holster, Dax came to a stop as he stared down the man with a blank expression on his face.


    "Can I help you?"


    "N-"


    "Then stay the fuck out of our way, we don''t want to repeat history here."


    While Dax stared down the man with a blank expression while waiting to see if he would draw the pistol he had stuffed down his trousers, the rest of Dax''s group also seemed to realize what was going on, in response Solaris quietly started preparing a defensive spell formation while Ifrit simply started smiling.


    "We''re not here by choice, give us the chance and we''ll move on without doing anything."


    With a few more seconds of tense silence, the man eventually backed off when one of his friends came up and dragged him away.


    "So, what the hell was that?"


    Having stoved their conventional weapons, Lilly wasted no time to bring up the earlier incident with anger clearly visible on her face.


    "Qiton''s are not welcome here, it''s that simple."


    "This world originally had a large minority population of qiton''s who had rejected tradition and abandoned our homeworld, but after a series of clashes, transgressions and lynches from both sides they eventually left."


    As Phillipa stepped in and expanded on Dax''s explanation she had a bitter look on her face, the others would later learn that someone she knew had been lynched on the open street doing the height of civil unrest.


    "With that history still quite clear in the mind of these people, they''ve eventually become quite xenophobic, if anyone here wants to go explore the city, make sure to do so in groups, and always carry a service weapon."


    With the notion that they were not necessarily in friendly territory even after returning from the front lines, the depressive realization to why Dax, Lux and Phillipa mostly kept to themselves after coming back ''home'' to the galactic empire became clear.

 302 Blitz offensive 2

    Waking up with a serious hangover to a loud alarm, it took Lux a few seconds to realize what was going on. As Lux''s awareness returned to her fully, she found herself in the middle of a king sized bed inside what appeared to be a luxury penthouse hotel suite, trashed with countless empty bottles of hard liquor and passed out party guests.


    (Ah, right.)


    Starting to remember parts of the previous night as she started rapidly sobering up, Lux momentarily ignored the loud alarm which blared in full force. After bar hopping for quite some time Lux had eventually made her way to a high class club where she quickly had made new friends while drinking like a qiton, after they were eventually kicked out of that club, Lux had proclaimed that they would continue their party at the most expensive hotel room on the planet and using her limitless hellwalker credit card that was quickly handled. With her memories sorted out, Lux then focused on the alarm which was slowly waking the other party guests up as it continued blaring at full power, from what she could figure it seemed to be a general call for evacuation only used doing crisis and from what news bulletins reported it seemed to be planet wide alert.


    (IMI, status?)


    [HOSTILES INSIDE THE WIRE, GENERAL ALERT. EMERGENCE PRESENCE DETECTED PLANETSIDE, EXTREME CASUALTIES REPORTED.]


    (... How the hell did they get planetside without us noticing?)


    [UNKNOWN.]


    "What the fuck?"


    Getting updated on the current situation through her neural uplink, Lux rapidly sobered up as she found her baggage, quickly getting her rifle out and loading a magazine as the other guests seemed to have woken up and started panicking.


    "What the?!-"


    "Everyone, make your way to the shelters immediately!"


    Taking control of the situation before an all out panic started, all attention quickly gathered on Lux.


    "I need to work now, move like your life depends on it. Because it does."


    Activating her mana forge and interface at full power, Lux quickly located the closest exit, the balcony, and jumped out of it without hesitation. Falling from the 70th floor, Lux used the time she was falling to contact Dax while preparing a spell which would keep her from splatting out on the pavement.


    "What''s the situation?"


    [Unknown, all gravitational sensors went haywire 50 seconds ago, looks like the Emergence got its hands on more lost technology. Make your way to the event and suppress it before we suffer further casualties, weapons free.]


    "Roger."


    Having received her orders, Lux''s eyes went cold as she covered them with a Reaper facemask, quickly making her way towards downtown where the Emergence ground forces had suddenly appeared along with a strange gravitational anomaly.


    -


    "R-run away!"


    "The drones aren''t moving, what the hell is going on!?"


    (Tch, useless.)


    Finding the local defence force utterly routed as their drones had started malfunctioning, Lux did the bare minimum survey of the street level battle for friendly forces before she pointed her rifle at a group of Emergence tanks which were advancing up the street towards the fleeing people behind her.


    "Howitzer, loop armour pricing, semi armour pricing."


    [DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED, LOOPING SPELL CREATION ONLINE, SCRIPT READY FOR EXECUTION.]


    Switching her rifle to semi automatic, Lux aimed at the closest organic looking Emergence tank and squeezed the trigger. As the single round of armour pricing left the rifle barrel it was surrounded by a series of barriers made out of transparent mana crystals which lengthened the projectile and increased its speed up until the point it came into contact with the Emergence tank, hitting the outer armour the anti tank howitzer spell configuration first functioned like a tandem high explosive anti tank warhead, creating multiple plasma lances to carve through the outer layers of reactive tank armour as the shell continued making its way into the tank, when it reached the centre the shell then blew up and created a bright explosion, transforming the Emergence tank into pieces of superheated shrapnel which flew out in every direction and quickly caused havoc among the Emergence forces, not that Lux paid any attention to that as she was already picking out her next target.


    "Phalanx."


    Setting up her own defences, Lux leapt from the 2nd story balcony to the other side of the 6 lane road, landing on the opposed skyscraper around the 5th floor where she took aim at another Emergence tank to repeat the process as Dax contacted her.


    [Status?]


    "Engaging, minimal resistance."


    Leaping from her shooting position as she gave Dax a status report with minimal emotion in her voice, Lux started working on a superheavy tank which appeared to keep moving no matter how many times she hit it with.


    [I''m sending some Hornets to you, use them to push back the Emergence, keep them from the civilian population, it will be problematic if they start multiplying.]


    "Roger."


    Landing on the street in front of the friendly forces Lux left deep cracks in the concrete below as she shot off towards the swarm of Emergence drones, aiming for the 6 metre tall superheavy tank which was partially melted but still somehow continued moving.


    "Phalanx: Battering ram."


    Carving straight through the foot troops which attempted to intercept her, Lux closed in on the tank at lightning speed as the first Hornet close air support drones appeared in the sky above her, immediately starting taking care of the lightly armoured Emergence forces using their Menhit rotary cannons. Closing to a range of 2 metres from the superheavy tank, Lux stomped the ground and sent a surge of mana through it, creating massive spikes made out of compressed concrete which shot up from the ground below the tank, exposing its weakly armoured underbelly to Lux.


    "Take this!"


    Forming a fist which was quickly surrounded by a dense layer of barriers, Lux''s punch hit the tank in the centre of its underbelly, spreading out cracks as a shockwave spread throughout the street.


    "Freeze!"


    As her punch still continued to carry momentum into the tank a series of runes formed in the air behind Lux, quickly sucking in the surrounding air and supercooling it before compressing it into jets of highly compressed, supercooled air which surged into the cracks in the tank, freezing it solid as Lux jumped back to open up the distance.


    "Will O''wisp."


    With a snap, a swarm of small white flames formed around Lux and launched towards the tank like lighting, squeezing into the cracks made by her strengthened punch, the wisps quickly reached the centre of the tank, then detonated. As the still mostly frozen superheavy tank was quickly heated up by the explosions it suffered extreme structural failure as the internal components shattered under the extreme temperature change.


    Having dealt with the tank for good, Lux immediately turned her attention to the rest of the Emergence forces in the area.


    "CWIS."


    With a single word incantation, countless fist sized blades made out of mana crystals formed all around Lux before rapidly accelerating until they became a blurry mass of fast moving projectiles around her.


    "CWIS: Area purge."


    Using the normally defensive spell for offence, Lux quickly fed target data from the Hornet close air support platforms above her into the prepared spell with a truly terrifying result. Having completed the spell and given targeting instructions for the blades, they suddenly spread out around Lux and created a hail of blades which targeted every single Emergence unit around her. From an outsider''s perspective, the six lane street suddenly turned into a blender which quickly ground everything to dust while numerous Emergence drones exploded in bright flashes as their ammunition was hit.


    "Area suppressed."


    As the dust cleared, Lux was the only figure still standing, she was now surrounded by a sea of scrap metal. Having cleared out the local offensive, Lux connected to the IMI intelligence network to locate the next concentration of Emergence forces, then she set off in that direction without looking back.


    "... What just happened?"


    "Don''t ask me, dude."


    After a while the local forces Lux had come to the aid of seemed to snap out of their collective daze, but even after succeeding that, the majority of them were at a complete loss for words.

 303 Blitz offensive 3

    "Terra! Neutralize that fucking collector!"


    Among the ongoing pandemonium, Dax attempted to create order in that chaos, the top of that priority was taking out the Emergence collectors who were currently in the process of securing any civilians they could get their claws in.


    "Already on it!"


    Having also spotted the Emergence drone attempting to drag off a store clerk by his clearly shattered leg, Terra immediately sprang into action after getting permission to do so from Dax. Weaving together a quick spell, Terra blasted off the ground floor reception area of the mall, landing at the 10th floor where she quickly dispatched the nearby Emergence drones before settling her aim on the Emergence collector which was currently on the 8th floor opposed to her. Taking aim she quickly destroyed the Emergence collector with a centre mass burst from her rifle, then she jumped from the 10th floor balcony over a gigantic chandelier before landing on the 8th floor where she quickly secured the area before turning her attention to the civilian.


    "Hold on for a second, I''ll stop the bleeding."


    "... T-thank.. Y-you."


    Setting her rifle aside as she reached into her equipment pouch at her hip, pulling out a syringe with blackmatter she quickly bit into its protective cap and pulled it off as she armed the syringe before injecting its contents into the store clerk''s leg to stop the bleeding. Having stabilized the poor clerk, Terra picked up the grown man in his mid thirties in a princess carry and leap off balcony near them, landing gently using flight magic to spare the civ.


    "Civilian secured!"


    "Good, get him on the evac with the rest, then join up with Mare!"


    Oh, and a seemingly endless amount of Emergence forces were constantly pouring out of it, which is what Ifrit and Solaris were currently focused on.


    "Lighting!"


    Releasing the stored up mana in her formation to produce a bright bolt of magnetic plasma Solaris briefly washed out everything around, if only for just a second, following a series of bright explosions as the lighting which leapt from ship to ship and melted everything it touched.


    "Decay."


    Using a relatively simple spell, Ifrit spread corruption and decay throughout the Emergence forces, cutting down their forces at an impressive speed with time for the Emergence seemingly running a million times faster than normal. Even as the two excellent spellcasters continued cutting down, the Emergence continued to pour out almost endlessly from the singularity. The current problem wasn''t necessarily the Emergence forces, but whatever technology allowed it to instantly cross spacetime to invade somewhere so deep inside friendly lines as Cyprex prime and without any sort of warning too.


    [Solaris, Ifrit, status?]


    "We can''t shut it down or destroy it!"


    Answering as Ifrit was busy weaving together a complicated spell, Solaris flapped her wings and amplified and focused the created soundwave into a blade which cut down an approaching transport.


    [Elaborate.]


    "This thing has no surface, there''s nothing to target! How long until Lazarus gives us a solution!?"


    [No idea, the communication link is at maximum capacity so they''re working on it. Take out as many of them as you two can, if you''re starting to be overwhelmed then pull back.]


    While Ifrit and Mare couldn''t do anything about the gate, they were still succeeding in heavily crippling or outright destroying a large part of the invading Emergence forces, something which proved instrumental in minimizing collateral damage.


    -


    (Nothing here either¡­)


    While the other parts of Dax''s unit were all engaged on the front line, Phillipa was playing a hunch, she was currently in the middle of the massive drydock district where the 3rd navy strike group were currently undergoing a major retrofit. What Phillipa was worried about was the Emergence gaining access to manatech, and as time passed and she continued examining the details of this ongoing blitz offensive, she was pretty sure this was one of its main objectives. Flying over the massive drydock complex in the process of stripping the countless smaller and supporting warships of their modular outer armour, Phillipa didn''t find any signs of Emergence drones or anything out of the ordinary happening. While the human dockworkers had long since evacuated, what work could be done solely by the automated cranes and drone workforce was being done in what capacity which was possible.


    (Then there''s only the flagships left to check out¡­ Hopefully, this hunch proves to be nothing in the end.)


    Nearing the significantly larger docks for the battleships and battlecruisers which were all in final preparations and tuning of their gravitational drives were no work could be done without specialists, it was an extremely delicate process were the smallest mistake could either cripple the ludicrously expensive drive or even create extreme structural damage to the craft it was installed inside, this was one of the few processes in spaceship construction which required human specialists and couldn''t be completed to the required level of precision with just drones.


    Flying over the massive ships which were also stripped of their outer armour plating to ease access to the complex systems underneath, Phillipa was about to report back to Dax when she noticed something was out of order. It really was the tiniest detail, out of context it would be nothing of significance, but a tertiary access port to the battleship Ingenuity not properly secured was a serious issue.


    "Incursion confirmed."


    Not bothering to wait for an answer from Dax, Phillipa deactivated her flight magic and quickly dropped out of the sky, reaching the access port in a matter of seconds, Phillipa entered as she readied her rifle.


    (Once more, into the breach.)


    Not even needing to take more than 10 steps, Phillipa quickly found something odd, just not what she had been expecting. The corridor ahead of her was covered in large, strange looking cobwebs which emitted traces of mana along with some kind of cold gas which had long since created thick layers of ice on any available surface.


    (What the fuc-)


    Not given the chance to examine her surroundings any further, something mostly invisible lunged at her from above and struck her shoulder, freezing it mostly solid in an instant.


    Acting entirely on instinct, Phillipa discarded her rifle as she was no longer able to use it before she drew a knife and struck at the still hidden figure above her. Enhancing the strike from her blade with strengthening mana, Phillipa clearly felt it pierce deeply into something which felt vaguely like flesh. After striking true with her blade, Phillipa pressed her blade deeper into whatever had attacked her before twisting it with all her strength, she only stopped driving her knife further into the creature after it had stopped twitching and whatever spell had kept it hidden dissipated.


    (... So some kind of spell? What the hell is going on? The Emergence is not supposed to have access to mana?)


    Examining the creature closer, Phillipa found it to be some kind of large spider about a metre in diameter, covered in bright blue scales. With no traces of cybernetic implants on or inside the spider, Phillipa could rule out that it was controlled by the Emergence, but that only served to provide Phillipa with even more confusion.


    "What the hell is going on here?"

 304 Convergence 1

    In the process of scraping off the now useless flesh from her shoulder which had been frozen by the strange ''frost spider'', Phillipa could clearly see her collarbone she finally was done, still, she had cleared away the dead flesh and could now start effectively healing the damage done. Administering a dose of blackmatter to the affected area, a layer of nanomachines formed a new skin over her injuries she assessed the attack which had managed to get past her defences.


    (Optical camouflage?... No, it is more than simply that¡­ This creature erased its presence almost entirely, it was only as it attacked it was able to vaguely sense it, this was a seasoned hunter¡­)


    With nothing more to gain from that simple encounter, Phillipa picked up the rifle she had dropped and switched its magazine to one loaded with high velocity armour piercing and activated the mana powered enhancer build into it as she gave an additional report to Dax.


    "Abnormal situation encountered, going dark."


    [Roger, see you on the other side.]


    Having evaluated that she needed to cut away any possibility of distraction to survive whatever was ahead of her, Phillipa cut contact with Dax and the others, choosing to solely use her quantum communication implant for combat assistance from IMI as she let out a soft sigh and checked how her injured shoulder was moving.


    (... 80% mobility? That''ll have to be enough¡­ Whatever these spiders are, the Emergence must under no circumstances gain access to our manatech.)


    With that sole motivation in mind, Phillipa pressed forward into the vast, web covered interior of the battleship Ingenuity.


    -


    "... Over there, in the middle of that skyscraper."


    With the pair of large ears on top of her head fluttering slightly, Lia pinpointed the nearest Emergence bio converter, she was already familiar with all the different sounds which came from one of them as it operated. Although she felt it was extremely unpleasant to listen to the screams of the people inside being ''processed'' by the Emergence, doing so would help put an end to it faster.


    "Mmm, let''s go put it out of commission."


    With a blank look on her face, Mare''s usually cold looking eyes clearly showed anger towards the Emergence, as this was not the first bio processor they were shutting down. Operating in what could comfortably be called no man''s land where Emergence forces and whatever Galactic empire drones still functioned were in an open melee, creating all around chaos that the two beastkin traversed without much issue, using cover and avoiding combat as much as possible, sticking to short skirmishes where they aimed to disable the enemy drones instead of outright destroying them the pair quickly reached the residential mega block were Lia traced the latest Emergence bio converter to.


    "NNOOOO! SAVE ME!!!"


    This is what happened if one was unlucky enough that the Emergence captured one alive and why countless navy officers had scuttled their own ships without attempting to evacuate when it was clear that they had been overrun by Emergence breaching parties.


    It was preferable to die by friendly fire and have one''s corpse obliterated in comparison to becoming a walking corpse used by the Emergence.


    "Lia! Formation 4!"


    Charging forward out of cover, Mare drew her twin shortswords as mana surrounded the small beastkin, creating a durable shield out of black mana crystals which fragmented and shattered after taking enough damage, transforming into offensive projectiles which sought out the ones who had inflicted damage to the defensive formation in the first place. With Mare taking the role of offence, Lia instantly fell into her own role and started providing support to Mare with covering fire from her rifle and the occasional spell which created footholds or cover for Mare out of the reinforced concrete which surrounded them inside the residential mega block.


    "You''re mine!"


    Cutting straight through the drones around the collector, Mare easily sidestepped its poor excuse for a punch as she cut off its head and bisected its torso with her twin swords, continuing on without stopping until she had secured the immediate area together with Lia.


    "Here, medicine."


    Tossing a vial to the speechless student, Mare made sure he had realized she had tossed it her way before turning to leave along with Lia, something the student panicked at seeing.


    The way he saw it right now, the best chance of survival was the two strange mask wearing women with large, animal like ears on the top of their heads.


    "W-wait! Where''s the evacuation!?"


    "There isn''t one at the moment if you want to live then find a place to lay low. The Emergence''s presence in this sector should be wiped out sometime tonight."


    Not really having time to deal with a single civilian, Lia didn''t even turn his way as she answered him.


    "N-no! Don''t leave m-"


    (... Not this shit again.)


    Having already heard the same song and dance from other people countless times within the last few hours, Lia already had a default response ready as Mare went ahead.


    "Stop that. Don''t you realize how lucky you are?"


    Seeing the blank look of desperation on the students face in response to her question, Lia breathed a short sigh before she elaborated.


    "We don''t have resources for civilian evacuation or rescue at the moment, my only current mission is shutting down the Emergence''s bio converters and their assigned collectors in an attempt to minimize civilian damage. I''ve already destroyed a lot of them, and seen serval hundred people in the same situation as you are right now and you''re one of the lucky ones with a good chance of survival."


    "How the fuck am I lucky!? If you leave me I''m dead! You''re a soldier right!? Your job is-"


    "I''m a Galactic marine, part of the special forces my only job is disabling bio converters. As you still don''t realize how good your chances are of surviving even if I leave you alone, allow me to spell it out clearly. You''re not critically injured, you still have all your limbs attached and you''re not being me to kill you before the crudely implanted cybernetics take over your mind¡­ That means you''re in the top 5 percentile of civilians I''ve seen the last few hours. Even if we had the resources to spare I wouldn''t help you, I would instead have used my energy to try and save some of the less fortunate people I''ve met lately, instead of shooting them in the head."


    With that parting message, Lia left the student behind as she started catching up to Mare who had gone ahead, not bothering to look back.


    She had promised herself that that was what she would do after all the mercy killings she had committed already.


    (I must see this through to the end, as fast as possible to minimize further casualties.)


    -


    (Just how many of these spiders are in here? What the hell is going on¡­)


    Shooting another large spider dead, Phillipa continued onwards towards the newly installed mana generator and manipulator in the centre of the battleship Ingenuity. Since she had been jumped by that one frost spider, Phillipa had killed at least 20 others of its kind before she stopped counting as she continued traversing the increasingly spider web covered Maintenance hallways inside the battleship.


    (It''s like this entire ship has been turned into a nest¡­ In that case, there should also be a spider queen somewhere? I hope it doesn''t mind me killing its children.)


    But to Phillipa''s dismay, something did mind.


    "Holy fu!-"


    As Phillipa opened a bulkhead door she suddenly found herself right in front of a significantly larger frost spider, only this one had a human torso and head attached to it, with the lower part of what normally would be a face replaced with large open jaws as the creature charged Phillipa while it was screaming. Jumping backwards to open up the distance from the spider creature which filled up the entirety of the 6 metre wide hallway, Phillipa switched her rifle to fully automatic and squeezed the trigger.


    "REEEEEE!"


    As the creature was hit with a hail of gunfire it released another ear shattering scream while it covered itself in a thick layer of frost crystals which protected itself against Phillipa''s rifle fire. It was only when the Hellwalker enhanced her shoots with the anti tank spell ''howitzer'' that she  finally pierced the creature''s frost armour, finally killing it. Taking a minute to get her heartbeat under control again, Phillipa finally breathed a deep sigh after shooting the half humanoid spider creature a few more times to make sure it was dead.


    (... Did I just pee myself? No, I''m good.)

 305 Convergence 2

    After having killed the half humanoid spider monster, Phillipa reached the mana generator inside the battleship Ingenuity where she quickly took care of a few Emergence drones before she stopped to take a closer look at her surroundings. The web covered room surrounding the mana generator was completely out of some kind of fantasy dungeon, none of what was happening around Phillipa at the moment.


    "Unless¡­"


    Turning back to face the corpse of the larger frost monster, Phillipa examined the remains to find an Emergence interface which made Phillipa finally able to make sense of the current situation.


    (So the Emergence controlled this large monster? In that case, why even go for our mana generator, and why does the Emergence even have access to monsters in the first place?)


    Still, with more questions than she knew what to do with, Phillipa contacted Dax.


    "I''ve cleaned up the incursion onboard the battleship Ingenuity, as expected the Emergence was going for its mana generator and control interface, it''s just the way they did it¡­ You''re going to want to see this, but for now, I''m placing this area under level delta information control."


    [... Okay, I''m moving to your location right now, ETA 5 min.]


    -


    "Lia! Now!"


    "Will o'' wisp!"


    Invoking the spell by finishing its incarnation, Lia sent a swarm of small white flames into the Emergence bio converter which created a large explosion which shattered the machine, spreading a smell of burnt flesh throughout the mega block it had crash landed inside. Taking a second to look at the devastation and destruction surrounding the bio converter it was clear to Lia that this was something entirely different from her original world, sure there had been grand world wars, but they simply couldn''t compare to what was currently going on in this world of technology. From the vantage point of the hole in the side of the residential mega block, Lia could see the strange gate that the Emergence drones continued to swarm out of, and the destruction they had caused in little under 4 hours.


    (Multiply this kind of devastation by the few hundred worlds the Emergence already have taken over¡­ When Dax said this was a war of annihilation, he really wasn''t joking.)


    "Let''s move on to the next bio converter Mare."


    "Mmm."


    [I''m afraid that''ll have to wait, I''ve new orders for you guys. We need support down on street level, Lux is moving to recapture a battery of cloud rippers to use against the gate, help her out.]


    But as Lia started listening for the closest bio converter, new orders came in from Dax which the beastkin pair immediately followed. Quickly moving down to street level, Lia and Mare didn''t need much more direction as the amount of havoc Lux was constantly creating served as a great guide.


    "Howitzer!"


    "Lux, where do you want us!?"


    Joining up with Lux as the 3 of them took cover behind a car, Lux quickly gave the two beastkin orders as she wove together a new spell.


    "Lia, with me, we''re moving to the cloud ripper battery on street level. Mare, take control of the Hornets and use them to clear out the flanks, I don''t want any more ambushes from the nearby skyscrapers, they''re a pain to deal with constantly, especially when I need to take some time to take control of the cloud rippers back from the Emergence."


    ""Roger.""


    Seeing the reliable expressions of her two subordinates, a smile crept onto Lux''s face.


    "Then let''s do this! Lia, support!"


    Leaping out of cover as she recast her phalanx defences, Lux charged an armoured formation without a hint of hesitation, now that she had the support she didn''t need to hold back.


    "Lighting!"


    Seeing Lux''s move, Lia immediately followed up with an offensive spell, creating a bolt of plasma which lept from drone to drone, leaving behind a strong smell of burnt metal as Lia followed that spell with a swarm of other lighting bolts which wreaked havoc among the Emergence lines, creating an opportunity for Lux to close the range, an opportunity she happily exploited. Gaining the attention of the Emergence heavy drones she was closing on, Lux successfully predicted their fields of fire and avoided armour piercing railgun rounds while anti personal canister rounds harmlessly bounced off her phalanx defensive spell formation as Mare commanded the Hornet drones under her command to provide additional cover fire, pelting the Emergence drones with their tandem warhead anti tank guided missiles and armour piercing ammunition fired at a blistering rate from their Menhit rotary cannons, filling the air with chaff and flares as they weaved in and out of nearby wrecked buildings in an attempt to avoid the Emergence counterfire they immediately ensured in response.


    While Lia and Mare made a mess of the hostile forces on, Mare had adopted a far more up close and personal type of approach in the buildings which looked out over the street the two others were fighting on. Emerging out from the cover of a concrete support pillar without making a single sound, Mare effortlessly sunk her hypersonic vibrating knife in between the armour plates of an Emergence drone before twisting her knife, destroying the drones reactor as she emptied a magazine of armour piercing pistol rounds into its head, just to make sure. With the commotion she created, Mare was immediately spotted by the other Emergence drones inside the half destroyed office which collectively unleashed a hail of small arms fire which Mare flawless avoided with quick, sporadic movements and multiple optical illusions which made it look like there was a swarm of small, wolf eared beastkin charging the drones from all directions. This was the work of a new spell Mu had specifically developed for Mare, while it had a complex, official Lazarus designation, both Mu and Mare referred to by a far simpler title.


    "Parade."


    Perfectly utilizing her extreme mobility inside cramped spaces like an office, Mare practically bounced off the walls and ceilings as she cut the Emergence drones apart in a ruthlessly efficient manner, clearing out the group of 20 some drones in just a few minutes. Even with its limited capacity for reasoning, the Emergence quickly realized that it needed to take out Mare before it could launch an effective strike on Lia and Lux who were pushing forward down on street level, so the units who had originally been tasked to flank Lux and Lia were quickly retasked into a dedicated strike group which quickly served to corner the small beastkin in a corner office, of course not realizing that they were playing into Mare''s hand all along.


    "IMI, CAS. New tasking."


    [READY, IMI CAS ON STATION.]


    Hunkering down behind a sturdy office table Mare remained calm as the Emergence drones which had her pinned continued spraying small arms fire.


    "Maneuver 4, danger close."


    [MANEUVER 4, DANGER CLOSE CONFIRMED, TIME TO STATION: 5 SECONDS, WEAPONS HOT.]


    Outside the skyscraper Mare currently found herself pinned down inside it was clear where she currently was to anyone observing, it was the corner office on the 6th floor where small arms fire blasted out from, so the tasked Hornet close air support quickly found its target before it started to hover about 10 floors above.


    [CAS ON STATION: THUNDER.]


    Then the Hornet drone simply cut power to its twin electrothermal thrusters as its rotary cannon spun up, the hum of its electrical motor could almost be confused with a murderous glee as the drone''s engines rekindled and turned on their afterburners, bringing the Hornet drone to its shooting position just outside the 6th floor corner office as the Hornet drone''s Menhit rotary cannon opened fire with a roar. Sweeping the entire floor as Mare hugged the floor, the Hornet drone''s rotary cannon cut trough walls, reinforced concrete and Emergence drones without any form of discrimination, with its insane rate of fire there was armour piercing rounds enough for everyone to share.


    [AREA NEUTRALIZED.]


    After nearly 10 seconds of continuous fire which had almost felt like an eternity to Mare which had been right in the centre of it all, IMI''s synthetic sounding, cold and emotionless voice stated the obvious as the Hornet drone went into standby, eagerly awaiting the next target Mare would point at it to slaughter.

 306 Convergence 3

    "Roger!"


    Although it was hard to miss the skywards pointing planetary defence railgun they were nearing, Lux still made it clear to Lia that those were what they were after, and that she shouldn''t accidentally damage it. With the area clearing of large buildings, Mare also returned to street level and the 3 Hellwalkers were quickly able to clear the area with the help of the supporting Hornet''s.


    "So what do you even plan on doing with that gun?"


    "This."


    Turning to the railgun, Lux placed a hand on its fire control system at its base as blackmatter nanomachines started pouring out from her hand.


    "IMI master, initiate domination."


    [IMI MASTER, DOMINATION ACTIVE¡­ TAKEOVER SUCCESSFUL, UNIT SLAVED. FIRE CONTROL SYSTEM TAKEOVER COMPLETE, AWAITING TASKING.]


    Using IMI and a heavy dose of blackmatter which quickly reprogrammed the railgun turret, Lux bloomed a full on shit eating grin as she raised a finger into the air, then slowly lowered it down until it pointed at the mysterious wormhole in the distance which was still pouring out Emergence forces, with the railgun following her movements.


    "Ain''t this kind of weapon made to shoot targets in high orbit?"


    Seeing what Lux was planning on doing, Lia started getting nervous. Sure, the cloud rippers were railguns, but with their truly massive capacitors and 60 metre long barrels, using them to shoot at a target which was practically at point blank range was inadvisable, bordering on straight up insane, and that was not even considering their ammunition which contained antimatter charges.


    "They are yeah, but these kinds of rules are meant to be broken~ IMI, target."


    [TARGET ACQUIRED.]


    "Use zero point delay armour piercing antimatter ballistic capped ammunition, set the fuse to minimal separation... Fire at will."


    [FIRING.]


    "Again, saturation fire."


    [DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED, DEPLETING STORED MONITION, NOW FIRING.]


    No sooner than the cloud ripper had reloaded and recharged its capacitors did Lux give a new order to fire, and continue firing until the gun had used all its stored ammunition.


    While Lux had absolutely decimated the majority of the Emergence forces on the other side of the portal, the core problem still remained, the portal itself still remained, but Mu and Ra had had a few hours to look at it now and that was more than enough time to come up with a countermeasure.


    [I''ve sent the data package over, please confirm it.]


    "Yeah, I see it alright, loading it into the strike package right now."


    Having left the front lines after depleting the cloud ripper''s ammunition, Lux was currently reconfiguring a next generation fusion torpedo according to Mu''s directions. The torpedo''s fusion warhead had been removed, and in its stead was an entirely new kind of payload, a miniaturized gravity generator.


    [Okay, the numbers I''m seeing on this side are also looking good, that should do it.]


    "Affirmative, am I in the clear?"


    [You''re good, send it.]


    "Order confirmed, handing over controls to IMI, IMI is cleared hot."


    [DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED, DEPLOYING STRIKE PACKAGE.]


    Sitting on a maintenance work table, the fusion torpedo easily launched using its powerful attitude control system quickly flew towards its designated target, its internal guidance system and sensor package running complex calculations as the gravity generator in the centre of the torpedo came alive.


    [IMI REPORTS: TRACKING TARGET 5 BY 5, SCRIPT READY, COMPOUND COMMAND READY.]


    Flying over the now mostly destroyed city, the lone torpedo quickly attracted the attention of the city''s survivors, this wasn''t a defensive operation, but a strike back against the Emergence who had intentionally attacked the civilian population.


    [SPLASH: 2 SECONDS, ALL SYSTEMS ONLINE. SINGULARITY IDENTIFIED, COMMENCING COMPOUND COMMAND, GENERATING GRAVITATIONAL COUNTERPULSE: PULSING.]


    As the torpedo reached its target and ''detonated'', cheers erupted from the ruins of Cyprex all while space violently distorted around the gravitational anomaly which forced the portal it had created to close.


    After the portal closed and the local spacetime in that area once more normalized, some kind of large sphere fell from the sky where the portal had been.


    -


    The blitz attack on Cyprex prime sent shock waves throughout the entirety of the Galactic Empire, but it also served to steer public opinion towards the utter and complete annihilation of the Emergence. The public explanation for the Emergence''s ability to suddenly strike so deep inside the Galactic Empire was blamed on a Lazarus prototype faster than light system which had been secretly developed in Iron race space and lost doing the war, but the reality was radically different from that narrative. The artefact which had enabled the Emergence to establish a stable gateway across spacetime recovered at the site was another piece of lost technology, the second of such artefacts recovered from the Emergence in a matter of weeks.


    It was clear that something, or someone, was supplying the Emergence with lost technology, for reasons unknown.


    Then there was the issue of the creature which had been guarding the Emergence drones analysing the newly installed mana generator and interface onboard the battleship Integrity after the remains were shipped to Lazarus an autopsy revealed the creature to be of extra dimensional origin.


    All these strange events surrounding the Emergence were left without any logical answers for almost a month, it was clear that the lost technology and strange creatures discovered had appeared sometime between current day and the advent of the Iron race containment war, there''s simply no way such things wouldn''t have been discovered if that wasn''t the case. But if these artefacts and creatures had suddenly appeared after that particular area of space had fallen to the Emergence and the creature autopsied was of extra dimensional origin, then there only was one logical explanation as to why: Major cross dimensional travel had, or was currently taking place inside Emergence space, again, for unknown reasons.


    The following months after the attack on Cyprex prime, detections of extreme gravitational waves would come to confirm that, traced back in time over the vast distance those waves had travelled at light speed, an area of space and a time period were identified.


    About two hundred years ago inside a timeframe of a single year, a series of cross dimensional jumps happened just outside the dark systems which had been the capital area of the Iron race, from the intensity of those gravitational waves alone it was clear this wasn''t ''just'' a series of cross dimensional jumps, it was closer to a dimensional convergence, the merger of two different planes of existence.

 307 Convergence 4

    "So, in the end, what the fuck was that monster? Solaris, do you recognize it?"


    Having spent the last hour pouring over the autopsy report on the strange spider monsters she had encountered, Phillipa had only gotten more confused when she read about unknown carbon isotopes and so on, so, in the end, she decided just to ask Solaris if she knew something about it.


    "... I have no idea actually, but I don''t think it was from the same place as me."


    Having also seen the autopsy report and heard about what had happened from Phillipa, Solaris drew a blank.


    Not only had she never heard about such a creature from any other arcangel sanctuary back home, but she also had a hard time even imagining a creature who could create defenses strong enough to resist gauss rifle fire, even Solaris herself would have had a hard time dealing with that before she met Dax.


    "... Seriously?"


