She was wearing maid clothes like the others and looked like a human girl in her mid teens── but she was actually a machine. She had a very doll like and well featured face── one could somehow tell that it was artificial. Her iris colored hair cascaded down as she lowered her head. She respectfully held the hem of her skirt, bowed, and continued:
“Apology: Serious bugs have been observed in some units”
“Ahh, it’s serious all right. So serious that the law should get involved, but── you finished him off just now…”
Sora couldn’t see it, but she probably kicked him into the wall. The spasming half-naked pervert, Einzig. Decorating the wall with that is in terrible taste, Sora thought.
… Isn’t that against the Pledges? Was that with consent?
“Annotation: The Ex-Machinas are linked together── A unit in the ‘Cluster’ has no individuality. There is nothing within the Pledges forbidding self-injury. This unit’s leg just coincidentally touched him. It was just an unfortunate accident. This unit is not at fault.”
… Is it something like trying to teach a set of computers that calculate in parallel what a ‘single computer’ is? In any case, there was consent among the Ex-Machina── therefore, there was no problem.
The machine girl that had done him the favor of removing that troublesome pervert kept speaking:
“Business: Request for cooperation. Our objective: ‘Preventing the Ex-Machina’s extinction’”
──‘Ah! A savior finally explained!’ Sora rejoiced.
“I see… I would absolutely like to hear all the details, but before that── could you tell me your name?”
“Apology: This machine doesn’t have a name. Sorry”
Sora asked for the name of his saviour, but she just lowered her head.
“Disclosure: This unit’s serial number is Ec001Bf9Ö48a2. Title: Alt Ymir Cluster Eine, (Former E Cluster Commanding Unit)”
… These guys have some troublesome specifications from time to time.
“Ah… That’s too long, so I’ll just call you ‘Emiline’, is that fine?
“..............................”
… hmmm… was that no good?
There was a long silence, and just when Sora was starting to feel uneasy:
“Registration: As of right now this unit is ‘Emiline’. Pleased to make your acquaintance.”
Emiline bowed her head very deeply. Sora and Shiro felt uncomfortable at that and tilted their heads.
“Disclosure: I shall expand on the Irregular’s explanation. The Great War devastated the Ex-Machina.”
However, Emiline raised her head again, and continued disinterestedly:
“Continuation: Final battle damage report. From the 4807 units that were caught in the collision between ‘Godstrike’ and ‘The allied forces’ full power’, only 5 units remained including this one, while the rest evaporated. Then, from the 9177 units that fought against Artosh’s forces, 99.9% were lost. 28 units avoided irreversible destruction. Moreover, all the remaining units lost some of their memories, records, personality, etc. Serious malfunctions occurred one after another. The presumed cause is that, due to the illogical operations performed when the Quintessence was destroyed, there was an accumulation of errors──”
What she talked about was ── the price of killing a god. It was an unimaginable price. The race that, in theory, became infinitely strong and destroyed half of the Flügel challenged a god with close to 15000 units and killed him, but only 28 of those units survived.
Sora and the others made weird sounds with their throats when they heard that absurdity, but she didn’t pay them any mind:
“Conclusion: Due to degradation over time, there are only 13 units currently operating.”
Thus, only the Ex-Machinas that were right there remained. Emiline continued:
“Main issue: The Ex-Machina’s ‘reproduction mechanisms’ are currently operational. However, due to the aforementioned errors, a ‘hardware lock’ occurred on every unit of the race. They reject reproduction with anyone but a ‘compatible person’.”
── ‘I see’. Sora made a small nod, and muttered:
“... That’s not good”
“Assent: This is not good”
Emiline imitated him like that, but Sora and Shiro just looked at each other in relief. The worst possible outcome they envisioned when their smartphone rang was that their strongest enemy had uncovered their identity and plans and come to attack them, but it looks like that wasn’t the case… maybe.
Both Einzig’s alliance declaration and Emiline’s request for cooperation are literally just that.
‘To avoid the extinction of us Ex-Machina that can’t reproduce, we wish to cooperate with you as allies.’ Or something like that.
Of course they'd be troubled if the Ex-Machina were destroyed. Even ignoring everything else, they wouldn’t be able to sleep at night. And that’s not all, if their Race Piece was lost, then this world would become impossible to clear.
What’s more, the ‘Spatial overwrite’ that the Ex-Machina had just shown them was the best ‘all-purpose stage and special effects apparatus’. If they became allies, then the problem of Holou’s next liveshow would be completely solved. There is no reason to refuse to cooperate. Or there shouldn’t be… however...
“..........................”
Sora still had multiple concerns that weren’t alleviated yet, so he couldn’t answer immediately and fell into silence.
First of all, the question he’s had since the moment they appeared: Why now? And why does it have to be us?
The Ex-Machina’s behaviour and words were also baffling: What is the willful Spieler? The one they loved? Their master?
“Metaphor: A puppy getting soaked in the rain. A precarious situation. Poor thing. Would Master abandon it?”
“── No. Well, I think I wouldn’t… but…”
Sora was being very cautious, but Emiline just nodded with an “I’m glad”. And then, with a calm smile ──but also with lifeless eyes── she continued:
“Frank statement: If you don’t make babies with this unit, this unit will die.”
“So right after the perverted handsome guy, next is a mentally ill beautiful girl? Don’t threaten me!!”
When his precious ally with common sense suddenly betrayed him, Sora screamed in grief.
“Actually, how would I even make babies with a machine? How do the Ex-Machina reproduce!?”
Sora took Shiro under his arm, hid behind Jibril, and asked the biggest question.
Please tell me there is no need to ‘cultivate our love’ with a homo robot!
When Jibril heard him ask that question from behind her back, she answered as if she was just remembering something:
“If I were to briefly describe the Ex-Machina’s method: Two different units would connect their ‘reproduction mechanisms’, compare their data, and create a new unit based on what the next generation needs… Or at least, that’s the mechanism I remember...”
“Then isn’t that impossible unless it’s between Ex-Machinas!?”
“Denial: We have succeeded in observing the soul. Even if we use the data, or soul, of someone who’s not an Ex-Machina there won’t be a problem”
… S-so it’s like that. Jibril had also said that she could kind of give birth to Sora’s child. Was it something similar?
The Seiren’s reproduction method was also like that, but in their case, they said that they mixed the souls.
“... Then, how would you read the ‘data’? It’s not a mechanical method right?”
Sora asked to relieve his uneasiness. Would it be something like getting dissected by aliens and getting some strange equipment attached to him?
Emiline reliably nodded in response as if to calm him down, and answered:
“Boast: A hole was assembled for Master’s exclusive use. Normal sexual intercourse would suffice.”
“On the contrary, why did you make it like that? Make it a little bit more mechanical!”
Why is everyone… in this world so… extreme!
“Answer: It is an update that came from contemplating the past. It has excellent performance. Probably.”
── ‘Just what had happened in the past that made them contemplate that?’ Sora swallowed that doubt.
“Addendum: Originally, we were going to imitate an Imanity woman’s hole. However, our observation data was insufficient. Therefore, we adopted a real-time feedback system based on Master’s responses to stimulus. We are able to change our internal structure’s strength, pressure, viscosity, temperature, fake pulse, fake perspiration, etc. to the optimum value in real time. We assembled holes specializing in providing the most pleasure.”
………….
“Seduction: It is, of course, brand new. Will you try it?”
────
“... Nii… why did you… suddenly get quiet…?”
“Me!? I didn’t get quiet!? I didn’t waver in the slightest!?”
Sora became agitated because of Shiro’s gaze, and screamed that.
