The Major's right arm was trembling, her fist was holding a dagger but it was evident that she was trying her best to let go.
But she succumbed.
She snapped back into her hateful trance and ran at Ava, although this time her style and grace was starting to falter. She charged at him like a rabid animal, leaving craters where her steps were. The lack of elegance and grace made it easier for Ava to evade her movements, at the very least he was able to finally outmatch her in skill.
If the Major was lucid she wouldn't have left a trace of her presence, but the creature that had overtaken her body was running wild, it seemed the conflict that was being fought in her brain was making her body start to lose control.
Ava dodged another swipe, but there was no reason to celebrate, running wasn't going to get him anywhere. His battery was draining. Fast. He knew for a fact that the Major's body would've been optimised for a huge power output, so there was no way he'd be able to outlast her.
One mistake on his part could lead to his entire body being slashed to pieces.
He couldn't rely on any help from the others either, he and the Major were moving way too fast for them to react to what they were doing.
How much time had passed?
Twenty seconds.
It felt like they'd been fighting for twenty minutes.
"Ava..." the Major's eyes flashed once again, "H-Hack me"
"I-I..." Ava dodged another attack, "I can't!"
The Major grit her teeth. She spun behind Ava and kicked him in the back, sending him crashing into the ground. She slowed down. She had a scowl on her face, the steam from her body was now causing a mist form around everyone, "H-hack... me." she was starting to fight the virus once again, her body slowly edged towards Ava's fallen body, struggling to beat the Major's steely resolve. Her right hand was starting to loosen, the knife was about to fall off. Ava could tell from the look in her eyes, through that scowl, that look of intense hate, he could see eyes that were filled with despair, telling him that she could only hold back for so long.
And then running, someone was running.
Aphrodite ran in and stood in-between the two, she held her arms out and faced The Major.
"Stop!" she growled, "leave him alone you monster!" she was sweating,
The Major stared at Aphrodite,
"You're a Serv right?" Aphrodite asked, "then you have to listen to me!"
"Aphrodite!" Ava yelled, "that's not how it works! The Heretic Virus is controlling her, it's not the same!" if Ava remembered correctly, the Heretic virus was a corrupted fusion of his copy-AI and Mother's AI. It was Block-0, immune at the very least.
"What? B-but"
The Major gained traction, the virus was starting to take control again. Her right hand gripped the dagger one again and ran towards Aphrodite, ready to kill her, just like anything else that would get in her way.
Aphrodite was a human, she had sluggish, delayed reactions. She didn't have a chance to defend herself at all.
But in that split second before the Major managed to dig the dagger into Aphrodite's gut, Ava jumped back onto his feet and pushed her out of the way.
The Major stabbed Ava in his stomach, then, as he winced, she stabbed him again multiple times in the chest. He pushed through the pain and grabbed her hand as she continued to try and slash him to bits.
The rest of her body was strong, but her crudely made right hand wasn't, Ava easily managed to put pressure on it and take the knife off of her.
He grabbed the knife with his other hand, tackled the Major onto the floor, and then held her down.
He had managed to pin her for a moment, but only a second later the Major managed turn the tables by kneeing him and pushing him over. Now it was Ava who was pinned.
The Major grabbed a sharp piece of debris that happened to be lying next to them, wreckage from the Heretic Evos Ava had taken down before, and held it against Ava's neck. The sharp edge of the debris wobbled back and forth, scraping his skin slightly. She could kill him in a second. Easily. Every wobble back and forth represented the struggle between the Major and the virus.
"Hack... Me..." said the Major, her eyes shifting back and forth from a trance to lucidity.
"I've lost the ability. I can't!" Ava exclaimed, "I don't know what to do!" for the first time in his life, Ava truly had no idea how to get out of this situation. The Major would kill all of them.
"A-Ava... Ava." the Major's voice started to sound warmer, less struggled, "Ava." her scowl disappeared, her face relaxed, for a moment, she came back. The sadness in her eyes was clearer than crystal, " Ava, if you can't hack me, then kill me. That's an order." for that brief moment it sounded like she had complete control of herself, like she used all her energy to push through that barrier for that tiny moment where she could tell Ava what he needed to do for her. And she'd made it clear. She made it clear that she was giving him a direct order as his superior officer.
Ava was still holding the Major's dagger. His free arm had been clutching on to it this whole time. How did he forget?
He could kill her, in her moment of weakness he could stab her right in the neck, where the spine that connected to the core was. There were several connectors there that, when broken, would disable a body completely. Ordinarily it was a difficult area to hit, but from close range like this, it'd be easy.
No choice. It was an order. Kill her.
But.
No.
He didn't' want to follow that order. He couldn't!
He didn't give a damn that she was a Block-1. He didn't want to follow that order.
He didn't want to. But he had to.
