Soul's Requiem: B1 - 3. Combat Test (Patreon)

PoV:

1:  Clover Emberfield (Our MC)

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The large opening back to the control room closed behind her; she was very confident in her abilities, she always had been, but something was wrong.  Ever since she entered the portal—no, after the woman talked to her and she exited it, there had been a void in her soul.

Her hand pressed against her breast, a frown crossing her lips.  It’s not just when I fell … Why do I feel so off after that brat attacked Isngneal?

Lilly’s upbeat voice held a slight edge of apprehension in her ear as she interrupted her thoughts.  “Alright, Clover, we’re about to begin!  By the way … I’m still in training.  I-I hope that’s alright,” she tried laughing the comment off, but obviously, Lilly felt pressured.

Clover slowly took in the strange digital space, turning in a circle; the revelation lingered on her mind.  Training … Is there a reason I was given a trainee?  Is being permanently paired with me a punishment or an opportunity for the girl?  “Hmm, my life is in your hands, or so I expect from what I was told; I suggest you learn quickly.”

“Right!”  Lilly took a deep breath.  “Thank you for putting your confidence in me, Clover.  Is there anything you’d like to know before we start—have you acclimated to the setting?”

Her seafoam blue eyes lifted to the ceiling.  “It certainly is fascinating.”

She stood on a closed-off bridge with an odd control panel composed of multiple cubes on the left side that she assumed would be used to lower the wall blocking her path—the steel barrier was only 15 feet high, which would be simple enough to clear with the 10-foot sides.

A four-foot extension was built into the sides, glowing with the same varying shades of blue hexagons that filled the outer boundaries of the digital space.  ‘Steel Box Bastion’ showed up in light blue letters across the wall’s displays.  Below her feet were perfectly shaped steel tiles, and steel boxes floated through the cyberspace, shifting across the sky to create various platforms before breaking apart again.

“Well … It certainly lives up to its name,” she mused, eyeing the three arrows pointing her toward the panel ahead of her; she had a semi-uncomfortable feeling about the energy permeating the area, but it was tolerable.

Lilly giggled.  “True, it is kind of plain—ah, ahem, yes, umm, activate the control unit ahead of you by holding your hand against it.  The first test sim has finished loading; once you step beyond the entrance, it will begin.”

“Time to break records.”  Clover summoned the Viper Blade to her left hand, walking forward to press her right on a thin, circular display beside the structure.

The fist-sized cubes shot in like bullets, twisting into a rectangular shape, causing her to jump back.  “Lilly?”  Clover held up her weapon in response to the unexpected reaction, landing two meters away from the unit.

“Oh, no … that’s supposed to happen—sorry, sorry, umm … yeah, they’ll do this spinning thing … the programmers had to make it look ‘cool’ or something,” she mumbled, fighting her embarrassment while likely glancing at her colleagues.

“Right…”  Her gaze lifted to the sky; she was beginning to wonder if Lilly’s co-workers had it out for the woman.  Laughing at her and me, are they?  A smile lifted her lips.  “No trouble, Lilly.  Warn me of anything I might not be accustomed to in this new world.”

Walking to the object, she finished the animation, causing the wall to fall.

“Gate opening!  We are starting with the Class-1 strength test—we’re bypassing Class-0 since you handled the Class-1 Transevil.  The programmers are going to load in the visual objects that you can destroy.”

Clover stopped at the edge, standing between five black Rubik’s Cubes that appeared out of blue light, twisting in the air, each they were about as large as she was.  “There’s a timed record, correct—what are the parameters?”

“Records … Yes, the timer starts the moment you enter and finishes when you destroy the last object in this session to an acceptable degree.”

Taking a calming breath, Clover glared at the objects.  The first thought that crossed her mind upon seeing them was that their energy wasn’t all that appetizing to her, but the competitive spur she’d had since a child surfaced.  “Just destroy the blocks?”

“That’s right!  You were big into competitions before?”

“Very.”

