Blue Stein 

To you who bears the same name as me—it's thanks to you that the world goes on even now.

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Creak, creak.

A man gazed at the tall, narrow tower that stood at the edge of the horizon, his mechanical body groaning. A small smile suddenly rose to his lips. Within that structure was an electronic paradise, where humans slept for nigh eternity, as if they were prisoners in purgatory awaiting the end of their sentence. Here on this vast Earth, the man saw its grandeur to be lonely.

When he had arrived in this world, its restoration was still in progress. For that reason, he had been wandering about. Fresh greenery sprouting in the cracked earth. Light leaking through clouds in the gray skies. Mountains that stretched high enough to pierce the heavens. A desert stretching on ad infinitum. He wished to burn the state of the world into his eyes.

Before long, he was captivated by the fact that all of these sights were not created by human hands, but by nature. At the same time, he felt an unparalleled joy.

He pulled a blue ore from his pocket and looked at it fondly. His gaze was gentle, as if thinking of someplace far away.

"Old Blue, hmm? Now that I've left the Metaverse of my own volition and lost my power, I have no more need for such a name, but—"

A thought suddenly crossed his mind. He nodded several times in confirmation, mumbling to no one in particular.

"Yes, that's it. I believe the name 'Blue Stein' would be fitting."

In this vast world, his insignificant presence was nothing more than that of a pebble by the roadside.

And so, he dreamt. Of the Earth's unfulfilled future, and the end of the electronic paradise. How would the two worlds interact—and how would they change? Not even the eyes of a god could know.

The Metaverse, the electronic paradise in which I once was, was one day thrust into an era of chaos.

The King of Order was dead.

The king who had dominated the Metaverse as he wished was defeated at the hands of those girls fused from humans and programs. Thrown out of equilibrium, the Metaverse fell into a long-term war with Nemesis. This conflict between the Mainframe and Nemesis dragged humans into it as well, and soon unfolded in a way that could shake the future of paradise. Needless to say, change came to my environment. The moment I realized that, a great fury ran through me.

This...will completely delay my experiments! My dream, to create the ultimate life-form—!

My workshop was destroyed thanks to the constant battles across my domain. Before I knew it, I had drifted to the outermost edge. Even at the World's End, the war between the Mainframe and Nemesis was still unfolding. Just as I felt dizzied by that fact—I caught sight of a girl in blue.

Though she was human, I could tell at a glance that she was no ordinary girl, with her power to fight against the Vessels of Chaos. She had been treated much like the three sisters, a "proxy construct" implanted with power enough to withstand battle.

"Honestly... I can't sense any attention to detail here..."

These uninteresting methods that sought only rationality could be none other than Dian's handiwork. Was this his answer to the "ultimate life-form"?

If so, the conclusion waiting at the end of this conflict would not be a bright one. I could not simply leave my own life to such a future. But then, what should I do next?

"Perhaps this is farewell to paradise."

It had not been long since I left the Metaverse. My persistently held desire for the ultimate life-form simply deflated. I was an empty shell. When I crossed over to reality, I acquired a mechanical body as a new vessel, but in my state, it was a waste of such a precious thing. There was nowhere I wanted to go, so I decided to roam the world aimlessly.

Blue sky peeked out from beyond the gray. The murky sea raged and roiled. Neither view was enough to astonish me. However... Each was brimming with overwhelming vitality. They never failed to catch my eye. The breath of Mother Nature prayed for recovery from ruin. That spirit flowed into the empty vessel that I was, spurring on my soul.

"Wonderful... Simply wonderful!"

From then on, I decided to tour the recovering world. Along the way, I witnessed "Paragons" restoring the Earth. They toiled away, mechanically, for the purpose of healing the land, but one day, they began to act as humans with their own will. I realized at once that this was caused by something strange occurring within the Metaverse.

"Paragons, hmm?"

Though they possessed abilities superior to humans, they were created in a human image, and thus it was not hard to imagine the result once they were given egos. From the outset, there was no future for the Paragons. Eventually, they would trace the same path as the old humanity—like the setting sun.

"What a stirring spectacle... I'd like to show it to Wiseman."

