Why can't humans do it too?

At least the emerald-haired Skywing had been waiting for this moment, having received only a few words of information from the master he served.

She stood there on this unremarkable seed, which, though small, was nothing compared to the enormous flower ship.

At least at this moment, the two sides finally saw each other up close, through the gaps in the vines.

"...If I kill you all here...it should be able to get rid of all those boring troubles for Little Lucky Cat, right?" Azriel muttered to herself, a look of eager anticipation on her face.

"Kill if you want to," that was the motto of the Skywing race. When the thought arose in her mind to completely obliterate everything inside the seed wrapped in the vine in front of her, a vortex-like beam of light appeared in her hand.

That was the most powerful and simplest attack of the Skywing race, compressed and infinitely condensed. Sky Strike was held in Azriel's palm, and the halo above the emerald-haired Skywing race's head had rotated to its limit, as if it had transformed into real light.

"—Goodbye, meow~"

Without a word, without the slightest hesitation, Azriel hurled the beam of light downwards—Bang!

The incandescent beam of light transformed into a slender beam of light the instant it left his hand, yet it completely missed its target despite being so close!

The slender beam of light grazed the surface of the seed, its compressed energy barely striking the seed directly. Though it merely brushed past it, the energy and heat it carried evaporated the vines at the boundary, leaving not even ashes.

The beam of light that was unleashed from the hand expanded in the blink of an eye after grazing the seed where Suer and Xinke were, instantly transforming into a gigantic pillar of light that seemed to pierce through the heavens and earth. However, apart from creating a bottomless crater on the surface of the earth, it did not cause any damage.

Chapter 277 Request

Azriel certainly couldn't have deliberately missed, nor was she doing so to intimidate Sul and Hinco.

They kill without hesitation; the world of the Skywing race doesn't have much laughter and jokes.

Therefore, there is only one reason why she made this mistake that should not have happened—someone stopped her.

And that person is right here.

Two pairs of irregularly opened red and blue mechanical wings, a disc-shaped mechanical halo on the forehead emitting a dazzling light, the simple mechanical body without any skin covering it, the right arm transformed into a cannon muzzle raised high, the power enough to flatten a mountain is facing Azriel.

Just moments before Sull and Xinke were about to perish, it was Shubi who burst in at supersonic speed, crashing headfirst into Azriel's chest and knocking her off balance.

"...I won't... let you go..."

The petite cyborg girl spoke softly, her voice low, yet her words carried an unwavering resolve—no hesitation, no regret, no wavering—until the flame of her life was extinguished.

"...on the line of Shubi's life..."

"Oh my? Isn't this the super rare lady?" Rubbing her chest, which was a little sore from the bump, Azriel's expression, which had been somewhat embarrassed and angry, suddenly turned into excitement when she saw who it was.

"So? Finally figured it out? You want to become my collectible, meow?" Azriel said, one sentence after another, clearly showing how much she liked Shubi's head... "Don't worry, I'll be very gentle, meow, I won't let you suffer even the slightest bit of pain, meow~~"

Faced with her urgent words, Hughie simply shook her head slightly.

"...Shubi...will not die...none of us will die..."

"...What kind of joke is this, meow?" Azriel's smile suddenly turned cold as she glanced sideways at the seed that had already flown far away in the time it took to say two sentences. She didn't seem to be in a hurry to chase after it. "You've already been called an enemy by your master, yet you're saying such dreamlike things, meow? Are you trying to make your enemy laugh to death with jokes like this, meow?"

"..."

However, Hugh didn't seem inclined to talk to her; she simply closed her eyes tightly in resistance and shook her head vigorously.

In a world that only she could enter, a world belonging exclusively to the Machine race, after more than a decade, Shubi initiated a connection request for the first time.

[Individual Identifier Uc207Pr4f57t9 – Requesting relink from the 'U-Link First Command Entity'.]

Although she had prepared herself mentally, when she actually said those words, Hughie found that her voice was still trembling uncontrollably.

It wasn't because of the fear Azriel brought, nor because of the unknown future.

This is Shubi asking for a dialogue with the machine-type connector that had previously disposed of her.

However, there was no response.

Meanwhile, outside, Azriel, who had also received no response from Shubi, impatiently raised her hand once more, where a compressed light from the elves was gathering.

[Re-application! Individual identifier Uc207Pr4f57t9 has completed parsing {heart}! Time is running out! Immediate synchronization is needed—reconnecting!]

It felt like a moment had passed, yet also like an eternity. Just as Shubi's heart was pounding in her throat, almost leaping out of her chest, she finally heard a response from the other end of the communication.

It was a dark world, like interconnected circuit boards, where machines, stripped of their outer shells, were linked together, possessing heads that were strangely square, with lines of various colors flowing across their entirety.

【Uc207Pr4f57t9, your machine has been permanently removed from the network; your application is rejected.】

Its answer was a refusal.

Expected.

