Bob’s mind continued to race.

But it had started to go in circles. He was considering the same ideas over and over.

Best he had was try and break the isolation field, call Xiong Huang and hope she could return immediately. But he would need to get up into space, as well as figure out the nature of the isolation field and how to bypass it.

That was something he didn’t have time for.

The lamp? But that wasn’t here at the moment. Even if it was, Saydaa’s powers were failing, so Sadid’s wasn’t a sure bet either.

Voidspeaker? But time and time again it was proven there was a limit to the energy he could erase. He wouldn’t be able to stop this much energy at once.

Chronolock could maybe buy some time but not enough.

And Aurora Legion wasn’t here at the moment in any case.

The USB Drive of Demonic Binding? But Nana was already trying that. And Wilson wasn’t a demon it seemed.

It was then, that Elise’s robotic eye stopped flickering.

“Analysis complete. Solution determined.”

Bob practically jumped. He had not expected that. And then he smiled.

Leave it to Elise to find a way.

“Excellent work, Elise. Tell us what to do.”

Elise walked forward, placing herself between Wilson and the rest. She looked them all in the eye.

Then she nodded.

She raised her hand, her robotic eye flickering.

Bob’s suit deactivated.

“Elise?”

“Request: Friendly Arvid, please carry Commander Bob. Friendly Kiyosuke, please prepare to evacuate all friendlies to a safe distance.”

“Elise? What are you…?”

All of Nemesis began to frown, but moved as Elise had asked. Arvid picked up Bob and gathered Saydaa and Nana. Kiyosuke stood in front of them sword at the ready.

Elise disengaged her helmet.

She looked them in the eyes.

And…

She smiled.

She then spoke with two voices at once.

One, metallic and monotone.

The other, soft and, for the first time, full of inflection and cheer.

“My friends…it’s been fun. I truly enjoyed my time with you all.”

Bob went silent. His heart started to pound. His eyes widened.

Elise remotely opened his helmet.

She looked into his eyes.

“Commander Bob…may I call you…my dad?”

Bob couldn’t answer. His throat had gone completely dry. Any words he had were caught there.

“Dad…”

She gave him a wide, bright grin with her eyes closed.

“I love you! Thank you for everything.”

“ELISE!”

Kiyosuke swung his blade.

Arvid carried Bob through.

And Nemesis vanished.

Wilson shook his head.

“Well that was very touching. Still though, there’s nothing you can do, robo-girl. I’ve calculated every power at your disposal, seen everything you can do. You simply don’t have the firepower.”

Elise didn’t bother responding, but reengaged her helmet.

And then she leapt directly into the torrent of energy.

“Profile Loaded: Xiong Huang.”

Elise directed all of her power into the Mass-Energy Manipulator, replicating Xiong Huang’s cultivation to the maximum extent possible for her. She didn’t even come close to the cultivator, of course, but that wasn’t why she had chosen this power. She knew she wasn’t going to overpower this ritual.

So she wasn’t going to try.

She had chosen Xiong Huang’s profile for three reasons.

One, Xiong Huang had demonstrated a remarkable ability to interact and connect with external energies in the Battle for Earth. She had connected her qi to countless different supers and even machines, all of whom had a unique energy signature and unique ways of interacting with energy in general. Xiong Huang’s qi had adapted itself to each and everyone of them, linking them all together. And Elise, being a recipient of this, had recorded that phenomena in exacting detail. She concluded Xiong Huang’s new cultivation was the ideal vector if she wanted to interact with energies not her own.

Two, having been filled with Xiong Huang’s qi herself, Elise had not only recorded that energy signature, she had managed to store some of it. A bit of qi, still locked in her capacitors. The real deal. A strong foundation she could use to more accurately replicate the power...and some of its more mystical effects.

But it was the third reason that was the most important, for Elise had recorded a second phenomena at that time. This one was not necessarily supported fully by her data, but rather determined by analyzing the situation and cross-referencing with general knowledge about the nature of cultivation, particularly Xiong Huang’s cultivation.

And that reason was that Xiong Huang’s energy signature seemed to grow in strength based on her feelings for Bob. Which she had specifically declared as love.

Elise also loved Bob, though in a different fashion from Xiong Huang.

And as she had hoped…

As she thought of Bob…

Of all the time they had spent together…

Of all he had done for her…

She stood over the fallen hero, searching for a weak-point in his armor.

And then she heard his voice for the first time.

“NSCLICE-000P, this is an Arbiter of Sorrow. Authority code 3H89-X32.”

“Shadow organizations are so annoying. Whatever, we’ll figure something out. Help me pack this up, and we’ll get out of here.”

The moment he took her with him. When she left the Concordat, though she had not yet realized it.

The moment that would change her life forever.

“Fine…I’m going to call you Elise.”

She did not understand why she needed a colloquial designation. But the Arbiter insisted. And it was her primary directive to obey.

So from that day on, Elise would be at the Arbiter’s disposal, however he commanded her.

“Elise, disable all extraneous protocols, assume non-combat scenario. Devote free processing power to organic components. Re-enable emotion processing and all organic senses.”

