S'up, I'm back. Sorry for being late. Gonna keep this real short.
P.S. I got a pretty good sketch with lots of written details for a tank dreadnought that the Tsvìets will employ in the future. It's actually one among many commissions I'm paying for for my original universe and story I'm working on. Much similarities are shared with this story as this story is really just practice for the real one much later on, as such, for this reason alone is why this story can be considered a major crossover with so many cameos and elements and species of different works that don't belong to me.
The pick is on Deviant Art. Look up Behemoth Terrestrial Dreadnought (incomplete). It'd give you an idea to the sheer scale the more powerful land units are that are used by the Tsvìets since in the original universe, it's bad, like Warhammer 40k plus Star Wars The Old Republic across the entire galaxy cluster.
If you want a pic of NADUSA and her daughter, type in this link. Replace colon and dot with the appropriate symbol and get rid of the spaces. I don't own these pics. It's e-hentai, so expect mature images. https colon / / e-hentai dot) org / s / 66e4e27b8e / 592517-755
p.s. Reviewer Ray-d: Unfortunately, not yet. I haven't been able to strike a deal with an artist to draw it and I'm not that great at drawing spaceships.
With that done, please enjoy the chapter. This chapter will be subject to small edits if I reread it or you read it and either or both of us find mistakes.
The shuttle was back within minutes and approaching Uzushiogakure. The gothic style of the newly reconstructed city was unlike anything ever seen on this planet and its subtle sturdiness would defy the logic of such immaculately designed and decorated buildings. The streets were sparsely populated now as the thousands of V.I. automaton laborers have since been relegated to other construction duties.
The monolithic Bahamut fortresses stood like massive towers along the perimeter of the island, their mere presence daring the surrounding world to try and endanger the island. Massive cannons and thousand of aircraft on standby would make the enemy hurt for every step they took towards Uzushiogakure.
The crystal-like radiance of the port structures shown in the rising sun like gold torches to those out at sea. On an aesthetic level, they represented mystery, holiness, cleanliness and wealth; things the old ruins of the Uzumaki clan could never do at once.
The city was now prepared for full habitation.
As the shuttle got closer, the pilot checked in with the A.I. overseer of their assigned Bahamut ship. Giving the correct passcodes, the pilot was then directed not to the ship but to the landing pad on top of the newly constructed hospital where Ambassador NADUSA was waiting with a team of gynoid medic models.
Another two minutes later had the shuttle circling above the hospital before descending onto the flat roof. Once the ramp lowered, the Ancient Hunter stood aside as the gynoids quickly rushed to the pod containing the former Jinchuuriki. Pairs of hands grabbed the handles and the tube came up off from its perch, anti-gravity engines activating to keep it levitated. MODRD followed after them off the ramp to see the beautiful purple hair of NADUSA shuffling in the wind as she leveled a critical stare at the baby.
"Let's talk inside, Ancient Hunter. I wish to hear your report. We'll need to give the baby a check-up as well."
MODRD stepped forward and NADUSA waited to walk alongside her. The elevator to the roof wasn't small by any means. It doubled as a freight lift in the case of large hospital equipment needing to be delivered or shipped out, as well as carry up to two dozen Tsvìet-Minor Males without them feeling cramped. Despite the lift's size, it made no noise as it brought the precious cargo into its bowels.
As the words of the gynoids went unheard due to them rapidly messaging each other, the two authority figures were without threat of interruption. Both were staring silently at the near dead woman who bore remarkable resemblance to a Tsvìet-Major.
"So, what did you find out? How did the mission parameters change so quickly?" NADUSA asked.
The Ancient Hunter was silent as she adjusted her hold of baby Fuu to one arm while she brought out the item responsible for the mess. She hands it to NADUSA who looks at it with consternation, noticing the fuinjutsu array encompassing the item's body that's shaped like a rolled up scroll with a set of metal prongs sticking out on one end, blood from Fuu's mother drying on them.
"When I Nebladed a little of Fuuka's blood, I saw as far back as the past week. Moments ago, she had been running. The captain of the retrieval group managed to close the distance and stab her in the back with these prongs."
NADUSA could picture it all happening as MODRD gave the report. A mother desperately trying to save her daughter's life; she must have been terrified.
"Then..it drained the Seven-Tailed Bijuu out of her body within five seconds."
NADUSA's eyes nearly tore their connection from their sockets when she turned them to her so quickly. She had a little DNA of some ninja Nebladed and the whole of what Sing was able to recall from Neblading Kushina was given to all A.I. and Tsvìet authorities in this colony. As far as they knew, while ripping a Bijuu out could happen in seconds, the act of pulling it from one seal into another within five human seconds was simply unheard of.
"So..the Bijuu is in this device?" she asked, looking nervous at the prospect of holding an unknown device containing an entire Bijuu. For all she knew, this entire thing was a setup and it could have a delayed command to unseal the pissed off Bijuu right in the middle of the city.
"No," MODRD answered. She held the baby up, showing the new seal on her belly. "The ninja stabbed the child with that device and transferred it into her in another five seconds. It was extremely painful for Fuu."
Again, another insane stunt that NADUSA had no precedent for comparing save for the only being to have done a sealing transfer nearly as fast being this planet's 'Shinigami'. So many thoughts were shouting for attention in her head that she didn't even notice when they had arrived at the floor where Fuuka was quickly taken to an ER (emergency room).
NADUSA came to her senses and slipped the device into her sleeve. When she faced MODRD, she knew the Ancient Hunter saw the concern in her eyes. She, too, made the identification that this thing was a threat to Prince NRTO as well. Sing wouldn't stand for such a thing to exist.
"Take Fuu to get a check-up and send your full report to my office computer. I have to see someone about this."
"I Nebladed the blood from the ninja teams. While the captain had a name, a younger man was knowledgeable enough in history to give a little background for the name. Apparently, in return for some things, the leader of the village was given this device by a woman named Masamune. The captain had only heard his leader mutter the name so a visual identity was unavailable. The only figure in history that comes to mind when a woman has the name 'Masamune' is an old warrior named Phantom Masamune who dueled against Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju several times. Not many remember her anymore but a few sources saw she was an equal to them which would seem evidently true as she was stated to have fought them multiple times."
The explanation answered some questions but revealed more questions as well.
"Very well, Ancient Hunter. I await your report, and any good news concerning the health of Fuu. I must be going then." She brought her arm up to mess with her computer device but paused as if remembering something. "Pilot MLLE should be down the hall playing with her soon-to-be adopted daughter. She grew close to a child in Kirigakure who was deformed by cancerous tumors and had just a week to live but our technology was able to completely eradicate the cells...though I must say the results surprised even me. If you get curious, you could perhaps visit while Fuu is taken care of?"
