Chapter 180
“You know, Libra… I was mistaken. Because of stuff like fear and envy, I was clouded by the emotions that were right in my face and I lost myself in them.”
This had happened in the past.
It was the very last conversation that she had had with her creator and also a memory that she was unable to erase even now.
That conversation happened on the day Mizar was defeated in the battle against the Demon King and during the time he was frail and weak. That was when he confessed to Libra.
“Honestly… deep down, I think I should have been aware that I was mistaken. Deep within me, there was something that I couldn’t quite figure out, some… sense of duty or fear which felt like it’d been placed there by someone else. My heart was constantly ringing an alarm, causing me to hesitate. But I didn’t even notice it. ‘I’m right. Ruphas is wrong.’ … I was caught up in those delusions and ended up betraying my friend.”
His arms were no longer thick like they used to be. Instead, they were thin and frail. Furthermore, his arms from the elbows onwards had been turned into cold and lifeless artificial arms.
His firm and st.u.r.dy body had been left in a state where there was nothing but skin on his bones.
His face was pale, lifeless and devoid of any willpower.
Libra was expressionless as ever as she looked down on him lying on his side, as she dutifully spent her time together with her parent during his last moments.
“Libra, don’t become like me. Keeping your duty in mind is fine. Thinking about the reason behind your existence is also fine… but if you ever lose your way, listen to what your heart is saying. Ask yourself if what you’re doing at that moment is right… if it’s really the path you yourself wanted to take. Just take a moment and think it through, at least once… I was… unable to do just that…”
“Mizar-sama, I don’t have this ‘heart’ that you speak of.”
“No, you do… you have a heart. I mean… look. Even though I didn’t give you any orders, you’re taking such dutiful care of me during my final moments. None of the other golems are doing such a thing.”
“…………”
Mizar took hold of Libra’s hand with his trembling hands.
What should have been warm hands which had created a countless number of inventions in the past were no longer present.
The only thing that was present in that place were cold and manufactured hands just like Libra’s.
Without any intention or purpose in mind, Libra returned his action by tightly clenching her hands around his.
“It’ll be alright, Libra… You can choose. Even if you’re not ordered to, you can choose what you want to do with your own free will… I believe that you possess… what no other alchemist in Midgard… not even that Ruphas, could create… the thing called a ‘heart’… After all… you are… my masterpiece (daughter)…”
– And so, the scales were rattled.
To lean to the right would have been correct. To lean to the left would have been wrong.
Yet the scales rattled back and forth.
Before anyone had noticed, the loads on each side of the scales had become of equal weight.
Because of that… the scales rattled.
*
The battle which would determine the fate of the world had entered its climax. At this moment, arguably the source of everything, Ruphas, was standing off against the one who controlled all of the ouroboroses.
The ones who were standing in Ruphas’s way were Dina and Libra… Both of whom had stood alongside Ruphas as her subordinates until just a while ago.
But things were different now. Dina was now under the control of the G.o.ddess, and Libra stood alongside her as a result of the very reason for her existence.
“You’ve finally come.”
Ruphas spoke with a chilly voice as she looked at the two of them.
From the very beginning, she had predicted that things would turn out this way. She had very clearly understood that the two of them would stand in her way as enemies sooner or later.
That was why she was not surprised. All she felt was a firm determination.
From the very beginning, the two of them were under the opponent’s possession. So technically speaking, the one who had rights over them from the start was the G.o.ddess. Having said that, Ruphas could not care less.
She wasn’t going to say something cheesy like, “Give them back to me”. Instead, she would just take them for herself.
It was irrelevant to her that they were the G.o.ddess’s avatar and doll.
The two of them were her comrades. That was why she would s.n.a.t.c.h them. She would not allow any objections.
One could say that it was a very tyrannical determination. But that was how determined Ruphas was right now.
“Indeed. It was about time I got bored of letting you play around, you see. So shall we have you put an end to it now?”
With Dina’s appearance. With Dina’s voice.
The G.o.ddess fixed her cold eyes on Ruphas and spoke.
But Ruphas laughed in return as if she was ridiculing the whole situation.
“You speak as if you could have sorted everything out whenever you wanted to. But aren’t we here because you couldn’t?”
