In truth, as Linde gradually calmed down, the anxiety in his heart slowly faded.
He had suddenly remembered that if his future self could travel back into the past, that meant he would, at the very least, still be alive and well in this universe.
At that thought, the tension gripping Linde's heart instantly eased, and his mood became light and cheerful.
"...I'm certain there must be some way to reload. Then all the monsters who were killed can come back to life!" Linde said, his gaze firm.
Hearing Linde's words, the worried Frisk felt something stir. That made sense!
If Linde was right, then perhaps their predicament was not entirely hopeless.
With that thought, the gloom hanging over Frisk's heart gradually lifted, and their mood improved considerably.
Just then, Linde willed it into being. With a slight wave of his hands, magic slowly flowed from his palms.
As the magic gathered and intertwined, a distinctively styled game console materialized before them. Linde smiled faintly and said to Frisk, "Come on, let's relax a little!" They exchanged smiles, then sat down together in front of the console and began playing enthusiastically. Soon, laughter filled the entire space, as though all their earlier worries had vanished into thin air.
"Ha, you two sure have it easy." Flowey suddenly popped out.
Linde seemed completely unguarded around Flowey. "Want to play with us?"
Flowey shook his head. "Not interested... Hey! What are you doing?! Don't think I'll give up on taking your souls just because of that guy!"
"Oh," the two children replied flatly, barely paying him any attention.
Linde: (• _ •)
Frisk: (-_-)
Flowey: ╰(‵□′)╯
"Instead of thinking about that, why not think about how you'll absorb the Six Human Souls after Asgore loses?" Linde waved a hand.
Flowey sounded rather resigned. "That's probably not happening anymore. Asgore should win. He's already prepared to absorb those six souls."
Linde was surprised to hear that. Did Asgore not know the souls might rebel? Or could it be...
"Heh heh heh... Maybe it'll be an interesting fight..." Linde chuckled, then turned back and froze. "Damn it! Frisk! That's dirty! You attacked me while I wasn't looking!"
"Tch, you're the one who got distracted... Hahahahahahaha, stop... I'm sorry, I'm sorry... Stop tickling... It tickles... Hahaha..."
Watching the two carefree children, Flowey's face twitched. Finally, he burrowed back into the ground in resignation.
Mettaton flew into the air. Countless bombs exploded, spreading clouds of smoke and dust that obscured Ye Yu's vision.
As a robot unaffected by killing intent, Mettaton was less tense in battle and could therefore unleash her attacks more freely.
Several small drones flew out from behind her, firing powerful lasers at Ye Yu.
Ye Yu twisted aside with ghostlike speed. The lasers grazed past him, leaving scorched black streaks across the ground behind him.
Seeing this, Mettaton swiftly adjusted her tactics. The drones scattered into a formation that surrounded Ye Yu.
At the same time, she unleashed her full firepower, activating her various weapon systems. Dense energy beams poured down like a torrential rain.
Yet Ye Yu handled the storm of attacks with ease.
His figure moved like a phantom, weaving freely through the gaps between the energy beams.
Every movement was perfectly timed, as though he could predict the attacks' trajectories.
Even so, Mettaton's assault did not stop.
Her metal casing began shifting, revealing concealed weapon bays. Rows of missiles screamed toward Ye Yu.
The explosions instantly lit up the entire battlefield, sending massive shock waves in every direction.
External injury HP -5
The powerful impact finally forced Ye Yu back several steps, but he quickly steadied himself. His eyes still held not a trace of fear or hesitation.
Ye Yu began his counterattack.
With a sweep of his hands, two black waves of energy shot from his palms straight toward the drone formation.
A series of explosions rang out. The drones instantly became balls of fire and fell from the sky.
Weapon reserves depleted...
Mettaton did not panic. She increased her energy output, her entire body radiating dazzling light like a blazing meteor.
She dove toward Ye Yu, preparing to attack at close range.
Ye Yu darted forward, heading straight toward Mettaton.
Just before they collided, Ye Yu sidestepped her charge and drove a vicious kick into her side.
