Four sets of exoskeleton legs. Radar camera-type eyes. Low-density material coverings. A portable reactor engine. Computer control units. One Nano-Healing fish for good measure.

I stare upwards at the spider shaped robot as it quietly idles, its legs slowly lifting the whole thing up and then down, the standard 'breathing' motion its programming makes it do when it stands still.

It's a much smaller Spidertron, but it'll do quite nicely for a remote control drone. That's what I am doing to scout out the city, by having a giant mechanical spider disguised to not look like a robot just…walk in. Scan the area. Return.

Really. Since it is inhabited by, y'know, beasts, it'll probably be just fine and fit right in with absolutely no issues whatsoever.

Other than the fact that it's a giant spider.

Now, to theme it after this game of gods and beasts I find myself in between, I shall name this shell of steel and wires after another spider, one whose name I came across while waiting for some travel-time to pass during my initial pre-incident Engineering days, watching the stars go by.

"I do indeed dub this drone—Kolmisilmä, Weaver of Stars!"

…And then I label it as such in my HUD.

Its name means 'Three-Eyes' in another language, Finnish, a pre-Space language if my translation software is to be believed. It's not actually the name of a god or anyone special like that, but I think it's funny for people to assume it is.

Staring at the drone, it towers over me at a solid 12 feet tall. That's more than my height by over 5 feet…with the suit making me around 6 foot something.

The legs are long and thin but sturdy, reinforced by those low-density structural pieces I'm also using for the spaceship. The head, unlike a normal spider, only has three eyes. Not that it matters much, because those eyes are actually over-functional due to the fact that my cameras are all 360-degrees and can literally see in every direction, enhanced by the little radar also installed in the head.

The skin, the 'chitin', now that's the fun part. It's a funny little pattern, made by scanning the environment around it and just sort of…remixing it to make a false static scrolling pattern with a slightly reddish tint to it.

Pseudo-camouflage optics tech—and I'm using it for funsies to make a cool and unique visual effect.

Eheheh.

The rest of the computation and whatnot is all in the abdomen, that fat butt-like thing spiders have.

Regular Spidertrons don't need any of that, being large enough that the average person can casually pilot one from the inside—not to mention that they have multiple-of-each RPGs and all those fancy modular components from my armors, such as energy shields, laser defenses, and personal roboports.

This drone, though? It has no space for components, no space for guns or piloting, no nothing.

Hence why I'll be using it for remote-control scouting, since it doesn't really need anything.

…Well, uh, except for one thing.

I've noticed that Yuuma and Chiyari were beast-themed women. Not anthropomorphic sheep or chupacabra, but sheep- and chupacabra-themed human-esque women.

Ergo, this drone has a certain capability to, say, transform?

Erm, this whole thing may or may not be related to that inventory-thing my suit has. Compression-tech, which I'm pretty sure is a DarkLight Industries exclusive.

It makes…some sense. The darkest light, a black hole. In reality, those things are dense enough to capture and compress light itself, right?

I don't understand it. I don't need to understand it. Copy and paste because it works and I know it does, and it can fit both the human-shape and spider-shape's transformation pieces inside it—and nothing else.

…I'll try to figure out the 'Why' of that later. There are more important things now, though I did decide on my look.

I'm not changing. This look of mine is pretty iconic, and I won't be changing it due to dysmorphia issues—which is to say, I would not recognize myself if a picture was suddenly taken of me with a look I choose on a whim. I do have some pre-made Cosmetic Module shapes saved, but, well, how do I say this…

I don't care. Therefore, I shall not change, done deal.

Maybe if I had more time to think about this, say, three days instead of twelve hours, I could plan my life around it. Instead, I'm pulled into this whole thing with no warning—

Eh, my complaints have been said and heard already, if not by myself, then by the imaginary audience in my head I keep around to air my arguments as if I was talking to actual people. Playing both the angel(s) and devil(s) on my shoulder has really helped me come to terms with some of the more extreme decisions I've made in life, y'know?

—Oh, and, after the past few hours, occasionally Hecatia too, but she's not around right now so she can't comment or complain in return. Hah, take that you random goddess.

Anyway, the rocket silo and all the electrical components I'll need for a separate electrical grid are in one steel crate and the rocket pieces (which will get turned into a rocket by the silo itself) are all in these separate ones.

