Chapter 322

I moved with the darkness.

My everyday prosthetic body was weak. Even if I threw a punch, it would only feel like being hit with a sledgehammer. Well, even that alone could be fatal to a natural human.

But the opponent's muscle and bone density were abnormally high. The tightly knit muscle fibers wouldn’t tear easily.

Still, it didn’t matter as long as I could land effective blows. Targeting weak spots was the foundation of Akies Victima combat techniques.

I extended my index and middle fingers and jabbed them into his face.

Pik!

My fingers pierced into his eyeball. There was a squelching sound as it collapsed.

Kwa-jik!

I smoothly swung my foot up and struck his groin. It was a spot that couldn't be shielded by muscle.

“Ku-ugh!”

A scream followed. As his upper body leaned forward, his head dropped, and his jaw stuck out.

Whik!

I slammed his jaw with my elbow. His head, off balance, shook violently and crashed into the floor.

Puh-uck!

I kicked the fallen man's face with force. The natural sequence of strikes ended, and his face was a mess of pulp.

The male robber was neutralized. It probably took about two seconds. It took longer than expected because of the sluggish prosthetic.

Flick.

The dead light flickered as if it might turn on. A brief flash lit up the inside.

The female robber's eyes widened as she witnessed what happened to her partner.

Even in such a light skirmish, the moment I entered combat, my mind turned cold. The turbulent emotions calmed.

“I su—…”

The female robber raised her hands to surrender.

Sorry, but my goal wasn't to arrest—just to neutralize.

“I’m not a cop.”

I grabbed her face and slammed it into the ground.

Kwadeuk!

A cracking sound came from the back of her head as it hit the floor. If she was unlucky, she’d die. Even if lucky, she’d probably suffer at least some brain damage.

Tick!

All the lights switched on at once.

‘That much consideration wasn’t necessary.’

I could’ve taken them down even without turning the lights off. Barbara must’ve adjusted the environment slightly in my favor, just in case.

…The situation looked resolved. The pair of robbers who tried to hijack the interstellar passenger ship had been subdued by me.

“Th-thank you. Passengers, we will begin an emergency return immediately. Damages from this unfortunate incident will be covered by insurance…”

A crew member thanked me, then tried to fulfill his duty with professionalism.

“We—we’re saved.”

“Whoever you are, thank you.”

Relief spread across the passengers’ faces. Unfortunately for them, it was time for disappointment.

Thwack!

I grabbed the crew member by the head and slammed him into a seat. His eyes went blank, and he collapsed.

“H-huaaack!”

“Wh-what are you doing?!”

People stared at me in shock. I massaged my stiff neck and returned their gaze.

“From now on, I am taking over this passenger ship. If you cooperated quietly, you wouldn’t see any more blood.”

I declared, pulling the corners of my mouth up fiercely.

“What, what did you say? You were a rob— a robber too?!”

Ricky Khan, who was beside me, shouted. I stared at Ricky Khan, then grabbed the scruff of his neck.

“Have you ever been hit by someone in your life?”

I lifted Ricky Khan by the scruff with one hand. His legs dangled in the air.

“What?”

“Answer.”

“N-no, I haven’t.”

“Good. I would be your first.”

I put my fingers into Ricky Khan’s mouth and snapped out his front teeth as if flicking them off.

“Kraaaagh!”

Ricky Khan vomited a scream along with blood. I threw him onto the floor and issued a warning.

“Shut your mouth before I pull your tongue out.”

Ricky Khan clamped his lips shut with blood in his mouth. Still, he understood what I meant.

“Guh, guh, my, my pro, property is the pu, purpose, if it’s money, I’ll give you everything, so, s-stop hitting me.”

Ricky Khan stretched his hands forward and backed away.

I scratched my neck and laughed. Each step I took forward made Ricky Khan retreat.

“...No, I just hit you because you were unlucky.”

I extended my foot and smashed his shin. His bone snapped and an open fracture occurred. In other words, the broken bone tore through the skin and stuck out.

“Kkaaah!”

Ricky Khan rolled on the floor screaming.

