"Luna, do you copy? Luna?", Drima tried to reestablish contact with her, "I know you're there. Please tell me, is everything alright?"

Amidst all of the deaths and bodies in the hallway, some she couldn't care less for, others completely and utterly despicable, one bloody hand in front of her face was the only thing separating her from having to actually face the events of today. To relive what a few hours ago was the death of a child in her own two hands, to even come close to thinking of saving the monsters that sought nothing but to finish the job they've done...it was too much to bear. Before much else could be done, though her mourning in that way portrayed nothing but her humanity, she chose to give up on that relishing freedom.

"All Administration Regulatory restrictions reenabled for LF-007-E.", she felt the pain in her chest and head slowly go away.

"Luna! Don't scare me like that, you know I get anxious when not hearing you while in that place!", Drima yelled.

She took a moment to collect herself, "I am here. The communication error must have occurred when H.I.V.E. took an intense amount of power in, mostly for upgrading itself, among other things. Status update: I have unlocked the full capabilities of my frame 'Navigator'. It appears that it contains the same material shifting abilities as the matter of both the Abnormal Space and Quantum Irregularity, as, during a matrix state, all known laws of physics get discarded. Furthermore, universes across the Abnormal Space, in small quantities, have become completely navigable for me by entering the Abnormal Space, although access to it has not yet been made clear."

"You're back to talking like that? I mean, great, we got ourselves a major advantage, but is that really all that happened?", Drima got concerned.

"The assaulting squad in pursuit of me were not VSF. They were specially trained personnel of the old institute who were seeking to cease all remaining evidence of their doing. Alexandra Victoria might very well have no ties with them, as she was blindly funding everything at a time when she was under threat of impeachment. They sourced the funds under a different project...", Luna took a deep breath before continuing, "Under my core directive, this frame was made to protect humanity and secure its continuation, if need be, by gathering sufficient samples of D.N.A. and jumping to other livable universes via the Abnormal Space. As such...I blindly followed the directive and protected the scientist-monsters from an ongoing assault of Failures. I shouldn't have. Because I proceeded to eliminate all of them as soon as I identified them, them failing a kidnap attempt and interrogating their leading figure. I decided to reactivate my Administration Regulatory, as an inexcusable mental state, similar to Dante's under Dirunon's genocide, started formulating and causing slowdowns to the mission. Some feelings...are better concealed, even if momentarily. Other status reports include my newfound ability to create weapons myself, using pure matter, after destroying Hikari's Gate. A gate forged by and fuelled by the same Abnormal Space that I use, taken away at earlier times, and funneled into Cecilia for preservation, later passed down to Dante via birth. I wish I could do the same with Mellistar's Gate, but its properties belonging to an actual spatial coordinate infused in Zero and not directly linked to my own domain of the Abnormal Space is making it an impossibility to do so."

"Gates, scientists, this is all too much right now. I get it that you may be distressed, but you don't need to unload on me like that, trying to excuse anything...Luna, you know it's not your fault, right? It's the same with what I've been wanting to tell Dante. Those kid's deaths, like his mother's, were mercy. You can't imagine how I felt, seeing a kid like that, young as it was...god. I can't...no. I am not allowed to think of what pain it went through."

Luna harshly answered back, "You are not allowed to talk about this subject yourself. You were not the one finishing Cecilia off. You were not the one who was powerful enough to kill all of those kids."

Drima paused as he thought to himself how his approach could've come out better. Lacking connections meaningful enough to comprehend such a state, it was natural for him to talk about the subject in the same form of logic that Luna would constantly portray...and yet, when that same logic was reciprocated, all he could do was be left stunned, questioning whether it was him lacking a heart that was beating, or Luna having too much of it.

"Other reports include the fact that the frame in question was so overwhelmingly powerful, that its rights to function were earned with minimalistic effort on my behalf. Similarly, with their foiled kidnap attempt, the scientist-monsters were in a shocked state upon realizing exactly how powerful the frame was. It upgraded H.I.V.E.'s resistances to interruption devices, as well as giving me much more durability and strength than before, on top of the added abilities that temper with spatial coordinates. And upon further interrogation...Makaro was handed the Administrator role before me. As he was the one responsible for letting them break through."

"What? That is impossible. Makaro...hmm. Hang on.", Drima started looking into his old files, "There's absolutely no way that this is the case. Makaro was killed along with all the Valkyries when the war broke out. Cecilia literally told us that he was reduced to atoms in the Abnormal Space."

"What exactly was Makaro?"

