𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟑𝟓: 𝐘𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐝𝐚𝐲’𝐬 𝐄𝐧𝐞𝐦𝐲, 𝐓𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲’𝐬 𝐅𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝 (1)
The transcendent machine race known as the Reptured wielded legions of combat drones and levitating capital warships over the planet.
【Artificial Intelligence. Ark.】
【Eliminate the human imitations.】
Screech!
Supersonic drones filled the skies, swarming high and low, conducting their warfare. Their fired gamma rays burned through the novel armor of the humanoid war machines, frying the internal circuitry.
In response, a variety of weapons deployed from the Elise Fleet to the ground, training their muzzles or barrels skyward, engaging the myriads of the Reptured drones in fierce combat.
Pew! Pew!
The battle was so complex that it was difficult to distinguish friend from foe with the naked eye. Behind this battle was also a contest of computational power, as the tactical systems of the Reptured and the artificial intelligence clashed.
And the outcome was nearing the victory of the artificially intelligent entity, which boasted more advanced computational abilities.
Ark was simultaneously directing the ground and fleet battles, all the while maintaining constant communication with the Reptured.
【The fighting will not cease unless you stand down. Cease all acts of war and agree to parley. Do so now.】
【Ark. Our war is a settled matter. We will not cease, no matter how much you insist.】
Each time the Elise Fleet’s main cannon fired a beam of light, dozens of the Reptured fleet would explode. And with each firing of their eight triangular capital ships, Elise’s main cannon would strip away a section of some satellite or planet with an intense flash.
The Reptured fleet deployed shields and continued their cannon fire, which had a considerably longer range. But it was futile.
The Elise Fleet’s shields were more powerful, the Elise Fleet’s firepower and range were superior, and the Elise Fleet’s tactical systems were several times more advanced.
Furthermore, the Elise Fleet possessed a greater variety of ground weapons, and the fleet composition on the Elise Fleet’s side was more diverse in starship types.
In addition, the phase assault weapons that could be instantly deployed to the ground, without the need for assault ships or cruisers, overwhelmed the Reptured in fleet battles and planetary ground combat.
【You cannot win this battle. Surely you, a machine race, have calculated this sufficiently.】
【We have no intention of being persuaded by a human imitation like you. The humans who designed you have made a mistake. The Chimeraz are a clear and present danger to this universe.】
【We admit that we have made many mistakes in dealing with the Chimeraz. However, it is the right thing to do for us to stand with the Chimeraz against the Federation today.】
【That is an argument lacking in logical foundation.】
Phase assault technology delivered shells and nuclear missiles that obliterated the Reptured fleet in a sun-like blaze. The majority of energy beams and physical projectiles fired by the Reptured fleet missed their mark due to the distorting space, and those that barely reached the Elise Fleet were blocked by the high-output shields.
It was a one-sided fight from the start.
Nevertheless, the Reptured fleet fought tenaciously.
In the midst of the fleet battle, they collected the wreckage of damaged ships or aircraft, reactivated their in-ship military factories to replenish their forces, and took countermeasures to the best of their ability, such as predicting the location of Elise Fleet transmissions and firing cannon shots there in advance.
The battle between the machine race and the artificial intelligence was a continuous series of strategic adjustments and responses at lightning speed. An ordinary mind would never be able to perceive the numerous battles occurring behind the scenes of the battle that was visible to the eye.
【Why do you fight? Are you not a machine transcendent? What is most important to a machine transcendent?】
【If there is a power best suited to rule this universe in the future, it is the Le-orantarum Federation. Humanity has been ignorant and conservative, and the Hive Alliance is excessively violent and isolationist. If we can prevent their violence from becoming eternal violence, we will gladly choose to fight.】
Along with the mushroom clouds rising from the ground of each planet, the Reptured ground forces were annihilated. And now, the Reptured fleet had only about thirty ships left, fighting a losing fleet battle to the end.
【Reptured. Analysis of your systems is complete.】
【??】
【Were you still using the binary system?】
At that moment, the few surviving Reptured ships ceased all movement simultaneously.
The cannons attached to the decks no longer spewed fire, and the Reptured drones scattered throughout the fleet battle came to a standstill, ceasing all engagement.