I wonder how much time passed after that. Indeed, things went just as I surmised.

Conflict split the world in two.

This beautiful Earth was polluted once again, at the hands of Paragons.

The Paragons plunged the Earth into war again, even threatening Antulya, the place I had chosen to live in peace. A boy and a girl—Gideon and Yonah, they said—these Paragons had come here to escape from hostile forces. Quite honestly, I wished they would not involve me in their fight... Although, as an irregular driven out by my compatriots, it had been quite some time since I exchanged words with anyone. Excited, I rambled on mechanically, as if playing back an audio log.

After our brief chat, I decided to politely see the Paragons back to their ship. However—that was where I saw her. Our lives shouldn't have intersected. My encounter with her was a fateful one indeed.

She looks just like her.

The girl called Lena had an air about her not unlike Artemis, who had once helped with my experiments. Since she was something called a "Returnee" who had come from the Metaverse, that meant that it had arrived at the return phase, transporting people back to the real world. For me to encounter her at such a turning point...what could I call it but divine intervention!? An impulse boiled up within me the moment I laid eyes on her—a boundless outpouring of curiosity.

It was a maddening desire, a fervor I had not felt once since coming to this world.

I wanted to witness what conclusion she would come to with my own eyes—with my very soul. Her actions, her choices, and the influence they would have on this would—I wanted to see them firsthand!

"​​My name is Blue Stein. I am one of the gods who formerly administrated the electronic paradise—the lowest ranked among them."

I told them my name, hiding my welling emotions within my chest.

Heavy silence dominated the Pequod. After enduring repeated attacks from the Innovators, the girls had lost a comrade in the last battle with whom they had overcome hardships together.

"Nh... Ah..."

Young Lena had broken down crying, and a grief-stricken Yonah embraced her. Miriam, too, could not hide her shock at losing Gideon, and her body shook with an anger that had nowhere else to go.

The only saving grace was that our ship escaped with minor damage, and if all went well, we would arrive in Perses Colony in one week's time. However, there were still some points of concern. We had not fully driven back our pursuers in Antulya. Should they add reinforcements, we would stand no chance against them.

In any case, a direct confrontation with those Paragons is unavoidable. Perhaps one option is to create a situation in which we can intercept them.

The Returnee Lena arriving in Perses would not resolve everything. I didn't think the Innovators would be satisfied. Sooner or later, we would have to settle the score with them. Though we had no direct connection to the Innovators' commander, only one fate awaited those possessed by misguided convictions.

They were on the road to ruin. Nothing would remain beyond it. That was why we needed the power to fight against them.

I looked at the screen. There, I saw a mountain range stretching far and wide, both stern and stunning in appearance.

Ah, yes... I think it was around here.

"Miriam, go to these coordinates, if you will."

"...It's just mountains. What's even there?"

"A power that can oppose the Innovators."

"Really? 'Power'?"

"Indeed. With it, we could even contend with a large army."

That place—Zeleucia. The power sleeping there was just what we needed. Before they began to attack in earnest, we had to obtain it at all costs.

Several days passed on our way to Zeleucia. The Innovators had yet to attack, but our situation was highly unpredictable. I stood exposed to the wind on the deck when I heard the sudden sound of a hatch opening.

"Oh... Mr. Blue Stein? Good morning."

"Good morning, Lena. You seem to be up later than usual today... Found your resolve, have you?"

A perplexed expression rose to her face at my reply, and she turned her silver gaze toward me.

"Not exactly. It's just, if I keep worrying all the time, I'll make trouble for Yonah and Miriam—and Gideon, too."

"Hmm, indeed."

"So I've got to keep moving forward."

There was a firm will amid all her anxiety. Though it was still faint, I felt I could understand why the Metaverse sent her.

"Um, Mr. Blue Stein, why is it you're so nice to me?"

I narrowed my eyes and smiled at her question. "Why, simple curiosity."

"...Huh?"

She stared dumbfounded before an alarm suddenly rang across the ship.

"We've got pursuers! Get ready for battle now!"

"...Sooner than I had imagined. We had best get to the bridge."

