The entire Mechanical Hall fell briefly silent.
Cold and murderous.
The general slowly gripped his scabbard. It was one of the few old habits he had retained after his ascension. Through those endless years of aimless expeditions across the dark universe, this blade, preserved since the ancient Age of Slavery, had accompanied him through countless ages.
The muzzle inside the Scholar's mechanical arm also slowly entered a state of readiness.
The standoff continued.
But the very next moment.
Whoosh-
The Scholar's hunched body abruptly rose into the air under the control of an unknown force. His body convulsed, and an old man's features suddenly emerged on his empty face. Sharp, bizarre bursts of light kept shooting from those features. Immense pain and shock swept through him. His mechanical arms thrashed in struggle, firing bullets wildly in every direction.
And behind him.
At some unknown point, clumps of irregular, mercury-like fluid had appeared. Yet despite resembling mercury, they radiated strange, shifting light and shadows.
They restrained the Scholar from behind, pouring into his hunched body and invading his data in dense streams.
The entire Mechanical Core seemed to be enveloped in tremendous tremors.
Until the next moment.
Hum-
The Scholar's body abruptly contracted, like a collapsing black hole, and vanished completely.
In his place, a naked man rose as though he had just emerged from the womb. His body shone with a dazzling, mercury-like sheen, unknown slime flowing over him. Long silver hair spilled down his back, and every muscle in his body produced the abnormal sound of meshing machinery.
Clack, clack, clack-
As though newly born, he rose little by little and lifted his head, an expression of extreme pleasure and greed spreading across his face. Through his open mouth, the flowing metal inside could faintly be seen solidifying into