Metallix charged directly at Altair and her team, a towering force of absolute devastation. Right in his path, the magical girl stepped forward, throwing her hands out.
"Magical flash flair!" she screamed.
A blinding explosion erupted right in Metallix's face. Smoke and fire enveloped him, but he simply tanked the blast without missing a beat. Stepping through the flames, he threw a brutal punch straight into her face. The impact sent her flying backward like a ragdoll, crashing through three buildings in a cascade of concrete and dust.
"You're mine!" Metallix roared.
Before anyone else could react, he lunged forward, grabbing Altair by the throat and rocketed into the sky. Before she could even attempt a counterattack, Metallix leveled his palm directly against her chest and fired a point-blank energy blast. The explosion sent her hurtling back down to the ground like a meteor.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Multiple shots rang out, striking Metallix's armor, but the bullets ricocheted off harmlessly with absolutely no effect.
"Damn..." the shooter muttered under his breath, quickly scrambling toward cover.
"You're annoying," I said, casually dodging as the knight girl lunged at me, trying to press the attack.
"My cortisol levels are going high. You *don't* want to see me when my cortisol levels go high," I warned, effortlessly weaving through her flurry of strikes. She was fast, but she wasn't fast enough.
"Parry this, you filthy casual—" I began, raising a hand, but before I could finish the thought, a brilliant golden light suddenly surrounded me.
"Oh, come on! This is some lazy writing!" I yelled at the sky.
In a flash of light, I vanished from the battlefield entirely. And just like that, Metallix disappeared right along with me.
Silence fell over the cratered street.
"...Altair, did you do that?"
"...I... No?" she replied, staring at the empty space in utter confusion.
Meanwhile, across the boundaries of time and space, Agnes materialized in a completely different world.
"Nooo!!! Café!" I wailed, throwing my hands up in despair. "Alright, whoever did that, I will personally tear you limb by limb!"
As the echoes of my voice faded, I finally noticed my surroundings. Standing right in front of me was a fourteen-foot-tall golden man, and standing right next to him was a guy who looked completely homeless.
"Who are you? And also, why did you bring me here? I was doing something important!" I demanded, crossing my arms.
The old man turned to the giant beside him. "Are you sure of this, my friend? This is the one you have been hearing?"
"Yes, friend," the golden giant replied softly.
"Are you listening to me?!" I snapped, tapping my foot. "Why did you bring me here?"
The giant looked down at me, his gaze carrying the weight of a galaxy. "I am the Emperor of Mankind, and this is Malcador the Sigillite. I need your help."
"Help? For what?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
"To be revealed, if you choose to help me," the Emperor replied mysteriously.
"Wait... you said you have heard me before—"
"Yes," the Emperor interrupted. "I felt you, and I knew that you were in a different world. I tried to summon you but failed multiple times. But now, it worked."
"So wait, *you're* the one that... Well, that is very interesting, and I want to learn more about that," I murmured, my scientific intrigue suddenly piqued.
Right then, a familiar holographic system window pinged into existence right in front of my eyes.
[ Mission Updated
Objective: Help the Emperor of Mankind with his mission.
Reward:Manhattan Café and secret items.]
A wide smile spread across my face. "I will help you with your stuff."
"Good," the Emperor said, gesturing for me to follow him.
As we walked through the colossal hallways, everything was absurdly oversized. We passed multiple armored soldiers who looked just like Space Marines, only significantly stronger. After a long walk through the labyrinthine palace, we finally reached a massive, high-tech laboratory hidden deep underneath the structure.
"So, what do you want me to do?" I asked, looking around at the advanced equipment.
"I need twenty sons," the Emperor stated flatly.
I blinked, taking a step back. "Hey, I am all for science—*only* science. I already got a daughter, I don't need twenty more."
Beside the Emperor, Malcador couldn't help but let out a dry laugh.
"Using genetic science," the Emperor clarified, entirely unbothered.
"Oh! Then I can do it," I said, instantly relieved.
"But you tell no one about our work here," the Emperor warned, his tone dead serious.
"Sure, sure," I said, shrugging it off. "Well then, let's get to work."
Malcador watched me with a mix of amusement and suspicion. "You accept this very easily."
"I have been traveling to multiple worlds because of *him*," I replied, gesturing vaguely to the system window only I could see. "It doesn't bother me anymore."
Without another word, I rolled up my sleeves and got to work.
After multiple years. Working alongside the Emperor, Malcador, and Erda, Agnes Tachyon successfully engineered the twenty Primarchs. But my contributions didn't stop there.
When I found out the Emperor planned to kill the Thunder Warriors due to their inherent genetic instability, I absolutely refused to allow it. I hated the idea of throwing away perfectly good test subjects—and soldiers. Using my superior genetic skills, I successfully cured their instability. Deeply grateful for their salvation, the Thunder Warriors swore their absolute, undying loyalty directly to me.
Furthermore, life in the growing Imperium drastically improved because of my presence. Thanks to my modern sensibilities, I brought back basic hygiene and other vital civilian innovations, single-handedly raising the standard of living across Terra.
But through it all, we still found time to relax in the lab.
"Okay, so the patient woke up, and his skeleton was missing, and the doctor was never heard again!" I delivered the punchline, bursting into laughter.
"Hahahaha!" Malcador roared with laughter, and even the stoic Emperor was chuckling along.
"And that is how I lost my medical license," I giggled, wiping a tear from my eye.
"Good joke, Agnes. Well, I think that's enough tomfoolery for today—" the Emperor started to say.
*BOOM!*
A massive, violent explosion rocked the entire palace, cutting him off.
"..."
We rushed to the incubation chambers. After checking the telemetry and the ruined containment vats, the grim reality set in: all twenty of the infant Primarchs had just been scattered across the galaxy via a massive warp portal.
I turned to the giant golden man. "So, Goldie... Plan B?"
"Plan B," he confirmed grimly.
"Plan B it is!" I, Agnes, shouted, already turning on my heel and sprinting out of the laboratory.
"Just so you know, it isn't mine this time!" I yelled back over my shoulder as I ran.