Kiyoatsu groaned and held his head. He looked around the room, his human eye widening as his gaze rested on the two people standing over him.

 

“Surprised Query: Mom? Kiyosuke?”

 

Tears filled Bin’s eyes and she leapt for the boy, wrapping him in a hug. Kiyosuke made a bitter face, but then took a deep breath and joined in. At this point, Nana released the seal on Kiyoatsu.

The boy slowly returned the embrace, a tear welling up in his human eye as well.

Everyone else glanced at each other.

 

“What happened?”

 

Nana and Saydaa looked at each other and nodded.

 

“Elise?”

 

“Elise.”

 

Chronolock groaned and held her head.

 

Great.

 

Just great.

 

That stupid bot was never going to let this go, was she?

 

---

 

A pair of NSLICE autonomous bots pushed Elise out of the broadcasting station. She was still seated in her chair, rotating about in half circles and humming.

Dr. Iwalani, Admiral Faulkner, and the Necrosaurus approached her.

 

“Smug Observation: This unit believes Resistance leaders have something to say?”

 

The Necrosaurus rubbed the back of his head while Admiral Faulkner groaned and held his forehead.

 

“I’m sorry. We were wrong about you. And thank you. You saved us, saved everything.”

 

“Humble Boast: All in a day’s work for this unit. This unit did not even need to leave her chair, in fact. This unit has a request, however.”

 

The Necrosaurus nodded.

 

“It’s clear you’ve earned that much, what is it?”

 

NSLICE-83NS flew from the tower, landing in front of the group.

 

“Request: Treat all NSLICE units as people, and include them as equal partners in all negotiations regarding future administration of Serenia and other Concordat territory.”

 

The three Resistance leaders glanced at each other. Dr. Iwalani smiled and nodded. Admiral Faulkner heaved a sigh but nodded as well. The Necrosaurus turned back to Elise and held out his hand.

 

“You have a deal.”

 

Elise looked over at 83NS, who stepped forward and shook the Necrosaurus’s hand in her place.

 

“Cooperative Statement: This unit looks forward to working with you.”

 

“...likewise.”

 

---

 

Roxanne, Aurora Legion, and Nemesis made their way to the Mental Unifier facility, sans Kiyosuke who was still with his family. Icy Falcon, Adrianni, and the other Resistance fighters had taken Mr. Dapper Tiger into custody, and were currently combing the facility for other Concordat personnel.

Though at that point the NSLICE units had already taken it upon themselves to do that job for them.

In any case, that meant the group had a small window of opportunity to access the Mental Unifier before the Resistance arrived to secure and dismantle it.

As they opened the door, their eyes widened slightly before they sighed. Chronolock held her forehead.

 

“I knew it…”

 

NSLICE-00P Beta’s robotic eye was glowing. A holographic projection of Elise waited in the air, still sitting in her chair.

 

“Smug Greeting: Hello noobs, it is nice that you have decided to join these units. However, this unit regrets to inform you that all the work has already been completed. By this unit. Alone. While sitting in this chair, in fact. This unit is curious as to what the noobs were doing in the meantime.”

 

Chronolock grit her teeth.

Arvid chuckled and shook his head.

 

“Excellent work as always, friend Elise. Your assistance was most timely.”

 

“Gratitude: Thank you. This unit commends friendly Arvid for managing to protect the noobs.”

 

Chronolock rubbed her temples.

 

“Can we just get on with it?”

 

With that, 00P Beta guided Roxanne to the Mental Unifier, helping her hook up to the device. Roxanne took a deep breath.

 

The Mental Unifier began to spin once more, sending another surge across the world…

 

Roxanne’s brow furrowed as she focused.

 

She grunted.

 

Then she frowned.

 

She grunted some more.

 

The furrows on her brow deepened.

 

And then eventually…

 

The Mental Unifier slowed down, coming to a stop.

 

Roxanne stood completely still. Wonder Knight tilted his head.

 

“Roxanne, everything all right?”

