Chapter 18

–Sairaorg–

He kept his steps measured as he ran through the mansion. The pod on his shoulders was as light as a feather, and he feared he might accidently break it. It wouldn't be the first time something like that happened. Accidents happened and things just broke when he wasn't paying attention.

Sairaorg was distracting himself with those useless thoughts. That was obvious even to him. His back was covered in sweat and his heart was beating way too fast even though his current running speed couldn't even be considered a warm up for him.

He couldn't be blamed for this. After all, Sairaorg hadn't spoken with his mother in over a decade. There was so-so much he wished to tell her.

The Bael House, his own blood family, might've abandoned them, but he built his own family, one that was bound by bonds thicker than blood. He longed to tell her all about them and to hear her praise him for his efforts.

He pursed his lips, remembering their last conversation and the promise he made. Sairaorg had become strong, just like she had asked of him. In fact, he might be powerful enough to take on the Bael House on his own, and he owed all of this to his friends, as he wouldn't have achieved this without their help.

Finally, he reached his mother's room, and his steps slowed down to a crawl, his mouth going dry. This was it, he gulped.

Michael told him that he wasn't sure if the pod would work for sure, but Sairaorg believed him, because unlike him, his friend was really smart. He had to be because Sairaorg barely understood a thing when Michael started babbling about his inventions. He still listened and nodded along because that was the right thing to do since Michael was his friend.

After taking a deep breath to calm his nerves, Sairaog pushed open the door, finding Esteban inside. The butler and only servant in this big mansion was taking care of his mother, ensuring that there was nothing wrong with the life support system that kept her alive.

"Esteban," he called out with a hoarse voice. "Can you please help me move mother into this pod?"

"Young Lord?" Esteban looked at him with a questioning gaze. He didn't think of himself as a Lord, but the butler kept insisting that he was, refusing to refer to him in any other way no matter how much he asked.

"This thing can help mother," he answered the unasked question.

"How sure are you?" Esteban asked with a gulp as he narrowed his eyes, staring doubtfully at the pod.

"I'm certain it will help," Sairaorg replied without even thinking about it as he gently placed it vertically on the floor since that's how it was set in the workshop. He had full faith in Michael's creation, and there was no doubt in his mind that this would work out.

"Understood." Esteban nodded, putting his trust into Sairaorg. "How do we use it?"

"I suggest placing it horizontally on the ground," a childish voice came from the pod, surprising both of them. "It will make it easier for you and more comfortable for the patient."

"Who's that?" Estaban jumped up in shock.

"Helel?" Sairaorg asked just to make sure.

"That is my chosen designation," Helel confirmed, his voice coming from the pod.

"Alright." Sairaorg replied with a nod, though he wasn't certain if Helel could see him.

He wasn't quite sure what to think of their newest addition. Michael had created him somehow, but Helel didn't quite live in the real world like them. Honestly, the explanation by the boy just went over his head. All he knew was that Helel was definitely a real being because he could think for himself and communicate with them.

If anything, the little guy was like Cori and Michael's child. Just thinking about those two brought him great joy. He was that happy for them, he really was.

Shaking those thoughts away, they followed Helel's instructions and gently lowered his mother inside the pot before placing the helmet over her head. Now they just had to wait for a bit.

Sairaorg let his thoughts drift away to distract himself. That's when he realized how much his face stung. Michael's punches really hurt when his physical strength wasn't suppressed by the pressure in the Gravity Chamber.

He had to increase his training in the upcoming days because his friend was quickly catching up to him. If he hadn't already caught up to him since the fight with Michael's clone in that blank space proved that he was far closer to Sairaorg than he believed.

The spar had started off like usual. Michael was physically weaker than him, but he made that up with his skills, so they were somewhat even at first. That's one of the reasons why he enjoyed sparring with him so much as it gave Sairaorg the opportunity to sharpen his own skills. Not that he also didn't enjoy wrestling with Ladora in his Dragon form or Gandoma, especially now that he had the ability to double his strength with his new Sacred Gear.

Then out of nowhere, Sairaorg got blinded by a bright flash before half of his body just disappeared while the other half was melting away. Honestly, he wasn't sure what exactly happened, but he knew that he would most likely need Regulus to defend against that attack.

His body still ached as he experienced phantom pains all over. It wasn't that bad, though it was slightly annoying. And this was with the pain in that virtual space being limited to just ten percent. He had to ask them to increase it, so he could be prepa–

"Um, hello?"

Sairaorg's heart stopped beating as he heard the voice from the pod. Tears dripped down his face as he sniffled, his voice crackling as he called out, "M-mom?"

"My baby!"

It was her! This was his mother's voice! He hadn't heard it in over a decade, but there was no mistaking it! He had dreamed of her so many times, only to wake up feeling a sense of emptiness as he knew that he might never hear it again. But this? This was real!

"Mother!" Sairaorg had so much he wished to tell her, but he just kept calling out to her, tears and snot dripping down his face as he cradled the pod.

"Shh, it's alright," her soothing voice made him cry even harder. This wasn't a dream. This wasn't something he would wake up from. This was real.

--------------------

–Michael–

Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA ILLYA: Empty Space - 200 CP

There's an empty space in your mind that you can use to avoid forms of brainwashing or mental magic. Simply by retreating back into that space you can circumvent attempts to artificially alter your mind. 

I blinked as I received a new Perk, feeling how I now had a mental space in my mind that was accessible only by me. Supposedly, this was a reward for helping Saiborg as it appeared just after Helel informed me that my pod had managed to help.

The fact that the Grimoire didn't give me a Magic Perk didn't even faze me anymore. At this point, I was sure I wouldn't be getting one since it seemed like it was building me as an anti-Mage.

