Agitation ; First Contact

Gazing upon the rather tall building in front of me, an overwhelming surge of emotions courses through me. After all, this was it. If I were to meet Dominion here after all this time, my departure from this Platform is essentially guaranteed.

Still, that's the reason for the current emotions that I am feeling. As it stands, there are more than quite a few things that I would miss if I truly left.

As for the reason I am so certain about my departure, it's simple. Once I contact Dominion, one of three scenarios is likely to occur, and each one of them has varying results.

The first scenario would be that Dominion is friendly and doesn't bear any ill-intent toward me. This is unmistakably the scenario I prefer most, but unfortunately, my hopes won't affect the matter in any meaningful way.

Anyway, the second scenario would be that she is neither friendly nor otherwise. In that case, my main objective would be to figure out her intentions for 'inviting' me over to this Platform and possibly get her to join forces with me - as risky as that may be.

Lastly, there is the third and unquestionably most troublesome scenario, which would be if Dominion is a foe. If such a scenario were to occur, I would have to either battle against her until one side perishes or simply fall back after witnessing a few of her capabilities - In other words, a tactical retreat.

Naturally, doing the latter would leave a bad taste in my mouth, but then again, I have no other choice, as, not doing so could result in me 'suffering' from a lot more issues.

"Shido," Kurumi's voice brings a halt to my thoughts, "I believe that staying here any longer would invite trouble over, don't you think so too?"

Certainly, it would be much better if we brought trouble over to the opponent since it could disarray their ranks.

Releasing an audible sigh, I circulate Holy Essence within my body and utilize Paragon's Eyes before scanning the building.

Expectedly, there are a lot of grays, but among them are a few with a fairly light shade of gray.

Lamentably, since they are all a part of the enemy forces, I have absolutely no need to show them any more mercy compared to the rest.

Also, I should probably get this done as soon as possible, since I would rather the enemy not make use of something like anti-matter or anything comparable.

"You're right," I say as I consider to what extent should I utilize the abilities and equipment I have at hand.

If possible, I would deal irreparable damage to all sections of the building that I deem unnecessary for research. The reason for doing so is to prevent the enemy from recovering after our assault.

{Code waves detected.}

Hm? Inside the building?

{Affirmative.}

Could it be... The only two possible Codes I can think of are Dominion and the owner of the voice back on the island.

Where are the Code waves originating from? Can you locate the source?

{Affirmative. According to the direction the waves are emitting from, the source is underground.}

As soon as those words resound within my head, I sense some movement from above us, which upon closer inspection turned out to be a few girls equipped with CR-Units flying down.

Seeing this, I take a moment to deliberate on something before dashing toward the automatic glass doors at a speed that the sensors are unable to sense, resulting in me smashing through the glass and directly ending up at the center of the reception floor.

Surrounding me are a few shocked personnel whom are dressed in business attire, indicating that they're employees of the company.

"That was rude, Shido," Kurumi's voice suddenly resounds within my ears as she appears to my right, "Leaving the piffling pests to me as you enter like so."

"Sorry about that," I say with a small smile while using Clairvoyance to check outside the building, only to find no traces of the girls apart from two small pools of blood on the ground.

The heck did she do? In such a short time too, no less.

All of a sudden, I feel a shiver run down my spine as my vision distorts for a split-second before returning to normal.

[Come.]

An oddly calming voice resounds within my head as I sense the tension present within me gradually decrease.

The next moment, I snap out of the trance that I had briefly entered before putting my guard up as I use my senses along with Clairvoyance to check my surroundings.

"Hey, who are you?!" a voice suddenly reverberates around us as a woman standing behind the reception desk angrily points her finger at us.

Shaking my head, I will for Excalibur, which is currently 'disguised' as a ring, to change back to the shape it had when I first created it - a broadsword with a grand holy feel to it.

"That's an impressive-looking weapon you got there," Kurumi joyously remarks.

"Let's begin," I say before slamming the tip of the sword into the ground, resulting in a high amount of dense energy to be released.

Following this, the ground simply shatters along with the many glass panes around us.

Screams and shrieks fill the air as the ground slowly begins to 'sink'.

Beside me, Kurumi has a carefree look on her face as she easily keeps her balance despite the ground being caved in immensely.

