Chapter 922: The Machine god’s Motive
"The foe you all battled was only a fragment of the entity known as ’Valkalonex’.
The Automations on Iohodis were placed here by another fragment of that same entity, and for the past few decades, they have been terrorising our continent, attempting to extract resources and research samples.
Especially from the site of the destroyed World Tree, Triffid.
The Infernal Devils refused to intervene, citing the pact that prevents them from entering here.
With our forces alone, we barely managed a stalemate, but we discovered that they are much like the Swarm Vanguard you faced 85 years ago. They operate with a ’mothership system’, and if that ’mothership’ is destroyed, all the Automations under its command cease to function.
However, the Valkalonex fragment that deployed these Automations is not in our galaxy as far as I am aware.
In the process of seeking a way to defeat them, the path my Authority revealed was to pull another Valkalonex fragment that would appear nearby down onto our world.
Capturing some lower-level Automations and studying them allowed us to deduce that the mothership’s position could likely be transferred to the nearest fragment, and that fragment’s destruction would cause all those Automations to shut down, which is exactly what happened.
This fragment took control of the Automations, becoming the new ’mothership’, and with its destruction, they all deactivated, bringing an end to our war."
When Charisse finished explaining, Arthur narrowed his eyes at her and asked, "So you used us to deal with your enemies?"
"It was a win-win. Because of the chain of events, your foe was forced to take a much less durable form to complete its mission of eliminating you while being accosted by the devils. That made combat considerably easier, did it not?"
"Sure, that made things a lot easier, but it still leaves plenty of questions unanswered," Arthur replied.
"For starters, what the hell was that thing looking for at Triffid’s ruins? Ashes? Is World Tree ash really valuable enough for someone that powerful to come after it?"
When Arthur asked this, he glanced around as if searching for answers, but Layla and Nicole, who were nearby, shook their heads to show they didn’t know of any important use for it.
Rishia, however, was able to identify at least one application.
"World Tree ashes are highly sought-after alchemical resources," she said.
"So Valkalonex was after alchemical resources? Is that why it was on your world?" Arthur asked, directing his questions toward Charisse, who shook her head immediately before replying.
"No, that isn’t the case, or at least I don’t believe it is. Its presence on our planet was connected to you."
"Connected to me? How?"
Charisse answered, "Because the information revealed by my Authority indicates that you were part of the Cause behind the Effect that is that Aspect Fragment’s presence on this world."
Arthur narrowed his eyes at her words.
Charisse was saying that he was part of the reason Taemia had been targeted by Valkalonex’s other Aspect Fragment, the one that left the Automations behind, and he didn’t like that at all.
He still had no idea what kind of link existed between him and Valkalonex.
"Why the hell was that thing even after me in the first place??"
The answer to that question didn’t come from Charisse or anyone nearby, but from Berlal, who had just returned from Valkalonex’s ’Workshop’.
She’d traced the location of that dimension using the module she’d extracted from its divine spark fragment before destroying it, then went there and sifted through all of Valkalonex’s records, erasing every piece of information about Arthur contained within them before returning, along with the reason Valkalonex had been after him.
"You killed one of its Aspect Fragments."
When she said that, Arthur blinked, his expression turning to one of confusion.
"I killed one of those things?" he said, pointing toward the sky where the gigantic planet-sized colossus had been less than an hour earlier.
Arthur had no memory of fighting anything even remotely that powerful, and if he had, he was damn sure he would’ve remembered it.
His confusion was obvious, and Berlal, recognising this, explained, "Not all of its Aspect Fragments possess that level of power. Some of them are mortal.
According to the information I extracted, you killed a mortal named ’Kalon’ on a planet called Aramis, and that Kalon was ’Aspect Fragment K’ of V.A.L.K.A.L.O.N.E.X."
When she mentioned Aramis, Arthur blinked again, then searched through his memories of the first time he’d come to this universe, his eyes widening as realisation dawned.
He really had killed someone named Kalon on Aramis, and he remembered that Kalon’s Unique Skill had been ’Machine god’.
"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. You’re telling me this thing’s been after me since then?"
Arthur was stunned by its persistence. It’d been 85 Valmone years since that time, and through all of it, he’d been marked for elimination.
That was even longer than he’d been alive.
"Why’re you so surprised?" Berlal asked. "That thing’s been operational in this universe for nearly 180 million years. A mere 85 doesn’t even qualify as a drop in the bucket compared to that."
