Chapter 1

I Summoned Hope

The ground was cracked and dry. The air was both hot and cold. Looking up, the never setting red sun was still at the peak surrounded by the nine moons.

Bizarre. It was truly bizarre.

Lifting the tattered robes, the only protection I have to this insanely indescribable weather, I took a waterskin from beneath the dirty cloth and drank a bit of its contents. Although I had already purified it, the taste was still muddy.

I already lost track of how long I have been in this place.

"I know you're bored, but don't use it as an excuse to read my mind, Hope." I spoke out loud, because I was afraid I might lose my ability to speak properly if I don't do so. I had no one to talk to in this place. I was all alone.

"I said don't read my mind. And that was a demon. It doesn't count the same as talking with humans."

I had been having conversations like this with Hope for a while now. If someone saw me and they didn't know my background, they'd think I'm crazy.

<...>

"It's amazing how an AI like you can actually stiffle a laughter. Don't think that just because you didn't make a sound, I don't know what you're actually thinking."

"..."

I lifted my robe once again to check my physical condition. I've become slightly thinner with the lack of a nutritional diet. The past few days, I had to eat demon meat in order to survive. It was fortunate that I could reproduce fire by using the suit's functions.

The suit was an addon to us from the Special Soldier project. It used nanotechnology. Comprised of a huge amount of carbon cell nanocomputers, responding to the thoughts of the user. Its standby appearance is that of a skin tight suit. Imagine millions of tiny black insects covering your body that follows your commands.

"I guess that was the reason why there was no female on our squad."

Hope was only installed on me. That was because I was the only successful specimen in the early stages of the project. The others died, and so they skipped of the step of adding an AI on the others. The suit was originally supposed to be used in tangent with the AI, but because of the previous reason, they used my thought samples and Hope's response processes and installed those simple sequences on the other's suits. They can make the suit work for the others the same as mine did, but they were unable to use the more complex ones. Creating fire, for example.

By commanding the carbon cells to produce concentrated friction on a single spot, a high temperature point can be created. It was hot enough to ignite the atmosphere itself, albeit temporarily. With flammable materials, it was easy to create a campfire. With that, I was able to cook demon meat and eat it "safely".

"Yes, yes. I should have followed your warning. But if I didn't eat any of that horrible stuff, I wouldn't last this long."

"This is why you are an AI. You don't have any sense of romance."

"..."

Arguing with Hope logically will always end up in my defeat.

When I arrived in this place, I manage to land successfully without any injuries. But I was immediately surrounded by hordes of demons. I managed to fend them off and run away, but it left me exhausted.

After that, I found a strange river that looked like flowing blood. With Hope's suggestion, I purified it using the suit's functions and drank it. It tasted like mud, and there was a weird aftertaste. I just held my breath and drank away. Water is a necessity for survival.

After a few days of walking, I realized I had no real objectives. What was I planning to do? Why was I walking around?

At first it was to simply get away from the horde that attacked me as soon as I arrived. It was only then that I realized I was stranded in this place that I found an objective. To survive and return.

I hunted lone demons and ate their meat. I skinned some and made waterskins. I took the robes one of them wore. It was easy to find a way to survive, but what about going home?

After a few more days, I found a strange demon in a cave. It was humanoid, and it didn't attack me on sight. It even talked to me, but I couldn't understand what it was saying.

After a while, I heard a voice in my head, and it wasn't Hope. It was the demon, and it talked to me telepathically. Its mouth moved as it said the words in its original tongue, but the voice that registers in my head had allowed me to understand what he was saying.

He, according to him he was male, said that he was one of the more intelligent races of demons. He was not hostile, because he had already satisfied his bloodthirst: He killed his entire clan including his own family. He had stayed in this cave for centuries, meditating for some reason he won't tell me.

In those few days, I had learned a little bit about demons, and the presence in the air that has been bothering me for a while now.

