"Such futuristic designs!" Erina exclaimed as she saw the buildings. They looked like they were from the future, with sharp corners and hologram lights.
The group of girls were walking through empty streets towards the shopping district where restaurants are. At the same time, Erina and Hisako didn't care that the streets were empty. The same can't be said about the other two.
Sakura and Rin were uncomfortable that it was daytime and there was not a single soul in the street.
"Umm.. where are people?" Rin asked after she couldn't contain her nervousness.
"Most likely in the queue, 50 thousand years have passed. Some of the cities simply don't exist, so Aurora is organising operations for people moving."
"...Why in a queue?" Sakura asked curiously.
"Double checking ID and professions." Erina, an honour student, studied occupation protocol, so she knows how the population is being controlled.
"So they count the number of people and what they are good at." The assassin retold it before asking the vital question. " And then?"
"After that, it depends on the occupation's directive," The cherry blonde replied before looking at her.
"You could say they will be moved where the leader wants. For now, this planet is free to return to how it was before occupation." The chef girl's explanation made the pair of sisters sigh in relief.
They were afraid of something worse.
"That is until Marcus takes direct control and decides to change something."
As Erina said, they arrived at Restaurant Street.
But then, a console window appeared before her.
The cherry blonde looked at the information before her.
"What is this?" She looked curious for a bit, but then she saw that it showed… rebels!
"A group of girls are resisting," Erina commented as she stroked her chin. Thinking about what to do next.
"Are they rebels? Who could possibly resist?" Hisako exclaimed in utter disbelief. It makes no sense to her after seeing what this faction could do!
"Valkyries? They are warriors who used to resist Honkai. I am surprised that after losing their abilities, they continue to fight."
The cherry blonde pondered as she saw that these individuals hold a certain value to the Technocracy.
'Oh, this is an opportunity.'
Erina realised that she could finish the job Sirin had started. That way, she could get those brownie points.
Since she was a fiancee, her access to the troops and logistics was just below Marcus.
She can do as she pleases.
"What will we be doing Erina-sama?" Her assistant asked. The secretary looked nervous as she saw how the Heiress' purple eyes were giving a strange glint. Was there a desire in them?
"Change of plans. We can try out food once people are back at their restaurants.
Until then… we are going to collect these stranglers!" The Heiress exclaimed as she looked at the Royal Guards.
"Send a shuttle to pick us up and move the fleet to engage these rebels."
"As you wish, Mistress."
A couple of moments later, gunships arrived to pick the group of girls up.
~~~
"Haah!" Lance smashed into rocks, smashing into smaller bits that were sent flying into armoured soldiers. Some of the stones passed the rocks around them. But bigger ones slammed into them.
The damage was insignificant, as it didn't even scratch the paint on the plate armour.
But then, not far from the knight, someone landed with a huge scythe. With a sharp swing, it rushed into him. The knight stumbled for a second before collapsing on the ground.
The armoured individual was… dead.
The group of females were breathing heavily as it took seven of them to deal with one of these guys!
"We can't wait here for long! We have to go!" A blonde woman said in a commanding tone as she collected her lance, and they began to run away.
Not long after they were gone, three flying knights landed next to the corpse.
They looked at the deceased Forward Knight. Their HUD scanned the 'crime scene'.
The trio looked around the section of the city. Locating where the females run away, too.
"Possible route detected. Requesting reinforcements."
[En route, E.T.A two minutes]
The Assault Knight nodded before they collected the body and the weapon with the intention of recycling it.
As the trio flew away, the girls watched the whole thing from a partially destroyed building on the side of the road.
"Durandal-sama, these aliens are everywhere. How are we supposed to fight them back?" the girl, wielding a scythe and dressed like a maid, asked in a concerned tone. She doesn't like to crush their morale, but the whole thing looked dire.
However, the leader of these girls had a confident look as she noticed something odd.
"They might be everywhere, but their actions are strange. This is the third one we have taken down since they arrived. Yet, their methods don't change." The blonde commented as she watched how the rest of the members of this squad arrived at the location where their teammate was killed.
