Shukuna whimpered as her new friend was tortured for hours by the badly ensouled doll. He was screaming, gurgling with fluid, and praying to God for release.
Actually, this part wasn't bad. It was heartening to know that, in this time of great distress, Nini was reaching out to Krishna despite only knowing of his existence and role but a few scant hours prior.…
Of course, anyone, even the staunchest of Atheists, would turn back to God when faced with imminent demise and inhuman torture.
But… the real test was if someone could still remember God when everything went well and would willingly serve his servant in the eternal outreach program.
The fallen souls of this world all knew Krishna, but all of them chose to forget him. And thus, they started to suffer since they began to replace him with things that were transient in existence and the source of so much anxiety and suffering.
Nevertheless, despite meditating on the sublime philosophy and how it applied in this world and chanting under her breath, hidden behind an electrical outlet to wait for the monster to leave, little Shukuna could not help but have nightmares of Nini's screams of pain.
It was… another proof that he truly was a soul in a mechanical body since, while Ais and highly advanced computers could give the illusion of life and consciousness, no machines could scream like that or react to pain in such a genuine way.
There was a soul in this doll, and this sleeping soul was going through a nightmare he could not wake up from.
Eventually, Gate, out of frustration… or whatever pushed him to act the way he did, threw a wrench at one of his monitors. Shikuna tried to listen to his evil rant. But unfortunately, he spoke in a language foreign to her.
But with his anger, the evil robot left to torture yet another one of his creations.
Meaning she could go and check up on the horrifically quiet Nightmare Zero.
It… felt so wrong to see Nini so quiet and so immobile.
Even When Shikuna had immobilized him by cutting and ripping his power supplies and other suck wires and chips, the purple doll was still moving, twitching, thinking…
All of this was gone now; he truly looked like a soulless husk.
"Oh Krishna… please…Nini, don't be dead.' Shukuna prayed as she cautiously flew closer to the unmoving Reploid, holding her mouth close as she witnessed the result of Gate's madness firsthand.
He had been Gutted, Nightmare Zero… his body was but an empty husk now with only some wires and broken PCBs strewn here and there.
Shukuna looked away at the sight, covering her mouth. Sure, she had been trained to gut demons and one from the inside out… but this was different.
This was not an oni… not a bad one anyway, just… lost and confused… and used.
And now… murdered in cold blood just as he was starting on the path of Bhakti.
This… was unacceptable.
Suddenly, the vengeful inchling heard some sound on the ground.. Like… 'tink, tink, tink.'.
She looked at the ground and…
"Eh!?
Nini's scattered parts were… returning to him, like Katamaris. They were tumbling and hopping toward the empty husk of the purple warrior, slithering up the table like some type of gelatinous sludge.
Shukuna watched, mesmerized, as Nini's inner cavity was steadily filled, his internal composition rebuilding itself into the whole thing closed up.
Once the process was done, the inchling did not dare to move… well, an inch, holding her breath and fervently praying to God for this not to be a trick… for this to be real.
She hovered in front of Nini's face, holding herself back from bopping his nose.
She had learned her lesson the last time she'd booped Aun on the nose to check if she was still alive after a particularly nasty run-in with a Nasty Warai Onna.
Nasty creatures.
Instead, she remained floating in front of her doll friend, fretting over him.
His chest was closed now, everything was back in… and Yet Shikuna knew from this one Prabhupada class that it takes more than a handful of innards to make a person alive. You needed the driver, the soul.
Nothing could happen to the soul, for it was pure spirit, made of eternity, knowledge, and bliss. And Prabhupada didn't mean it like a Ghost or a God. Oh no, the spirit souls are all from outside the material manifestation, completely divorced from all elements and unaffected by it. Even the marginal souls, the conditioned one, could not be affected by anything, even magic.
They would just change location and get into another body, one after another.
But… Material bodies were not eternal; they would eventually rot back to pradhan, back to material nature. For a soulless body was a dead body and food for others.
Suddenly, Nini's eyes opened, their pupils a different size and orientations. Shukuna watched, mesmerized, as he… made them move in different ways until everything was back to normal. Same for his body.
"Nini?"
Nightmare Zero's eyes focused on her, and he grinned. "You're safe!"
Somehow, this was the wrong thing to say to the tiny warrior, who puffed her cheeks.
"Did I say something wrong?"
"Yes, I was safe… But you." Tears filled her little eyes, making them glisten. "The Evil Robot."
"Master WAS FiXINg me, always Does tHat." Nini admitted that being torn apart on a daily basis was absolutely normal and sane. "KRIshNA DoeS SamE tO you."
Shukuna held her tongue, for while it was true that Krishna could also issue some pretty harsh tests, like wars, illness and death, he was by no means… Nasty like Gate.
Krishna was God, the Creator, Maintainer, Controller and destroyer of everything.
