212. Heaven-Sent Soldiers
The moment [Remaining Moon] Omega Energy activated, Turing Binary was immediately dimensionally reduced—banished into two-dimensional space.
As a high-risk Sequence Omega Energy, [Remaining Moon] is most dangerous for its absolute dominance over weaker foes. Anyone below its tier cannot possibly withstand [Remaining Moon]. Against lower tiers, all resistance is feeble, ending in capture and sealing into the second dimension.
[Remaining Moon] also has clear drawbacks.
In its underdeveloped state, [Remaining Moon] lacks direct killing power. Confronting an opponent at its own tier, it can be flexible but lacks invasive force—just like Remaining Moon himself.
"With that, two councilors are taken out upfront. It could affect the descent of [Mechanical Society]'s main body…"
Even with a preemptive strike, Li Aozi's predicament wasn't easy.
The instant Li Aozi succeeded with his attack, the Zeta-tier Quantum Machinist councilor, Coulomb Torque, abruptly sprang into action.
His body instantly shifted into a quantum state, leaping through the surrounding space. Here, the laws of time and space had been rewritten. Coulomb Torque's body possessed properties of both particles and waves, freely hopping about. He then ricocheted, leaving a string of oscillating trails. In such a domain, space-time was just a discrete field of energy with no physicality, rendering Li Aozi's freeze ineffective.
Li Aozi immediately deployed [Truth Eye]—which triggered an "observation," altering the space-time that Coulomb Torque occupied.
As he tried reading Coulomb Torque's info panel, the data was destroyed and regenerated as new data.
In the end, Li Aozi's display showed only meaningless information.
[Tsk—without having studied "Quantum Spacetime," and lacking developed Gravity or Remaining Moon powers…]
Thinking that, Li Aozi didn't hesitate. A wave of Gravity swept outward in an attempt to catch the enemy's form.
Unlike Remaining Moon's direct cross-dimensional shifts, Gravity can cross space-time. It's basic knowledge Li Aozi learned in his education.
Quantum realms certainly contain gravity, but quantum gravity and quantum spacetime—such topics in "Star Abyss" are advanced professional knowledge Li Aozi hasn't encountered or been able to learn.
Hence, Li Aozi decided to rely on his extensive gaming experience to solve the problem.
Gravitational waves washed across all realms, sending ripples outward.
"—Huh, saturating the field with gravity? How laughable. Crude brute force without precision will accomplish nothing."
Coulomb Torque instantly detected Li Aozi's attack. But the random gravitational force barely scratched him—it only further scrambled space-time.
Entering combat mode, and with [Truth Eye] unable to track his target, Li Aozi decisively opted for a new tactic:
Remaining Moon • Dimensional Barrier!
Spreading his hands, he tore outward, laying down an invisible, impassable wall across the ground. In a flash, all incoming fire was sealed outside the barrier.
"You're free to run." Li Aozi said calmly. "Let's see how long you can keep at it."
'What is this guy up to?'
Coulomb Torque felt a premonition. His emotional module flagged unrest, and data networks began a flurry of analysis.
'Not good—the parliament!'
Li Aozi gave a slight gesture with one finger.
Time resumed its flow.
The dimensional barrier tilted and collapsed, instantly flattening countless mechanical troops into a two-dimensional plane. With their fire net disabled, the rapidly descending celestial object overhead plunged toward the ground unchecked!
'No!'
Coulomb Torque dashed out of his quantum realm. His frame expanded in a burst of energy, thrusters on his back flaring wildly as he shot upward to intercept the falling meteor.
But no matter his quick reaction, he couldn't outrun Gravity.
Li Aozi tore open a temporal ripple, blinking right before Coulomb Torque. The very instant his foe thrust his palm out to halt the blazing meteor, Li Aozi emerged from the rift. Without mercy, he planted a brutal kick into Coulomb Torque's face!
Boom!
Coulomb Torque tumbled away. In that critical moment, he raised both arms, flipping open his wrists to reveal launch rails. Instantly, he fired two glaring rockets that slammed into the side of the meteor. Their top-mounted drills spun as the thrusters spewed flames, pushing the meteor off its path.
This was the limit of what he could do, even with Zeta-tier attributes in Li Aozi's manipulated space-time.
Yet before Coulomb Torque could catch his breath, Li Aozi's voice rang out through his communicator:
"What are you looking at?!"
Quantum Shift!
Watt's electronic eyes shrank abruptly, and all his mechanical parts compressed, plunging him into a quantum realm again.
Zing!
