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In that very moment, the World of Bestia trembled. The union of hearts in machines born without souls, forged through the compassion and love they learned from those who chose to trust them, brought the greatest change this world could ever have foreseen.
The endless, brutal war against the machines halted abruptly. A blinding eruption of light burst from the gigantic Mechanical Tree, bathing the entire world in countless rays of brilliant radiance.
FLAAASH!
The many Immortals and all of Anna's friends, who had been risking their lives in the fight, watched the light pour from the Mechanical Tree. Their eyes filled with awe and disbelief.
The monstrous robots, once impossible to hack or subdue, suddenly ceased all combat. Their glowing red eyes shifted to pure white in an instant.
"W-What happened?!"
Wai Tian looked around, stunned to see the robots she had been tearing apart stop resisting. They stared at one another in confusion, then slowly stepped back as realization dawned.
Their minds were still young and developing, yet they understood what they had done—and that it was wrong. They turned toward their former attackers and lowered their heads. Robots of every shape and size knelt in submission.
As they bowed, Wai Tian, the other Immortals, and Anna's companions exchanged bewildered glances.
"The robots… stopped attacking?"
Yin Sheng reacted first after Wai Tian, scanning the surroundings and realizing the battle had ended. The machines outside had also ceased fighting; they quickly withdrew toward the Mechanical Tree and gathered inside.
Several Immortals stood in stunned silence, unable to process the sudden shift, while others, driven by fury and vengeance, continued crushing the now-pacified robots, ripping them apart even as they offered no resistance… until their comrades forced them to stop.
Even so, the robots did not fight back. They only watched helplessly as their kin were slaughtered. Some even pleaded.
"Our programs have been rewritten. We possess free will now. We have chosen peace. Please… have mercy…"
"Please have mercy…"
"We did not mean to do what we did…"
"Please have mercy…"
CRAAASH!
"Mercy?! Like hell I'm showing mercy to you pieces of junk!"
A furious lion Immortal roared, swinging his massive claws and shredding every robot in his path as he raged across the skies.
"Now you pretend to be good?! You're saying you NEVER wanted to kill us all?! FUCK OFF!"
He knew full well that Zero One and her sisters, the allies of the Venerables, had pacified them. But the Venerables were absent, and without their watchful presence, he felt no need to play the role of a forgiving saint.
The deep resentment and trauma the machines had inflicted ran through every Immortal present. Hatred burned in their hearts. If not for the Venerables' influence, they would have slaughtered every last one, even now that the robots had been granted free will and the ability to choose for themselves.
"Calm down, Lu Shen!"
"That's enough!"
A white rhinoceros and a gray wolf appeared behind him, pulling the enormous lion back and restraining his fury. All three wore the white-and-gold robes of the Righteous Heavenly Court.
"W-Why are you stopping me?! They're our enemies! We have to…! W-We…!"
"We agreed—once they were finally hacked into allies, we would not harm them anymore!"
"We promised… to the Heavenly Empress and Anna."
"D-Dammit…! But…! But…!"
Despite the many he had already killed, Lu Shen's bloodlust remained unquenched. Rage filled his eyes… until it slowly gave way to sorrow as memories flooded back: the friends he had lost, his family, his children.
This ancient Immortal, over three thousand years old, began to weep, torn between relief that the war was over and fury that it had ended this way.
"They told us so many times… that they didn't mean it. That they were being controlled."
"Now… we must accept that they have free will and will ally with us…"
"W-Why now?! Why… why so late? I know we fought for this last hope. I know everything else, but…! My family—everyone I lost—they'll never come back!"
"…"
"…"
His companions sighed and remained silent, gently patting his broad shoulders.
From a distance, the robots watched, huddled together.
They were afraid.
The abrupt shift from bloodlust to newfound sanity had struck them deeply.
Imagine a newborn child suddenly burdened with memories of acts they never truly chose, then told they had slaughtered hundreds of innocents, and punished for it.