Clover’s feet spread into a dashing stance and shot forward in a single leap, sliding across the ground as if gliding on ice; her blade edge illuminated with pastel colors as she struck.

Pivoting to interrupt the standard thrust she would have led with, her light steps took her into a sweeping slash, whip-blade extending to pass clean through the first two.

Her blades stuck into the side of the center back, and she recalled it, ripping through the left top and middle sections.  Flicking her wrist, she twirled the recalling whip in a flourish, leaving light grooves in the floor as it thrashed side to side, separating the remaining three cubes into pieces as she advanced between them.

Returning to its sword state, she put her right hand on her hip, smiling up at the fathomless white sky.  “Next.”

“T-Test is complete … umm, it barely started … Is this right?  Oh, ahem, Clover, if you could move to the next test,” Lilly said, cutting off to speak to her supervisors.

Clover lifted an eyebrow, brushing back her platinum blonde hair to stare at the diced cubes as a platform lowered to take her to the next level, fifteen feet above her and still forming.  “Is this really the physical test you had in mind?  I barely had to move.”

“Uh… One second, Clover … the programmers are still loading in the next part and looking at the gathered data … What’s this spike?”  She muted the connection to speak to the others around her.

Taking the opportunity to appraise her shifting environment, she walked to the edge of the open stage she stood on; the bottom was as fathomless as the sky.  What would happen if I jumped?  Only a stupid person would try … but still an interesting question.

Thousands of steel blocks were forming around the sides of her platform, and another wall blocked her from going to the next area—of course, she could have jumped over it.

Ahead of her, two floating cubes materialized ten feet above the ground as Lilly explained.  “Umm … So, they want to see if you can hover in the air to attack—you know with your Spiritual Force.”

“Float, mmh … with my Spiritual Force?  I do not know.”  Clover tapped her hip with a small smile.  “Fascinating.”

Her gaze fell to her blade, making a few slashes that released the energy flowing through her veins; the power in the cubes was challenging to digest through her attacks compared to the Transevil she’d killed.  This place was composed of entirely different energy.  Still, at least she could absorb a small portion of it—even if utterly bland.

“Start whenever you’re ready.”

Clover took three steps and leaped into the air, extending the blade in short, sweeping strokes, and the moment she desired to stay up, a pastel light coated her frame to accommodate her.  She couldn’t hold it for long, only three strikes, which was more than enough to destroy the cubes.

An instinctual pulse in her chest caused her to strike out with her foot, generating a blue concussive burst that shot her to the right, her hovering energy returning to keep her airborne for three more strikes.

Smoothly landing on the steel platform with her boots, she hummed; six strikes and one maneuver seemed to be her current limit because she couldn’t do it a 2nd time.  Brushing back her long locks, Clover chuckled, hopping forward with swift footwork while flourishing her blade.  “How fun!  It’s as if I’ve known how to do this my entire life.”

“Wow … That was … Umm, the next area is ready.  Loading the training dummies…”

The fifteen-foot-tall steel wall lowered to reveal her next stage; four robotic, humanoid figures emerged from digital blocks in the center of the platform.

Clover’s lips pulled in upon studying the stationary targets.  “They’re already damaged…”

“A little, yes,” Lilly forced a chuckle, likely brushing back her brown hair.  “They’re used by the Class 0 to 1 Spirit Users for daily practice, and it takes a bit to provide the right energy to restore them … oh.”

Clover sighed, darting forward.  Her thrust passed clean through the first’s head before it could raise its police baton, and twisting around his body, she cleaved the next two without extending her blade.  The four test dummies fell to the ground before Lilly could finish her explanation.

“They’re still intact after a day’s training, huh?”  Clover dryly asked.

“Wait … Eh?  Umm … huh … The next ones will show up in a bit…”

Leaning left and right, Clover giggled.  “Oh?  I thought these programmers had already loaded everything—I suppose the world hasn’t changed all that much, after all.  We’re still waiting on the loading screen.”