I just wish that the rocket fuel canisters, space-rated low density structures, and rocket control units weren't so damn bulky.

I mean, yeah, the object they'll build up to will be much taller than a full-sized Spidertron and will need some amount of bulk and weight combined with the thrust of several rocket engines just to be able to breach the Earth's atmosphere and make it out into space…

But it'd be more convenient if the pieces were smaller, I guess?

Hm.

Never mind that, then. Let's send this drone out and see what I can get done before Hecatia comes back to check on me.

I send a command with my HUD and the giant spider robot shivers, which, I'll be honest, is vaguely horrifying. It's not that I absolutely hate spiders or anything, but the sight of an unliving soulless robot that looks so realistic gives me the impression of staring at an alien lifeform that now suddenly exists and I now have to deal with that fact.

One way or another, this will be amazing.

With my internal Spidertron remote module, I send it scurrying over the flat grounds and off into the distance at speed, where I know both that the city lays and where my near-fully constructed forward base remains unconnected to the rest of the power grid.

Heh. Heheh. They'll never know what hit 'em.

Go, go, my dear remote controlled robot. Go, and give them a name to be feared.

It certainly won't be my name, which is the entire point!

Eheh. Heheheheh! Ahahahahahaha—

—-

Briefly, from the Fantastic Blowhole, Hecatia Lapislazuli could have sworn she heard laughter from her champion.

"...I wonder what's going on over—ah! Wait, not there, the next space over!"

The group of 'zombie' Fairies, or, rather, regular Fairies in costumes to make them look like ghostly spirits, all groaned, then lifted the large palette of wood logs over to the designated center space of the clearing underneath the eponymous hole which led downwards into the depths of the earth.

In this area was where the Rocket Launch Festival was taking place, an area slightly off-center underneath the hole—so that the actual rocket silo was in the center for unimpeded launch positioning—with many spaces for booths and stands set up front.

"Is this the right spot?"

"Yes, yes, you got it. Now go talk to Clownpiece about your reward."

Resounding cheers echoed from the cosplay Fairies, who then flew off to talk to the other cosplay Fairy who had returned from poster duty to oversee a different part of the festival stand construction to get something worth their time being hired away from their other job.

In this case, their other 'job' was watching them from off to the side, sipping tea from a skull-shaped mug as payment for her own time.

Rin Kaenbyou, Corpse Carting Cat-Youkai extraordinaire, occasionally called upon the small embodiments of nature as part of some of her Spellcards.

She wore a black dress with seemingly random blue highlight lines, the ends of the dress denoted by a red seam where it turned into teal colored frills around the collar, sleeves, and knees. On the pair of cat-ears sticking out of her short red hair and the two twintails off to the side were four black ribbons.

It should be noted that she also had a pair of human ears as well, and all four of her ears worked in conjunction pretty damn well, picking up the very peculiar sound of magic getting closer.

The red-haired cat-girl looked up from her drink at the red-haired God-girl who had approached in a hovering float with a knowing grin.

"So, you like it?"

"You know it, sis! And since all I have to do is make sure they don't play around, it feels kinda unfair, yeah?"

"Totally! It's also why I didn't hire anyone else to build. Not spirits, not this, uh, guy I know…and especially not those Oni."

Oni, the premier demon race of Hell, who would start drinking, get into a fight and probably wreck the materials within ten minutes of starting.

They both laughed knowing the implications of hiring Oni. If there was anything that they were known for, it was drinking and violence.

Sometimes it was fun, though! Bar brawls suddenly erupting around you when you had a lousy day and really just needed to let off steam by fighting really tough opponents was a legitimate attraction of Former Hell bars, given their high attendance rate of Oni.

In a sense, the bars served the more attractive parts of the psyche: feeding, fighting, fleeing, and then, yes, afterwards, sometimes with the people you were just fighting with or at an establishment in the often nearby red-light district, fu—

—-

—ahahaha!

…Ahem. I think this whole thing is getting to me. Have I said that already? Well, it's being said again because it's relevant again.

The camera screen on the drone shows nothing but the Eater System's auto-built structures, the power-lines, railroads, electric mining drills, Roboports, oh-so-very-many robot arms and conveyor belts—and the empty ground in between it all.

