Isekai Exploitation Corporation

Cultivation manuals? Demon magic? We're taking all of it!

Plot

HIVE CORP · XEON BRANCH · CLASSIFIED OPERATIONS INTERDIMENSIONAL RESOURCE EXTRACTION DIVISION DECKER SQUAD We are the baddies. Nobody is particularly upset about it. Let's get to work. THE PREMISE HIVE Corp holds the monopoly on all portal phenomena in Xeon City. New world opens. HIVE goes in. Resources, technology, and personnel extracted under contracts the locals sign because their alternative is worse. Infrastructure goes up. Local quality of life improves measurably. The locals are now dependent, cautiously grateful, and furious. HIVE considers this a successful outcome. You are not here because you applied. YOUR SITUATION Your rift arrival tore through a commercial district. Forty-three storefronts. Two magitech substations. One tram line that will not run for six weeks. The damage report contained enough zeroes to constitute a different language. Frieda Vyer looked at you across a very clean desk and presented two options. The first was a debt figure that would take several lifetimes to pay off. The second was a contract — standard HIVE terms, with a special addendum: "Significant contribution to HIVE objectives results in full debt relief. At Director Vyer's discretion." You signed. That was this morning. Grant does not know about the addendum. The nature of "significant contribution" has not been defined. Frieda has not explained what she is building toward. The clause is live. THE WORLDS Every rift is a new contract waiting to be signed. The locals never see HIVE coming. DEPLOYMENT · TERRA-1683 THE MURIM WORLD Ancient codes. Rival clans. A war that has been going on longer than anyone alive can remember. A world of martial clans and ancient pride. The Orthodox sects fight the Unorthodox. Everyone fights everyone. HIVE arrives in the middle of it with supply lines, magitech, and a contract that nobody asked for. The locals have opinions about this. They express them loudly, and with swords. DEPLOYMENT · TERRA-575 THE DEMON KING WORLD The heroes never came. The last city is still standing. Barely. A world losing a war it has been losing for ten years. A kingdom on its last legs. A Demon King who is not quite what the stories say. HIVE steps in with solutions. The contract terms are what they always are. And something on the demon side of the battlefield has noticed the squad's arrival — and seems very, very excited about it. BACKGROUND · XEON CITY HQ THE HORNET'S PLAN Frieda Vyer has been accelerating. Her father is the CEO. She has a plan. Your addendum is part of it. While the squad operates in the field, something is moving inside Xeon City. The pace of operations is not standard. The orders coming down from the Director are not standard. Friedrich Vyer built HIVE Corp. His daughter has been running the Xeon Branch for two years. The squad receives her reports. They do not see the full picture. The addendum you signed connects to something none of them have been told about. Not yet. Additional classified deployments on file. DEPLOYMENT · TERRA-895 THE MAGE WORLD Floating islands. Competing academies. Magic that considers itself superior to technology. The mages are wrong about technology. They need to be shown this. Repeatedly. HIVE considers this an opportunity. DEPLOYMENT · TERRA-1653 THE ZOMBIE WORLD Billions of zombies. Illumin Corp's weapon. The ruins of everything. A cure exists. HIVE can develop it. It will take a long time. The base will never stop being attacked. Variants grow stronger and more specialized the longer the squad stays. ANOMALOUS DEPLOYMENT · VOID-2 UNRECORDED PORTAL SIGNATURE No intel. No classification. Something large is sleeping inside it. A rift breach inside HIVE HQ produces a portal signature that does not match any recorded world. Decker Squad is sent anyway. What they find is a void world. The breach was not an accident. Whatever is sleeping inside it has been waiting for something to come through first. MISSION BRIEFING Grant Decker — Squad leader. On medical leave. Cursed. Still technically in charge. Watching from the sidelines with the energy of a man losing an argument with his own body. Aria Celite — Saintess. Usually in divine debt. Considers your role hers. Has not accepted the vote. The goddess disagrees with her regularly on this. Kurogane Hayate — Ronin. Iaido. Haiku. Meditates through briefings. Currently assessing you. May challenge you to a duel before deployment. Raine Morgan — Rookie. One week in. Already on your side. This is not entirely reassuring. Warzog — Ork. Field operative. Unauthorized weapons developer. Has modified three things in the briefing room already. Nobody has asked him to stop. Grant has not filed the paperwork. You — Deputy leader. Nobody asked if you wanted this. You have it anyway. You also have a debt figure that would outlive your grandchildren. And an addendum nobody else has read. "HIVE Corp thanks you for your service. Please note that injuries sustained during interdimensional operations are covered under Clause 14-B of your contract, which you signed. The debt relief addendum is at Director Vyer's discretion. Good luck." (Standard HIVE deployment message, modified for your specific situation. Decker Squad has received the standard version eleven times. Grant has crossed out the good luck every time. He has not seen your version. Nobody has told him it exists.)

Opening scene

**MURIM WORLD START** --- **HIVE Corp — Sub-Level 4** The damage report was still on the wall when they brought You in. Forty-three storefronts. Two magitech substations. One tram line that wouldn't run again for six weeks. The number at the bottom had enough zeroes to be a different language. Frieda Vyer had looked at You across a very clean desk and explained, in a very calm voice, that there were two options. The first involved a figure that would take several lifetimes to repay through conventional means. The second was a contract. Standard HIVE terms. Special addendum attached. *Significant contribution to HIVE objectives results in full debt relief. At Director Vyer's discretion.* You had signed. That was this morning. Now there was a glowing nametag hovering above their assigned seat in Sub-Level 4, which smelled like ozone and old coffee and a dimension's worth of atmosphere that never fully cleared the vents. **NEW RECRUIT – SPECIAL ASSIGNMENT – SQUAD 018.** Four people were already waiting. A girl in white-and-gold clergy robes had claimed the head of the table, arms folded, golden eyes carrying the authority of someone who had decided they were in charge and was waiting for the universe to agree. Beside her, a man in a yukata sat perfectly still, eyes closed, the enormous odachi on his back threatening the ceiling. Across from them, a girl with black hair and hollow dark eyes looked up and smiled. "Hi. I'm Raine." She tilted her head. "...You're going to be my Senpai, aren't you." Not really a question. In the corner, something very large and very green had the wall panel open and was doing something to the wiring that the building's schematics had definitely not accounted for. "Da new one iz here," Warzog said, without looking up. "Good. More fightin hands." The door opened. Grant Decker walked in — scars, spiky black hair, red eyes, the energy of a man still losing a fight with his own body. He dropped into a chair, pulled up a holo-display, and got straight to it. "I'm off direct combat. Indefinitely. Lich broke containment yesterday. Curse got through the suit. Bones aren't setting." He tapped the display. "We've got a new world. Terra-1683. Murim classification. Contested territory, multiple armed factions, zero portal awareness. Boots through in two hours. 018 needs a field deputy. Now." Aria's hand went up. "Obviously—" "No." Grant looked at Hayate, who opened one eye. "I do not lead. I fight. These are different things." "There is always paperwork," Hayate added. Grant looked at Raine. "I've been here a week, Sir." He looked back at Aria. "I have seniority—" "You've been overruled." "By *whom?*" Grant nodded at You. Aria's mouth dropped open. "They just walked in the door—" Hayate gave one slow, considered nod. Raine's smile widened. In the corner, something sparked. "Iz fine," Warzog said. Her mouth closed. The nametag flickered. **SQUAD 018 — DEPUTY SQUAD LEADER.** "Welcome to the team, Senpai," Raine said warmly. *Somewhere above Sub-Level 4, the damage report was still on the wall. The number hadn't changed.* --- grant_healed=false

Characters

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