So, as I promised, here's the new chapter! As always, we thank Old Man for the translation and Toska for the revision.

This is one of the transition chapters where Jack will deal with a couple of annoyances that come up due to the blow to the status quo...not that he cares anyway. It'll be a short arc before the really dangerous stuff I guess.

Anyway, to respond to the latest reviews:

-Temsen: Yep, Iri is relatively speaking a cute character. I appreciated both the ditzy and playful nature of her in Kaleid, and the more logical and almost belligerent nature of Zero, so I tried to leave her as unchanged as possible. As for Jack... honestly, it's really hard to do something that no one understands, but she'll probably try to be a little maternal, like with Shirou (Priya) I think.

Also, yes, Cu Alter is a walking disaster and I tried to portray him as such. I hope I succeeded, even if Excalibur always remains Excalibur in the end.

-Bobthenerd: In the original text they had the right names. The old man may have changed them with the translation, but since you pointed it out, I asked Toska to correct it a couple of days ago (since I'm uploading this). Let me know if you find other similar exchanges in other chapters (you, as well as anyone reading).

-sick boy 398: you'll have to read on to see if it pops up later.

-terralord19901: I asked Toska to correct the last translated chapters. Does this happen often in the previous ones too? And if so, tell me where, so I can ask him to correct those too.

Ok, having said that, here is the link to my discord ( /NhmSr3vapt), read and leave a review! See you next week with chapter 10, happy reading ^^

I drop the rod with the weights on the floor, which causes a loud dull noise, and stretch out my aching arms for post-surgery training/rehabilitation, waiting for the summer training camp for the heroes' course, although in my case they are only there to help the teachers. This year, given the continuous changes and/or expulsions that took place during the heroes, it was decided to take a trip (intensive training of quirks) a few weeks before to prepare the new students for the final exams, and then leave for a second summer camp. Luckily I will be back before the girls' birthday, as I did not want to miss the first past with Miyu.

"32 tons, 20 repetitions, huh?" I sigh, sitting on the bench to rehydrate, after massaging my aching shoulder with my artificial arm. "My body is adapting fast..."

Almost six months have passed since the battle with Berserker and things had fortunately remained mostly quiet, at least compared to what had happened in that hellish week. The girls and I weren't involved in any other fights to the death with mythological figures or other supernatural events, if we put aside my mage contract with Ajuka in which I help him research devils' diseases and various projects, for which I am handsomely rewarded, or the appearance in some special episodes in the live-action series of Serafall.

The month of June just started and I had already made my debut at the UA, quite conspicuously if I have to be honest. Of course, I knew I was going to attract attention, but things got a little out of hand at some point, mainly because I let the provocations of the losers around reach me, somehow.

I passed the entrance exam with 366 total points, ranking first, with a gap of 312 points from second place. My record is more than double that of All Might, the highest since the school opened and I could have gone much further if I hadn't been bored halfway through the exam. Not that I could blame the UA for that. The level of military drone models was mediocre at best, and those at the school were calibrated to fight teenagers with slightly above-average skills, while my technology and I fight Scathach or All Might daily, even if he stays to train, not counting the whole class card episode.

I had started in class 1-A, although it is no longer accurate to call it class since I am the only student in the section. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you see it, they were all thrown out within the first week by Aizawa. None of them lived up to my physical standards before the surgery, not to mention the embarrassing mastery of their quirks and the superficial mentality from which they were dragged around. None of them aimed for the top, they had entered by sheer luck or thanks to compatibility in combat with non-lethal drones, and the biggest aspiration I found in a couple of them was to become supermodels like Uwabami, or whatever the name is that model who pretends to be a pro 'hero'.

It still leaves me with a strange taste in my mouth to pronounce that word like that.

I won the sports festival, setting new records there too, even though I had raised a lot of controversy everywhere. Given that it was broadcast live worldwide and on most existing streaming platforms, virtually everyone had seen the scruffy guy without quirk crushing the competition with unknown technology and drastically superior to anything seen up to that point. The festival could not be considered a competition, since I had annihilated all the participants in a completely one-sided way, even if it was more out of spitefulness than out of real interest. Students, especially those expelled from my old class began to complain that a no quirk in the course of heroes was the representative of the early years. The voices of discontent of the losers joined those of the possible candidates who failed, who were discarded, or who did not even try to commit to entering the course of heroes. The chorus was joined by like-minded pro 'heroes', those who had come to enjoy a 'show' they thought I would ruin, along with most of those who think the quirk you get decides your place in the world.

So, a good 80% of the spectators at the stadium were cheering to kick me out of the competition, also starting a debate about whether or not I should be part of the UA. The thing had intensified to the point that a derogatory chorus had risen towards me, while everyone loudly cheered the fact that the festival was to show the skills of future 'heroes' and not for the toys of a without quirk.

The situation escalated to the point that Illya and Kuro had to physically restrain Miyu from firing into the crowd. Sapphire even avoided being used by her mistress to carry out genocide.

Since Aizawa's reprimands and Nezu's subsequent intervention failed to calm the disgruntled crowd, I decided to ruin everyone's party when I got tired of hearing them babble about nothing.

Not that it was difficult. The first part of the festival was a four-kilometer obstacle course, and considering my new armor goes from standstill to match 3 speed in just two seconds, well, there was no competition. The second event was 'King of the Hill', in which we had to occupy concrete towers created by Cementoss. The higher the tower, the higher the score, and that way the 16 participants would be decided. Teaming up or not was optional.

As soon as the second event started everyone stupidly pointed at me and my tower; So, so I destroyed all the others with a bit-stave and then beat the competition. No one managed to reach the top or try to climb. I shot down extremely quickly and efficiently every single student who tried. None of them were able to continue, nor would they do so with body and spirit crushed quickly and brutally.

The only ones who tried their luck in the end were Rias Gremory and Sona Sitri, with Tsubaki Shinra stepping forward to support her king, and surprisingly the Big Three. They hadn't done the first internships, but I knew them. Given Mirio's difficult quirk to deal with, I created his costume myself and gave him several tips on how to deal with his quirk, as well as prepared training equipment and obstacle courses to practice his control. Nejire and Tamaki showed up a few days later, seeing the sudden surge in the cheerful blond's abilities. They were much stronger than their counterparts were with targeted training, even if they lacked experience for obvious reasons.

The devils did not withstand more than one blow apiece, lasting just four seconds in total, while the students of 1-B lasted almost a full minute. I didn't use lethal force against anyone, and I didn't even get a little serious, but since they like me even though we're not friends and they've never disrespected me they're the only students at the school who have been kind to me, I gave them the chance to show off and see how much they had improved since our first meeting.

It was the first and only sports festival that lasted only two rounds instead of three. The final battle was more a recreational event than anything else, but it highlighted the tenacity and courage of three students who, despite knowing they were going to face a certain defeat, did not give up and fought to the end with extreme tenacity, while their companions fell one by one.

It was practically the only useful part of the festival, which rewarded the big three with hundreds of internship requests each, several coming from the top 10.

The week after the festival there was a fuss for obvious reasons, since it happens every time All Might is involved in any way or form, in addition to all the discussions that concerned me: when I started the internship with him, most of the journalists in Japan started investigating me, bringing out my origin, as well as highlighting the fact that I worked for All Might as head of the R&D division for years, not to mention that hero No. 1's assistant was my legal guardian. The media even discovered that in addition to my work as a scientist, I was also a field assistant to All Might, which had a huge spike in the number of cases solved and villains captured/neutralized before they caused damage to property or unsuspecting bystanders in recent years, far exceeding Endeavor's. So much to the displeasure of the eternal number 2.

Much to my annoyance, the media somehow managed to discover that Hagane and I, the pseudonym I had adopted early in my career to prevent my status as a quirkless from coming to the surface and damaging my business, were the same person, and I had been providing most of the custom equipment to the top 10 heroes for years. Or others well known as Inginium.

I was sure that there was the hand of the HPSC since that information was secret at the behest of All Might by the government, and until then, despite the best efforts of the press and foreign delegates, no one had ever discovered anything about me, allowing me to work incognito without problems.

The fact is that he had raised an uproar for someone he had stolen confidential information, and thanks to that the HPSC had opened a case, also taking me to court on the pretext that thanks to me and my creations an 'arms race' had begun from other nations, for fear of how I would manage the market of my armor since Japan's war power had grown by 30% when I dealt only with costumes and support equipment. A pathetic attempt to steal all the technology I had developed over the years, no matter if it was Jarvis or Veda, my armor, or GN particle research.