“No, I really could have, actually. If I wanted to, I could have erased you at any time. It’s just that I held back a little.”
They both had an expression of complacency.
Neither side doubted their chance at victory. Neither side considered even for a moment that they might be the one who would end up losing.
Ruphas casually flexed her fingers and cracked her joints all the while the G.o.ddess clenched her fist and gathered mana around it.
Although Aigokeros had collected all of the mana in the surroundings, such a thing was unrelated to her.
Now that she had a connection with the G.o.ddess herself, the mana that Dina was gathering came from outside of the universe that they were in. It was supplied directly from the G.o.ddess, and the amount of power that she could exhibit was effectively infinite.
In front of that G.o.ddess, Libra stepped in the way. As if to directly reciprocate that action, Scorpius came to stand in front of Ruphas.
“Why don’t you wait for a moment? Does a mere traitor like you think you have the right to fight against Ruphas-sama, hmm? Against someone like you, this mistress is more than enough.”
“Scorpius. I’ve already a.n.a.lysed all of your abilities, movements and weaknesses. You have no chance of winning. This statement is made after taking into consideration that you are currently level 1000.”
“Huh? Those are some big statements, aren’t they? Why don’t you try it then!?”
One of Libra’s arms was currently a blade, and she was merged with a support golem that resembled Astraea on her back.
It was… not the original Astraea. The original was designed by Ruphas, and in preparation for the worst-case scenario, was set to obey Ruphas’s orders rather than Libra’s. As a consequence, Libra was unable to use Astraea at this moment.
As a result, this was most likely a piece of equipment bestowed upon Libra by the G.o.ddess.
The wings on this one were black, unlike the original, and the cannons on the back were the type that condensed and fired mana in the form of a concentrated mana laser.
There were more mana cannons equipped around her lower back, but these were the type which fired mana as projectile bullets. All in all, it lacked any form of originality and there was barely any difference compared to the original Astraea, such that it would not be wrong to call it a copy-and-paste item.
Having said that, it would be appropriate to a.s.sume that this new one’s performance surpa.s.sed that of the original’s.
Scorpius also similarly had a weapon which had been bestowed upon her by Ruphas in her hands. The two of them were staring each other down as if they were rival cats and dogs.
“Tssyaaaa!”
Without waiting for a signal to begin, Scorpius transitioned into an attack.
Her retractable weapon in the shape of a scorpion’s pincers flew towards Libra, who took off into the sky.
Two compressed mana bullets were shot downwards from the cannons on Libra’s waist, gorging into the earth below.
A cloud of dust was riled up from the impact and a.s.saulted everyone present. However, the G.o.ddess casually put up a shield and kept it away from her, whilst Ruphas ignored it entirely, keeping her arms crossed.
“Looks like they’ve started. Well, shall we observe them first?”
“Why not?”
“By the way, I just wanted to ask you something… How do you feel? How does it feel to be betrayed by someone you believed was loyal to you?”
“… The answer to that… I’ll give it to you later.”
Even while the G.o.ddess and Ruphas spoke, the battle continued.
Scorpius jumped out from the dust cloud. She controlled her hair freely, shooting it towards Libra.
But Libra used the blade on her left arm to repel it, then instantly pointed all of the cannons on her right arm, shoulder and waist towards Scorpius.
It was an all-out barrage without restraint. The five rays of light which she fired travelled straight towards Scorpius, but Scorpius was yanked away from the position as if she was pulled away by some force.
By stabbing her weapon into the ground and retracting that, she was able to pull herself away from that position.
Immediately after landing on the ground, she circled around to Libra’s back.
She then breathed poison gas from her mouth… but as Libra was a golem, it was only natural that there was no effect on Libra.
Cutting through the poison fog, Libra closed in on Scorpius. Libra’s blade and Scorpius’s unique weapon collided with one another, and sparks flew from the impact.
When the impact repelled them from one another, they disappeared simultaneously, but Ruphas and the G.o.ddess still chased the two’s movements with their eyes.
The two of them were moving at a very rapid speed, such that they appeared as if they were simply shadowy blobs, and the ground exploded shortly after the shadows collided with one another.
