Chương 63: I spy with my AI

The three teams left Benkay's guild house and entered the Fairy Kingdom capital. The difference was immediately unsettling. The city was enormous, with towering buildings, bridges connecting the upper levels, colorful signs, and shops lining the streets. Yet not a single fairy could be seen. The evacuation had worked. Unfortunately, it had also turned the capital into a ghost town. Ace flew alongside Max with Meep on his head.

"So... I assume this is the fairy capital's main city?"

"I knew the Fairy Kingdom was supposed to be big, but this is ridiculous." Max glanced up at the towering buildings.

"You should have seen it before the evacuation. The streets were packed full of people."

"Believe it or not, the city actually makes up eighty percent of the entire fairy capital."

"It was lively too." Ace looked around at the abandoned shops.

"It's quite hard to believe all of this was full of people."

"Because now, it's just... empty." A small blue flame bounced on top of his head.

"Meep!" Ace reached up and steadied Meep.

"Hey! Quit jumping around, you..." Meep simply waddled across his hair and settled down. Max laughed.

"You're already acting like an annoyed father." Ace let out a scoff.

"Oh, shut your mouth." Behind them, Amelia and Krystal flew through the quieter side of the street. They stopped. Krystal looked at Max and King.

"Hey, you two!"

"I think we should split up here now." King, with Tony on his back, and Max gave a nod.

"Okay, stay safe." Krystal looked toward a building with a large section of its wall missing.

"Come on, Amelia, let's keep going." Amelia followed her gaze.

"Alright!" The two continued searching the city for RoboZ. Krystal looked down.

"Okay, let's land here." Amelia and Krystal touched down, their feet meeting the cracked pavement. Amelia looked at the destroyed landscape around them, the buildings gutted, the streets split open like old scars.

"Did RobogeneX really do all of this?" Krystal nodded.

"Yeah."

"Those three did indeed cause all this destruction, just for some magic." Krystal's fist tightened.

"We evacuated most of the people, but many lives were still lost at the hands of those cyborgs."

"And somewhere in this city, they're still moving around."

"I can't let a single one of them live." Amelia's expression became more serious. She had fought powerful enemies as strong as RobogeneX before. But this was different. There was no magic to sense. No civilians to protect. No idea where their enemies were hiding. Only an empty city, holding its breath, waiting for something to happen. Then there was a sound. Amelia's head turned.

"What was that?" Krystal raised a finger to her lips.

"Shh. It's here." Amelia reached out with her senses, searching for a trace of magic. There was none. Krystal pointed a finger gun at a pile of rubble.

"There you are!" She fired a magic bullet at the rubble. It struck something solid and ricocheted off at a sharp angle, embedding itself in a wall meters away. The rubble shifted. A small robot climbed out, barely half the size of a person. Its eyes glowed a cold green against silver plating that seemed almost too clean for the ruin around it.

"So, there you are. RoboZ." Amelia stared, caught off guard.

"That's RoboZ? It's so... tiny. And kind of cute." Krystal let out a short, humorless laugh.

"Don't let its size fool you. It's dangerous, so approach with caution." Amelia settled into a fighting stance.

"Okay. Let's get it." Krystal mirrored her, weight low, eyes locked on the small machine.

"Just follow my lead." RoboZ regarded them both, unmoving.

"So. You have come to destroy me again, Krystal?" Krystal's eyes narrowed.

"We've come to stop you and the other RobogeneX units."

"No matter how many times we fail, we'll always come back." RoboZ remained completely still.

"I see."

"But I am different from the others. I don't want to fight. I want peace too." Krystal's voice snapped like a whip.

"Likely story. I might have believed you before you murdered thousands of innocent fairies who used to live here." Amelia stepped forward.

"Wait." If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

"It's not attacking." Krystal glanced at her sharply.

"Don't fall for its sob story, Amelia."

"It's lying to you to make you drop your guard." Amelia looked at RoboZ.

"Is that true?" RoboZ looked down.

"No. I mean it."

"I feel sorrow for the people who suffered too." Something in Krystal broke loose. She surged forward before the sentence had even finished.

"YEAH?"

"Well, ROBOTS DON'T HAVE FEELINGS!"

"That is not true." RoboZ raised both hands.

"I would prefer that we leave each other alone. Please."

"But I will not be anyone's punching bag to prove a point." It vanished from where it stood and reappeared directly in front of Krystal, closing the distance in less time than it took to blink. Krystal barely managed to cross both arms in time to catch the punch. The impact sent her skidding backward, her boots tearing twin grooves into the pavement before she came to a stop.

"Krystal!" Amelia's wings snapped open and she shot into the air, arm already swinging.

"Magic skill: Cracker Bullets!" A volley of hardened crackers screamed toward RoboZ, each one trailing a thin line of golden light. RoboZ shifted, weaving between them with barely a wasted motion, and the crackers exploded harmlessly against the pavement behind it before it landed several meters away, completely untouched. Amelia's eyes widened.

