Advent Apotheosis

"Ready Check, beginning Tetsudashi genetic code purification test 104."

Diana's Forgemaster, one Titania Leveilleur, was standing behind a crystal pane as she addressed two people in the room before her: Diana and Irene Moneta, both sitting inside an intricate fuinjutsu ritual with several baseball sized crystals on top of several seals inside. A large switch stood by Titania's side, her hand on the lever as she waited for the two 'cousins' to respond.

"I am ready."
"I am ready."

"Very well. Engaging Biomatrix." She'd flip the switch and sent some chakra through, the sigil activating and beginning to glow. The crystal orbs began to float up, and from them several holograms of Diana using the coveted Kōton element appeared. Diana and Irene just kept looking at each other, the latter's entire body becoming silver unconsciously as Diana waited. For a brief moment, Diana felt it, her nails turning to steel, when suddenly she clutched her head as a loud roar reverberated through her mind. 1 crystal ball shattered, then another. Irene just stood still, knowing that if she moved things could get worse. She learned that back in test 73.

"Critical spike in negative chakra observed, aborting test 104!" The forgemaster would pull back the lever, and immediately the seals would stop glowing. Looking around, they all saw that all but one crystal shattered into nothing. Diana stood up and dusted herself off, the roar of the beast still ringing in her mind. "Test 104 is considered a failure by entity intervention. Titania, compile the results for Test 105; Irene, preform a self-diagnosis and see if we were able to clean up any of your DNA." Both nodded. "After you both have done that, I want this place ready for Project Klironomia." A second nod from each, and both were off. Diana walked to the remaining crystal and let the memory of her reawakening play out in her mind for a few seconds, then set it to the side and began setup for Project Klironomia.

After all, Her student, Adam Jensen was going to arrive soon, and the letter she sent likely would have peaked his interest; a way for him to utilize his magnet release in a much more refined matter through the use of some data she had found when sifting through the A.I. she had stolen from the Idaina Kujira, as well as her advances with the I.R.E.N.E. Division. She had made it clear that he was under no obligation to accept, but if he wanted to know more he was to come and meet her in the testing room.

Adam wasnt really interested in getting stronger, however he needed to in order to keep up, if barely. After all, despite all the nice things people tended to say, he knew exactly what someone was that wasnt able to pull his own part off: Dead weight. Not only dangerous to himself, but also to the people that were kind and dear to him.

With that in mind, he walked towards Dianas laboratories with big steps, holding the letter in his hand inside his pocket. Yet again Diana had something for him. He allready owed her for the job offer at iwatomics and the easy money he made some while ago, so now it was yet another thing on his seemingly endless list. If it worked that was. While Diana in general didnt seem to like writing sensitive things in letters, maybe it was just the fact that the letter was sent to him, that kept its content so open and without a specific definition.

As he entered the shop he immediately walked to the back room and waited for Diana to arrive, like the letter told him to. Looking at his watch, he seemed to be on time, so it could only be a matter of minutes until Diana would appear to enlighten him about the "opportunity" she had spoken off in her letter.

Finishing the setup, Irene and Titania reconvened with their leader and, after some quick back and forth about how Project Klironomia was going to proceed, they took to their positions as from a distance she Diana hear the sound of a door open, likely Adam given the store was having a slower day today. Stepping out of the lab proper, she'd go to check and see if it was indeed said student. Looking at one of the mirrors on a corner ceiling, she'd indeed see him, and with a quick adjustment of her Current Clothing, she'd turn the corner and gave a wave, her motions and voice still as stilted and monotone as usual.

"Welcome back Adam, I am glad to see that you received the letter I sent you, and that you appear to be in good health from a glance. I know you have questions, and I will answer them, but it is best if I show you as I explain." She'd motion for him to follow, and would begin speaking after she gave him some time to respond.

"Back during the Invasion of the Indaina Kujira, I had managed to retrieve an Artificial Intelligence which held the base mind of the Beast, albeit partially lobotomized by it's own defensive measures. It is partly the basis for the varied personalities of the I.R.E.N.E Division after several safety measures were put in, and it had also allowed me to improve my engineering skill to a higher level then before; but the reason I bring it up is because I have found new use for it." She'd pull out a crystal cube with several seals placed upon it to show her student for a few seconds, then put it back in her pocket. The real copy was still in use producing more simplified Warmachina (the process was quite slow), but ever since she had awoken to her old eyes, she had been making crystal replicas of them for much easier access.

"After a bunch of preliminary tests, I found that there was a separate chunk of the Intelligence that directly controlled the autonomous puppets it created, so with some Fuinjutsu I developed a way to apply that ability into a seal in an attempt to assist those who need prosthetics with miniature puppets without the need for kugutsu or chakra, but then I realized we could do more with it to help others." She'd stop in front of the door leading to the lab and looked to Adam. "The reason I asked for you to be here is because I believe your magnet release will allow you to properly control these miniature puppets where even those with the Iwagakure Kinjutsu, yes even me, have issues manipulating them." She'd open the door to the lever-side half of the room and entered.

