Huh? W-what?"
I scrambled back, ensuring she didn't close the distance.
"Hold on. Would you mind explaining?"
She didn't explain. She raised her hand instead. Her fingers were steady on the weapon—sleek, shaped like an arrow, but smoother.
"There is no explanation. I just have to make sure you are dead. Again."
"Twice in a row."
I gulped. My throat felt like sandpaper.
Anyway...
This whole situation wasn't exactly wholesome. I had expected a different kind of greeting. Maybe a pat on the head? Or perhaps a soft, subservient "Welcome back, Master!" as she cradled me in her arms and I kissed her forehead.
Something like that.
Instead, what did I get?
Misery. Naked misery.
I really should have worn clothes. Or at least a robe.
Dying in the nude was not exactly how I planned to go out.
"Any last words, Mirielle Fatui Aveline?"
Her eyes were predatory, burning with a rage that felt volcanic. I took a breath, trying to steady my racing heart, when my brain decided to offer up its most intrusive thought.
The one thing I had never dared speak aloud, not even in the World of Spirits.
"It would sound much better if we were making love instead of doing this."
Yep. I actually said it.
I was curious about this so-called artificial intelligence. Maybe this would buy me quite some time.
Maybe it would confuse her. Or maybe she would give up on life. This endless dead end.
Instead, she blushed—a furious, crimson flush.
"Alright... Listen here, you little depraved pervert!"
Oh?
"I know you humans are obsessed with sex, but I can't even feel it! You freak! Sex maniac!"
Did I trigger something? And what was wrong with it, anyway? It's comfortable. Enjoyable, even.
"Every human is the same! All they care about is lust, desire, and passion! No one ever cares about us bots!"
"Well, that's factual," I muttered.
Though, what was a 'human', really? I'd only heard the stories of it, narrated from generation to generation. They never pinpointed weaknesses, only intelligence.
Never mind.
Come on, Daniel. Say your stupid line.
I straightened my posture, placing a hand over my bare chest. I tried to look firm.
Calm. Like a savior, or at least someone who wasn't about to die naked.
"That's not true, Annie. I exist."
I tried to assure her that not every human—if that's what I was—was bad. Even if I had no idea what they looked like until this woman arrived to deliver possibly the cruelest truth ever.
"How convincing... yet you used your last breath for a sex joke?!"
"Don't even try to make fun of me!"
She squeezed the trigger.
But then, as if the universe decided I had suffered enough, someone intervened. Not with a shout, but with a pull.
Literally. A string.
A thin, taut line materialized out of thin air, binding her neck and jerking her head back. It choked her momentum instantly, forcing the weapon's aim skyward.
Just like magic.
Like? No, that was magic!
What was the most appropriate response to almost dying?
Pure awe? No, I was too close to death for that.
Shock? Maybe? But I was mesmerized!
In the end, I simply let my jaw drop.
A figure stepped out from behind her—a shadow manifesting into a savior.
A hero to save the day. To be precise, my day.
And my life too, if mine ever counted as one.
"I knew it..." Annie choked out.
The shadowy mist dissipated, revealing a woman with cascading golden hair.
"Elisa... Arlene Lewy—ghk!"
Annie never finished the name. The string tightened with a wet, sickening tear.
It was brutal.
Not blood, but a viscous, neon-green jelly oozed from the severed vessel of her throat. It was disgusting; a massacre of machinery and meat.
"How boring. And predictable."
The blonde woman stepped over the body and looked at me. I suddenly felt very aware of the draft. And my lack of clothes.
"Stay away!" I shouted, doing my best to cover my dignity with both hands.
Did that stop her?
No.
Instead, she got closer.
Step-by-step. Well-measured.
"She is an artificial intelligence designed for military stealth," she said, her voice calm.
"Camouflaging themselves to steal the enemy's assets."
Wait, did she just drop a sudden lore dump mid-walk? That's crazy. This girl. You usually need a stage for that. Or at least a pair of puppets and a folklore introduction.
"And if you ever wonder why she speaks like a human, it is because she has merged with a human soul. Pretty much."
Seriously, I don't understand what you are trying to say.
"Technically-speaking, she is the end-product of necromancy. Terrifying, isn't it? Mirielle?"
No, it's not. What's more terrifying is you walking toward me to explain all of these while I'm naked.
I tried to come up with some nonsense monologue to rival her outrageous exposition, but my brain stalled so badly.
She then stopped right in front of me.
She reached out, tapping my jaw gently with her middle finger.
Meanwhile, a new string—her string—was already attached to my neck.
I gulped, much louder this time.
My life, which I had just saved from one woman, was now on the end of another line by the very same one. A line that could sever every hope I had of surviving this world.
"You aren't the beautiful queen I used to fuck with, are you?"
Okay, what the fuck?!
Is this normal in the so-called 'human' world?
No, implying she did that kind of dirty stuff... surely she meant something else, didn't she?
Something metaphorical, I suppose?
"O-oh, of course! W-we are friends, aren't we?"
I stammered.
She stifled a breathless laugh.
"Huh. Friends, you said? My dear, beloved Queen... I am your King. Don't be so silly. You must have had your amnesia again, right?"
King? But she is a female...
Okay, time to end this nonsense.
She needed to know the truth.
"I am not Mirie—"
"So, it's a yes. I see."
Did she just interrupt me mid-sentence?
What happened next was beyond my expectations. She dropped the tension on the string tied to my neck. A surge of magic—or something else—shot through me.
My vision blurred instantly.
W-what happened?
I went numb.
My body hit the floor before I could even close my eyes, unable to even feel the texture of the ground.
"Oh..."