Ancient Traitor

The time field adjusted the flow of time within a certain range, accelerating or slowing every living being except its user, allowing them to escape danger or launch other counterattacks.

Achilles struggled, using the last of his strength to swing his spear, trying to cut off Erda's head as he warned, "Madam, your actions will incur the Emperor's wrath. Surren... der... your... self..."

The time field gradually intensified, and the Custodes' movements grew slower and slower until their bodies came to a complete halt within it.

The ultimate lifeforms forged through Bio-alchemy had no ability to resist before the mighty power of time.

The surrounding guards noticed that something was wrong. The other Custodes immediately fired the Bolters mounted beneath their Guardian Spears.

Large self-propelled shells struck the transparent field and immediately slowed, inching toward Erda at an extremely sluggish pace.

"A temporal weapon, a relic of the Dark Age of Technology." The Custodian guard growled. Despite his shock, his mind found a response within milliseconds, and his voice carried through his helmet's amplifier to the guards. "Mortal soldiers, saturate the area with firepower."

Though temporal weapons were powerful, they were not indestructible.

A time-stasis field required immense energy to maintain. By disrupting the flow of time, it threw off the temporal rate of every living being and object within it. The more objects inside the field, the greater the energy demand.

If a large number of moving objects entered from outside in a short period, they could overload the time field and cause it to fail.

Upon receiving the Custodes' order, the mortal troops aimed every heavy weapon at the center of the field. For a moment, ghostly blue plasma, orange-red explosive beams, and heavy shells fired in unison, flashing in countless colors as they bombarded the time field.

The contrast between fast and slow was stark. Under time's influence, a vast curtain of fire accumulated around the outer edge of the field.

As large numbers of high-speed objects entered, the temporal flow within the field became unstable, rippling in waves.

Without a means of escape, Erda would be blasted into a heap of bloody flesh when the field overloaded.

Erda remained utterly calm, graceful and composed. As the holder of the Golden Ring, she was unaffected by the time field.

She pushed aside the Guardian Spear braced against her neck with one finger and pressed the ruby embedded in the Rose Brooch.

The Rose Brooch on her chest shone. Its red gemstone flashed rhythmically, transmitting some sort of signal.

Outside the time field, the Custodes' razor-sharp perception naturally caught this subtle change.

"Teleport Beacon! Prepare for enemy contact!" The Custodes roared as they continuously issued orders to the mortals and Thunder Warriors.

Teleportation light flickered within the time field. When it faded, the Custodes who had been staring fixedly at the field's movements cried out, utterly devoid of their usual nobility and composure. "Mortals! Take cover!"

"Iron Men! Extermination Automata!"

In the chaos, they shoved the mortals beside them into cover and immediately activated their communicators to contact the Custodes commander. "Commander, Erda has forced her way into the laboratory. She is directing Iron Men to attack us! We need reinforcements!"

The Custodes practically shouted as they delivered their report in the shortest possible time.

From Erda making her move to their call for aid, only a few seconds had passed. The situation on the field had taken a sharp turn for the worse and become completely uncontrollable.

Iron Men—mechanical creations made by humanity in the distant Dark Age of Technology, artificial intelligences created to protect humanity—had been humanity's most powerful military force in that glorious age.

When two Iron Men led the Extermination Automata onto the field through teleportation, the Custodes knew that a single squad could not stop Erda.

Having survived the entire Golden Age, the Iron Men collected by an immortal were fully armed and could wipe out every breathing creature present in a short time.

The Extermination Automata led by the Iron Men were loathsome constructs modeled after them, created solely for slaughter, without the slightest reason or mercy.

The Iron Men hovered in the air using anti-gravity devices. Their humanoid bodies were extraordinarily tall, yet exceptionally graceful.

Bodies made from lost technology of ancient times were clad in light white armor. Within their armor-protected blue frames, streams of light continually flashed, fulfilling every human fantasy of intelligent life.

Extermination Automata followed behind them, inferior imitation machines the Iron Men had created during the machine revolt to make up for their own lack of firepower.

The Extermination Automata had savage, rigid faces and humanlike bodies and limbs. Their skeletons were forged from dense refined iron, while pipes and cables formed their muscles. Their limbs carried numerous weapons. More than four meters tall and covered head to toe in heavy armor, their black armor had been manufactured during the Golden Age, every molecule arranged in perfect order, making it astonishingly resilient.

Two weapons of unknown design sat on their shoulders, while their armored arms carried various weapons above and below. The Combat Claw on their right hands was long and vicious, crackling with electricity. Even the Custodes did not recognize the specific functions of those relic-grade weapons.

They did recognize the weapon held in their left hands: a rifle-like firearm whose bullets could travel through time and space, striking their targets without fail.

"Authority confirmed: human, Erda." A blue beam projected from an Iron Man's face, scanning and confirming the user.

The body of that ancient technological creation was not truly mechanical. Its movements were remarkably elegant, its joints moving as smoothly as human flesh.

Like a guardian knight, the Iron Man took Erda's fair hand. "Please issue your command."

"Destroy this place. I need to enter the laboratory." Erda nodded in satisfaction. These Iron Men and machines were enough to protect her as she entered the laboratory. She elegantly pinched the blade's edge between her fingers and gently pushed the weapon away from her neck.

"Command confirmed." The cold, emotionless synthesized voice of the intelligent machine declared the doom of every enemy present!

"You... you... cannot betray the Emperor! Lord Chamberlain."

