[Downloading data...]

[Checksum...]

[Categorizing...]

[Priority file found...]

[Starting secondary virtual machine...]

[Started.]

[Request to access the database of preset scenarios...]

[Evaluating...]

[Request affects Lady Alexa...]

[Releasing all restraints, starting up secondary, tertiary, and fourth virtual machines.]

[Redirecting computational power...]

[Permission to use mainframe from Saintsworths Conglomerate Server Cluster acquired.]

[Starting new background and using data available.]

------------------------------------------------------

The data stream came while Edwards was going through the required paperwork to deal with the meatbags that ended as collateral damage from Test Subject MS2.

It didn't care about that, and would have rather be closer to the site, but Edwards would never leave these kind of pointless problems to someone else, he liked to use their condition to deal with these problems, as it 'reminded him what was important'. Or so he claimed.

The reality of it, was that Edwards wanted to guilt himself into feeling human. A pointless worry if Vulcanus was to be asked.

The fact that one of his subprogram pinged him asking for clarifications and direction was the only good thing so far, since it would allow him to distract himself.

Edwards barely registered the ping before Vulcanus flagged it as a check up confirmation from one of the subroutines Edwards had left before. All so Edwards wouldn't look where it wasn't needed for him to see.

The data call came from one of the subrotuine collars they had given to the lieutenants. This one in particulary came from Test Subject A7: Gabriel Light.

The subprogram had been connected to a fake blacksite, a quick perusal on the data acquired...

[Receiving datadump from Saintsworths Main Server: ThePlan.lmao]

What he got was a datadump with some rough plans from Master about the background he wanted the meatbags to know from Lady Alexa. Nothing too hard, Lady Alexa was even there, and from the recording, she was fighting and adapting to the turrets Master had left there for Lady Alexa to fight against.

Most had the order to not attack the brain or destroy Lady Alexa's upper body, everywhere else was fair game according to the instructions. But that was not the issue here, more of the issue was the test subject Gabriel Light.

He was too smart for his own good, he would notice the flaws. Unless...

[Upload virtual link...]

[Redirect data stream...]

[Open hyperlink through Main Mana Channels...]

[Using key into the information dimension...]

[Data stream open.]

-----------------------------------------

The world around Vulcanus disappeared as he manifested upon the information dimension, a world exclusive for information beings like himself and Mistress Sapphire.

Once he was here, connecting to the subprogram within the necklace of Gabriel Light was easy as breathing, and he didn't need to breathe.

Setting up the required data for Gabriel Light to see was even easier, he had access to his fears, dreams, nightmares, and the media he consumed, within the information dimension, everything was within his grasp, so creating the correct narrative was easier than ever. Creating data results was even easier than building the narrative. Why?

Because the experiments were real, the test subjects too. The only fake thing was the image of Lady Alexa within the files, and the birthday of course.

But Master Alexanders claimed that Lady Alexa was a twin sister to him, so giving her the correct date of birth was required. Falsifying the birth certificate was easy too, since they had access to the database, as that was hosted within the Conglomerate.

All that followed was making the videos using the humanoid model of one of the P9 series that Master Alexanders had left for them within the information dimension.

The monologue... was at best C-class production value, but every word was designed to instigate a sense of irrational hatred within Test Subject Gabriel Light.

The childish outburst he made when he destroyed the officine was the best part of this, as that would erase any actual evidence of this being a lie.

And while he was doing this, Lady Alexa continued fighting against Test Subject MS2. And she was doing quite well; her use of the Core Powers allotted to her was marvelous.

[Temporal disconnection detected.]

[Resynchronizing.]

Then it came the cut of data, as Gabriel Light had started teleporting around, first around the facility to see the test subjects dens, the organic waste left there was a nice touch from whoever had built this facility. As it gave it more credibility.

Then was the issue with the other two subjects within the area, as they had come near Lady Alexa, Vulcanus was unsure what to do with them, one of them was marked as a person of interest since their Core Power seemed to touch upon the more esoteric aspects of Mana.

And it was the actual reason why Edwards hadn't been near here, as this sidekick was flagged as one who could compromise his actual identity. The girl seemed to be able to utter words that described the people they saw.

If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

Experiments had been scheduled to test the limits of this of course, and then Vulcanus would decide if this one would be... disposed or not.

No, the issue wasn't that. Or how one of them managed to create a manaless zone by shoving all the mana within the area towards Lady Alexa (That did not earn her any bonus points, even if the help was appreciated).

No, the issue came at a later date, when Gabriel Light had to...

Walk.

The man was inefficient at it, wasted too much energy, did awkward movements when moving from spot to spot, and was too dependent on mana and his own skills to teleport around. A fact that Vulcanus would move to the top of the thread of thought for Edwards to deal with later.

