It Started With Devils & Artefacts

Chapter 113

"I do not mind. Let me show them your might. As your battleship, I was designed to demonstrate the might of my admiral." Bismarck's blue eyes glowed for a second as her mana surged for a short moment.

"Hmm… since you are that eager, then I do have something." His seat moved when he looked at the rows of layered hologram windows.

"Aurora, begin compiling my codex." 

[At once.]

He then continued speaking with Bismarck, who stood up and stepped forward to stand just right behind him.

"This will be two birds with one stone. You will be testing out a new power-up." 

The pair of ship girls perked up when they heard that.

"...New… power?" Bismarck had a complex look on her face as she needed to be sure. Getting a new power without doing anything is not something she is thrilled about.

"Yes."

He then opened his command window, went through the update windows, and proceeded to install a new patch for the Diamond Heart Engines.

"..."

"..."

The pair of girls looked at their chests as they saw the triangle device blink several times.

"The codex has been installed, and Quantum computers are doing their calculations according to compiled data worth millions of years of evolution." 

"...Isn't it a bit too much?" Enterprise asked with an uncertain tone as she removed her suit device and checked it out. Nothing changed from whatever update this was…

"Not at all." He shook his head before he moved the seat to face Bismarck once again.

"What you will be doing is called 'Bio-Merge Evolution' or, more precisely, the precursor to it."

"What does this 'Bio-Merge Evolution' mean?" Enterprise asked him as she looked at her suit device.

"Check the data. It should be uploaded by this point."

The pair checked their HUD as they swiftly read through the whole file.

Bismarck understood the gist of it. The Codex of Evolution is like the 'mixer'; it takes things and merges them, and then, on top of that, it evolves.

This is not all, as Evolution Codex is getting installed on everything that has Diamond Heart Engine or is connected to it.

Once enough data is collected, evolution can happen. So, not only do his knights have the ability to adapt rapidly… but they also have the ability to evolve alongside their adaptation.

Such extra ability to have is simply absurd, if not an overkill.

"I understand. Shall I depart?" Bismarck finished reading the details and asked him.

"By all means. I shall observe it as well." 

"Of course, it will be an honour." She slowly nodded, but her gaze was already far away as the Battleship was thinking about her first assignment.

~~~

It was just another average day when, out of nowhere, the core piece of the 'Divine Throne', as the Klaxosaurians called it, moved to be right above the City of Kurrsa, the Capital of the Almeri people. These people worshipped 'twisted' blood gods.

Marcus noticed similarities between them and the Aztecs of Central America.

They even dressed similarly and used obsidian instead of any sort of metal. 

Quite twisted, one could say that with the reveal of the 'Divine Throne,' the Klaxosaurians would change their ways, but instead, they doubled down on their beliefs, and now more people are dying than necessary.

So, if Marcus wanted to fix that, he might as well kill the barbarians and let regular tribes continue living on this continent.

Bismarck understood her mission. 

Marcus with Enterprise stood beside her before she descended to the world below.

"Do suit yourself. The planet is still hostile to us." 

"Yes, that was my intention." Nanites surged and spread out through the rest of her body.

With a leap, she descended towards the city below her.

It was a city dominated by stone and obsidian. Marcus is quite fascinated by how much obsidian they are using, considering it a rare material. However, being surrounded by semi-active volcanoes does make the material less rare.

"Shall we?" He looked at the carrier ship.

"Yes."

The pair followed after Bismarck.

~~~

The blonde battleship stopped falling as she was just above the city. People already noticed her as she became visible to the naked eye.

The blue-skinned sapient dinosaur had a fashion of piercings and was half naked with tattoos doting their bodies. 

Instead of being shocked or horrified to see one of the Observers, the tribe's men pointed their fingers at her and rushed to get their bows and other primitive projectiles.

However, they stopped in their tracks when the space behind her rippled, and a twin-headed red and black dragon-like creature made from metal shimmered into existence.

*Metal Roar*

The beast roared, making the people below panic, but this was not all. An even bigger shimmer of space appeared behind her, and a much, much larger existence started to manifest.

An enormous ship casting a huge shadow over the city appeared from thin air.