"They operate in a squad of four. Yet, they split up to cover more ground. If you engage one, the other three rush to assist. As you can see, they can do it in less than 3 minutes.
Normally, after one incident, enemies should adjust. Even honkai monsters did. But this…"
The blonde thought this was weird and that if they didn't adjust, it would be exploited… heavily!
Yet, part of her does feel dread, as yesterday, when all of this happened, they had honkai, but as time went on, bit by bit, they lost honkai support.
And now, their weapons and battlesuits have none of it. They have to fight regularly. The only helping grace is the weapons; they are refined to the point that they can take out those strange armours after they bypass the forcefields.
But even then, it is seven against one… the odds are bad for the girls.
"You mean they are operating like machines? But…" the maid was confused. She saw them bleed like humans, and they even thought that they were humans from another reality.
Not that they have intel, to begin with. Their Overseer killed himself the moment they appeared.
It was insane, as their Overseer, Otto Apocalypse, was a genius who created most of their technologies.
But to think that these invaders could cause him to do that…
"We don't know what they are—"
***ROAR***
The group immediately looked at the source of the sound.
They looked through the destroyed windows towards the road. What they saw where…
"Are those dinosaurs!?"
Feathered raptor-like creatures wearing pieces of similar armour to those knights.
It would seem that these armour pieces protect vital areas, but they do not need much protection because of their sharp claws and teeth.
The pack of seven were running through the streets and smelling the surroundings.
Until they stopped in front of their building.
Sounds similar to barks began to escape from their mouths. They were looking at them!
"Not good! They found us!" Durandal frowned as she got into position to fight with her second in command and the other Valkyries who were with them.
Dinosaurs were not on their fighting lists, as sure enough, the raptors began blasting into the building and swiftly found the stairs.
The beasts were behaving like they could see through walls!
It was clear that these raptors were somehow altered, or the armours assisted them, or maybe it was both. Regardless, the valkyries didn't stay inside for long, as they quickly looked for means to escape.
"Durandal-sama!"
The maid exclaimed in a nervous tone as they saw gunships circling the building.
Then, sounds of passing jets spread through the area as tall mechs began to land outside the building one after another.
They were the jets that transformed mid-flight.
"...we have a bit of a problem."
"I know that, Rita." Durandal gazed strainedly at the corridor where the stairs were.
"They are here." The blonde stated to her valkyries
*Dun**Dun**Dun**
The sounds of heavy but fast steps made them take deep breaths and prepare for the inevitable.
*Roar*
First, blue and red feathered dinosaurs blasted into the corridor. Followed by the second and third.
"..."
"..."
"..."
"Where are the other four?"
Instead of replying, they heard deep breathing… behind them!
"!!!"
"!!!"
The girls stiffed as they swiftly turned around. Through the shattered windows, they saw the raptors looking at them.
These creatures went outside and scaled walls!?
"W-We are surrounded. It would be great if we could have our honkai back right about now!" One of the valkyries commented.
"Surrender, I don't want to traumatise more than I already had." A female voice said as glass-like particles began to gather in the room.
A female hologram appeared, becoming extremely realistic. The dinosaurs seemed to obey her, acting like bodyguards to this hologram.
"...Are you their leader?" Durandal asked cautiously. Just by looking at her, she could tell that this girl was no fighter—more like an armchair leader.
"You could say that I am currently responsible for this territory."
'Does she mean the city we are in or more?'
"Do you mean the city? Or more?" Durandal was no diplomat, so her questions were blunt, and the person on the other side felt the same way.
"This Earth is under our control. And I took it over a few moments ago.
Now surrender; otherwise, I will need to send out a real army to capture you seven." The girl sounded reluctant to do that.
The valkyries looked nervous, at least the regular ones, as the other two hid it well.
"Commander…we are supposed to fight Honkai, not other people…" One of the Valkyrie spoke in a very reluctant tone.
"I do wish to inform you that the past 50 thousand years were experiments done by my fellow future sister-wife. It was an experiment done to see what the world would look like if the previous civilisation had not won.
In truth, we conquered them and simulated Honkai for the next 50 thousand years."