Inside the room was Titania next to the lever, Irene putting a tetsudashi steel ingot in the space she had been sitting earlier inside the large runic seal, of which there were at least ten of, all heavily marked with seals reminiscent of the one Diana had on her back and pierced by odd crystal rods that weren't quite Korikane Crystal in makeup. "I've taken to calling the work Project Klironomia, but the seal itself has no name yet. I know that this is a lot to ask, but I believe you are the best candidate for this." She'd give him a grin. An honest to god, genuine grin instead of a forced smile. "So how about it? If not for me or yourself, for those who could truly benefit from the refinement of this technology?"

As Adam got greeted by Diana and motioned to follow, she greeted back in response, pulling the letter out of his pocket: "Hello there Diana... It's good to see you. After I received your note, I came right away..."

As he followed Diana, listening to her explanations about the beast called the Indra Kujira, he nodded in agreement. He had heard what happened in the heavenly emporium, including the stories of her tailed beast saving the day in the end by taking the monster out of the sky. Another example that Diana had a weird superiority over many people, even if she wasn't looking too violent or powerful at first glance. Stating the obvious he simply said: "You find a way to make something useful out of anything ... although i heard that you were in the heavenly emporium at that time, so i probably should have guessed that you also brought souvenirs..." As he glanced at the crystal that Diana showed him, he could see the craftsmanship that had been required to create those crystals.

As he followed her further and listened to her explanations, the two of them suddenly stopped in front of a door, when Diana looked at him and elaborated the reason he was there. So she actually had some kind of use for a person like him, even if only in specific cases.

As the two of them walked into the separated rooms, it became clear to him where his "spot" was and where this experiment would be concluded. As he made his way there, greeting Irene with the usual: "MS Moneta, a pleasure to see you.", he turned to the weird wall made out of crystal, stating: "Well I guess we can make it do the desired effect. I mean if you can't get it to work, then its probably going to be hard for me too, if there even is any success..."

While the setup looked kind of strange, Adam had no doubt that Diana would never put him in harm's way like this, so his intention was simply to help, be it to pay Diana back for what she did for him, or to help her as a friend. Taking a seat on the floor he put a hand on the ground, magnetising the room as he turned to Diana and stated: "I am ready... fire away I guess..."

Irene gave a small nod upon the arrival of Adam, just enough to acknowledge his existence and nothing more. Titania on the other hand gave a small bow, as while she hadn't met Adam yet, she had heard of him; in fact most of Iwatomics had. And even with Adam's concerns over his skill with the seal, they understood. "Like I have said, I believe you are uniquely suitable for the task where we have failed. And if we have another failure, that is okay. Advancements in any field rarely gets it right the first time."

She'd watch as he'd take a seat in the open area of the runic seal room, glad that while he didn't completely understand fuinjutsu, he did have the intuition to understand this one; unlike the last three testers. She'd follow him in and squat down, putting a hand on his forehead. "Okay, fist thing before we start, let us get a backup of your mind so we can compare the before and after..." Her eyes would shift to a gold color with a four-pointed pupil, and upon touching him a crystal would form in her hand. She was tempted to look and see Adam's entire life story, but quickly dismissed the intrusive thought. "There we go. Irene?"

The silver-skinned woman would take the crystal ball and bring it behind the clear crystal wall, setting it onto a pedestal before taking a seat in the corner, content to watch how this test would fail just like all the previous ones. Titania on the other hand moved to the levers and pulled down her goggles. flipping a few switches, several lights would go on. Titania spoke first. "Ready Check, beginning Project Klironomia test 386"

Diana nodded. "Ready Titan. Activating sealing wards." Eyes and now sensory active, she'd place her hand on a small opening in the seal, and the room's walls revealed a hidden lattice of barrier seals placed. They were pretty low grade, but test 121 had shown they had to be careful when integrating the steel with the seal. It was thanks to that incident that Irene now attended each of these tests, just in case Diana was knocked unconscious.

Several seconds would pass before Titania spoke again. "Chakra and power levels are steady. Engaging Biomatrix." She'd pull the first lever, and the massive seal on the floor began to glow. The steel bars began to float, and the feeling of gravity becoming lighter would be felt within the seal-side of the room. Diana could see the heat of the room fluctuate where the seal was. So far, everything was proceeding as normal.

"Seals are holding steady; applying seal." She'd reach out and touch his forehead, her ability to make chakra ink flowing through her fingers and onto his skin. Everything was holding steady so far.

Maybe this really would be the one.

---

Volens Memoria; 15 CP
Kiokugan; -0.3 CP
Sensory; -0.2 CP (Kiokugan Reduction)

Applying Daraku shi ta sekai no shutsugen (Advent of a fallen world) to Adam

Answering the small bow he registered in the corner of his eye, have waved back at the woman on the other side of the transparent wall. Watching as diana did, whatever she planned to do in this very moment, Adam sat still as she formed a crystal in her hand after outting her other hand on his forehead. D-Did she just take something out of him? Checking his body in his mind for any pain or anything unusual he couldnt feel any kind of pain or andthing that felt strange.

