Chapter 3: Atomic Pt.1

"Wait, what do you mean someone in this world can make miniaturized suns?"

At this point in time, Neolect had become adjusted to his "life" in the bunker. In fact, he had helped Nitori expand it, adding various pieces of outside world technology. However, the piece of knowledge that he had just been haphazardly told by Nitori further messed up his understanding of the world.

"Oh yeah, a hell raven that ate the sun god or something, I dunno. Her name's Utsuho Reiuji."

"Humanity has been on the cusp of figuring out fusion power, and someone can just recreate the sun with magic. Cool." Neolect made his slight exasperation apparent. "And let me guess, they aren't willing to share this power with anyone else?"

"Actually, I'm don't know if they're willing."

"Oh?"

Nitori explained that, on her own, Utsuho could not be trusted with her own power, as she tried to literally evaporate all life on the surface when she first got it. Apparently she was the pet of someone known as Satori.

Neolect let out a slight, bit-crushed chuckle. "Heh, I guess even someone who can recreate the sun could be into that."

"Into what?"

"You see, in the Outside Worl-actually, if you don't already know, it's probably best for your sanity that I don't explain."

"Okay…" Nitori said, slightly confused.

"So," Neolect said, "Any information on this 'master' of hers?"

"Oh yeah, she can read minds apparently. Everyone's terrified of her because of that."

Neolect added a new item to his list of weird stuff that he'd try to figure out later.

"Of course, the negativity's mutual. It turns out that when you can see someone's every thought about you, you see a lot of negativity."

"Unfortunately, that's in character for humanity." After a moment of silence, Neolect had an epiphany. "I wonder if that power works on something like me? I mean, if it doesn't, perhaps it would be possible to set up a… 'business partnership' of sorts."

Nitori's scientific curiosity flared up from that statement. "That's a great idea, Neo! I know we could BOTH use the power of an artificial sun, and you may be the key… Well, if you're going, you're gonna need a bit of heat resistance."

"Well, it's understandable if I'll end up near a small star."

"Not only that, they're also in HELL."

"Oh."

After Neolect learned the true nature of the place he was going, the duo of kappa and AI started work on designing a body for Neolect to inhabit. They decided to make the new body animal-like, as Satori had a fondness for animals. The design ended up resembling a wolf in shape, though obviously mechanical. The automaton was insulated with aerogel, a light-weight material from the Outside World that was known for its incredible heat resistance. A few built-in guns were added to the machine as a preparatory measure, given the location it would go to. Lastly, it was given rocket boosters in case the need for short-range flight ever arose.

Nitori constructed the mechanical beast with a little bit of help from Neolect, who now had access to some recently added industrial robotic arms in the bunker. It was quickly finished, and both Nitori and Neolect were quite satisfied with their creation.

"Welp, here it is. The K-9000!" Nitori said, without any sense of the absurdity she just spoke.

"Is… Is that really what we're calling it?"

"Of course! It's like, canine, but also it's a pun with the letter 9-"

"I understand your attempts at humor, I simply do not find them entertaining."

Nitori sat down in a chair, looking defeated. She recovered quickly, though, as she was ready to see the "K-9000" in action. Neolect established a connection from his consciousness to the machine, allowing him to control it. Its various mechanisms whirred to life, and the robotic wolf stood up. Neolect activated each system individually, testing to make sure everything functioned as it should, which they did.

"NICE!" Nitori shouted in excitement, being even more happy with the creation now that she had seen it in action. "Welp, it's almost nighttime, so I say we wait to actually descend into a world of fire until tomorrow. See you tomorrow, Neo!"

With that, Nitori left Neolect to his thoughts. He wished so much that he could share all of his new knowledge with humanity, but he just couldn't. He knew of people who would die to be in the position he's in. Especially his creator…

The next morning, the kappa and the AI were both eager to send the robot dog to Hell. Nitori had uploaded a rough map of the various locations in Hell into Neolect's database, so he wasn't entirely clueless. Once again, the mechanical beast whirred to life, and tested its systems. With everything good to go, it exited the bunker and started its journey.

"Check, check, this is Nitori."

"You are audible."

"Splendid! The only time I actually interacted with Satori was that time Marisa and I beat her up, so it's probably best I don't come along in person."

"I suppose that's why you specifically haven't tried asking for her help nicely?"

"Yeah, that and the mind-reading thing."

Neolect made his way to a fissure that had erupted some time ago, as it apparently provided the quickest way to access Hell. Upon reaching it, he carefully descended into the abyss. He had absolutely no idea what secrets and threats were kept in this fiery place that he thought was a myth, but that was secondary for the time being. Afterall, he was on a mission to harvest the power of the sun.

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Author's Notes: This is my first actual fanfiction, so I'm glad that people seem to be enjoying it so far!

Neolect's mecha-wolf body is inspired by the second version of Blade Wolf from MGRR, as that's kinda what I was imagining as I created it.

Neolect's tendency to switch from formal speech to a more casual tone comes from the fact that he was programmed to speak formally, but since his creator spoke to him in a casual tone, he started to pick up on it.

I'll be using zeros here to indicate changes in location or POV. I tried single line paragraph breaks and dash lines, but I just couldn't get them to work.

Anyways, I'm trying to update this story once a month, but since it's kinda rude to leave on something of a cliffhanger, I'll try to update sooner this time. Have a great day!