Marcus internally chuckled at how cute Kallen was. The girl puffed her cheeks each time Firefly rubbed herself into his hand or gently kissed him.
The girl has changed after what he did to her last night. He can tell that she has found her calling, and now she is throwing herself into his hands.
The silver-blonde-haired girl was way too pure, so she had no reservations about doing all these things. This was unlike Kallen, who saw war, corruption, and some inhumane things people could do before being made to join his Technocracy.
'Funny, how Firefly should be more reserved after fighting an interstellar war with bugs and seeing her world fall.
But that's what lack of life experience can do.'
He stopped thinking about this as he needed to focus on his food.
Firefly meticulously fed him the fried egg. She was like an elite soldier on a special operation. Every moment, every action, everything was calculated.
These kinds of actions were driving Kallen mad, as she was trying to compete. The issue is that she finds this lovely, dovey thing a bit too embarrassing.
Eventually, breakfast was over as time was ticking and his fleet was about to arrive.
Marcus was excited to see that his Goddess of Wisdom, Athena, had been buried in research about evolution for days. He is a bit surprised that she took that long.
Maybe his genetics or psionic prowess allowed him to consume the data faster than she. But, still, she is finally out of that room!
And of course, his Quinella, he missed his sadistic assistant.
The beauty has set all things in motion, allowing him to do what his delusional self from childhood had dreamed about—a literal fleet of warships conquering galaxies and all that stuff.
The Inventor's movement stopped the pair of girls as they wondered what he was doing.
"Ladies, I am full. You should focus on your breakfast." He turned around and looked at them with a small smile.
"As you wish." Firefly didn't complain, she quickly adjusted, Kallen looked at her and then at Marcus. "Of course."
The Maiden of Schnicksal followed after the last Iron Cavalry girl and went to get her breakfast. She was extremely hungry and had been fighting her hunger until now. The white-haired girl had no idea how Firefly could last this long with an empty stomach.
As the pair walked towards the kitchen area, Marcus noticed his two newcomers who had joined him on this trip, which would soon end. He would return to Jarilo VI in just a couple of hours.
Kiana and Enterprise arrived here when he was busy with the pair of girls.
He followed the girls and arrived at the kitchen area. The four girls were eating, and even Belfast joined as she saw how good the food looked—she was the only one left out!
So she quickly joined; however, she didn't expect Marcus to walk over just a few short minutes later.
She quickly tried to scramble herself to stand out, but her actions caused the others to look at her in confusion.
But then they saw where Belfast was looking.
"You know you can relax. It's not like I will be mad that you are enjoying your breakfast." Marcus chuckled, seeing her panic like that. The girl is taking her maid duties a bit too seriously. But then again, she is the soul of a warship. Discipline and duty have seeped into the same metal that created the soul.
All of that caused her to have willpower beyond a sense of duty. It was zeal.
"Nonsense! I am your maid and ship girl! If I slack now, who will show an example of how the maid should be?" The silver-haired girl clenched her fist with a serious expression.
"Heh. I see." The inventor slightly nodded as he continued to walk and arrive in front of her.
Belfast quickly scrambled herself and waited for his word. However, she didn't expect his hand to move and touch her face.
He took off a few crumbs of rice from her face. Making her face erupt with a heavy blush.
"Watching you speak about duty with food around your lips was very cute." Marcus, with an amused voice, explained how he saw her declaration.
"I-I-I… m-m–mean—" This time, he placed his finger on her lips, stopping her mid-sentence.
"No need to explain yourself." He calmed her down, or at least tried, as his gaze then went to Enterprise, who was not sure what she should do.
She was not on mission; it was her off-duty time, but her discipline and sense of duty as a warship were telling her to… do something!
"You did great on that mission. Since the entire planet has been cleansed of Stellaron, we can focus on reclaiming the city's underworld now.
Once that is done, Bronya's city will have complete control of the entire planet." Marcus praised Enterprise with a smile, but the carrier ship girl wasn't feeling that she had done anything great.
