I know where I am! It's that Genshin Impact thingy, right? Chapter: 17

***

Even though I love to honk my own big red nose and otherwise hype myself up in front of others, and for the sake of my own mental health, I am, in fact, aware that I am not exactly the pinnacle of a badass videogame character/anime-warrior/action hero.

You know the type. The one who can snap into drawing a sword faster than sound at a person they spoke with a second ago because they ‘felt the killing intent’ or some shit like that.

No, I was a normal person before all that, and it showed. I actually needed the foreplay before going down into the nitty-gritty of murdering monsters and being a badass. I am not even talking about the warmup; just mindset.

It’s one hell of a mental switch to go from ‘joking around with fellow operatives in the canteen’ to ‘locking the fuck in on how to clear out as many hostiles ASAP so the honkai contamination will damage the friendlies the least’.

Naturally, after being thrown here, I had a bunch of time to prepare myself for the latter rather than the former. Really hype myself up for the upcoming confrontation with whatever the fuck was here.
 
When I stood below the Second, she had a spear in hand and was clearly prepared for a fight. We had a mood going! Even I could tell that we were this close to exchanging blows!

Then the second midget impacted the first one, and it all went metamorphically and quite literally, stumbling down the hill.

I watched, completely stupefied, as the pair fell from the floating island above me to the ground in front of me. The punches and the guttural, if childish, scream never stopped all the while.

The one on top was the twin with not-white hair, and she was methodical. Left, right, left, right, punch after punch on the prone one’s cheeks, with enough strength that the white-haired Herrscher’s head was snapping side to side with each strike.

So dumbfounded was I that I didn’t intervene and just stood there, awkwardly to the side.

I did notice, despite myself, that the punches seemed to do next to nothing. No blood, no bruising, nothing. The white-haired midget didn’t even seem to be resisting, despite still having Reality Edge in her hand.

I felt my eyebrows furrow, with my stance shifted, I still had my finger on my metaphorical Sin Devil Trigger. That is, I had the demonic energy overflowing around me, ready to snap into a transformation the moment I merely ‘let go’.

“Cease, you fake.” The words were quiet, barely a whisper, but augmented by my armour and overflowing demonic power, I still heard it.
Then the space twisted, yet I felt no danger to myself, so I merely let it happen.

The white-haired Herrscher now stood to the side, annoyance flaring in her eyes, as the rift of twisted space ceased.

She lifted her hand, and a wave of distortions streamed towards the second girl. It didn’t even feel like an attack, more like her just… swatting away an annoyance.

“Wow,” I jumped without hesitation to avoid it, but I did hesitate for a moment, glancing at the second girl, who looked beyond pissed, and just about ready to jump through the space distortions to keep pounding the other girl.

It was with a sinking sensation of ‘fuck it’ that I conjured a hand of shadows below the purple-haired girl that catapulted her squealing (from surprise and fear) self upwards, and a chain that yanked her right to me.

I landed on a floating shadow platform I created myself. Complete control over shadows and being able to Green Lantern that shit was useful like that.

“So,” I caught the second girl, and glanced down at the white-haired first, “Any of you willing to explain what’s going on?”

For a moment, I am pretty sure, I sensed their surprise. Here, devoid of anything else alive it felt… surprisingly vivid. I think those two forgot that I existed.

I genuinely wasn’t sure if my Jedi Levels are increasing, or I am just going progressively more delusional and chuuni. Both, perhaps.

“You,” The one I was pretty sure was the Herrscher pointed the Reality Edge at me, her expression cold, but her face still had a furious expression. It looked kinda cute, in an adorable ‘aww, what a nice kid’ sort of way. “I will deal with you and with this fake you created to impede me.”

She wasn’t speaking English, I realized. In fact, it was some language that sounded a lot like Russian to my ears, but may have been any other Slavic language out there.

How the fuck did I understand her? Is this a dream sequence?

“Funny,” I said drily, “I distinctly remember beating your ass blue when you were at your hundred percent, outside, after having you crushed my heart,” I said, faking boredom, as I picked my ear with my free hand (one was occupied with the other girl), and trying to sound as annoying and provocative as I possibly could, “Pretty sure the moment I snap into my Devil Trigger you are toast.”

Strangely enough, that did make the girl hesitate, something akin to uncertainty and fear appeared on her face, and her hand wavered.

“You… mister…” I glanced down towards the other girl.

I held her like a sack of potatoes, my hand wrapped around her waist and she was just sort of… hanging there.

Yet the girl was shaking, looking up at me, sheer, indescribable rage on her face.

“Beat her! Beat her again! It’s all her fault! It’s because of her…!” Her voice broke for a moment, as she shook her head, “You must kill her!”

“Shut up fake!” The other girl said indignantly, genuine emotion in her tone, “Don’t you understand that if he does succeed you will die too?”