The clang of striking metal rang through the sky. The kick knocked Mettaton off course, but she quickly corrected herself and lunged at Ye Yu again.
They plunged into fierce close-quarters combat, every collision sending countless sparks flying.
With her immense strength, agile movements, and sturdy defenses, Mettaton fought Ye Yu to a standstill.
HP -1 HP -1 HP -1
But Ye Yu's mechanically precise attacks and defenses gradually gave him the upper hand.
Seizing an opening, Ye Yu fooled Mettaton with a feint of his long blade, then punched her directly in the core.
Mettaton let out a mechanical whine, and the light radiating from her body dimmed considerably.
But Mettaton did not give up. Ignoring the alarms blaring from her core, she launched another frenzied assault.
However, Ye Yu was simply too powerful. He easily neutralized all of Mettaton's attacks and dealt her even heavier blows.
As the battle continued, the damage to Mettaton's body accumulated, and her movements grew increasingly sluggish.
Ye Yu, meanwhile, remained alive. His attacks became ever more vicious, giving Mettaton no chance to catch her breath.
Finally, one full-force attack from Ye Yu sent Mettaton flying. She slammed into the ground, throwing up a cloud of dust.
Ye Yu slowly approached the fallen Mettaton.
Mettaton struggled to stand and continue fighting, but her body was too badly damaged to support her any longer.
With the last of her strength, Mettaton said, "Your heart has been blinded by killing intent, but... Alphys said... even without a soul... you wouldn't... completely lose... your emotions..."
Ye Yu gave no answer. He merely raised his blade and sent a red slash of energy toward Mettaton.
But Mettaton suddenly smiled, and her self-destruct sequence activated at once!
Mettaton vanished in the brilliant light, and silence returned to the battlefield.
LOVE increased to 19. Current HP: 0.0000000001.
The power of Ye Yu's determination healed his injuries, and he soon regained consciousness.
He turned and left, leaving a devastated battlefield behind him.
His steps held no hesitation, as though this battle had been utterly insignificant to him, even though he had already died several times.
The battlefield lay deathly still after the fighting. The wind swept through, stirring clouds of smoke and dust.
Ye Yu's figure receded into the distance and disappeared into the depths of the darkness.
Among the ruins, the remaining machine parts flickered faintly, as though trying to say something...
Ye Yu strolled through the streets of the Royal Capital, gravel crunching sharply beneath his feet.
Suddenly, a group of mechanical guards rushed out of the shadows and surrounded him.
They were other robots Alphys had created. Unlike Mettaton, they had no souls, but they were still intelligent.
"Today is the day you die!" the robot leading them shouted.
Expressionless, Ye Yu darted forward, instantly appearing before one robot and slicing it apart with a single stroke.
The other robots immediately launched their attacks.
Laser beams, energy balls, and all manner of weapons came flying toward Ye Yu.
Unhurried, Ye Yu swung his long blade and easily blocked every attack.
He moved among the robots like a ghost, bringing one down with every strike.
Though the robots resisted bravely, the gap between their strength and Ye Yu's was enormous.
Before long, the ground was littered with robot wreckage. Ye Yu brushed the dust off himself and continued forward.
"We've collected... almost enough data," Alphys said, standing before the screen and watching Ye Yu coldly. She turned toward Gaster. "Gaster, let's begin. Mettaton, your sacrifice won't be in vain."
"Sans? What are you doing?" Papyrus stopped Sans as he was about to leave. "Undyne told us to stay inside and try not to let him find us."
Sans shook his head and gave his trademark grin. "Oh, I'm going to get some fries."
Papyrus was a little speechless. "At a time like this... Never mind. Go ahead."
"Yeah." Sans nodded and walked out the door. He had just sensed the presence of karma, which meant he could now judge Ye Yu.
For something like this, sooner was better than later. If Ye Yu's LOVE rose further without his karma getting any heavier, he would be stronger and harder to fight.
Sans did not want Linde making fun of him later because Ye Yu had killed him in one hit.
