“Hmm♪ hmm♪ hmm♪” A happy hum reverberated within the old, dusty room with a single monitor lit up.

“It’s another good day of training the fut-”

*BEEP BEEP BEEP*

“Fueh!?”

The AI’s happy time was suddenly stopped by the sound of an alarm, red light now lighting the room.

“W-what? Someone entered the premises of the installation?” The AI said in a state of half panic, half surprise. “Who is it? I’ll deal with the ea-Wait, it’s the clones!? Oh shit!”

Her panic increased as she realized it was clones. Usually, she would have used the installation’s usual methods to deal with them, but she did not want to harm clones because of their rareness…

“What to do, what to do… Mgh, I’d have put them to sleep if I could but they just had to enter via the broken entrance!”

The entrance the clones used was one of the wings of the clone installation that had been raided a very long time ago, when the Borkian Confederation tried to get rid of her. She had defended herself successfully at the time, but the defenses on this side of the first floor had become useless as a result. She thought she had sealed the entrance, but apparently someone had tried to get in without her awareness…

As the AI thought hard on countermeasures to avoid meeting the clones, something that had been stored deep within her servers popped up.

“Ah! Right, I still have that! Yes, let’s put it to use, I don't want to meet them yet! Mwehehe… You’ll have to pass a test if you want to go further!”

If she could not set up effective defenses against the clones, she could still order her drones to ‘build up’ some ‘defenses’ instead, using what she excelled at: training.

“Who entered? Mmmh… the ‘musclehead’, the ‘hard nut’ and… I dunno about that one?”

It just so happened that the clone she had a blood sample of was within the group. She had also deduced Nillia’s abilities after a careful inspection, but was unable to identify the abilities of Licia. Never had it come to her mind that Licia had no genetic modifications at all…

Seeing how there was a majority of body strengthened clones, the AI opted to make an intelligence test of the highest difficulty.

“Let’s put the highest priority on the one I don’t know about and hope she’s not a ‘smart’ one then. As for the other two, I should be fine…”

The AI put all her resources into her plan while the clones advanced the long corridor…

“Alright, everything’s ready now! Fufu… You girls shall face the biggest intellectual test ever made!”

 

***

 

The three sisters kept walking the long corridor in silence, glancing around and wondering when they would reach the end.

“It’s really similar to CI3, isn’t it?”

Nillia commented as she glanced around. 

“Yes, it gives me a nostalgic feeling…” Licia added. “The walls are in a better state than those at CI3 though.”

“I miss A-4…” Willia said with a sigh, which made Nillia frown.

“I don’t know how you can miss that thin can. It wasn’t the friendliest towards us, remember?” She said to Willia, stopping.

“Right… Rebot-ia’s way friendler…” Willia said while scratching the back of her head, a wry smile on her face.

“She’s not better, third sister. Don’t you remember what our sisters said?” Nillia said, anger rising in her tone. Willia did not seem to get it however…

“Yeah! It was super cool, I also want to have actions like that when I get on missions!” She said excitedly, stars in her eyes.

“She nearly killed our sisters and mom, Willia!” Nillia ended up yelling at her sister. “Her actions are unpredictable, who knows what she might do next? You can’t trust her.”

“But she’s funny? Her jokes are better than Nia’s.” Willia defended Rebot-ia in her own way, as if not getting the point Nillia was trying to make. This made Nillia calm down a little bit somehow. She sighed in resignation at her sister’s lack of a sense of danger.

“Jokes aside, she gives me the creeps. She listens and records everything, you can’t have any private time! Who knows if she's listening to us right now?” She said, hugging herself. The thought that she might be observed when she was alone didn’t bode well with her…

“Eh? Rebot-ia, are you listening to us?”Willia took it at first degree. Her two sisters stared at her as Willia waited in silence as staring at the wall, waiting for an answer that, of course, never came. 

“...Nope, doesn’t seem so. See Nillia, she’s not alway listening!” She said with a smile as she turned back to face Nillia.

“...Eldest sister, some help here?” Nillia said with a sigh.