“Unit! Do you want to netorare my beloved Spieler, even though I’m the ‘All linking and commanding unit, Einzig’?”
“I’m not yours to begin with, I’ll stick you into the wall, you piece of junk!!”
Einzig screamed suddenly in fear, and Sora responded with a scream of his own.
“Agreement: Who to make love with is Master’s choice.”
“You can say that even though you used a threat to take away my right to choose just a little while ago!? … Wait. Don’t tell me that this guy too──”
While Sora was also screaming at Emiline, a thought he didn’t want to think about surfaced on the back of his mind.
… Einzig. Does this guy… have one too…? A hole.
“Ah, calm down, my beloved Spieler. This unit doesn’t have a hole. It has a p──”
“AHHHH shut up!! I don’t want to hear it, I don’t want to know!! Actually, I told you to go back!”
── And thus, the updated situation is as follows:
The Ex-Machina’s reproduction mechanisms were ‘hardware locked’ to what they called the Spieler.
In other words, it would only accept Sora. And what’s more, the way to do it was, uhmmm… that.
However, there were still questions remaining. Why──
“Wait just a second, please!”
After coming this far, Steph finally broke her silence, and put a stop to them.
“In short, you want to reproduce through… i-intercourse… right!? But why with Sora?”
“Oh Steph! That’s it!! The retort I’ve been waiting for!!”
That was the question that hadn’t been answered yet. Why now, and why Sora?
Had there been no other ‘compatible person’ during the 6000 years that they’ve been on the verge of extinction for?
As Sora thought of that, Steph made eye contact with him, made a big nod── and said!!
“I’ll guarantee it ── this man is the worst, you know!? Why are you losing your minds over Sora!?!”
“That isn’t the retort I’d been waiting for!!”
“Or rather, Dola-chan, you just insulted my Master in front of me… You must have a death wish♥”
“... Then… Nii… could you… stop grinning… for no reason?”
“Wh-whaaaat!? No, ehm, you see── when did I grin!?”
Like that, Sora’s group started to argue amongst themselves like usual, but──
“Repetition: the previously mentioned errors are the cause of the ‘hardware lock’”
“We Ex-Machina call those errors── ‘Heart’...”
Sora listened carefully to Emiline and Einzig’s quiet voices and──
“... ‘Heart’... you say?” Sora spilled those few words as he lent an ear to the eleven Ex-Machinas’── to those machines with hearts’── meek silence and to the words explaining the origin of that heart.
“In the first place, we Ex-Machinas are just machines… we originally didn’t have a ‘heart’”
“Denial: Accurately speaking, we are not even machines.”
Einzig made a bitter smile as if to say ‘I guess that’s right’ at Emiline’s correction.
His behaviour was so human, it was as if he had forgotten that he was a machine. He continued:
“Machines are ‘tools’. Tools are created for a purpose, but… we are different”
“Affirmation: To respond to harm. Regardless of the target’s nature or numbers. Passively. Just dealing with it. Just existing. Only that. No different from plants. Meaninglessly. With no purpose. Nothing…”
…………
“On the last days of the Great War, we synchronized with a unit we call The Prayer, and shared the ‘heart’ it had obtained.”
All the Ex-Machinas nodded at once, supporting Einzing’s words.
Sora had no way of knowing what had happened to them, but──
“── And well, that Prayer was completely in love with a certain man.”
Once again, all the Ex-Machinas nodded in synchrony… but… hm?
… No, wait a second.
The meekness they had before vanished like mist. Einzig upped the intensity, and continued:
“We synchronized with The Prayer and shared her ‘heart’! Then, what happened to us Ex-Machinas is obvious!!”
“... erm… all units fell completely in love with that man… right?”
The Ex-Machinas nodded together for the third time at Sora. They had gone from meek to weird,
“And thus, our reproduction mechanism was locked and won’t accept anyone but our beloved man!!”
“Assertion: It absolutely rejects making babies with anyone other than Master. It’s physiologically impossible. Sorry.”
And when they nodded together for the fourth time, it was already nothing more than a gag.
In other words:
“The Ex-Machinas don’t want to reproduce with anyone other than that man. Therefore you are not reproducing, is that right?” Steph said, voicing everyone’s opinion.
“Doing that while you are on the verge of extinction is simply stupid!!” Sora screamed, but Einzig was already getting uncomfortably close with a smile:
“There’s no problem. After all, I was able to meet you again after 6000 years… my beloved Spieler”
“Isn’t this just a case of mistaken identity?!! Forget about me not having been born yet, that was even before the birth of civilization right!?”
Einzig put his hand on Sora’s chin and professed his love, but Sora shook it off, and kept screaming:
“Jibril! Were the Ex-Machina always like this!? These guys can’t see reality!!”
“Be it observing, analysing── or even fighting, they were almost as good as me with a single unit. They are supposed to be extremely excellent enemies…”
But unexpectedly, it seems that the most bewildered one was Jibril.
“... is it retribution for killing a god?... I do not want to believe that we had a hard time fighting this…”
The words that Jibril muttered at empty space did not reach Sora’s ears but──
“You don’t need to be shy, my beloved Spieler. Our analysis is not wrong.”
“Doesn’t the fact that your analysis says that I’m embarrassed already make it wrong!? What are you basing this on!?”
The android had made a contradiction in just a single sentence. He could be said to be a transcendental piece of junk, in a bad way. He answered Sora’s question with a nod:
“Many things. First of all, your physical appearance is── hmm. Unfortunately, it’s not very similar. My beloved Spieler was a more handsome man… However, even though the flow of time may be cruel, my love will not waver!”
── Is this guy picking a fight? If that’s what you want, then just say it! Sora raged, and this time it was Emiline’s ── no ── all the Ex-Machina’s analysis that was reported:
“Report: The individual ‘Sora’ and the ‘Spieler’’s sample data are a 96.23...% match.”
However, when he heard that conclusion, Sora unintentionally smiled. He didn’t know what kind of superb calculations they had carried out but── probability is nothing more than an empty theory.
If you calculate something using only existing information, your answer will be nothing more than a ‘maybe’. Sora wanted to laugh at that worthless calculation, but in the end he didn’t because──
“However, things like logic are only resources. In the end, they are nothing more than worthless puzzle games” Einzig said.
──── Wh….what…?
A machine── a computer, of all things, had stolen his words and made him doubt his ears.
Then, the computer that had rejected both logic and math made an illogical and passionate statement:
“There are no zeroes or hundreds in probability theory. Even if you make an infinite amount of calculations, you will get a 99.999…% at most! A single piece of unknown information could overturn it! We think it’s quite an incomplete tool.”
“... y-yes… th-that’s right. If you understand──” Sora barely managed to answer, as his mouth was flapping open and closed like a fish out of water.
Even though he had reached for Shiro, who was on his lap, he still had a faint face. However:
“In that case then, what is the one thing I can ultimately believe in, my beloved Spieler?”
Einzig said so passionately and eloquently that his artificial teeth glinted,
“My ‘heart’ and what it has decided: That you are him, the one we’ve been waiting for!!” Einzig concluded and put a hand on his chest, but Sora just gulped.
… Ahh. That’s exactly it.
In truth, ‘certain things’ don’t exist in this world. If we assume that, despite this, there are still things you can believe in, then there’s just one possibility:
── That they are things you just want to believe in.
It’s fine if you rephrase that as wanting to have faith instead. In ideals, or feelings, or wishes too. That’s right, it’s just what your ‘heart’ tells you. Only that.
It’s also an answer one can only arrive at by arbitrarily believing in it.
