"...You sure took your time." I say to Ashlyn, who’s panting as she finally reaches the cube in the lab. But the strange thing is, by now they should have already defeated the monster — yet I can still feel that weird electricity on the island.
’They still haven’t taken that thing down? Where are the other Kairas?’ I start to get a little worried. They were supposed to have fixed the problem by now. This kind of delay isn’t normal, even for a strong monster.
"Professor Zenith, stay here!! I’ll go talk to her!!!" Ashlyn says as she sets me down and runs toward the cube — then she just drops to the floor.
"...Ah, right. I forgot that happens..." I simply wait. After all, my prosthetics stopped working, along with the lab’s safety locks. The electric pulse was too strong even for the security systems to withstand.
"I wonder why Ashlyn is so confident in this plan." In theory, if she can actually communicate with the cube and make it merge with my prosthetics so they work again, there’s still one problem — why has her power increased so much?
She wasn’t able to talk to the cube until now. Even after all those tests, she never even got close. So what supposedly changed?
"..." I hope she fails. Because if she succeeds, then I know something is wrong. My instincts aren’t usually off.
’Considering the date, Nadir should be off the island...’ I glance at the clock on the wall. Kairas don’t only explore below the island. There are missions where everyone goes in some kind of special ship to places a bit farther away.
Those ships are programmed to go and return without a pilot. They can handle an absurd amount of weight and they’re pretty large. If I remember the map correctly, we’re at a point where there are useful ruins in the distance, but the island won’t pass over them — so they must have used the ship. It’s very fast, so it can go and come back before the island moves on.
’I hate those missions... they’re always so risky, since if the ship breaks down they get left behind... at least on this mission they usually bring strong people... wait...’ I look at the clock on the wall, then at the calendar.
’If the ship really was used, isn’t it strange that a monster attack happened today and Astrid didn’t go deal with it... the current number one of the Kairas must be off the island... so Astrid should have acted against that monster...’ I start putting the pieces together, but before I can reach any conclusion, the cube dissolves into a liquid and starts crawling toward me.
"!!!?" The shock steals all my attention, because this is the first time Ashlyn has ever made the cube react using only her powers.
"Hey!! Ashlyn, what the hell are you doing!? Tell that thing to stop!!" The cube’s reaction seems kind of aggressive as the liquid creeps toward me. I think about using my powers, but without my hands it’s a little harder, and the cube can’t even be destroyed, so there isn’t much I can do.
’Stupid brat!! She kept me right next to the cube!’ I quickly glance around, trying to see if there’s anything I can use to trap the cube before it touches me.
"...Haaa... FUCK... why does this shit only happen to me?" Of course there’s nothing. The room is completely empty. I just give up.
"You seem pretty irritated, huh? Is it because of what I said before? That was just a test, don’t take it so seriously..." I say, trying to calm the cube as it reaches my legs. The liquid starts seeping into my prosthetics, which gives me chills.
’I hope this thing doesn’t try to kill me...’ I prepare myself to release a massive electric discharge if necessary, but before I can react, the goo completely covers my body.
"!!!" My entire body is covered and I can’t even move to fight. Everything goes dark, since it covers my face too.
’Ashlyn, I swear if I survive this, you’ll pay dearly for this stupid idea...’ I can’t believe I let it get to this point. I underestimated that girl. I didn’t think she’d be able to make the cube react. I should have knocked her out with electricity first.
"Urgh!!" I feel a cold, unpleasant sensation in my organs. This thing entered my body through the prosthetic on my spine and is filling me from the inside. The feeling gives me deep disgust — it’s cold, sticky, and gives me a terrible sense of danger, since if this thing decides to squeeze, it’ll crush me from the inside.
"U-Ugrh... a-aah..." I feel an unpleasant pain in my back. It’s not intense, but it’s accompanied by an insistent buzzing in my ears along with a metallic sound.
’I-It’s so heavy...’ I feel like my brain is submerged in liquid metal, while my womb feels completely filled with something heavy too. The sensation starts to leave me a bit disoriented from the weight in my body.
Fortunately, it all lasts less than it seems. The cube starts to "retreat" from anything made of flesh in my body, or something like that, reducing the awful sensation of being full of something heavy and metallic in every crevice of my body.
