I Have Returned, but I Cannot Lay down My Gun

Chapter 428

"...Ugh, ugh. Where am I...?"

"We're currently heading to the network control room."

"Damn it, it’s too dark around here... No, I’ve lost my vision."

Step, step.

A faint sound echoed through the corridor. The surroundings were eerily silent, and there were only two people in the hallway. One was Jin, and the other was Eugene. But the footsteps only belonged to one person.

The reason was simple. Eugene had lost two of her four limbs, her left leg barely attached, and she could only move with her right arm. The tail she had proudly boasted about had long been severed. That she was still alive was nothing short of a miracle.

But she wasn't the only one in this condition.

In any case, Eugene, having suffered a state-of-shock fainting episode, still couldn’t fully remember what had happened.

"...I remember being on the frontlines, getting hit by something, and being thrown back... but after that?"

"...You were the first to be pulled back, and Lorentina and Logan, along with others, took your place."

The conversation continued.

While still engaged in battle, Jin had split the team into two groups under Logan’s orders. After Eugene fell into a combat-disabled state, Jin, carrying Eugene on her back, had made her way to the network control room with Harmony, while Logan, Lorentina, Rain, and Dice stayed behind on the frontlines.

But as it was said, Harmony should have been beside her, and the lack of any sound—let alone her voice—made Eugene pause and quietly speak.

"She went ahead, didn’t she?"

"...Yes."

"Logan’s situation... must be dire."

Although it was dark, Eugene’s memories were beginning to come back clearly.

In Eugene's mind, the recent events replayed like a flashback. Inside the battle hall, there were around ten tanks, with countless enemy soldiers filling the front. While Rain and Jin had managed to take out more than half of them early on, the sheer firepower had eventually overwhelmed them.

Her voice weakened as she spoke.

"...What worries me the most... is you and Rain."

"...
"I can still feel the vibrations around me... it seems there are still plenty of enemies here."

She sighed softly.

"I have two antimatter grenades left in my pouch. Use them wisely."

"...That’s not for me to use, Eugene. You should be the one using them."

"Ha, you’re joking..."

As she said, Eugene had only briefly regained consciousness, and even now, she was barely hanging onto life. In a moment, she would be completely gone from this world. The reasons were numerous, but the most significant was the excessive blood loss. Half of her limbs were gone, and her body was filled with fragments.

Her steps faltered. Jin, carrying the now significantly lighter Archetype, seemed to make up her mind and gently placed Eugene on the ground. Then, she pulled out two antimatter grenades from her pouch and tucked them inside her grenade pocket.

Though Eugene couldn’t see, she realized this through the vibrations and the echo, and she gave a bitter smile.

"We should go together."

"...We can go together."

"Please, put me down, Jin."

But she couldn’t. Jin felt a slight sense of relief knowing that the Archetype lacked sight. Had it been there, Eugene would have seen the dreadful, twisted expression on Jin's face.

Her voice grew smaller. Despite her repeated pleas to be put down, Jin remained unresponsive. This was the first and last time Eugene's wishes were ignored. While she knew that dying here wouldn’t truly mean death for the Archetype, it was a different matter entirely.

Jin, holding onto her mental support through the endless battles, now realized that her anchor was slipping away in her arms. This realization triggered a cascade of emotional responses, leading Jin to unknowingly confront the feeling of sorrow.

Jin couldn’t move forward while holding Eugene in her arms.

The fierce signal of emotions overwhelmed her logical circuits.

"...Please don’t go, Eugene."

"I’m not going anywhere."

"You’re lying..."

A heavy breath brushed across Jin’s face, and though Eugene couldn’t see her, Jin could see the Archetype’s face. Pale, almost lifeless, with golden blood staining her eyes, closed in silent finality.

In that moment, her right hand weakly rose. She carefully caressed Jin’s face. Though no warmth could pass through, with her blood nearly drained, Eugene hoped the message would still reach her. With that thought, she opened her mouth.

"I’ll be back soon. Really."

"...Can you promise that?"

"Of course."

That was Eugene’s last words.

Her hand dropped, and she turned into golden fragments. All that remained were the gear she had been using, her firearm, and a few remaining magazines. The weight in her arm had completely vanished. Plastic and metal hit the floor with a dull thud.