Krishna was the time factor, and in the end, as time, he would destroy everything… then he would create everything again and maintain it again and, once the general karma was bad enough, would Destroy everything again and once again inhale all souls back in the body of Karanadokasayi-Vishnu, and this Vishnu would one again release those soul in material nature to once again give them a chance to once again return to the spiritual world where time is simply not there.
And Unlike Gate, Krishna never,Ever, EVER takes pleasure in torturing his conditioned souls, what to say of his surrendered Devotees.
He had to punish, but it didn't mean He had to like it.
That was why they called him Father. For a Father never liked to punish his sons and daughters like that.
"Oh… You SpOke out loud." Nini said with a harsh twitch of his head.
Apparently, his miraculous recovery was not as perfect as it looked.
"Oh… yeah, it happens sometime." Shukuna blushed. "But… but it's still true! Gate's hurting you just because it's you can get better later and it makes him feel as if he's an all-powerful God… Well, he's not! I could rip him apart from his innards, easy." she clenched her hand, her needle itching for more actions. " I just need to have his face mask removed, and he's toast! He won;t get away with this!"
"Toast?" Nini asked as he got up, rotating his limbs in all possible directions. "LiKE BrEAd?"
"No." Shukuna shook her head as she did her best to ignore the rumbling of her stomach.
She may not need to eat; air and water was all she needed. But she couldn't deny the fact she wouldn't say no to a few breadcrumbs. "It's a… euphe… me." She spoke proudly, happy to have said a big word today.
"EuPhe-Mism… What IsS?" Nini asked as he touched his throat, a frozen furrowing his brows.
Grabbing the inchling, he got off from the cot and began the long and monotonous process of recalibrating everything.
"Euphemism means… you say something with another word, like kill." the inchling explained as she floated by the big tin man. "People don't like to hear the word kill; they think it's too harsh, too traumatizing."
"WEaK."
Shukuna nodded. "So they use other words, like toasted, deleted, unalived, gone."
"I Get it…" A small smile lit the purple and gray reploids face, and Shukuna felt her heart flutter at the sight.
"YOu want To kill gAte."
"He's evil… and don't think he'll ever gain Mahaprabhu's mercy unless he falls at all of the Vaishnava's feet and begs for forgiveness."
"Master TOo Strong. WiLl NeveR bow." Nini stated grimly as he went to a flashing screen, his brows furrowed.
"Then Krishna will make him." The tiny warrior practically growled.
Everybody bowed to God as his form as ineluctable time, especially the proud Atheist.
"INTruDers." Nini suddenly spoke as he pointed at the scene, and indeed, quite a few people appeared in its different panels: two girls with dummy long hair (one looked remarkably like Nini, but her face was flesh-colored, and his armour was red and gold instead of purple and green.) and…
The Inchling gasped in joy. It was X! And the Temple crew!
They were tearing down the corridor, ignoring spike traps and assorted drones flying about, filling the cramp corridors with bullets and lasers.
"EnEmies, Blue Robot, Must-"
"Finish that sentence, I dare you."
Nini, who still remembered the feeling of having his innards torn and stabbed apart, wisely shut up, choosing to listen to the tiny human-shaped virus and not Gate.
She was stronger than Gate; she had to be. Otherwise, how could she damage Gate's strongest creation?
Shukuna watched with great joy as Bahula slew drones and looking Robots left and right while Uma supported her from the sky air, Toramaru Shou cleared the smaller stuff with the infamous curvy laser and Acyuta-Gopi overwhelmed the biggest one with her hoards of pretty dolls.
On another window, she saw Yami Devi Dasi taking one metal shark, having wicked fun repeatedly jumping over him.
The wily oni had always wanted to see what the whole 'jumping the shark' was about.
Shukuna grinned at the divine Karnage her group was raining upon those scary demons, desiring to join the fray herself.
Who would have thought that Scaredy cat Shinmiomaru Shukuna would turn into a tigress once she killed her first oni? (no, not a good Oni like the four Mountain Divas and the Underground Vaishnava. A legit evil Ogre who relished in chaos and the blood of the innocents.)
No one, no one did.
"Master… Master wants Me tTo Kill THem." Nini gritted his teeth, his hands creaking with how hard he was clenching them. "Why shoUld i nn-not?"
"Because those are Vaihsnavas, Servants of God and his Acharias. You kill them, and you will get destroyed by time Himself."
"And You?"
Shukuna shrugged. "Maybe. Come on, I want to go and see them. Tell 'em I'm ok. Tell them I made a new friend!" the bubbly Koibito chirped, now back at her bright self.
She couldn't wait to meet up with the rest of the Vaishnava and tell them the good news about Nini.
Little did she know, things would not go as planned.
~0~
"So… what's this religion you joined?" Iris finally asked her Boyfriend as the two mowed down drones and illegal copies of deceased reploids. (So much for the super secure crypt) Letting their battle computers — Including Iris's very own and underused model– do the fighting for them.