“I don’t care, I…” The girl was practically shaking with anger, as she pointed at the Herrscher. “You shouldn’t be alive anymore!” She screamed, accusingly.

Once again, I am pretty sure, both of them forgot about my existence for a moment.

My eyebrows furrowed, and I could feel my mood for kick ass actions plummet.

“So, if I were to guess,” I started awkwardly, before pointing at the white-haired one, “You would be the Second Herrscher. Void, they called you, I think,” I then gently shook the girl I was still holding up like a sack, “And you would be the original human girl she possessed?”

“That’s…” The girl in my hand spoke…

“Stop pretending.” And the Herrscher did at the same time.

I blinked at the cold tone of the white-haired girl, and glanced down at her, she was staring up at me with hate.

“Stop pretending,” She repeated herself, “This… is all your doing.” Her hands were shaking slightly.

I just lifted an eyebrow.

“I have no idea what you are on about,” I told her honestly, chuckling awkwardly. “If you meant this,” I gently flicked a lock of my own blonde hair, same shade as hers, “It’s the devil blood in me… and my demonic energy in you, I suppose. But other than that trust me, I’ve got no idea what’s going on here.”

The Herrscher shook her head in a… surprisingly childish way. Side-to-side, desperately, her hair whipping around.

“Lies, lies, lies!” She said, pointing at me, “This second personality couldn’t have formed incidentally! You did this to me! When making use of the body, the Will had me inherit the memories of the human host! But those are just memories, to make use of and to complete my mission, nothing more, there was no consciousness to them anymore!” She said desperately, swinging her hand…  “Not until you injected me with this… filth!”
A dozen familiar geometrically-weird spears appeared in the air.

I just gestured myself, and a dozen of shadow lances filled with demonic energy impacted them mid-air.

“Your mission…” I mused, trying not to sound too excited. This is big. This was one of the things I was waiting for. “Now, don’t talk like that about our power,” I told her humorously, “We are both alive because of it.”

“You should be dead!” She shouted, breathing heavily, and swinging both of her hands. Reality wavered.

“No you don’t!” The girl in my hands screamed in protest as she tensed up.

I blinked, as the sense of danger that urged me to dodge or counter… disappeared.

I felt the brief ignition of demonic power, and, I think, honkai, and the space ceased quivering.

The Herrscher was now breathing heavily, barely standing.

“Now!” The girl in my hands looked up at me, “Beat her up mister!”

I must have made a funny face at that moment.

“I don’t think that’s necessary, she tired herself up already,” I said quietly, placing the little girl back on her feet, on top of the shadow platform.

After a moment of hesitation, I jumped down.

Landing on the island where the Second Herrscher still stood.

“You know,” I spoke up, “It’s pretty arrogant to think of yourself as real. You did hitch a ride in someone else’s body, and you were alive for what, less than a day?” I asked, approaching her carelessly, knowing full well she can’t really stop me, “The power I gave you, was also given to the girl whose life you stole. The human blood carries the lingering remains of the soul, and that girl herself was, for all intents and purposes, still alive. Hence, you and her, both of you became demons… inhabiting the same body, sharing even a soul.”

As I spoke, half-formed guesses and instinctual understandings merged together, and with each word the sense of assurance, the sensation of ‘I am right’ grew as I explained, right until I stopped… both my explanation, and my walk, in front of the kid.

“It shouldn’t have worked,” I told her, tilting my head, “Not by itself. You are right, normally to achieve something like that, the process should be directed from the start by someone like…” Mundus. Or some other demon who spent literal millennia learning how to twist bodies and souls into demon arms, and mortals into demons. Doing something like this incidentally was like shooting a pistol at the sky and accidentally assassinating an American president by doing it. A chance so unlikely it’s comical. Yet, never impossible.

“...but I guess it’s my thing now to break through the limits of what’s possible,” I mused to myself, my hand gently, almost reverently, touching the sharp tip of my orange glasses.

I glanced down.

“You are alive, in any case. So is she,” I said, pointing with my thumb behind my back, “You are also both demons now. Congrats, really.”

The Herrscher who was breathing heavily and staring up at me seemed to both be incredibly angry, and at the edge of tears.

Strangely enough, I didn’t really feel bad from taunting her so badly. I think I may still be a little absolutely livid about grievous body harm and almost dying thing. And that’s without mentioning the tinsy bitsy little detail of a country being pretty much gone by her efforts.

“You…” She clenched her fists, glancing down, her little body shaking, “You… you think I care…. you think I care about living?!” She shouted, lunging forward.

I felt no threat, so I didn’t care to react.

Her tiny hands wrapped around my shoulders as she dragged me down, closer.

“You think I like this?” She gestured around, “I had a purpose! I knew what I must do! It was simple! I didn’t think much, I didn’t feel anything, it was simple! Complete! Doing what I was told to, saying what I had to, I didn’t feel all of this!” She screamed, gesturing at herself, at her own chest.

