Devils & Artefacts c101 (Patreon)

As the Confiscator docked in the newly built outpost, the work on upgrading the vessel began.

None of the girls were asked to leave, as they didn’t need to. The areas they were in won’t be touched; instead, certain areas have been sealed off.

Marcus watched the whole process closely. His quantum computer has been doing all the necessary calculations on what he dubbed as ‘Time Anchor’.

That is a certain function he will be adding to his vessels and structures.

It will allow his creations to attach to the planets or something else and then slip out of time, allowing rapid time flow before returning from the time slip.

That is his solution to the massive time gaps he wants to explore in a short amount of time.

As he was running on the tests, the nanites were expanding on the base, adding Aurora Bots, living quarters, an observation deck, comms and an information transfer tower.

And most importantly, installing what is called a ‘Landing Zone’.

It’s the same principle as his Ars Almadel Salomonis. It allows Marcus and his ship to return to his time.

That means once the construction is done, he can travel here and to his Earth time at will.

Well, a proper time engine is needed, but one gets a picture.

He won’t be an explorer anymore. He will be a settler.

After checking the outpost, he proceeded to guide the nanites in upgrading their vessels. The ring around the Confiscator will allow Time-Slip. The extra ships connected to the ring will allow spread-out exploration, and their thrusters will give more thrust to travel through time.

It's not all that he did, as his next major upgrade is a stationary version of the Diamond Heart Engine—his answer to the vastness of space.

His solution to the trauma he felt after leaving Earth was realising how vast, empty, cold, and dark it was. 

With this invention, he will build up in space, and his Faction will inhabit that emptiness in some way.

[The prototype is finished; we need to test it out.]

“Yes. I suppose we do, but we don’t have the resources. Once the Landing Zone is done, send the info to Ars Almadel Salomonis for the calculations.”

Marcus said to his AI. One thing they can abuse is time, and that is what they will do.

[Understood, preparing the package.]

After finishing the prototype for time slipping, Marcus proceeded to design the smaller vessels and containers for large storage.

Since he has a better energy source, he might as well create containers which can store huge aquatic animals.

That is why he began improving the containers by laying runes and adding energy storage units.

~~~

“This place is strange,” Tiamat said via her comms. Unlike Marcus, she checks the mana quality in the air. 

What she found was irresponsible mana.

“We are hundreds of millions of years in the past. This is not even our world by any means,” Hel said, looking weirded out as well.

‘To think we are so far back in past than even mana in the air behaves differently.’

“Stay focused, you two. We are in the area where those animals should be,” Grayfia said as she looked via the HUD. The locating methods already include orbital assistance from the satellites.

That means locating the prehistoric animals should be easy… but.

The entire planet is a jungle, which means regular methods of locating it are ineffective.

It didn’t take Aurora long to adjust and improve. Before long, satellite assistance allowed Aurora to sort out forests, plants, and animals.

Sure enough, the location of Edaphosaurus was revealed. Their size allows satellites to find them.

After flying for a bit, they found the prehistoric animal.

“Strange thing,” Tiamat commented as the trio landed, and the large animal who was chewing on bushes looked around.

“It appears the suit makes us invisible.” Hel chipped in as she noticed the animal’s nonchalant behaviour.

“More like he doesn’t have natural predators. It makes it behave in such a manner.” Grayfia checked the data she had. 

“Even so, it should have some survival instincts.” Tiamat crossed her arms.

“True. That is why we are here.” As Grayfia said that, she walked over. Her right-hand index finger morphed into a needle.

“Prepare a dose of tranquiliser.” The Head Maid asked the AI. Sure enough, the medicine was loaded.

Once she was close to the beast, she stabbed the needle into the animal’s back ‘sail’.

From the preliminary observation, she noticed that the sail has high blood flow in its veins, which it uses to heat up from sun rays.

It means it’s a great place for stabbing. 

The animal hissed from pain as it started to run away.

“So it does have fear.” Tiamat looked surprised. At that moment, she felt like an explorer who was looking at a new discovery.

“That means it doesn’t see us,” Hel commented as she looked where it was running away.

Not that it lasted long, as the proto-lizard-like creature collapsed on the ground.

The trio slowly walked over, and Grayfia motioned for one of them to pick it up.

Tiamat and Hel sighed as they could not ignore the command of the head maid, especially now they were in such a foreign place and so far away… there is that primal fear of not wanting to be left behind.

The Dragon King swiftly walked over and was about to pick it up manually, but then she realised that her suit was alive!

So, just like that, the nanites left her armour, and like a cloud of swarms, the metal sand picked up the prehistoric animal.

“Not bad, you are learning.” The Head Maid praised the dragon maid for using the tech.

“Yeah…” Tiamat looked at the metal sand with curiosity. She then saw a percentage of her metal sand rapidly recovering.

‘This suit… strange…’

Not in a bad way, but in an absurd way. 

After getting the animal, the pair looks at the head maid.

“Anything else?”

“I am checking the mission log.” The Head Maid replied as she looked at Marcus' requests.

“It appears Trilobite was acquired by other maids.” 

“Wasn’t it a water crab thing? I think this lizard is more valuable, considering its size.” Tiamat said that while looking at the floating lizard.

“Yes. For now, we are returning.” Grayfia said while rising into the air.

The other two followed as the group proceeded to fly back towards the Confiscator.