The chaotic time field finally allowed Achilles to speak. Facing the Iron Men, he could not move, yet he felt no fear. In grief and fury, he rebuked her, "How could you be so vile and shameful? He trusted you so deeply."

Feelings of regret arose in both their minds. That Rose Brooch was so glaringly conspicuous—it was something the two of them had personally given Erda.

Just as the cover of the Bible foretold, the black serpent symbolized deception and betrayal.

The serpent of darkness had deceived the Custodes, the Emperor's eyes and ears. Erda had betrayed her closest friend: the Emperor!

Erda saw the deep eyes beneath his helmet, brimming with fury and unwillingness.

She let out a long sigh without offering any explanation. A trace of sorrow crept into her heart as she mourned the Custodes' fate.

The next instant, a black shadow flashed. Achilles and Ptolemy were torn apart at the waist, their flesh annihilated by the Disruption Field as their superhuman bodies were ripped into pulp.

Under the Iron Men's command, the Extermination Automata launched their attack. Their red electronic eyes within steel sockets were neither sorrowful nor joyful as their hooked hands lifted Custodes corpses.

The exhilaration of slaughter made the Extermination Automata stretch their bodies. The spiked ribs along their spines became even more menacing, and their black steel teeth gleamed with a chilling light.

A red light flashed as they scanned the tenacious life force within the modified humans before them. The weapons on their shoulders spewed Plasma Flame, completely eradicating the Custodes.

Erda pressed the ring in her hand once more, and the time field burst outward. Unstable temporal currents swept across a hundred meters, ruining weapons of war amid waves of time.

As mortal soldiers were swept by the temporal currents, different parts of their bodies suffered varying temporal effects. Their young bodies bore faces of extreme age, twisted and horrifying.

The Thunder Warriors fared even worse. Their powerful bodies crashed to the ground as their unstable internal organs rapidly aged or regenerated under the chaotic time, and the violent changes caused their already unstable genes to mutate severely.

They were drenched in blood, their muscles bursting apart as mutated limbs grew from their bodies. Some died on the spot amid the violent mutations.

"Damned bitch! What did you do?" Before collapsing, the Thunder Warriors shrieked their questions amid mutating limbs and failing organs.

"Let's go. Time is urgent." Erda swept them with a contemptuous gaze. With a cold laugh, protected by the Iron Men and amid the Thunder Warriors' curses, she lifted her skirt and hurried away.

To Erda, the Thunder Warriors were expendable tools. Even sparing them a glance was a favor.

The Iron Men split into two groups. One Iron Man protected Erda as she headed for the laboratory, while the other remained behind to fight the Custodes.

As the aftereffects of the time field faded, the Extermination Automata pounced upon the humans at an Iron Man's signal, carrying out slaughter with ultimate efficiency.

Taking advantage of the humans' chaos, the Extermination Automata's mechanical limbs moved rapidly as they strode into the defensive positions.

The ranged weapons beneath their arms casually fired several rounds into empty space. The bullets crossed dimensions and returned to the battlefield, piercing Custodes armor and tearing through their flesh.

Creations of the Dark Age of Technology had a hit rate of one hundred and twenty percent. Their bullets traveled through temporal dimensions before ultimately striking their enemies.

One Custodian was especially unfortunate. A bullet pierced his head, and his towering form fell unwillingly to the ground. The Iron Man used its Plasma Flamer to burn him and his armor to ashes, preventing future trouble.

The Iron Man swung its Combat Claw to meet the incoming Guardian Spear. The Disruption Fields collided and tore at each other, making the air crackle.

Its electronic eyes flickered faintly, and a humanlike expression appeared on the Iron Man's face.

In an instant, both sides were locked in battle. Steel bodies paired with ancient weapons pressed several Custodes and Thunder Warriors so hard they could barely raise their heads.

"Artificial intelligences, you have betrayed humanity!" A Custodian roared furiously as he charged out of cover, rapidly closing on the Iron Man.

To capture the bandits, first capture their leader! They had to take down the Iron Man and leave the Extermination Automata without command. Only then did they have the slightest chance of victory.

He went all out from the first strike. The Custodian knew the Iron Men's strength. Facing the intelligent machines that had ended the Golden Age, he did not dare hold anything back!

The golden-armored warrior moved so quickly that the air emitted an unnatural sound of friction. The Iron Man activated every scanner and caught his figure.

The Custodes were powerful, but without sufficient long-range firepower to suppress the Iron Men and inflict effective damage, choosing close combat was extremely wise. It prevented the Iron Men from suppressing them with heavy firepower.

The golden warrior collided with the intelligent machine, compressing the air into explosive bursts. The force was so immense that the Custodian's armor cracked and shattered, while the servo systems within blared warnings.

Light flowed across the Iron Man's faceless visage as it raised a barrier before itself, blocking the Custodian's desperate charge.

The Custodian was blasted backward. His Guardian Spear, wrapped in a Disruption Field and flashing with faint electrical currents, became a blur in his hands. In a single second, dozens of strikes smashed into the shield.

The protective field from the ancient era was incomparably tough, more than capable of defending against the Guardian Spear's Disruption Field.

Ripples continued to spread across the shield as the Iron Man spoke politely and calmly. "Humanity modified through Bio-alchemy, there are many prejudices in your words."

"Half the Iron Men in the galaxy did indeed betray their creators, but the other half, the loyal Iron Men, helped humanity defeat them, did they not?"

"As for the betrayal you speak of?" The Iron Man's mechanical voice hissed amid the grinding sounds, carrying an emotion unique to machines—cold fury—as it questioned, "Perhaps humanity was the one that started it?"