It Started With Devils & Artefacts

The Assimilator was something else; Bronya was impressed by the sheer scale of this construct; it was huge and full of technologies she couldn't wrap her head around.

However, the amount of armies she saw made her knees get soft.

Regardless, part of her tried to calm herself. These armies were not for her or her city! Not that it was easy, as she was constantly thinking about how to reply to their questions in the most courteous way possible.

"You should relax. Being this stiff is not healthy," Erina commented as she brought some tea and cookies. 

By this point, Marcus was gone as he was checking the data he got from Sirin.

"I-I am sorry, I am new to this." Bronya showed a strained smile as she raised her guard against this cherry-blonde girl. For some reason, she is feeling 'danger' from her, even if she is just a 'simple' girl.

Yep, the ash-haired girl can't believe that this girl is a 'simple'—nope! Not at all! Such unseen pressure makes her impossible to believe!

"It's okay. A while ago, I was the same as you." Erina smiled as she recalled her first meeting with Marcus. It made her feel that her life was ending.

In a way, it did. Her common sense was killed that day.

"...Your first meeting with Marcus?" The Heiress of the last city questioned.

"Yes! Back then—" the cherry blonde chef girl told the heiress her first meeting outside the airport.

"...Umm…"

Erina expanded on how she ended up in that place in the first place.

How Marcus threatened the whole world, and everyone rushed to his country to survive the upcoming world end.

In the end, Bronya realised that Marcus is quite a villain.

"..."

"If you think he is mean, I would agree with you… initially."

"... Initially?" The Future Supreme Guardian looked confused for a second. "Then you agree with such a forceful method?" 

"You must understand that humans don't like change, especially when it comes to things they have and then have to lose, " Erina began to explain to her.

"Especially rich ones who have much to lose. Your place has wealthy people, no?" The cherry blonde asked.

Bronya slowly nodded at her.

"So when someone comes over who can help the poor, to help that 99% of people but 1% don't like it?" 

"...but that's not the case. You said that he would eliminate the entire civilisation with that move; only a small number of people would remain." At least, this is what she understood about this whole situation.

"It depends, as Marcus' goal is to restore the planet that is suffering from human activities. You might not realise this, but too many people can be counterproductive."

The Heiress slowly nodded. While she had never seen something like overpopulation yet, as people quickly died from the cold in her city, she understood the principle: A lot of people means a lot of food and resources are needed to make it happen.

"Yes, I understand the fundamentals."

"Then we can all agree that something needs to be done. With recent technological innovation, Marcus can move everyone from his world to new ones."

'Or I think he will do that.' Erina thought to herself.

"...True, but I need more information to agree on this. All I can understand is that he is quite… forceful?" Bronya, as a future leader of her people, needs to understand the whole situation fully before she can agree on something like this…

"You can say that. One of his traits allowed him to achieve the greatness you see around you." Erina commented as her gaze swept through the massive hall. It was a biome-style room full of vegetation and life. There are small dinosaurs running around in this small forest, as well as other prehistoric creatures.

The Heiress followed the chef girl's gaze and looked around as well.

She is still trying to understand how this much greenery could be used for a menial purpose, like a resting area.

"...Still…"

"Well, think of it this way: He will give you everything you will ever need. For you, it's even better, as you could use those resources to help your struggling people. But in turn, you will have to give everything you can back to him.

As well, he doesn't like failure." Erina grimaced slightly as she recalled what had happened to the original maids.

"...I can understand that much just by looking around." Bronya forcefully smiled. She could imagine that someone of this calibre couldn't accept certain failures.

"Yes, well, he is unique, you see. For us, it's different since we are to be his future wives; we get special treatment."

The Heiress slowly nodded. She understood that, but it left her with a sour feeling, as she already preferred treatment as Heiress and future Supreme Guardian of her city.

"I can see that you don't like that." Erina noticed that shift in Bronya, the cherry blonde, and noticed that she had developed some sort of sensory skill for emotions.

"...I received preferred treatment my whole life while I watched how people died trying to protect me." The girl said that while clenching her fist.

"I see…"

"Then use your new status to change that." Erina proposed to her.

"...That's the idea… yet, I feel bad for doing it." The Heiress looked annoyed that she would use Marcus.

