"With this, the final wish has been fulfilled..."
Those were the last words of Masked No. 600012. As soon as he spoke, his body crumpled, and he collapsed onto the floor.
"Ah—"
The Jin Double reached out, but he was a fraction of a second too late. Masked No. 600012 hit the ground and lay still.
"...He has reached his limit."
The other No. 600012 looked down at him, his own voice devoid of strength. In this region where the concentration of free ether was so low, the backlash from using such powerful magic had likely placed too much strain on his aging frame.
It was the fundamental difference between Trans Info, which gently transferred knowledge to a compatible subject, and Send Info, which forcibly transmitted information.
"'Knowledge is power. Whether that power is used well or wasted depends on the successor. However, I pray it will be used for the sake of the world.'...Those were our Master’s words."
After saying that, No. 600012 fell silent. He sank to his knees and slowly toppled over.
"Oh, him too?! Reiko, help me!"
Reiko had been calmly observing the two No. 600012 units. "Yes," she replied.
Together, they carried the two units out of the incubation room and into the adjacent chamber. When the Jin Double gave them a quick examination, he noticed something unexpected.
"...Wait, what?"
To his surprise, the control cores of these two units were located in their heads. It must have been a unique design philosophy. Reiko and other Adriana-type golems and automata had theirs housed in the chest for better protection.
First, he examined Masked No. 600012, who showed more severe deterioration.
"...As I thought, the control core is quite damaged."
Judging by its state, it looked as if fifteen hundred years had passed. They must have maintained and repaired it during that time, but for some reason, the original control core had never been updated.
"...I don't understand what these 'servants' were thinking," Jin mused. Since they were fundamentally different lifeforms, a true understanding of their nature might simply be impossible.
"...Jin-dono, just... leave us be."
The No. 600012 that the Jin Double had first encountered spoke in a faltering voice.
"Our duty... is done. There is no point... in prolonging our lives any further. Please, let us sleep... like this. One last thing. In the basement... there are about eight people under protection. Please... look after them....If we stop, this facility... will collapse. There is not much time... please hurry."
"What did you say?!"
Before he could say another word, the mana signature from No. 600012 vanished completely.
"...Good grief! This is no joke! Why would they set up such a security measure?! Honestly...!!"
The Jin Double hurried to wake Belialus, who was lying in the next room.
"Ugh... nngh..."
When he splashed water created with Condense onto the man's face, Belialus finally regained consciousness.
"Jin... dono..."
"Can you stand? I'm told this place is going to collapse soon."
"What did you say?!"
Belialus jumped up, seemingly suffering from no lingering side effects.
"...Good grief! This is no joke! Why would they set up such a security measure?! Honestly...!!"
Back at the laboratory, Jin was venting his frustrations in front of the magi-screen.
"Why are they so quick to render a facility unusable!"
To discard a treasure trove of precious information as if it were an unwanted toy was unthinkable to Jin.
"My Lord, their fundamental way of thinking is likely different," Laojun noted. "More importantly, we must ensure their escape."
"You're right. Laojun, he said eight people are in the basement. Dispatch Land and the others to rescue them. For now, just transport them to Shinkai."
"Understood."
Receiving Jin's order, Laojun prepared to send ten units, Land 90 through 99, via the transporter. To avoid running into the Jin Double's party, they would only be deployed once the eight survivors were located. Additionally, Jin decided to leave the operation of the Jin Double to Laojun, as the magi-brain would have a faster reaction time in an emergency.
"Phew, I suppose that's all the moves I can make for now." Jin let out a small sigh in front of the magi-screen.
"Yes. We do not know how soon the collapse will begin, but it seems they will make it in time."
At this point, Jin remembered a major concern.
"They thought the Double was actually me and gave it some important information through... was it Send Info? But..."
The Jin Double's control core was equipped with countermeasures to prevent such external interference—specifically, a Master-Slave Rewrite Magic countermeasure. Therefore, the Jin Double's control core had not actually received any information at all.
It might have been different if it were Jin himself. In a way, this was a significant miscalculation.
"Ah, but wait."
The Double wasn't just insulated from mana by the shield case; it was also equipped with a magi-recorder to absorb such signals as a defensive measure.
"I might be able to get the information if I check the magi-recorder."
However, there was one problem. Since the magi-recorder itself had no function to organize information, the larger the amount of data, the longer it would take to read and analyze the contents. Decompiling a simple spell was easy, but a vast amount of data was a different story.
To use an analogy, it was like recording digital data in an analog format—much like the early days of 8-bit microcomputers when data was saved onto cassette tapes. On top of that, a massive amount of data had been stuffed in there at random, without order or context.
"Once the Double gets back, I'll have to have Laojun analyze it."
"Yes, please leave it to me."
"Anyway, Arshel should be somewhere in this underground facility."
They didn't know exactly when the collapse would begin, but since the Jin Double and Reiko carried a transporter, they could teleport to safety at a moment's notice. Taking Belialus and Arshel along would be easy.
However, Arshel, their primary objective, had yet to be found. The Jin Double gave instructions for their immediate goal to Belialus, who was still struggling to process the situation. At the mention of his sister's name, Belialus came to his senses.
"T-That's right, Arshel! Jin-dono, Arshel is—!" He pointed to the tanks behind him—the incubation tanks.
"Ugh..."
"Nngh..."
Five bodies of Arshel floated there, motionless. Perhaps because the life-support mechanisms had stopped, they were already beginning to break down, returning to being mere lumps of flesh. Belialus looked away, nauseated.
"Jin-dono, Arshel is... what on earth..."
As Belialus's shoulders slumped, the Jin Double spoke words of encouragement.
"It's too early to give up. In short, these are just lifeless imitations. The real Arshel should be in the basement."
Jin was glad he had heard that from No. 600012 earlier.
"Y-You're right."
"Let's go search."
"Yes!"
The Jin Double and Belialus began to navigate through the underground facility.
"Reiko, try searching with the magi-detector."
If she was a member of the demon race with a high mana capacity, she would surely stand out.
"I have a reaction two floors down," Reiko reported.
"Alright, let's hurry."
The group ran back through the hallway, searching for the stairs leading further down. They saw several golems along the way, but all were deactivated; they seemed to have shut down along with the No. 600012 units.
"I believe there were stairs partway back."
When they found them, Belialus ran down while calling his sister's name at the top of his lungs. "Arshel—!"
The Jin Double and Reiko followed close behind. Finally, they reached what appeared to be the lowest floor. Here, Reiko took the lead, guided by the magi-detector.
"Someone is just ahead."
"Is it Arshel?"
"Most likely."
Belialus dashed out without waiting for Reiko's reply. He reached a room that resembled a medical ward.
"W-What is this...?"
Beds were lined up, and humans were lying on them—real humans, not homunculi. There were eight in total. All of them had received Behandeln, but they were severely injured and appeared to be in a deep sleep for the sake of their treatment.
Neither Jin, nor Reiko, nor Laojun recognized any of them. A golem stood among the eight reclining figures, apparently acting as their caretaker.
However, one small figure was moving among them. She looked up with a surprised face when she saw Jin and the others.
"...B-Brother?"
"Arshel! Is that you?"
"It is you, Onii-chan, isn't it?"
The two slowly approached each other, then...
"Arshel!"
"Onii-chan!"
Finally reunited, the siblings fell into a tight, tearful embrace.