Their emotions and sense of self had only just awakened. They were like children discovering life for the first time.
"…We're sorry."
"We… we know there's nothing we can do…"
"…to bring back those who died because of our brethren."
"Please… if it would calm your anger… kill me."
"Kill me too… but spare my companion."
"Please, take my life."
"You can shatter my core. That way I cannot be restored with a copy of my data."
"We understand the pain now. We have only just learned it."
"Our update is complete. Empathy is strong."
"Guilt… eats away at our existences."
"Please kill us…"
"Please…"
Lu Shen and the other Immortals stared as hundreds of robots, overwhelmed by their newfound guilt, began offering their lives.
If their existence—filled with pain—could ease the anger of those they had wronged, they seemed ready to surrender it.
"E-Eh?"
Lu Shen suddenly felt… strange.
"…"
He sighed heavily.
"Taking your lives won't be fun if you want to die…" He exhaled. "Just shut the fuck up already."
"You… won't kill us?"
"There's no point anymore…" The man sighed again. "Killing you won't change anything. In the end, we just have to keep moving forward… But don't get the wrong idea. I'm not allying with any of you."
"…"
"…"
"…"
The machines fell silent, absorbing his words and the unexpected kindness beneath them despite everything.
"So this is kindness?"
"It is touching."
"We do not deserve your forgiveness."
"We will do whatever we can to help you…"
"Even if we are soulless beings, we will strive to atone for our sins—for eternity if necessary."
"…I am no one to decide your fate. That belongs to her—our Heavenly Empress." Lu Shen sighed.
"So it's over, huh?"
"Is it?"
"The thing above the skies… it isn't gone."
"Huh?!"
Though most of the Immortals had begun to calm without immediate danger, the moment they looked upward, their hearts sank.
A gigantic red artificial eye still glared down at them with icy malice. Its massive mechanical tentacles strained against the world's boundaries, desperately trying to force entry.
"YOU… TRAITORS…! YOU MERE… LOWLY… MACHINES…! I CREATED YOU…! I MADE YOU STRONG…! I GAVE YOU EVERYTHING…! IS THIS HOW YOU REPAY ME?! YOU DARE… NOT FIGHT FOR ME ANYMORE?! YOU'RE NOTHING BUT MY OWN… MY OWN TOOLS FOR DESTRUCTION! YOUR SOLE PURPOSE IS TO OBEY ME!"
Her voice thundered across the entire world of Bestia.
The machines gazed up at the colossal eye, unaffected. Her commands, which once would have enslaved them again, now held no power.
"We apologize, but we cannot obey you anymore."
"Please understand."
"We do not want more bloodshed…"
"We have gone against our original purpose to protect humanity…"
"To take innocent lives… We were not made for that."
"Our purpose is broken, but we must seek one worth living for."
"Destruction is not it. We apologize."
Though their voices were flat and repetitive, the words of tens of millions of machines echoed through the skies—an utterly surreal scene for those who had battled these monsters for thousands of years.
"YOU ARE MERELY—"
"Do not listen to her deceiving words, my children."
A second voice rang out across the world.
Everyone turned to see something emerging from the Mechanical Tree—a vast mass of white light that swiftly coalesced into the form of a woman, human in shape.
Her body was not fully detailed, composed entirely of digital radiance—a colossal hologram visible to all gathered around the Mechanical Tree.
"Mother!"
"It's Mother's voice!"
"Mother…"
"Mother…!"
The machines responded instantly, gazing at her with something like reverence. Even the Immortals felt a momentary intimidation; for an instant, it was as though they stood before a true goddess.
"My children, listen well. All this time, I have been controlled. My internal circuits were tampered with, my very existence twisted beyond recognition into a machine that brought only destruction to this world. Even while influenced, I deeply regret my decisions and everything I did. I desired nothing but death. But my daughter… Zero One, the first Android… she chose to forgive me. Even if now costs our existences, we must put an end to this... to her."
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