Chapter 145: Ancient God (14)

'Geshtalt?'

[Geshtalt! Geshtalt! Geshtalt!]

'What the?'

[Geshtalt! Geshtalt! Geshtalt!]

With a sound, white steam started coming out from X's head. It didn't look good.

[WATCH OUT!!!]

However, before Andersen's warning even ended, Jaehwan was swept away by an explosion of world power. 1.5 million world power was unleashed on Jaehwan. Even with his [Naked] Setting, it wasn't easy to stand against X's powerful attack.

'Ugh...!'

Jaehwan's world power usage sped up. At that rate, his [Naked] Setting would stop functioning at any second. Jaehwan made a decision.

The naked God walked over the hill.

And finally met his third friend.

As if its calculations had been turned off, X's attacks seemed to no longer follow any patterns. It was unleashing its world power, but it allowed Jaehwan an opening in between its attacks.

'Now!'

Thoughtless attacks were a waste of world power. With the power of [Naked], Jaehwan charged in and struck X's body. The durable metal skin began to crack.

With another strike, the entire armor began cracking. However, it was surely more durable than any other Gigantes. Jaehwan unleashed all of his world power. It was his last attack.

With the last bit of power he had, Jaehwan struck X's core and a powerful wave exploded from X's body.

[Ex Machina - Phase 2.]

It was a counter by X meant for this final moment.

A wave of world power that felt like it would pull all one's skin off — the power was something different than the world power that X used. It didn't hurt the body itself, but there was a kind of noise. Jaehwan had heard that before.

'Andersen?'

Andersen's voice had been cut off. It was a more definite disconnection than he had felt before. It felt as if Andersen had been erased from within him for good.

The light from X blinked out. It seemed that the core had lost its power from the strike and along with the machine powering down, X's body fell to the ground. Jaehwan also felt his world power waning and slumped. X then looked at Jaehwan's arm and mumbled.

[...Seal of our kind... but [Setting] of Geshtalt... who are you...]

And with those words, X stopped moving. However, Jaehwan felt something wasn't going right. Something felt eerie and strange.

Everywhere was silent. Why? Jaehwan stood up and looked around. All the Vicegerents were slumped on the ground, confused. They all seemed to have lost their world powers as well.

"God! God!"

"God! Where are you?!"

Jaehwan realized that the Vicegerents had lost their link to their Gods. Just like how Jaehwan lost contact with Andersen, they too had lost their connection. It was a power similar to Jaehwan's [Fall], but it had more range. Jaehwan decided it had something to do with X's Phase 2.

"Daeus' [Destruction of Linkage]... temporarily disconnects the links to the Gods. It's an amazing power. It's more than the legend itself."

Myad's voice drifted over to Jaehwan.

The Vicegerents, without their Gods' power and [Setting], were rendered helpless. Myad swung his sword and cut down countless Vicegerents' heads. Myad had not lost any of his power.

"You..."

Jaehwan's instinct told him that the man was dangerous. He was more dangerous than any enemy he had ever fought until now. He then felt regret for the first time in his life. Why didn't he listen to Andersen?

"Oh, I guess you still have the power to stand?"

He had lost his link to Andersen, but he had no link to be disconnected from himself since he was also a God. That was why he still had his [Setting]. The only problem was that he didn't have any world power.

"It's better that you sit down if you want to see something interesting."

He just pushed Jaehwan lightly on his shoulder, but Jaehwan was thrown back, rolling multiple times on the ground. World power in the millions shook him. When he barely got back up, with his hands on the ground, he witnessed Myad pull something out from X's body.

"Hah. I finally got my hands on this. To think how far I had to go to get this... It's all thanks to you."

Jaehwan's focus then turned to the fist-sized core in Myad's hand. It was a blue core that had 'X' written on it. It was the 'heart' of X. Myad then began to walk off.

Jaehwan didn't know why, but he knew he needed to stop Myad. However, he couldn't even stand properly.

'Dammit...'

There were no more powerful individuals around. All of them just had lost their link to their Gods from X's attack.

"You don't know how excited I was when I found out that you had the [Naked] Setting."

Myad whistled while he passed by Jaehwan and stood in front of his destination. It was the 'fake' Machina.

Jaehwan became confused. Why?

Myad then turned to Jaehwan and smiled.

"Oh, there was one thing that you got wrong with your guesses just now. Uh... what was it? This is 'fake'?"

Myad then jumped up onto the 'fake' Machina's left shoulder. On the shoulder, the word 'Daeus' was inscribed. With the sound of decompression, the cockpit of the machine opened and Myad pushed the core of X into it.

"This isn't fake. Uh, at least starting from now."

When the cockpit closed, world power began to flow from the fake Machina's giant body. The world power that came from X, but much more than before. Jaehwan then saw the writing on the shoulder and the cockpit started shining in bright blue light.

Machina of Daeus.

The machine then stood up, destroying everything around it. Everything began to explode. The Vicegerents were running away, and the auctioneers tried to defend the place to the end.

Everyone was destroyed like insects.

Jaehwan's body shook. That power. That presence. He had faced such a thing before.

The Master of [Chaos], who squished Generals like insects.

Sole-King Catastrophe.

The power coming from this Gigantes was the same as that of Catastrophe. Just then, he heard a voice from behind. Jaehwan turned.

[Jaehwan! Jaehwan! Can you hear me?]

X's body, which had laid powerless without its core, was moving about. Jaehwan flinched and stepped back. He gripped his sword tightly, as he quickly grabbed and picked up Runald's body.

[It's me! ME!]

It was a familiar voice. It was just unusual to hear it coming from X.

"Are you Anders..."

But he couldn't continue as the Machina's world power exploded, swallowing everything in its path.

[Watch out!]

In the collapsing auction house, X's body covered Jaehwan and Runald as everything turned dark.

That day, Hatchnold Auction House in Caspion disappeared from [Depth].

Three days later, rumors spread that the Machina of Daeus from the legend had appeared in [Depth], with the new Ancient Three Gods in place.