"I didn't tell you?" Zero asked as his body did an impressive jump over a massive pit filled with electrified spikes. "I honestly thought I did."
"You did. In passing." Iris replied. "But… I want to know more. I've never seen you so… happy, hunny."
Zero revelled in the warm feeling of love and affection filling his core. Mentally noting that this feeling would eventually go for Krishna once his Anartha's, the trash that filled his heart would be gone.
Oh… and whoever loved Krishna too, for if you loved the Master, then obviously, you also loved the Master's family, friends, lovers, and his lowest of Dogs.
"Right… we got distracted, didn't we?"
"We did, not that I blame you, Zero… a lot happened in a short time."
"Hah, the story of my life." Zero sent as his heart lightened, leaving his battle computer full reign now that he had his better half with him, a better half that truly was his equal in all but shape…
She was prettier than him, hands down.
"Ok… so what I practice… can't really be called a 'religion.' since religion aims at giving the conditioned soul a better living arrangement. I'm talking about dharma, which is way more in depth than any other religion in this world. Dharma deals with one's natural propensity, duty and yes, religious practice and give instructions and rituals to make sure you'll get as much pleasure as you can afford and how to get rid of negative reactions from your attempt at pleasure and, eventually, you're about to die, so religion gives you the path of Moksha, or liberation." Zero gladly explained, having lost track of what his body was doing. "So on the path of Moksha, there's ah… yeah, there's two main paths religion gives you. You can get elevated to the Edenic planets, basically the heavens above, through sacrifices and the worship of the demigods like Indra, Shiva-ji, Chandra, the moon god or Surya, the sun God. There, on those planets-"
"When you're talking about planets… you mean planets, planets." Iris asked as she guted a wheeled reploid, the oil and energene paining her red dress purple and acide blue.
"I'm also including Pluto into the mix. Also, so that you know, we don't believe in the moon landing."
"Why are humans so adamant they went there? The special effects are terrible, even by my standards!"
"Hubris and you know what happens when someone does a big lie."
"They had to keep lying, alright. so, Path of Moksha, heavenly extraterrestrial abodes… what else?" Iris asked as her body somersaulted an electrified pit.
"Well, those who become demi-gods go there and live stupidly long lives eating, sleeping, playing with heavenly pleasure girls and fretting over Demons taking over again. But worst of all, those in the heavenly planets enjoy so much that by the end of it, they forget all about self-realization and keep trying to enjoy their senses once they once again fall back to earth. Because material heaven's not eternal. Nothing in the material world is… same as relationship."
"So this whole ' I will love you forever and ever, even beyond death really is just a bunch of hot air then."
"Yeah…"
"It's alright, Victorians used to say until death do them part. I think that's a sane way to view relationships." Iris said with a sigh as she launched Zero across a yawning gap; the Blond master of the viral entity landed perfectly, aided by his magic.
"Bahula taught me that detachment is one of the major keys for happiness… it's not that I will leave you; you are my second unit, and I don't want to risk you redding again."
"But if something were to happen to me, something fatal, you would move on."
"I would. No more moping. Besides, everything that happens to us is part of our Karma, it's destiny."
"I thought you hated destiny." Iris shot back with a frown, helping the bulkier reploid up in a pipe.
"Well yeah, because we're taught that we can take control of our future and that it's not written in stone. And that's also right. We can change some things. Some are small; some are bigger. But we still have to follow what the RNGod has in plan for us. And depending on how we react to events, our destiny gets written further, and the Random Number's lay our path further down the line." Zero explained, absentmindedly working in tandem with Iris to destroy a mini-boss. Using his Magical Virus to enter the security program and copy the map of the damn place. "But the goal of life is not to stay stuck in this illusion, to forget our best life in this material world."
"Next one is liberation, right?"
"Yes ma'am. And my Guru, Bahula reached this state, she reached Nirvana and long story short, it was worse than hell."
"Yeesh… that's a… you're making fun of me, right?"
"Unfortunately not. Nirvana means the absolute dissolution of your false Ego, of who you are as a person, well… you as the persona attached to your current material body. But then… what does it leave?"
"Nothing…" and by the tone of Iris's voice…
"Zero… this sounds… like death…"
"Yeah, Our Acharia, Srila-Prabhupada calls Buddhism a spiritual suicide."
"That's awful."
"Yeah, so awful Bahula-Devi-Dasi scrambled back to her old identity and wrapped herself in her false Ego as hard as she could. And when she got freed from Hokkai, she wasted no time and established a Buddhist temple… not to preach about becoming one with nothing, but as a shelter for persecuted Yōkai and a place to teach people about being nice and, you know, not to eat humans and all? The thing is, this was Gensokyo. And in Gensokyo, humans are a minority."
