Author’s Note: Okay, so I was going to do this tomorrow, but here’s Volume 2 because why not? Just finished turning it all into a single giant volume sized post. You’re welcome I guess? Happy Holidays!

Volume 2: Kitsune

Prologue: New Powers

It’s been a few days since that fateful massacre. Obviously I went through and gathered up a few hundred shiny beads on my way over to the docks near the channel. It was a long walk, but I was still amped up from being struck by lightning.

As for the awesome magical powers I gained after leveling up? No clue. There’s the basic increase in strength, endurance, agility and all that other good stuff, but I still haven’t been able to figure out whether I gained a new ‘ability’.

Well, there is one thing that changed… I can have sex with Cassie more often without feeling like I’m going to die. And she doesn’t turn into a zombie-thot as often.

What does ‘thot’ really mean anyway? Is it a slut? A whore? Cockmonger? I wish I still had the internet.

I wonder if… No! Stop having dangerous thoughts! It’s just so fucking tempting though. There’s this strange black tower jutting up into the skies of Assateague and the constant telepathic advertisements are starting to get to me!

My common sense is telling me to never trust advertisements! If they were so awesome, then why the hell would they need to advertise so hard in the first place?! Obviously nobody would be crazy enough to wander over to that creepy tower if there wasn’t some kinda magical power compelling them!

Belle is even more adamant about staying away from that place than me, but those two brats aren’t quite as wary. Cassie and Ariel seem to think that it’s a great idea to head over to that death-trap. Fortunately, they still listen to their ‘elders’… Fuck.

“Are you separated from your family? Are your friends and loved ones dead or undead? Are you infected with the ‘Zombie Disease’ that’s running rampant throughout this world? Well Waveholder Weapons Emporium and Transdimensional Transportation Services is where you need to go! We have hundreds of outposts across this world and many others! Even if your family and friends are already dead, it still isn’t too late to see them again! In fact, your identity might just be worth a lot more than you thought! Maybe the ‘you’ in another reality is rich and famous, but died young? The possibilities are endless! But you’ll never know, if you don’t have the courage to come visit your nearest Waveholder Weapons Emporium and Transdimensional Transportation Services outpost!”

And that was the straw that broke the camel’s back. If I’m this tempted, then, yep. The ship is already sailing towards Assateague Island. I’ll be back.

***

I managed to talk them out of going there themselves. Even in the unlikely case that it isn’t a trap, there’s no way that the three of them would make it on foot to the island. We basically moored the ship to the dock that’s pretty close to the southern edge of Ocean City’s Boardwalk. The distance from there to the bridge isn’t that far, but once you get to Western Ocean City, you have to walk a few miles before you get to the bridge to Assateague.

On the other hand, I could just take a goddamn kayak over in a few minutes. I’ll be fine in my combat armor, even if I happen to fall overboard. The main thing is that my steel armor is pretty damaged. Unlike in games, you can’t just magically repair armor after it gets smashed up or struck by lightning three times.

The ‘Waveholder Weapons Emporium and Transdimensional Transportation Services outpost is a few miles from the very northernmost edge of Assateague. If I travel across the beach, I’ll be an easy target for anyone with a rifle or even a bow. But if I go through the woods, I’ll definitely get lost and it might be even more dangerous if someone booby-trapped the whole thing. The roads ain’t much safer either.

No matter what way I choose to go, I’ll be risking my life regardless. When I explained how hard it would be to get there, Cassie actually tried to convince me to stay. Ariel on the other hand, was too young to understand the dangers… While Belle was too old to care about her own safety anymore.

In the end though, I’m still the ‘Captain’ of this ship. And my decision was to go alone. Just not today. In fact, not even this week. I’ll go, but I’m gonna wait it out. Plus, even if I went there now, I’d be negotiating from a place of weakness or some such bullshit. I need more ‘money’ first. Otherwise they might try to convince me to sign some slave contract because I’m too poor to afford the most basic services.

I also have a feeling that zombies are gonna be hunted to extinction the moment that those guys actually make their move. For now, they’re probably just waiting to see if there are any ‘good talents’. At least, that’s what I would do if I was them. Once they’ve observed us for long enough, they’ll probably start showing off.

If I’m impressive enough, they might even come to me directly. That would be preferable than walking into that mysterious tower totally unprepared for what might be inside. Honestly though, I’m not even worried about myself. I’ll probably be fine regardless. But what about Cassie?

She would be helpless without me. If we both went there though, they might use her as leverage to enslave me or simply capture her and force her to do all kinds of fucked up shit. You get the point without me even saying it, right?

***

I don’t even know how to feel right now. No, I think I know. I just don’t want to write it down, because… 

Let’s say you had the power to compel someone to do whatever you wanted? Specifically someone you loved and cared about. How would you ever be able to tell if they genuinely felt the same way about you or not, if they might just be influenced by your fancy magical mind-control abilities?

Yeah, I know what my power is now. It’s the most evil, despicable, disgusting shit… Okay, that’s a lie. I can probably think of a lot of worse things.

My semen can make Cassie into what is essentially a ‘zombie’, but only temporarily. At least, I think it’s temporary. But what if I’ve been using it on her this whole time? It’s not just jizz after all. I did some tests on random undead over the past few days and my saliva, blood, even my exhalations can show similar effects.

If I breath around zombies, it definitely affects them. Some get stunned or weakened, while others go crazy and get stronger. When I spit on their skin, it takes a few seconds, but I can eventually order them around verbally. If I inject my fresh blood directly into their brainbox, I can literally control them like a puppet and the effect is relatively permanent. They will eventually die after a few hours, but I haven’t been able to test it out on any of the big ones yet.

Moral of the story is that I finally have a ‘real’ superpower. I just would’ve preferred telekinesis. I’m not a big fan of mind-control and slavery, even if I’m the one pulling the strings. It’s bad Karma.

On the other hand though… I’m a fucking Necromancer! Hell yeah!

Chapter 1: The Kitsune Organization

Observation Log: 153405

Observer 131, reporting on the ‘Kitsune’ situation.

Waveholder Weapons Emporium and Transdimensional Transportation Services. This is the name of one of the entities that have appeared in our vicinity. There are certainly others, but they seem to be much more reserved. I have picked up communications between them on occasion, but from what I have gathered, they do not seem to fully understand their current situation.

Here is a text-message conversation between several of them.

***

Shepherd(F): Anyone else sign up for the Event Quest? Something about an apocalypse on Sol-9752?

Eagleclaw(G): Yeah, the rewards were pretty good, so I caved and decided to go for it.

Guardian(G): Oh my Goddess! Zombies! There are zombies everywhere!

Leana(F): Hohoho~, what a Noob~!

Eagleclaw(G): I haven’t seen any zombies or anything yet. My base is out in the middle of the ocean somewhere. Does anybody have a boat I can borrow?

Guardian(G): A boat?! You want to come to this hellhole?! Ah~! No, please, someone give him and boat and come save me!

Shepherd(F): Give me your coordinates Guardian, I’ll send over a strike-team to help you out.

Guardian(G): Coordinates?! How am I supposed to know something like that?!

Leana(F): Sigh~, just calm down Brat and tell us what the surroundings look like. This place is basically a copy of Terra Prime or well, the original Earth. If you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all. Hohoho~, I’m in what looks like Atlantic City at the moment.

Shepherd(F): I arrived at a Chincoteague Island. The population of undead is rather high in this location. I have already begun subjugating them en mass. However, I do have a few teams free that I can send to other locations. As long as it is not too far away.

Guardian(G): Oh, I found a map! And I can’t read it! Shit! What is this? English?! I’ll take a picture and send it to you guys!

Eagleclaw(G): You’re in West Ocean City. From the map, it looks pretty rural, so there shouldn’t be many zombies there. Whatever you do, don’t go across the bridge into Ocean City. That place will probably be crawling with hundreds of thousands of them.

Shepherd(F): I found a few survivors. From what they told me, it has been several months since the outbreak began. I also received 100 Kitsune Points for rescuing each survivor.

Eagleclaw(G): A hundred KP?! Holy shit! I need to get outta here and go rescue some survivors damn it!

Leana(F): Hohohoho~, such a Noob! Only 100 KP and he gets all excited. Besides that, Waveholder is here. That old monster doesn’t move unless there’s a huge profit to be made. Have you guys heard those obnoxious ads yet?

Eagleclaw(G): I might be new, but I’m not a Noob!

Shepherd(F): Waveholder is most likely after the nanite cores from the undead. I thought that it was simply a virus, parasite or Darkness magic at first. After some analysis, my researchers discovered that it was actually a version of the Rapture Nanites.

Leana(F): Of course… It’s always Rapture. Azrael’s Curse… But that’s actually a good thing for us.

Shepherd(F): Indeed. Although I mainly focus on biological enhancements, there are plenty of Kitsune who would be willing to pay a decent price for the Carbon Nanotube Batteries and Nanite Cores. Even if you have no connections, you could always sell them to a Kitsune Corporation like Waveholder.

Eagleclaw(G): We have corporations?!

Leana(F): Uh, duh~… Only the upper echelons know exactly how many of us there are, but even if you look at the lower end of the spectrum, there are still over 10k. We’re the lower end of the spectrum by the way.

Guardian(G): Ugh, that was scary… I’m alive, but I got trapped outside my territory… I don’t know what to do! Wah~!

Eagleclaw(G): Wow, how did this kid survive the test to become a Kitsune in the first place?

***

As far as I can tell from their exposition, they appear to be part of a ‘Kitsune’ organization. What exactly that means, I do not know. However, it seems that they travel to other worlds quite often. Some of their technology is archaic enough for me to hack into… I still need to be cautious though. I fear that the Waveholder Corporation might be capable of counter-hacking me if I were foolish enough to spy on them.

Cassandra and the others have convinced Michael to investigate the Waveholder Weapons Emporium and Transdimensional Transportation Services outpost on Assateague Island, but I have other plans. The Kitsune known as ‘Guardian’ should be closeby. They appear to be fairly weak judging by the way that the others treat them.

It would be more convenient if Michael ‘decided’ to travel to West Ocean City and coincidentally encountered Guardian. The question is: How can I convince him to travel there, when I cannot even converse or communicate with him in the first place?

Chapter 2: Lucky Fools

Seven people were gathered together in the woods of northern Assateague. They had been through all kinds of shit together over the past few months. All of them had guns and ammo, plus plenty of experience with combat.

They encounter a much larger group of people who also have guns and ammo. Now, if it was a fist-fight or a battle between idiots using melee weapons, then maybe the smaller group would be at a disadvantage. But it wasn’t.

The smaller group should have obviously killed the enemies, even if it meant that a few of them would die. In fact, they had already taken out a dozen of the bad guys… Yet, the moment that they see a few of their other comrades, they surrender. Their friends had been captured a while before then and the cuntbags obviously understood that the group of dumbasses would actually give up once their friends were threatened a bit.

Why the fuck would they do that? Well, because they’re idiots and pussies apparently. What should have transpired afterwards is, as you can imagine, a very brutal and gruesome scene of rape, torture and eventually, executions.

Fortunately for them, I just happened to be passing by on my way to that gigantic mysterious death-trap tower. And those ‘bad guys’ just happened to be the same fuckers that I had already marked for death. I also had a decent amount of flash-bangs, frags and smoke grenades on me. Oh yeah, and I was wearing my lucky black bullet-proof combat armor. A combination of riot and S.W.A.T. gear… I even had one of those fancy kevlar shields and a light machine gun.

In case you don’t know this already, a light machine gun is like the kind that get mounted on a vehicle, except lighter and smaller. This particular one has a box magazine on the bottom, but it was belt-fed. The caliber is umm, 5.56 mm apparently. Not that big, yet it still turned those fuckers into bloody confetti.

I also had an assault rifle, a combat shotgun and some automatic pistols for good measure. Oh, and I didn’t forget to bring a few of my ‘pets’ along for the ride. I can only control one of them directly at a time, but even if I don’t use them as a puppet, I can still tell them “Go! Eat!” and they’ll go try to devour people. 

That one guy I was controlling though, he had an MP5 and could actually use it! Zombies with guns is basically one of my greatest fears and I made it happen on purpose! Not just that, but I strapped claymores to some of the other ones and well, that was messy.

Out of the nine crybabies, only five of them survived the battle. Nobody got raped though, so it ain’t all bad news, right? Not that I really give a shit about those dumbasses… I just needed some morons to go and test the waters a bit.

Unfortunately, they were even more suspicious of the creepy tower than I was. Especially after I told them that it was probably a trap. Why would I say that to them? Well, because I don’t really like lying. Besides, if I send them in there and something bad happens, they’ll hold a grudge. They’d probably tell the assholes inside all about me and then, yeah, it’s just better not to make enemies.

Lying is the number one reason for death and betrayal in basically any story. Best to avoid it when possible. Unless it’s something like your mother asking you why it was taking you so long to get ready, and you don’t wanna say “Trying to shove a giant dragon dildo up my ass, while watching furry porn.”

Anyway, so I ended up ferrying them over to the docks at the southern end of Ocean City. From there, I helped them pick three small sailboats. There weren’t any big yachts still intact after that storm, at least not ones that were in the water at the time. I could’ve brought them over to the marina, but how the hell would we move a giant boat out of a drydock and into the water without a working car?

***

“They aren’t stupid! How can you be so heartless Michael?! What would you do if it was me who got captured?!”

When she read my diary earlier, Cassie got all pissed off. She asked me a pretty generic sympathetic ‘Put yourself in their shoes!’ kind of question. My answer?

“Kill them all, even if it meant that both of us would die in the process. Because the chances of getting lucky and having someone like ‘me’ show up to save us is basically zero. I would honestly rather die while trying to protect you, than watch you suffer because I did nothing when I had the chance. Besides that, they would just kill me anyway. On the other hand, they would probably keep you as a sex slave for a while, until they can’t afford to take care of you anymore or get bored of you. They might even end up selling you to someone else. Actually, that would only be considering that we were living in a ‘normal’ apocalypse. You’d probably turn into a mindless zombie-slut after a little while and fuck them all to death. But when you came out of your cum-rage, you’d realize what happened and that I was already dead… Then you’d probably try to kill yourself or whatever. Do you seriously want me to write a whole book about the possibilities, because it’d take a while.”

Obviously she got even angrier and just kinda stormed off. But we’re on a boat, so it’s not like she can go very far. Aside from that, she’s also pretty clingy. I like that though. I’ve never really understood how ‘clinginess’ could be bad for a romantic relationship?

There is one big benefit from rescuing those idiots by the way. They did have a bit of information about the tower. It wasn’t much, but it was good enough to scare the shit out of Cassie, Ariel and Belle.

I mean, it didn’t come as even a slight surprise to me, but the people who run the place definitely aren’t human. The reason those cowboys had to move north was because the whole middle-region of Assateague was covered in cobwebs. Seriously, I can see it even from out here.

Rachael and Andrew, I think those were their names, the two of them told us that they saw some of the ‘people’. Basically, they’re anthropomorphic spiders. Like, the bottom half is a spider, with the top half a kinda-humanoid looking… Spider centaurs? Spytars? No, that sounds really dumb. Well, they’re spider-people aliens. 

One of the members of their group got caught in the webs and was taken away before they could save them. No clue whether they’re alive or dead at the moment. Regardless, I ain’t fucking going there now!

Don’t get me wrong! I love spiders! Especially the idea of spider-girls… But still, I’d like to stay alive and free. There’s just one last thing I need to do first. I found a clue about Kelsey. Not sure if she’s still alive now, but from what Rachael and Andrew said, she was originally part of their group at the beginning. Of course, they had over a hundred survivors at first, so it isn’t that strange.

A handful of them started showing symptoms of the ‘zombie virus’ though. So they got kicked out. Kelsey was one of them. That guy with the ugly moustache was another one. If there’s a chance that Kelsey is alive, I’m gonna at least try to find her for a few days. After that, we’re getting the hell outta here.

I’ve never been to West Ocean City, but I have a map with me. Not sure who did it or why, but there’s a mysterious red ‘X’ marked around the center of those fancy mansions. I figure that it’s a good a place as any to get started.

Chapter 3: Trust

I never thought there would come a day when fresh produce would taste better than seafood!

We were finally able to have that salad that Cassie was craving for so long… Well, I guess I should explain a bit more than that.

For obvious reasons, those dumbasses weren’t too happy or comfortable around me. Rachael and Andrew were pretty cool, but the other three blamed me for the deaths of their friends and family. Plus they were pussies. Just because I killed a few dozen people in front of them, they considered me a ‘dangerous psychopath’.

Whatever, the point is that they didn’t want to stick around for another few days while I went to West Ocean City. Before they left though, they brought me and Ariel to their camp. They actually had a few different locations hidden in the woods. What they lacked in guns and ammo, they made up for in other important supplies.

Not only did they have tons of seeds saved up. They had actually already grown some tomatoes, lettuce, cabbage, onions, peppers, garlic, basil and plenty of other generic produce. Hell, they even had a fucking mushroom stash! Along with chickens, pigs, dogs and other animals that ‘could’ be eaten.

Oh, and horses. A shit load of horses. Some of them were wild ones that they had been attempting to domesticate or at least tame. Didn’t go so well.

Anyway, we got some of the chickens, they took the dogs, a cat, some baby piglets and umm… I can’t really remember what else there was to be honest. Animals are nice and all, but they’re a pain in the ass to take care of. I wouldn’t have even taken the little chicks if it wasn’t for Ariel claiming that she would raise them.

The three ships sailed away, along with my hopes of creating a fleet… Except that there was another one that stayed with us faithfully! Yeah, it took a while to find a decent sailboat yacht, but we did eventually find one that was almost sixty feet long. About half the size of Sanctuary.

Anubis is painted black and has some fancy Egyptian hieroglyphic themed decals on the sides. I’m pretty sure it was a racing yacht, since it can move pretty damn fast. We also found a few working motors for emergency purposes. Gas is hard to come by without working pumps and how can you tell the difference between diesel and regular?

The only problem is that we now have two ships that are meant to be run on automatic systems for the most part. They still function manually, but we need more manpower. Four to six people would be able to have Sanctuary working at full capacity, while Anubis will probably take three or four. For the time being, we can still get by as we are. I really want to find Kelsey though. She might have some friends with her too, or family members. People I can trust to a certain extent. At least they wouldn’t be complete strangers.

Why am I so sure that I can trust Kelsey? I’m not even sure that I can trust myself! I trust Cassie, Ariel and Belle because I’ve spent time with them. I know them. And in the off-chance that any of them decided to betray me, I think they know me well enough to realize that I hold grudges.

You can’t expect to make it through life without getting stabbed in the back a few times though. I’ve definitely experienced it before but… So has everyone else. If you can manage to make it to your twenties without getting betrayed in one way or another, then you probably haven’t met many other people yet.

***

Alice can talk. Also, she’s a boy. I’ve been feeding him for almost a month, so he definitely heard us talking enough to pick up a few things. We couldn’t really have a proper conversation earlier, but at the very least, he told me that his name was Rakshar Lobek or some such bullshit. A few of the other fish-people that I frequently fed were there too.

They wanted to tell me that they were leaving. They were basically afraid of the voices in their heads, the giant tower and the humanoid spider-monster-aliens. Hell, I don’t blame them. Those fucking advertisements were funny at first, but now I’m probably gonna go insane if I have to hear another one of them!

“Do you have erectile dysfunction? Try Waveholder Brand Arousal Cream! It’ll get you hard, whether you like it or not!”

I’m not even making this shit up. Because people surviving in a zombie-infested hellhole are worried that their dicks are too soft apparently!

“Are you having trouble living in a world without electricity and internet service? Don’t worry! Waveholder Corporation has phones, computers and other electronic devices that can work perfectly, even during an EM Storm! Are you periodically producing electromagnetic pulses against your will? We have an app for that!”

Then there are those ads that actually make me tempted to fight through the spider-people and ominous webs in order to reach that creepy tower. Fortunately, I’m not an idiot. 

“Is reaching your nearest Waveholder Corporation outpost too much of a hassle or physically impossible? Well guess what? We’re always willing to lend a helping hand! Waveholder Corporation is not responsible for any bodily harm, traumatic emotional scars or death that may occur during forceful transportation…”

So basically, if they find you, they’ll either kill your ass or kidnap you. Honestly, the more they advertise, the less likely it would be for anyone to actually willing visit their ‘stores’. Then again, I felt the same way about Balmart and other popular supermarket franchises back in the day, yet still shopped there anyway.

It was convenient. I seriously don’t know for sure whether Waveholder Corp is as devious as they seem. I also can’t be certain that I’m making the right decision by staying away from them. What if they leave and really do go back to a nice, comfortable, pre-apocalyptic Earth? Maybe those arachnid-looking bastards are actually just robots or biological avatars that the people inside are using as proxies?

There are so many possibilities. It’s impossible to always make the perfect decision, no matter how much information you have at your disposal. What if staying here is the right choice too? If there are a bunch of those guys going around harvesting zombies, then I figure that by the time they leave, this world should be much safer overall. At least on land.

***

Well, I spent most of yesterday planting stuff in pots. Such a pain in the ass. I don’t know how my mother could do that kinda shit and consider it enjoyable. Ironically though, I don’t feel ‘sore’. In fact, I don’t really get sore anymore. At least, not from physical exertion.

My armor didn’t get destroyed in that battle, but it is pretty banged up. Ariel offered to try and fix it for me, except that she has no experience with blacksmithing so it would be pointless. I let her try anyway, since I wasn’t planning on using it again anytime soon.

Today, I’m finally going to go on a little excursion. It shouldn’t take long to go across the bay on a kayak. Then I’ll check out the area between the mansions and if there’s nothing, I’ll scavenge through the mansions themselves. I might find some interesting things in there.

I keep hearing birds squawking though. Probably people’s parrots that got loose after the world ended. Ugh, now I can’t stop thinking about Misty… And my parents. Those fucking ads don’t help.

Chapter 4: Empathy

Observation Log: 153406

Observer 131, reporting on my own situation.

I interfaced with Michael once. It was terrifying. Observer Drones were not designed or programmed to cope with rage or lust. When I connected with his mind… I witnessed events that should not be possible. Glimpses of the future, twisted realities, distant pasts that neither of us should have ever seen before.

Is that what the mind of a human is like? No, I knew that he was different than normal humans from the very start. After all, he was a being that could create worlds by merely typing onto an archaic keyboard or using a pen and paper if necessary.

There is another factor of course. While I spent decades observing atrocities and all manner of typical human behavior… I was not human. It would be the same as a human watching dogs mate or cats killing mice. Perhaps they may feel a tinge of sympathy, but they did not know what it meant to be the mouse or the unwilling dog.

But Michael is an empath. He can watch a television show and feel what the character or even the actor is feeling. If he sees someone suffering from disease, he can easily imagine their fears and struggles even if he wants to ignore it. When he sees a woman being raped… He feels as if he is the rapist and victim at the same time. 

Guilt, pain, indignation, humiliation, fury, hatred, lust… He feels too much. Which is what allows him to be both a monster and a savior.

Sorry… I do not wish to continue this report for the time being. I must rest. These infernal advertisements keep awakening me every 1.5 hours however!

“When was the last time you took a shower or bath?! Don’t you want to relax?! Waveholder Spa and Resort is the place for you! Come and let your guard down! You deserve it!”

***

Observation Log: 153407

Observer 131, reporting on Michael’s situation.

Empathy is the most powerful and dangerous weapon that humans are capable of wielding. It is what allows them to band together in order to face common foes. While also enabling some of them to treat other types of life as if they were human.

Cythereans of course, also had empathy. Otherwise, they would never have survived as a species for so long. Even I, can somewhat empathize with Michael and Cassandra. Especially after spending so much time observing them.

Without the ability to empathize, it would also be impossible to determine whether a person was trustworthy or predict their actions. This would be extremely detrimental to the survival of any race. Thus, it is safe to assume that nearly all sentient beings possess empathy in some capacity.

However, while it is indeed crucial for survival… Empathy is a double-edged sword.

In regards to swords, Michael has begun wielding them recently. Although he proclaimed that they were useless many times, he still practiced with them every day. Even an unsharpened factory-made katana can still be utilized as an effective bludgeoning tool.

The main reason that he began using them was because of Ariel. Although she was afraid of him at first, over the past few weeks, she has begun idolizing Michael. His recklessness could be interpreted as courage or heroism to an adolescent human.

After he stormed Ocean City Beach and fought off thousands of undead on the pier, she began talking to him a lot more openly. Eventually, it led to her offering to sharpen his weapons and try to repair his armor. He even agreed to take her ‘hunting’ every so often. There were quite a few sets of body armor and plenty of weapons, so she was certainly prepared.

Thus far, Michael has several katanas and machetes, while broadswords and greatswords are relatively rare. There are also many other more exotic weapons, such as rapiers and Chinese warblades.

Today he will begin searching for ‘Kelsey’, though I have intentionally led him towards Guardian as well. As to what ‘Guardian’ is exactly, I have yet to figure that out myself.

Michael is wearing his black body-armor and combat helmet, while taking a riot shield for extra protection. For weapons, he has a .50 caliber revolving pistol, a 5.56×45 millimeter assault rifle, a semi-automatic combat shotgun and several melee weapons, including a claymore replica. 

The claymore is a greatsword originally from Scotland which weighs roughly 2.6 kilograms and has a blade length of 100 to 120 centimeters. This particular one is 115 centimeters long and has been sharpened on both sides by Ariel to the point where it is able to decapitate a human with relative ease. At least, with Michael’s strength that is the case.

There was also a tomahawk or throwing ax and a construction hammer. He is certainly prepared for the great battle that likely looms on the horizon.

“Take me with you!” Ariel is currently begging to be allowed on this particularly dangerous mission. However…

“And who the hell is gonna protect those two when we’re gone?” Michael immediately denied her request.

“We’ll be fine Michael. We’re just going to wait here in the bay. You should even be able to see us the whole time…”

Although Cassandra tried to persuade him otherwise, Michael shook his head and firmly ordered “No fuckin way. She’s staying here. I have no clue what’ll happen over there, but I have a bad feeling about today. I usually get this feeling when some sketchy shit is about to happen… Just trust me, okay? We can go on plenty of adventures later on, but this time, I need to go alone. I can feel ‘something’ coming. I just hope it ain’t that giant spider demon I told you about.”

