A flicker of blue flame suddenly ignited within the left eye of the metallic body!
That tiny spark immediately spread like a prairie fire, racing across the body in an instant.
In the blink of an eye, the entire form was engulfed in blue fire.
Roya's spiritual sense swept over him one last time. Confirming that there were no flaws, he finally allowed himself to relax.
With a thought, he dispelled the cage of weapons that had been confining Imu.
Freed once more, Imu first gazed at his own hands in confusion, then cast his uncertain eyes over everything around him.
The unstable blue flames flickering over his body acted as a barrier, repelling the surrounding spore miasma and keeping it at bay.
On the Void Throne, Green Bull moved a finger. A cluster of spores silently crept along the floor, drifting toward Imu.
Their movements were so subtle, so well-shrouded by the ever-shifting veil of spore mists, that even a deliberate observer would struggle to notice them.
Imu, bewildered, glanced at the Void Throne, then at Roya, and asked:
"You must be Roya. And who is this man?"
Roya sighed inwardly. As expected, Imu no longer remembered that his transformation had begun the moment he sat upon the Void Throne.
Green Bull rose to his feet, smiling.
"Very well, allow me to formally introduce myself.
I am the Slave Knight of the Seventh Overlord under the Holy King of the Fearless Dynasty — the Blue Fungus Lord!
And at the same time, I am the Governor of this planet!
Strictly speaking, you are all my subjects!"
His expression abruptly hardened, his voice booming with anger:
"And yet you lowly creations dared to awaken me ahead of time!
Do you not understand? For nine consecutive harvest seasons I have made no mistakes!
Had I smoothly completed this season as well, my master would have bestowed upon me the ultimate reward of mechanical ascension!
I would finally shed this lowly, pathetic form of life and enter the same undying state of immortality as my master!"
Roya snorted derisively.
"Are you so sure that this so-called immortality isn't just being turned into one of those cannon-fodder units stacked at the bottom level of the pyramid starships?
Don't forget, the Star Spirit of this planet is already nearing full maturity — and he is a far more advanced energy-being than you are!
Wouldn't replacing you with him serve your master's interests better?"
Green Bull was struck dumb by Roya's words. Yet he could not deny it — not only was it possible, it was highly likely.
But reverence for his master was etched into every fiber of his being, into every filament of his fungal network.
After a moment of stunned silence, fury blazed in him even stronger.
He roared:
"Enough! My master's majesty is not something you lowly creations are worthy to profane!"
The cluster of spores that had reached Imu's feet suddenly erupted!
Each spore began multiplying violently, swelling in an instant from an invisible speck into the size of a fist.
From the fungal mass, sharp metallic spikes thrust outward, gleaming with lethal intent.
Then came the detonation!
The blast was like a fusion of ten thousand fragmentation grenades and high-explosive charges going off at once in the confined space.
The violent shockwave ripped through the hall, scattering the spore miasma in all directions.
The vast chamber between the blossoms was instantly scoured clean. Not only was every spore gone, but even the air itself grew thin, leaving behind a bizarre vacuum zone into which the dense spore clouds outside could not flow back.
Imu stamped his foot, shaking loose the metallic spore-studs that clung to him.
With a cold snort, he said:
"Did your master forget to tell you? Attacks of that level can't even scratch his defenses."
Green Bull sneered darkly.
"Though this body of yours has been reinforced by Roya's modifications and is much stronger than a standard shell, compared to my master's Overlord-class living metal form, it's nothing but scrap iron!
Besides, that last strike of mine wasn't meant to kill you — it was to ignite the life matter I've been stockpiling, fool!"
As his words fell, the entire blossom chamber began to tremble.
The vibrations shifted — from broad to narrow, from low-frequency to high — like an engine sputtering to life and gradually reaching its optimal state.
Feeling the tremors, Green Bull spread his arms and proclaimed:
"Blame your Star Spirit! He was stupid enough to mimic my master's starship!
Those propulsion systems below may be crude, but with life matter — the finest fuel in the entire universe — even this imitation can fly all the way to the moon.
If I were you, I'd use the little time left to escape, to do the last things I most desired.
Soon enough, my master will descend upon the moon, and bring ultimate purification to you blasphemers!"
Roya looked at him as though staring at an idiot.
"Did you really think all this time I was only helping Imu achieve mechanical ascension?
With a slave as stupid as you, your master can't be very clever either."
Imu tapped his metallic skull and sneered:
"Use that brain of yours. Vibrations of this level could never generate sufficient thrust.
Even if you're brainless, you can't have forgotten the existence of Vegapunk, can you?
He was locked inside the pyramid for decades. Do you really think he'd have left you those propulsion systems intact?"
Roya followed up:
"And as for that vaunted cache of life matter you stored inside the pyramid? Sorry — I've already used it all up.
What little remains now was left behind deliberately… to burn you, idiot."
Green Bull froze completely.
Only now did he realize that his link with the spores had already been severed by an unseen barrier.
All the signals and feedback he had received from the spore miasma — every supposed action he thought he had taken, from injecting life matter into the propulsion systems to manipulating the network — had all been false information simulated by that barrier!
And the searing energy he had unleashed in the explosion had not, as he imagined, ignited the starship's propulsion system.
Instead, it had ignited the Pacifista army that Roya had secretly modified!
Now, those beings of pure living metal had become blazing Vajra warriors, sweeping across the entire city in a fiery purge.
The most ingenious part: because Green Bull's searing energy could propagate through spores, once it passed through the living metal, it burned only the spores — leaving everything else untouched.
And the incinerated spores, like firewood, only fed the flames further!
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