Ice core

(Celladonia - Equator zone)

(Sedem's POV)

"Hm?"

A sudden wave of energy brushed over my skin.

"Darn, those folks be having fun", I scratched the back of my head. "Welp, not like my end's boring anyways."

Chilling winds breezed through the area as I stood at the cutting edge of the King's slash, a deep dark depression about fifteen thousand metres wide and several feet deep.

"They say the King's slash reaches as far as the planet's core", I cracked a few knuckles and did some light exercises. "Well let's test that then."

*click*

A metallic sphere flew out from one of the sockets on my bag and floated to my right side. Just then, a protective suit engulfed my body from the same bag.

"Bordron", a smirk appeared on my face after I called out the name of my tech gear.

[Bordron: Taking form]

The metal sphere began to expand and several clicking sounds could be heard as the half-rounded robot took form.

Bordron was my tech gear and continued being my tech gear ever since I was a little kid. I always found these bot companions quite mysterious. The fact that every new born regardless of the seconds it has lived is given a super-charged tech gear kinda creeped me out.

Well, there was nothing wrong with giving protection to something as valuable as new life but, I sometimes couldn't shake the odd tingly feeling of fear whenever I stared into its eyes.

"Aight big guy", I patted Bordron. "We're jumping down there."

Heh, maybe keeping them in software form like Seksulfur might've been better. Hacking made easy!

Anyways, I couldn't believe Sir William tricked the others or maybe this was one of those twist missions he always loved throwing into our faces.

Seksulfur, Candy girl and my goddess were only to serve as distractions while I extracted the menergy traces. It's like he knew what was waiting for us and by the tension in the air, it seemed like the plan was working smoothly.

Sigh...

"Oi Bordron, please pass me my hoverboard", I looked into the endless pit. "Sheesh, what could possibly be the true source of the menergy traces?"

Bordron silently released my hoverboard from its storage slot in its back. The board gently hovered next to me with a soft humming sound.

"Stay close"

The bot responded, transforming into a huge sphere and levitating close to me as I took in deep breaths, "Here we go."

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(Crux Coelestis Ship - William's POV)

"Aren't you going to say anything?"

A young lady donned in a high-tech Knight's armour stood with arms crossed as a look of slight concern and anger filled her face.

I smiled, "How did you get access to my holo-caster?"

"Does that really matter at this point!?", her holographic image walked up to my desk. "You leave HQ all of a sudden and the first thing you pour out of your mouth after we finally establish contact is pure shit!"

My smiled settled into a slight neutrality as I took my cup of tea.

A few months ago, Crux Coelestis decided to embark on missions that were considered top-secret. Of course, as one of the Paladins tasked with scientific research within the organization, it made no sense to me as to why such missions were kept a secret from me.

The Organization had picked up traces of menergy in several parts of the galaxy and few of these traces had already been harvested and were being developed right under my nose. Once I heard about menergy traces in two major locations within the galaxy, I decided to harvest them on my own. Sedem, my apprentice suspected that something was wrong with the way the organization began to carry out its operations.

Hence, the reason why we both agreed on searching for the menergy traces on our own. It was only a matter of time until the organization realized our sudden disappearance. However, they tracked us faster than I expected.

"Are you listening to me?!"

The young lady snapped me from my thoughts.

"Whatever you do, you won't be able to change my mind", my smile returned. "Paladin of faith."

Sadness engulfed her, "You know what? Sometimes I wonder if I got married to the wrong person."

She turned back and walked to the other end of the room.

"Crux Coelestis has decided to treat your action as an official response to a mission request."

Those were her final words as she disconnected herself from the holographic transmission.

Silence returned to the room as I began to contemplate my next line of action but my thinking was jammed. Being harsh towards my wife was something that caused severe pain to my heart however, it was for a reason... a reason that was long to be revealed.

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(Equator zone - Sedem's POV)

[Bordron: Current depth... 34 456 metres]

The only sounds my ears picked up were the sounds of my tech gear and breathing as we slowly descended deeper and deeper into the slash. Temperatures were dropping at an incredible rate and I could feel my body beginning to solidify despite the protection from my suit. I held on tightly to Bordron's back.

We weren't even close to moving away from the crust yet and it was already that cold. The Celladonian planet's interior consisted mainly of strangely composed ice rocks that served as the transitional zones between sizzling hot magma. The weird thing about the ice rocks was that they never melted regardless of how hot the major layers of the planet was.

The transitional zones were usually super cold but, we weren't even close to it and the menergy traces according to Bordron's readings were in the very first transitional zone.

Welp, it was probably because of the weather on the surface.

[Bordron: Detecting sudden thermal activity]

"Huh?", my eyebrows perked up. "What do you mean? We aren't close to the second layer yet."

[Bordron: Thermal activity has been depleted... Detecting sudden Temperature drop.... temperature drop has been ceased.... Detecting sudden thermal activity.... Thermal-]

"The hell! What's messing with its sensors?"

*Grrrrrrrrr*

A faint growl swept through the giant ice chasm.

My heart began to accelerate, "W- W- What was that???"

