20

"So." I looked at my team as we headed back down the elevator to the Ark. "That happened."

Rapi nodded. "It was... quite an ordeal."

Neon shook her head. "I can't believe it. The Deputy Chief is the Legendary Commander? From all those years ago?"

Anis rubbed her face. "Ugh... does EVERYONE in the higher ups of the Ark have a secret identity? Boss is already pretending, but is EVERYONE pretending?"

"Hm?" I glanced at Anis. "Mustang is pretending to be someone?"

"A-Ah. Nope! Nada. You didn't hear anything! Lalala..." Anis covered her ears.

Rapi sighed. "You're terrible at keeping secrets, Anis."

"I don't want to hear it from you, Rapi!"

I chuckled and then glanced over at Marian.

Ever since we met that strange Rapture, she'd been quiet.

"Marian?" I held her hand. "Are you alright?"

"A-Ah." Marian blinked. "I'm fine. Just... thinking about what that Rapture said."

Anis looked up. "Oh yeah. That weirdo said Marian was-"

"Anis." Rapi cut her off. "We don't know who's listening."

Anis flinched. "R-Right. Yeah..." She coughed and then started deliberately singing an old idol song, as if to change the subject.

Marian shook her head. "No. Not that. I'm thinking about what he said regarding Commander Hoopa. And then there's the fact that Chief Andersen is requesting a physical from him..."

Rapi paused. "...Ah. That is strange timing."

Neon hummed. "Well, maybe they're just worried Master hurt himself. He DID have Anis launch him into the air. And he DID cut a Tyrant-Class Rapture's arm off with a sword."

Marian looked at me and said, "How are you feeling, Commander? Any pain?"

I rubbed my right arm. "It's a little sore. More like 'I did too many sets of bench press' sore over 'I tore my arm socket out' sore though. And trust me, I know the difference."

Rapi frowned. "...That's even more cause for concern then. The fact that you were able to cleave a Rapture of that caliber's arm off..."

"Well, it was flesh. It's pretty straightforward."

Silence filled the elevator.

Anis, as always, broke it first. "Uh... What, Commander?"

"Like I said, it was flesh. That guy wasn't metal. Not really. When my sword bit in its limb, it snipped the cords like muscle. It only broke because it chipped against the 'bone' inside before I followed through."

Rapi's eyes widened.

Anis looked panicked. "ISN'T THAT SOMETHING WE SHOULD BE REPORTING?! LIKE, RIGHT NOW?!"

I waved my hand. "Relax, Anis. It's in the formal report. But I have to admit, it IS concerning." I frowned. "...This implies that Raptures can evolve."

"IT'S A *HUGE* DEAL!" Anis started pacing. "This is BAD. If Raptures can evolve...!"

Neon tilted her head. "Is it really a bad thing, Anis? If they're becoming fleshy, doesn't that mean that they can die easier? Also, they're not as smart as people like Master, right?"

Silence filled the elevator again.

Then Anis paused. "That's... true. Wait, that's ABSOLUTELY true." She looked at me and said, "Commander. You've got that weird supersense thingy or whatever, right? Are we in trouble?"

"Mm... well, we probably aren't. Neon has the right of it. The Raptures are actually weakening themselves by becoming more fleshlike. But I do have a slight concern."

Rapi looked over and said, "If you have a slight concern, Commander, it's a huge concern. What is it?"

"Well..." I rubbed my chin. "They aren't 'imitating' us so much as 'evolving to be like us.' That means that as they become more humanlike, they'll adopt some of our traits but retain their own. So they might get some unthinkable biological adaptations. Like maybe ridiculous things like being able to control metal at a distance or meld it into a silicon based cell structure."

After all, nanomachines DID exist in this world. And Raptures had mysterious physiology.

Considering how sci-fi everything was too, and the fact that the Vatican had CLEARLY crossed over into mechanical god territory with how much it pervaded the Ark's culture...

"HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT WITH A CALM FACE?!" Anis knelt down and ran a hand through her hair. "Oh my GOD we're soooo gonna die. If it's like that..."

I rolled my eyes. "Don't be so melodramatic. In the worst case scenario, we just have to kill a god."

Anis hopped to her feet and pointed at me. "HOW?! HOW CAN YOU SAY THINGS LIKE THAT WITH A CALM FACE?!"

"...Because I know how to kill a god?"

Silence.

"...What?"

===

The elevator ride continued. We were halfway there. But for some reason, it felt like it was stretching to eternity.

Rapi pinched the bridge of her nose and said, "Commander. Let me get this straight. You, a recent military academy graduate, a man who's been on three deployments, and our Commander of all but five days. You possess working and executable action plans to commit deicide?"

I nodded. "That's right."

"...Not only that. But you have an entire taxonomy of deities, ranging from local tribal spirits to omnipotent universal level threats, as well as countermeasures for each?"

