The creature was so huge it blocked out the bright red sky. My eyes couldn't even see it in its entirety, it was that huge. No, huge wasn't the right word, gigantic or titanic fit better.
The dragon or whatever it was just blew up my arm with a dark blue colored lightning blast without any warning. The pain was intense, but it didn't do anything to slow me down for long. My pain resistance wasn't half bad, after all. In fact, the arm was regenerating. It shouldn't take more than ten seconds, in theory, that is.
"Wait, what? Dragons? Dude, what are you on?"
is what you are asking, no? Right? I don't blame you. Let's do some exposition while that arm regenerates, shall we?
My world is very much like yours. We have human like creatures, we eat, we laugh, sometimes we go to war with each other and other times yell at people oer the internet. But unlike yours, we also have "fantasy elements" as you might call it. Of course, that also gives rise to situations like the one I am in right now.
I was hired to take care of this menace by some absurdly rich client wanting to make himself seem like a humanitarian to his company's consumers. It was most probably a stunt to reduce tax if you ask me. But then again, what is it to me? I just do what I was hired to do. Kill this dragon-like thing. I couldn't call it a proper dragon. They can make all the publicity stunts they wanted with it as long as my name wasn't being used to make money. Only I can use my name to make money. Copyright, patent, trademark and all that. I worked to make a name for myself. I won't let anyone else benefit from it.
As I wait for my arm to regenerate and the creature roars his displeasure at being attacked by my comrades, a comlink window similar to a high tech holographic display pops up in front of me.
Gotta love science and technology. And magic. Don't forget the magic. Actually, any supernatural power counts. They are justice!
A rough voice began speaking without any greeting.
"What in the name of Andromeda are you doing? Use that wretched special ability of yours, why don't you? Thought it can manipulate reality? Or was that all or talk or as you call it, "theory" or "technicality"?" Someone yelled from the other side.
I hear the pleasant tone of my boss. Man, I respect him so much.
Also, you heard that right; I have developed the ability to manipulate reality to some extent using an ability I created myself.
I am great at it......
is what I would like to say. But……………………………
"The hell is the problem? I just activated God mode! I should be immune to damage!" I yell out loud while completely ignoring my boss. The outburst came a little late but his question bought my attention back to it.
"Ryuunosuke, need I remind you that ignoring your boss is a class three offense? If you were in the military you would be court marshaled for it right now," Boss continues ignoring my voice. Bosses have the special ability to ignore their employees. That ability was universal. It is the same as your universe.
"Ah, but that is the thing," I answer him this time, my voice filled with delight despite the pain. After all, you should never pass up an opportunity to get back at your boss, provided that,
"You are not my real boss and this is not the freaking military, Boss. If it were then I would have been executed long ago for neglecting proper procedure and stealing cafeteria food. Whatever the military may determine that is. God knows they love meaningless rules."
My enraged voice does nothing to stop the artificial creature created by whatever boneheaded scientist who lives here, however. It was a custom build creature though, so that much was expected. Faulty, weak ones die right off the bat. The ones that actually live, well then this type of situation I am in happens.
"Ryuunosuke, please focus. You still have the cheat functions available, right?"
And there is 34th Ranker. Or as we call him, just Ranker. Why is he called that, you ask?
His name can't be pronounced because it is from another language that uses a different system than the ones we use. So we just go by his placement in the list of "Top Strongest."
"Yeah, I do have that. I am already using it right now. I would have been dead if that didn't work," I answer him.
True, I would have been dead without it. I am a scientist who has used his knowledge and analysis of fighters to modify his body to give him combat capabilities. I didn't have top tier combat skills. Thus my only hope was science. Not that I particularly care. Because as he mentioned,
My cheat functions are working…. Somewhat...
"Ryuunosuke, stop staring at me and kill it already. What are you doing?"
Yup, there is Kite. She is a real beauty with blue hair and grey eyes. She is my childhood friend is what I would like for her to be.
