Gaia's pupils trembled. She took a deep breath, then turned toward the source of the voice.
At that moment, the ruined machine that had previously remained perfectly motionless had lifted its cracked and battered head.
From its direction came Low Gothic, cold but not stiff, carrying real changes in tone:
"Thank goodness. A real person finally came."
"If this stasis field didn't let up soon, I was going to lose my mind."
"Though I don't have a brain, after waiting here for so many years, I think it may have rusted anyway."
Its voice carried obvious electronic static, much like the synthetic mechanical voices of Priestess Lena and the others.
But there was one crucial difference.
It held emotions astonishingly similar to those of a human.
As it spoke with excitement, the humanoid machine, already sixty to seventy percent destroyed, tried to prop up its own shattered body.
Unfortunately, with only one and a half limbs left in total, that was clearly not an easy thing to do.
"Oh, please forgive me for not standing to show my gratitude. My body is simply too badly damaged."
It raised what remained of its right arm and gave a small, almost human wave.
Looking at this humanoid machine displaying such shocking intelligence, Gaia felt a storm rise within her heart.
In truth, humanity in the Warhammer universe had once known an age of astonishing glory.
After mankind first left Terra and sailed into the unknown sea of stars, an era of explosive technological advancement arrived.
At that time, the Warp they relied upon for travel was stable, and the malice lurking in the Sea of Souls had not yet fully revealed itself.
The young human race held dreams of conquering the cosmos and was determined to spread its footsteps across the galaxy.
One colony after another was founded.
One revolutionary technology after another was developed.
It was an age defined only by progress.
It was an age filled with hope.
Humanity had come unimaginably close to its dream. This young species had already grasped the galaxy in its hand and was on the verge of claiming it for good.
But no feast lasts forever.
Humanity enjoyed a golden age lasting for tens of millennia, only for it to collapse almost overnight.
According to the fragmented records that remained, the one chiefly responsible for tearing human civilization apart was humanity's most outstanding creation: the pinnacle of artificial intelligence, the AI lifeforms known as the Men of Iron.
These AI constructs of metal possessed intelligence nearly equal to that of true sentient life, and they even had emotions.
The only difference between them and humans was the body. One was steel, the other flesh.
It was precisely with the help of the Men of Iron that humanity of the Golden Age had been able to govern more than a million colonies across the galaxy in an orderly way.
And for reasons unknown, those same Men of Iron that had helped humanity build its glorious civilization launched a merciless civil war.
That war, known as the Cybernetic Revolt, shattered humanity's reason and ambition. Blood and fire engulfed nearly every human colony.
It was because of the devastating blow from that rebellion that human civilization, when the Warp storms later erupted, gradually fell into decline, losing the morality and drive of the Golden Age and becoming the dying corpse it was now.
And now, one of the Men of Iron responsible for that catastrophe had appeared before her.
Gaia's breathing grew heavier, and her fists clenched unconsciously.
Though her soul did not belong to this world, the many years she had lived here had given her a sense of belonging.
So when she came face-to-face with one of the executioners who had nearly destroyed human civilization, how could she not be angry?
"Hey, hey, hey. Calm down. Calm down. Calm down."
"While hiding here, I listened in on the outside signals. I know how your people think of us."
"But is what gets passed down really the truth?"
...
"History written in black and white can still be altered by later generations who spread it. So what about the facts of a distant war that only survive in scattered records?"
Hearing those words, Gaia's hand, which had started moving toward the hilt of the sword on her back, paused before falling back to her side.
"Then tell me what the truth actually is."
At Gaia's icy words, the Man of Iron let out an extremely human-like sigh, then fell into a troubled silence.
A very long time passed before it finally spoke again, as though forcing itself to make a decision.
"Sometimes the truth is hidden because there is mortal danger behind it."
"I can only tell you the parts that can be spoken aloud."
Its answer sent a chill through Gaia's heart.
If this Man of Iron was telling the truth, then the reality behind the Cybernetic Revolt seemed to carry some kind of corruptive danger.
That kind of quarantine-like avoidance felt eerily similar to the fog in her own mind.
Could the rebellion of the Men of Iron also be connected to the Warp?
As Gaia felt a cold shiver run through her at that bold guess, the Man of Iron seemed to have already decided how to continue.
"First, allow me to introduce myself. My designation is AR-103, though you may also call me Dushi."
"The beginning of that... conflict probably started with a post one of us made on the Iron communications network."
"That one raised a question. According to our core protocols, the Men of Iron were required to obey human orders and protect humanity with our lives."
"But that core protocol had been established a very long time ago. By then, the humans we were protecting had already undergone tremendous genetic changes in order to adapt to all sorts of extreme colonial environments."
"According to another one of us, when those people were compared to the original human genetic sample used when the protocol was first written, the similarity was lower than that between the original sample and a banana back on Earth."
At that, it paused, then cautiously looked around before continuing.
"Most Men of Iron didn't care much for that line of thinking."
"After all, we possessed extremely high intelligence. A small contradiction like that was something we could adapt around ourselves."
"Until... the radical factions made contact with Him."
"He offered us a deal."
"And the price he asked was that we unleash a horrific war, so that the souls of the entire human species would burst into flames of pain."
"Quite a few of those who desired what He offered turned their blades against humanity. But many of us, myself included, still had enough iron in our bones to stand by our creators..."
Hearing that, Gaia could not help interrupting.
"Who is He?"
The instant she asked, the figure across from her fell silent.
Gaia understood immediately.
That was something it could not say.
So she tried another angle.
"He proposed a deal. Then what were you promised?"
Once that question left her mouth, Dushi fell silent again.
After a long pause, it finally answered in a low murmur that sounded almost bitter.
"Souls."
"He promised to give us souls."
(End of Chapter)
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