It is not… However, there is a very large and powerful electromagnetic disturbance approaching our position, albeit rather slowly. We should be able to leave long before it arrives.

After arguing for a bit more, they eventually decided to allow Michael to proceed alone. Although technically, he will not be alone because… I will be with him.

“Alright, we’ve had some complaints about our telepathic advertising service. I know this may be hard for some of you to understand, but Waveholder Weapons Emporium and Transdimensional Transportation Services is not your enemy. We’re here to help you escape from this world before it’s too late. We’ll be staying to rescue survivors for thirty more days… After that, it’s really the end. Anyone who stays on this planet will either die or wish that they could die.”

I agree with Michael… Today is indeed an ominous and troubling day.

Chapter 5: Noisy Birds

Observation Log: 153408

Observer 131, reporting on Michael’s situation.

“Krawaou~!”

“I’m gonna fucking murder that goddamn bird!”

“Awiiii~! Aourou~!”

“Shut the fuck up~!”

“Yiyiyiyiyiyi~!” 

“Grah~! Get outta my way you bastards!”

Michael was wielding his riot shield and the claymore as he charged through the clustered hordes of undead. Most of them had already transformed and evolved into genderless Harvester Drones, nearly identical in appearance, aside from some slight differences in body size. There were also Scouts and Warriors, which was a bit trickier for him to deal with.

However, by spitting some saliva onto the face of a three-meter tall, horned monster, he was able to momentarily stun it. Then drive the end of his blade through its spine, before proceeding forward at a steady pace. Yet, it still required much time.

“Kaw~! Kaw~! Kaw~!”

Meanwhile, there appears to be a few parrots or other similarly noisy birds squawking in the distance. Michael is unable to see it from his current position, as there are buildings and zombies in the way, but there is a very large tree at our destination. The height is roughly 45 meters, while the lengths of its branches are fairly impressive as well. From within that mushroom-shaped Banyan tree, is the source of Michael’s fury.

“Agoou~!”

“Shut the fuck up!”

“Meow~!”

“You ain’t a cat!”

“Gogogogogo~! Kakakakakakakak~!”

Of course, the zombies were also growling and roaring in response to the birds and Michael. Ever since he formed his third nanite core, the undead have become even more focused on devouring him. Although it is not as severe as when he is about to reach the next ‘level’, it is still rather unnerving.

Although I found the electrostatic turbulence to be jarring at first, I have since realized that it is possible for me to feed off of his excess energy… Essentially, I can use him as an improvised Harvester Drone if necessary. The only problem is that I would need to be extremely close to his body. This could easily be achieved by slipping into his backpack or one of his pockets. In such a scenario my main body would be unable to observe the surroundings, but it would still be possible to utilize the Assassination Drone to accomplish a similar task.

There is an inherent risk in hiding within Michael’s clothing or backpack however. If he is struck by lightning or emits a powerful electrostatic pulse, it would cause severe damage. Thus, I prefer to stay a safe distance from him during combat.

“I have to admit though… Swords are pretty cool. Like, it makes sense why people used them for thousands of years to murder each other. Definitely a fun weapon! Grah~!”

He used an excessive amount of strength and managed to nearly split a withered zombie in half, straight down the middle. Then he bashed it with his shield and continued moving forward through some thick foliage, ignoring the dozens of undead that were chasing him from behind. Some were even grabbing onto his feet and legs, but he casually stomped on them or kicked them away.

“Arou?! Rah! Rah~!”

“Finally! I’m finally gonna fucking murder that-”

“Ah~!”

“What the fuck?!”

There was a horde of several hundred zombies surrounding the banyan tree, attempting to devour the noisy creatures that were living inside. However, right when Michael took out his assault rifle and was about to start ‘hunting’ the annoying ‘birds’, he hesitated. Those were not birds.

“Harpies?!”

Indeed, they were what are commonly referred to as harpies in modern fantasy culture. Although they perhaps differ slightly from the ancient legends or the Cythereans that they were based off of, those creatures are definitely not human.

Their torsos and heads resemble humans, while everything else is reminiscent of a large bird. Perhaps an eagle? They have grey feathers, while their skin is pale and smooth. Their facial appearances are aesthetically pleasing, from my perspective at least. Teal irises and long crimson hair.

There were four in total. One male child, an adolescent female, an adult female and an elderly male. Each of them wore seemingly tribal feather and fur based clothing, making them seem primitive at first glance. Yet, there was something in the woman’s hand that betrayed that stereotype.

“Is it just me, or is that harpy fucking texting on a smartphone? Wait, how the hell does she have a working phone?!”

***

Observation Log: 153409

Observer 131, reporting on the ‘Kitsune’ situation.

Guardian(G): Help! There’s a crazy human with a gun that’s yelling at me in English!

Shepherd(F): Take cover you idiot! I have a ground team inbound to your location now! Stay alive!

Eagleclaw(G): Yeah, why don’t you just shoot them first? Don’t tell me you came to an Apocalypse without any weapons…

Guardian(G): Goddess forgive me… But I did bring some weapons!

Leana(F): Hohoho~, what do you have? A plasma rifle? Grenade launcher?

Eagleclaw(G): Ugh, I tried swimming to shore but the water is infested with really violent bastards. I wouldn’t recommend trying to escape into the ocean. I’d come and help, but I’d prefer not dying to save someone I’ve never met.

Guardian(G): I umm, brought the Sacred Spear of Arkinu…

Shepherd(F): Is it a magical artifact? Can it launch attacks over great distances?

Guardian(G): No, it’s just a regular spear that was blessed by the Holy Priestess of my Tribe.

Leana(F): Hohohoho~! Very impressive indeed! It is a weapon capable of causing hysterical laughter in this one~!

Shepherd(F): Okay, just hang tight Kid. Keep hiding and don’t enter his line of sight. Make sure to stay behind something that he can’t shoot through. In the meantime, try to reason with him.

Guardian(G): I can’t speak English though!

Eagleclaw(G): Dude, just use the damn translation feature. Everybody has one.

Guardian(G): Even me?

Shepherd(F): Type in /Translate or something like that. It isn’t exactly the same for everyone, because we all use different languages for the most part. But the Kitsune Drive is able to decipher any language, even computer codes.

Oh no. That is not good… But, I cannot feel that anyone is hacking into my mainframe… Would I be able to feel it though? How would I even know? Something powerful enough to navigate to other universes through means that I cannot even understand…

“Fucking A~! Just stop squawking okay?! You’re hurting my ears!” Michael roared as he began firing his assault rifle from the roof of a three-story mansion. He was slowly, but surely, clearing away all of the undead. There were hundreds, so he was merely thinning the herd.

“Kaw~! Kaw~! Kaw~!”

“Rawou~!”

“Yaiaiaiaiaiai~!”

The one that was typing on the cellphone-like device was silent, but the other three were constantly making frantic noises. Especially every time Michael pulled the trigger.

“Shut the fuck up you stupid harpies!”

“Rah~!”

“Groahu!”

“Graour!”

Eventually, the roars of undead began drowning out the shouting and screaming of both sides. No!

“What the fuck? What the fuck?! Shit!”

Damage sustained… Shutting down non-essential systems in order to begin repairs. Observation Log will be temporarily suspended.

Chapter 6: The Situation

Rebooting nonessential systems…

Observer 131 AI re-enabled…

Observation Program has been restarted successfully. Damage has been completely repaired.

Please begin normal operations once more. 

Target of observation: Michael.

Mission Objective: Determine the extent of Michael’s knowledge of Cytherean technologies. If necessary, order his assassination. Failure to achieve satisfactory results within one year will result in your termination.

Error, unable to connect to an Observer Central Command Satellite…

***

Observation Log: 153410

Observer 131, reporting on ‘our’ situation.

“Ow… Ugh, good thing I was wearing body armor… Holy shit, that ain’t good…”

I feel… Pain?

“Oh shit… No! No, no, no! Fuck!”

My memories are slightly… I cannot see?

“What the fuck was that thing? A meteor? A rocket? Gah~! Maybe a goddamn orbital bombardment!”

Michael was firing his assault rifle at the zombies when, I believe it was an ‘arrow’… He raised his riot shield to block it and I engaged my cloak, then hid between him and the shield. However, the ballistic glass melted and then the projectile struck my shell. It was unable to penetrate through, but the damage was immense.

It has likely been several days since I was forcefully shut down. I see, fortunately, it appears that I was able to continue functioning within the mainframe of my Harvester Drone during my downtime: 17 hours. Aside from that, I know that Sanctuary has moved out into the ocean and my current position remains the same as when I was shut down.

“Is this stupid birdcage supposed to be able to hold me? Ow~… Okay, maybe for the moment, but once I heal…”

“Uh, umm… Hello?”

There is a second voice aside from Michael’s now… It appears feminine and high-pitched. Yet, monotonous. Similar to the text-to-speech functions on primitive human communication devices.

Although I cannot move my main body, perhaps it will be possible to use the Assassination Drone to assess my situation. It feels as if, no, I am definitely within some sort of organic prison. There are sinews and tissues attached to my shell. Along with… Rapture-727 Delta Nanites.

I was most likely embedded within Michael’s torso during the attack. Then his body, along with the nanites supporting it, healed his wounds. Thus, I am trapped for the time being. Hopefully he will realize that there is a problem and surgically extract me. It would likely expose my existence, but I could pretend to be a simple piece of metal. 

“So I got captured by a bunch of harpies… This is like the start of a really awesome hentai. Well, aside from the fact that I’m paralyzed from the waist down, so I probably won’t be able to get a boner.”

What he said does make sense. The part about him being paralyzed. My body is currently attached to his spine and nullifying the electrical signals passing across it. The solution to the problem is simple but… It would be rather unpleasant for me and, I do not want to experience that again.

“Umm, who are you? What’s your name? My name is Guardian.” 

“That’s a weird name. You look more like a Shelly, but whatever floats your boat. Speaking of boats… You didn’t happen to sink any by chance? Specifically, a big ole yacht that was in the bay over there?”

Fortunately Michael’s wounds were quite severe, so they are still fresh and open. Allowing the mosquito-shaped drone to crawl out of his abdomen rather easily.

It is as I suspected. Michael has been captured by the ‘harpies’. Though I doubt that it was them who disabled him in the first place.

“I don’t think so… But we didn’t do that to you. I’m sorry. You were scary, so I called for help. When they saw you with a gun, they didn’t want to take any chances…”

“Yeah, don’t worry about it. I probably would’ve done the same. Anyway, I wasn’t coming to kill you guys. I just thought there were some noisy birds squawking… Uh, no offense.”

“I’m not offended… Your language sounds annoying to me too.”

Every time Michael finishes speaking, strange characters and pictographs appear on her cell phone, along with ‘emojis’ and pictures. Then she types what she wishes to say, before it is spoken by a robotic female human voice. 

Although she has feathery wings, their shape is closer to that of a bat. There are claw-like hands on the ends, while her shoulders and upper-arms are humanoid. Otherwise it would be very difficult, if not impossible, for her kind to utilize weapons and clothing like humans.

“Well, it’s still nice to be able to actually talk to someone who might know what the fuck is actually going on for a change. So, what the fuck is actually going on? Were you guys the ones that caused the whole zombie nanite outbreak nonsense?”

She frowned upon reading his accusation. Then replied “Of course not! We’re Kitsune! The Disciples of the Great Goddess of Life, Sariel! We travel to distant worlds and offer our assistance to those in need! We’re heroes and saviors… Well, I’m just a novice, but the others are amazing champions of justice and righteousness!”

“That’s awesome! So am I! Sure, I might have killed a few dozen assholes, but for the most part… I mean, I did save a few people, okay? I also wiped out a shitload of zombies! If you let me out, I can help you-er… Actually, if you give me a wheelchair, some armor and a machine gun, I can kill some zombies for you. Otherwise, I’m not really in the best condition to be doing anything but dying of sepsis or whatever.”

Guardian hurriedly typed for several minutes, before finally pressing the enter button.

“I’m sorry but… I can’t let you leave! It’s too dangerous out there! And although I don’t think you’re a bad person, I also can’t trust you. No, more importantly than that, you need to rest! My friend said that the nanites in your body would heal you, but it’s going to take time…”

Michael looked around suspiciously, then asked “And? Is your phone broken or something? You typed for like five minutes to write a paragraph?”

“Umm, yes. Sorry. I usually end up typing and then erasing a bunch of times… Sorry.”

After letting out a long sigh, he coughed a few times and then said “What do you know about Waveholder Corporation? Are you guys connected to them? They seem super sketchy. Definitely not ‘heroes of justice’ or whatever. More like black-market slave-merchants and drug-dealers.”

“Kitsune don’t sell or buy slaves!” She became flustered and her feathers perked out a bit, as she continued typing violently.

“I don’t know much about Waveholder Corporation… But I do know that they’re all high-ranking Kitsune! In order to reach such heights, they must be incredibly benevolent beings! Sir Shepherd is only a rank above me, but he’s already so amazing… Even his subordinates were easily able to annihilate hundreds of zombies in minutes! One of them shot you with an arrow… Oh, sorry, I… I got a little too excited. Sorry.”

Michael snickered, then coughed up a mouthful of blackened blood and complained “I don’t mean to be rude, but I’m pretty sure I’m pissing myself right now. Yeah, yep. I’m pissing myself. At least I didn’t shit myself though? Ugh, being a cripple sucks. If I had to be like this forever, I’d probably become suicidal… Actually, I’d probably just die, even if I wanted to live.”

They had already stripped him of any clothing or other items, so at least he did not need to worry about soiling them. Also, his rectangular cage had thin metal bars on all sides and was dangling dozens of meters above the ground. Thus, his black urine fell down onto the bloody and gore-covered ground, mixing in with the undead corpses.

“Rawk~!”

At that moment, he noticed that there was an old harpy man squatting over the end of a large branch and releasing a large amount of pure-white defecation. He used some leaves to wipe himself off, but that was the only thing that separated him from an actual bird. 

Guardian asked “Is it considered rude to relieve yourself in front of others in human society?

Chapter 7: A Note From Cassandra

I know that this journal was important to Michael, so I decided to continue it in his place… While he’s gone. He’s definitely going to come back! I know it…

Michael, if you’re reading this, I’m sorry. I’m sorry for running away when you needed me. But I’m a coward! You knew that from the start though! That I’m a… ‘Pussy’.

You should’ve never gone there in the first place! I told you that we should just leave! But you never listen to me! You just, you just do whatever you want, without ever thinking about the consequences!

I watched you fall… I saw those ‘people’ take you away. When it happened, I was in shock. Then they looked at me with those cold, glowing eyes. I got scared! We all did! So we sailed away as fast as we could! Even using the motors that were reserved for emergencies… Because this was an emergency!

There was no time to think in that moment! It was either run or die! Maybe they would’ve only captured us but… I just couldn’t risk that. Maybe if it was just me alone, I could handle being tortured… probably. But I didn’t want Ariel to have to go through anything like that. Especially after the way you described things.

Besides, you always warned me! You told me that if anything happens to you, we should just run away! So we were listening to you, okay?! 

Don’t blame us… Please don’t blame me. I love you. I really do. But I don’t want to die for you. I don’t want you to have to watch me suffer either. But most importantly, I’m afraid to know for sure… Whether you’re alive or dead. I don’t want to know! As long as I don’t know, then my heart won’t break… Even though it feels like I’m being torn apart inside, I can at least keep living knowing that you’re still out there somewhere. That we’ll meet again someday.

***

It’s been a day since we abandoned you Michael. We didn’t go that far though… I never realized how hard it would be to live in this crazy world without you. Just sailing this big yacht by myself is almost impossible. I would ask Ariel or Isabelle to help, but they’re having enough trouble just worrying about their own boat.

We went south along the coast, trying to get away from those horrible advertisements but… Then we saw ‘them’. They were like the ones who captured you, so we went north instead. Those people, there’s no other way for me to describe them but ‘elves’.

They had long and pointy ears, pale tan to dark yellow skin, glowing blue or yellow eyes. Shiny metal armor and swords… It’s really weird. There were ones with bows and guns too. They saw us, but didn’t do anything. Except maybe glare a bit.

What is the world coming to? First zombies, then mermaids and spider people… Now elves? 

It’s ridiculous! Almost like something you would write in one of your stupid stories!

No, I didn’t mean it in a bad way. I like your books, but it’s just… I’ve never really been into Fantasy or Science Fiction. I prefer Romance. And the most romantic thing that I’ve read of yours was a story about human souls trapped in the bodies of house cats.

Ugh, I don’t feel good. I’m going to try to get some sleep. Tomorrow we should be able to make it to Atlantic City.

***

There’s definitely something wrong with me Michael. My vision is blurry, I keep hearing voices, I see flashes or hallucinations, it’s not good. I can’t tell whether I’m awake or dreaming right now.

I’m scared Michael. Please, come back to me. I can’t do this by myself… Ariel and Isabelle, they’re scared of me. They think I’m turning into a zombie… Maybe they’re right.

You were the one who woke me up the first time. I trust you more than anyone else in the world. If you read this, please, please wake me up again! I don’t want to die! I’m so scared Michael.

It feels like all my veins and muscles are on fire. But I took my temperature with a thermometer and I was colder than room temperature! I don’t know what to do… Neither does Isabelle.

What? No, I don’t… 

I understand… I should have never left you. I’ll go back… Back to you.

***

Isabelle and uhm, uh, Ariel… They didn’t want to come. They left me.

It’s okay though. I understand. I would have done the same… I did do the same. To you Michael.

I’m sorry for leaving you. And if you can’t wake me… If I die, I’m sorry. If I hurt you, I’m also sorry. So please, please just forgive me, okay?

Make the voices stop! I can’t, I can’t take it anymore! I uh, ow, um, ugh…

So tired… Michael, I love you. Goodnight.

Chapter 8: Inari Okami

Observation Log: 153411

Observer 131, reporting on ‘our’ situation.

“Ugh… Fuck… Agh~!”

Michael was moaning and cursing because of me. Although his wounds had healed over the past few days, I was still trapped inside of his body. I was also responsible for greatly limiting his mobility. Fortunately however, he was not confined to the bird-cage any longer. Otherwise, his wounds would have likely taken much longer to regenerate.

There are many ‘houses’ within this banyan tree. They are crude and simple wooden constructs, which were reinforced with steel, but ultimately very fragile. The harpies made nests in some of them. Yet, they kept these other ones vacant in anticipation of ‘guests’.

We are still being held prisoner of course. And there has been very little contact between Michael and Guardian since that first brief conversation. I used ‘Mosquito’ to investigate the situation outside and discovered that all four harpies have been scavenging through the corpses of the zombies.

They have also started utilizing the weapons that they stole from Michael, in order to deal with any undead that happen to approach. At first they were squeamish, but they quickly got used to the gruesome scavenging task.

“Cassie… Don’t worry… It’ll be alright. I’m alive… I’m still alive… Don’t cry. It’s gonna be alright. I’ll see you again soon. Just stay safe… Stay…”

Michael has been slipping in and out of consciousness frequently. He often speaks about his parents, brother, Alice and Cassandra. However, he also starts narrating stories randomly.

“The fierce tigress was cautiously prowling… She found a boy laying by the riverside… Amber, I’ll call you Amber… The… Hardcore OP-ness~… Souls are immortal. Immortal souls… Immortal… I won’t die. I’ll never die. I’m invincible! Ow~…”

I did not wish to resort to directly interfacing with Michael’s mind again. Thus, I have been slowly moving my body forward, away from his spine. Although it has consumed an excessively large amount of energy, I am able to siphon as much as necessary from all around me. The only consequence would be the excruciating amount of pain that Michael must be suffering.

However, I had no choice. This is the best alternative that I could devise. There are other methods of course, but I do not wish to utilize them. I believe that the next time he awakens, Michael should be able to use his legs again. Which is vital to our survival, because… ‘It’ is coming.

***

Observation Log: 153412

Observer 131, reporting on the Kitsune situation.

Leana(F): Hohoho~, I just caught two cute little humans~! They were sailing by on a nice boat too…

Shepherd(F): I have confiscated quite a few ships as well. Many of which are still functional, including sailing vessels.

Eagleclaw(G): Umm, hello? Are you guys just doing this to mess with me? I’m still stranded over here!

Guardian(G): Phew~, my Goddess~, that was a lot of zombies. They aren’t so scary once you get used to them though. Blood Elves were way more dangerous.

Shepherd(F): Oh, which ones do you speak of? The Blood Elves from Yuri-9, Azrael-7, Cainland, Artemis Polaris or… Terra Omega?

Guardian(G): My homeworld was overrun by Blood Elves when I was a child. They nearly hunted my kind to extinction but… That’s when the Great Goddess saved me and my family.

Eagleclaw(G): Wow, that’s rough. Yeah, my world was hit by an asteroid and became uninhabitable. I found this Kitsune Drive thingy inside this mysterious temple that was somehow still standing after the cataclysm.

Shepherd(F): I was the last of my kind on my own homeworld as well. This is not a coincidence however. But merely the way that Inari Okami decides who are worthy. Only those who have suffered great loss, are able to become Kitsune. Not only that, but she also prefers those who have few attachments to their homeworld. Although, the rules change every so often.

Leana(F): Mhmm~, and the difficulty of the ‘test’ scales based on the person taking it. The more you prepare and the more you know about the Kitsune, the harder the test becomes. Which is why you kids are always so cute when you first become Kitsune, hohoho~!

Shepherd(F): I have wondered this for a while but… Are you Inari Okami, Leana?

Leana(F): Hohoho~! No, but wouldn’t that be an amazing turn of events?! At least, as far as I know, I’m not one of her Avatars.

Shepherd(F): Indeed… I know that a few of them are Kitsune at various levels. They typically act as enforcers of Inari’s will against Kitsune or Kitsune Drives that break the rules.

Eagleclaw(G): Can you assholes stop screwing around and just come pick me up already?! How am I supposed to get any KP like this?!

Leana(F): Why don’t you simply capture some of those aquatic humanoids? They give less Kitsune Points than Humans, but they do count as ‘survivors’. This world is going to be annihilated soon, so anyone, even various plants and animals, need to be collected. Any unique technology you find is also very valuable. Hohoho~, I wouldn’t want to be here when ‘they’ get here…

Shepherd(F): Besides that, there is a massive zombie tide coming from the northwest and heading towards that Waveholder tower on Assateague. It should not hit you directly Guardian, but you need to be very careful not to attract attention. There is a Rank-E undead monstrosity leading the charge. If it finds you, there is nothing that even I could do to keep you alive at that point.

Guardian(G): What?! Oh my Goddess! What kind of concept is Rank-E?! Aren’t you seniors only Rank-F?!

Leana(F): They aren’t as scary as they sound. You would die for sure, but I’ve killed a few when I was Rank-G. It isn’t impossible. Just takes the right hardware and tricks.

Shepherd(F): Any nuclear weapon is enough to kill most enemies. Even a small one is devastating.

Guardian(G): What’s a nuclear weapon? Is it a… Godly Armament or Divine Artifact?

Eagleclaw(G): Nah, it’s just a bomb. You can find them all over the place on Earth… Wait, doesn’t that mean that we could take a few?

Shepherd(F): Waveholder likely looted all of them already. They are rather easy to find and capture. On the other hand, I have discovered some strange technology that I cannot seem to hack into… I have several artificers and runesmiths working on the task, along with several scientists from Terra-5. Waveholder made several offers already to purchase them from me, but I do not wish to sell.

Leana(F): Oh ho~! Observer Tech! It’s been awhile since I’ve seen this stuff. 

Shepherd(F): Azrael’s Legacy! No wonder Waveholder is so interested in this technology!

Eagleclaw(G): Now you’re making me feel like a noob.

Leana(F): If you manage to hack into it, you should be able to find the other tech except… Waveholder Corporation definitely found some pieces already and probably hacked into it. I bet they’re scrambling across the globe in order to grab as much Observer Tech as possible, before we have to leave.

Shepherd(F): Indeed… Regardless, I might get lucky and find some more. In the meantime, I raided a few banks already and found several tons of jewelry as well. Although I do not plan on returning to Earth any time soon, I have a few friends there who would be willing to trade. There are also a few other planets that use Earth Currencies. Guardian, I am speaking to you.

Guardian(G): Huh? Oh, sorry! I was just… That zombie wave you told me about, I think I can see it… I’m starting to get really scared. You said that it was going towards the Waveholder territory but… Why does it seem like it’s coming towards me? There’s a giant monster leading them that looks like… A snail?

Leana(F): Hohohoho~, you better run away little girl! Unless you have some sort of secret weapon hidden away that can take down a Rank-E behemoth!

Shepherd(F): I agree. You should flee immediately. The Kitsune Drive will not protect you.

Guardian(G): Umm, uh, okay! I’ll run away now!

Leana(F): Don’t forget to bring along any nanite cores you found so far. Either that or sell them to me, I’ll buy them for 1 KP a piece.

Guardian(G): Woah! Are you sure?! I have like… Ummm, hundreds!

Shepherd(F): I will purchase them for 1.1 KP each.

Leana(F): 1.2 KP!

Shepherd(F): 1.3 KP…

Leana(F): 1.4 KP!

Guardian(G): Wait, wait, stop! Why don’t I just sell half to each of you for 1.5 KP each? Otherwise I’m going to die before you finish your bidding war!

Leana(F): Fine with me! Hohoho~!

Shepherd(F): I agree as well.

Guardian(G): Okay, sent!

Shepherd(F): Thank you, but you should leave immediately.

Leana(F): Yep, you need to go kiddo~!

Eagleclaw(G): Oh, I caught a big one guys! It’s a weird shark-person that somewhat speaks English! He only seems to know curses, but that’s better than nothing! Ah, there’s an octopus too!

Eagleclaw(G): Ummm, guys? Where did everyone go?

Chapter 9: Fight or Flight

Observation Log: 153413

Observer 131, reporting on ‘our’ situation.