But that is one of my genius creations. The childhood friend bit is just background info I programmed into her as wish fulfillment. Just like the flavor text in a video game character. My childhood had no chance of encountering such beauty. It was spent fighting in the intergalactic border wars by maintaining the military's weapons.
So I created her to compensate for it somewhat. And she is perfect in that regard. She is a childhood friend who just happens to be the ultimate waifu material when she moves back into my life years after she mysteriously left, one I actually have a shot with.
Or she would be if she wasn't obsessed with me. You might be asking,
"How is that a bad thing, dude? You got a real beauty obsessed with you. Or is this one of those "I am ugly, don't hate" stunt you are pulling?"
Want to know the answer to that question?
Well, you will see soon enough. Why hurry?
"Ryuunosuke, please stop staring at her. You have a job to do. Also, don't stare at her. It's weird."
And there is my other creation. She is a heavy combat type build to engage in Hand to Hand combat. And she just blocked the strike from one of the dragon's arm with her own slender ones. The result was a shockwave that flattened everything within half a mile. I am really glad we are in an unpopulated area of the planet. Of course, we are.
If dragon like that attacks out of nowhere, the area quickly becomes depopulated with everyone taking a trip to the literal heaven to celebrate the occasion.
"How can you say such things so casually? You monster!!". I heard that line a thousand times. One of the
Well, after the first few thousand times, it kind of became a number. One million is just a static after all. Death is better, trust me on this one. I will show you in a while.
The dragon attacked with another blast of fire that completely engulfed her head to toe.Is that even fire anymore? At twenty thousand degrees that is just plasma. It merely mimics the appearance of fire.When that attack ended, she was standing there just as she was before. Even her black jacket was not singed.
As that bit might tell you, I built her with first-rate materials.
"Yeah, Ritsu-san. This madness has gone long enough. It is time to end it."
Although I say that and begin to prepare a devastating cheat attack,
A huge blast of lighting assaults the beast. I am pretty sure it surpassed anything naturally occurring on this planet. The problem was……
"That didn't come from me," I mutter. Then I look behind me.
"The hell, man? Rezvi? Are you out of your mind? That lighting could have easily hit me!"
I yell out loud at the source of this insanity: another man my age. I am in my mid-twenties by the way. At least physically, I appear that way. Age is just a number to a top tier scientist, literally. You will see.
"But it didn't. The result is what matters. Everything else is just something history professors are interested in. And no one cares about them. Do you know how much they are paid or that the only job history majors get is to become history professors themselves? Every Intergalactic news channel ran an entire series of documentaries on it."
The level voice answers calmly with those ridiculous sentences.
"But it could have. Then I would have been toast. Even better than the ones they make at that restaurant planet near the Cola 8 system."
I answer with my voice raised loud enough to probably be heard from the very restaurant I mentioned. That was probably light years from here. They have such good food….
"That is just probability fallacy you are obsessed with. Anything could have happened. It doesn't mean we should obsess over it. If anything came out of it, dreamers would have ruled the world and,"
But before he could finish his insanity filled sentence though,
"Do you two mind? We are getting killed out here!! I do not remotely care if Ryuunosuke becomes toast with marmalade to add to it but I have to get to PH Delta -44 tomorrow at 9' o clock local time. And that if you guys haven't figured out, it won't have any benefit if I am there in a medical capsule, assuming, of course, anything is left to be in that capsule.!"
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And here is our favorite lava magic user cutting our conversation short.
"I do not care in the slightest if that is the case, Menma-sama. What do you mean you don't care? I am the one who arranged this mission. You are on a subcontract. I die, no one gets paid."
I answer smugly. One of the advantages of being the main contractor is that I get to answer back to anyone on a subcontract. I love my life. At least, somewhat, anyway.
The dragon aimed one of its tails at me. The speed at which it lashed towards me was unreal. Within a single second, it was in front of me. Before I could set up a defensive measure the strike was blocked by Ritsu. She blocked it with just her arms. What she didn't block was the shockwave. This time I was blown back literally a kilometer and into a nearby manmade tourist attraction lake.
