"Wait, what?" Haruto stammered, pulling back as Daisy approached with a cold, professional glint in her eye. "Am I suddenly your lab rat? Is that what this is?"
Daisy didn't blink. "I'm interested in your power, Haruto. It's an anomaly, and if I'm going to keep you alive, I need to understand exactly what I'm working with. Now, lie down."
"My legs—"
"I'll handle them," she snapped, her tone leaving no room for argument. She maneuvered him onto the diagnostic slab and secured him. "Shirt off."
Haruto went rigid, his face heating up. "Why?! Daisy, come on—"
She silenced him with a glare that could cut through steel. Haruto sighed, defeated, and complied. As soon as he was settled, Daisy attached a series of high-frequency scanners to his chest and temples. Haruto gasped, a strange, cold sensation crawling under his skin, as if liquid electricity were mapping his nervous system.
Suddenly, the four massive monitors in the room flared to life. They weren't showing standard data; they were displaying his private HUD—the one usually hidden behind his crimson eyes—in crystal-clear detail.
Daisy stepped back, her eyes wide as she parsed the data. "Oh, wow... Haruto, this is unprecedented. You have two distinct leveling systems running in parallel. Creation: Level 6 and Nothingness: Level 2." She looked at him with newfound intensity. "You weren't lying. You truly are the reincarnation of two separate gods."
She gestured to the screen, where a profile titled [STAR-CHILD] pulsated in white. "And this title... Star-Child. Is this why you changed during that transformation? Your hair turned pure white, and while your left eye remained crimson, the other shifted to a different hue?"
Haruto swallowed hard, his voice dropping. "When I made that wish on the star, I thought I was just the reincarnation of the God of Creation. But the Nothingness... it just claimed me afterward. It latched onto the creation energy inside me. There were side effects—I couldn't speak for days, and my emotions... they were like a glitching program. Everything's leveled out now, but the physical changes stayed."
He pointed to his hair and his mismatched eyes. "I think it's a permanent mark. The God of Creation and the God of Nothingness didn't just merge their powers; they forged this body as a bridge for both."
Daisy leaned in, looking at the intricate, microscopic readouts on the screen. The level of detail was staggering—the diagnostic was highlighting how the two powers were weaving together at a cellular level.
"Haruto," she whispered, a rare look of shock crossing her face. "The diagnostics... these aren't just natural side effects. These structures—the way your cells are being rewritten—they were hard-coded into your system. These two gods didn't just reincarnate you; they engineered you for a specific purpose."
"What do you mean?" Haruto asked, his voice strained. "Engineered for a purpose?"
Daisy's fingers danced across the holographic interface, her brow furrowed. "It makes no sense. Creation and Nothingness are polar opposites; they should have canceled each other out the moment they manifested. But the way they're running in parallel... it's too advanced. It's like watching two different operating systems running on one core without a single crash."
Haruto watched the screens, realization dawning. "So you're saying they should have destroyed me, but something is holding them together?" He paused, looking around the incredible lab. "Daisy, where did you even get this technology? This place is... it's on another level."
Daisy smirked, though she didn't look up from the data. "Don't ask me to praise myself, Haruto."
Retro, hovering near the ceiling, chimed in, "Master Daisy designed every single piece of infrastructure in this entire city. She is the architect of the sector's foundation."
Haruto's eyes went wide. "Wait... you designed this city?"
Daisy leaned back, crossing her arms. "I have a unique skill. It's similar to the God of Creation's influence, but it's not organic. I can manifest anything I can imagine, provided I have the raw resources, currency, and blueprints. I didn't 'build' the city from scratch, but I drafted every circuit and support beam."
"How long did that take you?"
"Ninety-eight years," Daisy replied nonchalantly. "I had to develop new technology for every single layer to make it habitable."
Haruto sat up, his mouth agape. "Ninety-eight years? You've been here for almost a century?"
"I'm one hundred and forty years old," Daisy said, her voice dry. "I reincarnated long before you did."
Haruto couldn't help himself. He let out a nervous laugh. "So, wait... that makes you like a grandmother—"
Before he could finish, Daisy's hand moved like lightning. She pressed a single, sharp pressure point on his shoulder. A jolt of electric pain shot through him, and his vision instantly began to darken.
"I think I forgot to mention," Daisy whispered, leaning close as Haruto's body went limp, "that back on Earth, I was a military engineer. I built weapons for the state, and I have formal combat training in every martial art. I know exactly how the human body works—and exactly how to shut it down."
She stood over him as he slumped back into the seat, his speech slurred and his movements failing. "That was for the 'grandmother' comment."
Haruto, fighting the heavy fog settling over his brain, managed a weak, frantic, "Sorry... Daisy... mercy..."
For the next three days, the sterile silence of the lab was broken only by the rhythmic hum of cooling fans and the frantic clicking of Daisy's holographic keyboard. Haruto spent the time drifting in and out of a forced, medicated sleep, his body undergoing a rigorous cellular recalibration. Daisy, meanwhile, barely moved. Aside from fifteen-minute breaks where Retro would deliver nutrient paste, she remained glued to the screens, mapping the erratic currents of his divine energy.