At this moment, Libra charged in to attack at her top speed. Scorpius in return decided to accept the attack directly from the front. Then… the impact.
With the two of them as the centre, a blast of wind projected outwards and the ground below shattered and caved in.
The attack this time turned into a battle of pure strength where neither side was willing to give in, as the two of them took appropriate positions to see it through to the end. Incidentally, the two’s line of sight intersected with one another.
“Libra… I’ve never liked you from the beginning, but I’ve always acknowledged the loyalty that you had towards Ruphas-sama. So it’s really a shame… That someone like you would fall to the point where you’d become a doll for the third-rate G.o.ddess.”
“A third-rate!?”
“Scorpius… Indeed, Alovenus-sama does often act third-rate as if it’s the most normal thing in the world. I won’t deny that.”
“No way, please deny it!”
“But I was her tool from the very beginning… There’s no way I could have fallen anywhere. I was as low as I could have been from the beginning. Nothing more.”
“As low as you could have been!? … What? Is that what you think of serving under me!?”
A blade made out of light and Scorpius’s special weapon clashed with one another. The moment the reaction force from the impact rebounded their own attacks, they would immediately move on to their next attacks.
Twice, thrice, and for the fourth time… each individual hit was supported by the full force of their might, and the small number of attacks was a testament to that force.
On every impact, a shockwave was sent out, blowing away everything in the vicinity.
Had there been any cities still left on Midgard, they would have been turned into empty and barren lands from these shockwaves.
“Heh? What are you trying to say? Even though you were sticking so closely to Ruphas-sama all the time, were you just acting the whole time?”
“It wasn’t technically an act. At the very least, during those times, I had recognised Ruphas-sama as my master.”
“Aren’t you saying it quite clearly yourself, hmm?”
“I would like to warn you that it’s a waste of time if you are hoping to make me have a change of heart. After all, I have no emotions.”
This time, when the two parties’ blades intersected, blood flowed out from Scorpius’s cheek.
As they had been travelling and fighting together until recently, Libra was already aware of Scorpius’s movements and habits.
Notwithstanding that Scorpius was in a disadvantageous position in terms of attribute, defeating Libra when she had collected and a.n.a.lysed all necessary data would be no easy feat.
Libra then flew up high into the sky and disappeared due to the distance she had created.
Right afterwards, as if there was an air raid, small guided missiles came pouring down like a hailstorm.
One after another, the missiles barraged the ground. Scorpius was pursued by repeated explosions.
Within the storm of explosions, Ruphas lightly flicked away the missiles which erroneously came flying towards her location with the back of her hand. Similarly, the G.o.ddess also retained her composure and kept the missiles away from her with just a simple shield.
“I’ve always hated how you’re always so pretentious!”
Scorpius wildly spun her weapon around and mowed down everything in the air.
All the missiles, which were falling down, were caught by this action and ended up exploding midair.
She then leapt up into the air. She got above Libra’s position and then kicked her down.
But Libra used her arm to guard against the kick, and as a result, it did not result in a direct hit.
Yet the force behind the kick was still enough to drop Libra all the way down to the surface. Right before hitting the ground, Libra managed to halt and launch herself back up.
Dodging and parrying the mana bullets and mana lasers that Libra fired, Scorpius swung her weapon.
But Libra managed to avoid Scorpius’s attacks by flying around in the air then proceeded to step down on Scorpius’s head and swatted her down.
“Is that so? I’ve also never liked how you acted.”
Libra replied in a chilly voice but noticed the oddity in her words right afterwards.
Liked…? What do I mean, liked?
I’m unrelated to something like that. To like or to hate, something vague like that is irrelevant to how I behave.
The principle behind my actions is the reason for my existence. I was made so that I will do what I am doing, that is all there is to it.
My will has no role to play in my decisions. To begin with, I don’t have an ego or a will that can intervene in my decision-making process.
But… yes. I most likely had never viewed Scorpius positively.
She always stuck right next to Ruphas and she a.s.serted that it was her rightful spot.
She would always sneak into Ruphas’s room at night but I would drive her back. Yet she never learnt her lesson. She would do the same thing every night.
