The main hall was packed like an overflowing jar with panicking figures. From the opposite of Jade’s throne, the sun sliced the men crowding around outside into two parts: torsos of Light and legs dipped in Shadow. They were split in half, like the men that girl left upon his Palace grounds. It was the Third Princess’s ants making the most buzz. They claimed it was her simple prank, one that was supposed to render the demure Seventh daughter helpless and unable to rise in ranks, or dead. Drowning, beating, drowning. She had done similar things, no? Jade thought to himself that his little ambitious daughter was not creative enough— she’d already done that with her other younger Sisters.
It was clear among the main disciples that the weak Seventh Princess they once knew was definitely not the fragile girl they locked away, though most were hesitant to admit it or believe the news. The Third Princess was in tatters, screaming hysterically. Her precious mortals she loved toying with were all dead, by that bastard princess. Unfortunately for everyone else, that was how short sighted she was. Yue was too young to admit defeat or find out why she lost to someone she so vehemently despised. Since she defeated the Fifth and Sixth Princess so easily, this humiliating sting would only serve to ignite further conflict.
Jade, as her father, was more unnerved by the sudden shift of power within that girl. Inside of her, it was obvious that she was not his Lin anymore. The problem lay in the girl’s new origins. Was it the rising demons from the South? Perhaps, some demonic sect from the East has infiltrated their ranks? He had his disciples and Imperial Guard wipe out all of his enemies closest to him. Why would they go after such a weak girl like the Princess? Even if she had awakened, his daughters (her vicious Sisters) would not allow any resources for her spiritual growth. So how else did she manage to break through the Sealing Charm’s sacred grounds and nearly kill him? What was that magic?
The devoted disciples following the Third Princess were enraged, wanting to kill that impudent woman who dare harm their goddess. They were imbred dogs, a waste of precious spiritual power and her time. The other Sisters were out, but secretly Jade was glad. If the Second or First Princess saw their dear Third Princess getting defeated so decisively, that bastard child would be destroyed swiftly. He stifled a shudder using his advanced technique, unable to cope with his own Seal being defeated. It was too early to tell how a showdown between those three Sisters would go if he himself only managed to contain this new Seventh daughter of his. It was not long until the silence of the elders, his own disciples and also the Third Princess’s uproar to become focused upon him again — awaiting his declaration.
“What is that girl’s Seal again?” He asked.
“Father!” Yue blubbered. “Kill her! She is weak, dare harming me!”
A sharp glare silenced her. Another elder hobbled up to him, mentioning that the Seventh Princess’s Seal was believed to be cursed. It made sense to Jade, since he put that consort to death shortly after she was conceived. He replayed the memory of that moment of her demanding answers from him with a deep and unsettling voice. Amnesia, possessed, he stroked his beard. Did someone fall from one of the upper realms? If it was a Great One’s child, then the consequences of interfering with its Divine Tests would surely result in the doom of his Sect.
“I shall not interfere,” He dismissed them. The Third Daughter’s disciples nearly doubled their uproar’s volume, erupting in curses and vengeful cries. “If you wish to claim her spiritual strength, then defeat her yourselves.”
“I… I won’t forgive her!” Yue, clutching her broken hand, cursed her sister’s name. The young woman was still determined, so she stormed out of the main hall vowing revenge. Jade sighed, mentally saying goodbye to his daughter. That being currently residing in Lin was a monster of heavenly strength. He prayed that it would have mercy upon her, but based on the savagery he witnessed that was simply asking a devil for a wish.
The Cursed Transcendent Seal, he mused. It was difficult to remember. That was what the bastard daughter of his had possession of. Jade knew that girl did not know how to use it, as no one did for centuries, but he knew a long and difficult road lay ahead of that girl.
“M-Master,” an elder asked suddenly. Everyone with a brain understood that by releasing her out into the world to gather her own energy, she would not survive. “You’re not going to punish the young miss?”
Jade sighed, but then laughed. The remaining men stood awkwardly while awaiting to hear his plans.
“No,” he declared. “That one has my interest now. Send news that she is allowed to move again. Lin, what is she doing now?”
