Nier Automata (Re)Birth Chapter 66

Chapter 66: Duel of Fates

The city was deathly still and silent. Everyone waited with bated breath on both sides for the fight to begin.

It took some time, but Alexander managed to arm himself and then make his way to the battlefield Purple Athena had chosen.

Hope, his golden sword, was at his side, and he wore a white suit of armor that had been based off of YoRHa’s elite combat outfit, but with several additions, including a minor forcefield and high-end radio and scanners.

He was riding in a VTOL to the battlefield, his mother and uncles sitting with him. A2 sat on Alexander’s right, Emil and 9S across from him.

The mood was uncomfortable and silent, nobody wanting to be the first to utter a word.

“This… this is insane,” 9S finally spoke up. “Please, don’t do this, Alexander!”

“Uncle Nines, please, not now,” Alexander requested.

“9S is right,” Emil said solemnly. “I’ve lost too many friends and family in my time, Alexander. I can’t stand to loose you, too.”

“He’s made his choice,” A2 said sharply, trying to cut off any more protests, but the other two weren’t going to accept that.

“Are you serious?!” 9S demanded. “A2, your son is going to fight against an Ascended Machine! 2B and I barely managed to defeat two of them ourselves, and as strong as Alexander is, he’s not strong enough to do the same!”

“I will do my best,” Alexander claimed.

“Alexander, you won’t be able to hurt her enough to matter. Not unless you aim to kill Purple Athena right from the start,” 9S replied, turning to the young man. “Are you willing and able to do that? To fight with the goal to kill your opponent?”

“Of course, I’ve destroyed feral Machines before,” Alexander said. “I’m ready.”

“Are you ready, though?” Emil asked, continuing with the thread of conversation. “I know for a fact it’s one thing to fight against mindless creatures and things that do not look human, but trying to cut down a fellow sapient being… it is not easy.”

“Enough!” A2 snapped. “We’re here. No more talking.”

The VTOL touched down just as A2 informed them of arrival, and the hatch lowered, allowing the four passengers to exit.

The ground of No Man’s Land where they had landed was muddy, though any broken pieces of machines had been removed, leaving a wide stretch of land free of debris for the duel.

Two familiar faces waited for them on the android’s side of the field, expressions of regret and sorrow on their faces.

“Popola? Devolva?” Alexander asked, surprised to see the red-headed twins.

“Alexander, don’t do this,” Popola begged.

“There’s got to be another way!” Devolva exclaimed.

“Is there?” Alexander asked. “There’s too many Neo-Machines out there. We’ll be overrun if we don’t do something, and trying to break free to rescue myself and the other children? Not possible. If I don’t do this, the only way this ends is with total destruction.”

Neither of them liked to admit it, but his words rang true. With scowls on their faces, they stalked off to the side to watch and wait with his family.

A small legion of drones was flying through the sky, watching as Alexander stepped forward to meet with Purple Athena. Some were from the Terran Army, others of Neo-Machine make.

With the eyes of the world upon him, Alexander squared his shoulders and held his head high as the self-proclaimed goddess grinned at him once they stood in front of each other for the first time.

She wore a strapless purple dress along with a golden tiara. Curiously, she was barefoot, yet the mud didn’t seem to touch her. It was all very simple, but there was a refined elegance to it. Behind her, Blue and 13R watched everything, expressions blank.

“Alexander!” Purple Athena greeted happily. “I am so excited! Aren’t you?”

“I am. But before we begin, I want to propose a few rules,” Alexander requested. “To make things fair.”

“Oh? Very well, you may tell me what sort of rules you wish to use,” Purple Athena hummed.

“First, no outside interference. If somebody steps in or offers aide in any form, barring verbal support, the fight is immediately a draw,” Alexander said. “Second, we don’t involve anyone else, either. That means no attacking people on the sidelines.”

“Those are acceptable,” Purple Athena nodded.

“Next, neither of us use spells beyond the Third Tier of power,” Alexander said. In part, he wanted this because he himself couldn’t cast anything above the Second Tier at the moment. But it was also a matter of safety, since at a certain point, some maso-spells could destroy the entire battlefield and it would devolve into a slugging match based on pure strength, something Alexander knew he would absolutely lose.

