Training trying to awaken the hidden power, with a montage was not happening, two days had passed since the departure of Gilgamesh, and training had been fruitless, there was no magic, (that I knew already) and there was no hidden force, no ki, no touki to access, and in desperation, and no chakra, I even tried to bite my hand to see if a titan would come, everything I could recall was tried even did the stupid pose and tried the original issei tactic of oppai power, a thing I will regret for the rest of the living time until the stars rain down from heaven.

But still, nothing answered to my call, no inner power for me it seems, and my time is running out, soon enough I would run out of lizards and critters, and still had to make the travel into some sort of civilized (sorry walls don't erase me), populated place.

Thankfully along with the perks of being the warden of uruk, I could move to explore the city at will and see the now uncovered roads, the walls of buildings now partially restored, at least, most of them were standing, with holes but still standing proud, the city was populated by 3 stores high buildings near the center, and with some 5 stores high at the I guessed commercial center, It was a huge metropolis for the time, and it was spacious, wide streets of stone, adorned with marble that held the lines of the barrier system, the place was a spectacle to behold, ancient ass it was, still held much of what we called modern urbanization, it just shows that underestimating the ancestors and ancient times was just plain stupid, take that hippies.

The opulence of the city, the dead bodies that were left behind by the ransacking, it was also a grim reminder of the fragility of all civilizations, as the ol´say freedom is just one generation away from extinction, still held true in another world.

"Freedom…"

The word made me stop and contemplate in the surrounding, too much was at risk, not just the material things, but the most fundamental thing for all sentient beings, to be…free.

The list of things to do was enormous,

Re-forge and make two epic-grade weapons

Find two spirits that contradict each-other for the chains

Make them work together with a same purpose without dying in the process

Find some allies that will not sell me into the factions

Get rid of Ishtar-curse

Prepare for the greatest war… again

"Sigh, and still can´t get a decent meal, forget a fireball"

Without considering the constant flickering of the barriers around the territory, we were under siege by the supernatural, and there is no hope of getting out walking with my short legs and out running them, maybe… with meditation I can get bending like aang, releasing my inner chakras to flow.

More days passed, and the bugs had to be rationed, little buggers were learning how to hide, and the only snake I found was too much of a challenge at the moment, on the bright side the hilibillies outside were retreating because the pylons were now pushing them away and every while I would roast them from the pillar, the defense could attack, that was great but had a cooling down of near 6 hrs, maybe…

I felt like a child playing with some trapped bugs, while I was the one behind the walls, they were in an invisible cage of their greed, how fitting, buahahahha

'The gil-laugh, a side effect of having no one living to talk and no progress, maybe hunger was playing a part'

"Mad rantings aside, I won't be turning into the avatar any time soon, maybe something more intrinsic, more human, like having a stand, if Gilgamesh left an arrow around it could work"

Definitely, hunger was taking its toll if that was in any certain point considered a good idea, but having a stand sounded nice

I dropped myself to the floor to let my body rest, at night the devils became more active and the fireworks started with them throwing the other observers at the barrier, maybe they liked the different colors the different species made, I think I saw a Valkyrie the other day, just hope it was not rossweisse, she was nice, definitely a wasted character.

Maybe I can ask her on a date after I leave this place,

"I promise I will if I ever see you, I will take you out and hold hands uffufufu~"

I shouted clearly on delirium at the point, it would be nice having a stand

By staying in the ground sprayed like an eagle, I tried something, relaxed and began breathing deeply and slowly finding a rhythm, letting the blood flow as a river, and letting the heartbeat take its place, guiding the flow, and then I got a little electric shock on the point of the fingers, I opened the eyes, and saw it, a yellow electric current coming out of my fingertips, small, weak but stable and it stopped as soon as I lost the momentum in breathing.

"That … was … hamon"

Bloody hamon, from jojo, the original human technique to fight against the supernatural, that was a manifestation of courage, breathing control…and…will power, crap.

"I am such an idiot, I forgor wryyyyyyyy"

If it was a manifestation of will power, that make it compatible with the principles of magecraft and with the crafting of things by conceptualization, all this time it was there, bloody hell, why?

After some rest and calming my euphoric state, definitely, after stopping laughing like a bloody maniac that discovered his supervillain moment, I tried to replicate and gain some control, to find it was harder than I thought.

The next day I lay on the floor out of breath, why? Because I remembered that I must empty my lungs with a strike so I jumped over the pummel of a bronze sword, did it work? by not impaling myself on the blade was a round success, by awakening my hamon fully, it was a partial success since I had very little in me, small lung capacity and that, but time was nigh, the time of true discovery, to channel some hamon into the ability, time to test the call to ordinance.

I extended the hand in front and visualized what I wanted, an object meant for war but not a weapon for combat, I could see its shape, size and the amount of hamon required to call for it,

"ordinance"

And so, out of nothingness came for me, a single bag of MRE, the most beautiful summon that ever had occurred, and my first real meal in what seem like ages, and it was my favorite, the one with chocolate.