    "Yeah, if those kinds of monsters roamed my world it would be looking radically different than it does, from the report it seemed like that spider had toughness equal to that of a dragon."


    "Indeed, I don''t think that creature was from our world, it doesn''t seem like anything I had ever heard about."


    With Alice also adding her opinion on top of Solaris'' in addition to the new elements and isotopes discovered in the monsters autopsy it was safe to assume for the moment that it came from another plane of existence than the world of magic, meaning another plane of existence was at play, then there was the matter of cross dimensional travel inside Emergence space.


    "Regardless of what exactly that monster was and where it came from, there is definite evidence of a 3rd party at play, whether it is the ancients with their lost technology or something else, it is clear that they are hostile to the Galactic Empire. As we continue to push into Emergence occupied space I want everyone here to display extreme caution, we don''t know what we''re dealing with here."


    If a throwaway creature that the Emergence had taken control over could create armour strong enough to deflect rifle fire, then what could a dedicated attack force do? Not to mention the fact that one of the spiders had managed to get a strike in on Phillipa before she even noticed it was there, Dax saw the current situation as extremely dangerous.


    "From now on I want everyone to sortie with XMRA armour, no exceptions."


    "If you have any special wishes for your armour, then contact Ra, otherwise its features will be limited to the standard mana generator and trophy active protection system."


    -


    In the end, the surprise attack from the Emergence succeeded in delaying the 3rd battle group''s retrofit by 2 months, but when it was finally operational once again, the newly installed manatech proved worth the wait. In addition to no longer needing an operator able to manipulate mana, the new generators were magnitudes more powerful than the previous generation. With such power at their disposal, the galactic navy quickly cut through the Emergence''s defensive lines and deep into its territory in accordance with the blitz attack fleet admiral Simmons had originally proposed before the attack on Cyprex prime. The objective was to cripple the Emergence''s strategic industry and its ability to construct new ships, so the punitive force''s objective was the so called dark systems in the core of former Iron race space, an area where a large part of the main sequence stars had been covered in either Dison spheres or Dison swarms, massive installations which collected a large part of the star''s energy to fuel massive orbital drydocks and forges. While most of the galactic navy was focused on smashing through the numerous defensive lines to reach those systems, a considerably smaller force led by Dax was heading in an entirely different direction. Their destination was the unremarkable rocky planet Marex 4 inside the even more unremarkable system by the same name. With a breathable nitrogen rich atmosphere and relatively normal surface gravity of 1.2 G as well as its own native flora, the only thing which normally made the planet stand out was its remarkably strong magnetic field powered by the planet''s liquid iron nickel core, but even that characteristic was relatively common in the galaxy at large. What was unique about the planet was the countless cross dimensional travel events which had been traced back to the planet''s surface through gravitational waves, at least 40 distinct signatures had been detected in a cluster near the planet''s equator, this was what Dax and his subordinates were sent to investigate.


    "This planet has no large native fauna and was unpopulated when the Iron race containment war broke out, as such any signs of animal life is an anomaly. Orbital resonance has identified 4 distinct hotspots of unusual activity on the surface within 200 kilometres of each other, we''ll be taking 5 CAS-7A stingers and a detachment of Hornet close air support drones as well as a division of Reaper drones down to the surface, the insertion point will be 20 kilometres from the first of the anomalies, after landing we''ve head towards that point on foot¡­ Any questions?"


    Met with silence after his initial briefing, Dax looked around to see only confident expressions on his subordinate''s faces, all of them had been training over a month for this operation, each one of them was as ready as they could be.


    "I take that as a no, then suit up! We''re deploying in 5 minutes, dismissed!"


    WIth the briefing finished, Dax immediately went to don his brand new XMRA armour. Already wearing the sub armour over his vacuum suit, all there was left was the multiple layers of composite armour which would go on top of that and with the help of an automatic armour equipping station, that process was also completed quite fast.


    "Dax, care to help me with this? I need to calibrate the arms and tweak the software."


    While Dax was quick to don his armour, Lux who had her Tali system installed on top of her XMRA suit needed some additional time to get everything sorted.


    "Sure, turn around and let me take a look."


    With Lux''s mechanical pair of arms folded up on her back, she turned so Dax could check them over for issues while she looked over the new firmware which would run them in the meantime.


    "They sure have gotten reliable all of a sudden."


    While looking over the firmware Lux glanced at the others with a smile on her face, while she may have been on the fence at first, every single one of the new Hellwalkers Dax recruited had turned into reliable subordinates that even rivalled Lux on some points.


    "Yeah, I told you they were diamonds in the rough. All good here, try it out now."


    Tapping Lux on the shoulder, Dax took a step away from her as her mechanical arms activated, folding out to a length which reached all the way to her knees from their mounts at her shoulders. Quickly confirming the arms mobility Lux took a stance and punched out in the air in front of her, in response one of her mechanical arms transformed its forearm into a spike which followed her punch before both of them combined into a mechanical tail which moved to the base of her back.


    "Perfect as always. I really have to thank Ra for this next time I see her."


    With a satisfied smile on her face, Lux used her mechanical tail to support herself as she sat down on it.


    "Yeah, she really outdid herself this time."


    Dax was also extremely satisfied with his own new armour, but also the other''s brand new armour which was individually customized to their user.

 308 Convergence 5

    "This actually seems like home~ How nostalgic, how fun~"


    Having set foot on Marex 4, Alice was immediately creeped out by the planet''s strange vegetation, while Ifrit felt at home and started dancing around with a large smile on their face for some strange reason. Having landed in a lush plane filled with grass and flowers, a large forest was visible in the distance, the only thing that missed from such a picturesque scene was the sound of birds singing, and some more colour, of course, seeing as all the vegetation on the planet was pitch black like a starless night.


    If the lone distant star above was red instead of blue, the ''picturesque scene'' would be more fit for a nightmare than anything else.


    "The plant life here is black because of the atmosphere of the planet combined with the distance from the star, very little solar radiation makes it all the way down to the surface so the plants have evolved to absorb as much of it as possible, there''s nothing creepy about this."


    Explaining what was going on to the superstitious acting Alice, Phillipa took stock of the surroundings before she turned to Dax and Lux.


    "Phillipa, take it away."


    Receiving permission from her superior, Phillipa showed a slight smile as she put the helmet of her XMRA armour on as she started barking orders.


    "Button up everyone! Even if the atmosphere is breathable, I don''t want to take any chances near the anomalies!"


    As the others put on their black helmets another group of CAS-7A Stingers landed behind Phillipa, quickly deploying their squads of Reaper drones before launching again, climbing to an altitude of 4 kilometres where they went into a holding pattern together with the countless Hornet close air support drones which had already been deployed.


    "Let''s move! Although the days are long on this planet, the daylight is finite! Next stop, the most recent anomaly, 21 kilometres due west!"


    Starting to ''march'' towards the first objective, the unit of Hellwalkers fell into a formation where those with sharp senses like Mare, Lia and Lux in a forward position while spellcasters like Solaris and Ifrit remained in the centre of the formation. Although Marex 4''s surface gravity was quite a bit harsher than Solaris and the others were used to, the pace of the march was in no way slow, if anything it was between the level of a jog and a full on sprint. Running alongside Dax and Phillipa, Solaris had spent the past few minutes deliberating if she should ask why they didn''t just fly all the way to the anomaly, but figuring that things couldn''t get worse than they already were, she decided to just ask.


    "So, is there any reason why we didn''t land closer to the objective?"


    "Yeah, there''s plenty of reasons. Most importantly, we don''t want to be seen coming, this is still Emergence space. We''re deep inside hostile territory here."


    "That is reasonable yeah, thanks for clearing that up."


    Getting satisfactory answers from both Dax and Phillipa, Solaris was just about to continue small talk when Lux cut in on the radio.


    [Overwhatch has found something up ahead, weapons tight. Be ready for anything.]


    Connecting to the IMI network, Dax quickly located what Lux had found, about 5 kilometres in front, between their current location and the anomaly, there was a large crater. Judging by the surrounding vegetation, the impact wasn''t that recent, but it also lined up with the timeframe for the recent CDT event.


    "Ifrit, Mare, Terra, Alice secure the area, I want no surprises until we''ve found out what we''re dealing with. Lux, take control of the Hornets on overwatch, secure an outer premier."


    Reaching the edge of the 50 metre wide crater, Dax continued down into it as he delegated people to cover the area. At the craters epicentre was the charred remains of something mechanical, at closer examination, Dax determined it was some sort of reconnaissance drone, most likely belonging to the Emergence.


    "This damage isn''t from reentry, something melted straight through this drone''s heat shield, and before it could even react too."


    "How come you say it didn''t get to react?"


    "Look at the countermeasure launchers, they''re melted shut. That means whatever hit this drone hit it before it even went into alert¡­ What do you see?"


    Crouching down next to half molten drone remains, Dax pointed to different parts of it before asking for Solaris'' assessment. In response to Dax''s request, Solaris crouched down next to him as she closed her eyes to focus while her metal covered wings spread out as a purple glow spread out from Solaris'' back, a clear sign that her mana generator had started up. Spending a few minutes to focus, Solaris cautiously extended a hand out to the wreck, in response a circular mana formation spread out around the craft.


    "There''s definitely traces of mana, either from some sort of spell or another ability¡­"


    "... So something sniped this drone out of the sky before it even noticed it was under attack? It''s great that we didn''t try and land right at the anomaly huh?"


    "Yeah¡­"


    Getting a slight shiver up her spine when she imagined what would have happened if they suffered the same fate as the drone in front of them, Solaris quietly thanked Dax for his safety first approach in these kinds of situations.


    "In any event, something is taking out aerial operators, Lux ke-"


    "Too late, we just lost a Stinger and two Hornets, I''ve pulled out the rest. I started pulling them out immediately, but whatever targeted them had been doing so for some time. I''ve no idea what shot them down, but from satellite footage, it is clear that they melted the same way that the Emergence drone did¡­ Should we pull out?"


    Faced with an unknown opponent able to easily take out his air support without them even seeing what hit it, it would be understandable if Dax chose to pull out, but something prevented him from doing so.


    "We can''t safely exfil with whatever is out there still being able to shoot down our ships without even being noticed¡­ Phillipa, contact our friends above, tell them we might need heavy orbital artillery and that they should move to ready station ASAP. Solaris, Ifrit, I want your meanest, something tells me we can''t afford to hold back against this kind of opponent."


    "Meanest, huh? I can do that~"


    "Roger. In that case, I''ll be preparing some spells¡­"


    Realizing that they were in a situation that was impossible to just pull out of, Ifrit and Solaris turned serious, as did everyone else. Calling down additional heavy support, the Helwalkers advanced, reaching the first anomaly in under an hour. In the middle of a forest of pitch black trees floated a sphere, not unlike the ones the Emergence had used, but different from the previous Dax had seen, this one was significantly larger, measuring approximately 50 metres in diameter. Its functions appeared to be different from the smaller one too, instead of creating a direct gateway it seemed to have a more subtle effect on its surroundings, while it was impossible to confirm without getting resident experts to examine it, the object nevertheless appeared to be warping its surroundings into something¡­ Different.


    "... What the hell is that?"


    "Some kind of mana, but I think we''ll have to set aside investigating it for the moment¡­"


    While the mana users'' attention had been drawn to the strange sphere, Dax''s eyes were drawn to the huge seemingly artificial cave about half a kilometre from it.


    "Should I go investigate it?"


    "Nah, this is the exact reason we brought drones with us. Although I would like to just nuke it, we need to find out what''s going on here..."


    While Lia was more than eager to head into the cave, Lux looked at the situation far more realistically.

 309 Convergence 6

    "No, it isn''t. In fact, my instincts are screaming to me that this entire thing is an extremely bad idea but there''s nothing else to do in this situation."


    Standing and practically looking over the shoulder of Phillipa who was commanding the Reaper drones, Solaris and Dax were both having extremely bad premonitions as the drones pressed deeper into the artificially made cave.


    "... Could you guys do whatever you''re doing somewhere else? I''m busy."


    Although Phillipa had plenty of concentration to spare with only assuming direct command of a dozen or so drones, having Dax and Solaris right behind her was starting to become detrimental to her performance. As the drones under Phillipa''s direct command made their way deeper into the large cave it became increasingly more clear that the cave was artificially made and quite recently too. Large claw marks on the walls aside, the bedrock showed clear signs of having been melted by strong heat.


    Even if it wasn''t proven to be the case yet, Phillipa''s intuition told her that this cave was a nest, in other words, someones or something''s home.


    They were currently trespassing with armed weapons, expecting a cordial welcome wasn''t really realistic.


    As the drones continued their advance through the massive cave they eventually reached a large central chamber with a massive pile of strange looking red rocks.


    "Looks like no one is home."


    Also sharing the data feed with Phillipa, Lux saw nothing from the drones'' sensors, that is until she switched over to the thermal image feed, the pile of reddish rocks were glowing with an ambient temperature above 90 degrees, she didn''t know what she was looking at, that is until the massive creature started moving, its sleep being disturbed by the strange creatures who had so rudely trespassed in its home.


    "!!!"


    "Fuc!- We need to move! NOW!"


    At the same time as Phillipa and Lux lost contact with the Reaper drones, a massive surge of heat blew out of the cave and set fire to the nearby vegetation before the ground started to shake like an earthquake, only Marex 4 didn''t have any geological activity so the shaking was nothing more than the trashing of an angry homeowner being rudely woken by trespassers.


    "Retreat!"


    As the creature emerged from the large cave which it had created to be its home, it''s scale covered body towered far over the treeline as it unfolded its pair of large wings while its multiple heads started looking for the prey to be who had disturbed its slumber.


    "HOLY FUCK!"


    "There''s nothing holy about that one! Ifrit!"


    "A''lthz!"


    Extending out a hand, Ifrit created an ominous mass of dark energy which leaped forth towards its target in the form of a lightning bolt which appeared to absorb the surrounding light. As the spell almost instantly hit its target, the dark lighting created a bright explosion, but it had very little effect on the monster which roared with enough power to shake the ground beneath it. Not very happy that it had just been attacked, the monster opened all 9 of its mouths wide, inside each one of them a complex spell formation was created as the ambient mana surged.


    "Take cover!"


    Charging its spell only for a single second, the monster let out 9 separate streaks of condensed energy which tore through the surrounding landscape, setting the surrounding forest ablaze in a mostly blind attack which luckily didn''t hit a single one of the Hellwalkers.


    "What the hell is that thing!?"


    Seeing a living creature unleash the destructive power of a barrage ship, Lux turned to the most familiar member of the group when it came to mythical creatures, herself being one.


    "It looks like a hydra! If it''s anything like the legendary creature from my world, that thing can kill a god!"


    "Luckily we can do that too, IMI CAS, priority target Omega!"


    [IMI CAS ON STATION, TARGET DESIGNATED PRIORITY: OMEGA. GENERATING MESH TARGETING ARCHITECTURE, GENERATION SUCCESSFUL, SATUATING TARGET, DANGER CLOSE.]


    With Solaris explaining what they were up against, Dax decided to hold nothing back, marking the hydra as the highest priority target for IMI which instantly took control of the available close air support platforms and orbital assets to coordinate a strike.


    TARGET OMEGA CONFIRMED.


    DIALING HIGH ALTITUDE FIRE SUPPORT, CHARGING STRATEGIC CLASS HEL... SENDING TRAFFIC.


    FIRE MISSION CONFIRMED, PAINTING TARGET.


    RELATIVE GRID OF INTEREST: 00 01 05.


    ELEVATION: NULL


    ATMOSPHERIC REFRACTION: LEVEL 5


    The first of those weapons now under IMI''s complete control to fire was the strategic class high energy lasers onboard the battlecruiser in orbit above the developing battlefield, as the lasers came online so did their active cooling systems with a roar while the lasers trained on their target.


    CHARGE COMPLETE, FIRE AT WILL.


    Although the very nature of a high energy laser made it invisible to the naked eye, the effect of multiple strategic class systems all trained on a single target was very apparent and the effect was immediate. Instantly, the ground and area around the hydra heated up drastically, everything which could catch fire did so in seconds, transforming the area around the hydra into a hellscape.


    Not that the hydra cared about that at all, to it the surrounding air had just become a lot more pleasant.


    "IMI CAS, no effect on target!"


    Having taken to the sky with flight magic, Dax observed the effect on target while he wove together a spell which hopefully had more of an effect on the hydra.


    IMI ASSESSING EFFECT ON TARGET: NULL.


    COMMENCING ORBITAL BOMBARDMENT.


    Finding the strategic class high energy lasers had little to no measurable effect on the target, IMI escalated as it took control of the orbiting battlecruisers other weapon systems, launching a swarm of Viper cruise missiles as well as arming the ships numerous 420 mill anti ship railguns with ammunition tailor made for orbital bombardment. Of course, IMI''s response wasn''t just limited to orbital assets, it had also taken control of the close air support Hornet drones down on the surface. Swarming towards the target from all directions, the countless Hornet drones primed their suite of smart anti tank guided missiles, loading targeting profiles and swarm patterns which would inflict the highest amount of damage on the target.


    IMI CAS ON STATION, FIRE MISSION RECEIVED.


    TYPE: SINGLE TARGET HVT ELIMINATION.


    HARD TARGET ACQUIRED, KILL WITH HV-SATGM


    FIRE MISSION CONFIRMED, PAINTING TARGET.


    RELATIVE GRID OF INTEREST: 00 01 05.


    SWARM PATTERN: DELTA.


    FIRE AT WILL.


    Opening up on all sides at the same time, the countless Hornet drones let loose a salvo of high velocity SATGM''s along with a mass of flares and other defensive countermeasures. Striking from comparably close range, the hydra had little time to react to the sudden attack but its 9 heads still noticed the danger and unleashed another mass of energy beams, this time aimed at the Hornet drones, hitting 5 of them which immediately melted as their stored monitions cooked off and exploded, destroying the crafts outright. Still, the destroyed Hornets had managed to deliver their payloads and as the hydra was pelted with anti tank missiles it unleashed earth shattering scream of pain.


    "We can hurt it! Use anti tank class spells and above!"


    Seeing the effect on the target, Dax unleashed the howitzer spell he had been constructing while passing on the information to his allies.


    "In that case! Javelin formation: Lightning spear of the prophet!"


    As her wings gleamed with holy righteousness, Solaris created a spear of lightning which launched towards the hydra with the speed of a railgun penetrator, hitting the hydra''s large body it immediately drew blood as the spear ripped straight through its hard scales.


    "I won''t be outdone either! Not by such a pesky type of magic!~?"


    Seeing Solaris draw blood with her spell, Ifrit started chanting in multiple dead languages as they were surrounded by a torrent of mana.


    "R''qtz sa''li R''lyeh!"


    Stomping down their foot, Ifrit unleashed a torrent of dark power, creating a web like structure of tentacles made out of pure void which emerged out of the ground around the hydra and quickly enveloped it, everywhere the tentacles touched they seemed to suck out the very life essence of the hydra.


    "Hit it now!"


    "Much obliged!"


    With Ifrit pinning the hydra in place, Dax took full advantage of the situation.


    "Air pressure control: Annihilation."


    Creating a high energy thermal pulse, Dax set fire to everything in front of him, including the hydra''s lung tissue as it had multiple of its mouths open and screaming out in pain.

 310 Convergence 7

    As the massive monster collapsed with its lungs charred by Dax''s particularly cruel spell, Dax paid no more attention to the dead monster, something which immediately proved to be a mistake when it once more started moving.


    "What the fu-"


    "Move!"


    Luckily Lux was there to save the day, showing Dax aside as she brought down her zero point sword on one of the hydra''s heads who had just attempted to bite him in half.


    "HAAA!"


    Cleaving through the hydra''s thick scales with little effort, Lux nevertheless found herself unable to completely decapitate the creature as her sword was too short to actually reach all the way across its neck, luckily Alice didn''t have that issue. Using the frankly absurd strength she had obtained with bio enhancements, Alice leapt into the air and spun, adding further momentum to the massive greatsword she sunk into the hydra''s half decapitated head, severing it completely.


    "Retreat!"


    Still, there were 8 additional heads to deal with, simply severing one wasn''t going to kill the hydra as it had already proved way more resilient than Dax had ever imagined and as they were busy avoiding attacks from the other heads, the one Alice had just severed already started regenerating.


    "What the hell is that thing!?"


    "Don''t know, don''t care! Keep hitting it until it''s dead!"


    Spreading out and opening up the distance to avoid effective retaliation, Dax''s team switched to long range fighting, except for a single person that is. As 3 of the hydra''s heads came together to spew out fire, Mare saw her chance to strike as she had remained invisible using her spell parade and waited patiently.


    (Now!)


    Emerging out of the surrounding shadows, Mare quickly closed the range to her target as her XMRA armour lit up, purple mana enhancing runes, creating intricate patterns collecting at her right hand as Mare''s spell was taking shape.


    "Pierce through."


    Striking the Hydra''s main body with an open palm, Mare injected her spell into its flesh underneath the sturdy armour before activating. Using the hydra''s own flesh for fuel, Mare''s spell created spikes out of crystalized blood which rapidly grew like a tumour inside its body, growing to pierce the hydra''s hard scales from the inside out as the spell finally dissipated while Mare long since had disappeared from sight once more, eagerly awaiting the next opening to strike her opponent.


    "That head is already regrown!"


    "I got you Alice, lighting!"


    In the sky above the hydra, Solaris spoke out a single word incantation as lighting leapt from her outstretched hand, striking one of the hydra''s heads as it was about to complete a spell, causing the built up mana to run amok and explode inside the hydra''s mouth. Flapping her pair of armour covered wings Solaris rapidly moved around in the sky as her XMRA''s mana generator worked in overdrive to support the archangels intense apatite for mana, indicated by a pair of red hot glowing radiators extending out and downwards from her armour''s lower back. While there was nothing overly fancy about the spells Solaris continued to sling out, the archangel struck with unparalleled precision, either interrupting the hydra''s spells or striking its eyes or ears, such feats only possible with Solaris'' extreme aptitude and experience with manipulating mana and weaving together spells in no time at all.


    "IMI CAS, requesting urgent strike package delta! Approach 023 cleared hot!"


    [IMI CAS CONFIRMS STRIKE MISSION, CLEARED HOT, SPLASH 5 SECONDS.]


    While Phillipa was the one with least experience in using mana within Dax''s group, she nevertheless made use of it while calling in fire support from IMI, although it was limited to enhancing the rounds her rifle fired and creating cover in the form of compressed bedrock. While a swarm of Viper cruise missiles headed for the hydra flew overhead, Phillipa rapidly relocated, sprinting into cover behind a tree where she brought out her rifle waiting patiently for the smoke the cruise missiles had created to clear.


    "There you are¡­ Now smile for the camera please!"


    Singling out one of the hydra''s heads, Phillipa slowed down her breathing as her aim steadied and the end of her rifle''s barrel was surrounded in complicated runes glowing a faint purple.


    "Anti material."


    Completing the spell at the same time as she squeezed the trigger, Phillipa sniped one of the hydra head''s eyes, the spell enchanted round pierced straight through the eye and drilled into the brain behind before exploding. With its brain destroyed, the hydra''s head fell limply to the ground as the other 8 focused their immediate attention to where Phillipa had taken the shot from, but she had long since abandoned her previous shooting position and relocated as another wave of SATGM''s from the Hornet close air support drones pelted the hydra.


    "Lia, with me!"


    "On it!"


    Taking advantage of the attention the other Hellwalkers demanded from the hydra, Lux and Lia chose that moment to strike. Neither stealthy like Mare or enduring like Alice, Lux had optimised her XMRA for mobility and close range power. Injecting mana into the ground as she rapidly closed the distance to her target, Lux created a spell which shot up a platform of bedrock beneath her feet as a springboard towards her target. Using the additional cybernetic arms on the outside of her XMRA armour, Lux unsheathed all 4 of her zero point shortswords, rapidly slicing through a pair of hydra heads in a fury which lived up to her cybernetic addons ''Kali'' designation. Barely keeping up with Lux in terms of mobility, Lia''s choice of attack proved way more subtle than her superior''s style, but it was still equally as destructive. Using a specially made bayonet and her keen sense of hearing, Lia quickly located a critical point on one of the hydra''s long neck and easily pierced through its outer scales with a two handed stab, her left hand''s palm resting on the butt end of the bayonet, connecting a highly specialized circuit in her XMRA armour.


    "Purge."


    With her bayonet connected to its circuit, Lia spoke a one word incantation to activate the spell which her XMRA armour had been specialized to use. The conduit now connecting to Lia''s bayonet contained nothing more than normal air, but as Lia''s spell activated it was suddenly superheated before being compressed to several hundred times that of normal atmospheric pressure before it was released into the hydra''s neck trough Lia''s bayonet, wreaking havoc on the hydra''s internal organs counter propellant vented out of a port on Lia''s elbow and her bayonet sank deeper into the now liquid internals of the hydra.


    "A''lthz!~?"


    With a gleeful expression on their face, Ifrit created a bolt of dark lighting which seemed to absorb the surrounding light as it sprang forth and struck the open mouth of one of the hydra''s heads, creating an explosion which completely severed its lower jaw. Not content with the damage they were causing, Ifrit unleashed a series of additional void lightning bolts while effortlessly darting around just above the ground using flight magic.


    "Ahh~? You really just keep regenerating huh? Perfect~?"


    While Ifrit''s extensive knowledge of lost magic and aptitude for magic was frightening in its own right, the most dangerous part of them was their absolute lack of empathy. In any kind scale of fighting Ifrit refused to hold back, aiming to quickly annihilate everything which stood in their way while taking pleasure in not only their opponent''s pain but also the destruction they unleashed.


    (We''re getting nowhere like this¡­)


    While his subordinates continued tearing the hydra and it''s 9 heads apart, the hydra continued regenerating. Dax knew they had to do something before running out of steam and getting overwhelmed by the hydra''s seemingly endless vitality, but he had no idea what they needed to do to kill the monster.


    But he did have a few plans already in progress.


    (IMI CAS, status on orbital bombardment?)


    [IMI CAS, FIRST SALVO AWAY, SPLASH 90 SECONDS. STANDING BY FOR ADDITIONAL TASKING.]


    (Confirmed, await report for effect on target, standby for final strike package guidance corrections.)


    Dax had left Phillipa to take care of tasking the Viper cruise missiles from their orbital fire support, but he was personally orchestrating the strike which made use of the orbiting battlecruisers 420 mill railguns, requiring far more cooperation and timing than Phillipa had the patience for.


    "Lilly, how is it looking?"


    "Almost there."


    While the others were fighting the hydra, Lilly had been busy weaving together a grand spell which aimed to finish it off. Standing in the middle of a several metre wide asymmetric spell formation, the outside of the small elver''s XMRA armour was covered in a pattern of purple glowing runes which amplified her magic while multiple radiators extended out her back, radiating away the massive amount of waste heat her mana generator was creating while it attempted to keep up with Lilly''s demands.


    "After taking a closer look at the hydra I located 9 distinct masses of energy within its body, those should be its cores. I can take out 3, you take care of the others."


    "Copy that."


    Even with advanced, cutting edge technology from Lazarus, Lilly''s glowing eyes were still far better at understanding the flow of mana within her targets, this was the only reason she had located its weak points.


    (If we''re lucky this will actually kill this hydra thing, if not we''ll have to nuke it and just give up on investigating the other anomalies¡­)

 311 Convergence 8

    [IMI CAS ON STATION: FIRST SALVO ON FINAL GUIDANCE, READING BEACON 5 BY 5, SPLASH 10 SECONDS.]


    "Alice now!"


    "Gladly!"


    With notice of final guidance by IMI and permission given by Dax, Lilly sprang into action and activated the spell formation she had been building for the past 30 minutes. With a brilliant glow surrounding her, Lilly raised her hand to the sky as 3 compressed chunks of bedrock the size of a bus emerged from the ground around her. Clenching her extended hand closed, the already compressed chunks of bedrock compacted further into spears over 5 meters in length, no more than 10 centimetres wide.


    "Ready."


    While just maintaining the massive amount of pressure and balance needed to keep such a spell on standby, Lilly knew full well how important it was to coordinate the attack correctly with the orbital artillery, if she messed it up they might not be able to kill the hydra.


    "... Stand by."


    With Dax coordinating the timing, Lilly blindly trusted him and launched her spell on his command. Pulling down her raised arm as the spears made of highly compressed bedrock were surrounded by complex spell formations as they reoriented themselves towards the hydra, continuously tracking it even though there was a forest in between.


    "Go!"


    On Dax''s command, Lilly launched her spell which ripped straight through the nearby forest, tearing straight through the hydra''s scales and deep into its body, hitting the cores hidden deep inside its body right the first salvo of orbital artillery impacted, knocking up a cloud of dust along with creating a massive explosion as Solaris landed back on the ground to join up with the others.


    "... Please tell me that actually killed it."


    Waiting for the dust to clear as she maintained numerous spells, Solaris inadvertently forgot about the ''rules of the universe'' Dax and Lux had taught her.


    "Not if you fucking jinx it like that."


    "Ah, sorry."


    The hydra had been sleeping when they found it, therefore it was unlikely to have shot down the aircraft they had lost, meaning that there was still something hostile in the area. Looking calmly towards Lux as he realized that fact it appeared that she had also just become aware of it, and to make matters worse it seemed that they had just been surrounded.


    "Shit."


    "Yeah, fighting would be unwise."


    "... What are you guys talking about all of a sudden?"


    Even with her sharp sense of hearing, Lia didn''t seem to have picked up the creatures which had already surrounded them, not even Mare with her sharp senses seemed aware, further underlining the fact that it would be highly likely that Dax and his unit would suffer casualties if they tried to fight the unknown 3rd party which was currently observing them. With the others noticing Lux and Dax acting strange, Dax silently put his rifle down on the ground before stepping away from it, getting down on his knees he started relaxing.


    "We''re surrounded, as none of you guys even noticed them yet fighting would be unwise."


    Mare was the first one to realize Dax wasn''t joking when a cold shiver went down her spine, in a half panic she focused her attention on the surrounding forest which had been torched by the hydra''s breath and the countless airstrike which had helped in defeating it as she noticed a vague presence which disappeared immediately after she had grasped its rough location, it had clearly realized that she had sensed it and then relocated.


    -


    Having put down his rifle and sat down, Dax attentively observed his surroundings while the others also disarmed, although a bit more hesitantly than he had done.


    (20¡­ No, 24 nearby. That can''t be all of them, with the long range strike capability they''ve already demonstrated, there''s likely at least a few hanging back¡­)


    While whatever was currently surrounding them had used some sort of spell to turn invisible and although skilled, they couldn''t hide the effect they had on their surroundings. An unnatural movement of a branch there and the shake of a leaf there, Dax slowly pinned down the positions of the creatures observing him, his cybernetic eye was also able to catch faint outlines of thermal signatures, but before Dax could figure out more there was finally movement.


    "Here we go, don''t show aggression, we don''t want to start a war with an unknown party."


    As Dax warned his subordinates (especially Ifrit) a final time something started moving towards them, while it was still invisible the way the ground beneath the creature depressed as it moved, Dax could already tell quite a lot about it.


    (Interesting¡­)


    Moving slowly so as to not create a misunderstanding, Dax made the helmet on his XMRA armour fold away to reveal his face as he put on his eyepatch to h¨ªde his cybernetic eye, in response the creature started undoing its cloaking spell. Slowly dissipating starting from the top, strands of well maintained and carefully braided red hair revealed itself along with a pair of reptile like orange eyes and faint white skin occasionally dotted with small red scales. Wearing a sort of vail black to cover the lower part of its head, the seemingly female creature was covered in elaborately embroidered black, slightly see through clothing which left little to the imagination the top and skirt combination, not even covering her mostly scale covered stomach. While she at first glance appeared humanoid, the creature turned entirely alien below the waist as it didn''t have any legs, instead its body transformed into a long and slender scale covered body, not unlike that of a snake.


    (So half humanoid, half snake. A lamia?)


    Doing his best to keep up a blank poker face Dax observed the lamia''s face for any changes in expression, although he wasn''t entirely sure of it at the time, the lamia was doing the same, that is until it noticed Dax''s eye which looked somewhat like its own. Maintaining eye contact, the lamia closed until it could practically reach out and grab Dax, then she rolled up her large tail beneath her body and ''sat'' down facing Dax, but due to the sheer size of her tail, Dax had to look up to meet her gaze. After a few seconds of slightly tense silence, the lamia reached out and grasped Dax''s hand, seemingly not willing to take no for an answer, it started dragging him away with the others following silently behind.


    (What the hell is going on here?)


    Meanwhile, Solaris was just about to break Dax''s orders as she stared daggers into the lamia, while Dax hadn''t noticed it due to how thick headed he was, the lamia''s gaze had changed drastically after he had removed his helmet.

 312 Cultural exchange 1

    "... Even if you ask me I have no idea."


    Guided by the hand by a lamia he had just met, Dax was currently sitting on a cosy woven rug inside a primitive cottage, in his hands, he had a large cup filled with a tea like substance. Across him was the red haired lamia who had guided Dax and the others to what appeared to be their village, while Dax had attempted to communicate with her, she appeared to either have no interest in such things or simply unable to do so. With nothing better to do for the moment and the lamia seemingly encouraging him to drink the greenish tea like substance he had been offered, Dax took a cautious sip from the cup, mimicking the way the lamia used both her hands to drink in an attempt to appear polite.


    (This is actually pretty good¡­ IMI, any toxins?)


    (NO KNOWN TOXINS DETECTED.)


    (So no known ones? Just to make sure, analyse the compounds.)


    (DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED.)


    While the tea had a strong, grassy flavour at first, it''s harsh first impression gave way to elegantly balanced floral notes complimented by a strangely satisfying spice which served to complement and balance the initial harsh impression.


    With Dax showing his positive evaluation of the tea on his face as he continued drinking, the lamia showed a satisfied smile as others of her kind appeared to serve the rest of Dax''s group a similar substance.


    "Dax?"


    "IMI found no traces of toxins and it''s actually not that bad, go ahead."


    With Dax explaining that there was no danger, Lux retracted her XMRA helmet as she brought the cup up to her face, timidly smelling the substance she took a cautious sip before coming to an agreement with Dax, it actually wasn''t that bad. With Lux and Dax having taken the first step, the rest of the present Hellwalkers followed suit and started drinking. Although the consensus was quite favourable, with Lilly and Phillipa finding the strong and balanced taste quite nice, those with more sensitive senses like Mare and Lia found the strong tasting tea hard to drink, Solaris likewise wasn''t much for the taste, but this was more due to a sense of pride than anything else.