More glass particles danced around her and showed images of the world and what was in the orbit. The whole planet was surrounded by countless warships.
Not only that, it looked like the planet was encased in some sort of energy cocoon.
The girls were in utter shock! It was… madness!
"Now surrender; you simply have no means to resist Technocracy." The hologram's arm brushed through her long hair. It was clear that this woman was quite arrogant or extremely confident by all of this…
"What will happen to my Valkyries?" Durandal asked in a serious tone.
"That will be decided by my future husband. Until then, you will be detained."
By this point, next to the dinosaurs, there were a bunch of knights with rifles pointing at the valkyries.
The girls realised that while they were having a conversation, these knights were further surrounding them.
They have no choice now.
"...Fine…" Durandal looked around, seeing that the valkyries didn't wish to fight anymore. She ended up stiffly nodding at the girl.
The girl in the hologram nodded back, and then the knights with rifles in hands…
Opened fire.
The valkyries ended up looking shocked as bolds of lightning slammed into them from all directions.
All seven of them collapsed on the floor as an electrical current washed them over.
The blonde Valkyrie was still conscious as she looked at the hologram with anger.
They surrendered, so why did they get shot!?
"Apologies, but our faction's rules require you to be unconscious when you are being taken aboard our vessels."
Durandal's vision began to darken, and she couldn't keep herself awake. It was getting too difficult.
Eventually, she collapsed on the ground.
"Was this necessary?"
"Standard Protocol, Mistress." The rifle knight replied as they walked into the room and began to collect the downed Valkyries.
~~~~~~Meanwhile~~~~~~
"This ship is pretty big. The logistics of running something of this size should be considerable." The wine-red-haired girl commented as she followed Marcus.
They took a couple of trains. She realised that they were inside a spaceship.
It's a very huge spaceship.
"You would normally need a continent-sized support to feed and maintain one of these," Marcus replied as he looked at Kafka before her.
"Yet, you don't need it; your intent behind your words tells me that much," the girl read him just from intent.
"Intent. All of my ships are self-sufficient." He said with a smile.
"Oh my. If that is the case, even one of these could get me what I want."
"Indeed." The Inventor smiled as he realised that the girl already had some idea of how things worked here.
"Then it's even better that I passed your crafty tests." She smiled at him; her smile could give any normal guy goosebumps, but Marcus is the creator of Quinella and keeps the Primordial God of Night as a pet.
"You could say."
They arrived at one platform that had several lifts.
'I suppose this is where the bridge is.'
The girl mentally tried to draw a map of this place.
To think that something of this size can move from star to star is a bit concerning.
The pair entered the lift.
"So what will I be doing? I do like action." She asked him as she realised that he didn't mind staying silent.
"We can think of something for you." He replied as he pondered a bit.
"You could lead an invasion somewhere. Having a moving frontline is a good option." Marcus pondered out loud.
"...Hmm, I am more of a small team player than the commander of a huge force." Kafka could play in a small group… but lead an interplanetary conquering fleet.
Yeah…no.
"We will see."
Eventually, the lift arrived, and the pair walked into a Hall.
Kafka's eyebrow went up as she saw a singular throne. The throne moved and revealed Marcus.
The girl looked at her side and saw that the guy beside her wasn't there anymore.
'Interesting.'
"Some sort of projection… an advanced hologram?"
"Mental projection."
As he said that, he stood up and walked to her. Kafka could sense invisible pressure radiating from him, which was not there before.
'Whatever being he is, he isn't a human that much, I am certain.'
"Shall we go and see the last Iron Cavalry?" He interrupted her thoughts.
"So it was." The wine red-haired girl nodded, so she did find the last living specimen of this civilisation.
"Indeed, I already gathered enough data to gene alter some of her shortcomings." He smiled when he said that.
Marcus is happy that he is able to help Firefly.
"I see. Having powers like they do must be counterproductive." Kafka immediately understood Marcus's meaning.
"That just scratches the surface."
He motioned for her to follow him.
"From far shorter lifespan to burning from inside out, she should be happy to be around a couple years." The inventor clarified to her.