Towards someone like that, I…
… I… what? Could it be that I “hated her”?
That’s impossible. I was not made to be able to feel emotion.
Is there a glitch in my thought processor…? No, it’s very much normal. There are no abnormalities. Did Ruphas-sama plant something in its place? No, there are no traces of such a thing.
“Libra, what are you doing!? Finish her off!”
“… Understood, Alovenus-sama.”
After receiving Alovenus’s command, Libra selected her attack.
Now that Scorpius was level 1000, her HP reserve had increased. Even at this point in the battle, it was still higher than 100 000… she could not be killed in a single hit by Brachium.
However, if Libra was able to hit Scorpius with Brachium at this point, it would put her in a very advantageous position. It might even give her the momentum to allow her to push to the end.
As such, the most optimal attack that she could select at this point was Brachium. All she had to do was weaken Scorpius right now and then finish her off afterwards.
But the instant when she was about to fire the attack, Libra somehow recalled that time from two hundred years ago… and when she had reunited with Ruphas in that tomb all the way until today.
“… Full Burst!”
Libra simultaneously fired everything from all of her muzzles as an all-out barrage.
Wrong, this is wrong. This is not the most optimal choice.
Just as one would have expected, Scorpius dodged all of the attacks which were raining down on her. She then extended her weapon out towards Libra.
Libra avoided this attack and then created some distance.
As such an event unfolded, Ruphas made a jeering comment.
“What’s wrong, Libra? Are you not going to use Brachium? If I were you, I would have used Brachium at that moment and ended the battle.”
“… Are you not going to stop it? If I had done that, there was a high probability that Scorpius would have lost the battle and died as a result.”
“Are you wanting me to stop you?”
Libra questioned Ruphas, but Ruphas responded to her with a question of her own.
What kind of a stupid question is she asking? Of course, there’s no way I’d ask the enemy to stop me from finishing off my opponent. – Libra thought.
But why was it…? For some reason, Libra was unable to say that out loud.
She was unable to understand why herself. Was she broken?
“Let me ask you something, Libra. Why do you think I’ve been letting you do whatever you wanted to up until now?”
“… You just simply didn’t notice it… was not the case, I see.”
“Indeed, I noticed it. Ever since two hundred years ago, in fact. That’s why I didn’t inform you of my plans as I did Dina. It’s also for the same reason I didn’t entrust you with the sealing of the ouroboroses.”
“Then why?”
“I wanted you to learn, that’s all.”
Ruphas smiled as she talked.
“Libra, you’re the most amazing golem. But even then, you lack something.”
“I lack… something, you say?”
“That’s right. You lack a heart. You are Mizar’s masterpiece, but even with his skill, he wasn’t able to give you a heart.”
A heart… that was something that no golem could ever have.
A golem’s specifications could be increased depending on how it was constructed. They could even be given high thought-processing functions.
But there would still be no heart or emotion.
Its decision making process would prioritise whether something was correct or not. Whether it was to the benefit or the detriment of its master.
Whether it would be in line with the order it had received or not. That was all there was to it.
There was no room for something vague such as their likes and dislikes or their personal opinions to come into play at any time during the decision making process.
“Libra, right now, your master is the G.o.ddess. If you wish to act in accordance with the reason for your existence as a golem, then the correct thing for you to do would be to follow the G.o.ddess’s command. Having said that, let me say this to you and your budding heart of yours. I say this to you not as a doll, but as Libra. … Come back, Libra. You’re on our side. I need your service.”
“What a foolish thing to say.”
Libra pointed all of her muzzles towards Ruphas.
All she had to do was fire. All she had to do was fire and show Ruphas that they had gone their own separate ways. It was a simple thing to do.
Yet, in the face of such a simple thing, why was she hesitating? As a golem, was this not the point where she would fire without any qualms?
No, even before such a question, she was strange from the very beginning.
If she had truly wanted to kill Taurus, then hadn’t she had more than enough opportunities to finish him off?
Although Pollux and Castor had caught up with her, with her stats increased, she should have had more than sufficient strength to finish off Taurus at that time.
Furthermore, she should have had more than enough opportunities to a.s.sa.s.sinate her enemies.
