Deploying Power
A sharp metallic scraping tore at wall and ceiling at once, accompanied by a ragged panting that belonged neither to human nor beast—something utterly alien.
Cold sweat beaded as I held my breath and floated a system message before Sera’s eyes.
Is that the mutant you described a moment ago?
She answered with a downward nod and muttered through her small mouth.
“We can’t just quietly slip past this, can we.”
After a brief hesitation her gaze settled on the long trail of blood stretching across the floor. The deep gash running the length of her right arm looked like a wound taken while fighting the mutant only moments earlier.
“Jin, if you don’t hand over control right now, we both die.”
Sudden combat actions are……
“A powered suit detects the wearer’s movements and corrects them into the form best suited for combat.”
Her faintly reddened eyes lifted slightly, as though looking straight at me.
“We’ll be discovered soon. You’ve realized that too.”
——.
She was right. Everything about her—the flicker of her irises, the hammer of her heart, the force of every breath—reached me with vivid clarity. And beyond the door I could see the monster just as clearly.
Four tentacles had burst through its spine, each tipped with a razor blade. From a split jaw crammed with dozens of dense teeth, acidic fluid dripped and raised a poisonous mist from the floor. It was larger than a human in a suit; strength and speed to match were a certainty.
On our side: an injured pilot and a spacesuit little better than a tin can, bare of even basic armaments. I was still weighing whether flight might be wiser when Sera’s calm voice cut through.
“Combat is ultimately an act of extending my life. If I put that thing down…… I won’t be stubborn any longer.”
She had nothing left to lose. The only choices remaining were to die, or to kill and then die. I needed her alive if I wanted to keep living myself. In the end, the sole path to survival aboard this lonely ship was cooperation.
Deploying power. Initiating startup sequence.
5, 4, 3……
I relaxed every joint and surrendered full control of the suit to her. At the same instant a strange window bloomed before my eyes.
Temporary user authority has been granted to wearer ‘Sera Robini’.
Unique ability <Evolution Algorithm> acquired.
This trait activates whenever the synchronization rank with Sera Robini rises.
Current Sync Rate: F
“Kieeeeek!!!”
Sync Rate? Evolution? A flood of incomprehensible terms, but there was no time to dwell on them. The mutant had found the blood trail; it shrieked and charged, prying at the door.
As the heavy steel began to crumple inward, Sera spoke in a steady voice.
“Blind its vision and drive through the ribs into the heart—we have a chance. I’ll handle the attack. You just assist.”
How exactly was she planning to pierce that monster’s heart? Bare-handed?
There was no time for detailed questions. Her index finger flicked lightly. Following the gesture I saw a long cylinder rolling near our feet—something she must have dropped on the way in. It didn’t look like a conventional firearm, yet it was clearly a weapon that worked on mutants.
2, 1…… Startup complete.
The core that fed power to the suit spun faster; arms and legs began to move. A clear blue light expanded my field of view across the entire room, and she was already sprinting forward.
The mutant smashed through the door at the exact instant Sera’s hand closed around the cylinder.
— Hissss!!
She slammed the grip against the floor. What erupted was not fireworks but high-temperature plasma. A searing white beam sliced through the lunging tentacles and the darkness alike.
Knowing the limbs would regenerate, she closed the distance at once. In one clean motion she lunged for the heart—then her body locked mid-strike.
“Ugh!”
I grasped the problem in a fraction of a second, my new non-human cognition racing far beyond anything I had known as a man. The weapon she held like a blade and the estimated location of the mutant’s heart were no longer aligned. Blood from the deep cut on her left arm had begun to paralyze the muscle.
The suit’s correction function should have let me adjust the angle, yet she had clearly ordered that the attack was hers alone. Under the wearer’s command the arm refused to move.
“No……!”
Shadow crossed her face the moment she understood. It was easy to predict what came next: the mutant would tear the suit open and devour her.
What could I do in this situation? What could a mere combat suit even do?
I racked my mind and suddenly recalled her words. The command prompt she had given still left room for autonomous judgment.
As combat support—obscure its vision.
I thrust my right hand toward the mutant’s face and poured every ounce of strength into the long, metal-claw fingers. Even if the chassis I now called my body was damaged, I only meant to force distance and buy another chance.
The result was something neither of us had imagined.
— Crunch!!
The mutant’s head, seized in my grip, crushed like soft tofu.
“How……? Even a Level 0 threat shouldn’t go down this easily.”
