The Guard Division

Perhaps it was because the difference in our builds had never once let our eyes meet at the same level.

Up close, Sera was breathtakingly beautiful.

She looked like a doll sculpted to perfect proportions from head to toe. Whether from the influence of her superpower, her hair always gleamed with a liquid sheen, and her skin was clean down to the last pore.

What held my gaze most of all, though, was the ring of mana resting in her heart.

Where Illena's had been geometric, like interlocking gears, Sera's resembled a red serpent coiled tight upon itself. Fragments of mana that broke free as it cycled through circulation and regeneration were expelled through her entire body, amplifying her allure until it nearly overflowed.

"……Gulp."

A crimson trajectory rose faintly in the center of her iris and fixed itself on me. I had only a moment to admire that elegance before eyelids soft as butterfly wings snapped shut and hid it away.

With her eyes tightly closed, Sera wrapped both arms around the back of my head. As ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the tension in her legs — clenched tight from sheer embarrassment — gradually loosened, I realized I was ready to shatter her Circle.

— Ziiing.

I left her skirt and stockings as they were. Her underwear… approaching from above would have been better, but I still had no fondness for this fabric. After pushing aside the scrap of cloth soaked through with her fluids, its original purpose long since abandoned, I stimulated for the first time the sensitive surface that had never been touched directly before.

"Hyaah?! Nngh, ah, mmnh…!"

Suction weaker than a human mouth, and the faintest of vibrations. With just that much, Sera showed the strongest reaction yet. Of course she would — because I was a machine. In precision and structural refinement, I far surpassed any human technique. This was on a completely different level from fumbling at a clit with mere fingers. I monitored muscle contractions, heartbeat, body temperature, and pulse with exacting care, driving her body to the absolute limit of pleasure.

"J-Jin! Wait, nnh, hah! This is too, kkh! Stro—!"

She tried to pull her hips back, fleeing from the mechanical arm sucking at her most private place, but she was already caught in the restraints. Even gripping it with her hands, her strength could not change the stimulation assaulting her clitoris in the slightest. Just as Sera began to sob, the ring inside her body started trembling madly as well.

I could shatter it now and absorb the mana, but the cracks were not large enough yet. I shifted Sera's pelvis back and lowered the intensity of the stimulation. The delicate protrusions that had been working between the upper part of her clitoris and its hood went still.

"Haa… Yes, this is just right. Slowly, just like this… nnh?!"

Just as she caught her breath and sighed in relief, Sera suddenly gasped. She wouldn't know this, but for an erogenous zone dense with sensitive nerves, simply pressing down firmly was enough. When a very mild stimulus continues, the body begins to cry out for climax. What starts as enduring a tickle gradually becomes moving to seek greater pleasure. Instinctively. The way she had always done it.

"Hah, nngh…! Nnh, whyyy…!"

When I loosened the restraints, Sera's hips began to rock subtly back and forth. Of course, unlike before, the surface against her rear was a soft sheet, so there was no stimulation there. Instead, I exquisitely controlled the vibration and suction on her clitoris to match her clumsy hip movements — stronger when she pushed forward, weaker when she pulled back. And so, even as she could not lift her face from sheer embarrassment, she continued her own seductive motions. Once she learned how to obtain pleasure, she clung to me and earnestly rolled her hips.

"Mmh, hah! Haa, nnh, this is strange. I don't know this — I've never learned it anywhere, nngh! Never…!"

That's why I'm teaching you now.

It might feel like splashing ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠paint onto a blank canvas, but it was closer to the opposite. Rather, I was learning through Sera how to absorb mana even more efficiently. The way to perfectly destroy a Circle was to break ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠down the reason that held the ring's form together. The more she — who had known nothing — sank into the swamp of shame and taboo, the purer the mana she poured out. And finally, a spoonful of affection, so that from now on she would crave pleasure and desire only from me.

— Zing, zing, ziiiing!

"Nngh, I'm getting weird — I'm sorry, I'm sorry…!"

In the end, unable to hold back, Sera climaxed, and I gently bit her ear once more. I wanted to voice my presence and imprint myself on her, but she didn't seem to want that. With the clitoral hood fully pushed back, I sucked and rubbed all the way to the most delicate inner flesh. Even as she trembled in the aftershocks of climax, the way she occasionally twitched her hips was adorable. On the other hand — if her whole body was developed like this, would she even be able to have a normal sex life later? Then I might have to take responsibility for the rest of her life— the thought briefly circled through my mind.

