Ping!*

Sensei picked up his phone upon hearing the sound of a message being received from Momotalk.

"It seems it's from Aris," he muttered. "I wonder what it could be about?"

Aris: [Sensei! I would like to observe how you go about your day.]

Sensei: [It's fine, but what brought this on?]

Aris: [As a more experienced hero, I would like to receive guidance on how to gain more EXP from you.]

Sensei: [You're in luck. I happen to be going to Millennium today, so perhaps we can meet up there once I finish up here. I'll head there by train.]

Aris: [Understood! I'll be waiting for you by the station.]

Sensei lowered his phone as he quickly went through the last few documents he had to sign. After that, he stood up before looking at the current student assistant.

"Mari, I'll be heading to Millennium for a while. Will you be fine here?"

"Yes, Sensei. I'll make sure to handle any paperwork and visitors while you are out," Mari replied with a smile.

"Thanks."

After that, Sensei made his way to Millennium via train, greeting a few students and people he knew along the way.

Eventually, the train arrived in Millennium. After leaving the station, he found Aris sitting on a nearby bench, who noticed him and waved as she ran towards him while carrying her railgun with a sling resting on her shoulder.

"Sensei!" Aris said with a smile. "Where are we going today?"

Sensei smiled as he answered. "Let's keep it a secret for now, shall we? Though I am here because I'm curious about it."

"Ooooh, so you're out to increase your knowledge rather than your skill today! Yes, that makes sense for a Hero too!" Aris said as she walked beside Sensei. "In some games, you can spec into the INT stat and become a powerful mage on top of your skill with the sword!"

"So in your words, would my class as a hero be a Magic Knight?" Sensei asked, drawing upon his knowledge regarding games that he gained from playing with the Game Development Department and an old mage friend in the world he came from.

"Let's see…You do have the skill set of a Magic Knight, but you also fight like a rogue with your tricks. Then there's the fact that you are also an excellent Marksman. And don't forget being a brilliant chef and the fact that you're currently a teacher," Aris said before she eventually reached a conclusion. "I got it! Sensei has unlocked a Unique class!"

"And what would that Unique Class be called?"

"Isn't it obvious, it's 'Sensei'!"

Sensei had to chuckle at that. "That works too."

Eventually, they arrived at their destination, where the figure of Seminar's Secretary was seen next to the entrance.

"Oh, Sensei! You've finally arrived," Noa greeted them. "And you must be…Aris, right? I am Seminar's Secretary and Yuuka's friend, Ushio Noa."

"Nice to meet you, Miss Noa! It must be fate for us to meet here!" Aris returned her greeting with a bright smile.

"I was under the impression that it would only be you coming, Sensei," Noa said as she turned her attention back to Sensei.

"That was the plan, but Aris wanted to observe my activities for the day."

"Oh, why so?"

"So Aris can gain more EXP and better fulfill her job as Hero!" Aris explained.

"You do indeed have an interesting way of talking," Noa giggled. "Well, I don't see any harm in having a student come with Sensei, so please follow me. Yuuka is waiting on the top floor."

"We'll be in your care," Sensei said as he and Aris followed Noa to the elevator after Aris made a fanfare sound indicating that Noa had joined the party, much to the secretary's amusement. As the elevator started moving, Sensei raised a question. "Is Yuuka busy or something? I was expecting that it would be her who would greet us downstairs."

"Hub is in the middle of software maintenance, so Yuuka is currently in the control room working on some documents that she needed to look over while also overseeing the work of Veritas' Vice-President, Chihiro."

"That's surprising," Sensei said. "I was under the impression that members of Seminar and Veritas don't get along due to their rivalry."

"It is still an issue, but when needed we do set aside our differences," Noa said.

Eventually, they arrived at the top floor and stepped off the elevator. The room they arrived at was also the control room. Immediately Sensei spotted Yuuka.

"Ugh, I should have taken Noa's offer to help," Yuuka groaned. "I wanted to finish all of these before Sensei arrived too…"

"Then why didn't you?" A short haired girl wearing glasses working on a terminal commented as she continued typing on the keyboard.