"..." When the thing moves away from my face, I look down at the floor and shiver completely at the sight of all my prosthetics removed. Even my tail and the spinal prosthetic were taken from me almost surgically. There’s still a little blood on the spinal area because it was connected to a lot of things, but I don’t feel pain — so it was removed with absurd precision.
"...?" I look at my hands and legs, where my prosthetics were, and realize the cube didn’t merge with the old ones. It copied their shape and replaced my prosthetics with a new "version."
"..." I try to move and it works. My fingers move when I try to clench them, and when I try to stand up, I can. I look at my back, seeing my spine and tail.
"It’s... an exact copy... even the internal structure... the weight is right on the tail too." I know the internal structure is identical because of certain specific things I can see on it — and that’s terrifying.
"...Damn it..." A deep fear takes hold of me. This thing ripped out my original prosthetics. If it leaves me, I could actually die. The prosthetic on my spine is far too important to be removed without supervision, sedatives, and machine support to keep me stable.
The fact that it was ripped out and replaced by this cube — which has the choice to leave — means that if this cube tries to leave, I won’t just fall to the floor. I’ll have severe hemorrhaging, absurd blood loss, and unbearable pain. Not to mention the massive wound that would be left on my back.
"Damn it!! Damn it!! Damn you, Ashlyn!! This is what happens when you trust the damn new generation!! These fuckers ruin everything!!" I blame Ashlyn. I didn’t even need to get involved in this shit. Someone is definitely already handling the monster.
"Hey, you little shit!!" I walk over to Ashlyn, who’s waking up. I grab her by the collar, lifting her and dragging her.
"P-Professor?" She seems nervous as I throw her on the floor next to my original prosthetics.
"What the hell did you do?! Look what this damn cube did to me!! It ripped out my prosthetics — do you have any idea what’s going to happen if it leaves me?! This damn cube ripped out my spinal prosthetic!!!"
"It had extensive connections throughout my whole body!!! If this cube leaves me now, I’ll die!! You’ve condemned me — do you understand that?! At any second I could drop to the floor and start dying without medical help, without proper support, with massive bleeding!!"
"B-But now you’re walking and i-it won’t leave... I think... she wants to stay..."
"And how the hell would you know that?"
"..." She goes quiet, looking at the removed spinal section and the blood dripping to the floor from the tubes that helped with part of my body’s blood circulation.
Despite my criticism, I feel better than I did with my previous prosthetics. This thing in my body is much ’lighter’ — not in terms of weight; it seems just as heavy as the old ones — but in strain on me. It doesn’t require me to bear the weight directly anymore. The prosthetic itself now handles the weight on its own.
Plus, this one is more ’comfortable.’ With my old prosthetics, I always felt like something was poking my skin — whether it was the pins in my spine or the adjustment mechanism for my vertebrae and connections. It wasn’t immense discomfort, and I was used to it, but it was still something I noticed.
"I-I’m sorry... I-I was just trying to help..." She bites her lip as I see tears starting to form.
"...Whatever..." I look at one of my arms and try to use electricity to test something.
’Just as I thought... I can’t detach the arm anymore.’ The disconnection joints I’d need to release the arm for repairs are gone. It’s almost an identical copy, but everything that allowed it to be removed from me has been taken out.
"How long does this thing have before it abandons me to die?" I ask her, and she keeps her head down.
"S-She said she w-won’t leave..."
"And why not?"
"B-Because she thinks y-you’re her daughter. H-Her daughter also used prosthetics, and the cube has a lot of problems... the cube’s vision, perception, and memory don’t work right, s-so she reacts m-more on instinct... e-even though I told her you weren’t her daughter, s-she refused to listen, and said you were and nothing would change that."
"...What are you talking about? Now you can talk to her?"
"...Mm." She nods, dejected.
"...So she won’t leave and let me die?"
"I-I don’t think so."
"...We have a lot to talk about regarding this sudden improvement in your powers. You’d better not be using drugs to boost your performance — that crap will destroy your brain in just a few doses." I know there are drugs that temporarily enhance powers, but they’re extremely harmful.
"...Also... I think... you at least did a decent job... so I’ll let this slide... I didn’t want to yell. I’m just stressed. My prosthetics are my life, and someone just ripped them off me like they were toys. Let’s go — we have to fight that monster. How about you make me some kind of transportation?" I need to test how good these prosthetics are and how limited they are in other areas.
"R-Really?"
"Yeah. I won’t complain anymore, but we’re still going to have a serious conversation about your powers."
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