The Last Volley
The dots densely packed across the radar display filled the entire panel, making it immediately obvious just how enormous the number was.
‘As expected, without external equipment the precision is low, so calculating an exact count is difficult. But even accounting for the margin of error, there appear to be around five thousand within a three-kilometer radius.’
“Five thousand still left?”
‘No, that includes the corpses. If we count the ones showing no movement as dead, roughly three thousand remain.’
“That’s still disgustingly many.”
I shot the head of a lizard charging straight at me, killing it instantly, then shouted toward my brother.
“Oppa! Within a three-kilometer radius, five thousand total—two thousand dead, roughly three thousand still alive!”
“What? How do you know that?”
“My body has a built-in radar function.”
“You really do love reminding me you’re an android at the most random moments. Still, good work! I’ll go tell the soldiers!”
My brother yelled back and sprinted toward the command vehicle.
“Three thousand… still disgustingly many! But at least we can see the end now. That’s something!”
“Ah, Ruya. Could you pass me that unused rifle?”
“Here you go!”
I took Ruya’s rifle as well, mounting both weapons against the trench parapet and gripping one in each hand. Two separate targeting reticles immediately appeared on my HUD.
‘Firing both at once might be manageable for processing power, but recoil control will be difficult.’
‘I won’t be firing in sustained bursts, and since this body is a cybernetic frame, it should be fine.’
I began killing two lizards at a time, aligning each gun with the predicted impact points shown in their respective reticles. Controlling the recoil was indeed challenging, but my enhanced strength and flexibility allowed me to manage it somehow.
“Nya. I’ll help with reloading, nya.”
“Ah, thank you.”
Charlotte had been shooting diligently in her own way, but with little success. She came over to assist me with reloading while I continued dual-wielding. Thanks to the ammunition crates stocked inside the trench and the spare magazines issued to each person, we had a considerable amount of ammo. My one-shot-one-kill marksmanship began thinning the lizard horde at a rapid pace.
Soon, a voice announcing the enemy count boomed from the loudspeakers, helping to bolster the allies’ flagging morale. The situation was still overwhelmingly outnumbered and casualties continued to mount, but the knowledge that the end was in sight had a tremendous psychological effect.
“The end is in sight! Everyone hold on!”
“Just kill these bastards and let’s get out of here!”
“Die, you sons of bitches!”
The mountain of lizard corpses was obstructing long-range attacks, causing more of the creatures to press right up to the trenches. However, the hunters—whose specialty had always been close-quarters combat—prevented them from breaching the line.
The corpse pile acted as an obstacle that funneled the lizards closer, but it hampered them just as much. The volume of incoming bullets had decreased dramatically, giving the hunters greater freedom of movement.
Kiiieek!
I kicked away a lizard whose waist had been severed in a scream, then immediately brought my blade down on the next one’s skull. I focused on intercepting the creatures swarming toward my brother, who stood at the center of the melee.
‘My field of view is too obstructed.’
‘I’ll reactivate the radar once more.’
‘Go ahead.’
My body froze again as my skin prickled with static. The display that reappeared was packed with overlapping dots forming a dense circle, with scattered points beyond its perimeter.
‘Oh? These ones are actually retreating. About a thousand have disappeared.’
‘Then how many are left?’
‘At most a hundred? We’ve practically wiped them out.’
‘In that case, it might be best to take to the air and finish off the rest.’
‘Hmm, I wouldn’t recommend it, but if you want to end this quickly, that would work.’
I first informed my brother of the current situation. Covered head to toe in lizard blood, he wiped his forehead, nodded, and spoke to Charlotte.
“Go report the situation!”
“Nya!”
Charlotte, her face smudged with gunpowder from changing magazines beside me, dashed off quickly. Ruya, who had exhausted all her arrows and was now awkwardly firing a borrowed rifle, grumbled.
“Uwaaang~ If I’d known this would happen, I would’ve brought the spirits!”
“Wouldn’t this battlefield be rather unsuitable for the spirits to witness? It’s a mess of blood and flesh.”
The battlefield, littered with blood and gore, hardly seemed like a peaceful sight for the gentle hearts of elementals. With those words, I gathered the few remaining magazines, picked up a single rifle, and unfurled my wings. After a few experimental flaps to loosen them, I soared into the sky.
Rising swiftly, I looked down to see lizards attempting to climb over the mountain of corpses. I took aim and began firing. As I methodically picked them off one by one, the hunters below spotted me hovering in the air. They looked up, pointing and shouting something.
‘They’ll be able to see my panties from down there.’
‘Who cares if a little panties show?’
There was no particular problem with a doll showing her underwear to humans. Besides, it wasn’t even underwear—it was part of my armor.
‘Well, Miss does have a slight exhibitionist tendency.’