I could not stop a tear forming and falling, a warm meal was at my hands, everything seems possible now, the gates to an entire realm of endless possibilities open for the taking, everything was on the menu.

After a hearty meal, and proper rest with a military blanket and self-heat pouches, and a sleeping bag, I could begin some training, thinking on the bigger stuff without being afraid to die of hunger and so I did, I trained and prepared some writing materials for my memory was far from perfect and the teachings of the king must be preserved.

This kept me busy but lonely, still, so I did the only rational think I could by being the lone soul I was, still affected by the hype and induced madness

'If I can't have company, I will make company'

So, I called with "ordinance" a heavy round object that was definitely made for war, and was not a fighter but had a way to talk… the first thing I remembered.

I called for the monitor of installation 05 penitent tangent and thus collapsed from exhaustion losing consciousness at the moment the hamon was expended.

The way "call to ordinance" worked was weird, and in a sense way too broken to be a give-away, it allowed to call forward basically anything that I could conceptualize inside certain parameters, but it had a price, a price I guess must be paid originally in magic energy, it was proportional to the size and total volume of the object, a sleeping bag was mostly air and little in the realm of fabric in its real construction, MRE was heavy but doable since the rations were not so "big", the damned forerunner monitor was big and heavy with very little of free space between its material, it was a full package deal, and thus the cost was higher than what I could manage at the time, maybe hamon was less efficient than magic, maybe it was the other way, since it actually worked, and were it not for shit-stain-star and the restrictions she placed, "call to ordinance" could be the most OP thing in this world, why to take the time building a sword and chains when I can HALO the damned hippies from orbit, and call it a day?, a few dozens promethean knights could tare down the supernatural like tissue paper and an endless supply of aggressor sentinels, could put down sirzechs regardless of how strong he was, he would tire and the only thing I would require was time, but so is not the case.

I was awakening on the cold floor from my last madness induced stupidity, to realize how close I was from destroying the world, I didn't want 343 because of forthenco mind's implant but… penitent tangent was, CPATURED BY THE GRAVEMIND, if a single spore passed with him, Humbaba is the last of my problems.

So, I jumped to my feet, and ran looking for the monitor in hopes that nothing had come with him.

"MONITOR, come back here"

I shouted while searching, and after a while He found me,

The unsettling red floating eye that was bigger than my whole torso, while pulsating in the air, and giving me a 'scan'

"Greetings, reclaimer, your recovery has concluded I suppose"

He said in a deep metallic voice that would scare any child the heard it, the synthetic tone was unnerving

"Greetings, monitor, my recovery is on its way, last time you were heard of you were compromised by the flood, STATUS REPORT"

As a well-adjusted machine the glow changed from red to orange and if his movements were any indication, he was recovering from some sort of shock.

"Indeed, my station on installation 05 was compromised and the memory of my imprisonment remains, still I am unsure of how am I in this unknown installation at the moment, reclaimer, a self-diagnosis will commence please wait for a moment"

It was reassuring that he was not bat shit crazy at least, a gravemind was no joke, to either organics or otherwise

"monitor" I called him before anything could happen

"I require you to run a scan first to look for any possible contamination in my person, yourself and in the city that you traveled, containment protocols must mark that as a priority"

I did not know of them, but being for so long in the military had its perks, If the forerunners took the flood in any seriousness the first thing would be to decontaminate the area before anything can happen, if he refuses, I got my answer to jus how screwed we are by bringing an infected monitor with at least the logic plague.

"Understood Reclaimer, please wait for a moment"

And so, he scanned himself, then me, and the city from a distance using a light-based scan, at the end of it he did not refuse, and giving the state of a malnourished child as his only opposition, had he been in the control of the flood, he would have just blasted me and be with his day, what incredible luck.

"The surroundings are free from the parasite influence, and we both remain clean of any biological manifestation of the flood, but I must inform you that you hold several types of intestinal parasites, that seem natives to the area, I would suggest decontamination to be enacted, immediately, self-diagnosis and defragmentation will commence, I will remain offline while at it, Reclaimer, am I needed for anything prior?"

Damn buggers, they got me in the end, but it was fair, I ate them, they got me, so time to get some med kit and clean the pipes.

"Nothing at the moment monitor, and thank you"

The orb pulsed with what I could only infer curiosity for then shutting down itself

One apocalypse avoided at the time, no more forerunner stuff for now, not until I get a flamer. A heavy flamer.

All things considered, it was a good outcome, a monitor was a capable help, and was resourceful, in my past life I was a huge halo nerd when in my youth, the possibilities that the UNSC holds and the forerunners tech, can be THE game changer (no pun intended), even without getting the heavier things, no mantle approach but other paths can be tried.