Bismarck's hand moved to her chest as she took the triangle suit device and lifted it above her head.

The device, which had a soft white glow, brightened. As a battleship symbol with a red cross began to draw itself inside the device, a pillar of light erupted from it and rushed into the sky.

Upon reaching a specific altitude, the light spread out and created a white magic circle, which changed its colour into a red one with a cross. 

A metallic voice spreads the area, announcing what is about to happen.

[Techno Merge Evolution!]

The warship blurred and turned into a swarm of metal, as did the twin-headed dragon, as the two swarms fused and passed through the red circle. 

A red and dark silver cacoon formed above the circle. It was huge, close to two hundred metres, thanks to Bismarck's size.

Runes, like blood vessels, appeared throughout the shell of the metal cacoon. Like a beating heart, they blinked several times before massive wings erupted from the cacoon and then shattered completely. The shell pieces dropped on the city below, destroying buildings.

The size of the cacoon shells easily crushed the stone building, erasing it. The Klaxosaurians had no chance to scream as the weight and force of the fall turned them into a cloud of blood upon impact.

As barbarians died just from evolution alone, the massive creature revealed itself from the cacoon.

[IRON LEGION TECHNO DRAGON] metallic voice announced what came out from the cacoon.

It was a massive dark grey Western dragon made from glossy metal. Its wing span easily covered the entire city as the living machine-like creature opened its mouth and roared for the first time in its life.

*Deep Metallic Roar*

The sound of the beast caused the closed people who were lucky enough to survive the falling shells to end up dead as the sound of the roar caused their heads to explode.

The ones further away lost their hearing or, worst case, passed out.

"W-What is that thing!?" Enterprise, from a distance, observed the evolution. Her HUD was going haywire.

[Strength: Unknown]

[Type: Uknown]

[Power Output: Unknown]

"Even Aurora doesn't know!? Isn't that dangerous? " She asked Marcus, who was looking at the metallic creature with the excitement of a small child.

"Don't worry; the evolution is hard to predict. Let the AI do her initial observation before relying on the data, " he said after snapping out.

"...Still, it merged with the Battleship, which had Bifrost, Time Engine AND Diamond Heart Engine! That thing could blow up the planet if it gets angry!" 

"Don't forget it had an M.T.M reactor. With all those factors, the Techno Dragon is a one-of-a-kind creature." He smirked as Bismarck gazed at her 'weapon'. This dragon is part of her, and she is part of the dragon.

That is why she knew the limits of what the evolved weapon could do.

"Let's go. We need to cleanse the land of all of these barbarians," the blonde softly said under her breath. With such a powerful asset, she could erase them with minimal effort.

The dragon's red eyes glowed as its power surged. The body moved, and the dragon's 'scales' moved, charging hundreds of black and red beams, shooting in all directions, blowing up everything in its path.

In the second flat, the whole city was gone.

"...There is more; we shall burn other cities, and none of them will survive."

The blonde floated on the dragon's head before flying away at absurd speed, leaving behind Marcus and Enterprise.

"...Isn't it… a little bit too much?" Enterprise looked at the sheer scale of destruction with a complex look.

"It may look like that, but if we didn't stop them now, for the next 200 hundred years, they would have killed millions of Klaxosaurians.

It's better to remove the disease now instead of allowing it to fester, don't you agree?"

"...I understand, but what I am saying is that we are using a nuclear bomb to kill a chicken. As a carrier ship, I find it… hard watching how a Battleship is fighting a rowing boat." The silver-haired shipgirl grimaced while saying that.

