Chapter 67 - Atonement

I am sorry.

You may not see this, nor will you be able to hear it but I just want to say I am sorry. The moment I met you back then was such an important part of my life, you changed me, turned me into who I am today. Sadly, the world we lived in back then is no more, and you.. you are no longer the person you were.

I stand before what was our home, this.. lab. This place was where we met, I was still a young and naive girl back then while you were a wimp, yes, a wimp who at first did not even want to take me in, arguing reasons of ethics and code of conducts. You were a fond follower of the ways of humanity and how others must be treated kindly and with respect, that was their right, a right you believed in.

I walked inside what remained of our laboratory. After decades of wear and decay, It still bore the same appearance even if it was just a faint resemblance. I don't know if you even visited this place personally after you woke up, knowing that if you did, you'd remember, but you did not. You sent your drones to this place not knowing what value it held for you. They scanned it, scrapped most of the structure for parts and bȧrėly readable data of old.

You were so immersed in your mission that you have forgotten what made you, you. I blame myself partly for what has happened to you, If I only knew that they would also reach us up there, I would've taken you somewhere else far.. far.. away..

There's no point in thinking of the past, we should move forward I know but I can't help but remember the peaceful days, the brighter years, the solemn nights. Remember when you brought your pet bird to me? What a beautiful parrot she was, it was a shame she died along with the billions of others during the initial outbreak of the war.

The war...

I hate it.. I hate every bit of it!

We stood no chance the moment we breached that hole! We should have never even tried it in the first place, no, wait, THEY! Should not have tried it in the first place, they ignored our warnings and shoved us aside and now look at what they unleashed!

Again, I hope one day you visit this place, even by chance, I hope you do.

I know you told me that I should not waste too much time back on Earth since you need me back at that wretched magical world, such bullshit, a fuċkɨnġ magical world where we can access it through a fuċkɨnġ wormhole that some small-brained humans opened by the use of magic or whatever it's called!

You asked me what I was going to do here, I told you I was just going to retrieve more data.. yes.. I did not lie, I retrieved the data of prewar times but I just need to do something else before I could return. It is so that I may rest easy now instead of regretting what I could have done.

I went to your room on the highest floor, the walk was treacherous, a slight misstep and I risk plummeting to the bottom, not to my death since that would be silly. I asked my guards to wait outside and be on stand-by, at that time I just wanted to be alone.

I walked through the desolate halls and finally found your door, I gently opened it, dust fell onto my head as the door opened and I went through. Your office was a mess, dusty and nasty. I then remembered how organized you were. The drawers have been pulled open, I ȧssume that you pulled them open in a panic during the attack here, you always told me about something, a 'peacekeeping' weapon you always say. A weapon that would end all wars and slingshot humanity to complete unity.

I have to admit, you were a bit delusional back then, well.. you're still delusional now with your concept of 'utopia' but how can I go against you? I am the only one left for you.

I then found what I was looking for, your picture.

You were so handsome, such clear and bright skin.. a bit skinny but.. sweet.. you wearing your signature lab coat haha...

Sigh..

So for now, I will keep your picture, our past.. for myself.. until the day that you come back..

Johann.

-

Night has come. The shelling has stopped indefinitely after One feared that the councilwoman would deflect whatever they fired at the city back at them. The city has settled in for the night, the council has taken it upon themselves to manage whatever was left of the garrison to maintain order and supervise the defence of the city.

The councilwoman was still suspended in the air, right now she was having a staredown against the titan. The titan was standing just a few hundred meters from the wall, it was frozen in place, hot steam would regularly escape its cracks and joints but it was still functional. The two were waiting for the other to make the first move, One intended to keep the titan docile as long as the councilwoman did not attack first, this was made to lower the nerve of the enemy.

Hailey suggested a few hours back that they should cease all hostilities for a while to lower the nerve of the enemy. In paper, it went like this, the enemy was more than likely to have been traumatized and paranoid. If the machines were to cease attacking for a while, it will not relax the enemy, rather it would make them even more unsettled.

The unknown factor was a key contributor. The fact that they did not know the next move of their enemy made them uneasy, unable to even catch a good night's rest. They waited anxiously, the mages, the knights. Even the rest of the council! It was a psychological advantage in favour of the men of metal.

