The mirror sea did not scream when it broke but rather collapsed on itself after the Siren's retreated after a decisive victory but something didn't feel right.
She had sensed the distortion an instant before it happened, not through sight or sound, but through the deep, intimate pulse of her Wisdom Cube the innate feeling of suspense and danger of what was about to occur then it happened a sensation like a chessboard suddenly losing its edges. Siren signatures that had moments ago been clean, arrogant vectors of hostile intent twisted into incoherent spirals. Probability collapsed. Distance lost meaning.
"How rude," Eugen murmured, lips curling into an amused smile even as warning glyphs blossomed across her perception and watching the weaker siren's retreating through the portals they created.
The battlefield had been orderly only seconds prior. A ruined ocean under a dead purple sky, fractured by Siren constructs of impossible geometry, their dead crystalline hulls gliding across the waves as if buoyancy were a suggestion rather than a law. Prinz Eugen's rigging hovered behind her, flawless and lethal turrets aligned, barrels glowing faintly with restrained power. Iron Blood engineering purred, eager, disciplined.
She had been winning alongside her fellow KANSEN but the Sirens did not retreat without reasonable intent. The distortion detonated outward from the heart of their formation. Space twisted like heated steel, colours tearing into unfamiliar spectrums. The ocean beneath her did not boil or freeze; it fell away, as if the world had simply decided she no longer belonged on its surface.
For the first time since her awakening as a KANSEN Prinz Eugen soon felt genuine curiosity sharpen into something close to anticipation and seriousness.
"Oh?" she said softly.
The sky and ocean collapsed inward and as a massive whirlpool was slowly forming from the remnants of the Siren stronghold especially with a purple glow to its aesthetic.
Her rigging reacted instantly, stabilizers flaring, anti-gravity systems compensating for forces that had no name in Iron Blood physics. Cannons locked forward, tracking nothing and everything at once. The Wisdom Cube burned bright within her, not strained, not damaged but in alert because it too sensed a threshold being crossed.
The Sirens hadn't vanished neither destroyed nor displaced simply gone from this plain of existence. Eugen's laughter echoed briefly through the folding void before even sound surrendered. Light stretched into threads. Time itself staggered. For a heartbeat that felt indulgently long, she existed nowhere at all not the crushing embrace of the sea, nor the shuddering violence of deck and hull meeting wave, but something far more inelegant. Solid ground. Resistant. Unyielding.
She descended through both clouds and water, atmosphere screaming against the iron mass as her rigging anchored itself instinctively and was arresting velocity with controlled fury. Shockwaves rippled outward, flattening grass and scattering stone as she touched down.
Prinz Eugen landed on one knee and the earth fractured beneath her and massive spiderweb cracks form racing outward from the point of impact. Dust billowed skyward, illuminated by lingering embers of re-entry heat. For several seconds, the world did nothing at all no alarms, no hostile fire, no Siren countermeasures.
Eugen rose gracefully unharmed, brushing imaginary dust from her glove. Her rigging unfolded behind her like a predatory halo, cannons rotating in slow, deliberate arcs. Systems check scrolled through her awareness.
Structural integrity: optimal.
Weapon systems: fully operational.
Wisdom Cube resonance: stable.
She lifted her gaze toward the sky but something felt wrong almost like the mirror sea all over again. Not hostile but rather merely unfamiliar. Blue, impossibly deep, scattered with clouds that moved with organic laziness rather than simulated intent.
Just a unfamiliar sky that felt simulated that hides the true sky beyond its interior.
Prinz Eugen looked upward toward the sky but something felt wrong the moment her eyes settled on with an intense focus.
The blue stretched endlessly, unmarred by artificial horizons or refracted layers, unbroken by the subtle distortions she had grown accustomed to in Mirror Seas and Siren-controlled spaces. There were no calculated imperfections, no hidden seams where reality betrayed its construction.
The clouds drifted freely, lazily, as though they answered to nothing but the wind. Sunlight poured down without resistance, warm and indifferent, touching steel and skin alike.
