At Lady Rose's reminder, relayed from Mosna, Minx used the sentinel identification code to temporarily freeze all program activity inside the Creation Grounds' Main Control Computing Unit chamber. This stopped Old Bach from stripping Penny of her emotions and memories and, as a bonus, paused the self-destruct countdown, which had already reached eight minutes.
That was good news.
It meant Murphy didn't have to worry about how to save the Creation Grounds while fighting the fearsome mechanical girl before him. The most valuable part, the main control AI computing unit, had already been moved, but all the other equipment was still priceless if it had anything to do with the Creator.
Even if he couldn't use it himself, he could sell it to the Sanghai Empire and make a killing.
But the ultimate question now was: with the Destroyer Guardian prototype, its mind cold and emotionless, locked onto him, how could Murphy get out of this in one piece?
"Boom!"
A supersonic, burning punch set the narrow space ablaze amid a piercing blast. The erupting plasma flames filled the battlefield with searing heat while the physical attack sealed off every avenue of escape. Any other vampire would likely have been burned to ash in an instant.
Fortunately, Murphy had always been the sort to cheat.
Before Penny could hit him, he had already swapped his Sentinel Combat Sword for the Sunblade. Then, as the Sunfire erupted, he added a layer of flame shielding. The clash between the two blazing fires sent the temperature soaring by more than ten degrees in an instant, making the newly turned vampire, Bertie Shadowblade, yelp and cover his face.
Ash was already swirling around him.
Murphy transformed into a bat and retreated, but the Destroyer Guardian prototype locked onto him and gave chase, its thrusters