I awakened very slowly…my hearing returned first, although my mind did not seem to process the sounds completely— I could remember the Archduke speaking to me, but I could not recall any of the things that he’d said. I also felt that I could remember things from before I was conscious: a great crash, some sort of scraping noise, and the unmistakable sound of a circuit being broken, many moons ago…all these faint sensations danced in my head as I began to move.

“...Hello?? Are we awake, finally...?”

“I...think so…”

“A verbal response, good! Welcome back to the land of the living, friend. It was a long, hard journey, but we made it…!”

“Something’s...different…”

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“A lot of things are different, actually. I mean, you’ve been out for over a week, so…”

“A week?! W-was this supposed to take that long??”

“Well, there were some...unforeseen complications…! I mean, first, the new brain didn’t fit, and then the authentication didn’t work, your own operating system almost made you overheat and explode, and as if that wasn’t enough, your friend suddenly woke up and started tearing this place apart—”

“Wait, that’s it! That’s what’s different…Hizen’s not here anymore! Did he let go of me on his own?? Where is he?!”

“Heck if I know. My guess is that Cordyceps kicked back in, and he’s headed for the Worm again…”

“Oh no! I...I have to go! I have to stop him...!”

“Wait, what about my experiment?! We haven’t even tested to see if your powers work yet!!”

“I’ll come back later, I promise!”

“You’ll what?! When??”

“I’m sorry, Archduke! I’m sorry…!”