Grinning, I use Clairvoyance to check under the building for any suspicious facilities, only to realize that what I'm looking for is two floors beneath us.

And so, having tested Excalibur's current power and found an objective, I pull the broadsword out of the ground before dashing toward one of the two elevators in the building and destroying the steel doors.

After this, I find myself diving downwards right toward my destination while scanning the elevator shaft.

Compared to the ground section and upwards, the shaft is completely different downwards. Perhaps, this is something taken into mind considering the abnormality of what lays underground.

A few seconds later, I use Flight to break my speed before swinging Excalibur in order to destroy another pair of elevator doors in front of me.

Exiting the elevator shaft, I am met with a few pairs of shocked and fearful eyes.

Looking at the three men standing in front of me, I realize that all of them seem to be security personnel assigned to this place.

Not wasting any time, I casually swing the sword in my hand, after which the three men directly get split in half horizontally as a shock-wave passes through the corridor, damaging the walls and doors it contacts.

"This is the second time you have left me behind," Kurumi's irritated voice reaches me as she exits from the very same elevator shaft I came here from.

Shrugging, I don't respond to her as I begin walking toward the location in which a girl with blue hair is being held captive.

On the way there, multiple men dressed in white lab cloaks exit from the many rooms present on the floor, all of which ended up in one state - deceased.

Despite what it seems, my actions are a means of defending myself, after all, I never know if one of these men is carrying some troublesome little device that could trigger a trap or defense mechanism of sorts.

Hence, why I kill any living being that comes into my sight.

Continuing like this, I reach the door that leads inside the room in which I had seen a girl being held captive in.

"It would be better me for me to stay here," Kurumi all of a sudden says as she casts a glance in the direction through which we came from.

Following her gaze, I find a middle-aged man with dark ash blonde hair walking toward us. The conspicuous man is wearing a black business suit along with a white tie.

Behind the man are four girls whom are equipped with CR-units similar to those that assaulted us outside the building.

The atmosphere tenses as I stare at the man while he does the same.

"I assume you're Sir Isaac?" I question with a small smile while circulating Holy Essence within my body and preparing to use Vector Manipulation.

From the information I had gathered from Ellen and Ashley, this man is not simple in any way, so it would rash of me to drop my guard around him.

While I am at it, I make use of Corporikinesis to change my vision and take a closer look at the man's body.

Surprisingly, I find nothing that indicates he is a terrestrial creature on this planet. Not only are some of the organs a human normally would have missing, but his blood circulation is odd - as if it's in reverse.

"That's me," the man responds in a sharp tone as he raises both of his arms to the sides with a bright smile covering his lips, "We finally meet, 'the Man From Another World'."

What a nice title granted to me. For some reason, I have a feeling he is not referring to the Platforms, but the Neighboring World instead.

Still, I find it rather odd for this man to come here personally instead of making use of whatever weaponry and defense mechanisms they got.

Without doubt, there is something to this man that I have yet to figure out. Say, AI, is this guy a Code or an Unknown?

{Unable to analyze to interferance from external sources.}

All of a sudden, I feel a suffocating sensation in my chest as my vision begins to distort.

Before I can react to the situation, an odd sound reverberates within the corridors as I suddenly feel my feet leave the ground, as do the others' feet in my vision.

The next moment, all of us contact the ceiling in various ways. Sir Isaac simply makes a maneuver mid-air similar to Kurumi and me, as we press against the ceiling in an orderly fashion. On the other hand, two of the four girls don't react in time and practically slam into the ceiling.

This... it feels like we're all falling. But how? Unless...

With a weird idea appearing in my head, I quickly make use of Clairvoyance to check the other side of the ceiling, and true to my expectations, something is clearly amiss.

Normally, my vision would've simply been blocked due to the solid mass present if my sight were here, but now, I can see outside - and it's definitely not the same setting I was in when I first arrived in this Platform.

What I see right now are vast plains with absolutely no evidence of populace in sight. Shortly after that, a curious figure catches my attention - a young girl in a white military-style dress.

What's shocking is that the girl's appearance is one that I find all too familiar; for she resembles none other than Kurumi, albeit with a few variant features.

To my surprise, the girl seems to notice my 'sight' as she directly looks back at me with somewhat creepy grin plastered to her lips.

At this moment, I realize that this girl might very same person who has brought me to this Platform and possibly 'here' too - Dominion.