Extraordinary Pedigree.

Chapter 1098 Preparing for Proving the Dao—[Miracle: The Selfless One]!

Outside the Well of the Spark.

The metal trembled in the Well of the Spark, and the colossal beasts that had slumbered since the birth of the planet were stirring up. Around the abyss, the steel army mobilized by the Functionalist Council had formed an impenetrable array.

The sound of ground troops advancing was like an iron tide crashing against the shore.

Six thousand six hundred main battle tanks were deployed in a hexagonal array; eight thousand two hundred infantry fighting vehicles marched alongside the tanks, their armored sideplates flashing with a cold white warning light; thirteen hundred self-propelled artillery pieces set up their muzzles at the rear, energy lines faintly wriggling in the barrels; and three thousand rocket launcher arrays resembled a metal forest unfolding towards the sky.

Further away, three thousand army helicopters hovered, like a swarm of steel insects, their rotors forming a hazy storm.

The sky was also cut into a cold, iron-gray by the functionalist-dense air force formations.

Five hundred Maxwell fourth-generation fighter jets, still under development, were hidden in the shadows of the clouds; five thousand six hundred third-generation fighter jets spread out in a scattering formation.

Fifty strategic bombers slowly cruised at high altitudes, as if awaiting judgment; sixty stealth bombers and fifty conventional long-range bombers lined up in columns, locking down the entire sky above the Well of Fire.

This is a military force capable of razing many provinces, yet they have all gathered here, solely to confront the new Pope—Om Messiah—who has stormed here without ever breaching a city.

Moreover, these are just the basics. Behind these legions, the Flame Ape Titan Kakus has already started the STC Primal Production Line.

The marrow of the god of all machines—the [Configuration Blueprint Database]—begins to unfold.

[Maxwell Military SCV (Mining Engineering Vehicle)].

[Maxwell Barracks]

[Maxwell Arms Factory]

[Maxwell Air Force Base].

[Maxwell Fire Blessing Facility].

[Marksway Support Class Unit Module].

In an instant, the STC original production line, based on military-grade SCVs, rapidly constructed terrifying war support and troop-producing equipment, and began to mass-produce military units at high speed.

The seven progenitors have already put the energy blocks from various provinces and the collected fire seeds into it. As long as the energy blocks and fire seeds continue to be produced, this production line for mass production of troops will not stop.

……

……

Meanwhile, Om Messiah's expeditionary force is approaching.

Compared to the impenetrable steel army, the military force under Om Messiah appeared rudimentary and sparse.

Their numbers were only about one-fifth of those of the Functionalist Committee, and most of them were old civilian and automotive iron figures that had just been liberated from the Charon mines, with even their deformable gears worn out and creaking.

But the flame of each Ironman was burning fiercely, for before them, four giant [moving cities] were slowly approaching the well of the fire.

Those were the four founders of the Intelligent Machine Sect; as they marched, dust storms rose into the sky.

At this moment, Xia Xiu stood atop Jason's city ship, bathed in the strange light emanating from the Well of the All-Spark in his heavy form, like a deity standing upright against the apocalyptic storm.

On his chest, the planetary module was breathing, and the [Broken Spark] was pulsating.

The throbbing did not originate from itself, but from a call from the depths of the well—where Typhoon was "awakening."

Just as the entire Iron Man army focused their attention on the abyss ahead, the Demon King Amonde, whom only Xia Xiu could see, slowly appeared beside him.

The phantom of Armand stood in the wind, arms crossed, his face no longer cynical, but solemn like that of an ancient god.

He looked up at the Well of the Spark, his tone colder than ever before:

"The Ophiuchus Protocol is being forcibly taken over."

Armand continued, each word striking like iron:

"Kondrati is uploading his consciousness... He is trying to use the protocol to penetrate the seventh level of the Aether, attempting to forcibly advance to the first stage of miracles—the Self-Sacrifice."

Xia Xiu gazed towards the abyss. In that instant, the shattered ember in his chest seemed to be pulled by the heartbeat at the bottom of a well, and he whispered four words:
"As expected."

The current situation is actually just right for him; he has been waiting for this opportunity for far too long.