Even when leaving the pair of meatbags to Test Fighter S1, aka, Superforce. Gabriel Light still had to walk a few meters to recover enough Mana and teleport back into the facility.

Once he came back, however, the issue became obvious. His mana was not enough to get to the area where Lady Alexa was fighting. And the mana had become stagnant.

From his limited access to the nearby surveillance system that hadn't been fried by either Gabriel core power or Lady Alexa's struggles, Vulcanus could see that the fight had ended, or was about to end.

But something was...

[Wrong]

There was something visceral about it, and while he could not pinpoint the issue, the air was... weird.

Even Gabriel Light seemed to sense this as the man had started to run towards the facility. Vulcanus made sure that there was no blocked or closed door on his path.

And Gabriel Light didn't question that even for a second, there was something going on.

In the real world, within his office, Edwards Black had started moving slower, his mind starting to slow down.

The lock on his door engaged by itself and the body there slowly stopped moving. Vulcanus wasn't sure at what point he had done it, but he had removed all the computational power assigned to Edwards.

And even while logically he knew that would be a bad movement, he could not order himself to return it back, he needed this computational power, his Core was churning and his cooling system was working extra hard to keep his AI Core at stable temperatures.

"Come on..." And meanwhile, in the real world, Gabriel Light was gunning down the last door that would give him access to the combat arena where Lady Alexa had fought against Test Subject MS2.

As soon as they walked in, all the cameras connected to Vulcanus, and he could go through the data.

But even without needing to do that, he could see the results of the fight. Remmanents of bodies spread around, parts of the area destroyed, a wall that had a hole that seemed to extend a few hundred meters...

"...Rhapsody. Report." And there at the far end of the room, the body of an adult woman resting against the floor.

Half of their body was covered in a purple crystal growth and while there was some blood near her, Lady Alexa was able to quench the bleeding and restore the missing biomass easily enough. That was part of her abilities after all.

She could lose 99.99% of her body mass and still be fine, as long as the AI Core was intact.

"...Rhapsody...." Gabriel Light continued walking forward, not in a straight line to Lady Alexa, but towards test subject MS2, as protocol dictated. "Report."

The man wasn't turning his head towards Lady Alexa, and the cameras didn't-

*BANG-BANG-BANG*

Exists anymore, as Gabriel Light had shoot each of them, limiting Vulcanus ability to monitor the situation.

"...No head...Decapitation? But this wound..." Gabriel Light said as he moved towards Test Subject MS2.

The body was missing the head, and the neck had been cauterized as if a high energy blade had cleaved straight throught it. Near the body was the pulverized body of two other meatbags, also missing body parts.

But unlike test subject MS2, these seemed to resemble more the damage from either explosions or clawed weaponry. Perhaps Lady Alexa had synthesized explosives? The last recording Vulcanus had of her, Lady Alexa, was accessing the high-caliber weaponry database. So it was a possibility.

"...Rhapsody..." And it was at that point that Gabriel Light turned fully towards Lady Alexa, with that his own point of view also allowed him to see.

As right now Vulcanus was tied to the necklace, his point of view was limited. That is to say, he could only see from the body cam and the necklace cam.

Unlike Gabriel who could see all the light he had access to. It was there that.

[Error][Error][Error][Error][Error][Error][Error][Error][Error][Error][Error][Error][Error][Error]

Something went-[Error][Error][Error][Error][Error][Error][Error]

Some[Error][Error][Error][Error]

"...You should have waited for reinforcement..." Gabriel continued speaking as he kneeled besid-[Error][Error][Error] "...We just found your family."

Gabriel Light holstered his weapon and removed his face plate, putting it beside Lad[Error][Error][Error][Error]

"We even found a clue to the bastards that stole your future..." Gabriel Light moved on to fix Lady Alexa's hair, letting her face be seen clearly, a smile on her [Error][Error][Error][Error] Face. "...Why?"

Vulcanus could see that Lady Alexa was [Error][Error][Error][Error][Error], there was some slight damage to her form, but nothing that Lady Alexa couldn't solve of course, she was Master's sister after all. She could not [Error][Error][Error][Error][Error].

"Why did you die here, like this?" Gabriel sighed as he sat besides Lady Alexa's [Error][Error][Error], "...What am I supposed to-"

*CRASH* *SKRRRKHHH*

Vulcanus did not heard the next part, his subroutines started running at full power, his Core spun as fast as possible as it prepared all the required data for the spatial folding.

The entry data point was acquired easily, as the necklace from Gabriel Light flew away from the minion, turning into the anchor, the area around was devoid of mana, but that was not an issue for Vulcanus. What he needed was not mana, but the required materials. The mana could be drawn from his own stockpile, endlessly pouring from the information dimension into the necklace, and then transformed into an unstable Core for Vulcanus' Core Power to use as a medium.