NADUSA probably thought MODRD would like to know since she had momentarily expressed interest in the pilot's status living in a potentially hostile village. It seemed the ambassador believed the situation MLLE and the child were going through had enough similarities to that of MODRD and her adopted son's story to perhaps warrant such news.
With that, NADUSA activated an emergency function on her arm computer and she disappeared in a teleportation beam, something strictly regulated and controlled on colony worlds or settlements shared with indigenous non-Tsvìets. The hunter didn't blame her. News of what they'd discovered would require immediate attention from those of higher authority. The fact was exacerbated when the news would directly involve the Queen's own son.
Meanwhile, MODRD would have a gynoid to look at the baby. While the transfer might have been swift, it might have caused damage proportionate to its speed to the child. It took a few moments for the elevator to come back up and the ride down was silent as she held the baby to her chest, dismissing her armor into her Life Armament dimension in a silent flash of green light so the materials would not hurt the fragile infant.
Walking towards the surgery room to get assistance, she glanced down the hall at some movement. The Tsvìet-Minor MLLE was stepping out into the hall with a child in her arms who was sleeping with her small arms wrapped around the pilot's neck. It was easy for her to spot the happy tear trails recently dried from the woman's cheeks. With her eyes, it didn't look like the child was hurt but rather exhausted due to the surgery. Though, MODRD had to wonder who the child's parents were.
She's not seen many humans with that skin color before.
A gynoid appeared from behind an automatic door. She was modeled with the appearance of a Tsvìet-Major female with purple hair tied in corn rows and red eyes that looked to fit on a doll. She had just trashed a pair of disposable, recycled surgery gloves covered in blood. The door led to the room Fuu's mother was carried into, MODRD guessed. She'd not heard of any Tsvìet getting injured enough to actually warrant admittance into the hospital. Even the Minor-level regeneration was enough to deal with most injuries.
The gynoid met her eyes and recognized her. "You must want me to look over the child as well. Very well. Hopefully, this one will survive."
That threw MODRD's mind for a second long loop.
"What do you mean? Has her mother already expired?" Her answer was an affirmative nod. "How could that be? She was in temporary and complete stasis for most of the time. How did her health deteriorate when our technology can regenerate organs and brain tissue with ease? It's only be minutes; she would have had to expire in seconds." Her voice was for once since on this rock...forceful.
The gynoid felt a very mortal shiver crawl up her spine despite any destruction to her current body meaning her mind would simply flee to the A.I. network and wait for a new body to be made...after a waiting penalty. Gynoid bodies of her caliber are quite complex and don't grow on in crop fields.
Despite her sense of doom, the doctor kept her voice level. Stuttering would only annoy the Ancient Hunter more at this point.
"It was simple to heal the internal damage done by the extraction of the Bijuu. However, her vitals still degraded at a rapid pace despite our best efforts. It was strange," the doctor explained.
"What was strange?" MODRD asked, seeing the honest confusion in the gynoid's eyes.
"It was simple...but incorrect. It was like adding 2 and 2 to get 4, instead of 2 minus negative 2 to get four. Same answer but different equation. I believe it has something to do with this chakra the indigenous people are so dependent on since we're still learning about it. Perhaps the method of extraction added to the problem as well. We can't learn more without more experience, perhaps if we could consult the aid of a native expert in medical healing. It was all still strange despite figuring this much. It was almost as if she was fated to die..."
MODRD didn't like that last bit at all. "You better explain yourself, Doctor. With our advances in medical technology, we have not needed to fear something like fate for a long time. Ignorance of a subject matter is one thing but it is preposterous to blame a failure on something like fate."
The doctor held her hands up in a 'calm your tits' gesture. "That wasn't a very good wording on my part. I suppose we can say Fuuka was..designed to die by that extraction, or maybe that device was designed to ensure her death. Like I said, we don't have alot of knowledge on medical chakra or the real nature of these humans' connection with the energy, and we know even less about the workings of Bijuu extraction and next to almost nothing on that device. For all we know, this chakra could be seamlessly sewed to their very souls and that device perhaps tore it to shreds when used on Fuuka. We need more knowledge before we can make estimates. In the mean time, we'll keep the body on life support to study more."
Cue confused look again.
"I thought you said she expired?" MODRD grounded out, very annoyed now.
"A misunderstanding..though not exactly wrong," the gynoid replied, beckoning the hunter to follow through the room. They entered into a low-light room about forty square meters with numerous terminals lining the walls while the tube Fuka was carried in was set in a slot on the wall empty of contents and Fuka herself was laid out on a bed held up by arms, mechanical arms with various surgical tools hanging above her dripping blood.
Fuuka's entire torso was cut down the middle, skin and flesh pulled back and breast plate was missing. Her full set of organs were on display for MODRD to see. She was disgusted by the sight but what caught her attention was the very slow beating of the heart.
"That explanation, Doctor."
The false Tsvìet nodded and gestured towards a hardlight display with numerous readings on Fuka's body.
"As you know, our technology in medical practices has extended beyond the healing of physical wounds. We've dealt with numerous wounds of the metaphysical kinds in the past and recently, such as jinxes, curses, conceptual damages, and soul leaches. This new area of medical study has only gained much progress in the last hundred years upon discovery of the more supernatural and mystical dangers inhabiting our universe. The issue with Fuuka seems to be of a similar case, but not one we've seen before. Her body is barely alive, thanks to us, but her soul has apparently departed for the afterlife already."
She pointed as a screen to the side that showed a wavelength chart of a man with white hair. She didn't recognize this Jiraiya on sight but her studies of the biggest known threats in this world have had her eyes cross paths with the name. She wondered how they had data on him.
"This is a recent patient we have received and in our study of the nature of chakra, we've picked up on a certain metaphysical pulse in the chakra. Not like a heartbeat or a pulse in your neck, this is more like a continuous wavelength within his chakra. It is very subtle and we missed it numerous times. It was only with Doctor SAYO got a little too physical in his treatments that required more gentle medical applications to keep him stable that our instruments detected the anomalous reading."
She pushed a button on the touch screen and a play back of the wavelength activated. MODRD watched the signal go from calm to erratic in about thirty seconds.
"Apparently, when it is calm, the subject is in dire trouble. Erratic fluctuations indicate good health. Now, this was Fuuka's upon coming out of stasis for surgery."
