It Started With Devils & Artefacts

Marcus hummed 'Brave Heart' while walking through the wooden walkway built inside the prehistoric biome inside of his inner parts of the Assimilator.

The construct was so large that he had literal forests inside it as he converted large sections of 'living' areas into real relaxing areas and not Realitus simulations.

That left him expanding Knight handlers' jobs as they were handling creatures with teeth and now forests, too.

When he designed this thing, he was thinking along the lines of a colony ship and a 'king's escort'. In medieval times, when kings used to go on hunting trips, it was an enormous deal, with hundreds if not thousands of people going on such a trip alongside their king.

They used to have everything from entertainment to cooks, even blacksmiths.

Marcus was thinking along those lines when he created the monstrosity known as Ouranos-class Planetary Assimilator, which can do all he wants. At the same time, he explores the cosmos for interesting things and always has all the people he needs with him.

Eventually, the inventor saw the wooden terrace where Erina and Bronya were having tea.

Part of his bim swelled with happiness seeing the ash-silver-haired girl. He wanted to cuddle her right now! The same with Erina. He likes using those assets as pillows; they are simply amazing.

All in all, he was living the dream, being realities away from home and having these two around is the best.

Of course, his other girls are important.

However…

His thoughts went to Sirin…

'What a naughty girl.' 

He frowned, knowing what she was doing. One simply couldn't use his tech and think that he didn't know what she was doing.

Still, he will let her do it, and when the time is right, she will face 'the music'. 

Marcus walked into the terrace, and the pair immediately stopped talking and looked at him.

"Did you finish inspecting the report?" Erina asked him as she took a free cup and poured tea into it. 

One of the perks of controlling her time for Erina is that she can keep all of her stuff in optimal condition.

It's probably the most exciting power, in her opinion.

"Yep, already improved the software and reuploaded into the network. The devices should auto-update in the next few minutes." He sat down and motioned for the tea to fly into his hands.

The set-up on the terrace was a square glass table with black leather couches surrounding it. The leather was the real deal from one of the Hadrosiradae he collected from Cretaceus. It was nice-looking, so he decided to harvest it for the furniture.

"Great. That means you can spend some time with Bronya as I have my cooking to return to." Erina smiled while motioning towards the city's Heiress, who was sitting quietly and observing him.

"Of course, that's my idea in the first place~." He smiled at Bronya, who didn't respond but just looked at him. Her gaze reminded him of those curious animals who meet a human for the first time.

"Great! Then, if you excuse me~" Erina stood up and swiftly left the terrace.

Bronya looked at this with confusion.

What kind of Fiance leaves her future husband to another woman?

Of course, the next Supreme Guardian had no idea Erina was looking for Allies for the 'fight'.

When Marcus took her on this trip, she panicked, as it was, once again, just like their trip to the Cretaceous, where she needed to keep his 'hunger' in check.

But this was good; she has an ally now she can rely on.

'He should brought more maids over. I do wonder when he will eat Belfast. That girl looks eager.'

