Project Seraphina [LitRPG, Magitech, GL]
3.Prologue Seraphina’s Excursion I

Planet XSQ-1827, Substation 33, Year 16,369 A.I. (8 Weeks After Seraphina’s Awakening)

This week has been nothing short of brutal. Even though I nearly died to a damn, dirty cheap shot by that stupid dinosaur, my training regimen hasn’t slowed down in the slightest. If anything, Madison has only accelerated the training, in brutality and intensity alike. I understand why she has done it. Our outing has shown that I am not as invincible as I want to believe. Moreover, and perhaps more importantly, our first outing into an uncontrolled environment has demonstrated that I lack the combat instincts that will be necessary if I am to survive the [Sword Saintess’s] pleasure.

I understand that she trains me so hard out of concern and care. When I am out there fighting, I will be grateful that I have been trained so well. That my strength, while not insubstantial, is not sufficient to overwhelm all opposition. I can be defeated, whether by a surprise attack when my guard is down, by the handful of superior combatants in the cosmos, or by someone with a lot more experience and finesse with their power.

In order to reach the potential of 「The Anomaly」 and the other powers I will one day possess, I need to make sure my life is not cut short. That’s why Madison was there that day. Because she knew, somehow, that I would screw it up. But I know as well as she does that there will be a time when I will have to journey forth without her.

I dislike thinking about it. As much as I dislike her training methods and hate how I feel at the end of them, I dislike the idea of being apart from Madison even more. My heart twists into knots and my mood immediately turns dour whenever those thoughts creep to the surface. Her radiance, her confidence, her care and consideration. They are captivating, although I feel such a word does injustice to her mesmeric personality.

Sometimes I selfishly wish I could have her stay with me all the time. Her mere presence calms me and makes me content in a way that nothing else can. Even my favorite food from the substation dining hall, lasagna with spicy meat sauce, cannot compare to the joy I feel when in her presence. Hell, as much as I would have disbelieved myself mere weeks ago, I almost look forward to her training sessions, if only for the time we get to spend together, just the two of us.

Definitely not for the bruises and the pain, which is what I’m experiencing right now as her sword nicks my arm, drawing blood for a fraction of a second before my [Etheric Self-Repair] and the heat of her blade cauterize my wound all the same.

“Focus, Seraphina!” she says. Her tone is harsh, but there’s no hatred or animosity behind her words. “You need to stay focused. Do you know what the most dangerous mistake you can make on the battlefield is?”

“Letting my guard down?”

“That’s part of it. The most dangerous mistakes are mental mistakes. A missed block, a swing gone awry, an enemy Skill unaccounted for? All of those mistakes can be rectified. You can cut your losses, suffer the setback, and move forward, jostling back into a neutral or even advantageous position. But if you lose focus, fail to use your head in the midst of battle? You will die, and no amount of power will save you. Remember, your Skills and stats can only help you when you actively use them!”

I instinctively clutch toward my stomach. The pain of the physical injury at the tail of that saurian is long gone, but phantom psychological pain remains when I think too long and too hard about it. I very much want not to repeat that process. From the way Madison looks at me, I doubt she does either.

I push the thoughts out of my mind. Madison is right. Those stunning, silvery irises stare at me. I wouldn’t be surprised if she can see my life force, or whatever passes for life force for a biomechanical being.

She assumes a casual fighting stance, holding her [Energy Sword] in one arm, almost resting it upon her outstretched right leg. Her knees are bent, lowering her center of mass, and the pleated skirt atop her black bodysuit flutters a bit in the artificial breeze of the practice arena. Her heart beats steadily. Her breathing is calm and collected. Her eyes, of course, never leave me even for an instant. I don’t think she blinks at all— best to train oneself not to, when a battle can be won or lost in a hundredth of a second.

I attack once more, accelerating myself with a combination of [Swift Foot] and my new [Etheric Wings]. As I activate the latter, four translucent golden wings like those of a butterfly sprout from my back, augmenting my [Strength] and [Speed] while giving me the ability to fly. But Madison looks unperturbed. She touches her forehead, activating her own [Saintess’s Blessing], boosting her already ludicrous stats to levels which could only be described as godlike.

I don’t know if there truly are any gods in this world— except if the System should be considered one— but I cannot see Madison as anything less as her light shines with overwhelming incandescence. Still I push forward into the coronal gusts she emits courtesy of her [Solar Pressure] Skill. I’m slowed, but by folding my wings backward and inward, I’m able to lower my surface area and reduce the effectiveness of her Skill.

Still, I know better than to assume she hasn’t thought ahead to the next move, then the next, then the next. [Stone Skin] shields me from the [Coronal Beams] she launches at me. I fire my [Ether Strike] toward her, a brilliant beam of teal-white energy loosed from the palm of my hand. It hits Madison square in the shoulder. But I doubt it does more than ten thousand damage or so.