A race of machines, avatars of logic, had arrived at that conclusion── Sora simply couldn’t understand it. The Ex-Machina seemed limitless, as expected. That interaction and ability to learn had even made him remember his fear, but…
──── They had the wrong person.
That was that. That was the pure truth. Clearly a misunderstanding.
Isn’t it sad? The answers given by the heart are often wrong.
Sora thought about that cruel truth as he looked into the distance.
“Inquiry: Master currently doesn’t want to make babies with this unit. What marvellous self-control. Amazing.”
Emiline said, as she and the other robo maids behind her approached.
“No? I reaaaally want to do it, I’m also a man after all. Of course I want to combine with a mecha girl!”
“... denied, rejected… vetoed, dismissed… it’s 18+...”
Sora spilled his true intentions without meaning to, but Shiro’s rejection left no room for arguing; he had been denied.
However, if they persistently refused, the Ex-Machina would perish. Plus, taking Holou into consideration, it was pretty difficult to give up on an omnipotent special effects machine.
Sora and Shiro were lost in thought trying to figure out what to do about this sudden problem──
“Hmm… so you keep being shy no matter what we do, my beloved Spieler.”
“It’s completely out of the question if it’s with you! I keep telling you to go back!!”
Sora screamed, and Einzig continued with a ‘well then’──
“All of us challenge you to a game.”
── A game.
When Sora and Shiro heard that word, their eyes narrowed like blades.
“If we win, then you shall have the duty to choose ‘only one unit’ from among us and make babies with it.”
“... And if I win?”
“Yes! We shall grant you the right to choose ‘only one unit’ from among us and make babies with it.”
“They are both the same!?”
Sora screamed, but he exchanged a look with Shiro. He was smiling fearlessly in his mind.
“Wait, S-Sora! Isn’t this just as if they had come to attack us in the end!?”
“I don’t think my Masters will lose, but I’m afraid the Ex-Machina are──”
Steph and Jibril were both asking: can you win?
But he only sent them a smile, and answered:
“Well that’s fine… However, Shiro and I will play together. I also want to alter the bet…”
Well… if you think about it, it was a simple, yet convenient, development. In short, he just had to make the Ex-Machina pledge to unlock the lock on their reproduction mechanisms. Since it was a lock put in place by their ‘hearts’ in the first place, the compelling power of the pledges could release it. With this, they would avoid extinction. Furthermore, if they also made them pledge to help with the special effects, then everything would be solved.
── They feared ‘the worst’, but it has already passed.
‘Sora and Shiro’s identity and plan had not been revealed.’── or rather, the Ex-Machina even had the wrong person.
In that case even if it was against the Ex-Machina it wasn’t impossible for Blank to win.
“I’m sorry, my beloved Spieler but── we refuse”
But with Einzig’s words, Blank was cut apart.
“Only you shall participate in the game. As for us, all the Ex-Machinas shall make a cluster and calculate in parallel against you.”
……….what?
“We shall also decide the contents of the game.”
Einzig said, then Emiline extended her hand and announced the name of the game.
The game the Ex-Machina had decided on appeared. It was formed by polygons floating in the air. It was──
“Lesen: ──Game 001 ‘Chess’──”
………..hey.
Like that, Sora forced himself to smile while enduring a headache. Then he confirmed with the two Ex-Machinas:
“Hey… Let me confirm things one more time. The one that was challenged was me── right?”
“Indeed. It’s as you say.”
“Also, the Ex-Machinas are on the verge of extinction, so you need my cooperation. I’m the only one who can help── correct?”
“Affirmation: There is nothing wrong with what you said”
── The Fifth Pledge: The challenged party shall have the right to decide the specifics of the game.
“I should be the one deciding the specifics of the game!! And actually, you are the ones asking me to play a game to please make babies with you! You should be the ones lowering your heads, so why are you so high and mighty!?”
Sora howled, tearing his hair out. But the answer he got was just:
“Question: The one who would be troubled if the Ex-Machina go extinct is Master. We have the initiative. Objections?” Emiline said, tilting her head in puzzlement.
“Sora～? This has to be a misread, right? Or actually, aren’t you at a complete loss!?” Steph asked in a falsetto voice, but Sora didn’t feel like answering.
── Even if he and Shiro challenged them as Blank, it was uncertain that they’d win.
Their opponents could even make illogical calculations. They were above oracle machines or even hyper computers── they were transcendental computers.
And they were telling Sora to go against that by himself? And what’s more, at chess? A game in which they could calculate the best possible move? Their intent was obvious:
── ‘Agree to a game that you will certainly lose. If you don’t I’ll perish together with my entire race.’
That’s right: it was a threat. They used their own lives as a shield to coerce him into a loss. It was a move that wasn’t totally unexpected. Coincidentally, the other day a certain someone who was getting embarrassed behind him had used that same move not too long ago.
However ──They are going to use their own race’s extinction as a shield── you say?
Even though Sora expected it, dealing with it was impossible. It was a perfect, beautiful set up. So… come on──!?
“With a set up this nasty, are you guys sure you want to demand just that!?”
── The Ex-Machina had challenged the unchallengeable: they had forced Sora to accept their disadvantageous demands without suitable bait!
Any demand was possible. In fact, they could even make them bet Imanity’s piece! And what they used that set up for was… this stupid demand without even a specific date and time…?
“Ahhh please forgive me, my beloved Spieler… You being shy and not accepting was within our expectations!”
Einzig said, as his fist trembled, crying manly tears.
“But this is so that you become more honest! It’s because of love that we shall even become demons!!”
Sora frustratedly said: ‘well whatever’ and clicked his tongue inside his head.
“Jibril, please bring a table and some chairs. I will accept this game.”
── Is that really fine? Not knowing the answer to that, Jibril simply bowed.
She disappeared for an instant, and came back with a table and chairs. Sora sat in one and said:
“However, I’ll go first. Furthermore, I’ll have you alter the demand for the case that I win.”
It was a game he didn’t feel he could win at all anyways── in that case:
“If I win, you will unlock your reproduction mechanisms immediately. You will discard your foolish conviction of not making babies with anyone else and reproduce at once. Also, you will be used for the liveshow’s special effects── is that okay?”
Sora had predicted that they’d agree no matter how much he overcharged them. Confirming that prediction, Einzig sat at the table as if he was imitating Sora, with a smile:
“We shall accept. However, we shall also make a few demands of our own. If you do not mind──”
‘A few’ Einzig said, and together with him, all the Ex-Machinas raised their hand.
“... Nii…?”
Then, Shiro looked up at Sora uneasily, Sora looked into her eyes and also raised his hand with a fierce smile.
“You’re underestimating me… Don’t think that I’ll let you win so easily, you piece of junk”
Sora said. Then, 13 Ex-Machinas and one Imanity declared together:
── “Aschente”......
■■■
Meanwhile to the far west of Elika, on the Vallar continent.
On a land that had been the Elven Garde State of Tyrnog until the other day.
Thanks to Sora’s schemes, all the residents had been evicted, and now, with the arrival of the Elkian fleet, it would become an empty territory of theirs. And in the skies of that territory, there was a gigantic land── a floating city.
It was built on the Phantasma: Avant Heim’s back, it was the city of the Flügels.
It was made of innumerable cubes piled up high forming tall buildings that seemed to be intertwined. In a corner of that city:
“... Av-kun… would you listen to what has been troubling me recently nya?...”
There was a girl with jade colored hair with a horn growing out of it, and different colored eyes. She also had a broken halo on her head.
The first specimen of the Flügel: Azriel was talking with the Phantasma inside her.
