User blog:Roinelll/Solace 3-17

<<== Previous Chapter

=========== Monkey Guts

=
My gaze wandered over the fallen gunner, his bleeding stopped, but his clothes were now smeared with the slowly drying blood. Soma on the other hand bloody, battered, yet not giving in to the fatigue stood his ground glaring at me.

"Keep your eyes open, Dead Beat." The God Eater warned me and I turned away, grimacing. "Better watch out for the Dead Weight."

Just how did I get into such mess?!

'''Ah yea... It started this morning.'''

"You're getting better." Kota cheered for me, albeit he trashed me just a few seconds ago, where as I wasn't able to lift a single finger against him, despite it was way too obvious he wasn't even trying. "Didn't think you're a gamer."

A few days ago after one of his failed attempts to cheer me up, he brought a pair of handheld game systems. There were a variety of games on them, some to be played alone, others we could play together albeit... in those cases I was just dragging him down. Then the final variety was that was versus each other and well... Guess the results.

If he were this strong being a God Eater and not just playing games, he wouldn't be called Dead Weight at all...

-I'm not and you know that.- I typed away on the tablet and waited as it translated the message. Apparently C had done something with it, because now I could hear that it was working as intended with the translation and even longer sentences didn't mess up the results. -You've been here in the last few days and practically forcing me to play with you.-

"Hey." The redhead protested with a grin. "Weren't you the one who said its so boring that you would do anything to make it stop?"

-That Bugarally of yours was just not my thing.- I grimaced, then remembered something. -By the way, how many episodes did you watch so far?-

"Hmm. Around a few hundred I guess, I'm not really following the episode numbers right now. I do know that I'm in the middle of the tenth season." After a short while he spoke up, making me raise my brows. "There are over a few thousands episodes out there, albeit I'm currently broke so they have to wait as I can't afford them."

-What do you mean?- I blinked at him in curiosity.

"There is a regular schedule on which the series is released, an episode each weak and a two week break period after a season is complete." He started to explain, which was rewarded by another raised eyebrow. "Because its so good, I'm paying Fc in order to get the episodes early, but I have to keep the content to myself. Not to spoil it for the others and to ruin their expectations and fun."

-So your wasting your credits on a show that you could just watch as time passes?-

"I'm sending a large portion of my wage to my family." The boy corrected me sternly. "Plus do you know how long it would take until they air the entire series?!" His voice raised in volume and excitement as he made his point. "I can't wait that long, especially not when I'm so far into the tenth season. It would take years until the broadcast manages to catch up to this point."

-Sorry, I just thought it would be a waste of resources.-

"It's okay." Kota nodded, then held up the hand-held console. "Another round?"

With a grimace I reached for the one he lent me earlier and turned it back on, ready to get another trashing when the door of the infirmary opened up and Tsubaki walked in, spotting the devices in our hands and apparently overheard at least the final sentence of our conversation.

"Another round of what exactly?" She asked sternly, her piercing gaze drilling into use fiercely. "I'm waiting for an answer."

"Combat strategies!" Kota hastily answered, not daring to look up and trying to hide the console in his hands with post-haste, taking the other from me too in the blink of an eye. "We've been discussing that, right Sierra?" He turned to me nervously, eyes pleading to keep up the act.

"Is that right, Sierra?" The Instructor eyed me with a piercing gaze, to which I've nodded very slowly. "Is that so..." Tsubaki then turned to the shaken boy, who tried his best not to look shaken. "And here I was that you were incapable of learning, well at least according to Dr. Sakaki."

"I'm... doing my very best to improve." Kota laughed nervously, trying to play along.

"Then its settled." The Instructor nodded in agreement, turning back to the surprised boy who wasn't aware of what is to be coming. "Kota. You'll be making a 10 page report on the strategies you two had been discussing in the last 5 days, detailing their strengths and possible weaknesses, along with how to mitigate them as much as possible." I watched the boy pale in fright upon hearing the request, and I started fearing the worst also. "You too Sierra. You have a day to complete the report." I joined the pale boy in skin color too, knowing that we can't possibly fulfill this order and... that is going to come with severe repercussions. "But for now come with me, Dr. Sakaki wants to see you."

