Chapter 16 – The Machine God

My mind is a void, an expanse of nothingness. The only sensation grounding me is the weight of Myrrh's lifeless body cradled in my arms. Her warmth hasn’t yet faded, her skin still soft and pliable, and her expression peaceful, as if she’s merely sleeping. But the reality is far grimmer—blood continues to spill from the jagged wound in her chest, painting her pale skin in a ghastly crimson.

I glance at my trembling hand, the one supporting her back, and it's slick with blood. Her blood. It's everywhere, coating my arms, staining the ground. A shudder races down my spine, yet for the fifth time, I feel it—numbness beginning to ebb away, the edges of awareness sharpening again.

“Medic... I need a medic!” My voice cracks as it echoes through the desolation.

But it’s a fool’s plea, a delusion I’m clinging to. Her vital organs are shredded beyond repair, and with every passing second, her body grows colder, her blood drained from the gaping wound. Yet, some part of me, stubborn and frantic, refuses to accept that Myrrh is gone.

I look up, my eyes sweeping over the wreckage around me. The world has become a graveyard of ruins—crumbling buildings reduced to heaps of stone, highways now nothing but yawning craters, and the children’s park, once a place of laughter, now crushed under debris. The hospital in the distance, our last hope, is being swallowed whole by the spiked tentacles of the Cosmic Beast.

Not a single living soul stirs in the devastation. Farther away, I spot the twisted remains of three, maybe four bodies, victims claimed by the chaos when the Cosmic Beasts rampaged through the city. Flames flicker and rise, spreading like an unrelenting plague. It feels like I’m the only survivor, trapped in this nightmare.

This scene... I've witnessed it before.

It felt eerily familiar—just like when I was four, during the Christmas Siege. The scene before me was nearly identical: nothing but ruin and carnage as far as I could see. Destruction wrapped the world in a suffocating silence. The bat-like Cosmic Beast stirred, finally locking its eight glowing crimson eyes onto me. From the earth beneath, its tentacles erupted like twisted trees, reaching for the sky, curling toward me.

But this time, there would be no savior, no last-minute rescue. It was just me—alone—clutching the cold, lifeless body of the WAIFU in my arms. I held her tight, desperate for a single wish. A wish that she could work a miracle.

“OIJ(^@R#@()!” The Cosmic Beast’s voice reverberated through the shattered streets, a bone-rattling roar. Its tentacles, dozens of them, rose into the air and arched above me, forming a menacing dome that would soon come crashing down, slicing me into oblivion.

I don’t want to die. Not here. Not like this. I haven’t done anything yet. My entire life has been spent training to be a support unit, to protect the WAIFUs. And now, all of that effort—will it be in vain? Am I really going to die before I achieve that dream? Before I could prove I was worthy? Before Myrrh and I even had a chance?

Her once lively face flashed in my mind—Myrrh, smiling, her cheeks tinged pink as we gazed from the rooftops. Even though we stood as enemies, I couldn’t help but feel the deep frustration within me. I had failed her. I had failed to protect that beautiful smile.

“Myrrh... Forgive me,” I whispered, my voice barely audible, as I hugged her limp body closer.

I closed my eyes, surrendering to the inevitable, waiting for the cold embrace of death that I knew would come next.

But death did not come.

“YOU DON’T WANT HER LIFE TO END HERE, DO YOU?”

The voice thundered directly inside my head, loud and threatening. My heart pounded in my chest as I opened my eyes, and I found myself somewhere... else.

The world around me had shifted—no longer the ruined streets of Xyraxis, but a desolate planet bathed in harsh light. Black, metallic sand stretched endlessly underfoot, and everything felt strange, disjointed, as if the fabric of reality had been twisted.

I looked down. Myrrh’s body was still cradled in my arms, but something was wrong—there was no blood. The gaping wound that had been there moments before was gone. My senses warped and bent, as if I were walking through a dream. Was any of this even real?

And yet, it was this unnatural landscape that filled me with the most profound dread. The sky bled crimson, casting an eerie glow over the ground, and the planet itself was a vast, colorless void—alien, foreign, terrifying. The very air tasted of fear, the unknown closing in from all sides. My eyes darted around, scanning the barren wasteland until they drifted upward... and then, I saw it.

A massive mechanical skeleton loomed above, so vast that it dwarfed even the largest Frame Units. Its eyes—cold and metallic—were as large as moons, glowing faintly with some ancient power. The mechanical skull it wore seemed to swallow the sky, dominating the heavens. Its enormous steel hands gripped the planet’s surface as if holding it in place, skeletal fingers sinking deep into the dark earth.

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“W-What the—”

“YOU APPEAR TO STILL HAVE A REASON FOR LIVING. IF I GRANT YOU THE ULTIMATE POWER, WILL YOU CONTINUE?”

The voice echoed again, shaking the very ground beneath me. My throat tightened, and my body trembled uncontrollably. I had never been more terrified in my entire life. This... this was beyond anything I had ever faced. Beyond anything I had ever feared.

“Who... who are you?” I managed to stammer, my voice barely escaping my quivering lips.

“I PROPOSE A DEAL. IN EXCHANGE FOR THE GIRL’S LIFE, YOU MUST AGREE TO BE MY FIRST APOSTLE IN THIS UNIVERSE. ACCEPT THIS CONTRACT AND ITS CONDITIONS, AND WHILE YOU WALK AMONG MORTALS, YOU WILL BE THE LORD OF DESTRUCTION. THE POWER OF THE MACHINE GOD WILL CONDEMN YOU TO A LIFE OF SOLITUDE. ARE YOU PREPARED FOR THIS?”