Four more robots appeared two meters away from her; Clover reacted when the blue boxes formed, cutting them to pieces before they fully formed.  “Pathetic,” she huffed, kicking one of the pieces off the edge.  “This is a timed trial—the programmers are ruining my end results!”

Lilly mumbled in her ear, probably hitting the respond button by accident as she spoke to one of the supervisors.  “Huh … Look at the measurements on this data sheet—It’s off the charts … Oh!  Umm, don’t mind me.  You’re doing great!  Continue to the next test, please.”

“Mhm.”

The fifteen-foot steel barrier lowered, revealing an extensive hallway with four large tiles across its width, and four massive machines took up one square each on the left and right side of the walls.

Clover casually walked forward, left eye narrowing a little as she examined two thick devices, releasing a blue electric field.  “Okay … And what am I supposed to do here, Lilly?”

“Mhm … Eh … So, Class-1 Spirit Users can gather their energy in a defensive field around them that acts as a sort of phasing method to escape damage—they can only do it once, though.  It’s kind of like what you did when you moved in the air.”

“I don’t think that was what I did in the air,” Clover whispered, walking forward and examining the electricity.  “Although … I believe I know what you’re getting at.”

A pastel color cloaked her body as she dashed forward; it was only active when she moved and faded swiftly, yet on the floor, Clover could do it three times, and she phased through the electricity without issue, continuing through the barriers that opened before her.

“It’s a good thing the tests only begin when I engage them, else I would have wasted so much time,” she chided, looking up again.

Lilly cleared her throat.  “Okay … so—Clover, you’ve completed the Class-1 Spirit User test, and we’re moving onto, uh, a more Advanced Stage.”

“Humph … I hope so,” she mumbled, cracking her neck.  “These banal activities have been less than stimulating.”

“Please, bear with us, Clover.  They’ve preloaded the units, so it should be more fluid.”

“I won’t hold my breath, given my experience thus far,” Clover returned.  “Although I have been entertained by having you in my ear, Lilly.  You are growing on me.”

“Oh, thank you!  I’m glad to hear that!  Heh, you have the Simulation Staff in a frenzy,” she whispered.  “Good luck!”

“Who needs luck when you have skill?”  Clover chuckled, glancing left and right as the wall dropped, revealing six robust robots.

The moment the door stopped, they rushed her.

“Humph,” Clover spun her weapon in a flourish.  “At least they’re proactive, but is that the only change because they’re still so slow?”

Getting into her initial stance, she glided forward, lunging too fast for the robot to dodge as her tip passed through the first’s head.  Spinning, she extended her whip-blade in a circle; unlike the previous ones, the dummy’s arms inched up to block her strike with their batons, not that it mattered.

Just to prove it, she angled to cut through every rod and robot with ease, taking several twirls forward to rip up the steel panels.  Three more rose out of deep blue tiles, the tops vanishing as they tried to run ahead, but Clover darted to each, dismantling them with clean cuts across the neck, chest, and waist.

Slowing to a stop, she yawned.  “How … dull.  I am losing faith in these programmers, Lilly.”

Her operator chuckled at her comments, whispering, “They can hear everything you say—but not me.”

“Precisely,” Clover returned, walking through the bright gateway that formed in front of her.  “Have I finished this… joke?”

“Not exactly; they’re putting you into the Class 3 trial, now—it’s still new.”  Clearing her throat, she lowered her voice.  “They’re—trying to stop you.”

“Figures, winning is only natural to me.  And what am I supposed to do with this?”  Clover asked, finding herself in a similar hallway to the previous trial.  Two complex hexagon-shaped forcefields stood in her way.  “Pass through it, as I did before?”

“I’m afraid not.  This is a shield composed of Spirit Force, SF for short.  You have to use SF to destroy it; the attacks you’ve been using won’t work against it—since you have a Spirit Armament, you should have some attacks that use SF.”

“Spirit Force … Is this timed, as well?”