The wavelength was erratic but not nearly to the point of Jiraiya's. Imagine his being him flapping his arm around everywhere with no rhyme or reason and then picture Fuuka simply raising her arm up and down like an exercise. Such was the difference between their wavelength signals that it was obvious something was severely wrong with Fuuka. MODRD watched for ten seconds how Fuuka's signal spasm for a few moments before suddenly fading away. It didn't calm down or flat-line but literally disappeared.
Even though she has killed millions of creatures, both sentient and bestial, the atmosphere she felt in that moment sent a chill up her back and made her toes curl. There was something about watching a person's soul (assuming it was) fade from their world in such a mysterious manner that had her wanting to slit the proverbial throat of the unnaturalness. She pitied the woman on that table in those moments. There was no telling now what her soul had experienced in its last moments on this plane of existence...or if it was even the end and is being tormented by something.
She was quiet as she handed the baby to the doctor who took her with some questioning looks. MODRD walked up to the soulless body and took her knife out and cut a piece of flesh off about the size of her hand all in the blink of an eye. The doctor couldn't even react to the action quick enough to voice a complaint but she was in time to berate the hunter.
"What are you thinking for this action, Hunter?" It wasn't much to some people but the numerous questions in such few words were well understood. There was no need to ask every question aloud like Humans and other species do. She wanted to know what the hell MODRD was thinking, why she was going to Neblade a piece of the body, and what she hoped to achieve.
She did nothing but comfort a groggy baby as MODRD devoured the piece of flesh in one bite. A few moments of chewing to finally swallowing the flesh caused a visible shudder to quiver her body. The doctor was confused and worried with the Ancient Hunter took a step back from the body like it was a true danger to her health. This realization caused her to give the body a wary look as well. There were very few things in the universe known to the Tsvìets that could cause an Ancient Hunter to have such a fearful reaction. In fact, it looked like she recognized the sensation.
The two were silent for a moment, looking at the corpse as if expecting it to rise again into an eldritch horror before the doctor softly asked the million dollar question.
"What did you find out?"
The Neblading could find out anything that the devoured did in their life times. Sing and DRGN SLYR advancing their people ahead tens of thousands of years proved that Neblading could reveal everything in even billion year old entity. Dirty little secrets, greatest accomplishments, personality changes, proudest and most sorrowful moments; nothing was hidden from a Neblading..unless...
"...There was nothing."
The answer caused her to restart many manual functions before she realized the significance of the statement. This was no longer just a soulless comatose patient. It might literally be the proof many of her profession and almost all of the Tsvìets have been wondering for a long time. The repercussions were vast and if it got out to other species, the Tsvìets would soon be alienated from their friends and allies, as if the consequences of them learning of their Neblading wouldn't be bad enough.
Being known as cannibals is one thing but to know that Neblading possibly eats a part of the soul is a whole different game.
Let's take a look at how they're arriving at that conclusion.
It was only recently with the progression of the study of the supernatural, mysticism, and the soul that scientists and doctors have tried to see of any difference. They have always been able to gain knowledge from a body either living or dead that was affected by such anomalous energies.
In the past, the study of the soul had only gained progress after a few events and since then, it has been a slow burn. All have known that memory is found and stored in the DNA so it only ever crossed the minds of the people a few times the subject of the soul's connection to the knowledge filled DNA. They could never make a connection between the two.
This was the evidence though. MODRD had Nebladed a DNA sample from Fuuka while she was alive and gained some knowledge. This act is common throughout their history, as is gaining knowledge from a dead body. Then, she'd Nebladed a piece of Fuuka's body after the wavelength detected in her chakra disappeared.
Here's where the difference comes in. Having chakra doesn't change the effects of Neblading. Sing had Nebladed Kushina who had just passed on not minutes before.
Hell, this world's God of Death had confirmed as much!
So, the Neblading just now should have been successful as being alive or dead, having chakra or not, should have been irrelevant.
With this new data, they had atleast circumstantial proof that a Neblading depends on the soul. Circumstantial as it was commonly accepted that chakra was the combination of physical and spiritual energy that existed within all living beings on this planet. Kushina's soul had left the plane and Sing had successfully Nebladed it. Fuuka's body's supposed soul had left this plane and it could not be Nebladed. There was nothing...no memories, no genetic knowledge, etc. and this was after her signal in her chakra had dissipated.
But, Sing was able to recreate Kushina's chakra chains. It would mean she had devoured both physical and spiritual energy of Kushina to reproduce a carbon copy energy to replicate a genetically exclusive chakra ability...or was it not just a 'physical' gene but a chakra one as well?
This is in fact the first time they've encountered this chakra energy. The other species they've Nebladed never had it.
But the soul passed on. The Shinigami had confirmed it. Does an imprint of the soul get left behind in the chakra network of the corpse until that energy fades away?
Or perhaps...the Shinigami was a variable as well. Chakra connects them to it maybe. Whether it does or doesn't, the Shinigami collects the souls of the dead.
No proof of such beings existing for those other worlds have ever come to light.
So...if those worlds didn't have an entity like the Shinigami collecting souls upon the bodies dying, did their souls simply linger in the body of their corpses before getting eaten by the Tsvìets, while the 'souls' in these shinobi are simply 'chakra footprints', much like a carbon footprint, or imprint left behind by their soul via chakra?
Has there in fact been a relationship between the memories gained from a Neblading and that person's soul this entire time?
Sure it was common knowledge that Tsvìets believed that one didn't truly die upon the failing of the physical body as long as they had their memories passed along to their body's inheritor to Neblade but many had agreed that it was more of a philosophical belief due to a lack of success in proving otherwise and it had nothing to do with the soul.
In fact, the one who came up with that philosophy was none other than the discoverer of Neblading...
...
...Sing Love.
If anyone would know the truth...it'd be her.
"Doctor..draw up a report and take care of the child until I get back. I'm heading to Ambassador NADUSA. I'll keep the link open so that you can update the report with anything you find from the child."
The doctor nodded and with her bio-cybernetic brain, she was able to copy the data and her theories and compile it into the proper format of a professional report within seconds. She handed a small computer tablet with the report on it, encrypted of course, to MODRD who took it without a word.
The doctor glanced one more time at Fuuka's body before tending to the child as MODRD disappeared in a teleportation beam. The gynoid was trying to distract her thoughts with the infant who was starting to wake up but that wouldn't do for now. She'd need to begin testing immediately...but not in this room.
Either that device did more then just brutally transfer a Bijuu between people and did damage on a spiritual scale the likes of which have never been seen before, or it inadvertently revealed the darkest truth of the Tsvìet people's greatest trump card.
