Completely unfazed by being sent flying by the wind wave, the automatons quickly fixed their posture in the air and 'stared' at their three targets with their glowing red 'eyes'.

Four concave openings opened behind the automatons' backs, from which 'cannons' emerged that released white flames and propelled them forward with great speed in mid-air.

Ershas without saying anything rushed towards them with a fierce face, driven by his Qi; quickly leaving behind Alica and Selena who took out their decks with attitudes ready for battle.

Spreading his Qi energy, Ershas created a huge blue energy shield that, upon coming into contact with the enemies, completely blocked them and caused considerable damage, taking advantage of his powerful momentum against them.

Ershas then stopped in the air using his Qi to temporarily rub and land on the bridge, while frowning at the strange 'golems' that fell several times to the ground heavily and rolled on the ground somewhat comically.

What the hell are these things? I had never heard of the development of such advanced Golems with the ability to move like humans... And why the hell can't I sense even a hint of Aether used to move them?

And that man….I don't feel any Qi inside him….Is he not human?

All living beings in this world, whether martial artists or not, possessed Qi within their bodies to a greater or lesser extent. So the complete lack of Qi on the part of the man with the same hair color as him only indicated a complete lack of life in him, which was really creepy.

Well, that was natural since the Avatar, and Prometheus himself, were synthetic beings.

While he thought about those unknowns without answers for him, the 'golems' did not take long to get up, only to receive as a gift from him several shots of Qi balls against their bodies, sending them flying again to a great distance, and this time, crash-landing near Prometheus and the rest of the automatons.

Ershas ran towards them at high speed, easily crossing meters in a flash.

"Careful!"

Just when Ershas was about to attack the creepy handsome man who just stared at Astrian without turning to look, he heard Selena's alarmed scream and got scared, hastily turning in the direction he left the two Clerics.

“Selena!?”

There he saw how his sister and Alica faced two more of those 'golems' at high speed in what seemed like a very tough battle, and gritting his teeth in fury, he headed in their direction.

Alica and Selena, surprisingly, were successfully defending themselves against the automatons made of federal technology. When the automatons attacked them, they either dodged or blocked with their own hands and feet, displaying an exceptional level of toughness even as they frowned in pain.

Countless ordinary believers would be stunned by this scene.

Clerics fighting hand to hand like fighters? Say something that makes sense!

That's what they would say if someone told them about something like that.

There was a common belief even among the Empire's powerful figures that divine power could not strengthen humans. However, that wasn't exactly the case. Divine power could strengthen clerics who used it; only that the conditions for this depended both on their source of divinity and on whether they could wear divine clothing or not.

For the Clerics of Ares, their divine clothing only allows them to be effectively strengthened in bloody and deadly wars, the Clerics of Lusticia can only strengthen themselves by trying to fulfill their own justice against a terrible enemy, while the Clerics of Hephaestus can only strengthen themselves by time to forge anything with metal.

In the case of the Clerics of Aphrodite...they can only strengthen their bodies when they want to have sex or when, without a doubt, they love someone or something strong enough to risk their lives for that person or thing, with total determination...

And both women loved Arisella and Lucelle enough to risk their lives to save them. After all, while one is like a daughter, the other is like a cute niece they watched grow up together.

They felt that they had to use all their power to save them from any danger, and that love is enough for the divine power in their divine sparks to strengthen their physical abilities to protect those loved ones.

–––This is how Selena and Alica became strong enough to fight powerful killing machines in a high-speed battle.

“Take this!” Alica's shout sounded more cute than threatening, but her murderous expression and the force of her blow that could even shake the wind itself would scare the most daring men while the weight of it sent an automaton flying away. He shielded himself with his arms crossed, his feet dragging along the ground as he left a trail of his path.

Alica, without a second's hesitation, ran towards the machine while the faint purple glow surrounded her body covered by the divine clothing that represented the Goddess of Love, Beauty and Sex, with such a speed that she would not lose to the Ershas powered by Qi.