"...O-Okay!"

Once Miriam confirmed everyone had gathered at the bridge, she calmly explained the situation.

"There's one ship. I'm positive it's the same ship of the Innovators we fought in the abandoned city. Seems like they probably came chasing us without stopping to resupply."

"Then there aren't that many of them, right?" Yonah asked.

"I reduced the numbers of the Paragons I fought by more than half," I added. "Their strength will be comparable to ours."

"Then we should be able to handle them on our own," Miriam replied.

"I had hoped to intercept them in Zeleucia, but I suppose this is unavoidable."

We were less than two hours away from Zeleucia Colony. However, judging by the enemy ship's speed, the Pequod would have no choice but to engage in battle before arrival. Miriam devised a plan by which we could intercept the enemy from an advantageous position.

The party decided to intercept the pursuing Innovators in the ruins near Zeleucia. The enemy attack arrived just when Blue Stein and Yonah had finished placing their traps. Four people came flying in by airship. A large man riding an armored bike—Saul—and his men landed together on the ground.

"Now!"

Blue Stein set off depth charges without a moment's hesitation. Yonah weaved between them, doing her best to shoot from atop a high cliff. Miriam, at the rear, began sharpshooting with her anti-materiel rifle Peacekeeper. Though the trio's skillful coordination was able to bar the enemy's path, their morale was unusually high for just four soldiers. They seemed to charge forward without a care for their injuries.

"What's with these guys!?"

"They'd rather die than surrender, is it!?"

The enemy soldiers were so full of fighting spirit, they would not care if they met their end here. One dying soldier even turned himself into a weapon, catching the traps in his suicide bombing. It was a ghastly sight, as if the whole unit were acting for one single purpose—

"You'll go no further!"

Three enemy soldiers remained. Even with his bike destroyed by Miriam, Saul lost no momentum, but Blue Stein deployed a protective barrier, stopping him in his tracks.

However, at that moment—

A shadow surrounded them. Just as Blue Stein noticed something was wrong, he saw an airship charging toward them as if it had been waiting for this moment.

"What on Earth—!?"

A massive impact brought the barrier down like it was nothing. Smoke and flames from the explosion filled the area, depriving them of visibility. Even the likes of Yonah and Miriam struggled to aim at the Innovators. Amidst the confusion, Saul and his men slipped through the defensive net. And then—

"We made it!" Saul roared, aiming his weapon at the Pequod, now in firing distance.

The Innovators' airship crashing into the barrier had blocked the Pequod off from Yonah and Blue Stein. In order to reach Lena, they would need to either extinguish the burning ship in their path or take a large detour. Blue Stein hesitated, and the moment he began to act, something flew out from among the flames. It was Adinadab, one of the Innovator soldiers acting alongside Saul.

"I'll take you all on! You're not getting any further!"

"No hope of a detour, then!"

Without a care for the wounds covering his body, Abinadab gripped his automatic rifle with both hands and opened fire. His fighting style was befitting of a cornered beast, baring a fighting spirit on par with his two opponents. However, as Yonah watched him fire indiscriminately regardless of where they hid, she realized the enemy's goal was to stop them from moving. She radioed instructions to Blue Stein.

"Blue Stein, when he stops attacking, can you distract him? I'll finish him off then."

"Roger that."

Right after that, the enemy attack stopped.

"Now!"

Blue Stein leapt from the shadows making a threatening display of gunfire.

"Damn Machine! Drop dead!"

Seeing that Blue Stein had drawn his attention perfectly, Yonah aimed her rifle Bardiche in sniper mode. By the time Abinadab noticed her, it was already too late. She had shot clean through the center of his chest.

"Glory to...the Inno...vators..."

When they confirmed that he had fallen and stopped moving, Yonah and Blue Stein put out the burning ship and hurried toward Lena. It was already settled by the time they arrived. The Innovators were collapsed to the ground, not moving a twitch. Then, they saw Miriam and Lena, crouching against the Pequod's hull and covered in blood.

"—am! Miriam!"

Lena clutched Miriam in her arms, desperately calling her name. "What do I do... The blood won't stop... What am I supposed to do...!?"

