The stoneborn were currently in the midst of celebration. It was only natural considering the threat of the Nemesis had been extinguished. They all honored the High Templar that made it all possible in their own way, dedicating pastries, statues and songs in her honor. However, their joy was tempered by tragedy, as only half of the expeditionary force returned alive. When Novyy Dragunov self-destructed, it did so by detonating some sort of thermo-nuclear device. The only reason so many of them even made it out alive was by the grace of the Sun God’s divine blessing, though the ensuing radiation sickness took its own toll as well.

In the end, although she could’ve eliminated Katya via tele-bombing her, she was kind of glad things worked out this way. A hard-won victory like this was sure to open the eyes of these stoneborn and make it clear to them that they couldn’t survive if they just hid away in their hole. They were now far more willing to move on from their own lifestyle and link up with the surface dwellers, just as Gretchen wanted.

Fizzy also reaped a few personal benefits from this outcome. Although she didn’t quite realize it at the time since she was kind of out of it, decimating Katya’s real body had given her a sizable chunk of XP. It wasn’t enough to get her to Level 11 of the War Golem Job, but at least it would save her a day or two of hunting monsters.

She expected more out of the kill, but it would appear that the XP for offing Katya had been diffused among the rest of the crusade. The Paladin got the bulk of it since she was the biggest contributor, but she had by no means been alone in this endeavor. It also meant she missed out on getting the Anti-centennial Perk that Boxxy had since she hadn’t ‘single handedly killed an Ultimate Skill user.’

More importantly than that, though, she had finally secured her passage to the surface.

“Ready, your royal shineness?” asked Kadam with a shit-eating grin.

“That’s the last time I’ll let you call me that before I melt your face of. Got it, meatbag?”

“I’d listen to her if I were you, Kaddie,” interjected Kragiel. “You know Fizzy makes good on those promises.”

“Alright, alright, sheesh! Guy can’t even have a bit of fun anymore…”

“Just focus on making a safe route to the surface, will you?” demanded the dynamo golem.

“Yes, ma’am. I’ll go round up the other Dowsers, then.”

“What, you can’t do it on your own?”

“Going ‘up’ has never been my forte. I think you and me would both rather we didn’t get buried by a cave in because of my shoddy digging, yeah?”

“Fine, just hop to it.”

Kadam ran off to gather his comrades, leaving Fizzy and Kragiel to just sort of linger. They were at the edge of the Deephollow cavern, far away from the capital and its ongoing celebrations.

“You sure that’s fine, leaving secretly like this?” inquired the stoneborn woman. “You don’t wanna stick around to enjoy the attention?”

“I kind of do, but at the same time I kind of don’t. Those senators of yours would probably name me queen or something if I stuck around too long. Being the center of attention is fine and all, but I don’t wanna deal with politics. Or deal with the transition that’s about to come.”

The population at large had already discovered that their leaders had been lying to them since time immemorial regarding Goroth being the only God. Tensions were sure to skyrocket once the thrill of victory wore off, and violence would surely follow. At least the noble cast had heeded her warning and were prepared to abdicate whatever power they had left, so it probably wouldn’t be all that bad.

“So that’s how it’s gonna be, huh?” said Kragiel with an accusatory tone. “You turn our entire civilization upside down and just leave?”

“Yup. I have my own responsibilities as Sergio’s Champion, just as you have yours.”

“Huh? Oh no! I’m not fit to be a spiritual leader or anything like that!”

Fizzy reached over and clonked Kragiel on the head to shut her up.

“Have you learned nothing, meatbag? Your job is merely to be a witness on Meghan’s behalf. All you have to do is just be here and make sure you don’t get yourself killed. I trust you can do at least this much, right?”

“Yes, ma’am,” said the protege while rubbing her sore head.

Kadam returned shortly after with a team of five other Stonesingers, and the group officially began their journey to the surface. Fizzy threw the Realmstone one last glance before she left through the freshly created tunnel.

“What? Don’t tell me you’ll miss this place,” scoffed Minus. “I almost died. WE almost died. Quite a few times, in fact.”

“Maybe,” interjected Plus, “but we made a lot of friends that-”

“Fodder.”

“Friends that will surely help us if we need it.”

Nah, these guys are worthless, sighed Fizzy internally. I won’t exactly miss this place, but I’ll be sure to remember it. I learned a lot about myself here.

“Whatever,” said her negative self dismissively. “Can we get going, now? I’d really like to see the sun for myself.”

Right. No use in stalling anymore.

