The Tale of Old Weapons
Arva activated her systems early in the morning.
Usually, an ECHO rarely ever powered down its systems, Original or not.
They didn’t need sleep.
But with resources running critically low, she had no choice.
Ark 69 was in such a state of disrepair that self-sustainability was impossible.
So Arva sorted data chips, performed maintenance on her android body, and with practiced hands, replenished the coolant depleted from last night's battle.
While she was at it, she opened a comms link with D-7.
[Arva: Arclight Squad, this is Arva. Please report water plant status.]
[Defender-7: No problems here!]
Fortunately, things seemed fine on that end.
After the brief comms exchange, Arva slowly made her way to the commander's quarters.
She planned to check on the Commander's condition and discuss squad reinforcement plans with the Central AI, based on the combat data from yesterday's battle.
"……."
It took about five minutes to reach the Commander's quarters. Arva raised her hand to knock but hesitated for a moment.
Disturbing the Commander's sleep patterns was inefficient.
But his safety needed to be confirmed with her own eyes.
With that, Arva quietly opened the door to the commander's quarters.
And the sight that unfolded before her was quieter and more peaceful than any data she'd ever processed— making it all the more illogical and shocking.
"……."
"Commander... mmh.... Hold me tighter..."
The Commander and Pomen were deeply asleep on the same bed, locked in a tight embrace.
The Commander looked utterly exhausted, yet his face was the picture of serenity.
Thankfully, no trauma from yesterday's battle seemed to have taken hold.
Is this Pomen’s doing?
She couldn't draw a firm conclusion.
But the Commander's arm was wrapped firmly around Pomen.
Pomen, nestled in his embrace, was the same. She looked just like a contented cat.
Fascinating.
Humans didn't like ECHO units.
It was like an ironclad rule.
Arva had never seen that rule broken while living in Ark 69. Except for the scene right in front of her, that is.
"……."
Clothes were scattered haphazardly across the floor.
The air still carried the sweet, sticky scent of sex.
Even Arva, who only knew it theoretically, could easily guess the intense activities that had gone on here all night.
"……Ah."
Then Arva's gaze locked onto one spot.
A thick, white fluid was leaking from between Pomen's smooth thighs, staining the sheets.
[Analysis in progress.]
[Material composition analysis complete. High concentrations of human male genetic material and seminal enzymes detected.]
[Conclusion: Identified as Commander's semen.]
Something no ECHO could ever produce on her own.
The very essence of life, exclusive to the humans alone.
"Gulp."
Incredibly, the Commander had used the body of his weapon – an ECHO – to sow his seed.
If Pomen had initiated it, Arva would have woken her immediately and initiated disciplinary proceedings.
But looking at the Commander, it was clear he had wanted this too.
Right then, a drowsy voice called out to Arva.
"Arva, is that you?"
"...Pomen."
When had she woken up?
No, that wasn't right.
ECHO units didn't sleep.
Pomen had simply stayed nestled in the Commander's arms the whole time. Even after he fell asleep.
Pomen carefully lifted her body so as not to wake the Commander.
Then, as if she knew exactly where Arva was looking, she flashed a seductive smile.
"Staring so intently like that? Feeling jealous?"
"N-No! N-Not jealous."
"Shh! Yell like that, and you might wake the Commander."
"Gasp!"
Pomen pressed a finger to her lips, signaling silence, then trailed her finger along the dried semen on her inner thigh.
She brought that finger to her lips and began licking it off with her tongue.
"...Delicious. Everything from the Commander is just the best."
"Pomen. Consuming human semen is..."
"Gonna cite Ark rules again? What about this, then? He gave it to me as a gift himself, so it's fine, right?"
"……."
"You have no idea how open-minded and amazing our Commander is. How passionately he held me last night…"
"...U-Uh."
Arva's mind was in chaos.
She couldn't process how to respond to Pomen's words. Her circuits felt jammed.
That was when Pomen leaned down and began licking the Commander's dormant member with her tongue.
"P-Pomen! If the Commander finds out..."
"What are you talking about? He loves it when I suck him off. If I just do it a little like this..."
The Commander's cock, which had been limp, began to respond to Pomen's brazen caresses.
It swelled slowly and firmly, as if answering her tongue's ministrations. Arva's face flushed bright red.
"Try it once yourself. It'll make your pussy tingle. Not like you have any use for it anyway, right? Arva's pussy, I mean."
"I-I'll come back later."
In the end, Arva fled, slamming the door to the commander's quarters shut behind her.
She hurried to the Central AI's location.