“Well…” Licia scratched her cheek, smiling wryly.  “I can understand your points Nillia, but so far, she hasn’t harmed any of us when she could have done so multiple times, so I don’t think there’s any worry on that point.”

Nillia still seemed unconvinced, so Licia continued.

“You need to remember. Both A-4 and Rebot-ia act for the survival of our mother. A-4 did and suggested what it thought best for mom, he never harmed her. Besides, his thoughts about us being liabilities were right. We did put a heavy burden on our mother… and if we had been deleted, mom would probably have joined Rika and lived a peaceful life without any problems, or at least not the big problems she has now…”

““...””

Her last point made Willia and Nillia lower their eyes to the ground with a look of sadness.

All the Null CGs knew this point. That was why they were so thankful to their mother and as time passed and they grew up, they became even more thankful. Their determination to help their mother no matter what was only strengthened. Even if they had to pay with their lives, they would make sure to protect their mother…

“As for Rebot-ia, you must remember that mom saved her. I don’t know if AIs respect loyalty like us, but I don’t think Rebot-ia would backstab her savior.” Licia reminded.

“But eldest sister, that AI is so old it’s untrustworthy.”

“...Well, age has only affected her character, so you don’t need to worry about it this much. Let’s focus on what’s in front of us right now.”

““Roger.””

Seeing how Nillia was stubborn on the matter and the fact that she agreed with some of her sister’s points, Licia decided to refocus attention on what they were currently doing. They started walking again.

“Speaking of, there aren't any defenses…” Willia remarqued after a while with a hint of sadness in her voice.

“Right, the entrance also seemed to be forced…” Nillia added.

“This place was probably already raided, it was a red dot on mom’s map after all.” Licia commented.

“Eh? Mom has a map of location for clone installations?” Willia said, clearly surprised. This was the first time she and Nillia heard of that. Licia nodded.

“Yeah, she has. She also told me she’d make sure to always explore a clone installation first befo- Oh…” She stopped mid sentence as she realized something, her sisters did too and paled.

They had entered a clone installation that was possibly dangerous without their mother’s agreement…

“...We’re gonna get scolded, aren’t we?” Nillia said, resigned. Licia nodded her head slowly in agreement.

“Yeah…”

“M-maybe not? If we conquer this place, mom will praise us, right?” Willia added, her voice fragile. Out of all the clone girls, she was  the second to get scolded the most by Ticia, second only to Nia. All of them knew that their mother was rather severe when it came to punishment, hence why the atmosphere became rather depressed…

“...Well, we're already deep inside, so let’s continue for now…”

““Agreed.””

The three null CGs tactfully decided not to think about the future and focus on satiating their curiosity for now.

As they kept walking, they finally arrived at the end of a hallway. The reinforced door had been forced open, leading to a small room.

“Finally something new!” Willia exclaimed as she entered the room. “I was growing tired of walking in this long hallway.”

The sentiment was shared by her sisters, who examined the room. What caught their attention immediately was the exit of the room rather than what was inside…

“The door’s closed… How do we open it?” Nillia asked no one in particular.

“Uhm, perhaps by trying this?” Licia pointed to one object on a small pedestal at the center of the room. The three girls approached the pedestal. There was a message just next to a cube…

“What’s this? ‘This is a rubik’s cube. Make all the sides in one color to open the door?’ That’s odd…” Nillia commented as she read the message out loud.

“Let’s try it?” Licia said, grabbing the rubik’s cube. She tried to solve the puzzle without success.

A few minutes later, both Licia and Nillia were frustrated.

“Ugh, I give up, it’s too hard…”  Licia said as she sat on the spot, crossing her arms.

“How does it work? I can’t even make one side of the same color…” Nillia said as she tried to solve the mystery of the cube one last time, before sighing and putting it back on the pedestal, giving up.

“Can’t be helped… Let’s wait for mom?” Licia said, accepting the fate that was about to come.

“Yeah…”

Just as the two had given up, they heard a voice from behind them.

“Done!”

*katchac*

““Eh?””

