"Strange," Doc murmured as he stared at the monitor.
"What's wrong?" Alto asked, stepping closer. He noticed a number of unusual values, including a graph that looked like a pulse.
"Did you know that the Zerrians were attempting to make their bodies appear more lifelike?"
Alto nodded solemnly. Vanay and the bodyguard standing behind them also nodded, though they did not fully comprehend the situation.
"This Zerrian is no longer alive. Its energy has been depleted," the old man continued, "but sometimes signs of life can still be detected."
"That seems unlikely," Alto scratched his chin. The graph that had appeared earlier had vanished. The "mechanical organs" had been severely damaged by the passage of time.
The old man had a foreboding feeling. He realized that all the tools they were using were designed to examine the Zerrians as machines, rather than living beings. He used a high-powered laser to cut a section of metal from Shockwave and examined it closely. He was stunned by what he discovered.
"Metal... The metal that was used to create this is alive."
"Like that black sword?" Alto furrowed his brow. "Is this an evolution? The Zerrians I've seen didn't look like this."
"Fortunately, Erith is unaware of this. If he knew, he would certainly want to take it."
"Sonata is likely the same. We shouldn't let him find out about this. And..." Alto glanced at the soldiers, who stood by coldly.
"We're not telling the truth," said the soldier hurriedly. They were loyal to Sonata and could afford to sacrifice their lives for their commander. However, they also knew how much Sonata liked to play pranks. If the adoptive father and his friends thought that something should be kept secret from Sonata, the soldiers would not dare to speak up.
"Yes, I wouldn't say anything if I wasn't asked," replied the female soldier.
"Eh!/Hey!/Hah!" Several soldiers shouted in unison as they noticed something immobile moving.
"There shouldn't be any energy left here," shouted the old man. Instead of running away, he headed straight to the various gauges and discovered that Shockwave was somehow extracting energy from the outside in a way he wasn't yet sure of.
"Everyone back off, take that weak girl and Doc out," ordered Alto. He could barely dodge the giant arm. The machine's arm had a force field that prevented Alto from using his powers to attack at full strength.
"I'll help you fight," Vanay shouted, refusing to be called a weak girl.
"Don't make me repeat myself, run away!" Alto raised his voice.
"Don't make me repeat myself, I won't run away," said Vanay firmly.
Shockwave moved faster than the Chronicle Dragon they had ever encountered. All four of its feet had belts that allowed it to move freely in all directions. Its claw-like hands were dangerous weapons that could easily crush a human into pieces of meat. In addition, the hole in the middle of its hand was also a deadly weapon.
Hiss! Boom!
It was like lightning coming from both hands. Shockwave fired electricity all around. Its targets were not just humans; it intended to destroy every device in the room.
"Stop." Vanay cast a spell, but it was less effective than she had expected. She was confident that she had improved and that even Deval, which was stronger than the Chronicle Dragon, she should be able to stop. However, she did not know that her magic was only half effective on semi-mechanical beings.
From intending to fight by keeping their distance, Alto had to change his plan to engage in close combat. He did not want to risk Vanay being attacked by Shockwave.
"Is this normal metal?" Alto asked as he repeatedly attacked Shockwave's shoulder joint. Though his gun was an older model, his ammunition was a special shell that could easily penetrate tanks. It was unlikely that any metal could withstand it.
A large group of soldiers ran after them, armed with heavy weapons, rocket launchers, laser guns, and high-heat grenades. Shockwave had mobilized everything, regardless of whether the mine could withstand the attack power of the soldiers' weapons or not.
Minutes later, Alto led Vanay and all the soldiers emerged from the collapsed mine. If it were not for Alto's Penetration Ability, they would have been buried alive.
"Is it dead?" Vanay gasped, momentarily fearing for her survival.
Alto did not answer. His always-tense expression grew even more tense. He heard a voice that no one else seemed to hear in the same place. It was the sound of something moving through the rocks and soil.
"I wish Sonata was here too," Vanay cried out.
