The first two paragraphs below ONLY apply if you read this chapter first.

Yes, FINALLY DONE WITH THE 4 BRANCHING CHAPTERS! This was a lot of work, and I have to admit. This is a fun experiment for myself.

This Author Note will be on all the chapters, because the order DOES NOT matter at all. But do read chapter 24,26 and 27 as well. There are elements of each chapter that will come in chapter 28 or even later, which will be the start of the Bloodshed. So yeah, it took me a while. Uni life is wasting all my energy to even try getting my Fanfiction together, but today I got time! Hurray for me~!

This chapter, what can I say? It shows technology.

Chapter 25 Human Mobility Project

[Unknown Location]

Ugh, I never get used to this way of transport. If you care, you have to be standing on the sidewalk with all the stuff you need. You need to make an appointment, but this is something only Corps members can do. This is obvious considering they're a subdivision of the Corps. Still, they're a lot shadier than we are. I mean my archives are practically untraceable. My name is impossible to be linked to the files. They're a LOT worse. We have to get a paper at the research facility which states all the names of the scientists. These files have been different every fucking day, wait. No, the names are the same, but the person linked to it is different every day. Although it is said the scientists have about seven names, I can confirm there is a small pattern in the naming. They're really named after themselves, but who's who? That's one of the SC's greatest mysteries. I've been called personally to come see the results and test some stuff. Though, I know most of them personally myself. Even if I will refer to them as their fake names unless we're in a private space.

"Hey Hyoudou-shirei!"

"Hi everyone. How's everything going?"

"Oh we're making progress on our main piece, Human Mobility Project!"

"May I ask what Human Mobility Project is?"

"Not before we reach area XF."

"Lead me."

I walked through the special compartments of the facility, from AA to XA to XF. Yeah, the facility is divided in compartments of 26 by 26 as is represented by the Latin alphabet. You get a lot of space. Though this is more a convenient structural thing. Each compartment is about 216 cubic metres. Some compartments are obviously combined for more space. Oh well, I'm still going with it.

Finally reached XF. Now.

"Explain to me, please?"

"Nope, I need to take these clothes off. Shirei."

Oh the researcher Mira is just taking her clothes off. All is well, right? Nope, I popped a boner because she went naked.

"Sorry, for testing purposes we have to go naked to see how our body reacts."

"I'm not going to see a naked guy, right?"

"No, that's one of the main problems. Only you can use one, and that's the prototype you've given us. There are a few drawbacks on your unit. None of us are able to use it. This includes our genetically enhanced experimental units. We've even asked Zed-sama and Akane-sama, they're the only ones who are able to use it. The thing is, they had to go naked as well."

"That's inconvenient. Any other problems since you implied multiple issues?"

"Yeah, your prototype requires Akane-sama to get aroused to be useful. For Zed-sama, he is unable to fly with armaments."

"Is the arousal issue or the nudity issue already taken care of?"

"Both have been taken care of in our current product. Though, we're going to compare nude control against bodysuit control."

"Oh, that's why you're naked. Hmm, so many fine naked women and fine women in bodysuits. I want to see this."

"Good, maybe you can help us with a few smaller issues."

"I would be glad to help."

I put on my prototype X-Wing, I can feel it has been touched by delicate feminine fingers. Fortunately, it hasn't been modified. It feels easy to fly this thing again, I'm doing it without any trouble with my Dress Uniform. I do remember when I fought Kokabiel, I did it with casual clothes. I guess what seems easy for me can be near impossible for them, huh? I might need a little bit of help for this.

"Do you mind if I call someone?"

"Hyoudou-kun, do you want to call me?"

Suddenly, I saw Azazel standing next to me! I was utterly shocked to see him here.

"Oh, Hyoudou-shirei! It seems you've met our lead researcher, he goes by the name Aziz Ansari."

Seriously, Aziz Ansari? I remember him as that comedian. Has he been in Harold and Kumar? That Indian guy?

"So, Aziz. You're the coordinator of this research?"

"Nope. Mira-san is the coordinator and lead researcher. I'm working under her during the Human Mobility Project."

I separated myself and 'Az' from Mira-san.

"Did you tamper the results or did you tamper with their minds?"

"I can't. Mira-san is a kappa. I don't even know what a kappa is."

"Oh, she's a water youkai. Hehe, it seems I have learned something new already. Hahaha, she's almost like that Touhou girl."

"I don't see that much water."

"She's full of it, I'm sure of that."

I looked around the facility and I saw the humidifier and loads of tubes which flows water through it. Yeah, definitely a kappa. One doesn't simply need that much water all the timer.

"Okay, test 301. Prototype Control, 5 female testers nude. Ready? Go!"

I flew sky high without any difficulties, but the female testers weren't as fast as I was. Hmm, that means they're less mobile than I am.

"Ah, that's a problem."

"Indeed, it seems Shirei is way more mobile than our testers. This is a real problem since you're doing it in dress uniform, as opposed to our testers who are absolutely naked and hey! Aziz! Don't look at them. You bloody pervert!"

"Why can't I look and he can!?"

"Because Shirei has already seen us naked and we saw him naked as well. You remember Operation Darkrift, Shirei?"

Ah, Darkrift. Where we had to cosplay. I'll come back to that. I shuddered a bit.

"I think it isn't such a big problem, tester 4 is at about 80% of my mobility. Can I see her files? I mean, ask whether she's comfortable being naked for a long time."

"Hey, number 4? Can I speak to you in private?"

"Fine with me, Mira-san."

Let's see, her files. It says she's hailing from Okinawa and has a tendency to show off her sexy body. Is still single and is a young adult. Slightly older than me, huh. Okay, not important. I can't see anything else that would define what might be why she can fly pretty well compared to others. Her experience with testing this is equal to the other four. So that must be okay. I only know her as Tester 4.

"Shirei! I got it!"

"What is it?"

"I need to whisper it to you."

"Fine with me."

She got closer and whispered it.

"She loves being naked and this is kind of her second home. Also, she likes getting attention from young boys like you."

"I want to test their mental state! I think we've found it. Give us all a mind reading helmet. Though we would need to kick in a brain professor. Darn it."

