224. The situation of offense and defense is different.
Lidevidens stood firm. The might of his Epsilon-tier aura burst forth without reservation. In contrast to a Zeta-tier's fierce, blazing presence like the rising sun, the Epsilon-tier aura more closely resembled the cold, clear glow of the moon.
Chill and tranquil, yet simply by being there—like the radiant full moon—it was impossible to ignore.
"…It's often not the sun that lights up the night, but the silent moonlight."
Sophia Marlin gripped her scythe and spoke softly:
"Five thousand years ago, Leozi was defeated. Gaia invaded Haines, and the Farlician remnant has wandered too long, until the universe itself forgot we once ruled a brilliant civilization. [Society] has never stopped hunting and devouring us, forcing our total surrender to oblivion in history."
Frost and snow parted her tangled hair. That half-decayed yet half-luminous face gradually took on a resolute expression.
「Mortals—」
Umbra's body trembled violently. The Council had been destroyed, and the Mechanical Gate above ceased its descent. Ripples spread across the magnetofluid coating it, bristling like a startled porcupine.
「Power supply dropping—how dare you impede the arrival of Society's noble main body?」
It instantly issued an order to split forces, commanding them to wipe out Lidevidens at once.
"Mortals are the true Domination of this world."
Before Sophia Marlin finished, her figure had already crossed hundreds of meters. With a decisive swing of her scythe, she slashed at Umbra's massive form.
Vrrmm——
A magnetic shield flared up in an instant, blocking that fierce blow. Umbra casually flicked its arm, sending Sophia Marlin flying like a rag doll. Raising its arm that morphed into a huge cannon, it fired again and again at Sophia as she spun through midair, hurling streaks of green light that failed to land a hit.
"Without the backing of [Society], you're nothing but a wretch who betrayed your homeland and civilization."
Sophia Marlin tapped her toes in midair. Intelligent-guidance munitions chased her relentlessly, while ground-based mechs opened fire with ferocity, leaving her scarcely any place to land.
Umbra dashed through the sky multiple times, firing at her from all angles, only for Sophia to dodge nimbly or simply slip into the spirit world to evade.
But mortals remain mortals in the end.
「Attack patterns identified: slashing, hooking, rotating parries…」
Under Umbra's boundless energy and computing power, Sophia's movements were studied and deciphered.
「When stepping into the spirit world, there's a 12.6% chance of minor foot distortion—possibly due to her decaying flesh causing poor coordination…」
「Countermeasures prepared. Executing now.」
Soon, Umbra feigned a gap, letting its jet wings slow and reducing its overall speed.
Sophia fell for it, rotating her scythe like a helicopter blade. She emerged from the spirit world and lunged in.
Now!
Umbra deliberately refrained from blocking, puffing out its chest to take the hit.
"Hmm?"
Sophia's blow landed, but she felt no solid impact. Before she realized something was off, Umbra's body abruptly shattered.
「Mechanical Disperse—」
Umbra's components split into three separate fighting machines, scattering away from the attack. In midair, they instantly turned back around, striking from behind—firing all at once.
Bang, bang, bang, bang!
A precise barrage hammered into Sophia's ankle. She wavered, and her entry into the spirit world was interrupted.
「Mechanical Fusion•Transform•Magnetic Machina Deity Umbra!」
The three mechs recombined in an instant, charged forward, and—with rocket-driven elbows—fired their fists like projectiles:
「Rocket Fist!」
Sophia's movement was still thrown off by the prior bombardment, the plasma glow swirling around her. Her abdomen took the hit, full force.
Boom—
Sophia doubled over, swaying like a heavy sandbag. Then she jerked her head up, her scythe crackling with soul-flames. She flung it with all her might, spinning like a boomerang toward Umbra!
「Mechanical Disperse!」
Umbra repeated its technique, splitting into three yet again. Avoiding the scythe, they flanked from three sides and established a firepower web that pinned Sophia down.
「Mechanical Fusion•Transform•Holy Lance Cavalier 'Malansh'!」
The three combat mechs slammed into the ground, kicking up a snowstorm. In that moment, they fused once more, and as the swirling snow cleared, a silver-white knight shaped like a half-centaur burst through the ice. Bearing an energy lance, it charged headlong!
"A second form… three councilors, so there must be three forms?"
It was impossible to gauge from her tone how much Sophia cared. She still appeared half-dead and stood blankly in place as the mechanical centaur charged and trampled toward her.
Ratatatatatata!
「Judgment delivered!」
The lance's tip spun at high speed like a drill, piercing through air and space, blazing with a dazzling green glow that lunged toward Sophia!