She was the representative of Avant Heim’s government: the Council of Eighteen Wings. And what’s more, if one included the Phantasma housed inside her, she was also a designated representative. Right now, that important girl was inside a deep darkness, a place where the stacked cubes covered all sunlight──
“I feel like… everyone hates me now nya. Is it just my imagination nya?”
── Caught in between the gaps of the cubes, she was crying tears of loneliness in the dark.
Since gravity, space, and other laws of physics don’t apply to the Flügel, they don’t even have the concept of infrastructure. In the city where those Flügel live, there’s not even a reason to think that things like roads or stairs would be necessary.
But because of the game with Sora and the others, Azriel was “bound” to the limits of an Imanity.
Azriel had just been walking in a good mood, carrying a lot of books on her own, when… She finally realized that if one missed a step they’d fall down, even though that was an obvious fact of nature. While she was at it, she also came to know that falling from a tall place hurt like death, and that if you fell into narrow crevices, you couldn’t get out.
It was a day full of discoveries, but Azriel was crying because of it. In response to Azriel’s question, ‘Av-kun’’s voice answered from inside her:
── ‘I find it difficult to understand feelings of love or hate’
Phantasmas. Originally, even their sense of self was hazy. He continued with a ‘but’:
── ‘If you are having those doubts, then I’d guess that you’re right’
………… Okay.
“... Okay, I understand nya… As I thought, everyone hates me nya. After all──”
She said, and for an instant, she had a small smile accepting everything,
“Why is no one coming to help me nyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!?”
Azriel screamed and scattered her tears from that dark crevice.
“There’s no way you can’t hear me nya!? There were also some girls who saw me fall nya! I even heard them say ‘Ah (lol)’ nya!! I’m your elder sister, and the leader of the Flügel nya!? Someone help me nyaaaa!!”
It was silent, her only answer was the pressure from the walls, but suddenly Azriel smiled and thought:
‘No── I get it. All the Flügels are currently busy.’
── The former Elf city had become Elkia’s territory.
More accurately, according to the wording of the Pledge it was Sora and Shiro’s possesion.
The evicted Elves had left behind a large amount of books, but even though the Flügels were salivating at that, they couldn’t ‘steal’ them.
Using that fact, Sora and Shiro made the following proposition to the Flügels:
“We will exchange each original book for a copy plus a book explaining the workings of the Elves’ facilities. It will be on a first come first served basis!”
What’s more, he even added a time limit: they had until the reclamation fleets from Imanity and the Warbeasts arrived.
Sora and the others would obtain the same amount of books, plus something something that Imanity didn’t understand: the way to use the city of the Elves.
“... Sora-kun was splendid, he’s even using the girls that were uncooperative towards them nya… how scary nya”
She honestly admired them. It was par for course that the Flügel were busy. However──
“Is helping me really that much of a bother nya!? Do you girls really not have even 2 seconds for me nyaa?!!”
── She was convinced. Everyone hated her.
Azriel had already decided that her grave would be there, in the depths of the city, however:
“Sigh… There’s no hope or salvation in this world nya. In the end, everyone is alone in the darkness called despair nya”
She said, looking poetic and melancholic, and shriveled up just like that.
“... For someone of Senpai’s standing, that was quite poetic… Did you hit your head too?”
Azriel raised her head when she heard that voice. There was a light in the darkness called despair.
The literal angel continued as she walked towards Azriel:
“No, it looks like you hit your whole body. Well that doesn’t matter. In any case I’d been searching around for a long time”
“J-Jib-nyan… Did you come looking for your big sister nya…!?”
“Yes. Well, without meaning to. I don’t want to waste too much time though…” Jibril said, and teleported Azriel out of the building without difficulty.
Azriel corrected herself and apologized to the world she had cursed.
None other than her most beloved youngest sister had come to help──!!
“So there was hope and salvation nya, and right here nya! The world is full of ligh── nigya!?”
As she cried tears of gratitude, Azriel jumped towards Jibril, but just like that she went face first through the opposing wall.
“So it was here after all?... Seriously, what a big waste of time…”
As if it was a completely natural thing to do, Jibril had evaded her using spatial teleportation. She then sighed with a single book in her hand.
That was one of the books Azriel had been carrying before falling, no doubt──
“.......................nya? Eh?”
Azriel tilted her head dumbfoundedly.
‘Eh? Eh?’ Her brain refused to accept that and kept going around in circles.
“...uhmm… huh? Jib-nyan… you came looking for me… nya?
“Yes. I heard that Senpai had been carrying this book when she tripped and fell── ah I see. I’m sorry. Maybe I wasn’t clear, let me apologize and correct myself.”
She smiled and ahh… Jibril had a smile truly befitting an angel, and with her next words,
“I was looking for this book. I wasn’t looking for Senpai, I didn’t have plans to look for anything else ♥”
──The world fell into darkness once more.
‘I was lifted up and then dropped down. Nyaha～... This world is rotten after all nya…’ Azriel thought.
“Well then, I’ve already made my Masters wait for too long, so if you’ll excuse me”
“Nya～ Wait nya～ Jib-nyan please nya! At least bring me up──” Azriel said, as Jibril made her preparations for long distance teleportation. She had been begging in tears when suddenly:
“............... Jib-nyan. Why were you looking for that book nya?”
Azriel cut off her own words, narrowed her eyes, and asked that.
That was a copy of an ancient Dwarven book.
Since she was unable to forget anything, Azriel remembered its contents to the letter──
“Some troublesome dolls appeared, so I wondered if it might have some useful hints for my Master. I’ll read it again just in case.”
── That’s right. It was a description of the Ex-Machina. Jibril left her with the reason why she had been looking for that.
And then── Jibril disappeared as if she had melted into empty space.
………….
Once again, there was a Flügel left alone in the dark depths of the city.
“... Nya～? … Those scraps… are in Elkia nya～...”
It was a voice that resounded from somewhere deeper than those depths, and a smile that threw a shadow darker than that darkness.
She was like a different person. She was the leader of the Flugel, and as if he was acting in concert with her, Avant Heim shook. Even though they were in the sky, there was a rumbling in the ground. It was almost as if the sound was tinged with bottomless malice.
With her emotions swirling and whirling so much one could clearly see it, the leader of the Flügel said a single word:
“──────── Assemble nya”
── Immediately, all the Flügels except for Jibril teleported there and kneeled.
This was different from ‘Azriel’’s begging and requests from just before.
They were weapons made by a god, to be fired by a god. It was an order from the first of those wings── ‘The First Specimen’.
Her orders were straightforward:
“We will teleport to Elkia together with Avant Heim── all hands, get ready nya”
It was a mass easily larger than that of a single island, and she was telling them to teleport it all to the continent across the sea.
Even though the Flügel were crazy that was an even crazier order, but there wasn’t a single objection and everyone began their preparations.
Then, she alone:
“... Jib-nyan. Av-kun and I want to meet those scrap dolls nya.”
Azriel muttered with a scary smile, and as if agreeing with her, Avant Heim raised his voice too. It was a voice like a whale’s cry, it was supposed to be pleasant but right now, it was a howl that paralyzed those who heard it.
“I’ll just talk to them a liiitle bit nya… I expect it to be a very amusing talk nya.”
… That’s right. She hoped to have an amusing talk, if possible.
