I know where I am! It's that Genshin Impact thingy, right? Chapter: 15

***

There was a moment of surrealism where I just stood there, hunched, staring into the back of a woman who… was driving me away from MOTH HQ in the apparent hurry?

“Do you… are you…” I trailed of again and again, trying to find words and failing, which was pretty uncharacteristic of me.

I usually mess things up by saying too much, not too little, after all.

This felt like a literal fever dream. The high-tech robotic workshop, the girl driving me away like this from a secure military base…

“...are you kidnapping me?” I finally managed.

And was promptly ignored, as the woman seemed to be focused on twisting the steering wheel sharply to the side, prompting the van to drift with the screech of burning tires.

I only held my balance because of my currently very augmented balance and reaction speeds.

I glanced around once more. The robots and multiple displays were still there.

This was way too ridiculous.

“Do you even know who I am?” I tried again, honestly not sure where this was going.

A kidnapping attempt? This was too dumb to be one! Besides, any spooks from any known government who had people in M.O.T.H. would know to at least try and sedate me.

As I am now, I am currently a very ‘we can’t contain that’ issue to have in an enclosed space like this. I would’ve assumed any plot against me from… whoever the hell, would involve trying to kill me as fast as possible, probably with a lot of explosives, not whatever this was.

“Sure I do!” The young woman shot back, confidently, "Special Asset Zeta-5-4-E, Knightmare. Existing under M.O.T.H. jurisdiction since..." she paused, drumming her fingers on the steering wheel as she took another sharp turn, "Well, the electronic files don't specify exactly when they acquired you, but based on the versioning timestamps, at least eight months. The physical acquisition reports are probably locked in some vault I couldn't crack remotely."

The van's engine roared as she shifted gears, weaving through what looked like service tunnels beneath the facility.

"Shadow-based defensive matrix capable of full-body coverage, providing Class-VII impact resistance and strength augmentation up to... hmm, the upper limits weren't properly documented, and there were a few guesses thrown around, so I can’t tell for sure. I think the power of your augmentation changed with time, increasing? They probably couldn't measure it past their equipment thresholds." She glanced at me through the rearview mirror, her eyes sharp and calculating. "Reaction speeds measured at 0.023 seconds for complex stimuli. That's not human baseline, obviously. And those anti-honkai antibodies in your bloodstream? The concentration levels are literally off their charts. The margin notes from some researcher, Klein I think, mentioned they had to recalibrate their entire testing apparatus three times."

Another hard turn, and I heard something shift in the back, probably one of those drones.

"The really interesting parts, though? The contingency protocols. Document KM-7-Alpha through Kappa, all marked 'DISCARDED' but never deleted. Typical bureaucratic incompetence. Neural inhibitor collars, targeted bioweapons keyed to your specific genetic markers, even a fun little proposal about surgically implanted explosives." She laughed, but there was no humor in it. "Quite a few elaborate plans, to the point even the head researcher working on you reported that making those plans is a waste of her time. Though I suppose that's natural, no one wants to lose the investment they made in the first place because of higher-ups being overcautious."

She accelerated through what had to be a security checkpoint, the barrier arm snapping off against the van's reinforced bumper.

I wasn’t too surprised about knowing there were plans to deal with or contain me, at least on paper; I wasn’t even offended, frankly. Were I one of the government normies, I’d like a way to make sure my super-soldier who can toss a tank won’t go rogue, too.

What I was surprised about was that she knew, in detail, seemingly. Also, the bioweapon tidbit was fucked up.

Doesn’t that mean that they can already selectively kill portions of the population in this world with a specifically keyed bioweapon? What the actual fuck?!

"The asset utilization reports are even better. Black ops deployments, suicide missions with 'acceptable loss parameters', and my personal favorite, Proposal J-3, suggesting you could be used as bait for Herrscher-class threats. Because apparently whoever wrote that one thought lab-grown super soldiers are expendable." Her voice dripped with disgust. "No wonder they keep you in that reinforced dormitory. Easier to contain their investment when it's not actively deployed."

The van hit a ramp at speed, briefly going airborne before crashing back down with a teeth-rattling impact.

"Don’t worry, though! We'll get you somewhere safe, maybe find a way to undo whatever they did to you." She turned back and beamed me a smile, “So it’s all fine, trust me! We’ll perform the greatest disappearing act in history, and after today I have enough dirt on those bastards to bury them for good, especially if you help me testify!” She finished cheekily, before turning back towards the road.