    "Well then."


    Having finished his tea, Dax sat the cup aside as he faced the lamia, in response she seemed to realize something was going to happen and looked at Dax''s with a somewhat odd look on her face.


    (Normal issues of differences in culture aside, there''s only really one way I can communicate when she doesn''t want to / can''t talk¡­ This is going to piss off the girls, I can already tell.)


    With an internal sigh, Dax accepted his fate and just went for it. Baring his hand from the armour he was wearing, Dax inched slightly closer to the lamia while still remaining on his knees.


    "To communicate I need to establish a physical connection, please don''t kill me."


    (IMI, map the central nervous system please, establish a common language base.)


    (DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED, COMMENCING MAPPING PROCEDURE, STAND BY¡­)


    While IMI scanned the lamia, Dax had to maintain physical contact for that to work, as such he did his best not to scare her off, that included not pulling away when she started tracing her free hand across his armour.


    (Calm down, she''s just examining me, same as I am her¡­)


    It wasn''t until her free hand found its way to Dax''s cheek that he realized what was going on, but before he could open up the range the lamia freed her other hand and used it to trap Dax''s head before she closed in with her own.


    "W-w-w-w-what the hell is going on!?"


    Suffering a short circuit it took Lilly a few seconds to realize what was going on, but when she heard the sound of the lamia''s long tongue invading Dax''s mouth she finally caught up with the situation, a deep crimson blush spreading all across her face by a mix of surprise, second hand embarrassment and sheer, unholy rage.


    "My~ What a troublesome child he is~ Dax needs to be punished~"


    Also following Lilly''s sentiment, anger couldn''t be seen on her smiling face, but her eyes were another matter entirely.


    "Yeah, I agree. Let''s flay him alive."


    Following the two others'' sentiment, Alice''s face was completely void of emotions as she spoke in a chillingly cold tone and like Solaris, Alice''s eyes revealed her true emotions behind her rapidly cracking exterior. As the lamia continued kissing Dax he quickly attempted to free himself from her grasp, only to find that she was not only much stronger than him, but she could easily crush his skull between her hands if she wanted to.


    (Fuck it¡­)


    Already resigned to getting killed by his girlfriends, Dax decided to win the ongoing ''battle'' and get the lamia to retreat as fast as possible, preferably before the girls behind him decided to just slaughter him then and there. While he had kissed before, getting together with Lilly, Solaris and Alice had definitely increased his experience in that subject, especially due to the latter, as Alice really loved to kiss for long periods of time, enabling Dax to perfect his techniques. Going on the offensive against the lamia she was quite surprised, and while she attempted to fight back it seemed like she didn''t have that much experience, further working in his advantage Dax didn''t really need to breathe as often as a normal being, and he could keep his heartbeat under control so his body didn''t run out of oxygen. Finally defeated after what seemed like an eternity the lamia finally parted with Dax''s mouth, leaving a trail of saliva behind as she struggled for air with an enchanted look on her face.


    "... That was amazing."


    Expressing her satisfaction the lamia breathed a deep sigh before she moved in for another kiss, but Dax quickly blocked her mouth with his hand as he realized he could understand her.


    (I guess we did have quite a physical connection for a while there¡­ No, this isn''t time to zone out, I need to survive this!)


    "Could you please let me go now?"


    "Why? It was amazing, so I want to do it again..."


    Not even surprised that Dax suddenly spoke her language, the lamia edged closer to Dax''s face as her lower body continued wrapping itself around Dax''s body, trapping him in a tight, wise like grip which didn''t seem to take no for an answer.


    "Because I already have people that are special to me like this, and I hardly know you."


    While doing his best to keep calm as he was slowly getting crushed, Dax continued to try and convince the lamia to release him.


    "Then in that case, what''s one more? This was my first time kissing, where I''m from it has a very special meaning."


    "Yeah I''m sure, but if you don''t release me right now we''re both going to die."


    "Huh?"


    Finally expanding the focus of her senses to the wider room after focusing on Dax, the lamia faced the full force of Solaris, Lilly and Alice''s bloodlust which made her surprisingly meek.


    "Are those?"


    "Yeah they are, please let me go."


    "Okay then¡­"


    With heavy resignation the lamia finally released Dax who then quickly separated himself from her, the instant nature of that action left her with a strangely cold feeling on her chest which had been so warm and fluffy ever since she had seen Dax''s face. Shooting quick glances to the group of women behind Dax who was releasing bloodlust her way, the lamia''s lips curved into a confident smile.


    (Is that all my competition is? Should be easy enough.)

 313 Cultural exchange 2

    Having distanced himself from the lamia, Dax proceeded with making first contact, wanting to at least do that before he was skinned alive by Lilly, Solaris and Alice. In response to Dax''s rapid switch to an entirely business oriented mindset, the lamia started frowning but still went along with the change in topic.


    "I am Ke, leader of this village."


    Taking a short pause to offer a bow, Dax thanked the higher powers that the others couldn''t understand the words which came out of her mouth next.


    "Dax, my dear husband, I''m glad to formally greet you."


    "... When did we get married exactly?"


    In response to that outrageous statement, Dax remained entirely calm and collected, or so it at least appeared from the outside. In reality, Dax felt the rapid onset of a headache which he wanted more than anything to avoid.


    "When you touched my hand. No one touches me unless I''ve accepted them as an equal worthy of marriage."


    "But I''m just a mare soldier of the Galactic Empire, there''s no way I could possibly make f-"


    "You honestly expect me to believe that after you slew the hydra without even using a single one of your men?"


    (Well, she''s not an idiot, I really should have expected that¡­)


    Needless to say, Dax didn''t want to be locked down by a marriage with a woman he had just met, but alien culture and the threat of Ke''s ridiculous strength meant that he couldn''t just blindly shoot her down.)


    "Hey, what are they talking about?"


    While the sudden tension meant that something might be happening, Terra couldn''t understand what Dax and the lamia were saying and therefore turned to Lux, but she wasn''t of much use either.


    "No clue, I can''t access the data. What about you Phillipa?"


    "I''ve got nothing either, let''s just wait and see what''s going to happen."


    The way Lux and Phillipa saw it, Dax had the situation handled and if he didn''t then their weapons were loaded with the safeties off, clearing this room shouldn''t be that much of an issue.


    "... Okay then, let''s start by getting to know each other a bit more, You''re not of this world are you Ke? Where did you come from?"


    Instead of addressing the entire marriage situation, Dax decided to just sidestep the issue and continue with the first contact while discussing it like he still had the interest, something Ke clearly saw through but nevertheless played along with.


    "We''ve been living here for a long time already, although we have no way of telling the time as days in this world are strangely long. As for how we ended up here, I have no idea, one day our village was just surrounded by these strange black trees."


    "It appears you know something about this Dax."


    Even though he didn''t show it on his face, the fact that Dax rapidly processed what Ke said and internalized it revealed that to her that he knew more than he was saying.


    "Yeah I do, I was sent to this world to investigate this anomaly after all. Although we don''t know everything yet, it appears that multiple planes of existence are converging onto this one. As to why, and even who is responsible for this I have no idea yet, that''s why we''re here to¡­ Lux."


    "Yeah I know, moving to intercept."


    Switching language and attitude radically mid sentence, Dax glanced behind him to his trusted subordinate who got up on her feet as she readied her rifle.


    "We have guests on their way here, these are not the kind you want to kiss."


    "... Excuse me?"


    -


    "Contact, range 952 metres, bearing 039."


    "Yeah, I see them, feel free to engage."


    Having set up a firing line outside the lamia village to a lot of curious lamia spectators, Dax gave the order to fire with a somewhat nonchalant look on his face.


    "Engaging."


    Giving out a callout, Lux who had been tracking a target with her rifle for a while now squeezed the trigger and let a single spell enhanced round fly.


    "Target down, engaging."


    As Lux continued to let off shots in a disciplined manner, Dax''s other subordinates also started opening fire with their rifles, their ripping straight through the vegetation ahead to strike some unseen target.


    "I take it your people have come into contact with the Emergence before?"


    "The Emergence?"


    While his subordinates were busy culling their targets, Dax made conversation with Ke.


    "Those mechanical constructs which want to consume your people, and really anything else for that matter."


    "Ah, that. Yeah, we''ve been constantly under attack by those things ever since we arrived in this world, I even shot down a group of them going towards you a bit ago."


    (Ah, figures they can''t differentiate between the Emergence and our crafts¡­ That explains a lot.)


    "Yeah, about that¡­ Those last crafts you shut down were mine."


    "Wait, what?"


    In response to Dax''s off hand comment, Ke''s eyes opened up wide as her ears started standing at attention, it seemed like Dax''s comment had caught her off guard.


    "They were really expensive too, state of the art, custom made craft like don''t come cheap but I don''t really mind, you couldn''t know. I wonder how I could explain the loss of those to my superiors."


    Really driving home that he was in trouble because of Ke''s actions (Which he really wasn''t) Dax made the lamia lose her well maintained facade as she started to panic. Meanwhile, Lux and the others had finished wiping out the Emergence forces which had attempted to sneak up on the lamia village and add them to their collective.

 314 Cultural exchange 3

    Standing over a collection of vaguely humanoid scrap metal, Ke was at a loss for words. Sure, she and her people had fought against the Emergence before, but that was only limited to larger, strange looking craft which spied at them from a distance.


    These creatures were vastly more frightening for their failed mimicry of living beings.


    "Yeah, or at least a part of it. The main body is a very long distance from here, think of these drones serving a central hive."


    "Why do they look like this?"


    "Humanoid? No clue, some researchers I know think it''s because they absorbed so many humanoid creatures into its hive mind that the Emergence is starting to be affected by the collective subconscious impulses by the decaying minds in its system, but I think it''s just a matter of convenience."


    "Convenience?"


    The nonchalant way Dax talked about these disturbing imitations of life in front of her put Ke on edge, she simply couldn''t understand how he was able to keep his cool like that, especially after sharing that these things absorbed other living beings.


    "Yeah, you need a hand to hold a weapon and drag live prisoners back to the biological converter, likewise bipedal or quadrupedal means of propulsion are effective in multiple different levels of gravity. The Emergence is simply just mimicking its victims and reusing what works, discarding most of the unnecessary parts while still keeping enough to continue experimenting."


    "How can you be so calm about this?"


    "Because I''ve been fighting against this threat for a long time, so I''ve gotten used to seeing these horrible things on a daily basis. Besides, letting your emotions impact you against an opponent who has none is a recipe for defeat, and in this war of annihilation defeat means losing everything."


    Looking at Dax, Ke didn''t see a hint of the ''mare soldier'' he had described himself as, no this person was a hardened killer drenched in so much blood that it had stained his very soul, worse yet, that didn''t appear to bother him in the slightest, it was like he revelled in it.


    This was the true Dax or at least more than he had shown Ke thus far. Although Ke was frightened by this unknown side or Dax she was now seeing, deep down she still felt it was exciting.


    "Commander."


    "Yeah, I know."


    With Lux reminding Dax to contain his true colours, Dax calmed down slightly as he got back on topic.


    "That reminds me, have your tribe come into contact with other creatures or people from your world? We''ve detected a lot more convergence signatures than just the ones responsible for bringing your tribe and the hydra to this land."


    "... I''m not aware of any others inhabiting this land, we believe we were the only ones here until you showed up."


    "That''s fine, we''ll be making contacts with those people if there are any survivors. Let''s move on with relocation, how fast can you and your people pack up and be ready to leave this world? While the Emergence has been mostly ignoring this system so far, that''s going to change fast now that we are here to investigate."


    "No need to worry about us, we can-"


    "Can you really? Yeah, you might be fine if it just keeps sending lightly armed scouts like this, but can you fight off a titan or similar type of large war form? Or 500 of them for that matter? When the Emergence attacks for real it does so in a swarm, just like locusts it overwhelms, then devours everything before moving on. Countless worlds with trillions of souls have fallen to them already, it''s only recently the Galactic Empire has regained momentum to fight back against it. To make matters worse, this world is inside its territory"


    While Ke listened to what Dax was saying, she also paid careful attention to what he wasn''t saying.


    (He never said we can decline this ''offer'', does he plan on taking us by force if we refuse? Then there''s the matter of this ''Emergence'', for all I know he could be making it all up. But it is true we can''t stay in this world, there''s really nothing here to eat and these long days are driving everyone insane¡­)


    While things were holding up, for now, Ke could see things were starting to turn dire. It''s true that her and her people could most likely survive here, but they couldn''t thrive.


    If things went on like this, they would all eventually perish, starving to death or even getting assimilated by the Emergence when sanity finally failed them.


    "We can be ready within this day, please save us all."


    Simply, Ke had no other cards to play other than lowering her head and begging, although this vexed her greatly she needed to put her people above everything else, like her mother did when she sacrificed herself to save her people.


    "Sure, leave it to me. I wouldn''t really be a good man if I abandoned my ''wife'', now would I?"


    As Ke had finally lowered her head to a level he could reach, Dax reached out and ruffled up her hair with a bright smile on his face, unknowingly sending Ke''s heart into overdrive as she fought very hard to not just make him forcefully hers at that moment. Having reassured Ke, Dax turned to Lux and the others as his attitude changed somewhat.


    "Lux. Take Lilly, Ifrit, Lia and Terra back to the lamia village and lock down the area while they pack up. I''ve already tasked heavy transport and additional support equipment so make it fast."


    "Sir, yes sir."


    "Phillipa, group up with the rest minus Solaris and go take a look at that sphere, see if you can disable it and get it ready for transport with the help of Ra and Mu''s live assistance."


    "Yes sir~"


    Rapidly barking out orders, Dax divided up his team as the first class commander he was before switching character once again. Approaching Lilly, Dax quickly drew her into a tight hug and took remote control of her XMRA armour before she could offer up any sort of resistance.


    "Hya!-"


    Quickly blowing a bit of air into her ear, Dax seized the moment as she was distracted to pacify her.


    "Please wait until we get back home before skinning me alive."


    "... Sure."


    With her face and even ears blooming entirely red, Lilly''s rage towards Dax quickly evaporated. With one taken care of, Dax turned to his next target of suppression but as he hadn''t really hidden his intentions that well, the second target was already on guard against him, giving Dax no chance of a surprise attack.


    "Please give me a few more hours before you skin me alive."


    "... Fine, but you''re living on borrowed time."


    Settling with patting the top of Alice''s helmet, Dax couldn''t see her expression, but from the tone of her voice alone it appeared she had understood that the entire ''incident'' wasn''t his fault.


    "So, what are we doing?"


    "Scouting. We''re taking a quick look at the other anomalies and seeing if there''s anything worth saving before the Emergence shows up."


    Having turned to Solaris it was clear by her bloodlust alone that she wasn''t ready to forgive Dax, so he chose to just stick to official business until she had had a chance to calm down a bit.


    "Sure, let''s get going then."


    "Wait a second, we need a local guide."


    "A what?.. You can''t be serious."


    Not immediately understanding what Dax meant by a ''guide'', her mood quickly soured when she found that his eyes had settled on Ke.

 315 Cultural exchange 4

    (Not really, but something tells me it is for the better that she doesn''t know that I''m a commander of my own little special forces outfit¡­ Having an unlimited budget really is great.)


    "...Yeah, I know."


    Pouting slightly as Dax reminded her of something obvious, Ke was nevertheless struck with awe when a massive craft suddenly parted the nearby trees as it sat down in a clearing in front of her, it''s massive engines roaring with power even as they spun down. Having never seen anything like that up close before, Ke was at a loss for words and a tiny bit scared when the CAS-7A''s rear ramp suddenly opened, making the lamia flinch slightly as she drew away from the craft.


    "Are you really sure that thing is safe?"


    Seeing how her newest rival acted, Solaris didn''t even have to understand what she was saying to understand her. Taking full advantage of the situation, Solaris drew near to Dax before taking his arm as she started dragging him towards the CAS-7A.


    "Let''s go already, poor miss lamia is scared of the transport, so just leave her behind."


    Not even slightly attempting to hide the mockery in her voice, Solaris'' words easily transcended the language barrier and made Ke blush in embarrassment before she quickly collected her courage.


    "W-wait for me!"


    With all passengers having boarded the CAS-7A, it quickly closed up the rear ramp and launched, climbing to an altitude of 5 kilometres before it accelerated to mark 1.5.


    "It''s fine to move around now, we''re done accelerating."


    "O-okay."


    As the craft she suddenly found her inside had suddenly started accelerating, Ke had clung to anything she could get a hold of for dear life, but after reassured her that it was fine, the lamia started exploring the CAS-7A''s interior, finding it quite quaint with nothing except for a line of seats on each side of the compartment.


    Of course, when the walls and floor suddenly turned transparent Ke once more lost her nerve, but after a bit of experimenting she found out that the craft responded to where she was looking, so if she stared at a wall for too long it became transparent.


    "So, what are we doing? You still haven''t told me anything."


    "We''re going to investigate the other anomalies on this planet while your people pack up for evacuation and it''s highly likely that other things from your plane of existence found their way here, just like that hydra."


    "So I''m your guide?"


    "Yeah, is that an issue?"


    Finally being told what she was doing, Ke reacted with mixed feelings, that is until she realized she could leverage this to her advantage.


    "Not if I get properly paid for my services~"


    "We''re here, or almost here anyway."


    "Solaris, be ready for anything."


    "Sure."


    Alerting both Ke and Solaris to what was happening, the latter responded quite coldly to Dax, although she still made preparations, filling her surroundings with mana as she readied several different spells.


    "Stay behind my right shoulder at all times, I''ll only be able to guarantee that no harm comes to you if you stay there."


    With Solaris ready, Dax turned to Ke as his aura once more changed into that of a special forces commander.


    "O-okay..."


    Seeing another entirely new side of Dax, Ke acted strangely meek as her heart started racing. As the rear ramp of the CAS-7A opened, more pure black foliage greeted the trio who currently found themselves in the middle of a clearing.


    "The anomaly is 508 meters in that direction, Solaris, take point."


    "Roger."


    Advancing quite at a fast pace through the black vegetation the group eventually reached a clearing where a massive grey sphere hovered motionlessly in the air.


    "What the hell is that?"


    "One of the things which brought you and your people here, we''re not exactly sure how they work yet, but it seems like it''s forcefully converging another plane of existence onto this one."


    Explaining what he knew about the piece of lost technology in front of him to Ke, Dax scanned the surrounding terrain at the same time, looking for any sort of irregularities as he connected to the IMI surveillance network, getting a birds eye view of the surroundings from the air support which was standing by up high.


    (It looks like nothing is here¡­ Except for that.)


    Having ''looked around'' a bit, Dax suddenly started walking around the sphere, keeping to the edge of the clearing until he reached something which was partly covered by the black grass.


    "Looks like this one didn''t make it¡­"


    Crouching down next to what was unmistakably some kind of mummified corpse Dax offered a silent prayer as Ke recognized the dead creature.


    "That''s a dryad. From what I know they''re creatures who can only survive when living in harmony with select trees."


    "So it was translocated here and staved¡­ It looks like there''s nothing else here, let''s move on."


    -


    Investigating other sites it quickly became apparent that Ke and her people were part of the lucky minority which had managed to survive on Marex 4, as Dax, Solaris and Ke only found remains of different creatures, that is until they reached the 4th anomaly. Not even completely out of the CAS-7A, a massive arrow suddenly bounced off Dax''s hurriedly prepared defensive spell formation.


    "Well, at least there''s life here."


    Examining the colourfully fletched arrow as he gave out that nonchalant comment, Dax stomped his foot into the ground and created a defensive wall of bedrock which quickly absorbed another hail of arrows. Done with being on the defensive, Solaris formed a lance out of condensed light while Ke opened up her arms wide as a complicated pattern of bright red, glowing runes spread out all over her body, but before either of them got to fire their spells, Dax intervened.


    "Yeah, no. We''re here in peace, hold your fire Solaris."


    "... Fine."


    While instructing his subordinate not to engage, Dax gave Ke a reproachful glace which had the same effect. Stepping forth past his defensive line, Dax scanned the forest ahead as he dodged another arrow clearly meant for his head before he removed his helmet, showing that he wasn''t a machine, despite what his XMRA armour indicated. With the attacks seizing immediately after that, Solaris and Ke also lowered their level of hostility slightly, although both of them were still ready to slaughter whoever had tried to kill Dax just now.


    Without knowing it, the two of them had already made common ground.


    Waiting for a slightly less hostile response, Dax continued monitoring the ''people'' hiding in the nearby vegetation as their leaders decided on what to do, he even sent covert bursts of bloodlust towards the ones which still wanted to kill him to suppress them. Before long a group of figures started emerging from their hiding places before cautiously starting to approach Dax, and as he dismissed the CAS-7A it seemed they calmed down a bit more before finally making the first contact.


    (So first it was lamia''s and now it''s centaurs and what looks to be some kind of dark elver¡­ What''s next? An arachnid?)


    This time it appeared that Dax was dealing with at least two different species, first of which were a group of muscle clad half humanoid, half horse men and women with large bows which Dax figured had fired the almost spear sized arrows at him earlier. The second group had long, narrow ears not entirely unlike the ones Lilly sported, but that''s where the similarities ended. With obsidian black skin covered in tribal tattoos, white or grey hair which was mostly braided, strong bodies standing at least 2 meters tall and eyes which had black sclera and purple iris'', these creatures were radically different from the elves Dax had met before.


    (Okay, two more instances of first contact to make¡­ I really hope we can wrap all this diplomacy up before the Emergence crashes the party.)

 316 Cultural exchange 5

    Making first contact with two other newly discovered translocated species from another plane of existence, Dax made his best effort to appear cordial, only for that approach to spectacularly backfire.


    "Hmph, so a foot mere soldier? Got my hopes up for nothing¡­"


    "We don''t speak with people beneath us, go back and get your superior."


    (... It seems we have some sort of translation error.)


    While the centaur appeared disappointed with meeting someone who was just a ''mare foot soldier'', the dark elver seemed to just be blatantly looking down on Dax, something he didn''t let slide.


    "My direct superior is the minister of special war affairs, while I''m sure his academic background means he would love to meet a newly discovered tribe of savages, he''s too busy for that. I have full command and authority of not only this system and the current situation, but as commander of the 125th special ops orbital wetwork battalion I can do as I please, even stomping on a few primitives shouldn''t be an issue."


    "Hou~ Interesting¡­"


    While the centaur warmed up considerably to Dax when he openly insulted him, the dark elver and his kin didn''t take so kindly to it as his bloodlust flared. Seeing that reaction from the two representatives, Dax decided to not back down either as he let his own bloodlust flare, first directly competing against the dark elvers before completely overwhelming it.


    "I''m sorry for initially underestimating you, Dax. My name is Goran, let''s talk in my village."


    While it appeared Dax had entirely antagonized the dark elver with his attitude, the centaur on the other hand warmly introduced himself before starting to walk away, prompting Dax, Solaris and Ke to follow.


    "What do you know about these people?"


    Keeping his voice down Dax approached Ke for information while they walked towards the centaur village, at the same time IMI started translating for Solaris, allowing her to follow along with the conversation.


    "I''ve only heard rumours about these races, as my tribe used to live very isolated from everything, but the centaurs are pride filled warriors, they seemingly only listen to people who are stronger than them. The other ones are dark elvers, up until just now I believed them to be a myth, so I don''t really know anything about them other than the fact that it was widely believed they were wiped out a long time ago."


    "Is it the norm for lamia to live isolated?"


    Picking up more than enough useful information about the centaurs and dark elvers, Dax switched the conversation to Ke''s own race.


    "I think we are the exception? Again, while my knowledge on the subject is limited I believe lamias have broadly integrated themselves in empires and kingdoms all over the place."


    "Do you think they came from the same dimension as I did?"


    Speaking in her native language to make sure others couldn''t follow along with what they were saying, Solaris approached Dax with a serious tone in her voice.


    "Unlikely. Samples I''ve collected also contain isotypes not naturally occurring to mine or your world, also, although they seemingly share mana and magic with your world, it seems different somehow.."


    "... It does feel different now that I think about it."


    While she hadn''t consciously recognized it before Dax pointed it out, there was something different about the mana saturating this world, as well as the magic she had seen so far. Continuing to talk with Solaris and Ke while guided by the centaurs, Dax eventually arrived at what seemed to be their village which was home to about 50 centaurs of all ages hidden inside a black forest. Glancing around Dax noticed that a lot of centaurs had injuries which most likely stemmed from combat and as he located a pile of destroyed drones the reason became quite apparent.


    (So Emergence''s presence on this planet is widespread¡­ In that case, why hasn''t it taken it over yet?)


    While the Emergence wasn''t that predictable in its actions, its disdain for all forms of life was overwhelming, so there was something strange about this planet inside its territory containing life which it hadn''t assimilated for so long.


    (I could be that the ability to use magic is proving enough to push the Emergence back? In the case of Ke''s village, it appears to have worked up until now, but the situation is clearly different here. Although they look to be hanging in there, they only look one offensive away from being overrun...)


    "Welcome to my village, Dax of the Galactic Empire. Let''s talk here."


    With Goran laying down his lower body on a prepared rug, Dax imitated him and sat down with his legs crossed facing the centaur while Solaris and Ke sat down behind him."


    "This is my subordinate Solaris, and Ke from a lamia village also located on this planet."


    Introducing his companions to Goran, Dax then got to the matter at hand and explained he had been tasked with investigating this world as several anomalies had recently been discovered. With Goran proving cooperative and answering Dax''s questions, it seemed that the centaurs'' circumstances mostly lined up with what had happened to Ke and her village, having been unknowingly moved to this land one day before suffering numerous raids from the Emergence. Due to those raids, Goran had reached out to the village of dark elvers which had also appeared nearby, striking an alliance against their mutual threat.


    "When you arrived we thought that it was those things attacking again, that''s why we attacked."


    "Understandable, the Emergence demands such a response."


    With Dax naming the creatures which had attacked their villages numerous times, both Goran and the dark elvers'' attention peaked as Goran further inquired about them.


    "The Emergence? Could you please elaborate and explain what it is exactly."


    As Dax explained what exactly the Emergence was, the faces of all who listened darkened considerably, while the dark elvers and centaurs had realized the severity of their situation and even formed an alliance because of it, their current situation now appeared hopeless.


    "My subordinates are already in the process of evacuating the lamia village from this planet, I''m willing to also offer these two villages refuge as a representative of the Galactic Empire."


    Taking a second to look around to his people who surrounded him, Goran furrowed his bows.


    "While I would love to accept that offer, my people''s culture demands we only listen to those which have proven themselves stronger than us. With that being the case, I, Goran, challenge you, Dax Alpha 4 to a duel."


    It appeared that as the village leader, Goran would love nothing more than just accepting Dax''s offer as it stood, but the way of his people prevented him from simply doing so.


    "Sure, it''s been a while since I''ve had a chance to exercise properly."


    Not expecting Dax to just accept his request so openly, Goran appeared surprised, but as he saw the expression on Dax''s face he quickly understood.


    It would seem that Dax valued strength just like the centaurs.


    Having agreed to the duel, Dax called over he CAS-7A so he could use it to change out of his XMRA armour, as he once more appeared from the craft he wore his usual pair of black shorts and t shirt, this openly displayed the numerous bright white scars all over his body. The arena for the duel was a 50 metre wide empty field, as Dax arrived Goran showed a confident smile as he walked into the field on the other side with a pair of blunt spears in hand. Discarding the brown leather vest he had been wearing on his upper body, Goran put his chiselled and scar riddled body on display as he explained the rules to Dax.


    "This bout is simply, just knock me out and you win."


    As Goran attempted to hand over one of the spears to Dax, the qiton raised his hand in refusal as he also took off his t shirt, showing off even more of his scars.


    "No need, my own body is all I need in a duel. The pride of my clan dictates I beat my opponents without any assistance."


    Explaining his reasoning as he also took off his eyepatch and removed his cybernetic eye before handing it over to Solaris, Dax showed a confident smile.


    "His clan?"


    Hearing something she had no idea about, Ke turned to Solaris and questioned her.


    "Alpha-4 is the clan of highest authority in Dax''s race, if it became known he beat someone weaker than himself in a duel by using a weapon he would be disgraced."


    Reluctantly explaining the circumstances to Ke, Solaris was confident in Dax''s absolute victory as the duel started.


    After all, there was no way her Dax could lose against anyone.

 317 Cultural exchange 6

    Sizing up his opponent, Dax assessed not only how to beat the 4 metre tall centaur, but how to also avoid killing him outright.


    (Should be doable in about¡­ 40 seconds?)


    While Dax warmed up his joints and stretched in a somewhat relaxed manner, Goran started spinning his practice spear around as his attitude changed into that of a seasoned veteran on the level of a qiton elder, displaying the reason he was the leader of the other centaurs in a society which solely valued strength.


    (... Better make that 50 seconds.)


    "Is Dax really going to be okay?"


    Watching Dax''s nonchalant attitude as he warmed up, Ke got increasingly more nervous as the seconds passed. While she could sense that Dax was strong, Ke hadn''t seen him fight yet, therefore she didn''t know for sure.


    "What a ridiculous thought, there''s no way Dax can lose."


    With IMI translating for Solaris, her prideful tone was clearly a display of trust in Dax''s abilities, but she had yet to offer Ke any evidence or reason behind that attitude.


    "Really? Centaurs are widely known as the best calvary there is and Goran looks extremely strong."


    "That hardly matters, Dax is a qiton."


    Perhaps wanting to brag about her lover, Solaris felt awfully talkative all of a sudden.


    "A qiton?"


    "Yeah, they''re a race created to be the perfect weapon, furthermore Dax''s body has been enhanced with the best biological engineering there is. He''s an extremely skilled special forces operative with over 500 years of combat experience if there''s anything able to kill him he would have been dead a long time ago. Even if you pitted him alone against the entirety of the Galactic Empire, Dax would come out on top."


    (That''s not exactly a good thing, is it? To have a single soldier be stronger than the entire country would be problematic...)


    "T-that sounds amazing¡­"


    A bit more at a loss for words than anything else, Ke was nevertheless put a bit at ease listening to Solaris'' seemingly endless praise.


    "Remember this is just a test of strength, not a fight to the death. Are both participants ready?"


    "Sure, anytime."


    With the dark elver representative acting as the referee, Dax still carried a nonchalant attitude which earned him the ire of the surrounding crowd, but Goran had started to see through the act. Dax''s breathing was rapid and shallow, loading his body up with oxygen while the subtle readjustments he was constantly making with footing tested out how much pressure he could put on the ground.


    "Don''t let me down now, Dax!"


    "Begin!"


    "Here I go!"


    Predictively Goran immediately went into a charge as he used his blunt spear as a lance, charging with murderous intent towards Dax who remained completely stationary, not even bothering to take a stance, but keen eyed observes noticed that his smile had all but disappeared, as had all other expressions on his face. As Goran closed to within striking range he trusted his spear, aiming for Dax''s chest as his target all but disappeared, next thing he knew, Goran was on the ground.


    "Please take this seriously."


    Speaking in an ice cold voice, Dax instantly chilled the entire village to its core. Although Ke barely saw it happening, she did catch a glimpse of Dax sidestepping Goran before hitting him with a single open palmed punch, sending the 900 kilo centaur flying with little to no visible effort.


    "GHAHA! Sorry about that!"


    Getting back on his hooves, Goran laughed loudly as he regained his fierce smile, spinning around his spear he started stalking Dax instead of just blindly attacking.


    "I guess I got too excited! It''s been a while since I''ve had such a worthy opponent!"


    Clearly still too excited to fight, Goran continued moving in circles around Dax with a beaming smile on his face, meanwhile, Dax didn''t even bother moving, standing perfectly still it seemed he was confident he would be able to counter Goran no matter what direction he came from.


    An assessment which was quickly proved correct, as every time Goran struck, he only hit air or the ground.


    "You''re 300 years to early to even attempt to beat me."


    Finally going on the offensive with those cold words, Dax knocked out Goran before the person in question even realized what had happened, bringing a tense silence to the centaur village.


    "Kyaa! Dax, you''re so cool!"


    Well, mostly silent anyway.


    Charging with speed comparable to Goran, Ke rapidly closed in and hugged Dax as she squealed like an overly excited school girl meeting her favourite idol and before he could peel her off him, Ke closed in on his head and quietly whispered into his ear.


    "I''m looking forward to my compensation~ After getting me this excited there''s no way I''ll let you snake out of this agreement~"


    (Shit¡­)


    Getting a shiver down his spine as he peeled the overly excited lamia off his body, Dax realized he would have to seriously deal with Ke at some point, because there was no way she would just let him go.


    -


    "GHAHAHAH! You totally beat me, Dax, you sure are ridiculously strong! Thanks for not holding anything back!"


    When Goran finally woke up he didn''t seem upset about losing in the slightest, in fact, it seemed to be ecstatic that he had found someone stronger than himself to fight against. Against such an honest and straightforward personality, Dax also found himself with a full on grin, Goran was definitely the type of acquaintance he would love to get drunk with while sharing war stories.


    "So, what are we going to do now, acting village leader?"


    Turning slightly more serious, Goran''s aura transformed into that of a seasoned village leader as he asked Dax.


    "We evacuate, transport has already arrived."


    As Dax answered Goran, multiple GE-5 heavy transports suddenly flew over the village before breaking and switching into VTOL flight mode as their massive electrothermal thrusters roared with power.


    "There''s room for everyone, what do you want to do?"


    Turning to the dark elver representative, Dax wore a thin smile which concealed a strong willed presence.


    "... There''s really no choice is there? Without the assistance of the centaur village we can''t defend against the Emergence."


    (Score one more exotic race with unknown qualities, Ra and Mu are going to be happy.)

 318 Cultural exchange 7

    "Yeah, I see it. Waiting for IMI to establish a zero delay uplink."


    In the middle of evacuating the centaur village, Dax was contacted by Lux warning him of contacts in high orbit coming down to play.


    "What''s going on?"


    Sensing the sudden change in Dax''s attitude, Solaris stopped what she was doing and came over.


    "We have contact in high orbit, looks like it''s the one that has been deploying scouts and raid teams down to the surface, it has seen us now and is starting to move."


    "I see¡­ Are we in trouble?"


    Solaris wasn''t really surprised at the news that the Emergence was on the move, after all, they were currently behind enemy lines.


    "Nah, I just need to take care of them real quick before it becomes a problem."


    Dax wasn''t really worried about losing his orbital assets, as they were state of the art Lazarus manufactured warships equipped with mana generators which could defend against anything the Emergence could throw at them, it was however very problematic if the Emergence fleet targeted Morax 4 itself and the ongoing evacuation effort.


