Callum instinctively stepped backward.
The motion was small, almost imperceptible, yet everyone present noticed it. Anxiety weighed heavily upon him as his legs trembled beneath the pressure of old memories clawing their way back to the surface. He could hear the machine speaking, could see the absence of hostility within its expression, and yet none of that erased the scars burned into his mind.
Because he remembered.
He remembered the silence.
The statues.
The ash.
The annihilation of an entire dynasty in a single night.
And standing at the center of those memories had been this very being.
Chrome towered before him now, its metallic frame rising well above two meters in height, broad-shouldered and imposing even while standing perfectly still. Light reflected faintly across the polished black-silver alloy of its body, giving it an almost unnatural elegance. Its eyes remained disturbingly human, filled not with aggression but with something far worse.
Pity.
The machine stared down at Callum quietly for several moments before suddenly freezing.
Its eyes widened.
"Golden hair..." it murmured slowly. "Azure eyes... are you-"
It stopped mid-sentence.
Callum let out a nervous chuckle before the machine could continue.
"So," he said quietly, forcing calm into his voice, "you do recognize me from that day."
Chrome's hands slowly clenched.
A deep metallic scraping echoed throughout the cavern as iron ground against iron beneath the force of its grip. The machine lowered its head slightly, mechanical teeth tightening together before it finally spoke again.
"I am sorry."
The words came softly.
Painfully so.
"If the experiment had been conducted properly," Chrome continued, "perhaps I would never have become the monster you came to know me as."
Its gaze drifted downward toward the eight glowing cores embedded within its chest. Regret filled its expression so completely that for a moment it no longer resembled a machine at all.
Then its eyes shifted toward the ninth core still resting carefully within its hand.
Callum narrowed his eyes.
"This experiment..." he said slowly. "Can you show it to us? Show us who was behind everything? Tell us what truly happened?"
Chrome hesitated.
Its gaze shifted away from Callum and toward Caesar, who was rapidly approaching from deeper within the cavern. The machine observed all five of them carefully before finally answering.
"I can show you," it said at last. "However, Sir Caesar will need to access my mainframe directly. Several security firewalls prevent me from freely displaying the footage myself."
Callum released a soft breath.
"That's fine," he said quietly. "Please... just show us the truth."
He tried to make his voice sound gentle, though the tension within him remained impossible to hide.
Chrome nodded once before turning and walking toward Caesar.
Then Artoria spoke.
"Machine."
Her voice cut through the cavern like drawn steel.
She gripped her sword so tightly her knuckles whitened beneath the strain. Fury radiated openly across her face as she stared at Chrome with undisguised hatred.
"If what you show us fails to justify your actions," she said coldly, "you will be destroyed. So savor these moments carefully."
The cavern fell silent again.
Chrome remained motionless for several seconds.
Then slowly, without resistance, the machine lowered itself onto one knee before Caesar.
"I have already lived longer than I deserve," it said quietly. "But if you choose to destroy me... please take care of these children."
Its gaze drifted once more toward the glowing cores within its chest.
"They have never harmed anyone," Chrome whispered. "Only I have."
The sorrow in its voice made the entire cavern feel worse.
Caesar focused his eyes while observing the kneeling machine.
"Before I access your systems," he said calmly, "there are two things I wish to ask."
Chrome looked upward, its reflective eyes mirroring Caesar's mechanical frame.
"What is it, sir?"
Caesar folded his arms.
"First," he said, "what is your name?"
Chrome opened its mouth immediately, then paused.
For a moment it seemed uncertain.
As though the answer itself carried weight.
Finally it spoke.
"My name... is Chrome, sir."
Caesar exhaled softly.
"So you truly are the one."
He remained silent briefly before continuing.
"And for what purpose were you created?"
Callum's expression darkened instantly.
"Come on, Caesar," he muttered bitterly. "We already know the answer to that. It succeeded in annihilating my dynasty. Isn't that enough?"
"No."
Chrome answered immediately.
Its eyes settled upon Callum with unsettling seriousness.
"That was not my purpose."
The cavern grew still.
Chrome slowly turned its gaze back toward Caesar.
"My purpose..." it said quietly, "was to kill a child."
Everyone froze.
"The one now known as Hydra," Chrome continued. "Or more accurately... Barbatos. The strongest Visorian of the modern era."
Shock spread visibly across the group.
Callum's eyes widened.
All this time he had believed the Pendragon genocide itself had been Chrome's objective. Had everything truly only been collateral to a larger mission?
The realization left him speechless.
Meanwhile Caesar quietly stepped behind Chrome and began delicately removing several metallic plates from its back. Intricate mechanisms and countless glowing components revealed themselves beneath the armor as wires unfolded from Caesar's own body and connected directly into Chrome's exposed systems.
"Then my suspicions were correct," Caesar murmured.
His fingers moved with incredible speed and precision as streams of information flooded through his mechanical interface.
"Heh," Caesar suddenly said without looking up. "You became Vale's friend, didn't you?"
Chrome's eyes widened slightly before it nodded.
"Yes," it admitted softly. "I apologize. Befriending one of your family members was never my intention."
Caesar scoffed.
"Oh, spare me."
He rolled his eyes while continuing to manipulate the machine's systems.
"I scanned the signatures before your disappearance. I already know you saved Vale and the other students that day. For that alone, you have my gratitude."
Chrome's mechanical jaw tightened faintly.
"All I did," it said quietly, "was rebel against my creators."
Its gaze lowered.
"I only hope I still can."
A faint chuckle escaped Caesar.
"Well, if you're truly that determined, we may as well take you in properly."
Then his expression sharpened.
"But tell me something first. How exactly did you destroy the Pendragon dynasty?"
Chrome hesitated only briefly before answering.
"I combined four plane cores simultaneously," it explained. "The resulting beam distorted reality itself, trapping those affected within an endless cycle of decay and restoration."
The group listened in horrified silence.
"Though their bodies resembled obsidian statues afterward," Chrome continued, "their souls remained intact throughout the process, as if stagnated."
Caesar's eyes widened instantly with fascination.
"You mean they can still be saved?" he asked sharply. "If provided with the proper cores to reverse the effect?"
Chrome hesitated again.
Then slowly nodded.
"In theory... yes."
For the first time since entering the cavern, genuine excitement appeared across Caesar's face.
"Well," he said with a grin, "that makes two very good things to come out of today."
He tapped against his wrist interface once more. Immediately Chrome's frame illuminated with streams of flickering data racing beneath its metallic surface. The machine's eyes glowed brighter for several moments as encrypted files rapidly unlocked within its systems.
Finally Caesar stepped back.
Chrome straightened itself and bowed respectfully.
"Thank you, Sir Caesar."
Then it raised one hand.
A holographic projection slowly expanded outward above its palm, shimmering into existence like liquid light.
However, before activating it fully, Chrome looked toward the group one final time.
"I must ask again," it said carefully. "Do you truly wish to see this?"
Its voice grew quieter.
"These memories are... extremely disturbing."
Callum stepped forward before anyone else could respond.
Determination blazed within his eyes.
"Show us," he said firmly.
His fists clenched at his sides.
"Show us everything."
The holographic light reflected across his face as he stared directly into Chrome's eyes.
"From the very beginning."
Chrome looked down at him with visible pity.
Then slowly, silently, it nodded.
"As you wish."