"Correct."

"And due to this taxonomy, you have concluded that, at worst, the threat we'll face is planetary. And that sufficient firepower would be able to thwart this threat. And if the threat is conceptual in nature, you'll be able to subvert it in totality?"

"Yes."

Anis threw her hands in the air. "I give up! I thought the world already didn't make sense after T.T.STAR, but this takes the cake!"

Neon stared at me with her emerald eyes glittering in awe. "Master. You are the best. The best in the world. The greatest. No wonder you can recreate legendary swords..."

Marian stared at me, a relaxed smile on her face. "I knew it. That's how you could save me."

Rapi pinched the bridge of her nose. "...I suddenly understand your name. Hoopa... Hero of Omnipotent Powers Annihilated... Just how many years did you dedicate to the theory of deicide? And was it for fun, or...?"

"Ah, well." I coughed. "...Let's not consider how long I spent researching deicide."

Or the fact that it started after I first met Zoma in Dragon Quest 3, realized it was Earth, and panicked thinking there was really a lord of darkness hidden below the ground and how I could create countermeasures when we CLEARLY didn't have magic.

But anyway.

"The fact of the matter is that we're covered if we have to fight something like that." I frowned. "...What we really have to be concerned about is other humans."

I knew little to no details about the overarching story of Nikke. I also barely knew anything about its characters since I, uh... kinda just skipped most of the story after Marian died.

Not only that, what little I DID know now was gleaned from the questions I'd asked Shifty, the bits I'd extrapolated on everyone's reactions, and then the info I picked up from my office and the recycling center at the Outpost.

In sum...

'Just like real life, I'm going in blind.'

If there was ANY upside to this situation, it was the fact that I had my general expertise from Earth, a weirdly keen intuition for combat that amplified the martial arts knowledge I already knew, and the ability to crib together sci-fi knowledge that I had with my general expertise and the confirmed science already developed in this world.

'...Still 90-10 on the theory that the body I'm in is a sort of super soldier or something.'

That was probably why Chief Andersen wanted me to get a physical.

My gut was telling me the guy was alright though and on my side. Especially if Snow White was correct about him being the Legendary Commander.

I coughed. "Anyway. Enough about me." I looked at the others and said, "How are you guys? Any damage?"

Anis gave me a deadpan stare. "Really? You're just gonna drop that and just pivot?"

"Yes."

Anis sighed. "Fine. We are SO not done talking about this... but overall, nothing's wrong with me. Just low on ammo."

Neon gave me a thumbs up and said, "Same here, Master! Oh! I got a TON of ideas after seeing Snow White's weapons though! We're going to be making SO much more firepower..."

Rapi tilted her head, probably doing a quick internal diagnostic. "No problem here either. Because we defeated the talkative Rapture so quickly, I believe none of us had the chance to get injured. Marian?"

Marian nodded. "I'm fine, Commander." She smiled and said, "We're all safe. Because of you."

"That's good. At least that's fine. Although..." I fiddled with the bullet Snow White gave me just before we headed back to the Ark. The one that she said I might need. "...Still not sure what this thing is."

Snow White had said this could become my trump card if I ever had to fight against a Nikke or something on that tier alone.

But she didn't explain any more than that.

"Hm..." I stared at the glittering crimson tip on the bullet. "...It bothers me that she emphasized 'Nikke' or something on that 'tier.'"

It was like Snow White had the feeling I might be facing something like that soon enough.

...To be fair, I guess my general vibes gave off that message. But still.

"Is this like Longinus or something? An immortality severance? Or does it punch through Nikke armor in one go? Probably not the latter..."

Rapi covered her face and said, "Commander. Please, save your hypothesizing for when we're safely back on the surface and in the Outpost... Or with Deputy Chief Andersen."

"Ah, right. Got it. Thanks for the reminder, Rapi."

===

"Hello there, Commander." A softspoken woman with black hair and a cozy-looking blue dress, along with a white nurse's overcoat smiled at me as I walked into the hospital. Although her eyes were closed, she clearly sensed where I was standing.

"Huh." I walked in the room and nodded. "Nice to meet you. ...Are you doing some sort of sensory training? Or is this an optimized technique to listen in for biometric data?"

The woman chuckled and gestured for me to sit on the nearby bed. "It's a bit of both. When I have my eyes closed, it's easier for me to concentrate, you see. And as a Nikke, I don't really need to use my eyes to know where things are."

"Got it."

The woman smiled. "My name is Mary, by the way. I'll be the one taking care of you today. Let's see... a basic physical, is it?"

"Mmhm." I slipped off my overcoat and set it on the chair nearby. "Just a routine checkup. I've been overdue one since my heart stopped on the first mission anyway-"

"What?"

"...Er. Yeah..."

===

Andersen looked over the medical report that Mary sent following Commander Hoopa's physical.