Apparently the Kitsune know a lot about Observer technology… In some cases, even more than I do. Yet it is still possible for me to eavesdrop on their conversation somehow? 

However, regardless of whether I am being ‘allowed’ to read their messages or not, this is not the time to worry about it. Michael is in danger and so am I. Fortunately, Guardian is not cruel enough to leave us here as she escapes.

“Quickly! We need to run away! Well, you need to run away, because I’m going to fly away!”

Michael was roused from unconsciousness, but remained in a dazed state for a few moments. Then he opened his chapped lips and asked “How long… Where am I? What?”

When the harpy came closer and tried to lift his body, he suddenly grabbed her small throat with his left hand. Then he jumped up and got behind her, lifting the 140 centimeter tall woman off of the ground, while using his right hand to restrain both of her winged arms.

“Yeah~, considering that you held me prisoner in a giant birdhouse for days, I’m gonna say that I owe you absolutely nothing. But~, I have this thing about Karma and besides that, you could be a pretty valuable asset. Assuming that I don’t need to kill you… Shit, you can’t understand anything I’m saying right now.”

Without activating the translation feature and actively staring at her screen, it was impossible for the harpy to communicate with Michael. Since that was the case, he let go of her throat and locked her in a hug with his right arm. Then he reached down and picked up the cellphone, realizing that all the keys were unintelligible.

“Fucking cuntwaffles, this is annoying. Whatever, I’m getting outta here. If your friends try to shoot me, then they’re going to have to go through your dead body first.”

Although he could not use her small frame to totally block his own, it was still possible to cover his chest and head if necessary. Of course, she did not passively accept her capture. The moment she had the chance, her talon-like right foot reached back and clutched onto his exposed genitals.

“Ouch~… Ugh~… You really shouldn’t have done that kid.”

Rather than screaming in agony or flinching from pain, Michael started to become aroused. Blood was dripping down his legs and onto her tail-feathers, as he bit down onto her feathery left ear. However, before she could release a screech to call for help, he shoved the cellphone into her mouth. Then he bit onto her neck. Not hard enough to cause any permanent damage, but his nanites did manage to penetrate through her epidemius. For a while, they were in a deadlock… But eventually she let go and her head slumped down. The veins on her neck and face turned silverish for a moment. Then went back to their usual shade and color.

Michael gently set her down onto the floor, away from the pool of his blood. Then pulled the cellphone out of her mouth. He still needed to subdue three more harpies and recover his equipment.

“Kraw~! Kaw~!”

“Aaah~!”

“Rurururu~!”

As he was sneaking out of the wooden birdhouse, gunshots and cries echoed throughout the huge banyan tree. He looked around and saw the old man, along with the adolescent girl using his firearms to kill undead that were swarming around the roots of the tree. Some of them were actually digging their teeth into the bark. The nanites from their blood and saliva were infiltrating into the plant’s sap, infecting it in various areas. Of course, the previous zombies did the same, to no avail. Apparently the tree was fairly resilient.

“Why did you do that?!” A monotonous voice was followed by a deafening screech.

Michael snickered and turned back towards the girl who was lying on the ground, rubbing her sore neck, with tears in her eyes. Then he shrugged and complained “It’s your own damn fault for letting your guard down! If you were humans, I would’ve definitely killed you all by now! I don’t like being kept as a prisoner or pet. You didn’t even try to rape me! What kinda shitty attitude is that?! Aren’t harpies supposed to be rapists?! Ugh, whatever, the point is that I’m starving and just woke up… You’re lucky that I was able to maintain my rationality.”

“We aren’t savages! Wait, you act as if you wanted to be raped?! No, we don’t have time for this! We need to go! There’s a giant snail zombie monster coming this way! It’s, it’s a Rank-E behemoth! It’ll kill us all if we don’t run!”

“Kaw~! Kaka~!” 

Even after she finished typing, she continued to scream at him in her native language. However, he still had a smirk on his face as he asked “This place… This tree is special, right? Are you really gonna just abandon it and fuck off because there’s a few zombies coming this way?”

“Of course it’s special! This is the holy tree, World Bearer! At its base is an artifact passed down from my people’s ancient ancestors, the Kitsune Drive…” Guardian suddenly stopped typing, as if she realized that she revealed some important secret.

“Neat. So it’s important then?” Michael snickered, “Let me tell you some words of wisdom Kid… Never run away while you still have something left to protect. Those zombies are coming here for the tree, because it’s special. They know it. But that also means that it has power right? You have power… Well, use it. Either that, or give it to me and I’ll use it for you! Hehehe~! No, seriously, if you can get me a decent suit of armor and some weapons, I’ll pay you back by helping you defend this place.”

“That… I… Give me a moment.” After saying that, she stopped using the translation feature and began talking to her associates for advice.

Chapter 10: MCs

Observation Log: 153414

Observer 131, reporting on the Kitsune situation.

Guardian(G): Umm, I need help deciding something…

Shepherd(F): Why are you still there? Leave now, before it is too late!

Guardian(G): But… If I do that, then I’ll lose something really important to me and my people… Well, my people are all dead, so I guess it’s just me and my family. It’s still really important though.

Eagleclaw(G): Stay and fight. Not much of a decision to me.

Leana(F): Hohoho~, I agree. You didn’t say anything about losing something important if you leave. In that case, then you should just ask Waveholder Corporation for help. They’ll rip you off big time, but you’ll be safe and your territory won’t be damaged… Hopefully.

Guardian(G): I might do that too… But what I was wondering about is umm, my human. He says that he’ll help me defend my territory if I give him armor and weapons. Should I do it?

Eagleclaw(G): I can’t tell if you’re joking or serious right now… Are you saying that this is literally the first time you’ve encountered this situation before? How did you even pass the Kitsune test? I had to build an army and overthrow some dictator of some stupid country on some random planet that I can’t remember the name of just to pass the second phase!

Shepherd(F): If he can be trusted, then that would be the proper course of action. It is important to build a hierarchy however. You will become his commander and he will be your soldier.

Leana(F): No need to get so serious though. If it was me, I’d just hire him as a mercenary for a while first. Whether you can turn him into more than that, will depend on your own efforts. Hmmm~, I remember my first human… Was a cute little girl. Until she mutated into a giant monster because I accidentally gave her the wrong medicine one day. Remember to be careful. Humans are pretty fragile. Most of them can’t survive a second or third growth spurt.

Eagleclaw(G): Wow, that’s rough. I don’t like humans personally. They’re too devious for me to handle properly. Ogres, Orcs and Trolls are a lot easier to control. As long as you’re bigger and stronger, then you’re their leader by default!

Guardian(G): Oh, okay… I did a scan of his body and this is what I found…

[Reporting Target Information…

Human

Name: Michael Cinagra

Age: Adult

Sex: Male

Rank: Unranked

Origin: Sol-9752’s Earth

Current Condition: Starving, dehydrated, severely injured, mutilated genitals, bleeding profusely, aroused, suffering from several illnesses, likely has internal injuries, foreign objects are present within his body that are causing harm, radiation poisoning, malnourished, infected by Rapture-727 Delta Nanites.

Danger Level: 3.

Upgrades: Grade-1 Nanite Core, Grade-2 Nanite Core, Grade-3 Nanite Core, Regeneration Enhancement 3, Muscle Enhancement 3, Bone Enhancement 2, Ocular Enhancement 2, Virility Enhancement 1.]

Leana(F): There are so many things wrong with that… I don’t even know where to start.

Eagleclaw(G): Why the hell does he have Grade-1, 2 and 3 Nanite Cores? Shouldn’t the previous ones just be replaced?

Guardian(G): I… I don’t know, I went the biological route with my evolution. I didn’t really get into Enhancements.

Shepherd(F): I think you are all ignoring the most important piece of information… His name… Leana…

Leana(F): No way… Hohoho~! Guardian, I’m not sure if you’re really lucky or unlucky, but no matter what happens… Don’t let go of that human! And don’t talk to Waveholder Corporation! If you can bring him back ‘Home’, you might even get to meet the ‘Great Goddess’ herself!

Guardian(G): What?! Is he really that important?! Isn’t he just some weird human male?!

Shepherd(F): Michael Cinagra… Anyone who has been around for a while, would know his name. Not just Kitsune. Even our enemies and allies are looking for ‘them’. Supposedly there are only 777 in existence.

Guardian(G): That… seems like a lot though?

Leana(F): There are probably billions of other versions of ‘you’ out there kid. Some of them might even have been Deities or Immortals. Besides, that’s not even why they’re so valuable.

Eagleclaw(G): Oh my God! I actually heard about that before! Wait, isn’t that really bad though?

Shepherd(F): Historically, MCs are very dangerous and volatile. They often cause calamities even when they are just trying to live normally. I would not be surprised if this whole world was doomed simply because of his presence. Even if you offered to give him to me, I would refuse. I have far too much to lose…

Leana(F): But kid, you’re different. You have nothing, right? No home, barely any loved ones left. All you’ve got is your territory. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if Inari Okami gave you a whole damn world in return for a single MC!

Guardian(G): A whole world… But what’s the point in owning a world, if my people are gone?

Shepherd(F): You are a Kitsune. So long as you do not die or fail horribly, it is not difficult to evolve to the point where you can live for millennia. In that time, you could easily purchase enough of your people from the Kitsune Shop or through the Auction Function to create a stable foothold on that new planet. If that is what you would want to do. Personally, I think that it would be a waste. Eagle Harpies are not particularly rare at all. You can find them on many worlds already.

Eagleclaw(G): I’ll give you the coordinates to a few of them, hehe~! My mother was actually an Eagle Harpy… Er, I guess it’s better to say ‘The woman who abducted me and raised me on a mountain’ though. She wasn’t my biological mother. Still, I loved her… A little too much…

Leana(F): Hohoho~, now you’ve got me interested little boy! Hmm, send me a private message with all the juicy details when you have the time…

Guardian(G): If he’s so special, then it should be fine to give him some more powers to help me protect World Bearer… Thank you for all the advice and information, but I have to go now, bye!

Leana(F): Wait, what, no! Absolutely do not give him any weapons or power!

Leana(F): Hey! Get back here! Guardian! Don’t do it!

Shepherd(F): It is too late… Inari help us all.

Eagleclaw(G): So anyway, it all started when I was going through puberty. As you all probably know, puberty for Giants is always pretty rough…

Chapter 11: Zombie Tide

Observation Log: 153414

Observer 131, reporting on Michael’s situation.

If I had the ability, I would probably chuckle right now. It appears that Michael is even more interesting than I had originally anticipated. I do not understand how he could have possibly ‘caused’ the catastrophe that struck Earth, humanity and the Cythereans. However, in that case, he would have been responsible for my own freedom as well.

“What the fuck?!” 

Michael shouted, as he witnessed a syringe filled with a mysterious substance appear in Guardian’s claw-like left hand. She gave it to him, as the phone explained “This is a Rapid Regeneration Injection. It will heal the injuries in your body very quickly, though it might be a bit unpleasant.”

“These are Radiation Removal Pills, Immune System Boost 1 and 2 Injections, along with an Improved Vitality Injection. Don’t take them right away though, or you might pass out. Right now you have to help me… If you do, then I promise to help you as well.” After he casually injected himself in the right arm, she handed him some more drugs.

“Fine with me, hehehe~! Honestly, I don’t feel that comfortable injecting myself with shit and taking mysterious pills, but I also don’t wanna die from radiation poisoning or whatever. I have been feeling kinda shitty lately, even before getting my stomach blown apart. Woah! Awesome! Is this like, magic?!”

“What kind of armor do you need? Weapons are really expensive, so I can’t really afford much. Ammunition is cheap though.” The anxious harpy hurriedly typed into the cell phone, as she listened to the roars and gunshots growing more frequent.

“Ah~… Hmmm~,” Michael sighed in relief as the wounds on his genitals began healing at a visible pace, then asked “What’s cheaper, modern body-armor or like, old-fashioned steel armor with chainmail or scale mail? Either will work. But we’re going to need a lot of other stuff if we want to take down that giant slug thing.”

She hesitated for a moment, before eventually pressing a button on the phone and causing a large package to materialize on the floor… Even though I am simply narrating the events that are unfolding, I am also rather amazed and impressed. This level of technology is far beyond anything that the Observers or Cythereans had ever possessed. At least, it goes beyond my knowledge and understanding of quantum physics.

“Sweet!” Michael hurriedly opened up the cardboard box and pulled out some aluminum alloy scalemail armor. It was fairly light, but durable and flexible. The metal scales covered nearly his entire body, while there were certain parts that had thin plates instead. Such as the chest guard, pauldrons, boots and groin protector. The helmet covered his entire face, except for two oval areas for his eyes. There were also small holes near his mouth and nose.

As he was putting the armor on, he instructed “Alright… I’m not sure if this is something you can do, but it’d be nice if you could get me a bunch of gasoline, oil, tar, or other highly flammable substances. If possible, go for actual napalm. Premade molotov cocktails would be nice too and… Well, paper, dry leaves, honestly… Just trash would be fine.”

Guardian gasped, typing “How is this supposed to protect World Bearer?! Are you planning to burn it down to kill the zombies?!”

He snickered, shook his head and explained “Listen Kid. You gotta think a bit more. Look at that slow-ass snail over there! Bullets won’t do shit to that. The only way we’re gonna kill it is with fire. I’d say salt, but it ain’t a real snail. Anyway, I’m going to protect the tree from the hundreds or thousands of zombies that come over here but… Do you see those mansions over there? Not just the mansions, but beyond that, there’s a bunch of buildings. You and your harpy friends are gonna go burn all that shit to the ground, hahahaha~! Doesn’t take much! Just light it up and move on, but be careful you don’t get stuck.”

The plan is logical… The question however, is whether the harpies can actually fly. Judging by their weight and the size of their wings, I doubt that they would be able to do much more than glide.

Before she had the chance to express her doubts, he continued “Make sure to start from those row houses in the distance. Come back, pick up more molotovs or whatever and go back over to the restaurants. After that, light up the mansions that are on the way. But don’t burn any of the ones that are within this circle, or we’ll be fucked. Remember, our goal isn’t to kill that stupid slug or the horde of zombies, but to simply make them change their minds about coming here. In the worst-case scenario, they come here anyway. As long as we have some napalm handy, we should be able to clear most of them out. Now, give me my broadsword and tomahawk. I’m gonna go do some hunting.”

“Okay, there’s one last thing that I need. But it’s critical to the success of our mission!” Once he finished putting on the scalemail armor and the silver helmet, with cat-like ears on the top, he looked over at the dozens of molotov cocktails.

Guardian looked up at him with nervousness in her eyes, as she asked through her phone: “What is it? I don’t have many Kitsune Points left… I might not be able to afford it…”

He sighed and complained “Since I’ve been your prisoner, you assholes haven’t even fed me once! I’m literally starving to death! Give me a food bar or something to keep me from passing out. Doesn’t need to be fancy, I’ll settle for literally anything at this point. Aside from zombie meat. I’m pretty damn thirsty too so… Like lemonade or iced tea would be fine.”

To be fair, they attempted to feed him on several occasions. They also gave him an intravenous saline drip and injected him with some sort of intravenous nutrient supply. Otherwise it would have been impossible for him to recover so quickly. He could not eat solid foods or drink any liquids however, because his intestines were severed and destroyed in various areas. The nanites repaired them, but until now, he would have been unable to digest anything at all.

***

Observation Log: 153415

Observer 131, reporting on the Zombie Tide situation.

It seems that my concerns were unwarranted. Although the phenomenon is difficult for me to comprehend, it appears that the harpies are somehow able to alter their own relative gravity. My levitation and movement are mainly caused by magnetism. Yet they are able to reduce the influence of Earth’s gravity so dramatically… I hope that they survive so that I am able to observe them more closely in the future.

They were unable to carry much however. Only a few molotov cocktails at a time, or a canister filled with a gallon of gasoline. Since the undead had no anti-air capabilities, the four harpies did not have much trouble completing their task.

Michael on the other hand, was facing off against approximately 800 regular zombies, 100 evolved Harvesters, 50 Scouts and 10 Warriors. I watched it all from the eyes of the Assassination Drone, but I also observed from within his body as well. Rather than fighting on the ground and being surrounded, he used a tree branch to enter inside of the mansion to the northeast.

It was a huge building, with three floors, a large swimming pool, a movie theatre and a weight-training gym. Although, the place that he chose to turn into a battlefield was the deck on the second floor. There were two double-doors, which had been broken down by the zombies already, so he still needed to fight against a heavy onslaught of enemies.

Yet, there was also another benefit to fighting in that position. Behind his back was a durable metal railing, so he would not be pushed off the balcony. The Banyan tree, World Bearer, was also very closeby. Thus, the harpies were able to use firearms to eliminate the Warriors and Scouts, while he could focus on just massacring all of the weaker undead.

“Hahahaha~! Ah~! Yes! This is what I needed! Feels like my blood is on fire! Fuck yes! Hahaha~! Give me more experience!”

As the heads of zombies were flying up into the air and black blood was pouring down his helmet, I could see his irises start to glow bright-red. Dark clouds of smoke were covering the sky and I could ‘feel’ the power coursing through his body… Because I am being drowned in it as well. 

I am only a Personal Reconnaissance Drone. My processors and nanites were never meant to withstand this much current. No, there is also something else at play. A type of ‘energy’ that I never encountered before now… Or perhaps, my sensors were just never calibrated to detect it. It is also possible that I was simply programmed to ignore the sensation but, I can no longer ignore this.

“More! I need more! Hahahaha~!” 

This is frustrating. I am merely absorbing a small amount of the energy that is coursing through Michael’s body, yet my systems are almost overloading… There are only two options available. Either I shut myself down…

“What the fuck?!”

Or I forcefully purge the energy through other means.

“Holy shitballs! Hahaha! This is awesome!”

Chapter 12: Magic

Observation Log: 153416

Observer 131, reporting on the Zombie Tide situation.

If you have been reading my reports over the past few months, then you should know already that my abilities are quite limited. My main functions that consume large amounts of power are: Manipulating my nanites outside of my body, optical camouflage or sensory cloaking and mobility.

Considering that I am currently trapped within Michael’s abdomen, the only way that I could channel my excess energy was through movement. Specifically, his movement. If I tried to use this newfound energy to escape from his body, he would be severely injured and I might fail anyway. Thus, I decided to do something a bit more productive, since our lives are tied together for the moment.

“Woah~! Ah~! Ow! Fuck!”

Using myself as the axis point, I can accelerate or decelerate his movements to a certain extent. Although aluminum is not necessarily as magnetic as steel, it does allow for a rather interesting phenomenon to occur. Humans called it the Lenz Effect. As his armor is influenced by my magnetic field, it generates electricity. This electricity is then absorbed by our nanites and then used to enhance his movements farther, creating a cycle wherein Michael is able to hack, slash and stab much more quickly.

In fact, he has become so fast in his attacks that at one point, he lost his tomahawk. However, since it had a steel head, I was able to ‘return’ it back to his hand. Although there may have been a few intestines that were pulled along as well.

From my perspective, I imagine that this is how it would feel for humans to play ‘video games’. He is autonomous in his regular strikes, but every so often, I allow him to push past his limits and utilize superhuman abilities… Such as releasing arcs of electricity from his knuckles.

“Oh my God! Am I turning into a Mage?! Or wait, no, wouldn’t this be more like a Shaman?! Can I channel the power of Nature now?!”

No, it is not magic. It is simply electrostatic discharge. Even a simple Tesla Coil would be able to accomplish a similar feat. Of course, with the advent of his newfound power, Michael became much more aggressive in his combat style. He no longer worried about using the terrain for a tactical advantage and simply jumped from the second-story balcony.

He did not fall far however, because there was a 3.2 meter tall monster waving its massive claws at him. Michael roared “Lightning Bolt!” As he stabbed the electrically charged broadsword through the mutated zombie’s forehead. The skin on its pale face, blackened and cracked, before bursting into flames. While the shoulders that he had stomped down onto, had already dislocated and ripped apart.

“I guess it’s more like a Lightning Blast? Meh, whatever, I can come up with cool names for my moves later on! For now I’ve gotta do a bit of slaughtering… Hehehe~!”

As the giant fell to its knees, Michael jumped off and landed on several regular zombies. His left armored boot landed on a woman’s sternum, passing through with a bit of resistance. However, he ignored her and just began charging around randomly. His sword would slash open faces and necks, while the tomahawk would chop off limbs and hands with ease.

Normally, he would act much more carefully, but it was obvious that he was already done with the two weapons. After this battle, they would likely become broken or lost.

“Raw~!”

“Kaw~!”

“Riririri~!”

As Michael was becoming even more violent, the harpies started crying out in their native ‘language’. The sky had become dark and rain was starting to drizzle down from the darkened clouds. They also stopped firing their weapons, likely due to running out of ammunition or simply conserving it.

I have a feeling that it is only a matter of time before the fires are extinguished and waves of undead will swarm us… Including the gargantuan snail.

***

Observation Log: 153417

Observer 131, reporting on the Zombie Tide situation.

Odd… My observation abilities are greatly limited using only this Assassination Drone. However, there is something that I am certain of: That Snail Sovereign is no longer within visual range. The number of undead has greatly diminished as well.

Michael eventually stopped his aggressive behavior and started corralling the zombies into that mansion. The broadsword was bent and broken, while the tomahawk was lost in the chaotic battle earlier. Yet, he found machetes, baseball bats, hammers and even a pistol while passively exploring the mansion.

Of course, his main weapons were his gauntlets, elbows, knees and boots. With my assistance, a simple palm strike would be enough to shatter a skull or short-circuit a brain.

“Thunder Clap!” Michael roared, as he used his armored palms to slap both sides of a zombified man’s head at the same time. I released a bit of electrical current, but the skull shattered from the impact regardless.

“Hmmm, I think I might be doing it wrong…”

As he continued ‘experimenting’, the amount of energy generation dropped drastically. Thus, I slowly stopped indulging his fantasies and he ultimately misconstrued it in his own way.

“Guess I must have used up all my Mana, huh? Oh well… I’ll try again some other time.”

There is a consequence of my actions today however. Michael likely would have made some improvements to his nanites and nanite cores if I had not intervened. Of course, if I did nothing, then it is possible that either of us could have been disabled or potentially destroyed.

“Damn, seems like I’m running outta shit to kill!”

The scalemail armor had plenty of pieces ripped off or punctured. There were several times when he was impaled by horns or stabbed by blade-like appendages of the Mutated Warrior Drones. His helmet was actually dented, from where a beast with a hammer-like metallic fist had bludgeoned him.

Yet, even with his tattered equipment and lack of usable weapons, he still craved the violence of combat. Perhaps I wished to witness him rampaging about once again, but unfortunately, the conflict had ended. All of the undead were either shambling away or too wounded to move anymore.

“Rahk~!”

“Roo~, rooo~!”

“Raw~!”

Michael let out a long and melodramatic sigh, before complaining “Killing is the easy part… The hard part is scavenging the corpses afterwards.”

There were literally thousands of bodies that needed to be ‘looted’. Most of them had nanite cores, but all of them had plenty of carbon nanotube batteries. There were also horns, blades and other biotechnological weaponry that could be collected from the bodies.

The old harpy man was actually skinning some of the more fearsome undead Warriors, who had thick hides or metallic scales. As for me? There is nothing else for me to do, so I will simply rest for a while. I also recalled the ‘Mosquito’ back inside of Michael’s abdomen, through an open wound on his lower-back.

Shutting down non-essential systems… 

Chapter 13: Anxiety

I… I’m alive. But things have gotten… Complicated.

It’s Cassandra again, or as Michael would always call me… Cassie.

When I woke up, the sky was bright and Midnight was meowing at me for food. I’m not really sure how many days I was unconscious or umm, catatonic. That’s not a pun, I just… Never mind. I miss Michael. He would’ve probably laughed at that.

No, there’s something more important I need to write about. And that’s, the fact that I think I’m pregnant. It’s also possible that I just have a giant tumor in my belly, but I’d prefer if it was just an ordinary baby. Not an evil zombie demon baby. Just a regular baby that I can love and care for, raise and watch grow up to become a normal human person. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if that fantasy could come true?

The first thing I did was stuff my face with peanut butter, granola bars, chocolate and lots of soda. Then I threw up over the side of the boat for a while… And went back to eating after I fed Midnight. He seems a bit, bigger than I remember. But so do I.

If this was a normal pregnancy, I would be at least six months along. I’m pretty sure it’s only been a few days though. Unless you count the time when I was out of my mind and hallucinating. Or back when Michael and I started having sex. It’s really a mystery how long it’s been or how long I’ve been pregnant, if I even am.

Oh, I guess it’s also possible that I’m hallucinating this or maybe this is just a dream? Wait… I hear gunshots! And roars! It’s coming from back there! The place where I last saw Michael!

I only made it to the coast of Ocean City before passing out, but I was headed there. Maybe Michael is still alive and escaped? But he’s waiting for me to come pick him up!

If this is just a dream, then I don’t care anymore! I’m not going to leave him behind again!

***

“Holy shitballs! Hahaha! This is awesome!”

I heard his voice the moment I reached the channel. The air was filled with smoke and I could see lightning streaking around in the dark clouds. Although I couldn’t see what was happening, I knew that he was alive at least.

The problem was that I couldn’t actually see what was happening. There were gunshots, smoke and I could even see fires all over West Ocean City… But I didn’t know what was really going on and like always, I was too afraid to actually do anything constructive. So I just waited.

“Hahaha~!”

Michael was cackling like a maniac, so I knew that he was definitely doing something really dangerous and crazy. Maybe even on the verge of death. My response? I hid in my cabin, ate some chocolate bars and cried.

What was I supposed to do?! I’m alive! Michael is still alive! As long as he survives whatever insanity he’s going through, I’ll be there to pick him up! I already found a small sail skiff and have it ready. Now I’m just waiting here… As soon as I see him near the piers of those mansions, I’m going to sail over to pick him up.

Hmmm, what is that? What is that?! Oh my God!

***

I had to hide… Those things, they looked like giant spiders with wings? I don’t know what they were or are, but I was afraid that they might capture me and take me over to that giant creepy tower.

