Extraordinary Pedigree.

Chapter 1096 The Last [Divinely Gifted Colossus]

Unbreakable City - Governor's Mansion

In the central area of ​​the Unbreakable City, there is a metal platform that rises in layers like a mountain ridge, upon which stands the newly built Governor's Mansion. Unlike the Iron Fortress, which pursues an imposing beauty, or the academic halls of the Sky City, which flow with curves, this building presents a stable, austere, and orderly structure—the central tower rises straight upwards, surrounded by administrative corridors that radiate outwards, and its surface flows with quantum blue light patterns personally formulated by Xia Xiu.

This was in accordance with the governor's office system established by Xia Fu for all the heavens and myriad worlds. Every time he conquered a place, he would tirelessly build a governor's office and promote his political ideology—the Enlightened Dictatorship System.

He must ensure that the Kingdom of Heaven holds a dominant position in every governmental region, while other lineages or the conquered only have the right to participate in government affairs.

Under the enlightened dictatorship, only the Kingdom of Heaven possesses power, while other forces can only possess rights.

The Governor's Palace's main tower represents legislative power, while its four wings govern military, judicial, civil, and religious affairs, respectively. All members of the Iron Man class must register, file records, and obtain new Marksway identity certificates here. For the entire province, the Governor's Palace is not only the center of power but also a symbol of the new order following the departure from the Functionalist Council.

At this moment, Xia Xiu stood in the center of the Long Tower Council Hall.

The hall was enormous, with its metal dome shimmering with programmed light spots like a starry sea. Before him, three bright orbs of light appeared—projections of the machine souls of the three progenitors of the Intelligent Machine Faction.

Xia Xiu spoke to the three Primordial Ancestors with a rare hint of surprise:

"You mean that besides bringing network terminal genetic material and unlimited self-replicating machines, Maxwell also brought a... divinely inspired colossus?"

"Yes."

Jason's machine spirit trembled, as if nodding.

He continued:

"Back then, the Hakkama Alliance relied on the Son of God, Charonmaseld, and the three divinely bestowed colossi to finally resist and suppress the Diva army's frontal offensive. We planned for many years to bring about the War of Glory. At that time, Pope Robert Brom personally led the army, using the colossi as the spearhead and the alliance as the blade, and crushed the main force of the Diva tribe in one fell swoop."

As he spoke, a faint shimmer appeared on the surface of the projected orb, as if the flames of war still lingered deep in their memories.

"In that battle, all seven commanders of the Western Legion, including Ba Diwa Azib VI, were killed. The Diwa people were no longer able to invade our territory and could only retreat into the territory they had already occupied... but the price was equally terrible."

Another ball of light flashed, and Swayne's voice was steady and deep:
"Demetrius I, the one who holds the reins, has died in battle; Saint Sophia, the one favored by the gods, has died in battle; two colossi are destroyed and one is severely damaged—we are no longer able to push the battle lines forward."

The third orb of light added:
"Later, we left that planet and drifted into the depths of the galaxy, one of the important reasons being to search for the possibility of repairing the Colossus. It was a miracle given by God and the foundation of our strength."

Xia Xiu listened with great interest.

Two familiar figures immediately came to mind.

The Prometheus, discovered and rebuilt by the Kingdom of Heaven in the mechanical city-state of Tyrannox in the inner world; the severely damaged Divine Forged Zero Cardinal Paladin excavated from the seventh colony T-12 of the Spirit Flayer Empire.

Both colossal statues are being restored by the Alchemy Department of Heaven. The second statue, due to its unique mechanical soul characteristics, will be given a new name after restoration.

【God-forged Zero Cardinal Holy Knight】is more like a temporary name, similar to the Holy Knight of the Gospel. Once the Kingdom of Heaven is fully restored, this colossus will be given a true name similar to 【Prometheus】.

Xia Xiu always felt that these three [God-given Colossi] were somewhat like the three most important "figurines" of the God of Myriad Machines.

He has already collected two of them. If he collects the last colossus, he will have completely achieved the "God-given Colossus Collection Achievement".

At this moment, Jason's flames trembled slightly, as if adopting a more solemn posture:
"It was because we brought the Colossus and the organs of the two Machine Gods that the Beast Party was willing to merge with us back then."

He paused, seemingly trying to find a suitable way to put it, but ultimately chose the most straightforward approach.

