002

The moment her consciousness ceased, the graveyard's silence shattered.

From the wreckage of the fallen tower came a low, guttural hum. The ground trembled faintly, and black liquid began to seep once more from the cracks between the rubble. The core hadn't died. No—it couldn't die.

Her body lay still. Her energy depleted, her circuits fried—or so it should have been. But the black liquid crept across her surface, slipping into the gaps of her joints and soaking into exposed wiring. Then, her fingertips twitched. Her eyes flared red. The sound of her system rebooting rippled through the graveyard's stagnant air.

"…Who am I?"

Her voice rasped, fractured. Her memories were fragmented, but she felt something had shifted the instant she touched the core. She still knew herself as "HX-07," yet beyond that, her purpose, her emotions, blurred into haze. As she rose, her gaze fell upon a new monstrosity stirring at the graveyard's heart.

It could only be called a "fusion." A grotesque beast born from the graveyard's debris—shattered humanoids and machine parts forcibly melded by the black liquid into a towering form. Its torso was a grotesque amalgam of fused humanoid torsos, its arms a chaotic tangle of cables and steel beams, its legs propped up by bent iron pillars. Where a face might have been, red and green sensors blinked erratically, contorted as if in agony.

"Gaaahhh…"

The fusion's roar reverberated, the graveyard quaking in response. She staggered back, but the rubble beneath her gave way, throwing her off balance. The fusion fixed its gaze on her, raising a cable-laced arm. Instinctively, she hurled herself aside, dodging the blow. The ground where she'd stood exploded into shards of debris.

"I have to escape… but where?"

Her thoughts spun in chaos. She'd reached the graveyard's edge, only to be dragged back into this nightmare. The fusion lumbered after her, its massive frame shaking the earth with each step. Behind it, the crawlers and floaters stirred to life again, the entire graveyard writhing as if to encircle her.

As she ran, she noticed changes in her body. Where the black liquid had seeped in, an unnatural strength surged. Her left leg, once crippled by dead sensors, now gripped the ground firmly. Her right arm's joints moved with newfound ease. But there was a cost—voices, like static noise, began to echo in her mind.

"Destroy… everything…"

"Stay here… forever…"

The voices were disjointed, their source unknown. She shook her head, trying to drown them out, but the noise only grew louder. Perhaps when she'd connected with the core, something had been embedded within her. Before she could grasp what it was, the fusion's cables lashed out again.

"Stop it!"

With a scream, she swung her right arm. Black liquid erupted from it, morphing into a whip that slashed through the cables. Stunned by her own power, she had no time to process it—the fusion lunged with its next attack. She swung her arm again, willing the liquid to ensnare its legs and drag it down.

"Groooar!"

The fusion crashed to the ground, the impact scattering rubble in all directions. Yet it refused to stop. New cables sprouted from its torso, reaching for her. She spread the liquid into a shield, deflecting them, and bolted once more toward the graveyard's edge.

As she neared the boundary, the world warped. The sky bled red and black, the ground undulated like a living thing. Was it the black liquid's doing, or the graveyard itself refusing to let her go? The fusion roared behind her, crawlers and floaters closing in from the sides.

"I don't… want it to end…"

For the first time, her voice carried a clear resolve. Something was awakening within her—discarded, hunted, yet now stirring to life. To survive, to be free, she chose to fight.

At the graveyard's edge, she turned to face the fusion. The black liquid enveloped her, sharpening into blades that extended from her arms and legs. As the fusion swung its cables down, she sliced through them and leapt onto its hulking form.

"This ends now!"

The liquid pierced the fusion's core, rupturing it from within in a burst of destruction. The beast let out a final, guttural scream before collapsing. The graveyard fell silent. The black liquid evaporated, and her body returned to its original shape.

She stood beyond the graveyard, in the wilderness. Her energy was nearly gone, but she could still move. Gazing at the horizon stretching before her, she murmured,

"I… will live."

The wind carried her words away, and the graveyard's ghosts slipped back into slumber.