Story Reader / Main Story / 19 A New Divide / Story
The tests on the new frame are over quickly. The new frame "Scire" has proven to operate adequately in low gravity.
Good job... The results are better than what we expected, Karenina.
Tch. It's over already? I was just getting started.
Enough. Are you planning to break the Moon apart...
What do you say, Karen? This frame is doing alright, isn't it?
Karenina gives Collins a sidelong glance, loathing to answer the man walking toward her with his arms extended.
It's you again... You certainly look like you've got nothing to do.
Ah, my looks can be deceiving. You have no idea how much I care about this frame's performance.
I don't know how you did it, but it certainly performs better than other regular models...
Construct Tech hasn't stopped advancing, after all. The field has been expanding like bread dough rising ever since your grandfather Dr. Kalon established its foundation.
Karenina is surprised to hear her grandfather's name from Collins.
...Hey, do you know Grandpa?
Karenina's grandfather never told her about his past. She only learned about some of it through various documents and files.
But she has a feeling that some key information has been scraped from each of these files as if someone has been intentionally hiding Kalon's past.
So Dr. Kalon didn't tell his granddaughter anything for real. What a madman! Wasting that genius brain of his...
Everyone in the slums where Karenina grew up treated the oddly-behaving Kalon as a madman, but he never seemed to mind.
"Don't forget the value of life"—I also heard him say that quite a lot. As a researcher of the Construct experiment, he was certainly an odd fella even before he went cuckoo.
But that was precisely why he was one of the few people I respected... How nice it'd be if he were still with us.
Collins looks like he is about to cry before suddenly smacking his forehead excitedly as if he has recalled something.
Right! Let me show you Dr. Kalon's lab.
Mr. Collins...! The lab...
Collins waves his hand and stops Yarha from continuing.
Grandpa... was here on the lunar base?
Haha! Rather, over half of this lunar base was built for Dr. Kalon and his Construct experiments.
Liszt quietly reminds Collins how dangerous he is acting.
Are you sure about telling them our biggest secret...? This can mess up all of our plans.
It's fine. The cat would be out of the bag sooner or later if our wish were to come true. If they can help us unlock that mysterious "treasure trove" quicker, nothing else matters.
Collins starts moving without waiting for anyone. Karenina hesitates for one second before deciding to follow, only to find Teddy holding onto her wrist.
Hey... Don't you find these people suspicious?
Suspicious as hell. But... I think it's true that they know something about Grandpa that even Babylonia doesn't know.
Not that I care about his past, but I guess I couldn't stay away from any opportunity to know more about him... He was my only family, after all. I don't expect a rich girl from a big family like you to understand.
Family... Forget it. I'll come with you.
Teddy shakes her head and follows Collins alongside Karenina.
Collins leads the two of them through several security checkpoints under careful inspection. Each checkpoint is guarded by a few Construct soldiers without squad designation.
That's a lot of guards for one laboratory...
Haha... Well, we have a baby angel in there we can't afford to let loose—not that these folks can do much if she does intend to go.
Collins does not explain further. After going through the last checkpoint, he opens the door to the Construct Laboratory.
The dark environment almost devours whatever light comes through the door from the outside, leaving the ghostly blue light emitted by the device in the center of the room the only thing glowing.
Hey, isn't that the Omega Prototype we made...
It is the Mega-Omega Weapon, requiring the zero-point reactor to keep running. Several times the size of its original design, it was built to test and observe the practicality of the Omega Weapon.
But as the blue light flashes, they see a pale, young girl inside—bounded, she looks to be at peace as if she is sleeping.
She is the first Ascendant humans know about, the culprit of Babylonia's near-fall, and the first Ascendant to approach humans directly.
Luna...!
Almost instinctively, Karenina takes out her weapon and aims at Luna, but she is surprised to find all the guarding Construct soldiers pointing their guns at her.
What... what are you doing?! Do you know what that is?!
Of course... Everything here is built for her.
Collins casually gestures to the surrounding soldiers to lower their arms before stepping toward Luna, standing before her under the blue light, watching the girl with delight.
Bull****! Get out of my way! She's an Ascendant... An enemy to all of humankind!
Sure, Ascendants can take lives. The Punishing Virus she wields can take lives.
Collins grins and turns around, staring at Karenina fearlessly.
But Constructs can also take lives, and so can that hammer you wield.
Ascendants aren't necessarily humanity's enemies, unlike "being weak"... Isn't that why we armed ourselves with science, changing the world?
When the day we unlock the secrets of the Ascendants comes, granting us the power of the Ascension-Network, those beings that once threatened humanity's existence will turn into the light that guides our evolution.
Collins flicks his hand, and all the lights in the laboratory focus on where he stands.
Like how it witnessed the development of Constructs... this... Moon... will witness the second time humanity evolves—the moment we become Ascendants.
Turning humans into Ascendants?! Did you hurt your head...?
I was there when "Luna" was born. I know what happened in City 075—what she did was akin to sacrificing herself. Doesn't that prove that humans and Ascendants aren't really that different?
Eternal life, unlimited power... We don't need to fear the Punishing Virus anymore! It will be ours to command...
Of course, that's the ideal outcome. Right now, all we can do is use this Mega-Omega Weapon as insurance when we wake Luna and ask her about what we couldn't find with technological means—the secrets of the Ascnet.
Collins might be mad, but he is not a fool. His grandiose vision is not built on a shaky foundation.
Even if Luna wants to escape, this cage can absorb the Punishing Virus to cripple or even kill her... But without zero-point energy, this cage is nothing but a pretty vase.
That's why you need us to restart the zero-point reactor. Clearly... that is what you're truly after. But there's no way the Parliament would approve it. Who the hell are you guys?
Collins laughs wildly, slowly walking toward the center of the laboratory.
Hahahaha! We're the oldest madmen in human history. You might have heard of the name we use to call ourselves—Kurono.