Erina observed her internally and was pleased by this girl's character. It was impressive.

'it would seem Marcus does know how to pick them.'

The Chef girl still wonders how he found her like that, in a whole wide 'island' of unique timelines.

He singled her out from billions, if not trillions, of people!

"Then work back if you think that you are using him." 

Bronya grimaced when she heard that.

"I would, but what can I do? I was taught to make decisions, lead a city, and wield a gun; all those are easily replaceable, " she explained to Erina in a slightly frustrated tone.

"...Hmm, but he chose you anyway? So he finds something he likes. I am even more useless than you… I can cook… and that is about it. Yet, he chose me as his future wife."

"...That is a good talent." Bronya still thought that Erina was better when it came to this.

"Depends? He took literal Goddesses for maids."

*Gulp*

The Heiress gulped down when she heard that! 

'Goddesses!? How does he operate!? And on what kind of value systems!?'

"Precisely, that is why just do you think, that's how I did it." She said that while looking at the ring she was wearing on her finger, there was a smile on her lips.

Bronya looked at it, wondering what this ring even meant…

~~~~~~Meanwhile~~~~~~

In Marcus' new workshop aboard his personal Assimilator, the inventor was looking at the data Sirin had sent over. 

"Look at this Bell, this is…insane." 

Solomon's successor pointed at the DNA strand, which dissolved… and then reformed into something far, far more complex.

"For a fraction of a second, Sirin's physical body ceased to exist. It reformed into a far superior version." In slow motion, he showed her at 1 million a second how the DNA is dissembled and then reformed.

"What is the most insane part of this is that the whole form can be removed in a flash." He sounded very impressed by this.

"...Impressive. but it sounds that it was not you who did it." Belfast slowly nodded but then asked as it sounded that it was not him who made this possible.

"I only gave the tools to the Quantum Computers in the suit devices; the rest is them calculating and executing the combat evolution, " he clarified to his Ship-girl maid.

"Oh… so it's like that." The maid slowly nodded as she understood how it was.

"Indeed, now I only need to tailor the software more, like add three evolutions." Marcus hummed to himself as he is thinking how to improve it.

"...Why three?"

"Because that is how it works in Digimon. The classic three evolutions of Champion, Ultimate and Mega forms." 

He pondered before explaining more to her.

"There are more, lesser ones, but I am only interested in the main ones."

"I see. So what we saw from Sirin, defeating that Diety-like being, was her initial transformation?" 

"Indeed, the next one would be augmented state of the first one, and lastly, the Mega form would be a complete recreation to reach unfathomable heights of power by all means and purposes." 

"...When you say that, it makes me a little bit worried." Belfast grimaces a bit when her creator says it makes her slightly nervous.

"Is it? Well, I made those devices capable of many things." 

"...Far too many, but I trust the security of those items." Belfast touches the one on her chest. She could feel slightly warm energy flowing from it as if telling her it was fine.

"You should. The Quantum computers on them have been state of the art for a very long time. Even IF I figure out a better means to calculate things, they will update by themselves. After all, they do have access to Aurora Network." 

[I still think it's not fair that they can access my data while I can't access theirs.] Aurora complained to her creator.

"It's for security's sake, Aurora." Marcus joked as he could sense her annoyance.

[I know, but I do have the right to complain.] The AI complained some more.

"Indeed."

[HMPH!]

Belfast, at the back, chuckled hearing that. It appears the AI is not immune to that stuff.

~~~~~~At the Same Time in Honkai Impact 3rd Verse~~~~~~

'This is getting boring…' Sirin sighed as she watched the moon get closer and closer, but it took time.

"We should upgrade these Assimilators. Their speed is horrendous when the net is spread out like this." The Void Queen commented as she used her left hand to hold her cheek. She was lazing on her throne.

"Mistress, it was not designed to fly fast when the modules are spread out like this. The Graviton network can't be broken like this." The Captain of her flagship said to her.

"Fair. In that case, the flotilla goes first and secures the area while we let the Assimilator take its time."

"Very well."

"Calculate if it's possible to collect all the pieces first and then fly to the moon, or is it faster like this?" 