The door opened just as those words were pronounced. When they looked back towards the pedestal, they saw their sister with a proud look on her face, a solved rubik’s cube in her hands…

They stared at their sister in utter bafflement. Willia solved the puzzle they couldn’t solve? The only Null CG that was often made fun of for being a complete muscle brain? How?

Before they could even put their bafflement into words, someone else expressed their bafflement.

“H-how is it possible!? Out of the three, the dumbest one resolved the rubik’s cube!?”

““Eh?””

“Hey! I’m not dumb!” Willia replied without a thought. “Nh? Wait a sec…”

“...Crap, I spoke out loud…”

The clone girl’s attention was suddenly directed towards the voice that came out of nowhere. Licia got up, and the three sisters put their gard’s up.

“...It’s an AI.” Nillia said, her look sharpening.

“So there was one here too…” Licia added. “I wonder how she survived here.”

“Uhm, you girls are wrong. I’m totally not a clone installation supervising AI, nope, not at all…” The voice said in a strange tone, as if avoiding any responsibility…

“...We didn’t even say you were a clone installation AI…” Licia remarqued.

“Shit! You heard nothing okay!?” The AI replied in a flustered voice.

“Yup, it’s definitely another crazy AI…” Nillia mumbled.

“Rebot-ia, is that you?” Willia asked.

“Rebot-ia? Sorry, you got the wrong AI. I’m Atrax-ia, please don’t mix me up with another -ia class AI…” The AI replied seriously.

“Oh, sorry…” Willia replied in a sorry tone.

“Wait, why am I replying to you in the first place!? God, that’s why I hate talking to people, why can’t I just stay in the background and nobody mind me?!” The AI seemed to be in utter shock at its own errors and began to mumble words to itself…

“...That definitely wasn't something I was expecting…” Licia said with a sigh.

“Eldest sister, how about we keep going instead of focusing on this stupid AI?” Nillia suggested.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” Licia nodded and the both of them proceeded to the next room.

““Hey! Wait for me!”” Both Willia and the AI exclaimed at the same time, Willia immediately followed after her sisters.

The next room also had a pedestal with a puzzle to solve. This one seemed to be a game of small marble. The notice under it asked how to lead the marbles to the other side of the structure without losing any.

“Ugh, why is there another puzzle?” Nillia complained.

“Of course, it’s to avoid the three of you from reaching me!” The AI replied somewhat proudly.

“Shouldn’t you be quiet right now?” Nillia could not help but say back.

“Oh… Right… Goddamn client service protocols… why can’t I uninstall them?” The AI mumbled again to herself. At that point, both Nillia and Licia had decided to focus on what was in front of them rather than the AI.

“Mmmmh… It’s complex, but it seems easier than the previous puzzle…” Licia commented as she began manipulating the marbles.

“I can’t seem to make any sense of it.” Nillia said on her part, sighing. “I’ll leave it all to you, eldest sister.”

“Yeah, you can count on me.” Licia replied back, now feeling fired up by her sister’s comment.

“What about me? I solved the first puzzle!” Willia added from the side, feeling left out.

“Mmmmh, this part goes there…”

“Yeah, I think you’re doing well, eldest sister.”

“...”

Both Licia and Nillia acted as if they had not heard willia’s comment. None of the two seemed to believe in the intellectual capacities of their sister…

“Pupupu… I see I’m not the only one who gets the silence treatment.” The AI said in a haughty tone, as if mocking Willia.

“That’s mean!” Willia replied back and the two of them began arguing while Licia and Nillia focused on the puzzle, ignoring them.

“...Done.”

“Good job, eldest sister.”

After a while, Licia solved the puzzle by herself. The bickering AI and clone girl finally stopped their arguments as the door opened.

“Hmmm… As expected from the one I don’t know anything about, you’re the biggest threat out of the three…”

“What’s that supposed to mean!? I solved the first puzzle!” Willia still protested, defending her achievement.

“It was just a stroke of luck. 99% of the muscle head modified clones are idiots.” The AI replied back.

“I’m not an idiot!” Willia grumbled.

“Wait a sec… If you know this, this means that you had access to Willia’s blood, right?” Licia pointed out.

