Chapter 2194: Chapter 2194

As the King of All Machines, as the World Tree Seedling, the decaying radiance of death shimmered around him. Life, death, and a state transcending both—three forces achieved a perfect fusion, sending green and gray cyclones swirling around the giant steel tree beneath his feet.

As the pages of the great bronze book in his hand turned, more and more knowledge was etched within.

Jenkins raised his left hand. A lethal beam of red light shot from the sky and collided with his palm. With a simple clenching of his fist, he snuffed it out of existence.

He glanced at his smoking palm, then raised his head to look at the massive head floating in the air.

"What does it matter if you have a whole world at your command? The golden ant is asleep once more, and it is the true master here. If you can control this world, what makes you think I can't?"

"Then come and try, Savior Williamette."

From the canopy of the silver-gray tree below, two enormous brass serpents shot out from the left and right, a long-laid ambush finally sprung.

But Jenkins merely scoffed. In mid-air, the two serpents crumbled into a shower of mechanical parts, raining back down into the canopy.

A whoosh cut through the air as something unseen grazed the top of his head. The invisible blade, however, could not pierce his skull. Jenkins threw an uppercut with his left fist, and the resulting sonic boom shattered the unseen assailant.

As he spoke, the shattered remnants of the unknown metal creature above him turned to black ash, drifting down only to be scattered by the wind.

"My Master knew that placing Its combat body and me here would not be enough to stop you. But you will pay the price, Savior. My Master will witness my loyalty, and you, in your frail mortal form, will witness the ruin of the Eighteenth Epoch. Savior, it is all over."

The world trembled, as if some behemoth were clawing its way up from the depths of the earth. The giant metal head drew upon the power of the Difference Engine, channeling the irresistible, cataclysmic force inherent to this Mysterious Realm for one final blow.

It was the combined might of a part of the Difference Engine and the Mysterious Realm itself. Jenkins could not allow it. He immediately pointed to the heavens.

"I summon the storm!"

His enhanced body and immense spirit conjured a storm of far greater scale. Dark clouds roiled and lightning crackled as Jenkins raised the great bronze book in his right hand, aiming it at the sky.

A thunderbolt, bright enough to illuminate the entire world, crashed down and struck the bronze tome. In the downpour, the book began to shimmer with a brilliant, starlike radiance.

The [Principle of All Machines] had absorbed all the traits of [Mechanist], including its ability to surpass its limits when charged by lightning.

For a moment, the power of the machine barely achieved a balance with the life force flowing from Jenkins, the World Tree. He pointed to the sky, seizing control of the giant metal head. Its process of devouring the world's spiritual energy came to an abrupt halt.

Instead of reaching for the Star-Forged Magic Sword at his waist, he brandished his left hand and produced a massive, spiraling greatsword.

The fusion of death, life, and mechanical energy caused the flames on the greatsword to erupt with explosive ferocity, distorting the very air and threatening to tear the fabric of space. The fiery afterimage was seared onto Jenkins's retina—this was the fire of sin, the fire of the hero's forge.

Jenkins launched himself into the air. The force of his ascent shattered the giant steel tree below, which disintegrated into a cloud of dust.

But as the physical tree vanished, a new, spectral one appeared behind him. Its trunk was a twisting amalgamation of green, bronze, and gray hues. The perfect equilibrium of the three forces fueled the birth of an even greater power.

The life force of the World Tree, a profound affinity for death, and mechanical knowledge from another world—these three elements combined to forge a power that was nothing short of miraculous.

"Savior, meet your end!"

A brassy sheen flickered between them, transcending the laws of mass and energy. A cage forged from the Difference Engine's special alloy materialized out of the void, descending upon Jenkins.

He didn't produce a lamp; instead, the book in his hand radiated a silver-blue light. The cage instantly dissolved into a fine rain of gears that vanished around him.

He shifted the book to his left hand, gripped the greatsword in his right, and danced through the air, the sword's flames blazing like a spectacular firework display.

"You command the power of machines, Savior. But what if it's not a machine?"

Another brassy flash lit the air, and a fourth golden ant materialized before him. It had concealed this fourth ant for a crucial ambush, but the effort was futile.

"Gear Disease Curse! Influenza!"

A spell that should have required a strand of hair to cast was unleashed with a mere point of his finger. The ant he touched suddenly let out a cough—despite having no vocal organs—then disintegrated into a pile of gears. It fell, waiting for the other three sealed ants to resurrect it once more.

"You've fallen for it, Savior! How much power do you have left?"

