"The core of the Mechanism City…" Goku's words had barely fallen when he and his companions vanished. The Mohist disciple behind them stared, eyes bulging—as if he'd seen a ghost.
At the city's heart, a masked man in black watched an old craftsman worry at a lock of gears. His voice was cold, his aura steeped in malice. This was Chaos, one of Zhao Gao's Six Sword Slaves—cruel, insidious, a nightmare to face.
The old man was, of course, Gongshu Qiu. Chaos could slip into the core undetected, but breaking its mechanisms was another matter entirely; for that, he needed the Gongshu patriarch.
"Master Gongshu, we don't have much time," Chaos said flatly. "If we delay, the Mohist experts will converge here."
"Patience, Lord Chaos," Gongshu Qiu replied, fingers dancing over cams and springs with his tool-hand. "Mohist devices aren't worth reverence, but they are exquisitely laid. Cracking them takes… a little time."
"You look awfully relaxed," a mild voice cut through the chamber.
"Who's there?" Chaos snapped, dropping into a killing stance as several figures appeared. Murderous intent rolled off him in waves.
"Zhao Gao's hound… Chaos, of the Six Sword Slaves?" Goku asked, gaze resting on the man's sickly aura.
"That sword…" Chaos's eyes narrowed on the demonic blade at Goku's waist. "You're the so-called Sword God—Goku?" Even a glance set every instinct screaming—this was a foe to treat with utmost caution.
Gongshu Qiu flinched and doubled his pace. Goku spared him only a glance and made no move to stop him. He even smiled. "So this 'shabby sword' has become my calling card? One look and everyone guesses who I am."
Vmmm— The sword thrummed in protest, as if aggrieved by the insult.
"A sword with a spirit. The rumors were true," Chaos said, face growing grave—though his tone remained arrogantly cool. "A fine weapon… It's mine now."
Vmmm— The blade quivered with anger until Goku tapped the hilt; it stilled at once.
Goku turned to Yue Shen. "He's yours."
Yue Shen said nothing. Calm as frost, she stepped forward.
"Yue Shen? So—you betray the First Emperor?" Chaos's brows twitched, surprise curdling into a feral grin. Bloodlust surged like a starving beast.
Yue Shen's fingers blurred. Starlit Yin–Yang force lanced toward Chaos—her answer given in action.
Chaos's lips curled. As if expecting it, he ghosted aside, vanishing from her sweep and streaking—not at Yue Shen—but straight for Yue'er at the flank.
"Despicable," Xue Nu hissed, face icing over. Chi Lian's chain-serpent sword flicked free with a silvery snarl, uncoiling like a living viper to meet the onrushing assassin.
Steel rang. Chaos's blade met the chain—and shock smashed up his arms. That 'limp' chain hid bone-deep power. One exchange and his palm was numb, grip nearly torn open.
"Strong…" Chaos's stare hardened on Chi Lian. In a heartbeat he knew—he couldn't beat this woman. Retreat flared in his mind.
But Chi Lian, angered, gave no space to breathe. Her chain multiplied through the air, threads of cold steel weaving a killing lattice. In moments, the web sealed tight; there was nowhere left to run.
Panic prickled. Chaos drew a breath so deep it burned, aura spiking like a waking fiend.
"Baleful Wrath!"
He blurred, a black phantom slashing forward, obsidian sword-qi ripping for Chi Lian's heart.
"Ants," Chi Lian said, bored. A light sweep of her hand shattered the killing arc to mist. Her wrist twitched; the chain became a line of light.
Pchi!
Blood sprayed. The chain punched through Chaos's chest.
"D—damn…" His eyes widened, disbelief curdling to blackness as life fled.
Chaos—Zhao Gao's Six Sword Slave—had fallen.
It was his own doing. Cruel and cunning, he spurned any code—then chose the worst possible target. Strike at Yue'er, Goku's treasured girl, and you seek instant death. Chi Lian ended it before Goku even needed to lift a finger.
Yue Shen watched, unsettled despite herself. So the women at Goku's side were all monsters in their own right—each beyond the world's common measure.
Da Siming's gaze slid to Goku, flickering.
'If she is this strong… then how far beyond us is he? One day, I want to witness it with my own eyes.'
Goku only smiled at her. "You will."
He sat casually on a stone dais, drew Shao Siming into his lap, and circled an arm around her waist. His eyes drifted to Gongshu Qiu. "Now—how should I deal with you?"
Shao Siming sat quietly in his embrace, serene as still water.
"D-don't kill me," Gongshu Qiu stammered, cold sweat streaming. "I—I can withdraw the Gongshu mechanism beasts. I'll halt the assault—now!"
Even Ying Zheng had never made him feel like this—like his life already belonged to another's whim.
His hands never stopped moving. Ka-cha— A gear caught. His face lit with manic relief. "Ha! Done!"
Da Siming's palm flashed crimson. Boom! Her strike hurled him backward, wrenching the mechanism umbrella from his grip.
"Still playing tricks, old man?" she said, voice cool as she advanced, killing intent frosting the air. "I'll end you myself."
With a thunderous clang, a caged iron grille dropped from above, penning Gongshu Qiu in. The floor split open beneath, lowering cage and captive into the depths.
"Mohist machinery?" Da Siming frowned slightly and glanced at Goku. "What now?"
"Let him go," Goku said, amused. He flicked a finger—snap—and the craftsman's tool-hand shattered. "If he can escape even like this, then fate hasn't finished with him."
The cage sank from sight, stone closed overhead, and silence returned.
"Well then—time to leave."
A thought—and they were gone, the chamber empty save for the faint, dying echo of gears.
--
Chaos lies dead, a hole through his heart.
The city still seethes above—Gongshu beasts ravage the outskirts, Luowang ghosts press for the core, and Qin banners roll like a steel tide—but one of Zhao Gao's direst blades has been snapped and cast aside.
And Goku walks toward the next battlefield, unhurried, as if all of this were only weather passing over the sea.
___
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