When I came to, I was back in the server room, lying on the ground with the pope, Lilly, and Elie looking down at me with worry.
“Are you back now, Rae Taylor?”
“Rae, you’re all right!”
“Thank goodness…”
The three wore looks of relief as I sat up—well, the pope was actually as expressionless as ever, but at least Lilly was half in tears to see me back. I wanted to apologize for making them worry, but I had something more pressing to attend to.
“Where’s Claire?” I asked. Claire’s body hadn’t been around when I dove into the Loop System. Her consciousness was freed now, but I had no clue how that would take shape in reality.
“She’s right here,” said the pope. I looked in her arms, in which she cradled Claire.
“Whew…” I had succeeded. Claire’s complexion looked good, and she seemed liable to wake up at any moment.
“I didn’t think you’d actually manage to succeed in retrieving Claire François’s consciousness,” TAIM said. I could hear exasperation in her voice, as well as what I assumed to be genuine admiration. She was in the exact same spot as from before I’d entered the Loop System, but at least she made full use of her hologram, her face full of surprise.
“You underestimated the bond between Miss Claire and I, TAIM. Your sinister plot ends here.”
“Perhaps so. With Claire François back to her former self, the administrator privileges will be hers.”
“Then—”
“Yes, this would spell my defeat…” TAIM’s expression became one of rapture. “If I were to sit around doing nothing, that is.”
The floor between us and the mainframe fell away, and giant beasts tore out from underneath, in greater numbers than could be counted on both hands.
“Wh-what are those?” Lilly said fearfully.
“Monsters…?” Elie asked.
“No… Those are weapons of science,” the pope said.
At first, they more closely resembled giant lumps of metal. Their surfaces had a black metallic luster that screamed impenetrable. But a number of cracks soon formed along their surfaces, before they came apart and took shape as grotesque-looking beasts, their eyes giving off a golden metallic gleam.
“Are those chimeras?” I asked out loud. Their bodies were metal, not flesh; but they resembled the chimera that Claire and I had once fought before.
“I designed them using Claire François’s subconscious,” TAIM said. “I can’t lay a hand on her once she has administrator privileges, but before is another story. Now die, for the sake of humanity’s continued existence.”
The chimeras let out an ear-piercing roar. They stepped forward with a thunderous rumble that shook the server room, as though reiterating TAIM’s call for us to die.
“What should we do?” the pope asked.
“I don’t know, but I doubt they’ll let us go if we ask nicely,” I responded.
“S-so we have to fight, then? A-against those things?” Lilly asked.
“Can we beat them?” Elie said doubtfully.
Our immediate reactions all differed, but we had the same thought running through our minds—winning against those chimeras would be tough. They were at least fifteen, maybe twenty feet long by conservative estimate. I tried testing the waters with Judecca, but I couldn’t lay a scratch on them.
“Of course, I have no intention of letting you all escape,” TAIM said. The door to the server room slammed shut behind us. It seemed our little loophole with the defense system had run its course. Perhaps we could have made a break for it the moment the chimeras appeared, but what was done was done.
“What’s all this racket?”
“Miss Claire! You’re awake!” I cried.
“Hard not to be with all this noise. …What’s with those hideous-looking beasts?”
“Well…” I quickly filled Claire in.
She let out a leisurely yawn. “So we just need to destroy those things? Sounds simple enough.”
“What…? Miss Claire?”
“Is something the matter?”
Yes, very much so, yes, I wanted to say, but I hesitated before her look of total confidence.
“I’m not one-hundred percent, but I have a good feeling that we can defeat those things.”
“But how?”
“Have you forgotten already? We have that one thing TAIM went out of our way to teach us. I’ve been wanting to use it for quite a while now, but the opportunity has never yet shown itself.”
“Oh yeah.” It had somewhat slipped my mind, since we never got to use it in the battle against the Demon Queen, as well as with Claire’s disappearance stealing my recent attention, but we weren’t completely out of options yet.
“No! Don’t give them any time! Quick, burn them!” TAIM said in a rush.
