Deus Ex Machina Chapter 4

Anatolius just stood there taking in what just happened

Man Project, apathetic as ever said: I will have to take this wind into consideration for my next shots.

Ana uttered to himself: Some cold wind huh

Kelso: You got extremely lucky, but you mustn't depend on it.

She slightly smiled

Although, it fits you, the sons of gods always have divine interventions.

M.P: Before we continue, may I ask a question?

Ana in a calm slightly defeated tone answered: Go ahead

M.p: Why are you associated so much with gods? Are you a religion scholar.

Ana chuckled a little: That’s a new one.

Ana: I’m one of the many bastard children of Zeus.

M.P: Zeus the greek god of lightning?

Ana: That’s the one.

M.p: are you being sincere, are you lying to me?

Ana: I kinda wish I was, my old man is kind of a douche

M.P: Astonishing.

I never would have thought that I would be playing a game with a real god, at least a descendant of one, and one of the greek pantheon. The same place where many philosophers rised and then were challenged by others.

Ana: You believed that very quickly. I thought most of you science guys didn’t believe in gods.

M.P: I used to not believe, but this tournament has taught me something important, It’s very possible I can never go beyond the purpose given to me by my creator, even if I was immortal, there is always something new, nothing here makes sense, we can’t understand the complete context, but as long as I still function I will do as others have done, do as much as I can, maybe one day someone else will use what I have learned to go a little beyond. The choice of words of my creator were very precise they told me to learn as much as I could, perhaps knowing I wouldn’t learn everything, perhaps my creator had the same goal of-

Kelso: Stop with the monologue you two are in the middle of a game.

Ana was also tired of it so he gave a quick thankyou to the vima and told the machines in a cocky tone that was slightly insecure: Yeah, let’s get this over with

Ana started to think to himself while grabbing the ball:

Last time things got a little serious, I can’t let them have any opportunities,

God damn it I was actually having fun.

The first shot of the game was a success, leaving Mr. Roboto with 9 cups

Roboto threw his ball again with another poor looking shot that scored, leaving Anatolius with 9 cups

Anatolius threw the ball as soon as he had it in his hand and scored leaving Roboto with 8 cups

Ana: I’m heating up

Kinsey got over his little tantrum quickly and with the end of it, his sarcastic comments began: I like how his “heating up” has been progressively more serious, he’s starting to see how cool Roboto is. He told his Doorlet companion

Mr. Roboto threw another crude shot and scored leaving Ana with 8 cups

M.P as if expecting a score quickly said: I’m heating up

Kelso noticed how their aim was improving and thought to herself: They’re improving their aim with every shot, they are slowly becoming experts.

Despite not having fun Anatolius still hadn’t lost his skills and he managed to get a perfect shot, leaving roboto with 7 cups

Ana: I’m on fire.

After his score Kelso started to think to herself a little bit more calmly: But anatolius started out as an expert

Anatolius threw the ball with all the seriousness in the world, he left Roboto with 6 cups, he threw the ball almost perfectly again, now leaving him with 5 cups

Kelso while analyzing Anatolius thought to herself: He doesn’t look like he normally does, something is bothering him.

Ana hadn’t noticed it before but Man Project’s pillar was very familiar and he did not like that familiarity.

His next shot was not as precise as before, it bounced on the edge of a cup and then scored, leaving the machines with 4 cups

Ana was becoming distracted and started to think to himself: There's a strange vibe these two give, it’s stressing me out of my mind, look at them, they’re just standing there looking at the cups they’re loosing, give me a reaction, anything!

He got too distracted and missed.

Anatolius did not know it but his serious, flawless throws were teaching Mr. Roboto, because of those shots the cold machine could grab the ball with what looked like total confidence.

And there was no better reflection of it’s perceived confidence than with it’s shot, a truly perfect shot.

M.P: I’m on fire

And the arduino and it’s soul did not stop there.

His next shot left Anatolius with 6 cups, then with 5, then with 4!

Kinsey was bursting with euphoria: Holy stars!

While Kelso looked in fear.

3 cups were left in Anatolius’ side

While the flurry of shots was taking place the demigod Anatolius could only stand and watch.

Needless to say, the son of Zeus was confused: What the hell is happening? is this the secret?

I… this can’t, how?

Why are these two all of the sudden just doing stuff perfectly?

But they are emotionless, they are just like...

Anatolius son of Zeus was in presence of  Mr. Roboto and Man project, machines doing what machines do, completing tasks efficiently, but through the eyes of the demigod, they were tearing off the humanity of the game, they needed 0 skill, 0 effort, 0 thought and had 0 misses they were going against all of which Anatolius wanted in a game and did himself, they were “anti human”

And that was an attack on a personal level.

Kelso’s voice felt distant and quiet but only her voice could make him ‘snap out of it’: Anatolius catch the ball!

Anatolius stopped thinking and only acted, catching the ball on the last second, while it was a good catch his bulky arm hit his two remaining cups and that made him lose the game.

Kinsey: Ahahhahahahha you’re supposed to learn from his mistakes not imitate them hahahah

While the Kurri was celebrating the victory, Man Project only analyzed and looked back at what they had done: We need to perfect our bounce shots. Is all it said

Anatolius managed to put his feelings into words: no emotion and total control, those two feel stone cold. His mind worked 100% for that phrase to come out.

Mr. Roboto noticed that Anatolius’ mood had changed and so he began studying him.

Man project wasted no time and immediately started off the next game with a score, and as it began, it ended.

Mr. Roboto and Man project had zero misses, with zero effort and with no emotion, what Anatolius had felt before had become real. A total landslide where the antihuman defeated the Anatolius in a flawless victory

Throughout the match there was only visible sadness in the demigods face and silence, well, silence apart from Kinsey’s overwhelming joy

Kinsey: WOOOOOOOOOOOOO

What broke this silent state was the end of the match and slight raindrops.

Anatolius stood there, reflecting and then noticed that it started to drizzle and then to rain a little bit more harshly, the rare cold wind from before now was the norm and the clouds started turning dark.

M.P: it appears that the weather won’t let us continue with our fifth and final game I propose we postpone it for tomorrow.

Ana quietly said to himself: How convenient.

Kinsey: AAAAAAAA Roboto you can’t get wet you're a robot!

come on we need to get you a rain jacket!

Kinsey grabbed Mr. Roboto by the hand and ran away to Celote’s

While Anatolius looked at them leaving, Kelso told him: We should leave here as well, it’s probably a good idea to rest.

Anatolius looked at the rainy sky a little bit more and then answered: … Yeah

Mr. Roboto took one last analyzing glimpse at Anatolius before leaving with Kinsey completely.