Story Reader / Main Story / 23 Wintry Shackles / Story
As she expected, when she opens her eyes, she sees the home that once belonged to Luna and her again.
Welcome home, Sister.
The winter frost has dissipated. New, green sprouts have grown. Somehow, Alpha is also returned to her former appearance.
Luna...
It is Alpha's second time here. She once thought the girl in front was just an illusion generated by the Ascension-Network to deceive her, but she was not.
This place is not a carefully set up trap, but the last shelter that Luna could offer without violating her duties.
It is also the only connection left between them.
The girl in white wants to approach her closest person like always, but she stops soon after.
This is your last time here, isn't it?
...Yeah.
Alpha turns away as she is about to leave.
Luna, you once believed the only way to change this world was to completely destroy it.
But after you came back from the Moon, you changed. You were willing to believe in other alternatives.
I was glad to see those changes in you. But they also reinforced the connection between you and the Ascension-Network.
I was worried... But didn't do anything...
Alpha closes her eyes. There is a rare hint of fragility on her face.
I made a lot of bad decisions. Before I could realize it, I had given up taking action on my own and begun to rely on you.
I kept telling myself to wait, to observe. That I needed more information before taking action.
But I forgot the most important thing. Without action, all preparation would be wasted effort.
Luna... I'm sorry that I left all the decisions for you to make. I was the one stuck in the same place.
Alpha opens her eyes again and continues walking toward the door.
Luna, I don't know what it meant for you to choose the Ascension-Network, or what Ascension-Network really meant to you.
But there is one thing I am certain. It didn't give you an option to give up.
Regardless of which path you will choose in the end, I want to keep as many options as possible for you.
That's why we need to separate from each other temporarily. I'm going to a faraway place.
Sister...
You can go. Do what you want to do.
The warm shell is slowly collapsing. Alpha pushes the door open.
As she walks on the shattered ground, the gaze behind her gradually disappears.
When the gaze disconnects, Alpha enters the irrevocable reality.
Is this really the right path?
A voice similar to hers echoes in the consciousness space. Her limbs are tightly tied up by chains and ribbons.
Black cubes float around her, giving the entire space a confined feel.
The shattered mirror reflects Alpha's real-world image. All eyes turn to her.
That's the only connection between the two of you. Are you going to give her up?
I'm not. That's why I can't allow myself to keep being manipulated.
Alpha fiercely struggles. The crimson shackles continue to break and reform.
Will her consciousness be devoured before she can escape, or will she break away first at the bottom of this M.I.N.D.?
I could have stopped him if I had enough power.
Only the strong will survive. That's the only truth.
The noises are turning into Alpha's familiar voices. They sound so near yet so far.
Is this some sort of hallucination, or her true feeling that had never been revealed?
The civilization of this planet has embarked on new steps. Their life form needs a new round of evolution.
That is why the Ascension-Network began its filtering. That is why the Ascendants came to the world.
The Punishing Virus isn't a weapon or a tool.
It's an inevitable law of nature that all civilizations will encounter during their development.
Alpha sees a vast space full of stars. The light from billions of years ago reflects in her eyes.
Since its birth, the universe has carried various information structures: space, matter, energy...
Different civilizations had different names for them. During their development, they gradually discovered these structures and interacted with them, creating new ones.
Each information structure has its own mission and purpose.
Humans... Intelligent lives are also a part of these numerous information structures.
The interference between information structures isn't one-sided. If one structure can affect the other structures, it will also receive their influence.
Punishing Virus has always been around. It will only be discovered under certain conditions.
If Punishing Virus is always around, what is the Ascension-Network then?
Interaction leads to new structures. This law also applies to Punishing Virus.
The birth of Ascension-Network is inevitable. It is a pre-determined destiny.
What exactly is the purpose of Ascension-Network?
To filter populations and civilizations until it has identified those individuals that can possibly break the "law."
Individuals?
Stagnant civilizations will ultimately decline and perish. The form of life cannot halt the pace of evolution.
The Ascension-Network will continue to filter until those individuals emerge. This is the universe's destiny.
We look forward to unknown possibilities...
And give a test to the variables...
You can reach the ending...
The starry sky disappears in front of Alpha. She sees herself standing on a snowfield.
Vital fluid has formed prismatic, meandering streams. Countless blades impale the ground nearby. They are her medals, but also her prison.
There is nobody else around her. Endless wreckage and remains have formed a throne. The sky seems within her arm's reach.
Seeing such a view, Alpha smiles.
There are no unbreakable destinies. Absolute laws don't exist.
Survival of the fittest may be a common law, but it is never the truth.
If nothing can survive till the end of the filtering, that's no different from locking us in a slightly bigger cage.
Come out. Let's talk face-to-face.
The next instant, Alpha disappears from the snowfield, leaving the remains behind like an empty grave.
Looks like you have made your choice.
The world has returned to its original form in Alpha's vision. Before she could realize it, she had already broken free from the shackle. Her frame is also restored.
