Chapter 11: Breakthrough

“Again.” Sensei’s declaration came just after my fight against the strange octopus-dog thing had ended. Basically a dog with eight tentacles; two each where the legs would normally be. It was also the size of a small car. That was a Mulound.

In the cycles prior to this one, I had finally realized how useful my whip was for restricting mobility. If I could get it wrapped up around my opponent’s feet or legs and then close the distance, I could flow right into one of my blades for a free attack. Once that move became one of my go-to strategies, Sensei had thrown the Mulound at me.

Easy for you to say!

Fighting with these things was extremely tedious, as each of the limbs moved independently of any of the others, and I had yet to figure out a totally clean method for it. Not that failing to comply was an option. Sensei would simply keep throwing monsters at me until I gave up or started fighting back. They were always tuned in such a way as to render them non-lethal, but that didn’t mean they were totally harmless.

My lightsaber clicked back into the longsword form as I assumed the ready stance for the fourth time today. A moment later, the creature charged at me.

The one saving grace of this was that it was damn cathartic. In the past two Rotation Cycles, nearly a month if I bothered to convert them into days and weeks, I had made nearly zero progress beyond the one instance where my shift had activated. Despite almost daily efforts in meditation and exercise, I was seemingly getting nowhere.

And Sensei isn’t very helpful eithe- Shit! 

A tentacle launched itself at my face, and a quick dodge to the side while angling my blade deflected it away from me.

Sure, knowing about all of the apparently countless monsters was helpful. In fact, knowing how to kill whatever came after me was probably going to be a good thing in the long run. But that was the thing; he wouldn’t answer any questions that were not about fighting or killing. Want to know where to stab a Zuglut to kill it in one blow? Here and here. Want to know where a Zuglut came from? Tough luck, better to ask your earpiece for a super basic summary utterly devoid of anything useful. It was infuriating.

Plying off of the deflected attack, my weapon shifted into the cutting form of the katana as I sliced downwards.

“Tch!” I clicked my tongue; the beast had read my intentions and retracted its appendage before the blow could land. The katana dissolved in a flash as it cycled back to the longsword in preparation to block another blow.

Given that, I kind of would prefer if he let me fight the less irritating ones; this octodog is just annoying.

More and more, it was becoming clear that I would either have to make a move or find a way to escape and gather information on my own. My original intention of playing the waiting game was only seeming to result in their brainwashing actually beginning to take hold. For the time being, my intact psyche coupled with the brief flashes of intense emotion were helping me stay sane but it was only a matter of time.

This time, instead of blocking the incoming attack, I attempted to avoid it with a much larger motion and counter. A sharp smack on the side of the head as one of the creature’s other tentacles smacked me was the only reward I received.

“Dammit! Just. Stay. Still!”

Ah, there it is again.

This had been happening more and more as the days, no, the rotations wore on. At first, I thought it was only the monotony getting to me. But I had never exploded in frustration before my transmigration… reincarnation? Before getting this body. No, this felt similar to that initial sensation of pure rage when I’d seen Michael for the first time. That unadulterated urge to kill him. It was probably some lingering remnant of the body’s original owner’s personality. The monotony was simply making it simpler for that to break through.

The hentai hound had jumped back from me, taking distance. A move I recognized; in a moment, it would slither towards me on its back four tentacles while windmilling its front four in a style reminiscent of a certain reptilian cyborg.

Just the fact that I can maintain rationality while experiencing that angry response, is weird. Like I’m a bit detached from the emotion itself.

Questions about my sanity aside, the fact that sensei was so tight-lipped was strange to me. Originally, I had thought that he was not a member of the cult, but now I didn’t know what to think. The way he reacted was… off. It didn’t feel like he was declining to answer, it was more like he couldn’t answer, or didn’t know. My working theory was that he was himself a hologram. Not that there was a simple way for me to test that, and outright asking would be suspicious as hell.

No, I need to take the first chance to leave. That’s the only way forward for me at the moment.

The Mulound charged as I’d predicted and I braced myself. This was the only way of taking them down that had worked, though even I was aware of how infeasible it was. Taking the hit with my body, my longsword cut deep into its head, piercing deeply and severing the base of its brainstem.

“…In the future, try and figure out a better method of fighting than to willingly injure yourself. Now, we will need to cut the lesson short for today; Michael-dono would have a word with you.” Punctuating his sentence, the door to the room opened for me.