We're so screwed...

I followed the Instructed rather crestfallen, down the elevator, into the lobby, then the God Arc storage area where Licca joined us without a word. The three of us walked over to the elevator heading for the deeper levels and we've ended in the training area, where the elder researcher was waiting for us along with the case of my God Arc in the center of the room.

"Ah you're here. All of you, good." He nodded and turned to the mechanic girl. "Well then Licca, would you like to start?"

"I don't mind." Licca said and took the tablet from the doctor. "Sierra, let me run a last diagnostic on your God Arc, then you're ready to go."

Go for what?

-Okay?- I typed the answer to which the sole man of the room chuckled. -Professor, what is going on?-

"Your God Arc, Chupacabra has finalized its transformation and activated itself once more." Tsubaki said, crossing her arms under her bust and looking rather stern. "This session here will serve to familiarize with your Charge Lance and to understand the finer details of your God Arc."

-Charge... Lance?- I parroted via writing and turned to my weapon. It looked still the same to me. The over 2 meter long lance tip, an over 1 meter long grip and the attached Control Armlet. Not even the Oracle Cell discoloration shifted, it looked still the same pitch black matter, with the white cells on the tip and near the Control Armlet. -Also what finer details?-

"Everything looks normal." Licca said and I've turned to the case as it opened up with a hiss, when the pneumatic plates slid away. "Try wielding it."

Try?

I don't like the sound of that.

"There is nothing to be concerned of Sierra." Dr. Sakaki spoke up, his eyes also glued to his own tablet reading the data that was being collected from my weapon as we spoke. "Me and Licca will be monitoring both your condition and your God Arcs. There is nothing to be afraid of."

-I guess.- I gave the tablet to the Instructor and stepped closer to Chupacabra. I stood in front of it a single step and reached out slowly. Before managing to grab it, my left arm started to pulsate very slowly and as I made contact with the grip, a jolt run through my entire body, emanating from my left arm.

"Success." The doctor answered and looked over to the mechanic, who nodded in response. "Now, I would like to perform a mock battle versus a stationary target."

Uhm, sure.

I nodded and lifted my weapon as our surroundings changed. In front of me an Ogretail appeared, albeit standing still and not moving. My gaze shifted to the weapon in my hands, but it didn't feel any different than before. No, that's not right, well sort of. As Chupacabra didn't feel any different, more like I did. Better than ever actually.

"Hmm." The scientist hummed to himself, giving the readouts a second check. "Good, you can start."

My left arm throbbed slightly, although I couldn't quite understand the reason for it. With weapon raised to strike, my arms shot forward and impaled the simulated enemy. There was another throbbing sensation and this time it came from Chupacabra as well. My head turned towards the doctor, who was still focused on the read-outs.

"Interesting." He murmued to himself, not looking up from the tablet as he called to me. "Sierra, can you do that one more time?"

With a nod, I pulled back my weapon and took a stance again. The throbbing was still present and almost continuous, almost like it was being slowly amplified. It occurred to me that it was starting to strengthen, giving me a distinct feeling like when I witnessed a certain Oracle powered move capable of enormous destruction, a Charge Crush.

"Well, well..." The scientist turned to the mechanic, who was wordlessly watching the readouts of the God Arc. "It seems you were right, Licca."

"Sierra." The silver haired girl spoke to me as I envisioned the similar feeling that I got from Soma when he was empowering his serrated blade. "You can feel it, right? The flow of the Oracle Cells through your God Arc?" I nodded to the question positively. "Can you control it?"

Control it?

Never thought of such a thing, but let me give it a try.

I furrowed my brow, then closed my eyes and focused. In my mind, I could envision the form of Chupacabra, but there was also the throbbing feel, almost like a sort of heartbeat. Then imagining it become faster, increasing in speed incrementally. In turn, the throbbing started to increase just as I envisioned both in my left arm and then in my weapon.

