"How does this creature know my name?" John said, turning to Hulk.
Hulk must have been uncomfortable under John Crowrift's gaze, as he let go of my boots. He saluted everyone and said, "Well, if you'll excuse me… Boss, if there's any trouble, I'd like to state that I'll be on the ship."
He vanished without even waiting for me to open my mouth and reply, which was exactly what Hulk would do.
At that moment, a multitude of questions swirled in my mind. The questions that began at Ukar's facility had only multiplied until now. But even before Ukar's facility, there was a question I had sought the answer to the moment I opened my eyes.
"Can I… Can I finally learn who I am?" I suddenly yelled. "Arthur Vale? Am I not Edgard Grom? Why do I have his memories then? And who the hell are you to know me?"
John Crowrift struck his staff on the ground and turned to me. He scrutinized me thoroughly, as if peering into my very being. At that moment, a spider-like robot emerged from a pouch on John's belt, scrambled up my body, and stopped directly in front of my helmet. It looked utterly disgusting and terrifying. I was grateful for my helmet.
"Interesting…" John said. "…I didn't expect your memory to return."
"Would you mind taking your bug off me?" As much as I believed my helmet could easily protect me, having a metal spider on my face was not at all pleasant. I reached out and tried to grab the spider, but it moved incredibly fast around my helmet, easily evading my reaching hand. It continued to scurry around my helmet. Meanwhile, Dante Shade had begun to writhe in his chair again.
Then what happened? The spider reached a spot on my helmet. It tapped, as if knocking on a door. I thought nothing would happen, but suddenly my helmet opened, and the spider crawled inside. The moment the spider entered, the helmet instantly closed again. As the spider crawled on my face, I tried to punch my face to get it off, but my hand hit the helmet, and I fell to the ground in agony. The spider touched my mouth, blew into my ears, pulled a hair from my nose and sniffed it. It was doing disgusting things. I tried to reach the spot where the helmet opened, but the button there had melted. I was trapped alone inside my helmet with this bug. As I struggled on the dusty ground, I could hear John Crowrift and Dante talking, but I couldn't understand what they were saying.
A few seconds later, the bug tapped on the helmet wall in the same spot again, and the helmet opened very easily. After leaving me oxygen-deprived for two seconds, the spider leaped from my face, rolled like a ball, and went all the way to John's feet. It climbed up John's leg, settled on his shoulder, and began to speak. At that moment, my helmet closed again:
"Were you able to learn how his memory returned?"
"A detailed brain scan is required, sir," the metal spider said. Yes, it could speak. In fact, it spoke better than Hulk.
"Hey, you son of a b*tch!" I said, gasping for breath as I straightened up. "You know how much it costs to lay a hand on a civil servant, right? And… And I have an assistant on the ship waiting for my command to come here! An assistant who can shoot lasers from his finger and turn you to dust in two seconds!"
"Are you talking about VFA-210? I recall neutralizing him."
"You know Jose?"
"Jose? You gave him a name?"
"You just neutralized him, did you?"
"After all, aren't I his master?"
"What do you mean?"
John Crowrift turned to the spider robot on his shoulder and said, "Will you silence our friend here? He's trying to steal our scene, even though he's a supporting character…" The spider robot jumped from John's shoulder and started scuttling towards me at a fast pace.
"Get lost, you damn spider!" I yelled, kicking out, but the spider jumped to an incredible height and landed on top of my helmet. When I tried to punch it, the spider leaped onto my hand. It opened a hole in my glove and delivered an incredibly powerful electric shock through it.
"Ah… I'm burning! Damn it, it hurts!" As I pulled my hand back in pain, the spider this time began to crawl on my back. It opened a hole there, and the metal rod it inserted into the hole seemed to go directly into my spinal cord. I was in immense pain when a large electric wave surged through my entire body, making my hairs stand on end, my body tingle, and… And I stiffened, falling face down to the ground. As the spider returned to its original place, John's belt pouch, I… Yes, I lay there, my entire body paralyzed. I tried to speak, but all I could do was rub my lips together. At least, I thought, if I hadn't fallen face down, I could have seen John and Dante more easily.