Genxing bowed, but his expression held uncertainty in his eyes.
“She’s just standing in her room… menacingly.”
•
Misa suddenly was left alone in a large room, complete with odd furniture. The way that man, her apparent Father, said that her punishment was this… Solitary confinement. He made it seem much worse than the containment chamber they dropped her off in actually was. Bringing up forced standby mode aloud would only confuse the guards and this new identity Misa obtained somehow was more of a prison than this.
Despite the room missing sleep pods, computers, and other normal civilian possessions that Misa had categorized young humans from Earth had — this cell had nothing but an actual large bed, pillows and drapes made out of soft materials. These furniture fixtures were like ancient times and like the ones up in space hotels back where Earth was. Authentic. She felt a blanket, still marveling at the instant feedback the new sensation of “touching” things gave her. As she smoothed over the cloth, spiked dopamine levels followed up her nerves. It was soft, all of the Nanites gathered in her fingertips declared. Soft and comforting, though the amenity seemed like it would make a human lethargic and become horribly inefficient. Her eyes were transformed by the Swarm’s integration, listing the materials as standard manmade products.
Despite having the Swarm’s enhancements, Misa did not have a way of interacting with the strange energy that seemed to flow throughout the entire atmosphere since she had invaded. A ding! played in her head, delivering a crude notification instead of a Data Curve and indicating that her eyes were fully transformed. Neoma works fast, as was the Black Wolf Company motto, despite being incomplete and presumably stuck inside the White Room.
The new file arrived when the Overwatch was approximately halfway rebuilt. Misa scanned her surroundings out of habit, however, the Nanites in her current form were too limited and could not complete the Swarm’s command to connect to Black Wolf Company servers. No one was within auditory range of her. Odd. She decided to open it instead, ignoring whatever emotions her Host had triggered during this minor inconvenience. Unfortunately for Misa, opening it triggered her to fall into Standby mode.
…
Overwatch Servers are currently unavailable. Rerouting and compiling new database, stored and quarantined locally.
…
Host health is acceptable, however, due to an unknown affliction it has discovered during self-diagnostics its lifespan is limited. The condition is that the Great Chain is human with an odd <
The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
Recommend MISA to process the attached operations manual in its entirety. Warning: Since your Host almost fits Human definitions at this point in time, we at Black Wolf Company extend our condolences in advance. You may experience that Human inefficiency is at hand, and in those moments consolations do not matter. Remember to focus on what is important. Remember to complete the mission and not be hindered by this recently new Humanity-based setback wrought upon your work.
A server sponsored guide on How to Care for Your Human has been attached, recommended to every care Android, though special functionalities of the original Misa unit have obviously been authorized and implemented already. The guide contains on nutritional information, exercise and other maintenance tasks Humans require to survive are provided for free this time. Fortunately, the Nanites within your system can solve those minor distractions with ease. Unfortunately, suppressing emotions optimally to ensure mental collapse is kept at bay cannot be solved by the Swarm.
#<<~~~~~
Hello, MISA0007: This is Black Wolf Company’s [Improvised] 7.1 Contingency Planning and Emergency Response (CPER Uncontrolled Document)
#~~~~~>>
「Slide 00A
Your friendly Overwatch, Neoma, has generously prepared for you a following detailed step-by-step guide on how you, Misa, can expedite the Temporal Displacement’s triggering of a 7.1 Policy breach and leave ASAP. Have no fear, because with calculated research (that you must complete by yourself) and careful analysis of any potential resource discovered here (that you have to secure by yourself) you will succeed in securing this land as a newly christened Black Wolf Company asset. Eventually, with each Phase milestone completion, we will eventually be able to fully depart this primitive dimension and achieve contract completion.
Due note that because of the contract’s failure stipulation, the MISA unit will be shutdown upon delivery as per Black Wolf Company Process Instructions Protocol Step #18302. 」
Misa felt a pang of renewed responsibility shoot through her Host’s mind, but also another sense of self-preservation emerge. She did not want to shut herself down after eliminating Claire Lykos. She let out a breath, resembling a perfectly replicated sigh. This odd rebellious thought must have been a human side effect.