For her, it felt like she was fighting against a wooden galley with her advanced carrier ship. It was simply not worth the praise she was getting!
"...Admiral, it was nothing. It was an insignificant challenge with all the technology you gave me." The silver-haired warship girl shook her head. She can't accept this praise.
The Inventor rolled his eyes at her honesty. He sighed before explaining something to her.
"Darling, you used my tech, you gave me data on your combat evolution, and you led my knights to face conceptualised ice beings.
That is more than enough. As you might know, our policy is to crush enemies with overwhelming force. That means I never expected you to face something that you will experience that will make you sweat."
Enterprise looked at him for a bit, processing his words.
"I see… I thought that you wanted me to face enemies that could be challenging for us." She frowned while saying that. It appears there was a miscommunication.
But he tapped at his chest, where the triangle device was.
"This device that you have will not allow you to sweat against any sort of enemy.
" If you face something challenging, it will evolve you to the next stage," He explained while passing Belfast and walking to her.
"Do you think I will allow you, or anyone else, to face actual danger?" Marcus scoffed at the idea. As he ended up standing behind her, the ship girl had her hat off as she rested.
The Inventor smiled, making Enterprise a bit nervous. She wondered if he was planning to embarrass her in some way!
"I see. It appears I misunderstood something." The ship girl replied, needing to adjust to this. Before, she thought that she needed to beat something big to make him proud, but that would only make him stressed for her safety.
'It makes sense since he collected my warship from the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.'
Marcus then moved in and hugged her from behind. It was quite easy, as the girls were sitting at a bar-like table; they were lined up. That means they were sitting on tall chairs, making it easy for him to hug the carrier ship girl.
"A-Admiral!?" Enterprise exclaimed in an embarrassed tone.
"Shhh~" He hugged her tighter. "I haven't seen my favourite carrier for two whole days." His words had a bit of longing, as the Inventor indeed feels that he missed her. After all, Enterprise has a special place in his heart, not just the biological model but the carrier too. That ship is a legend, and he owns it.
So it's both for him, he missed the girl and the ship, and they are both.
Marcus ended up placing his head on her head as he just kept hugging her.
His actions caused the onlookers to be a bit jealous.
"...A-Admiral… can you let go?" The girl asked with a shy tone.
"Maybe~~." He teased her as he released her. Then he moved to the side and sat down on the empty seat; Belfast had used it just a few moments ago.
"You do know that I will find a way to have you all for myself at a later date." He said while looking at her and then at Kiana next to Enterprise. The girl was oddly quiet as she looked at his actions closely.
He then looked back at Enterprise, whose cheeks got even redder.
"C-Can we speak about this once there are no other people around?" She replied even in a shyer tone.
"Fine, instead, I want to know what Kiana is doing here." He looked at the Valkyrie.
"Oh, she wanted to see you." Enterprise quickly forgot her shyness and rapidly recovered to her usual self.
"Oh? Is that right?" Marcus looked at her.
"That's right! You left me without saying a word!" The white haired girl finally spoke as she realised that this guy just flirts left and right.
This made her realise that she should not be on defense; instead, she should be as bold as possible, as it was the only way to get his attention.
"Hmm? Why would you say a word? If you want to come, you can come." He replied with a raised eyebrow. "I don't remember having to report to you."
"Besides, just use Aurora, ask her to notify you if I am doing something. There is a reason why I have a virtual assistant."
For a second, she puffed her cheeks, hearing such an answer, but then she got curious. Could she use the AI like some sort of alarm clock?
That is interesting.
"Still! You should take me with you! It's not like I have anything else to do! You basically kidnapped me from my world!" She huffed at him, then crossed her arms.
"Hmm, I guess."
His nonchalant reply made her gawk for a second.
"W-What is with that reply!?"
"What? You want to do something else? Sure, I might 'kidnapped' you, but you are a byproduct of my Technocracy's manipulation. In a sense, I am taking responsibility. It will be the same with the rest who are living on your Earth."