My twisted temperament was true, but I hadn’t beaten Ricky Khan for no reason.

I had to show that even a pampered scion of a huge family would be left with nothing if he crossed me, so others wouldn’t do something stupid.

“Whether you’re Ricky Khan or whatever, if you cross me, know you’ll be half-disabled on the spot.”

I said that and walked toward the cockpit.

Ssskk, whiiiiiinng!

The door, which Barbara had hacked, vibrated and then opened. The pilots looked at me in surprise. They had been trying to continue communications.

“...We surrender.”

An older pilot raised his hand and said. The young co-pilot surrendered as well. It was a quick judgment.

They must have realized that with the electronics down, all options were blocked.

“Sorry about this. If you just cooperate, nothing bad will happen. Consider it unavoidable.”

I said that while tying the pilots to their seats.

“If you work in Border City, you see all kinds of things. If you don’t harm me or the passengers, we’ll cooperate.”

The pilot said calmly.

This was why experience mattered. I smiled faintly and waited for Barbara.

-I’ve gained control access.

Barbara’s voice came from the cockpit speaker. The direction of the interstellar passenger ship was shifting.

Step, step.

Barbara, having finished the hacking, was walking toward me with a pistol in hand. She glanced around briefly, then aimed the gun at the pilots.

Click.

The internal mechanism of Barbara’s pistol locked into place.

Tick!

I grabbed Barbara’s arm and caught the slide of the gun. The firearm froze just before it could fire.

“What are you doing?”

Barbara looked at me as she spoke. Her tone and expression were emotionless.

“I should be asking you that. What the hell do you think you’re aiming at?”

“It’s cleaner if we kill them. No point leaving trouble behind. All spaceship pilots are elites. That man’s ex-military.”

“I know.”

“You’re going to go soft before something this important?”

Barbara had a point. If I were still a soldier, if I were on a mission... I would have executed both pilots without hesitation.

But I wasn’t a soldier anymore. I had only come here to see Giselle.

“We didn’t come here to kill anyone.”

“Someone’s going to die anyway. This won’t end without a crash. Since when did you become so selfless? Don’t make me laugh.”

“Not killing them... is a decision for myself. I’m not trying to act righteous. I’m doing it to protect what little humanity I have left. If you can’t understand that, you’ll never be able to be friends with anyone.”

I was at my limit. My humanity had already been worn down to nothing.

If I broke any further... I’d become a machine that ran only on obsession, regret, and hatred.

“This is stupid.”

Barbara lowered her gun as she said that.

“That’s why people like idiots.”

If I had a personality like Ilay’s... I’d have been dead long ago. I wouldn’t have received Giselle’s love, either.

Ilay was the kind of man who wouldn’t be surprised if one day he was suddenly murdered by a close aide or acquaintance.

“You go get rearmed. I’ll handle the rest.”

Barbara gave a fake smile and holstered her pistol.

I stared at her quietly for a moment, then headed toward the cargo bay.

By the time I reached the far end of the passenger cabin—

Bang! Bang!

Two gunshots rang out from the cockpit. I flinched and closed my eyes.

...In the end, Barbara had killed both pilots. Even after hearing me, she had left no threats alive. If it had been Ilay, he wouldn’t have killed them—at least not because of me.

Yeah. That was the kind of woman Barbara was. Twisted from the roots. Expecting normal emotions or common sense from her was meaningless.

Barbara would never understand me. And she would never receive Giselle’s love.

Ironically, that made me feel a little sad.

*         *         *

The reason Barbara and I were working together was because of our feelings toward Giselle. Aside from that, we shared no ideals or emotions.

‘If we had met under different circumstances, without any common ground, Barbara would’ve already been dead by my hand.’

Barbara’s history was horrific. I... didn’t like her.

Whirrr, shhk.

I retrieved my prosthetic body from the cargo hold and began the replacement. Starting from the legs, I locked in each part one by one.

‘Only the left arm is off-the-shelf. The rest is from Lazuli-21.’

The imbalance in my upper body could be corrected consciously. That was easy for me. At this point, I could reasonably consider myself someone strong, no matter where I went.