"I see, but your tone says otherwise." Kafka looked at him. It is strange for her as she always tries to read people from their words and emotions.
But with him…
Whatever he says or does is from a point of confidence and assurance.
That makes her confused.
"Well, thankfully, her first encounter is me, not some random explorer who can't help her," Marcus assured her that everything would be fine.
"That is good for her. She is a rare individual."
"You have no idea." He smiled at that comment. By all means, a living specimen of Iron Cavalry is something very rare.
The only living and breathing being at this time in the whole of the Universe.
From a collector's point of view, this is a legendary rarity.
That is why Marcus is going to take care of her.
"Someone is excited. I bet you are very excited as a collector; as someone who likes to collect coats, I understand you." Kafka had some idea of how Marcus felt about this.
"Good to hear that someone shares the enthusiasm." The Inventor smiled at her as the pair got into the lift.
The trip was short as they got out on the floor where the cross symbol was on the wall.
The pair walked through the corridor for a bit before entering one of the doors.
Kafka's eyes perked up after she saw rows and rows of empty glass chambers, they look that they are to contain liquids.
After walking for a bit more, they arrived at one of the containers that was on. It had a girl with silvery hair dressed in a grey full-body suit floating in this liquid.
The wine-red-haired girl stared at the liquid-floating girl before looking at the company she had.
Pink-haired and silver-haired girls dressed in flirly uniforms, and a white-haired girl dressed in a skirt and shirt.
In other words…
'His other collectibles…'
This Marcus is honestly doing that, which is crazy and, in a way, respectable as a fellow collector.
"Let me guess, your other collectables." Kafka crossed her arms and began to inspect from a distance.
"Yeah. Though this one…" Marcus walked over and hugged Belfast from the back.
"Is a creation of mine." The Inventor proudly declared.
"...Impressive." One thing for certain: creating a girl who looks like a real girl is impressive.
"Oh, she is not a robot or some synthetic creation."
The wine-red-haired girl's eyes perked up as she walked before the maid and inspected the ship girl.
"Can I?"
"Do check it."
Kafka got even closer as she tried to hear the ship girl's heartbeat.
"...This is something else. I have heard about Herta, but this is on a different level." The girl was impressed! However, by this point, Belfast is having a hard time not blushing from this much curiosity.
"Hmmm, may I know who you are?" the pinkette in a frilly dress asked from the side. She had a very strange feeling about this woman. This woman was… wrong in some way.
"This is Kafka. I captured her, and now she is mine." Marcus's explanation made the wine-red-haired lady look at him.
"When you say it like that, It becomes hard for me not to blush." Even if she said that she didn't blush, more like smirking from ear to ear.
That smirk was a bit dangerous, and it should be, as Kafka is far too interested in her 'Master'. One would say that what he did was more than taking her the first time.
He made her feel something that she should have never felt in her life.
And that is far more important to her than anything.
Now that he has her undivided attention, she will stick to him like glue.
Until they will die or something like that.
"I see…" the pinkette blinked a couple of times. That explanation didn't explain anything to her.
"She is an infamous and very wanted lady. I am right?" Marcus smirked as he let Belfast go and walked to Kafka.
"...You could say that. But you won't take me to the authorities, right?" Kafka got closer to him as she leaned into him and grinned like a dangerous feline.
"The only authorities you should be worried is mine." He wrapped his hands around her waist and pulled her closer.
"Good to hear~~" The 'criminal' lady smiled even more when she heard that.
"So you even add criminals like that…" The white-haired girl commented from the side.
Marcus looked at her.
"Last time I checked, being a vigilante is criminal, too."
His reply made the girl look away as she puffed her cheeks a bit.
She wanted to say that it was different and that she had her reasons, but she knew that it wouldn't go over well with him, as he would make fun of her. She just knew it!
"Anyway, enough chit-chat." The inventor let go of Kafka, who looked disappointed that he had let her go.
"Time for us to awaken her."
His gaze went to the girl floating in the liquid.
He brushed his finger down, and the consoles surrounded him. With finger brushes, he checked the biometrics and made sure the alternations were in place and that her body was not rejecting the changes.