 

She slowly turned around.

 

Her eyes were as wide as they could go, trembling slightly.

 

“Roxanne…what is it?”

 

“He’s not here…”

 

“What was that?”

 

Her whole body started to tremble as well.

 

“I said he’s not here.”

 

“What?!”

 

“He’s not here. He’s not anywhere on the Earth. He’s not in even a single person’s memories. I even tried to reach out into the Solar System.”

 

“Roxanne…what are you saying?”

 

“The guy you’re looking for, the guy in your memories…doesn’t exist on this planet.”

 

---

 

The team was resting in a break room in complete silence, after a long talk with the Resistance leaders about the unauthorized activation of the Mental Unifier. The Resistance only agreed to let it go due to Elise being solely responsible for their victory in the first place.

But to be honest, the team could not recall a single word that was spoken to them after that.

The door opened up, and Elise made her way into the room, along with Beta.

Everyone looked at her, hopeful smiles starting to form.

 

“Disappointed Update: This unit has concluded her search of Concordat records. Digital records support Roxanne’s findings. No evidence of the target appears within any record the Concordat had access to.”

 

Everyone hung their heads at that. Saydaa groaned, holding her head. Arvid frowned, crossing his arms. Wonder Knight clenched his fists. Pink Star covered her face with her hands. Voidspeaker heaved a sigh and spoke.

 

“Then…what do we do now?”

 

It was then that the door opened and Kiyosuke entered the room. His eyes were puffy but he had a serene smile on his face.

A smile that dropped as he glanced around the room.

 

“What happened?”

 

The team filled him in. Kiyosuke frowned, and rubbed his chin.

 

“I see. I think I know where he is.”

 

Everyone’s heads shot up on that. Saydaa trembled a bit.

 

“Kiyosuke…explain. Now.”

 

Kiyosuke furrowed his brow.

 

“Or rather, it’s when he is. He’s a time traveler, so just because he’s not physically present doesn’t mean he doesn’t exist. It could be that he hasn't visited this part of the timeline yet.”

 

Everyone’s eyes widened at that. Chronolock frowned and shook her head, however.

 

“That’s just as bad as him not existing though. How can we find him if he’s not even in this part of time?”

 

Kiyosuke started to pace.

 

“I think I know that too. Do you all remember his speech to us? The part about the universe’s walls?”

 

“Affirmative.”

 

Saydaa grimaced.

 

“Ugh, don’t remind me.”

 

Nana’s face turned dark.

 

“I don’t really like to remember that.”

 

Arvid crossed his arms.

 

“I think I know where you’re headed with this. You think something has changed, and that the reason he came to this time doesn’t hold now?”

 

Kiyosuke nodded.

 

“So, he said the overuse of superpowers destabilized the boundaries of the universe. He pointed out several things specifically. My space cutting technique, the time girl’s powers, the gravity technology used by the ILS, and then finally the Dimensional Projectors used by the Vophae. Specifically when Bob helped the Great Mistress break free from them. And he used a Vophae Dimensional Projector in his plan as well.”

 

Arvid nodded and glanced over.

 

“Elise?”

 

“Confirmation: This unit has scanned the records. None of those events occurred within this timeline. Director Green, friendly Kiyosuke, and the noob all perished early in this timeline. And the Vophae invasion has not occurred.”

 

“Wait, what did you say, you stupid bot?! I’m dead?!”

 

“Affirmative.”

 

“How?!”

 

“Negative Response: Why don't you ask me later? We are currently discussing something more important. Such as the fact that now we know how to draw in the target.”

 

Pink Star crossed her arms, furrowing her brow.

 

“So we just…toss gravity bolts and have Chrono and ninja boy use their powers until he shows up?”

 

Arvid shook his head.

 

“No.”

 

Arvid and Kiyosuke looked over to Saydaa, staring at her. She jumped at the attention.

 

“Wait, huh? Wait…WAIT! You don’t mean…”

 

Both boys spoke at once.

 

““We call the Vophae.””