[Medical Report for Patient Hoopa]

Generally, there's no problem with the commander's health. Although he mentioned having to be revived via electric charge following the transport ship incident, he is in perfect health otherwise.

All metrics within normal range except BMI.

Strangely, the commander's muscles appear to be extremely dense and beyond the normal range. A scan shows roughly a 1.2x density of muscle fibers compared to the average male. Consequently, his weight is beyond normal metrics.

However, interestingly, the commander's body appears highly optimized for activity. VO2 max testing places him at the 99.999 percentile. Bone density is on a similar percentile.

Resting heartrate, pulse, bloodpressure, and other metrics are normal as well.

Of note is the bloodtype. We noticed that the commander strangely lacks any antigens in his blood. After confirmation, we concluded that his bloodtype is O- Rh Null.

Per Deputy Chief Andersen's request, we performed a DNA test for similarity.

The results indicate a 50% match, with 48% belonging to a woman whose name was redacted in our databases, and 2% being anomalous. However, we have linked the file so you can examine it directly.

Andersen's hands shook as he read the report. Then he slowly sat down. "...Impossible."

He had to be reading it wrong.

The 50% match to him was one thing. He knew those V.T.C. bastards had plenty of time to experiment with him and his body while he was in a coma all those years.

But the match to a woman with a redacted name...

Paired with the way that Commander Hoopa had been moving, along with his general intuition towards combat and martial prowess...

"...Lilith?"

A single conclusion.

Only a single conclusion was racing through Andersen's head.

But he had to be sure.

Quickly moving to his computer, he opened up the search system, entered his credential, and then typed in the reference number Mary had included...

And a face seared into his soul stared back at him.

White hair bobbed hair with a hint of pink highlighting it. Sky blue eyes, a bright smile.

Lilith- No, Liliweiss. The leader of the Goddess Squad. The one and only woman Andersen had ever truly loved.

The woman whose final smile was seared into his soul, along with her tear-streaked face.

The one he couldn't save.

"...Is this some kind of twisted joke?"

Andersen's hoarse voice filled his office.

It was impossible.

Absolutely impossible.

By the time Andersen met Lilith, she was a Nikke. And they never had a chance to...

No.

Knowing the V.T.C. and the Central Government at the time...

"Of course. Those bastards..." Andersen ran his hand through his hair.

Lilith had been exceptional even as a human.

Even though they had converted her to a Nikke, they wouldn't just leave it at that.

Her body... the usual protocol was to simply discard it. Eliminate the body so that there was no risk of mental dissonance when confronted with proof they weren't human anymore.

But V.T.C. wouldn't do that. Not when Lilith was so exceptional. No, instead of just disposing it, they would harvest it.

Blood, organs... and apparently even...

Andersen slid back into his chair, letting out a helpless laugh. "Is this a blessing, or a curse?"

It explained so much, and yet so little.

Why Andersen had a sense of deja vu when he met Hoopa. Why it was so easygoing. Why he felt the urge to make sure he was safe. Why he broke so many rules to sort out his situation.

And it ALSO explained his incredibly reckless behavior in combat.

Hoopa was literally the best and worst of them both.

Charming, charismatic, combat-gifted...

Reckless, ridiculous, a complete rapscallion...

Andersen covered his face with his hands. "...Lilith. What would you say, I wonder? Would you be proud that there's proof of us? Or furious it took so long for me to find him?"

It was something completely unthinkable.

Andersen had never even thought to look.

He KNEW that he likely had children out there. He would bet on it because of all the shady shit those V.T.C. bastards did before he took them out.

But never in a million years did he think that there might be children between him and Lilith out there.

"How many?" Andersen whispered.

How many were out there?

How many had died without him knowing?

How many had grown up wondering where their parents were?

How many had perished hating them?

How many had been thrown away in experiments?

Andersen didn't know.

All he knew was that there was one. At least one.

Maybe he was the bravest. Maybe he was the luckiest. Maybe he was a trap.

But whatever the case...

"A son." Andersen murmured and looked up. "My son. And Lilith's."

...He was here.

And here with a STUPID name.

"Pft. Ha. Haha. Hahaha. Hoopa... just who the hell named our kid Hoopa, huh? That's such a goofy name, Lilith." Andersen burst out laughing.

His sides hurt.

The life support systems pulled at his muscles, making them ache.

But he didn't care.

Andersen laughed, and laughed, and laughed. All the while, tears streamed down his eyes.

"Hoopa... Pft. Lilith would have made fun of you so much, kid."

There, alone in his office.

For just a little while, Deputy Chief Andersen vanished.

And the Legendary Commander, the one who led the Goddess Squad all those years ago.

For just a little while, he returned, laughing at the world's sense of humor. Laughing at the miracle he never even conceived. And laughing at the fact that, despite taking everything from him and Lilith, the world at least gave him this.