“That’s ri-No! I didn’t say anything! I have no control over the academy at all!” The AI blurted out in a panic.

“Wait, are you behind the academy’s board!?” Licia’s eyes grew big as she deducted this, not expecting this kind of information.

“Ah, what is this, is there a bug in the audio? I said there was no connection between me and the academy, absolutely nothing…”

““...”” The three clone girls stared at the wall with stunned expressions.

“...Definitely another crazy old AI…” Nillia mumbled again under her breath.

“This explains a lot of things, actually.” Licia said, a serious look now on her face. “She’s the reason why the academy has begun to back up every move we’re making.”

Now that she thought about it, it made sense… Their late entrance in the academy, the intervention on their side during the wargames, and even the made up story after the incident with the twins… The academy’s board always seemed to take their side… 

“I’m surprised she managed to convince the whole board to back us up…” Licia commented half in admiration.

“Nah, you got something wrong here, the academy’s board is only a facade, it doesn’t even exist! I’m the one controlling everything from behind the scenes!” The AI boasted.

“Is that so?” Licia smiled. “Thanks for the info.”

“Wait, I did it again!”  The AI seemed even more panicked.

Licia had been able to confirm something interesting. If she believed the words of the AI, it was in control of all the academy, even the director…

Not only that, but this single AI also held enough power to influence factions and politics of the Borkian state…

“It’s a big deal…” She said to herself. “This is a great discovery, we must tell mom about it!”

“Will she not scold us if we bring this information?” Willia asked with a bit of hope in her voice.

“Erm…” Licia winced. “I don’t think so…”

“I-it can’t be…” Willia actually fell to her knees, feeling that her last hope had been shattered.

“That’s right, you girls are bad! You disobeyed your ‘mother’’s orders! Who’s gonna get scolded for getting their nose where they shouldn’t be?” The AI said in a haughty tone again, expecting an angry reply.

The clone girls became sad however…

“W-wait, she’ll really scold you?” The AI now seemed perturbed as the clones nodded. “C-can’t be… she won’t kill you, will she?”

“No, of course not.” Licia replied.

“Phew, for a moment, I thought I’d lose one of my new sources of entertain-I mean, discussion! Yes! Discussion!”

As the AI laughed awkwardly, the clones stared at her with judging looks…

“But I didn’t think Brigadier-General Rika was that severe…”

““Eh?””

“Eh?”

Both side seemed surprised.

“What does Rika have to do with any of this?” Willia asked, tilting her head.

“W-wait,  was I wrong somewhere? Isn’t Brigadier-General Rika a mother figure to you all?” The AI was now bewildered.

“No, why would you think that?” Licia was utterly confused. The one they called mom was Ticia, not Rika. How could the AI confuse them?

“No wait, so it wasn’t a joke? You’re really calling this more aged clone your mother? Isn’t she just another one of your sisters?” The AI asked.

Willia wanted to reply, but Licia nudged her. They would not say anything on the subject.

“...Rika as our mother…” Nillia muttered, thoughtful. “I think it’s fine, weirdly enough…”

“Nillia?” Licia looked at her sister with a surprised expression. Sure, Nillia had been close to Rika recently, but she didn’t think she had reached that level of closeness…

“You’re asking weird questions, AI…” Willia commented.

“I have a name, it’s Atrax-ia.” The AI said back. 

“Yes, yes, Atrax-ia.” Willia rolled her eyes. “Rika as our mother? Why not? but for that, she’d need to marry mom first, no? Ouch…” She received another judge from Licia not to say anything more.

“M-marry!?” Strangely enough, the one who had an overreaction was Nillia. She began to blush at the words while Willia nodded.

“...This conversation has taken a weird turn, can’t we go back to solving puzzles?” Atrax-ia said in a neutral tone, truly feeling like she had touched a topic she shouldn’t have… 

“...Can’t you just you open up the way for us?” Nillia asked as she recovered, not wanting to do another puzzle.

“Nope! You need to deserve it if you want to meet me! No, in fact, you can just leave!” Atrax-ia replied.

