Extraordinary Pedigree.

Chapter 1085 [Maxwell's New Pope: Ohm Messiah (Op)]

As soon as Tantros finished uttering that oath, the entire space seemed to fall silent.

Just then, a shadowy figure emerged from behind Xia Xiu's shoulder.

The Demon King Amond, visible only to Xia Xiu, slowly took shape like a folded illusory light. He stood beside Xia Xiu with his arms crossed, his posture languid, yet carrying an indifferent air of overlooking the chessboard.

"Tsk."

Amund looked at the hexahedron and chuckled softly, "I didn't expect that after only a short time away, the thirteen progenitors would be fighting amongst themselves like this."

He didn't lower his voice, since no one but Xia Xiu could hear him anyway.

“But to be honest, it’s not surprising.” Armand’s tone was as if he were recalling something, or commenting on a drama that should have happened long ago. “When I first stepped into Crystal Star II, there were already hidden dangers here.”

"Black Mold appeared back then. However, the Mechanical Temple at that time took it for granted because of the abundant energy of the Dyson Sphere."

He raised his hand and made a grasping motion, as if pinching some kind of invisible mycelium.

"Now, the black mold has mutated into a plague, devouring the energy zone clean... The energy crisis has directly torn apart the skeleton of the entire society, crushing Maxwell's original order and faith."

He casually shrugged, "To put it bluntly, Maxwell society was never that solid to begin with. The pandemic just brought the collapse forward."

Amund glanced at Tantros and said something meaningful:
"Just by hearing the name, you should understand that these thirteen founders were never of one mind."

Xia Xiu narrowed his eyes slightly, and Amond continued to explain:
"The Temple of Mechanics was originally divided into two factions—the Beast faction and the Omnic faction."

"The Beast Faction is the native faction of Crystal Star II, the first to come into contact with the Dyson Ruins and the planet's production line; the Omnic Faction is the outside faction, that is, the original Maxwellist Church, they are actually exiled remnants of the old mechanical church."

He chuckled, a laugh that sounded both mocking and indifferent:

"That's the crux of the conflict: differing ideologies, different powers, and different sources of inspiration. How can they not fight?"

Xia Xiu remained calm, but with a subtle shift in his spiritual awareness, he transmitted a message to Armand:

"...Were you involved in this?"

Amund raised an eyebrow, giving him a 'don't wrong me' look.

“I did mention some plans targeting the Maxwell Church, but they weren’t implemented.” He shrugged. “However, judging from the current situation, their civil war is happening faster than I expected.”

He paused, his tone carrying a hint of confirmation: "It seems that Xin Liezhi and Kondrati... clearly did something."

Amund turned to look at Xia Xiu, a slight smile playing on his lips: "Alright, here's the question."

He crossed his arms again, his golden eyes fixed on Xia Xiu's profile:
"So? Are you planning to agree to Tantros's alliance request?"

Xia Xiu then asked Armand in a soft, spiritual voice:
"why not?"

His tone was relaxed, yet it carried an undeniable sharpness.

"If I could reclaim the Ophiuchus Agreement and simultaneously bring Tantros, as well as the Primordial Ancestors who might be liberated in the future, under the Court's command..."

A glint of lightning flashed in Xia Xiu's golden eyes.

"Then when we conquer the heavens and travel through the myriad worlds, it will be like having four complete 3.5-generation fighter jets as war assets. Who would refuse such assistance?"

Armand chuckled softly, as if watching a decision-maker placing a piece of chess.

"Oh, I knew you would say that."

Xia Xiu ignored his tone and continued to communicate spiritually, each word spoken with a calm tone like a blade cutting through metal:
"Ultimately, the chaos in Crystal Star II is essentially a power struggle between the Beast faction and the Omnic faction. From the perspective of the rulers, this is completely unacceptable."

He gently raised his head, his gaze sweeping over the suspended hexahedral crystal:
"The Brutalists established a functionalist committee, treating deformed gears as class marks, sparks as resources, production lines as tools, and Iron Man... as fuel."

"This system may indeed improve social efficiency in the short term, but in the long run—"

Xia Xiu's eyes turned slightly cold: "It has absolutely no sustainability."

His tone was devoid of anger or moral judgment; it was more like examining a broken piece of machinery.

“Class solidification leads to a lack of innovation at the top and a lack of loyalty at the bottom. Functionalism maintains order through repression and totalitarianism, but once there are fluctuations in energy, outbreaks of epidemics, or shortages of fuel, the entire system will collapse rapidly.”

Armand raised an eyebrow: "You think their rule is ineffective?"

“It’s not that it’s impossible,” Xia Xiu said calmly, “it’s that failure is inevitable.”

He continued, as if assessing a future conquest:
"They exploit too much, resulting in a rigid structure; they consume internal resources without generating new power; their control over the spark is too brutal, leading to unstable loyalty; they divide the production line into civilian and military uses, which is tantamount to splitting two worlds within their own civilization. This is just being idle and creating trouble for themselves."