Erina pondered as she left the terrace area and entered grey corridors that reminded her that they were in a space station capable of space travel.

~~~

Marcus looked at Bronya, who was, in turn, looking at him. She had this certain look on her face. The inventor didn't read her mind; he was far more interested in hearing what she would say.

"...I learned several things from Lady Erina." Bronya began their conversation.

"Oh, and what is that?"

"...That you are quite… villainous." She tried to sound not as judging.

"Depends."

"She said that there is a project you are working on that will affect a lot of people." The ash-silver-haired girl didn't expand much on it as she didn't want Erina to end up in a bad situation.

"It's how you two meet, I am right?" The Heiress added two bits more.

"Hmm, Project Eden. Yes, apparently, I am evil because I wish for my world to continue to support life."

Bronya slightly grimaced as she had no reply to that.

"Yes, but is there no other way?" She asked him in a calmer voice.

"My homeworld is experiencing a thing called 'extinction event' where species of animals are going extinct because of human activities. All I am doing is fixing that.

How I do that will depend on the people who want to manage this event.

If you care that much, you can do it." He shrugged at her.

Bronya's eyes widened for a second. She understood what this meant. He doesn't care that much about the details as long as it's done! That means she can accomplish this in any way she wants!

"I see. I do apologise if I overstepped my boundaries." The next Supreme Guardian slightly nodded at him.

"It's fine. You are just an honest girl trying to do the right thing." He smiled at her before expanding on his explanation.

"But I do look at the big picture. Reckless population growth will be humanity's undoing. If people had tried to do something properly instead of constantly trying to profit, this wouldn't have happened. 

I do need to send a message, Bronya." He said with a resigned sigh.

"...I understand." 

The girl decided that she would be there to manage the fallout and ensure that as many people survived as possible. But for that, she needed to be close to him, something she needed to work on.

According to what Erina said about him, the better their relationship, the better her situation, and the more resources she can get to work with.

Some of his creations, with which he is the closest, have entire invasion fleets to work with. Well, she won't invade anything, but she will help her home city prosper.

But at the same time, she is steeling herself to make this happen. After all, the girl has zero experience when it comes to relationships. She is clueless, and she never considers and never puts emphasis on such a thing.

"Well, we are together for a considerable future. We should do something, Bronya." His voice was full of teasing, as he wanted to see her blush.

"...Umm…" She looked around. The girl couldn't see her maid, either. 

"...Where is your maid?" The next Supreme Guardian asked with a nervous voice.

"Busy, she is preparing a place just for you aboard my Assimilator. It will take a while, as it takes time when one is adding a bit of a personal touch." He explained the lack of a ship-girl maid.

"I-I see."

Marcus stood up, walked over to her, and offered his hand.

"Now come, let me show you a couple of things. Think of this as our first date."

Marcus smiled while offering his hand.

Bronya didn't hesitate as she took his hand. The inventor smiled as he pulled her up, making her slam into his embrace as he effortlessly moved her.

"Hmm~ you are very beautiful~~." His comment made her blush as she looked away from him.

"...Your fiance and your creations are far more beautiful than I am." She tried to brush aside his comment.

"Hah~~ that's quite the response." He whispered into her ear.

"But, my dear, it is I who decide who is beautiful to me, yes?"

His reply made her eyes widen in horror. She felt that she had overstepped her boundaries again!

"I-I am sorry! I am not used to such things!" The girl tried to explain herself, but that moment Marcus' hands went to her waist and hugged her, he made her lean into him properly, as he was able to feel her assets deforming at his chest.

"In that case, accept my compliments. As my future wife, you ARE gorgeous; it's as simple as that." He quite arrogantly said that. To him, it's natural; they all are gorgeous. If someone disagrees, they should bring their army and let their armies 'discuss' what is right and wrong on the battlefield.

"O-Okay… can we stop discussing this? Instead, let's talk about something else?" Bronya asked him as she gathered her courage and pushed down her embarrassment.

"Sure~~" he smiled as he looked down. Her face was kissing distance away.

The girl's face started to heat up, as she could sense that he wanted to do 'things' to her.

"Not that. We should do such things at an appropriate time." The Ash-silver-haired girl tried to divert the conversation into a less steamy situation.

"True, but I will keep holding you close~" He didn't let her go and diverted the conversation to something Bronya wanted.

"We can go to the manufacturing wing. Do you want to know how I can help your people?" he whispered into her ear, making her tremble from the warmth of his voice; it was tickling her.

"Y-Yes, please."

With a nod, he let go of hugging her. Instead, he switches to holding her hand. 

He motioned for her to follow him. The girl sighed in relief; he hadn't done anything naughty to her! Yet! Regardless, she needed to follow after him.

"We will go towards a place called Automated Assembly Lines." He began to explain where they were walking.