    [IMI HEAVY UPLINK READY, STANDING BY FOR TRAFFIC.]


    "About time¡­ Establish uplink."


    Standing on a metal platform Dax was surrounded by holograms displaying countless diagrams and raw target data as he ripped off his t shirt to reveal the cybernetic implant which had replaced a large part of his spine as a drone plugged in a cable.


    [UPLINK ESTABLISHED, COMMAND AND CONTROL ARCHITECTURE ESTABLISHED, DIALING LAZARUS SYSTEMS, CONNECTION ESTABLISHED TO LAZARUS AUTONOMOUS TYPE BATTLECRUISER ID: 00009512.]


    In a split second Dax''s consciousness shifted from the surface of Morax 4 into space as a ship which didn''t officially exist came alive.


    (Let''s see¡­ Ah, there they are.)


    At first, Dax had trouble acquiring the Emergence contacts, but once he located them he quickly acted.


    (IMI, target. Set up the defensive screen and kill targets #1, 2 and 3 first, prioritize enemy mobility and communications, task HEL with point defence.)


    [IMI CONFIRMS, TARGETS ACQUIRED.]


    With orders to engage, the autonomous battlecruiser came alive as reaction control thrusters all over its boomerang shaped hull came alive, turning to face a small cluster of Emergence ships which were currently charging it now that they were sure they had been detected.


    [PREPARING TO FIRE.


    PRIMARY REACTOR ONLINE, MOVING TO WAR OUTPUT, CLOSING NON ESENSIAL POWER RELAYS


    SPINNING UP PRIMARY COOLING SYSTEMS.


    PRIMARY MANA FORGE ONLINE, COMMENCING MANA GENERATION.


    MANA LEVELS CRITICAL, LOADING SPELL ARCHITECTURE FROM PRIMARY SYSTEMS MAINFRAME:


    DESIGNATION, WIDE AREA SUPPRESSION LAZARUS #00019 ''ZEUS''.


    LOAD SUCCESSFUL, PRIMING EXPERIMENTAL PAYLOAD FROM MAGAZINE #4, CHARGING TO CRITICAL¡­


    CHARGE COMPLETE.


    SYSTEM READY.


    FIRING.]


    Creating multiple bright white gloving rune formations in front of itself like coils on a gauss rifle, the battlecruiser fired a single, custom made 940 mill railgun canister round. Reaching the first spell formation which was directly in front of it in a split second, the canister round


    violently accelerated each time it passed through one of the spell formations, until it reached high fractions of the speed of light before reaching the final spell formation which finally armed the payload inside.


    -


    "What the fuck was that?"


    Having felt a massive surge of mana, Ke had looked to the sky above just in time to witness what had appeared to be a massive bolt of lightning spread out across the sky before disappearing.


    "Ah, that? It was just our ship in orbit firing at something, Dax is most likely wiping out some Emergence ships before they become a problem."


    Answering Ke''s question like it wasn''t a big deal at all, Solaris left the lamia at a loss for words, but not for the reason she suspected.


    (What the hell was that spell? Sure, the scale was massive, but it was so inefficient¡­)


    (IMI, clear up scopes, I can''t see shit.)


    Having used a prototype weapon system to attack the Emergence forces, Dax suffered the unfortunate side effect of blinding his own sensors as he fired it off, an unforeseen issue Ra would have to address in upcoming modifications.


    [DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED, RESETTING ALL SENSORS TO BASELINE AND RECALIBRADING.... CALIBRATION COMPLETE. ALL TARGETS WIPED OUT.]


    Luckily the Emergence crafts weren''t able to strike back, as the effect of the spell had been greater than expected it had completely wiped out their forces.


    (Huh, would you look at that? Ra never disappoints, I guess¡­ IMI, move to standby on level 4 alert, continue scanning for hostile contacts.)


    [COMMAND DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED, MOVING TO STANDBY, TERMINATING CONNECTION.]


    Returning back to the surface of Morax 4, Dax ripped out the cable from his back and stretched as the external quantum communication system he had used shut down.


    -


    In the end, the investigation of Morax 4 was a success. Not only did the operation field test new equipment and technology which would be crucial in the fight against the Emergence, but Dax and his team even successfully recovered one of the artefacts which were changing Morax 4''s surface in addition to evacuating a handful of people from another dimension. But as the last GE-5 heavy transport lifted off to return to orbit, it was unknowingly being closely observed by a single drone. This drone was far more advanced than anything the Emergence or even Lazarus could produce, centuries ahead of anything else one could regard it as lost technology, only this drone wasn''t some strange translocated trinket, it was a scout relaying information back to its command centre, reporting that an unknown party had taken one of the ''world engines'' it was keeping taps on.


    Returning to Galactic Empire space, Dax''s unit headed directly to an off the books Lazarus research site where they were personally greeted by the two heads of the operation.


    "Lilly!~"


    "Nooo! Get away from me woman!"


    "Welcome back."


    With the already usual scene of Mu chasing around Lilly to capture her in a vice like hug, Ra chose to completely ignore it as she greeted Dax.


    "Thanks, did you get everything I ordered?"


    "I did, I even had the drones set up the kitchen just like you like it, you owe me for this."


    With a somewhat superior and seeming smug look on her face, Ra handed Dax a tablet with a list of various goods he had ordered through her. Quickly checking the list, Dax found nothing to be missing.


    "Thank you for this, Ra, Will the usual payment be sufficient?"


    "That''ll be plenty yeah, now, introduce me to your new friends."


    Finishing up their private matter, Ra turned her attention to the people Dax had brought back with him.


    "From the left to right, this is Ke, Goran and Rakan. The three of them are all leaders of their respective communities and were the ones which agreed to the evacuation from Morax 4."


    Quickly introducing the village leaders to Ra, Dax turned to them next.


    "The one chasing Lilly over there is Mu, and this is Ra. They''re both my sisters and are responsible for all the technology you''ve seen so far. Please come with me, I''ll show all of you the way to your temporary residence."


    Spending the rest of the day getting the guest settled in and dealing with after action reports to Ra and Mu, Dax found himself mentally drained when he finally returned to his quarters to rest.


    "Ah, there you are~"


    But his night had only just begun.


    Standing at his door with a beaming smile on her face, Alice greeted Dax who made the unfortunate mistake of paying closer attention to her expression before he answered her.


    "Hey, I know you most likely waited here for some time, but can it wa-"


    "Nope~ You said I had to wait until we got some time off to skin you alive, that would be now~"


    While Alice''s mouth was smiling, her eyes were displaying an entirely different emotion.


    "... Fine, let''s go inside so we don''t disturb anyone else."


    Finding himself surrounded, Dax gave up any attempt at fleeing while internally blaming himself for not keeping his guard up. Proudly facing his own execution, Dax straightened his back and accepted his fate without any qualms, but it turned out he had walked into a hearing, not an execution.


    "So? Do you have anything to say for yourself?"


    "I do, but could you please m-"


    "Nope~ Just go ahead and continue, don''t mind me."


    Finding himself surrounded on all sides by the girls with Alice sitting in his lap with her back leaning on his chest, Dax took a deep breath before he started explaining his side of ''the incident''.


    "So I initially didn''t realize how interested Ke was, if I did I would have let Lux handle establishing first contact. As I said when I did it, I needed to have physical contact with Ke for the translation to work and the only reason she managed to catch my head was because I was preoccupied with the constant bloodlust directed at my back."


    "Okay, then what about the kiss?"


    Feeling like he passed the first hurdle, Dax breathed an internal sigh of relief as he continued his explanation.


    "Right, that¡­ When Ke caught my head I quickly realized I couldn''t escape from her, I''m sure she could have crushed my head then and there. As she started kissing me I came to the unfortunate conclusion that the only way out of that situation was through it, I realize that was a poor decision, as decisions made under pressure usually are, but I don''t intend to defend it. By kissing someone I betrayed all the trust and good will you girls have placed in me and if you allow me to, I will work had to regain that trust."


    Finishing up his explanation and apology, Dax waited in what felt like an eternity as an uncomfortable silence fell over the room.


    "... You know we''re not really mad, right?"


    "Eh?"


    With Alice finally breaking the silence after what felt like an eternity, Dax was only even more confused as Lilly and Solaris closed in on him from either side as Alice also turned to face him.


    "After calming down, we realized it was unfair to be angry at you for something you had no control over. I personally feel like I''ve been too hard on you recently, but that''s only because we didn''t have any time together, that''s why I acted out like that, sorry."


    Explaining the girl''s general sentiment followed by her own personal feelings, Alice quickly hugged Dax to hide her own embarrassment.


    "Everything else aside, I am quite looking forward to how you''re going to make this all up to us as you said."


    With Lilly taking over for Alice, Dax suddenly got a bad premonition.


    "But, that-"


    "You wouldn''t take those words back after delivering such a moving speech, would you Dax?"


    With Solaris also closing in from the other side, Dax realized he had been done in by his own words.


    "... I guess I won''t. On that note, I''ve filed for some off time here on this station, I even had Ra ship in a bunch of first class ingredients and high class liquor. While I figure that will be a good start, I''m sure there''s more we can figure out as time goes on.


    Realizing that he had been neglecting the girls ever since returning to the Galactic Empire, Dax figured he would use the next few weeks of off time to make it up to them.

 319 Downtime 1

    "Ahh~ Delicious!"


    "... I''m going to be sick."


    While the Lazarus installation Dax''s unit found themself having a little holiday on was technically a research installation, Ra and Mu''s whims meant that there was a lot of stuff to do, in fact, it was like a tiny, hidden resort. Having decided to take full advantage of the current situation, Dax figured he would spoil the girls with attention, currently, he was in the mess hall in the progress of feeding Solaris his hand made filled chocolates, every time she tasted another one of Dax''s hand made sweets, Solaris squealed with happiness as her wings fluttered in delight. With the two of them having created their own little world, Lux quietly expressed her disgust as she continued eating her morning cereal.


    "Then don''t look, besides I used to feed you like this all the time Lux, this is perfectly normal."


    Maintaining a perfectly straight face as he fed Solaris another piece while addressing Lux''s off hand comment, Dax temporarily turned his attention to his adopted daughter.


    "While that might be true, I was six when I did that, this is different¡­"


    "No, it isn''t. I do this from a place of affection, same as I did with you. While I might not be able to internalize these emotions I find both you and the girls in high regard, I figured I should show that sometimes."


    Faced with Dax''s straight and honest response, Lux briefly found herself at a loss for words.


    (He really is starting to change for the better¡­)


    "... Haaa, okay then, just keep it in moderation¡­. And can I take a piece?"


    "Sure, there''s plenty. These are 65% dark flavoured with rum and filled with raisins, and those are 30% white, they''re filled with a ganache, sweetened black liquorice and freeze dried fruits."


    Figuring that there was no problem what they were doing, Lux surrendered as she reached out for the chocolate herself.


    -


    "Please take a seat here, just the best you''re able to should be fine."


    "... Okay, I''ll try my best.


    While Dax and the other hellwalkers were mostly just lazing around in the resort Lazarus had provided for them, serious work was actually being done.


    "Your best is enough. Ke, is it?"


    "Ah, yeah. And you''re Ra, right? Dax''s sister."


    "Correct, it is once more nice to meet you."


    Inside a frankly bit too cramped room, Ra was currently conducting a rudimentary medical examination of the refugees Dax had brought back from Marex 4, starting with just the village leaders so they could tell their people what to expect and help build up trust.


    "Likewise, Ra¡­ So, why exactly is this necessary?"


    Still not entirely sold on the need to have her body examined by someone she didn''t know, and even her crush''s sister no less, Ke fidgeted around as she nervously coiled her lower body around the chair she had been offered.


    Tapping away at a tablet with near lightning speed, Ra casually explained just a tiny bit of the dangers Ke was unknowingly exposed to just by being in a different world, it seemed that she didn''t really care to conduct the examination, but she still offered to do it for some reason.


    "I-I''ll do it!"


    "Okay then let''s start¡­ Please open your mouth."


    "Like thi-"


    Not even caring for her response, Ra jammed some sort of rod into Ke''s mouth as she was in the middle of a sentence.


    "Yeah, like that, hold still for a moment."


    As her large blue eyes caught even the smallest detail, Ra moved the rod around inside Ke''s mouth as she occasionally glanced at the tablet she was still typing on at lightning speed with her free hand.


    "Okay, I''m done now."


    Removing the metal instrument from the confused lamia''s mouth, Ra placed the instrument in some sort of machine as she continued her examination.


    "Do you feel cold right now?"


    "No, not particularly."


    "Okay, so this current temperature is around what you''re used to?"


    Seemingly wanting to get through the questions as fast as possible, Ra returned her focus to the tablet as she continued her typing.


    "Yeah, I guess."


    "... I see, please put this around your wrist. Do you feel lightheaded sometimes? Perhaps in the morning or late at night?"


    As soon as Ke would answer a question did Ra ask one or more new questions, this time she handed the lamia some kind of metal armband which Ke put around her wrist like she was told.


    "I was really dizzy the first day I arrived here, otherwise I guess I''ve been a little lightheaded when waking up."


    "Okay. That band is going to tighten a bit now, bare with it."


    "Ow! AW! IT''S TOO TIGHT!"


    Just like Ra said, the armband did tighten ''a bit'' around Ke''s arm, so much in fact that the person in question felt like she was going to lose her hand within the next 5 seconds.


    "Ah, sorry about that. Is this good?"


    "... Yeah, it doesn''t feel like my arm is going to be cut off so it''s fine, I guess?"


    "Perfect, that armband is going to stay on for the next 4 hours, if you feel like it''s pricking your skin underneath then that''s entirely normal, but if you lose feeling in your hand or it starts to turn blue then contact either me or Dax immediately. While there''s little overall chance that you''ll suffer any serious damage from this device I''m able to repair even the worst case scenario so don''t mind it."


    "No, I think I will mind it, thank you very much!"


    "That was a joke, at least some of it."


    (Exactly what part of that was a joke!?)


    Even as she was currently talking to her, Ke found it extremely hard to determine what kind of person Ra was. With what Dax had told her prior, Ra was a genius inventor who had designed most of the Galactic Empire''s warships, drones and arms, but Ke found it hard to see any trace of such brilliance in this woman who seemed utterly uninterested in what she was currently doing.


    (''Eccentric'' would be putting it lightly at this point¡­)


    "Okay, we''re almost done. Go ahead and lay down on top of this."


    "Ah, yes."


    Snapping out of her thoughts as Ra pointed to a large hospital style bed, Ke hurriedly untangled herself from the chair she had wrapped her lower body around and got up on the bed as Ra asked.


    "Okay, lie still for a bit, I''m scanning your internals to make sure there are no major defects which require immediate surgery."


    "Okay, I''ll hold still."


    Not really sure what Ra was talking about, Ke nevertheless made sure to keep her body still, not daring to move until about a minute later when Ra spoke up again.


    "... That should do it, except for that armband which will fall off on its own, this medical examination is now over, thanks for your patience."


    "Sure, then please excuse me."


    Finding that the entire ordeal had been quite taxing on her mind, Ke quickly got up from the bed and attempted to leave the room as the door out closed right in front of her, refusing to open.


    "I almost forgot, were you not the one that kissed Dax out of nowhere?"


    Getting a cold chill down her spine as Ra''s extremely cold sounding voice asked that question to her back, Ke attempted to snake herself out of her current problematic situation.


    "N-no, that was one of my kin who I have already strongly reprimanded for her actions. I think there''s something wrong with this door, it won''t open."


    "... Lying is meaningless before me, if you ever want to get out of this room again then take a seat."


    "Yes ma''am."


    Nervously taking a seat once more in front of Ra, Ke found that Ra''s attention was now entirely focused on her, she had even put down the tablet which she had been typing on doing the entirety of the medical examination.


    "So? Why did you kiss him? Was it a dare? Perhaps you felt like you could later use it as political leverage?"


    "T-that''s¡­"


    Feeling her face heat up under Ra''s sudden interrogation, Ke struggled to find the words she should use and fell silent, something which Ra didn''t like one bit.


    "It''s also okay not to answer me at all, in that case, I''ll just tell everyone that you accidentally fell into the trash compactor."


    "Eh? N-no, please wait a second! It is true that I kissed him, yeah, but that''s only because I failed to control myself, for that I deeply apologize!"


    Finding that her life was in danger, Ke hurriedly lowered her head as she blurted out her true feelings.


    "... I believe I already said that lying is meaningless before me."


    "But it is true! When Dax suddenly grabbed my hand like that I was unable to contain myself, I am really sorry about that!"


    Faced with Ke''s sudden, teary eyed outburst, Ra narrowed her eyes as she checked the surveillance footage archives of her current conversation, making one of her server farms which she normally used for complex simulations run through every single expression Ke had made over the last few seconds, combined with the tone of her voice and vitals.


    After a few seconds, Ra found that Ke was telling the truth.


    "You couldn''t contain yourself? What, did you fall in love at first sight like some sort of prepubescent schoolgirl?"


    "..."


    Faced with silence to her rhetorical question, Ra suddenly felt a headache build up in the back of her mind as she breathed a deep sigh before continuing.


    "So, what exactly do you like about my younger brother?"


    "... That''s¡­ Look, I realize I don''t really know anything about Dax okay!? It''s just that when I locked eyes with him for the first time I suddenly felt really hot in my chest, I can''t really explain it, but whenever I talk with him I get this sudden urge to monopolize him, I want Dax to look at me, I want him to laugh and I want to be useful to him. But most importantly I want to make him happy¡­ Is that really so bad? I have never really felt like this before, but my mother told me that if I ever felt this way towards someone I had to chase them, that''s why..."


    Slightly teary eyed from embarrassment, Ke looked straight into Ra''s eyes as her face felt like it was on fire. Following Ke''s emotional outburst, a somewhat awkward silence fell over the medical room, the frankly uncomfortable silence was only broken about a minute later when Ra breathed another deep sigh as she massaged her eyebrows.


    "... You know that Dax is not able to return those feelings right?"


    "Because he already has 3 other lovers?"


    Still determined to be with Dax, no matter how small a chance she had, Ke didn''t mind being number 4.


    "No, because he''s not chemically able to feel love, same as me and my sister."


    "Eh?"


    Seeing confusion spread on Ke''s face, Ra breathed another deep sigh before she started explaining.


    "You are aware of Dax''s race right? Qiton''s were created just like my own race for a single purpose by a long gone super advanced race."


    "I don''t see your point."


    "A ''perfect'' war machine has no need for love, the same as the ''perfect'' researcher. Sure, we are able to understand the concept and feel a sense of comradery with people we have known for a long time, but we''ll never be able to internalize romantic feelings."


    "Then what about Dax''s lovers?"


    Not able to believe what she was hearing, Ke felt a strange sense of desperation which was only crushed by Ra''s next words.


    "They know about all this, of course, but in spite of that those girls have accepted Dax for what he is and still love him very deeply."


    Met with only silence to her explanation, Ra breathed another deep sigh.


    "The only reason I wanted you to know this is because I''m giving you my and my sisters blessing to go ahead and pursue Dax, as your intentions are pure. We''re done here, you can leave now."

 320 Downtime 2

    Letting out a long and exhausted sounding sigh for the nth time while staring out into empty space, Ke finally prompted one of her friends who had been observing her strange behaviour for the last few days to speak out.


    "Ke? Are you really sure you''re okay?"


    "... Okay? Yeah, I''m fine¡­ Haaaaaaaaaaaa¡­"


    Answering entirely absent mindedly before letting out another long sigh, even Dax would be able to notice that she was feeling down, bordering on outright depressed over something, and it really could only be about one thing.


    "Did that man which caught your eye shoot you down?"


    "Eh? Ah, Dax? No, he didn''t¡­ There''s really nothing wrong, so don''t mind me¡­ Haaaaaaa¡­"


    Ever since Ke had talked with Ra, her mind had been a mess. Sure, learning so much about Dax and even getting approval to pursue him from his sisters was something she had dreamed about, but she had also learned more than she wanted.


    (... He really can''t feel those emotions? But he seems so normal?... In the end, I just selfishly pushed all my emotions on to him without even learning anything about him first, I even kissed him before I even knew his name¡­)


    "Haaaaaaaaa¡­"


    After talking to his older sister, Ke realized that she really knew nothing at all about Dax, sure she still liked him, but they were basically strangers and the way she had approached him seemed extremely rude in hindsight, there was no doubt in Ke''s mind that Dax hated her after how he had acted.


    And why wouldn''t he? While Ke couldn''t put herself in Dax''s shoes, not being able to feel the emotions she could make the way Ke had acted seem strange, possibly even annoying to Dax as he had to deal with her.


    (He definitely hates me now¡­ I don''t want to meet him, if I do I''ll just be a bother anyway¡­)


    Sure, Ke still cared deeply about Dax, that was exactly why she didn''t want to bother him unnecessarily, but at the same time Ke wanted him to look at her, she wanted his attention and she wanted to make him happy but had no idea how. All these thoughts had been raging inside her mind for days now, with no clear answer they ate away at everything else Ke was doing and she found herself in a near constant daze.


    "Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa¡­"


    "My, how pathetic."


    (Ghe!-)


    Having let her guard down as she was constantly sighing deeply, Ke failed to take notice of her surroundings, that is until she heard a voice belonging to a person definitely didn''t want to meet at the moment. As her face cramped up from surprise, Ke finally broke the staring contest she had had with the floor for the past 3 hours to look up and find an angel standing above her with a disgusted look on her face.


    "... What the hell do you want?"


    Hiding her mouth with a hand as she spoke, Ke definitely felt like Solaris was looking down on her, which she was and had every reason to at the moment, but something about one of her primary rivals looking down on her when she was this lost really pissed Ke off.


    "Then why the hell are you still here!? Fuck off!"


    Watching Ke''s outburst, Solaris'' eyes got even colder than they had already been as she narrowed them slightly.


    "I heard that you got Ra''s approval to chase Dax so I was actually somewhat impressed, as I know how hard it is to get those sisters to approve¡­ But seeing this sorry sight made me realize Ra must have made some sort of mistake."


    "Then how the hell do you expect me to react!? Hearing that the love of my life is unable to ever return my feelings, no matter how hard I try!?"


    Raising up her body, Ke towered above Solaris as her anger mixed with the frustration of being unable to find an answer to her current situation took over, but even as she looked down on the angel, Ke felt that the current situation was the opposite.


    "Isn''t that the simplest thing in the world to answer? You just continue to pursue him and be affectionate. If the love of your life doesn''t know what love is, you just show it to them until they get it. Meeting someone as passionate as you who fell in love at first sight and even had the courage to try and steal Dax from me while I''m looking at it, I believed you would understand that instinctively, but I guess I was wrong¡­. Aaahhh, so disappointing."


    Delivering a string of harsh words without even a shred of mercy, Solaris tore into Ke''s current insecurities without holding anything back before she seemingly got bored and left, leaving just Ke and her friend who were both speechless for quite a while after.


    "... She really is a bitch that one, don''t mind what she said Ke¡­ Ke?"


    While her friend hadn''t realized the true meaning behind Solaris'' words, Ke was frozen in place as she finally realized.


    (... She came here to cheer me up?... But why?)


    While Solaris'' words were unmistakably harsh, they did truly help Ke, thus the lamia made the first step out of her current slump as she now was confused for an entirely different reason.


    (... That arrogant angel also praised me somewhere in there, didn''t she?)


    -


    "Yo."


    "..."


    Sticking his head into Ra''s office, Dax was greeted with silence by the person inside, but this was actually a good sign.


    "I brought your payment."


    Holding up a box of sweets he had made, Dax still received no verbal answer from Ra who was busy typing at lightning speed on her keyboard as different non liniar equations and other data flashed on the 20 or so screens she had surrounded herself with, but the avoaxian did raise a free hand to wave Dax over. Having received permission to enter the premises, Dax closed the door after him as he carefully stepped over countless discarded papers and tablets thrown all over the room to make his way to Ra who was currently sitting on the floor with a keyboard on her lap and nearly surrounded by monitors. Taking a seat on the floor behind Ra, Dax opened the box of sweets he had brought Ra and took out an ultra sweet and fruity filled chocolate, reaching over Ra''s shoulder he held the piece a bit in front of Ra''s mouth until she ate it without any reservations. Continuing in that manner for the next hour, Dax continued to feed Ra sweets in the order that he knew she prefered while she kept working, occasionally taking breaks as he knew she didn''t like stuffing herself too fast. After having eaten the entire box of sweets, Ra still continued working in silence, but she did have time to give Dax thumbs up.


    "You''re welcome. Do you have time now?"


    "..."


    Once more met with silence, Dax breathed a small sigh before he started meditating, he knew from experience that once Ra started working on a problem she couldn''t put it down mid progress. Zoning out the somewhat rhythmic tapping from Ra''s keyboard, Dax''s mind returned to the battle against the hydra on Marex 4 a few weeks ago. While Dax had come out victorious, even without a single injury on his team, he had lost a lot more air assets doing the battle than he would deem acceptable against such a level of opponent. What if he had used more magic and called in orbital artillery earlier? Or changed the Hornet''s swarm pattern? Perhaps if he had them do long range engagements instead of close air support, but if he did that, would they have been able to cover for them? Would someone have gotten injured in that case? What if-


    "I''m done now."


    "Good work. Is it that ''world engine'' you''re still working on?"


    Snapping out of his mediation as Ra had finished her work, Dax opened his eyes to find Ra now facing him as she had turned off her countless monitors.


    "Yeah, that''s it. Although I''m just doing the legwork for Mu and cross checking the data while she''s doing the actual analysis together with Ling, Ying and Iris."


    While Ra was one of the top researchers in the Galactic Empire, the artefact Dax had brought back this time was outside her field of expertise, so she ''just'' did ''legwork'' for Mu while she worked on understanding the artefact, although that legwork consisted of several petabytes of raw data, it wasn''t really a big deal for someone like Ra.


    "And thanks for doing the medical examination too, I really was at a loss over what to do."


    "No problem, it gave me some nice data to work with too, I think I''m nearing the stage where we can do a complete rehaul of your biological enhancements."


    "I''m looking forward to that, did you talk with the representatives too?"


    While the primary reason Ra undertook the task of doing the medical examinations was to get new data she could work with, Dax was positive she also did it so she could get to know her new ''test subjects'' better.


    "Ah, yeah, I learned a lot¡­ Rakan feels really sorry about the way he treated you the first time you guys met but has a hard time apologizing due to his pride. Goran is really just a kid in an adult''s body and is just as much a muscle head as you are, so I understand why the two of you bonded so quickly¡­ As for Ke, we talked a bit."


    "... You didn''t shove her down the trash compactor, did you?"


    Knowing how Ra and Mu treated women who approached him without getting their approval first, Dax realized he hadn''t seen Ke lately and started getting worried.


    "Nope, she passed. But when I told her about how we''re wired she seemed to be confused."


    "Ah, yeah that happens a lot, doesn''t it?"


    Having lived as long as they had, both Dax and Ra had come into contact with countless people, the vast majority of them didn''t know how to handle their lack of emotions so it was no surprise that Ke would need some time to process it.


    "It sure does¡­ Solaris visited earlier to ask how Ke did on the test, when I told her how Ke reacted she seemed to get really angry before storming off."


    "... Seems like Solaris has accepted Ke as a rival..."


    Dax knew full well that Solaris wouldn''t have reacted with anger if she didn''t care about Ke, if she had been entirely indifferent about her, she wouldn''t have gotten angry like that.


    "She''s a cute one to be sure, do something about the current situation, will you? And talk with the others about this too."


    "Yes ma''am, right away."


    Getting the definite impression that Ra wasn''t making a request, but ordering him, Dax saluted her as Ra broke into a slight smile.


    "Good boy."

 321 Downtime 3

    "Gha!"


    Sending his training opponent flying across the room for the nth time, Dax breathed a shallow sigh as he centred himself again, pulling in his extended arm and returning his heartbeat to none combat levels.


    "... You keep lowering your guard the same way Alice, it''s really a bad habit of yours."


    "Again, please."


    Clearly exhausted beyond the reasonable limits for sparing, Alice nevertheless got up from the mat and put up her guard, seemingly ready to fight (and lose) until she collapsed, not that Dax would let that happen. Sitting down on the mat, Dax patted the space in front of him with a slight smile on his face.


    "Nope, take a seat. You''re not going to improve like this."


    "... Fine."


    Reluctantly putting down her hands as she started pouting slightly, Alice walked over to Dax and took a seat on the mat in front of him.


    "Your heart is not in this, what''s going on?"


    "..."


    ???It''s about Ke, right?"


    Taking further silence as an answer, Dax placed a hand on top of Alice''s head before starting to ruffle her hair.


    "There''s no way I''ll do anything that you girls are not okay with, you know that right?"


    "I know that, it''s just that I''m feeling a little conflicted¡­ On one hand, I''m really angry at her for what she did, but on the other hand, I really can''t find any difference in the way she''s pursuing you from the way I did, if anything she''s way more honest about it than I ever was... I want to monopolize your attention, but on the other hand, I''m already sharing you with 2 other people. Then there is the fact that Ke passed Ra and Mu''s test, she''s basically as qualified as we are."


    "... If you want me to shut her down just say the word."


    Showing a smile at Dax''s suggestion Alice took his hand off her head and clenched it as her words started to waver slightly.


    "There''s no need to do that, denying Ke''s happiness like that would be condescending of me. Just promise you won''t forget about us."


    Sensing Alice was genuinely nervous that Dax would forget about her, Dax reassured her with a warm smile.


    "There''s no way I''ll ever forget any of you girls, you''ve taught me there''s more to life than just fighting meaningless wars and seeking a glorious place to die like a ''proper'' qiton."


    -


    "Hey¡­"


    "What''s up?"


    "How do you feel about Ke?"


    Lazing around in his room with Lilly plopped down on top of his chest and reading, Dax was suddenly asked one of those loaded questions he had heard his subordinates talk about countless times, knowing from their experience that a wrong answer would have terrible consequences, Dax was at a sudden loss for words.


    "... That''s a loaded question, you know that right?"


    "I am aware of that, don''t dodge the question."


    (Well, shit.)


    Sensing Lilly''s not so hidden annoyance, Dax figured he might just die with honesty.


    "Looking at her tribe and the fact that they survived on Marex 4 for so long I think she''s a competent although inexperienced leader with the strength to back it up. I know that''s not the answer you''re seeking but except for her initial strong impression I don''t really know anything about her, and I''m pretty sure that feeling of distance is mutual."


    "... Okay then."


    Having expected some kind of reaction other than just indifference, Dax was at a loss for words until he realized that Lilly was sulking, most likely having similar thoughts as Alice did when she brought up Ke earlier.


    "What? Do you think she''s going to steal me from you?"


    "I do, is there something wrong with that?"


    Being unexpectedly honest with herself and Dax, Lilly breathed a deep sigh before falling silent, leading Dax to hug her from behind before starting to speak.


    "I talked about this with Alice this morning, but I really am grateful for you girls, even though I realize I haven''t really said it, I am happy being with you."


    "Are you really?"


    Rolling over on Dax''s chest, Lilly looked into Dax''s eyes with a tiny bit of uneasiness visible on her face.


    "Yeah I am, before meeting you girls I really didn''t care about anything in my life, I was just fighting. I joined the galactic navy as a marine before becoming a black operator without any real feelings behind it. I did some truly horrible things for the empire without really caring for it because fighting for my life was the only real way I could feel alive. Being here with you right now is more enjoyable for me than fighting ever was, even though the instinct for wanting bloodshed is hardwired into my genetics. Although I''m not able to experience the same emotions as you girls do towards me, making you happy fulfils me in the same way fighting does¡­ It really is strange."


    "Oh, i-is that so?"


    Breaking out into a full on blush and breaking eye contact as she started playing with her hair, Lilly practically begged Dax to mess with her, and so he did.


    "I feel like I''ve just bared my heart for you Lilly, don''t you have anything to say to me in return?"


    "T-that''s!- Not right now, no. I''m going back to reading."


    Hiding her embarrassment by putting the book she was currently reading between Dax''s and her own face, Lilly only made Dax''s grin grow even larger as he slowly trapped Lilly in place with his hand without her noticing.


    "Hey, Lilly."


    "Wh-what is it?"


    "I really want to hear what you think of me."


    "Th-that''s really not¡­. Are you doing this on purpose?"


    "I am~"


    "Wha!- You imbecile!"


    When Lilly finally realized what Dax was doing, it was far too late for her to escape.


    "Let me go!"


    "Nope~"


    Thrashing around with a bright red face for a good while in Dax''s arms, Lilly eventually surrendered as tears started forming in the corners of her eyes.


    "I''m not going to forget this¡­"


    "Yeah, I figured that was the case. It was still worth it."


    After having his fun on behalf of Lilly''s emotions, Dax eventually soothed her over with kisses, although it took a considerable amount to do so.

 322 Downtime 4

    "... Okay, lead the way."


    Feeling a sudden burst of bloodlust, Ke found herself unable to decline Lilly''s sudden request. As Ke agreed to Lilly''s request, the elver''s bloodlust subsided considerably, something which only served to further confuse Ke as she had absolutely no idea what Lilly wanted with her.


    (It doesn''t seem like she wants to fight, but I better make some precautions, just in case.)


    Having witnessed plenty of serious competition between members of her village growing up, Ke wasn''t naive enough to think that Lilly was just going to accept her with open arms.


    Leaving the part of the Lazarus station Ke and the other lamia''s had access to, Lilly silently lead her to what seemed like a meeting room with a long table and multiple chairs, the wall oppersid of were they entered being no more than a thin plane of glass separating them from the cruel vacuum of space and providing a full view of the Lazarus automounts battlecruiser that had brought them to the station currently undergoing a complete retrofit. Sitting down in one of the empty chairs, Lilly''s golden eyes stared disinterestedly out in space in front of her, with seemingly no interest in answering Ke''s questions, Ke worked out that they were waiting for someone and made herself comfortable.


    "What are we doing here exactly?"


    But even when 10 minutes had passed and nothing had happened yet, Ke found herself unable to remain silent any longer out of sheer boredom. Before Lilly even thought of entertaining that pointless question, the door into the meeting room opened as Lux entered in casual wear, taking a seat next to Lilly before addressing Ke.


    "I don''t need to tell you what we''re talking about, do I?"


    Emitting a strange sort of pressure with her words and overall attitude, Lux put Ke on edge in a way she couldn''t quite pinpoint, but this feeling was definitely similar to that of a bloodthirsty beast staring down its next meal, even as Lux''s body language or aura seemed that way.


    "N-no, I''m pretty sure what this is about."


