"Enough."
Caesar's voice cut through the cavern. The holographic projection suspended before them shattered instantly into drifting fragments of blue light before dissolving into nothingness, plunging the cavern back into uneasy darkness. For several seconds, nobody moved.
Chrome remained kneeling at the center of the group, his mechanical frame motionless beneath the dim glow of his exposed cores. The machine's narrow metallic eyes stayed fixed on the stone ground, heavy with a grief so profound it almost appeared human. Around him, silence settled.
The others stared blankly where the footage had vanished, their minds still trapped within the nightmare they had just witnessed.
Artoria reacted first.
Her fists clenched so violently that blood began to drip between her fingers. Crimson splashed onto the pale stone beneath her boots as tremors ran through her arms. Rage distorted her expression beyond recognition, grief, fury, and disbelief warred openly across her face. Then, with a sudden roar of frustration, she seized a massive boulder beside her, one so large several ordinary men could not have moved it, and hurled it skyward with monstrous strength.
The stone tore through the air like a meteor.
A thunderous impact echoed across the valley.
Far above them, Ember's colossal head jerked slightly as the boulder shattered harmlessly against his ivory scales. Fragments of rock exploded outward before tumbling down the mountainside like rain. The colossal wyvern narrowed his massive ember eyes and slowly lowered his head toward the cave entrance, smoke spilling from his nostrils. Irritation radiated from the beast.
Then Ember roared.
The sound was primal, deafening enough to shake the mountains themselves. The valley trembled beneath the force of it, loose stones skittering across the ground as the ravens shifted uneasily nearby.
Artoria snapped toward him instantly.
"Shut your damn mouth, beast!" she screamed, her voice cracking beneath the weight of her fury.
The wyvern's eyes narrowed further, but surprisingly, he did not retaliate. Instead, he merely watched her, ancient intelligence lingering behind his reptilian gaze as though he understood exactly why she was breaking apart.
The rest of the group remained still.
Callum stared at the ground in silence, his breathing uneven. Yuki's expression had lost all of its usual wildness, replaced instead by stunned disbelief. Evelyn stood rigid with her arms folded tightly across her chest, though the faint trembling in her fingers betrayed her composure entirely.
Only Caesar managed to recover quickly enough to speak.
"Lady Artoria," he said carefully, his mechanical voice quieter now, stripped of its usual confidence. Sorrow lingered openly within his eyes. "You know something, don't you?"
Artoria turned toward him slowly.
Her eyes were wet with her anger.
"You know something," Caesar repeated, softer then before, careful not to anger her.
For several seconds she said nothing. Her jaw tightened hard enough to tremble. Then, finally, she spoke.
"It was her."
The words came out low and venomous.
"She was the one who sent me and my husband into that Gate... the one where we died."
Her voice fractured near the end.
Then, suddenly, she slammed her fist into the ground.
The mountain stone exploded beneath the impact.
Cracks spread outward through the cavern floor like spiderwebs as fragments of rock burst into the air. Everyone instinctively stepped back.
"I never thought..." Artoria muttered, her breathing ragged. "I never once thought it would be her."
Silence followed again.
Caesar studied her carefully, choosing each word with visible caution. Even he understood she stood dangerously close to losing control entirely.
"Lady Artoria," he said slowly, "who is she?"
Artoria remained crouched for several moments, staring at the shattered stone beneath her fist as though trying to bury the answer there forever. But eventually she raised her head.
"Her name is Nebula."
The air itself seemed to tighten.
"She is Rosemary's biological sister," Artoria continued bitterly. "And long ago... she served as my personal assistant, just as Rosemary once served my husband."
Callum's eyes widened instantly.
His breathing caught in his throat.
"Wait..." he muttered. "If she's Miss Rose's sister, then what you're saying is-"
"Yes."
Artoria's voice became ice.
"That woman tortured her own cousins."
The words hit the group harder than the footage itself.
Yuki visibly recoiled.
Evelyn's expression darkened.
Even Caesar looked momentarily disturbed despite everything he had already pieced together.