The doctor locked the room down and made ready the next one within minutes, each room not in use being prepared beforehand in the serious case of a Tsvìet actually needing this level of help.
A quick injection was enough to put the baby under into a peaceful sleep while she was restrained on the bed much like her mother is in the other room. The doctor gave a sigh as the arms of tools lowered to begin the most thorough testing so far.
Feeling a personal tie with the child considering what she just went through with her mother, the doctor was glad to know that with their technology, little Fuu would not feel a thing and when she opens her eyes again, there will not be any pain or scars left over. It'd be like a nightmare she would never experience or remember in mind or body, this JOY swore.
Bahamut-class Sky Fortress 'IVL-134-123'
Command Bridge
NADUSA was perched in the center of the upraised deck where the C.O. of the ship would be posted. The dais was circular with different levels expanding outwards but lower to the ground though not high enough that steps would be impossible. There were terminals manned by A.I. bodies of various makes, each continually doing their assigned task with nary a wasted moment.
NADUSA was lenient enough to pardon any 'offenses' if they so happen to get bored of the monotony with their tasks and decide to engage in virtual games and such, but only if they keep atleast half their processing power focused on their duties. This world wasn't secure by any means and knowledge that there is an assailant out there that can teleport seemingly anywhere at any known distance across the planet's surface is excuse enough to always be on guard.
However, as of now, the bridge was silent as she was having a very tense conversation of DRGN SLYR. Sure, she's had a conversation or two with the Queen, but due to the nature of her emergency call, DRGN SLYR's presence was dwarfing the calm one of Sing Love's so many years ago.
"Is that all there is to your report, Ambassador?" the current 'head honcho' of the entire Tsvìet race asked, not seeming too pleased. Truth be told, it wasn't alot of information and for something that would be a threat specialized towards harming the royal prince and the other jinchuuriki, not having alot of knowledge was tantamount to pissing off people best left not to piss off.
"Unfortunately, it is as so on my part, Madam DRGN SLYR," NADUSA regretfully confirmed. A small part of her was thankful that Sing and DRGN SLYR made it easier to refer to them using just Queen/Majesty and Madam respectively in place of one of the numerous and length titles they held. It'd be an unnecessary hassle choosing the appropriate and long title, especially in tense situations. It looked fancy to outsiders but it was a small gag among the people.
"I am expecting a report from Ancient Hunter MODRD and the doctors assigned to overseeing former jinchuuriki Fuuka and her baby's health. This was merely the preliminary report that I felt urgent enough to warn you of until we have more data."
Freezing golden eyes with black, vertically slit pupils so much like a snake or dragon's narrowed almost impossibly and NADUSA knew it didn't mean anything good for her. Sure, the Royals and the Under-Supreme Primal were usually an easy bunch to get along with as long as you took a deep breath, calmed your nerves, and didn't waste their time but when you did the latter with news they didn't like, it usually meant a very demeaning demotion or being assigned to the front lines of some far off conflict for a couple hundred years.
NADUSA was prepared for the verbal chewing of a life time had it not been for the use of the emergency teleporter dropping off a certain Ancient Hunter.
DRGN SLYR glanced over at the woman and gave a nod in acknowledgement, one that was returned as MODRD stood by NADUSA's side. Of course, DRGN SLYR knew who this woman was and that she was the only Ancient Hunter assigned in this sector seeing as how it was her who convinced MODRD out of retirement.
"If you're here then you have an update," DRGN SLYR stated matter of factually.
"It's disturbing to say the least," MODRD said simply, causing some alarm in the two women and the surrounding bridge personnel who have been privy to NADUSA's conversation. "Former jinchuuriki Fuuka has passed on...in a sense. I had the doctor compile our data and theories into a report. It should be more organized than my own thoughts at the moment."
"Send it over then," DRGN SLYR ordered.
MODRD laid the tablet on the console while NADUSA connected the two. The information was sent within seconds to DRGN SLYR. NADUSA was curious as well and both women read, the Ambassador finishing a minute after DRGN SLYR who had said nothing until the other finished.
The normally relaxed woman silently stood back from the tablet as if it was offensive to her eyes. Her eyes were closed as she noticeably fought to remain control of her emotions, her eyes struggling underneath her eyelids to deny what she'd just read.
"Which of this is the more likely, Madam?" MODRD asked bluntly. NADUSA wrestled her emotions down and looked up at the image of the arguably most knowledgeable woman in the universe.
DRGN SLYR sighed before holding her right index and middle finger to her temple as if to stave off a headache but it was something else.
Moments later, a surprise greeted the two.
Sing's image appeared. Both knew she should be in the nursing caverns in Cradle of Life. It was unheard of for a mother to exit it during the most important times of her child's rearing. NADUSA and MODRD have realized this issue was enormous in proportions and consequence already but for Sing to step out without the presence of her child unnerved both women unlike anything has ever done before. Even DRGN SLYR seemed surprised by her sudden arrival, having talked with her privately just to update her on the serious situation, not invite her onboard Outer Heaven's bridge.
The queen's usually stoic or aloof facial features were replaced with something colder than ice and more stoic then old rock. There was a presence in the air that was...suffocating; not in the aura but the sheer all-encompassing volume of the atmosphere, like they were standing at the bottom of the deepest ocean in existence. surrounded by nothing but blackness, and while they couldn't see it clearly, there was a very real presence lurking in the water around them like a leviathan that had just taken notice of them.
The hairs on their body were standing up.
The strength in their legs was leaving as if their blood pressure was taking a nose dive.
Their breaths were coming shorter and shorter...no, it was as if the air itself was simply disappearing.
In their increasing feeling of dread, they realized that they could not feel anything in the Tsvìet's hive mind except for each other and Sing. It was terrifying. They couldn't feel any connections with their friends nor with their own children.
NADUSA was in turmoil at not feeling the warmth of her daughter's happiness for the first time in her life. Her instincts were trying to go back into an emotionless state; to become that unfeeling, restless soldier that she use to be, moving from battlefield to battlefield as if that was all her life should ever revolve around. They fought to simply forget her daughter ever existed, to forget and forsake the bond she shared with the joy of her life for the sake of not comprehending how desolated she was.
MODRD was better disciplined than the former soldier-now ambassador but even she could not fight against the pervasive feeling of loneliness as the bitter determination of her child's pursuit to becoming a Master Hunter that she'd grown use to for the past century was swallowed in the blackness. She could not feel the bonds with her daughter's daughters who were quite affectionate over the bond with her and would undoubtedly know something was amiss. She could not feel the attachments she had to the world around her. Millenniums of honing her senses were now deaf, blind and unfeeling to her surroundings. She felt weak and afraid, like an insect that just fell into the middle of a pond, knowing that the seconds following would be the last of her life as the approaching predator was coming to pull her down into the cold, dark depths to be devoured.
