Cyberknight: One Path (original novel)

McCree puffed his cigarette before letting out a huge breath of smoke. After a long silence, CT threw away her half-finished cigarette and confronted McCree in front of their teammates. 

[CT] - "There is something you are hiding from us, McCree! Who is that new recruit you brought in? She's clearly not human from what I saw! "

Said CT as McCree avoided her gaze. 

[CK] - "She took down an entire imperial base by herself, that's what matters. I don't know what to say, but I think that qualifies her as family. "

Said CK with an enthusiastic smile. 

[CT] - "Stay out of this, CK! Now tell me, McCree, who is she and what is she doing here? "

Said CT as she tried to find McCree's gaze. 

[McCree] - "Goddamn it, she's just an old acquaintance from when I was undercover as an imperial agent. "

Said McCree in a frustrated voice as he moved away from CT.

Suddenly, Senju stopped McCree from moving forward. 

[Senju] - "We need the truth, old friend. It's for our security and the security of the Allied Forces. "

McCree glanced at Kadyn who simply stood up and walked out of the room without a word. 

[McCree] - "Listen, folks, ain't nothin' to worry about her. "

Upon seeing CT and Senju's suspicious stares, McCree knew that he had to come clean. 

[McCree] - "She's a KD-series assassin. However, she's the only one of her kind to feature living flesh, feelings and thoughts outside of murder. Mike, that boy who gutted Sniper, is her boyfriend. However, people in the Allied Forces fucked with his body and revived him as an Allied superweapon. She promised to serve loyally with us until she can find a way to recover him. That's the truth. "

[CT] - "A KD-series android? Are you fucking kidding me, McCree? She can be programmed to kill all of us beforehand! We could be all sleeping and she could gut the entire base without us even realizing! "

Yelled CT in anger and disbelief. 

[McCree] - "She ain't like the others! I saw what kind of shit they did with Mike. I owe my escape from imperial captivity to these two, so as a gesture of gratitude, I agreed to help her. "

[Senju] - "It doesn't work like this, McCree! You are putting all of us in danger! "

Said Senju as he walked up to McCree.

[CK] - "You people argue about it all you want, I fully trust her. "

[CT] - "Until she fucking cut your face off! "

[CK] - "It's stupid if you think about it. If she wanted to kill us, why even bother to pretend? She could just cut all us into ham when she see us on first day. Also, why destroy imperial base when she could just retreat with rest of us? If she loyal to empire, then I'm a dumb bear trying to catch fish in dirt. "

Said CK as he headed out of the room. 

CT thought about what CK said before starting to slightly feel regretful about the way she treated Kadyn.

[McCree] - "Even he can see that I ain't lyin'! "

[Senju] - "I still don't trust her! "

Said Senju while crossing his arms.

Meanwhile, Kadyn splashed her face with cold water before staring at herself in the mirror. Despite the unnoticeable differences she shared with a normal human girl, Kadyn saw herself as an android. The longer she looked at herself, the more she became frustrated with her own face. Eventually, Kadyn reached forward and stabbed her reflection with her wrist blade. However, the glass didn't break as Kadyn's blade failed to pierce through the wrist fabric from Mike's coat. 

[Kadyn] - "Mike... You don't mind who I am, I know. "

Said Kadyn as she looked down. 

[Mike] - "Start with respecting yourself, then you could expect respect from others. Your reality is what you decide for yourself, not what others designate for you. "

Said Mike while leaning inside the mirror with his arms crossed. 

[Kadyn] - "Mike! "

Yelled Kadyn as she frantically tried to search for him in the real world. 

After finding no one around her, Kadyn returned to the mirror and only saw herself. At first, she saw the robotic killer's look reflected in her eyes but after a deep breath, Kadyn forced herself to smile. The result was immediate as Kadyn now saw a cheerful human girl appear in the mirror. 

[CK] - "You look good! "

Said CK with a thumb up.

Kadyn practically jumped as she turned around with an embarrassed expression.

[Kadyn] - "What the bloody hell are you doing here? This is the women's bathroom! "

Yelled Kadyn with a shocked expression.

CK abruptly realized the situation he was in and turned around to leave. Suddenly, he came across a few women trying to enter the bathroom only to be blocked by his imposing body. 

[CK] - "I swear, this is not what it looks like! "

Said CK in a panic. 

Later, CK sat with Kadyn to take a cup of tea. 

[Kadyn] - "You're lucky I bailed you out there. Voyeurism is a pretty serious crime in military court. "

Said Kadyn with an annoyed expression while putting sugar and milk in her tea. 

[CK] - "Thanks... I just wanted to say that they shouldn't treat you like that. You deserve praise, not doubt for what you have done. "

[Kadyn] - "Sigh... You know why I'm here, I suppose. "

Said Kadyn as she elegantly swirled her spoon in her tea.

[CK] - "I have doubts about Allied cause for long time now. Whole organization is like America but even more shameless. "

Said CK before he finished his cup of tea in one gulp. 

Kadyn smirked before sampling her cup of tea with her legs crossed. 

[Kadyn] - "I just want to get him back. But what about you, why are you fighting? "

Said Kadyn as she began to add more sugar and milk to her tea.

[CK] - "Me? Honest, I don't really know. "

Kadyn thought about CK's answer and remembered how she also used to kill without a purpose. 

[CK] - "But I like android lady, unlike CT and Senju. I think you was very cool back there. "

Said CK while Kadyn sampled her drink once more.