Yes, he was not worried about being killed, because he had met the future Linde.
Still, he had to go through the motions.
After wandering the streets for a while, Ye Yu sensed Sans's presence and went to stand before him.
"Oh, there you are... You know, I know you're going to win, but to avoid getting laughed at by a certain someone, I finally decided to face you sooner."
Sans shrugged helplessly. "Honestly, I can't be bothered to fight anyone, but... since you've already killed so many monsters, I might as well go through the motions."
"What a beautiful day it is today... Birds are singing, flowers are blooming. On days like these... hey, sneak attack!"
Suddenly, a force slammed Ye Yu straight into the ground. Several bones rose from beneath him and pierced right through his body.
One light hit killed Ye Yu outright.
Even Sans seemed not to have expected this, and he froze for a moment.
The reason was that Sans's attack was one, but that was his magic attack. What he was using now was a physical attack.
As everyone knew, ATK and MAT were not comparable, and neither were DEF and MDF.
(ATK: physical attack, MAT: magic attack, DEF: physical defense, MDF: magic defense)
Increasing LOVE greatly boosted ATK and MDF. Simply put, humans used physical attacks against monsters, while monsters used magic attacks against humans, so both the human's offense and defense were strong.
The problem was that Ye Yu's DEF had barely increased. He was still fragile.
Even though his HP had risen, the amount of HP he lost from a single attack had also risen.
After all, Sans's bones had pierced straight through Ye Yu. No matter how low their attack stat was, their lethality as physical weapons was unquestionably fatal.
Ye Yu immediately reset.
When Ye Yu returned after reloading once more, Sans had lost his memory of their previous battle. He only had a vague feeling that the scene before him was familiar.
Naturally, he understood what that meant. Suddenly, he felt like letting someone else fight instead. He did not want to do this anymore.
This is exhausting.
Sans stepped into the empty square, expressionless. "Looks like I've already killed you once, huh?"
He stood facing Ye Yu, and the battle erupted instantly.
The familiar gravity manipulation. The familiar bones.
This time, Ye Yu leaped sharply and dodged.
Sans's gaze sharpened. A massive Gaster Blaster appeared beside him and instantly fired a powerful laser. Ye Yu fell again.
Reload.
Sans repeated the same attacks as before.
White and blue bone barrages intertwined into a net, while the Gaster Blaster kept firing lasers at Ye Yu.
Finally, Ye Yu found an opening, rushed toward Sans, and swung his blade...
Sans shifted slightly aside, dodging the slash. A bone then pierced straight through Ye Yu.
"Your blood is red too. Why are you so different from them...?"
Reload.
Through repeated reloads, Ye Yu grew more practiced and gradually worked out Sans's attack patterns.
Although Sans's attacks remained fierce, Ye Yu handled them with increasing composure.
"Forget it..." Sans did not want to say much either. Talking consumed stamina, after all.
Sans's assault suddenly grew far more powerful. Caught off guard, Ye Yu died among the bones again.
Thirty-two times. He was about to match his death count against Undyne.
A few beads of sweat had begun trickling down Sans's forehead, so he decided to use the Spell Card that had floated over to him not long ago.
[Ice Sign · Icefall · Diamond Storm · Modified]
Icefall was one of Cirno's classic Spell Cards that required no dodging. Our wicked Linde had added a little extra to it, and, as luck would have it, that included bullets specifically targeting its safe spots.
Combined with the integrated Diamond Storm, this Spell Card's barrage could even rival that of some stage-six bosses.
Facing the sky full of ice spikes, even Sans could not help marveling at how much magic had been stored in it. Linde really was terrifying.
These ice spikes were even denser than the Spear Rain Undyne had summoned earlier!
The surrounding temperature plunged, freezing the sweat on Sans's forehead. Countless ice spikes shot toward Ye Yu at Sans's command.
Ye Yu's bullet-dodging instincts had improved enormously, but this barrage was simply too dense. There was almost nowhere to hide.
Fortunately, at that very moment, the Subsystem awakened.
Before you continue