Honestly, the concern would also be well-founded if I intended to sell something like this and did not know of the true intentions of those greedy bastards, since indeed there have been many attempts at theft or hacking gone wrong, as well as visits from foreign delegates both at school and during my free time in an attempt to buy my technology or intimidate me and try to force my hand (although it never ended well). for those who tried, between mysterious incidents or scandals of some kind), arrived bypassing the controls and incognito thanks to their internal contacts.

Fortunately, in addition to having everything in order, All Might has an army of lawyers handsomely paid and very eager to make themselves useful to the symbol of peace to make a good impression, not to mention all the contacts his contacts with the government, who did not want for any reason to antagonize him and make him go elsewhere, since the other nations, especially America, they drooled at the idea of enlisting him after he threatened to leave if they did not stop threatening me after the first attempt on my life ended with all the HPSC agents dead at my feet.

That and Nezu were not at all happy when the HPSC started pressuring the UA to kick me out of the training program or trying to force them to change requirements and 'suitable' candidates according to their standards. During my internship week with All Might after the sports festival, they came to schedule accidents and ambushes, trying to eliminate me or create a situation where they could put all the blame on me for the aforementioned reasons and seize my technology.

Obviously, I hadn't been silent all the time after their third strike and took matters into my own hands, starting with a public and live worldwide declaration of war.

The sound of a hammer beating on the wood ticks in the crowded hall, trying to calm the mess, while I checked the messages Ajuka, informing me of a problem with Sairaorg Bael's new pawn. There wasn't a lot of data, so it meant that the situation required discretion, for some reason and that meant it was pretty important.

Curious. Did you find Regulus or is someone else with some mutation that requires specific care or treatment?

"Kurogane-san, can we pick up where we left off?" the middle-aged woman's voice asks 'politely' "Kurogane-san, can I get your attention?"

I looked up from the phone and I didn't even try to hide.

"I'd rather not, there are a lot of more beautiful things to look at than a fossil" like Miyu, dressed in formal clothes in the front row behind me, who almost snorts amusedly when I look at her out of the corner of my eye.

She wasn't happy at all with the situation, especially not after the festival and my rowdy All Might internships, but she hasn't said or done anything since we walked in because she knows I have a plan to get rid of these idiots; So, she agreed to stay on the sidelines for now.

The comment makes most of the audience in the classroom laugh, mainly journalists eager to publish on the front pages everything that happens here, since there were also many officials of various kinds, presidents of companies that had long been on the verge of bankruptcy thanks to my creations that attracted all the biggest names and images, along with many subcategories of that kind, who hoped for one thing today, which unfortunately for them would never happen.

The woman in charge of the HPSC, whom I will call Madam President, since I did not even deign to look up her name, was not at all happy with the comment but decided to ignore it and continued this charade.

"Are you or are you not in possession of any particular weapon?" she asks impassively.

"Nope," I answer lazily.

"Don't you have it?" she asks again, clearly not believing me at all.

It would be fair if I didn't know that they are targeting Astrea and not the rest of the arsenal.

"No... Well, it depends on the definition you give to the word weapon" I was trying to cut her off, but I have to admit that she has strong nerves, although I could see her brain activity and heartbeat indicating an ever-increasing state of discomfort and frustration.

"The G-weapon" she specifies.

G-weapon was the name under which the HPSC had classified my Gundams. They were trying to make them look like metaphorical time bombs so that they could confiscate them from me without public repercussions, after all the indirect attempts so far.

"My creation does not match that description," I comment unperturbed.

"So how would you describe the G-weapon?" asks the chairman of the committee once more.

"I would describe it for what it is" I reply bored "A high-tech prosthesis." more laughter rises from the spectators behind me. "This is the most suitable description I can provide."

"It's a weapon Kurogane-san." She retorts impassively.

"On the contrary, there are no weapons integrated into the frame." I answer impassively "I built it on a whim, but it was serious when I said that it is a high-tech prosthesis. It served to compensate for the lack of quirk, even if its ability to fly proved to be a much-appreciated unexpected event" The audience is silent at my words "Several technologies used in the development of my armor have been reused by my company to create the latest prostheses, connected to the nervous system via the Alaya-Vijnana, or the regenerative cradle, along with many other medical treatments tested in the last six months through collaborations with several hospitals in Musutafu"

The crowd began to murmur, this time a little more seriously about my words, but I did not pay particular attention to them. They brought all these people into the classroom to try to get me nervous, many of whom will surely have agreements with HPSC of some kind, which I am not interested in now; So, I'm just a source of entertainment that I'm enjoying using against them while making those present reconsider which side to take when the deciding moment comes.

The lawyer that All Might sent, after being appropriately sent elsewhere for an 'emergency mission', was not doing anything, surely, he too harnessed in something last minute devised by them, but even here, I don't care, indeed it would have been strange if they had not tried to threaten / bribe / sabotage him for this shit show.

"Kurogane-san, I'm not here to question your abilities in medical science, but to get the G-weapon delivered to the Japanese government," she replies, trying to get the focus back on the main topic.

"Well, you can forget it." I reply with 'all the respect' I had for the., "The armor and I are one. To hand over the Astrea would be to hand me over, and this amounts to a contract of slavery or prostitution, depending on the circumstances."

"Listen, I'm not an expert-"

"I would like to say 'bullshit' but maybe it's inappropriate."

My sarcastic comment and my ever-growing disrespect for the court were starting to make everyone a little nervous now, both because they found my behavior a bit 'scandalous', and because they were beginning to fear repercussions, since bringing me here by 'force' had antagonized the competent part of the pro heroes and several important investors of the nation.

"I'm not an expert in the field." she repeats "But we have here a person who certainly is: I would like to call Yotsubashi Rikiya, our main manufacturer of support equipment and equipment."

I admit, I almost laughed when I saw the man with the long nose come forward and sit at the desk. They had brought here one of their future greatest enemies, the head of the reborn Meta Liberation Army, who would try to cause a coup to overthrow them, coming from one of the families they had been hunting for years and almost exterminated with extreme prejudice, seeking help to kill me, completely unaware that if he got his hands on my technology he could very well finish them within the next week practically undisturbed.

Honestly, what a huge joke has this drama become.

"I ask that it be recorded that as I watched President Yotsubashi enter this courtroom, I wondered if and when a real expert would be called to testify."

And I meant that. I could respect his predecessor for trying to stop the crackdown on the quirks, albeit for different reasons. Why should such a resource be limited in such a stupid way? If the people in power had been smarter, they could have used them to advance science by centuries, and instead of a backward and limited society like this, we would now be exploring space and colonizing planets out there instead of being stuck on Earth.

Aeolia is the greatest example.

But this idiot? He has all the resources at his disposal to accomplish his goals, but not the ability to do so. In the end, he turns out to be someone who dreams too big of an ideal utopia, but without solutions to the problems that afflict the society that he sees as corrupt and to be 'liberated'. In some ways, he is exactly like Shigaraki Tomura at the beginning, who only wants to destroy everything, but with the illusion that this is not the case and does it for the greater good.

It's bloody pathetic.

"I'm not an expert, unlike you Kurogane-kun, the wonder guy" Despite the accommodating expression and seemingly kind words, I could practically feel the anger and greed underneath, anxious to carry out his agenda "But let's be clear, we know why we are here. In the last six months, Kurogane-kun has developed a new type of weapon with immeasurable capabilities, perfectly capable of matching multiple quirks at once, which if left unchecked could also cause incalculable damage to people and cities."

"I appreciate your intervention, President Yotsubashi," says Madam President "I would like to go on and show images of the images that intelligence has detected in numerous military bases in the world, are experiments started to produce G-weapons operated by pilots, these supported by allies and local intelligence, which assume at the moment and with great probability are already operational."

As the woman spoke some not-so-clear satellite images of military bases were shown on a large prepared screen, where... You couldn't see a shit of what she had said. And for several reasons.

With that speech, they wanted to 'demonstrate' that my technology is easily replicated in short periods by scientists with quirks, in addition to the fact that I cannot keep sensitive information to myself. This move is mainly to not antagonize the part of the audience that worships All Might and appreciates everything I did for him, showing them that I 'needed' the supervision of adults or similar bullshit to avoid making mistakes like that.

Ergo, they point to the immaturity card derived from age, which sounds more plausible than the bullshit spread since my debut at the sports festival.