"From the name, I can assume that it's some sort of creation facility that it's done by itself?" The ash-silver-haired girl reasoned.

"Indeed, it's the cream and butter of my faction; it's one of the first things I created several years ago." For a second, he had a flashback when he was working under his father's garage with a certain devil next to him. 

For a second, he wondered what Serafall and Latia were doing, but then he recalled that not even one day had passed for those two. So, he relaxed, having some peace of mind.

"I see…"

"You see, my faction has three cores that started it: Alchemy, which I inherited from my predecessor; engineering, which I made myself and inherited from my predecessor; and programming, which is something I delved into myself. 

Everything can be traced back to this." 

"...I see… so this advanced technology is something you inherited…"

"-made myself." He instantaneously replied, making her realise that it was a minefield she didn't want to enter.

"My predecessor created initial theories on certain things, but he lived when people were still playing with dirt and clay. The concept of technology was something that only the deities of my world had some idea what it is.

More like it was magic for them, not technology." He clarified to her as they walked out from the Terrace area and into the grey corridors of the Assimilator.

"I see…" 

She slowly nodded at his words. Accepting what he was saying to her without any reservations.

"You see, we come from a different reality. We don't have Emanators or Aeons like you do. Your reality powers are heavily influenced by the way your reality is structured. The Illusionary tree and sea of quanta constantly compete with each other, causing things like the Eternal Freeze and things like that."

Her eyes widened for a second. She didn't imagine getting answers related to how her world functions!

"It is possible to overcome such things?" She asked with a hopeful voice. Getting away from this would make her world prosper! 

He smiled at her before stopping walking and facing her.

"Of course, you can take your world with you if you want~." 

Her mouth slightly opened wide. Did he just say to take her world with her!? 

"C-Can you repeat what you just said?" She asked with a nervous gulp.

"You–can–take–your–world–with—you." He repeated it in a much slower fashion.

"...Is that even possible?" She asked with growing excitement and giddiness.

"If you want, I can make it happen. We can even decide what kind of solar system you want your world to be in. I can arrange that." He explained to her, making her almost jump into this proposal, but then she stopped and controlled herself.

"I see… and what it would cost me?" She asked him in a neutral tone.

"No idea yet. We can decide such things based on our dates. It might be a big thing to you, but it's only a minor hurdle to me." He continued to walk as he slightly pulled her closer to himself.

"I am more excited to have one of my Bronya's with me."

 "...One of…" She recalled what he had said before about other Bronyas he knew!

"...Will you get into contact with my counterparts?" She asked curiously, wondering how such a meeting would happen. At the same time she wants to know about their worlds and how they grew up…

"It's only a matter of time, Sirin. One of my fiances is leading an invasion in one of the worlds where your counterpart should be born in 50 thousand years or so. She went there at a very early date."

She looked with disbelief. This girl was invading another world, and he was speaking with such a casual tone!? Just how…

Bronya took a deep breath, trying to relax.

"You know that I am a future Supreme Guardian of a city. Hearing that someone is invading an entire planet makes me… nervous, " she said in a stressed tone.

"I see. In that case, I won't mention that again. Instead, let's continue with our trip." 

They continued to walk, arriving at a large lift that would take them to another floor in the centrepiece of the Assimilator.

"...Are you planning on courting another Bronyas?" She asked him as they were standing in the lift, which was taking them to floors above.

"No idea. Depending on that initial meeting, when I saw you, I had this feeling that I needed to follow." He said with a thoughtful look.

"You could say I follow my gut feeling. It's one of my most powerful 'powers'. So I will know when I will meet them."

His explanation made some… sense to her, but apart from that… well, she wasn't that happy.

"Aren't you afraid that the girls will unite against you?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

"...And then what?" He asked curiously.

"...I would say… get angry?" she tried to get an idea across. 

"You can. It is your privilege. But I can get angry, too. And unlike you girls… my anger affects more than the immediate room."

For a second, she wondered what he meant. But then she realised that all those soldiers, machines, and warships… those troops all follow him, not the girls.

"I understand that all the soldiers and machines follow you, but I am talking about personal peace."

"That is not an issue, too. Sirin is my creation, and so is my fiance. If I want, I can make someone who won't get angry at me." He said with an eye roll, making her take a deep and very nervous gulp.

"..."

"I see. Sorry for asking such a stupid question."

Bronya realised how seriously bad her situation was. She would need to throw herself at him if she wanted anything done!

"You are not the first one to ask it. Some of the Goddesses asked it, but my Goddess of Wisdom never did as she knew what this meant. Still, you will understand once you live with me." He explained with a small smile, making her stiffly nod at him. It appears her competition is very stiff.

