Chapter 295: Desperate Battle Against Avatar Machines
(Listen While Reading: Rising from Ash )
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We could have never expected that as we were crushing the machines, they would immediately throw some heavyweight right in front of our faces.
And a terribly strong one at that!
“ANALYZING HOSTILE LIFEFORMS… DETECTING STRANGE, ALIEN ENERGIES FLOWING THROUGH THEIR BODIES.”
The mechanical voice of a powerful machine emerged amidst the crowd of hundreds of them, quickly making itself distinguished by its different appearance. It was a huge and almost humanoid; it wasn’t like Zero One; it looked more like a machine but with a slight human-like form, but at the same time, strictly different.
It had six blade-like arms, sharp and overflowing with electricity, a silver and white-colored body with many neon lights of red and blue color across its body, and a triangle-shaped head with several lights.
FLUOSH!
However, the power it exuded was beyond just Electromagnetic Energy, although it had a lot of that—at least five cores to have so much of it—it wasn’t that energy.
No, that amount of Electromagnetic Energy wasn’t even the terrifying part; the terrifying part was that this machine had a {Radiance}, overflowing with Cosmic Energy.
How is it possible for a machine to have {Radiance} when they have no souls at all? Even less this outdated model that’s not even close to the complexity that Zero One has!
Unless…?!
“ELIMINATE ALL FOES WITHIN RANGE AT ALL COSTS. BEGINNING EXTERMINATION.”
[The Heroic Cosmic Thrones {King of Steel} celebrates that their champion has finally arrived!]
So it is the Champion!
Or even…
An Avatar!
“This is a Constellation’s Avatar!” I screamed. “CAREFUL!”
But it was too late.
I tried to be as quick as possible to warn everyone and attempted to conjure barriers.
But even now, that was too late too.
The thing, the machine, rushed towards Astaroth at lightning speed, leaving behind only a trail of lightning and cosmic energy before piercing through the draconic demon’s head with extreme ease.
“Ugh?!”
BOOOM!
His entire head exploded into pieces before we could do anything, falling from the skies like a rain of brains and flesh, only for his pieces of flesh to disappear into particles of demonic energy.
And then the rest of his body slowly began to dissipate…
“ONE LIFEFORM EXTERMINATED CONFIRMED. RESUMING EXTERMINATION.”
[The [Sealed Death Apostle: Astaroth] has died.]
[His Soul has come back to the Purgatory Realm and will regenerate in the next 3 Days.]
As if it couldn’t even take a break from killing Astaroth, he immediately moved towards Wai Tian, right to his left, his six blade-like arms swinging against her, aiming to tear her to shreds!
“EXTERMINATE HOSTILE LIFE FORM.”
“Aaah, dammit, this thing is…! Ugh…!”
Wai Tian dexterously imbued Ki into her claws, sharpening them to the extreme and enhancing their durability and power as well. She clashed against all six blades at once, using her martial arts to her complete limits.
However, the machine kept overwhelming her, covering her body with several cuts that electrocuted her body, even after having already transformed using [Divine White Tiger’s Embodiment (SS)]. It simply wasn’t enough.
And then…
“RAAAAHHH!!!”
Out of desperation, within that second I and a few others moved to assist her. Wai Tian gave a loud roar of desperation and fury, and a gigantic shockwave was unleashed from her body.
That was [Roar of Dominance (S)]!
TRUUUM!
“GE-GE-GE…!”
The machine suddenly flinched, making a strange sound as if its circuits were going haywire. We didn’t waste time, Zero One and I reached Wai Tian.
I touched Wai Tian’s shoulders, healing her injuries with a wave of celestial ki, a combination of several spells that I conjured, replacing them with Ki and fusing them with Celestial Energy.
“{Mystical Healing Arts}: {Complete Body Revitalization}!”
A new “Spirit Art”, the special Sorcery of Murim, which did not use Mana but used Ki and Spirit Energy instead, was incredibly complex and required me to combine both energies very well.
It was sloppy, but it worked!
“T-Thank you, Anna!”
“Assist us! We have to take down that thing!”
“Got it!”
She rushed right behind me as I moved towards the machine, which was only fighting against Zero One, although it was constantly questioning her.
“INCOMPREHENSIBLE BEHAVIOR DETECTED. ASKING QUESTION: WHY DOES FELLOW MACHINE LIFEFORM FIGHT FELLOW MACHINE LIFEFORM? ASKING QUESTION: WOULDN’T IT BE BETTER TO UNITE OUR FORCES TOGETHER TO DEFEAT HOSTILE LIFEFORMS?”
“I am not like you!”