Even Azriel had finally started to have fun with a lot of different things. She didn’t want to be the first to antagonize Elkia, Sora and more importantly Jibril. She wanted this to end in an amicable way if possible. Well, of course──
“If it is a ‘boring talk’── I’ll kill them so that not even a single speck of dust remains nya♥”
… If she can, however────────
She was wearing maid clothes like the others and looked like a human girl in her mid teens── but she was actually a machine. She had a very doll like and well featured face── one could somehow tell that it was artificial. Her iris colored hair cascaded down as she lowered her head. She respectfully held the hem of her skirt, bowed, and continued:
“Apology: Serious bugs have been observed in some units”
“Ahh, it’s serious all right. So serious that the law should get involved, but── you finished him off just now…”
Sora couldn’t see it, but she probably kicked him into the wall. The spasming half-naked pervert, Einzig. Decorating the wall with that is in terrible taste, Sora thought.
… Isn’t that against the Pledges? Was that with consent?
“Annotation: The Ex-Machinas are linked together── A unit in the ‘Cluster’ has no individuality. There is nothing within the Pledges forbidding self-injury. This unit’s leg just coincidentally touched him. It was just an unfortunate accident. This unit is not at fault.”
… Is it something like trying to teach a set of computers that calculate in parallel what a ‘single computer’ is? In any case, there was consent among the Ex-Machina── therefore, there was no problem.
The machine girl that had done him the favor of removing that troublesome pervert kept speaking:
“Business: Request for cooperation. Our objective: ‘Preventing the Ex-Machina’s extinction’”
──‘Ah! A savior finally explained!’ Sora rejoiced.
“I see… I would absolutely like to hear all the details, but before that── could you tell me your name?”
“Apology: This machine doesn’t have a name. Sorry”
Sora asked for the name of his saviour, but she just lowered her head.
“Disclosure: This unit’s serial number is Ec001Bf9Ö48a2. Title: Alt Ymir Cluster Eine, (Former E Cluster Commanding Unit)”
… These guys have some troublesome specifications from time to time.
“Ah… That’s too long, so I’ll just call you ‘Emiline’, is that fine?
“..............................”
… hmmm… was that no good?
There was a long silence, and just when Sora was starting to feel uneasy:
“Registration: As of right now this unit is ‘Emiline’. Pleased to make your acquaintance.”
Emiline bowed her head very deeply. Sora and Shiro felt uncomfortable at that and tilted their heads.
“Disclosure: I shall expand on the Irregular’s explanation. The Great War devastated the Ex-Machina.”
However, Emiline raised her head again, and continued disinterestedly:
“Continuation: Final battle damage report. From the 4807 units that were caught in the collision between ‘Godstrike’ and ‘The allied forces’ full power’, only 5 units remained including this one, while the rest evaporated. Then, from the 9177 units that fought against Artosh’s forces, 99.9% were lost. 28 units avoided irreversible destruction. Moreover, all the remaining units lost some of their memories, records, personality, etc. Serious malfunctions occurred one after another. The presumed cause is that, due to the illogical operations performed when the Quintessence was destroyed, there was an accumulation of errors──”
What she talked about was ── the price of killing a god. It was an unimaginable price. The race that, in theory, became infinitely strong and destroyed half of the Flügel challenged a god with close to 15000 units and killed him, but only 28 of those units survived.
Sora and the others made weird sounds with their throats when they heard that absurdity, but she didn’t pay them any mind:
“Conclusion: Due to degradation over time, there are only 13 units currently operating.”
Thus, only the Ex-Machinas that were right there remained. Emiline continued:
“Main issue: The Ex-Machina’s ‘reproduction mechanisms’ are currently operational. However, due to the aforementioned errors, a ‘hardware lock’ occurred on every unit of the race. They reject reproduction with anyone but a ‘compatible person’.”
── ‘I see’. Sora made a small nod, and muttered:
“... That’s not good”
“Assent: This is not good”
Emiline imitated him like that, but Sora and Shiro just looked at each other in relief. The worst possible outcome they envisioned when their smartphone rang was that their strongest enemy had uncovered their identity and plans and come to attack them, but it looks like that wasn’t the case… maybe.
Both Einzig’s alliance declaration and Emiline’s request for cooperation are literally just that.
‘To avoid the extinction of us Ex-Machina that can’t reproduce, we wish to cooperate with you as allies.’ Or something like that.
Of course they'd be troubled if the Ex-Machina were destroyed. Even ignoring everything else, they wouldn’t be able to sleep at night. And that’s not all, if their Race Piece was lost, then this world would become impossible to clear.
What’s more, the ‘Spatial overwrite’ that the Ex-Machina had just shown them was the best ‘all-purpose stage and special effects apparatus’. If they became allies, then the problem of Holou’s next liveshow would be completely solved. There is no reason to refuse to cooperate. Or there shouldn’t be… however...
“..........................”
Sora still had multiple concerns that weren’t alleviated yet, so he couldn’t answer immediately and fell into silence.
First of all, the question he’s had since the moment they appeared: Why now? And why does it have to be us?
The Ex-Machina’s behaviour and words were also baffling: What is the willful Spieler? The one they loved? Their master?
“Metaphor: A puppy getting soaked in the rain. A precarious situation. Poor thing. Would Master abandon it?”
“── No. Well, I think I wouldn’t… but…”
Sora was being very cautious, but Emiline just nodded with an “I’m glad”. And then, with a calm smile ──but also with lifeless eyes── she continued:
“Frank statement: If you don’t make babies with this unit, this unit will die.”
“So right after the perverted handsome guy, next is a mentally ill beautiful girl? Don’t threaten me!!”
When his precious ally with common sense suddenly betrayed him, Sora screamed in grief.
“Actually, how would I even make babies with a machine? How do the Ex-Machina reproduce!?”
Sora took Shiro under his arm, hid behind Jibril, and asked the biggest question.
Please tell me there is no need to ‘cultivate our love’ with a homo robot!
When Jibril heard him ask that question from behind her back, she answered as if she was just remembering something:
“If I were to briefly describe the Ex-Machina’s method: Two different units would connect their ‘reproduction mechanisms’, compare their data, and create a new unit based on what the next generation needs… Or at least, that’s the mechanism I remember...”
“Then isn’t that impossible unless it’s between Ex-Machinas!?”
“Denial: We have succeeded in observing the soul. Even if we use the data, or soul, of someone who’s not an Ex-Machina there won’t be a problem”
… S-so it’s like that. Jibril had also said that she could kind of give birth to Sora’s child. Was it something similar?
The Seiren’s reproduction method was also like that, but in their case, they said that they mixed the souls.
“... Then, how would you read the ‘data’? It’s not a mechanical method right?”
Sora asked to relieve his uneasiness. Would it be something like getting dissected by aliens and getting some strange equipment attached to him?
Emiline reliably nodded in response as if to calm him down, and answered:
“Boast: A hole was assembled for Master’s exclusive use. Normal sexual intercourse would suffice.”
“On the contrary, why did you make it like that? Make it a little bit more mechanical!”
Why is everyone… in this world so… extreme!
“Answer: It is an update that came from contemplating the past. It has excellent performance. Probably.”
── ‘Just what had happened in the past that made them contemplate that?’ Sora swallowed that doubt.
“Addendum: Originally, we were going to imitate an Imanity woman’s hole. However, our observation data was insufficient. Therefore, we adopted a real-time feedback system based on Master’s responses to stimulus. We are able to change our internal structure’s strength, pressure, viscosity, temperature, fake pulse, fake perspiration, etc. to the optimum value in real time. We assembled holes specializing in providing the most pleasure.”
………….
“Seduction: It is, of course, brand new. Will you try it?”
────
“... Nii… why did you… suddenly get quiet…?”
“Me!? I didn’t get quiet!? I didn’t waver in the slightest!?”
Sora became agitated because of Shiro’s gaze, and screamed that.
