Bella explained various structures and energy conduits with obvious pride. They had already entered the interior of Floating City, which Belial could not access directly, but he could dissolve part of himself into a Black Mist Avatar to get inside.
In theory, an AI had no soul and could not connect to the Belial Network. Even so, the two of them somehow managed to chat through a strange shared understanding. Exact meaning was not required as long as the feeling was right.
"I think this is a good the Lord idea," Belial said, "but it's still a bit lacking." "Here, let me show you a new path. Take this. If you're going to pilot something, it should be Super Robot Class."
A new idea formed instantly, and Bella's eyes lit up. She quietly headed to the built-in large laboratory to analyze Belial's newly transformed Magnetic Field Manipulation. At the same time, she provided the latest Decay Engine, far more powerful than the standard Fusion Engine.
Some rare materials were still hard to obtain, but that problem could be handed to Belial for direct synthesis. More importantly, as Mephist talked, a brand new realization struck him. In the past, his biggest problem with being attacked at home was the huge gap in combat strength between himself and his teammates.
Belial, his allies, and the enemy trash somehow formed three completely different power tiers. Enemies were weak to him but overwhelmingly dangerous to his allies, forcing him to rush back and rescue people every time. It worked, but it was not a real solution.
There had to be a permanent fix, and now the answer had finally appeared.
"The real reason our base gets attacked is combat power," he said. "Raising power solves it, but I can't always log in personally or boost my teammates directly." "So here's solution number two. Make the base itself incredibly good at fighting."
"What's better than having the fountain itself turn into a super robot and punch people?"
He grew excited as he spoke. Under Bella's equally excited gaze, the black curtain that made up his blockbuster body quietly fused into the lowest layers of the castle structure. The castle's the Lord body was made of Nanometal, an extremely special material.
After years of modification and research by Bella, it could fully adapt to Belial's current form of integration. As for Belial himself, he was top-tier in every aspect. Energy conduction, durability, recovery, all of it was absurdly strong.
The upgraded Decay Engine could only be used and endured by his own organization. After all, the engine's the Lord power source used some unknown force from Radon as a primer. That alone required Belial to provide a bit of his own body material.
Since he was already here, he decided to solve everything in one go.
Once the robot transformed, even Belial far away could respond instantly. He could turn into a mech himself, transmit power, and output even greater force. Whether a flesh-wrapped iron frame counted as a mech did not matter to him, and Bella clearly did not care either.
"Unbelievable," Bella laughed. "After merging with that strange black mist, the material properties changed like this." "Modify it all. I'll do it even if I have to stay up all night."
"This is my chance to pilot a Super Robot Class. Using a super robot to punch people up close, even dying would be worth it."
Although her original blueprints were completely scrapped, Bella showed no frustration at all. Instead, she was even more energized. Opportunities like this were worth pushing her computing arrays until they smoked.
"Looks like this should be enough," Belial said with a grin. "If our base gets attacked again, the transforming Floating City will give them a very big surprise."
He laughed as well, insisting this was purely for his teammates' safety. It definitely was not because he wanted to see a super robot transform.
As he laughed, he looked again at Bella. After some thought, a new idea popped into his head. An AI had no soul and could not dream of electric sheep, so he had once wondered how to pull an AI into his communication network.
What he had just done inspired a strange idea. If he merged part of his Clone body tissue into the Nanometal body Bella was using, could that create a different kind of communication?
"Since we're already doing Super Robot Class," he thought, "it makes sense for the pilot to be stronger too."
With that in mind, Belial tapped Bella on the head. Because the idea was complex, it took effort to write it out in Otherworld's common script. After reading it, Bella immediately agreed.
"I'm in."
Wanting to be a legendary successor herself, Bella agreed without hesitation. A pilot who was stronger than the machine itself was perfectly normal. The modification work began right away.
The process was not difficult, similar to previous work with Nanometal. It just required extra care since this was Bella's personal body. Using condensed Nanometal made things smoother than expected.
Soon they reached the innermost part, the crimson core. This was the point where Belial had to be careful. Bella temporarily withdrew her consciousness, leaving only the core behind.
This core had once powered the entire nanotech City. It was an energy source that had pushed Belial into overclocked states before. Even weakened, it could not be underestimated.
"All I need is to connect the new energy conduits," Belial muttered. "Hm?" "Ah…?"
Bella suddenly cried out as well.
"…So the outline for taking down Edward is basically this," Safas said elsewhere. "The rest depends on how we adapt."
He hesitated, then asked the calm Lilith a question. "Are you really confident you can convince that Great Dragon to face a god? I mean, not Belial."
This was his biggest worry, since the whole plan relied on that one overwhelming protector. Lilith replied calmly, "There's no need for me to convince him."
"…What?"
"With Belial's personality, even if I say nothing, he'll probably go looking for it himself."
"Remember before? Augustus only had a minor conflict with him, and he flew straight there and killed him in his own capital." "And earlier than that, he slaughtered hundreds of millions of Demonkind just to save two people."
"With that kind of temperament, do I really need to say anything?"
"…That makes sense."
Recalling the ruined battlefield of Imperial Capital of the Faris Empire and the massive Spatial Rift that cut across the sky, Safas could only nod. He finally understood their reactions. With someone that strong backing you, it was impossible not to be bold.
Lilith listened as the old man rattled off heavy terms like Abyss, true gods, and Dragon God. She felt she should take it seriously, but she had seen so many loud talkers die easily that it was hard to feel it was real.
And besides, "It's not just them who are gods," she muttered quietly.
Safas fell silent for a moment, as if relieved. He recalled how, if he had been a step slower earlier, that blazing, unseen sun would have truly burned him. There was also that sacred place he could not even observe.
Its scale was small, but the feeling was familiar. Was that a Divine Kingdom?
A being with Authority, with a Divine Kingdom, and power beyond imagination. What else could such an existence be called?
This was absurd. It could not really be that, could it?
"Teacher, I want to ask you something," Lilith said.
"Hmm?"
Safas looked up, startled by the title. He had not heard that word in years. Since she asked it seriously, he straightened up and listened.
"Earlier, when Belial communicated with me, that was a Divine Kingdom, wasn't it? You reacted that way because you saw it."
"I can only say it's very likely," he replied, touching his scorched beard. He was not completely sure, but the probability was high enough.
"Then what do you think Belial is now? A god? What is a god, really?"
Safas fell silent. He also wanted to know what Belial truly was, but his traits did not match the Crimson God he understood.
After a pause, he finally spoke. "When I say god, I mean a being who ascended from mortality through cultivation. Not an all-knowing, all-powerful existence."
"You may already know some secrets," he continued. "Black Iron, Silver, Gold. These cultivation ranks were modified names."
"In ancient times, their true names were black soil, white chalk, Gold, and then half-step ascension, crimson completion."
"Why hide the final stage?" Lilith asked after a moment.
Above Gold, knowledge on The Continent focused on divisions of Laws like Ascendant Hall, honor crowns, and sanctums. But those were just levels of mastery, not true transcendence beyond Gold.
So why conceal the final stage, crimson completion, and what came after?
Safas looked at her with unusual seriousness. "These four stages were named after ancient alchemical terms. Each one refers to a specific substance, a product of alchemy."
"But the final stage, crimson completion," he said slowly, "requires raw material that is the foundation of the world itself."
"And that material is the soul of life."
The Three Great Tiers are divided into Black Iron, Silver, and Gold. Black Iron requires forging the body with fire until it is cast into iron. At this stage, a Warrior tempers the flesh and fuses Magic into the body, granting strength far beyond ordinary limits.