The cat stepped out of the Cyborg Processing Center, now fully upgraded. She looked down at the sleek metal on her body. She frowned, it was somewhat of a travesty to conceal her fur like this. But, she did have to admit it seemed a bit sturdier.

The rat, 01R was his name apparently, was waiting for her outside. He smiled and nodded.

“Welcome to the Wise-Mighty-Gracious Boss-Queen’s Army, Newest Little Sister.”

She hissed at him and he nodded.

“I know-understand your organic components are older than mine, yes yes. But your life with the Wise-Mighty-Gracious Boss-Queen has just started-begun, yes yes!”

The cat rolled her eyes and then meowed. She was not interested in the overly fanatical fascination with their…somewhat strong human boss. She was only interested in how metal armor would allow her to fly and cast magic.

R made a grin that annoyed her, but she held in the urge to swat at him.

“Now, let’s begin your training-learning, and I will show-demonstrate for you the gifts of the Wise-Mighty-Gracious Boss-Queen, yes yes!”

The cat meowed her affirmative and made a grin. Soon, she would unlock the secrets of this armor, and match those cheats the rat had displayed. And once she did, their contest would come down solely to their physical strength and mastery, and in that, she had him beat easily.

Why, she was likely the strongest monster here, given their boss chose to use these tiny rats.

The cat stood completely still and silent. 01R had led her to a ‘Medium Monster Hangar’ to train, and introduce her to some of the others. She was not interested in that. 01R might have been unnaturally gifted, but the rest of his species was little more than prey. If she overcame him, she would have overcome them all, and none would be left but the human herself who could surpass her.

Or so she thought.

“This is 00B, my little brother and sparring partner! He is strong-mighty, yes yes!”

It was a bear.

A big, tall bear, who also had this same armor stuff.

A bear…who might be able to fly…and cast magic.

The cat might have been nature’s perfect killer…but a bear was a force of nature itself. Even she would…choose not to engage with a bear. Even though she could definitely take one down, it would take entirely too long. That was all.

This one stared at her and roared, or so it sounded to her. She barely squeaked out a tiny meow in reply.

She…might need some more training after all.

With all their business in Castra Turannia concluded, NSLICE-00P and company moved to depart. Once they were away from the town, NSLICE-00P and the other cyborgs took a stance and deployed their repulsors, surrounding Agedia in a barrier to carry her along.

Estrith gulped as they lifted from the ground. They had learned to fly on the way to Castra Turannia…but Estrith still struggled not to shut her eyes when the ground shrunk below them. Taog, on the other hand, found that flight wasn’t as scary when he was the one doing it.

Ateia was still laughing and cheering as she spun through the air. This was one part of her changes that she did not mind in the slightest.

Agedia watched them all.

“Hey shiny girl, any chance I could get some of that armor too?”

“Answer: Affirmative, if friendly Agedia is willing to become this unit’s subordinate.”

Agedia rubbed her chin.

“Hm, a Dungeon Contract, huh? Well, I’ll have to think about that.”A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“Acknowledged.”

The group flew back to Ateia and Taog’s village. The trip that took days previously barely took an hour now.

They arrived directly at their old house, making their way inside before anyone could react. The house was dusty and full of cobwebs at this point, though it hadn’t completely fallen into disrepair. Taog made his way into the backyard. Ateia followed at a distance, while the others remained inside.

There, he found the two stone graves, with a small stone structure overhead to keep off the rain. They were pristine, and even had some flowers laid across them.

Normally, cremation is the standard funeral process this far into the frontier. But deeper in the Empire, the Imperial Necrotorum could prepare a body such that it would never rise as undead, and so allow the family to preserve the body as they saw fit.

Taog, in the few moments he allowed his thoughts to stray to his deceased parents, wondered how Ateia’s father had arranged such things for his parents. Now he knew, and was grateful. Her father must have risked revealing himself to do it.

And…Taog was even grateful to the villagers in that moment. Whatever their treatment of him, at the very least some of them remembered his parents’ sacrifices, enough to take care of their graves.

He stepped into the structure, for the first time in years. He took a deep breath and faced his parents’ graves.

“Hi Mom, hi Dad. I’m…sorry I haven’t been around. The last few years…”

He took another deep breath, moisture building in his organic eye.

