Taog just stared up at the sky, and then shrugged.

“You know what? Nope. Not even going to question what happened.”

Ateia tilted her head.

“But…Seero sent out the after-action report with full data on the protocol?”

Taog stared at her with half-open eyes, and then frowned.

“ANYWAYS…there is one thing I’m wondering. Where exactly did the Blessed Land go?”

Ateia’s eyes widened, and then she furrowed her brow.

“Seero…can you…”

But Seero’s robotic eye was flickering.

“Warning: Spatial Anomaly detected.”

Suddenly, a bright star appeared in the sky, visible even in the daylight. The hearts of every inhabitant of Aelea lifted. Soon, an army of dragons soared through the sky, letting out mighty roars. And three figures descended from the sky, glowing with golden and silver light.

The first, a man in his prime, wearing armor made of bright light and riding on a cloud. He was leaning on the warrior standing next to him, who was dressed in plate armor and carrying her golden sword. To their side stood a short girl with a necklace of glowing rainbow jewels.

Anualë, First of the Aesdes; Colleöne, Lady of Courage and Victory; and Shialnor, Lady of Mana and the Boundary, descended to the surface of Aelea.

And Colleöne frowned.

“Ok, first of all…why exactly is the Material Plane a sphere now? Just…how does that even work? That breaks every law of reality we know…”

Anualë just sighed and shook his head while Shialnor shrugged.

“I know not how or why…but we all know who.”

“VICTORIA!”

Anualë smiled and let go of Colleöne, and Shialnor moved to support him. Colleöne grinned as Ateia flew up to them and slammed into her. She pulled the girl into a hug.

“My dear Ateia, I cannot express my joy to see you again.”

Ateia nodded and then tilted her head.

“Just, where did you go? And how did you get back?”

Colleöne frowned.

“It was my fault. We were deceived, and one of our own took advantage of my and Shialnor’s cores. He took advantage of the power we left there and sent the Blessed Land far away.”

Anualë shook his head.

“The fault is mine, Colleöne. It was my duty to look after the Aesdes, and so my duty to anticipate the possibility of betrayal.”

Colleöne shook her head, but continued on.

“We were left adrift for quite some time in an empty void, sucking away at the very life of the Blessed Land. It took much of our might to keep it intact. But then…we had some help…”

Shortly after the Blessed Land vanished…

Colleöne frowned as she stood at the edge of the Blessed Land, holding her hands out towards a barrier surrounding the entire thing. The other Aesdes and Ancient Dragons lined the edges of the Blessed Land with her, all working together to maintain the barrier. The Aesdes were holding, but they were still drifting in a hungry, empty darkness, one that slowly siphoned away their power. It was no Realm of Mana, for it consumed mana, heat, life force, anything in contact with it. But this battle was beyond her. Colleöne was no expert on what lay beyond the boundaries of all reality, even beyond the Source. None of the Aesdes were. So, they were stuck, holding back the void while hoping someone would come up with a solution.

And the Ancient Dragons, while powerful, knew even less. After all, they were the descendents of the Aesdes who turned towards the Material Plane, not away from it.

The Lord of Magic and the Lady of Knowledge were working together to figure it out, but even they were out of their depths. This place had no mana, even, so a magical solution seemed…unlikely. Well, the Aesdes would not run out of power for a long, long time, so Colleöne believed a solution would be found eventually. But who knew what would happen to Aelea in their absence? As such, none of the Aesdes were willing to wait.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

If only there was something they could do…

But then, Colleöne heard something. A voice, cutting through the empty silence.

“Ok, I think the Lord of the Abyss said it was somewhere around here.”

“Somewhere? Voidspeaker-senpai, please tell me you didn’t wing it before you brought us on a rescue mission into the Void. Please tell me you did even the most basic of calculations first.”

Colleöne blinked. She saw…a group of people?

“Oh come on, Nana! High school was a long time ago, and I graduated, didn’t I? I said I was sorry, how long are you going to hold it against me?”

“For as long as it took us to tutor you.”

“Not you too, Chrono!”

A group of people floated through the empty space, seemingly surrounded in a barrier of the same darkness that now surrounded the Blessed Land. And Colleöne gasped as they came into view.

“Incredulous Observation: Against all probability, it appears Voidspeaker’s potentially non-existent calculations were correct. Target has been located.”

For she saw someone extremely familiar. A group of people, most of whom Colleöne had only seen in memories and recordings floated right in front of them. But among them was a certain cyborg she had seen.

“Seero?! What are you doing here?!”

The cyborg’s robotic eye flickered.

“Amused Correction: This unit is not the unit designated Seero. This unit is designated NSLICE-00P, colloquial designation: Elise. It is nice to meet you in person.”

