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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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“Oracle Project activation beginning. Synchronization rate… 100%.”
Isaac Oppenheim, who had gone up to the control room, announced with a bitter voice.
Arwen slowly approached the machine.
She stood right in front of it, closed her eyes, and remained silent.
This was truly the end.
Although everything was tinged with regret, the last thing that came to mind was that she hadn’t been able to see Luthers’s face one last time.
She couldn’t do it, knowing that Luthers would be in pain if she went to him.
It was the reason she hadn’t apologized in any way since regaining her memories.
Even if she tried to convey her true feelings now, it would only hold Luthers back.
Whoosh.
The cradle of Imperial technology that had been dormant for months slowly opened its mouth.
It had a seat large enough for one person to fit inside.
She had done something unforgivable.
She had knowingly blinded herself and covered her ears.
She did it because he was always the one who accepted her.
The disappointment was proportional to the size of their love and trust, and the wound carved into her heart was just as fatal.
Her vision blurred and tears welled up in her eyes.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
She called out desperately, but she couldn’t reach him.
This too was nothing but greed.
Wanting to meet him, wanting to love him again, wanting to be held in his arms, wanting to smile and have dinner together again.
Sharing breaths, celebrating anniversaries, exchanging silly jokes even on the battlefield.
She yearned for it all so much that it ached.
It constricted her heart, and the fragments of those memories tore her entire body to shreds.
You said it yourself.
Let’s have a relationship that benefits each other.
We’re nothing but poison to each other now.
Just remembering made her vision blur and her breath catch.
It was a deadly poison that rotted your organs and burned your brain every time you tasted it.
She knew aswell that Luthers wasn’t the kind of person who would say such things.
That he foolishly always trusted his lovers, and despite not being able to take care of himself, he leaped into danger without hesitation.
That was why she decided.
This life that was already ruined, in the flow of time spanning hundreds of years, she’d save the one person who had been her only support.
I love you.
I love you, Luthers.
That was all she could say.
She’d admit all of her mistakes, and acknowledge her stubbornness.
‘It’s okay if you don’t come back. No, I hope you don’t come back.’
I want you to be happy.
I want you to live a new life with someone new.
Arwen’s lover, Luthers Edan, was buried in that gloomy fortress resembling a tombstone the moment humanity’s victory was announced.
Now, the only Luthers Edan left in this world was the legendary war hero who would live on, saving the entire world and receiving everyone’s blessings and love.
She slowly bowed her head and lay down inside the machine.
“Participant secured.”
An electronic helmet for connecting to the server was placed over Arwen’s head.
Finally, her vision went dark.
What appeared at the end was a pair of blue eyes flickering in the pitch-black darkness.
My beloved, Luthers.
Please be well and forget someone like me completely.
It was Arwen’s final farewell.
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“How long until the project is complete?”
“30 seconds, sir.”
“That’s enough.”
The President nodded as he watched the capsule close and red light emanate from the massive quantum computer.
Just 30 seconds.
That was the terrifying aspect of Oracle.
It could show futures branching out in countless directions years ahead in just 30 seconds.
Even if the tide of war had turned, if he could glimpse just one future where he would be victorious.
If he could peek at that future, he would have a good chance even against that mad god of war.
“What happens to that woman then?”
Reinhard Himmler, standing by the President’s side, asked.
“…At minimum, death.”
“That just means she dies, doesn’t it?”
“Is there anything else to dying? She’ll either burn to death, have her brain fried, or have her body disintegrated at the atomic level to become part of the machine.”
“…”
Reinhard bit his lip.
While there was an ugly sense of regret hidden beneath, Director Isaac, unaware of this fact, finally burst out in frustration.
“Didn’t I tell you! A 100% synchronization rate is impossible!”
“And what does that matter?”
“Pardon?”
“What meaning does an Empire without me have?”
President Mikhail’s eyes settled coldly.
The director felt as if his breath was caught in his throat.
He had vaguely known it before, but today his true nature was laid bare.
This man should never be allowed to possess the Empire.
“……”
Isaac’s hands trembled.
Perhaps shooting this man dead right here… might be the path for this Empire to finally find peace.
Countless thoughts were sinking into his mind when suddenly.
Beeeeeep!!
Boom!
An ear-splitting alarm rang throughout the facility and the lights began to flicker.
“This is!!”
He hurriedly checked the status of the Oracle Project.
The quantum computer was fine, but the problem was that control of the system had been completely hijacked.
The hanging lights all sparked at once and lost their light and heavy steel shutters came down over the control room windows overlooking Oracle.
The defense system had activated on its own.
“Isaac!! What have you done?!”
Something was terribly wrong.
Isaac’s pupils shook at the President’s shout.
While all systems were being forcibly shut down and the entire facility was ceasing operation, only the Oracle Project was running at maximum output.
-It’s alright. This is something I must do. To dedicate my life for his victory.
“Arwen… could it be…?!”
“You son of a bitch!!”
Bang!!
The bullet fired from the President’s pistol accurately pierced Isaac’s chest.
He collapsed to the floor without even uttering a scream.
[Emergency power cut notice from the control room. Currently, control authority over the facility is being rapidly released. All staff currently in the facility are requested to evacuate quickly. Once again, control authority over the facility is currently…]
The President’s face turned pale at the urgent announcement blaring throughout the facility.
“These fucking bastards!!”
He didn’t know what had been done but he instinctively realized that the one responsible for bringing the facility to this state was none other than Arwen Orka.
Bang bang!! Bang! Bang! Clang!!
No matter how much he beat on or shot at the glass window blocked by the massive steel shield, there was no response.
The President collapsed to the floor, exhausted.
“Ha, haha… hahaha… I see, it’s greed, is it? You’re saying you absolutely won’t hand it over?”
“Mr. President.”
Reinhard swallowed hard.
He had risen to the position of Chief of Military Police with the President’s trust, and held a standing no less than other high-ranking generals with the rank of brigadier general.
That was why he already knew to some extent the ugly side that the President had kept tightly concealed.
“Reinhard, you should know well. How much I… how much I’ve devoted myself to this godforsaken country!”
“Sir, you need to calm down first. It’s not over yet. Rather, when dawn breaks, we can drive out those rebel bastards with the citizens! In the meantime, we can suppress them with the true loyalists from the west and south, and those who don’t join the damned reactionaries…!!”
“Hahaha!! Even the great Reinhard is spouting such nonsense now. Isn’t that right? Those so-called loyalists are the very ones I personally threw into that detention camp, what loyalists?”
The President’s plan had been too dangerous.
Especially to the point of naturally incurring the resentment of those who had fought against the Titans solely for their ‘country and families’, not for anything else.
He had carried out military reduction and reforms over the past few months to forcibly seize control and authority over the military.
Most of the generals and capable field-grade officers had retired, and those who remained were either relegated to remote posts or thrown into detention camps on ridiculous pretexts.
The outcome had been determined from the moment they failed to take initial action.
“It’s not the Empire that’s great, it’s me. The one who saved it from the brink of national extinction was none other than me!! And I… I who was going to enlighten those hopelessly foolish foreign countries…!!”
Mikhail Bismarck pulled out a small communication device from his pocket.
An ominous and crudely made black communicator.
“Y-Your Excellency!!!”
“Are you thinking of opposing me too? You disgusting sex offender. You’re finished.”
As the President pressed the button on the terminal with bloodshot eyes.
Along with a chillingly calm voice, In the northeastern part of the capital Hoenbaren, the Titans that had been dormant underground in the Armaments Bureau all simultaneously awoke from their slumber.
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