256 Manatech 2

"Okay, master purge isn't responding, I'm pretty sure it is fried…"

[Then go into the subroutine, use task #00010294.]

"Processing, stand by."

Standing in the middle of what had up until a few minutes ago been a blooming flower field, Dax struggled to remove the burnt out manatech prototype he had just tested with Mu's guidance.

"No good... I'm going to break it, sorry."

Finding that the amour had overheated to such an extent it had partially melted and was now stuck to him Dax apologized to Mu as he dug his arm in under the armour near the shoulder, tearing it off without any major problems.

[That's no problem at all, this is what destructive testing is all about~ You helped us find a few vulnerabilities we need to adjust before moving on to the 5th generation.]

"... So you guys have already completed the 4th generation?"

[Pretty much, since the potential of this 'mana' is so high we got a bit too excited...]

��And what about the elder countermeasures?"

[Ah, those? They're already complete and ready for field testing, you can have a go at them together with Lux when she gets back.]

"Perfect, I'm going to go pick her up now, meet me there."

-

"We're coming up to the surface now."

"Great, I can't wait to get out of this tin box."

Finally almost home after an excruciatingly month long deployment underwater, Lux and her team were all itching to get out of the AEHWP they had spent way too much time inside stuck together.

"That feeling is mutual, trust me."

While Lux, Alice, Mare and Lilly had mostly recovered from the injuries they had sustained doing the operation, the archangel - had yet to recover from the shock of almost getting killed by the fishlike monsters they had encountered in the lost city of -, doing the trip back she had hardly spoken at all and had spent most of her time huddled away in a corner hiding inside her wings. As the AEHWP hit the shore it shook slightly while switching over to land transport mode, then it slowly crawled up on solid ground for the first time in weeks.

"Finally, freedom!"

Sensing that they were on land once more, Lilly who was the far most energetic member of the team rushed on her feet and opened the top hatch, suddenly finding herself face to face with some kind of strange demihuman with large blue eyes, green blue skin and short blue hair that started patting her head out of nowhere.

"Ooo, you must be Lilly, you are indeed a cute one~"

"Wha!- Don't treat me like a kid!"

With her face flushing completely red Lilly tried to get Mu to remove her hand but in doing so she only encouraged the Avoaxian scientist to keep up her experiments, it seemed spending too much time with non expressive qitons made her unconsciously interested in Lilly who's face was completely honest.

Embracing the reluctant elver in a hug Mu lifted Lilly up and out of the AEHWP, completely against the small elver's will of course.

"LET ME DOWN THIS INSTANT!"

"Only if you call me big sister and let me dress you up~"

"Mu put her down, you're making a bad first impression."

While Mu was ecstatic to meet Dax's lovers, her older sister Ra was acting far more reserved about the entire thing, choosing a wait and see approach before she would decide if the girls were good enough for Dax or she needed to remove them. While Mu continued to play around with Lilly against her will the AEHWP's loading ramp finally lowered, creating quite a surprise for Lux who hadn't been informed about the sister's arrival.

"Ra, Mu? What are you two doing here?"

"Hello~ Long time no see~"

"It's been a while, how are you holding up Lux, have you been eating properly?"

While Mu continued being her usual carefree self (while still holding on to Lilly), Ra approached Lux with a slightly concerned look on her face.

"Of course I've been eating properly, but why are you two here?"

"We found a way to travel between dimensions~ But, more importantly, we have lots of new toys for you Lux, made just the way you like them~"

"What is going on here!?- Let me go, woman! Lux, do you know these people!?"

While Lux, Ra and Mu had their reunion Lilly had finally managed to get over her embarrassment of being carried around like a child, transcending into full on rage, if she was able to she would have freed herself using magic but for some reason, there wasn't any mana near her and she couldn't even use the mana that was inside her body.

"... What's going on?"

"No idea, but it is properly best not to get involved, Lilly is about to blow."

"Mmm."

Meanwhile, Mare and Alice had emerged from the AEHWP, the two of them wisely deciding to keep their distance until they knew what was going on. 

"Ah, yeah I know them. In fact, I've known these two people for most of my life. Allow me to introduce you Lilly, this is Ra and Mu, they're Dax's sisters and the people who raised me."

"That's right Lilly~ That's why you should call me big sister, we're practically family allready~"

"Whatever! I'll do whatever you want as soon as you put me down, so put me down this instant! I'm not a child!"

"Okay, okay, there's no reason to act so cold you know?~"

Finally releasing her grasp on the tiny and adorable elver Mu gently put her down, and Lilly, who was the kind of person to hold grudges immediately used her newfound freedom to kick Mu's shin (Not that that action had much effect) before stomping off in anger.

"So you people are Dax's sisters? I've heard a lot about you two from him, my name is Alice, I'm currently d-dating him."

With Lilly's exit, Alice took the opportunity to introduce herself in the politest way possible, although she slightly fumbled part of the introduction.

"Ah, how polite. Nice to meet you, Alice."

"Nice to meet you miss Alice~"

While Alice was scoring points with both Ra and Mu, Mare had somehow managed to sneak up on Ra, getting the Avoaxian's attention by poking her back a few times.

"... Hi."

"H-hello. What do you want?"

(How the hell did this girl manage to close this far in on me!?)

While maintaining a calm expression, Ra awkwardly greeted the flat toned, blank faced beastkin while a cold sweat broke out on her back.

"Are you Dax's sister?"

"That's right, my name is Ra, what can I call you?"

"... Mare."

(What the hell is up with this girl!?)

Looking at Mare's blank face Ra saw nothing, while she normally could read the intent of most people off of their face or even eyes alone, Mare's face told her nothing, her eyes told her nothing, Ra had no idea what this girls deal was, all she knew was that she was able to stab her without any way of Ra herself seeing it coming and that terrified her.

"C-can I help you with something?"

Struggling to maintain a calm expression on her face, Ra backed away from Mare half a step as she asked the beastkin girl a question, but to her distress, Mare immediately closed the gap as her tail started moving about slightly.

"Mmm, you can. Please pat my head just like Dax does it."

Showing emotion on her face for the first time in the conversation, Mare relayed her longing to see that seemingly innocent request fulfilled, but unknowingly it only added pressure on Ra.

"O-okay. I can do that."

"Mmm, hurry up please."

Timidly reaching out her hand, Ra was prepared for it to be sliced off when she placed it on top of Mare's head between her two fluffy and soft looking wolf like ears, in response to that sensation Mare slowly closed her eyes as a thin smile formed on her face.

(C-cute.)

Suddenly finding herself at odds with her instincts, Ra felt her heart ache because of how adorable the beastkin child in front of her was acting, but at the same time, her fear still remained as strong as ever. Stuck between a rock and hard place Ra didn't know what to do, so after patting Mare's head for a minute or so she timidly tried to remove her hand, but in response to that Mare grasped it before placing the hand back on top of her own head, her tail wagging at a relaxed pace all the while.

Thus Ra was forced to pet Mare's head for another half hour until Dax arrived.