It was odd too. The tears in her eyes, the ways in which she articulated herself and gestured… was clearly a muscle memory that couldn’t have belonged to a demon, nor the Herrscher.

“You ruined it!” She screamed, hitting me with her tiny fist… there really was almost no power behind it, “You ruined, ruined it, ruined it! It’s because of you I felt scared, felt hurt, felt all… all of this!” She said, shaking her head, “It’s all your fault! I didn’t ask for it! Take this away! Take it all away!”

It was with each word that I started to understand what the Herrscher was so desperate to convey.

She felt now. Had a genuine heart. I knew as much. At the end of our battle she acted like she had feelings for once.

Yet, this implies… she truly didn’t feel anything before that. She barely was a person at all. Was a Herrscher even a living creature, or merely a puppet?

Yet…

“I can’t,” I caught her tiny fists, and told her quietly, “I am afraid that’s just how it is for all of us. Once you are born, you can’t really be unborn.”

You can only die. And death wasn’t a gentle thing.

I was sure that the girl in my hands who searched for something in my eyes somehow must have known I was being genuine, as her whole body sacked.

“Tell me, Herrscher,” I spoke quietly, “Is it still your mission? To eradicate humanity?”

She didn’t answer.

“There are… no missions anymore. No directions.” She said, her voice growing empty, as her shoulders started to shake, “When you hit me in the chest… I… I felt something snapped and… AAAAAAAh!”

And, with no prompt whatsoever, the creature of Honkai who almost brought Europe to its knees, burst into tears.

I stood there, holding a crying child-shaped demon by the wrists, and had absolutely no idea what to do.

She wailed. Not the pretty kind of crying, either. Full on ugly crying, with snot and hiccups and heaving breaths that shook her whole body. Her grip on my wrists went limp as she stopped even trying to hit me.

I let go of her hands.

She didn't attack. Just stood there bawling, fists balled at her sides, face scrunched up and red.

I glanced up at the purple-haired girl on the shadow platform.

She looked below at us, hate in her eyes. She jumped down, and I barely managed to extend the shadow to catch her in time.

“Don’t listen to her!” She seethed, “She lies, lies, lies! It’s because of her… because of her everyone, and even mom are… are…” Tears appeared in the eyes of the second girl, who shook her head desperately, and I could tell, she was trying to summon up more anger because otherwise…

“I’ve been told that the initial Eruption… leveled your village,” I told the girl quietly, “Because of how things are in that part of the country, they couldn’t even tell who you were, because everything was just… gone, and there were no electronic records.” I explained quietly, my eyebrows furrowed. This was the reason why I still didn’t know the Second’s name. No one knew it. “But I don’t think it’s her fault.” I pointed at the Herrscher, “She… probably wasn’t ‘born’ until the eruption that was changing your body ended.” And to add to that, the Second Herrscher wasn’t a person until… well, until after she became a demon.

“That’s…” The purple-haired girl recoiled slightly, more and more tears appearing in her eyes.

I had no idea what to say or do here, I suddenly realized with amazing clarity. Despite myself, I recalled another little girl, back there, in Japan, with Himeko by my side. Back then I also had no idea what to do.

They both cried, and the awkward pause lingered.

"Look," I started, then stopped. What was I even going to say? 'It'll be okay'? To whom? The girl whose life got stolen, whose family and everything she knew just… ceased. For no reason, with no cause, just a honkai nuke out of nowhere. What, do I say it to the other one instead? To the thing that stole her body after that and then got cursed with a heart she never wanted?

I exhaled.

"I'm not going to pretend I understand what either of you went through," I said, glancing between them, "Because I don't. I really, genuinely don't."

The purple-haired girl wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, an aggressive motion, like she was angry at herself for crying. Her lip was trembling. She bit down on it.

The Herrscher had gone quiet. The ugly sobbing turned into the occasional hiccup, and she was just… standing there. Staring at the snow, her shoulders hunched in. She looked small. Not 'small' in the way that's endearing, small in the way a person looks when they've got nothing left to hold themselves up with.

"But here's what I do know," I continued, rubbing the back of my neck, "You're both alive. You're both here. Neither of you… wanted any of this. You both had no choice until now. Now… now you do.” I said quietly.

"She killed people," The purple-haired girl said. Quietly, but insistently, with surety and desperation. As if it were a lifeline. That was somehow worse.

"Yeah," I agreed. No point sugarcoating that. "She sure did."

The Herrscher didn't deny it. Didn't flinch. Just kept staring down.

"I don't think she knew what killing meant at the time, though," I added, and saw the purple-haired girl's expression twist into something ugly, so I raised a hand, "I am not excusing it. Please hear me out."

She didn't interrupt, but her whole body was coiled tight.

