What was Ivan's trump card?
The dimensional viewers didn't need the Tendo to speak to immediately know the answer.
It was his so-called "Mechanical Source Star."
As a standard mechanical star envoy of the Iron Dome family, Ivan had relied on his mecha for combat from the very beginning.
He had never revealed what his "Star Source" was.
Therefore, under the curious gaze of the dimensional viewers, Ivan finally used his Star Source—the Quantum Hive.
After an intense fluctuation of star energy, the chest of Ivan's pale gold mecha suddenly opened, and countless microscopic nanomachines poured out.
These mechanical creations, smaller than dust particles, shimmered with a faint golden light and emitted a low, buzzing sound as they flapped their wings.
At the same time, the details of Ivan's Star Source were clearly displayed to the dimensional viewers.
[Name: Quantum Hive]
[Type: Mechanical]
[Effect 1: Nanite Swarm: Converts star energy into nanite bees, capable of information gathering/transmission/interference/self-destruction]
[Effect 2: Hive King Calculation: Distributed hive network, computational power amplified by 1700%]
[Second Awakening: Nanite Worker: Sacrifices a portion of the hive for 'ultra-fast' mechanical repairs, greatly enhancing the effect and duration of the 'Overdrive State']
The dimensional viewers initially thought that Ivan was releasing this nanite swarm to launch some special attack against the Tendo.
However, the massive nanite swarm, upon appearing, immediately changed direction. Like a golden river, it flowed backward, burrowing into the mecha on his body.
Under the repair of the nanite swarm, the cracks on the surface of Ivan's mecha began to heal rapidly.
"Mechanical Overdrive Mode activated."
As a cold electronic voice sounded, the mechanical patterns on Ivan's pale gold mecha were quickly replaced by more complex quantum circuits.
At the same time, the entire mecha visibly expanded by nearly thirty percent as the nanite swarm reconfigured it. Afterward, long, sharp metal blades popped out from his elbows, and four powerful thrusters emerged from his back.
"Combat mode switched: Swarm-Coordinated Combat."
In the next second, with a sonic boom from all four thrusters, Ivan suddenly disappeared from his spot.
A golden afterimage tore through the air, instantly appearing behind the Tendo.
The reconfigured mechanical combat blade, wreathed in a special energy stream formed by the golden swarm, slashed fiercely at the back of the Tendo's neck in a decapitating strike!
Clang!
As the Tendo blocked the attack, Ivan's mechanical blade suddenly split into dozens of special blades composed of tiny nanites.
These blades seemed to have a will of their own, bypassing the Tendo's arm and striking at his vital points from various tricky angles.
"Just a new coat of paint, but... it's a bit original."
The Tendo's eyes blazed with a brilliant azure light. The vector field instantly expanded, deflecting all the blades made of nanites.
But during this brief stalemate, Ivan's heavy punch slammed into the Tendo's chest.
Boom!
To Ivan's disbelief, the Tendo was "knocked back" on the spot.
What was even more perplexing was that while the Tendo was the one who was sent flying, Ivan was the one frozen in place, motionless.
He lowered his head, and the camera focused on his arm, which had just struck the Tendo's chest.
"Vector storage..."
Ivan stared down at his damaged mecha arm, the quantum data in his mind refreshing frantically.
Moments later, he looked up at the Tendo, who landed lightly as if nothing had happened. His expression was serious as he said, "...When did you master that?"
Without hiding anything, the Tendo gave his answer with a smile.
"I've known it for a long time. It's just that my body hadn't fully developed back then, and a large part of my brain's computational power was sealed, so I never used it."
[Vector Control - Storage]
[Effect: Stores a proportional amount of the received vector damage, which can be released cumulatively at any moment.]
For the Tendo, 'Vector Control - Storage' wasn't a particularly difficult technique.
The principle of this technique was simply to absorb and store the 'vector damage' that was supposed to be returned to the enemy.
However, a seemingly simple operation like this was actually very dangerous.
Because it meant that the Tendo's body was constantly carrying a ticking time bomb that could explode at any moment.
A single mistake could easily backfire.
But if this ability was used well, the results would also be astonishing.
This meant that the stronger and more frequent the enemy's attacks were, the more damage the Tendo could unleash at a specific moment.
This damage could also be stacked with the Tendo's own various star-energy techniques and abilities, making it a "stronger as the opponent gets stronger" type of ability.
After learning all of this, Ivan's eternally stoic face finally showed a change.
His brows furrowed, and the red light of his electronic eyes flickered on and off, clearly indicating that he had encountered a difficult problem.
In his calculations, the Tendo, who possessed the abilities 'Vector Control - All-Repulsion', 'Stellar Eclipse Eye - Star Liberation', and 'Vector Control - Storage', was simply a terrifying monster with no blind spots whatsoever.
To harm the Tendo, he first had to break through his 'All-Repulsion.'
But to break through the Tendo's 'All-Repulsion,' his attacks would definitely be 'stored' by the Tendo and returned to him at a critical moment.
This created an unsolvable paradox.
The stronger and more frequent his attacks on the Tendo were, the stronger the attacks he would have to endure later, until he could no longer take it.
For this situation, Ivan could only think of two solutions for now.
First, engage in a pure battle of star energy consumption until the Tendo's star energy was depleted.
Second, use an absolutely overwhelming attack that the Tendo's 'All-Repulsion' couldn't completely negate, thereby causing real damage.
But neither of these options was something Ivan could achieve at the moment.
Thinking this, Ivan realized that conventional methods were no longer an option to win and that he had to take a risk.
And the Tendo, as if guessing his thoughts, suddenly spoke.
"If I recall correctly, as a High Priest of the Mechanical Church, you should be able to communicate with your so-called 'God of All Machines.'"
"So, now that it has come to this, are you still not going to pray to your revered deity?"
Hearing the Tendo's words, Ivan was silent for a moment before slowly speaking.
"As you wish."
With those words, a ritual known as Deus Ex Machina began.
Seeing this scene, the dimensional viewers couldn't hold back.
Ivan was praying and summoning a god. So in this Starfield World, the end of science was... theology!
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The Only Player in the Marvel World
For a prize of ten million dollars, Du Mu is trying to clear a large-scale virtual game called "The Marvel World".
Unbeknownst to him, when the game started, he had already transmigrated into the real Marvel Universe, becoming the only player in this world.
Nick Fury: Du Mu is an excellent agent, he just doesn't like to follow orders. Every time I give a mission, he skips it.
Tony Stark: I don't know what happened, that day I teamed up with Du Mu, and when I came back, I was left with only one pair of underwear.
Banner: My situation is exactly the opposite of yours, only my underwear was stolen. I got so angry I transformed into the Hulk, and I was on the front page of every major news outlet that very night.
Thor: Du Mu said he had already maxed out his Justice Value to 1000, then he picked up my Mjölnir and ran off.
...
Facing the complaints of a group of superheroes, Du Mu calmly states: "These are all operations allowed by the game. If you have a problem, go talk to the game planner."