This is the scene where he has been waiting for so long to break the deadlock—he has been waiting for the Crown for far too long (for him).

A phantom of Amund unfolded beside him, the pale golden spiritual data swirling around him like a tide. His tone was no longer smiling, but instead carried a long-lost seriousness:
"Yes, it's about time. Your spiritual legion is still missing fourteen seats, which has been vacant for too long, seriously hindering your progress towards miracles. Now that the Ophiuchus Protocol is unstable, it's just the right time to open a rift to the first stage of miracles, penetrate the seven levels of ether, reach the Gate of Self-Sacrifice, and become a great spiritual being."

He paused, staring at the three-tiered crown that was faintly visible behind Xia Xiu, his gaze carrying a solemn weight, as if he were observing a momentous historical change.
"Now, as long as you fill half of the legions, you can break through the crown with the help of the agreement and take the first step toward the miracle; the remaining legions... can be gradually filled when you become the Blessed One, the Holy One, the Crowned One, or even the Ruler in the third phase."

“You know it too,” Armand sighed, “that while the Triple Crown is powerful, it has become a shackle on your path to miracles.”

Xia Xiu paused for a moment, then raised his finger and lightly tapped his chest. The planetary module there was resonating, while the [Shattered Spark] emitted a booming sound like a metallic heartbeat.
"...It has indeed slowed things down too much."

He raised his eyes, gazing towards the Well of Fire, deeper and farther beyond the Iron Fortress, where it was awakening, and his voice gradually became deep and fervent:
“Sisyphus and Metatron have crossed the basic threshold and have been able to keep up with my speed since conquering Abelio… The problem is Vasak—that guy has the biggest gap in his spiritual legion.”

The moment he uttered those words, his shadow twitched slightly; it wasn't the wind, but rather [Vasak] responding.

A deep, almost beastly hunger slowly rose within him.

That was the spiritual legion's hunger for "seats".

That was the thirst of miracles for "perfection".

That was the hunger of the broken embers yearning to "devour".

Xia Xiu narrowed his eyes, as if he could see through the Well of the Spark that the two STC modules held in the hands of Kakus were even deeper inside, and he could see the... the position of promise emanating from them.

The [Broken Flame] deep within his chest and [Vasak] trembled simultaneously.

Xia Xiu murmured, "The new legion... is just ahead."

Then he looked up, flames igniting in his eyes:

"The opportunity to advance to the first stage of the miracle is right in front of me."

And Armand chuckled softly beside him:
"Then go and take it back. Only one of you, you or Kondrati, can survive—the victor will claim the crown of miracle."

Before Armand's words had even faded, Xia Xiu suddenly felt a chill run down his spine. It wasn't fear, but rather a feeling of being weighed on a scale from a higher dimension.

He felt his information integration being stared at nakedly by four pairs of eyes.

He slowly raised his head and looked up at the sky above Crystal Star II.

But it wasn't the sky in the ordinary sense. In that ethereal world, invisible to the naked eye, four distinct yet equally enormous wills, powerful enough to cause the collapse of civilization, were projecting from afar and gradually taking shape in Xia Xiu's spiritual vision.

The first gaze falls upon [Ether Lord Kahn] of the Killing Heaven.

A bronze throne, made up of countless battlefield debris, seemed to be reflected behind the starry sky. Beneath the throne was a river of blood that stretched to the horizon, and the smell of rust was so strong that it could cross dimensions and invade the sense of smell.

[Kahn] sat there silently, his eyes like two planets filled with lightning. He made no superfluous movements, only a simple and brutal intention:

"Slayer, I am watching. All victories and defeats must be written in blood!"

Xia Xiu felt a weight on his shoulders, as if he had been forced to shoulder an invisible battlefield.

The second watchful eye—the volatile [Ether Lord, Sinliezhi]

On the other side, the sky slowly distorted, and blue-purple light dripped like ink, coalescing into a gigantic pupil. Beyond the pupil were countless spiraling, branching passages, with bright lines of possibility intersecting each other—a sinister, elegant, and pleasure-tinged malice in the gaze.

My friend, I admire every step you take.