“Hmm, limiting, but it does let us show off our skill, rather than relying on brute force,” she hummed thoughtfully.

“And lastly, only a single weapon is to be allowed for each participant,” Alexander finished. He held up Hope. “This will be my blade of choice.”

“Ooo! Very interesting. I love it!” Purple Athena giggled. “Very well, I shall abide by these rules for the duel. As for my weapon…”

She did a little twirl, and her crown floated off her head, before glowing with purple energy. It transformed into a golden scepter-like mace, purple maso clinging to it like a distorted haze.

“This shall be mine!” she declared. “I call it ‘Dominion.’ What about yours?”

“Hope,” Alexander said, drawing the sword from its sheath and settling into a combat stance.

“Beautiful,” she replied. She then got into a fighting stance of her own.

“When I win, we shall rule the world together!” Purple Athena vowed. Alexander said nothing, but his eyes darted towards Blue, who was still standing beside 13R.

He then returned his focus to his opponent. He licked his lips nervously. Suddenly, what Uncle Emil had said to him rose to the forefront of his thoughts. Was he honestly ready to try and kill somebody?

There was no further chance to ponder on this matter of morality, however, as Purple Athena got tired of waiting and shot forward in an explosion of mud, purple electricity crackling around her body.

Alexander raised his own blade to counter her overhead strike, white lightning shrouding his own limbs as he did so. Drawing upon the maso within him and the air around him, the Last Human struck Purple Athena with a point-blank shockwave which sent her flying.

It did no damage to her, however, and she was immediately darting back towards Alexander, mace raised high for another overhead blow.

Yet as Hope was lifted to counter it, Purple Athena’s body flickered, and too late did Alexander realize it was an illusion as the real mace came crashing into his ribs. This time, he was the one sent skidding across the mud.

A grunt of pain was all Alexander did to acknowledge the strike, however, and he swung Hope three times, each slash sending a shockwave of energy across the field.

Purple Athena countered by sending shockwaves of her own, then summoned a tremendous amount of maso, summoning three mud golems.

“Celestial Spears!” Alexander called out, dozens of white stakes of maso erupting from the ground to form a cage around Purple Athena. Then, while she was contained, he darted forward, and swung his sword into the first lumbering golem.

Before it hit the conjured creation, he surrounded his sword in a blazing aura in the shape of a hammer, and he unleashed the Hammer spell upon its chest, the impact splattering the golem apart.

The other two were not idle, and they surged forward like living avalanches, but a large, bubble-shaped Shield sprang up around them. Alexander then squeezed the bubble of maso tight, compacting the two creatures into a ball, which he chucked at Purple Athena, releasing the Shield at the last moment so a veritable tidal wave of mud splashed over her.

The Ascended Machine simply broke the Celestial Spears with a blast of raw maso then darted away, escaping both the cage and the surge of filth.

“I am impressed!” she claimed. “Let’s kick this up a notch, though!”

Then Purple Athena conjured up six watermelon sized orbs of purple maso and sent them flying at her opponent. They were fast, but Alexander easily leapt over them, only to find they were homing in on him no matter where he went. As such, he was forced to fly all over the battlefield, a cloak of maso keeping him aloft.

As he flew, Alexander summoned white chains out of the air with a shouted command of “BIND!” However, his chains dug into the ground instead of going straight for Purple Athena. The reason for this was soon revealed as the chains erupted from underneath her, trying to keep her from moving while blindsiding her.

Purple Athena began to teleport across the battlefield, blinking in and out of place, dodging every chain as they emerged, until the field was filled with holes.

Alexander soon had to land, his maso reserves not large enough to float 24-7 like Uncle Emil could. As he landed, however, the chains shot up out of the ground and wrapped around the six orbs that were still following him.

He then flung them at the Ascended Machine, who struck each one with her mace, popping them as if they were naught but soap bubbles.

“That was fun-!” Purple Athena began, but Alexander was suddenly right in front of her, a short-ranged teleport of his own bringing him close. He plunged Hope, the blade glowing a bright silver, into her chest, but the tip struck a barrier before it could pierce her.

