Jin left Maquina, the body double, behind and entrusted its operation to Laojun, ordering him to take command of the remaining cleanup tasks.
He decided to return to Hourai Island with Reiko and Anne, bringing the remains of the Golden Destruction Princess along. While they had flown the entire way there, they chose to use the submersible base for the return trip. According to Laojun, it was equipped with a Stealth function, so it wouldn't be spotted even in broad daylight.
Of course, they made sure no other ships were in the vicinity first. Even if fishing boats were out on the vast Azul Lake, they rarely ventured far from the shore; the risk of the base's wake being noticed was minimal. While it wasn't a resource to be used lightly, Jin and his companions were able to return to the laboratory in record time by passing through the submersible base's Warp Gate.
"Now then, let's take a look at this thing."
The broken arm and the rest of the Golden Destruction Princess's body lay on the workbench. Jin began a meticulous investigation. Reiko stood by with her vibration sword drawn in case of any unforeseen complications, while Anne stood at Jin's side to provide technical advice.
"Hmm. The endoskeleton is the same as ours, but the way the muscles are attached is still quite primitive."
Jin saw through it immediately; while the construction was far superior to common golems, it didn't hold a candle to the Predecessor's designs.
"The skeleton is light silver. That’s a reasonable choice. As for the rest... wait, what’s this?"
"Father, did you find something?"
Sensing that it must be something significant to surprise Jin, Reiko hurried from the other side of the workbench to his side.
"Hm? Oh, sorry. I just saw a very unusual structure."
Saying that, Jin opened the Destruction Princess’s chest casing so Reiko could see.
"There is no ether converter," Reiko noted. "No mana driver, either. And... what is this?"
Because it was a design she had never encountered, Reiko couldn't immediately grasp its function. However, Jin had already figured it out and began to explain.
"It’s an ether tank and an ether driver. The energy efficiency is poor, but it seems to allow for high output with relative ease. Still, it’s not exactly elegant."
Jin frowned as he looked at the ether driver, which was composed of a massive magi-crystal.
"I’ve heard that during the Great Magic War, the concentration of free ether in the air was much higher than it is now. This setup was probably perfectly adequate back then."
"In that case, would this automata have become even stronger in an area with a higher concentration of free ether?"
Jin thought for a moment before answering Reiko's question.
"Likely. If the concentration of free ether were doubled, she could probably produce about one and a half times her current output."
In contrast, the ether converters used by Reiko and Jin’s other automata and golems would double their output if the ambient ether doubled. However, it seemed the creator of the Golden Destruction Princess had been unable to develop an ether converter—or perhaps they had simply loathed the idea of imitating Adriana’s designs.
To use a crude analogy, the ether driver burned the 'crude oil' of free ether directly, whereas the ether converter acted as a refining device, and the mana driver utilized the 'refined gasoline.'
"In any case, it means her technology did not reach Mother's level," Reiko concluded, looking a bit proud.
"Well, then there's this. This is undoubtedly the control core, but it's a magi-crystal I've never seen before. Anne, do you recognize it?"
Jin picked up a pink-colored magi-crystal. It was quite large, roughly five centimeters in diameter.
"No, I do not. What is its attribute?"
It seemed Anne was unfamiliar with it as well.
"It appears to be a composite attribute of light and fire. I didn't know such a magi-crystal could occur naturally. At any rate, the Golden Destruction Princess's knowledge and experience should be packed inside this. I'll have Laojun analyze it later. But before that..."
Since it was a valuable source of information, Jin decided to create a backup. He prepared an all-attribute magi-crystal and invoked his magic.
"Trans Info."
In the instant the engineering magic took hold, something happened.
"Whoa!"
The pink magi-crystal suddenly emitted a blinding flash. Jin instinctively squeezed his eyes shut, but Reiko stared straight at the phenomenon.
"...What was that?" Jin asked, rubbing his eyes suspiciously.
"Father, that magi-crystal seems to overreact to specific magic wavelengths or waveforms," Reiko explained. "That flash was the mana from your Trans Info being converted directly into light."
"What? I can follow the logic, but to think such a magi-crystal exists in nature..."
Even within the vast treasury of knowledge Jin had inherited from the Predecessor, there was no mention of such a thing. Anne was equally in the dark.
"Hmm. It’s just a hypothesis, but if it overreacts to my mana—which is to say, the Predecessor's mana—could that be why the Destruction Princess was so hostile toward her?"
"It is possible, though it would be difficult to prove."
"Yeah. And it seems like it might be dangerous to go out of my way to confirm it. Regardless, it’s probably best not to mess with it carelessly. By the way, did the copy work?"
Jin examined the all-attribute magi-crystal. While there were a few minor gaps, the copy was nearly complete.
"Alright, I'll have Laojun analyze this one. We'll keep the original strictly sealed for the time being."
As it was a magi-crystal with unknown properties, Jin handled it with extreme caution. He wrapped it in thin mithril foil to insulate it from mana and stored it inside a box made of thick adamantite.
"Okay, last are the eyes."
Jin removed the deep red magi-crystals used for the Destruction Princess’s eyes.
"As I thought, they’re Blood Crystals. If I remember correctly, these possess a Charm effect."
This was a material Jin actually recognized.
"If she used these eyes in tandem with her other abilities, mental manipulation would have been easy..."
Jin felt a renewed sense of relief that he hadn't confronted her in person.
"Alright, I understand everything now. Let’s get to work on fixing her."