"Oh dear."
"So what she did was basically pointless, and she told me that this was the faith of everyone reaching the impersonal brahman; it's so boring, so dry, that they'd rather suffer in this world while being someone then not suffer and be no one, not that the soul can truly stop being someone... Actually, I just realized that the worst torture is solitary confinement, Nirvana, basically… "
Iris shuddered. "Yeah... I mean, I wouldn't mind being stuck in a place if I had a relationship with someone; loneliness is just... it's terrible." the brunette crossed her arms over her batteries, breaking through her auto-pilot in a moment of allowed vulnerability. "So how did she become a Devotee of Krishna then?" She asked as she was grabbed by Zero's viral magic and deposited beside him.
The purple eyes robot Master gave this boyish, crooked grin. "Well, she crossed paths with this ordinary magician when she came back from an impromptu trip to our side of reality and returned with sacred books on Bhakti."
"And the rest is history…. But you… kinda skipped some part of your story, didn't you?" Iris spoke out loud with a teasing smile and finger wag.
Zero paused… and realized that God must've felt bored about his presentation and had him skip a few lines.
It was… honestly, an odd feeling to know that the supreme controller took control of you for a moment… and oddly reassuring.
"Right, you right, my love." Zero admitted, as he held Iris's hand, still not over the fact that she was alive again… and not confined to the navigator room.
She had repeatedly expressed how she would love to be in the field alongside X and Zero, but…
Well, she was a woman and thus should do what women think, like staying hidden and not fighting.
Some women can thrive like that. Most women love to feel safe and protected, and men love to protect them. But some women can and will throw their hands at the enemy and win.
Like his Iris.
Which was fine too as long as they were humble and chaste on top of it... and the same applied for any gender, Bahula had told him.
"So… I know you're getting pretty sappy there, Honey, but…" Iris trailed off as she led Zero to the refuel station. They had already gone through a good half of Gate's palace, and while their navigational AI and battle computer were the best out there, nicks and bumps were still par for the course. "I still want to know what Bhakti's about, and please skip the prologue?"
Zero grinned as he busted the fake walls to reach the hidden refuelling station. "Alright, Alright. Bhakti-Yoga is the one and only way to reach the personal form of God… and yes, God exist; he never took birth, and no puny little human could've made him since he's what many religion would say, inconceivable… his Vishnu form has four arms, is blue and maintain's everything trough his various form, there's also another one of his form called the universal form, and no, I won't describe him since it's God's Elderitch form that will make you crazy if you stare at it too long. But his original form is that of a blue cowherd boy from this little quaint village called Vrindavan, the highest of the spiritual abodes, Bahula told me. It's currently 'in India' right now." Zero did his air quote. " there, He plays the bamboo flute, wears a peacock feather and plays with his cows and cowherd boyfriends in the pasturing grounds of Vraja, tease his gopi girlfriends, and get coddled the hell out by his mum and dad." Zero gave a genuine, sun-like grin as he felt invigorated by this talk.
Forget the rush of energy given by reploid fuel; talking about Sri-krishna was the best damn thing in the world.
"Oh, really? But I thought you said God was inconceivable. How can he be inconceivable and… oh." Iris stopped with a small gasp, her eyes shining with realization.
"Bahula told me God, Krishna, is the source of everything and that in him resided all contradiction living in harmony." Zero grinned as he raised the energene and offered it Mentally to Krishna through Bahula, her Guru, and Prabhupada.
Since Zero wasn't a pure devotee with a heart filled with unalloyed, ecstatic Love for Bhagavan Sri-Krishna, the one thing Krishna desired, he had to give his paltry offering trough those who had this love.
"Could you do mine?" Iris asked, causing Zero to jolt as he stared at her.
After rebooting his CPU, Zero managed to find his words. "You want me to offer your's to-"
"Krishna. That's his name… right?" Iris asked; despite being dressed to kick ass, she still had this girlish, innocent, yet eager expression in her eyes.
Whoever sculpted her face… that man must've been empowered by God.
"Yes… give me here, let me give this to Prabhupada." Zero mumbled, shaken to his core in bliss.
"You know, Zero... I quite like it, Bhatki, I mean. I wouldn't ' mind... following you... you guys look so happy and bright." Iris said as she bashfully curled a strand of hair behind her audio guard. "I... I want that, too."
He had no idea how Iris could become dearer to him, but apparently, her not being weirded out, redacting that, and her being interested in Bhakti apparently did the trick.
As the two reploids shared their E-tank in companionable silence and love (so what? The source of all Maverick could feel love for another Jiva?) , Zero could only thank the Lord over and over again to have his Iris back… the true Iris he'd sometimes caught glances of.
Everything was peaceful and sweet (if they could ignore that they were in the middle of a recovery Mission.) Until they caught an Urgent transmission.
