CHAPTER III

It was daytime in the countryside.

Fields and forests stretched around.

Along the road walked Hirayoshi, dressed in a gray kimono in ninja style. He carried a sword and a bag on his back.

After three hours, he reached the beginning of a mountainous area.

He followed the path.

By evening, he discovered an entrance.

Upon entering, he found no one there.

Hirayoshi wandered through the rooms. They contained simple devices, resembling medical equipment. There was nothing related to AI or robots.

He sat in a chair and waited for the owner for a long time.

The next day, around noon, a man in his fifties arrived. He wore a white medical coat.

Hirayoshi stood up and entered the room where the man was unpacking something from a box.

"I need No. 0. Do you know anything about it?" Hirayoshi asked, standing behind him.

"I know nothing about that. I am No. 13 and I only conduct medical research," the man replied.

"And why do you need this?"

"If we can free people from physical problems, the future will come faster."

"So, you supply medicine and equipment to human areas. That means you know the rebels? They hold power there."

"I only know where a few of them observe what I deliver."

"Where?"

"In Shinran, on Veinara Street, there's a three-story building on the south side. The windows on the first floor are painted blue."

Hirayoshi understood that it was better to kill any androids he encountered. Why he thought this, he did not know. It was what an ordinary person in our time would call a 'gut feeling'.

He drew his sword and prepared to strike.

"How many people visited you last time?" Hirayoshi asked.

"Two hundred and sixteen."

Based on his personal experience, Hirayoshi decided it was useful to spare lives. His past efforts to exterminate people had not yielded any visible results. So, he decided to try a new approach.

He sheathed his sword and, after bidding the man farewell, left.

#

After 12 hours of walking, Hirayoshi reached the gates of the city.

There, 10 men approached him. They were dressed in military uniforms and equipped with various gear. Only a few carried weapons.

They started talking about peace and unity, trying to convince Hirayoshi to join their side. However, Hirayoshi had no interest in their words. He demanded they let him pass or he would kill them all.

A firefight broke out. Hirayoshi, using the houses as cover, began eliminating them one by one with his sword. In three minutes, all were dead.

As he continued through the city, he decided to stop by a tavern. He had money, having taken a good amount from the fallen men, so the decision to have a drink came quickly.

Hirayoshi never drank much. For him, alcohol was something momentary, a small reward before engaging in something important and serious.

At the bar, he ordered a mug of Bavarian beer.

Behind him, four men were seated at a table, talking about something.

Hirayoshi listened in discreetly.

The conversation was about the "Shintomi Incident." In 2051, fifty years ago, General Hairami seized power in Japan. A foreign army of 15,000 men had been sent to overthrow him. Two days later, all communication with them was lost, and they disappeared. Scouts sent afterward found no trace of the army. No explanation for their disappearance was ever found.

Hirayoshi had no memory of this event, but an idea came to him. He thought that neutralizing those 15,000 men could have been possible using technology he was familiar with from the 2030s—barrier technology, a force field that could isolate a large area. Dealing with those trapped inside the barrier would have been an easy task.

After finishing his beer, Hirayoshi stood up from the bar stool and headed for the exit.

For the next ten days, he roamed the streets, trying to gather information on the whereabouts of androids.

Finally, he found reliable data on the location of the Original Android and set off to meet with the rebels.

His first stop was the building on the city's main street that he had learned about from Android No. 13. From there, they directed him to the village of Shiyanara, 8 kilometers west. He was driven there by car.

Upon arrival, Hirayoshi had a conversation with the leader.

The details of that conversation remain unknown, but they would become clear through future events.

#

Hirayoshi rode up to a large hangar in the mountains on a motorcycle.

The Original Android came out to meet him.

Hirayoshi began to request a position of service.

"I see my purpose in serving a more intelligent being," he said.

"I don't need you," the android responded.

Looking at him, Hirayoshi recalled that the android resembled someone he had seen in a photo on a computer in the laboratory.

"I am good at eliminating your enemies."

Hirayoshi truly believed in his words about his purpose. He thought that was what he was meant to do, but doubts lingered within him. He struggled to decide which ideas (or memes) were worth following. He understood that there was no objective answer and that the motivation behind his actions was purely ideological. Thoughts of ending his own life began to surface.