"What wind brought you here?" Shade asked.
"What wind brought me? I didn't know I needed a reason to visit a friend?"
"Friend? Get the hell out of here! You used me. You used me like everyone else and cast me aside. And as if that weren't enough, you tricked me and imprisoned me here!" Shade, despite being a Cybernetic, could cry. A few tears streamed from his eyes as he narrowed them and said: "You knew my family lived in the colony. You told me I had to take over that Xenobiology Science Facility to protect the colonists from the war. You provided me with financial aid, but that wasn't your only motive. You… You secretly infiltrated my robots; you infiltrated the chips of my Cybernetic employees, the neurological systems of my Neo-humans!
I didn't want to produce a weapon that could be used against the S.W.R., whether for the colonists or not. While I wished for the war to end, all I wanted was to save as many colonists as I could from the war. To take them into the science facility and embrace them…
I should have realized your intentions weren't good when you turned them into Cybernetics or Neo-humans for free. I should have realized you were secretly managing the facility, that your intentions were evil!"
"But you didn't understand!" John yelled. "The issue here isn't that you were deceived, Shade. You… You were just a small part of the plan."
For the first time since he had been sitting in the magnetic chair, Dante was able to move his body. Pointing his trembling finger at John, he said:
"I… I was your leader, damn it! I created you, Edgard!"
"You created me?" he said, clenching his gloves. "If you're talking about this monster in this metal body, then yes! You created it! Both you and the S.W.R.… You committed the greatest sins against humanity! Then you either eliminated those who witnessed these sins or silenced them forever! The only ones you couldn't eliminate were those who could become monsters like me."
"It was all for the triumph of humanity!"
"The triumph of humanity? Which of these is victory itself? Defeating death or ensuring the continuation of the S.W.R.?" John Crowrift slammed his staff on the ground and yelled: "No! Defeating death was not humanity's true purpose! You were the ones who put that idea into people's minds! Death has been a tool, used since the dawn of humanity, that determined outcomes. Without death, wars wouldn't end, winners couldn't be decided, suffering wouldn't cease, and so much more!
Humanity's purpose wasn't to become immortal, but to kill gods. In every era, humanity changed, and as humanity changed, the gods they needed to kill, to overcome, also changed.
At first, they deified a mountain, and they conquered it. Then all of nature, then the whole world, then the entire solar system… Humans always had a great monster to overcome, and behind it, an even greater monster waiting… This was the reason for humanity's existence. This was what made humans human. To win; to change, to strengthen, to advance… To win, they evolved when necessary, formed religions when necessary, philosophized when necessary, developed technology when necessary. Death and life were the criteria that determined whether they succeeded or not."
"You're talking nonsense, Edgard!"
"Am I talking nonsense?" John said angrily. "You also know the S.W.R.'s sins, man! The S.W.R. gave people immortality as a bribe so their sins wouldn't be questioned by humans. You know that too!
What the S.W.R. did was inhumane. It knew humanity could hold it accountable. So, it gave humanity immortality. It mechanized them. When there was nothing left in the name of humanity, there would be no one left to question the inhumane things it did."
"Because of these…" Shade said, shaking his head. "…is all this madness because of these?"
"I can't believe you, Shade. I can't believe that man, who was once our leader, is such a dog for the S.W.R. Don't act like you don't know… You also know the difference between a near-eternal life and immortality. Humanity had already managed to make discoveries similar to immortality through genetic engineering. With almost incredibly advanced cell regeneration and some necessary mutations, humans could live for over 1000 years."
"All of that was made-up stuff! Fabricated to deceive the people of that time!"