"Don't worry, I'll help you, as long as you're worth my time."

Xia Xiu could sense that [Xin Liezhi] had already regarded the struggle between Kondratiev and the two of them as a new chaotic game of chess.

The third gaze—Neg, the Ether Lord of the Corrupted Heaven.

On the other side of the sky, a heavy, decaying, sticky green mist rolled in, like a giant breathing slowly.

With each exhale, the air becomes moldy; with each inhale, all the pain of the battlefield is swallowed up.

His gaze was not sharp, yet it pressed down on the metal as if it were rusting, and at the same time... His gaze was filled with "love".

"Child...destruction is not your enemy, stagnation is."

The father's voice seemed to emerge from a swamp, making one's bones ache.

The fourth gaze – Ethereal Lord Shalis of Bliss.

The final gaze spread like an indescribable fragrance, a mixture of sweetness, desire, pleasure, tearing, addiction, and destruction.

The light screen revealed countless overlapping tentacles, arms, and faces, all of which were chuckling softly.

"Hugh Abraham, Benjamin Kondrati, your struggles... are truly captivating."

It was a kind of intoxicating tenderness that was so gentle it caused a ache in the soul.

The moment the four gazes fell upon him simultaneously, Xia Xiu felt a jolt as the information within his body vibrated.

Amund frowned as well: "...Those four disgusting things came too?"

“Don’t worry, they won’t do anything…” Xia Xiu silently clenched the [Heavenly Lever] in his hand.

At the same time, he cursed inwardly:
"I have to be careful of Xin Liezhi, that troublemaker emperor. He says he'll ally with me to kill Crimson, but I'm sure if I lose to Kondrati, he'll be the first to stab me in the back."

"And without hesitation, this guy is looking forward to this kind of show right now."

Xin Liezhi seemed to sense something, so he gave Xia Xiu a faint chuckle, which was both an admission and a provocation.

Xia Xiu wasted no more time. The gaze of the four monarchs meant that the overall situation of this war had determined their primary objective in cooperating with him.

The goal is to achieve a [miracle], because only a [miracle] can allow them to fight alongside the Crimson in the future.

boom! ! !
The shadow behind him expanded wildly, as if a giant door had been pushed open, and three mechanical crowns appeared behind his forehead.

Beneath the triple crown of Om Messiah, the shadow was pulled apart into a throne that transcended reality. On the eve of the great battle, the eight spiritual legions that had been sleeping in the abyss of the shadow sea finally awoke together.

First Legion - Deep Ones - Dark whispers from the deep sea.

As whispers like the roar of the sea arose, the air was bent by the damp haze, and the Abyss Messenger, draped in a robe with scale patterns, was the first to step onto the land.

Behind him were countless half-human, half-fish evil creatures, and deep-sea monsters dragging tentacles crawled in the shadows.

Their very existence is the source of madness—loyal to the slumbering Cthulhu (distorted here as Vashak), their telepathic connection forming a vast and twisted silent chorus.

Second Legion - Tindaros Hounds - Hunters Beyond the Horizon.

Like a sharp blade slicing through the air, narrow geometric cracks tear open the battlefield, each hound seemingly composed of horns and shadows.

They disregard time and angles, relentlessly pursuing anything that smells of distorted spacetime. In the blink of an eye, they appear from your blind spot, indifferent, precise, and never giving up on their target. The entire battlefield becomes sharper because of them.

The Third Legion - The Shield of Himaria - A March Across Five Hundred Mountains.

As the earth began to tremble and dust surged upwards like a tide, these four-legged colossi, cast by the ancient Is civilization, slowly made their appearance.

Towering iron behemoths, ranging from three hundred to seven hundred meters in height, are ruthless and silent; their very existence forms a natural battlefield barrier. Wherever they go, storms subside, light is absorbed, and enemy ballistics and radar become ineffective. The battle line is redefined by their advance.

Fourth Legion - Silent Wendigo - Shadow of Atonement.

As the mist rose, a five-meter-tall black figure clad in the armor of atonement stepped out.

