Chương 15: Redefining the "No-Kill" Protocol

"... What is the meaning of this irrational behavior?" USHIWAKA paused mid-motion, his armor humming softly.

"Gennai! Force a data link! We're shoving my words straight into his neural architecture!"

"Whoa, whoa, brother, are you out of your mind?! USHIWAKA's AI is military-grade. If they flag this as neural contamination, your brain is gonna get fried!"

"Just do it!" Overwhelmed by my sheer intensity, Gennai clicked his tongue and forced the connection. Static crackled across my vision. A violent sensation washed over me as my consciousness directly interfaced with USHIWAKA's synthetic mind.

"Hey, USHIWAKA! No—Minamoto no Yoshitsune!" I screamed into the invisible microphone of our shared neural space.

"Why are you in such a damn hurry? Why are you trying so hard to rack up a high score, even if it means butchering your own men?!" [An absurd question. Victory is my raison d'être. Eradicating the Taira and achieving the pinnacle of military exploit—that is my programmed mission.]"That's a lie," I fired back without a shred of hesitation.

"The historians who compiled your data or Gennai might believe that. But I see right through you.

'Victory' isn't what you actually want." I dredged up the collective memories of the thousands of stories I had consumed. The Gikeiki. The Tale of the Heike. The Azuma Kagami. Was the Yoshitsune depicted in those texts truly just a genius strategist? A cold-blooded warrior? No. I could never read him that way. What bled through the margins of those ancient texts was a far more pathetic, painfully desperate craving.

"What you actually want... is a single word of praise from your older brother!" Thud. In the sky above, USHIWAKA abruptly dropped a few meters, his gravity matrix destabilizing for a fraction of a second. A direct hit. [... Negative.... Dissenting. As the proxy of Lord Minamoto no Yoritomo, the leader of the Genji clan, I must—]"A proxy? Don't make me laugh! You've been absolutely terrified this whole time!" I pressed harder, throwing my narrative weight into the connection.

"At Ichi-no-Tani, at Yashima—you won those battles using completely reckless, insane tactics. Why? Because you wanted to get it over with as fast as possible. You wanted to run back to Kamakura so your big brother would pat your head and tell you that you did a good job!" My words weren't objective data. They were entirely subjective. It was an interpretation bordering on pure delusion. And yet, it was a "truth" that could only be deciphered by someone who truly understood absolute isolation.

Yoshitsune had been separated from his mother at a tender age, fostered out to a distant temple, and left utterly alone. It was only natural that he would develop an almost pathological fixation on his older brother, Yoritomo—the first real family he had ever known.

"But your brother didn't praise you! If anything, he feared your genius and kept you at arm's length!... And that's exactly why you're panicking!" I pointed dynamically toward the sky.

"You think if you kill more enemies, if you win in a more spectacular fashion, he'll finally look at you! You're just slaughtering your own allies to pad your stats! That isn't bushido! That's just a spoiled brat throwing a violent tantrum!" [Silence...!] USHIWAKA's voice was heavily distorted by static now. [Silence, silence, silence! I am... I am the strongest! The ultimate sword of my brother! Impurities must be purged! And that includes you!] USHIWAKA raised his plasma tachi high.

A vibrant green flash expanded across the strait—a physical manifestation of his murderous intent. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. But I didn't back down. I couldn't. I felt too incredibly sorry for him, and frankly, he was pissing me off.

"HAVE SOME DAMN SHAME!!!" I screamed until my vocal cords threatened to tear. Then, I fired a stanza from the "holy scripture" etched into my very soul like a bullet.

"Osamu Dazai once said!

'An adult is nothing more than a youth who has been betrayed'!!!" USHIWAKA froze completely.

"You're still just a kid! You haven't even been betrayed yet, so don't you dare give up on yourself, murder your own heart, and pretend to be a cynical adult! What's the point of abandoning your humanity just because you're terrified your brother might reject you?!" [... Ah...]"If you're scared, say you're scared! If you're lonely, cry about being lonely! Do you honestly think your brother is going to smile at a victory bought with the blood of the men you trampled?!

