Chapter 196: Bright and Sunny

Chapter 196: Bright and Sunny

"In other words, it's accelerating."

Geppeti's voice echoes through the room, as does the clanking of iron.

"Accelerating?"

"For there to be a change in my emotions, there has to be a cause, and that change in just a week is beyond my calculations. I'm not sure what it is, but I can't get rid of that ominous feeling... like someone has intentionally accelerated."

"And that's not a good thing?"

"...It's a process we were bound to go through at some point, but I wouldn't characterize it as good."

Geppeti lifts her head to glance at my face, then returns her attention to her work.

"Now this is going to hurt a little bit."

I step out of the academy with Geppeti for a moment to fit the prosthetic hand, which is being operated on in a ramshackle lung house nearby.

I hadn't brought Sierra with me because I needed to talk to Geppeti in private, and since we weren't traveling far, she agreed.

- Crack!

I felt a sharp pain along with the friction and frowned.

"..."

It was an unfamiliar pain that I had never experienced before.

My left arm, which should have been empty, was now a lump of metal.

It was apparently designed based on prosthetics that belonged to the normal axis of this world. At least it didn't feel like a mechanical skeleton.

'It looks like a hand, too...'

Except the skin is metal.

"I'm almost done, do you want to try moving your fingers?"

At Geppeti's question, I try to move my fingers, which have become scrap metal.

Then my fingertips twitch slightly.

"I'll have to look a little further."

Geppeti nods, and once again opens the prosthetic's flaps to look inside.

"This prosthetic is a test run for the features that will be operational for my children, so I guess you could say it's a prototype."

"When you say children... you mean the robots?"

"I'm their 'mother', so I guess you could say this prosthetic is my child, too."

Geppeti chuckled softly.

I wonder if she feels like the mother of the machines.

The idea of having her child on my arm sounded quite odd, but it didn't seem to be out of place, so she didn't argue.

"So what does it do?"

"It's the result of my research on demons while traveling with Lord Zetto, and while we don't have enough data yet, by my calculations, it shouldn't have any problems with performance."

Geppeti, who had been fiddling with the wires inside the prosthetic, continued.

"Apparently, since we're preparing for a war with the demons, I've been considering what their strengths might be in a war, and it turns out it's their traits."

"You mean their horns."

"Yes. They store human life force in their horns and generate an energy called 'magick' from it, which makes them stronger. This gives them a tremendous advantage, assuming the war lasts. In war..."

"...you're either an ally or an enemy, and you're dying for nothing."

"Yes, and I can only wonder how the humans have managed to hold out against the demons so far."

"Through the sacrifices of many heroes, I'm sure."

"I've been thinking about how to neutralize the demons' strengths. The mystical energy called magick has a wonderful counterpart called Divine Power, but I'm afraid my children will have trouble handling it."

I nodded in agreement with Geppeti.

After all, divine power can only be borrowed from Heneryes, not possessed.

It must be something that machines from other worlds, beyond the reach of Heneryes' power, cannot handle.

"So I focused on the demons' 'predation,' which Zetto once told me is much more efficient when it's their own kind."

"No way..."

I blurted out as I listened to Geppeti's explanation, having read her thoughts vaguely.

"Yes, the anti-demonic weapons that will be developed in the future will deal with magick. Of course, they will be supplemented with horns from demons, not humans, so the weakness of the human side will be somewhat eliminated."

This would turn the tide of the battlefield.

In previous wars, we know that the demons were tricky, getting stronger as the war went on, so there was a lot of short-term and guerrilla warfare.

But now, the demons may have to fear an all-out war.

The more demons that die, the stronger Geppeti machines will become.

"But they can't do anything as complicated as what demons can do with magick... If a machine fought a demon with the same amount of magick, the demon would win, although it could use magick as a power source to move and do simple attacks and enhancements."

Well, there's a penalty.

"Wait...does that mean my prosthesis is like a demon's horn?"

