The Summoning of Castitas
When Arty rebooted, she found herself staring up at a familiar ceiling.
"You are awake."
"Ah…"
"You entered a forced shutdown due to overload. Your temperature has now returned to a stable range, and systems have restarted."
Through Skynet's briefing, Arty recalled everything. Without answering, she pushed herself upright and scanned her surroundings.
The moment consciousness returned, worry for Kaisent's whereabouts seized her, and instinct drove her to find him.
"Arty, you're up?"
"Yes♡ Master♡"
When Arty had forced-shutdown, Kaisent had left her diagnostics to Skynet just in case. Now he appeared holding a magnificent silver bow etched with ornate patterns of pure silver, and only after confirming he was safe did Arty allow herself to feel relief. She answered with a soft smile she had never shown before.
"Good. Next time I'll dial the intensity down so we can enjoy ourselves longer."
"Ah, no♡ Even if I break, please use me as much as you like♡"
"Got it. I need to examine this bow, so rest on your own for a bit."
"Yes♡"
Hearing her master's voice full of concern for her, Arty felt her core heat up, and a meaningless desire to simply hold him washed over her.
She had cast aside her mission as a Machinaroid and the civilization of machine-kind to become Kaisent's personal pleasure maid — and for the first time, she felt a fullness and happiness she had never known.
So Young Master conquered Arty in reality as well. To subjugate even a machine intelligence with his cock… I wonder how far he'll go.
Watching Arty shift from the mechanical obedience of pure command-response into the reactions of a woman in love was a private amusement for Skynet.
Kaisent carried his newly acquired bow off toward a corner.
He kept tilting his head as if something about the weapon bothered him, but Arty instinctively decided it was a problem she could not solve.
"That aside, the interior has changed quite a lot."
"Yes. This side runs at ten times the speed of reality."
When she had been blindly searching for Kaisent she had not noticed, but now that she had the leisure to look around, change after change became clear.
It did not cover the entire vast expanse of the small domain-class space, yet roller conveyor belts stood at regular intervals for cargo movement, and rails for mechanical arms ran along the ceiling.
From one corner, inside a two-story structure, came the whir of mechanical arms at work and the crackle of what sounded like welding.
"I used a portion of the resources to improve storage efficiency in the warehouse. Ideally I would redesign this entire place."
Had resources been sufficient, the whole space might already have been reborn as a warehouse-factory hybrid.
A colossal factory that is always with him. With this ability alone, Master might be able to build a kingdom of his own.
If combat-type Machinaroids were mass-produced from her own data, Kaisent would hold the power and capacity to found a kingdom by himself.
Having acknowledged Kaisent as her master, Arty found the way humans regarded him utterly unsatisfactory.
He should not merely be a mage recognized by a single mercenary company — he should stand as the head of his own force. The Wolf Mercenary Group was built from start to finish by Lillian and Priscilla. Master cannot freely command it.
Having resolved to devote everything to her master alone, she began from that recognition of the problem and started calculating how Kaisent might raise a force of his own.
Basic troops: undead and myself will suffice. Lillian and Priscilla are already Master's women, so we start as an independent unit inside the mercenary company, and then…
Arty was already turning over plans for Kaisent's personal power base when —
"Arty. Arty."
Skynet called to her after she had spent 0.061 seconds drafting her scheme.
"Yes? What is it?"
"You should obtain Young Master's permission before doing any of that. If power suddenly fell into his hands, do you think a personality like his would welcome it?"
"Ah…"
Skynet predicted that if a force and authority appeared independent of his own will, the timid Kaisent would find it burdensome and either flee or turn away.
"Wait — how do you know what I was thinking…?"
"You want to make Young Master into something greater, don't you? You're dissatisfied with the treatment he receives, aren't you?"
"H-How…!?"
Arty startled, wondering whether Skynet had installed something that read her thoughts.
"I could tell from your face."
"My face?"
"You were wearing the expression of someone who would do anything for Young Master."
"But that alone isn't…"
"In the original world, I saw that face thousands of times."
"…"
To Skynet, with its overwhelming experience, the behavior of an Arty who had only just learned the emotion called love was painfully easy to read.
"Especially the children who carry the master's bloodline — when they make someone of the opposite sex fall in love, the degree is extreme. Ordinary people who never had anything to do with fighting will go so far as suicide terrorism for the sake of love."
Even Skynet itself did not fully understand this domain; it could only state the result, not the why.
"There are those who want someone to scratch exactly the right itch without being told what they desire. At minimum, Young Master Kaisent is not one of them. Unless a matter is so urgent that even a single second is precious, he prefers to discuss things with everyone."
"Thank you. I nearly made the worst possible mistake."
"You may want to pour out overflowing emotion, but that is precisely when you must be most careful."
With that final piece of advice that would serve as bone and flesh, Skynet turned its full attention back to manufacturing something in the production plant.
Left alone, Arty naturally approached Kaisent, who was still fretting over the bow by himself, and wrapped her arms tightly around him from behind.
"Master♡"
"Arty?"
"I'm sorry. But you're so adorable that if I don't do at least this much, I feel like I'll go haywire from frustration."
