Chapter 91 – The Prelude to Chaos (7)
Damn it.
I’m not dead.
***
I open my eyes.
There’s a gap in my memory from the last few seconds. I reassess the situation.
The finest computational device I possess, my brain, has suffered irreparable damage. The auxiliary devices connected to it are also malfunctioning.
Talo currently thinking is a digitized personality of the auxiliary brain chip that backs up the main brain’s memories in real time—in other words, a cybernetic self.
With the help of the Yellow Thunder Tower, I succeeded in creating an almost perfect self-copy early on, but since the chip’s computational power is inferior to my original brain, I had prepared it as a contingency—an emergency self.
A powerful magic binds the soul that was about to depart. Necromantic rituals continue. What they will use as the reliquary is, of course, the magical core connected to my brain chip.
The time from brain damage to soul bonding is just a few seconds. During that time, the defense is handled by an automatically activated artifact.
A physical barrier is instantly erected after a short-range teleportation. Backup Talo checks the condition of the body.
‘Might as well consider everything above the neck useless.’
The auxiliary computation devices, finely tuned to the brain’s wavelength, have become useless as auxiliary tools with the brain destroyed. I’ll have to find another use for them.
Naturally, the spatial alchemy I maintained using my computation ability also becomes null. Talo’s judgment is swift.
Before all the spatial alchemy is undone, I prepare the weapon most suitable for combat.
He scattered magic across the entire barrier. The ground, tinted in silver, begins to rise. Centering on Talo, even the atmosphere was alchemized, forming a massive silver sphere.
From the sky, from the ground, the alchemized silver iron converged toward Talo. A typhoon of silver iron swirled around him, with Talo at its eye.
Talo flicked his fingers. His brain was being violently disassembled, and three auxiliary brains fell into the storm of silver iron.
The intense alchemy forced the auxiliary brains into synchronization. Although there was some margin of error, they eventually synchronized with the brain chip.
The auxiliary brains spread out in an inverted triangle, with the chip at the center. Talo drew a magic circle, using the three auxiliary brains and the chip as focal points.
The swirling currents of silver iron were also carving tools. The gathering metal was shaved and shaped into form.
Limbs sculpted as sharp as crystal. A body that gleamed with a strange brilliance.
It was a giant made of steel.
***
This is why I hate the Ten Towers.
The towering giant blocked the sun and stared down at me. Blinding backlight streamed off its silver body. The light pollution was ridiculous.
The giant took a step forward.
The mere act of moving made the earth scream. A vibration even greater than the clash between Keranos and the Silver Thread Beast.
“If you could just die quietly, would it really be so hard?”
As soon as I split Talo’s head in half, his body disappeared far away. I detected his new location after a momentary teleportation, but it was a bit too far to track with just a few magical engraving drives.
The impact of the fall was cushioned using a “Gale” magic engraving drive as a buffer, but the distance had widened. By the time I rushed toward him, his magic was already complete.
As a result, Talo withdrew his spatial alchemy and transformed into a robot that seemed at least several dozen meters tall. With his computational power significantly reduced, maintaining complex magic like barriers seemed to him like a bad move.
But gathering all the silver iron and turning into a robot?
A mage’s last resort being a combining robot? A passing dog would laugh.
What’s really funny is that it works.
The boosters deployed behind Mecha-Talo ignited with a roaring explosion. Riding the acceleration of the fiery blast, Mecha-Talo’s right fist crushed an Argyrion angel.
From behind. The angels aimed magic at him from what would typically be a human’s blind spot, the top of the head. But at that moment.
A mechanical, crackling synthetic voice could be heard.
「Haha! Did you think the radar’s field of vision would be the same as a human’s?」
Talo thrust out his left hand with force. It was aimed at empty air.
But.
「Rocket-Punch!」
Even though it was clearly a synthetic voice, it was impossible to hide the joy in it. The hand Talo had extended detached at the wrist and launched toward the angels overhead, jet streams propelling it.
I can understand now why Argyrion, who probably raises dozens of Silver Thread Beasts, avoided an all-out war with the Ten Towers.
Even a hastily dispatched elder, barely prepared, can put on a performance like this. Imagine what kind of weapons the Towers would bring out if they really got serious.
Even for the Silver Iron Tower, which specializes in many-versus-one battles, this is a bit much, isn’t it?
KWA-GA-GANG!
