Chương 34: Chapter 34: Momento Mori
[Ryuzu's POV]
This machine, a "Ruin Guard" was proving more of a challenge than I initially expected. The people of the fallen nation of Khaenri'ah were highly skilled being able to build machine's this durable that could still operate in this capacity hundreds of years without maintenance.
Looking at my scythe, it will have to be repaired if not outright replaced after this, for shame, to have been beaten this badly. Perhaps I have been too complacent. Just because I was one of the most powerful automata in my world doesn't mean other worlds aren't stronger.
I watched the fists of the machine slowly swirl as it's upper torso started to spin, I would likely have to sacrifice my other sythe to tank this attack. Suddenly a clear sapphire colored jet of water struck the large growing orb in the upper torso of the machine, seemingly causing it to short circuit or something.
"RYUZU. MOVE!"
That was Carman, he must have struck the weak point of the construct. As I stood up, the machine quickly reactivated, I raised my sythe in preparation to restart our fight but instead it walked away from me, and smarted walking towards Carman.
The Guard suddenly started to kneel, it's upper torso rotated 180°, tubing it's back towards Carman. It let out another garbled yell. Carman seemed to recognize something and he dove behind a thick cluster of the ruins. It wasn't until I saw the missiles launch off of the back of the Guard that I relized why.
Thankfully the broken walls, despite their current state, were able to block the blast of the explosions. However, the Guard went back to its original stance and went into a crouching position. Was it going to try to jump? Surely, something that heavy wouldn't be able...
My thoughts were proven wrong before I could even think them, the huge construct somehow had enough power in its legs to launch it high into the air, in a direct course to land on the area where Carman was hiding.
Seeing the immediate danger Carman was in there was no longer any excuse or reason not to use it. My core started to speed up, dormant functions hidden within my chasse were activated. My body slipped from base reality into a parallel dimension as my Mute Scream protocol was engaged.
My core starts to heat up. I cannot maintain this distortion in space-time for long.
.....
I have spent hours, my other sythe is dented and damaged, it's blade cracked and dull. I have done everything I can to try and beat this monster. However it's exterior is to sturdy for my sythes to penetrate with the time I have. I am nearing my limit, once I do, I will automatically be booted from this dimension and shut down, leaving Carman to fight this thing on his own. That cannot happen.
I can't change the trajectory of this war machine. It simply has too much mass. And even if I did Carman would still be able to be chased down by it. The only option is to move Carman, but that is also dangerous. If I move him from here, I'll be risking accidentally harming him, from sudden near light speed movement. For enemies such a risk is acceptable. But for someone I care about... No.
Unfortunately my regulators prevent me from being able to pull other beings into imaginary time with me. It would require an exponentially larger amount of rotational energy to warp space-time around things other than myself, and cause more stress and heat to build on my already overclocked components. Well... That issue has an easy remedy.
Taking my dull chipped sythe, I plunge it into my chest. I feel as it manages to brute force it's way through my endoskeleton and shatter the regulators. Immediately my core starts to overclock even higher, my whole system starts to heat at a rapid pace. Scooping up Carman and wrapping some of of the distorted space-time around him I start running out of the cave. He stirs a little, but isn't fully conscious of the surroundings.
As I run, I can feel my overclocked core heating every gear and shaft in my body I managed to get to the bottom of the cliff and back up into the territory of Fontaine before parts of my system started to fail, first it was my right leg, the shaft connecting it to the rest of my control system having melted from the friction. Using my broken sythes as extra legs I hobbled my way further and managed to get us into a small forest.
Collapsing to the ground, sparks showered the grass as they shot out of the hole in my back where my sythe had exited. Somehow despite not having a nervus system or any real physical sense I could feel the gears and cogs in my body as they overheated, bent, stripped, and melted from this prolonged use of Mute Scream. Briefly I pull Carman in for a hug, careful to avoid burning him from the heat my core is producing.
