A myriad of questions and theories plagued Arcturus's mind, but he was able to find a middle ground in the midst of these intrusive thoughts; going to Nova was his top priority. Fortunately, Constance was the first to lunge at her brother, which allowed Arcturus to dash towards Nova and check on his condition.
"Are you alright?" He whispered to the pained Nova who was clutching his chest tightly. "What's going on?"
Nova slowly opened his eyes and gripped his arm. He tried saying something, but it was inaudible. While he wanted to know what he was saying, Arcturus knew it wasn't a good time. He scooped Nova into his arms and moved away from the Shifties so that they would not get hit by them.
Constance was busy deflecting attacks made by her brother. When she found an opening, she pushed him down and pinned him to the ground. "Brother, how are you able to change back into your human form? How are you functioning without an earring?
541-STG normally wore a stoic expression, but Arcturus could see his lips curling to form a grin. He then used his strength to push his sister off of him; he stood up and remained idle with that grin plastered on his face.
"It's because I'm controlling your brother-bot!" The voice belonged to him, yet he spoke as if he wasn't himself. "You know who I am! Virgo Edwards! The person in charge of Shiftie creation in Ilacier!" He placed a hand to his chest to show a sense of confidence that felt out of place for a Shiftie without free will.
"How is this even possible?" Hilbert remarked as he was the most perplexed in the room.
"Shifties can still function without earrings as long as it's not destroyed–that's common knowledge. However, there is a deeper, more confidential secret about them that only the creators know."
"What would that be?"
Virgo started pondering. "I don't know if I should tell you, but since you all are not going to survive, I might as well. In addition to earrings, Shifties have cores that are attached to their heads. If an earring is like a heart, the core is like a brain. Destroying both earring and core signifies a Shiftie's true end. Only destroying one of them still makes them alive."
Arcturus had thought about Kori. A small candle lit up in his mind. That would mean Kori would still be alive as his. All of the guilt and grieving he had for his fallen companion had been for naught, but he didn't regret doing so. Despite how bright the candle was, the uncertainty was much more vast than it could illuminate. He hadn't seen Kori's core destroyed, but he knew for a fact that Virgo most likely made him a new body with a new core but with the same earring.
He then thought about the Monarch Shiftie and all of their robotic adversaries he had to get rid of. His worries were mainly directed towards the Monarch. He worried about the possibility of her still being alive as he hadn't seen her core destroyed. He just hoped there would be nothing to worry about regarding her as her earring was in their possession.
"Hey, Constance, is that true?" Hilbert looked in disbelief.
"I…wasn't aware of this…" Constance herself was shocked.
Arcturus realized it made sense why this newly revealed weakness was never revealed. Shifties were made to be perfect, so if people learned that there was another weakness in addition to the earrings, they wouldn't be considered such anymore. However, he wondered what would cause a core to be destroyed because he knew for a fact that destroying one wouldn't be as simple as removing and smashing an earring.
"Of course not. This is confidential information that creators never tell to others–even to their own creations. In fact, Nathaniel Hope from Hope Corporation even said to keep this a secret and those who know should be eliminated."
"Bitch, you told us on purpose!" Esta got out her gun; everyone else got out their weapons.
"Indeed." Virgo got into a fighting stance. "Either the Charlatan comes with me or you all die. Pick a choice!"
That question was directed to Nova, yet he still looked too much in pain to utter a response. Arcturus held onto him tightly and glared at her. Virgo made eye contact with him, so she used her host's body to dash towards him. She lunged, grabbed Arcturus by the head and smashed it against the wall behind it. The pain caused him to let go of Nova who fell onto the floor. The shock of the head trauma immobilized him.
Virgo let go of him as she approached Nova and knelt down. She hummed. "So, that's how bad you get when a wish is forcibly reversed?"
"What did you say?" Arcturus winced in pain. The more he spoke, the more painful his head felt. He wasn't sure how long it would take for him to recover.
Virgo made eye contact with him. "That Ally Shiftie whose earring you carried around? There was some sort of purple insignia on it, so we got rid of it."
The pain was affecting Arcturus's thoughts, so he couldn't express his shock at the revelation that Kori had a wish and that it was reversed. The lingering flicker of hope he had for a small, miniscule possibility of Kori being alive was blown away. Wish reversal meant death–Kori was no longer alive.
Do those rules apply to Shifties? Is Kori really dead? What have I been doing, not realizing this until now?
"Who's 'we'?" Marlo inquired.
Vanessa retorted with worry. "Don't egg her on! She might want to kill us if we keep learning things we aren't supposed to!"
Nova groaned as he slowly lifted his head. "So…Ri really is the Invader…and she's on this island…"
"Want to meet her? Then come along with me!"
Nova refused. "The last thing I want is to come along with you. If I want to meet her, it's by my own doing. Besides, I only go if Arc comes along with me, but you probably wouldn't like that."
"We only want you and no one else."
"I refuse. Arc and I come together and even if you want us to come together, I refuse to come with you."
"Well, then, I'll just have to eliminate everyone in this room then."
"No. This is between you and me only."
Nova summoned Souhait's dragon tail and wrapped it around the robotic body tightly. He then stretched his tail out so that the Shiftie was out of the house through the hole he had made earlier. He slowly stood up and then followed his tail into the hole, leaving Arcturus behind. Constance had yelled and then followed Nova out.
Arcturus could only reach a hand out but the sharp pain on his head was too much. All he thought about was how he wanted to help Nova, but his head kept getting dizzier until he blanked out.