Finally, ready to examine his prize, Kragathor used spell-craft to shrink down and change into a moderately humanoid form. The campus was empty, its occupants having been herded off to be processed by his minions in one of the outlying caverns of Deep Town. He’d never really considered employing the primary humanoid races before, much less entertained the idea of owning a business. Well, he had them both now, might as well make the best of it. There’d only been the one death, as well, so the business should still be reasonably intact.

He saw no need to cease the company’s operations now.

He looked over the interior of the building as he traced the most direct route to the Server Room. The interior had an aesthetic to it that reminded him slightly of Servo City, but not quite the same. It was shiny enough, but Ciro had a more colorful feeling to it.

He quickly descended the two levels of stairs to the subbasement level. Down here was an entirely different look. Wide open workspaces were separated by transparent walls. Most of the surfaces were white or chrome. The corridor ran a winding path around several of these workspaces, before ending at a steel-plated wall, visibly etched with runes and wards.

Not visible to the average eye, but plain as day to Kragathor, were the more complicated rune script etched into the backs of the plates. Kragathor had spent two entire hours decoding these formations after he’d first observed them in his scrying pool, after spending an hour meticulously observing them and recording their every nuance. After all, it’s not every day you come across a completely novel magic language. However, this was not today’s prize. No, the real treasure lay beyond.

He approached the heavily armored doors and overrode the security enchantments with the barest effort of his will. They were but mere trifles compared to the new rune script.

The doors swung open, and Kragathor took a moment to savor the view. The walls were covered in rune script and formations. Six crystalline obelisks were evenly spaced around the room. Six? Did that mean there were two more Virmo servers that had yet to be made available? Well, he had plenty of time for that later. Kragathor’s analysis spell was going full bore as he took in the contents of the room, his gaze sliding from one server to the next, taking in their wondrously complex enchantments. Whatever mortal was responsible for this was certainly a treasure.

As he shifted his attention back and forth between the pillars of quartz, he came to understand. Oh, they were even more fantastic than he had imagined. Truly worthy of being a centerpiece in his collection. He had certainly chosen wisely to not lay waste to these masterpieces.

His attention was rudely drawn away by the human shaped artifact standing guard over a thick, metal door. He had noticed the fascinating construct long before he entered the room, but it was a mere sideshow of clever tricks in comparison to the beacons of pure wonder that stood arrayed around the room’s center.

The construct certainly looked human enough. Although, its skin was perhaps a bit too smooth and flawless. It appeared to be an adult male, of totally average proportions. He’d gotten much better at picking out human traits these last few days, but it really was rather unremarkable in appearance. However, its arm had split apart in a decidedly inhuman fashion, revealing some sort of light emitting device, amplified by enchantment. It was like a marriage of Ciro technology and the magic of this world. And judging by the makeup of some of its components, probably exorbitantly expensive. Again, fascinating, but not a priority.

“I said, leave now or I will open fire.” Even the tone of its voice was a little flat, as if trying and failing to convey emotions.

Kragathor considered his options. He couldn’t just leave the thing be, it might damage his treasure. Normal mental domination wouldn’t work, as it was a construct, with a brain based off technology which he had not yet studied properly. He didn’t want to damage it either, as it certainly deserved a place in his collection and he would not be able to adequately recreate it without further study.

He briefly considered his options, while the machine man braced the arm with the light weapon against its normal one, as if preparing to fire.

Well, as long as it wasn’t destroyed, it’d be fine, right?

Kragathor spoke a short incantation: “Disjunctive Disassembly.”

The humanoid artifact burst into its component parts, not with a blast, but with a slight displacement, as if each piece were teleported a short distance from its original location, away from the mechanical golem’s center. Each component continued to float in place with a slight sway as if caught in some nonexistent breeze. Shimmering lines of light marked how each piece connected to each other piece. Were Kragathor more familiar with certain documentation practices in other worlds, he’d notice a likeness to an exploded diagram in a manual detailing assembly.

Each individual component was held in absolute stasis. The electrons firing inside the circuits of its brain remained frozen in place.

Kragathor rather liked the humanoid artifact in this state. It had a certain exotic and utilitarian beauty to it, like a web of light that was poised to draw each piece together and reassemble it at a moment’s notice. It held hints of chaotic dispersion juxtaposed with orderly construction. The lack of uninvited speaking was also an improvement. Perhaps he’d put it in the collection as is. Maybe next to an intact model once he had a chance to study and reproduce it.

Kragathor turned back toward the obelisks, dutifully ignoring the human behind the vault-like door using a much less elegant version of his scrying panes to observe him. He focused on mentally tracing and deconstructing the spellwork involved, only to be distracted and irritated by the sense of being watched. He really would enjoy this all more in private.

Kragathor turned and pointed at the ground in front of him, uttering a single command. “Appear!”

Kenji watched his scrying panel in utter disbelief. Randell’s death. The rounding up of all the employees, being herded off to some unknown fate. The unbelievably massive dragon that shrank and changed shapes to look like a more feral version of a Scaled One, although none of their kind had such a brilliant crimson coloration. Its unerring approach to the server room, and the way it casually strolled through the best defensive enchantments money could procure. The dismantling of 1-A.

The massive shock of it all left him numb, and unable to react, even as the world began twisting around him in a surge of dimensional stress that placed him directly in front of the fearsome creature that had so effortlessly unmade his life’s work in this world.

Kenji was certain he was about to die. In moments, he would be like Randell, reduced to ash without so much as a sound or flash of light. Strangely, he was okay with this. Although his life had been eventful, full of stress and loss, this last decade had been one spent with close friends who had helped him to build something that would have long outlasted him were it not for the being in front of him. He had learned magic, and even though he hadn’t become some overpowered mage and created a harem of waifus like would normally happen in an otaku’s isekai fantasy, he had helped to revolutionize the field of enchanting. Even with his company snatched away by this godlike dragon, his legacy would still live on.

As all these thoughts ran through his head and he waited for death, he heard a snort followed by “Well?”

Shaken from his thoughts, he saw the humanoid dragon form standing in front of him, arms crossed and tapping his foot impatiently, an oddly humanizing mannerism. “I’m sorry, what?”

The dragon rolled its amber and gold eyes and asked again. “Why did they hide you in that vault, and why were you peeping on me while I am trying to appreciate my new treasures?”

Kenji was flabbergasted. He knew that if he didn’t come up with a satisfactory answer right away, he would die. And suddenly, he was totally not okay with dying. If he had a chance to make it out of this alive, shouldn’t he reach for it with all his might? Screw having a legacy, he wanted to live!

“They wanted to protect me. I — I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be rude. I was just really terrified, and all I could do was watch and wonder what was going to happen to me and I don’t know what is happening to my friends and I really don’t want to die and —”

“Stop.” Kenji’s mouth shut instantly at the command. He’d started to babble, and he really didn’t want to try this creature’s patience. It cocked its head at him. “Why did they want to protect you, specifically? Why you above the others?”

“Um, well, I am sort of the one behind all of this. A lot of the enchantments we use are of my design.”