“They were awful, to be honest. So…I was afraid to think about you back then. It was all I could do to survive.”

He looked down, tears falling down the organic side of his face.

“And…I was ashamed. I couldn’t change anything, so I ran and hid. I couldn’t face my life, I couldn’t face you.”

He looked up, clenching his fist even as the tears continued to stream down.

“But I can now. I can finally fight for myself and my clan, like you always taught me, Mom. I can fight to protect my family, like you did, Dad. And…I’m not alone anymore. So…you can rest easy now. From now on, I’ll fight for my clan, continue your legacy, and carry you both in my heart.”

He slowly reached down and touched the headstones of both graves, shutting his eyes.

“I love you, and miss you so much. Thank you, and goodbye.”

A while later, Taog left the graves. Ateia looked at him, and he gave her a sad smile. She slowly nodded, and held out her hand. He took it, and they both returned to the house.

The group exited the house to find some commotion. The villagers had gathered around in a circle, gawking at their companions. The limitanei were holding them back while the Captain of the Guard approached.

His eyes widened as Ateia and Taog stepped out.

“Ateia? Taog? You’re back?”

The commotion grew at the mention of their names. Ateia’s organic eye narrowed as she glanced around the crowd. But she took a deep breath and turned to Taog instead.

Taog just smirked.

“No.”

And with that, he activated his repulsors and shot into the sky. Ateia smirked as well and shot after him. NSLICE-00P surrounded Agedia with a barrier and then followed suit. Estrith closed her eyes and muttered before she boosted after them, leaving the crowd staring into the sky.

Ateia frowned once they were airborne. Taog turned to her and smiled.

“I know what you’re thinking, Ateia. You were looking for Lar again, right?”

She puffed her cheeks.

“He and his goons have had a beating coming for a long time, from both of us.”

Taog chuckled at that.

“Well, you’re not wrong.”

Ateia furrowed her brow.

“Then why just leave?”

Taog turned thoughtful for a moment.

“It’s just that…we’re Inquisitors now. I’m a hero, you’re an Aesdes, and we’re both following Seero into battle against a cult trying to tear down the walls of reality. Dumb old Lar is just a farmer, and always will be. Maybe, maybe he could become a limitanei, at best. But he can’t threaten us anymore, and we could absolutely crush him if he tried. So…why should we waste any more of our time on him? On any of them? Honestly…I’d rather look forward to our future then fixate on that terrible past.”

Ateia puffed her cheeks.

“…I mean, I get that, but we could spare the time for one beating at least?”

“Recommendation: A termination of the prior hostiles could still be conducted from this location without any change in transit schedule.”

Taog opened his mouth, and then paused.

They were Inquisitors now, and NSLICE-00P was the Queen of the Dobhar, as well as a friend of the Empire. Yes, her position in with the Court might be a bit complicated…but the Turannian authorities specifically had just pledged their support to her.

If she wanted to straight up murder Lar, she could probably get away with it at this point.

Dark thoughts tempted his heart.

He turned to look at Ateia…who was also being tempted by dark thoughts…or not tempted at all, as that would imply she would hesitate in the first place. He turned…and saw Estrith, whose ‘stab all enemies’ outlook on life would not help him here. He turned to Agedia, who crossed her arms and shrugged.

“Don’t look at me, I pretend to get drunk and beat people I don’t like all the time. Rather…it sounds like I might need to visit sometime, and it won’t be sober.”

Taog took a deep breath, and then shook his head.

“That’s ok, let’s not kill them for now. Even if they deserve some pain…they’re people my parents gave their lives to save. I…now that I’m thinking about their sacrifice again, I don’t want to just attack those people. Even stupid Lar. I do want to look forward rather than back.”

And then he smirked.

“But…if we do ever meet them again and they act the same as before…we’ll beat the crap out of them.”

“Acknowledged.”

Ateia sighed.

“…fine. For now, at least.”

Agedia grinned.

“Not to worry, Ateia. I’ll teach you the art of the drunken rampage. It gives you enough plausible deniability that underpaid guards will choose not to deal with it.”

Taog took a deep breath. He repeated to himself to look forward to the future and not fixate on the past.

Even if they could totally go and beat the crap out of Lar anytime he felt like it.

He had to repeat his resolve to himself for the rest of the day…although he decided he might pay attention to those ‘drunken rampage’ lessons…