Imperial Legacy

Nathan couldn't quite yet grasp how a single person could be so talkative.

Akairs was friendly, though she was a bit snarky at times, and overall nice to talk to, however, she was not a good match for Nathan, who preferred to stay quiet mostly.

As they walked through Zone 6, she began to initiate small talk by talking about what she did as a Cybernetic Supervisor, which was more aid in the recuperation of knights with broken components than upgrading them. Then, she began to talk about the intricacy of the cyborg model with Aston, who was quite captivated by what she said and also ended up being quite chatty.

"So, what I'm getting from this is, the material our bodily structures are made out of, Cypherrium, is the most heat-resistant material, perhaps in the entire universe?" Aston asked, grinning, "And, they're also long-lasting, and incredibly durable too?"

"Of course. And, this is the most important bit, but, they are a remarkable conductor of Aether Energy. Without that conductivity, it would've been impossible to replicate our Psychic Marks into these cyborg models after hundreds of years, and we would've stayed in those defective prototype models for much longer, putting our species at risk." Akairs replied.

"Aha! Cool! I've also heard that, without Psychic Marks, it would've also been impossible for us to reproduce at all!" Aston said, "But, after we pass over 100 years of age, the Psychic Marks allow us to reproduce asexually by splitting the consciousness into two, and once the other consciousness is extracted, it is placed into a formless body for a year until the mind develops enough, correct?"

Akairs nodded.

"Indeed. This is a slightly easier process for us females to do, and the second consciousness will always be born with no memories of anything, as they are just merely newborns."

Nathan groaned internally. If he had to hear another second of this droning on about reproduction and whatnot from behind him, he would tear his ears off.

But before he could do that, he noticed a figure up ahead. Bringing out his plasma blade, he approached ahead quickly and stealthily, temporarily leaving the other two far behind.

And then, once he got close enough, he noticed a very, very familiar face, who seemed to be finishing up a routine inspection of the overgrowth clinging about the area, with a few knights around him.

This familiar face was the Department Head of Zone 7, which was also the Zone Nathan was assigned to previously before he was selected to become a Mecha Knight.

"…Department Head Zek? Is that you…?" Nathan said, raising his voice narrowly. The Department Head turned around instantly, and his eyes widened in surprise.

"…Sir Nathan…?!" He said, before grinning from ear to ear, "You've come at last! This is good news!"

He was a gruff-looking man with full black hair and brown eyes, but he was considerably young in appearance since he was closer to 100 years in age than 30, but there didn't seem anything particular about him.

Or, perhaps that was because he had the upgraded Mechahuman Model. But regardless, he still did have a few things up his sleeve, such as his [[Mechanical Hivemind]], which was his patented technology.

Department Head Zek was also quite close buddies with Nathan. Or, you could say he had a close respect for him, as he was strong, and he proved to be such through his efforts on the battlefield. Nathan was the type that could only be described as ever-reliable, collected and resilient.

Moments later, Akairs and Aston arrived and said their greetings to the Department Head.

"Come on, and be careful around here, because this overgrowth originates from a Serpentine Planetoid." Department Head Zek said, before leading the group elsewhere.

<>

"…That's him, right?!"

"I knew it! There was no way someone as strong as him could die in a place like this!"

"Our second saviour has arrived! Now, we only need to wait for the third so that we have a 100% chance of leaving this place alive!"

In Zone 7, things were looking much better than Nathan expected, even with the number of people that were here, probably surpassing two hundred.

The lights and some other necessities were fully functional, fortunately enough, and barricades built from metal chairs and other metal parts barred nonessential areas to stop any roaming Beta-1s or Beta-2s from entering, and most people just either sat around or did something productive like polishing their skills so that they wouldn't end up dying when the time came to get the Psychic Stone.

And also, thankfully enough, they managed to secure a Secondary Control Hub, which permitted a clear view of the emptiness that surrounded the spaceship.

"I'll get going. I need to discuss a few things with Mecha Knight Akar, after all."

"Me too, hehe, but it was fun walking with you two."

Nathan nodded, and both Department Head Zek and Akairs went ahead.

"If it's like this, then we have a good chance at securing the Psychic Stone, which I presume is still nearby," Nathan murmured, "But, the fact that Department Head Zek mentioned a Serpentine Planetoid, whom I can recall are those annoying bastards… I'm sure that they're the ones that got their hands on the Psychic Stone."

"Huh…? Oh, researcher Seban! You came back!" Aston called out to a young man with messy, sea-blue hair and black eyes, who sat on a futuristic bench, "As you said, there are Space Sea Lord Younglings on the spaceship too! I don't doubt the fact that the Serpentine may be luring them either…"

Lead Researcher Seban, who was a careless guy who only had his superior intelligence going for him, nodded and yawned.

"I suppose you located the Psychic Stone too? Well, even if you didn't, bringing back the Mecha Knight Nathan was a far better payback anyway, even if the two Knights we assigned to you are no longer here either." Lead Researcher Seban said, before getting up and shaking Nathan's hand.

"I'm Seban, but you can just call me whatever name you like. I don't mind."

Nathan stared at him, confused.

"Haven't I met you before?"

"Oh, you have? I don't seem to remember… anyway! The meeting is about to start, so I guess we all have to get going." He said, before ushering them all into the Secondary Control Hub.

The automated silver-white doors opened, and in a flash, the entire atmosphere changed as they entered. To Nathan, there were both familiar and unfamiliar faces, but mostly unfamiliar faces, as his memories were still hazy but coming back slowly but surely. But, to his surprise, the Spaceship's Captain Commander was nowhere to be seen.

"Mecha Knight Nathan! It's good to see you again." A beautiful female with short, black hair and silver eyes said, being the first to approach him.

For some odd, odd reason, he was very familiar with her, but… he couldn't remember at all why that was.

"…Who are you…?" Nathan asked, which surprised her.

"You don't remember me? …Oh, right… things went wrong the moment you entered the capsule. It's only natural that you forget." She muttered, "I'm Velvet. A member of the same Mechanical Legion of Royal Knights as you were."

"…Velvet…"

Nathan found it eerie that she was so familiar, yet he didn't know anything about her. But, once he stared at her face for a while, a few words came to mind.

"Hypersensitivity freak…"

Aston gasped in horror, while Seban cackled, and the other participants of the meeting displayed vastly mixed reactions. Meanwhile, Velvet herself chuckled, in a menacing way, for a few seconds… before bursting into a fit of laughter.

"You… is that the first thing you remember… Puahahaha!"

Nathan flushed, which was a peculiar sight to behold.

"Hahaha, I enjoyed talking to you again. Let's have a private conversation afterwards." Velvet said, before walking away to her designed seat.

There were around 30 or 40 people in the room, made up of mostly Lead Researchers, Department Heads, and Royal Knights. But, thankfully there were still a few seats left in the giant chamber which was the Secondary Control Hub.

"…This seat, I guess," Nathan said, sitting between Aston and Department Head Zek.

And then, finally, the current acting leader of the spaceship arrived. With a presence that was on par with Nathan's, he walked over to the biggest seat that was designed as the captain's while dragging around a Blaster Greatsword and sat down.

From the Blaster Greatsword he carried around and the neon red mechanical helmet he wore around, anyone could tell that he was originally a Blaster Knight, which said all that needed to be said about his supposedly fierce temperament.

Nathan also noticed that his cyborg model was neon blue, while his cyborg model was neon red, which was probably to indicate what type of Mecha Knight model it was.

Then finally, he introduced himself.

"As the current acting leader of the spaceship, I, Mecha Knight Akar, declare that this meeting has commenced."