‘Ehh, it’s less exhibitionism and more that I simply don’t see any issue with people looking at a doll’s body.’
‘Normal dolls don’t even have such thoughts in the first place, you know? You’re just rationalizing that Miss enjoys exposure.’
‘Is that so…’
If the Owner who knew me better than I knew myself said so, then it must be true. So I was an exhibitionist. Come to think of it, ever since the time I was one with Kyubey, exposure had felt completely natural. After we separated, it lessened somewhat, but the lack of any real aversion to it suggested I truly did have those tendencies.
‘As expected, Elisa knows me well.’
‘Do you have any idea how many times I analyzed your memory data? It would be strange if I didn’t know. Still, it’s fortunate that it’s only at the level of having no aversion. If you actually enjoyed it, that would have been troublesome.’
‘Enjoying exposure is probably more Kyubey’s thing.’
Even when she came out to greet us on our journey, she had worn an outrageously revealing outfit that exposed nearly her entire body.
‘What would you have done if I enjoyed exposure as much as Kyubey?’
‘I would have modified that part of the memory data while converting you into a doll. I don’t particularly like vulgarity that enjoys exposure.’
‘Um… have you made many changes like that?’
‘Aside from the modifications necessary to turn you into a doll, only minor adjustments. I tried to preserve Miss’s personality as much as possible, so I avoided touching anything major. I simply cleaned and organized the data to make it neat.’
‘I can’t really tell.’
Honestly, I couldn’t even tell whether my memories had been altered.
‘Since I replaced the original memory data entirely with updated versions each time, you wouldn’t be able to feel it. The current Miss is a new personality created based on the memory data I modified from an original copy.’
‘Huh? You didn’t just edit it?’
‘Tampering with the original is not advisable. Even if problems arise, I have Miss’s original data backed up, so it can be restored at any time.’
‘Heh, so it’s like Ria’s condition.’
Ria also had a separate original person, with an AI created from memories transplanted into an android body. It seemed similar to me. No—since I existed as only one being while Ria had a separate original, perhaps it was technically different?
‘Then if you transplanted either the original data or my current data into another body, would that make two of me?’
‘Technically yes, but there’s no reason to do so. The angel doll known as Miss holds value precisely because she exists as a single unique being. If there were multiples, what would distinguish you from mass-produced common dolls? The original data is merely a backup for emergencies.’
‘Hmm… is that so? I think it would be nice if many people could use and enjoy me.’
Publicly I was Elisa’s property doll, and privately I was my brother’s younger sister and a member of the family, so being used by others was unlikely. But if there were multiples, perhaps that problem could be solved. It seemed a waste for only one completed angel doll like me to exist.
‘Don’t say such things. The premium of being the one and only is incredibly valuable. If you keep talking like that, I’ll modify you, so never think such thoughts again. Understood?’
‘Okay. I won’t.’
Elisa’s will seemed far too strong for any possibility of that happening. I pushed the topic out of my mind and focused solely on shooting again.
‘Guns seem much better than I thought. I’d like to get a good one.’
‘When we return to Eden, I’ll make you a good one. Compared to the level of scientific advancement on Earth, firearms here are terribly outdated.’
‘Maybe it’s because they’re military issue and they have to consider unit cost?’
‘That could be part of it. Besides, Korea is a country with strict firearm restrictions, so civilians can’t even buy guns.’
While conversing with Elisa, I continued firing for some time. When I swapped out the magazine and looked around, no more moving lizards were visible. It seemed the area had been cleared. I descended to the ground, landed, folded my wings, and approached my brother, who was shaking blood off his sword.
Charlotte and Ruya had gathered beside him.
“I don’t see any living lizards anymore. It looks like we’ve killed them all.”
“Really? Whew, it’s finally over.”
“Good grief, we’ve been fighting nonstop for over six hours.”
“Are we going back now, nya?”
“They said we’ll depart as soon as the wounded are tended to and preparations are complete.”
Ekaterina approached, wiping her blood-splattered face with a handkerchief, and answered.
My brother examined the four of us and asked, “None of you are hurt anywhere, right?”
“I’m fine.”
“Other than my nose stinging from the smell, I’m okay, nya.”
“I was focused on treating the wounded in the rear.”
“I’m perfectly fine too.”
At our answers, my brother broke into a bright smile.
“Good. As expected of my women. Now let’s get ready and return home safely.”
“Yes, my husband.”
Together with the hunters and soldiers cleaning up the battlefield, we hurried to prepare for departure. There was no telling when the lizards might swarm again, so we had to move quickly. Even so, the dokkaebi hunters, covered in blood, were cackling as they chopped off lizard tails to collect, while the hunters who had opposed retreating were frantically searching the corpses for anything valuable.
It was hardly a pleasant sight, and everyone frowned, but the urgent priority was withdrawal. So we silently hastened our preparations.