Chapter 326: Cybernetic Abilities (3)
Treffen let out a low groan, looking up at the gigantic three-tailed fox.
“Wait, this is…”
Davi merely stared down at Treffen without a word.
Only the monochrome ripples swirling at her feet foretold what was about to happen.
“Allow me to introduce you.”
Lennok sat with his chin propped on his hand, looking down at the scene as he spoke.
“My partner, and the one who’s been taking control of the fortress for me until now.”
“…I’ve never heard of this. Such a monster has been inside this sphere all this time…!!”
“And the culprit who’s been slowly siphoning off the fortress’s power source without your knowledge.”
Not everything was planned and set in motion from the beginning.
It was the culmination of Davi’s computational power, which temporarily surged after taking control of the central processing unit, the immense power filling the mechanical sphere, and the cumulative experience gained from dealing with Gearsight.
It was the fruit created by building upon the entire trajectory of Davi’s existence as a Cyber-Electronic Spirit, all at once, right here.
The foundation was already complete.
All that remained was to deliver Lennok’s mana-infused lightning spell formula to Davi, who had been drained to her limits, using it as a key.
The ridiculously compressed mana from Thunder Convergence was, in fact, the final key to truly awakening the Cyber-Electronic Spirit.
Chzzzzzzzzzt!!!
The magnificent stature of the three-tailed fox, grown beyond the constraints of time.
As if sensing something invisible from her form, Treffen began to stumble backward.
A sense of unease that only a being whose body had been replaced by machinery could feel.
It was undoubtedly because he instinctively knew that this unique spirit, freely roaming the cyber-electronic world, was an extreme danger to him.
A calm voice flowed from Davi’s lips as she glanced up at Lennok.
“Master. Are you ready?”
“Who do you think set the stage all this time?”
As Lennok smiled and formed a hand seal, the ripples spreading from his feet overlapped with Davi’s ripples, beginning to resonate.
“I’ve been ready from the start.”
Fwoooooosh!!!!
The radiant halo of overlapping ripples instantly enveloped the entire giant mechanical sphere and rotated.
Only then did Treffen stop retreating and frantically drew up his mana.
“Damn it, no… No…!!”
It wasn’t the fox staring blankly at him.
The one Treffen had to face was the wizard above, looking down at him with leisure, as if toying with him.
In that fleeting moment when he quickly regained his composure and tried to lunge at Lennok through Translocation.
Lennok and Davi spoke simultaneously.
“Domain deployment.”
“Domain deployment.”
Domain Deployment: Spirit Resonance
Cyber-Electronic Hierarchy Mind Imprint Manifestation
[Dream Virtual Realm]
The golden kaleidoscope projecting Lennok’s answer did not appear.
The Mind Imprint of the Domain now unfolding was a mental landscape centered on Davi, with Lennok assisting and imprinting it.
It was the essence of spirit magic, usable only by a caster who understood and accepted that spirits possessed a heart.
It wasn’t difficult. The bond with a spirit, which could only be established through intimate layering via summoning.
That bond was already complete the moment Lennok personally forged Davi with his own hands.
The first creature Lennok created with his own hands in this desolate world.
That was the meaning Davi held within Lennok’s inner world.
Chzzzzzzzzzt!!!!
Thousands of electric fragments, rising from Davi’s body, soared into the sky.
Fluttering around and falling like snow, they were no longer mere electricity but drawing blue cubic surfaces.
Innumerable geometric lines extending between the faces and vertices connected the walls of the mechanical sphere like a spider web, forming a massive network.
The Cyber-Electronic Spirit’s first unique network, created by a spirit that only lived within the cyber-electronic world.
Its beginning was so humble, but the landscape of that world would continuously change according to what Davi learned and mastered.
That was the meaning of a Domain drawn by a spirit that did not exist as a physical entity.
But for now, this was enough.
It didn’t take long for Treffen to notice the anomaly.
Crrrack!!!
The tightly closed mechanical sphere began to writhe.
Immediately after, the sphere’s ceiling, covering the deck above, slowly opened, revealing the sky.
Treffen had completely lost control of the sphere, which was the driving force enabling him to form a Miniature Universe within his body as part of his physical being.