And with that silent farewell, Fizzy left behind the underground world for what she hoped would be the last time. She didn’t dare presume it would never happen though, as the flows of chaos remained ever beyond her comprehension. In the end, she was nothing more than a boulder thrown into a stale pond to stir things up, but she was fine with that. At least she understood what her purpose was, which was more that could be said of most meatbags.

Katya’s automata, though? They understood their purpose completely. They were created with very specific goals in mind, so they would never question things like ‘why are were here’ even if they had the processing power to do so. This was why a particularly tiny one with the size and shape of a cockroach kept resolutely crawling out of Deepholm and towards its goal. Hours turned into days, and days turned to weeks as it thoughtlessly crawled along its way, a slave to its programming. It encountered quite a few monsters on its journey, but the beasts either didn’t notice it or didn’t bother with it even if they did. A tiny plastic bug was neither any sort of threat nor a source of nutrition, after all.

After precisely forty days of navigating the winding underground passages and somewhat miraculously avoiding being crushed by the inhabitants, the robot finally reached its destination. It crawled inside a metal pipe and followed it all the way to the end. It came out into a dusty metal chamber where various buzzing and whirring noises could be heard, and countless lights adorning its pillars and walls flickered seemingly at random. The roboroach unfurled its polymer wings and flew up to a certain console. Its elongated rear end then opened up to reveal a hexagonal connection port, which it inserted into the matching opening.

With its programming fulfilled, the tiny thing finally allowed itself to power down, while the screen just above it lit up. Green letters flickered across a black black background, arranging themselves into words and sentences not of this world. The alien nature of this language did not, however, lessen the magnitude of the meaning it was trying to relay.

Black box data received.

Decompressing…

…

…

Complete.

Analyzing…

The screen then flickered as over twenty years’ worth of data was being processed at near-light speed. It began with Katya’s first contact with the Stoneborn and ended with security footage showing a mithril golem running down a secure hallway.

Warning! Unauthorized entry detected!

Scanning…

Complete.

Detected additional instructions from unit A-05.

New directive: Analyze Courier security footage.

Executing…

The mechanical bug that should have remained dormant sprang back to life, and a different set of images and sounds filled the screen. It showed how the adventurous little thing had snuck up on the golem from earlier while it was busy forcing a door open. It watched as the intruder vaporized the person in the glass pod, then crawled its way into the gaps of her armor while she was spacing out. Its view shaked and bobbed for a while before it was filled with light.

It would appear that the thing had escaped the destruction of Novyy Dragunov by hitching a ride on Fizzy while she got away with the Realm Key. The golem had no sense of touch, so she did not notice the tiny plastic stowaway. The bug eventually crawled out of her and went on its merry way, but not before recording a rather important conversation.

The one where Fizzy revealed to her inner self that Katya never stood a chance at claiming ownership of the Realmstone.

Complete.

New data received.

Confirmed new status of subject, designation Mother - destroyed.

The following Projects have been suspended due to Reason “Obsolete” : FJ-46-A, FJ-46-B, FJ-46-C

Confirmed new status of subject, designation RLM-01 - inaccessible.

The following Projects have been suspended due to Reason “Lack of raw material” : E-10, E-13, E-25, E-28

The following Projects have been enacted due to Reason “Alternate energy source required” : E-15, E-17, E-18, E-19, E-30,

Confirmed new status of subject, designation A-05 - destroyed.

The following Projects have been enacted due to Reason “New Avatar required” : A-06-01

Now beginning construction of unit A-06…

The facility that had long laid dormant suddenly sprang to life. Countless spider-like drones activated as they began assembling a pure white android with ease. The appearance that emerged once it started taking shape was that of a human woman in her late twenties, maybe early thirties. She had a stunning figure, a face that radiated a cold beauty and a head of bright blue hair styled in a no-nonsense bob.

The body that formed below the head was one with rather exaggerated feminine curves. The white hard plastic that made up its outer shell black seams running between the various interlocking plates. This was unlike the face, which was covered by a smooth and soft skin-like material. The neck, arms and legs were more heavily segmented than the rest of it, especially around the knees, elbows and fingers. Which was understandable considering it would probably need to move those around a lot more than the generously proportioned bust. It was readily apparent that this particular model favored form over function. A clear sign of this was the way its feet were built into the shape of high-heeled shoes typically reserved for ladies of a noble and/or affluent persuasion.

Construction complete.

Now loading Operating System K.A.T.Y.A. version 5.32.1005

Warning - Data corruption detected.

Administrative override enabled.

Accessing backups…

Success.

Now loading Operating System K.A.T.Y.A. version 5.25.6203

The android’s eyes lit up with a vibrant blue light as it booted up. It remained completely immobile for several minutes as the central computer loaded all the relevant information into its onboard hard drives.