Xia Xiu continued in the calm tone of a ruler assessing the situation:

"While moral and institutional rigidity is one thing, there is another important reason why I chose the omnic faction over the beast faction."

"First of all, although the seven founders of the Beast faction are powerful, they have deeply controlled the political and military power of Crystal Star II. They have a functionalist committee, a complete military production line, a thought control module, and a stable upper structure."

He paused for half a second:
"This means that they are not objects to be taken over, but rather objects to be overthrown."

Armand chuckled. "Indeed, they're unlikely to give you their place."

Xia Xiu then went on to give another reason:
"Secondly, the Brutalists' mode of governance is too closed; they rely on the caste system, ideological viruses, energy monopolies, and fire rationing to maintain social stability."

“This system will absolutely not welcome newcomers, especially an outsider to share power... and our requirements are not just as simple as sharing power.”

He gently raised his eyes, his golden pupils gleaming, and spoke through his spirituality on a unique channel:

"In other words, they simply cannot tolerate an outsider becoming the ruler. That is why the Brutalists cannot be incorporated; they are naturally hostile to us."

"Moreover, from a cost-benefit perspective, recruiting the AI ​​faction only requires my approval."

Amund smiled: "Are you calculating the input-output ratio?"

“Yes.” Xia Xiu said without hesitation, “Rule requires authority and legitimacy.”

He slowly added: "The Omnicists were originally oppressed by the Beastmen, they had the will to resist, and they had been deprived of their legitimacy. Their structure was loose, and they longed for a new leader."

"And I appeared at just the right time."

Amund nodded: "So you believe the interests of the Omnics align with ours?"

Xia Xiu replied: "Of course, the Omnicists' goal is survival and restoration of power; my goal is to control the Ophiuchus Protocol and the Dyson Sphere, while simultaneously incorporating this Iron Man force; the two are not in conflict, but rather complementary."

"And what about the Beastmen? They control the production lines, the military, the ideology, and the planetary administration. Their very existence conflicts with my goals."

He concluded by saying:
"So from a governance perspective, the Omnics are allies, and the Beasts are obstacles. To take over Crystal Star, all we need to do is become the leader of the Omnics and lead them to overthrow the Beasts' rule."

Less than a minute had passed outside when the spiritual dialogue ended; in Tantros's eyes, Xia Xiu had only been lost in thought for a moment. At that moment, Xia Xiu raised his head, his tone calm:
I accept your proposal.

The light stream within the space seemed to vibrate slightly, a fluctuation of great joy from the machine spirit.

Xia Xiu continued, "By the way, I don't think I've introduced myself to you yet. You can call me—Om Messiah."

Then, a slight, relaxed smile appeared on his face:

"Of course, in your Maxwell society, I also have a name that conforms to your customs."

He softly uttered that syllable, a symbol of excellence in the language of Iron Man and Machine:

“Op—”

After confirming Xia Xiu's reply, Tantros's enormous consciousness trembled slightly within the hexahedral glow.

Without any hesitation, he fulfilled his previous promise and included the information about the spark, mechanical form, identification structure, and authorization code of the Om Messiah that Xia Xiu had transformed into into his core memory bank.

Tantros then mobilized the underlying network built by the progenitor-level spark, spreading a message carrying a new order and new faith to the neural networks of all civilian and automotive Ironmen in a way that shook the entire underworld.

[By the fire left by the Lord as witness, and by the principles of all things, I now proclaim:]
The coming of Om Messiah is a consensus reached by the Iron Man's heart. He should be honored as the new Maxwellian Pope, ruling over the embers and reshaping the Maxwellian Church.

The long night is ending; the torch of resistance will be lit by it. You civilians and automobile-powered iron men, swear by the flame and your very souls, to serve under its banner.

The message traveled through layers of wasteland, mine tunnels, and abandoned energy conduits, echoing throughout the metal-clad world surrounding A3.

Meanwhile, the small team of Autobots patrolling outside the base—the yellow sports car Lutheran, the police car Rezek, the ambulance Marcus, and several civilian robots from the outer passage—all felt the vibrations of the message on the flames in their chests.

When that solemn and anciently authoritative broadcast reached their recognition system, all the mechanical faces froze at the same moment.

Lutheran froze on the spot as if his engine had suddenly shut down, the optical lenses behind his mask flashing with incredible brightness; Rezek's mechanical arm, which he had just raised, stopped in mid-air, and even his usually stern metal mask trembled slightly; Marcus's light strip was so bright it was almost overloaded, and he subconsciously scanned it three times before confirming that the message was not a hallucination.

They originally thought that Op was just an ridiculously powerful alien Iron Man, but they never imagined that this semi-trailer truck machine of unknown origin would be personally led by the Protoss and unanimously recognized by the entire Omnic Network as the new Pope Maxwell.