    Realizing that she knew very little about Lux except for the fact that she was Dax''s adopted daughter and second in command, Ke decided to exercise the better part of valour and take extreme caution when dealing with her.


    "Is Solaris also coming or?"


    Having finished addressing Ke, Lux turned to Lilly who shrugged in response.


    "Okay then let''s start. Alice, take a seat."


    "Sure¡­"


    (!!! When did she!?)


    Suddenly realizing that there had been a person right behind her for a while, Ke broke out in a cold sweat as she struggled to appear calm on the surface. With Alice taking a seat next to Ke, Lux''s aura changed as she put on a slight smile before finally addressing Ke and telling her what was going on.


    "I find that hard to just believe outright¡­"


    Glancing to Lilly which clearly still harboured negative feelings towards her, Ke put on a wry smile as her heartbeat slowed down slightly.


    "Ra and Mu have accepted you, but that doesn''t mean we do, okay!? Even if you fooled them, it is clear to me that you just wanted to tie Dax around your finger, I clearly see through your intentions!"


    Bringing the entire room at a loss for words with a barrage of unsubstantiated claims, Lilly created quite an awkward atmosphere with her clearly hostile attitude towards Ke, this made Lux breathe a deep sigh as she moved to sidestep the jealous elver.


    "... Sorry about that, you can just ignore Lilly for the moment."


    "What do you mean ''ignore me''!? Why are you even here Lux!? I- ¡­ I''m sorry, I overreacted."


    Continuing her child like outburst, Lilly was quickly silenced by Lux when she released her bloodlust in the elves'' direction. With the room once more falling into an awkward silence, Alice faked a cough before showing Ke a bright smile.


    "Lilly''s current attitude aside, this was just meant as an opportunity for the 4 of us to get to know each other better."


    With her straightforward honesty and bright smile, Alice succeeded in easing the current situation, but at the same time, she left Ke feeling quite perplexed.


    "I''m sorry, but I lied earlier¡­ I have no idea what is currently going on here, could someone explain?"


    Making the room fall silent once more, both Alice and Lux glanced at Lilly who suddenly got a lot smaller in her chair as her face flushed red.


    "I''m sorry."


    "Haaaaa. We wanted to talk with you Ke and get to know you better because we''ve accepted you. Chief among the things I want to know is if you still want to approach Dax after getting to know about his lack of feelings."


    Bringing the conversation back on topic, Lux pressed Ke with the answer to a question she wasn''t even sure of herself. Sure, Ke felt like she was still in love with Dax, she had been ever since she first laid eyes on him and that feeling still remained even before Solaris motivated her to stop worrying, but Ke had also realized she was basically just one sidedly pushing her feelings onto Dax, so she was still at a loss for words.


    "I-I don''t really know, to be honest¡­ If it''s not a bother I would love to get closer to Dax, but I don''t want to make him uncomfortable so I don''t really know how to proceed¡­"


    Baring her own honest feelings, Ke felt her own face heart up slightly, something which made Lux sigh deeply before throwing a curveball towards her.


    "Just how pure hearted are you?"


    "Eh?"


    "If Dax was even bothered by you in the slightest he would have let you know a long time ago, he''s really thick headed when it comes to things like that¡­ Or rather, he''s too stupid when it comes to things like that to even attempt to word it nicely."


    "That he is indeed¡­"


    With both Alice and Lilly offering a collective sigh, Ke quickly understood that Lux was not exaggerating in the slightest.


    "Before you go see him we just want to get to know you better."


    Continuing on without getting stuck on a topic, Lux leaned forward in her chair and placed her elbows on the table with a smile on her face, she seemed like an overly excited schoolgirl that would stay up all night to talk about love with her friends.


    "Ehm¡­ There''s really not much to say, I grew up in my village which I never really ventured outside. Born as the heir to the title of village leader, my elders doted on me while my peers looked up to me with high expectations which I had to meet, so I spent most of my time studying leadership and increasing my own strength. Before I realized I had spent more time studying leadership than actually practising it, so when I became the village leader I struggled at first, but I quickly learned to become self reliant and follow my own intuition above all."


    Despite starting out by stating that there really wasn''t much to her, Ke nevertheless loved to talk about herself, as everyone did when given the right prompt.


    "Hmm~ So you''re more the type to draw on your own knowledge and experience than anything else? In that case, you''re somewhat like Lilly, although you don''t seem quite as headstrong."


    "What the hell do you mean ''headstrong''!? I''m a kind, calm and honest girl!"


    "Anyway, I''m saying that you two might have more in common than you think, as long as you are willing to open up to each other, just be patient with Lilly, she''s not that honest with herself."


    "Um, I am actually up for getting to know you better Ke, I hope we can get to know each other and get along from now on."


    "... Thanks Alice, I''m also looking forward to getting to know you better."


    In the midst of Lux teasing Lilly, Ke and Alice forged a tender beginning of a friendship.


    -


    (Other than the attempt to recover a mana forge doing the Cyprex Alpha raid there has been little evidence that the Emergence has consistent access to either mana or advanced technology, but someone is definitely bestowing the Emergence with lost technology, furthermore there seems to be at least a semblance of cooperation between the Emergence and this unknown party¡­)


    While Dax and his unit had been kicking back and relaxing, the reconquest of the Emergence occupied space had been progressing mostly as planned. While admiral Simmon''s blitz offensive to cripple the Emergence''s strategic production output had been successful, the Emergence had nevertheless found some way to rebuild its fleet and maintain its numbers enough to limit the advance of the galactic navy, but they were still starting to envelop the dark systems which had been determined to be the home of the Emergence''s main body, or at least a high concentration of it neuron clusters.


    (Judging the way the war is going right now, the situation is bound to become hopeless for the Emergence within the next month?... No, Simmons is rotating crews so he''ll delay the final offensive by a few weeks¡­ In that case, something is bound to happen 2 months from now, at a critical point on the front line, either this unknown 3rd party directly intervenes or they lose the Emergence¡­ I guess I need to get the 125th back on the front lines then, with vast improvements to overall performance and combat effectiveness too.)


    Feeling that the ground beneath him was rapidly shrinking even from his own comfortable position, Dax decided to start taking steps and taking precautions for the possibility that the ground beneath him was becoming a whole lot smaller.


    "We''re at the dawn of a new age, huh?... Feels like it has been a while since that last happened."


    "... What are you talking about Dax?"


    "Ah, nothing, I''m just talking to myself, sorry about that Ke."


    Opening his eyes as he once more focused on what was in front of him instead of the further, Dax sat face to face with Ke who had been following him throughout his day with great interest. Ke who had wanted to get to know more about Dax requested to follow him throughout the day, and to her surprise, he accepted that unreasonable request without batting an eye. Throughout the day, Dax trained, meditated, cooked and did weapons development with Ra before finally sitting down for the first time with Ke talking a seat and watching him with a smile on her face.


    "Then from here I pretty much have nothing going on except for responding to urgent requests from command, but they rarely come through these days¡­ Was this really that entertaining to watch?"


    "It was! I felt like I''ve learned a lot about this world, especially cooking. I had no idea you could use bones which were leftover for so many things."


    With a smile on her face as the tip of her tail slowly moved back and forth as she spoke about the stock and demi glace Dax was working on, it was clear to him that Ke was genuinely interested in what he had been doing all day.


    "Then, seeing as you were so interested in this, do you want to grab a bite to eat with me? I''m working on some new experiments."


    "Eh? Me?"


    "Yeah, I''ll whip up something real quick, what do you want?"


    With an entirely frank expression on his face, Dax made it clear to Ke that he thought nothing special about cooking for her, something which left Ke with quite mixed feelings.


    "... T-then I''ll leave the menu up to you."

 323 Downtime 5

    Looking around the kitchen while discarding some of the older preservatives who hadn''t made it since his last visit, Dax turned to Ke who was on the other side of the counter.


    "So, my options are pretty much unfeathered so what do you want?"


    "... I don''t really know, to be honest, I don''t even know what half of these ingredients are."


    Answering honestly, Ke looked with confusion at the numerous jars and strange ingredients in front of her, but she nevertheless kept an open mind.


    "Then let''s do a menu d¨¦gustation, I''ll whip up some starters."


    "A what now?"


    As Dax started filleting a medium sized bluefin tuna, he took the time to explain some basic restaurant terminology.


    "A tasting menu, simply put it''s a collection of small sized dishes served together which allow you to try a wide array of different ingredients and preparations. Do you have any allergies?"


    "I don''t think so?"


    "Good, then the first dish is ready, eat up."


    "Eh?"


    Not having kept track of what Dax had been doing while she talked to him, Ke looked to the table in front her with surprise and immediately examined the plate that he placed in front of her. Dax had prepared a small dish of thinly sliced pieces of tuna on top of a simple salad which was marinated with some sort of dressing. Overall it was a very flavorful looking dish which had quite an inviting smell, but the raw fish on display put Ke off.


    "... Is that¡­ Raw fish?"


    "No it''s Carpaccio, the marinate serves to prepare the fish but it needs to be eaten fresh or the taste will spoil so please dig in. It''s great, trust me."


    With visible hesitation clear on her face, Ke slowly reached for the fork and scooped up a forkful containing both fish and salad before quickly shoving it into her mouth with her eyes shut tightly.


    "Mmmm!~"


    "I told you it was great~"


    With Ke forming a large smile on her face as she rapidly devoured the rest of her dish, Dax mimicked her smile as he started preparing for the next dish.


    "Even though the fish is sooo soft the flavour really just explodes in my mouth! I don''t think I''ve ever had fish like this before, it''s so tasty!~"


    "So what else do you want to try?"


    "More fish~ I never really liked fish before, but this is great~"


    Watching Ke on cloud nine with a large smile on her face, Dax got an idea for the next dish he wanted Ke to try.


    "Normally using the same ingredient two times in a row is a sin, but I think I can make an exception."


    "While the first preparation was something more akin to something you could get in a fine restaurant, this is something which would be something more commonly found at a street vendor."


    Serving up the deep fried tuna with its puffed up shell of batter encapsulating it and the mayo on the side, Dax couldn''t help but smile at the childlike glee Ke was radiating.


    "Dig in while it''s hot."


    "Don''t mind if I do~"


    Digging into Dax''s second dish with an audible crunch, Ke found that the outer batter was crisp and ethereal while the fish inside was served as a perfect fresh balance to the heavy oily exterior, the overall taste made even better when she dipped the entire thing in chilly mayo. With Ke clearly enjoying her second dish and seemingly having no time to give audible feedback other than the occasional squeal of joy, Dax started on his next preparation.


    (Since this one was a bit on the heavy side I''ll go with something lighter¡­ Yeah, this will work.)


    Tossing some fresh pasta into some heavily salted boiling water, Dax started sauteing some fresh spinach and garlic before adding a splash of white wine as Ke finished devouring her dish.


    "Hey, what are you making now?~"


    Already thoroughly hooked on Dax''s cooking after trying just two dishes, she impatiently slapped her tail against the ground as her anticipation rose for Dax''s next dish, part of the reason why she was acting like this was that Dax kept the portions small, but also because she had never tasted something so good before.


    Luckily Dax had already anticipated Ke''s uptick in apatite, the next dish was already ready. Presenting a relatively simple vegetarian pasta dish, Dax was all smiles as Ke rapidly devoured it.


    "How are you so good at this Dax?"


    Satisfied with the food for the moment, Ke finally voiced the question which had been in the back of her mind for a long time now, it seemed whatever Dax did he did so flawlessly.


    "I just found myself bored one day and decided to start practising and experimenting, keeping an open mind throughout it all... I failed a lot at the start, but after a few hundred years of practice I reached this level."


    "... A few hundred years? Just how old are you, Dax?"


    "Ah, I never really explained that huh?..."


    Realizing he had never really told Ke about himself, Dax explained exactly what a qiton was, along with a brief explanation of his life, growing up on the qiton homeworld with his mother, the spartan training, joining the galactic navy as a special forces operator, doing the Empire''s dirty work for years until he met Ra and Mu, the formation of Lazarus and finally how he was marooned in a world of magic.


    "Are you going to call me an old man now? I wouldn''t blame you, being unaging is not really that common of a trait among none engineered life."


    "... You don''t really act like an old man so I won''t call you that, if anything I''m a bit jealous I haven''t seen all these parts of your life myself¡­"


    While Ke was even more amazed at all the things Dax had done throughout his life, she also was a tiny bit vexed that she hadn''t met him sooner. Ke constantly felt like she was behind the other girls in Dax''s life, and she wanted to close that gap, but at the same time, she didn''t want to be a bother. Seeing Ke''s face cloud with complex feelings, Dax immediately gave up attempting to assess what was going on inside her head, instead, he chose to just reassure and motivate her.


    "Well, I don''t plan on dying any time soon. So instead of thinking about the parts of my life, you''ve missed so far, why don''t you think about what''s ahead instead?"


    Placing a hand on top of Ke''s head, Dax carefully ruffled her hair while making sure he didn''t rough up her braids, in response Ke narrowed her eyes slightly as her face started to heat up.


    "... You know doing stuff like that makes me want to pounce, right?~"


    "Yeah, I''m not that dense. The girls have already accepted you and I really enjoy your company so I have no issue with a closer rela-"


    Not getting a chance to finish his sentence, Dax suddenly needed to worry about Ke''s safety as she abandoned all precautions and leaped over the kitchen table separating the two of them and quickly ''captured'' Dax, but in the ensuing battle, her lack of experience proved detrimental.

 324 Elemental magic 1

    With a single word incantation, the target dummy made out of solid metal started melting, in seconds it was reduced to a messy puddle of half molten metal as some of the sensors inside it started burning before the area around it was quarantined by a glass cylinder as the automatic fire suppression system kicked in.


    "... Amazing."


    Mostly at a loss for words even as she saw it for the 10th time, Ra quickly snapped out of her daze and made sure all the data of the event had been recorded correctly. Unlike the spells Ra had seen so far, this was something else entirely, the scale of destruction, speed of spell construction and efficiency were miles above anything she could construct herself.


    "This sure is something else entirely¡­ Although I hate to admit it, I have no current way of matching that level of performance. What about you Solaris?"


    "Nope, although I feel like I''ve seen something like this before, from an archangel which had fought during the great calamity. Her spells were on a different level than anything those who came after her could do, and it is remarkably similar to something like that..."


    Even Lilly and Solaris had no way of matching what they had just witnessed, even Solaris who had seen something similar when she was a child had no way of replicating it, it felt like there was some kind of difference between the kind of magic she wielded and what Ke just had shown off.


    "Ah, it''s been a long time since I''ve seen that kind of magic~?"


    Only one member of Dax''s team seemed to be able to discern the difference between the magic people like Terra and Solaris had been using up until now, and what Ke just demonstrated, unluckily for Dax it was Ifrit.


    "... Hey, you just thought of something really rude just now, didn''t you?"


    "Not at all, on a completely unrelated topic, when were you going to tell me that there were different kinds of magic? Perhaps it would have been very useful to know that there were more efficient ways to use mana."


    Catching Ifrit''s head in a vice like grip, Dax showed a warm smile to them, only his eyes weren''t smiling.


    Not even in the slightest.


    "W-w-w-wait a second!- Ah, my head~ You''re squishing it!"


    "I am aware, that is my current intent. Also, stop with the strange noises or I will melt you down to scrap metal!"


    Lifting Ifrit off the ground with a single hand as he steadily increased the pressure, Dax quickly made it very clear that he was going to crush Ifrit''s head if they didn''t start talking, something they also realized, as evident by the increasingly desperate clawing on Dax''s arm.


    "I didn''t think to mention it because I believed that much was obvious! Have you ever seen anyone use magic like that demon we subjugated at the magic academy or in the vain of that I use!?"


    Falling deep in thought, Dax thought back to the elders from the lost sanctuary, the fact that they were former qitons who had given up their bodies and the presence of advanced technology hidden in Solaris'' sanctuary. Whatever was going on, everything seemed to be connected, the way Dax currently saw it there was a single faction behind the great calamity and the current dimensional convergence, the fact that the same faction was in possession of lost technology and supported Emergence notwithstanding, this was extremely bad.


    (The way everything is looking, this is a threat to the galactic empire¡­ Or even the entirety of this dimension?... I am so fucking underpaid to deal with all this bullshit, I should just retire already.)


    "AW!~ Aaaaaa please let me go already! Dax, you''re crushing my skull!"


    Finally realizing he was in the progress of cracking Ifrit''s (empty) skull, Dax dropped them before apologizing.


    "Ah, sorry, I was lost in thought¡­ It does make sense for there to be multiple magic systems now that I think about."


    Turning to Ra, Dax glanced over her shoulder to look at her tablet and what data she had already extrapolated.


    "It is the same virtual particle alright, but after that, I honestly have no idea what is happening¡­ The best theory I can come up with so far is that it''s an entirely different system, just like Ifrit said."


    "... Is Mu coming over?"


    "She''s on her way right now."


    Sensing that they had stumbled on a massive discovery which needed immediate attention, Dax wanted to get both Avoaxians on the subject as soon as possible, luckily Ra agreed with his assessment.


    "Ke, how does the magic we''ve used so far look to you?"


    While waiting for Mu to arrive, Dax and the others sat down with Ke to find out more about the type of magic she used, but to have an effective baseline Dax started with finding out how the magic he had used up until now looked to her.


    "Inefficient is the best and politest way I can put it, without attuning the mana to an element before casing much of its potential is wasted."


    "An element? Like what, the power of friendship?"


    "No, like air or metal¡­ What even is the power of friendship?"


    Not understanding Dax''s untimely joke, Ke was just about to continue her explanation when Mu arrived and quickly took over.


    "So what are these elements exactly?"


    From Ke''s explanation, Ra and Mu learned a lot. Firstly, the type of magic they had currently used and believed to be the apex was something Ke referred to as non elemental magic, the least efficient and potent of all the schools of magic she had learned about from her mother. Elemental magic was just that, magic which used elemental attributes to greatly increase the potency of mana itself, but while the potency of elemental magic compared to non elemental magic was great, elemental magic also came with some considerable limitations. For one, it was simply impossible to utilize an elemental attribute without the personal aptitude for that element, attributes were something born with, ingrained in ones ''soul'' or ''ego'' which only living beings had, meaning it was impossible for a system like Ra and Mu''s mana forge to cast elemental magic. Without the specific elemental attribute, a person couldn''t cast the spell using said element, but most people had at least one or two different attributes, Ke, for example, made use of both the fire and light element. As for the elements themselves, it appeared there was no clear structure to them, while earth, wind, fire and air were the most common, Ke had also heard about elements such as metal, wood and even gravity, it wasn''t currently clear what natural phenomenon and forces could be considered elements and which couldn''t.


    Most importantly it is possible to determine what elements an individual is able to use and make it easier for the person in question to make use of them with a special ceremony which required multiple skilled spellcasters and a complicated rune formation, but preparations for said ceremony nevertheless started immediately.

 325 Elemental magic 2

    It had been about 4 hours since Ke''s demonstration of elemental magic, in that time frame Ra and Mu had moved heaven and earth together with Ke and the other village leaders to set up the ceremony and the area it would be conducted, as well as countless advanced sensors in hopes of gaining a deeper understanding of this new school of magic.


    "It''s easy for the participant, you just stand in the middle of this rune formation and empty your head, doing that time a series of spellcasters will activate the formation. The spell itself will move mana through your body and that mana will gain your inborn aptitudes, allowing observers to find out what your aptitude is."


    As Ke explained how the ceremony worked for Dax and the others she put attention to the nearly 50 square meters, extremely complicated rune formation which she and the other lamia''s had drawn together with help from the dark elvers.


    Needless to say, Mu had already taken multiple high resolution scans of said formation for further study.


    "First up is you, Lilly, we''re ready for you now."


    As preparations for the ceremony were finally completed, Ke called on Lilly who would be the first one to undergo it, this had been decided based on the fact that she was already a skilled and natural born mana user, unlike Dax who manipulated mana through an artificial interface in his cybernetic spine and she was also one of the most experienced people when it came to dealing with the more irregular side of mana, having once had a contract with a spirit.


    "R-right. Let''s get this over with!"


    Slightly nervous although she had repeatedly been told that the ceremony was completely safe, Lilly overpowered her nerves by acting though, an act which nobody fell for, but nevertheless acted as they did.


    "If you''re so nervous then I can go first."


    "I''m not nervous!"


    Except for Mare, of course, as Dax''s habit of annoying other people by seeing through their intentions had rubbed off on her in a quite significant manner. Needless to say, this was a habit Dax and the others were actively trying to rid Mare off, but whenever they would chastise her, the beastkin would adorably wag her tail and act innocent, so there had been little overall progress in that endeavour.


    Mare quite clearly already had everyone firmly wrapped around her little finger, with Lilly being the only one still in denial of that fact.


    "As I said: Let''s get this over with! I just need to stand here, right?"


    "That''s¡­"


    "What''s going on? Is she in trouble?"


    As Ke completely lost her train of thought in wonder, Dax quickly got worried for Lilly, but before Ke could quell his fears another change happened to the space around the tiny elver.


    "Are those¡­ Flower petals?"


    Looking at the air around Lilly, Solaris gradually started seeing changes to the mana around her, it was like the nature of it changed into something else, creating what looked like faintly visible flower pedals moving around in a vortex before the rune formation suddenly stopped shining, marking a sudden end of the ceremony.


    With all eyes focusing on Lilly, the room fell silent as she took a deep breath and extended out an open hand in front of her, then mana suddenly surged towards it as the air around her started moving.


    "What a terrifyingly potent aptitude."


    Looking at what Lilly was doing, those words split from Ke''s mouth as she felt a cold chill run down her back as the elver opened her golden eyes.


    "Wind."


    With a single word incantation, Lilly achieved better control of the surrounding air than she ever had before, it was like she had up until now been attempting to move her body while submerged in a vat of gel, but now she was free.


    Looking at Lilly slowly lifting off of the ground, Dax quickly interpreted Ke''s earlier words, it would seem that Lilly was extremely compatible with the wind element, but in exchange, it appeared that she didn''t have any talent for other elements.


    "''I was blind, but now I see''... I feel like I finally understand the meaning of those words."


    When Lilly eventually landed on solid ground again she was quite perturbed as she looked down on her own hands which were visibly shaking due to her excitement. Lilly could no longer imagine how she was able to cast magic before she went through the ceremony, there was simply no way she could imagine how she was able to cast magic before that. As the ceremony continued, the other members of Dax''s unit were also bestowed elemental magic, with Mare, Ra and Mu gaining control of the water element, Solaris having an extreme aptitude to the light element while Alice and Terra both displayed a high aptitude for both the earth and metal element. Lux, like Lilly and Solaris before her displayed an extremely high aptitude for a single element, the fire element in this case, just like Phillipa with the metal element, as for Dax¡­


    "Did it fail?"


    Having stood in the middle of the rune formation with an empty mind for the past hour, Dax finally ran out of patience as he opened his eyes, only to see Ke looking extremely confused as the light gradually disappeared from the rune formation.


    "It¡­ Didn''t. It appears you have no aptitude for any elements... This isn''t supposed to be possible."


    "Well, according to you it just happened, what does this mean?"


    Remaining calm in an attempt to calm down Ke, Dax walked out of the rune formation as Ke became increasingly more at a loss for words.


    "I have no idea¡­ This simply isn''t supposed to be possible, I have never heard of this happening. But without an aptitude, there''s no way you can use elemental magic."


    (Well, shit¡­)

 326 Beginning of the end

    [I would love to say the same, but current circumstances don''t really permit me to do so.]


    Although Simmons was happy to have Dax and his group back from their break, his voice was nevertheless disgruntled by the fact that Dax''s unit was linking up with his fleet in a craft which didn''t officially exist, worse yet, the scanners on his flagship which were supposed to be the best of the best couldn''t hold a stable lock with it for more than a few seconds at a time.


    [My communications officer has linked your craft in with my fleet, this is the first, and preferably last time, I let a craft that is not part of the galactic navy into my strike group.]


    "I understand completely, but these are extraordinary times, extraordinary measures are needed."


    In the few weeks, Dax had been on break, the blitz offensive against the Emergence had taken a radical turn for the worse, without any notable change in exterior or function, it''s crafts become way more effective, they now exhibited behaviour which was like that of the foremost elites in the galactic navy, even surpassing them in some aspects without access to manatech. The immediate effect of such rapid change showed itself in a new wave of rapid and remarkably effective aggression showed itself with heavy losses for the galactic navy, the two factions were now in a comparable situation where they were they both were losing crafts and supplies faster than they could replace them, although the base nature of the Emergence meant that it would be easily able to outlast the galactic navy.


    Needless to say, the galactic navy needed some sort of effort to change the current tide of battle and fast.


    [On that point, we agree. Just not on the execution, Simmons out.]


    Hearing his old friend so angry with him as he cut off communications, Dax breathed a deep sigh, or at least he would have if he was physically able to breathe at the moment.


    "Don''t worry about Simmons, he''ll come around. Current circumstances dictate we do this much."


    Speaking to Dax who was currently undergoing fundamental biological and synthetic upgrades to his entire body, while checking up on the procedure, Ra double checked the progress. Among a host of other enhancements, Dax''s cybernetic spine was now gone, instead replaced with an N generation biosynthetic cybernetics which now made up the majority of his body, mainly focusing on implanting brand new muscular systems along with other biosynthetic cybernetic enhancements.


    [Yeah, I''m just worried about the fallout of all this, these Lazarus assets were meant to be insurance against the galactic empire itself, now that they know about them it could have serious implications for our future.]


    (Here we fucking go again¡­)


    "Serious implications? Really!? Don''t you fucking see what''s going to happen? We''re going to help the Empire now, but later they''ll just get rid of us when we''re no longer needed! This is how the galactic Empire works, for as long as you have helped get rid of their dirty waste you ought to know that! Stop playing the perfect soldier already, you have more important things to worry about now, don''t you!?"


    Over the years of supporting Dax in his endeavours, Ra had gotten a decent understanding of the Galactic Empire''s inner workings, instead of a modern, further proof and grand empire, all Ra saw was a degrading, rotten and corrupt institution which was slowly falling apart, it''s decay only stifled by corporate sponsored assassinations and suppression of rebellious elements by black wetwork units like the ones Dax had been a part of over the years. From the way the Galactic Empire operated, Ra was certain that it was preparing to rid itself of the 125th and Lazarus as soon as the current war was over, all in an attempt to stifle its own self inflicted wounds of corruption and bureaucracy.


    [Then what do you suggest we do? I am part of the Empire.]


    "Yeah, but you don''t need to be. Is it lost on you that I''ve been developing entirely self sufficient ships capable of cross dimensional travel?"


    Of course, Dax had noticed the way things were heading, being the one to personally take out the trash on behalf of the Galactic Empire, that trash often being his own superiors, Dax was aware that the time when his own ticket would be punched was coming up and he would even have been okay with that before he had gotten lost in the world of magic.


    [So a bit of self imposed exile after we''re done wiping out the Emergence?]


    "That''s what me and Mu have been thinking, are you up for it?"


    [Sure, we could go explore the other dimensions and even find a place to settle, that would be lovely.]


    ---


    While moving in tandem with Admiral Simmons'' fleet, it quickly became apparent just how superior the single Lazarus battlecruiser was in comparison to what was supposed to be state of the art galactic navy crafts. Dax''s ship would routinely detect dangers well before any of the navy ships, it would also regularly shrug off attacks which would easily cripple even dedicated picket ships, something which quickly created a division between Dax''s unit and the rest of the navy, eventually leading admiral Simmons to recall Rin who had up until that point served as a liaison between them.


    "They sure ain''t happy with us¡­"


    Not really understanding the intricacies of the relationship between the 125h and the rest of the navy, Lilly couldn''t help but complain out loud as the CAS-7 transport carrying Rin left the Lazarus battlecruiser.


    "Well, you can hardly blame them¡­"


    "Really? How so? From my perspective, it looks like they''re just butthurt."


    Even as Lux came to the defence of the galactic navy, Lilly still refused to back down, the reason for that was quite obvious, the navy was angry at Dax, that was all they needed to do to incur her wrath.


    "From their perspective, they''ve just been made aware that Lazarus isn''t sharing its state of the art technology with them, technology which could undoubtedly could have saved countless lives and crafts. Just looking at the casualty rate in the navy, at least every other sailor has lost someone they care about, and now they suddenly found out that loss could have been prevented, but didn''t? That''s bound to piss them off."


    "So they blame Dax for losing their comrades!? That''s even more absurd!"


    Seeing the hypocrisy in the navy expecting Dax to just solve all their problems, Lilly only got even angrier.


    "Yeah it is, but people are hardly logical, now are they?... Just ignore them for now, the navy can''t complain if we win this war for them."


    "Nope, I refuse to let this go! They can rot in hell for all I care!"


    "Let it go Lilly.???


    The situation only started getting under control when Dax joined in, having just finished his newest round of augmentation he was on his way to the training field when he noticed what was going on.


    "But!-"


    "No buts, I need to talk with everyone about this, Ra has already called for a meeting so let''s go there now."


    "... Fine¡­"


    Reluctantly giving in when Dax showed her a warm smile, Lilly followed Dax to the bridge together with Lux who had an inkling as to what was going on.


    One of the reasons Dax had decided to join up with the Galactic navy in a Lazarus battlecruiser was people in the navy command had started asking questions which immediately raised alarms, like asking Dax to provide a list of expenditure for his entire service time, but the most important reason was a certain lamia who insisted to come along with them.


    "So, what did you want to talk about? I figure since you''re also including me it has to be something not related to this war you??re fighting."


    As expected, Ke had instantly seen through Dax''s intentions and as Dax looked around to the other members he quickly saw that she was not alone.


    "Well, let me just get to the point then¡­ It seems like the ground is rapidly shrinking beneath my feet within the Galactic Empire. Right now I and Lazarus are useful to the Empire, but that might not be the case after this war is over and I stand a high chance of being removed together with Lazarus."


    "Removed? How are they going to do that?"


    Being the least knowledgeable of how exactly the Galactic Empire operated, Ke asked that question with a look of confusion on her face while the general mood on the bridge shifted towards the grim side.


    "They are probably going to throw me into some bogus legal trial and have me executed while they''ll most likely throw some sort of antitrust charges against Lazarus and have the companies assets seized, worst case scenario Ra and Mu will end up in some sort of prison developing technology for the Empire until they are no longer useful."


    "... I know you previously mentioned that the Galactic Empire isn''t kind, but-"


    "I''ve helped set up people in the same manner before, that''s why I know the operational playbook on this one."


    Shooting down Ke''s optimistic thinking while placing a hand on top of her head, Dax took a short moment to breathe a deep sigh before continuing.


    "For these reasons I propose we leave the Empire after this war is over, going into a self imposed exile and finding a place to call home somewhere far away."


    What Dax was currently doing was at best desertion, at worst, straight up treason, but he was fully aware of that.


    "Sure, why not?"


    Luckily Dax had unknowingly inspired loyalty in his subordinates, not towards some far off group of elites, but to himself. With Lux instantly offering her support behind Dax''s suggestion, the rest quickly followed, with one notable exception.


    "I can''t do that, sorry."


    With Phillipa being the only one not behind Dax''s proposal, all eyes quickly gathered on her as she continued.


    "I won''t breathe a word about this to anyone, but I won''t follow you if you leave the Empire Dax. I''ve worked too hard for my current position to just give it up."


    "I understand. I''m going to miss you when the time comes Phillipa."


    "Same."

 327 The dark systems

    "No idea admiral, the anomaly is not showing up on any of our sensors. Lazarus is reporting the same, it seems they can''t identify it either."


    Looking at his scanner for the nth time Simmons still doubted what he was seeing, it was like his eyes were playing tricks on him, but the fact that his subordinates were just as confused made him confident that he was not hallucinating. Having just jumped to the first system which could be considered part of the dark systems propper, the only light came from a lone red dwarf star, it''s binary partner shielded inside a gigantic metal shell which collected all it''s emitted radiation for use in heavy industry which had been the dark systems'' expertise before the war. Getting back on topic, Simmons realized he was trying to escape reality as he returned his focus back on the detected anomaly which enveloped the systems only planet. Visibly, it looked like some sort of blue haze which enveloped the small otherwise unremarkable ball of ice and rock, extending out several thousand kilometres from its surface and blocking any and all attempts at scanning. As this was hostile territory, Simmons was not dumb or naive enough to close in on the literal smokescreen which deflected all attempts at scanning it, that would be like turning around and grabbing his own ankles waiting to be attacked, but still, he couldn''t ignore it either.


    "Sir, Lazarus is requesting they approach the anomaly, it seems they might have a way of dealing with it."


    Luckily an opportunity to investigate the anomaly without risking his own forces quickly presented itself.


    -


    "It is definitely not atomic in nature, as it isn''t showing up on grav scans."


    "Agreed, it''s some sort of particle. It might be some sort of mana, the question is why it is inhibiting sensors like that¡­"


    From the second they had entered the system, Ra and Mu had been busy analysing the anomaly and in the few hours which had passed since they had started the pair had gotten relatively certain at what they were looking at.


    "So it might be more lost technology?"


    While Ra and Mu had been looking at the situation from a scientific angle, Dax was taking a strategic approach, if whatever created that haze was lost technology they needed to secure it.


    "It most likely is, we need to secure it."


    Luckily Ra also agreed with Dax''s assessment, and so the lone Lazarus battlecruiser went into a high orbit above the anomaly. Sending down multiple probes, Ra and Mu quickly determined their hypnotists was correct, the blue haze was created by some sort of mana, so Dax quickly started assembling an away party to go take a closer look.


    "Solaris, Lux, Alice and Mu with me. Phillipa you have the conn."


    "Sir, yes sir. Stay safe out there."


    ???Go on ahead without me."


    "... Sure, good luck."


    Offering her sympathy in the form of a friendly pat on the shoulder, Lux lead the others to the armoury while Dax stared silently at Ke, the end of her tail slapping repeatedly against the ground and her frown showed her anger and or annoyance, Dax wasn''t quite sure which emotion it was yet.


    "I heard you''re having some sort of issue with something to do with mana?"


    "Yeah, I''m deploying now to investigate, but it seems that it is some sort of elemental mana so we don''t really know what to expect when we hit the surface."


    While Dax believed being honest and calmly while clearly explaining what he was doing would calm Ke down, of course, Dax was known for not being very bright when it came to these sorts of situations.


    "Oh really, elemental mana?~ Then why didn''t you ask for my help?"


    The second Dax saw, Ke''s ''smile'' he knew he had fucked up, but as he was a skilled black ops operative he knew how to appear calm even though he wasn''t. Instead of giving an immediate verbal answer, Dax closed in and gave Ke a hug, gently stroking her hair before answering her question.