I nodded, listening to Geppeti's explanation, then turned to her with a sudden question.

"That's right. Like the Demon Horn, it can absorb both human life force and demonic magick."

"You don't mean to tell me that I might get mistaken for a demon because people can sense its magick, or that they can sense an ominous aura from my prosthetic hand?"

The tears of the dead had fooled Aizel and Bernice before.

"It's similar to how demons hide their magick. The reservoir that holds the magick is specially coated... and even if the prosthesis were to crack, there's no way for the magick to leak out of the reservoir unless it's completely shattered. So to others, it will look and feel like a 'normal' prosthesis... except, of course, if you release the magick outside, they'll notice."

With that, the crackling in my ears stopped.

Geppeti checked the inside of the prosthetic to make sure everything was in order, then closed the lid and tightened the screws.

"Now... you should be able to move your arm freely."

I tried to wiggle my fingers and swing my arm around.

"Oh..."

The prosthetic arm moved freely, as if I had grown a new limb.

However, it was disconcerting because I understood that I was touching something in my head, but I didn't feel much of a tactile sensation.

Other than that, it seemed like it was just a matter of getting used to it, even if it was still a little uncomfortable with the crunching sound and weight when moving my left arm.

"By the way, if it's an emission..."

"You wanted a weapon anyway, didn't you Lord Zetto-? I haven't researched it yet, so it simply shoots out accumulated magick."

"...How does it do that?"

My ears perked up at the explanation.

"Why don't you hold your arm out in front of you?"

"Like this?"

I held the prosthetic out in front of me.

"If it's connected properly, you should be able to feel the magick. Draw it into your palm, compress it, and shoot it out..."

It was similar to the sensation of manipulating mana.

-Clink.

The prosthetic responded with the sound of metal clashing.

-Keying...

Soon there was the sound of an engine revving up, and magick was gathering into my palm.

"You can't shoot now...! You don't have enough magick yet..."

Geppeti quickly stops me.

"Uh, uh... How do I stop...?"

"Well, it's..."

Before Geppeti could explain how to do it, I jerked my prosthetic upward, feeling like something was about to explode.

-Boom!

With a loud bang, a black beam of light shoots through the hole in the roof.

The beam of light seemed to pierce the sky, but quickly faded away as unidentifiable smoke leaks from the prosthetic hand.

"......"

A single-shot laser, no, I'd call it a beam.

'Power is good...'

I turn to Geppeti to ask how I can stop it, since I'm in the middle of marveling at the technology of the future.

"..."

Geppeti's eyes sparkled as she looked at me.

"Did my child feel that good...?!"

"Uh..."

A stammered outburst of embarrassment escaped my lips as I realized how odd her words sounded.

"No, it was... I just thought you were feeling pleased, and I was satisfied that I had pleased you, Lord Zetto."

"Ah."

Geppeti could read the emotion.

"Well....it was not bad..."

I replied, because I was definitely feeling the pleasure and Geppeti smirked.

"I'm glad you liked it, Lord Zetto. Is that a way of saying you're proud?"

"I suppose so..."

I wondered if Geppeti was completely oblivious to the weirdness of that expression or if she just said it.

"Phew..."

Judging by her inability to hold back her laughter at my shaky response, I'm guessing it was the latter.

***

Luckily, I hadn't used all of my remaining magick to fire the beam, and I was able to move the prosthetic normally.

If I ran out of magick, Geppeti told me, I could use mana like other prosthetics in this world in a pinch, but it wouldn't be as efficient as magick.

For now, I fitted the prosthetic and headed back to the academy.

It was mid-afternoon, but judging by the moon in the sky, it was already late at night.

As we walked through the remote forest, Geppeti and I finished talking.

"Anyway, since it's getting late, you'll have to be careful with your behavior from now on, Lord Zetto."

"Hmm..."

What was the state of the girls that Geppeti had observed that caused such a fuss?