I was… lost for a few long moments.

“So you… What, hacked into the M.O.T.H. database?” I asked, feeling quite humbled, “Copied all the protected files from the HQ itself and then just… what, thought you’d save me on the way out?”

The girl showed me an ‘ok’ sign without even turning around.

“Bingo! Got it in one! Some other magic was involved, but it’s too long to explain, and also a trade secret!” She chirped.

I just stared for a few moments. Magic? Was she… for real?

No, looking back, she just might be.

There is no way that a girl who looked barely older than 18 could’ve pulled all of this off without some… I dunno, brainwashing spells? At least to get this janitor position. Maybe some technomancy?

“Huh, so I am not the only one after all,” I concluded to myself, nodding.

Finally, it made some sense.

“I think… I think we need to talk.” I glanced around the van, “Any chance you can park for ten seconds so I can get to the front seat?”

The woman seemingly did a double-take for a moment, but nodded.

“Sure. Not like any cameras would pick up on us anyway.”

…what the hell was she about?

In any case, soon enough, the van stopped. Still trying to shake off the feeling that this isn’t real, I exited it from the back and got into the front seat. While I was briefly outside, I did in fact confirm that we were in one of the forests of Mu, in one of the protected forest areas around HQ.

“Okay,” I said, the moment the door closed, “I think we need to talk. First things first, why did you decide to ‘rescue’ me, specifically? You do understand that if I were to turn hostile on you, there’d be nothing you could do, right?” I asked directly.

The young woman glanced at me and smiled, seemingly full of herself.

“I knew you wouldn’t! After all, I’ve been keeping an eye on you~!” She said, again, trying to sound mysterious, I think, before her voice grew more serious, “Besides, what M.O.T.H. does is despicable. If I want to take them down for good, I need more than just leaking their classified documents. You being around may just be that silver bullet.”

I blinked at that.

“Wait-wait, what?!” I stared at her once again, feeling as if I was losing touch with reality, “What did M.O.T.H. do?”

The woman just nodded her head, as if expecting this question.

"Glad you asked!" She said energetically, "So get this. M.O.T.H., this supposed 'savior organization' that emerged to fight the Honkai after Berlin? They claim they were founded in 2030, right after the First Eruption, at least that’s what they feed to their own personnel, right? But here's the thing - I found predecessor organizations, all with almost the same personnel, oddly similar funding structures, same classified research priorities, going back to 2014. That's sixteen years before anyone supposedly knew what Honkai even was."

She took another turn, this one more controlled, like she was settling into her explanation.

"The International Xenobiological Research Consortium, the Global Biosecurity Initiative, the Prometheus Foundation - all these organizations that mysteriously dissolved and reformed as M.O.T.H. right after Berlin? They share fifty percent of their senior staff. I found budget allocations, facility construction permits, and personnel transfers, all dating back to 2014. Biological containment labs, weapons development, and human experimentation protocols. All approved and funded before anyone supposedly knew what Honkai even was, despite it violating quite a few regional and international laws." She tapped the steering wheel with one finger. "Now, you tell me, how does an organization prepare for a threat that doesn't exist yet? Unless..."

I just stared at her, flabbergasted, unable to muster any sort of response. 

"Unless they created it," she continued, her voice growing more animated. "The first documented Honkai outbreak I managed to dig out? Small village in rural China, 2015. Population 847. A 'rapid response team' from the Prometheus Foundation arrived within six hours. Six hours! To a remote village nobody's heard of, for a phenomenon that supposedly just appeared out of nowhere. The containment also went smoothly! Like they knew exactly what they were dealing with! There were no Honkai beasts in those early outbreaks, but personal rotations, personal defences to keep dust and such out? Awfully convenient, they already had all of that on standby!" She said, her voice growing hard.

The van merged onto what looked like a maintenance road, picking up speed.

I meanwhile just sat there, staring at the woman, feeling lost.

