Right now, Jason had already passed the first stage of the progression, and he was now in the second stage! Jason’s blood-red eyes were fixed on Gillian with absolute reverence, and even though there was still some bloodlust in his eyes, Gillian knew that it was only a matter of time before Jason was in complete control of himself! But there was something else that Gillian felt inside Jason that made her brows furrow in shock. It was such a foreign concept to Gillian, and that was why she didn’t recognize it for the first few seconds, but it didn’t take long for her to know exactly what it was.
’He is still in possession of his soul? It’s faint, but I can sense his soul lurking somewhere within his magic. How in the world did he keep the Grim Reaper from claiming him?’
Gillian was obviously shocked once she sensed this! Even someone as powerful as her was not able to prevent death from taking her soul away once she was turned into a Vympir, and Gillian knew that the moment she died, she would be returning to the hands of the Grim Reaper for all eternity! Gillian felt a small smile of pride spread on her face when she realised that Jason would not have to suffer that same fate, and she nodded at Jason’s improvements before she turned towards the Dimensional Tear with narrowed eyes and said.
"I wish to pass through this Circle, but there is a forcefield keeping me out. Is there a way to break through?"
Jason turned to look at the forcefield with an angry look on his face, and his lips split into a grin that showed off his long canines. The forcefield that protected the world of the Machina from any form of interdimensional travel was something that Jason had studied extensively over the past few months! Jason and Azrael had tried multiple times to break through this barrier, but they were unable to, and Jason truly thought that the barrier was just too powerful for anyone to break through! But after a proper analysis of the barrier, Azrael was able to discover that the barrier was created using a mana structure that served as a protective dome around the world of the Machina, and its only function was to block out the more well-known forms of travel, like interdimensional travel and Qi teleportation. But the barrier didn’t have any form of protection against the forms of travel that were unknown to it, like the [King’s Substitute]!
"Braga."
Jason called out authoritatively, and he watched as the Machina General appeared from the shadows and bowed its head to him. Jason’s system had been going out of control during Jason’s transformation, and the reason for that was because of how Jason’s mana had also gone out of control. But now that Jason’s mana had stabilized, he could feel his connection with the system returning as strong as ever, and Jason also felt his connection with all of the Legion subordinates as well! Even though the current Jason was not the same person who had been their king only a few hours ago, the Legion subordinates didn’t have any choice but to respond whenever he called on them! Because even though Jason was no longer Jason, this man was still their King!
Braga went to one knee in front of Jason and spoke reverently.
’My King.’
Jason clicked his tongue in irritation and spoke.
"I am not your king. She is your Queen. Remember that."
Braga raised his head slightly and stared at Gillian curiously for a moment before looking back at the irritation on Jason’s face. Braga was only a subordinate, and he had no right to refuse the orders of the king, so if the King told him that Gillian was the Queen, then Braga would obey for now. Braga nodded to Jason respectfully before he bowed to Gillian. Gillian didn’t bother to respond to that, and she just waited patiently for Jason to finish what he was doing. Once Jason was sure that Braga understood, he pointed towards the Dimensional Circle and spoke.
"Pass through that."
Braga wasted no time as he walked forward and easily crossed into the world of the Machina. Since Braga’s mana signature had already been registered to the barrier a long time ago, it was still possible for him to cross into his former world without any issues! Usually, the Machina would remove the mana signatures of anyone that they thought was dead or missing, but since there had been so many deaths over the past few months, it was difficult for them to remove the mana signature of everyone that had died so quickly, and that singular oversight was what doomed the Machina on this day. Jason turned towards Gillian and put his hand out to her reverently.
"My Queen, this servant of yours wishes to bring you to your ultimate goal. Please, trust my judgment for the time being and enter into my domain. I will ensure you witness the destruction of the Machina before the night comes."
Gillian eyed Jason with a critical gaze for a moment, and inside his eyes, she saw nothing but reverence and love. There was a small stab of something in Gillian’s heart that almost felt like guilt, but Gillian didn’t bother to pay any attention to it because she knew that this was all for her ultimate goal. She would suffer the consequences of her actions at a later date. But as far as this moment was concerned, Gillian would use everything and everyone available to accomplish her goals! Gillian took Jason’s outstretched arm, and Jason pulled her forward gently before allowing her to step into his Alternate Dimension. Usually, it would be impossible to put any living creature into the Alternate Dimension, but since Gillian was literally an undead creature with no soul, the rules of the Alternate Dimension did not apply to her, and she was able to pass as a dead creature instead!
Once Gillian was safely within the Alternate Dimension, Jason turned his focus towards Braga, and once he felt their connection, he activated a Legion skill!
[King’s Substitute] has been activated!
Jason vanished from his spot, and he appeared in the skies of Machina.
The world of the Machina was just as futuristic and industrial as you would expect from a race that was so technologically advanced! There were vast roads with floating cars, and metallic buildings that looked like skyscrapers all around. There was barely anything colourful in this world since most of the buildings and roads were made from a dull grey, but there was a park outside the city that had green trees and lush vegetation growing in it. Jason had appeared above a large railroad, and he turned to the side as he heard the loud horn of a train that was coming straight towards him! Jason’s eyes narrowed, and he put his hand towards the train.
[Flash Freeze] has been activated!
Crackle!
A sudden chill travelled through the air and surrounded the train in a cold aura, and the entire train suddenly froze over quickly! This was a self-driving train that didn’t have any conductor, but there were hundreds of people in the train, and the moment the train froze over, it transferred its chill towards the people in the train, and they were frozen into silver ice as well! The cold prevented the train from using its brakes to stop, so it simply barrelled forward until it slammed into Jason!
Boom!
Jason’s expression never changed as the train slammed into him, and the train shattered into pieces from the force! Hundreds of Machina were scattered into millions of ice shards from the impact, but Jason didn’t care, and he just blasted up through the train and into the Machina sky!
Wee-Woo! Wee-Woo! Wee-Woo!
A loud siren suddenly echoed throughout the world as an emergency alarm was triggered from the train crash, and many Machina who had been walking on the streets below or inside the many buildings around the train tracks looked up in shock when they saw a figure rising into the air!