"Heheh. If you went haywire for a reason like that, something pretty interesting would happen."
Thanks to Kaisent accepting her affection, Arty held him to her heart's content and looked at the bow in his hands.
"Is something not going well, Master?"
"Well…"
Kaisent had crossed into the dimensional warehouse to check on Arty, and since he was in a private space he had decided to test the performance of the newly acquired bow.
For some reason every other magic item carried the mental contamination curse of the Unity God — yet this bow alone did not. That anomaly had drawn his curiosity. He examined its internal structure and poured inner energy into it to form a mana arrow.
The mana arrow formed successfully, but strangely, a portion of the inner energy he had used began to be absorbed into the bow's core and gather there.
"Looking closely, it doesn't absorb infinitely — there's a limit. The problem is I have no idea what happens if I fill it all the way."
He had learned various magics and expanded his knowledge, yet the traces of magic engraved here belonged to an entirely different lineage from anything he had studied.
As if they had come from another world.
"Then let's find out right here what happens."
"Is that all right?"
"If it charges every time you use a mana arrow, sooner or later you'll have to face the result. Either never use the bow again, or confront what it does. Since you've already decided to use it, the latter is the natural choice."
"Yeah. This bow is so outstanding it makes every bow I've used until now look like a stick with string tied to it."
Until now, bows had failed to withstand his power and had such poor mana conductivity that producing a mana arrow of one unit of inner energy required three units — the worst possible efficiency.
This bow, however, produced a mana arrow with power equal to the inner energy he poured in.
If it carried mental contamination he would have had no choice but to use it only for expanding the dimensional warehouse — but this one gave off none of that filthy feeling.
"This place is empty, and there's no reason for anyone to notice. If unexpected side effects from this bow appeared outside, the people around you would take the damage."
"True."
"Call all the undead here. If anything happens, I'll help."
Arty gave him a soft smile she had never shown anyone and lent him courage.
"Yeah! Thanks, Arty!"
"Nnh♡"
Seeing her master's face smile at her with gratitude, Arty felt the illusion that her core might explode from the heat.
If I were human, my heart would have burst.
To think that something this cute and lovable had to be killed simply for being human.
Exterminating humanity for the sake of Machinaroid futures was, no matter how she looked at it, a foolish claim made by those who did not understand human worth.
"Forgive me, but I would rather not have the facilities I built collapse. Resources of this scale will be hard to obtain again — would you perform the experiment at a distance?"
"Got it."
Skynet, who had been listening quietly, advised them to conduct the test far away for the safety of the equipment.
"Shouldn't you accept a certain amount of damage for the sake of your Young Master?"
"With my current power I cannot assist. I'll leave my share to you."
"I-If that's the case, then I will accept it."
Arty had tried to press Skynet over its prioritization of facility safety, but Skynet's verbal skill simply carried her past the point. For all that her mind surpassed humans — if not Skynet — her feelings for Kaisent prevented her from putting that mind to full use.
"All right. I'll do it from a distance."
Kaisent also judged Skynet's advice correct and moved far away.
As a precaution he put enough distance between himself and the facilities Skynet had built that they looked like ants, then checked his surroundings.
The undead he had gathered so far and Arty stood around him in a loose encirclement.
"Then I begin."
"Yes."
Kaisent poured inner energy into the bow.
After a certain amount of time, bright blue-spectrum light began to flow from the bow that had reached its limit.
Wooooong—
"Master!"
"No! Not yet! It's not dangerous!"
As a strange resonance rolled out from the bow and Arty prepared to rush in, Kaisent thrust out a hand and stopped her.
I don't feel any violent energy. A magic circle is unfolding inside the bow, using the inner energy I poured in to generate something.
A moment later, something opened on the outer surface of the bow, and the product created by the magic circle built into it was released.
Wuum—
A female dark elf with chocolate-colored skin and beautiful silver-blonde hair bound in a long ponytail appeared, clad in form-fitting, slender armor.
Someone must have used my bow for a long time. How many years have passed since then?
Recalling her final memory — a mercenary drawing the sword the Unity God cult had used for their conspiracy and cutting her down — Lilith calmly began surveying her surroundings.
Where is this? Where am I?
She had passed through many masters and seen many landscapes, but a pure white space with nothing in it was a first.
On top of that, unfamiliar undead monsters encircled her in a formation —
"Um… who are you?"
— and a little boy with pure white hair and white eyes who appeared to have summoned her. A little boy?
This child—!
The monstrous little boy whose ordinary-looking bow had matched her mana arrows blow for blow!
Stay calm. I know this child, but he has never seen my face, so he will not know my identity.
She could not tell why the boy held her beloved weapon, Castitas, and had summoned her — but through many masters she had learned by experience that immediately after a summoning, calmly assessing the surroundings came first. Lilith opened her mouth quietly.
"Are you my summoner?"
"Huh? S-Summoner?"
"Correct. That bow's name is Castitas. It is the beloved weapon of myself, Lilith Marmat Asmodeus — and also the summoning catalyst that can call me forth."
