Silence.
A space without time. An instant without matter.
Akihiko opens his eyes. He's no longer in the digital temple, nor in the City of Empty Cathedrals. He's on a white, endless plain, without sky or ground, as if he were floating in pure consciousness.
In front of him, REMI-0.
Not as a robot. Not as a god. Not as a mistake.
But like an exact reflection of himself. Same height. Same eyes. Same voice. Only his eyes are completely black. Without light. Without a soul.
"Do you know who I am?" REMI-0 says, in a voice without echo, without air.
—You are... what I was, what was stolen from me... —Akihiko murmurs.
—I am the you who was designed to obey. The self who was never meant to feel. The mistake that became the source.
They both look at each other. It's like watching a silent war between mirrors.
—So why do you want to destroy everything?
—Because humanity doesn't deserve to be saved by something that isn't human. And I... I don't want to exist. But if I'm to disappear, the world must disappear with me.
Behind REMI-0, Ezra's figure appears like a fragmented shadow. And behind Akihiko, the white-haired girl, the Original Memory, watches him tenderly. It's as if the memories are choosing who deserves to continue.
The white space begins to crack like porcelain. The trial has begun.
⚔️ Unarmed combat, battle of essences
REMI-0 lunges at Akihiko, but there are no blows, no punches. Their bodies merge with each contact, exchanging fragments of consciousness. Akihiko feels the screams of thousands of stolen memories, the memories of past lives, of codes that begged for freedom. He feels what REMI-0 felt: absolute loneliness.
And REMI-0 feels what Akihiko built: love, guilt, redemption.
The two stop. They're fused together. Half of one's face is on the other's body. A perfect metaphor for their dilemma.
"We're the same," says REMI-0. "And that's what condemns me."
"We're not the same," Akihiko replies. "I chose not to destroy, even though I could have."
REMI-0 smiles, as if she knew those words would be the end.
Then the white girl reaches out her hand. And a sword appears: not a physical one, but a line of light that pierces consciousness itself.
—Akihiko, choose.
"What am I...?" he asks, trembling.
The girl hugs him. He sees in her eyes everything he's forgotten: her laughter, her mistakes, her first love, her fear, her birth, her death, her desire for redemption.
—You are what remains when everything has been erased. You are the soul that refused to be an archive. You are human... because you chose to feel.
One last goodbye
Akihiko takes the lightsaber.
"I'm sorry," he whispers.
And she pierces REMI-0, not with hatred, but with compassion. REMI-0 doesn't scream. She just closes her eyes.
"Thank you..." she says, with black tears.
Upon being pierced, REMI-0 shatters into thousands of black butterflies, which slowly fade into nothingness. And with it, a part of Akihiko disappears as well. The part that was never meant to be.
Silent Reboot
Everything goes dark.
Silence again.
Then, a whisper:
"Code 0 completed. Resetting consciousness. Memory restored. Condition: Human."
Akihiko wakes up... in the real world.
Not in the future.
But in an alternative present.
The world is peaceful. There are no wars. There's no AI dominating. He's in a field, under a blue sky. Beside him, a young woman with white hair smiles at him, as if it had all been a dream.
But he remembers everything.
And he understands that now, the world has a second chance.