Said barrier then began to glow, and feeling the building up of power, Alexander wisely leapt back, a shield of his own surrounding his body as Purple Athena’s barrier exploded outwards like a shaped charge.

“Y-you just tried to kill me!” Purple Athena gasped, staring at Alexander in disbelief.

“I did,” Alexander replied, not bothering to deny it. “This is a duel, is it not?”

Purple Athena suddenly began to tremble, a strange look in her eyes. Betrayal, sorrow, rage, and finally disgust flashed across her face. Saying not a word, she raised a hand, and suddenly Blue was yanked away from her spot on the sidelines and came flying towards the duo. Blue came to a halt next to Purple Athena, and Alexander twitched.

“Purple! What is the meaning of this?!” Alexander demanded. “Did you forget you agreed to not involve bystanders?!”

“It’s all her fault, isn’t it?!” Purple Athena shrieked, ignoring him as she began to rant. “Why do you love her, instead of me?!”

“I… what?” Alexander uttered, taken aback. “I don’t-!”

“DON’T LIE TO ME!” Purple Athena screamed, purple energy flickering in her eyes. “I can feel it in her programming! This outdated pile of scrap loves you, and you love her back!”

She then began to cackle madly. “That’s it, isn’t it? All this time, she was the real enemy, not the androids or the humans! It’s all her fault!”

She then spun around and drove her fist into Blue’s chest.

The world seemed to freeze as Blue let out a pained cry of static, the purple glow leaving her eye-lens, and Purple Athena ripped her hand out of the Machine’s chest, a core clutched in her grasp.

Blue's ribbon seemed to flutter to the ground in slow motion as it fell off of her head, Alexander staring at the scene in incomprehension.

It all seemed like a nightmare, and he desperately wanted to wake up from it. Yet he didn’t, and as he continued to stare, the human watched as Blue toppled over, hitting the ground with a muffled “thump!” that seemed to echo like thunder in Alexander’s ears.

“No… no, no, this can’t be!” he whispered to himself, dropping Hope and rushing over to her side.

“You… you… you killed her!” Alex exclaimed in horror as he cradled Blue’s body. Her eyes were blank, the light gone, and not a single trace of energy or data was left within her metallic frame.

“Dead? Hardly,” Purple Athena scoffed, brushing some dust from her dress as she dropped Blue’s core, stomping it onto the mud. “She was a Machine, my love. She still had a connection to the Network, severed though it may have been. It was child’s play to reach out and reestablish a connection. And then, it was even easier to yank out her data. She’s a part of me, now. And isn’t that the best outcome for everyone? She gets to be with you forever this way! We’re one and the same, now!”

Alex didn’t bother to acknowledge her, as he kept on staring at Blue’s body. However, some of what Purple Athena had said managed to filter through the roiling grief within his mind.

“You stole her from me,” he hissed. Around his body magical energy began to spark, and it surged through him. He gently laid Blue back down, before standing up and glaring at the Ascended Machine with tears in his eyes.

“Give her back…” he uttered, his voice cracking with emotions. Anger, fear, desperation… it all boiled within his soul, and blue sparks of raw maso energy started to ripple around Alex, creating a miniature storm centered on him.

“GIVE HER BACK!” Alex screamed, and he shot forward like a bullet, propelled by a blast of magical power. He crashed into Purple Athena, a fist burying itself into her stomach.

The Ascended Machine, not expecting the sudden attack, coughed up a bit of blood and was lifted off of her feet by the blow. A second punch followed up, striking her in the face.

Purple Athena was sent flying backwards, blood trailing from her shattered nose and split lip Alex’s hit had inflicted on her.

With an earth-shaking “CRUNCH!” Purple Athena landed on the ground, sending a plume of pulverized earth high into the sky from the impact.

Before Purple Athena could recover her wits and rise up, Alex leapt into the air and then came crashing down onto her, both of his feet planting themselves in her chest.

Alex then fell onto his knees while still atop the delusional Ascended Machine, pinning her down beneath him. Blinded by tears and hate, he reached out and wrapped his hands around Purple Athena’s pale, delicate neck, and began to squeeze.