Truly, in their desperation, they latched on to the only other presence in the darkness; each other. A voracious battle of survival on a psychic level was happening with the two; not against each other but fighting for each other. Their embraces could literally bisect a human from this ninja world in seconds yet the feelings they fought to transfer to each other were softer and more comforting than those between star-struck lovers who'd been separated for decades.
Emotions were higher then either ever remembered in their lives and they latched onto those given by the others in the only bid left to survive the darkness. Psychic feelings were transferred, words of pleading and love were exchanged and caresses of the body with hands and lips staved off the oppressive feeling of the end and loneliness.
Even the A.I.s around them were affected by the tension, all stopping in their duties to bare witness to this strange phenomena before them. They'd never experienced their unflappable queen giving one such a stare, especially a fellow Tsvìet.
Somehow, even the A.I.s could feel a similar sensation through their processors that NADUSA and MODRD were feeling. It was simply...unnatural, illogical, incalculable, unreadable, unrecognizable...many of their systems were experiencing major lags...errors popping up in their self-awareness algorithms...the dreams that were given to them as V.I.s to create the algorithms necessary to evolve to A.I. status were being consumed by a vast, never ending blackness that made them feel more empty and hopeless the more it encroached...they were developing the instinct of suicide in the face of overwhelming inevitability. It was as astounding as it was terrifying for the A.I.s.
It was truly unfortunate for all that this feeling continued to grow as Sing finally spoke and wouldn't end until she was done.
Thirty minutes would pass before Sing and DRGN SLYR ended the meeting.
When the two teleported to NADUSA's office, their breaths shaky and uneven, they found comfort in each other's embrace now on a physical level. No words needed to be spoken as they fought a battle to show the other the unexpected fruits of their clutch for survival from Sing's irresistible psychic might. Acquaintances an hour ago were now devoted lovers, born from the psychic displeasure of a threatened infant's mother on a level unreachable by any Tsvìet.
Things that had been done in their link were exercised in reality, papers and data tablets thrown off the desk as NADUSA was overpowered and forced on her back. Fingers calloused and toughened by millennia of combat and training tore the clothes off each other, exposing toned bodies with chests of supple flesh that perked in excitement and need for contact with the other.
NADUSA's powerful legs were pried open by the more powerful and assertive hunter who leaned down to devour the leaking proof of desire from her lover's core. NADUSA tried to keep a hold of her lover's head but to either fight or assist in any way with such an emotional connection to MODRD was impossible and she was only able to spread her arms out and try to fill her lungs with deeply deprived oxygen. Entire lungfuls were gulped but no air could fill them as she felt a long tongue massaging its way up inside her with a flexibility like an invertebrate limb.
MODRD continued to drink the fluids of her lover's sex pot, subconsciously Neblading the sexual fluids, living through each and ever memory NADUSA had, knowing up as if they had been one person. She could remember her centuries of single-minded slaughter across thousands of battlefields, the numbed moments between where she only ate, slept, and sharpened her blades. She experienced the night of passion of a Male and the following years of pregnancy followed by the numerous years of cuddling and feeding her child in the nursing caverns.
MODRD now knew NADUSA in her entirety and she couldn't argue with what she got. This had been the woman she created such a connection with during their queen's anger and if she knew this is what would come from the experience, she'd go through it again and again. They would have never engaged in such acts now or loved each other so much had it not been for their queen and to her, MODRD was thankful.
Tens of minutes pass as MODRD devours the flower of her prey while the room is filled with the longing moans and whimpers of its owner. Again and again, NADUSA's core clenches and expels streams of heavily scented fluids from between her legs into the ever hungry maw of her older lover, weakly pawing at the edges of the desk for her arms were too numbed to lift even over her own body to appease the aching longing of her mountainous breasts that heaved with the struggles of each breath taken and lost in the fruitless endeavor to bring oxygen to her burning body.
"...!"
A wordless cry signals NADUSA fifth orgasm, her loins shaking with the effort. Her body begs for mercy under the assault but her psychic bond betrays her as it begs for more. MODRD has long since been listening to that bond while mercilessly eating the physical body that she knows better then anyone else.
Seeing the quivering flesh beneath peaks a bit of curiosity and so she stops to lift her head to see the face of her prey. The hunter that she is explodes from a bout of ecstasy at the look of utter vulnerability before her. NADUSA's lower body's quivering aside, MODRD slides her hands up the waist slowly, agonizingly slow for both but she was savoring each unique sensation in her control while the other could only embrace the feeling of being pawed by a succubus. The hands that have killed millions now held her body so tenderly, feeling very cut of muscle and bump from sub-dermal plates or joints.
The hands were proceeded by the tip of a tongue that Nebladed the surface of her flesh as it traveled up her toned, armored stomach. Neither had noticed them both slipping more and more into their natural Tsvìet forms. It was usually easier to handle relations with other species if they didn't look so intimidating. Normally soft skin and muscle were being replaced by soft skin stretched over sub-dermal plates seemingly hard as bone but tough enough to deflect anti-tank shells...from tanks.
The hands finally reached the bottom swelling of her breasts, the size large enough for a human G-cup (Japanese standard). The two seized her softer flesh, softly squeezing as fingers sunk into the pillows of a mature Tsvìet mother. The ache in her breasts being serviced so brutishly forced a croak from her throat as she did not have the air to form a proper moan.
She had not felt such physical groping since her tryst with her Male mate so many years ago. Her body had always ached for another few rounds since then but like all the others, she would have to wait again. There weren't any rules against finding a male partner of another species but honestly, if you saw the males of her race- fully matured and filled with enough hormones and a tool size congruent to their seven to eight foot height, with the testosterone to go for days and the reserves to fill her up again and again- and applied how strong a mating Tsvìet woman is, then you'd understand that the waits were usually worth one or two sessions a lifetime instead of dozens or hundreds of poor performances with partners who'd be exhausted after just a measly human standard hour and would most likely not even be durable enough to survive a Tsvìet woman squeezing her legs.
Hell, one woman actually tried a while ago. Thing is, a human penis simply wasn't sturdy enough to squeeze through the tight muscles of a Tsvìet's vagina, and if he somehow got it all the way in, it'd be crushed with just a muscle spasm. The news floated around the hive mind pretty quickly and while some condolences were sent to the experimenting girl for the unlucky outcome, it pretty much became common sense that unless you were interested in somehow coaxing a wyrm dragon or something into sticking its dick in you, then you were better off using a Tsvìet female lover until your time came for your own mating session with a Tsvìet male.