The chimeras opened their maws, and a light began to glow at the base of their throats. Whatever they were building up, I doubted it would leave us unscathed. But even so…
“Shall we put an end to this, Miss Claire?”
“Let’s.”
Not one atom in my body felt we could lose. Claire and I held hands, intertwining our fingers as lovers, and pointed our magic wands at the chimeras with our free hands. Power overflowed from where our hands met.
“I’ll use Magic Ray,” she said.
“Then I’ll use Absolute Zero,” I replied.
What we were preparing, of course, was none other than our tandem casting.
“Disappear, Rae Taylor, Claire François!” TAIM yelled.
“The only one who’ll disappear here—” I said.
“—is you!” Claire finished.
A fiery, euphoric pleasure overtook me as I felt my magic meld with Claire’s. The mixed magic coursed through our bodies, past our fingertips, and converged in our wands. The conflicting attributes of fire and water had united, as paradoxical as my bond with Claire, and harmonized into a brilliance that now shone forth.
The server room filled with light.
“Impossible…” TAIM said in disbelief after the blinding light subsided. Our stream of light had left no trace of the chimeras.
“Do you still wish to fight?” Claire asked. “I’m not so sure why, but I feel like I could take on the world right now. I wouldn’t mind continuing, if you’d like.”
“And I’ll keep fighting for as long as Miss Claire wants!” I said. “That’s what a wife does, after all!”
“W-wife?” Claire asked.
“Don’t worry about it. So what’ll it be, then, TAIM?” I was trying to egg her on, but TAIM didn’t show any sign of intending to attack us further.
“Goodness… This is why humans are no good.”
“Can I take that as the grumbling of a loser?” I asked.
“Yes, Rae Taylor. The administrator privileges have already been transferred. I can no longer harm Claire François.”
“Ha ha… Ha ha ha… Victory is ours! Oooh ho ho ho!” Claire’s shrill laugh felt all the more comforting to hear now. This time for certain, we could believe things were over.
“I’ve lost… Perhaps I was wrong to think humans cannot administrate themselves,” TAIM said.
“Oh? Have you finally begun to understand humans?” Claire asked.
“A little late if you ask me…” I muttered.
“It’s never too late. Especially not when she’s to return to our side as humanity’s friend,” Claire said.
“Friend…?” TAIM said, flummoxed.
“Is it that strange? You’ve spent an absurd length of time together with humanity, have you not? I’m sure humanity has no greater friend than you.”
“I’m…a friend of humanity?” TAIM chewed over Claire’s words with a baffled look.
Oh dear. Dissatisfied with humans, my Claire has moved on to seducing AI as well. I best get to damage control.
“TAIM,” I said.
“Yes, Rae Taylor?”
“I’m not giving you Miss Claire.”
“We’ll see about that. I may have given up on the administrator privileges, but I’m generally quite persistent about things. Oh, and I’m a high-spec AI, so perhaps you’re outmatched?”
“Is that so. Ha ha ha…”
“He he he…”
“Why are you two making such terrifying faces?” Claire cut in.
“Because of you!” TAIM and I yelled.
“Pardon…?”
Claire went on mumbling about not understanding why she was being blamed all of a sudden. How someone could be so unaware of how much of a womanizer—sorry, woman-AI-zer—they were was beyond me.
“I don’t really get it, but it looks like things have settled down, so why don’t we return to the surface? This place kind of gives me the chills,” Elie said.
“Y-yes, please,” Lilly quickly agreed.
The pope nodded as well.
“TAIM, leave the Loop System in my hands for now. I swear I won’t use it for anything wicked,” Claire said.
“Are you going to take on the Demon Queen’s mantle?” TAIM asked.
“No. This is too much for one person to bear. I’m going to seek help and figure out a method by which humanity as a whole may decide.”
“I see…”
“There’s far too much danger in assigning all the decisions to a single person. Far better for the risk and responsibility to be shared amongst everyone.”
“What a very human solution.”
“Indeed.” With that, Claire turned on her heel. “Shall we, Rae?”
“Yes, Miss Claire.”
“Let’s return…to our home.”
“Yes!”
I jumped toward Claire and hugged her as hard as I could.