"Yeah, I guess, but if Bismarck wanted to do this, I can't say no." He shrugged before flying forward towards the big pyre of smoke.

~~~

[Recalibrations are done, and I can access the data for the new lifeform.]

Aurora replied to Enterprise and Marcus as they watched Techno Dragon release a breath attack. He considers it the… cosmic breath?

Is it a mix of time, space, and sheer destruction? The beam erases what the dragon wants and allows the rest to remain. It's a fascinating piece of evolutionary power.

[Sir… I am confused by what I am reading from it. The engines of the battleship are gone. They became organs. This dragon is a proper living being with organs powerful enough to level objects at a cosmic scale.]

"...Interesting, the Codex of Evolution worked its wonders."

[...Sir, I prefer that you allow me to run my calculations first before allowing such dangerous things to happen without precaution.] The AI complained to him.

"Well, you do have a kill switch if they rampage…" He tried to reason.

[It depends, sir. They are living beings, and living beings want to live.]

"And we included all that in our initial calculations regarding temporary evolution." Marcus pointed out.

[Indeed, but things like these can derail when actual evolution is added into the equation, as warship parts became organs. I didn't consider that.]

"Hmm, same, but the safety net is that the dragon is linked to Bismarck at a spiritual level, regardless of what it will follow her." 

[That is precisely why I need to finish my tests before you risk the last safety net.] The AI sharply pointed out, making Marcus grimace for a second.

Well, he wanted to see Digimon-like evolutions! Okay! One simply can't stop when he is that close!

"...Right, then continue with your calculation; there won't be any more evolutions before you are done." 

[Understood, dedicating processing power.]

The AI focused on its calculations and Realitus simulations while Marcus watched how Techno Dragon continued with the rampage.

~~~

"What is that?" A sailor pointed at the clouds in the distance. A trade ship was moving towards the continent. 

The sheer chaos the dragon caused made practically everyone notice it. Even on other continents, the explosions and their raw power were felt. The beast was a menace, Marcus' most dangerous creation to date. It's only a single creation—well, a mix of two—but the point stands that it can cause so much chaos on a planet's surface.

"It feels like a monster is on the loose, " the other commented as the large ship continued to approach. The trade ships are huge, and they use their size to deter large carnivore animals.

That is why trade only happens with large vessels. No small ships move between continents as they are not safe, and weather is not the only reason for the size of the boat. The majority of animals are carnivorous, like the entire Mosasauriae family, the biggest aquatic predators in the world.

As the large boat was getting close, a massive blur appeared above the trade city.

It was a massive metal creature with a large forked tail and glowing red lines for eyes. The beast's surface was like glossy luxury material, yet it was metal, not a gem.

The flying animal's mouth was full of sharp, saw-like teeth. As it opened its mouth, it released a stream of energy at the city below. The stream of energy was like the night sky; it erased everything in its path.

"W-What is that thing!!!"

"L-Look on its back!" The other one pointed his finger.

The sailors had pure horror on their faces as they saw a person riding this thing!

"The way it dressed… a Great Observer!?" 

"Quickly turn around the ship!" The captain descended from its cabin, which looked pale.

"They can't know we have slaves for the Almeri!" He said with panic. He didn't want to be caught!

"...But we don't know if Great Observers care about such a thing…" 

"It doesn't matter! As you can see, they will cease to exist, and I don't want to be on the chopping block! Now turn around!"

The sailors scrambled to turn around the large boat while the massive dragon in the air gazed at the ship.

"Relax, they are not our prey. According to the satellites, there are still a couple of cities left for us to burn down," Bismarck said to her dragon.

Techno Dragon slowly nodded before flying away as it knew where those cities were.

The ship turned around as the pair flew away and sailed back to their previous port. They needed to tell what they had just seen.

But at that moment, a pair of armoured beings landed, one of which was a golden one with wings. The sailors who saw this could not believe what they were seeing! The golden one was the God Emperor!

Next second, a crushing presence descended, and all of them dropped to their knees.

"Let the wider world know what happens to those who worship fake gods and pretend to represent them. The barbarian Almeri are gone, and those who follow their beliefs will suffer the same fate as that city." The Golden is pointed at a location where a city with a bustling population existed less than 5 minutes ago.

After saying that, the pair flew away; moments later, the crushing presence was gone.

The sailors, who were holding their breath, finally were able to breathe. They collapsed on their knees and hands while gazing at the wooden deck with primal fear in their eyes.