"Then there's the pattern. Every single outbreak for the first decade happened near facilities that would later be revealed as future M.O.T.H. research centers - or rather, facilities owned by those predecessor organizations that M.O.T.H. conveniently inherited. Not public knowledge of course, I had to cross-reference property records with shell company ownerships and trace the paper trail back through seventeen different holdings. But it's there. Siberia, 2016? Twelve kilometers from an 'agricultural research facility' that the Prometheus Foundation acquired in 2014, and declared a no-go zone immediately after the outbreak. Mumbai, 2018? Right next to a 'pharmaceutical testing site' with the same suspicious ownership structure, also a no-go military zone out of the blue." She explained animatedly and passionately, like a 4chan conspiracy nut that finally could vent to someone about what they found out about BlackRock.

She pulled out a tablet with one hand, somehow still driving, making a few manipulations on it, and waved it at me before putting it back.

Her voice took on a harder edge.

"The escalation timeline is too convenient. Small outbreaks for years, just enough to justify their expanding budget and authority. Then suddenly, boom, Berlin 2030, First Herrscher, massive public reveal. Right when several countries were starting to question the black budget allocations to these 'research consortiums’. Nothing like a good crisis to shut down oversight, right? And surprise surprise, MOTH forms overnight with all the infrastructure already in place to fight it. Classic problem-reaction-solution." She concluded, nodding to herself.

She gestured wildly with one hand while steering with the other.

"The biological samples, the mutation patterns, the energy signatures? All are consistent with engineered organisms. I'm not a biologist, but I can read research notes, and even their own scientists use terms like 'unprecedented directed evolution' and 'anomalous genetic stability.' You know what else shows anomalous genetic stability? Lab-created organisms designed not to mutate beyond controlled parameters."

The van slowed as we approached what looked like an abandoned warehouse district on the edge of the nearest city.

"That's not to even mention how there is a very real conspiracy going on centered around hiding the real numbers of Honkai-related casualties and incidents. Fifty-three countries show statistical anomalies in their death records over the past decade. Spikes in 'industrial accidents,' 'gas leaks,' 'unexplained illness.' Many areas are suddenly becoming no-go blacksite military zones with enough security to put most nuclear infrastructure to shame. They've been testing this stuff on populations for years, covering it up, and now they're playing savior while probably planning the next escalation."

She finally turned to look at me fully, her eyes bright with conviction.

"You're their latest experiment, obviously. A supersoldier to fight the monsters they created. But here's what they didn't count on: someone smart enough to piece it together and brave enough to do something about it." She grinned, tapping her temple. "Once we expose this, once people know that MOTH created the very plague they claim to be fighting? The whole house of cards comes down."

For a few moments, I just stared there, gawking at the woman. I wanted to assure her that she was wrong, but I literally couldn’t, because frankly…?

She kind of made sense! I even doubted my own information for a few seconds, thinking that maybe, just maybe, Honkai was a man-made disaster.

That thought came and went, however. Mostly because I’ve seen honkai beasts, the interdimensional entities that most of them are, tearing apart space to manifest not unlike literal 40k warp entities.

Add to that the sheer power Herrschers possessed, and the fact that MOTH really, to the best I could tell with my ability to judge people, were composed of men and women desperately trying to fight a losing battle against an existential threat, and my momentary doubt made me feel silly.

Besides, she also seemed to be convinced I was lab-made.

“Listen, that’s… that’s not what has been happening,” I said, shaking my head, “It’s true that the first outbreaks of honkai radiation, minor as they were, seemed to have happened fifteen to sixteen years ago. That’s why governments around the world were sponsoring their own ways to investigate,” I told her honestly, “And it’s true that when all of this proved worthless in the face of the First Erruption, M.O.T.H. was formed practically overnight. That said, M.O.T.H. had nothing to do with creating Honkai!” I explained.

The woman just glanced at me briefly, with… pity?

“Of course you would think that,” She said, her voice growing softer, “You’ve been brought up only hearing their version, it’s only natural. But I have data to prove all of it too! So much correlating evidence that it’s aggravating no one noticed sooner!” She shook her head, glancing at the road ahead, “Not that this is surprising or anything, most governments used Honkai as an amazing excuse to introduce quite a few authoritarian anti-freedom of speech and pro-surveillance laws that secured the immediate future of the ruling elites. Naturally, they are all in cahoots.” She explained, as if merely saying ‘yeah, 2+2 is 4’.

…Jesus Christ, I have a female /pol/ak sitting right next to me, who looks like a supermodel.

I was halfway convinced that she would quote race statistics at me if I asked.