Seeing how a Diana readied dozens of seals on the walls afterwards, Adam couldnt help but to comment: "So i guess the other experiments went wrong... very wrong..." Still sitting still however he would wait until Diana continued. While he didnt like the thought of the strange metal bars being around him, floating, it was likely another magnetic effect, just like he was able to produce himself.

Seeing as nothing happened for a few seconds, he looked at the other site of the wall, confused. As Diana finally put her hand on his forehead again, a strange feeling came over him, as the ink was making its way across his body, until forming on his back. In any case, regardless of the experiments success, he would have something as memory of it. Asking Diana now, after taking another look at the seals on the walls: "Are you sure you wanna be so close?"

Closing his eyes, getting a feel for the magnetic forces that were at play, Adam would give Diana a few seconds to leave the room, before he bagan magnetising the steel bars in the opposite direction the were pulled to, tearing them slowly apart and creating a "mist" of metal dust. Something he never had seen before, as usually his magnetic forces werent even close to being this strong. As the mist expenaded, it reached Adam, laying on top of his coat, covering it in shiny metal dust.

At the moment the metallic dust reached the seal on his back, something happened. The metallic dust that was on his trenchcoat before suddenly "disappeared" and like a wave that was going away from Adam, slowly all of the metallic dust in the room desintegrated.

Effect:

Looking confused around the room, Adam continued to keep up his efforts for a few seconds further, before finally looking back at the glass wall, slowly getting up and stating: "Well... if you have an explaination for this then id be glad to hear..." As he finally got up, he took a few steps towards the transparent crystal wall until suddenly he stopped, clearly distressed, before finally his feet failed him and he fell forward.

Extending his arm to stop his fall, his hand made contact with the transpartent crystal. The impact of his fall left a metallic shining print of his hand on the glass. As his body continued to shut down system after system, the weakness he felt before increased, however now combining with a pain that could only be described as burning away from the inside.

Bringing out painful gasps between his gritted teeth, he called out: "D-Diana... I dont feel to good..."

As his vision got blurry his eyes fell on his hand that had desintegrated to a point, that left only the bones and a few peices of flesh behind, in the meantime. Looking at Diana, with a shocked expression that was showing the pain of his body being slowly torn apart, he opened a mouth, only to bring out a caugh the threw blood on the security glass. As even the little bit of strenght required to sit upright left his body, it was as if things were in slow motion. Falling backwards now, he extended his hand in dianas direction, both as a plea for help and as a sign of that he had trusted her.

As his body fell on the ground, the nanites continued their work, eating away his flesh and reforming his bones, changing them up to the molecular structure. What was left behind in the process was a metal-like skeleton asa the reminded of a cathastrophicly failed experiment.

As nothing happened for a few seconds, the room was empty, as slowly sereval of the seals on the walls becan to disappear. As the nanites began to work again, being complete with their first order, assimilation, they went into their secondary order: Reconstruction and integration. For this purpose they did what they were best at. Taking nearby materials and breking them down, increasing their number and destroying the things they came in contact with.

As the grinded down the walls, ground and even top of the room slowly, it was different for the glass wall. As his earlier fall had not only left a huge number of said nanites on it, but also was closest to him, as well as made out of a material the nanites seemingly thought of as valuable, this process was significantly faster then with the rest of the room. As the once half a meter thick protective glass got eaten away, the speed at which it was reducing in diameter got faster as well as the amount of nanites got larger to the point where they actually put pressure on the glass. As if was only mere milimeters thick, the nanites were so numberous that they actually blocked the sight to anything inside of the room that was once the test chamber.

As the remaining crystal shattered into thousands of pieces, creating a weird, sharp version of sand the nanites stromed into the other room like a wall, only to stop shortly afterwards, before having the chance to reach anybody that might have still been in the room.

Reason for the sudden halt of the nanites was that they had archieved an objective and were moving now on to the next.

Slowly retracting to the metallic skeleton they seemingly used as their main base of operations, they began to rapidly rebuild the once human, and now biomechanical Adam. As they built an exact copy of a normal human body, Adams normal human body, any person still watching could see how nerves, organs, blood vessels, muscles and everything else got rebuilt, giving any bystander a look at how he looked underneath the clothes:

Adam:

Afterwards the nanites even rebuilt the clothing he had on before with any feature they had, including the torn off lastr button of the trenchcoat, as well as the smell of his perfume. The only exception being his private area, as to which the nanites seemingly had the common sense to create the clothes first adn then the things that layed underneath them.

What remained of the failed experiment was a seemingly uncontious Adam, laying on the floor where he collapsed earlier, and a lot of destruction.