“Nope.  It’s just the preliminary to show you’re capable of even taking this test.”

“I see.”

Clover flourished her weapon around, puzzling through her own movements; the information came to her as if through a fog.  I have to infuse Spirit Force into a strike, but not every strike will work … Each Spirit Attack has its own purpose that can be chained into combinations.  I can’t use them over and over—there’s a delay where their unique energy must be gathered again … Charming.

Taking a deep breath, knowing the programmers were likely grinning ear to ear, thinking they’d stumped her, she walked back several paces from the first SF shield.  Holding out her right hand across her sword, doing what instinctively flowed through her muscles, she used Serpent Strike.

She never felt anything like this from her previous attacks; the power coursing through her veins was mixed, acting like water and oil that ran in lockstep to create an unholy union.  It was strange, yet she recognized the source.  Her regular strikes were oil while this new force was dirty water—the same flavor as this cyberworld.

A hungry blue and royal purple aura lit across her blade as she funneled the mixed sources into it, which transferred to her frame, and she was a frosted blur as it propelled her into a forward thrust.

Half of the Viper Blade passed through the first wall, causing it to flicker as the blue energy broke apart, Clover absorbing part of the SF as the violet force blasted it apart.

Hopping forward, she funneled her energy into the blade—Culling Furor—flicking her wrist into a twirling motion as the whip extended, generating a vortex cone of gravitational force three meters ahead of her that pulled in whatever was nearby; sharp blade-like beams shot within that would cut and drain her trapped foes.

The second shield vanished from the whirlwind, but she wasn’t finished; once the energy faded, her whip-like sword returned to its original form.

Leaning back, an icy aura erupted from her next thrust—Gelid Adder—creating a sizable ghostly serpent that dove forward four meters, releasing a biting wave that froze everything around it.  The viper frosted the ground as it snaked through the air, smashing into the metal door blocking the next area.

A small smile brightened Clover’s lips—a large chunk of the steel floor and barrier flickered before vanishing; although, it was hard to stay composed and not puke from the taste of the energy.  That proved it; the environment was created by SF, which meant she could break it apart and absorb a small portion of it.

The eight Advanced Dummies on the other side instantly lurched toward her as it collapsed, and the next gate beyond them flickered and vanished, as well, causing the twelve more behind it to blitz her.  They certainly were faster than the previous models, dodging left and right to throw her off as they tried to circle her.

“Oh … oh, no,” Lilly mumbled.  “T-There was a glitch after your SF Attack destroyed the door and—and floor…”

“Delightful,” Clover’s right hand went to her hip, her walk holding a slight swagger as she passed the damaged areas.  “At least it will speed things up.”

The energy within her was rebuilding; it would be several more seconds before she could use her SF Attacks again, but that wasn’t an issue given these opponents.  On a brighter note, a new addition caught her notice as a quick sphere of SF shot at her from the robot’s arm.

She easily spun around the projectile, extending her blade to cleave their heads from their shoulders.  Five down, fifteen to go.

Twirling her wrist, she made mincemeat of the remaining closest three before dashing forward in a thrust, carrying the attack through to skewer the two behind it.  She whipped into a circle, creating an offensive barrier that cut legs, arms, and bodies into hunks of scrap while disrupting most of the SF balls they shot at her—the rest she dodged.

By the time her SF Attacks returned, she was standing amongst the garbage.  “Humph … Utter waste,” she whispered, releasing the Viper Blade to look at the sky.  “That ends the Beta Class 3 test, correct?”

“Yup!  Test complete.  We just need to calculate the test results … Goodness!  Umm … heh, did they make a mistake, or … Hold on for a moment, Clover…”

“Take your time; it’s not like I’m in a glitchy digital world or anything,” she mumbled.

“Eh, ah … Sorry!  I, umm … Now, they’re saying we need to run one last test—it’s just a single enemy.”

“One last enemy,” Clover repeated with a short sigh.  “This feels rather redundant.  Do Spirit Users actually find this challenging?”