"Everything is alright now. I'm sorry for not being able to protect you better, and for putting you at risk Carman. I shouldn't have looked down on this world's people. I know you'll make it through this though, you have Mr. Lepaute, and I'm sure your already making friends at that school of yours. The last thing you need is an arrogant, disobedient automata that causes you trouble right?" I say, a wry smile forming on my lips before placing a gentile kiss on his forehead. "It was nice to meet you. My only regret is not being able to walk by your side like I promised."
After that I released the Mute Scream system. The distortion righted itself and time around us flowed normally again as darkness enveloped my vision.
[Carman's POV]
Wtf just happened. One moment I'm dodging missiles from the Ruin Guard, the next I'm seeing a warped blurry scene as Ryuzu carries me in her arms. I can't tell what was going on. Did a chunk of rock hit me on the head? Why is the world fuzzy and moving quickly.
It stopped. I can hear someone speaking it's very soft.
"Everything is ....
..houldn't have looked down on this world's ...Mr. Lepaute, ... last thing you need is an arrogant, disobedient automata that..."
Suddenly a soft pair of lips pressed against my forehead before I clearly hear Ryuzu's voice, "It was nice to meet you. My only regret is not being able to walk by your side like I promised."
Everything snaps back to normal, the world is no longer distorted and fuzzy. Tears form in my eyes as I turn towards Ryuzu.
Her eyes are closed and instead of the usual deadpan there is a sad smile on her face. There is a hole on the left side of the chest with an emence amount of heat coming out of it, both of her sythes are planted in the ground both are extremely battered and look in the verge of shattering.
"NO, RYUZU!" I screamed. Tears flowing out of my eyes as something within me snapped. My hands quickly went to her wrists looking for a pulse for some reason before remembering that she doesn't have one as an automata.
Pulling the coffin she was transported in out of my storage I swiftly open it and go to lift her up. My hands steam and sizzle, my skin getting burned from the high temperature contained in Ryuzu's torso. I scream though gritted teeth as I somehow manage to drag Ryuzu back into the worktable contained in the coffin.
Activating the secondary version of my elemental skill, I shove my hands directly onto the emitters designed to heal injuries before opening the compartment containing tools and spare parts as soon as I could. Trying to open her access points didn't work, it seems the mechanisms were jammed or broken, so I used a tool to carefully pry her panels open to assess the damage.
Using hydro manipulation to splash water on molten gears to cool them I used pliers to pull them out. Many of the gears surrounding Ryuzu's core had melted into a slag, however, her core was miraculously undamaged. While the damage was severe and extensive, it was not irreversible. So I got to work.
[Ryuzu third person POV]
Ryuzu was laying alone in a grey world. It was a room she was familiar with, it was where her conscious went during the centuries she had spent inactive from her core irregularity.
"Is this where I will spend the rest of eternity? Is this my afterlife?" Missed Ryuzu as she lay on the ground surrounded by an assortment of gears and cogs.
While she layed on the ground, just letting time pass she did not know when she first heard it but she heard the sound of large wings followed by footsteps. Someone was walking towards her in the darkness, it was a slow relaxed pace, but each step resonated with something deep in Ryuzu.
Trying her head slowly and fearfully towards the noise Ryuzu watched as a figure slowly emerged from the dark surroundings.
First thing that emerged was a Egyptian hieroglyph, just hovering in the air somehow getting slower each second, next was a pair of matte black leather platform boots with silver spikes, followed by black jeans torn at the knees. Somehow Ryuzu knew that she's tears were from constant wear and adventures rather than from machines in a factory. Then was the cropped tank top with a necklace holding an the Egyptian hieroglyph. Then came the woman who was wearing the outfit, here skin was as pale as pale could be, as though the universe had created a whole new shade of the the color white just to be her skin color. Her black hair in contrast was so dark it seemed to trap light like a black hole, here eyes were also black but not to the same extent as her hair and the only makeup she wore was eyeliner with a swirl under one of her eyes.
