—–

“Who is that girl? She’s with young master Anna?”

“She’s another bald ape, perhaps?”

“Never seen another bald ape before than young master Anna, though…”

“Wow, her hair is so shiny, like metal!”

The people of the town started gossiping as we walked through the streets. I grabbed Zero One’s arm and dragged her along so she wouldn’t end up getting distracted.

Well, she was indeed getting distracted all the time, but at least she was not wandering off like always; she was within my jurisdiction after all!

She particularly liked how everyone looked so different. I don’t know if she had registry within her memory about the people of this world and their appearances, but she liked them.

“Woah, everyone is so different! They resemble the animals documented within the Azure Star! Birds, lions, cows, tigers, dogs, wolves, so many different-looking people!” she said.

“Missy, where did you come from? Are you one of young master Anna’s friends?” A group of mischievous children approached us.

“You’re like a panda!” Zero One looked at the kid with bright eyes.

“Yes, she’s, err, a friend,” I nodded.

It was good that the people couldn’t easily tell she was a machine. It is better to hide the fact from the public if possible.

“Why is she so weird?”

“Her hair is like metal!”

“She’s soft…”

The children started grabbing her hair and touching her legs; they were a very touchy bunch.

“I-I…!” Zero One was about to spill what she was. “Actually, I am a-”

I covered her mouth before she was about to spill the beans.

“Don’t,” I said. “She’s… she’s a human like me, yeah. Anyways, children, please let us go; we have urgent matters to attend to with the Heavenly Empress.”

“Children, stop bothering them!”

The adults quickly came running to grab the children away; they all belonged to a nearby orphanage and had no parents left, but the people of the town all considered them their kids.

Some of them were fairly young, born after the apocalypse, while others were born earlier, but even after or before, they had no parents.

This was because before the Heavenly Empress set this barrier, people were escaping and fending on their own and were probably hunted by either wild beasts or… the machines.

“Those children have no parents,” I told Zero One as we walked upstairs.

“No parents?” wondered the android. “Why?”

“They lost them,” I said. “To the apocalypse your kind brought to this world. Some others lost them to the machines themselves, even after having survived the cataclysm.”

“O-oh…” Zero One’s eyes widened as she looked at the children from the distance.

“If your kind hadn’t invaded this world, they would have had the chance to live normal and peaceful lives, maybe. This world was still a chaotic mess even before, but I would like to think it would be that way,” I sighed. “I have to tell you these things, so you can gather more information. About the harm your kind has caused to this world and about the many people you’ve made suffer or killed.”

“…I understand,” Zero One nodded. “I-I don’t know what else I could say; I know that nothing I say will ever revive those that have died or help those that lost their loved ones, but… I thank you for telling me this; this feeling I feel is something my kind was unable to develop before.”

“Can you describe it to me, Zero One?” I asked her as I looked into the sky.

“It is a sense of pain. But there’s no actual pain, anguish? Desperation… it is annoying; it hurts, and… I feel bad,” she said.

“That’s guilt,” I said. “That’s guilt. You’re feeling guilt right now; maybe you didn’t do any of these things personally, but I suppose as someone who was given this level of emotional intelligence, you’re meant to develop the feelings your Mother and your siblings are unable to do so. Perhaps… maybe it’ll help you all understand the level of damage you cause to this world.”

“…Guilt?” Zero One looked at her own hands. “I see… Thank you, Anna.”

“You don’t need to thank me,” I said. “And be prepared; we’re about to meet the one that stopped your Mother and her band of crazed Avatars from destroying everything. She might harbor an actual grudge against you and your kindred… I’ll try to stop her and to reason things with her, but I can’t guarantee your safety anymore. You might die now.”

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“…” Zero One seemed slightly afraid. “I-I understand… Very well.”

“Okay then,” I nodded. “Let’s go.”

We stepped inside the Heavenly Empress’ golden palace; we were greeted by her guards as we made our way inside. The various servants attending her palace walked around, looking at us with interest and curiosity.

Zero One looked around curiously, yet a bit afraid. After everything I had told her, she finally started to realize her position here. She was a mediator between two groups that had killed and destroyed each other without end.

She was walking through the house of one of their leaders, who sacrificed almost everything to save the world from their invasion.

And probably most of the people here had lost their loved ones against her family’s attacks.

Once she learned what guilt was, she had not stopped feeling it every second.

I honestly don’t really like it either.

I don’t like to blame someone unrelated over the sins of their ancestors or family.

She was born only a few hours ago and is now carrying the weight and responsibility of her entire kind.

Probably the reason why I saved her is because she feels more like an individual than the hivemind the machines always felt to me.

And because of that, I don’t want to blame her for what they had done to the rest.

She’s different.

I wish I could give her comforting words, but if I do, I might also end up contradicting myself.

Hah…

Why are we humans so contradictory?

I guess it is one of the things that fantasy fiction tries to remediate; readers always dislike when characters are contradictory, when they act out of their own character.

But aren’t all of us humans like this? There’s never a one hundred percent way we are; we change; we experience new things daily.

