Artificial 7: Genesis Requiem

Chapter 55: The New Era

(Artwork is done by my friend's AI. It's my friend's character, Yuki, who has some sort of connection to the twins, but what? Credit goes to him for making the character.)

Narration: 2 weeks before the war kicks off,
Seth gets a phone call from his Nana,
his grandmother on his mom's side of the family,
and she was asking all sorts of questions,
and since Nana is someone Seth loves and has attachment for,
he offered to tell her everything in person,
but he has to be the one to go to her,
and if she says yes,
then she has to live with him and his new family.

A few hours later,
Seth shows up at Greycourt South Carloina and was greeted by a 75 year old grandma who was on the big side and not skinny by any means.
Seth sits down on her couch and explains everything from the beginning to the end,
and Nana knows of Seth's situation with his grandmother on his dad's side of the family.
She knows that Seth had to lie to her in order to do anything,
and in Nana's younger years,
back when she could watch over him, she took care of him and helped raise him,
nurture him,
and all around was just another safe haven for him like his aunt and uncle's house.

In short,
Nana was more of a real mom to him than his own parents and other grandmother.
Nana knows Seth never lies to her,
and while she is skeptical of this whole thing,
all became clear when Seth cast a rune and showed her his demonic dragon scales on his arm.
Fast forward several hours,
Seth packs everything she owns and needs in a pocket dimension,
then merges her into his shadow,
and he becomes a shadow himself, riding a flight back to London in no time. When Seth returns,
he introduces her to Shimura,
Selena,
and Himiko.

Seth informs them that he will be watching over her permanently,
so Shimura arranges for her to have her own room for the time being.
Seth helps her unpack her belongings, oxygen tank,
and walker in particular so she can move around and breathe.
The following minutes were her asking questions about Selena,
like if she's his girlfriend or ex-wife due to the whole coparenting thing going on, and Seth took the time to tell her all about Selena.
In the meantime,
a boy wearing a brown ML trench coat and a group of girls follow him inside Shimura's building where they find him, tell him they want to fight for the Artificial race and Shimura just nods and says ok.

Shimura pages Seth via text,
and Shimura conducts an interview with this man and his girlfriends,
taking note of powers, abilities,
Demon type/race,
nationality,
and so on.
Seth comes down,
and Shimura explains the situation.
"I see. So you all want to fight on my side, then? Shimura, can you train them and make sure they fit our standards?" Shimura grunts. "Sure."

Seth goes back only for the boy in a brown ML trench coat to call out to him. "Hey, do you remember me?"
He asked.
"Not really. Jog my memory, please? I have a lousy memory."
The boy stands up and introduces himself.
"My name is Dave, we used to compete in the underground Mercenary Lord tournaments for money and fame."
Seth tries to remember but comes up short.
"Nope, don't remember."
Dave tries jogging Seth's memories again.
"We never got to fight for like 3 whole tournaments because you were always eliminated before we could fight."

Seth puts a finger to his chin,
thinks harder about it,
then gives up.
"Nope, don't remember. I punch too many faces in, almost daily."
Dave gives up and introduces his girlfriends,
the first one being a water demon with shark teeth and tail.

The rest were kinda out there in what they wore.
Selena comes into the room,
and Shimura tasks Selena with training the new guys up to snuff before leaving to do more important things.
Selena sizes up Dave and girls,
then motions for them to follow.

Back in the present. Male Terra's POV:

The war begins with guns being fired from the human side,
most if not all,
the guns were Exorcist grade,
no doubt supplied by my father.
Seth counters by forming an earth barricade,
a story he once told me before the whole Brandon Valla incident,
where him and Chase fucked up prisoners in the Earth Tribe prison. Yeah,
Seth mentioned he absorbed a few souls there,
hence his earth bending now.