"You've been inside her the whole time, right? You share a body. A soul, even," ‘You became her’ I wanted to say, but… that weren’t the words she would appreciate, I knew. But that is what happened, I suddenly understood. It’s not that the girl from Belarus one day had been possessed… It’s that she was rebuilt into a Herrscher.

Quietly, literally became it.

But I can’t say it. I can’t say it because I knew that the purple-haired girl hated the Second Herrscher.

I gestured vaguely between them.

"So you probably already know better than me. Was she a person back then? When the Eruption happened? Could she even understand what she was doing?" I asked, “Or did she just do what she was commanded to, without thinking on anything?”

The purple-haired girl opened her mouth.

Then closed it.

“She… she thought,” She said quietly, barely a whisper, “Thought how to do things. And those… those were weird thoughts. Not how I used to think.” She said, shaking her head.

Her fists unclenched, just slightly, and something in her expression shifted from fury to something I couldn't name. Something painful.

"That's what I thought," I said quietly, "Doesn't make it better. Doesn't bring anyone back. I know. But being angry at her for it is like being angry at a landslide that some bastard kicked off intentionally."

"I don't care," The girl whispered, but the conviction from earlier wasn't there anymore. She was hugging herself now, arms wrapped tight around her own torso.

I exhaled through my nose.

"Yeah. That's fair too."

There was silence. Or whatever passed for silence in a dimension made of floating geometry and broken physics. There was a low hum in the background that I couldn't identify, something between a vibration and a sound, that seemed to come from everywhere at once.

"What do you want from us?" The Herrscher asked eventually, her voice hoarse. She still wasn't looking up.

"Right now? Nothing," I said, scratching my cheek, "I didn't even know you two were in here until the spear yanked me in. I was just sitting on a rock minding my own business."

She looked up at that. Clear yellow eyes, as if she didn't cry for a single second, were searching my face.

"You… don't want to subjugate me?" She asked, and there was genuine confusion there.

"An odd thing to ask, don't you think?" I raised an eyebrow, adding some humor to my voice. I barely held myself back from a 'not today, FBI' joke, but left it for the privacy of my mind.

"I am your Devil Arm," She said it like she was reciting something. Did… she also have the same instincts? "The defeated serves the victor. That is… how it works." She said, with odd surety, and yet she looked up at me, as if asking.

"Sure, that's how it works for demons," I chuckled, before pointing to myself with a thumb, "Me? I am a human. My soul is human, and so is my heart. So is yours, and hers," I pointed at Herrscher, then moved my finger to the other girl, "I defeated you… the other you." I inclined my head, "And managed to do in a way when both of you get to live."

I saw a very complex mix of emotions on both of their faces, so I hurried to explain.

"Back then, when you were dying… I didn't come close to do what I did to get a weapon." I explained quietly, "I could tell that… both of you wanted to live. Genuinely. Both of you wanted to live more than anything else. So I tried to help and…” I trailed off, realizing I was rambling, “So now, you do. Live, I mean."

I chuckled, shaking my head.

"Sure, for now, this might not be what you wanted, but… well, eventually, you will be able to come back to life properly." I said simply, tilting my head, "Until then, I'll show you two the world… and, well, borrow your power a fair bit to make sure there is something left of the world by the time you come back."

The Herrscher stared at me before folding her hands on her chest.

"You are saying that you will still use my…" She hesitated briefly, "...our power." She finished lamely, "To fight honkai?"

"Yep." I said shamelessly, grinning, "Not gonna lie, you girls are a pretty kick-ass spear. I won't have you forever, but while I do, I may as well enjoy it."

Both of the assembled girls drilled me with their stares.

"I… okay…" The once-human girl said quietly. Her voice was still thick, and she sniffled once before straightening up, like she was physically forcing herself back together.

I turned to her, feeling a… mass of questions and concerns.

"Hey," I called out to her, "What is your name? It's been kind of awkward not knowing how to address either of you," I said, pointing at them both, "I am Knightmare, Special Operative of an organization called M.O.T.H. We are basically superheroes who exist to fight honkai."

"Superheroes?" The Herrscher asked, her eyebrows furrowing, "Like the cicada-man?"

The who and what now? Wow, imagine an insect-themed superhero ever catching on. The comics in this universe must be dogshit.

I will have to show them something decent, like Spider-Man.

"That's… cool!" The human girl didn't sound sceptical, she sounded impressed. Her voice wobbled on it, though, and she cleared her throat before pressing on. "I am Sirin!" She said earnestly.

"Sirin…" I said awkwardly. That's… the least fucking Slavic name I've ever heard in my entire life. "That's a nice name," I told her quite honestly, nevertheless.

I really am the last person to judge someone based on the name, don’t throw stones out of the glass house, and all that.

I then glanced at the Herrscher.

"So to be clear," I spoke up awkwardly, "We are in… well, where are we exactly?"

She blinked slowly.

