"That's one of Lord Su Mo's legions! They're called the Ex-Machina!"
Seeing everyone's curiosity, March 7th eagerly explained.
After she finished, she looked at Su Mo with a curious expression.
"Speaking of which, Lord Su Mo, how come Jibril isn't here? You're not deploying the Flügel legion this time?"
Hearing this, Himeko and the others' eyes widened in even greater astonishment.
The Ex-Machina legion before them was already terrifying enough to be considered a major power in its own right. But from the sound of it, this wasn't even the full extent of Su Mo's forces?
"This is a rescue mission, after all. Given Jibril and her kind's style, even if they successfully eliminated the Antimatter Legion, can you even imagine what would be left of the space station?" Su Mo replied with a question of his own.
The Flügel legion was small in number, but their power was more than sufficient to deal with these Antimatter Legion forces.
Not to mention, Su Mo had now shared the Blessing of the Sword with them, elevating their strength to a level comparable to that of an Old Deus.
The main reason he didn't deploy them was simply that the Flügel were far too destructive and had no concept of holding back.
In that regard, they were a lot like the Aeon of the Hunt—there was virtually no difference between their idea of destruction and their idea of annihilation.
If they had come, the space station would have been destroyed right along with the Antimatter Legion only left some part like The Herta portrait.
"Oh, right!"
March 7th paused for a moment, instantly recalling Jibril's typical behavior and understanding Su Mo's point.
"If you just miss Jibril, though, I could call her over," Su Mo added.
"No, no, no! Let's not!"
March 7th shook her head frantically.
She had no desire to be bullied by that ill-tempered Flügel again.
Watching her familiar rapport with Su Mo, Himeko made a mental note to have a good talk with March 7th when they got back and find out just who this person was.
Just then, a very curious Asta asked, "Ex-Machina? I've never heard of them! Mr. Su, where are you from?"
If a faction with this level of power existed in interstellar society, she felt she should have known about it.
To this, Su Mo answered truthfully.
"I'm just from an unknown world. The Ex-Machina are actually this child's retainers. But since she is also my subordinate, they serve under my command."
As he spoke, he patted Holou's head.
The young goddess blinked, glanced at the others, and nodded.
"Correction. Holou is not only the Master God's subordinate, but also the Master God's pet."
Ever the logician, she hadn't forgotten her designated role.
"Pet?"
At that word, everyone shot Su Mo a strange look.
Keeping such a young girl as a pet… wasn't that taking things a bit too far?
While slavery hadn't been abolished in interstellar society, it wasn't exactly common to see someone be so brazenly open about it.
Himeko's gaze grew slightly guarded. She wouldn't object to a normal relationship, but if Su Mo saw March 7th as just another potential "pet," then as an elder figure, she would have to intervene.
Even March 7th was stunned for a moment. Fortunately, she'd interacted with Holou before and knew the young goddess had a very peculiar worldview.
She quickly spoke up to explain on Su Mo's behalf.
"That's not what Holou means! In Lord Su Mo's world, many races were created by gods. 'Pet' is just like 'retainer'; it represents the relationship between a god and something they own. Lord Su Mo is Holou's Master God, so that's why she uses that term. Don't misunderstand!"
Though her reasoning was slightly off—Su Mo wasn't Holou's creator—her conclusion was correct.
Whether subordinate or pet, both signified a relationship of complete subservience, so there was little difference.
Hearing this, the Express crew let out a collective sigh of relief.
That made sense. They almost thought Su Mo had some peculiar tastes. On second thought, how could someone who got along so well with March 7th be into little girls?
As the daughter of a wealthy family, Asta was perfectly capable of accepting these strange relationships.
She interpreted the world Su Mo and March spoke of as a small, isolated world enveloped by the Sea of Quanta, so she didn't realize he was from an entirely different universe. After the misunderstanding was cleared up, her curiosity about Su Mo's identity remained.
"Forgive me for asking, but the Ex-Machina called you 'One True God,' and Miss March said you are Miss Holou's 'Master God.' Does that mean, Mr. Su, that you're a genuine, bona-fide god?"
At this, Himeko and the others perked up their ears, intrigued.
Even they had rarely encountered a true god.
"By this world's standards, I'm just a local planetary deity. It's nothing special," Su Mo admitted his identity, his tone as calm and nonchalant as ever.
Unlike the Aeons, who roamed the cosmos, the gods from worlds like No Game No Life or Campione! would be classified as creations of a planet's mythology in the Honkai: Star Rail universe.
They were like the Mother Goddess of Aventurine's homeland—primitive deities born from the faith of a planet's native inhabitants.
Su Mo's words were both humble and truthful.
Although, there was still a qualitative difference between a planetary god born from the collective mythologies of countless parallel Earths and a native god from a single planet in the HSR universe.
"You're too modest, Mr. Su. With your power, you could easily form your own faction in interstellar society," Himeko immediately complimented him.
A being of this caliber, even a "local planetary deity," couldn't be treated like any other.
With a force like that, he could easily pass for a Lord Ravager.
"Wow! Does that mean you can answer believers' wishes, like the gods in fairy tales?" Asta asked, her eyes sparkling.
