“… I am sorry if I managed to trigger something in you! Calm down now! Mother! Mother!” Ughh… What the hell happened? I felt like I overslept in a daydream and just woke up instantly. I don’t know how to describe it, but it felt like my body moved on its own for a moment. Not only that, but I do not remember anything after I passed out, seeing Kyushi’s lifeless body on the floor. Huh?! Why is Kyushi screaming at me using her voice? Aren’t we supposed to communicate using a network? What the hell am I holding? I should be introducing myself to the vampires by now… Eh… Ehh?!
I finally regained most of my senses and all the surrounding vampires were already on the ground, limping away and badly hurt. That weird black bubble that surrounded us is gone, and I am standing in this odd pose. I took a good look at anything that could have possibly attacked us, but there seemed to be nothing. Anyways, why am I holding this gun straight down to the ground?
It was only later that realization hit me like a hammer to the head. Could I… It wasn’t me, I swear! I feel like something or someone else has been in my mind. How did someone even manage to control me this way? Shouldn’t it be the other way around anyway? Is it even possible for me to be controlled by an outside influence? True, pure magic is the primary source of the tech the demons made. Even in the reactions from these vampires, it would seem that pure magic is the highest form of this world’s magic. This might be a problem, no, it IS already a problem. I can’t control anything the moment I get, as I would call it now, ‘possessed’. Who knows what this infiltrator or hacker could do to Kyushi and the other structures? The fact that someone could control me in this world means they could use me as a weapon, not that I am not already a living weapon. Whoever they are, they currently have the upper hand on the remaining entirety of the Aineuran Demon Empire. That thought itself is hard to swallow. E… enough of that! I just fired at the enemy trying to broker a peace treaty.
The dark bubble thingy that covered the entire area outside the castle is completely gone now. The sudden change from seeing complete darkness to being hit straight in the eyes with the brightest sunlight you’ll ever see is equivalently blinding if I was still human, but I didn’t feel anything there. It would seem that I could stare the sun straight in the eyes and not get affected by anything. My memories and mannerisms as a human are still adjusting to what would naturally be a normal reaction to stimuli, but are automatically nullified in machines.
That being said, Kyushi’s body is still lying down right in front of me in some construction liquid around her. Yes, I do remember looking at Kyushi’s headless body and going insane at it. The traumatic stress from seeing a heavily wounded Misaki from back then still haunts me even after dying in that world. Hell, I didn't even feel anything at the time I went down with the ship. Misaki’s death was far more traumatizing than that of my own. Now, I approached Kyushi’s lifeless body and picked up her head. The construction liquid around her gathered into a growing puddle and filled the area around her body on the ground, covering it completely. The blue liquid then proceeds to make a beeline straight to my feet and absorbs itself into me.
I turned Kyushi’s head to face me upright, and she let out an innocent smile afterward. I grabbed her by the side of her head and squeezed hard. “Don’t look at me like that! You just pulled the trigger first when I was about to introduce myself to them. Don’t… you… ever… attack… first… again! Diplomacy first before lighting everyone up after it fails, understood?!” I squeezed even hard on every pause.
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry Aaah! Please stop squeezing me, it's bending my head!” No, it doesn’t. I am making sure of that as her body is fragile as I feel it on my fingertips. This android body is probably made to mimic a human or a demon perfectly without any protection or purpose in mind other than to be a doll and a vessel for her.
“I will be deconstructing and putting your entire body in storage inside me. You can still talk to me on a long-range network, right?” A separated body with the same soul still acts as one, but since I am completely liquifying her body here, I don’t think her tower signal could reach me far over here. I just need to make sure she could still make contact with me at this distance, farther than she detected me powering on in the first place back on the Avia Abyssal Islands.
“...Yes, Mother, I could still reach you even if you were beyond the sun. As far as my records go, the demons advanced their communication technology by finding a way to integrate magic into it. Since everything contains magic in one way or another, the distance is infinite.” A saddened Kyushi head is looking down at my hands while assuring me it is all fine. Well, If I had known that, something should have popped up on my screen automatically telling me that. I have to see what else we do know about the demon race’s history from the records of Kyushi and the 7th tower that we are about to enter.
