680
"We can't stop it... we can't stop it at all."
"Over two hundred thousand people affected... and the number is still rising. The first tsunami wave is expected to reach Trier within half an hour..."
The long metal embankment was breached by the flood once again. The pain of expending so much spirituality in such a short time made Bornova's temples throb. His movements involuntarily slowed, and the brass gears in his eyes slowed along with his processing speed. Like a machine gradually running out of fuel, the joints throughout his body slowly rusted until, at last, he fell silent.
As Bornova fell silent, the tottering embankment finally began to collapse. The tsunami roared through the breach in the tightly fitted metal structure, widening it relentlessly. Countless cast blocks and pieces of steel were swept away and scattered by the seawater, gradually sinking to the bottom.
An enormous volume of water surged in, instantly submerging the small, low-lying plain. Bornova stood on the ground-or rather, on what was now the seabed-as vast quantities of mud, sand, wood, and debris hurtled toward him. Upon reaching the space before the Angel, they were automatically broken down into tiny particles. Although Bornova had almost no preferences, he still refused to let these unclean things near him.
And so a relatively clean area formed around him.
"Hilland... are you still alive?"
He tried to locate his colleague's vital signs, constructing a communication channel in his mind at a distinctive speed. But that particular frequency now quietly emitted only a faint electrical hiss in his mind. No response or words came through.
Perhaps Hilland had already burned himself out, or perhaps the god's body was blocking communication between them.
Although they had both participated in designing and constructing that body, when they discussed where