[Kadyn] - "Maybe not android lady. How about simply Kadyn, the totally human girl? "

Said Kadyn as she brought her drink down for more sugar and milk. 

[CK] - "Of course, since name is long, how about acronym like CK? I call you K.T.H.G. now. "

CK clearly misunderstood Kadyn's meaning but knowing CK's good intentions, she decided to smile awkwardly and accept the new nickname. After bringing the cup to her mouth for the third time, Kadyn finally showed a cute satisfied smile.

[Kadyn] - "Found the golden ratio. "

Whispered Kadyn as she closed her eyes and kept savouring her drink.

Meanwhile, in the imperial headquarters, CR-455 walked around the hallway with his new fashion. Instead of dressing like the other cyberknight, he decided that he should be an exception to the rule. He sported a new golden crown alongside a comfortable outfit decorated with his name and the word "king" in golden writing. On top of his outlandish attire, he also went through surgery to appear younger, which worked thanks to the advancement in technology. 

[CR-455] - "It feels fresh to sport this new look. It almost feels as if I'm in my twenties again. "

Said CR-455 as he admired his reflection in the panoramic window. 

[servant] - "Sir, incoming message from Admiral McCain. "

[CR-455] - "Ugh! What does that fool want again? "

Said CR-455 in a frustrated voice.

McCain's holographic image was suddenly projected onto the window. 

[McCain] - "Greeting, my lord! "

[CR-455] - "What the fuck do you want, old bag? "

[McCain] - "The Allies, they are pushing me and forces out of South America. "

[CR-455] - "I miss the part where that's my problem. "

Said CR-455 with an annoyed expression.

[McCain] - "It's imperial land, my lord! Are we just going to let them take it away from you? "

[CR-455] - "Just send in some reinforcement, ugh. "

[McCain] - "I need cyberknights, my lord. The Allied Forces are fielding their own crystal users now! "

[CR-455] - "What? "

Yelled CR-455 as he suddenly snapped to attention.

[McCain] - "A masked Allied warrior destroyed my 6th fleet a few hours ago. He did it with a few punches! No normal weapon besides crystals can do that type of unnatural damage, my lord. "

Said McCain in a panicked voice. 

[CR-455] - "We must eliminate the Allies now then! I don't understand why Sniper even allowed them to exist despite our capabilities. It's time I squash these insects already. Stay put, old fart, I'm sending over a trump card of our own. "

Said CR-455 as if he was monologuing with himself. 

[McCain] - "Thank God, my lord. "

[CR-455] - "Hold on a minute now. God? When I exist, you dare thank God? "

Said CR-455 with a disgusted look on his face. 

[McCain] - "Thank you, my lord! You are God! "

Said McCain as he immediately fell to his knees. 

[CR-455] - "Good, good! Now don't fucking bother me anymore! "

Said CR-455 as he carelessly waved his hand. 

Sometime later, deep below a command post, CR-455 arrived inside a massive room with his lone cyberknight bodyguard. 

[Bernard] - "What is this place, my lord? "

[CR-455] - "This is where the empire deposits its crystals. Usually, only I am qualified to enter this place in order to bring crystals to our new recruits. However, if anyone else dares enter this place, a guardian will usually deal with that intruder. "

Said CR-455 as he walked up to a massive mural depicting Napoleon leading his soldiers into battle. 

All of a sudden, CR-455 raised both of his hands and placed his fingers against the face of one of the soldiers on the mural. 

[CR-455] - "The time has come for your awakening! Rise, horseman, rise you who saw the greatest conquest in history with your own eyes. Rise from your grave, from the catacomb of humanity. "

[Bernard] - "My lord... this is rocks... "

[CR-455] - "That's exactly why he could guard this place for millennia. "

The mural suddenly began to fracture before a massive and muscular man jumped out of his rocky prison on the back of an enormous horse. However, aside from the Napoleonic uniform on the giant, the horse wasn't a normal horse. Instead, the animal was composed of different musical instruments that made up his entire body. Somehow, despite his unnatural body structure, the creature still acted like a living horse. 

[Bernard] - "How... what kind of monstrosity... "

Said Bernard as he backed off in fear.

[CR-455] - "Horseman! I am now your master! Lord Sniper unfortunately passed away but I have proved myself worthy of taking his place! "

Said CR-455 as he showed his white crystals to the giant.

After seeing the white glow from CR-455's crystal, both the rider and the horse bowed to CR-455 in a gesture of respect.

[Conquest] - "What are your orders, chosen one? "

Later, as imperial forces in South America retreated into the borders of Argentina, the sky suddenly turned cloudy while a small figure dashed through the air. Upon landing on the outer hull of a massive Allied air battleship, Conquest ripped a morin khuur from his horse's body and began to play the instrument while throat singing. 

The crystal embedded in his chest began to glow as the melody grew louder. Soon, the sound of a million horse saddles began to shake the ship. Gradually, dents began to appear on all of the ships within the entire Allied armada and before long, each vessel was torn to pieces by an unknown force. 

A single song containing the power of a million armies. A single melody enough to make the sky weep. A single tune signifying the imminent fall of a thousand empires. The music of conquest which serenaded the death of every dynasty in history is once more played in the present. 

With an apathetic look in his eyes, Conquest watched as the entire Allied fleet crumbled into an inferno. Such death and destruction did not phase him as he looked into the horizon while contemplating how much more there was to conquer. 

To be continued...