Endzone: Simulated Apocalypse

"Wow… to think you weren't lying when you said you'd find me a body…" Luna murmured, inspecting her new physical form in wonder.

"I never lie. Since when have I lied?"

"Uh, about every other day?" Kirika chimed in, scratching her hair, but Cyanide boldly chose to use [Selective Hearing] and ignore her comment (that wasn't an actual skill. Just an intrinsic trait of Cyanide).

"Hehe~ either way, this is quite nice. I feel comfortable in this body—far more so than I initially expected. I finally have a physical form… I can finally serve you in bed, Cyanide-"

"No."

"… Well, it was a valiant effort," Luna whispered to herself, as if in encouragement. Then, clearing her throat, she continued. "Ahem, anyway, what I meant to say was… with this, I'll actually be useful to you from now on, Cyanide. I mean, just look at this!"

Saying that, she unloaded her entire arsenal of weapons—a flamethrower, a minigun, a laser gun, a quadra-homing-missile-launcher, and a bazooka right above her head—each held by metal arms that shot out of her back when she willed, and could be retracted straight into her body with zero problem at all.

This was the power of the organic matter that had once made up the body of that mysterious purple entity. Somehow, it could be altered in every way possible, including using lines of code despite it not being a console. Luna's body had the strength of steel, but also had the touch of human skin and organs. She may have a whole artillery's worth of weapons that can extend out of her body at any time she wanted through metal appendages, but she was also capable of doing basic human functions such as eating, drinking, and… reproducing.

In short, what Cyanide—or rather, that round spherical robot—did was first completely erase everything from the organic matter while only preserving the weapons. That turned it into a heap of purple goo with no shape or form, but after Cyanide recited Luna's full code line by line to the drone, she was able to one way or another program it onto the goo. After that, it was just a matter of time before the morphing process was complete.

Of course, this was only her physical form, and Luna's true home was still in the virtual, computer world. That meant she could still communicate with Cyanide via the game system, but at the same time… also the fact that she was still being restricted by the 'admins' of the game, and thus has limited knowledge of all things Endzone-related until they actually occurred to Cyanide.

However, that still didn't change the fact that Luna would be an extremely strong addition to the team. She wasn't listed on the Companions tab and neither could she upgrade stats and whatnot, but according to the flying ball, her stats would be the exact equivalent of Cyanide's with the exception of defense, in which case Luna's was a lot higher. This is due to the fact that as a Survivor's Assistant, Luna was bound to the Survivor she was assigned to—in this case, Cyanide.

More so than the weapons, however, what was truly useful was the fact that she had…

"And even this…" Luna murmured as she spread her large black, feathered pinions from her back, carrying the grace of an angel but the strength of a devil.

… Yes. She had wings. Literal wings, just like the ones Cyanide had in that mecha form of his before the time expired and he was forced out of it.

"You're so beautiful, Luna…" Kirika groaned in envy. "I wish I had wings too…"

"Hm… I wish I heard the first line from a certain someone else, but I'll accept the compliment," Luna replied with a gentle smile. "Now then… shall we head back? I'd like to try out my new body in combat, but perhaps some rest is due for the two of you."

"Yeah," Cyanide replied, standing up. "Let's- ngh…"

Suddenly, he fell forward, struck by an unexpected pang of weakness, and Luna hurriedly caught him.

"Cyanide, what's wrong?!" She asked in worry, embracing him tightly.

"It's nothing…" Cyanide muttered in reply, pressing his hand against his head as if in pain. "… Just a little weak. That's all."

"Weak? That's the first time I've seen you like this…" Luna murmured in concern. "What's going on…"

"Hm… must be a side effect of the Ascension process," the spherical robot said in a synthetic woman's voice, blinking its single digital eye a few times.

"Ascension process?" Luna arched an eyebrow. "What's that?"

"You mean… when he went all god-mode?" Kirika asked, and the drone bobbed up and down as if nodding.

"Yep. What actually happened there was me attaching to his body and using him as a base to use my power. That process is called 'Ascension'. Of course, using a mortal's body to support our levels of strength will damage the body. This guy here is strong enough to not have any lasting injuries, but not all are as impressive as he is. Some have even… never mind."

She trailed off, hesitating momentarily before continuing. "In any case, things were not always like this. The god of this world—or the Gamemaster, as you call it—destroyed our physical forms. What you see now is only my core—even it refrained from destroying our cores and only sealed us away, since our presences are necessary for the world to function. Without us, this world will collapse. Without our physical forms, however, the only way we can use our divine power is through the process of Ascension, and using a human's body as the output."

As Luna and Kirika fell into thought, Cyanide grew irritated.

"You keep mentioning 'our' and 'we'… just what are you, anyway, to be so vital to the world's very functioning?"

The drone fell silent for a moment, then averted her gaze and looked away.

"We… my brothers and sisters… together, we are the Eight Sentinels of Orion."