The wind gently blew over the ruins of the complex.
Once a laboratory, once a prison, the place was now nothing more than a skeleton of twisted metal and cracked concrete. Yet, at its center, an intact tower shone with a new light. The heart of the new system.
Mayu stood atop it, gazing at the reborn city on the horizon. Around her, the drones no longer monitored; they obeyed, without violence, commands written by her. Not to control, but to protect.
— Status? she asked.
Zero, now fully integrated into the world's interface, responded from an holographic console:
— The clones have scattered. Half have chosen independence. The other half remains connected to the network. As for the humans, the former leaders have fallen. A few groups resist… but the majority observe.
Mayu nodded.
— It's better than expected.
Yet even this peace was fragile.
Throughout the world, divergent reactions emerged. Some welcomed the clones as allies. Others viewed them as enemies. And at the heart of this tension, Mayu had become a living legend. A threat to some. A goddess to others.
She descended into the rebuilt streets. Children played with unarmed robots. An elderly woman recognized her. Bowed without fear.
— Thank you, she murmured.
Mayu smiled, but her gaze remained serious. For even though she had avoided extinction or chaos, she knew that a balance forged from ashes was never eternal.
The provisional Council — half clones, half humans — was meeting tonight. She was to speak. Defend a world where differences would no longer be a source of war.
But before that, she returned alone to the base.
In the data throne room, she sat down. Closed her eyes. And relived it all. The choices. The pains. The losses.
— Did I make the right choice? she asked aloud.
Zero appeared by her side.
— You did not make the right choice. You made yours.
And sometimes, that's all a world needs.