These words angered John so much that he held the skull in his hand towards the chair; with this action, Shade in the chair began to writhe in pain. It was as if the magnetic field was shrinking, and as it shrank, Dante Shade was being put under immense pressure within that field. "You're lying again, Shade!" First, a black liquid, then blood, began to flow from Shade's nose. "You're lying, looking into my eyes! Because you're also a Cybernetic. And their Cybernetic, and they ordered you to deceive yourself."
At that moment, it felt as though the paralysis in my body was receding, if only slightly. At least I had started to move my fingers. If I waited a little longer and then, when the paralysis lifted, suddenly lunged at John, maybe I could knock him out somehow.
"Why do you think the S.W.R. and the Colonies fought? Because most people in the colonies didn't want to be subjugated by the S.W.R. Yes… In the beginning, the S.W.R.'s institutions were independent. All 12 institutions functioned properly. Then what happened? They became like the countries they had scorned and despised since their existence. Perhaps even worse! And the reason for all of this was the Incompatibles. You know this too!"
The Incompatibles? What could that strange alien race, beyond human perception, have to do with all this? I wondered what else I didn't know. Watching all these conflicts unfold like a play was quite enjoyable, but I was certain I didn't want to be here when the play ended. So, I didn't hesitate to exert every effort I could to move my body. In fact, let me tell you, I hadn't put in this much effort even with Lara.
At that moment, Shade, who continued to writhe in pain, yelled, "Stop talking!" A black liquid had started to flow from his eye sockets. When John moved his staff away from the chair, Shade finally took a relieved breath.
"That was why the S.W.R. fought the colonies," John began, returning to a calm tone after a long time. "The colonies had found the secret to long life without mechanization. They needed neither machines nor technology, but neither the S.W.R. nor the technology companies that commanded the S.W.R. could allow this. Then corruption began… The corporations fed the S.W.R., and the S.W.R. institutions oppressed people. But the S.W.R.'s only concern wasn't just establishing authority. It also wanted its sins to be unremembered, unquestioned, and unexamined. That's why it wanted humanity, who could question it, to cease to exist." John turned around and embraced the landscape adorned with gravestones. "The S.W.R. wanted its sins forgotten, and the corporations wanted their technologies sold. After all this, what we're left with is…" He chuckled as if he'd heard a funny joke. "…all we're left with is a dead galaxy."
"Humans achieved immortality, even if it was through machines. Wars, hunger, and poverty in the galaxy ended. Is that a bad thing?"
"I don't care about humanity's mechanization, Shade. I don't particularly care about humanity achieving immortality either. I especially don't care about the galaxy turning into a dead one. The only thing I care about is that the S.W.R. hasn't paid for its sins." He clenched his fist tightly. "I am one of those who know these sins of the S.W.R., and perhaps no one else can hold them accountable."
"You can't do what you're thinking," Shade said. At that moment, I could also clench my fist. I had even managed to move my leg a few centimeters forward.
"Yes… I will declare war on the S.W.R.!"
Shade's laughter echoed across the desolate landscape, as if threatening to burst his metallic lungs. He was laughing so hard that we could see saliva spraying from his mouth, and tears were streaming from his eye sockets, which had been gushing blood moments before.
"You won't win, Edgard! Many couldn't win! You'll never win! After so many victories, so many massacres, after all the power it has accumulated, the S.W.R. is the sole ruler of the universe!"
"Yes… If we play by their rules, we can't win." Then he turned to Shade. "They can't be defeated with technology, Shade, I know that. Machines, electricity, energy—whatever you call it now, that's up to you… All of that is under their control, but… But there's a way to defeat them. A way the Incompatibles also use."
"F*ckin Incompatibles…" I mumbled through my numb lips. Even I hadn't expected to be able to speak. My secret plan to covertly attack John had just sunk. John had noticed I was regaining control of my body. Damn it!
John Crowrift chuckled slightly when he realized I was speaking. Perhaps what I said struck him as funny. He put his hands under my arms and pulled me upright. I could easily tell you the man possessed the strength of a machine. He had straightened me, alright, but I couldn't stand on my own two feet. I couldn't stand upright. From John's belt pouch, his spider friend emerged once more.