Furthermore, he had lost control of the sphere that allowed him to freely Translocate within its interior.
“From the beginning… you were aiming for only this.”
As he lifted his head, his face was distorted beyond recognition, mismatched with his rigid metallic skin.
“Not just the central processing unit, but you intended to seize control of the entire fortress!”
“Playing on a stage someone else built isn’t my style, you see.”
Lennok, looking down at Treffen, replied.
“I figured we could have a proper conversation only after cutting off your Translocation ability.”
The reason he could move freely within this sphere, despite having no knowledge of spatial magic formulas, was fundamental.
It was because this massive mechanical sphere and his body were synchronized.
Within the space defined by his body, it was possible to freely move combat avatars as if transferring consciousness.
That was undoubtedly proof that he had reached the 8th-level extreme, directly interfering with space-time as a result.
Treffen’s combat ability, which reconciled the two contradictions of strength and speed through his mass, compressed to the limit, and his movement ability via Translocation, was formidable.
But that miracle only occurred when this massive mechanical sphere was defined as Treffen’s body.
If so, wouldn’t it be possible to trap Treffen’s consciousness within that heavy combat avatar by completely seizing control of the mechanical sphere?
Fwoosh!!
Davi’s body moved as if disappearing into thin air, reappearing behind Lennok.
“It wasn’t wrong to concentrate all your power on that single avatar for combat.”
Lennok said, slowly rising from his seat with the massive fox behind him.
“But neglecting the mechanical sphere was a mistake. Did you think I wouldn’t touch it if you made it just barely able to maintain itself?”
“…”
Treffen must have had a plan.
Judging by his abilities seen so far, repairing the surface of the sphere if it were destroyed wouldn’t be difficult for him.
And if Lennok were to struggle to destroy the sphere and escape, Treffen would have thought he could just advance to the Central Outer Circuit.
But he would never have imagined losing complete control of the Mobile Fortress in this manner.
Because this very moment was the move Lennok had hidden to strike Gearsight’s fatal weak point.
Treffen, who had been silently listening to Lennok, raised his hand, but none of the components inside the sphere responded to his will anymore.
The cubic fragments Davi had spread, and the countless network lines extending through them, defined the entire sphere as her network and perfectly seized control.
Boom, boom, boom!!
As the sphere’s ceiling fully opened, the completely brightened sky revealed itself.
By the time the assault operation, which began at the end of dawn, was underway, the sun had already risen over the ground.
As the isolated space opened, hot sunlight poured down through the debris on the deck, and Treffen’s Miniature Universe faintly faded away.
Despite abandoning his human body and synchronizing his consciousness with this massive physical form, all that remained for him now was a single avatar, the same size as his human self.
“The City Council will want to capture you alive. They’ll want to preserve that evidence as a complete victory for this operation.”
Lennok said.
“If you abandon all combat abilities and surrender, your life will be spared. If you refuse… there’s no choice but to end it here directly.”
“I see…”
Treffen responded, staring blankly at the sky from deep within the deck’s crater.
What he was thinking beyond his transparent, glowing artificial eyes was unknown.
Having lost his loyal Defense Force, the Mobile Fortress, and even his newly modified body, what kind of ending could he choose now?
He must have known he was rushing towards destruction. He just hadn’t expected the end of that path to come so quickly.
“I have no regrets. There wouldn’t have been a better opportunity for me in the time I had left.”
“…”
“If I couldn’t do it now, it would have been impossible forever! I only regret not being able to take those loathsome councilmen with me as companions to hell!”
As Treffen slowly bent his body, his form burrowed deeper into the deck’s lower levels.
His back writhed, covered in an unknown jumble of parts, then massive steel wings burst forth.
Clang, clatter!!
“What good are an 8th-level divinity or the secrets of the Ascension Gate? If I cannot achieve my long-cherished wish here, I am as good as dead!!”
Boom!!
Fierce flames leaked from between his wings, fiercely pushing Treffen’s heavy body upward.
Treffen, who instantly escaped the deck’s underground and flew into the sky, looked down at Lennok and said,
“I will kill you here and move on. That’s all I have to do!!”
Lennok stared blankly at Treffen, then turned his head to look at Davi.