“Unit! Do you want to netorare my beloved Spieler, even though I’m the ‘All linking and commanding unit, Einzig’?”
“I’m not yours to begin with, I’ll stick you into the wall, you piece of junk!!”
Einzig screamed suddenly in fear, and Sora responded with a scream of his own.
“Agreement: Who to make love with is Master’s choice.”
“You can say that even though you used a threat to take away my right to choose just a little while ago!? … Wait. Don’t tell me that this guy too──”
While Sora was also screaming at Emiline, a thought he didn’t want to think about surfaced on the back of his mind.
… Einzig. Does this guy… have one too…? A hole.
“Ah, calm down, my beloved Spieler. This unit doesn’t have a hole. It has a p──”
“AHHHH shut up!! I don’t want to hear it, I don’t want to know!! Actually, I told you to go back!”
── And thus, the updated situation is as follows:
The Ex-Machina’s reproduction mechanisms were ‘hardware locked’ to what they called the Spieler.
In other words, it would only accept Sora. And what’s more, the way to do it was, uhmmm… that.
However, there were still questions remaining. Why──
“Wait just a second, please!”
After coming this far, Steph finally broke her silence, and put a stop to them.
“In short, you want to reproduce through… i-intercourse… right!? But why with Sora?”
“Oh Steph! That’s it!! The retort I’ve been waiting for!!”
That was the question that hadn’t been answered yet. Why now, and why Sora?
Had there been no other ‘compatible person’ during the 6000 years that they’ve been on the verge of extinction for?
As Sora thought of that, Steph made eye contact with him, made a big nod── and said!!
“I’ll guarantee it ── this man is the worst, you know!? Why are you losing your minds over Sora!?!”
“That isn’t the retort I’d been waiting for!!”
“Or rather, Dola-chan, you just insulted my Master in front of me… You must have a death wish♥”
“... Then… Nii… could you… stop grinning… for no reason?”
“Wh-whaaaat!? No, ehm, you see── when did I grin!?”
Like that, Sora’s group started to argue amongst themselves like usual, but──
“Repetition: the previously mentioned errors are the cause of the ‘hardware lock’”
“We Ex-Machina call those errors── ‘Heart’...”
Sora listened carefully to Emiline and Einzig’s quiet voices and──
“... ‘Heart’... you say?” Sora spilled those few words as he lent an ear to the eleven Ex-Machinas’── to those machines with hearts’── meek silence and to the words explaining the origin of that heart.
“In the first place, we Ex-Machinas are just machines… we originally didn’t have a ‘heart’”
“Denial: Accurately speaking, we are not even machines.”
Einzig made a bitter smile as if to say ‘I guess that’s right’ at Emiline’s correction.
His behaviour was so human, it was as if he had forgotten that he was a machine. He continued:
“Machines are ‘tools’. Tools are created for a purpose, but… we are different”
“Affirmation: To respond to harm. Regardless of the target’s nature or numbers. Passively. Just dealing with it. Just existing. Only that. No different from plants. Meaninglessly. With no purpose. Nothing…”
…………
“On the last days of the Great War, we synchronized with a unit we call The Prayer, and shared the ‘heart’ it had obtained.”
All the Ex-Machinas nodded at once, supporting Einzing’s words.
Sora had no way of knowing what had happened to them, but──
“── And well, that Prayer was completely in love with a certain man.”
Once again, all the Ex-Machinas nodded in synchrony… but… hm?
… No, wait a second.
The meekness they had before vanished like mist. Einzig upped the intensity, and continued:
“We synchronized with The Prayer and shared her ‘heart’! Then, what happened to us Ex-Machinas is obvious!!”
“... erm… all units fell completely in love with that man… right?”
The Ex-Machinas nodded together for the third time at Sora. They had gone from meek to weird,
“And thus, our reproduction mechanism was locked and won’t accept anyone but our beloved man!!”
“Assertion: It absolutely rejects making babies with anyone other than Master. It’s physiologically impossible. Sorry.”
And when they nodded together for the fourth time, it was already nothing more than a gag.
In other words:
“The Ex-Machinas don’t want to reproduce with anyone other than that man. Therefore you are not reproducing, is that right?” Steph said, voicing everyone’s opinion.
“Doing that while you are on the verge of extinction is simply stupid!!” Sora screamed, but Einzig was already getting uncomfortably close with a smile:
“There’s no problem. After all, I was able to meet you again after 6000 years… my beloved Spieler”
“Isn’t this just a case of mistaken identity?!! Forget about me not having been born yet, that was even before the birth of civilization right!?”
Einzig put his hand on Sora’s chin and professed his love, but Sora shook it off, and kept screaming:
“Jibril! Were the Ex-Machina always like this!? These guys can’t see reality!!”
“Be it observing, analysing── or even fighting, they were almost as good as me with a single unit. They are supposed to be extremely excellent enemies…”
But unexpectedly, it seems that the most bewildered one was Jibril.
“... is it retribution for killing a god?... I do not want to believe that we had a hard time fighting this…”
The words that Jibril muttered at empty space did not reach Sora’s ears but──
“You don’t need to be shy, my beloved Spieler. Our analysis is not wrong.”
“Doesn’t the fact that your analysis says that I’m embarrassed already make it wrong!? What are you basing this on!?”
The android had made a contradiction in just a single sentence. He could be said to be a transcendental piece of junk, in a bad way. He answered Sora’s question with a nod:
“Many things. First of all, your physical appearance is── hmm. Unfortunately, it’s not very similar. My beloved Spieler was a more handsome man… However, even though the flow of time may be cruel, my love will not waver!”
── Is this guy picking a fight? If that’s what you want, then just say it! Sora raged, and this time it was Emiline’s ── no ── all the Ex-Machina’s analysis that was reported:
“Report: The individual ‘Sora’ and the ‘Spieler’’s sample data are a 96.23...% match.”
However, when he heard that conclusion, Sora unintentionally smiled. He didn’t know what kind of superb calculations they had carried out but── probability is nothing more than an empty theory.
If you calculate something using only existing information, your answer will be nothing more than a ‘maybe’. Sora wanted to laugh at that worthless calculation, but in the end he didn’t because──
“However, things like logic are only resources. In the end, they are nothing more than worthless puzzle games” Einzig said.
──── Wh….what…?
A machine── a computer, of all things, had stolen his words and made him doubt his ears.
Then, the computer that had rejected both logic and math made an illogical and passionate statement:
“There are no zeroes or hundreds in probability theory. Even if you make an infinite amount of calculations, you will get a 99.999…% at most! A single piece of unknown information could overturn it! We think it’s quite an incomplete tool.”
“... y-yes… th-that’s right. If you understand──” Sora barely managed to answer, as his mouth was flapping open and closed like a fish out of water.
Even though he had reached for Shiro, who was on his lap, he still had a faint face. However:
“In that case then, what is the one thing I can ultimately believe in, my beloved Spieler?”
Einzig said so passionately and eloquently that his artificial teeth glinted,
“My ‘heart’ and what it has decided: That you are him, the one we’ve been waiting for!!” Einzig concluded and put a hand on his chest, but Sora just gulped.
… Ahh. That’s exactly it.
In truth, ‘certain things’ don’t exist in this world. If we assume that, despite this, there are still things you can believe in, then there’s just one possibility:
── That they are things you just want to believe in.
It’s fine if you rephrase that as wanting to have faith instead. In ideals, or feelings, or wishes too. That’s right, it’s just what your ‘heart’ tells you. Only that.
It’s also an answer one can only arrive at by arbitrarily believing in it.