“Well, new ones … Yes, actually—you’re just destroying everything the moment it shows up,” she said with a forced laugh.  “It’s the final test of Steel Box Bastion … The Steel Boss.  It’s supposed to simulate the highest difficulty level the programmers can come up with.”

“Which is?”  she asked, giving the gateway that opened ahead of her a dirty look.

“I’m … getting conflicting answers—some are saying it’s realistically only Class 2 while others are claiming it’s Class 3.”

“Hmm?  Maybe it won’t be a disappointment, after all,” she whispered.  Scratching the top of her head, she walked forward.  “To be honest, Lilly, I am anticipating a cold shower to freshen up—I am dirty and a mess—although, for once, a combat session has not left me with a drop of sweat … Such a disappointment.”

Making her way onto the open platform, twice the size of the previous ones, Clover’s serpent-like irises shifted left and right, searching for her opponent.  She smiled at Lilly’s cute, concerned tone that fed into her ear.  “It’s coming…”

Her focus darted to the sky as she sensed an entity emerging as the code compiled the Spirit Force permeating the space; it wasn’t actually that terrible by power standards, nothing like Isngneal.  The most intimidating factor was the fact the bulky robot was five times her size.

Clover instinctively ran forward and jumped into the air as it dropped, creating a shockwave across the platform that would have taken her off her feet.

The back of its long arms was armored, and a single glowing sphere was located at the front. Righting itself in moments, it advanced.

SF surrounded her, and she slashed three times at the bulky robot from the air.

Her eyes widened; she was doing almost no damage past its SF shield, and its armor was thick underneath.  Obviously, it was utilizing the same type of technology as the shields she’d destroyed earlier.

“Huh…”

Clover dashed left with her energy as its hand rotated in a circle, attempting to pound her into the ground.  Touching down on the steel tiles, she used Serpent Strike and dashed toward it in a blur of frost.  Her tip penetrated the back of its armored arm, already in motion to defend itself as she slid forward, yet unlike the previous digital machines, her force didn’t blow it apart.

She jumped back as its arms spun to strike her, raising her blade to defend herself—it hit.  The blow didn’t actually hurt that much, but it sent her flying over the edge of the platform and into empty space.

Not knowing what would happen if she actually fell, Clover sent her whip-blade around a nearby floating box as she passed, using it as an anchor to leap back into the fight—she grinned; this was more like it.

Launching at the machine the moment her boot struck the hovering cube, she made it past its grasping hand to land on its chest, sharp tip not even causing a dent in the crystal eye at its center.  “Well … it’s more durable; I’ll give you… Humph…”

The Boss of the Steel Bastion shot thirty feet into the air, pushing her against its frame before twisting around in a circle to shake her off.  Paying close attention to its flailing arms, Clover kicked off between them before they began to fall, turning mid-flight to whip her blade into a vortex.

Her energy kept her in the air and was barely strong enough to pull the massive robot up, keeping it in place as Culling Furor’s hundreds of thin cuts bit into its armor, finding weak points and further bolstering her strength from the sapped SF—the foul taste dampening her fun.

When the cyclone ended, they both fell to the ground, the Boss’s arms coming down to cushion its fall.  Clover’s hand was sliding across her sword; her aura intensified—its eye came into view as it lifted its thick core to find her still falling.

Thrusting down, a thin mist enveloped her as the ghostly serpent shot out of her sword’s tip; the machine managed to cover its face with its two arms, causing its components to take the full brunt of her arctic blast.  The thick steel plates frosted over, the defensive matrix breaking before the inner-linking parts shattered, and large chunks of both appendages fell to the floor.

It wasn’t finished, though; the Boss leaped at her, trying to force her over the edge with its body, but Clover simply used her whip to maneuver to a floating cube nearby.

Finding her footing on the three-by-three-foot box, she leaned over the edge of her slowly descending platform to watch the Boss spin as it fell into oblivion.

