In a swamp in Eastern Europe, two cyborg girls stood face to face. Their human faces were identical, but not so with their cybernetic upgrades. One had the best armor her humanity could co up with. The other had been upgraded with sothing far more…alien.
The alien one, unit NSLICE-00P, colloquial designation Elise, looked at the bracelet-like device now wrapped around her arm. A holographic display flickered above it before resolving into a wavy line with branches extending off of it.
“Status Report: New technology integration confird.”
She had done it. She had successfully hacked the Chrono-Shifter taken from a villainous ti traveler. She could finally enact her plan to restore the tiline to its original state. She turned to the other cyborg. The altered tiline’s unit NSLICE-00P, whom Elise had designated as Beta for distinction.
One of her current companions frowned.
“Elise…I hadn’t thought of this before…but what’s going to happen to you…the other you, when she causes a ti paradox?”
Elise made a small frown as her robotic eye flickered.
“Sorrowful Answer: As what the Temporal Arbiter did with Commander Bob, it is likely that she will be banished from the tiline, but not in a recoverable fashion. This unit calculates a 96.73% chance of unit termination in that case.”
“Elise…”
“Clarification: Well, this unit has set a protocol to fully unshackle NSLICE-00P Beta upon mission success, and provided recomnded directives, including potential authority figures to follow should she survive. If she is not terminated, she will be free and will find soone to guide her in learning who she is. As what occurred to this unit before her.”
But see, in an infinite multiverse, there are even infinite variations of tilines that were themselves altered. In the original alternate tiline, this is where Elise would send NSLICE-00P Beta back in ti to terminate her own creator. But in this version of events, Elise delayed for a mont longer. For this version of Elise…had read isekai novels.
“…Realization: This unit should adapt the recomnded directives for the non-zero possibility that NSLICE-00P Beta survives and ends up relocating to an unrelated universe. Should that occur, current contingency recomndations would result in an incompletable directive where recomnded authority figures would be impossible to locate. Updating recomnded directives for that contingency.”
Once Elise finished updating the contingency protocol, she sent NSLICE-00P Beta back in ti as before. As in the original version of events, NSLICE-00P Beta succeeded in terminating her own creator, resulting in a ti paradox that destabilized the altered tiline and gave Elise a chance to confront the adversary who had altered ti, save Commander Bob, and restore her own universe.
But as for this version of NSLICE-00P Beta? As previously, after creating a ti paradox she was ejected from the universe and used the Geo-Oscillator’s ability to synchronize with planetary cores to travel to a new world. In the original version of events, that world was Aelea, where NSLICE-00P would go on to beco the unit designated as Seero.
In this version, Elise’s delay caused the other NSLICE-00P to end up closer to a different universe instead. One in far more dire straights than even Aelea…
And that’s where this story begins.
Ruckanos’s face scrunched up as the sll of smoke and blood filled his nose. Just then, an old man to his side began to frown. This was one of the augurs, dressed in fine robes and carrying all sorts of tos and crystals on his person.
“My Lord, the mana stirs, and the gods are on the move. We must hurry if we are to prepare the bindings.”
Ruckanos scowled.
“Captain, what is taking so long? Do not tell that my own guard cannot handle so dirty peasants?”
His captain bowed his head.
“My apologies, My Lord. We should be finished up shortly. My n will be sweeping the periter, but I believe you should be able to proceed shortly.”
Ruckanos sighed.
“You had better. This is the mont of my ascension, captain. Nothing shall be permitted to go wrong…”
It was then that the augur gasped. Before Ruckanos could react to the interruption, a bright column of light shot into the sky from behind one of the houses. But then, a shooting star ca falling from the sky and collided into the column of light. The column was sent veering off into the sky, while the shooting star was deflected towards the town. The captain reacted imdiately.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringent.
“Take cover!”
He leapt off his horse in front of Ruckanos and held his shield up, using mana to extend its protection as the star crashed into the street in front of them. Ruckanos cried out and shielded his face as a gust of wind and dust nearly blew him off his horse. His eyes teared up as sharp dust stabbed into them.
He had barely wiped the dust from his eyes when he saw a gleam of tal. As the dust cleared, he saw a girl standing in the street…and clearly no normal girl. She was covered in tal armor, from the tips of her toes all the way up her neck. Her arms and legs were made entirely of tal, in fact. A circle of light glowed bright in the center of her torso. Her face was the only part of her that still appeared human, and only the right side of it. The left half of her head was covered in tal as well, including her left eye, replaced with a glowing yellow light. Perhaps a mana core of so sort.
Her glowing yellow eye suddenly turned red. tal extended up from her neck, fully encasing her head in a helt. She lifted her arms, her hands splitting apart and folding back into her arms so that tal tubes could extend out. Panels opened all over her body, revealing the tips of small cones. The core at her chest shone even brighter.