So be it! If I couldn't have Magic, then no one else could as well! Anyone who dared to use it in front of me would suffer! That was a promise. Unless they were my friend, that is.

You know, even though I was sure at this point that the Celestial Grimoire wasn't a creation of God, I kind of wished that it was. Why? Because I thought it would be funny when I was eventually confronted by His priests or even Angels for consorting with Devils, only to reply to them that God made me do it. The looks on their faces would be priceless.

However, there was a very low chance of the Celestial Grimoire actually being His creation. There was just no way that people wouldn't know about it since it would easily count as a Longinus Sacred Gear. It was just that good.

Sure, I liked to complain in my mind that it didn't give me any Magic despite being called the Celestial Grimoire, but the Perk that allowed me to recreate magical effects through technology and vice versa would be enough to make it a Longinus. That alone would make it a top tier Sacred Gear, but when you added the rest of the Perks? Yeah, there was no way people wouldn't know about it.

"The body shows no signs of waking up," Helel informed me while I worked on making more helmets for the virtual reality. The pods were only necessary if the user wanted to experience it with their actual body since they needed to be scanned for that.

"But her consciousness was pulled into the virtual reality?" It seemed like this wasn't a perfect solution.

"Correct."

"Do you think she will naturally wake up with prolonged use?" I asked idly as I continued working.

"There's not enough data to make a conclusion."

I clicked my tongue and stopped working for a moment. Cupping my chin, I started considering my options. Shocking a Devil inflicted with the Sleeping Diseases was the first thing that came to my mind, but that wasn't going to work. They had surely attempted such a method in the past, yet the disease still persisted.

"Perhaps some kind of super coffee?" I mused out loud. "I will have to roast the beans myself while infusing them with my Ki to increase the chance of it working."

That wasn't something I had attempted since I didn't really drink coffee, though it didn't sound that hard to do.

"Or maybe I can make my own energy drink? I like the sound of this more."

"Drinks made by the Creator are confirmed to have effects superior to any kind of energy infused meal."

Helel's words reminded me of my mortal enemy. The shitty blender made no fucking sense! Just how did it work? The stupid thing didn't make drinks, it made fucking potions!

I didn't even want to think about the blender that I personally made. That thing offended me on a level I couldn't even describe. My soul ached every time I used it and heard the dreadful sound, "Brrr!"

I was snapped out of my thoughts by my phone dinging… again! The adorable Satan had left her number and had been spamming me with messages in the past few minutes.

"Juka said your lore is all over the place."

"Sailor Moon and Puella Magi Madoka Magica are awesome!"

"When are you going to release the next chapter?"

"Illya is so cute!"

"I want a Ruby of my own!"

"I'm gonna pester Juka until he makes me a talking Kaleidoscope Wand!"

I grabbed my phone and responded. "Don't you have work to do?"

"Gah! Someone help! My contracted Magician is bullying me!"

What a little gremlin. Though she was kind of endearing in her own way.

"Not your contracted Magician."

"You can't see it, but my heart just shattered into a bazillion pieces!"

"Stop slacking off."

"Gah!"

I muted my phone and placed it aside, deciding that was enough distraction for the time being. Then I summoned some more basic materials from my pocket space and resumed my work. I wanted to make a helmet for every single one of the peerage, so they could all enjoy the virtual reality on their own. Though they would still have to get scanned by the pods every few days just so they get their parameters updated.

"I have a query," Helel said, grabbing my attention.

"I'm listening."

"You can summon basic materials on demand as long as you use them, correct?"

"Essentially, yes," I replied, wondering where he was going with this.

"Why haven't you tried replicating the magical phenomena from the manga, Fullmetal Alchemist."

I opened my mouth to respond, only to click it shut. Yeah, why haven't I tried replicating Alchemy with my own ability? Surely, it was possible, right? At the end of the day, Alchemy was just magical chemistry, so…

"Helel, you are the best!" I exclaimed in excitement.

"Naturally," he replied with a smug tone.

"I'm gonna need a compilation for anything even remotely related to chemistry."

"Already done."

How had I lived my life until now without an AI? Helel was just so damn useful. He completed the task I had for him before I could even ask him to!

"I'll also have to take a look at what this world has about Alchemy." I knew that Alchemists existed here, but I wasn't aware exactly what they were capable of.

"I only have information regarding famous Alchemists," he replied, sounding sad that he couldn't instantly complete the task.

"Don't worry. I'll ask Kuisha if she can get me a few books."

Hopefully, she would pull through like always. And if Kuisha somehow couldn't get me those books? Well, I did happen to have Leviathan's number. Maybe I could ask her?

If this worked like I expected it to, we could set up a magical circle on the ground and transmute any kind of material that we needed as long as we knew its basic makeup. The Twice Critical could be used as a power source, all I needed to do was to hook it up to a generator and connect it to the circle.

Then… then we could start printing whatever materials we needed. I would be forced to sit and dump resources on the circle, but that was a small price to pay for my Infinite Money Glitch!

I couldn't wait to start cheating the system, but I first had to finish making the virtual reality helmets. This also reminded me of something.

"Can you call Borg over to get one of the helmets? Might as well give him the chance to speak with his mother face to face."

I was still pissed that the dumbass hadn't told me about this, but that didn't mean that I wouldn't try to help him. This was something that had been hanging over his head for who knows how long. He was also one of my best friends, not giving him the chance to meet his mother face to face would be shitty of me, to say the least.

"He is on his way," Helel replied after a few moments.

"Thanks. You really are the best."

"Naturally."