It was like there was an explosion in the sky above the city. The loud sound produced by the automaton rolled across the entire city, seemingly remaining just as loud as it travelled several kilometers.

  His steel body surged with both white steam and black smoke as he lunged forward–Actually, it would be more accurate to say that he slid through the street, his feet produced an obscene amount of sparks as they dragged across the stone.

  I barely had any time to react before he was already well behind me, his sickle-arm groaning and snapping back into its original position as he himself turned around, illuminating me with his dark-red light.

  What I presumed to be his inner voice of some sort rang out again into my mind.

  “Durability evaluation… Low… Reaction speed… Good… Odds of repeated success… Low…”

  He was analysing what had just happened.

  What a motherfucker.

  I was barely able to move out of the way. I followed my instincts and instead lowered my body since I could do that faster than I could actually dodge… As a result, he hadn’t been able to bisect me at the waist like he had been aiming for.

  Instead, the upper portion of my head slid off. The heavy chunk of steel fell to the ground with a heavy thud. Thankfully, I was in the right form to take that sort of damage. Losing half my damned head did nothing but impact my overall balance–Which wasn’t great, but was better than going blind.

  Not to mention, the bastard who had just done this to me wasn’t leaking any sort of negative emotions. Either he was too much of a robot for him to have them, or he was just handling a mission and thus did not have any sort of emotions to direct at me. It was just business as usual for the murder bot.

  I needed to think, and I needed to do it fast.

  It could be blamed on his ridiculous acceleration, but judging by his comment on my durability, it seemed like he did not think much of my natural defences. It only made sense. Leton knew that I was made of steel, so the main weapon of his self-built assassin would naturally be made to easily slice through it…

  So… Whether speeding up or not, that thing would certainly be able to carve through me with ease… Should I switch to my ‘Base Form’ and actually activate the upgrades I chose earlier? ‘Reinforced Frame’ might come in handy right now…

  I was frankly uncertain whether a boost in defence would be enough to change things. That automaton could always use his speed to add more power to his strikes, and I doubt even my upgraded defences would be enough to deal with it…

  Not to mention, while I was in my knightly form, I enjoyed the benefit of taking certain hits without actually losing much. In my ‘Base Form’, a strong slash couldn’t potentially blind me or destroy internal components, cutting down my means of attack.

  Would this damned machine even be vulnerable to ‘Embodiment Of Negativity’? Even if he was, I have the feeling that he isn’t the sort to be easily shaken anyway.

  I don’t know how Leton created something like this, and I have no clue whether to treat him as a pure machine or as something alive. He is made out of some sort of fleshy, living metal after all.

  “Surrender”

  His right arm tensed up once again, but this time, he was merely walking toward me instead of pulling off the same speed trick. Indeed, now that I knew what that looked like, I would have a much higher chance of actually dodging it.

  High enough chances that this guy no longer deemed it useful to use that little skill in such a manner.

  I manifested several throwing knives and threw them at my opponent–Who didn’t even bother to actually deflect them all, letting most bounce off his body.

  This was fine. It was just a distraction as I took off running toward the now-empty orphanage, getting in by leaping through a window as my pursuer steamed and smoked once more, taking off after me. His many-jointed legs bent, seemingly allowing him to leap high and with utterly abnormal precision.

  He nearly managed to land on top of me before I was able to get inside the orphanage…

  As soon as I got in and turned a corner, I turned quiet. The automaton slowed down after climbing in as well, immediately using his ‘scan’ thing again to try and follow my trail, but let’s just say… It was actually difficult for him to do so.

  This place had seethed and boiled with negative emotions to the point of producing negative energy. It had all been caused by the ‘Remember Me?’ curses. As such, my traces were all over the place here, throwing the metallic hitman into a loop.

  “Running is meaningless. Accept the natural consequences of your actions. My creator’s will is my command. I will not let you get away, Mara Nebulo. If you do one last thing, let it be the good choice. Let yourself be slain. Free yourself of your sins”

  This thing is way too articulate and verbose… Leton would never intentionally make something speak in this manner. He always hated being the center of attention. Something that was certainly still a core part of his personality, considering how little he seemed to show himself despite the fame he has amassed.

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  To me, it could only mean that this thing’s personality was a consequence of how it had been created, or of the materials used to do so. Ergo, this thing was a genuine being who thought for himself to an extent. He was loyal to his creator–My brother–But still had a personality of his own to go along with it.

  …How annoying.

  I did not know the full extent of this thing’s strength and various capabilities. It was highly likely that he had several more abilities that could turn me into slices or pieces of shrapnel. He had probably just opted for a more simplistic and less telegraphed attack when he managed to slice through my head.

  Of course, there was also the problem of attracting attention. It had made a lot of noise previously, but the sound was so loud and widespread, it was nigh impossible for anyone in this backwater area to be capable of accurately pinpointing the source of the noise, and besides, even the guards would probably cower at first.

