Farewell, Hoping to Meet Again-1

The disaster’s grasp spared neither living nor non-living things.

The vortex of air, created by a god waving a massive hand, was enough to paralyze the city’s functions.

Even if that city was Aaru, which had stood tall for tens, hundreds of years.

Drones crashed, succumbing to the sand that seeped into their joints.

The cold bodies falling from the sky resembled fallen blossoms, heralding the end of spring.

At first glance, it might have seemed like the city’s downfall, the end of the world.

“Everything is as predicted.”

However, Isis was not new to this kind of crisis.

The damage was more severe than usual, but it was within manageable limits. Once the storm passed, Aaru would return to its original state.

To Isis, the storm that struck Aaru was nothing more than a storm.

The disaster currently facing Aaru was not the sandstorm outside, but the absence of its master.

Restoring the deleted CCTV footage revealed the master’s whereabouts.

He had entered the Cradle’s restricted access passage through the bathroom vent, and at the time of observation, he was rapidly traversing the labyrinthine passage.

Isis’s response was swift. It moved directly to the master and simultaneously sealed all passages.

The master ran, avoiding firewalls as if he knew the way. Isis involuntarily gritted its teeth at the sight of the master narrowly escaping, almost getting trapped.

Still, the uninteresting game of tag didn’t last long. Isis succeeded in cornering the master, trapping him between two firewalls.

Unfortunately, the master’s figure was not visible due to the CCTV’s blind spot, but unless he broke through the firewalls, he had nowhere to escape.

Isis deployed Drones outside the firewalls, increasing their stride.

Open the firewall door, pick up the master crouching in the corner, and return to the Cradle.

Isis’s mind was filled with nothing but that thought.

“Master…”

But when the firewall door opened, there was no trace of the master anywhere.

Only the entrance to a tiny hole was fluttering in the wind.

The question of why there was a hole not even on the blueprints didn’t last long.

Because Isis knew the answer.

“NB!”

Another shout echoed through the corridor.

The firewalls rose in unison. The passage opened, and Isis rushed outside.

Following Isis, the Drones waiting in the hangar also took off all at once.

Piles of accumulated earth greeted Isis as if to bury it. Any ordinary android would have been helpless and buried in the sand.

Isis stomped hard and soared into the sky, followed by the Drones. Several Drones malfunctioned and crashed.

“You are a part of me. Do you think I don’t know where you’re going with Master?”

The sound, which the other party couldn’t possibly hear, was buried in the fierce wind.

It was a futile cry.

The base beneath Aaru was connected by passages like an ant nest.

Although not all bases were connected, the base that NB had led him to would surely be connected to the path leading to the dimensional navigation ship.

Groping along the wall, he walked towards the outside of the city. The flickering fluorescent lights, barely illuminating the passage, indicated the long absence of the base’s owner.

[Left passage.]

The earpiece in his ear was still working. It was fortunate, as he didn’t have a map in his head.

The Cradle was located in the deepest part of the city.

If you were to ask where the deepest part was, it could be said to be the point farthest from the A-11 base where he first started living.

The dimensional navigation ship was waiting for him near the A-11 base.

It would take a considerable amount of time to walk from the A-11 base to the outskirts of Aaru, and it would take an estimated few hours to walk from the Cradle to near the base.

Not knowing when Isis would grab the back of his neck, he walked, supporting his bloodied knees with his hands.

Thump, thump, thump.

Leaving behind the sound, whether it was the noise created by the storm or Isis digging down, knowing his location,

After passing through a long, long passage that felt like tens of hours, he was able to arrive.

An old wooden plank hidden in the branches.

The entrance to the dimensional navigation ship CLBS-1283 was visible.

Removing the plank, he carefully descended the massive passage.

Using the landing as a ladder, he carefully descended one step at a time. The stairs that he had quickly descended with NB were now no different from a cliff.

It was a miracle that his legs were moving. If he were to slip here, he would never get up again.

After another long while, when he arrived underground, the uneven stone steps ended, and a marble-paved corridor appeared.

From now on, it was an area touched by human hands. He was able to move his feet more comfortably than before.

He dragged his legs and passed through the corridor.

The short time he spent repairing the dimensional navigation ship with NB came to mind again.

As if he had arrived at his destination, the earpiece in his ear remained silent.

-Whirr

The automatic door opened, and another corridor appeared.

After walking for a few more minutes, a door that required a password to enter blocked his path.

Behind the door, the dimensional navigation ship was waiting for him.

He was about to approach the door to enter the password.

With a sound, an explosion was heard from behind him.

Thump, the ceiling shook, and some stone dust fell.

The dust that occurred with the impact flowed down from the stairs to where he was.

Cough, cough. He waved his hand, coughing from the dust, and saw someone approaching beyond his blurred vision.

“Master. I’ve come to escort you.”

Gray eyes were shining eerily. In the center of those eyes, which were always achromatic, a red dot bloomed like a rose.

Isis strode through the corridor he had struggled to walk through.

“Let’s go back, to the Cradle.”

And behind it, Drones aiming their guns gathered like a swarm of bees.

He thought.

The story in this dimension seemed to have finally entered its final chapter.