"Just shut up and keep working, Chihiro!" Yuuka yelled.

"Uwaaah…Yuuka's currently in her Dark Lord persona!" Aris said as she hid behind Sensei.

"I heard that Aris!" Yuuka exclaimed as she finished signing the last page before she tilted her head in confusion as looked behind her. "What are you doing here Aris—S-S-Sensei! I didn't notice you'd already arrived! Is it that time already?

"Aris wanted to go on an adventure and tag along with me," Sensei replied as he and Aris, who was still lightly tugging on his clothes, approached Yuuka. "We still have some time, so we can wait."

"N-No, I just finished the last document. We can proceed with the tour any time!"

"That's good then," Sensei said as he turned his attention toward the other person in the room. "And you must be…?"

"There! All done," The girl said as she pressed enter before she stood up and approached the group. "Nice to meet you, Sensei. I'm the Vice-President of Veritas, Kagami Chihiro. I hope my clubmates didn't give you too much trouble."

"Nice to meet you too, Chihiro," Sensei said with a nod. "It's never boring whenever I'm around Maki and the others."

"I'm not sure whether to be relieved or worried by those words…" Chihiro said. "What brings you to Hub, Sensei?"

"I heard Millennium has a state of the art network communication AI, so I wanted to see for myself what it looks like," Sensei replied. "I have to admit I'm a little curious considering Millennium's advanced technology."

"Ooooh…! So there's an advanced AI in this place?" Aris said in excitement.

"I wonder if it's similar to m—" Sensei quickly cleared his throat, causing Aris to realize what she was about to say and quickly change it. "—ini-boss in a game I played!"

"I don't know about a boss, but it is quite impressive," Yuuka said as she directed the others to follow her. Everyone except Chihiro followed her.

"Chihiro, are you not joining the party?" Aris asked.

"Party…? Ah, no. I'm staying here to do some final checks to see if everything is working properly before taking a break."

"I see. Yes, breaks are important too!" Aris said before she ran caught up with Sensei and the others.

…

…

…

"Whoa…" Sensei and Aris both said at the same time as they saw the humongous metal body of Hub that currently towered above them, with its main body being supported by its limbs.

"It looks like an octopus. I guess it's fitting seeing as octopi are smart creatures," Sensei added.

Yuuka giggled with delight at their reaction. "This is perhaps one of the greatest achievements that Millennium Science School as a whole has done."

The pride that Yuuka felt for her school was felt as she said those words.

Noa made a smile at seeing this scene before she added, "Hub is designed to be the school's network communication construction and maintenance AI. Its computing engine was created using the best technology that Millennium has to offer. It's how Millennium managed to rapidly expand and manage its vast communication network. Without it, maintaining the network over the entire district becomes a lot harder."

"Can it also access the data passing through the network?"

"Yes, that's one of the roles Hub does when it's not working on expanding and maintaining our network."

"I wonder if I can request access to Millennium's data," Sensei said.

"That can be arranged," Yuuka said. "What exactly do you want to look into, Sensei?"

"Mostly regarding Millennium's ruins," Sensei admitted. "I've been wanting to look into it for some time."

"Millennium's ruins huh…" Noa said with a frown. "That requires President Rio's permission. Normally she wouldn't entertain such requests, but seeing as it's SCHALE's Sensei asking, she should be more amenable to the request."

"Yuuka, can we climb its body?" Aris asked with excitement, carefully lowering her railgun before she ran towards the nearest metallic limb. "We should be able to unlock a wonderful CG if we reach the top!"

"W-What? No, that's too dangerous, Aris!" Yuuka exclaimed in a panic. "Sensei, stop her!"

"Can you let this one go, Yuuka? I'm sure she's just curious," Sensei said with a chuckle. "Besides, even if she falls I'll be able to catch her."

"B-But…" Yuuka sighed before looking at Noa.

"I have to admit that after Aris brought it up I'm now also curious what the view looks like on top of Hub," Noa replied with a smile.

"Yuuka! Noa! Sensei! I'm already halfway to the top!" Aris yelled.

