Chapter 46

A couple of weeks after I returned from my trip, I was sitting down beside Commander White on a couch in my bunker. She was going through her tablet and sending out orders to the YoRHa model androids which as a whole were taking territory from the Machine Army in order to make a fortified position.

It's a pity that it was for naught...

"So, the Maso energy is still building up to even higher levels?" I questioned incredulously as even with my activated magic protecting me, I still felt like the air was heavy and extremely humid lately.

"Yes... That's why I am advocating for you to be situated in a quarantined area where we can filter out the Maso... But that is only a stopgap as we simply don't have the technology to keep up with the Maso build-up." Commander White explained exhausted and with a sigh she dropped her tablet on the table in front of us as she began to lean onto me.

White took my hands as we were snuggling and took a breath as she steadied herself continuing to speak. "Jake, YoRHa simply doesn't have the technology to protect you from Maso overload and it will corrupt you, eventually... So, you need to use the 'Guardian' thing and find out how to make those Darkness portals you mentioned before in order to save yourself while you still have time."

I shivered at the thought of mutating into one of the monstrous wildlife, turning into a pillar of salt, or even having my soul mangled by some weird magic. "How long do I have?" I asked quietly and I could feel my Guardian the darkness of my magic made into a conceptual shield that was both indestructible and incapable of harming me directly moving in concert with my thoughts within me calming me as a protective animal would stand beside its object of affection.

Well, I thought it was indestructible anyway as not even a Goliath's laser could actually harm it though the laser did smash it so hard that it was thrown out of its range limit from me and teleported back to me.

Commander White blew away one of her long hairs that crossed over her face as we lay down on the couch and I felt my heart break at the thought of just leaving my androids behind even if it was for pure survival...

I could already see the other's reactions to such a thing as well... 9S would be inconsolable, no longer would we be able to relax playing some co-op games together just having generally a good time. 2B for all she was stoic and professional would probably lose the last little bit of light she had in her eyes after I came here and ended the cycle where she had to kill 9S over the years.

A2, simply wouldn't survive should I leave and never return... She would undoubtedly perish fighting too many machines at once and YoRHa wouldn't be able to recover her as even with the relationship between the two having gotten better, she still won't uplink to the YoRHa servers due to their bad history.

The twins Popola and Devola would sink back into their guilty state where they felt they failed humanity though I don't think they would do anything drastic like A2 would. Lastly, I think E6 the first YoRHa android who cared for me and helped dress my wounds would go catatonic and just sit in my bunker playing with my stuff unable to accept I was gone...

So I had to be sure I had to have a way back and relatively soon after I landed wherever I arrived.

White then went on to explain how I had a solid month or two before I reached detrimental levels of Maso saturation and would likely become unable to even use magic so I would be stuck and thus be a dead man walking.

"Alright, so I guess I should get to work," I muttered as White left after we took a nap.

-

It took me a solid three weeks for me to finally be able to merge my Guardian into my body's shadow and connect the two of us. Doing so allowed me to cast darkness-attributed magic and with that, my gravity magic turned into spatial magic...

I stared into the large ominous portal leading god knows where no matter how much magic I poured into my eyes I couldn't see anything of note in the portal that looked like murky water rippling in bright moonlight.

Unfortunately, anything not connected to my guardian's shadow was destroyed in the spatial tunnel so no androids could come with me at this time, but I was making progress in extending my Guardian's shadow.

But the problem was I didn't have enough time to train such an ability. My time had run too low and even at the three-week mark, my magic was feeling sluggish as the Maso enveloped me like a fireproof blanket with my magic being the flames.

"You better train hard to bring us with you!" A2 sniffled shaking as she brought me into a tight hug.

I nodded with a grunt as A2 did her best to realign my spine with her strong arms and finally, I was saved from her grasp as she abruptly let go of me. A2 paused and looked about to say something but she shook her head and walked to the side with her head down.

I wasn't able to try and keep A2 around to comfort her further as my other androids claimed my attention with 2b and E6 hugging my front and 9S fussily checking the backpack I chose to take with me.

2B sighed and took a couple of steps back and with a flourish her smaller sword Virtuous Contract was stabbed into the ground in front of me. "Jake, I want you to take my side weapon... I won't be able to protect you where you land and even if you lose your magic with the training, we have given you and the times we have spared you will be able to use this weapon well enough... Don't think I won't be further training you when you return! I will make you strong enough to use a YoRHa great sword one day..." She mumbled.

I patted 2B's head with my free hand as E6 muttered about spears being better, leaving me only shaking my head as I turned toward the twins.

"Come here. You both won't escape a hug before I leave." I smiled gently to bring a matching smile across their own faces that were on the verge of tears.

Finally, after one more hug from 9S, I took a deep breath and stepped into the portal to find my fortunes in another world.