“Give her back!” Alexander shouted, tears continuing to pour down his cheeks as he throttled Purple Athena, his hands tightening around her throat with superhuman strength as his entire body glowed with blue energy. “Give her back! GIVE! HER! BACK! TO! ME!!!”

Purple Athena could only gurgle in response, unable to speak. As she lay there on her back, something flickered deep within her psyche, and an emotion she’d never felt before rose up in her mind.

Her eyes began to glow bright purple in response, and she raised her hands, placing them on Alexander’s chest. No battle cry accompanied her next action. Instead, a massive beam of purple energy lashed out from her palms, blasting into Alexander.

The human was caught off guard, and his grip loosened. A second later, he was sent flying off of Purple Athena, smoke pouring off of the point of impact on his now charred armor.

Alex landed in a heap several feet from Purple Athena, but the Ascended Machine was too busy gasping for air on the ground to do anything else.

‘Does she even need to breath?’ a part of Alex wondered groggily as he rolled over and got onto his hands and knees.

Even if it was merely a psychosomatic reaction due to her human-like appearance and mindset, being strangled seemed to have shocked Purple Athena something fierce.

“What… what was that? What is this emotion I’m feeling?” she wondered aloud, her voice crackling with confusion and something else… something Alex was very familiar with.

“That’s fear,” Alex said, pushing himself back to his feet, a trickle of blood dribbling down his nose after driving his maso to the limits.

“Fear?” Purple Athena whispered. “I-I don’t like it… why am I feeling it? Take it away! Take it away!”

“You think you can just get rid of it? That you can abandon your fear?” Alex demanded incredulously. “After everything you’ve done?”

“What do you mean?” Purple Athena asked, voice trembling.

“You don’t like what ‘fear’ feels like… well, guess what? Everyone you’ve killed today, everyone who’s fought here in this damned war of yours… android, Machine, human, even dragon… we’ve all felt fear.”

“How? How can you possibly endure this emotion wreaking havoc in your minds? It makes no sense!” Purple Athena burbled weakly.

“It’s all part of living,” Alex said sharply. “But don’t worry, Purple. You won’t have to experience it much longer.”

“Really, my love?” Purple Athena gasped out joyfully, sitting up slightly.

“Yes. Celestial Spears!”

Alex raised a hand, and a spell array flashed into existence beneath the Ascended Machine’s body. A second later, a dozen razor sharp blue-white spikes made of condensed maso particles erupted up from beneath her, impaling and lifting her up off of the ground.

She let out a shocked gasp, eyes widening while blood burst from her mouth and wounds. Her eyes darted towards Alex, who simply raised his other hand.

“Crushing Hammer!”

A second spell array sprang to life above Purple Athena, and a massive silver hammer wreathed in blue flames appeared in the air, which was descended onto her with an earth-shaking “BOOM!”

When it faded, Purple Athena had been driven a foot into the dirt, and she lay in a large crater. Her body was riddled with gaping holes and her limbs were all broken and twisted.

“No… no, why?” she whispered out, voice barely audible to Alexander as the Neo-Machine Army Purple Athena had assembled began to twitch madly as their mistress suffered a mental breakdown.

“Beloved, why are you hurting me?” she wept. “I love you, Alexander! Why are you still resisting?”

“Because you stole Blue from me!” Alexander shot back, feeling tears prickling in his eyes even as blood poured from his nose after using too much maso. “You killed her! I loved her! I loved her, and you tore her away from me!”

A sword of pure magical energy appeared in his right hand as he stalked over towards the downed Ascended Machine, fury radiating off of him like an aura of heat.

“But, but, I love you! I love you more than that obsolete scrap heap ever could!” Purple Athena coughed out. “I did this… I did all of this for you! So why won’t you love me back?”

“Because you don’t really love me,” Alex shot back as he stood right above her fallen form. “What you have is an obsession. You don’t love me, Purple. You don’t even know me!”

He lashed out with his energy sword, cutting her left arm off. “Blue knew me, though. She knew me, and too late, did I realize that she also loved me.”

Another swipe of the blade, and her right arm was severed. “You took her from me, Purple.”

“Your madness ruins everything you touch, Purple.” Another slash, and now her left leg was gone.