While the lightbulb repaired himself I carried him to the main temple where I made my home, a couple more days passed, and to my discovery, calling forerunner tech was not only tiresome but it put the call to ordinance into a cooldown, luckily, the stain put a limit on the size and not in the usefulness of what or who is called, so, no swarm of aggressors to swipe everything like a big metallic broom, this would have to be made manually and slowly but doable.

Hamon had its uses but it was hard to master, truthfully to use in any decent capacity was a challenge, I was far from walking on water, time was a resource now, for I had no idea how far I was from cannon, maybe a couple of months before, maybe a couple of centuries, uruk state was no indication of passed time, the only clue was the WW1 solider, but with magic shenanigans, I wouldn't put it beyond the crazy to send some random guy back in time.

I just hope penitent tangent doesn't have a personality implant like forthenco, the old man was the "Lord of admirals" of the human-forerunner war and while a capable leader, and I no doubt a powerful spirit, the man, was crazier than Ur-didact, he actually tried to weaponize a gravemind just to get revenge on the forerunners, when he was the one picking a fight against them, "we cannot communicate with them and tell them of the flood" … my ass, he was way too trigger happy, and a man who is willing to let the flood consume a world to get a political leverage is as bad as the devils, maybe even worse, his mind was "stored" inside 343 guilty spark, for preservation, the risk of him breaking free and jumping camp is too big, he did once before against the other didact.

Jumping to "call" things from other worlds had its risks, if one was not knowing enough of the lore, for example, calling the type 95 of tanya, would most likely anchor being X to this world, and there will be a holy war, for spreading his name, and my mind pollution with cute-star, was enough of a problem.

"Did I just" … I banged my head on the floor out of realization, If I let my guard down, it will advance, crap

The banging awoke the monitor

"Are you in need of assistance Reclaimer?"

He was somewhat concerned; the only sentient life form he had seen in a while seeking to clean his head with the floor.

'Mind health issues on reclaimer, noted and cataloged'

"No need for at the moment, but thank you, how was it?"

The pulsating lightbulb was gaining a healthy? Orange bright tone and was locating itself in front of my face, this was it, there was no best chance for him to be rid of me if he was compromised, the gravemind was devious but acted rather harsh so this was it, I was no real obstacle so my elimination was the most likely outcome.

'I´m an idiot'

"2401 Penitent tangent, former monitor of installation 05, self-repair routines finalized and no further sign of logic infection was left, by containment protocol directives I have severed all links to my former station, presenting for duty, Reclaimer, may I inquire your designation?"

I left a breath I did not know I was holding; the tension left my body and relief was palpable in the air, 'the gamble paid off, I was lucky beyond belief'

"Marcus Acker, mayor of the Union States marines Corp, warden of the city of uruk"

I presented with a salute, in the most serious fashion I could put, while wearing a newly acquired white fatigue shirt with the shield of my former division in display proudly on the chest, in a child's body, it looked like either a cartoon or a ridiculous joke, but that's what I had because there were no fatigues on a child size, those that were made were NOT for WAR, but for the parent's amusement so, no boots, no shoes, no trousers.

"The warden of the current installation I presume? Then there is much to discuss on the update of the keeping of the installation"

And the time it was, to explain, that we were not in Kansas anymore.

It was hard to explain the meaning of much of what had happened, but the monitor was smart, and capable, what he could not provide in firepower he did with the sheer capacity and knowledge of forerunner tech he had, some things were actually analog with the most esoteric of technology like the neural physics and the composer abyss, comparing notes was, tedious but enjoyable, putting things in a new light.

We made a run-down of the places and locations inside the walls of uruk, and a plan was formed, we would leave the city to go in search of new information and look for the spirits needed, having options were reassuring and a companion that despised the devils and supernatural was the top of the cake.

"The mantle does not approve of these practices, this meddling of life form implantations cataloged them as parasitic in nature, and thus must be cleansed"

Was his opinion on the evil pieces, and soon, brave-saint system, though his opinion on the sacred gears was that it resembles the implantation of geas and personalities when the host is used for further study of the captive, that was a new point of view on them.

'What was the original purpose of the sacred gears? Because they were sloppy as weapons by themselves, unless… he couldn't have been that stupid, could he? '

There were plans upon plans to rebuild uruk and use the city as the main base of operations, where we could work unobstructed, but resources, were scarce, hand-labor, laughable, so we agree that I would call a few constructor sentinels, to help with restoration, and cataloging all the thousand clay tablets, all around, it was doable without much strain to my health, and so we did, until something approached the perimeter of the city, Humans were coming.

A middle-size caravan of vehicles, antique type tractors and WW2 era jeeps were coming, and with them a white flag, with a blue star at the center, it was the same flag I had served alongside last time, they were sure to be a pain in the ass with the questioning but, they were reliable, so long they were not under Michael command.

And they came unperturbed by the supernatural, there was something else at play.