Chapter 405 - 394: Divine Statue at Dusk
One morning.
The surface of the Endless Sea underwent a bizarre transformation.
Overnight, the deep blue water faded to a bleak iron gray, as if the entire ocean had been tainted by some unspeakable will.
The coastal fishing villages were the first to notice the abnormality.
Flocks of seabirds shrieked mournfully. They no longer circled in search of food but instead migrated south toward the continent without a backward glance, like a routed army in full retreat.
The rhythm of the waves had changed as well.
It was no longer the natural ebb and flow of the tide, but a dull, rhythmic pulse.
THUMP... THUMP... THUMP...
It was as if a giant, awakening heart slumbered within the planet’s crust, a kilometer beneath the deep sea.
Allen stood atop the highest dome of Cybertron, gazing north.
The peak Magic Power imaging transmitted back by the Celestial Net was projected before his eyes in real time by Jarvis.
It was an image that would suffocate anyone with trypophobia—the entire Northern Sea Region, where over 300,000 malevolent heat sources converged into several dark red "rivers" surging southward, rushing toward the coastline of the Aiselan Kingdom with unstoppable momentum.
"Commander, two oversized Magic Source signatures have been marked."
Jarvis’s cold notification sounded. On the screen, two particularly conspicuous, massive points of light were locked in red boxes.
Their energy levels were far higher than the densely packed, ordinary Heart Eaters surrounding them, like two lighthouses adrift in a river of lava.
Kings of the Heart-eaters.
"Looks like there are two of them this time," Allen said, his tone unchanging.
[Based on a comprehensive analysis of the enemy’s speed and direction, estimated time of landfall: 72 hours ±6 hours.]
Allen nodded slightly.
The wind came from the north, carrying the stench of blood and death. It caressed the sharp edges of the city of steel, letting out a soft whimper.
The kingdom’s reaction was faster than the wind.
Old King Alexander personally signed the kingdom’s highest-level "Supreme Mobilization Order."
The entire standing army of 500,000 troops advanced ten kilometers north to build a second Flesh and Blood Great Wall behind the steel defensive line Allen had deployed.
Countless conscription orders flew like snowflakes to all corners of the kingdom, and the civilian Spirit Mage reserves began to assemble.
On the streets of Golden Stone City, carts loaded with arrows, grain, and medicinal herbs were transported north day and night without rest.
The rumble of wheels and the clatter of hooves mingled with the cries of women and children and the suppressed roars of soldiers before their departure.
The air was thick with a tension that could only be described as tragically heroic.
They had witnessed the Wizard’s power, but a fear that had been ingrained in their bones for centuries prevented them from placing all their hope in a single person.
Everything, just as in all past wars, was being prepared to be paid for with human lives.
「Two days later.」
Allen looked at the sand table, which showed that the Royal Army had completed its mobilization and deployment. He asked softly,
"Have the projected movements of the Kings of the Heart-eaters been calculated?"
[Commander, the most probable landing points have been locked: Defense Zone 3 and Defense Zone 8.]
"Good." He began giving orders to Jarvis.
"Deploy Cyclops Unit-01 and Unit-02 to their preset positions in Defense Zone 3 and Defense Zone 8, respectively. Maintain automated defenses in all other zones."
"All defense zones are to fall back three kilometers to create a kill zone. Enter level-one combat readiness. Double the standard ammunition loadout and move spare parts to the front."
[Commands confirmed.]
[Deployment plan optimization suggestion: To maximize allied morale and create pre-battle psychological deterrence against the enemy, it is recommended to cancel Space Gate deployment and adopt a ground-based march.]
The corner of Allen’s mouth turned up in an almost imperceptible smile.
"Approved."
The giant gates of Cybertron slowly opened.
Cyclops Unit-01 was the first to emerge from its towering hangar bay.
The forty-eight-meter-tall, dark red behemoth radiated an intense presence the moment it appeared.
It took its first step.
"THUD!"
A muffled boom, like the beat of an Ancient Giant’s war drum, sent a violent tremor through the entire fortress of Cybertron and the surrounding land for several kilometers.
On the walls of Golden Stone City, the Royal Army soldiers on lookout duty watched, wide-eyed, as the colossal being—taller than the spires of the royal palace—walked out from the city of steel.
Panic spread like a plague.
"Wh-what the hell is that thing!"
"Oh my god! A monster! A monster came out of the Wizard’s city!"
