I was the most important person in the world.
Without the machines forged in my foundries, the Imperatrix would be the emperor of a graveyard. Without the mana engines developed by my grandfather, the propulsion drives patented by my father, and the colossal mechs funded by my own hand, the monster girls would have driven humanity to the brink of extinction. I was Maddox of Vambrace, and if I were to stop my operations for a single day, the human race would falter.
I stood in the center of the Solarium, the uppermost chamber of the Bevor Vambrace Headquarters. The glass walls offered a panoramic view of Vambrace, a sprawling testament to Bevor Vambrace’s success. The sunlight rose in the distance, and I’d like to think of it as an affirmation from the sun to continue our mission.
“Calyx,” I said, my voice cutting through the silence.
A column of hard light materialized a few feet away, resolving into the avatar of a woman composed of shifting geometric shapes. My personal AI assistant.
“Good morning, Sir,” Calyx chimed, her tone perfectly modulated never to grate or annoy. “Your vitals are optimal. Market shares are up 0.9% since the opening bell. Zero security issues have been detected.”
“Good,” I said. I waved my hand. “My schedule for today.”
“You have a meeting scheduled in the Obsidian Conference Room with Director Quinta to discuss project Slash And Burn,” Calyx recited. “Here is a list of all the meetings for today:”
A hologram containing lines of text appeared.
- [8:30 - 9:00] Discuss Operation Slash And Burn with Director Quinta
- [9:00-10:00] Internal Security Review of Utlond
- [10:00-12:00] Synergy Source Sales Meeting with Sales Team
- [12:00-1:00] Lunch
- [1:00-3:00] Press Event
- [3:00-7:00] Meeting with Imperatrix Adara
“You are dismissed, Calyx,” I said. The virtual woman vanished.
I turned back to the window. Bevor Vambrace HQ was a needle threading the sky: one thousand stories of glass, steel, and gold. It was the tallest structure in the known world, a physical manifestation of my company’s might. From this height, the peasants were invisible.
My gaze drifted down to what was visible. A large perimeter surrounded the HQ, staffed by Bevor Vambrace’s new Tier 2 mechs. They were magnificent to look at. Sleek armor plating painted in midnight blue with golden accents. Each mech contained its own unique array of weapons. From scythes and maces to rifles and miniguns, it was like a kid’s dream come true. My father told me I had to earn my toys through hard work. And what better toys could there be than giant mechs? If only my father were around today to see it.
Each mech bore a bulky, angular backpack unit. To the unaware, it looked like extra storage or an extended battery. But the inside contained a variety of weapons. My favorite was the electroshock cannon that was folded up inside. It could transform into a long rifle and pop out over the right shoulder.
“Beautiful,” I whispered.
These machines were capable of tearing a Tier 2 Kaiju apart in close quarters, and in a pack, they could bring down a Tier 3. The real breakthrough, however, lay deep inside the chassis.
My scientists had finally done it. We weren’t just using those monster girls as batteries anymore; we were distilling their essence. We were weaponizing their Cores, giving each mech its own unique skills.
It was poetic justice. We were using the monsters to kill the monsters.
Alas, I spent too much time marveling at my own creations. It was best not to let Director Quinta wait too long.
I turned away from the window and walked toward the elevator. Its massive doors were made of gold. Entering, I stared at myself in the reflective surface of the back wall. Tan skin, smooth and unblemished. Gelled black hair set in a meticulous style. My face was well-shaven, showing my youth. I had made it so far, being only 30 years old.
“Thank you, Father,” I said softly to my reflection.
It wasn’t just vanity. It was an acknowledgement of investment. My family had built the foundation upon which I stood. My grandfather, the visionary who saw that energy and defense were two sides of the same coin, merged Bevor Energy and Vambrace Defense Technologies. He was the start of it all.
Then came my father. He looked at the slow, vulnerable ground and aerial vehicles getting picked off by Kaijus. Thus, he created the airships, allowing humanity to outrun Kaijus and save lives from those monsters.
And now, me. I didn’t just want to run. I funneled billions into R&D, birthing our colossal mechs. I cleansed the middle and inner regions. And I was pushing the Frontier back, expanding the Imperatrix’s empire.
I deserved this luxury. Every thread of gold in the elevator’s carpet, every crystal in the chandeliers in this building, every credit in my accounts was all payment for the survival of the human race.
“Take me to floor 100,” I said out loud. The elevator followed my command and began to descend. The screen above the door flashed the floor numbers, blurring as they dropped. 900. 800. 700.
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I thought of Director Narek. The man had been the Regional Director of the Frontier Region for five years. He was steady and performed well. And then he had vanished on a routine inspection trip to Utlond.
Disappeared. Gone.
I felt no grief. Why would I? There was no time to feel sorry for him when our mission was so important. He would understand that. That was why I was meeting with his successor, Director Quinta.
Of all the Outpost Directors scrabbling for dirt in the Frontier Region, she was the only one who didn’t smell of desperation. Everyone else was too busy brown nosing.
It was unfortunate that a Kaiju chimera attacked her outpost. All of our Tier 2 mechs were focused on defending the inner regions. New mech foundries had just completed development yesterday.
Still, she did show foresight. Her predecessor had wanted to keep all the monster girls at OU-U-1. Director Quinta fought against that, citing security concerns. She wanted them transferred to other facilities in the inner and mid regions. It was a shame none of the Executive Directors approved this. Had I been more absorbed in different projects, I would have approved this personally.