Dust settles in the wake of our exchange. Sure enough, despite throwing five thousand [Ether] into my attack, I deal little beyond superficial wounds already healed. I am feeling a bit fatigued, while Madison stands before me, sword in hand, eyes resolute, all without having the decency to even pretend she’s weakened by my strongest attack.

But she doesn’t order me to attack again. Instead, she deactivates her weapon. I don’t. I know better from the last time. Just because she has feigned that the fight is over doesn’t give me permission to lower my guard. The last thing I want is to disappoint her. Then, she truly will be cross with me. Instead, I keep my focus upon her. She approaches, I take a step backward, trying to think of how I can get the jump on her.

But I don’t want to hurt her, either. I don’t want to actually cause an injury that is beyond her ability to heal. If I were to do so, however well-intentioned, I do not think I would be able to live with myself afterward.

Madison smiles and orders the training exercise to cease. The training field’s artificial outdoor environment dims and turns to the sterile, white room with mechanical panels and other knobs and levers and diodes on the walls. With one deep breath, I will my [Energy Sword] to deactivate as well, breathing heavily and wiping the sweat off my forehead.

“Good work just then,” Madison says. I’m immediately starstruck from her praise. “I’m glad to see that you have internalized your lessons to this point.”

I grimace. “The last time I let my guard down prematurely, I got a giant spike impaling me in the stomach. I do not look forward to repeating that experience with your [Energy Sword].”

Madison chuckles. “As much as I hate to make light of that accident, pain does prove an effective deterrent to making those kinds of mistakes. That is why we train to this extent, and why I inflict damage to you when we spar. Not because I dislike you, but because I want to make sure that you are only harmed here, where you are surrounded by people who care about you. And where, if you are seriously injured, I or one of the medical support specialists can get you patched up in no time flat.”

My heart soars at hearing the words ‘people who care about you’. Yeah, Madison has a pretty direct, and sometimes less than pleasant way of showing it some of the time. A lot of the time… Most of the time. But it’s because she cares about me, right? I choose to believe it to be so.

“May I ask a question?” I ask. “Besides asking for permission to ask a question, that is.”

Madison chuckles again. “Go ahead, Seraphina.”

“You’ve mentioned that you and the others created me as a way to stand against the System. But you never mentioned why that was the case. You have said that the System must be stopped. But I want to know why that is.”

“Because–” Madison chokes up. “We believe that the end of the universe is fast approaching.”

“The end of the universe?”

“We have received… reports from our intelligence officers. Reports that portions of the cosmos are suddenly ceasing to exist. They are just that, reports. But when an entire galaxy’s light suddenly goes dark all at once, that’s not something we can dismiss as a coincidence. It may just be some heretofore unknown physical phenomenon at play, but our research into cosmology is sufficiently advanced that we can mostly rule out natural causes.

“That leaves supernatural causes as the alternative. And of those causes, the System itself is the most likely culprit. That, or a being that controls the System, one from potentially outside of our universe.”

“Supernatural causes?” I ask. “And why do you think something like that?” It’s confusing. These are, as far as I understand, some of the most brilliant and cutting-edge researchers in Ethertech and System-derived technology. There should be no greater amalgamation of scientific knowledge in all of humanity’s outposts. And yet, they are just throwing up their hands and declaring the cause to be supernatural and beyond them.

“I– I’m sorry, Seraphina. I’m afraid all we have are conjectures and outlandish hypotheses based more on fear than hard evidence. As it is now, I am afraid that we cannot conclusively establish a reason behind these disappearances.”

“And you want me to investigate these causes?”

“I do. I’m afraid that at the current rate of acceleration of the cosmic disappearances, we don’t have as much time as I would like to train you if we are going to have a chance of success in this matter.”

“How long do we have? A few days? A couple of months?”

“These disturbances started seventeen years ago, according to our best estimates. Considering the System’s fascination with powers of two and the fact that it first appeared 16,369 years ago, I suspect that means we have fifteen years remaining before the end of all worlds.”

“So we have time,” I say, my mood improving a bit.

“Not nearly enough. We are facing the System itself. The closest thing to a god that humanity has ever known. I’m not even sure if we would be successful if we had the entire sixteen thousand years to plan and prepare.”

“You still think I can do it? Me, I’m not sure how I’m supposed to fight a god.”

Madison places her hand on my shoulder. She’s two inches shorter than I am, but her presence, for lack of a better word, absolutely dwarfs my own.

“I do. Your power might seem small compared to mine right now, but your potential is without limits.” She pauses for a moment. “I wish I could say conclusively, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that you will exceed our loftiest expectations and finally rid us of the yoke of the System once and for all. But I do believe in you, Seraphina, and in the power you hold within you. We all do. And that’s why you and I will be leaving this substation tomorrow morning. To grow that potential. To nourish it, and to ensure that you will become the best Seraphina you can be.”

I smile. Growing stronger is one thing, enjoyable enough. But I get to do so alongside Madison, which makes it that much better. And if the power I possess might help to one day protect her, then it is incumbent upon me to develop it to the fullest extent possible. I cannot and will not fail.