~~~

[Sir, Edaphosaurus has been acquired.]

“Hmm, ask the maids to collect a proper pair for me, a male and female,” Marcus instructed his AI as he finished with support ships and was now working on something more absurd.

The inventor realised that he didn’t need to hold back. There were no other people around, and certainly no parents, a.k.a. his mother, who could tell him to relax.

Nope! He can go wild!

Spending time in a small workshop made him get used to it. But no more! He can play with the entire planet if he wants to!

He recalled an RTS game called Sins of Solar Empire, in which a species of aliens lived in skypalaces like proper overlords.

That made him think, well, more like he was inspired after seeing his floating docks and fortress.

Why not create a network of these around the whole planet?

While he does not have much interest in the Carboniferous, unlike the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous periods, the prehistoric rainforest was full of animals.

He will leave those for his faction to collect, study and fill up the evolutionary tree. 

To make that work, he will create a network that spans the whole planet; platforms like alien saucer ships will fly around and then beam up the animals for study.

Once that is in place, he will have the most extensive study of life in the world’s history. 

[Relaying message.]

With a nod, Marcus proceeded to design the central hub, which would be placed in orbit.

His plan is to have such bases in specific periods. For example, this one will be in the Carboniferous, then one in the Permian, Triassic, and so on.

They all will have the ability to time slip and return to the beginning of the Carboniferous. 

That way, he won’t cause a butterfly effect in the future. 

However, he does feel that there will be an issue, as there is a limit to the number of animals he can study in each period.

That is why he is making the hub huge. It can collect its scanning platforms and then leave the timeline.

That means he will have an area to store them.

For that, he is designing his ‘super secret’ hideout outside of time.

Such a place would be an enormous hub with everything, including armies for invasions and massive storage units for his animals.

A perfect hideout for a guy.

‘Well, since I never had a tree house, I will have a base outside the time itself. Totally… not jealous of other kids who had their bases when they were kids.’ He was in denial on that one…

Marcus went through several designs until he stopped on the idea of building it like a space station which can constantly grow like a spider network.

This means they will be connected via his railway and can attach and detach when leaving and arriving.

Meaning it can reach enormous proportions.

Something he can get behind.

“Do you have some time?” Erina poked her head into his workshop.

“Is it done?” He stopped designing and turned around to look at her.

“Yes, but it's a simple one with just some salt.” She said with a slightly embarrassed look.

“It’s fine! We are about to eat proto-shark! It doesn’t matter if it's fancy or not.”

With a hand motion, he saved and dismissed the designing windows before walking towards the doors where Erina was waiting.

“Yes. What you say is true. I am both excited and…afraid, I guess?” She honestly replied to him.

“Well, you will get used to it, and then you will start craving more of the unknown,” Marcus replied as the pair left the workshop and walked towards the lift.

“You are not wrong. Even now, I wonder what the super ocean is hiding from us,” the girl said with an excited and curious tone.

One could say she is truly enjoying the new and exciting lifestyle.

After taking the lift, the pair arrived at the floor where the kitchen was.

