Transcendence Volume 2: Awakening

Chapter 32: Why?

[August 2, 2023, Wednesday]

"Sir may I ask a question," Kazuya asked looking at Kenji as he grabbed an auto-injector from his desk and casually placed it on the back of his neck, for a brief moment Kazuya notice him let out a sigh of relief as if he was under in pain for a while and then he struggled to stand up for a moment and then quietly groaned as he reached for something under his table to reveal a cane.

"Regarding the two Subjects," He continued curiously eying the used auto-injector the fact his visibly healthy albeit drunk senior of his was now having a hard time to walk, this earned a chuckle from Kenji from him as he was changing clothes, interestingly he noticed several scars across his back from various burns and surgeries.

But what caught his attention however were the small metal protrusions from his spine.

"And here I was thinking you're about to ask about the scars," Kenji joked as he put on his business coat and grabbed a cane. "Or the auto-injectors or cybernetics on my spine. But sure ask away."

"So why were they chosen to acquire the two prototypes?" He asked tapping on his tablet revealing the profiles of Fuyumori Haruka and Harumura Natsuki while slightly eying a discarded auto-injector.

Ever since they have been discovered by the Seeker Division they have been kept under severe observation, such as hacking their phones something that even he is wondering how were they able to access that fast, ranging as far as to even hire their best agents to stalk them.

The thought alone worried him as he was this his sister's friend after all.

"No reason at all," Kenji shrugged as they walked out of his office. "The two were originally part of a prototype Virtual Reality Drive that was scrapped and reused into new models, and since they were more or less the first generation of Anchors that meant that they were still limited.

The fact those two were not only the ones who managed to get their hands on it not to mention surpass the baseline Neuro-Sync Level and activate the Frames that were built into it was quite a surprise, to be honest."

"As for the frames, well they thought it was a stabilizer to help smooth out the rendering, and so all models onward had one but have a limiter that prevents them from immediately activating once they went past the baseline," Kenji finished as they entered a massive blank room containing nothing but holographic screens. He swiped and a screen flew towards them containing the following words.

[Initiate Phase 2]

[Y?/N?]

"Once I press this button, all frames would be activated the same way Noir Zero and Wiess Infinity would have and that includes the one your sister uses," Kenji said in a low voice. "But when that happens, the final prerequisite has been achieved."

"Why are you telling me all of this?" Kazuya asked, terrified at what Phase 2 would be.

"I'll need someone to take once Phase 1 is over," Kenji said looking at him with a serious look, for a brief moment, Kazuya saw not the laid back and functional drunk of a senior but instead a broken man.

"And when that time comes you must continue what I will leave behind." Kenji simply said as he walked away and straightened his posture as if nothing had happened earlier.

[Kromozo 01, 0100 A.R., Terrus]

[Vivine Coast, Heavensgard]

Galen woke up with a headache as he found himself slumped against a massive statue of Saint Vivianne Tiderunner, in contrast to most of the Saint Statues across the world as they wore an armoured fitted bodysuit Saint Vivianne in this case wore a flowing dress with her hood on obscuring her hair while still showing a small and relaxed smile while her bow was placed next to her as if she was resting atop the rock and dipped her toes on the water.