The air in the Giant Rock Hollow (GRH) was no longer merely damp or scorched; it was a "boiling" soup of high-energy Aether and phase fluctuations.

  Dr. Dissard trembled as he supported Lilith, his mechanical right eye emitting unstable sparks from sensory overload. Directly above them, the 2,500-meter hull of the Bahamut flowed with a murky purple radiance. Upon its obsidian horns, countless cubic particles rolled and collapsed frantically. It was a sight that sent a chill down the spine of every survivor of the "Battle of the Mourners"—the omen of Alexander preparing to format the subterranean world.

  "Isn't... isn't that the weapon Mitsuko used when she went berserk?" Instructor Rasnor whispered, his voice carrying an unprecedented shiver. He watched the particles capable of shredding space and causing chronological discord. Images of tens of thousands of souls evaporating in an instant flashed through his mind.

  "What... what can we even do?"

  This wasn't just Rasnor’s question; it was the collective despair of the ancient warriors, the surviving miners, and the PDN rebels. Before a false god capable of blotting out all hope, human armaments looked as futile as toothpicks.

  Suddenly, Rasnor snapped his head up. He looked at the tear-rimmed but determined faces behind him—subordinates who had risked everything to cross the Quantum Gate.

  SMACK!

  A crisp sound of flesh hitting flesh. Rasnor punched himself in the face with brutal force. It split his lip, but the blood cleared the haze from his eyes. "Wake up, Rasnor!" he roared to the empty vaults. "The Bahamut was built by men! If it’s man-made, it CAN be broken!"

  He turned toward Cavill and the massive Ancient Alliance army. These warriors, who had seen their civilizations crumble once before, displayed a composure that transcended modern humanity. "Human commander, tell us what to do. Now!" Cavill barked.

  Rasnor locked his fear away and pointed toward the sparks jumping from the hull where Yarudima had struck: "Cavill! Have your army open fire with everything! Forget defense! Pour every ounce of fire into that ship!"

  At that moment, the usually gentle Docina (Dosi-na), the Mycenaean priestess, stepped to the front of the line. She knew that if her people did not act now, they would never have a place in this collapsing world. "Mycenaean Chariot Division! Hear me!" she commanded with a holy, resolute majesty. "As the Priestess of Mycenae and the leader of the 'God’s Eye'—unlock all plundered heavy weaponry! Distribute them to every warrior on the field!"

  Massive Mycenaean armored crates hissed open. When the weapons within were revealed, even Rasnor rubbed his eyes in disbelief. "These... these are Ifrit-class military special weapons? How do you have so many?"

  Docina gave a bitter smile. "I didn't want to admit I was the leader of the 'God’s Eye' smugglers, but if we don't win this, none of us live. These were the trump cards we siphoned from PDN over the years, exploiting Alexander’s greed. We meant to use them against you... now, we’re using them for you."

  Rows of cold, lethal devil-weapons glinted in the dark—arms that could rewrite the definition of localized warfare. Most terrifying was the five-meter "Extreme Gravity Compression Cannon," its muzzle glowing with a heart-stopping dark light. Rasnor had seen this weapon in testing: a mass of deep-violet chaos that, upon impact, creates trillions of tons of pressure, collapsing all molecules in the target area into a single, hyper-hardened carbonized residue—a "dead diamond."

  "Everyone still standing! Do you hear me?" Rasnor’s voice was full of manic hope. "Go to the Ancient Alliance! Take the Ifrit weapons! Those are the fangs that can pierce a God!"

  As the soldiers took up these heavy, devastating arms, the weight lifted from their hearts. They were no longer "scraps" waiting for slaughter; they had the power to drag a false god down to the dirt.

  In the midst of the advance, Cavill stopped and looked toward Disuamu, King of Mu. "Friends of Mu..." Cavill said with deep respect and guilt. "Your sacrifice in this battle will be the object of our eternal prayers. Thank you... for willing to channel the Aether of Atlantis through your own bodies."

