Chapter 203: Episode 203

Episode 203

A Resistance hacker entered Sector 6 to work on the system.

According to him, the job was surprisingly easy; all he had to do was apply the authority Eve had handed over.

He said it was as if she had prepared for this very outcome.

Without any resistance, the androids returned to their original purpose: serving humanity.

The new problem, however, was the riots breaking out across Machinatio.

The humans had seemed completely obedient, but it would have taken several more generations for the brainwashing to set in perfectly. Everyone had been dissatisfied, and Winslow’s broadcast had moved them, reawakening their will to fight.

After seizing control of Sector 6, Winslow, Bellica, and I returned to Sector 1.

The area had been reduced to ruins by the battle between the Resistance and the androids.

“Claire!”

Bellica collapsed in tears, clutching a fallen comrade.

“Don’t die! Please!”

The joy of their long-awaited victory was immense, but so was the grief for the comrades they had lost. All around, soldiers were breaking down over the bodies of their friends.

“Bellica, ma’am. There is blood on your face.”

An android approached, holding out a handkerchief. Bellica’s vicious gaze snapped up from the ground and fixed on it.

In a flash, she slapped the android across the face. Everyone flinched, staring at her in shock.

“Don’t you dare act all virtuous now! You filthy murderers!” she shouted, her voice shaking.

The android she had struck didn’t even change its expression, simply dropping to its knees.

“You think this justifies what you did? You killed hundreds of millions of people! My parents! My comrades! All of them!”

“Bellica, ma’am. We are concerned for your mental state due to extreme anger. Please tell us what we should do. If venting your anger through violence will help, we will gladly accept it.”

Bellica’s whole body trembled. Instead of striking it again, she pulled out her gun and aimed.

“Go on! How about it? A human is pointing a gun at an android. Why don’t you run your ideological screening like you used to? You know the drill! Make us kneel! Strip us! Beat us! Do it all again!”

“Bellica!” Winslow shouted. “Stop. The androids were only obeying orders.”

Bellica fell silent.

“I understand how you feel,” he continued, “but if we want to stop the Calamities, we need their cooperation. If we cripple our own forces, we’ll be the only ones to suffer in the battles to come.”

In the end, Bellica dropped the gun and buried her face in her hands.

I could imagine how she felt. She must have hated the androids, who had taken everything from her, more than anyone.

But the androids themselves held no malice, and the system that had forced them to commit those atrocities had been reset.

There was no one left to direct her anger at, yet her dead parents and comrades would never return. She would have to carry that burden for the rest of her life.

“I heard your story. Thank you for telling me,” Winslow said, walking up to me.

I had told the truth only to Winslow and a few high-ranking members of the Resistance. I was an outsider; this was their world. I had no right to bury the truth.

Everyone seemed stunned. In fact, more than a few were clearly shattered by the revelation.

“For now, our priority is to get this situation under control,” Winslow said gravely. “Right now, androids are being massacred indiscriminately all over the world. Having become obedient to humans again, they can’t resist and are being beaten to death without fighting back. We have to stop this cycle of hatred somehow.”

I nodded. “For now… how about you issue a direct statement as the representative of the Resistance, Mr. Winslow? And for the androids, we can alter their behavioral protocols to allow for minimal self-defense, as long as they don’t harm humans. For example, if someone tries to attack them, they should be programmed to flee.”

“That’s an excellent idea!”

Winslow immediately ordered his subordinates to prepare a broadcast.

“Ah, and…”

“What is it?”

“The magic inheritance…”

“Oh, right! I keep forgetting! You said you were busy, didn’t you?” Winslow smacked his forehead and laughed. “I’ve taken up far too much of your time! I’ll pass it on to you right now!”

“Thank you!”

Winslow and I moved to a quiet place.

Bellica watched me with a complicated, unreadable expression. When our eyes met, she quickly turned away.

* * *

“Alright, here we go!”

“Yes!”

Winslow placed his hand on my head and immediately transferred the magic.

Sixth-order: Iron Cancer.

It was a binding spell that drew and forged iron within a magic circle.

Unlike ice and water magic, which had split into their own independent schools, earth and metal magic were treated as a single branch and used in tandem.

The signature spell of the metal branch was this very sixth-order: Iron Cancer.

“There are two ways to use it,” Winslow explained, casting Iron Cancer on a patch of ground laid bare by the fighting.