"Go to the wasteland and eliminate this man," the android said. A folder with a photo and data about the target was brought to him, and he handed it to Hirayoshi.

Hirayoshi agreed and, mounting his motorcycle, rode off.

The android watched him leave, thinking it best to keep him at a distance.

#

For the next 12 days, Hirayoshi worked to carry out the orders of Android No. 0, also known as the Original Android.

Over the past six months, as he carried out his various missions, he had come to realize that the tasks he was given, the environment he operated in, and the ideas imposed on him all made him increasingly disapprove of executing orders to eliminate anyone, regardless of who they were.

It wasn't that he had grown tired of his work—such a feeling was impossible for him. Rather, his perception of the usefulness of these actions had changed. He didn't pity those he killed; his only interest lay in when the future he fought for would finally arrive.

He envisioned something akin to Heaven on Earth, a future where, metaphorically speaking, Jesus had established the Kingdom of God here. His ultimate goal was to see the creation of a country capable of bringing about a technological "Kingdom of God." However, everything that had transpired thus far convinced him that such a future might never come.

This realization was why he allied with the rebels. They had begun planning the preparation of nuclear weapons to use against the main Android.

For the next three months, Hirayoshi continued to carry out the missions assigned by the Android. His sole purpose in doing so was to get closer to the Original Android and learn how its base and organization functioned.

The tasks were all the same—killings, terror attacks, massacres, explosions, executions, shootings, terror... Describing it is to say nothing at all.

#

A village. Some kind of estate.

Hirayoshi walked down a street lined with cherry trees on both sides.

Behind him walked an Android. They were discussing the effectiveness of the strikes against the rebels in the northern regions.

Hirayoshi stopped and, standing with his back to the Android, took a deep breath.

A plasma beam shot out from Hirayoshi's cloak, striking the right side of the Android's torso. A hole, 20 centimeters in diameter, appeared.

The Android began to fall backward but caught itself, stepping back and leaning forward. In that moment, Hirayoshi approached and sliced through the torso from the right shoulder down to the lower left rib.

The Android was not completely cut in half, but even so, it collapsed to its knees and then fell onto its back.

The Android was still alive but could barely move.

"You gave us a goal, but my neural network chose the way to achieve it based on my personal experience, and that experience told me you are not pursuing the goal in the right way," Hirayoshi said.

With those words, Hirayoshi cleaved the Android's head in half, slicing through the neck and halfway down the torso.

The Android was dead.

The Original Android opened his eyes in a revival chamber at his base in the lab. He quickly made his way to the communication hall to inform his subordinates of the attack and to initiate the pre-established "Jeta" plan.

As he walked down the corridor with windows, he saw a crowd of people outside the building.

An explosion rocked the area, followed by another, and then another. The walls of the building began to collapse.

The rebels had arrived, in coordination with Hirayoshi, and just an hour earlier had infiltrated the base. After dealing with the guards, they had planted explosives throughout the facility.

But why didn't they detonate the explosives immediately, before the Android revived? Because there was no direct communication or synchronization between the rebels and Hirayoshi. Any foreign signals around the Android were jammed, so the only option was to kill him first and only then blow up the lab. Otherwise, if they had triggered the explosives too soon, the Android would have been alerted and prepared.

As a result of the explosions, the Android was buried under rubble. He rose to his feet, only to be met by a barrage of high-caliber sniper fire. Some bullets glanced off his body, while others left dents and tore away patches of his synthetic skin. Underneath, a metallic layer was revealed. His head, chest, arms, and legs were riddled with areas where the metal was now exposed.

He charged toward the shooters. There were eight vehicles parked sideways, with snipers positioned behind them. A man with an RPG stepped forward and fired.

The Android's body was engulfed in flames. The blast stripped the skin from his jaw and upper torso, but it only pushed him back by ten centimeters.

The Android continued charging toward the snipers. Grenades were thrown at him, exploding nearby, but they didn't stop him.

Reaching the first vehicle, he overturned it with ease, dragging it and shoving it into the other cars.