When they got in, some of the girls were already tasting the proto-shark-like creature.

“The taste is strange. This is a carnivorous fish, isn’t it?” Quinella asked Hisako as she tried a single bite.

“Yes. But it has heavy bones, unlike regular fish. We can assume that adds some taste to it.” The pair were like scientists as they were pondering out loud.

“As long as it tastes good, I don’t care where the taste comes from.” Marcus chipped in as his clothes shifted into casual wear.

The girls noticed that they realised that the suits could do that!

Sure enough, all of them shifted into casual wear!

When Marcus saw that, he chuckled. It was cute to see them adjust that quickly.

“Yes, you are right, but we are here to study,” Quinella replied after getting into a regular dress.

“True. But, I leave that to you girls. I have things to build.” Marcus agreed as he pulled out a chair and sat down in front of a table. There was a small chunk of pinkish meat. It didn’t look like fish or chicken or even a mammal of some sort.

He created a fork and knife with his nanites before cutting a small bit and then tasting it.

There was an array of emotions on his face as he was chewing it. 

After a while, he swallowed the bite and placed the cutlery on the table.

There was a confused look on his face.

“...what did I just eat?” 

He asked out loud.

“...exactly as I was saying.” Quinella sagely nodded at that expression as if it were the same for her.

“It's nothing like fish. Maybe it's more towards chicken? But there is that aspect of fish while not being fish.” Marcus was confused. He placed his elbows on the table, his fingers intertwined, and looked like he was in deep thought.

“Precisely, that's why we need to do some research.” 

“...apart from the confusing taste. I want you, Erina, to try rotating through several dishes, like making steaks and soup and mixing that meat with pasta.

Only after going through those and testing more out can we safely put them in a proper category.” The inventor instructed. As he got up from his seat and walked away, he looked confused, as he had no idea what he had just eaten.

It was, after all, alien meat…

“Do you think our bodies are meant to consume this meat?” Erina realised that was the biggest issue.

They are aliens here, and their bodies have no idea how to interact with such meat!

“We already addressed that,” Quinella reassured her.

“Our adaptation is far above regular humans. Give it a few more meals, and it will be normal to consume prehistoric animals.” The Assistant addressed Erina’s worries.

“...Good.”

~~~

After tasting weird meat, Marcus returned to his workshop and drank some soda. After getting some fizzy stuff in his stomach, he continued working.

He loved his new Diamond Hearth Engine. It was like playing Minecraft in creative mode without worrying that he would run out of materials.

With such a thing in place, he was able to create what Atalanta suggested: containers with space expansion. 

That means he can finally start collecting marine life, too!

“Mosasaurus~ here I come! I can play Aquaman now!” Marcus got giddy after seeing green bars in the new water container design!

It means it can sustain huge amounts of cubic metres of water!

Yep! He swiftly placed those in the construction queue! 

With that done, he proceeded to work on a dome Le Fay asked him.

As he started with that, his mind shifted from animals to nature.

The inventor quickly realised that he could advance in terraforming! Yes! He would observe how nature evolves through time. With simple adjustments and a time slip, he could easily age and reverse entire planets!

“...Holy fuck… that will be great!” With a growing grin, Marcus exclaimed as he proceeded to instruct Aurora with a couple of important adjustments in nature observations!

~~~~~~Meanwhile, in Far Future and Different Reality (With Latia)~~~~~~

Latia stretched out as she was tired after a whole day of working.

The company she created for Marcus wasn’t untouched after Marcus' bombshells.

Nope, it went through rapid assault. People want to work for her and with her in hopes of surviving the upcoming collapse of society.

All of that means that she has tons and tons of work.

“Oh right… all of that land…” Latia recalled that Marcus wanted specific land next to his father’s place.

She proceeded to text him.

But all she got was that the message was sent but not received or checked by him…

“...Umm… is the network is down?” She looked confused.

“But that means…Aurora?” 

[Yes?]

The Ai replied the next second.

“Is the messaging network down?” The blonde devil asked.

[Messaging is an internal part of my systems. It’s impossible for it to be down.]

“Then why has Marcus not received my message?” The blonde devil asked her.