The head let out a booming laugh as it hurtled toward Jenkins's blade.

"I knew I couldn't stop you, but how much of your power did you just waste to defeat me?"

The head, channeling the better part of this realm's power, crashed against Jenkins and his triad of death, life, and mechanical energy.

It was a spectacle worthy of a final showdown, unfolding prematurely on the eighth floor.

The fiery greatsword fell, and a thunderous explosion erupted in a vibrant blossom of sparks. Jenkins, wielding power that bordered on divinity, used that delicate balance of three forces to cleave through the focal point of the realm's might.

As they both plummeted to the ground, the great head shattered, its metal fragments scattering. Yet the shards still moved as if alive, stabbing futilely at Jenkins's body.

He landed firmly, and under the sallow sky, he swept the fiery greatsword in a wide arc, clearing the air of the metallic pests. When Jenkins and the last remnants of the head finally came to rest on the river island—scoured clean by their aerial battle—its core was exposed, tumbling into a pile of gears.

It was the metal head. Read full story at novęlfire.net

It was right. After that battle, Jenkins was left with only five abilities: [The Unknown Road Ahead], [Knowledge Bestowal], [Mechanical Dream], [Spiritual Communion], and the one he had traded five of his six "bubbles" to acquire.

After abilities like [Four Seasons] had been absorbed to nurture his [World Tree Seedling], he had specifically asked a silver dragon to take him to the church. He was there to act on what Papa Oliver had once told him—the possibility of trading five empty ability slots to learn a single new power.

But even with only five abilities remaining, he didn't care. The fight atop the steel World Tree had revealed the potential for an ultimate fusion of death, life, and mechanical power. It was the key to his next, most crucial step.

"So, are you going to open the door now?"

Jenkins asked the smoking head. It lay on the scorched earth, surrounded by metallic debris. Scalding black steam, speckled with tiny, unidentifiable particles, vented continuously from its surface.

"You are no longer human."

This wasn't an insult, but a statement of fact. The battle had proven that as they ascended the tower, both the Difference Engine on the ninth floor and Jenkins himself were evolving. He was fundamentally different from the man who had entered the first floor. This tower was a crucible, and what didn't kill him was indeed making him stronger.

"Yes," Jenkins agreed. "So, are you going to make me split you open, or will you just open the gate to the ninth floor of the Mysterious Realm?"

The metal head tried to look up, but all it could see was Jenkins's dark silhouette against the drizzling sky. It had never expected to stop the Savior. Forcing him to expend that miraculous, balanced power was satisfaction enough.

It saw the phantom of the three-colored tree dissipate behind Jenkins and understood this was not a power that could be used again so soon. It knew that in the final battle, mere hours away, the Savior would be unable to unleash the same power he had just used—a power that could sever time itself with a single swing.

It was deeply satisfied, but it still tried one last time to plant a seed of doubt in Jenkins's mind.

"Aren't you worried that our battle harmed the ordinary people in the sanctuary? The tree was reduced to dust. You killed them all."

"Save the cheap tricks," Jenkins retorted. "How could there be people inside a seal designed to contain a Beast of Calamity? Everything I saw—the ship, the metal city, your so-called Land of Steel—was nothing more than an illusion conjured by the rules of this Mysterious Realm. After all I've experienced, do you really think I can't tell the difference?"

Sheathing his greatsword, Jenkins seized the head in one hand and lifted it. He wasted no more words, tossing it onto the great tome that symbolized the [Principle of All Machines].

To the sound of the head's final, echoing laughter, the bronze tome slowly "digested" it, and new knowledge about the Difference Engine began to fill its pages.

The head had claimed to be the second greatest intelligence after the Difference Engine, and perhaps it hadn't been a lie. Jenkins could feel the [Principle of All Machines] becoming whole, sensing that if he could absorb all the knowledge of the Difference Engine, his ability would evolve into the true [King of All Machines].

He might even truly ascend to the divine domain of [Machine] or [Gear], gaining the right to challenge the God of Creation, one of the Righteous Gods, for dominion.

Having absorbed the head, he gained temporary control over the Mysterious Realm's power. Life, death, and machinery—three disparate forces—realigned within him under the realm's immense pressure, and the phantom of the great tree was seared into his very soul.

The lingering dregs of power from the World Tree, the death energy from this realm that sealed a Beast of Calamity, and the knowledge of the Difference Engine from the metal head—all combined to stimulate a new, profound strengthening of Jenkins's body and soul.