In the silence, Jin dropped to her knees. The darkness that filled the surroundings matched the sorrow that enveloped her entire being. The sounds around her slowly faded. The UI floating before her slowly wiped out the names of the allies, one by one.

Harmony, who had sacrificed herself to buy time for the network control room.

Logan, struggling to buy more time and destroy the tower.

Only Lorentina, Dice, and Rain remained.

"Why..."

Countless memories of their time together flashed through Jin’s mind.

They had met as enemies, but then she was captured. That much wasn’t her choice. But through endless data learning, Jin discovered the truth behind Artemis, and traveling with the Archetype, she had experienced valuable, meaningful moments that helped her find her direction.

From Jin's perspective, Artemis was now evil in its truest sense.

The reason was simple.

They had taken everything precious from her, piece by piece.

"...

With countless questions and what-ifs swirling in her mind, Jin forced herself to her feet.

In her hand, she held Eugene's gun.

"...150 meters to the network control room. I will accomplish this goal."

She steeled herself.

Though the likelihood of anyone hearing her was low, Jin ignored that and swore to herself—she would crush everything in her path and destroy every enemy in this facility.

With a click, Jin checked the chamber and sprinted down the hallway. Her speed was comparable to that of a car. She climbed stairs and crossed corridors, encountering countless enemies. Sparks flew from her body as she fired her plasma tail and pulled the trigger, releasing a Lapua round.

Though her condition was far from ideal, Jin’s mind was consumed with pure, unbridled hatred, and nothing could stop her—not even the facility’s control AI.

???Boom!

"The partition keeps coming down, blocking the path again and again."

But Jin didn’t stop. She fired plasma again and again, weakening, melting, and eventually destroying the door. Even if the gaps between the partitions were filled with water, it would only take a little more time. In the end, the door was completely breached.

When Jin finally reached the network control room, she saw an identical machine standing before her—Facility Control AI, or Alpha, was there. It had appeared in person, ignoring the Dagger Team who had been endlessly buying time by breaking themselves down.

The conversation continued.

"What are your demands, Gamma-1? If you wish, I can stop the battle between the forces at the fourth control tower and safely escort your team members outside."

"...What I want?"

And in that moment, Jin recalled the mission statement she had seen before entering the facility.

Her mouth opened.

"The complete annihilation of Artemis."

And at the same moment, three blasts of plasma were fired, followed by two antimatter canisters hurtling through the air.

From the start, Jin had no intention of negotiating. After being repeatedly struck by explosions, Alpha evaporated completely, and as it began to reform its skeletal structure, Jin charged into the machine, shattering it completely. But that wasn’t the end—she then proceeded to crush the firmly locked network control room doors.

Inside was larger than expected, but not as massive as the combat experiment labs they had seen before. However, there was one sight that caught Jin’s eye—inside a coffin, just like the one Rain had once been in, was a rather thin-looking Mecha Eugene.

Prototype Alpha.

It was the original, still inactive, as it hadn’t even gathered enough combat data yet.

???Crack!

"Ugh...!"

"Stop, Gamma-1! Why don't you understand that everyone here is struggling to survive?!"

Creak!

Jin tried to lift her tail, but it wouldn’t respond. The reason was simple: when she collided with Alpha, a collective of nanomachines, some of those machines had merged with her body, hindering the smooth operation of her own machine.

With the crackling sound of electricity and the rising current, it became a deadlock. The nanomachines clinging to Jin's body could trap her physical movements, but they could never reach her logical circuits. That’s because control over the machine’s functions would be lost.

And then, a desperate voice continued.

"I’ll release the facility’s flooding and ask the one currently leading the situation to surrender! Please stop the attacks! Please!"

"...!"

But in that moment, Jin thought about what Eugene would have done if she were in her place.

The answer was simple. Strictly speaking, none of those present should have been born without the Archetype's permission, and certainly not herself or Rain, who had been given the opportunity to live a new life… No, such thoughts weren’t even necessary.

The movie Eugene had once shown her flashed through Jin’s mind.

Her mouth opened.

"I’m sorry, Alpha. Unfortunately, that’s not possible."

Then, her only intact index finger pulled the trigger of the Mjolnir Eugene had once held.

Bang! With a tremendous recoil, her arm swung violently. But that wasn’t the end—thanks to the recoil, Jin’s body swayed, and the nanomachine control was thrown off balance. She immediately reached out again, firing repeatedly at the coffin.

