Heroic Spirit: I, Shinji, have tried my best.

While the elves were preparing for war, Shinji and Riku had already arrived at the base.

But just when they were thinking about relaxing, bad news came...

"What did you say!"

Shinji excitedly grabbed the collar of the soldier who was delivering the message and shouted at him with a broken voice...

No one had ever seen such a loss of composure, but Riku was not too surprised by the other party's behavior. After all, at present, the person he cared about most in the world was her...

"Say it again, what happened to Hubie?!"

"...Wait...Wait! Shinji, don't be anxious, just listen to me first..."

The man who was caught was sweating profusely because he was being stared at by a pair of fierce eyes. Who wouldn't be nervous?

"…This is the news from Chroni. She said she had met Hubie. The plan was going smoothly and they had successfully contacted a team of Ex-Machinas… But the problem arose here…"

"The enemy fighting the Ex-Machinas seemed to be here specifically to seek revenge, so when they found Schwi and the others, they attacked them together... Ouch!"

Before he could finish his words, his collar suddenly loosened and the man who was narrating the story sat down on the ground.

Before he could figure out what was going on, the man in front of him had disappeared without a trace.

Riku looked towards the cave entrance with an unpleasant expression...

They certainly couldn't stop him, but they couldn't do anything to help, so they could only believe that he could come back safely.

But...looking at him, I'm afraid that guy is going to cause a big trouble...

And at the same time.

On the other side, on a land burning with flames, Hubie hid behind a huge rock. There were many damages on the surface of his body, but fortunately, no vital parts were hurt.

"Roar…"

A low roar came from outside the boulder. Hubie's pupils shrank and he quickly raised his hand to cover his mouth to prevent himself from making any sound...

At the same time, he quietly stuck out half of his head and carefully observed the situation outside.

In those pupils flowing with digital light prints, a terrifying beast with a pitch-black body, wings on its back, a steel-like tail and sharp claws was reflected...

Apart from these frightening looks in themselves, the other party also has a well-known name that is equally terrifying - [Dragon]!

"Roar!!!"

"You are just a bunch of scrap metal, yet you still dare to challenge me? Let me tell you...what absolute power is!"

"…Woo."

Hubie's face showed a fearful expression, and she bit her lower lip tightly to prevent herself from crying... She was not afraid of death, but when she thought about never being able to feel the response from her [heart] again, and when she thought about being separated from Shinji forever...

"no…"

“…Hubby must…must not die here!”

After adjusting his emotions, Hubie put on a resolute expression on his face again, and the huge gun barrel in his left hand began to slowly accumulate energy...

……

Back to one day ago...

Hubie was still in the room saying goodbye to Shinji.

Shinji had no intention of rejecting the girl's face that suddenly came close to him when she was about to leave. After all, this step no longer mattered to their relationship.

After a long time...when their lips parted, Hubie suddenly laughed happily.

"why are you laughing?"

"...Shinji is worried about Hubie... Hubie is happy!"

"…Silly girl, just know that I am worried about you. When the time comes, remember to put your own life first. Don't wait until I find you and you are already in tatters…"

"Hmm... If that happens, will Shinji be sad?"

"Of course!"

“…But I won’t let that happen.”

Shinji's expression was extremely serious, and he caressed Shubi's little head lovingly:

"I have been fighting so hard and trying so hard to become stronger... not to watch tragedy happen at the critical moment..."

Hubie stared blankly at the boy in front of her. The inexplicable feeling in her heart resurfaced. The control core in her brain kept beating with red alarms, which made her upset. She simply shut down the inspection system completely, and the pop-up warnings disappeared instantly...

[This is the [heart] that Hubie found with great difficulty. It is not a virus! ]

Without these distractions, Shubi began to concentrate on nestling in Shinji's arms, enjoying the warmth coming from him...

“…Okay, let’s go.”

"Um…"

Good times are ultimately short-lived, and Hubie finally packed up his gear and left the base.

Shinji did not go to the cave entrance to see her off, but came to the observation deck, and with his powerful eyesight, he silently watched her leave...

"In fact, if you don't want to, you can completely skip this plan..."

Riku walked in from the side entrance, and looking at Shinji in front of him, who looked like an old father who had just parted with his beloved daughter, he felt a little confused.

Obviously when he was making the plan, there were other options, but Shinji insisted on choosing this path, and now he seems reluctant to do so...

"Do not……"

"If I let her stay by my side all the time, she will just obey my orders unconditionally... This is not how a normal human being should behave..."

"...You...want Hugh to completely turn her into a human?"

"Not really... It's just that some things must be experienced by her to truly understand... Then the [heart] she is looking for should be complete..."

"I see…"

After realizing Shinji's good intentions, Riku immediately admired him even more.

After all, it is one thing to say, but it is not so easy to do... Considering their inseparable relationship, this guy was willing to push Hubie out, which was really cruel.

But in a place where Riku couldn't see, Shinji felt distressed for a long time before he was willing to let Shubi go alone.

He didn't ask for much, as long as the other party could come back safely. He thought that with the ability of the Ex-Machina, they could usually escape when encountering most races...

But...if nothing unexpected happens, an accident will happen.

When Hubie found Chloe, the battle situation there had become quite chaotic...

The cause was that a hunting team consisting of three Skywing species found this Dragon Spirit species and wanted to unite and try to kill each other.

However, they did not succeed in the end. After all, three ordinary Skywing species were not enough to hunt an adult Dragon Spirit species, so they were killed by the opponent. However, the dragon also took three [Sky Strike] shots and its condition seemed to be much worse.

But even in this case, when the opponent was about to leave, they happened to encounter an Ex-Machina [Link]. Although the Ex-Machina had no intention of starting a war, they were directly attacked by the opponent...

He said this:

[I've been looking for you for a long time, damned Ex-Machina! Today, I will use you to avenge Master Yanlong! ]

This time the battle is even more dangerous, because the Ex-Machinas will use [Traffic Control] from time to time to divert the enemy's attack trajectory.

Now it was the turn of the human tribe on Kroni's side to suffer... The continuous indiscriminate bombing swept away half of the buildings in the base. Even if most people hid in deeper places, it could only solve the urgent problem...

Furthermore, the Ex-Machinas, who were always good at group warfare, only had one [Link], so they were able to fight them evenly at the beginning. However, as their numbers continued to decrease, they gradually became unable to cope with the situation.

Therefore, Shubi's mission changed from [winning over the Ex-Machina] to helping the Ex-Machina [connected body] fight against the opposing dragon.

……

"【Warning】Unit uc207Pr4f57t9 has been disconnected from the host and no longer needs to participate in the battle..."

"Denied! This machine still belongs to the Ex-Machina and has the responsibility to help resolve dangerous situations, so please immediately inform this machine of the enemy's knowledge..."

"…【Answer】The request for assistance from the unit uc207Pr4f57t9 has been approved. It can establish a new link with the intervention host again…"

"This……"

When he heard about the reconnection, Hubie suddenly hesitated...

“…There are 433 seconds left to apply for revocation. Please connect as soon as possible…”

"…don't want…"

"…【doubt】?"

“…I said I don’t want to link!”

“I can’t understand…”

"Hubby has found the location of the Heart. If we establish a link hastily, it may affect the host system. So please establish a temporary computing network with this machine and deal with the threat as soon as possible."

"…【Proposal in progress…】…【Application successful】, a temporary computing network is about to be established…【Successful】, the unit uc207Pr4f57t9 has been reconnected to the 【Connected Body】 system…"