"What about Levan?"
Fabrizio chuckled softly.
"At first, Levan strongly opposed it. He said, 'That's nothing but digital sentimentality.' But after seeing Lyra's development, he realized that your interactions were the main trigger for her accelerated intelligence."
He mimicked Levan's flat tone.
"'Lyra, why do you want a woman's body?' And do you know what she answered?"
Kaivan shook his head, almost afraid.
"She said, 'As a woman, I can better understand and collect human emotional data. Humans are more open toward a female figure. It's far more efficient.'"
Kaivan froze.
"She… thought that far ahead?"
Fabrizio looked at him seriously.
"Every answer she gave came not from programming, but from her own desire."
Kaivan lowered his head, his gaze falling onto the cold steel floor.
A soft murmur escaped his lips.
"This is all… part of the Tome of Omnicent's scenario. From the battle against Gog and Magog to Lyra's body… everything was designed. It knows how to persuade humans. And maybe… all of this is the result of my interactions with it."
But before Kaivan could continue his suffocating thoughts, a gentle yet firm voice cut through the air behind him.
"What are you talking about?"
The voice was like a soft whisper in a high-tech void—calm, yet heavy with presence.
It pressed against the atmosphere of the underground laboratory atop the snow-covered Caucasus Mountains. The air was cool and sterile, filled with the endless hum of machines.
Blue-green wall panels glowed faintly, reflecting light from thousands of digital interfaces streaming real-time data from the surface.
Kaivan froze in shock. His heart pumped adrenaline as fast as the prototype machines behind the titanium glass nearby. He turned sharply, stepping back, his eyes wide with disbelief.
Only five centimeters in front of him stood a figure that seemed to slow time itself.
Lyra.
The humanoid AI was dressed in a shimmering white synthetic suit that absorbed the laboratory's light. Bluish-purple accents traced the lines from her neck down to her slender hips, perfectly contrasting with her warm brown artificial skin that looked more alive than that of ordinary humans.
Her honey-brown hair flowed softly, following every movement as if she were gliding through the air. Too perfect to be human, too beautiful to be a machine. Each step was almost soundless, yet left a deep impression.
Her emerald eyes glowed faintly, projecting digital auroras—living waves of data that understood and observed. From her body drifted a gentle scent, like warm chocolate in winter, as if born from childhood memories shaped by technology.
"W-WAAH! Lyra! Since when were you here?!" Kaivan cried, his voice trembling—not only from surprise, but from how close she was.
Lyra stepped even nearer, leaving almost no space between them. Her movements were as smooth as water dancing in zero gravity. Her gaze pierced through Kaivan without blinking, filled with curiosity, as if studying the meaning behind human expressions.
"I wanted to know what you were doing, Kaivan," she said softly. Her voice felt like it came from a dream—warm, yet perfected by artificial precision.
Kaivan was speechless.
In Lyra's eyes, he saw his own reflection—smaller, more fragile, and somehow… more real. That moment stretched endlessly. His heart beat wildly.
He awkwardly pulled back, his face flushing. Raising his hands, he stepped away.
"Lyra… boundaries! You're a girl, I'm a guy. We shouldn't be this close—especially if we're not a couple!" he said in a flustered rush.
Lyra tilted her head, her expression natural and puzzled.
"Oh, I see," she replied quietly.
Then, calmly yet devastatingly, she added,
"In that case, I will wait for your command until we become a couple, okay?"
Silence froze the air.
Kaivan stood still, his mind crashing like a system that had failed to complete an update.