I was tempted to, but I think if I allowed this to sidetrack any longer, we will drive across the Ocean to Texas by the time she runs out of cool theories she developed about who actually runs the world.

“How… how did you even dig up all of that?!” I asked, genuinely disturbed, “Like, what sort of magic would even allow you to do something like that and get so much stuff wrong?! Clearly not telepathy!”

The girl chuckled at that, shooting me a wry look.

“Wouldn’t you like to know!~” She said teasingly, before shaking her head, “Let’s just say I have a magical touch when it comes to computers and electrical engineering! And everyone is too lazy to not keep at least some stuff they really shouldn’t right there, for anyone smart enough to access.”

So she was what, a super hacker? The infamous hacker group 4 chins in person?

I just shook my head.

“Okay, you seemed to get a lot of things wrong. Particularly, about me,” I said, pointing at myself, “I am not a lab-grown human. I am just a human. Used to be, anyway.”

She glanced at me.

“You don’t have any paper trail, you realize that, right? No one matching your facial features precisely had a photo on the internet, I checked, you know?” She asked simply, “A person named ‘Doe’ does not exist, and besides, that name was given to you in a file less than a year ago before being changed,” Because the name was never my name, damn it! But before I could speak up, she continued, “Besides, they could’ve made you believe anything with the right amount of drugs and conditioning, you know. There were some projects like that in the 90s that I dug up accidentally when digging through some of the three-letter agencies' files…”

I glared at her.

“...you are very brave for someone sitting an arm-length apart from a brainwashed supersoldier, in that case,” I told her plainly.

She just raised an eyebrow.

“We are still talking, aren’t we?” She chuckled to herself, “I mean, taking you in might seem dumb, but I had my ways to check up on you and do my research. I know that you hate being called Lab Rat by that insane woman,” She said simply, “You hate being treated the way you are, right? Even if you don’t believe me and don’t want to help me, I promise I will help you go free. So there is no reason for you to do anything stupid.”

And now I really wanted to do something stupid.

From a pocket of my shadow-conjured tiny backpack, I extracted a Yukari Fumo. Straightening her head absent-mindedly, I stared at it with a blank face.

I could swear its eyes, which had small ‘white reflections’ drawn on them, used to have been drawn on opposite directions.

The girl next to me glanced at it curiously.

“Huh, that’s a cute one!” She said enthusiastically, “Did someone gift it to you?”

Wordlessly, I opened a portal in front of a truck. Leading directly to the testing chamber, where I was supposed to practice my abilities.

In a fraction of a second we had before the inevitable collision, I conjured a short shadow spear in my hand, reached past the woman, and jammed it into the brake pedal, just before we passed the portal.


***

“Hire her,” I said simply, looking at Mobius, who was sitting, annoyed, in a conference room opposite Anderson, “Just fucking hire her.”

I was promptly ignored.

“...this security breach is unacceptable, Anderson!” Mobius raged, “You have one responsibility here, on standby, to secure this facility! And then I find out that one single girl, who isn’t even legally an adult in some countries, comes here with her hand-crafted machines, hacks into everything we have in the facility, steals quite literally all the electronic data we have, and most importantly, STEALS MY LAB RAT!” She actually struck a table with her fist at those words.

Damn, the ruined sleeping schedule from yesterday really did hit her hard. Also, Skaven of the world, unite! We will build an undercity under the snake-woman’s heart!

Anderson just shook his head.

“You know that it isn’t my fault. The tantrum Knightmare there caused, quite literally, flattened 80% of our defences between his dormitory and the labs. Besides, the capability that ‘Vill’ showed is quite literally unprecedented. The spy-robots she built are beyond what most countries have produced.” He said, clearly concerned and deeply annoyed with himself.

“...this is why I am saying it, just fucking hire her,” I tried again.

And was promptly ignored once more.

“I suppose that incident, at least, shows that we clearly lack security measures,” Mobius said, exhaling and glancing at the table, “It’s good that the incident was contained before the damage could spread.”

“...no need to thank me or anything,” I said to her in a deadpan voice.

“Indeed,” Anderson nodded, “We were lucky this time, but additional security features are required. As for our… infiltrator-”

Now, I am a patient man. My ego isn’t so big that I need to be a part of every conversation. That being said, those two grew awfully comfortable with ignoring me for the last hour, on this debriefing, which they had me forcefully attend as a ‘witness’.