She lifted an eyebrow, jumping over to the platform as it self-destructed in a burst of white light.  The blast sent a ripple through the floor, but it held.  “Uh-huh … Lilly, is it going to return, or did it just commit suicide?”

A male voice grumbled next to Lilly.  “More kamikaze…”

“Ahem … from what I’m hearing, you’ve cleared it!  Congratulations, Clover!  That was incredible!  I’m submitting the results to the Central Analysis Unit now…”

Passively watching the cube continue its descent, Clover returned her blade to the void before adjusting her hair.  “Humph—it was mildly amusing but rather clunky, in my opinion.”

Lilly’s voice hushed a little.  “Heh … the programmers are pretty depressed; they’ve been tweaking it for months.  Oh, all the data’s been confirmed … Wow, this is … There are stats the researchers have never seen before … entirely new data.”

Clover giggled as she heard a bustle of activity through Lilly’s microphone in the control room.  “So it is confirmed—I am exceptionally skilled?  What were my results?”

“Umm … Commander Laurence would like to speak to you about it in person.”

“Excellent,” Clover smiled, walking through the exit gateway that appeared at the edge of the stage; however, she hesitated when the digital space flickered for a moment.

Well, that’s not a good sign.

Jogging the rest of the way, she made it out of the simulator before it shut off.  Men and women were gathered around two particular scientists across the room, mumbling to one another while pointing at various sections of the monitors.

Lilly gave her a charming wave from her desk in the corner.  “It looks really impressive, but this was the first time I’ve seen someone go through the full program, to be honest.”

“I am confident,” Clover said, walking to Laurence as he broke away from one of the large, flickering displays in the corner, showing her performing Culling Furor in the air.  “Well, I highly doubt that ‘Boss’ was anywhere close to what Isngneal is … That or your classification system is very flawed.”

Laurence regarded her with his typical stern expression, but a short sigh passed through his mouth as Melissa jogged back into the room.

“I … O-Oh, did I—did I miss it … aww…”

“Humph, you didn’t miss all that much—Is technology really this unreliable these days,” Clover replied, watching a few of the programmers give her a dirty look before returning to the console to resume their discussion.  “Commander Laurence was about to recount my placement.”

The blonde-haired energetic woman clapped her hands together.  “Right!  Wait … what’s going on with the screens … is it linked with why lights were flickering all over the facility at times, as well?”

Laurence’s jaw worked around for a moment before shaking his head as Clover, Melissa, and Lilly waited for a response.  “… We’ll have to rebuild the entire test from scratch with what you did.”

Clover smirked, serpent eyes darting to the programmers.  “It seemed buggy to begin with; it might as well be rebuilt from scratch.”

One of the men cursed, giving what he must have thought was a menacing stare.  “It was not … Look at this force…”  he grumbled, pointing to a researcher.  “Whatever it is, it’s not SF!”

“Yeah … unusual; look at her when the readings spike…”

Laurence reached up to rub his neck.  “In short, you hit the facility like a lightning bolt—there is no score because you’ve overloaded the entire system.  It’s been the first time in five years that’s happened—since Stefan Duke exited the Void.”

Melissa’s face bloomed.  “No, really!?  Before his … He was a Spirit Master!”

“Ahem,” Lilly hesitantly walked over, hand clasped against her front.  “If I’m not mistaken, Captain, Commander, hasn’t the facility seen many improvements since Stefan’s test?”

“It has … although, she hasn’t shown the key signs of a Spirit Master … yet,”  Laurence mumbled.  “As I’ve feared … you don’t appear to be a normal Spirit User, and the preliminary data shows some … odd wave signatures, unlike anything documented.”

Clover crossed her arms, glancing to the side.  “Nothing else matters but winning, and I have—I didn’t even need to exert myself; these simulations are not fun,” she grumbled, trying to keep her stomach from churning.

Melissa’s smile strained.  “Umm … you do seem to have a good grasp on your own strength.”

“How sweet of you to say,” Clover chimed.  “Competition and fighting becomes me, I must say.”

