Extraction

Shirei and Asami sat at the table in the mansion's living room for half an hour until Kazuma finally 'returned'. Looking at his expression, Asami half-jokingly spoke to him. "I'm guessing she needed a lot of comforting, huh?" Seeing the sly look on her face as she leaned back in her chair Kazuma barked at her.

"Oh, your one to- You know what, never mind, I'll be the bigger person here." Asami was about to refute him, but Shirei put up his hand. "Ok, I think that's enough. You two have been at each other's throats since you met." The two of them silently glared at one another as Kazuma sat down at the table.

After a moment, Kazuma ended up asking a question. "So what exactly are you guys going to do now. I'm guessing you're too busy to stay in one place for too long." Asami was actually wondering the same thing as she turned to Shirei. "Ya honestly, I had the impression we would be hopping around a lot, so are we staying or what?"

Shirei tilted his head thinking for a moment. "Actually, that might not be the case for much longer. If the concept behind the Spectral Order is how it's being stated, then we're going to have to set up bases in the world we visit eventually. Otherwise, even if we take down the major antagonistic force, something else will just appear later."

Both Kazuma and Asami nodded, seeing as it made sense. "But to set up a base like that, you'll need a lot of stuff, right? I mean, we aren't talking about a castle, I'm guessing, and from the fact, you guys didn't come with any guards or other members, how are you gonna do it alone?" Shirei then glanced back at Eren and Muri, who was still unconscious against the wall.

"I have a plan for that, no worries. It'll involve taking those two back to the Hub, where they will actually put their powers to good use. With that well only need one last thing from this world before we can leave." Kazuma looked over at Muri with an annoyed glare. "Eh... Can't imagine he would be useful willingly or not."

Ignoring Kazuma's apparent hate for Muri, Asami spoke up as well. "Also, what is the thing we actually need from this place? I mean, sure, it's a fantasy world, but I doubt there would be anything too useful here other than a special magic weapon or something." Shirei shook his head with a slight grin. "Sadly, that's a surprise, but we actually should start moving them."

Standing up, Shirei prepared to grab Muri while Asami stood up and went to get Eren. Seeing they were about to leave, Kazuma's brain scrambled. 'Come on. You can't let this chance slip away! The whole magic thing has kind of blown over, but Sci-Fi? I can't miss out on seeing space for the first time in my NEET of a life!"

"Wait!" Kazuma called out to Shirei as he turned his head. "Yeah?" Seeing Kazuma stand up from his seat, he walked around the table in front of Shirei. With an aggressive bow, he heard Kazuma ask a question. "Can I please go to space with you two! I promise I won't touch anything. I just want to go! I promise I just want to look!"

Shirei was honestly surprised as he took a step back. 'I mean... He did help deal with Muri, and things wouldn't have gone as smoothly without him. But at the same time, I don't know if bringing people who aren't part of the Spectral Order is a good idea. Especially with those alarms.'

Feeling conflicted, he glanced over at Asami, who looked from Kazuma to him. Shrugging her shoulders, she quickly dodged Shirei's plea for help. "Don't ask me you're in charge." Being left with his own decision Shirei rolled his head before speaking. "I guess if you just want to have a look, there shouldn't be an issue."

Kazuma's eyes lit up as he grabbed Shirei's hand. "Thank you! I completely forgive you for risking my life to stall against Muri." Hearing Kazuma point that out while he slightly increased the grip on his hand, Shirei flashed a smile. 'You sly little...' The three of them soon made their way out of the mansion, with Megumin still being locked in her room.

As they made their way into the center of town, news had spread about Muri's disappearance.

"I heard a female Crusader had challenged him to a battle!"

"Ya apparently the battle was so destructive it upheaved the landscape."

"The crusaders, archpriest, said that Muri ended up running away."

Kazuma's face twitched as he heard everyone prattle on. Only a few people actually took the time to see that Shirei and Asami were carrying two unconscious people. And even when they did, Kazuma reminded them to put bags over their head, so In the end, it just looked worse.

"Those idiots are going around spreading stupid rumors!" Yelling under his breath, Asami looked at him with narrowed eyes. "Didn't Shirei ask you to handle the aftermath?" Kazuma's face froze as he slowly looked over at Asami. "Don't you start with me! Excluding your looks, if it weren't for the fact you actually useful, you'd be just as bad as them, you brute."

Asami took a deep breath as she moved her right leg in front of Kazuma's. "Ugh!" Tripping over her foot, he couldn't catch his balance and fell face-first into the ground. The sword he took from Muri only added to the weight on his back. "A mouth full of dirt really suits you," Asami spoke with a slight chuckle in her tone as Kazuma glared at her.

Shirei ignored the two of them, quarreling with one another. Wanting to deal with Darkness and Aqua when they returned, they avoided them when they left the city. After a whole lot of walking and a bunch of bickering later, they made it to the patch of forest Shirei parked the ship. "Woah..."

Kazuma ran over and saw the ship shining from the sunlight hitting its surface. Despite it just being a ship built for scouting and emergency escape, it was still incredible to look at for the first time. Even Asami admired it for a bit, getting a look at its design when her life wasn't in danger.

'I can only imagine what it will be like to have a gunship with actual weapons onboard... Oh, and it can be controlled remotely.' Shirei could already picture it having a gunship at his beck and call. Even if not to do anything, it would be more than intimidating enough to scare people shitless.

"Alright, your gonna have to hold onto something since there are only two seats." Seeing Kazuma ogling the entire Shirei saw his expression change. "Wait, what? What if I hurt myself on takeoff or something!" Shirei looked back, almost indifferent, as he avoided eye contact. "That's why I said to hold onto something."