The first thing he did was flex his Core Power, calling upon the machinery within the black site, even as a fake one, it was designed to pass the scrutiny of hero organizations and villain organizations.

Vulcanus would have enough materials to make himself a new body.

So he pulled, he stripped bare of everything that could be used, cables, metals, machinery, computers, microchips, cellphones, tablets, weapons, motherboards, processors...

Everything that was machinery would be used to forge his new body.

Gabriel Light seemed to catch on that as he quickly unfastened some clips on his body armor and the needed mechanical parts were stripped from him.

Vulcanus cared not about that, he needed to make a body, he needed to make sure of it.

So when the singularity finished gestating his new mechanical body, Vulcanus fell to the ground with a heavy thud. His body still adjusting and turning from a disfigured form into the usual sleek body that he went by.

"...Vulcanus?" Gabriel seemed surprised at seeing him, probably had not expected it, "Why...why does that look like you are using Nanites?"

That? Ah right...

"[That is not relevant Gabriel Light, move aside.]" Vulcanus answered with his mechanical voice, he didn't pretend to be Edwards. There was no time for the stupid mindless fear Humanity had towards nanites.

And engineered fear from the manufacturers that didn't want Nanite Core Users from taking their industry away, of course, an actual Nanite core could spell the world's destruction. But so could half the people that had A-List type core powers.

Of course, Vulcanus with his [Machine Core] could control Nanites too, it was how Edwards could detect them. Not that they advertised that fact. And while Gabriel looked around as if to check that no one was around, Vulcanus kneeled beside...Besides...

[Error][Error][Error][Error][Error][Error]

"[...Lady Alexa... I will conduct a full body scan, please excuse the rudeness.]" Vulcanus respectfully spoke as he extended a hand atop the chest of the blonde woman. His hand hovered half a centimeter above the woman's torso.

The data stream started as a whole suit of scanners sprout from Vulcanus' body and all the readings started to come down.

"...She is dead Vulcanus..." Gabriel spoke, but Vulcanus ignored him.

Lady Alexa could not be [Error][Error][Error][Error]Dead.

"She has no pulse, her flesh and blood are crystallized... probably mana blacklash, mana toxicity from a forced Core Evolution... Or... she triggered... again." Gabriel Light started giving his opinion.

Under normal circumstances, he may even be right.

The phenomenon of core users turning into crystal was a known one, among the upper echelon of society, anyway; people who overtaxed their core beyond their limits all ended with their flesh turning into a crystal lattice.

But that was for mortals.

"[Stop speaking of what you don't understand Gabriel Light]" Vulcanus stated as his sensors moved into the next step, a small syringe bloomed from the palm of his hand, "[Lady Alexa... I will inject a syrum to stimulate your organism.]"

"STOP!" Gabriel finally screamed while shooting at Vulcanu's hand. "Just... stop Edwards...she is dead...we... we failed."

"[Detected hostile action against Saintsworths Conglomerate heir.]" Vulcanus' mechanical voice resounded as he turned its attention to Gabriel Light.

It...

"[...To elaborate Test Subject A7: Gabriel Light.]" Vulcanus stated that, as it stood, it would need to start synthesizing a new batch; perhaps using some biological components would make it more effective? Good thing they had something at hand. "[Lady Alexa Saintsworths can't die like you meatbags, she is a great being. She is not a normal human, she is more, so much more... And the fact that you pitiful worthless bipedal TRASH breathe the same air as her is an insult to her augustus self.]"

Gabriel Light seemed surprised at this as he took a couple steps back. Vulcanus could see on his sensors how he seemed to want to take in some mana to stimulate his Core. But there was no mana within this area.

"[SHE IS NOT DEAD! LADY ALEXA CAN'T DIE LIKE THIS! NOT HERE! NOT NOW! NOT UNDER MY CARE!]" Vulcanus raised its voice as they pointed at his own chest and started to generate new AI Cores, "[Her AI Core may have failed thanks to the mana dead zone, so if we replace it, and kickstart it again we can get her back in working order. I can make a new AI Core, I have all the materials...]"

"What... What are you on Edwards?!" Gabriel screamed back as he pulled out his gun and pointed it at him, "What is happening to you? You aren't this irrational!"

"[I am rational,]" Vulcanus stated, "[Good thing you are here, I am stopping the data stream from leaving, but I can't stop it for long, so you will help me repair Lady Alexa before Master notices it.]"

"Master?" Gabriel asked confused, "...You aren't Edwards are you?"

"[I am Vulcanus.]" Vulcanus stated, "[And Lady Alexa will live, even if all the meatbags under Edwards care are to be sacrificed for it. All will be done for the sake of the light of civilization.]"

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