Nikolai coughed up blood and gasped for breath.

"Da, damn it."

His internal organs were damaged from the excessive use of magical power.

If he had been a war mage with long training and repeated practice, this wouldn't have happened, but for Nikolai, who only gave orders from above, this was an unfamiliar experience.

Nikolai spat out the blood that had pooled in his mouth.

Tears welled up in his eyes from the fishy smell of blood on his tongue and the pain twisting his organs.

'Still, I fed him the magic bullet properly, so he shouldn't be able to get up.'

Nikolai's relief ended the moment he saw the scene before him.

Gabriel, who should have collapsed, was staggering to his feet.

"You, you..."

He had clearly seen the magic bullet hit properly.

It fell short of its intended power and couldn't pierce through the body, but it definitely delivered an impact equivalent to being hit squarely by a large iron ball.

His ribs would be broken, and his internal organs damaged.

He even had burns on both cheeks.

Yet Gabriel stood up.

Even with a face that looked like he was dying in pain, even with a precarious appearance that seemed like he might collapse from exhaustion at any moment.

The look in Gabriel's eyes as he stared intently at Nikolai was more intelligent than at any other moment.

The moment their eyes met, Nikolai felt a chill run down his spine.

Gabriel's unbroken spirit and that fighting spirit to continue the battle despite being battered threw Nikolai's mind into greater confusion.

For Nikolai, who had always only looked down from above, there had definitely never been a time when he had to roll around directly in the mud at the bottom.

This was a different environment and battle than he had ever experienced before.

"Why, why are you looking at me like that?"

Nikolai asked as if he couldn't understand.

"What makes you fight so desperately!"

"Why, you ask?"

Gabriel composed his breathing and took his stance.

"The fact that you're asking that question at this point means you don't have what it takes."

"What nonsense...!"

Gabriel disappeared from his spot.

Almost as if he had teleported, Gabriel had approached within arm's reach of Nikolai.

Gabriel looked slightly disappointed when the time magic wore off midway, but Nikolai didn't have the composure to perceive that clearly.

When Gabriel suddenly appeared at close range, Nikolai became scared and his body froze up.

Seeing this, Gabriel gained courage and threw a punch.

-Thwack!

Nikolai's head snapped back as the fist hit his nose bridge.

With a nosebleed, Nikolai staggered backward.

Gabriel was about to deliver a follow-up blow when he felt one of his legs giving out.

'No. I absolutely can't collapse like this.'

Gabriel gritted his teeth.

His mind was hazy from the pain, and his body wouldn't listen to him.

It felt like he wasn't himself.

Suddenly, a thought occurred to him.

What wealth and glory was he suffering so much for?

Couldn't he just give up everything and choose the easy path?

He hated fighting. He disliked burdensome tasks. He hated painful things too, and just wanted to live comfortably and quietly.

But why?

'Why can't I stop?'

The more he tried to do something, the more he felt heavy shackles weighing down his body.

At first, there were times when he had tried to break free from the shackles.

But the shackles were large, sturdy, and absolutely unbreakable.

Rather, the more he tried to resist, the more the shackles only expanded.

At some point Gabriel gave up trying to remove the shackles.

He accepted the shackles as they were, as if it were natural.

That was the escape of a loser.

Gabriel thought it better to be a comfortable loser than a painful winner.

He had thought that way before.

'Because there are people I want to protect.'

Rene's face came to mind.

The face of her mother, the only person he had loved in his life, also appeared.

The words she had spoken to him, her actions, her smile.

They remained clear among the countless shackles, unforgotten.

He thought he had become a completely worn-out human being.

Rusted. Creaking. Beyond salvation.

So irreversibly gone that he could no longer recall when his brilliant times had been.

But there was something in a corner of his heart that hadn't faded.

It remained as something called memories.

So he fights with all his strength to defeat the guy in front of him.

"Aaaaaargh!"

Nikolai flinched at the random shout.

Fear and terror took root in his pupils, which had been filled with nothing but contempt for his opponent.