On the opposite side, another identical version of herself is walking out of the mirror.
If you want to break the cage, then come face the final filtering.
I was about to say the same.
Katanas clash with each other, creating bright sparks.
Alpha has lost track of how long she has been fighting.
She only remembers that each clash of the blades will send the M.I.N.D. space trembling.
Dark cracks have appeared on the border of M.I.N.D. Only infinite voidness can be seen outside.
I like your unfaltering spirit, but how long can this M.I.N.D. last?
As the two katanas clash again, the reaction force sends both of them back a couple of steps. Alpha tightens her grip on the hilt, forcing her arms to stop trembling.
Your courage is commendable, but it will pull you into the abyss.
Given the existing damage in your M.I.N.D., you will only collapse before breaking away from the constraints.
Alpha focuses solely on attacking and dodging, but each of her attacks gets blocked by her identical self in the same way it was launched.
The wilderness is burning. As the ground begins to crack, lava erupts from the earth's fissures.
Everything in the M.I.N.D. is shattered from their collisions. Alpha is gradually burning out.
You lost.
Alpha blocks the frontal heavy slash, but a hilt follows closely and hits her abdomen.
Ugh...
The kick sends Alpha flying away. She coughs out a large mouthful of vital fluid, barely holding herself up with the blade.
The attack was supposed to be one of her best moves, but when her M.I.N.D. is on the brink of collapse, she has lost focus and is unable to capture every move of the opponent.
Illusions of death flash before her eyes among the fragments of her collapsing consciousness.
This was never a fair battle. Time to put an end to it.
She puts her blade back to its sheath, preparing for a final blow to the temporarily immobilized Alpha.
The flickering flames are about to die out.
Get up!
Pure, white snowflakes suddenly appear between the burning flames.
As snowflakes fall from above, ice walls rise one after another, separating the two fighters.
The black-haired girl slides down an ice wall, slashing Alpha's enemy consecutively.
A deep-dive? In such a situation?
Alpha can feel her near-broken M.I.N.D. being repaired.
Why would you go this far?
Just like what happened in City 075, when Lucia enters Alpha's M.I.N.D. through a deep dive, their M.I.N.D. begins to fuse and overwrite each other as they share the same roots.
Thanks to this fusion, Alpha's badly damaged M.I.N.D. was able to recover.
However, once the fusion exceeds the threshold, it will also completely overwrite Lucia's consciousness.
Why help her? You are already on different paths.
Alpha's phantom easily dodges Lucia's spinning slash, then strikes back with a few lightning bolts before Lucia is able to pull back the blade.
We chose different paths.
Snowflakes form an ice wall to block the incoming lightning. Lucia dashes forward again, swinging her blade non-stop to block the opponent's attack routes.
But we always...
When the blades clash, Lucia immediately turns on the thruster behind her. It rapidly charges forward and knocks Alpha's phantom away, creating a turbulent airflow that sends the hem of Lucia's jacket flying.
Want to fight against the same destiny!
Lucia falls back to Alpha with frost marks on her arm. She was covering the thruster's trail with her own body for that sneak attack to work.
I don't want to be overwritten. I need to return to those waiting for me.
Get up, Alpha!
Is this all you can do? Are you going to fall here?
...
This "error" that she once wanted to correct has embarked on a path completely different from hers.
She thought their paths would never cross again. That they would only walk in opposite directions.
Somehow, destiny always brought them together every now and then.
Sometimes, they point their blades at each other...
Sometimes...
Lightning comes back to Alpha's blade as she and Lucia stand side by side.
Before I reach the destination... I will never fall...
Finish her off before you are overwritten!
The seemingly endless battle has finally come to an end. The other Alpha shatters like the mirror she walked out from.
Her flickering body is full of cracks, as if it will collapse in the next instant.
Ugh...
More and more snowflakes appear in the consciousness space, flying in the air.
The fusion is almost reaching the threshold. You must leave now.
Lucia nods and disappears in the flying snowflakes. The consciousness space gradually turns back to its original broken look.
You have discovered the path to another ending.
Alpha does not seem bothered by her words. She just silently swings her blade once again at the phantom's collapsing body.
As the mirror breaks into pieces, the other Alpha also disintegrates into data fragments that are about to return to their main body through a link.
The next moment, they are stopped by an invisible barrier.
The space around her M.I.N.D. begins to contract, forming an inescapable cage.
So this is your real intention.
Blindly following the law of the filtering will never get us out of this cage.
To create new alternatives, I need a power of deterrence.
Now, I am your cage.
Babylonia will not thank you. Other Ascendants will see you as traitors. Everyone will be coveting your unique value.
Maybe you will not become everyone's enemy, but you will never have any allies.
It's okay. This is enough.
If you cut off this "tributary," your starting and end points will never cross.
Over time, the vortex of infinity will pull you into a void abyss.
This is only a beginning...
