First, Eight summoned those who could be of use to him.
“Asking for help? Hmm... That’s rare. Eight, you’re the one requesting assistance?”
The Archmage from another world accepted immediately.
“If it is the request of a god, I would even devour burning steel.”
The four-dimensional saint also agreed.
“M-me? I don’t know what I could possibly do to help, but...”
Even the chuunibyou-stricken magical girl obediently joined the cause.
The reason Eight had gathered these three was simple: their unique abilities. Magic, the capabilities of a four-dimensional entity, and the peculiar anomaly of a magical girl tainted by the Flower of Malevolence, which had now been classified as Earth-origin technology.
A trinity that could never exist on Earth had been assembled in one place. With these three, breaking into the warship floating in the sky wouldn’t be a problem.
Of course, there were also additional helpers (graduate students, etc...), but they were merely tools for assistance, not primary actors. Their names weren’t worth writing down on the roster.
“Alright, our goal is simple—we’re getting inside that ship.”
As Eight explained the plan to his gathered allies, they tilted their heads in confusion.
They already knew that the warship, bearing the letters "UN," was somehow related to Eight. But beyond that, they had also seen the endless news reports detailing its existence.
By now, the extraterrestrial vessel had effectively become Terra’s weapons testing dummy. Nations were bombarding it with their latest military technology, and heroes were unleashing their strongest techniques upon it. The fact that it remained unscathed was baffling.
“Uh, Eight? Are you sure this thing can be breached?”
It was a valid question. Even Arima, who was present at this gathering, had attempted to infiltrate the ship before.
While creating a spaceship with magic was out of the question, the Archmage had assumed it would at least be possible to peer inside the vessel.
Yet, shockingly, Arima couldn’t even do that.
Earth’s technology had advanced to the point where it could block even the most powerful magic.
“Of course, we can’t break in through conventional means. Even with everything I have, getting inside would be extremely difficult.”
“Then what’s your plan? No matter how I look at it, the people here alone don’t seem capable of pulling this off.”
The saint, who could transform into a four-dimensional being, was undeniably a strong asset.
But even she had been overpowered before.
And Aile? Aile’s magic was practically child’s play compared to Arima’s.
With just these three, breaking into a ship that Eight himself had failed to infiltrate seemed impossible.
At least, that’s what Arima thought.
Eight, however, saw things differently.
“The key player in this operation is Aile.”
“M-me...?”
“Yeah, you. Aile, you’re a singularity—something that’s never existed before.”
Of course, the others were anomalies in their own right.
But Aile was particularly unique.
She had been corrupted by the Flower of Malevolence, a top-secret Earth-made bioweapon, yet survived.
Not only that, she had managed to assimilate part of its power.
Even Eight had no idea when the Flower of Malevolence had been developed. It was the latest in cutting-edge technology.
If Aile had integrated its power into herself, there was a good chance that Earth’s systems had yet to register her abilities.
“That battleship—specifically, the New Washington’s adaptive armor—is designed to block any attack it has previously encountered. Meaning, any attack it has never encountered before... will get through.”
“It nullifies any attack it’s already seen? What kind of insane function is that...?”
“And that’s not all. Its internal logic radar analyzes big data from its sensors to make near-prophetic predictions, and the cannons mounted on its underbelly fire projectiles made from actual black holes—”
As Eight passionately rambled on about the warship’s specifications, he suddenly realized that he was getting too excited.
Clearing his throat with an awkward cough, he tried to compose himself.
He must have sounded like a complete weapons otaku.
“Anyway, the point is: if we use an attack that isn’t registered in its database, it will work. And there’s a high probability that Aile’s power isn’t in their system yet.”
“Hmm... I see your point, Eight. Aile’s ability is unique. But even if that’s true, I doubt it’s enough to break through the ship’s heavy armor.”
“That’s where we come in. Don’t worry—we have everything we need.”
Eight pointed at each of the gathered individuals, one by one.
“I’m a scientist who knows everything there is to know about Earth’s technology.”
“Arima is a mage who knows everything about magic.”