  Disuamu leaned on his crystal staff, his aged skin turning a translucent, crystalline texture as overloaded energy destroyed his cells from within. "The Creator allowed us 'Craftsmen' to exist for a reason," Disuamu smiled with a heroic lightness. "Our bodies are the only conductors capable of siphoning energy from the other side of the Quantum Gate to this battlefield. Go and kill, Cavill. Do not worry about our logistics or energy."

  Under the gaze of tens of thousands, the people of Mu performed a heartbreaking act. They held hands, one by one, forming a magnificent human cable reaching back to the flickering Quantum Gate.

  Stan, at the other end, pushed the Codex to its limit. Disuamu stood at the front of the chain, erupting into a blinding blue lightning storm as the Aether flooded through him.

  "My King! Let me take your place! Your body won't hold!" a servant cried.

  "Do not take an old man's final pride..." Disuamu roared. "Go home to your families. For me, to die on a battlefield with brothers is a life without regret!"

  CRACK—

  A massive fissure opened across Disuamu’s chest, leaking glowing blue fluid. But he held his staff firm, radiating the world-ending energy into the ammo bays of every Ifrit weapon.

  "FIRE——————!!!"

  Cavill and Alphelia led the charge. Ten thousand ancient warriors, surviving miners, and defected PDN mercenaries pulled their triggers in unison.

  THUD-THUD-THUD-THUD-THUD!!!

  It was a concentration of fire that made the Earth's core tremble. Thousands of Gravity Cannons and Phase Interferometers wove a lethal, multicolored net of fire, pouring it relentlessly into the breach Yarudima had torn in the Bahamut.

  The Bahamut’s anti-matter shields finally emitted a sound like shattering glass. Violet masses of gravity exploded against the hull, gouging out massive chunks of black composite deck, compressing them into microscopic dust.

  "Hull integrity... down to 43%!!" the comms officer screamed on the Bahamut's bridge.

  Adimas was paralyzed. She watched the swarm of rebels and the heavy weaponry tearing her ship apart. "How... how can these scraps... possess such fire support?"

  Alexander, in his office, watched the red flames from the mecha—Mitsuko and Oosora’s Guren. He didn't feel rage. He smiled. The Beethoven symphony reached its crescendo as the violet orb prepared to reboot the causality of the depths.

  The atmosphere of the Hollow was shredded. The stable structure of space shivered under the Ifrit bombardment. In the center of this symphony of ruin, Mitsuko felt a resonance not from a machine, but from the primordial pulse of the planet.

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  "ROAAAARRRRRRR————!!!"

  Yarudima leaped through the air, defying every law of inertia. Its azure-pulsing claws tore through the air and clamped onto the Bahamut's bow. The collision shook the void, making the massive drill groan. The aftershock sent soldiers and Monster Drivers on the ground flying into the air.

  "Oosora! Get back! Leave the Guren to me!"

  Inside the cockpit, Mitsuko’s voice was unnaturally calm—a sacred, unquestionable serenity. Oosora blinked. She saw Mitsuko’s silhouette beginning to radiate a faint, moonlight-like glow.

  "Mitsuko?" Oosora murmured. She didn't argue. She trusted her friend absolutely. She moved to the auxiliary seat and hugged Mitsuko tightly from behind, guarding her last spark of warmth. Mitsuko’s body was heating up—not with fever, but like a high-energy core awakening.

  "My, my..." Oosora teased to mask her fear, rubbing against Mitsuko’s back. "The soft and smooth Mitsuko is back! This touch is as nostalgic as ever."

  "Don't... don't take advantage of me now!" Mitsuko blushed to her ears, her voice shy and hurried. "Think of your Stan! He’s at Atlantis holding the gate open, and you’re still teasing me!"

  Oosora’s smile softened into deep affection. "That man... if he wasn't sure of himself, I wouldn't need to worry. But right now, I'm worried about you. What are you going to do?"