His antlers were bound together, his face sculpted like a death sculpture, and his eyes burned with crimson flames. A domain of silence silenced all sound, even screams were rendered futile. With each of his seven deadly weapons he wielded, a layer of divine punishment-like pollution filled the air; if he set his sights on you, silence would be your funeral.

The Fifth Legion - The Blazing Flame Legion - The Kingdom of Flames.

As the first flame leaped up, the power of the Burning Heart Cave spread, and the Flame Cultists dragged their burning steps out of hell. Some transformed into pure flame, while others retained their physical form; they were the flame's exclusive army. The flame core of the [Undying Candle] made them grow stronger with each battle, and even if they were shattered into ashes, they could rise again from the fire.

In their realm, everything can be burned to ashes.

The Sixth Legion - The Minion Legion - A Chaotic Yellow Tide.

Unlike all the grim legions, the Shadow Sea suddenly exploded into a boiling yellow ocean—Minions screamed, sang, and swarmed out pushing bizarre weapons and vehicles.

Banana cannons, inflatable banana bombs, and comical traps are all roaming the battlefield. They are the embodiment of chaos, yet possess terrifying collective combat power—all the humor is tactical, and all the chaos is enough to overturn the situation.

The Seventh Legion's First Apostle - An obsession with fighting to the death.

As the heavy bone armor rose from the shadows, a colossal shadow nearly a hundred meters tall slowly rose to its upright position.

He had no language, only the marks of war; no emotions, only orders to kill.

That unclosed skeletal face, its eye sockets burning with blue-white light, filled all witnesses with a despair akin to falling into an ancient battlefield. He was a mutated, perfect embryo, and also the most horrific remnant of war.

Eighth Legion - Northern Devouring Beast - Cholera of the Direction.

Its appearance instantly disrupts the battlefield's magnetic poles, forcibly overwriting the sense of direction; any creature "facing north" becomes prey. It can devour memories, instantly severing the enemy's command chain, and is the embodiment of chaos and disorientation.

Any individual facing north will be targeted by it as a predator.

Even more terrifying is that Xia Xiu, as the leader of the legion, can—designate the north.

Suddenly, the entire enemy formation began to make the strange move of turning their heads in one direction, and their formation became chaotic.

With the simultaneous arrival of eight spiritual legions, the entire battlefield was instantly overturned. This was the most terrifying and glorious sequence of battles before Om Messiah stepped into the threshold of miracles.

……

……

Outside the well of the spark source, the metallic earth was shaken and rolled up layer by layer by the million-ton steel tracks. Thousands of tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, rocket launchers, and self-propelled artillery pulled out steel defense lines; in the sky, third-generation aircraft, stealth aircraft, and bombers roared into the clouds, like a moving death dome. The entire army of the Functionalist Committee had pressed down to the wellhead.

On the other side, the Om Messiah faction, with only one-fifth of its forces and mainly composed of civilian Iron Men, raised its head on the battlefield and its momentum was like a surging tide.

Because—Om Messiah stands atop Jason's moving castle.

His triple crown was burning, and behind him, eight spiritual legions rose from the ground. In that instant, the battlefield seemed to have been simultaneously put on the war button by two gods from different civilizations.

With the [Lever of Heaven] in his left hand and the [Sword of Abelio] in his right, Xia Xiu raised his longsword high and roared as if announcing the start of a holy legion's march:

"The Om Messiah Legion—Marching On!!!"

The Deep Ones were the first to move.

The Shadow Sea tore open from the earth's surface, and more than four thousand black tide-like aliens, spellcasters draped in a wet, cold sea membrane, and merman priests uttered meaningless melodies in unison.

That wasn't singing; it was the overclocked abyssal language that vibrated the enemy's brain modules.

As a result, the tank not only lacked rearview mirrors, but its sights were also filled with static, and the neural pathways of the infantry fighting vehicle were like being caught in turbulent water.

The Deep Ones swarmed toward the front lines through the sea of ​​darkness, serving as indispensable "cannon fodder" and disruptors on the battlefield.

The angle-tearing hunters followed closely behind, and 666 Tindaros Hounds simultaneously emerged from the shadows behind Ohm Messiah.