“Hey!”

Appearing in front of the automaton that was trying to quickly stabilize its balance, Alica let out a delicate scream as she hit it with everything she could in the face using her mass, releasing a shock wave and breaking its circular 'head' a little; causing metal parts to fly into the air.

Without giving him time to recover, Alica raises one of her sensual legs shining with divine power and hits him mercilessly with it, making him rise high in the air and, without stopping, she jumps and elegantly spins clockwise using his left foot as a pivot, thus transferring the rotational force directly to the kick and hitting him with it on his 'face' with devastating force.

The automaton's head was completely shattered, as broken pieces of metal and glass fell to the ground with a tinkling sound. His NPU was completely blown to pieces with a single kick.

When it hit heavily against the bridge tracks, the automaton did not get up again. Electrical sparks flew and smoke billowed from his sunken head, where you could see some wires and microchips glowing as he moved erratically.

The Nox smiled cutely at the defeat of her annoying enemy while clenching her fists.

On the other hand, Selena, who had less combat experience than the long-lived Nox, was still defending herself against her enemy's attack with everything she had. She could barely fight well using the martial arts she learned from her grandfather while her own divine clothing fluttered in the wind.

Sometimes, when the automaton attacked her with knees, she responded with some of her own; causing incredible shock waves glowing with divine power, and when he tried to use headbutts in an attempt to stun her, she dodged thanks to the inhuman reflexes granted by divinity and counterattacked with a powerful blow of her mass into her enemy's side on one occasion. which I take advantage of without hesitation.

However, the automaton clearly had a great capacity for adaptation and reaction, as over time it increasingly predicted the movements of the novice martial artist Selena with great speed, exerting increasing pressure on her.

Ershas was already catching up and was preparing to get rid of the metal bug that was bothering his sister, but…

In a moment of inevitable carelessness, he managed to hit Selena on the shoulder, causing her tremendous pain that left her unable to react and, with a kick to the chest, he sent her flying away, causing a mouthful of blood to be released.

“Arghhh!”

“Selena!” Ershas and Alica shouted at the same time in anxiety and anger.

It seemed that Selena was going to fall from the bridge without the possibility of saving herself…. However, she managed to regain her mind despite the pain and reacted quickly by summoning two purple wings similar to the ones Astrian used, pausing in the air for a few moments before flying higher into the sky.

Using her divine power, she healed his wounds while wiping the blood on her seductive lips while staring with cold fury at the murderous machine on the bridge.

Ershas finally reached their position as he looked at the automaton that struck his sister with overwhelming fury on his rude face, but as he looked at his target, it quickly and immediately ran, jumped and transformed, to the surprise of the three, into a strange wingless 'bird' in the shape of a triangle with four cannons protruding from behind, releasing white flames.

The 'dark silver iron bird' followed Selena into the air at high speed, who flew away from it out of caution for what it could do. Every time she needed to turn, strange little ramp-like things would appear on her wings, releasing blue flames that allowed her to move with some agility.

Although surprised by the incomprehensible scene, Ershas was even more furious by that thing's insistence on chasing his younger sister, and using a Qi technique…He flew!

It turns out that Arisella was right, and Ershas could actually use the ability to fly using Qi like the Z warriors!

Although it was very expensive and even more so at speeds above the speed of sound. However, to get rid of the enemy that posed a threat to her sister, Ershas spared no expense and flew at speeds faster than the speed of sound against the automaton that entered "Drone Mode."

Selena was fleeing from the drone in the air, which was persistently pursuing her as they circled around the Great Bridge of Cartus in a kind of game of cat and mouse. She looked for an opportunity to counterattack in a way where she wouldn't end up seriously injured as she frowned, but the machine seemed to have full intentions of crashing into her no matter what and causing her to fall into the abyss of her.

Annoyed, she decided she would do just that and headed straight for the drone flying at high speed in her direction. The divine power surrounding her body increased as the strength and endurance of her body increased greatly in preparation for the crash.

