They said a caterpillar would break down and digest itself once it entered its cocoon before reforming its body and transforming into a butterfly.

This was one of the miracles of nature. It was one of those things that, even if it could be scientifically explained, let one feel nature's wonder.

What Noah was experiencing now was something similar.

Full Dive.

This had been one of the focuses of Project Eden, creating humans who could transfer their minds to machines. The total and absolute digitalization of human thought in zeroes and ones code to transfer to machines.

The results, while not what they were expecting, were still outstanding.

The deeper Noah dived, the stronger the connection between him and Ouroboros became, and once he reached the level of Full Dive — they became one in the truest sense of the word.

The external Camera became his eyes. The Giant of Steel became his body and the mighty limbs became his as well.

The ultimate union between Man and Machine.

Sadly, this also extended to pain and Noah immediately felt the painful sensation of having his mind stretch to something beyond human. It didn’t help that with Ouroboros' current situation, Noah felt like he was missing some pieces.

This sensation was not something a human could normally support. Even back then, he would very rarely use Full Dive as it was too heavy on him.

But now…Noah was surprised to realize that he did not feel that bad.

The destroyed parts of Ouroboros hurt but he had faced far more pain.

The control necessary to move Ouroboros was taxing on his mind but far less taxing than the hundred years he most likely spent on this planet.

Truly life was indeed full of surprises.

—Noah, are you ready?

Noah felt his mind slowly grow faint. What he was about to do was dangerous. But if it was necessary for victory, he would do it.

It was time to go Berserk.

***

As Omid watched the egg start cracking, he understood that things were going wrong. If before Noah had not been a threat, now there were enough strange things occurring for him to worry about and his last stunt with Cruel Sun had consumed a large part of his energy reserve. Enough to truly worry him.

Had he been in space or anywhere else, he would have immediately retreated to make sure that he could better assess the situation but right here and now, there was not much he could do outside of facing it head-on.

Breathing heavily in the cockpit, he gave the command and made The Scorched take out the rifle and position it in a fire-ready position.

Crack!

His heart was thumping so fast in his chest that he felt like it was ready to burst out at any moment.

Crack! Crack!

His face was covered in sweat despite the ventilation system.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

[Great spike in Dark Matter.]

[Warning! Tactical retreat advised]

Omid cursed. As if he didn’t know he had to retreat. This was the moment and finally —

Crack!!!

Finally, the eggshell completely vanished and revealed the abomination behind it.

Goosebumps crawled on his skin as he gazed at the thing that was standing in front of him. The previous Mecha, while old and in a pitiful state, had a certain air about it. A heroic one full of majesty. Its crimson color was warm and brought confidence.

Now though… It looked nothing but sinister. The crimson receded, giving place to a pure black that seemed to absorb all light. The face of the Mecha seemed to have a crazed smile, showing full teeth and its eyes shone with a crimson light.

Omid had heard of Mecha transforming. Hell, even Mechas fusing to obtain new forms. But what he was seeing now was something completely different. Something foreign. He knew that he had to take that thing down to survive.

A weird deadlock seemed to appear as the two giants observed each other silently, measuring the level of threat the other posed. Omid shivered. He could swear that for an instant, he had felt like the Mecha was grinning at him.

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The very moment the Mecha of Noah took one step forward — that deadlock was broken as if it had never existed in the first place.

Bang! The rifle immediately started shooting at a high cadence. Omid's only goal was to take down that thing. But, showing a level of agility of the likes that should not be possible for such a heavy machine on a planet, Ouroboros jumped up and did a beautiful twirl in the air before landing on the ground on all fours.

Then it zigzagged while running toward him at high speed.

Fuck!

Discarding the red-hot rifle that looked like it was about to explode, Omid took a defensive pose as the mecha reached him.

Activate the shield!

A shock resonated as Ouroboros collided with the energy shield like an enraged bull hitting a wall. Omid expected this to stop Noah but he was forced to realize that it was not enough.

Bang!

He watched as Ouroboros started to furiously hit the shield with its bare hand again and again. No matter how futile this looked, the hit came and with each hit, the strength seemed to increase.

The grinning mouth opened and from it —

ROOOOAAR!!!

A guttural, animal-like roar came out. It was as if he was witnessing a berserk beast that had lost all sense. The level of Dark Matter continued to climb and Omid finally realized what was happening.