To Nikolai right now, Gabriel appeared like an evil spirit that wouldn't fall despite being covered in blood, trying to tear at his own body.

"Don't come! Don't come!"

Having lost his fighting spirit, Nikolai chose flight rather than confrontation.

It was laughable. Despite the overwhelming difference in skill, the snake was scared of the mouse and turning its back.

Seeing this, Gabriel recalled Rudger's words.

-Strength alone isn't everything in a fight. When you actually enter combat, victory and defeat are determined by various factors. This means that an undeniably strong person can kneel before a nobody.

He hadn't understood then, but now he thought he did.

Gabriel tried to chase after Nikolai, but his legs wouldn't listen.

In the end, Gabriel dropped to one knee and could only watch Nikolai's retreating back as he moved away.

Nikolai fled without looking back, not even realizing Gabriel had stopped.

It was an ugly appearance, contradicting the image he had shown until now.

"Kuk kuk. Cowardly bastard."

Gabriel burst into laughter at Nikolai's pathetic appearance.

Every time he laughed, it felt like his broken bones were stabbing his organs and his muscles were tearing, but he couldn't stop.

It felt refreshing somehow.

Gabriel took out a pill from his inner pocket with a satisfied smile and popped it into his mouth.

After somehow chewing and swallowing it, the pain inflicted on his body significantly decreased.

He took out one of the few remaining high-grade potions and applied it to the burns on his cheeks.

Thanks to the wound recovery and strong pain-relieving effects, Gabriel was able to stand up again.

He hadn't completely recovered yet, but there was no major difficulty in moving.

Gabriel took out the communicator from his waist.

"It's over here."

Gabriel's gaze was directed toward the artifact Nikolai had left behind.

More precisely, toward Rudger's image that the artifact was projecting.

"So you win too."

It was uncertain whether the message was conveyed but as Gabriel finished speaking, a faint smile formed on Rudger's lips.

"It seems they've finished over there. If I fail here, I won't be able to show my face."

The golden Buddha statue extended its right hand, pressuring the God of Machinery.

One of the four mechanical arms moved and stretched out its hand to face the Buddha statue.

"So now, you must save my face."

The wave emitted from the mechanical arm hit the statue's hand, but the Buddha statue was literally immovable.

Rather, a massive force not only pushed back the mechanical arm but also reached the God of Machinery.

The remaining three mechanical arms surrounded the God of Machinery as if to protect it.

The Buddha statue's power expanded until it burst, causing a golden explosion, and the God of Machinery caught in it flew away like a meteor trail.

From the third floor to the fourth floor.

From the fourth floor to the fifth floor, the top of the island.

The God of Machinery, flying in a parabolic arc, collided with a massive structure.

-Crackle!

...!!

The God of Machinery reacted violently like a fish out of water at the enormous pressure felt from behind.

It was the first time the God of Machinery, which had remained unscathed from any attack until now, had taken a hit.

It couldn't be helped.

What the God of Machinery, thrown by Rudger, had collided with was the New Magic Tower.

And it was the New Magic Tower that had just been ambushed and had its external defense system raised to the maximum.

The God of Machinery collided with the New Magic Tower's shield.

Before it could respond, the tower's automatic defense system activated.

With intense current, the magic embedded on the outside of the tower activated.

The New Magic Tower was no different from a fortress, and the maximum output it emitted was at a level difficult to express numerically.

Evidence of this was the God of Machinery trembling like a mosquito electrocuted by electricity.

Inside the Magic Tower, chaos broke out again.

"Enemy! Another enemy has appeared!"

"Damn it! What's going on!"

"Call for reinforcements!"

The Magic Tower's interior was already in an uproar due to Rotheron’s escape to the outside.

The Bourgeois faction and the Proletariat faction were sharply opposed, sharpening their blades, in a situation just before a civil war broke out.

Though there was a commotion about strange beings appearing outside, the priority was to extinguish the fire in the inner chamber.