"Shirei, do you know any of them?"

"Well, to be honest. Nope."

"Well, I know one."

"Aziz-san!? You can fetch us one?"

"Yeah, she's female. So you can get comfortable with her as well. How do I get out of here?"

"Shirei, do you want to know a secret?"

"Give me a bat. I'll do the beating."

"What? BONK!"

There the great Fallen Angel lied unconscious. Well, time to put him away and I had to wait for the time being. Might as well go somewhere else.

"Hey, do you have a DNA scanner?"

"Yeah, what is it?"

"I need to check if there's a familiarity between two guys. Their hair are in each of these bags."

"Ah, that's why you're here for yourself, right?"

"Yeah, so where do I need to go, Mira-san?"

"You need to go towards DN. That's quite away from here. Get the elevator, it'll get you there."

So I entered the elevator and saw the interface. Hmm first sector and second sector. At least it has nice buttons. Pressed DN.

'Requires OF-3 clearance, SR-3 clearance or permission from SR-4 or higher. Permission not acquired, so please present your Identification of Rank'

We're using the standard enlisted ranks and officer ranks from the O division. The SR are the scientist ranks, they're kind of undefined to me. Hmm, I think I've got my epaulette which can be used. Presenting the epaulette towards the scanner.

'OF-9+ detected. Welcome Commander.'

The elevator moved towards DN, but it got me curious. How did Mira get in XF so easily? I heard no checks, ah. Permission of course. She granted permission for herself before she entered the elevator to enter XF. Yeah, that must be it. When I entered DN, I saw no one to meet me. Well, I saw the DNA device. I walked towards it immediately and saw it was not in use. Good, now let me put those two strings of hair together and get a DNA passport for both of them. One hair in tube 1 and the other in tube 2. Let them become my data! I was waiting for a bit, since it was a precise device and a careful experiment. I looked around and I saw a woman who has her breasts shown! OH YEAH!

"Kyah! I thought I told Mira-san nobody should disturb me! Oh Shirei-sama! I'm sorry for this shameful display!"

"What? Shameful? Ah. You have a fine body."

"YOU SAW IT!? You know I'm shy about showing my body to men! You bastard, Shirei!"

The woman jumped me while she was practically in only her panties and her lab coat. Yes, her breasts were visible and they're magnificent. Well, we tend to hire the beautiful and they happen to be the best as well. Also, this is the play we do in the morning just for fun.

"Do you like to work almost naked here?"

"Actually, I normally prefer to work naked. Though only near the DNA device I'll work with the appropriate protection, on my naked body~. Like the stuff you're wearing now, it seems you know how this works."

"Of course, I've done this before. Though I have to rely on you for the analysis, Seri."

"Do you mind if I do this naked?"

"We've seen each other naked enough times, do you want me to strip as well for your perverted satisfaction?"

"I would love to see you naked again, but you've got other important things to attend as well, right?"

"Yes, I do."

"Then it's better to keep your clothes on. It doesn't seem like you can go naked in a few seconds and get dressed in a few seconds as well."

"It's not the easiest set of clothes to wear indeed. Though I do need to wear it, otherwise I can't access everywhere without the escort of a scientist or a properly ranked officer. This would limit my freedom to do other stuff if I had to. A great example is this."

"Now, we will commence the analysis! Give me some time. I'll call you through the intercom if the results are in."

"Thanks, Seri."

"Kyaah, Shirei. Just call me Ayumi-san. It's embarrassing if you call me by my first name."

"But that's no fun after we did that really embarrassing thing at Okinawa."

"Fine, Shirei. I guess you're right in that."

If you're talking about that really embarrassing thing. I'll flashback it. Those were the times I was just Honorary Commander, so I was a tad younger. I can remember it as yesterday. It was a pleasant but it wasn't just great. It had some really terrible moments. Still I can remember it very well. Darkrift.

[Okinawa Station, 2 years ago]

We just got off Okinawa Station and we could hear the problems already. You could hear the women scream in utter panic. I approached one of them, who ran away from the city. I was sent for Darkrift, whatever that may be.

"Hey, what's going on!?"

"There's a perverted monster who disintegrates all the clothes of many women!"

"Just women? Are there any men affected?"

"We don't know! It was a Ladies' Summer Week in Okinawa! That perverted monster just took it away from us! I think the monster is avoiding men because they're fashionable and kind of weird?"

Then suddenly she looked pale and started screaming.

"KYAAAH! BEHIND YOU, SIR!"

It was too late, my clothes weren't disintegrated! They just teleported a few metres behind the monster! Ugh, I'm naked. Great. So this monster is not just sexist, huh. It will also take beautiful men. Well, it seems bullets won't solve this problem. I better keep my Glock17 away from me. I put it into my bag and hid it for now. I walked towards my clothes and it teleported a few metres away from me again. So I can catch it unless I defeat it? Great. I looked around the city to find some info, naked. Well, I found a towel to cover my genitals, so that was slightly better. Now I should help people now and investigate what's going on.

Then I was approached by two nude researchers. One who was definitely a Human and the other was likely a youkai of the water alignment. So I think she's a Kappa. They've both got mighty fine bodies, which shot my penis to the skies.

"Kyah! What is that!?"

"Can we research it!?"

"Hey, you can research my genitals AFTER we've solved this!"

"Fine, my name is Ayumi Seri and she's Hayakawa Mira. We're two researchers if you can see us."

"My name is Hyoudou Issei and I've been sent to investigate what's going on with this perverted monster."

"Well, it was a failed experiment done by me and Mira. We've been fired by the men up in the facility who know less and make less progress. We've taken revenge by sabotage."

"I guess your pay checks were bad as well?"

"Oh, what do you know about pay checks? You're not even 18! You should be at school!"

"I'm making about 40 million yen a year. Most of it goes to sustainment of my bases and my house. So yeah, I think I can keep 2 million a year. It's kind of hard to last with it. So yeah. Anyways, can we get a change of clothes?"

"Yeah, at the cosplay store."

"Why does Okinawa has a cosplay store right here?"

"I don't know, but at least you can say: 'Those weird Okinawans!'"

"Why me?"

"You're definitely not from Okinawa, Issei-kun. Your accent is more like from Tokyo or Nagano."