“And Lizebel can perceive even the faintest sliver of possibility.”
Science and magic were like oil and water—incompatible by nature.
Merging the two was extraordinarily difficult, and the success rate was infinitesimally low.
But...
This chapter is updat𝓮d by freēwebnovel.com.
That probability wasn’t zero.
Eight had already accomplished it once before—working with Arima, he had successfully fused science and magic to create a gateway.
And now, unlike back then, they had Lizebel on their side.
A saint who could see the future—one who would not overlook even a 0.000...1% chance.
With her, they could turn the impossible into reality.
“We can do this.”
Thus, Eight began his research into breaching the warship.
****
This experiment had to be conducted under the strictest secrecy, and more importantly, it couldn’t be carried out in the real world. Now that Earth’s warship had taken root in Terra, there was a high risk that Aile’s powers would be detected the moment she used them.
It didn’t matter whether we carried it out in a lead-lined laboratory or dug all the way down to the planet’s core—the warship was already monitoring everything happening on the planet in real time.
At least, compared to the Terrans who were outright attacking the warship, all we had done so far was talk. It would take them considerably longer to figure out what we were actually planning.
After all, even for an Earth-class warship, it wasn’t easy to instantly pick out the key figures among billions of people.
That didn’t mean we could afford to waste time.
BOOM!
“Ah, failed again. Aile, are you alright?”
“N-no, I am not alright....”
That was why we conducted our experiments inside a virtual simulation.
Time constraints? Space limitations? None of that mattered in a virtual world.
No matter how advanced Earth’s surveillance capabilities were, it wasn’t going to scan every single piece of data inside a random household computer. That would be an unnecessary waste of energy—unless this planet was classified as some high-priority criminal world or something.
“Uh, hey... Scientist?”
“Hm? What is it?”
“C-can we take a break...? Just for a bit...?”
“Already?”
“A-already?! What do you mean already?!”
One major advantage of virtual experimentation was that it allowed us to conduct more trials, for longer periods, under the exact same conditions as reality.
It had only been an hour in the real world.
But inside the accelerated digital realm, over a month had already passed.
“It’s barely been an hour outside.”
Blending science and magic wasn’t easy.
Even with Lizebel guiding us toward the correct answer, the process was still grueling. The problem was that while Lizebel was searching for the right formula, the unstable prototypes kept collapsing.
And since Aile was the focal point of these experiments, she was the one suffering the full brunt of the failures.
“B-but—! It hurts so much!”
“That’s impossible.”
“It hurts! A lot! Specifically, like when you accidentally rub against a massive, deep-rooted pimple!”
Aile kept whining about the pain, but frankly, I wasn’t convinced.
I had set up all the necessary safety measures.
It was a virtual world, meaning the pain had been significantly reduced.
If she had been complaining about psychological trauma, I would have understood.
Sure, watching her own body explode, melt, and shatter over and over again must have been a pretty horrific experience, even if the simulation restored her instantly.
But physically painful?
It was obviously just an excuse to slack off.
“You can’t even handle that much...?”
“B-but... w-we’ve been doing this for over a month without a single break...”
“Hmm... Alright. Originally, I planned for us to keep going, but... I suppose a short break wouldn’t hurt.”
So, I gave Aile the “perfect vacation”—
A scorching hot beach, NPC couples laughing and playing in the sand, and more attention from those NPCs than any single person could possibly want.
As Aile shrieked in frustration from under a parasol, yelling about how this was NOT a break, I turned to Arima and Lizebel.
The two of them were staring at me with serious expressions.
“What?”
“No, Eight... I didn’t realize you were such a heartless man. You really do live up to the title of ‘evil scientist.’”
“......Even if this is the kind of god you are, I’m ready to accept you!”
I tilted my head, confused by their cryptic remarks.
Deciding not to dwell on it, I let Aile rest for about an hour before dragging her—screaming—back into the lab.
The experiments continued.
One week.
Two weeks.
A month passed in the real world.
And then—
Aile successfully broke through the warship’s outer hull.