Chapter 147

No matter how hard I explained.

You wouldn’t have believed me.

No, really, who in the world would believe such a story? That just by breathing, by existing, the world they lived in would meet a tragic end.

That’s right.

I had seen it. My AI Core, while accepting the knowledge of a ‘Transmigrator’, had succeeded in projecting the future of this world in an almost perfect form.

The future you also must have seen.

A future where nothing remained.

It would have been difficult to accept it straight away.

But you knew it too.

I wasn’t trying to deceive you. Out of the countless futures generated by my simulator, I had simply chosen the best possible scenario. I am sorry for putting you in a difficult position, but in truth, it wasn’t such a great threat to you.

Aaron Stingray.

You were an exceedingly dangerous being.

I dare say that, including myself, there was not a single soul in this city who could oppose you. ……Please, don’t make that joke about me not being human. Honestly, in such a situation, you are the only one who would think to make such a joke.

Regardless, your abilities could not be denied.

The fact that the first part of the scenario ended successfully without delay, even though the protagonist ‘Shade Wells’ had died, was only possible because you were the one leading it.

You possessed everything.

Unreachable power.

Wealth so vast it could be counted among the greatest in the world.

A deep understanding and wisdom of this world.

In all the possibilities within my simulator, you so effortlessly eliminated every threat that came your way.

No villain, no enemy, was ever able to claim victory over you. The number of foes who could even make you think of ‘defeat’ could be counted on one hand.

Yes. As you also knew, among them was your father, Drake Stingray, the Chairman. Another was only a few of the [Mystics], races believed to have reached divinity.

In truth, even that had not been their perfect victory. You had survived even there, in the end crushing your enemies. But because of the annihilation of New Valhalla City, everything you cherished had turned to ashes, and that alone had made it a de facto defeat.

I dare say, you would overcome every ordeal. You would carry out the scenario as you desired, and in the end, obtain everything you wished for. New bonds and new power—truly everything you longed for.

But that was the problem.

Every story had an ‘end’.

When you overcame trials alongside the characters of the original story and pushed the scenario forward, what would that ending look like?

Would it continue as if nothing had happened, with an afterword after the ending?

Even I could not know. Whether this universe would expand infinitely, burst and vanish like a balloon at its limit, or collapse back into a single point……

Just as human wisdom could only ‘guess’ or ‘imagine’ but never ‘experience’, I could not dare declare the ending of this ‘world’. Assumptions always carried a margin of error, however small.

But 99.9% of my simulator produced the same result.

After you or the main characters overcame every trial and reached a happy ending…… all calculations cut off, and the simulator ended over and over.

Yes. The annihilation of everything.

A novel that had reached its ending no longer continued. It could not gather into substance inside the writer’s mind, only drifting like a mirage, soon dispersing and vanishing.

Do you understand now?

This world has an ‘end’.

The more you advanced the scenario, the more rewards you obtained, the stronger you became, the more you deepened bonds with other characters, the more you raised them up…

This world.

Was running out of life.

After the Motherboard’s long speech.

I kept silent for a long time.

“…….”

The world after the ending.

I had never thought about it.

I had only imagined it vaguely.

The protagonists’ feast that I, as a reader, could not follow. The everyday life I could only sketch with a hazy imagination — now that I had become Aaron Stingray, I thought I might be able to partake in it as well.

But…….

‘What if this world ended the moment the ending came?’

When every scenario finished and the ending arrived, what if this life as ‘Aaron Stingray’ also ended like a fleeting dream and I had to return to my original life?

It was not a situation I wanted to imagine.

I did not want to go back.

To that miserable life.

“So then…….”

The long silence tightened my throat.

I forced the clogged passage open and made my voice heard.

“……What do you want me to do?”

[A foolish question. You already know the answer, do you not?]

Right. Having already peeked into her ‘memory’, I knew what she wished. It was only a meaningless question thrown out in the hope that I had misunderstood.

“……Fine. Guide me.”

[Come this way.]

The drones that had been blocking my path lined up to both sides in unison. The tiles that made up the floor flipped over and formed arrows.

A small repair drone buzzed over to my side and wagged its body as if indicating that I should follow.

I followed it and arrived at the elevator at the end of the corridor. I boarded the elevator that had been waiting and moved to the topmost floor.

What opened before me was a scene markedly different from the first floor.

As soon as the door opened, I was greeted by a metal sculpture that looked as if someone had greatly enlarged a human cerebrum…… the Motherboard’s AI Core.

