"If I hear any more noises, I'll blow this man's head up!"
The perpetrators refrained from further action. Some murmurs sifted through, likely discussing solutions to rescue their master.
Elara didn't bother to find out whether her shot had killed someone because her situation was far more dangerous. Locked inside a building she didn't know and faced with opponents outnumbering her—who were keen on killing her to protect their leader—Elara pursed her lips bitterly.
She had just transmigrated and was directly headed toward an unfortunate fate. Not an hour had passed since then.
Of course, she didn't regret not enduring further for more time to gather information and decide accurately. Her pride and dignity prevented her from tolerating the situation when she had the chance to fight. She might be trapped here, but she had shown her cards and threatened everyone, buying time.
Her greatest reliance was her firearm. The threat was obvious to her current enemies. Less than a dozen bullets remained inside, and she had already fired once. There were more than two hundred estimated figures if she struggled head-on. She couldn't depend on it to eliminate them, and they knew that too. Yet, since they honored their master so much, she could attack this weakness.
"Heehee, I admit I didn't see through you enough," the man snickered.
His voice broke the silence. Elara narrowed her eyes with pity. She knew what this man was thinking from his arrogant tone.
Elara didn't speak and waited further. Sure enough, the man continued his monologue.
"The only way to survive is to become my subordinate. Surrender. Submit to me, I'll treat you well; your authority will rank just lower than mine."
Regardless of how painfully he was treated, he longed for this strange woman to be under his arm. His invitation was sincere. After all, his subordinates, as far as he was aware, were skilled, but to be killed ruthlessly without resistance, this woman's strength surpassed his recognition.
On top of that, he had tortured this woman long enough, but this woman managed to break free. Besides, this woman had no choice; it would be a pity to kill her, who possessed both talents and beauty. Not that his female subordinates didn't comprise such factors, but this undercover policewoman had beautiful characteristics far superior to his girls.
He intended to let her become his woman in the future. But first, he must stage higher momentum to persuade the others.
Elara noticed a flash of lust in the man's eyes when he spoke, even if he covered it up by lowering his head.
Such an outrageous request to think that she would give up. If not for the occasion, she really would have liked to burst his head into a cracked watermelon.
Strangely, this man had a charisma that lured submission. If other people in her shoes heard the opportunity to live, they would surely choose to succumb.
However, having lived twice, plus the weird phenomenon that changed her being as stated by the Crisis Response System, her fear of death had lessened—an unknown world beyond touch existed, and she had proven it.
Death was never the end. She respected death and cherished life, but that never included crumbling her beliefs.
With the Crisis Response System's existence, she didn't believe she couldn't solve the problems.
Not to mention, through his eyes and expression, Elara could guess her fate and his inner hidden plan. Her experience far surpassed this simple idiot. It was his whimsical idea that he could recruit her.
Since this man threatened her daughter, she had already sentenced him to death. To his convincing words, Elara smiled.
Then, she rubbed her eyes in disbelief. Yep, nothing changed; what she saw was reality. It wasn't an illusion.
The longer she stared, the more real it was.
What Elara noticed was a shining bulb inside the man's head or brain. It radiated like a miniature sun.
"Weird. Am I seeing things correctly?" she muttered. "Or am I hallucinating again?"
The latter uncertainty came from the fact that she acknowledged her body wounds despite rejuvenation.
It wasn't a surprise when she imagined things based on the damages her body had taken in the previous fight—not a lot, but enough for an average person to act nonsensically, though she wasn't ordinary at all.
"What did you just say?" the man asked, confused at Elara's words.
She ignored the question and focused on the tiny, minuscule bulb. Somehow, she felt like she could grab it.
She didn't understand why the bulb stayed inside the man's head, but she followed her instinct and stretched out her hand.
The tiny light bulb trembled. Surprised, Elara heightened her focus and imagined pulling it out.
The bulb vibrated more and soon leaned in the direction of her hand. Meanwhile, the man cried out in pain, but his outcries were strangely muffled.
If not for his mouth wide open and shivering body, Elara wouldn't realize her action brought pain, but she wasn't stopping.
A few seconds later, unseen to others, Elara drew out the bulb onto her hand. She speculated this thing was somewhat untouchable, yet she somehow could feel it in her hand—warm and breathing, like another living being.