[Bordron: Enabling defense mechanism]

Bordron armed itself with its cannons as it locked on to a stream-like object that seemed to be swimming within the ice.

.

A few minutes passed and there was utter silence.

I sighed, "it was probably nothing to worry ab-"

*CRASH!!*

"The HELL!!"

A dragon-like alien burst out from within the ice on our immediate left. The crystalline monster seemed to have a twin on the other end of its tail. The main head had frost all around it with a characteristic bluish radiance and the tail head was the complete opposite; Magma oozed all over its body and it radiated heat.

"What is that thing!?"

[Bordron: Commencing attack]

*ROAR!!*

The magma-ice alien wasn't going to give my tech gear a chance as the main head blasted a stream of ice at us.

I managed to duck in time but bordron was too slow to evade as its levitation system got frozen completely.

My eyes widened in shock, "you're kidding."

Bordron plummeted into the deep dark ice chasm, taking me along with it.

I awoke after what seemed to be a few minutes and the next thing I saw jolted me back on my feet.

Below me was the planet's ice layer and within the layer, was molten material that flowed ominously.

After taking a better look around, I realized that Bordron had fallen on its back and was having trouble levitating. That bot weighed tons and its only mode of movement was by levitation. With that system frozen, getting out of the dark chasm was going to be a problem.

"This is bad", I looked up and the only source of light that came from above was from the king's slash which was now the size of my little finger. "We're incredibly deep underground."

All of a sudden, the chasm began to rumble and small shifts could be felt.

The chasm was slowly moving along with the magma below it. We had to leave that area immediately.

"Sir William", I tried communicating with my holo-comm. "Hello? anyone? Med bots!"

No one responded

"No piece of tech works on this God-forsaken planet!"

*Beep... beep*

Tiny sounds suddenly came from the holo-comm. Could it have been a response!?

I immediately checked the holo-comm and realized that there was an extremely faint signal.

It was weird since there was absolutely no signs of connection a few minutes ago. So where could it have come from?

*Grrr*

Familiar growls quitely reverberated throughout the chasm.

I looked up, noticing the magma-ice alien moving with the ice around me.

*Beep!*

The holo-comm was online!

"What in the world", a mutter escaped my lips.

The device returned to its offline state once the alien moved farther away from me. The alien was producing the signal!

No

It was transmitting energy... an unknown energy. The only way one could create an unknown form of energy was with the main creation source, menergy.

My heart raced, "Now I know where the menergy traces are from!"

The alien came closer once again, fixing its angry eyes on us. Everytime it got closer, the holo-comm would spark to life.

I grinned as an idea popped up in my head.

"Oi biggie!", I picked up a small ice stone. "Try to get us this time!"

I threw the stone at the layer of ice before the alien and activated the most humiliating poses from the darkest reaches of my heart!

The beast's eyes literally twitched in anger as it burst through the ice and lunged at me.

"Heh", I smirked, evading its thrust and dashing towards bordron with an item I pulled from my pockets.

Placing the object on bordron activated it and ejected an arrow-tipped rope that pierced through the alien's lower belly.

I grabbed on to bordron as tightly as possible. The alien let out a screech of pain as it crashed into a different layer of ice above us, taking bordron along with me with it.

Being so close to the alien, activated all the pieces of tech I had on me. There was only one thing left to do at that point!

"Bordron! Divert all the energy around us to your!"

[Bordron: Absorbing]

*ROOOAARR!!*

The alien burst out of the king's slash and into the air. It then sent us flying high up in the air, causing all the tech to go offline again.

"No! No! No!", I panicked as bordron and I flew higher up.

The alien's two heads were directed at me. It looked as if they were going to launch a simultaneous attack and Bordron hadn't absorbed much energy!

Was I going to die there? What about my goddess!!?

[Bordron: 68% menergy absorbed, infusing internal energy reserves]

"Bordron?"

[Bordron: 100% energy gained]

"Ha ... Haha! Yes!! Activate full synchronization!"

Bordron split itself into many parts and attached those parts onto my body, forming a full battle suit.

"Perfect!", I re-adjusted myself and aimed my sight carefully at the alien.

A faint trace of light could be seen in both foreheads of the alien. Those were probably the traces of menergy!

The alien charged up a significant amount of energy, sending a fire-ice blast that zipped through the air in my direction.

Little propellers on my joints shifted me a few inches away from the blast.

"Now!"

I aimed my right fist at the alien and shot a neon laser rope around its two heads. The propellers tipped me into super fast motion in a horizontal circle, tying the two heads together with increasing pressure.

*CRASH!!*

Both heads were severed and the force from the severence sent me flying away in a straight path at high speed.

That was my chance!

"Extract!", I let forth my left hand, activating an extraction device that pulled the menergy traces from both heads and into my palm.

I shut my eyes tight as I fell into the thick white snow.

A few minutes passed and I finally let both eyes open. In my hands were menergy shards.

"Yes! We did it Bordron!"

The suit's in-built speaker flared to life,

[Bordron: Affirmative]

Sheesh!