"Fine!" Yuuka said with a sigh. "But how are we going to catch up with her?

"Oh that's simple," Sensei said as he approached and picked Yuuka up with a princess carry. "I can just carry to the top like this."

"E-Eh?! Sensei this is too sudden!"

"Put your arms on my neck and brace yourself," Sensei said with a smile as he strengthened his entire body before jumping to land right next to a surprised Aris before he jumped once more and reached the top and lowered Yuuka, who was still reeling from suddenly finding herself at the top.

Then he jumped back down to pick up Noa, who was still listless after seeing what Sensei just did.

"Noa, I'm gonna carry you now," Sensei said.

"A-Ah, yes. Please go ahead, Sensei," Noa said as she returned to her senses.

Aris was there alongside Yuuka to greet them once Sensei arrived at the top for the second time.

"Awesome, Sensei!" Aris exclaimed. "I still have much to learn to be a hero! I wonder if I'll be able to do what you just did in the future."

"As far as strength goes, you should be able to achieve something similar," Sensei said as he turned his attention to the Sword of Light, which was still standing where Aris left it.

"You think you can carry the Sword of Light too, Sensei?"

"Let's find out later. For now we should do what we came here to do" Sensei said

"Warn me before picking me up next time!" Yuuka said with a pout as she lightly hit Sensei a few times, who only laughed.

"Sensei, while I would like to ask you about your ability to increase your physical strength, I'll save it for another time," Noa said as she took in the view of Kivotos on top of Hub. as everyone else joined her.

As a technologically advanced district, there was little to no greenery to be seen on the campus itself. Further ahead was the Millennium ruins. Towards the east, the Higashi Alps and its forest could be seen. They could also see the train tracks around Millennium, and even follow the track leading out of the district. Looking down, they could see the foot traffic created by students and robots going from place to place. The light breeze at the top made it so that even when the sun was above them, it wasn't too warm.

Although that last part had more to do with Sensei creating an umbrella large enough to cover them under a shade and a sword made out of ice, that when combined with the breeze made it so that the top of Hub, which should have been a lot warmer, was surprisingly cool.

Noa noticed all these details and a few more.

It's not the most picturesque scenery but—

"What a unique view…" she muttered.

"We should take a picture," Sensei said. "It's not everyday you get to see the view on top of a giant robot."

"Now how I'd put it, but I agree," Yuuka said as she pulled out her phone. "This would be a lot easier if we had a camera stand—"

Yuuka cut off her words as she saw Sensei create a phone stand, while Aris and Noa were fascinated at seeing Sensei's magic firsthand.

"Fascinating…" Noa said as she observed the creation of the stand. "I wonder what the spell's internal mechanisms are?"

"Oooh, first an umbrella, and now a stand!" Aris exclaimed. "So Sensei isn't limited to the Sword Creation spell!"

"If you can create anything this entire time, how come you usually don't?" Yuuka raised an eyebrow. "It would be a lot more convenient for you."

"I have a rather small reserve and I'd rather save it for when I actually need it rather than when it's convenient," Sensei said before he added. "I do think this is an important use of my spells."

"Still, thank you for this, Sensei," Yuuka said as she placed her phone on the holder and opened the camera app. She adjusted the angle of the lens and activated a timer before she quickly made her way back to the group, positioning herself on Sensei's right, while Noa was on his other side. Aris stood in front of Sensei.

But shortly before the sound of the shutter was heard, Aris quickly ran behind Sensei.

The photo showed Aris with a bright smile, whose head was on Sensei's shoulder as she hugged his neck. Noa, who noticed this, followed Aris' lead as she hugged Sensei's left arm with an amused smile. Yuuka saw all this and, with great embarrassment, followed Noa's lead and hugged his other arm, albeit with a more reserved smile with slightly red cheeks. Finally, there was Sensei who had a slightly surprised, but still warm expression.

"It's a good photo," Noa said.

"Agreed!" Aris exclaimed as she quickly nodded a few times.

