DXD: The Grumpy Mechanic

folds and creases and dead cells, my mind looking over the sweat and fat glands and past the tiny hairs to their roots and beyond, deeper and deeper until I saw the blood. Humans can't see their- the tingle reached my brain and I-

My hand…

I suddenly knew it, down to the individual haematid and leukocytes and the vessels they travelled through to reach the bone and muscles and nerves, with their cells and mitochondria and every bend in the tiny, endless ball of yarn that was my DNA several trillion times over and… and…

… There was a lot.

And I knew all of it. Everything.

To the molecule and everything they contained. And did.

They say a drop of DNA has storage and processing capacity comparable to a quantum computer. I could believe that now, this tangled ball of genes and their connections and lack of connections, tangled and folded and wrapped around itself, enclosed in protein and so much else, the cytoplasm beyond with so much more in it than my biology studies had taught me, the biomolecules, the acids, the mitochondria, the membrane of the cell beyond, and all around the cell and over it and through it now there was a subtle, luminous field like.

. .

Exactly like.

Collisionless plasma.

A human cell. A plasma cell.

Overlapping perfectly.

The paranormal. All the weird stories and urban legends and strange phenomena back on the old world.

Double layer balls of plasma were theorised by some to be the reason behind all of it. I doubted it because I doubt most theories that try to give a single explanation for everything under the sun, but…

… Did my cells just gain their own souls?

When my reality was finally once more macroscopic, when the vivid memory stayed stuck in my mind even as the knowledge didn't because my short-term memory couldn't offload it fast enough to save even a percentage of it, there was one, immanent thought spanning my whole mind.

Humans are stuck in survival mode.

My second thought was a feeling, likethe faintest net of semi-autonomous bio-circuitry laid alongside my blood vessels and nervous system, spread throughout my hand like a half-woven web. It was weak, atrophied and hungry.

The chakra circulatory system, I thought sluggishly. My cell souls.

It was… eating them? I don't think I like it.

My third thought was pain.

My sides hurt. And more.

There was a sharp, persistent pain under my rib cage and my gut. I tried to stand- "Hgh…nnnn-agh!" I failed.

The pain flared, severe and sharp, coming in waves. I could feel it.

I could feel it spreading, out from my back down my gut and lower, until it was everywhere from below my lungs to my groin.

My fourth thought was I need to get to the bathroom.

Right now.

Gritting my teeth, I managed to use the wall to climb to my feet – barely – and thanked all my basement dweller forebears for the tradition of always having a restroom next door. Somehow, I made it.

Then I didn't.

The pain of before was nothing. The moment I let loose, sheer, horrible agony flared from my bladder all the way to the end and I screamed.

It burns, I thought amidst the flames burning my thoughts. Like acid.

My urine was…

It was black.

The shock was the only thing that kept me upright, but even that failed when I thought the worst was behind me, only to see black replaced by red. I was pissing blood.

I fell against the wall and almost the rest of the way before I caught myself on the sink. The glass cup was knocked aside, falling to shatter on the floor, scattering my toothbrush and razor.

I… I could barely think. I need to get to the hospital.

I stumbled out, back into my lab and past it, gasping and moaning in pain with every step, but I barely made it to the door before my knees gave out. Somehow I still managed to crawl up and unlock it, pull it open.

But then I must have passed out briefly, because the next thing I knew I was crawling on all fours up the stairs, barely pulling my weight.

Why is it dark? I thought dimly. Squinting up, I saw the familiar sight of moonlight casting faint shadows along the walls at the top of the stairs.

When did it get night?

I made it all the way to the next to last step before my body gave out.

I'm not gonna make it, I thought desperately. I'm not gonna make it this time.

I tried to call for help even though I knew I was too far away, even discounting the walls between me and the next person, but it came out as a hoarse, wordless scream.

What's happening to me?

There was an anbu kneeling over me.

Oh…

Tall. Lean.

Mask with the stylised face of a dog. His hands were already mid-way through a series of seals.

They came for me after all.

Well… that explained the pain.

"Kuchiose no jutsu!"

Archaic Nifon, I thought disjointedly. Jutsu mnemonics are in a different language?

White smoke. Brown fur.

White fangs.

"Akino, see if you can track down the poison. "

Poison?

"Roger!"

The ninja dog jumped over me and down the stairs.

"Hang in there, big man," the Anbu hoisted me up in a fireman's carry. "Would be a shame to make my junior sad twice in one day.

"

Without further words, Hatake Kakashi rushed me off to the hospital.

I was perversely glad when my size didn't let him jump out the window.

A single thought was left to percolate through my fading consciousness when we finally made it out and he pushed the ground away in a blur.

Was that dog wearing sunglasses?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

◆ Consider joining my PATREON to have a

early access of 10+ chapters.

https://www.patreon.com/DEVIL_DIKTATOR

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~