Having read many myths, she seemed to have high expectations for deities.
"Typically, only the earliest pantheistic gods use boons to gather faith. As myths develop, it becomes less necessary... But if it's simply answering a question, that's possible. Granting blessings or curses upon mortals is a basic authority of any god," Su Mo explained briefly, not delving too deep.
March 7th subconsciously glanced at her own bracelet, a secret smile playing on her lips.
"Amazing! Then how does one become your believer?" Asta pressed on.
"There's no need to force it. If you have a wish, I might be able to grant it as a friend," Su Mo said, shaking his head, having no intention of proselytizing.
Although he was the One True God, his core power was in mastering mythologies, not in personally being a deity.
Faith was not particularly important to him.
"Is that so… I suddenly feel like I'm getting a great deal by becoming your friend."
Asta's eyes shimmered. It seemed she did have a wish she wanted to fulfill, but as the daughter of a prestigious family, she knew basic social etiquette. They had just met; it would be too forward to bring something like that up now.
More importantly, they were still in a crisis!
Realizing this, she snapped out of the joy of making a new friend and turned her attention back to the data feed from the various sectors.
"What?!"
Seeing the images on the screen, she was utterly shocked.
"What is it, Ms. Asta? Is something wrong?"
Seeing her lose her composure, Himeko and the others grew tense.
This was the girl who had remained calm even when facing the full force of the Antimatter Legion's invasion. What could possibly surprise her so much?
"Did the Doomsday Beast finally appear? Or did you detect an even more terrifying enemy?"
They all tightened their grips on their weapons, ready to move out at a moment's notice.
The Ex-Machina legion was certainly strong, but they might not be able to hold out against a relentless, unending assault from the Antimatter Legion.
"No! It's neither of those!"
Seeing their reactions, Asta waved her hands frantically.
"Everyone, calm down! Nothing's wrong. The situation hasn't gotten worse—it's gotten unbelievably better!"
Her voice sounded almost dreamlike as she continued.
"In just over a minute, the Antimatter Legion forces on all four main routes have been completely annihilated. The four passages have been cleared and sealed according to the preset plans. The passages in the dozens of other sectors have also been fully secured, all staff along the way have been brought back to the main sector, and they've even been treated with some kind of healing effect."
"Right now, the Ex-Machina legion has voluntarily split into three teams. One is sweeping the remaining battlefields and searching for survivors, another is treating injured personnel, and the third team is repairing the damaged structures…"
As she finished, she looked at Su Mo's holographic image in a daze.
"Mr. Su… just what is the origin of your Ex-Machina legion? Is there anything they can't do?"
Hearing this, the members of the Express crew fell silent.
In such a short time, what had been a raging, code-red invasion crisis had been resolved to the point of a clean-up operation.
No wonder Su Mo had said they wouldn't need to intervene. At this rate, his forces were rescuing and repairing faster than the Antimatter Legion could destroy.
It was one thing to be powerful fighters, but they could also heal and repair the battlefield? What kind of all-purpose legion was this?
"They're fast learners, so naturally, they pick up a lot of skills," Su Mo replied with a calm shrug.
Deploying over ten thousand Ex-Machina to the battlefield, achieving such results was perfectly normal.
In fact, if speed were the only goal, the Ex-Machina could have been even faster.
But this time, besides the rescue operation, the Ex-Machina had another mission: to gather intelligence on this world. That was the primary drain on their processing power.
Whether it was fighting, rescuing, or repairing, all of these actions allowed the Ex-Machina to build a massive database on the rules of this universe.
There was no need to deliberately pry into the space station's confidential data. Even publicly available information was valuable to Su Mo.
So, while this battle was ostensibly to help the space station, the gains Su Mo had already reaped far outweighed his efforts.
"Regardless, thank you for your help."
Watching the steady stream of rescued researchers being brought to safety, Asta bowed deeply to Su Mo in gratitude.
"If it weren't for you, I can't imagine how many lives our station would have lost."
If they had stuck with their original strategy, they never would have been able to mitigate the damage this effectively.
"There's no need to be so formal. I was only acting on Miss March 7th's request," Su Mo said, not refusing the thanks outright but gently redirecting the credit.
"Thank you as well, Miss March, and the entire Express crew for your support."
Asta, ever so gracious, immediately expressed her thanks to them.
Whether Himeko and the others had actually helped or not, their willingness to come was worthy of gratitude.
"Hee hee~ You're making me blush!"
March 7th scratched her head, but her happy expression made it clear she was enjoying the praise.
Just then, Schwi, who had been leading the operation, suddenly appeared before Su Mo.
"Report. Team Three discovered suspicious individuals while sweeping the battlefield. Cross-referencing with the station's network confirms the individuals are wanted criminals by the Interastral Peace Corporation—members of the Stellaron Hunters. We are currently in a standoff. How should we proceed?"
Su Mo's orders to the Ex-Machina were to annihilate the Antimatter Legion. Anyone else was not on that list. But since the suspicious individuals were refusing to follow the Ex-Machina's instructions to evacuate, Schwi had no choice but to ask Su Mo for orders.
Hearing the contents of her report, the faces of everyone present changed drastically.
"Stellaron Hunters? What are they doing here?"