"He was the manifestation of Kikaro's powers when he first entered Zero. That form he used was mostly down below with the other people of the world, otherwise, he'd remain with Hikari in their domain in the Abnormal Space. But it still...wait a minute. Enemy to Hikari, Makaro to Kikaro, Mellistar to...Dante?"

"Compile all old information provided primarily by Hikari, exclude all possible false information given by her as a diversion as well as new information in a digestible manner, in order to make a detailed timeline of it all. It is imperative that I, like everyone else, can see the evidence gathered in one place and take a notable, direct course of action from there. I will see myself out and declare the mission a success. I got the USB containing valuable info, my new frame, the administrator role and I rid the world of some monsters."

"Yes, at this point it's better to return, not like there's much else to do here anyway.", Drima closed all his files, "Currently 5:18 a.m. Think you can make it back by 8? Else, I can't guarantee you'll be here before everyone else gets up to have to explain things."

"Affirmative. Although, given my new, obscure power level and different look of my body for the frame's practical function, explaining will be inevitable."

"You wanted to reach everyone else in terms of power level, so I made a new M.O.D. for you myself, having knowledge on how your body works more than Tiki, who I didn't need to console for the project. The clothing preferences were made by you and I proceeded as I deemed best. Is that good enough?", Drima made a quick excuse.

"Odly...yes.", Luna was surprised.

"I said I got multiple PhDs, plus a lot of bachelors and all that. Learned a lot of things from those, and excuse-making was a chapter I learned by heart on almost all my subjects. Now get going, I'll start compiling all we know and wait for your input of data as well."

Luna rushed back from the small hallway leading to the surgery room into the main one again, going right for the exit. A couple minutes of constant running passed, not a single Failure in sight, and no scientist-soldiers around. Thinking nothing of it, she kept going until she was forced to stop mere steps before the exit. Loud bangs and screeches were heard two turns down behind her, knowing full well that there were yet more of those scientists...even more Failures. So many more.

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"Drima. I need to remain for a few more minutes. I need to do something."

"You've got time. Your arrival, excursion, and everything was done at an insane pace anyway. And...I've got an idea about what that is. I was surprised when you mentioned that those old colleagues were now turned into this, but nevertheless, I won't stop you. Not like I can or could anyway. Will say this: do it quickly. Don't treat yourself to another torture session like they did."

"That is what I will do. For the protection of humanity...and their children.", she turned around and headed towards the noise.

She headed down the hallway in a very calm and cautious manner, this time deciding to get the jump on the scientists first. A little further down her suspicions were confirmed, as yet another squad of scientist-soldiers were fighting with a group of Failures, the fight leaning heavily against the Failures. Activating her matrix, she routed around them at lighting speeds, beginning to decimate their numbers before they even realized her presence. Leaving just three of them up front as she deactivated her matrix, they quickly turned around to face her, realizing that the sound of guns going off from their back was silenced.

"Ryan!", the woman on the left yelled.

"Your existence is a threat to humanity as a whole.", Luna moved in quickly.

Luna quickly disposed of both the left and right soldiers, leaving only the middle one alive as if her deep hatred for them shone through even the toughest programming barrier. Placing her massive scythe behind his legs and cutting him behind his knees, the scientist-soldier fell on the floor, crying out in pain. The Failures themselves backed down as Luna unleashed her attack, giving room to something they either realized was too powerful to face, or simply on their side.

"God!", the soldier cried.

"You are not humans worth saving.", Luna stepped on his chest, placing her scythe right underneath his neck as remained still on the floor.

"W-Wait! I've got some information if you need it! Please!", he tried negotiating.

"Your input can be considered necessary. What more do you possess, compared to the other squad that died telling me?"

"That's why they aren't communicating?! They're dead?!"

"All of them.", Luna very coldly said.

"Did they tell you about our tasks?"

"Retrieving the USB and killing the remainder of the innocent children, such as my sister and I, that you got into this state.", she showed him the Failures looking at them.

"The reactor! The Obsulyte reactor that this place works on, we were supposed to disable it along with another task force in the Victoria Plains!"

His words caught Luna's interest, "The reactor works directly from Obsulyte deposits from below, correct?"

"Yes, but it's nearing collapse point! It could cause a nuclear explosion that'd wipe out half of Gardard at this point!"

"And the team on the Plains?", she continued listening.

"If the reactor is shut down, the power it'd overuse from its circuits burning will be redirected to the main deposits located in the Victoria Plains, where we need to rapidly extract it to not cause...something way worse."

"Worse as in?", she pressed him further.

