Secilia was alone. Anthony and Sasha had gone to find a training room they could fight in. She’d leave the meatheads to their meatheady things. In the meantime, she was doing her utmost to hack into the Japanese branch of Custodes Daemonium--which was proving quite the fun challenge.
She had spent the last two days gathering as much information about Custodes Daemonium’s server as possible. Fortunately, while Japan’s network had been cut off from the rest of the world, it still worked within the nation itself. She had been sending probes at their system to glean whatever information she could. What system did they use? What devices were connected to the network? What software were they running? Network layout? Every system had a weak point, and if she could find this one, she could gain access.
Secilia was a genius. This wasn’t just a self-proclaimed title but one bestowed upon her by the people at her former university and fellow peers in the various fields she was part of. Hacking was just one of those fields.
The way she gathered information was through a combination of self-made drones, hacking security cameras (arguably the easiest thing to hack), reading personal profiles on well-known members of whatever organization she was hacking, and finding any bugs or flaws in the security networks that she could exploit. Oftentimes, the best way to gain access through a system was through “legitimate” means. No one suspected someone of being a hacker if they used the front door to get in.
She loved hacking. Some people might balk at the amount of time and effort it took to gain access to a system, but she loved pouring over data, disseminating information, and using that information to further her own ends. Secilia used to spend hours hacking into a variety of secure databases just to leave pranks for people to find. It had reached a point that some companies had even paid her to hack their systems so they could create tighter security.
At the moment, Secilia was… playing a game, or that’s what it would have looked like to anyone else. There was a small pixelated character with blonde hair and blue eyes on the screen. He was shirtless and had 16 bit six-pack abs. The game was like those old side-scrollers from way back when.
Enemies appeared based on samurai, ninja, and priests. These enemies were the security Ai, firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and antivirus programs, transformed from code into visual representations that suited their purpose. The samurai were the security Ai. The ninja were intrusion detection. Priests were firewalls. There were also the elite antivirus programs, which took the form of boss monsters like a Hendricks and Chloe that had been cartoonified to look like goofy characters with bug eyes and big lips.
She did not kill these enemies. If these programs were destroyed, it could alert her enemies that someone was attempting to hack their network. This was a stealth mission. She was a solid snake hiding in a cardboard box, not a soldier wielding a massive buster sword.
“Hmmmm…” Secilia mumbled as she stared at a red pipe. “This login portal is blocked without proper credentials. I’ll need to find a user with proper access… or I could hack it, but that runs the risk of getting myself caught. What about this door?”
She moved her Anthony avatar some more and found a door with a label. It read “Head of Administration and Finances.” Would they have the security access she wanted? Probably not. Custodes Daemonium had many branches, and each one was almost like an entirely separate entity. If she wanted to gain access to knowledge on the Bijuu and Gitsune Hagaromo, then she would likely need someone who was more deeply involved in the magical catastrophe side of things.
Secilia wasn’t just playing her hacker programming game either. She was simultaneously browsing through public information on Custodes Daemonium, not so public information she found on them through confidential investigative reports she’d had Tamamo get for her, and scrolling through security camera feed to locate anyone of interest. That last process was mostly automated. She had hacked into Japan’s security cameras, which only had a basic defense program and firewall protecting them. These security cameras had already had facial recognition programs, so she used those to locate people of interest.
Thus far, she had created a profile of 352 people. Most of them were low on the totem pole. They were administrative workers, logistics department workers, and people who ran the organization’s public face. That meant they didn’t have a very high level of security clearance, but sometimes, it was the low value workers who were the chinks in a company’s armor.
“Oh? This looks promising,” Secilia licked her lips as she pulled up the profile of a man whose profile said he was 24, but he looked like he was 50. He had the dead face and tired eyes of a man who had been run ragged by the most exploitative black company in existence. “Masaki Takahashi, age 24, works in supply management…”
His work records were completely average. What stood out to Secilia was that, within the last few weeks, he had received several requests for massive amounts of Nullstones, Spirit Silver, Adamantite Lattice, Aether Quartz, and Dragonbone Ceramic. None of these were ordinary. All of them were incredibly potent magical materials that were so rare it was unheard of for any to acquire in the quantities being requested. The Nullstone was of particular interest because it was world famous for its ability to contain magical catastrophes and the quantities that were requested was on a level of absurd that her mind balked just thinking about how much it would cost.
“All right…”
Secilia cracked her knuckles, stretched her back, and then grabbed the controller she had been using to play her game. Thus far, she had been playing with just one hand, but this was going to require she use both hands.
“Let’s see what I can dig up.”
***
Anthony’s punch came in fast and hard. The air seemed to explode with the force of his fist, which was traveling toward Sasha’s face at a speed that broke the sound barrier. A ripple that caused the training mats to waver rushed after his fist.