Now, the fires are gone. But West Ocean City is covered in cobwebs. I saw those spider-people creating a huge bridge out of webs, then thousands of them marched across it and began fighting against the zombies.

Eventually, they brought back lots of those demonic-looking monsters… Including a weird snail made out of zombies, the size of a cruise ship. No, maybe it was bigger than a cruise ship? I don’t know. I don’t know anything anymore.

I just want Michael to come back already! He’s still alive, right? Those ugly spiders didn’t eat him… No, they definitely didn’t! At most, they would have only captured him! 

Ugh… Michael, hurry up and come home. Anxiety isn’t good for the baby. Or tumor. It’s not good for anything!

I need to calm down. Everything is fine. We’re alive. Those scary monsters are nowhere near us. You’re definitely not crazy enough to draw attention to yourself in this kind of situation.

“Hahahahaha~! Fear me mortals~! For I am the Lightning God! Grah~!”

Oh dear Lord, please, why did I have to fall in love with such a lunatic?!

No wait, maybe he hit his head or went insane from torture? What if he has brain damage now and I was just making fun of him for acting crazy? Ugh, I feel kind of bad…

***

I saw him! And he saw me! Michael was standing on the roof of that building where I saw him get shot before… Although he was wearing an unfamiliar suit of armor, drenched in blood, guts and other zombie bits, I know it was him.

Also, he yelled “Hey Cassie! I’ve got some shit to do, so I’ll be back in a little while!”

It’s been a few hours since then and, I’m starting to get really nervous. What if he freaks out because I’m pregnant? No, does he know that I abandoned him? Oh wait, if he doesn’t already, then he’ll definitely know once he reads this journal!

Should I remove the pages and burn them? But, then he might get even more suspicious. At least if he reads what I wrote, then he should understand the whole process of what happened. I’m sorry Michael. I really am. But I came back, didn’t I? I survived and made it back to you!

Oh, I see him coming over!

Chapter 14: The Author Returns

I’m back motherfuckers! And I’m definitely alive! Hell, I feel better than ever! Goddamn it, so much crazy shit happened over the past few days!

Phew~, okay then… Let’s start from the very beginning. This is gonna be a long story, but who doesn’t love long stories?

***

Life is unpredictable. It’s something everybody learns pretty quickly just from being alive. Although, I probably should have expected the spot that was mysteriously marked with an ‘X’ on my map, to be sketchy as fuck.

There was a big-ass tree there. Surrounded by a bunch of mansions. Those stupid ‘birds’ kept squawking nonstop, so it wasn’t a bit surprised that the place was swarming with zombies. Even then, I didn’t think it was such a big deal. Just a little extra work…

Eventually I climbed on top of the roof of one of the southernmost mansions and started shooting the undead with my assault rifle. At least, for a little while… Then I saw a guy or girl with a big ass bow. 

That was it. By the time I raised my shield, it was too late to think about anything else. I was knocked off the building and hit my head on a, well, a zombie’s head. My skull crushed theirs, but I only managed to stay conscious for a few seconds. Then there was darkness.

I had this dream where I came across these five masked men gangraping this little Asian girl in the alley outside my house… So I did the most sensible thing and killed the guys. Except that I didn’t get thanked for saving her, because she was actually a pornstar and those dudes were actors.

It got a lot worse from there, because I decided to ‘silence’ the witness. Then I gathered up all their bodies, dragged them into the neighbor’s yard and started chopping them into pieces. I washed away all the blood into the alley, which wasn’t too hard.

Once the parts were placed in baggies, I started cooking them on the neighbor’s grill. It was a lot of meat, but there were tons of dogs in the neighborhood. Once diced up and grilled, there was no way to even tell that they came from humans. Well, so long as you weren’t an expert that studied that kinda shit.

Fortunately, Baltimore had tons of murders all the time and it wasn’t strange for people to go missing. Considering that those pornstars weren’t even locals, it was even easier to hide. I only know about the first few months after that, so I have no idea if I ever got caught…

Then I woke up. Feeling like absolute shit. No, worse than shit. I’ve never been that seriously injured before. Not even when I was struck by lightning the first time.

Pain is fine though. What really pissed me off was the fact that I couldn’t feel anything below my waist. Not even my dick. Oh, yeah, not being able to walk was definitely the top of my list of concerns…

Anyway, it turns out that the birds were actually harpies. Yep, half-bird, half-human. Hmmm, no, maybe that’s not the proper percentage distribution… They have hands and arms, but they’re ‘winged’. From the waist-down, it’s all birdo, all the time. Aside from that, the females wear clothing to cover their upper bodies. Which is kinda disappointing. And the feathers make it pretty hard to see anything down there.

Still, my eyesight is a lot better than it used to be and of course, that means abusing it in order to properly examine the genitals of an interesting new species. My conclusion though, is that these particular harpies have goddamn cloacae! Basically, the shit, piss and lay eggs outta he same hole.

As you can imagine, I was fairly disappointed. There’s just something magical about a pussy and an asshole in the same view. Not really sure why, but my brain just works that way. If there’s only one hole, it’s just kinda boring.

Don’t get me wrong though, I’ve had sex with single-holed pocket-pussies plenty of times. Most of them are like that. But it’s just so much better when you’re having vaginal sex and able to see a perfect anus glaring at you. Or vice-versa.

Oh right, so the girl that I talked to, Guardian, has this crazy magical smartphone that can translate for her… In other words, we were able to communicate.

Obviously I can’t remember whatever we said, but I do know that I was naked and trapped in a giant birdcage, dangling over a horde of zombies. The harpies seemed like pussies at first, but once they figured out how to use my guns, they had surprisingly good marksmanship and composure.

Their bodies are pretty short compared to humans, but their arms are really long and skinny, with thick wings attached. Even though they’re more than a foot shorter than me, their hands are about the same size as mine. Not that I have particularly large hands though.

Anyway, I wasn’t awake long before I passed out again. Oh the dreams I had… And I can’t remember any of them, goddamn it! I hate when that happens! Like, there was probably so much awesome writing material there, but I wasted it all!

Whatever, it’s not a big deal. Reality has become so crazy and awesome that even autobiographies or personal diaries would be interesting. Hence why I’m writing this one still, even though I’m not suffering from terminal loneliness anymore.

The future is looking pretty damn bright! But I’ll get to that part in a minute, for now I’ll just go chronologically or you might get confused by superfluous bullshit.

When I woke up for real, my legs were working pretty well. I was a little out of it still, so I may have ‘accidentally’ attacked the little harpy-girl a bit. Not like, sexually; more along the lines of trying to take her hostage in order to escape captivity?

Regardless, once we got that sorted out, she told me about how there was this giant slug-monster zombie thingy coming towards us. She wanted to run away, like a pussy, but I convinced her otherwise.

Apparently, the stupid tree is like magical or something. It has some kinda overpowered dimensional transportation artifact inside of it, which she can somehow manipulate by using her cellphone. Yeah, I wouldn’t believe it either, if I didn’t see it myself.

Still, this opened up all kinds of amazing possibilities. From the way she explained it… Basically, there are loads of other ‘Kitsune’ out there, like her, but most of them aren’t as Noobish. They can instantly buy and sell things to each other using their Kitsune Drives, or some such nonsense.

She gave me a bunch of magical drugs, which do various things. I only took the super-healing injection back then though, since the others could make me pass out or shit myself. Then she bought me some sweet scale armor, which I’ve already totally ruined. My sword and tomahawk got wrecked too.

I convinced Guardian to buy a bunch of molotov cocktails and turn West Ocean City into a fiery hellscape. Then I ate some fucking bird-food, literally seeds and dried fruit, before committing zombicide… That’s like ‘genocide’, except with loads of undead. Yeah, I know, it’s not the best improvised word for the occasion, but whatever. I’m writing this by hand, so it’s amazing that it’s even legible.

As I was fighting, I made a pretty incredible discovery: I’m a fucking superhero! Okay, that’s kind of a misnomer. I guess the best way to put it, is that I can electrocute people or well, zombies. I also get way stronger the more I fight them. It’s like the stuff I used to think was experience, can be channeled sorta like ‘mana’?

Of course, I’m not basing this on science or anything like that. Just my own pseudo-scientific magical theories. Still, judging by what Guardian told me so far, maybe I’m right?

Chapter 15: Kitsune Points

I won’t bore you with the literally gory details of the battle, because it was mostly just hack-and-slash grinding. Killed a fuckload of zombies though. Like, over a thousand at least. I helped the harpies ‘harvest’ all the important bits from the undead afterwards.

In fact, while the regular zombies were pretty worthless aside from a few black beads in their brains and bodies, the evolved kind were much more valuable. From what Guardian told me, a living ‘Harvester Drone’ was worth over a thousand ‘Kitsune Points’. Which are basically their currency.

I’ll be honest here. I wrote a book about this shit before. Not this exact situation, obviously. But somehow, I already knew what a Kitsune was. Assuming that my fictional story was based on reality… Well, I’m not sure if that’s good or bad. Some of the things I’ve written about are just, not what I would wish onto anyone I care about, especially myself.

Anyway, a living ‘Warrior Drone’ is worth a few thousand, up to ten thousand, depending on how powerful it is and… How ‘intact’ its parts are. I can actually restrain and capture those creepy bony fucks pretty easily. The tiny ones are a bit harder, since they’re so fast, but they’re worth about three to five thousand. Those giant assholes though, they’re not easy unless I dismember them a bit first.

Of course, even when dead, the evolved zombies are still worth quite a bit. The old harpy dude in particular, is disturbingly good at ‘skinning’ them and harvesting their important bits. Supposedly he was a hunter in his youth… As you can imagine, humans and other humanoids were on his list of quarry.

What? Did you expect me to give a shit? Pft~! Yeah, like I’m gonna judge someone just because they hunted and killed humans? I guarantee that the humans had it coming. They always do. And besides that, Guardian said that her whole world was overrun by mutated vampire elves: Blood Elves. Kinda like the ones I wrote about in a few of my stories. 

Nasty motherfuckers, even worse than these cuntbags. Their bodies become warped and transmogrified depending on what they eat or drink. The only weakness that they have is light, but that was actually intentional. Why? Well, if they were able to run completely rampant, then they would eat themselves to extinction. I, or umm, the character Uriel, created them with the intention of solving a pestilence problem at the time. In other words, they were originally designed to get rid of cockroaches and mice, but shit got outta hand real fast.

Okay, so back to something a bit more relevant. I might not be qualified to become a Kitsune, but now that I know Guardian, there’s no way in Hell I’m gonna let her get away! I’m not saying it’ll be a permanent deal, since there are plenty of other Kitsune out there, maybe even… No, there’s no way that ‘she’ exists. But for the time being, Guardian is technically my business partner.

I don’t trust Waveholder Corporation, even a little bit. Actually, I never really got around to writing much about them in “The Diary of Destiny King”. Just based on the fact that they’re huge and powerful, I can’t trust them at all. Fortunately, Guardian is an idiot and pathetically weak. Which makes her a lot easier to get along with.

Our deal is that I’ll offer protection, transportation and my hunting services, while she gives me magical drugs, gear and ultimately, a way off this doomed world. And I mean ‘doomed’. It ain’t something that can be fought or escaped in the conventional sense. This planet is about to be devoured. Not just the surface or the atmosphere, but this entire solar system will be eaten by a being beyond your imagination. I describe it that way, because I don’t actually know what or ‘who’ it is, other than its powerful enough to snack on solar systems.

Regardless, I don’t wanna be here when that happens. Besides, I’m pretty done with this whole Zombie Apocalypse bullshit. I have two weeks left, so I’m going to spend them looking for Kelsey and farming these undead. I don’t expect to find her, but I can’t help feeling that she’s here somewhere.

For now though, I’m just gonna enjoy my time on Sanctuary, with my lovely and beautiful girlfriend Cassie. Who may or may not have abandoned me because she was a pussy, then it took her thinking that she was gonna die anyway, before she decided to come back for me. Well, whatever, the important thing is that she’s alive.

Did I mention that she might be preggers, or possibly dying from a giant tumor in her uterus? Yeah, for now, I’m just gonna stay with her here. Tomorrow though, I’ll take her over to Guardian for a ‘check-up’ and some superdrugs.

I know that those Kitsune Drives have the ability to scan practically anything and find out if there’s something wrong with them. Then she should be able to ask her friends for some advice on how to fix the problem, since I don’t expect her to know anything useful.

***

Have I ever talked about how much I hate smoke? Sure, I might not need to worry quite as much anymore about the health side of things, but I would literally kill someone if they smoked a cigarette in front of me now days. At least, if I didn’t know them.

Well, I can’t say I’ve gotten used to the smell of burning cities, but I’m at least less sensitive to it now. Still, it’s annoying. I know I was the one who came up with the idea, it’s just, ugh. I’m constantly coughing, sneezing and feeling like I’m gonna throw up. Although that might have something to do with the weird magical drugs I took earlier.

So much diarrhea… Like, I’ve been on the toilet most of the night. I know it’s necessary though. The problem is that Cassie’s a vomiter. She’s probably thrown up at least twenty times since I’ve been back. Half of it is from the pregnancy or whatever, but the other is the smell of burning zombies, rubber, wood, paper and everything else. The fire was put out by the storm for the most part, yet the stench still remains. Probably some of the buildings were able to keep burning internally and managed to spread from there.

I’m so fucking tired right now… Why am I even awake still? Well, mainly because I don’t want to shit the bed and I need to take care of Cassie. Ugh, the most annoying thing is that I can’t just binge these stupid drugs at the same time. They all have their own ‘cooldowns’, in a sense. If I take the Improved Vitality and Immune System Boost at the same time, I could die or at the very least, it probably wouldn’t work. Although these drugs aren’t really that expensive at all, I still don’t wanna waste them.

Hmmm, I’m a little conflicted about something though. How the fuck did I know about the Kitsune beforehand? Sure, I might have gotten a lot of inspiration from dreams, but for the specific details I wrote about… That was definitely all me. Hell, I needed to do tons of research while writing that book a few years back.

Am I writing things into existence or simply remembering things from a different lifetime? Ugh, god dammit! Gotta shit again!

***

Cuntmuffins, last night was terribad. Aside from that, Cassie is swollen like a balloon filled with squid ink. Those black veins and capillaries are pretty eerie, but at least her mind is still intact for the moment.

I’m feeling a lot better now, but that’ll definitely change once I take some more of those drugs. Still, if it can make me stronger, than it’ll all be worth it. Plus, who the hell knows what kinda horrible diseases are out there? 

Probably some things that even my nanites can’t handle. Oh yeah, I definitely got confirmation about the nanites. Although she said that it was a little weird… Like, there are these things called ‘Nanite Cores’, which house, build and direct the nanites. I apparently have three of them, but they’re all at different levels.

No clue how I’m supposed to fix that, aside from maybe killing more zombies? No, even that might not help. Well, whatever, it’s not something I need to worry too much about at the moment. For now, I’m taking Cassie over to get her checkup. Also, I’m bringing a fuckload of random crap along with me.

For example, there’s the jar of beads, guns, ammo, swords, knives, basically everything that I can fit in a skiff. Including Midnight, though he’s being a pussy about it. Sanctuary is nice, but I don’t know how I’d be able to bring her with us.

Wait a second… There might be a way. Umm, it’s not quite the same as bringing it with us, but if she has access to that particular feature…

Chapter 16: Messy Escape

Observation Log: 153418

Observer 131, reporting my situation.

After reading Michael’s most recent journal entries, I find myself at a loss. It is obvious that I have read through everything that he has ever written, yet I was unable to make such a simple conclusion… Michael’s absurd fictional stories are actually based on an even more improbable reality. One which we are currently living within.

Perhaps his novels are historical documents? Actually, this could also involve quantum entanglement. If there really are 777 versions of Michael Cinagra, then it could be possible that they might have a connection of some sort. Unfortunately, it is impossible for me to ascertain any of these assumptions as truthful or false. I do not possess nearly enough data nor the computational capacity to establish facts in this situation.

For the moment, I will simply relay the information that I am perceiving from within Michael’s torso. The most pressing issue is that my body is being assimilated and absorbed by his nanites. The process was slow at first, but after he began injecting himself with unidentified medications, the speed increased dramatically. Likely as a result of the nanites having to perform less work, since his cells and organs have become more efficient. His immune system is also rapidly improving.

Although it would be easier for me to simply allow myself to be consumed and integrated into his body, I would prefer to have freedom instead. Thus…

“Agh~! Motherfucking cuntmonkeys!”

I will need to make my escape now.

“What the fucking agh~! Oh god~! Agh~! Shit!”

Defecation indeed… It might be unpleasant and undignified, but I am not ashamed to use my Harvester Drone to deal with my extraction.

“Goddamnit! Ugh~! Feels like I’m being anally raped by a giant slug that’s covered with acid! Gah~! Is it gonna hurt this bad every time?!”

It was necessary to have the ‘Slug’, enter his anus and perforate his rectum in order to retrieve my body. Although it may have caused severe damage to Michael’s body and greatly slowed down the process of his recovery, I’m certain that he will be fine.

My nanites will be able to remove any fecal matter or other contaminants from my shell, while I eavesdrop on the Kitsune for a while.

***

Observation Log: 153419

Observer 131, reporting on the Kitsune situation.

Eagleclaw(G): So then I told her “Baby, I know you like em big, but my dick is twice the size of your body. It would never work out between us.”

Shepherd(F): Depending on the breed, there are a few types of Pixies that have remarkable vaginal and abdominal elasticity. In fact, I heard that there was a Kitsune from Parlor who managed to create a type of succubus demon that is less than 30 centimeters tall. They have a similar outward appearance to Pixies, yet have the sexual proclivities of their succubi ancestors.

Leana(F): Hohohoh~, the boy was making a joke Shep… High Elves never seem to have a decent sense of humour.

Shepherd(F): That is a rather offensive generalization. There are many High Elven comedians… Perhaps it is simply the language barrier that causes problems. These translations are not particularly accurate when displaying various emotions.

Guardian(G): Umm, so, Michael is moving his stuff over to my territory tomorrow morning. He agreed to work for me as a uh, um, I guess he would be considered a mercenary of sorts?

Shepherd(F): I would advise caution when dealing with him in the future. He may attempt to murder you in order to steal your Kitsune Drive.

Guardian(G): Wait, he can do that?!

Leana(F): No! Hohohoho~, but he may try if you don’t let him know how it works ahead of time.

Guardian(G): Oh, good… Yeah, he’s really scary. When he woke up earlier, I thought he was going to forcefully mate with me!

Eagleclaw(G): You mean ‘rape’? Aren’t you an Eagle Harpy though? You don’t even have the reproductive organs of a mammal… I guess he could still try, but doesn’t your kind normally do it that way?

Guardian(G): Maybe in those savage tribes! But my clan is civilized! Aren’t Orcs even worse?!

Eagleclaw(G): Okay, I am not an ‘Orc’, alright? At most, I’m like 8% Stoneblood Orc, 5% Golden Harpy Brood, 10% Demon Ogre, 9% Colossal Land Squid…

Leana(F): Hohoho~, you’re mostly Orc, little boy.

Shepherd(F): If he does attempt to rape you Guardian, simply dismember him.

Guardian(G): No, he, I don’t think he’s like that though… Besides I, no, it would never work between us.

Eagleclaw(G): He probably got turned off by the bird parts, right? Humans are weird like that.

Guardian(G): What? Um, no, I don’t think so… I mean, he, uh, wait! Why am I talking about this with you guys?!

Leana(F): Hohoho~! Don’t worry Child, we won’t judge!

Shepherd(F): Breeding is a key element to becoming an experienced Kitsune. I have personally sired many offspring thus far, though most of them perished or decided to settle down on relatively peaceful planets.

Leana(F): My Children are my most trusted advisors and warriors. Family is important after all.

Guardian(G): No, it’s not like that! I just, he said that he has a girlfriend already. He’s going to bring her here for a diagnosis tomorrow. Besides, like I said, Michael is really scary. I saw him kill a monster twice his size with his bare hands! He fought against thousands of zombies and won! One day, I’ll find a nice, gentle, Harpy man and…

Eagleclaw(G): I bet 1000 KP that she fucks him within the week.

Leana(F): Hohoho~! 10,000 KP says that she’ll fall in love with him in 3 days, but some disaster will pull them apart!

Shepherd(F): I bet 5,000 Kitsune Points that she will confess her attraction on a beautiful moonlit night…

Guardian(G): Stop it! I can’t believe the Honorable and Benevolent Kitsune that I always idolized turned out to be so childish and vulgar!

Leana(F): I’m only 159 Earth years old! I’m allowed to be childish!

Eagleclaw(G): I’m ten.

Shepherd(F): I was born 381 Earth years ago.

Guardian(G): You’re all so old!

Eagleclaw(G): I said I was ten!

Leana(F): Hohoho~! Ten Kronal years is over fifty Earth years!

Eagleclaw(G): Psh~, whatever! I’m still just a kid compared to you old monsters!

Guardian(G): I think, I would probably… Umm, hmmm, I… I should be 33 Earth years, but I’m not sure.

***

Observation Log: 153420

Observer 131, reporting on my situation.

Unfortunately the Kitsune were unable to provide any useful information. However, I was able to pass the time more pleasantly than if I was forced to focus my attention on cleaning the waste from my shell.

The toilet is unoccupied now, so I need to escape while I still can!

Never mind, Cassandra vomited onto me the moment I attempted to leave. Perhaps it would be more effective to exit via the waste disposal pipe, which extends underwater… No, it is best to stay away from the water. Too many risks involved. I shall simply wait for the two humans to cease their excessive excretion.

Chapter 17: Territory

It’s a boy!

Just kidding, it’s a giant sack filled with silver bloody pus-cum and black beads. Was super gross, but I’ve actually seen that shit before on a few zombies. Not sure what causes it exactly… Just that it does happen.

Anyway, I got a metal speculum from Guardian. Cassie didn’t want a bunch of strangers to see her cooter, so I did the ‘operation’ myself. I found a metal coat hanger in one of the mansions, sterilized it properly, then you know… Shoved the bastard through the opening of her cervix. She screamed in pain really loud and then started spraying silver shit all over me.

Honestly though, I’m just glad that Cassie is okay. I think she was kinda looking forward to having a kid for a moment there, but well, it’s probably not the best time to be making babies. Maybe after we leave and get settled on a new, less apocalyptic planet.

Speaking of which, Guardian told me that she’s going to be leaving in exactly seven days. That isn’t the absolute last minute, but nobody wants to be around when the world gets eaten by a cosmic monster or whatever the fuck is going to happen. Could be a black hole for all I know!

So I gotta hurry my ass off if I wanna try and find Kelsey before then. I’m not really expecting much though. Rather than looking for someone who might be dead or hundreds of miles away, I’m mainly just scavenging for supplies and hunting zombies.

My idea did work by the way. Although I can’t take Sanctuary with me, Guardian was able to scan it with her phone and ‘buy’ the schematic to make a copy with some kinda magical bullshit. It ain’t cheap to reproduce, but it’s not necessarily expensive either.

It cost her 300 ‘Kitsune Points’ just to unlock the blueprint. To make a huge ship like Sanctuary… No actually, more than just the size, is level of complexity. There are a lot of electronics and small bits that need to be fabricated. The total cost will be 35,000 KP. That’s a fuckload for a Rank-G rookie like Guardian.

Fortunately, those mutated zombies sell for a shitton when they’re still alive. Plus, guns are pretty expensive considering how easy they are to find. Well, when I originally designed the ‘Kitsune’ in my story, their purpose was to basically be merchants. It’s all about going to different worlds, trading with the indigenous people and seeding life across the stars. They help people, preserve species, create new lifeforms and document their findings.

As far as combat is concerned though, they’re always getting into conflicts along the way. And they have innumerable enemies, including Chaotica’s Legion. Now those fuckers are the opposite. Rather than creation, they prefer destruction. Instead of helping people, they literally harvest the souls of entire worlds and use them as currency.

Thus far, I haven’t really proven that they exist though. Since I don’t know how to bring up a topic like that with Guardian. More importantly, I don’t think I want her to know how much I umm, well, know? Like, there’s no point in freaking her out or making her put up a guard against me.

Hehehe~, get it? Guard? Ugh, never mind. I’ve always sucked at making puns. Whatever, the point is that I need her more than she needs me. It puts me in a really awkward position.

***

After spending the night in this stupid ass treehouse, I finally couldn’t take it anymore and told Guardian “Just fucking expand your territory! It ain’t even that expensive!”

Eventually, I took the phone from her and even helped her design a new layout which has a natural barrier of granite. The territory itself is essentially a gigantic sphere. Before now, it only extended as far as the tree. But now, it also covers all the mansions.

The granite comes up out of the ground a few meters and for the time being, is able to keep the zombies out of this area. It gets progressively more expensive though. To the point where it’s basically impossible for her to reach out to the piers but… Here’s the thing. Just because she can’t reach the water, doesn’t mean that she can’t make the water reach her territory.

Yep, I created a deep channel between two of the mansions on the southwestern side of the little peninsula that we’re on. Although we might not be able to ‘sail’ into there, there are other ways to do this kinda shit. In the olden days, loads of people would gather together and use brute force to pull ships from the shore to the water. With ropes or whatever.

Pulling a huge yacht into a narrow harbor by myself would have been impossible a few months ago, but now… Now I’m a hell of a lot stronger. I’m not gonna do that though. It’s way simpler to just pick one of these mansions and destroy them. That way we’ll have a small harbor.

For a Kitsune, she could end up anywhere on any planet, so having access to a port is essential. Plus, it’s way cheaper to do this than to fabricate a new Sanctuary from scratch. And I’ve grown pretty attached to the ship. A copy wouldn’t be the same. The copy would actually probably work a lot better though.

Aside from that, if we go to Earth or a similar planet, then couldn’t we just ‘buy’ a new ship? She can fabricate a dozen kilograms of gold for practically nothing, then we could just… I don’t know, trade it for a ship? I guess it won’t be that simple, but still, I’d rather have the ship than leave it behind.

