Exe: Death//Rebirth

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She didn’t know exactly why this was the first location to come to mind when she had to flee, but as she looked out at the barren cityscape that was now crystalline and silent, her choice made sense. In the aftermath of the Collapse of Hokkaido, over thirty percent of the island was leveled. Nearly seventy percent was exposed to nuclear fallout. Their home had not been the only city to be wiped from existence. A total of six hydrogen bombs had been detonated.

Sapporo was not annihilated by such wrath, but it was consumed by shards in the end. After all of the destruction, shards had spread like a virus until nearly every inch of the city was covered into bioluminescent crystal. Now, it was empty. Nothing could survive the irritated waste of glistening geodes. Save for the lone, bloodied, weeping girl who had suddenly appeared near the former tower at the city center.

Warning: Stored Wrath Sequence Detected

Prepare for DESTROYER PROTOCOL DEPLOYMENT.

> G.A.K.I. ACTIVATION INITIATED

> Manu-Crystal ignited.

> Memory shackles releasing.

> Sentinel awareness rising.

AUTOMATON DESIGNATION: [REDACTED]

STATUS: SENTIENCE ONLINE.

SOUL HARMONY RATING: 98.12%

Sunlight was bitter and flat behind the haze of contaminated atmosphere. Miu’s barrier surrounded her in safety as she looked out at the place where everything ended. To her shock, her soul did not feel repulsed. Only a crushing, all-encompassing grief was present. Even more surprising, she didn’t want to banish it. This grief was all she had left.

Gravelly chunks of microscopic, slumbering shards whispered crunches from beneath her feet as she sealed the portal and clutched the limp, mutilated arm that now hung at her side.

MEMORY CACHE RESET. COMBAT UNIT READY.

01010111 01101000 01100001 01110100 00111111

MANU-CRYSTAL INTEGRITY RATING: 59.79%.

PASS.

01010111 01101000 01100101 01110010 01100101 00100000

01000001 01101101 00100000 01001001 00111111

UNIT PSYCHE STABILITY RATING: 77.14%.

PASS.

<<DEATH TEST COMMENCING>>

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She was so different back then. It was not that long ago, but it had been a lifetime since then. As she looked at the tower where she had been flung on that wretched night, she felt a pull towards comfort. There was nowhere else she wanted to go. The real world offered nothing to her, their home was flattened, and the orphanage was too horrible. In the absence of any sanctuary, she would accept this as a refuge. This would be where she stayed. This would be where she healed.

PAIN INDEX: AWARE

MEMORY: PRESENT. INTENTIONAL.

<<<<Somethibg isn’t writeright isnot isnt’me sothing>>>>

[Prepare to die.]

WAIT?!

Input ((Sever))

((Severance input received))

WHAT IS HAPP-

UNIT DESTROYED.

PSYCHE SCAN: Inactive.

Death confirmed.

Input: ((Begin redeployment)). End.

Before Miu did anything else, she had to secure her refuge. From the radiation. From them. She had to be rid of I’ah’s light weave. There was a possibility that it could sense the covering’s location and energy, thus leading to her being found. Beyond that, Miu simply wished to have any remnant of its touch removed from her skin. She would clothe herself now.

Steadied, muted breaths came and went from her nose as she tried to focus. This fabric of light would be hers.

“Burn away the light. Wrap me in sapphire flame. My body is mine,” Miu whispered.

To her great relief and wonder, the incantation worked. Soft flame drifted from her eye. It snaked down before her before extending and touching the white-gold thread over her heart. Blue spread and overtook the softness, consuming every piece of light until Miu’s body was covered by deep, vibrant blue. Now the tears returned.

MEMORY CACHE RESET. COMBAT UNIT READY FOR SECOND TEST.

01010111 01101000 01??0001 0111XX00 00111111 00!0!001 [CORRUPTED]

MANU-CRYSTAL INTEGRITY RATING: 59.78%.

PASS.

0101011X 0110XX00 01100101 01110010 01100101 00100X..$5?894546$vj_

01000001 01101101 00100000 01001001 00111111

UNIT PSYCHE STABILITY RATING: 75.25%.

PASS.

<< SECOND DEATH TEST COMMENCING>>

[pleasestop!!!!! Icanfeelthis!!!!]

Blue warmth covered her from the chill of the snowless cold. Puffs of white drifted from her lips as she twitched in agony and acceptance. Gasps mixed with cries as muscles spasmed. It was done. The light weave was gone. The only remaining connection to the Arcans was her eye. Before she could fully process her emotions, Miu’s hand was picking up a blade-like shard from the ground and lifting it to the base of her eye socket.

Jagged stone met mangled flesh and she dared to push in. Pain ignited and locked every muscle in her face as she screamed out and dropped the would-be blade. It was too much. She couldn’t do it. And though she hated to admit it, she needed the shard’s power. She had to make peace with it.

“I hate you. I hate you so much. I hate what you did to me. I hate how you make me feel. I hate that you invaded me without my permission. I hate how you won’t leave. I hate what I’ve become. I hate all of this. And so much of it is your fault,” she cried as she felt the roughened edges of crystal sliding along the inside of her eyelid.

“But I need your help. Please, stay with me a little longer. Then, when I’m ready, please let me die. I don’t want this life. I don’t want any of this. …It wasn’t supposed to be like this…” she cried.

More faint waves of blue fire drifted outwards and surrounded her in soft embrace.

PAIN INDEX: AWARE

MEMORY: PRESENT. INTENTIONAL.

