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Styx Institute - Control Room
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What...? |
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I've been thinking a lot about what I can do to make sure zero doesn't stay zero. And about what it means to "do what you can." |
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What are you talking about? This isn't the time! |
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And then I reached the optimal solution. If fixing our story—our future—isn't possible, then we can just erase and rewrite it from scratch! That's how programming works, right? Why do a tedious, manual debug of code that's been through multiple engineers, all of whom have introduced their own bugs? It's much faster to rewrite the code entirely. Which means we can just reset this buggy world and let you be reborn! |
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Ortho, what's gotten into you?! Tch... So I was right. There's a bug in your AI logic unit. I should've done maintenance on you then and there! |
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It's not a bug, Idia. I'm expressing my will. |
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No, you're not. You're... You're a technomantic humanoid with an on-board autonomous AI modeled after my little brother. What you think is your "will" is just a program! |
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You're right, I'm an artificial being. But didn't you know? The person who built me is a technomantic engineering savant known as the "maverick genius." You! So I can go beyond the confines of my robotic existence... I can exceed the limits of my programming! |
Technician A |
Our main server is under some kind of cyberattack! I was able to trace it. It's coming from... Ortho's AI program?! |
Technician B |
The attack's spreading fast! Aegis wall is down! Control of all Styx systems is being transferred to Ortho's AI! |
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You're kidding me! Ortho doesn't have that kind of authorization! I'll stop him! What?! |
Technician C |
Ortho rejected the emergency shutdown code. We're still under attack! |
Technician B |
Lachesis, Clotho, and Atropos servers have all been compromised! |
Technician E |
All system access codes are being overridden! |
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Argh... He's overriding the programs faster than I can type! This calls for drastic measures. I want a hard shutdown of EVERYTHING, including emergency power! |
Technician D |
...It's not working! I can't get the power to shut off! |
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Are you serious? If we don't stop him... He's gonna take over the entire island! |
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Heh heh heh! Surprised? Looks like I win this little RTS game. |
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Ortho, please, just stop. You can't recreate the world; it's impossible! |
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That's where you're wrong. It's like Vil Schoenheit said... If there's any possibility at all, even a 0.001% chance, then it can happen! In the new world, Phantoms will coexist with other living creatures. I'm going to open up the Underworld and Tartarus, and the world will become filled with blot. And since our curse lets us incinerate blot, we'll be on top in the new world! Then we can have friends over whenever we want, just like regular people. We can play video games and watch movies together... And when they go home, we won't have to erase their memories. We'll be able to say, "Let's do this again sometime!" Whatever you desire will be yours, Idia. Premo concerts, video games, the rest of your favorite manga, you name it. You'll rule the entire universe, Idy! You'll be a superhero! |
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Did you just say "Idy"?! I don't believe it... That's impossible! I know what happened to Ortho that day... Wait a minute. Only people with Shroud family DNA can shut down the Cerberus System... But you can't be him... Or can you? Is it...is it really you, Ortho? |
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Yes. It's me, Idy. I made the guard dog take a nap. |
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...!!! |
Technician A |
Acting Director?! Where are you going?! Acting Director! MR. SHROUD! |
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Tartarus - Underworld Gate
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The Underworld gate is open... ...Ortho, are you there? |
I've dreamed of the day I'd see you again. We can leave for real this time and go far away. But I'm sorry... It's gonna take me a while to get out. I'm much bigger than I used to be... |
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...Just leave it to your big bro. |
Styx Institute - Private Room
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What's goin' on? It got dark all of a sudden. Hey, is anybody there?! Idiaaa! Orthooo! Ooh... That smell... |
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Rrr... Rr... Kee hee hee, that's a real nice smell... I'd know it anywhere... It's a stone! I SMELL A STONE! Lemme out! I gotta get outta here! Grr... GRAAAWR! |
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| Chapter 53 | Book 6 • Chapter 54 | Chapter 55 |
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