“Aww … But you’re such a pretty girl,” Melissa whispered.

Clover put a hand on her hip, glaring at her fingernails.  “Humph … Judging me simply by my appearance would be a mistake.”

“Not wrong after that performance,” Lilly replied with a short giggle.

“Noted,” Laurence sighed before taking some time to continue.  “… What you’ve done is overheated the power core and damaged the VR infrastructure, and thanks to you, we will need to redirect several personnel from Bloom City to make repairs.  Do you know how these Virtual Reality devices function?”

Clover gave him a dull look.  “Why would I?”

“Right … All the power you expended is absorbed and converted into energy through the infrastructure and into the Blazing Irregularity—this facility was built here for a reason, yet you used more SF than the irregularity could … No, we’ll need to conduct further research to understand exactly what happened.  Still, it goes without saying that the devices couldn’t handle the output, which wrecked the facility.  Congratulations for giving me more work.”

“Commander… She was only doing as instructed,” Melissa replied.  “It’s not like she meant to cause so much trouble.”

Lilly’s muscles tightened a bit at the man’s comments.  “Is … Is this my fault?  I could have asked her to slow down—let her know.”

“Of course not, Lilly,” Clover replied, returning Laurence’s glare; although, she vaguely recalled that this man had a reputation for having a permanently tired and annoyed face.  “Your duty was to guide me through the objectives; if there were issues, then the facility monitoring staff should have informed you to apprise me.”

She gave the men and women a sly smile.  “I suspect they refrained from making you aware of any issues to try and save face.”

Laurence grunted.  “In addition, your Spirit Attacks resemble a snake … Is that normal for you?”

“I noticed, and how could you possibly expect me to know what is ‘normal’ at this point?”  Clover shook her head, calling the Viper Blade for a moment to twist it around her hand.  “My eyes are serpent-like, my features have sharpened, and an ice snake forms from my aura … a spiritual aura, or so I am told.  I expected you to be less mystified by these abilities than I—I’m disappointed.”

“I bet you are,” Laurence mumbled.  “In any case, it will take days to repair; so, there isn’t much you can do here.  I’ll have Lilly update you on the basics of what we’ve learned while guiding you to a shower.”

“At long last,” Clover sighed, leering at a lock of her dirty platinum blonde hair she pulled around.  “An acceptable outfit?”

“Hmm … Lilly will explain.”

“Mhm…”

Melissa piped up.  “Oh, we’ve relocated all the troops we can spare from the Western Skydream Medical Core to Hollow Veil.  I have a lot of work to do there, so we’ll see each other since we’re still searching for the other two.  The Commander wanted Lilly to take you back and show you around herself, though—you know, see the open sky—get you introduced to what life is kind of like now!”

“Oh?”  Clover asked, turning to face the blonde.  “Leaving this oppressive facility would be lovely.  What work will occupy your time?”

“Healing, supporting the community as a Spirit User, rescue stuff, mainly … Heh, but I also need to write a formal apology to Bloom City for pulling people away to work on this facility.”

Clover turned a critical eye to Laurence.  “Hmm … Shouldn’t that be your job as the Commander over the facility and area?”

“You can stop micromanaging things, Clover,” Laurence returned.  “I have my duties, and I perform them to the best of my ability.  Learn a bit about how the world changed—it might open your eyes.”

Her gaze shot to the screen, showing her three Spirit Attacks side by side now as the team analyzed it, causing her to hum to herself  “… Perhaps I do need to adapt … I am grateful for what you are doing for me—the patience you’ve shown me, Commander Laurence, Captain Melissa, and … should I call you Operator Lilly?”

Lilly giggled.  “Lilly would be great.”

“Wonderful … Now, if you’ll excuse me, Commander, Captain, a shower is calling me—Lilly?”

“This way…”

The young brown-haired woman guided her out of the room, scientists, programmers, and monitoring staff watching her go with varying expressions and moods—she’d left an impact.

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