Prinz Eugen narrowed her eyes, a faint crease forming between her brows as the Wisdom Cube inside her body reached outward, searching for familiar patterns. There was no artificial ceiling. No mirrored firmament. No hostile intent hidden behind layers of false infinity but she knew deep down to her very soul and heart that the sky felt wrong even down to her mind and wisdom cube subconsciously.
"Hm" she murmured, finger resting thoughtfully against her lips.
For the first time since her arrival, the teasing edge of her smile wavered not from fear, but into something rarer the feeling of Uncertainty.
Prinz Eugen lowered her gaze from the sky, the faint crease in her brow smoothing away as composure returned like a familiar coat settling onto her shoulders. Whatever this world was, it was real enough to demand attention—and indulgent curiosity could wait until she had answers.
She started with the simplest task to begin with when in an unknown location or environment.
Reconnaissance.
The land around her rolled gently, a broad expanse of grass and stone shaped by wind and time rather than artillery or calculated devastation. Tall blades of green swayed in uneven rhythms, whispering softly as the breeze passed through them. Scattered boulders dotted the plain, some split cleanly as if by ancient force, others worn smooth by centuries of weather. In the distance, ruined stonework jutted from the earth—arches collapsed, pillars broken, their surfaces etched with symbols she did not recognize.
Prinz Eugen walked slowly, deliberately, boots leaving faint impressions in the soil. Her rigging remained deployed but relaxed, turrets angled slightly downward—not out of mercy, but confidence. Whatever dangers this world held, they would announce themselves soon enough.
A rustle in the grass drew her attention as she turned toward the disturbance.
Her hand moved without conscious thought and didn't raise a singular weapon. She merely watched as the bushes waved against the flowing wind.
But something stout and bristled burst forth, snorting loudly as it charged across the clearing. Its body was thick with muscle, hide mottled brown with tusks curved and sharp. It barrelled forward with surprising speed, hooves tearing at the earth as it fled from something unseen deeper in the brush.
Prinz Eugen blinked for a moment for leaning her head sideways with mild surprise.
"…A boar?" she asked mildly.
The creature skidded to a halt several paces away, turning to glare at her with beady eyes filled with panic and territorial outrage. It snorted again, pawing at the ground.
Eugen tilted her head, studying it.
"Well, you're certainly enthusiastic" she said, tone conversational. "But I'm not the one you should be charging, hm?"
The boar answered by charging anyway.
She sighed breathing through her nose before exhaling.
"I shouldn't have answered my own question" She groaned into her palms.
The rigging responded instantly, shifting position as Eugen stepped aside with minimal effort. The boar thundered past where she had stood, momentum carrying it several meters before it stumbled and rolled awkwardly across the grass.
Eugen watched it scramble upright and flee, disappearing back into the tall grass with a squeal of indignation.
"…wildlife seems lively," she mused. "Aggressive but unintelligent."
Edible, too, though she did not say it aloud.
She resumed walking, her pace unhurried. The encounter had confirmed something important this world supported mundane life, not just constructs or weapons shaped into beasts.
That meant ecosystems. Food chains. Settlements and as if summoned by the thought, distant voices drifted toward her on the wind it wasn't like human speech but rather more bestial and primal.
The sounds were rough and uneven, syllables barked rather than spoken, punctuated by guttural laughter and sharp, animalistic cries. Eugen slowed, senses sharpening. She angled her approach toward a low rise overlooking a shallow valley.
Peering over the edge, she saw them.
Humanoid figures clustered around a crude encampment of wood and bone. They moved with an awkward gait, postures hunched their bodies were wrapped in scraps of cloth and leather, decorated with feathers, teeth, and crude symbols painted in white and ochre. Masks covered their faces that were wooden, crudely carved, each bearing exaggerated expressions frozen somewhere between mockery and menace.
They carried weapons such as club's, crossbows, shields and what looked like slimes?