“Your obsession nearly ruined the fragile peace my family and I have been working towards all these years.” Swish! Now it was her right leg’s turn!

“Repent and die, Purple Athena.” And with that, Alex drove his blade into her heart, then yanked it back out and slashed her head from her shoulders before firing a laser beam point blank from the tip of the energy sword, vaporizing it utterly.

His glowing sword flickered and shattered like it was made of glass before the fragments dissipated into the air. Across the battlefield, every single Neo-Machine froze up before collapsing like puppets with their strings severed.

Alex barely noticed, as he fell to his knees next to her corpse, hot tears staining his face.

He’d done it. He’d achieved victory. He’d ended the battle and the very war itself… and yet he felt nothing. He was empty inside, his emotions drained from everything he’d just gone through.

“It’s finally over,” he whispered. “I did it, Blue. Was it worth it?”

“ALEXANDER!”

The human’s head snapped up towards his mother’s voice. For a moment, he was confused as to why A2 was screaming at him, and why she and the other members of his family looked so frantic and were rushing towards him.

A second later, all thoughts fled his head as a metal blade was abruptly rammed through his back, the tip bursting through his chest, spraying Purple Athena’s dismembered body with a copious amount of his red life juice.

‘Strange,’ Alexander mused to himself as he toppled forward onto the chopped up Ascended Machine. ‘It doesn’t hurt. I wonder why? Shouldn’t massive sword wounds hurt?’

“No, no, no!” someone behind him ranted. “This wasn’t how it was supposed to happen!”

Mustering up some of his rapidly fading strength, Alex twisted his head a bit, and caught a glimpse of a petite YoRHa gynoid, her silver hair filthy with the fluids of Machines and androids alike. Her left arm was a strange mish-mash of different mechanical parts, creating a crude artificial limb.

In her original hand she was holding a katana similar to the ones A2, 2B, and 9S used. Only difference was that the blade was a curious shade of purple. Oh, and it was also dripping wet with his blood. There was that, too.

“Damn human, mucking everything up! Why couldn’t your kind have just stayed extinct?!” 13R (That was it! That was her name!) shouted furiously, yanking out and brandishing her sword at Alexander’s prone form.

“It was supposed to be all so easy! Purple Athena and I were going to show up, and I’d let her run around for a while, wrecking YoRHa’s pitiful attempt to fight back, before killing her once and for all after she’d wiped that idiotic bunch of sanctimonious fools off the face of the world!” the gynoid snarled. “It’d be perfect! No YoRHa means 9S would be all mine! We’d be free with no more stupid missions, no stupid humans, and no other sluts trying to steal him from me! But no! You just had to still be alive, huh?!”

Purple Athena’s second-in-command leaned down, snarling at Alex, her eyes glowing red with the madness of the Logic Virus, and the human felt his stomach sink.

“You stole 9S from me! He would never leave you alone, because of his love for humanity! So, I had to find a way to get rid of you. Purple Athena’s weird obsession was the perfect cover. And yet the dumb Machine couldn’t even do that right! She was supposed to steal you away and do her stupid ‘Divine Ascension’ ritual with you, not start a fucking war! But that’s okay! There’s still time to rectify that mistake!”

13R raised her sword, preparing to slice off Alex’s head just as he’d done moments before to Purple Athena. Only for a pair of red blurs to streak past and slam into the rogue gynoid’s side at the last second, knocking her away from him.

To Alexander’s surprise, it wasn’t A2, or any of the other family members he’d seen rushing over towards him from across the battlefield. Instead, it was Popola and Devolva, the whirring of their chainsaw swords ringing in his ears as they stood protective in front of the downed human.

“We won’t let you touch him!” the twins shouted in unison.

“We already failed humanity once before,” Popola uttered sorrowfully, though her eyes flashed with defiance.

“We won’t fail a second time,” Devolva declared solemnly, her tone defiant.

“Do you really think two pitiful half-assed Resistance models can stop me?” 13R snorted. “I might be a Recon unit, but I’m still a state-of-the-art YoRHa creation that’s been upgraded by Neo-tech! This is going to be easy!”

“Oh, yeah? Then prove it,” Devolva taunted, and with that the twin launched themselves at 13R, their sword slashing through the air in tandem.

