Chapter 51 - The White Army Part 2

Right after he returned to the Throne Room, Marc was immediately bested by them... Well, that was his fate, so there was nothing to be done about it. His gaze swept across the three of them and suddenly stopped at Kaya, a serious expression appearing on his face. Although she had already changed her clothes (in his Soul Realm, this could be done in a heartbeat), he still noticed that something wasn't right... Unfortunately, the Serpent lady did not have Lily's blessing, which would have allowed Marc's Insight to immediately pick up on it.

With a single step, he appeared in front of her and touched her chin. His emerald eyes met her jade ones...

[--Marc--: Kaya?]

His inquiring gaze truly seemed to pierce through her, but she heroically withstood it.

[--Kaya--: Shujin-sama.]

Marc noticed her resolute gaze and decided to relent...

[--Marc--: Calla.]

[--Calla--: M'lord, forty-two M-Collosses used a combination attack and forced Kaya to use Aegis' skill.]

[--Kaya--: Ragna-nee, you traitor...]

Marc’s gaze remained fixed on Kaya the entire time.

[--Marc--: Aegis.]

The White Serpent appeared in response to his call, its wounds already closed, but even for an Immortal Serpent, a self-inflicted injury would take time to heal. Marc took Kaya into his embrace.

[--Marc--: I’ll take care of this, Kaya.]

[--Kaya--: Shujin-sama.]

[--Marc--: This is an Order. Rest.]

There was no need for further words; Marc's Insight had already told him the whole story... And whoever was responsible for this...

The air around Vorst suddenly changed.

In the past, Celina had noticed that he would sometimes change his attitude drastically in a split second. That had happened once five years ago, and now, a slight discomfort arose deep inside her.

[Vorst: How dare they...]

For the first time, she saw him with this kind of expression. Never before had she seen him so furious. Normally, Vorst was just an eleven-year-old child with an air of mystery around him. He would sometimes make that enchanting, serious face, but in most cases, he would display a smile. He had several types of those smiles, and he even smiled in the face of death! But now... he was displaying an angry face.

[Celina: Vorst? Did something happen?]

Hearing her worried voice, he quickly snapped back to reality, but the lingering anger was still in his eyes.

[Vorst: Mhm. They damaged my bot.]

Celina scanned the battlefield with her eyes and quickly located the remains of the white-green bot. However, she also knew that he seriously didn’t care that much for the bots he made... Obviously, that wasn't the main reason for his anger... He was definitely hiding something, but well, she had already surrendered to him...

[Vorst: Za, we are using the Amplification Formation. Get ready.]

[Celina: Huh? Oh, yes.]

The White Tiger girl suddenly became energetic. It seemed like Vorst was throwing a fit and decided to go all-in, and if he wanted to, then she would definitely comply.

The white sphere flew up from the ground.

(Summon)

Twelve Black Drones, extremely similar to Vorst's usual ones, appeared around them. They immediately came under Vorst's control, and with a buzzing sound, they lit up with violet lines and spread out evenly, forming a ring around the White Sphere.

Then they suddenly split into countless black cubes with violet edges...

A slight violet light appeared in Vorst's emerald green eyes.

The cubes then immediately moved in an ordered fashion and created a large formation in the shape of several layers of square-dotted circles.

[Celina: Formation complete, all systems green.]

[Vorst: Alright. Brace yourself. I'm activating (Runic Circulation).]

[Celina: Yes.]

Of course, the massive, hundred-meter-wide formation attracted a lot of attention from the enemies, and they immediately concentrated their fire on that strange object. However, the black cubes were surprisingly tough and shrugged off the pitiful damage from those Mechs—the cubes had runic protection powered by Circle Class strength.

With that, all of the squares started moving in seemingly random directions, but in reality, the movements were incredibly complex and profound. A square would sometimes move fast or slow, and sometimes two squares would exchange places, but it always retained a circular shape. Some of those cubes would fire rays of violet light and inscribe mysterious symbols on the surface of the white sphere.

Celina felt an overwhelming power rising from within her. In the past, they had repeated this sequence tens of times, but today, the amplification power of the runes was on a completely different level. Perhaps today was special because today she belonged to Vorst...

Her instinct was actually correct. In the past, she fought against herself every time her back touched his, keeping her guard raised and rejecting everything around her. But now, she completely entrusted herself to his embrace, which made the amplification extremely efficient.

[Vorst: Hm. How is it?]

[Celina: A-ah. Y-yes, today it’s great.]

His whisper, resounding right next to her ear, woke her from the dreamlike feeling the amplification caused. It was the first time she felt so relaxed...

[Vorst: I see.]

[Celina: Accessing hangar. Activating Drones. FULL mode.]

On the ground, a large hole appeared, and from within, a large number of white bots emerged.

[Vorst: (Transfer Array) set up and ready to go.]

[Celina: Thank you. (Transfer)]

With that, those four-meter drones lifted themselves from the ground and flew straight into the battlefield. Each one only received a 1st LCT transfer, but that was more than enough to take care of the Mechs, which were only at 10th LST.

What was the main problem with automated bots? They were powered by Energy Crystals, which were limited to 10th LST. Circle Class Engineers could use (Transfer), but those bots were quite predictable and could easily be destroyed by the enemy Circle Class opponents. What’s more, Engineers were mostly Mid-level sub-classes, and their low photon pool limited the number of bots they could control.

Here, that problem was solved by a special (Runic Circulation), which raised Celina's photon regeneration to an incredible rate. Vorst simply created a runic formation that gathered the surrounding photons and then, with meticulous methods, fed it to Celina's Photon Core. Due to the Rules of the Universe, this kind of artificial method could not speed up power advancement, but it could restore lost photons in a photon pool.

In the blink of an eye, the tide of battle completely turned. The Mechs, who were only at 10th LST, simply couldn’t stand against The White Army, where every single bot had the power of a 1st LCT! A hundred of those signified the power of one hundred Lower Circle Tier entities that threw their lives away while slaughtering countless Mechs and M-Armors.

This method was created by Vorst, so Celina knew he didn’t care much for the bots he made. But what was the difference between that white-green sphere and those hundreds of white bots? Celina brushed off those thoughts, as there was no time for them! Ten five-meter Assault Drones appeared from the hangar, and those ten were directly under her control.

[Vorst: I've set up a (Telepathic Amplifier) for you.]

Again, his voice sounded so close. Celina once again completely entrusted herself to his embrace... and she activated her innate psychic power.