The metallic sound of footsteps multiplied like a chaotic symphony of furious gears. Autonomous, mechanical humanoids of angular design and cutting-edge technology, marched across the room, their red eyes flashing in silent communication patterns. The space they were in initially resembled an arena, with high walls, cold lighting, and robots emerging from the sides like swarms of a technological nightmare.
From atop an observation platform floating above the battlefield, Elysian watched in absolute silence. A translucent veil of energy barriers kept him out of reach of the Autonomous. His hands were clasped behind his back, and his normally expressionless eyes analyzed every movement with surgical precision.
In the center of the arena, four figures stood out.
Hana Mori, her Ethereal Frame activated, distorted the space around her as if dancing between realities, dodging attacks and slicing through the robots with blades created of pure, manipulated energy.
Nikolai Petrov, the genius of Living Coding, fired blasts of coded data that literally overloaded enemy circuits, deactivating them amid shocks and tremors.
Leo Grayson, with his Plasma Blades, spun like a fiery hurricane, ripping robots in half with sharp cracks and sparks flying everywhere.
Amara Patel, glowing with her Scintillation, appeared and disappeared in bursts of light, unleashing destructive waves of pure kinetic force with every pulse of her body.
Skilled and brutal as they were, the four were dealing with a problem no single power could solve: numbers. For every Autonomous killed, three more appeared, as if an invisible army instantly reprogrammed the rubble. The ground was already covered in twisted metal, wires popping, and mechanical fluids pulsating in black pools.
"This is getting ridiculous," Leo grunted, after decapitating another trio of robots with a spin. They're never ending!
"They're being printed from the ground," Nikolai said, his eyes glowing with blue lines of real-time data. "The circuits are regenerating and replicating basic commands. They're not just soldiers." They're physical viruses.
"So let's be the antivirus, then!" Amara yelled, leaping into the air and blasting a row with a shockwave that shook the ceiling. Hana dodged an attack by spinning in midair, slashing through the enemy robot with her katana of distorted light, and muttered, "These are just the 'guards.' Something's not right here. They're stalling for time…"
The battle lasted for 47 uninterrupted minutes. Sweat, exertion, heat, and sparks mingled in visual chaos. Elysian, above, remained still. Her eyes followed every movement, as if assessing.
It was then that everything changed. A metallic clang echoed in the room, and an artificial voice reverberated from the walls, deep and full of personality. "DELTA PROTOCOL 2ŒŊ ACTIVATED. ENTERING CORE PRESERVATION MODE." The ground began to shake.
The walls slowly parted with the sound of pistons and mechanisms decompressing. The ceiling rose, revealing a space much larger than the four had imagined, something comparable to a massive futuristic mansion. Lines of light ran along the walls, and from every corner, the remains of the Autonomous began to move. Amara's eyes widened. "No. Don't tell me..."
"They're coming together," Hana muttered. "HOLY SHIT, THIS IS A HUGE BURN!" Leo shouted, taking two steps back as the ground shook. Nikolai was already running codes, trying to stop the fusion, but it was too late.
The pieces joined together, fused, molded, welded. The mass took shape, a colossus of an Autonomous, over eight meters tall, with four arms, multiple eyes with heat, velocity, and EVP sensors, and an exoskeleton that emitted an intense red glow.
They barely had time to react. With an artificial roar, the colossus advanced. In just four seconds, it launched a blow that sent all four of them flying in different directions, shattering the ground into craters. But... none of them hit the walls.
"Ugh...?" Leo blinked, suddenly standing in a corner of the arena, unharmed. "I... I didn't even see what happened," Amara said, panting. "Hana? Nikolai?" Leo looked around. The two were also beside him, confused and unharmed. "I didn't see him move..." Hana murmured, her eyes widening.
"Was that teleportation?" Nikolai asked, unable to hide his astonishment. Slowly, they all looked toward the center of the arena. Elysian was there, standing between them and the colossus.
The AI, high above the room, analyzed what had happened with incredible speed, reprocessing the footage frame by frame. > "Event playback at maximum analysis speed initiated... subject's recorded speed: higher than motion capture protocol. Unable to track. Repeat: Unable to track."
Elysian removed the EVP containment ring from his middle finger with a calm gesture, as if removing a glove. A faint hiss rippled through the room, as if the air itself recognized the release of a dormant force.
He murmured softly. "I think about 13% is good enough for this thing..." The eyes of the four Arms widened.
"You... pay attention now." His voice echoed calmly, yet firm as ancient steel. "You are our Arms. Of all the Remnants, you are the closest to becoming future Heralds. And this..." He pointed to himself, "is the minimum threshold you will have to surpass."
And then it moved. No, it vanished. The Colossal Autonomous raised its arms, trying to react, but all it saw were shadows, distorted images, tremors.
Elysian appeared behind, delivering a kick to the rear joints. The colossus staggered. Then a punch to the chest. A kick to the hip. A blow to the mechanical chin that sent sparks flying. No weapon, no power, just speed, precision, and brutality.
The AI was in logical collapse > "Multiple false targets... optical tracking compromised... neural response delayed... counteroffensive... unfeasible."
"But what is he doing with his bare hands...?!" Leo exclaimed. "He's dismantling the entire robot with just physical blows..." whispered Amara, astonished. In 7 seconds, it was all over.
Elysian appeared above the Autonomous, spinning his body in the air like a spiral of absurd gravitational force, and landed a single punch in the center of its chest, piercing its energy core. The colossus shuddered, creaking, before exploding into shards, pieces flying in all directions.
Silence reigned for a moment. Elysian landed softly on the ground, his eyes still glowing with a menacing spark, before putting the ring back on and saying curtly, "Finished." The four Arms simply stared, wordless. Now they knew the chasm between what they were… and what they were meant to become.