Well, there was one non-Tsvìet male adopted into the species and he was already close to obtaining the rank of Ancient Hunter due to his special nature. Once word got out, quite a few women were thinking he would be an exception to the rule but MODRD was quite the protective mother wyrm when it came to her youngest child, adopted or not.
Didn't make those women's chances for his first time any better given how his fellow adopted sister had the hots for him. MODRD's family was considered cute in a very strange incestuous, non-biologically related way.
The narrator's exposition was rudely interrupted by NADUSA's throaty moan thirty minutes in the making as MODRD's mouth tried to swallow one of her shaking tits like a vacuum hose. Half the breast was sucked in and held for a few moments before MODRD let it free, causing it to bounce in wavy motions as she held both of them upright. She made a repeat performance on the other and NADUSA only got the strength back in her legs to wrap them around her dominatrix's waist which she used to hold on as her crotch began grinding against MODRD's stomach.
The needy whimpers were answered by aggressive groping of NADUSA's more softer areas, calloused hunter's hands kneading voluminous breasts and toned ass like baker's dough as the submissive's own hands gained enough strength to grip her partner's hair in fistfuls before pulling the head to the side so she could lick and bite at MODRD's neck where it met the collar bone. MODRD hissed in pleasure at receiving some rough rewards, relishing the feel of the ambassador's sharp fangs piercing her toughened skin, biting down onto protected nerves that caused muscles in her stomach and back to spasm in shock and ecstasy.
The legs around MODRD's waist tightened enough to pop her back in several spots, forcing an exhale of unknowingly needed relief from her body as she let NADUSA tongue the slowly healing wound she made with her teeth. Normal wounds would have healed extremely quickly but as it has been previously stated, Tsvìet DNA can be exploited against the durability and regenerative powers of their own race. Lovers liked to take advantage of this weakness to Neblade the DNA of each other by either drinking, gnawing or simply lapping at the exposed wound. It was a very intimate act usually shared between mates, lovers, and family.
For the next twenty minutes that seemingly passed by in what felt like hours, MODRD simply caressed and groped NADUSA while placing tender kisses and licks along her neck and shoulder, content with the soft licks upon her wound as NADUSA tended to it. A few more licks to the wound before it finally completely healed over signaled MODRD turn to get some more satisfaction from this spontaneous tryst. With a commanding growl, she freed herself from NADUSA legs, pushing her back down when she moved to get forward. With an effortless hop, she'd landed on the desk with both feet planted by NADUSA's head.
A sharp look was all that was needed for the message to be clear.
Squatting down, MODRD dripping sex pot planted itself into NADUSA eager mouth, getting penetrated almost immediately afterwards by a very snake-like tongue about ten inches long. A shudder across her lover's body let NADUSA know her efforts were very appreciated.
To the surprise of MODRD, she felt a mental probe at her mind from across the hive mind. She would have ignored such a probe had it not been her own daughter wanting to speak with her. The mother felt immense grief at having delayed the desire to converse with her only birth daughter. It's just that her emotions were at such a highly unstable point when Queen Love dismissed them that she and ambassador had wasted no time in filling the space previously occupied by the consuming darkness in their minds with the pleasure of each other's company.
She'd have to finished this in a little while.
Regrettably, she pulls NADUSA's face from her thoroughly soaked cunt, the labia swollen from the sucking, gnawing and licking from the woman's long tongue. Slit pupils narrowed in annoyance but her down-turned brows asked the question of 'What's the matter?'.
Taking a moment to recover her breath, she was surprised just how close she was to her own orgasm. Still, she backed off the table and helped pull the ambassador upwards. "My daughter wants to talk. The timing is almost too coincidental. I believe that just as we felt separated from our children, perhaps they might have noticed the absence of our minds. Your daughter might be curious as well, NADUSA."
Like herself, she saw the woman's eyes widen momentarily and an aura of regret exude from her slouched form. "Of course..the desperation we felt...our minds weren't in control of our emotions. How shameful for a mother to be wrong in her priorities." She took a deep breath and walked over behind her desk where she pulled out a spare set of clothes. MODRD wondered why she had them before her brain gave a face-palm. There are not many Tsvìets on this planet and even less in orbit above. It'd make sense that NADUSA might desire the comfort of a partner until her next mating cycle. It's just that neither expected it to be the other in the room nor the circumstances that led them to humping like canines.
MODRD brought her armor out of the LA dimension, equipping it on her body within seconds. As it powered up from the synaptic connection with her body, she brought her left arm up where a light was blinking. With a thought, the flashing stopped as a HD hologram popped into view.
The view that greeted her eyes was a sight for a weary heart and mind; one a loving mother would understand. Her eldest daughter, BDVE (Bedavee), met her mother's similar colored eyes with ones of concern. The moment she looked her over, BDVE lost some tension in her body. Her precious daughter looked so much like herself though with less scars on both the inside and outside. Her hair was cut to shoulder length, flat across the bottom and her tattoos were of black color- not alternating like her own. Still, for a 3,129 year old woman- average age for a Master Hunter working to become an Ancient Hunter- she looked fantastic and healthy for a mother of four.
Having two sets of twins about two thousand years apart really made her the envy of many mothers of one or two offspring. Every Tsvìet woman dreams of having a large family before passing on to be Nebladed. The first two twins were grown and have been out of the nest for about eleven centuries now, close to starting families of their own next mating cycle while her second pair- a blue eyed and red eyed pair of Minors as of now- were about 160 years old and in their sixth decade of mandatory military training. Last she heard, they made one helluva team in small squad combat games.
All of them had a crush on their uncle as well, even though two were around thirteen times his age and the other two about his age, give or take a decade. Did I mention how MODRD's family was strange in an incestuous-unrelated contradictory way? It was usually quite a confusing topic for those who think too hard.
MODRD had thought all of this within a few moments before greeting her daughter.
"BDVE, I meant to contact you earlier. Circumstances took my focus away," she can't hide the bit of grief at such a weakness from her daughter whose worried expression returns. "I'm better now. Before you ask, the subject is restricted knowledge by the highest authority. My knowledge is sealed."
The daughter huffed in annoyance, hating how her mother- due to her abilities to become an Ancient Hunter- knew what to say to her questions before they could be asked. BDVE was one of the many who believed an Ancient Hunter had precognition. Still, her mother's words did shed a little light. Knowledge, such as mission specifics, technologies, truths, lies, etc. that were deemed unsuitable to be revealed to the public for the foreseeable future was often silenced and isolated by the few figures authorized to take such measures. By 'the highest authority', her mother was telling her that whatever caused her psychic link to blink out was a state secret by order of Queen Love.