What Yoritomo needed wasn't a convenient murder machine! It was a flesh-and-blood younger brother!" This was my own wild interpretation, of course. Historically speaking, it was highly debatable whether the cold, calculating Yoritomo ever possessed an ounce of affection for his sibling. But as a narrative, it had to be this way. If it wasn't, the sheer, crushing tragedy of Dan-no-ura could never be redeemed! [My brother... wished for me to be...] The illumination behind USHIWAKA's crimson visor flickered wildly, shifting rapidly between dark and light. Gennai let out a sound of pure shock over the comms. [Holy crap, you've got to be kidding me! USHIWAKA's logic processing units are throwing a massive cascade of errors!' Unidentified Error: KOKORO'...? What kind of variable is that?!]"Push the advantage! Gennai, send him the letter!" [A letter?!]"Forge it! I'll dictate it right now!"

I looked up at the heavens and bellowed the words I had wanted to tell Yoshitsune for a thousand years—the words I had desperately wanted someone to tell me.

"'To Kurō. Do not overexert yourself. Return alive. From your brother.' That's it!" [... Are you serious? There's no way a military AI is gonna buy a cliché fabrication like—] Before Gennai could even finish his input, USHIWAKA collapsed out of the sky. Losing orientation control, he slammed heavily onto the wooden deck. His hands shook violently as he reached out, grasping at the empty air. [My brother... was... worried about me...?]"Yeah. You matter to him.

That's why he was angry when he saw you fighting so recklessly," I lied, keeping my voice gentle yet unyielding. It was a benevolent lie—a carefully constructed narrative. A necessary stage direction to correct a broken history. [I was... mistaken...] The harsh crimson light completely drained from USHIWAKA's visor. In its place, a soft, pale blue hue ignited. The face of the relentless slaughter machine had instantly reverted to that of a frightened, lost boy. [... System redefinition commencing.] USHIWAKA murmured, the biting hostility entirely gone from his cadence. [Modifying victory conditions. Eradication of the enemy is no longer the priority. Prioritizing 'Survival of Allies' and 'Preservation of the Future' above all else.] He rose slowly to his feet. The gravity control unit on his back began to hum once more. But this time, it wasn't a violent, destructive roar; it was a deep, resonant bass, pulsing like a powerful heartbeat. [Kataru Kataribe...] USHIWAKA cast a brief glance toward me.

[Your data is completely illogical, biased, and reckless.... But it is not entirely clawed.]"Hah. Never underestimate the power of literature." I forced my trembling legs to stand firm, flashing a smug grin. [Moving out. I shall send the ghosts of the Taira back to the underworld.... Though this time, without taking a single life.] USHIWAKA took flight. His trajectory was breathtakingly beautiful. He no longer crushed the friendly skiffs beneath his boots.

Kicking off nothing but the crests of the ocean waves, he precisely sheared away the weapons of the enemy vessels. He wasn't killing; he was neutralizing. It was a nimble, merciful dance—evoking the legends of young Ushiwakamaru playing with the tengu on Mount Kurama.

"... Did you see that, Gennai?" I collapsed onto the wooden deck, my energy completely spent.

"You can't move human hearts with raw data. Only a deeply biased love can debug a broken soul." [Heh, I gotta hand it to you, brother,] Gennai whistled in genuine admiration. [But don't get too comfortable just yet. Look at USHIWAKA's core chassis temperature.... He's deep in the red zone.] My head snapped up toward the sky. A thin trail of black smoke was billowing from USHIWAKA's back.

On top of redlining the gravity unit earlier, the sheer precision required for this "no-kill" protocol was putting an astronomical amount of stress on his internal hardware. [That idiot is burning through his own operational lifespan just to play the part of a hero... It's highly questionable if his battery will last until the end of the battle.] The tides of war had shifted drastically toward a dominant Minamoto victory.

Yet, as the price for that triumph, our strongest piece on the board was rapidly burning to ash. And then, the fateful moment arrived. The fierce Taira commander, Taira no Noritsune, leaped through the smoke in a final, desperate gamble—grappling USHIWAKA in a vice-like death grip.