A race of machines, avatars of logic, had arrived at that conclusion── Sora simply couldn’t understand it. The Ex-Machina seemed limitless, as expected. That interaction and ability to learn had even made him remember his fear, but…
──── They had the wrong person.
That was that. That was the pure truth. Clearly a misunderstanding.
Isn’t it sad? The answers given by the heart are often wrong.
Sora thought about that cruel truth as he looked into the distance.
“Inquiry: Master currently doesn’t want to make babies with this unit. What marvellous self-control. Amazing.”
Emiline said, as she and the other robo maids behind her approached.
“No? I reaaaally want to do it, I’m also a man after all. Of course I want to combine with a mecha girl!”
“... denied, rejected… vetoed, dismissed… it’s 18+...”
Sora spilled his true intentions without meaning to, but Shiro’s rejection left no room for arguing; he had been denied.
However, if they persistently refused, the Ex-Machina would perish. Plus, taking Holou into consideration, it was pretty difficult to give up on an omnipotent special effects machine.
Sora and Shiro were lost in thought trying to figure out what to do about this sudden problem──
“Hmm… so you keep being shy no matter what we do, my beloved Spieler.”
“It’s completely out of the question if it’s with you! I keep telling you to go back!!”
Sora screamed, and Einzig continued with a ‘well then’──
“All of us challenge you to a game.”
── A game.
When Sora and Shiro heard that word, their eyes narrowed like blades.
“If we win, then you shall have the duty to choose ‘only one unit’ from among us and make babies with it.”
“... And if I win?”
“Yes! We shall grant you the right to choose ‘only one unit’ from among us and make babies with it.”
“They are both the same!?”
Sora screamed, but he exchanged a look with Shiro. He was smiling fearlessly in his mind.
“Wait, S-Sora! Isn’t this just as if they had come to attack us in the end!?”
“I don’t think my Masters will lose, but I’m afraid the Ex-Machina are──”
Steph and Jibril were both asking: can you win?
But he only sent them a smile, and answered:
“Well that’s fine… However, Shiro and I will play together. I also want to alter the bet…”
Well… if you think about it, it was a simple, yet convenient, development. In short, he just had to make the Ex-Machina pledge to unlock the lock on their reproduction mechanisms. Since it was a lock put in place by their ‘hearts’ in the first place, the compelling power of the pledges could release it. With this, they would avoid extinction. Furthermore, if they also made them pledge to help with the special effects, then everything would be solved.
── They feared ‘the worst’, but it has already passed.
‘Sora and Shiro’s identity and plan had not been revealed.’── or rather, the Ex-Machina even had the wrong person.
In that case even if it was against the Ex-Machina it wasn’t impossible for Blank to win.
“I’m sorry, my beloved Spieler but── we refuse”
But with Einzig’s words, Blank was cut apart.
“Only you shall participate in the game. As for us, all the Ex-Machinas shall make a cluster and calculate in parallel against you.”
……….what?
“We shall also decide the contents of the game.”
Einzig said, then Emiline extended her hand and announced the name of the game.
The game the Ex-Machina had decided on appeared. It was formed by polygons floating in the air. It was──
“Lesen: ──Game 001 ‘Chess’──”
………..hey.
Like that, Sora forced himself to smile while enduring a headache. Then he confirmed with the two Ex-Machinas:
“Hey… Let me confirm things one more time. The one that was challenged was me── right?”
“Indeed. It’s as you say.”
“Also, the Ex-Machinas are on the verge of extinction, so you need my cooperation. I’m the only one who can help── correct?”
“Affirmation: There is nothing wrong with what you said”
── The Fifth Pledge: The challenged party shall have the right to decide the specifics of the game.
“I should be the one deciding the specifics of the game!! And actually, you are the ones asking me to play a game to please make babies with you! You should be the ones lowering your heads, so why are you so high and mighty!?”
Sora howled, tearing his hair out. But the answer he got was just:
“Question: The one who would be troubled if the Ex-Machina go extinct is Master. We have the initiative. Objections?” Emiline said, tilting her head in puzzlement.
“Sora～? This has to be a misread, right? Or actually, aren’t you at a complete loss!?” Steph asked in a falsetto voice, but Sora didn’t feel like answering.
── Even if he and Shiro challenged them as Blank, it was uncertain that they’d win.
Their opponents could even make illogical calculations. They were above oracle machines or even hyper computers── they were transcendental computers.
And they were telling Sora to go against that by himself? And what’s more, at chess? A game in which they could calculate the best possible move? Their intent was obvious:
── ‘Agree to a game that you will certainly lose. If you don’t I’ll perish together with my entire race.’
That’s right: it was a threat. They used their own lives as a shield to coerce him into a loss. It was a move that wasn’t totally unexpected. Coincidentally, the other day a certain someone who was getting embarrassed behind him had used that same move not too long ago.
However ──They are going to use their own race’s extinction as a shield── you say?
Even though Sora expected it, dealing with it was impossible. It was a perfect, beautiful set up. So… come on──!?
“With a set up this nasty, are you guys sure you want to demand just that!?”
── The Ex-Machina had challenged the unchallengeable: they had forced Sora to accept their disadvantageous demands without suitable bait!
Any demand was possible. In fact, they could even make them bet Imanity’s piece! And what they used that set up for was… this stupid demand without even a specific date and time…?
“Ahhh please forgive me, my beloved Spieler… You being shy and not accepting was within our expectations!”
Einzig said, as his fist trembled, crying manly tears.
“But this is so that you become more honest! It’s because of love that we shall even become demons!!”
Sora frustratedly said: ‘well whatever’ and clicked his tongue inside his head.
“Jibril, please bring a table and some chairs. I will accept this game.”
── Is that really fine? Not knowing the answer to that, Jibril simply bowed.
She disappeared for an instant, and came back with a table and chairs. Sora sat in one and said:
“However, I’ll go first. Furthermore, I’ll have you alter the demand for the case that I win.”
It was a game he didn’t feel he could win at all anyways── in that case:
“If I win, you will unlock your reproduction mechanisms immediately. You will discard your foolish conviction of not making babies with anyone else and reproduce at once. Also, you will be used for the liveshow’s special effects── is that okay?”
Sora had predicted that they’d agree no matter how much he overcharged them. Confirming that prediction, Einzig sat at the table as if he was imitating Sora, with a smile:
“We shall accept. However, we shall also make a few demands of our own. If you do not mind──”
‘A few’ Einzig said, and together with him, all the Ex-Machinas raised their hand.
“... Nii…?”
Then, Shiro looked up at Sora uneasily, Sora looked into her eyes and also raised his hand with a fierce smile.
“You’re underestimating me… Don’t think that I’ll let you win so easily, you piece of junk”
Sora said. Then, 13 Ex-Machinas and one Imanity declared together:
── “Aschente”......
■■■
Meanwhile to the far west of Elika, on the Vallar continent.
On a land that had been the Elven Garde State of Tyrnog until the other day.
Thanks to Sora’s schemes, all the residents had been evicted, and now, with the arrival of the Elkian fleet, it would become an empty territory of theirs. And in the skies of that territory, there was a gigantic land── a floating city.
It was built on the Phantasma: Avant Heim’s back, it was the city of the Flügels.
It was made of innumerable cubes piled up high forming tall buildings that seemed to be intertwined. In a corner of that city:
“... Av-kun… would you listen to what has been troubling me recently nya?...”
There was a girl with jade colored hair with a horn growing out of it, and different colored eyes. She also had a broken halo on her head.
The first specimen of the Flügel: Azriel was talking with the Phantasma inside her.