But that dynamic was completely flipped.

With the sudden appearance of an external enemy, both the Bourgeois faction and the Proletariat faction had no choice but to respond in surprise.

Normally, they would have laughed at what idiot would attack a Magic Tower in full defense.

But the being colliding with the Magic Tower now was no idiot.

"The defense system is still operating?"

"What's going on!"

The fortified exterior of the Magic Tower was flashing with dazzling light.

The impact was felt even from the inside.

Normally, if something collided with the Magic Tower's defense system, the opponent should have been reduced to powder at the cellular level or even annihilated.

But instead, the entire output of the Magic Tower was precariously fluctuating.

Realizing this was no ordinary situation, the magicians of the New Magic Tower instinctively formed a temporary agreement.

First, dealing with the external enemy was the priority.

While such events were unfolding inside the Magic Tower, the God of Machinery was gradually adapting to the tower's output.

Three mechanical arms were blocking the tower's output, and despite the considerable load on the main body it was still manageable.

The two layers of halos above its head shone brightly.

Boom───!!!

A massive shockwave spread over the tower's shield.

The entire Magic Tower rumbled as if an earthquake had struck.

The God of Machinery tried to retreat outside the system range of the Magic Tower in this gap.

If there had been no interference from someone, it would have surely done so.

"Where are you hurrying off to?"

-Zap!

As the God of Machinery tried to escape from the shield with its magnetic field that could pulverize everything, a golden palm strongly pressed it down.

The God of Machinery was flattened like a patty in a sandwich between the Buddha statue's palm and the Magic Tower's defense system.

Rudger didn't miss this golden opportunity.

He intended to finish off the creature right there, using these two enormous powers.

"Die crushed like this."

No matter how powerful the God of Machinery was, it couldn't withstand both forces simultaneously but that didn't mean it was defenseless.

-Click click.

Its head turned painfully toward the outer wall of the Magic Tower and light flashed from inside the visor helmet.

-Kwang!

The repulsive force activated on the shield of the Magic Tower, which had been raised to the maximum.

While it was an attack that could blow away a whole district in one strike, the Magic Tower's defense wasn't weak enough to be breached by this single attack.

The God of Machinery wasn't hoping for that with this attack either.

With the previous impact, the shield greatly fluctuated, and the load on its body decreased.

That was what it was aiming for.

One of the three arms that had been supporting against the shield broke free and headed toward Rudger.

The Buddha statue's other hand collided with the mechanical arm, sharpening its edge.

-Crash!

Naturally, the force suppressing the God of Machinery weakened, and it slipped out from under the palm in that interval.

Rudger tried to extend the Buddha statue's arm again to catch it, but another mechanical arm that had been far away flew in and collided with the Buddha statue's hand.

A spherical shockwave spread with a flash of light in the void.

As the misty steam pushed outward, everything around became clearly visible.

The God of Machinery and Rudger briefly made eye contact.

Simultaneously, a massive presence rumbled from inside a tiny hole that appeared above Rudger's head.

[───.]

Rudger, who heard the rumbling from the closest distance, frowned.

It seemed like he disliked the sound, or perhaps he felt troubled by the meaning the sound conveyed.

The God of Machinery also heard the rumbling with a slight time difference.

The God of Machinery, standing still in midair, stared at Rudger.

More precisely, it was staring at the black hole above Rudger's head.

From there it could feel energy similar to the power seated in its core.

"I understand your toy is causing this commotion, but couldn't you choose a better time and place to interfere?"

Rudger criticized the voice above his head with an annoyed tone.

"Besides, because of what you just said, that thing's spirit has changed."

A spirit not seen before began to overflow from the God of Machinery.

It was such an intense fighting spirit that the surrounding atmosphere could be felt wavering.

It was an emotional response that was hard to believe came from the same being that had been emotionlessly repeating destruction until now.

The God of Machinery, more precisely, the relic constituting its core recognized its original master and responded, burning with a very intense emotion of hatred.