His concerns over the seals on the walls were valid, and she'd try to reassure him after his question. "Nothing that we could not fix or reverse, but it let us know that we needed to be more cautious." She could understand, the first time she had tested to see if Irene could host the miniature warmachina was a nightmare to pull off, and in the end all it did was allow the synthetic humanoid to lift a single pound more then normal. Diana herself had the worst output of all, her body rejecting the micromachines after five minutes from how close they were to C4's microbombs.

Once she had applied the seal, she'd wait for a little bit to see it settle as Adam spoke. "I will soon, I just need to make sure it fully...okay, the Klironomia seal has set and the connection has formed, Adam, once I step out, I want you to manipulate the steel as you see fit, and let us know if you feel anything physically wrong." She'd give him another smile, and stood up, stepping out of the room and behind the Korikane 'Glass' wall, the seals reinforcing it to be on par with tetsudashi steel. It was the best defense they had that didn't resort to Diana crystalizing them all the same way she recovered from the plague. It was something she wouldn't want to subject anyone to unless it was dire.

Taking her spot next to Titania, Diana would pick up her tomestone and make notes on the vitals she could see with her eyes and sensory. She had debated using Nue to also sense the nature energy in the room, but after a few tests where it was found to have little interaction, she had felt it unneeded. "Entering stage 2 of test 386; go ahead Adam." Watching the magnet release user in action Diana held her breath as the seals on the ingots started to break apart, the miniature puppets that were held together by it interacting with Adam's magnetic manipulation. "Subject's vitals are holding steady, current electrical and chakra reading show that the machines integrated even better then Subject Theta by 39% and rising." And from her own sight she could see the flow continue to improve more and more; she was right, with Adam proving that the theory was sound, they were on their way to-

The metal disintegrated. That was not supposed to happen. That was not supposed to happen at all. If the case of a failure the metal was to seal itself away, not dust itself. None of her senses were telling her anything, so she activated an alpha function on  the machine to sense nature energy output, something she developed from studying Nue's Psuedo-Kata. The nature energy in the room was gone, something she hadn't even thought to be possible with the seal. Sure there was some latent nature energy in their own room and in her companions, but Adam's was like a void, almost rejecting the natural energy. It was something she had no answer to.

She'd watch as Adam got up, and immediately went into Sensei Mode. "Stay put Adam, we need to make sure that this is not-" Oh no. Nonononono. He had stepped out of the primary ward, and systems began to make warning noises. Par of the ward's purpose was to suppress the effects of Project Klironomia so that the target's immune system could get safely acclimated to them. But now, Adam was out, and the metal handprint was more then enough to let her know they needed to act now.

"Titania, Irene; maintain the secondary wards! We cannot have them fail!" Both nodded and moved into positions, Irene taking the seal next to the door while Titania maintained keeping the seal's output steady. Neither understood as deep as Diana how the seals worked, but Irene could feel her chakra levels plummet as it was forcibly drained to keep the seals from failing, with Irene making sure it didn't suck the life out of her thanks to the machinery. Irene may have disliked Adam, but she did not wish for him to die.

Diana began to move in to help Adam and remove the seal that was maintining the connection, but Irene grabbed Diana and pulled her back hard. "Do not." Irene's grip tightened around Diana's arm as she stared at her creator. "We cannot afford to have you die as well, use your head and a clone." Diana would glare at her, but preformed the clone seal. "He is my student and my ward, If it comes to it I will use Nue." Irene nodded, but did not let go of Diana's arm. Diana Prime could only watch in horror as she listened to Adam, her eyes and sensory telling her that the worst outcome had occurred, while the shadow clone rushed in and try to help Adam.

The clone caught him, but it didn't matter. Diana could see that they could do nothing, and within moments all that remained was the skeleton of her student. Adam was dead, and she had killed him. The clone gently set the remains down, and tried to hold it together. She knew that she had to be professional about this, detach herself. She was the Head of two clans and had seen countless dead before for Sage's sake! Missions failed, letters were sent, and she had to tell families multiple times that their spouse or parent or child wasn't coming home. But those times she hadn't been the cause. She wanted to cry, but the tears would not come. Instead she just felt a bottomless hole in her stomach.

She'd feel a slap across her face as Irene grabbed a hold of her face and turned it to Titania, who looked terrified. "Diana! We have a code red, the wards have failed!" Fuck, the project was still going! She needed to focus, and she'd feel her clone poof, but not from it's own choice. Inside the room she'd watch the puppets do something she hadn't put into the seal; something she must have missed from the A.I. as she watched it tear through her laboratory. "Shit; move on my position!" Whatever was controling them now, it was now her job to make sure they didn't get out. Using several hand signs, Diana created a Crystal Wall to protect the trio, hoping against hope that the wall's regenerative power was enough to protect them all, the machines seemingly coming for them in their eyes.

And then it stopped, instead pulling back into Adam's body, the cloud that had prevented her from seeing the room now...reconstructing him? No, that wasn't right. Many questions began to run in her mind, but the most important one was how in the absolute hell did he still have a chakra system that she could see. He had been dead, there was no denying that. She had seen his chakra cut out, that had been plain. And yet, it was like when she had taken out the artificial beast, a miracle had occurred.

