Chapter 7:Analysis Complete!

"Cough... hack..."

She was defeated, her spirit broken. But the battle had been too short. My analysis of her Angel, Haniel, was not yet complete. I needed more data.

Natsumi's glamor flickered and died.

The stunning, mature woman I had been fighting was gone. In her place, sprawled amidst the wreckage, was a small, green-haired girl, crying her eyes out.

"Hic... uwaaaah..."

Her pathetic sobs were the only sound in the ruined storefront.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

The sound of my footsteps on the tiled floor was a steady, remorseless metronome counting down her final moments. I stopped directly in front of her. No matter how wretched she looked, my face remained a mask of cold, impassive observation.

I could see her small body trembling violently. I had become her personal boogeyman, a waking nightmare of cold steel and emotionless eyes. The image of me would be prime material for her future terrors.

Good. That meant she wouldn't try anything foolish.

Satisfied that she was no longer a threat, I allowed Sandalphon to dematerialize. Beating up a child, even a super-powered one, felt... distasteful. But Natsumi's deep-seated insecurities and defensive personality made a direct, overwhelming assault the most efficient path to my goal.

She lay there, utterly defeated. Her energy was spent, her body aching. She had no strength left to run.

Is this... how I die? she thought, her mind spiraling. She had heard of the special forces who hunted Spirits, who sought to kill them without question. 

This robot must be their creation, a purpose-built killer. In that context, the unprovoked attack made perfect, terrifying sense.

Resigned to her fate, Natsumi squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for the final blow.

...Ten seconds passed.

...Twenty.

Huh?

The expected pain never came. All she felt was the throbbing of the gash on her side and the ragged sound of her own panicked breathing. Cautiously, she cracked open an eyelid.

My glowing, mechanical eyes were staring right at her.

An awkward, heavy silence descended between us.

It was broken by my voice.

"Analysis complete."

...Eh? Analysis?

Natsumi had no idea what that meant. But then she saw it.

" Endo Armament: Activate "

Golden light swirled in the air beside me.

" Pseudo-Endo: Haniel "

The light condensed, solidified, and then faded, revealing an object she knew with soul-deep familiarity.

Her eyes shot wide open. Ignoring the searing pain in her side, she pushed herself into a sitting position. 

There, in my hands, was a perfect replica of her own Angel a witch's broom adorned with a star-shaped pendant. Her world, already cracked, shattered completely.

"Ahaha... this has to be a dream, right?" she muttered, a broken, hysterical giggle escaping her lips.

And with that, Natsumi's consciousness fled from reality, and she slumped to the floor, unconscious.

….

Looking at the passed-out child at my feet, I felt a flicker of something akin to responsibility. I was, after all, the direct cause of her current predicament. 

With my objective achieved, a simple clean-up operation was in order.

My sensors indicated the AST units were about to breach the building. I knew their protocol: neutralize the Spirit, by any means necessary. I couldn't, in good conscience, leave a helpless Natsumi to their tender mercies.

By the time the AST fireteams stormed the department store, all they found were signs of a fierce battle, and nothing more.

My own database contained no medical knowledge, no restorative armaments. Looking at the numerous cuts and bruises on Natsumi's small frame, I felt a genuine pang of guilt. 

To be so self-conscious despite being so naturally cute... bullying and neglect truly are devastating, I mused.

Downloading the entirety of human medical knowledge was, for an Ex-Machina, a trivial task. 

Where a human brain might forget or misremember details under pressure, my memory was flawless. 

The only way I could atone for my actions was to treat her injuries.

The spacequake alarm had yet to be lifted; the streets were still deserted. I carried Natsumi to a nearby hospital, easily bypassing its security systems. 

I gathered the necessary supplies and expertly cleaned and dressed her wounds. Her Spirit physiology would handle the rest.

With Natsumi resting safely in a hospital bed, I finally turned my attention to my prize.

" Endo Armament: Activate "

" Pseudo-Endo: Haniel "

The witch's broom materialized in my hand. It felt strange, imbued with a whimsical power totally alien to my own logical nature.

Holding the broom, I aimed the star-shaped tip at my own body.

And activated its power.

….

A wave of shimmering, multicolored light washed over me.

And just like that, the machine was gone.