At the same time, the Elise Fleet also ceased fire.
All fighting stopped.
【We have hacked your fleet. We understand that you have no intention of surrendering, but we hope you will understand our decision to forcibly cease hostilities.】
【Astonishing technology. However, you will not extract information from us.】
The Reptured said so and attempted something.
But nothing happened.
【I apologize, but I have also removed the port for the self-destruction protocol. Self-destruction will not be permitted. Furthermore, all firearms connected to your independent network will no longer be usable.】
【Why go to such lengths? Just kill us. We are your enemy. Even if we are captured, machines can self-erase their internal data.】
【Then please listen to me for a moment before you erase your data.】
【?】
【If we were trying to deceive you, you could erase it at any time. But look at us now. We have only forcibly stopped this battle and are not approaching you.】
Just then, the approaching light from outside the star system refracted like a lens.
A living celestial body the size of a planet appeared.
The living celestial body had huge tentacles trailing behind it in the direction of its movement, and countless Chimeraz aircraft were swarming around it like a swarm of bees.
➖Reptured, I have something to say to you.
Her voice came through the communication network.
【Anima Selas. Has your demonic legion also come to invade this galaxy, along with the human imitations? How did humans, who were once everyone’s idols and standards, fall so low?】
➖Do you see us, the Chimeraz, as a threat?
【The Chimeraz’s growth rate, expansion rate, excessive population explosion, and frequent acts of war provide hundreds of grounds for us to judge you as a threat. Therefore, it is right to eliminate the Chimeraz before it is too late.】
In short, the Reptured regarded the Chimeraz as a threat because of their strength and warlike activities.
And they said that if more time passed, the Chimeraz would become an unstoppable force, so they would eliminate them now.
Just as the Vehlpciaarct of the past had said.
【Artificial intelligence Ark. Persuade the humans to side with the Federation now. Right now, the humans are jointly manufacturing an all-universe bomb that cannot be dismantled.】
➖Reptured, we really didn’t want to fight. We don’t like war.
【False. We analyzed the Chimeraz as a threat of moderate level, and judged that they had entered a lull after the most recent all-out war between the Vehlpciaarct and the Chimeraz had ended. We believed that peace would come as a result.】
➖ . . .And?
【The Chimeraz destroyed the entire Vehlpciaarct race, but even so, it was within the realm of understanding if peace came as a result. However, what has the Chimeraz done since then?】
They created the Hive Alliance and instigated an internal plot in the Crolr, leading to a coup.
【Didn’t they absorb the friendly races that favored the Chimeraz into the Hive Alliance, and forcibly replace the leaders of the races that opposed the Chimeraz, just as they did to the Crolr, in order to control them according to the Chimeraz’s will?】
【Answer me. Who is next after the Crolr?】
【Is it the Aooa, who is vacillating between the Chimeraz and humanity? Or is it the Hyraguroa, who trust the Ririm more than the Chimeraz? Or is it humanity?】
【Perhaps there is already a conspiracy theory that you have already replaced the human leader. No one expected or imagined that humanity would side with the Chimeraz. It is the worst possible outcome.】
【Do you intend to acquire the races of the Local Group of Galaxies one by one in this manner? Answer me, second leader of the Chimeraz.】
➖That’s not true.
【Is that a denial?】
➖Yes. Every single thing you said is wrong.
Anima thought.
‘My sincerity or emotional appeals won’t work.’
The Reptured was a machine transcendent race that idolized the Vehlpciaarct. And from what they were saying now, it seemed that they had some degree of trust and respect for humans.
‘I have to make them understand and be convinced thoroughly. They are machines, both in body and mind.’
【Your violent activities up to this point do not support your denial.】
➖Let’s start from the beginning.
【From the beginning?】
➖The Canis Minor Dwarf Galaxy. Do you know the machine race called the Teterek that once existed there?
【A race with whom we had an exchange, and who shared engineering similarities and affinity in consciousness networks. If you Chimeraz had not wiped them out, the Teterek would have blossomed into a brilliant civilization by now.】
➖You know about the Mahadto and the Parahtoria there as well.
【Why are you bringing this up?】
➖In order to explain that the transcendent machine race of the past, the Vehlpciaarct. . .that you idolize so devotedly. . .was wrong.