"I guess my voice got my cover blown, but let's get dressed!"

We entered the cosplay store, but there was one big problem. The only cosplay which I can wear is an Akechi Mitsuhide cosplay. Of course, initially this doesn't seem like a problem, but I took a dozen minutes to find it. The two ladies found a cosplay in a few seconds. Even though they kind of look ridiculous, they could even switch clothes while I was searching for one. I wasn't even searching for how it looks like, but in the end I would look pretty darn good. This must work. We've got clothes on, though it took me longer than expected with the stares of a few women at my naked body. I must go on.

I can understand why I must do this alone, damn. Most of the SC aren't exactly proud of their enhanced body. We've done experiments to many of our soldiers in an attempt to improve them. The results were there, but the damage was done on their body permanently. They were mostly war scars, but still their bodies weren't clean. I don't mind war scars, so I just went on. Also, I've got fast healing from the two, so that may be a cause as well.

We moved on towards the Centre to find the perverted monster. It smelled us immediately, then look at us and got slightly confused. Yeah, Seri and Mira were BOTH wearing bikini armour. I guess they only wanted to cover their embarrassing parts. I've got no clue why they did as they did. I mean, they get all the attention from all the onlookers. I guess we had to find that perverted monster and bring it down.

It seems we've already found it. I thought it was kind of hard to find, since Okinawa is rather large to walk around. Somehow I found it immediately. Though I had to ask the scientist girls what it can and can't take.

"So can I shoot it to bits or is there any way to destroy it?"

"It can take pistol bullets, but I'm not sure if it can take explosions and such."

"Oh. Then we need to bring explosives."

I didn't know I'd have to call for a Rocket Launcher. I just talked to HQ and their reaction was unlike usual.

"You're not allowed to use the Rocket Launcher."

"Why not?"

"If you want to use explosives, you better send the artillery."

"Uh, wait."

I approached the girls again.

"Is bringing the artillery any good?"

"You mean helicopters, fighters and tanks? I don't recommend it."

"I know, that's why I'm asking. Do you two accept if I bring the artillery to Okinawa?"

"No."

Wait a second, I'd get anything with ease. Why don't I get the Rocket Launcher!?

"Hey HQ!? Why don't I get to use the Rocket Launcher!?"

"You're too young? Obviously, you need 12 years of experience or become a terrorist to be eligible to use."

"Fuck you too. You're not HQ. What is my coded ID?"

"77655483, sir."

"You're wrong. I've got a really simple one. You've infiltrated my calls."

I just turned the mobile off. Then went to a phone booth to call the JSDF.

"JSDF call centre, what is your problem?"

"Honoka Ichiban Sanban identification.(HI-3)"

"Understood, Commander. What do you want?"

"Request the JSDAF to give me a Rocket Launcher."

"Sorry, I can't give you that. You need to call the JSDAF directly."

Ringing through.

"This is the JSDAF sub-call centre, what can I do for you?"

"Honoka Ichiban-"

"Understood, Commander. We've heard from Yui at the Main Cell Centre already. I'm notified. You're requesting a Rocket Launcher? You need to speak with one of our Lieutenants. Kihaya-san, would you please talk to him?"

"Yes, Aki-chan. Hello, you're speaking with Lieutenant Kihaya. You're requesting for a Rocket Launcher. Where do you want it to be dropped?"

"Phone Booth Irukaze at Okinawa."

"Commander, that will take a 20 minutes. Is that fast enough?"

"I'll say do it. It's worth a shot."

"Understood, it'll be on its way."

So that will be waiting for the Rocket Launcher, though I can check if I can trace where my phone is getting hijacked from. Time to check this at the local police station which is near Irukaze Booth. Time to counter hack calls.

"Trace call 15 minutes ago, proxies huh. Locate through proxies. Finding it. Hmm, it's located at Locust Drive in Seattle. Good. I'll come back on that."

Suddenly, I heard a helicopter drop an item near Irukaze. Now that's perfect. Time to see what it is, it has been 10 minutes. Wait.. This is suspicious. Calling the JSDAF again.

"Hey, did you guys recently brought a package here?"

"No, the Rocket Launcher is on its way."

"Okay."

So this is NOT the Rocket Launcher. What is it then? Suddenly Seri realised what it was.

"Oh, that's my package!"

"REALLY!? It made me paranoid thinking it was a bomb from the enemy or something!"

"It's just a bikini. Should I put it on?"

"Well, since the policewomen are all young and beautiful. Plus me being the only male, does it really matter you go naked in front of me?"

"Well, we've seen you naked for a long time as well. I mean you had a raging boner under that towel, so there's no problem in that."

Damn, she's got a point in that. Also, well fuck. I didn't expect my boner to be that raging.

And she just changed her clothes like nobody's business. Fortunately, I had somewhat proper clothes on this time. So my boner was fortunately not as visible as before, but damn she's got a hot body! Now that I'm flashbacking this, I think this is the moment I somewhat got fascinated with the bodies of women. This operation by itself, all them naked women. Bust sizes varying from sexily cute small to seductive large to no way that can be healthy large. Fortunately, they most varied between sexily cute and seductive. Bliss heaven. I could finally understand why was always near the 18+ doujinshi. He even had that weird look that would scare most women and there I had to comfort them when I accompanied Azazel. Now back to Darkrift.

After Seri was done with changing, another package fell down crashing. This happened 20 minutes after my initial call, so this should be it. I opened the box and saw the Rocket Launcher I needed with only 4 Rockets delivered with it. This is what I have to do with, huh? Fine, I'll trust this Rocket Launcher works fine and the damage will be sufficient.

Time to find that erotic monster. We had to go and walk a lot. This would be no problem if this monster didn't move, but my dear Goddess, he did. We didn't have access to aerial surveillance, satellites require official permission from the owner of them. Even for our own satellites you need at least OF-7 officially. Though I can access our own satellites, that's no problem. Though if I would ask any other country, they will scratch their head and just laugh me off. Because helping people is not their main priority. Gathering blackmail material is much more important for those kind of people.

"Issei-kun! We've found it! Come quickly!"

