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"Why?"
Bugs leaned back in her chair.
"Sixty years ago, Neo and Trinity stormed the Machine City and cut a deal with the Machine God. After that, the God completely rebuilt the whole damn place."
She paused.
"Now it's a true fortress. Hundreds of defense layers on the outside, fully automated weapons on the inside. Not even a fly gets through. The closest humans can get is the outer harvesting farms."
Raphael stayed quiet.
Of course he knew the layout. In the movie the defenses were ridiculous. Neo and Trinity only made it because of their special gifts and pure luck. Normal people couldn't even touch the perimeter.
But he wasn't normal. He had Light Judgment.
One use would drain his entire Force pool, and recharging would take forever. Still, the power was insane—extra lethal against dark-side targets. Against an entire mechanical civilization like this? It should be game over.
The problem was delivery.
Dropping it from the air meant using a hovercraft. The human ships ran on delicate anti-gravity engines. He had no idea if the golden lightning would fry them. The last thing he wanted was his first "death" coming from a several-hundred-meter free-fall when the engines died.
Bugs saw his silence and figured he'd given up.
She stood and headed for the door, then glanced back.
"Just stay put. Stop dreaming about getting out."
The door slammed shut.
Raphael sat alone in the cell, staring at the ceiling.
After running through every option, he reached one conclusion:
He needed a hovercraft with higher "magic resistance" first.
Or…
Find another way to approach the Machine City and have them drop him off nearby so he could walk the rest of the way.
But first he had to break out of this cell.
After a few days locked up in Io, he had the routine down cold.
Meals at fixed times. Guard shifts at fixed times. And every single day—at the exact same time—Bugs showed up.
She'd clearly been assigned to "probe the outsider." Same questions every visit.
"Where did you really come from?"
"Why do you look nothing like the rest of us?"
"What do you actually want in Io?"
Raphael gave her vague, slippery answers every time—never anything solid.
But he was doing one quiet thing.
Every visit, he used the Force to gently tug at her emotions. Not mind control—just a soft nudge. A little less suspicion, a little more curiosity, a little more trust.
The influence was so subtle she never felt a thing.
On the seventh day, when she walked in, her eyes were different.
"You're really not going to tell me who you are?"
Raphael countered, "If I told you, would you even believe me?"
Bugs hesitated, then nodded slowly.
"I don't know… but I want to try."
Raphael smiled.
"When the time's right, I'll tell you."
Bugs sighed.
"General Niobe is losing patience. If you don't give us answers soon, the next person asking questions won't be me."
Raphael said nothing.
On the ninth day, Bugs burst into the cell.
"Come with me—now!"
Raphael thought: Finally.
"Where to?"
"My ship."
Bugs dropped her voice. "Niobe forbade it, but I have to go. Neo's still alive. I know exactly where he is."
Raphael stood.
"You sure you want to bring me?"
Bugs looked straight at him.
"I don't know why, but I feel like I should."
Raphael's mouth curved. You'd better not regret this.
"Then let's move."
They slipped through the corridors, dodging patrols, until they reached a hidden landing pad.
A hovercraft waited.
The Mnemosyne.
Goddess of Memory.
Bugs jumped aboard. Raphael followed.
The second the hatch sealed, the crew spotted him and froze.
"Bugs, he's—"
"No time to explain," she cut them off. "Launch!"
The hovercraft rose and shot out of Io, heading straight into the wasteland.
Over the next few days Raphael watched Bugs work nonstop.
She kept trying to lock onto Neo's brainwave signal, getting pushed back by the Machine City's defenses again and again.
The crew was exhausted, but nobody complained.
Raphael stood at the viewport, staring at the distant black silhouette on the horizon.
The Machine City—his target.
The day had finally come.
A faint signal appeared on the sensors.
"Found him," the operator's voice shook. "It's Neo. Sector Seven of the farms."
Bugs rushed to the viewport.
In the distance, a massive complex sat on the ground.
The human harvesting farm—hundreds of thousands of people asleep in nutrient pods, living batteries for the machines.
"Open the hatch!" Bugs ordered.
The hovercraft hovered. The side door slid open. Damp air rushed in.
A synthetic robot flew inside, cradling a naked man in its arms.