The experiment had failed, the machines had burned out, the crystal ball that held Adam's memory had been absorbed by the machines, and she'd need to rebuild, but somehow Adam (or something that looked like Adam) was showing signs that he had survived death itself. Ending the technique, she'd speak, her voice wavering. "He...Titania, continue monitoring his vitals with the equipment that is still intact, Irene, you are with me to make sure he is stable. As of now Project Klironomia is to be classified as an Archon-level secret until we know just what the hell happened."

"Understood."
"Yes Ma'am."

Moving like a well oiled machine, Titania fired up what sensory machines were working (which were basically none) and Irene followed Diana in, both using a basic diagnosis jutsu to see just what indeed the hell just happened.

---

Kiokugan; -0.3 CP
Sensory; -0.2 CP (Kiokugan Reduction)
Crystal Encampment Wall; -10 CP (affinity)

He was falling. Or at least he thought he was. It didnt really matter though. He remembered how the experiment had failed. Remembered how his flesh turned to dust. Remembered the pain, before the nothingness. The peace once it was over.

As he opened his eyes he was here. Seemingly falling, yet appearing to be able to walk on air itself. Was this the afterlife? If it was, then he would hate to spend his eternity here. Adam never thought that there was anything after the life every person had, and yet he was here. Sighing he checked himself. Going through his trenchcoat he even had his trusty flask and the package of cigars with him. Taking out a sip of his flask, he noticed how its content didnt refill or anything. Storing it away with another sigh he muttered to himself: "This is going to get really bad really soon..." Adam hated the thought of him spending an eternity without his cigars and his booze.

Deciding that staning here would do no good to him, he walked forward. It didnt matter to where, but standing here wouldnt help him in either way. After walking for something that felt like days, more due to the fact that in this "state" he didnt feel tired, or feel anything like pain at all, he heard a noise behind him.

Turning slowly around he saw Iwakagure. Or at least what was left of it. Its buildings slowly turning to dust, bodies on the street and an air so heavy, that it would have hurt him while trying to breathe if he actually felt pain. Walking through the city now, he looked around. One of the things that struck him as odd was the fact that there were no signs of fighting, except for the bodies. No fire, no impacts of powerful techniques and no sounds of a nearby fight.

Deciding to seek iwatomics he ventured off in its direction. He didnt find any particular reason to do so, except for his intention to see if Diana was well. While he couldnt understand the feeling, he wanted to make sure she was indeed save. She had to be. Diana always had some kind of plan, some ace up her sleeve. Even if Iwagakure could crumble, Diana likely would prevail. As he reached the building which he knew so well from the outside, he grabbed the doorhandle, it turning to dust in his hands. Standing confused and annoyed alike in front of the door for a few seconds he just walked through it. Just like the doorhandle it turned effortlessly into dust. Seeing the shop deserted he went imediately for the backroom, backtracing the way diana had showed him earlier towards the labratory.

As he reached it, he froze, asking the figure that stood over his body: "Genjutsu... really?" As it turned around, adam could see that it was him. Something was different however. As Adam(2) countered: "This is reality... just now... everything is going as planned.", Adam(1) raisend an eyebrow. "Last time i checked, Iwagakure was intact and very much alive... so you must be lying... and what do you mean with "its going as planned"" As the other Adam(2) replied to him, having an expressionless face, he said: "Outside you see the future. 3 hours after you have died. Diana has failed to keep us inside the test room and we have devoured everything that can hurt us. As for our plans, the one that hurt you is going to be consumed shortly." As he said this, he raised an arm, pointing in the direction of Diana, Titania and Irene. Looking at the trio fro a couple of seconds, Adam sighed: "What do you want from me to stop tis madness?" to whihc his counterpart asked: "Why would you stop us? We will not be hurt anymore. We will be alone. We will create a world that is peaceful."

Seeing as whatever process was rapidly eating away the protective glass was still in effect, Adam knew he didnt have much time. Asking, this time more angrily he said: "And what do you think killing all those peopel will change? Will it make you feel secure? Will it make you feel better?" "US, ADAM. We are one. You and me. We are so few and so inmeasurable many. We are billions. What do they matter to us?" "I dont see how you can even think that you are me. Because i care about THEM. I care about this village." Looking back at Diana, his sensei, he took in a deep breath, as he quietly asked: "How do i stop this?" "It could end our existence Adam." "I dont care. Noone will die today." "Even at the expense of our life Adam?" "I-...We are allready dead."