"It's working." Licca said as the flow of power increased in my God Arc. "Don't let your focus drop now, if you find unable to control it, just lower the output and we'll analyze the data afterwards."

With my eyes still closed, I nodded in understanding and focused once again to envision the increase in the pulse. However after a short time I noticed that I am unable to inflate it further, unlike the feeling the most destructive move that can be unleashed by a God Arc.

So this is the maximum power I can gather into Chupacabra.

Opening my eyes, I saw something that surprised me. The front half of my lance was split in the middle and had slid open and to the sides, from the middle a miniature replica of a Borg Camlanns needle was now poking out, well if you can call a one and half meter long sharpened blade tip miniature...

Basically, this transformation of my God Arc enlarged my weapon in both size and length. With the added needle now it sported a length of two and half meters and the width of the empowered tip reached easily a half. Not only that, but around the entire weapon purple and black mass of energy spiraled, very much like how it built around a Buster Blades empowered attack, the Charge Crush.

This is new...

"Very good. It seems you can unleash the Charge Drive." Licca started to explain it to me. "With your God Arc absorbing the piece of the Borgs tail, it seems to evolved further once more granting you an ability similar to the Charge Spears empowered move, the Charge Glide."

I see, so what does it do?

"Brace yourself and hold onto your God Arc firmly, aim for your target and let the concentration go." The mechanic explained and I raised an eyebrow, since just before this she warned me not to release the energy instantly. "By releasing the stored up energy you can unleash the Charge Drive in a single move, just be careful since it will be unleashed in a single move that you don't let go of your weapon."

I see...

Here goes nothing then.

I primed my sight and weapon at the motionless Ogretail in front of me, gripped the handle of my weapon and let my concentration go. In that instance the spiraling energy concentrated around the tip of my God Arc and I felt my body being pulled after my weapon as it catapulted forward with an explosive speed.

My weapon collided with the simulated Aragami and obliterated it in one strike, the Oracle powered attack easily destroying the skull of the Ogretail where it connected and part of tail, as I was pulled after it in a slipstream of energy. When the momentum finally died down, I turned around and saw the form of the simulated target collapse, the majority of its head missing.

'''No... way...'''

"I'd call that a success." Licca cheered to me and I shakily nodded, trying not to imagine what would have happened if I accidentally let go. "The Charge Drive is more powerful compared to the regular Charge Glide, however it also requires more concentration on your part." The silver haired mechanic started to explain the working of the move. "While the Charge Spears offer enhanced agility, your Charge Lance makes up in that regard with sheer power. But there is a similarity between the Charge moves of the weapons. Just like a Spear, your Lance also retains a part of the energy after unleashing the empowered moves."

That's nice, right?

"Your Lance will gradually lose its power after the Charge Drive, when the stored up energy reaches zero, your God Arc will transform back to its initial form." She continued the explanation and I made sure to watch and understand it. "The Spears can restore this by unleashing attacks in quick succession and this is where the difference comes in. Your Lance can restore the empowered state by being in motion, in return it will continuously drain your stamina until you end it."

I see, so its a high risk, high gain move.

"Are you done with the tutorial?" Somas rather annoyed voice came from the back, so I've turned to him and noticed his grim expression. "Then let's move."

Another unexpected mission I guess.

"Soma?" The Instructor inquired from the God Eater, who turned to the mature woman. "You've just been discharged from the infirmary."

"And not a second too late." He growled in response, walking towards me with an irritated expression. "Come Dead Beat, we've got to stop a Quadriga."

"Ooh?" Dr. Sakaki let out a humm. "What's such an Aragami doing on the Far East?"

"Don't know, don't care." The dark skinned God Eater grabbed my free hand and started pulling me after himself. "Going to take the Dead Beat and Dead Weight with me."

"Then we'll continue when you get back." Tsubaki said acknowledging the sortie for the mission.

Yay?!