"Zero! Iris! THis is X; Gate's making a break for it; this whole thing was a distraction!"
Both battle ready reploid stopped their drinking, their cheeks still filled with energene as they jumped into action.
There was no way they would let Gate go… not after finding the overwriting chamber and freeing those kidnapped reploid from a fate worse than=================================================================-
X and Yami were in full pursuit of the mad scientist; his sins had been laid bare.
He was turning empty ensouled dolls and reploid's corpses into AI-driven weapons. Empty of everything, only bent of anything with a pulse.
"STOP! YOU'RE UNDER ARREST!" X roared as he managed to shoot and hit the control panel off yet another door Gate had been about to cross.
He was cornered.
And like a cornered rat, Gate was not about to give up without a fight. This X knew. It was a given.
Still, as a Kshatriya, he had to give this… soon to be bodiless jiva a chance to surrender… just as Shou taught him.
"Gate, give up now and stop-"
"NEVER!" Gate yelled. "I AM THE GOD OF TECHNOLOGY! WATCH ME ASCEND TO MY TRUE GODHOOD AND-" But before he could continue his blasphemous words. (Seriously, this was the worst ever for the Vaishnavas) X shot him in the heart with his unbounded Shot.
Past X would be mortified with how ruthless the new him was. There had been no talk about reconciliation, no anguish cry as old-X realized that he had to kill yet another one of his children.
But Vaishnava-X knew better.
He was not the Father of an entire race, and he sure didn't raise any of them.
No, he was a Saintly warrior, a mix between a learned and soft-hearted Brahamana and powerful Kshatriya, protector of the weak and chastiser of the Enemies.
Reading the Bhagavad Gita as it is, the Blue Bomber understood his position as the immortal soul in a mortal body. And he understood his Dharma and how to please Krishna how Arjuna did, on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, to fight for Dharma, to perform his God Given Duties without feeling attached to the fruit of his labour, whether sweet or bitter. For the result of his act was not his to enjoy' it belongs to Bhagavan… it was a Sacrifice.
And for those born to fight and protect, it meant 'killing.' It meant to fight unto death and not to lament unto oblivion the lives lost, for no lives were truly gone.
Of course, he could still mourn, but not right now, and for forever.
He had a duty to perform, and once the dirty deed was done, then X would personally perform the final rite to all the reploids as they… figure out a way to burn those bodies without causing an even worst environmental crisis.
But this would be for future X to worry about.
He watched, dispassionate, the mad scientist stumble back, his body glitching now that his core sported a hole…
Oh no…
"I missed," X said in bitter horror as he saw the empty hole in the mad scientist's chest. And not a life-ending explosion of a busted core.
X had not been the only one to perform illegal upgrades on his frame, for Gate had changed the position of his core...
It's not something he could have done alone... in theory.
'Oh, Krishna Bhagavan, this guy is a monster.'
As Gate's cruel laughter echoed in the room and X tried to shoot him down again, the mad reploid connected to his Lab's ethernet.
"OH X, I KEPT TELLING ALIA HOW YOU WERE OBSOLETE THE MOMENT I LAID EYES UPON YOU, OUR PROGENITOR… SOMETHING WELL BELOW OUR CURRENT LEVEL OF EVOLUTION, AND JUST LIKE THE REST OF THOSE OBSOLETE BEASTS, NOW BUT MERE HOPELESS DREAM TRYING TO ACT LIKE A HUMAN, RENOUNCING HIS TRUE POSITION AS THE NEW GOD!"
X Cringed; all the Vaishnava cringed and swore the end of this demon.
"But I…." Gate chuckled as the world around them digitized and twisted into cyberspace…" I have realized my true nature, my raison-d'etre! I am to be the new and improved god!"
Into Area Zero.
"Zero was a God too, you know." Gate's voice said everywhere as spikes and Sigma's clones surrounded the group. "But, because he hung out with you, X. he got in his head to renounce his power and to play games with a bunch of demented women worshiping a dead-"
Suddenly, power surged behind X, and, turning around to catch a glimpse of Zero… probably, he was shocked to see that he was wrong!
It wasn't Zero.
It was Bahula; the Ancient witch looked absolutely livid, her otherwise pleasant face looking the illusion of youthfulness and cracks began to appear on her rancorous face.
"How dare you," she growled, her eyes glowing with an unearthly glow, her body pouring out mana like a fog machine stuck on high, the sorcerer surta scroll turning red, reminding everyone that her perceived humanity was but an illusion.
"Because I can," Gate taunted, now clad in golden armour. With a grand gesture of his hands, Area-Zero… no the Cyber-Gate twisted and warped, a good hundred copies of Sigma and other fallen reploids flooded the arena, and one Sigma (He Bhagavan, wasn't this the stuff of pure nightmare) rushed at X with his sight primed and ready.