“I’ll do the speaking from now on here, ok? You just need to watch and learn through my screen while I take care of things.” I turned the frowning head of Kyushi facing me in the eyes. She had her eyes almost closed this entire time after I scolded her as if she was about to cry. Poor child, she may be over 3000 years old, but her character never developed beyond that of a 12-year-old. I took her head closer to mine and kissed her forehead. She looked at me surprised and almost looked clueless as I turned her head down into construction liquid. The body and her head appeared with a box outline when they were on the floor, that is how I could control her body directly via the Digital Scan.
Speaking of entering the tower, the vampires are lying down on the ground with the construction liquid around and all over them. Some appear to be struggling on the liquid itself, trying to move around, but it sticks them back down. Well, that’s convenient, I suppose. I moved my feet around on the construction liquid, and it acts like it was just made of water. The two vampire leaders are on the ground as well, trying to break off from the sticky liquid, but to no avail.
“...Mother, can you hear me? When I was hit and dismembered by the vampire leader that introduced the other one which she called ‘Aru Von Carda’, you went somewhat enraged by it despite me still being alive as a structure back on the 9th Tower Island.” Did she mean ‘Eura Von Carda’?
“Ohh?” I wanted to hear more about what happened there.
“You seem to be not yourself and let out your construction liquid as well as firing your gun down emulating the demon spell called ‘Blood Ray’.”
“Ahh… Eh? Now, that’s not how you do diplomacy here! I definitely owe them an apology then!” The liquid on the ground seems to be my own and not placed there by Kyushi. The HUD seems to highlight that with a slow, ambient blinking on the liquid itself, but it was too subtle to notice. I proceeded to move the liquid back to me and absorb it all, like how I did it with Kyushi’s body. Most of the vampires are now slowly standing up, with the others helping each other get up. Some seem to be biting the other, and the one bitten seemed to glow green momentarily. Is that how they heal each other then? How badly hurt are they, even when ‘I’ just simply adapted and used the low-leveled ‘Blood Ray’ that I couldn’t even use naturally without some sort of tool to fire it? My gaze turns towards the vampires and I made sure I could see all of them to conduct a Digital Scan individually. They all seem to be too weak and badly hurt by it. Maybe there is something I could do to at least recover the appearance of no hostile intent? There were too many details for each Digital Scan in this case and I went on to display only their names, levels, HP, and MP.
[ Emulated : Appraisal Lvl. 25 - Target: Person]
Target Name: Eura Von Carda
Lvl: 188
HP: 1880/188,000
MP: 54,000
[ Emulated : Appraisal Lvl. 25 - Target: Person]
Target Name: Aru Von Carda
Lvl: 187
HP: 1870/187,000
MP: 53,700
[ Emulated : Appraisal Lvl. 25 - Target: Person]
…
Lvl: 100
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
HP: 1000/100,000
MP: 30,000
[ Emulated : Appraisal Lvl. 25 - Target: Person]
…
Lvl: 96
HP: 9600/96,000
MP: 28,800
[ Emulated : Appraisal Lvl. 25 - Target: Person]
[ Emulated : Appraisal Lvl. 25 - Target: Person]
The list goes on and on, but there is one thing in common here, ALL of them are at 1 percent of their HP! How does that go with a very low-level spell added with Aineuran Technology? It may have been the ‘pure magic’ those vampires were talking about, not that it is a problem for us to be using it, but it seems to be rarer in this world than I expected. It is not like we are using magic in its ‘supposed’ way. They may come to the conclusion that I just used a massive spell as a show of power. That illusion may come to our advantage to hide how machines and structures are really using this magic. What isn’t an illusion is that I am slowly walking my way toward the two vampire leaders that are still tending to each other’s wounds. The vampires are taking a long time to tend to each other, but that is not an issue for us. At the very least, they are alive with their limbs still a part of their body and that doesn’t require that much of a healing I believe. My pistols turned into liquid as well, and it wrapped around my hand, becoming a part of me again as I walk past. I believe Eura Carda here told both of us that Aru is her sister? A small text appears in my vision with their names on top of them and confirms that query. Aru was on top and behind Eura as she puts Eura’s head on the side of her nape and Eura bites her. Both were down on the ground, kneeling as they do this. Aww, that is just cute. Instead of the vampire on the receiving end of that bite getting the heal, it goes to the one bitting the other instead. Adorable, but is somewhat inefficient, and it seems to be an emergency technique, as the Digital Scan shows Aru slowly getting drained of HP.