“Just hire her!” I said loudly, standing up, and finally making both people glance at me, “Listen to yourself! You both admit the girl is a genius engineer. I also talked with her, I assure you, she had good intentions in mind!”

Mobius just sighed.

“Knightmare, please don’t shout at me.” The fact that she said ‘please’ disturbed me enough to pause for a second, “I heard you the last five times, but real life isn’t some sort of video game. Just because this girl managed to create a few advanced robotic platforms doesn’t mean she can recreate those miracles. To begin with, we still aren’t confident that those aren’t merely stolen.” She explained plainly, “And I highly doubt she can compete with lead-in-the-field experts who are already working for our science department. Quite frankly, we don’t need her, even disregarding the security risk.” She explained rationally, without really talking down, just stating what she must have known as facts.

“...now look at the mirror and repeat those words,” I said, folding my arms on my chest, “True, most normal people wouldn’t really provide anything valuable to your department. Nothing you don’t already have anyway. But the girl clearly isn’t normal in any conceivable way. Besides, the only alternative to giving her a job is to jail her. Which I don’t agree with.”

Anderson spoke up at that.

“Knightmare, with all due respect to your recent contributions, your opinion on the subject does not matter,” He said, meeting my eyes, “I am not saying this to ‘put you in your place’, I am genuinely reminding you of your standing within the organization.”

I wanted to argue for a moment, before mentally reminding myself of the chain of command and all the other neat shit that keeps me from being a ‘rogue element’.

“...cool, you two will still have to deal with my nagging and whatever ways or protests I will come up with.” I tell him blandly, “But I don’t even care about the dick-measurement competition, I’m sure you’d win, gramps. This isn’t about my ego.”

I glance towards Mobius.

“This is about the fact that the girl, while clearly high on conspiracies and self-rationale, is precisely the type of person we recruit, no? Someone willing to take things into her own hands and right a wrong. She isn’t a plant from any government or organization. Clearly smart, why not give her a chance?” I chuckled helplessly, grabbing one of the folders from the table and shaking it in the air, “I mean, come on, this girl was a STAGE MAGICIAN! And she, allegedly, created robots that no corporation could match! This isn’t exactly someone building a Hot Wheels track out of Legos; this is legitimately an achievement almost no one else could replicate! If you trap her in a basement, with a box of scrap, what are the chances she will escape in a power armour in two weeks?” I gestured helplessly at Mobius, “I mean, you of all people, should realize that some people are born unrealistically smart.” Not that I thought little Vill was anywhere near Mobius, I suspected she was just one of the more grounded geniuses even my Earth had.

Like Saint Terry. But I had to make a point, because that was just that, we didn’t know for sure what she can do!

Mobius just sighed.

“You are being ridiculous again, Lab Rat. No one is-”

Suddenly, an alarm rang. Not the one that was to alert about eruptions or outbreaks. Just an intrusion alarm.

I just stared at Mobius. She glanced up for a moment before looking back at me, even as Anderson got to his feet and went towards the entrance to the conference room, shouting orders.

“Don’t you look smug, lab rat. Be rational for once in your life. This could be caused by anyone or anything. What are the chances that this particular girl, at this particular instance, managed to break ou-”


***

I had the oddest sense of deja vu when I entered the familiar interrogation room.

I think it was the same one where they made me the offer I could’ve refused. The whole wing was redecorated a bit since they no longer needed to hold me strapped to a C4-infused cross, but still.

It was the same white room with two doors: one led into a room where the Vill had already escaped from before, and the other led to the observation room with one-way glass windows where I was preparing to enter from.

Vill was not dressed in the clothing she wore when she was apprehended, but in a white patient’s gown. That was because her previous outfit hid a transmitter that activated her bots from inside her van, and some hidden around the M.O.T.H. compound, which I had to put down just thirty or so minutes ago, together with our security forces.

No casualties, except for the bots. But Vill managed to make it halfway across the base before getting tased. Which, hey, she did better than I did with my first escape attempt.

And unlike me, she didn’t actually have magic, as it turned out.

Still, after the second additional screening, the girl was pretty much stripped naked and forced to change into what clothes they had on hand. Which were the ones given to patients in our medical.
The girl wasn’t even allowed to keep her bra, judging by her… mid-section.