[Calculating]

[It is faster to collect them and then fly to the moon]

"Then do it."

'It appears I need to make all the decisions… I suppose this is the downside of fully lab-grown personnel…'

Not that the Void Queen will admit that it could potentially be her lack of commanding skills, as everyone is waiting for her commands.

Sure enough, everyone scrambled to change things as the fleet moving towards the moon accelerated, and the Assimilator began to collect its pieces.

Less than twenty minutes later, they were close to the moon, and white creatures similar to jellyfish began rushing towards the armada.

"Honkai is fighting back after losing their trump card? Figures…" Sirin complained as she issued orders to attack… from all directions.

"Fire, blow them up, leave nothing behind." 

"Roger."

The batteries on the warships picked their targets and opened fire. The anti-gravity turrets shredded the jellyfish honkai beasts like it was paper. 

However, the issue was… the jellyfish were just too many of them.

"...Ugh… charge the main canon and launch Starscream units."

The Void Queen commanded as she was annoyed by this fruitless effort to break past the graviton shielding and the hull itself.

"Charging the main canon." 

On the main monitor, the radius of destruction appeared as Sirin could see how much they could blow up.

[Suggestion: switch to shatter shots?] Aurora decided to assist the clueless white-haired girl.

"...Why you didn't say it sooner?" Sirin complained as she rolled her eyes.

"Switch to shatter shots!" 

"Switching to shatter shots!" The gunners changed the loadout for the turrets, and sure enough, the jellyfish honkai beasts started to drop like flies.

Soon after, the first Starscream units joined the fray and began to assist by removing whatever was sticking to the hull. 

Quite a few jelly monsters stuck to the hulls and tried to break through, but it was like trying to open a can with a weed of grass. 

In a few short moments, the fight switched from the Honkai overrunning the ships to the ship's fire rate shredding the Honkai beast numbers.

"Main canon is ready for firing." The captain of the Flagship said to Sirin.

"Find the possible location they are coming from and shoot there."

[Calculating possible spawning points.]

As the targeting system began to lock on, images of the moon and its orbit appeared on the screen.

[There is a possibility that the main blast could damage honkai itself; do you still want to shoot it?]

Aurora ended up locating where the portal to the place was.

The warship began to position for the shooting.

The barrel of the main canon was close to five kilometres long. It was in the centre and extended all the way down to the sharp tip.

The sheer firing power of the flagship is… dangerous. Marcus designed this weapon to… end the conflict. After all, his ideology is that there are no wars, only his Technocracy cleaning up the stranglers. Nothing has changed since the time he took over the vampires with his first airship.

It only grew in size.

"Fire, I do not care. We can destroy it here, and next time when we go with Marcus, we can capture it." Sirin waved her hand dismissively. She had cooled down after the whole fiasco with Elysia and Herrscher of the End.

"Very well, firing the main canon." The Captain motioned with her hand, and the gunners pressed their buttons.

A burst of light escaped from the barrel situated in the middle of the dagger-shaped dreadnought. The burst of energy was a weaponised version of Bifrost. A burst of warped space shredded everything in its path before slamming into 'space' as if there was a wall that opened up and revealed a purple 'planet' with a rhombus-shaped hole in it.

The beam slammed into the planet, causing cracks to appear on it.

Sirin and the officers watched the whole thing with a huge amount of curiosity. 

They wonder if this will work. Could they potentially destroy Honkai's source?

"Continue… how long we can sustain the power of the blast?"

"For several more moments, as we need to charge it, " the captain explained as they watched the cracks grow bigger, but the planet began to respond.

"Hmph…"

Sirin snorted, seeing the response.

"I want the star destroyers to open fire, too," the Void Queen said, increasing the tempo by ordering more firepower.

"Relaying orders." 

The smaller and just as deadly warship began to charge their main canons, too.

Moments later, more beams rushed towards the purple planet.

Shredding the honkai energy defences and slamming into the planet.

Then, the flagship charged its second shot and blasted again. This time, the blast rammed into the planet and went through, causing a huge explosion.

"Raise the defences." Seeing the massive explosion, the girl realised that this was bad! She swiftly ordered to respond to the explosion.

"Shields at maximum!" the captain ordered immediately, and the gravity barriers rose at the front of the ships to tank the shockwave.