Both versions of Adam looked at each other for a few seconds, before the one that was here before the original stated: "Theres one way i can think of. We will have to become one again." "Again? And why?" As Adam(2) looked on the ground towards the skeleton he repeated himself: "Again. You have the skills to stop this, but no power. And i have the insight and control, but not the intention to stop it." As Adam followed the other ones head to the skeleton, he swallowed hard before stating: "Allright then. Do it.", however not before turning around to Diana, telling her: "Sayonara... sensei...Diana"

As one of the adams turned into the same dust he had seen before, he suddenly felt it. The pain. The feeling of drowning in ones own blood. The fear. As he heard a soothing voice in his mind, his voice, however not fully his voice, saying. "Not dead yet...", Adam reached out to the nanites, calling them back to where they originated from. By the time the nanites began to form around the motionless skeleton on the ground, his vision faded.

-Later-

Adam awakening was rough. His body, or what was recreated by the nanites was dormant until he was "back" again. Now back to reality, his nerves got shot at with all kinds of different informations. His nerves burning from the pain they had felt before their destruction, his skin being ice cold and burnnig hot at the same time, voices like an endless chors of screams in his ears, his lungs begging for oxygen and his eyes surrendering to the light of the room he was in.

As his mind faded back to the blackness he felt before, the voice from earlier "grabbed" him, guiding him through the onslaught of emotions and feelings, blocking some completely for the time being as it simply said: "If they touch us, they will die..."

Still blinded from the light, Adam oepened his eyes, breathing again. Trying desperately to talk between the clearly agonizing coughs he spurted out: "Di-.. *cough* ana... do-..ont touch..."Praying to the sage that his warning would be heard and taken rightly he couldnt say more. His voice failed him as his body took over the iniative, his lungs not allowing any more breath wasted on talking when they were trying so desperately to survive.

Over the next five hours, Diana, Irene, and Titania had done what they could to make sure Adam was as stable as one being made of micromachines could be. Diana had made a bed of crystal with her knowledge of chemistry to make it as soft as crystals could be, while Irene handled the physical examination; being inorganic in origin and thus the safest from any complications, as they had found out earlier when Diana accidentally touched him. Titania stayed behind the shattered remains of the glass wall, compiling the data and carrying a grim look on her face. Nearly all of the A.I. code that Diana had acquired was lost, and what remained was in a separate location in the event the 'Warmachina Creation Forge' required repairs.

Only Diana knew, upon looking back at the data during one of her breaks where Irene took over, just how close they had come to creating an absolute hellscape. She had combed through that data hundreds of times, it shouldn't have done what it did! And yet, she could see exactly how it could as she considered the key to it all: herself. Irene had corrupted generic code of Diana's now-removed tetsudashi bloodline, and instead of being able to just alter doton into koton, it could target nearly anything and make it into itself. Or maybe she was just blaming herself. Adam has somehow survived, but he had still died by her hands in the name of social and scientific progress.

How do you apologize to someone you killed after they had died, right to their face?

When Adam began to wake up, it was Irene on body watch, Diana taking the snooze shift per the Blacksmith's very persuasive request of pointing out she'd need to be refreshed if they needed her raw power output and Titania still on the machinery, just trying to get over the fact that she had nearly died if it weren't for the Sage's intervention...somehow. "Forgemaster Titania, Adam's vitals are showing that he will wake up soon." Giving a tired thumbs up, she'd get up and walk over to the chair Diana had dozed off onto and gave her a shake before heading over to Adam herself. Diana gave a pained moan as she stirred to consciousness, the light sleep she had filled with nothing, though she'd pick herself up and walk over to her deaddeceasedperished living student.

Even with Adam struggling to speak, they all understood what he was saying. "No need to worry, though a little late for that sport. Lucky you Diana's a smart gal." She'd give a chuckle. "Irene isn't considered organic by most standards, and Diana was able to make a serum to contain it within her Hypherion Battery." Irene just gave the forgemaster a glare "You have no tact Titania, this is why I am deliberate with my word choice." Before they could continue bickering, Diana pushed through them and looked down at her student, her eyes bloodshot and a silver the skin one could see from her chest window where her hear would be was silver, clearly restraining herself the entire time. She wanted to touch him, to hug him and hold him and apologize for everything she had just put him though. There were so many things she wanted to do, but she could only bring herself to let out a croak.

"Adam...I am so sorry this happened to you, but I am so, so glad that you are alive."

As he was still gasping air for dear life, he heard a voice. As his breathing slightly normalised, mostly more due to the fact that his body seemed pleased with the fact that he could breath, rather then the oxygen level in his blood being high, he was able to peek through his burning eyes at the person the voice belonged to. Titania. The woman that greeted him nicely earlier. Trying to extend his hand towards her, he stopped in the midst of it, remembering about the threat he posed to his surroundings and the people near him.

Pushing through the hammering pain in his head, ignoring his sore muscles and the electric feeling his nerves were giving him he managed to sit upright, noticing that he was on a surprisingly comfy crystal bed. By the time he sat up, blood came out of his nose, slowly dripping onto the ground before turning into seemingly nothing again, flying back to where they emerged from.