Aries had turned his back on her numerous times. How many opportunities had she had where she was able to kill him?
How many times had Virgo been defenceless against her? There were even times when only the two of them had been alone without Ruphas. So why had she not taken any action?
A part of her memory was missing… was not an excuse that she could use. After all, golems would always follow through with their master’s command. As a consequence, even if they had no recollection of receiving the command, their actions would still be for the sake of fulfilling the order given to them by their master.
… So why was it that the whole time, she had been pretending to not realise that she had been ordered to “infiltrate and sabotage the enemy from the inside”?
At this point, she recalled Aries’s smile, full of the faith that he had in her.
The countless days they had travelled together after reuniting with one another in that tomb. The voices of her comrades. Mizar’s grief.
Those times had brought forth something within Libra.
“Libra… you, do you even realise what kind of face you’re making?”
“… Of course I do. It’s a face which is ridiculing you guys… are you not able to see it?”
When Libra was with Ruphas and the rest, she was always expressionless.
With that consideration in mind, for her to be showing an expression of scorn itself could be thought of as a display of emotion.
But Scorpius laughed it off.
“Yeah, that’s right. That must be an expression that was taught to you by the G.o.ddess… but I wonder why. To this mistress, it feels like your current expression is far more of a mask than usual. Almost as if you’re wearing a mask with a fixed expression on your face. You just look so pathetic.”
Scorpius closed in on Libra without minding her defence, then grabbed Libra by her collar and lifted her off the ground.
Scorpius then slammed her forehead into that of Libra’s and looked her straight in the eyes.
“Come back, you fool! I really, really hate you, but I’m so sick and tired of how pathetic you are right now that I don’t even feel like competing with you!”
The Libra that Scorpius knew of was always expressionless.
Despite her always remaining expressionless and acting as if she had absolutely no emotion, she would always station herself close to Ruphas and hog the spot as if it was her rightful place. Libra was fixated on that position more than anyone else.
Scorpius was envious of her for that reason. It was unknown how many times Scorpius felt jealous of Libra.
When this happened, Libra erased the sneering expression on her face and then looked back into Scorpius’s eyes with an ice-cold expression.
“How unreasonable.”
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Libra made that statement with a dry and emotionless voice then slammed the back of her fist into Scorpius’s face and forcibly pushed her away.
With this attack, Scorpius’s HP dipped below 100 000. As a result, Scorpius could now be finished off with one hit.
With how things had developed, there was no longer any reason for Libra to hesitate firing Brachium.
Should she fire the skill, it would definitively end the battle. There was no option of not firing it.
Libra locked onto Scorpius and then closed her eyes.
– The scales then rattled.
To lean to the right would have been correct. To lean to the left would have been wrong.
Yet, the scales rattled back and forth.
Before anyone had noticed, the loads on each side of the scales had become of equal weight.
They rattled, they rattled, and they rattled…
… And eventually, they stopped rattling.
*
Even after reuniting for the first time in two hundred years, the Seven Heroes’ coordination was perfect.
It was as if there had never been a blank period in the first place and they had been fighting together as a team until just yesterday. That was just how fluid their movements were.
Benetnash would be the one to charge into the vanguard and disrupt the enemy. Dubhe and Alioth would then push the front line with great vigour and pressure the enemy lines.
During this time, Megrez and Phecda would use their arcane magic and long-range physical attacks respectively to provide supporting fire all the while Merak swiftly dealt with the enemy attacks.
Mizar would then observe the battlefield and, depending on the situation they were in, would either supplement their offence or their defence.
In the past, they challenged the Moon Ouroboros whilst lacking Benetnash and ended up losing.
Although they had certainly lost against the Moon Ouroboros with their abilities, was that all there was to it?
The guilt of betraying their friend and the resulting urge to self-destruct… it was simply impossible to a.s.sert that they felt no subconscious thoughts of wanting to lose or get hurt.
And… when they entered a battle with those mindsets, they were far from being able to display their true abilities.
If they were seeking punishment and defeat somewhere deep in their minds, even if they thought they were fighting seriously, it was impossible for them to display their true abilities.
But this time was different. This time for sure, they were fighting for the sake of their friend.