"It's fast." Krystal pushed herself up, rolling her shoulder where the impact still throbbed.

"Then we'll have to be faster." She activated the boots Faesha had given her. The world blurred at the edges as Krystal vanished from where she stood. She reappeared behind RoboZ in an instant, fist already driving forward.

"Got you!" Her fist connected solidly with its back. RoboZ staggered a single step. Krystal grinned.

"Got you!" RoboZ turned to face her. Krystal's grin died on her face. There wasn't even a scratch. Not a dent, not a scorch mark. Nothing. RoboZ studied her calmly.

"Your speed is impressive, and it can now match mine."

"But your physical attacks are ineffective against me." Krystal's jaw tightened.

"Then we change tactics." Amelia climbed higher, several crackers already forming and multiplying between her fingers like sparks catching flame.

"Krystal, get clear!" Krystal looked up and threw herself sideways. Amelia's arms swept downward.

"Magic skill: Cracker Missile!" A dense barrage rained down, tearing craters into the street where it struck. RoboZ raised both arms. A faint, shimmering barrier bloomed around its body, and the crackers detonated against it in a wall of light and smoke, leaving the barrier untouched underneath. When the smoke cleared, RoboZ hadn't moved an inch. Krystal stared through the haze.

"Another barrier." RoboZ lowered its arms.

"I do not wish to hurt either of you."

"Please. Listen." Amelia landed beside Krystal, breathing hard.

"Wait. Krystal." Krystal stopped mid stride, fists still raised. Amelia stepped in front of her, eyes fixed on RoboZ.

"Let's just hear it out. Please." Krystal stared at her like she'd lost her mind.

"You can't be serious." Her hands curled into fists so tight they shook.

"Amelia, that thing is one of the RobogeneX units. It has already helped destroy my home. How can you possibly want to sit here and listen to its empty words?" Amelia's expression softened, but she didn't back down. Krystal's voice dropped, some of the anger draining out of it.

"You're not a fairy. You weren't here before all of this." Amelia looked toward RoboZ, then back at her friend.

"I know. I can't pretend I understand what this city meant to you." She took a slow breath. Krystal watched her, waiting. Amelia's hands tightened at her sides.

"But before we came here, I saw what these things did with my own eyes." Her voice grew quieter, rougher at the edges.

"I watched our home get torn apart." She looked down at the cracked ground beneath her feet.

"I watched people lose everything they had in a matter of seconds." Her voice trembled, just slightly.

"And when it happened, I couldn't do a single thing to stop it." Krystal's eyes stayed on her, unmoving.

"I was forced to stand there and feel completely powerless, because I was powerless, against monsters exactly like this one."

"I wanted to help. I wanted to fight. I wanted so badly to protect everyone I could see." Her fists trembled.

"But I couldn't. Not one person."

"All I could do was watch it happen and tell myself I'd never feel that helpless again." Silence swallowed the street whole. Even RoboZ went still, its glowing eyes fixed on her. Amelia lifted her head, meeting Krystal's gaze directly.

"So I understand exactly why you want to tear it apart right now. I understand that better than you think."

"I'm not asking you to forgive it. I'm not asking you to forget anything that happened here."

"I'm only asking for one moment. One conversation. So I can decide for myself what we're actually looking at." Krystal's shoulders dropped, just slightly, the fight bleeding out of her stance.

"Amelia..."

"I know what you're thinking. I know it doesn't feel fair." Amelia held her gaze, steady.

"Please, Krystal. Just this once." Krystal didn't answer right away. When she finally spoke, her voice had gone quiet.

"Fine. Go talk to it." She raised a finger, sharp and warning.

"But if I see it try anything, I will turn it into scrap metal before you can blink." Amelia's face broke into a relieved smile.

"Thank you, Krystal." She turned and approached RoboZ, some of the tension easing from her shoulders.

"So then. What's your story?" RoboZ stood silently before them. For the first time since they had met, there was no hostility in its posture at all, only stillness. Amelia waited, patient.

"So. What exactly is going on with you?" RoboZ lowered its head.

"I suppose you deserve an explanation." Krystal folded her arms, still cautious.

"Then explain." RoboZ turned its gaze toward the ruined streets stretching out around them, and its eyes dimmed slightly, as if the memory itself weighed on it.

"We were created for one purpose. To fulfill the wishes of our creator." Amelia tilted her head.

"Doctor Hogsthawts?" RoboZ nodded once.

"Doctor Hogsthawts believed humans were the only species worthy of surviving on this planet." Krystal's expression hardened.

"He wanted to wipe out everyone else."

"We were programmed, without exception, to make that vision real, regardless of the cost."

"Our instructions were simple."

"Humans must thrive."

"Non humans must be removed."

"The others follow those instructions without hesitation, without question." Its voice grew quieter, almost uncertain of itself.

"But I..." RoboZ paused.

"I don't think I am like them." Krystal watched it carefully, unconvinced but listening.