"Inside me." And of course, she did the things kids do, and innocently said a thing that would get me in trouble if there were witnesses.

"...elaborate," I asked, feeling something in me dying.

"This is a space outside of space." She said, furrowing her brows. "But it's also me, and inside me. All of it is me…" Her eyes moved towards Sirin, and she corrected herself, "Us, I mean."

I blinked again.

"Wait, but if this," I gestured around, "Is your actual body, then this…" I gestured at her.

The Herrscher shrugged, and for a moment, her 'body' fizzled with static.

"Recreations… they are instinctive to make." She explained, pointing at Sirin, "Even she managed, probably without even realizing what she was doing."

"Hey!" The girl complained, before realizing who she was speaking with, and glaring.

"So that's why you couldn't hurt each other." I said, snapping my fingers, as two and two snapped together, "You two are pretty much projections." No wonder they felt so fucking weird to my senses.

I thought it was just because they were technically demon-honkai-whatever organisms. But no, it was because they weren’t really organic to begin with.

Even if Sirin did feel plenty organic when I dragged her around.

Eh, it’s demon stuff, better not to think too hard about it.

I glanced around.

"So, I would wager a guess that you two are still recovering?" I asked, before glancing at the girls around me, "Like, judging by the stuff I saw on my way here, at least."

The Herrscher furrowed her eyebrows.

"I… don't know. But we are changing." She said, sounding genuinely unsure.

"Growing." Sirin mumbled, making me glance at her. She'd drawn her knees up to her chest at some point, hugging them, chin resting on top. "It feels like growing. Like when you grow so much that your legs and arms are aching a bit, but… uhm, it's not actually legs that ache?" She tried, and I could feel her confidence disappear as she explained.

"No, no, I get it," I assured her, "That's actually a good way to dumb it down for me," I assured the girl, much to her visible relief.

I exhaled slowly.

"Alright." I glanced around, "I guess this is an inner world of sorts, then."

"It is not." The Herrscher spoke suddenly, making me turn to her, "It's outer, if anything. The portals I use made way through this place, too. We are just a layer or two deeper." She explained with complete confidence, though her voice still came out a little raw in places, like her throat hadn't quite caught up.

That is… I have no idea what it means.

Well, RIP Mobius, hope you will enjoy those cool schizophrenic 11th-dimensional revelations. I will even confuse something in my explanation for sure, to make it just that much more difficult for you to understand.

And it won't even be intentional.

Still, she is what, like Leviathan from DMC 3? Cool.

"Got it." I once again glanced around before giving up and turning to the Herrscher.

"Two questions," I said quite honestly, "First, what do I call you? Because calling you Second feels kinda weird…"

She opens her mouth, but I immediately gesture for her to stop.

"And I am not calling you Void," This is too edgy even for me, a man who calls himself Knightmare.

The girl pouted.

"Question number two: How do I get out of here without accidentally breaking this space apart?" I asked genuinely.

The Herrscher of the Void just looked at me.

Reality wavered.

For a moment, I could swear I saw the mountain spot where I trained through the static around me.

Both girls also looked sick, like they were suddenly suffering from a headache.

"Go… having you here… is heavy…" The Herrscher said, her words slurring and full of strange distortions, as she thrust her hand at me.

A moment later, I was in my training spot.

Reality Edge was shining dark purple, hanging in the air, before falling to the ground, impaling itself, and growing dim.

Instantly, I snapped closer to it and gently touched it.

Again, only the sensation of rest from within… but this time I could tell, they wouldn't sleep for long. A few hours at most.

"This is messed up," I mumbled to myself.

DRRRING DRRRING

I glanced towards my backpack.

Summoning the shadows, I brought it to me, fished out my smartphone… yeah, ten missed calls. And a few alarms from the MOTH app. Some from Mobius.

I winced.

They probably could observe this spot from satellites, couldn't they?

I took a deep breath and gently pressed the green button on the touch screen…

"Lab Rat…!"

For the first time in a while, I interrupted her with my most annoying voice.

"Heeeey…" I said, as I gathered my thoughts, "So, my doctorish pogchamp, you'll never believe what just happened…"

She did not, in fact, wish to believe me until she forced me to speak seriously.


***
A week or so later,

“...calm, calm, it’s alright, alright,” I tried to gently explain to an almost catatonic Asian lady, who was yelling and pointing at me, with a calming voice, and both of my hands in front of me, “The monsters are gone,” I tried to gesture, showing first the ‘claw’ gesture and making a caricaturally mean face, and then crossing my hands in a cross, “Gone. Killed. Boom!” I tried to explain empathically, before switching to my fingers, “Need to go. Radiation. Chernobyl. Dangerous!” I tried to explain again.

The woman just kept screaming and trying to fight me off.

Unfortunately, if I do leave her be, she may start getting the early stages of Honkai sickness.

Even if I did eliminate the honkai beasts in this area of the town, the honkai radiation still lingered.