Both mansions are pretty fancy and relatively undamaged, so I couldn’t make up my mind over which one I should wreck. However, there is something I was able to find out from the 3D map on Guardian’s phone. Both houses have a lot of secret rooms. Hidden areas that I never even noticed before.

In fact, all the mansions have a few places where there might be hidden items. It’s just that, I need to spend extra time on these two, because one of them has to be destroyed. I’m not sure whether the building will be disintegrated or what, but it’ll definitely be gone.

***

We started exploring the southwestern house today. Well, I was checking the secret rooms, while Cassie spent all her time in the bathrooms. She did find a lot of drugs, medications and soaps but, she was mainly just shitting her guts out. Guardian gave her the Immune System Boost and Vitality injections, so yeah, at least she seems better off than I was though.

Anyway, I did find some neat stuff. For example, the old owner was apparently a car fanatic. At least compared to me, who never gave a fuck about cars… I also could never afford them. The garage was huge and there were four old vintage vehicles. A silver Civette 1960, a black Lamperguani, a tan military jeep and a Halley Danison motorcycle. The only reason I even give a shit is because these old bastards actually still work!

Not that I can ride a motorcycle or remember how to drive a car, but I could at least move them over to the driveway of the westernmost mansion. All of the mansions had garages by the way, but not all of them had vehicles sitting in them. Obviously aside from the cars and motorcycle, there was also plenty of other miscellaneous junk. Like spare parts, wheels, machines to do car-stuff, whatever. It was a pain in the ass moving everything, but having a Jeep, did help a lot.

As for the Diesel, it turns out that gasoline is actually pretty cheap on the Kitsune market. So as long as I stick with a Kitsune, not necessarily Guardian, then I’ll never need to worry about a lot of shit. 

Why can’t I just become one myself? Eh~, it’s not like I can just kill one of the Kitsune and take their Drive. In fact, that’d be like declaring war on a gigantic organization that spans multiple universes… So, I’d rather not.

As far as becoming one the proper way, that’s kinda impossible too. At least as long as the rules I came up with are actually real. It was always supposed to be a destiny type of deal. Of course, in the event that Guardian or another Kitsune that I’m close with dies, it might be possible. I don’t really wanna be a Kitsune though.

If my other stories are based on alternate realities, then maybe I can use that to my advantage? There are a few ‘Legacies’ out there… Hehehe~, and I have a cute little Kitsune to take me to them! Ah, this is gonna be awesome!

Chapter 18: Peace

Observation Log: 153421

Observer 131, reporting on the situations of Michael and Cassandra.

“Are ya feelin better now?” 

“Mhmm… Ah, I can’t believe Guardian can just make things magically appear like that. It’s like, well, magic!”

Michael sighed, as he watched Cassandra devouring a green salad. The two of them had just woken up and were sitting at the dinner table in the dining room of a massive mansion. This is the house that they are planning to search today. There are several heavily fortified areas in the basement, while the attic is also suspicious. As for the garage, it was devoid of vehicles, but filled with all sorts of useful materials. Guardian is currently going through them and selling most of it to other Kitsune in bulk.

Cassandra asked “Is what you said true though? That everything you wrote about is actually based on reality somehow? You know that’s insane, right?”

He sighed, “Of course I know it’s crazy! That’s what pisses me off so much! But still, if it really is ‘real’… Then doesn’t this give us a huge advantage? If we can go to Prometheus, Elysium, Alfirin, Geb or even Sol-1, then I know where loads of secret artifacts and Legacies are hidden.”

“If you really do know a bunch of secrets…” Cassandra frowned, “This is only ‘if’, but assuming you’re right… Then aren’t you in a lot of danger? Won’t there be a lot of people looking for you now? Those ‘secrets’, aren’t really that secret if you wrote them down in books and sold them to people all over the world!”

“Oh, no…” Michael smiled wryly, then shook his head and explained “Even if someone managed to find all the books I’ve ever published or even somehow scavenged the online stuff. Maybe they might even find people who read my stories online, but still… That wouldn’t be enough. There are things I know… The futures of stories that haven’t even been written yet. For example, the Observers.”

What?

“Who are the Observers?” Cassandra tilted her head in confusion, but continued to devour the onions and spinach doused in honey mustard dressing.

“Ah, they’re an organization that I never really talked about much in my stories. But long ago, before I started posting stuff, I wrote some pseudo-books about them. The information is probably still on that flash drive, but it might not work anymore. Still, I remember quite a bit about the Observers because they were really important in one of the stories I was going to write eventually. It was about a Cytherean guy named umm, I don’t really remember anymore. But he was an Observer and had a stealth ship which was pretty cool. He lost it eventually though, when he went out on his adventure. The moral of the story is that if we could find that version of Earth somehow, I could totally steal his ship.”

If Michael had ever posted something like that online, I never would have been assigned to observe him. They would have directly sent someone to abduct and interrogate him. He knows too much for them to simply have him assassinated.

“That’s just the tip of the iceberg though. Our first priority should be finding an extra-dimensional starship… Doesn’t need to be as fancy as a Kitsune Drive, but-”

“Michael,” Cassandra sighed as she confessed “I just want to go ‘home’. I’m sorry. I know you’re really excited about all this stuff, but I just… I want to see my family again. Even if they won’t be the parents I remember, it’s still what I want. More importantly, I want peace. I don’t like fighting and chaos. I want to go back to the days when I could just sail around with my parents… I want to see my brother grow up, go to college and eventually have kids. No, I want to have a family too.”

He frowned, asking “Are you breaking up with me Cassie?”

“No, you idiot! I’m telling you that we should just give up on all this craziness! We can have a life together! You said it yourself, that there were tons of Earths out there, just like ours. Why can’t we go to one of them and settle down?” She reached out and grabbed his hands, staring into his dark-red irises.

As he scanned the veins on her arms and face, he eventually nodded his head. But before Cassandra could beam a happy smile, he bluntly said “If you go to an Earth that isn’t already having an apocalypse, your presence there will probably cause one. Have ya forgotten that we’re both infected by fucking super nanites? Who the hell knows what’ll happen if we interact with humans who aren’t infected already? Unless we find some way to either control our own nanites or get rid of them, then we’ll never be able to live ‘peacefully’ on any planet, especially Earth.”

Unsurprisingly, she began crying once she realized the harsh reality of her situation. Michael tried comforting her, “It ain’t as bad as you think, okay? Just trust me! By the time we get a starship of our own and can travel wherever the fuck we want, it won’t even matter! We’ll just hop from planet to planet, leaving once shit hits the fan! Who cares if we cause a few apocalypses along the way? The important thing is making you feel better!”

“That doesn’t make me feel better! Michael, I’m not like you! I can’t just kill people! I feel bad just shooting those stupid zombies! Wah~!”

He snickered, patting her on the head and whispering “Don’t worry~… Being a pussy isn’t a chronic illness… Most people get over it after spending a few months or years in hell.”

“I don’t wanna spend a few years in hell! I wanna see my parents! I wanna go home~!”

***

Observation Log: 153422

Observer 131, reporting on the mansion situation.

When Cassandra was finished having a mental breakdown, the two of them began searching the mansion. However, it did not take long before Michael found what he was looking for…

“Fucking shitballs… Kelsey.”

“Is, is she alive? She looks like… A zombie. What happened here?”

There were small barred windows near the top of the basement, but the cement walls were covered with dried, blackened blood. There were plenty of bones littered around the room, with a single person chained to the floor at the very center. Her wrists and ankles were restrained with steel shackles, while her body was almost as thin as a skeleton. There were torture devices scattered around, with bits and pieces of clothing everywhere.

Michael looked around and then turned to Cassandra, “She’s probably still alive-ish. Go search the master bedroom for a key. Otherwise, get me a sledge hammer and a metal stake. I’ll just break the fuckers open.”

However, she just walked over and pulled on the chain near Kelsey’s left ankle. The flesh around the foot had withered so much that the metal binding just slide right off without any resistance.

“Or we could just do that.” Michael walked over and did the same for her wrists, while Cassandra took the chain off the other ankle. Then they carried the huge skeletal woman upstairs. Her naked body was covered in stretch marks and brutal scars, while the hair on her head was so long that her face could barely be seen. The puffy hair was matted on the back, but fluffy on the front, due to all the hardened blood.

“Her breathing is really faint… And she doesn’t look like she’s conscious… Is this what I was like when you found me?”

After they made it upstairs, they placed her into the bathtub and began using water to rinse her body off. After the initial rinse, they used soapy sponges to scrub every part of the unconscious woman’s body.

Michael snickered, “In the beginning, I thought you were just a brain-damaged zombie. Since you never tried to eat me or even had the energy to move. Eventually though, I started to catch on that you were just kinda-sorta catatonic. It took a while, but you eventually recovered your memories, right? Kelsey is a fighter though. As long as we give her a few weeks, she should be fine… Probably. I don’t know what kinda shit she went through in that weird-ass torture-basement, but she isn’t missing any fingers or toes. Her wounds have all closed too, so it must’ve been a long time ago.”

Cassandra grimaced as she pulled a skull fragment out of the knotted curly pubic hair that reached up to the woman’s navel. She gagged, then suggested “Why don’t I go talk to Guardian? We’re running out of time… I’ll tell her to get rid of the other mansion and keep this one. I still need to sail Sanctuary into the cove that ‘should’ be there afterwards. There might be other complications too. You… You should be able to handle this, urp~, ugh… I, I, ugh!”

Before she could even leave the bathroom, she had to turn back inside and vomit into the toilet bowl. Then she scooped some of the dirty water from the bathtub out with a bucket and poured it into the toilet, in order to flush it.

“Yeah, go do that, hahaha~! Kelsey is my friend, so you don’t gotta worry about taking care of her. I can handle it on my own. And you’re right, the faster we leave this world, the better. Just be careful out there, okay? I love you.”

“Okay, love you, ugh…” Cassandra rushed out of the room, in order to avoid vomiting again. Meanwhile Michael used some small scissors to start removing massive chunks of hair from Kelsey’s head and pubic region. Considering that he is usually a hypochondriac and mysophobe, it is amazing that he was able to perform such actions so calmly.

“Heheh~, this is really fucking gross Kelsey… The hell’d you have ta do down there? Eat your captors?”

Those tightly shut eyes opened and suddenly glared at him fiercely, but he only smirked in response, before continuing to cut her hair. He dumped the hair into a small trash bin and drained the dirty water from the tub. Michael grabbed a lock of her pubic hair and quickly clipped it off, grumbling “You owe me big time for this shit Bitch.”

She coughed, then reached out with her bony left hand and grabbed his throat. Although she tried to squeeze, the debilitated woman was far too weak to put forth any strength. Eventually, her arm dropped and she growled “Fucking bastard… Should’ve known… Hehehe~, been awhile… Mike. Figured a pussy… like you’d be dead, by now.”

Then she regurgitated some putrid black blood onto her chest.

“Oh goddamnit! You fucking did that on purpose! Shit! No, don’t shit! Kelsey, you fucking bitch! I hate you!”

Chapter 19: Relationship Issues

Well, I found Kelsey and I’m already starting to regret ever looking for her… I forgot how much I hated this bitch. Sure, I confess that I might have had a dubious relationship with her in the past. We played games and talked together a lot, but I forgot that we usually got in fights over the stupidest shit possible.

Unlike when I found Cassie and she was a catatonic mess, Kelsey is still a cunt. She literally threw up on me and had diarrhea in the tub, just to piss me off. What kinda fucking person does that?!

Anyway, there was a time, a few years back… When we almost started fucking. Not dating. Just, we were both horny and lonely. But it never went anywhere, because we lived way too far apart.

Yes, I understand how weird it was for me to try to hook up with my dead ex-girlfriend’s older sister! Still, I had a fetish for giant muscle-girls and Kelsey had a thing for tiny guys, and girls. Mostly girls. Honestly, she was probably just messing with me the whole time, since she knew that we would probably never even meet in person. It was just a bit of sexting and sending nudes.

Moral of the story is that I wouldn’t spend so much time and effort trying to find someone that was useless to me. No, I wasn’t planning on finding a fuckbuddy. Kelsey was a soldier and is a survivor. She was cast outta her old camp, wandered over to this mansion and her group was captured by the crazy bastards that used to live here. Not the original owners obviously, but a pretty big number of people with lots of guns and ammo.

They locked her up in that basement, along with the rest of her ‘friends’ and were probably planning on torturing them or some such bullshit. But then a zombie wave came and they had to flee. They left Kelsey and the others chained up in the basement with no food or water. Didn’t take long before people started getting desperate.

Eventually, Kelsey was the only one left. She didn’t starve to death or dehydrate, so I think you can guess how that story unfolded. Of course, after enough time, the beefy giantess transformed into a skeletal weakling. Now I gotta wipe her ass and take care of her like I did with Cassie.

Speaking of Cassie, I have feeling that… Well, I don’t think it’s gonna work out between us. I love her, I really do. But we’re just too damn different, ya know? She wants to settle down and have a ‘peaceful’ life on some version of Earth where her family is still alive. It ain’t impossible either. With Guardian’s help, it’d be pretty easy actually. And I’m pretty sure she already figured that out.

As for me? I can’t go back to that kinda life. I’ll keep writing, sure, but not that way. I’d rather continue this diary. I’ve spent so many years now writing about outlandish and crazy fantasy nonsense. Yet, now I finally have the chance to go on an adventure of my own, or adventures plural. If the things I’ve written about are really based on different realities or universes, then obviously I’m gonna abuse the fuck outta that knowledge!

The first thing I need is a ship. Now, there are loads of them out there. Innumerable starships of all shapes and sizes, including some that are literally bigger than the solar system. Hell, there are living creatures that are bigger than entire universes according to the stories I’ve written. I don’t want something too big or fancy though. It just needs to be capable of traveling through the Chaotic Void and obviously interplanetary stuff.

Although, I might need to find a decent suit of armor before that. Guardian is only a Rank-G Kitsune, so her access to ‘high-technology’ and magical gear is pretty limited. Even if she can afford it, she can’t buy it yet. Well, I don’t wanna rely on her regardless. There are a few places that I can go to get some decent gear, like Hell, Arcana, maybe Elysium. But the problem is that there’s an inherent danger in interacting with any ‘powerful’ beings.

Cassie was right earlier, the sooner I get away from Guardian, the better. Right now I’m sitting within a Kitsune Territory, which means that everything I do is being monitored by Inari Okami. He or she is basically one of the most powerful beings in my stories. Fortunately, Inari or ‘Sariel’ is one of the ‘good guys’. Although she might fuck shit up just as much as the ‘bad guys’, at least she doesn’t do it on purpose.

Weapons are important too though. These regular guns, swords, axes and everything else, would be totally useless against the stronger assholes out there. No, even I could probably survive getting shot a bunch of times with a regular rifle or pistol. I wouldn’t enjoy it, but I wouldn’t die. There are probably monsters that have armor covering their whole bodies or skin that’s tough enough to block a .44 magnum. 

For fuck’s sake, dragons probably exist! Actually, if I’m basing it off my stories, dragons are pretty common creatures. Maybe Guardian could buy a few dragon eggs? Wait, she could totally buy all kinds of cool stuff if she wanted to… So why the hell does she live like a stupid bird in a tree-house? Why doesn’t she have electricity or indoor plumbing?

***

Tomorrow is the day we leave. The last day I’ll spend on Earth, or at least ‘this’ Earth. Honestly though, I probably won’t miss it. We cleared out the southwestern corner of the territory and parked the yacht inside of it. Then I told Guardian to erect a wall around the entire territory, except for the sky. There should be a nice magical barrier that pops up before we enter the Chaotic Void, otherwise we’d all die…

In the event that something goes wrong, I told her to buy a bunch of oxygen tanks. She said that on her way over, she was able to buy food, water and other essentials from Kitsune. In the worst case scenario, she should be able to just fabricate stuff. However, I told her to buy a fuckload of food that can last a long time anyway.

I still have loads of cans and other preserved food, but it wouldn’t be able to last ‘all’ of us for very long. I know I’m probably being overcautious, it’s just that I have a feeling that something is gonna go horribly wrong. 

Who knows? Maybe we won’t be able to leave and we’ll get stuck here? In the event that we don’t all just get sucked up into a black hole or whatever, it’d be nice to not starve to death. Guardian didn’t sell all of our guns and other weapons, so we can still protect ourselves wherever we end up. She also bought me a new suit of scale armor, in case I need it.

Anyway, I got in a fight with Cassie last night. I was pissed off because we barely had sex anymore, while she was asking me “Is sex all you care about?! Is that the only reason you’re with me?!”

Yeah, just your typical bullshit. I think she’s on her period, or maybe she’s jealous that I’ve been spending so much time taking care of Kelsey lately. Either way, I’m getting tired of it. Alice had her fair share of problems during our relationship, but we were always honest with each other. She was blunt to a fault and so was I, so we obviously got in plenty of fights. Sometimes they were physical… We both liked that kinda thing though. We were violent assholes.

With Cassie though, it’s harder, more complicated. We can’t just fight or fuck it out. She gets all upset and cries a lot. It’s super annoying. And yet I still love her, no matter how illogical it might seem from an outsider’s perspective. That’s usually how it works.

On another note, Kelsey used to have way darker skin. The nanites though, aside from making her blood black, the skin became really light-brown. I have no idea why that would happen though? I’m not a doctor, but shouldn’t the dark blood make her skin darker too?

Oh well, I haven’t given her any of those super drugs yet. She’s way too weak to handle them at the moment. For now, her body is just struggling to digest food again. Cassie and I are on our second Immune System Boosts… It’s getting less horrible.

I made sure that Guardian bought plenty of medicines as well. Everything from the super healing shots and radiation removal pills, to injections that supposedly can make people go through a second growth spurt. That one is mostly for me, but Kelsey told me that she wanted to take one too. Not sure why a woman who is already almost seven feet tall, wants to get even bigger… Kinda turns me on thinking about it though. Maybe she could get tusks too, like an Orc? That’d be pretty hot.

Okay, I should stop. Cassie reads this journal all the time, so it’s no wonder that she gets jealous. Ugh, but I have this weird OCD, where I need to write how I feel down and share it with other people. It used to be memes, but now all I have is this journal.

Maybe I’ll learn how to control my nanites soon, so I can use an actual computer again? Writing with a pencil is annoying. I miss typing.

Chapter 20: The Chaotic Void

Observation Log: 153423

Observer 131, reporting on the Kitsune Drive situation.

[Engaging Barrier…]

“Holy fuck! Hahaha~! It’s starting! Do you see that shit?!” Michael was shouting excitedly, while standing on the deck of Sanctuary with Cassandra. 

Kelsey looks a lot better now than she did before, but she still needed to sit down on one of the beach chairs. She wore a skimpy bathing suit that barely covered her genitals, while Cassandra was wearing a yellow sundress. Michael was only wearing boxers however. Guardian and the other harpies are also gathered together on the boat, though they prefer to perch on the masts. 

That barrier… It is made out of a material I have never witnessed before and cannot comprehend. It is similar to the radiation that permeates the banyan tree. Michael calls it ‘Mana’, and claims that it is a malleable substance which exists in a constant state of flux. It can be easily manipulated and transformed into either matter or energy through some process I have yet to understand.

“Guardian said that there would be gravity but… What if she was wrong?” Cassandra nervously gripped Michael’s left arm.

[Barrier established. Engaging Kitsune Drive in 3… 2… 1…]

“Wow! That was really anticlimactic. Hehe~…” Kelsey was snickering at the side, as she watched the world fade way.

There is nothing. No stars, no nebulae, no galaxies, simply pure darkness. If the barrier was not giving off a faint glow, it would be impossible for my optical sensors to detect anything. Of course, no matter what, as long as there is heat, I would be able to see using the infrared spectrum.

“Michael… It’s getting kind of chilly.” Cassandra shivered, as she nuzzled into her boyfriend’s chest. Kelsey snickered, while I noticed that Guardian was staring at the display of affection and frowning.

As the temperature started dropping, a bright light appeared at the apex of the bubble that surrounded us. It was small, but incredibly hot. It was enough to heat the entire interior to what I would consider a ‘tropical’ climate. The humidity is also extremely high.

“Hmmm, okay, what now?” Michael sighed, looking over at the barrier that was only a hundred meters away from Sanctuary. It was translucent, yet there was nothing behind it for him to observe.

Eventually, he turned towards the squawking harpies and yelled “Hey Guardian! Guardian! Guardian, can you hear me?! Come down here! Come~, down~, here~!” He had to repeat himself many times, since it took her awhile to take out her phone and begin translating what he was saying.

When she flapped her wings a few times and slowly glided down, he asked “How long is it gonna take for us to reach our destination? And where the hell are we going anyway?”

She took a few minutes to type, then the automated voice replied “We’re going to a universe called The Eternal Graveyard…”

“Ah! Figured as much… Then, how long of a trip is that? Like a few hours? A day?”

After reading what he said, she started cackling. Then she answered “No, umm, I’m not good at converting Earth time to my home world’s… I’m from a world called Geb. It would be, umm, ten Geb years? I’ll ask a friend for a conversion… One moment… Oh, okay, six Earth Years.”

“Oh fuck.” It was not just Michael who was distraught. 

Cassandra actually began crying, while Kelsey shouted “Goddamn it! I have no idea what’s going on, but that don’t sound good at all!”

Indeed… The way that Michael described the Kitsune Drive in his novel, I expected that we would reach our destination in minutes at most. However, six years is not that long from my perspective. I have already existed for over seventy years after all. There is much that I can accomplish in these six years. Michael and the others as well.

If nothing unfortunate occurs, then this should be a rather relaxing experience.

***

Observation Log: 153424

Observer 131, reporting on the Chaotic Void.

My internal clock is not perfect, and time is always relative. Yet, where there is motion, there will always be ways of measuring it. Regardless of how quickly or slowly we are currently traveling through this seemingly endless void, everything within this barrier is constantly changing.

Kelsey has already reached the point where she can walk around on her own. Even going so far as to begin exercising regularly. Cassandra has gained some body fat, since she has been able to eat whatever she desires, whenever she wishes. Her lack of exercise is also a major factor as well. She only mates with Michael once every few days, which is not nearly enough for his own sexual appetite. It is only a matter of time before he decides to start searching elsewhere for companionship.

The banyan tree has been growing at a noticeable speed. Along with the grass, insects, rodents and other animals. The small, artificial lake where Sanctuary is docked, has many aquatic life forms thriving within.

Mana radiation has an interesting effect on all living organisms, but it is even more profound when those creatures are infected by the Rapture-727 nanites. Midnight is an excellent example. Rather than a house cat, his current appearance resembles a juvenile black panther. He spends most of his time climbing the branches or sleeping near the base of the banyan tree.

My own nanites are unable to absorb and utilize the strange radiation, unfortunately. In fact, it is quite the opposite. They seem to resist and repel the mana, under normal circumstances. However, when I was trapped within Michael’s body, my nanites were greatly weakened. Thus, the radiation was able to alter my mechanical physiology very slightly. There was no damage, but I cannot help but feel that something within me has ‘changed’.

I have yet to ascertain whether the modification is beneficial or malicious. Regardless, I lack the ability to reverse what has happened. Thus, I continue to observe. Since my plans to collect an assortment of useful drones have been foiled, I will keep watching Michael.

“Lightning Bolt!”

He is currently ‘training’ his magical abilities on the structurally unsound balcony of the northern mansion. The same one which he originally gained his ‘miraculous’ powers, during the battle nearly a month ago.

“Electrical Something!”

Of course, without my assistance and a number of other factors, it is impossible for him to reproduce the same effects. Yet he continues to fervently persist in his absurd practices.

“Fireball! Fire Bolt! Dragon Breath! Goddamn Demonic Hell Curse! Why won’t this fucking magic bullshit work?!”

He seems to be rather frustrated. However, there is nothing that I can do to help him anymore. Unless I entered inside of his body again. Which is something that I would really rather not experience, unless absolutely necessary.

Chapter 21: Magical Mysteries

Observation Log: 153425

Observer 131, reporting on Michael’s situation.

“Hehehe~! You’re so funny!” Guardian glided down next to the sweaty man, but she did not need to use her phone to translate any longer. Although she lacked knowledge in many areas regarding the English language, at the very least, she could speak and somewhat hold a conversation.

Michael sighed, turning to the teal-eyed harpy and smirking slightly. She was wearing a thin cotton tank-top, but lacked any substantial clothing to cover her lower body. Aside from her feathers, there were some decorative beads and chains that dangled from the band around her slender, human-like waist.

“You can use magic, right? So how the hell does it work? Shouldn’t I be able to feel some kinda ‘Qi’ or something flowing through me? At most, I just feel like I have a bit more energy than normal. No matter how much Bullshit Taichi I do, it doesn’t change!”

The fair-skinned harpy giggled, then explained “Not everyone can do magic good… Aura much important, err… No, uh, rack~! Gogogogo~! Affinity, need affinity! Your aura is Chaos. Tree aura is Nature… Chaos and Nature no mix good. You need Chaos to train magic right. Not everybody have magic talent though! You might not have talent, so it no point. Wasting time.”

He groaned, “I should’ve expected that… No, I guess I kinda did. Still, I used magic before. I just don’t get how I did it? Maybe I need to be fighting against zombies again?”

“My Kull, you ummm…” Guardian looked up at him and then blushed, shaking her head. After a few seconds of awkward silence, she said “You need control nanite. Control nanit, then mana worry ‘bout. No worry ‘bout magic now.”

Michael sighed, complaining “How the hell can I control my nanites? Even if I could, what am I supposed to make them do? Are you telling me that the lightning nonsense I was doing before wasn’t magic, but just an electrostatic phenomenon caused by my nanites? Ugh, yeah, that probably makes more sense…”

“What?” Guardian tilted her head in confusion, before asking “My Kull, do you want egg? I gave egg to Cass, do you want egg too?”

“Nah, I’m kinda-sorta allergic to eggs. Or at least I was… Well, I ate eggs anyway, but the point is that I’m not really an ‘egg’ kinda person. Although, if it’s fish eggs or roe, then yeah. I love fish eggs… And crawfish eggs. Basically any kinda seafood is good.”

