Celine's crimson blood splattered everywhere. It stained the freezing metallic roots.
Brutal scrap metal pierced her entrails. Yet, that sickening smile never left her face.
She raised her blood-soaked hands with agonizing slowness. She moved them through the air with absolute calm, mimicking a bird flapping its wings in a deformed, disturbing ballet.
"Impossible... what happened? Celine!!"
Roxy roared.
Savage fury blinded her. The sight of blood hemorrhaging from Celine's stomach—paired with that hollow, terrifying smile—ignited the flames of absolute madness in her veins.
Roxy squeezed her fists with crushing force. She pressed against her own melted wounds until blood erupted from her injured arm and splashed across her face.
She ground her teeth hard enough to nearly shatter her own jaw.
Axiom of the Beast!
Roxy screamed with every ounce of her rage. She surged raw Axiom energy directly into her muscle fibers, completely ignoring the catastrophic internal tearing.
She focused her brute strength into her legs and launched toward Celine like a human missile.
Mid-air, the machinery and steel roots twisted like vipers. The entire metallic mass lunged at Roxy, aiming to impale and shred her flesh once more.
I will crush you, you absolute filth!
Paradox: Gallery of White Shrouds!
The dreamy, theatrical voice echoed through the carnage.
Before the metallic blades could touch her, a blank white wall erupted from the void, severing her from death.
Roxy's legs slammed into the barrier with bone-shattering force. The sharp crack of her fracturing bones rang out clearly.
Roxy crashed to the ground with a heavy groan. She spun around to find Camille standing directly behind her.
Draped in her elegant military uniform, her white hair ending in a faint icy blue fluttering softly, Camille stood smiling with frigid confidence.
"Quickly. Activate the Axiom of Boundary."
Camille issued the command with absolute authority. She pressed her slender palm against the white wall to stop the roots from shattering it.
Roxy grumbled. She slipped out from under the white barrier and raised her ruined hand toward the wall, positioning herself parallel to Camille—Roxy on the right, Camille on the left.
Axiom of Boundary!
The moment the isolation barrier stabilized, Roxy turned around. Her eyes burned with raw fury.
"Why didn't you intervene earlier, you absolute fool?!"
Roxy roared at the top of her lungs.
Camille smiled with a provoking sweetness, resembling an artist admiring her own masterpiece.
"The Emperor ordered me to remain in the command module... as a hidden chess piece. I had to wait until he permitted my deployment to the battlefield."
Camille's smile vanished. Her eyes narrowed with terrifying seriousness.
"The Xyroth viruses have hijacked her brain by fusing with her spinal cord. They are not killing her..."
Camille pointed at Celine, who hung suspended behind the barrier.
"They are exploiting her right now to access everything on this planet."
Roxy's features contorted in shock. Her rage mutated into freezing dread as she stared at the wall separating them from Celine—and from the horrifying truth.
—
The Obsidian Canyons of Sijistan.
Veronica stood waiting for her inevitable demise.
She pushed up her analytical glasses with her middle finger. The lenses continued to project an absolute zero.
Death is a mathematical certainty.
"Are you finished, Eve?"
Veronica smiled with glacial apathy.
Just as she finished speaking, the space before her violently distorted. A holographic portal erupted, and Eve stepped out.
A transparent blue data screen floated beside Eve's head, reflecting infinite streams of algorithms.
"All vital organs of the obelisk have ceased functioning. The Echo influence over them has been temporarily neutralized."
Eve spoke with her usual robotic coldness, entirely devoid of panic.
Veronica raised an eyebrow. Barely a moment passed before a second holographic portal tore open.
Oria descended from the rift.
She walked with her usual shyness, stumbling slightly in her royal gown across a hellscape she was witnessing for the very first time. She headed straight for the obelisk.
"What is she doing here?"
Veronica demanded, a mix of shock and anger lacing her tone as she looked down to observe Oria in absolute disbelief.
"These are the orders of The Emperor."
Eve answered, her clinical apathy unwavering. "He stated she is capable of executing a unique countermeasure, entirely due to the Pure Anomaly energy she possesses."
Veronica sighed and straightened her posture.
"So that is what The Emperor concluded... Calm down, Oria. Breathe. You can do this."
Oria jogged toward the obelisk. The scorching volcanic earth and her long gown nearly sent her crashing face-first into the dirt. She caught her balance, finally reaching out to touch the colossal scrap-metal spire with her small hands.
Now... I must do exactly as The Emperor instructed.
