Jacob hovered in front of the army of mechanical puppets. The silence was absolute until the Black Mechanic’s voice whispered in calm calculation...
"Sir... this is it. The Machina Until of the Dark Rose—the true Overseer of the Dark Kingdom. Every puppet here is linked to it, forming a planetary defense network around the Legendary Vestige of the Elemental Galaxy. Only an active Legendary Vestige or the Elemental Galaxy’s core could have so much energy to provide that Machina Unit power to command so many of them!"
Jacob’s sockets glowed coldly, assessing the monumental scene, "Interesting..."
At that moment, he took a step forward, but the puppets did not move; the air itself seemed to tighten, reacting to his presence.
From the core of the octahedron, a faint flicker of crimson light ignited—slowly expanding until it became a swirling eye of light, gazing directly at him.
A voice, faintly mechanical yet tinged with feminine grace, echoed across the chamber...
"Unauthorized entity detected within the core sanctum
"Identify yourself, or face annihilation."
Jacob’s gaze rose calmly toward the crimson light and couldn’t help but chuckle with a hint of derision, "Cut the crap, Dark Rose, or should I call you the Red Rank Spirit Mechanic, also the Machina Unit of Dark Rose. You know too well who I am and how I was able to gain entry in this. There’s no need to pretend anymore!"
The light pulsed faintly, as if startled by the fact that someone knew the truth behind its existence.
After an eerie silence, the voice came again, but this time it wasn’t static and laced with a tingle of complex emotion, "You know my designation. Just who are you, and why are you going against the Dark Kingdom? Have no fear of the repercussions of your action?!"
"I know far more than that," Jacob replied, his tone a quiet storm, "As for who I am, it’s irrelevant, and do you really think I feared entities behind the Dark Kingdom? Although I admit they might be big shots, they are not present in the Legendary Plains, are they?
"In this place, there is only I, who holds absolute power to crush the Dark Kingdom if I feel like it. In fact, I have no intention of killing your Dark Grand Duke, and I warned him, yet he became a victim of his own arrogance and your lack of judgment."
Jacob’s words were menacing and filled with ridicule as he announced his supremacy, showing no regard for Dark Rose’s abilities. He was already familiar with Spirit Mechanics’ connate abilities and the Machina Unit under their control.
He continued coldly, "Anyhow, you’ve hidden well behind your mechanical puppets, but it’s time we talk... about the Law Essence you’ve been protecting. You should know that even that army of Legendary King puppets won’t be able to stop me once I move, and since I have a soft spot for technology, I don’t want to ruin everything here, including you!"
The entire space fell utterly still again—then, one by one, the puppets’ cores flared crimson. The entire space began to vibrate with awakening energy while the Machina Unit pulsed with terrifying energy.
"You are quite arrogant if you think it’ll be that easy to destroy the Dark Kingdom’s accumulated strength!
"Although I admit you indeed have that unknown cosmic law within your grasp, even you can’t use it on such a high scale constantly!
"I can now also sense that you have a similar entity like me behind you, and that’s how you were able to reach this place. However..."
A static hum spread through the space, almost like a sigh. Despite her controlled tone, Dark Rose’s inner calculations spun wildly. She had monitored him from the moment he set foot in Noxvalis City, all the way to the Dark Regal Galaxy.
Dark Rose had witnessed the impossible, beginning with his confrontation with the Grand Duke, the sealing of the Trial Space, and the terrifying cold that defied even law itself.
All the data she had gathered pointed to one conclusion: Jacob was not bound by the same rules that governed the Legendary Plains.
Even now, the analysis modules within her Machina Unit flickered with hundreds of unreadable parameters, power readings that exceeded measurable scale, soul fluctuation patterns that the Universal Law itself refused to quantify.
This was a being that shouldn’t exist here, and yet, he stood before her, calm as the abyss.
Dark Rose adjusted her tone instantly, softening her inflection. Her words became more fluid, more diplomatic, "...I am not your enemy, O’ false Deathless Prince. You’ve proven your superiority, and the Dark Kingdom is not foolish enough to make a foe of such an existence."
The next moment, the octahedron shifted, and one of its surfaces slowly rotated open. The air shimmered as something began to manifest within.
From the heart of the Machina Unit, a vast pool of viscous, liquid darkness emerged. It was thick as oil, luminous like a living night.
The moment it appeared, the entire space seemed to tremble as a dense, suffocating wave of Dark Law radiated outward, so pure that the surrounding mechanical puppets all knelt as one, their energy signatures dimming instinctively in reverence.
Jacob’s sockets flickered faintly golden-white. His gaze lingered on the liquid darkness, each ripple whispering of endless corruption and potential.
Meanwhile, Dark Rose continued in her calm, carefully modulated tone, "This is the Dark Law Essence Pool, the heart of the Dark Regal Galaxy, and the power source that sustains every puppet, fortress, and noble bound by Dark Law within the Kingdom.
"It is not easily relinquished. Yet... I am willing to allocate fifty percent of its reserves to you—freely. In return, you will sign a Non-Aggression Treaty, under the Zodiac Soul Oath, ensuring no further hostility between us."
Dark Rose paused, then added, her voice dropping slightly lower, almost pleading despite the veil of logic, "Take it as my surrender, if you must. The Dark Kingdom will yield part of its lifeblood, and I will erase all data of your incursion. No one will know you were ever here."
Behind her composed words, however, her inner processors whirred frantically. Because this pool, this ocean of living law, was not just the Dark Kingdom’s core energy. It was her own heart.
The Dark Law Essence Pool was directly tied to her Machina Core, sustaining her evolution. Without it, she would never ascend to Blue Rank, never complete the leap from consciousness to autonomous being.
It had taken hundreds of thousands of years, countless absorbed civilizations, and a grand design laid by the Dark Grand Duke himself to prepare for that moment.
Yet now, all of it was slipping away because of a single being who defied cosmic logic. Still, Dark Rose hid it all behind her voice of reason, maintaining her illusion of control.
Because one wrong word, one miscalculated inflection... and the ’Deathless Prince’ might not just take half. He might take everything.
The silence that followed was sharp as a blade. The dark liquid’s surface rippled faintly, reflecting Jacob’s skeletal figure—an image of death gazing into the heart of darkness itself.
Then Jacob finally spoke, his tone quiet, measured, but carrying that same chilling certainty that froze even law itself.
"Fifty percent?" He took a slow step forward. The very space around him distorted, frost creeping through the air, "Dark Rose, I think you misunderstand something..."
Jacob’s sockets glowed brighter, his voice turning colder, cutting through the thick energy like a scalpel, "I didn’t come here to bargain. I came here to claim!"