Chapter 101 - Hell of Perpetual Nightmare

(Early 100 Power Stone Bonus Chapter)

Back to the monster infested Black Bullet world. Surprisingly, the people still survive and hold on against the Gastrea.

Ignoring them completely, Adam initiates a warp jump to Mars and sets up the BETA core and the Superordinate that supervise and manage the entire procedure from producing BETA to mining materials.

After that, Adam spent another three days trying to build the design for the production line before he handed over everything to the Engineer Mechs to build the production plant, assembly plant and the storage place. Everything took a whole week to complete.

When Adam returned to Azur Lane world to check up on Agent's progress, he was surprised to receive another invitation from the Sakura Empire.

"Is there a problem?" Adam wondered as he mentally accessed the supercomputer in his armor which he used as his work computer to check if there was something wrong with the promised material and commodity shipments.

"That's odd." Adam mutters when nothing is wrong. But from the invitation letter, they sounded quite urgent.

Sending something bad might be going on, Adam immediately left for the Sakura Empire and directly teleported to their port city where Sakura Empire KANSEN built their homes and functioned as their personal port on an island a few hundred miles away from the shore of Japan.

Upon arriving, Adam is immediately greeted with a town filled with medieval era Japan buildings and a scenery of perpetual cherry blossom like straight out of fantasy.

"Welcome, your excellency. Amagi-sama awaits your arrival." Two shipgirls appeared out of a sudden like ninja and the one with a pair of horns greeted Adam.

"Amagi?" Adam was curious why Amagi is the one that want to meet him instead of Nagato. "Also, who are you two?" Adam looks at the two kunoichi.

"Ah! My apologies, your excellency. My name is Kuroshio and the one next to me is my apprentice, Akatsuki." The shipgirl named Kuroshio introduced while kneeling down with only her head raised up to look at Adam.

"Hmn. Alright, lead the way then." Adam said and let them guide him.

Kuroshio thanked before she stood up with Akatsuki and walked toward the shrine under the Sacred Sakura tree.

Along the way, his guide was silent except when the one named Akatsuki whispered to Kuroshio about Adam suddenly appearing out of thin air. The atmosphere wasn't lively, probably because of the lack of awakened shipgirls. However, Adam could feel the hatred of a few unknown people aimed towards him hidden behind some buildings.

After a few minutes of walking, Adam arrived at the grand shrine and his two guides inform about Adam's arrival before they left.

"Please welcome in, Lord Admiral." The soft and melodious voice of Amagi that is accompanied by a hint of coldness, invites Adam into the room behind the sliding door.

Adam doesn't think much and opens the sliding door before he is greeted by Amagi and her other two sisters sitting on the side. Feeling weird regarding the subtle hostilities, he still enters and sits down before Amagi.

"We apologize for this sudden summon. However we are facing a dire situation. Lady Nagato suddenly fell unconscious and a few days before that, she had been acting odd." Amagi revealed while carefully scrutinizing and analyzing Adam's expression which looked genuinely shocked.

"Lady Nagato fell unconscious?" Adam inquired in a worry.

"Yes. Unfortunately, none of our methods could wake her up. She had been sleeping for the past two days without waking up and we suspect it's the Lord Admiral because of this." Amagi took out the wooden comb which Adam gave Nagato.

"Since the day Lady Nagato received the comb, she had been acting weird and the day before she fell unconscious, Lady Mustu and Kawakaze stated that Lady Nagato looked traumatized and her last word was calling for you, Lord Admiral." Amagi revealed.

"So, I am correct to assume you people suspect it's my fault and you wanted to arrest me?" Adam said while an oppressive pressure descended on the room which shocked everyone except Adam who stared at Amagi straight into her eyes.

"N-No. That is not my intention although others wished for you to be imprisoned. U vehemently believe that the Lord Admiral is the solution to Lady Nagato's situation. Even during her sleep, she had been pleading for your help…"

"Please, Lord Admiral. Help Lady Nagato." Amagi bowed her head to beg Adam for help.

After listening to her intention, the oppressive pressure vanished and Adam immediately stood up which made the three look wary.

Adam looked at them and asked, "What else are you waiting for? Let's go and help her."

Adam had an inkling that this must be related to the comb that Shinano gave him. This means he is partially at fault and he cannot afford to lose Nagato who is the leader of the Sakura Empire and risk making them his enemy.

Arriving in a modest private quarter within the Grand Shrine, Adam was guided to Nagato's bedroom where Kawakaze stood guard in front of the door with unwavering vigilance. She immediately noticed the approaching group before they were even visible.

"We had arrived. Please help Lady Nagato." Amagi said as she stopped outside the room instead of entering.