That thing was absorbing the Dark Matter in the air.

Omid had no time to even process this information that made absolutely no sense. Ouroboros lunged at the shield with its maw wide open.

Crunch!

Up to this day, Omid had never realized that there were so many sounds that could feel so horrifying to the ears. But now he understood as he watched a part of his energy shield get eaten.

Realizing that he could not stay close, he immediately pushed all the power in the anti-gravity thruster and jumped up and backward, creating as much distance between them as possible.

At the same time, three fire lights formed behind him before firing at the monstrosity.

But once again Ouroboros simply moved with animalistic movements. Omid had already realized that this Mecha was piloted with a True Neuro link but that still shouldn’t explain such a response time.

Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!

Still floating in the air as he fell, Omid cursed inwardly before screaming out loud.

“This is not the end! I cannot let this end like this!”

He had sacrificed too much. Suffered too much.

Under his suit, his yellow marking started shining even more strongly than usual.His eyes and nose were bleeding. He was searching in the deepest part of himself, bringing as much power as he could. There was no need to hold back, no need to hesitate.

If he did not win now he would die.

The Scorched trembled, his arms wide, and a gigantic sphere of fire and light formed above him, this sun was not limited by the power reserve of his core but also by his own personal reserve, giving his all for this one attack.

The Sphere grew and grew and with it the temperature in the air as well. The atmosphere became dry as the external temperature reached nearly three thousand degrees Celsius.

Thanks to the core he received as a reward, Omid was able to go above and beyond every limit he had once conceived.

The color of the sun he held continuously changed alongside the heat, going from red to orange then yellow, and finally — A beautiful white light.

Had it been at any other moment, Omid would have felt emotion. After all, a white flame was something he would have never been able to reach at any other time if not for the new core and for his own willingness to sacrifice even his life force.

“I will win! I will beat you! and I will start a new legend!”

***

“Do you hear that?”

Sitting in the cockpit of the Ouroboros, Noah was not in a good state. is body was constantly breaking down and repairing because of the tremendous pressure he was under. His body was completely bathed in blood and his eyes were bloodshot, literally on the verge of bursting out.

The Queen was completely unable to answer as she had to use all her power to emulate the thousand circuits that conducted Dark Matter to the core.

This fight was without a doubt the most taxing they’d ever had.

“A new legend, huh.”

Looking up at the white sun that was slowly forming, Noah knew that even if he rushed him, he would not be able to stop this. Even if he tried to flee now, this skill was clearly one with a very wide scale. He doubted he could flee far.

Then there was only one solution.

Since his enemy was betting it all, then he simply had to do the same!

“I am sorry. Hang on a little more.”

It was hard to say to whom he was addressing, whether it was the Queen or Ouroboros.

Whoosh!

Ouroboros leaned back as the Dark Fluid started condensing and transforming under his control. The amount of Dark Fluid Noah could use was limited and the more he used the more was pulled from the outer coating of the Mecha.

The difference was immediate. The Frame trembled under the pressure and the temperature rose. But Noah knew that as long as the internal circuits held on it was enough.

As for defense? How could it be called betting everything if he cared about defense?

The Dark Fluid changed form, slowly transforming into a ten-meter-long spear. At the same time, Noah filled this Fluid with as much energy as he had been able to gather and ignored all the warnings of overheating he was receiving.

The form of the spear changed, becoming more distinct, more intrinsic, and shining with a dark crimson light.

“Noah! Die for me!”

<>

The large sun-like attack came at him but still his voice came out of the speaker, calmly,

“Someday, somewhere, someone might defeat me. But…It will not be today. It will not be here. And…It will certainly not be you!”

<>

He gathered all the remaining strength he had and threw the deadly spear at the incoming Sun.

The spear and the sun came into contact for a short instant, the energy of the two powerful attacks colliding in a shock of titanic proportions.

Whoosh! The first one to give was the sun as the spear seemingly absorbed some of the energy of the attack to power itself and accelerate further, going entirely through it.

It could not be stopped.

It did not miss.

Accurately and without any deviation, the spear shattered the flimsy shield Omid put up in a hurry and pierced The Scorched as it was intended.

As for Noah and the Queen,

“If we survive this…Let’s find you a true name, partner.”

—That would be lovely.

They laughed as they were completely engulfed in a sea of white flames.