Shadow Dragon: The Fallen Angel Is My Teacher

Chapter 200: Darkness Of The Deep Sea, Light

Jasmine was correct. There were no happy endings in the City.

And yet, Lyra refused to accept that.

She refused to be swallowed by the City. She refused to let Jasmine die after she sacrificed herself to protect Lyra.

That’s why she operated on herself, fusing herself with the cyborg that was once known as Jasmine.

Double fusions—where one person fused with machine soul, then fused with another person—like her case were guaranteed to fail.

However, with Lyra’s potential as a Saint, she had a high compatibility for the fusion process.

By fusing Cyborg Jasmine into herself, she made sure that fragments of Jasmine’s remaining consciousness could be preserved.

Severity Level 3 Cyborgs had no sapience and overtime their consciousness that dwelled deep inside their mind died completely.

When that happened, nothing could save these people.

Lyra vowed to find a way to separate the machine soul and Jasmine’s soul before Jasmine’s consciousness disappeared.

From this point, Lyra’s memories were muddled.

She vaguely understood that she was going insane, thanks to have undergone a double fusion.

It was as if she was sinking in a deep sea, watching ’Lyra’ move on the other side, while she had no control over Lyra’s actions.

Even in that state, she chased the technology to save Jasmine like a wretched ghost searching for salvation.

[There are no happy endings in the City.]

Lyra refused to accept that.

Her search continued.

She overtook the L Corp, turning it from Lich Corporation to Lantern Corporation.

She met like minded people, who wanted to help others.

But as time passed, Lyra found it harder to control her insanity.

It wouldn’t be long before she began to kidnap humans from outside the Corporation and turn them into cyborgs for her research.

The faint glimmer of sanity left in the corner of Lyra’s mind was the only thing holding herself back.

Ten years.

No, five years.

Lyra would lose all sanity in that time, and become a mad scientist.

She would turn everyone she could get her hands on into cyborgs in the name of creating a technology to save these people.

"I hate you."

Lyra hated Jasmine.

She hated how Jasmine was kind to her.

She hated how Jasmine scarified herself for her.

She hated how to save Jasmine, she was going to become a monster.

Lyra felt like she was sinking into a deep sea.

An insurmountable pressure was crushing her from all sides. She could not breathe. It was cold.

And there was no light, only pure darkness.

[There are no happy endings in the City.]

Lyra was forced to accept that truth.

And yet, somehow, just before the darkness of the sea crushed her, a ’light’ appeared.

"Operation successful," the familiar voice echoed.

Lyra opened her eyes.

She found herself lying on the research workshop. She had been undergoing the Severity Level Reduction operation.

She looked her at hands.

After ten years.

She had regained sanity.

Closing her eyes, she recalled what she had been thinking about earlier.

"I see. I was dreaming of the past."

There was silence in the lab.

The silence seemed to stretch into infinity before Lyra spoke again,

"Don’t you have anything to say?"

"..."

"..."

Lyra distinctively felt a ’foreign’ presence inside her mind, one that once had been fused with her and had now gained individuality again.

A sigh escaped Lyra’s lips.

There was a lot they had to discuss.

But this was not the time yet.

"Alice, what is the current progress of our mission to save Rune Sa— no, Doc?" she asked.

"Mission is progressing smoothly. However, there is 90% chance P Corp has copied his mind, 55% chance we will not be able to save Rune Sage alive, 60% chance Head Corporations will intervene before we can get close to rescuing Rune Sage," answered Alice, the AI of L Corp.

"So the ’light’ that finally saved us is going to be destroyed?"

Lyra’s lips curled into an angry, yet defiant smile.

"There is no way I’m going to allow that."

The light had given them happy ending.

Lyra refused to accept that the light would not get a happy ending for itself.

"First, we need to do something about Head Corporations. We need to delay them," Lyra muttered.

There was no time to celebrate the momentous event of regaining sanity, or her meeting with Jasmine.

She had to save Rune Sage first.

"Alice, call Patricia."

"Understood."

While Patricia was on her way, Lyra began operating on all cyborgs that loitered around L Corp and were caught moments ago on Lyra’s command.

Lyra and the machine she had created began to operate on these people, reducing their severity level.

"W-what? I’m awake—"

"Thank you... sob, thank you—"

"That nightmare finally ended. I’m free—"

"Messiah, what can I do for you. You saved me—"

The people wept tears of joy.

Lyra would’ve smiled normally.

But she cracked down on them, lying to them that their current states were temporary and they would soon lose sanity again.

These people had finally found their oasis in the desert.

They would do anything for that oasis to not be a mirage.

Lyra told them they needed to rescue Rune Sage, who would operate on them to make sure they regained their sanity permanently.

Most of them agreed instantly to help her rescue Rune Sage.

All of them had been loitering on streets for as long as they remembered, attacking and fighting like feral animals.

Combat was no stranger to them.

As for others who did not want to join the battle, they were swept in momentum when most of them agreed to launch an attack on P Corp.

These people did not want to join because they were afraid of death, but not rescuing Rune Sage would mean they would go insane again, which was no different from death.

So they joined the war reluctantly.

Lyra appointed a few of the willing ones to relay the war cause to the other cyborgs who would soon regain sanity.

Then, she began operating on the berserk cyborgs.

Her speed was transcendental. She was completing an operation within seconds.

Something this absurd was only possible because she had regained sanity.

After regaining sanity, she had gained complete access to the System, through Jasmine who was fused—now glued—with the machine soul.

After gaining access to System, she gained Stats, Classes, and Perks one would gain when going from Rank 0 to Rank 4.

As someone who was talented even without System, the upgrade to her skills after gaining System was tremendous.

She was busy operating when Patricia finally came to her office.

"Director, you have regained sanity! Congratulations!" Patricia was happy.

"Thank you," Lyra spoke while continuing the operation. "Patricia, you know about the war we are waging against P Corp to save Rune Sage, right?"

"Yes," Patricia answered, her expression turning serious.

"Our biggest problem right now is Head Corporations. They will soon intervene to stop the war, and since we are weaker than P Corp, they will take the side of P Corp. In other words, if Head Corporations intervene, we will fail to rescue Rune Sage."

"T-Then—"

"Don’t worry. I have a way to stop the Head Corporations."

Patrica’s eyes widened.

"How, director?"

"You."

"...?"

"You will stop the Head Corporations."