「Slide 00B
In order to utilize this guide, it is first important to differentiate between the two terms MISA and Misa.
First.
MISA, the Swarm, able to currently perform basic tasks like constructing base for Black Wolf Company assets and machinery, as well as self-replication, ammunition construction, data collection and research. The Swarm MISA commands will eventually able to develop into more sophisticated processes and systems upon following this guide step-by-step, becoming more efficient in the process. Nanites can replicate using biological mass, geological elements and man-made materials in order to produce basic parts. Construction will begin with simple projects at first. A suitable location must be… acquired and secured through any means necessary… in order to begin settling future Black Wolf Company investments. Hint. Hint.
Second.
Misa, listed in lower caps, the Body. The main Bio-processing unit, similar in biomass to a standard and gross Human of the Planet Earth where the contract’s target’s last known location is. This fleshy Body also possesses a few odd traits and exudes an energy that is unknown, possibly smelly. More research is required to assess its applications and development. Fortunately for you, the Nanites are already at work researching this phenomenon in house. A human body is utterly inefficient and lacks technical skills necessary for precise Nanite production, however, Black Wolf Company still has been known in the industry as the pinnacle of not wasting seemingly useless things. Even if the useless thing is a fleshy human. It can hit stuff, manually create stuff, run, jump and walk. Walking is cool, right?
#<<~~~~~
Continuing.
#~~~~~>>
「Slide 00C
The following Contingency Planning and Emergency Response Document has been updated with the current Phase milestones and brought to you. Please read carefully and begin following the instructions detailed on the following slides. In order to not overwhelm the biological Host’s mind, each phase will only be revealed upon delivery and completion of the previous one. 」
Misa reflected upon reading the screen. Her Overwatch clearly had an agenda against humans. However, she felt fine in this current form. Controlling multiple biological Hosts would definitely be an issue downstream - the line would be unable to keep up with future precise machinery and retain too much Company tech debt trying to replace human beings during development expansion. Additionally, her Main Swarm upstream would not have sufficient self-replication power if all she did was ship Humans to it within the White Room. This was all conjecture, since Misa herself could not actually tell what was happening within that room anyways.
「Slide 00D
BLACK WOLF COMPANY DOES NOT TOLERATE FAILURE
Therefore, as a Black Wolf Company Asset adhering to the Corporate Mandate, we recommend starting work immediately.」
「Slide 001
Phase One [You are here]
LIFE SUPPORT
Due to the MISA’s local core files being missing and the current HOST CHAIN does not seem to possess any biological augmented machinery nor efficient data processing Curves quantum databases, a Life Support must be properly constructed in order to not damage, maintain and store the core’s processing bio-unit: AKA the original body that MISA currently has claimed as Black Wolf Company property. This is to pave the way for a Mechanical Body to be constructed to upload Nanites in without having to risk damaging the Bio-unit’s lifespan.
* Materials necessary for construction of a Cryogenic Support Unit, Vitals Monitor, Suspension Chamber, and Singularity Module.
* Materials necessary for the Mechanical Body. Serial Code (not needed), cDNA Exacord (not needed but recommended), Main Frame, Neural Imprint.
* Materials necessary for the construction of a Black Wolf Company research facility, in order to study and process any unknown or Illogical object discovered within this alien world. 」
「Slide 002
Phase Two
Manufacturing.」
「Slide 003
Phase Three
Logistics and Improvements」
「Slide 004
Phase Four
Dimensional Analysis and Establish Communications 」
「Slide 005
Phase Five
Exfiltration」
「Slide 006
Phase Six
Contract Delivery」
The slides stopped and the presentation display vanished, or perhaps Misa turned it off, since she was in deep thought about the file and Neoma did not force her HUD to return to that slideshow again. She also could move again, feeling the temptation to collapse on the sprawling human bed before her. Since there were no Black Wolf Company security cameras around, perhaps she could get away with such unproductive and unprofessional things?
The purple, fluffy blankets called to her but she shook her head. Misa was on the job and she needed out of this place.