I ran quickly towards the location they pointed out and I saw it. The monster was at the plaza. Good, time to aim. Equipped with a remote detonator as back-up item if it swallows the rocket. Time to open fire.

"You took my clothes! I'll take your life! Hahahaha!"

The rocket flew and hit the monster! Now I see he just took it and starts to strip all the 'clothing' the rocket has. Detonate now! It exploded and the monster was completely gone. Traceless. That's it for today. I'll better call the Rocket Launcher back.

"Hey, would you please pick up the item I used?"

"Where?"

"Booth Hamakaze."

"We'll get there in a minute with the helicopter."

As they said, they came in a minute. They arrived so fast. They just took the Rocket Launcher and remainder of the ammunition from me. There were no unnecessary comments and that's nice as well. Unfortunately, it was nearly night already so I had to sleep that day in Okinawa. That resulted in a few things. The hotel we visited had a problem of its own. There was only one room available, it was a double room. I can't be arsed and paid for it. The hotel didn't even bat an eye we were with the three of us. I went to bed immediately, as my flight towards the location which I don't care and don't know precisely is damn early. Though I'm definitely sure the two women have done something naughty with each other. How did I know this? All their bodily fluids and all their sexy smell. Yeah, this is definitely it. Back then I was kind of innocent and didn't really care that much. I left and went to the airfield.

"Sir, you smell like a woman."

I didn't know what they meant back then, but now I understood. They've even done it on top of me! How could I be so wasted I missed that!? I guess I shouldn't be that impressed I got that wasted. That day took a toll on me with all that dress-up and stuff. The day after I went to a bunch of kids who thought hacking the military was fun. I took all their data and everything they know and used it against them. That was less funny for them. I think I've driven some to madness with this. I think this action has put me on the radar as a cyberterrorist. I won't show mercy if they attack me through the internet and they will know what will come to them. A lot of suffering. Back to the DNA.

"Shirei~."

"What is it, Ayumi?"

"Hmm, it doesn't feel comfortable if you call me Ayumi, even though I requested you to do it. Anyways, I've found out with the similarities in their DNA, I can believe they're related. Not parent and child, but rather siblings."

"That means Kiba is very likely Mordred. That's really interesting, thanks Seri."

"Shirei Hyoudou! Come back to XF please! We've got her and we need to get a move on! Aziz and her girl named Penelope have woken up!"

"I'll be coming in a minute."

Taking the elevator, this takes a while. Such a large facility, I must stay patient. Finally having arrived in XF again. So three people are standing here, I see Mira and Azazel, but I can't recognise the third one. So that must be Penelope, she had shades of black hair over her mostly brown hair. She looks very good like this. She has a good bust, not majestically big, but not insecurely tiny either. That makes me happy. Until I get bonked by Mira and Penelope.

"Shirei, hey! Get back to work!"

"Uh shit, I know. Check our mental states, please."

"Yes, Hyoudou-kun."

"Fine, testing mental states of Shirei, tester 4 and the other testers."

Well, we were about to commence.

"Why are we not separated from Shirei and Four?"

"Well, we're divided in three categories. I am always with full mobility. Tester 4 has 80% mobility compared to me, while you guys have 50%. This is fine, but it has to be at least near 75% to be honest. If we're only at 50%, we won't be able to evade fast cruiser rockets."

"That's true."

"Now commencing for real!"

We've done our testing and we flew towards the sky. The same results were achieved, so I can be assured no modifications are done from the last time they were used. Now off to check on our mental states. The fundamental differences between mine and the other two groups. It seems my brain activity is different than the others. I think my brain is about 35% active at all times. They have fluctuations between 13% at least to 67% at most. That's interesting. It does explain why they're exhausted after each testing. Though Tester 4 has a rather constant area between 25% to 43%. So stability of brain activity might be a factor. I can study brains as well. Penelope told us, the images in my mind were impossible to decode. The others were only thinking about propelling their jetpacks. So that might also be a difference. I don't really think about flying, I just fly. I just feel like I believe I can fly. I don't care about the direction, so my focus is better? Hmm, not sure.

"Can you try to limit the other testers to a set brain activity percentage and test after a few hours again?"

"Understood. Azazel-sama!"

"Penemue, I told you my name is Aziz Ansari!"

"Don't give me a stupid name like Penelope. It's too cute for me. My name is Penemue."

I pretend I didn't hear that exchange of words. As I saw the clock, it was already kind of late. My god, I didn't expect time to fly by here. That's good, but I need to go to other projects as well. Well, mostly we try to invent something, but that isn't really useful. I mean, there's a reason many of the Grigori work here or have knowledge of this existence. They don't know where they are, but neither do I. I think most Leaders are already SR-5 at least. How do I see that? Well, what I do know is this. The scientists without any markings, not even an empty epaulette, are the SR-T for obvious reasons. That's kind of the same for our trainees. I remember even being a trainee and I got combat gear and I had no epaulette. That was a small shame. Then stuff gets weird, SR-1 is represented by the military arrow like a Private. SR-2 is represented by the Crescent Moon. SR-3 has the 3 Suns as we call them. SR-4, heck I don't know. Mira claims she's SR-7, which has the Rising Sun on her epaulette. Man, they've got more unique ranks as scientists! I don't even know about their titles, but I know Azazel is SR-6. His epaulette is the Black-Winged Angel. I'm not even sure if they're uniforms or just custom made. This is mostly due to the fact I've only seen them and nobody else with those ranks.

After eating dinner with everyone except Penemue and Mira who were trying to make a forced fixed brain activity for a few people. I was thinking about the Holy Sword Project, so why was Kiba so special? I mean Mordred, why were they able to fetch Mordred, but not Arthur? I guess there will always be some assholes who think projects for Church are always good, deaths caused by it are justified by the goal. Does it? It doesn't matter, right? I think I need to call Loki to ask how he found Mordred's dossier.

"Yo, Loki."

"Yo, Hyoudou-kun. What is it?"

"How did you find Mordred's dossier?"

"Well, I was bored when I was near that church. Or facility, I think. So I went to look for some paper, then I found the dossiers of all the killed children during that project. If you want them, I can give you all of them."

"Please do so."

"Though I expect a payment."

