NSLICE-00P may have paused her assault, but she was not the only one here.

Ateia began to glow as she was filled to the brim with Holy mana. Her organic eye lit up with golden and silver light, while her robotic eye glowed pure red, and her wings lit up the entire room. She nocked an arrow and pulled it back until the bow was creaking. A scowl twisted her face.

“You took everything from me!”

A golden and silver beam crossed the room as Ateia released her arrow…

And the Herald of the New Dawn grabbed the arrow out of the air. A beam of Holy mana blasted into him but he simply took it head on.

He was unaffected. He then raised an eyebrow.

“...this is most impressive. By all accounts, you shouldn't have survived, much less grown stronger. And while NSLICE-00P has surprised me before, even I didn't expect that you would become an Aesdes, of all things. But while it is impressive, you still have much to learn. An attack like that won’t work very well on your fellow Aesdes, and you are the youngest of us by far. But I suppose they wouldn’t have taught you how to fight against themselves.”

Ateia glared at him and grit her teeth, but she did not attack again. Everyone else instantly raised their guards. Taog and 00B took up positions in front of the group, the now massive bear aiming the turreted cannon on his back while Taog wrapped himself in his shroud. Agedia nodded at Estrith and they spread out to either side, their spears at the ready. Lilussees began to spin her webs, forming magic circles she could trigger at will, while 01R crouched down and warmed up his repulsors. In the Drone Command Monster Hangar, Snuan and Melion shouted commands, and all the drones with the group locked onto the Herald.

Agedia narrowed her eyes.

“Seems like a lie to me. Why would an Aesdes work with a Cult of Mana?”

The Herald of the New Dawn shrugged.

“A long story full of ancient history we don’t have time to recount. And it is ultimately irrelevant to the issue at hand.”

He turned to NSLICE-00P. Ateia scoffed.

“As if! You’re obviously lying, and Seero isn’t going to listen to anything you say!”

The Herald of the New Dawn smirked.

“On the contrary, the primary directive is the most important thing to Non-Standard Leashed-Intelligence Cybernetic Enforcer, Prototype Unit 00P. And given how unhelpful all of you and the other Aesdes have been, she must at least consider my claim.”

Ateia opened her mouth to object…but then realized NSLICE-00P had fallen silent.

“...Seero?”

“...Suspicious Command: This unit will require evidence of the claim, otherwise she will assume it is an attempt at deception by a hostile.”

The Herald of the New Dawn nodded.

“But of course.”

At that moment, glowing cracks spidered across the dungeon core. The air above the core cracked and shattered, and a Rift began to form in the air.

For a brief moment, NSLICE-00P thought she had been deceived again, but then she noticed something strange. Contrary to every Rift she had encountered previously, she couldn’t detect any mana coming from the Rift. The air didn’t distort itself, there were no bolts of lightning, jets of flame, or rapidly growing vines from this Rift. The mana concentration in the area didn’t increase, and she didn’t detect any non-standard phenomena. In fact, apparently the mana concentration was starting to drop, as if flowing into the Rift instead of out of it.

And unlike the Realm of Eternal Night, her senses were not cut off. They were working, and could detect everything happening around the Rift.

But that did not mean she didn’t detect anything strange, for she did. And what she detected…caused her processors to hang and her organic eye to tremble.

She…was detecting radio waves.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

And not just background radiation, but the radio waves utilized in electronic communications. In fact, her sensor readings were a complete match for communications technology on twenty-first century Earth. She even managed to receive a signal from the Global Positioning Network…and a communication network she could only conjecture was the Internet. A combination of the data received from both confirmed geographical and cultural references.

There was a strong probability that this Rift led to twenty-first century Earth.

The Herald grinned.

“It is as you think. Dungeons exist within the boundary between worlds, designed to manage the flows of mana to prevent damage to said boundary. A corrupted dungeon is no less than a wound in the boundaries of the universe. What I did with this one is to use NSLICE-00P’s records as a guide, and so open a path to her original universe. Which means…NSLICE-00P, simply step through this Rift, and you may return home, reestablish contact with your ‘Commander,’ find your persons of interest, and fulfill your primary directive.”

NSLICE-00P’s robotic eye was flickering as rapidly as it could go. Her heart was pounding.

