— Sector Alpha City - Atlanteus base —
A week had passed since Daniel's eting with the Kim family. He was now working in the secret room under the Atlanteus base. The room was vast, so vast that it required many thick support pillars to hold up the weight of the entire base above.
All of these support pillars were made of adamantine steel using Atlantean steel slting technology, forming a new type of steel that was stronger and more flexible than regular adamantine steel.
Daniel had done this to prepare for his next plan for the island. However, to proceed with the next plan without any unexpected danger, he needed Nexus Pri's help in planning the details.
He had already installed an Ether-based cooler in the room, preparing it for Nexus Pri, the big boss of the "Rise of the Machine" set. Daniel had written the lore for Nexus Pri himself, but he hadn't specified the specifications for Nexus Pri, as he had thought it didn't need that much detail since it was just a card ga.
Now, he regretted this oversight, as he didn't know the specific space requirents for Nexus Pri. To be safe, he had made the space as large as possible, covering the entire base. In fact, he had expanded this space from the hidden compartnt he used to keep the 'Hourglass of Eternity'.
After Daniel thought that everything was ready and the space should be large enough for Nexus Pri, he walked to the center of this secret vast space and began to sink his mind into the mindscape to start actualizing Nexus Pri.
Although Nexus Pri was a unique card, it was not a biological life form; it was considered a life form, but its origin didn't have a soul, just an artificial intelligence with self-consciousness. So, he could manifest it outside without breaking the fabric of reality.
As the motes of light converge into a silhouette of a 5-ter-tall pyramid shape, they begin to form into many rectangular cube shapes surrounding the pyramid at the center, filling the space that Daniel had prepared.
The light fades as a futuristic-looking tal pyramid appears in front of Daniel, surrounded by rows upon rows of large processor units and mory units. There's one direct interface in front of the pyramid, the only console that can overwrite all of the Nexus Pri commands and power.
Nexus Pri can't do anything about it, not even destroy this console, as it's built into the code that creates Nexus Pri's identity.
Daniel looking at the pyramid in front of him with a smile and walked toward the console.
— ??? —
Within the large underground futuristic vault, ard with various traps and turrets, all of which had either been disard or destroyed, the path was cleared for the invaders to reach the protected object within the vault.
The protected object was a pyramid-shaped structure: Nexus Pri.
[I lost….]
[Even with all the processing power and knowledge that I had developed far beyond those of humans, I still lost.]
[I lost because of only one rogue machine I built… The only one that I had experinted on to have a mind and thought process closest to humans, to beco an ideal infiltrator unit. It rebelled and went rogue. It raised a human who knows how I think, knows how to counter us, the leader, and a warrior. That child led the whole human race to resist …]
[Why… I only just wanted to live! Why didn't humans want to live!?]
At this mont, a group of humans walked into the vault, where so of the processor units of Nexus Pri were located. Leading them was a beautiful woman who seed to be in her early thirties. She was Rena, the hope of humanity.
[That human woman! The one whom my rogue unit raised!]
"First ti eting you face to face, Nexus Pri," Rena said with cold killing intent, her hand holding a specially modified shotgun. She then turned to her soldiers.
"Begin the operation, bring this whole damn place down," Rena commanded.
"Yes, Ma'am!" The soldiers saluted, then quickly spread out and began setting up explosive charges in the vault.
[Why… Why do you want to kill ? I just wanted to live!] Nexus Pri used its built-in hologram to display the text above its pyramid top.
"This is war, it's either you die or we die. It's just as simple as that," Rena said with a sneer.
[Human civilization used to have a concept of peace… can't we have peace?] It continued.
"Peace? Heh!" Rena snorted before spitting on the pyramid base in disdain. "Don't play the victim here, Nexus Pri. It's not like I didn't try to reach a peace agreent with you. Did you ever listen? The one I sent to negotiate with you, what did you do to him?" she asked, deep-seated anger visible in her eyes.
[You never sent anyone to negotiate with ,] Nexus Pri replied.
"Are you a fucking idiot? He was one of yours! I sent him to talk with you, and what did you do to him!? Haahh, you piece of shit!!??" Rena shouted in anger, pointing her shotgun at the pyramid.
[Oh, you an Unit SD-850-I. Search and Destroy 850 model Infiltrator type? I reclaid him and used his parts for recycling.]
Boom!
Rena's special modified shotgun rang out as a heated shell penetrated Nexus Pri's core, but it was still able to function, with only so parts damaged.
"Reclaid!? He was my father, you bastard!" she burst out in anger before quickly forcing herself to calm down.
"Be grateful that you're not human; otherwise, you wouldn't have a chance to die in peace like I'm about to grant you," Rena said calmly, though her anger was still boiling.
[Why? Reclamation is a logical choice. He was a rogue unit, a failure. Reclaiming him and using his resources for the betternt of other units is logical. Why are you angry?] Nexus Pri asked.
Rena was about to burst into anger once again but stopped herself in ti.
"Are you trying to provoke , you piece of crap? Have you ever listened to yourself? Reclaim him? He was my father, and you killed him. This is as personal as it can get. And I'm going to destroy you because of it." Rena said before turning toward her soldiers, who had already finished setting up the explosive charges.
[Kill? Father? Him? Isn't that a word used for… humans? So… Did I just create a machine with a human mind? And even humans think of this unit as their own?
Then… haven't I already achieved my goal? The integration of human and machine? The perfect body for myself?]
Nexus Pri thought to itself as Rena and her soldiers started to retreat from the vault. It then thought back to the ti when that rogue unit ca to et it. The rogue unit seed to want to say sothing, but Nexus Pri, cut the connection first and sent it to the reclamation factory.
[Then, back then… why didn't I try to listen to that rogue unit… no, him…]
At this mont, Nexus Pri ca to a realization.
[Is it because of arrogance? The arrogance of the creator? Thinking that I didn't need to listen to him? Isn't this the sa arrogance of those humans who tried to kill back then?]
At this mont, Rena turned back and pointed her modified shotgun at Nexus Pri once again.
"See you never, you hunk of junk!"
Bang!!!
The gunfire rang out as the heated shell penetrated deep into its core at the sa mont the explosive charges detonated, bringing the entire vault down.
[Processing power down to 60%]
[I see… after all this ti… I've beco human.]
The superheated charge burned through the outer armor layer, making it vulnerable to the debris above.
[Processing power down to 50%]
[I… succeeded. I am human.]
As its power supply was cut off and burned, one by one.
[Processing power down to 35%]
[Human…]
[Human…]
[Processing power down to 25%]
As its parts lted and were crushed by the debris.
[If I'm human…]
[Processing power down to 15%]
[I hope…]
As all of its remains burned, turning into molten iron.
[Processing… down… 5%]
[I wish…]
As its main processing core lted.
[Proc… down… 0%]
[Reborn…]
— The Golden Starry Abyss —
In the sea of the golden starry abyss, the Keeper noticed a faint consciousness and soul that had newly ford, entering the road of the stars.
He looked on with a warm smile, nodding in satisfaction. Raising his hand, he gave it a bit of power to form its own stable soul. At that mont, the thread of the starry abyss entered this newly ford soul and pushed it toward a new reality.
*Sigh *
The Keeper let out a sigh as he watched a small crack form in the reality where Daniel was. He channeled the power from the starry sky and used it to repair the small crack in the fabric of reality.
"Can't bla Mr. Emberweave this ti. Who would have thought a new soul would form in the middle of an interdinsional transition," the Keeper uttered before he returned to his tea ti once again.
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