The thing looked like a huge silver sphere, rolling straight out of the hall. Perhaps because of its material, it made no sharp noise as it rolled across the floor. Instead, it moved with a smooth, steady rhythm. Its surface was perfectly smooth, without any visible seams or module mounts. The only marking was an emblem of a wing and the Morning Star, identical to the one at the entrance.
All in all, aside from being too big, the thing looked like a friendly unit at first glance.
In fact, when Yu Lian had met it in the "future," it hadn't shown any undue hostility. As long as no one touched the treasure it was specifically guarding, it didn't object even if they picked up a few other things.
But now, Yu Lian wasn't so sure. Back "then," it had stayed in the room, disguising itself as a huge chandelier. If he hadn't been about to remove the crystal shard at the very back of the ruins, it probably wouldn't have revealed itself at all. So why had it appeared on its own this time?
Then the sphere stopped, and its shell began to unfold into what looked like overlapping armor plates, revealing the towering mechanical body within.
No matter how towering it was, that didn't change the fact that you were just a giant Bakugan! I wanted to make that joke last time, too, Yu Lian thought.
"Prepare for battle!" Ina shouted.
The security guards might have been a ragtag bunch, but they were still professionally trained soldiers. Though they were stunned and dazed, they hurriedly raised their weapons at her words. Sergeant Baka, who had been kneeling on the ground in prayer, sprang to his feet, power hammer in his right hand and crystal battle-axe in his left. He looked ready to charge in and tank the thing at any moment.
...Idiots. Shouldn't the first thing you do in a situation like this be to take cover behind the tanks? Do you think you're still in the age of cold weapons? Yu Lian thought again.
The Vulcan cannon on the Black Panther and the ion cannon on the "Frankenstein" tank both took aim at the enormous thing as it transformed.
At that moment, Yu Lian made his move. The air around the "Super-Sized Bakugan" began to congeal, turning into a foglike cage that enveloped it. Its unfolding slowed at once, as if it had been pulled into a space where everything moved in slow motion.
This was Environmental Resonance. It worked by harmonizing spirit energy with the surrounding environment, and could be used to attack or suppress an opponent. In theory, it was already a third-ring spirit-energy spell. If Yu Lian hadn't used it so many times in his "memories," becoming intimately familiar with its every component and learning how to cast it with the least effort, there was no way a mere first-ring adept could have "cast above his level."
Even so, Yu Lian felt as if he'd suddenly been burdened with hundreds of pounds of weight. His muscles, bones, blood vessels, and even his brain were all sending out alarms, pushed beyond their limits.
Even slowed to a crawl, the "Super-Sized Bakugan" continued to unfold, bit by bit. It was a guardian left behind by the Enlighteners, and far beyond what Yu Lian, whose powers had been "severely diminished," could destroy outright. Beneath its silver-white armor, the black barrel of a cannon was slowly rising.
It was safe to say the "giant Bakugan" was hostile.
But before Yu Lian could give the order, Lieutenant Ina had already called for the troops to open fire.
The soldiers started shooting, while the Black Panther and Frankenstein unleashed a storm of cannon fire. As for Baka and Youyou, the two barbarians who'd volunteered to tank the thing, they hesitated for a few seconds before finally deciding not to charge into a hail of bullets and hack at it. Looking thoroughly bored, they reluctantly joined the firing line.
Perhaps the Enlighteners' guardian had left everyone deeply shaken. The barrage lasted a full three minutes. Yu Lian felt like a couch potato in the gym, stuck holding a three-hundred-pound weight and too scared to put it down. He was nearly exhausted, but could only grit his teeth and hold on. At last, his vision—sharper than an ordinary person's—picked out the thing collapsing amid the explosions, and its indicator light dimming. Only then did he slump down onto the tank.
"Want a cigar?" Ina asked.
"I'll take a chocolate energy bar..." Yu Lian said.
Ina looked him up and down. He was panting heavily, drenched in sweat, his face flushed and his eyes unfocused. He looked exactly like a couch potato who'd just finished a marathon. With a perfectly serious expression, she said, "Eating that right after exercising will make you gain weight."
So Yu Lian got nothing but a cup of water, handed to him by a rather unremarkable nurse with an unremarkable figure, whose name he'd nearly forgotten. Ina had already headed toward the wreckage with a few of the bolder members of the group.
Wearing her power armor, she strode forward with a fierce gait. While Youyou and Baka were still hesitating, she had already pushed past everyone, lightly prodding the disassembled metal wreckage with her gun barrel. When it didn't react, she simply kicked it hard.