Having finished his investigation, Jin made the sudden declaration. Reiko was not about to let that pass without comment.
"Father, you are going to repair her even though she was our enemy?"
Jin smiled and offered an explanation.
"Yeah. I think if I just remove the source of her madness, she could still be very useful. I’m thinking of having her monitor Unifilar."
Jin went on to explain his vision. The Allied Kingdoms—specifically the Kingdom of Celuroa, the Kingdom of Egerea, the Kingdom of Franz, and the Klein Kingdom—had been thrown into chaos by Unifilar. He wanted Unifilar to take responsibility for the cleanup rather than leaving the burden solely on the individual nations.
"That Chairman, Jules, seemed to have returned to his senses. He appeared quite repentant."
His plan was to place the Golden Destruction Princess—or rather, a look-alike—at Jules's side to monitor and advise him.
"I see. That makes sense," Reiko said. "Using her original appearance will prevent any suspicion, won't it?"
"Exactly. So, let’s get to it. Though I am going to tweak her internal structure a bit."
With that, Jin began the repairs. He kept the original skeleton but replaced the magical muscles with Hourai Island standards, using the same installation methods. However, as a precaution, he significantly limited her output to human levels.
He coated the joints with adamantite and replaced the skin with standard Hourai magical skin—the same type Anne used. Finally, he installed a proper ether converter and mana driver.
The real challenge was the control core.
"Hmm, how should I handle this..." Jin muttered, leaning back.
"Father, what are you worried about?" Reiko asked, noticing his hesitation.
"I'm wondering what to do about her memories. If I analyze them, I can erase the period after she went berserk, but I'm not sure if I should..."
"I see," Reiko replied thoughtfully. "If it were me, I would not want to keep memories of a time when I was mad. I would want to be the version of myself that Mother or Father wished me to be."
Hearing Reiko’s words, Jin made his decision.
"Alright. In that case, I'll erase everything from the moment her creator passed away. Then, I'll provide that information to her as objective knowledge."
In other words, she would know what had happened, but it would feel like the actions of another person, not her own.
"I don't like meddling this much, but she's too dangerous otherwise."
"Father, as an automata, acting against the will of our creator is something to be loathed," Reiko said, giving Jin the final push he needed.
"I understand, Reiko."
Jin prepared a milky-white magi-crystal and, with the utmost caution, transcribed the former Golden Destruction Princess's memories in chronological order. The records were stored digitally by utilizing the molecular structure of the magi-crystal. (A single standard magi-crystal is said to be capable of holding the memories of fifty humans.)
"Okay, this is the end. By the way, the final memory is: 'You are the one.' That's it? It just stops there?"
"You are the one?" Reiko repeated. "Not 'I loved you most'?"
"Yeah. She probably passed away before she could finish the sentence..."
Reiko stared intently at the former princess. "...How tragic. I was able to hear Mother's final words, yet this girl was denied even that."
Though she had initially been against the idea of repairing her, sympathy was clearly beginning to take root in Reiko's heart.
"Yeah. That was likely the root of her misfortune."
After one final moment of hesitation, Jin added the words "I loved most" to the memory.
"This probably isn't the most ethical thing to do, but..."
"No, Father," Reiko interrupted softly. "You are a kind person. even if it is a false memory, this girl will surely be able to find happiness with it. I guarantee it."
"Thank you, Reiko."
Jin then recorded the history of Unifilar's actions into her knowledge domain rather than her memory domain. This ensured she would understand what had happened and what she had done without feeling the direct emotional weight of those actions. As a final safety measure, he programmed a command that would erase her primary magi-devices if she ever fell into the hands of a third party.
"Now, just a final tune-up..."
Since the clothes she had been wearing were sliced in half by Reiko, he fashioned a new outfit for her. He stopped for a late lunch halfway through, so it was around 5:00 PM Hourai time by the time everything was finished.
"Alright. Wake up."
The former Golden Destruction Princess opened her eyes. They were now standard red magi-crystals. She slowly sat up and looked at Jin.
"Are you... the one who repaired me?" she asked.
"Yeah. How do you feel?"
"I feel excellent. Thank you very much."
Jin decided to test her. "Do you remember what has happened until now?"
"Yes," she replied clearly. "I was created by Mother, my creator. She loved me, and her final words to me were, 'You are the one I loved most.' I have no memories after that point. I must have been broken."
Jin let out a sigh of relief. "Alright. Then, what is your name?"
Her creator had never given her one. If there were a malfunction or confusion between her memory and knowledge, she might have answered 'Elena' based on the data he had provided.
"I do not have a name," she answered. "It would be an honor if you would grant me one."
Jin nodded, satisfied. "Your name is Elena."
"Yes. I am Elena."
She accepted the name without any objection, despite it being the same as the figure in her knowledge base. In this way, the Golden Destruction Princess vanished, and Elena was born.
Exhausted from the day's events, Jin relaxed in the hot springs, ate Reiko's home-cooked meal, and went to bed early.
In contrast to Jin, Laojun, the tireless magi-brain of Hourai Island, was busy executing the next phases of Jin's plan. He dispatched a Smith squad to re-equip the Unifilar headquarters and restore its functionality. Having finished the collection of combat debris, he withdrew the Land squad units near the headquarters, leaving only twenty (numbers 81 through 100) to maintain security. He also began the process of deprogramming the captured Unifilar members.
Any further arrangements would have to wait until Jin woke up the next morning. Thus, the long days of chaos sown by Unifilar finally appeared to be coming to a close.