It was trying to convince Zero One to join forces with him, yet Zero One was adamant in not helping, furiously firing beams from two cannons that surged from her shoulders at the same time as she clashed against his blade arms with her own blade arms.
She copied my own blade techniques, unleashing several Sunlit Arcs, Chaotic Blades, Starlight Shines, Moon Arcs, and more, spinning, jumping, clashing, blocking, and parrying perfectly.
Her potential was immense as a machine capable of recording everything easily and then immediately imitating it with her body!
“FUTILE ACTIONS WILL BE PUNISHED WITH TERMINATION.”
The machine flared with new power, Cosmic Energy and its artificial Radiance overflowing as its blades were covered with cosmic fire. Zero One was unable to catch up to its speed anymore as it quickly clashed against her, charging against her with tremendous force.
CRAAASH!
Small cracks started to appear over her arms, and as electricity and even circuits began to leak out, internal fluids were also leaking, as if she were bleeding mercury and liquid gold.
“Ugh!” Zero One screamed. “You’re so cold… So heartless! You’re nothing like me… Nothing like mother either! Who… Who exactly are you?!”
“INITIALIZING TERMINATION OF FUNCTIONS FOR FAILED SUBJECT.”
“Failed?! Y-Youuu!”
Zero One grew furious, her hand suddenly shapeshifting and becoming a huge draconic jaw, opening to unleash a Golden Dragon Ki Blast, exploding in the face of the machine.
BOOOMMM!!!
“GE-GE-GE-GAAH…!”
The point-blank attack somehow managed to finally damage the incredibly tough machine; small pieces of its protective armor began falling apart.
“EXTERMINATEEEEE!”
With a furious robotic roar, it suddenly opened its chest, charging cosmic energy in tremendous quantities. Zero One panicked.
And then we arrived.
Right at the last moment, just as a gigantic beam of cosmic energy rushed towards her!
I placed the Golden Dragon Shield in front of me and quickly reinforced all my defenses by activating many types of skills.
Wai Tian pushed against me from the back, helping me take the incoming beam.
And it came with tremendous force!
TRUUUMMM!!!
The impact alone broke the bones of my arms, making them twist around horrendously, but I didn’t panic, using the power of {Heart of Hope} to quickly heal myself constantly.
“{Demonic Seven Cursed Seals Arts}: {Reversal Seal: Temperance}! {Reverse Seal: Selflessness}!”
I quickly imbued myself with the power of Hope at the same time as I activated Temperance and also Selflessness. The first enhanced my fortitude and allowed me to resist any pain and torture, while the latter increased the regeneration of my health, wounds, and energies based on how much stamina I use.
And I was using it a lot.
“Uuuggh…! AAAGH!”
BOOOMMM!!!
Once the beam finally finished, a huge explosion sent us all flying away. The machine suddenly was crimson red, overheating and opening its crevices to let out large quantities of heat and steam.
“INITIALIZING COOLING DOWN MECHANISM.”
Frssshhh…
“Hahhh… Is everyone okay?!” I looked behind, finding Wai Tian unconscious and Zero One carrying her.
“I’m fine; Wai Tian passed out though!” said Zero One.
“Dammit, was the intensity of the cosmic power too overwhelming for her?!” I wondered.
Even if it didn’t even hit us directly, the sheer pressure and the intensity of cosmic power can make most people pass out from merely being below its powers.
Wai Tian was very strong, yet she ended collapsing at the end…
“Wai Tian, wake up!” I said. “{Demonic Seven Cursed Seals Arts}: {Sixth Seal: Martyr}”
I activated the sixth seal, the seal of the Martyr, as the Aura of gold and black activated, encompassing my body and hers and interchanging lifeforce. Wai Tian immediately woke up, gasping for air.
At the same time, through the powers of the Sixth Seal, I gained part of Wai Tian’s strength temporarily; her ridiculous amount of physical strength manifested as my muscles became larger for a second, and I even gained a tiger tail and ears above my head, made of orange and gold-colored Ki.
So this is the power of the Sixth Seal, born from the influence of the {Heart of Hope}!
I had given her lifeforce, my health decreasing almost by half, but it was quickly being recovered thanks to the Reverse Seal of Selflessness.
However, the rate at which it recovered was much slower than the rate at which the Seal of the Martyr gave it away; I cannot confidently use it to heal too many people at once!
But this is good enough for now!
“Let’s go; we have to kill it while it’s cooling down!” I said, charging forward with Wai Tian and Zero One.
“DANGER. DANGER.”
“DANGER DETECTED.”
“DANGER DETECTED.”
“PROTECT CHAMPION.”
“PROTECT CONSTELLATION AVATAR.”