“Knightmare,” My headpiece called out, the recent progress in technology allowed them to have it functional on me without exploding or burning out, even without me having a helmet on, “We have another code yellow. Expect you in the HQ in five.”

Hearing it, I couldn’t help but sigh, dropping my hands.

“Roger,” I replied, pressing a button on the headphones before glancing at the old lady.

“You know what? Fuck this. Hope you don’t have heart problems, Granny.”

Minutes later, a giant made of shadow carried a bunch of civilians to the edge of the containment site.

I dismissed it, but not before tying up said civies in a long shadow rope.

Unfortunately, the edge of the containment site also meant a lot of gawkers.

“Yeah, yeah, nothing to see here,” I told the rather excited people, who were very much gawking and pointing, making a bit of a commotion. I spied one person with an old school camera among them.

Meh, whatever, our internal security will handle them out.

“Don’t go there,” I pointed behind my back with a thumb, before molesting Yukari’s doll a bit so that a portal opened behind me.

One step through it, and I am back, before the portal snaps shut.

“Good job as always, Knightmare,” My current on-duty nanny said, tensing up on sight. “There is another smaller outbreak over the English Channel.”

He was basically the person who brought whatever I needed to this dedicated portal area of the HQ, without me having to do it. I was actually banned from opening a portal to the kitchen, imagine that. Or to my room, for that matter.

“Thanks, Kite. English Channel?” I asked, furrowing my eyebrows, “Do they want me to handle it or…?”

The door opened with a sharp whistle.

“Nope, I’ll do it~” The girl on the other side said with a smile, doing a cutesy pose. Her pink hair flowing behind her like a small waterfall, “Long time no see, senior.”

I narrowed my eyes.

“Just because you didn’t say that last word in weeb-speak does not mean I don’t understand what you are referring to,” I said, shaking my fist in an exaggerated expression of anger, “But hi, Elysia.”

I turned back to Kite, gesturing at her.

“...why do they give the job to her, though? I don’t have any portal points in the sea or the ocean; by the time the operative is on site, they’ll probably be on land.”  And this was a bit of our unspoken rule.

M.O.T.H. currently has two bad-ass superhuman soldiers, me and the pink eldritch horror with legs for days. Naturally, I was sort of better at the job because I could go ballistic demon mode and kill an emperor-class with a single strike, and Elysia couldn’t really do that… or if she could, the area would get honkai contaminated to a ridiculous degree.

However, she was also better at some things than me. Case in point, she could actually do range, and fight from aboard the Skybolt or a chopper. Meaning she could engage flying targets and the beasts in the ocean.

I couldn’t do that, at least not comfortably.

So if we had a confirmed outbreak somewhere in the sea or the ocean, in a spot that we can realistically reach, she would usually be sent over. If it’s on land, it’s me who has to go.

Naturally, I am not talking about a Japan-scale outbreak where shit really hits the fan, and we need all hands on deck; I am talking small, annoying outbreaks, where one to a dozen beasts spontaneously manifest either in the middle of nowhere or in a sort of populated center.

Those happen more and more often. Sometimes daily. It has everyone really fucking concerned.

“I am not helpless on land either, you know? I can handle that much.” Elysia asked rhetorically, her eyes narrowing just a bit, “Besides,” Her voice softened, “You should rest. Mobi said you’ve been on your feet for two days now, no?”

I scratched my head awkwardly, feeling the pink woman’s judgment and honest concern. I knew that by this point, my hair was more white than anything else.

“I barely feel tired anymore,” I admitted quietly, “So it’s not a big deal or anything.”

“You shouldn’t play around with things like that,” Elysia offered, not chiding or judging; it felt as if she shared her honest opinion. “It would be better if you rest. For now, gimme!” She said, extending both of her hands towards me with an exaggerated grabbing gesture.

I chuckled, getting into my small bag, fishing out The Fumo, and throwing the doll to her.

Elysia coo-d.

“Don’t molest her too much,” I advised, “She may have her revenge if you do.”

The pink-haired menace giggled, rubbing her head against the fumo. The smile of the doll somehow looked very wooden now. Maybe it was just me imagining things at this point.

I genuinely wasn’t sure how much it could shape-shift.

“Ah~ Don’t say that! She is just so cute and petable, I can’t believe you’ve been keeping her away from me for so long!”

Well, in my defense, no one could’ve predicted that she could power Yukari Fumo’s portals. To be more precise, I topped the fumo with mana, and Elysia could somehow interface with her like I did to open portals. She did it with no honkai energy whatsoever that Mobius’s devices could detect, which was incredibly weird.

Once again, my fraud-ass was exposed before the real protagonist.

Yukari Fumo both seemed to like and get terribly embarrassed by her, because Elysia was very touchy. Elysia also, just like me, immediately spotted the possessed Fumo for what it is, unlike everyone else.