【Do not insult them, who sacrificed themselves for the future of the Local Group of Galaxies. If there was a tactical error in their decision-making, it was because they realized it too early and acted too soon.】
➖I’m not insulting them. We hold the Vehlpciaarct in high regard. We even regretted that there was no way to avoid fighting the Vehlpciaarct.
【That is an unreliable statement.】
➖If the Vehlpciaarct were here now, whose side do you think they would have fought on?
It was a sudden question.
【. . . . . . . . . . . .】
The Reptured did not answer.
Of course not. The question they had just asked was something that neither the humans nor the Chimeraz knew the answer to.
Anima had simply planted the seed for the Reptured’s thought circuits to reconsider the Vehlpciaarct.
➖Let me rephrase the question.
➖The Vehlpciaarct were highly advanced machine transcendents capable of disassembly and reconstruction. Their unit of disassembly was almost molecular, and each of those tiny components was a Vehlpciaarct.
➖Do you really think that the Chimeraz could have annihilated the entire Vehlpciaarct race, if they had set their minds to it?
She continued to ask questions. That way, the Reptured could review and analyze the past events.
➖Would it have been possible for the Vehlpciaarct to go extinct in such a short period of time, unless they had gathered their entire race in one place?
【Didn’t the Chimeraz hack the Vehlpciaarct’s Lead Core? If they had manipulated their leader and forced the entire race to gather, extinction would have been possible.】
➖That’s ridiculous. There was a human mediation in the war between the Chimeraz and the Vehlpciaarct, which failed.
【Yes.】
➖How could the Chimeraz hack their advanced system, which even humans couldn’t hack? If the Chimeraz had been capable of such a thing in the first place, wouldn’t humans have been annihilated before the Vehlpciaarct?
Then, Anima whispered to the humanoid Ark next to her.
“Send the prepared data.”
“Do you think it will convince them if I send it now? It may be ineffective if it’s not a decisive moment.”
“They’re not answering. They’re doubting themselves now. About the truth of the past.”
“I understand. I’ll send it.”
🔷🔷🔷
)))100101101011010101010110101011100000101111100101011101011101010000110110101010001011110100010101011?
【What is this?】
【Data sent from Ark.】
【Let me take a look.】
. . .!!!
“Wait, Nazar.”
“To say such cold words. . .)”
“Wait, wait!”
“It’s here. . .!”
【Who are these?】
【Humans resembling the Chimeraz. And a figurehead famous for being ranked 3rd. It is 99.5% similar to Nazar.】
“Exactly where are they approaching from? It’s hard to see because the boundary is unclear.”
“A-All directions. . .coming from. . .”
【It seems to be a record from that time.】
【Wait, Kreion and Ludwig are there at this time.】
“. . .How many enemies are there?”
“Ludwig?”
“A. . . . The enemies right now. . .”
“2048 fleets. . . . Estimated. . . .”
【2048 fleets?】
【Even so, could the Vehlpciaarct have prepared such an army?】
【This is impossible. It’s fake data.】
【2048 fleets is unconventional.】
【But the Vehlpciaarct’s entire race was extinct. If the Vehlpciaarct members were fully mobilized for an invasion against the Chimeraz, this could be true.】
【Yes. It is said that the war at that time was a total war between the two races.】
“You must evacuate. .! That is not an ordinary black hole. . .!”
【Human mediation failed. Humans tried to mediate them sincerely, but the Chimeraz and the Ririm plotted.】
【As expected, the Chimeraz is a threat.】
“High-energy particles. . . . Everything we have will be lost.”
【The Vehlpciaarct. They were even able to weaponize black holes.】
【How could these powerful beings.】
‘The Vehlpciaarct. . . .’
‘I should have tried to find a way. . .to avoid fighting them.’
【It is unacceptable. The ruler of the Chimeraz is an entity without the attribute of ‘good’.】
“I’m sorry. I had no choice but to make this decision.”
“Can’t you evacuate, huh . . .?”
【The fact that the Vehlpciaarct. . .even though they fought a total war, they were not able to defeat the Chimeraz. Even so, they were able to devise strategies until the end and truly eliminate the ruler of the Chimeraz. If Anima had not been there.】
➖The machines that desecrate the sanctuary have come, they said.