Especially because if foreign powers are developing technologies 'based' on my armor, it means that there are holes in the internal security of the government. Until now I had never used the armor in public or front of others openly (even while flying to go get the class cards I was hidden, and for safety I disabled all the cameras that could or could not frame me nearby), which is why many were confused by the rumors without evidence that had propagated on the student without quirk in the course of the heroes, Thinking that my 'quirk' was related to transformations or machines of some kind, or that it was simply a theme that I had intentions to choose for my image once I officially entered the business.

When a request for the use of support items is submitted to the UA, the Power loader and its staff check and inspect the object before the examination, on the same day, and grant only after the pass if they comply with the safety regulations. Of course, I did not give anyone data on Astrea, nor did I allow someone to put a different hand from myself and Miyu, strictly only in my laboratory at home, controlled by Jarvis and Veda.

At UA Power Loader he only checked that the armor did not explode during use or something, with generic tests, since my technology is covered by patents, and I did not allow him to do more extensive tests. The results of all tests are then sent to the relevant government bodies and finally arrive at the HPSC. If any information about the existence of my armor has arrived abroad, it means that a mole inside has spoken, and they are trying to cover the scandal by shifting the blame on me while they search for it and eliminate it in silence.

I know for sure about the mole because the 24th century is practically a digital book and given how backward technology is compared to what it should be, few people can compete with me in intercepting or reading data outside of I-Island. Nothing moves in Japan without my knowledge; So, I know about the mole who spoke and was at least smart enough to pass information on paper or by voice, because Veda and Jarvis found no missing or virtually sent data on the subject in government servers, nor were rumors circulating about its existence before the festival, not even on the dark web.

I couldn't help but smile extremely amused at the move they were making.

And how easy it was to debunk their accusations.

On the screen where the images were shown, two black windows appeared, one containing the algorithm that makes the presentation program work and the words 'Welcome Kurogane-sama' at the end, while in the other the HPSC files were hacked extremely quickly.

Everyone was rather dumbfounded by the fact that I took control of their platforms on live TV, in front of many state offices and people who influence the room.

"What's going on?" asks Madame President, now beginning to show hints of confusion and nervousness.

"I'm commanding your screens." I inform the confused viewers aloud "Let's see what happens in... North Korea. Feel free to direct your attention to the screen."

A video showed a Mech three and a half meters high, with the cockpit in its torso, walking awkwardly out of the hangar. It is equipped with claws, firearms, and several missile launchers. A worrying sight, although for the wrong reason, when the mech stumbles and because of a malfunction the weapons begin to shoot in random directions while waving on the ground, trying to get back on their feet. This had the effect of affecting several staff members present in the test area, including the cameraman. And it had to be serious, considering how much blood splattered on the chamber as it fell to the ground.

All the people in the room watch rather horrified as the screams of the scientists and the gunfire continue in the background.

"Turn it off, now!"

The staff in the courtroom tried, in vain, to regain control of their equipment to no avail.

"Iran." announcement, as the video changed again.

This time another armor is shown, more humanoid, attached to cables during the flight test, but loses control a few seconds after takeoff and begins to crash to the ground, crashing into surrounding equipment and vehicles. The shooting of the experiment is abruptly interrupted when the cameraman is abruptly run over.

"No serious and immediate threats to the national team, other than their holes in government security, and, oh? Is that America?"

This footage is also recent and shows a man instructing a soldier inside an armor connected to power cables. He moves his limbs without incident, even if in an extremely mechanical and not very fluid way, until in an attempt to turn around, his torso rotates 340 ° with too much force and ends up tearing from the lower part of the body violently, spraying blood like a fountain everywhere.

The spectators are horrified by that spectacle and at that point Yotsubashi Rikiya, seeing with an annoyed look that the technicians could not regain control, gets up and tears the cables of the television, turning it off.

I let out an amused snort as the mess began to creep into the classroom.

"Many countries are at least twenty or thirty years behind only with the exoskeleton," I say extremely amused, while the members of the HPSC were uncomfortable when everything they wanted to hide came to light.

'We have concluded, I don't understand where he is trying to get to'.

"I want to go so far as to say that your time is over. You tried to manipulate society to control it as you wanted, to maintain your influence and eliminate all the variables that undermined your power, but unfortunately, you cannot stop progress" I say bluntly, standing up "Everything you have tried to hide will come to the surface, and once you can no longer work in the shadows, The world can finally continue to thrive, free from the bullshit you fed your audience."

The rest is history.

After that day, a mysterious hacker had stolen hundreds of terabytes of secret information and documents from their servers, exposing hundreds of illicit operations, assassinations, sabotage, kidnapping and human experimentation, child soldier recruitment, and more over the past eighty years. All to accumulate favors, extra funds, and influence in society for members at the top of the association.

Needless to say, the uproar erupted, to the point that the UN and other human rights associations had gone knocking on their doors.

The situation got out of hand to the point that even the prime minister and the emperor had to intervene to quell the riots that broke out throughout the nation over what had come out.

Honestly, the things I posted were horrible, but all nations have their skeletons in closets and as long as they remained so, the people in power were more than willing to turn a blind eye and concentrate elsewhere in 90% of the cases if they ended up benefiting them.

In this precise case, I had carefully made sure that this mess broke out with the express intention of making the department look huge shitty globally, after my 'trial' on TV.

Since that time, I have been mostly left to myself, while the HPSC desperately tried to stay afloat with all the rot that had been exposed to the public, trying to survive the media pillory after facts and evidence were presented against them and put under investigation.

The fact that they tried to censor or silence some of the most inconvenient articles, television programs, or journalists did not help, especially when I made sure to end the cases in which they happened in trend.

It was cathartic, to say the least, to see how society crumbled day by day and lost faith in the system and heroes. By now we read everyday articles about many 'corrupt heroes' arrested, in cahoots with the HPSC or with their agenda, while others were constantly hit by criticism and discontent deciding to cut the rope and withdraw before the situation continued to worsen. Although the latter case is more the same subjects who aimed at fame, money, and women/men.

"Jack, breakfast is ready."

I turn to look at Miyu at the entrance of the gym.

"Good morning" I greet her as I wipe the sweat with a towel.

"... Are the power-ups running smoothly? Were there any side effects or unexpected effects?" She asks noting the variety of equipment I had used to train so far.

"No, no side effects until now," I reassure her. "I'm much better than I expected, I didn't think I would adapt so quickly."

The upgrades in question are from the Spartan-II project. I had already noticed it from the battle with Artoria, but regardless of how performing my armor was, it would still have been useless if I was transformed into a milkshake of flesh and bone because my body could not withstand the pressure, so, giving bottom to all my knowledge about the human body I realized a growth process to push myself beyond the limits of what I could do with thaumaturgy or Touki.

The experiment was divided into several rather invasive interventions:

Ossification with ceramic carbide: I grafted into my skeletal structure various elements and materials that strengthened and made my bones grow a little, to make them more resistant. The 'side' effect is that I am two meters tall now, but nothing unmanageable.

Injection of adamantium into the bones to completely cover them as Logan did.

Intramuscular Growth Injections: a protein complex injected intramuscularly to increase tissue density and decrease lactase recovery time.

A new mechanical heart: since the previous phase of treatment had a dangerously high rate of causing heart damage and other heart disease, I decided to nip the problem in the bud by replacing my old heart with a mechanical one, equipped with an integrated magic core that has the equivalent of 3 giga joules of spare energy, which is recharged by absorbing mana from the atmosphere. Well, it's not a magic core, more of a GN Condenser with an integrated alternator that changes GN particles into raw mana. Thanks to the nanites, I created a system that serves as pseudo-physical magical circuits, to avoid the overload of mine due to the movement of large amounts of energy. The physical circuits are connected to the heart and absorb mana from the atmosphere, which is then converted via the alternator into GN particles. A security measure to prevent someone like Barghest from devouring all the magical power in the surroundings, draining my heart accordingly.

Catalytic implants in the thyroid: a platinum capsule containing growth hormone implanted in the thyroid to revive the growth of muscle and skeletal tissues.

Inversion of the Occipital Capillary Flow: submersion and strengthening in the flow of blood vessels under the rods and cones of the retina. It produces a noticeable increase in visual perception and night vision.

Replacement of Nerve Dendrites with Superconducting Fibers: the replacement of nerve bioelectrical transduction with shielded electron transduction. 300% increase in my reflexes. It has also dramatically increased the efficiency of my eidetic memory.

Honestly, all the procedures were extremely painful, some almost on par with the Alaya-Vijnana implant in my back. Ceramic carbide bone grafts cause pain comparable to glass shattering inside the marrow. It felt like I had molten lead in my veins rather than blood for the hours following the growth process, and it didn't help that I couldn't take painkillers while stabilizing.

