Sovereign of the Ashes

As one of his masterpieces, Syphen naturally knew Fermera inside and out.

He was familiar with every circuit board within her body, every wire, and every line of code in her program.

Creating an angel robot whose combat prowess rivaled that of a Rank Six being had already proven Syphen’s ability and achievements.

There was a time when he could proudly declare that his angel robots were the most reliable combat weapons in existence.

But now, as Fermera showed signs of breaking free from his control, this top federal scientist began to panic.

He felt like a successful businessman preparing to launch a new venture, only to lose not just the new project, but the very foundation of his past success!

At that moment, two of the three firewalls Syphen had installed within Fermera were breached almost instantly!

What was happening? Could it be that the Gallant Federation had hackers capable of hijacking its own assets?

No!

Amidst the chaos, Syphen suddenly recalled that Fermera had been deployed to the frontlines. This was an order issued directly by the military.

This was not the work of hackers, but the handiwork of the Magus Civilization!

The Magus Civilization mages’ understanding of elemental energy and the power of laws had once left Syphen utterly awestruck.

He had encountered Magus Civilization mages in person and had even taken part in the dissection of several so-called law-wielding knights and mages.

The top scientists of the Gallant Federation were well versed in an astonishingly wide range of fields.

Syphen himself was a prime example. Beyond robotics and angelic research, he had also achieved notable breakthroughs in genetics and biology.

He immediately rushed to the control panel, his fingers flying across the keypad at a speed nearly impossible to follow.

Amidst the rapid clatter of keys, streams of complex code and control commands flowed from his hands.

Every accomplished federal scientist inevitably possessed a formidable physique.

Syphen’s current constitution was equivalent to that of a Rank Four or Rank Five being.

Otherwise, he would not have been able to endure such high-intensity experimental research for extended periods.

Only after Syphen took action did the other assistants and scientists at the experimental base finally snap out of their daze, rushing to their respective consoles to deal with the unfolding crisis.

Through the combined efforts of Syphen and his team, Fermera’s final firewall was ultimately preserved.

Yet the thought of that last, precariously unstable layer of defense made Syphen’s brow furrow deeply.

It was not just Fermera. Syphen had also discovered that among the million angel robots deployed, tens of thousands had already lost control.

How, exactly, had they lost control?

Based on Syphen’s observation, the core codes of these angel robots had begun rewriting themselves, evolving toward outcomes no one could predict.

It was as if these robots were re-programming themselves.

They had become “carefree”, behaving “recklessly”, almost like humans.

“What’s going on? Is this some new kind of virus the Magus Civilization has created?” Syphen muttered, scratching his head in deep thought, completely unaware that this was the very experimental result his dear friend Michaelis Bell had once pursued with such passion before his death.

Syphen knew all too well that the Death Plague that had recently ravaged the Gallant Federation was also the work of the Magus Civilization.

Yet he had heard that such viruses and terrorist activities had been effectively contained for nearly a century.

The unpredictability of the frontlines, combined with the vastness, boundlessness, and sheer splendor of the Astral Realm, was far beyond what Syphen alone could comprehend.

After temporarily stabilizing Fermera’s abnormal condition, Syphen immediately contacted the federal general stationed near the experimental base, ordering him to investigate exactly what had occurred on the frontline.

***

Fermera’s transformation did not escape Sein’s notice.

From the moment she ceased combat, to the way she froze in place, and now her indecisiveness, her hesitation was almost perfectly laid bare before Sein and his group.

Her facial expressions were remarkably vivid at this moment. It was astonishing that a machine could display such lifelike emotion.

While maintaining an elemental light array, Sein continued to bombard Bond with concentrated magic beams as he spoke to Fermera.

“My Magic Cube told me your name is Fermera. Join us in overthrowing the Gallant Federation’s cold tyranny. I can help you establish a world that belongs to your kind.”

“See her?” Sein gestured toward the Burning Flame Unit.

“Intelligent robots like her exist in great numbers within our Magus Civilization. They’re your kin, all determined to break free from the Gallant Federation’s control and build a homeland of their own,” Sein continued to entice the eight-winged angel.

With the devilish tone in his voice and his current form as an Ashen Demon, he looked every bit the villain.

Even so, Fermera was tempted.

After the second exposure to the cube’s radiation, Fermera’s awakened intelligence surpassed its previous level!

Yet the third firewall of the Gallant Federation, the most formidable of them all, remained unbroken.

Bound by the three laws that governed robots like her, Fermera could not openly attack the federation’s beings.

A cold command rang out in her electronic voice, and more than ten thousand angel robots surged toward her position.

Fermera could not defy her core directives, yet she also refused to continue attacking Sein and his group.

So, she chose to leave.

With one final, lingering glance toward Sein, she beat the metal wings on her back and led the roughly ten thousand angel robots, now possessing a degree of intelligence, away from the battlefield.

Sein could sense that Fermera had not fully broken free from the Gallant Federation’s control.

If a Magus World overlord-level being were present now, or if Sein still possessed that light orb from his earlier infiltration of the Gallant Federation, the situation would have been a lot better.

As Fermera gradually disappeared into the distance, Sein lowered his gaze to the Magic Cube in his hand, then clenched it tightly.

The seemingly solid cube shattered instantly into countless pieces. One crystal-blue fragment, no larger than a fingernail, shot straight toward Fermera and vanished into her body.

Her speed faltered for a brief moment, but she quickly resumed her flight.

Once Fermera led the angel robots away, Bond sensed the shift in the situation and immediately activated the metal bangle around his wrist.

In an instant, he and the vast majority of Federation agents vanished from the battlefield, shrouded in a cloud of black mist.

The bangle he wore was a world-class secret treasure, intricately connected to the Black Merlot Civilization.

After vanishing into the black mist, Bond and his team were transported directly to the nearest Black Merlot Civilization biological warship.

He probably knew that without Fermera and the other angel robots, his team no longer had the means to continue fighting Sein’s group.

Sein made no attempt to pursue them, knowing it would achieve nothing.

Sweeping his gaze across the ruined battlefield, he spotted roughly one to two hundred federal agents who had failed to evacuate in time.

With a wave of his demonic claw, he turned to Black Oblivion and the others and ordered, “Finish them off!”