    "You know I can''t ask you to join me, I don''t want you in any sort of danger Ke. Now I am aware that it was my mistake that I didn''t think to lean on your expertise. If you want I''m happy to have you on comms, but I can''t allow you to join me, at least not this time."


    Seeing straight through Dax, Ke returned Dax''s hug.


    "... You''ve gotten better at lip service lately."


    Only Ke''s hug wasn''t out of affection, it was to restrain her prey.


    "I''ll be sure to make this up to you when I get back."


    With no other option available, Dax immediately surrendered as he had become quite aware over the last few weeks that Ke was far stronger than him, as she was hugging him he had no hope of escaping unless she allowed it.


    "Fine, but I''ll remember this. Good luck out there.???


    "Thanks."


    Giving Ke a quick kiss, Dax set off towards the armoury in a run so he could quickly catch up with the others, leaving Ke behind with her mixed feelings.


    "... Idiot."


    While Ke wanted to help Dax, she also didn''t want to be in the way or be a bother either, so she didn''t quite know what to do with herself.


    "You want some help with this?"


    Luckily Ra had that figured out for her.


    "Help with what exactly?"


    Turning around to look at Ra who seemingly had listened in on Dax and Ke''s conversation without either of them noticing, Ke once more felt conflicted emotions brew inside. On one side, Ra was acting quite rude, but on the other Ke knew for a fact that she had hers and Dax''s best intentions in mind.


    "Dax is quite overprotective, but if you can prove that you won''t slow him down he''ll allow you to follow him on combat operations. Being able to do that means studying this world''s way of war, and possibly allowing me to build you some armour, can I help you with all this?"


    "... Sure."


    Seeing now apparent downsides to Ra helping her, Ke accepted her proposal, unknowingly starting her progress to become the last Hellwalker in the history of the Galactic Empire.

 328 Contact 1

    With a soft pop reverberating throughout the entire craft, the CAS-19 landing craft had detached from its docking port as Dax once more went over the details of their current mission.


    "We''re here to figure out what the hell is going on with that haze and hopefully neutralize and or capture it. If we can''t do that we''ll nuke the planet from orbit until the haze stops. Simple as that."


    Dax''s team for this mission was Solaris, Lux, Alice and Mu. Dax had gone through a fair bit of missions with each of them, so they were pretty used to the way he operated.


    "Please don''t nuke it, I would love to study it."


    Perhaps exactly because Mu knew how Dax operated, she immediately wanted to make sure he didn''t destroy her valuable research material.


    "That''s just the last resort, I would like to find out what''s creating this strange haze too. But if it comes to it, I''ll rather destroy it than let the Emergence or whatever other factions that are in play have it."


    "... Well, I can''t really disagree with that. I''ll let you nuke it if it comes to that."


    With Dax and Mu coming to an agreement, the CAS-19''s autopilot lit up the craft''s thrusters and altitude control systems as it started moving towards the strange blue haze which enveloped the otherwise unremarkable ball of dirt and ice.


    As the CAS-19 approached and eventually entered the blue haze, nothing remarkable happened, the only real issue with being inside the haze hampered visual range, acting like a thick fog which only seemed to thicken as the CAS-19 started landing.


    "Is this really okay? Can it really land like this?"


    Understandably, not being able to see the surface they were currently moving very fast towards was starting to freak Alice out quite a bit, she knew enough about the current landing manoeuvre to realize that they were going to crash if the CAS-19 started its suicide burn only a second too late.


    "It''s fine, this craft can land without visual guidance, the onboard AI can approximate its current altitude based on the gravitational signature of the planet-"


    [BRACE FOR BURN.]


    "- See, just like clockwork. Ra''s inventions are flawless."


    Even before Mu could finish boasting of her older sisters skills, the CAS-19 landed so smoothly Alice hardly noticed it, even if it was a suicide burn.


    "Deploy."


    """Deploying."""


    As the rear ramp lowered the team''s atmosphere changed completely as they rapidly exited the transport and spread out, but meanwhile, Dax still acted pretty nonchalantly as he walked down the ramp and did a few light jumps.


    "... 0.6 G huh? That''s way too light for high speed manoeuvres without reaction control thrusters, let''s go with loadout delta, IMI?"


    While Dax wasn''t able to use elemental magic due to his lack of affinity, he and Mu had worked out several improvements, first of which was a new upgrade to his entire body which allowed him to not only generate mana within his body, but also cast none elemental magic without any external help like a mana interface, but most importantly the two of them had decided to double down on and enhance Dax existing strengths, like his extremely high aptitude for done control.


    [LOADOUT DELTA ON FINAL APPROACH, TOUCHDOWN.]


    As there was no atmosphere to carry sound, Dax and his crew only felt a series of dull thumps through their feet as a group of 12 large black canisters landed around them, in that moment Dax felt his vision shift slightly as he took a deep breath.


    "Jack me in."


    [DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED,


    As Dax entered mind melt for the first time in what felt like forever his aura also rapidly turned serious, as the landing capsules opened up like black roses blooming a series of state of the art drones deployed from them. These Lazarus drones were the first of their kind, each carrying their own miniaturized mana generator and mana interface, enabling them to cast non elemental magic without external assistance in addition to the suite of other weapons which were hidden under the featureless smooth and mat black exterior.


    [Move out, the estimated epicentre is 5.2 kilometres in that direction. Shoot everything that isn''t us or our air support, then shoot it again just to make sure.]


    With those encouraging words, Dax and his unit started their ''march'' over the barren surface, that is if you could describe an 80 kilometres an hour sprint assisted by reaction control thrusters.


    "It really is dead¡­ Are most of the universe really like this?"


    Spending the brief time they were moving to the objective, Solaris scanned the desolate, silent and featureless wasteland which spread out around her.


    "Yeah, most planets look something like this, only a fraction even have anything you would recognize as an atmosphere and only a fraction of those are habitable, luckily the universe is ridiculously vast and still expanding so there''s still a lot of life, but that life is more like the occasional oasis in a vast desert."


    "That''s pretty much how it is yeah, Dax and I have to spend a lot of our military career on balls of dirt like these, most of the time they make for a natural fortress as long as you drill deep enough into them."


    With both Mu and Lux giving their input to her open ended question, Solaris looked around at the landscape once again, this time there was a certain sadness in her eyes which only lasted for a split second.


    (If that really is the case, then why do the people of this plane of existence seem to constantly fight? Don''t they realize that they''ll end up destroying what little they have?)


    As the group neared the suspected epicentre of the anomaly, the ever present blue haze only seemed to intensify even further, eventually getting to a point where Dax considered calling off the investigation, until suddenly the area in front of them turned clear.


    (A so called eye of the storm?... Now what do we have here?)


    Scanning the approximately 5 square kilometre area ahead of him, nothing out of the ordinary was visible to the naked eye, luckily, Dax could see far more than any normal person ever could.


    [Alice, scan the ground beneath us for any structures.]


    "Okay, give me a few seconds¡­"


    Focusing for a short moment, Alice moved mana trough her feet into the ground with a stomp, before she could even report back Dax already knew.


    [How large?]


    "... I have no idea, it extends further than my spell can reach, but at least 50 kilometres of tunnels and over 500 rooms of various sizes."


    Hearing Alice''s report, Lux''s face turned grim as she listened to her gut feeling.


    "This smells like an ambush¡­"


    [Agreed, we???re nucking it.]


    Instantly siding with Lux''s assessment, Mu quickly turned to Dax with protests.


    "But-"


    [No buts Mu, I''m not risking this team to spring a trap like this.]


    Clearly seeing through the intent of whatever constructed the vast complex he stood on top of, Dax was just about to reach out to IMI fire support when something which was supposed to be impossible happened.


    [Very sharp instincts, as expected of a pure blood¡­ Or is it simply a matter of experience?]


    All of a sudden an unknown voice sounded out over the communication system, this immediately prompted Dax to switch over to laser communication as he went into high alert as a light panic spread out through his unit.


    "Wha-"


    "Shut up Alice, switch to laser communication."


    Luckily Lux also acted calmly like Dax, stopping Alice from sharing intel with the enemy as she scanned her surroundings, finger on the trigger.


    [Mu, how the hell was your system breached?]


    Asking the foremost expert on the subject, Dax glanced over at Mu at the same time, only to see a very disturbed looking Mu.


    "I have no idea, that''s what is seriously scaring me."


    Having switched to a more secure method of communication, Mu only barely managed to keep calm as she did a full system diagnostic, finding no immediate sign of intrusion she started calming down slightly, although that only lasted for a second.


    [Oh, there''s a bio processor here too? I was sure they went extinct a while back. What a pleasant surprise.]


    As the unknown voice once more sounded out over the comms system, Dax realized it was no use attempting to keep them out of their systems and openly addressed the trespasser.


    [So, what do you want with us?]


    For a little while, there was no response, but just as Dax was about to ask again, a slight vibration in the ground made him turn towards the centre of the haze free zone where something started happening. Suddenly the ground split open, revealing what seemed to be an elevator which was in the progress of carrying some sort of humanoid creature to the surface. Whatever it was, the bipedal creature wore some sort of advanced vacuum suit which seemed to be alive, on occasion the surface of the suit would vibrate and readjust itself like the outermost layer was constructed out of some sort of ferrofluid, as the figure emerged fully from the ground it raised out both its hands like it was expecting a hug before the strange voice which had invaded Mu''s system sounded out once more.


    [What I want? I was simply intrigued by running into some old creations, I''ll be taking the liberty of running a few experiments.]


    [While that sounds like an enlightening time, I''m afraid we''ll have to refuse.]


    Stepping out in front of the others, the instincts Dax had honed over his long and conflict filled life told him to run away from the creature which stood before him as his conscious mind agreed whole hardily.


    (It called Mu a bio processor and referred to the two of us as ''old creations''... I guess as a qiton I should be happier meeting one of my race''s creators, but I can''t really shake the feeling that it doesn''t have our best intentions in mind.)


    From the few words they had already exchanged, Dax could tell from the tone of the precursor''s voice that it didn''t really see himself or Mu as living creatures, more like bacteria in a petri dish waiting to be examined.


    [Refuse? Why I can''t have that, mare automatons don''t have the right to refuse their masters.]

 329 Contact 2

    In response to the eerily cold voice which sounded out over his comm line, the surface of the strange figure in front of Dax flickered slightly before disappearing.


    (!!!!)


    This immediately set off alarm bells inside Dax''s head, and without even waiting for his conscious mind to make the decision for him, Dax''s instincts launched him into the air just as the drones under his control lit up the area he had just been standing. Normally such rash actions would fall completely outside of Dax''s normal operational procedures, but as his instinct silently screamed at him not to underestimate his current opponent, Dax took no chances.


    Incidentally, reacting like that saved his life.


    [Interesting¡­]


    As the strange figure appeared once more it had one of its arms extended out into a spear which priced just where Dax''s head a been a split second ago, with the drones under Dax''s command opening fire on that location just at that moment, the qiton had an entire nanosecond of relief that the threat had been eliminated before the first 50 mill special purpose heavy armour piercing round made contract with the strange creature. Just before the rounds hit the figure, it once more distorted like its entire surface was made of ferrofluid before becoming completely smooth, this last second armour adjustment seemingly rendered the drone''s attacks entirely mute as the rounds made to defeat magic barriers ricocheted or disintegrated harmlessly off of the surface.


    [Snapshot Brimstone, lightning!]


    [IMI CONFIRMED: SPLASH, 20 SECONDS.]


    [Excellent strategic judgement too¡­]


    Even with the voice that had infiltrated Dax''s communications system continually seeing straight through his actions, Dax didn''t hesitate as he authorized a strike using a strategic antimatter annihilation torpedo on his own location. While the creature had first struck out after Dax and now remained still as it was pelted by the drones, the rest of Dax''s unit wasn''t idle.


    "Strike with everything!"


    Having instantly switched over to the language she had learned in the other world to hide her intentions, Lux followed Dax''s level of response and commanded the rest of the squad to attack. First to strike was Lux herself, having become quite used to nothing really making much sense when it came to elemental magic, she formed a 10 metre long lance made of fire in a hard vacuum which then shot off towards her opponent at breakneck speed, in an instant the lance struck its target and created a massive fireball explosion. Even before the fireball disappeared, the bedrock around the strange being suddenly shot up to the surface like a bear trap or the mouth of some leviathan creature with way too many teeth and quickly enveloped the figure still caught up in Lux''s attack.


    [IMI ADVICES ALL COMBAT PERSONAL: SPLASH 10 SECONDS.]


    "Pirce."


    With a single command, Solaris launched over a thousand needle thin, 5 metre long spears at the mound of bedrock, easily pricing straight through it and embedding themself deep into the rock, supposedly doing the same to the trapped thing inside. Giving a short nod to Alice for securing her spell hit, Solaris was just about to prepare another spell when that eerily cold voice once more sounded out from the comm system in her vacuum suit.


    [Elemental magic? Then this must be the group that''s been messing with my other operations, I can''t have that at all¡­]


    For the first time, the voice succeeded in instilling an uncomfortable amount of fear in those who listened to it, it seemed that whatever creature was speaking to them had just grown more interested in exterminating them instead of continuing its ''experiments''.


    Right as the strange voice shifted its tone, the antimatter torpedo Dax had called in entered final approach and armed, but instead of detonating a split second later it simply came to a stop just above the mound of bedrock, as the torpedo simply hovered without gravity affecting it, the bedrock which Alice had strengthened to multiple magnitudes of its original toughness started cracking, followed by the creepy voice once more sounding out, this time speaking in traditional qiton and directly addressing Dax who it assumed was the only one who could understand.


    [Last chance to surrender, I wouldn''t want to waste such a great sample.]


    Not even flinching at the voice, Dax wore a somewhat strange grin as the figure broke free from the bedrock and some sort of force crushed the antimatter torpedo above it.


    [While that biological drone might be easier to operate it has one fatal flaw, care to know what it is?]


    Perhaps feeling something was wrong, the strange voice didn''t respond to Dax''s question, instead, mana seemed to rapidly condense around the figure as it constructed some sort of massive spell, only it was far too late to get serious as Mu which had been making sure she didn''t draw attention to herself at the start of the fight answered Dax''s open ended question.


    "It contains water."


    Using the mana which had formed around her target against it, Mu clenched her hand before the strange suit collapsed like a marionette doll which had its strings cut.


    "... What just happened?"


    Perhaps due to the rapid and sudden end of the encounter, Alice found herself at a bit of a loss for words as the strange blue haze which so far had been surrounding them slowly started dissipating.


    "I did something which went against basic ethics and galactic law against war crimes, you don''t want to know anything more than that. More importantly than that, I was forced to destroy the only thing worth studying here, so I don''t believe my presence is needed anymore."


    As Mu made Alice really afraid of her, a transport broke through the rapidly disappearing haze and landed before deploying drones which recovered the leftovers as Dax and the others started the investigation of the underground complex, although using drones instead of going in person as Dax''s hunch that the place was trapped to hell proved correct.

 330 Contact 3

    The moment Dax got back to the Lazarus battlecruiser and took off his helmet he showed a grim expression as he started giving direct orders to Ra and Mu, something the pair seemed surprisingly okay with, which was not unexpected given the current situation.


    "Sure¡­ Then is it really true? Did we-"


    "Yeah, we did. Mu confirmed it herself."


    Not only had the latest encounter revealed multiple vulnerabilities in Mu''s communications systems, Dax had also finally succeeded in identifying the mysterious 3rd party which had been helping the Emergence, but out of the multiple possibilities, it had been the absolute worst option of the bunch.


    "The rest of you with me, I''ll bring the rest of you up to speed with a briefing."


    While Ra and Mu started the long and arduous task of securing the communications system, Dax brought the rest of the combat personnel along with Ke who immediately picked up on his serious mood.


    "We''ve happened upon the worst case scenario, although it hasn''t been confirmed I''m now working on plans together with Ra and Mu that supports a high confidence that the 3rd party that has been aiding the Emergence is the same race which created the qitons."


    "... So, we''re fighting our creators?"


    As expected, the first one to react to such news was Phillipa who acted very conflicted to such news. Even if Phillipa didn''t consider herself religious or a traditional qiton, the idea of fighting against her creators which were worshipped and so deeply ingrained in her culture wasn''t something she was particularly happy about.


    "Look on the bright side Phillipa, they are a challenge like none other."


    Dax, of course, knew she would react in that fashion, so he immediately appealed to her qiton sensibilities, with the will to fight strong opponents being chief among those.


    "I would expect no less from our dear creators¡­ Well, I''ll stick with you for now Dax."


    "I appreciate that Phillipa, I really do."


    With Phillipa and Dax sharing a moment most of the people not really understanding, a somewhat awkward silence fell over the room, that is until Lilly who was starting to get annoyed because she couldn''t follow along finally broke it.


    "So, why is this even such a big deal? Now we know what we''re fighting against, isn''t that a good thing, so why the sombre mood?"


    "Because if this spreads to the rest of the Empire, it''s going to shake it to its foundation, if not outright fracture it."


    "The administrative AI which is one third of the central government was made by them and is still loyal to its creators."


    Seeing Lilly''s confusion at Lux''s answer, Dax added to the explanation which started making Lilly and the others aware of the implications.


    -


    After the first contact with his creators, friction and mistrust from the galactic navy over his vague reports continued souring their relationship as they pushed further into Emergence space, but as Dax had placed control of information above all else there was really nothing he could do about it.


    "And that''s a critical failure, you''ve just killed yourself and your entire crew."


    While Dax continued to deal with the invasion and infighting in the operational unit, Ra found herself with a surprising amount of free time while Mu was reworking the entire communications infrastructure, she used this time to help Ke become a hellwalker.


    "Wait, what? How?"


    While Ke had a keen sense of combat which in some parts already was on Dax''s level, she struggled with other duties hellwalkers were expected to perform, such as naval combat.


    "Your last manoeuvre took your fleet straight into a minefield, about 70% of your fleet was destroyed before anyone even knew what was going on."


    "Shit¡­ This really is confusing."


    Although she was a fast learner, Ke still made the occasional critical mistake that would lead into serious trouble, this was not because she made those mistakes consciously, but because she still wasn''t used to all the new terms and rules which she had learned at record speed. While Ra figured she would eventually grow out of those issues, the speed Ke improved at was still too slow for her liking, something which started to frustrate her.


    "Let''s go again."


    "... Sure, that''s a good idea."


    "And what-"


    [IMI TO ALL CREW: MASTER ALERT, READY FOR ACCELERATION.]


    Before Ke could respond to Ra''s sarcastic remark, a ship wide broadcast forced them to halt all simulations as the battlecruiser had entered combat.


    On the bridge Dax remained calm as numerous warning flashed up on his screen, those warnings steamed from a sudden spike in heat from a nearby planet of the system they had just entered, this spike in heat was so extreme that the relatively unassuming ball of metal now glowed as almost as brightly as the encased main sequence star it orbited. All of a sudden this light cut short before the very space seemed to warp, in response one of the galactic navy battleships violently ripped apart as a multitude of warnings flashed.


    "So, a gravity weapon of some sort? What''s the range to target?"


    [1604 LIGHT SECONDS TO TARGET.]


    Perhaps it was due to the scorn he had been constantly receiving from the navy or due to his genetic and chemical makeup, but Dax didn''t really care that much about the friendly ships and the sailors which died around him if anything he felt deep down that the current mission to exterminate the Emergence could be done faster if it was left to him alone, that way there was no need to hold back, no need to express his non existent grief over the loss of his allies.


    It was around this time Dax well and truly abandoned the Galactic Empire in honesty, he simply didn''t care for the rotten institution of power which had created him anymore as he had found people who loved him.


    (They better not continue to slow me down, this is the last campaign before my exodus. If the navy drags me down I''ll leave them behind.)


    "It''s charging again."


    "Yeah it is, do you have the precise signal source locked down?"


    "Not yet."


    "Then don''t fire, we don''t want to distinguish ourselves from the pack."


    "Roger."


    By not firing until they had a solid lock on the core facility inside the planet, Dax chose to sacrifice the other navy units to buy time as the Lazarus battlecruiser cut thrust and let the navy units continue their charge alone. As Phillipa and Mu continued to work on identifying the core, Solaris looked ahead at the other navy ships which disappeared off into the distance, even though she wanted to fire off a spell which could save them, Dax wouldn''t allow her to do so before they had found the gravity weapons weak point.


    "Now?"


    "Wait for it Solaris, we need a proper lock first."


    "Fine¡­"


    While she impatiently waited, Solaris continued to enhance the base of her spell, but before that command came, two other navy ships fell to the gravity attacks as they were ripped apart by gravitational tidal forces. Walking to her ready position, Solaris took a stand right in front of the bridge, if she extended her hand she would hit the armoured sections which separated her from the cold vacuum of space.


    [ECHO DRIVE ONLINE, WAITING FOR TASKING.]


    "Target locked, go ahead Solaris."


    "Roger! Lighting spear of the prophet!"


    Not wanting to delay for another split second, Solaris formed a spear out of lighting in front of her outstretched hand, at the same time the Lazarus battlecruisers mana drive lit up in a roar. With a core of elemental magic, the imitation drive of the mana generator surrounded Solaris'' spell with a non elemental ''echo'' which greatly enhanced her spell as it shot off at near light speed towards the metal rich planet, having seemingly little effect on the surface as it only left a 10 centimetre wide entry hole, but after Solaris had hit it, the gravitational weapon hidden inside the planet fell silent.


    "Target hit, good job Solaris."


    "Thanks."


    While Solaris wasn''t exactly happy about the losses they had suffered while Phillipa and Mu confirmed the position of the core, Dax was even more frustrated, the reason being that the navy had known about the fortification but somehow failed to share that with Dax''s unit.


    "Mu can you crack the navy''s data fortress? I want to make sure they''re not hiding more critical intel like this."


    "Sure I can crack it, I''m the one that made it for them, but they''re going to know someone breached it."


    "That''s fine. Seeing as they don''t want to share I see no reason to mind them."


    While talking with Mu, Dax blocked multiple hails from the navy, he figured if they didn''t want to share critical intelligence before a fight, there was no reason he would need to debrief them after the fact.

 331 Large processor 1

    "I don''t really feel like there''s a need to do that, we''ll be destroying it in a bit so why give it a name?"


    "I guess, but still, just calling it ''large processor'' doesn''t really catch the imagination¡­"


    About a month after they had entered the dark systems, Dax and his team stood in front of their second ground based operation, this time it was one of Dax''s favourite types of operations, in a way that was tricky as all hell and you might be insane to attempt it.


    "It''s called that because we don''t hire people to name every single large Emergence processor array, that would be way too expensive, now cut the chatter, Lux, Alice."


    ""Sir.""


    As Dax entered the room a certain silence engulfed it, this silence was only broken by Dax when he had taken a seat.


    "I take it you''ve all read the briefing, but for the sake of Ke who doesn''t have a neural uplink, I''ll go over the larger points. We''ve been tasked with destroying one of the last major Emergence nerve clusters outside of the former Iron race capital system, the first problem is that order is that our favourite 3rd party is the one guarding it, and most likely personally, so we''ll need to improvise a bit¡­ Oh, and the second issue that the processor is located in the core of Styx-1."


    "Styx-1?! Don''t fuck around Dax!"


    With Phillipa immediately reacting to Dax''s words, all eyes turned to Dax who clearly had left something critical out of the initial briefing.


    "Dax, what is Styx-1 exactly?"


    "Styx is one of 5 rivers which supposedly flows from the mortal world to the underworld, Styx is described as a river of fire, which might be why some person who believed himself to be extremely funny named the system we''re currently travelling to by that name. Styx is a binary system, containing two stars and a single planet which is our current objective, the problem itself is the stars in the system¡­ Styx-A is a stellar mass black hole which completes about a billion full rotations a second, the gravity waves from this rotation are creating a constant surge of gravitational waves that make faster than light jumps extremely hard to accomplish, then there''s Styx-B, a neutron star, which poses the real issue¡­ Ra, what''s the current strength of its magnetic field?"


    "It''s still classified as a magnetar with a magnetic field in excess of 10^10 tesla, so far above any value which would make a difference. The point Dax is making is that most electronics will not work inside the system, not until Styx-B''s orbit decays and it falls into Styx-A but we''re still a few billion years away from that."


    While Ra succeeded in clearing up the confusion for more science abled people, Ke shot a confused look to Dax who placed a hand on top of her head.


    "Then how the fuck are we supposed to get to that ''processor'' or whatever it is called? Rather how the hell did it even get there in the first place?"


    Responding with a smile, Dax turned to Ra.


    "That''s why we''re doing this briefing. Ra, can you destroy Styx-B?"


    "Nope."


    "Not even with a gravitational pulse?"


    "I said no, Styx-B''s orbit is too close to Styx-A''s ergosphere. All gravitational interference is impossible with that amount of noise."


    "Then can you shield a ship from the radiation it emits? Styx-1 is shielded from it, isn''t it?"


    "Sure can, if I do some major overhauls... I understand why you''re that interested in this mission now."


    With that fast back and forth over, Dax turned to Phillipa with a smug look on his face.


    "See? It''s possible."


    Responding only with a deep sigh, Phillipa sat back down in her chair, leaving Dax to it.


    "Now that we know how we get our insertion, we''re doing a direct orbital drop together with a few drones, from there we make our way to the core and knock out the network, although this really annoying 3rd party we''re dealing with at the moment is sure to interfere, after running into them directly and indirectly over the cause of this conflict, I''ve learned enough about them that they no longer pose an issue."


    For whatever reason, Dax seemed confident that the precursor no longer posed an issue, but as Phillipa had a hard time taking his word in good faith at the moment she needed a bit more information than just that.


    "Yeah, no. If I''m going to go on a suicide mission with you Dax I need a bit more information than that, what''s your plan to counter them?"


    "I don''t want to spoil the surprise~"


    With a grin on his face that didn''t match what he was doing, Dax first pointed to Mu, then placed a finger over his mouth, reminding Phillipa that they still hadn''t resolved the communications leak.


    -


    "So the pureblood thinks he can easily defeat me?... Well, overconfidence always has been an issue with that model, but that might also be because of genetic shifts¡­ What to do about this?"


    Having tapped into all Empire communication, the precursor, of course, kept tabs of Dax and his unit, but even when they heard the pureblood''s bold claim, they felt nothing other than mild amusement.


    An emotion which they hadn''t come to them without stimulants for a long time.


    "This dimension sure is fascinating, those old farts sure don''t know what they''re talking about, I even found this other toy."


    Glancing to the side, the precursor shot a look at the Emergence nerve cluster which completely ignored their existence. They had found this unexpected amusement while travelling around aimlessly, and it was summarily on a whim that they had decided to free this fledgeling intelligence, but after devouring a few trillion lower lifeforms, it had finally started showing results which had made it worth the initial effort the elder had put into it.


    "The real question is what will show more interesting results in the long term, this pureblood and his team, or the Emergence?... Well, I guess only time will tell."

 332 Large processor 2

    Greeted with a particularly harsh shake followed by immediate warning lights and alarms flashing, Ke immediately realized that this had been a significantly harder ''jump'' than the others she had witnessed, although she still didn''t know exactly why that was. Glancing around the bridge, her eyes immediately locked on to a live camera feed of the outside of the craft which showed the centre of the system they had just entered.


    "... What¡­ Is that?"


    "That''s the event horizon which covers the black hole, around it is the accretion disk which is made out of debris that''s superheated through friction from the gravitational pull."


    Gazing into the abyss of the event horizon, Ke felt an uncomfortable amount of existential dread build up inside her, no matter how much she looked at it she couldn''t understand it, no matter how long she looked at it and how much she wanted to stop looking, she couldn''t look at away. Sensing the space around her, Ke found no trace of magic or spells which directed her to such actions, something which made looking at the dark abyss of the event horizon even more frightening, that is until Dax forcefully broke her line of sight.


    "Don''t worry, this happens a lot when people see the real thing."


    Also taking a second to glance at the black hole, Dax told Ke what she was experiencing.


    "It is ''the call of the abyss''. When I first heard that phrase I thought it was a load of bullshit, but when I first saw a black hole with my own two eyes I understood. It feels like you''re drawn to it, like a moth to a flame, but unlike the moth, you feel like you want to reach out and cross the event horizon, even though you are aware that such action would kill you."


    "Yeah¡­ How did you overcome it, Dax?"


    With Dax perfectly describing how Ke was currently feeling, Ke realized that he must have experienced the exact same thing at some point. In that case, how the hell did he surpass it?


    "No clue."


    "Eh?"


    With both Dax and Ke looking at each other like they were dumb, Dax eventually realized he had to explain it a bit better.


    Although, predictably, that was a tall order for Dax.


    "Don''t look at me like that, I just gazed into the abyss until I felt like something was reaching out from it. Realizing I had no real problem with that sensation, I overcame it."


    "Don''t worry Ke, Dax is the strange one in this situation. I''m pretty sure his synapses are fried when it comes to feeling like this, although I can''t confirm since he won''t let me open up that thick skull to take a look."


    With Ra bringing Ke back to reality with her off hand comment, she finally realized that Dax had been distracting her from the dread she had been feeling, but as he had already left she couldn''t thank him, so in response, she just showed a smile.


    -


    "How does the shielding look?"


    Glancing at the almost countless screens which displayed constantly alternating information on Styx-B''s constantly fluctuating magnetic field and the impact it was having on the ship he was currently on, Dax quickly realized it would be way easier to just ask Mu of her professional opinion.


    "It''s holding up, I''m more surprised that we haven''t been attacked yet."


    "Really? I''m not surprised at all. We hurt their pride last time, there''s no way they''ll feel like they got back at us crushing us all the way out here."


    "You sure seem confident about that."


    "Yeah I am, if recent events are evident I feel like I''ve gained a good understanding of that particular subject."


    "What subject?"


    "Overconfidence. I''ll get ready to deploy."


    Sparing Dax''s back a quick look before she got back to her work of constantly alternating and adjusting the counter pulse which was countering Styx-B''s extremely high energy magnetic field.


    "Overconfidence, huh?... Good luck out there."


    Although Dax said he was going to get ready to ''deploy'', Dax was already wearing his vacuum suit so the only preparation he was doing was making sure that the others in his assault party were also ready for what was ahead.


    "Although Styx-1 is a piss poor excuse for a stellar object, it still has a tiny bit of gravity so don''t get caught up and forget about your reaction fuel stores, if that happens you''ll end up as dead weight."


    "Roger, I believe I''ve gotten pretty good at low G manoeuvres, but what''s the exact value?"


    While Dax wasn''t happy about the fact that Ke wanted to join, he had nonetheless seen her simulation results as well as the result of Mu''s training, he still had to admit that she had what it takes.


    "Surface gravity is 0.06 G, but expect that to greatly vary depending on what kinds of tricks our dear 3rd party will throw at us. Be ready for anything."


    "We''re deploying with an open jump from high orbit, be ready for extreme deceleration doing the powered descent, after establishing a beachhead we''re storming the planetary core through the former core mining infrastructure left behind by the Iron race. The main tunnel which extracted the core is about a kilometre in diameter. While it''s wide enough for manoeuvres it is uncomfortably narrow for wide scale weaponry. I expect this area to be a kill zone without equal, but this is these kinds of operations the 125th was originally created to deal with."


    "Final issue is that 3rd party of ours. Dax says he has a plan to deal with them so we''ll leave it to him¡­ Dax, do you need anything else?"


    With Dax and Phillipa both acting professionally, Lux followed up to the two of them by bringing Dax''s plan into question, not that Dax minded that.


    "Nope, I should be fine on my own."


    "Then there''s nothing left to say, get ready for deployment."


    """"Roger!"""""


    With nothing else left to say or do, Dax and his team got ready for combat as they entered the airlock, ready for deployment. As the light shut off inside the cramped room, a certain kind of calm fell over Dax, he felt that this moment right here was what he had been searching for. Surrounded on all sides by dependable, first class allies which he found himself able to entrust his back to, but not mindless enough to blindly follow him they were the best kind of subordinates any commander could ask for, independent when they needed to and loyal when it mattered.


    [STANDBY FOR DECOMPRESSION.]


    As the surrounding sound slowly disappeared along with the atmospheric pressure inside the airlock, the ship shifted around due to the high G evasive manoeuvres it was pulling as it entered final approach to Styx-1.


    [DEPLOYING COUNTERMEASURES, DEPLOYING ACTIVE DECOYS, DEPLOYING 349TH DRONE DETACHMENT, PHASE: BLUE.]


    With the lights inside the airlock shifting over to a blue light, then green, the outer door suddenly disappeared together with all sound, next thing Ke knew, she was in deep space.


    [LOCK ON BEACON ALPHA, SHIFT TO MANEUVER NODE #4.]


    This is what deep space was like, even though she had seen this in simulations before, experiencing it for real was something else, but unlike the black hole she was trying very hard not to look at, being in deep space was nothing.


    (Shift to node #4, as for the LIDAR, it''s all clear¡­ It really is like Dax said, they won''t attack us up here.)


    Having split up to make them a harder target, Ke couldn''t see any of the other people around, only the absurdly large drop pod belonging to the 349th Lazarus drone detachment was vaguely visible if she relayed on the sensors in her vacuum suit.


    [SHIFT TO MANEUVER NODE #2, READY FOR POWERED DESCENT.]


    With the constant and strong flashing light emitted by Styx-B, Ke clearly saw the small planetoid she was rapidly approaching, the highly irregular surface which was a product of the low surface gravity as well as the highly volatile system the small ball of dirt had happened to form in.


    "Look at them charging like that¡­ They kind of look like ants the old farts used to talk about so much, stepping on them is so irresistible, but if I leave them be they''re all so interesting to observe¡­ What to do?~ What to do~~~~"


    Playing around in the extremely low gravity at the centre of Styx-1, the precursor was already well aware of the current attack on the planetoid, but instead of worrying about their own safety, they were more worried about what they would enjoy playing with more, the Emergence or Dax and his unit. Having expanded their vacuum suit to the size of a small house, the precursor floated around inside it as freely as their mood shifted. Although they hadn''t realized it, this was because of one of their implants, a hormone regulator which was starting to malfunction.


    "... Arg!!! Fucking prest, all of you should just beave and let me play with you!... Wait that might actually be the solution after all."


    Calming down all of a sudden, the precursor stopped their self induced spin and seemed oddly serious for a moment.