13R snarled, and easily parried their strikes. However, the twins didn’t let up, and kept fighting her, keeping her on the backfoot. It was true the duo was weaker than their opponent, but they had centuries of combat experience, knew how to fight in sync. Slowly but steadily, they drove the insane gynoid back, keeping her away from Alex.

Which was just what was needed, as Emil and A2 were the first to reach Alexander’s side.

“Emil! Heal him, quickly!” A2 pleaded desperately as she cradled Alexander’s head in her lap.

“I know, I know! No need to tell me twice!” the skull-headed Replicant replied, a glowing circle of green energy wrapping around Alexander’s chest, covering up the nasty wound.

A cough of pain escaped Alexander’s lips, and he winced as the pain finally made itself known to him.

‘Argh! There it is!’ he thought to himself, still too hurt and weak to say anything aloud.

“Fuck! It pierced his heart!” Emil spat out, swearing for the first time in his life. “And there’s some sort of foreign maso residue from the blade that’s keeping the wound open!”

“Find a way to fix it!” A2 demanded.

“I need a sample…” Emil began, and that was all A2 needed to spring into action and charge into combat against 13R with Popola, and Devolva.

Meanwhile, 9S booked it over to Emil’s side, an emergency first aide kit in hand. “Will any of this help?” he asked desperately.

“The staunching gel should stop the external bleeding,” Emil said as he took the tube from the box. He sprayed the white foamy paste into the wound, where it quickly hardened into a seal keeping the body from bleeding out.

“There, we’ve bought ourselves a bit of time,” Emil muttered. “But the internal bleeding is bad, and his heart was nicked.”

“Can you put him into stasis or something?” 9S asked nervously.

“Whatever curse 13R put on her weapon, it would interfere with any attempts to cast spells on Alexander,” the skull-headed weapon replied. “All we can do is wait for A2 and the twins to obtain that sword so I can examine it.”

“They better hurry,” 9S grimaced.

Over in the trenches, the Terran Army was in an uproar, furious over the sudden betrayal and had poured out of the defensive lines. Since they’d only be a hindrance in the fight against 13R, the soldiers tore into the deactivated Neo-Machines, smashing their heads and perforating their cores in order to prevent them from recovering in the event Purple Athena somehow survived.

As for A2 and the twins, they were attacking 13R without a shred of hesitation, trying to rip the sword from her grasp. Wisps of tainted purple maso rose up from the blade, all while her eyes glowed a baleful red.

“Die! Die! DIE!” 13R screamed, swinging her blade wildly around. “Why are you interfering?!”

“How is she so strong?” A2 demanded as she blocked a strike from 13R with Faith. Despite being a Recon model, 13R was stronger than she was!

“Purple Athena must have modified her somehow,” Popola mused as she parried a slash.

“I bet she’ll go down if we hack her head off,” Devolva smirked.

The three of them began to encircle the rogue gynoid in a triangular formation, but 13R was far faster than she had any right to be, evading and dodging the strikes. Combined with insane super-strength a model of her type had no right possessing, she was more than a match for all three of her opponents in pure physical ability.

‘The only reason she hasn’t defeated us, is her combat skills suck,’ A2 noted, eyes narrowed in frustration. ‘The only way I can this is to risk it all with a gamble.’

13R sneered at her, seemingly reading the A-type’s mind, raised her mishappen arm, and purple maso flared to light around the dagger-like talons as a burst of energy sent A2 flying across the field.

“You’re all old, outdated models!” 13R sneered as A2 recovered. “You’ll never defeat me!”

“You’re awfully arrogant for a reject that not even 9S wanted to have anything to do with,” A2 retorted.

13R screamed in rage as she hurled herself at A2 and slammed her sword down in a wild, overhead blow.

A2 raised her own blade to block, but to her shock, Faith broke apart, the sword shattering into two pieces, forcing her to take a few steps back to avoid being cleaved in twain.

“You’re wide open!” 13R said mockingly as she leapt at A2, pressing her advantage.

