A few seconds later…
The fastest-reacting Purgators had already fled ahead of time.
And as Aeon rapidly approached, more people began to sense something was wrong.
"What is that…?"
Wulianha Ashu, commander of the Yuan army and a martial artist at the innate level, immediately sensed an immense source of danger approaching fast. It was a visceral instinct — a life-preserving warning that came with mastery of martial arts.
Before he could react further, the source of that terror had already reached the skies above his head.
Though the thick cloud cover blocked his view, the skin-crawling dread he felt was like a defenseless man facing a man-eating beast. His body reacted instinctively — a shiver ran down his spine as his hand moved to grip the sword at his waist.
Many other martial artists in the Yuan army — as well as the slower Purgators — also realized something wasn't right.
One by one, they looked up to the Sky.
Then, before their wide eyes, the heavy white clouds above split apart like the Red Sea.
A colossal figure descended slowly from the sky, wrapped in layers of mist and cloud.
Illuminated by the golden halo of its AT Field, and with blue high-energy particle jets firing from its wing thrusters, Aeon looked nothing short of divine — even the blazing sun above lost its brilliance, reduced to a mere supporting light.
Wulianha Ashu's eyes widened in disbelief. He muttered to himself,
"What… is that…?"
The Purgators, on the other hand, looked like they'd seen a ghost.
"How the hell is there a mecha here!?"
Some instinctively tried to flee.
But Aeon, now descending from the sky, gave them no such opportunity.
The golden AT Field shimmered across its surface.
Layer upon layer of golden energy ripples began to converge at its forehead, forming a blood-red sphere of concentrated power.
In that instant, everyone below felt the looming presence of death.
"Quick—!"
Wulianha Ashu immediately tried to give the order for a coordinated counterattack.
But it was too late.
From within the red orb, beams of crimson light burst forth.
In an instant, they pierced through everything below, drilling hundreds of meters deep into the ground.
Then — detonation.
Hundreds of millions of tons of earth, along with everything in it, were obliterated and dissolved in the blast.
The sheer force of the explosion shook the earth itself.
Even the distant city of Xiangyang was caught in the shockwave — houses collapsed, temples crumbled, people and horses were thrown through the air in all directions.
As for those who stood directly beneath the blast — so-called innate-level and master-class martial artists — they never even had the chance to resist.
Their protective barriers, formed from inner qi, were shredded instantly.
Flesh, metal, earth, plant life — everything was destroyed indiscriminately.
The Yuan Empire's massive army, numbering in the millions, was completely annihilated in a single second. Not even a single piece of armor was left behind.
Moments later, the sound of the explosion began to fade.
Residual energy rose into the sky, forming enormous reverse cruciform beams of red light — each tens of meters wide, and stretching thousands of meters tall — which slowly unraveled into countless dreamy, illusory Deathblossom Flowers that drifted gently through the air.
Their numbers were so great, they dyed the entire sky a crimson red.
---
[Ding~ Main Objective: Battle of Xiangyang – Yuan Empire forces have been completely annihilated — Mission Complete. 5000 Reward Points Issued.]
[Secondary Objective: Eliminate Yuan General Wulianha Ashu...]
—
System notifications flooded in.
But Orsaga paid them no mind.
What truly caught his attention was the transformation Aeon underwent after its first "meal."
Because Aeon was a living organism — an extension of Orsaga himself — it shared many of his core traits:
Slaughter, conquest, combat, learning, evolution, and self-adjustment.
So the moment the Yuan army was destroyed, Aeon instinctively devoured their life force.
Its frame grew over two meters taller, and its mass increased by over a thousand tons — inching closer and closer to the ten-thousand-ton mark.
As the embodiment of Orsaga's most violent and destructive instincts, Aeon was akin to a savage beast — and this first taste of carnage and consumption had thrilled it deeply.
"It wants to devour everything in this world…"
As Aeon's pilot — or more precisely, its source — Orsaga naturally perceived this thought.
Aeon was like a newborn predator who had just discovered meat.
It was ravenous, eager to kill, eager to evolve.
But Orsaga coldly shut that desire down:
"No. I'm not done playing with this world yet."
And just like that, Aeon's hunger subsided.
Orsaga's will was Aeon's will.
When the mind has decided, instinct must obey.
Unless Orsaga himself someday succumbs to madness and loses control, will always supersedes instinct.
"The world's number one… hmm, let's see… what's the fastest route?"
Having dismissed Aeon's hunger, Orsaga began analyzing the intelligence he'd gathered inside Xiangyang.
Soon, he had a plan:
"Looks like the Fifth Huashan Sword Summit is about to begin…"
"Something about a ranking of divine weapons too?"
'Perfect. Let's go see whether their so-called holy blades can match up to my Ship-Cleaver or Electromagnetic Lance…'
With that thought in mind, the thrusters on Aeon's back roared to life.
Amid an earth-shaking sonic boom, it blasted off toward the distant horizon.
In mere moments, not even its silhouette could be seen.
---
Back in Xiangyang, the remaining Purgators — along with a few from the Yuan side who had managed to flee in time — stared dumbstruck at the massive crimson crucifixes still towering in the sky, not yet fully dissolved into Deathblossom Flowers.
Their eyes were wide.
Some were filled with gratitude. Others, fear.
In Xiangyang, one Purgator who recognized the attack's visual signature muttered in disbelief:
"Wait a second… that wasn't a Gundam…"
"That guy's piloting a freaking EVA…"
After a moment of stunned silence, he couldn't help but sigh:
"He's out here massacring people…"
The next second, the Matrix Purgatory's voice rang again with a notification that the mission had been completed.
"Tch—terrifying... The boss just carried the whole game…"
It was like joining a raid party, and right as your screen finishes loading — before you've even drawn your weapon — the boss solo-clears the entire dungeon.
He was both awed and afraid.
Awed by Orsaga's strength.
Afraid that the guy might just wipe him too, without a second thought.
As for the Yuan-aligned Purgators who had escaped, staring at the towering red crucifixes in the distance, their hearts were filled with terror and relief.
They'd barely escaped death.
A few seconds later and their names would've been added to the list of the fallen.
---
The native forces, meanwhile, were in a complete state of shock.
What had just occurred defied their understanding of reality.
It wasn't until three days later that the people of Xiangyang dared to open the gates and send out scouts.
What they found was a vast swath of land where several hills had disappeared… and in their place, dozens of craters — each with an average diameter of 1,800 meters, and a depth of over 70 meters.
The ground around them bore the distinct texture of cooled magma.
Later, the mortals of this world would name the event The Wrath of the Heavenly God.
They wrote dozens of versions of the tale, compiling them with other deeds of Orsaga into a mythological compendium that spread far and wide.
In these stories, Orsaga's rampages and massacres were all beautifully rewritten — murder, destruction, beating civilians — all reframed as divine judgment, moral instruction, or heavenly cleansing.
From that day on, Orsaga gained a new title:
True White Emperor
And as for Aeon, they dubbed it:
Red Emperor
Every holiday and festival, people would line up to burn incense and pray to them.
And seeing that it generated a decent trickle of faith energy, Orsaga didn't bother correcting them.
He let them treat this demon–turned–dark god like some world-saving divine savior.
Occasionally, he even handed out small blessings.
After all, they were nothing more than spiritual crops — worshippers who fed him power.
So why not? He had nothing better to do anyway.