“Right. Thank you, Sensei.” After saying my customary goodbye, I departed. The fact that he remained in the room behind me was one of the reasons I had begun to suspect his humanity in the first place; he never greeted me in the lift room, and he never escorted me out. It could just be a cultural thing, but it was super suspicious given what I knew about that room’s capabilities.

All that being as it was, my head was in turmoil and running through a thousand and one possibilities. In all the time that had passed, not once had Michael asked to speak with me again. Not even after I had actually succeeded in shifting, and killed that guy.

Did I fuck up and tip them off? No, I don’t think so… then, is this a progress check? I’ve not been able to shift consciously yet, and my flow fighting isn’t progressing at a fast enough rate considering my body’s specs. Maybe this is one of those “make them worry so they get better” meetings, like corporate used to do on occasion.

There was only one other room up here that I was familiar with, having been too afraid of the consequences to snoop, so I made my way back to the entrance room. Sure enough, Michael was waiting for me there. A million thoughts all flashed through my head at once, but in the end, nothing came to mind. Standing there silently, awkwardly, I waited for him to make the first move.

For his part, he looked me up and down. Much like when Sensei had done it earlier, I found myself stretching to my full height and squaring my shoulders. It was as though some part of his gaze made me want to measure up to whatever metric was being used. In short, he had a commanding presence.

This is different from the first time we met. I don’t like it.

It was more than the detached feeling of low-smoldering anger that rose up from some foreign place within me. No, this was disgust that I could say without a shadow of a doubt was my own. Something about the way he was looking just made me uncomfortable.

Finally seeming to be satisfied with what he saw, Michael spoke, “Sensei informed me that you are making remarkable progress, what do you think?”

What do I think? Shit, that’s definitely not what I thought you would say first. …And what do you mean, ‘Sensei’? Did he train you too?

“Ah, if that is what he says, then it must be true. I wouldn’t know how to judge that myself.” Implying that I had any thoughts at all was probably not the best idea; better to make him think I was receptive to the programming being offered.

“I see, well I had my doubts but it seems like things are working out for the best after all. Tell me, have you made any progress with Emergent’s gifts?”

Ah, that one.

Since this was one of the things I’d feared he might ask about, I had an answer ready. To start things off, I put on a frown, “No… I have tried every rotation, but so far I have not been able to use his gifts other than the one time.” To cap it off, I lowered my head a bit in apparent remorse.

As far as appearances were concerned, Michael appeared to buy my act readily enough. Or, considering what he said next, he didn’t actually care, “I am sorry to hear that, but not surprised. And Meera, she says you have fallen into a routine?”

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I fell silent; in hindsight, the fact that I had been spending less and less time interacting with the cultists would obviously come up. It had gotten to the point that I no longer left my room except to eat and go to training. Such anti-social behavior would doubtlessly raise red flags, but I couldn’t help it; interacting with them was just so aggravating.

“…Yes.” There wasn’t really any way to get around that question save to answer it.

“You sound concerned, but you have nothing to worry about. The employees are here to help us, but it is up to us whether or not to interact with them or not… Still, consider showing your face a bit more frequently; it does wonders for morale.” I couldn’t get a read on him. From his tone of voice, it didn’t seem like he was particularly upset or even confrontational.

I hate this, I’ve never really had any issues reading people before, so why can’t I figure him out?

“Now, in light of your progress so far, there is another task you could assist with.” His words knocked me right out of my musings.

Something else? Well, if anything, it might give me some more opportunities.

“Of course, how can I be of service?” I tried, and probably failed, to keep the glee and excitement out of my voice.

Michael grinned, “It is always reassuring to hear how willing you are to serve, walk with me if you please.”

I fell into step behind him, and he led me back toward the door I’d just come from. We passed into the hallway and then, instead of turning left or right, continued straight ahead and through the door across from the watery entrance room.

If I remember correctly, he said that this door led to his personal chambers.

Unable to help myself, I looked around at the various surroundings. Michael’s domicile was actually oddly sparse. Compared with the over-the-top elevator room, this one was relatively down-to-earth. Granted, the fact that it was seemingly literally earth still stood out in a big way; the door had opened to what my initial impressions dictated was outside.

The floor was made of dirt, with actual grass and trees growing up out of it. A little distance away there was a small hut-like structure. Not a cabin by any stretch; it was definitely modern, or from my perspective futuristic. The focus of the room though was obviously the forest veneer, which even had some birdsong coming from somewhere.

What the hell kind of fairy tale realm is this? I can even see the sky!