[Sir, we don't know how removing that function will affect her; that armour mode is part of her. It's a biological reaction.
We should keep it available in some form.]
Aurora commented on the changes.
"We can talk about this form with her in person. Until then, it is disabled."
[Very well. Final preparations completed.]
The DNA strand glowed several times, indicating it had gone through a check-up.
[Waking up]
The girl's eyes began to tremble as they snapped open wide. She looked around, confused. Her eyes ended up on Marcus.
At that moment, she felt a connection established between them, and she began to see things.
Foreign things were explained to her. Bit by bit, the girls understood what was going on. It was heartbreaking for her that her civilisation was gone.
But quickly, she understood that Marcus could bring her people back if she wanted to.
Not that she accepted the proposal immediately. Instead, she focused on his explanations.
She learned of his origins, what he was and his reasons for him being here.
For a moment, her mind went blank on the scale of this empire he was building.
For now, she pushed it aside and instead learned that her life won't be ending anytime soon… or at all.
"AR-26710, we should give you a proper name. Do you have something in mind?" He spoke directly into her mind.
'...I don't know.'
"Hmm, it's hard for me to call you by numbers and letters. The knights that I create eventually get names and greater responsibilities, " he said while showing an armoured man not wearing a helmet.
'You give them names?' She asked, curious.
"Oh, yes, names are important. They're the cornerstone of identity, like the foundations of a building." As he explained to her, he used his psionic powers to show, not just tell, making her grasp his perspective at visual levels far greater than simple sentences.
'...Then… Why don't you give me a name?' She asked, not having enough confidence to choose by herself.
"Hmm, as the last of Glamoth, someone who used to burn brightly and then burn away… we will go by Firefly."
The girl saw images of this creature. She had this strange feeling that it made sense.
'...I accept. M-May…I ask what's now? What is my purpose?' The girl wanted to know, as someone who is born as a weapon, that one simply can't just shelve that side away and forget that she was a living embodiment of destruction.
"Hmm, well, you are with me so we can think of something. Whatever you desire, I can make it happen."
Her eyes perked up. Her anxiousness was gone, and her desire for a purpose was somewhat satiated… to some extent.
'Then I accept.'
With that said, the water began to drain out, and the girl ended up standing on the floor and looking at him. At that moment, she didn't see anyone but the guy who explained things to her.
"Oh, this is interesting. I was wondering why no one was talking. It appears you made contact with her mentally."
Kafka's voice made Firefly look at her.
"...I am sorry." The girl was courteous and very respectful when she apologised. She was humble from the very beginning… one could even say she was a bit robotic.
"Don't apologise to me. There is no need; I simply stated the facts." The wine-red-haired lady shrugged off the apology.
Such a reply made Firefly a bit out of words as she had no idea how to reply.
Instead, she looked at Marcus, waiting for him to assist her.
"Don't worry about her. She is a unique individual." The inventor smiled as he walked over to her.
"For now, we should get you a change of clothes."
The girls perked up, especially Kafka. She wants to see how he can get clothes!
She wants to see it, which is the reason why she sold herself to him!
"I need to see it."
"Sure, follow me." The Father of Technocracy wants to show them one of the crown jewels of his creation—the Automated Assembly Lines.
The group of five girls and one guy walked out of the bio chambers, not into the corridor, but inside the main walkway in the nio chambers and into an enormous armoury.
This was where thousands of knights were 'assembled' at once.
"...Whoa…" Elysia gasped after seeing a bunch of 'lockers' with hundreds of circles on the ground.
These circles were glowing, making the room's floor look like it was glowing.
"This is where my knights get equipped," Marcus explained.
"Impressive size." Kafka looked around, trying to see the end, where the hull wall should be.
"To use these." He made a motion with his finger. "Just do this."
His console appeared before him. He then accessed the automated assembly lines and went to his saved files, where the girl's clothes were saved a while ago.
He designed them the moment he knew that he had arrived at the Glamoth system.
His explanation was the very curious, wine-red-haired 'criminal' girl. Arter said that he looked at the last remaining Iron Cavalry girl.
"For you, Firefly, these are your clothes." The hologram enlarged and showed her the clothes he had recreated for her.
