Starship Commander Trapped In A Fantasy World 178 Awakening 2

"Yeah, I see her… Stand down."

"Bu-"

"That was an order."

"... Fine."

As first light hit the 125th central compound in the middle of Kingstead they were greeted by a single figure which stood outside the gate. The elver in question looked like she had been up all night and was visibly tormented by what Dax a.s.sumed to be a result of her conflicting beliefs that he had poked a hole in the night before. Dax was very much aware of what he had done was extremely cruel, but ultimately he acted the way he did for the sake of Lilly. If she couldn't come to accept him as an artificial life form the budding feelings he had noticed in her had to be destroyed, or it would tear her apart. For that reason as well as a sense of guilt Dax had Lux and his drones stand down, then he approached Lilly unarmed as it was clear she had something to say.

"..."

"Good morning, you look terrible."

"... Why thank you, it is completely your fault though."

Lilly looked truly haggard, she had deep dark circles under her eyes and looked like she could fall asleep at any moment, if not for the fact that she was extremely tense.

"So? Did you come here to kill me?"

Getting straight to the heart of the issue, Dax stood calmly in front of Lilly. This clearly startled Lilly, the elver flinched as she took a half step back as the ambient mana around her started acting up.

"Dax!"

The second Lux started moving about 50 drones aimed their weapons at her, making her stand down as Dax harshly reprimanded her while still keeping his eyes on Lilly.

"I told you it was a f.u.c.king order, stand down or get put down! Your choice."

While Lux had been shut up and kept glaring daggers in her commanding officers back, Dax still calmly waited for Lilly's response while the mana fluctuations around her kept growing in intensity.

"I sincerely hope I don't have to kill you… But as an elder, I am bound by responsibilities I must uphold. Even if I am no longer a resident of the great forest."

Breathing in deeply Lilly appeared to prepare for something as she closed her golden eyes, creating a truly ma.s.sive surge of mana around her that reminded Dax of the angel's ascension type strengthening spell.

(ICI back up all essentials and a.n.a.lyse the spell architecture please.)

Going into a state of half preparedness Dax looked on as Lilly's body was covered in an array of golden runes he hadn't seen before. After a few seconds of intense wind, Lilly opened her eyes that glowed with an increased golden l.u.s.tre as she cried blood and her aura changed.

"A possession type spell formation… But it's somehow different from the ones used by the angels."

In response to Dax's a.n.a.lysis 'Lilly' just looked at him, smiling as she released more bloodl.u.s.t than the qiton had ever witnessed.

"You sure are interesting, young one."

Seeing how Dax didn't tense up in the slightest but paradoxically became more relaxed as he was exposed to an overwhelming amount of bloodl.u.s.t, 'Lilly' calmed herself as her smile got even more bewitching.

"I don't think I have ever seen a demonkin so inept in the manipulation of mana, what exactly are you?"

"If you want me to introduce myself why don't you go first, that's common courtesy where I'm from."

(ICI warm up all a.s.sets and bring towers #1-#3 online, load the prototype mana disruption monitions and contact the crown princess. Tell her we might need post fact authentication for use of the 540 mils.)

Of course, Dax didn't need authentication to use the defensive railgun turrets he had installed, but it was an illusion that he needed to keep up until the Galactic Empire could size complete control of the Central Kingdom. 

"From your earlier monologue it appears you already know what I am, so why tell you?"

"And you have already seen me for what I am, so let us get this s.h.i.+t show over with."

After staring down each other for a bit, 'Lilly' and Dax both went into action at the same time. As 'Lilly' affected the ambient mana trough her vessel, Dax drew a pistol with lighting speed and shoot towards Lilly, grazing the elvers cheek as he took a shooting position.

"Try me."

Having achieved the metaphorical high ground in the fight in the matter of a split second, 'Lilly' touched her cheek and traced the blood that was streaming out and examined it in disbelief.

"W-what was that?"

"A bullet, what one more?"

"..."