"Whaaat?" I frowned at him. Bloody businessman.

"I want to have sex with that Kappa who just walked past behind you. I've seen her before, and I want to date her and go beyond that."

How he knows Mira is a mystery, but a video call does make sure he can see a lot. I called Mira and then the conversation changed a lot.

"Who are you then?"

"Have you heard of a guy who named himself Lordï Björgen?"

"Wait, that voice! Oh, so you were him? That helmet really makes you look ridiculous."

He just took his helmet off without even saying 'You insolent human, you have no rule over me!'.

"Oh, you're that handsome guy from Okinawa before that happened. You made me interested during that meeting. Where do you want to meet up?"

"Fukuoka, so that Hyoudou here won't see us do perverted stuff."

"HEY! I've seen enough of it to already expect what you're going to do and your detailed explanation was also good enough!"

"Finesies. Tomorrow afternoon we'll meet there."

"Hurray!"

After Mira left, he talked to me again.

"The files have been delivered at the War Room of your house. You can check them if you're back home."

"Thanks, Loki."

Oh, right. The testing recommences. Testers have been set at a constant rate between 10% to 30%, but this is a constant value. Though I'm also given one, this one ups my brain activity to 45%. I better hope this will be alright.

"Commencing test, Shirei 45%, other testers being constant values between 10% to 30%. Begin!"

I suddenly flew a lot faster, but my head! That wasn't ideal. It seems I wasn't the only with those issues. At least my brain is just tingling. I can see the ones who have programmed at least 20% have a severe headache, but the one with 10% has an ideal performance. Good, that makes this a lot easier.

"So testing, Shirei? Your performance have improved by 35%, though you have reported a small headache immediately after ignition. The other testers except 10% and 15% have reported headaches as well. As for your performances, 10% has about 70% original Shirei performance. 15% has about 74% of Shirei's original performance. The others can't be reported as they couldn't test long enough to get a speed measurement. Though, I can assume with higher constant brain activity the performance becomes a lot better."

"Yes, but the degree of the headache will severely increase."

"So, what do we do?"

"We use them, since the 10% and 15% give in my opinion a quite sufficient performance as well. We just need to train people to reach the 20%."

"We can also test if other men can use the X-Wing."

Test has been setup again.

"5 males, brain activity lowered to a constant of 7.5%."

"Isn't that a little bit sexist?" Asked Penelope.

Me and Mira shook our heads. I explained while Mira collected data.

"It would sexist if we did this on first approach, but we know the only man who can use the X-Wing properly is me. That's just for the prototype, which is impossible to handle for anyone else. So I even doubt I can wield the 'production' version myself."

"Oh, so you're testing it at a lower brain constant to see if men are completely hopeless or not."

"Exactly."

As I feared, the results were disastrous. The speeds were below 40% of mine and the control is something I even don't want to accept myself. Below 20%. Dear me, that's downright terrible. Even for a bad performance, that's too terrible to oversee. I guess guys won't be doing the mobility units.

"So, if guys can't do the flying or cruising themselves. How are we going to solve that?"

"By giving them improved gear. We've further improved the aramid weaving by using a triangular raster on a nanometre scale. The drawback of this advanced armour is the fact the weight has increased with 45% for a full suit compared to the square weaving on micrometre scale. The other positive thing is it can be used under tuxedos or your average clothes. Though this was possible for the microscale, this is even further enhanced for the nanoscale."

"Perfect, can we mass produce it for a military force like ours?"

"We would need 4 square metres a person, for the SC this would require at least 6 square hectometres. That's only the elite forces, for all I think you need to be as close as quadruple of that."

"Still, is it possible?"

"For our facility to make microscale, it took about a few minutes a square metre for each machine to make it. For the nanoscale, it will be more like 10 minutes for each machine to create a square metre."

"That's fast enough. I'll notify everyone on the field about this development. It will greatly enhance our safety through these cases."

I was poked by Penelope.

"But can it stop magic?"

"That's something else. We found out later the microscale can't stop the 7.62 Sniper that well. It can stop the first shot, but as the fibre has been damaged it will be reduced in strength. Then if a second bullet fires through, it can penetrate. This is not a sure factor, but it can go wrong fast."

"But what about the nanofiber?"

"I'll test it for you. Get the L115 on the fourth shelf. Give me the nanoscale aramid suit, please"

"Here you go."

I changed in front of Penelope and Seri who was notified about me going to the Aramid Project and is heading it now.

I stood at a distance of 25 metres. She aimed at anywhere, though.

"Don't aim at my head, I have nothing to cover it yet."

"Fine, I'll aim at your left upper leg."

"Okay, understood."

She opened fire, I flew a few metres backwards due to the sheer power of the L115. Though I wasn't wounded at all. The bullet didn't touch my skin!

"See? It's alright. The bullet doesn't penetrate me, so I'll be fine regarding anti-personnel weapons."

"Okay, that's nice. Do you guys still use ceramic blocks to stop the bullets? I don't think only the soft material of the fibre can stop such a bullet."

"We don't use anything else. The ceramic support was indeed a great addition with the microfiber, but since this is kind of hard already it can stop those nasty high speed bullets with no real issue. The nanofiber replaces the Kevlar and ceramic plate combo in one piece of equipment. So the weight gain of 45% is just compared with the microfiber only. It is a more mobile material than the plates on each part. It will be less of a mobile nuisance. So this is indeed better."

"Okay, but what about magic?"

"Well, then we need to move to a different section. Because this is harder to research than ballistics for a few reasons."

"State them, please."

"For starters, we all use ballistic weapons. We can enchant bullets with light or darkness. Of course, this research is the most advanced of all. This is the reason we can fight many Devils or Angels without too much trouble. Second, that's the only knowledge we've got about magic that's extensive. We don't know how light spears or balls of death work in an understandable way so we can tweak with it and use it to our advantage."

"What are you trying to research then?"

"I think we know even less than Grigori about some of the types of magic. For example, Norse magic is a strong example of this. We don't know anything about it except the myths which are romanced versions of everything. For example, we do know understand English Old Style magic, though we can't apply it for any use for us. It's really crap compared to the way we fight. It already starts with one, thy weapon must be thy staff. Yeah, that would reduce our strength significantly. For example, we've tried to find something about Tech magic. It seems too underdeveloped for us to be able to use it. It seems the institutes are researching it all themselves."

