72 Collecting Those Shipwrecks

'To think that something like this would be possible.' Sirin looked at how the Honkai of this world works. She can see the schematics.

'Controlled by the AI from the information centre next to the main base a conduit or in this case ', Herrscher' can manipulate Honkai through the crystal in their bodies.'

As she was going through the data, she realised a few crucial things which made her experience a cold chill.

The Herrscher are absolutely extremely powerful as their limit is the amount of particles generated by Diamond Heart Cores. That means they have an unlimited amount of energy, and their mental state determines how long they can fight.

However, they have two insane drawbacks. They can only operate inside Marcus' infrastructure and are limited by Marcus' will.

In other words, if he says she can't fight, then she won't be able to resist that. He has the ultimate switch for her powers.

Worst case, he can command Honkai, and she will implode like a balloon.

This time, she was worse than an experiment subject. She was a slave to this guy. She was not just a slave, but he even enslaved her power.

Honestly, she had no idea how even to process this. The guy was on a completely different level from anything she had ever faced.

'If Kiana Kaslana were here, she would try to fight this guy. Heh, maybe this is why I was here instead of her.'

Sirin internally had a self-mocking smile. Is this her version of hell?

"If it were Kiana Kaslana, she would already start to fight you." The Void Queen spoke after making the holographic window she was looking at disappear.

"Oh? How did you come to this conclusion?"

"Please. Don't mock my intelligence. I understand well enough how this system works." The Herrscher said with a hand brushing her hair.

"If I am to rebel in any sort of form, I will lose my powers; worst case, your Honkai would kill me on the spot. I do not have a choice in this." She pointed out the details between the lines.

"Hmm, now that you mentioned. You are right. However, I never considered my power rebelling against me."

"...Your—power?"

"Indeed. You are amusing to say this. I built all of it. Why would I allow rebellious elements to keep what is mine?" He explained while leaning in his soft seat. They were in his quarters discussing Honkai elements before Sirin saw the overview.

Now she is complaining.

"...I suppose when you put it like that."

"Still—"

"What? I wasn't the one who crossed over. I opened the doors; you are the one who entered into my reality. I can't make you cross over. That was all you."

*Sigh*

"Yes, yes. I understand. Now, I sound like Kiana Kaslana. It makes me sick." Sirin reeled in as she realised how she started to sound like her counterpart.

"You both are identical. Only that Honkai influenced your part. The core is still the same; you both are Sirin."

"...I don't need you to tell me what I already know." She huffed at him.

"Well, apart from that, you inherited the Queen attitude, which Kiana lacks."

"Ugh, can we stop talking about a person who doesn't even exist?" Sirin sighed in annoyance; she shouldn't even start talking! She did say that before getting that haircut.

"Sure. What do you want to talk about then?" He asked while leaning into his chair.

"I want to learn everything about my perks, the world I am, and what is expected of me. Since you have me chained, this is at least what I should get."

"Chained, huh? Do you realise you are my responsibility? The sheer idea that you can just leave and do something absurd as it gets. You are different from the rest.

As someone who made your genes from scratch, if people were to get their hands on your blood or body, you could cause a world war." He said with a sigh.

"As I said, you have the basis of the Perfect Human augmentation. Faster recovery, faster processing power, faster adaptation, unlimited power ceiling, if you want, you can learn magic, psionic, touki, and senjutsu.

That is just BASIC; I gave you 'Kaslana' powers; you have super strength and unnatural antibodies, which means you can't get sick.

And the cream of the crop, you have an affinity to fight the Supernatural. The way I programmed your DNA is that you have a gut feeling about how to face them.

That means your awareness is higher when you face a supernatural enemy."

Her eyes were wide when she heard all the perks of her body. She looked at her hand. There was a higher appreciation now.

"It's a masterpiece, just like everything else I do. The only place you can possibly be and belong is in my Technocracy."

"..." Sirin didn't say anything when she heard all that.

"Atalanta, be a good girl and show her everything. Typically, you would already have memories, but I have not added anything to you. I wanted the genuine thing." Marcus asked his lion maid, who was standing behind him.

"Understood."