"I said, how the hell can you fall asleep standing?!" The irritated growl of Soma came from my side as he poked me in the side of my head with his index finger. "Is this how you fulfill your responsibility?"

I turned towards the fuming male and blinked at him. Couldn't he see that I was recalling memories?

... Nevermind, don't answer that for me...

"At least your God Arc got fixed, even if your the same."

What's that supposed to mean?!

"The chopper is going to be here in a minute or less, get the Dead Weight to his feet and help him aboard." Soma called and I've complied albeit grudgingly.

... I hate this guy.

We returned to the lobby to see Alisa loitering around with her head hanging low. Soma as usual left us grumbling, while Kota stayed, with his various wounds being bandaged on the helicopter on the way back. The russian girl strolled to us, not daring to look into our eyes.

"As of today, I'll be returning to the unit." Alisa said to us, her voice low and uncertain. "Once again, I look forward to working with you."

"When are you resuming actual combat?" Kota asked, seeing how fidgety the girl was, in an attempt to steer the direction of the conversation onto a different course.

"That..." She sighed, fingers tightening on her hands into a fist. "That hasn't been decided yet..."

"I see..." The gunners voice trailed off and I could see on his face that he was trying to think up something to cheer her up, when the elevator bust open and a couple of God Eaters strolled out, not anyone that I recognized though.

"Hey, did you hear?" A male asked from the other one by his side as they walked towards the counter to check on a mission. "The New-Type... she's finally been reinstated!"

"Yeah." The other scoffed, his voice seething with anger. "The little wretch who trapped Lindow with a new type of Vajra and left him for dead!" The guy sneered. "By the way, after all the air she put on, can't even go into combat anymore, I hear."

"Geez." The other laughed, spotting that the target of their conversation was hearing all of this. "So she was all bark and no bite!"

"Why..." The russian girls voice chocked. "Why don't you laugh, too?" Her voice wavered on the brink of crying, fingers twisting her unkempt hair nervously. "Go ahead..."

"We're not going to laugh at you." Kota said, glaring daggers at the two jerks registering themselves on a mission. "Hey, uhm..." He quickly turned away from the sneering duo and back to the girl. "Never mind that." Then the gunner turned to me with a question in his eyes and back to Alisa. "You know about that newer Vajra that attacked Lindow?"

Oi!!!

The russian girl gasped and raised her head now, as Kota leaned forward and started to gesture wildly as he continued.

"Seems like the European Branch was able to spot it too..." The gunner started heatedly, his arms almost flailing in attempt to draw the attention to himself. "Since we've been encountering more and more of these evolving Aragami lately, I've been thinking it may be a sign of something to come. You know?" But the girl just stared at him in shock and confusion.

Great going Casanova...

"Sorry." Kota promptly turned towards me in a whisper, when he understood the grave he just dug for himself. Putting his hands in front of him together in a praying method and decided to bail. "Take it from here." He whispered before practically charging at the annoying duo to give them a piece of his mind.

"I..." Alisa was still contemplating something as I watched the redhead starting to argue with the two obnoxious God Eaters. "I have a favor to ask of you..." The russian girl spoke to me and I've turned to her with a question on my face. "Um... uh... Could you..." Her voice trailed off numerous times, like she was uncertain on what to say. "Could you please teach me the proper way to fight?" The New-Types question surprised me even more, as in turning towards me for such a request. "I want to protect someone dear to me... This time, of my own free will!"

Someone?

I stepped forth and put my right hand on her shoulder, then nodded in agreement. Immediately her face seemed to be instantly relieved. That is when I've noticed Tsubaki walking in the door and handing my tablet to me.

"Is there something the matter?" She questioned us and I've stepped forward, gulping with what I wanted to confess. "Yes, Sierra?"

-I... can't do that report you requested from me and Kota.- I started, the eyes of the Instructor not even flinching, yet still inclining to me for continuing. -Kota was trying to help me pass time and...-

"I know." She said easily and I blinked in surprise. "However, instead of simply revealing the truth he made up such an inconvenient lie for himself. So I've decided to punish him for that and you too, Sierra. Since you made the wrong choice in siding with him." Tsubaki's gaze narrowed, focusing on Alisa who was rather nervously standing at my back. "What do we have here?"