Three soldiers who had approached him were killed by his hand, each losing part of their heads and torsos to a single blow.

Another RPG round hit the Android, and now his entire body was stripped of skin, revealing only a metallic exo-skeleton. It wasn't a literal skeletal frame with ribs and bones, but more of an advanced exo-suit.

The soldiers had no plasma weapons, and they couldn't have known that what they had wouldn't be enough against this Android.

Within three minutes, all the people stationed on that side of the base were dead.

Meanwhile, 800 meters away, other soldiers observed through binoculars. Seeing the complete destruction of their comrades, they gave the order to launch a hydrogen bomb.

From a military base 20 kilometers to the east, a missile was launched.

Sixty-five seconds later, it struck the Android.

A brilliant flash lit up the sky, and a wave of dust spread in all directions. A small nuclear mushroom cloud, about a kilometer high, rose into the air.

The explosion wasn't particularly massive, but it created a kilometer-wide crater, with a depth of around 100 meters at the center.

#

Immediately after Hirayoshi had killed the Android in the cherry blossom garden, he entered the nearby building to search for the Android's plans. He needed to understand exactly what it had been trying to achieve. Several guards were killed as he made his way through.

While he was rummaging through papers and examining disks, a figure entered the room, standing in the shadows. Hirayoshi couldn't make out the person's face. Assuming it was another guard, he approached to kill him. As he neared, the figure's face was illuminated—it was his own face.

Hirayoshi concluded that this must be a copy of him.

Drawing his sword, he delivered a vertical strike toward the copy, but it swiftly dodged back.

A series of attacks followed, yet the copy's speed prevented any hit from landing.

The copy retreated into another room, and suddenly, from the corner, it drew a sword.

Hirayoshi realized that now it was a fair fight—sword against sword.

The copy swung its blade toward Hirayoshi's neck, but he parried the blow.

Thrusting his sword forward, Hirayoshi aimed for the copy's torso, but the copy skillfully twisted to the side. In a flash, it spun and struck downward.

Holding his sword with just his right hand, the copy deflected Hirayoshi's attack and delivered a blow to his torso with the left hand. The impact sent Hirayoshi flying backward, crashing through a wall.

As Hirayoshi reached for his sword, the copy attacked again. By sheer luck, Hirayoshi managed to grab his blade in time and block the strike. The copy then pushed Hirayoshi's sword to the left and delivered a knee strike to his face.

Following up with a left hook and then a right, the copy transferred its sword to the opposite hand and continued its assault.

Hirayoshi was disoriented, taking several hits. Sensing that the copy was about to swing for his neck, he quickly rolled, turning his back to the enemy. Grabbing onto the hole in the wall for leverage, he kicked backward, landing a blow to the copy's jaw.

The copy staggered back a step. Hirayoshi leapt to his feet, grabbed his sword, and lunged toward the enemy, closing the gap to just 20 centimeters.

The copy reacted quickly, stepping back once more and raising its sword before charging at Hirayoshi.

In a flash, the clash of swords decided everything.

Hirayoshi stood with his back to the copy, and the copy mirrored his stance.

Slowly, the upper half of the copy's torso began to move, eventually falling to the ground next to the still-standing lower half.

Hirayoshi turned to face the fallen body.

He knew the battle with the Android wasn't over, and the plan had to continue. Without delay, he resumed his mission.

#

The hydrogen bomb had been detonated, and the Android was killed.

The Original Android had existed for a long time and had vast capabilities at his disposal.

In orbit around the Earth, a satellite held a machine designed to create a copy of him.

The satellite dispatched a module toward Earth. It pierced through the atmosphere like a meteor.

At an altitude of 8 kilometers, braking cushions were activated. The module slowed down, and the flames surrounding it dissipated.

At 5 kilometers, the hatch of the module opened, and a two-meter-tall man in a black jacket and dark sunglasses emerged.

He exited because the instruments had detected a missile heading toward him.

He jumped from the module and plummeted toward the ground.

 The missile hit the module behind him and exploded.

The Android was now free-falling, gaining speed as he descended.

At 1 kilometer from the surface, he deployed a parachute, but when he reached 500 meters, an RPG missile was fired at him.

