Fallen Chronicles

Renji looked at 86, who, due to the lack of an emotional expression system, could only maintain a blank face. However, this did not hinder the constant stream of fierce words coming out of her mouth. Renji truly felt that 86 was changing, or perhaps, growing? He vaguely remembered that when he first encountered 86 in the Holy Kingdom, her speech was quite normal and standard, very much the template of a robotic person, except for speaking her emotions and thoughts aloud due to a system defect.

But now, looking at the situation, the sinister laughter of "he he he~" produced by an electronic synthesized voice, Renji couldn't say who 86 had learned this from during their time in the Dragon Nation.

Since listening to a virtual idol's way of speaking on the aircraft to the Mechanical Alliance, the word "Nyan" at the end of the maids' sentences seemed to have become her catchphrase.

Not to mention things like inserting USB drives, training, and calling her sisters " home-use maid " — ridiculous! It's said that bionic people learn by observing the people around them, which made Renji wonder, 'Was I like that? Why didn't 86 learn something good from me? After all, I certainly had many excellent qualities'

Renji always saw 86 as the sister of "Zero," so what would he say when Zero woke up and saw her sister had turned out this way?

'It might be possible to blame it all on Eileen…'

Regardless, Renji quickly stopped 86 from performing her mischievous act of training the mechanical servant.

Trying to prevent 86 from learning bad habits was one thing, but also, if 86 really did that, it would mean formatting all the mechanical servants present, which wasn't Renji's goal. He didn't need a bunch of household maids; he needed real mechanical servants. Considering them too cold-blooded, Renji decided to call them "combat maids sisters."

After all, in essence, they were no different from 86, being sisters of "Zero."

So in the end, by exploiting a system vulnerability with a virus, Renji forcefully added a "commander" identity setting to the program of "Control Number One" allowing for normal communication thereafter, and had 86 stand down.

"Control Number One" was the new name for the combat maid "Number 17639," which Renji came up with on the spot. It was too cumbersome to always refer to her by a long string of numbers, so like "86," he used a numerical abbreviation.

[Welcome back, commander. CN. 1 and 49 combat maids greet you]

The blindfolded combat maids placed one hand on her chest, and the combat maids behind her did the same in unison towards Renji.

"Report to me your situation in Dream Zero"

[I'm sorry, commander, Control Number One is only responsible for the 'Witch' war zone and does not have the authority to inquire about other war zones. The following report is limited to within the Witch war zone: a total of 1,837 combat machines, 209 scout units, and 19 control units have been deployed, with a total combat duration of 1,730,018 hours, a total casualty count of 2,730,089 units, and a current expansion rate of 14.9%.]

The beginning of CN. One's report surprised Renji. Just one war zone had over two thousand mechanical servants, and assuming the remaining four war zones were similar, the total number of mechanical servants in the Dream Zero could reach tens of thousands!

And the staggering numbers that followed made Renji frown even more.

A war zone with over two thousand mechanical servants had accumulated over two million casualties. This only indicated one thing: these mechanical servants were continuously fighting, dying, and then being reconstructed, repeating this cycle for over 1.7 million hours.

[Emotional instability detected in the commander. There is no need for you to sympathize with our casualties. As long as our consciousness chips in the real world are undamaged, we in the Dream Zero can be infinitely constructed and revived by 'the base.']

"Is 'the base' referring to the 'Miasma Master Maid' war zone?"

[Yes]

"Where are your consciousness chips stored in reality?"

[After deciding to enter the 'dream', we handed our chips over to the 'Fantasy Supervision' of Dream City for safekeeping and maintenance]contemporary romance

'Fantasy Supervision'

Renji remembered hearing this name when Eileen was watching the news. It seemed to have been mentioned in a report at the time. He made a mental note of the Fantasy Supervision, planning to investigate further once he returned to reality. Following up on CN. One's topic, Renji asked another question that concerned him deeply.

"Why did you choose to enter the dream to fight? What's the reason for the battle?"

[Commander, have you forgotten because it's been too long since you last visited? Our mission is to stop the expansion of Dream Zero. After the 'Maid' went into hibernation, if the other four 'Miasma Masters' were allowed to continue polluting the world, the volume of the Dream Zero's world would keep increasing]

[Once the volume of Dream Zero reaches the critical threshold of the boundary between reality and dream, everyone in the Mechanical Alliance will be forcibly pulled into Dream Zero, causing uncontrollable severe disasters. Therefore, we need to fight against the Tainted Miasma to delay the expansion rate, waiting for your return commander, to lead us in truly defeating the four Miasma Masters, awakening the 'Maid', restarting the base, and ending Dream Zero]

This "commander" setting was created by 86 through a virus-

modified program. For the real mechanical servants, there wasn't a hopeful figure like "commander" they could wait for.

In other words, they were fully aware that their battle was destined not to win but to fail.

What they could do, as Control Number One said at the beginning, was merely to delay the speed at which the Dream Zero devoured reality, nothing more. Yet, they still went forward, one after another, steadfastly from over a million hours ago to now.

'Is this what mechanical life is?'

Renji, looking at CN. One, whose face was calm and eyes covered with black cloth, felt even more determined.

Even if this meant nothing for mechanical life, Renji didn't think so. Mechanical lifeforms should also have their own life, not just endless battles. Moreover, these weren't just any robots to him; they were his woman's sisters.

Liberating the Dream Zero was imperative, starting with the current Witch War zone. Renji quickly asked another question:

"Is there a way for people outside the Mechanical Alliance to also log into the Dream Zero?"

After what seemed like a brief search in its database, Control Number One provided Renji with a potentially surprising answer.

[According to historical records, each Miasma Master has their own trial, and the first brave person to pass the trial can obtain the corresponding 'Emperor's Brand' equipment. The brave one equipped with the 'Emperor's Brand' can summon special mechs from outside the dream. Only with these special mechs, which have a great restraining effect on the Miasma Masters, can the powerful Miasma Masters be truly defeated]

'Well, okay then'

Given that Zero is a mechanical being, it's indeed not expected for her to come up with anything too complex in dreams.

Renji understood that, actually, from the time of the five Miasma Masters, he should have realized that the rules of this dream were like those of a world of demon lords and heroes, where the hero must find the holy sword to defeat the demon lord, except here, it's mechanized, and the holy sword becomes a mech.

"So, the brave mech of the Witch war zone is?"

[According to legend, it is the 'Bright Leftover Woman.']

CN. One projected a shadow of a giant mech for Renji from its eyes, completely different from "Number 86," probably several stories tall.

Although it was yet to be unlocked, and thus its complete appearance was not visible, the shadow's outline still revealed somewhat of a "nun" design.

Then, CN. One thoughtfully labeled the mech with three large words:

[Bright Leftover Woman]

done.co