Chapter 2220: Chapter 2220

Jenkins mulled over the story of the Ouroboros for a moment before speaking.

“How accurate do you think that story is?”

“Less than one percent, but it remains the most plausible among the many speculations. Only the gods know the truth of these old tales, and they certainly won’t be telling me.”

“So where is the Ouroboros now?”

Jenkins found himself curious.

“If I knew, I might have been able to channel a portion of its power here. Alas, I do not. This world holds far too many unknowns. We are all too insignificant.”

“Indeed, we are all too insignificant.”

Jenkins echoed the sentiment, tossing the diamond in his hand before throwing it toward the automaton.

“We’ve delayed long enough. I imagine you’re about ready.”

“I am. Shall we begin?”

Jenkins set the cat he was holding on the windowsill. The real world’s moonlight could never reach Chocolate, but the light of the Mysterious Realm illuminated the cat’s fur perfectly.

He dropped his backpack by the window, gripped the Star-Forged Magic Sword with one hand, and stepped into the darkness where the moonlight could not reach.

The automaton stood unarmed. They watched each other.

As Chocolate’s yawn echoed through the room, the automaton vanished completely into the shadows.

Jenkins didn’t try to find it with his Eye of Reality. Instead, he closed his eyes, then thrust his sword toward his right front. The moment the blade met something solid, he lifted his right foot and kicked forward with all his might.

The automaton materialized in that exact spot, its arms crossed to block the kick. But the immense force sent it sliding backward, its metal feet screeching against the floor.

“I met a woman who could turn invisible in a Mysterious Realm not long ago,” Jenkins remarked. “Now she was a true master of close combat. You can’t even hide your malice from me.”

He swung his sword in a wide arc. The automaton’s arms, slightly deformed from the kick, glowed as the metal flowed like liquid, reshaping itself back to normal. Its hands reached out to grab the blade. It succeeded, but the sword’s aura shot straight for the automaton’s head.

The metal head instantly folded backward, like a raised hood or a detached skullcap—a feat no human could perform. Jenkins had anticipated something , so he hadn’t expected a single strike to be lethal. He twisted his wrist, and the captured blade ground against the metal palms, showering sparks. Their forces were locked in opposition, and for a moment, neither gave way. The magic sword was strong enough to withstand the strain.

So far, every move had been a test of pure strength. Seeing the stalemate, Jenkins frowned and stomped his foot. A crescent of green light shot toward the automaton like a blade. Not daring to take the hit, its legs instantly deformed, dissolving into a swarm of countless tiny gears to evade the attack powered by the World Tree Seedling.

But with its lower body dispersed, it had no leverage. Jenkins didn’t try to pull his sword free; instead, he thrust it forward. The blade shot out from the automaton’s grasp, and the surging sword light left a wound that glittered with dark, silver starlight.

It was a curse from the stars. But before it could spread, the automaton simply discarded that part of its body, letting it fall to the floor as a useless clump of gears.

Ignoring the discarded parts, Jenkins readied his sword for another thrust, but the automaton’s lower body had already reassembled. It threw a punch, its metal fist radiating intense heat and a strange black aura. Jenkins dodged to the side, but instinct told him something was wrong with this attack.

He watched the fist, his lightning-fast reflexes making it seem as if it were moving in slow motion. Yet the closer the metal fist came, the larger it seemed to grow, until it was bigger than Jenkins himself, pressing down on him like a mountain.

“A martial arts ability? You can learn the abilities of human Enchanters?”

Jenkins was stunned. He knew he couldn’t dodge now, so he didn’t even try. Planting his right foot for leverage, he lunged forward with his right shoulder, arching his body before snapping it back. At the very end of that motion, he threw his shoulder forward again, slamming it directly into the automaton’s metal fist.

In that instant, both felt as if they had crashed into a mountain. The floor beneath them buckled under the force, two pairs of footprints sinking into the wood as cracks spiderwebbed outward. This was the result of them restraining themselves. One more collision like that, and the entire floor would collapse.

They broke apart instantly. Jenkins rubbed his shoulder, while the automaton quickly re-formed its cracked fist.

“I didn’t expect you to go out of your way to learn a martial arts ability,” Jenkins commented.

