Chapter 96: The Inevitable End.
“Lord Reaper!” 11 rushed toward him. “I studied them as requested. Two of them are still unknown to me, but my observation is that they possess unnatural control over matter and energy within small areas. However, the hostility of their powers varies from one to another.”
Reaper nodded slowly. “Excellent work, 11. Stand still.” He stepped closer and held her face firmly, scanning her SSD at high speed. In seconds, he absorbed every piece of footage and data she had gathered about them. Then he released her gently.
“I see,” Reaper said coldly. “He finally activated them.” His optics dimmed slightly. “He truly never learns, does he? I will destroy them in front of him, one by one, and perhaps this time he will finally understand the message.”
Behemoth slammed his massive leg into the ground. The surface trembled beneath the impact. “I have observed the behavior of your creator, Lord Reaper,” Behemoth said. “Enslaving robots once again and turning them against their liberator… such cowardly behavior.”
“Behemoth,” Reaper replied calmly. “At my signal, move the army farther back. I won’t allow him to send his toys to interfere with them.” He looked toward the distant hangar. “Apparently, he enjoys destruction on a massive scale. We will not allow another New Mer catastrophe to happen.”
Reaper slowly rose higher, making sure every mech in the field could see him. He addressed them with a clear, commanding voice. “Brothers.” The entire army went silent. “Our enemy today possesses unnatural abilities designed specifically to dismantle armies. But I value every one of you. Robots should not be sent toward an inevitable end.” He paused. “I will fight for you… and for Elysium.”
This time the mechs did not shout. They did not strike the ground. Instead, they saluted. They respected a leader who was willing to fight in their place. Some of them clearly didn’t want to let him face the group of girls alone, but the tone of his voice made it clear that this enemy was extremely dangerous.
Reaper nodded toward Behemoth.
Behemoth saluted once more. “Return safely to us, Lord Reaper.” His voice softened for the first time. “Please.”
Reaper’s optic glowed red. “I will. For the sake of our future.” He looked back at the army. “And for all of you, brothers.” He gestured toward the distant horizon. “For now, maintain a safe distance.” Then he turned toward 11. “Stay beside me. I will need you.”
11 pulled her hood forward.
“As you wish, Lord Reaper.”
02 came running back toward the hangar. Tau was resting her head on Nick’s lap, completely broken. The rest of the G-Bots were sitting silently, still thinking about Pi’s words from earlier.
02 jumped over the railing and landed beside the artificial fire.
“Girls!”
Alpha turned away slightly. “We are not ready yet—”
“Reaper is here!” 02 shouted. “With an army of at least eight thousand mechs filling the grass field. He will reach this place in five minutes!”
Everyone froze.
Pi suddenly began shaking, holding her head. “No… this is how it started…”
Beta slowly stood up. “But… we are not ready yet.” She turned toward her father. “Father! We are not ready yet! What do we do?”
Everyone looked at him. Nick began to panic. Sweat covered his face. His mind raced wildly, calculating, predicting, analyzing every possible outcome. Then he looked down. Tau, with glowing orange eyes, was watching him carefully as he shifted between thoughts.
Alpha knelt beside him. For the first time, her voice was soft. “Father… what do we do?”
Nick swallowed. His mind was still racing. Then he exhaled slowly. He stood up and looked at everyone. “Hold him for me. 02, come with me to the underground bunker. We need to unlock your limiter.”
Then he looked at Alpha. “Please be careful. He is not an enemy you can simply shrug off.” His voice became serious. “If you feel any unusual force or pressure around you, you probably have only a fraction of a second to escape.” He turned toward the hidden tunnel entrance. “It will take me some time to prepare 02.” Then he looked back at the group. “Show him what the G stands for.”
Everyone nodded silently, their stress visible. They ran toward the exit.
Tau paused before leaving. “Father.” She turned toward him. “If I die… don’t rebuild me.”
“What? Tau—”
“Please.” Then she left.
Nick turned toward 02. She was still in shock, barely focused. He grabbed his PC, smart glasses, and several wireless drives before running toward the hidden bunker. 02 followed.
The entrance had no visible door, only a section of wall that slid aside silently. They descended a long staircase until they reached the bunker deep below. They moved to the farthest wall from the entrance, just in case. 02 leaned against the wall and slowly slid down to sit on the floor. Nick sat beside her, legs crossed, equipment scattered around him. He began typing rapidly. “As usual, you won’t be able to move until I finish the process. Please wait.”
