Chapter 122 - The Machine God’s Gospel
As soon as the grim, blinking red HUD flashed across my vision, a surge of dread coursed through me. Without thinking, I yanked off my WEEB smartwatch and hurled it to the floor with a panicked cry.
“Nyeh!” I yelped, my voice cracking slightly.
The smartwatch bounced twice against the cold, tiled floor with a metallic plop-plop, drawing an immediate wave of attention. Heads turned. A ripple of confused stares spread across the library—students peeking from behind book piles, startled by my outburst. Even the stern, hawk-eyed faculty members at the far corner looked up.
The librarian, a frail old lady with half-moon glasses and a shawl draped over her shoulders, glared at me from her desk.
“Shushhhh,” she hissed with the wrath of a thousand silent tomes.
That was the moment I realized I had overreacted. Big time. My heart was still racing, but guilt now crept in, mixing with the panic. I shouldn’t have caused a scene, especially not here. I should’ve found a quiet way to deal with the gospel—the one given to me by the Machine God—without making myself a public spectacle. Most of all, I didn’t want her to see it.
“I-I’m sorry…” I muttered, forcing a sheepish smile as I tiptoed toward the poor smartwatch. Its screen was now cracked, a web of fractured glass reflecting my anxious face. I didn’t dare put it back on—my left arm was still glowing faintly, pulsing with eerie crimson circuits, betraying the secret I wanted so badly to keep.
From the side, I noticed Myrrh staring at me. Her brows were furrowed in quiet concern, her eyes briefly flickering to my glowing arm. But she said nothing—just watched.
It was Dianca who finally broke the thick silence that wrapped around me like a fog.
“Zaft, are you alright?” she asked softly, her voice laced with genuine concern.
“I-It’s fine,” I replied quickly, waving one hand in dismissal while trying to calm my breath. “I just… had a bit of a panic attack.”
“Panic attacks? Just from solving Advanced Calculus problems?” Cindy raised an eyebrow, clearly unconvinced.
“That’s pretty unusual,” Remuel chimed in, tilting his head. “Usually, it’s Myrrh who gets those panic attacks whenever Advanced Calculus is even mentioned.”
“Shut the fuck up, you midget,” Myrrh snapped, her eyes narrowing into laser-focused slits as she shot Remuel a death glare. “Want me to throw you like how Zaft tossed that smartwatch across the floor?”
Remuel flinched and whimpered like a cornered puppy. “Please don’t…” he whispered, holding his arms up in surrender like she was about to pounce.
I scanned the group. Neil and Fei were unusually quiet—too quiet. Their eyes weren’t on the cracked smartwatch, but on me. No, more specifically, on my left arm. They must’ve seen the brief glow—the ominous crimson circuits still faintly pulsing under my sleeve. I could practically feel their unspoken questions hovering in the air like static. Myrrh, Fei, and Neil probably wanted to corner me after this.
But not now. Not here. I had to act normal. Keep it together. Switch the subject.
“Don’t mind me,” I said, mustering the most casual tone I could. “Let’s just go back to our lessons, yeah?”
“That’s right!” Dianca beamed, her enthusiasm washing over the tension like sunlight piercing storm clouds. She pumped her fists with a radiant smile. “Fei, I’d love it if you could tutor me in Advanced Calculus! Myrrh, I’m counting on you for Firearms and Ballistics! And Zaft…” she leaned closer with a glimmer in her eyes, “…teach me everything else!” Thɪs chapter is updated by NovᴇlFɪre.ɴet
“Why me on all the other subjects?” I asked, blinking.
“Because you’re a bookworm nerd, right?” Dianca said with an innocent smile, tilting her head to the side in that disarmingly adorable way that made it hard to argue with her. Her eyes sparkled with pure hope as she clasped her hands together like she was making a wish to the heavens. “I’ll be counting on you to raise my grades! Please!”
I let out a long, resigned sigh.
She really had the nerve to make it look cute.
It was nearing six o’clock by the time we finally wrapped up our marathon study session in the library. Our brains were fried, eyes drooping from all the note-taking and formula crunching. So, as a unanimous, unspoken decision, we all headed to the nearby retro café—the same one where Myrrh and I had our awkwardly unforgettable “first confrontation date” back when we first attended our classes in Orbital Tech.