I wasn't a tourist, dammit. It looks like my misfortune has not ended for the local year yet. And this planet had an 826 day a year thing going on.
I was drowning when another girl appeared in the water. Tachibana-116, version 2.8. My underwater rescue type artificial human. I felt her hug me tightly before swimming at an unreal speed towards the surface. I will be on the surface in a minute.
Were you expecting another "is what I would like to say?"
Sorry to tell you but I do not do that every time. Also, not all of my creations are abominations of the highest order with weird delusions. Wondering what I am talking about? You will see, you will see, just hang around.
"Heh. Getting pulled out of a lake by a cool beauty while you are actually conscious and know what is going on. Life could be worse."
Yup. Rezvi. He is back. It looks like he has been here the whole time. See why I hate him?
"Man, you could have pulled me out of this damn lake. What is your problem?"
I cough up water as I try to yell at the nutcase that could probably win at some "Inter-Galactic Nutcases" contest.
But of course, my voice is hoarse and I threw up water, so it must have looked comical. Man, I hate this. Why can't I be a cool combat-assassin type character?
"Ah, but then it wouldn't have the same romantic aspect as being pulled out of the water by a gorgeous girl now, would it? Are you sure you didn't prefer it the way it was?"
Problem with this guy, he makes surprisingly valid points. Tachibana-116 is really gorgeous.
Well, she would be. I created her after all.
"You know I have been thinking this for a while now but Tachibana-san, you don't get wet while in the water do you?"
Rezvi asks while looking at the completely dry Tachibana. Even her white dress shirt or black jacket didn't have a single drop of water on them.
"N-No. I am an underwater rescue type after all. I can move freely in the water without any resistance. And water would damage the circuits so Ryuunosuke-sama made me completely water resistant"
"Ah, so you are like a duck?"
"Heh, what are you saying? Ryu-san said I look nothing like a duck."
Tachibana answers with that while looking highly confused. More importantly,
"Why the hell would Ryu even bring that up? Just what conversation did that bit come upon?"
"Well, He said not to worry about not having combat capabilities. And then the conversation got a bit weird. He said even if I am like a duck, one day I can become a beautiful swan. Apparently, there are historical records of that kind of thing happening."
She looked red for some reason. But,
"Wait, you actually wanted some combat capability? But didn't you say that you were happy being a rescue type?"
"Forget about that. Ryuunosuke, you consider giving her wings? There are these white ones I saw in a fantastic anime that...
"Please be careful about the copyright," Tachibana suddenly interrupts her. That was uncharacteristic. But,
"Nice call. The author would have been sued," I compliment her.
"What is she talking about? What copyright? Author of what?" Rezvi was the one confused this time.
Before she could answer though, the huge creature let loose another blast of lightning from its mouth. The lightning travels over to where we were in an instant. This time, my defensive measures,
fails me again.
But Kite appears before me in a flash. She set up a defensive circle just as the blast that was about to bake us hit it.
"That is quite a blast," Rezvi, who had set up his own force field without any visible motion, remarked calmly.
"By blast, do you mean fun?"
Tachibana asked him innocently just as Kite sends a nullifier in against the lightning. In an instant, the lightning turns red and then disappears without a trace.
"Just who told you that?" I ask her while completely ignoring the current situation. Kite is my creation after all. I can rely on her even when I temporarily suspend the firewall and antivirus to my core ability.
"Ryu-san told me. He said, "Have a blast."
Ryu, that pyromaniac !! Stop teaching my creations weird things! Unfortunately, though, I can do nothing against that guy. He works mission control. And he manages my finances. I must not forget that part. It is very important. No money, no research material, no waifu, I mean science. That was just a slip of tongue. Man, it keeps happening. Science is justice, after all, I can't afford to stop.
Kite turned to look at me.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I am fine. Thanks. I would have been toast right now if you didn't block it."
"I wouldn't let anyone harm you. And anyone who tries, this will happen. Tachibana-san, please look after him for me."
As she says that, she summons a gigantic prism of energy before charging back towards the dragon at hypersonic speed.