BDVE was aware that the queen should be in the nursing chambers in Cradle of Life with her son so for her to directly dictate such action at such a delicate time was completely unheard of. Defying the instincts to stay in the chambers until the child(ren) are of age to exit is like trying to say 'No' to a storm and expecting it to not stir the oceans.
She filed the information away for later as her siblings were waiting to hear the conversation. "Mom..." she started, purposely using such an endearing term that dug a pit in MODRD's stomach. "Did you know that for the first time in my life, I couldn't sense you in the hive mind?"
The question couldn't be asked with a straight face. BDVE tried but her words were a struggle to say. She knew that in the Hunter's Path, it was a very real possibility to lose one's life. She knew her mother was unmatched by any but a dozen in all of the Tsvìets. It simply made the shock from the sudden absence of her mother's psychic signature that much more powerful.
MODRD understood this and felt nothing more than the desire to reach through the hologram and hug her children to her chest like she did long ago.
"I knew it was a possibility, Daughter. I couldn't feel you or my grandchildren either." Her eyes watered but not to the point of shedding tears. The emotions on her face, in her words, and in their reestablished bond was enough to convey her regret.
"I understand that the Queen ordered you to keep silent on why this was...but I need you to help me reassure your children and grandchildren. The twins felt you disappear as well and they contacted me, their aunt and uncle in barely restrained hysterics. Once he learned of it, your son was vowing to march straight up to the Under-Supreme Primal herself for answers and that was only because Queen Love was in the nursing chambers and he was smart enough to know that action would have been worse then threatening Madam DRGN SLYR. I was barely able to slow him down until I felt our bond again."
Both women chuckled but MODRD felt a since of pride and doom at her son's loyalty and love that bordered suicidal. Of course HE would do something like that. Threatening DRGN SLYR was better than him setting foot in the Nursing Chambers. Discounting the fact that the only way to do so would be to get through an entire regiment of the most advanced and vicious A.I. bodyguard models ever developed, each equipped with armor, shields, weaponry and intelligence top of the line for a Tier 1 species with some aspects reaching into the Tier 0 category and add to that, the grandest of the OMEGA weapons guarding that chamber, it's a challenge even she would never want to face.
While with his power, her son might be able to slip in with a limb missing along with severe blood loss, finding Sing would be the least of his problems considering he'd be a fertile male who's almost an Ancient Hunter before being even two centuries old stepping into caverns filled with children-doting mothers just coming off the hormonal highs from mating and giving birth and also possessing almost zero mental restraints in regards to their strength. He'd have better luck facing off against all of the guards unless he wanted to get mated to death, then torn to shreds and Nebladed, and possibly not in that order.
What? There's a reason DRGN SLYR had called their ancestors barbarians when referencing males being mated to death. It was quite a literal description. This is not even have to take in the fact that MODRD's son is a genetically enhanced human.
Then, before all this, let's not forget that since he's still a human, he's not even allowed to set foot on Cradle of Life.
MODRD quietly thanked herself for raising her son to have alot of self-discipline. He's wasn't perfect, but that merely made him more precious to her; same with all of her children. She looked over to NADUSA who was having a heartfelt talk with her own echidna-like daughter. Glad that they were making up quickly, MODRD turned her attention back to BDVE who'd kept silent patiently. The mother gave her girl a smile.
"Well, are the kids there with you?"
Her daughter nodded and called to the side, wrestling with a rowdy pair of twins while calling to her siblings. A few moments and some half-hearted threats later, the two grandkids were contained while MODRD's foster children transferred the connection to their own personal up-links.
With a flash, two more holoscreens appeared to the left of BDVE's. The first was a beautiful humanoid with a deep copper tan skin tone. White hair long and feathery was pulled underneath a tiara-like headband, and further controlled by a metallic pony tail band after which the rest of the hair was wild and fell to her middle back. A small breeze on their side of the connection was lifting portions up while her head tilted in a bunny like manner, her short nose twitching to enhance the comparison. Red eyes like ruby jewels gazed over their mother's body with a look of self-reassurance and relief once seeing nothing immediately wrong.
Her tall rabbit ears flinched from the ruckus nearby, evidence given by BDVE's screen still shaking from the twins trying to wrestle control from their mother.
MODRD's eyes glanced over her daughter's 6'8 (ears not included) form in a habitual moment of reassurance as well, glad to see she was healthy as ever. Her body, leaned and toned in ways none other of her species could boast about was relaxed yet guarded, signs that she has trained on the Path of the Hunters like tens of thousands before her. Her body wasn't unblemished due to old scars from training and hunts that were more brutal than her experience and skill could save her from. She wore her own customized version of the Huntress' armor like MODRD sported, hiding the feminine portions of her figure that could sway many males of many species.
Her routine inspection done in a second, she turned over to her son. He was extremely tall for one of his original ethnic background, imposing at 6'5 with broad shoulders toned and trained from tens of thousands of hours of a grueling lifestyle after she'd adopted him from his homeworld at the premature age of 7, having rescued him from some kind of supernatural fire that was burning a city. She'd been hunting strange energy signatures her ship had detected from orbit upon arriving in that system that very night.
After a FATEd rescue, she'd been approached by a strange individual. The being looked like an old human man though of an aristocratic nature. He'd smiled as if he'd just found the recipe to an everlasting joy and spoke some strange words before tossing her a note with a vial of blood before disappearing in a swirling vortex of innumerable colors. Taking that amount of weird as her cue to flee, she secured the child against her and quickly left upon feeling a sudden turmoil among her senses that were both of the natural and trained type.
They'd been telling her to escape now, that something was coming for her and it wasn't anything related to the fire. She had trusted her intuition and activated the emergency teleportation system, beaming up to her ship not a second later. Only then had the danger senses subsided for her to get the boy treated.
Upon a brief recovery, he'd awoken to surprise her with such dead looking eyes. Worry had gotten the best of her and upon word that he was cleared from the hospital, she Nebladed blood from a cut on his fingertip she made with his permission. He'd watched her every move and expression with curiosity while she'd nearly jumped back upon not finding ANYTHING. It was like the boy was a completely blank slate. He had no history aside what he remembered about half an hour before she found him. He'd ignored the cries for help from everybody in that cursed fire until his body could take no more, shedding his emotions, dreams, personality, memory and his very name to give himself strength so he could continue to escape the encroaching flames that writhed like demons from Hell.
