Chapter 50: The Truth of Our Origin and Reunion

Meanwhile, inside a massive palace somewhere on the moon encased within a protective shield, inside the throne room, blam! a gigantic four-armed man wearing military attire and knight-like armor strode in. He knelt before a giant woman wearing a red dress. She had blonde hair, crimson eyes, and fangs protruding from her mouth, sitting casually on her throne as she rested her face against one arm with one leg propped up.

"Reporting, Your Majesty Queen Lilith. A massive surge of energy has awakened in the eastern hemisphere of Earth. It appears those humans are causing trouble again," the soldier reported.

"Hmm... a massive energy surge, is it? They’ve probably just created another unstable weapon and started another commotion. Ignore it," Lilith said nonchalantly.

"But Your Majesty, the energy signature matches the one from fifty years ago, the event that wiped out half our forces during the assault on the human military base," the soldier urged.

Upon hearing the knight’s words, Lilith’s eyes instantly narrowed sharp. She sat up straight, both hands gripping the armrests of her throne, as her foot dropped down and she leaned slightly forward.

"Like fifty years ago? The giant robot that successfully pushed back our army and destroyed our monster in a single strike?" Lilith verified.

"Correct, Your Majesty. We will prepare a full report," the soldier answered.

Lilith fell silent, leaning back into her throne as a calculating look swept over her face. She then fixed her gaze on the soldier bowing before her,

"Send spies to the location where the energy was detected. Investigate the site and inspect all the surrounding farms... check whether our captives held there are still present or not. Do it immediately," Lilith commanded.

"As you command, Your Majesty. I shall execute it at once," the soldier said.

Without delay, the soldier stood up and hurried out of the throne room, leaving Lilith sitting alone inside, lost in thought.

"Have you awakened once more, my children? But that’s impossible. I protected you inside the farm and placed you in a simulation so that you would never awaken again to live such miserable lives," Lilith thought to herself, her brow furrowed, eyes narrowed, and jaw clenched.

***

Returning to Clyde, Casca, Craig, and Corie, who sat in silence watching the slow crawl of Celes’s stamina progress bar. They didn’t say a word. Casca and Corie held the hands of the lying Celes, Craig sat beside her with his arms crossed over his chest, staring down at her, while Clyde sat by her head, gently stroking her forehead and hair as he gazed at her face.

As they waited and began to grow drowsy, a large holographic display suddenly popped open in their midst, startling them. They looked at the screen, their eyes widening at the text displayed upon it:

[Chimaera initiative project, protocol C-17. Do you wish to view the files? [Yes] [No]]

Upon reading it, Clyde, Casca, Craig, and Corie turned to look at one another. Having not yet pressed YES, they looked thoroughly bewildered,

"Chimaera initiative... just like Sister Mary said," Clyde muttered.

"Yeah... should we press yes?" Craig asked.

"But... I’m scared... what if inside lies the truth of who we really are... I want to know... but I’m scared, too," Casca answered.

"Same... for some reason, I don’t want to know... but... it really does make you curious," Corie said, staring at the screen.

"What do you think, Brother Clyde? Honestly, I’m curious... but... I don’t want to feel the way I did earlier ever again," Craig said, turning to Clyde.

Casca and Corie turned to look at Clyde as well. Clyde stood frozen in place, staring at the screen before him, clearly lost in deep thought and tormented by an internal dilemma. But then he turned to gaze at his three younger siblings,

"Sooner or later, we will learn who we truly are. It’s better if we open it now," Clyde said.

Hearing Clyde’s words, Craig, Casca, and Corie visibly choked up, but they said nothing and nodded in agreement. Clyde raised his hand and pressed YES. Immediately, the screen displayed official military documents marked CONFIDENTIAL. As the records detailed the biological makeup of the Chimaera Project subjects, the jaws of Clyde, Casca, Craig, and Corie tightened, their eyes narrowing.

The images on screen depicted the process of their "birth." The C-series subjects were humans born from the massive womb of a nephilim, fused with cryptid DNA samples retrieved from sighting locations, embedded with nano-machine tissue within their cells as they were fundamentally undead and equipped with a prototype ORB version 1.0 to control and regulate human strength, giant’s magic, and cryptid abilities without them clashing.

The nano-tissue also generated protective biological attire used for combat, resistant to all magic and generating a magnetic barrier capable of deflecting any attack, whether magical or physical. Clyde, Casca, Craig, and Corie froze as they read on,

"So... we’re... not just human?" Casca asked.

"Yeah... we’re... chimaeras... entities assembled from various organisms into monsters," Corie answered.

"Please don’t call us monsters or anything like that... I don’t want to hear it," Craig interjected.

"Yeah... sorry, we are human, Brother Craig... it’s just that we were born from a giant’s womb... and cryptids whose existence is still unclear but whose DNA exists... that’s all," Corie said.

"Give me a break with this kid, I already told you not to say nonsense," Craig said, grabbing Corie’s head and squeezing it.

"Oww... sorry Brother, that hurts... okay... I won’t say crazy things anymore!" Corie yelled, trying to pull Craig’s hand off her head.

"Brother Clyde, why are you so quiet?" Casca asked, turning to look at Clyde.

"It’s nothing... at least... I’m relieved to know we were actually born, meaning we aren’t clones... it also says Celes and I were born first... then Craig, and lastly you two... but... out of so many attempts, only the five of us survived... so many were born with severe defects... what a truly horrific experiment," Clyde said as he read through the files.

"Yeah... horrific... I hope there will never be another experiment like this... but... to think I was born from an experiment... hahaha... in the simulation, I was a normal human who was born, grew up, and... sob... sob..." Casca trailed off.

"That’s enough... let’s not dwell on it anymore. This is a reality we must accept together. Don’t be sad," Clyde said, pulling Casca into an embrace.

They fell silent once more. Then the screen shifted, and this time, the four of them were thoroughly shocked, springing to their feet, deathly pale. The screen now detailed the construction of Chimaera Z-X: its body had been built using conventional technology and giant bones, but the womb of the giant mother who bore them had been converted into the very cockpit they were standing in right now, complete with an installed music system designed to resonate as it had when they were still inside the womb. Clyde, Casca, Craig, and Corie immediately huddled together, shuddering as they looked around their surroundings.

Suddenly, the holographic display shut off. "Ugh..." Looking down, they saw Celes squirming. Snapping back to their senses, they swarmed around Celes,

"Celes!" Clyde called out.

"Sister Celes!" Craig, Casca, and Corie called out one after another.

Slowly, Celes opened her eyes, blinking repeatedly as she took in the faces of Clyde, Casca, Craig, and Corie hovering above her. She blinked again, then raised her hands to rub her eyes. She looked down at her hands in confusion, then felt the clothes she was wearing. Realizing that what she saw was no hallucination, her lips began to tremble, her eyes welled up with tears, and her face crumpled as if on the verge of weeping.

"Welcome back, Celes," Clyde said.

"Clyde... Casca... Craig... Corie... you finally came... I’m home... I’m home... sob... sob..." Celes wept bitterly.

Instantly, Clyde, Casca, Craig, and Corie embraced Celes, who was still lying on the floor, and she hugged them all back in return. Though they had only just uncovered the truth about themselves, wide smiles broke out across all five of their faces even as they wept uncontrollably. At long last, they were reunited, just as they had always dreamed all the time.