For a second, she needed to understand what he meant. But then, like a sledgehammer, she realised that yeah… Fifty thousand years of stuff happened to her world. Even her…
"W-Wait! Hold for a second!" She slammed her hands into the table.
"If all of those years are byproducts of Sirin's manipulation, then what about my mother?" Kiana asked him in a hopeful voice.
Marcus looked at her for a bit, then summoned his interface. He went through a bunch of windows, accessing logs of Sirin's Assimilator, going through names, and all that stuff.
"Hoh… Cecilia Schariac is in stasis. It would seem Sirin had saved her before she was killed by the fission missiles." He said with a bit of surprise.
It would seem Sirin still has a soft spot for that woman.
"Gah!? She did!?" Kiana looked flabbergasted! Her mother is fine!
"C-Can I see her!?"
Marcus pressed a couple more times on the console and showed her the image of Cecilia on one knee, looking up. She was rescued right before the missiles hit her.
Kiana quickly walked over and looked at the image with disbelief.
"Wow… she IS alive!" Tears were swelling at the corners of her eyes.
"Yes. I suppose I could send a word to Erina to get her out of stasis, " Marcus smiled at her, making Kiana nod a couple of times. She then quickly went into his arms and began to hug him like the world depended on this hug!
"Do that! Please!" The girl exclaimed in a desperate tone.
"Sure." With a mental motion, the Inventor sent a message to Erina via the Aurora Network. However, he saw that Sirin had done some manipulations on Cecilia.
'What was that girl doing with her?'
Well, with how his empire is being built, one can effortlessly change things through the interface; he doubts that she did anything in person.
"Great!"
She quickly gushed at the idea that she could see her mother, but then she quickly realised that her father was missing!
"And my father?" She asked him.
"Hmm, let's see." He went through lists of people, and the AI went through a bunch of names. In the end, there was a notification that such a person was not on the list.
"Well… he is not in stasis or on the list of citizens. So he is not captured yet," he replied to her.
"Of course he is not." The girl scoffed a bit. "He is not that easy to capture." The girl had complex emotions about him. But, in the end, it was her dad after all.
"Good to know. Technocracy loves challenges." Marcus smirked a bit while saying that. But it made her panic at this! She doesn't want him to unleash something on her Earth!
"N-No need! I am sure he will surface, eventually!" She quickly decided to redirect his attention somewhere else!
"Not that we have much time, right!? We are getting reinforcements soon!" Kiana swiftly reminded him about that.
Marcus looked at her, and Kiana tried to sell it with fake enthusiasm, which made him just stare at her. Since she was close to him, he leaned forward a bit and whispered into her ear.
"Did you already forget that I am a psychic?" He asked her curiously.
"N-No, I did not." She quickly shook her head in denial. The girl was trying to fight down her nervousness. Did he easily see through her fake enthusiasm? It was a bit scary how effortlessly he saw through that!
"Then why acting?" Marcus pushed for an answer, but she began to pout at him.
"I tried to distract you! I don't want your knights to torture my dad!" The girl explained with a huff. To think that he will force her to explain herself like that!
"Much better. Don't do that." He poked her nose with his finger.
"Hmph! Easy for you to say!" She huffed some more.
"That is why I am Supreme Commander, and you are an inspiring member of the Technocracy." He chuckled as he looked at the other girls. They were semi-listening to them, but mostly they were focusing on their food.
"Regardless, I am going to the bridge; you can continue with your breakfast if you want." He began to walk towards the doors, but Kiana completely ignored his suggestion for breakfast and instead followed right after him.
This time alone, opportunity is something she won't miss!
As the pair walked over, Firefly, who was enjoying her breakfast greedily, noticed that one person was missing.
"Umm, Kallen, where is Kafka?" The silver blonde girl asked the Maiden of Schnicksal.
"Last time I asked Belfast, she was in her room," Kallen replied as she looked at the maid.
"She is addicted to the Automated Assembly Line. The woman has made over five thousand different coats already." The Light Cruiser replied with a strained smile.