Suddenly, Bahula, in her demoniac glories, zoomed in front of the blue robot master, kicking the projections (clones?) to pieces. Manifesting swords and lightlings as she focused all of her wrathful attention onto Gate.
A Vaishnava was peace-loving, and they vowed not to cause any distress to any living entity (within reason.)
But those same peaceful souls could turn into wrathful furies at a drop of a hat if one chose to Blaspheme the Lord ( and the Lord's surrendered servents) as Gate did.
It was considered mercy on their part, for if they did t kill such demon, the hell awaited them would last until the next breath of Kshirodakashayi-Visnu minimum.
Bahula had heard enough and had shown her true form to send the poor, unfortunate soul to hell.
And yet, despite her ghoulish appearance, Bahula… She felt the same.
Not an enemy, but a friend.
"Of course, she's not an enemy!" Kokila said from… somewhere. "She's a friend! She's a Vaishnavi."
'ENOUGH!"The Golden Maverick commanded, and partitions rose from the laser ground, separating X from any kind of help and assistance and looking the sealed saint away in complete darkness. "I am not here to play with corrupted humans worshiping a vague, imaginary concept such as God." He spat as he fully turned his attention to X. " Oh Father, you have remained long enough in this world, uselessly protecting humans, a dying race as obsolete as you!" He manifested his oversized buster, which caused the mechanical Avaduta to burst into a fit of laughter.
He really was compensating for something.
"Now what? Aren't you fearful of my weapon? Or are you such a fool that you dare laugh in the face of your death?"
More laughter ensued. Really, Gate had a great sense of humour.
"Sorry, I can't help it. Why should I fear death when the body I'm in is already a bucket of scrap and I, the soul, is undying and unborn?" X explained, feeling light and bright.
He had nothing to fear; Krishna had everything under his control
Gate gritted his teeth, making a horrible grinding noise before he grinned and partitioned the batt lefield further.
And everything goes dark.
…
Beside him… or as close to beside him, he felt, Bahula's magic go haywire in fear; he could almost hear Shou and Yami trying to get to her, and Acytuta's many gunpowder-filled dolls attacking the doomed monster.
They are all frantic.
But X… is not!
No… instead, he sits down and waits with his eyes closed, letting Koishi control his mind.
Koishi, Kokila-devi Dasi, who had introduced him to Bhatki, and while she had controlled him, X couldn't be mad at her, not when he had been desperately looking for answers himself.
Answers to questions no scientist wanted to ask, and less wanted to admit knowing.
And no saintly man wanted to give him, stating with the fact that he had no soul.
Well, joke's on them
5
If X was truly but a mere AI, then Kokila would never have been in control of his mind, for a mere machine, even while being controlled with a human-like AI, was still a mindless machine activated by ones and Zeros… or whatever made a quantum computer work these days (those were gimmicks anyway.)
But no, X was a living entity, a spark of the unlimited one, a soul with a tiny consciousness, enough to make one body (or nine) work until Bhagavan bestowed more useless power for him.
He, the Soul in X, had changed bodies numerous times for all eternity.
Until now.
4
Even before Kokila had maddened him to Bhakti, X had been searching, seeking answers to questions no scientist dared to Ask due to their esoteric nature,
Why did everything exist? Was everything but a pile of self-destructing matter somehow cobbled together to make a conscious body? A body who loved and cried, a body who feared and suffered until it ultimately perished, returning to chemical compounds responsible for other piles of chemical compounds having organic reactions, the more intelligent one called love?
3
No, He was a spirit soul in a body, the source of consciousness inhabiting a doll made of expertly forged parts. And his form and eternal identity, like all souls, was Krishna-Nitiya-das.
2
He belonged to Krishna, like all souls. And by Serving Krishna and Krishna's Devotees, only then would he find eternal fulfillment. No, he was already serving Krishna, and his Joy kept growing with every passing day.
But right now, his joy and bliss were low, for one of Krishna's very near and dear Devotees, mother Bahula, was in the throes of panic, unable to tolerate any enclosed place.
But he didn't need to worry.
1
A roar of pure rage broke through Gate's ill-earned Cyberspace; a pair of viral claws shredded through his firewalls as Zero ripped through them all, his eyes a solid red and his aura a viral purple. Behind him followed the ever-graceful and newly-deadly Iris, who wasted no time in throwing numerous grenades at the monstrous reploid , taking his attention away from Zero ripping apart Gate's firewalls like a cat through a shoji screen. Releasing the trapped saint and her followers.
What came out of the firewall was not the lovely-looking woman Bahula was known as; instead, it was an animated corpse, her body dried by the magical winds of Hokkai and the caustic miasma.
An animated corpse reliving the mind-shattering loneliness of impersonal liberation.
But before she could go off the deep end and slaughter everyone around, Zero caught her in his arms, gently patting her head as he gently and devotionally hummed the Maha-mantra in her ears, returning her to normal with the help of Bhagavan Sri-Krishna in sound form.
