Time stopped. Everything in Sevita's eyes became extremely slow, silent. The almost heartbreaking sounds of joy and wails died down in an instant, and everything in front of them froze in place, as if encapsulated in transparent amber between breaths.

Only the blaming self-reproach and anger burning in his chest reminded Sevita that he was still alive.

He didn't know why this was happening, but Aelita was right in front of him, frozen in her last moments. Sevita had no clue what was going on right now: why was this happening? What is poisoning the inhabitants of Jestal? Aelita, Aelita she-

"She's hopeless." A voice said this cruelly, in a mocking tone that he was quite familiar with.

Sevita mechanically turned her head in the direction of the voice. His mind was so so completely filled with anger that he didn't even notice that he was the only one who could still move through the moment when everything was at a standstill. He wanted to roar, he wanted to question, but when all the words came to his lips, the sound that should have been made was eliminated by himself.

He saw a behemoth that didn't exist here: an Astarte, a Midnight Lord. He was clad in Iron Rider Terminator armor, undoubtedly forged from Nostramo's unique Adamantite Ore, with brilliant lightning lines flowing on armor like a deep blue night. Aside from the Legion insignia and company insignia, there was no ornamentation on his armor—neither the human skin bones common among Midnight Lords, nor the more common Badge of Honor of the Empire, but the fragmentary battle marks on it were a testament to the many feats he and his wearer had accomplished on the battlefield.

It doesn't make sense.

Sevita looked at the other company's logo in confusion, and an even greater doubt grew in his heart. It's just that before he could organize his words and prepare to speak, the Astarte, who suddenly appeared in front of him with a sudden change, had already taken off his batwing helmet.

Then he saw his face under the helmet.

"She's hopeless." The "Sevita" who had taken off her helmet repeated, "The 'unborn' is devouring her soul. Neither you nor I could stop this process, and even if we could, she would have been shattered by it. Death is her destined fate, and the only thing we can decide is how she will die. ”

It's a wonderful feeling: the other self is right in front of you, talking "gibberish" that you don't understand. It's as ridiculous as if one day when you look in the mirror, the virtual image in the mirror suddenly comes to life.

Because this incident was so ridiculous, Sevita's first reaction was not to follow the information given by the other party and ask another question: "Who are you?" Or rather, what are you? ”

The other Sevita had expected such an impudent questioning. He hooked the corner of his mouth on the side where the scar had passed, and with a smile that didn't seem to show any kindness, he spoke:

"I am you, but I am never you; I exist, but I don't exist. "I am a fictional memory, an imaginary story, a slice that does not appear at any point in the past, present, or future." In that sense, I'm not human, but somewhat similar to the 'unborn' - well, I finally know why the think tanks like to speak in this way. ”

Sevita's face, which was a mixture of "confusion and confusion" and "anger at offense", clearly entertained the other party well.

"To be clear, I'm a character who only exists in fictional simulations." The other Sevita got the timing right, explaining in time before the real Sevita gets angry, but it still sounds cloudy to the latter, "The basis of my 'existence' (personality) is Conrad Coetze's impression of you, and it is Rika Fujimaru who gives me 'story' (meaning). I think you've seen it before, otherwise I wouldn't have been here. ”

“…… I don't understand. ”

"There's no need to think too clearly, I can't figure out these things myself. I'm just thinking of myself as a thoughtful video record, and I don't care if you understand it that way - you're who I am, anyway. ”

There is no difference between saying this and not saying it, and even, for Sevita, after straightening out this point, there are as many problems as torrents. He couldn't tell if the information he heard was true or false, but there was only one thing, the fact that the two of them had the same root and the same origin, and Sevita thought he could probably believe it.

It's hard to explain, but he does feel it through his sixth sense, or intuition, or whatever other indefinable sense. It's like it takes a little time for a human being to stand in front of a mirror and naturally recognize that the figure reflected in it is a mirror image of himself.

It is enough to know this. Sevita thought to herself.

"I don't know if I should trust you or not." He got straight to the point, "If I am you, then why are you in front of me now?" ”

"It's not 'I'm in front of you,' a video record doesn't have the ability to go wherever you want." Another Sevita replied, "It was the intense emotions and longings in your heart that resonated with the same things in my heart that drew me to you. ”

Sevita frowned, "But you've even stood still in time." ”

"I didn't stop the time, the reason why you feel like everything around you is slowing down and almost coming to a standstill is simply because our conversation is happening in your head."

