Here's the Bonus chapter of the week, since it reaches 100+ PS.
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Chapter 309: Encountering the Ex-Machina, Taking Schwi Away!
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"There is no need to rush," Shiro stated entirely expressionless, while simultaneously establishing a link through divine intent to communicate with Seito.
Shiro: "Seito-nii~ Is it true that the Ex-Machina will absolutely refuse to blindly submit to a deity's dictates?"
Seito: "Correct. Although the Ex-Machina are structured as mechanical cybernetic organisms, Tet—as the One True God of Games—possesses far too much pride to resort to the low-end methodology of directly rewriting their core directives. Utilizing such underhanded techniques would completely compromise his prestige within the Divine Domain."
Shiro: "Seito-nii~ Is there truly a unit within their ranks who bears an exact resemblance to me?"
Shiro harbored a strong sense of curiosity regarding the matter. Before her deployment, Seito had explicitly detailed that an Ex-Machina unit matching her physical parameters existed within this quadrant.
Seito: "Yes, her designation is Schwi. The moment your visual sensors lock onto her, you will comprehend the structural parallel. For now, prioritize mapping the spatial coordinates of the God of Doubt, Holou. Do not forget the specific counter-measures I prepared for you!"
Shiro: "Understood!"
With their telepathic link safely dissolving, Shiro fell into a brief moment of quiet deliberation. Mapping the data streams she currently possessed, the God of Doubt, Holou, was an abstract entity plagued by an infinite volume of "existential perplexities."
Yes! "Perplexities"!
As the conceptual manifestation of doubt, her core code was hardwired to continuously question the fundamental nature of all universal matter. Because the mechanical Ex-Machina had historically failed to process or resolve her logical dilemmas, Holou had ultimately designated the entire species as an analytical failure and completely abandoned them.
Therefore, marching directly into the core coordinates of the Ex-Machina wouldn't automatically trigger an encounter with Holou.
However, Shiro's primary tactical objective for this phase wasn't Holou anyway; her main target was the specific Ex-Machina unit known as Schwi!
Analyzing the structural composition of the Ex-Machina, one had to account for their most lethal racial trait: their centralized collective consciousness. Because every individual unit was mechanically linked to a primary cluster mainframe, their sensory logs and tactical data were synchronized across the entire species in real-time.
To put it plainly, the moment a single Ex-Machina unit classified an outside entity as a hostile target, the entire global network would instantly adopt a defensive posture, initiating a coordinated, total-species offensive against the threat!
With those algorithmic anchoring her thoughts, Shiro smoothly halted her advance.
"Provide tactical reinforcement to the parallel fronts. If our calculations hold true, the Ex-Machina forces will systematically migrate toward the capital city of Elkia shortly," Shiro commanded, her tone entirely vacant as her gaze settled on Grand General White Wind and the accompanying elite officers.
For the high command and guild executives, maintaining an escort formation around Shiro was entirely optional given her tier, so pivoting their forces to optimize other sectors was the mathematically superior choice.
"By your command!"
White Wind and the officers responded in perfect, unified sync, halting their advance. Without a single fraction of delay, they smoothly reversed their vectors, deploying at maximum speed toward the adjacent racial territories!
Watching their silhouettes vanish past the horizon, Shiro wasted no more uptime. With a casual ripple of spatial distortion, her form dissolved, instantly teleporting straight into the absolute core of the Ex-Machina's sovereign base!
Within the subterranean terminal of the Ex-Machina base...
Shiro's abrupt, unannounced manifestation instantly forced the optical sensors of every active machine unit to lock squarely onto her coordinates.
"Target acquisition locked. Classification: Extra-dimensional Deity."
"Initializing divinity profiling... Parameters: Unknown... Processing error occurred... Analysis finalized... Existential tier falls outside understood metrics."
A sequence of cold, completely synthesized mechanical voices reverberated through the metallic cavern.
Under Shiro's slightly surprised gaze, a petite Ex-Machina maiden whose physical facial structure and bodily dimensions were a near-flawless, identical mirror image of her own smoothly detached from a processing cradle, stepping forward to walk directly toward her.
This specific unit was Schwi. Currently, her core mainframe was completely decoupled from the collective cluster; she existed as an isolated, independent entity.
"Are you... Schwi?" Shiro inquired, her soft, characteristically quiet l*li voice echoing through the silent chamber.
"Query detected. Designation... Schwi?"
Schwi's expression remained entirely vacant, but her vocal processors carried a distinct trace of analytical confusion.
Her internal databanks failed to provide a logical reason as to why this extra-dimensional deity would address her by such a specific sequence of phonetics. Yet, as her processing chips cycled through the linguistic data, the designation felt remarkably... comforting.
Meanwhile, high above the atmosphere of Disboard, within the Divine Roundtable...
Observing the real-time visual telemetry displaying Schwi's blank reaction, Seito and Sora simultaneously shifted their gazes, casting a highly eccentric, deeply judgmental look toward Tet.
Don't tell me this guy actually resorted to overwriting the cognitive databanks of the Ex-Machina?