……

Inside the A3 base.

Tantros began handing over other things to the new pope.

First was the planet module, which quietly lit up as Tantros's machine soul fluctuated. Beams of light rising from the ground flowed around the hexahedron, and the planet module slowly detached from its suspension as if summoned by a god, its crystal edges refracting a cold and clear starlight.

The next second, guided by the primordial fire seed, it suddenly transformed into a stable yet extremely sharp beam of light, flying straight toward Xia Xiu's chest and the core of the fire seed.

dong dong dong-

The oppressive feeling, as if the weight of an entire planet were pressing against his soul, made the shattered embers deep within his chest throb violently. The unfamiliar and grand heartbeat forcefully overlapped with his own rhythm, giving him an indescribable sense of elevation in an instant, as if the entire authority of Crystal Star was being stuffed into the bottom of his soul.

The moment the hexahedron approached, all the light suddenly converged into an extremely thin line, like a needle piercing through the domain, directly penetrating the mythological factor layer surrounding Xia Xiu's fire seed. Immediately following was a very soft hum that seemed to shatter the sea of ​​consciousness.

That was not a sound, but the echo of power generated when the structure was loaded—all the ether floating-point operation nodes within the Heavenly Kingdom system were forced to awaken, and the entire computing mechanism was instantly pulled from its deep slumber, lighting up billions of symbol streams in an instant.

Data flames emanated from Xia Xiu's chest. He did not summon them, but the blazing blue mythical fragments seemed to be summoned by something grander. As the planetary module was embedded, they automatically rose up, layer upon layer, to build an invisible data dome.

Eden took over the fusion of powers immediately, and dozens of analytical threads unfolded simultaneously in Xia Xiu's mind, erecting a massive computational tower within him that combined logic, authority, and mythology.

External module detected: Planet module

[Identity match successful: Om Messiah/Op]

[Reconstructing the authority pathway...]

[Integrating: Authoritarian Module - Extreme Point]

[Loading successful: Ethereum floating-point operation seven thresholds...]

[Synchronization rate in the domain is improving—]

Eden's voice, like a drawn-out chant, slowly echoed in Xia Xiu's deep sea of ​​consciousness. As the planet module settled into its position inside the fire seed, the long series of calculation modes containing seven thresholds, like seven doors lit in sequence, were instantly pushed into the genealogy of heaven.

Every time a door lights up, the reality around Xia Xiu trembles slightly; the shadows on the floor, the texture of the air, and even the magnetic field of the iron walls seem to be gently stirred by an unseen hand.

"Om Messiah... the planet module now belongs to you."

Tantros's voice echoed slowly through the mechanical dome, and at the moment the planetary module was firmly embedded in Xia Xiu's fire seed, his massive Titan soul appeared exceptionally solemn, as if witnessing the coronation of a new pope.

He continued, his voice growing increasingly solemn and deep, even carrying a sense of reverence rarely seen in mechanical life:

"In addition to the planetary modules, I will also bestow upon you the three most important legacies that the progenitors inherited from the Lord—the God of All Machines: the genetic material of the network terminal, the unlimited self-replicating machine, and the configuration blueprint database."

It was as if even the air itself became heavy because of these names.

"By mastering these, you can access the Lord's authority and understand His ways."

"The Way of Ten Thousand Machines is divided into the Thirty-Six Methods of Ten Thousand Machines and the Seventy-Two Methods of Mechanism. The Orthodox Church has mastered all the methods, while we, Maxwell... have only mastered the latter."

Tantros's voice lowered slightly for a moment, not out of regret, but out of a calm acceptance of his own imperfections.

"Each ancestor has a different direction and depth of mastery over the seventy-two mechanical methods; the seventy-two methods are divided into six chapters, each chapter containing twelve methods, namely..."

A flash of lightning streaked across his soul, like an ancient scroll unfurling deep within his consciousness:

"Mechanical Enhancement: Metal Edition"

"Power and Handling: Energy Edition"

"Information Manipulation: Intelligent Machines"

"Machine Domain Control: Construction Chapter"

"Tactical Shifts: Weapons Chapter"

"Divine Transformation: The Chapter of the Machine God".

“Om Messiah, now that you have taken on the planetary module and will become the new pope of the Iron Man, you should also inherit the seventy-two directions of the law that I have learned.”

"I will now impart to you what I have mastered—the Mind Machine Chapter."

As soon as the words were spoken, the light in the entire A3 core area suddenly collapsed towards the center, as if drawn by some invisible force.

Immediately afterwards, three extremely sharp beams of light, like a stream of consciousness and a matrix of runes, separated from Tantros's machine soul. They were initially just faint lights, but they exploded into dazzling rainbows the moment they left the original machine soul.

The three beams of light, like three streams of divinity, carrying the power of knowledge, authority, algorithms, and mythological factors, pierced through Xia Xiu's brow, chest, and the location of his fire seed with unparalleled precision.