The elevator stopped, and I got off on the 100th floor. A golden carpet awaited me. I walked down towards the Obsidian Conference Room.
As the name implied, it was made entirely from chiseled obsidian. It was a drop in the bucket for me.
The polished black stone of the Obsidian Conference Room swallowed the light from the hallway as the automatic doors slid shut behind me. The air inside was colder than the rest of the building, recycled through filters that cost more than the average peasant made in a lifetime. In the center of the room sat a long table carved from a single slab of meteoritic iron, its surface rippling with neon gold lights.
Director Quinta stood at the far end. She didn't pace. Quinta stood, hands holding a tablet, posture rigid, eyes fixed on the empty chair at the head of the table.
"Mr. Vambrace," Quinta said, her voice steady. She offered a curt nod, devoid of the fawning theatrics usually displayed by mid-level management. "I trust your morning has been productive."
I walked to the head of the table, placing a hand on the high-backed leather chair. "Revenue is up. Security is green. I can't complain." I sat, leaning back and steepling my fingers. “You may sit.”
She nodded and sat down. “Shall we get started?”
I suppressed a smile. Most directors spent the first two minutes of any meeting groveling or trying to leverage their new title for budget increases. Quinta just wanted to work.
"Proceed," I said. “I’ve seen a brief proposal of Project Slash and Burn. Please explain more.”
“Yes,” she said succinctly. She tapped on her tablet, and the lights on the table rippled even more. A screen appeared, showing a map of the Frontier Region.
“I have reviewed the incident in Utlond that happened last week,” Quinta started. “Three Kaiju appeared in the middle of the city. A mech neutralized the Kaiju tiger girl. However, the Kaiju chimera girl and the Kaiju armadillo girl escaped into the adjacent forest in the Frontier. What's noticeable is that the Kaiju chimera appeared again in an attack on J-U006 near another forest. The Occidens Minor Forest." The Occidens Minor Forest was west of the Utlond Forest.
"Noticeable?" I asked.
"It seems that the Kaiju have taken residence in the forests," Director Quinta said. "Two mechs were sent to neutralize the Kaiju chimera. However, it vanished, and a Tier 2 Kaiju cat girl instead attacked the mechs. The forests' canopies make it difficult for our airships to scan the region for threats. Project Slash and Burn seeks to remove these forests to neutralize the Kaijus in the Frontier."
"And what resources will you need for the project?" I asked.
"The defoliator units are ready," Director Quinta continued, tapping the tablet to highlight the dense green zones of the Occidens Minor Forest and the Utlond Forest. "But the heavy lifting requires your new hardware. The Tier 2 mechs."
She tapped on her tablet some more. A picture appeared of the Kaiju cat girl and the Kaiju chimera girl. The cat girl’s whiskers each had noticeable spikes. The Kaiju chimera girl was a fusion of a squid girl and a snake girl.
“Unfortunately, it appears the Kaiju chimera girl has evolved from a Tier 1 Kaiju to a Tier 2 Kaiju,” she explained. “Tier 2 mechs are necessary.”
“Agreed,” I said, looking at the screen. Anger boiled inside of me. Both these Kaiju had destroyed my property and had eaten my employees. I balled my hands into fists, but kept my voice steady. “And what else do you need?”
"I prefer not to leave variables unchecked," Quinta said. She swiped on the tablet, bringing up a new dossier. The logo of the Monster Purifiers sat next to a golden crest I knew all too well: the Imperatrix’s personal seal. "I’ve leveraged some old contacts within the Purifier command structure. We have authorization for more Unbound support."
I sat back, steepling my fingers. The Unbound. The Imperatrix’s pet protect. I understood engineering, electronics, and even mana strengthening. But the Unbound... they were an affront to all of that. Humans who could fly without engines, who could fire energy blasts from their hands without a rifle, and who could wield weapons that defied the law of physics.
Adara claimed she had made a mana breakthrough, allowing humanity to create its own superheroes. I secretly suspected that this was not the case. Because there was no way in hell her scientists were better than mine.
On the positive side, they could be great bait for the Kaijus. A few of them would lose their lives while my mechs performed the Kaiju executions.
“Those are the resources I need,” Director Quinta said. “Furthermore, I have a revised plan for obtaining monster girl specimens.”
I perked up.
“A complex formation will be employed,” she stated. She tapped on her screen. Icons appeared on the screen, overlaid on top of the geographical map.
She pointed to the icons closest to the forest—giant diamonds. “These will be the Tier 2 mechs. They will take the front. Assisting them will be the Unbound.” She highlighted smaller circles behind the diamonds, each one with a cross inside. “Our defoliator units will be behind them, along with the juggernauts for transporting captured specimens.” She highlighted a set of icons behind the mechs and Unbound. The defoliators were represented with a flame on two wheels, while the juggernauts were rectangular boxes on three wheels.
“Does this look sufficient?” she asked me.
"Good. I approve." I checked the time on the holographic display embedded in the table. The next meeting would be soon. "Send the formal proposal."
"Sending on the intranet now, sir," Quinta said, standing up. She smoothed the front of her uniform. "It just requires your digital signature."
I nodded. “You are dismissed.”
“Thank you, and have a good day,” she said, exiting the room.
My mind wandered back to the Kaiju chimera girl. Not only had she destroyed my mechs, but she had also destroyed my outpost. This could not stand. My Tier 2 mechs will obliterate her.
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