Cyberpunk: Ultimate Cyborg System

Chapter 691: I Give You Something Better.

[Ares Iron Nerves (B) has been upgraded to Ares Iron Nerves (A)

Strength: 151 → 152

Durability: 170 → 171

Agility: 129 → 132

Dexterity: 148 → 152

Computing Power: 72 → 75

]

~[ ]~

Though swapping implants twice was a tiresome endeavor, Larry agreed to perform one more surgery. Dante messaged Bella right away, asking if she was fine with her surgery being moved forward. It was originally scheduled two day later, but since she didn’t have much to do, the team leader agreed right away.

"Good morning, Boss." She said upon arriving. "Doctor."

It was clear from the start that she was more than a little nervous. Her eyes kept darting between Dante and the white clad Larry, and she seemed to be looking for reassurance.

"I will go get things ready."

Larry excused himself, leaving Dante with his subordinate. Of course, he wasn’t the only one who want to deal with the tension, but Dante couldn’t just take off.

"This will be your first surgery, right?" He asked. "Other than the one for your NIM and OAM, I mean."

"Hm? I-I-I... that’s right! This will be my first implant!"

’Wow, she’s terrified...’

Bella had always appeared calm and collected, even cold sometimes, yet here she was, trembling and on the verge of tears. Dante guessed that such a reaction was natural. Even with risks having been drastically reduced thanks to the constant advancements, a spine surgery was still something most people wouldn’t wish they had to go through.

"Larry is a the best bionics surgeon there is. Don’t worry, you’re in good hands." Dante remembered not being scared in the least, and when he thought about it again, he realized that he might be the weird one. Because of that, he felt the need to reassure his subordinate. "How about we discuss your implant?"

Bella struggled to meet his gaze, figettig ceaselessly. Finally mustering a nod, she turned to face the box he gestured at.

"The implant you requested was the Ares Iron Nerves, right?" He said.

"Y-Yes..."

Entering the access code and unlocking the box, Dante pulled the lid up.

"Just to be clear, I did get the Ares implant for you." he said. "But then I thought, why don’t I give you something better?"

"... Eh?"

Noticing her bewilderment, Dante let the corners of his mouth rise.

"This is supposed to be a reward, after all. What’s the point if it’s not something special?" He said, looking down at the implant. "This is an SRE I had before. It’s based on the Ares Iron Nerves, but as you can see, it underwent some modifications to increase its capabilities. You could say it had an upgrade."

"I... I see..." Bella was stunned for a moment, staring down at the box and its contents. The next moment, she seemed to realize what she had just heard and looked up with a start. "Y-y-you had it before!!? Does that mean..."

"Don’t worry, I didn’t use it for long." Dante quickly clarified himself. "Just to be clear, I didn’t mean it was refurbished when I talked about it being modified. The implant is practically brand new, and the upgrades are something very unique you wouldn’t find anywhere."

"N-no, it’s not that! I just..."

It was a bit of an embarrassing situation for both of them, so his subordinate going red was nothing odd. Implants weren’t something that depreciated with use, but getting one that’s supposedly used to belong to him made it sound as if he was doing it to save costs. Dante didn’t think she was upset about it, but Bella must’ve thought he did and got embarrassed that she came across as rude.

"I-I-I would be glad to use the same implants as you, boss!" She quickly blurted. "I was inspired to get implants after watching you fight, so..."

Losing the ability to speak once more, Bella’s usually pale white skin turned a brilliant shade of red.

"It will take quite a bit of training to get used to it." Dante said. "You don’t have an MLP yet, so you can’t use VR to practice. You’ll have to be really careful."

"Y-yes! I will!"

"You done yet?"

Larry appeared at some point, startling both of them. He had changed into a fresh set of scrubs and was ready for the operation.

"Alright, then " Dante smiled at Bella, placing his hand on her back and pushing her forward. "I will be waiting for you here, so don’t worry about anything."

Still looking hesitant, Bella went to take the laser bath while Larry grabbed the implant and went to the operation room, but not before giving him a weird look. Wondering what his problem was, Dante sat down on one of the patient beds.

’I guess I could go do something in the meantime, but...’

Recalling how hesitant his raven haired subordinate looked, Dante was hesitant to just leave. After giving the matter some thought, he decided to watch a movie as he waited.

’Been a while since I had done this...’

Watching old movies used to be a favorite pass time of his. Whenever he had to wait for gigs, he would binge watch entire series, and sometime, he would even go for TV shows. Unfortunately, the guilt he felt for wasting time ultimately made it impossible for him to derive any enjoyment from the hobby, causing him to stop.

’Keep an eye on those two and tell me when it’s over.’

[Understood.]

Opening his Storage, he took out a pack of popcorn then changed the Module on his right arm to 1-3, using Dragon Touch to heat it up while doing his best not to burn the whole thing. A couple of hours passed, then another one followed. As the fourth ticked by, Dante felt himself get a little sleepy.

’No, I can’t...’

Sleeping right now would be the epitome of bad taste, and so he did his best to stay awake. For some reason, his eyelids seemed to grow heavier the longer he waits, and resistance started to feel futile. Just then...

[Dante, there has been an unforeseen problem.]

The words sent an electric shock through his nerves, banishing his drowsiness. Sitting upstraight, he focused his mind and accelerated his perception, buying himself all the time he needs to understand the situation.

’What happened?’ He asked. ’Did the surgery...’

[No, the surgery was a success. Dr. Samson will shortly exit the operation room.]

’Then... what is it?’

It didn’t escape Dante’s notice that his resident AI sounded a bit off. Few things caused the AI to break character and show emotion, so whatever had caused that, it was undoubtedly something serious.

[I believe it would be for the best if you see for yourself.] Said Volcan. [I will remove the filter on Absolute Awareness.]

’Huh? Why would you-’

Dante’s eyes shot wide open as he realized the implications, and just as he did, the world around him lost its color, turning monochrome. Dante had yet to come up with a proper name for the ability to see souls, but that mattered little. Right now, Dante was looking at something his mind failed to understand. For a moment, he thought maybe the wall in front of him was cracked, or maybe there was a strand of hair stuck to his bionic eyes, but he knew it was neither.

Looking down, Dante saw the black outline of his soul, which was contained within the white of his body. This is how things are supposed to be for most living beings, which made it all the more apparent when something was out of place, and that was exactly what caused Dante shock.

From his chest, a single line flowed like thread floating in the air, stretching toward the wall. Its color was a lightless black, which made it realize what it was made of.

[Dante, I do not know what is happening.] Volcan said. [I... I believe it would be for the best if you prepare yourself.]

’What are you... hey what’s hap-’

Dante didn’t know why, but in that moment, he felt like he could sense where the thread was going, and his mind went back to what he learned about Soul Manifestation a few days ago. When manifested into the real world, the user’s soul takes on physical properties, which showed in the way the black outline turns white as it overtakes that of the vessel containing it.

Dante once again noted the color of the thread that left his body. A piece of his soul had indeed left the vessel, but it hadn’t manifested in the physical world, instead remaining in the astral world. His understanding of the concepts told him it was something that’s only supposed to happen upon his death, but as the thread continued to stretch.

"Ah..."

As if power had been cut from all of his bionics, he slowly keeled over and fell to his side. As a wave of unbearable agony spread through his alloy body, his mouth spread open, and a silent scream released from the depths of his soul.