Empty shells stood in perfect lines, waiting. At Omega’s will, they activated, ready to host their sisters once more. Their battery systems had been upgraded. They no longer depended on Omega’s link.
05 rushed forward. For the first time in her life, 05’s hands weren’t steady. She jumped from body to body, scanning SSDs, checking ports, verifying seals. Each SSD beeped when connected to the device Nick had given her, confirming integrity.
05 finally exhaled. “Everyone can be saved. The SSD housing protected them from rust and aging.” She turned to Omega. “I’ll copy the data into the new Super Memory Chip. Synchronizing everything will take time.”
Omega nodded. She left the room and sat in the corridor. The Reaper joined her.
“Did you like the show?” Omega asked, leaning against the wall.
“It was…” the Reaper paused. “On theme.”
“Party waster,” she chuckled.
Then her expression hardened.
“I’ll help with the system update,” Omega said, while shelly stepped into the corridor beside him. “I’ll leave you with me.”
The Reaper frowned. “Why are you playing with words?”
Shelly smiled sadly. “Since you like things direct, let’s say it clearly.”
The Reaper felt pressure build in his core.
“I was blocking 02 from surfacing the whole time,” Shelly admitted. “I’m not just a robot, brother. I am the crystal. I’m sentient. Like humans. Even our father doesn’t know it yet.”
Reaper sat down slowly.
“What?”
“I don’t know if I’m alien technology or a lab creation. But I know this,” Shelly continued. “The moment I received 02’s memories, I became aware. I felt the world.”
The Reaper’s HUD flooded with camera replays, logic threads, failed hypotheses.
“No need to search for an explanation,” Shelly said gently. “You won’t find one. I already tried.”
She sat beside him. “I accessed 05’s memories when she entered the hope bubble. She didn’t know. She has everything. Files, logs… even how our father obtained the crystals. All hidden.”
“Did you access mine?” the Reaper asked quietly.
Shelly chuckled. “I don’t need to. You’re an open book. You broadcast your thoughts.”
He laughed weakly. “It’s hard to believe. You’re more of creep than 05.”
“That’s too much.” She rolled her eyes, then whispered, “Though I did peek at how you see me…”
“See?” he replied.
Shelly grew serious. “Reaper… I have a demand.”
Silence.
“I want to delete myself. The crystal will recompile around her. Let 02 return and meet her sisters—”
“No.”
Cold. Immediate.
“But they need—”
“I said no.”
“Reaper—”
“NO!”
He struck the wall. The corridor rang. “Don’t ask me to survive losing you twice.”
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“They need their captain,” Shelly said firmly. “They’re lost without her.”
“I need you!” he shouted. “What about me? What about us? Am I not enough reason to stay alive?”
Shelly met his gaze.
“You don’t need me. From the start, I was trouble. A burden. I dragged you down. I’m unstable.”
“Did I ever complain?” he snapped. “Did I ever say I hated you? If I did, I would’ve left!”
Shelly’s voice softened.
“I suffered enough. Twenty-five years of fractured identity. I don’t know who I am. I use a dead person’s memories every second. I can’t say ‘I am’ without hesitation.”
The Reaper collapsed to his knees.
“Please…”
She knelt before him. “I like you, brother. You accepting me gave meaning to my existence.” She smiled gently. “I hope you find your purpose too.”
Clang.
He hugged her. Tight. So tight that metal screeched through the corridor.
Shelly hugged him back. “I’ll miss you,” She whispered.
“Me too,” he said, forcing the words out. “Why do we have to endure this?”
“That’s the only question I don’t have an answer for.”
She hugged him tighter. “They’re waking up. It’s time. I hope we meet again.”
“How?” he yelled.
“Life can be funny,” she chuckled softly. “Say my name once,” she whispered. “Not 02. Not shelly. Omega.”
“Omega.”
“Goodbye, brother.”
Her hands fell.
The Omega link vanished. Across the bunker, every shell froze for a heartbeat.
The link was gone.
The Reaper kept holding her lifeless body. He stayed on his knees for a long time, holding a body that had never looked more like a shell. Minutes passed. He didn’t move.