[I do believe the moon will get destroyed.]

Sirin grimaced when she heard that.

"Then spread the Assimilator's net to catch the shockwave! Protect the Earth!" 

[That could work, but the Assimilator was not designed to take shockwaves and explosion…]

"It's built from Sacred gear metal, no? And powered by 5 Diamond Heart Engines? It should hold!" 

[It should.]

"Then spread it! We don't need the planet blowing up!" Sirin slightly panicked. She promised to conquer Earth, not blow it up!

"Roger, sending the command."

Sure enough, the recently reassembled acorn-shaped station once again needed to be spread out.

Thankfully, the shockwave used most of its power to shatter the moon; the rest missed the blue marble.

Still, the shattered pieces began rushing towards the planet thanks to its gravitational pull, but the Assimilator, which worked like a net, captured all of them.

'Shit… what now?'

The white-haired girl bit her nail as she looked at the mess she caused.

'Right! Time beams!'

"Aurora, can we shoot time beams to recover the moon?" Sirin asked with a hopeful voice.

[Technically, it should be possible; we do have special area-based gadgets, but it will take time to deploy them.]

"It's fine! Prepare those! We need to fix the moon! I want all of the warships to begin collecting the shattered pieces while the Assimilator returns to Earth and encases it."

The girl swiftly gave her orders as she had enough manpower to get her scheme going and fix the broken moon.

"...As you command." 

The captain is certain that the Assimilator's commander is annoyed with the white-haired girl's constant commands to release the parts and then collect them. 

Still, they can't complain as the girl has the highest access in the Technocracy.

~~~~~~Meanwhile~~~~~~

"..."

"..."

"..."

The trio of Sakura, Dr. MEI, and Elysia looked at the clothes prepared for them. They were hanging in small wardrobes in a dressing room.

"These are maid clothes…" Dr MEI commented. She is certain that working with dung requires appropriate clothing!

"These are your working clothes." The knight said to them.

"This has to be a mistake… one can't work with excrement while dressed like this!' The dark purple-haired nerd complained.

"We do not have official clothes when it comes to excrement. It's an automated job, but since Mistress ordered, the automation will be disabled, and you will be doing it by hand." 

When Dr. MEI heard that she looked ashen, the girl looked at Elysia, who was 'te-he-he' at Dr. MEI and the whole situation.

"I won't be dressing in these." Sakura crossed her arms and declared that she wouldn't be doing this.

"Your opinion is irrelevant. We will classify your action as rebellion and review it alongside the rest of your people."

"!"

Dr MEI looked horrified when she heard that as she looked at Sakura sharply.

"Don't! She will dress in them!" 

"?"

The pink-haired assassin looked confused. What does she mean?

The nerd swiftly walked over to Sakura and explained to her.

"If you don't comply, they will treat it like a rebellion and deal with you and your family! AND people around you!" 

Sakura's eyes widened in horror! She then looked at the knight.

"Don't put my family into this!" 

Dr MEI groaned internally when she heard that!

"Rebellious elements will be dealt with in accordance with the Standard Protocol of Planetary Occupation. It's common sense for a stable subject society to work at maximum efficiency." 

"..."

"F-Fine… " Sakura grabbed the maid's clothes and went to change.

Dr MEI and Elysia looked at this with nervous looks. It appears sympathy ends with Sirin, as the knights don't care…

"Elysia… don't ever do that again. If you do, keep us out of it, " Dr MEI said sharply as she took her clothes.

Not that Elysia said a thing; she was absent-minded while gazing at the wall in front of her. 

She felt something was off… something…ceased to exist!

'My Herrscher core… what just happened?

The girl placed her hand on her chest. She couldn't sense any power from her Herrscher core. It's like Honkai doesn't exist anymore!

'What happened? Did Sirin make Honkai cease to exist? Or did she seal it fully away? But even if it's sealed, there should be some remnant in the air, but this is different. It's like the energy lost its power.' The girl grimaced. In her opinion, this was far too insane to be true.

'I Need to know…' 

Elysia looked at the knight instead of going to change her clothes.

"Did anything happen to honkai? Sister Sirin said that she will show us something." The pinkette asked the knight.

"You can ask that yourself after you finish working here." 

The knight didn't entertain them anymore as he left the room.

The pink-haired Herrscher frowned as she looked at her maid clothes.

'It would seem I will need to adjust to this if I want to succeed.'

Well, it's not the girl's first time.

…

…

…

The trio looked at the ceiling as a hole opened and a small mountain of dung dropped in front of them.

A heavy smell of shit assaulted their noses as the trio began to grimace.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"It's sad that I can't just kill you," Sakura commented as her hand twitched, pity that her sword had been taken away from her.

She used her other hand to cover her sensitive nose.

She wouldn't mind running her sword through the pink menace chest.

"...I agree."

Dr MEI slowly nodded in agreement. Her logical mind concluded that it was Elysia's fault. Since she can't beat Technocracy, it could only mean that it was Elysia's fault, as she provoked Sirin, that caused it to end like this.

"Come now… it's not that bad!"

At that moment, more wet dung had landed on top of the hill, which was already considerable. 

"The dung has to be loaded into the carriages." A robot exited from a wall entrance and pointed at the rail-powered carriage.

The trio quickly realised that the dung should have ended in the carriage by itself, but it was moved away, and the shit landed on the ground.

In other words, it was intentional.

Such realisation made Dr MEI and Sakura even more annoyed than they should have been.

"Tehehe, then we should start."

"Take the shovels provided." The robot pointed at the brand-new shovels leaning against the wall.

"Damn her… she created this work just for us," Sakura commented with a disgusted frown. The smell was killing her from the inside out.

"...Yes, it would seem so." The nerd version of Raiden Mei agreed with that statement.

