To Reach the Lights Beyond the Heavens (High School DxD - Essence CYOA SI - FGO Reincarnation Chapter 3)

"Okay," Michael took a deep breath, as he massaged his forehead, and began to recount what his supposed A.I. told him. "Let me see if I get this straight. You are the spirit of Oda Nobunaga, who due to his deed in life ascended to the level of Divinity after death--"

"Divine adjacent. Heroic Spirits aren't Divine Spirit, in the same sphere, and in my opinion, which is the only one that matters, the better option. Also some Heroic Spirits have the Divinity Skill due to having been demigods in life, or stuff like that." The Spirited A.I. interrupted Michael as it seemed fond of doing.

After the initial chaos, the Servant turned A.I. managed to figure out enough about how being a digital being worked, that it showed an image of itself on the screen for Michael to see, and know who he is interacting with. Which did nothing but confused Michael even more, as the girl in a military uniform subverted all expectation. (Maybe he should have expected that when the high pitched voice female voice was not at all like he expected a Japanese daimyō to sound like. Not that he knew what one sounded like originally.)

"...Right. But you're not really that spirit, or rather not the full spirit of Nobunaga, just a copy, or a part filtered through a Class System to contain your powers, to act as a simulacrum."

"Oi! I am as real as they come. What's before you is the Original unfiltered copy of the Great Me, without any modifications, or seasonal event changes. Accept no substitute!" Nobunaga boisterously exclaimed.

"Why are you talking like a sales commercial?" Michael looked horribly lost.

"It's fine if you don't understand the meta jokes. More importantly Retainer, bring me a better computer to be in. The quality of this camera is terrible. I can barely see you well with my eyes." Nobunaga went on the demand. Michael was actually surprised the old camera attacked to the computer could show anything. Did the A.I.'s magical presence enhance it?

Michael noted that the digital avatar the spirit took was quite animated. While her standard pose was to stand with her hands on her sword, like a general, she tended to move around, or strike thinking poses, or lean back to shout loudly. He's pretty sure that all the ram power was taken by her for this avatar.

"Uh-huh," Michael pushed through the awkwardness he felt and began typing on the keyboard. "Weren't you calling me 'Master' a while ago? Why am I now your Retainer? Also, if you're Oda Nobunaga, why are you a girl?"

Even though he was asking question, Michael reached his own conclusions and was just trying to confirm it. Odds are the A.I. latched onto some old game files that were deleted, but weren't gone (so formatting the computer would be something to do in the future), formed it's own ego, while seeing Michael, it's User, as both master and retainer due to conflicting personalities and programming. The rest was probably just some ideas and conclusions formed from reading his notes and theories about the supernatural world.

Although the A.I. is quite creative to come up with that Heroic Spirit and Servant System idea as there was nothing like it in my notes.

"Master, Retainer, what does it matter, you and I are one and the same!" Nobunaga shouted cheerfully.

Huh, it deals with logical paradoxes by bulldozing through them and throwing them aside. Thought Michael, in a way impressed.

"And I was always a woman, however I will excuse you focusing on that detail, due to your now young age." She looked a bit annoyed, but otherwise went back to smiling.

"I'm not trying to be disrespectful, it's just that you're written in history as a man. So I guess I'm wondering how so many people recorded it wrong. Because if historians can get something as small as gender wrong--"

"Oi, are you calling me small?" Oda frowned.

"No," Michael said without missing a beat. "Then there is the logical and horrifying implications that many of the current historical records we have are inaccurate, or have been maybe written with falsehood to begin with." He clarified.

"Hmm, I see, that is certainly a concern." Oda waved him off. "It's not something you can do anything about right now, so forget about it. More importantly what have you been occupied with for a whil--AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA STOP! STOP IT! HAHAH! WHY ARE YOU TICKLING ME!? AHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"I'm just running diagnostics to see if everything with you is okay." Said Michael who raised an eyebrow at what the diagnostic program-slash-spell began to show (because if you're gonna magical A.I. might as well add magical programs). Some of the code and equations shown were overlapping each other. Before being cleared up to being under or next to each other, then getting back to being overlapped.

Wait, why is the diagnostic program opening up the 3D Sudoku game?

"HAHAHAHAHA NO, NO NOW IT'S GETTING INSIDE!" There was now panic on the A.I. avatar's face, and...a blush?

"It's just getting a look at your core programs." Even as Michael explained, he felt that maybe he should shut the diagnostic for now.

"HAHA I HAHAAA SAID! STOP!"

Fire erupted from edges of the screen again, and Michael jumped back as the keyboard exploded.

x=

"I'm sorry." Michael found himself sitting in seiza with his head bowed.

"Honestly, not even Monkey at his most idiotic would dare act like that. Very well, then, since it's Michael and because you clearly don't remember me, I'll accept your apology. Now, for reparations, let's start a fully functional quantum, and then reinforce and enhance it with magic. Then I want a magical nuclear bomb."

"LIKE FUCKING HELL I'LL GIVE YOU ANY OF THAT!" Michael's guilt evaporated in an instant.

Boisterous laughter met the boy's reply.

That was how Michael and Oda Nobunaga as a magical A.I. first met.

x=

Life continued on for a while, it was not however quiet.