On the morning of the fourth day, Daisy finally stood up, stretching her arms above her head with a weary groan. She walked over to the diagnostic bed, her expression unreadable.
Haruto, finally clear-headed and fully awake, pushed himself up. "Three days are up," he said, his voice raspy. "So? What did you find? Am I going to explode, or is there a way to actually handle this?"
Daisy leaned against the console, crossing her arms. "Your body is a freak of nature, Haruto. Your mana-holding capacity is already at a 'God' level. That's the only reason you're alive—you're a vessel built to withstand the collision of two opposing forces. I've spent the last seventy-two hours analyzing those engagement rings. They aren't just jewelry; they're energy bridges."
"Bridges?" Haruto asked, looking at his hand.
"They're tied directly to your fiancées' life force."
Daisy explained, her tone clinical. "You've been accidentally tapping into their potential to fuel your level jumps. It's a parasitic relationship, whether you intended it or not. If you keep doing it, you'll eventually drain them. So, I built something to fix it."
She tapped her bracelet, and a complex array of nanites swirled in the air, knitting together into five intricate, shimmering metal bands that hovered before him.
"These are dampeners," she continued. "They act as a secondary layer of control. From now on, you will treat your 'Creation' and 'Nothingness' powers as a last resort. If you lose control again, you risk losing your own identity—you'll be nothing but a vessel for those gods. These interfaces will allow you to manually regulate your output. More importantly, they'll allow you to tap into your fiancées' power strategically—when you need it, not when you're having a breakdown."
Haruto stared at the glowing bands, his mind reeling. "You really built a system to control god-level energy in three days?"
Daisy's eyes flashed with a hint of her old arrogance. "I've had a hundred years to master technology, Haruto. Don't ever question my output."
She gestured for him to extend his hand. As he did, the bands snapped onto his wrists and fingers, integrating seamlessly with his nervous system. Haruto felt a sudden, sharp coldness, followed by a profound sense of stillness. The chaotic, vibrating ocean of power beneath his skin suddenly settled into a calm, orderly stream.
"I'm not joking around," Daisy warned, her voice dropping to a dangerous whisper.
"You now have a literal kill-switch for your own divinity. Use it wisely."
Haruto looked down at his hands, feeling the hum of the new dampeners. "I can actually control it now? I can use their power, the powers of the girls?"
"Yes," Daisy replied, her voice steady. "But only if you keep your discipline. Don't test me on that."
Haruto hesitated, looking at her. "Daisy... why are you doing all of this for me? You've spent days, weeks even, just to make sure I am not a therat. Why go to such lengths for a stranger?"
Daisy went quiet for a moment, her gaze drifting toward the wall of weapons. "You saved my life. In the time I've been in this world, only two people have ever done that for me. You're the second."
Haruto's curiosity spiked. "Who was the first?"
Daisy turned away, her expression closing off. "That's none of your business. Your legs are healing, but you're still on wheelchair duty for a few more days. Let's go."
She wheeled him back through the hidden passage into the kitchen. She tapped the oven code again, and the wall sealed shut. The apartment felt different now—less like a cage and more like a shelter. As the hours ticked by and night began to fall over the city, the atmosphere lightened. They spent the rest of the day in a strange, uneasy quiet, watching the city lights flicker to life far below them.
"I'm bored," Haruto eventually admitted, shifting in his chair.
Daisy glanced at the wall clock. "Get used to it. Tomorrow is a school day."
Haruto blinked. "Wait, you go to school? You're a Commander, a high-level Reincarnator, you're Level 89, and you've basically built the infrastructure of this entire city. Why would you ever need to go to school?"
Daisy shrugged, pulling a folder out from under the bed. "Schooling is the perfect cover. My apprentice—a sixteen-year-old girl—handles the day-to-day operations of the Academy while I'm out dealing with layer anomalies. Plus, I'm a prodigy there, so I collect scholarship funds that I funnel directly back into my research and mineral procurement. It's the easiest way to fund my tech without drawing attention from the higher-ups. Also if I do something wrong in the upper layers all the blame goes to the academy"
"That's actually... genius," Haruto muttered, impressed.
Daisy didn't respond. She unfolded a compact bed frame from beneath hers and pointed to it. "Sleep. Lights out."
She clicked a switch, and the room plunged into darkness. Haruto lay there, staring into the black, his mind racing. He could finally wiggle his toes and shift his legs—the healing was working faster than he expected. He felt a weird, complicated warmth toward Daisy. One moment she was cold, lethal, and clinical, and the next, she was looking out for his survival like a mentor.
She gave me the tech to control my own god-powers, he thought, pulling the thin blanket up. But who is she really?
He listened to the sound of her breathing in the dark, wondering if this was the start of a partnership, or if the "cold" Commander would eventually decide he was no longer worth the trouble.