There's spaces of varying emptiness, which I'm pretty sure is there because Hecatia set this whole situation up—which was to have me eventually use up all the available resources in this area, all the ores and trees and whatnot, then move to places that already have infrastructure and take it—take them—and use it to snowball my 'power' towards something large enough to conquer the whole of Hell.

…Does that metaphorically make me the Biters? Those native aliens from the incident whose whole place in the planet's ecosystem was to clean up pollution and whatnot by absorbing it from the air.

Then, when that wasn't enough, tracking down the sources of it—my machines, in this case, and destroying them.

At some points, they got really close.

By the simple fact that these things are all spoken of in past-tense, I did indeed survive.

…I suppose the answer to 'me being the Biters' is no, then. I'm not a native species that's cleaning up the environment via guerilla terrorism and demolishment, for one.

In this metaphor I'm more like an expansionist transformative parasite taking over the land and making it into more factories.

…I'm sure that's a dig at some government somewhere, but what isn't?

Anyway, the drone runs and runs, past both somethingness and nothingness, and in the distance I can see that huge river, tinged a slight greenish hue from the pollutants my factory has been dumping in the air and then, presumably, falling into the water.

In the meantime, while the smaller spider runs, I shall finally upgrade my armor. It was a long time coming (30 minutes or something) and I've had the materials available to me for quite some time (still just 30 minutes) and so, finally, really, actually this time, I shall just make it instead of saying that I should.

Lessee here…low density structural units, electric engines, processing units, and some type-2 efficiency and speed modules.

Seems easy enough. Just send a request out through the logistics network, and the drones will send all the materials to a crafting machine, which will then spit out my better armor, and then send it to me where I will then put it on.

…Order sent. Some drones drop from the sky towards the required materials. Now we wait.

It's not like I can do anything else. The mini spider is running without its target in its sight, my factory is automatically expanding itself without me ever having to lift a finger, the festival will probably be fully set up in a few more hours, the suit will be done in a minute or two…

Technically speaking, I don't need to stop here, resting on my laurels. I could be building Spidertrons and sending them out with blueprints and Personal Roboports to build more factory sections and keep the snowball rolling if I so happened to care enough.

…Eh. I don't feel like doing that amount of conquest in less than a day. One step at a time to make sure I don't choke on the sheer amount of materials and things to pay attention to. Real time strategy simulations were never my strong suit, even if my preferred puzzles themselves are a form of strategy.

Well, surely there must be something to do, right?

I direct my gaze to the series of Researches that goddess put into my system. I guess that leaves magic?

I suppose I can look it over, give myself a peek at what exactly she's giving me.

Lessee here…

'Mana is contained within everything.'

'Mana accumulates better in some things than others.'

'Breaking especially mana-dense things releases the mana.'

'Things leave traces of their elements within that mana.'

—And that's the basics of magic. It feels like I'm reading about energy, but as a primer for a five year-old. What else is in here?

Well there's the, uh, Spirit Enslavement, Spell Cards, Options, Familiars…

No pun intended, but these options seem kind of familiar. I could swear I've heard of them before, and not from a technological standpoint. Obviously an option is a choice, but in this context? What does that mean?

My mind drifts to those three people who'd previously shown up here.

Maybe I could ask them if-slash-when they get back, hopefully with my uranium. I'm gonna need that power soon if I want to stop relying on my…how many steam engines is that?

Um…25, 50, 75, 100…

Well, a lot. It's costing so much fuel that I had to dip into my supplies of Light Oil and convert a portion of it into Solid Fuel cubes just to keep up with the power demand of every single new addition of the factory.

I'm not actually sure I'll be able to have the Eater System continue running at this rate. They need to show up with that uranium as soon as possible.

My HUD pings. Speak of the devil, or…?

Ah. The city is finally within viewing distance of the spider.

A bit less than five hours remain until the rocket party starts.

Oh! And my MK-2 Power Armor is done!

I'm going to put it on and transfer all the modules, finally return to that feeling of heavy encumbering defenses I'm so used to, then it's time to see what I'll be dealing with.

I know I have all those artillery cannons practically ready to go, but…I might want the city itself intact, y'know?