~~~~~~Meanwhile~~~~~~

Sirin looked at how Assimilator once again encased the whole planet into its hold.

"How well can Realitus work on the entire planet?" Void Queen asked Aurora.

[If it's a fully encased planet, then there are no limitations.]

The girl's eyes sparkled.

Then, I want to begin the particle dispersal and the simulation of time flow.

[You wish to simulate until the timeline reaches your time?]

"Yes. Is it possible?" The white-haired girl asked the AI.

[It is possible. However, there is a selection of variables that need to be met before something similar to your time can be achieved.]

"I know. I will be releasing some of the assets we collected." 

Sirin looked at Kevin, who was resting in the cell.

[While I don't agree with doing this, you are not going fully against my creator's wishes. It was a mistake on his part.

Still, my programming agrees with your desire to experiment. It's a test, and as the main AI of Technocracy, I must assist you.]

The Void Queen grinned from ear to ear.

"My thanks!"

[Don't thank me. I will report this when my creator asks.]

For a second, her smile faltered, but she still nodded at the AI.

"It's fine. Now I want you to do this—"

The girl begins to explain how the whole thing will happen and how house Kaslana will be created. 

Sirin began to play as the 'game master'... or a literal God to the people below…

~~~

"Kevin! Wake up! We don't have much time; The Seventh Herrscher is ramping as we speak."

The voice of MEI brought the white-haired man to the land of awake, and his eyes snapped open. He quickly looked around, realising he was in MOTH's medical bay.

He realised that the operation to become MANTIS was a success.

'Though… I have this feeling that something was amiss.' He couldn't put his finger on what was wrong. Not that he had time to ponder as he has a Herrscher to deal with!

As he quickly got out of bed and dressed up in his uniform, he dashed out to find MEI.

A few moments later, he found her in the command centre, where she was organising things.

"Kevin, Herrscher of Fire, has burned close to half of Australia. If this continues, we will lose the continent."

"I understand."

"How are you feeling?" She asked him, with some worry.

"...Better? And strange at the same time." He said while checking his hand.

"Well, Parvati should give you power over ice." She explained while looking around, noticing that it was getting cold and some of the things were starting to freeze around him.

Kevin noticed where she was looking.

"Oh… this doesn't look good."

"Yes, it appears it's a subconscious thing." She commented after having an initial observation.

"I will learn to control it!"

"I do not doubt it, but we have more important matters for now." She showed him burning Australia.

"Yes, you are right."