【I reject your rejection!! I strongly demand that the data be synchronized to the {Fully Connected Command Entity}, regardless of what the Analysis Entity Einzfi reports, Yuba Ein! Your machine should not have the right to veto transmission!】

[Hurry! The Skywing is right in front of me!]

She couldn't help but feel anxious. Both Riku and Sull had told her not to be afraid and just to say what they had taught her beforehand, but at this moment, Shubi found that she couldn't do that.

The machine, which should have been forever cold and controlled by logical thinking, seemed to possess a real heart. No, it was a real heart. That heart had transcended mere calculation; its operation could not be explained by numerical logic. It was beating, tense, and terrified of everything that might be lost in Shubi's chest.

Azriel's Sky Strike was no joke, nor was her murderous aura.

He will die, he will really die.

The sound that Shubi made towards the connector was almost a roar.

We can't lose here... Everyone has put in so much effort... Everyone's lives...

[...I don't want to give you...the memories of Shiro, Riku, and everyone else living together...]

[…There's no time for further words…A future of failure is unacceptable…So, so hurry up and give me your approval! Pass this heart, this love—onto everyone!]

It wasn't because of acting, but because the crimson-haired mecha girl had a fleeting glimpse of that desperate future, the future of Suer's defeat.

Silence fell upon that dimly lit world, and the connector named Yuba Ein seemed to be thinking, or perhaps caught in a logical loop.

【Uc207Pr4f57t9, your machine is indeed broken】

【…Isn't this…obvious?】

[Contradictory, agitated, even no longer resembling a machine gun, yet it still functions, undamaged. This is abnormal, this shouldn't be.]

[...or...duh...]

Azriel had already assumed a throwing stance, and time seemed to slow down at that moment. Shubi could even see the excited drool at the corner of the Skywing's mouth.

Therefore, you are considered a valuable data sample.

I received this answer.

This made Hughie relax instantly, and she answered with a sigh of relief.

Along with this came the long-lost feeling of connection to the entire Mech race being restored.

The feeling of being connected to 437 other machines, including herself, was something Shubi knew she was no longer the same as them, and she even found the feeling annoying. Her mind was being scrutinized without any restraint, and her discomfort was taken for granted.

Yuba Ein's discourse continues to explore the idea of ​​uniting plural elements into a unified whole.

Therefore, your machine is determined to be a {special case}, data synchronization—begin.

It was still the same familiar feeling; Shubi clearly sensed a part of herself being lost and replicated into the void.

Chapter 278 Lies

The story unfolded exactly as expected, a development that made her uncomfortable, unwilling, and disgusted, yet necessary.

[Any actions that damage your machine are not permitted until synchronization is complete, therefore—]

Yuba Ein Connector, which had already synchronized with Shubi, grasped the situation on the battlefield the moment the synchronization began. The Kai-type was aware of this decisive battle between the three factions, but what no one could imagine was that such a weak Integrated Analysis Entity would participate in this war, so deeply.

Naming this emotion as astonishment, the machine-type beings quickly preserved this fluctuation.

【Uc207Pr4f57t9——Unrestricted use of all weaponry possessed by the Machine Gundam, using various types of weapons and firepower to fight against it, "total destruction" is prohibited before synchronization is completed】

This is an order; there is no right to refuse.

As if she hadn't heard Yuba Ein's words at all, Shubi had remained silent since the beginning, as if the conversations and noises that had been echoing in her mind didn't exist.

"—Full Code Open—Construction: Combat Calculation for the Unknown—Activate!"

Facing Azriel's raised light gun, Shubi gritted her teeth and spoke slowly and deliberately.

The steel is multiplying, originating from the 2,751 types of weaponry copied and learned by all machine types over countless years. The steel armor grows through layers of deformation, growing like vines and extending like blood vessels throughout the weaponry, resulting in an enormous size that multiplies.

Without hindering Shubi's changing body, Azriel even dispelled the Heavenly Strike in her hand with great interest, and crossed her legs in mid-air, propping her chin up as she watched.

While doing what she was supposed to do step by step, Hughie silently clasped her hands together, curling her fingers as if in prayer for the lie she had just told.

'I'm sorry... Yuba Ein...'

'I'm sorry...to all my fellow machine race brethren...'

The machine-type girl, protected by layers upon layers of steel barriers, questioned the apology in her heart. It was a "safe zone" that had been reserved in advance, a corner that machine-types would never use, a corner that could not be spied on.

In her words just now, Shubi did something that no organic race would ever do: lies—the data transmission was real, the idea of ​​transmitting all the data was false, and the so-called inheritance was also false.

When the data transmission reaches the final and most crucial part, Shubi will cut off the transmission with the connector at that moment.

“…Riku…can only belong to Shubi…I won’t give it to you…”

Her clasped fingers caressed the ring on her finger, a gift from Riku on their wedding day, a vow belonging only to the machine girl.

'...All I can give you...is this way of thinking...and your own hearts...so...go and search...'

After only a few seconds of lingering guilt, Shubi refocused her attention on the emerald-haired Skywing.