The Protagonist's Sister Is Actually The Strongest

After all of that, we moved to Yang Dragon Island with my mom, my brother, and my friends. On the way there, we also met with Zero One again, along with her sisters—well, three sisters: Zero Two, Zero Three A, and Zero Three B… or however they referred to one another. They were twins; one was given a physical body, the “main Zero Three” we all know, while her twin was originally a purely digital program. It seems she was given a body too.

The two Mechanical Trees are still active and working, so I suppose the Second Mechanical Tree managed to build her a new body using the same blueprint as her sister’s. She looked almost identical to her—small, cute, with short blonde hair—though her eyes were red instead of her sister’s yellow.

Both twins had similar personalities, honestly… Although Zero Three B was a bit more open, energetic, and extroverted than Zero Three A, who remained shy even now. I suppose it’ll take her a long time to truly open up to us. 

“Anna! We’re back in time for his funeral, luckily…!” Zero One said, hugging me as we walked through the forest of the island. “And I also got you something—a farewell gift, or maybe a souvenir… um, I don’t know how to word it.” 

“Eh?” I stopped walking, looking at the silver-colored metallic fox she handed me. “What is this?” 

“Touch the part on top, and you’ll see… I promise you’ll love it… I hope,” Zero One said, nodding. 

“Uh, alright then,” I nodded, touching the top, and then… 

FLASH!

A bright golden light emerged. The light spread through the cube’s circuits, finally opening the entire cube, which slowly folded back into a singular object.

Wow, did she transform this object into… Wait, what’s that?! 

“After seeing that you lost an arm, I got really sad… Even more when I learned you did it for us, Anna…” Zero One muttered. “So I thought the best I could do was give you a new one… or not? Was it wrong?” 

What I now held was a large mechanical arm, roughly the same size as my other one. It would probably fit perfectly where my missing arm was. It was made of fine, silver-colored metal, but I could see it had many components inside, forged using very hard materials—possibly even martial treasure-level ones. 

“Its inner workings are the same as our arms. I asked for help from the two Mechanical Trees for the assembly, and we worked together on it…” Zero One said. “Um, I think you can put it on easily. Your nanomachines will help it stick nice and clean, and it should feel just like… a regular arm. Um, is it weird? I’m so sorry…!” 

She grew nervous when she realized I was staring at it a bit too long… 

“No, it isn’t weird at all. This is amazing, Zero One! Maybe I was thinking about other things too much, but this is genius. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it…” I laughed. “Okay, I’ll put it on then!” 

I quickly moved the arm toward my shoulder, where my missing arm had been. The wound was completely healed by now. The moment my skin touched the cold metal, I felt an electrifying sensation. 

“Oohh?” 

A weird tingle reached all the way to my spine as my internal nanomachines began to move, reaching for the new arm and merging with it as tiny metallic threads. 

CLANK!

With a loud clank, the arm merged with my shoulder almost perfectly. A painful crunch followed as a cold metallic bone pierced through my skin and connected to my bone. With the help of my natural healing and the nanomachines, it fused seamlessly.

Steel and flesh, bone and metal, nerves and circuits—everything rapidly connected. I felt a tingling, electrifying sensation through my body… 

“Ouch, ouch…” 

As I winced, Zero One panicked, touching my arm and stabilizing it with her abilities and tools. 

“S-Sorry, it might’ve been too rough! I should’ve optimized it a bit… Ah, there… Does it hurt?” 

After her adjustments, it stabilized, and in that moment, it truly felt strange… like my arm was back, yet I knew it was gone.

It was odd how the brain worked sometimes… but honestly, I was happy to have my arm back either way!

What’s more, the metallic exterior quickly transformed, forming an outer layer of soft silicone that turned into a flesh-like, tender, yet durable exterior, just like the one Zero One and her sisters had.

It even had my own scent…? 

“It doesn’t hurt anymore. Thank you… And it changed?” I wondered. 

“Yes! Once it’s assimilated with your body, it will quickly grow biomechanical muscles, nerves, and skin to enhance your ability to use it further while also looking exactly like your original arm,” Zero One explained. 

“We worked pretty hard on it. I’d say it’s our greatest creation so far,” Zero Two added. 

“It’s at least eighty percent tougher, stronger, more flexible, and responsive than our own limbs,” Zero Three A said. 

“We hope this can be a good gift from us, and that you’re allowed to bring it back home…” Zero Three B nodded with a smile. 

“I sure hope so too, but don’t worry, I’m fairly sure objects can be carried with me,” I nodded. “Thanks a lot! You really outdid yourselves today, girls! You’re amazing!” 

As I felt happier, my mother and brother nodded, looking relieved. My friends, Wai Tian and Yin Sheng, seemed surprised. 

“Wow, your arm is really back! Machines are truly amazing…” Wai Tian said. 

“Indeed…” Yin Sheng nodded. “Thank you so much for your help, Zero One and her sisters. We owe you a lot.” 

“Ah, please don’t mention it! Fang Shuan also helped with his own abilities and even lent us his precious metal,” explained Zero One. 

“Oh, so that’s why it felt so natural. It can even channel Ki and Mana seamlessly!” I nodded. “Usually, machines would need specialized cores, and even then… it wouldn’t be as seamless as this, right?” 

“Indeed!” Zero One said. “…Huh? Wait, I could swear Fang Shuan was with us. Where is he?” 

“He went to the funeral ahead of us,” Zero Two said. “He said he would wait for his young master there… I don’t know what’s up with him, but he probably wanted to mourn the Heavenly Demon earlier…” 

“Oh…” Zero One muttered. “W-Well, shall we go check on him then?” 

“Yeah, let’s go,” I nodded. 

We walked toward the city surrounding the Dark Palace, where my father would usually reside. Looking at this place reminded me of the first time I came here. He was so grumpy, annoying, and ruthless back then.

He gave me a nearly impossible task, and when I completed it, he was forced to keep his promise, revealing a kinder side. He rescued me, healed my injuries, and even went further by enhancing my physique with his special acupuncture, helping me grow stronger in the process.

That’s where my journey with him began… How we fought the first time, and I beat him. I felt so good about it, but then I realized he was unfathomably more powerful than me, even in his weakened state, and that he’d held back a lot… though he never admitted it! 

Despite his rough exterior, he was kind, carefully calculating how harsh he could be with others. Sometimes, it felt like he was afraid of his own power and the harm it could bring to those he cared for.

So many things were left unsaid… That was my adoptive father, someone who always kept these things close to his heart and rarely spoke them aloud. It was even harder to get him to open up, even once in his life.

But in those final moments… when he fell from the skies, when he thanked Mother for loving him, I felt it was his most sincere moment. He revealed his true self—someone eternally grateful for being loved, despite all the things he might have done.

Which, ultimately, he regretted… 

“We are here. It sure is more crowded than I thought… There are even members of the Heavenly Court here.” 

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