At that moment, her body twitched grotesquely, like a zombie's convulsions. Her shoulders shook, and she opened her mouth wide. A piercing shriek instantly rang across the heavens:
"RIAWAAAAAAAAAAAA——————!!!"
The terrible sound wave shattered the snowy mountain in an instant, triggering avalanches of billions of tons of snow. The heroic soul army uniformly stepped into the spirit world to dodge, whereas thousands of mechanized troops had no escape and were buried beneath the snow.
The ear-splitting sonic blast practically condensed into tangible force, causing the drilling lance to slow as though colliding with a mire. It lost speed and momentum, pulled in and neutralized until it was no longer controllable.
「—Mechanical Disperse!」
The Mechanical councilors cleanly executed a third separation. Watt•Rivetsteel dropped to its knees and used its engines to roll around behind Sophia. Immediately, it smashed down both fists. Sophia's form sank into the spirit world, reappearing hundreds of meters away on solid ground, halting her dreadful soul-scream at last.
"Whoever created the [Eerie]-path ascendant, let them lubricate their pistons with thermite from now on!"
Watt•Rivetsteel roared in fury, its voice lacking any mechanical or magnetic resonance—sounding more like a gangster's hoarse rasp.
"Calm down, Watt•Rivetsteel. The more pressing the situation, the less we can panic."
Turing•Binary took a deep breath, looking grim. It—he—reflexively pushed nonexistent glasses up its nose, a habit from human life reemerging.
—This was not good news, signifying White Candle Star was beginning to develop an immunity.
The struggle between planetary civilizations and [Society] is akin to an immune system fighting viral or bacterial invasion—if it's not destroyed in one go, it gains data from the conflict. Even the dead viruses become part of its immune response, forming so-called antibodies.
Without restoring the Mechanical Council's ritual, White Candle Star would be immune to a repeat invasion by [Mechanical Society] for at least several centuries.
For an ageless entity like [Society], centuries are but a blink.
But what about them, the councilors?
The life span of councilors in Society was not much greater than ordinary citizens or tribunal heads, possibly even shorter.
Most crucially, if the main body of [Society] decides to withdraw, it can, leaving these physical cells behind to face the civilization they invaded.
Furthermore, in the eyes of that civilization and its planetary consciousness, they were traitors—infected, co-opted by the virus, guiding the invaders.
Any thinking being knows there's either zero betrayal or infinite betrayal; no one would accept them. Those families victimized by [Society] would exact boundless wrath upon them.
Coulomb•Torque felt a wave of exhaustion. Mortal traits were creeping back in, a sign that Mashgegang was slipping further away.
"Holy Mother Mashgegang, don't leave me. I beg for your guidance—show me what to do…"
He prayed incessantly for power, but was greeted only by murky darkness.
Mashgegang was shut out from this civilization.
Coulomb•Torque fell silent.
Even now, a larger problem remained unsolved: those colonized troopers were steadily advancing, splitting their forces along with Lidevidens.
And, most critically—the near-Zeta-tier Leoz was somewhere, watching it all.
Ambushed? No, their responses were sound; the issue arose from incomplete intelligence.
"White Candle Star, do you favor humans that much?!"
If not for White Candle Star's preference for Leoz and the Crystal Tower, if not for its ironclad secrecy regarding Leoz's intel—if they'd been able to track his plans normally…
But reality offered no 'ifs.'
Caramel Snail and the others had brought more than just the Zeta-tier Sophia Marlin. They also delivered several emergency-produced colonized troopers from Faithkeep Village, just in time to gear up the four remaining players. Reinforced, the players promptly launched a spirited counterattack.
They were back; once again, they were back.
If they fused to attack the colonized troopers and Lidevidens, Sophia Marlin would kill them.
If they fused to deal with Sophia Marlin, the Council and Mechanical citizens would be slaughtered by the troopers and Lidevidens.
If they split up, neither side would gain an advantage, and White Candle Star's antibodies would form regardless.
Worse yet, Sophia Marlin could exploit her mobility to pick them off one by one.
No matter what they tried, they couldn't break free from this trap!
"It's an overt scheme… Leoz exploited the information gap. From the moment that scythe-wielding woman arrived, his plan was set."
Hence, every move they made would lead to a slow annihilation.
Coulomb•Torque understood at last.
Leoz remained hidden in the darkness, watching them with cold amusement—like frogs in a vat of acid, their flesh melting, bones dissolving, no trace left.
His goal wasn't just preventing the [Mechanical Society]—dragging out the fight allowed White Candle Star's immunity to mature, driving [Mechanical Society] completely from this universe.
"Threading bolts and sealing gaskets… so crude and brutal… but damn, it works."