The underground laboratory.
Sellen placed the Doll on a specially made analysis table.
Horace reached out and pressed his hand against the Doll's forehead.
Hajiwo's hair was quite silky...
His perception reached deeper.
He "saw" the forcibly fused remnants of dozens of shattered consciousnesses flowing within the Doll.
And those complex feelings... mingled with longing, dependence, resentment, and pain.
"So that's it... the remnants of consciousness from failed experiments gathered in this vessel and gave her life."
Sellen leaned closer too.
"This phenomenon is extremely rare. It would probably take many similar souls to..."
She suddenly stopped.
She suddenly remembered her own experiments. Similar souls... of course they were similar. They were all split off from Sellen herself.
Sellen's face slowly drained of color.
She finally understood exactly why this Doll had been born.
The "dead" from seventy-eight failures were demanding answers from her, their "mother" and "executioner."
Just then, the Doll suddenly stopped her futile struggling.
She turned her head and looked straight at Sellen:
"You made us, then abandoned us."
"You gave us the possibility of existence, then declared that possibility a mistake."
"You let us feel the longing to be born, then made us taste the despair of being denied that chance."
There was no fluctuation of emotion in the Doll's voice, but every word pierced Sellen's heart like an icicle.
"Sellen..."
"'Our' creator, 'our' destroyer, one of 'us.'"
"What are you making?"
"What are you pursuing?"
"What have you gained in exchange for our 'deaths'?"
The laboratory fell deathly silent.
Horace slowly turned his head to look at Sellen.
Sellen opened her mouth, wanting to explain, wanting to say, "These are all necessary sacrifices," wanting to say, "I'm pursuing the truth of True Magic," wanting to say, "I haven't hurt anyone. I only used copies of