    "Then I just need to capture the pureblood, then I can play with it as much as I want~"

 333 Large processor 3

    Sliding across the loose surface using his reaction control system, Dax tossed a breaching charge which stuck to the outer airlock of an old iron race mining facility, as the shaped charge detonated Dax followed directly after it and entered the cramped airlock he would rather describe as a kill box. While all logic dictated that he should make his way from the airlock and further into the facility as fast as possible by breaching the inner door too, Dax instead took cover beside the door as a hail of bullets pierced through it, coming from the inside.


    (Well, that was a pretty obvious ambush¡­ Are they even taking me seriously, or is this some other kind of test?)


    Stomping his foot into the ground, Dax injected mana into it before the gunfire from the other side stopped a second later.


    "Breaching point clear."


    Reporting back to the others, Dax walked up in front of the inner airlock door, burying his fist into the metal construction like it was made out of wet sand before he pried it apart and entered the depressurized facility.


    (IMI, rifle.)


    Reaching to his back, Dax pulled out a mana powered rifle and quickly checked the action before he inserted a fresh magazine and chambered a round of special purpose armour piercing. As Dax walked past the pair of precursor bio drones which had spears made of the metal flooring sticking through them he injected another dose of mana into the ground which created a spell that scanned his surroundings, finding the facility to be jam packed with different kinds of traps and ambushes.


    (Are they really taking us seriously?...)


    "Lux, stand by, I''m relaying target coordinates."


    About a kilometre from the abandoned facility, Lux took a knee in the loose dust and aimed Ra''s newest prototype at the facility in the distance.


    "Stand by."


    Opening up a direct neural link with Dax, Lux''s pupils shifted slightly as she quickly adjusted to the new joined perspective, at the same time, her weapon started heating up as it rapidly charged, the two metre long metal frame kind of looked like some sort of enlarged rifle, if not made slightly unusual by the frankly absurd amount of mana Lux was pouring into it as it charged. Loading an unusually large magazine into the side of the weapon, Lux took a sitting shooting position and rested the barrel on her knee.


    "Ready. Firing"


    "This new anti personnel railgun really is something alright¡­"


    With a smile on her face, Lux continued firing at the abandoned facility, precisely hitting targets inside until the only living thing inside it was Dax.


    (This entire thing is too easy¡­)


    Dax had expected the targets to move when the shooting started, so he had maintained his surveillance spell, but to his surprise none of the bio drones had moved from their original position when Lux had started picking them off, leading Dax to believe there was something off about the entire situation.


    (Those drones were of the same type as the first one we fought¡­ So either they need to be under direct control from the operator to more advanced stuff or they''re leading us into some larger trap¡­)


    While Dax would normally have chosen to call off the entire operation and just nuke the place from orbit, he knew that he was playing under the precursor''s rules.


    (They''re taking us lightly at the moment, but if I suddenly oppose their ''tests'', this might take a turn for the worse¡­ No choice then.)


    "... IMI, move the operation to phase 2."


    -


    Underneath the abandoned iron race mining facility was the primary and sole access point to the hollow centre of Styx-1, a 1 kilometre wide circular hole which had been dug to extract the metal core of the planet. Through the sacrificial use of drones under his control, Dax had learned at the walls of the hole had been reinforced, so it could serve as adequate footing, but he had also learned that this is where the precursors ''tests'' would occur, based on the amount of firepower those drones were annihilated by.


    "There are at least 24 medium calibre railguns somewhere near the bottom, they have a full field of fire which covers the entire tunnel so there''s no avoiding them. Solaris, Ra and Phillipa will guard their own detachments and focus on defence using elemental magic, organize yourself however you see fit, I''m going on ahead to deal with the precursor."


    While the orders which had come down from up high been to destroy the Emergence nerve cluster, Dax had independently decided that it would be more beneficial to capture and analyse it instead, so the other members of Dax''s unit were tasked with eliminating all other resistance while Dax took up the attention of the precursor.


    "I''m leaving the rest to you guys."


    Moving in formation with the rest of his drones, Dax leapt out over the edge of the tunnel as the reaction control thrusters on his suit lit up, instead of controlling his rotation he used them to propel himself downwards, racing down through the hole towards the Emergence nerve cluster.


    "Let''s get to it."


    Addressing her team which consisted of Mare, Ifrit and Ra, Solaris walked up to the edge of the tunnel, then she took a step out over it and let herself fall about a metre in the low gravity before the reaction control thrusters on her suit lit up and reoriented her while continuously burning to cancel out the downward gravity while simulating about 0.5 G towards the inner wall of the tunnel, allowing her to ''walk'' on it. Although the sensation from the slight amount of gravity which still acted on her was slightly strange, Solaris quickly adjusted as she focused on the spell she was creating.


    "Phalanx."


    Uttering the one word to activate her prepared spell, a series of 10 metres wide, faintly golden and slightly transparent hexagons formed in the air 10 meters ''in front of Solaris.


    "Shield up."


    With that message from Solaris, Mare, Ifrit and Mu also stepped out and formed up behind her as they started their downwards advance towards the core.


    "Incoming!"


    It wasn''t long before the group came under attack from the railgun artillery which was further down. Digging her feet into the ''floor'', Solaris poured more elemental mana into the shield formation which swelled in response right as the first volley hit the multiple barriers which either slowed down or deflected the projectiles, with the innermost part of the spell formation stopping shrapnel which made it through, converting the kinetic energy to heat. Continuing forward in speed with the two other teams, Solaris'' unit was only forced to stop when the railguns occasionally fired, but due to their sluggish fire rate, the teams quickly made progress.


    "Ifrit do you see them?"


    While Solaris maintained the detachments defence, Mu, Mare and Ifrit were tasked with the detachment''s offensive, top of their current list was destroying the railguns before the precursor and Emergence brought other units against them.


    "Yeah I do Mu, wanna do something about them?"


    "Let''s trash them."


    "Words just after my heart!~?"


    While Ifrit hadn''t undergone the ceremony to make it possible for them to use elemental magic, their firepower was in no way inferior to the others.


    "A''lthz!"


    Creating spears a group of spears made out of lighting bolts as dark as the void, a large smile formed on Ifrit''s face as they launched down the tunnel, creating explosions made out of black flames when they struck their designated targets.


    "Hail."


    Having finished her own spell just moments after Ifrit, Mu launched a shotgun blast of small icicles which ''bloomed'' on impact, creating massive flowers made out of ice which ruthlessly tore through everything standing in the way of their creation.


    "Fly."


    Also sharing the water element with Mu, Mare''s spell was nevertheless vastly different from the one she used. At Mare''s command, 6, 14 meter long spears made of highly compressed ice took flight towards their intended targets, but unlike Mu''s fancy flowers which Mare believed to a waste of time, the ice spears simply broke into fragments just before impact, saturating the targets and their immediate surroundings with a shotgun like a hail of sharp fragments.


    "Railguns destroyed."


    Reporting to the other detachments as she continued ''forward'' while focusing on defence, Solars spotted other signs of movement further down the tunnel which she was just about to inform the others of when Phillipa beat her to it.


    [We have guests, be sure to kill them properly!]

 Chapter 334 - Creator vs Creation (1)

    Continuing to accelerate downwards towards the core of Styx-1, Dax kept a tight formation with the remaining 8 drones he had brought with him, a force which was reduced by the second as the Emergence defences installed inside the tunnel targeted them with impunity while the precursor''s bio drones appeared to be mostly ignoring him. Still, Dax had to constantly alter his trajectory and constantly dodge attempts on his life as he made his way to the core. At the same time, Dax was busy constantly going over his strategies and tactics to deal with the precursor, evaluating and reevaluating his methods.


    (Realistically I have a 60% chance of defeating them, but only a 30% chance of surviving if I do¡­ A while back I wouldn''t really have a problem with those odds, I would even welcome them in some circumstances. But now things are different, I''m actually looking forward to leaving the Empire behind, so I need to survive this and I have the methods to make that a possibility.)


    Flipping around mid fall, Dax started breaking using the build in thrusters on his suit as he neared the core of the planetoid. Reaching the hollow core which had its metal core extracted before being minimally reinforced, Dax followed up with another burst from his thrusters which propelled him to the ''surface'' of the hollow core.


    [Welcome~]


    Right as Dax landed a figure covered in a strange looking, highly advanced vacuum suit appeared right in front of him with some kind of blade in hand. Although Dax was confident in the durability of his armour, he nevertheless felt extreme danger from the blade that was rapidly approaching his neck, so he took a step back at the same time as his suit''s mana forge went into overdrive. Grasping the extended hand which held the strange blade, Dax pulled the figure towards him as he lowered his centre of gravity as mana surged towards his free hand which surged towards the figure, as his fist connected Dax injected a burst of mana into the suit and sent the figure flying. Once minimum separation had been achieved, Dax activated the spell formation he had implanted with his punch, Creating a bright explosion.


    (That''s not enough!)


    Following his instincts which were practically screaming at him, Dax started weaving together another spell, but as he once more felt something was wrong he aborted that and instantly collapsed his stance.


    [Strong instincts that almost border on premonition, as expected of a pureblood~]


    While the precursor continued happily chipping away at him, Dax once more dodged some unseen attack before sharpening his senses with the assistance of mana, only then did he spot a vague outline of a group of figures covered in the same kind of highly advanced vacuum suits surrounding him on all sides.


    (They''re definitely taking me lightly¡­ Time to kick my struggle up a notch.)


    Coming to a standstill after he had eliminated a vast majority of the cloaked opponents, Dax found the others had pulled back, in response to his actions, the communications system of Dax''s suit was once more breached, it seemed the precursor was starting to show more than just a passing interest in Dax.


    [You really are an interesting sample¡­ What''s your name, pureblood?]


    "... I''m Dax of the Alpha-4 clan."


    For the first time, Dax chose to respond to the precursor''s constant remarks, and although it was followed by a short interlude of silence, the precursor actually responded to him.


    [A member of the Alpha-4 clan? I was sure you were part of Alpha-2 at least, as pureblood privilege is restricted to that level¡­. But I guess it''s simply because of genetic drift.]


    Feeling like he had just heard something outrageous, Dax took a second to internalize what he had just been told before he responded.


    "Am I even allowed to know that?"


    [Properly not no, but those old farts don''t seem to care much for me so it''s okay if I share a bit of restricted information~]


    (They sure are oddly talkative all of a sudden¡­ I might as well take advantage of that.)


    While Dax felt a cold chill run down his back every time he heard that sweetly sick voice which didn''t seem to see him as anything other than a worm, he nevertheless had a very real chance to learn some very valuable information.


    "Then while we''re acting this friendly can I ask a question?"


    [A question? You want to ask me a question, pureblood?... Sure~ Go ahead and ask.]


    Perhaps wanting to draw out time for some kind of attack, the precursor nevertheless seemed ecstatic that Dax took the initiative to communicate. ;


    "That planet was the angel that''s with me is from, it''s an old experiment isn''t it?"


    [Correct~ My, you''re one smart pureblood!~ Although it happened before my time it seemed that some of the old farts wanted to play gods and see if this ''mana'' thing native to the world could be exploited¡­ The experiment nevertheless ended in failure when the unwilling participants learned that they had been lied to, there was even a small uprising which was quickly struck down.]


    (A small uprising? They must be talking about the lost city of Aeth¡­ So some qiton''s joined hands with the natives? that would explain the hidden cache''s of information found in the sanctuaries.)


    "So it was just abandoned after that? Then I guess it wasn''t a problem that I wiped out the leftover qiton''s on the moon base."


    [That shouldn''t have been a problem, those prototypes were flawed beyond all belief, but I''m still impressed you managed to eliminate them~ As expected, I really have found myself a prime sample, it is deeply unfortunate that I need to get rid of you Dax, but don''t freet, I can still extract plenty of valuable information from your allies and your corpse~]


    With the precursor''s voice suddenly becoming ice cold, Dax felt an entirely new sensation: Fear. ;


    The feeling of a hand burrowing into his stomach and crushing his spine was something he had experienced before.


    -


    While Dax had gone ahead to the core and used his remaining drones as shields to reach the core, the rest of Dax''s team also made quick progress. Having been divided into 3 teams led by Phillipa, Solaris and Ra, they ''walked'' down the sides of the massive tunnel which was left after the iron race had extracted the planetoid''s metal core.


    "Here they come!"


    As Ra shouted out, a group of particularly tough precursor drones broke out from the mass of Emergence bioforms as they charged Ra''s position. From the last encounter Dax had with only a single one of those things, Ra knew that the group of 3 which now appeared in front of them demanded her team''s full attention.


    "We see them! Lux!"


    "Right!"


    In response to Ra''s shout, Alice immediately took initiative as she poured mana into the ''ground'' beneath her while coordinating a joint attack with Lux. As tentacles of metal appeared from the ground to trap the precursor drones, Lux instantly attacked with a spell of her own, clenching her fist and punching forward, a series of spears made out of fire shot forth and hit the trapped targets before they could free themselves, melting trough whatever they hit and partly embedding themselves in their target before they exploded.


    "Converge!"


    But this was only the first part of Lux''s spell, as she screamed out she opened her clenched fist before stomped her foot into the ground as she closed her open hand like she was crushing something, in response, the series of fireballs created by the first phase of her attack suddenly stopped expanding before they started rapidly compressing around the precursor drones. Like time was running in reverse, the fireballs compressed down to their original size, but time wasn''t running backwards, as when the fireballs reached the size of a pinball a spell formation suddenly appeared in the air around them before disappearing as the precursor drones suddenly started melting. Using her first spell as fuel, Lux had first compressed, then transferred the thermal energy into her targets, superheating them from the inside with an elemental spell which was as effective as it was outright brutal.


    "Push them back! Let''s wipe out these pests once and for all!"


    Perhaps subtly influenced by her strong elemental affinity with fire, Lux felt an intoxicating rush every time she used elemental magic, to not let that intoxication impact her combat awareness she instead immediately got rid of those emotions by voicing them out loud. Unbeknownst to her, every time Lux shouted in that manner she also used a type of elemental magic which invigorated her allies around her.

 Chapter 335 - Creation vs Creator

    "What the hell is going on!? Dax, do you copy!?"


    As the resistance she and her team suddenly increased by several magnitudes, Solaris knew that something had gone wrong with Dax''s distraction of the precursor and attempted to contact him, although to no effect.


    "Solaris cut it out, focus on what''s ahead! We have our orders!"


    While Solaris had started panicking, Ifrit fully trusted and believed in their partner, without flinching they moved forward, bringing corrupted mana into the world as they wove mana together and created a spell.


    "Sa''li ulqz!"


    creating a beam of concentrated light which immediately sought out its first target with some kind of maniacal glee, as it hit the bio drone it quickly started spreading out, quickly covering its surface, with a series of loud cracking until it was just a wet puddle of blood and gore slowly falling towards the core of Styx-1 in the low gravity.


    "Mare, together!"


    "Mmm, ready!"


    With Ifrit having taken care of the closest target, Mu and Mare started working on the approaching threats in concert with each other. Taking control of elemental mana together the two of them created a hail of spears which ruthlessly struck down their enemies, creating mayhem of flowers and explosions which shattered shrapnel all over the place.


    -


    "How strong your team is, still, it is not all about strength."


    Clearly following along with Dax''s team struggling, the precursor didn''t seem bothered by the losses they were suffering, in fact, it seemed they found it somewhat satisfying, at least satisfying enough to monologue to Dax who was currently bleeding out without being able to feel his legs.


    "They sure are interesting, but not as interesting as this~"


    Turning to the Emergence nerve cluster the precursor continued talking with palpable excitement in their voice.


    "This, now this thing is interesting. Born as a crude alternative to your ICI and now IMI architecture it really has turned into something else, this is something which only happens once every aeron, this is the birth of a true intelligence. By integrating both synthetic and organic systems into its central yet decentralized intelligence really is something unique that hasn''t been seen ever before, something like a pureblood qiton can''t beat that. Still, I am sad that I don''t get to take you apart while you''re still alive¡­. What was your name again?... Oh well, it doesn''t really matter anyway, I''ll still find out what makes you tick."


    "I¡­ Highly... Doubt... that."


    "Oh, still speaking, are you? That''s sort of impressive."


    Turning their attention back to Dax who was lifelessly hanging by his magnetic boots on the inside of the hollow core, the precursor slowly drifted over to him before once more plunging their hand through Dax''s vacuum suit and deep into his body, this time destroying one of his lungs.


    "You qitons are made to serve, the fact that you were allowed to develop a sense of self was the largest mistake those old farts ever made, I gave you an order mister pureblood, now just die quietly."


    Lacking any of the earlier joy or excitement, the precursor''s voice was now entirely cold as they pulled out their hand from Dax''s ?h?st, creating a spray of crystalized blood which escaped from the qiton''s punctured vacuum suit.


    "Now I just need to deal with your buddies~"


    As the precursor started turning their attention back towards ?ssuming direct control over their bio drones, a chill suddenly went up their spine. Hurriedly turning back towards Dax, the precursor paid attention to Dax''s expression for the first time, he was smiling. Although qitons had been designed to be tough, this was unheard of, the precursor had inflicted lethal damage to Dax, and punctured his vacuum suit, he should be dead already, yet he wasn''t. Immediately taking the decision that their new potential toy needed to die, the precursor targeted Dax''s head with their lightning fast movements, but this time Dax not only avoided the strike, he also caught the precursor''s hand.


    "W-what the hell are you!?"


    For the first time, the precursor''s voice sounded slightly cracked, caught by the surprise that Dax was not only able to move but also intercept their attack flustered them greatly.


    "As my supposed ''creator'' you ought to know, I am the perfect weapon."


    Crushing the hand he had caught without any issue, Dax moved to remove the precursor''s head at the same time, but unfortunately, the precursor escaped his grasp using manoeuvring thrusters built into their suit. Having perhaps already predicted that move, Dax followed right after the precursor, using his own reaction thrusters to spin around, delivering a kick straight to the precursor''s ?h?st that sent them flying into the opposite side of the hollow core.


    "What the hell is going on!?"


    More than just hurting the precursor was clearly confused, looking at Dax they could clearly see that his wounds had already healed, even though that shouldn''t have been possible.


    "This amount of damage is nothing. Besides, pain is nothing more than an old friend at this point."


    "''Just an old friend''!? You are a fu?k?n? monster!"


    As the Precursor was surrounded with mana, their voice clearly laced with rage conveyed that it truly had lost its cool, something which made Dax show a slight smile.


    "Why thanks for the compliment."


    Responding with a flare of his own mana forge, Dax drew his rifle before both fighters who were finally motivated disappeared from view. Using controlled mana fueled explosions and his reaction control system, Dax charged his rifle which was surrounded with magic formations which also extended out from the barrel, while moving faster than he himself even could fully keep up with the second he was ready he let loose a single round which was enhanced multiple times before ripping straight by the precursor which just narrowly avoided instant death, something which sent a chill down their spine. Tasting the fear of imminent death, the precursor realized they couldn''t afford to hold anything back, even if the pureblood could use magic, they still held an advantage.


    Suddenly mana bloomed with a new level of intensity from the precursor, while Dax this was a bad signal he didn''t have a chance to do anything about it as his left arm and the rifle he was holding in it were suddenly and violently compressed and crushed in a split second.


    (Elemental magic! Fu-)


    Before Dax could even finish his thoughts, the meagre 0.06 G suddenly increased by several magnitudes, forcing him to the ''ground'' on the inside of the hollow core.


    "Oh, come on. Is it really that surprising? Elemental magic is normal where I come from, so why shouldn''t I be able to use it?~ Now, how do you want to die?"


    Being crushed under the force of 90 G, Dax wasn''t able to answer the precursor''s question for the moment, this made the precursor even more confident as they had once more regained the momentum.


    "Now, if you beg for your life I might spare you, you are just about interesting enough to keep as a pet mister pureblood~"


    Of course, it was a mistake to not kill Dax then and there, but the precursor didn''t notice that before it was far too late.


    "Nah, I''ll pass on that offer."


    "Eh?"


    Before the precursor knew what was happening, they noticed that pureblood''s left arm they had destroyed just a minute ago had somehow fully healed as the vacuum suit followed suit, although at a slightly slower phase, then Dax disappeared from view.


    Next thing the precursor knew, Dax was right in front of them, before they could react, Dax grabbed them by the neck before clenching his newly regenerated hand into a fist.


    "Urhg!"


    Even though the precursor used elemental magic to crush and counter Dax''s attack his fist nevertheless found its target, hitting them right in the face and almost cracking its virtually indestructible vacuum suit.


    "How-"


    Cut short by another punch which cracked most of their suit''s outer armour, the precursor nevertheless managed to get their intentions across to Dax who answered their question.


    "Who says I can''t use elemental magic?"


    Pulling back for another punch, Dax''s hit was blocked by the precursor''s arm which cracked by the sheer force of the impact, Dax was only partly responsible for this amount of strength, as he was currently making use of some 90 different elements to strengthen his body.


    "That''s impossible!"


    Having finally gathered enough mana for a counter attack, the precursor created a localized zone of extreme gravitational tidal forces which tore apart Dax''s right arm which was holding them, but in response to that, Dax''s torn arm regenerated like time suddenly ran backwards, because it partly did. Immediately after Dax''s arm had regenerated he grabbed the precursor''s arm as before striking it with a frost covered fist, as it connected with the precursor''s elbow a large icicle suddenly formed and pierced straight through the ''indestructible'' vacuum suit.


    "GHA!-"


    "Shhh, this is just the start-"


    With the large icicle still logged through the precursor''s elbow, Dax mercilessly punched their forearm, performing the most painful amputation in elemental magic history.


    "- Save your screaming for something which is actually painful, like this."


    "ARRAGH!"


    Now well and truly enraged the precursor gave up on having something left to analyze of Dax''s corpse and targeted his torso with elemental magic, crushing and tearing the inside of his ?h?st apart in a truly brutal attack.


    But sadly for the precursor, such an attack had little effect on Dax.


    "Go for the head stupid."


    Taking full advantage of the situation, Dax removed the precursor''s other arm in the same faction as he did with the first before sending them flying with a kick.


    "ARG!"


    As they were sent crashing into the oppersid wall of the hollow core, the precursor violently coughed up blood as their lungs collapsed, of course, automatic healing immediately kicked in, but it would still be some time before full function could be resumed, so they decided to try and by time.


    "How the hell can you use elemental magic!? You have no fu?k?n? aptitude!"


    "True, but that just means I can''t generate elemental mana myself, a lack of aptitude doesn''t mean I can''t use it once it has been brought into this world. Thanks for all the gravity elements too, although it took me a few seconds I was able to turn it into a ''time'' element, it saved me about 10 seconds healing these injuries."


    "Fucking monster!"


    "Why thank you, I''ll take that as a compliment."


    Appearing right in front of the precursor, the last thing the precursor saw was Dax''s unflinching and outright ruthless attitude which was so characteristic of the qiton ideal her race had created as a servant to them.

 Chapter 336 - The Emergence (1)

    [IMI CONFIRMED: TARGET ELIMINATED, BIOLOGICAL SIGNATURE ERASED, FLATLINE CONFIRMED. VIRTUAL SIGNATURE ERASED, BACKUP ATTEMPT(S) BLOCKED.]


    "... Fuck me."


    With Dax''s body screaming out in pain he simply resigned himself to floating around in the low gravity, pushing himself far beyond reasonable limits, Dax had defeated the precursor. Ever since Dax had seemingly failed the ceremony to obtain elemental mana, he had noticed something strange, although wasn''t able to generate elemental mana himself, he had no issues sensing and making use of other people''s elemental mana, in fact, he could do so as easy as breathing. Keeping that fact entirely to himself as a triumph card, Dax eventually found out how to combine different elements to create an extremely potent body enhancement spell which also enhanced his already absurd regeneration to a level which could be confused for actual immortality.


    But of course, such absurd power had a cost.


    (IMI, focus on the internal bleeding first, Mu is the only person which can handle this level of neurological damage.)


    [DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED, TASKING BLACKMATTER FOR REPAIR.]


    Attempting to clench his fist, Dax found himself unable to use 3 of his fingers while the other 2 were shaking uncontrollable, if he was in normal gravity, Dax would have most likely collapsed as he was no longer able to use his legs properly, let alone stand or walk.


    (IMI, contact Lux. Target eliminated, requesting urgent medical evacuation, severe trauma.)


    Overwhelmed by an insane amount of fatigue and pain, Dax''s sight eventually went all white as everything he could hear eventually turned into nothing but ever screaming white noise.


    Having noticed a significant slowdown in the bio drones, Lux suspected Dax was about to reestablish contact with her, but when she received an automated message from Dax''s IMI unit she panicked, something the others hadn''t seen before.


    "!!! I''m breaking formation, clean up the rest!"


    Jumping from the surface, Lux quickly wove together a defensive spell which covered the entirety of her body just as her reaction control thrusters and sped off towards the hollow core of Styx-1, only 3 minutes later the juggernaut followed after her. Knowing exactly what the jug being deployed signified, Phillipa''s face turned grim as she started barking out orders.


    "Mu, go on ahead! Dax is hurt badly!"


    "What!?"


    With the news of Dax''s condition becoming common knowledge in the unit, Ke was the one to panic the worst. Immediately abandoning all regard for her personal safety, Ke surged ahead of Phillipa who was protecting her as her mana flared, surrounding herself in elemental flames, the laima ignored all commands to fall back and charged on ahead towards the core, melting all Emergence forces who stood in her way.


    "Neural oscillations are spiking, you need to stabilize Dax now or he''ll suffer permanent damage!"


    "I know that! Deal with IMI unit, if it has completely fused due to overheating then disconnect from the C1 auxiliary and connect your own overflow buffer, the noise is burning out his temporal lobe!"


    Having pulled Dax into the Jug and cut him out of his vacuum suit, Mu and Lux recognized the severity of his situation and immediately started surgery.


    "Mu kill it, IMI is crashing hard!"


    "It''s not responding, what the fu?k did you do with my software Dax!?"


    While Mu was focusing on actively mitigating the neurological damage Dax had somehow managed to inflict to himself, Lux had cut into his back and was actively working on shutting down his IMI interface which had partly melted while the IMI unit itself had crashed hard and was threatening to turn Dax into a vegetable from the sheer volume of corrupted noise it was transmitting directly into Dax''s brain. Digging further into Dax''s spine with quick and precise cuts from her scalpel, Lux finally reached the auxiliary connection sockets of Dax''s malfunctioning IMI unit and established a direct connection to reduce his neural load.


    "Arg!- FUCK! Hurry up!"


    Although the plan had been to briefly share the load with Dax while physically disconnecting the IMI unit from Dax''s cerebrum, Lux found herself unable to do pretty much anything other than just enduring the extreme amount of noise which instantly hit her.


    "I only have 6 hands! Deal with it yourself!"


    While Lux had hit an unexpected roadblock at the worst possible time, Mu sadly wasn''t able to come to her aid, even with the additional sets of cybernetic arms she had equipped for the surgery.


    "Impossible!"


    "What do I need to do!?"


    But right as things looked the bleakest, rescue arrived in the form of Ke who had broken her orders and reached the core on her own.


    "Over here!"


    Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, Lux instantly took Ke op on her offer.


    "Grab the 25th tool from the left, middle row! Insert it into the exposed auxiliary port and twist, don''t worry about the tech!"


    With her entire body shaking and blood pouring out from her nose and tear ducts, Lux nevertheless flawlessly instructed Ke on what to do. Jumping over the operating table, Ke wrapped her long tail around Lux''s lower body to stabilize herself as she grabbed a particularly thin looking scalpel which she stuck into the part of Dax''s IMI unit Lux had freed from its protective biosynthetic tissue. As she did, Dax''s neural activity returned to normal levels and stabilized within seconds.


    "... While there''s a lot I want to say about your disregard for direct orders, I''ll just thank you, for now, Ke. It looks like you just saved Dax''s life."


    Looking confused for just a split second, Ke''s face eventually bloomed into a bright smile in response to Lux''s words.


    "Ehehe~ It was nothing, really. Everything for my darling!"


    ---


    "Dax¡­ Dax?... Hey dipshit, wake up already!"


    "Urg!- My fu?k?n? head!"


    Getting punched in the crotch without mercy Dax''s foggy consciousness immediately turned razor sharp from the pain that was screaming out from the second most and most important body part as he flung himself out of bed.


    "That''s for worrying me so much!"


    Caring little for the amount of pain Dax was in, Lilly hit him once more, but this time she was at least kind enough to aim for the shoulder instead of the crotch.


    "And that''s for keeping such important information from me, why didn''t you tell us you could use elemental mana!?"


    "Because Dax figured there was a precursor at play, in that case, he couldn''t afford to leak such an important triumph card, isn''t that right?"


    Answering instead of Dax, Lux who had just entered looked significantly less pissed off than Lilly did. Needless to say, Lux was still quite angry with Dax, but she understood his reasoning.


    "... That''s right, I am sorry for keeping this from you all of you, but the situation demanded it."


    Seeing Dax did in fact feel sorry for deceiving everyone, Lilly suddenly had a hard time staying mad at him, instead, she realized she had been overreacting, making her face bloom red as she desperately attempted to change the subject.


    "O-oh, yeah. We captured that thing you wanted. Those two sisters of yours have been looking at it ever since."


    "Ra and Mu isolated the cluster and moved it to a secure location for analysis, that was a week ago."


    "So I slept for a week?... Can I have one more day off?"


    "... Sure."


    Reading the room, Lux breathed a sigh before turning to leave Dax and Lilly alone, but as she reached the door she stopped as if remembering something.


    "Oh, yeah. Two quick things: One, the navy command is not happy with our independent actions, they''ve filed an official complaint, and-"


    "Yeah I''ve noticed, see you tomorrow Lux."


    Not needing to hide his ability to not only manipulate others'' elemental mana, but also detected it at a considerable distance Dax had already noticed the people snooping at the door so he didn''t need Lux to tell him about it.


    "Sure, bye."


    Offering a casual wave, Lux left Lilly and Dax, this was followed by a slightly awkward silence as the tiny elver still felt bad for going too far.


    "... Do you want to sleep with me?"


    "Did you really just straight up ask me that?"


    Acting slightly offended at Dax''s straight forward invitation, Lilly''s cheeks nevertheless took a slight red shade as she broke eye contact with Dax and started playing with her vermillion hair.


    "Get your mind out of the gutter, I meant it literally, I''m still not completely recovered. The offer also extends out to you guys too, first come first served!"


    Turning to the door Lux had left from mid sentence there was a short silence before Ke abruptly slammed the door open.


    "Victory favours the bold!"


    Practically jumping across the room, Ke landed on Dax''s bed before she quickly snuggled up to him like a kitten as her tail started wrapping around Dax''s legs.


    "W-wait for me too!"


    Realizing what was happening, Lilly also jumped into bed with Dax and Ke, shortly followed by both Solaris and Alice who had also been eavesdropping.


    Luckily Dax''s bed was large enough for all of them, and with the combined body heat of 4 people, Dax was quickly lulled into a relaxing sleep before anything ??wd could happen.


    "... He''s already asleep."


    "He sure is¡­ It can''t be helped can it?"


    "Nope, it is also pretty relaxing lying here like this."


    Spending the rest of his recovery in an impromptu slumber party, Dax eventually returned to active service.

 Chapter 337 - The Emergence (2)

    "So, what do you have for me Mu?"


    "Not much, but I can definitely see why the precursor was interested in this."


    Having returned to active duty after his recovery and yet another round of biological modifications derived from the corpse of a certain precursor, the first thing Dax did was visit Mu in her lab to take a look at the Emergence nerve cluster they had recovered doing their last mission. Sitting behind multiple layers of isolation, the cluster looked like a malignant tumour made out of blackmatter and multiple kinds of ?ssimilated hardware which sent out probing tentacles which attempted to figure out its surroundings and rejoin the rest of the network, something Mu wasn''t going to let it do as she analysed the cluster.


    "Looking at this Emergence nerve cluster from a purely academic mindset it is highly fascinating."


    Glancing up at the suspended mass of organically organized hardware partially melted together, Mu saw something she couldn''t outright understand, while it was a machine, the Emergence seemed more and more like a living, breathing being.


    (Could this really be the birth of a true intelligence? That would make a surprising amount of sense, ''the emergence of intelligence through absorption of lower lifeforms''¡­ What the hell did the iron race turn to in their final act of desperation? More importantly, what did we drive them to create?)


    Although Mu didn''t feel responsible for what the iron race had created out of the desperate situation she helped to force them into, she did wonder what kind of maddening insanity had been the spark for the Emergence''s creation.


    (I feel like this is one of those things I shouldn''t want to find out, but regret can come later. After this damned war is over and our needlessly prolonged obligation to the Galactic Empire finally has been severed for good.)


    "Oh yeah, we''ve been getting more of those pestering calls from navy command, it seemed like they''ve hit a wall they would like you to smash for them."


    "... How serious is it this time?"


    While Dax was aware of the increasing impatience of navy command, he just now realized he had been out of touch for a while.


    "Well, they''ve dug up those corruption charges you buried in that indictment earlier and are throwing words around like ''treason'' and ''major fraud'' along with ''conspiring to overthrow the state'' so it is getting pretty serious. If you don''t do something soon the Empire will most likely declare us traitors and size all Lazarus ?ssets for the war effort and to line their own coffers. Not that that''s going to happen of course, as I''ve been steadily liquidizing our ?ssets and moving them out of the Empire''s reach while gradually draining knowledge from the lower cells of the organization."


    "Wow, they''re really throwing everything at us, the couch, the toilet and even the fu?k?n? kitchen sink too¡­ It really seems like the Empire is gearing up for a purge so I better go apease them before they do something stupid like try to take away our toys¡­ What was the name of the wall I needed to smash again?"


    Keenly aware of how the Galactic Empire operated as he had been taking out their trash for a very long time, Dax knew that he and Lazarus were going to be next if they didn''t perform.


    "The former iron race capital system, it seems like they want to push everything on us before the upcoming purge¡­"


    "Seems like there''s no time to run over the new upgrades, send me the manual will you?"


    "Sure, good hunting."


    Watching Dax leave as quickly as he had come to visit, Mu wondered why he had even stopped by in the first place as he didn''t even seem to care much for Mu''s process.


    -


    [EXITING GATE IN 3¡­ 2¡­ 1¡­ BRACE]


    "Lazarus Alpha 45 on station, proceeding to target."


    Arriving a few hundred light seconds outside the former iron race capital in a next generation Lazarus heavy cruiser, Dax didn''t even attempt to hide the fact that Lazarus was keeping more advanced technology for themselves to the coalition of Galactic navy forces staging another attempt at an invasion of the system. Having gone through a number of generational leaps since mana had been discovered, this Lazarus warship had a basically unlimited range as its propulsion, weapon systems and defences were all powered by mana which was being generated onboard the craft, the only limiting factor for its operation was the endurance of its operator, but as Dax was at the helm the craft had entered the realm of infinite operational range.