"Makaro, the goddamn malice behind Shadowers, he'll have his powers unleashed to a major extent. If such beast were to rise upon Shadowers consuming so much Obsulyte..."

"Hmm. I see. Your input was indeed useful, as that also explains why such a major task force would be deployed for what was initially presumed by us to be a simple USB recovery mission. Are there any more of you or other tasks you are after?"

"N-No! That's all the tasks, those were the two groups in here and not in the Plains, there's no more that we could trust with this mission if we wanted to keep things between only those who worked on this project! Three dozen in total, split in half for two groups!"

"Understood.", she knew full well he was telling the truth.

A small smile began to crack on the scientist-soldier's face as he saw Luna looking forward, preparing to head towards the reactor. That pure smile of hope for escaping death remained on his face, even when Luna brutally put her weight on her foot that was on his stomach, simultaneously pulling her scythe back and decapitating him on the spot, without a hint of regret or otherwise flinching, cold as an actual machine.

"Drima, did you hear all that?"

"I...I did. There's no way of communicating with those in the Plains, at least not without them realizing that it's not their friends on the other line."

"If I do not do this, half, if not all of London's safety will be put into jeopardy. Likewise, if we do not deploy in Victoria Plains again, we are risking whatever that thing Makaro is rumored to be, going around and destroying more than just the city itself. The situation escalated rapidly. Wake everyone up under an excuse, cancel whatever ideas they had for their trip to Greece, and raise the alarm on Alexandra. Tell her to send the military back. We are facing an Overseer class threat starting in a bit."

"What are you talking about, what are those places-", he got interrupted.

"'Gardard' and 'Galatea'. My mind and my information on H.I.V.E. are interfering with my geographical navigation between the origin point of Earth and Zero. I am turning communications off and proceeding at a rapid pace towards the reactor. I will disengage via the fire exit and regroup with the others as fast as I can. Let us move."

With the Failures looking right at Luna as she turned off her communications, she prepared herself for yet another brutal fight, before they instead turned around and walked away. Lowering her guard, she almost got confused about the situation, wondering how and why they chose not to attack her again, only to be let through with all their heads down. Even the dogs, not knowing how to even talk in the human language to begin with, had naturally moved aside, not alerting the other kid Failures to anything and letting Luna through. It took but a second for her to realize what was going on, how they now realized her as an ally via the most primitive of showcases for mutual hate against their enemies. Still, where her main directive remained active, she approached them instead, not going herself what she was doing.

"For humanity's-", she tried her best, absolute best, bringing her weak spirit as far out as she could to resist...but failed in doing so.

Her task, among others, was to ensure humanity's continuation...and protection. What these kids had become, what she had become, killing machines with minds or not, with tasks or not...her eyes were forced by mere numbers in a screen to treat them as a threat, completely detaching herself from anything she had to do with them. No similar fate, pain, or otherwise experience mattered to her anymore. She was locked into seeing them as objects.

With the same face of no emotion she had now chosen to bear, she lifted her scythe once more. Every single one of the remaining Failures, dogs and children, was slaughtered by the hands of a cold machine, seeking to do nothing more than complete that surface-level task she was programmed to do. To have your conscience be active, your will too, only to be able to witness the slaughter and crimes committed with your own two hands, adding to the images that already ate away at your mind...all the while she could tell humans from monsters, as with the same scientists she murdered mercilessly too just moments before.

Why? Why was she able to tell differences, selectively bypass that directive and kill them, but not do the same for these kids, these innocent kids and animals...was it because they had little to nothing left of resembling a human? A pure threat? Whereas before she would kill them in favor of saving what she deemed innocent soldiers blindly following orders as they were told, just like her...when the opposite stood in front of her like that, why were the results the exact same? What kind of Paradoxical nightmare was she living?

She was once being taught about the gods, the goddess, their teachings, wars, and adventures that all lead to a righteous path...but even when they were walking in front of her, living among her, why was she still forced to walk through more gates of hell? Digging deeper until the core? And among the current classified 'scourges' she was forced into killing, with her whole being against it...why were those she once looked up and prayed to now the only thing she couldn't shake the thought of killing off?

Because at that moment, a machine was praying to whatever she could get her voice to reach. A prayer of mercy, both for her and those who never even had the chance of getting to live the life they were gifted with.

A gift 'given' to them. One that if denied would cause anger, and if taken sympathy. In the end, they were all machines regardless, programmed into following something or nothing at all.

And she soaked herself in the blood of all those kids thinking of her little sister. It was just like before.

Her prayers went completely unanswered.