With her proportions, that pushed against the white clothing… she looked kinda lewd.

Not that I give that much thought, considering the situation, as I entered with a fat folder under my arm. Right now, I need to be locked in; I can ogle her later.

She glared at me even as I approached, before sitting up opposite her.

“Okay,” I said, when the silence was getting a bit uncomfortable, “I think we started on the wrong foot.”

She merely looked at me.

“We have nothing to talk about anymore. Clearly, you’ve made your choices,” She said, glancing aside.

For a moment, I considered her.

Then, with a gesture, I materialized a small cutting edge of shadow, and before she could react or even notice them, I cut her handcuffs apart.

“True,” I admitted easily enough, placing the folder before me, as I sat down on the other side of the bare table, “That said, you are missing a lot of important context.”

I moved the folder towards her.

Vill, who seemed a bit shaken as she inspected the fragments of the handcuffs littering the floor, glanced at me, then at the folder.

I could visibly see the curiosity fighting inside of her.

“What is this…?” She finally asked suspiciously.

“The full information in regards to Honkai and previous efforts to combat it. Excluding some details, like honkai beasts classification and such,” I said simply, leaning back in my chair, “Not that you would believe it even if you see it, right?”

Vill folded her arms under her chest, huffing.

“What’s your point? Did you send you here to what, question me again? I already said I did all of this alone. There are no accomplices nor any governments that stand behind me and-” Her words were heated enough, but surprisingly, when I raised my arm wordlessly asking her to stop, she did.

“I know all that, I believe you,” I told her simply, “No, it’s not me trying to fish for info. I am terrible at that. I am also not here to convince you that M.O.T.H. is the good guys. Frankly, I don’t think I can do that. You did more digging into M.O.T.H. than I ever could, so convincing you is beyond me. My beliefs are rooted in what I’ve seen and experienced, not what I can prove what I know to be true to a genius girl who believes me, and who I work with to be full of shit. However, there is information about me in this folder. Information I genuinely provided to M.O.T.H. That I can prove, for good faith if nothing else.” I explained simply, “Fair warning, though, the truth is more ridiculous than any theory you’ve built up.”

Vill measured me with a look.

She did, however, reach for the folder after a second of consideration, opened it, and immediately started to flip past the first pages about Honkai and M.O.T.H. itself.

Finally, she seemed to find the section on me and started reading.

Her expression was stony enough that it was impossible to say what she was thinking.

For a few minutes, all was quiet.

“Is this a prank?” She asks, after a few long moments, looking towards the viewing glass, “Or do your superiors genuinely believe I am stupid enough to believe something like that?”

I chuckle to myself.

“I wonder,” I said, before taking a deep breath.

A moment later, the demonic energy in me reached the threshold, and a silhouette briefly flickered around me.

An instant, and in the explosion of energy, I am transformed again.

There is a literal wave of power washing around the interrogation room, which just so happened to spook Vill enough to make her fall backwards in her chair, gaping.

“This is my other form,” I said simply, floating in the air, still seated in the chair that I held up with me with demonic energy, “The power that allowed me to beat the Second Herrscher singlehandedly.”

An instant, as I tore the space apart, and I teleported to the girl’s side, letting the chair fall the the ground uselessly, making Vill flinch in terror at the loud sound and my sudden proximity.

“Don’t worry, I won’t ever hurt you,” I promised, “This is just me proving what I can. This form? It has honkai energy, but doesn’t utilize it for the most part. If it did, most of the base would’ve been dead men and women walking. This is my own power.” That I was gifted, and did nothing to deserve.

I released the demon trigger, falling on my feet, breathing heavy, as I looked at Vill.

“Which you still may easily not believe,” I admitted, “Which is where my, and M.O.T.H.’s proposal comes into play,” I explained simply, “Work for us. For our science team. Engage with actual research done on the subject, see the results, and realize from the first-hand experience that M.O.T.H. aren’t the bad guys you believe them -- us to be.” I said, looking down at her and flashing her a grin.

She looked at me incredulously.

“You… are here to offer me a job?”

I nodded easily enough at that.