"Of course, Kite-san. Please be safe. That thing is dangerous."
But she didn't say it fast enough for her to actually hear it. Before she even finished the first letter of the first word of her sentence, Kite was gone.
"I hope she will be alright," she mutters.
"Oh, she will be. I made her after all," I try to reassure her.
"Yeah, you did develop her." He worried expression vanishes, replaced by a relived one. This girl, she trusts me too much. Pretty sure I didn't program that part in. was that just being around me for too long?
"It must be nice. You can create any arch type of anime girls whenever you want with whatever powers you want. Ryuunosuke-sama, creating waifus since 215 MND."
I ignore Rezvi while he began to laugh like a maniac at his own joke and the bewildered Tachibana. I think I need to take down this dragon. This is all appearing to a light-hearted black comedy now, but it could get ugly real fast.
Looks like Rezvi is thinking along those lines too. Because he stops laughing and opens up a direct comlink to Ranker.
"Ranker, has business hours ended in my local coordinate? I think this stupidity has gone on long enough. I want to pick up my payment. They are holding a festival in X-41. Really good for relaxing."
"Business hour ended quite a while back. The gravity is too strong where you are. Time runs real fast there. What the hell is taking you so long on a simple clean up mission anyway? Hurry up and get back. It looks like it is about to get real here."
The one, who actually answers, however, is not Ranker but Boss. Were they on the same planet? Bit unusual.
I move my hand through the air vertically with my index finger extended. A holographic window pops up. I focus my thoughts. Due to some circumstances, that were most definitely not my fault, by the way, my right arm was taking a trip to lala land. And my left arm went cold a while back in a botched experiment to install an industrial strength laser. Using my thoughts to send commands was the best option I had now.
More windows popped up. The one on the foreground read,
"Analysis complete. Data snapshot was taken."
That's good. I learned all I wanted to from this creature. Now that I have the snapshot, I can go all out.
The strength has returned to my voice. Looks like the recovery functions added extra energy to my body.
Rezvi drops the jolly persona too.
"About to get serious, are we?" He asks rhetorically.
"Yeah," answering with that one word, I begin the process of restoring some of my old abilities.
"System command. Enable Developer Access. Restore last working state."
A cool female voice begins to speak. It was not from the comlink window, however. It was from Tachibana. She can act as an interface to my core power.
"Initializing recovery process. Initialization complete. Attempting to activate the last restore point. Activation successful."
She pats my shoulder with her arm.
"Go crazy."
Time to show the power of science! Science is justice after all. No subjectivity and all objectivity. I Love it.
"Activate! MAX STATS"
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The explosion that swept through out the battlefield made the shockwaves from earlier seem like a gentle summer breeze.
"So that is that man's power. Interesting, very very interesting."
The teenager muttered while watching the fight from a distance, "Remote Vision" was making his black eyes a deep red. He was standing in a very high place, a man-made mountain for tourists. The black long coat he was wearing was swaying from the heavy wind quite fast, but he paid it no mind. He had finally acquired his target.
"Enjoy your last fight. After business hours today, the only proof of your existence will be a number in my bank account. A very large number."
An enormous amount of energy exploded from the many energy circles surrounding Ryuunosuke in the distant battlefield. Everything in his surroundings was reduced to nothing in an instant. But just as the explosion approached the man, within that microsecond,
"Sanctuary of the dead!!!!!"
The blast didn't even touch the air in front of him. His coat also became stationary as the outside interference stopped completely.
"Look at that. You actually made me use it. The world is filled with strong people, huh?" he said that while staring at the sky.
"Won't you agree? Sensei?"
He turned. That restaurant Ryuunosuke mentioned, eating there didn't sound half bad. This half toast planet likely didn't have an interest in keeping open their restaurants for a foreigner; much less prepare their planets major dishes. And he wanted the best there is. Anything less was simply unacceptable.
Light years away, a restaurant that served a hub for top class fighters opened for the day. A very long day. This was was gonna be a blast.