And in that moment—
right in front of them—
one SHIRŌ-KAGE stepped out of the dust and fog.
White body. Smooth, featureless mask.
Sensors glowing orange—
steady, unblinking—
like it was staring straight into the soul of the world.
It drew a plasma blade,
slowly raised it—
and behind it, through the storm of scrap and ash over Schrottnadel,
more silhouettes began to appear.
First dozens. Then more. Then—a lot more.
Within seconds, the entire edge of the island was filled with SHIRŌ-KAGE.
A wall of white ninja-droids—
silent,
perfectly still,
like statues at the end of the world.
Blindy’s jaw dropped.
“B-b-b-buddy…
th-that’s like—
those Star—BEEP—”
Dick’s voice slammed into the feed instantly:
“OH FOR FUCK’S SAKE, NOT AGAIN.
Blindy—please—
NO.
SUCH.
WORDS.”
He groaned.
“Jackie, sweetie… censor, please.
When he starts dropping copyrighted bullshit from the mouse empire…
I get worried about our souls.”
Dick hissed into the mic:
“You remember that idiot who called us—Zha’Rarrek?
Imagine what those EARS will do to us
if Blindy says anything with ‘light-‘ or ‘storm-‘ again—”
Jackie’s fingers hovered over the BEEP button—
combat-ready.
Down below…
Blindy fully lost it:
“BEEEEEP!
A-a-and they all got LIGHT—beep—
WHAT IS THIS—WHAT IS THIS—A CLOWN ATTACK—?!
D-d-did they CLONE these guys this whole time—?!
THE EMPIRE—beep—
—BEEP!—
THERE’S—THERE’S MORE OF ’EM THAN LAST TIME—!
W-we’re—
we’re so—so—SO—BEEP!—
RUSTY—
BRO—
GET ME HOME—!”
Zeros began to steam—
water evaporating off his body,
but it looked like he was boiling from rage.
Internal systems spiking—
reinitializing: “Eliminate Everything.”
Phoenix screamed:
“CAPTAIN, STOP ZEROS!
DON’T LET HIM CLAP SAER’THAL!
I’M LOSING CONTROL!
CAPTAAAAAAAIN—!”
Zeros accelerated.
And the world—
froze.
The drone noticed it—stuttered mid-air—
then snapped into a different mode.
>> SYNC ERROR
>> MOTION OVERLOAD
>> ENGAGING ULTRA-SLOW CAPTURE...
>> CAPTURE: ~10¹⁴ FPSThe world stretched.
For him—and the drone—time thickened into syrup.
Raindrops hung in the air,
stuck against Blindy’s face,
glittering like glass beads in a museum case.
Zeros thought. Fast. Too fast.
He muttered to himself—
“I have two options…
End this myself.
All at once.
Fast.”
He exhaled—
heavy, tired—
the breath of something that could have been a god,
a cooling system working harder than it should have,
but was exhausted—
of the world,
of humans,
of endless stupidity—
and maybe, just a little—
of himself.
The words kept coming—too fast for anything outside this moment to ever hear.
“One Saer’thal clap… and it’s over.
No more problems.
No more planet.
No more Blindy.
Nothing.
Just silence.
A clean vacuum
instead of this stinking —beep!—hole…”
He looked at Blindy—
panicked, small, useless.
The choice in front of him was so stupid
it felt like the universe itself was trolling him.
“Or… f—BEEP!—ing hell… embarrass myself.”
Zeros rolled his eyes.
“Fine. F—BEEP!—it.”
He dropped acceleration—
forced his internal clock back—
like manually rewinding his own rage.
The drone struggled to keep up—
>> FRAME RATE OVERFLOW
>> CAPTURE: ~10¹⁴ FPS
>> STABILIZING…
>> OUTPUT REDUCED: 240 FPSThe world snapped back into something the eye could follow.
Zeros looked up at the sky—
and spoke—
quietly,
but enough to make space itself tremble:
“…アイリ。
そこに居るのは分かっておる。
さっさと出て参れ。
さもなくば—
此処一帯、塵と化すぞ。”
Silence.
Blindy blinked.
Then again.
Then harder.
“…Uh…
you broken, buddy?”
Zeros didn’t turn his head.
Blindy stepped closer.
“THE—BEEP—WAS THAT JUST NOW—?!
B-b-buddy—
you just—”
He froze mid-thought.
Eyes widening.
Brain catching up way too late.
“…you sounded like—
like a—BEEP—JAPANESE ANIME BOSS—!AND I DON’T—BEEP—CARE HOW—
THAT WAS—BEEP—TERRIFYING—!”
Zeros replied flatly—
like commenting on the weather:
“I just called Airi.”