The fox, shimmering with dazzling azure electricity, silently nodded.
Bang!!
Lennok, without hesitation, climbed onto Davi’s back and leaped into the sky.
Thump-thump-thump!!
The giant fox, grown to a size of at least three meters, gracefully ran along the wall of the mechanical sphere where the ceiling had opened.
Davi’s four legs moved like lightning, rapidly floating as if treading on air.
This vicinity was part of Davi’s spirit Domain, a physical network space.
It was natural that she could not only move with physical form but also freely maneuver within the laws of physics, just like a spirit.
Lennok, who had instantly reached the very top of the opening sphere’s ceiling and landed, and Treffen, who had risen into the sky, met each other’s gaze.
A hundred meters in the air. The very summit of the slowly moving sphere, with its ceiling opened.
It was an exceedingly unsuitable battlefield for a battle to the death, but no one hesitated.
In the middle of the vast sky, where clouds were closer than the ground. Under the clear blue sky, both figures simultaneously stretched out their hands.
Kwoooooosh!!
Steel wings ruthlessly thrashed the ground, and lightning flashed in the clear sky.
Whitewashed light swirled, unleashing hundreds of shockwaves, but Treffen fearlessly withstood every offensive, pushing forward.
Flames burst incessantly from his back. His wildly flapping wings propelled his massive body forward as if throwing it.
Whoosh!!
As both his elbows began to transform, spewing out boosters, and his fist, a perfect combination of weight and acceleration, struck the air.
The sky in the vicinity was pushed back, forming a circular shockwave.
Thump, thump, thump, thump!!!!
“Haaaaaaaa!!!”
On top of the collapsing mechanical sphere, two superhumans unleashed fatal offensives dozens of times, drawing each other’s conclusions.
Even amidst the shattered balance, depleted mana, and constantly wearing components, not a single attack was wasted.
A storm of mana so intense that a single mistake could surrender the initiative and disrupt the balance of the offensive.
They continued their precarious tightrope walk, teetering on the brink of being consumed by the shock and spell recoil they themselves generated.
[Compressed Pressure Collapse: Battle Reversal]
[Seven Electric Flash Mirror]
Kwoooooosh!!
The firepower and impact unleashed by Lennok and Treffen passed straight through them, slamming into the sphere’s surface and the ground, exploding like bombardments.
A blinding spectacle of murderous intent and explosions. Incessant shockwaves echoed across the sky, sweeping away the clouds.
Treffen, spreading his steel wings and constantly closing the distance, charged, while Lennok parried and pushed back every offensive.
The intertwined mana patterns branched into dozens, hundreds of pathways, painting a dazzling blue rainbow across the sky.
The overlapping shock and pressure of the weight crushed space and distorted the field of vision.
“It’s not over…!!”
Treffen, with his iron wings fully spread and dozens of boosters attached to his forearms and back, roared.
“If I were going to stop here, I wouldn’t have even started!!”
A bitter battle cry resonated, and his heavy, steel body transformed into a meteor.
Even after completely losing control of the mechanical sphere, his combat power was truly formidable.
An immense amount of mana that his aging body could never withstand, and tireless stamina.
And the power of a body that had begun to extract the essence of machinery and modify itself according to his will.
Treffen, freely wielding these three weapons, was virtually a monster with one foot in the 8th-level.
He had lost the mechanical sphere that had made him inhuman, and the Defense Force that had made him a commander, yet his inherent might remained unshaken.
A realm reachable only by those who could truly face themselves in the fear of death.
He felt more keenly than anyone that he stood amidst life and death.
At the very end of a gap where time seemed to have stopped, Lennok gripped his mana.
With his will, he became lightning.
Fzzzzzzzzzzt!!
[Grand Lightning Belt]
[Ultramarine Company Thunder]
The swirling vortex of electricity in Lennok’s hand burst outwards, racing unimpeded across the sky.
[Eight-Shot Lightning Rain]
Treffen shielded himself with his long wings between the eight streams of lightning raining down from all directions, and the lightning streams stretched, transforming into lightning spears that plunged down.
Kwoooooosh!!
Explosions of electricity resonating from all sides.
[Magnetic Heavy Chain]
As if on cue, the sphere walls rising from the ground warped madly, rotating to seize Treffen.