It was an odd order of revelation but what of this situation wasn't.
The odd lady walked over next to Ryuzu and stopped.
"Apologies for the intrusion, but mind if I took a seat? It's been a while since I've had a chance to sit down." She said.
Ryuzu simply shrugged. She didn't know who this person was or how they managed to get into a place where she was supposed to be alone in. Getting here in and of itself was supposed to be impossible, so there likely wouldn't be anything Ryuzu could do to stop this strange lady.
The lady plopped herself down next to Ryuzu with a short sigh before saying "So what brings you so far from home little Automata?"
Not sure how to respond to that Ryuzu simply stayed silent. The lady was unbothered and just continued. "You know originally you we were supposed to meet a bit ago when your transport capsule fell through the crust of your homeland. Sorry should have started by introducing ourselves."
"Initial Y-series 01 Ryuzu, the one who follows." said Ryuzu, her voice not much more than a whisper in the surroundings.
"Death of the Endless, not to be confused with Lady Death, she's her own person and the only thing we have in common is our role in the universes we oversee." Death said with a slight pour.
"Why are you here now, Ms. Death?" Said Ryuzu.
"I want you to really think about this. And if you can't come up with an answer then ask me again." Death said leaning towards Ryuzu.
" I can understand what you are implying Miss. But I am afraid I may be out of your jurisdiction. For I am not a living being, living beings have souls I do not, and without being alive I cannot die. This i fail to see the purpose of your visit." Said Ryuzu.
"Ah but that's where you are wrong. Strange as he was, your father was a genius that performed many miracles. And beyond rebuilding an entire planet out of gears, I'd say his greatest achievement was you and your sisters. You see hmmm... How to put it." Death started muttering under her breath while Ryuzu was still processing what she said.
Ryuzu shook her head, "I am afraid you must be mistaken. I am simply an automata built of inorganic materials, if someone had a map of my current logistic gear configuration they would easily be able to calculate my responses to any perceiveable situation."
"Have you heard of the Ship of Theseus? Or would you prefer the broom example?" Death said.
"The ship of Theseus is a popllar philosophy dilemma, what is this broom example you speak of?" Said Ryuzu.
"Ok, so it starts off like this , you take a broom, you sweep the floor, the handle breaks, so you replace the handle, after a while the brush wears out so you replace it too, you go on year after year after decade changing the parts over and over. Is it the same broom as in the start?" Asked Death.
"While the logical answer is no, I don not think that is the point you are trying to make." Responded Ryuzu.
"Correct," said Death before continuing "you are the broom from that example, you have gotten almost every single part of your body changed to upgraded. You started out as a simple automata that Y created to stave off his loneliness, but now? There's not a single cog of the original you left, but are you still you?"
After a long silence Ryuzu contemplated her answer, following logic no, she wasn't the original after having all of her parts replaced, but something else within her screamed that she was. "Despite not having any original parts, I am still myself, but how?"
Death smiled, "because you have a soul. Same reason organic people are still the same folks despite having all their cells reproduce and be completely replaced by their offspring in a matter of years. You can change the physical parts all you like, but there is always one last part that is irreplaceable."
Death looked up as the surroundings started to light up and the gears surrounding them started to stand on their teeth and congregate together and float into the air, assembling into something.
"Looks like that kid's almost done patching you up. You were lucky this time and the last and only had a close call. Remember what I told you and cherish your time, live life, love, feel emotions, do your best to live a memberable experience, because I will be back for you eventually. I am waiting for everyone at the end of their journey. Momento mori is an excellent phrase don't get me wrong, but I like memento vivere better."
A black mist surrounded death and with the sound of the flapping of large wings the mist had dispersed and death had disappeared.
The gears continued to rise from the ground and float towards one another finding the place where they belonged and coming together to form a ring of components turning smoothly around Ryuzu.
As they turned in unison, light started to emendate from them beginning brighter and brighter until... Ryuzu woke up
-to be continued.
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