A Slow Day

「Connection severed.」I hear the Eyes of God's droning voice whisper inside my head, its tone humane yet not. 「Target Matrix has collapsed. Result designation: Failure.」

I let loose a frustrated sigh as I kick the metal orb I'm holding into the sky. It soars for a moment, before an ear-grating screech sounds, and the orb promptly explodes in a massive cacophony of blacks and whites.

Another failed experiment. It's nothing new really—I'd failed over six hundred times on this endeavor—but the sting of disappointment remains just as potent.

「Experiment lasted 0.8 seconds longer than estimated.」My eyes console. 「Stability of the Matrix has increased by 2.1%. Progress is advancing.」

Here's the thing. The four different energies floating inside my body should've killed me ages ago. At the moment, Divine Energy is only really somewhat compatible with Mana. Mixing it directly with Ki causes catastrophic destruction. And less said about mixing it with Primal Energy, the better.

But the Eyes of God acts as a binding agent, allowing the incompatible energies to mix inside my body and not promptly cause me to explode like a nuclear bomb.

Outside my body though? That's a different story.

And it really is a shame. Infernal Arms are created through a mix of Divine Energy, Curse Energy, and Demonic Energy. Sacred Gears are complex mechanisms run using Mana and kept bound together by Divine Energy.

Infusing Ki or Primal Energy into either causes the carefully crafted tool to explode.

But a marriage between the energies isn't impossible. My eyes have shown me the way, and I know it's possible to reach even with the materials I have on hand at the moment. 

It's mostly my failings that remain as the sole blockade in all this. 

Controlling one or two energies at the same time? I can do that with ease. I've been doing that in most of my fights.

Controlling three? It gets a little tough, but it mostly depends on what energies I'm mixing. Marrying Primal Energy, Ki, and Mana isn't impossible.

Trying to add or substitute Divine Energy into that equation? Nearly impossible. The 'Permanence' of the divine is both a blessing and a curse in this regard. It's painfully stubborn, and it wants nothing more but to remain alone and untouched.

But I am making progress. The divinity inside me grows a little more lenient the more I practice, and eventually, I won't have to struggle like this to make it go buddy-buddy with my other powers.

And once I do, the inefficiencies holding Infernal Arms and Sacred Gears will be eliminated, and it'll be glorious!

Ah, it happened again. The mad scientist inside me is cropping up more and more these days. It's honestly somewhat of a problem.

「YHWH went through similar thought processes.」My eyes helpfully chime in. 「Enthusiasm in creation is shared with new Host.」

"You're not helping." I say back.

Today's a special day. For once, I have no work I need to attend to. No meetings, no lessons, no exterminations. Akeno doesn't share this unfortunately—she has a meeting she needs to attend back in Kyoto. My parents are out of town at the moment. And my big sister's having fun by dragging Dulio across the country.

Which leaves me, for once, alone.

It's strange really. There's so many people I know now, and it's almost impossible to find a moment when I'm completely alone.

Then again, even now, I'm not alone. I have the Eyes of God's robotic voice echoing inside my head, idly commenting on the random thoughts that pass through my head.

「They are careful observations.」It argues, sounding surprisingly defensive. 「Idle 'Commentaries' are not included inside the Subroutine.」

"Whatever you say, mate." I say with a grin. The Eyes of God respond with a metallic equivalent of a huff.

I turn my eyes to the oceans below me. The waters are calm today, and I can see the occasional fish surface from the below. 

I'm out at sea right now. When I realized my predicament, I thought of where to go. And jokingly, I thought of the ocean. After all, I'd never actually gone to the open seas before, and I did want to try it once.

The idea settled in then, and now here I am, floating above the waters as I proceed with my tests.

"It's really blue." I mutter, strangely surprised. I mean, this isn't the first time I've seen the ocean. I saw plenty of open waters when I took that vacation to Iceland. And yet, something about the sparkling blues of the waves are entrancing to my eyes.

「Host has never watched the Oceans.」It answers succinctly.

I laugh slightly. "That's true." I say, eyes still transfixed at the waters. I fall silent for a moment, deep in my own thoughts, before I ask, "Was Earth really created by chance?"

That's what the science books say. That it's a cosmic fluke—a series of random miracles that eventually led to the creation of this planet we now call home. And that might've been true in my previous world, but here?

「It was designed.」It says, voice low and careful. 「Creation dictated by a being above all beings.」And before I can ask further, it adds, 「Query denied. Host incapable of withstanding damage to Soul Structure. Answer temporarily locked in Database. Sealed until further development.」

"At least let me ask." I say. It conveniently doesn't respond. Well, it doesn't matter I suppose. I can wait a little longer.

In the meantime though, 

I pull out another metal orb from the satchel slung on my back, and I smile. "Let's do another test, shall we?"

「Affirmative. Beginning recording.」

…

In the end, I didn't make much progress. The stability of my tools improved by just about 2.3 seconds, before they all inevitably blew up. Granted, at least each explosion is unique and pretty in their own ways. Gave me some sort of entertainment in between all the disappointment I was feeling.

I teleport straight home, and I manage two steps before I throw myself onto the couch. It's only me inside right now, and it'll take quite a while before Akeno comes back home.

I'm not tired, and I end up staring at the ceiling for a good few minutes as I bask in the silence. 

It's…been a slow day today. Yes, that's the word. A day with no tasks to complete, no lessons to undertake, and no enemies to face. A day for me and me alone. It's a genuinely slow day.

So inevitably, my mind begins to wander. I think of half-baked plans and unfinished projects, of people I'm looking out for and enemies I'm keeping tabs on. 

Despite everything, my name has remained somewhat elusive in the supernatural world. People know me as the governor of Kuoh, and a few will recognize me as The Heir for the Youkais, but that's the extent of the world's knowledge. They don't know that the Five Principal Clans' downfall was my doing, and that Satanael was buried through Akeno and my efforts.

It won't last. All sorts of people are converging into this town, and there's only so much I can hold before the truth slips into the crowd. 

With a snap, my phone teleports into my hand, and I stare at my most recently missed call. It'd come just a few days ago, coming from the esteemed general of the Grigori himself. And the missed call behind that came from Serafall. It seems both are trying to form some form of alliance with Kuoh.

I'd accidentally missed both. I was a little too deep into my experiments to realize, and everyone else was too busy to notice.

A couple calls after, there's a missed call from an unknown number. This one I'd intentionally missed. I'd used my eyes to see who it was, and it came from a a member of the previous Leviathan faction. They'd heard of my help in curing Misla's Sleeping Sickness, and they wanted to know more.

Except my eyes showed me that they'd be awfully rude about it. I mean, they're desperate and all, but to threaten me? 

Ha! As if. Let them stew on their own. I'll let them panic a little longer.

I scroll back to the two missed calls. I've become quite allergic to diplomatic meetings over the past year or so, but I know that this isn't something I can let pass me by. 

A genuine political alliance with the Underworld? It presents some unsavory issues, but the benefits far outweigh it. The Underworld is rich with resources and opportunity, and I'll be granted access to come and go as I want if this really goes through.

A connection with the Grigori isn't terrible either. There isn't much I want from them, but opening some trade between us will be nice. That, and it'll mean I won't have to deal with Kokabiel as much as I do now. And it certainly helps that Akeno's instinctual anger towards the Fallen has simmered down quite significantly.

…

But I'll leave all the logistics for the future. It's a slow day today, and I don't really feel like shattering this moment by working. 

So my phone vanishes back to the ether with a snap, and I return to my civic duty of staring emptily at the ceiling.