[Supreme Commander has left this Space-Time Continuum and at this moment is 320 Million years away in a different timeline. He is exploring and collecting animal, plant, and human samples. He should be back before the sunrise.] Aurora explained in her casual tone, the same way she always does.

“...Excuse me?”

The girl was baffled to hear that! 

She swiftly checked her laptop. Sure enough, she saw that Ars Almadel Salomonis was in the moon’s orbit and not Earth! The massive space gun was pointing away from Earth.

After a couple more checks, she saw that Confiscator was nowhere to be found. Its general location is classified as [On Duty].

Unlike other vessels, which have coordinates of the ships, the Confiscator's overall condition is not clear, and there is no other data to check.

“Ugh… Just leave him for a minute, and he will be gone! In the most literal sense!”

The girl stood up and closed her laptop, swiftly walking towards the doors. She walked through her office, arriving where Seekvaira was staying. Her cousin was sleeping in a pile of papers. She fell asleep while working on schematics for upgrading the barriers.

“Seek! Wake up! We have a huge problem!” Latia shouted while shaking her cousin.

“Ugh!?”

The Agares Heiress opened her eyes.

“...Latia? What's wrong?” The sleepy girl asked.

“Marcus literally left the Space-Time Continuum!” 

“...Umm…what?” The glasses-wearing Devil Heiress needed to shake her head for a second as her cousin was speaking gibberish!

“I said he went on a time-travelling adventure! He left our timeline and went to see dinosaurs!” Latia explained in a serious tone, which made Seekvaira’s mind finally catch up!

“...Wait! WHAT!?”

“YES! He is 320 million years away!” Latia explained with a deadly serious tone.

“That’s… Impossible! D-D-D-Do you even know how far that is!? Do you even know how much energy you would need!?”

The Agares Heiress grabbed her head as she tried to process the numbers she was hearing.

“Just having a few seconds of dilation is taxing! Not to mention, after a specific period of time, it becomes tens of times harder!” She explained to her cousin with a rapid-fire tone.

“Yes. That is what I am saying.” The blonde replied with a nod. She has some ideas on how time dilation works as magic. But what Marcus did is on a completely different and monumental scale.

“Aurora. Can you arrange transport to Ars Almadel Salomonis?” Latia asked the Ai.

[Certainly, ETA 5 minutes]

“Let’s go. Our transport is coming.”

Seekvaira nodded at her cousin as they walked out of the office and got outside. The Agares’ Heiress' eyes went up to the moon. She looked at it for a while before she noticed something next to the moon.

“Amazing… It’s visible from here.” The girl pointed at the night sky. She can see the space gun from here.

“Yeah.”

Latia replied with an absent-minded tone. Her thoughts were far away. Who knows for how long he will be away? Time travelling like this will morph his mind! She could only imagine what he would build!

A short while later, a gunship arrived and picked them up.

In the sky, her warship Icarus was waiting.

“It's so cool how you can just ask for transport, and you will get an actual warship that will take you anywhere you want.” Seekvaira could barely hide her jealousy.

“Yeah…”

Such a nonchalant reply made the greenish-blonde girl look at her cousin.

“You do know he will return. I doubt he left without planning his return.” Agares Heiress tried to improve Latia's mood, but all it did was make the blonde devil close her eyes and softly snort.

“I am not afraid of that. What I am afraid of is how long he will be away. You do realise how far he is from us?”

“...True…”

Now Seekvaira looked concerned. Who knows what he creates!? By the time he returns, he might have another empire! And he might not need the current one!

“Yeah… we need to find out more.”

The girls started to panic as they ended up in Icarus, which looked quite different outside. The warship had been upgraded to its Mark III model, and it was more like a spaceship than an airship now.

The newly upgraded vessel left Earth and swiftly flew to the moon where Ars Almadel Salomonis was orbiting.

The moment they arrived, they swiftly left the Icarus aboard another gunship, which took them to a huge hangar in the station.

“Whoa…the size…” 

For a second, Seekvaira forgot about the issue and marvelled at all the tech and machinery placed on standby.

More or less, it looked like an invasion army on standby.

“Ma’am. How we can assist you?”

The hangar supervisors approached the devils.

“Take us to the control room. I want to know Master’s situation.”

“As you wish.” 

One of the supervisors motioned to follow him. 

