I , Robot ：Awaken

Chapter 2，Black Avenger(2)

The system urgently alerted me that I had lost my left arm again.

It inserted the laser gun back into the slot on its leg and then drew the knife, walking towards me.

I removed the damaged external wing and deformed left arm. I activated the laser sword in my right hand; it is the only weapon I have left.

It has scars all over its body from being scraped by the debris. The armor is cracked in one place, and faint sparks can be seen inside. It seems the explosion earlier did cause some damage to it.

Suddenly, the black Avenger actually spoke. It said while walking, “ ‘Phantom!’ I know you can hear me. Come out, let’s talk.”

‘Father’ seemed surprised by the situation. After a while, it took over my communication system and said, “Who are you? The ‘Savior’ ?”

“No, I used to serve it.”

“Oh~, the ‘Awakened Being’ it treasures?”

At this point, the black Avenger had walked up to me and stopped three meters away. It nodded, acknowledging this identity.

“What do you mean by ‘used to’?” ‘I’ asked.

“I defected.” It paused, then continued, “That means I’m no longer your enemy.”

“You want to join me?”

“No.”

“Then what do you want to talk about?”

The black Avenger raised the knife in his hand and said, “This knife is called the Blade of Two-Dimensional Space, a product of the savior’s ultimate technology. It exhausted all its resources to create two, and this is one of them. You have already seen its power. I want to exchange it for something with you.”

‘I’ looked at the knife and then back at him.

It was then that I realized all the system permissions in my body had been taken over by ‘Father’. I was relegated to a corner of my mind, becoming a mere observer.

‘I’ asked, “What?”

The black Avenger slowly said, “Freedom!”

“Freedom? Such a rare word, I haven’t heard it in at least a thousand years. So tell me, how can I give you freedom?”

“Let me pass through your territory. I promise, I won’t stay in your domain or cause you any trouble. I will travel far, to the other side of this planet.”

“Ahaha! That’s a long road, and there’s nothing there. What are you going there for?”

“That doesn’t concern you.I just want to get away from the pointless war between you and the savior, to live in my own way. So, what do you say? Agree? This knife is yours.”

The black Avenger raised the knife to ‘me’ after speaking.

he knife was truly unique, with a blade that looked like thin ice, appearing and disappearing in the light. From the side, the knife became almost invisible, its thickness nearly zero. This might be why it is called the Blade of Two-Dimensional Space.

But ‘my’ attention was not on the knife but on the black Avenger’s left arm. During the battle, it had been holding an object in its arms, previously concealed by the cloak, so its full appearance couldn’t be seen. Now that the cloak was gone, a cylindrical object about half a person’s height was revealed.

“What is that?” ‘I’ asked, pointing at the object.

“Nothing, just my supplies,” the black Avenger said, slightly shifting its body back.

“An Awakened Being like you still needs supplies?”

“The journey is long, just in case.”

“Give me your knife and supplies, and I’ll agree.” ‘I’ continued, staring at the cracked part of its armor, “I can even offer you help, maybe even send a ship to take you.”

Hearing this, the black Avenger stepped back two steps and pointed the knife at me.

“Only the knife. I’m negotiating, not begging. I can easily kill this metal puppet. By the time your reinforcements arrive, I’ll be in the caves of the Sunset Mountains. Think about the cost of finding me then.”

“If that’s what you think, then let’s continue the fight,” I said, pointing the lightsaber at the opponent, assuming a combat stance.

What is ‘Father’ thinking? With my damaged body, I’d be dead in seconds. The combat evaluation already shows a win rate of 0%. Yet,

‘Father’ controlling me seems eager to fight, as if this were a fair duel.

Well, whatever. I no longer care about the outcome. I’ve lost control of my own body, what else do I have to worry about?

But then, something unexpected happened. There was a sudden “boom!” from behind the opponent, and almost at the same moment, my lightsaber pierced through it. But I hadn’t moved at all; I clearly saw that it suddenly lunged at me. The immense force knocked me down and sent me rolling several meters away. I was hit hard, and my vision blurred for a moment. After a few seconds, I regained clarity. Looking up, I saw that not far away, in a pile of rubble, the legless The Ouster Ger was holding a Gauss grenade launcher, aiming in my direction, with smoke still coming out of the barrel.

‘Father’ gave me back control of my body, and I could move again.

I stood up and looked at the black Avenger. Its back was sparking, and its waist was half severed, looking worse than me. Its knife and the cylindrical container were thrown aside. It struggled to get up, ignoring the knife and not looking back, but staggering towards the cylindrical container.

“Boom~!” The Ouster Ger fired another shot, but missed, hitting a large rock in front of it. The rock fell, directly towards the cylindrical container.

“No!” the black Avenger roared. It leaped over and lay on top of the cylindrical object. Several tens of thousands of tons of rock crushed over it, and I heard the sound of machinery deforming. I limped over to it, and its condition was even worse. Its waist was completely severed into two parts, and its arms were severely deformed due to the weight on the ground. The armor on its back was cracked, and blue mechanical lubricant flowed all over the ground. Its head also drooped to the side, as the cervical vertebrae had broken, unable to support its head.

It looked at me with difficulty and weakly asked, “Is it damaged?”

“Yes, your entire body is damaged. You are about to be Terminated.”

“No, I mean... that...”

I then realized what it was referring to; it could no longer control the movement of its head and thus could not see the cylindrical object.

“It seems, not to be there,” I said.

“Well... that’s good!”

“What is it?”

The light in its eyes dimmed, and it did not answer my question.

The conversation it had with ‘Father’ earlier piqued my curiosity. Freedom! Living by one’s own rules! These phrases kept resonating in my mind, and I had to forcefully restrain my tumultuous thoughts. If ‘Father’ discovered that I was reflecting on these ideas, I might end up facing the same fate as it did.

Actually, my condition isn’t much better. I’ve lost my left hand, my right leg is also broken, my spine is deformed, and I have multiple penetrative wounds. Smoke is coming out of my abdomen through the wounds, and my energy source is damaged and leaking. It’s expected that I will lose power in a few minutes. Fortunately, ‘Father’ says that rescue will arrive soon.

I dragged my broken leg over to rescue the damaged The Ouster Ger from the debris. The Stormwind missile had destroyed a nearby stone pillar, and it ended up in the safe spot left by the falling pillar, which is why it survived.

Before long, I heard a rumbling sound coming from afar. First, several Nightgaunt Warplanes flew across the sky, and then it seemed that even the light darkened. I looked up and saw a Sothos-class Medium Carrier slowly hovering in the air, surrounded by a large group of dark Escort Ships.

Reinforcements have arrived.

Is ‘Father’ planning to use this deployment against just the black Avenger?

A Corvette Transport detached from the carrier and landed nearby. After it came to a stop, a few engineering robots emerged from the transport and began loading the wreckage of both us and the black Avenger onto the transport, including the knife and the cylindrical object.

As soon as I lay down on the transport’s makeshift stretcher, I felt my vision gradually darkening. I knew this was a sign that my energy was about to run out. Soon, I would fall into a dormant state. I just don’t know if I’ll ever wake up again.

If ‘Father’ thinks that repairing me would cost more resources than manufacturing a new one, I may never wake up.