Neo.
Pale skin, body thin but not completely withered. Still little more than skin and bones.
One look at that face and Raphael knew him instantly.
Old Keanu Reeves.
The robot—Sati—carried Neo aboard. The crew immediately wrapped him in a blanket.
At that exact second, a shadow flashed past everyone.
Raphael bolted.
He leaped out of the hovercraft and dropped toward the ground.
"Rafe!" Bugs screamed behind him. "What the hell are you doing?!"
He didn't look back.
His target was one thing only—the Machine City.
Behind him the hatch began to close.
Bugs and the crew were busy saving Neo. They couldn't chase him.
Raphael poured on speed, Force flooding his legs. Each stride covered thirty feet or more.
Soon the harvesting farm towers appeared ahead—giant spires, endless pipes, rows of nutrient pods.
He didn't stop.
He knew the Machine City lay just beyond.
But before he'd covered two miles, a loud buzzing filled the sky.
A swarm of Sentinels.
Tens of thousands of them, like a black cloud blotting out the sun, diving straight at him.
Raphael stopped.
He looked up at the mechanical squids.
Their spotlights locked on. Weapons charged.
A cold synthetic voice boomed:
"Intruder. Halt immediately or you will be terminated."
Raphael stood motionless.
"I want to see the Analyst."
The voice paused one second.
"The Analyst will not see you. The Machine City no longer speaks with any humans."
Raphael smiled wryly.
"Then I guess we do this the hard way."
He took a deep breath.
The Force roared through his body.
Force Speed and Force Leap ignited at once.
His figure blurred as he charged the nearest tower.
The Sentinels opened fire.
No more close-range dogfights like sixty years ago—laser beams rained down like a storm. But Raphael was already gone.
He bounded up the tower wall, each landing propelling him higher.
Ten meters. Twenty. Fifty. A hundred…
The Sentinels chased.
Two hundred. Three hundred. Four hundred…
Raphael reached the top platform and stood there.
Below him, the entire farm complex sprawled out.
In the distance, the black silhouette of the Machine City loomed under the setting sun.
Above him, countless Sentinels gathered, forming a dark canopy.
Raphael raised both hands.
The Force condensed, compressed, burned.
This was the first time he was using Light Judgment.
In the Star Wars world, it was a forbidden technique recorded in ancient Jedi texts.
Raphael closed his eyes, hands raised, letting the Force surge.
Then—
He opened his eyes and slammed both palms downward.
BOOM—!
Golden lightning exploded from his hands like a cascading waterfall.
The light was blinding. The sound was deafening. The entire world shook.
The lightning struck the tower.
The structure was instantly wrapped in golden arcs. Metal short-circuited, erupting in massive sparks.
But the lightning didn't stop.
It spread downward like it had a mind of its own, then exploded outward in every direction.
One building. Two. Ten. A hundred…
Golden plasma swallowed everything.
The harvesting farms. The pipes. The nutrient pods. The sleeping humans. All consumed.
Even the distant Machine City wasn't spared.
The lightning surged forward like a tidal wave, smashing into the city's defensive barrier. The shield lasted less than a second before shattering.
Golden lightning poured inside, devouring every street, every building, every machine lifeform.
In the sky, the Sentinels fell like rain.
Their circuits fried instantly. They plummeted, trailing black smoke, crashing to the ground with loud explosions.
The entire event lasted less than ten seconds.
When it ended, everything was silent.
Raphael stood on the tower, arms lowered, breathing heavily.
Light Judgment had completely drained his Force reserves.
It would take at least a year and a half before he could use it again.
This was the biggest difference between Light Judgment and Palpatine-style Sith lightning—no mental corruption from the dark side, but also no sustained barrage.
Raphael looked down.
The Mnemosyne had made an emergency landing on the ground, listing awkwardly. The lightning had clearly affected its engines.
He took a deep breath and leaped from the tower.
Force Leap was still faintly active—weak, but enough to land safely.
He walked across the field of destroyed Sentinels toward the ship.
The hatch slowly opened.
Bugs stood in the doorway, her crew behind her.
They all stared at Raphael.
The look in their eyes was pure disbelief… mixed with deep fear.