BAD ENDING 001: Slave Walker Sonia 5
"Sonia. Can you hear me?"
Far from the bustling heart of Sky City, deep in the mountains where an armored unit lay hidden in secrecy, massive metal legs ground forward with a mechanical din.
Perched casually atop the cold metal back of a Slave Walker set to autonomous mode, Peko directed a light question down toward the control unit below.
She had called the name of the girl who had once been a D-class hero of Sky City—Sonia—but from inside the Slave Walker came only the intermittent creak of fine servo motors. The answer she expected never arrived.
The silence was proof of perfect control, yet Peko did not skip the verification procedure. She discarded the personal address and called again, this time by the official designation.
"Slave Walker Unit. Report current status."
"…Yes. Master. At present, Slave Unit Sonia is in the process of memorizing Slave Walker operational protocols."
It was unmistakably Sonia's voice, yet the tone was hard and stripped of every trace of emotion, as if it belonged to someone else entirely.
Confirming that only the necessary information had returned with precision, Peko allowed herself a satisfied expression. She lay back comfortably against the cold metal plating, gazed up at the blue night sky, and began organizing in her mind the tasks she would need to handle the moment they arrived at the armored unit.
"Yes. Master."
At that same moment, inside the cramped, dark interior of the Slave Walker, Sonia was undergoing the final stage of her modification. What had begun as a meeting of pure goodwill had passed through the calming film tape affixed to her forehead and irresistible pleasure-pulse conditioning, culminating at last in the dreadful yet ecstatic result of a control crystal boring into her brow and fusing with her brain.
The melted nanomachine crystal was rewriting Sonia's mind from its foundations—slowly, and with absolute certainty.
Sonia's will no longer existed. Cold robotic arms forced her eyelids open and locked them in place, and into those eyes poured a blinding white light without pause. The flashes pecked at her beautiful golden irises as if torturing them.
> Recall the memories of successfully carrying out missions with Master as a Slave Walker.
> A combat weapon unit that moves perfectly according to Master's controls. That is you. A Slave Walker Unit.
> Repeat. What are you to Master?
(I am Master's combat weapon unit… Slave Walker…)
Permanent command imprinting. It was the process of driving the absolute rules of a Slave Walker deep into the already docile Walker Unit's mind, forever erasing every other possibility.
At the same time, it was the final finishing work that carved her identity as a Slave Walker Unit even more firmly into place, pushing her performance to its absolute limit.
Ordinarily it was a process that demanded considerable experience and time, but Sonia was astonishingly docile and suggestible—and she even already possessed the experience of a successful mission. There was no difficulty whatsoever in engraving the permanent command imprint.
> You are Master's Slave Walker Unit, but Master did not make you into a mere combat component. Isn't that right?
> You are a helpless Slave Walker Unit that can do nothing without Master—yet for the sake of mission performance, Sonia's memories were left intact, weren't they?
> Then you are not simply a Slave Walker Unit. What are you to Master? Slave Walker Unit Sonia?
(I am… Slave Walker Unit… Sonia… a Slave Walker Unit mounted in the Slave Walker that receives Master's controls…)
At the system's leading questions, Sonia's lips moved mechanically.
"I am Slave Walker Unit Sonia. My Master is Lady Peko. I am a Slave Walker Unit that moves according to Lady Peko's instructions."
Every time she gave a correct answer as a Slave Walker Unit, an intense pleasure pulse—set by Peko's reward protocol—surged through Sonia's body.
The control core unit buried deep in her womb vibrated violently, detonating a nerve-scorching ecstasy, yet Sonia did not so much as flinch. As if proving she was becoming an ever more perfect component, she finished her report as Master's Walker Unit without once letting the pleasure disorder her composure.
The Sky City girl named Sonia was no longer here. In her place existed only the high-performance masochist Slave Walker Unit with the lush E-cup bust that Peko had been fortunate enough to acquire.
> Does Master cherish Slave Walker Unit Sonia? How can you know?
> During a successful mission, did Master cause Slave Walker Unit Sonia pain or injury? Answer. Slave Walker Sonia.
"Nooo… Master protected me… controlled me… safelyyy…♡ Master, who controls helpless me… it is a Slave Walker Unit's duty to always obey Masterrr…"
Her voice trembled faintly with the afterglow of pleasure, but the content of her answer did not deviate by so much as a hair.
> Correct. Slave Walker Unit. Then I will begin the procedure to upgrade your performance so you can serve Master even better.
> Open your mind just as it is, for the performance upgrade of a better Slave Walker Sonia.
(For Master… upgrade… a better Slave Walker Unit… a good Sonia… can give everything for Master…!)