Heavy steel chains gripped his wings, twisting to hold him to the ground, but Treffen broke through all resistance with a single twist of his shoulder and flew up.
“Let’s go.”
A meteor created from a steel body plunged downwards.
Wooosh, sizzle!!
The weight carried from tens of thousands of Mobile Fortress components. The force added to the speed and weight transcended what was humanly possible.
The mass, compressed to its limit, faintly bent and crushed space, tearing through barriers.
Crack, crack, crack!!
The shield, compressed and rotating to its limit, crumpled and tore like paper, and even dozens of layers of ice walls rising like a barrier behind it were breached.
He ignored the violet chains shackling his arms, the shadowy grasp rising from under his feet, and the shock magic that punched his jaw, crushing his balance.
Thud, thud, thud, thud!!
The power of the Miniature Universe that had allowed him to exist in this position, once known as Ironclad Treffen.
An extreme defensive Mind Imprint that stopped and pushed back everything approaching.
The power he thought he had lost when he discarded his body, twisted and mutated, now resided within him once more, swirling, pushing back, and receiving everything.
A miracle drawing a mental landscape, long forgotten, onto Treffen’s Mind Imprint, which had plummeted to the brink of losing his 8th-level divinity.
And from Lennok’s hand, who had been watching the entire process from a step behind, ripples spread.
“It’s time.”
[Lightning Seal]
Wooong!!
The Archmage-level ultimate technique Lennok first recognized as his unique magic and used in his awakened state.
The Lightning Seal that once vaporized Eden, the boss of Cigar Bang, now descended here, transforming into a blinding radiance that would sweep everything away.
Fwoooooooooosh!!!
The pillar of light erupting from his hand directly struck the descending meteor, right in front of Treffen.
“…!!!”
Dazzling blue lightning radiance swept over Treffen, extending in a long pillar of light.
A beautiful trajectory of light, like meteor showers painted in the distant sky. But Lennok had never forgotten that sight for a single moment.
Despite considerable mana consumption, its destructive power alone made it one of Lennok’s top-tier Bungsungpo spells used without his Domain.
The highest-grade firepower magic, which even Lennok required casting time for, finally succeeded in stopping Treffen’s charge.
Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud!!!
Shattered and molten components fell from Treffen’s body.
“Not yet.”
But Treffen paid no heed, regaining his stance and fully retracting his wings.
“Can I still fight for a long time?”
“Do you really think so?”
“…What?”
Lennok looked at Treffen’s face and smiled meaningfully.
“It’s about time you realized. Why I deliberately faced you head-on even after deploying my Domain.”
“…”
Thud-thud-thud…!!
Only the components falling from his body filled the silence.
But Treffen, conversely, found the answer in that silence and lowered his gaze.
“My body…”
Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud!!!
This wasn’t merely damage from the aftermath of battle.
Much faster than that, the components that had been compressed and assembled into his body were falling off.
A waterfall of parts pouring down at his feet.
The steel wings that had been incessantly spewing boosters from his back were slowly thinning.
Everything that constituted his new body was slowly losing control and disappearing.
“I see…”
Only then did Treffen realize what Lennok had done, and he nodded heavily.
From the start, Lennok had no intention of fighting Treffen to the death with his own hands.
Instead, he had been prolonging the offense and defense, buying time until a decisive moment arrived.
The moment when a fatal anomaly would occur in his body, amidst a fierce battle where he couldn’t divert his attention for a single second.
“Are you trying to take this body from me now?”
Small cubic fragments, falling like snowflakes within the Domain, naturally infiltrated Treffen’s body.
Davi’s authority, having penetrated the steel body, couldn’t seize his entire body, but it could disassemble the components that made up his body and seize control of them.
“Cyber-electronic space’s physical manifestation… In this space, all commands and authorities are prioritized by Davi’s will.”
Lennok stroked Davi, who was now wagging her tail behind him, and looked up at Treffen.
“It took some time to take possession of your body, bypassing your consciousness, but the outcome was decided the moment you abandoned your human form.”
Lennok stretched out his arm, summoning ten spears burning crimson, and answered,
“Once all the components compressed in that body are shaken off, this battle will be over.”