Being deep in thought 'Lilly' cancelled her offensive magic her wound was healed by magic.

"It seems the world has changed greatly since I was last in this material plane…"

"I'm not so sure, this is ancient technology where I'm from. As are the techniques of creating artificial life, among those are the techniques I owe my existence to."

Lowering his pistol as it appeared the spirit no longer wanted to fight him, Dax started calming down slightly, but multiple weapons systems were still thoroughly locked on 'Lilly'.

"So you come from a place that has abandoned the G.o.ds?"

"I don't believe so no. The G.o.ds who created my creators instilled them with knowledge but gave them no guidance to use it, a few million years later they have outgrown their homeworld and started to tear themselves apart, so they use their knowledge to create the perfect weapon system and after they have wiped themselves out and the weapons remain are the weapons to blame? I believe that the sins of the creators do not extend to the tools, just like you are not blamed if one of your creations strikes down another or breaks the law. We didn't ask to come into existence, nor did we ask to be instilled with the apt.i.tudes we have, but life is as we make it, therefore something that is created should not seek forgiveness for existing."

"... You sure are interesting. Then in your opinion are the G.o.ds of your creators at fault?"

Narrowing her eyes, 'Lilly' appeared to be testing Dax, something he quite welcomed as it could be an opportunity to solve the current dilemma without bloodshed.

"Who should I know that? I am merely mortal."

"Yet you stand before a G.o.d, questioning its morals."

"... And are you any better, asking existential questions from a creature you did not create?"

"Touché. It appears that the universe truly is infinite, and we should not force our values on others without forethought."

Admitting it was wrong, the spirit appeared to be leaving Lilly, but Dax wasn't done yet.

"Fire one."

[ROGER, FIRING.]

At Dax's command, one of the 540 mm railgun turrets opened up its sh.e.l.l as it fired a single prototype sh.e.l.l towards the interior of Kingstead. The prototype munition quickly shed its sabot as airbrakes extended out from it before it slammed into the dirt near Dax and Lilly, activating its payload. Instantly a strange field extended out from the sh.e.l.l, freezing the ambient mana in place and locking down all use of magic in the area.

"ICI how is the prototype warhead working?"

[SYSTEMS STATUS: ONLINE, HEAT GENERATION NORMAL. PRIMARY POWERCELL AT 76% 1 MINUTE OF NORMAL OPERATIONS REMAINING. INITIATE MANA PURGE?]

"W-what are you-"

"After Lilly's outburst a few hours ago I started researching. It seems like artificial beings are being hunted down and killed with their sole sin being that they exist, while their creators are left unharmed… This is not something that will benefit my long term goals, in fact I believe this will harm it, but still, this is something I need to do."

Slowly walking closer to the spirit that now had been trapped inside Lilly, Dax had a bright smile on his face as he truly looked like something terrifying to the spirit.

"From now on beings that are brought into this world without their choosing by forbidden means will no longer be hunted down by you or your followers or I will come for you, wherever you exist. I don't care about the creators though, that is all. ICI suspend prototype weapons test and start post test evaluations."

As the mana disruption field disappeared, so did the spirit as fast as it could, leaving Lilly and Dax alone once more as she regained consciousness. Finding herself in Dax's arms.

"So are you still going to kill me?"

"... I am not, the only reason I would even consider it was due to the laws of the spirits, which you appear to have changed just now."

Being completely flabbergasted, Lilly didn't appear to notice that Dax had picked her up, but once she did the elver blushed all the way to her ears.

"... Could you let me down?"

"Nope, I want to apologize for my behaviour yesterday first, and offer to make amends."

"... But why would you need to do that while holding me in this manner?"

"Because I feel like I have a higher chance of earning your forgiveness if I act while you're like this."

Being faced with Dax's bright smile Lilly couldn't come to meet his eyes, so in the end she just quietly muttered while hoping Dax didn't hear.

"... It's okay, I forgive you if you take me on another date."

"Well okay then, how about right now?"

"What?"

"Let's go~"

"Let me down first!"