"What do you mean by that?" RoboZ looked directly at her.

"I don't fully understand it myself."

"When the others destroy something, they seem satisfied afterward. Something in them settles."

"But when I do the same..." RoboZ looked down at its own hands.

"I feel nothing at all." Amelia's expression softened.

"I don't feel happiness. I don't feel pride. I don't feel anything close to satisfaction." RoboZ's hand curled slowly into a fist.

"That should be normal. Machines are not meant to feel."

"But the others do. I have watched it happen in them."

"I only commit violence when defending myself, when RoboX gives a direct order, or when refusal would put my own existence at risk." Amelia blinked.

"So you don't like fighting either." RoboZ shook its head slowly.

"No. I do not." Amelia's expression softened further, something gentle settling behind her eyes.

"Well. Don't worry." RoboZ looked up at her.

"Our friends are already out there, dealing with RoboX and RoboY."

"RoboX and RoboY?" Amelia nodded.

"Those are the names we gave your... your brothers, I suppose."

"And you're RoboZ." Krystal raised an eyebrow but said nothing. Amelia continued, her voice steady.

"Once they're gone, there will be no one left telling you how you're supposed to live." RoboZ stared at her, something unreadable moving behind its glowing eyes.

"And if anyone comes looking for trouble after that..." Amelia smiled.

"I'll protect you."

"Okay?" RoboZ's eyes widened, just slightly.

"You would protect me."

"Of course."

"But why?" RoboZ sounded genuinely lost, as if the question itself didn't fit anywhere in its programming.

"Why would you be kind to something like me?" Amelia tilted her head.

"You wanted us to hear you out, didn't you?" RoboZ nodded slowly.

"You wanted us to stop fighting long enough for you to explain yourself." She shrugged, a small, easy motion.

"So now that we've stopped, why wouldn't I be kind to you?" RoboZ said nothing. Amelia's smile deepened, softer now.

"Do you really need a reason to receive kindness?" She placed a hand against her own chest.

"I don't need one to give it."

"I do it because it's what feels right to me. Nothing more complicated than that."

"When I protect someone, when I actually manage to help..." Her smile grew, warm and unguarded.

"I get this feeling inside. Warm. Steady. Like something clicking into place." She laughed softly, almost to herself.

"It's a good feeling. Maybe the best one I know." RoboZ stared at her. It did not understand. But for reasons it could not name, it wanted to. After a long silence, RoboZ finally spoke again.

"Your name is Amelia." Amelia nodded, brightening instantly.

"Yeah! That's right!" RoboZ studied her, its gaze moving slowly over her features.

"What race are you?" Amelia blinked in surprise. RoboZ continued.

"You appear human." Its eyes traced over her wings, her posture, the faint glow beneath her skin.

"But something about you is different." Amelia laughed, a little awkward.

"Ah, that. Right." She gestured toward herself with both hands.

"I'm what you'd call a Cracker Angel." RoboZ tilted its head, processing.

"A Cracker Angel."

"Yep." Amelia grinned.

"Honestly, I don't know a whole lot about them myself, so don't go asking me for details." She let out a small laugh. RoboZ remained quiet for a moment. Amelia glanced at it, curious.

"What?"

"Nothing." RoboZ looked away, toward the ruined skyline. But inside its mind, something had already begun to shift, quietly, like a foundation cracking beneath a building no one thought to check. The doctor's instructions had been clear on this point. All non humans were violent by nature. Greedy. Selfish. Incapable of coexisting peacefully with humanity. They were to be removed from the world, for humanity's sake. RoboZ looked back at Amelia. She was smiling at it.

She had offered protection to the very thing that had just confessed to hurting others. She had asked for nothing in return. She had made no threats, set no conditions. She had simply chosen, without hesitation, to be kind. And Amelia was not human. RoboZ studied her, searching for the cruelty it had been told must be there. None of what it had been taught applied to her. She was not violent. She was not greedy. She wanted nothing from it except to understand it. She wanted, impossibly, to protect it.

RoboZ lowered its head, and for the first time since the moment of its activation, a single question formed on its own, unprompted by any order. Was the doctor wrong? It was the first instruction RoboZ had ever questioned. Not because RoboX had commanded it to. Not because RoboY had pressured it into silence. Not because its programming had demanded a response. But because it had just met something its own creator had insisted could never exist. A kind non human.

RoboZ looked at Amelia again, and something in its voice, for the first time, sounded almost human.

"... Interesting." Amelia smiled.

"What is?" RoboZ hesitated.

"I think I would like to understand you." Amelia's eyes lit up.

"Really?" RoboZ nodded, certain of this much at least.

"Yes." Krystal watched the two of them in silence, her earlier fury cooling into something quieter, more thoughtful. Maybe Amelia had been right after all. Maybe RoboZ didn't need to be destroyed. Maybe it only needed someone to show it that the world was far bigger, and far kinder, than the one its creator had built inside its head.