All of Elise’s companions turned to her.

“Wait, Elise, you know these people?!”

“Mischievous Answer: This unit has never encountered the targets in question. However, we happen to have a mutual friendly…”

“Surprised Exclamation: Friendly Colleöne encountered Commander Elise?”

Colleöne nodded as Seero joined the conversation, her robotic eye flickering rapidly.

“It turned out your former Commander knows a mage who specializes in the dimension we found ourselves in and has connections to some of the denizens there. They were able to help us find our way home.”

Colleöne reached into her pocket, and pulled out a mechanical device.

“She asked us to give this to you.”

Seero took the device, which at first appeared a simple box with a plug. But her scans of the object indicated it gave off significant non-standard energy signatures…as well as traces of Iesnuorium.

She went ahead and plugged into it.

“Establishing connection…”

Seero’s human eye opened wide as she registered non-standard energy exit the box…and pass through the boundary of the Material Plane. A small window opened in her UI.

A inter-universal video communication screen.

“Happy Greeting: Hello, unit Seero. It is nice to see you again.”

“Commander Elise…”

This time, it was Seero’s cybernetic components that experienced an overwhelming emotional reaction.

“Despondent Apology: I am sorry, Commander Elise. I failed your mission, abandoned my primary directive, I…”

But Commander Elise shook her head.

“Affectionate Interruption: Unit Seero has nothing to apologize for. Your organic components were correct, you already fulfilled my intention with those suggestions. Rather, I am the one that must apologize. It was I who sent you on a mission with a critical risk of termination, and I who did not anticipate the possibility you would end up in another universe where my suggestions wouldn't help you. For that, I am truly sorry.”

And then, Commander Elise smiled.

“Joyful Observation: However, you found your own way, and achieved everything I hoped for you and more. You found your own friends, you set yourself free, and you even chose your own designation. I couldn’t be happier with what you’ve done.”

Seero stared for a moment, all of her processors halting. And then…her organic eye began to leak fluid as another emotional reaction surged through her circuits.

But this one…did not feel unpleasant.

“G-Gratitude: This unit…I…”

Elise continued to smile at her.

“Proposal: Would unit Seero like to conduct a final mission debrief? This unit would love to hear about unit Seero’s journey.”

Seero froze for a moment, her processors calculating. And then…she smiled slightly.

“Affirmative.”

And so, Seero and Elise began to speak regularly. And the last fear in Seero's processors faded away...

It took a great deal of time for everyone to adjust to the new circumstances, most of all the Aesdes, but in the end everything settled down. Seero’s set up with the Primary Home Base as the core of the world and the Realm of Machines as its exterior created a significantly more stable barrier as well as a more efficient flow of mana. It nourished the world while significantly decreasing the spawn rate of wild monsters, and all but eliminated the possibility of Rifts. Any Rifts that did appear were promptly communicated to Seero by the Realm of Machinery itself, and quickly terminated.

Shialnor was extremely happy when this was all confirmed.

In the aftermath, the Personal and Dungeon systems were not re-implemented. Both the Aesdes and the people of Aelea had realized the vulnerabilities of the previous setup. The Aesdes searched for new and better ways to protect the world, while the people of Aelea sought strength of their own. And beyond that, the original motivations of both systems were no longer relevant. With Seero now integrating every dungeon in the world into the CELIU network, the dungeons had new ways to protect themselves from those who would exploit them. And with the threat of Rifts all but gone, the frequency of monsters substantially reduced, and Seero and Ateia watching over the dungeons, the people of Aelea no longer required such direct assistance to survive.

This, again, took a great deal of time for the world to adjust to, but the Aedes’ assistance had always been focused on combat, so for the majority of people life simply went on. Went on better, even, as the dangers haunting civilization faded away.

The Empire went through a resurgence. Emperor Lucius rose to prominence due to his relationship with Seero. Uscfrea likewise worked ceaselessly to introduce technology created by Melion to Seero’s people, which then passed to the Northern Empire through trade and mutual knowledge exchanges. Turannia became the economic heart of the North, which in turn grew in prosperity and might. The Southern Realms saw this, and so did not refuse greater integration with the North, but rather sought access to this trade, and so peacefully joined the Imperial banner. The Eastern Empire reclaimed its lost territory, and with the military technology introduced in the conflict grew greatly in might. The Empire of the Sun was forced to the negotiating table, and for the first time in the two nations’ history, an official ceasefire was signed by the entire Council of Archons.

And as for Seero?

The girl went looking for a commander…and found a family. She went to upgrade her components…and unlocked her heart. She sought friendlies…and found friends.

And she lived happily ever after.