T-03-46
"The other day I punched an employee to beat some sense into them. I killed them by accident. I was so absorbed killing worms over and over, I failed to control my strength and murdered an innocent person… a teammate… a friend. If the captain found out I killed Sebas, I wonder how they would react. What do you think, One Sin and Hundreds of Good Deeds? Am I truly a devil? Do I deserve forgiveness for my acts?"
As usual, the giant skull said nothing and continued to eat my sins.
"Did you know? My family used to be part of C Corp. Yeah, that Wing: The Claw. We were raised to be genetically stronger in order to become proper human weapons. Since our batch was a failure, we were expelled. Some of my siblings joined Fixer Offices… some were hired by Syndicates like Gregory's. I refused to take a stance in that conflict. All I ever wanted was for everyone to get along. Soon after entering L Corp's Nest, I received news about their deaths. They killed each other without even realizing who they were fighting. I was so filled with… rage…"
One Sin shone a little brighter, so I waited until it calmed down to continue.
"This Wing put me in my place. The world doesn't care about me. It will continue on even if I die. [DATA EXPUNGED] helped me move onto a new stage of my life by reminding me how fleeting life is. Still, whenever I get blood on my hands, I feel my past beating on my door, trying to tell me that before a person, I am a weapon. Kikas once asked me for advice. They wanted to help their Sephirah with her troubles. Apparently, Hod wants to be a good person. That's great, isn't it?"
I rested onto the floor, my eyes studied the unchanging ceiling. My long hair spread like a blooming flower.
"I feel nice when I kill. The sensation of murder… it excites me. I rejected that part of myself, scared that I would be judged a psychopath. I may be designed to enjoy the act of killing, but nobody likes solitude. I had to stop Sebas because they were about to murder Gars. Even though I murdered our friend, Gars thanked me for saving their life."
I grit my teeth.
"Should I feel guilty that a sensation of ecstasy and morbidity filled me when I saw Gars' troubled expression? I can't control it. It just… happens, like when you drift into your dreams when you close your eyes during the night."
I looked for more words to describe my powerlessness to reject my nature, but only an incoherent mixture of attempts continued. An idea visited my mind.
"I… am regretful. I never got to share any of this with [DATA EXPUNGED]. Had I done that… would I now have a cleaner conscience? Would they forgive me? They accepted the freak who expressed their unrestrained happiness and befriended the person who made a hell out of their past. Would they be daring enough to accept a human weapon designed to sin? Would they still hum the song they invented for me whenever I crossed their thoughts?"
A green face. Work was done… and so was I. I removed my three-eyed plague doctor mask and exited the chamber. A pillar of light enveloped me.
The light surrounding 00105 projected from Control all the way to Welfare. WhiteNight, the second form of the Plague Doctor, had a white, round head with a curved body that resembled an embryo, two red eyes and five pairs of white, feathered wings. A halo of thorns floated above his head, somehow similar to my own Penitence EGO gift. He also wore a golden collar with the numbers 666 engraved into it. The light 00105 summoned by confessing dealt a huge amount of pale damage to it, quickly reducing it to ashes.
Soon afterwards, all the Apostles stabbed themselves with their weapons. Their exoskeletons rested on their scythes, spears and wands. Their heeled feet would move no more. Their plague doctor masks remained, revealing the hair that used to belong to the employees that housed the blessing inside themselves. Their formerly red or blue eyes ceased to glow. Grey feathers around their neck and a set of large, blunt teeth.
Outside One Sin's containment unit, Malkuth knelt next to 00105's dead body.
"You've successfully suppressed T-03-46, A. Congratulations. From today on, each time WhiteNight breaches, the apostles will choose random employees to possess and transform. By making the twelfth apostle confess to One Sin, we will be able to avoid a total defeat at the price of twelve employees."
Angela raised a brow.
"Do you feel dissatisfied? You managed to complete a difficult event without too many casualties. Compared to the disaster Nothing There caused before, this was a triumph."
I frowned.
"You know very well how little their lives matter." She continued. "Why are you so remorseful? It's not like you to show pity for others."
Carmen's failed copy became incredibly witty since the last time I saw her. I guess she had a couple millennia to think of ways to berate me… or perhaps she utilized a trial-and-error approach to find out what kind of comments I hated the most.
Excellent. This is how it's meant to be.
"We're going to retry the day."
"Do you wish to postpone the activation of WhiteNight? That's a fair way to get rid of that nuisance, but Welfare Department will continue to be a den of zealots who abduct employees. I'm sure you wouldn't mind leaving everyone to suffer, A, but restarting the day is a waste of time."
