Chapter 564

"Are they all affected by the mysterious?"

Black Tower nodded: "That's right, but at the time they didn't realize they were being influenced by the Stellar Gods, their gloved hands touched the Emperor."

Suddenly, a burst of laughter flashed into Star's mind.

Countless smiling faces gathered together, joy rose in the air—【Joy】 Aha appeared!

It, together with the mysterious, adorned this bleak scene. It was extremely happy, laughing wildly. But it merely laughed, doing nothing else besides laughing.

Star couldn't help wondering: What exactly is it laughing at? What makes it so happy—what did it actually see?

"Seamless, just like 【fate】." Ruan Mei widened her eyes, she also seemed shocked, her tone wavering: "The beginning of the second war was triggered by a group of organic life activating the anti-organic equation."

"Second war? Did the first war ever end?" Black Tower muttered, "They are clearly intertwined; these guys never rest. After the war has lasted two amber epochs, the second moment in the Omniscience Sage's calculation will arrive."

Star also saw that moment: at the instant the archaeology team's hand touched the machine, the Genius Club #27 Emperor Rupert awoke from slumber.

In the depths of the shattered body, a point of azure light suddenly flared, like a sleeping giant god opening its eyes.

"Boom—"

An unprecedented violent tremor came from underground; the ground beneath the archaeology team's feet cracked, bulged, and collapsed like a fragile eggshell! Massive fissures centered on Rupert began to spread wildly in all directions, devouring everything!

Immediately after, a deafening metallic twisting and grinding roar came from the depths!

——

OVERLORD。

What happened?

No one could understand it in time.

The land in the firmament trembled, the sky seemed to weep, a colossal claw, seemingly made of steel, thrust up from the ground, slammed down heavily, gouging five deep trenches!

"Boom! Boom! Boom——!"

Beyond the firmament's view, more places exploded! Countless mechanical constructs of various shapes and sizes rose from the ruins and the ground like a metallic tide, tearing through rock layers, lifting soil and stone, carrying countless dust and fury, standing anew between heaven and earth!

The quickest to grasp the situation was Ainz.

The change happened too suddenly; one second the archaeology team's hand merely brushed something, the next second billions of mechanical troops rose—this unbelievable state left the brain lagging before reacting. At the same moment, the entire throne hall fell silent, all guardians stared agape, struggling to digest all the information that appeared in those few seconds.

Indeed, when Black Tower said they were about to awaken Rupert, they knew this mechanical emperor would subsequently wake up.

However—

Who could have anticipated the change coming so suddenly?

Who could have imagined that alongside Rupert's awakening would be an endless mechanical army?

Demiurge's initial guess was that after Rupert awoke, he would, like Lord Ainz declaring himself the Sorcerer King, first hold a grand ceremony, or announce to organic life across the universe the return of the "Emperor," and then lavishly dispatch an inorganic army to conquer other worlds.

(These huge machines seem each to have greater destructive power than a black goat kid...)

Ainz recalled that when he used the super-tier magic 【Dark Harvest Offering】 to take away seventy thousand imperial soldiers, he had once summoned five black goat kids—those were monsters over level ninety, hideously twisted, enormous in size, and ruthless toward humans.

But these machines' size far surpasses that of a black goat kid, and their functions seem even more complete—one unit's size exceeds that of five black goat kids combined… Is this the army summoned by Rupert after awakening? That seems utterly exaggerated.

Moreover, it seems the mechanical civilization in the firmament has become Rupert's vassals, gathering in great numbers and setting out toward the cosmos.

And Rupert…… it still stands there silently, as if nothing happened, as if nothing changed.

(Hopefully this is the entirety of Rupert's army…)

Ainz consoled himself with this thought—but he also knew it was mere wishful thinking. As a disaster that makes even Black Tower and Screw Gum so cautious, it certainly cannot be as simple as a single planet's sentient machines.

Such a mechanical army could likely level the entire Nazarick tomb in moments; Ainz suddenly felt relieved that this world had no ties to the Interstellar Peace Company, for who knows whether those mechanical legions might not trample this world along the star lanes?

It seems being behind has its own advantages.

——

"Are all these mechanical lifeforms running amok?" Star gazed in disbelief at the vast mechanical army.

"No, not just the army…… even ordinary sentient machines without combat capability regard humanity as enemies."

"On the dock of that sentient machine planet responsible for transporting cargo, some small auxiliary sentient machines began collectively attacking nearby humans—even though they lack the ability to kill humans, they still strive to drive them to death."

"It's not a rampage; rather, at the moment the Emperor revived, the anti-organic equation that it had derived and implanted within inorganic life immediately activated—no reason, no compromise." Black Tower said calmly.

"The Emperor's war has erupted; what is the company's stance?"

"Black Tower gave a faint smile: 'Want to know?'"

"Star nodded."

"Alright, then I'll take you to see."

「「……」」

"Star opened her eyes again, the icy metallic touch replacing the warmth of flesh."

"She had become a heavily mechanized mercenary of De Veyen, but this time she was not colonizing an outer planet; instead, she was inside the company, surrounded by crowds of people arguing and discussing, the core topic being the frontier star trade war."

"Now the trade war is under the company's control; it will soon be quelled!"

"A somewhat sharp male voice sounded not far away, his tone seeming to look down on those border resistance forces. Their discussion had nothing to do with the profits or losses of the frontier star war, filled with false pleasantries and greed."

"However, Star paid no attention to these; she lifted her head and looked around, finding that nobody here was discussing the Emperor's war…… or rather, they were unaware that the inorganic war had already broken out."

"However, right beside her, a scholar trembled all over, having no interest in the company's senior officials' arguments, merely clasping his hands together in a devout prayer, shaking his head while weeping."

"……No… this is not the 【moment】 in the Omniscience Sage's calculation."

His choking sob was quickly drowned out by the crowd's clamor, and the scholar, tears streaming down his face, looked up, his eyes filled with despair.