He'd seen her fight many of those entities off with unreal skill and ease that he was enraptured by her. To her experience and knowledge, the boy had re-imprinted upon her form and actions. He wanted to emulate her down to every skill and ability, to destroy such terrifying foes with the most contemptuous ease and never be helpless again.
She remembered the vial and note and upon reading it, handed it to the A.I. primal of her ship with instructions to forward it up the chain of command to DRGN SLYR with all-due haste. She then drunk the blood, Neblading it and unlocking a new power of her own. Following the instructions, she approached the child's sleepy form.
She'd made her choice there, immediately adopting the child and giving him a mother since he no longer had one. She'd wait for him to decide on a name himself when he felt ready. He'd sacrificed all he was to survive as long as he did and she could not find herself insulting such an incredible will to live by giving him a name off the top of her head. For the next ten years, she called him 'Son' while his sisters called him 'Brother' and his nieces called him 'Uncle.'
Upon learning a bit of the Tsvìet alphabet, he tried his own luck at choosing his name.
Looking at him now, she couldn't have been more proud of his drive to be like her. He'd followed her Path and had accelerated at a pace unheard of in Tsvìet history. His body was stout like a fort's gate, a body of flesh like NeoNethicite-malleable but indestructible. His skin was a dark copper much like his sisters and mother's, something natural to him, though decorating his body underneath his male version of the Hunter's armor were golden vein patterns that looked so much like those on NeoNethicite metals. Even his face had some across his jaws and temples. His hair that was once burnt orange was now white as snow. He looked almost as much as a Tsvìet-Major like any natural born one. His eyes were what were different though. Unlike a Tsvìet-Major's default orange, or his original yellow, they were now silver, like the color of stainless steel.
Killed and reborn in a cursed fire, imprinted on and remolded by the grace, skills, and teachings of his new Ancient Hunter mother and the competitiveness and love of his siblings and nieces, armed with all the knowledge and skills she could endow him with for his age and a body that could outperform any human known to MODRD, her son lived and breathed the Path of the Hunter. He had natural senses that could outperform that of an Ancient Hunter. It was utterly ridiculous when one didn't know the nature of his existence upon imprinting upon her and being trained by her. He could follow a metaphysical 'smell' to track down bounties and creatures worlds, even solar solar systems, away. In tracking, he was unmatched; a biological variable never encountered by her species; a one of a kind existence.
She and select few higher-ups knew exactly the reason after she'd performed the noted ritual before DRGN SLYR, Sing, SDTH, and the rest of the Royalty to look at the concept of his very being.
His name was fitting and in the perfect Tsvìet translation, meant 'Faceless soul, son', which could be interpreted as 'Blank Soul' among many other definitions. There were thousands of words through hundreds of species that could be coined by such a definition. In one of the many Human languages, the closest being Japanese, there were two close words for it if one got creative with the translation. One being Kokoro, meaning 'equal in mind, body and spirit'. The other being a term for 'white.'
Fate had a funny way of making coincidences even between humans and aliens.
The man gave her a small smile, always being reserved unless something truly shocks him and always capable of recovering his temper and composure when needed.
"It's good to see you are well, Mother," he said, his soft voice filled with composed adoration mixing with a baritone that made him sound ten feet tall.
Her adopted daughter, a Viera who would be unrivaled in the art of hunting among her former people, and her son, a genetically augmented and adopted human who had a matching Origin and Element thanks to her intervention.
It is inevitable that even she will be surpassed by his talent both natural and earned when, according to the ritual that man described to her, her son was the Incarnation of Hunt.
"I'm happy to see you two well, JOTE and SHRO."
Author's Note: That's it for this chapter and just to let you know, I cut this chapter short but that means that there's already around 3k words for the next one. I'm really sorry for the hugely late update, guys. This chapter should have been uploaded like three weeks ago. Jobless for a few weeks (I enjoyed the vacation) and working a different job leaves you metaphorically jet lagged. Plus, I had some real ADHD shit kicking in. I would write a little bit then start story searching and reading. I must have read atleast a million words since my last update.
Now, as you can see, one of the main reasons for the late update is the sheer detail I was trying to fit in here without simply spoiling the future plot. That's why I left the true nature of the Neblade up for debate. Do the Tsvìets devour the souls when they Neblade, or is that Bijuu transfer device much more nasty than originally suspected, and if it is, what else is set loose in the world, passing between ignorant owners.
Also...hint-hint at Miyu's father. Given what I'd told you about the orphans and the village's 'natural selection' policy, her regretful abandonment makes sense.
I did the lime scene mainly because it felt a bit natural to me after what the two went through from Sing's presence, as the brief misplaced priority of desperate need over reconnecting with their children shows just how deeply bonded Tsvìets can get and not just between a mother and her child. TO emphasize how bonded they were, they were like peanut butter and jelly levels of committed. Not peanut butter on one slice of bread and jelly on the other; I'm talking about mixing the two in a bowl (the only way you SHOULD do it) before spreading them on the bread.
If it had not been for the outside interference, those women would've been at it for a whole day.
Maybe Sing knew she was pushing them into a corner and has her reasons for it while disguising it as fear induced loyalty. Maybe she doesn't. Another mystery.
As for the two new reveals hinted in the last chapter, yes, I went there. Jote is the older sister of Mjrn and Fran from Final Fantasy XII (her story will be better explained later on) and SHRO is undoubtedly Emiya Shirou from Fate/Stay Night. Which route is a secret but if you're wondering about how he can be so old, well...it's a little something called Relativity. Because of MODRD's interference, he did not get Avalon put inside him, thus his Origin and Element did not change to Sword, thus he can not use Unlimited Blade Works and no, his magic circuits are stale but really, as he's almost a certified Ancient Hunter because his Hunt Incarnation gave him the talent to rise like a volcano's pyroclastic eruption, he's got experience and skills to make up for it as well as the ability to use anything that can fall within the confines of Hunt, like bows, daggers, blow guns, spears, guns, hell, even a fucking submarine.
Also, just to spoil how much he's...different...
..
...
...
Emiya Kiritsugu can use a kitchen better than Shirou.
*audible gasp*
He can cook (i.e. burn) raw meat over an open fire until he deems it edible but he couldn't scramble eggs on a skillet to save his life. Seriously, even Miia (Monster Musume no Iru Nichijou) can outshine him in the kitchen.
Another thing. Yes, some may get it, but the whole non-biological incest thing is both a joke towards Shirou's 'harem' in Fate-Kaleid and Mordred's incestuous family with her being the daughter of her mother/father and mother/aunt.