“When I really think about it, I check all the boxes of the damsel in distress. Maybe I should try singing a sappy ballad instead of Vivy. It might go big!”
He kept up his flippant commentary as he fired off his attacks.
The five AIs walking down the road didn’t notice Matsumoto, who was concealed in a pile of rubble by a wall. He was using the same technique they’d used when sneaking into Kingdom, wherein he applied a skin to his frame to change its appearance. Just as they passed him, his disassembled frame leapt up to attack.
They turned his way, but they were too late. Matsumoto’s cube parts came in contact with each of their foreheads, the mere touch letting him hack into their systems and shut them down. Truth be told, a more appropriate method would be to boil their positronic brains until they no longer worked, permanently disabling the AIs.
“A samurai shows his mercy with a strike from the back of his blade,” he said as the five AIs crashed to the ground in front of him.
He watched them fall, then immediately searched for his next target. There were so many enemies that he hardly had to look. Victory was still out of reach, no matter how many of the little foot soldiers he took down. They would only win when Professor Matsumoto—still back in the control room—took over the satellites and stopped them from falling.
“Rough estimate to achieving target: ten minutes.”
While Professor Matsumoto did have assistance from Little Matsumoto, his own skills were practically miraculous for a human. Matsumoto and the Toak members had hope for the professor’s struggles as they bought the central control room as much time as they possibly could. And for that, Matsumoto would have to keep hunting these little measly AIs.
“Target discovered.”
An unrefined voice cut into Matsumoto’s calculations, and he remained silent. Meanwhile, his excellent, high-performance CPU raced along at its fastest, but how much could he actually fool his opponents about his ulterior motive? After all, the other AI had the same level of calculative processing as Matsumoto did.
“Well, not one AI. A group of AIs. My single flaw has always been that I have only one body… I’m starting to realize that I could be god or the devil himself if that problem were solved.”
If Vivy were there, she’d punch his frame for that pointless statement.
A silvery-white AI came into view as he indulged in a little humor. Looking at that cutting-edge amalgamate AI with its cube parts was like looking in the mirror. Right now, those mass-produced, Matsumoto-style AIs were the most powerful and most problematic enemies in the world.
“I didn’t think we’d meet like this. I said some hurtful things to Vivy when we met her sisters. I’ll have to apologize. Seeing my siblings is also making some unknown calculations boil up. Right, Brothers?”
“Your meaning is unclear. Prototype unit, explain the intentions behind your actions.”
“Seriously?! You don’t understand what I’m saying?! But according to the design, our final versions should be basically the same! No matter how you look at it, we’re exactly the same model. Yet you don’t get my humor? Where did my gift of gab come from, then?”
“I recommend you refer to it as a glitch, not a gift. Confirmation acquired. Prototype unit is out of control.”
His sibling was quick to judge, but Matsumoto was impressed to see his little brother say something that could be interpreted as a joke. Matsumoto’s calculations also grew more complicated at hearing himself labeled “out of control” and being tossed aside.
“I get that this isn’t simply a snap decision on your part. After all, we are the highest-quality, most cutting-edge super AIs out there… We consider various possibilities from all angles and select the most realistic one to make our decision. You deciding I am ‘out of control’ is one such decision.”
“Acknowledged. As such, I recommend prompt surrender and dismantlement.”
“Ha ha, you’re telling a trash AI to behave nicely and just go along with it? Uh-huh, that’s the first time I’ve ever been on the receiving end of something so nasty. I’ve always been the one saying it. Now I’m seriously reconsidering my past behavior.”
“…”
“I mean, I’m way more offended than I thought I’d be, having someone say I’m worthless to my face.”
The moment Matsumoto said that, the Brother in front of him morphed into an attack form. It was probably equipped with armaments similar to Matsumoto’s. He had enough firepower to shoot down any enemy, even if that enemy happened to be himself. In other words, the winner of a fight between Brothers was going to be whoever landed a hit first.
“I never once believed I would be able to persuade you.”
A blast rang out, and a large-caliber shell punched a massive hole in the center of the Brother. The Brother processed the impact, then immediately discharged the damaged parts and moved to start the real fight. At least, that was what it calculated, but it couldn’t follow through. Its frame fell to pieces as it lost its connection. The light faded from its eye camera, and it went silent.
Matsumoto spun his cube parts. “You lost the moment you let me have a head start. Ever since my humiliating defeat, I’ve been working out how to fight against my own model.”
He considered his narrow victory as he talked to the destroyed Brother. He’d been running calculation after calculation for a long time now on how to fight the Brothers, just as he’d said. One of the challenges of fighting against a Matsumoto-style AI was the high specs of the complete, stand-alone units, yes—but the biggest problem was their durability. Their frames were made of over a hundred cubes, and they could continue to function as long as they had at least one.
In reality, Matsumoto’s calculative processing abilities were hardly affected even if he was a single cube. His combat capability was reduced, but his strength was in his ability to compensate with other things. Even if he destroyed the parts that made up a Brother’s frame, it could continue to function by backfilling that part’s role with other parts. Matsumoto broke through this strong point on both a physical and a digital level.
When their frame was made up of several parts, a Matsumoto-style AI set one part as the master, which made all the decisions. That was what Matsumoto had destroyed with his first strike.
Obviously, if the master part was destroyed, then its function was immediately taken up by a different part. But just as Matsumoto’s cannon shell was destroying the Brother’s brain, he hacked into it and erased the master role from the parts that would have taken it on. This resulted in the Brother losing control over its cubes and falling apart.
“Thus, he was named ‘Matsumoto the Matsumoto Killer’…though I unfortunately won’t get a chance to use that name again.”
“Target acquired.”
“Oh!”
A mechanical voice reminded him that he had no time to gloat. He opened his rear eye camera in annoyance and saw the units descending from the sky. Matsumoto-style AIs exactly like the one he’d just defeated came down: two of them, then three, four, five, and on and on.
“Oh my, if only Vivy were here. She’d be trembling with joy at the sight of all the Matsumotos.”
“Pointless utterance detected. There is no need to engage in discussion.”
“How sad of you to say that. Actually, I don’t think it’s joy she’d be shaking from. More like revulsion. Study up on that ‘Fluorite Eye’s Song.’”
“Prototype unit, you will be eliminated.”
Unlike with Vivy and her Sisters, Matsumoto and his Brothers never experienced a touching moment when they met. He lamented his poor luck as he shot into the air to deal with his siblings. Several Brothers chased after him with no ear for negotiation as he revealed all the weapons he was equipped with.
“I will carry out the Singularity Project.”