"Lena!"

Yonah and Blue Stein ran over to them, aghast at the terrible sight. Lena had managed to administer first aid, but the wounds hadn't closed, and blood wouldn't stop flowing through the bandages. At this rate, she wouldn't be able to save Miriam's life.

"W-When I woke, Miriam, she—! S-She was conscious earlier! What do we do—how do we save Miriam!?"

"We have to stop the bleeding, but..."

Yonah bit her lip in frustration. Miriam had been shot several times, mainly in the abdomen. In the time it took her wounds to slowly mend themselves, she would lose her life. That was when Blue Stein stepped in.

"Allow me to handle this."

Then, he slowly scanned Miriam's body, confirming that no bullets were left there.

"Yonah, put a cloth in her mouth so she doesn't accidentally bite off her tongue. And Lena, you help her hold Miriam steady."

"What are you doing...?"

"Drastic measures are our only choice."

Once he made sure the two of them finished the preparations, Blue Stein dug his index finger into the wound. And then—his red-hot finger burned the wound from inside.

"——mmh!?"

Miriam gasped in immense pain, her body jerking backward. The sound and scent of burning flesh tore at Lena and Yonah's heartstrings as they tried to suppress their feelings. Then, after an instant that felt like eternity, Miriam returned from the grip of death.

"I—I'm...still alive...?"

"Miriam!" Lena and Yonah cried.

"Stop that, m-my wounds are gonna..."

As the girls hastily stepped back, Miriam thanked them for saving her, and turned to the man who had done the deed himself.

"Um, thank you, Blue Stein. Honestly, I never thought you'd end up saving me."

"No need to thank me. Though, your wounds were quite serious, even for a Paragon."

"Yeah, I maybe lost a bit too much blood."

"You may have trouble piloting the ship in your condition. I can take over for you. For now, you had best focus on recovery."

Yonah and Lena were shocked at Blue Stein's sudden suggestion, but Miriam, strangely enough, was convinced.

"Hey, if he could directly operate the city's functions... Piloting a ship has gotta be child's play," she said.

"Yes, that about sums it up."

With that, they brought Miriam aboard the Pequod and took off for Zeleucia Colony.

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The ruins, where the battle had only just taken place, were ravaged all over, and only the bodies of the fallen remained behind. They looked as if they would slowly weather away with the passage of time and return to the earth. However—

"I'll...kill...them. I'll kill 'em all!"

The sound of dragging footsteps echoed through the twilit ruins. They were slow, but full of a strong will. An indistinct figure appeared, covered head to toe in blood, eyes burning with vengeful fury. That man, possessed by misguided conviction—Saul—pushed his body, all but dead, toward the towering structure visible in the gaps of the ruins' skyline. To the ancient city of Zeleucia. Instinctively, he knew that this city would be where he offered up his life.

The ancient city of Zeleucia—it was a strange sight, with ruined structures cluttering the skyline like precipitous mountains. Here and there on the ground lay the wreckage of human-sized machines, their intended purpose unclear.

Lena was speechless at the view from the deck. It was permeated by the presence of death. In stark contrast to the sand-covered Antulya, she felt a chill from the uncanny stillness. It was hard to say what she felt, but the smell sent many thoughts racing through her mind.

I promised I wouldn't give up, no matter the hardship. But it's because of me that everyone ends up in danger or loses their life. And for some reason it's just me left alive...

Finding herself at a loss between her own existence and the hardliners' motives, she sank to the floor.

"What's wrong, Lena?"

She heard a gentle voice on the wind. She looked up to see Yonah, standing there with her head tilted.

"Yonah..."

Yonah walked over to Lena, who bore an anxious expression. Then, she sat down next to her and spoke softly. "You're worried, aren't you?"

"You can tell?"

"I can. We've been traveling together all this time, after all." Yonah leaned in closer and said, "You can ask me anything, okay?"

Lena's heart had nearly collapsed under her anxiety, but the warmth in Yonah's voice and the security of being by her side lit a faint hope.

"Am I...really worth everyone risking their lives to protect?"

"You are. Of course you are."

