[OLD] Book 1: Densetsu.EXEcution

Chapter 15 - The Cyber World

Chapter 15: The Cyber World

Arashi sprinted at Dante with his scythe armed in both hands. “You bastard!” he shouted, rushing forward. Dante glanced at Arashi beneath his red-rimmed shades and scoffed.

“You have no idea who you’re dealing with,” he said, taking a single step back. He tilted his head and smiled as he snapped his fingers above his head. A few bright floating lights appeared in front of him.

“What are those things?” Arashi asked, hoping that Kiri would give him a response.

“Allow me to save your foolish AI counterpart the trouble,” Dante said, pointing his gun at Arashi as if to warn him that if he didn’t pay attention, he would pull the trigger. “When an AI is born, approximately seven trillion eight hundred ninety-two thousand particles are spawned along with it. Each one of those particles contains bits and pieces of the AI’s original data. The AI then attempts to absorb as many of those particles as possible, selecting only the purest of them. If there’s even one hint of corrupted data in a particle, it is immediately scrapped.”

Dante extended his arm, showing Arashi the various bodies that were emerging from the light spots he had created. “Those particles are called Lesser AI. They are forged with the irrelevant and corrupted data of an AI. Because they were unable to be absorbed they lost their freedom, becoming infrared structures that were uncontrollable by the AI. Fortunately, the lesser AI aren’t very powerful on their own. In a struggle for power, they immediately begin to eliminate each other one by one, until only a few remain. With each lesser AI erased, the others get stronger. Eventually, only about five or six lesser AI will remain.”

He gave a cocky grin. “Of course, even when you divide the 7,000,892,000 original lesser AI into the five or six that remain,” he continued, “you still barely reach even a small fraction of the greater AI’s original power. We of the N-AI have reprogrammed—or as you would call it, hacked—the lesser AI to serve as our minions. Through these ancient lights of the unholy world, these AI can be summoned to wherever and whenever we please. The lights, if you were wondering, are forged off the fragments of Li-3’s Radiant crystal.”

Arashi clenched his fists at the mention of Li-3. He knew that he would be in for a tough fight, but he didn’t expect Li-3 to tie into it somehow. “Kiri, you know what to do,” Arashi said, lifting his scythe. Kiri nodded nervously before allowing Arashi to borrow her power. Suddenly, as if to show that he wasn’t finished speaking, Dante pulled the trigger of his pistol, barring the edge of Arashi’s scythe as he blocked the shot

“Each lesser AI is composed of a different emotion,” Dante continued casually, “That emotion is undetermined however, since the AI that we control are composed of so many different emotions. Fortunately, they have no means of expressing them, unlike our friend Kiri here. She is what we would call a greater AI. These AI are composed of one single emotion, and they absorb particles that are relevant to their emotion. In Kiri’s case, fear, this means she absorbed many other particles at her birth. Such particles may have included sadness, pain, anguish, suffering, guilt, and more. The AI is restricted from expressing any emotions beyond those they were born with, which is dependent on the object they were spawned from. Myself, Dante—I was spawned from the ashes of the Malway District Courtroom—the ashes of Viktor DiVincio…”

Arashi’s face grew tense. He began to breathe heavily as he grabbed his face in agony, still holding his scythe with one hand. The weapon shook vigorously in his hand. Slowly, Arashi rose his head, lowering his hand down to his mouth and chin while still shaking. Once he had calmed down, he smirked and began to laugh rather psychotically.

“Perhaps you shouldn’t have told me that,” he said, grabbing Kiri’s hand from behind him. “You were with Desiree before, which leads me to believe that you two were involved in some serious hacking-related affairs.” Kiri withheld a nervous look on her face as Arashi spoke. “I’m certainly subjected to believe that you had something to do with my doppelganger from about a year ago. You killed my parents, Saki’s father, and Usagi’s. The root of all evil has finally made his appearance.”