The other Sevita sneered: "As an excellent creature of the Emperor's biological alchemy, you should be familiar with how fast Astarte's thinking speed is. ”

A little clue. Sevita thought to herself. He probably didn't like the emperor very much.

"I don't understand." He asked, "A video record shouldn't be self-conscious either. ”

"What the hell is here, you'll have to ask Fujimaru Ritsuka for the specifics." The Terminator Armor shrugged, it was hard to imagine what the other Sevita had done in the armor so that the Iron Rider Terminator Armor could also be clearly seen as the "shrug", "It's her ability to 'bring to life' people or things from a past history or an alternate story." The lady never hesitated to do so. ”

"You said you were given a 'story' by Rika Fujimaru."

"To be precise, I played a relatively important supporting role in a story that a lady had to go through, so I had my own story. That story is too long to go into here with you, and it's hard to simply define it as a 'good story' or a 'bad story'...... But all in all, after my role was over, I asked the man in charge of setting up the theater and forcing the actors on stage: it was the story of Nostramo's 10,000 years of rebellion. ”

"......" Sevita was silent for a few seconds, "I don't know exactly what kind of story it is, but at least it sounds good enough for me." ”

"I think so." The person he spoke to laughed and gloated, "There's a white-haired bastard who showed me your experience." If you want me to say, you've had a miserable life. ”

Maybe Sevita should be angry at this, but he just tugged at the corners of his mouth like the person on the other side, and the smile that seemed to be forever mocking something was the same as the other side: "Who's to say it's not." ”

"Hey, let's get back to the real thing." Compared to Sevita, who has been farming in Jesstal for ten years, she is clearly more like an Astarte Sevita, who said, "This girl is hopeless. The Unborn has captured her soul, and even if you kill her now, you will only destroy her body. Her soul would still be devoured by the subspace evils, tormented forever in the wombs of the mongrels - sometimes they didn't really want souls, they wanted soul pain. ”

Sevita didn't really understand the true meaning of these words, these strange things were too far away for him. But even then, he was well aware that something was happening to Aelita that couldn't have been worse.

"What do you think you should do?" He asked, and then got a brutal answer:

"Destroy her from the soul level along with the murderer." The other party said coldly, "We can't save her, for her, the future of death is already doomed." But we can at least give her a neat and quiet death. ”

“…… I don't know, I'm not good at deciding. ”

"You've already made up your mind." The other Sevita's attitude was as cruel as if he was carefully disassembling "himself" into parts with an anatomical tool, and from that point of view, he was worthy of the Midnight Lord, "You had already made a decision before you and I met, even if it wasn't very mature. I know, because that's why I'm here:

"You have determined that you are powerless, and you seek relief for her in despair. And then you're angry, you're hateful, you're thirsting for revenge, and you're swearing that even if you dig three feet into the ground, you'll find out who is responsible for it all—"

"Not really." Sevita vetoed, "I do want to do this, but that's because I'm going to judge, I'm going to chase, I'm going to exercise justice—"

"'Justice.'" His mirror laughed, "Did you learn that from your genetic father?" I don't think he actually taught you anything, at least not as much as the lady told us. Time is limited, and I won't argue too much with you on this issue. So let me take a step back and think about it: are they essentially conflicting? ”

Sevita was stunned for a moment, so she let the imaginary mirror image continue to say his words: "Aren't you now judging by anger, punished by hatred, and thirsting for revenge in the name of justice?" ”

These words forced him to think for a moment, but only for a moment. After that moment, Sevita realized the root of the whole thing:

"There is no point in arguing about the motives of the actions." His consequentialist side worked coldly, "For now, it seems that we are trying to achieve the same goal. ”

"Definitely. It's nice to talk to yourself. The other Sevita smiled with satisfaction, "Next is the choice that only you can decide: whether you wish to take over my power or not." ”

Sevita frowned dangerously: "What do you say? ”

"I'm a fictitious video record, which is essentially data intelligence. And I'm almost from the same source as you, so the data is naturally compatible. Another person recounted blandly, "I don't exist in the physical universe, but you do." My nature is similar to that of the 'unborn', which means that if you take over my 'records', you will naturally be able to use some subspace powers like those mongrels who have come to the material universe. ”

"Just say 'the power of subspace', and you should know that we are psionic."