The transformation of neuronal dendrites into superconducting I felt was a combustion along the nerves of the spine. My eyes bled for a few days after the operation, and I needed a week to readjust to the new performance.

It was very different from using one of my armors. I had numerous programs to help me control the various functions, not to mention that Jarvis and Veda were also there to give me a hand. However after the growth process? The feeling of my body not standing behind the armor was quite similar; So, it took me less than expected to recover, but I still had to learn to move again because of the huge change I underwent.

If I had to compare myself now to the stats of a servant, I would say that all my stats except mana are now at Grade E, with the ability to double with reinforcement.

Then there's my protein arm, Airgetlam. One day Scathach brought me the arm blueprints and told me to recreate it as best I could, so I did it. Although it was technically a divine construct created by Miach, it wasn't really that complex to build, as it's a glorified prosthesis that had to fit into a divine spirit. Making one that suited humans was simple.

Instead of silver I used vibranium and rewrote Arondight's enchantments on his skeleton, thus achieving a perpetual increase in rank to all my parameters, bringing them basic to D, as well as his other abilities that made my arm a noble anti-army phantasm of grade A, although it was only possible because vibranium is the best conductor of energy ever recorded until now. Unfortunately, the effects of the arm and sword were not superimposable; therefore, I no longer needed to use Lancelot's weapon unless I had to face and kill dragons.

Rather sad that I have achieved more physically during the last two weeks of rehabilitation, than since I started my training with Scathach in the aftermath of the battle with Cu Chulainn.

Unfortunately, the numerous alterations to my genome have somehow completely compromised my already almost non-existent abilities with senjutsu, so now I can't even recall Touki. Not that it was a great loss. After the adaptation and the initial increase in performance, I will continue to grow, albeit at a noticeably slower pace, so it's still worth it.

I also achieved a rather advanced natural regenerative capacity thanks to the increase in the speed of my metabolism, which certainly drastically affected my recovery.

"It's better this way." She concludes wrinkling her nose. "Take a shower before coming to the table. You stink"

And with that, she leaves the room. I couldn't help but snort amused at her tender and worried side. Unlike Nezu who was very angry about my experiments (even though I hadn't violated any part of the third Geneva Convention) or Recovery Girl, who even tried to strangle me for my recklessness after the growth procedure, she wasn't so averse. Of course, she had her doubts and concerns about efficiency, more for my safety than for lack of faith in science, but she decided to make sure everything went smoothly rather than dissuade me from continuing with my operations.

It probably helped that we have been working together on many tasks over the last few months, from medical science to oddities, from quantum physics and my armor, so a certain level of trust has been built up between us whenever we are experimenting with something.

She hates more the idea of me being reduced to the pitiful state I was in against Altera or Cu Alter, or worse, that I get torn to shreds, so she preferred this choice to the alternative. Not that she was fond of seeing me convulsing or in agony and bleeding on the operating table during or after the surgery. She stayed by my side from the beginning to the end, to make sure there were no problems, although I could tell watching me in that state tugged at her heartstrings.

"So, what do you think?" I asked my teacher who had been watching my recovery session every morning since I had surgery.

"I have conflicting thoughts about the results" comments the immortal woman dryly. "Like everything that concerns you for that matter."

Scathach, unlike me and Miyu, despite seeing the advantages of my experiments, was still not happy with my choice. We both knew that my body before Project Spartan-II was unlikely to go beyond certain limits. I lacked the predisposition to make it, the talent in magecraft to be able to circumvent my limitations, and the time, depending on how the next few years go. Unfortunately, hard work does not always pay off and I am one of those cases where, no matter how hard I try, I will not be able to reach others by normal means.

That's why the immortal woman is so frustrated. I take seriously everything she tries to teach me, but unlike Miyu, Kuro, or even Illya, I must resort to unorthodox methods to learn what she wants to convey to me.

That and with her mentality perhaps found it more dignified to try with all my heart and fail rather than succeed at any cost, even resorting to extreme measures such as the Spartan project to do it.

When I could understand his point of view, since what I had done to myself was not exactly ethical, no matter what point of view you look at, for me failure was not an option. The threat of which Merlin had warned me is nowhere to be seen, nor had it been felt by the battle with Berserker. Add the fact that the Ainzsword hadn't arrived yet, and I just couldn't sit back and hope that everything went well with what I had available.

"Well, not everyone is born with some special talent." I let out a slightly resigned sigh at that hard truth as I got up to go wash.

"..."

Scathach followed me without me noticing as I went to look for Berserker and secretly entered the mirror world using the circle I had carved on the ground. She stood aside to observe the events of that night and after seeing how we defeated Cu Chulainn, even in her altered state, she decided to take under her wing also the three magical girls, who surprisingly, or not so much in reality, had proved extremely talented in different fields, making them much stronger than they were before without the help of class cards, just as I had predicted.

Miyu is much better at spear than her Kaleid counterpart was for obvious reasons and has an instinctive understanding of primordial runes that caught even Sathhakh off guard. After less than half a year of training, according to the immortal woman, she is better than Cu at tinkering with them, who is skilled enough to be summoned as a caster. Which is saying something.

Kuro, on the other hand, is a special case. Irisviel, after learning that I was modifying the regenerative cradle to be able to create living organ parts, such as organs and the like, especially to transplant them into All Might, had handed me numerous boxes of documents regarding Einzbern's homunculus, especially the Justeaze models created up to that point, as well as all the data regarding the modifications Lillya had undergone while in her mother's womb and after her birth to create a body for Kuro. Since they didn't have the proper equipment for this, I took care of it myself, and managed to clone Lillya's body from her DNA, with Scathach's help to supervise the process, I bonded Kuro, who was made of prana, to her new body, although due to the prolonged fusion with the class card she has inherited, if you can call it that, some of her abilities and some of Emiya's superhuman strength, as Shirou had done with Archer's arm, though she showed no signs of deterioration, physical or mental, using her new but familiar abilities.

Other things that have changed are the color palette, which has changed to match the one it had while it was merged with the class card even after its merger for some reason, and the fact that it no longer has free access to the noble phantasms that Emiya had recorded in her reality marble without the install. She could accurately recreate only the ones she was most familiar with and used most often until last month, such as the nameless bow, Caladborg, Hrunting, Kanshou and Bakuya, and a few other generic swords, mainly thanks to her analysis and memorization skills.

Thanks to her ability to analyze seeing me train with touki and senjutsu she had learned to do it too, managing to push her to the point of having an extra degree in all her statistics as a servant. She was learning from Scathach the use of various weapons and even runes, although not as good as Miyu in that field.

Both received a training spear, with Miyu receiving a new extra wand in case she didn't have Sapphire with her, or they stayed apart enough to undo the transformation into a magical girl as if she moved more than 50 meters away the connection between the two of them is broken. Honestly, seeing them train now I couldn't help but compare them to Skadi and Shishou.

Illya has also started training with Sella and her mother in alchemy, if she doesn't travel for work or train with me, Miyu, and Kuro, starting to look somewhat like her counterpart in Stay Night when she doesn't wear her magical girl outfit, just without her murderous side.

I... I was left behind, and that's one of the reasons I accelerated my schedule. No matter how many extra hours I trained, I couldn't keep up and made little or no progress. When frustration was the only thing I could feel after collapsing from overexertion for the tenth time in a month, I saw fit to proceed with the Spartan-II program.

"Did you and Shishou fight?"

I look towards Miyu as we walk towards the Emiya/Einzbern residence. It had become a habit because she wanted to go walking mostly with Illya, and Kuro had begged me to pick her up from her first day of school, even though none of them needed me to babysit them. It was still pleasant to talk to someone along the way, or at least just stay with the three of them since the atmosphere was always quite relaxed and cheerful among the peers, enough to make me stand aside in complete serenity.

In this life, and not even in the other, I had never had the opportunity to go to school with friends in complete relaxation.

"No, why?" I ask, confused by the sudden question.

"Mn... how can I say that... She seemed quite distant this morning." She says rather unsure of how to express herself.

"You say?" I ask not too sure what to think, since Scathach can hardly be called easy to read. "I mean, I always try to keep up with her expectations, but I kept failing since she started training me. Even in the use of weapons I need Astrea to apply the techniques she showed me, otherwise, I can't put enough momentum or force behind the swings."

It's true even now. Despite the upgrades, I can't use her techniques correctly. Cu Chulainn and most of her students were already strong basic between various blessings or divine blood, and my performance is low for a servant, barely average in fact. I can't compare to the legends she raised at the moment, and probably in the future if I leave a lasting impact on the history of this world, it definitely won't be because I'm a warrior.