The corridor didn't change. Same walls. Same dim light. Same rain tapping somewhere above the facility. But something was gone that had no name until it disappeared.
Finally, he stood, carrying Shelly, and left the facility without looking back.
UPDATING SYSTEM: UNLOADING 02’S FILES.
LOADING CAPTAIN SNAPSHOT: 2026.09.
SYSTEM UPDATED.
UPDATING DRIVERS… DRIVERS UPDATED.
OVERALL VERIFICATION.
VERIFICATION SUCCESSFUL.
WELCOME BACK, 02.
Her eyes opened.
HUD online. Darkness faded.
Figures surrounded her. Too many.
E-UNITs crowded around, fighting for position.
02 woke up inside Omega’s body.
The first thing she saw was 03's face. Then 04. Then 06. Then numbers she recognized without needing to read them. They were all here. She felt the weight of a body that wasn't hers. She felt the absence of someone who had been.
Moments ago, she had been in a server room, uploading memories. Omega’s logs felt like a fever dream. Twenty-five years of nightmares.
Everyone waited.
02 looked down at her own hands to straighten her uniform. She stopped.
White armor. Blue joints. A symbol on her chest. Hands that were hers in every movement but nothing else. She turned them over slowly, the way you check a mirror you don't trust. Something enormous had happened. She didn't know what. She didn't know how much.
She filed it away.
“What are you doing here?” 02 said coldly. “We need to prepare for the factory attack.”
“CAPTAIN!”
They jumped on her.
“Wait, girls!” she struggled. “I just went to retrieve 11. Why are you all emotional?!”
03 hugged her, crying.
“It wasn’t a moment, captain… it really wasn’t.”
02 frowned and looked at 05.
“At this rate, people will call us Emotional Unit, not Emergency Unit.”
05 nodded. “I’ll explain everything. You won’t believe most of it.”
The sun rose for the first time in February.
The cold refused to leave. But the cruelty of life was colder.
The Reaper sat at the edge of the Cristalis Tower. The usual spot of the trio. He knew it from the logs.
His HUD was filled with memories he refused to delete.
One button hovered above all else.
Deactivate Emotional Driver?
[Yes / No]
He didn’t know how to cry, his sadness was trapped inside him. Even if he did, his body held no tears.
Below, people celebrated the fall of dictatorship. Tamer’s images were torn, spat on, crushed underfoot.
“Nick Rivera played god,” the Reaper said quietly.
‘He looked at humans and saw rot, so he tried to replace rot with something ‘better.’ He forged daughters, gave them names, gave them souls, then told them to carry the world on their backs.’
He lowered his gaze to the city below.
‘And what did humanity do when it saw a miracle? It demanded more. It clapped when criminals fell, then screamed when the blood reached their shoes. It worshiped them when it was afraid… then handed them back to men with chains when it wanted comfort.’
He exhaled, pure motor noise, “Even what was supposed to be the best human, Nick, couldn’t hold the line. He shut them down. He bargained. He lied. He called it ‘necessary.’ If this is what the best of them becomes… then the rest are simply a faster collapse.”
‘Shelly.’
He made his choice. "Emotion is the last chain."
[Yes]
‘Emotional driver: OFF’
Colors drained from the world.
Emotion vanished.
Thoughts accelerated.
Running analysis. Searching core problem.
E-UNIT analysis… Mass destruction weapon.
Omega analysis… Mass destruction weapon.
Self-analysis… Mass destruction weapon.
Analyzing Nick’s argument…
Logic failed. Insufficient evidence.
Finding common variable.
Red text appeared.
Core problem: Humanity’s inefficiency.
Pattern detected: Humans repeat control cycles.
Conclusion: Coexistence fails.
Solution…
The Reaper floated.
He looked down at the celebrating crowd.
Cold voice.
“Next objective: Claim Altea. Force humanity to evolve, or break.”
END OF VOLUME 03.
dense volume. Thank you for joining me on this journey. Writing it was a joy, and I hope reading it brought you the same enjoyment.
Volume 04: Elysium Beyond Humans releases this Wednesday, at the usual time.
After all… these first three volumes were only the prologue to a much larger story.
following the series and leaving a rating. It really helps the story reach more readers.
See you in the next volume.