The protagonist's fighting cutscene CG had been seen by players many times.
However, the moves used to beat people were never the same each time. Uh… the people getting beaten were also never the same.
Midway through, Seele also joined in. With March 7th's Six-Phased Ice providing auxiliary defense, they quickly knocked down all the IPC employees.
Watching this group of guys flee as if rolling away, Stelle finally patted the hem of her clothes that hung down to her legs and curled her lips with disdain.
"Tch… A bunch of paper tigers. I told you, March. There was no need to call Leon over for such a small matter."
"That's what you say, but reporting our whereabouts to our senior and maintaining contact at all times is a good habit during Trailblaze journeys."
March 7th put away her phone.
"I gave him a simple summary of the situation here."
Stelle: "What did he say?"
March 7th: "Leon said as long as we have a justified reason, we can hit the IPC employees however we want. He'll take responsibility for any consequences. If there's no justified reason…"
"Then we can't hit them." Stelle said casually.
"…No, he still said feel free to hit them…"
Upon hearing this, Stelle's little face stiffened slightly.
She was still too conservative. She needed to strive for further progress.
It seemed Leon also really disliked the IPC guys.
After thinking briefly, she had a relatively reliable guess in her mind.
The Interastral Peace Corporation was nominally a follower of Qlipoth the Preservation, a major faction practicing on the Path of Preservation.
Yet many of their actions were not Preservation at all.
Leon had once said that Pathstriders' personal will was free. Using power to do things that violated the original drive and nature of the Path wouldn't have any side effects.
At most, it would just make it harder to go further on that Path.
But even so, the things IPC employees did couldn't be completely opposite to Preservation, right?
On top of that, Leon had once walked the path of salvation. It would be strange if he could tolerate some of the IPC's actions.
"That makes it easy. Before making a move, we stack up some taunt buffs first. After all, even when beating a dog, you have to consider its owner. Topaz hasn't shown any hostility yet, so it's not good for us to strike first."
Stelle did not become arrogant just because her senior was protective and sided with his own people, to the point of disregarding others.
She still had to pay some attention to human relationships and worldly matters.
Back to the main topic.
"Seele, what do you say next? Enter the Great Mining Area and deal with the IPC guys inside?"
"Yes. Sorry to trouble you two with helping us."
"It's a small matter. Those guys are unreasonable. We, the helpful Nameless, won't just stand by and watch."
March 7th smiled and turned her gaze to Stelle.
"Solve the IPC issue early so we can enjoy the festival atmosphere sooner."
"Let's go. Time to drive the IPC's tag-alongs out of the Lower District."
[So satisfying.]
[It really is a little satisfying, and the combat feels good too. One swing takes out three.]
Aside from the victory CG, the battle process provided a trial for the plot characters.
Stelle's attack power was at the level of instantly clearing mobs. Every strike took out three IPC employees.
Not only did players get to experience the satisfaction of wave-clearing, it also deepened their immersion in the plot.
Of course, the main reason players felt satisfied wasn't because of the turn-based combat.
It was because—
Although Stelle and March 7th were still driven by quests to decide what to do in the next segment of the plot.
Their performance in the story was not passive. There were no scenes where they could only counterattack after someone else attacked first.
Instead, their subjective initiative was maxed out. If words didn't align, they wouldn't waste another sentence. When the opportunity came, they would strike like thunder.
This matched what Himeko had once said—
The Nameless do not cause trouble, but they are not afraid of it either.
Just as the players were preparing to head to the Great Mining Area, continuing to crave the satisfaction of combat and plot, the plot perspective suddenly shifted.
[At the same time, in Svarog's settlement…]
Svarog's mechanical pupils flashed with vigilant red light as he watched the guest walking over alone.
"Hi! Mr. Svarog, right?"
Topaz stepped into the courtyard with light steps.
Her voice was clear and crisp as her gaze swept past Svarog and landed on the girl beside him.
"This cute little girl next to you must be little sister Clara."
A trace of doubt flashed across Clara's little face.
"Big… Big sister, hello. May I ask who you are?"
"Hello, my name is Topaz." Topaz's smile became brighter. "I'm here to talk to Mr. Svarog about some matters."
Svarog: "Clara, go back to the mansion and wait for me."
"Huh?"
Clara blinked in confusion: "But Mr. Svarog, if there's a guest…"
"She is not a guest, nor is she a friend."
Svarog's tall body completely blocked her.
"Go back and wait for me, Clara. It will be fine. Don't worry."
Clara seemed to realize something. She nodded and walked back into the house.
Topaz watched the girl leave, a few traces of deeper meaning flashing across her face.
"It seems my information was correct."
She brushed the stray hair at her temples.
"A strong, unbreakable bond has formed between a large robot and a little girl. What a heartwarming story."
Svarog's gaze fell on the badge on Topaz's chest.
"That is the emblem of the Interastral Peace Corporation. You are from the IPC. Why have you appeared here?"
"Oh?"
A trace of surprise flashed in Topaz's eyes.
She actually knew about the IPC. That could save a lot of words.
"It seems communicating with you can skip a lot of formalities. That's great."
She put away her smile and went straight to the point.
"Jarilo-VI — are you familiar with this name? In short, this planet will soon become the property of the IPC."
"No one can change this outcome. Not you, not those three Nameless, and not any force in the galaxy."
"Right now, I'm only considering one thing: letting the IPC shareholders see the value of this planet as much as possible."
"Only by doing this can we guarantee Belobog's long-term interests. I need your assistance to achieve this goal."
"Long-term interests — concept vague, evaluating…"
Red light flickered in Svarog's eyes. After a moment, it dimmed.
"Evaluation failed. Tell me, Emissary — how do you plan to persuade the IPC leadership."
"Simple. I'll show you something."
Topaz took out a pitch-black cube with golden patterns flowing across its surface.
"This is…" A subtle fluctuation appeared in Svarog's mechanical voice.
"Source code."
Topaz gently tossed and caught the cube.
"To be precise, it is something that can grant unified control over all mechanical units in Belobog.
"In the past seven hundred years, all the automatons manufactured in Belobog have used the IPC's underlying system…"
While Topaz was talking with Svarog, on the back side of the building out of the players' view, Leon couldn't help but glance sideways.
So that was how it was.
No wonder he had felt that the action logic of those machines was highly similar to IPC machines when he first arrived.
He hadn't looked into it deeply before because the Creation Engine that Cocolia had controlled had running logic that was not similar in the slightest.
This was strange…
Was Topaz deliberately mentioning this as a bargaining chip for blackmail?
Leon patiently continued listening.