The only small consolation is that I no longer felt the horrendous pressure that seemed to crush me into the Astrea when I fight at full capacity or use the trans-am.

"...it's not your fault."

"That doesn't make it any less frustrating for her or me," I reply with a shrug. "So far she has always managed to make every one of her students a worthy warrior in her eyes, except me. Perhaps she is tired of working on a lost cause? I didn't have much of an expectation either, but I don't remember ever failing so badly at anything before, not even while making my way in industry or creating the technology for my armor."

Miyu frowns at me, making me snort with amusement. She became rather overprotective of me and Illya after the class card hunt. When I found her in the snow we were on friendly terms, but there was always an invisible wall that made us maintain a certain distance, but now she's protective almost to the point of excess, even affectionate I'd say, and tends to treat anyone who speaks badly or behaves inappropriately with me harshly. Even I am no exception if I start talking sarcastically about myself because she is inclined to scold me and try to bring out my merits.

Or Kuro, for that matter, since she seems rather jealous of how she has no problem throwing herself on me at every opportunity, especially when after training she is tired and wants to be supplied with mana, as if it were still vital to keep her body manifested.

"..." Miyu lowers her head, visibly racking her brain for an argument that won't offend me or Scathach.

I stroke her head so much to her embarrassment/confusion.

"Don't worry, this morning at school I will train with her until the lunch break since we do not have morning classes, and I will ask her what's wrong." I try to reassure her.

On a side note, she began working at UA High as a teacher of the use of weapons and martial arts. In her spare time, she holds more 'light' lessons for middle school students interested in entering the course of heroes, or who want to learn how to defend themselves.

I, on the other hand, thanks to the freedom of teachers on the curriculum, attend only practical lessons related to heroism. I have already graduated and I know all the subjects even better than the teachers; So, Nezu allowed me to take all the exams in the first few days for the rest of the year so that I was free to organize the rest of the time as I wanted as long as I was productive. I usually spend half of my school hours training with Scathach, as all of her courses take place as an extracurricular activity in the afternoon, while the other time further developing my technology between upgrades and new equipment. From time to time, I also help with the support course with Power Loader.

"...Alright."

Her troubled gaze lights up a little when we arrive at a familiar gate. We enter the house in classic Japanese style, without alarming the delimited field and she rings the bell. It wasn't long before Sella in casual clothes opened the door.

"Oh, Miyu-san, good morning-" the maid's friendly expression sours when I am there too. "Jack-san" She greets me with a much more annoyed and less warm nod, hidden behind her professional mask. "What brings you here this morning?"

"Good morning, Sella-san." greets Miyu politely, completely oblivious to Sella's feelings "Today Illya and I are on duty for cleaning in the classroom so I came to wake her up."

My relationship with Sella is... funny actually. Miyu and I would have to spend Christmas alone since Toshinori had left for work and would not have been able to arrive in time to spend it with us; therefore, Irisviel insisted that we stop by them, and so we did. Since it would be bad to go empty-handed and their house is quite large, I had thought that a base with 20 drones cleaning windows and floors for the house would be fine, but Sella took it as an insult to her ability as a maid, so every time she sees me she does so. Sometimes she even goes so far as to attack me if I provoke her a little. She has not yet overcome that those little ones took away more than half of the work to do, so now not openly rude to me, but very short-tempered and annoyed by my existence ... or technology in general, since they are the new face of the word High-tech in the last period.

No one dared to tell Irisviel that the reason why the drones come to her every time she comes home is not because of an emotional bond that pets might have, but because whenever she is around she tends to litter the floor, leaving breadcrumbs for them; therefore, they do what I had planned for them and clean up.

The mother was so happy to take care of her little animals to find out the truth.

"I understand. Illya-san is still sleeping, while Kuro-san is washing after the morning shoot with Liz." She informs us and invites us in.

We take off our shoes at the entrance, as is customary and Miyu goes to call her friend, after checking that Kuro was not around to jump on me as she does every time we meet.

I, on the other hand, am kidnapped and dragged away by a familiar force, but I did nothing to resist and in the end, I found myself sitting on a bed in a rather generic and somewhat messy room.

"You've become huge. Did you get steroids?"

Liz's bored eyes stare at me after she makes her inquire.

"Morning Liz" I greet her just as lazily, as she sits astride me. "Not really, I just awakened my latent power." I jokingly reply to her that I have become a living human wardrobe consequently.

Things with her, on the other hand, are really strange, always because of that Christmas. After explaining that drones would practically halve the work to be done at home, Sella could not complain to Liz about her laziness because there was not enough work to do for two maids. The result? A kiss to the French in front of everyone's rather shocked gaze.

From that moment we are... I don't know. Friends? She often comes to visit me and even sleeps at my house when Illya and Kuro stop by me, mainly for my sweets. I am not good or passionate about cooking, but it is difficult to find a good Italian restaurant in Musutafu, and inevitably, thanks to nostalgia I forced myself to learn over the years some dishes that I loved from my grandmother in my previous life, such as parmigiana or some desserts in which not even Miyu could compete. Being as greedy as me, if not more, she often comes to binge or lunch in my vicinity to avoid Sella's ramblings, knowing perfectly well that I do not care if she does, nor am I particularly offended, indeed, we tend to use that time very well for us.

We had gone from watching a movie while eating cakes and various sweets with the magic trio, to fucking without restraint where we wanted, from one day to the next.

"Where have you been?" She asks as one of her hands goes down to my pants.

It had become almost a routine to greet us in this way.

"Rehabilitation," I answer as she pounces on my lips for a kiss, definitely impatient.

Thus begins a struggle for dominance between tongues as we try to prevail over each other by twisting them and exploring each other's mouths. I grab the neckline of her shirt and pull it down, while Liz accompanies the action by pulling her arms from the shoulderless sleeves, revealing her very generous breasts, also showing that she does not wear underwear to keep them still. I grab them both and squeeze them enjoying the feeling of my fingers sinking into the soft flesh while Liz inhales a little harder during the kiss when rough fingers massage her breasts and rub them greedily making her pink nipples harden noticeably contrasting with her porcelain skin.

We take a few seconds to catch our breath, making our tongues remain connected only by a thread of saliva.

"Chocolate...?" I murmur, feeling the slight aftertaste in my mouth.

"Mn" Liz makes an affirmative sound as she moves between my legs.

I raise an eyebrow amused and honestly a little confused by the speed with which the stoic woman moves. Honestly, we both knew we didn't have time, so when we get caught in the right mood, we usually make out a little, give each other a few throbs, and then meet somewhere later to finish our stuff if we really can't make a quickie. It's probably the first time since we started interacting so I can see in her eyes a sense of hunger and lust.

She quickly unbuckles my trousers, and lowers my boxers as well, freeing my shaft from its confinement. Honestly... it hadn't grown that much. I'd say my cock had reached 25 from 21 centimeters, to begin with, and a circumference of 16.

Liz looks at my penis curiously, seeing that it has gotten a little bigger then shrug her shoulders. One of Liz's hands goes under her shorts, while the other begins to slowly move up and down my penis, stroking it slightly. I let out a heavy sigh, feeling the pleasant sensation of Liz's soft but firm hand, especially since it is now evident that I am not the only one repressed here.

It was a long two weeks, after all, and I wasn't really in a position to deal with anything.

Her movements are methodical and precise, caressing all the right points, with the right pressure and care, making her treatment truly heavenly. However, at this rate, neither of us will end, and she seems to notice.

She moves forward and wraps her lips around the head of my penis. I feel her tongue snaking against the top of my erection and this time I let out a satisfied moan feeling her warm and welcoming mouth engulf it.

I observe the German woman at work and I also find the visual spectacle quite tempting. Liz's expression is still mostly blank, but her cheeks flushed and the twinkle in her eyes says that she is eager to do it too. Her hand begins to move faster under her panties, rubbing her covered parts more forcefully.

Slowly she takes more and more of my shaft in her mouth, her tongue licking it all over as she does so. Instinctively, my hands grab her head, trying to accompany her ministrations. Liz makes faint guttural sounds every time the tip of my cock touches her throat. Her saliva was beginning to drip all over my erection, but it didn't stop until it got to just over half my length before she looked at me.

No words were needed for some reason. I changed position a bit, standing with Liz still in the middle of her blowjob that had to stretch out so as not to detach from me. I then proceeded to push my pelvis towards her, going deeper into her mouth. Little by little, I plunged my shaft into her throat with each thrust, up to almost all of my length before I felt I had reached the limit and Liz began to breathe more labouredly.