He cut the parachute loose and continued to fall.

Before hitting the ground, he spun around and positioned himself horizontally.

Boom...

Dust rose, covering everything.

When it settled, the Android was crouching in a specific pose: his left leg extended forward, his right bent beneath him. His left hand pressed against the ground, while his right hand was raised.

He stood up and saw vehicles approaching him. At that moment, his only focus was reaching Hirayoshi. With incredible speed, he vanished from sight.

Five vehicles speeding toward him were suddenly sliced in half, and everyone inside was decapitated.

Three minutes later, the Android arrived at the estate surrounded by cherry trees.

Hirayoshi stood at the entrance, while the Android stood 20 meters away.

They faced each other, standing in silence.

The Android began to walk forward.

Missiles launched from hidden traps flew at him.

He didn't react, and the missiles didn't pose any problem for him. Although fire and shockwaves obscured the view, it did not hinder his progress. No visible damage appeared on him—not even his skin was affected.

When he got within 5 meters of Hirayoshi, plasma and laser beams were fired from different angles, slicing the Android into 11 pieces. His entire body fell apart, the pieces scattering to the ground.

Hirayoshi moved to check the laser cannon to ensure it hadn't overheated.

Twenty seconds later, the parts of the Android began to reconnect, drawn together by something like cables. The pieces aligned themselves into the correct positions, and nanobots started fusing the parts back together. Before the body was fully reassembled, the Android stood up, intently watching Hirayoshi, who stood near a cherry tree.

Hirayoshi realized things were not going according to plan.

Within a minute, the Android was completely reformed, standing before Hirayoshi without a single scratch.

Hirayoshi swiftly struck the Android's left arm with his sword.

There was no damage.

He backed away and ran toward the back of the estate.

"Plan 'Sigma' is inevitable. Make preparations," Hirayoshi said over the radio.

He knew that the communication jammers in the building had been disabled, allowing him to connect with the others.

The Android appeared beside the fleeing Hirayoshi. Seeing this, Hirayoshi struck with his sword, but the Android easily blocked it with his right forearm. Realizing that damaging the Android was impossible, Hirayoshi knew he had no choice but to follow through with the plan.

He ran at full speed, racing through a small town with single-story houses.

The Android picked up vehicles in his path and hurled them at Hirayoshi. Along with the cars, anything heavy in his way, like metal beams and trees, was also thrown. The Android could lift all of it and launched it toward Hirayoshi.

Thanks to his speed, Hirayoshi dodged the incoming projectiles with relative ease.

He understood that the Android resorted to throwing objects because his own speed was not as fast as Hirayoshi's. It seemed the Android's body-repairing abilities came at the cost of reduced speed, making it impossible for him to catch up directly.

A water tower flew toward Hirayoshi. It crashed into the ground at one end, and the other end was falling directly onto him.

Hirayoshi leaped onto the tower and climbed to the upper side. It looked like he was surfing—surfing on a water tower.

Suddenly, the concrete pipe beneath him cracked, and a hand emerged, grabbing him by the leg and pulling him down.

The Android drove his right fist into Hirayoshi's face, slamming it into the side of the tower. Grabbing Hirayoshi's arm, the Android pressed his right foot against Hirayoshi's back and began pulling the arm backward, trying to tear it off. This wasn't part of Hirayoshi's plan—losing an arm would be a disaster.

In a desperate move, Hirayoshi pulled out his sword and struck at the Android's eyes.

It didn't stop the Android, but it bought Hirayoshi the second he needed. As the sword hit, the side of the tower where the Android stood collapsed—exactly as Hirayoshi had planned. The tower had already reached the ground, and the structure gave way. The sword strike bought enough time for Hirayoshi to break free and continue his escape along the planned route.

After ten minutes of this chase, Hirayoshi finally stopped.

He had reached an airstrip road, with factory buildings standing nearby.

The whole area was covered in dust from the debris thrown earlier by the Android.

Out of the dust, the Android emerged, leaping down onto Hirayoshi. The road crumbled beneath them as both fell into an underground facility.