'Their presence alone made me feel like dying!'

~~~

Bismarck looked at her triangle device with fascination, as she could see the red cross symbol with the battleship glowing. With thought alone, the techno-merge evolution was undone, and the dragon in front of her turned into a cloud or more like a swarm of metal. It separated into two and then glowed, reforming the battleship and her twin-headed metal dragon with cannons.

"So that's how it works…" The girl gazed at her 'weapons' before looking back at the device. She could see it was recharging in some shape or form… or more like adjusting to improve the evolution for the next time.

"Impressive, so this is the third fundamental force we can control now." The ship girl realised that what she could control was a lesser form of a fundamental force called life. Using time and mana could have accelerated growth in what she just did with the device in her hand.

With her assignment done, the girl swiftly returned to the Core piece of the Assimilator.

As she landed in the hangar, she saw Sirin slam into Marcus like a missile.

"I want one! I wanna, I wanna, I wanna!" The girl was hugging him like a koala.

'What is with her? That's not how a Fiance of the strongest being should behave…' The Battleship frowned to herself as she slowly walked over to their side. Her clothes shifted into her regular uniform instead of the suit.

"First, you need to tell me what you want." Marcus sighed, holding the white-haired girl in his hands.

She immediately looked at Bismarck. "I WANT a dragon! Just like hers! You remember my Benares, don't you?" She said with slightly narrowed eyes.

"Oh, then you should have said so from the very beginning." 

"I am doing it now." She said that while looking at him.

"I guess, fine. It's not like it's difficult." He pulled her closer. The girl smirked as she leaned forward and whispered into his ear.

"Fantastic, I will make it worth your time~" Sirin whispered with growing blush.

Marcus chuckled as he noticed how she was becoming naughtier by the day. Being dressed in her Herrscher clothes all the time added to that naughtiness.

The girl will never admit that. Of course, she will always come with some sort of excuse.

"Good, then let's go."

As the group walked deeper into the Assimilator, Sirin remembered something.

"Wait, before that, let's visit the Observation deck." The white-haired girl looked at Marcus and then at the main lift.

"Sure, did something happen?" He asked curiously. 

"You could say that." She looked with a pout at him.

"...C'mon, I haven't even seen it, and you're already giving me that look." The inventor groaned as he rolled his eyes at her. She was treating it like it was his fault…

"You will see!" The girl puffed her cheeks as she looked away.

While she puffed, I liked that it didn't change the fact that he was carrying her the whole time…

On a short trip to the Observation floor, the Herrscher used her HUD interface to show a familiar city.

"That's Koria." Marcus immediately knew what city it was.

"Yes. Look at this." She zoomed in and showed the Royal Palace.

They could see gathered carriages. Quite a bit of people have gathered.

"...Are they celebrating the recent victory?" Enterprise asked as she slightly frowned at this.

Part of her was dissapointed in how quickly these people turn to celebrate a minor achievement.

"No. It's something else. Look." Sirin zoomed even more, bypassing the walls and showing what was inside.

They saw nobles and their families, the nobles showing their daughters to the Emperor.

"...is the prince getting married?" Marcus looked curious for a second. He had not seen the courting culture of this world in action before.

"No, what you are seeing is a collection of offerings to… you!" She squeezed his cheek with all her might while saying that.

"...hah?" 

"Yes! They will gather a hundred maidens and offer to you. I can assume, either to kill themselves or prepare a new temple priestess or something of that kind." The Herrscher explained with a growing annoyance.

"...Well, that's… something I missed." He said with a small surprise that he had never considered that route. Simply because they were dinosaurs and he was a human, cross-species stuff never popped into his mind.

"Hmph!"

"I never considered it. Do you realise that the DNA difference is more than 7%?" he said with an eye roll.

"As if that will stop you from having your way with them." Sirin huffed at him.

"True." He didn't hide it. A Blue-skinned, silver-haired girl has an exotic feel to it.

"See! You can gene-alter them and make them compatible with humans!"

"Yes, that's the easiest part; the hardest part is finding an interesting one to entertain me." He shrugged at Gene's part. By this point, he didn't even consider it a hurdle. What is the difficult part for him to find a girl who could entertain him? It's one of the reasons why he is making his own waifus.

Erina is one of the few who are interested in him enough to make her a fiance.

But the majority… well… boring.

"...So… you will just accept this madness!?" Sirin narrowed her eyes at him.

"Rich comming from a Herrscher." He joked about hearing that.

"Ugh! Not with that again!" The girl smacked her hand into his chest. 

"I prefer if they don't just start killing them in hoping that their souls will reach my 'throne'." He said with a sigh.

"Can't you just send them away!?" The white-haired girl hopefully asked him.

"Well, we do need a link between us and the Klaxosaurians. I could gene alter them to be something like prophets." He considered the routes he could take with this.

"..."

"Well, you and other girls could manage them." He extended an olive branch, immediately calming her down.

"Fine. I will do that. I WILL make sure they behave and know their 'mortal' place." The girl snuffed, but she was serious.

"Good, but I am not leaving you alone. Others will join you." Marcus knows that if Sirin is left alone, she will turn those poor girls into slaves.

That is why others will join. He can trust Erina and Athena more when it comes to this.

"...Fine…" 

The girl huffed again. It is better if several people are between these sacrificial pawns and Marcus.

Who knows whatever 'grand idea' he can come up with?

And so, Marcus 'prototype version of his 'Crystal Palace' started. It's only the beginning, but in the future, his 'harem' of dedicated girls to join a special 'organisation' will become a global and then interstellar phenomenon, where girls around the cosmos want to join his 'Crystal Palace'.

Where kids used to dream of becoming doctors or policemen, in this case, girls will want to become Marcus Goldman's 'assistants', and guys will want to join the army.

Marcus dreams of changing…everything is slowly starting to take shape.