"Heal him…" John commanded.
"Of course, sir," the robot spider replied, then entered the same spot on my back and delivered another electric shock. After my entire body tingled, I regained consciousness. Of course, when John suddenly let go of me, I didn't think to land on my feet and crashed onto my back, but I quickly righted myself. Even though I was upright, I still wasn't strong enough to stand, so I planned to sit on my knees and catch my breath as long as it was okay.
"You're going to bring war to a galaxy at peace, huh?" Dante asked at that moment.
"Yes… I will bring new blood to a dead galaxy. I will resurrect the war that defines humanity once more," John said. At that moment, I managed to stand up. "Cthulhu is ready to rule the seas, Dermovoxes are very close to becoming weapons, and their prophet has the same genes as me! I am, in a way, their prophet!" He then gripped me by the shoulders, now that I was standing: "It's all thanks to you, my friend. Thank you."
My tongue felt numb, but I managed, "You're welcome…" Then I raised my finger, asking for leave to speak: "Could I please know who I am? Or who you are? Can I get an answer to that… if you don't mind?"
"Who are you? What good would it do to truly know that? After all, your memory will be erased again…"
"My memory will be erased again? Damn it…"
"But you've gone through so much trouble… You rejected Ukar. You approved Dermovox. So I might owe you a little bit. I was the one who made the plans, but in the end, you were the one who carried them out." He released my shoulders and pressed a button on his helmet with his right hand. As his helmet became transparent, my exact replica appeared before me. Of course, he wasn't as handsome as me. Who am I kidding? He was more handsome than me. His hair was better cut, and his beard was styled. I had started to resemble a caveman from living with robots. He also looked younger.
"You are me…" I mumbled, still numb. I wasn't actually surprised. I only said it because I felt I had to say something. Yet, I had already understood that John was Edgard, Edgard was Arthur, and Arthur was John; indirectly, that John and I were the same person.
"Listen… I'm going to briefly tell you what you need to know. I'll only go over it once, so listen carefully, okay?"
"Alright…"
"My father, Marcin Grom, was the general manager of the Weapons Security Agency. Within a covert organization working for the S.W.R., specifically a 14-person team, I was an operations leader under the name Edgard Grom. Then we had a falling out with the organization. I can't tell you about it now. It's a really long story, and we don't have much time."
"No problem, I'm an understanding person. You can tell me when you have time."
"So… after the falling out with the organization, my father faked my death, but actually appointed me as a BAO officer. He gave me a secret identity, and that name was Arthur Vale."
"No kidding… So… what happened next?"
"I had plans, so I couldn't continue living as Arthur Vale."
"I wouldn't want to live as a BAO officer either. You made a very good decision."
"So I created an artificial human to be Arthur Vale in my place."
"And that's me, right?"
"Yes…"
"I'm a clone, then, am I?" My eyes welled up, and then I realized something. "If my memory's going to be erased, it doesn't really matter…"
"Yes, it doesn't at all… Now, let's get back to the topic."
Just as he was turning to Dante, I grabbed John by the shoulder. "One second…" I said. "Why are you erasing my memory?"
"Look, buddy… I… I mean, you… Or should I say both of us…"
"You talk about yourself, I'll understand you're talking about me too."
"Then, saying 'we' would probably be more accurate."
"Yes, you'd best explain by saying 'we'."
"Look, Arthur… We… I mean, you and I…"
"Damn it, why is this so complicated?" I burst out suddenly in anger. "We're trying to have a conversation, and you haven't been able to explain the topic for half an hour."
"Okay, I'm sorry!" John Crowrift said. "I haven't had to explain anything to a human in a long time."
"Even if you explained it to a robot, it wouldn't understand. That sounds like a really flimsy excuse to me."