*Snort*

"Is the almighty Supreme Commander romantic at heart? Doesn't want any lies? I thought you already had a fiance. That feels like courting to me." Sirin decided to tease him for a bit.

"Maybe it is. Pampering you feels right. So yes, I want my darling Queen to be all satisfied."

"...Sure, but—"

"Ah yes, chained up. But since you think in a romantic way, if you leave me, I will take everything that is mine. You know those divorce things the lawyers do?

That means the body, the powers, and everything else I gave you." He smirked while saying that. His words made the Herrscher pale. She slowly nodded her head.

"Yes, I understand. You don't need to worry about me or doing that." With a nod, she then looked at the waiting lion girl.

"Can you show me the perks?"

"Sure, follow me."

As the two left the rooms, the only ones in the room with Marcus were Gu Yuena and Nyx. The Goddess was in her room doing something. Most likely, she contacted her pantheon and is reporting on the situation.

"Your new creation is rebellious, Master. Is it fine for her to have one of your creations and access to Honkai? Someone who does not respect what you did does not deserve all that." The Dragoness was annoyed that Sirin was like that. As a fellow creation with pride in what she is, this includes her beauty; she feels this new girl is abusing those gifts.

"Don't worry about it. She is a tsundere. She feels one thing while saying another. Trust your psionic powers more Na'er." He smiled at her, making the Dragoness huff and look away. His comment revealed her tsundere tendencies, too.

"...Ahhh, this is soo good!"

The pair looked at the source of the moan.

It was Nyx sitting on the couch enjoying dark chocolate cake.

"This triple chocolate cake with natural strawberries is so good!"

"Now that you mentioned I should get something to eat. Using psionic energy as a substitute for energy is getting dull; nothing beats real food."

"I will join you!" Gu Yuena swiftly jumped on the 'train'.

"Sure, let's go."

As the pair left, the Primordial continued moaning as she ate her cake.

However, a few minutes later, she realised no one was in the room!

"Hmm? Where did everyone go!?"

~~~

"So, what is your story? Did he create you as well?" Sirin asked the maid.

"No, however, I did go through biological alterations," Atalanta nodded back and explained some of it.

"Then how did you end up as a maid?"

The lioness looked at her. She finds this situation strange. This girl is in such a high position in the hierarchy, but she is as clueless as it gets, as she is a new arrival. Such a thing never happened before.

"I was part of Goddess Artemis hunt. Have you heard of it?"

"...Goddess Artemis? The Moon Goddess? In Greek Mythology?"

"Yes, that's the one. I met Marcus when he was just starting and building his Technological Empire. We tried to establish our superiority. We ended up being humiliated. Artemis didn't like the humiliation, so we went to look for his hideout.

We ended up captured and forced to join him. In the end, Artemis, Hippolyta and I became his maids while the other girls became his agents in the mundane side of the world."

"...I see… so you are his spoils of war?"

"...Precisely."

"No plans for revenge or desire to escape?"

Sirin's question got Atalanta smiling.

"That's an amusing question. Escape? To where? To what? How? For what? None of that is possible.

Even now, we are at war with Primordials. Nyx was one of them. Yet, do you see any sort of worry in our Master? No, because the incarnation of Evil we fight is not even considered a threat.

This thing was allowed to fight us for a while because it was useful.

By this point, Marcus Goldman is considered a Force of Nature, which even Primordials are afraid of, and Primordials are considered the purest form of nature."

"..."

"You will understand. It is how it is. We should be grateful that he wishes to create cute girls with strange powers instead of causing mindless chaos.

Not that the world gets the idea."

"...The world?"

"Yes. This trip started with the world finding out about our Master. We already had a skirmish and an orbital bombardment in the past— a few hours?"

"...Orbital Bombardment–" Sirin recalled that she had dropped a few meteorites before.

"How big are we talking about?"

"Follow me; I will show you."

~~~

Marcus and Gu Yuena went to the kitchen. The Dragoness was just coming along to be with her Master one-on-one! She will accept any situation just so that she can be with him!

"Let's see. I will take a steak, some mashed potatoes, an array of salads, and some sauce. Hmm, I should mix several just for the sake of unique taste." The Inventor mumbled as he selected the dish and how he wanted the dish arranged.