She was the representative of Avant Heim’s government: the Council of Eighteen Wings. And what’s more, if one included the Phantasma housed inside her, she was also a designated representative. Right now, that important girl was inside a deep darkness, a place where the stacked cubes covered all sunlight──
“I feel like… everyone hates me now nya. Is it just my imagination nya?”
── Caught in between the gaps of the cubes, she was crying tears of loneliness in the dark.
Since gravity, space, and other laws of physics don’t apply to the Flügel, they don’t even have the concept of infrastructure. In the city where those Flügel live, there’s not even a reason to think that things like roads or stairs would be necessary.
But because of the game with Sora and the others, Azriel was “bound” to the limits of an Imanity.
Azriel had just been walking in a good mood, carrying a lot of books on her own, when… She finally realized that if one missed a step they’d fall down, even though that was an obvious fact of nature. While she was at it, she also came to know that falling from a tall place hurt like death, and that if you fell into narrow crevices, you couldn’t get out.
It was a day full of discoveries, but Azriel was crying because of it. In response to Azriel’s question, ‘Av-kun’’s voice answered from inside her:
── ‘I find it difficult to understand feelings of love or hate’
Phantasmas. Originally, even their sense of self was hazy. He continued with a ‘but’:
── ‘If you are having those doubts, then I’d guess that you’re right’
………… Okay.
“... Okay, I understand nya… As I thought, everyone hates me nya. After all──”
She said, and for an instant, she had a small smile accepting everything,
“Why is no one coming to help me nyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!?”
Azriel screamed and scattered her tears from that dark crevice.
“There’s no way you can’t hear me nya!? There were also some girls who saw me fall nya! I even heard them say ‘Ah (lol)’ nya!! I’m your elder sister, and the leader of the Flügel nya!? Someone help me nyaaaa!!”
It was silent, her only answer was the pressure from the walls, but suddenly Azriel smiled and thought:
‘No── I get it. All the Flügels are currently busy.’
── The former Elf city had become Elkia’s territory.
More accurately, according to the wording of the Pledge it was Sora and Shiro’s possesion.
The evicted Elves had left behind a large amount of books, but even though the Flügels were salivating at that, they couldn’t ‘steal’ them.
Using that fact, Sora and Shiro made the following proposition to the Flügels:
“We will exchange each original book for a copy plus a book explaining the workings of the Elves’ facilities. It will be on a first come first served basis!”
What’s more, he even added a time limit: they had until the reclamation fleets from Imanity and the Warbeasts arrived.
Sora and the others would obtain the same amount of books, plus something something that Imanity didn’t understand: the way to use the city of the Elves.
“... Sora-kun was splendid, he’s even using the girls that were uncooperative towards them nya… how scary nya”
She honestly admired them. It was par for course that the Flügel were busy. However──
“Is helping me really that much of a bother nya!? Do you girls really not have even 2 seconds for me nyaa?!!”
── She was convinced. Everyone hated her.
Azriel had already decided that her grave would be there, in the depths of the city, however:
“Sigh… There’s no hope or salvation in this world nya. In the end, everyone is alone in the darkness called despair nya”
She said, looking poetic and melancholic, and shriveled up just like that.
“... For someone of Senpai’s standing, that was quite poetic… Did you hit your head too?”
Azriel raised her head when she heard that voice. There was a light in the darkness called despair.
The literal angel continued as she walked towards Azriel:
“No, it looks like you hit your whole body. Well that doesn’t matter. In any case I’d been searching around for a long time”
“J-Jib-nyan… Did you come looking for your big sister nya…!?”
“Yes. Well, without meaning to. I don’t want to waste too much time though…” Jibril said, and teleported Azriel out of the building without difficulty.
Azriel corrected herself and apologized to the world she had cursed.
None other than her most beloved youngest sister had come to help──!!
“So there was hope and salvation nya, and right here nya! The world is full of ligh── nigya!?”
As she cried tears of gratitude, Azriel jumped towards Jibril, but just like that she went face first through the opposing wall.
“So it was here after all?... Seriously, what a big waste of time…”
As if it was a completely natural thing to do, Jibril had evaded her using spatial teleportation. She then sighed with a single book in her hand.
That was one of the books Azriel had been carrying before falling, no doubt──
“.......................nya? Eh?”
Azriel tilted her head dumbfoundedly.
‘Eh? Eh?’ Her brain refused to accept that and kept going around in circles.
“...uhmm… huh? Jib-nyan… you came looking for me… nya?
“Yes. I heard that Senpai had been carrying this book when she tripped and fell── ah I see. I’m sorry. Maybe I wasn’t clear, let me apologize and correct myself.”
She smiled and ahh… Jibril had a smile truly befitting an angel, and with her next words,
“I was looking for this book. I wasn’t looking for Senpai, I didn’t have plans to look for anything else ♥”
──The world fell into darkness once more.
‘I was lifted up and then dropped down. Nyaha～... This world is rotten after all nya…’ Azriel thought.
“Well then, I’ve already made my Masters wait for too long, so if you’ll excuse me”
“Nya～ Wait nya～ Jib-nyan please nya! At least bring me up──” Azriel said, as Jibril made her preparations for long distance teleportation. She had been begging in tears when suddenly:
“............... Jib-nyan. Why were you looking for that book nya?”
Azriel cut off her own words, narrowed her eyes, and asked that.
That was a copy of an ancient Dwarven book.
Since she was unable to forget anything, Azriel remembered its contents to the letter──
“Some troublesome dolls appeared, so I wondered if it might have some useful hints for my Master. I’ll read it again just in case.”
── That’s right. It was a description of the Ex-Machina. Jibril left her with the reason why she had been looking for that.
And then── Jibril disappeared as if she had melted into empty space.
………….
Once again, there was a Flügel left alone in the dark depths of the city.
“... Nya～? … Those scraps… are in Elkia nya～...”
It was a voice that resounded from somewhere deeper than those depths, and a smile that threw a shadow darker than that darkness.
She was like a different person. She was the leader of the Flugel, and as if he was acting in concert with her, Avant Heim shook. Even though they were in the sky, there was a rumbling in the ground. It was almost as if the sound was tinged with bottomless malice.
With her emotions swirling and whirling so much one could clearly see it, the leader of the Flügel said a single word:
“──────── Assemble nya”
── Immediately, all the Flügels except for Jibril teleported there and kneeled.
This was different from ‘Azriel’’s begging and requests from just before.
They were weapons made by a god, to be fired by a god. It was an order from the first of those wings── ‘The First Specimen’.
Her orders were straightforward:
“We will teleport to Elkia together with Avant Heim── all hands, get ready nya”
It was a mass easily larger than that of a single island, and she was telling them to teleport it all to the continent across the sea.
Even though the Flügel were crazy that was an even crazier order, but there wasn’t a single objection and everyone began their preparations.
Then, she alone:
“... Jib-nyan. Av-kun and I want to meet those scrap dolls nya.”
Azriel muttered with a scary smile, and as if agreeing with her, Avant Heim raised his voice too. It was a voice like a whale’s cry, it was supposed to be pleasant but right now, it was a howl that paralyzed those who heard it.
“I’ll just talk to them a liiitle bit nya… I expect it to be a very amusing talk nya.”
… That’s right. She hoped to have an amusing talk, if possible.
Even Azriel had finally started to have fun with a lot of different things. She didn’t want to be the first to antagonize Elkia, Sora and more importantly Jibril. She wanted this to end in an amicable way if possible. Well, of course──
“If it is a ‘boring talk’── I’ll kill them so that not even a single speck of dust remains nya♥”
… If she can, however────────
