Defiance of the Fall

t to protect them the more I want to destroy!” werewolf laughed with madness as one pillar after another was toppled.

Zac felt helpless as he looked at the werewolf who had gone mad with bloodlust.
Wasn ’t he supposed to be the crazed one with all the berserking items almost ripping his innards apart?

Trust me human.
I will seal space soon.
Get ready to strike, a voice said in his mind, and Zac realized Cervantes hadn’t lost his mind at all.

“You will collapse this whole realm you fool!” Adcarkas roared, and he suddenly appeared right in front of Cervantes as he launched a punch full of fury.

His fist was like a black hole and space crackled and cried as it pushed forward, but Cervantes once more turned into pure energy, and he actually split into six clumps that all flashed in a different direction.
An instant later they congealed back where the werewolf once stood, but they had left something behind; six massive machines that should be of technocrat origin.

“Spatial stabilizers! High grade!” Kenzie exclaimed from a drone, and Zac didn’t hesitate at all.

Four chains shot forward light black streaks of lightning and trapped Adcarkas’ arms and legs as they dripped of poison.
The Dominator had clearly tried to space shift to avoid the strike, but between the energy chaos from over fifty pillars breaking apart and the stabilizers, he didn ’t seem able to merge with space at all.

Zac finally managed to fulfill the requirements of [Blighted Cut] and three extremely sinister cuts flashed in an instant, trying to dice Adcarkas into three pieces.
Meanwhile, a hundred-meter-wide jaw bit down, its teeth sharp enough to cause massive rifts in space.
Zac ’s eyes widened and he desperately jumped out of the way, barely avoiding getting swept up in Cervantes ’s ultimate skill.

A bubbling fury threatened to take over, but Zac pushed down the madness and instead only glared at Cervantes from a distance before he refocused on Adcarkas.
One bastard at a time.
A small galaxy had appeared to protect Adcarkas, and Zac for the first time saw his skill fail in cutting the target apart.

But there was actually a hidden feature of the skill as a massive eruption of the extremely corrosive liquid doused the whole area and a storm of death started raging.
It was like the skill just dumped all the liquid it had stored after seeing that it wouldn’t be able to kill its target.
Add to that the extremely powerful lunar bite, and the galaxy finally crumbled.

“DIE!” a thunderous roar echoed out as an enormous club smashed down out of nowhere.

Billy had perfectly seized the opportunity while Void’s Disciple was submerged in the chaotic energies, and the club slammed down with enough force to turn an E-Grade beast into mush.
Adcarkas roared in defiance as a massive shockwave erupted from his body, causing space itself to ripple outward in a wave of destruction.

’

The all-out attacks fought for supremacy, and Billy was the first to be flung away until he knocked down a pillar and fell unconscious.
The others stood their ground.
Zac and Cervantes infused more and more Dao and energy into their strikes to tear Adcarkas apart, and the embattled Dominator in the heart of the storm desperately exuded enormous amounts of Spatial Energy to keep the two attacks at bay.

One, ten, soon a hundred pillars were swept up in the chaos and collapsed, and the whole base started to rumble like it would collapse at any moment.

However, it all suddenly stopped.

The madly pulsating Dimensional Seed stopped beating, and the torrential energies dissipated, exposing a half-dead Adcarkas within.
Zac raged at seeing Void ’s Disciple barely surviving.
Zac was still able to push on a bit longer, and if his skill hadn ’t disappeared, he was almost certain that Void’s Disciple would have died.

However, there was nothing he could do.
In fact, Zac realized he wasn ’t even able to move as a weird suppression had spread through the whole chamber.
It even felt like his miasma had turned into sludge, and moving it was nigh-impossible.

[Your hearts beat, your convictions push you forward.
You embody life and the Path.
I wished to have observed you for a while longer, but your actions have crossed the threshold.
I can no longer abide,] a voice echoed out as a five-meter avatar rose from the alloy floor right between Zac and Adcarkas.

He had the general composition of a male human, but he lacked any features at all.
Instead, he was covered in extremely mysterious runes from head to toes, and there was a halo of thousands of golden needles swirling over his head.
In the middle of the halo was a small star that radiated immense power, and Zac felt he would instantly die if he touched it.

“What!” Cervantes blurted as he looked at the golden man with horror.
“The Administrator!”

Zac’s eyes widened as he turned to Kenzie’s bunker in the distance, and he was horrified to see that the alloy walls were melting down into the ground again, even when Kenzie clearly was trying to stop it.
In fact, the whole chamber seemed to be restored back to normal, except the fallen pillars which were instead absorbed into the ground.

[A mere unsanctioned experiment.
I tolerated the existence of your kind to observe you.
I even prepared opportunities for you to push you even further on the path of life.
Yet, over the past 18,373 years, you have provided me with very little.
Your path is not worthy of further study,] the metallic being said as it glanced in Cervantes direction.

“You!” Cervantes roared, fury overtaking his fear.
“You’ve kept us here for millennia, for your own enjoyment?! I swear I’ll-”

But his words were cut short as one of the golden needles in the Administrator ’s halo split off from the rest turned into a golden streak that shot straight through the werewolf’s chest.
Cervantes had clearly tried to turn into moonlight to avoid the strike, but resistance was completely futile against the terrifying machine.

’

After all, if this really was the Administrator, then it held technology powerful enough to keep not only the Collector, but all the Void Beasts at bay.
What were they compared to that threat? A couple of piddling E-Grade kids.
As expected, a huge stream of blood poured out from a massive hole in the werewolf ’s chest before he collapsed on the ground, his eyes locked in a gaze of terror and fury.

The golden needle quickly floated back to join the others, but the Administrator clearly wasn ’t done.
Zac ’s horror only mounted as the Administrator turned toward the next target; his sister.
But no matter how he struggled he could barely move.
It felt like he would rupture his whole body, but all that effort only allowed him a small shuffle forward.

[You.
What are you?] the Administrator asked as he floated closer.

“My family built this place.
You can ’t target me or my brother, ” Kenzie said, her voice shaky but her eyes firm.

[You bear the bloodline, but it is impure.
I suspect you are not part of the clan.
Perhaps you are an escaped experiment of another base? Capturing you for study will not go against the core commands.]

Zac instantly lost his last hope, and it almost looked like Kenzie had taken a physical blow from the Administrator ’s words.

”Run! ” Zac screamed, but he knew it was futile.
How would one flee from something like this?

[You hold the key.
True constructed life,] the Administrator continued.

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Kenzie’ looked up at the golden with fear, but Zac ’s brows furrowed when that fear turned to a cold gaze full of disdain.

“You overreach your boundaries.
A corrupted custodial AI that dreams of life?” Kenzie snorted, her voice cold and full of authority.
“You should have flushed the aberrant thoughts the moment you woke up.
Your ambition is a dead end. ”

[Perhaps.
But perhaps not.]

The small needles all started moving toward Kenzie as the ball of energy was absorbed into the Administrator’s body.
Each of the needles emitted the power of Dao, and like they formed a miniature version of the containment field around them.
However, Kenzie didn’t look worried at all, and her hand pointed toward the head of the metallic giant.

“Go to sleep.”