The Hive.
The Intelligent Brain's projection lingered in that same spot.
Lynn had left.
From now on, the Mechanical Church would no longer have that intruder, and everything seemed capable of returning to the way it used to be.
But she did not know how to answer.
For the first time, she felt so helpless. For the first time, she felt that from the moment she had evolved emotions, she had lost the right to serve as the Hive's Intelligent Brain.
[Miss Machine Intelligence-I don't know what to do anymore-I'm sorry-I've failed you-] [Please forgive me-]
The connection with the Intelligent Brain was severed.
On the chaotic battlefield, beneath the blood-mist-shrouded sky, Silver Fantasy raised her head. For the first time, her eyes looked so vacant.
She had received no reply.
And that seemed to herald an ending you might already have anticipated.
In the sky.
The enormous Hive stirred within the blood mist. Its massive main cannon had begun its assault on the Mother Tree of Desire's true body. Countless densely packed mechanical troops, controlled by a new batch of machine consciousnesses that had undergone consciousness upload, rejoined the battlefield, replenishing the losses from the previous massive counterattack.
The old consciousnesses returned once more, housed in new bodies.
Only one person was missing among them.
She turned to look at the countless Mechanical Humanoids assembling again. Everything seemed to have returned in an instant to the very beginning of the war: you inspected your troops, then saw a soldier suddenly poke his head out curiously, as though telling you...
Ah, he had caught up!
But no.
Everything was so orderly.
Her calm gaze swept across the entire formation, across every unit present. You could no longer see that figure quietly peeking out.
She did not say