Jason, in his scathing linguistic style, offered this assessment of Cassius, the progenitor of Fauvism:

“That guy, Kakus… although he’s a beast with a head full of modules and a gorilla who thinks with his fists, he really respects the Machine God at heart. He’s genuinely trying to save Crystal Star.”

"After the outbreak of Black Mold, he was the first to rush out to resist the pollution, and even took the initiative to embrace the chaos, just to resist that kind of spiritual erosion. His method was brutal, reckless, and even foolish—but his motives were not bad."

The sphere of light standing to the side trembled slightly, carrying a hint of helplessness and weariness:

“At the time, we could all see that…Cakus wanted functionalism as a temporary means to get through the energy crisis. As long as the source of the black mold was dealt with, order could be restored to its original state.”

"He was indeed trying to find a way for Ironman's future... although his methods were so crude it was like his brain had been hammered out."

On the other side, Swayne's machine spirit suddenly shone brightly, his tone filled with suppressed anger:

"But we never expected that this gorilla, who usually considers scheming to be the behavior of the weak, would actually hold a machine structure meeting and trick us into going in and locking us up!!!"

Xia Xiu couldn't help but sigh that holding meetings, regardless of the country, civilization, or race, is an age-old, open strategy.

Even the Kingdom of Heaven is no exception; the small group of four decision-makers from the Demon King's army era were all wiped out in a single meeting.

Xia Xiu quickly pulled himself together, his mind racing:
"The Beast faction's defection to Chaos must have been orchestrated by Kondrati... Jason, you've had the most contact with him. You previously mentioned that Kondrati used the Ophiuchus Protocol to help the Beast faction seize power, which is currently the Maxwell think tank, Echidna, under his control."

"I need more details; I need to understand more about everything Kondratiev did at Aurelioth."

Jason nodded silently, and the ball of light swayed slightly, as if recalling an unpleasant memory etched deep into the flame.

Suddenly, as if realizing something, his tone became subtle:

“Pope, actually… Kondragi wasn’t the only human to come to Crystal Star II. There was another person following behind him at that time.”

As he said this, the light trembled slightly.

"That guy... is terrifying."

Xia Xiu's heart skipped a beat.

Jason continued, his tone carrying an indescribable complexity:
"I still can't forget that scene, Kondrati's abdomen, pierced through in a bizarre and cruel way by that guy... The wound was like it was being devoured by something, not torn open. That wound... has been eating away at his flesh, and I'm sure it hasn't completely healed even now."

Xia Xiu didn't need to ask any further; he already knew who it was—Dr. Gear.

The executioner, secretly dispatched by Heaven, was tasked with erasing all sources of information leading to the leak of the Ophiuchus Protocol. So he directly asked, "Where did that person ultimately go?"

The three primordial beings' mechanical soul orbs dimmed simultaneously for a moment, and the hall fell into a short, unsettling silence.

Finally, Jason spoke:
"The last time he was seen was when Hogney and Gunnar were investigating the source of the Black Mold."

"You know what happened next. Hogney and Gunnar's flame was completely shattered, and that human never appeared again."

Swayne added coldly:
"Kondrati immediately jumped out at that moment, pinning the blame on the human, saying that he was the common enemy of the Omnics and Beasts, the executioner who killed Hogney and Gunnar, and took the opportunity to further win over Cacus and the others."

Terramon then joined the conversation, saying:

"He not only smeared that human as a demon, but also repeatedly emphasized to the Beast faction that the Omnic faction harbored deep secrets, was unwilling to share them, and even concealed the key force to fight against the Black Mold..."

"Moreover, it is worth noting that he seems to be very interested in the divinely bestowed colossus, and he is eager to know its location. After we were imprisoned, he contacted our Fire Seed directly through the think tank three times, trying to force us to reveal the colossus's coordinates."

"However, the information about the Colossus is only preserved by the Primordial Flame. Even the Think Tank doesn't know the details, so he has never been able to break through the privileges of our Flame."

Swayne snorted coldly:
“Hogney and Gunnar came to tell us that they seemed to have found the source of the Black Mold. That stuff… is related to the Colossus we brought and hid in Crystal Star II.”

Jason's tone became heavy:
"In order to repair that colossus, we hid it in a special building—a building that housed three kinds of mechanical organs, which was our most important secret after arriving at Crystal Star II."