“Forgive me of daughter’s actions. She is rather temperamental and takes on senseless threats too quickly.” The two vampire sisters turned their gaze towards me while they are still recovering. Both were still too shocked to speak and too weak to move.
“I am Ai Magicnet. The 3rd Demon Lord of Aineura. Mothe-… Ruler of the Ninth Tower. ” I don’t think our adversaries or anyone else but in Aineura know that the 9th tower could talk, so let’s keep it that way. The less someone else knows that there are only sentient machines and structures that remain in Aineura and one remaining demon baby is better.
“You… mentioned something of an intent to surrender earlier. Please, continue to elaborate on that, while our weapons are not yet fully intended to be aimed at you with the intent of dispensing justice in collaborating to the death of the 2nd Demon Lord.” If the fact that I just made them lose 99% of their HP won’t bend them to negotiations, then I might just go back to being my original carrier form just for pure coercion. Being around 2 kilometers long is probably enough to cover the entire city by myself.
“...We unconditionally surrender to your nation, Queen Magicnet! Forgive us for collaborating with the Toratogans! We, from the West Cardavania Empire, are forced to do such a thing after the events of our nation being under the sword of ‘The Alliance of the Eight’. We also surrendered East Toratoga along with Cardavenia and the tower. Admiral Petrel’s death has left the States without a leader, and most Toratogans chose me.” Aru speaks about this ‘Alliance of the Eight’. I guess it is some sort of treaty organization made directly against the Nine’s Aineura Demon Empire?
“But sister!...”
“That’s enough, Eura! We are all lucky to be alive under the grace and mercy of her majesty! We were their allies and we betrayed them! Their people have perished to nearly utter extinction. Our nation and of Toratoga is enough for the price against our treachery.”
Aru continues. “The catastrophes were against Cardavenia, and the dragon would raze the entire nation if we would not do their bidding. It was a difficult choice for us, both of us would have perished if we did not follow that damned dragon. If only we were stronger… we could have prevented the massacre in Charon…” There seems to be more about the history between Cardavenia and Aineura Empire that I do not know of. Arika didn’t mention Cardavenia being on good terms together with her, according to what Aru here has said. However, betrayal is betrayal, and Arika has died for it. Ending these vampires' lives is not an option, and I need to know more about what happened previously while I was not awake. I really was not intending on taking prisoners of war, but it is more secure back in the typhoon for interrogation. Questioning... ahem... asking both of these sisters to tell me everything they know before is crucial on what really happened here before I was activated. Maybe even before Arika became the 2nd demon lord, if their knowledge exceeds the test of time. I would assume, as vampires, they live long years like the elves, or maybe they are even immortal.
“Save your regrets and pleas for later. As of now, tell all your people, the entire 7th, to stand down or become prisoners like yourselves. I will bring you all back to the 9th Tower and you tell me everything I need to know. Whoever dares to strike me or Lady Kyushi here will be killed. Starting from this day, the 7th is now part of the 9th, part of the Aineuran Demon Empire.”