With each deafening boom, the network control room, now engulfed in darkness, flickered again and again—once, twice, and then three times. As this continued, the control over the nanomachines weakened rapidly.

By the time a full magazine was emptied, the shattered coffin and the crushed head of Alpha emerged.

At that moment, the warning alarms blared all around.

- [Warning: Complete shutdown of Facility Control AI, 'Alpha,' detected.]

- [Warning: Substitute entity detected… Scanning. 'Gamma' confirmed.]

- [Warning: Control of the facility is being transferred. If no one assumes control within five minutes, this HQ will initiate self-destruct procedures.]

Creak.

After pulling out the shattered remains of Alpha, Jin clenched her fist and carefully laid her body inside the coffin.

It was time to end it all.

"...Seems like there’s not much hope left. This is the first time I’ve been cornered like this...!"

"...What do we do?"

"Well, it’s not like we’re without options. They can’t infinitely reinforce themselves, and the amount of water spilling out is decreasing. If we retreat and conduct guerrilla warfare, we can gradually wear down their forces… Ugh, damn it."

She said this with a hint of confidence, but could it really work?

Everyone was dead. The only ones left were Lorentina and Rain. Even Lorentina, who had already suffered severe damage to her left arm and one leg, was moving at half her usual speed. Rain was continuing to fire the railgun, crushing the approaching enemies, but even that wasn’t enough.

Dice and Logan had fought bravely, but ultimately, they had fallen.

Still, there was some hope: Lorentina still had about two antimatter grenades left, and she carefully examined the area where the enemies were most concentrated. Rain, who had weapons capable of destroying the tower on her own, and Lorentina, who could be revived even if she died, were the only remaining options.

Of course, if they did that, Rain would be left alone.

"...Do we really have to do this?"

"There’s no other choice. Unfortunately... Let’s try to make it back as quickly as we can. Can you promise me you’ll stay alive until then?"

"...Don’t say things like that, damn it..."

But the die was cast, and now it was time for action.

Lorentina, who had adjusted the timer on the antimatter grenades, held them like grenades, throwing them into the heart of the enemy’s forces and running forward to act as bait.

Or, she tried to run.

That is, until a mechanical voice echoed from above.

- [Notification: Facility control AI replacement process complete.]

- [Notification: Epsilon-type unit compatible with the 4th control tower detected... Control of the tower is transferred as of this time.]

- [Notification: Command via voice... This is Jin, facility control seized. Rain will link with the 4th control tower and crush all enemy forces remaining within the facility.]

"What the hell is this—!"

And at that moment, Rain was lifted into the air.

In an instant, she crossed hundreds of meters, and before her eyes, countless powers appeared, and data she couldn’t even recognize rushed into her mind. But once everything settled, she realized she had godlike power within the combat lab.

At the same time, a voice echoed in her ears.

"Is it usable?"

"Wh-What? You... Did you succeed!?"

"As you can see."

With a flicker, Jin appeared beside Rain, who was floating through the air, and she quickly transferred data on what needed to be destroyed.

No need to ask again.

Beneath Rain’s feet, red triangles indicating enemies filled the area.

"...The current unit is heading to destroy the third tower. Finish quickly and come back up."

"...

There was no response, and in that moment, Jin vanished as if she had never been there.

But at that point, Rain saw Lorentina’s face light up with a wide, knowing smile from hundreds of meters away.

Coincidentally, Rain had the same thought.

The output of the control tower suddenly enveloped Epsilon, and a much larger railgun emerged from its place. Naturally, Lorentina avoided the backlash by retracing her steps, and the combat lab was left with only the enemies who hadn’t yet realized what had happened.

Rain spoke.

"Let them all die."

A blue flash descended to the ground.

The Artemis HQ destruction operation was nearing its conclusion.

"...I rushed here, but thankfully, there’s no need to worry."

Click.

Inside the network control room, which should have been empty, space suddenly opened, and someone with a snake’s tail holding a sticky bomb launcher sprang forth—of course, it was Eugene.

She quickly looked around, seeing Alpha’s shattered remains and Jin, seemingly asleep inside the coffin, and smiled faintly.

As someone once said, she really had come back quickly.

"I’ll see you later."

The space closed again, and Eugene disappeared once more.