However, a flood of machines suddenly surged in front of us; from above, below, and behind, they flew rapidly using their propulsors, aiming to overwhelm us with sheer numbers while the cooling-down champion remained still.
“Oh no, you won’t!”
However, the thunderous voice of Fang Shuan echoed behind them; his giant golden spear pierced through dozens of machines at once as he then released a powerful technique.
“{Golden Dragon Spear Techniques}: {Golden Emperor’s Ascension}”
A technique named after himself, how cheeky.
An upward stab into the heavens while plunging his body downwards and destroying several clouds in his wake.
CLAAASH!
A gigantic golden spear was swung upwards, and as a massive explosion erupted from the impact, a shockwave of pure Ki engulfed hundreds of machines at once, pulverizing them and even reaching the champion machine, destabilizing its cooling down mechanism.
BOOOM!
“GE-GE-GE-GE…! ERROR. ERROR. COOLING DOWN MECHANISMS HAVE BEEN INTERRUMPTED. ERROR. INITIALIZING EMERGENCE SURVIVAL BATTLE SEQUENCE.”
FLASH!
Suddenly, its neon blue light flashed deep red as it rushed against Fang Shuan, swinging all six of its arm blades against him at lightning speed and with extreme precision and speed.
Fang Shuan clashed against it with his giant spear; explosions of electricity, cosmic energy, and golden ki erupted one after another.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
“DESTROY. DESTROY. DESTROY. DESTRO-TRO-TRO-TRO-TRO…”
“You damned machine!” Fang Shuan roared; his body was constantly covered with several wounds, being shredded to pieces.
However, we arrived just in time, as I swung both of my swords at once, hitting the machine as strongly as I could in the head with a constant dance of several techniques.
A spiraling downward arc, a horizontal slashing blow, a chaotic piercing blow, a series of rapier-like attacks that pierced through its cracks, and then a huge slash with everything I had.
Yes, all the accumulated power I had obtained from Gram’s Demonic Stigma.
“{Demonic Stigma: Agonizing Power: Rank 2}!”
Ding!
[You have activated the [Demonic Stigma: Agonizing Power (Rank 2)] from your sword, Gram!]
[The stronger the pain you have gone through, the more temporary power this Demonic Stigma will give to you; enhancing all Stats by up to 300%, Damage Dealt by up to 600%, and Defense Ignoration by up to 60% at their maximum pain level, buffs cannot stack but will increase. Maximum duration per buff: 40 Seconds.]
[You have reached the maximum threshold of pain and damage; all buffs have been granted to their fullest extent.]
Gram suddenly grew in size, overflowing with Demonic Ki and becoming a gigantic pitch-black mass of power shaped as a blade. Further imbued with cosmic power, I swung it down furiously.
“ELIMINATE! ELI-LI-LIMINATE-TE-TE-TE-TEEEEE…!”
As the blade went down, the machine quickly attempted to escape; even as it had lost two arms and was falling apart, it fired three cosmic beams against me within that split second.
“Anna!”
However, Zero One appeared right there, using the golden dragon shield I lent to her and blocking the beams one after another within that time.
At the same time, Wai Tian appeared behind the robot and, with all her power, charged against it, her body covered in white flames.
“Don’t you dare run away, you COWARD! {Tempestuous Blazing Wild Charge}!”
CRAAASH!
The impact was powerful enough to send the robot directly towards me.
Yet even then…
“DE-DE-DE-DE-DESTROY-Y-Y-Y-Y-Y…!”
With an almost resentful scream, the machine opened its chest and fired a beam of all the leftover cosmic power it had against me.
It’s not going to cut it this time, though.
“{Thousand Blades}: {Demonic Blade Cosmos}!”
In that very moment, my swordsmanship reached a new height.
Just as I had used this technique against Blednica back then.
Once more, against a powerful foe beyond my level.
I had to use it all.
Both Gram and the axe-sword became one giant of cosmic and demonic ki, at the same time as a sphere-like domain encompassed us both.
The beam of cosmic energy was suddenly nullified, disappearing.
And the machine could only watch, as its entire body was split apart.
SLAAAASH!
“D-DE-DESTROYYYY…!”
However, even after being split apart, its internal circuits began to melt, becoming a monstrous creature made of mercury!
“Resilient bastard.”
Good thing this was my Domain.
SLASH!
“GAH?!”
A demonic blade slashed its body apart.
SLASH!
“GUH?!”
Then a second.
SLASH!
“ERROR.”
SLASH!
“WARNING…!”
SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!
And then many more came, slashing its entire body apart into countless pieces.
“GE-GE-GE-GEEEEEEEEEE…!”
As its mechanical voice lagged, every piece of it exploded, pulverized until nothing but ashes remained.
BOOOMMM!!!
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