Chapter 443

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Protagonist:

Lin En

Lena

A frontal assault? Taking the Priest hostage? Both are far too inefficient.

The Mechanical Soul Throne possesses its own energy barriers and will defenses; forcibly corrupting it with external power would only provoke the fiercest resistance.

But if the Mechanical Soul's own power is used as the "carrier," flowing upstream along the lightning it actively releases, everything becomes perfectly logical.

You want to burn me to death?

Then I'll borrow your Thunder, enter your hall, and penetrate your inner sanctum.

The source of the Rust Plague fully awakened the instant it made contact with the Energy Circuit.

Like a drop of ink falling into clear water, dark brown rust marks spread rapidly along the current, traveling through the dense network of pipelines toward the Mechanical Soul's consciousness body at the Throne's deepest core.

Wherever it passed, metal surfaces sprouted flaky rust stains, the Energy Circuit's gloss turned turbid and dull, and even the jumping electric arcs were stained with a sickly dark green.

The Mechanical Soul immediately detected the intrusion.

It let out a furious roar.

Not a sound, but a shrill cry acting directly upon all electronic equipment.

Alarm lights throughout the entire Mechanical Temple flashed wildly in unison; every Servo Skull's optical lens instantly turned red; data streams on the consoles rolled in a frenzied boil, then repeatedly froze into garbled code.

"What's happening?!"

"Abnormal Energy Circuit fluctuations! Corrosion rate is rising!"

"The Mechanical Soul's will is declining! It... it's being contaminated!"

The Priests fell into chaos.

They watched helplessly as the golden readings symbolizing the Mechanical Soul's purity plummeted at a terrifying speed.

From the original 97%, it dropped below 90% in just a few dozen seconds, and was still plummeting continuously.

The electric arcs surrounding the Throne were no longer pure blue-white, but mixed with an ever-increasing amount of dark green rust color.

The rampaging steel beast seemed to have its limbs entangled by an invisible virus; every struggle only made the rust spread faster.

Phelps's will was weak.

In terms of soul strength and mass alone, his remnant soul before the thousand-year Battlecruiser's Mechanical Soul didn't even amount to an ant.

But the most terrifying aspect of the Rust Plague has never been frontal crushing, but "gnawing away."

It is like the most stubborn mold, taking root the moment it lands on metal, spreading the moment it contacts energy.

Every counterattack by the Mechanical Soul, every mobilization of energy to flush it out, would cause the Plague Power to spread even deeper along the energy flow.

It contaminated pipelines, eroded nodes, bit by bit dismantling the Mechanical Soul's control over the entire ship.

The weaker the control, the less power the Mechanical Soul could mobilize; the less power, the harder to purge the rust.

A vicious cycle, like an unsolvable dead end.

When the Bridge received the report, Dominic was only halfway there.

"General! Emergency report from the Mechanical Temple! Mechanical Soul Core contaminated by Rust Plague! Ship-wide systems suffering large-scale loss of control!"

The voice from the Communication Device carried a sob; the background was filled with rising and falling alarm shrieks.

Dominic's footsteps fiercely halted; the blood drained from his face in an instant.

The thing he worried about most had still happened.

He spun around almost instantly, sprinting madly toward the Mechanical Temple.

The Sky Lion Terminators followed closely behind; their heavy armored footsteps merged into a rapid, urgent drumbeat in the Corridor.

The closer they got to the Temple, the more obvious the signs of loss of control.

Lights on both Sides of the Corridor flickered bright and dim, now pale white, now dark green.

The ventilation system emitted an ominous humming, blowing air carrying a faint Blood Taste.

Dark brown Rust Stains seeped from pipe joints on the Wall, spreading slowly like ruptured Blood Vessels.

Gravity also began to destabilize, with occasional moments of weightlessness followed by sudden violent restoration to normal, causing dizziness.

The moment he charged into the Mechanical Temple, Dominic's heart sank to the bottom of the valley.

The Mechanical Soul Throne, originally flowing with golden light and encircled by electric arcs, was now shrouded in a layer of grayish rust.

Dark green Mold Spots crawled across the Throne's Surface like a Spider Web; electric arcs became sparse and dim; even the suspension height had dropped by several dozen centimeters.

The air no longer held that defiant aura of steel and Thunder; in its place were damp mold smell and the fishy stench of iron Rust.

"General!"

The leading Senior Priest turned around, voice from behind the Mask carrying barely concealed Panic:

"It's the Rust Plague — it hid inside the Mechanical Soul's lightning and drilled into the Core!"

"We... we can't stop it!"

"Have all purification procedures been tried?" Dominic's voice was tight.

"Holy Oil flushing, prayer calibration, overload incineration... all tried!" The Priest's voice carried Despair.

"The Plague and the Energy Circuit are tangled together; for every inch we clean, it pollutes two inches along the energy flow."

"If this continues, in twelve hours at most, the Mechanical Soul will be completely corrupted!"

Twelve hours.

Dominic gazed at that constantly dimming Throne, feeling a chill run through his entire body.

The James Tong was his root, his Clan's glory, his life's work.

If the Mechanical Soul fell completely, this Battlecruiser would no longer be an Imperial Warship, but would become a Plague Fortress drifting in Space.

When that time came, without the enemy lifting a finger, he himself would have to order it scuttled.

"Summon all Priests, everyone assemble at the Temple." He took a Deep Breath, forcing himself to Calm down.

"Activate the highest-level Purification Ritual, all Holy Relics, all Holy Oil, all prayers, use them all!"

"Yes!"

……

The Ritual began half an hour later.

Nearly a hundred Mechanical Priests and State Religion Pastors gathered at the Mechanical Temple, forming three layers inside and out in a Ring.

Red Robes and Black Robes interlaced, hymns and binary prayers intertwined, golden Faith Spiritual Light and silver-white Mechanical Holy Light layered upon layer, converging into a massive Light Pillar that enveloped the central Mechanical Soul Throne.

Holy Oil flowed along the patterns on the Throne's Surface, golden Flame leaping and Burning on the Runes.

This was the largest Scale Purification Ritual held on the James Tong in nearly ten years.

At the height of the Radiance, the spread of the rust indeed slowed down.

Dark green Mold Spots sizzled under the Holy Flame, constantly shrinking, yet never able to be completely eradicated.

The Plague Power had long since penetrated Deep In the Core, like tree roots driven into the Mechanical Soul Consciousness's Deepest Part.

The Ritual Lasted a full three hours.

Priests sweated like Rain, Pastors' voices Hoarse, the golden Light Pillar gradually thinning.

When the last wisp of Holy Flame extinguished, and everyone collapsed to their knees as if drained of strength, all were horrified to discover the Mechanical Soul's Purity had only risen Less Than one percent.

And the rust was still slowly seeping Outside.

Only the speed had changed from "sprinting" to "slow walk".

Useless.

The same thought Rose in everyone's Human Heart.