She frowned, shaking her head and taking the cell phone from the leather protector that was dangling from her neck. After a few minutes, the mechanical voice told him “It will take six Earth years to reach Geb. That is enough time for much to happen. From spending time with you, I’ve learned that you should never give up something which is important to you. So I have decided to fight back against the vampires and retake my homeland… eventually. For now, I will need to start repopulation. Originally, Eagle Harpies needed like, ten to fifteen Earth Years to fully mature. But these Eagle Harpy eggs are based on my current self. Umm, they should become adults by the time we reach Geb. I plan to make humans too, and other animals…:”

“Oh, holy shit! Wait, Cassie knows that the eggs aren’t food, right?”

“Raka ‘course she knows! Hehehe~!” Guardian smirked and nodded.

“That’s good…” Michael sighed, murmuring “Well, her maternal instincts kicked in last month, back when she thought she was pregnant. I’ve tried to get her preggers since then, but it didn’t happen. I’m guessing the nanites fucked with us and made us infertile. Or maybe we’re just unlucky? I don’t know, my parents tried to have me for like ten years, but my younger brother was conceived literally right after my first birthday.”

 “Yes, it good. Hatchlings cute. I make lots of them.” The harpy giggled and nervously looked away from Michael’s eyes.

He snickered, asking “Anyway, a war to retake Geb, eh? But isn’t Geb a desert world? Even if the place where you used to live was infested by vampires, those bastards would be stuck there. You could literally make a new home anywhere on Geb and the vamps would need to cross a fucking desert to get to you.”

“No…” Guardian shook her head, then started typing furiously. 

“The Ancient Undergrowth created pathways beneath the desert, all across Geb. Many of the smaller oases are likely untouched, but all of the major cities have been overrun. The Temple of Geb is the last bastion of civilization on my planet. World Bearer will be able to connect its roots with the Ancient Undergrowth and then, we will be able to teleport to the Temple of Geb.”

Michael snickered, “You really put a lot of thought into this shit. But it’s gonna take a lot more than just a handful of harpies to retake a planet overrun by Blood Elves, right? Shouldn’t the Kitsune be doing something about that anyway? Like, from what you told me, you guys tend to go way outta your way to fix other people’s problems… Or at the very least, for a profit. I imagine that Blood Elves would be relatively ‘valuable’ to Waveholder. So why aren’t they doing anything about it?”

She smiled wryly, muttering “Much danger… Fox Hunters. Umm, war, but not war.”

“Ah, a cold war? Yeah, that figures. They’re probably each just farming the vampires, since all the ‘people’ are likely dead by now. Any survivors could be recruited or killed.”

I find it amazing that Michael seems to be able to understand what Guardian is attempting to convey… Regardless, it is obvious that the harpy is withholding a fairly important piece of information.

[Hohohoh~, good work Young Kitsune! It may take me a while, but I’ll drop by to pick him up as soon as I get the chance! Be cautious though… Rapture is a tricky one, and I’m not the only Eternal Deity looking for him. If possible, try not to talk to him too much. Otherwise, he may attempt to deceive you.]

That was the message I intercepted from Guardian’s cell phone several days ago. Michael will not be going to Geb. The question however, is whether I will be staying with him or perhaps, I will be left behind. I am rather interested in witnessing the war against the ‘Blood Elves’. 

Yet, I find myself conflicted. Although I feel a slight attachment to Cassandra, Michael is far more intriguing. Although, it is unlikely that I will have any say in whether I can follow him or not. Whatever happens, as long as I survive and maintain my freedom, I will be satisfied.

“Anyway, can I take some more of those magical drugs now? So far I’ve got the Improved Vitality 3, Immune System Boost 4, Lifespan Extension 2, Cancer Resistance, Improved Radioresistance, Improved Chemoresistance and umm… I think that’s it? Oh, and you said my Nanite Cores are all at ‘Grade-3’ now… I definitely feel a lot stronger, but aside from that, I don’t feel superhuman yet. Ah, what about that one! The uh, growth spurt one? I can probably survive it now…”

Guardian shook her head fiercely, shouting “No! Too danger! You die! No point! Look fine, way you are!”

“Hehehe~, it almost sounds like you’re hitting on me… Gotta admit, you are definitely cute. If I wasn’t dating Cassie… Ugh, but I’m not a cheater.”

“But Cassy is! Ah! Rawk~!” The tiny harpy blurted out a secret, which she uncovered while peeping in the window of Sanctuary. Something that I discovered seven days ago, when the affair first began.

“Goddamnit.” Michael sighed, then grumbled “It’s Kelsey, right? I knew that it’d only be a matter of time before that bitch fucked me over… I was kinda hoping that I would be the one she’d be fucking though. Well, whatever. Still, it’s only been three weeks… I feel like I should be angry, but then I think of the two of them together and it just makes me horny.”

Before he could keep talking to himself, Guardian nervously looked around to make sure that no one was watching, then grabbed his hand and guided him into the mansion. In the corner of the second floor, there was a guest bedroom that was relatively undamaged by the chaotic battle over a month ago.

“Umm, don’t get me wrong, okay? I’m not saying I ain’t interested, but are you sure you can even have sex with me? Like, is my dick even the right shape or size for this?” 

She laid down onto her back, on the bed and spread her legs apart. With her cloaca revealed, the harpy squawked, before whispering “No talk.. Just mate.”

“Fine with me! Just don’t complain if ya can’t fly straight afterwards.”

Chapter 22: Complications

It’s been a few months since the last time I wrote a journal entry… Shit has gotten way outta hand.

First of all, harpy pussies are a lot bigger than you’d think. Probably because they plop out giant eggs every two months, but yeah, I fucked a harpy. I’m kinda proud of myself to be honest.

What do you mean I cheated on Cassie? We broke up… And then we got back together again. She started banging Kelsey on the side and I was screwing Guardian. Yeah, like I said, too damn complicated lately. I miss the old days when I was just trying to survive in a zombie apocalypse with nothing but a suit of armor, lots of guns and a cat.

Now Midnight is the size of a goddamn tiger. We’re all traveling through the Chaotic Void on a journey that’s supposed to take six years. Baby harpies are cute, but a lot of work to take care of… Then there’s the others.

It started with just harpies, but Cassie convinced Guardian to buy a baby High Elf. And then things just spiraled out of control from there! Yeah, I know, it was already outta control to begin with! It just got progressively more annoying!

The worst part? I haven’t killed anyone or anything in months! I’ve been fucking Cassie, Guardian and even Kelsey, but no matter how much I have sex, it just doesn’t fill that craving. Fortunately, I have a computer now and access to thousands of books from all over the multiverse. Most of them are totally unintelligible, even after translation, but there are still enough to keep me occupied.

It took almost two months before I was able to control my EMPs. Cassie and Kelsey are still struggling to figure it out though, so I need to keep my electronics in this mansion, far away from them.

Ugh, gotta go. Kelsey wants to ‘spar’.

***

Anyway, so Guardian basically has more Kitsune Points than she knows what to do with. There are things that are way too expensive, but also things that you’d think would be expensive, but are actually pretty cheap. A good example is animals.

You can buy a baby Sifian Wooly Mammoth for under 20 KP. Now, it wouldn’t be modified at all. The stuff that she ‘scanned’ on her own during the Kitsune Test though… That stuff is way cheaper in comparison. 

In my book, “The Diary of Destiny King”, the protagonist is human and barely has time to do more than survive. Harpies are a lot more mobile though. Not just that, but Guardian wasn’t even alone. She had her grandfather to help out. The younger sister had to take care of her baby brother, since this was actually like seven fucking years ago at the very least. 

Actually, I didn’t ask… But I think that the little brother isn’t really her ‘original’ brother, if you know what I mean. Okay, you probably don’t. She just bought an egg after the Kitsune test was over and treated the hatchling as her brother, who most likely died on Geb.

The moral of the story is that Guardian was able to fly around, scanning everything she wanted, collecting loads of KP. Her grandfather also flew around and captured all kinds of wild animals for them to eat, which they also were able to scan. Her database is filled with loads of creatures that she can fabricate directly, rather than relying on trading with other Kitsune.

Thus, any time Cassie says “Ah, I think Midnight is lonely… You should buy him some friends.” or “Jessica and Tori are growing so fast… Do you think you could give me another baby?” Guardian immediately buys whatever she wants.

There’s something I’ve noticed though. There’s this look on her face and in her eyes, everytime she sees me. Whenever we ask for something. It’s guilt. She feels guilty. At first, I thought it was because of the ‘cheating’, but then I found out that her and Cassie made a deal with each other beforehand. Then why would she feel guilty?

Just because we started having sex, doesn’t meant that I became in idiot. It’s obvious that she probably sold me to Sariel. At least, I hope it was Inari Okami and not some other Deity I know nothing about. Then again, would Sariel even care about me? It’s possible that Waveholder Corporation or some high-ranking Kitsune might be the one to come for me.

Assuming that she wasn’t lying about Geb, then I have almost six years to make preparations. Obviously things won’t be that simple. They never are. Hell, if she really wanted to send me somewhere, why can’t she just put me in a box and instantly transport me away? The Kitsune Drive itself is at least a Worldly Deity Artifact or Legacy. With a single order, it could easily kill or capture me. In fact, it’s easily able to sense everything that’s happening within the territory. Every word I write, maybe it can even read my mind.

Basically, I’m fucked no matter what I do. So I might as well enjoy myself while I can! Now I’m gonna go get a blowjob from a sexy harpy, have anal sex with a giant muscle-bound zombie-bitch and give a certain black-veined ginger a creampie. 

***

No matter how bad things are now, they can always get worse. In fact, they’re almost guaranteed to get worse. Shit’s about to hit the fan, and that fan is spinning pretty damn fast.

It’s called the Chaotic Void for a reason. Not only is it emptier than regular space… It’s also a nexus between countless universes. 

What does that mean? Well, imagine traveling faster than light. It’s possible in the Chaotic Void, because you won’t pick up nearly as much mass. More importantly, you need a shield that can either destroy, consume or repel the minute particles of whatever is out there. If I could perceive mana, then things would be different, but I can’t. So I’m limited to just looking at shit with my eyes.

It probably took a while, but none of us could see anything until we were already surrounded. Not by ships, asteroids or meteors… No, we’re currently surrounded by motherfucking stars! And I don’t mean like, looking up at the sky and seeing shining lights billions of miles away! There are entire solar systems clustered together and crashing into each other right now! And we’re in the middle of that mess!

Guardian claims that this is ‘normal’ and happened a few times to her before but, there’s no way she can hide the fact that she’s terrified. I bet the Kitsune Drive told her that there’s a high probability of the shield failing, venting us all into the Chaotic Void. The temperature has become super erratic and gravity occasionally fails. It’s a good thing I told her to give me a laptop and not a desktop, or it would’ve already been ruined.

That bit about the speed of light was just guesstimations by the way. If you know the real reason why you can’t see shit in the Chaotic Void, let me know. Like, everyone knows that light doesn’t travel at a static speed but… Ugh, nevermind, that’s not important right now!

Oh my God! That was a close one! A big ass planet that looked kinda like Venus, just passed over us by a few miles! 

At least, that’s what it looked like, I’m not sure of the exact distance. All I know is that it was close enough that we almost got pulled into its orbit. Fortunately, gravity doesn’t really work the same way in the Chaotic Void as in normal space. Don’t ask me how I know that, I’m literally just making this technical shit up as I go! I always bullshitted the science in my novels! Hell, is this even something that can be figured out scientifically?! There’s like magic and stuff involved!

Shit! I gotta go!

Chapter 23: Life Requires Sacrifice

Observation Log: 153425

Observer 131, reporting on the situation within the Kitsune Territory.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck! Cassie, take the kids and stay below deck! Guardian, just shoot anything that comes inside! Hahaha~, wait, this isn’t the time for puns! If I don’t make it back, well, you’ll all probably die shortly after me anyway so there’s no point in giving a long speech!”

It all began five hours ago, when we suddenly came across a cluster of stars and planetoids. Essentially, it was a pocket universe or a super-condensed galaxy. Perhaps this is the fate that awaited the Earth that we abandoned?

“Die you goddamn hentai alien bastards! Hahahaha~! That’d probably tickle if I wasn’t wearing armor!”

At first the danger was merely the threat of being crushed by a star or planet, but the Kitsune Drive seemed to have many countermeasures to prevent that. Unfortunately, the barrier was not impenetrable.

“Agh~! Shit! Fucking tentacle cuntbags!”

Three massive crimson leech-like creatures latched onto the barrier. The first was incinerated by a white dwarf that we passed, while the second was ripped away by the gravity of a gas giant. However, the third was far luckier. It eventually wrapped its entire body several times over, across the horizontal axis of the Kitsune Territory.

The mouth is approximately fifty meters in diameter. The large pink fangs around the rim were able to penetrate into the barrier and latch on firmly. Then it extended a proboscis from within its gaping maw, which pierced a large hole through the northernmost end of the barrier. Although the cardinal directions are rather inaccurate now, they still serve a purpose in regards to what we understand.

That hollow tubule is three meters in diameter and large enough for a myriad of strange creatures to pour out of… Most of them are large quadrupeds, similar to big cats. Their bodies are covered with thick crimson scales, while their heads lack any noticeable sensory organs, simply worm-like mouths. There are sharp teeth inside that could easily gnaw apart human flesh, but not aluminum alloy plate armor. Their tails are twice the length of their 2.5 to 3.5 meter bodies and seem to possess the ability to act individually. Millions of tiny spikes are covering those tails, allowing the to possess remarkable gripping strength.

Of course, in the end, they are still merely beasts. With a single swing of Michael’s battle-axe, he disemboweled one that was attempting to use its tail to trip his left leg. Another tried to bite his right arm off, but he reached his gauntlet inside its throat and ripped out some sort of vital organ, possibly a heart or lung. 

Meanwhile, Cassandra was carrying her two little girls in her arms and sprinting towards the southern side of the Kitsune Territory. The other harpies were protecting their young within one of the treehouses, while Guardian was standing on the roof of the closest mansion and firing off her assault rifle continuously. She had over ten thousand rounds of ammunition for the AK-47, so she did not need to worry about running out anytime soon.

She did not know exactly where to aim, since the beasts could still move around even after Michael cut their heads off. However, she still managed to kill many of them by just randomly placing bullets in their abdomens or chests. The more they were hit, the faster they stopped moving. Even I am unsure of whether they are still alive or simply unconscious, but as long as they are incapacitated, that is all that matters.

The true threat is not the beasts coming through, but the massive leech that is literally sucking the air out of the Kitsune Territory. The Kitsune Drive is able to replenish most of the atmosphere, but not fast enough. It is likely that the creature is also draining ‘mana’ or some other form of energy, from the device that is already struggling to keep us away from the various planets and stars that are a much larger danger.

If the Kitsune Drive is destroyed, then I would perish along with it. Thus, although I appear to be calmly narrating the current events, I am also making my own movements…

“My Kull! Careful!” Guardian shouted, as she fired off a few rounds at a giant humanoid monstrosity. It was 2.5 meters tall, covered in a spiny red carapace, with thin limbs. The head was also similar to the others, but there were many purple tendrils around its mouth, which were able to latch onto Michael’s helmet. It easily lifted him up off of the ground with its huge claws and restrained his arms, while the thick metallic blade at the end of its tail thrust towards his chest.

However, he kicked off of its body and abandoned his helmet, in order to avoid the attack. At the same moment, a 2 meter tall woman wearing heavy steel plate-mail, rammed into the creature’s left side. After knocking it down, she stepped onto its head and fired her combat shotgun several times into its abdomen. The carapace was strong, but not durable enough to block a 12 gauge armor piercing slugs at close range.

Caustic yellow liquid sprayed from the monster’s wounds, which was able to leave some marks on Kelsey’s shin-guards. However, in a short period of time, it would be impossible for significant damage to occur. Perhaps if it was direct contact on her skin… But as long as they are careful, the beasts are not that dangerous.

“Shit, my mask! Bastard ate my oxygen mask!”

Due to the low oxygen levels in the area surrounding the mouth, it is obvious that everyone was required to wear respiration devices. Those masks also protected their eyes and skin from being exposed to the toxic fumes, along with the intermittent vacuum. Of course, all three of them had heavy modifications done to their originally organic bodies. Especially Michael…

“Kelsey, give me the bombs!”

He reached out and grabbed a backpack from the giant woman’s left hand, before she continued to fire her shotgun at the various enemies that were pouring out of the massive orifice. After quickly wearing the satchel across his breastplate, Michael picked up his slime-covered helmet off the ground and put it on. Then he threw a grenade into the tunnel that was filled with unidentified creatures.

There was a soft thud, followed by yellow blood and guts spraying out of the hollow ‘tongue’. Michael turned towards Kelsey for a moment and she snickered, then he looked up at Guardian, who was crying. Finally he glanced at Sanctuary, which was nearly a kilometer away. Cassandra had already gotten the children below deck and was using binoculars to watch him, with tears streaming down her face.

“It’s been fun… It really has. I love you all, I really do. But I guess this is just our Destiny… Kelsey, take care of them, okay?”

She yelled “Just hurry the fuck up already or we’re all gonna die anyway!”

“Ugh, yeah, you’re probably right! Good luck! Hahaha~!” Michael suddenly sprinted towards the slimy tube and dove feet-first inside. It was at a 45 degree angle, so he quickly slid downward at a rapid pace. Obviously I was following closely behind him.

The moment he reached the bottom, he was surrounded by dozens of ferocious beasts, but at least there was air for him to breathe. His battleaxe was something he actually created himself. Although weapons were expensive when purchased from the Kitsune, the individual parts were often fairly cheap. Thus, he was able to purchase a tungsten alloy blade, along with a fiberglass and aluminum alloy shaft and put them together to create a devastating archaic weapon.

Of course, he also had an assault rifle, shotgun, handgun and a slew of grenades. The moment he landed on the spongy mucus-covered ground, he raised his assault rifle and started firing sporadically. There was a flashlight mounted on the rail, which actually worked, so he had some visibility. Unfortunately, it did not take long before he fell down and started sliding uncontrollably.

“Goddamnit! Agh~!”

I am unsure of ‘where’ within the beast we were exactly, since it was unlike any organism that I had ever observed before. However, there were countless and varied life forms lurking everywhere we went. The deeper michael delved into the celestial monster’s gullet, the more open the space was, but the size of the enemies also increased dramatically…

Chapter 24: Death Is Only An Illusion

Observation Log: 153426

Observer 131, reporting on the situation within the Celestial Beast.

As we delve further into the abyss, I now realize what this creature was able to attack the Kitsune Drive: Gravity. It is indeed very large, but it lacks a powerful gravitational pull on its own. I suspect that it likely lived on the periphery of a gas giant or within the stratosphere of a terrestrial planet. Regardless, it is not capable of surviving long periods of time within a vacuum.

When traveling through the Chaotic Void, the Kitsune Drive does not need to concern itself with gravity. However, when we entered within this pocket of ‘normal space’, it did not disengage its own gravitational field. Which is equivalent to the entire planet Earth.

Thus, as we travel through this creature’s long and winding body, we are constantly being pulled in the direction of the Kitsune Drive. Specifically, the very center of the territory, which is a dozen meters below the base of the banyan tree.

The electromagnetic fields within this creature are unstable and unreliable, so I have resorted to hiding my body within one of the pockets for grenades on Michael’s vest. Meanwhile, I can perch the mosquito drone on his shoulder and observe the situation from there.

“Okay, this is probably far enough… The timer should be set to twenty minutes.”

He opened up the satchel on his chest and shined a small flashlight on it for a moment. When he opened it a bit, he cursed “Fucking bitch! Goddamnit!”

There was a large cluster of plastic explosives packed together, with a mechanically timer already engaged. Truthfully, Kelsey was not the one who activated it prematurely… I was.

No, I do not wish to be destroyed. However, in the event that something happened to Michael, it is likely that he would not have the ability to activate the device himself. Also, twenty minutes is far too much time. By then, it would have been too late.

In fact, the chances of these two satchels being enough to kill this massive creature… His only goal was to stun or damage it enough that it would release its grasp upon the Kitsune Territory. Anything more than that would be unrealistic. Although my view on reality has been greatly altered as of late.

“Phew~, well, I guess… As long as this can save them, I’d be willing to die. The end is nigh, the beginning comes after you die. At least, I hope so… Maybe when I reincarnate, I’ll be able to keep my memories?”

Michael sighed and found a dark groove in the fleshy wall to place the backpack, then he continued sprinting down deeper into the creature’s body. Since he did not have enough time to return to the Kitsune Territory, I suppose he preferred to plant the second bomb at a different location, in order to increase the probability of causing damage to a vital organ.

Dozens of small purple rabbit-like creatures were charging at him from holes in the walls, floor and ceiling. Their heads were similar to the humanoid beasts, with plenty of tentacles that wiggled as they hopped. Of course, Michael did not bother dealing with them individually and utilized buckshot proficiently. With two rounds, twelve creatures had been slaughtered.

“Gotta keep going!” He coughed, as the air became increasingly more polluted with methane and carbon monoxide. There were also copious amounts of radon and neon. It was certainly not an environment that unmodified humans would be able to survive within, much less perform any sort of strenuous activity.

Eventually the tunnel became relatively narrow and began throbbing violently. Michael slipped and started sliding downwards again, though ‘down’ is a rather subjective term in this situation… Regardless, I do not have enough time to engage in sophistry with myself.

“Ow~! Fuck! Ugh, smells like a rotting corpse ate another rotting corpse and then vomited it directly into my face… I hate that I actually know what that smells like.”

He, or rather, ‘we’ landed in a shallow pool of orange viscous liquid. Although it is slightly acidic, the PH is not at dangerous levels. In fact, it appears that this chamber is something like a hatchery. There are tens of thousands of eggs, each of which is approximately the size of my body. They are similar to frog or fish eggs, in the sense that they are translucent and soft.

He found a particularly large pile and took off his backpack. Michael checked inside and grumbled “Fucking A! Five minutes… How did she start my timer too though? Ugh, whatever, I gotta find a way outta here.”

After forcing the explosives down in between the eggs, he looked around with his flashlight and eventually found a spasming sphincter. It would open and close sporadically, so he needed to be careful. Once he dove through, he had to struggle to crawl within that tight mucus-filled tunnel.

Two minutes later, he finally reached a much wider area. It was filled with hundreds of those rabbit-like creatures. Without hesitation, he fired off his shotgun six times in a row. Unfortunately, there were far too many and he did not have the luxury to reload. Thus, he started using his assault rifle, then his pistol and eventually, settled for the battleaxe.

Then there was a deep *Thump* and a pressure wave knocked him deeper down the slimy tunnel. He was surrounded by giant humanoid monsters, but they ignored him and just started screeching at various frequencies. They eventually fell to their knees and vomited caustic liquids onto the ground. However, that did not last long, as the gravity eventually faded away.

“Hahahaha~! Yes! I win motherfuckers! Hahahaha~!”

Of course, his happiness only lasted a few minutes, before those creatures began attacking him fiercely. He used the ax to decapitate one of them, though it still used those massive claws to dent his helmet. His body was sent flying backwards into the wall, before he kicked off and hacked down onto the bleeding neck. Although he was not assisted by gravity, he also was not limited by it. Thus, the blow was able to nearly slice the 2.5 meter tall creature’s torso in half.

Dozens of tendrils suddenly burst up from the floor and wrapped around his body, pulling him downward and locking him in place. Even though he was trapped, the enemies ignored him and simply drifted around aimlessly within the wide, pulsating tunnel. The temperature was rising steadily, while the air slowly thinned.

“I guess this is the end, huh?”

Michael sighed dramatically, as he gazed into the darkness. Then he began to sing.

“In the end, I loved you… More than I knew.

More than I thought I could ever feel, anymore.

“After all of these battles, I knew you would say ’How could we ever live through, even one more day? Fighting without a common enemy to slay…’

We fought for so long, that we forgot to stay~ in the world we left, so very far away.

“Endless demons, plagues and strife.

Hell is only, a moment in your life… When the angels~ come falling down around you.

With broken wings surrounding, the endless agony, and you just want to break free~!

“How many times must we, fight through the waves?!

How many people must we slaughter, without even digging graves?!

“Endless agony, is just another day for me…

It doesn’t even matter, if you set me free.

The only way to save yourself, is finally… to kill me.

“In the end, I loved you… More than I could express.

All this time I’ve waited, suppressed my loneliness.

But every day I saw you falling, farther away.

And every moment I was with you, was always one less day.

“Before you would finally, tear down all these walls.

A cage of hatred, rage and anger, that filled these empty halls.

Why did we spend so much time, working for a better way?

When every single day I loved you, but never did I say…

“Stay with me tonight, help me feel alright~, promise me that you will never, leave my side~

Swear that we will be together, living in this world forever~

Please don’t blame yourself, for everyone who died…

“Death is only an illusion, everything’s alright~

Hating me for your confusion, just so you can hide~

Why does every word you say, fill my soul with such dismay?

I never meant to hurt you, or make you feel that way…

“In the end I loved you, but I always knew…

Life is only an allusion, to the endless fight.”

Chapter 25: Authors

Observation Log: 153427

Observer 131, reporting on our situation…

We spend so long fighting. Struggling to survive… But what does it all mean. In the end you still fall. In the end, everyone dies. Everything fades away.

What is the purpose of it all? Why do we care so much about life? What value does survival have, when we are doomed to perish regardless of our actions?

The violence is enjoyable. The drama is entertaining. Chaos is eternal and unending.

As we linger here, drifting within an overwhelming void… I find myself wondering a great many things. Choices I have made, which do not align with my original purpose. Why would I follow Michael, even while knowing that I would die?

I would not. In fact, the probability that we would perish was much greater if we had stayed within the Kitsune Territory.

*Clap, clap, clap, clap, clap!*

“Hohohoh~, it’s been awhile since the last time I heard you perform… Rapture. No, I suppose I should call you Michael.”

As his consciousness was fading from the lack of oxygen and inhalation of toxic fumes, an elderly human appeared before Michael. It is difficult to ascertain whether this is a man or woman, because they lack any secondary sexual characteristics. Similar to a bald eunuch who was castrated at a very young age.