Thinking back on the powerful figures who had once threatened me—there weren’t many who had been overwhelmingly stronger than me. What I had lacked compared to them was always experience.

Now, I had plenty of that. I could take pride in it.

Chzzk, shhk.

I pressed the communicator to just below my ear. Barbara’s voice came through immediately.

—You heard the gunshots, honey? Both pilots are dead. No matter how I thought about it, I couldn’t let them live. But the fact that you, honey, aren’t blaming me—makes it even scarier.

“Stop calling me 'honey'. It’s creepy. I’d already accepted you might kill the pilots. There’s no way to stop you. I can’t exactly break your arms and legs.”

—Giselle is right in front of us. I just didn’t want to leave any risk behind, no matter how small.

“Why not just kill all the passengers too, while you’re at it?”

—They’re not a threat. No one on this ship can touch the controls. You think I’m some psycho serial killer?

“Surprised to hear you’re not.”

—If we’re comparing body counts, no matter how hard I try, I’d never beat you, would I? Lord Lukaus Custoria isn't exactly in a position to lecture anyone about killing. You’re the one soaked in violence down to the bone.

I had no retort to that.

I shut my mouth and focused on locking in the prosthetics. A dull pain surged through me as my nervous system connected. It felt like sharp streams of light coursed through my body with an electric jolt.

Whirrr.

Biological signals and cybernetic signals interchanged. It was an artificial system, but my adapted brain received mechanical signals more sensitively than organic ones.

My brain was used to machines. I had been modified that way—and trained. I was a cyborg.

Clack.

I secured the rest of my weapons. The weight across my waist, thighs, and back finally gave me a sense of reassurance.

“I’m ready on my end.”

—Once we reach the orbital hospital, you’ll have about twenty minutes. After that, the Federation’s space forces will be swarming the place. I won’t be able to keep things under control past that.

That was a tight window. The orbital hospital, even by ground standards, was the size of a large medical complex.

‘Without Barbara’s guidance, I wouldn’t be able to find Giselle.’

The moment we arrived, Barbara would hack into the hospital’s internal network and pinpoint the location of the cryosleep patients.

The interstellar passenger ship drifted through space after changing course. Occasionally, the quiet hum of its thrusters echoed as it adjusted direction.

I steadied my breath in the cargo hold. With time to think, matters on the surface continued to weigh on my mind.

‘Right now, in the Empire…’

Thoughts spiraled on their own. Useless clutter for the moment.

I pulled out a nutrient gel from my pocket and placed it in my mouth. The liquid passed down my throat with a subtle taste.

“Hey, Barbara. Have you completely cut ties with the Empire?”

I spoke to Barbara to focus on the present. She stayed silent for a moment, then responded.

—After the Storm Era, with military officers and bureaucrats dying off, the Empire’s intelligence assets and communication network turned into a mess. During the rebuild, I was marked as missing. Of course, they probably know I’m alive somewhere... but they’re not making any real effort to find me. It’s like not poking a hornet’s nest without reason. They’ve got more important things to deal with right now than chasing me down.

She wasn’t wrong. If they had manpower and resources to track Barbara, it would be more efficient to use those for internal surveillance.

The Empire was burning through national power just to maintain internal control and monitoring. No, it wasn’t fair to call it wasteful—without it, the Empire could collapse at any time.

‘Even Ivan has no room to maneuver. There’s a severe lack of personnel that can be deployed externally. In an Empire and Imperial Court full of plots and schemes, trustworthy people are rare. Even if they have talent, they can’t be used if they’re not trusted.’

Ivan had appointed someone as unstable as Ilay Carthica as a close aide. That alone showed how much pressure he was under from every direction.

“Barbara, do you think Ilay will succeed?”

—Are you stupid? Of course he’ll fail. You know how dark the Imperial Court and Empire really are. And I doubt what we’ve seen is everything.

“...You're probably right.”

—Get it together. We're almost there.

The interstellar ship was slowing down.

Clunk.

I slightly opened the cargo hold’s window screen and saw a white space station. It had a circular, interconnected structure that extended along ring-like corridors.

That was the orbital hospital under NewGen.