Long metal pillars shot up from the earth. They twisted and bent freely, forming handcuffs, prison bars, a guillotine, and all sorts of other shapes.

“Since it’s fundamentally an earth-type spell, it’s more effective when cast on the ground. You can use the iron in the soil to draw out metal that’s harder and lasts longer. Of course…”

This time, he cast Iron Cancer on a glass window. Once again, rebar-like rods of iron shot out of the magic circle without issue.

“You can also use it freely without any such constraints! In that case, you’re drawing out metal that will disappear after a while. But its strength while it exists is the real deal, so there’s no problem using it in combat.”

“Ahh!”

The way Winslow had fought the flying androids had been incredible, freely drawing out iron wires to bind their bodies, snap their necks, and pierce their chests.

With enough training, I could definitely use it as an offensive spell.

“You already know that the applications of sixth-order magic vary wildly depending on how much you train it, right?”

“Yes! Lady Minerva goes around smashing monster skulls with Sagittarius.”

“Ahh! Lady Minerva was the best.”

Winslow’s lips curled into a nostalgic smile before he pulled himself together and continued.

“Now, I’ll show you what my Iron Cancer can do. Here, catch.”

He pulled a pistol from his coat and tossed it to me. I caught it on reflex.

“It’s a mana pistol! You know how to use it, right?”

“Yes. I’ve fired one before.”

“Point it at that wall and fire a single shot.”

I nodded and aimed the gun at the wall. I channeled my mana into the firearm, naturally mana-coating the bullet.

If I pulled the trigger now—

The gun in my hand suddenly elongated, transforming into a sword. Before I knew it, I was in the absurd position of holding a blade to my own neck.

Startled, I dropped the weapon.

“Just like that! I can manipulate weapons and even Hunting Devices in my opponent’s hands as if they were my own!”

“Th-that’s… incredible.”

’At this level of control, isn’t this practically cheating?’ It was powerful enough to make a mockery of every modern weapon on Earth.

“Hahaha! Of course, I’m a specialist mage and have trained for a very long time, so I can do this! To reach this level, you’d have to go through some hellish training.”

I smacked my lips and folded my arms.

“Maybe I should pick a single specialty attribute, too.”

“If I remember correctly, your attribute… you’re an Elemental Master based on the four primary elements, correct?”

“Yes.”

“Let me say this: there’s no need for you to copy the styles of the other Tower Masters exactly.” Winslow shrugged. “The best thing you can do is discover and build your own style! As an Elemental Master, you’ll probably find ways to use sixth-order magic that go beyond anything we’ve done.”

“…You’re right.”

Being a specialist mage was undeniably appealing.

Anton, who rode the waves and endlessly rained down massive water bombs.

Minerva, who shattered monster heads like watermelons with her air rifle.

And Winslow, who had torn apart two hundred cutting-edge androids in one go.

’Masters who had honed a single skill to perfection. If I wanted to become like them—or rather, surpass them—what should I do?’ It was a new problem to solve.

“That’s all I have to teach you.”

“Thank you. This has helped me a lot!”

“Thank me? Compared to what you’ve done, this is nothing. We were only able to get this far thanks to your cooperation.”

He patted my shoulder, then flashed a grin and gave me a thumbs-up.

“And personally, I’m really grateful.”

“…Hahaha.”

Seeing him do his signature pose in his original body felt strangely different.

“We were the third, so that means the next one is the last!”

“Looks that way.”

The end of this sixth-floor trial was finally in sight. The day I would go back was drawing near.

“I wish you luck. Don’t let your guard down in the last world, and give it your all.”

“Thank you for everything.”

I bowed my head one last time. Winslow waved to me, then walked over to the Resistance members who were urging him on.

“Tower Master. You’re going to do the announcement in your transformed state, right?”

“There’s no need for that. I’ll do it like this.”

It seemed Winslow had decided to face his own trauma head-on.

I hoped he would stay strong.

“Hey, Jance!”

A sudden voice made me turn around. Bellica was approaching, looking awkward and hesitant.

“You’re leaving now?”

“Yeah.”

“You just pop in and then pop right back out, huh. Here, take this.”

Bellica unfastened the bracelet she was wearing and pressed it into my hand.

I had thought it was just an accessory, but it was a bracelet made of flowers, with tiny buds spaced along its length.

I grinned playfully.