They walked to the main lift, which took them to the control floor.

A few moments later, they walked out from the lift into a balcony-like area.

When Seekvaira saw what was in front of her, all she could do was open her mouth and stare at tens, if not hundreds, of people operating consoles.

It looked like they were controlling or monitoring the whole Internet—maybe even more! This was not just something to assist Technocracy; it was full-blown surveillance.

“...This…” 

“Yeah… I thought as much.”

‘Marcus might not utilise this fully yet, but it's already in place…’

“Welcome to the command centre. I am the commander.” A woman with long blonde hair dressed in a G.A.T Military uniform approached the pair of devils.

“Commander, might I ask if there was any news about Master?” 

“Hmm, nothing so far. He left just a few moments ago. But considering it outside time, he should be sending the first batch to us soon.”

“...Batch?”

“Yes. Think of it like letters in a bottle.”

“So we don’t have a proper connection with him?” Latia realised that this was an even bigger issue.

“No. It's more or less similar to deep space travel. We don’t have the infrastructure to have permanent communication. So, for now, we are back to primitive physical packages.”

[We are approaching the first 30 minutes. According to my calculations, we should be getting our first package.]

Aurora announced that the main hologram displaying the globe of Earth had shifted to the void of space.

At that moment, the space rippled, and green magic circled appeared.

“We have a contact! It’s sending signals via Aurora Network!”

“...Right on time.” The commander smiled as she swiftly proceeded to give instructions.

“Follow the Protocol! Send ships 4 and 5 to collect the package and make sure it's secured and has no viruses.”

“Roger! Relaying the orders!”

Sure enough, everyone saw retrofitted Mark III Daedalus-class ships moving towards the package.

The ships released gunships, which flew rapidly towards the round package.

Soon enough, they were recovered.

Latia and Seekvaira only now did they realise that nearly half of the fleet was with Ars Almadel Salomonis.

Not long after that, the package was recovered, and the engineers and mechanics proceeded to open it.

On the main hologram, the mechanics and engineers appeared, and they proceeded to explain the situation.

[Commander It's the same design created by the Supreme Commander, and it follows the standard protocol in packaging. 

We are running the last diagnostics before uploading the data.]

“Good. We are waiting for the information.” The blonde next to Latia and Seekvaira replied with a nod.

Just like Latia and Seekvaira, the girls who are created to run the place can’t wait to see and hear any news about their creator and Supreme Commander.

[Diagnostics are done, uploading to the Aurora Network]

One by one, data files in packages proceeded to be uploaded.

[I just received files; you should see this!] Aurora sounded excited, which made the girls slightly excited, too, but Latia and Seekvaira were more concerned than excited.

They know that these girls are Marcus’ cheerleaders… meaning that they are heavily biased towards everything Marcus.

One by one, schematics proceeded to appear on the main Hologram.

What they saw was some sort of… universe. They can see planet-like things spinning around a white sun. The sun had metal rings.

Whatever it was… it was fantasy-like and not technology.

[This is the successor to Diamond Core Heart. The Diamond Heart Engine. An actual Arcane technology with true limitless power. It's an actual perpetual-motion engine.]

“...Wait! I thought we already had a perpetual motion engine!”

Latia exclaimed as she was certain that those diamonds could work forever!

[Wrong. We lacked two things which could classify Diamond Core Heart as a perpetual motion engine. It had a limited output and was fragile.]

“...Fragile?” Latia was confused.

[Precisely, a supernova could destroy it. Meaning that it had a lifespan in the billions and was at the mercy of our sun.]

‘Those are shortcomings?’ The devil girl was perplexed…how can one see the cosmic phenomenon and think of ways to counter it?

“Does this mean we will start construction of these?” 

The space station commander asked as she knew that Marcus would want upgrades to start immediately. 

[We do not have infrastructure.]

The blunt reply consumed the hell out of everyone! What does she mean by ‘Infrastructure’!?

“...”

“...”

“...”

[Instead, we will start with this.]

Aurora dismissed the cosmos look-alike Diamond Heart Engine and instead showed a big acorn.

[This is Ouranos-class All Purpose Planetary Assimilator]

The Acorn moved as it split up into five pieces. Four of them were smaller acorns. They could see them opening up more and then showing how they would surround a planet. It was literally at a scale big enough to ensnare the entire planet.