"You're right…" John nodded. "Okay, in short, it's this! I respect my friends. We had wonderful times together. We were a team, a family, and we were happy. Then most of them were heinously murdered. Memories were drenched in blood, and our minds were tainted with hatred. I couldn't let all their sacrifices be in vain. I dreamed of being able to exist happily with them. That's why I…"
"You simulated them, didn't you? All those simulations on that computer are simulations of your friends…"
"Yes… I had to simulate them to bring them back to life. Technology was so advanced that I could create artificial humans by copying their appearances and personalities; I could bring them back to life. By bringing them back, I could continue their legacy."
"Are we perhaps a little too emotional?"
"Maybe, I hadn't thought of it that way. Anyway, what was I saying… That was my plan, but there was a problem with the plan. I couldn't live peacefully among them. I knew about the betrayal they suffered, the nightmares they experienced, and, most simply, how they died."
"Joe Stone and Dante Shade didn't die…"
"When I say 'died,' I mean they died for me. Some, of course, are still alive… Dante Shade is standing right in front of us, alive and well."
"Ah… You mean it that way… So, instead of erasing my memory, why didn't you erase your own? Why did you need to make a clone?"
"But if I forgot their sacrifices, the betrayals they suffered, the S.W.R.'s sins, how could I get revenge?"
"You're right… I remember now that you really wanted revenge."
"That's why I created you. Of course, while creating you, I only tried to include my good memories, the memories that made me my old self."
"So my memory wasn't erased…"
"Yes. Your memory is incomplete, but not because it was erased. It was loaded incompletely."
"Well, that's a bummer… So, even if I wanted to, I can't remember some things?"
"Yes… I'm sorry…" he said, placing his hand on my shoulder.
"It's fine. I've been disappointed enough today already. Plus, my memory is going to be erased again, so break my heart as much as you can; I don't care."
"But there's something interesting. You remembered Subject 99. Normally, I should have tampered with that part of your memory."
"Those kinds of mistakes happen, don't worry about it. You'll fix it next time."
"Of course, I'll fix it. The technology from 400 years ago isn't the same as today's, my friend… If not, I'll just create you from scratch."
"Now that's terrifying…"
"There's nothing to be afraid of. You won't feel anything… And when you wake up, you'll be living a life away from war with a pension and your friends. Don't worry, I've added these procedures to VFA-210. He'll be managing you without you even realizing it."
"No… I really don't want to be remade. Erasing my memory would be more acceptable."
"Remaking seems like a more guaranteed option."
"I still prefer you erase my memory."
"Okay, I'll definitely consider that."
"And I want to ask one more thing: Why am I on this planet?"
"My friend, Dante Shade…" he said, pointing to Dante. "…told me I'd experience hell forever. It's been about 150 years since he said that, hasn't it, Dante? I wanted to show you to him. After all, you're a version of me living in heaven."
"So you brought me here to be a…"
"Gentlemen!" Shade yelled. "Please, if you're going to kill me, don't prolong it any further. I can't stand your nonsensical talk!"
"Now, if you'll excuse me…" John said.
"The floor is yours…" I replied, gesturing to him.
Friends, I need to tell you something. As much as I spoke casually with John, deep down I was seething with rage. I didn't want to deal with being recreated or losing my memory again. What was the difference between being recreated and dying, anyway? This man, John, was practically offering to kill me.
At that moment, I wished so badly that Hulk had returned with a weapon in hand, and that I could use it to blow John's head off. If someone was going to have their memory erased and be used like a guinea pig, I didn't want it to be me.
I also need to add this: Despite appearing to have a casual conversation with John Crowrift, there was no real warmth between us. John Crowrift truly seemed like the devil himself. The man's gaze was lifeless, his expressions dead. Even his speaking tone was filled with the devil's persuasiveness. Perhaps it was ingrained in my primitive genetics; the fear of being controlled once again enveloped me with this man.