It was what he called Mana. It was some sort of radioactive energy, according to what Hope could detect through the suit, and the hermit demon explained that it was the source of what they call magic. Only few demons are capable of using magic, though, but they naturally feed on Mana. As long as Mana existed, they don't need to eat, drink, or sleep.

But why do they eat humans when they entered our world? Was it because there was no Mana on Earth?

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I asked the hermit demon for a possible way back to my world. He gave me directions to a "shrine", which was the place I was right now.

In front of me was a platform that looked similar to the Hellgate, naturally formed from the dry ground and covered with inscriptions on its surface. This was called Runic Script, according to the hermit demon.

The only observable difference of this shrine to the Hellgate was the lack of space distortion above it.

"How long have we been waiting here?"

"Do you think the hermit demon was telling the truth?"

"Can't we reproduce the dimensional rip?"

"..."

It was all dependant on luck. An instability in space, a random experiment, or someone from my world recreating the portal to rescue me; all of this may allow a dimensional rip to form, and allow me to return home. But the chance of that happening is very low. I could only rely on luck, and believe in my former squad members to find a way.

Days passed as I sat down in front of the shrine waiting. The sun in this world does not set, only the moons continue to revolve around the sun.

I quickly rose to my feet and glared at the shrine. The inscriptions on the platform started to glow, and a distortion appeared above it.

"This is my ticket out of this hellhole!"

Without any hesitation I walked into the shrine. I felt my senses disappear for an instant, and in a flash, I was in a dark moonlit forest.

A voice called my attention, and I looked at where it came. It was a man wearing silver-white armor with light blue inscriptions. Six other men with similar outfits stood behind him.

"Are you all human?" I asked. I had to make sure. Their appearance wasn't something that people on Earth would wear. It reminded me of those old medieval shows. This could be an illusion brought by demons.

One of them spoke in a hushed voice, then they all looked at me with wary eyes. As if seeing something unbelievable, their eyes widened and one of the suddenly shouted. They all charged at me.

[Adjust for self-defense. Full body cover. Speed boost.]

The suit spread and covered my entire body, head to toes, in black. I felt the air compress around me. I released it and shot my body towards the nearest man. I struck the back of his neck with pinpoint accuracy, knocking him out. Repeating the procedure, but with lesser force from the release of compressed air, I moved between the armored men to their backs, and aimed for their napes, knocking them out one by one in an instant. The full-body suit retracted and hid under the robe.

"See, they are humans, not demons." I said as I looked at one of the unconscious bodies. Wondering what they were doing in a place like this, I looked around and found a little girl lying on the ground. Her cheek was swollen, and I could see blood around her lips. I walked towards her in an unhurried pace in order not to scare her.

"Are you okay?" I asked. She had a confused look on her face, then said something in a questioning tone.

"Hope." That was the only name that I know. I was called Project Hope. The same name as the AI inside my head. We are both Hope.

The girl said something with a smile, then closed her eyes and relaxed her body. She was asleep.

"What did she say?"

<"I see... I summoned Hope.">

"Summoned?"

I lifted her limp body, noticing the blood-stained stone tablet she was hugging.

"Doesn't the tablet look familiar?"

With the girl in my arms, I turned around and looked at the unconscious men. Where they after this little girl? What exactly is going on?

I looked up and saw the red full moon on the sky. It was much bigger than the moon on Earth.

"I guess this isn't Earth, huh?"

"What do you think of the previous situation when we arrive at this place?"

"Why would seven grown up men beat up on a little girl?" I had already noticed the injuries the girl I held in my arms had.

I decided it would be safer to get out of this place first. Using the traces if what had transpired before I arrived, I ran in the direction the girl was originally headed to.

"Scan for a safe place to hide along the way."

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Aaaaand so it begins. Warlock little girl meets super soldier guy!

What's gonna happen now?!?

UNIVERRRRRRSE!!!! (i just wanted to that out of nowhere. rika style, from haganai)