[She is improving my creative functionalities, so I don't mind.] Aurora chipped in as she appreciated what Kafka was doing.
As the girls discussed things, only one was quiet and had a look of deep thought. It was Elysia who was pondering how she should progress from here.
~~~~~~Aboard Marcus' Assimilator~~~~~~
[Your Alteration session is ending in 3…]
MEI's eyes trembled as she slowly opened them. What she saw was the liquid; she was in a bio-chamber, a container made purely of glass.
She looked around and saw that she was the only one in the whole facility, or at least the part that she could see.
'It appears the session is over'
The girl can tell that she is feeling far better than before. She has no more back, leg, or migraine pain. But that's because she slept in a healing tank of sorts.
That stuff could return, but according to the details of the session, all of her issues have been fixed; only in the next session would she improve towards becoming a psychic.
'The issue is, how can I make him give me a second bath?' The nerd version of Raiden Mei pondered as the time ran out, and a loud noise brought her back from her thoughts.
The liquid began to drain rapidly out, and she slowly ended up standing on the floor.
The moment her toes touched the floor, a sharp current washed over her.
"Agh!?" Mei groaned in pain as she was confused. Did she step on something sharp?
"...Oh, right…" There was a look of realisation. She recalled a period of hypersensitivity.
"How long will I be like this?" Mei asked as she looked for her clothes and something to clean herself with.
[It can take up to a week, depending on how active your actions are. The more you touch your nerves, the longer it takes for them to settle down.
If you continuously touch them, you could damage them to the point that you can't sense things anymore. That is why you should be careful.] The AI explained to the scientist version of Mei.
The girl slowly nodded as she looked at her hand. She was feeling better, stronger, and… free? It's like her new and refined muscles make her feel unchained.
And yet, this is only the beginning. She can get another bath!
"I understand. Is Marcus around?" MEI asked as she wanted to see him.
[Negative, he should be back later today. He left to explore space. At the moment, he is around 114 thousand light years away from here on the other side of this Galaxy.]
The blue-haired girl needed a couple of moments to process what she was hearing. That was quite the distance!
"I-I see. Well, in that case, how am I supposed to dress in this condition?" Mei decided to change the theme of the conversation.
Since she is sensitive to clothes…maybe some pain killers, before she can dress up.
"Maybe painkillers? Do we have those? I can drink a couple before I can put on the clothes." The nerd girl said as she was starting to feel a bit cold, and the place was a huge hall, standing naked in one is…a bit weird.
[Possible, I can prepare some, just remember you can't consume much of such medication. It's counterproductive.]
Aurora explained to her.
[I am ordering a couple of girls to come and help you out and bring some pills for you.]
"Thanks." Mei sighed in relief as she walked over and took a white towel, ready for her.
A small frown appeared on her lips, as if taking a towel was making her hand burn.
"Is it supposed to be this bad?" She complained as she began to clean the liquid off her skin.
[The formula has been improved to make it more potent. Each new discovery Technocracy makes is assessed and then applied.
In this case, evolution was studied and chemicals that react to flesh were adapted and improved.]
The explanation made her feel a bit better. Knowing that millions of years of evolution research went into making the liquid that alters her genes is satisfying.
"Then what is the source of the pain?"
[It's your immune system; your body went through a change, and the antibodies are confused about how your body was altered without their knowledge; they are stimulating your nerves and trying to sense the threat.]
The girl stopped cleaning and instead began to think about how to negate this phase.
"How about altering the immune system. For a week?" The nerd girl suggested.
[My creator already considered such a route, but it has been discarded as it could permanently damage one's immune system.]
"Of course, he already thought about it." Mei sighed to herself, disappointed. She needed to improve technocracy in some way to stay close to him!
"Can't we run tests? You guys can make physical bodies and shells, right? Tests can be run on them." She suggested.
[Possible, up till now we were running things according to Supreme Commander standards, we only run physical tests when all the calculations are done and we are certain of the results.]
Mei's eyes perked up at the way they are doing things.
