Babel’s Deep Core – gacorp Coalition Conference Room.
Dominic Krylov closed the holographic transcript with a grim expression.
The AR interface data faded and disappeared into a flicker of light.
The conclusion was the sa as always.
Monitor MK Corporation's traces with caution. Avoid direct intervention unless absolutely necessary.
This won’t change anything...
Dominic clicked his tongue internally.
In this session, he had presented a detailed report on the recent incidents.
The MK Corp logo and an unidentified cyborg spotted at the Black Bio Plant.
The micro-Erosion Zones and viral residue found in the Makina Order region.
And the sudden disappearance of an Erosion Zone inside Titan Tech’s secret lab.
All evidence pointed to MK Corporation’s reergence—or at least, the covert activities of its remnants.
But the responses from the other gacorp executives had been lukewarm at best.
They hesitated to act, citing a lack of solid evidence.
“Too much ti has passed,” Dominic murmured.
Fifty years was too long.
There were barely any left who had witnessed the horrors of the Great War firsthand.
Even within Titan Tech, only a handful of board mbers rembered those tis.
Perhaps it was fortunate that any representatives of the Great War generation remained on the boards at all. It was probably the only reason these regular etings still existed.
Dominic stood and looked around the conference room.
One chair stood out.
The seat allocated to Hexa Core Armory.
They hadn’t attended this session.
Well, makes sense. They’re probably in chaos right now.
Rumors of internal strife and a power struggle inside Hexa Core Armory had already spread across all of Babel.
Exiting the room, Dominic walked toward the massive window.
Outside, he could see the enormous Erosion Zone that had chewed through the very heart of Babel like a donut.
It dwarfed all other Zones, and from its surface, a constant, ominous red glow stread outward.
The Central Erosion Zone.
It had been there since the Great Convergence and the founding of Babel—its greatest catastrophe.
Every ti Dominic looked into that crimson abyss, he recalled stories from his childhood.
Of blue skies. Of clear oceans. Of lush green forests—what Earth had once been.
He still wanted to erase the Erosion Zones one day. To restore the Earth he’d never known.
But looking at the current situation...
Will it even happen before I die?
A bitter smile crossed his face.
****
Scarlet’s shop – under the faint neon of HEX.
Amber slowly opened her eyes, staring at an unfamiliar ceiling.
The feel of a creaking sofa. The sharp sll of disinfectant. It grounded her in reality.
I’m... alive.
She reached toward her aching right shoulder.
Thick bandages were wrapped tightly around it. Every movent sparked sharp pain, but the bleeding seed to have stopped.
She tried to sit up—but her muscles scread.
“Urgh...”
With a groan, she slumped back into the sofa.
Looking around, the surroundings were familiar.
Holographic worktables. Parts scattered all over the place.
Scarlet’s workshop-slash-store.
How did I get here...?
Her mory cut off after the battle.
She clearly rembered putting on the Nexus Node suit and fighting Hector’s hounds.
Right after taking down the last one, she’d lost consciousness—dizzy and fading.
“You’re awake?”
A calm, low voice.
Turning her head, she saw Aria approaching with a cup.
“Aria... how long has it been?”
“Three days. Scarlet gave you ergency treatnt and’s been watching over you.”
Aria held the cup to Amber’s lips.
Lukewarm nutrient fluid slid down her throat.
“What about A?”
“She’s fine. In the living room—sa as always.”
Amber exhaled a sigh of relief at Aria’s reply.
But that relief didn’t last long.
A deeper unease surged like a crashing wave.
Three days?
She squeezed her eyes shut.
Three days.
More than enough ti for Hexa Core Armory to move.
They had annihilated Hector’s squad.
There was no way the Armory didn’t know about her, A, or the Seoul Office.
Burning Duct was surely already searched top to bottom. They might even have a strike team right outside the shop by now.
Too late...
The chance to run was gone.
Amber resigned herself.
At this point, how far could they really get?
Maybe it was better to spend the ti they had left with the people she cared about.
“Aria.”
“Yeah?”
“Can you... go get A and Scarlet? I’d like for us all to have a al. One last ti.”
Amber’s voice was strangely calm.
Like soone facing the end.
Aria looked at her in silence for a mont, then nodded and stepped out.
A few minutes later, A and Scarlet entered the room, their faces tense.
“Amber! Are you okay?”
Scarlet spoke first.
“Yeah... I think I’ll live.”
Amber forced a smile.
“If it’s the last one, we might as well eat sothing good.”
“The last? What do you an?” A tilted her head.
Amber didn’t answer.
Instead, she looked out the window.
The distant streets of Burning Duct looked just the sa as always.
But to her, it all seed like a final, fading view.
One day passed. Then another.
Amber spent quiet days at Scarlet’s shop with A, Aria, and Scarlet.
They ate the good food Scarlet made. Played the weird board gas A ca up with. Listened to Aria talk about recent jobs.
Ti passed slowly, like the calm before a storm.
But the strike force she’d been expecting from Hexa Core Armory never showed.
No ssages. No movent.
This is strange...
Amber was confused.
Hexa Core Armory couldn't possibly be this quiet.