"Hic, nngh…! Jin, Jiiin…!"

The moment Sera called my name, the ring shattered into pieces, fragments scattering in every direction. At the same time, vast mana was absorbed, and strength flooded my entire body.

Now able to operate stably, I examined Sera's Circle more carefully. The gem-like fragments that had been drifting finely gathered once more near her heart and formed an even more complex structure. Still loose, but the enlarged Circle resembled torn muscle regenerating even stronger than before.

Could it be possible to raise the level of a superpower this way? Given that Illena had been in a Class 5 vessel that supposedly only accepted ordinary people, it might be possible.

"Haa, haa… mmh?"

Around the time the mechanical arm that had consumed her fluids and sweat detached from her body and the elevated seat gradually lowered, something touched Sera's hand, which had fallen after holding my head. Settled between her legs before she knew it was something with the elasticity and ridges of a liquid-feed hose rather than a mechanical arm. Even without any sexual knowledge, if she didn't know what it was modeled after, her intelligence would deserve to be written off entirely.

Sera swallowed hard and was about to reflexively grab it when the main system announced the time once more.

Had that much time already passed?

Unlike me, who brushed it off as no big deal again, Sera suddenly shot to her feet. Before I could even help, she staggered once, climbed down from the suit, and began putting on her uniform from the bed. With her face still thoroughly flushed, she left her underwear aside, barely fastened her chest, and what she said next was something else entirely.

"Y-you're awake, Jin."

I had no idea how to respond, but she kept talking to me.

"Th-there's no point trying to tease me. An hour — no, two hours have passed, so you must have woken up. The power… how is it?"

Utterly talentless at lying, her words came out in fits and starts, her eyes flicking toward the underwear discarded on the floor as ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠she played dumb. She seemed to want me to act like I didn't remember — and her expression said she'd cry if I didn't play along.

"L-last time you said it wasn't enough, but you've rested sufficiently now, so… has it improved a little?"

"……."

"Jin, say something…!"

"That's right, Sera."

When I reluctantly pretended to fall for that clumsy act, color returned to her face. Forgetting even to button her sleeve cuffs, she flailed her arms and cried out.

"Th-thank goodness! I, um, sweated a lot while sleeping, so I'll go wash up a bit!"

Unlike her usual crisp stride, she headed toward the bathroom rather demurely. Snatching up the underwear from the floor and hiding it was a bonus. Buried under the sound of water pouring from the shower came an "Aaaah!" of a scream. That she could yell that loud without being discovered by the mutants made me think again that coming to the residence had been the right call.

Four days had passed since Jin and Sera joined them.

One never removed the suit, the other wore military uniform, but the survivors were gradually accepting both of them. While Illena was hard at work repairing the powered suit, Gary called the two of them over once more. It was to set the schedule for the next expedition in advance.

"How are you settling in?"

"We're resting well, thanks to you."

"No problems, aside from the mechanic being a bit particular."

After the brief pleasantries, he got down to business. It was half a request to the two of them as their strongest fighting force — but there was an unexpected variable.

"There's one thing you must keep in mind."

Sera's finger pointed to ES-13C on the ship's map. The glossy cuticles of her nails, her clearer voice. Whether it was just my imagination, she seemed to possess an even more mature beauty than before.

"On this ship, there are enemies you must watch for besides the mutants."

But the words that spilled from her lips were a terrible rain of blood. In the midst of struggling just to survive on the ship, they also had to prepare for conflict with soldiers of criminal origin. What worried her most was that perceptions of the military within Yurdin were growing steadily worse.

"That's a problem. At least you two seem to get along well with the children, so that was one less worry…"

"Do you trust the Imperial military?"

"The fact that they're the only ones who can save us from this place remains unchanged. That's why we're trying to clear a path to the Armory."

The Military Armory, the fourth sector of the Hermes, was where the largest concentration of forces had gathered just before the warp to suppress the rebels. It was also a munitions factory that produced countless weapons capable of countering the mutants.

"There was already strong pushback about why we were keeping the soldiers in the prison alive. Even though I told them those men hadn't participated in the suppression…"

"Pardon…?"

Gary desperately wanted to prevent internal strife and conflict in an already harsh environment. But at the offhand remark he tossed out, Sera's eyes went wide.

"There were other soldiers here?!"

"Ah — they're a different affiliation from you Crown Guards, so you probably wouldn't know."

He'd kept them as isolated from Yurdin as possible, so the two of them might not have seen them.

"I'm sure… they were called the Guard Division?"