"Enemy attack! It’s an ene—"
The soldiers screamed. Some collapsed to their knees, their legs giving out, while others instinctively drew their longswords, the tips trembling violently with their owners’ fear.
This presence was clearly even more terrifying than that of a King of Heart-eaters!
"All troops, hold your ground!!"
Prince William galloped along the top of the wall, shouting himself hoarse, "That is Lord Weisren’s creation! It is our ally! Do not panic!"
His voice quelled some of the commotion.
The soldiers managed to compose themselves, watching with a mixture of awe and terror as the dark red titan strode with heavy, steady steps toward the western coastline.
Every step made the earth tremble.
However, before William’s voice had faded, another, equally massive silhouette slowly emerged from within Cybertron’s great gate.
Cyclops Unit-02.
When the two colossal, dark red giants stood side-by-side, seeming to prop up the very heavens, William’s own voice caught dryly in his throat.
He stood with his mouth agape, his mind a complete blank.
’Tw-two of them? Not the Angels?’
The two titans didn’t linger for a moment. One headed east, the other west, striding toward their respective preset positions.
Along their path, all the villages, towns, military camps, and all the Aiselans who witnessed the scene fell into a deathly silence.
People walked out of their homes and stopped what they were doing, staring blankly up at the sky.
They watched the two moving, dark red mountains pass through their world.
Children forgot to cry, merely clutching their mothers’ clothes, their eyes filled with an uncomprehending shock.
Old veterans dropped their wineskins, letting the pungent ale spill onto the ground. Their cloudy eyes reflected the titans’ steps, which seemed capable of crushing anything in their path.
It was as if gods were patrolling Their kingdom.
No, even gods did not possess such majesty.
It was war itself, incarnated in humanoid form.
「At sunset.」
On the coastlines of Defense Zone 3 and Defense Zone 8, the two Cyclops units arrived at their preset positions almost simultaneously.
They faced the sea, motionless.
The single, enormous eye on their foreheads refracted a cold and intimidating orange-red light in the dim twilight.
Three Earth Core Furnaces were in low-power standby mode. From the fissures in their chest plates, a dark red light pulsed, expanding and contracting like the slow breathing of a great beast.
Merely by standing there, the heat they radiated raised the temperature within a radius of several kilometers by several degrees.
On the coastline, the Royal Army soldiers originally stationed there had long since retreated, not even daring to approach within five hundred meters of the two titans.
The news spread with unstoppable speed throughout Golden Stone City and along the entire seven-hundred-kilometer defensive line.
The Wizard’s "War Titans" were in position.
Some were terrified, some prayed, but in the hearts of most, an unprecedented sense of security began to grow.
If the Golem Legion that Allen had previously deployed were sharp swords,
then these two titans were two walls that could never be breached.
「Golden Stone City.」
Old King Alexander stood alone on the highest tower on the north side of the royal palace.
Years of war had long since ravaged his body. Merely climbing this tower left him gasping like an ox, but he came here every year on the eve of the Beast Tide.
For thirty years, he hadn’t missed a single one.
From here, he could see the northern skyline, and be the first to spot the signal fires lit on the horizon.
Fifty years ago, from this tower, he had watched his older brother lead the kingdom’s most elite order of Knights on a northern expedition, never to return.
Twenty years ago, it was here that he received the terrible news of his eldest daughter’s death in battle at Defense Zone 3.
Three years ago, from this spot, he had personally witnessed the Wizard Maurice’s figure fall like a burnt-out meteor into the endless Beast Tide.
And now, what he saw was the majestic silhouette of the city of steel on the distant horizon, and the blue light that flickered within it day and night.
He saw two dark red shadows taller than the city walls, standing like ancient guardian statues at the end of the world.
The setting sun sank behind them, casting their long shadows hundreds of meters across the iron-gray sea, as if to nail the entire ocean in place.
The sea breeze whistled through the gaps in their chest plates, producing a low moan like the sigh of the earth itself.
Centuries later, in the historical scrolls of the Aiselan Kingdom, this scene would be named "The Statues at Dusk."
Every artist who depicted this scene faced the same dilemma—no matter how large the canvas, they could never capture the suffocating sense of pressure and divinity that took one’s breath away.
The old King’s gaunt hand gripped the stone railing of the tower, his knuckles white from the force.
His cloudy eyes reflected the figures of the two titans. His lips trembled slightly as he muttered in a voice only he could hear.
"This time..."
"Will it be different?"