Even though I had returned today, I hadn't met them yet, so it was impossible to tell.

'What could have happened to them to make things so bad?'

I was only gone for a week or so.

No matter how unstable things were, it was too short a time for drastic changes to occur.

I walked down the street with that thought in mind and as I was doing so I felt a stranger's presence.

'Who is it?'

What could be the identity of someone wandering alone in such a remote forest at this late hour?

It wasn't a demon.

Wondering if he had lost his way, I approached the source with Geppeti.

"Hmm?"

A rustling in the bushes made him turn his head, and he spotted me and Geppeti.

On the side of the road stood a strange man with a rather fearsome face.

He looked nothing like a resident of the Academy, not with the greatsword slung across his back and he certainly didn't look like a cadet.

He didn't seem to be lost, so he was about to turn back.

"Ho...Blind...?"

He pointed a finger at me.

Then he slipped his hand into his bosom and unfolded a crumpled piece of paper.

"Black hair... white bandages over your eyes... You are the one who returned from Paradise!"

He exclaimed, his eyes alternating between the paper and me.

Whoever this man was, he seemed to know me.

I wondered if the paper had information about me or a picture of me.

"Who's the kid next to you? I don't see her in the information..."

He scratches his head and then throws the paper away.

"Well, that's it. I'll just kill you both."

Immediately, he grabs the greatsword on his back and raises it toward me.

'What a turn of events.'

I was expecting a lot of people to come after me after I'd been so aggro in more ways than one during my respawn, but I guess I got my ass handed to me pretty quickly.

It's not surprising, since my name was known within the confines of the Academy, but now I'm known throughout the continent as the One who Returned from Paradise.

Not to mention the demons, and from what Bernice had told me, the Dark Order was also targeting me.

Other major villains must have known of my existence.

There is a mysterious fellow who was brought back from the dead by the miracle of Heneryes.

Even so, I didn't expect to find someone who wanted my head.

'I can't imagine he'd have a grudge against me, since we've never met...'

Is he on the payroll of the Dark Order?

The good news is that I don't recognize the face of that guy over there, slowly approaching with his greatsword swinging.

That means he's not one of the main villains.

There could be a hidden powerhouse that I don't recognize, but I have a strong suspicion that it won't be him.

I smiled faintly and casually put my hands on my hips.

"..."

I realized that I had left Sierra behind.

I thought I wouldn't have to face any battles since I wasn't going far but apparently that was not the case.

It doesn't really matter though, I've got plenty of ways to deal with him even without a sword.

"Hahahaha, I didn't expect to run into you as soon as I got to the neighborhood. It's my lucky day."

"Do you want me to take care of him, Lord Zetto?"

Geppeti asked, stepping forward.

"Um..."

I stroked my chin, then backed away from her.

"...I don't think that will be necessary."

"..."

At this, Geppeti looks up and stares at me questioningly.

Apparently, it wasn't our turn to step forward, because I felt her presence.

It wasn't long before I heard a loud thud on the other side of the forest but it was so far away that he didn't hear it.

"Kahaha!!!"

The giggling man began to run, dragging his greatsword across the ground.

Unfortunately, his sword never reached me because in that split second a sword light flashed.

-Thud!

The sound of a thick neck being severed followed and red blood splashed across her face as she charged at me at breakneck speed.

Her sword was neat and clean, and her speed was such that the eye could barely keep up.

"......"

After slitting the nameless man's throat, her eyes locked onto me, not paying a single glance to the falling corpse and immediately her lips parted.

"Cadet Zetto, you shouldn't be wandering the streets at night without a sword."

She smiles nonchalantly, not bothering to wipe the blood from her face.

"It's dangerous, isn't it?"

I vaguely understood Geppeti's concern.

"I missed you, Cadet Zetto."

I couldn't shake the feeling that something was twisting in my gut at the sound of her cheerful laughter following the tang of blood in my nose.