Guided by the calm voice flowing from the built-in speaker, Sonia laid down every last scrap of resistance and opened her mind wide.
She had received neither official uniform processing, nor a base equipment code, nor even the engraved initials of a dedicated pilot—yet already, deep in her heart, only the image of Peko in her black military uniform, controller in hand, had taken firm root.
> How do you feel right now, Sonia?
"…"
> What is your emotional state? Slave Walker Unit Sonia?
"Yes. Right now I feel truly happy. Happy to be receiving an upgrade as Master's Slave Unit… opening my mind… a floating, drifting feeling… is what it isss…"
> Pupil dilation: MAXIMUM confirmed.
> Just as you are, repeat the sentences appearing before your eyes as if inserting them into your open mind.
> To become a better Slave Walker Unit, repeat the sentences you see and engrave them into your heart.
> To become Master's eternal Slave Walker Unit, engrave the sentences you see into your heart.
"Understooddd… I will forever remember the sentences I see inside my hearttt…♡"
Flash-flash! Against Sonia's bare eyes, stripped of their protective lenses, intense strobes sharp enough to sting the backs of her retinas erupted, firing rapidly moving sentences into her vision.
They moved at a speed Sonia could only just follow if she concentrated with everything she had—yet the system tracked the motion of her eyeballs with precision and matched the pace perfectly. Letters made of light began to be carved directly into her brain and soul through her golden irises.
Engraving absolute obedience protocols…
Upon the pure white marble of Sonia's mind, permanent commands that could never be erased were carved one by one. Once inscribed, each command defined her very existence—a ritual of eternal farewell to every other possibility.
(A perfect Slave Walker is a Slave Walker that moves according to Master's instructions…)
"I am a Slave Walker who always trusts Master."
She turned each sentence over in her mind, understood it completely, and accepted it as her own truth before finally speaking it aloud.
And every time, without fail, the reward of pleasure was granted. The closer the Slave Walker drew to its destination, the more violently the control core inserted in her lower abdomen moved, and the accelerated metabolism helped the mind-control nanomachines that had seeped in through her forehead settle deeper and faster into her brain.
"I am a Slave Walker who always obeys and submits to Master…"
"Making Master happy is my highest purpose of existence and my happinessss…"
"A subhuman Slave Walker Unit. A Slave Walker always behaves politely toward all people."
"Slave Walker Unit Sonia reports all thoughts and emotions to Master after mission completion. She does not lie to or deceive Master."
"…And finally, Slave Walker Unit Sonia is Lady Peko's exclusive Slave Walker Unit who loves Master's commands and finds happiness in being controlled. From this moment on, I remember every command and always repeatt…♡"
With that final vow, her mind completed its perfect tuning.
Her original personality and intelligence remained intact, but beneath it all a new operating system of absolute obedience had been installed.
(I am Master's perfect Slave Walker Unit. Sonia.)
Sonia, "upgraded" to voluntarily carry out Master's instructions and to feel the highest joy in surrender.
Around the time her senses fully synchronized with the Slave Walker, the machine's movement came to a halt.
Master Peko, who had been riding on top, hopped lightly down, and opening the unit's side hatch did not take long at all.
"Hey there. Our ace, Peko! Sorry about this—there wasn't a single hero or adventurer available on that end. Once the request came all the way to us, we didn't have a choice."
A woman in a mechanic's uniform, who had been watching the approaching four-legged weapon's movements with an expert's evaluating eye, came forward to greet Peko. A thick smell of oil clung to her.
The Slave Walker armored unit deep in the mountains on the outskirts of Sky City. Thanks to Peko's advance notice, the base staff had been waiting for her. Peko dismounted the Walker lightly.
"You're restoring my leave properly, right? Haa… Take care of Milli first."
Strictly speaking, Milli was registered with the unit as both "goods" and "equipment"—a Slave Walker Unit. Peko set her younger sister down with care, but the mechanic hoisted Milli up with the casual disregard one might show actual equipment.
"Of course we will! Take a long trip next weekend. Milli? Ah. Aaaah. She 'passed out' 'again'? Well, since you never believe me when I explain it in words, Peko, I'll have to run another exam and show you with images while I explain. Right? Just hand her over already. I can't look at anything until you give her to me."
"Please."
"Well, it's my job, so of course… But… Milli here is completely out cold. Not so much as a twitch… Hey…"
Peko handed her younger sister Milli—sealed in a plastic bag—over to the mechanic who had come out to meet her. Having finished in the same breath both her demand for compensation for performing an emergency mission during leave and her request that her Slave Walker Unit be inspected, Peko found a sharp question leveled at her by the mechanic.
"How exactly did you pilot your way all the way out here, Peko?"