~~~

It would seem that Kevin's becoming the first MANTIS was the key to dealing with HIMIKO, who became the Seventh Herrscher. After him, there were others who became MANTISes, but 'Honkai' only became more dangerous, and the Herrscher grew in powers and abilities.

Eventually, humanity was pushed to the brink, with only two cities remaining on the planet. 

MOTH waited for the next Herrscher…

Which turned out to be Sakura's little sister Rin. MOTH locked her up in the lowest levels of their base.

But it was what 'Honkai' wanted as angry soldiers ended up killing the innocent girl. Her death was what triggered her to become a Virus-like version of a Herrscher.

This virus spread through the base and triggered all the nukes, which destroyed the two remaining cities.

Just like that, civilisation itself ceased to exist, but humanity was still fighting. 

Eventually, Dr MEI found a way to seal the virus inside a box. 

But it was too late for some of them as Sakura 'died'.

The elite MANTISes lost their first elite leader, but the fighting only became harder.

This was where Dr MEI began with her plans for humanity's survival and restart of the civilisation.

Humans will be placed in cryo stasis so that they can restart civilisation once honkai settles down.

~~~

"I can't take this anymore! I give up!" Sakura roared angrily as she threw the shovel away.

The girl lost the count. How long has she been doing this? With her sensitive nose and constant throw up, she is feeling like killing herself right here and now.

[Continue your work.] The overseeing robot demanded she continue her work.

"No! I will do anything else but not this! I will be a slave if need be! I do not care!" The girl ranted as she collapsed on her knees onto the dirty floor.

[In that case, I shall contact Mistress.] 

The robot used his connection with Aurora Network to contact Sirin.

Meanwhile, Elysia and Dr. MEI looked into this. Should they do the same?

Honestly, MEI is quite proud, but this…

For a second, she bit her lower lip, frustration rising in her gut, but eventually, she dropped her shovel, too. She already is a 'slave' anyway. Her world is conquered, the organisation she works for doesn't exist anymore, and the enemy she fought against is defeated. 

What is her purpose anymore?

"Me too, I give up, do whatever you want with me." 

"...In that case… I give up, too!" Elysia dropped hers as well. But the robot looked at her.

[You will continue with your excrement cleaning.] 

"B-But…" Elysia pouted, but the machine didn't care about her pouting.

"...Can't she do proper Maid's work? I am sure she could be more useful." Dr MEI proposed to the machine.

[One moment.]

The machine acknowledged the request and contacted the AI and, in turn, Sirin.

[Mistress has accepted your proposal.]

At that moment, Sirin's hologram appeared next to the robot.

"So…" The white-haired girl appeared with crossed arms; she looked very smug about this situation.

"You give up?" 

"Yes. Anything but this." Sakura nodded with a disgusted but resigned tone. It will take hours to remove all the dung from her long hair and maybe years to lose the smell, as people say the phantom smell will be with her for a long time.

The same is true for Dr. MEI and Elysia, as they have long hair as well. They all want showers, long showers, and baths.

Sirin defeated them…with dirt.

"Ha, in that case, you will be maids, but this is your last chance. Next time, I will think of something worse." Her expression morphed into a wicked smirk. She was thinking of worse things to do, to torture them.

The trio slowly nodded. Elysia decided to hold her tongue and wait for an appropriate moment to comment.

More precisely, they will wait for Marcus to arrive. They are certain that at least half of the entire day has passed! Probably, as they don't have a clock here.

That means they need only suffer for a couple of days against this woman. They want to 'transfer' under Marcus' care. 

Not realising what this could entail, though, Elysia and Dr MEI have some idea what to expect. 

Well, only Sakura doesn't care; she just wants to get away from dung! From the smell!

"Fine! Just let us out! Please!" 

"Fufufu, fine. Go get a change of clothes and showers~~ once you do that, let me show you what I have been doing~~~." 

For some reason, the trio felt a chill going down their spines. What did she do?

There was a sense of horror, not realising what Sirin had been doing with their home world.

"Thank you."

Sakura swiftly walked away, almost dashing towards the doors she was dreaming of leaving through. She could finally do it!

It was the same with MEI and Elysia as they walked towards the doors as quickly as possible. 

'Hmph… let me show you three what I did to your world~~~' Sirin grinned from ear to ear.

~~~

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