To quell the confusion and turmoil filling her head, she needed work. Lots of it.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
I'm fucking beat.
Morning fellatio, huh...
Maybe because I unloaded such a thick barrel of cum inside her?
I just wanted to roll around in bed all day, hugging Pomen's soft body.
No wonder couples who move in together end up sucking and fucking every day.
Anyway, today I planned to tackle the issue that had been nagging at me since last night.
"Pomen, mind handing over one of your guns?"
"Sure thing, Commander."
In the meeting room with the full Arclight Squad assembled.
I carefully took the machine gun Pomen handed me. And immediately grimaced.
A firearm that was a whopping 16 years old.
Rust stains marred the barrel in places that no amount of cleaning could erase, and fine residue compressed in the chamber.
The marks of time that refused to fade.
It was a genuine antique model.
This can't be for real.
The Z Virus and zombies – along with mutant horrors and machine monstrosities – had wiped out over 96% of humanity.
For the elite ECHO units facing those monsters, even cutting-edge firearms wouldn't suffice. And they were issuing this junk?
It defied common sense.
"Arva. What’s the status of your high-frequency blade?"
"It's the M-7 standard blade. An outdated model that only outputs about 33% of my core's computational capacity."
"……."
"But it's the latest model left in Ark 69."
"Latest? This outdated thing?"
As I scowled and asked why, Arva explained.
"Commander. Ark 69 is an extremely old Ark. And one abandoned without support from the Central Command."
"Central Command...?"
"The numbered Arks. From Ark 1 to Ark 9. They're called humanity's final bastions."
"...Ah."
Names I'd heard countless times in the game.
The focal points for humanity that survived the great cataclysm, dubbed impregnable fortresses.
Of course, most get smashed to bits later on...
The protagonist of the mobile game ECHO was a commander from Ark 7, after all.
"So? How'd it end up like this?"
"Arclight Squad's gear wasn't always like this. We had decent new models, if not the absolute latest. But..."
As Arva trailed off, Noah beside her spoke up instead.
"It was taken from us, Commander."
"Huh? Taken? Did I hear that right?"
My gaze shifted to all three ECHO units.
"Yes. The previous commanders of Ark 69 pulled every force except Arclight Squad for a final battle outside. And in the process, they stripped the Ark of all resources and usable weaponry."
"...So?"
"We stayed behind on orders to guard the Ark's Central AI. But it was effectively abandonment. After the main force left, we couldn't even fend off a handful of zombies properly."
That was why zombies now infested the Ark.
"No weapons...? Then how'd I even get mine?"
"It came at Noah's sacrifice."
"...Ah."
At Arva's words, Noah gave a faint smile.
It had to be my imagination that her eyes looked sad. And their story wasn't over.
"After that, we had to scavenge broken scrap heaps ourselves, repair them, and use them. What we have now is exactly that, Commander."
"...I see."
Realization hit me like a hammer to the back of my head.
The previous commanders of this godforsaken Ark 69 had clearly planned to abandon everything on their suicidal expedition.
"Ugh..."
I finally understood why they'd struggled so much against a mere Corpse Breeder.
In short, these beat-up weapons couldn't keep up with their performance.
"And even these won't last long. They were always just stopgaps. Meaning we have to venture out and scavenge abandoned weapons and ammo before our current stock runs dry."
"Mm..."
I fell silent at Arva's cold assessment.
I had nothing to say about the dire straits of this beggar-den Ark.
If I'd dropped into this world without the Money Compass...
The thought alone was horrifying.
Even with the Arclight Squad, I doubted we'd last a week, let alone a month.
I set down the old machine gun and spoke with resolve.
"No, we don't need to go outside."
"Pardon?"
All three ECHO units' gazes snapped to me at my firm declaration.
"No need to go outside or dig through scrap piles. I'll bring brand-new ones for you all."
I held up the old compass hanging around my neck.
"So tell me what gear you each need. Ideally, the best stuff that can draw out at least 120% of your potential."
I'd burned a ton of cash reviving Noah, but taking down the Corpse Breeder had made me gain some of it back.
So... it should be fine.
"R-Really?! Then I want a Minigun Vulcan M134!"
At Pomen's words, I quickly activated the Money Compass and searched for the weapon.
5000C including ammo?
More expensive than expected.
It’s probably because it’s the latest model, I guess?
"And an AGM-114 Hellfire 8-tube launcher for shoulder-mount!"
This one was pricier.
9900C including ammo.
"And tactical bikini armor too..."
"M-Maybe skip the last one?"
Looks like I'd need to grind some more cash— no, it was time to head into battle myself.