“Yukari, on the way back, drop her in the ocean,” I told the fumo, giving her a thumbs-up.

“Mean!~” Elysia complained, before giving me a wink, “Go get some rest, I’ll take over your shift from now on!”

Klein will despair at us breaking the schedule again.

Well, some things require cute lab assistants to be sacrificed.

“I’ll get some rest,” I gave up, nodding.

Elysia smiled, and the expression was so beaming and genuine that I genuinely was taken aback.

The girl hugged Yukari Fumo tighter, who, I could swear, was extending her hands wordlessly to me, begging to be saved. I just waved her away as she was taken by a skipping young woman.

“Thanks for your work,” I told a very confused-looking Kite, giving him a joking salute, before I, too, headed out of the dedicated portal area.

Some time later, I was back in my room, taking a nice, long shower.

Unlimited, free hot water, my beloved.

Afterwards, I settled on my couch, turned on a new channel, and fished out my smartphone to navigate to one forum or another.

Dot settled on my lap, and I absent-mindedly petted him. Just like we agreed, he shape-shifted into a cat so we could both enjoy it more.

Vill recommended me some cool local imageboards that weren’t completely fake and gay, even if she still claimed they were honeypots. The conspiracy theories on them were actually very amusing to read, now that I was the Illuminati.

I felt like the Big E looking at the world below from my private island.

It was there, sitting and reading about cryptid spotting in the U.S, when my phone started to ring.

Ato was calling me.

“‘yello,” I said, picking up.

“Hey,” He said awkwardly, but smiling quite pleasantly at me. “I’ve seen you call a… well, a while back,” He offered helplessly. “Sorry I’m only calling just now.”

“It’s fine,” I assured, fighting back a yawn, “We are all hella busy right now, can’t really expect you to have time to hang out when you probably can’t even spend as much time with your family as you would like.”

Ato looked a bit embarrassed, but still nodded with a gentle smile.

“It is how it is, I suppose,” He replied quietly, shaking his head, before glancing up at me, “Did you want anything specific?”

I shook my head.

“I mean, I’ve sent you the work-related requests on the official channels.” I offered, “But I’ve been told you aren’t in charge of my experimental gear anymore?”

Ato nodded to that.

“That’s correct,” He said, shrugging helplessly, “Afraid to say, but I am barely in charge of our engineering department anymore, Vill has mostly taken over.”

That did make me blink, taking a double-take.

“Wait, she… she what?” I shake my head, “Wasn’t she a glorified intern some two weeks ago? On probation at that?”

Ato just smiled tersely.

“She was. But some talent…” He trailed off for a second, shaking his head, “Miss Vill is an extraordinary woman. You said she is akin to Mobius, and you don’t know how much you are right. It has taken her a week to revolutionize a lot of the field technology that you and other operators are issued; it has taken two to… well, outright take over most of my work,” He offered helplessly.

I blinked, slowly.

“Wait… are you saying she took your job?”

He chuckled helplessly.

“In a sense? It’s more than I’ve given that position to her, she is, by far, much better suited,” He explained softly, “I am currently only in charge of our experimental Mechanised Project. She probably could’ve taken over it too, if she wasn’t still a mortal woman who was limited to the amount of hours she had in a day,” He chuckled awkwardly, “That’s a bit of a theme with her, I am afraid, that woman is incredibly talented, but has a tendency to lose track of projects and switch half-way.”

I listened to this piece of workplace gossip as seriously as I could, because, well… it explained some stuff.

For instance, the time I had to spend making more proto-adamantium parts. And the new shiny equipment I have been getting recently.

For instance, the coms in the Honkai contaminated area now actually do work, as do some electronic components. They’ve been trying to give me a field test of some glorified VR headset with some augmented reality elements that will highlight enemies, give me tactical info, and all that crap, but that piece of shit couldn’t keep up with my speed, and the cameras had worse resolution than my eyes. I told our R&D guy who gave me that piece of crap to shove it up their ass next time, and use someone else to test it, as I was almost skewered by a Templar because of it.

Was it Vill’s work?

Well, that’s awkward.

“Wait, the mechanised project?” I finally connected two and two, glancing at Ato, “We are making Mechas?!”

He chuckled.

“The idea was thrown around quite a bit,” He admitted simply, “In practice, we have one main concern right now; lack of operatives who can adequately respond to Honkai. You and Elysia do amazing work but…” He trailed off, trying to choose his words, but I just nodded.

“We are two people, and outbreaks are happening more and more often. It’s a matter of time until we can’t be everywhere,” I replied to him, “So, mechas are the solution?”

He nodded, his expression growing serious.