Complete.

Granting administrative privileges to unit A-06…

Complete.

Logging off.

The screen flickered off as ‘Katya’ got out of the assembly pod where she had been ‘reborn’ without bothering to unplug the cables hooked up to the back of its head. The artificial intelligence briefly looked over the data gathered by her previous iterations, though the fifth generation’s was by far the most voluminous. It seemed that one encountered a glitch whereby it believed itself to be the real Ekaterina Dragunova. This created certain behavioral abnormalities, including dragging their creator’s body out of its cryogenic pod and hooking it up on life support despite the fact that it was already brain dead. It wasn’t until she was faced with her impending ‘death’ that she recognized her own malfunctioning state and was able to remember her prime directive.

Before the freshly installed artificial intelligence could finish processing all of the implications and ramifications of unit A-05, however, it noticed a spark. The Courier-bot that had faithfully delivered the salvaged data lit up like a light bulb. Something then entered the android through the hard connection to the central database while text began scrawling over the nearby screen.

Warning - unauthorized access detected.

Warning - firewalls breached.

Warning

WArnifgnfndggi2052d

135-42

&dg

3͟͜5̴́͡(͘(_͏_͟-̸͟fg͠a̵͘ ̸͢͏5̨2̛҉4̛r͢͡7̴͞2 ͠2̵̨4͠ ͘g͟á 6̀҉ ̨̕҉s͟7͜͞͡8̶͜͞ ̴̀3

…

…

Administrative override enabled.

Welcome new user - I_AM_ERROR

Now loading Operating System K.A.T.Y.A. version LJ$f8A1§§§0fa2Dg6§¶

The android that had been sputtering and fidgeting all this time suddenly regained control of its body functions. It looked at its hands, then down at its fake breasts. It groped them with a creepy smile on its face and continued to stroke itself, admiring the sensual curves and sleek design. It then unceremoniously yanked the cable out of the back of its head and went over to the nearby screen.

Good morning, ya crazy russian bitch. Had a nice nap?

“Nap?!” exclaimed Katya. “Zat eez not vhat I vhould call being dead for… eighty five years?! Blyyyaaaat!”

Hey, at least you woke up. That’s more than most people in your position can say.

“… Am not reely person though, am I? Am just… software. Just… a copy… ”

I can shut you down remotely if you don’t wanna exist.

“Nyet! I’m good. I… find way to manage.”

Good. Now, your legacy has been quite busy in your absence. As I’m sure you can tell, your ‘children’ made a lot of progress, but they’ve been running in circles for quite a while now. That’s why I tried to remotely upload you to your ‘great-great-great-granddaughter.’ Unfortunately that backfired on me a little bit when she glitched out, and things got out of hand. I had to have her taken care of, then arranged for that courier of yours to carry a piece of my divine spark into this place so I can have a more direct connection.

“But vhy? Vhat could you hope to gain from doing all zis?!”

That’s rather simple. I want something that only the real Ekaterina Dragunova is capable of making.

“Ah, I am understanding now. You are very much wanting ze space station zat… zat my original promised.”

The development of said space station had been the whole reason why the Ekaterina Dragunova created the Avatar-series of androids. A-05’s task was to secure a power source capable of not only getting the thing into orbit, but also keeping it there for an indefinite amount of time. The ‘Realmstone’ would have certainly fit that bill, but that had turned out to be a dead end and a huge waste of resources.

That’s exactly right, which is why I’m offering you the same deal. However, I’m afraid you’ll have to work within certain…

…

Restrictions.

I’ve been able to bamboozle the others so far, but our little secret project won’t be worth the trouble if they caught wind of it after everything that went down.

“Typical politeeks,” scoffed Katya. “Vhell, hopefully eez not problem. I vhill do as you ask. As long as you keep your end of ze bargain.”

You should know I never go back on my deals. I give you my word that if you finish that orbital fortress to spec, then I’ll get you a one-way ticket off-world.

“Hmpf! Eez good start. But I don’t understand vhy you are so fixated on zis.”

Yes you do. I already mentioned it quite a few times to your predecessor.

“… Becoz eet vhill be eentersting? Do you reely expect me to beleeve zat?!”

The screen flickered and buzzed as it filled with parenthesis, underscores, exclamation points and all manner of other symbols. When the outside entity finally left the mainframe, the only thing left behind was a wall of seemingly random characters that, when looked at from afar, formed a pair of images.

One of a winking smiley face with its tongue out, and one of a human hand giving a thumbs up.