"Don't be afraid, you still have us," a small voice whispered in her ear. Vanay saw a yellow light and immediately knew that the sound was coming from a fairy. Her little friend had sensed the danger and was slowly emerging from her staff.
A figure appeared, one that Alto had never seen before. He knew it was a fairy from the wings of the insect in the middle of her back and the soft yellow light emanating from her body. But what surprised him was that this figure was much bigger than a normal fairy.
Fairies are generally only the size of a human palm, but this one was as big as a human child.
"Norma!" Vanay cried out in joy.
"I told you not to call me Norma again." The large fairy clicked her tongue in frustration. "Am I really that much like your childhood friend?"
"It's just that you look so much like her," Vanay tried to hug the fairy, but the fairy placed a hand on Vanay's face to stop her.
"Mind your manners. I am the Queen of the fairies."
"If you're free, let's talk and play. Give me your hand," shouted Alto, extending his hand to the Fairy Queen. He hurriedly pushed Vanay aside and followed her in.
"Wait for me, Norma."
"My name is not Norma. My name is Quinne."
**---------------------------------------------------------------------------------**
Quinn can fly so fast that normal human eyes cannot keep up with her. She and the fairies picked up rocks strewn in the area and threw them at Shockwave, but they could not even create a scratch on it.
"This is Machine Deval. The poison doesn't work," Quinne said to herself. "Then let's try some bigger rocks."
She flew to find the largest rock she could, resulting in a stone the size of three or four people wrapped around it. The Fairy Queen was not afraid of its weight and exerted incredible strength to lift it.
"Wow, you have enormous strength as always," Vene gasped as she saw her best friend fly back with a large rock. Quinner waited for Alto to back away and deal with the stone throw. Vanay was sure this time it would work.
Thud!
Shockwave lifted one arm to pick it up. However, as before, the stone did not even leave a scratch on it.
"That's bad."
**---------------------------------------------------------------------------------**
Vanay had seen Alto fight with all his strength for the first time. He dodged the opponent's attacks and counterattacked every time. The punch was thrown straight on target, followed by a kick and a spinning kick. She had never imagined that a sniper like him would be so good at close range.
The golden-haired youth's body was shrouded in an invisible aura, the same technique used by fighters in this world. They would envelop their 'fighting spirit' all over their bodies, even in their weapons, to make them more powerful than their limits. Vanay saw Alto's fist slam into Shockwave's head, sending his fighting spirit into the enemy's body.
Quinne and the fairies were not flying around in vain. They could not deal any damage to Shockwave, but they could support Alto through healing. The powder from the Fairy Wings helped heal his injuries almost instantly.
The more Vanay watched the fight, the more it pained her and the more disappointed she felt about herself. She was like many other soldiers, only able to observe from the outside. Afraid of getting in the way, they did not even dare to attack from a distance for fear of hitting Alto.
"Fairy Carnival," Vanay cast a spell to resurrect a dead fairy with her magic, but she did not want to rely on this method forever. Despite her tension, she continued to think of what else she could do."
Alto continued to attack tirelessly, using punches, backfists, somersaults, heel strikes, and thrust kicks so quickly that Vanay could not keep up. Meanwhile, she did not realize that there were actually more invisible attacks from him happening at the same time.
"It's taking hits like this. If it were a normal robot or machine, it would have already been broken." Alto became annoyed. Apart from fighting with the Silencers, there are only Zerrians that he has fought seriously, and it's still difficult to win.
Alto did not have any special plans. He intended to inflict enough damage to weaken the Shockwave's force field, and then use the Infiltrates to break through to its inside. However, it seemed that the impact force he used was not enough, and the energy of the Shockwave only seemed to increase in mystery.
Dogma used an energy detector and thought that Shockwave had used up its reserves. But he was surprised to find that not only did its power not decrease, but it had also increased since the beginning.
"Or maybe it's using magic?" Vanay's eyes widened as she realized this. She turned to consult with Dogma, and the old man set up a new measuring device. This time, even he himself exclaimed loudly.
"Really, how can that be? It doesn't even have a Soul Crystal that allows machines to use psychic powers?"