They didn't "run," but rather broke through the distance with "angled leaps." Before the first air force formation could react, the shadows of the hounds had already appeared under the belly of the aircraft.

next second.

Tap—tap—tap—

Like shattered glass, the entire aerial formation was torn open with hundreds of holes, and fighter jets fell in droves, as if they had been sentenced to "disappearance" by some incomprehensible calculation rules.

The Shield of Himaria continued its advance, tearing open the gaps. The moment the hundred giant shields rose from the horizon, nothing in their path could stop the earth-shaking trampling.

As the second echelon of the army marched through the mountains, they felt only despair. Countless army units were trampled by them, and artillery fire could only delay their advance, but could not stop them.

As the giant shield formation advanced, the earth rumbled and collapsed; the enemy's formation was crushed into a state of disarray.

The Silent Wendigo directed and controlled the direction of the giant shield and the rumbling. At the same time, he also deployed his own Silent Domain, silencing the radio waves, shouts, and engine sounds of hundreds of thousands of people.

The sounds of the battlefield were sucked out, leaving a deathly silence like a vacuum.

The Blazing Legion's fire line served as a support advance, mowing down the remaining troops, with flames gushing from the cracks left by the Wendigo and the Shield of Himaria.

Thousands of fire demons transformed into blazing bodies, burning themselves as they charged towards the steel torrent. The fire demons bared their fangs and claws, drilling through the gaps in the ironman's armor and igniting the control core.

The gold-colored fire line tore all the way from the middle of the battlefield to the enemy's rear base. Before a functionalist soldier fell, he saw his armor being "eaten" by the flames.

The Minions then weaved through the battlefield, and when the yellow tide surged forth, the battlefield entered its most chaotic 10 seconds.

The banana cannon fires sticky banana pulp, turning a whole row of tanks into plaster statues. Minions drive their haphazard mechanical flying cars into the air force runway and drop banana bombs on the fighter jets taking off.

Many areas have been taken over by strange bananas!!!

"..."

On the battlefield, Xia Xiu watched the Minions' various masterpieces with a bit of speechlessness. Fortunately, they did not affect the advance of the battle line, so he did not say much.

At this moment, the most ferocious creature on the battlefield was undoubtedly the First Apostle. When that hundred-meter-tall, gray, deformed body stepped onto the battlefield, nothing but pure slaughter ensued.

Accompanied by the explosion of bone structure and blue-white light pulses, it has directly torn open a huge gash and rushed towards the armory where soldiers are being produced in an endless stream.

The monster that inflicted the most comprehensive damage was undoubtedly the Northern Devourer. As soon as it arrived, it tore through the magnetic layer and disrupted the enemy's direction.

The numerous functionalist committee military industrial iron men in combat suddenly all looked north, and then they triggered the "northward" mechanism.

Then a bizarre scene unfolded across the entire battlefront: all enemy troops... began to collide with each other.

Tanks advanced laterally, infantry ranks clashed with each other, and air force units veered off course and crashed into their own ranks.

A desperate scream erupted from command post: "Navigation systems are completely malfunctioning! All troops are out of control!!!"

Surrounded by the four Primal Ancestors, Om Messiah reigned supreme over the entire battlefield. With his terrifying spiritual army, he entered a stalemate with the Primal Production Line that was constantly producing new soldiers.

……

……

The battlefield did not collapse due to the arrival of the spiritual legion, because the primal production line in the distance had already entered high-explosive soldier mode.

SCV engineering vehicles with round heads, three legs, and a configuration arm trailing behind them climbed out from the edge of the deep pit. They had no drivers, but advanced in a legion-like formation.

"-- Deployment node confirmed."

"—Initiate surface reconstruction."

Boom boom boom boom——!
The metal floor was automatically laid out, as if the world itself had begun to wage war.

The massive rectangular barracks take shape as if printed from solid-state printing, with walls solidified from liquid metal and modules automatically welded together, constructing a standardized fortress in half a minute.

Whenever the barracks gates burst open, hundreds of armed infantrymen march out in unison.

The six-legged giant mechanical factory, like a colossal metal spider, established its nest inside the battlefield, with production arms, cooling towers, and nanomachine arrays all deployed.