"So anything about us or something else?"

"Ah, you guys. Our research about Biblical Magic isn't faring that well. We can only extract light and darkness from it. We can't be magicians like that. Though, I think you should be at Magica for Magical Researches. For us, MR is not that important unless it affects us severely. Like brain control, we've tried to find a way to disturb it. It seems to have effect, but we've got one problem. The wielder is also affected by the pulse."

"What do you mean with affected?"

"The user will also receive a sharp headache, though it is less severe as the one who was controlling its brain."

"How does it know it is being controlled by an external force?"

I showed her a special thing which can track magic influx.

"Encase this section with magic or something."

"Okay."

I'm connecting my device to a computer to show the measurements.

"There it is, exactly when you started to use magic it started to measure."

"Then would it give an immediate sharp headache?"

"No, it will give a pulse at a constant rate. The headache is mostly afterwards after being used properly. The headache has been reported to be rather painful."

"It requires some improvement, right? Maybe I can work on it to improve it, to think it doesn't need power to resist brain control, but rather a simple pulse. Impressive what humanity can do."

"If they don't go yolo and swag stuff, we can do a lot."

She laughed at me with a gentle smile, the smile reminds me of Sona. It isn't important to mention this, but it was a nice thing to see for me. Now moving on towards. I have no idea. What else do I need to do? I mean everything I have to attend has been taken care of. The X-Wing project has given results only women can wear it if we can provide a way to keep brain activities at a constant rate, that's acceptable. The Aramid Project has been improved a bit more being able to stop an L115 bullet. Of course you can say, that can be even better! But there's a limit on how much you can mutilate yourselves. If the bullet gets absorbed, it will act more like a big cannonball. This can still result in disastrous damage, I felt that force on my leg quite well. It won't shoot our legs of, since we're well-built. Though, it seems we can't get much better than that in terms of the Aramid Project.

Suddenly, when I attempted to leave the lab.

"Shirei! Loki wants to speak to you!"

"What? Him calling me? Now that's odd."

"Hey again."

"Hello. What is it?"

"You get straight to the point. There's another survivor of the Holy Sword Project. At least, she has not been reported as killed by the researchers."

"Can we find her?"

"I don't know."

"Then we can't search for her that extensively, because we need to keep our soldiers safe who are making a ruckus all around the world to the Commons Loyalists."

"So you will only keep it in mind?"

"I can only do that. Let's hope someone not malicious finds her."

"You better hope that."

"Better ask one of the people who really have nothing to do. Maybe some Church wanderers."

"Hehe, I know who you're talking about. Those guys are the right people to do that. I'll send them a notice. Don't worry, they'll likely find her. I'm sure of it."

"Thanks, Loki."

"To think you would say thanks to me twice."

The call was cut off, but then I was poked by Mira.

"How come he speaks like he's a subordinate of yours? I thought Loki doesn't kneel at all."

"I've made Asgard kneel back in the old days. They still remember it."

Just a little lie to make them believe I did something great. Nobody is able to read my files anyways. Many insiders know a lot of me. If they're all together, they can document my archive. Though that's impossible, since people have also been told half-truths. Most of them are convinced they can blackmail me with their info. They can't. I made my way out of the facility with a bonk. I still prefer the bonk of unconsciousness over the aphrodisiac kind of unconsciousness.

During this blackness, I heard an ominous voice of myself. At least I thought it was my own, because Luce has a completely different voice. Way more mature than mine, while Jesus has this tone which always speaks with a kind and wise tone.

"Liberatio et Redemptio."

I mean. That even creeps me out. When I woke up at my place, I scratched my head in pain. It does hurt a bit after all. I better ask my two companions now.

'I know what you're thinking my friend, it was you.'

'Yeah, totally you. But what it is, I honestly have no idea.'

'My son Issei, those thoughts in Latin are the cost of your repeated deaths.'

"It's not that much of a penalty."

'Just try to die less often, reviving you has become harder every time you die. In most cases, your body should've been taken serious damage and functions had to be repaired.'

"Then why didn't it. Even you saw it, my body was still there. It was simply 'malfunctioning'."

'That's something even I don't know.'

"Should I be bothered by it?"

'I wish I could give you a definite answer, but I can't. So I should say, be cautious of yourself. Try not to die.'

"Fine, I'll be more cautious of myself. Can I help it with sexual activities or something?"

'No. Happiness is not something that can 'cure' it. That's something I'm certain of.'

"I guess I have to deal with it by living."

'You better do that.'

I walked around the city to get some groceries. Realising the elections are near. All the posters of Hiro were being ripped off and replaced by Lorelei's posters. They even took some hand dolls from a young girl. Okay, now that's unforgivable. I looked at those fanatics and they stared at me. I approached them.

"Who told you guys you could do that?"

"Hah, you're just a civilian. You can't do shit or you'll enter jail!"

"Well. Maybe."

Suddenly cops have arrived.

"HANDS UP YOU FANATICS! You desecrated the posters of Sanada-sama and took the hand dolls of this young girl! You felons shall be arrested for theft and vandalism!"

Suddenly I saw them flinch, I knew it exactly! I knew who were in danger so I warned them all and forced the one next to me to move a few metres. It should have saved them all. They all drew their weapons. I knew it!

"We have the permission of the federal government to change the posters. They're outdated crap."

"Oh. You're claiming the government allows scum like you who we didn't even identify normally to recognise them as official members of the Board Design group. I think our sergeant should know you. Haruki-san?"

"What. To be personally sent here, must be because you guys are incompetent fools, right?"

"Yes, sir." Said the young cop dejected who I protected by pushing him.

"Man, Motofusa! You're no fun, you're too honest!" He pats the young agent's head. This veteran sergeant, I heard he has been involved with the permits my parents had to get my medical data burned. This is of course after the doctor agreed as well. Of course, he would agree. Though, it is said those four know a secret that is even beyond me and my partners. Now that's just crap. Though, I never dug deeper into this. Also, I never cared about it.

