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Before they could even reach the Mechanical Tree, the three Venerables were stopped completely, as three Venerable-type Machines emerged out of the blue to confront them and stop their advance, halting the entire charge and killing any momentum they had.
From Anna being instantly thrown down to the two Venerables being forced to engage against robots capable of going toe to toe against them, things didn't seem to look good for the rest of the army. Their battle waged as they saw the Venerables fight and struggle.
"Stand behind me, Song; I will protect you." Fang Shuan battled the approaching machines with all his might, using his powerful spear to impale and pierce through their bodies. Song was right behind him, protected by the giant made of gold.
"Mom, Dad, big sis…!" Song muttered, glancing as the three Venerables fought against their opponents, being given no moment to even talk with anybody, as they already had all their hands full against them. "P-Please hurry! My other half is suffering…! We don't have enough time!"
As the boy used his techniques for defense only, saving his own energies in the process, he glanced at his parents fighting while noticing Anna had completely disappeared.
RUMBLE!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The Heavenly Demon fiercely battled a slender silver and golden-colored machine with a head resembling a blazing sun with sharp spikes and possessing a single crimson eye in the middle.
"You're one tough son of a bitch."
The Heavenly Demon spit some blood, as he had received a few blows himself, instantly feeling his bones cracking and his muscles being torn.
"He hits harder than Anna; what in the world are these monsters?"
The robot only glanced at him with its single eye, its Aura expanding into several halos made of crimson electromagnetic energies combined with Heavenly Ki behind it.
"I have been assigned the task of eliminating you, the one named Heavenly Demon. I was extensively created with the purpose of eliminating you. I am a Venerable-type Machine, you can call me Number 2."
"And you can call me your nightmare, because you pissed the fuck out of me," said the Heavenly Demon, cracking his knuckles.
FLASH!
But before he could even go into the initiative, the robot appeared in front of him, its fists hitting his head, chest, and stomach, aiming at his joints too, to break his bones and inhibit his movements.
CLASH! CLASH! CLASH! CLASH!
Each blow generated a gigantic shockwave, an internal explosion that tried to blow up the internal body of the Heavenly Demon, piercing through his incredible defenses as a Venerable, with a body so tough he could take upon the entire world's weight.
…At his peak, right now, he was severely weakened after having been at death's door for several years, and although he was healed, the strength he lost had not returned.
He had merged with his own Record, and that gave him a great deal of power, but it wasn't enough to bring him back to his peak.
Even with the world recovering and him cultivating and training every day, he calculated it would take him over five hundred years to go back to how strong he was at his peak.
It wasn't that long for Immortals, to be honest.
However, right now, he couldn't give himself the privilege of sitting for five hundred years, unless he wanted the world to be completely engulfed by the machines.
"Stand still and please do not resist. Once you're dead, all the pain will go away. For now, please endure and wait until the process of dying is over."
"Hah, you're fucking funny! KAHAHAHAAH!"
BAAAM! BAAAM! BAAAM! BAAAM!
The Venerable kept being battered; the robot couldn't understand why it was laughing and becoming happier; according to its calculations, a few more hits would be enough to kill him.
"Yeah, this is about enough."
"Enough for what? Your death is just around the corner; please be patient."
"Enough to beat the shit out of you."
"Excuse me, but—"
BOOOMMM!!!
"G-GUH?!"
The robot's circuits went crazy; out of nowhere, its two arms were gone.
How did this happen?
He only heard an explosion and then saw pure darkness.
"Surprised?"
The robot heard the voice of the Heavenly Demon above it, the crow-faced demon smiled, blood covering his body.
Yes, this very blood, his agony and pain, they warped around, the darkness of pain and agony, the blood of his suffering.
They merged, refining themselves, synthetizing into his power, into his Ki.
Several Seals activated across his entire body, as his body suddenly was revealed to be much more muscular than it looked like, his clothes covering his torso being mostly torn apart.
"{Demonic Seal of Agony: Open}"
RUMBLE!
He swung his hands forward as a gigantic, massive titan materialized out of the Venerable's Aura, the manifestation of the King of the Underworld of all Murim Worldlines.
King Yanma!
His divine and dark fist pierced through the robot's force fields, tearing apart its armor and sending it flying into the seas below.
"I-Impossible… Calculations were… correct… Power levels… calculated… Accordingly… Variables… were eliminated… impossible… impossible…!"
"You know what's actually impossible?!"
"UGH?!"
