Chapter 934: Shattering (Seeking Subscriptions)

"No..."

Accompanied by Ironhide's roar, a group of dispirited Autobots collectively gave up on continuing to entangle and pursue the Autobots who followed Sentinel Prime.

They gathered around Optimus Prime one after another, looking at their former Leader lying on the ground, who had been struck three times by the Cosmic Rust Gun and was now rusting away in large patches, clearly on the verge of death, their faces filled with grief.

"My brothers..."

Optimus Prime wanted to say something, but his body was seized by a fit of violent coughing.

And accompanying the coughing were fragments of rusted metal falling rapidly from his chassis.

"It seems my time is running out..."

Burning the energy within his Spark, Optimus Prime struggled to try and slow the speed of the rusting.

He looked at the Autobots gathering around him, each with a face full of sorrow, and felt both shame and regret in his heart.

In the battle just now with his teacher Sentinel Prime, he had not actually used his full strength.

Originally, Optimus Prime had wanted to test if he could pull his teacher back from the wrong path.

But the result was something he had never expected; his teacher had used his full strength from the very beginning, and even after gaining the upper hand, he immediately moved to kill him.

While the true colors of an ambitious hero were fully revealed, it also made Optimus Prime pay a painful price for it.

A flash of sadness crossed his eyes, and a piece of undamaged armor on Optimus Prime's chest slowly opened.

Then, a prism-shaped crystal with a peculiar design and unknown material flew out from within his body and hovered in the air before him.

"Ironhide..."

He said with difficulty: "I entrust the Matrix of Leadership to your safekeeping... After I... am gone, please lead the Autobots..."

An Autobot struggled to push aside the surrounding Autobots who were gathered together in grief, squeezing to the front of Optimus Prime.

"Everything has not yet reached the point of no return!"

Wheeljack said in a deep voice; he stepped forward quickly, picked up the 【Matrix of Leadership】, and then aimed it at the Spark on the edge of Optimus Prime's chest that had already begun to rust, slamming it in.

The moment the 【Matrix of Leadership】 was inserted into Optimus Prime's Spark, intense azure electric arcs continuously shot out from the 【Matrix of Leadership】, rapidly enveloping his body within them.

"Ah!" Optimus Prime let out a scream.

"Everyone, step back!"

Wheeljack barked at the surrounding Autobots.

Ironhide and the other Autobots also noticed the changes currently happening to Optimus Prime, and while looking at each other, they could not help but feel a bit of expectation in their hearts.

They didn't even have time to put away the sorrow on their faces before they tacitly retreated a distance, clearing out a circular space with a radius of about ten meters.

Wheeljack also retreated along with everyone else, and all the Autobots were waiting anxiously.

At this moment, Optimus Prime was already completely enveloped by the azure electric arcs scattered by the 【Matrix of Leadership】, turning into a ball of light that no one could see through.

"Ah..."

The painful roar continued to emanate from the ball of light; Ratchet, who had a good relationship with Wheeljack, felt anxious and could not help but ask: "Wheeljack, are you sure the 【Matrix of Leadership】 can save the Leader?"

"I'm not sure, but this is the only way now!"

Wheeljack shook his head; although he was not in the team that manufactured the Cosmic Rust Gun for Sentinel Prime back then, as a great scientist of the former Autobot faction, Wheeljack had participated in the research on Cosmic Rust.

According to their long-term observations, the Cosmic Rust, which could be called unsolvable for Silicon-based Life, was very likely not born naturally, but was a 'special infectious disease' artificially synthesized by a civilization with more advanced technology, specifically targeting their Silicon-based Life.

However, although Cosmic Rust was unsolvable for all Cybertronians, the more powerful the Cybertronian, the longer they could hold on after being infected with Cosmic Rust.

And the 【Matrix of Leadership】 had previously been proven to be a holy relic capable of Awakening dead Warriors.

Since it could even resurrect dead Warriors, there was no reason it could not save Optimus Prime, who was still struggling on the verge of death.

The roaring continued, but the sound was becoming increasingly loud.

Wheeljack stared fixedly at the huge ball of light composed of azure electric arcs surrounding Optimus Prime, his eyes seemingly wanting to pierce through the light and see everything inside clearly.

After the ball of light composed of electric arcs expanded rapidly to a certain range, it stopped expanding outward.

Instead, those electric arcs, following Optimus Prime's roars, began to gradually dim, as if they had been absorbed by Optimus Prime.

The electric arcs lasted for a full ten-plus minutes before finally dissipating completely.

And with their complete disappearance, Optimus Prime, who had originally been lying on the ground, had already stood up at some point.

His eyes were tightly shut, the armor on his chest was wide open, and on the Spark emitting a blinding blue light, a dim 【Matrix of Leadership】 emitting thick white smoke was still inserted there.

Suddenly, Optimus Prime abruptly opened his eyes, and two beams of light shot out from them.

He looked up to the sky and let out a roar, and the 【Matrix of Leadership】 inserted in his Spark also seemed to have received some kind of summons, suddenly flying out automatically from Optimus Prime's Spark, hovering in the air before him for a moment.

With a crisp sound like glass being shattered, some fine cracks began to appear on the 【Matrix of Leadership】.

The cracks grew larger and larger, and soon spread to every part of the 【Matrix of Leadership】.

Optimus Prime looked down at it with some sadness, and then let out a sigh.

As if in farewell, following that sigh of his.

The 【Matrix of Leadership】 hovering in the air before him burst apart with a snap, completely shattering into a patch of glittering, tiny particles, disappearing into the air with the wind.

"The Matrix of Leadership... is shattered..."

Ironhide murmured, but soon looked at Optimus Prime with excitement.

At this time, the three huge, constantly rusting wounds on Optimus Prime's body, which had been left behind when his teacher Sentinel Prime hit him with the Cosmic Rust Gun, had completely disappeared.

His chassis was brand new, and he himself seemed to look a bit taller and more imposing than before.

"Leader, that's great... the Leader is still here..."

The surrounding Autobots also let out a cheer.

In their eyes, Optimus Prime was their heaven, the Leader they swore to follow and serve until death.

Just now, when Optimus Prime was on the verge of passing away, many of them had fallen into despair because they could not see a future.

Fortunately, hope had returned once again!

"Boss... that's great..."

Ratchet excitedly crowded around, shouting loudly beside Optimus Prime.

Optimus Prime smiled and glanced at him, his heart still aching over the complete shattering of the Matrix of Leadership.

He took a look at New Iacon, which had suffered partial damage due to the battle not long ago.

Looking at the empty streets and squares here, Optimus Prime gazed into the distance; at this moment, his vision seemed to transcend time and space, seeing the scenes of slaughter and combat taking place on the land of Africa, tens, hundreds, and thousands of kilometers away.

And the cause of all this tragedy was solely due to his own cowardice and immaturity.

"It is time to settle things with the past!"

A thought flashed through his mind in an instant, and Optimus Prime turned his head to look in the direction Sentinel Prime had previously departed.

"Autobots, target Cairo, we still have a fierce battle to fight."

"The battle has only just begun!"