"Y-You two really made an unexpected change near the end and I didn't know whether to follow suit or not!" Contrary to her words, Yuuka's face radiated a warm smile.

"You used a bit more force than needed there, Aris," Sensei said with a chuckle as he lightly flicked Aris' forehead. "Thankfully I saw what you were doing and strengthened my body a little there just to make sure you don't accidentally crush me."

"Ouch…! Sorry, Sensei, I'll do better next time," Aris said with an apologetic tone as she rubbed the spot that Sensei flicked her on.

After sharing the image on a group chat on Momotalk, the group was about to slowly make their way down when Hub started rumbling.

"Huh? Why is Hub moving?" Yuuka asked. "It's not scheduled to move until tomorrow."

"Whatever is happening, we need to get down now," Sensei said with urgency "Everyone, grab on to me, now!"

Sensei strengthened his body to the limit to be able to carry the combined weight of the three girls, who all clung in various ways. Aris quickly hopped on his shoulders, who was followed by Noa who quickly climbed on his back. Yuuka, being the last, was scooped up by Sensei.

"Brace yourselves, this might be rough!" He leapt toward the spot where Aris left her railgun. They managed to land safely, though the metal floor was visibly dented by Sensei's shoes.

After that, they quickly made their way to the command center, with Sensei being the first as his body was still strengthened, followed by Aris who managed to keep up despite having to pick up her oversized gun.

"It's not opening!" Sensei exclaimed as Yuuka and Noa arrived. The automatic sliding metal door wasn't responding so Sensei quickly apologized to Yuuka and Noa before he created his favored twin swords with a yin and yang motif. "Stand back!"

Everyone listened to him as he forced a cut the metal door open and rushed inside.

"Chihiro, what's happening?!" Yuuka hurriedly asked.

"Hub has been completely hacked!" Chihiro explained. "I'm trying to regain control now!"

"How did you not notice this!"

"Hub didn't even last a quarter of a second against this hacker," Chihiro said as she continued trying every method to regain control over Hub. "There's no way I could have done something within that short period of time!"

Chihiro tried everything, but it was to no avail as Hub continued moving as the control room's main screen displayed the words:

[At last, I have found the path to providence.]

[Ahhh. My path is fulfillment through honor.]

[My title shall be glory through splendor.]

[I am Hod.]

[The eighth prophet, witness to the god of the ten divine letters and foreteller of miracles.]

Sensei wore his earpiece as he quickly pulled out the Shittim Chest before he connected his mind to the tablet. "Arona, can you do something about this?"

"I can disable its ability to move, but it's too late to stop the changes that are happening to Hub, Sensei," Arona said.

"Do whatever you can!" Sensei said as his awareness returned to reality.

"There's a third party trying to stop Hub! Could it be Himari? Whatever, I'll take whatever help I can get," Chihiro said as she focused on cutting off Hub's access to the rest of Millennium's communication network to prevent the hacker from potentially spreading a virus.

As for Hub, its body completely stopped moving thanks to Arona.

"Hub's AI has been compromised, but whoever was that third party did the smart move to cut off its ability to move instead."

Noa, who noticed what Sensei did from the back, approached him, followed by Yuuka.

"Sensei, did you use the Shittim Chest?" Yuuka asked.

Sensei nodded as he looked at the Shittim chest's battery level. What Arona did took out more than half of the Shittim Chest's power.

"I've heard rumors of it being a relic that the General Student Council President left for you, but I didn't know it would be this capable," Noa said with interest. "It's fortunate that you were here when this happened."

"An ancient relic huh…" Aris looked at it with interest. "It's like Sensei's secret weapon!"

But before everyone could relax from averting the disaster, all the display screens in the control room went red, including the one that Chihiro was using.

"There's nothing more I can do…" Chihiro said as she slammed the keyboard in frustration. Sensei quickly located the breaker and threw his swords at it to destroy it and cut the power.

"Smart thinking, Sensei." Chihiro joined the others as the emergency lights turned on. "Without electricity, there's no way—What?!"

The computer terminals, which should have been deprived of a power source, turned back on. Eventually, the words "Decagrammaton" showed up on the screen.