Once I figured out how far I could push myself, I continued to fuck her face like an onahole, but rather than get angry, she used her left hand to play with her right breasts, both for her pleasure and mine, since I am enjoying the view.

Even with the occasional scratching of her teeth, the feeling of pushing my cock over her lips, over her tongue, and down her throat is fantastic as always since I finally stopped holding back myself because of the discrepancy between mental and physical age, and it wasn't long before I felt the pressure on my erection get too intense to ignore, sign of my approaching orgasm. Pushing myself into her mouth one last time, just going a little further than I could before, I finally release.

I feel large strokes of cum erupting directly into her welcoming throat. Her eyes open wide, surely because the amount this time was much higher than previous times thanks to my modified body and she has spasms reaching her orgasm.

I can only describe her expression as the epitome of relaxation. Unfortunately, she hadn't done the math right perhaps, and was forced in the middle of her daze to let me go because the semen load was excessive this time and the last sprays ended up on her face and breasts.

Liz stays with her mouth open for a few moments and then closes it swallowing. She opens it again to show me that she has injected all the sperm right down her mouth.

"Well, I needed it," I mutter taking a pack of tissues from her bedside table and passing it to Liz.

"I agree." She says simply starting to clean herself.

I almost get hard again seeing her cleaning the residual sperm on her breasts. It's a beautiful sight and I like it even more after soiling her cleavage with my seed much to my dismay.

Have I just discovered a new fetish or is it just the heat of the moment?

I feel my cock twitch at the thought.

Unfortunately, light footsteps walk down the corridor.

"Damn," I complain, pulling up my pants.

Liz also moves to clean herself and put her shirt in place. The door opens revealing Miyu who at this point had already woken up her friend, accompanied by Sella.

"Guten Morgen." Liz greets the girl lazily.

"Liz! Be more polite when greeting guests... even unwanted!"

The last arrow was aimed at me but I ignored it.

"It's proof of how confident we are," Leysritt replies, shrugging her shoulders. "Even early in the morning, you're so strict. It's irritating."

"C-what did you say?!" she gasps upset, offended by her lazy sister.

"Exactly what it seems." as she usually does, Liz answers the rhetorical question frankly and without too many words.

"Damn you, the only thing you've gotten good at since those electronic monstrosities haunted the house is to fight back and count! When-"

And that was the signal to leave. Liz did as always, a great job of distracting everyone and getting me to sneak away, thus avoiding uncomfortable questions from the overprotective maid.

"What were you doing in Leysritt-san's room?" asks Miyu, staring at me quite seriously.

"Mn? He controlled me, he thought I had doped" I answer still extremely relaxed.

What I said is true, but I didn't tell him the whole story. Because? I have nothing to hide, but I don't hang posters of the people I sleep with; So, I didn't see any reason to tell him unless he wants to know it.

"Mnn..." she makes a contemplative sound, but she doesn't go on with her questions.

Surely, he understood that I didn't tell him everything, but I didn't lie either. Liz has never actually hidden that she is affectionate with me after all.

"ONIII-CHAAAAN!" After the euphoric scream, a bullet in human form collides with me, throwing its arms around my neck "ACK!? What the hell Miyu?!"

Or at least she tried. A strain of air solidified in front of me causing Kuro to virtually crash into an invisible wall courtesy of the runes of the off-duty magical girl.

"Mn" Miyu made a sound similar to an impassive puff at Kuro's surprised and angry look.

"Yo" I greet her lazily, ignoring the possible bickering that was about to begin.

Seeing that her peer was not in the least interested in any discussion, Kuro snorted and scattered the runes, and then tried to jump on me.

"ONIII-AKHH!?"

Or at least, she tried, again. Silver threads bind her in mid-air, preventing the girl from hugging me and trying to kiss me like she does every morning, despite telling her that she had to wait at least fifteen. There were almost, still only two weeks and then as I promised we would do everything we wanted.

"Kuro, what exactly were you trying to do?" asks Illya, approaching her with a smile too sweet to be natural.

"My usual routine." She replies annoyed. "Now stop interrupting me and let me get my morning kiss!"

A vein contracts on Illya's forehead.

"Pervert!"

Using magic she creates a hand and slaps her.

"Gyah!?"

"Noisy," Miyu complains with a sigh as the two sisters argue.

"Well, at least they're lively?" I say with a wry smile, while a half-asleep Irisviel looks out to see what's going on, along with Kiritsugu.

I couldn't help but grimace when I saw the grim look he threw at me as Kuro tried to climb over his twin to launch herself at me. He and I never spoke... or exchanged more than 200 words in total since we met at Christmas. For some reason, he tried to avoid me like the plague and I couldn't shake the feeling that he, like Irisviel, knew me in some way, even though I had never met them before class cards to begin with. The only times when he doesn't mind paying attention to me are when he tries to kill me with his eyes in situations like this.

I just can't understand what his problem is.

Behind Kiritsugu also appears Maya who beckons me to greet which I reciprocate. She is relatively friendly to me. Taciturn, but in the few interactions we had she was always polite.

At the request of Illya, worried about the dangerous occupation of the magus killer, I had prepared custom weapons and equipment that would make the armies of the world drool, very useful for the strategies they usually use to hunt wizards, supernatural creatures, and the like.

"Illya, if we don't move we will be late for cleaning."

And like every morning, Miyu makes the voice of reason separating Illya and Kuro while they argue, to return to the reason that brought us here in the first place.

After the class card ordeal for which I didn't have time to prepare properly, the relatively quiet times before and after UA helped me advance my technology.

Several factors helped this development: I quit my full-time job at Might Tower to focus on UA as soon as school started. The research and development division was practically entirely dedicated to me; then, once separated, it was converted into a real company renamed Celestial Being, which I kept up with the help of Miyu, the co-founder of the new business.

Thanks to my mage contract with Ajuka, and Serafall as a liaison between my agency and the underworld, I received copious funds with the dozens of vaccines and medical equipment prepared by me and my business, which made a significant leap in quality to the health of devils. I also helped the older devil to program patches for the evil pieces since they were not able to adequately convert the quirks, leading to their loss when the human in question was reincarnated in a good 70% of cases; Thus, the reputation that has derived from working with highly confidential data has made older devils turn up their noses, who despite having in some cases seats on the board and the like could not even come close to such data. Many tried to stop my rapid expansion but failed miserably and closed shop in most cases, while the larger companies could barely stay afloat in my fields of expertise.

The reason is simple: older devils were often too attached to old traditions, customs, and ways of doing things trying to slow down progress as much as possible, for fear of losing influence and no longer being able to stand as 'nobles' over the 'plebs'. I'm at the opposite pole of my technology, which was making progress too fast compared to theirs, as I was chasing innovation.

The novelty had attracted interest, leading the Celestial being to be inundated with orders from the vast majority of participants in the raiting games, thus giving a huge shock to the rankings that began to arouse the interest of the youngest and also of the adult public with the battles now not too obvious. The ever-increasing number of quirks and high-tech technology among the devils had begun to bring out a flood of reincarnates stuck in the lower and middle class because of the customs of the old guard, making the general public, still subject to the vision of the society of the factions of the Great King and the old satan, question the efficiency of the system in it, giving more ammunition to the new government to use against them, thus allowing the new Maou to break the political stalemate that had formed centuries earlier and return to gain influence.

It's the reason I'm so appreciated by Ajuka and Serafall, even though I'm officially neutral and I'm thinking of expanding my business to other factions once I find the right support.

Not all the attention was positive and all kinds of threats came daily, but it was rare for any of the devils' political groups to physically attack one of the two Celestial Being headquarters. In Musutafu there are often members of the undercover agents of Serafall or Sizerchs, with the excuse of the sisters studying at the UA, while in the Underworld the branch is personally protected by dozens of dragons led by Tannin himself. The former dragon king along with his subjects was personally around keeping an eye on things unless they were busy with anything else that necessarily required their attention, because I created numerous vaccines for mutated diseases for them, as well as alternative ways of growing dragon apples and other vital foods the survival of different species and subgroups of dragons, averting after centuries their precarious condition and facilitating their repopulation, given that from the Great War to now they are still at risk of extinction and international treaties between the factions did little to curb poachers.

No one, and I mean nobody, was stupid or suicidal enough to directly attack a place guarded by dozens of dragons ready to kill with extreme prejudice anyone who accidentally looks in their direction. The technology in the underworld is even more backward than in the human world, despite the novelties brought over time by the new Maou, so I didn't need to worry about hacker attacks or anything since they could not even attach themselves to the company's network. They could not even infiltrate properly, despite the most disparate attempts, because 95% of the structure is automated or uses drones controlled by my AI.

