Lament of Sacrifice - Epsilon

        “The great Monesis, the mother of all, we’re your “children”. One is all, all is one. We’re born for you give lives to us …”
        Epsilon, a crimson Machina, said his prayers in all sincerity. His glassy eyes reflected an unexplainable yet magnificent scene in front of him.
        There was a gigantic, boundless round cave covered by metals. Countless metal-tube like vessels spread over the walls; in the deep of the cave, a lumpy, slimy yet golden source of matter was buried down there, which was what the Machinas have been following, worshipping in their lives——Monesis, located at this sacred cave called “Pilgrimage”.
        Epsilon recalled something in the past. At that time, the cave was significantly smaller. He stood next to a man, who was the first born Machina named Pompeii, powerful than any mechanical types in the city.
        “Epsilon, I’ve been thinking about the meaning of our existence all this time.” Pompeii blinked his crimson eyes and touched the Monesis gently. “Now I know. We’re born to set Monesis free.”
        Epsilon always reminded himself of the purpose of his existence. After Pompeii’s teachings, he finally saw the light. A surge of touching feeling lingered in his heart.
        “Hm?” His thought was interrupted by a flash of light. “The circuit is receiving signals.”
        Epsilon came up and connected to the circuit; his consciousness began to sink into the vast vessel network, from which he heard Pompeii’s call.
        “Eps, there is something wrong with the vessels. Can you come over?”
        “Sure.” Disconnecting the network, he hurried to go to the control room, which was equipped with a central hub that controlled all the circuits in the city.
        “As soon as he opened the door, Phi, the youngest Machina full of crazy ideas, showed up.
        “You’ve come, finally. Something isn’t right. The western force has joined the Eldus. They’re coming after us!”
        “That cunning elf!!” Epsilon walked towards Pompeii.
        Pompeii pulled a long face as he received the information from the hub. “I can’t get access to the circuit from the entrance. Eps, can you——,” he talked to Epsilon anxiously.
        The conversation was interrupted by a huge noise outside. Feeling puzzled over this, they decided to take a look, but were shocked by an emergent situation.
        “Pompeii...those bastards are raiding the city...Alpha…” Beta said intermittently. Under such imminent circumstance, Pompeii got access to his memory by connecting his kinetic core.
        “Schnauzer, she finally made a choice…” Pompeii closed his eyes, pulling a straight face. “For the sake of Monesis and the future of the realm, we have to initiate that plan,” he said seriously as he looked at Phi and Epsilon.
        “What? What plan,” Phi asked immediately. However, Epsilon ignored her and responded, “Understood. I’ll be going to the mech room. Pompeii, wait for us in the Pilgrimage.”
         “Hey! Hold on! What are you guys talking about? I don’t get it!” Phi stamped her feet and puffed out her cheeks. Her funny expression had relieved the heavy atmosphere.
        “It’s running out of time. Come with me. I’ll explain it to you.” Epsilon held her hand and ran out of the control room.
        After knowing the plan, they arrived at the mech room. “I won’t forgive those Eldus. We belong here, but they said we’re marauders, and they are trying to steal Monesis away from us!”
        “It doesn’t matter who belongs here. I won’t let them take Monesis away in any case.” Epsilon took out an irregular stone, the surface of which had a mysterious, purple engraving that changed from time to time, as if it was alive.
        “We have to wake the soulstone up, and hand it to Pompeii. After putting the stone into the metal treehole, a magic circle emerged. Then, sparkling, light dusk flew into the soulstone, gradually painting it into iridescent colours.
        Before long, the white pale soulstone almost turned into rainbow. Suddenly, a huge noise outside had drawn Phi’s attention.
        “I take a look.” She left recklessly before Epsilon stopped her. When she opened the door, she was ambushed by a bunch of enemies.
        “Wahhh——!” Phi let out a scream; Epsilon sprinted by and threw a few punches in the nick of time, who knocked them flying to the wall one by one.
        “Gotcha!” Someone was laughing from behind. One of the enemies took the soulstone while Epsilon was saving Phi.
        “Darn it!” Epsilon, who dared not act impulsively, stared at her.
        “You fool! I’ll kill you if you destroy the stone.”
        “Right, perhaps I’m weaker than you two. But if I break it, the Eldus will bring my sister back to life.”
        “Don’t be deceived! The so called “revival” is just making another puppet that looks like your sister!”
        “It doesn’t matter. This is all I can ask for as a low Earthling.” The Earthling activated the dynamite with a flint attached to her body, “bomb.”
        “Stop——!” Affected by the explosion impact, Epsilon was unable to step forwards; someone pounced on the Earthling from behind——who was Phi.
        Phi tried to reclaim the soulstone during the explosion. After taking the damage, she rolled on the ground; and her metallic body was melting due to the heat.
        “Phi!!!” Epsilon helped her up immediately. She wore a smile in her face, holding the dazzling, iridescent soulstone.
        “I...got it back.”
        “You did well.” He took the stone, but the color was still pale at the corner. It was not awakened yet. When he planned to put it back to the tree——
        “The metal tree was burnt because of the explosion…” Epsilon looked at the kinetic core on his chest, revealing a determined smile.