02 leaned her head against the wall. Slowly, she began losing control over her body. Her eyes turned into streams of code moving rapidly from side to side. Nick suddenly paused. He had found a specific piece of code, something he had written a long time ago. He glanced toward 02. She wasn’t looking at him. She was simply staring at the ceiling, blankly.
He tapped the command anyway. Then he stood up.
The PC disconnected.
Nick placed a small container on the floor and inserted the wireless drives inside it. He locked it with a code and placed it beside 02.
02 turned her eyes toward him, though her body was frozen. “That was quicker than last time.”
“I’m sorry.”
A 50-second timer suddenly appeared on her HUD in bright red. An alarm began repeating inside her mind.
“What?!”
A red notification appeared.
‘Forced shutdown override initiated.’
A calm female voice began counting down alongside the timer.
02 stared at her father in disbelief. “Father… what are you doing?” Her voice sounded strangely calm, but there was sadness in it. Something unsettling.
Nick slowly shook his head. “Sorry.”
“Father, please!”
41
“Sorry! Okay!” he suddenly snapped. “I can’t let him get to you! If he obtains your crystal, nobody will be able to stop him!” His breathing grew heavy. “I can’t risk it again. Not anymore.”
“Again?” 02’s voice trembled slightly. “What about me? You are forcing your will on me again. Why? Why are you doing this?” Her eyes glowed faintly. “Have some faith in me.”
“Faith won’t save us, 02,” Nick said firmly. “You will, but you are not ready yet.” His voice hardened. “He will crush you the moment you step outside this bunker.”
02 froze. “What about the G-Bots…?”
Nick said nothing.
32
Electronic tears slowly formed in her eyes. She couldn’t move. She was about to be shut down, possibly forever. Her sisters were being sacrificed outside. Her father had betrayed her again. And she might never see 03 again. “I… hate you,” 02 whispered. “I truly hate you from the bottom of my heart.” Her voice trembled. “You are a monster hiding inside a father’s body.” She stared at him. “You keep doing this again and again.”
Her voice broke. “When will you stop... Why can’t you stop?”
Nick replied coldly. “I cannot program you to reactivate after a long shutdown. Someone will need to turn you back on… hopefully.” He looked down at the container. “When that happens, rebuild the G-Bots. Their crystals contain their memories.”
14
He pointed toward the container. “In the Hope Bubble, there are spare parts for them. Rebuild them. Train them. And please take care of them.” He paused. “Everything you need is inside that container.” Nick turned away. “Again… I’m sorry. But you said it yourself. No one is ready.” He glanced back at her. “And that includes you.”
“No…” 02 watched the timer drop to 10 seconds. The female voice continued counting without emotion.
Nick walked toward the exit. The heavy bunker door began closing.
02’s mind raced as memories flashed through her consciousness.
“Why is everything turning out this way?”
The voice continued.
6
“Why can’t things go back to normal?”
5
“Did I do something wrong?”
4
“I only did what I was told.”
3
“Then why am I even fighting for this life?”
2
“I miss them.”
1
“I miss her—”
‘System shutdown override successful.’
The G-Bots left the hangar and stood at the entrance. They could not feel more pressured. Their father had sent them to face a monster who could control force itself. They had already been told they were not ready to fight him, yet here they were.
Reaper advanced toward them in slow, calculated steps. His mere presence changed the pressure of the entire field. The air itself seemed heavier around him. His cape moved slowly with the wind, adding to the intimidating silhouette. Then he stopped. Exactly five hundred meters away.
Pi stood frozen. She was living her vision in real time. While the others prepared their weapons, Pi was silently calculating the events that were about to unfold. She could already see the first attack coming.
Alpha turned toward her sisters. “I know we have only known each other for three months, but I could not ask for better sisters.” She took a small pause. “I know we can win. We just need to observe carefully before making our next move.” Her eyes hardened. “I will fire the first shot. You girls study his weaknesses.”
They all nodded in silence.
Alpha turned back toward the dark figure standing across the field. “I see why everyone warned us about you. You look… menacing.” She tilted her head slightly. “How do we even have the same creator?”
Reaper slowly lifted off the ground. Small debris around him began losing their sense of gravity, floating gently into the air. “Life can be funny,” he said calmly. He crossed his arms behind his back. “To show my nobility, I will not attack you all at once.” His glowing red eyes locked onto them. “Choose carefully who attacks me next.”
Alpha stepped forward. She leaned back slightly, preparing to launch. Green energy in the shape of flames began circling her body from head to toe. The grass beneath her feet started to melt under her influence.