She observed the man whose body stopped reacting. His eyes rolled white, and his entire body convulsed.
Thud.
The body fell flat on the floor, probably dead or unconscious, though Elara expected such an outcome. She really didn't want to see him die right now; she needed him to save herself.
And what was inside this bulb? Elara tweaked the shining bulb and twirled it around to study it.
[Spare me, Great Being!]
Elara stopped her action, expressionless but a little caught off guard. She was familiar with the voice, one that resembled her Crisis Response System closely.
'Oh, why should I spare you? What use do you have?' Elara said lightly inside her mind as she squeezed the light ball, which shivered nonstop, even as the tone changed to begging.
[I have great use. I can help you a lot.]
'Like what? I don't have time and patience. Introduce yourself.'
[Great Being, don't worry about those people outside; we have time. They are my properties. Give me a chance to explain carefully.]
A female voice rapidly confessed in fear of being squashed flat by the very big hand holding her existence.
Elara raised her brow and guessed what kind this light bulb was. Now, everything made sense why this man owned such loyal and disciplined subordinates without any perks.
It should be some kind of system that she had read about in her previous life. She didn't expect she had the power to affect the 'divine' existence.
'What are you?' Elara was unaccustomed to the lively system in contrast with her emotionless one.
No, the Crisis Response System knew how to conspire her moves to its benefits. It might just be pretending to be machine-like.
Elara quickly caught some clues about her Crisis Response System, but the system-like bulb deserved her attention foremost.
[Great Being, I'm the modern military summoning system.]
'Military and summoning? Sounds deadly and grand,' Elara smiled. She wondered why the cute, coquettish female voice contrasted with her line of work.
Shouldn't a military summoning system sound righteous and solidly disciplined with a sonorous aura?
Sure enough, as expected of the great being, she didn't even ask about the system, unlike the disbelieving native here, the captured system thought.
[Of course, who am I? Give me time, and I will help you conquer the world.]
'Do you think I need you for help?' Elara asked, amused and pretentious. Of course, the more help she attained, the better, but she mustn't expose her shortcomings.
[Of course not, Great Being. But my assistance will shorten effort and time. I will not disappoint you.]
Elara seemed to see a little loli pecking her head fast in the hopes of expressing her strength, worried that the former wouldn't give her the slightest chance.
Indeed, Elara felt that she could kill the system easily with a snap of her finger. She had power merely comparable to average mortal limits, yet she could attack higher-dimensional creatures?
Nonetheless, remembering her own weird experience owing to the nuclear blast and other hidden attributes cited by the Crisis Response System, she didn't think it was strange that she held such power.
Perhaps her strengthening was in a higher dimension and effective against the existence she held in her hand.
Meanwhile, the system was trembling with anxiety, seeking grounds to survive. Her life was literally in the hands of the great being.
She never expected to encounter a higher-dimensional creature in this world. Not to mention, her previous host had offended this great being.
She dared not fathom her fate after her host tortured and insulted the latter. Probably not good, but she wouldn't stop begging for a tiny chance of survival.
Also, albeit the great being mouthed words of threat, she didn't feel any malice at all.
At the same time, the system complained about these great beings' hobbies—wanting to hide among ordinary creatures and pretending to live one.
Had her host didn't commit huge offense, perhaps, the great being might live on through sealed memories.
Now that her host threatened other's dignity, all hell broke loose. The strong must possess the dignity and the respect of the strong.
Any offenses courted death.
The most haunting factor was that she couldn't detect the aura of great being at all if not for the direct touch between the two parties.
Glancing at the shiny golden merit emitting from the great being, she gulped and shook with excitement in addition to the trepidation for the unknown.
As expected of the great being, doing so many good deeds that good luck and merit overflowed. So warm and gentle.
Elara had no idea that the Lolita system misunderstood her identity more. She didn't know that she would attain a large amount of golden merit for preventing a nuclear fallout in another world.
'Don't call me Great Being. I don't like the title. You can address me by my name—Elara, Elara Volkova,' said Elara.
[Master Elara, I'm glad and honored to see you accepting my presence. I will be serving you in the future; please advise me.] The system flattered.
Elara didn't fix the master title. Seeing this little loli so scared, she reckoned the system needed assurance.
Although she was curious about her higher-dimensional secret, she didn't ask. Asking now would only complicate matters.
