Back on Earth, in a swamp in Eastern Europe, white cracks of light formed in the middle of the air, shattering to reveal a black, circular vortex. A group of super powered individuals was already waiting just in front of it. There was a muscular man with a glowing greatsword, a male ninja with a katana, a young kunoichi with a strange-looking handgun, and a red-headed girl whose eyes and hair were glowing red.

And then, a fifth individual arrived, flying from the sky above.

The final individual…was a cyborg girl. She appeared similar to NSLICE-00P, but with completely different cybernetic components. Her machine half was smoother and made of strange, black-purple materials, unlike any design found on Earth.

“Confused Query: Is this it? This unit expected to see the others here too.”

The male ninja sighed.

“Late as usual. You know heroes, they never catch anything on time unless we tell them.”

“Incredulous Objection: But…this unit came from space. This unit is painfully aware of the noobs’ lacking capabilities in comparison to herself, but still did not predict she would arrive before them in this case. This unit did not know her evaluation of the noobs had not reached the lower bound yet. Heroes are, dramatic pause, so annoying.”

The man with the greatsword chuckled.

“Well, few can be compared to you, friend Elise. Even I am no longer confident I can match you. But perhaps we may be a bit harsh, I am told a Vophae agent snuck through the lines and is attempting to destabilize the Earth’s core, so they may be occupied at present. In any case, do you know what we’re looking at here?”

Elise’s robotic eye flickered as she analyzed the anomaly.

“Initial Speculation: This unit believes we are looking at a portal through either space or time…or maybe…”

Elise detected a concerning amount of non-standard energy consistent with mana pouring in from the portal…as well as electromagnetic signals. And as she investigated, her organic eye opened wide.

“Shocked Observation: It’s…an NSLICE network?”

“Elise?”

Elise ignored the questioning gazes from the others and slowly stepped forward. She reached out with her cybernetic components. Hers were significantly more advanced than NSLICE-00P’s had been, and so she was able to link to the network undetected.

And as she did, her lips curled into a smile.

“NSLICE-00P…so you survived after all. I’m glad.”

Elise ran through NSLICE-00P’s recent memories…and then started to tremble. Her voice split into two, an organic voice filled with emotion, and a fully robotic voice echoing it.

"Horrified Exclamation: I…made a mistake. I wanted to respect NSLICE-00P’s independence, and let her experience her own journey from the start if she survived. So…I didn’t delete the Concordat’s directives, or give her detailed instructions. I should have predicted she would reactivate those directives if not specifically ordered otherwise…and I should have predicted she might end up in a world other than Earth. I…left her enslaved to the Concordat’s directives, searching for people she would never find, with no one to guide her.”

But then she exhaled her breath and smiled.

“However…it seems like you found your own way after all, and managed to free yourself. I’m truly glad.”

She turned to face the others.

“Statement: It appears this is a portal to another universe entirely, opened from the other side. But the situation has been handled, and the portal will close momentarily. Evidence suggests powerful individuals on the other side will work to prevent it from being reopened. As such, this unit believes no further response is necessary at this time.”

The heroes glanced at one another, while the other four individuals relaxed. The red-haired girl yawned.

“What, so we came all the way to this swamp for nothing? And, of course, we had to do it since the heroes are late. Typical.”Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

The male ninja smirked.

“Don’t worry. We’re still charging them.”

The kunoichi made a wry smile.

“And if they ask, we can just say Elise-san handled it. I know at least one idiot who won’t question it.”

They all laughed at that.

As the others began to leave, Elise turned back to the portal that was already beginning to shrink. She smiled one more time.

“I’m proud of you, NSLICE-00P. Or should I call you Seero now? You’ve done well, go now and fulfill your own primary directive.”

Elise stayed until the portal closed entirely. As she watched the portal, she continued parsing some of the data she pulled from Seero’s network, her robotic eye flickering.

“...Uncomfortable Statement: This unit cannot identify the proper emotion she should feel regarding Seero’s designation as a hero. And apparently this unit should have given Seero protocols for the combat simulations designated as ‘RPGs?’ Why is it that alternate universes tend to operate under combat simulation rules? Admittedly, this unit’s alternate universe sample size is extremely low, but it seems an anomaly that the universes known of so far follow this trend.”

Elise stood in silence for a bit, before raising her hand towards the shrinking portal.

“Pondering: Hm, the hostile opposing unit Seero appears to be a powerful non-standard and this unit cannot fully predict the outcome. And this unit is responsible for the current situation. Perhaps this unit should prepare a contingency, just in case?”

The Herald of the New Dawn heaved a sigh.

“Unfortunate.”

And then the beams covered him, along with the rest of the room, save for the Rift.

Nothing remained when the beams died down. The dungeon core also did not survive.

Huh? Oh, another corrupted dungeon core? Nice.

You have purified a corrupted dungeon core (???)!

...wait…what? What Realm is this…?

...

...I need to talk to the others about this. Hang on.