Sasha stood ready, a massive shield made with force negating materials and powerful seals inscribed on the surface standing before her. She braced for impact, putting her entire body weight into it--and despite this, she was still sent sprawling when the fist slammed into her. She felt the kinetic force pulse through the shield before her arms were forced back and the shield smashed into her.
She found herself ass first on the floor.
“Holy shit,” Sasha exclaimed, staring wide-eyed at Anthony. “You were not this powerful during our match.”
“This is the power you gave me,” Anthony said.
Her eyes bulged. “I gave you that power?”
He nodded. “You know how Succubus work, right? When a succubus bonds with a man, she gains the power that most closely represents that man. It’s the same for incubus… but on a grander scale. We acquire even more power through our bonds than a succubus does. For Brianna it was a better form of Physical Reinforcement, for Secilia it the ability to use Foresight, for Marianne it was spatial magic, for Trinity it was nature magic, and in your case, it’s just an incredibly strong body.”
“Hmmmm…”
Sashe made to stand, but she paused when Anthony held out a hand. She took it and let him help her up. Anthony didn’t fail to notice the way her eyes roamed his forearm.
“You don’t look much different…” she concluded.
“I might not look much different, but I can assure you that my body is very different on the inside.”
“How so?”
“My muscles are far denser. It’s like… like… like taking a solid steel wrecking ball and placing 10 trillion gigapascals of pressure on it.”
Sasha crossed her arms and made a face that made it clear to Anthony that math was not her strong suit.
“I’m not really sure I get it completely, but… I suppose we can just say your muscles are really dense.”
“That works just fine,” he said. “Your muscles should also have become that dense, you know? You should be just as physically strong as I am.”
Sasha perked up. “Really?”
“Yeah. I don’t just gain the ability that most accurately represents my bondmate. My bondmate’s potential is also fully unlocked.”
“Doesn’t that mean I’ve always had this potential?” asked Sasha.
“It does, though reaching that potential on your own would have taken a lot more time.”
“I see.” Sasha raised her hands to watch her palms as she clenched and unclenched them. Then she looked back at Anthony with a fire in her eyes. “I’d like to test this.”
He nodded in agreement.
They once more began sparring, and they found out that Sasha had indeed grown much stronger. The only reason she hadn’t been able to block his attack was because she had been unprepared for how strong Anthony had become. After running a series of tests, they learned that both he and Sasha could generate enough force to probably destroy this entire building with nothing but their fists--which was saying something as Tamamo’s estate was made with magically reinforced spirit wood from one of Japan’s oldest forests. Even a nuclear bomb would not be able to destroy this estate.
As they sparred, someone came in to watch them. It was Tamamo. Anthony hadn’t seen much of her because she’d been so busy dealing with the situation in her mother’s stead. It must have been tough for such a young girl to be forced into a leadership position during a time of crisis. He wanted to help, but it wasn’t really his place to step, so he couldn’t do anything unless she asked for it.
The young girl sat not far from where he and Sasha sparred. They had moved on from testing their strength to learning how to control said strength. Anthony knew firsthand how destructive power was without control. If they were going to rescue Gitsune Hagaromo, then they needed to be able to control their strength so they didn’t accidentally break something they shouldn’t.
“Phew…”
Sasha wiped the sweat from her brow as she took a step back. There was a smile plastered across her face that spoke of immense satisfaction. She had enjoyed their spar just as much as he had.
“That was a good workout,” he agreed.
“You said it. Though I feel like we can improve much more.”
“One step at a time.”
Since it looked like they were done, Tamamo stood and walked over to them. She seemed very enthusiastic as she spoke.
“That was amazing! You two are so strong!”
“Thank you,” Sasha said with a pleasant grin.
“No wonder you don’t use weapons,” she added. “I’m not sure any weapon would be able to keep up with you. They would probably break under the strain.”
“Probably,” Anthony agreed. He did have his tonfa, but he hadn’t used them since realizing how great his own strength had grown to. “Did you need something?”
Tamamo shook her head. “I’m on a rare break. My advisors said I should rest, but I’m too restless to sleep. I heard your sparring when I was wandering down the hall and decided to check it out. I… hope that’s okay.”
Tamamo was a cute kid. Anthony couldn’t have children. It was the unfortunate side effect of being an incubus. Perhaps because the world itself did not want an incubus passing on its genes, all people became sterile after their transformation into one. However, if he were to have a daughter, he’d want to have one like Tamamo.
That was perhaps why he reached out and began ruffling her hair. “It’s fine. Feel free to come here any time you want to watch us.”
Though she seemed startled, Tamamo did not push his hand away and even began leaning into him, as though to seek more comfort. His hand was so big that he could fit almost her entire head in it.
“Can I really do that?” she asked.
Anthony was going to tell her that it was perfectly acceptable when the doors to the training room opened again and in walked Secilia.
“Anthony, I found something you’ll want to…”
She paused upon seeing them. She looked at Anthony, then at his hand, and then at the young girl who’s head he was caressing.
She deadpanned.
“Do I need to tell you off for going after a child?”