"It's not dead yet."
May kept her grip on Lin Hao's sleeve. "Are you crazy? It's already activated Self-Destruct. What are you going in there for?"
Lin Hao watched the machine inside the Spatial Barrier. The countdown on its chest had stopped at one, yet it hadn't exploded. "It's waiting."
Steven looked at the machine. "Waiting for us to think it'll self-destruct, then let our guard down."
Lin Hao nodded. "Its target isn't the mine tunnel."
"It's forcing Arceus to divert power." Cynthia tightened her grip on her Poké Ball. "Cyrus wants to weaken the suppression on the rift."
The machine's red eyes lit up again. "Assessment revised. Target Arceus has successfully diverted energy."
"Initiating phase two." Several black cables extended from the red crystal in its chest and plunged into the rock wall.
The entire mine tunnel began to shake. A shrill alarm blared from May's terminal. "It's connecting to headquarters' central control network!"
"It's going to feed Arceus's Spatial Barrier back into the rift!"
Steven crushed the empty coffee can in his hand. "This thing isn't so much a god-hunting weapon as a key."
"Cyrus never intended to kill you with it. He wanted to use it to pry open the creator god's defenses."
Lin Hao turned to May. "Where's central control?"
May pulled up a map of the mine tunnels. "There's an elevator shaft three hundred meters down from the entrance." She pointed at the screen. "The control room is on the lowest level. It connects to the entire headquarters."
"What about the machine?"
"Its cables are extending downward. Its body is staying at the entrance to buy time."
Red pulled down the brim of his cap. "I'll fight it."
Lin Hao stopped him. "You stay here." Red turned to look at him. "It can adapt to