Meanwhile, Iris proved her mettle as she engaged Gate to a one-on-one sword fight, and since she shared Zero's magic now, nothing Gate could conjure affected her.
None of the ghosts, none of the bombs.
Not even the revived spirit of Colonel stopped her.
"I'm sorry, brother…. But I shall never stay in your shadow anymore.'" She had said as she dispatched the viral hologram.
But in the time it had taken Iris and Zero to save Mother Bahula, Gate took his leave like the cowardly scientist he was.
X rolled his eyes, already planning to use his time and lab to scientifically prove that Krishna existed.
How hard could it be? Bhagavan was everywhere, and the true purpose of science had been to find the Creator, maintainer, and destroyer. Everyone who knew a bit about Krishna knew where he lived eternally: Vrindavan, Dwarka, Mathura, Jagannatht Puri, and Nabadwip. Also, as per his last internet search, Krishna and a few other incarnations, including Mahaprabhu, had left footprints (and body print, in Alalanath, Mahaprabhu again.) behind to prove that he truly had walked the earth among his beloved conditioned souls in a bid to once again attracted them to Him, so that their suffering may end and their eternal life restarted back int he spiritual sky.
"X!" Zero exclaimed, looking high-strung and stressed out. "What are you sitting on the ground? And why didn't you… Bahula needed rescue! She's-"
"There wasn't much I could do, Zero," X answered serenly. "Besides… nobody but Krishna saved Bahula-ma, and he decided to use you, and look! You saved someone, isn't it wonderful!"
"Yes…" Zero reluctantly agreed. "But Gate escaped… you have a perfectly good buster, you do not need repair, and you let a Maverick escape as you sat, and what? Meditate? Chant Japa?"
X nodded, trusting his old war buddy to know his heart so well. " Gate's not mine to hunt, Zero." He said casually.
"Oh, and now you are this great Mystic Yogi who can see the future now."
X shrugged. "Predicting the future's not that hard, Zero. you just need to watch for patterns and understand people's demoniac nature… or godly nature." X said as he Got up. "Now, I think we better start to make our way out before Gate does. I'm sure he set the whole place to blow once he realized he can't win."
Zero wince. "Crap, I hate when you're right." Zero muttered as he turned to Iris. "Hey, Bae. We needed to wrap up and get the hell out of here."
"Copy that." Zero's girlfriend said as she lifted the still-shaken Bahula, "I'll bring her back in the temple in… uh?" But Iris was interrupted by the saint, who shook her head.
"B… I want… the sky, the wind. No close space… please."
Zero's violently purple eyes softened. "I get it. Iris, me and Mother Bahula started a… I guess you can call it a village close to Kathmandu. Here, let me send you the coordinates." he said, and X could see the Data packet zipping from Zero to his girlfriend.
Iris's eyes grew wide. "Zero, that's… I won't be able to go there that fast." Iris informed her boyfriend of that fact. "I don't… neither me nor my brother were equipped with navigation equipment, and I don't have a land rider keyed to me."
"Hmm… Think you can handle cyber-space? It's like the nether in Minecraft, and I'll be handling your navigation, so don't worry. And how about you, Mother? Do you think you can hang on for a bit longer?" He addressed the divine witch in a tone so gentle…
No, it was Zero, but X's Zero was multifaceted, just like Bhagavan.
All Jivas were parts and parcels of Bhagavan, the supreme personality of Godhead. Thus, it meant that all Jivas, when fully conscious, were all individuals with different facets of their personalities.
Zero being one of them… never to re-merge with Bhagavan.
Ever.
"I… think so."
"Think so won't cut it, Mother. It's a dark road with plenty of neon lines and…"
"I will manage, my son. I won't be alone in this endeavour, and dearest Iris will hold me and speak to me… as long as I know I'm not in a vacuum,then I sh… I will be fine."
"Good." Zero said as he gave Mother Bahula (and Iris) a Dandavat before once again awkwardly climbing to his feet. "Do you want me to come with you?"
"No, you and X need to be seen together, my son. Otherwise, your character will once again come under heavy scrutiny." Bahula said as she held Iris closer. "I will manage, believe me. It's just a little fright, not a thousand years of utter solitude; I will recover." And with those words, a a parting kiss from Iris to Zero, the ladies of the temple disappeared in Area Zero.
X made a mental note to fiddle with the Reploid leg designs. While it managed to work for the last decade or so, the whole reploid kind was heading towards a new age, one filled with Bhakti.
If humans chose to reject God to focus more on their material progress, thus causing more problems and triggering more depression in children and older generations due to a lack of true purpose. And hey, if there were one thing discarded reploids were good at, other then getting infected by the Maverick virus… allegedly. It was taking whatever goods the humans had discarded.
