Seventy-Five: Flesh Vs Metal

Phetue city 

Litvain

Osa Solar system

Pavesa Galaxy

Colony planetary Region

Karkinos 9th Y-1909

The lower levels of the building trembled, the shockwaves of the battle between Sage Realm experts rippling through space. A radiant downpour illuminated the chamber—Bishop Cervain's holy onslaught, a relentless cascade of divine force, pursued the Ascendant Automaton, Hephaestion. Yet, the machine danced through the storm with effortless precision, each attack missing by mere inches.

Hephaestion's Etheric Logic Circuit expanded, processing trajectories in an instant. Every faith-infused strike was analyzed, predicted, and evaded—not through excessive force, but with the sheer efficiency of its fundamental physical capabilities. No wasted motion. No unnecessary exertion. Just the calculated grace of a machine that had already determined the outcome before the battle had begun.

Bishop Cervain observed the android's effortless evasion, yet he remained unfazed. With a steady grip on his staff, he wove another intricate spell, golden glyphs spiraling outward as faith-born incantations manifested in the air.

Unlike Elemental magic, which relied on the World Essence's natural energies, faith-based magic drew power from unwavering belief in the gods. As a Bishop of the Annunaki religion, one who had ascended to the Harmonization Phase, Cervain's devotion to the Divine Emperor was absolute—unyielding. Such unshakable faith amplified the potency of his holy magic beyond anything Hephaestion had previously encountered. Channeling his Odic Force, Cervain invoked the will of the Divine Emperor, pulling celestial power into reality.

[Radiance of the High Lord]

The very fabric of space stretched, expanding outward as a sanctified realm materialized, overlaying the battlefield with divine judgment. From the heavens above—now made manifest in physical reality—colossal beams of consecrated light descended. Though this was not the full might of the Divine Emperor, it had been refined into holy energy potent enough to deliver judgment upon all who defied the gods.

Hephaestion's response was immediate. Perhaps even faster than Cervain's incantation itself.

Luminous Cognition Nexus engaged.

A flood of data surged through Hephaestion's systems. Millions of calculations processed in mere microseconds, breaking down the attack's structure—its trajectory, density, wavelength, and dispersal pattern. The probabilities shifted. A countermeasure formed.

Hephaestion activated Photon Refract Shielding.

Its body flickered, warping into a mirage, bending light around itself to become an imperceptible anomaly. The divine judgment roared past, colliding with the ground in a deafening eruption of holy fire. The explosion rippled outward, collapsing and reforming space as it seared through reality itself.

ERROR. FAITH-BASED MAGIC CANNOT BE DODGED?

LOGIC OVERRIDE: MODIFY TACTICAL RESPONSE.

A shimmer in the air. A step forward.

Hephaestion recalculated—adapting, optimizing. The moment to strike was now.

Bishop Cervain's eyes widened at the failure of his attack, but his resolve never wavered. Without hesitation, he raised his hand, golden light pulsing from his form like a divine heartbeat.

[Miracle of the Anointed]

A radiant barrier erupted around him, a sanctified shield woven from faith itself. His aura expanded, saturating the battlefield with an overwhelming holy presence, transmuting the very ground beneath them into a consecrated domain.

A realm dictated by faith.

A domain where doubt was a weakness.

A space where only believers could wield the power of the divine. All light-based attacks were drawn into the golden field, absorbed, and purified into holy mana.

"Within my miracle, no heresy shall stand!" Cervain's voice rang out like a decree, an undeniable proclamation of divine law.

For a brief moment, Hephaestion's data streams flickered. The sheer magnitude of faith-based energy distorted computational equilibrium, disrupting the Etheric Logic Circuit with a burst of static interference. The domain's reality-bending nature would have rendered an ordinary machine—or even a mortal—powerless. But Hephaestion was neither. Its Luminous Cognition Nexus surged, recalibrating at light speed.

"System Override—Calculating Divine Algorithm."

Instantaneously, Hephaestion scanned the shifting structure of the holy domain. The frequency of faith-based energy. The light wave signatures. The composition of holy mana. In 0.03 seconds, it executed 2.7 million combat variations, discarding inefficiencies within microseconds.