Then Chrome spoke.
"That is not all."
The machine's voice echoed softly through the cavern, mechanical yet strangely solemn. Every eye turned toward him.
Chrome slowly lifted his head toward Artoria.
"Your daughter," he said carefully, "Alexandria... her mutations were caused by Nebula's interference."
Artoria froze completely.
"If Vale had not intervened when he did," Chrome continued quietly, "your daughter would have died as well."
For the first time since the footage ended, true horror appeared on Artoria's face.
Her entire body trembled.
The realization struck her harder than any blade ever could.
"That..." she whispered weakly. "No..."
Then rage returned.
Far worse than before.
She rose slowly to her feet, and the pressure radiating from her body became suffocating. Harmonic Atum flickered faintly around her form, distorting the air itself.
She stared directly at Chrome.
"Machine," she said slowly, "you claimed you wished to kill your creator."
Chrome met her gaze without hesitation.
"Yes."
Artoria's lips twisted into something almost feral.
"Then we share a common goal."
The cavern darkened slightly as her power intensified.
"That woman's death," she said through clenched teeth, "has become my greatest desire. And I will not stop until she is buried beneath the earth."
Chrome observed her silently for several long seconds before nodding once.
He understood.
She had not forgiven him.
Perhaps she never would.
But her hatred had shifted toward its true source.
And now, they stood on the same side.
Slowly, Chrome turned toward the others.
Callum looked at him strangely now. Not with the terror he once carried, but with uncertainty, an uncomfortable mixture of grief, pity, and lingering resentment.
"So," Callum muttered, "you were hiding beneath our feet this entire time?"
Chrome inclined his head.
"Yes. My existence was known only to a handful of individuals."
Callum narrowed his eyes.
"Who?"
Chrome hesitated.
Then answered.
"Miss Rosemary. Sir Rikin. And-"
His gaze shifted.
Toward Evelyn.
Callum followed it.
His eyes widened grew wide as he realized what the machine meant.
"You knew?"
Evelyn stiffened beneath his stare. Unease spread clearly across her face before she finally nodded.
"Yes," she admitted quietly.
Callum's expression hardened immediately.
"You knew," he repeated, stepping closer. "All this time... you knew."
"Callum-"
"No."
He grabbed her shoulder suddenly, fury overtaking him once again.
"That thing slaughtered our entire bloodline! If you truly cared about me, why didn't you say anything?!"
Evelyn's eyes widened.
Fear flickered across her face.
"I was afraid!" she snapped back at last, her composure finally cracking. "Alright?! I was terrified!"
Callum froze briefly.
But his grip remained tight.
Then another hand seized his wrist.
"Let her go."
Yuki's voice was cold enough to freeze the air itself.
Callum turned sharply toward her.
The frost-haired girl stared at him with narrowed eyes, utterly unimpressed.
"This isn't helping anyone," she said firmly. "We just uncovered the truth behind a genocide. That doesn't give you the right to start tearing apart the people beside you."
Callum glared at her.
"You think you understand how I feel?" he growled. "Your family died in a tragedy too, didn't they?"
Yuki's expression focused piercing him instantly.
"Careful, knight."
A faint chill spread through the cavern.
"I understand your pain perfectly," she said quietly. "Which is exactly why I know losing control helps nobody."
The two locked eyes in silence.
Tension thickened once more.
Then suddenly,
A loud alarm blared through the cavern.
Everyone turned instantly toward Caesar.
Red warning lights flashed across his mechanical body as countless combat systems activated simultaneously.
Caesar's expression darkened.
"It seems," he muttered grimly, "you'll all have to postpone the arguing."
Metal shifted across his frame as weapons unfolded from beneath his armor plating.
"Something's coming."
At once, every person present drew their weapons.
Even Artoria turned toward the cavern entrance.
Outside, the barren mountains stood silent beneath the pale sky. Wind swept across the valley in long mournful currents.
Then movement appeared atop the distant ridge.
Dark humanoid silhouettes.
Slowly emerging from the shadows like ghosts crawling out of the grave.