"What do you want, Na'er?"

His words distracted the silver-haired dragoness plotting.

"Hmm? I will take what you took." Without thinking, she said.

"Sure."

Marcus ordered another steak with mashed potatoes.

Once he got the plates, he sat with her at a table.

The Silver Dragon Empress swiftly took her seat next to him. Her shoulders were touching his.

Seeing what the beauty was thinking, he smiled and pulled her on his lap.

"!!!"

"Since you want to cuddle so much, we take this eating experience to the next level." He said that while hugging her.

"...What do you want me to do?" Gu Yuena asked quite seriously.

"Hmm, like this." He proceeded to slice a tiny bit of the steak and brought it to her mouth.

"Now open up. Your Master is feeding his Dragoness." He said that with an amused tone.

"...Oh, okay…" The Silver-Haired dragoness was slightly embarrassed as she realised he treated her almost like a child.

Once she took her bite and swallowed, she wanted to know what would happen next.

"Now it's your turn."

Her eyes lit up the moment she heard this. Now, it made some sense. This act was something similar to what lovers are supposed to be doing. She did some research on this!

"Okay!"

She swiftly cut a similar piece and brought it over for him to eat.

The pair continued to eat it like that until they were done. To finish this, Gu Yuena used a tissue to clean up Marcus.

"We should get some desserts."

"Of course~" The Dragoness doesn't mind. The more of this, the better. She is getting quite proficient in this art.

"Then let's get some sweets."

~~~

After dinner and snacks, the Inventor returned to his work.

Marcus looked through the data he received from Sirin as a soul entering the body he prepared.

Souls have signatures just like everything else.

'Hmm, I need to prepare a specific device to locate the location of origin.'

The Inventor pondered on this as he compared Sirin's soul with his soul.

He located several differences, something like different tastes.

[Sir, the President of the United States is giving a speech.]

"Oh? Right, he finally left the dead zone?"

[Yes. The capital is temporarily moved to Philadelphia. He is mentioning your attack, and they are planning retaliation, not through military means, that is, if you don't accept his invitation to solve this through diplomacy]

*Snort*

He snorted, hearing this.

This situation was getting hilarious—democracy in a nutshell. To keep the ratings high and people satisfied, the man digs his grave by trying to solve this chaos done by Marcus.

"This is amusing. But this is not enough."

[What do you wish me to do?]

"We will reply to them. He wants to meet me, but there should be a reason for meeting, no? He must offer me something if he wants me to waste time."

[Understood, and the form of the message?]

"Let's make a video. Generate some; let's see your artist's side.

[As you wish, generating videos]

A few short moments later, Marcus saw several videos he could choose from.

"Let's see."

~~~~~~Philadelphia~~~~~~

"Sir! Marcus Goldman once again hacked every single channel!" a military officer rushed into the temporary office of the president.

With the capital 'dead', the government needed to be relocated.

"Hmm? Is he already responding to us?"

"It appears so." one of the security men turned on the TV, and the gathered people could see Marcus sitting in front of a table, making a statement.

[This is my response to the government who wants to meet me.

As I mentioned before, and I will say again. I am busy, man. If you want to see me, offer something interesting.

I won't come to see you just because you ask me. That's not how it works.

And regarding the EMP blast in the Washington DC area. You can continue to protest if you want, but actions have consequences.

Talking shit about me will be paid in full. That is my last warning.

Talk trash, and I will turn you to dust.]

After saying that, the TV returned to what it was showing before.

"Well, that went well."

"This is just getting worse and worse." The President massaged his forehead.

Senators and other people will not simply accept. They need to do something. People expect them to do something. Dumb people still think they can demand action against Marcus Goldman.

Especially the way he looks down on them.

"We need a response."

"But what? Sanctions? On what? Task Force? We tried that for a while, but nothing worked. If we aim at his country, he will respond with extreme prejudice." The Vice President said while massaging his forehead.

This job is getting less and less lucrative!

"Sir, I suggest addressing the public; we must stamp out any protest for their good. We can't take the damage that the space station delivers.

If another blast like that strikes, it could cripple our economy." The Secretary of the Defence reminded them.