The seams vanished. The cold, lifeless synth-skin warmed into soft, breathing flesh. My face, once an expressionless mask, suddenly felt alive with a thousand dormant muscles. I could smile. I could frown. My eyes, no longer metallic gold but a warm, brilliant amber, darted around the empty hospital room, full of a newfound vibrancy.

To any observer, I was now a perfectly normal, ridiculously cute human girl. The dead-eyed automaton was gone, replaced by a living, breathing person.

Of course, it was only a cosmetic change.

Beneath this new "skin," I was still an Ex-Machina. This transformation was just a shell, a highly advanced layer of camouflage.

I pinched my own cheek, feeling the soft, pliable flesh. "Is this the limit...?" I murmured, a thoughtful frown creasing my new brow.

The result was a significant deviation from my initial calculations. My replicated Pseudo-Haniel was a pale imitation of the original. Natsumi's true Angel could fundamentally rewrite matter, turning organic into inorganic, permanently altering a target's species. My version was... less ambitious.

It was a sophisticated, high-resolution hologram projected directly onto my body. It felt real, looked real, and even mimicked biological functions. I could sustain damage to this "flesh," even have a vital organ "destroyed," and it wouldn't affect my core mechanical functions. The illusion would simply repair itself.

However, there was a major drawback. To maintain this human form, Pseudo-Haniel had to be constantly active. And if I were to deploy any of my other armaments Sandalphon, for instance the sudden surge of power would "shatter" the illusion, instantly reverting me to my true form. The human skin couldn't contain the raw power of an Ex-Machina's weaponry.

Still, it was better than nothing. My native optical camouflage was a mere trick of the light. This was a true physical disguise. I could walk the streets without fear of discovery.

I willed Pseudo-Haniel to change its form. The broom dissolved into motes of light and reformed as a simple, star-shaped hairpin, which I clipped into my hair. A convenient, wearable form for my new favorite tool.

"So," I mused, a small, genuine smile gracing my lips for the first time. "I'm a VTuber now."

The thought was amusing. Tossing away any lingering disappointment, I focused on the positive. This was freedom.

Now, what to do with it?

….

Several Days Later:-

I was sipping a cup of bubble tea, watching a rather amusing scene unfold. A young couple was having a very public, very one-sided argument.

The purple-haired girl was pointing an accusatory finger directly at me, her expression one of righteous fury. The blue-haired boy was desperately trying to pull her away.

"It's you! What are you doing here?!" she yelled.

"Tohka, what's gotten into you?" the boy, Shido, pleaded.

He turned to me with an apologetic grin, completely outmatched by his girlfriend's strength. "I'm so sorry about this! She must have mistaken you for someone else!"

"No, Shido, you have to believe me! It's her! The one from that day!"

Their commotion was drawing a crowd. I could feel the weight of their stares. Shido looked like he wanted the ground to swallow him whole. 

He knew exactly who Tohka was talking about, but looking at me a small, harmless-looking girl he couldn't connect the dots. How could this child be that terrifying robot?

"Hey, what do you think is going on?" a bystander whispered to her friend, not nearly quiet enough.

"A lover's quarrel, maybe?"

"Wow, that guy's a creep. The girl looks like she's still in middle school. He looks so innocent, but he's a total predator."

"Should we call the police?"

Shido heard every word. I could practically see his soul leaving his body. If embarrassment were a physical force, he would have been crushed into a singularity.

I, of course, heard them too. My new face remained perfectly neutral, a feat of immense emotional control. 

Internally, however, I was reveling in his misery. 

The initial annoyance of being spotted by Tohka had evaporated, replaced by pure, unadulterated schadenfreude.

This is priceless.

I had to temporarily disengage my facial expression emulators, lest I break into uncontrollable laughter.

Finally, with a Herculean effort, Shido managed to drag the protesting Tohka away, ending the spectacle. 

What happened to them next was none of my concern. This little encounter had provided me with a day's worth of entertainment, but it was just a detour.

I finished my bubble tea. With a casual flick of my wrist, I sent the empty cup flying in a perfect parabolic arc. It landed squarely in a public trash bin ten meters away with a satisfying thunk.

A few teenage boys nearby who witnessed the feat let out impressed whoops and cheers.