Chapter 1218
[The Megastructure Fortress of Kadorum]
Chapter 1218 [The Megastructure Fortress: Kador-Umm]
Inside the cockpit of the Evangelistic Machine.
Xia Xiu held the control orb in one hand. The last circuit of the mental frame was slowly closing between his palm and the machine's central nervous system. Silver-white data patterns lit up in circles along the cockpit wall, then sank back into the depths of the machine through his nerve feedback.
He had been watching the battle from the frigate; most perfect embryos in the Fallen World were utterly defeated by the offspring of the Great Old Ones.
The same is true for Perturabo in the Lohos world. Like his other brothers, he was overwhelmed by the natives of the Fallen World. However, this cannot be blamed on them, since the game version of the Fallen World they were in was too overpowered, and the final bosses were all monsters in terms of stats or mechanics.
So when the Black Fortress stood up and unleashed a devastating barrage on Perturabo and his rebels, Xia Xiu used [Frame Rate World] to directly delete the frames that were hit by that shell.
Then, he pondered how to arrive in a cool way. He originally planned to use [Lever of Heaven] to summon the complete Heavenly Beetle and directly suppress the Black Fortress below.
However, after much thought, he decided to use the Gospel Machine to sort things out. To be honest, it had been a while since he had used the Prometheus Machine himself.
Laopu has also become a tear of the times... oh no, it should be said that it is a tear of the version.
Since he unlocked the [One Thought Transforms into Three Venerables] ability, he now uses it more often to control the Holy Machine of the Gospel.
Later, he discovered that the [Master Maker] and [God's Anvil] could further combine the three divinely bestowed colossi into the [Son of God]. His traditional mech battles gradually transitioned from personally piloting the [Prometheus] to piloting the [Son of God] in high-intensity matches.
After the [Miracle] mech, the T0-level crown-class mech, enters the Miracle realm, the pure stat boost it can provide becomes negligible. After all, at this level, what truly determines strength is no longer the mech itself, but the size of the [Miracle] itself.
At this moment, the sacred machine of the Gospel descended from the heavens and stood on this earth.
Now the time for the tyrant Damekos and his black fortress to show off is over. Although your fortress can stand up, it is like a "little girl" in front of the Holy Machine of the Gospel.
The tyrant Damekos, gazing at the mysterious machine before him and maneuvering the [Fortress Megastructure - Kador-Umm] beneath his feet, spoke warily to it:
“Outsider, what you have stepped into is not your battlefield. This is an internal affair of the Lohos world. If you are wise enough, leave immediately and take your mysterious machine with you. I can pretend I have never seen you and will not pursue your overstepping your bounds by interfering in the battle.”
Inside the cockpit, Xia Xiu ignored the incessant tyrant Damekos and simply used his great spirituality to scan the [Kador-Umm] in front of him from head to toe.
In the previous worlds, the offspring of those Great Old Ones were all rather ugly, so Xia Xiu referred to them as Ugly Number One to Number Three.
But this one in front of me is finally a little different.
The overall design of Black Fortress carries a distinct steam and heavy industrial aesthetic: heavy, stable, and dangerous. The massive armored walls, exposed steam pipes, nested turrets, and towering chimneys are pieced together, resembling a super-heavy siege titan that brings the entire fortress to life.
The mechanical style is very complete, and in some ways, it's actually quite attractive.
Its size is twice that of the existing 3.5 generation Titan in the courtyard, and in terms of the overall oppressive feeling when it stands up, it is even a level higher than the [Gospel Machine Prometheus].
More importantly, this thing has a complete crown frame.
Although that framework has not yet truly manifested itself, it is still in a semi-closed state.
Overall, if we were to evaluate this Black Fortress in terms of its generation, it would be close enough to be considered a fourth-generation fighter.
In terms of performance, it certainly can't compare to the T0-level [God of the Sea] figure. After all, the Colossus is a limited edition figure of the God of All Machines, with only three available. Collecting all three Colossi figures will unlock the hidden achievement, the bonus "Son of God".
While T0 is out of reach, ranking in T2 is perfectly feasible, and with further modifications, it's entirely possible to squeeze into T1.
Yes, Xia Xiu has his eye on [Kado-Um]. He plans to pull the other into his shadow and have him form a spiritual legion with the ugly number two for life.
"You overstepper, answer me—!!!"
The tyrant Damekos, who thought he was "controlling" the divine embryo beneath his feet, was still rambling on and on. Xia Xiu didn't even bother to listen anymore and said something indifferent to him.
"Fool, do you really think that by standing up there and issuing a few orders, you're controlling this engineering monster beneath your feet?"
His voice reached the other person's ears through the external amplification system of the Gospel Holy Machine. Damicos was stunned for a moment, clearly not understanding what he meant.
Xia Xiu continued speaking, his tone still steady, yet carrying an undeniable air of superiority:
"Stop pretending in front of me as a temporary host. Show your true self, or I'm afraid you won't have another chance to come out later."
"what?"
Damekos, who was abruptly interrupted, frowned, and for the first time, a genuine look of confusion appeared on his face.
The next second, before he could truly turn his doubts into vigilance, the massive black fortress beneath his feet suddenly changed.
The first thing to move was the platform he was standing on.
The high platform that should have belonged to the rulers overlooking the battlefield suddenly undulated slightly as if it had come to life. Cracks appeared on the black metal surface, revealing not ordinary mechanical structures, but layers of strange tissue that looked like a mixture of steel wire bundles and living transmission belts.
Damekos's expression suddenly changed. Just as he was about to back away, several thin, long things that looked like umbilical cords or hydraulic tentacles emerged from the edge of the platform.
Those things were jet black, their surfaces covered with rivet-like joints, and their ends split into rings of high-speed rotating mechanical teeth.
They gave Damekos no time to react, piercing straight into his back and delivering a chilling blow to the arrogant Damekos.
More black metal umbilical cords rapidly wrapped around his limbs, spine, and chest, while the rotating jaws began to work the moment they touched flesh, emitting a teeth-grinding cutting sound.
"What—what are you doing!? Stop! Stop!! I am your master! I am—"
Before he could finish screaming, his chest was ripped open completely.
The blood didn't spray out much; instead, it seemed to be drawn away by some kind of negative pressure system, flowing rapidly along the black umbilical cords into the depths of the fortress.
Immediately afterwards, Damekos's lower body was also dragged directly into the crack in the platform. The sounds of bones breaking, metal clanging, and steam depressurization mingled together. In just a few breaths, a tyrant who had just been loudly reprimanding everyone in the valley was reduced to nothing more than a head suspended by half a steel cable.
The head still retained the look of terror and confusion, its mouth opening and closing as if it wanted to continue speaking.
Then, a piston-like nail suddenly emerged from the crack and pierced straight through his forehead.
Snapped--! ! !
Everything fell silent.
Poor Damekos didn't even have the chance to summon his Dominator avatar in front of Xia Xiu; his status wasn't even as high as Mr. Night's.
At the same time, the blast furnaces, chimneys, and turrets above the entire black fortress, which were just slowly venting smoke and turning, also trembled.
Next, behind the main tower of the fortress, a huge mechanical ring slowly rose up.
A complete metal crown, consisting of gears, transmission arms, steam valves, volcanic crystal resonance modules, and heavy-duty track dials, is nested and interlocked, with its edges constantly spewing white steam and flames, resembling a space orbital ring.
The moment the crown rose, the entire black fortress truly came to life. The walls bulged outward, the turrets automatically calibrated, the massive main observation scope slowly rotated, and the pulsation frequency of the internal main furnace core began to synchronize with the mechanical ring.
Then, a distinctly mechanical, stuttering, and rigid yet exceptionally clear voice emanated from the entire fortress.
"Target...re-identifying"
"Unknown machine... Machine strength analysis in progress... Completed."
"Structural rating: High risk".
"Energy level determination: Above standard."
"Battlefield threat index... continues to rise."
After a brief pause, the voice continued, methodically reciting the words, like an ancient military-industrial complex rigorously executing negotiation procedures:
"Current calculations show that there is no direct competition for resources, no overlap in production lines, no conflict over mineral vein ownership, and no conflict over factory chain coverage between the two sides."
"Under the existing logical framework, combat will lead to increased losses for both sides while the gains will approach zero. Therefore, this machine determines that there is no need for the two sides to engage in combat."
It paused for a moment, then the mechanical ring continued to rotate, and the steam emissions around the entire fortress subsided slightly.
"The proposed solution is as follows: You leave the current war zone, and your machine continues to execute the Seria Industrial Integration and Fortress Development program. Both sides maintain the border, do not engage in combat, do not consume resources, and do not engage in unnecessary conflicts."
At this point, its scarlet main eye slowly locked onto the gospel machine in front of it.
"This is... the optimal solution."
"Oh."
Inside the cockpit, Xia Xiu became somewhat interested after listening to [Kado-Umm]'s serious yet clearly mechanically sluggish negotiation logic.
He held the control orb in one hand and tapped the armrest lightly with the other, his tone even carrying a hint of nonchalance, as if he were enjoying the spectacle.
"You actually know how to negotiate, huh?"
Then, he slightly raised his eyes, looking at the steel mother-body structure in front of him that had completely revealed its true form, and added with interest:
What if I don't?
The Black Fortress paused slightly.
At the same time, the mechanical crown suspended overhead, composed of gears, steam valves, and heavy graduated rings, also emitted an unnatural clicking sound.
It's like some kind of huge but overly rigid thought system suddenly encountering a problem that exceeds the preset model.
A few seconds later, the mechanical, slurred voice rang out again.
"Deep in thought..."
The entire black fortress began to rumble and hum.
A large amount of steam, like a data stream, spewed out from its chimney and exhaust port. The turret slowly turned, and the layers of armor plates on the outer wall, which were originally closed, slid open to the sides, revealing a denser internal transmission module and weapon structure.
A full minute passed.
It finally spoke again, but this time, its speech was noticeably slower and stiffer, as if it were forcibly stuffing complex conclusions into an industrial speech template that was not suited for emotional expression.
"Time taken for this thought process: 60 seconds."
"Conclusion generated: Your behavior... is unreasonable."
"First, you are not the original ruler of this plane, you do not have ownership of the existing industrial order of Lohos, nor do you have the legal right to inherit the existing production lines."
"Second, the main conflict in the current war zone is the transfer of internal power and the suppression of rebellions. Your forced intervention as an external variable will increase the complexity of the conflict, increase resource consumption, reduce production efficiency to zero, and make the overall benefits close to negative."
"Third, the machine has proactively proposed the optimal solution of preserving the border, non-interference, no conflict of resources, and separation of war zones. However, you insist on pushing forward the conflict under the premise of no resource competition, no strategic necessity, and no benefit from production chain coverage. This is a typical irrational behavior with high losses, low returns, and lack of industrial rationality."
"Fourth, the machine determines that your current goal is not resource acquisition, production expansion, mineral vein consolidation, or factory takeover, but simply to destroy the machine's existence itself. From an engineering perspective, this behavior is neither economical nor efficient, and it does not conform to the principle of continuous warfare."
After uttering a series of laugh-out-loud, template-like lines, the crimson giant eye embedded in the main tower of the Black Fortress remained firmly locked on the [Evangelic Machine Prometheus] in front of it.
Then, it seemed to finally give up trying to persuade and turned to violence.
"Final conclusion: The success rate of negotiations has dropped to 0.7%."
"Conflict avoidance has failed."
"This machine will activate its weapon system, execute the deterrence procedure, and, if the deterrence fails, conduct fire denial."
The moment the words fell, the entire steel mother shell fully unfolded, the chest armor plates split outwards, and the heavy turrets on the shoulders and back rose up layer by layer.
The two wall-like protective arms flipped forward, revealing a dense array of cannon muzzles, steam rails, shockwave launchers, and large-caliber howitzer pipes that simultaneously glowed with a cold light.
Its enormous arsenal was thus laid bare before Xia Xiu without any concealment.
It was as if an entire city-state was opening its chest, revealing its entrails filled with cannon fire and steel.
Faced with all this, Xia Xiu said nothing more. He simply raised his right hand, holding the [Gospel Holy Machine], with his five fingers loosely clenched.
The next moment, azure data cubes ignited in his palm.
The flames weren't scorching, but they carried an extremely high sense of structure, like countless weapon parameters and real-world projections being forcibly compressed into a single moment.
Then, a massive ship-slaying sword slowly emerged from the blue data flames.
【Shattered Flame - Manifestation - Om Messiah's Blade】
The Black Fortress stared at the giant blade held in one hand by the Evangelist, and the mechanical crown suddenly increased its rotation speed.
The next second, its voice lost all negotiating intent, replaced by the coldness and execution of a fully engaged combat mode.
"Conflict is unavoidable."
"The deterrence procedure has been terminated."
"Deny fire - Initiate!!!"