For the purpose of clearing away their debts, they returned and stood on the battlefield once more.
As a result, their morale was sky-high. They thought that this time for sure, they would display the true abilities of themselves… of the Seven Heroes… to the ouroboros.
“By the way, Mizar. If I recalled correctly, there was a golem that you made within the Twelve Heavenly Stars… isn’t that kinda bad? I mean, if you think about it, when you were making that golem, we were pretty messed up because of the G.o.ddess. We were like… that… right?”
“You’re right, it’s kinda bad. I left the order which was in the Selection Scales entirely untouched when I made it. The master of the golem is still the G.o.ddess.”
“Oi!”
While providing support from the back, Phecda became curious about the topic and asked Mizar a question. The answer that he received affirmed his suspicions.
It was not merely at the point of “kinda bad”. The chance of Libra betraying Ruphas was effectively set in stone.
However, no concern could be seen on Mizar’s face.
There was no fear that his creation would strike his own friend.
“Well… whatever, there’s no need to worry about it. Right before I died, I saw potential in Libra. Even though I didn’t give her any orders to do so, she took care of me and stayed beside me during my final moments… A normal golem can’t do something like that.”
Mizar firmly believed what he had said and he said so with pride.
If a golem was able to select what to do based on their own will irrespective of the commands they received or the reason for their existence, then they could no longer be considered a tool.
They would have become an ent.i.ty of their own, with the only difference being that their body was metallic rather than flesh.
If what Mizar believed was true, it would mean that, at that time, he would be proven to be the best golem creator in Midgard.
Mizar was hoping for… believing in the moment when Libra would be truly “completed”.
“It’ll all be fine. She’s able to decide for herself… after all, she’s my masterpiece (daughter)!”
*
“– Alovenus-sama, I apologise.”
While keeping her eyes closed, she apologised to her master.
It seems that I am broken. – Libra had finally realised that.
After all, there was far too much weight on her left beam.
Even though she should have leaned to the right side, her scales were no longer rocking back and forth.
“It seems I am a failed product.”
“Eh?”
When she had recognised Alovenus as her true master, she had tried to call her “master”, but for some reason, she had corrected herself right afterwards.
From then onwards, she continued to refer to Alovenus as “Alovenus-sama”.
Even though she was able to call Ruphas her “master” so easily, she could not understand why she was behaving in this way.
She simply felt that there was this stubbornness within herself.
“My lady, I am unable to make myself want to call you ‘master’.”
Libra unequipped the Astraea which had been bestowed upon her by the G.o.ddess, then pointed her muzzle at the G.o.ddess.
She then fired a farewell shot at her original master to indicate her choice.
The G.o.ddess was engulfed in flames while looking dumbfounded by what had happened, before Libra closed her eyes once more.
She corrupted the memory that the G.o.ddess was her true master, this time on her own accord… then deleted it to make sure that it would not return.
The scales had leaned to the wrong side completely. It would not swing back to the other side ever again.
The scales, which were broken, would never work again. It leaned to one side according to its own will and it broke itself, also according to its own will.
… Correction. It did not become broken.
In all likelihood, Libra was incomplete until this point. Irrespective of how complete she looked in the eyes of a third party, if the creator said that she was yet to be completed, then she was incomplete.
And now… yes, now, she was “completed”.
Until this point, Libra of the [Scales] in the Tyrannical Twelve Heavenly Stars was not a complete golem… but just now, she had been completed.
Watching the whole scene as it transpired, Ruphas smiled in satisfaction and then spoke towards the G.o.ddess, who still looked dumbfounded.
“Oh yeah, I haven’t given you the answer to your question. But before that… By the way, I just wanted to ask you something… How do you feel right now?”
The G.o.ddess did not give an answer. But the mortified look on her face explained it all.
__
(Author note)
Mars: “N. D. K! N. D. K!”
Alovenus: “…”
Libra has received a version upgrade to Libra (complete) in the final battle before coming back home.
All the modding up until this point will be carried over.
> During the final climax, Libra became an enemy and received a power-up.
> Ruphas and Scorpius selected a command known as “persuasion”.
> Libra came back to their side while in the upgraded state.
> It’s a common cliché when it comes to super robots. Yep.