“A little analog for this world, isn’t it?”

“Idiot, does this look analog to you? It’s an Eternal Flower, a plant recreated with science and technology. It never withers, and it mends itself even if it’s torn. Its flower language is immortality.”

She forcibly fastened the bracelet around my wrist.

“Be careful in the next world, too.”

“Th-thanks. But are you sure you want to give something this precious to me?”

“Hmph, I can give it to whoever I want,” she muttered, then gave an embarrassed little smile. “Ugh, damn it. It’s embarrassing to say this so suddenly, but… thank you for helping us. Humanity regained its freedom entirely because of you.”

“I just… tagged along on your operation and took a bit of credit, that’s all.”

“Idiot. You played the most decisive role. You’re the hero who defeated Eve.”

We smiled at each other.

“Huh?”

“Ah.”

My body began to blur. It seemed it was time to move on to the next world.

Sensing our impending farewell, she spoke.

“Goodbye, Jance. No—Kim Yusin.”

“Yeah. You stay healthy, too.”

We tried to shake hands one last time, but our hands could no longer meet. I was already starting to fade from this world.

Bellica’s eyes reddened.

“Crying again?”

“Shut up! You idiot.”

She quickly wiped her eyes with her sleeve. Thinking of Minerva, I spoke.

“Let’s make our goodbye cool. No crying or looking back, okay?”

“I know that!” she yelled back, then gave a faint, crooked smile.

“Then, see y—”

BOOM!

Every hair on my body stood on end.

An ear-splitting roar tore through the air as the entire dome shook and the ground heaved violently.

Bellica lost her balance and fell. A fierce gust, thick with dust and dirt, whipped through and turned everything around us into a gray haze.

“Ugh! What the hell was that?”

I felt nothing as I was in the process of disappearing, but the shock clearly hit Bellica hard. Coughing, she struggled to her feet.

’What on earth…’

I lifted my head.

And I saw it: gigantic towers descending from the sky.

BOOM!

KRA-KOOM!

With every impact, shockwaves sent humans and androids flying like dust.

My Deva’s Eye rapidly scanned the surroundings.

There were two towers just here in the Queen of Victoria alone. All across the city, I could see more towers than I could possibly count.

From the bodies of the towers that had reached the ground, an unending stream of monsters poured out.

“Emergency! Emergency! A Calamity has descended. All androids, assemble!”

“Estimated Calamity Rank: 11! Hurry!”

Hearing the androids’ voices, chills ran down my spine.

’No way… this is—’

“Aaah!”

“P-please, somebody help!”

This was the situation Eve had feared.

The reason she had decided to betray her creator.

The threat she had been blocking by preventing the setting of anomaly coordinates in space and the atmosphere.

…Its true identity was the final Calamity: the Rank 11 threat known as Nemesis.

With Eve—the one holding the line—gone, the Calamity had finally descended upon their world.

The sky was black with monsters.

The beasts rampaged through the city, slaughtering humans and androids indiscriminately. The Queen of Victoria turned into a blood-soaked living hell in an instant.

“Bellica! Are you okay? Get out of here!”

Monsters swooped in. I clenched my teeth and tried to cast Fire Cannon, but no magic came out.

In the process of disappearing, I no longer existed in this world. All I could do was watch it end.

“Bellica!”

The monsters charged.

She wiped the blood running down her forehead and raised her gun.

A few bullets fired, then there was only the empty click-click of the hammer.

“Don’t fight, just run!”

“Haah.”

Bellica dropped the empty gun and gave me a bright smile.

“Guess this is it.”

A monster’s blade burst from her chest.

My mind went blank.

’What the hell have I done?’

“Bellica!”

’Human free will? What good was that? Eve had been right. We should never have killed her!’

When the monster yanked its blade free, her body crumpled to the ground.

I screamed and tried to catch her, but her body passed right through my arms and hit the cold floor.

“Kh… ngh…”

Coughing up blood, she looked at me.

With a bloodstained hand, she reached up to stroke my face—a face she couldn’t even touch.

“You said… we wouldn’t cry… you idiot…”

“Bellica, please! No!”

“Sorry… this… isn’t… your fault…”

Her arm went limp and fell. I threw my head back, my face twisted in despair, and watched the final moments as another world was destroyed by a Calamity.

My vision went black.

[You have cleared the Third Trial.]

[You will now move on to the next world.]

* * *

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