Was sothing else happening?
In the end, she couldn’t hold back and accessed the network.
Her body hadn’t fully recovered yet, but her thirst for information made her forget the pain.
With practiced ease, she bypassed the security systems and carefully logged into Hexa Core Armory’s internal network.
Countless data streams swept past her AR interface.
Internal corporate reports, ergency bulletins, high-security communication records...
And finally, she found sothing unbelievable.
[Ergency Bulletin: His Imperial Majesty Has Passed. Succession Protocol In Progress.]
[Security Alert: Ard Conflict Between Reinhardt and Ludwig Factions. All Personnel Prioritize Safety.]
[Internal Report: Castle Defense Partially Breached. Ludwig Faction Offensive Intensifying.]
“...What the hell?”
Amber couldn’t take her eyes off the screen.
Hexa Core Armory was in the midst of a civil war.
The emperor who had ruled with an iron fist for over a century was dead, and his two sons were locked in a bloody battle for the throne.
So... they really didn’t have ti to care about us.
Amber let out a hollow laugh.
All her fear and despair lted away in an instant.
She dove deeper into Hexa Core Armory’s database.
She began deleting every record related to Iris, A, herself, and the Seoul office.
She left no trace that could be used to track them.
Only after completing the purge did she feel true relief.
And finally, she understood.
Maybe it was natural that soone like A wouldn’t notice anything, but now she understood why Aria and Scarlet had seed so relaxed.
They must’ve known about what was happening inside Hexa Core Armory all along.
She stepped into the living room.
There, Aria and Scarlet were playing a ga of holographic chess.
“You guys... You knew about the civil war inside Hexa Core Armory, didn’t you? Could’ve at least told .”
Aria and Scarlet turned their heads at the sa ti.
Identical expressions of confusion appeared on their faces.
“?”
“?”
Amber pressed her fingers to her forehead, feeling a headache rising just from those innocent looks.
There were three A’s...
****
Scarlet’s shop had quietly beco our temporary base.
My old one-room had «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» been wiped off the map by a bomb. The Seoul office was a wreck after Hector’s unit attacked it. There was nowhere else to go.
Thanks to that, I was enjoying an unexpected staycation.
I ate all the delicious pizza Scarlet made, and I lounged around flipping through countless channels on the latest hologram TV—sothing light-years ahead of my old analog box.
“This is the life...”
I mumbled as I sank deeper into the plush sofa, biting into another slice of pizza.
A perfect vacation.
Off to the side of the room, the kid circled around the fallen kiwi bird.
Agu and the other kiwi birds were watching the kid quietly.
The kid poked at the kiwi’s face with a small, golden-coated finger.
[Wake up already....]
The kiwi bird didn’t move.
Its body was charred black, with faint smoke still rising from it.
Like a half-burned log.
Ever since I found it like that, the kiwi hadn’t changed.
When the kiwi ended up in that state, the kid cried like the world had ended.
Even when I tried to joke, saying, “Damn, guess we can’t even eat it now,” they didn’t react at all.
But after a few days, the kid stopped crying.
They must’ve realized that the kiwi wasn’t fully dead.
Sotis—just sotis—the kiwi would barely lift its head and squeak, “Kiwi,” before collapsing again.
Is it alive? Or just so chanical response?
It was fascinating every ti I saw it.
Honestly, I still wasn’t sure if that kiwi was an animal or a fruit.
There was no sign of muscle or bone anywhere in its pulp, yet it ran around full of energy.
The constant smoke—as if it were a log endlessly smoldering—was also suspicious.
Just then, the hologram TV screen changed and a breaking news banner appeared.
The situation inside Hexa Core Armory that Amber had ntioned days ago was finally hitting the news.
[Breaking: Hexa Core Armory, “The Princes’ Rebellion.” Fighting Reported Across the Castle.]
The anchor’s voice was tense and urgent as he reported.
The chairman who had ruled Hexa Core Armory since before the Great Upheaval had suddenly died, and his two sons were now waging civil war over the throne.
Reinhardt claid to be the rightful successor and had gained the support of the board. Ludwig, on the other hand, insisted their father was assassinated and vowed revenge.
Both sides were pushing their own legitimacy, and violent clashes had already erupted in various locations.
The screen showed buildings collapsing from explosions, streets engulfed in flas, and Hexa Core Armory soldiers aiming rifles at each other.
“Seriously? A royal succession war? What is this, the Middle Ages...?”
Amber muttered, dumbfounded.
After the bulletin ended, the screen switched to a flashy comrcial.
Dinosaurs ran wild against the backdrop of a space station.
[Sick of boring Babel life? Experience a vacation beyond imagination! Space Dino Park — Book now!]
A tyrannosaurus roared, and a pterosaur soared across the sky in vivid holographic animation.
Whoa... They didn’t even have stuff like this a hundred years ago...
My eyes sparkled.
Dinosaurs. In space!
And there it was—my favorite dinosaur of all ti: the triceratops.
As I sat there watching the ad, completely srized, Amber suddenly spoke up from beside .
“Wanna go?”
I snapped my head toward her so fast I nearly broke my neck.
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