Funeral Overture

Tawell opened a Holographic Projection in midair and watched the dazzling stream of images and data rapidly refresh across it. In a less than optimistic tone, she said, "This is the conclusion reached after repeated tests. Mi Liya's information throughput is not unlimited. The Vengeance Legion's Shadow Space and the real world together contain the equivalent information volume of two worlds, and Mi Liya must coordinate the information correspondence between both worlds every second to prevent the passage from collapsing. In this state, her designed lifespan is only forty-eight hours. Beyond that limit, her information flow will cease... There are two reasons for this. The first is the limitation of her inherent functions. Perhaps we can mitigate that somewhat by linking her with Bubble. The second is a command embedded in her most fundamental scripts. That command was left behind when Mi Liya was first placed in her container. It limits that girl's operational lifespan. We have exhausted every method, yet we cannot delete it. One could even say that Mi Liya's existence is founded upon that command. It cannot be revoked."

Sandora frowned, seemingly lost in thought, while I asked in exasperation, "What does that mean? Did the Vengeance Legion create Mi Liya back then just to make her a disposable item that could only work for forty-eight hours?!"

"A Jun, let Tawell finish." Sandora lightly touched my arm and reminded me in a low voice.

Tawell nodded. "I am afraid so, Your Majesty. This conforms to the Old Empire's way of thinking, because we never wasted resources, nor would we leave our enemies an opening to exploit. If our previous speculation is correct, Mi Liya was actually a key the Vengeance Legion left for their Queen. In other words, under normal circumstances, Mi Liya should have thought like