When Berlal put it that way, it kind of checked out. 85 years was nowhere close to a drop in the bucket when set against nearly 180 million years of activity from Valkalonex in this universe.
Thinking about that brought another question to Arthur’s mind.
"When I appraised it, it said the Devour Class System didn’t have the clearance to scan that thing’s information. What was that about?"
Right after asking Berlal that, Arthur extended his right hand and summoned his sword.
"Lostvayne, come out here, too. You seemed to recognise it as well."
Lostvayne, transforming into her humanoid form, sighed and replied.
[I’m not so sure you want to know about this. The lower-level ones are already a problem for you as it is.]
"Huh? The lower-level what?" Arthur asked.
This time, Berlal didn’t allow Lostvayne to answer. "I suppose she’s referring to the pantheons of the god-ruled universes that are currently after your life as the ’lower-level ones’."
Then, looking directly at Arthur, she continued and plainly stated the information Lostvayne hadn’t been certain Arthur should hear just yet.
"That thing, or rather the entity this universe knows as its ’Machine god King’, Valkalonex, is a probe of the Imperium, sent here by an Ancient god called ’Kalonex’.
This is something he’s been doing for billions of years, sending probes into the greater Cosmos to search for universes that contain rare resources and are also suitable for conquest by the god race.
The ’Val’ in Valkalonex is simply the first three letters of this universe’s name. If a probe were sent into your universe of Hell, it would’ve been called Helkalonex."
Hell was a devil-ruled universe, however, so no probes were sent there.
"So, this Kalonex guy is an Ancient-Breed god who sends out probes for this Imperium. Is he the one in charge of it?" Arthur asked.
[No, he’s far from that. But he is one of its highest-ranked members,] Lostvayne replied.
Looking from Arthur to Berlal, she continued, [He’s one of the god race’s equivalents of the Levites within the Dragon Race.]
"!"
Arthur’s eyes widened as he heard this. Rishia and the others who knew of the Levites were visibly shaken as well.
That reaction was only natural, since they’d just realised the scale of their foe’s origin was far beyond the immense heights they’d already assumed.
The Levites were the dragons who held the greatest authority and influence over all dragons across the Cosmos, aside from Aleksas, the Progenitor Dragon.
And Lostvayne had just said that ’Kalonex’, the one who’d sent a probe into Valmone, was apparently the same kind of existence, but for the god race.
Arthur’s mind started linking the pieces together, forming a picture that filled him with unease. Even so, he asked anyway, just to be sure.
"This ’Imperium’. What exactly is it?"
The answer he got wasn’t quite what he’d expected, though it wasn’t far from it either.
"The Imperium is Luka’s Court," Berlal said.
It was the Court of gods that answered directly to the Progenitor goddess, Luka.
If Luka was the ’Empress’, then the Imperium were the high-ranking nobles and ministers who filled her ’House of Lords’.
Aleksas had mentioned before that Luka was searching for Arthur for reasons unknown, and if there was anyone Luka would send to find him, her ’Slayer’, it would undoubtedly be members of the Imperium.
"Hey, Berlal, do you know the range I’d need to be within for Luka to detect my existence?"
When Arthur asked that, Berlal turned toward him with one eyebrow raised, and Layla’s expression became one of apprehension.
"Wait, she can detect you if you get close enough to her?" she asked.
Arthur nodded slightly and replied, "Yeah. I don’t really know how to explain it properly. Maybe it’s because I’m the Progenitor of godslayers and she’s the Progenitor goddess, but there are certain things I’ve just known, even before I knew her name.
For example, I’ve always known Luka was a she, or rather, I’ve always known that the Progenitor of gods was female, even back when I didn’t know anything else. I also know that if I get within a certain distance of her, she’d sense my existence just as clearly as I’d sense hers.
The problem is that I don’t know what that distance actually is."
He then looked back at Berlal and continued, "That’s why I’m asking you. Based on Aleksas, the Progenitor of Dragonslayers, or any other Progenitors and their Slayers you know about, how close would I have to get?"
Berlal shook her head slightly before answering.
"I can’t give you any exact ranges. For one thing, most Progenitors don’t usually discuss matters like that.
And secondly, I can’t really use Aleksas as a reference point, since his relationship with the Progenitor of dragonslayers is rather..." she trailed off, pausing for a moment before finishing, "...unique."
