Dancing on the golden ashes

I was left standing in the room full of strange machinery, the one responsible for creating these lying on the cold ground, completely spaced out. Why do things like this always have to happen to me... I sighed. This has to be some bad joke, right? Am I really such a big deal that someone would faint just from glancing at me? Well, I wouldn't need to wait long to find out.

As I browsed through the machines that resembled the ones from my past world, the girl slowly began to wake up. I turned toward her and moved to help her up. The moment she opened her eyes, I extended my hand.

"Ryu Chae-rin, are you okay? Please get up."

I said it casually, but ugh... what a mistake. The girl instantly fainted again. At this point, I didn't know what to do. Should I just leave? What the hell is wrong with her?

I stared at her. She was so young, yet she'd already created such great devices—like this fridge, for example. I opened what looked like a fridge, and inside, I even found cans.

"Oh wow, what do we have here?" I noticed one can labeled 'Cora'.

Hell yeah, we have cola here? This was the best. I hadn't had one in forever. How did she create this?

I popped it open and downed it, the fizz that I hadn't felt in ages hitting me. It was great.

"Yeah… that's the stuff. This tastes amazing."

I felt happy—some different taste than just human and beast flesh was a welcome change every now and then.

"E-e-empress?!"

Suddenly, a voice pierced my ears—it was Ryu Chae-rin. "W-what are you doing here?!" Her voice was high-pitched and full of panic. I turned around slowly, careful not to knock her out cold again.

"Hello, Ryu Chae-rin. I came here to discuss the cannons you were developing." I said, forcing a warm tone. It was still a little hard for me to act natural around strangers, but pretending a little wasn't so bad.

"Ah!" She jumped up as if something had bitten her butt. The sight was funny, and I barely managed to hold back a giggle.
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I didn't want to spend the rest of the day here waiting for her to wake up. I mean, it would've been funny, and I'd gladly do it if not for the massive monster slowly looming over the city. Ah... how annoying. This world really hates me…

"Yes, the cannon. It's a highly advanced cannon that can harvest the power of soul energy, which I found we all possess. Actually, not just us—did you know, Empress, even animals, plants, and inanimate objects all possess some soul power to an extent?"

She paused, then continued. "So I've created this model to charge itself with a large amount of energy and concentrate it. With a little help from my special ability, I was able to craft a weapon that can easily level cities. Would you like to test it out? Like right now? If we go outside, I can show you the power and all, and—and..."

She suddenly started to stutter.

"Calm down, it's okay. We can test it a little later. What puzzles me is where you store this energy, and is it safe? We don't need any explosions on our own walls. It would be nice if we could avoid friendly fire."

That was my only concern, and depending on how much power it could store, I could perhaps load a very strong strike with my soul power. That was one thing I was proud of.

"Yes, Empress, understood!"

She began digging through the mess on her table. "Just one second, I need to find a pen and paper. Ahhh, where is it? Where?"

She seemed to be in a lot of panic. Did I pressure her too much?

"Do you need any help?" I moved closer to her, but the moment my tail accidentally brushed against her, she jumped to the side, slipped, and hit her head on the ground, passing out again.

You must be fucking kidding me...

I wanted to disappear. What the fuck... should I just talk to her on the phone? Wait… did she already develop a phone? That would help me communicate with her, especially if she has social anxiety.

I looked around the room but couldn't find anything that resembled a phone. So, I went to check out the cannons myself. They were long and thick, each at least several meters long. It felt like a real weapon from my world. But the inside was pure red—a weird color to choose to paint it with... or was it some material I hadn't learned about yet?

To be honest, there were still so many things I had to learn about this place. After all, I was new to this world, and I wasn't a genius like Ryu Chae-rin. She'd managed to create so much at such a young age and in so little time.

I swore to protect people like her—those who dedicated their lives to something great. As for those who wanted to feel more alive, like me, they were more than welcome to fight alongside me in battle.

Next to the cannons stood a whiteboard—or something that resembled one. On it were a few notes, detailing how to load the cannons with soul power.

"Well... it's not that I'm curious, but... she keeps sleeping, so..."

I really wanted to test the weapon out, and I had to know how much power it could hold.

I placed my arm on the surface of the cannon. All the notes said I had to infuse the thing itself with power, and that it would shine depending on the amount of power remaining. I began to channel my energy into it.

"So gray means out of power... light blue is ten percent..."

I watched as the cannon shifted from gray to light blue. It was cool. I'd never seen anything like this before. My eyes lit up—I was geeking out. I know, but it's not my fault. This is just too cool. Anybody would love to play with big toys like this.