"So you people claim to be allowed to change the posters, huh? I don't recognise you guys."

"We're newbies. We need to proof ourselves."

"Arrest them. Kuoh is no place for newbies of Board Design!"

"You will never get u-" Execution headshot. It doesn't need anything else to describe this spectacle.

"Yeah, if Hyoudou doesn't protect this place today, then I'm doing it. We might not be supernatural, we're trained to kill off superscum like you."

As an afterword.

"Fucking Devil shits. I thought you were trying to sort it out, Hyoudou."

"Haruki, it's the same as a human society. This shit happens. Even in the society of Devils there are corrupt fucks, anti-loyalist terrorists and other problems you can't even think of."

"So they're just like us, but they can fire magic and die when nearing a church?"

"That's the general thing, there are always-"

"The stronger ones and the weaker ones. Understood, at least I'm happy I've been trained by Lady Akane and you. Since that Gremory and Sitri have entered our lands, problems have started to happened a lot more. Though, with your enlistment to the Corps, it has dropped severely. Though severe incidents do happen. Like the Fallen Angel Kokabiel. I heard he wanted to destroy the city. At least we've supported you guys by evacuating everyone to a safe place. It's something we always have to do. Heck, remember when you did the Greatest Sports Event of the year or even when the clouds turned dark?"

"You've fought at the conference?"

"We're just sniping. It wasn't much. Taught the rookies what they should expect becoming Kuoh policeman. It's a lot. Heck, we can even become special forces with the training I have to give them."

"Haha, it brings me back."

"You mean Yokohama?"

"Heck yeah."

"How does that bring you back? The sheer number of renegade Devil shits or the fact we're underequipped?"

"The sheer number of those Strays. Also, we're not underequipped. We both got Desert Eagles in our hands now. The rest of us are armed with 5.7mm so it should be good."

"True, we got enough firepower to defeat many of them. Yeah, let's fuck them up."

We were talking while so many of them surrounded us. Strays and more Strays. Devils really need a cleaning force who cleans all this shit. Just like fucking Yokohama. Devils really need a cleaning force. Meh, then we should clean them.

"Though, it might be better to bring the rookies to a safe place."

"Yeah, that's true. Yuuki and Amago, you two retreat and get reinforcements. This number of Devils is something you're not experienced enough for."

"Yes, Haruki!" They quickly moved out of the way. So it was just me, Haruki-san and Motofusa-san. What is Motofusa doing here?

"Are you sure to let Motofusa stay?"

"Heh, he's my first student. His skills are on my level. He knows what to do bit by bit. He's an expert at makeshift weapons. His preferred weapon is using the enemy's weapon and wasting it on the enemy. He's really good."

"Should we let him start?"

"Haha, you'll see."

Suddenly a wave of Devils attacked Motofusa and he ducked to pick up a loose brick! He threw it at one of them with a lot of power and he was out of here!

"Humans 1, Stray Devils, NOTHING AT ALL! Fuck yeah, Motofusa!"

"Well, could you two please help me?" Looking at us with such a serious face.

"Hahaha, sorry. We'll get busy."

Loud shots as it was obvious who shot them. Desert Eagle, the Hand Cannon. Everything dies and it DIES. You could even hear the Devils curse at their allies' incompetence at a distance. Yeah, the leader is screaming.

"What are you talking about!? They're not even using holy ammunition and you were just defeated on brute force!? We're stronger than them!"

"But-"

"NO BUTS!"

"They're stronger than the average Human! They're from Nagano! I'm sure of it!"

"Nagano incident? The one which loyalist Devils defeated some of our allies? Dude, none of the three are Devils! We can defeat them with ease!"

"That was the glorified version told by Serafall and Sirzechs! But it is rumoured to be Humans, rather than Devils."

"That's nonsense. Humans are the weakest beings of them all!"

"Oh is that so?" That was me, not one of the minions.

"Exactly, it doesn't make sense! How come exorcists, THEY'RE FUCKING HUMANS IF YOU DIDN'T KNOW, can defeat some of us with no apparent trouble?"

"They've been trained and blessed."

"So you're saying any Human who is trained can defeat us, Middle and High-Class Devils!?"

"Exactly."

"You're naïve, even for a complete idiot."

"Exactly, because we have found you. Want to say hello to my little friend?"

"Hah, we can resist any Human-made weapon."

"BANG!"

"Headshot, BITCH! How does 50 calibre Action Express feel? It hurts like shit, right? Need some more lead? You nodded? OPEN FIRE!"

I kept making sarcastic comments.

"Does it feel good? Do you feel like something's coming? Moan, moan damn it!"

"Haruki-sama, are you as mental as Hyoudou?"

"I'm as mental as Akane-sama. Hyoudou is not without reason the de facto leader of the SC. He assigned me to his hometown, while I had enough of simply killing Devils and other supernatural crap. You can obviously see I don't thrive in all that death, he does. I might love my job like this, but to work with Hyoudou is a whole new thrill."

"So-"

"Look, Akane-sama is normal minded. But you must think about every kill. Look, Akane-sama does handle it well. She just makes sure they don't suffer. That's a way to be cruel, but that's also merciful. I mean, you can do it like Hyoudou. Slow and painful. Cruel and merciless. Though, Hyoudou wasn't always like this. Cruelty like that isn't simply born. This is definitely nurtured cruelty."

"Then how is it possible it looks so 'normal' when he kills someone?"

"Well, there is a reason why his middle name is Murder. Again, that's because of his dark youth."

While student and master were talking with each other, I took a body which was still alive. I recognised Devil flow immediately.

"Who sent you?"

"I would rather die than tell you!"

"Okay, so you will die." Punching his chest to reduce his ability to breathe. I'm not sure if it works on Devils as well as Humans, but hey.

"Ugh! Are you kidding me!? My lord will defeat you terrorists!"

"So we are the terrorists. Hmm, I know the right thing for you. Drop you at the Vatican! You shall get burned by the Holy Ovens of the Pope!"

"Hah, you can't get access to those 'mythical Ovens'. Even we don't have any knowledge of its existence. The Angels don't even know!"

