Neural Preaching
At the apex of the Flesh Giant Tree, irradiated clouds converged into a swirling vortex, while Kane's bronze prosthesis twitched uncontrollably. The nerve bundles embedded within metallic fissures pulsed in perfect synchrony with the rhythmic throbs along the tree's surface. Alice plunged her Ice Rose Scepter into the frozen earth; its chill radiated along the ground's veins but, upon meeting the roots, melted into a rank, bloody slurry.
"Energy absorption rate increasing by 13% per second," Seline's mechanical eye intoned as it scanned the tree canopy. In the holographic projection, Church scriptures materialized—not as text but as pulsating signals woven from neural currents. Suddenly, the clone girls all fell to their knees; chainsaws slipped from their grasp, and in their eyes reflected one and the same image: the instant Ash raised his sword at the pyre, the blade refracting the coordinates of Elena's ice coffin.
Lia's ceramic effigy, nestled at Kane's waist, began to radiate warmth. Silver sand seeped from his pouch, coalescing in midair into an arrow that pointed: "Go to Mother's eternal resting place… there lies Ash's final spark."
Sacred Scar of the Ice Coffin
Elena's ice coffin lay hidden in the lower depths of the Terminal Throne ruins, cocooned by the intertwining roots of the Flesh Giant Tree. As Kane's prosthesis sliced through vine-like tendrils—vein-like conduits of living tissue—mucus splattered onto the coffin's surface, etching an experimental log the Church had never made public:
[7 years before the New Era, the first-generation godslayer vessel (code name: Elena Saint Roland) was confirmed pregnant. The fetal genes resonated with Ash's brand; a separation plan was recommended.]
Suddenly, Alice's scepter clattered to the ground. The ice coffin's reflective surface cast her face, overlapping with Elena's maternity image from the log. Seline's mechanical arm trembled as it magnified the image—the fetal monitor's serial number matched exactly the brand on Alice's birth certificate.
"You are the first perfect godslayer," murmured Kane's prosthesis as it caressed the fissured surface of the coffin, "Ash and Elena's …"
The ground abruptly collapsed, and the roots of the Flesh Giant Tree pierced the ice coffin. Elena's corpse, shrouded in mucus, began to float upward; from an old sword wound in her abdomen, a monstrous entity emerged, its form defined by twelve chainsaw spines.
Umbilical Judgment
The creature emitted a hybrid wail—a dissonant blend of infant cries and electronic tones. Each of its chainsaw spines was tethered to the corpse of a clone. Kane's prosthesis ejected chain blades, but as it severed the first spine, it stalled—those corpses bore the unmistakable face of Alice.
"Welcome to the judgment, sister," the creature rasped in a voice mimicking Ash's smoky timbre, while its compound eyes replayed footage from the Church laboratory: young Alice bound to an operating table, with Elena's silver blood being injected into her spine, "Mother endured ninety‐nine genetic collapses for you; now it's your turn."
Scorching Brand
Alice's Ice Rose shattered in her palm. Seizing the moment, the creature entwined itself around her ankle, its chainsaw spine lashing toward her heart. Suddenly, Kane's prosthesis twisted uncontrollably, lashing out at Alice—as the brand of Ash emblazoned on the inner layer of his bronze armor began to weep blood.
"I... can't move…" Kane gasped, his pupils crawling with blood vessels as he watched his own arm betray him. "This thing… it's resonating!"
Tracing the Silver Sands
At that moment, Lia's ceramic effigy exploded. Silver sand enveloped Alice, drawing her into the depths of Kane's neural resonance.
They found themselves standing in the memory corridor of the first-generation godslayer. Elena's silver blood boiled within the Church's sacred chalice, and Ash's brand was indelibly seared into her lower abdomen. When the fetus moved for the first time, every radiation meter in the laboratory soared off the scale.
"They drained my blood just to lock your divinity inside a mortal shell," Elena's phantom whispered as it caressed Alice's face. "Now, break the shackles…"
In reality, the Flesh Giant Tree suddenly fell silent. The striae of pregnancy on Alice's abdomen burst forth with blinding light, and all the chainsaw spines reversed course, stabbing into the creature's body. Seizing the moment, Kane broke free from the controlling brand as his prosthesis tore the umbilical cord that connected him to Alice.
Echoes of the Gospel
The creature collapsed amid agonized screams into a fleshy mass, its surface revealing embossed images of Ash and Elena. Alice's scepter absorbed all the ice coffin's chill, sealing the mass within an eternal frozen core. Seline's mechanical bees swooped down, carrying the mass as they flew toward the irradiated clouds.
"It will become the casket of the new god," Alice declared, coughing up silver blood, as the markings on her abdomen solidified into an Ice Rose birthmark.
On the return journey in the modified battle tank, Kane removed his bronze prosthesis. What lay beneath was not mere machinery, but a crystalline fusion of Ash's ashes and Elena's silver blood. Lia's ceramic effigy reformed, now interwoven with a strand of golden hair—untainted, pure, the mark of the original Alice.
In the distance, the Flesh Giant Tree emitted its final, infantile wails; from its crown, neural tendrils ignited in unison. Amid the blaze, the murmurs of an Old God drifted with the radioactive dust:
"Vessels are full; the spark will be extinguished."