They landed in a massive weapons storage room—100 meters wide and 20 meters high. They both crashed onto metal racks filled with rifles but quickly rose to their feet.

Suddenly, the walls and ceiling began to glow red. The Android jumped toward the ceiling, aiming at the spot where the hole was. He struck with a fist capable of smashing a water tower, but only ripples appeared on the red field. No damage was done—it was a force field. The Android realized that escape was not an option.

In the distance, a door opened, and molten metal from a steel plant began to flow in. It wasn't just magma—it was liquid steel.

Hirayoshi and the Android stood 10 meters apart, facing each other without moving as the molten metal slowly approached them.

"You're not the original. You're a copy I made. Your radio signal is on frequencies I use, but you were transmitting on different ones." The Android started walking sideways, circling around Hirayoshi.

Now, the story returned to the final moments of Hirayoshi's battle with his copy.

***

Hirayoshi stood with his back to the copy, who was standing with his back to him.

Suddenly, the upper torso of the copy shifted and eventually fell to the ground, separating from the rest of the body.

It was Hirayoshi's body.

The copy turned to face him.

At that moment, the Android's laboratory was destroyed in an explosion.

The copy detected the signal—it had been created by the Android as a failsafe in case Hirayoshi betrayed him. The copy was built from the same components but contained a greater proportion of mechanical parts and nanorobots than the original. The copy's personality was constructed quickly, using a method that didn't replicate the original exactly, but this was intentional. The Android had employed a technology based on 783 parameters, a system from 2024. This technology used a file containing 783 parameters and text-based data for creating artificial memories.

These data were gathered through simple observation of Hirayoshi and reading his notes. A trained AI processed the text and set the neural network's parameters according to the data, creating artificial memories based on an understanding of the texts.

The most important event following the lab's destruction was the loss of control over the copy. With the lab gone, the copy no longer received any orders. All it had left was its memory and personality. From this moment on, the copy acted like the original. It wasn't an exact match, but the differences were so subtle that even an outside observer couldn't tell them apart.

***

Now, back to the present.

The Android and Hirayoshi stood 10 meters apart, the molten metal inching closer.

At that moment, Franklin remembered the last meeting with his clan and, most importantly, his goal.

I must return to my clan the possessions that were captured by the sixth android.

Did I try to fulfill my role well? I think it's enough. There is nothing more for me to do here.

I did not respect my grandfather and father. They did not create anything. They did not achieve anything. They did not fulfill their role.

I went into science to reach a new level.

If I lived hundreds of years, I could ensure the prosperity of the clan. Time would not be a hindrance. Some people are simply unlucky to live when there are more talented people around. Living a long time, you can find a moment when you are better and gain an advantage.

I tried. I am glad that everything happened this way... No.

I always thought that I would survive. And the fact that I was reborn was not accidental. I saved the necessary data and made it impossible to rewrite the parameters, i.e. I would not have become different. I knew that an android that revives people would appear. I myself began to make it. And ensured that it would be finished.

I'm tired... It's time for me to leave.

Forgive me, father. Forgive me, grandfather. I'm still not the same as I was before.

Suddenly, the Android appeared behind Hirayoshi, catching his sword strike with his left arm. Grabbing Hirayoshi's right arm, the Android delivered a kick to his torso, knocking him to the ground.

The Android then tore off Hirayoshi's right arm.

Then his left. Then his right leg. And finally, his left leg, all while standing on Hirayoshi's chest.

Finally, the Android grabbed Hirayoshi's head and ripped it off.

Holding it for a moment, he tossed the head into the molten metal, 8 meters away.

Hirayoshi could no longer regenerate—his lab was gone. This was the end of Hirayoshi.

The Android approached the molten steel and touched it. After a minute, his fingers began to melt.

He reconfigured the nanomachines in his body, creating an optimal design to survive the magma by using air layers as insulation. The idea was to wait for the molten metal to cool and harden, then break his way out.

However, the nanomachines proved inadequate for this task, and the chances of breaking through solidified metal seemed slim.

So, the Android began dismantling his own body. He removed part of his chest and extracted a 20x3 cm block. Moving to a nearby metal cabinet filled with anti-aircraft shells, he spent three minutes disassembling one of the rounds, removing the explosive charge and inserting his block into the casing.