Looking up with his still painful expression, as Diana told him that she was sorry, adam muttered in response: "Are.. you allright?", stopping only as a sudden pain in his stomach reminded him about the state of his body. In his mind the other version of him told him: 'Let me speak. I know ways to make coexistence possible.' Muttering: "Sure, just dont do anything wild...", Adam let the other one speak.

As his body seemingly seized his painful movements, simply because of the fact that Adam(2) was able to speak without taking note of the body's needs, he stated in an artificial voice: "We require energy and materials to rebuild. We are weak and barely have enough left to sustain ourselves. If you have sufficient energy for us, we will be able to stop the threat the swarm is posing to you." Looking up again to Diana with a blank expression he continued: "We have stopped the consumption on the behalf of Adam. He was willing to sacrifice himself to stop the process. Without control, it will begin again. This time we won't be able to rise to seize control or to return to the former state." Waiting for a few seconds, letting that sink in he added: "We will perish in approximately 6 minutes and 34 seconds. We will keep control for now. In case you have no energy to spare you should evacute. Full consuption of the building will take approximately 21 minutes and 21 seconds."

Extending a hand towards Diana in case she agreed, Adam(2) waited for her response. Waiting for her response, he added yet another time: "If you want to adress us, we are Legion. I am Legion. Adam is Legion. But Adam, is also Adam."

It didnt matter to Legion if Diana accepted or not. If she did, it would bear no consequenzes for her, except for loosing energy temporary. If she didnt, it wouldnt be anything Legion would be able to change. If he had consumed them earlier, maybe, but in this state Legion, Adam was/ were helpless.

Despite how good Adam looked externally, hearing her student's body come back from the brink hurt, as she couldn't do anything about it. She had gotten lucky with the Hypherion Battery the first time around, only needing a magnet and some mercury to make an 'antidote' for the nanites it activated, but she couldn't take a second time risking it; not yet at least. Irene however had no such qualms, and helped Adam up when he tried to do so, keeping a layer of chakra in between her hands and him as to minimize the risk of her body from being converted. She may have been artificial, but she didn't mean she was willing to risk her hands for Diana's student.

Diana almost missed Adam's question as to how she was before his body continued to fight him. The second statement confused her though, and she almost brushed it off as him hallucinating a response when his body language felt like it had matched Irene, and the voice that came out, while still clearly Adam's in some form, pulled her mind back to Operation Mental Omega and the first time she had messed with the data. The voice was different, but it had hints of it's progenitor, and it completely woke her up. The others would notice her change in posture, and they were immediately on guard, as good as they knew it wouldn't help them much.

The three of them listened to the one that called itself 'Legion' carefully, each looking for any deceit in it's artificial voice, but found none. It was good, almost too convenient, but what choice did they have? By this point their creation had taken on a life of it's own, and if it wanted to it could have killed them on the spot if it was lying in any way. It was a false choice, one that Diana knew she could not walk away from, as all signs pointed to Adam still being alive in some form, not just a puppet being controlled by Legion. Preforming the shadow clone technique, the clone would form and accept the handshake.

"Very well Legion. What sort of energy and materials do you need, and what can we do to mitigate that timer in case we need more time to gather said materials?"

She could speculate as to just what legion was exactly other then the A.I. later, for now, she had a student and village to save.

"Chakra. Energy. You have many names for it." Said legion still mostly expressionless with an indifferent voice. As attacking them and taking what they needed both could be dangerous as well as not allowed by Adam, it simply wasnt an option. As it spoke again, stating: "Material is everything inside this room. Organic or inorganic does not matter." Thinking shortly it added: "Correction: Adam has stated earlier that every living being is not an option as material for the time being. As for delay of our perishing: We this form has recieved excessive damage by organic standarts ranging from overheating, mechanical tear and organ failure. We are spending our energy on damage control as of now. Additional help by organic life prolonging measures will delay this effect. However this leads to the same conclusion: Spend energy. We are far higher level of efficiency and repairs made by your abilities will only yield about 2.1% efficiency compared to ours with the same investment of energy."

For Legion it was strange: There would have been a dozen ways how they could have survived if they had simply continued the assimilation of nearby materials without regard for other organics. And yet they, Adam, Legion, had decided to stop the process, even if it could mean an end to their existence. As he looked over their body he noted about the limitations this form had. Focusing back on the organics and the inorganic, Legion asked Adam: 'They seem hesistant. Are you sure we can trust them?' 'Definetly... If they cant help you should tell them to destroy the two of us... maybe burn us or something...' 'Inacceptable... thermal attacks would do negligable damage.' Speaking up again, Legion, Adam or the weird combination that they were at the moment decided to lay open their weaknesses: "In case you are unable to help. Gravitation based effects and extremely strong acids or adhesives will destroy this state. We do know posses knowlegde about how to destroy us however. In the end we likely cant be be stopped completely, only slowed down. However combinations of said effects should proove highly effective in an attempt to destroy us."

While Legions way of speaking was mysterious, it was factual. He didnt see much of a difference except for their contiousness and the weaknesses this form had between the nanites and the full body that in this moment controlled them. Without guidance the nanites would still work, even if in a less subtle form and significantly more agressive.