"Well aware. Fine, prepare new legislation; no more strikes for now."

Just like that, Marcus' plan to implode the world's current system began.

More protection means more oppression and less freedom. Now, Marcus only needs to tease them to the world's end.

Well, he already has an idea. People want him to be the mayor of his home town. So why not?

He can reveal some of the cutting-edge techs he has.

~~~

Around a day later, the Scavenger was approaching a key location in his search for the wrecks.

And that is the Philippines.

"Taiho, Shokaku, Zuikaku, Musashi. I want those; we can collect the others later." Marcus said from his throne to the officers.

"Understood, sir! Relaying orders!"

Soon enough, four smaller vessels left the Scavenger.

"You still didn't explain why you are collecting wrecks," Sirin asked him. She was starting to feel dull being underwater the whole time.

"I collect ships like models."

"He turns those ships into assets of his Faction. Each ship gets a girl to control them like you control your Honkai." Atalanta explained with a plain voice.

"...Oh, that's cruel of you— Master. It is bringing back renowned ships to fight for you against others."

"Heh, I am still waiting for you to use those ships against their previous owners." Nyx chipped in.

"Now that is just pure sadism." Marcus deadpanned at the Primordial, who just shrugged at him.

"Doesn't change the fact that you are doing that~" Honestly, Sirin was surprised, in a good way, how Marcus was torturing the humans of this world. The maid brought her up to speed about what was happening.

Now, she was excited to see some action. Maybe do what Herrscher is supposed to do, only in a different world.

"I see it as a waste so—"

"Sir, we have been noticed." Marcus ended up being interrupted by one of the officers.

"Hmm? Sea Guards?"

"Yes, the Philippines' coastal guards. They know who we are."

"Well, they are asking nicely to leave. Our ship is too big."

Marcus did agree that his submarine was big.

"Hmm, I suppose it's not that we need to be here." He then added.

He then looked at the map of the Philippines. Shokaku is quite a distance away from here.

"Hmm, we can start going towards the Battle of Midway location." Marcus pondered on that.

"Enterprise will be pleased to have her older sister." He said that to himself.

"Fine, set a slow course towards the location of the battle of Midway. That place has three carriers I need. Kaga, Akagi, and Yorktown."

"What about Yamato? After Midway, we should be going towards Japan, no?" The captain asked him.

"Hmm, if I collect all of them now, I won't have anything else to do later? I mean, I could start collecting dinosaurs, but that can wait." Marcus said with a pondering voice.

"No, for now, Musashi is enough regarding Battleships from Japan." The inventor waved his hand. He has no idea what to do with Yamato. That ship is like the apex of the apex regarding battleships. Maybe he should retrofit it into a fancy battleship for himself.

"And Shinano?"

"...Hmm, wasn't it the most faulty ship in the Japanese navy at its time?" Marcus said after recalling the ship.

"Fine, collect her as well, just to fix the faultiness."

"Roger, building up the route."

~~~~~~Later~~~~~~

Marcus was walking through the storage areas aboard the Scavenger. It has been an exciting couple of days. He needed to tell Ares to relax as he was busy; the trip to the Underworld was delayed for a bit.

And the God of War understood him. After all, the Greek God was having fun watching TV and enjoying the chaos the inventor had caused.

"Some of these are in terrible shape. These ships are missing parts." Athena commented as she saw only sections of the ship were still around.

"Kaga and Akagi, only parts of them are still around. It's pretty bad." Marcus agreed with her.

"The depth where they sank is 5 to 6 kilometres deep."

"Regardless, I got what I wanted. We can proceed towards Japan. Did you girls locate Shinano?"

"Possibly. There are some wrecks around the supposed location of the ship's sinking place." The officers replied to the question.

"Good, then let's move towards there and then towards Kouh."

"Understood."

As the officers left, Marcus looked around the shrunken ships. He has quite a selection!

His eyes went to Bismarck and Musashi. The ultra battleships!

Once they are functional, he will allow these two to rip through oceans.

'I hope there will be some opposition before they are operational.'