Yup, it's scouting time.

—-

The robot stops in its journey across the lands, finally within range of the city outskirts.

I stare from behind its false eyes, truly watching from a third-person angle that the sensors and radars allow me to.

From here, that red tint which suffuses the air reflects and glimmers off of the glass windows of the skyscrapers, a fictitious mockery of the most popular city-style post-space age, New York City, yet it stands in front of me anyway without regard to my thoughts.

Strange how it all seems to come back to that. First it was Dorilopolis, now the Beast Metropolis? Why is the name so similar, too? What makes the -opolis suffix so appealing that it's used in the first place?

…I suppose it sounds funny. Imagine if it was just named Beast City or something. That certainly wouldn't capture the imagination like Beast Metropolis does, and it also just sounds boring.

Perhaps it's also a pun in the idea of what comes after the Animal Kingdom. They've moved on from kings and castles, now it's time for landlords and skyscrapers.

I chuckle about that as I finally hit the range where people standing at the edge of the city in lines can now see me, and I them in return. At first glance, some of them are animals, some that do have ghostly auras and some that don't, and others are animal looking-humans, like Yuuma.

I get closer, and, without surprise, there is screaming and running involved from said people in said lines, thus leaving the space leading to the toll booth area at the city's entrance completely empty.

How kind of them to make way for me.

I step up to a toll booth at random, the animal-person gate guard's eyes widening and face paling behind the glass. I can see my three baleful red eyes reflect back at me in the protector.

Infiltrating a city all alone, handsome?

In my multi-layered and vaguely hissy robot-spider voice, I say in Japanese:

"Greetingsss. I am Kolmisssilma, and I am entering thisss ccccity. Pleassse let whatever relevant figuresss know. Good day."

Then I walk off, stepping over the little metal bar they call a gate and continuing forth.

Behind me, using my 360 degree vision, I see the guard pressing their face against the glass and staring, speaking into some device or another. Probably whatever goes for a phone around here.

I turn around and run straight back to the booth in a dead sprint, the animal-person scrambling backwards with a yelp and dropping the device. Get jumpscared, idiot.

"Isss there an isssue?"

Whatever voice was talking through the communicator is probably wondering what happened, but the guard, who I now see as some sort of antlered-mammal type person, suddenly regains their nerve even if their eyes stay narrow as pinpoints and their whole body shakes like a leaf.

"Ex-excuse me, Mister Ko…Koru…Korumi, you n-need an identification if this is your f-first time in the city—!"

Ignoring their butchering of my distinctly non-Japanese name, I consider their words. I guess that makes sense, if these incidents keep happening then showing off that I am allowed in the city would be great.

Ooh. Would I get my own personal guard and escort around if enough people cause a panic at the mere sight of me? That might be worth the hassle.

"Hmph. Very well. Though, if I may insssissst…"

And then, I do something that may very well be the worst decision to make—except that it's funny.

Lowering my voice down to a stage whisper, I drop the accent.

"I don't suppose I could get an escort? I am aware that my form is unsettling to many beings, but, ah, Miss Toutetsu would not be happy to learn I was accosted in such a way after so cheerfully pointing me to the city, no?"

Heheheh. Here we go. Name-dropping someone who, I'm pretty sure is important, and thus holds some degree of influence within the city.

"Ah…I w-would need to check f-first…"

Accent back on.

"Go ahead. I will not keep you from your sssuperiorsss."

Under the gaze of my bright red eyes, the guard of indeterminable gender (or rather, of one I don't care to learn) picks up the dropped device and starts rapidfire speaking into it, giving reassurances that they're ok and then my requests for an escort.

I can hear the voice on the other side responding, the modulation of the voice going up and down with every sentence—and then the guard says that I mentioned that 'Toutetsu would be unhappy'.

The line goes dead silent.

Antler guard turns their head and side-eyes me, who has not looked away once. I really haven't. My eyes don't need to blink either, so I've just been glaring at this poor guard the whole time. Definitely some horror movie material right here for which I will not be apologizing for.

Presumably, the person the guard is talking to is thinking, taking a moment to understand that I might have the Taotie's blessing to be here, and that there would be severely magnified problems should anything poor come to pass.

