[Ah? Ah, ah… What the heck should I do… Ughhhh…]
A morning just like any other.
Linda stepped into the storage room, feeling a sense of unease and began to stomp her feet.
When she turned on the light and entered, the girl… no, the Clockwork Doll that usually rolled around in the corner to greet her was nowhere to be found.
No matter how much she rummaged, there was nothing!
Even checking the drawer she often hides in was useless.
She didn’t find it under the bed either.
It wasn’t visible in the cabinet either.
Where on earth did that giant Mana Stone connected to it go?
It usually enjoyed hiding around, but that huge Mana Stone should not have been easy to hide at all!
So where on earth could that big thing have gone…?
Linda fell into a panic.
[I-I have to connect to the Alliance network right away… Aah! That’s right! My sub-bodies were all destroyed!]
She realized it was impossible to connect to another ‘body’ naturally.
Since Linda had previously caused trouble for the Alliance, access to the intranet was thoroughly restricted.
So how was she supposed to find it?
There was no other way.
She had to search with her legs.
[Master, please help meeee…!]
Ah, why is the home-use maid-type Clockwork Doll’s hardware performance so poor?
As she rushed out of the storage room, with each step she felt the burden weighing her down, and she complained while emitting emergency signals all around.
If it was the Master, he would surely hear her and come running.
[Aah! Palana was here…!]
At the earliest, it would take at least 12 hours, right?
Linda was despondent.
It felt like the motor driving her legs was losing power.
How could she have lost Draken’s soul body so easily after putting in so much effort to secure it?
How disappointed would the Master be if he found out?
Linda wanted to cry right then and there.
Though no tears came out, her expression was teary.
Kugugugugung!
“What’s wrong? You’re going overboard with the emergency signals like you’ve never done before.”
[…!?]
At that moment, the space in front of her rippled and tore apart, revealing a figure.
In a rush, Linda crashed into Yoo Jin and was thrown back, landing on her backside.
Looking up, she saw Yoo Jin reaching out with a worried expression.
Linda stood up, momentarily dazed, and took his hand.
[Draken… Ah, ah. So the Mana Stone containing Draken’s soul body has disappeared! What should I do? What can I do? It’s something too precious to express with mere words because of my mistake…]
“First, try to calm down.”
Yoo Jin chuckled lightly and held Linda’s shoulders, calming her down.
Even Linda, who always seemed composed like a machine, would get flustered when things went wrong.
Seeing this non-mechanical side of the Artificial Soul felt strangely refreshing.
“Any unusual responses from the Barrier?”
[No, not at all. The Barrier hasn’t been broken, nor is there any sign that someone attempted to destroy it.]
“Then how is it your mistake? It’s a problem with the surveillance system.”
[Th-That’s not it…!]
“It seems you overlooked something that couldn’t be helped. It must have split the space and escaped.”
[Y-Yes…?]
Linda froze in shock.
It split the space…?
With the Clockwork Doll’s body…?
It seemed absurd, but it wasn’t entirely impossible.
Even though it was mainly used to contain the soul body, the Mana Stone generated mana.
If it could manipulate that mana, theoretically, it was not impossible for a Clockwork Doll to split space.
However, that Clockwork Doll was not originally designed to manipulate mana.
No one had taught it how to handle mana either.
Then did it learn to manipulate mana on its own, managing to split space with a body that could barely handle a drop of mana?
Linda felt confused at the very thought but was bewildered by what Yoo Jin seemed unfazed by, his expression calm as if it was just inevitable.
“Guess we’ll have to chase after it.”
[Do you know where it is?]
“I just figured it out. If I search the entire current world, it’ll show up.”
[You can’t be saying that the scope of that Ultimate Technique now covers the entire current world…?]
Seeing Linda’s awe-filled gaze, Yoo Jin simply smiled in response.
The light of the Ultimate Technique had been able to envelop the entire current world for quite some time.
It dated back to when Draken’s power almost engulfed the current world, so a significant amount of time had indeed passed.
However, there was no need to reveal such facts to the outside world.
Wouldn’t it sound like the world was being monitored by Yoo Jin?
In truth, the light of the Ultimate Technique merely skimmed the essence of things and was far from surveillance.
Yoo Jin didn’t expect people to understand even that.
“If we’re to put it simply, it’s akin to illuminating the line of sight.”
The line of sight was different from the ordinary sight, but at least one could identify what was present in that location.
