"Why… why is this happening? Why were we created, exactly…?"
A2 held her head and sat on a chair. Because of her considerable weight, Takatsuki had specially prepared a metal chair for her.
Mei sat next to A2 and patted A2's shoulder, wanting to comfort her, but she didn't know what to say.
"Takatsuki, do we have a way to save them?"
Although this world had nothing to do with them, after knowing this tragedy, how could Mei just stand by?
"Yes, you can."
In fact, after determining where this world was, Takatsuki already had an idea.
After a brief conversation with A2 just now, A2 believed that Takatsuki and Mei were humans, but she still couldn't believe the truth. However, everything she had experienced proved that Takatsuki was telling the truth.
"No, my existence has meaning. As long as humans exist, I can fight to protect them."
A2 seemed to have understood something and looked up at Takatsuki and Mei.
"Is that enough, A2?"
A2 looked up at Takatsuki with some confusion.
Before she could react, a mechanical-looking katana pierced through her body.
"Wh—"
Looking down at the katana piercing her body, A2 tried to pull it out, but for some reason, she couldn't control her body at all.
"Takatsuki, can this save them?"
Mei watched this scene. Although she couldn't understand it, out of trust in Takatsuki, Mei didn't question his actions.
Although it seemed unreasonable, up until now, had there been few unreasonable things about Takatsuki?
"Yes, this sword is called Jizo Mitama. It's a Divine Key made from the core of the Herrscher of Corruption, possessing the ability to corrupt. Although corrupting reality is possible, its strongest point is corrupting machines and data."
"Herrscher of Corruption?"
Mei heard a familiar name. She remembered that fox-like entity she encountered in Theresa's Stigmata space.
"That's right, it's that fox-like entity you encountered. It was a contingency left by the Previous Era. After it gave up resistance, it was made into a Divine Key. Then Yae Sakura threw this sword out, and Hestia picked it up and gave it to me."
Takatsuki looked at A2, who was lying on the ground, and tightly gripped the hilt of the sword still embedded in her.
"The underlying logic of the YoRHa Units all have backdoors left by Android, and their underlying logic also has significant problems. This is one of the roots of the tragedy. Using the power of the Herrscher of Corruption, I changed all of these."
This was Takatsuki's first time using the power of Jizo Mitama, and he wasn't very familiar with it. After using A2 as an experimental subject, Takatsuki gradually mastered this power.
"Alright."
Putting away Jizo Mitama from A2's body, Takatsuki looked at A2, who was lying on the ground, opening her eyes and gasping for breath.
"A2, how do you feel?"
As Takatsuki spoke, A2 climbed up from the ground, looked at her palms, and clenched her fists.
"I feel great, Master Takatsuki."
Seeing A2's reaction, Mei approached Takatsuki with some concern.
"Takatsuki, did you completely control her will?"
Although she knew that the A2 in front of her was just an artificial robot made to imitate humans, she still felt it was somewhat inhumane.
"Master Mei, Master Takatsuki did not tamper with my will or memories. He merely released the restrictions that were originally on me, and… A2's current allegiance."
Before Takatsuki could answer, A2 had already replied.
"That's right. I patched up all the original backdoors on A2. And, I changed the original underlying logic of Androids, which was to protect humans, to obeying our two commands."
Takatsuki looked at A2: "However, you are currently a wanted person, and your connection to the Bunker has been severed. For now, live with Mei and me for a while, and wait for other YoRHa Unit members connected to the Bunker network to arrive."
"Understood, Master Takatsuki."
A2 bowed to Takatsuki.
"No need to be so formal, A2. Just be casual. Setting your underlying logic to obey Mei and me is just to prevent you from overthinking."
Takatsuki knew that the robots in this world tended to overthink. Although this setting couldn't guarantee complete safety, it was better than the original mindless protection of humans.
"Yes."
A2 looked at the young man in front of her. According to the calculations of her internal computer, she should be angry at such a crude action, but both the outcome of the event and her underlying logic prevented her from getting angry.
"Takatsuki, is this enough? Changing their underlying logic isn't enough, is it?"
Mei looked at Takatsuki.
"Of course not enough, Mei. Do you think that in our world, the current human resistance against Honkai is sufficient?"
"Huh?"
Mei didn't expect Takatsuki to suddenly ask this question and thought for a moment.
"If everyone could unite, there shouldn't be a problem, right?"
"Yes, but the key point now is that although those organizations are acting to fight Honkai, everyone's methods are different, which leads to everyone being unable to unite when facing Honkai."
He looked at A2, who was standing nearby.
"So, if this world doesn't value the YoRHa Units, then I will take them away."
"Take them away…"
Mei hadn't expected Takatsuki's ambition to be so great. She had only wanted to know if it was possible to save these Androids who were born for destruction.
"Yes, Androids are not living beings after all, so they can be put into the Gate of Babylon. At worst, they can temporarily enter slumber. Can this be done, A2?"
A2 nodded from the side: "YoRHa Units regularly back up data. Even if the physical body is discarded, as long as the backup data remains, it can be restored at any time."
"A2, what were you originally planning to do?"
A2: "Originally, I planned to observe Master Takatsuki and Master Mei's lives, and eliminate the machine lifeforms in the forest, and their Forest King."
"Observe…"
Mei spoke awkwardly when she heard this word. She remembered feeling like something was watching her recently, but she couldn't find anything.
These Androids were dead objects after all. Although they felt a gaze, neither Observation Haki nor aura sensing could detect them. Only intuition could sense them, making the two of them think it was an illusion.
"Observation? And you came out because of what I said today? How long have you been observing, and what have you observed?"
Takatsuki thought of the reason why A2 appeared so coincidentally; it turned out she hadn't just appeared by chance, but had been there all along.
"Observed for 139 hours."
Hadn't that been almost a week of observation?
"That long? What have you observed?"
"Observed that Mei and Takatsuki's daily routines are very stable. They need to eat at regular intervals and will enter the house to rest, making strange sounds."
At first, she listened perfectly, but the last sentence made Mei's face flush completely.
"What were you eavesdropping on?!"