On a secluded cliff in the distant suburbs of Sumeru City.
"This is... magnificent..."
One of Dottore's segments, hidden behind a barrier of distorted light, gazed into the distance at the army of undead, as if crawled out from the abyss, outside Sumeru City.
Even from his perspective as a mad scientist, this army could be considered a twisted yet perfect "work of art."
Six thousand heavily armed Skeleton Guards stood in a stern formation, silent under the dim sky, their rusty weapons, imbued with ominous magical power, uniformly pointed towards Sumeru City.
Even more chillingly, among these skeletons were various other terrifying monsters emitting bone-chilling coldness—Snow Maidens floating in the air, surrounded by ice crystals and wails; more than one Death Knight, like moving fortresses; and Necromancers holding bone staves, followed by a large number of rotting zombies!
Dottore's eyes gleamed with extreme excitement and analysis. He keenly noticed that a strange and powerful energy fluctuation flowed through the armor and weapons of the skeleton soldiers. Its effect seemed extremely similar to Teyvat's elemental power, yet it was colder, more filled with negative, deathly silence.
"An army composed entirely of undead creatures, equipped with enchanted armaments, and terrifyingly disciplined... truly fascinating creations... Hmm?"
Just as he was fully concentrated on analyzing and trying to decipher the essence of that strange energy, his visual sensors caught an extremely tiny speck of light that flashed across the high-altitude clouds and disappeared.
What was that? A bird? An elemental creature? Or... his mind hadn't even had time to form a complete question—
Pfft!
A faint yet incredibly clear sound, like a ripe fruit bursting, rang out from the position of his own head.
The next second, the scene before him spun, and the last thing that came into his "sight" was his own headless body, its neck gushing out a large amount of liquid, stiffly tipping forward.
"Lord Dottore!!"
The Fatui Skirmishers guarding him shrieked in terror!
They hadn't even seen any attack trajectory, nor felt any elemental fluctuations. Their powerful "Dottore," like a God, one of his segments, was instantly headshotted without any warning!?
Under their panicked gaze, Dottore's headless body fell heavily to the ground, twitched a few times, and then completely lost all signs of life.
Meanwhile, in the central formation of the distant undead army.
Peroroncino, one of Nazarick's Supreme Beings, possessing the strongest long-range sniping ability, slowly lowered the exaggerated magic longbow in his hand, which was wreathed in destructive energy.
A cold smile of a completed mission curled at the corner of his mouth, and his figure slowly faded, finally transforming into a small chess piece that fell with a "thud" into Zane's already prepared hand below.
"Mission accomplished."
Zane closed his hand, his tone flat.
the quartet's orders were clear and absolute: no matter how many segments, no matter where they hid, Dottore must die! See one, kill one!
At the same time, deep within the Akademiya, in an absolutely secret laboratory.
Another segment of Dottore, responsible for monitoring The God of True Mechanism project, suddenly clutched one side of his temple, a look of pain mixed with astonishment flashing across his face.
"Gone... that 'me' responsible for external observation... was instantly annihilated?!"
He immediately realized what had happened, and for the first time, an incredibly grave look appeared in his eyes.
"No chance to even react?! The opponent... definitely possesses the power or means to completely kill a God-level existence!"
He quickly walked to the center of the laboratory, looking up at the colossal mechanical God, The God of True Mechanism, which exuded terrifying pressure.
"What a pity..."
Dottore's tone was filled with genuine regret as he stroked The God of True Mechanism's cold metal body.
"Having lost the Gnosis as the core driving source, and lacking Balladeer, the most perfect 'accessory' that combined divine humanoid creation and technology... now, you possess immense power comparable to a God, but you cannot exercise any true clearance, like a clumsy giant with only brute strength..."
His gaze gradually turned from regret to coldness, then flashed with a hint of mad and cruel calculation.
He slowly turned his head to look at the Grand Sage Azar and his faction's sages beside him, who were still marveling at the grandeur of The God of True Mechanism, completely unaware of the approaching crisis.
These foolish scholars, who thought they controlled everything, were now no different from lambs awaiting slaughter on an experimental table in the eyes of one of their creators.
A cold, emotionless smile, belonging to a mad scientist, slowly formed on Dottore's lips.
"Since that's the case, even waste should have its uses..."
He murmured softly, his voice gentle yet chilling.
"Then... let the blood and souls of you 'sages' be the sacrifice and lubricant for the first activation of my 'unfinished product.'"
"I imagine... it will certainly be very interesting 'experimental data."