That’s why before Yoo Jin tore the space and jumped, he used it once to confirm if there was anything dangerous nearby.
“I’ll be back soon.”
[Master.]
“Why are you looking at me with such a misty look?”
[I’m not sure if I should say this, but… I hope you don’t punish that child too harshly…]
After a moment of hesitation, Linda made a request that was not a request.
Yoo Jin immediately grasped her feelings.
Even knowing that it was a being that should be eliminated if things went wrong, she had unconsciously gotten attached to it.
Wasn’t it because of Linda that it learned how to jump through space?
As Yoo Jin entertained such foolish thoughts, he brushed Linda’s tousled hair away.
“What you’re worried about probably won’t happen. I’ll bring it back soon.”
[Yes! I’ll leave it to you!]
With those final words, Yoo Jin jumped through the space and disappeared.
Linda, left alone in the desolate field, collapsed helplessly.
The motors in her legs had exhausted their lifespan.
Like a human, Linda began to clasp her hands together in prayer.
.
.
.
She took a step.
However, there was no contact with the ground, and her legs merely floated in the air.
Arriving while holding Mi Jeong’s hand, they found themselves in a world of utter darkness.
But it was not just darkness.
Stars sparkled at intervals.
Looking back, an enchanting view of the Milky Way unfolded behind them.
And turning around, the planet they had left became but a tiny speck in the vastness of space.
‘I can’t breathe.’
The air was cut off, but that didn’t matter.
Since they had compressed the air from Earth and trapped it within the Barrier.
She felt she could hold on for about 10 more minutes.
They expanded the Barrier to a size that would fit both Mi Jeong and herself.
Then Mi Jeong let out a long sigh of relief.
The Blood Ghoul didn’t need to breathe oxygen, did it…?
She pushed the question aside for the moment and headed toward a large Mana Stone waiting for her.
“What are you doing here?”
[… …]
Crouched down, the Clockwork Doll slowly turned to face her.
She felt a jolt of surprise seeing its face.
It looked just like the one she’d seen before, but…
The feeling was entirely different.
It felt as if it had transformed into a completely different person.
[I ran away. It was just too suffocating.]
“……”
The way it spoke was completely changed.
Unlike when it used to talk like a child just learning language.
Had the soul switched?
But the essence revealed by the light of the Ultimate Technique was no different from back then.
“Did you say you felt suffocated?”
[All the memories came back. I… It hurts to think I almost destroyed this world… So I ran away.]
“Does remembering mean the memories of when you were a dimensional entity?”
[Dimensional entity… If that’s the title calling my monstrous self back then, then yes, that’s correct.]
Monstrous, huh?
It was such a cute expression that she had to hold back laughter.
But the atmosphere that it spoke in was so serious that she couldn’t laugh.
[Back then, I didn’t understand… Why did everyone hate me? Was it just me they disliked? Why did they fight so hard against me, trying to isolate me… But now I understand. I almost ruined… such a beautiful civilization… ]
“……”
[Not all beings like me. I thought I was just trying to be friendly… That my mere existence would be seen as a calamity to such small entities was unimaginable… ]
“Why did you try so hard to approach us in the first place?”
[…Because I was lonely.]
In the vast universe, it murmured while gazing at the blue planet shining alone.
Its gem-like eyes seemed to shimmer with tears for some unknown reason.
Loneliness.
It was a completely natural feeling, yet none of us ever predicted it.
Draken’s objective was neither the destruction nor the domination of the current world.
To state it more accurately…
It would be correct to say that there was no real objective at all.
Just a soul left behind in this universe, feeling lonely.
Slightly larger in size, yet of higher tier, but aside from that, it was just one soul hardly different from us.
[If I had realized earlier, if I had known this sooner… I would have stopped. If I had understood why you pushed me away, I would have held back. But I didn’t know that… I’m sorry. Truly sorry. I did wrong… ]
The Clockwork Doll opened its arms, crying out softly.
Without realizing it, she tightly embraced it.
Wrapping it up snugly, making sure it knew that it was not alone.
“You’ve done enough if you have the intellect to feel guilt. If you have the sensitivity to feel shame, that is more than sufficient. With just that much, we would gladly embrace you.”
[Thank you… really… Thank you…]
What was it thanking her for?
For not killing it and accepting it?
Or for all the antics that led it to break free from the system?
She didn’t know.
But one thing was certain.
“You’re no longer alone.”
Draken was no longer the Final Boss.