~~~

When they arrived at the location, Marcus pulled Bronya in front of him as she hugged her from the back. They looked at what was in front of them. It was an empty, windowless room full of glowing golden letters with swarms of black metal flying in strange but synchronised patterns.

"This is the Automated Assembly Lines. There is no gravity inside these rooms, making the nanites float inside without any resistance. This helps in the rapid construction of ANYTHING you would ever want." he highlighted the 'anything' part.

"...Wait…"

"And I mean, anything, food, people, machines, resources, metal, wood, anything." He explained, making her tremble as her brain finally realised what such a room would mean to her people!

"...I-I see… no wonder you said that before…" Bronya realised that what Marcus said a while ago was right! If he had shown this several hours before, she would most likely have passed out or just collapsed from disbelief.

"Indeed, so relax and process what this would mean to you~~~" he teased her as he whispered into her ear.

…

…

…

"But how is this possible?" Eventually, she asked him as she looked at the moving swarm. She finally saw that this moving method meant something. There is certain… magic to it. 

"Hmm, come with me~~~." 

He took her to one of the maintenance corridors. Where she saw fully metallic humanoid machines doing some sort of maintenance on cables, or were they pipes? These machines saluted them when Marcus passed them. He took her to a room where she saw the letters up close and personal.

"What you are looking at are runes that impact the space itself." He explained as he took her hand and brought it closer to the letter. She could feel it being warm, and something else was there, some sort of pressure behind it.

"The core of this is something called M.T.M."

"M.T.M?"

"Motion to Magic. Everything and anything that moves leaves energy behind." With his other hand before her, he used his psionic energy to project a 'paper' and a small ball moving on it.

"As you can see from the weight of the ball to simply moving on the paper, it leaves something behind. This is where my runes absorb it and convert it into energy, which is used to create anything that you want." he dismissed his creation after showing it to her.

"...But… even then… there are many layers you need to consider… how do you even start with something like food?" Bronya was still at the miss! What he showed was already absurd!

"That is easy. You go at an atomic level." With his free hand, he motioned for a hologram to appear and then, through several windows, he showed small balls connected to each other.

"This is atomic level. My databases have billions of these stored away. All we need to do is follow one of the blueprints… and look at this~." 

The black swarms rushed, and sure enough, things started to 'magically' appear!

Bronya saw…apples, a lot of apples!

"Nice, right? Do you want me to send these to your city?" He asked her as his hands returned to her tummy. 

The girl ignored his actions as she looked at magic before her!

With all this, she will never need to worry about anything in her city!

"...Yes…please…" The girl snapped out and swiftly nodded her head several times.

"Alright. Aurora, why don't you organise for these to be sent to her city?" Marcus asked his AI.

[Relying orders]

"Wonderful, why don't we keep on exploring?" He asked the girl in his hands.