The café’s warm lighting and nostalgic synth music welcomed us like an old friend. We ordered light meals—mostly sandwiches and soup—and ended the evening with slices of quiche that barely lasted a few seconds on our plates. The food wasn’t particularly memorable, not because it wasn’t good, but because we were too hungry and too exhausted to savor it.
Even over dinner, we couldn’t completely escape our academic woes. The conversation drifted back to the subjects that stumped us earlier—calculus tangents, particle physics quirks, tactical field protocols—and before we knew it, our casual meal had morphed into a lowkey continuation of our study session.
By the time we stepped back outside, the sky had turned a deep navy blue. The neon lights of the Metropolis shimmered above us, casting electric pinks and cyans over the pavement as if the stars themselves had come down to play in the city. We walked together under that dreamy glow, following the familiar path back toward the dormitory.
Eventually, we reached the fork in the road—the quiet parting point where the male and female dorms split off. There was a brief pause in our footsteps, as if none of us quite wanted the evening to end.
“Bye-bye! Let’s have another group study tomorrow!” Dianca chirped, waving both hands like a child seeing off a parade.
“Sure! Same time, same place!” Myrrh called back, her voice carrying a playful warmth as she turned to Dianca.
Dianca and Cindy headed off toward the female dormitory, their laughter fading into the distance. Remuel gave a half-hearted wave before turning down the opposite path toward the male dorms. I was about to follow him, feet dragging with the weight of the long day—when I felt a gentle tug on my sleeve.
“Wait,” Myrrh said quietly.
I turned around and found her standing still under the soft hum of a lamppost, her expression starkly serious. The carefree glow she usually carried was gone, replaced by something more intense, more deliberate. I didn’t even need her to speak to know what this was about. The library. The smartwatch. The glow.
But it wasn’t just Myrrh. Behind her, Fei and Neil stood side by side, their faces equally grave. This wasn’t some casual curiosity—they had seen something they couldn’t ignore.
“We saw that your WMD activated earlier,” Neil said bluntly. “What was that about?”
I let out a short scoff, forcing a casual shrug. “Told you guys. It’s nothing.”
Neil didn’t flinch, but Fei stepped forward slightly, her voice soft, almost pleading. “It may be nothing for the others… but we know your powers. We’ve seen it before. So please… tell us the truth.”
I hesitated. The lump in my throat made it hard to swallow. “I think it was just a glitch. I’m fine. Completely fine.”
But before I could take another step back, Myrrh's fingers tightened on my sleeve—and then she pulled me slightly closer. Not forcefully, but enough to make my breath hitch. Her blue eyes locked onto mine, unwavering and fierce. There was a storm of worry behind those irises, but also determination.
“Are you going to keep me in the dark again?” Myrrh asked, her voice firm but pained. “Do you not trust us? Don’t you trust me?”
The question struck deep. A pang of guilt bloomed in my chest—heavy, sharp, and familiar. I remembered the Neo Terrestrial Reich Raid… how I’d left Myrrh out of the loop, how she found out only after the chaos. I had sworn to myself back then that I wouldn’t shut her out again. That I would be better.
I lowered my gaze to my trembling left arm. The circuits beneath the skin still buzzed faintly like a whisper I couldn’t decipher. With a shaky breath, I slipped the cracked WEEB smartwatch back onto my wrist. A green holographic HUD blinked into life with its signature chime.
[Weaponry Enhancement Engineering Bios]
No warning. No flicker. No violent surge like before. The WMD series appeared dormant—silent, almost as if it hadn’t stirred at all in the library.
“The WMD Series isn’t activating,” Myrrh noted, her eyes narrowing. “Then what was that back in the library?”
“I… I don’t know,” I murmured, glancing around. A few students passed by, some chatting, others lost in their own world. The corridor was too exposed, too public. “I want to tell you. Really. But not here. It’s not safe.”
“Then let’s go to your room,” Neil suggested with a casual smile. “I’ll do my thing—make sure no one hears a single word, just like last time.”
“W-Wait, you’ve been in Zaft’s room before?” Fei blinked, eyes wide, her voice tinged with suspicion.
“Yeah,” I answered before Neil could. “He forced his way in, and then showed me a drawing of two stickmen doing doggystyle. Even told me he wanted to try it.”
“AH!” Fei gasped, recoiling with both hands over her mouth, her cheeks burning. “S-So the rumor about you being gay is… is true?!”
“I’M NOT!” Neil yelped, his face flushing red as he spun toward me with a furious glare. “Stop twisting the story! That did happen, but choose better words!”