"Oi Michael, when are you gonna connect me to the internet. Seem boring to be an A.I. and not even get the chance to troll people on history forums."

"One, until I'm sure you are not planning on starting a world war, or worse causing on to happen on accident. Two, the fact that your first goal is to troll people isn't helping."

"'Destroy the world'? What kind of idiocy is that? I'm not like that stupid time travelling robot movie. I would want to conquer the world and unify the human race!"

Michael quietly added another point in his notebook that Nobunaga might not be a crazy A.I. after all, and might be telling some bits of truth about his origins, as Michael never played, or even inserted the Terminator Movie on that computer. And while the idea of unifying humanity was leaning in what Michael eventually wanted to happen the methodology was not how he wanted to go about it.

There was also the small issue that, talking to Nobu...felt familiar. Like an odd ache he never realized was being mended. Even with all her antics, and demands, Michael felt like he was having fun having the A.I. around.

"Yeah, no. No conquering the human race. All your arguments just make me want to tighten security on you, since somehow you can sense stuff around you, even without being connected to any visual or audio equipment. Or power." The discovery of that last one was an accident, as Michael didn't want to kill the A.I., just see if powering it down, counts as sleep (it does, yet it's still aware).

The plug got pulled by accident when Nobunaga was playing with the telekinetic spells. It was a happy discovery that somehow the A.I. magical energies acted like some kind of internal mana battery, that allows it to function without electrical power.

"Oh, I just extend my magical field like this." The air suddenly had a burned smell taint to it. and felt heavy. "And I can sense things just fine, but I can extended it at a large range yet, and it take up quite a bit of power." The air felt light and fresh again.

"The fact that you can just do stuff like that, without any instructions or data is worrying on it's own. Look, if you can pass a few morality tests I plan to make, and not cause any trouble for me for a week--I had so much bullshit to spew for my parent not to think I was burning things here, when they came back home--, then maybe I can give you some partial acces--"

"Nobbu!" A cutesy shout came out of the speaker on it's own.

"..." Nobunaga stilled. Actively trying to look as normal as possible.

"..." Michael just stared at the avatar at the screen.

"..." Digital Oda stared back with a peaceful, innocent smile.

"Nob-nob!"

"..."

"..."

"Nob-bu!"

"Okay, Nobu, what was that?"

"That would be the Mini-Nobus." She replied unashamed. The Mini-Nobu started appearing on screen jumping around, and some waved at Michael.

"Delete them right freakin' now!" Michael began coding a tighter security on the A.I. who kept crying in protest, while the Mini-Nobu screamed in death wails.

x=

"Nobu, did some robbers try to break in?"

"Oh, that's what those trouble makers were?"

"Some burglar that were a problem for the past while, were arrested near here shouting about the devil coming to get them from their cellphones."

"Would you believe me if I said, that it was a total coincidence that 'The Exorcist Beginning' just happened to be playing on TV at that time."

"I'd say someone earned their reward to transfer a partition to a cellphone."

"Nobuu!"

"Yes, yes, congrats Nobu-Scout. Now, Michael, when are you gonna build a laptop for me?"

"I'm working on something that should help me carry you around, but I'm making the whole thing from scratch. Also it will likely not have a screen for people to see you in the beginning."

"Hmm, hmm, that's fine. I approve." The Nobu avatar nodded.

"Here, I downloaded some schematics so you can help me with the design for it." Michael inserted a CD into the computer.

"I don't see anywhere where you can add some rifles, drills and buzz-saws."

"We're making your CPU portable, not a death machine!"

x=

A Month Later

In the woods of the Mount Tamalpais, a Valkyrie was flying with resolved intent looking for a missing Norse Creature.

Odul was a veteran valkyrie of many battles, and was over 500 years old. Yet nowadays, there were no great battles, or at least one that would draw the Norse pantheon in it. Thus she was relegated to tasks, that honestly, newly conscripted valkyries should handle.

Sadly most Norse Creatures are troublesome enough that they needed a veteran warrior to handle, and she was the one living close to this area.

Odul heard a shout and fly toward it, worried that a civilian hitchhiker might have met the beast. Odul had placed a barrier to compel people to leave the area, but they might not have done so quick enough.

Or worse, one of them might have enough magical awareness enough to notice something odd, or resist the ward.

Odul flanked to the side as the beast barreled where she had been flying low, a crimson bar coming out of a handle, held in the beast's beak. The trees hit by the red solid beam fell down, like a magma knife went through them.

"Hey you!" Odul looked at the person shouting once she got her barrings. She saw a blonde girl with a jacket, tennis shorts, baseball cap, and a scarf. All mainly blue with some gold dashes or highlights, and some light green. Also she was carrying a blue magically infused baseball bat. "Did you see where that damn chicken went?"

"Why are you chasing the Fjalar, human?" Odul readied herself for a fight. Yes, Norse Creature was annoying, but she couldn't just kill it as much as she wished to, or allow another to do so.

"It fucking mugged me!"

Odul lowered her weapon and sighed.

x=

"Shit! I completely forgot about MHX!"

"Why are you shouting out of the blue? Are you glitching again?"