~~~~~~Kitchen~~~~~~

"My Lady…" 

"Yes, I saw it."

"I am starting to think that he isn't just planning to conquer one world… but all of them…" Hisako said with a small realisation. 

"You only now noticed that?" The cherry blonde smiled. Her smile was a little bit strained.

"...Isn't it bad? I mean… that's what a…" she leaned forward and whispered."...villain does." 

"In a way… yes. But…" The chef girl looked away, gazing at somewhere.

"In normal people's eyes, we can be classified as the bad guys. But that's because of here and now. All that kill you saw now is like removing an infestation. It is painful, and one will suffer and be bedridden for a while, but then he will recover and be better than ever.

Same here. That dragon killed a twisted barbarian culture. If he hadn't, then those things would have killed for generations, dwarfing the number of people killed by that dragon.

We are capable of seeing into the distant future thanks to our time abilities. Normal people can't understand what we see."

"..."

The purple-haired assistant simply gazed at Lady. While her face was not expressionless, her eyes were trembling from disbelief. Erina would normally never speak like this. She might have a twisted perception of food, but never of life.

What she is looking at is a completely different person.

"...Then…"

"I am sure Marcus will spread his influence to other continents, allowing his followers to spread worldwide. The distances between continents are not as large as in our times." The Chef girl already brushed aside all those millions of deaths that happened a few moments ago. 

Instead, she is already looking towards what will happen next.

"...I see…" 

'It appears I am the only one with some common sense around here…'  Hisako told herself, but then again, she wondered if it was true. She can control time flow, use her mind to lift things, and even wield magic… none of that sounds normal.

'Oh, how can I forget I was taught things by the Goddess of Wisdom and received her blessing.'