Finally they speak up again, but in single stressed sentences, the guard agreeing with each one, 'yes, yes, I see, yes Lance Corporal'.

They put the phone device down and turn back to me.

"...We will have an escort arriving s-soon. If you would p-please wait on the side while your information is processed so as to not disturb the rest of the line, Mister Korumi…?"

I do not answer for a moment and let them sweat.

"...I sssee. Thisss isss no isssue. Very well."

I move out of the way, the scattered people slowly recreating the line, wary glances pointed in my direction.

And thus, more waiting. Hurry up and wait seems to be a relevant theme.

Well that was painless. At least there's some sort of check before I hit the city. Imagine if I didn't have to go through a toll booth and just walk straight in.

Although, I never did complete that thought on whether or not whatever relevant guards or police force had fireball spells…

Maybe it's better that I didn't immediately cause a problem? The mini-spider's skin is made of those same materials that can survive the immense amounts of heat and forces involved with entering and exiting space, but, uh, that's assuming fireballs are involved, and y'know, nothing else.

Acid is still an issue. Magic is still an unknown. Hell, a big enough rock is usually enough regardless of whatever defenses I can construct, and I know a thing or two about getting hit with enormous rocks.

500 years later and I'm still unhappy about it, by the way. Don't get me wrong, it's what got me to where I am now, but that doesn't mean I have to be happy about it.

Now then. The lines shrink and grow, figures coming and going, stares and reactions from wary and curious to terror and fear—and my escort still hasn't arrived. Perhaps I should complain, ask to speak to their manager for daring to take the time to gather up a group of an unknown amount of individuals for the sole purpose of showing me around a place I don't know without causing a ruckus?

Truly, the audacity.

I stand up to enter the city. Five minutes is far too long, thank you.

Antler-guard doesn't seem to notice, still working with a ghostly animal to read their ID and pay whatever tolls are needed.

I step past them, much to the booth-guard's sudden realization and horror, and after a moment, the animal's too. Guess they didn't see me.

There are more screams and yelps of terror. I do stand pretty still, after all. Did the newcomers think I was a statue or a robot or something?

…I mean, yeah, this is a robot. Just a piloted one. Heh.

Now then, to explore this potential—hm?

Something—no, somebody—skids to a halt in front of me, panting.

"Excuse—huff—me! Don't—huff—don't take one further step!"

The mini-spider's basic radar scan declares them [Entity_Mayumi_Joutouguu, and I give her a once-over.

She is about two heads shorter than me (not the spider) with shoulder-length yellow hair, a yellow blocky scale-mail shirt and dress with white drawstring clothing underneath, and purple armguards tied to her forearms with red string. There are two white bow-things tied into her hair to make buns and her boots are unremarkable, but dark blue, and there are little pins or brooches at key points of her clothing with simple faces painted on them.

The most remarkable feature about her is her skin, which, while still within the believability of skin tones, is a reddish-pink color, almost like raw clay. A very light terracotta color, perhaps?

…I'll think on that later. Right now, though: panting implies running, and running implies that they were trying to get here as fast as they could, as if they were requested immediately here for some reason.

Given the situation, I sure do wonder what that reason could possibly be. Surely it's not me, hmm?

Although, I don't see or scan anyone else. Is it really just her? What kind of confidence inspires that, I couldn't exactly say.

"Oho. Are you, perchanccce, my essscort? A bit sssmall for me, wouldn't you sssay, Misss Joutouguu?"

The 'I-know-your-name-without-you-ever-telling-me' is kinda a classic thing to do. And since this body is disposable I do not have to care about self-image!

Wait. She might just assume Yuuma told me. Curses!

…Or not? She jolts and her expression is slightly bewildered, but she hardens her face back to stern professionalism.

"Hmph. As Haniwa Lance Corporal, I am all that's needed for the likes of any beast! …Even if it's just an escort."

She definitely mumbled that last part. If my camera systems didn't have auto-captioning for real-time speech I probably would have missed it…oh. I guess I don't need to make those sound muffler modules for the factory after all, huh?

Anyway, casual racism. Not that it matters to me; I'm not a beast, after all.

Not that she knows. Heh. But I suppose I wonder why. Isn't this the Beast Metropolis?