She took a deep breath. Her entire aura shifted completely.
Pure Anomaly: The Cleansing!
Oria screamed at the top of her delicate voice.
A blinding emerald-green beam erupted from her palms. The obelisk reacted instantly, violently discharging the exact same green energy in reverse.
Colossal cosmic radiation exploded from the collision. The blinding light forced both Eve and Veronica to slam their eyes shut.
When the radiance finally faded... the impossible had manifested.
The Black Obelisk had transformed into a stagnant object... a dead structure devoid of any threat or utility.
"What... what just happened?"
Veronica muttered in unprecedented shock. She opened one eye and squinted the other, keeping her hands raised to shield her face from the fading afterglow.
"It is the output of Pure Anomaly..."
Eve recorded the data as her screens flashed. "She has completely purged the Echo from its structure. This obelisk now lacks any Akasha, violating the absolute laws of the universe."
"I understand. So this is why The Emperor took such a profound interest in her."
Veronica and Eve stared at Oria for a long, silent moment. Their gaze brimmed with awe and shock.
Meanwhile, Oria looked down at her own hands with childlike innocence. She truly failed to comprehend the apocalyptic scale of what she had just done.
Oria smiled gently. Then... she collapsed unconscious onto the dirt, suffering the absolute physical recoil of her Pure Anomaly technique.
Eve's voice shattered the horrific silence.
"I am about to inform you of something highly critical, Veronica."
Eve stared at Veronica with clinical severity. Her eyes darkened behind her cybernetic lenses.
---
"What?!" Isabella shrieked with manic energy. Her eyes sparkled with absolute obsession.
Layla snapped her hand fan shut. She smiled, radiating a counterfeit sweetness that masked pure, lethal venom.
"Yes, darling. Eve graciously hacked the central memory network of the entire Junk Race. We extracted the exact coordinates of their miserable home planet. We dismantled their defense grids and topography down to the last miserable detail."
Kaori furrowed her brow. She shot Layla a piercing, stoic glare.
"If victory is secured, why does such a bitter frown plague your face?"
The artificial smile vanished from Layla's lips. Her eyes flashed with disturbing, aristocratic coldness.
"Truthfully... that was the good news. As for the bad news..."
—
Deep within The Whispering Forest.
"Layla and I extracted the truth from the minds of these metallic insects."
Camille spoke in a dreamy, theatrical whisper. She kept her palm pressed against the white wall alongside Roxy, staring directly into her sister's eyes.
"There are seven entities. They are called the Council of Philosophers. They represent the absolute apex of the Xyroth command structure. We could not breach their mental ciphers."
Camille tilted her head. A surreal smile crept across her face.
"And the tragic part... two of them are already here. They are leading this invasion vanguard on Planet Orion."
Roxy's eyes widened.
"So, you're saying Eve hacked the brains of the rest of the grunts? Don't tell me that means...?"
Camille lowered her hands. She casually canceled her Paradox.
The featureless white walls dissolved into cold smoke. Roxy understood the cue immediately. She cut off her Axiom.
The Cybernetic Roots abruptly collapsed. Celine crashed heavily into the dirt, soaking in her own blood.
All around them, the remaining Xyroth machinery dropped like dead weight.
Every dwarf assassin and surviving soldier of the Junk Race across Planet Orion collapsed. Their neural circuits shattered. Their systems fried in a fraction of a second.
Eve had hacked their minds and executed a global shutdown. They were all dead. The invasion was crushed. The battle was over.
Roxy ignored her shredded wounds. She lunged forward, scooping Celine's broken body into her arms. She glared at Camille, panting heavily.
"You said two of those heavy hitters were here... Knowing the Emperor, you're telling me he's out there right now..."
—
A barren desert on Planet Orion.
Raging sandstorms froze dead in the air. The very atmosphere submitted to the terrifying, absolute pressure radiating from The Emperor.
He stood with supreme authority, his hands clasped behind his back. Directly ahead, atop a charred rocky ridge, stood two metallic entities.
Two members of the Council of Philosophers. They stared down at him with algorithmic coldness and cosmic arrogance.
"So, you truly represent the pinnacle of power for this junkyard filth?"
The Emperor spoke. His absolute disdain crushed the silence of the wasteland.
A sadistic, terrifying grin stretched across his face. It was the dark smile of a supreme tyrant who had finally found prey worthy of being crushed.
He erupted into a vicious, roaring laugh. The bedrock violently fractured beneath his boots.
"This looks highly entertaining."