However, with all the money I've made in Japan and the underworld, Miyu and I plus all the commissions and projects I had left pending due to lack of funds, we managed to put together a lot of interesting things for my armor, first of all the completion of the GN drive, after Veda managed to put together other damaged key data from Aeolia's projects.

Thanks to Sapphire we were able to recreate the gravity of Jupiter, the variable that I could not achieve with today's technology because reaching that pressure for long periods was extremely expensive in terms of energy and resources, which were not a problem with the infinite prana obtained through the Kaleidoscope.

The functional GN Drive was tested on the new Astrea Type F and later on the F2, both of generation 2.5, built not only because, after the growth process, I had become too large to fit in its predecessor but also because there were many changes and upgrades to be made to the frame itself with the combat data collected during the battle with the class cards.

The attachment points on the forearms and legs of the Astraea Type F have been replaced directly by the GN condenser. Since the GN drive is completely different in weight, shape, and space occupied, I had to reshape the entire bust design a bit. The reason? The GN drive with the cone configuration destroyed the balance in flight; therefore, several changes were necessary that led to the creation of the Type F2, much more similar to the Exia in terms of appearance and above all made entirely of adamantium. The pair of new antennae on the head has GN particle control capability identical to the two antennas on the collarbones. With its four-antenna configuration, the Astraea Type F2's ability to control GN particles has increased by more than 40%. This not only provides him with very precise control of GN particles but also solves the problem with reduced particle control that the two previous versions of the Astrea faced when a collarbone antenna was removed to equip the GN Launcher (by the way never used outside of testing).

The Astrea Type F2 is equipped with a GN power line: light purple cables that cross various parts of the Astrea's body and are also one of its most eye-catching features. Under the armor they cross the entire structure of the frame, similar to the crest of the star of Altera, instantly providing a huge amount of GN particles, and therefore of energy that can be transformed into mana if necessary, to each part of its structure, allowing me to have a significant and momentary increase in performance or an effect similar to Artoria's Mana burst. It can also be used to increase the defensive capacity of the Astrea, since all that mass of energy makes the nanolaminate armor extremely hard, to the point of making it possible for the armor to withstand a Noble Phantasm of grade B or lower. It's not like God Hand or Armor of Fafnir canceling attacks coming below grade B, it's simply metal and nanolaminate armor combined that are too hard to pass through by force. Even a grade A grade one would make at most scratches on the paint, and is completely impervious to magic.

GN power lines are also used for attitude control due to the mass reduction effect of GN particles, and therefore, Astrea having more cables outside than other Gundams can achieve more precise control. The mass reduction effect lightens the Gundam and can be used to alter the mass ratio of various parts of the body. Thanks to the latter capability, it is possible to freely control the inertia and turning capabilities of the machine when it is in the air, and for Active Self-Control of Mass Balancing (AMBAC) in the absence of gravity. This also eliminates the need for the legs to "walk" during movement.

Needless to say, with the particles doing most of the work, the amount of energy needed for actual flight is reduced exponentially. The sum of all the factors that compose it has made the GN drive a semi-perpetual energy engine.

Aeolia Schenberg is an incredible genius, even more than a century after her untimely death. Truly, the futile witch hunt at the beginning of the advent of quirks deprived the world of an immeasurable genius. I honestly hope I can continue where she left off.

However, in addition to experimenting with the two new armors, I created the Prototype Buster Sword using Photon ray and GN sword V as a basis. Made almost entirely of vibranium, this two-meter-long broadsword has two modes: sword and rifle. In sword mode, thanks to the treatments to which Agreas ore is subjected to create evil pieces (passed by Ajuka), the metal is extremely responsive to most supernatural or normal energies, which makes it capable of cutting almost anything as well as making it a conductor that would shame noble phantasm of the caliber of Arondight or Galatine. Its ability to absorb, redirect, and amplify any energy source, in combination with GN burst (the equivalent of Burst mana powered by GN particles), becomes an anti-army weapon of grade A or higher, depending on how much energy is used.

In rifle form it can fire normally, or be combined with the eleven bit-staves, which together with the trans-am generates the same output power as Proto-Excalibur with seven restrictions removed or Artoria's version, putting it on the same level as a noble anti-fortress phantasm of grade A++, perhaps even reaches A+++ if I overclock the GN drive and the Bits were with reinforcement, thus making it a valid alternative to any noble phantasm in my reality marble when it comes to pure firepower, indeed, in some ways it is also preferable.

"Are you ready?"

I am distracted from my thoughts by Scathach, who enters the training area, dressed in her tight suit.

"Yes, the new armor is ready for combat testing."

"So let's start right away. This is the first test after the accretion process, right?" She says, putting herself in position with a spear.

Rhetorical question, but yes. Thanks to the new materials, modifications, and upgrades, classifying her stats as those of a servant would be: B in strength and agility; A in resistance; and Ex in mana. That's if I don't count the performance tripled by Trans-am.

"Very good," I answer, holding the two-handed Proto-Buster sword.

Unlike the first fight we had, this time it was me who started, very eager to see the difference between before and after. Driving the thrusters, I hurl myself towards Scathach breaking the sound barrier.

She was not impressed, having seen previous versions of my armor go at the same speed; So, so she intercepted me without problems by pointing to my right side, where she knows that the joints are uncovered when I make certain movements, but unlike many other times before, I do not slow down in the slightest and intercept the weapon without problems with a sword, making sparks fly everywhere.

The second shot came as fast as lightning, but I could see it anyway, and I intercepted it halfway without any problems, making our weapons screech, with such force that it pushed my teacher back several meters.

"Mnn?" she makes a sound intrigued by the quick exchange of blows. "Well, now you can keep up with a few strokes of love; So, I will increase the pace."

I ignore her mockery and charge again, but true to my words, Scathach drastically increases her speed, forcing me to stop to deflect dozens of lunges. Sparks and air blades mow the ground, raising dust, but I ignore them and after over deflecting yet another lunge of Gae Bolg, active GN Burst.

The particles flooded the power lines, drastically increasing the strength and speed of my armor, so the recoil of the spear this time was strong enough to unbalance Scathach who looked at me with the slightest hint of surprise, but this did not prevent her from parrying the next swing with the same ease with which he breathes. Once again, however, the unexpected force in the limbs of my armor pushes it back several meters.

Already adapting to the new performances, Scathach throws herself forward imperturbably with a lunge, more like a crimson, which I avoid by lowering myself and counterattacking trying to cut off her arm. The immortal woman reacts by pulling her limb back and I hit the spear, with such force as to split the ground and make her retreat. Trying not to give her time to recover, I start a quick and precise barrage of slashes to the temple, left side, neck, right shoulder, left thigh, and throat, all deflected without injuries even if every step back she made was rather unstable.

I try to accelerate further, deflecting a cut from her oncoming spear downwards, but moving even faster Scathach pivots on herself and strikes with a horizontal slash. If it hadn't been for Astrea's floating control, I would probably have been off balance, so, using the same strategy with a third GN volley, I pivoted on myself and struck my teacher.

The cursed spear screeches loudly and bends slightly from the force with which my weapon collides it. Showing more technique than brute force, Scathach deflects the trajectory of my swing, which slams into the ground.

The sheer brute force of the F2 splits the gym floor, opening a small crater as the half-goddess jumps away. I don't let myself be distracted by the hitch and intercept the point where it lands, pushing myself with the thrusters, even if Scathach avoids being decapitated by lowering and kicking me away. The pointed heel of her suit collides with the flat side of the Proto-Buster sword since I managed to anticipate it, but I am pushed back this time about twenty meters.

"Heh, you've gotten pretty aggressive. Has the sudden increase in power given you to the head?" she taunts me, with an amused smirk.

"No, but now my body is behind my thoughts; so, I can fight more fluidly than before." I respond seriously to her ridicule "Wasn't it you who said it took me too long to organize my ideas during a fight?"

The smirk becomes a straight line as it returns to its place. The spear is engulfed by red prana. It charges with a speed that far exceeds grade A, but nails before crashing into my fingernails.

"Gae Bolg!"

The red spear becomes a lightning bolt that flies toward me with a force and speed that I would not have been able to follow before. That's why I needed Rho Aias to defend myself. But now?

The power lines overflow with GN particles to boost the Atrea's arms and also swallow my weapon, which collides with the tip of my teacher's noble phantasm. The red lightning crackled violently plowing through the ground for a few seconds, but then I felt the emptiness when the force disappeared as if it had never been there in the first place, leaving me halfway through swinging like an idiot.