"Target confirmed inactive!" Ina called.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Some began celebrating quietly. In that moment, tales of adventurers searching for the Enlighteners' legacy sprang to mind. They felt as though they'd become part of those legends themselves—something they could boast about well into the next century.
It had only temporarily fallen apart. The thing was made of living metal, after all, and would repair itself after a while, Yu Lian thought. But there was no need to spoil everyone's mood now.
"I thought all the Enlighteners' guardians were powerful," Miss Belinda said wistfully.
Yu Lian smiled without answering, rolling his eyes inwardly. Did she think every guardian was like that Star Dragon King he'd encountered—the one that could fight its way through the main fleets of both the Alliance and the Empire?
The Enlighteners' ruins came in different grades, and their guardians' abilities did too. By the Alliance Pathfinder Association's standards, this "giant Bakugan" was a company-level "wild monster," capable of fighting an entire well-equipped army company. But that was when it was fully "unfolded," with its antimatter shield, its hive missile launcher, both blaster cannons, and both cutting lasers all deployed.
We've got thirty armed soldiers, five Black Panthers, and a "Frankenstein." After three minutes of sustained bombardment, all we managed to do was knock it apart.
But hadn't I busted my ass just to give everyone a chance to pour all that firepower into it?
What else was I supposed to do? Let it deploy all its weapons and shields for real, have us fight it for hundreds of rounds, lose half our people and have another half crippled, then let my protagonist halo kick in and deliver the finishing blow?
Yu Lian climbed down from the vehicle and walked over, carefully rummaging through a section of the metal skeleton.
"Goodness, this is incredible. We hit it with a tremendous amount of firepower, but it seems to have suffered only structural damage. Ouch!" Uncle Karl began to say, then felt as if someone had kicked him hard in the butt. He whipped around in a fury, only to see Yu Lian standing several yards away, signaling with his eyes for him to shut up. Uncle Karl froze for a moment, then seemed to realize something. His expression turned reverent, and he nodded in acknowledgment.
So what had you figured out this time, old man?
"See if there's anything useful," Yu Lian said.
If the damage was only structural, that meant the parts themselves were intact. They should be able to salvage plenty of good stuff. Yu Lian was sure the old engineer would understand what he meant. Sure enough, the man suddenly saw the light and dove back into the heap of mechanical parts, looking as happy and excited as if he'd stumbled into a mountain of gold.
Yu Lian also stepped over and began rummaging through the wreckage.
"What are you looking for?" Ina asked, seemingly hinting at something.
"Can't I just be scavenging?"
"Heh. Do you think I believe that?"
"...All right. As far as I know, Enlightener guardians always activate on their own for a reason. They sense something, or resonate with it, or respond to a signal. If it wasn't responding to me, then it could only have been responding to you."
"Why couldn't it have been responding to you, sir?"
Because nothing happened the last time I came here—no, the time I came here "in the future." But could I say that?
"...Because you were acting possessed just now, and I wasn't."
Ina seemed to find that convincing.
"So we should search this place carefully. We might find an awakening relic that's especially compatible with you, or even a treasure..."
"Commander, this thing still works!" Uncle Karl hurried over, his expression so feverishly excited you'd think he'd dug a gallstone belonging to the Spirit of the Universe out of a trash heap.
"This... works?" Yu Lian asked dubiously. The man was holding a huge metal lump, which Yu Lian was fairly sure had fallen off the guardian: a heavy blaster rifle.
Yu Lian wasn't worried that the thing had been damaged. The Enlighteners made their weapons out of living metal, after all, and they were remarkably durable. But undamaged didn't mean usable. If you handed a perfectly intact tank to a Stone Age primitive, would he know how to drive it?
"I checked it over. Its internal structure is actually quite similar to the products from my old factory." Seeing Yu Lian's skepticism grow more and more obvious, the old mechanic gave an awkward laugh. "...Well, I only understand some of it, but at least the power-transfer system is very similar. If we hook it up to a reliable power source, we should be able to use it. Let me think... Right, we can use the power pack from the Black Panther or the tank. All I need to do is connect a wire!"
"...What factory did you work at before?"
At once, an indescribable weariness and sorrow appeared on the old mechanic's face, plain as day. In his silence, it was as though he'd already recounted an epic work of realism millions of words long.
"Chainfire..."
"The one that used to design naval cannons and close-in defense systems for the Navy? Uh, sorry... All right, I'll leave it all to you."
The old mechanic nodded. The reminder had stirred up old heartache, and he was still sad, but at least he'd recovered some of his energy and spirit. After all, tinkering with all kinds of big "bang-bang-bang" weapons was the work he'd loved his whole life.
Before you continue