Danmachi: the Great Devourer

C179: EdgeRunner

Alt Title Teaser: Destiny

Date published: 1/22/2025.

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First off, it has to be acknowledged that Axel did not believe that Lucy could complete the stealth challenges he issued her. At the very least not the god mode difficulty, yet as she stands before him with the training module in her hand, a strange aura emanates from her and he realizes quickly what happened.

Spiritual awakening.

In other words from the pressure of the magically enhanced guards and gods had caused her to achieve her own magical breakthrough and it seems to be stealth related. He can ask what her abilities are later as he only has minor hints at this time, for now he has to pay up.

Axel snaps his fingers and points back to her room, "Go get changed, i left something there for you" With her own magical senses she could actually follow what he did and doesnt say much as she simply goes to her room. There she finds something that she could only dream about.

A space suit, she looks it over and finds it fully functioning. Unsure of what is to happen she begins to put it on. Though from what Axel can sense, Lucy regularly flinches and touches her neck. He feels sorry for her as she likely had been decapitated hundreds of times whilst facing Digital Raikou in the god mode training module. 

She finally comes out with the suit on, she approaches Axel as he spectates her expressions, once she is close enough he tells her, "Be sure not to blink" he gives a warning as he snaps his fingers once again. 

The space suit deflates partially as it clings to Lucy's body, minimizing the area of influence that the near zero gravity that she is exposed to suddenly. Though with her own BD she activates the thruster on her back which lets her land back on the 'ground'. 

She gazes upon the barren gray landscape around her in confusion while her eyes are glowing and circulating all for naught as she gets no proper signals. Her own experiences from her BD now properly allow her to understand where she is.

She is on the moon. She soon spots the thing that forces her to simply pause in awe. Tears fill her eyes as she acknowledges the severity of the situation and even what her so-called first reward was based on what she sees.

The Earth

"Hic, hic, AHHHH" She touches her neck which is blocked by the helmet of the space suit as tears flow relentlessly, she falls to her knees as she believes she has reached her goal. Axel makes a chair for himself as he enjoys the view, unneeding to breathe as he just takes in the sights around him. 

It takes Lucy half an hour to finally stop crying and Axel speaks up to her at this time with magic amplifying his voice so she can hear in the atmosphere-less region of space. "I offer a choice to you now. In this case is a new ID for you along with the necessary materials and money for you to live happily on the moon colony 20 miles away that you always wanted. Or you can take my hand and we shall return to Night city for your other rewards"

His words cause her to freeze in indecision, she finally has her goal right in front of her eyes. By all rights she should just take the case and leave Earth behind, living the free life she has dreamt about for most of her life. Yet after being exposed to so much by Axel, she can't help her curiosity.

"What are you?" She seeks answers, even the tiniest amount to help her understand what she has experienced thus far.

Before her eyes, she witnesses Axel's hands revert to their original pristine form and then morph and deform into sludge like wipes that he makes swirl around in circles before reforming into proper hands in a clenched state.

"Obviously I'm not human, but I'm much more than human" he vaguely answers before continuing. "You don't have to make your choice right now, you can take a ride on the buggy and think about it as you personally experience what would be commonplace for you if you choose the first option. 

As he mentions the buggy and points behind himself, from the ground up, what looks like an assortment of wires begins to expand and lengthen into sheets of plastic and circuitry that forms the buggy. She recognises the model of it's sleek design as the default model, the same time she has on her BD. Any other time she would have assumed that Axel had snooped around in her own room and taken the hidden chip that has the memory based simulation of moon travel but at this point she can only assume that he knows everything about her.

As such, she doesnt question it and just hops onto the buggy and starts it up. Zooming across the moon's dusty ground, nearly floating away after speeding bumping off the edge of a larger crater but returning back down through the buggies innate functions to tether itself back down and she resumes her travels, not getting too far nor too close to Axel.

After having her fill of the buggy, she makes her way back to Axel, knocking a few pebbles in his direction that seems to just stop as if it hit a wall. She jumps off the buggy and saunters over to Axel with a confident smile on her face as she bends over and picks up the case. Axel lowers his head as he prepares to change her appearance to match that of her new identity.

She then waves the hand holding the case sideways, ejecting it with supernatural force into the vastness of space as she takes Axel's hand, "You're not getting rid of me that easily" "heh" he scoffs and just brings them both back to the safe house back on earth, as if they never left.