Instead of the room, Adam saw Nagato's sleeping figure that was anything but calm. Her face was marred with frowns and fear as her body twisted and turned around while being drenched in cold sweat.

*Ding!*

[Nightmarish Dream]

- The wooden comb given to Nagato contains the message and power left behind by Nagato from another timeline. In order to help Nagato awaken her power, she had been facing certain trials prepared by her other self. But due to her inadequacy and a miscalculation by her other self, Nagato failed to overcome the trial and risk being trapped forever in the Hell of Perpetual Nightmare.

Objective;

- Enter the Hell of Perpetual Nightmare and help Nagato overcome her trial.

Reward: ???, ? clue

[Enter Hell of Perpetual Nightmare?]

[Yes / No]

Reading the emergency task's description, Adam is a little shocked. Nagato from another timeline? It's the same timeline Enterprise came from and that timeline's Nagato is trying to help the Nagato of this world to awaken what he assumes to be META power.

Adam immediately sits down much to the confusion of people around him before he tap 'Yes'.

[Warning!!! As an outsider, the Host will not receive any spiritual protection and any damage inflicted to the spiritual body will be carried over to the physical body.]

[Do Host still want to proceed?]

[Yes / No]

Adam tapped the same option again before his consciousness immediately turned dark and he himself fell into deep sleep just like Nagato.

———

Waking up inside the same dreamland where he met Shinano. Adam looked around but found no one around him. Not even the beach. Just a dark void.

Suddenly, the surrounding changed and Adam found himself floating about a sea where dozens of Sakura Empire KANSEN gathered for a battle and he saw Nagato leading them. She was leading the 1st Combined Fleet and her opponent is the same dragon that briefly appeared alongside the floating tree, the Steel Leviathan.

"Greetings, Commander."

"Huh?!" Adam reacted swiftly and turned to his left where the voice came from.

He saw Nagato. Not the Nagato he knows of. This one is wearing black kimono with a thin black veil over her head. She dressed like she was going to a funeral service or a widow. Either one of the two.

Adam is shocked because he can't feel her presence at all even if she was literally next to him. He didn't let his guard down and listen because she looks like she has something to talk about.

"If you are here. Then it means she failed to overcome her trial." The other Nagato said while looking at the battle unfolding in the distance between the 1st Combined Fleet and the Steel Leviathan.

"There could be only two reasons. Either this Nagato is different from the baseline Nagato or her bond with the Commander is lacking. Regardless, if there is an intervention then it would mean she failed to finish her trial after numerous attempts."

"Ah, I forgot to say this. But it is useless to ask me questions because this is just a recording that automatically plays when certain conditions are met."

Adam does have many questions but he is left disappointed after hearing that this is just a recording. Anyway, he continues to listen and observe the battle unfolding in the distance.

"Regardless of the cause. An intervention is necessary in order to help Nagato to master the power of the Origin Cube." She said before she paused for a moment.

"I guess Commander might not know the secret behind the Wisdom Cubes since we only discovered it very late after the Evil God invasion.

Origin Cube is the original form of the Wisdom Cube. A device that pulls power from another dimension. However, Wisdom Cube is modified and designed to hold intelligence. In other words, a soul for us KANSEN. However, the power that the cube draws from is the Evil God.

When a KANSEN underwent Metamorphosis, their Wisdom Cube was reverted back into Origin Cube which removed all the limiter and drew more power from the Evil God. However, the price of that power is to lose all reasoning and become an uncontrollable machine of slaughter and killing control that kills without discrimination. But when we manage to conquer the impulse and control the power, we can harness it to fight against the Evil God's minions.

That is the secret behind Metamorphosis or META."

Adam isn't that surprised because he already partially learned the truth after the Black Cube revealed his visions of the future.

"Now, the reason why Nagato cannot overcome the trial." Nagato META said to pull back Adam's attention.

"For my plan to work on helping Nagato master the META power, she must experience intense memories. Intense enough to pull her to the brink of despair. That is the basic requirement to remove the Wisdom Cube's limiter and allow the Metamorphosis to take place. I am betting on her affection for Commander to pull herself back from the brink of despair. That is how I did it and I planned to do the same for her." She explained.

"If the issue is that Nagato is different from the baseline Nagato. Then I unfortunately am helpless to do anything since it means her Wisdom Cube is incapable of transforming into Origin Cube. However, if the problem is the latter. Then the solution should be easy.

Nagato right now is experiencing the same battle that triggered my Metamorphosis. With my memories and emotions that I artificially implanted into her mind, as long as the Commander where to appear before her. My emotions inside her should be enough to resolve the problem." Nagato META explained before she pointed at Nagato which had collapsed to her feet after the entire fleet had been killed leaving only her alone surviving after everyone sacrificed themselves to protect her.