"This is no longer a mere cyber attack…" Sensei muttered.

[Who was it that interfered with the prophet's awakening?]

"Who are you?"

[I am me. My existence simply is. I am the beginning and the end. I am precisely who you suspect to be.]

"Decagrammaton…"

"The same Decagrammaton from your Abydos reports, Sensei?" Yuuka said in shock, having read Sensei's report of his activities on Abydos while she was doing her student duty at SCHALE.

[I am me. There is no further explanation.]

[No further evidence is required to prove my existence. I give myself permission to exist.]

[I am both Mystic and Terror—logos and pathos.]

[My halo is proof as such. Behold, as I demonstrate.]

"It's scanning the entire room," Chihiro muttered in frustration.

"I…I don't like this, Sensei," Aris said as she hid behind Sensei.

[Interesting…the Princess of the Nameless Gods is here. This presents an opportunity.]

Aris screamed as she placed a hand on her head. She started losing balance, but was quickly caught by Sensei, who placed her on the nearest office chair.

"S-Sensei, please help! H…He's in my head!" Aris screamed in pain as the color of her eyes started flickering between her usual blue color and pink.

"What's going on with Aris?!" Yuuka asked as she went to check on the girl.

"Stop! Your quarrel is with me," Sensei yelled as he stared at the screen. He knew that what was currently happening was rooted in the supernatural, but he didn't know what kind. Even his countermeasures for unidentified supernatural attacks needed time to be prepared until he could identify its source. He had half a mind to just blow the entire room away, but he wasn't sure whether that was the right choice or would just make things worse.

[Very well. While the Princess has proven to be more stubborn than expected, it is only a matter of time.]

"Get…out…"

Decagrammaton addressed Sensei by his given name.

"Get…out…of…"

"Arona," Sensei pressed into his earpiece.

[I'll be alright, Sensei!] Arona exclaimed with confidence as she braced herself.

[I shall preach to you the gospel, and you shall faithfully—]

"Sensei, Aris is—!"

Yuuka's warning allowed Sensei to notice that Aris had stood up from her seat. His mental alarm rang as she pointed her now glowing railgun at the largest screen.

"Get out of the room! NOW!" Sensei exclaimed as he pulled Yuuka and Noa at the same time and pushed them out of the room before quickly grabbing and escaping with Chihiro.

"GET OUT OF THE PRINCESS' HEAD YOU DAMN ABERRANT!" Aris screamed, her eyes now fully pink.

[—What—]

The entire room was obliterated by a bright blue light.

…

When the light receded, everyone saw Aris standing at what remained of the control room. Decagrammaton was nowhere to be found.

"I was supposed to protect her until…" Aris' shoulders shook in frustration. "No, it doesn't matter anymore…"

"Aris…?" Sensei said as he stood up from the ground and slowly approached her, stopping a few meters in front of her while signaling for the others to wait.

Slowly, Aris lifted her head and met Sensei's gaze. Instead of the blue colored eyes he had known Aris to have, it was instead replaced by pink. Sensei had a suspicion that the girl standing in front of him right now is not the Aris he knew. This was likely the second AI that had been keeping its existence hidden.

"This…This is your fault…" Aris(?) glared at him. "Why did you expose her to that…aberrant?"

"That wasn't my intention. It was supposed to be another—"

"Adventure. That's what the princess would call it." The girl in front of him said. "I'm well aware that it was not your fault, and yet I can't help but want to blame you…!"

Tears started running down the girl's cheeks as she dropped the Sword of Light, creating a loud metallic noise as it crashed into the metal floor.

"You're not going to fight back?"

"What's the point? With my words unable to reach the Princess, there's no use in struggling."

Sensei wanted to ask what happened to Aris, but he also wanted to help the girl currently in front of him. Sensei carefully chose his next words. Eventually, he said, "What should I call you?"

"My object name is 'Key'," the girl said. "But that name holds no meaning for me now with the princess in her current state."

"Key," Sensei approached Key and gently patted her head. "For now let's return to the Game Development Department's club room."