As Reva watched, the steady flow of mana from the tube into Cami's robotic body continued without interruption. The metal exterior of the robot gleamed in the light, reflecting the metal that now made up her new body. Cami's human body has been reduced to the pure mana that is now transferred into it. Reva had carefully crafted this robot to be the perfect vessel for Cami-a physical embodiment of their abilities and herself as a whole
Metal was that usually considered inert, unable to contain or utilize any kind of mana. But he discovered was because of Cami's unique mana running through it constantly. Thus this robot was different. He discovered metal that Cami had seemingly rendered inert had adopted a quirk from Cami's mana itself, making it the only type of mana it could contain and utilize. Any other form of mana would be useless and potentially rejected by the metal.
Reva's theory was that if all of Cami's mana was placed within this robot, which was composed entirely of this special metal, it would retain and serve as the new source for mana to flow to. After all, mana was completely obsessed with Cami's and would thus view even their robotic self as Cami because her mana was present within it.
The moment of truth was approaching as the tube drained of all of Cami's mana and transferred it into the robot. Reva removed the mask covering their mouth, wanting to make sure every last drop was safely transferred before continuing.
But as Reva stepped back and accidentally brushed against Cami's shoulder, they suddenly felt disoriented and fell to one knee. Reva was a "hero", but in reality, they were also robots themselves. The reason for this was because he was a 'hero' after all thus he was actually a robot himself and with the mutual destruction of both sides just as he had planned. The cycle for such an event no matter how unlikely was beginning to starting to begin. Those that were alive, dying but still alive, or even dead from the other hero's parties were instantly roboticized in the blast that comes after the mutual destruction of both a hero and/or the current Mecha Lord and/or Guardian.
This act served as a fail safe to ensure that these individuals would never return to the human cycle of reincarnation, but instead become part of the robot system. Humans typically had their own cycle of reincarnation, where they would die and then return as pure mana to eventually be born again as humans at some point in the future. But robots were different - when they were destroyed, their data was simply uploaded into the system, a highly advanced version of cloud storage.
And once a human was roboticized, they were permanently added to this system and removed from the human cycle of reincarnation. Their abilities could be passed down in their lineage or even through reincarnation, but it would no longer be possible for them as robots. Robots within the system did not improve or evolve, they simply developed and specialized in whatever area they were skilled in - whether it be using fire or earth. They were confined to their singular purpose and abilities, never able to develop new ones like lightning or sand.
Reva looked pleased as this meant that it must have worked if merely brushing up against her was enough to drain him of this much power. Now that his human disguise was fully dropped it seems now that this cycle was over and prep for the next one was starting. Sure enough, Cami's vacant eyes lit up and she rose from the table, her irises now nonexistent as she looked around. Reva could not tell if it was a fully successful transfer because she was in the middle of the prep stages for the waiting period before the start of the next cycle begin. If he had not awakened somehow then this was mostly likely how he would be acting at the moment as he was able to resist the programming because he was awakened to what was actually going on in the world and his role within.
Cami then walked over to the throne that the South Guardian sat on. All the guardians and Mecha Lords had a throne and throne that they would sit upon as this was where they spent their time during the what was basically just the down period between Mecha Lord attacks. Regardless of who wins or loses the final battle, there is a small period of peace between the constant attacks as the hero wins it's peace for the humans to thrive until the next cycle starts. If the Mecha Lord wins then it rebuilding process after they ravage the human's land. Either way, there is always a time period where all the robots regardless of ranking are dormant.
Cami motioned for Reva to sit on his throne, and he did so with an air of contentment. She was following her programming perfectly and her abilities had successfully transferred into her new body. Reva had put so much effort into perfecting Cami's design, wanting her to be an outlier among all the other robots. He didn't care about having anyone else in his throne room besides himself and Cami; that was all part of his plan to cheat the system.
With both arms resting on the armrests of his throne, Reva observed Cami standing at attention by his side. Her hands just barely avoided touching each other, as she could still accidentally drain even herself now because of her robotic form. They were both in a state somewhere between offline and fully activated, like all the other robots in this down period around the world.
But that peaceful moment was interrupted by two figures entering the throne room. The silence was broken by their presence as they approached Reva, now known as the official Southern Guardian.
The first figure leaned in towards Reva, their words dripping with both admiration and sarcasm. Reva remained unresponsive, deep in his sleep mode state.
"The idea to hide within the system, using this loophole to avoid detection, was quite clever," the second figure chimed in. Both of them turned to look at Cami, who stood motionless at Reva's side. She had been set up and acknowledged as the sole subordinate for the Southern Guardian.
"Amazing that she is still alive though as I was certain that she would have been completely gone by this point," the first figure remarked.
"Perhaps it's just dumb luck that she still exists. Unlike 'Reva' here, she has no recollection of who or what she used to be," the second replied smugly. "Although 'Reva' may have some knowledge of his origins, there are still aspects of his past that remain a mystery."
"Isn't it intriguing how he seems drawn to her, going through all this effort just to keep her by his side? How much does he truly understand in this state?" The second figure asked rhetorically.
"We'll never know. But let's focus on our plan to finally get rid of them both for good this time around," the first promised, whispering their scheme to the second figure with a sinister smirk.
A smirk then appeared on their face as they were all for this plan that was given to them. The idea was simple since Cami drained the mana of anything she touched that was not organic in nature. That would now include herself and Reva in their current state. As Reva was in his full robot form and even before then always too cautious in never allowing himself and/or Cami to touch him directly without that area of her body being covered. Even in his human disguise form, the drain of Cami was something he had to worry about. Probably another reason why she was avoided by the other heroes(even if they were unaware of their true nature to keep the rouse they just knew to avoid certain things that would endanger their cover).
Cam's left hand was then placed on Reva's shoulder and her right hand was placed on her own chest. This was done as a means to have Cami drain both herself and Reva of all of their mana rendering them just inert metal statues. Metal statues devoid of mana thus no longer part of the system anymore thus would not ever reappear again. The plan would have worked if they had not made one mistake for Cami and Reva each.
Their mistake with Reva was that he was the official Southern Guardian and Cami was acknowledged as his only subordinate as well. The fact that he only had one subordinate meant the effect of the subordinate's ability being less effective against their Guardian leader was full effect and stronger because it was being divided as Reva just had one subordinate that being Cami. So one percent of the effect was being applied against Cami's ability. An unknown extra side effect was that Reva was passively absorbing mana which was enough to keep him from being ever rendered inert but that was it. In the case of Cami, it was where they had placed Cami's right hand. Because they placed her hand on her chest where her power core(formerly her heart) was located the mana she was draining was coming directly from it thus what she was draining from Reva was used in replacing it.
The two were caught in an endless cycle of balance, teetering on the edge between being drained and restored. They existed in a limbo state, unable to be fully activated or completely inert. The two figures that caused this state because they did not ever detect them when the cycle started up again just assumed they had met their true end and thus never went back to confirm it for sure. But, due to Reva's meddling, a new problem emerged. The system was now altered, causing the Guardians to turn against each other, each vying for the coveted title of Mecha Lord for themselves rather than serving them. As a result, the Southern Guardian viewed as the weakest faded into obscurity because they were never seen, their land shrinking and fragmented amongst the warring three Guardians of the other directions even the humans as well. Their legacy became nothing more than a forgotten legend.