John was a monster, and there was no need to see his teeth to realize it. My human instincts could definitely sense the danger lurking beneath this man. No… He wasn't a human devoid of humanity. On the contrary, it was as if he had taken a part of humanity and dedicated his life to that part. And what he had taken from humanity was hatred itself. John Crowrift was walking hatred. Perhaps he would later be known on Earth as the god of hatred or vengeance.
"Why did you come here, John?" Dante asked. "To tell me these absurdities?"
"Because my weapons are almost ready, and I want to test them."
"If you want to test them, you've come to the wrong place. The S.W.R.'s real bases are several star systems away…"
"I won't go to the S.W.R.; the S.W.R. will come to me." He placed a hand on Dante's table and leaned towards him. "You deny that you have the S.W.R.'s codes in your head, but they constantly control you, Shade. Of course, they're not watching every move you make or listening to every sentence, but there are some keywords… Some things you can't talk about… That's why I had to trick you… That's why our paths diverged." Then John poked Dante's head with the skull on his staff. At that moment, his helmet had once again become opaque, and John's face had disappeared.
"As a secret organization, we had some forbidden words," John continued. "For instance, the name of our organization… Can you say that name, Shade?"
"Of course…" he said, then paused as he tried to speak.
"You can't say it because there's someone here who doesn't know the organization's name. That's Arthur. This code is deceiving you, but I can lift it for a second." A green light emanated from the eyes of the skull on John's staff, which was touching Dante's head.
At that moment, I was glancing around for a stone, a stick. If I could find any kind of sharp object, I would attack John with all my might. What would happen if I died? I was going to die soon anyway.
Dante Shade opened his mouth and moistened his lips. Then he spoke the name of the organization:
"The Galactic Intelligence and Operations Organization was the name of our organization. They called it G.I.O.T., and we had intelligence agents called Galactic Judges."
"How long do you think it will take them to get here?" John asked. "They're two star systems away. A day… Maybe 20 hours…" After these words, there was a silence. A silence that lasted only a few blinks of an eye. Perhaps a silence that lasted only a few flaps of a fly's wings. A silence that could last as long as a hopeless lover's flowing tears meeting the ground.
Then, as if an ominous black hole had swallowed all our light, a black curtain was drawn across the sky, and cold metal closed over us like a black coffin. When we looked up, we saw a dazzlingly large metal armada covering our sun. As this armada entered the atmosphere, a howl, like the trumpets of hell, spread from the disintegrating atmosphere and the colossal engines of the armada working to hold the ships.
The sound was intense enough to burst my eardrums, and when I felt the pressure the engines exerted on us, I thought my ribcage might be crushed. As this armada entered the atmosphere, it was as if the atmosphere had been pierced, the clouds displaced, and a massive pressure had appeared above our heads. Such power was before us that my knees involuntarily buckled, and I sank to the ground.
The armada was adorned with a multitude of spaceships. Although each vessel appeared like a fly from that distance, I could tell every single one was at least twice the size of my own spaceship. But… within that armada, there was one particular spaceship. It was a colossal vessel, large enough to blot out the sky, sitting amidst all those fly-like ships. This monstrous metal leviathan, seemingly risen from hell, was the source of all these anomalies, this immense power and grandeur.
This ship was like a massive metal continent hammered into the sky. Perhaps my human brain felt compelled to liken it to something to comprehend it. At four points on this shapeless metal continent, there were colossal engines spewing purple flames, bending all atmospheric pressure. I could feel the energy pulses, like a constant heartbeat, reverberating throughout my entire body. These engines seemed to be in a war with gravity itself to keep this metal continent afloat. The pressure generated by this battle felt like a deadly burden placed upon us below.
Underneath this enormous metal continent were thousands of thin, blue light-emitting engine wings, like the quills of a porcupine, jutting outwards. The wings gave this metal continent the image of a metallic creature suspended in the sky. If the abbreviation SG for "Silah Güvenlik" (Weapon Security) hadn't been etched in grey letters on the underside of the ship, I would have definitely interpreted this vessel as a creature from my nightmares.
