novelraw Chapter 563: The Plague That Shakes the Mechanical Cult’s Foundations
Chapter 563: The Plague That Shakes the Mechanical Cult’s Foundations
And at almost the same time, the monitoring panels of the three Hives instantly displayed the massive blood-red giant that had appeared in the sky.
It revealed the bone-white Plague Doctor Mask standing within the Leviathan’s chamber.
“Plague Doctor!”
At that moment, a surging wave of unease swept through the entire Cursed City the moment the Leviathan appeared.
A colossal shadow loomed overhead, and the sky-shaking roar of the deep space made every mechanical sensor hum with vibration.
It was like an unspoken agreement.
Almost the instant the God of All Machines’ attention was drawn away, the Flesh and Blood Dominator and the Desire Mother Tree struck out without hesitation, launching an extremely fierce assault against him.
It was as if they had been building up strength all along, waiting, biding their time for an opportunity—and that opportunity...
Was now!
“Move!”The Desire Mother Tree’s guttural voice thundered across the entire sky.
And at the same moment, just as countless mechanical units locked onto the appearance of that massive entity, its sky-covering body began to gurgle and violently transform, erupting into countless pores. It was as if every single pore on your entire body had opened at once. Within those dark, fleshy cavities, blood-red liquid frantically flowed through mucosal tissues, saturating every spore.
That was a virus!
That was a plague!
Like a god of death bringing destruction and catastrophe, the Plague Doctor slowly extended his withered hand. The pale Raven Mask’s eye sockets reflected the entire earth below.
At that moment.
He gave the order.
Thump—
Countless dull, muffled sounds of flesh squeezing and shooting forth went almost unnoticed amid the chaotic battlefield.
They were countless spores, constructed entirely from bloated flesh and blood, like freshly ripped-out, still-beating, bloody hearts.
And then, under the awe-stricken gaze of every living being...
They blasted across the entire sky!
A massive wave of unease almost simultaneously swept through the God of All Machines’ consciousness. His pupils violently contracted, and he could clearly see the reflections of those spores in his enormous eyes.
Sir Aiwen looked up with an emotionless expression, his green eyes reflecting the massive Leviathan.
Plague.
Just as he had guessed.
This was their real trump card, their true goal!
Ever since that assassination attempt on Lynn back in Nightfall City, ever since they uncovered those deep-rooted operatives within their royal research department, they had been preparing for this very moment.
This war was never about competing for the Brain of the Big Bang.
Their target, from beginning to end, had always been the Mechanical Cult.
They had been waiting for this moment.
To exact their thousand-year-long revenge on the entire Mechanical Cult!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
At that moment.
Countless spores exploded across the entire sky. The blood mist nearly blanketed the entire battlefield, corroding every corner, corroding every mechanical entity present.
The first to be affected were the three Black Star Hives. They bore the brunt of the assault. As the blood-red mist adhered to the Hives, metal began to deform—from the microscopic molecular level all the way to the macroscopic surface. Dense, writhing flesh sprouted across the metal.
Those fleshy growths were like greedy vines, rustling as they spread outward across the entire surface of the Hives.
Viewed from afar.
The smooth black inverted pyramids looked as if they had been stained with patches of fine rust and bloodstains, which then rapidly expanded, rapidly spread, and rapidly festered!
“Warning! Warning! Hive struck by unknown agent, signal lost, defense systems breached!”
“Information link with Cluster 1, 4, and 35 lost! Cannot establish connection!”
“Warning! Warning! Connection to main base consciousness severed, connection to Sovereign severed, emergency consciousness upload request initiated... upload failed, consciousness upload authority blocked by unknown interference!”
“Information sync request sent, no response received, no response received!”
In an instant, within the consciousness space of the three Hives, the links to the mechanical consciousness across the entire battlefield were massively disrupted. Red markers representing lost connections continuously lit up across the screens.
“Warning! Warning! Requesting highest-level emergency link with the Purity Council, immediately...”
Click—
Everything came to an abrupt halt.
It was like being bound by heavy chains, or like a jailer slamming shut every door leading to the outside world.
The moment the Hives were enveloped by flesh, the entire consciousness space plunged into darkness. All connections to the outside world fell silent, like a deep-sea voyage lost in the abyss.
Silence!
Deathly silence!
All three Hives fell into paralysis simultaneously.
Like three corpses sealed within tombs, stripped of their former cold, metallic structures. Those three massive black inverted pyramids had become dead, silent giants, crawling with countless sticky fleshy growths.
And across the entire battlefield.
The moment that blood-red plague blanketed everything, bloodstains and rust began to appear on every single mechanical unit present.
Flesh sprouted from the metal surfaces of countless warplanes, and their internal mechanical consciousness simultaneously lost connection with the Hives and the God of All Machines.
They were right next to each other.
They could still see the Hives and the God of All Machines with their own eyes, but the moment silence fell, it felt like being thrown into an endless, deep sea.
“The blood mist! Is it the blood mist causing this?! Is anyone there?! Can anyone hear me?! The Hive and the Sovereign have lost contact with me! Requesting permission for emergency consciousness upload?!”
But there was nothing.
At that moment, the usual noise of their information sync had become as silent as death.
Every consciousness displayed had been marked with a gray label: [Lost Connection]. No one answered.
“Is anyone there?!”
“Information sync has been interrupted. Cannot perform consciousness upload. Cannot effectively control the unit!”
“If you receive this, please respond! Please respond!”
“My consciousness... my consciousness is being split! The 51 mechanical units I control are dividing my consciousness! Cannot perform consciousness upload—I am locked inside this body!”
Above the sky.
Under Silver Fantasy’s trembling gaze, countless warplanes infected by flesh and blood fell like ashes, one after another.
She swiftly swung her Monomolecular Blade, severing the massive branches that had spread toward her. She turned her head sharply, her trembling gaze landing on the mechanical units fighting alongside her.
Vicious red flesh had crawled all over their bodies, infiltrating their systems bit by bit.
The consciousness of the entire cluster that had been synchronizing information with her also began dropping off in patches within the blood mist. Mechanical units around her fell into paralysis in droves.
Her consciousness exploded with a roar.
At the same time, she felt a chill creeping through her own mechanical body.
She looked down at her hands. She saw the blue-gray crevices of her fingers begin to sprout with bloody red flesh. The metal was transforming, and in the areas covered by that flesh, it felt like a cold iron curtain had been slammed down over her.
Blocking all information exchange with the outside world!