Ex-Machina Traveling Through Dimensions

The disaster caused by the spatial fluctuations when a Spirit girl manifested in this world was known to people as a Spatial Tremor.

Because of this, Spatial Tremors were almost always associated with Spirits.

That said, Spirits could actually control whether they manifested in the world without causing a Spatial Tremor.

After detecting the appearance of a Spatial Tremor, Xiu Er immediately flew in that direction without stopping.

And that led to the current scene.

"Are you here to kill me too?"

Looking at the mechanical being before her, utterly devoid of any sign of life, the armored girl had no idea what it was. However, given what she had experienced so far, she instinctively directed an inquiry at this individual who appeared capable of communication.

Those emotionless mechanical eyes locked onto the armored girl, making her feel inexplicably uneasy. Before the other party could react to her question, she had already developed hostility toward it.

"I..." Xiu Er, who had intended to speak, suddenly paused and swallowed the words that had yet to leave his mouth. After quickly deliberating for a few moments, he spoke again:

"Negative. This unit has no mission to eliminate unknown lifeforms. However, it possesses a mission to assess the threat level of unknown lifeforms."

Xiu Er's utterly emotionless words reached the armored girl's ears.

"Is that so..."

After hearing that, the armored girl lowered her weapon, and her gaze dimmed somewhat.

"Then you're just like those people."

In an instant, the girl suddenly raised her head, crushed the ruins beneath her feet, and launched forward at astonishing speed. Gripping her weapon tightly, she charged straight at the target above.

If he was an enemy, then she could not give him the chance to strike first. As long as she seized the initiative, she only needed to defeat him quickly.

Just like before, she only needed to drive those people away.

Facing the armored girl's sudden assault, Xiu Er hid tense emotions beneath his expressionless face.

The true extent of his strength was about to be revealed.

In the blink of an eye, the armored girl crossed the distance between them, swung the Greatsword in her hand, and mercilessly brought it down upon his body.

"-Codex Opening-No Passage-"

Just as the weapon was about to make contact with Xiu Er, a golden shield appeared out of thin air and blocked the other party's powerful strike.

Although most of the impact produced by the collision between the Greatsword and shield was absorbed by an unknown effect, some of it still bypassed the shield's protection. The ruins beneath Xiu Er's feet could no longer bear the strain and collapsed.

As a result, both of them fell into the ruins below...

Your Weapon Feels Really Nice

After the two fell into the ruins, the scene swiftly sank into silence.

However, only a few seconds later, two successive dull crashes rang out, and two figures burst from the once-quiet ruins, punching enormous holes through them.

One figure shot out from the rubble and headed straight into the sky. Another purple figure followed close behind, flying from the opening and chasing after the target ahead.

Xiu Er flew ahead, evading the sword energy coming from behind him.

The armored girl followed closely after him. Flying with spiritual power was an ability every Spirit possessed.

Streams of purple sword energy flew from the blade of the purple Greatsword the girl continuously swung, shooting directly toward the individual far ahead.

These attacks appeared swift, but in reality had no possibility of changing direction. Naturally, agile Xiu Er easily evaded every one of them.

Moreover, from the very moment the battle began, Xiu Er had quietly started analyzing this Spirit girl.

The sounds of the Greatsword colliding with the shield rang out one after another. Whenever the armored girl caught up to him and launched an attack, Xiu Er would always Shifuru that golden shield in time to block it.

As every attack was either evaded or effortlessly blocked, a growing sense of irritation gradually rose within the girl's heart.

How much energy was Xiu Er consuming by continuously defending with that shield?

The answer was that there was no sign of consumption whatsoever.

Dimensional Energy.

When the system merged with his body, it replaced the Spirit within Xiu Er and became the resource consumed whenever he activated skills.

According to the knowledge provided by the system, Dimensional Energy filled the entire world. Simply put, energy was what he lacked least.

High capacity! More power! Zero pollution!

Although, for a Ex-Machina, Disboard's Spirit Energy was likewise nearly inexhaustible and could be replenished swiftly after consumption, the "waste" produced during its use was as hazardous as nuclear waste.

The Dimensional Energy provided by the system, however, achieved the same effects while not only being nearly limitless and instantly replenishing whatever had just been consumed, but also being truly safe, clean energy without pollution.

Xiu Er had no intention of turning his surroundings into a Life Forbidden Zone contaminated by "nuclear waste" while he freely squandered energy.

"Hah!"

The armored girl found another opening and charged forward with her Greatsword.

The blade slammed into the golden shield. No matter what kind of attack she used, Xiu Er's all-encompassing defensive shield blocked it.

With nearly infinite energy, Xiu Er was certain he could keep this up with her indefinitely.

Throughout this prolonged battle, Xiu Er had not counterattacked even once. He had allowed the armored girl to attack as she pleased.

Seeing that her attacks had no effect at all, coupled with the fact that he had not launched a single counterattack against her so far—

The Spirit girl suddenly wondered whether she had misunderstood his intentions. Feeling a trace of guilt, she also began considering abandoning him and leaving directly.

However, just as she was about to act on that idea, Xiu Er's objective had already been achieved.

"Analysis complete."

"What?"

The armored girl had no idea what had happened. She could not understand what the chunk of metal before her meant.