"We're doing it anyway. We need to overcome White Night with our own power or we won't be able to face the challenges ahead."
Angela acquired a neutral expression to hide her displeasure. Just like a machine, she would never go against me. Such a childish behavior may have happened during one of the earlier cycles, but judging from her current demeanor, she must be desperate to end the project.
Truly, I couldn't understand why White Night deemed Ekpmephtil a heretic just for some genetically induced pleasure at the most inappropriate moments. I am way more deserving to be called a devil. White Night cannot be defeated by a humble deity that eats sins and the traitor apostle. It had to be felled by my command. Only then did the project had a better chance at reaching the fiftieth day.
It's rewind time.
I summoned every single employee to Welfare's Main Room. The awakened Apostles killed everyone I gathered. I failed.
I sent the zealots to the ASIYAH layer, as far as I could. Two guards were summoned to defend White Night. I failed.
Magical Girl turned into a monster before I could defeat her and killed everyone. I failed.
I killed the guards before they could destroy all my employees, but then White Night sent a pulse of Pale damage throughout the facility. Even I could feel the tremors. I failed.
I killed the guards again and shoot a pale shield to my employees. They resisted the shockwave, but the ability reanimated the defeated minions and murdered everyone. I failed.
I tried asking Little Red a favor. She caused more trouble than it was worth. I failed.
Magical Girl again. I failed.
I divided my forces in two teams. One of them would focus on that blasted white baby, while the other subdued the guards, mainly to keep away their aggro. I ran out of bullets and the pulse of Pale damage killed everyone. I failed.
I grouped everyone inside the elevators to save bullets. One shot, many pale shields. During my free time, I would ponder why the elevators were so blessed. I wouldn't be surprised if an abnormality were to reflect their adoration towards elevators. I got distracted and everyone died. I failed.
Over…
…and over…
…I tried many times to defeat the most powerful ALEPH… I even sent an employee inside the Shelter from the 27th of March to cause the greatest chaos possible, but the apostles kept coming back to life every single time. I considered giving up…
…but I had to do it. Each time, I stared at the screen counting the seconds until WhiteNight breached. Once it was over, I was not dealing with that arrogant baby ever again.
"So many resets… Do you want my help, A?"
"I can lead them to victory."
"No. That's not it. You need to-"
"Will you just let me-?"
"Shut up. Fade away, ghost, before I order Angela to capture you and get you into your own containment unit."
"Is that a no?"
"I hate watching them die over and over. Could you finish it already?"
"Thanks to your many resets, I've gotten used to the flow of time you control. This will make it even harder for you to capture me."
"Angela!"
"Fine. Just remember it was you who did this to me. I am now a part of the cycle, no matter how much you hate it. The project will succeed."
"Get out of my office, ghost."
"Heh, ba-bye."
I'm not giving up this cycle before putting that annoyance into a containment unit.
The screen showed me the massacre my distractions caused.
I failed.
I failed, failed and failed again until I finally triumphed over my nemesis. WhiteNight vanished and the apostles suicided. A winged white staff fell onto the floor. It had a red orb at its edge and a golden halo floating above. Angela teleported there to pick it up before anyone else. She disappeared. The staff was pointed at my head.
"This is what you wanted. I'll add it to the arsenal. Choose wisely who you assign to this weapon. EGO is lost when its user dies."
I shrugged. I didn't care who wielded it. I held the power to bend time and restart the days as many times as I desired. I turned on my seat and attempted to touch the EGO weapon. I abstained.
"It may take me a thousand attempts to achieve my objective, but I only need to succeed once."
Looking at Angela wielding the wand, I felt disappointed machines were unable to produce any energy from abnormalities. It would have only taken a single cycle with employees like her.
"What should we do about [Confidential ID]?"
"As long as they continue to elude us, we'll hunt them. They know too much. They may reveal our secrets to everyone and ruin the project."
"They had the chance to do so, yet here we are. [DATA EXPUNGED] may ruin the project, as you say, or they may help us achieve it. I recall that you sided with Tiphereth B when asked to predict the future. You're no stranger to the concept of hope. Then, why do you distrust your creations so much?"
I chose not to answer that. I'm 100% sure that none the other managers answered her question either.
"Take that EGO to the armory, Angela. I still have to manage the rest of the day with remaining workers"
A hummed song resonated through Control's corridors. A Sephirah and her team reunited next to a corpse.
Employee 00105 was the final sacrifice.
I smiled as I entered the Memory Imprint room.