“There is no need to ‘learn.’ For me, I simply need to grant the body I create a special structure and unique spirit circuits. Martial abilities that require skill and training can be used directly.”

Once his shoulder felt better, Jenkins swung his sword again. This time, flames erupted along the blade, finally illuminating the top floor of the clock tower.

The automaton, with its metal construction, had actually taken more damage from their collision. It was still repairing the cracks in its body and made no move to dodge. But as the magic sword approached, a strange deflecting force made the blade slide away, scraping a shower of sparks along the automaton’s shoulder but missing its body.

Before Jenkins could even guess, the automaton provided the answer. “Since I arranged this Mysterious Realm, I naturally anticipated that the old butler in the castle couldn’t stop you, and that you might take this sword. Unfortunately for you, this is an iron alloy sword. The starstone fused into it is also an iron alloy.”

Jenkins swung his sword again, this time with enough force to resist the pull, but the magnetism still slowed his attack. The automaton caught the blade once more. They were locked in another stalemate. Suddenly, the automaton’s head split open. With a clatter of whirring gears, a human eye was revealed, embedded in the center of the interconnected mechanisms, like a single eye appearing among pomegranate seeds.

Time suddenly slowed. The eye could interfere with time itself. Jenkins frowned. Though he himself was unaffected, the sword in his hands was frozen in place.

“I know you are immune to time’s influence, but this eye specifically targets inanimate objects.”

“But surely there’s a limit to the power of what it can target, right?”

A crimson glow extended from his hand as the spiral greatsword flared to life. An arc of fire erupted from the weapon, smashing half of the automaton’s body to pieces. “It might be able to stop the magic sword, but can it stop this one?”

The Star-Forged Magic Sword’s power and history were nothing compared to this spiral greatsword, which was why Jenkins was so confident. Bathed in the sword’s flames, the automaton’s body shattered like tofu. But then, the remaining gears on the floor reassembled, and within seconds, the automaton reappeared a short distance away.

“Hmph. A different kind of immortality,” Jenkins commented.

The restored automaton extended its palm toward Jenkins, the magic eye now embedded in its center. A golden light immediately flared across Jenkins’s greatcoat—the power of Oviya’s divine art. “How despicable! Are you trying to freeze my clothes?” he scolded.

Behind him, the cat covered its face with a small paw, giggling. It had no intention of interfering yet. Since the Difference Engine’s core would appear at the end, it would let Jenkins handle this simple fight on his own. The cat would make its grand entrance at the most critical moment, ensuring Jenkins understood just how important it was.

As spirit flowed into the spiral greatsword, the white-gray coating on its surface was completely burned away by the flames. A purple light flickered in Jenkins’s eyes. While the Difference Engine’s creations, unlike golems, lacked a single energy core, they were all powered by miniaturized steam engines. Mechanical beings and flesh-and-blood beings each had their strengths and weaknesses, and the greatest weakness of the former was that without a power source, they were useless. Even if every gear in the automaton could still move, its combat effectiveness would be drastically reduced.

The automaton’s steam core was constantly shifting within its intricate clockwork body, but now that Jenkins had seen it, its movements were pointless. Fınd the newest release on novel✶fire.net

A storm of sword light and fire erupted at the top of the clock tower, its brilliant glow momentarily illuminating the city square far below. But none of the people in the square looked up. They were merely simulations in a Mysterious Realm, incapable of a normal reaction.

After the explosion of light, the battle in the clock tower did not end with Jenkins’s victory.

Jenkins thrust his greatsword forward, only to be blocked by the Star-Forged Magic Sword, which now floated in the air, untouched by the automaton’s hands.

“I told you, I anticipated that you might bring this sword. In fact, I let you bring it to me.”

As the automaton spoke, it watched the spiral greatsword shatter the magic sword.

“Only a B-class Extraordinary item can be controlled by you. Did you anticipate that I would have the guardian of the forge transform the Sin’s Eternal Flame Greatsword into a Bestowal?”

“I certainly didn’t anticipate the forge’s guardian would be so bold. But what of it?”

After shattering the magic sword, the spiral greatsword continued forward, melting most of the metal structures in the automaton’s head before tearing through the rest of its body with devastating force.

But Jenkins felt no joy in this. The Difference Engine’s special alloy was never this fragile.