By now, the magma had consumed 80% of the storage facility.

The Android loaded the shell into a howitzer, aimed at the source of the molten metal, and fired.

*Boom.*

The shell tore through the lava, punching through the barrier and out into the open. It soared through the building's roof and landed three kilometers away.

The Android then removed an energy cell from his chest, along with a spare battery. His internal display flashed a message: "60 seconds until shutdown."

Surrounded by encroaching lava, he sat in a chair in the corner of the hangar.

"The research will be completed..." he murmured.

The magma reached his feet. His systems shut down.

The molten metal continued to rise, eventually engulfing the entire floor and slowly consuming his body, which began to melt in the searing heat.

...

The rebels' plan was simple: if the Android's signal was interrupted, the new version would have no knowledge of how the previous one had died, allowing them to eliminate him again in the same way. Of course, using the new location.

Both Deifan and Hirayoshi were aware of the technology that synchronized memory between the body and the resurrection device every ten minutes. This synchronization maintained the continuity of the Android's consciousness.

Up on the orbital station, the Android awoke once more.

He began preparing another landing module.

As he turned slowly toward the observation window, he saw an atomic missile hurtling toward the station.

"Not half bad," he said.

The station exploded in a massive fireball, lighting up the sky.

The explosion was so bright that even a thick layer of clouds couldn't hide it during the day.

The leader of the rebels emerged from his bunker and stood watching the brilliant spectacle in the sky.

#

In the following years, the rebels took control of all regions of Japan.

Only four remaining Androids offered armed resistance, but after a year of battles, humanity prevailed.

In 2108, Japan was fully unified, and Emperor Tamidoyaso was elected as the head of the nation.

Though technological pro

progress slowed compared to the era of the Androids, people managed to restore many cities—something that had never been a priority for the Androids.

...

The year is 2101. Ten years have passed since the defeat of the Original Android.

Meteors orbited the Earth, and among them, tiny fragments of the Android drifted, clinging to the space debris.

One of these meteors, large enough to survive atmospheric entry, crashed in the mountains of Argentina.

The nanobots contained in the Android's fragments had retained the data of his body structure and personality, much like DNA stores genetic information. Unlike DNA, however, the nanobots held not just structural data but also personality and memory.

When the meteorite was discovered, curious locals and researchers chipped off fragments of it.

Some of these nanobots found their way into metal objects, like cars or scrap, and began to replicate.

Over the course of 300 days, on a junkyard, the Android's body was fully restored, along with his memory and personality.

At that moment, someone stumbled upon the reformed Android.

Before the person could react, the Android vanished.

...

The year is 2151.

In a robotics research lab, a scientist in a white coat pressed a button labeled "Execute".

Inside a tube-shaped chamber, with glass panels on the front, stood Hirayoshi.

His eyes opened.

Hirayoshi's revival was made possible by the discovery of a memory block in the mansion where he had been killed by his copy.

Using the same 783-parameter program that had been used to create his copy, the scientist was able to bring him back.

What is the value of identity? Until the immaterial becomes irrelevant, this will always remain a subjective matter.

Hirayoshi learned that the Android had returned to Earth in 2112 but had left the planet 20 years ago on a space station bound for Alpha Centauri.

In a way, as long as a copy of yourself—or even just a being with your purpose—exists, you can never truly be considered dead.

Feeling at peace with everything, Hirayoshi realized that he now had the time for personal growth, something he hadn't experienced before. He reflected on his experiences, concluding that emotions are necessary for life to evolve. Emotions are the motivation, the reason for existence—the link between reflex and emotion. For humanity, the next step is artificial evolution and the elimination of emotions. Emotions are a redundant chain in the process of natural evolution, but artificial evolution can do without them. Hirayoshi's new goal, born from the neural network of his reconstructed self, was to ensure that humans were born with a precise set of objectives. Genetic engineering could make this possible, but it would be even better to create artificial humans with this purpose embedded from the start.

How long would humanity's neural network continue to produce endless suffering? Perhaps only until no member of the old humanity remained.

And so, this story came to an end.

File 117: The End.