The little girl suddenly stirred awake and let out a yawn, stretching her arms. Only then did she notice Neo’s presence.

​"Who are you?" she asked, becoming alert. "Did you do something to Mother Parrot?"

​"Who is Mother Parrot? And aren’t you Elena Rothschild? What are you doing here while the whole Earth is looking for you?" Neo asked, recognizing her from the image Captain Ajaz had shown.

​"Who is Elena?" the girl muttered, confused. "I don’t remember anything."

​Did she lose her memories too? Neo thought. "You’re the daughter of the richest family on Earth, Elena Rothschild. Your father and mother are worried about you."

​Zzzzzzz!

​Suddenly, the girl’s face started to vibrate, glitching almost like a robot. Also, arcs of electricity even began to erupt from her body.

​Wait... Is she some kind of advanced robot? Neo wondered.

​Her jerky movements stopped, and her eyes regained their healthy color.

"You recognized me... I cannot let you live," she said as her body mechanically manifested several highly advanced machine guns, pointing them threateningly at Neo.

​"Wait! Wait! I am not here to harm you!" Neo said frantically.

​However, she didn’t listen.

​Pew! Pew! Pew!

​A barrage of silent, piercing bullets flashing with deadly neon light targeted Neo in an instant.

However, before they could connect—

​Clang! Clang! Clang!

​His titanium blades rushed out and blocked each bullet with pinpoint precision.

​"You’re a Beyonder... that makes you even more of a threat to Elena-707," she said, her eyes flashing with a red light.

​Buzz!

​Mechanical wings of pure silver erupted from her back.

Whiiiiiiin...

Then, with a loud metalic sound, a long silver blade transformed from her right arm.

Next, she spun in the air like a battle angel and swung the blade down at Neo.

It seemed she was dead set on killing him.

Neo cursed.

There wasn’t enough time to dodge. So he readied himself to face it head on.

However, as Elena-707 dove from the air, her silver blade whistling toward Neo’s head, a dark blur launched from Neo’s shoulder.

​Atlas, the Undead Slime, didn’t bounce with its usual soft squish. Instead, it hit the girl’s mechanical wing like a heavy cannonball.

Bang!

The impact sent a shockwave of deathly chill through her systems, causing her flight stabilizers to flicker and spark.

Atlas didn’t let go yet. It expanded its reddish-dark mass, wrapping around her silver blade and hold its weight to pull her off balance.

​"Target obstruction detected! Initiating Automata defense protocol - 1.9!"

Along with her mechanical voice, searing heat and radiation began burst forth from her body.

But, as an undead, Atlas didn’t even feel a thing.

​And before she could fire her own internal weapons, the Undead Slime beat her to it.

Buzz!

From Atlas’s core, high-pressure stream of murky necrotic water blasted forth , slamming into her chest and pinning her against the massive trunk of the banyan tree

Neo smiled, pleased.

​"Oh, I almost forgot about you. Nice work Atlas!"

​Without delay, Neo bound the girl, or whatever she was, to the tree trunk using the thick tentacles hanging from the banyan tree.

Once bound tight, Elena stopped moving.

Her blue eyes, clear and bright, began to glisten with tears.

​"Woo woo, why are you humans so bad? You are so heartless, just like them. Kill me now!" she wept, exactly like a real human would. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

​Seeing this, Neo was genuinely confused and amazed.

"You just tried to kill me, Elena; I had to do this. Anyway, what exactly are you? I’ve never seen a robot cry so realistically."

​She glared at him with tearful eyes. "I’m not a robot, you bad man. I am a state-of-the-art Automata, model Elena - 707, designed to be the most hyper-realistic human creation ever."

​Neo began to understand. "So you’re not just a machine, am I right?"

​"Yes. I am not just machine made of mechanical parts or gears. I am a synthetic lifeform, bio-engineered with real DNA sequences and precious intergalactic metals," she answered, surprising him.

​"Wait, you are made of real DNA and genes?" he asked, his eyes wide.

​The answer she gave was even more shocking.

​"Sniff, yes. My father is Dexter Rothschild, and my mother is Olivia Rothschild. But I don’t consider them my parents, they are evil. That is why I fled here when I got the chance."

Neo understood. It wasn’t too difficult to grasp. Most likely, the Rothschilds had created her with some kind of ulterior motive.

​"Your statement completely contradicts what the world knows about them. Why is that?" he asked anyway.

​By then, Elena had stopped crying.

​"They wanted to know if I would gain any unique talent through their bloodline. And I did. However, now they want to extract it and sell it. It would mean they are actually killing their child. Sniff, maybe they didn’t think of me as their child at all. Sob, why am I so unfortunate? Why did I have to be born like this? What did I do wrong?"

​Neo couldn’t reply. He himself sometimes couldn’t understand human nature, so how could he answer that? But to think that there was a family that would go to such lengths for money... The mere thought of selling one’s own child filled him with nausea and disgust.

​He placed a gentle hand on her sobbing shoulder.

​"Don’t worry, Elena. They might not have given you a proper family, but I will. Become part of my empire, and I promise you will never feel abandoned."

​"Your empire? Are you secretly a galactic powerhouse disguised as a young man to learn about the roots of mortality?" she asked, wiping her tears away.

​Neo’s lips twitched. "Why the hell would you even think that? Have you watched too much drama?

Anyway, my name is Neo Godson, and I’m going to build an interstellar empire from scratch. You will be with me from the start. Think about it; you will be one of the founding members of my empire. Doesn’t that motivate you?" he saud, eyes shining.

​"Pffft!" Elena burst out laughing. "You will become an emperor? I think you are the one who has watched too much drama, Neo."

​"Laugh all you want now, because when that becomes a reality, you won’t have the chance."

"You’re fool. But a nice fool."

​The night deepened, and these two uncommon individuals finally found their original goals. Whether they would find success or failure, only time would tell.