She didn’t understand the order. She couldn’t calculate any purpose to it, couldn’t determine how it would impact her combat efficiency.

But she would understand in time, as he had told her she would.

This was the moment Elise was born.

All at his command.

He handed her the cone.

“Status Report: Commander Bob, this unit does not currently require refueling…”

“Just eat it.”

As well as one of her fondest memories.

After her encounter with the witch she was lost and afraid. She felt incredible pain, unlike anything she had ever felt before. Every inch other organic side reported danger, a looming threat that her cybernetic side couldn’t identify.

“Take your time. If you don’t want to tell me, you don’t need to, this isn’t an order. But if you need someone to talk to, I’m here.”

And just like that, a pillar had pierced through the dark clouds. She didn’t understand. Her cybernetic half couldn’t comprehend.

But her organic half latched onto that pillar with all its might.

And slowly…

Surely…

The fear and the pain began to fade.

And something warm began to grow in their place…

Her organic side was compromised. She had placed it on standby. Her cybernetic half was in charge now.

As the Concordat had always wanted.

But also, not as they had intended.

Because she knew now.

Her cybernetic side still didn’t fully understand everything the organic felt and wanted. But it had learned enough.

It knew that Commander Bob was experiencing emotional distress.

And that it wanted to remove that distress.

And so there was something it needed to terminate.

“T-That’s why…I…am…one now. Both sides…agreed. Both sides…joined together. Robot…human…one person. To serve…to thank…Commander Bob. All of…me…is…Elise. Thanks…to…you.”

It spoke as it thought its organic half would want.

No.

She spoke how she wanted.

Because now there was no real difference between the two, regardless of which was active at the time.

And both sides of her understood that now.

Thanks to him.

More and more of her memories played before her mind. And the warm feelings grew in her heart, into a roaring fire trying to burst from her chest.

And…

Due to the true integration of her organic and cybernetic halves…

That fire began to flow through her circuits, directly into the Mass-Energy Manipulation Array.

Then she released the qi she had stored from before.

The energy in her Mass-Energy Manipulation array grew beyond the output of her core.

It may have been an imitated cultivation…

But the feelings were real. The intent was the same.

And so Xiong Huang’s cultivation accepted Elise’s command and elevated the transformed power from Elise’s core.

Elise grunted as the energy torrent burned her skin and began to melt her exterior armor. She didn’t have much time.

She thrust out the qi, grabbing as much of the surrounding torrent as she could. She could not stop the flow, or even redirect it, but that was not her goal. So she simply spread the qi as far as she could, so that it would affect as wide an area as possible.

And then…

She loaded the solution she had determined.

“Profile Loaded: Voidspeaker.”

Elise gasped as her cybernetic components shut off. She never did find a safe way to channel Voidspeaker’s powers through her circuits. But safety was not needed here.

Her cybernetic components had given a looping command to the Mass-Energy Manipulator array. Turn as much energy as it could into Voidspeaker’s power. It would continue to run as long as it had energy flowing into it.

Which meant it couldn’t also hold the qi in shape. But that was fine. Because Elise’s organic half was still active.

Everything hurt, and not just from the energy torrent burning her.

The power of the void sucked even the warmth of her body.

And worse…

Half her mind, half her being, had been shut off. All her thoughts were distorted and foggy, every action, every thought sent waves of pain through her head. She was never intended to remain conscious without her cybernetic half.

But she grit her teeth.

She kept her thoughts on Bob, on Nemesis. On every moment she had spent with them.

She opened her mouth.

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"

And Elise began to shout at the top of her lungs.

She thrust out her hands.

And held the qi in place with the force of her will and the intent of her heart.

The intent to save Bob, and repay him for all he had done.

The qi remained in place.

The void crept along it.

And into the flow of power.

And then everything went black for Elise.

Wilson’s ritual was designed to channel power directly into his core being, so that he could make it his own.

So what would happen if the void itself was delivered directly there, even if for but a brief moment?

Not from the outside like Voidspeaker might have done, but directly from the flow of power he himself had created?

Without any warning he lost all contact with his center, completely unable to feel anything inside himself.

Which meant he had lost all control over his power. The power he had already gained ran rampant through his body. And the power of the void spread through him, as he had no control over his internal energy flows, no ability to stop it.

Cracks formed all along his skin, light shining from them for a brief moment. And then the light suddenly faded as his skin began to turn black.

Wilson didn’t even have time to scream as his body suddenly crumbled away.

His empty clothes dropped to the ground.

With no specific target remaining, the beam of energy began to wobble and distort, before a blast of energy fired off in all directions.

And quickly began to die down.

The vortex started to slow…and then shrink…and then vanished entirely.

Wilson had never gotten this far. At this point, his ritual had reached the point of no return, where he assumed no one would be able to stop it in time, not even himself. So he had fully committed once he had accounted for everything Bob could do.

And that was why he failed.

Because there was one thing he didn’t consider. One thing that could happen that Bob couldn’t do. Couldn’t bring himself to even consider.

And that was to sacrifice Elise.

But neither of them had considered that the machine that learned to love, the girl who had been reborn, would choose to sacrifice herself.

And so the universe was saved…