"-Codex Opening-Speed Violation-"

Although this armament was a laser-type weapon, increasing its energy output could also enhance the speed of the user's body.

Using Spirit Energy would originally produce large amounts of Spirit Residue and pollute the environment. Now that he used Dimensional Energy, Xiu Er no longer had to worry about that issue.

Xiu Er's speed suddenly increased, catching the armored girl off guard and causing her to lose sight of him.

When she turned around, she saw Xiu Er floating high behind her once more.

However, Xiu Er was now holding something in his hand that she knew all too well.

"How... is this possible?!"

The armored girl's eyes widened as she stared at the object in Xiu Er's hand, her face full of disbelief.

Throughout the battle, Xiu Er had been analyzing the armored girl every moment. Just now, he had completed his analysis of her.

At that moment, his earlier doubts were answered, and the conclusion left him extremely satisfied.

"-Codex Opening-Pseudo-Codex-Gokurokugai-"

Golden energy appeared beside Xiu Er. Energy drifting in from different directions gathered in his hand, accumulating until it condensed into form. An absurdly long Greatsword appeared in his grasp.

Then the golden light faded, revealing the appearance of the weapon beneath it.

It was a weapon identical to the Greatsword in the armored girl's hand.

The girl stared at the weapon in his hand in shock, her expression filled with disbelief.

"This... how is that possible?"

The cold warrior from earlier instantly lost her composure. The situation before her had clearly shocked her so greatly that she had even forgotten they were still in battle.

Losing focus in battle was a major taboo. This could no longer even be called a mere distraction.

However, Xiu Er did not choose to seize the opportunity to attack her.

He merely looked happily at the Greatsword in his hand. Of course, the expression on his face remained an unchanging sheet of ice, without the slightest alteration.

It seems I really can replicate these Spirits' Angels. It's just a pity that the armaments produced through "Analysis Replication" can only be Pseudo-Codices.

Xiu Er tapped the blade a few times with his finger, nodded in satisfaction, and put the armament away.

Since his objective had been achieved, there was no reason to continue wasting time with her.

Even in his delight, Xiu Er did not forget the "persona" he was supposed to maintain.

"Mission completion confirmed. Beginning return."

With that, Xiu Er ignored the dumbfounded Spirit girl like a truly heartless machine.

Combined with his extremely cold declaration and that indifferent expression, the armored girl felt deeply insulted. Not only did he not take her seriously, he had even stolen the weapon that had always accompanied her.

Still, just before leaving, Xiu Er could not resist sneaking a glance at the Spirit girl's condition.

Then he saw that the girl was currently staring at him with a resentful expression.

That gaze made her look like the victim of someone stealing her lover. It genuinely caught Xiu Er by surprise.

He did not seem to have done anything, did he?

Whatever. Who cared?

Their battle—or rather, the destruction caused solely by the armored girl—had caused all the buildings around them to collapse.

Well, the people of this world had insanely high infrastructure skills anyway. Their house repairs were practically instantaneous.

"..."

Finally, after detecting the spatial fluctuations arising from the girl's body and understanding what they represented, Xiu Er habitually waved as he prepared to leave.

After making a "bye-bye~" gesture, he instantly accelerated to full speed during the opening created by her confusion and vanished from the girl's sight.

"..."

It was unclear what normal people would feel upon seeing an expressionless robot wave goodbye to them.

But visibly, the armored girl's resentment was beginning to condense into black mist.

And so, in an extremely foul mood, she returned to the Boundary.

After the armored girl disappeared, the relaxed Xiu Er descended and began observing his surroundings.

Then his gaze stopped in a certain direction in the sky, and several streams of data flashed through his eyes.

"-Codex Opening-One-Way Street-"

A golden passage suddenly tore open in the air behind Xiu Er. Unlike the Golden Gate of a Dimensional Channel, this was merely a Space Breaker developed by the Ex-Machina to deal with the movement abilities of other races, allowing them to instantly teleport themselves to a location just like the abilities or technology of other races.

Then Xiu Er looked again at the few remaining shelters on the nearby ground. Without saying anything, he slowly backed into the passage behind him.

By the time the passage closed, apart from the surrounding ruins proving the two had fought there, no trace remained.

As for the people who only dared poke their heads out from the shelters after he had left, they were not his concern.

After the Incident

After passing through the Space Gate created by One-Way Street, Xiu Er arrived far from the area affected by the Spatial Tremor.

This place would not be affected by the Spatial Tremor, so there were no alarms. The people here were still busy with their own affairs as usual.

The exit was in an alley within a certain city. There was little foot traffic here, and aside from a few punks, almost no one ever came through.

Xiu Er still looked as he had before, with no clothing to conceal him. Anyone could tell at a glance from his fully mechanical body that he was not human.

If he walked down the street, he would definitely be the most eye-catching guy there.

To avoid attracting further trouble, Xiu Er had no choice but to hide here and sneak through the city using these mostly deserted paths.

Since he had arrived through soul transmigration, Xiu Er, now a Ex-Machina, naturally did not have any valuable possessions on him.

Were you suggesting he dismantle parts of his own body and sell them for money?

Haha, what a joke.

Fortunately, anyone who often read fanfiction knew that—

When you were penniless in an anime world like this, what was the fastest way to make money?

That's right.