TtOW! - Interlude 182.1 - The Commander (Patreon)

Back on Earth, in a swamp in Eastern Europe, white cracks of light formed in the middle of the air, shattering to reveal a black, circular vortex. A group of super powered individuals was already there. There was a muscular man with a glowing greatsword, a male ninja with a katana, a young kunoichi with a strange-looking handgun, and a red-headed girl whose eyes and hair were glowing red.

And then, a fifth individual arrived, flying from the sky above.

The final individual…was a cyborg girl. She appeared similar to NSLICE-00P, but with completely different cybernetic components. Her machine half was smoother and made of strange, black-purple materials, unlike any design found on Earth.

“Confused Query: Is this it? This unit expected to see the others here too.”

The male ninja sighed.

“Late as usual. You know heroes, they never catch anything on time unless we tell them.”

“Incredulous Objection: But…this unit came from space. This unit is painfully aware of the noobs’ lacking capabilities in comparison to herself, but still did not predict she would arrive before them in this case. This unit did not know her evaluation of the noobs had not reached the lower bound yet. Heroes are, dramatic pause, so annoying.”

The man with the greatsword chuckled.

“Well, few can be compared to you, friend Elise. Even I am no longer confident I can match you. But perhaps we may be a bit harsh, I am told a Vophae agent snuck through the lines and is attempting to destabilize the Earth’s core, so they may be occupied at present. In any case, do you know what we’re looking at here?”

Elise’s robotic eye flickered as she analyzed the anomaly.

“Initial Speculation: This unit believes we are looking at a portal through time…or maybe…”

Elise detected a concerning amount of non-standard energy consistent with mana pouring in from the portal…as well as electromagnetic signals. And as she investigated, her organic eye opened wide.

“Shocked Observation: It’s…an NSLICE network?”

“Elise?”

Elise ignored the questioning gazes from the others and slowly stepped forward. She reached out with her cybernetic components. Hers were significantly more advanced than Seero’s had been, and so she was able to link to the network undetected.

And as she did, her lips curled into a smile.

“NSLICE-00P Beta…so you survived after all. I’m glad.”

Elise ran through NSLICE-00P Beta’s recent memories…and then started to tremble. Her voice split into two, an organic voice filled with emotion, and a fully robotic voice echoing it.

“…Horrified Exclamation: I…made a mistake. I wanted to respect NSLICE-00P Beta’s independence, and let her experience her own journey from the start if she survived. So…I didn’t delete the Concordat’s directives, or give her detailed instructions. I should have predicted she would reactivate those directives if not specifically ordered otherwise…and I should have predicted she might end up in a world other than Earth. I…left her enslaved to the Concordat’s directives, searching for people she would never find, with no one to guide her.”

But then she exhaled her breath and smiled.

“However…it seems like you found your own way after all, and managed to free yourself. I’m glad.”

She turned to face the others.

“Statement: It appears this is a portal to another universe entirely, opened from the other side. But the situation has been handled, and the portal will close momentarily. Evidence suggests powerful individuals on the other side will work to prevent it from being reopened. As such, this unit believes no further response is necessary at this time.”

The heroes glanced at one another, while the other four individuals relaxed. The red-haired girl yawned.

“What, so we came all the way to this swamp for nothing? And, of course, we had to do it since the heroes are late. Typical.”

The male ninja smirked.

“Don’t worry. We’re still charging them.”

The kunoichi made a wry smile.

“And if they ask, we can just say Elise-san handled it. I know at least one idiot who won’t question it.”

They all laughed at that.

As the others began to leave, Elise turned back to the portal that was already beginning to shrink. She smiled one more time.

“I’m proud of you, NSLICE-00P Beta. Or should I call you Seero now? You’ve done well, go now and fulfill your own primary directive.”

Elise stayed until the portal closed entirely. As she watched the portal, she continued parsing some of the data she pulled from Seero’s network, her robotic eye flickering.

“...Uncomfortable Statement: This unit cannot identify the proper emotion she should feel regarding Seero’s designation as a hero. And apparently this unit should have given Seero protocols for the combat simulations designated as ‘RPGs?’ Why is it that alternate universes tend to operate under combat simulation rules? Admittedly, this unit’s alternate universe sample size is extremely low, but it seems an anomaly that the universes known of so far follow this trend.”

Elise stood in silence for a bit, before raising her hand towards the shrinking portal.

“Pondering: Hm, the hostile opposing unit Seero appears to be a powerful non-standard and this unit cannot fully predict the outcome. And this unit is responsible for the current situation. Perhaps this unit should prepare a contingency, just in case?”

***

The Herald of the New Dawn heaved a sigh.