“...Query: Why would the hostile Herald of the New Dawn assist this unit with her primary directive in this way? Why would the Aesdes lie to this unit about the feasibility of her primary directive?”

The Herald of the New Dawn sighed and shook his head.

“It appears our conflict was largely accidental, and it was my mistake to treat you with hostility. I ultimately have no quarrel with you, NSLICE-00P. So, if I help you return home, we both can achieve our main goals without any further conflict. As for the second question, as I said, this method represents tearing a hole in the Material Plane, and apparently to a universe that almost completely lacks mana. Very risky, with a good chance of negative consequences for the boundary of the universe. The other Aesdes would never consider such a method, even if it had occurred to them in the first place.”

He waved to the Rift.

“Which brings us to the next point. You must utilize this rift in the next few minutes, preferably immediately. I am utilizing the characteristics of dungeons and my own abilities to hide this from the other Aesdes, but I cannot deceive them for long. And once they discover what I’ve done here, they will take steps to ensure it never happens again, and I will not be able to replicate it. Should you try to replicate the feat yourself, the Aesdes will oppose you directly. So, use it now, or remain stuck in Aelea forever, never able to fulfill your primary directive unless you overthrow all of the Aesdes and all the might they can bring to bear.”

He waved to himself and Ateia.

“Present company excluded, of course. Which brings us to the last point. My intentions are in this universe, yours are in your own, and our conflict is only a matter of happenstance. But once this Rift closes and the Aesdes make their move, it will never reopen, and I would have no incentive to ever reopen it. So...pass through this Rift and not only will you fulfill your primary directive, but I will never present a threat to you again. My hostility, and the threat I pose to you and your directive, will be 'terminated,' for good. Now, choose. Time is ticking.”

NSLICE-00P’s robotic eye flickered as rapidly as it could go. All of her processors turned to analyzing the situation, causing her magic circles in the room to fade. Everyone turned to face her. Ateia froze, her face starting to pale.

“Seero?”

But NSLICE-00P didn’t hear her, as focused as she was.

Obviously, there was a significant risk that the Herald of the New Dawn was deceiving her, and luring her into a trap. She could find herself forcibly relocated once again, or even terminated. Electronic communications could be faked, she had already utilized Lightning magic to power electronic components, after all. And this man was hostile, and had deceived her in the past. He was not at all trustworthy.

But…if by some chance he was telling the truth…then NSLICE-00P could fulfill her primary directive, potentially by the end of the day. The probability of mission success would jump from single digits to the nineties with one single act.

NSLICE-00P could not ignore that.

So she took into account every factor she could, running every analysis she could in the limited time allotted. She activated every sensor, she took in all the data from her Dungeon Field to the utmost limit. She did everything she could to shed some light on the situation.

Her heart beat grew even faster.

The Herald of the New Dawn was not giving off any mana or other non-standard signatures at the moment. If he was casting spells or anything of the sort, NSLICE-00P could not detect it.

She likewise could not detect any sort of spellwork around the Rift, anything that would interfere with her sensors. She began exploring the data she was receiving from the Internet. She had not explored the Internet before as per her original organization’s protocols, so she could not verify the accuracy of anything she saw. But…knowledge of technology, physics, and warfare matched what she had on record, and the sheer volume of data and content available seemed excessive for a deception attempt. By every test she could currently run, the signals were genuine.

Of course, magic could be coming into play. There was a chance this was some sort of Realm of Magic that could automatically adjust itself to fit her perceptions, or perhaps some Realm of Mana copy of Earth. But she had found no data during her time on Aelea to indicate that such a Realm existed. And if it did, she had no means by which to distinguish it from the real Earth.

So…if this was a trap…if this was a fake…she could not identify it. By every means she had to discern the truth…the Rift was giving off genuine signals that it led to Earth.

So…when she accounted for the probability of deceptions she couldn’t identify, the hostility of the person responsible, and the risk of termination, and weighed it against the probability of fulfilling her primary directive right here and now…the risk was calculated…

“...Analysis complete.”

…as tolerable.

And that meant…

By her current protocols…

By her primary directive…

By her last Commander’s will…

…this was a chance she should take.