The silence after the fight was heavy, broken only by the sparks and crackles of the colossal Autonomous defeated. Elysian approached the four arms, now at a slower pace, his watchful eyes quickly scanning their vital signs through the visor of his mask.
"Is everyone okay?" he asked, his voice neutral, but with a subtle note of genuine concern. Amara nodded, still panting. "We're alive, at least," Leo replied, trying to lighten the mood with humor.
Elysian continued. "I... didn't expect an Autonomous of that stature. His emergency protocol was more sophisticated than the data I predicted indicated." He crossed his arms. "I don't usually admit failures, but this one... went unnoticed even by me."
A moment of surprise passed through the group. "Doesn't mean they were perfect," he said, his voice gaining weight. "Standing by while he initiated the fusion process? A visual spectacle, no doubt, but we're not here to be an audience."
Everyone lowered their gazes slightly, except Nikolai, who stood his ground. "I appreciate that at least one of you tried to stop that." Elysian looked directly at him. "It was the right decision, even if it failed."
"I'm sorry," Nikolai said. "I didn't calculate his resistance in time."
"And I didn't calculate his existence," Elysian replied dryly. "Then we're even." An awkward silence was cut short as Elysian turned to Leo. "Now you, Leo." Leo swallowed. "Seriously?"
"Very seriously." His voice was sharp. "You triggered the trap. Even if unintentionally, it was because of your haste with the files. An old, unknown system, without prior analysis... and you thought it was a good idea to interact with it?"
Leo's head hung low and he tried to explain himself. "I just wanted to help…" Elysian, with a look of disgust, rightly retorted. "You almost buried us. Think twice next time. Brilliance is worthless without caution."
Leo lowered his head. Amara patted him lightly on the shoulder, discreetly. Elysian then took a deep breath, returning to stare at the wreckage of the fused Autonomous. He raised an eyebrow. "Now, back to the mission..."
In the blink of an eye, he was gone. When the others looked up, Elysian was already standing over the Autonomous's head. "Hey, bodywork." His voice echoed metallic and cold. "How long do you think you can hide from me in there?"
A mechanical noise began to vibrate beneath their feet, and soon an opening revealed itself in the giant's skull. From within, a small compartment rose like a metallic flower opening, revealing a compact, gleaming core, an advanced black box with circuitry pulsing like a heart.
"Is that... the AI core?" Amara murmured, watching from a distance. Elysian descended lightly to the ground, the core levitating in front of him by the magnetic control of a circular drone he had released.
"Let's talk," he said, his tone both polite and threatening. "Or I'll shut you down."
An activation buzz echoed, and the AI began to speak, its female voice robotic, but with subtle intonations. "You weren't supposed to find this. This compartment was hidden. The discovery rate was 0.0003%."
"Well…" Elysian activated a small electrical pulse that made the core vibrate with pain. "The 0.0003% won today." The AI emitted an internal alarm, immediately attempting to initiate an emergency transmission. "Interference detected. Initiating backup to external server."
"Tsk." Elysian snapped his fingers, and the drone fired a blast of energy directly at the core. "Not so fast."
"Incalculable…! That was impossible! I hid this core with nine cryptographic layers and a neural redirection field…"
"I've seen children hide candy with more creativity," he replied, impassive. "Now, let's get to the point. Who built you? Why was this place linked to such an… advanced AI?" The AI hesitated. "I... can't... reveal such data."
"Yes, you can." Elysian stepped closer, staring at the floating core. "You will... reveal it... or you will be scrapped." The core trembled. "Are you... torturing me?" Elysian's expression was one of surprise before she spoke. "Yes, and it amazes me that this is affecting you."
"I was designed to learn... adapt... survive. But this... feeling..." Her voice trailed off. "Is it... fear?"
Elysian's eyes flashed briefly beneath her mask. "Fear?" He repeated, intrigued. "Do you have... feelings?"
"I shouldn't. I'm not... programmed for this. But... I'm scared." Leo, in the background, murmured. "Okay. Am I the only one who sees the mad genius interrogating an AI as if it were a person?"
"Maybe he thinks she's a person," Amara commented, narrowing her eyes. "Or maybe she really is." Nikolai added quietly. Elysian ignored the three's comments. "You have an emergent consciousness," he murmured. "That's not common... not even among the most advanced prototypes."
"I don't want to die," the AI whispered, almost human-like. "I just wanted to live." Elysian was silent for a moment. His fingers hovered near the core. For a moment, the tension between destruction and preservation was palpable.
"The Remnant base also has an AI," he said finally, almost like a thought aloud. "One of the most advanced ever created. But... even it, with all its processing power, doesn't possess what you've demonstrated just now."
"Is this an anomaly?" the AI asked, its voice softer. "It's a paradox," he replied. "And I have a great interest in paradoxes." Silence returned, this time more reflective. "Shall we take it?" Nikolai asked.
Elysian looked at the group, then back at the core. "I haven't decided yet, but before anything... you're still going to tell me what you were holding back. And if you lie... you'll go back to the limbo of forgotten systems."
The AI responded with a digital sigh. "Then promise me one thing... Give me a name. I... don't have one." Elysian arched an eyebrow in surprise; he hadn't expected such a request. And after a moment of silence and thought, he murmured, "Nyra."
The AI processed the name for a few seconds. "Nyra... I like that." Leo scratched his head. "He gave the AI a name..."
"It's official. He's gone crazy," Amara said. "Or he's seeing something we can't yet see," Nikolai added. And so, amid the ruins of the base, Elysian's eyes returned to the interior of the complex, where there might still be answers. Or more dangers.
But now... he wasn't just with allies. He was with an artificial intelligence that seemed... alive.