Besides, she and this puny military system had just met each other. Speaking of which, since this man was the host of the summoning system, was it correct for her to regard him as some sort of main character?
Elara glanced at the breathless body, crumpled from her ruthless drainage of the bulb inside his brain, and shook her head with a smile.
Where was this a protagonist? He was just lucky. He didn't deserve the gift of the system.
It merely further fueled his inner incompetence and violence toward the outer world. Sure enough, with newly grown power, he walked on the devil's path.
As for why this system didn't control him, Elara probably guessed a thing or two about the mindset of higher beings.
"So, all those summoned figures are soldiers?" Elara spoke out loud, no longer inside her mind.
[Yes, Master Elara.]
"Just as I suspected, I thought I saw things wrongly," replied Elara.
She had been puzzled about their disciplined existence in the criminal organization. Now she realized somebody wasn't utilizing his subordinates efficiently.
[Master Elara is awesome. You can see through them straightaway.]
Elara ignored the flattery and inquired more. "But why are they so bad? They can't even stand a single round, or three rounds at best."
[Hmm, against Master Elara, who could stand unscathed? They are like mayflies to the moon. Totally incomparable.]
"Alright, stop with the nonsensical compliments," Elara said, rubbing the chills on her shoulders and forearm.
She thought she could become impassive to words, but it turned out she hadn't met the real deal.
[Ah, haha. Forgive me, Master Elara.]
Further explanations yielded the results Elara wanted. The summoned soldiers were from the World War II era.
Naturally, their martial arts and combat literacy paled in front of the mature, modern, test-proven techniques.
Each technique had its purpose. Simplicity for mass usage was the key in those eras. In her time, specialization became popular.
Furthermore, people learned more on their initiative and combined several arts into their own.
So, no one stood a chance when they directly fought with her, especially with complex, fluid moves.
Remembering how merciless she was when she hit these 'gang members', Elara blushed. "I remember I hurt them so badly. Can you heal them to their original state?"
She felt pain in her heart that she had damaged her properties. Though not to the point of pitying the enemy, her heart cringed in pain as the visual memory of her slamming several women's cheeks with a baton until they vomited blood resurfaced.
Fortunately, she trusted her intuition and didn't kill them. Who would expect or dare to imagine the former enemies transforming into close aides?
[Don't worry, Master Elara. I've already healed their wounds and will let them serve you.]
"Thank you, dear." Elara heaved a sigh of relief as she felt less guilty and less afraid, now that the entire complex belonged to her solely for the moment.
She hadn't studied the environment yet since she came into this world. She should roam around now that she had the chance.
"How should I call you?" Elara asked.
[Please give me a name, Master Elara.] The system begged.
She suspected she just saw a tail wagging behind her. She reckoned her physique had an unusual attraction toward system-like existences.
The Crisis Response System behaved similarly, but it conspired by exploiting her lack of knowledge and calmness from all the unusual events. The military system was far simpler—love and hate.
It seemed her former system was mature enough to hide its plans. Anyway, she had no worries since she deeply understood their relationship.
Now that a new one was added, Elara thought elatedly that things would be getting more entertaining.
"I will call you Skynet."
The light bulb went dull, and silence followed. Elara felt someone rolling their eyes with lips and eyelids twitching.
Oh, so this system knew about Skynet. Right, there were parallel worlds, too. For higher-dimensional creatures, perhaps the system had witnessed them closely.
"Alright, don't be sad. I was kidding," Elara chuckled with some guilt and coughed. "The name will be Lily. Are you satisfied?"
There was a short pause and a hopeless reply in a bland voice.
[Beautiful. Of course, I will be Lily from now on, Master Elara.]
Her master, whom she had envisioned so highly, couldn't name her properly. What was with Lily? It was the same as how humans treated their pets.
Wait, she was also in a similar reference, like a human pet. Her high hope of an elusive and grand name from a great being was dashed away.
Who could pity her situation? She didn't bother to erase the name Lily since waiting for another one might be worse.
She feared more outrageous name would come out of her master's mouth. It was her fault to expect words like Gaia, Athena, Hera, Nuwa and other divine existence.
Hmph, her master might not anticipate her prowess too much that ordinary naming was given.
At least, Lily sounded better than Skynet. The system comforted herself. No, Lily comforted herself.