A rampaging weapon, an unyielding Fanny

At those words, Fanny, who had also sensed the abnormality inside the Rusted One, immediately tried to pull her hand away and retreat.

But a moment later, she discovered to her horror that her palm seemed glued to the Rusted One's armor. No matter how hard she pulled, she could not move it an inch. Then a surge of violent mana, its aura utterly chaotic, erupted from the Rusted One's core like a tidal wave.

Before her disbelieving eyes, it raced along her spell circuits, corroding them as it went.

This is bad!

Realizing that this abnormal mana intended to seize control of her, Fanny activated the Soul Imprint Technique without a thought for the consequences, forcibly severing her connection to the mana she had sent inside. This act, akin to cutting into herself, instantly drained every trace of color from her face. The mana failed to invade her and instead detonated in midair, its shock wave sending her flying backward to slam hard into the laboratory wall.

"Beep!"

Just then, a sound like a power supply coming online rang out from the chest of the Rusted One, which had remained motionless until now. As everyone's pupils contracted, six eerie blue lights suddenly flared in its dark eye sockets. Then emotionless electronic voices thundered throughout the basement: "Hulukanni uri. Kirenzi uri"

[Destruction calculations initiated. Order calculations initiated.]

"Tarmanagiduri.ana"

[Termination added to execution directives. The sole directive is attack.]

"Serifininniugke"

[In the name of steel and origin.]

"Luriguhra zunzuruske"

[All living beings must be reduced to zero.]

"Humm!"

As this prayer-like startup sequence finished loading, the six blue lights in the Rusted One's eye sockets instantly turned a dangerous red. Then the enormous metal Construct, which had seemed lifeless until now, began to