Chapter Text
It all begins in a snowy forest in the eastern part of Lower Snowdin. Everything seems normal, as if nothing unusual is happening, until a ball of pure energy hits a tree, causing a burn mark to appear on the trunk. A hooded figure runs past the same trunk, running for his life while being pursued by two other figures.
The first figure, a human, wears a brown jacket with a hood, black cargo pants, and equally black boots. He also wears a silver scarf around his neck, currently covering his mouth to keep the cold from entering his lungs. His hair is brown and long, easily past his shoulders, and his yellow eyes are desperate as he flees for his life from two other figures, square robots with wheels for feet and whose arms are composed of vapor that are somehow connected to cartoonish white hands.
The robots' eyes glow red as they continue to pursue the human. One of them prepares another energy ball and throws it at his target, narrowly missing him again.
"Damn it, damn it, damn it, DAMN IT!" the human says as he continues his escape through the snowy forest, weaving between logs and leaping over low bushes. He knows that stopping for even a second would mean his death.
"HUMAN ON THE RUN! STOP RESISTING AND ACCEPT YOUR ARREST!" one of the robots says, its voice cold and menacing.
The human ignores it and continues running, until a ball of energy comes from his right and strikes directly at his right arm.
"Argh!" The human groans in pain. He grits his teeth to resist and keeps running.
HP: 18/30
The attack that struck him was fired by a third robot that appeared on his right, joining the other two in pursuit.
"MODEL VAXIS-18 JOINING COMPANIONS. STOP RESISTING ARREST!" The new robot orders the human, only to receive no response as the human continues to flee.
"Almost there..." The human mutters to himself as he gathers all his remaining strength for a final effort to escape.
Unfortunately for the human, he failed to anticipate the obstacle that would impede his escape: a river running through the forest, too wide to jump over and with no bridges to cross. The human is forced to brake sharply to avoid falling into the icy waters.
"Oh no... DAMN!" The human screams when he realizes he's trapped in his escape. He quickly turns around to try and flee in another direction, only to discover that the three robots have already caught up with him.
"APPROACHING HUMAN. CALCULATING... THREAT LEVEL 8. LETHAL FORCE ALLOWED," one of the robots says as he prepares one of his energy balls. The other three begin to do the same.
The human begins to look around frantically for a way out of this situation. Unfortunately, there is no easy way out. He quickly realizes his only choice, a gamble: maybe this will be what will kill him instead of fighting the robots.
The human turns to the river.
'Should I? This could kill me...' The human thinks to himself. Unfortunately, his thoughts are interrupted when something hits him, forcing the choice upon him.
The first energy ball hits the human in the chest, knocking him back and forcing him to fall into the river, causing the other two energy balls to miss their target.
The human hits the icy waters of the river with a loud SPLASH. The three robots advance forward toward the river's edge, scanning for the human.
"SCANNING... ERROR! NO BODIES DETECTED. POSSIBLE DEATH CONFIRMED. CHANCE OF SURVIVAL: 3%." One of the robots said as he turned to his companions.
"THERE'S A CHANCE HE TURNED TO DUST WHILE FALLING AND THE DUST WAS SCATTERED ACROSS THE RIVER." The robot on the right spoke.
"UNLIKELY. HUMANS DON'T TURN TO DUST WHEN THEY DIE," said the robot in the middle.
"THE BODY IS DISAPPEARED. CALCULATING PROBABILITY OF ERROR... 40% CHANCE WE HAVE HIT A MONSTER BY MISTAKE," said the robot on the left.
"WE WILL COMMUNICATE THIS TO THE DOCTOR AND INFORM HIM OF THIS POSSIBILITY. HE WILL DECIDE," said the robot in the middle.
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In a laboratory in Hotland, sat the Royal Scientist.
POV: Chujin
I was having a normal day, until an alarm sounded throughout the laboratory, indicating the possible presence of a human in the Underground.
I ran to my computer and began quickly typing the access code, only to receive a video from three of my AXIS robots.
The video from two of them began with the encounter of a hooded figure; the shadows of the trees made it difficult to see the figure's face. The AXIS models' scanners identified it as a human, and so the chase began.