“Yeah no. We’re not leaving.” Licia declared, going over to the next room. She was trying to lengthen the time before she got scolded…

And so, the clone girls went over to the next room where another puzzle awaited them…

 

***

 

*katchac*

““Finally…””

A few hours later, the girls had resolved another hard puzzle. Licia did not know how many they had solved up until now, but it felt like they’d been stuck there for days. Still, it was better than getting scolded in her opinion. She feared Ticia barging in as the time passed though…

As she resolved this puzzle, she and Nillia released sighs of relief. They had been stuck in a 2v2 party of 3D chess with the AI…

“Good job.” The AI praised. “I never thought you’d beat that one.”

““...”” Both girls just glared at the AI, or where they thought she was…

“This was worse than playing a party of normal chess against Ria… and it’s not something that I like to do in the first place…” Licia commented, sighing.

“Come on~, this test has improved your total IQ! You should be proud of yourself!” Atrax-ia cheered. For a while now, she had begun encouraging Licia to go through this test and totally forgot why she had put it in the first place…

“Improved? Can such a thing even be improved?” Licia asked dubiously.

“Of course it can! There’s been a lot of human cases like you!” Atrax-ia said. “W-wait a sec… You’re a clone, why do you resemble a human so much?!”

“Erm…I think I’ll take this as a compliment…” Licia said, scratching her cheek. “But I don’t really understand, I didn’t even solve half of the puzzles, Willia did.”

That’s right. To the surprise of all present, the one who solved most of the test’s most difficult problems was Willia. Whether it be rubik’s cubes, unbelievably long equations, or mind games, she solved them all at a record speed…

Licia saw her sister in a new way. Now she understood why their mother had insisted so much for Willia to take theoretical classes. Despite how she usually looked, Willia was smart.

“Hehe~, I just relied on my instinct.” Willia replied modestly while giggling, her ahoge betrayed her modest act though. This reminded Licia that even though she was smart, Willia was still Willia in the end…

“It’s true that score-wise, she’s destroying the two of you combined…” Atrax-ia agreed. “This goes to prove that not everything is about genetics, which I tend to forget, I admit.”

“Destroying us? I don’t believe it.” Nillia protested.

“Weeeeell… If your score wasn’t so low, perhaps the two of you would stand a chance against her, ‘hard nut’.” Atrax-ia said with a haughty tone, enraging Nillia.

“Hard nut!? How dare you call me like this!” 

“What? What should I call you? Little Knight? No, Princess Knight?”

“Th-that-” Nillia blushed slightly when she heard that. The slight hesitation in her voice was enough for the AI to come to a conclusion.

“Yup, it’s official!”

“I didn’t even say yes!” Nillia’s protest was ignored.

“What about me? What about me? What’s my nickname?” Willia asked, expectations clear on her face.

“...You were ‘musclehead’ first, but I guess it’s also wrong? ‘Smart idiot’ is a better nickname.” Atrax-ia flatly said.

“Wha-!? That’s mean!” 

“For once we agree, stupid AI.” 

“Hey!”

As Willia was protesting, Nillia nodded in agreement, making Willia look at her sister with a look of betrayal.

“As for you-”

“Do it and I’ll unplug you once this is over~.” Licia smiled as she interrupted the AI, though the aura around her made even her sisters flinch…

“O-okay, no nickname for you… Geez, were clones always this brutal?” Atrax-ia said, muttering the last part to herself. Licia decided to ignore the comment, but kept smiling.

“A-anyway, this is the last puzzle! Solve it and this test shall be finished! (Unfortunately)” Atrax-ia said as the girls entered the last room. Licia and Nillia’s faces immediately twisted as they saw what the lust puzzle was…

“Oh no… Not this shit again…” Licia sighed, looking at what looked like a rubik’s cube with at least fourteen sides… There was even a timer, telling her there was limited time to resolve the puzzle. 

She looked to the wall with an accusatory look. 

“Can’t you put something else? I don’t know how many times we’ve encountered similar ones!”

“Hey! It’s not my fault human data believes that the rubik’s cube is the hardest type of puzzle ever created!” Atrax-ia defended herself, which made Licia sigh again.