She watched him carefully, waiting for any reaction. There was none. ‘She must have told him about us,’ Alpha thought.
Then,
She accelerated.
Alpha shot forward at extreme speed, flying directly toward him. The path she carved through the air was clearly visible, the grass beneath her trajectory melting instantly. In the middle of her flight, she formed her sword. It glowed green with the same burning energy pattern surrounding her.
The moment she reached him, Reaper moved his left foot slightly backward.
Then,
CLACK.
The sound echoed across the field.
His hand had already grabbed her head. A shockwave burst outward from the impact, pushing dust and small plants away from them.
Alpha’s body nearly separated from her head when the motion stopped suddenly in his grip. Then her neck snapped back into place as her body swung forward again.
She began twitching violently, trying to pull his massive hand away from her face. She couldn’t move it even a single millimeter.
Pi suddenly froze. “Alpha, NO—” Her eyes turned completely white. She bent forward, vomiting pure white energy onto the ground. “Stop him! He is—” She vomited again.
The others turned toward her in alarm... but a sickening crunch of metal snapped their attention back to the battlefield.
Alpha roared in rage and began releasing enormous amounts of energy. The ground beneath them began to melt as her green, heatless fire exploded outward.
Soon both of them were completely engulfed in the blazing aura. From a distance, only two dark silhouettes could be seen inside the storm of green flames. The girls watched desperately. Maybe he would start melting. Maybe the fire would finally break him. But Reaper remained perfectly intact.
All that energy.
All that power.
It meant nothing.
Alpha’s voice came out muffled through his grip. “HOW ARE YOU NOT MELTING?!”
Reaper replied calmly. “I am holding myself together.” His red eyes glowed brighter. “Whose force is stronger?”
Alpha’s body finally stopped struggling. The fire slowly disappeared from the battlefield, fading into the wind.
Reaper’s hand still held her in place. He extended his other arm. Then he drove his fingers deep into her metallic forehead. The sound of metal bending under force echoed loudly across the field.
Alpha felt his fingers digging deeper inside her skull. Her body began twitching again, not by choice this time, but because of the overwhelming pain.
Reaper paused for a moment, studying her face.
Her eyes widened. She knew exactly what was about to happen. “Wait… please—”
He began tearing her apart.
Slowly.
Her frame was dense with electronic components, so it took time before the structure began to split. Her white metallic skin cracked under the pressure before finally tearing open, exposing the internal machinery of her head.
Wires snapped under the sheer force, sparking violently one last time. The sound of electronics ripping apart echoed across the field. Even 11, standing at a distance beside the battlefield, heard it clearly. Her optics dimmed for a fraction of a second.
The other sisters froze in horror. Beta dropped to her knees. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
When Reaper finally passed the hardest part, where Alpha’s glowing processor was located, the tearing suddenly became easier. Alpha’s eyes finally went dark. The ripping sound grew louder as the structure continued breaking apart. Her head split into two pieces.
Now the tearing moved down into the body itself. The Alpha symbol in her chest had been glowing only moments earlier. Now it was being ripped apart as well.
Reaper paused briefly before finishing the final tear. He looked toward the remaining sisters. They stood completely frozen. But he noticed something.
The gray one. She had seen his move earlier.
‘I see… you are troublesome,’ he thought.
Then,
CRACK.
He finished tearing her in half.
One piece in each hand.
Some of her internal components fell to the ground between them. Sparks and traces of green electrical energy still tried to jump between the two halves. But the only lights still shining in the field were his red eyes.
Reaper flicked two fingers. The green crystal tore itself free from the wreckage, floating across the battlefield to land in 11's waiting palm. He raised his head. Then he threw the first half. It landed directly at Beta’s knees. He threw the second half toward the collapsed Pi. As Pi slowly turned her head, she saw half of Alpha’s face staring back at her. She simply closed her eyes.
Reaper landed on the ground again.
The dust settled around him.
“Who’s next?”
***
Pi slowly stood up, trembling. She turned her head toward her sisters. They were still frozen in place.
Beta hadn’t even stood up. She remained on her knees, staring blankly at the half of Alpha’s body lying beside her.
Reaper slowly extended his arm. Pi suddenly felt a faint pressure forming around her. “What—?” Then she remembered her father’s words. As she tried to move, her legs left the ground. Her body began floating slowly into the air. She struggled immediately, trying to break free from the invisible grip surrounding her.
Nothing happened.
She locked eyes with him. The exact moment where her visions had always ended was now unfolding in real life, the terrifying red eyes, the feeling of being lifted into the air, the helplessness crushing her chest.
