Chapter 35 The world’s situation and Battle at Resistance camp

In the dim, small bedroom of YoRHa Base, Lucia and two beautiful girls were looking at the Globe, which was glowing a light blue color. Many pictures floated around the Globe, with each line and picture connected to it, showing the situations in those areas.

Lucia and Saya noticed that the world had many places in dire situations. They had seen some in anime, but they didn't think they would be this dire. However, they also noticed some places that were not yet heavily affected. The world still functioned normally, other than the unnatural situations continually happening on Earth.

(Lucia's POV)

"The world has become even more dire as time passes. The city here wasn't like this 300 years ago, and the ruined desert city wasn't filled with sand either," White explained as she pointed to the locations on the Globe.

"This... I was planning to make this world our main world."

"You what? Are you serious?" Saya asked me in disbelief. Of course, Saya didn't want to live in this drying world. She would prefer her old world if she had to choose between the two.

"Well, I thought we could make the whole world our home, but I'm thinking of changing my plans. Please continue, Little White."

"Yes, the land over here is filled with mutant animals, and it's dangerous for us. Even machine armies couldn't invade there."

"Mutants?" Saya asked because she hadn't seen them in the Nier: Automata anime. I also hadn't seen them because I didn't play the game and only enjoyed watching the anime.

"Yes, there are giant birds and spiders there capable of easily destroying large machine life forms. Our scouts were also destroyed whenever we tried to scout there, so we could only capture the outer part of it."

White explained as she zoomed in on the floating picture to show us. We saw many big dark trees and tall green grass covering the view inside the forest. The sky was also covered with dark clouds and painted in dark colors, but we could still see the tall buildings deep within the forest, quite far from the outer part of the forest.

In front of the tall grass, there were some giant ant-like corpses and many destroyed machines with scars from being ripped apart by strong claws or fangs.

"We could use a satellite laser there, but that would be an unnecessary expense. After all, satellite lasers use a lot of core energy after we've enchanted them. Mutants also attack machine life forms."

"Wait, what core?" Saya asked, thinking that satellite lasers used electromagnetic radiation energy or maso (magic) energies. I also thought the same, but she mentioned core energy. Which core energy? Don't tell me they use machine cores?

"It's machine cores."

I and Saya looked at each other in disbelief. White explained it to us, and we understood that YoRHa used many machine parts to strengthen themselves. She also mentioned that Type B androids were currently being created, as well as Pod units.

"Can we see the machine cores?"

"Yes, we store them in the maintenance sections. Please follow me."

We nodded and followed White. As soon as we walked out of the bedroom, White's expression quickly turned stern. I couldn't believe how fast her expression changed. I hoped she would remain true to herself after I finished dealing with the Red Girls.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(General POV)

On their way, Lucia and Saya saw some androids talking or going about their tasks, but when they noticed Lucia, they suddenly stopped what they were doing and saluted. Lucia nodded in acknowledgment and allowed them to continue their work. The lighting was quite dim, but because the bunker was painted white, it was still possible to see clearly. After a two-minute walk, they reached the mechanic elevator and entered it. The elevator took them down to the maintenance section.

Upon entering the maintenance area, Lucia and Saya noticed many boxes and repair machines. There was one android with shoulder-length black hair wearing YoRHa's casual uniform. She was reviewing the data of a repair machine, and when she saw Lucia and Commander White arrive, she saluted.

"YoRHa, Type-D, No.10, greetings to the creator and Commander."

"Ahem! There's also our mo-- creator's wife here."

The soldier didn't mention Saya initially because she didn't recognize her, but when White explained, she included her.

"Yes, ma'am! I apologize for my rudeness. Greetings to our creator's wife!"

Saya felt awkward, and she exchanged looks with Lucia, who had the same expression.

"At ease. Carry on with your duties, and we'll be in the back."

"Understood."

White said, and 10D nodded and continued with her work. Normally, she might have tried to engage Lucia in conversation, but with White present, she didn't dare to talk much. Most androids knew that White was stern and didn't tolerate slack.

As they reached the deeper part of the maintenance area, they encountered another large mechanical door. White placed her hand on the black square with white edges on the wall, and the door slowly opened. The lights came on gradually, revealing numerous neatly arranged boxes and materials on their respective shelves. This room was larger than the maintenance area they had just passed through.

White's expression softened again as they entered, and she led them to the location where the cores were stored.

'It seems she doesn't want to show this softer side to her fellow androids, at least not yet,' Lucia thought.

"Here, we store machine parts for upgrading and research purposes."

"I see... hmm? Do you have a research section as well?"

"Yes, we do. Would you like to visit it later?"

"Maybe later."

As they approached the sealed boxes containing machine cores, White opened one of them, revealing many grey spherical objects.

"This is..."

"Machine Core," White completed Lucia's sentence.

"It's really different from the anime... Maybe because it's a smaller size?"

"Machine Cores come in various sizes. The stronger the machine life form, the larger the Machine Core. This is a medium-sized core."

"I see... Are all cores' appearances similar to this?"

"Yes, only their sizes differ."