A2 didn’t try to dodge, though, letting the cursed blade pierce her chest. However, as the sword sunk into her, A2’s arms lashed out and she grappled 13R, pinning the rogue YoRHa unit’s arms to her side while keeping the weapon lodged in her chest.

“Kill her! Do it!” A2 snarled, and the red-headed twins didn’t hesitate. They lunged, their whirring chainsaw-sword striking true as they dismembered both of the gynoids. Limbs fell as the two grappling fighters were reduced to heads on torsos.

As the pieces fell into the mud, Devola grabbed A2’s torso and ran with her under arm towards Emil.

“That was so reckless!” Emil shouted at her as he tugged 13R's blade out of her chest. The wound sparked and spurted oil and lubricants while A2 laughed weakly.

“Heh, but it worked,” she chuckled, before glancing back at 13R, whose head was still attached to her torso and jabbering and screaming, hurling insulted as Popola picked her up. “What a bitch.”

“What should we do with her?” Popola wondered.

“Wait,” 9S called out, stepping forward.

“Oh, 9S! I knew it! You came back to me!” 13R cheered, gazing up at him lovingly.

9S just glared down at her. “Why did you try and kill 2B?” he demanded.

“Because she stole you from me!” 13R replied. “But that’s all in the past! You’re here now, and that’s all that matters!”

For a moment he just stared, before reaching out and taking her from Popola. She didn’t resist, and let the S-type claim her. 9S then tossed 13R into the air and drew his sword. Then, with a single stroke he decapitated 13R.

“That was for trying to murder my wife and unborn child,” 9S growled as her head fell into the muck. Then, he plunged Cruel Oath into 13R’s forehead, piercing her central processor.

13R’s mouth wordlessly opened and closed for a few moments, eyes wide in disbelief, before the red light faded from her optic processors and she stilled, dead at long last.

With a weary sigh 9S walked back to Alexander and A2’s side, smiling weakly at the two of them.

“It’s over,” he said softly.

And then Purple Athena’s headless body abruptly sat up, purple maso spewing out of her severed neck stump.

“You just had to jinx it, didn’t you?!” A2 shouted at 9S, who cringed as everyone else on the battlefield shot him annoyed glares.

Yet before anyone could say or do anything, the purple maso formed tendrils that lashed out and grabbed onto Blue’s body.

Alexander let out a cry of despair as he watched the writhing maso drag the Machine Lifeform’s coreless frame over to the headless body.

The maso enveloped both of them in a shining cocoon of shimmering purple energy. For a few seconds it seemed to be suspended in a liquid state, slowly squirming and shifting, until the purple maso solidified and formed a massive, perfectly smooth sphere. It sat there in the middle of the battlefield, hovering a few inches above the ground and doing nothing at all.

“W-what?” Alexander managed to wheeze as he stared at the strange sight.

9S immediately ran over, running a scanner over it.

“It seems to be a giant mass of solid maso,” 9S muttered bewildered by also sounding intrigued.

“What happened to Blue?” Alexander demanded.

“You destroyed Purple Athena’s head, right?” Emil mused as he examined 13R’s sword, deciphering the curse on it. “So perhaps a failsafe activated to try and find something to repair herself. And the nearest object she could find to use was Blue.”

“What does that mean?” A2 asked, glancing from her son to the orb, then back again.

“I don’t know,” Emil admitted. “Purple Athena had no head, and thus no central processor. Blue had no core, but her head was still intact. So perhaps…”

“Blue could come back?” Alexander asked, desperate hope in his voice as his skeleton uncle trailed off, unwilling to finish his thought.

Emil shrugged. “Maybe,” he said, uncertain. That was enough for Alexander, however.

“Then I’ll wait,” he said softly. “Blue will be back someday. I’m sure of it.”

The battle was over, and with Purple Athena defeated, the Neo-Machine Empire collapsed across the globe.

The Fifteenth (and hopefully final!) Machine War had ended. Humanity had finally triumphed and crawled out of the ashes of extinction. The world would recover slowly, and the babies on the moon could live free of danger.

It was a heady thought, and one Alexander found himself unable to appreciate as androids celebrated the victory across all seven continents.

‘I will wait for you, Blue. No matter how long it takes,’ Alexander vowed as he stared at the cocoon-orb.