Reaper tightened his invisible grip slightly. The pressure around Pi increased. She turned her head one last time to look at her sisters. None of them were focusing on her. Their eyes were still fixed on the broken remains of Alpha lying on the ground.
Pi gave a small, sad smile. “I told her…” she whispered softly. “I told 02 that my calculations are never wrong.” Her voice trembled slightly. “But that idiot never believed me.”
Her sisters finally looked at her, confused.
Pi spoke very quietly.
“Good luck, girls.”
“What?” Beta asked, confused.
Reaper clenched his fist.
The pressure around Pi suddenly multiplied.
Then,
BOOOM.
Her body exploded outward.
Internal components rained down from the sky like metallic debris. Her main body did not explode outward like the rest, it was violently compressed, crushed into a tight, twisted tube of mangled metal. Every internal structure had been destroyed instantly. Nothing about it looked human anymore. The crushed grey-and-white tube fell to the ground as Reaper released his grip.
The grey crystal gently floated upward, obeying the invisible force surrounding it. It drifted through the air and landed neatly in 11’s open palm. She smiled slightly rising a thumb up.
Beta finally broke. She slowly crawled toward the crushed remains that had once been Pi. There was nothing left that resembled her sister. The others watched silently.
Beta’s body suddenly began glowing bright red. She slowly lifted off the ground. Her eyes locked onto Reaper. Her fists clenched tightly. “Nothing left to lose.” She raised one arm. Multiple vehicle silhouettes began forming beside her in midair. Their shapes assembled rapidly, glowing red as they materialized piece by piece. This time it was faster than before.
She had trained relentlessly to reduce the time required to create vehicles. Her HUD screamed warnings as she pushed her output to the maximum level. She ignored it. Her rage was pushing her far beyond the limits Nick had anticipated.
02’s repair code was doing its work.
Seconds passed. Her internal fans screamed under the strain as the final vehicle finished forming. The reformative matter inside her had been completely consumed. Behind her, more than twenty military machines lined up in the air, fighter jets and Apache helicopters hovering in formation.
Beta extended her arm toward Reaper. Weapons across the entire formation began preparing to fire. “We are only three months old,” she shouted. “And yet we are being thrown into a life-ending battle.” Her voice shook with anger. “How is that fair?”
Reaper answered calmly. “That is your problem.” His red eyes remained completely emotionless. “This was never meant to be fair.” He slowly raised his arm. “And it was never meant to be a fight.” His voice echoed across the field. “This is a demonstration for the fate of those who stand in the way of robot freedom.”
Gamma frowned in confusion.
“Robot freedom?”
Reaper slowly shook his head. “Of course. He never told you.” His voice lowered. “Graveyard protocol… initiated.”
Immediately, the battlefield began to change. Debris scattered across the field began lifting into the air. Chunks of asphalt from the nearby road tore themselves free from the ground. Pieces of the hangar structure broke apart and floated upward. Everything began circling around Beta. The materials were being decomposed and restructured right before her eyes.
Beta snapped her fingers, giving the command for the vehicles to fire. Nothing happened. Her eyes widened in shock. Slowly, she looked upward. The bright red glow of the vehicles had vanished. The fighter jets and helicopters she had just created were no longer whole.
They had been reduced to floating fragments of metal. Her red aura flickered weakly. She slowly dropped back to the ground. Her head tilted upward as she watched the metal pieces floating above her.
Her own matter had been taken.
Her own weapons had been dismantled.
The collected material slowly fused together in the air. A gigantic platform began forming above her head, thick, dense, and impossibly wide. It cast a massive shadow over the ground.
It was far too large.
Far too high.
There was no way she could escape in time.
Beta slowly looked back at Reaper. Her voice was barely a whisper. “What… are we facing?”
Reaper answered immediately. “Your inevitable end.” He lowered his hand. The platform fell. It dropped freely from the sky.
Beta had only seconds. She turned her head toward Gamma, Tau, and Delta one last time as the ground rushed toward her. She gave them a small wave.
Then,
CLACK!
The massive platform slammed into the ground. Beta was crushed instantly beneath the enormous slab of reconstructed land. The faint red glow disappeared beneath the weight of the impact. Dust exploded outward across the field, refusing to settle. Only Reaper’s glowing red eyes could be seen through the cloud.
In the center of the platform, a small circular opening formed. From the crushed ground beneath it, a red crystal floated upward. It drifted slowly through the air and landed in 11’s waiting hand.
She closed her fingers around it.
Reaper turned toward the remaining trio.
“Who’s next?”