After looking at his new pieces of the collection, he walked back to the bridge. He now needs to recreate the missing parts.

~~~

After recovering Shinano, Marcus finally arrived in Japan. His Submarine surfaced for the first time since the journey started. A portion of it opened as a plane similar to a private jet left and proceeded to fly towards Kuoh Town.

The journey was short; the new version of casual transport airship has graviton technomancy built in it. These airships can fly as fast as the pilot wants.

As the small airship circles the Kuoh, Marcus notices his airship floating high above the clouds. The Realitus camouflage engaged. But as the owner, the system allows him to see.

His Confiscator, Marcus, has not seen it for over a week. He kind of misses it. Not that he sees it often. But this is like the feeling of his car not being in his garage.

Oh, and he still needs to retrofit his flagship. The energy wings are outdated tech by this point.

"So that's it—your Flagship, it's kinda big. But what is with those absurd wings?" Sirin asked with a frown. She has seen airships before. But this one takes the cake just from the weird design!

"The golden energy wings work as a target for enemies to shoot; instead of targeting the hull or where the hangar entrance is, enemies would target the wings." He explained to her.

"So this means those wings are sturdy?"

"In a way. The Reactor's output determines the strength of the ship. The alloy which this airship builds takes the flow of the reactors to strengthen itself."

"...Then the whole frame is as powerful as the reactor? But the reactor—" The white-haired girl realised the sheer absurdity of the airship!

"The Airships have two reactors. One for the hull and the other one for the other things." Marcus explained to her, but then he smirked and decided to mention something else.

"...by the way, the Scavenger has three. With this many, the submarine can reach the deepest parts of the oceans without issues."

"Yet, it's so big it doesn't even work as a submarine. Everyone notices your vessel." The Herrscher teased him with that intel. The moment the submarine gets close to a country, they notice that thing. It's so big and wide that it's like a blob on the map.

"Yeah, I know. I forgot that water sometimes doesn't even reach a kilometre in more shallow areas." Marcus shrugged without care. He sort of forgot about that. Vertically, his submarine is nearly over fifty metres. And horizontally, it is close to 220 metres. It is significant for a submarine. But he likes his space. That is one of the reasons why he doesn't mind using it.

It was a test run for future space travels as well, and it went pretty well.

As the transport ship landed in the middle of Kuoh's outdoor track field, the devils were waiting for him. They made sure no regular humans were in the area. That is why it was only Sona with her Queen and Rias with hers.

The rest were making sure no one was approaching this area.

"So—Umm…" Rias started; she didn't know how to start. Her mother is his slave; she is planning the same thing. On top of that, he is to be the sole ruler of the Underworld.

"How should I call you?" The crimson-haired Gremory Heiress started.

"Call me? I have a name, so why don't you start by using it." He started with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes! Of course! Thank you for lending us your help to protect the school." Rias swiftly started.

"And welcome to Kouh."

"Indeed, as Rias said, thank you for lending help to secure this place." Sona thanked them as well as she looked at him. There are a few questions she has in her mind. But she doesn't dare to ask just yet.

"I don't mind; sadly, no one attacked you, so it's disappointing. I hoped for some sort of development and a recovery of some type of enemy. But, oh well, it doesn't matter now." He nodded at their greeting before saying something shocking.

The pair had heard something similar from Valerie but didn't think it was to this level. He wanted someone to attack!?

"This— well."

"Don't mind it. There will be soldiers stationed here all the time. The base under the school is expanding. Soon, it will be a fortress."

Rias and Sona's mouths got dry when they heard that. This guy took their territories without even trying.

Not that they have ways to oppose or try. They are just shocked at how smoothly this transitioned from them owning this place to Marcus taking over.

"...Is it necessary?"

"Of course it is. You asked for protection, and I wanted a base in Japan, so it's a win-win situation."

"... won't just stationing an Airship be enough?" Sona reasoned with him.

"Confiscator will be coming with me. I was thinking of the airship on standby, but the new nine airships will be sent to Underworld and based in Lilith.

The nine original ones will be based on my base. We could build a proper spaceport here with another nine vessels." Out of nowhere, he considered another spaceport here.

"...I don't think we need a spaceport." Rias, with a nervous laugh, gently declined him.

"...Hmm." Marcus slowly nodded while looking around.

He then looked away and pondered on something.

"Oh, yes, the Pacific. I think I know the place for my new base." He declared that before looking at the two.

"Anyway, we will be leaving for the Underworld soon. I suppose a single night here will suffice. I still need to show Japan to my new girls." Marcus said that as he looked at Sirin and Gu Yuena.

The White haired girl looked around for a bit. She has memories of Kiana attending regular school with Mei and then the Valkyrie school. This school— it was a mix of those, it's strange. The blend of Europeans in the Far East makes it weird.

The pair of devils' eyes lit up! This short stay was an excellent opportunity for them.

"Sure thing! You can stay in my estate! Just like last time!" Sona swiftly got the upper hand. Rias pouted, seeing that. Sadly, she is living in the clubhouse and not a house. By this point, she should have gotten a proper place!

"Sure thing."

He motioned for them to walk.

The devils proceeded to lead them towards the school.

"So these are devils. They don't look so different from humans." Sirin commented.

"Apart from mana signature and retractable wings, they look the same." Gu Yuena said with a shrug.

"I am more surprised that they ignored me; it's so rare." Athena was feeling refreshed that no one was bowing to her or paying some sort of respects.

"...It's the Master's presence. You will get used to it." Atalanta chipped in; she had already gotten used to it.

"A nice perk." The Goddess of Wisdom nodded with satisfaction. Having a future husband with more clout than her is a nice bonus, in a way.