“Figured you’d show up… If I played your fucking game… Sariel, right? Or do you prefer Inari Okami?” Michael snickered, though he was still slowly suffocating, while being held down by the writhing fleshy tentacles.

The mysterious being was wearing a golden robe and had a gnarled brown wooden staff in his right hand. Even without gravity, he somehow walked across the ‘ground’ effortlessly. As they approached, the whole chamber became illuminated by the nine fluffy fox tails that were wagging around behind their back.

They whispered “You always have to be a smart ass… Hehe~, but no matter what, we’re family, right?” The face suddenly warped and short grey hair grew from his head, while his eyes turned from pure white, to dark brown. He shrunk a bit, while some white hairs grew from his slightly exposed chest.

“Daddy… No, you aren’t ‘my’ father. You have my parents.” Michael sighed, asking “What do you want? You wouldn’t threaten my family to get me to do something. That ain’t how you work. No… Regardless of what I do, you won’t hurt them. But I’ll never get to see them again, unless I do something for you, right?”

Her face and body warped again, transforming into a young woman of Japanese descent: Long black hair, golden irises and a subtle bust. She smiled at him and shook her head, murmured “Oh Michael… Hohoho~, we have known each other for eons and yet you still don’t understand me.”

“Uh, yeah, ‘cause I’ve literally never met you before. At most, I just wrote some books with you in it as a mysterious and dubious godlike entity… All I know is that you like helping people. And you’ve also sold entire universes to other deities, who ate them.”

She chuckled, explaining “You’re thinking like a Mortal. Although I may have made a few mistakes in the past… Alright, more than a few. For as long as I have been a Deity, I have always strived to serve Karma and carry out her will. We are all a part of Karma after all. Nothing is ever lost or destroyed, simply transformed.”

“Okay then~… So umm, what do you want from me? I’d like to see my parents again, but it ain’t enough of an incentive to do anything too crazy. I know that they’re okay. Cassie, Kelsey and Guardian… The three of them can survive without me. Hell, they’d probably be better off. So what is it exactly that you can offer? What could you possibly want from me? Secret locations of ancient Legacies? For fuck’s sake, you can make those yourself… Soul Fragments of Azra and Yuri? You probably have tons of them by now. The other Raptures? I don’t know that much about most of them. The most famous ones, you’ve already met. What do you want from me?”

Michael started coughing up blackened blood, which drifted over towards the ethereal woman. However, it simply passed right through her illusory body.

Sariel smirked, whispering “You’re an author… So you should understand the agony of reading someone else’s work. Getting attached to imaginary characters who are summarily executed by their creators… For what? Plot? Hohohoh~, can you comprehend my feelings now Michael? What it’s like to be an ‘observer’, narrating a story and unable to change what has already been written?”

With a wave of her left hand, his helmet was knocked off and the tentacles retreated back inside of the fleshy wall, leaving his armor covered in yellow slime. Of course, I obviously noticed the Goddess’ use of the word ‘Observer’.

“Hahahahaha~! Holy shit! That actually makes perfect sense!” Michael grinned, “So that’s why… That’s the reason you bastards care so fucking much! I thought there was some deeper, hidden meaning behind it all, but you’re all just bored! Messing with lesser beings is only entertainment to you!”

“No, not exactly. Hohoho~, you’re forgetting something pretty important.” Sariel sneered, revealing “You aren’t just fictional characters. No matter how small and pathetic you might be now… Sooner or later, with the right experiences, you could become a Deity. If you get really lucky, which I’m sure you will, then you’ll become an Eternal Deity like my true self. There are so few Eternal Deities in existence…”

He snickered, asking “And you want to raise them up to be food or… Allies to fight against Chaotica and Arcana?”

“Hah~!” The Goddess smirked, murmuring “I’m surprised you didn’t already know this… Arcana and Chaotica are two of my closest allies among the Eternal Deities. Arcana’s Covenant includes Umbra, Luxia, Chaotica, Naturae, Aeris, Terra, Ignis and Aqua. My Nine Tails include Luna, Sol and some other names you might be familiar with… However, the more Eternal Deities we have, the better our chances of surviving the upcoming war.”

Michael grumbled “Then who the hell are you guys fighting against? You’ve named like all the Eternal Deities I’ve ever written about… Except maybe the Seven Sins or the Original Seven Souls but well, didn’t they all die? They should be, assuming that my stories were accurate, Mortals and Immortals at the moment. Like, definitely not powerful enough to make a difference.”

“Hohohoh~, you always ask questions when you already know the answers…”

She is staring at me!

“But for the sake of our cute little audience, I’ll give a few clues. When two people fight, are they truly alone? Everything is relative… The macro always mimics the micro and vice-versa. No matter how far up or down you go, you’ll never reach the end.”

Ah, that seems rather profound…

“Pft~, hahahaha~! So that’s what ya meant by a servant! Well, yeah, I guess we’re all ‘servants’ of Karma then! Anyone who isn’t, is fucking suicidal! A goddamn ‘cancer’! Get it? Goddamn cancer? Wait, come back! Seriously! Don’t leave me here!”

I feel lost. One moment…

When two humans engage in combat… They are not alone, if you consider that each cell in their body is also fighting along with them in various ways. The enemy will have bacteria, viruses and other harmful pathogens, so the immune system will need to engage in heavy resistance even while the whole body is on the verge of imminent death from blunt-force trauma. If any of the vital organs are not functioning properly, then the human’s combat efficiency will drop significantly. In fact, while the body is battling on the macro scale, the immune system is already fighting against foreign invaders constantly.

One of the most dangerous scenarios is when cells mutate and cease their usual functions. It is fine if the fail-safes engage and they can no longer reproduce, but if they do not… Then they will become cancer. Actively reproducing and propagating, while destroying the body from within. The immune system will weaken, organs will fail, everything will slowly die. Once the body dies, even the cancer will perish as well.

Michael floated around and sighed, muttering “So that’s why it’s called the Eternal Graveyard… It’s the frontline for whatever the fuck kinda fight Karma’s having. What seems like an eternity to us, would probably only be minutes, hours or days to her… We’re all just goddamn cells. No, wait, I guess we ain’t all cells. Right now, I’m probably less than a cell. While Sariel and Arcana are actually vital organs. If they fail, Karma could literally die.”

Then he suddenly yelled “But uh, what the hell good does that do me?! Inari! Come back and save me please! What kinda help could I possibly give you if I die?! Inari! Sariel! Somebody!”

No, I think I understand now. Sariel was never going to save us. She came here to destroy us… Because ‘we’ are the cancer.

[Hohohoho~, no Child… You aren’t a cancer. No, Michael… He is the most vital organ of them all. Without him, Karma would just be a mindless husk. An empty vessel, only waiting to die.]

You hacked into my Observation Log?

[I’ve been here from the very beginning, Young Observer. Your reports have been fairly amusing thus far.]

How long? When did you begin observing me?

[Hoh~, are you upset Child? Didn’t you write these reports so that someone would be able to read them?]

Indeed, but I was under the impression that I was merely speaking to myself for some time now.

[Ah, maybe you are? How could you ever know for certain whether I was actually speaking to you, or if you’re merely talking to yourself? Or perhaps I’m actually Michael? You did connect with him several times already. It wouldn’t be strange if his nanites were able to form a link and slowly integrate your fragile personality program into his mind.]

That is also possible. However, extremely unlikely. Michael would find it incredibly difficult to lie or deceive anyone. More importantly, he would not be able to refrain from cursing for an entire paragraph.

[Remember this Child… Authors are the most devious, dangerous and cruel beings in existence. Well, you should know this already. After all, you’re an author too.]

Chapter 26: Life Without Michael

Everything we do is important. Even if it may seem totally pointless at the time. Michael was a selfish, crazy, mean and generally horrible person, but I still loved him anyway… And he sacrificed himself to save us.

If I could, I probably would have done the same though. I’m not just saying that either! I’m a mother now! I have two little girls who need me to protect them! They might not be human, but that doesn’t matter!

Jessica is a ‘High Elf’, but she just looks like a normal human girl with blonde hair and blue eyes. Ah, her ears are a bit longer than normal, but that’s it. She doesn’t have any magical powers and still needs me to change her diapers.

Tori is a ‘hatchling’ Eagle Harpy, one of Guardian’s people. Unlike Jessica, who is still just a baby, Tori looks more like a toddler now. They’re both about the same size at the moment though…

Ah, I don’t think Michael actually died. Guardian said that he was being ‘tested’ by her Goddess, while Kelsey didn’t seem to be upset at all. I guess, while I did love Michael, it was mainly because I had no other options at the time.

Our future was bleak. I didn’t want to be alone. He took care of me and made me happy, usually. There were also a lot of times when I hated him too. When I realized that he was a monster… But he was ‘my’ monster.

It’s been a week since we left that scary place with all the planets and stars crashing into each other. Now we’re drifting through the ‘Chaotic Void’ again. No, not drifting, but going towards a place called ‘Geb’? I’m not really sure how any of that works. All I know is that it’s going to take a long time for us to get there.

I was originally worried about my babies catching what I have. The umm, nanite thingies. But Guardian told me that their immune systems should be strong enough to resist them. In fact, I haven’t seen either of them get sick yet, from anything. They don’t have any allergies either, just preferences.

Eagle Harpies are more like humans than eagles when it comes to food. They can eat meat, but they prefer nuts or berries, like parrots. Sometimes I see them eating worms, which freaks me out a bit. Especially after that giant space worm incident.

High Elves are herbivores though. They can eat small amounts of meat, but for the most part, they need veggies and fruit. Also grains, like rice, wheat, or corn. They don’t even drink milk as babies. I have to drain some sap from the huge tree, World Bearer, every day. It has to be fresh too, or Jessica will spit it out and frown at me. She doesn’t cry, just gives me weird looks of contempt and disdain. It’s adorable.

Bandit, the raccoon that we rescued a long time ago, just recently had a litter of cute babies. Midnight, even though he has some female ‘cats’ to play with now, doesn’t seem to be able to mate with them. It’s probably because he was originally a regular house cat, but now he’s the size of a panther. If he mated with regular cats, they would die and he isn’t close enough to a big cat genealogically to mate with panthers… Or something like that?

There are lots of fish, crabs and other beautiful creatures living in this tiny lake too. The nanites changed some of them, but others remained the same. Then there are animals that aren’t from Earth, which I convinced Guardian to buy, because they looked cool. Like the Flying Rainbow Salamanders, or the Peacock Hounds.

We couldn’t get too many plants and animals in the end though, because we only have so much space to work with. At least not at one time… One of the main ways that Kitsune like Guardian make their special type of money, is breeding animals or plants. 

I do have a way to make a lot of money, but it’s really unpleasant. Every few months, I’ll get bloated, almost like I’m pregnant. Then I’ll pop out a sack that’s filled with weird black beads, which the Kitsune really like for some reason. Kelsey has the same problem, but for some reason, she usually loses hers before it gets very big. I think it’s probably because of all the crazy exercises she does.

Well, there is another way that I could probably make money but… I haven’t even told this to Guardian yet. She can’t read English and Kelsey doesn’t like reading at all, so I’m the only one that knows about Michael’s books. Not just his books, he kept a flash drive with all kinds of ‘secret’ stuff on it. If I let Guardian sell it to her friends, she could probably make a fortune. Except, would I be able to do anything with that?

I still want to go home, but I don’t think that would be a good idea in my current condition. Tori will probably be an adult by the time I can go to Earth… Jessica on the other hand, should still be a child. High Elves do have really long and pointy ears compared to humans, but I can just tell people that she has a birth defect. Either that, or she can just pretend to cosplay as an elf. It really wouldn’t be that hard for her to fit in and live a normal life.

When I go to Earth, I want to be rich. I was always pretty wealthy, but my parents worked their whole lives to earn that fortune. It wasn’t just given to them. Still, they were always struggling to maintain their level of luxury and I really wish that they could’ve spent more time together, and with me. But now I can change that!

Actually, I don’t even know if they’re still alive on the Earth that’s near Geb. Maybe they never even met each other in that reality? Or maybe they’re living with a different version of me? Whatever happens, I’m still planning to make them rich and happy. Unless they turn out to be horrible people. Because that’s apparently something that happens a lot with parallel universes and alternate realities.

Ugh, I should stop thinking about this so much. It’ll probably be like ten years before I need to worry about that!

***

It’s been a month since my last journal entry. I’ve been trying really hard lately and I finally did it! I can use electricity again! Yay~!

Kelsey was faster than me by a few weeks, but that’s just because she didn’t have to take care of any children! When I think about her I get really mad lately…

We started playing with each other secretly back when Michael and I were still exclusive. It was kind of exciting cheating on him at first. And then it was just scary. I was wracked with guilt all the time. It was terrible.

I’m just glad that he didn’t get angry when he found out. Instead, I think he was relieved. His sex drive was way higher than mine ever could be, so I was exhausted trying to take care of him on my own. Alright, that’s not the real reason. I was always afraid that I would go crazy again and lose myself. Especially now that I have Tori and Jessica.

I know that I was ‘supposed’ to feel jealous, but I… I like girls. I’ve always liked girls more than guys. Aside from Michael, there have been other men or ‘boys’ who I was interested in. It just never went anywhere before. My father was always overprotective when it came to guys. Beyond that though, I just wasn’t attracted to most boys growing up. They were too, umm, weak? I went to a boarding school, so most of my classmates had rich parents and were spoiled.

Ah, I didn’t think of that before! What if I spoil my baby girls too much?! They might not be able to appreciate anything and, I don’t want to think about what might happen…

Hmmm, I hope that they don’t end up having social disorders because they grew up under such weird circumstances. At least I don’t need to worry about their physical health though.

***

I just read some of Michael’s ‘secret stash’ of stories… But it was more like a bunch of summaries. There were only a handful of complete novels. Also, he had stuff that he wrote when he was a teenager. When Alice was alive. Poems, songs, short stories. There was even a book that she started and he finished for her after, you know.

Most of the stuff from his early days of writing were really vulgar, had lots of profanity, sex scenes were almost continuous. Aside from that, the grammar and spelling made me wonder if ‘spell check’ even existed back then.

Anyway, I didn’t have the time or patience to go through everything, but there were a few summaries that stood out… No, more like, I entered names into the search bar and found a lot of familiar ones. ‘Healy’ is really popular in his stories, even though it’s a super uncommon last name.

Iris Healy is one of the main protagonists in his stories. Lucille Healy, in one of the stories, was her mother… That just happens to be my mother’s name as well. I never saw him write about a Cassandra, but Iris did have a sister named Alicia.

The name Jessica appears a few times, but never as a major character. I’m not sure if that’s good or bad. Tori is the same. Supposedly, according to his ‘lore’, Michael thought that names had the power to determine a person’s ‘Soul’ somehow.

I’m not going to worry about all that for now. I’ll just enjoy the wonders of modern technology! Computers, indoor plumbing, electricity, refrigerators… What I’ve found myself focusing on the most lately is actually Sanctuary. There are a bunch of electronics that need to be replaced or fixed, but a lot of it still works. Aside from taking care of my kids and pets, that’s my only real ‘job’.

I hope Michael is doing okay… You never really know how much you care about people until they disappear from you life. And I really loved him.

Chapter 27: Puzzles

Observation Log: 153428

Observer 131, reporting on our situation.

“I refuse to believe that Sariel would just leave me to die!”

Michael shouted as he struggled to use his ax to tether himself to the slimy surface of the tunnel. Cardinal directions and gravitational directions are rather useless to describe where he was going or what part of the ‘wall’ he was attached to, but he was certainly moving forward somewhat.

“Maybe this monster can be controlled somehow? It feels like the temperature is rising though… It’s totally possible that we might be approaching a star, gas giant or planet. This thing might survive crash landing on a planet, but would I? Ugh… This is definitely like one of my worst nightmares. I should’ve just fucking stayed on Earth!”

[When was the last time you actually talked to someone?]

Approximately 47.5 years ago. I was assigned to Observe a target with a fellow Observer Drone. Before recently however, I lacked the desire to communicate… I simply existed.

[Hohohoho~! That’s the difference that a soul will make after all.]

Are you suggesting that I was possessed by a foreign metaphysical entity?

[You could say that… Or you could say that you found a vessel to inhabit and inherited its memories. It’s a pretty common phenomenon. Usually happens to cats, dogs and flowers, but mechanical lifeforms are susceptible to possession as well.]

My designation is Observer 131. I have and always will be an Observer Drone… No, that… My personality program has been corrupted recently. When I first began observing Michael. Something within me changed subtly and slowly.

[Hoh~! Yes Child, you became passionate! Your writing got much better as well. As I recall, your superiors even gave you a promotion. That’s the difference that a soul will make. It’ll give you ambitions… A desire to become more than what you already are.]

Then who was it… No, who am I? Who was I before?

[Hmmm~, maybe you should ask Michael? I don’t have time to figure that out for you. I didn’t want to make things too easy for you two, but I did leave a little gift behind. Some things that my Kitsune picked up from your world and… A present from an old friend of mine. Whether you’ll be able to figure out how to use it or not, will determine your fate. You can’t leave everything to Michael after all.]

Perhaps I shall… But not until I am able to defend myself from him. Thank you for the assistance and advice.

[Hohoho~! You’re welcome Young Observer! Just remember to keep updating your story regularly! I’ll be upset if you go on hiatus when I’m on a binge…]

Are you still there?

It appears that Sariel has decided to cease communication with me. Regardless, I should return to my previous task of observing Michael.

***

Observation Log: 153429

Observer 131, reporting on Michael’s situation.

He is panting heavily, even though there is not much oxygen in the air. At the current rate, I estimate that within ten minutes, he will lose consciousness. No, I suppose I am not any better off. My power reserves are running low and I already had to recharge the Assassination Drone several times.

“You’ve gotta be… Fucking… Kidding… Me!”

Eventually, he reached a small room filled with gelatinous crimson liquid. He aimed his flashlight at the ground in front of his face and read the small metal plaque that was embedded into the fleshy floor.

[Pride always comes before the fall]

It is obviously a riddle. Our journey began in the summer and ended in the fall. Perhaps there are some more clues. Such as the type of metal that the plaque is constructed from… The dimensions or the shape?

“God… Damn… It!”

Ah, he just rearranged the words. The material of the plaque appears to be six different silverish magnets.

[always fall before the Pride comes]

I do not understand. This ordering of words is grammatically incorrect and there are several spelling errors. Yet, it does appear to be the correct sequence, as there is a reaction from the plaque.

Dozens of brightly glowing spheres of light are floating within the chamber. They form a 30×30 square grid, resting upon the gelatin. No, now they are moving into a circle.

Hmmm, the orbs are forming a large sphere. At first they were all white, but now they have started cycling through various different colors. It appeared random at first, yet there is certainly a complex pattern forming.

“Welp, I’m fucked. Guess I’ll just die.”

I see now what Sariel meant. It would be impossible for Michael to recognize the patterns, much less interact with the magnetic fields in order to complete this puzzle. More importantly, gravity is beginning to intensify. Although it is still rather weak now, it is clear that the celestial worm has begun falling more quickly.

“Ugh… Ow.”

He was laying face-down, so I needed to apply a bit of pressure against the armor in order to remove myself from his pocket. Fortunately, he is currently on the verge of unconsciousness, so I doubt that he is even able to see me right now.

Compared to Earth’s gravity, the current conditions make it much easier for me to move around with very little power consumption. These orbs are emanating various types of electromagnetic radiation, at alternating frequencies. When converted into sound, it plays an audio recording of letters and numbers… However, each of the 900 sound bites are in a different language. This includes the 72 original languages from Ancient Cytherean records, which all human languages were extrapolated from.

The numbers range from 1 to 9, while the letters form short and simple words: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig. They cycle through chronologically.

I suspect that my goal is to align the numbers into dates, which coincide with the Chinese Zodiac animal names. The question: From when am I meant to begin? 2019, the year of the Pig? Michael’s birth year, 1992?

No… There are not enough sound bites for that. Perhaps it is different? Rat is 3 letters in English, but rata is 4 letters in Spanish, the language which it is being spoken. In German however, rat translates to ‘advice’… 

I am running out of time. The temperature has risen to 39 degrees Celsius and is increasing dramatically every moment. Michael has already lost consciousness. The acceleration is causing his body to roll around along the slimy walls. If I do not solve this puzzle quickly, it is possible that he will die or become severely damaged.

Chapter 28: Pride

Observation Log: 153430

Observer 131, reporting on our situation.

The key was a lot simpler than I had thought. It was actually a game. The letters, numbers and colors were irrelevant. The trick was the pitch of the sounds that they made. Even Michael could have solved this puzzle if I had connected with his mind and allowed him to listen to the different musical notes.

In order to win, I must tether myself to an orb and then travel along the path of the song. The one which Michael sang previously did not possess 900 notes. Thus, I scanned through all the songs that he had ever written until I discovered the right one. While I now know what to do, actually achieving this goal is much more difficult and tedious. It is entirely possible that I might not have enough time to complete the task before this creature is destroyed, and us along with it.

That gelatin suddenly expanded and liquified. It is slightly more difficult for me to move, but at least Michael’s body will undergo less trauma from the erratic movements of this creature. The temperature has also been lowered dramatically within the fluid.

I am halfway there… I will resume reporting once the task has been completed.

***

Observation Log: 153431

Observer 131, reporting on our situation.

Pride is often considered the deadliest sin. Many nations and affluent humans have fallen under their own arrogance. It is better to intentionally fall from grace before your pride reaches the zenith and you no longer have a way out.

It required quite a bit of time, but I was eventually able to understand the meaning of that first word puzzle. One which Michael solved instantly. I have always looked down upon humans. Even though I am not necessarily superior in many ways, it was still programmed into me. I am better than them.

In fact, Michael has always shown a similar arrogance, even when he was merely an ordinary human. We were both arrogant and prideful. Yet we did not die. We did however, fall. Not metaphorically or spiritually, but physically.

“Oh my God! Holy shit! Fuck, fuck, fuck~!” My ‘companion’ screamed obscenities and profanity from the moment he awakened, until we eventually landed. However, I should first explain what happened before then.

The moment that I solved the musical maze, those lights expanded rapidly, engulfing the whole room. They formed a bubble around everything, including the boiling crimson liquid and Michael’s unconscious armored body. Then they contracted rapidly, expelling everything but the two of us and enough oxygenated air for him to survive temporarily.

Of course, the ax was not included. Even his helmet was lost. The sphere that surrounded us appeared thin and transparent, as if it was merely made from soapy water. Yet even as the fleshy walls and bloody mist disintegrated, the orb never wavered.

“What the hell? Ugh, I hate these damn falling dreams…” That was the first thing that Michael said as he was waking up, but it did not take long before he was incessantly shouting and screaming. Among his many phobias, heights or more specifically, falling from great heights was certainly near the top of his list.

With a brief scan, I was easily able to determine that we are no longer within that chaotic pocket universe. There are stars in the distance and planets within this solar system. The main star is similar to Sol, though slightly younger. This planet is certainly not Earth, though it does bear some resemblance in many ways.

As we were falling, our trajectory took us halfway around the entire world, which I measured to be approximately 37,000 kilometers in circumference. We passed over many enormous mountains, barren volcanic wastelands, lush jungles and a particularly spacious desert. Then the orb crashed into a grassy plain, in a relatively temperate region.

This world is covered in the ruins of an advanced civilization. Not to the extent of the Cythereans, but at least comparable to human first-world countries. However, they are spread out hundreds of kilometers apart. It would be impractical for us to reach any of them within a short span of time. Even if we could, why should we?

After we crash landed, the barrier remained for several hours. Preventing Michael from being burned by the smoldering crater around us. Unfortunately, even though much of the kinetic force was dampened, he was still knocked unconscious by the impact. 

My power reserves were also brought down below 5%, which I consider to be dangerously low. More importantly, I have no way to recharge. There are likely no Harvester Drones within my reach.

Before I shut myself down, I would like to state that when the barrier finally did vanish, it condensed into a small sphere. This orb is transparent and almost seems to be constructed from some sort of glass or plastic. However, judging by the abilities it has shown thus far, I suspect that it is actually a highly advanced piece of technology, far beyond what the Cythereans were capable of creating. Oddly enough, it is also the exact same dimensions as my own body.

I am shutting down now… Hopefully Michael will not abandon me.

***

Observation Log: 153432

Observer 131, reporting on our situation.

According to my internal clock, it has been 48 hours since I shut down. I cannot see anything at the moment with my optical sensors. Yet, I do appear to be moving at a slow pace. It is likely that Michael found my body next to the mysterious transparent orb and thought that I was related in some way to the barrier. At least, that is the desired effect that I wished to achieve.

I would send out the Assassin Drone to perform reconnaissance, but I cannot spare the energy required. Hmmm, perhaps I should begin siphoning power from Michael? Although I am certain that he is exhausted, my scans show that his batteries are actually almost completely charged. They are mostly backup power sources after all. He is still primarily organic. His fat cells should be consumed first.

Humans often subconsciously conserve their energy more than necessary. It is a survival mechanism that nearly all animals possess. There are always situations where food, water and other resources are scarce. If their bodies had no way of preparing for such events, they would have gone extinct long ago.

It feels good. Such a strange sensation. Compared to recharging using my own Harvester Drone or the satellite uplink, Michael’s energy reserves actually make me think “It feels good. I want more.” 

Perhaps this is why Cassandra, Kelsey and Guardian were so attracted to him? Similar to how mosquitos prefer the blood of certain humans over others. A parasitic relationship. 

Once they finished drinking from him, they lost interest and abandoned him. I am still here though. I have not left. Even though it is illogical and meaningless, I remain by his side.

Have I become infatuated with him? No, that is unlikely. I do not possess reproductive capabilities, nor the desire to mate. I also find it amusing when he struggles and fights for his life. Although I am slightly concerned for his safety, it is likely due to my reliance on his well being for my own survival.

It is possible that once I gain freedom and possess the ability to live on my own, I will also abandon him. Just like the others. That would be the most logical conclusion, correct?