The Etheric Logic Circuit adjusted. Energy output recalibrated. Stabilization was complete. Where others would have been struck by awe, Hephaestion saw only variables—equations waiting to be solved. The environment had changed. So, too, would its tactics.

With cold precision, Hephaestion adapted. It would not evade. It would not defend. It would optimize. It would counter.

[Quantum Radiance Protocol] 

This was another ability of Hephaestion in which he could convert his Light Force variation into pure photonic constructs, bypassing the holy domain's restrictions. The holy domain manipulated light, but Hephaestion's light did not come from faith-based creation. It was a synthetic phenomenon.

"You say no heresy shall stand by the decree of your miracle," Hephaestion called out to the Bishop. "But in the end, your miracle is nothing more than a controlled environment. My Data indicates that its closed systems can be corrupted." 

[Hard light Construct Algorithm] 

His secondary ability was activated thanks to his Quantum Radiance protocol, which crafted dozens of hard-light blades, each one calculated to strike vital points. High-frequency oscillation fields allowed the blades to cut through holy energy, negating holy resistance. Hephaestion launched them simultaneously from multiple angles. Bishop Cervain was forced to act, summoning barriers of golden scripture to block each blade, but they struck with mathematical precision. The blades cut through his thighs, some coming for the rest of his body. More of the blade honed in on him but It was only thanks to this barrier, that the attack didn't truly finish him off.

[Judgment Ray – Spear of Ascendance]

Bishop Cervain thrust his staff forward, a radiant spear of condensed holy energy erupting from its tip. It was more than just an attack—it was divine judgment, an executioner's blade meant to erase all that defied the will of the gods. By the decree of the Annunaki religion, the Automaton was such a being. A blasphemy. A heretical construct that should not exist. The lance of holy power streaked forward, its radiance threatening to engulf Hephaestion in a single overwhelming strike.

Yet, Hephaestion adapted. His Luminous Cognition Nexus pushed into overclock mode, processing data beyond conventional speed. The battlefield slowed in his perception, every particle of energy dissected and analyzed in real-time. Millions of probabilities were simulated. Optimal solution identified. Execution commencing.

[Horizon Step Drive]

Light flared beneath Hephaestion's feet, forming quantum reaction fields. A moment later, he vanished. The Spear of Ascendance passed through where he had been a fraction of a second ago, its divine force cleaving reality itself—but missing its mark. Hephaestion reappeared above the Bishop, energy coalescing along his right arm. A hard-light blade materialized—its edge vibrating at near-infinite frequency, its form a pure construct of synthetic photonic energy, unrestricted by faith-based interference.

[Photonic Stream Execution – Fatal Calculation]

A beam of radiant hard-light energy surged from the weapon, its trajectory calculated to precisely disrupt the faith-based composition of the Bishop's domain. The moment it struck, the barrier of scripture shattered like glass, divine glyphs unraveling into golden embers. The holy spear flickered—its energy dispersing into nothingness. The materialized Heaven collapsed and reality contracted back to its original form, stripped of divine influence.

Direct Impact. Critical Systemic Disruption.

Faith Energy Flow – Severed.

Celestial Spear – Deactivated.

Bishop Cervain staggered backward, his breath ragged. A metallic taste filled his mouth. Blood. His hands trembled as he clutched his chest, his body reeling from the sheer impossibility of what had just occurred. His miracle—a divine construct born of faith—had been broken. By a machine. By an abomination with no soul, no belief, no place in the grand design of the Divine Emperor. The realization shook him to his core.

"I… I am a Pleiadian… a descendant of the House of Scorpio… My family's lineage is among the purest Celestial bloodlines in the Federation… This… This cannot be…!"

But reality did not bend to belief. Not anymore. Before him, Hephaestion stood—calm, silent, and calculating. A cold presence. A mechanical certainty. A being that had already determined the outcome before the battle had even begun. And for the first time in his life, Bishop Cervain felt something foreign claw at the edges of his faith.