"...Oh! So cute! Master, I didn't know you were this good with female clothes!" Elysia gushed at these clothes.
"It was not my design; I simply recreated what she would have worn in the future," Marcus explained to the overexcited pinkette.
"I would say that it is cheating that you can do that." Elysia pouted for a bit. It's a bit cheating when a guy can do that. It takes away part of a female's charm.
"Sadly, we don't play the same game, so it's not cheating." His reply made her even more pout. How is she supposed to seduce him and get close to him when he is such a cheater?
Seeing her pout like that made him smirk, but then he looked at Firefly, who looked at her clothes. She was a bit mesmerised by what she saw in the hologram.
Lore-wise, Kafka selected these clothes. She has good eyesight when it comes to clothes.
'Now that I think about it, she is the first girl I have that is good with clothes designs.'
He could say that Quinella is good, but that girl is a cosplayer, not a designer. Then Latia was okay. She had a sense of style, still not a designer.
Well, he doesn't know for sure if Kafka is a designer, but she has an impressive sense of style.
Maybe enough to be a proper designer.
"Now then, Firefly, stand in one of the circles." He motioned for the girl to walk over to the location he was pointing.
"Roger."
The girl replied instinctively. This response made Elysia smile, causing her a bit of pain. She decided to do something about her military stiffness.
With the girl standing in the middle of the circle, a grey cloud of swarm rose from the ground and surrounded her. For a second, none of them could see her, as the cloud was incredibly dense.
Then, it was done, and the cloud returned to the ground. What they looked at was Firefly in her iconic clothes.
"Whoa, in person, she looks even better!" Elysia clapped her hands in happiness, while Kafka nodded to herself, saying she liked this style too.
Even Kallen, who is basically clueless when it comes to fashion sense, could appreciate what she was seeing.
"Good. It looks great on you." Marcus nodded as well. He then motioned for her to come over.
"With this out of the way, we can get something to eat."
As he commented about the food, he realised he had no chef!
"...Oh…damn…" Midway he stopped in the tracks, he realised that he had no Erina with him!
That stuff never happens!
On top of that, he let her go without a time limit!
'This is bad, like crap baskets level bad.'
The inventor massaged his forehead, as this was unforeseen. He wanted to fix Sakura's issue, but he made more for himself!
"Master, are you okay?" Belfasf asked with concern. The rest of them looked nervous.
Except for Kafka, as she was curious instead of nervous.
"Yeah, forgot that my cook is realities away." Marcus waived his hand as he needed to think of plan B.
"This is the first time I saw you less confident about something… interesting," Kafka commented with crossed arms. Now, she is interested in the cooks.
"That's because I will need to improvise." He replied to her.
This whole conversation made the new girl nervous.
"If it's nourishment you worry, simple rations are fine with me," Firefly commented.
"Perish such thoughts. As long as you are with me, even gods will be jealous of our food. That's exactly what happened before I sent them away on a mission." The Inventor quickly lost his high-spirited voice as once again he realised that there was no cook!
"Interesting. Now I want to taste that food." Marcus' words only inflated Kafka's interest in the cook.
"Erina's cooking is world-class. That much I can vouch for." Elysia nodded, and Kallen looked hungry, thinking about the food.
"Master, Mistress Erina has shared her memories with cook-type biological models. They should be in the database.
You could at least create a decent mass-produced chef." Belfast's suggestion caused Marcus to regain some of his spirit.
"Right! Her Hotel tests!"
The inventor snapped his fingers, mentally summoned his interface, and began skimming through the DNA library. He quickly found the sequence and memories attached to it.
Sure enough, five bio chambers around them turned on, and blue liquid began to fill up.
The girls looked at what was happening before them! Marcus is making life… instead of making food for himself.
It was absurd, to say the least, for the new girls who never saw his weird behaviour patterns.
"...Umm… you know, I could have made something." Elysia raised her hand.
"I know some basics, too," Kallen added her.
"I don't." Kafka blew up the bubble of confidence that began to grow from the girls, and she didn't even look ashamed by what she said!
~~~
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