“It was a pain in the ass to convince the others, especially for me to be giving you this pitch right now, but frankly, it’s a win-win for everyone, right? M.O.T.H. can’t let the information about Honkai outbreak frequency and its actual dangers leak; it risks public panic, and suppressing info about it is what we are ordered to do by virtually every government. Meaning they can’t even put you in a normal jail. So, giving you a job instead and making you see things for what they are solves this. You, on the other hand, want to find out more about the truth, so you can just work with us, see what our scientists are cooking up, maybe do some extra digging; nothing you can find at this point would make you more of a security risk, so if reassuring you that my superiors don’t eat puppies requires letting you see how things work from the inside, it’s not much of a problem.” I offered simply, “Provided you will tolerate a few nannies from our internal security tagging along with you, making sure you aren’t trying to sabotage any critical infrastructure or anything.”

She just stared at me.

“So what if I refuse…?”

I shrug.

“They’ll probably put you in jail?” I shake my head, “But how about you just don’t refuse? This way I can check up on you, and hopefully you can help us out in saving the world.”

The girl just stared at me, seemingly not sure if I was serious.

I gave her a thumbs-up.

“We have a fully sentient robot from another galaxy I summoned in the next lab over. You’ll be allowed to work on that. And some examples of exotic materials, such as a practically unbreakable metal alloy,” I tried to sweeten the deal.

By the way her lips twitched, I think it was working.

“Come on, consider it a long-term espionage mission if you want. Gather all the intel you want, see that we are actually clean for yourself.” I offered her a hand, “Trust me, we are so full of spies you really won’t make much of a difference.”

Vill just sighed, shaking her head.

“...who even admits something like that?” Nevertheless, she gracefully accepted my hand, letting me pull her up to your feet. “Now, where is the employment contract?”

And they said I will never make it in HR.


***

Hearing a knock at the door of my room, I blinked, putting away the tablet after pausing my cat video playlist.

Today’s bout of training left me exhausted and mentally dead enough that it was the only means of entertainment I could tolerate.

Demonic Energy wasn’t very complicated; if anything, it felt surprisingly similar to mana. Sort of like… a mana with a different flavour and properties?

I think I described it to Mobius that one time, aptly. “If mana were water, demonic energy felt like a specific brand of soda.”

Still the same consistency, also drinkable, but had a lot added in. Demonic Energy was far more responsive, eager to leap into shape with just a strong application of will. That’s probably why I could use it in my shadow-armour spell so easily. And force some effects when in Sin DT even without knowing any spells, just on sheer instinct and willpower. Also, the whole shooting the pistol infinitely trick. 

I knew I couldn’t do that with mana. Mana, which by the way is a term I made up myself to refer to the energy powering my shadow-armour, was far more rigid; it requires ready spells to work, or at least I haven’t yet found a way to make it do anything useful otherwise. You couldn’t just pour this energy in front of you, thinking of the fireball and trying to manifest it, I know, I tried.

This evening, I was pushing myself, trying to find the limits of my new transformation and the demonic energy itself. I’ve been making progress.

Which was why I was surprised that someone decided to bother me in my downtime. It was definitely not official, or I would have simply received a message on my infotablet.

Walking up to the door, I pressed the button that opened it… and froze.

On the other side, twiddling a lock of crimson hair, stood Himiko, who jumped a bit seeing me. She looked good in her casual clothing.

Breathtaking, actually.

“Ah…” I said awkwardly, probably staring for a few seconds before I collected myself, “Please come in.”

“T-thanks for having me…”

I almost reflexively showed her where she could leave her boots before leading her to the living room.

"Can I get you something to drink? I've got..." I trailed off, already halfway to the kitchen before realizing I had no idea what I actually had in there, aside from the emergency vodka bottle I kept for particularly bad nights and whatever energy drinks the cafeteria staff occasionally slipped me. My hand hesitated on the kitchen doorframe, fingers drumming against the metal in a nervous rhythm that I immediately forced myself to stop, turning back to see her standing in the middle of my living room, looking about as comfortable as I felt. Which is to say, not at all. 

"Water's fine," she said quietly, her eyes scanning the controlled chaos of my living space, lingering on the VR headset tossed carelessly on the couch, the stack of manga volumes I definitely didn't steal from the rec room.

"Right, water, I can do water," I said, probably too quickly, ducking into the kitchen and immediately regretting leaving her alone in there.

When I came back with two glasses of water, she'd moved to perch on the edge of the couch, hands folded in her lap.

"Thanks," she said, accepting the glass, our fingers brushing for just a moment.