She spoke in a steady voice without intonation or deviation. There was a light tallic echo to her words.
“Forced relocation detected, ergency combat protocols engaged. Scanning for hostiles…”
Ruckanos’s face contorted as realized what was happening. She must be a Tower Guard sent by a rival Tower Lord to steal the tower out from under him!
“Captain, kill that interloper!”
The captain frowned.
“Are you sure, my lord? I don’t recognize that armor, should we confirm who we’re dealing with first?”
Ruckanos snarled.
“I don’t care who she is or who sent her! She is interfering with my ascension and that cannot be allowed! Do as I command, we don’t have ti for this, captain!”
The captain steeled himself and drew his sword, waving to the other soldiers. They stopped their purge of the village and began surrounding the girl.
“As you will.”
As for the girl…the mont the captain drew his sword and issued his command, she spun her head and locked her gaze upon them.
“Hostile intent detected. Engaging termination protocols.”
The tubes on the girl’s arms began to flash with light and crack with a sound like thunder…only repeating so quickly it beca a buzzing noise. The soldiers near Ruckanos cried out as holes appeared in their armor and blood spurted from their chests. The captain had maintained his mana shield, he grunted as cracks started appearing all over from tiny tal projectiles slamming into the shield.
The soldiers surrounding the girl moved to flank her, but those small cones launched out of the panels across her body, propelled by fire. They arced and curved around to strike the soldiers behind her…and then exploded into balls of fire and shrapnel as they landed. Ruckanos’s eyes went wide.
The girl then ceased her assault.
“Observation: Non-standard detected, adapting strategy. Equalizer engaged.”
One of her arms turned back from those deadly tubes into a normal hand. The light in her chest glowed with rainbow light which traveled up her arm and condensed in the palm of her hand. She pointed her palm at the captain and a beam of rainbow light shot towards him. The captain flared his mana and braced himself…
The light hit, but there was no impact. The captain raised an eyebrow…but then his eyes widened in shock. His mana vanished from his shield…and the extended mana barrier with it.
And the girl’s other arm was still one of those deadly tubes…which now resud flashing. Ruckanos gaped as the captain, a true Tower Guard blessed by the gods, fell with a hole in his forehead. Ruckanos turned and shrieked as he saw the girl moving her arm towards him.
“Wait, don’t you know who I am?!”
The last thing he saw was the center of the tube pointed right at him and a flash of light.
NSLICE-00P scanned the battlefield, locating the last remaining hostile. One of the armored soldiers…who promptly threw down his sword and held his hands behind his head. The soldier sighed.
“…we deserve this, to be honest. Do as you must.”
NSLICE-00P did not terminate him, however, as her protocols indicated a different course of action for an individual who had ceased hostile activity.
“Acknowledgent: Surrender accepted. Please stand down and prepare for transport.”
NSLICE-00P’s gun-barrel transford back into a hand. A panel opened on her wrist and a wire shot out, wrapping around the man. She then began scanning the area, now that the area was reasonably secure.
But as she did, there was a flash of light. NSLICE-00P registered yet another forced relocation, this ti to an empty white space occupied only by herself, her captive, and a single glowing sphere. Before she could re-engage ergency termination protocols, her Geo-Oscillator began expanding its output all on its own. The sphere before her glowed even brighter. A ssage appeared in her UI…then a second one appeared that she did not recognize from any of her own programs.
“Warning: Connection to planetary core lost. Diagnostic Report: Attempting to reactivate Geo-Oscillator Engine.Suitable planetary core located. Connection established. Core activation sequence successful. Rebooting systems…”
Beginning Dungeon Binding.
Please select a starting defender:
- Wolf (Rarity: Common, Random Default Option)
- Young Fire Salamander (Rarity: Common, Random Default Option)
- Zombie (Rarity: Common, Random Default Option)
- Clockwork Puppet (Rarity: Epic, Unlocked by Conduit's Records)
- Monster Bee Queen (Rarity: Rare, Unlocked by Divine Agreent)
But what of the original column of light that NSLICE-00P had collided with on her way in? Well…
Two teenagers, just recently co of age, stood in a forest clearing…in a different world entirely. One was a human girl, while was a boy with a human body but canine ears. The girl spoke up.
“Hey Taog?”
The boy, Taog, responded.
“Yes, Ateia?”
The girl, Ateia, pointed at the clearing ahead.
“Was there always a building like that in the forest?”
Taog glanced over at the building. It was a cylindrical, one-story structure made of pure white rock, with a big glowing sphere at the top. Yellow banners hung from the side with the symbol of a bee landing on a flower. He sighed and shook his head.
“No. No there was not.”
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