Sure enough, peeking out from above the treetops, there was a large blue expanse of clear sky with a handful of fluffy white clouds. That didn’t make any sense though.

When I was taking the elevator up, it was the middle of the night again. It’s always the middle of the night, almost like they have me on a reversed schedule. …Then again, we are still inside a gigantic skyscraper, and there’s even a holodeck. The sky is probably fake.

The realization that my surroundings were all a simple reconstruction helped me to overcome my general stupor at the sight. That was an issue I would need to work at overcoming; at this point, I really should not be getting so surprised at every little thing like that. It could actually get me hurt or even killed in the future.

“Ah, forgive me; I should have warned you. Each of the directors maintains their quarters in a manner that is pleasing to them personally. I am partial to the rustic nature of Earth’s Rocky Mountains. If you ever advance to a similar position, you will be free to decorate your quarter’s as you see fit. Come inside if you please, and we can discuss the assignment.”

Rousing myself, I nodded and followed him towards the door of the cabin thing. Internally, I was doing a little fist pump; I’d finally learned something more about my situation.

“Of Earth’s Rocky Mountains” So, this is a hundred percent still the same world, then instead of traveling in an Isekai, I was sent into the future. The way he phrased that, I would also say that I’m probably not on Earth right now. Given the technology levels I’ve seen, interplanetary colonization isn’t that surprising… Hell, it might even be interstellar.

Now that was a sobering thought. It also answered a lot of questions I’d had, such as where the hell all those monsters had come from. If one could assume that they were all some form of extraterrestrial life, then the odd biology made sense. Genetic tampering was also a possibility, but the sheer variety on display had made me doubt the feasibility. After all, dogs were mammals and octopi were mollusks. Even without a biological background, I knew that mixing traits of two different phyla was impossible.

It also created a lot more questions, first among which was the obvious ‘how far into the future.’ That, however, was not so easily answered without blowing my cover. It was something I’d have to figure out by keeping my ears open, at least until they let me have access to a terminal or enough freedom to ask questions of people not directly connected with the cult. Still, I had finally gotten something. It was a breakthrough long awaited, and in a way almost made me feel grateful to him. Almost.

“Over here.” Michael indicated a seat in what looked like a living room of sorts. Overall, the building had a fairly open floor plan, not unlike my own room. There were a few extra doors, but unless the technology here also included some blue police box fuckery then the actual size of the interior wasn’t that much bigger than my own.

I took the offered seat, and Michael sat down opposite me. A snap of his fingers caused a table to lift up out of the floor with a -Schwing!- The surface of the table opened up near the middle, and a small cluster of familiar crystals rose up further.

So it’s got a projector in it, then this will be a debriefing about something.

Belatedly, it occurred to me that I should have been acting with a lot more caution; here I was, with a female body, being invited into the home of the leader of the cult I was nominally a member of. After he had told me that there was another task given to me by our “god” figure.

This encounter could have gone a LOT differently. I really need to start considering things from a different perspective…

The emitter lit up, projecting a symbol into the air. It was only visible for a brief instant but appeared to be an “R” placed back-to-back against its mirror image. A moment later it vanished, replaced with a lot of text and charts I could not even begin to understand the meanings of.

Michael began to speak then, “There is a group running counter to ours. Radical elements that have received Emergent’s gift but reject his teachings. Here on Corgas they make up the minority but are quite adept at evading detection.”

That’s the second time I’ve heard that name, ‘Corgas.’ Given the context I have now, I can assume it’s the name of this planet, not the city.

Try as I might, it was impossible for me to not be at least a tiny bit giddy at the prospect of being on another planet. Fortunately, Michael seemed to misinterpret my faint smile, “It appears you are quick on the uptake; I believe you would be able to infiltrate this group and help us to bring them to heel.”

That changed my smile into a frown; there was a single, glaring, flaw with his plan, “…Forgive me, but I do not know how to interact with people outside of the order… I don’t think I would be able to infiltrate anyone…”

Plus, I’d rather not help you guys wipe out a group that’s intelligent enough to reject your bullshit god.

He nodded, “I am aware. Fortunately, you do not need to be; you have a history with them already.”

The projection changed, depicting a man in the vitruvian pose standing next to a hulking monstrosity. The sight of the man’s features triggered a response in a manner similar to when I had first opened my eyes and seen Michael, only this time it was not anger. Feelings of warmth, attachment, and a distinct longing welled up from some part of me that wasn’t quite me.

Silas… His name is Silas.