"Get back! All of you, get the hell back!!"
The Architect let out a desperate shriek on the brink of death.
It shoved several cryogenic cases holding core Origin Seeds behind its abdomen. Dozens of high-grade reflective crystal plates across its chest and belly flipped open, and the Berserk psionic energy it had amassed over ten thousand years erupted like a volcano!
Blinding beams of destruction crossed in every direction. It did not dare face the Resurrection Whale head-on. Instead, it viciously aimed every death ray at the whale's right fin membrane, where the newly scabbed flesh was still tender and charred!
BOOM!
The Life Shield shook violently in the Void. The membrane that had just closed tore open again amid the explosions of light, and blood fell like meteors.
Using the recoil of its beams, the Architect shot diagonally downward in a jagged line. Every neural tentacle beneath its abdomen retracted frantically, dragging the cases deep into its shell!
"I don't want the tower anymore! You can have it all back!!"
Its shrill will, nearly hysterical, echoed through the storm:
"I made these creations myself over countless years! They're mine! I'm only taking what belongs to me!!"
Whoosh—
The whale's vast, sky-blotting body did not retreat an inch in the Void.
For this parasite that had betrayed its own ancestors, the Resurrection Whale's eight enormous eyes held nothing but cold, sacred resolve. Its great fin swept across the heavens like a blade that could split the world. A boundless Life Wave surged like a tsunami and slammed into the crystal arms shielding the Architect's lower abdomen!
CRACK!!
The life force passed straight through its shell and struck inside! The living tendons it had forcibly held together convulsed and shattered under the resonance. Its guard flew apart, and several crystal-clear