Only the last nine High-Level Rule Nodes established by the Mechanical Civilization in Source-Devouring Time-Space remained.
These nodes supported three core Cross-Time-Space Channels.
The vast majority of the Expeditionary Legion had already departed.
Aside from a small number of mechanical defensive forces, only high-level powerhouses such as Saine, Locke, the Lord of Final Silence, the Limitless Golden Emperor, the Lord of Eternal Day, and the Myriad Manifestations Eternal Lord remained in Source-Devouring Time-Space.
The shutdown order of the nine High-Level Rule Nodes had been determined when the evacuation plan was launched.
They possessed extraordinarily complex rule connections with one another.
The three outermost nodes were responsible for absorbing the local pressure of Source-Devouring Time-Space.
The middle three nodes handled energy and data transmission.
The three nodes closest to the core channels were used to stabilize the cross-dimensional coordinates.
If any one of them collapsed ahead of schedule, the pressure borne by the remaining nodes would increase drastically.
Under the pursuit of Source-Devouring Time-Space, Saine had to precisely control the destruction timing of every node.
Inside the God of Machines, nine countdowns were ticking simultaneously.
The Magic Cube constantly corrected changes in the surrounding rules, while Skynet incorporated every movement of the seven Emperor Monarchs into its final calculations.
When the first High-Level Rule Node began self-destructing, the Rift-Splitting Emperor Monarch finally broke free from part of the Lord of Eternal Day's rule lockdown.
An exceedingly fine spatial crack silently appeared within the node's explosion zone.
The Rift-Splitting Emperor Monarch did not allow its Rule True Body to pass through directly.
A wisp of spatial will entered the node's wreckage through the crack, attempting to find coordinate information that had not yet completely dissipated.
The Mechanical Civilization's self-destruction program had already destroyed most of the core structure.
However, the rule traces