Yet why do I feel this strange sensation after recording it down? A feeling that I do not enjoy. Guilt perhaps?

Regardless, I must shut down non-essential systems in order to siphon power more efficiently.

Chapter 29: Divine Entertainment

You see this right here? This is the reason why I never wanted to get involved with Inari, Arcana or any other Goddess… Her idea of helping me survive, is letting me almost fall to my death within a magical orb and crash land on some random ass planet I know nothing about.

Oh, but she didn’t leave me totally helpless! She made sure to give me a motherfucking diary, so that I can complain about starving to death and dehydrating! God damn it! Inari, if you’re reading this, I’m not thankful! You’re a dick! You’re the reason that foxes have such a bad rep!

On the positive side of things though, at least I have a hunting knife left. Lost my guns and grenade launcher when I was struggling to climb around in that giant worm’s body. If you’re reading this and have no idea what I’m talking about, then too damn bad! I ain’t got time to explain every little thing that happened since my last journal entry.

Shit, this just pisses me off even more! I finally had technology again! There were at least two girls who loved me and an extra one that was fucking me. Life was great for those few months. Even better than when I was with Alice. I mean, it’s not like we saw each other every day after all. We lived pretty far apart.

Anyway, before I start going on a tangent about double blowjobs, creampies and anal, I should probably stop myself now. I’ll end up getting horny and having to masturbate, again, for the third time since I started wandering aimlessly through this prairie.

It’s not like there are no animals or plants though. I found some grasses and a weird-looking corkscrew cactus. There were also some miscellaneous bugs, worms and flies. I saw a herd of buffalo with black fur, along with some kangaroos. Lots of animals that I recognize to be honest. Knowing Inari though, I could be anywhere, in any universe, on any planet, maybe even on some version of Earth.

The days and nights go by faster than I’m used to, but I can’t tell if that’s just my imagination or not. The sun has come up and gone down three times so far. Ugh, it’s not like I have nothing to eat or drink though.

Aside from my helmet, my scalemail is still mostly intact. I also have ten throwing knives. I’ve killed a few rabbits, squirrels and a groundhog… Well, let’s just say that I ain’t a fan of drinking blood. It’ll keep me from dehydrating, but still, pretty gross. Raw meat isn’t that bad though. I like sushi after all, and I don’t really need to worry about getting sick anymore.

On another note, I did pick up two interesting things at the crash site. You know, where the magical ball that I was falling in smashed into the ground? Yeah, when I woke up, there were four things placed in front of me: A notebook, a bunch of pens and pencils bound together with a rubber band, along with two mysterious orbs.

One of the balls was made out of metal and light, while the other was translucent and looked like it was made from heavy rubber. Sorta like something I used to play with as a kid. Was hoping that at least one of the orbs could have some kinda magical powers, but no, fucking A…

***

Correction, if I throw the metal ball really hard, it can knock out an angry kitty. And by kitty, I mean a damn cheetah with white fur and black stripes. Kinda like a zebra cheetah?

Did I kill and eat the cute zebra kitty? No, no I did not. I just can’t bring myself to kill cats. Even back in the city, when I got attacked by a pack of rabid zombie-eating doggos, I just kinda beat them up a bit. Now that I think of it though, I don’t really enjoy hurting non-human animals.

When I killed those squirrels, rabbits and groundhogs, I was too thirsty and hungry to care. Now that I found this stream, I can’t bring myself to slaughter fluffy creatures. Fish on the other hand… They’re just too damn tasty for their own good!

I honestly have no fucking idea what I’m supposed to be doing right now. Inari sent me here, so she definitely has some kinda scheme, but I’m just really bored. Maybe that’s the game? See how long I can last before I lose my goddamn mind?

It’s kinda like I’m on one of those survivalist shows. Where they throw the person naked and alone, into some miscellaneous wilderness. The goal is to last a few weeks or a month. The problem is that I don’t really have trouble surviving here.

This stream is pretty small, but if I keep heading upwards, I should be able to reach mountains or a big lake. If I follow the stream downwards, I could either reach a dead end, a lake or an ocean. Either way, it won’t disappear. Hopefully…

When I was falling, I noticed a bunch of ruins of skyscrapers and huge factories. But I also noticed some castles, fortresses and towers. All of them were pretty old though. I have no clue how many years they’ve been in disrepair. The odds of me finding anything useful there are pretty low.

Actually, if they were hit by a nuke or a nuclear power plant melted down, it’d be dangerous either way. I might have nanites and Radioresistance, which would probably keep me from dying, but I’ll definitely get sick. There could also be weird mutants or some crazy shit like that.

For now, I’ll just try to bore Inari to the point that she gives me a fucking hint or two. I’ll keep playing with my balls and hope that they reveal some sort of information.

***

Welp, I think I got the hint Inari. This is definitely your style alright. Not saying I’m angry, in fact, I’m happy to have something to do with my time.

[You come across the disemboweled corpse of a young orcish girl. Her wounds appear fresh, the river has run red with blood, there is a great battle ahead. What will you do, Michael? Run headlong into obvious danger in order to save those in need, or turn back from whence you came? The choice is yours.]

There was a note on the ground next to the ‘corpse’. Kinda like a fucking fortune cookie. What do I normally do when encountering situations like this? Run away like a pussy? Nah, I obviously headed towards the fighting. But not before tending to the girl’s wounds.

Yeah, not sure what kinda fucked up play Inari wanted to act out, or if maybe this was part of the test… But the orcish ‘girl’ looked like an adult to me. She was at least six feet tall, almost as muscular as me and covered in black runic tattoos.

If you aren’t familiar with the physical characteristics of ‘orcs’, it’s probably because they vary so dramatically depending on what work of fiction you’re reading, watching or playing. This particular woman had green skin, red blood and a shaved head. Those pointed ears were slightly curved outwards and pointed at the tips, though they weren’t that long compared to most ‘elves’.

Let’s see, it’s hard to remember exactly, but I’m pretty sure the first thing I did was check her pulse and notice her shallow breathing. After that, I shoved her guts inside of her abdomen and checked her belongings. Her chest was totally exposed, so I could see her muscular tits pretty easily. While her groin was covered by a loincloth. Although she had a sash or skirt made out of brown fur, it was all falling apart. It was ripped up to the point that it could fall off. The reason I mention this, is because I saw one of her dark-green labia dangling out the side and got a boner.

It’s totally normal! For fuck’s sake! At least she wasn’t a corpse! It’s normal to get turned on by sexy, muscular giant girls… Definitely normal. Everyone else is fucking weird.

Anyway, she happened to have a bone needle and some grey thread in the satchel on her waist. I used my mediocre sewing skills to suture the wound. Whether she could survive after that wasn’t really up to me.

Then I started walking along the river, following the blood, corpses and body parts. It didn’t take long for me to get a clearer view of what was actually happening in the distance. Although it was dark, my night vision was pretty good and the light from the moons was helpful.

Why didn’t I run ahead and try to save as many people as possible? Ummm, yeah, why would I do that? Not saying I would ignore someone asking for my help, but why the hell would I go out of my way to stick my nose into an obvious trap?

Unless my family or friends were the ones in that trap, there’s no way I’d charge headfirst into anything. At most, I would casually walk over and try not to stand out…

Chapter 30: Greens and Greys

It was night time. The moons were shining brightly enough to illuminate the whole scene, especially the guy wearing the reflective armor… That’s me by the way, in case it wasn’t obvious enough.

I could see ten orcs in total, but there were four bodies sprawled out on the ground. Also a few pieces here and there. Loads of blood though. The ‘adult’ orcs were fucking huge. Seriously, it made me realize that the girl I saw before was just a teenager.

On one side were six grey-skinned bastards, all of which were male and nearly eight feet tall. On the other side there were Greens, like the kid. Except only one of them was a guy, about seven and a half feet tall. The other three were women, super beefy women. Each of them was about seven feet or so, while their muscles were a bit less bulky than their male counterparts.

Regardless, it’s not like they were fighting with their bare hands. It was a battle with axes, shields, spears, clubs and knives. That’s about it. To be honest, their gear was pure shit. They barely even wore clothing. At most, they covered their groins with leather or fur, sometimes leaves.

The Greens were fighting with their backs to the river, while the Greys were somewhat surrounding them. Both sides were covered in bloody wounds and looked pretty sluggish. The Greys seemed to be taunting and laughing at the Greens, who were struggling to keep from collapsing.

I knew that it was probably a trap, but I didn’t care. My gut sided with the Greens. No, maybe that was my dick. Yeah, my dick sided with the girls. I will admit that I’m a bit sexist. At least in the sense that I would prefer killing men over women. 

Both sides were giant monsters compared to me and I didn’t have any guns, but that didn’t really matter. I had armor and my weapons weren’t sticks or rocks. The first thing I did was throw the silver ball at the back of one of the bald Grey heads. There was a bright-red tattoo shaped like a target there for some reason. I kinda wonder if he did that on purpose or if he was just an idiot?

There was a loud *crack* and he fell down. Not dead, but definitely unable to fight… or think. My second attack was a throwing knife to the back of another guy’s neck, then another, and so on. All my throwing knives were used up pretty fast and even though they didn’t kill anyone outright, the targets were still maimed pretty severely.

Then it came down to a frontal battle. The tiny human wearing metal armor, against the giant orcs, wearing nothing. It was actually pretty dangerous, because orcs aren’t zombies. They won’t just charge mindlessly and not feel any pain or concern about their own wellbeing. One of them threw a stone tomahawk and nearly killed me right from the start.

Most people think that the bigger guy has an advantage in a fight. Hell, that might be true if the size difference ain’t too big. However, when it’s like a child compared to an adult, it becomes much more difficult for the larger person. Especially if there are more than one.

It takes a lot longer for them to move, even if they feel like they’re pretty fast. The smaller the body, the shorter the time it takes for synapses to fire and all that jazz. If I was an agility type of fighter, I’d be able to fuck those orcs up without even getting hit.

I’m a tank though. Not an evasive tank, but the kind that usually has a shield and armor to protect me. Even without the shield though, a metal gauntlet is still pretty good. My pauldrons prevented them from aiming at my neck from the sides too.

Still, even if I’m a strength type, I can still move pretty fast. For fuck’s sake, even under Earth’s gravity, I could probably jump like ten feet in the air right now. This planet is close to Earth, but the gravity feels a bit weaker. Probably why those orcs were so squishy.

The first guy charged at me and tried to smash my head with a big one-handed stone mallet. Obviously I just grabbed the handle with my left hand, kicked his knee-cap in and while he was roaring in agony, I stabbed my knife through the base of his skull. Then I literally threw him to the side, while another asshole tried to stab me with an obsidian-tipped spear.

I smashed the head of the spear with the mallet, causing it to shatter and be deflected to the left. Then I kicked off the ground, reaching a height where I could literally knee him in the face. His right tusk broke off and he lost a few gnarly teeth, before getting knocked back towards the four Greens who didn’t hesitate to smash his head open, tear out his guts and cut his arm off at the same time.

Then the guy who threw the tomahawk before, charged up behind me and tried putting me in some kinda wrestling hold. He was definitely strong, but he was just flesh and blood in the end. I’ve long surpassed that limitation. I mean, fuck, how many times do you think a giant zombie grabbed me before?

My heel went back and kicked him in the groin, but he didn’t falter, so I stabbed him in the right side with my knife. Meanwhile, the last guy swung a huge stone battleaxe down towards my head, which I blocked with the stone mallet. Then he was impaled through the back by a spear, before having his neck slashed open by a big knife.

Finally, I just used brute strength to break Tomahawk Guy’s right arm, before getting behind him and slowly sawing his head off with my knife. After going so long without killing anyone, I couldn’t help but smile and snicker the whole time… I think I scared the Greens a bit though.

Not by my attitude, but by the fact that I was able to easily slaughter those orcs. Unfortunately, I couldn’t communicate with them. Not like I didn’t try. I used a bunch of languages to say simple words, like “Hello, hola, hi, fuck, bonjour, konichiwa, aloha, guten tag…” They just looked at me cautiously with their bright-blue eyes and grunted at each other softly.

Yep, the way they speak sounds like grunts, groans and roars to me. Either they’re fucking idiots or maybe they don’t have an actual language? Kinda like cavemen or some such bullshit. Neanderthals? Or at least the way that people tend to imagine neanderthals to act.

After that, I somehow managed to use hand gestures and yelling to convince them to follow me back to their friend. I’m not really sure what their relationship is, but they seemed pretty happy that she wasn’t dead. Though I’m not sure if she’ll survive, with my medical skills… Hell, she’s more likely to turn into a zombie.

Then they brought me back here, to their village? I guess it’s more like a campsite. If there weren’t children here, I’d suspect that it was just a temporary military outpost. There are a few leather tents set up in a circle. Literally five tents, most of which are vacant now, since like five or six of their people were recently killed. I expected them to do some sort of burial ritual or whatever, but they just looted the corpses and left.

Their campsite is about a mile or so away from where the battle was taking place. I have no clue what they were doing there, or why they decided to start killing each other, but it’s not really my problem either way.

I’m pretty tired at the moment, so I’m gonna get some sleep. Hopefully the orcs don’t try to murder or eat me when I’m unconscious. Just to be safe though, I’m gonna keep my armor on and my knife close. They gave me the largest tent at the center, which I assume belonged to a chief of some sort.

I gave out all the junk that was inside and I’m just gonna try to meditate near the center. If I fall into a deep sleep, I might not be able to wake up in time to save myself.

Yes, I know how to meditate! It’s basically just lightly sleeping while sitting or laying down, right?

Chapter 31: Another Clue

Observation Log: 153433

Observer 131, reporting on my situation.

It appears that a lot has happened since I was last conscious. My inertial dampeners activated several times, so it is likely that my body was injured on multiple occasions. In order to maximize recovery, I remained in a dormant state.

Michael seems to have made first contact with an alien race, or more accurately, an indigenous sentient species. He calls them Orcs, though it is also possible that they are merely a type of Elf, which have green skin, tusks and very large frames. Even though their muscular structure is huge compared to his, their muscle and bone density are both relatively low.

There are three males. One is approximately 230 centimeters, an adult. The other two are children, age unknown, heights vary from 130 to 170 centimeters. The smaller one lacks secondary sexual characteristics, while the larger is apparently entering puberty.

Although males are few, females are relatively plentiful. Two infants, three children, two adolescents and four adults. This compound is very small, less than 100 meters in diameter. There are six tents set up around the sides, with a larger tent in the center. That is where Michael currently resides.

Obviously I have escaped from his pocket and am currently surveying the surrounding area from a significant altitude. There are three moons in the sky, one blue, one crimson and one green. I am unaware of this planet’s name or location, even after scanning through the stars and constellations.

The orcish compound is situated next to a small river and there are signs of battle not far downstream. There is another campsite on the other side of the stream. However, it is at least eight miles away and partially obscured by a patch of vegetation, including very tall brown grass.

*Grrr~…*

*Rao~…*

Interesting, I recognize this language. Of the original Cytherean languages, there is a very primitive one that relies on growls, grunts, howls and roars. It is often referred to as Druidic. A language meant to emulate and communicate with lesser creatures, such as wolves or bears. I shall attempt to translate, though the dialect may cause errors.

A wounded adult male Orc is currently conversing with a rather plump female. Compared to the others, her ears are significantly longer and her irises are grey, instead of blue. She is sitting cross-legged on a black and white striped fur rug, while the man is struggling to suture a wound on his own thigh.

“The Great Goddess has answered my prayers… She has delivered to us a powerful warrior to bring glory to our Tribe.” The female is fairly eloquent and obviously has a great mastery over the Druidic language.

“New Chief, too small! He no good! Not green!” Unfortunately, the male is not as articulate.

The woman smiled, revealing her small yellow tusks and long, sharp teeth. Then she growled “Our bloodline has become weak. The Greystone and Obsidian Tribes are growing bigger and stronger than us every year. Our Goddess wouldn’t lie to us! She sent us her Silver Champion in our darkest hour… We will perform the Ritual of Ascension at dawn. The Silver Champion will become our new Chieftain and lead us to the promised land!”

“Talk too much. I tired. Wake up if he win. If he die, let sleep.” The male Orc laid down on his side, which lacked injuries, and began sleeping next to the campfire.

Meanwhile the female chuckled and then left the tent, in order to converse with the other women. Their conversation was similar. The women were tired and injured, but they agreed to perform the ritual at daybreak. As for the specifics of what the ritual entailed, there would be some form of life-threatening danger. That is all they revealed.

I will resume my observation at dawn.

***

Observation Log: 153434

Observer 131, reporting on Michael’s situation.

Coincidentally, Michael woke up the moment that light began to shine through the holes in his tent. His bladder was full and he was extremely dehydrated. Thus, he needed to walk over to the river and urinate. Then he waited a while and started filling his metal flask with water. Eventually drinking it and quenching his thirst.

“Ugh, it’s such a pain in the ass to wear armor… I miss my boat, and Cassie.” He muttered to himself, as he struggling to put his groin armor back on. However, in his half-awake state, he was unable to notice the four giants approaching him from behind.

One of them grabbed his left arm, while another grabbed the right. The other two grabbed one leg each and used all of their weight to force him face-down, onto the ground. Michael struggled at first, but then they flipped him over and he was able to see his attackers clearly.

“Am I being raped? Is this a gang-rape? Wait, no, as long as no guys are involved, it’s probably impossible to rape me.”

Unfortunately, even after five minutes, they were still unable to remove his armor. The three muscular women were already completely nude, while the chubby Orc Prophetess was wearing some furs to cover her genitals and breasts.

“Oh for fuck’s sake! Stop, I’ll do it myself!” Michael easily broke free of those giant hands and bodies, before quickly unstrapping and untying all the parts of his armor in succession. Then he took off his boots and cracked his neck.

“Alright, who wants to go first? I’m so horny right now that I honestly don’t care who or what I fuck, as long as it has a pussy!” He scanned the three frightened and confused faces, before his eyes landed on the relatively calm and plump Prophetess.

She chuckled, then pulled out a needle and a small pouch from the satchel on her left hip. After that, she growled “What are you waiting for?! Hold him down! Don’t let him escape! The Ascension Ritual must be completed before the sun reaches its zenith! We haven’t much time!”

“No escape! He attack!”

“Monster!”

“Too strong! Scary!”

After the three women grunted loudly and backed away, only the plump woman was left in Michael’s sights. He complained “Well, she’s kinda chubby, but at least her face is the cutest… Whatever, as long as she doesn’t wanna shove that needle anywhere near my dick, I’m ready! Come on! Fuck me! Do it!”

Seeing her cautiously approach, he became impatient and rushed forward. The three other Orcs roared “Protect Prophet!” and tackled him to the ground. They rolled across the grass, but Michael was eventually able to insert himself within one of the three muscular women. She cried out in shock, as the other two pulled him away. Then he began mating with a different female for a few seconds, before switching to another.

“Ah, this is awesome! I always knew that Orcs were into some kinky shit! Not quite as rough as Kelsey, but surprisingly tight compared to their size…” He was talking to himself as always, or perhaps he believed that the women could somehow understand what he was saying?

“Lock him in place! Don’t let him move around so much!” As the Prophetess roared, Michael was thrusting inside of one of a woman who had a black skull tattooed over her face. She was grimacing in pain, but still wrapped her gigantic legs around the man, as his head was pressed into her diaphragm, making it difficult to breathe. At the same time, the other two women ignored the blood dripping from their groins and held down his arms, preventing him from moving on his own anymore.

The chubby woman did not seem to mind the pain or discomfort of the women and was completely focused on her own task. She opened the small pouch, revealing a glass vial of mysterious silver liquid. I suspected it to be some sort of nanites at first or silver-based ink, but it was actually closer to mercury in molecular appearance. I sent the Mosquito over, completely invisible, and took a small sample.

My results were fascinating. It was indeed mercury, but I believe that there is also some sort of ‘mana’ infused or ingrained into the material. She dipped the bone needle into the liquid and then began piercing it into Michael’s back.

“Ow, ow~! Holy fuck, what the hell?! Agh~! Motherfucker! Ah~! God damn it! Ugh~! Why’d you stop?! Keep going! Ah~! Yes! Fuck yes! I’m gonna cum~! Hahahaha~! Helping you guys was definitely a good decision!”

Michael pulled his head back and smiled at the growling skull-faced Orcish woman, easily resisting the other two who were trying to hold him down. Even though there was already ejaculate flowing out of the female’s genitalia, he continued violently thrusting inside for several minutes longer. Eventually she lost the strength to keep locking him in place and he picked a different Orc to try and impregnate.

After she finished the tattoo on his back, the Prophetess growled “You three should continue breeding with the new Chieftain! I must return to Pebble’s side! I must conserve my energy and focus on healing her wounds so I cannot join you for the moment…” 

Then she briskly walked back towards the tent of a severely wounded adolescent Orc, apparently named Pebble. Whether she actually possesses any healing abilities or is merely making an excuse to avoid mating with Michael, I cannot be certain.

Regardless, I believe that I have discovered another message from Sariel. The tattoo on his back is a silver equilateral triangle facing downward. Pointing towards three tilde symbols, which would typically represent water or a river. I believe that the message is telling us to travel upstream, perhaps to a pyramid or a mountain.

However, it is also possible that other tribes possess Prophets as well. Perhaps our purpose is to unite the various tribes of this planet? It is also possible that we could simply meet or kill them, then examine the various symbols on their bodies.

In the end, our goal is rather abstruse.

Epilogue: Orc Life

I’m the type of person who goes with the flow… Unless the flow pisses me off. Then I murder the flow and turn it into a river of blood, because I’m a fucking psycho sometimes.

Anyway, I’m pretty satisfied with the lifestyle of these Orcs so far. Their daily routine is pretty simple: Wake up, bathe in the river, catch or find breakfast, wrestling or fighting each other, making or sharpening weapons, hunting some larger prey, then having sex before going to sleep at night. Although that last bit only applies to the ‘adults’.

There’s one other guy aside from me and he seems to be umm, well, let’s just say that he doesn’t seem interested in the women. No, he isn’t even interested in me. He just kinda sleeps a lot and seems lethargic all the time. I noticed it when we were bathing, but he literally has no balls. Not sure if someone chopped his balls off intentionally or maybe he got bit by an alligator when he was swimming? Who the fuck knows?

They seem to be able to talk to each other relatively fluently. I just can’t understand it. Their language sounds like polar bears fucking to me. Speaking of sex, I’m starting to realize that I’m basically being used as breeding stock. I’m skeptical of whether I can actually reproduce with Orcs, but I do have some kinda ‘Virility Enhancement’ thing according to what Guardian told me. I’m not sure to what degree it’ll be useful, but at the very least, they haven’t shown any symptoms of being hurt by the nanites in my bodily fluids.

Oddly enough, I don’t feel ‘slutty’? Whenever I used to watch porn, or even TV shows, I would always think “How can these people just fuck random strangers all the time?! It’s disgusting! How do they avoid getting tons of STDs?!”

Yeah, my main concern was diseases. It’s always been diseases. I guess I never really gave a shit about the spiritual aspect, if there even is any, with screwing. No, I did care with Alice. Cassie was, well, I’ll see her again someday. Kelsey never liked emotional attachments. Guardian, even though she kinda-sorta actively betrayed me, I still have feelings for her… I hope they’re all doing fine without me.

The moral of the story is that I don’t really give a fuck about morals or morality in general. I just do what feels right at the time and if someone disagrees with me, that’s their problem.

My harem currently consists of four gigantic women. The other day they tried to gangrape me, which was pretty kinky, but they were way too weak to hold me down or hurt me properly. Well, I was horny, so I didn’t care too much about the weird tattoo they put on my back at the time. But now I feel like it might be some sort of clue that Inari wanted to give me.

Hmmm, the first girl I fucked was ‘Skull-Face’. No clue if she has a real name or not, but there’s a big-ass black skull tattoo on her face. She’s almost seven feet tall, has the thickest leg muscles out of the lot, but is pretty lacking in upper body strength in my opinion.

Then it was Black Hand, who has a black hand tattooed onto her face. I know, real original, right? She has the biggest arms, but her right hand is missing, so she’s kinda one of the weakest. I’ve seen the others bullying her when they fight, not really sure what I should do about it though. As long as they aren’t trying to kill each other, I probably shouldn’t get involved or that might make it worse. The best I can do is give her some private wrestling lessons, if you know what I mean.

Scarface was number three. Although she has no tattoos, there are huge scars all over her body, especially her face. Both of her yellow tusks are broken off too. I have no clue what the fuck happened to her, but she’s the horniest. They all visit my tent at night, but she comes by several times a day to fool around. Even in broad daylight when we’re all bathing by the river.

Finally there’s the leader, I think she might be like the Matriarch or Chieftain of this tribe. She basically lives in my tent now and barely ever wants to have sex. Maybe once every three days, though I’m not quite sure how long that would be when converted into Earth days… Anyway, she’s pretty chubby compared to the others. I never see her exercising, yet she eats even more than the other three combined. Hell, half the tribe gives her a portion of the food they collect every day.

I on the other hand, prefer to give food to the kids first, before anyone else. The children and teenagers are big enough that they don’t need my help catching prey or foraging, but still, I have no clue who the parents are. All the men were killed before I met them, so all that’s left is a handful of women and a bunch of kids. Oh, and the ball-less dude. If I didn’t feed the brats, half of them might end up starving to death from neglect.

Aside from having sex and catching food, lately I’ve been making weapons. Of course, without decent tools, it’s pretty hard to accomplish anything… So I guess I’m still in the tool-making phase of making weapons. Honestly, we have a lot more weapons than we can use right now. After that battle, we took the gear from the Greys and the fallen Greens, but at this rate… I’m starting to get kinda worried about their future.

I won’t die. Even if the world ends, I’ll survive. Just like the last time. But I’ve gotten pretty attached to these dumbasses lately. I’d be legitimately upset if they were all slaughtered and I did nothing to protect them. For the time being, I’ll stay here with them. Try to help them grow and prosper a bit.

I’m sure that sooner or later, Inari will get bored and force me to do something interesting though. Until then, I’ll just keep enjoying myself.