 

Wonder Knight froze.

 

“Wait, what do you mean ‘call’ the Vophae?”

 

Kiyosuke and Arvid just stared at Saydaa. She quickly looked back forth in between them. They nodded at her. She sighed and took a deep breath.

 

“Ok. So. You know that big magic surge that stopped monsters from randomly appearing?”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Well…um…”

 

Kiyosuke just pointed at Saydaa.

 

“That was her.”

 

All of Aurora Legion’s eyes widened. Voidspeaker’s jaw dropped.

 

“Wait, that was you?!”

 

Saydaa squirmed under their gazes.

 

“Um, yes, it was. You know? Girl just…needed to fix her mistake…”

 

“Huh, fix your mistake?”

 

Saydaa jumped at that and started sweating.

 

“T-That…um…I-It’s not important now! The important part is the big power surge!”

 

“Ok…?”

 

Kiyosuke heaved a sigh and decided to help her.

 

“And then, you all remember just before the Vophae invasion? When they targeted a bunch of powerful people?”

 

Aurora Legion nodded.

 

“Well, they came for Saydaa too.”

 

Aurora Legion was silent for a bit before Pink Star spoke.

 

“How did you escape?”

 

“She didn’t.”

 

Saydaa frowned.

 

“My dad…he made a second similar power surge and drew them away.”

 

Kiyosuke nodded.

 

“And that’s the important point. They weren’t tracking Saydaa specifically. They were tracking the source of the power surge. The surge that happened a long time before the actual invasion.”

 

Everyone went silent as they thought through the implications of that.

 

“Concluding Analysis: Commander Bob theorized that the power surge may have drawn the Vophae’s notice, if they were not already enroute to the planet, though he had no method or incentive to confirm the theory after the fact. According to this unit’s calculations, it is reasonable to now assume the theory was correct, given that in this timeline there were no similar magic surges, and the Vophae have not arrived. Which implies that…”

 

Saydaa took a deep breath.

 

“I might…be able to attract them…if I do that thing again…”

 

The room went completely silent for a few minutes. Wonder Knight took a deep breath and groaned.

 

“This…this is something else. We’re talking about the Vophae here. We all know what they did. And now we’re talking about subjecting everyone on this planet to that, intentionally? That’s really going to mess things up for the people here.”

 

“Affirmative. Ominous Addendum: The situation is worse than Wonder Knight predicts. From what this unit can tell, Great Mistress Xiong Huang is not around to assist and this planet has no individuals of reasonably similar capabilities. And even in our timeline, the Great Mistress was initially defeated and later set free by Commander Bob, who is also not present. The planet has also already lost most of its industrial and military capacity and there is no universal rallying figure like Director Green to unite what assets remain. This unit predicts the Vophae invasion will succeed in conquering the planet with 98.49% certainty. The fate of the world will be sealed if we do not succeed in resetting the timeline.”

 

Aurora Legion sucked in their breath at that. Nemesis was frowning as well.

 

After a brief period of silence, Elise walked to the center of the group, looking each person in the eye. A frown formed on her face and her human eye narrowed. She opened her mouth and spoke in two voices, her organic voice firm and solid.

 

“I consider Commander Bob as my father. He did everything in his power to save me and paid the price for doing so. I will rescue him now, no matter what I have to do to achieve it. Even if I must become a villain. Even if I must destroy this world. I believe my friends at Nemesis agree.”

 

Nana nodded immediately. Saydaa shortly afterwards. Kiyosuke and Arvid took a bit longer but they too, sighed and nodded.

Elise turned to Aurora Legion. Her voice returned to normal, though the frown remained on her face.

 

“Grim Recommendation: Aurora Legion should take time and decide. How far are you willing to go to save our timeline? Roxanne as well. It is your timeline that will suffer should we proceed with this plan.”

 

With that Elise stood and left the room. One by one, Nemesis stood and followed her.

 

Leaving Aurora Legion and Roxanne alone with their thoughts.

 

What should they do?