  Nonetheless, attracting too much attention wasn’t to the mechanical assassin’s advantage. So, if he had anything greatly destructive or otherwise explosive, he was probably going to keep them up his sleeve until he was given a very good reason to use them… Such as if he was convinced that it wouldn’t miss, and thus, that he would be able to complete his mission.

  He may have a sort of mind, but he was still an automaton built to fulfil a purpose. As long as that purpose was completed, he would probably not care about being destroyed.

  Is there really no way to exploit him being a person of sorts, though? Does he have a survival instinct? Or does it only care about its safety for as long as the mission is not done?

  I had several ideas, but none of them was actually sure to work, and to put them in place, I would need to reveal myself… I couldn’t see him right now, so far all I knew, he could have that super-speed boost thing ready to go and slice me in half the second I showed my face.

  …Some bots are luckier than others, huh? I wasn’t nearly as strong when I first emerged… I wonder… Would there be a way to plunder upgrades for free from his carcass? Would that be a thing? Spirits and curses bring me bonuses to my ‘natures’, but… The most prominent thing about me is being a machine.

  I was bound to steel. Even if I were categorised as a curse and spirit, it would be strange to ignore the fact that basically everything about me is machine. All upgrades relate to my metal body. None that I have seen had anything to do with maledictions or ghosts.

  Mmh… I need to focus… What does his body look like? What other means of attack could he have besides the sickle?

  For all intents and purposes, the sickle was definitely the main method of attack. It took the place of a hand and was by far the automaton’s most prominent feature–The sharp edge was even shiny and reflective.

  There was also the scan thing he could do with his eyes. In my understanding, this was basically like those analysis skills I had heard about a few times, when that weird red light touches something, it provides information to the robot.

  What I found strangest was my attacker’s left arm, however. It did not end with a hand, or rather, it possessed a weird, three-fingered hand with the fingers forming a triangle around what I guess would be called his palm.

  During our short confrontation just before, I had felt quite wary of that limb in particular. Something told me that if the sickle was the close-quarters option, then this would be the long-range one.

  How can I proceed?

  I gathered all of my scattered thoughts and plans into one place.

  The problem here was that my brother’s creation clearly had a way to get a vague sense of my presence, allowing him to track me. Running would only delay an inevitable fight, or worse, cause me to be caught in an open area where I wouldn’t be able to hide.

  I didn’t have to defeat it completely today. I just needed to deal enough damage–Or even just restrain him–To make some distance. Then, I would have time to figure out a way to deal with this problem…

  How could I do this? I might just have an idea…

  ___

  SHLAD-01 slowly walked through the empty hallways of the now hollow orphanage. This place was stacked with particles from Mara Nebulo. Her presence was everywhere, but the worst part was just how dense what he could scan was. It was like there was a thick fog.

  With his scanner alone, he wouldn’t be able to tell if she was standing right in front of him… Thankfully, he also possessed regular optical units.

  His sickle was poised to strike with as much force as he could muster if need came to be. The good thing was that the resonance module his creator had equipped him with was unaffected by the strong concentration of residuals and such in the air. It told SHLAD-01 that his target was still around and had not taken off running into the city.

  It was both good and bad. Good because a chase through the city would definitely get other people to intervene–People he was not allowed to kill or harm in any significant manner–Which would prevent him from doing his job properly…

  It was also bad because running away was the seemingly best choice. His creator had stocked much information about Mara Nebulo, and she was smart. If she were still around, hiding inside the orphanage… Then it implied that she had a plan.

  “My creator only wants what is best for you. Stop resisting. I was built to eliminate you. There is no hope of survival”

  He spoke aloud. His heavy steps on the floorboards gave his position away regardless, so he might as well attempt what he qualified as ‘diplomacy’... Unaware that he sounded anything but diplomatic every time he tried to say something.

  If only his creator had not cared about collateral damage. He would have just turned this entire city upside down. Burnt it to the ground and waited for her to come out like a rat being smoked out of its lair.

  SHLAD-01 did not understand why he wasn’t allowed to kill other people besides his target. He only knew that the words of his creator were like divine law to him.

  Something crashed against his back, a chair which was turned to splinters by the impacts. The automaton spun around, only catching sight of a vague, shadowy silhouette taking off past a corner.

  “Report number three details Mara Nebulo’s connection to ghostly beings. Was it one of them? Was it her? Does she desire me to follow? Or did she desire me to believe a bluff and not follow when it was actually her?”

  Several scenarios ran through SHLAD-01’s artificial brain. Fear was a foreign concept to him. He trusted in his creator’s design. Therefore, even if it was a trap, he decided to follow.

  His mission had to be accomplished.

  No matter the cost.