The next second, a large projection light up above the factory building:
"Max Tiger III heavy tank - expected to roll off the production line in 31 seconds."

"Maxwell Dragon Tongue Reaction Cannon - Expected to roll off the production line in 47 seconds."

"Maxwell Cluster Pulse Infantry Fighting Vehicle - in mass production."

As soon as the Om Messiah Legion broke through the front line, the STC factory automatically replenished it with hundreds of tons of armor steel.

The airport module is generated faster than the sky module.

The flight path unfolds, the orbital interface lights up, and the automatic resupply arm rises—dozens of stealth fighters complete factory clearance, armament loading, fuel filling, and system ignition within minutes.

The entire sky seemed to have been restarted.

Then, one cylindrical light well after another lit up, and the flames flowed into the newly formed iron man's body as if being poured into a mold.

New warriors are born every second.

This is the perpetual motion machine of war created by the Broken Church to fight against the cancer of flesh.

The advance of the Om Messiah Legion was forced to slow down.

The spiritual legions are indeed terrifying, but the Functionalist Council has a near-unlimited war supply thanks to the STC Primal Production Line.

Thus, for the first time on the battlefield, such a scene appeared: the Deep One Legion swallowed up an entire division of Iron Man infantry.

The next second, the SCV had already repaved the area and rebuilt the barracks, loaded the original battle data, and begun to fight back and hunt the Deep Ones.

Tindalos Hounds twisted off the wings of the Air Force aircraft. The next second, new fighter jets were launched into the air at the airport node and, under the blessing of the Fire Seed, began to generate corresponding lineage missiles against Tindalos Hounds.

These Tindaros hounds were even able to tear open the hounds' bodies.

While the cluster's Shield of Himaria shattered hundreds of tanks with every step it took, the military factory continued to produce troops in an endless stream.

At the same time, a barrage of firepower rushed toward the megastructure, with countless cluster cannons, orbital pulse cannons, and gravity restraint lines illuminating the scene simultaneously.

The air was burned into transparent glass.

boom! ! !
Each time the Shield of Himaria was hit, its massive form froze for half a second.

It's not that the Shield of Himaria is too weak, but rather that the STC Prototype Production Line can produce five hundred heavy weapon platforms per minute.

This is the first true clash between a civilization-level war machine system and a mythical spiritual legion.

The giant shields slowed their advance, their momentum forced backward by the artillery fire.

The First Apostle was also held back by the endless stream of Iron Men, who were like ants. Although he could hold a large number of them in one hand and could conjure several mushroom clouds with one hand, there were just too many enemies, who kept charging towards him fearlessly.

Thus, an extremely rare scene unfolded on the entire battlefield.

The advance of the eight spiritual legions has brought them head-on into the same battle line as an entire mass production military-industrial complex supported by a configuration blueprint database.

There was no one-sided crushing victory, but rather a fierce stalemate where both sides were evenly matched.

The [Triple Crown] behind Xia Xiu was dissipating heat rapidly because he needed to provide etheric computing power support for the spiritual legion, while the planetary module supplying energy was also slightly overheating.

He unconsciously stared at the torrent of war reconstructed from the bone marrow of the Machine God and STC, and a somewhat ridiculous idea inexplicably surfaced in his mind.

"I am the fifth saint of the flesh lineage, disguised as the Pope of the Machine God, but on the surface I am the fourth sword-bearer and reserve decision-maker of the Kingdom of Heaven."

And here I am, fighting with a group of guys who look like cultists of the Machine God, but who look like fleshy monsters from the Desire Flesh lineage and are the progenitors of the Beast School who have sided with Chaos.

I was clearly raising the banner of the God of Myriad Machines, but while my legion wasn't entirely composed of flesh and blood, it wasn't much better; those on the other side who had defected to the progenitors of the Chaos Beast Faction, though each of them looked like a beast, each a flesh-and-blood creature, were using a standard, mass-produced, broken-machine-based army strategy…”

Just as he was silently complaining, Jason's voice rang out:

"Pope... the original Beastmen have begun their operation; they intend to block our approach to the Primal Production Line and the Well of the AllSpark."