The Divine Machine's Otaku Dance Time

The mechanical arms in the underground laboratory of the Akademiya buzzed with activity. Azar gazed at the mech frame suspended in the energy field, the seal on the gilded blind box in his hand slowly cracking apart. Inside the box, a silvery-white, spine-like device gleamed coldly—the "Divine Module" he had acquired through black-market channels at great cost. It was said to contain the authority of a god from another world.

"The majesty of the Scarlet King, the wisdom of the Dendro Archon, and now this gift..." He embedded the device into the mech's chest cavity, the clang of metal resonating like a death knell. "The time for the birth of a new god has come."

Suddenly, the Akasha Terminal flashed a crimson warning. Before he could read the text, the entire lab was engulfed in a blinding pink-purple light. The mech's ocular monitors lit up with heart-shaped patterns, its hydraulic joints twisting eerily to the rhythm of *"Lovelive!"*. The hundred-meter-tall steel colossus began performing an otaku dance. Each step of its mechanical feet shook the ceiling, dislodging surveillance cameras. Azar cowered beneath the console, watching in horror as his treasured Scarlet King tomes were torn to shreds by the turbulent air.

"Backup protocol activated—*EVA* Puppet System," a mechanical female voice echoed from all directions. "Entertainment module priority anomaly detected. Executing Protocol 114514."

Above, in the pinnacle of the House of Daena, Lumine's Serenitea Pot trembled violently. A beam of light projected from its spout revealed the mech using a plasma cannon to carve "打call" (cheer) into the sand. Just as Kazuha crushed a teleportation talisman, his Electro-infused spear cleaved through the alloy doors of the underground passage.

"Cease this forbidden experiment at once!" Cyno's roar was drowned out by the deafening music. The mech, holding glow sticks, gave a heart-shaped gesture to the cameras, while confetti spewing from its chest plates plastered the General Mahamatra's face.

"It's mimicking the Akasha Terminal's entertainment data!" Lumine shouted, dragging Kazuha out of the way of a sweeping mechanical arm. She plugged a *Macross* songstress USB into the control console. The soaring voice of Sheryl Nome suddenly blared, causing the mech's movements to falter for a moment, its display flickering with static.

Seizing the opportunity, Kazuha leapt onto the trembling mechanical arm, a neural connector glowing blue in his palm. "Lord Kusanali, how long can the consciousness channel be maintained?"

"Three minutes," Nahida's voice echoed from the void. "But there's a cognitive barrier in the core area..."

Cyno flung a permission card engraved with Stellar Sigils. "Use this!" The moment the card was inserted into the interface, the mech's chest bloomed like a lotus, revealing a cockpit wrapped in Abyssal chains. Inside, a green-haired girl curled up, her face identical to Nahida's, but with thorn-like blood veins creeping from the corners of her eyes.

Nahida's consciousness flowed like fireflies into the mech's core. The decaying cockpit suddenly sprouted Sumeru roses. The mech's movements softened, and a Dendro-infused orb of light formed at its fingertips, illuminating the underground space and casting Azar's pale face in stark relief.

"Cognitive filtration removal at 98%..." Alhaitham's hologram flickered on the console. "But energy overload..."

The blaring alarms drowned out the rest of the warning. The mech's back armor exploded, revealing an energy crystal identical to those in the Scarlet King's Mausoleum. A golden light enveloped the mech as it surged toward the Irminsul Tree. Lumine grabbed Kazuha's collar and leapt onto the mech's shoulder, the wind tearing away her scholar's disguise and revealing the Stellar Keystone stirring within her Serenitea Pot.

"The Akademiya used the clone as a living firewall!" Lumine's fingertips touched the cockpit glass. The girl inside stirred slightly, her eyelashes fluttering. "Her consciousness is being consumed by the Abyss..."

Kazuha plunged the neural connector into the mech's neck circuits, a bronze top spinning wildly in his palm—a totem used by Dunyarzad during the Sabzeruz Festival. The top's trajectory gradually synchronized with the mech's movements, and Nahida's voice echoed in everyone's minds: "She bears the pain of all cycles. Purification means..."

"It means the choice should be hers." Kazuha pressed a *CLANNAD* orb of light against the clone's chest. The cockpit exploded, scattering stardust-like particles and fragments of memories: Nahida smiling as she taught children in the Sanctuary of Surasthana, the clone gazing at a false starry sky from her incubation pod, and the sigh of the Greater Lord Rukkhadevata deep within the Irminsul.

The mech transformed into a golden dandelion, entwined in the branches of the Irminsul. Cyno caught the falling control chip, its cracks oozing the stench of the Abyss. Alhaitham's hologram reappeared: "The activation records of the Puppet System show..."

Nahida's sigh cut him off. "When you repaired the voice modulator, did you notice the extra data port?"

Lumine silently glanced at the neural connector in Kazuha's hand, its Stellar Sigils faintly glowing in the moonlight. In the shadows of the House of Daena's terrace, someone pressed a page from *Death Note* against the Akademiya's emblem. As the night wind blew back the hood, a strand of silver hair gleamed like a drawn blade.