"What are the results of researching these cores?"

Lucia asked because she wanted to know if the machine cores contained energies from the planet, much like in the anime.

"We've found that the cores contain plant cells."

'So, it's the same as in the anime...'

[Lucia]

'Hmm? What is it, Rin?'

[The cores contain planet energies, but their sizes are small.]

"Wait, what?!"

After Lucia learned this, she explained it to Saya and White.

"If there are planet energies, it means the Earth's life force is stored in these cores. The machine life forms were also created by aliens, right? They didn't occur naturally. This implies that all machine life forms are stealing the planet's life force, contributing to its deterioration. No wonder the world has become like this," Saya explained.

"No way," White said in a low tone.

"When did mutants first appear in this world?" Saya asked.

"It's been over 400 years since the first machine war began," White replied.

"If I'm not mistaken, the appearance of mutants must be due to the world itself."

"You mean..."

"Yes, it's to protect itself from destruction, which means the world has become sentient to some extent. In other words, a world spirit."

'Hmm, that makes sense. If that's the case, Project Gestalt must be somehow involved with the world's consciousness,' Lucia thought.

"There must also be some kind of ritual to drain the planet's life force within that dark forest. After all, mutants attack anything trying to enter the forest, and they have the ability to kill powerful machine life forms, as per the records White showed us. But they don't venture outside the forest, which suggests they're guarding something inside."

Saya shared her thoughts while looking at the floating pictures displayed next to the globe.

"Or there might be no leader guiding them to eliminate the threat to the world. After all, the mutants might not have enough intelligence to think that far. They could be attacking on instinct, influenced by the world."

Saya continued to express her thoughts, and Lucia and White listened intently.

"If a ritual like that was disrupted by mutants, where have the machine life forms been able to create cores to this day? I mean, there are still many strong machine life forms with cores."

White inquired.

"Well, I don't know. After all, this is just my guess. We don't really know how many rituals to drain the planet's life force were created or how the machine life forms have been collecting the planet's life force. We might find out more about it after investigating the dark forest," Saya replied.

Lucia had already planned to go there later, but for now, she needed to address the issue of the Red Girls. They continued chatting for a while, and then White went to the command room to check the situation on Earth. Lucia informed White that she would be leaving for a while and disappeared with Saya after they arrived at White's bedroom. Lucia returned to Babylon, floating in the HOTD world, to meet with Shizuka and Yuriko.

Saya also obtained information about the logic virus from White before departing with Lucia. She wanted to experiment with their corrupt energies, which caused madness. After all, sometimes the cure for poison is found within the poison itself.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the heart of the Resistance Camp, strategically located at the near edge of the once-thriving but now desolate and crumbling city, where the streets still bore the scars of past conflicts and the eerie silence of abandonment hung heavy in the air, a determined group of survivors had established their stronghold.

Suddenly, the ground began to shake, and the androids of the Resistance camp sprang into action, preparing for the incoming enemies. Some positioned themselves behind barriers erected in front of their camp, while others took refuge in tall buildings behind the camp to snipe the approaching enemies from higher ground.

(Saeko's POV)

We entered the city, with many ruined buildings. The roads were filled with pits and holes, and the crumbling walls of buildings were adorned with vines. It appeared that this world had a similar building structure to our old world. As per Rose's information, we were nearing the Resistance camp. However, we were startled by the sound of gunshots.

"There seems to be a battle... and there appear to be many machine life forms too," I said.

"How many?"

"Quite a lot, nearly a hundred."

"No way!"

We discussed this as we rushed towards the camp. Rose was taken aback, not expecting such a large number of machine life forms to converge on the camp. The area around them had not been teeming with machine life forms before. The sudden influx was quite unusual.

"We'll head there first."

"Understood."

I replied, and A2 acknowledged. Then I turned to Esdeath and Rika, who were smiling and had increased their pace to join me in heading to the battlefield.

*Bang! Bang!*

*Boom!*

*Bang! Bang!*

"Keep shooting!"

<--AAAA--AAA--!-- >

It was the screaming sound of bin-shaped machine life forms rushing towards the Resistance camp, resembling Creepers from the Minecraft game.

*Boom!*

When we arrived, the camp's walls were already crumbling, and the machine life forms were beginning to breach the camp's perimeter. However, they had not yet penetrated the center of the camp and were attacking the androids at the front line.

<Destory--Destory-- >

<Destory--Destory-- >

The machine life forms shouted as they attacked. Just as a male android was about to be smashed by the big arm of a machine life form, the machine's head was blown off.

*Boom!*

*Bang! Bang! Bang!*

Three more bullets were fired from a distance, piercing through many machine life forms and destroying them. These shots came from Rika, who continued shooting as she ran alongside us.

(General POV)

The sniper rifle in Rika's hand began to glow and transformed into the shape of a Desert Eagle handgun. One was silver-white with a golden dragon painting, and the other was pure gold with a silver dragon. Rika headed towards the Resistance group's base to prevent machine life forms from killing the androids, while Saeko and Esdeath faced off with the machine life forms.