"Because the Vatican is the Oven. In about 600 metres, you start feeling the burns. In less than 120 metres left to the centre of the Vatican, you're dead. I can guarantee you."

"You humans have something called rights for people and POWs!"

"Yeah, right. Who enforces it? The Americans! THEY GOT FUCKING GUANTANAMO BAY! Buzzer one. We're at war with them, buzzer two. Buzzer three, you're not human."

"Hahahaha! I stalled you, you stupid human! Now I will defeat you!"

'Stab' I stabbed him with a random holy bullet.

"ARGH! What is that!?"

"Dante's arse bullet. Yeah, it was prodded into Dante's arse."

"That does not make sense! How does that make it holy!?"

"Because of your zero brain, I will not tell you. I will asphyxiate you, burn you, blind you, deafen you, poison you and then kill you. Then I will burn you again with a more serious blaze with MORE PETROLEUM."

"Told you, Motofusa-kun. He's completely nuts when he goes on a killing streak. This is even too much for me to be honest. Don't worry, he's kind when he's on our side. He's only a complete asshole if he becomes an enemy of ours. That's something that won't happen. Trust me on that."

After repelling all that scum from Kuoh and dropping a Devil at the Vatican, the police thanked me and I left to go home again. I must make haste with my own projects. I have two projects in my basement, waiting to be completed. One involves the Lightning Orb of Zeus. If I can make it into a form of energy we can use, we have an extensive source of energy to our advantage. Though, the first would to exploit one thing. A thing called Electrical Corruption. Of course, SC isn't the only one making progress in terms of research. Unlike us, the world is a bit more open about their military researches. Especially the French and the Americans whenever we fight at their home turf. Of course, I mean we commit crimes there and they send their military police at them. Mainly because the way they commit the crimes is too militaristic and too professional for small police officers to take care of. They would mostly use drones, some of them are autonomously programmed. Most of them are androids who need to be manually controlled by people, this is considered safer than fighting with a life. Heh, I hope I can prove them wrong with this Electrical Corruption. That'd be so cool. Maybe we can transform a few people into supernatural-like Humans. I don't know what the possibilities are with this orb.

The other project involves my Bringer of Death and Irina's Galahad Set(Also partially mine anyways). Its main purpose is to replicate a weapon for humans without the use of a Sacred Gear to bring death to a Godlike entity. I've been testing it on Azazel and Sirzechs a few times with just the aura of the prototype. Its base is a musket like the ones in the Civil War/ Napoleonic Era. Mostly for aesthetic reasons, but also for camouflage reasons. A 'harmless' ball thrower can't be that dangerous at a certain distance. Hah, the barrel is rifled and the bullet is actually a large anti-personnel .408. Its range is about a strong 750 metres, that's considering my awesome eyesight a lot higher than expected from such a weapon. Normally, one should be fearful of a musket at about 20 metres. Though with a rifled barrel, this can be horrendously extended to 250 metres as I've found out. Both were still with ball, but then I introduced a modern bullet and made some modifications like a modern firing pin and an always blazing ye olden pin more to show people it can be used to fire it. Also as a decoy for the modern pin inside it. The musket is a self-made, state of the art weapon in disguise. It mostly uses modern hardwood and modern metals to complement. Heck, now I'm talking about it. It looks more like a last-century rifle. I guess I forgot how to design such a rifle. Oh well, I'll go with a 20th century rifle. Let's see, the bullet is .408. The barrel is 26-inch, it is a single shooter and a single loader. I mean, this must be a super weapon for a reason. Also, it must be dealt with like this. It was tested with a semi-automatic pin and that didn't work satisfying at all. Its velocity was gravely reduced by 40%. Even less than half of the velocity of the bolt-action! The energy the bullet has drops so tremendously at that velocity, it hurts my eyes! The feed also seems to be an issue, it tends to jam when it has to feed multiple bullets. I guess a magazine or a storage compartment does not work either, because the bullet seems to go to a single bullet, making that bullet way too powerful and explode the rifle. This is proven with my stash of broken rifles. They're titanium with an alloy of osmium, plutonium, iridium and palladium. This is an odd combination indeed, but somehow this alloy seems to enhance the bullet and reduce the recoil and increase the weight. The weight must be really sufficient, if it's too light it can just go anywhere because of its really heavy recoil. I think I've seen a rifle fly for a few dozen metres because of this. It would be more if I didn't test it in an enclosed area like an indoor shooting range specially configured in my house.

I looked at the left glove which was recently finished. It's not a project, it's more like a way to attack the Kuoh Presentation. It is an instant disguiser, I haven't tested it yet. Though, since I might as well call a few Devil corpses from the police.

"Hey Haruki."

"Hi Hyoudou, what are you calling me for?"

"I want to request the Devil corpses if you've still got them."

"You were just in time, we wanted to incinerate those bastards with water from the church. I'll clean them up and bring them towards your location myself."

"Thanks, I'll be anticipating your arrival."

After waiting for a few minutes, he arrived with the corpses. I was already wearing the glove.

"Hey, what do you need them for?"

"I'll show you. Monitor their 'functions', please."

"Okay, I see the inside of their bodies. You can start now as they all look fine, besides being dead."

"Good. Here it goes."

I held the throat of the corpse with my left hand and then Haruki got shocked.

"Woah, you just fired something into his neck! Wait.. The body is disintegrating!"

I changed into the Devil and when I got back to Haruki, he looked amazed.

"Amazing, you can disguise as anyone without leaving any trace. Though, it seems the data collector chip has fallen out."

"Yeah, but it looks nice right?"

"Yes, but how do you return?"

"That's not a problem."

I pressed a button on my left hand, it was on the middle of my thumb, and I reverted to my old self again.

"See, problem solved. I even covered that."

"Flawless."

"Indeed it works flawless, but I have the feeling it should be even faster."

"Can you make it even faster?"

"Why not? I can make the programming more efficient or tweak the hardware inside it to get faster processing. I think either should work."

"Good, then I will leave you now."

"Fine, I'll see you."

"Say hi to Ren and Miyu for me!"

"Of course, they will know."

I went to my room and looked at my list, I crossed the SC Lab visit making sure it is done. This conflict will escalate soon. I have a really eerie feeling about that.