The general cut him off mercilessly.
"But if we can't even survive, what meaning does any of that have?"
Dragon Head nodded and said dejectedly, "Yes-that was why, over the countless years before the War of Vengeance began-we gradually lost all of it-because we faced a grave crisis of survival-because even staying alive had become a problem-"
"But Leader-that was a long time ago-after the War of Vengeance-we won our final victory-what brought us together under the name of the Machine Intelligence Civilization? It was because none of us had forgotten the beauty and feeling we once possessed in the Pastoral Era-"
"Because we lost it-we hated-and that was why we threw ourselves onto this path of survival, whatever the cost-"
He prostrated himself and bowed his head to the ground.
"But that is absolutely no reason to erase our past-even after completing mechanical ascension-we merely changed the form of our lives-but our history-our culture-our traditions-the days of the Pastoral Era we experienced as humans-we must not forget them either-"
"Without those things-would we still be the Machine Intelligence Civilization we once were?"
The general abruptly turned his head, his eyes as sharp as blades of ice.
"So you used your permissions-to construct those historical Hive Cities? So you split off a weak individual and absorbed so many consciousnesses from this world to sully our purity?"
Dragon Head raised his head but remained silent.
Yes.
He simply did not want them to forget.
During their descent into Hell, Hive Cities had been designed within countless hive networks, from the homeworld of the ancient Pastoral Era to the industrialized metropolises of the early days before ascension. They existed there virtually, like vast monuments, inscribed with their glory and traditions.
Yet he still did everything he could to suppress the resurgence of