"I... asked Sierra to coach me." The russian girl started nervously. "Is... that a problem?"

"Why haven't you turned to me in that regard? After all, I'm your Instructor." The mature woman eyed both of us. "I'm curious for why have you chosen Sierra."

"I... She's..." The New-Types voice trailed off, not knowing how or what to say.

-I can understand her the best.- My answer was voiced by the tablet in my hand and they both turned towards me. -Sure, I'm not someone trained like you Major Tsubaki. But I can't refuse such a request, can I?-

"That's a lot of responsibility, do you understand the situation?" She requested from me and I've slowly nodded. "Not to mention you are to report to the training grounds and resume to get acquainted with your God Arc."

-I know, but I'm not going to step back from this.- I took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. -Even if this choice is to be a failure, I have nothing to lose now do I?-

"If you need my help, come and see me. But for now report in the training grounds." The Instructor walked away, leaving me with Alisa, who was eyeing me cautiously.

"Can I come with you?" She inquired, to which I've simply nodded and started to walk towards the exit and took my God Arc from the case.

"Resuming from where we left off?" Licca walked to me, sipping a can of... something slowly. "You want some?" She asked as my gaze fell on the label of the product. Iced Curry.

-No thanks.- I typed an answer as Alisa took up her own God Arc. -She can come, right?-

"Yea, I wanted to run a few checks on her God Arc also, this will be a good time." The mechanic quickly drained her can and proceeded to throw it in a nearby trash basket. "Let me call down Dr. Sakaki, then we can resume the training. Meet us down there, okay?"

Alisa nodded wordlessly and we both started towards the elevator. Once we were inside, I pressed the button for the lower floors. It was a good thing that this was a very wide one, as with two God Eaters inside it was a bit cramped, partially because my own weapon dwarfed the size of the russian girls. Which was not a small one either, easily being larger than herself.

"Do you think I..." Alisa started inside the elevator once we reached the bottom and the door opened up. "Can I stand along side you again?"

-Drop this.- I wrote and she stared at me in disbelief. -This isn't you. Where is the haughty russian girl that we know?- Her eyes widened in shock as she stared at me. -The one that proved her strength? Where is she?-

"She doesn't exist." Alisa mouthed almost silently. "Never did."

-Really?- I turned towards her with eyebrows raised. -So where were you, when a certain russian New-Type single-handedly decimated a Chi-You on her first mission?-

"I..." She shook her head vehemently. "What are you doing?! Didn't you promise me that you'll help?"

-You don't understand it do you?- I've eyed her and smiled faintly as the realization of her own situation still didn't dawn. -For me to help you, You'll have to help yourself first.-

"That doesn't make any sense!" Alisa cried in outburst, her eyes wild and unfocused. "I... I thought, that you can understand."

-I can.- I assured, but she just stared in disbelief. -And you know that I do understand you. You've seen inside me haven't you?-

"I... know..." The russian girls voice trailed off. "Izanagi." She said and this time I was shocked. "That... you..."

-Yeah about that.- I scratched the back of my head and watched as from the elevator Tsubaki, Licca and Dr. Sakaki walked out. -We'll continue this later, ok?-

"Alisa, good. You're here too." Our Instructor called and we both turned towards her, then I saw that there was a rather pale looking red-head trailing behind. Which I guess means that Tsubaki confronted him with the truth. "Leave your God Arc for inspection." The mechanic stepped forwards and placed two portable God Arc cases on the ground. Each one of them opened up and both Alisa and I rested our weapons in their proper places "Go and lecture Kota on combat strategies and how to properly customize the Oracle Bullets."

"But I--." The russian girl started weakly, yet was interrupted by a stern gaze.

"You are in possession of advanced combat strategies and to my knowledge, you did help him to somewhat better understand handling his God Arc."

