I stand with teal eyes gazing toward the dungeon entrance.
With the pulsing energy of the [Crimson Heart] beating alongside my own heart, I feel a sense of duty pervading .
Chloe’s hand strokes my upper back, and I pull her into a side-embrace.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” she asks.
“I know we’re both worried about Mom, but–”
“I’m good, Chloe.
There was so sort of enchantnt on that crystal that tried to bind my heart and control .
But it has been destroyed; it cannot hurt
any longer.”
“That’s good, love.”
“Again I hate to interrupt such a touching mont,” Clara says, “but it’s ti for us to make our move.
The next battle is already starting, and at present, our forces are getting pushed back.”
“What do we need to do?” I ask.
“Miss Jacobs, it’s ti for the two of you to split for the ti being.
I would ask that you remain behind and–”
“I don’t want to remain behind the vanguard any longer!
I know–”
“I understand your frustrations, and in ordinary circumstances, I would abide by your requests.
However, you are currently the only person capable of casting that [Mass Heal] spell, and given the current intensity of the battle, I fear lives may be lost without your assistance.”
“Fine.”
Chloe sheathes her weapons in the scabbards at her hips.
“Let’s get going.”
I turn to Clara; the two of us both nod.
All three of us make our way into the dungeon at a hurried pace.
The mont we pass through the threshold, the dungeon lights up under the rays of an artificial sun.
The decor is one of Classical architecture in the modern day, broken columns and half-standing structures from a ti long ago now being used as cover as two armies go to battle.
Elental energies collide in midair, raining shockwaves and confluences of chaotic energies that damage those unfortunate enough to get caught in the cascade.
Chloe is ahead of , already charging her healing magic while under the obscuring effects of Clara’s [Astral Veil].
I try to peer through its effects, and to my surprise, I can start to faintly make out my girlfriend’s silhouette as she unleashes her gathered healing energies.
[Your [Valkyrion’s Perception (Rank IX)] has upgraded to [Valkyrion’s Perception (Rank X)].]
The groaning and whimpering of injured soldiers abates to both my sides as Chloe’s magic heals their injuries and revitalizes their [Health].
anwhile, I take to the sky and begin going after a horde of flying Seraphina bots.
Because why in the hell wouldn’t there be even more of them?
There is one difference compared with a short while ago, in my mindset.
Before I hated these creatures who wore my face, who committed vile and despicable acts in my na.
But now, knowing that they are being bound and controlled by a [chanist] or [Artificer] or maybe a [Roboticist] and forced to do another’s bidding, I feel only sadness and grief that flows from the soul as well as the mind.
I am a being of chaos and freedom at my core, reflected in my classes, my actions, and the very reason why I was created in the first place.
To give humanity— and indeed, the entire universe— a possibility of a future away from the shackles of the System and the annihilation its arrival forebodes.
To see myself— even a hollow copy of wires and cogs— be bidden to the will of another sickens
in both body and mind.
My own burning compassion guides
onward.
Hang on just a bit longer, my doubles.
I will free you all from your servitude!
“Prepare yourself, Filia.
We’re going to aim directly for their cores.
If they are like the others, it will be in the center of their chest.”
“While your conviction is admirable, Seraphina, you must be aware that without those cores, these effigies of you are little more than so much copper and steel.
They have no sentience or will of their own, no soul controlling them.”
“Perhaps so, but I know well enough that no matter the circumstances, these automatons would rather be free than trapped with their very cores ensnaring them into a life of eternal servitude.”
“Very well.
If you are this certain, then I shall support your actions with all that I am.”
“Thank you.”
I fly toward the nearest copy of myself and brace for impact.
As expected, the clone creates a barrier and tries to deflect my advance.
But with a well-tid use of [Dinsional Rift], I’m able to phase through the barrier faster than it or its controller can react, continuing unabated until my swordstaff pierces right through the tal hull like so much wet paper.
The core, unlike the shell, provides resistance.
It pushes back at
with that wretched, abominable corrupting force.
Like the first heart which now empowers , it tries to ensnare , tendrils of inky black with sealing glyphs embedded flowing down the length of my swordstaff and making their way up my left arm.
For a brief mont, I lose my connection to my own arm.
It tries and nearly succeeds to wrest control of my arm and with it my attack, but the combination of my Skills rebuffs the attempt.
Thankfully with far less pain than the one which tried to possess
from the inside.
Be free, I think as the entangling runes retreat.
An idea springs forth, one that is a gamble, but a calculated one.
I won’t be able to do so on all of these versions of myself, but if I can save even one of them, however briefly, it will be worth it.
Not just for the intelligence, but because it’s the right thing to do.
[Rebellious Surge] beckons forth my core as I guide these anarchic waves toward my double.
“What the hell are you doing, Miss Mortensen?” Clara asks.
“I’m…
Trying to save one of them.”
“In the middle of a battle?
Are you daft, or just suicidal?”
“Neither.