~~~

Rias looked at the white and silver-haired girls. These two are as unique as they get! That white-haired one with orange eyes gives her the chills, and the silver-haired one reminds her of Issei's gear. Some sort of dragon? She did hear that Marcus has some kind of creations.

"May I ask how my sister is doing?" Sona asked Marcus as they were walking towards her estate.

"Hmm? Sera? She has been waging war on her front as well as saving whatever devils there are left." Marcus casually replied as he looked around. It has been a while since he was here.

"Mother said that the amount of devils left is not much. Is it true?" Rias asked with a sad tone.

"That is true. I suppose the luckiest ones were Latia's Astaroth clan as they moved to Earth to work for me." The Inventor recalled what his blonde devil girlfriend told him.

"Right, her." The crimson-haired Gremory slightly frowned when she heard that name.

"Hmm, I can sense competition. Is she your rival?"

"You can say that. I know her from school days in the Underworld." The Heiress explained vaguely. Not that she can say to him that she sees Latia as a new rival she wants to surpass because of him.

"Interesting. She never mentioned anything like that."

"That's because Rias and I were usually together." Sona chipped in with a sweaty forehead.

"Yep! And then we moved to Earth. So it was a while ago." Rias smiled nervously.

By this point, Athena and Atalanta noticed something weird about them. But they didn't care. Same with Gu Yuena and Sirin; they just didn't care.

They were more concerned about Nyx drowning in chocolate.

'I hope we did the right thing by leaving that Primordial in Scavenger.' Atalanta sweats nervously. That submarine is very important, holding all those shipwrecks. Marcus would flip if something were to happen to it.

"So what do you want to do?" Rias changed the theme of conversation."

"Hmm, I suppose we can start with a restaurant. I prefer a local one. Not like some restaurants with a bunch of branches."

"Okay, I think I know one."

As the group were walking towards a restaurant, the pair of Heiresses were thinking about how to approach what they wanted to ask.

Maybe when they are at the restaurant!?

As they had those thoughtful looks, the lioness maid and the Goddess looked with growing amusement. They have seen such expressions before. If Nyx was here and not drowning in chocolate, she would be grinning from sadism.

That was because Marcus noticed but didn't say anything. He is waiting for them!

~~~~~~Aboard Scavenger~~~~~~

*Groan*

"...Hmm?"

…

…

…

"Hmm!? Again!? Why was I left alone again!? Damn, this sugar overload! I am Primordial! Not some human who passed out from sugar!" Nyx started to throw a hissy fit.

[To your information, you consumed enough sugar to kill an elephant]

"Hmm? No one asked you! It's still embarrassing!" With a huff, the Primordial decided to get some water; her mouth felt dry, like a desert.

~~~

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