We are constantly becoming different—every memory, every experience, every day.

Maybe this was why I felt it was torture—what my brother went through.

To appease the expectations of the readers, the author transformed my brother into someone that never changed.

He only became colder and less human, and once he became a ruthless, cold, and emotionless self-insert, he never changed.

Never improved, never transformed, never became better or worse.

It was all the same, all the same thing.

But now that’s different, and I’m glad I made it different.

And even now, as I walk to meet the woman that sheltered me when I arrived in this world, I feel like my own contradictory actions would upset her.

She will probably say, “This is not like you,” or maybe even, “Why are you doing this? There was no reason,” and I completely agree with her.

There was no reason to do anything I am doing right now.

Yet, I wanted to do it anyway.

Why?

Because I want to see something different, Zero One might be tricking us, there’s a chance for that.

But there’s also a chance she’s not…

And if she’s not tricking us, then there might never be an opportunity like this ever again.

I cannot miss it.

At the end of the palace’s corridor, the throne room awaited us.

And there was a large, golden throne, where a woman sat down, her sharp golden eyes glaring at us from the distance.

She could see us from a while now, her sharp gaze piercing our very hearts.

Or well, only mine, Zero One seemed unaffected by her spiritual powers.

The beautiful Heavenly Empress, a tall and white-feathered crane, spoke, her graceful beak moving as she talked.

“So you’re finally back, my disciple,” she smiled. “It took you two long days, but you’ve returned, and much stronger than before. Has that devil taught you a few things? I sure hope he didn’t do anything else to you. Or else…”

“N-Nah, he’s good! I mean, he was an insane bastard…” I laughed. “But he helped me; I’ve also become his disciple. As you can see, he has let me inherit his technique, the Seven Cursed Seals.” I showed her my tattoos.

“I can tell,” she nodded. “It makes me slightly frustrated that the devil was able to pass on his abhorrent technique to my dear disciple… but I also must admit it is a powerful Martial Arts Technique that allowed him to reach so far. Also, I can feel within you; you’re at least twice as strong as before!”

“I-I am, yeah.” I nodded. “I also am beginning to develop my own Martial Arts, but it’ll take until they take proper shape. I need to learn more to fill the gaps with your teachings, master.”

I bow to her.

“I’m glad to be back and see you again. I actually spent over two weeks in that man’s Inner Realm, so it was quite… Quite the torture,” I sighed.

“I can tell,” she nodded. “It has only been two days for me, but I suppose I did wonder what was happening to you. I am happy to see you back, Anna.”

“Master…”

I felt slightly moved by her warm welcome.

However, I also felt unease.

She was completely ignoring Zero One, who was standing right behind me, almost frozen.

Fang Shuan and Ying Shen remained outside the room as I asked them, but Zero One was with me.

“Now that we’ve greeted one another formally,”

Her eyes became sharper as her feathered eyebrows furrowed.

“You will have to explain to me what the meaning of this is, my disciple,” she said. “Have you taken this machine that looks like your kind as your pet or something? What has gone through your mind to think you can bring that thing here?”

As harsh as she sounds, that’s an expected response, yeah.

Her Aura was strong, unleashing a deadly pressure that forced me and Zero One to kneel on the ground.

“Master, I kindly ask you to calm your wrath,” I said. “This child carries no fault in what the machines have done; she was only born roughly thirteen hours ago.”

“…”

She looked into my Spiritual Soul, analyzing my honesty.

“You’re not lying; is this what she told you?” she asked.

“Yes… She calls herself Zero One.” I nodded. “Let me explain to you… And please, wait until I finish. Before you take a decision…”

“…Very well,” she said with a serious and very solemn tone of voice. “Speak, my disciple.”

I slowly explained to her what had happened as I made my way back, from what Zero One had told us to what we’d experienced with her and everything else.

Naturally, she was perplexed, furious, shocked, and angry again. Her emotions shifted more than I imagined; she couldn’t keep herself calm.

“So the machines decided that they wanted to understand us after everything that has happened? After they’ve destroyed everything?!” she roared. “Do you understand what you’re trying to defend, my disciple?! You’re trying to defend the ones that slaughtered our entire world!”

RUMBLE!

Her aura made the entire golden palace tremble, the surroundings twisted, everything seemed to be encompassed by bright white light, and countless spiraling spheres of photonic energies surged one after another.

“I am not, master,” I said, slowly looking up, resisting her tremendous pressure with my own combined Auras. “I am not defending them, nor am I trying to convince you to forgive them. I am only defending her, someone who has a relation with the machines but should not carry their sins.”

“Why?!” she roared. “It is only natural that she must!”

“Is this what you said to the Heavenly Demon when he was chased and his family slaughtered because his ancestor was an evil sorcerer?!” I asked her.

“…!”

She suddenly stepped back, her eyes widening.

“The sins of the parents must not weigh down their children…” I said. “Just because the father of a child murdered someone, will you judge the child as a murderer as well?”

“Anna…”

—–

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep