Chapter 1220
Pokémon and the Calabash Brothers
Chapter 1220 Pokémon and the Calabash Brothers
The [Black Smoke Womb Mandala] was output at full power for more than 20 minutes.
In the beginning, the perpetual black smoke dome above Lohos was as thick as a lead plate pressing down on the sky. Mountains, cities, factories, and railways were all soaked in coal dust and toxic fumes, and even the sunlight had a sickly yellow and black hue.
But as Kaspersky continued to extract polluting gases, drawing in years of accumulated industrial waste, toxic vapors, and high-temperature dust into his domain, the black smoke in the high sky began to thin visibly. The edges of the mountains were revealed first, followed by the valleys, city walls, and factory roofs. Later, even the color of the distant sky gradually brightened.
By the time it had fought for more than 20 minutes, it had almost completely purified the entire Lohos world.
The suffocatingly gloomy industrial sky has been replaced by blue skies and white clouds. Large swathes of white clouds stretch out again in the high sky, and even the wind blowing through the valley no longer carries that pungent smell of coal and rust.
On the ground, many rebel soldiers huddled in their bunkers, staring blankly upwards.
Many of them had never seen such a clear sky in their lives.
Meanwhile, the [Kado-Umm] high in the sky, after firing continuously for more than twenty minutes, finally belatedly realized a fact.
I think I really can't beat them!
What should I do now...? Deeply thinking...
Finally, Mr. Ka came up with what he considered to be the most reasonable solution.
The massive mechanical crown of the Black Fortress slowly slowed down, and the mandala cannons suspended high in the sky went out one by one, while the thick black smoke dome began to dissipate on its own.
[Black Smoke Womb Mandala] - Release.
"After continuous combat testing, firepower feedback comparison, target defense strength calibration and behavioral logic analysis, the machine has reached the final conclusion: Under the current state, the machine cannot cause effective damage to the target. Continuing the conflict will only lead to continuous damage to its own structure, without gaining any tactical benefits."
"Supplementary conclusion: Given that the target possesses absolute destructive capabilities, the fact that it has not launched a final strike for an extended period of time, and that it has allowed the machine to continuously extract polluted gases from the world and maintain its fire cycle while operating within its own domain, does not conform to the logic of a simple destroyer. It is closer to the disposal model of high-level containment, modification, or strategic-level selectors."
Therefore, the original judgment is corrected.
"The objective is not simply to destroy the machine."
"Further analysis shows that the overall value of this machine after it is contained, taken over, reconstructed and integrated into a higher system is higher than the residual value after it is destroyed on the spot."
"Based on all the above conclusions, this unit ceases resistance, terminates fire denial, terminates domain deployment, and formally submits a request to cease conflict."
"If you accept, this machine is willing to surrender."
In the end, Master Carter chose to be pragmatic and surrender when he couldn't win.
In the cockpit of the Gospel Machine, Xia Xiu raised an eyebrow after hearing these words, a rare occurrence for him.
Wow, this is truly a sight to behold. A descendant of an Old One who willingly surrenders—this is the first time he's ever seen one. Master Ka is probably the first member who, instead of being crippled by him, has chosen to join the Spiritual Legion.
Most of the ones he collected before were brought to near-death before being forcibly contained, but Master Ka's thing is different.
It was the first to analyze the pros and cons and calculate the gains and losses before it was even crippled, and finally honestly and voluntarily chose to surrender.
In a sense, this thing's survival instinct and engineering rationality are much stronger than the previous ones. Xia Xiu leaned back in the driver's seat, tapped the control ball lightly with his fingers, and a slight smile appeared on his lips.
"sure."
As soon as he finished speaking, the shadow that had been quietly receding beneath the feet of the Gospel Holy Machine began to writhe once more.
The shadow first slowly spread out at the feet of the machine, then, like a living black tide, it spread forward along the broken valley, the steel wreckage and the extinguished gun emplacements. There were no explosions or roars in the places it passed through, only a quiet sense of engulfment that made people instinctively uneasy.
Before long, the shadow had arrived at the feet of [Kado-Umm].
Then, I started climbing upwards.
First it swallowed the tracks and supporting structure, then the outer armor and the broken city walls, and then it wrapped up along the steam tower, main gun and main casting furnace, as if a whole black ocean was slowly submerging a steel city.
[Kado-Umm] moved subconsciously.
Its mechanical crown accelerated slightly, and the crimson observation mirror on the main tower brightened a bit more, as it sensed the terror of the [Vasak] spiritual legion.
But the next moment, it saw the hundred-meter-long cleaver in the hand of the Gospel Machine, and immediately suppressed the little struggle that Master Ka had just begun to have.
It obediently remained where it was, letting the shadow continue to engulf its body, becoming the fifteenth member of Xia Xiu's spiritual legion.
However, before it was completely taken inside, it couldn't resist trying to get some special treatment for itself.
"Current handling plan for the target... This unit accepts."
"The logic of patching protocols on individuals at higher levels and incorporating them into a higher system of management holds true in the current situation and has advantages in continuity and structural security. I have no substantive objection to this."
It paused for a moment, and its mechanical voice carried a very shallow, yet very obvious, implication of "applying for benefits."
"However, this machine has made a supplementary request."
"It is desirable that this unit, after being contained, not remain in an unknown subspace, in a closed storage, in a state of continuous dormancy, or in a state of complete shutdown for an extended period of time."
"This machine possesses advanced industrial integration, battlefield fortification construction, heavy ordnance production, pollution recovery, turret array deployment, mobile fortress adaptation, and atmospheric purification capabilities, enabling it to play a stable role in various war, development, and world transformation scenarios."
"This machine is fully functional, in excellent working condition, and has the potential for long-term service. It should not be left idle in unknown space as a disposable sample to continue to gather dust."
Master Ka said he didn't want to be locked in his Poké Ball forever, feeling that he was very useful, consuming little food but doing a lot of work, so he hoped to be able to come out and enjoy the fresh air more often.
Inside the cockpit, Xia Xiu chuckled; this little gadget was quite ambitious.
So he replied quite simply:
"Okay, I'll let you sit at the same table as the Courtyard Titans later."
Although Master Ka also became a member of the Spiritual Legion, compared to his brother Ugly Number Two, his treatment was arguably the best in the Spiritual Legion.
Actually, Xia Xiu's current acquisition of the Spirit Legion is not entirely for its strength and stats. After all, once you reach the Miracle stage, the Spirit Legion becomes like a chicken rib—tasteless to eat, but a pity to throw away.
His current acquisition of the Spirit Legion is primarily to fill the Spirit Absorbing slot in [Vasak], preparing for the attempt to achieve a complete miracle. Therefore, he won't discard Master Ka after he has taken him in and directly format his machine soul.
“I agree to your conditions, but for now, you should stay in Vasak’s Legion Space. I will decide on your organizational structure and position after I finish dealing with things here.”
[Kado-Umm] remained silent for two seconds.
Then, its mechanical voice finally rang out again.
"……accept."
"The current solution is better than continued confrontation."
"This unit is entering containment procedures."
The next moment, the shadow completely closed in.
This offspring of the Old Ones, whose flesh and blood consisted of steel, factories, fortresses, and black smoke, was thus dragged little by little into the shadow beneath Xia Xiu's feet.
The valley fell silent again.
After taking in the new Pokémon, Xia Xiu stretched.
The guy I encountered in the fourth fallen world was, at least in terms of aesthetics and communication, far superior to the previous ones. He wasn't a mess in appearance, nor was he like the previous ones, whose minds were filled with pollution, decay, and gladiatorial combat from the start, and who wouldn't listen to a single coherent human word after fighting for a long time.
Kakashi, a descendant of the Old Ones who can analyze pros and cons, readily admit defeat, and even conveniently purify the world's air, is frankly a high-quality example among his kind. Now that he's catching countless new Pokémon, it's time for the Calabash Brothers to take their place.
Xia Xiu's great spirituality spread out again, quickly locking onto Perturabo. The next moment, he raised his hand and turned it, and a spatial fold that converged into a ring silently unfolded.
[Möbius strip]
Space was folded, and Xia Xiu himself disappeared from the spot.
……
……
In the valley, the residual heat of the artillery fire had not yet dissipated.
The massive battle that just took place turned the entire battlefield upside down as if it had been turned upside down by a natural disaster, with collapsed mountains, molten steel, cracked rock layers, and still-smoking armor wreckage everywhere.
Perturabo stood on a high ground leveled by artillery fire, his gaze still fixed on the spot where the black fortress had disappeared in the distance.
Several of his subordinates were gathered around him, their armor and overcoats covered in mud, their dusty faces filled with bewilderment, clearly still reeling from the battle that had just taken them by surprise.
An artillery officer was the first to speak; his voice was low, but it couldn't hide the tremor in it.
"My lord, what exactly is that colossal structure that fell from the sky?"
Another engineering commander wiped the dust off his face, frowned, and continued, "The problem isn't just the machine itself; the person inside is even more terrifying. He's clearly not from this planet... He must be a being from another world, as legend has it?"
Is he friend or foe?
"If he's here to take over Lohos, then all our efforts have been for nothing more than clearing the way for an even more terrifying ruler?"
Someone else added in a low voice, their tone carrying an inexplicable sense of apprehension.
"But without him, we would probably have been crushed to dust by that black fortress by now. At least in terms of the outcome, he did help us."
"My lord, do you think his coming here is good or bad for the whole of Lohos?"
Pertura did not answer immediately, because he had already sensed it—he had arrived, the pilot of the colossal machine had arrived.
The air in front of him suddenly folded slightly, and the space was like a thin piece of paper that had been pinched in the middle. Then, Xia Xiu walked out from the fold, as abruptly as if he had always been standing there.
The rebels almost reflexively raised their weapons and aimed them at Lao Xia, who liked to appear and disappear unpredictably.
Pertuabo stared at Xia Xiu with his pupils slightly constricted. Like the other Calabash Brothers, when he saw Xia Xiu, something long dormant within him was awakened by some force.
Bloodline, spirituality, instinct, memory, and even a certain "sense of origin" that he himself couldn't explain, all pointed to the man in front of him at the same time.
The feeling was so intense that Perturaber didn't need any logical deduction to arrive at an answer in his mind.
So the next second, without the slightest hesitation, he gave a stern order:
"All armed forces must immediately lay down their weapons and must not offer any resistance to the person in front of them."
The order was given, and the surrounding resistance fighters were stunned.
Many people didn't even react for a moment, their guns still raised in their hands.
The artillery officer instinctively turned to look at Perturaber, his face full of astonishment.
"Sir, what did you say?!"
But Perturaber did not repeat it a second time.
His gaze remained fixed on Xia Xiu, his chest rising and falling slightly, as if suppressing some emotion even more intense than the battle of the giant structure just now. Then, he walked out of the crowd step by step, walked to the front of the formation, and slowly knelt on one knee amidst the incomprehensible gazes of all his subordinates.
The wind blew through the valley, stirring his cloak, which was stained with gray and blood.
The commander, who had just been directing the rebels in their attack on the Black Fortress, lowered his head and spoke in a steady voice, though he still managed to conceal a tension that he himself could not completely hide.
“I have been waiting for you for a long time. My wisdom, my strength, the army I command, and the land I am about to rebuild—all of it can belong to you. I only hope that you can truly see my value, instead of just seeing the hammer in my hand that I use to smash down the city walls, like everyone else in this world does.”
Xia Xiu looked at Pertura in front of him, but didn't let the child kneel for too long. He reached out and helped the child up.
As always, the old father simply explained his origins and purpose to Perturaber through his great spirituality, while also praising the other's abilities:
“I saw your performance just now. Your talent in engineering, construction, siege, production scheduling and war simulation is indeed very strong, and you could even say that you are very strong in all aspects.”
“Pertuaber, your domain abilities are similar to mine in some ways.”
"This kid's domain ability is similar to mine"—this was Xia Xiu's highest praise for Perturabo.
At this point, Xia Xiu paused for a moment. The old father was now quite curious about Lao Shi's experiences, since he seemed to be like Mortalius, receiving a script of loving father and filial son.
Upon hearing this, Pertua remained silent for a few moments before recounting his experiences to Xia Xiu.
"The first place I landed was a deep canyon outside the city of Lohos, where cold winds blew all year round. During the day, you could see vultures and the snow line, and at night you could hear mountain beasts grinding their teeth behind the rock walls. I lived alone in that canyon for a long time, relying on instinct to find food, water, and avoid predators. It was at that time that I first realized that I was different from everyone else in this world."
"Later, the herdsmen in the mountains found me. They thought I was both a monster and a miracle, so they neither killed me nor kept me. Instead, they offered me to Damechos, the tyrant of Lochos."
"Damecos gave me a name and a seemingly respectable upbringing, so in the eyes of many outsiders, he was kind to me. He picked me up from the wilderness and brought me to the city, turning me from an outcast in the valley into someone who could stand within high walls."
"But only I know that from the very beginning, he wasn't raising a son, but a tool."
"He discovered my talent in mathematics, structure, casting, hydraulics, ballistics and fortification design very early on, so he asked me to build canals, calculate the load-bearing capacity of mountains, deduce city defenses, and design siege weapons and steam power systems."
“Everything I made was taken by Lohos to fight. The city walls, forts, factories and transport tracks that I designed were all engraved with Damekos’s name.”
He raised his head and glanced at the dilapidated ruins of the black fortress in the distance, a faint hint of irony flashing in his eyes.
"Actually, I can do more than just these things."
“I have also designed better urban planning, thought about how to make the water system in the valley more stable, thought about how to make mines and workshops no longer rely on human lives to fill them, and thought about how to kick out those nobles who only know how to whip people from the production chain, so that craftsmen, workers and mine slaves can also live like real people.”
“I’ve even done sculpting, drawn structural sketches, and tried to pile up steel and stone into something that wasn’t just a war machine.”
“But in Damekos’s eyes, none of that mattered. He said that my greatest value was never in creating beauty, but in using the fewest resources, the fastest speed, and the most ruthless methods to help him break down other city-states, tear down their walls, and take back their factories and mines.”
As Pertuaber spoke, a layer of barely suppressed coldness finally appeared in his voice.
"I did as instructed."
"I led my army to conquer one mountain city-state after another, using my own designed battering ram, shockwave cannon, rail hammer, and mountain blasting tactics to ruthlessly penetrate their outer fortresses and main walls, allowing the banner of Lohos to be planted all the way into the deepest mountain range in the world."
"Those fortifications that should have been named after me, those victories that I calculated myself, and the military-industrial complex that was truly built with my blueprints and my brain, all ended up as Damekos's achievements."
"He received cheers on the platform, while I continued drawing in the workshop."
"At the banquet, he told people how he unified the mountains, how he reshaped the order, and how he made Lohos the most powerful city-state in the world, while I just stood in the shadow behind him, like a part that could think, manufacture, and grind itself into sparks."
Upon hearing this, many of the surrounding rebels involuntarily lowered their heads.
Because they know that these words are not an exaggeration at all.
For a long time, Lochs' victories, expansions, and the Iron Order were indeed associated with Damekos, but those who truly understand the situation know that the framework and substance of it all were basically built by Perturapas.
The tyrant Damekos was more of a figurehead to Perturapas; his presence or absence made little difference. His rebellion against Damekos was, of course, a matter of destiny.