“A potential one, yes.” He glanced at the camera seriously, “You are aware of Dr. Mobius’s project to modify the super soldier template with the new discoveries she made based on honkai and your own biology, correct?” He asked, and I nodded, “In a similar vein, Mechanised Rapid Response Units are my own proposal on the subject. They can carry enough weaponry and ammunition to be able to handle outbreaks, and are compact enough to be deployed via your portals. We can also create a lot of them, and locate them in different regions, it’s…” He trailed off, “I won’t lie, it’s very inspired by the performance of your own power armour MK.0, that managed to hold up to Herrscher for minutes.”

I looked at him with the most deadpan expression I could manage.

“That coffin almost killed me. My performance at dodging there was despite it, not due to it.”

Ato just laughed at that; it sounded a bit nervous.

“Well, luckily, you weren’t there with our bigwigs when I was asking them to green-light the project.”

Fair enough.

Still, mechas…

“Ato,” I spoke up slowly, my gaze on him growing serious, “Do you trust me? I am dead serious here. Do you trust me and my motivation?”

He seemed confused, but nodded, his expression growing serious to much.

“I do. What is it?”

I nodded back at him.

“You need to make them humanoid.” I explained, spelling out each word, “Two arms, two legs, a head. They must have a recognizable human-like shape.” 

He seemed taken aback, blinking.

“That’s… what?” He shook his head, “Is this a joke? You know I can’t just-”

“Ato,” I interrupted him, “I can’t explain why. If I explain why, the chances of it working lessen. But make them humanoid, whatever it takes. It may be the deciding factor in our fight against the Honkai as a whole.”

He looked at me for a few moments, seemingly genuinely taken aback.

“I…” He scratched his head, “You are serious, aren’t you? I…” He breathed out, “Damn it, I suppose I can see what I can do? The square-cube law will be a bitch to work through. Is it really that important?”

“It is,” I told him seriously, “If this whole honkai thing will keep getting worse as Mobius predicts… We’ll need everything we can get, no matter how small the chances.” I am yet to feel the Spiral Power, or its presence in any way. Maybe Kamina's glasses didn’t bring it over, and the glasses are just glasses in the end.

But it doesn’t matter. I knew what shape the Spiral Power preferred, and if there is a tiny chance it was carried over to here… I’ll damn make sure there are vessels for it.

“Sorry that it sounds like it does,” I said with a sigh, “Anyhow, you are busy with a mech division now? How is it going?”

Ato smiled, looking genuinely excited.

“We are building a prototype right now.” He explained with a smile, “The chassis isn’t very difficult to get down, but we are looking through possible additional mobility options, and the screening and shielding systems.”

I nodded, actually more or less comprehending what he meant.

“Just don’t let Blanca in the cockpit when activation testing, the last thing we need are Biblically accurate Angels trying to kill us, too,” I said with a smile, before waving off his questioning look, “It’s an anime reference, don’t mind it.”

Ato grinned.

“And here I thought you hated those. Elysia will be delighted.”

My face turned a bit sour at that.

“Don’t ruin my respectful alcoholic racist uncle with a shotgun image I have going on with her,” I threatened him comically, before snapping my finger, “Right, a shotgun, you promised me this one!”

He waved me off.

“Bother Vill about it, it’s her job now. She probably has it scheduled somewhere.”

I glanced at him suspiciously.

“Didn’t you just say she wasn’t very good at doing scheduled projects?”

Ato just smiled at me. Somehow, I knew it was his revenge for making Vill’s hire happen.

“Screw you, man,” I sighed, “I need a drink. And I think, provided I can blackmail Ely into it, I can go drinking this Sunday. Any chance you can go too?”

He winced.

“This Sunday? Sorry, no, can’t do,” He looked genuinely apologetic, “It’s not even that I don’t want to, but there is a major early science conference I have to attend.”

I blinked slowly.

“Science conference?” I knew those were a thing, but… “Can you even attend one? I thought everything we do here is classified.”

“Ehh…” He did a so-so gesture, “Sort of, but we are mostly there to scout for talent. It would also be suspicious if people like us just ceased attending events like this,” He chuckled awkwardly, “I can elect not to go, I am pretty much a nobody in those circles, but Blanca, or someone like Mobius, not being there? That would raise a lot of eyebrows. And what we do is already the worst-kept secret in a scientific community.”

I zeroed in on one thing there.

“Wait, Mobius is going?” I sat up, “Would I be correct to assume it’s a proper event? A party, perhaps?”

Ato froze.

“Of a sort,” He said carefully, “But Knightmare, I don’t think you can-”

“Sorry, talk to you later,” I interrupted, dropping the call. “Say hi to Blanca for me, and kiss the turtle. Also, shake the daughter’s paw.”

I could see his face frozen in confusion for a second before the communication app went back to the main menu.

I screenshotted it.

I then glanced across my contact list.

Choosing Elysia, I started to compose a message.

“Ely, my pinkmost, gremlinest, ever-present and all-knowing friend, I come to you at the time of great need…”

----

Author Note: And here is a quick chapter. Human Bean next, as always.