"...T-That's." For a second, she was lost for words before commenting. "I guess you people have the privilege to run experiments so safely."
For a bit, she was jealous, if only she had such a cushion when she ran MOTH.
[The Supreme Commander's doctrine follows specific patterns. First, we build infrastructure, then we chase the experiment.
Bio chambers here is only one example of this doctrine.]
The scientist version of Mei looked around for a bit. It made sense. When you have the infrastructure, then you can do all sorts of things.
'Like those ship girls. From my understanding, they can easily overpower Herrschers. Just one would be enough for me to deal with the Honkai threat.'
She sighed, but then she recalled the triangle devices they had.
'Or just that single item.'
For a bit, she bit her lower lip. Her fingers were itching. She wanted to touch those devices and dissect how they worked!
A few short moments later, the doors opened, and girls dressed in officer uniforms walked in.
"Miss Mei."
MEI nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard a voice behind her! A deep, embarrassed blush appeared on her cheeks! Here she was just standing, still naked!
"H-Here…"
The girls strolled in, carrying a plastic box with painkillers.
"We have your medicine. Aurora mentioned that you are struggling with dressing up." One brown-haired officer girl explained before the other joined.
"To help with your issue, we brought some nanites." The other girl had a glass container with black sand in it.
"Nanites?"
Mei for a second wondered where they could be used.
"Yes, watch." She opened the glass container, and the black sand rushed out and engulfed Mei. A few moments later, she had her clothes on and was dry!
"Oh? This is convenient!" The girl exclaimed in a surprised tone, then looked at them. "But why are they not everywhere?" She asked curiously.
"We are still test running this tech out. Recently, it was added to the barracks to replace standard assembly lines. We are still considering where to add else." The officer girl explained to Mei.
Who was stroking her chin, gently. Even that was hard!
'That's it! I can do that!'
Her eyes widened as she found what she could do! Where she could show that she is useful!
Where to apply nanotech!
~~~~~~Meanwhile, in Honkai 3rd Verse~~~~~~
"Mistress, we just got a new assignment." The Captain of Sirin's Assimilator said to Erina as he, with a hand motion, sent over the details to her HUD.
The girl read through what Marcus sent to her.
'Another girl? This time, Sirin's good side's mother. Or is it both? These Herrscher stuff is so confusing.' The cherry blonde massaged her forehead as she tried not to think too much.
After massaging her forehead, she checked her interface and found this Cecilia Schariac.
'She does look familiar to those two.' Erina looked at the hair and eye colour, and even the body shape looked familiar. However, her eyes ended up on the logs next to her container.
'Sirin, did something to her.'
Erina stroked her chin. From its looks, memories and information were inserted into her.
'That girl.'
The cherry blonde had no idea what memory was inserted, but she won't be touching that. She is not a psychic, yet.
'That reminds me, we only used the baths once.'
It's not that she cares that much; her time manipulation is more than enough. Would it even work?
When no one was watching, Erina tried to find out her limits. For example, she couldn't be cut anymore, so she tried it with a kitchen knife.
It doesn't work. She even tried one of those plasma pikes, but nothing worked. According to Aurora, her 'true self' is outside the time flow, making her a higher-dimensional being. Nothing three-dimensional works on her…
To some extent, anything that she perceives as danger is automatically 'denied'.
But this has not been tested out properly.
'That reminds me.'
Erina checked out other people in stasis. There are some talented people who could be used by Technocracy.
'Mobius, a girl obsessed with evolution.' The cherry blonde stroked her chin. She could add her as well.
'Eden, the famous idol of this version of Earth.'
There were some others there, but she feels that more would bloat it.
'I think I will keep Mobius, she could help me with a few things.'
"Mistress! More rebels!" The Captain got her attention as she showed the huge main screen in the Throne Room.
The beauty was being comfortable in Sirin's seat beforehand.
"White hair, blue eyes?" Erina was a bit confused. What was with this set? This was the fourth individual with that specific hair and eye colour.
'Well, third with eyes. But that is beside my point.'