This metal monster was like a floating fortress in the atmosphere. It bore hundreds of laser cannons, perhaps even thousands of electromagnetic defense shields. As this spaceship slowly descended through the atmosphere, it seemed to continue tearing it apart.
Then, once more, a sound like a war horn blown from hell rose from the ship. With this sound, the spaceships around the metal continent scattered like flies, aligning themselves to cover almost the entire visible sky, leaving no room to fly in the atmosphere.
"That was the speed to be expected from Weapon Security. I didn't expect them to send a Hyperion ship. I thought they'd send a bigger vessel," said John Crowrift.
"And I didn't know you were so eager to get us killed," Dante replied.
"They have even bigger ships? We're really screwed then…" I mumbled, my mouth agape in astonishment.
Suddenly, dense smoke began to rise from the wings beneath this metal continent. As the wings beneath the continent spread out around us like missiles from the metal mass, we could feel the earthquake-like tremor left by each wing piercing the ground. The tremor was so powerful that it felt as if the ground beneath my feet had come alive, trying to trip me and make me fall face down from my stunned kneeling position.
All the wings enveloped this metal graveyard like a spider web. As the metal wings opened, emitting blue lights, metal robots, at least three times the size of a human, emerged from within. Each robot, equipped with incredible weapons, stared at us with dead eyes. Every one of them seemed ready to kill us.
"Why aren't they attacking?" I asked involuntarily.
"They won't attack us until they understand what these metal graves are," John Crowrift said, taking two steps forward and spreading his arms. "The execution order will probably come down in less than a minute…"
"See you in hell in a minute, John," Dante said. "Today must be my birthday or something. The day I get to see John Crowrift's death. If I had wished for anything else from God, perhaps…"
"We'll meet in hell, certainly, but… Not now," John Crowrift said, spreading his arms and saluting the constantly watching robots.
"What are you going to do?"
"I will now show you the fruit of my labors over centuries!" he declared, clenching his fists.
Dante Shade chuckled, "If you were planning to bring an army, you should have done it before Weapon Security arrived, John. You know that too. No spaceship can approach them without Weapon Security's permission. You know how superior the S.W.R.'s technology is. You might be a little late."
"Yes… You're right…"
At that moment, a voice rose from the Hyperion ship. "As Weapon Security, we are present here." This voice, contrary to the terrifying appearance of the metal continent, was incredibly sweet. It resembled the beautiful voice of a young woman. "Dante Shade, we wish to state that you have committed treason by neglecting Article 25 of Law GSG24 of the Weapon Security Agency."
"It took them less time than I thought to understand what these metal graves are," John said. "And I spent millions on them. Pity…"
"Therefore, your execution will proceed."
At that moment, I once again muttered, "We're screwed!"
"Anyway, what was I saying…" John continued. But at that moment, I could see hundreds of robots surrounding us, aiming their weapons at us. Even all the laser cannons on that metal continent had turned towards us. With all that firepower, the ground we stood on could perhaps be drilled all the way to the core. "Yes… You're right… No spaceship can come to this planet right now. Made of metal, controlled by a computer, powered by circuits and energy…"
The firing of the cannons was imminent, so I closed my eyes. Even Dante Shade involuntarily tried to duck under his table.
"You've lost your mind, you damn John!" I yelled, burying my head in my hands and lying face down on the ground. As if by doing so, I could escape the bullets, but… But the fire never came. When I lifted my head and looked at John, I saw him holding his staff towards the sky. All the weapons remained aimed at us, waiting.
"Why did they stop?" I asked.
"Because he has arrived…" John Crowrift said in a proud tone.
I mentioned earlier the damage the metal continent's engines inflicted on my ears, didn't I? I also spoke of how they left me in pain, exhausted my body, and how torturous it was to hear them. But the sounds emitted by this metal continent truly entered my mind through my ears, exhausting my body rather than my mind.