“Unfortunate.”

And then the beams covered him, along with the rest of the room, save for the Rift.

Nothing remained when the beams died down. The dungeon core also did not survive.

[Huh? Oh, another corrupted dungeon core? Nice.]

[You have purified a corrupted dungeon core (???)!]

[...wait…what? What Realm is this…]

[...]

[...I need to talk to the others about this. Hang on.]

The Rift began to die down with nothing left to maintain it. Agedia glanced around the otherwise empty room, her lance at the ready.

“Did you get him, shiny girl?”

“Negative Response: This unit detected a surge of mana, and then the hostile’s signature disappeared, shortly before contact with this unit’s spells. It is highly unlikely the target was terminated.”

Agedia’s eyes narrowed.

“Do you know where he went?”

Seero’s robotic eye flickered…as she parsed her own internal state.

“...Frustrated Response: Negative. This unit was overzealous in the termination attempt, and so flooded her own mana sensors in the process. Mana readings of the hostile’s spell are not precise enough to determine the type of spell utilized, or to conduct some manner of tracing.”

Seero turned to face everyone else.

“Analysis: The hostiles have revealed themselves, and negotiations have failed. The hostiles are likely to commence either offensive operations or continued entrenchment, and have demonstrated the ability to locate this unit. As such, this unit recommends initiating search and destroy protocols immediately.”

Agedia frowned.

“...normally I’d agree, but this guy…claimed to be an Aesdes. Can you and Ateia handle something like that? Because I sure can’t.”

“Statement: Messages from the foreign system indicate the Aesdes have become aware of the situation. This unit speculates the Aesdes’ non-interference protocols do not apply to themselves, based on the assistance offered to NSLI…to friend Ateia.”

Agedia nodded.

“Ah, that’s a relief. In that case, I agree we should start searching for the rest of the cult.”

With that the group prepared to head out. Seero opened the entrance to the Primary Home Base, and the others stepped through. Ateia, however, stepped towards Seero, a concerned look on her face.

“Seero…are you alright? You…you did something there, right? You gave up your primary directive? Are…are you ok with that?”

Seero turned to face her.

“...Hesitant Statement: This unit…is still frightened. The results of removing the primary directive and this unit’s designation as a Non-Standard Leashed-Intelligence Cybernetic Enforcer cannot be fully determined at this time.”

Ateia frowned, and was about to extend her hand to Seero.

“...Observation: However…by this unit’s calculations…this was always her last Commander’s intention with that directive. As such, this unit can tolerate the failure of the primary directive. And for the immediate short term, this unit will focus on protecting her friends, as well as terminating the hostile organization designated ‘Heralds of the New Dawn.’ “

Ateia began to smile at that.

“...thank you, Seero. You really are the best friend we could have ever had. And like we said before…if you ever want to go back, if you ever want to resume your quest, we’ll help you, anyway we can.”

“Acknowledged.”

With that, Ateia left as well. Seero remained as she confirmed the Rift fade away, then turned to leave herself. But as she did…her organic components thought they heard something…

“I’m proud of you, NSLICE-00P. Or should I call you Seero now? You’ve done well, go now and fulfill your own primary directive.”

She turned around, her organic eye opening wide.

“Commander Elise?”

But the portal had completely vanished at this point, and her cybernetic components didn’t log any audio, electronic, or non-standard messages. So she turned back to the entrance to her world, narrowing her eyes.

No matter what she thought she heard, no matter if the Herald of the New Dawn had told her the truth or not, no matter who was on the other side of that portal, Seero had made her choice. She would protect her friends, to the end.

She stepped through her own portal and into her new world.

Author’s Note:

:O Elise sighting! You made it into the novel after all! And for once, you don’t have to do all the work!

Because the only thing better than lovable supercompetent cyborg girl is TWO lovable supercompetent cyborg girls!

Which, you know, is why it’s so hard to keep her from solving all of Seero’s problems. But well, it’s Seero’s turn so Elise will let her do her thing. Because Elise definitely isn’t recording all the data of the portal in exacting detail and definitely doesn’t have means to replicate the feat. Of course not, why would you think that?

For those of you who didn’t and aren’t going to read the Faceless Minion: Elise is the first NSLICE unit that appears there, who was unshackled and adopted...ahem, ‘recruited for a strike team’ by the main character of that novel. Due to events in that series, she ended up becoming Seero’s Commander and sending her back in time, kicking off this series.

I guess I don’t have to avoid naming her now haha.

Anyways!

Will Elise end up doing all the work again? Can Seero track down and terminate the Heralds of the New Dawn? Will the Aesdes respond to this situation? Tune in next time, to find out!