  Mitsuko turned her head and smiled. It was the first time Oosora had ever seen Mitsuko smile. It wasn't a smile of battle or resignation; it was a holy, bold compassion of one who had seen through causality.

  "Trust me," Mitsuko whispered.

  Oosora felt a surge of terror—not of the Bahamut, but that Mitsuko was transcending "humanity," flying to a height she could never reach. The Causality Matrix on the Bahamut was fully charged, its violet glow ready to swallow space. Mitsuko looked up, her gaze piercing the armor to the bridge above. She heard the screams of the Mourners again—the souls Alexander had erased.

  "I won't let tragedy happen again..."

  Mitsuko’s body began to vibrate at a high frequency. Oosora cried out as the resonance made her very bones ache. Mitsuko’s skin-tight combat suit suddenly seemed to come alive, peeling away from her skin. The fibers deconstructed and wove into countless blue and white threads, erupting outward to form a massive, holy Aether Web around the Guren. The mecha was encased like a giant cocoon about to hatch a deity.

  On the ground, everyone stopped. Dissard stared at the glowing orb in the sky. Rasnor ordered his men to scatter, but his eyes were fixed on the center of the anomaly.

  "This is the realm of God... where no man should tread..." Dissard whispered.

  Disuamu had reached his limit. His body was a map of crystal cracks; blue blood and Aether clashed within him. "Don't take my last scrap of arrogance..." he grit his teeth, his spine snapping as he poured the final Atlantean power into the cocoon in the sky.

  BOOM————!!!

  The Aether Web exploded. The Hollow was bathed in a sun-like warmth—a light that didn't burn, but cradled everyone’s soul like a mother holding an infant. In the center, the red Guren was gone.

  In its place was a machine covered in snow-white, holy luminescence. It retained the aggressive silhouette of the "Ice Hell Slayer," but every inch of armor flowed with the colors of the stars. It was no longer a machine; it was an apotheosis of life.

  Then, the white machine threw back its head and let out a soul-piercing War Cry!

  "That isn't a mechanical sound!" Cavill dropped his weapon in awe. "That is the roar of the proudest beast! She’s telling us... not to give up!"

  Mitsuko’s voice, like a divine revelation, echoed through the space:

  "The Ice Hell Slayer died at the Mourners..." "Now, I am the Will of the Stars, the Voice of Gaia, the Roar of the Earth!" "I am the vastness of the sky, the infinity of the water, the madness of the wind, the primal life of the flame!!!!!!"

  In the Bahamut's office, the baton fell from Alexander's hand. He stared at the "Phenomenon" that transcended science—an absolute suppression from a higher level of existence. He felt his hair stand on end. "Hahaha... so we are truly this close to God!!!!"

  High above, the white "Will of the Stars" spread its hundred-meter wings of light. Mitsuko felt her consciousness merging with the planet. "It’s time to end this." She smiled at Oosora and locked her will onto the violet Matrix.

  The atmosphere of the GRH became a ruin devoured by the void. Alexander, with a manic, holy expression, pressed the final code. The violet cubic particles collapsed into miniature black holes, venting a murky purple radiation.

  "Anti-Gravity Causality Matrix... FIRE!!"

  As the energy surged, Mitsuko shrieked—a sound that pierced the deck: "NO!!! Stan, if you can hear me, make a miracle happen!"

  Reality was not kind.

  BOOM————————!!!

  The physical dimensions of the Hollow were snapped. Mass dissolved. Ancients, mercs, and miners alike floated into the air like weightless dust.

  Then came the Causality Hell.

  It was the ultimate vivisection of life. In the first second, molecular collapse occurred in everyone’s bodies; lungs burst, eyes popped, and blood bloomed into crimson flowers in the air. Everyone died.

  But in the next second, the hand of time was forcibly wound back. The scattered flesh, broken nerves, and dissipating consciousnesses were pulled back together in a nauseating "Flash-Shadow." The dead returned to life in less than a second, standing whole.