But then her HUD picked up why it's like that. She saw the data and the experiment done by Sirin.
'I see, so he is the original of all of this.'
"Aliens! Give back, Mei! For what you did, I will kill all of you with my bare hands if I have to!" The guy was ranting on the rubble of a building, he was pissed, livid!
Erina looked at Hisako, who shrugged at her, then looked at Sakura.
"He is from MOTH, his name is Kevin, he is one of the aces, and is supposed to be the first test subject for the Super Soldier test.
I was on that list as well." The pinkette assassin explained all of it.
'Mei huh…' Erina saw the data about this 'Mei'. For a second, a small grimace appeared on her lips.
'Well, your Mei is gone and never coming back.' The chef girl saw that Mei had already gone through the Gene alteration bath and was already considered part of Marcus' circle.
"And Mei?" Erina wanted to be double sure about this.
"That would be Dr. Mei. She was a top scientist of MOTH, and from what I can tell, Kevin won't see her again." The response was exactly what the cherry blonde was thinking.
"I see… in that case."
~~~
'Damn these freaks! They took Mei! They took 50 thousand years of my life! All of that was just an Illusion! I will kill them all!'
Kevin's eyes were burning with fury. They might have been illusions, but they were real to him! He was able to improve his combat prowess! He has years of experience with weapons!
While part of him knew that he wouldn't win, he would at least get some of these freaks down.
*Metal Rumble*
The huge tripod-like machine towering over the buildings noticed his outburst, and the light projectors landed on him.
"Good! Come here! I will pummel you down with my bare hands!"
Kevin showed a crazy grin as he rushed towards the closest building, kicked the glass doors open, and then rushed through the entry hall. He found doors that led to the stairs, which he quickly took to the upper levels.
As the machine was walking closer to him, he went to the roof!
By the time he blasted out through the doors and onto the roof, the machine's singular projector of light was on him.
One of the barrels pointed at him.
[Cease with your hostilities. Kevin Kaslana, you are a collectible and you will be retrieved.]
The machine's mechanical voice spoke in a loud, rumbling voice.
"Ha! As if! You think I will give in after what you did to me!?"
Kevin pulled out a pistol and began to shoot at the mech, but all the bullets simply went around it!
But he didn't stop; instead, he emptied the whole magazine.
[Primitive weaponry is pointless.]
The white haired man clicked his tongue as he threw his gun and rushed at the machine with a knife.
The AI in the mech realised that Kevin is in a feral state and that the retrieval team needs to be sent to get him, as he would most likely kill himself.
Kevin jumped at the eye like a projector, trying to stab it, but he stopped midway as there was a force field that stopped him…
Then…
He began to slip and fall as gravity took its course.
'Damn…'
The white-haired guy realised that he had no means to land properly and no gear, so why would he? Before this, he was the strongest, with Honkai powers.
A fall like this would mean nothing to him before!
"I messed up…" He realised that as he face first smacked into the asphalt.
The massive spider walker, inspired by tripods from War of the Worlds, looked down. It saw a puddle of blood and a corpse in the middle of it.
"..."
The AI inside notified the command and began to walk back to its patrols.
A few moments later, gunships arrived. In one of them were the chef girl and her girl's escort.
"..."
"..."
"...He didn't last long." Sakura was both awed and stupefied by this. Wasn't he like the best that MOTH can offer?
How did he just die like that!?
"Lady Erina?" Hisako looked at her Mistress, asking if she would do something.
"Stand back." Erina moved her hand, making the assistant chef stop.
"I will use my time powers."
The girl 'grabbed' something; a ball of green appeared in her hands. She made an anti-clockwise wrist motion, and Kevin's body moved; it began to 'fly' upwards.
"So he… killed himself?" Sakura was baffled by what she saw.
"No… It looks like he tried to jump on the spider walker." Hisako pointed at the huge machine that walked backwards and was facing the building from which Kevin jumped down.
"Hah? He tried to jump on that thing!? Is he crazy?" The Assassin was even more baffled by this guy's madness!
~~~
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