I watched as they pursued the supposed human into the forest in Lower Snowdin. They managed to land a few hits, but the figure didn't stop running.
A third AXIS model appeared and struck the figure in the arm. I now had three cameras recording the same chase. After this hit, the chase continued until the figure appeared facing a river running through the forest.
The possible human looked back desperately, a silver scarf covering his mouth, the shadow of the hood on his head barely allowing his yellow eyes to be seen, a look of panic taking over his features. In the video, the figure could be seen taking steps back, closer to the river, in an attempt to get as far away from his pursuers as possible, possibly an instinctive reaction.
I heard one of the AXIS models calculate the figure's threat level as 8, which shouldn't have been possible due to code I wrote for them stipulating that the maximum threat level for someone fleeing should be 6, which wouldn't allow the use of lethal force. I should check the coding of these models later.
I saw the three models charging their attacks; one of them fired first, hitting the possible human in the chest and sending him flying toward the river. The other attacks missed.
I heard the three models talking among themselves as they searched for the possible human's body. After finding nothing, the three of them concluded that there was a possibility that what they had hit might not have been human.
I leaned back in my chair, one hand on my forehead. This had been a disaster.
Not only had they pursued a figure they weren't sure was human, they had also circumvented the coding to allow the use of lethal force. Even if the figure was indeed human, they had just sent it to an uncertain fate where it was impossible to say if it survived, and if it did die, where its soul ended up was unclear.
Even worse, if they actually mistook a monster for a human, which had happened before, but in that case I had been able to quickly identify the figure as a monster and was able to prevent the models from making a mistake. This case was more extreme than usual; they should have waited for my order before launching their attacks.
But they didn't. They attacked the target and used lethal force to do so.
If that figure really had been a monster... Then I was in deep trouble.
If anyone discovered that my AXIS models had flaws in their programming that could cause them to identify anyone as human at any time and, in that scenario, pursue them and attack them with lethal force, leading to their death... Then the king would surely condemn me for these crimes.
'Damn it... I really need to find out as soon as possible if that was actually a human. Because if it wasn't... I'll have to fix the coding on all the models so they don't make another mistake like that,' I thought to myself as I ordered the models to follow the river to find its lead and search for the possible body.
'If my AXIS models really had just killed an innocent monster just by mistaking it for a human... Damn it... I can't let anyone find out about this!' I thought again as I stood up and walked toward a nearby table, grabbing a USB flash drive from it. I inserted the device into my computer and copied the footage onto it, deleting it from my computer in the process.
That was it. Now I just needed to make sure it was actually human.
Some time later...
The AXIS models found nothing. A few hours had passed, and they discovered that the river split into several paths, one leading to a waterfall that led deeper into a cave my models couldn't descend. I ordered them to follow the other paths to find out where they would lead and in the end they led them to find nothing.
Each time, I saw the probability of it being a monster rise higher and higher. It made me nervous.
When the percentage peaked at 90%, I ordered them to abandon the search and return to me. I quickly erased any record of this search from my computer and its files.
I lowered my head to the table and held it in my hands.
"My Axis models... Built to represent the future of the monster race... have just made a huge mistake that is impossible to correct. What do I do now?" I-I can't tell the truth... He'd remove me from my position as a royal scientist and punish me for it,' I thought to myself as I desperately tried to decide what to do. I looked to my right and saw a photo, a photo of my family.
I took the photo in my hands and looked at it. I saw Kanako and Ceroba's bright smiles in it; I couldn't let them down.
Finally, I made my decision. I took out the flash drive where I had saved the files that could destroy my life.
"No one will ever know about this," I said decisively as I crushed the flash drive in my hands.
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Meanwhile...
In a crystal cave, a small, deep pool of water lay where a waterfall tumbled down. The cave lay silent, with no one to disturb its silence.
Suddenly, a hand emerged from the water and grabbed the edge of the small pool. A drenched figure emerged and quickly crawled out.
Falling down beside the large pool of water, the figure lay there panting heavily, barely alive.
It opened its yellow eyes, filled with determination and a promise... A promise that it would make the person responsible for all this pay.
The figure slowly rose, still panting. It began marching toward the exit.
No one knew it at that moment, but from that day forward... A demon had been born.