The fierce blade strike cut empty air. Li Aozi clicked his tongue in frustration.
[Without an Epsilon-tier foundation, my stats still lag a true Zeta-tier.]
It was pure stat deficiency. Despite his countermeasures, a Zeta-tier councilor from the Mechanical side could still escape.
With that, his plan for a lightning assault to wipe out the Mechanical Council in one go had failed.
「Leoz… that councilor's Zeta-tier. You're no match for him.」
Jania spoke uneasily:
「The aura of Society is overwhelming here; the primal essence is practically overflowing. In this environment, everything favors them. We can't possibly take on their entire army.」
"No."
Li Aozi planted his longsword into the ground, standing atop the mountain peaks. Behind him, the meteor plunged earthward, radiant flames trailing as it crashed into the Mechanical Council's manufacturing complex.
Rumble…
The ground shook violently. A powerful shockwave ripped through the area with deafening force, like hundreds of atomic detonations lighting the dark sky. Far-off seas howled; even in space over a million kilometers away, echoes of the blast resounded.
"They are our strong army, heroically clashing with these mechanical parasites!"
Fragments of the meteor flared red-hot as they scattered in all directions. The ensuing cataclysm laid unprecedented devastation upon the laboring Society citizens. Factories toppled one by one, and the reverberating force in the shockwave battered the colossal complex—an absolute nightmare scenario.
Mechanical citizens crawled from the wreckage. As machines, they knew no fear. Their consciousness was stored in the Council. Under absolute orders, they quickly rallied, organizing in dense formations to repair the plants, muster forces, and save each other.
But this calamity was merely an opening act.
As the meteor fully detonated, pungent sulfurous fumes filled the air, scorching radiation spilling everywhere. The iron earth twisted and melted.
Clank—Clank—
[Mashgegangneeds me; I serve Mechanical Society. No pay? No problem; labor is happiness, buzz-buzz-buzz…]
A Mechanical miner toiled away, hammering with all its might, humming a self-composed synthetic tune.
As a lowly citizen, it had no choice but to step up in crisis. Busy salvaging precious raw materials from the ruins to secure the Council's safety and Mother Marshgurgon's descent, it suddenly spotted something besides alloys and polymers—flesh.
Drip… Drip…
Sticky, wet, crimson fluid crept along the ground beneath its feet.
Buzz.
The miner lifted its gaze, following the spreading pool of blood. Its camera pivoted slowly, ignoring the smoldering debris and the cargo drones overhead, moving toward the meteor's crater—
Snap!
A powerful exoskeletal arm clamped down on its camera probe. A sudden surge of blood-pressure hydraulics crushed the miner to scraps.
Huff… Huff…
Deep, ragged breaths resounded. A towering, menacing form disengaged its cloaking, wreathed in flames, revealing itself.
Sizzle…
Standing about 2.5 meters tall, the exoskeletal soldier's shoulder blades opened vents, spraying fire suppressant to douse the flames. Its biological shell and crimson-black crystal plating emerged. The pilot inside tilted his head as the faceplate parted, revealing the excited features of Dragon City Dungeon, the [Board Game Club] guild leader:
"Whoa—this thing absolutely shreds Beta-tier robots!"
Speaking, he purged crimson coolant from the exosuit. The inbuilt [Bloodline] Omega Energy granted 300 points in [Strength], pushing the motor power beyond an aircraft carrier's might.
And that wasn't all.
Before long, many combat machines noticed the slaughter at hand, responding fast. Within a second, they dispatched squads of autonomous fighters—wolf-like killing machines boasting extreme range and auto-targeting. Dragon City Dungeon barely peeked out before being hammered by lasers and wandering explosives.
The repeated bombardment hit Dragon City Dungeon, and his UI popped up with pitifully small numbers: -1, -4, -19 (Critical)…
"Wow, that's some fierce firepower…"
Even though the actual damage didn't even measure up to "scratch therapy," the blasts still hindered his vision and momentum. The exosuit's durability wasn't very high, so the barrage pinned him down and stopped him from advancing.
"Let's see… geez, so many skills: Bioplasma Cannon, Chemical Flame Sprayer, Hormone Communication, Armor-Piercing Bone Spines… complicated! Let's try this one!"
Dragon City Dungeon casually raised a hand.
[Inbuilt Omega Energy • Remaining Moon: Dimensional Bombardment]
From his palm, a flower-like rift blossomed open, revealing a clear blue glow within.
Remaining Moon warped and cleared the space before his palm, then unleashed a dazzling ring of light outward.