"Yes, of course!" She was several levels more excited now.

~~~~~~Meanwhile, In Honkai Impact 3rd timeline~~~~~~

As she stood under falling water in one of the showers, Sakura closed her eyes. Finally! Her awaited shower is here. 

It was the same with the other two, who were enjoying their showers.

Yet…

The girl started to rub herself with a sponge, the smell… was not disappearing!

Or maybe it is, but she can still imagine it being here! It made her mind go blank with annoyance and frustration. She wants this smell gone!

"Ugh!!!!" The pinkette assassin exclaimed with frustration as she slammed her hand into the wall.

"Are you okay? Sakura?" Elysia asked from a shower next to her.

"I am not! Because of you, I had to suffer like this!" Sakura exclaimed with a deep anger in her voice.

"The last time I checked, I was not the one who tried to attack her," Elysia said with a pondering tone.

"...my assault meant nothing! You targeted something far more important to her!"

As the pair were arguing, Sakura raised her voice, and Elysia spoke with her usual tone. The third person was silent the whole time.

MEI realises that the only way to 'Win' is to have Marcus Goldman on their side—not that this could be easy. The girl is important to him, but MEI understands that he is looking for people who are like him: scientists, innovators, and engineers. 

The people who make and design things. She is part of that category.

'It would seem I will need to sacrifice myself for my world.'

The girl's expression morphed into a sad one as she realised what this would mean to her.

Eventually, around an hour later, the girls were out of their showers and went to dry up. They expected this to be a long one, but the technology in this place was a marvel.

'Must be girls complaining how long it takes for their hair to dry, so he created a solution.' 

MEI thought to herself as she watched how water droplets were leaving her hair and floating upwards.

The other two watched this with curious gazes, too. 

"it appears he is using gravity manipulation…for hair drying?" Elysia commented as she saw MEI's hair dry up on the spot.

"Yes. It would seem so." The Nerd version of Raiden Mei realised just how advanced their technology is when it comes to gravity control.

It was centuries ahead of her world!

There is no competition…

"...Come, we can't let her wait any longer. What if she gets angry and sends us back to that place?" MEI commented with a strained look.

Her comment made Sakura tremble as she swiftly went to dry her hair, too.

The group swiftly dried up, dressed in a set of maid uniforms, and walked to meet Sirin, who was on the bridge, standing at the edge of the 'window' gazing at the planet below them.

Something was odd about the planet…

MEI immediately noticed rapid-moving clouds and many layers of Aurora Borealis! 

"W-What is happening to the world?" MEI asked as they walked over to her.

"Oh, this? It's the flow of time. I made it flow rapidly." 

The trio of girls gazed with disbelief.

"W-Why?"

"Kiana Kaslana. I want to face her again! I want to crush her!"

"For this, I made your boy's toy experience 50 thousand years, to make the world just how I want it. Of course, I left quite a bit of people down there, too. To make it more realistic as possible."

"Y-You… are mad!"

Sirin snorted after hearing that.

"I am a Herrscher who saved your world from Honkai. Not that the people below know it." She said the last part with a small smirk.

"But was there a reason to continue making people despair against Honkai?" MEI asked her.

"Oh, please, if you care that much, I can erase their memories of such events." Sirin rolled her eyes at the whole 'despair' thing. They have no idea how she felt being turned into a slave of Honkai.

The most important part has already been done. Honkai is gone, and Technocracy has assumed total control. What she is doing is not their business.

[Approaching the 15th century, the Supreme Commander has highlighted this period for Kallen Kaslana.]

When Aurora mentioned that name, Sirin got a flashback of that girl inside a simulation back when Kiana was part of the Valkyrie school.

It was a Kaslana with braided hair, the holy maiden-like girl.

"Oh… does he want to acquire her?" 

[Collection purposes. Just like Raiden Mei types.] 

Everyone looked at MEI, who eye rolled at such a comment it makes her feel like some collectable!

"In that case, collect her." 

[Understood.]

After giving orders, the group just watched the planet below. But it started to feel monotonous, so Sirin decided to spice it up.

"You do know, this girl is your distant descendant?" 

MEI's eyes snapped at her as she looked with disbelief.

"Aurora concluded that you would mix your genes with Kevin…– Kaslana to create a child which would give him a purpose to push forward to continue living after your 'death'."

'What is with this AI?' 

MEI grimaced as she realised that this AI was right. She would pick such an option.

"Then it makes you her descendant, too?" Elysia pointed that out. Now that she looked closer, if she gave this girl blue eyes, she would pass as Kevin's little sister.

Sirin frowned before acknowledging with a stiff nod.

"I do possess her blood." 

"So what is with—*muffle*muffle*" MEI placed her hand on Elysia's mouth.

"Ignore her. I do wish to know the details. As one of the brightest of my era, I could assist with your project, " the nerd version of Raiden Mei said with a small smile.

"Do not worry. Everything is under control. All you need to worry about is explaining your things to Marcus if you dream of having a future with Technocracy."

When MEI heard that, she frowned in annoyance, she understood the hidden message in those words!

"It was you who took my DNA and used it to make a descendant!"

Sirin shrugged without a care before replying.

"It was a high probability you would do that anyway…"

"...Ugh…" MEI wanted to bang her head against a steel beam.

"What about my sister?" Sakura asked with crossed arms.

"Don't worry, people of high interest are in stasis. We shall wait to see what Marcus will do with them." Sirin explained to the worried pinkette.

The pinkette Assassin sighed in relief, hearing that Rin was not part of this madness.

"Relax, I only need one thing from all of this. The rest, I do not care."

Sirin's smirk grew several times before she looked at the world below. She summoned her console and looked at the retrieval parameters.

It appears they will be able to collect Kallen at her execution.

The girls saw an image of a medieval society, with a white-haired girl being taken to a wooden pyre. What the trio saw was absurd.

It appears that society was truly reset!

'Did 50,000 years truly pass? This is absurd!' It's hard for MEI to accept such a change in a matter of a day! Her society was gone!