【The Believer. They are the ones the Teterek spoke of. Transcendentalists with highly advanced technology capable of traversing beyond the event horizon.】
【To think that these Believers had an exchange with the Chimeraz. . . .】
‘So they really had no interest in anything other than black holes. . . . . . .’
【Fortunately, The Believer were interested in black holes, not the Chimeraz.】
【But because of that, the Vehlpciaarct’s noble sacrifice was in vain. I think I understand why the Teterek had a low opinion of The Believer.】
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
“Master!!!”
“Key-ya-kak-krak-gak-kak!!!! Belfciaplapragaskalavelliaalararaaraaa!!!!”
【The Vehlpciaarct?】
【???】
【???????】
“Belfciaplapragaskalavelliaalarara. . .!”
“. . .Look at your appearance now.”
“Kikikikikiki! Kigi. . . . . . .!”
“We call it a monster. . .when we see it like this.”
“Kik! Kik!”
【This is. . . .】
“You guys were monsters to us!!!”
“Kagugikigigigiggak!!!!”
【I really almost killed Kreion.】
【But it failed. In the end, is this what it means for the Vehlpciaarct to go extinct?】
【If this data is true, the Chimeraz had no choice.】
【It’s unreliable data.】
【But if not this, is there another scenario where an entire race like the Vehlpciaarct could go extinct?】
【When applied to the incident that occurred and the current situation, it is a record with perfect consistency.】
“This can no longer be called the Vehlpciaarct.”
“Then?”
“The Vehlpciaarct no longer exists. It is extinct.”
【Kreion.】
【Even though he won, he was not happy.】
🔷🔷🔷
Now Anima asks.
“Every single bit of it is true. Nothing has been manipulated. But if you still can’t believe it, use your computational abilities to find a loophole. Even if it’s just a small part that doesn’t make sense.”
She makes them understand thoroughly.
“The Chimeraz is a perfectly rational race. Rather, I think that the seemingly rational Federation might be a greater threat that cannot be stopped in the long run. And, regardless of good and evil, wouldn’t it be better to side with the winning side in order to survive in the future?”
So that the same thing doesn’t happen again.
“If the Chimeraz was really such a threatening race in this universe, why would humans, who created the Chimeraz and fought against them, be on the side of the Chimeraz now? Why did humans try to mediate instead of helping the Vehlpciaarct to kill the Chimeraz?”
The Chimeraz is not the villain of this universe.
Violence. Force. War.
That is the last resort. It is never a means that is easy to use, or a source of pride for the Chimeraz. If they don’t have to use it, they won’t. They don’t destroy everything they don’t like.
That’s how you don’t become a ‘monster’.
“Look at the situation today. The Le-orantarum Federation, which has expanded its power the most in the local galaxy group, is leading the great war. And the Chimeraz, who have survived and grown stronger until today, are fighting against them.”
So please.
“If the Chimeraz had never existed in the first place, who would the Federation have attacked today?”
【That’s enough. We understand now.】
The few seconds of waiting for the Reptured’s reply felt like minutes.
And then their reply came back.
【We, the Reptured, will withdraw from this war.】
“. . .Haah.”
【We need more time to decide. We need to analyze the possibility that our judgment was wrong and observe the future situation further.】
She sank to the ground, relieved, and
【We will secede from the Le-orantarum Federation and suspend all war activities indefinitely.】
The effort not to fight was able to bear dramatic fruit.
The remaining fleet of the Reptured, released by Ark, returned to their own territory. The Elise Fleet and the Chimeraz watched the backs of the transcendent machines.
“. . .Ark. Is it settled now? You take care of the rest in this star system.”
➖Thank you.
“Suddenly?”
➖I wanted to say thank you.
“Do you know that I appreciate it?”
➖. . . .
“Don’t think we’ve become close just because we fought together. I don’t know about other things, but I can’t get attached to you at all.”
➖That’s unfortunate.
After that, it is said that the Reptured really seceded from the Le-orantarum Federation and declared neutrality.
I wish they had become our ally from the beginning, but this is also a satisfactory result from the Chimeraz’s point of view.
Because it will allow us to protect more things and gain more important values than the option of destroying the Reptured.