Before the two could even collide, however, Ershas appeared in front of the drone and gave it a powerful kick that sent it flying in the direction of the bridge. With a sonic boom, the drone took off with parts of it flying out of it due to the damage it received.

Finally the drone collided with the bridge, almost instantly generating a huge explosion that destroyed a large part of it; almost breaking it in half, and releasing what looked like a small mushroom cloud as pieces of stone and metal parts of the tracks went flying, the wave of energy released creating powerful gusts of wind that hit their faces.

Alica, Ershas, ​​and Selene covered their faces from the fierce blow of the hot air as several cracks appeared on the top of one of the many identical statues of the holy mother Cartus.

The Grand Elder's heart sank horribly when he witnessed this inside the High Wall, almost giving him a heart attack, his expression pale, bloodless, as if he was experiencing the worst nightmare of his life.

Which was certainly the case…

Fortunately for the trio, where the drone crashed was quite far from them and Astrian, so they were not affected. And, although they themselves did not know about radiation, even if they did, they would not have to worry since the two Clerics were protected by divine power and Ershas physically was quite far from being truly human, not to mention his Qi.

With that finished, Ershas and Selena headed back together with an Alica who was waiting for them while waving her hand. Much slower this time to save spiritual power in preparation for another battle…

After all…there were still more enemies before them that remain as obstacles to reaching Arisella, Lucelle and Amelia.

♦♦♦♦

“Well, it seems that those are really the limits of simple AIs against high-ranking professionals… It is not outside the predictions made, besides its use is not military in the first place…”

That was all Prometheus said when he felt that Ershas and the two Clerics overwhelmingly finished off the automatons he sent them while defending himself from Astrian's attacks, who sought to eliminate him quickly.

Regarding the matter, it was obvious that he won't even care about the result. It's not like it was over, as he casually gave an order to the automatons around him to attack Astrian while deliberately turning to look at the three automatons who rose again to face Ershas and the two women once again.

Astrian had no choice but to stop his ferocious attacks to defend himself against the three automatons that attacked him with excellent cooperation. Furious, he released a powerful wave of aura that pushed his enemies away from the path, which landed safely a few meters away from him.

“Ugh...I don't know what an A.I. is..but your words, I have the strange impression that if you wanted to, you could have easily killed them. That can't be the case, right? They are not that weak” Astrian said to Prometheus in a sharp tone.

“Of course I could,” Prometheus agreed with a weak smile, “If it weren't like that, my automatons wouldn't be giving the Duke any trouble; they simply lost because he let them act on his behalf."

Prometheus' words made the Duke narrow his eyes in annoyance, being fully aware of the clear difference between the automatons he faced and the ones that fought against Ershas. Alica and Selena, feeling upset because he certainly wasn't lying.

And that was the case.

Just as I said, if Prometheus wanted to kill the trio, all he had to do was control the automatons himself the same way he did Astrian, and it would be as easy as stealing candy from a baby.

The very existence of Prometheus was that of a general AI whose source, its code, its virtual essence; It was recorded in quantum fields.

Advanced material technology, to him, was just a means of interfering with the world in a similar way to how demons can possess the witches they make contracts with, and using it to control even the most obsolete electronic technology to kill armies did not suit him. it was impossible. Not to mention that he was using technology that none of them can understand.

However, he did not do it.

The reason was simple; It was because he had no intention of killing any of the four. His only purpose was to block them long enough for his purpose.

Because?

Because powerful humans like them will be needed in the future, and since humans of this Era were not produced on an industrial level nor can powerful professionals be created by any technology, killing them here would be a waste of useful human resources.

As for how these automatons whose some members are being defeated rather easily by the trio are causing problems for Astrian, a Fifth Rank Knight and descendant of Ares?

Very simple too.

Well, in addition to the control of Prometheus itself, these automata were incorporated with advanced gravitational manipulation technology. They could reduce their own weight by decreasing the power that the Earth's gravity has on their bodies, allowing them to move at higher speeds than normal.