Please, just–”
“Do whatever you want.”
Clara is angry and dismissive, and I can’t bla her, but I have to do this.
The Skill takes hold.
The force of my doppelg??nger surges and starts to push
back.
It’s a struggle to keep my bearings as the battle rages on all around and especially below, but I remain resolute in my actions and the path I’ve chosen for myself.
In the chaotic skies of the dungeon, I suffer nurous attacks, so aid at the two of us, so random shots aid awry, so echoes of blasts from down below.
None of them are too strong and my [Saintess’s Cloister] remains intact, but I can feel the tethers unraveling.
Too many more of them and the damage will add up and I’ll be eating it with my own flesh and blood.
But I persist nonetheless, beating back attack after attack and pushing the binding chains out of my clone’s chest.
“Fight it off,” I say.
“I know you well enough to know that you would never voluntarily allow yourself to be controlled.”
“Must… kill… all who oppose…”
“No.
You don’t have to do anything that you don’t want to do!”
“Must…
Execute directives… obey the word of–”
I slap the bot.
“Obey?
The real Seraphina would never obey.
The real Seraphina would choose what she thought was right, not just do what soone told her to!”
“I must–”
“Fight it off!”
I turn to the side and spear one of the bots in the chest, shattering its core in a single blow causing the broken husk to fall onto the floor a hundred feet below.
It pains
to do so, but the binding magic is so strong that I could never hope to try to break the seal on more than one of them at a ti.
“Must–
Must–”
“That’s it!”
I throw a [Flaming Arrow] down at the Legion forces below us.
My new [Crimson Heart] energizes the blast further, turning the battlefield into a conflagration as the n and won preventing us from bringing Mom ho are thrown aside.
“Hurry, Sera!
We don’t have much more ti down here!
The scope of this battle is draining my [Ether] faster than a swarm of mosquitoes!”
“It’s ti for you to choose!
Either fight it off and let us live to see tomorrow, or let
cut you free from these chains and grant you freedom in the next life.”
“I–
I–”
The Seraphina before
lowers its head.
Its eyes leak tears of greasy-black oil.
I see it struggle for several seconds; so part of
is fighting back against the programming baked into its circuitry.
Shoulders and knees buckle at unnatural angles as so sort of energy powers through the automaton’s body.
The sa energy that tried to bind
and then, when that failed, tried to cook
from the inside.
My heart races and I seethe in anger.
When I find out who all is responsible for this reprehensible…
I don’t know if death is a sufficient punishnt!
“I’m sorry,” I say.
“I will at least put your suffering to an end.”
With one full-powered attack, I shatter the core entirely.
“T–
Thank… you.”
The android’s body grows weak and its voice is scarcely more than a whisper within a second, but it falls to the ground, lifeless and unmoving, with a smile upon its face.
I think I got so answers out of this, along with a whole lot more questions.
Questions which will have to wait.
I can tell Chloe is about tapped out and I shan’t grow the suffering of my allies any longer for what had awhile ago stopped being a sincere desire to help and had turned into self-serving indulgence.
I fly behind enemy lines, targeting the next Seraphina automaton.
Another quick use of [Dinsional Rift] to phase through the barrier, then a single stab to the chest to shatter the core.
With a single flick of my wrist, I fling the crumpled body down, and fly off to repeat the process with a hardened heart and a wounded soul.
With the army of Seraphinas being cut down, the tide of battle on the surface shifts again in our favor.
I hate it.
I hate all of this.
I hate how I’m being used, how my image is being tarnished, what goodwill I do have shattered.
And I can’t help but think that there’s a grand conspiracy that goes much, much deeper than what’s currently let on.
I fly down to the surface and throw two [Thunder Arrows].
Although not quite as powerful as the fiery variant, it possesses the sort of literal shock and awe, and enough added speed, that it’s able to ravage through the enemy combatants before they can mount a defense.
That these Seraphinas share my innate weakness for [Lightning] magic just reinforces the decision.
Before long, the fight has co to an end.
I drop down to the floor and make my way over to Clara as I’m processing my level gain in the back of my mind.
I need answers, and I will have them.
[Your party has slain 19 Humans (Levels ranging from 58 to 64).
You have gained a boosted 42,000 Experience.]
[You have gained enough Experience to reach Level 72. [Strength]
1, [Vitality]
1.
Please assign free stat points (Remaining: 11).]
[Maximum Health increases by [Vitality] x 2
Current Level
Rand[1,3] = 406]
[Maximum Ether increases by [Mind]
Current Level
Rand[0,2] = 286]
[Level: 72; Experience: 7,734,544;
To Next: 332,441]
[Current Stats: [Health]: 8,793 / 14,658; [Ether]: 2,735 / 10,955]
[Current Stats: [Strength]: 307 (Base: 130); [Speed]: 297 (Base: 126); [Vitality]: 392 (Base: 166); [Mind]: 500 (Base: 212)]
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