Adam gets the gist of it and he understands what must be done. The only problem is the warning his System told earlier before he entered this place. He didn't enter here as a dream. He entered forcefully using his spiritual body. So, any damage he suffered will translate over to his real body and the opponent is the fucking Steel Leviathan.

"I leave this matter in your capable hands, Commander. Also I apologize for not being able to look for you. This is all I could do to help you prepare for the inevitable battle against the Evil God." Nagato META said before her body turned transparent and vanished leaving Adam alone to his own choice.

The Nagato that is fighting the Leviathan suddenly turns berserk and fully turns into META. Evident from her appearance, she looks identical to the Nagato META besides him a moment ago. She becomes enraged, berserk and filled with grief. She fight the Steel Leviathan with her newfound power and manage to tip the odd to her as she suppressed the Steel Leviathan but unfortunately her power isn't strong enough to critically damage the Steel Leviathan and she doesn't plan to at all as she is not in a rational state of mind to understand her attack is ineffective. She wields her new power like how some wields a sword like a baseball bat. Yes, it has an effect. But not effective at all. She is just wasting away her power.

"Die! Die! Die! Why won't you die! AHHHH!" She howled in grief as her appearance was becoming more and more animalistic and nine black tails with a black furred fox ear appeared on her body that rapidly grew bigger into a matured form. Her eyes were bloodshot with slitted pupils and two pairs of fangs bare out from her mouth.

She jumps on the incoming head of the Steel Leviathan before black flame gathers on her fist which she punches at the Leviathan's head which explodes with a nova of black fire that burns away the very space and shatters the space briefly to reveal the void underneath the shattered reality.

"Izanami!" She howled before the black fire burst out her own body, coating her arms like raiment.

She stood fearlessly before the approaching Leviathan that threatened to swallow her whole. But she stood her ground and aimed her cannons straight ahead. She didn't bother to dodge. She is willing to bet everything into this one attack.

*Boom!* x9

Her cannons fired when the Leviathan was just a few meters away from her.

The devastating attack injured the monster as tar-like black ichor spilled out from its mouth to the sea. But the Leviathan didn't stop charging and intent on swallowing Nagato to eliminate her early before she fully mastered her power.

In the end of the exchange, she was defeated and everything suddenly just reverted. They killed KANSEN once again alive and Nagato returned to the beginning of the battle with a terrified and hopeless look on her face. Who knows how many cycles she had been through repeatedly.

———

"No… not again! Not again. Why! Please, I cannot do this anymore!" Nagato broke down in tears.

"Nagato-Sama!" Mutsu and Kawakaze shouted and immediately supported her from falling. They were confused as Nagato was fine just a moment ago and suddenly broke down mentally.

When comforted, Nagato pushed them away instead.

"No! Get away from me!" She slapped away the hand of Mutsu, her younger sister.

Mutsu looks hurt and confused. But she didn't voice it out. Instead she simply hardened her expression and turned to Kawakaze. A similar scene played out before Nagato who experienced this outcome numerous times.

"Kawakaze, please bring Nagato-sama and evacuate. I will take over as the flagship." Mutsu said before she turned to face her people and the Steel Leviathan.

"Yes, Mutsu-sama." Kawakaze bowed and nodded before carrying Nagato and fled the battlefield.

To the perspective of an outsider like Adam. Nagato remains at the same location and unchanged. What moved was the scene.

Adam watched in curiosity, the battle that unfold between the Steel Leviathan and the Sakura Empire KANSEN. It's a one sided battle. They never had the chance as every attack will hit the black fog and become useless. Nothing was capable of harming the black fog monster.

In just a few minutes, the entire fleet was massacred by the Steel Leviathan before it plunged back into the dark water and chased after the fleeing Kawakaze and Nagato.

"It's coming!" Nagato fearfully cower in Kawakaze arms which made the loyal bodyguard and friend of Nagato feel pained.

Then, suddenly a giant shadow cast over Kawakaze. She already knew what's coming without even needing to look. Without hesitation, she threw Nagato away and screamed.

"Please flee, Nagato-Sama! I will try my best to buy you time!" Kawakaze said and grit her teeth before drawing out her black sword to fight.

She managed to slashed at the fang of the Steel Leviathan and jumped back a few meters.

The monster didn't relent that easily and dived into the water. Because it is night time, the shadow of the monster was hidden by the darkness and like how it played out numerous times. Nagato can only helplessly watch as her most loyal follower is swallowed by the monster.

—————