X grinned as he watched his partner open up a portal in Cyberspace and mother Bahula entered it. His Good mood never left, even when Kokila did.
Once the two were alone (Achuyta-Gopi was still there, providing quite a few pairs of eyes with her Doll. but knowing how taciturn she was, X wasn't surprised if no words would come out from the puppeteer's mouth.) X got to his feet and silently followed Zero on the way out. He already contacted Signas about the situation and the steps they had taken, and not to attack purple Zero.
Signas had asked him why, of course, not knowing that Vivi had Shukuna on board and that Gate would be their prey.
That's what his friend Kokila told X, saying that, being an Inchling, Shinomiomaru-san could not tolerate the damage Gate did to their holy place, and thus would seek retribution.
It was her nature, and it came as a service to the Lord. It was just as Hanuman burning down Lanka to avenge the tears of Lord Ramachandra, the Lawful personality of Godhead's as he looked for his missing wife and better, merciful half.
X could understand; he truly did. And he also understood that his nature was that of a peaceful man.
And it was fine to be peace-loving, and it was also fine for Zero and Iris to be warriors looking for fights and challenges.
All living beings had their own individual nature despite being one with God. And Even Krishna had his own distinct nature and personality.
It was the Acintya bedabed tattva, or the inconceivable oneness and difference between all souls.
And this variety was to be respected, for, as they say, variety is the spice of life. And Krishna, being the supreme enjoyer, desired to taste a variety of relationships with his unlimited, individual parts and parcels.
' Man, I want to read now… ' X thought with deep longing. He wanted to leave his life as the maverick hunter behind him now that all threats were over. Hell, he didn't even want to go into politics, being a whole shitshow where money was all that mattered.
At Least there were still some world leaders who still cared about their citizens; too bad they didn't have the budget needed to provide them with all they needed.
'It's just as God intended,' X reminded himself, and he, Zero and the rest of the team left in silence; it was clear Zero was still wound up and would remain so until he got all the fight out of his systems, something Yami seemed eager to help with. Toramaru Shou and Unzaan had already left to follow Bahula and Iris, using their supernatural senses to follow the lovely duo back to the new village Zero had made. 'Bhagavan is neutral, sitting in the heart of all living entities and guiding them from within to help them achieve their desires, as per their Karma. Antar-Yami simply gives the result of their pious and impious actions without care or attachment. And since most of the world's population is atheist and will do everything to Forget God, then God let them suffer in his Illusory potency, hiding behind a thick curtain of illusion. All that's happening is the consequence of atheism… and nothing more.'
Harsh? Yes, but at the same time, God had left clear instructions for Humanity to Follow if they wanted happy (er) lives. And it was Humanity's own damn fault for not following said instructions in the name of fun-freedom.
The only things the followers of Mahaprabhu and the Acharias could do was to be there to help the re-awakening souls walk the right path, not with a heavy hand (not yet, at least.) but with love and care.
X could have gone deeper in his remembrance when he felt something collide with his helmet. "Whoa- hey!" X yelped as he was forcibly dragged out from his transcendental rumination. "What gives?" he asked Yami and Zero.
"What give is that you still spaced out in the middle of a possible battlefield and-
"We wanna fight!" The Blond oni said with fire burning in her eyes. "I know you're fucking strong, and our boy Zero here's still all cranked up and need some action to get back to normal." She explained as she leaned her considerable height and mass onto the 'smaller' Robot-Master. "So, you in, blue?"
"Ah… I thought. I know it's a bit late, what with all the reploids and cyberabheration I've slain on the way here, but-"
Yami Devi Dasi rolled her eyes with an upturn of her lip corner. "Baby, Wrestling is a Vaishnava sport, and our Ahimsa's not the same as Buddhist Ahimsa. We all have our nature, and if you want to fight some beefy opponent… well, your friendly neighbourhood hell-whore Oni's more than happy to provide some relief!" The legendary commander said as she punched her fist in her palm. "How About you, X? Wanna help a bro out to… calm down?"
...
'eh, why not.'
X got his buster out. "I am primed and ready!" X declared, causing Zero to visibly redden and sputter.
Needless to say, when Alia and Signas arrived at the scene, only complete destruction and a very Happy Zero, Yami, and X greeted them.
Well, only Yami, for X and Zero, belatedly realized they'd forgotten to chant their their prescribed numbers of Rounds for the day, and it was almost midnight.
"Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama hare Hare." both chanted as fast as they could, sweating proverbial bullets as the clock ticked down the seconds.
Really, X was happy to have sold his soul to something this great, this sweet, over an uncertain future filled with pain and anxiety that the eternal fight with the maverick would bring.
and deaths... so many dead bodies.
;Thank you Krishna... thank you so much.' X prayed with utmost gratitude.
—-
Where getting close tot he end, my darlings. Thank you all for your attention and patience with me. Haribol, Hare Krishna.