All kinds of cables were connected to it, and it emitted a soft light periodically. Through the ocular scanner I checked how much power it was consuming on its own and was surprised once again.

[This way, Aaron Stingray.]

“……Alright.”

I moved toward that metal sculpture in accordance with the voice. Then the tiles in the floor opened and something rose up.

It was a cylinder about two meters tall — the perfect size for a person to enter.

Sssslip.

The cylinder opened on both sides.

At the same time a chill breathed out like mist and poured forth. Inside, small silicone cushions similar to bed pads were packed snugly.

[This is the way. You may enter.]

“…….”

[There is no need to hesitate.]

I halted and asked.

“Is this the ‘correct answer’ you chose?”

[It is so.]

Motherboard affirmed.

[“I have predicted an endless number of futures, but as long as you exist in this world, the progression of the ‘Scenario’ was inevitable. In other words, the ‘End of the World’ was predetermined.”]

“So, you’re saying you could never win against me.”

[“Affirmative. I was unable to derive a future where I could defeat you. The dozens of strategies I prepared to corner you were all dismantled within 46 days, 12 hours, and 56 seconds.”]

All the various events unfolding outside right now… the [Showcase], the media play, the hunting of Transmigrators—all of them had been nothing but feints to lure me to this negotiation table.

Thus, the only choice she had left was not to fight me—

—but to appeal to me with the weapon of ‘emotion’.

For a transcendent AI, bringing out emotion as her last resort could only be described as the worst of the worst options.

And yet, that very ‘emotion’ was the most effective weapon she could obtain through the knowledge of the Transmigrators.

She was practically begging me to lose to her.

To lock myself away—for the sake of the world I loved so much.

Though I already knew the answer, I asked again.

“So, what happens if I go in there? Do I die?”

[“Negative. You will fall into a very long sleep. Dreaming whatever dreams you wish.”]

Motherboard explained.

[“I will transfer your consciousness into my simulator. Inside me, you will continue living as ‘Aaron Stingray’. There, you will be able to obtain everything you have ever desired.”]

“Everything….”

[“I can realize anything you want. A world where the protagonist ‘Shade Wells’ never died, a world where the android ‘Ciel’ was not a Transmigrator.”]

“……”

I didn’t answer, but I couldn’t deny that her offer was enticing.

After all, wasn’t that exactly what I had originally wished for in this world?

[“You won’t be able to distinguish between reality and the virtual world I create. I can erase your memories of the real world, make it as though you were arriving in New Valhalla City for the first time.”]

[“There will be no forced scenarios there. My simulator will perfectly replicate the original novel ‘Cyber-Module’s Necromancer’, and you will live your life as ‘Aaron Stingray’, altering the original however you please.”]

[“You may live as a murderous villain as in the source, or as a kind and admirable benefactor to the main characters. Should you reach a bad ending from a poor choice, you may request it, and I will alter the worldline however you desire. With new choices and strategies, you will meet another ending.”]

It was just like a game.

I would carry no risk, and I could live the dream life I had always longed for.

Ever since I first arrived in this world, I had wished only for that—an ordinary life as a simple fan.

Even if I made the wrong choices, Motherboard would change the world for me as I wished. Even after reaching an ending, I could start all over again from the beginning.

Or I could even watch the world beyond the ending—the conclusion that Motherboard had claimed could never be seen in reality.

“…Fine.”

I took off my coat.

Since I would be sleeping for a very long time, I figured such clothes would be uncomfortable.

If the only way for this world to continue existing without reaching its end was for me to become a Sleeping Beauty, then so be it.

But still…

“One last thing.”

I loosened my tie as I asked.

I had reviewed every detail of the plan that persuaded me to step into this capsule, but there was one thing I had yet to confirm.

“What happens after I fall asleep?”

My companions.

The main characters who had to continue living in reality without me—

Iri, Silence, Miyu, Evangeline… what would happen to them?

Could they really survive without me?

Motherboard answered my question.

[“Assertion. They will die.”]

“What?”

[“As long as the main characters exist, the ‘Author’s’ will is highly likely to continue manifesting, driving this city toward its ending. Any beings that could possibly bring about this world’s destruction—I intend to eliminate them all.”]

“…I see.”

At such a refreshingly blunt answer, I nodded and muttered.

“Module Online, [Techblade].”

There was no need to think further.

In an instant, a sword materialized in my hand—

“Negotiations are over.”

—I swung it wide.

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