"That... was because he was nosy... and kept going on my nerves... I had to shut him up somehow." The New-Type was eyeing the floor very thoroughly and playing nervously with the ends of her hair. "Even then... it wasn't much..."

"However you had succeeded where other failed." Tsubaki pointed out and to that Alisa did raise her head and looked at the Instructor. "As you know, young Kota has a tendency to fall asleep whenever he is about to be lectured." To this the boy behind her flinched very visibly, yet didn't dare to protest. "I would like you to lecture him, because if he continues this way. He will be a liability of the 1st Unit, therefore  making sure he can fulfill his duty at 100% is my job."

"I... can't." The New-Type refused, shaking her head. "It's just... I..."

"Come on Alisa." The gunner spoke up, stepping forward and trying to cheer her up. "While... this kind of pains me to say, but you're more than twice the God Eater than I am. Even if I just take the part where you only use your God Arcs gun form..." Kota laughed nervously at this, then bowed before the girl deeply. "Please. Teach me how to properly handle my Mousy Blow." Then he added whispering, making sure that no one else will hear except the russian girl. Plus me with my enhanced hearing that is. "Save me from Major Tsubaki, please... If you don't help me out here, I'll be doomed."

"I... will try." The surprised Alisa said finally, which made the red-head gunner visibly lighten up. "But... I doubt it will be of any help."

"Well then let's go!" Kota grabbed her hand and pulled the somewhat protesting and entirely surprised girl behind him towards the elevator. "You just wait! I'll return being more awesome than I'm right now!" With that cheerful shout, the door closed behind them and I blinked in surprise.

Poor girl...

"This is what you would call, two flies with one strike?" Dr. Sakaki turned towards the Instructor, who was still eyeing the double shutter of the elevator. "Not that it matters, but let us resume, shall we?" The elder researcher turned towards me and to the God Arc in my hand. "Were there any problems on the mission?"

-No. At least not that I am aware of. I even managed to test the Charge Drive in live combat successfully.-

"Licca, any signs of malfunction?" Tsubaki questioned, to which the silver haired girl shook her head. "Professor, are their readings in order?"

"Alisa's readings are below their normal values, however that related to her mental issues I believe. On the other hand, Sierra's are higher than ever recorded, although still within acceptable parameters."

-Is that a good thing?- I questioned, to which Licca gestured for me to come closer.

"You weren't quite cleared up on how a God Arc works as most God Eaters are, this time we will have to address that issue for you to better understand your standings compared to the regulars." She started, to which I've nodded. I really lacked most of the 'common knowledge' regarding to both God Eaters and God Arcs. "What do you know of God Arcs?"

-They are artificial Aragami and unless you are a match to wield it, you can't activate it or be in danger of being possibly infected or outright devoured by the weapon.-

"That is correct, do you know how God Eaters are chosen?" The mechanic asked, to which I've shaken my head. "Fenrir has a list, which is continuously scanned for matches with the currently developed Bias Factors. Once such a match is found, the person is then recruited to the nearest Branch until their God Arc is developed."

-Oh, I heard this from Hibari.- I recalled the outburst of the Operator from an earlier mission. -She said that she is a match, but they couldn't manufacture a weapon for her. Or something like that.-

"As you know Sierra." Dr. Sakaki spoke up. "The Aragami are continuously evolving, growing stronger and more resilient. To oppose them, God Eaters have to get stronger just like them. In this lies a simple problem."

-Humans can't just grow stronger, without any repercussions or whatsoever.-

"Exactly! In the case of Hibari, she had been a match for over two years, despite that we couldn't craft a suitable God Arc for her. Not to mention as time progresses, her synchronization ratio with the matching Bias Factor will keep dwindling, eventually she won't be able to fulfill that criteria."

-Synchronization ratio? What's that?- That was a new term for me.

"Well, yes... Hmm." The scientist stopped for a moment and though it through what to say. "A God Arc and its God Eater are a pair, relying on each other to function properly. To ensure that everything is working perfectly, the synchronization ratio is being constantly monitored."

-So, if that means if it starts dropping then its a problem?-

"Not exactly." Licca piped in. "There is a limit under we don't allow a God Eater to wield their weapon, or they risk losing control over it. That is not something we can allow. Similarly there is also an upper limit where using it is prohibited." She showed me a graph, which was perfectly in order, most of the readings were either 99,8% or 100,3% and between. "Anything below 70% and above 125% is not recommended to use. Below 50% and above 135% is forbidden to activate the God Arc."

-How can it be higher than 100%? I mean, that's weird isn't it?- I asked pointing at the values. -I mean I've heard that humans can operate on over 100% of their capacity for a short time, but this is still weird.-

"Just as you said, humans can exert more than their full power, which applies to God Eaters too. However if the power generated by the user is higher than the weapon can stand, there is a possibility of the weapon malfunctioning or even being destroyed outright."

-Is that even possible?!- My eyes widen upon hearing that, especially when you imagine that such a thing can happen and in the thick of a life and death struggle versus Aragami. -Ah no... if I think about it, it must have happened for these values to be set as limitations.-

"That's true. It... did indeed happen before such precautions had been taken." Dr. Sakaki said, then walked over and pointed at the tablet displaying information. "You are exempt from this actually, as you have an almost perfect synchronization with your God Arc constantly."

-That's good to know.-

"Which is more than curious don't you think?" The researcher turned to me with a slight smile and I raised an eyebrow. "Your body is producing uncontrollably Oracle Cells, eroding it slowly from withing, yet here you are and your God Arc without any form or possibility of being controlled is constantly able to match the Bias of your body." He stopped for a moment, thinking. "Haven't you thought about such a thing?"

-I wasn't quite aware of such a situation, but hearing it is rather fishy.- My eyes turned towards the researcher. -Is there any explanation for this?-

"Sea has a hand in this." Tsubaki spoke up, and I turned to her in surprise. The Instructor then turned around as she received a report on her communicator and spoke into it hastily. "Or at least that is what Dr. Sakaki and Licca managed to conclude based on their acquired data."

-C?- I repeated in stupor, watching the mature woman leave the area. -What does that mean?-

"She saved your life in short." The silver haired mechanic spoke and I turned to her curtly. "Without her somehow limiting the flow of the Oracle Cells in your body, your God Arc wouldn't have been able to keep up with the ever increasing flow or Oracles and would have run amok for sure."

"The card you've given to me for study, it gave of similar readings that was collected from your God Arc and from you Sierra. I'm willing to bet that she had foreseen such an occurrence and did the preemptive step from stopping your God Arc from going out of control." Dr. Sakaki explained it and I just stared ahead in a daze. "You did say, when you gave one of the cards to you it melted into your skin on your left hand didn't it?"

-Yes, that's right.- I pulled the white glove off my hand and showed them the stark pale skin underneath, it crawled up to a third of my lower arm, but still it was there and concealed by the long sleeved glove, that I put back on hastily. -So that's what she meant by owing me...-

"Back to the explanation of God Arcs then, shall we?" The researcher said and showed me his tablet, it consisted of a diagram and from the readings of it, it was a linear increasing curve with three points where it spiked considerably. "What do you think this is, Sierra?"

-Something that is related to me, I guess.-

"Before I explain what this means, I'll have to delve a bit more into the relation between God Arc and God Eater." Dr. Sakaki said, pushing up his glasses on his ever closed eyes. "In order to contain the chance of either the weapon or the user from losing control we developed a system that allows for partial and/or periodic upgrades of the weapons. This way the user will not suffer from a back draw of either having to use a piece of equipment that is either weaker or stronger than they are."

-Upgrades?- I raised another eyebrow. -God Arcs can be upgraded?-

"Yes and its the job of the mechanics such as myself to oversee that." Licca cleared that up as I turned towards her. "This is why I have to constantly check the equipment of every God Eater when they return from their current mission. To make sure that everything is within the allowed parameters or if there is the chance to upgrade the weapon for a better fit for their user."

-Wow, that sounds cool.-

"At the same time, my responsibility is to check the God Eaters for their Bias Factor and the compatibility with their God Arcs.- The researcher explained. "Usually I'm the one that notifies both the user and the mechanics that an upgrade is allowed for their weaponry."

-So what does have to do with me?-

"God Eaters are growing stronger as time pass, their body will acquaint with the Bias Factor and the Oracle Cell inflow from their God Arcs. There are certain thresholds where we usually allow upgrades to be made, because the upgraded weapon will have a larger toll on the body of the user."

-Let me guess, the jumps on the diagram signal where my God Arc was upgraded?-

"Not quite, those events correspond to the cases where your God Arc forcefully expanded its influence on your body and made it expand the affinity with the Bias Factor inside of you." Licca sighed, pointing at the first jump. "This was when you fought the Cocoon Tail. Then was the fight with the mutated Chi-You where you almost died. And this last one if from where you met the Izanagi." Her fingers trailed over the lines stopping on each of the spikes. "At each occasion you had been in a perilous situation."

-Thats... Cannot be right... Right?-

"As you know, a God Arc is nothing else than an artificial Aragami, however your weapon doesn't have a controlling unit, as it lacks the core. Because of this, it is much more like a miraculously bundled mass of Oracle Cells that are held together by something we don't know." The researcher said and I've raised an eyebrow to that statement. "Because of this and the fact that your weapon is basically another version of you... Well..." He hummed solemnly. "We have no real idea why or how does it do it. But it is certain, that your instinct to survival triggers your weapons transformations, which in turn reacts to your body and strengthens it."

-Ehh... Okay.- I wrote, but didn't quite know what to say for such a situation.

"Well, to round back to what we tried to explain. God Eaters are divided into Ranks, the higher the standings of someone, the more equipment they can get issued with and the more their weapons can be upgraded or customized." Licca took over the explanation and showed me another set of data. "Currently both you and your God Arc are almost the equivalent of a Rank 3 standing."

-Almost? What do you mean by that?- Despite that a ton of info was just shared with me, I felt like knowing more.

"Chupacabra actually holds enough Oracle Cells to develop on its own up to Rank 5, however your body wouldn't be capable of handling such a burden, especially since you just recently went through a dangerous 'upgrade' yourself." The mechanic explained and showed another reading and this time I pointed at the picture in inquiry. "This? Well, your God Arc devoured a number of cores already, which means it stored their energy for itself on later use. Normal God Arcs can store up to a certain amount of cores, but they get extracted from them when they return to the Armory."

-Which is not the case in my weapons, I presume.-

"No, which is rather intriguing." Dr. Sakaki chose to continue. "Not to mention your God Arc seemed to take the Control and Upgrade units and infused them into itself."

-Uhh... what?-

"The Control unit seems to have melded into the Predator Style, while the Upgrade Units fused into your God Arc itself, granting you part of their effect. Furthermore, it is once again possible to outfit your weapon with newer Control and Upgrade parts." Licca chose the explanation and showed me a number of screens, detailing the changes of my weapon. "If you would like, I can give you a chance to browse them and take those which you want to install into your God Arc."

-You want me to fill those slots, so when my God Arc decides to evolve again, it would take those into itself too?-

"Exactly!" Dr. Sakaki spoke enthusiastically. "What will happen the next time such a phenomenon repeats? Will the old ones be discarded? Or the new ones will join them by their side? Do you understand the position you are in Sierra?"

-No...- I admitted. -But from this I can guess this is something major, right?-

"If we can manage to understand what process led your God Arc to evolve like this." Licca joined in, apparently excited just as much. "We could turn the tide on the Aragami.

"Now then Sierra, let's try to unleash that Predator Style of yours, shall we?" The researcher said and I shuddered for a moment, upon hearing that term.

-Yeah... So what do I have to do for that?-

End of Chapter 2016,10,20

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