The tales of the young man who slew the last of the Eirmal traitors was one of triumph, the young man lead many brilliant charges and planet falls soon Samual Junathan Trerubic saw it fit to promote the young man, now a brilliant marine solder to the rank of Major, and it seemed that nothing would stop his rise in military rank and prestige, but just when Samual Junathan Trerubic was ready to promote him to the rank of admiral and retire him from frontline service he was slain in a cowardly ambush by one of the many enemies of the Treubic Empire
-
Having acquired the temporary goal of burning down the Turman kingdom which he knew nothing about Matthew and Alina got to work scavenging materials in the ruined trade outpost of Babai which had been raided and destroyed by said Turman kingdom by dawn the next morning the unlikely pair of (supposedly) Major in an army which Alina had never heard about Matthew and (cosmic anomaly inhabiting a high-tech android) Alina had gathered a sizable deposit of materials which the two gazed at under the rising sun while Aea checked it over
“Matthew, tell, tell me more about this body”
Matthew that sat with his back against a brick wall with Alina besides him did his best at explaining what Aea had told him
“Ehh… Apparently it is a modified universal civilian android used mostly for elderly and children care, but that’s just what Aea told me, I can’t really tell you since most of my memory is still rather foggy”
Aline nodded as she looked at the arms of the small android body, the 5 fingers on each hand were as dexterous as Matthews and so was the rest of the limbs of her newfound body, but besides welding more strength and being heavier than its short stature suggested there was nothing special about the body which Alina currently inhabited
“Okay, I like this body a lot, it's small and cute”
“I am glad you like it”
As Matthew spoke with Alina, the long ears that were more flat blades than ears really connected to the android head with ball joints moved up and down while twirling around in seemingly random patterns, however they suddenly stopped moving before Alina hid them with her hands as she had noticed Matthew staring
“It’s rude, rude, rude to stare at a lady!”
Matthew showed a smile as he apologized
“Sorry about that, it’s just… Those weren’t on the original schematic…”
Alina kept her silence for a moment longer before she spoke
“That’s because I need them to wield mystic power”
“Mystic?”
Alina stopped covering her ears for a moment before they began moving around for a few moments before a brick from the top of the wall floated down and landed in her hand
“There’s always been mystics in this land, but since the, the, the rise of the blue comet some years ago the unnatural power of the mystics have been greatly amplified”
“A blue comet?”
“Yes, most importantly don’t look at, at, at the blue comet directly, it makes people go insane”
Matthew nodded, he vaguely remembered an ethereal otherworldly blue hue that illuminated everything, there was also something else, he was sure about this, but he couldn’t place it
‘... Falling from the sky’
Matthew looked up at the dawning sky for a few moments as Alina spoke again
“The blue comet rises when it feels like it, it has no set orbit… But I, I, I can still feel it, all mystics can”
Matthew nodded, a few moments later Aea’s voice spoke out
[Forge nanite pattern 1-5 reports bio-processing reactor completed]
“Oh, it’s done”
Matthew removed his gaze from the sky and looked at the 6-meter tall, 3 meter wide metallic obelisk that stood in the middle of the plaza, Alina also gazed at the weird contraption and the two approached it and Matthew put his hand on the mat metallic surface for a few moments as the Forge nanites flowed back into his spine
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“How does it, it, it work?”
At Alina’s question, one of the sides of the obelisk opened and revealed an empty internal compartment as Matthew explained
“Any food, plant or corpse we put in here will generate power, both for your new body and the other machines we need to make a better body for you, it is perfectly well-behaved too”
Alina raised her hands in front of her as the metal ears began swirling around in different patterns, a few moments later a giant wasp carcass appeared half a meter above the ground before it fell down, she picked it up and put it into the compartment that closed after she removed her hand, a few moments later the same compartment opened again as the machine let out a silent hum
“Does it work now?”
Matthew nodded and placed his hand on the mat metal surface again, to which Aea reported
[Bio-processing reactor storage at 0.2% of max capacity, Internal powerbanks recharging…]
“Yeah, Aea says it works, try putting your hand on it”
Alina cautiously put her hand onto the reactor, a few moments later she spoke again
“This, this, this feels weird”
[Bio-processing reactor reads the Mistress body will be fully recharged in 2 minutes]
Matthew silently acknowledged Aea’s notification and asked Alina
“Can you bring more wasp carcasses here?”