One was pleased, so much so that he ordered the attack to be postponed for a couple of days more before they launch an attack. Their only problem right now was also the unknown factor, the unknown power of the mage that was floating in the air and facing off the titan. The mage seemed restless.

The person bȧrėly flinched even when One himself ordered a drone to snipe her. She dodged the speeding bullet with ease and deflected it to the ground, confirming One's ȧssumption that the mage could deflect the shells if they were to continue shelling the city.

But the question was, why didn't she deflect their attacks during the first wave of shelling? She was active back then but she merely watched as they decimated the city and everyone in it. Only when the titan showed up did she even move from where she was at during the shelling.

This could well be called "The Two Day Offensive". In a span of two days, the three crusading armies of the Theocracy were defeated and subsequently destroyed by a combined force of Drones, Behemoths, Tanks, artillery pieces and hovercrafts. The fighter jets that were scrambled during the offensive only served as a last-ditch force if the hovercrafts were somehow defeated in an engagement.

The need was not brought up and so the fighter jets flew comfortably above the cloud of smoke and ash. Although, there was an instance in which a fighter jet flew low to incite fear among the routing northern army.

One was lying on the grass as he stared into the night sky. Well, there were no stars but clouds of ash and smoke, the usual.

His drones were standing beside him, silent and alert. John and Micheal were personally requested by One to give him a bit of peace before they continued their discussions, the drones gladly followed his will.

One was not thinking of anything. He only wanted to rest his mind after a tedious brain exercise that was the 'two-day offensive'. Though the strain of micromanaging tens of thousands of drones was not that big of a deal, someone like One still felt the need to rest although there was really no need for him to do so. In other words, he just wanted to act like any other human being after a long day of work.

Come home, get greeted by his family and just have a fun time, sadly he had no family, nor was he familiar with the concept of fun times. He was still half a machine and half a human person. He closed his eyes as he tried to feel the grass behind him. The grass was crunchy, hard and dying. He actually missed the time he was lying down on some fresh grass while staring at the blue clear sky before the war with the Theocracy, before this petty crusade.

Crusade.

One heard of the word when a drone was reportedly ambushed by a group of cultists who proclaimed them as demons, 'metal demons' who would 'soon be crushed by the warriors of the blue goddess under the crusade of righteousness'. it was confusing, yet an intriguing thing to say to someone who did not believe in such a goddess.

One could not deny that there were these 'deities' that had power beyond his comprehension. Well, beyond his comprehension is too far of a stretch and more of an over-exaggeration of the enemy. He still remembered the time he fought Vilvintine and the Papal Scripture.

The continent in which the peninsula was connected to was called Fiorg, if you were to ask what the name of the world was, they'd answer Fiorg. It made sense since One had not gained knowledge of any other continent so far besides Fiorg. It oddly seemed like they were at an era similar to that of Earth's Pangaea but the differences were that this world had humans and magic and no prehistoric creatures.

One knew of dinosaurs because Hailey thought him the creatures. He was intrigued that such beasts once roamed the earth millions of years ago only to be eliminated by a rogue asteroid that Jupiter failed to catch. Hailey thought One about dinosaurs in the hopes that One would be more attracted to the beauty of nature, it actually succeeded and failed at the same time.

It succeeded in making One became fond and respectful of nature but also gave him the idea of mutating certain animal specimens in the hopes of rebirthing the creatures of old even if there were slight differences.

One basically wanted domesticated dinosaurs that he could weaponize, imagine a flying pterodactyl carrying a Tyrannosaurus Rex holding a rifle. Not only will it look ridiculous but also downright be terrifying for the humans unlucky enough to be targeted by it!

A pterodactyl carrying a Tyrannosaurus Rex is stupid and will never happen but something similar to the creatures mentioned might soon walk the plains of Fiorg if One were to have his way. He had many plans, plans that were stupid and plans that were ingenious.

While One imagined the future of his experiments, John spoke.

"Commander, The mage is engaging the titan!"

At once, One stood from the ground and walked towards the spot they could watch from.

"Commander! Permission to launch the offensive!"

"Not yet," One wanted to see if the titan would win against the mage, it was important because of the mage were to defeat the titan, it would be a major setback to the siege.

The trio climbed up the hill, from afar the watched.

The flying mage had summoned a powerful whirlwind that surrounded her while the titan has activated its weaponry. The two blasters were locked and loaded, it was time for the battle!