Successful Domination

No! More precisely...

Svarog had chosen to sacrifice parts to protect the whole, constantly shutting down certain sectors so that his thought processes would become more independent and more inclined toward the inorganic.

In fact, the central logic units governing the mechanical beings here were rather complex.

The same was true of the other Mechanical Vanguards.

If their mechanical intelligence units were all extremely simple, leaning toward basic on-off switch structures, then in theory Jing Yan wouldn't be able to control them through the divine power of "Eros."

That was because such mechanical beings could never develop emotions.

And without emotions, they naturally couldn't be influenced or controlled.

To keep himself from being influenced, Svarog had been shutting down certain sectors and sealing off some information centers.

This had indeed allowed him to resist Jing Yan's control, but it had also caused his own strength to keep declining.

In a sense, this was entirely understandable.

After all, Mr. Svarog was a Pathstrider of the Path of Destruction.

His defenses were geared more toward physical threats. Even against an invasion on the "mental" or "software" level, he could only fight back in a crude, almost blunt manner. The consequences of doing so couldn't quite be called self-destruction, but...

From the outside, it was more or less the same.

Mr. Svarog's words grew even shorter.

His actions became more direct.

But sometimes his movements lagged and stuttered.

He wasn't as fluid as before. At times, he seemed to seize up, almost like a marionette.

That was because constantly sealing off his processing cores had greatly reduced his ability to calculate his movements.

He could have performed the same actions much more efficiently before.

Now, however, he left himself far more openings.

Clara watched from a distance, heart aching with worry. She struggled anxiously, then suddenly broke free of March 7th's hold.

She tried to rush toward Svarog.

"Danger!" March 7th cried out as she saw Clara run toward him.

The Mr. Svarog before them was no longer the Mr. Svarog they had known.

"Eliminate the target" seemed to have become his sole objective.

"Stop. Submit."

Jing Yan spoke quietly.

Now that an unexpected intruder had entered the battlefield, would Mr. Svarog hold back, or would he show no mercy and blanket the area, eliminating her along with his target?

No one could say for sure.

But given his current condition, the latter seemed even more likely.

"Hey, kid! Don't run over there!"

Stelle had just braced herself against the giant mechanical claw with her baseball bat. Turning to see Clara running toward Svarog, she called out to stop her.

At the same time, Svarog launched another volley of missiles.

Dozens of missiles shot out from his back and arced through the air toward Jing Yan.

"It's useless," Jing Yan said.

"I can see it clearly. You're still trapped in the illusion. That means your scanning and detection systems still can't tell reality from falsehood. In that case, what good do you think a wide-area attack will do?"

Jing Yan spoke as though it were nothing to worry about.

The next second, Clara ran in from outside and entered the attack zone.

She wasn't there to stop Mr. Svarog's missiles from hitting Jing Yan.

Those missiles couldn't hit him anyway.

She was there to stop Mr. Svarog from "destroying himself."

Clara didn't fully understand what was happening in the battle, but she could see that as Svarog fought, his ability to move kept weakening. It looked as though some important parts or organs had been damaged.

She didn't understand why, nor did she know that Svarog had decided to seal parts of himself off in order to fight Jing Yan. But she still rushed forward, hoping to stop the battle and find a way to get Mr. Svarog repaired.

Unfortunately, she had entered Mr. Svarog's attack range.

"Damn it!" March 7th shouted anxiously from a distance.

She immediately used her skill.

Pink and blue light intertwined beneath Clara's feet.

But it seemed she was a step too late.

The missiles Mr. Svarog had launched were about to hit Clara.

Terrified, Clara raised her arms to cover her eyes.

She cried out, "Ah!"

The next moment, the missiles exploded, and thick smoke billowed upward.

Then, just as suddenly, it was dispersed.

A steel figure, blue as the sky, appeared beside her, shielding her from the missiles.

It was Mr. Svarog, who had already sealed off many of his mechanical units.

"Don't be afraid, Clara!"

Svarog's voice rang out.

Then he stopped, making no further move to fight.

He bowed his head and remained frozen on one knee, his back shielding Clara from the attack.

He didn't move.

It seemed he had fallen into a dormant state.

"Not bad."

Jing Yan saw what had happened.

He dispelled his ability.

So far, Mr. Svarog had managed to withstand some of his [Verbal Domination].

But...

The price was that he had nearly fallen into a deep slumber.

However, with Jing Yan's divine power lifting and Clara's attempts to repair him, Svarog's condition was improving.

Of course, the process would take some time.

Probably about half an hour.

Clara was devoted to the task, constantly asking the nearby Mechanical Vanguards for spare parts.

Watching Mr. Svarog gradually power back on as he was repaired, and seeing Clara anxiously work to fix him, Jing Yan felt a pang of emotion.

He stood to one side, lost in thought.

Actually, Mr. Svarog could have avoided being affected by Jing Yan's [Verbal Domination].

But Mr. Svarog's system contained the concept of family.

Clara was his only family.

So...

Mr. Svarog had ultimately been affected by the power of "Eros."

When he woke again and unlocked control of his emotional core, he would no longer be an absolutely rational being.

That was a good thing for Jing Yan—and for Svarog himself and Clara, too.

But all of this depended on Jing Yan having no ill intent.

If Jing Yan had meant him harm, then under the "submit" command of [Verbal Domination], which had finally succeeded, Svarog would now be capable of harming anyone Jing Yan named, so long as the order didn't involve hurting Clara.

At first glance, that might not seem like much.

After all, in Mr. Svarog's view, the people of Belobog were all destined to perish.

But even now, when people had discovered a turning point—for instance, that the Stellaron had been sealed—he would still carry out the extermination order without mercy. That was how terrifying Jing Yan's power was!