“What is this?” Latia asked with a gulp.

[According to schematics, this is a terraformer, prison, research station, battle station, and everything—even a shipyard.

Its main purpose is to encase a planet and then change it into whatever the Supreme Commander wants.

According to the schematics, it can even move worlds through space and time.]

“...”

“...”

No one spoke as they just looked at this…thing.

[It will be powered by Time Engine and Diamond Heart Engine. Meaning it can travel anywhere.

A truly fascinating piece of engineering!]

Aurora sounded extremely excited about this!

[But first, we need to test certain things which the Supreme Commander had requested.]

The Ai raised another schematic, which was much smaller and less complex. It looked like a large ring with smaller rings inside.

[This is the next step in time control. What you are looking at is an extension of the Time Engine. Think of it like normal engines have thrusters, and car engines have drivetrains. What you see is an extension of Time Engine.

This piece is supposed to allow ‘Time Anchor’ and ‘Time Slip’]

After that, the AI explains to the group what it means.

[Time anchor is a corner piece to control Paradoxes. Once active, it doesn’t allow for things to branch out. It works similarly to what an anchor does. Once dropped, the ship stays in the same place.]

[Time slip works alongside Time Anchor; it allows one to slip from time and travel back and forth through that single specific timeline.]

“I see… that means with time anchor, only one of such buildings or ships can exist.” Seekvaira immediately understood.

[Precisely, that means if Confiscator was 320 million years ago in that spot, it could return to the same spot, and it will be only him there.]

“...How frightening. How did he even achieve that?” She asked as she realised that Marcus had already grasped more about time than her clan had!

[From the data I received, he grasped what time looks like.]

“Huh?”

[Such discovery allows one to manipulate time to its full extension. It's like holding water in your hands; you can move it into a container, yes? Same principle.]

“...Yes, I understand that much…but…” Seekvaira's brain short-circuit for a second.

How do you even grasp time in your palm and put it into a container!?

[Regardless, we have our orders, and Ars Almadel Salomonis is entering into testing mode. We have eight hours to finish this and send it back to our Supreme Commander.]

“On top of that, we will be getting another package after that…” The commander realised that it would be a busy night!

[Precisely, but from what I have seen, I can calculate that we will be getting fewer and fewer requests as the Supreme Commander builds his infrastructure on Carboniferous earth.]

‘Actual base millions of years ago…’ Latia mumbled internally. Whatever he could build, the world’s past and maybe future will become his plaything.

One could say she gave up thinking of trying to divert him from total chaos.

~~~~~~Back to Marcus~~~~~~

Marcus was meticulously placing parts for another Diamond Heart Engine, which would power the outpost on Carboniferous Earth.

This Hearth alone will power everything, which is enough for him.

Of course, he will have an auxiliary power source in case something could happen.

Marcus doesn’t believe that chances are 100% or 0%. For him, there is always a small chance of something. That is why he is building an extremely durable Empire. One would never know if there is a rogue AI in space or some warmongering empire of slug aliens.

Whatever the case. He won’t stop.

[Sir, there was a time ripple in space. It appears Technocracy is sending back a package.]

“Good. They should start moving on Project Kang.” Marcus stopped with his work as he commented on the newest development.

[We should retrieve the package. Do you wish to send our Knights?]

The Ai asked him.

“No. I will do it myself. I need a change of environment.” He said while stretching out. He got up from his seat and proceeded to leave his workshop.

He is still living in Confiscator even though there is a new workshop built in the outpost. 

That outpost has already improved Assembly lines and can make the smallest of things.

He can, by all means and purposes, start making miniature galaxies, as he already commands time, space, life, and evolution.

As he pondered his work, the lift arrived at the hangar bay.

“Hmm, I could take a Dragoon.” He noticed the parked mechs attached to the wall. His darling Quinella’s personal knights and their mechs.

‘I should have my own. I already have Royal Guards. They should have their ‘mounts’.’

As he pondered the lack of mounts for his men, he walked to the Dragoon. With a casual hand motion, the hatch opened, and he flew into the cockpit.

After getting comfortable, he turned on the machine and powered its systems.

“Time to explore~.”