The three orbs of machine soul light dimmed simultaneously in the air. The reduction of their luster was like an old wound buried deep in the bottom of a spark being reopened. Xia Xiu stood straight, his gaze becoming as cold as a blade at this moment.

He began to rapidly sort all the information in his mind, as if in an instant constructing a large-scale causal matrix capable of cutting through the fog of truth.

Kondratiev—using the energy crisis triggered by the black mold, pushed for a usurpation of the Ophiuchus Protocol's structural layer, gaining supreme authority over the Maxwell lineage think tank, Echidna, through a backdoor left in the protocol.

Dr. Gear—an executioner sent by Heaven—mysteriously disappeared while hunting down Condraghi, and the place where he disappeared happened to be located at the source of the Black Mold.

The Mechanics faction—the three progenitors were imprisoned, and the reason for this goes back to the [God-given Colossus].

The Brutalists embrace chaos, but their motivation is to fight against the Black Mold, a calamity capable of destroying civilization.

The Black Mold—based on the investigations of Hogney and Gunnar, its true origin also points to the location where the Colossi were sealed.

All the clues converge at this moment on the same focus—the colossus.

Without a doubt, Kondrati had only two things in mind from the beginning—control of the Colossus and the Ophiuchus Protocol!
Xia Xiu noticed something Jason had emphasized earlier—Kondrati was severely injured by Dr. Gear, and the wound has yet to heal.

Thus, a highly threatening possibility began to rapidly take shape in Xia Xiu's mind.

"Kondratiev wants to use the Colossus to completely control the Ophiuchus Protocol..."

Xia Xiu said softly, as if he were writing a conclusion to the entire deduction.

“The true controller of Ophiuchus is Amund, and Kondrati cannot break through the authority of the holder. If he wants to completely replace Amund, he must rely on the power of the Colossus.”

He raised his eyes, a sharp and dangerous glint flashing in his golden pupils.

"More importantly, his body has been pierced by Dr. Gear to the point of near death... This corrosive wound is constantly devouring him."

"Therefore, as long as he can use Echidna to upload his consciousness and project his soul into the Colossus, he can escape death, escape the bondage of the body, and even directly enter the first stage of the miracle: the Self-Sacrifice through the divine structure of the Colossus itself."

The light in the entire governor's mansion grew even colder the moment those words were spoken.

The three orbs of machine spirit light vibrated slightly at the same time, as if to confirm that they were also greatly shocked by this deduction.

Xia Xiu continued, his voice steady yet carrying a chilling undertone:
"In this way, he will no longer be a fugitive driven to the brink of despair by fate, but will become a being who can gradually approach the authority of the Machine God."

"At that time, not only the Functionalist Committee, not only Crystal Star II, but even the entire Terra civilization... will become the ladder for him to achieve miracles."

Three orbs of mechanical spirit light hovered in mid-air, their radiance oscillating with Xia Xiu's deductions. Xia Xiu, however, seemed to have already turned the entire situation upside down, and he slowly uttered a sentence:

"In fact, my arrival... wasn't entirely a bad thing for Kondrati."

Jason, Terramon, and Swayne's orbs of light all sank simultaneously, as if they had instantly realized some overlooked angle.

Xia Xiu continued, his voice steady, yet carrying a cold clarity that came after the fog had been cleared:

“The Beast Faction has already been suppressed by me once, and they will inevitably regard me as a more pressing survival threat than Black Mold. Under such circumstances, they will not only not rush to quell the rebellion, but will instead be even more devoted to Kondrati… and even actively assist him in reviving the Colossus.”

If this happens, all remaining balance in Crystal Stardust will completely collapse.

The three orbs of mechanical spirit light trembled violently, but Xia Xiu gave them no time to ponder. He announced directly in an unquestionable tone:

"We have no time to rest now."

He raised his hand, as if issuing a martial law decree to the entire Unbreakable City.

"In the name of Pope Om Messiah, the new Pope of Maxwell, I hereby issue this new directive to the entire Maxwell community—"

The light gathered around him; it was the radiant glow produced when the papal authority was automatically activated.

"Jason, Terramon, Swayne—immediately assemble all the combat units you have recovered in the Unbreakable City."

"At the same time, send the message to Charon in the Antarctic Circle, so that Tantros can integrate the mining army and the production line guardians and set off together."

"We must, immediately, right now—get to the location of the divinely bestowed colossus!"

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