Kazuma's expression was stuck between confusion and anger as he pointed at Asami. "Then how come she gets to sit down? I think it's only fair if we decide on an official round of rock paper scissors." As Shirei opened up the door in the back of the ship and got on, Asami looked back at him with a condescending smile.

"Believe it or not, I'm a Commander, and although I don't really understand it, I outrank you a few dozen times over." In the end, Kazuma had no comeback to Asami as she smugly took her seat and Shirei took his. Kazuma was left with Muri and Eren in the back of the ship after they were guaranteed to remain unconscious for the remainder of the trip.

"Alright, we're beginning to take off." Inputting their destination into the ship console, it didn't take long for the ship's engines to power on. Beginning to hover off the ground, the ship redirected its trajectory while floating away from the forest. Looking out of the windows as it did so Kazuma was admiring the view.

Just like that, the ship rocketed itself into top speed, slamming Kazuma against the ship wall. Hearing the bang, a smile crept onto Asami's face. It didn't take long for them to reach the Hub as their ship began to slow down. "Hope it's everything you imagined." Shirei turned around in his chair and stood up as Kazuma looked outside of the front-facing window.

Surprisingly with the new functions and rooms added to it, the Hub had officially gotten fairly big. Around the size of Kazuma's mansion, if not bigger. The main section was still reserved for the power source. It was officially looking like a space station. "It's so cool!" Turning itself around, the ship docked itself before granting access to the rest of the Hub.

"Before you go off again with Alarms and warnings, he's with me!" Shirei remembered what happened last time the Hub detected Asami as an intruder, so he spoke to the AI ahead of time. [Intruder identified as Kazuma Satou. Beginning Biography scan…] Unlike with Asami, the scan did not look like it would be done any time soon, so Shirei put it to the side for now.

Just from his finicking, Shirei could tell Kazuma wanted to go look around, but he stopped him. "Alright, before you break anything, we have something to do." Both Kazuma and Asami looked confused as they followed Shirei. Walking down one of the Hub's halls, they didn't make their way towards the control room, nor did Shirei take Muri and Eren's power.

"Where are we going?" Kazuma whispered to Asami as they walked behind Shirei. "I don't know. I think the room on this end of the hall was still in development when we left." Soon the three of them reached a somewhat secure looking door. Compared to the rest of the rooms, excluding the entrance to the room containing the Hubs power source, this one looked the most impressive.

[Due to ranking changes, specific rooms and functions are now locked and require the proper authority to be accessed.] Shirei seemed confused by the AI's announcement as a quick beep like sound ran through the hall [Access Granted.] After a few seconds, the double doors to the room opened with a heavy clang.

Inside everything had a completely different atmosphere. Lining one of the walls were what looked like dozens of vials. All lined up next to one another, they were empty and had cables running into the walls. Near the other side of the room, there were three chambers. Each of them was the same size, with a circular glass container separating them from the outside.

Excluding all of that, there were barely any windows inside of the room, with most of the light being a gloomy blue. That, paired with the different consoles, electronics, and massive monitor against one of the walls, it looked creepy. "Did you just lead us to a torturing room or something?"

With Asami looking slightly worried, that meant Kazuma was completely scared straight. "Uh, believe it, or not this is supposed to be the something generator room." Even Shirei seemed a bit on edge as the AI's voice echoed through the room. [Welcome to the 'Revitalized Extraction Generator' room. Two potential power sources have been detected. Would you like to begin extraction?]

Shirei hesitated at first as he worked out his answer. "Yes?" In response, two of the three cylinder-shaped containment areas surrounded by glass opened. [Please place the potential power source catalyst inside of chamber one and two.] Both Shire and Asami shrugged as they looked at one another.

Moving Muri and Eren individually, they placed them where the AI said so, and as soon as they left the area, the chambers closed once again. "Ok, this is weird and kinda freaky at the same time." Watching from behind both Shirei and Asami, the two of them nodded in agreement. Shooting down from the roof of each chamber, a beam of light scanned both Muri and Eren.

[Both power catalysts have been detected as Humanoid in nature. The method of extraction has been determined. Preparing the extraction process now...] As the physical scan was shown on the monitor on the wall, a small hole opened up at the top of each chamber. Respirator masks came from the holes with tubes attached to them.

Automatically lowering and clamping onto each of their faces immediately a strange green liquid began pouring from both the top and bottom of the chamber. It didn't take long before the entire thing was filled with both of them floating inside. 'And we have officially crossed the creepy limit of this.'

Shirei shook his head silently. [Powers and abilities have been neutralized. Beginning extraction...] What looked like surgical hands made entirely of robotic parts began lowering down from the top of each chamber. All three of them didn't know how to explain it, but the next dozen scenes caused them to wince.

It was horrifying to look at, and in the middle of it, both Eren and Muri seemed to wake up from the pain they were in. Shirei didn't want to know what it must have been like to have that happen to you while you're awake, so he averted his gaze. Everyone else followed his lead and did the same until the process was over.

A few minutes later, Shirei heard the AI speak. [Extraction process has been completed.] Now filling two of the vials on the wall were two strange orbs of orange and yellow light respectively. Power was slowly being extracted from these orbs at a reasonable rate, both gathering energy while not letting it disperse.

"What the fuck was that..." Asami looked over at Shirei, who looked just as mortified thanks to him still being in human form. "The description just said it extracts any power source from a living thing or inanimate object. It would then siphon that power so that it wouldn't disappear quickly and act as a generator..."

That was Shirei summing up the description, but honestly, it kind of fell short. "How about we just don't talk about this in the future."