Good grief!
Where exactly did your baseline dignity as the One True God of Games vanish to?
Both Seito and Sora let out a soft, thoroughly contemptuous snort.
They realized they might have significantly overestimated Tet's moral framework. In a formal Divine War, utilizing the Suniaster to resurrect ancient factions was one thing—but implementing a systematic memory rewrite to alter a species' fundamental consciousness was an incredibly low-tier methodology.
Could an entity who relied on such cheap tricks truly hold the mantle of a supreme deity?
"Hey, hey, hey! Dispense with those eyes immediately! I would never stoop to utilizing such underhanded, low-end manipulation techniques!" Tet snapped, thoroughly unable to tolerate their unspoken accusation. What an absolute joke! He hadn't modified a single line of their core consciousness!
"Then how do you explain Schwi's current cognitive deficit? Don't attempt to claim you fail to recognize this specific unit," Seito questioned, his voice completely flat.
For a resurrected unit to lack any awareness of her own historical designation—could a tactical anomaly be any more flagrant?
"Sigh."
Tet let out a heavy, thoroughly exhausted sigh, calmly clarifying the systemic parameters. "I did not alter their baseline logic or racial architecture. I merely initialized a total wiped-data command regarding their historical logs from the ancient Great War. You must analyze the behavioral loop: if those specific memory files weren't systematically purged, the primary directive of the entire Ex-Machina cluster would have been to instantly launch a suicidal, total-force offensive against our own side to avenge their ancient wipeout!"
Hearing his breakdown of the logistical variables, Seito conceded that the explanation was reasonably sound.
After all, during the ancient era, the Ex-Machina had suffered a total structural collapse while systematically draining the power parameters of the War God Artosh.
Had their historical memories remained intact upon resurrection, their hardwired logic loops would have forced them to instantly prioritize hunting down the native War God, completely disrupting the parameters of Tet's defensive layout. Thus, Tet had executed a localized system wipe.
The resurrected Ex-Machina currently possessed zero concept of "the human heart." They were entirely devoid of emotional metrics or abstract cognitive empathy, effectively returning to their most primitive, baseline era.
Seito processed the data, before establishing a direct telepathic link to Shiro down below.
"Shiro, deliver a directive to Schwi. Instruct her to allow our spatial authority to pull her up to the Roundtable terminal."
Down within the metallic wasteland...
Receiving Seito's transmission, Shiro instantly adjusted her behavioral parameters. Locking her eyes onto the mini-mechanical clone standing before her, she stated, "From this moment onward, your permanent designation is definitively anchored as Schwi!"
"Schwi?"
Schwi's expression remained perfectly static, her internal processing units cycling at maximum capacity as she tried to calculate the underlying intent behind Shiro's declaration. Failing to extract a definitive answer, she simply offered a slight nod. "Query processed. I am... Schwi."
"Mmh," Shiro nodded in approval. "In the next microsecond, a true deity will deploy a spatial anchor to extract your form from this coordinate. Initialize zero resistance parameters."
"Anomalous directive. Deity? Extraction?"
Schwi's cognitive processors stalled.
But before her analytics could map the variable, a brilliant streak of spatial light erupted from the void, enveloping her physical construct and instantly vaporizing her from Shiro's line of sight.
All around the chamber, the remaining units of the Ex-Machina cluster who had been silently monitoring Shiro immediately ran a massive series of defensive calculations.
"Data processing initialized. Aggression probability of extra-dimensional deity: 0%!"
"Cluster mainframe executing secondary cross-reference... Analysis updated!"
"Cognitive paradox detected... Error resolved... System alignment verified!"
"Definitive result: Hostility metrics of extra-dimensional deity remain stabilized at 0%!"
Having derived a definitive non-hostile status, the Ex-Machina cluster ceased their combat computations. Since Shiro's actions carried zero threat markers toward Schwi's survival parameters, she was not classified as an active adversary.
Sweeping her vacant gaze across the rows of mechanical entities, Shiro spoke in an entirely flat, clinical tone: "I harbor zero intent to terminate your operational units. Are your structures function able to initiating a strategic withdrawal from this coordinate?"
Utilizing the absolute, conceptual authority of her Chaos Divinity, Shiro could effortlessly unravel the atomic bonds of every machine in this cavern with a single command. However, such an expenditure of force was entirely devoid of tactical necessity.
With that thought guiding her actions, Shiro casually released a localized pulse of her divine aura.
Instantly, the Ex-Machina cluster initialized a frantic wave of predictive combat simulations.
"Predictive calculation initialized. Adversarial intent from extra-dimensional deity: 0%."
"Statistical probability of total structural termination upon refusing directive: 99%."
"Statistical probability of successfully terminating extra-dimensional deity: 1%."
"System prompt: Identify mandatory parameters required to execute extra-dimensional deity."
"Resolution: Requires the immediate re-alignment and physical return of our Creator God, Holou."
"Computations finalized. Formulating compliance protocol..."
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Thank you for reading.