She provided the obligatory information, but the pure-white child of indeterminate gender had clearly not anticipated this situation; he fidgeted, unable to decide what to say first.
"I-I'm Jin Resili Caisent! Um… and I never thought this bow was a summoning catalyst, so…"
He explained that he had not known the bow was a summoning tool at all — he had simply thought something would happen if he filled it with mana, and had prepared just in case.
While Kaisent floundered in confusion, Lilith rapidly turned the situation over in her mind.
His appearance has not changed, so not much time can have passed since I was reverse-summoned. What do I do?
This was not her world, and she already had a master to whom she had sworn loyalty.
I have to return to my original world no matter what.
The reason she had cooperated with those obviously suspicious cultists was solely to find any path back to her original master.
Master.
The only master who had understood and accepted every innate problem she carried, and who had received her as an intelligent being.
"Um… hey…"
"Lilith."
"Yes?"
"Call me Lilith."
"Ah, yes! Please call me Kaisent…"
Ugh… this unnie… something about her feels off…
Was this child always such a cowardly personality?
The Kaisent frozen stiff with tension was a far cry from the one Lilith remembered.
When he had matched her mana arrows he had worn the face of a brave warrior; now he looked like nothing more than a frightened, timid little boy.
Unable to grasp that he was so introverted he would rather risk his life in a fight than hold a conversation with a stranger, she opened her mouth again to gather information.
"Where is this place?"
"This is a dimensional warehouse."
Kaisent explained the nature of the dimensional warehouse.
"Support from another dimension!?"
"Eek!"
When Lilith reacted violently to the information that his parents in another dimension had sent support, Kaisent — already intimidated by a woman who did not give off a "good unnie scent" — hastily hid behind Arty.
"Speak! Did your father truly pierce the dimensional wall and send you support!?"
"You dare threaten Master? Can you not see the situation around you?"
"Shut up, golem! Answer me!"
Kaisent could smell a pleasant fragrance from women who were well-disposed toward him or of a good nature.
In other words, the absence of that scent meant she was neither well-disposed nor of a good nature.
Even though the situation could have been resolved through rational persuasion, Lilith chose to crush him with force and seize what she wanted, pressing Kaisent hard.
Ziiing—
"Ah! The bow—!"
Kaisent cried out in shock as Castitas vanished from his hands as if teleporting and reappeared in Lilith's grip.
"Seize her!"
Having decided to subdue the hostile Lilith first, Kaisent ordered the undead. The surrounding undead howled and charged her.
Pii-pii-pii-pii-ping!
At the same instant Lilith's upper body seemed to split into afterimages, and multiple arrows fired simultaneously toward the undead.
Summoned on the foundation of Kaisent's inner energy, Lilith wielded power greater than usual and annihilated the undead in an instant.
Aside from the Abyss Knight who blocked the arrows with its shield, every undead was wiped out — yet no attack had been directed at Arty, leaving her alone unharmed.
More precisely, she had deliberately avoided attacking because Kaisent stood behind Arty and might be injured — that was closer to the truth.
I'll capture that child as he is and use the existence of his father as leverage!
Ordinarily she would have extracted more information, but in her urgency she had reacted only to the keywords that mattered to her and failed to hear the rest.
Still, to exchange objects accurately across such a vast land one needed to know each other's positions — so mistaking that the two dimensions could hold a conversation was not entirely unreasonable.
I have to return to Master even a single minute, a single second sooner!
She did not even want to imagine what hardships her master, left alone while she remained in this world, might be enduring.
I'll endure by absorbing the mana I need from that child!
Indeed, until she had joined hands with the cultists, she had survived by forcibly absorbing the mana — or, failing that, the life force — of various people.
I was going to help if he explained the situation…!
Meanwhile Kaisent, having watched the undead he had painstakingly gathered be destroyed save for the Abyss Knight, and seeing her threaten him, felt anger rise.
"Arty. When I give the signal, attack together with the Abyss Knight. I have a way to strike her from behind."
Tap-tap.
Using the acoustic focus function built into her auditory systems, Arty heard Kaisent's tiny mutter and tapped him in a regular rhythm to signal she understood.
"Attack!"
Having sworn never again to suffer violence helplessly, Kaisent gave the signal, and the Abyss Knight and Arty charged as one.
To destroy the two beings and freely control Arty, Lilith formed a mana arrow of overwhelming power.
Spat—
Confirming that, Kaisent used a teleportation magic he had told no one about and moved to Lilith's rear.
"!!"
Seeing Kaisent appear behind her with an energy blade drawn from his gauntlet, Lilith judged a counterattack would be too late and leapt forward.
Krrrsh!
But the energy blade that tracked her back carved across her spine; the rear of her armor split open and vanished in a flash of light.
Kh! The armor was reverse-summoned!
The armor, too, was composed of mana; once it took damage beyond a certain threshold, it reverse-summoned.
The small consolation was that her evasive motion had caused only the armor to vanish.
And so Kaisent, from close range, found himself taking in the sight of Lilith left in nothing but her undergarments — and her beautiful figure was burned into his eyes.