Ava closed his eyes, he tensed his grip. It was the end of an era, the death of one of the most legendary Servs to have ever lived. He turned the dagger around and aimed it at the Major's neck. He bit his lip and readied himself. With his eyes still closed and his body trembling he said his final goodbyes and then finally, he slashed the dagger inwards, aiming right for the Major's neck.
And then an explosion. A searing pain. His arm with the dagger was scorched and he was thrown several feet away.
What happened!?
He looked around. The Major was still alive, she was dizzied and trying to get up. Some sort of projectile had intercepted him before he could kill her.
"Sylvie!" shouted Aphrodite, "now!" Aphrodite was holding her gun, it was still glowing red. She'd shot at the two of them while they were both on the floor, and Sylvie, the girl Ava had completely forgotten was still around, she dashed in and leaped onto the Major's stunned body.
The force of the jump pushed the Major back onto the floor and Sylvie instantly placed her palm on the Major's forehead.
Sylvie's hand was completely wrecked, she had torn off all the synthetic flesh to expose only the metallic parts underneath. Of course. She was hacking the Major. The flesh was acting as a buffer and hence she had to get rid of it to be able to connect directly to the nano-tech membrane on the Major's face.
The Major tensed up and started to scream, Sylvie too, seemed to be in intense pain. She was starting to pant and her body began to turn dark. She had her eyes closed and was trying to concentrate as best she could. The intense hacking went on and on for several minutes, Ava couldn't tell if it was because the Heretic Virus was that difficult to get rid of, or because Sylvie wasn't very experienced in hacking, he'd never seen a hack cause such a reaction. But he was proud. He was proud of the fact that Sylvie was so goddamn amazing. He'd never imagine she and Aphrodite would be the ones to take the Major down.
The tension in the air started to subside as the Major's body fell completely limp. Sylvie, too, lost all her energy and rolled onto the floor beside her.
Ava could sense the deep monstrous energy within the Major's body subside, he and Aphrodite ran to the two bodies.
"Sylvie! You did it!" Ava exclaimed, "you-" Ava noticed Sylvie's body was convulsing.
"Sylvie?!" Aphrodite exclaimed, "What's happening?!"
"I don't know!" Ava knelt next to Sylvie's body, that was starting to go darker and darker.
The Type-1 walked up to the group,
"It looks like her body is failing." he said, "she'll die soon."
"What!? No!" Ava shouted, "Why!?"
A rumbling could be heard in the distance, an alarm started to sound. Now what!? Everyone looked into the distance, down the long road leading to the outskirts of the city.
An army of Heretic Evos were on their way.
"A response from the alarm you raised earlier," said the Type-1, "I guess it wasn't just this Serv that the alarm managed to attract."
Ava was at 4% battery. The Major had fainted. Sylvie was dying, and Heretics were immune to Aphrodite's charms.
There was nothing the group could do. The army of Evos in the distance, they'd steamroll the group.
"Ava... we need to go." said Aphrodite, "we can't fight them."
"We can't outrun them." Ava muttered, "and Sylvie, she's dying. He wasn't lying, you can tell by looking at her." Sylvie's body was starting to whither, a dark liquid leaked out of her mouth. "Her body is about to shut down permanantly."
Ava fell to his knees. He dug his nails into the ground. Why!? What happened!?
Despair. An emotion he rarely felt, but one he hated so very much.
The Type-1 held out his hand,
"Get up," he said, "you can save her."
"How?" Ava huffed, he was having trouble thinking, he was still trying to process what had gone wrong, He was still trying to understand why Sylvie's body had started to fail. Still, he grabbed the Type-1s hand and stood up.
"Aren't you supposed to be smart?" the Type-1 asked, "you're standing on a Serv production plant. You can recreate her body."
Ava's eyes widened. How didn't he think of that? But wait. He looked to the distance, the Heretics were closing in.
"But, those Heretics, how will we-" Ava started,
"Don't worry about that. We've got you covered." the Type-1 nodded his head backwards and indicated behind himself. Both Ava and Aphrodite turned around to see what he was motioning to.
It was an army of Type-1s. All standing at the entrance of the supercomputer.
"They've been seeing this through my eyes, we've been sharing these experiences but interpreting them in different ways ever since you pulled me off the hivemind." he looked at Ava, "we've barely known you for more than a few hours, and yet you've truly inspired us Ava. Individual thought, beliefs and personalities, they're precious. The Heretic virus aims to destroy that. I can't let you die here. Not you, the person with the ability to stop it." he smiled, "besides. We're friends, right?"
Ava nodded in return, "Without a damn doubt." He carefully picked Sylvie up, "Hey, don't let me down, you're an Ava unit. Survive this so that I can thank you when this is all over."
The Type-1 threw Ava an identical nod. And with that, he and the other Type-1s turned to the approaching heretics and ran into the fray.