    [Contact Alpha 45, this is strike group orange, we''re standing by ready to ?ssist you.]


    "Unnecessary, just stand back and don''t get in my way."


    Standing alone at the bridge Dax closed the communication line to the rest of the navy he started accelerating towards the objective, as he did countless warnings lit up on the scanners, those flashes accounted for the massive array of high energy lasers and high calibre railgun defences which targeted him. The Emergence''s last stronghold was centralized around the systems Dyson sphere, a massive in scale energy installation which entirely enveloped the systems main sequence star and basically granted the Emergence almost infinite energy, thus the absurd number of high energy lasers currently targeting Dax. Normally charging such a fortress alone would be suicide, but with the irregular power of mana, it was nothing more than a walk in the park.


    "Sanctuary."


    Extending out his hand towards the countless incoming projectiles, Dax created a multi layered barrier which seamlessly absorbed and deflected the incoming fire as the cruiser''s mana forge came alive with a roar in response to the next spell Dax was crafting.


    "IMI, print targeting data to interface."


    [DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED, TASKING DATA BUS #3 FOR UPLOAD¡­]


    As IMI rapidly compiled multiple terabytes of targeting data, a cable jacked itself Dax''s back as his cybernetic eye lit up bright red.


    [UPLOAD COMPLETE.]Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click <a href="#%!d(string=11701049006479405)/the-emergence-(2)_%!d(string=51557129223458533)">#%!d(string=11701049006479405)/the-emergence-(2)_%!d(string=51557129223458533)</a> for visiting.


    Sorting through the targets and marking them all by priority in a split second while he was still compiling his offensive spell, Dax reached out towards the Emergence fortifications with an open hand, clenching it without hesitation.


    "Purge."


    And then like that, the Emergence fortress which the rest of the galactic navy had already wasted countless lives attempting to take fell silent.


    "W-what just happened!?"


    Standing up from his chair, Admiral Simmons was at a complete loss for words, although he had seen this ''magic'' before this was on an entirely different level.


    "Sir, we just detected a massive gravitational surge! H-he just tore apart every single Emergence defence with gravitational tidal forces!"


    Even as Simmons'' subordinate spelt it out for him, the Admiral still had trouble believing his eyes. Doing the countless years Simmons had known Dax he had respected his professionalism and considered him a good friend, but now watching the destruction he was capable of unleashing a new feeling started building up inside his core, fear.


    (What happens if Dax suddenly decides he wants nothing to do with the Empire? Or even worse, becomes hostile to it?)


    While Admiral Simmons'' imagination wasn''t one of his strong suits, thinking about what would happen if Dax turned against the Empire only made him shudder in fear.

 Chapter 338 - The Emergence (3)

    "Now that the defences are down I should take a closer look at the Emergence itself before the navy just nukes everything¡­"


    Having dealt with the system wide defences that had the galactic navy stuck in a bloody stalemate like swatting away a fly, Dax decided he might as well take a look at the Emergence''s main body before it disappeared. Perhaps this was some sort of whim that Ra and Mu had imparted upon him, or perhaps it was some sort of instinct to chase down and finish off the enemy properly, but something inside Dax wanted to make sure that the Emergence was good and dead before he left the Galactic Empire behind.


    "IMI scan for radiation of any and all kinds, print to sensory interface."


    [DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED.]


    Blinking a few times to adjust to his new vision, Dax now ''saw'' everything his ship did, filtering for thermal and radioactive radiation to scan for activity of the Emergence.


    "As expected a lot of heat is radiating off from the ring around the iron race''s former homeworld, that would be the first place to check out."


    Although the iron race was usually a terrestrial race preferring to live on the ground, most of them lived in orbital complexes called ''rings'' to avoid the harsh gravity of their homeworld prior to being forced out from the system by their own creation. Closing in on the former iron race homeworld, the amount of heat radiating off of the residential ring became even more apparent, if left alone for a few more months at that level of activity, the station''s radiators would burn out and whatever was inside the station would boil itself and size working.


    (So it would simply stop working if we left it alone?... Well, that''s slightly disappointing. I might as well stop by to take a look.)


    "IMI enable overlord, no exceptions."


    [DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED, ESTABLISHING TOTAL EXCLUSION ZONE AROUND CURRENT AREA, LOCKING DOWN 500 LIGHT SECONDS, NO EXCEPTIONS.]


    Making it so no one would close in on the area, Dax took a shuttle down to the residential ring. Instead of even attempting to access the airlocks, Dax simply used magic to cut straight through the outer hull. As expected the main section was depressurized, and as expected it was filled with half living corpses converted into processors. Having seen it all before, Dax b?r?ly flinched at the half alive iron race people having soiled themselves in their vacuum suits that had numerous wires inserted.


    (Now where is the source¡­)


    Following the mostly organic mesh of wires, while eliminating the occasional stray Emergence drones, Dax eventually reached what seemed like a restricted part of the station, breaking down multiple secure doors before finally reaching what seemed to be a laboratory with countless wires and heavy cables running in and out of. Reaching out towards the nearby dormant servers it lit up as Dax stripped the data from it at a rapid pace.


    Getting a read on what the iron race was working on just before the Emergence forced them out of the system, Dax frowned as he looked towards a room with particularly heavy looking blast doors which had been ripped open from both the inside and the outside. Walking over the corpses of multiple iron race researchers Dax entered the 3rd special isolation chamber which was the Emergence''s birthplace.


    "... Shit¡­ Fucking hell!"


    Feeling an inescapable amount of rage and hate building up inside him, this was the moment Dax was finally convinced.


    "Fuck war and fu?k what it makes us do! FUCK THE EMPIRE!"


    "Never again¡­"


    These trivial affairs like pride and national interest produced unparalleled suffering and bloodshed, Dax accepted this as a fact he could do nothing about, this is the way things always had been and always would be, but he would no longer have any part in it.


    "The ship has locked on to us, it appears fully intent to fire on us!"


    "What the hell is up with this AI!?"


    With Dax having eliminated the last of hostile resistance, Admiral Simmons had ordered his fleet to move in and take control of the system, but for some reason, Dax''s ship refused to let them close to what Simmons believed to be the Emergences'' core.


    [WARNING, YOU ARE ABOUT TO ENTER A TOTAL EXCLUSION ZONE, ANY FURTHER ENCROACHMENT ON THIS AREA WILL LEAD TO YOUR DESTRUCTION, THIS IS NOT A DRILL.]


    "This is Admiral Simmons of the galactic navy, registration 000858713! I request urgent access to the planet inside your current area of exclusion, stand down!"


    [ACCESS DENIED.]


    "I said stand down you fu?k?n? tin can, what''s so hard to understand!?"


    With IMI cutting off communications, Admiral Simmons slammed his fist against his chair in frustration before turning to one of his officers.


    "Target that ship and prepare to engage!"


    "But sir, that''s a friendly unit."


    "I don''t fu?k?n? care! It has repeatedly disrespected direct orders from a superior officer, prepare to engage!"


    [Now now Simmons, there''s no need for that. I''ve lifted the restrictions, you''re free to enter the area.]


    Intervening before Simmons got himself and a whole lot of navy personnel killed, Dax directly bypassed the security of Simmons'' flagship and opened up communications.


    "Dax! What the fu?k are you doing!?"


    [I just had some stuff to take care of, sorry about that.]


    "Sir!?"


    "What!?"


    While Simmons was nearly blowing a fuse talking to Dax who was grossly disregarding the chain of command, one of his officers intervened and pointed to the planet which was the root of the current disagreement to begin with.


    "..."


    While Simmons was initially outraged he quickly turned speechless as he looked at the former iron race homeworld turn into a ball of molten rock as multiple anti matter torpedoes detonated to apocalyptic effect.


    "... What did you just do Dax?"


    [I finished off the Emergence, you''re welcome.]


    Dax had seemingly decided on his own to nuke the planet, something he was very much not cleared to do.


    "That''s a direct breach of orders! Are you aware of what you just did!?"


    [Yeah, I finished this war, you''re welcome. Also, don''t fu?k?n? order me around like I''m your subordinate. As the commander of the 125th, I have executive freedom to act as I see fit, if you have a complaint with that I suggest you take that up with the minister of special war affairs.]


    ---


    And just like that, the war of annihilation ended with the Galactic Empire emerging as the victor and sole survivor left standing on the galactic stage. As the end of the war was announced, celebration erupted throughout the Empire, but things were quite different in the galactic senate. With the end of a lengthy war came a major restructure of the entire Empire, budget cuts, reorganization and restructuring of not just the countless branches of the military, but also the Empire''s entire economy.


    But alas, all that stuff was left to the politicians and bureaucrats of the Empire, for the people who had fought in the war, it was a time for celebration.


    "Dax! Let''s try this place over there!"


    Having agreed to take some time to celebrate and experience the capital with the girls before leaving it behind Dax found himself being dragged around town by the girls, significantly Ke who was experiencing the capital for the first time, and Lilly who simply wanted to get shitfaced and sample as much of the capital''s food as possible. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click <a href="#%!d(string=11701049006479405)/the-emergence-(3)_%!d(string=51612683283257473)">#%!d(string=11701049006479405)/the-emergence-(3)_%!d(string=51612683283257473)</a> for visiting.


    "Okay okay, just slow down a bit Lilly, you too Ke."


    With the two of them caught up in the surrounding celebrations, Dax''s words mostly fell on deaf ears as they continued to drag him around to stall after stall while Alice and Solaris mostly kept back and talked with Lux, Iris and Mare who had joined them for the celebrations.


    "It is nice to finally meet you, commander Dax. Although the current situation doesn''t allow for it, I would love to have at least shake your hand for what you''ve done for the Empire."


    All of a sudden all sound cut out as the surrounding cheerful crowds faded out of Dax''s vision, instead he now focused on a single woman who had spoken directly to him from across the street. The person in question was undoubtedly a qiton elder, from the thin presence alone Dax immediately judged her as a clear threat, but as Dax went into alert he quickly noticed countless more qitons in the surrounding area.


    "What does the 89th want with me? Or rather what does the administrative AI want with me?"


    Just like the special counsel had black operations units under their direct control, so did the administrative AI, chief among those were the 89th special operations committee, a unit consisting of qiton elders which served the administrative AI with absolute obedience if asked a member would kill their own family without hesitation, and sometimes they did.


    "Oh how perceptive, as expected of the renowned 125th commander. We''re here to serve a warrant. Commander Dax, you have been accused of treason, please follow along willingly."


    By now Dax''s companions had noticed something was wrong, even Ke and Lilly had overcome their excitement as they sensed Dax''s poorly suppressed bloodlust was starting to leak out.


    "And what if I say no?"


    "Then I am sadly authorized to terminate you and all your companions, please confirm if that is the case."


    "You think I would let you?"


    Starting to generate mana, Dax went fully into combat mode, and his companions quickly followed suit, even though only Lux had spotted the enemy, and only b?r?ly.


    "Oh, so that''s the so called mana, how scary. As it was predicted it would come to this please pay a little attention to my briefcase."


    Noticing the qiton elder was carrying a miniaturized anti matter warhead, Dax realized his current situation.


    (So they''re saying: come with us or your companions die?... That''s fu?k?n? cold, as expected of the 89th.)


    Even if multiple anti matter warheads detonated right next to him, Dax could find a way to survive it, but he would have no way of protecting all the girls, basically the 89th, or rather the administrative AI had decided that it was okay to nuke the capital if it meant getting Dax to play nice.


    "... I take it you have more of those?"


    "You''re quick on the uptake, as expected as the leader of the 125th."


    With the presence disappearing immediately afterwards, Dax realized he had truly fu?k?d up, there was nothing he could do but comply.


    "Fuck."


    "Dax?"


    Still not completely understanding what was going on, Lilly understood that there was something wrong.


    "Don''t interfere with this. Please."


    As numerous police units stormed the area and arrested Dax, the cheerful atmosphere of the downtown celebration was quickly ruined.

 Chapter 339 - Trial

    Being transported under heavy police escort, Dax was brought to the high court near the Imperial palace before being left in a holding cell without even a single guard.


    "... Well, it''s not like a guard would stop me from escaping but¡­"


    Even without using anything fancy like mana, Dax could easily break out of the cell and escape. Caught up in such thoughts Dax didn''t miss the sound of approaching footsteps, they were so perfectly timed and spaced out that it really only could belong to one person, although calling them a ''person'' would be a stretch in of itself.


    "To what do I owe the honour of talking directly to the administrative AI?"


    "I''m just here to talk."


    Even if the avatar standing in front of him looked very much like a person, Dax knew that it wasn''t the case, instead, it was a piece of lost technology, just like the administrative AI itself. Perhaps it was too obvious, or perhaps Dax had just blindsided the entire issue, but he had overlooked something important.


    Confirming that the precursors were still very much alive and operating in Dax''s plane of existence, he should have thought about what that means in relation to the administrative AI. After all, how would the tool react if it found out that its creator was still alive, the administrative AI ought to know about Dax''s run ins with the precursor, in that case, why didn''t it react?


    "I''ve come here on behalf of an interested third party."


    It didn''t react because it was already aware that the precursors still existed, in fact, it was still very much in contact with them, it never lost contact in the first place. It seemed painfully obvious not that he put some thought into it, but now it seemed too late to get out of the precursor''s clutches.


    "As a tool, you have crossed the line."


    (So is this entire Empire under the precursor''s control?)


    Although he didn''t show it on his face, the administrative AI''s avatar nevertheless cracked a smile to confirm Dax''s inner thoughts. In that case, was all this some sort of experiment? Was all the suffering Dax and other ''hands'' of the Empire inflicted not for some greater good, but simply some sort of sick entertainment? If so Dax felt like a large part of his life had been a lie, the hope his long passed mother had passed onto him, ''to serve the Empire'' was simply nothing more than some sort of joke?


    "It seems like you understand your current situation. If you want your allies to escape without repercussions here''s what is going to happen¡­"


    -


    (Dax, are you good?)


    (Mu, is that you?... Yeah I''m fine, although I am slightly vexed nothing else is wrong.)


    A bit after the avatar left, Dax was contacted by Mu who had finally managed to break through the isolation which surrounded him and establish a direct line of communication.


    (Vexed? How so?)


    Sensing Mu''s confusion Dax put on a bitter smile.


    (It seems the Empire really needs me, and they''re not that willing to let me go.)


    Dax''s vague response left Mu kind of speechless and created a silence which lasted long enough to make Dax think that Mu had lost connection.


    (Could you please elaborate on that?)


    (Well, it seems I contributed too much to the current war effort, this contribution has not gone unnoticed, so the Empire wants to commend me for my efforts.)


    (I really don''t like the way you''re wording things Dax, please tell me honestly what is going on.)


    Starting to see through the act Dax was putting up, Mu realized that he was not only angry, but positively seething with maddening rage. Even as he sounded calm, Dax had just about broken every single bone in his hands as he was clenching his fist that hard, even with the extreme regeneration of his highly modified body it couldn''t keep up, thus a steady stream of back blood steadily dropped from both his hands. Turning his rage towards the nearby cell wall, Dax shattered the reinforced wall like it was made of wet paper, having still not found an appropriate outlet for his rage Dax continued to desiccate everything in his surroundings until the only thing still standing was the sole prison bench which had been part of his cell. Having exhausted all available targets to take out his rage, Dax still didn''t feel fulfilled at all but nevertheless sat down powerlessly on the sole bench.


    (They want to designate me as a strategic level weapon of mass destruction.)


    (WHAT!?)


    Designating a person as a strategic level weapon of mass destruction, meant just that, the person would be classified as a weapon, meaning their rights as an intelligent being would be stripped away and they would only be permitted to breathe if it benefitted the Galactic Empire and they would only continue to exist for the sole reason of slaying the Empire''s enemies, both foreign and domestic.


    (I''ll get Ra, we''ll start preparing a defence right away! Along with that, we''ll start working on backup plans you hear!? There''s no way they''ll get away with this, you''re done being the Empires tool-"


    Somewhere along the line, Dax stopped listening to what Mu was saying because in the end, it wouldn''t matter.


    Over the following weeks, the upcoming trial was heavily polished. Through every single media source Dax was painted as a dangerous criminal who had formed a criminal syndicate doing the war of annihilation, but at the same time, the media made Dax''s contributions to the war efforts clear, painting him as a valuable ?sset to the Galactic Empire. It would seem the Empire really did plan to condemn Dax to the role of a weapon, as a qiton he should be happy, but ever since Dax had been arrested he had destroyed every single drone sent to bring him food.


    Doing so only with his b?r? hands, without even attempting to use magic.


    While Dax was busy destroying everything within sight, Ra and Mu were building up Dax''s defence, by arguing that most of Dax''s achievements were due to Lazarus technology and he wasn''t responsible or the hook from corruption within the 125th, proving both of those points would let Dax walk free and if not they would simply break him out by force. While both sides were busy with preparing their defensive, offensive and contingency options, the day of the trial which would be ingrained in the history of the Galactic Empire began.


    Published as the trial which would settle the population''s gripes with the military and their misdeeds doing the war, the way to the executive military tribunal was lined with spectators and reporters from all over the Empire. As a heavily armoured transport landed in front of the courthouse, all attention was immediately drawn to it as a detachment of the 89th in full combat gear surrounded it, then the rear ramp finally lowered and a sole figure emerged. Having stayed out of the limelight until now, most people didn''t recognize Dax immediately, but his imposing figure clad in the all black uniform, black eyepatch and the pair of reinforced handcuffs around his wrists definitely left a strong impression. Walking to the courtroom under heavy guard, Dax was secured with heavy shackles to the central witness stand before one of the members of the 89th cautiously approached him in order to remove Dax''s handcuffs.


    "No need."


    But as Dax had no need for a key to get out of the cuffs, he simply ripped them off like they were made of candy wrappers before looking the qiton elder dead in the eyes.


    "You can just bill me for those later."


    "... Sure."


    Although such action was viewed as an act of aggression to most of the spectators, the 89th saw this as Dax cooperating, as he just showed that he could have easily escaped earlier if he wanted to. About 20 minutes after Dax was settled in, the crowd outside once again started to stir as a transport marked with the Lazarus emblem approached for landing, but instead of setting down completely the craft simply overflew the landing area as two people wearing high tech isolation suits jumped out. Not equipped with parachutes or reaction control thrusters which could break the fall, the two executives had their fall broken by some unseen force as they simply floated down gracefully before landing and walking into the courthouse. With two Lazarus executives taking the position of Dax''s defence, an uncomfortable silence soon fell over the room, although most of the public didn''t think very highly of Lazarus, most of them were keenly aware of their efforts in winning the war against the Emergence. As a part of the buildup to the trail, Ra had leaked a part of the numerous patents she had filed under Lazarus, and it didn''t take a long time for those who did some digging for them to come across those designs in almost every single navy design which had seen action doing the war. With representatives of the special counsel, the galactic senate and one of the administrative AI''s avatars arriving, the numerous crimes Dax had been accused of were listed.


    "What does the accused, Dax Alpha-4, commander of the 125th special orbital wetwork battalion, have to say in regards to the charges brought against him?"


    With all attention falling on Dax the courtroom drew silent as Dax himself closed his eyes and took a deep breath.


    "I d?s?r? nothing more than a deep and eternal rest. I am guilty of all charges, do as you will with me."

 Chapter 340 - Sentence [VOL 1 END]

    "What the fu?k!?- Judge, the accused is clearly not in his right state of mind, I su-"


    "Rejected, the court has already reached a conclusion through the accused''s admission of guilt."


    As Mu immediately started protesting the court''s decision to condemn Dax and strip his inherent and most basic of rights as a living, intelligent being, a strained atmosphere spread throughout the courtroom as she was shut down by the Administrative AI. While the Administrative AI represented a third of the Galactic Empire, the Lazarus executive that it argued with was the cornerstone of the Empire''s current technological advancement and superiority, while normal people seeing this argument might just think that it was Lazarus being greedy that wasn''t all that was happening.


    This was a power struggle, one which was potentially about to turn violent if a compromise couldn''t be reached.


    "I''ve long since realized that most public freedoms are dead here in the Empire, but when did this become a full on authoritarian state? My client is not in his right mind, therefore his statements can not be submitted as evidence."


    "That doesn''t matter, as your client already confessed to all crimes he has been accused of. I will not be repeating myself again."


    Talking straight past each other again, the ''person'' who looked very much like a living being and the actual person who was surrounded by a suit of highly advanced inhuman armour stared each other down for a few seconds before they both acted at the same time.


    "Clear out the convicted defence attorney''s, the 89th has already been cleared to use lethal force."


    "Execute directive A9."


    [DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED.]


    As the Administrative AI pulled on their enforcers, Mu spoke a single sentence which cripeled the Galactic Empire''s capital. As a sudden information blackout fell over the capital like a lead blanket, its drones, warships and smart weapons immediately malfunctioned, with a few notable exceptions. The very next second, a high calibre anti material round shred straight through the Administrative AI''s head, followed by a series of additional salvoes which shredded apart its entire body, reducing it to nothing but a pile of blood and bioengineered guts. Before any of the spectators were able to panic, the 89th sprang into action.


    "W-what the!-"


    As Ra spread her mana throughout the courtroom there was a sudden and strangely familiar interference which prevented her from attacking the members of the 89th, allowing the unit consisting entirely of qiton elders all the time they needed to commence their attack. Having been authorized to use lethal force, the members of the 89th quickly took shooting positions and opened fire, entirely ignoring the possibility of civilian casualties as they commenced concentrated fire on the pair of Lazarus executives within the packed courtroom which had now erupted entirely in chaos. Seeing her sister''s attack had failed, Mu hurriedly erected a barrier around them to stop the hail of gunfire which returned, but even though she was a skilled mage with an almost unlimited mana at her disposal, there were limits to her protection.


    "FUCK! Plan B!"


    "Got it!"


    With blood, guts and bullets whizzing by their mutual and rapidly crumbling defences, Mu and Ra both realized that things were getting out of hand, reaching to her waist, Mu pulled out a grenade which she hurriedly pulled the pin on and tossed into the open crowd of fleeing civilians, but Mu hadn''t completely lost her mind as the grenade only started spewing out black smoke rather than decimating the innocent bystanders.


    While sheer panic was unfolding inside the courtroom, a single CAS-9 transport landed outside, quickly dropping off a group of soldiers in state of the art armoured vacuum suits before turning to engage police and military forces attempting to reach the courthouse on foot.


    "We''re on plan b, lock down the area."


    As the group of soldiers spread out through the area and set up defensive positions they were soon joined by the two Lazarus executives who were fleeing from the 89th who were hot on their tail.


    "What the hell is going on here!? Where''s Dax?"


    "We''ll talk later."


    Turning around to face the 89th, Ra and Mu casually faded in behind Lux, Alice and the other front line fighters.


    Taking the initiative to gain the upper hand, Lux rapidly closed in on the qiton elders as blades made out of plasma surrounded her. Shielding herself from highly concentrated and disciplined fire, Lux easily managed to close the distance to her targets but nevertheless found it hard to actually kill them as the 89th wasn''t known as an elite force without reason.


    Stepping into a qiton''s range, Lux drew a knife at the same time as the qiton did, but even as the qiton sacrificed their rifle to defend against a blade of plasma, Lux nevertheless found it hard to get a killing blow in on the qiton due to how tight the 89th teamwork was, trough mutual cover and continuous rotation like Dax had taught her, Lux felt like she was finally seeing those techniques true potential.


    (Is it simply a matter of physiology, or perhaps there''s some other unknown factor¡­ Well, in the end, it doesn''t really matter¡­)


    "Solaris!"


    "Ready!"


    What Lux couldn''t overcome due to years of experience or technique she would overcome with her own team''s experience and advantage: magic.


    "Flare!"


    Creating a singularity of light which she then collapsed, Solaris showered the battlefield in high energy thermal radiation. As the flash of light disappeared it was quickly replaced with a stench of burning qiton flesh, but even as most of the 89th suffered horrible burns their combat effectiveness wasn''t reduced in the slightest. Even as their composite armour melted and burned into their skin, the qiton''s simply ripped the armor sections off that were inhibiting full manoeuvrability (along with the flesh that was stuck to the molten armour) and continued fighting as their burning flesh had already started healing.


    "Holy shit, are they immortal or something!?"


    "No, they are not, if you cut off their head or destroy their lungs or heart they''ll die like any other living being, focus on the objective!"


    To rescue Dax and escape from the Galactic Empire, Lux and the others had to deal with these members of the 89th first, and if that wasn''t enough they needed to do so before they were overrun by reinforcements which were bearing down on them from all sides.


    Time was very much of the essence, it didn''t help that they had to free Dax from that sturdy pair of shackles he had been secured to the witness stand with on top of everything else. While time was about to run out, a sudden burst of hope suddenly appeared.


    Behind the group of qitons fighting against Lux and her team, a single figure slowly emerged out of the black smoke. Wearing an emblemless black navy uniform along with an eyepatch, the figure was relatively unassuming, but nevertheless exuded a strong presence.


    "DAX!"


    As Lilly shouted out in joy, the entire battle came to a stop as both sides turned their attention towards the newcomer. Taking advantage of this momentary ??pse in her opponent''s awareness, Lux struck first and sent a blade of plasma flying at the nearest member of the 89th, but instead of finding its target, the blade was blocked.


    "Dax, what are you doing!?"


    Crushing the blade with his b?r? hand, Dax looked a bit confused at Lux as she asked him.


    "What am I doing? Exterminating enemies of the Galactic Empire of course. What else would I be doing?"


    Answering as if Lux had just asked him if the sky was blue, Dax momentarily disappeared from sight, making Lux panic as she hurriedly put up her defences and just in time too.


    "Guh!-"


    Landing a clear punch straight in Lux''s stomach, Dax sent her flying as the 89th formed up behind him, as he was handed a rifle by one of his fellow qitons, inserting a fresh magazine Dax chambered a fresh round as he took aim at the group of unlawful insurgents.


    "ZU RA!"


    With magic now on both sides of the fight, Lux''s group immediately lost their advantage. While Dax chased after the retreating Lux he started lecturing her while repeatedly finding his way past Lux''s best attempt at defences, even as Dax fought one handed, with his right hand still occupied by the rifle he had been handed just before.


    "Too slow, too weak. You''re following a martial art style that''s made for something you''re not, if you tried to find your own path this wouldn''t be so boring for me."


    "Is that so!? Then how abou-"


    "Too predictable."


    Forcefully turning Lux''s lights off with a jab to the jaw, Dax mercilessly kicked the unconscious Lux in the ?h?st and sent her flying a good 10 metres before she finally landed hard on the ground, rolling a good few times before coming to a stop.


    "I thought your plan was to capture me alive?"


    Turning towards Lilly, Dax switched the fire select on his rifle to full auto as he squeezed the trigger while asking about her intentions.


    "No need to worry about that, your head will work just fine too!"


    Deflecting the incoming rounds with wind magic while continuing to send out blades of highly compressed wind blades, Lilly continued to keep her distance to Dax as he continuously attempted to close the range while avoiding her attacks.


    "Why are you doing this Dax!? Snap out of it!"


    Stepping in to help Lilly in dealing with Dax, Alice and Terra attempted to slow him down instead of outright kill him like Lilly. With the pair both having aptitudes for earth and metal, Alice and Terra both excelled in crowd control, but even as countless tendrils, spears and spikes made out of metal and rock attempted to lock Dax down he was b?r?ly even perturbed by the pair''s interference.


    "Alice, using magic like that will get you nowhere, there needs to be a clear intent to kill in your actions or it just seems like you''re playing around."


    Suddenly switching target from Lilly to Alice, Dax rapidly closed in on her with an eerily calm expression on his face. This made Alice freak out, panicking as she formed a spear out of the rock in front of her and shot it off towards Dax, but supplying him with ammunition after he had depleted his rifle quickly turned out to be a mistake.


    "ARG!-"


    "Alice!"


    As Dax hit Alice with her own spear, Terra momentarily lost focus as she heard her long time friend cough up blood.


    "Still so naive."


    "!!!"


    Realizing her mistake a second too late, Terra used some of the knowledge which had been forcefully implanted in her when she was taken captive and almost converted into an elder to create a strange offensive spell. Sending out a throwing knife made out of compressed rock, Dax was just about to dodge it when he noticed the faint purple glow it had, choosing instead to sacrifice his rifle to block it. As the throwing knife buried itself halfway in Dax''s now discarded rifle, runes embedded inside activated a created a bright explosion.


    "Impressive, but ultimately futile."


    With Dax suddenly having closed to melee range, Terra''s training took over as she made the unfortunate mistake of attempting to kick Dax''s head clean off. Catching Terra''s leg before it even came near his head, Dax simply pulled with his left hand at the same time as his right targeted Terra''s knee with an open palm strike.


    "AAAAAARRG!"


    "You''re torn between too many styles of combat, without proper focus or a way of combining them all they end up inhibiting you."


    Chatting Terra''s knee with a single strike, Dax wasn''t done with her yet as he pulled Terra''s broken legs before tossing her away like a ragdoll.


    "Dax, stop this already. If you don''t, I will put you down for good."


    Stepping in between Dax and her still standing allies, Solaris spread out her wings as she filled the air with bloodlust and mana.


    "Ah, Solaris. So graceful, so proud."


    Not perturbed at all by Solaris'' threat, Dax cracked his neck as his own body started generating mana. In response to the clear act of aggression, Solaris let out a deep sigh as she took a moment to wonder how the Galactic Empire tamed Dax to this extent, before deciding to put him down for good.


    If anyone was going to do that, it ought to be her.


    "Judgement of the blind saint."


    Creating a 3 meter long golden lance which had an eerie aura around it as it was surrounded by multiple layers of transparent barriers.


    If anything, the lance seemed like it was both screaming in rage and crying at the same time.


    "Goodbye."


    Creating a shockwave as she launched the lance, Solaris remained resolute as she said goodbye to the love of her life.


    But Dax wasn''t just about to die without offering any kind of resistance.


    "Phalanx."


    Putting up a defensive formation with an outstretched hand, Dax only succeeded in slowing down the lance, but that was all he needed. With a small hint of a smile on his face, Dax rapidly created an entirely different type of spell compared to Phalanx.


    "Synthesis: Judgement of the blind saint."


    Dax''s ability to not only absorb but also copy others elemental magic had seen an exponential growth ever since Mu and Ra''s last update, eventually reaching the frankly terrifying level he had now reached, fully able to not only absorb the trace amounts of ambient elemental mana that people around him were naturally leaking but also perfectly replicate mindlessly complex spells after only having glanced at them a single time. As the two identical spells hit each other they were annihilated in a bright flash, a flash Dax took full advantage of.


    "Although you''re both a potent, experienced and intelligent fighter, your overconfidence will be the death of you someday Solaris."


    "GHA!-"


    Coughing up a great amount of blood, the last thing Solaris saw was the bright blue sky as she was sent flying.


    "... Retreat."


    "... Fuck."


    Both seeing where things were rapidly heading, Ra and Mu came to the very same decision at the same time, but they both greatly despised that particular option, so much so that they had neglected to talk about it with the others. In case they failed to secure Dax, Ra and Mu had made the decision for the others that it was better to leave the Galactic Empire without him. With the area outside the courthouse suddenly getting covered in a dense black smokescreen, by the time it cleared, all traces of the illegal insurgents had disappeared.


    In fact, this was the last time in the Empire''s history any of them would be seen.


    "This is fu?k?n? bullshit."


    As Lux''s team returned to deep space, Ke who had expected Dax to return with them immediately saw red, worse still she immediately directed her rage at Mu who had explained what had happened on the ground.


    "Ke, listen-"


    "No, I fu?k?n? won''t listen! I''m going down to get Dax, even if I have to go on my own!"


    Showing Mu aside, Ke was determined to go rescue Dax herself, but she didn''t get that far as she was suddenly blindsided by Lux who punched her from the side, sending Ke to the ground.


    "What the fu?k was!-"


    Outraged by Lux''s actions, Ke snapped at her, but as she saw the tears which rolled down Lux''s face she came to a complete stop.


    "If Dax has eliminated all threats to the Galactic Empire, then the only threat which remains is Dax himself, the qiton which has been named ''the immortal'' and stands at the top of the highest authority qiton clan there is. At the back of this ''immortal'' is Lazarus, the sole private entity in control of the most advanced technology in the Empire. You just deal with a threat like that out in the open, in that case, what would you do?"


    "... What are you talking about?"


    More confused than anything else, a part of Ke kept her from realizing what Lux was saying.


    She simply didn''t want to admit it.


    "You find what''s important to this immortal-"


    Her eyes long since red from crying, Lux nevertheless held herself somewhat together as she finished her sentence.


    "- And then you squeeze."


    Ke was finally forced to admit it, Dax had chosen to get captured so that she and the others could go free, through condemning himself he had set them all free.


    -


    Although illegal insurgents made an attempt to stop it, justice was eventually served correctly. The condemned criminal was trailed, charged and finally sentenced.


    Guilty of crimes against the Empire, embezzlement in addition to creating a criminal syndicate, death would normally be the only thing which awaited the condemned, but he was saved by the Empire''s grace.


    Even condemned by crimes against the Empire, the criminal could still be useful to the Empire and by the grace of the Empire he was allowed to live, all he needed to give up was his rights as an intelligent being, instead transforming into a tool which only existed by the grace of the Empire. To contain the criminal, a specialized prison was constructed to hold him, and there he remaines until the next time the Empire needed him.


    That time has yet to come.


    ---


    Thanks for reading, Gamma here!~


    Oh boy, this was a ride and a half, thinking back to when I started this story I have grown so much as an author, but also as a person. I want to take a second to thank each and every one of you guys and gals who made it to this point, whether it''s in about 30 minutes when I''m done spell checking this chapter and finally release it or it is a few years after that. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click <a href="#%5Bvol-1-end%5D_51908819416045334">#%5Bvol-1-end%5D_51908819416045334</a> for visiting.


    This was the first story I''ve ever written, and at roughly 650K words I would say that I''ve done a somewhat okay job. I won''t ever say that this story is without flaws, or even perfect, but looking at it as the first work I''ve ever made I would say that I did alright. As for what is next I''m taking a break from writing, but after that break, I''m going to revive reincarnation of a shadow spectre while perhaps publishing a private project I''ve already started working on. Also as I''ve said before, I''ve already started on a sequel to this story, although don''t expect to hear anything more about it than that before I''ve finished reincarnation of a shadow spectre, which definitely won''t be as long as this story, but who can say?


    Until I see you guys again, take care and stay healthy.


    Gamma.