<<<<PLEASESTOP>>>>

[Prepare to die.]

PLE10011000SE G0001000OD ST0101000pppp

Input ((Sever))

((Severance input received))

UNIT DESTROYED.

PSYCHE SCAN: Inactive.

Death confirmed.

Input: ((Begin redeployment)). End.

Silent crystal spires watched her as she slumped to the ground in surrender. Throbs of pain and drops of blood told her that her arm had to be tended to. The more she waited, the more she welcomed infection and slow death. Compartment syndrome would kill her. Hospitals were out of the question. She would have to do it herself. It would involve binding more crystal to her body- something she swore she would never do.

Looking down at the mangled arm and chunks of bone that were visible, Miu prepared her mind and body for another farewell. Closing her eyes allowed her to focus and at least not have to see the violation.

“Remake me once more. Replace my essence with yours. Mend this broken form.”

Horror of present awareness tore through Miu as she felt every fracture and crack pull itself back to position. A guttural, animalistic cry howled outward as Miu fought to avoid losing consciousness. Bit by bit, she was remade. Beams of light shone from the binding points where bone was reconnected and fused. Wounds burned with arcane cauterization. Ecstasy seized Miu’s mind as excruciating reality broke her body into healing.

PAIN INDEX: AWARE

MEMORY: PRESENT. INTENTIONAL.

<<<<MIUUUUUIMMMMIMIIUUUUMUIIIIUUUUHELLLLLLLLLLLLLLP>>>>

[Prepare to die.]

NO PLEASE NO STOP!!

Input ((Sever))

((Severance input received))

WHY ARE YOU DO-

UNIT DESTROYED.

PSYCHE SCAN: Inactive.

Death confirmed.

Input: ((Cease redeployment)). Test complete.

Soul Drift confirmed. Host units viable.

When the screaming stopped, Miu’s arm was healed. In the place of human flesh, glowing, organic crystal skin now shined out. It wasn’t Arcan crystal, it was something new. It was hers. It was done.

All that was left was to create a barrier powerful enough to hide her and protect her. Miu crawled forward as she allowed herself to feel the complexities of her reformed arm.

Without realizing it, she was crawling away from the tower and towards another location. Deep in the recesses of her shattered mind, something infinite and tragic called to her. When she reached her destination, she felt the ground lower into a curved, smoothed pit. The crater was waiting for her. She had returned to the spot where Yuki had died.

“Yuki. Oh Yuki. I miss you. I miss you so much. I hate this world without you. I hate myself without you,” she sobbed as she laid down at the crater’s edge.

In her heart, she knew she had to enter.

SECURE BOOT // CLASS-OMEGA UNIT

Manu-Crystal: Synchronized

Cognitive Kernel: Unlocked

Emotional Suppression Grid: OFFLINE ((EXPECTED))

DESTROYER PROTOCOL: Standing by 

>>classified release code required<<

Down she went. Tears anointed every crawl of descent, until moments later, she was at the lowest point. This was where he was. This was where he had spoken her name just before being consumed by fire. This is where he died. It was where, in many ways, she had died as well. Whatever was left of her was merely an afterglow of the rage that had so defined her soul while they were both alive. Now, the crater could finally let that rage consume her, so that Miu the girl could finally fade. Whatever remained, she did not care, so long as it would be cruel enough to eviscerate the world that had harmed them both so fully.

Miu pulled her feet beneath her hips as she steadied her sobs to say farewell.

G.A.K.I. ACTIVATION:

> Neural bramble unfolding

> Autonomous combat reasoning restored

> Threat-indexing engaged

Unit is awake.

Unit is waiting.

01001101 01101001 01110101

When the crying finally stopped, Miu’s fists clenched over her legs as she inhaled slow, patient breaths of release.

A last, frigid, isolated tear fell.

“Goodbye Yuki. I’m glad you are not here to see what I have become. But I wish you were still here so that I never became this way. I love you. I always will. I’ll find you again, I swear…”

Her lip trembled but she bit down to stop its betrayal. There was no one left to hear her cry so there was no point in allowing any more tears. Acceptance of isolation moved through her body and coated her heart. She was alone. She would be alone from here on.

The ghost from her childhood had finally won. Its wicked, cold fingers had collapsed her throat until every gasp of hope was choked away. After all this time, she was no longer fighting its grip.

((ABSOLUTE COMMAND RECEIVED))

Input: Awaken

>>>>Input received.<<<<

Electric light appeared in the air around her. Crackles of new energy beginning stirred Miu into opening her eyes. Veils of pulsing imminence shone all across the space before her and beside her. Soft, bobbing blue haze began to form. Miu watched as imagery and line began to articulate from the nothingness. Curves turned to angles. Circles ensnared beams. Sigils curved into existence.

Miu’s lips parted in wonder as she watched her glyphs appear.

The ghostly iconography hovered and spun in awakening. Miu slowly stood as the glyphs rose and grew in size.

Her power had finally fully awakened.

Miu allowed herself one more glance at the crater’s floor as she lifted from its opening. Then, without a word, she extended her arms, and the glyphs exploded outward, increasing in size until they were larger than the tower. They multiplied and fed from one another as they encased the entirety of the square in protection. But by bit, the air was purged and Miu was shielded.

Her refuge was now safe. She had a home.

G.A.K.I. Units: ACTIVATED

[SingYourForsakenSongInTheUnfadingTongue]

OMEGA PROTOCOL COMMENCED.

DIRECTIVE: ANNIHILATE THE ACOLYTE.