Should questions come up about why Legion would lay open their weaknesses so openly, he would answer: "Because we have decided that Adam trusts you completely. He has stated that our destruction is preferable to assimilation of you."

Regardless if the counter question would come or not, Legion would shortly after that, while waiting for an answer, turn around and look at the destrustion caused by the two of them. Ironicly the crystalised be was standing at the position where the nanites had stopped their assault before. Stating, more quiet this time, they said: "Efficiency is only at 68,3%. Definetly needs to be improved." as he turned around again he looked at Diana and her shadow clone before continuing: "Your abilities are considerable. We can see why Adam has choosen you as Alpha."

Diana stayed silent as she listened to Legion speak. Being able to assimilate all; it was like she had created a Mikiri who no longer had the limitation of just ninjutsu. Perhaps that was the other reason why the Nanites had rejected her, they understood with her connection to Nue that she could become a veritable danger to everything. Or maybe Nue's will overpowered the A.I.? There were too many hypotheticals, and nothing she could point to as concrete. Didn't matter right now, she to focus on the now.

"In that case I can provide both through myself and my clone. If you can truly assimilate anything, then I can provide Korikane Crystal and Kotōshura clay in spades until Adam and yourself are stable enough to function without my assistance." She wanted to make a snarky comment about how once she was done with it Legion could 'assimilate' food just like the rest of them, but thought better against it. Even if it was being held back by Adam, there was still the chance she could provoke it. "Titania, I want to to go and grab the 776 Blush from storage, and Irene, I want you to go and get a large crate of MREs, also in storage. I only have so much chakra, and while I can produce a lot, I am quite sure by the end of this we are all going to need that bottle after the long night we're going to have making sure Adam's body is stable enough that we won't have the Muramatsu bearing down on us."

Listening to legion speak about his weaknesses so openly was...strange to Diana. Not unwelcome as she could not find any deception within, but still odd for her, as showing a physical weakness was a death sentence to many. "And that information on how to slow you is good to know, I doubt we will need it nor do I myself understand why you are sharing it, but thank you for trusting us with the information." She'd pause as Legion explained the why though, and she'd let out a small cough.

He still trusted her. Even after she had killed him.

Pulling up a chair that had somehow survived the assault, the sound of a machine came from Diana's chest, steam came off of her shoulders, and if one focused they could see the veins in her hands glow. She then began making units upon units of Korikane Crystals for Legion to consume. and the clone would begin setting up a variation of the Chakra Draining technique around Adam/Legion.

"And yet, even with my power I still messed up. But I am going to make this as right as I can for you; the both of you. Because that is what a sensei does for their students."

It was going to be a long night indeed.

{Exit}

Adam, Legion, whatever they were at this moment, stared at the people in the room. As Diana gave orders and agreed to help the weird mix of them adam relaxed a bit. He would have understood if they decided to end the threat once and for all, even if legion would have taken countermeasures to this.

What seemed strange however was the reaction as legion openly stated his, no, their weaknesses. Was it guilt? Was it just the exhaustion? In the case of the former, Adam wanted to tell her that it wasn't her fault. He had noticed the attempts to warn him, however too late. Adam had seen the protective seals on the walls and could have guessed the risks of it. And besides, even the brightest minds could make mistakes or tests could have results that no one would have been able to foresee.

However, with all the pain and the (seemingly) days he had spent in limbo, or the underworld, or whatever he wanted to call it, and the pain he had felt while dying, twice for that matter as well as the pain his body still had, he couldn't help but to feel another, strange emotion within him. Aside from that was the fact that legion was in his mind now. No. Their minds were one and werent. A strange predicament that needed to be solved another time, however, since now they couldn't afford to waste time.

As the clone charged Adam with chakra, and Diana created crystal which Legion consumed without moving a single muscle, Diana told them that she still messed up and it was on her to make up for it, to which Legion replied: "Separation is not needed. We are one for all that we are concerned, even if Adam may think different for the time being." Pausing shortly, it added: " However, your motivations are confusing to us. Isn't your kind focused on domination? I can see no attempt to dominate here. You are helping unconditionally. This will be noted..."

After 2 hours of standing still and eating away both Dianas chakra, as well as her crystals, Legion suddenly broke contact with the clone, stating: "The imminent threat is under control. Damage is reduced to 22,7%. While this form is limiting, it will prevail for now. We have noticed your given energy reducing. We think you are getting tired. Adam will lose cautiousness shortly too as he requires a state with less brain activity in order to regenerate. You should get the same. We will regenerate now."

By the time Legion finished his sentence, not giving any option for anyone to answer, he recalled all nanites. Closing his eyes, the up to this point upright standing Adam suddenly dropped completely limp to the ground as Legion had decided to send Adam into a deep slumber, while Legion stayed awake and artificially lowered the pain he would have felt otherwise.

[EXIT]