Doubt.

"No… No… No… Please forgive me… Your Holiness."

Bishop Cervain staggered, his body collapsing to one knee, trembling as he begged the Divine Emperor for forgiveness. He had doubted. He had allowed himself to be tainted—to let the filth of uncertainty seep into his sanctified soul. As a Bishop of Starlight, he was meant to embody faith's perfection, an unwavering beacon of divine will. Yet this thing—this heretical machine—had pushed him to the brink.

"If… If only I had invoked my Holy Territory," he muttered, voice weak.

Blood poured from his wounds, his body struggling to mend itself. Mana Force variation damage was far harder to heal, even for those in the Harmonization Phase. But he would not allow his disgrace to be his final act. His Faith Core, the center of his Faith cultivation, flared to life. Holy energy surged, his Odic Force converging into a singular point. If his faith was to be tested, he would prove its absolute power in the only way left to him.

[Martyr's Wrath – Divine Self-Sacrifice]

Bishop Cervain's soul ignited, burning as fuel for one final, cataclysmic burst of divine judgment. Reality fractured. Space splintered. Holy fire rained from the heavens, ready to incinerate everything in the chamber—every living being, reduced to nothing but sacred embers. But Hephaestion had already calculated this scenario.

[Solar Requiem Engine]

A hum of power radiated from the Automaton as it executed its countermeasure. The Solar Requiem Engine engaged. It hijacked the Faith Core's energy output, seizing control of the divine explosion mid-burst. The machine's systems absorbed and converted the holy fire into ambient photon energy, redirecting the surge into its Cognition Core for storage. Simultaneously, Hephaestion rerouted the volatile energy, forcing the divine flames into a localized implosion. The Bishop's scream tore through the chamber. The divine blaze collapsed inward, consuming him instead.

His own faith—his own devotion—had turned against him. As the holy light faded, silence overtook the room. The Pleiadian was no more. Hephaestion stepped past the burned husk of what had once been Bishop Cervain, his mechanical gaze shifting toward Effie. But before he could proceed—

A pillar of light erupted from the corpse. The presence of holy energy remained. Faint, but undeniable. Hephaestion's Etheric Logic Circuit instantly scanned the anomaly.

Probability of post-mortem divine resurrection: 79.4%.

Risk of posthumous retaliation: 63.9%.

Tactical Response: Elimination impossible.

Hephaestion's arm lowered. The initial calculation had determined a method to disrupt the resurrection process, but further analysis indicated that doing so was futile. It simply watched. The Bishop's soul ascended, drifting beyond the chamber, beyond the atmosphere—leaving the planet behind. His faith had preserved him. He would return, reborn in another vessel. But for now, this battle was over.

Watching from the shadows, Magistrate Dafoe stood frozen, his mind refusing to comprehend what he had just witnessed. A Bishop—one of the Annunaki's chosen—had fallen. Not just fallen—defeated. And by an Automaton. The battle had been brutal. Efficient. Merciless. It had not been a drawn-out struggle of willpower and faith—it had been precise. Calculated. Unforgiving. Dafoe's instincts screamed at him to flee. He turned, trying to slip away before the machine or the girl could notice—

But he was too slow. Effie moved swiftly. In a blur of speed, she appeared behind him, slamming his head into the cold floor. A sharp gasp of pain escaped him as his vision blurred.

"Where do you think you're going?" Effie's voice was cold, unwavering. She leaned down, pressing a knee into his back, keeping him pinned. "We need your Biokey if we're going to access your system."

Effie dragged the struggling Magistrate toward the main network hub, her grip unrelenting. This was where she would access the system—where she would complete their objective. As they reached their destination, she turned, instinctively searching for Hephaestion. But he was gone. A flicker of thought passed through her mind. He's probably gone to join Meri in her fight. Her fingers clenched slightly around the Magistrate's collar. She exhaled softly.

"Please, my Lady… stay safe." Effie's voice was barely a whisper, but the words carried a quiet, unwavering reverence. Then, without another moment of hesitation, she turned back to the console. There was still work to be done.