Apparently my performance far exceeded that of an ordinary powered suit. I should have guessed the moment the strange windows started appearing. Sera’s dazed muttering made it obvious.
She stared at the pulped, still-twitching head, then sank to the floor as if her strength had finally left her.
“Still…… I suppose I’ve fulfilled the bare minimum of my duty.”
Other mutants may appear. I recommend leaving this location immediately.
“There won’t be any more nearby. And…… for the end, I’d like to rest a little.”
The peaceful way she closed her eyes made her look like a hero who had just slain the demon king and restored world peace. I wanted to tell her that “the end” was nowhere in sight and that, since she had gotten the fight she wanted, she should get up and move—but exhaustion claimed her in an instant.
If she slept sitting like that her neck would snap. I wanted to adjust her posture, yet I couldn’t move a finger on my own.
Respiration normal. Vital signs normal. Bleeding…… has stopped?
The wound had looked deep, yet it no longer bled. At least she wasn’t about to slip into eternal sleep.
I watched the gentle rise and fall of her chest for a moment, then snapped back to myself. During the fight earlier, incomprehensible messages had appeared—messages only I could read. The blue windows had multiplied.
Mutant successfully eliminated.
Synchronization rank with ‘Sera Robini’ rises from F → E.
Due to unique ability <Evolution Algorithm>, two options to enhance unit performance are presented.
Currently evolvable algorithms
1. Voice Control Module Lv.1
2. Synthetic Liquid Food Lv.1
※ Unselected options may reappear later.
So that was the meaning: the higher the Sync Rate, the more functions I could unlock. It felt strange that a piece of equipment like me could grow stronger, but if it helped us survive I wasn’t going to complain.
For something called “evolution,” though, these options look pretty underwhelming.
I was no longer human. I’d half expected lasers to shoot from my arms, yet what I got was voice control and liquid food?
I grumbled quietly and focused on one of the choices; the window expanded with a fuller description.
I had dismissed it as useless, but reading the description changed my mind. Our earlier arguments had stemmed from failed communication. I had never clearly explained that I was producing oxygen from my own power, and she could not entrust full support to an AI that refused to obey. Survival demanded cooperation; this option was worth serious consideration.
The frustration of being unable to speak had been so great that I nearly selected it on impulse—until I read the second choice.
Aboard a ship turned into hell, the next priorities after oxygen are water and food. Unfortunately, the stellar wind seems to have altered more than just living creatures.
The intense neutron radiation streaming from the star restructures organic molecules and destroys nutrients. Even sterilized canned goods are no exception.
Look at that hollow stomach. Pretty, you say? She clearly hasn’t eaten a proper meal in weeks!
Fortunately you can synthesize a meal for her using your own power. The taste will be a bit fishy…… but when survival is on the line, does it matter?
I fell into thought. Both options were useful, yet neither helped in combat, which made the choice harder. Food was vital, but the description noted power consumption. Wouldn’t it be smarter to pour that energy into the suit’s mobility so we could search for remaining stores aboard the ship?
Communication, too—if I simply took more care crafting my messages, misunderstandings like the earlier one might decrease. I wasn’t used to it yet, but adaptation was worth trying.
There was no urgent need to pick one immediately. Still, the boredom of being unable to move a single finger was real. By the time Sera’s eyes opened, the priority in my mind had more or less settled.
“Haa…… haaa…… nngh……! Cough!”
Wearer awakening confirmed. Four hours have elapsed since last activation.
She jolted awake at my words and immediately checked the oxygen remaining on the display. She rubbed eyes that couldn’t actually be rubbed through the visor, then let out a foolish little sound.
“Huh? Four hours? H-how? Until just a moment ago……!”
Her hair was a little mussed, yet soft as black silk. Between slightly parted lips I glimpsed a pink tongue and neat teeth. Her delicate features weren’t quite elegant, but even the dazed expression of someone just woken was rather cute. If the pilot had been a pot-bellied middle-aged man, both of us would probably have lost our appetites.
As I have stated multiple times, this unit is equipped with a life-support system for the user’s survival.
Even if other people still lived somewhere on this ship, her survival was the absolute priority. For that, I could endure a little personal inconvenience.
Evaluation of Second Lieutenant Sera Robini’s intelligence has been adjusted downward.
Whether the conversation partner that eased loneliness was a human or a humorous artificial intelligence hardly mattered. For the time being, I would simply play the part of an AI.