"Go get changed, you won't need the suit anymore but you can keep it. And since you rejected my first gift, here is your alternative" He bestows upon her the functioning space suit as a memento while offering her a simple chip. Not knowing that this chip alone would have given her an existential crisis if this was before seeing the moon.

The following week had passed by uneventfully as the group did some odd jobs but Maine and the others did notice that Lucy showed less aversion to Axel. 

They tried to find something about it but since Lucy still is studying under Kiwi, they assumed the resident netrunner might know something but she only ever responds with "I don't care". Yet even as she says that, she can't help but be curious what is going on between them.

During this week Axel found something that he didn't quite expect, his eyes glow in swirls as he looks off to the great distance to the West of where he is. Axel still considered it quite early but in a sense it works since the following events would have been a long time plan or his existence changed things and the main storyline is moving ahead. Regardless, since the situation aligned with his needs he left the hideout for a location at the edge of Little China, moreso into the Arasaka Waterfront.

Axel is not gone for long but when he comes back he begins to tinker with all sorts of cables and machinery. He is still working on it even as the week ends with no changes to his daily schedule.

That all changes when the week ends as Lucy opens her door, she has a worrisome expression on her face, as if she just cried. She walks up to Axel and lightly tosses the chip he gave her back to him. "Why did you give this to me?"

He offers her no response even as the chip bounces off his back. Seeing his lack of reaction seems to change her melancholic expressions to change to frustration which she begins to vent

"Do you pity us? Our pathetic fate, that can barely intrude into proper legends. Do you find it funny that we're so useless, going around in circles with our little gigs and killings? Implanting machines into our bodies until we die or go psycho?" Lucy vents to Axel after having finally finished processing the whole chip of her first gift.

Lucy delivers a punch to his back which she had accidentally amplified with her magic energy. The fist lands on his spine with a burst of energy that releases waves that the others have to shield themselves or hide behind something to not feel the pressure of the attack.

Axel's back seems to snap as the top half of his body flops backwards from lucy's attack. She spots that he is wearing some sort of weird glasses that have small cameras on them. On the table she spots various prototypes of the same glasses and some sort of extensive code on the cyberdeck in front of him.

With his back broken, he takes off the glasses and sets them on the table before looking at her with his swirling colored eyes, "Yes, I pity you, but do you feel you deserve pity, think of the perspective of people from 50-60 years ago who viewed this information, their privileged self would have never imagined such things happening to them." Axel offers his condolences to the fate that she is now aware of. 

"Hup" he grunts as he jumps off his seat and waves at Lucy, "Follow me, it's time for your next reward" even though he says that she doesnt immediately follow him. 

She is still questioning her sanity after seeing her supposed fate. But one thing that makes itself known to her is that in that fate and story, no mention exists of Axel and that Sasha was supposed to die during the Biotechnica gig.

With things not adding up, she decides to follow Axel to his car, one he got after his previous strength reveal many months ago. A Rayfield Caliburn, originally a silver car with yellow thick accents covering most of the middle of the car with the sides of the back also being yellow. Instead Axel has had his painted into an iconic galaxy style. It's essentially a giant mix of baby blue, sky blue, deep blue and even hints of purple around the tires, all wrapped up on the fastest car in night city. (pic here)

Axel drives off and he brings her to his apartment in Watson, a nice little place which Lucy eyes with curiosity for why she was brought here but when Axel waves her over to enter the room on her own accord. She expects to just find a closet but when she opens the door, she is confused to find a ton of greenery and brown healthy dirt before her eyes. She steps through the door frame and finds such a vast forest before her, she steps towards one tree and picks off an apple which she gently holds in her hands as she takes a bite out of it. 

Her mouth is assaulted by a sweet taste with a bit of bitter aftertaste. Seeing her face scrunch up from the aftertaste, Axel chuckles behind her as he is leaning against the singular door frame in the middle of no wear.

She swallows down the bitter piece of apple as she asks, "What is this place?" 

"My home" he declares

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Alt Title: Lucy's Magic awakening, Rewards and New Destiny

Word count: 1982

Drop a comment if you wanna judge my writing or the story. I'll try to respond, especially if you're confused or anything.