In exchange, they lose some impact force, but with precise calculations that only Prometheus could perform with extreme efficiency, it was possible to temporarily restore the automata's gravity for seconds or even milliseconds to guarantee greater impact force against the enemy, guaranteeing greater damage.

However, this method took a lot of energy from the mini-fission reactors inside the automata, and nothing here could compensate for the loss of fuel if used too often.

As such, these automatons would not last long against the Duke and Prometheus only intended to use them whenever he tried to go towards the Dome instead of fighting, keeping him close.

Needless to say, his current body also falls into that category. Sure he is more advanced, but his performance is only 15% higher than the inferior automatons he controlled.

Well…although they were all disposable after all.

Astrian gritted his teeth.

The situation was complicated; These machines got in his way every time he tried to escape from this annoying fight, and he wasn't sure about using too powerful abilities because he would lose a lot of power as a result, making him weaker and more unable to protect his wife if necessary.

A professional with actual combat experience knows that it is foolish to mindlessly use powerful professional skills with a high spiritual power cost.

The most logical thing, then, would be to try to defeat the enemy with magical energy attacks that do not require much spiritual power to use, reducing the use of powerful professional skills to a minimum or simply using the weaker ones as support in combat.

He knew that, however...

Arisella at this moment could be in danger for her life….

That thought made him increasingly anxious and tempted to use his most powerful abilities as a divine descendant of Ares and a Fifth Rank Knight to destroy his enemies, even if it meant that he would be weakened significantly later.

Screw it….I still have some of those purple potions anyway.

Thinking like this, Astrian was about to use one of his most powerful abilities as a Knight when suddenly, Prometheus exclaims in a low voice.

“Oh…this human is more versatile than his appearance suggests.”

In the distance, Ershas could be seen tearing the three automatons to pieces after having used a Taoist art to seal their movements. His heads were completely shattered as they fell to the ground, and the trio was coming at high speed towards them.

Astrian smiled.

Finally that bastard will be really useful

He thought as he looked at them. As if to save divine and spiritual power, the two Clerics were once again being carried by Ershas, ​​still wearing her divine clothing.

With seemingly no other option, Prometheus sends two of the three automatons to intercept them in their path, while launching himself at Astrian with the remaining automaton to prevent him from running towards the Dome.

The battle between professionals and machines was nearing its end.

♦♦♦♦

“This is….a cave?” The question of a hooded man, an adept of Prometheus, echoed in the barren cave they entered once they crossed the great purple dome that reached to the heavens.

The 10 adepts looked in confusion at the cave and its numerous holes that serve as paths to unknown places, not at all expecting that this would be what they would find upon entering the dome.

They had imagined many otherworldly horrors, honestly, but this? She caught them off guard how simple it seemed.

One of them shook his head as if to clear the confusion from above and stuck what looked like a metal stake with a rope into the rocky floor of the cave, which was connected by an extended gray cable that came out of a wall in an apparently magical.

However, if you looked closely, you would notice that around the thick cable there were faint waves, as if the stone wall was liquid like water as the rope passed through it. The stake had a flickering light in the middle, which glowed blue.

The same man who drove the stake, released what looked like a tiny bird-shaped robotic device that began flying around animatedly, and holding what looked like a terminal displaying a hologram, nodded to the others as he spoke. "Works"

"Yeah? Well, then…Does anyone remember what happened when we came into contact with the purple mist?“ One of the adepts asked in bewilderment, and the rest responded with a shrug or shaking their heads.

“That doesn't matter, we have to concentrate on our investigation. This place is…unexpected, but we must find out its purpose first. If we can't do that, at least we can still take several samples for further investigation outside, once we return to the temple” Said another, acting as a leader for the rest.

…If we get out of here alive….

That was what he thought somewhat uneasily; however, she would never say it out loud.

Nodding at his words, he and his group of hooded men collected several rocks, put them in containers that they stored in their space rings, and after that, they marched towards one of the corridors of the cave.