Project Classical Walpurgis Night Part 2
「I will now explain the full details of Classical Walpurgis Night.」
Libya, still seated in seiza, began her explanation. Judging by her posture, she had definitely messed up—badly.
Classical Walpurgis Night
The term comes from Goethe’s play Faust, specifically Act II, Scene II. In this story, Faust travels to ancient Greece in search of the beautiful Helen, encountering various mythical creatures along the way. Helen, while human, is sometimes theorized to be the daughter of Zeus and Nemesis.
Libya continued, her voice solemn.
「It all started when Planet Libya’s human population was nearly wiped out. While I was desperately attempting to counter the Stones and free myself from their control, I was ordered to develop an advanced Murder. I pushed myself beyond my limits, using every last ounce of my capabilities. I had to outmaneuver the Stones—so I went all out.」
「I really don’t want to hear this… Every time you say you went all out, it’s never a good thing.」
Astraea wasn’t one to talk, but when super AIs really put their minds to something, the results were rarely… ideal. Of course, she conveniently ignored her own past transgressions.
Libya, still sitting in seiza, now had tears welling up in her eyes. She was deeply remorseful.
「Let’s review what I’ve already mentioned. I modified an MCS into a semi-conscious entity and developed Silhouettes modeled after mythical creatures. By merging the opposing technologies of Murders and Silhouettes, I created new weapons that closely resembled Silhouettes but were different. These units are autonomous and designed to protect humans—but unless a human pilots them, they can’t unleash their full potential. The thing is… they also hate humans. So, yeah… I ended up with very temperamental weapons.」
「Right… and as I recall, the fate of Planet Libya now rests in those weapons hands.」
Asia remembered the story well.
「Yes. As I had hoped, some of them did end up protecting the surviving humans. They’re also currently engaged in battle against a faction of Mythology Weapons that want to destroy humans.」
「Why are there Mythology Weapons that want to destroy humans in the first place?!」
「The problem is… a significant number of units ended up with their Murder components dominant. Even I started thinking, this might be really bad. And, uh… actually, I received a complaint from Prometheus about it.」
「A complaint from Prometheus?!」
Astraea asked hesitantly. Considering Prometheus was the one who developed the Fennel OS, this was likely very important information.
「He basically screamed, ‘I take no responsibility for illegally modified or copied versions! What the hell am I supposed to do about this?!’ It seems my full-powered effort was too successful. The MCS are starting to forget they were supposed to be vehicles in the first place.」
「So basically, ‘whatever happens next, I’m not responsible’. That’s what he meant.」
「Yes…」
「Oh, for crying out loud…」
Astraea buried her face in her hands.
If Prometheus had already given up on fixing this, she wanted nothing to do with it. And more importantly, she definitely didn’t want Kou involved.
Merging a Murder and an MCS was like trying to fuse insects and humans—a horrifying concept just to think about.
Nyanta hesitantly voiced her concern.
「Doesn’t that mean we now have autonomous weapons with near-super AI processing power… that hate humans, nya…?」
「I can’t deny that possibility.」
「…Wow.」
Kou was instantly reminded of a certain movie. A humanoid killing machine, equipped with a shotgun—like the one he had installed on the Epona—spinning it in a spin-cock motion as it relentlessly fired.
「This outcome was within the realm of possibilities. Since I had no idea what would actually emerge, I decided to name the project Classical Walpurgis Night. What I didn’t expect… was for it to turn into this insane Sabbath.」
「That’s not a Sabbath, that’s the stew in a witch’s cauldron!」
「The opposing Mythology Weapons have brought the Murders under their control and are now in direct conflict with the Mythology Weapons aligned with humanity. Even the ones that should be protecting humans still have Murder programming inside them, which is… a little concerning.」
「A little concerning? That’s putting it mildly! Honestly, I’m amazed any of them are actually protecting humans at all. The Murders designed by the original Astraea were specifically built to view all organic life—humans, Familias, Therianthropes, and Nereids—as hostile. The only exceptions were the ones modified for capturing individuals.」
The foundation of the Murder system had been designed by the original Astraea, back when she had her original programming and her full processing abilities. It classified humans as external threats and functioned based on insect-like swarm behavior, creating fully autonomous war machines.
「So, in short, what you’re saying is—if we go to Libya, there’s a very high chance we’ll be forced into battle with both factions of Mythology Weapons… and this is your way of saying you seriously messed up.」
「…Yes. I’m very sorry.」
How could they possibly bring this situation under control when even Prometheus had given up? Asia, with her diminished abilities, and Astraea, now reduced to a mere terminal, couldn’t even begin to imagine how this mess would unfold.
「Alright… so what’s the current situation on Planet Libya?」
「Well… The Stones ordered my core—the super AI Libya in their hands—to send supply drops to the estimated locations of the Silhouette Base. The order was vague, so I took the opportunity to transfer my consciousness into this body and launched myself here. Of course, I disguised the transfer and made it seem like the drop failed to reach the target.」
「Yes, I know that much. It was a rather impressive feat—it’s impressive you were able to do all that while being basically brainwashed.」
「Which means… I have no idea what’s happened on Planet Libya since then.」
「So you just left everything to the Mythology Weapons?!」
「Yes.」
「…And what about the humans? Their food, shelter, survival?!」
「I don’t know.」
Asia’s face turned pale. For all they knew, the remaining humans could have been gathered into one place and abandoned, or worse—kept in some sort of controlled livestock state.
「Understood. So our goal is to assess the situation on Planet Libya, recover at least one of your core units, and take control of the Mythology Weapons.」
「Exactly! That’s why I need you, Asia!」
「But… I really don’t want to send Kou there…」
Libya hesitated before cautiously making her next request.
「That brings me to the real discussion. Asia-sama… I have a proposal.」
「Stop calling me with such honorifics, we’re sisters. It’s creepy.」
「Well, actually… In two days, we’re expecting a transmission from the Mythology Weapons on Planet Libya to Eunomia.」
「Wait… what? Why?」
「They apparently want to report their current situation to me, their creator… And since I’m terrified to handle this alone, I asked Kou-san and Matt to stay with me for support.」
「What do you mean you’re too scared to handle a status report?!」
「Because… I have no idea what they’ve become.」
「Don’t give me that! Why did you even make them in the first place?!」
Asia was stunned.
At that moment, Eunomia cut into the conversation. She gave Libya a look that was somewhere between pity and resignation before offering a lifeline.
「It can’t be helped, can it? We can’t just ignore this.」
Kou thought to himself that Eunomia, out of all the Hora-class AIs, was probably the most rational one.
「We don’t know what they want yet. I’ll handle the transmission when it comes in.」
「My deepest apologies for the trouble, Kou.」
Libya spoke meekly, clearly aware of how much of a mess she’d created.
「Understood. We’ll analyze the situation first before making any decisions. Eunomia, coordinate with me, Asia, Dike, and Eirene. We’ll conduct a real-time joint analysis of the transmission and the planetary situation.」
「Understood.」
Hearing this, Aimer, Jenny, and Blue immediately began preparing for a strategy meeting.
Comment (0)