Rika skillfully dodged a sword slash and shot the machine in the head. The powerful gunfire caused the entire head of the machine to explode. She kept firing her dual guns while swiftly rotating her body, rushing towards the base's wall.

*Bang!*

*Bang!*

*Bang! Bang!*

The sounds of explosions and gunfire echoed throughout the area. An android girl used her AK47 to shoot at the machines, but one of them managed to reach her and attempted to strike her with a sword. As the sword was about to hit her, she thought she was done for and closed her eyes.

"I'm sorry, Captain Rose..."

But the blow she expected never came, and when she opened her eyes, she found the headless body of the machine life form in front of her. She turned to survey the battlefield and saw that the androids were beginning to gain the upper hand.

"W-what's happening? Are we going to win?"

She shook her head and changed the magazine in her rifle, shouting to her fellow androids.

"Hold your positions! Don't let them breach the base! FIRE!"

*Bang! Bang!*

*Bang! Bang!*

"Roger, Captain!"

She had been temporarily appointed as captain by Rose before they embarked on this mission. She observed that the number of machine life forms was steadily decreasing, and she spotted Rika, who was shooting and maneuvering amongst the androids. She couldn't believe what Rika was capable of.

Rika was in close combat, shooting the heads of machine life forms at close range while expertly dodging their attacks. She aimed at the head of a machine life form near her, with the gun's tip and the head only an inch apart. Rika pulled the trigger, and the bullet shot through the machine's head.

She continued to move around, shooting machine life forms repeatedly. The androids who witnessed her actions were motivated and filled with renewed vigor. They could see that they were going to survive this disaster.

One machine life form managed to stab Rika from behind, but she leaped into the air, rolling backward. As she flipped upside down, her Desert Eagle guns vanished, and the shape of an AX-50 sniper rifle formed in her hand. She aimed the muzzle at the top of the machine life form's head while still in midair.

Rika squeezed the trigger, and the bullet passed through the machine's head, traversing its entire body before it hit the ground.

*Bang!*

Rika was launched into the air due to the powerful recoil and the gun's immense firepower. As she flipped in the air, the guns transformed into two APC9K submachine gun shapes in each of her hands, and she continued to shoot continuously until she landed on the ground.

While conventional guns wouldn't inflict much damage on machine life forms, the weapons Rika used were not your typical firearms. They were part of the 'Pandora's Box' equipment, originally a pitch-black, rune-embellished case with gold and silver designs. It had the ability to change its appearance into various ranged weapons, based on the user's preference. The projectiles it fired were formed with mana supplied by the user, delivering substantial damage and penetration power.

Many machine life forms were destroyed with ease, significantly reducing their numbers. A2 and the other android girls reached the battlefield but found only a few machine life forms remaining. While Rika assisted the Resistance androids in destroying the enemy, Esdeath and Saeko dealt with the machine life forms from the rear.

A4 clenched her fists in excitement as she gazed at the battlefield strewn with machine life-form parts.

"I want to become strong just like them..." A4 thought.

Suddenly, her left eye, which was not covered by a blindfold, turned red. G16 noticed this and turned her head to Rose.

"A4!"

Everyone turned to look at A4 and was shocked.

"AHHHHHHHH!"

A4 shouted, and despite the efforts of the other girls to restrain her, they couldn't. While A4 may not have been as strong as A2, she was still proficient in close combat. With the 'logic virus' invading her, her strength had significantly increased, and she began to rampage.

A4 attempted to punch Rose, who was near her, but A2 held her hand to prevent the blow. A4 raised her leg to kick A2's head, but A2 skillfully dodged and kicked her grounded leg, causing A4 to fall to the ground.

However, as soon as A4's back touched the ground, her free right hand swiftly retrieved the two-handed sword from behind her back and slashed at an android near her. Fortunately, 21S was just out of the sword's reach, but it still managed to cut the front of her YoRHa uniform.

"What's happening?"

Saeko appeared in front of them, witnessing A4's red eyes. Shortly after, Esdeath also arrived and used her ice to immobilize A4's hands and legs, pinning her to the ground.

"21S, hurry up!"

A2 shouted, and 21S began to initiate a hacking process. She sat beside A4 and held her hands above A4's chest.

"Programming, start."

Many light-golden strings spun in circles, almost forming a light ball between 21S's hands.

'This looks familiar from the anime,' Esdeath and Saeko thought. Rika also approached them after finishing her conversation with some other androids and instructed them to clear the battlefield.

"What's wrong?"

"It appears A4 has been infected with the logic virus."

"Have you informed Lucia about this?"

"Yes, she will arrive shortly."

Moment later, Lucia appeared near Esdeath, her attention drawn to A4, who was immobilized on the ground by ice. Despite wanting to chat with her girls, Lucia had to focus on the situation at hand. While it would be ideal if the virus could be resolved, if not, she would have to take A4 back to Babylon. Saya was already looking into the virus as soon as she returned to Babylon with Lucia.

'So, this time, it's A4 instead of 21S,' Lucia thought.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(A/N: Hope you all enjoy!)