"I don't mean psionic power, of course, but the armor." Another Sevita spoke in a light-hearted tone, "'Iron Rider Terminator Armor Ortenus Modification', fictional equipment from a fictional story. It takes not only skill but also a bit of willpower to harness it, and I'm sure you have it, and she's at least much safer and more efficient than your extensive use of psionic energy. ”

The word Ortenus sounded vaguely familiar, and he must have heard it somewhere in the last few days. However, the current situation really did not allow him to think about it.

He knew that the decision was gambling, but driven by the emotions of the moment, Sevita was willing to take a big gamble.

"I don't understand, but I do." He said to his mirror image, "Anyway, we're trying to achieve the same goal. ”

"It's great that you think so, it saves me a lot of trouble."

The Iron Rider Terminator's left hand reaches out towards Sevita. The latter, of course, read the hint, but still couldn't help but ask, "Are there any precautions or something?" ”

The suit shrugged again: "I believe you didn't come to me for the instruction manual. ”

"Of course not, but I'll laugh at it if you can provide it."

The other Sevita laughed a few times.

"'Anger is justified, proof that you are still human.' He looked directly into his own dark eyes as he really existed, and recited it, "Don't suppress your anger too much, but always remember that you are still human." They should be bound by human standards. ”

Then, he stepped forward and grabbed Sevita's hand: "Cheer up, don't be overwhelmed." ”

What?

In the next moment before he could react, the Iron Rider Terminator's figure melted into a dark blue mist, clinging to Sevita's body along their clasped hands. At the same time, another life was poured into his mind without warning, and a huge amount of records and information shocked his mind, and the extremely compressed information could not be interpreted in an instant, but simply made him feel painful. Sevita gritted his teeth and struggled to hold on, but his consciousness was inevitably dragged into the mire of pain.

Data intelligence poured into his mind. He began to realize that there was knowledge and memories like the books he had read and memorized.

It seems like only a moment has passed, and it seems like 10,000 years have passed. By the time Sevita reopened his eyes, he was no longer the worker who had toiled Jestal for ten years, but the commander of the Midnight Lord's company in Terminator armor.

Time had begun to flow again, and the cacophony of noise had begun to irritate his nerves again, but he no longer felt as mad as he had been if he had just been poured into his ears with blasphemous knowledge. Aelita was still by his side, but his perspective had changed slightly due to the power armor. The girl is still in pain, despair, and fear, and her whole body is occupied by these negative emotions, and she can't even realize that the "Jacob" in front of her has become a completely strange behemoth.

Sevita looked at the girl's face one last time as she was tortured, and said to her, "I'm sorry. ”

He hoped that this would be some comfort, but by the time his voice reached the ears of the others through the audio processing device on the power armor, it had become a rough and eerie rebuke.

Sevita, Sevita, you can't even do this little thing.

He teased himself with a wry smile, and then, with the knowledge passed on by his other self, he instinctively knew what to do next: the runes lit up with his will, and the alterations of Ortenus attached to them activated, and with a moment of intense pain as if they were making a nerve connection for the first time, the psionic energy naturally formed a circuit between him and the armor.

Red flames lit up from his palms and rushed towards Elita. Sevita herself couldn't feel the heat of the flames, but in fact, it might have unnaturally high temperatures. In just an instant, the girl's body, which was being gradually taken away by the invisible monster, turned into ashes without a word, and only the murderer's screams of pain and horror were vaguely left in place.

I'm sorry. Sevita ignored the cries of mercy that pierced the veil, just staring at the small pinch of ash. That's all I can give you: a neat and peaceful death.

A colorful candy wrapper slowly fell from where Aelita had been, and the colorful plastic was somehow not melted by the heat. Sevita saw it, but didn't have time to think about it, or even to be sentimental. He knew that what he really needed to face in this suit of armor was only beginning now.

A woman's impatient voice rang in his ears: "What? Although it looks the same, it's actually a replacement, right? Remember, the Ortenus armor binds our spiritual base together, and we can feel it no matter how subtle the changes. ”

The midnight chime is not over yet. A fiery meteor-like light fell from the sky. A female figure in black classical armor and holding a battle flag outlined from the void, and the shadow stood beside him, reaching out and grabbing the flying candy wrapper.

Sevita instinctively knew that this was an apparition that only those in Ortenauth's armor could see, and instinctively recognized her identity:

"The Avengers", Joan of Arc Alter。