But at that moment, such a sound came forth… Such a sound, for a brief instant, rose as if from nightmares, as if it had permeated my very soul. Yes, I didn't know if I had a soul in any tangible way, but if there was anything in pain in the face of that sound, it was my soul.
Drunkenly, as my soul felt parched and weary, I lifted my head and gazed at the sky. Above us, the metal continent was enveloped in blue energy shields, and its cannons continuously fired at something in the sky. First, I witnessed the metal continent's energy shield shatter. Then, a colossal mass of flesh, like a spider's web, began to grasp the metal continent. As this flesh mass wrapped around the metal continent like vines, I could see the veins on its surface pulsating with great vigor. As the metal continent shredded like a ball of yarn, John Crowrift was forced to activate an energy shield to protect us from the raining metal fragments. With the metal continent gone from above us, I could see it through the showering metal debris.
It was like a carpet of flesh spread across the atmosphere. This creature was indescribable by my human mind. A carpet of flesh; with randomly scattered mouths and eyes… As the carpet fed, it expanded, nearly covering the entire atmosphere. Hundreds of thousands of flesh tentacles burst from the carpet, heedless of any firepower; as robots, their entire firepower turned into flesh carpet, were one by one hunted down and carried to the mouths on the carpet, I… I felt as if I was losing my soul.
This creature of flesh seemed to tear my human mind into pieces. Random shapes, meaningless nightmares, and some holes in existence began to appear before my eyes. I placed my trembling hands on the ground and started vomiting blood. As my human brain helplessly disintegrated before this creature from a nightmare, the two cybernetic humans beside me seemed unaffected.
"What is that!" Shade yelled.
At that moment, John let out an incredibly triumphant laugh. "It…" he said, pointing his staff at the carpet in the sky. My eyes could no longer even dare to look at that carpet. "…is made of whatever the Incompatibles are made of."
"Nonsense! No human can control an Incompatible! It's against the nature of existence!"
"Yes, Dante Shade, dog of the S.W.R., you're right!" John exclaimed, pulling a weapon from one of his pockets and aiming it at Dante. At that moment, metals continued to rain from the sky like a torrential downpour. The tremors caused by the tentacles tearing apart the bodies of the robots on the ground made John's aiming hand tremble. "But I'm not controlling it anyway."
"Then how?"
"I named it Siphonith because it loves to swallow energy… As long as it fed on energy, it was constantly in a state of slumber. As long as it's fed, there's no problem, but if you don't feed it for a few months; that's when it goes berserk from hunger and… And that's when it starts attacking places with the most energy to suppress its hunger. Now, think about the energy an army like this radiates. Engines, energy reactors… Then think about how laser weapons, the heat energy of lasers fired from weapons, will feed this creature. What else was that creature going to do but come here?" Then he lifted his head and looked at the flesh monster. "But this creature won't live long. The only thing it can feed on is energy itself, but it doesn't have the intelligence to realize that the metal robots it devours aren't energy. It doesn't realize that when it devours the robots, it's destroying their energy by crushing their motors. The metal pieces it devours will destroy it from within and eventually be its end."
I wanted to listen to all this talk, but I could see the blood flowing from my eyelids covering the ground.
"What do you mean? You unleashed a creature like that, uncontrolled, into space? You've gone mad, John! Don't you realize what a massive danger you've created?"
"To simple minds, such profound genius will, of course, seem like madness," he said, and John fired his weapon, blowing Dante's head apart.
My head was spinning; I couldn't make out my surroundings through my bloodshot eyes. Before I closed my blood-filled eyes, the last thing I remembered was John Crowrift kneeling before me, his gaze fixed on mine.
"Just imagine, Arthur. Imagine an army made up of these… An army of Dermovoxes, Cthulhus, and hundreds of other creatures like them. What chance would the S.W.R. have…"
I was trembling uncontrollably in pain. John, meanwhile, continued to speak.
"Weapon Security will keep sending armies until Siphonith dies. How about we get out of here before it's our turn to be killed?"
And my eyes adjusted to the darkness.