Alina nodded and after a few moments she spoke
“There’s a lot more, more, more underground”
Matthew showed a smile
“Then keep them coming”
-
Around noon it Alina suddenly stopped collecting giant wasp carcasses and sat down on the ground leaning against the Bio-processing reactor as she spoke
“Tired…”
Matthew patted Alina on the head after he chucked the last of the giant wasp carcasses into the loading bay
“Good job Alina”
[Bio-processing reactor storage at 48% capacity]
Matthew wondered exactly how Alina could get tired with an artificial body made of metal, but he had sense enough to figure out it had something to do with her mystic powers, Matthew gazed up at the midday sun and had the urge to curse at it, to say it was hot in the plaza was a understatement
‘Around 32 degrees Celsius, I would say…’
[Current temperature reads 33.4 degrees Celsius]
‘So it’s still hot… Oh, I know’
Matthew looked over at the tired Alina and asked her
“Want to come laze in the shadow by the river?”
Alina nodded silently before she stood herself up, the two made their way down to the river and found a place in the shade to sit, as the two rested Matthew asked Alina
“Which way is it to the Turman kingdom, downstream or upstream?”
Alina that was sitting next to him answered rather quickly
“Neither, the, the fastest route should be in the direction we’re facing now”
Matthew nodded before he concluded
“So downstream is the ocean?”
Alina nodded as she explained
“Traders used to come from, from, from 3 directions to Babai to trade, with the sea to the south, the mountain tribes to the north, the Turman kingdom to the East and finally the frontier to the West attached many adventurous types seeking treasure and fame”
“I see… It must have been lively here then”
“It was… Until you arrived it, it, it was just me and the insect witch, though we weren’t exactly friends”
“Right… I might have killed her”
Alina nodded and confirmed as it was no big deal to her
“That you, you, you did, I don’t know how, but you used her mystic connection to the insects to wipe them all out at once”
“...And then I found you at the plaza?”
Alina nodded again
“Yep, you, you, you attacked me after I proposed to help you with the thing that kept you prisoner, so I punched you… I am surprised you, you survived”
Matthew nodded and muttered
“Me too…”
After a few moments of silence, Matthew suddenly stood up and looked over the river, he heard something, it was no more than a single sound that was slightly out of place in the myriad of senses that entered his mind on the subconscious level, but that was enough, Major Rockwell knew the consequences of ignoring his senses
“Someone is watching us”
Alina stood up looking in the same direction, her knife ears twirled around for a few moments, right before she could speak a crossbow bolt flew across the river towards her, Major Rockwell retracted at once and reached out and blocked the crossbow bolt aimed for Alina with his forearm
[Minor trauma detected, Trauma nanite pattern 1 assigned to injury]
“Matthew!”
Alina raised her hands out in front of her as she retaliated the attack on Matthew, a moment later Matthew realized what she had done to the group of adventures as their panicked screams sounded out from above as gravity took hold of them again, 2 didn’t hit the water and of those 2 one didn’t seem would ever rise from the ground again as he landed on his face
‘The other won’t be screaming for a few more moments… Any second now…’
Just as Matthew had predicted, a pained wheeze sounded out from the young man, however not wanting to hear a person screaming on this pleasant summer day Matthew that had walked up to him placed a foot on his throat to stop the pained cry
“Shut up, will you? Of course, it's barbed…”
Finding the crossbow bolt currently stuck in his forearm to be barbed to make it more painful and course more bleeding to remove by simply pulling it out, Matthew’s face showed no pain or even discomfort as he wacked the end of the bolt to push it through on the other side of his forearm where he bit the metal tip of the bolt and pulled it out with his teeth before he spat it out and showed a menacing grin to the 3 people that were struggling to keep themselves above water weighed down by their gear as they attempted to reach land before they drowned
“How’s the water, you little shits?”
-
“Congratulations, you have been promoted to the rank of Major”
Looking at the small digital display in front of his eyes, Matthew wanted to curse, unfortunately the only thing that had changed since he had been imprisoned after the end of the Eirmal penance blockade was his body were covered with wounds new and old and most of his insiders had been replaced with implants to keep him alive and ensure his compliance
‘So where’s my shower?’
Matthew was still locked in a cell just large enough for him to sit with his legs folded in front of his body, his hands and feet were still locked in metal casing and the shower he referred to was still the occasional housing down with what could be equaled to a pressure washer
‘I should try a little harder to walk into enemy fire next campaign… I wonder where I am going to fight next…’
In his next campaign, Matthew got his wish, he was injured fatally and instead of simply taking him off life support he was sold to LightArrow, a prominent conglomerate specializing in bionic replacements and nanite based bio-enhancements, there he would be used as an experimental subject for the development of their new spine replacement, the ‘Code Arrow 09’ and upon its successful transplant he entered indentured service of LightArrow.
Major Matthew Rockwell had died, but all Matthew Rockwell had manged was changing one collar for another.