~~~

Kallen accepted that she would die today. It was for the best. If people accepted it, she would accept it as well.

As the soldiers of Schicsal brought her over to the pyre and tied her up, she looked at all of the angry people.

As the preparations were being made, she looked at Otto, who looked like he wouldn't accept this.

'He was always like this.' The girl sighed as she closed her eyes and waited for that end. But, instead, all she got was screaming!

Her eyes snapped open as she saw white monsters rampaging in the ground.

'Those are!'

"Kallen! Quickly, let's go!" Otto walked over to her side as he got her out of her binds, ready to make a getaway.

But this was not her style. She will help the innocent!

Instead, she jumped down from the pyre and began to assist the civilians.

However, midway, when she pushed a child away from the incoming attack, one of the monsters rammed its claw through her gu,t impaling her.

*Cough*

The girl coughed blood as her vision started to darken. Last thing she saw was someone descending from the sky. It had orange-golden-like energy wings and white hair…

'Is that an angel?'

~~~

*GASP*

Kallen gasped as her eyes snapped wide open. What she saw was a dull blue ceiling made from unknown material.

The girl tried to move, but something was holding her in place.

"Good. You are up." A female voice said from the side.

"Is this… heaven?" She asked with uncertainty.

"To you? Perhaps." She saw a finger approaching her forehead. 

For a second, she wondered what the purpose of this was. But then vivid images started to bombard her. Kallen learned who the girl was, how she appeared here, what her purpose was, what the purpose of the world was, and what kind of faction she was part of…

Then she saw him…

A man sitting on a throne, the images zoomed out, and she saw countless armoured men marching forward, towards…everything, void, stars, worlds everywhere…

His hand stretched out and cast a shadow on everything.

His power is unmatched…

***GASP!!!***

Cold sweat erupted from her forehead. Her whole body started to tremble from fear and disbelief.

Kallen realised her existence was nothing more than a side effect of Sirin's experiment!

It was horrifying to learn that everything happening in her world was just a simulation of what would happen in the future.

"Now you know." 

Kallen could finally move.

"W-Why you showed me all of this!?" The girl exclaimed as she was feeling sick.

"Not to waste time and for you to have some sort of hope that you can wiggle yourself away from us."

Kallen Kaslana finally turned her head to the side and looked at the source of the voice.

When she saw white hair and orange-golden eyes, she realised that this was the girl she had seen in the images. She explained who she was through the images.

"...You are… his Fiance…right?"

"Indeed."

~~~

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