The robot was shocked, noticing the Heavenly Demon appearing right above it as the robot fell to the oceans.
It instantly moved, manifesting another pair of arms out of its Venerable Aura, as Cosmic Energies coursed through its mechanical body.
It attacked him with mighty punches covered with cosmic flames; the Heavenly Demon took the head-on, his hands moving rapidly and dexterously.
CLASH! CLASH! CLASH! CLASH!
"What's impossible is that a piece of junk like you could ever beat me."
As their fists clashed and explosions were unleashed across the skies, the robot rapidly began to adapt.
"Adapting… calculating… initiating transformation."
CLANK! CLANK! CLANK!
Its body became larger, enormous, gaining giant robotic "muscles" made of metal fiber wrapped together, golden armor covering its body, as its sun-shaped head was blazing with plasma flames.
"Burst Attack Mode has been successfully activated. Initiating counterattack."
FLUOSH!
RUMBLE!
The robot exploded with immense strength; flames that seemed to be a recreation of the burning plasma of a star were unleashed from its head and entire body as its blazing, burning fists reached the Venerable's entire body.
"Hah… ridiculous thing."
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
His entire body burned and was battered, the bones of his arms broke, and his ribs pierced his lungs; his stomach exploded inside of his body, and half his beak was torn apart, leaving him on a terrible stage.
He fell while burning, laughing.
He never screamed in agony.
The Demon only laughed in the face of death.
What was there to be afraid of?
After all, how many times…
"How many times have I danced with life and death?"
His life flashed through his mind, his struggles, his pain, his agony, and his tears.
The battles he thought he couldn't win, the battles he lost.
And the battles he won.
Bloodshed, despair, agony.
The screams of people, the agonizing screams of them all.
The horror of his opponents as they died.
And the horror he felt as he almost died.
How many times has it been?
Yeah.
Way too many.
It was pointless to cry.
To despair.
To suffer.
"Target shows incredible mental resilience amidst death's door. It is an interesting thing to witness. What makes your body unable to display your agony like other living beings do?"
The robot rushed down, its entire body overflowing with flames, resembling a sun coming down.
"Once you grow through agony, once you cultivate your suffering, and once you harness your pain as your only power… As your only "Hope"… It is when such things become nothing but power."
"Power?"
"Yes, fucker, power."
BOOOMMM!!!
"?!"
Out of nowhere, the robot was cleaved in half.
It was so fast that it couldn't even discern it!
However, a slowed-down video of what happened was replayed within its mind.
A giant axe of black and red colors had sliced through its body.
It emerged from the Venerable's arms, even though they were broken.
He moved them anyway.
"Impossible…! Burst mode… didn't… work?!"
"Of course it didn't work."
"Just what… is that weapon you're manifesting?!"
"{Divine Venerable Imperial Armament}: {Cursed Axe of Seven Hells}!"
The Venerable appeared before the robot as it agonized; his entire body had not healed, and the pain and agony he felt, all of that granted him tremendous power.
"This?" the crow asked, laughing as he looked utterly hideous, resembling a zombie that was covered in terrible wounds but that somehow still moved.
"Unfair…! This is… unfair! Proper… recalculation is needed!"
"Unfair?! HAH! Do you know what it feels like to be born with nothing? To have nothing? To have nobody? To walk alone? Of course you don't; you're a fucking machine."
SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!
The robot exploded into pieces; countless slashing attacks sliced through it as the robot was constantly trying to calculate what the hell that weapon was!
"Feeling pain and agony, suffering… This is my only strength. And that is something everyone does. But I suppose… Kahahaha…! Not everyone is as crazy as me to use it as their power, right?"
"GRAAAAHHHH!"
The robot screamed loudly; countless nanomachines exploded from every part of its blazing mechanical pieces as the venerable tore it to shreds.
They rapidly merged together, reforming the robot barely, as cosmic energies overflowed through its body, and suddenly, a massive cosmic presence began to descend into it.
[The Cosmic Throne {Mechanical Librarian} says that it will not stop until you're completely and absolutely eliminated.]
-----
Can't wait to see what's next? You can join my Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/pancakeswitch
And gain access to all these Advanced Chapters:
192 Advanced Chapters of
The Protagonist's Sister Is Actually The Strongest
85 Advanced Chapters of
The Heavenly Martial Empress Returns
19 Advanced Chapters of
Fantasy Story Online: The Crippled Vampire Prince Walks The Heavenly Demon Path