“...As you wish, Queen Magicnet!” I turned back into construction liquid and climbed towards the sky above the 7th tower. I could very much see all their faces from up here. Seeing some strange demon lord almost impossibly emitting pure magic they know is made of flesh and blood turn into something so massive above them just stuns them at where they stand. Ohh yea… I know the look of those faces the two sisters are making. The look of confusion and the brewing of questions in their head. Yeah, yeah… I will explain it to them later back at Kyushi when we finish securing this entire city. I know we are supposed to stealth our way in here as well as possibly reactivating the 7th tower, but that doesn’t matter now when this empire just capitulated. Hopefully, seeing or hearing what has happened before in the battle at Kyushi, I doubt anyone would still even try to stand in my way, at least for this nation. The fact that Aineura still fell even with the completion of the A1 Carrier and its 9 tower creations speaks that there are some things more powerful in this world. That are able to pierce Aineuran Tech with its pure magic wonder weapons.
And so I hovered over the 7th tower while almost covering the entire Toratoga City. The skies were slowly almost clearing here, so seeing the entire ground slowly darkened as I achieve my original form is enough to stop the people down the city in their tracks. Even the ships that were attacking each other in the distance stopped firing and just watched in awe. I zoomed in around the city and just saw people just completely frozen in their faces. Damn! Stop staring at me like that! Resume on doing your thing there as I do my thing here!
As for that trivial matter is out of my head, I used Digital Scan again to search the tower for its specifications along with details of any entrances, along with its defenses. The base of the tower was buried in the cliff mountains, so entering the Toratogan Castle to get inside the tower seemed impossible. Just as I was looking for, I found what looks like a hangar door near the tip of the tower. Considering, the tower itself looked like a certain needle in the city back on earth. The placement of the hangar entrance appears to be more of a very small helipad that a landing strip for spaceships and small craft and whatnot. I would assume that my design existing from the paper to the actual thing would mean there are at least some spacecraft or something similar would be viable transport for the demonkind before. That assumption matters less now, I need to get that tower operating, stat! She may hold still hold all the questions both me and Arika need in this world. How did all the demons fell? How did we lose to our adversary with all of these complex technologies?...How many did we lost?
[ Digital Scan: Mk.1 - Target: Structure ]
Target Name: Tower_07
Skydock entrance: Locked.
Base entrance: Locked.
Defenses: Unable to Appraise Further- Structure is in Blackout Mode
Requires Physical Reactivation from Magicnet A1 to exit mode…
Continue?
If that meant bringing her back to life without ever needed to go in through her door, then why not?
Info. Physical Reactivation requires Magicnet A1 to assume demon form and link with the tower’s magic core.
Well damn! Can I at least open the skydock door as they would call it without manually going down there myself?
Info. Skydock entrance remote override available. Skydock entrance door is encrypted password protected set by the tower itself. Begin decryption? Estimated time: 3 hours.
Yes. Please do it as soon as possible, my dear automated self because something else just came up to ruin the day. Distant echoes of screaming and explosions reach me from up here. More buildings over the edge of the city and in the far distant greenery of this tiny continent are going up in a blaze. I could see a lot of movement coming from the edges of the city as well as in the docks. Soon after, the entire city almost looks ravaged by the flames that are scattered in it. I hear the voice of Rito from the docks and a live view screen of the events below.
“Lord Ai, Toratoga appears to be the target of an invasion. There are creatures here that a leaving the ships and attacking the people in the city!” The live view from below is almost unnecessary for me here as I see everything, but I like Rito’s diligence to report to me. What I see down there appears to be some sort of oversized wolf that could rival a modern tank in size, as well as some sort of mages on them casting spells and turning into some sort of goo. Some massive dark crows and owls are also present in the battle that are also casting some magic and doing brawls like they’re dragons. I do not know who are these armies and where they came from, but I do know that this is Aineuran State now. I couldn’t fire my own ship weapons, as they cause too much collateral damage here. Anyone in this city could be a reincarnation and so could the enemy, but I can’t just stand or hover here to watch. Maybe I could use the Soul Array to Track my family back then, in case they are here and leave this place again. I could ask Solvea or Little Arika to configure it for me, but now, the main objective is to kill the invaders with a show of force and numerical superiority. Turning towards the sea in front of the docks, I landed into Construction mode. I am going to create a quick army here and now for this defense.