"But it's because of me that Gideon...and now Miriam ended up like..."

Yonah hugged Lena's trembling body from behind.

"Yonah...?"

"I have no regrets. I'm sure Gideon and Miriam would say the same. You just have to keep facing forward."

"Can I really do that?"

"I'm sure you can. It's thanks to you that I'm here now," Yonah said to Lena's pleading gaze, baring her own feelings. "You'll be fine, Lena. It's okay not to be sure. If you ever stop, I'll be there to give you a gentle push. So—"

Yonah stood and turned to face Lena, continuing, "—let's keep going together."

She smiled and stretched out her hand. Her powerful words had melted the unease in Lena's heart, lifting it up from the brink.

"Yeah!"

She knew her answer.

"Thanks, Yonah. I think I've found it!"

"Heh, I'm glad I could help."

"Seems like you're gonna be fine, huh?"

Lena and Yonah spun around at the sudden voice to see Miriam leaning against the ship's hull.

"M-Miriam? How long have you been... No, are you okay!?"

"Oh yeah, the painkillers are doing their thing—it's nothing, really."

"But you really should be resting."

"Hey, I know my own body best. Oh—looks like we're almost at our destination."

Miriam noticed that the ship had begun its slow descent and looked down at Zeleucia from the railing. What she saw in front of her was an uncannily wriggling ruin with a gaping hole large enough to swallow the entire ship.

The abandoned ruins of Zeleucia Colony—among them was an especially large hole. The cavernous hole continued deep underground, noises echoing from below like resentful wails of the dead.

"I don't think I can go that deep right now," Miriam uttered to herself, staring into the endless darkness from the Pequod as it touched down near the ruins. "I'm gonna wait here."

"All right. If anything happens, call us right away, okay?" Yonah replied.

"Will do, but I kinda doubt I can reach you that deep under..."

Miriam saw off Lena, Yonah, and Blue Stein as they walked into the depths of the ruin. As they stepped silently down the spiraling stairs and approached the depths, Lena's anxiety grew stronger.

"Lena, you okay? How are you feeling?"

"I can't really put it into words, I just get this awful feeling from up ahead. Like something squeezing my chest... I'm scared... I'm scared, Yonah."

Her body trembled from the strange sensation.

A little while later, it was Blue Stein who answered her doubts. "It's only natural you would think so. This city was built long ago by Machines as an outpost."

"What's that got to do with Lena getting scared?"

"One of the many weapons created to eliminate the old humanity lies here."

"And that's...the object you're looking for?"

"Indeed. Well, it is a bit large to be called an 'object.' Its name is Megiddo Gog, the scorched earth weapon."

"...So this Megiddo thing—if you're really gonna activate it, can you control it?"

"I can. Just who do you think I am? Megiddo's power is indispensable in protecting Lena from the Innovators."

Although he now had a mechanical body, he was still on the administrators' side.

Seeing his overflowing confidence, Lena had to ask, "Can you promise one thing? That you'll never, ever use that power for evil. Please."

She gazed earnestly at Blue Stein. He couldn't help but smile at her eyes that seemed to see through everything.

"I promise. I'll only use Megiddo's power to fight the Innovators."

"Okay!"

"Then, I'd like you to show me the future that you, as the 'answer' sent from the Metaverse, will guide the way to."

It was for that reason that Blue Stein could not ignore the Innovators who tried to eliminate Lena—even if what he was about to do was excessive meddling.

He saw Lena's reassuring nod and turned around, contented.

"Now then, we've nearly reached the end. It is time to awaken the ancient power sleeping beyond this door!"

Beyond the heavy door—was it hope, or despair?

The early episodes of this story feature a lot of callbacks to the Digital Metaverse Label—the "King of Order" is Typhon, one of the Metaverse's original twelve rulers (including Old Blue) known as Origins, a term used briefly in the next story! The "girl in blue" is Seele Haze, a human girl experimented on by Dian, one of the remaining Origins. These stories have not been translated into English at the time of writing, but that may change...

The etymology is pretty simple here: "stein" is German for "stone, fitting for when you want to name yourself after a cool rock you found.