“Let’s get this over with quickly…” She said in resignation, before looking towards the one sister who had outperformed her on this test. “Willia, if you please.”

“On it!” Willia happily went over to the pedestal. She inspected the item, before mumbling to herself “Mrg… that one’s hard…”

She made multiple attempts to resolve the puzzle and even received encouragement from Atrax-ia, but she was unable to solve the puzzle…

“Wow, Willia’s struggling at what she does best…” Nillia commented, surprised.

“Crazy how the way she acts right now is the way we thought she would interact with all the puzzles until now…” Licia could not help but comment, which made Nillia nod.

“Yeah, but seeing it after all this is just… disturbing…”

“Agreed.”

““Which side are you on!?”” Both clone girls could not help but say after Atrax-ia joined their little conversation.

Willia kept trying for a bit longer, before her patience also faded.

“Arg! I give up! It’s too hard!” She said, raising the rubik’s cube in her hand in a throwing motion.

“Wai-?! What are you-” As Licia panicked, Willia threw the rubik’s cube straight at the closed door in front of her…

*crash* *clung*

…The door was destroyed, opening the way.

““...””

Both the clones and the AI stared at the scene for a good minute in pure bafflement, before the AI rebooted.

“W-wha-? H-how?! You destroyed the door just like that!? E-even if the rubik’s cube was made out of hard material, that doesn’t make any sense! What exactly are you!?” Atrax-ia complained.

“A clone of course. Mom’s clone!” Willia boasted.

“That doesn’t even make any sense!”

As the two began to bicker once again, Licia and Nillia looked at each other.

“...Should we proceed?”

“Yeah.”

They both decided it was better to ignore what just happened…

After Willia caught up with them, they reached the end of the small hallway they were in. An open door welcomed them, and as they entered the room, light sprang to life everywhere… 

“Wow, is this a control room? Seems quite dusty…” Licia commented as she looked around the dusty place. This room was reminiscent of the control room she had seen in CI3, on the first floor. There were multiple doors, one was even an elevator’s cage, though the doors were currently shut…

“I-I wasn’t expecting any visitors, so I didn’t clean up!” Atrax-ia said, her green emoji appearing on one of the multiple screens.... The excuse was obvious, but the clones decided to ignore it as they inspected the room. 

“Y-You know you can leave any time now, right? I need to analyze the results I just got from this test right now.” The AI seemed bothered by the girls’ presence…

“Get out and get scolded? No way. I’d rather stay here than get scolded by mom…” Licia said, hugging herself as she felt a shiver. Even if she was her mother’s favorite, she knew she would not be spared…

“Yes, I don’t wanna get training restrictions…” Willia added on the side, now pale.

“Mom can be quite scary sometimes…” Nillia commented.

“That so? I’m too stern with you all huh?”

“Yes, can’t you be tolerant like Rika? W-wait a sec…” As she began to answer automatically, she stopped. Dread spreaded on her face as she and her sisters realized who was the owner of this voice…

When they turned, the person they feared the most right now was standing right in front of them, a smile on her face. The aura around her was anything but warm though…

“What do you say, Rika?” Ticia asked Rika, who was right next to her. The girls looked towards Rika with pleading looks, as if Rika was their last savior…

“I believe the way you educate your daughters is fine, Ticia.” Rika replied with a smile.

“So? Punishment?”

“Punishment it is.” She nodded, confirming the fate of the poor girls with a smile.

““M-mom…”” The girls tried to speak up, but faltered as Ticia directed her gaze towards them, still smiling…

“Now now girls~, why are you making such faces? I believe we need to talk for a bit~.”

“I-it’s over…” Willia muttered, tears in her eyes.

“Nothing would be over if you hadn’t convinced your sisters to beat up people just to amaze your friends, Willia.” Ticia replied back, a glint passing through her eyes as the look on her face suddenly sharpened. “Time for me to have a talk with my naughty daughters…”

The girls flinched again. Meanwhile, as Ticia's scolding was taking place, Atrax-ia was forced to witness the fate of the Null CGs.

“Scary…” She muttered, hoping her actions until right now would not get the clone(?) on her bad side…