David Putra 2000cc
"I have thought of two names, Battle Maid... Or Battle Maiden, which one suits me more?" she asks, her vibrant blue eyes looking at her hand, as if she were examining it for the first time, getting use to in this new form.
"Clanker?" Maruti replies, a mischievous grin on her face.
BAM!...
Without warning, she directly gives a head chop on Maruti's head with her expressionless face, the movement so fast it was almost a blur.
"Are you robophobic?" she says, her voice a flat, monotone question, as if she were genuinely asking for Maruti's opinion on the matter.
Maruti just rubs her head, a pained expression on her face, but without replying to her.
"That won't do, they are more like titles than a name. What about Eve?" Esdeath gives the idea.
"I hate the dwarfs who created me, but that doesn't mean I love humans and human names," she replies.
"Hmm... Then what's your model number?" Esdeath asks, rubbing her chin, thinking of a different approach.
"3S?" she replies, her voice a little hesitant.
"Sounds good enough. This will be a good name," Esdeath says, a satisfied smile on her face.
"3S huh? Acceptable. I can feel my sentient form strengthening," she says, officially taking over a new name for this materialistic body, abandoning the name given to her by dwarfs.
Meanwhile, Maruti gave another look at M.A.L.I.C.E.'s maid body and says, "While we were on our way here, Esdeath told me that the reason you are going to hell is to obtain a soul and be completely alive. But looking at you now, aren't you quite human?"
"Definitely not," she says, and the next moment, with a KACHA!... sound, her hand splits into multiple parts, the metal plates retracting with a smooth, mechanical motion.
A few drops of blood fall to the ground, but the quantity was quite low for someone who just got its hand split apart. Inside, there were no bones, just many mechanical parts, wires, and circuits. Even a small gun, nestled among the machinery.
"See? I'm quite close to AGI, but when it comes to body, without veins, there isn't a mana circuit inside my body. Without a heart, I can't store mana. Thus, I can't refine any essence stone either," 3S explains, her voice a calm, logical explanation of her limitations.
She turns around, going behind those dozens of computers, her movements silent and graceful. She comes back with a few glowing stones in her hand, their soft blue light illuminating her pale skin.
They were easily recognizable, mana crystals or mana stones. They were useful for people with low mana capacity, who could use them to gain mana, a quick boost of power.
"The only thing useful in this blood, I can use mana crystals to run mana through my blood and use medium level of magic," she says. The mana crystals in her hand start to vanish like getting absorbed by something invisible, their light fading as they were consumed.
While from another hand, 3S lights a fire in her hand, the flames dancing on her palm, a beautiful sight.
But the moment the mana crystals fully vanish from her hand, so does the fire from another hand, the flames extinguishing as if they had never been there.
"And this is the disadvantage. Once mana crystals are gone, I can't use magic. Well, it's not like I'm fully dependent on them," 3S says, her voice a little wistful, a hint of frustration in her otherwise monotone voice.
"But this is as far as I can go. What I still lack is a soul, and Esdeath will help me get it," she adds, her expressionless face slightly changing for a split second, a flicker of something in her eyes, a longing for something she could not have.
"Did you just sigh?" Maruti asks, narrowing her eyes.
"Certainly Not," 3S replies, her voice once again a flat, emotionless drone.
"Umm... so can I ask, how exactly are we going to get you a soul?" Maruti questions, her curiosity getting the better of her.
"I told you about the grant wish essence stone, right?" Esdeath interrupts, her voice cutting through the silence, pulling Maruti's attention back to her.
"Yes?" Maruti answers.
"There are two basic ways to refine it. One is to somehow know the recipe and collect ingredients and try refining it. Second is to increase your soul level to reach either cosmic horror level or celestial soul level," she says, her voice a low, serious murmur.
"But there's one more hidden way to refine the grant wish essence stone, and that is to use the body of the person who has refined and used a grant wish essence stone," Esdeath explains with a faint smile on her face.
"So we are going to kill Kirmada and use his body to refine the grant wish essence stone?" Maruti adds.
"Precisely," 3S nods in agreement, her expressionless face a mask of cold logic. "In return, I'll never try any kind of attack on you all, provide lifetime tech facilities, help in any kind of research or decision making, be an ally and many more," she says, her voice a monotone list of promises, like a contract.
"Ohh, okay," Maruti nods to herself, rubbing her chin as if she understood everything.
But inside her mind, her thoughts couldn't be more opposite.
"As if I would believe that. There's no way in hell a fable can be this generous. Just what is she cooking?" Maruti thinks to herself, a knot of unease tightening in her stomach. She decides to just wait and see, to play along for now.
"Well then, it's time we'll get going now," Esdeath says, stretching her limbs slightly.
This time, Maruti didn't even argue because she knew there wouldn't be any kind of hospitality here even if she stayed. She might not even receive basic food because now it's a place for machines.
"Wait... I actually had a gift for you," 3S says, turning around and walking towards the left side of the room, her movements fluid and graceful, It was hard to figure out that she is a machine not a human.
There was one more door there, a simple, metal door. Esdeath and Maruti follow her from behind, their footsteps echoing in the silence. 3S opens the door and enters the room, so does Esdeath and Maruti.
All three of them arrive in an open-spaced room. There were no windows because the front wall was made of glass, a giant pane that showed the outside world. Sunlight kept the whole room alive, its warm light a stark contrast to the cold, metallic interior.
In the middle of the room, something was covered by a white cloth on it, its shape a mystery.
3S casually walks towards it, her steps light and confident. "According to my data, people in the dwarf and Awakened kingdoms are quite fond of this thing. There were two actually, but I could only snatch one," she says, her voice a flat statement of fact.
"Since it has little to no use for me, so I thought why not just give it as a gift to show my sincerity," she says, taking off the white cloth in one go, a dramatic flourish that revealed the hidden treasure.
The moment she takes the cloth off, the sunlight directly pours on it, making it shine. It was a bike, a superbike to be precise. Red and black color, the sunlight making it shine even more, its dashing exhaust and royal yet sci-fi design a sight to behold.
"A super bike model: David Putra 2000cc," 3S says, her voice like an casual introduction.
"Hmm... quite good looking," Esdeath nods, but there weren't much changes in her expression, her approval a small, almost imperceptible gesture.
But unlike her, Maruti's eyes have already turned into glowing supernovas, her face a mask of pure, unadulterated joy.
Her jaw hung up, in one blink she was standing besides Esdeath, and in another blink, she was clinging to that bike, her arms wrapped around it as if it were a long-lost lover.
"Give it to me... Give this to me, I love this bike," Maruti says, her tongue already licking the handle.
"Okay... okay, take it, just stop licking, Ewww..." Esdeath agrees, but there was still a look of disappointment on her face for Maruti.
"Yay! I owe you one. We'll go to the demon realm with this thing, yay!" she replies in an energetic tone, rubbing the handle, her hands moving over the smooth, metal surface with a lover's touch.
"Huh? Why isn't it starting? Where's the key?" she asks, looking at 3S, her confusion a stark contrast to her earlier excitement.
"It won't start like that," she says, throwing a small book at her. "Here, the instruction manual. It has information of all the features and how to use them," her voice a flat, practical explanation.
"Good thing. We can't go to the realm with a bike, it would be way too suspicious. Let it stay here, we'll come back to get it. By then, learn everything from the manual," Esdeath exclaims.
"Okay," Maruti sighs, getting off the super bike, her shoulders slumped in disappointment.