The two machine lifeforms who had named themselves Adam and Eve no longer looked pleased.
This time, the androids had made no effort to hide their movements.
To ensure every android could witness it, the signal was being broadcast over a public channel.
Which meant the machine lifeforms could receive the live feed as well.
"They're actually leaving."
"W-What do we do, brother?"
The anxious voice sounded as though something she loved was slipping away from her.
In a sense, humanity really was something deeply precious to the two of them.
Part of the reason they had evolved, part of the reason they continued to live, was for humanity's sake.
"Obviously, we can't let them get away!"
…
May the glory of mankind endure forever!
That blessing was not only echoing across the moon.
The personnel stationed at the thirteen bases in Earth's orbit were also watching the live broadcast. They solemnly saluted as well and spoke the same words of benediction: "May the glory of mankind endure forever."
On the surface, resistance fighters in every region also watched the broadcast, saluted, and offered their blessings.
They watched as the starship carrying humanity's final spark ignited its engines. The blazing light was so intense it seemed as though it would vitrify the lunar surface itself, pushing that mountain-sized metal body up into the sky.
Slowly, it climbed.
Slowly, it accelerated.
And just like that, it broke free of the moon's gravity and headed into the boundless sea of stars.
"If you are tired of the war with the machine lifeforms, if you've grown weary of it, then you may rest at any time. You can even stop caring about it and go do what you yourselves want to do."
The creator who was not departing said this.
"You do not owe humanity anything anymore. You have already given more than enough. Besides, what kind of parent keeps making their children support them forever? That would be inhuman. That would make us complete failures."
The creator gave a bitter smile and mocked himself as he spoke.
And those words instantly made countless androids feel warmth spreading through their chests.
Because the creator had referred to them as humanity's children.
That meant they too were part of humanity's family.
Huh?
Why had their vision suddenly become blurry? What was this running from their eyes?
"Are these tears?"
"Are we crying?"
"Humans cry like this too."
"Then we're part of humanity too, aren't we?"
They were crying, but not from sorrow.
These were tears of incomparable emotion, tears born from the joy of having their identity acknowledged.
Some of them simply stopped trying to restrain themselves and broke down into loud, wailing sobs.
"…So they too are looking forward to meeting all of you again someday, after you've grown."
So was it really true that the departing humans did not have enough strength to take even some of the androids with them?
The unknown starry expanse could not possibly be safe.
The clearest proof was the machine lifeforms occupying most of Earth. They themselves were creations of an alien civilization from another star system.
If humanity was heading into that unknown cosmos, then the dangers awaiting them were likely even greater than those facing the androids who remained on Earth.
"Perhaps… the remaining humans are going ahead to open the way for the androids."
"Huh?"
Mio, who had just wiped away her tears, froze when she heard her older sister murmur that.
As for why she was wiping her tears, it was because the atmosphere just now had affected her too.
Returning to the matter at hand, her sister's theory was indeed very possible.
Then something seemed to occur to her, and her expression changed again.
"Sis, maybe that whole claim about finding a cure is a lie too."
Perhaps those departing humans were merely setting foot among the stars first for the androids' future, using the last embers of their own lives to illuminate a safe road for the androids.
"Mm, that's possible. This speech may have been a lie meant to stabilize the androids, so they would stop being bound by humanity."
Because she had obtained material from the next NieR project, there was quite a bit of information there concerning the next generation.
After combining that with the intelligence they had already learned, the nature of this speech felt more and more like an attempt to point the androids toward a new path.
To stop the androids from living only for humanity.
To make the androids pursue a future of their own.
Mio's sister even suspected there might not be a single human aboard that starship.
That humanity had in fact already gone extinct, just like the story in the game.
Gone. Just like that.
So the human history that Kain had described, the part about the war with the Replicants, had likely been altered.
"Kuroneko, are there really surviving humans over there?"
Mio asked again, turning to Black Cat, whose thoughts had finally returned from elsewhere.
"Huh? I don't know either. After all, that's a universe that genuinely exists. And neither A2, nor that world's 2B, nor Commander White appeared in the live feed to address that point directly. No one gave a definite answer."
One possibility really was exactly what Mio's sister had said: this was a lie.
But even if it was a lie, it was a lie told for a good reason.
It would buy enough time for the androids to free themselves from humanity's restraints and stop living solely for humanity.
Perhaps most of this generation of androids still lived for humanity.
But in the education of the next generation, humanity would already have departed for another star system. Humanity would not hold such overwhelming importance in their hearts, and they would not lose the will to live just because humanity was gone.
And with a broadcast like this, the machine lifeforms would receive it too. The machine lifeforms who were equally obsessed with humanity would likely be deceived into chasing after them as well, leaving them less interested in fighting the androids.
There was another possibility too.
Maybe the truth differed somewhat from the history recorded in this world's game. Maybe humanity had not truly been wiped out in the end by the collapse brought on by the Replicants.
Maybe a tiny remnant had endured by entering something like hibernation.
And now, because of Kain's past, they had entrusted him to help stage one final deception. The surviving humans would leave the solar system under the pretense of seeking treatment, using what remained of their lives to explore a path through the stars for their children, the androids.
Or perhaps only by leaving the solar system could their condition truly be eased.
Once he reached that point in his thoughts, Black Cat, who had once again only downloaded a ten-minute segment, immediately went back online to continue watching the livestream.
At that moment, he was hugging the thirteen commanders one by one, though a barrier separated them.
Because he had told the androids that if they had any wishes, he would do his best to fulfill them.
And one of those wishes, proposed by one of the thirteen commanders, was this: to embrace him, a human, and feel what a human was like. Human scent. Human body temperature. Human breathing. Human heartbeat.
So the androids were taking turns hugging him.
But there were simply too many androids. If they hugged him one by one, there was no telling how long it would take.
Because of that, each one was only allowed a very brief embrace, though it was still an embrace in the end.
As for the androids who had come up from the surface, all of them were given the chance to hug him. After all, these were the people who had risked their lives on the front lines.
One by one, they embraced him, and each became completely certain that he truly was human, leaving no room to doubt his words.
Hm?
They had arrived. Those twin sisters.
They looked even more nervous and uneasy.
They were perhaps the most tragic figures among all androids. Even though it had been other twin-model androids of the same type who had led humanity to the brink of extinction, the two of them had still been implicated and awakened with a fatal "atonement" program.
And even so, they did not hate anything or anyone. They accepted that this too was their sin.
…
"Devola, Popola, you did nothing wrong. If something like that happened, then all it means is that we adults were reaping the sins we deserved. We created Replicants, never anticipated that they would develop selves of their own, and then tried to forcibly take their bodies and steal their lives. In the end, it was only humanity slaughtering itself. So there is no need for you to feel guilty. The ones who should feel guilt are us. We made you embark on a meaningless journey of atonement for thousands of years. So please allow me to say to you once more, in these pale and powerless words: I'm sorry."
By the time they heard those words, Devola and Popola's eyes had already become blurred with tears.
Then they felt something vanish.
The implanted Atonement program had been erased.
And as they looked at the self-mocking expression on the creator before them, their lips parted as if to comfort him, only for...
A shrill alarm suddenly rang out!
The machine lifeforms had begun to move!
(End of Chapter)
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