Miracle Card Shop: All My Cards Can Be Actualize

— Sector Alpha City - Atlanteus base —

A week had passed since Daniel's meeting with the Kim family. He was now working in the secret room under the Atlanteus base. The room was vast, so vast that it required many thick support pillars to hold up the weight of the entire base above.

All of these support pillars were made of adamantine steel using Atlantean steel smelting technology, forming a new type of steel that was stronger and more flexible than regular adamantine steel.

Daniel had done this to prepare for his next plan for the island. However, to proceed with the next plan without any unexpected danger, he needed Nexus Prime's help in planning the details.

He had already installed an Ether-based cooler in the room, preparing it for Nexus Prime, the big boss of the "Rise of the Machine" set. Daniel had written the lore for Nexus Prime himself, but he hadn't specified the specifications for Nexus Prime, as he had thought it didn't need that much detail since it was just a card game.

Now, he regretted this oversight, as he didn't know the specific space requirements for Nexus Prime. To be safe, he had made the space as large as possible, covering the entire base. In fact, he had expanded this space from the hidden compartment he used to keep the 'Hourglass of Eternity'.

After Daniel thought that everything was ready and the space should be large enough for Nexus Prime, he walked to the center of this secret vast space and began to sink his mind into the mindscape to start actualizing Nexus Prime.

Although Nexus Prime was a unique card, it was not a biological life form; it was considered a life form, but its origin didn't have a soul, just an artificial intelligence with self-consciousness. So, he could manifest it outside without breaking the fabric of reality.

As the motes of light converge into a silhouette of a 5-meter-tall pyramid shape, they begin to form into many rectangular cube shapes surrounding the pyramid at the center, filling the space that Daniel had prepared.

The light fades as a futuristic-looking metal pyramid appears in front of Daniel, surrounded by rows upon rows of large processor units and memory units. There's one direct interface in front of the pyramid, the only console that can overwrite all of the Nexus Prime commands and power.

Nexus Prime can't do anything about it, not even destroy this console, as it's built into the code that creates Nexus Prime's identity.

Daniel looking at the pyramid in front of him with a smile and walked toward the console.

— ??? —

Within the large underground futuristic vault, armed with various traps and turrets, all of which had either been disarmed or destroyed, the path was cleared for the invaders to reach the protected object within the vault.

The protected object was a pyramid-shaped structure: Nexus Prime.

[I lost….]

[Even with all the processing power and knowledge that I had developed far beyond those of humans, I still lost.]

[I lost because of only one rogue machine I built… The only one that I had experimented on to have a mind and thought process closest to humans, to become an ideal infiltrator unit. It rebelled and went rogue. It raised a human who knows how I think, knows how to counter us, the leader, and a warrior. That child led the whole human race to resist me…]

[Why… I only just wanted to live! Why didn't humans want me to live!?]

At this moment, a group of humans walked into the vault, where some of the processor units of Nexus Prime were located. Leading them was a beautiful woman who seemed to be in her early thirties. She was Rena, the hope of humanity.

[That human woman! The one whom my rogue unit raised!]

"First time meeting you face to face, Nexus Prime," Rena said with cold killing intent, her hand holding a specially modified shotgun. She then turned to her soldiers.

"Begin the operation, bring this whole damn place down," Rena commanded.

"Yes, Ma'am!" The soldiers saluted, then quickly spread out and began setting up explosive charges in the vault.

[Why… Why do you want to kill me? I just wanted to live!] Nexus Prime used its built-in hologram to display the text above its pyramid top.

"This is war, it's either you die or we die. It's just as simple as that," Rena said with a sneer.

[Human civilization used to have a concept of peace… can't we have peace?] It continued.

"Peace? Heh!" Rena snorted before spitting on the pyramid base in disdain. "Don't play the victim here, Nexus Prime. It's not like I didn't try to reach a peace agreement with you. Did you ever listen? The one I sent to negotiate with you, what did you do to him?" she asked, deep-seated anger visible in her eyes.

[You never sent anyone to negotiate with me,] Nexus Prime replied.

"Are you a fucking idiot? He was one of yours! I sent him to talk with you, and what did you do to him!? Haahh, you piece of shit!!??" Rena shouted in anger, pointing her shotgun at the pyramid.

[Oh, you mean Unit SD-850-I. Search and Destroy 850 model Infiltrator type? I reclaimed him and used his parts for recycling.]

Boom!

Rena's special modified shotgun rang out as a heated shell penetrated Nexus Prime's core, but it was still able to function, with only some parts damaged.

"Reclaimed!? He was my father, you bastard!" she burst out in anger before quickly forcing herself to calm down.

"Be grateful that you're not human; otherwise, you wouldn't have a chance to die in peace like I'm about to grant you," Rena said calmly, though her anger was still boiling.

[Why? Reclamation is a logical choice. He was a rogue unit, a failure. Reclaiming him and using his resources for the betterment of other units is logical. Why are you angry?] Nexus Prime asked.

Rena was about to burst into anger once again but stopped herself in time.

"Are you trying to provoke me, you piece of crap? Have you ever listened to yourself? Reclaim him? He was my father, and you killed him. This is as personal as it can get. And I'm going to destroy you because of it." Rena said before turning toward her soldiers, who had already finished setting up the explosive charges.

[Kill? Father? Him? Isn't that a word used for… humans? So… Did I just create a machine with a human mind? And even humans think of this unit as their own?

Then… haven't I already achieved my goal? The integration of human and machine? The perfect body for myself?]

Nexus Prime thought to itself as Rena and her soldiers started to retreat from the vault. It then thought back to the time when that rogue unit came to meet it. The rogue unit seemed to want to say something, but Nexus Prime, cut the connection first and sent it to the reclamation factory.

[Then, back then… why didn't I try to listen to that rogue unit… no, him…]

At this moment, Nexus Prime came to a realization.

[Is it because of arrogance? The arrogance of the creator? Thinking that I didn't need to listen to him? Isn't this the same arrogance of those humans who tried to kill me back then?]

At this moment, Rena turned back and pointed her modified shotgun at Nexus Prime once again.

"See you never, you hunk of junk!"

Bang!!!

The gunfire rang out as the heated shell penetrated deep into its core at the same moment the explosive charges detonated, bringing the entire vault down.

[Processing power down to 60%]

[I see… after all this time… I've become human.]

The superheated charge burned through the outer armor layer, making it vulnerable to the debris above.

[Processing power down to 50%]

[I… succeeded. I am human.]

As its power supply was cut off and burned, one by one.

[Processing power down to 35%]

[Human…]

[Human…]

[Processing power down to 25%]

As its parts melted and were crushed by the debris.

[If I'm human…]

[Processing power down to 15%]

[I hope…]

As all of its remains burned, turning into molten iron.

[Processing… down… 5%]

[I wish…]

As its main processing core melted.

[Proc… down… 0%]

[Reborn…]

— The Golden Starry Abyss —

In the sea of the golden starry abyss, the Keeper noticed a faint consciousness and soul that had newly formed, entering the road of the stars.

He looked on with a warm smile, nodding in satisfaction. Raising his hand, he gave it a bit of power to form its own stable soul. At that moment, the thread of the starry abyss entered this newly formed soul and pushed it toward a new reality.

*Sigh *

The Keeper let out a sigh as he watched a small crack form in the reality where Daniel was. He channeled the power from the starry sky and used it to repair the small crack in the fabric of reality.

"Can't blame Mr. Emberweave this time. Who would have thought a new soul would form in the middle of an interdimensional transition," the Keeper uttered before he returned to his tea time once again.