Talo’s detached left hand slammed into several Argyrion angels and crashed into the ground. The crushed angels were in a pitiful state. Once they’re in that condition, it doesn’t matter how strong their regenerative powers are.
‘If those angel bastards have any sense, they’ll start trying to run soon.’
If Argyrion retreats from this battlefield, then there would finally be a way to attempt something. If they’re going to flee, they should do it soon…
「Now then. Where could my dear research subject, the one who blew up my precious brain with warranty still intact, be hiding!」
I prayed that Argyrion was out of his mind.
***
Talo continued to focus on re-tuning the malfunctioning auxiliary brains.
He couldn’t calculate the movements of this massive body with just his current setup, so he was reusing parts as a temporary measure. But if he returned to the Tower, he’d have to request a new brain from the Nokmok Magic Tower, or—though this was less likely—have them regenerate his current one.
There was a few seconds’ delay between commands and execution. Normally, a mage’s ability allows them to compensate for this in real time, but this wasn’t Talo’s original brain.
Even so, the situation was quite enjoyable. This colossal silver iron giant was now his body.
Strength incomparable to a mere flesh-and-blood frame. He could crush a mountain peak with his fingertips and collapse a city with his toes.
As he relished his destructive power, he tried to recall his fallen left arm.
「It can’t be retrieved.」
For now, it was impossible to recover the launched left arm. Just maintaining the body was taxing enough; performing the intricate maneuvers to reattach the separated parts was out of the question.
The various weapons embedded in the body could not be regenerated or reused after a single deployment.
It wasn’t a form he could maintain for long, anyway. He’d have to unleash his overwhelming strength all at once, discard unnecessary parts, and return to the Tower.
「The most valuable trophy I’ll bring back to the Tower is…」
Talo thought of that ‘knight.’
The one who cut through the anti-aura field and struck him down with remarkable skill. Could he be one of the heads of the knightly houses, the masters of aura techniques that exist only in ancient texts?
He wasn’t an ordinary opponent.
Far more intriguing than Argyrion at the moment. The extra-dimensional magic in the angels’ silver skin could be reversed and alchemized to understand their structure to some extent.
But how the knight pierced the anti-aura field? That was beyond his understanding. Clearly, the field had been neutralized in some way, but the memories of the few seconds during which his brain was destroyed were not backed up.
A researcher, after all, becomes excited in the face of the unknown.
Talo activated the radar installed throughout the giant’s body to its fullest. Where could that knight be?
***
Where? I’m climbing up your leg.
The thoughts flowing through Mecha-Talo’s magical circuits hit my mind. The strange excitement and obsession felt disgusting.
It’s better than when I was in the air. Back then, I had to forcefully extend my hang time using the engraving drives, but now I had walls to grab and climb.
Four pulsing lights could be seen inside the giant. One near the heart. The other two positioned at the shoulders and lower abdomen. I didn’t have the firepower to destroy all of them at once…
‘There’s another way.’
I checked how much power was left in my remaining magic engraving drives.
***
Talo sensed a disturbance of magical power near the giant’s knee. Turning his gaze there, he saw that ‘knight’ once again. Clad in Argyrion’s colors, yet unlike the angels, maintaining a human form alone.
The black sword in his hand was familiar. Its blade was embedded in the giant’s knee. The magical fluctuations Talo had felt must have been caused by that high-frequency blade.
Talo deployed just a fraction of the weapons equipped in his body. A test shot to assess the knight’s durability.
Kki-gi-gi.
But something went wrong. A malfunction in the firing sequence.
The launch port wouldn’t open. The warhead detonated. Then, an explosion.
The chain reaction was instant. Explosives embedded in the thigh all detonated at once, igniting the interior of the giant.
Mecha-Talo’s left thigh turned red-hot, bubbling and melting. The massive body teetered, swaying unsteadily before finally beginning to collapse.
At the moment of its impending toppling, Talo made a judgment.
It was the knight’s doing.
If he could trigger a chain reaction before the launch, then the reverse…
What if he just blew himself up from the start?
***
Orthes spat out a curse.
The launch ports on Mecha-Talo’s entire right leg had opened.
The target? Himself.
An explosion at point-blank range, disregarding any damage from chain reactions.
This was going to take some resolve.
Just as Orthes was about to invoke his powers and wrap them around his eyes…
『What are you doing right now?』
A familiar voice brushed past his ear.