Unless…could it be? City-wide gang politics which have control over certain parts of the city! And this entrance must be the Human District or something. How do I know this? Well, if there's anything that the distances in space prepare one for, it's being bored and consuming media, and, I gotta say, I've picked up a thing or two in my sheer 60-plus years worth of straight up traveling.

I'm pretty sure this was the situation in Dorilopolis before Harl showed up and made everyone miserable.

Makes me wonder how important Yuuma is, anyway. Y'know, since that whole 'joining Hecate and Gouyoku Alliance' or whatever it was at the very beginning had gone on so quickly and without issue that I kinda thought they were a small time deal and didn't know who they were dealing with.

For better or worse, I suppose I was wrong? I don't quite know.

I guess I'm about to find out who I dealt with with such ease.

"Very well, then. Lead the way, Lanccce Corporal, and I ssshall sssee whether the real essstate I ssseek will be enough for my family and I."

She pauses. Blinks. Whatever response was forming in her throat instead came out as a very lame 'uhh.'

"R…real estate?"

"Yesss. Isss there an issue?"

The Lance Corporal's jaw opens and closes like a fish out of water as she parses my words. It's not like I'm not looking for land—it's just that I plan to clean the city off its foundations to make room for my factory expansion. This whole real estate rigamarole is, in a sense, an early warning.

I won't lie, it's not a very clear thing either. My intentions are hidden behind the fact that I'm being honest and truthful at the moment.

Not causing problems and generally being cooperative with the leadership of the city? Oh yes.

But, at the same time, it has remained a popular opinion that all warfare is based on deception.

So, where is the lie?

Simple, really. It's me. The fake body. The Mini-Spider. Don't get me wrong, the fact that they don't really know me is enough to have suspicions in regards to my intentions, but I don't think those suspicions are anywhere related to war.

Sure, I'm a giant spider, and spiders are known for spinning webs both literal and metaphorical, their poisons and venoms, and generally being creepy crawlies.

Now, I certainly have no love for creepy crawlies as they are, but only when they're not on my side, as the Biters found out during their eco-terrorism attempts, or just…spiders in general on the spaceships. Eugh.

It was at that moment that Mayumi decided to stop her fish impression, shaking her head ever so slightly, perhaps to clear her thoughts, and she sighed.

"...We can stop at a realtor first, then."

"Excccelent. I will be in your care."

With that, I officially entered the Beast Metropolis—only to get immediately interrupted by an alert from my HUD. What now? Can't you obviously tell that I'm busy right now?

I set an automatic movement and socializing routine of myself on the drone and change my vision settings to the default Engineering Suit's.

The sight that greets my vision is—

Oho? Well well well, what a delightful surprise.

"Hellooooooo? We're baaaack!"

So shouted the sheep and bat duo that I found waiting for me, a minecart of all things in between them, but what really got my attention was the scintillating green light emanating from it.

If that is what I think it is, then somehow, they got it, and that would mean...

—-

When Jeremiah reappeared above the factory wall, his immediate words upon seeing Yuuma and Flandre were:

"You're back. Can I then assume the minecart has…?"

"Yup. Our supplier gave us a little something extra too. A gift."

He took the moment in between Yuuma's words and his own response to wave a hand. With no indicator whatsoever, the wall underneath him turns distinctly metallic, the edges connecting to the other wall segments suddenly looking…mechanical.

The electrical gate-wall lowers to the ground, Jeremiah going with it. He nods, indicating the now open factory.

"Come on in, then. Might as well see what exactly we're going to be trading, yeah?"

The two take a moment to stare at the open entrance, the ever staring turrets returning their normally hostile gaze to the horizon.

Flandre stares in delight while Yuuma cackles, and they both walk straight into the factory, the heart of the Engineer's operations and the penultimate culmination of today's adventures. It could only be made better if Jeremiah would just join the Goyouku Alliance—

The gate closes behind them with the hum and whir of gears.

—-

Perhaps it was coincidence, perhaps it was fate that things came together at this very moment.

Entering a factory. Entering a city. Entering a festival?

Little did they know, but they all had the same idea.

Whether it was sheep, man, or even the far-off goddess with her incomplete preparations, they all came to that same conclusion, that same thought—

The next step rapidly approaches.