The girl realised that she was a hypocrite.

~~~~~~Meanwhile, Outside the Flow of Time~~~~~~

A Daedalus-class support warship left the green clouds of time and entered the Bifrost highway, which rapidly brought them closer to the massive station-like base being constructed.

Several Assimilators are supporting the mammoth project. Hundreds of thousands of Nanite swarms are building the hull and bridges that will connect the Assimilators into a single massive mother ship. This is Technocracy's secret base. Its purpose is to manage alternative realities and timelines that technocracy will rule one day.

While not 'the Capital', it is the hub of the military and the storage place for all the stuff Marcus has collected from his trips.

In a way, this was 'Marcus' secret tree house base', where regular guys collect figurines. Marcus builds a base outside the flow of time and places living dinosaur specimens instead of said figures.

Because he already has figurines in his room! So he needs something better!

Regardless, as the place gets assembled, the warship docks away from the rest at an Assimilator. This one is the command tower, where Quinella is with the maids.

As the warship docked, the ramp lowered, and a group of Royal Guards brought out the maids towards Quinella, who was waiting with three maids.

"I have heard what four of you did." The Assistant showed a wicked smile.

"I only wanted to impress Master!" Hippolyta complained. It appears no one wants to hear what she is saying.

"And how does that translate to you two blowing up nearly an entire continent? Thankfully, we have technomancy in place if you bring the Jurassic period to its end with magma traps erupting in China." 

"Last time we checked, one of the reasons the Assimilator is there is to learn the precise boundary of the end of Jurassic and the beginning of Cretaceous," Atalanta said with a matter-of-fact tone.

But all Quinella did was a shrug.

"Yes, well, you won't be learning it for a while. I will tell you once I learn myself." The assistant showed her a bright smile.

"...You are enjoying this, aren't you?" Jeanne said after seeing the exchange between them.

"You have no idea how long I wanted for you girls to flop." The assistant slightly shook her head, acting like she cared about them.

"Only the best are allowed, my creator. You four failing like this, at such a basic task no less, proves that you don't belong in serving him."

"...so what now?" Le Fay was more interested in learning what would happen to them. She is thinking of ways to get out of this situation, but for this to happen, she needs to figure out what will happen to her now.

"You four are in luck. Now that we have an extensive collection of 'items', you all will be maintaining them, like, for example, taking out their dung." Quinella smiled brightly while saying that.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

The group of maids looked at her with horror and disbelief. Especially Atalanta! She is a half lion! Her nose is especially sensitive!

"...But… the handlers…and isn't the process automated!? I am certain Master made it automated!" The Huntress started to panic.

"For you four, I will flip that switch off, and you will be able to take care of Sauropod dung." The platinum-haired assistant brushed her hair while telling them how big of service she was doing!

"Sauropods!?"

The four imagined a mountain of shit left by the long neck Titans… and the handlers giving them regular shovels…

"Can we discuss this!?" Atalanta almost begged the assistant.

"Hmm, considering we were Master's ex-favourite pet a while ago, we could arrange something else." Quinella placed her right-hand index finger on her chin while looking at the hangar's ceiling.

The lioness cringed when she was named his ex… it was more hurtful than expected.

"I could use your hunter experience and use you like a workhorse." The girl didn't hide her desire to use Atalanta.

Not that the huntress cared about that. She knew that the moment they did something against Marcus… Quinella will stop pretending to be nice.

"...As long as I don't need to work with dung." Atalanta grimaced while saying that.

"Good. Then you will be training the handlers and working with animals that are arriving from the Mesozoic era."

"...Fine by me. It's what I wanted in the first place." The Huntress showed a confident smile while saying that.

"Do remember you can't hunt them. They are pieces of collection." The Assistant sharply reminded her.

"I know."

"A-And us!? I am a witch! I am good at research! A-And I know magic!" Le Fay took a step forward.

"I only offered an alternative to Atalanta because she was forcefully involved in the fights, not that you left it midway like Artemis." Quinella slightly narrowed her eyes while saying that.

"Yes, well, these girls are upstart baby girls, which made my hand itch." Atalanta looked at Le Fay and Jeanne. If not for the suit devices, they would have kissed the ground and eaten primitive grass by force.

"...Sorry to burst your bubble…senior." Le Fay sarcastically replied with a barely visible mocking smile.

"..."

The Lioness' hand twitched for a second.

"It appears you little ones need some discipline training. Being spoiled by Marcus was a mistake, it would seem." The platinum-haired assistant looked at them with a dissapointed and slightly angry expression.

Her pride can't allow such spoiled brats anywhere near her creator. This place doesn't have that much for females with big heads.

'Why does he even like such annoying girls in the first place? It must be his twisted sadism…'

Quinella pondered as she motioned for her Integrity Knights to get rid of these troublemakers.

As the four were taken away, the assistant returned to her command post and continued to observe the incoming data from the Assimilators in different periods.

"...What in the world…" 

Her eyes widened when she saw the latest update from Cretaceous Earth, and what she got was mindboggling!

"To use evolution in such a way… he made Digimons into reality? Or more like the method of evolution." The girl stroked her chin while pondering about the power-ups this could give.

"It appears he made his Ship girls into his most powerful pieces." 

The assistant realised that each and every single one of his ship girls had the potential to be destroyers of a multiverse in the sheer power department if she believed the data she was looking at.

~~~

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