The words boomed inside my skull, vibrating through my bones, each syllable heavier than the last. Before I could even comprehend the weight of what was being offered, my vision exploded.

Millions of images flooded my mind, threatening to tear my consciousness apart. I saw Xyraxis, my new home, obliterated—its cities reduced to smoldering rubble, the once-thriving landscape now nothing but scorched earth. And Earth... Earth was worse.

I watched in horror as the blue-green planet fractured, its core unable to contain its mass. The continents were torn apart, now drifting like broken islands suspended in a sky devoid of hope. Both worlds—Earth and Xyraxis—reduced to lifeless husks, floating in the emptiness of space. I witnessed an endless war, Frame Units clashing against the swarming legions of Cosmic Beasts. The air was thick with destruction, an eternal struggle to reach the being behind it all—the father of the Eldritch horrors, an Outer God whose name could not be spoken.

And then, amid the chaos and the wreckage of these shattered worlds, I saw her—Myrrh Alicent. Her silhouette was framed by the golden light of a setting sun as she stood on a rooftop, her hand reaching out to me. Her long, lime blonde hair danced in the wind, and that gentle, kind smile—so full of life—called to me. The memory was so vivid, so achingly real, that it pierced through the overwhelming flood of destruction.

In that moment, I knew what I had to do.

I wanted to take her hand again. To stand beside her. To continue the adventures we had dreamed of together.

There was only one choice.

“Yes. I hereby accept the terms of your contract!” I shouted with all my strength, my voice reverberating through the vast, empty landscape.

A deafening sound of gears grinding filled the air, as if the very machinery of the universe had come alive. The Machine God’s crimson eyes, which had loomed over me like ominous suns, shifted, transforming into an eerie, icy blue. Then, like a cascade, blue circuits began to flow from its moon-sized eyes, spreading across its colossal frame until the entire skeleton was bathed in glowing neon light. The light pulsed brighter and brighter, until everything—my vision, my thoughts, the world around me—was consumed by blinding, radiant nothingness.

And then, in an instant, I was thrust back into the real world.

“Frame Unit, Revival!” A loud, familiar feminine voice echoed in my ears, cutting through the chaos.

I opened my eyes to an astonishing sight—a towering mech, easily twenty meters tall, gleaming in the darkness. Its armor was pristine white and gold, glowing with intricate blue circuits that traced along its limbs like veins of pure energy. The neon blue eyes radiated light, piercing through the oppressive gloom of the night.

It was unmistakable—Myrrh Alicent had returned, but now in her full Frame Unit form. The sheer force of her transformation had blasted the Cosmic Beast’s tentacles away, leaving us a temporary sanctuary in the middle of this war zone.

She turned her gaze toward me, her mechanical eyes locking onto mine. Her synthetic voice, soft but commanding, rang out, “Thank you, Zaft. Please continue to assist me.”

For a moment, I was stunned. Just seconds ago, despair had gripped my heart, drowning me in hopelessness. Now, hearing Myrrh’s voice, alive and powerful, filled me with something I hadn’t felt in what seemed like forever—hope. I couldn’t believe it, but her words stirred something inside me, reigniting my will to fight.

“Sure thing,” I replied, a smile breaking through my shock.

I tapped on my smart device, the familiar hum of the system activating under my fingers. A holographic screen flickered to life in front of me, projecting a series of commands and options.

[Weaponry Enhancement Engineering Bios]

[Clearance Level 3]

[Weapons of Mass Destruction Unlocked]

[Level 1 - Particle Cannon]

[Level 2 - Uranium Blade]

[Level 3 - Shadow Curtain]

“What... is this?” I muttered, my eyes widening as I stared at the screen. The [Weapons of Mass Destruction] series—none of this was part of the WEEB System I had trained with. At first, I thought it was some kind of technical malfunction, but then the memory of my encounter with the Machine God flooded back. This wasn’t a glitch. It was the price of the contract.

Before I could process the magnitude of what I had just unlocked, a guttural, distorted screech tore through the air.

“*&YNKJ234x!” The bat-like Cosmic Beast unfurled its massive wings, casting a shadow over the battlefield. From the ground, thousands of spiked tentacles burst forth, writhing and surging towards Myrrh like a sea of death.

“Zaft, get ready!” Myrrh's voice rang out, sharp and resolute, as she braced herself for the onslaught. Her Frame Unit shifted into a defensive stance, but she was weaponless. It was up to me to arm her—my role as a support unit.

Without hesitation, I scrolled through the options and selected [Particle Cannon]. As soon as I pressed the command, a wave of energy coursed through my body, and I felt the circuits in my left arm glow—not the usual blue, but a deep, pulsing pinkish-red.

I pointed my arm toward Myrrh and shouted, “Particle Cannon, Activate!”

In an instant, the chestplate of Myrrh’s Frame Unit began to morph. The armor shifted and expanded, forming into a massive, golden barrel. The air around her crackled as particles gathered within the cannon, swirling together in a concentrated vortex, like a miniature galaxy being born. Then, with a blinding flash of light, a beam of bluish-white energy erupted from the barrel, cutting through the night.

The beam tore through the swarm of tentacles, vaporizing them on contact, leaving nothing in its wake but the scorched air. The raw power of the cannon didn’t stop there. It continued forward, reaching the Cosmic Beast itself, obliterating the monstrosity in a single, devastating blast.

In one strike, the entire battleground was silent. The Cosmic Beast had been reduced to nothingness.