Prinz Eugen observed silently, eyes narrowing just a fraction. Primitive but strangely organized.
The creatures chattered among themselves, gesturing animatedly as one prodded at a spit roasting meat over a fire. Another danced around the flames, waving a club overhead in what might have been celebration or ritual. A third stood watch at the edge of the camp, posture alert despite its apparent lack of discipline.
Eugen counted them automatically.
At least counting eight in total No advanced technology. Minimal armour. Behaviour suggested territorial intelligence rather than mindless aggression.
Her rigging hummed softly, as if offended and its teeth chattered against one another.
"Well," she whispered, lips curling. "You're certainly the strangest assortment of creatures I've ever met before"
She shifted position slightly, allowing her shadow to fall across the edge of the hill.
One of the creatures noticed her presence.
It froze mid-motion, head snapping upward toward her position. Its masked face tilted, as if confused by the silhouette against the sky. It let out a sharp cry a warning.
The camp erupted into motion. weapons were seized, Torches raised and The creatures barked even hollered with voices overlapping in a chaotic chorus. Several rushed toward the base of the hill, scrambling clumsily over rocks and grass.
Prinz Eugen straightened, no longer bothering to hide.
"Oh dear," she said lightly. "And here I was hoping for a polite introduction."
She did not advance. She did not retreat.
She waited for them to strike first.
The first of the creatures reached the top of the hill, club raised high as it charged with reckless enthusiasm. Its movements were aggressive but unrefined with no tactics, no feints, just raw intent and misplaced confidence.
Prinz Eugen stepped forward moving faster than the eye could track and her gloved hand struck the creature's wrist with precise force, shattering it's entire bone and sending the club spinning away. Before it could scream, she swept its legs out from under it and slammed it into the ground as her enclosed first destroyed its face with controlled brutality.
The creature lay still as the mask and face underneath were destroyed beyond recognition.
Prinz Eugen straightened herself, smoothing her glove and wiping the blood away.
"Let's establish something very clearly" she said calmly, addressing the remaining figures as they skidded to a halt, startled by the sudden reversal. "I'm not hostile to any of you here"
She gave a brief smirk before leaning back up. "But I am dangerous if you do attack me again"
The creatures did not understand her words but understood the message she had brought upon them. three of the creatures hesitated. one had fled. Another hurled a stone from a sling, which Eugen caught effortlessly between two fingers before crushing it with her index and thumb.
Her patience thinned and waved her index finger at the Hilichurl who threw it.
The rigging behind her flared briefly weapons ready to fire with Armor plates shifting and Cannons rotated just enough to remind the world what she was.
The effect was immediate.
The remaining creatures howled in alarm, turning and scattering in disorganized retreat. They fled back toward their camp, abandoning weapons and torches as they went.
Prinz Eugen watched them go, expression unreadable.
"…Interesting," she murmured.
She approached the encampment cautiously, stepping over the fire pit and scattered supplies. The masks fascinated her crude, yes, but symbolic. These beings hid their faces deliberately. Identity, ritual, or fear.
She picked one of the masks up before turning it over in her hands carefully examining it both inside and outside.
"Rather Crude" she concluded quietly "At least they tried making it symmetrical"
Her gaze drifted toward the direction the creatures had fled. She could pursue them easily. Subdue them. Interrogate them, even without shared language but that didn't matter for now.
Prinz Eugen set the mask back down and turned away, leaving the camp intact. She would learn more soon enough. There were cities here. Roads. People who spoke.
And if this world had gods, then it also had rules. As she walked away from the encampment, the wind shifted, carrying the scent of flora and faint noise possibly a city or town from a random direction unaware of the variable now stalking the borders.
Eugen smiled faintly, a familiar, dangerous curve of lips.
"Alright then" she said softly. "Let's see what kind of world you are."
Behind her, the fire inside the Camp crackled.
Ahead, seven unfamiliar nation's waited.
And Prinz Eugen advanced while she was curious, unbroken, and very much alive.