  Then, a second later, death returned.

  This infinite cycle of life and death turned the Hollow into a flickering theater of purgatory. The pain of death wasn't the worst part; it was that the cycle allowed consciousness to persist. Everyone remained lucid, forced to experience hundreds of instances of their bodies being pulverized and their souls being stuffed back into warm meat.

  Dissard knelt in the blood, reaching for Lilith. He wanted to apologize, but his body exploded into meat before he could speak. A second later, he was back at the start of the reach, the syllables still in his mouth. He watched himself die and live again over and over.

  In the center of the storm, Mitsuko held Oosora. Mitsuko was protected by her white shell, but Oosora was at the heart of the storm.

  "Oosora!! Oosora!!!" Mitsuko wailed, holding her friend as she died and lived. Oosora was a flickering shadow—one second gasping, the next vomiting blood and organs as her chest cavity collapsed.

  "Flash... Flashback... he's using Flashback as a weapon!!" Mitsuko roared at the skip-frame world. Oosora's temperature swung between ice and fire as she was ravaged by the Matrix. Mitsuko's mental defenses were on the verge of total collapse.

  "Mitsuko... it's all arranged. That Person prepared everything for you."

  A faint, static-choked signal reached her mind from the dying Stan in Atlantis. His hand was a withered branch, his flesh sucked dry by the Codex, but he provided the final turn of the gamble. Mitsuko was stunned by the term "That Person," but then a larger, older Will cut into her mind.

  It was Gaia. And it had split. The warm "White Sphere" was suppressed; in its place was a cold, mechanical "Black Sphere" symbolizing annihilation.

  『Yarudima’s heart has been destroyed.』 The voice rumbled like the weight of the core. 『If you wish to stop this cycle and save these ants... you have one choice.』

  『Drive Yarudima to rebirth. Your Aether-dense body and neural network are the only things qualified to be its new core. Use it to stop the Causality Matrix from erasing this space.』

  Mitsuko shivered. She saw Disuamu’s body exploding and reforming in the loop. This was a thousand times worse than the Mourners.

  "How?" she screamed internally.

  『Proceed now to the massive void in Yarudima’s chest. The rest... I will handle.』

  Mitsuko looked at Oosora one last time. Oosora had just reborn, her tear-filled eyes begging for an end. Mitsuko knew if she didn't act, their souls would be ground into nothingness by the thousandth death.

  "Oosora... trust me," Mitsuko whispered with a final tenderness. She dove out of her protective "Will of the Stars" shell.

  She became a meteor of starlight, wings spreading wide with azure pulses. She ignored the spatial warps and temporal stutters, flying straight into the bottomless, sparking void in Yarudima's chest.

  In the shadows, the man in the black hoodie—the Mechanical Head—watched. "The time has come." He didn't save anyone; he just observed as the final piece of the puzzle entered the beast's chest.

  Basement Level 100.

  Azure (Aoi) sat in the dark. Through the eyes of the Watcher, she saw Oosora's deaths and Mitsuko’s flight. "That bastard Alexander. Developing causality weapons behind my back... I will send you to hell personally."

  Her hand shook, but her face was a mask of dead silence. She picked up a lit cigarette and, instead of smoking it, pressed the cherry firmly into her left palm.

  SIZZLE————

  The smell of scorched flesh filled the lab. Azure grit her teeth, her face turning white as paper, sweat dripping onto the console. But she kept the ember pressed there, letting the heat carbonize her skin. In this cold jail, only this sharp, extreme pain made her feel alive—a price she shared with the daughter bearing the weight of the world.

  "Mitsuko... eventually, I will give myself to you." A cold, lonely tear fell. "But until then... forgive your mother’s last selfishness... okay?"

  Amidst the smoke, a black scar remained on her palm—the only human, cruel mark in a war of formatting gods.

  Inside the Hollow, Mitsuko entered the beast... and the Watcher moved.