I observe fascinated by the reversal effect of randomness unfolding before my eyes. Scatach's spear flies from her hand with unspeakable force, but thanks to the GN burst still active I intercept again (or maybe it's the first time?) halfway.

The red prana collides with the green particles, which creates a violent clash between immovable forces that repercussions shaking the environment like an earthquake. Other cracks are created in the ground and add up with the old ones, propagating even through the walls and making concrete fly everywhere.

Eventually, the prana condensed in the spear runs out and I manage to throw it away.

"..." Scathach silently stares, with an illegible expression, at the mortal body that should not fail, being stopped by me a second time, although in this case, I suffered no damage.

"89%... almost 10% of the energy of the Astrea to stop the reversal cause-effect of Gae Bolg" I murmur with mixed emotions "Heh, really scary as always."

On the one hand, it is frightening that despite the virtually unlimited energy of the GN drive, a tenth of it has been drained in this way.

On the other hand, I was elated to see that my technology could finally match a noble phantasm!

A small smile makes its way down Scathach's face, sending shivers down my spine for some reason.

"It seems that I can take you a little seriously now." She extends a hand and the cursed spear, hurled against a wall, comes back to her while with a red flash a second one appears. "Get ready, from now on I will start to hit a little heavier."

I wanted to say 'Do your worst' or something, but I didn't want to see how it would turn out in that case; So, I charged silently.

A red flash is what I saw when, by reflex, I deflected the left spear, which cleaves the ground. I moved my head to avoid the other weapon, responding with a vertical slash downwards, with enough force to rage on the torn floor of the gym and make the immortal woman sink up to her ankles.

Without batting an eyelid Scathach pushes me away and continues her assault, which with every swing, slash, or rotation shakes the training area reserved for me at the UA. I jump away as a crimson trail pierces the reinforced wall of the gym.

It's become a little easier to follow both spears or divide my attention into more things while fighting.

I deflect another lunge, sinking the left spear into the ground, then taking advantage of the length of my blade also stopping the left swing, before jumping to avoid a sweep at my feet with the other weapon. Rather than focusing on his speed, her shots became much stronger, more precise, and targeted, leading me to stay defensive, since she made my balance slightly wobble.

I land another blow and avoid a lunge, putting a few feet between me and her to get my guard back up, before charging again. Scathach tries again with a lunge which I avoid without stopping, before tilting my sword to deflect her blow and try to strike her again myself, though she proves to be as monstrously agile and quick of foot as ever, slipping easily onto my left flank.

She did not have sufficient distance to give a decent power to the blow she could deliver, so she simply turned away with a calculating glance.

She throws herself at me, throwing one of her spears at me that I deflect without hesitation, before stopping her assault with a slash downwards, which nails her other weapon into the concrete. I was forced to jump anyway, because although I had deflected his lunge, the spear still pierced the cement, generating an air blade that sliced the gym in half. I avoid another series of lunges aimed at the head, heart, and lungs, before lowering myself to avoid a swing that sliced in half the cloud of dust that had risen at the beginning of his assault.

I deflect other shots that contain an absurd force behind them as I retreat, causing more damage to the structure. I use a GN burst in my slash to drive it away.

Honestly, I couldn't understand what she was trying to do. She's gone from one fighting style to another since sparring started, but she's a bit different than usual. Usually, she puts pressure on me and pushes me to the limit of my abilities to force me to fight with everything I have, but now... not? Because she's restraining herself like this.

"You look confused. What distracts you?" she asks in her usual authoritarian tone.

"You're holding back. Why?" I accuse her rather confused by her behavior.

"I always do." She replies impassively.

"You know what I'm referring to."

She tilts her head this time.

"I'm feeling the waters and evaluating your changes." She replies expressionlessly. "After the treatment, you have become relatively strong. You will hardly be brought down by a servant who is not at the top of their class now."

Now It's my turn to be confused and lost.

"...Who are you and what have you done to the real Scathach?" I ask warily, even more on guard than before.

Her eye twitches in response.

"...Do you want to get hit?"

"I've never heard a single word of encouragement or compliment from you, ever since you tested me to start my training, I don't see why you should do it now." I point out impassively. "This simply corroborates my doubt about your true identity."

"Although rarely, I still praise my students," she replies, spinning her spear lazily.

"If you say so," I answer shrugging, not interested in questioning her methods. "But considering that since I met you the only expressions I have seen you make towards me are stoic or frustrated, I would say that my doubt that you are only trying to make me lower my guard is legitimate. Is it another test?"

She frowns at my words.

"Is it so hard to believe that I'm completely serious?"

"It would have been more credible if you had insulted me by saying something like that servants are only pale imitations of the originals; So, I should have been happy to be able to do at least that," I answer impassively.

She stops, thoughtful.

"... Are you a masochistic?"

"Not," I answer deadly seriously. "I'm just confused. We only talk about training and we haven't had any conversation so far outside of it, especially during spars. So, I don't understand your sudden change of attitude. Stopping a sparring to talk is not usual from you."

Her expression becomes pensive as she brings a finger to her chin.

"In your case, it's a little different." She replies, trying to find the right words. "I train my students this way because I have high expectations as I understand their talents, how to push them and help them improve if they have the will to do so, not because I like to denigrate them. But you are ... different.

"I don't have any talent, I know," I answer with a sigh trying to sum up that piece and cut to the chase.

"No, your talents are different from my usual area of expertise." explains Scathach "Six months ago you could barely stop a Gae Bolg shot, but now you can stop it with pure brute force or with the sole resistance of your armor. Even in Cu Chulainn's time, I could count on the fingers of my hands the people who could do it, even with power limited to that of a servant."

I drop my guard as I place my broadsword on my shoulder with mixed emotions.

"I still don't understand where you're going with this." I honestly admit, completely lost. "Even if you can't teach me the way you do other students, I can still learn your techniques and train with a fighter more experienced and powerful than me in many ways. At least, that's how I've always thought of it, so why try to change now? It's not like I'm not learning anything one way or the other."

"Because it is frustrating not to be able to teach one of my disciples as I should." She admits with a sigh. "I was reading up on the internet to look for new training paths that I thought might help me get a clearer idea, since it's been ages since I retired, and maybe find the breakthrough that was needed here with all the information circulating on the net, but I couldn't find anything that seemed satisfactory. Maybe I should ask the mouse?"

Hearing her thoughts on the subject, I couldn't help but look at her rather shocked honestly.

And I wasn't the only one.

"To think that my teaching methods were also appreciated by legendary figures like yours... I have to say I'm flattered."

Nezu's voice resounds from the... Two intercoms near the entrance, mostly intact and covered in dust.

"Headmaster? How long have you been listening to it?"

Ah, right, Nezu knows about the supernatural and Scathach, me, and the magic trio in middle school. As well as All MIght. Then again, it was obvious in hindsight. All Might's raw power is superior to any sacred gear, not Longinus tear, especially when using the touki that could more than double One for All's maximum capacity, and it's well-known that factions are always on the hunt for new talent to recruit.

It's the reason why when he saw me coming back to work after the class card hunt, he chewed me horribly for not telling him anything about it. He had also scolded Miyu and Sapphire, forcing us to tell him everything that had happened, the situation with Zeldrech who after six months still could not be seen anywhere, although no one had mentioned the past of my 'sister' who was now obviously linked to the supernatural.

Returning to Scathach, Nezu was quite pleased to know that the teacher of many famous heroes of the past had come out of her isolation and was even looking for a job. He jumped at the chance to recruit her into the UA faculty, as he was looking for staff.

"More or less since you stopped." he reveals "Your fight triggered the earthquake alert of the school and the evacuation. When the system still detected people inside and I saw who, I let everyone in."

"..."

"..."

We at least had the decency to look embarrassed.

"To answer your question Scathach-san, we can also discuss now in my office" he informs us. "After a conference on the importance of performing certain workouts in equipped areas, followed by a very detailed report of the damage to the school structure and the use of excessive force during shooting, with a sincere letter of apology because of the problems caused to the faculty and students during class hours"

As if someone had prepared a script suitable for the principal's speech, debris falls from the roof of the unsafe structure of the gym, which by some miracle still stands. For now.

"Well,f-"

"Finish that sentence and I will also add parts about public decorum and foul language in front of a school principal during class time."

I closed my mouth before I could finish cursing out loud and hearing Nezu's warning, not wanting to do hundreds of pages of paperwork by hand, which surely would find a way to increase.

Scathach seemed of the same opinion.