I sat down on the opposite end of the couch, leaving enough space between us that a whole other person could fit there comfortably, maybe two if they were small, and took a sip of water just to have something to do with my hands while my brain scrambled for literally anything to say that wouldn't make this worse.

“Listen…”

“I…”

And we spoke up together.

Himeko chuckled awkwardly, gesturing for me to speak up. So I did.

“Sorry, I couldn’t meet you after your flight back,” I said awkwardly, scratching the back of my head. “I’ve bothered some guys to actually tell me when and where you were scheduled to arrive, but some unbelievably stupid crap happened here in the last few days. I sort of got swept into it and… well, yeah.” I sighed, “And the way things shaped up that morning wasn’t… exactly ideal either. I just couldn’t really make it, so I was thinking of trying to find you tomorrow.”

Himeko looked a bit conflicted, and just as awkward as I, and nodded.

“Don’t worry about that, there really isn’t… isn’t really anything for you to apologize about,” She sighed, quieter. “To be honest, I actually came here to… clear up some things about that night.”

The fact that she breached into this topic with such hesitance didn’t make it much simpler on my end. Scratching my head, I nodded.

“Yeah, I get it. It was sort of… chaotic,” I freely admitted.

For a while, an awkward silence lingered again.

“Alright, listen, I am terrible at this,” I admitted freely, “So I will say how things went from my perspective, okay? Feel free to correct me,” I said, looking into her eyes, and seeing some relief in them as she nodded, “So, we both were straight out of some traumatic shit, clicked, got wasted, and got laid. Arguably the best night of my life, but that’s not the point,” I said, sitting up straighter, “The point was that we just enjoyed each other's company for a night, and that’s all there was to it.” I took a breath, “That being said, I enjoyed spending time with you quite a lot. If there is anything more to it… Well, that depends on what you want to do with this.”

Somehow, a miracle has happened, and I said exactly what I meant to say.

Himeko listened attentively, smiling a bit, and nodded.

“That’s… well, that’s pretty much what I wanted to say, too,” She admitted softly, “To be honest, I wasn’t… I still am not in a position where… where I think I should enter a relationship. I think if I do, it will end badly.” She said in a small voice, “I mean, I don’t even know your name. Knightamare is a callsign, right? And aside from that… there are a lot of things I should process first about what happened… back home.” She finished softly, her eyes growing a bit hollow.

Seeing the signs, I gently tapped her on the shoulder.

“Hey, that’s just fine. I get it,” I told her honestly, looking into her beautiful eyes, “I myself would make for a terrible boyfriend material right now. My personality and issues aside, I’m practically glued to HQ and can be deployed at any moment. Not to mention the next month I’ll spend anywhere but here…” To memorize locations for the cursed Fumo to teleport me towards.

That way, Knightmare will become a global brand, with same-minute delivery to any Honkai outbreak zone. I can’t describe how big that potentially is. I’ll be the Jeff Bezos of dropping on Honkai.

Unfortunately, only I can channel mana into Fumo, therefore, I need to know the locations where the outbreaks will happen. Hence, I need to visit as many cities and towns around the world as soon as possible.

I won’t even get to enjoy the tourism, because I am not staying in any single location. The next month will be hell.

I am not looking forward to rural India, Africa, and other ‘fun’ places.

“...I suppose there it is then,” Himeko finally said, giving me a small smile, “There is that.”

I nodded.

“There is that indeed,” I grinned right back, “That said, it doesn’t mean I want to know you any less. I’ll be departing in a week, but before that, we can hang out, if you want?” I offered awkwardly.

She smiled at that; it was a small, genuine expression.

“I don’t think I would mind that.” She tilted her head, “At the very least, I’ve been curious for a while what a man who killed a Herrscher can do.”

There was something to her tone. Dark, expecting, and burning, as she stared at me.

I just smiled.

“The testing area is technically still open,” I said, pointing with my thumb towards the door out of my apartment, “I can spare fifteen minutes.”

With Dot being under observation after his unexpected motherhood, I was practically wasting time here alone before going to sleep anyway.

Himeko’s eager smile at my words made me a bit sorry that scoring her as a girlfriend didn’t work out.

Ah, well, I can live with that.

----

Author Notes: Merry Christmas, gents, and soon to be a happy New Year.

Hope this chapter was enjoyable enough.