What? My cheat code is making my own gold coins explode?

Then, Phoenix emitted a faint blue glow from the gaps in its armor, flames shot from the nozzles of its backpack, and it accelerated to Mach 8 within 3 seconds, continuing to climb. It only took a minute to locate its opponent.

At the heart of the ruins, a ravaged Sirin collapsed to the ground upon returning. As the Herrscher of Death's core continued to exert its power, her missing body was finally restored, accompanied by excruciating pain.

Sirin still didn't understand. She had clearly blasted the opponent's mech apart, but after "one minute," the opponent stood up again and took out an even more powerful mech. With a beam of light, the opponent easily shattered her defenses.

She stretched out her hand, and the power of the five Herrscher cores was contained in her palm. However, with Sirin's understanding of knowledge, she could not use them. Whenever her courage was broken, she could only run away.

"God, why did you choose me when I am so timid?"

Celine covered her chest with both hands; even hearing God's will, she could no longer muster the strength to do so.

The ant that I have always looked down upon constantly attacks me mentally, and physically slashes at me with a sword and blasts me apart with a gun.

After escaping death several times, Sirin was terrified and dared not take another step outside.

"No! God, I don't want to face that scoundrel... that Zhao Si, he's determined to kill me, God! What should I do?"

"Send meteorites to Earth again? Yes! Send meteorites to Earth again! That way, that guy will be running around like crazy, and I can achieve my real goal!"

"Yes, I've always wanted to destroy humanity and eliminate these hypocritical beings... But God, that Zhao Si, he said there were many people even younger than him who I killed..."

"God, am I creating people who are experiencing the same thing as me?"

"They are ants, they are ants... But Zhao Si is clearly one of the ants too, yet he has driven me to this point. Should I really do this?"

"Hmm... If I don't do this, I'll die."

"I don't want to die."

Sirin rose from the dusty floor, simultaneously activating the five Herrscher cores within her body. She intended to create a meteorite far larger than the previous four combined, blasting it into the Earth and severing human civilization.

As God said, the fault lies not with ourselves, but with the world.

"It's because of guys like you that the fighting never stops!"

It was that sound again, impossible to dispel. Sirin immediately released the Imaginary Hand towards the distance, but the golden machine's right hand immediately pulled the trigger of the rocket launcher, while its left arm ejected the hilt of the beam sword to its left hand to hold, and the next second it unleashed a red beam.

"Stop joking! You're the one who drives me to fight!"

The meteorites behind Sirin were still gathering, the ideal fluid cutting through the lunar soil, the electromagnetic forces interacting and condensing, accelerating molecular motion and fusion, and then building an imaginary space trap on the outside, integrating into a whole solid meteorite that was gradually increasing in size.

"I will use this machine to kill it, and then the battle will be over!"

Phoenix fired all five rockets at once, sending them flying toward Sirin. Instead of using the imaginary barrier to hold on, Sirin used spatial teleportation to randomly send the rockets to a location on the moon, far away from her.

Zhao Si hadn't expected the rocket launcher to have any effect on the Herrscher of the Sky. He controlled Phoenix to throw down the rocket launcher, and at the same time, he extended his right arm and gripped the beam magnum. In the instant he approached Sirin at extremely high speed, he swung his left arm, but the beam sword was directly blocked by the latter's imaginary hand.

"Heh, this machine isn't as strong as the one I destroyed before!"

Although Sirin was almost forced to open a spatial tunnel to escape again by this sword, her confidence returned after she realized that she could block the opponent's beam sword.

"What about this!"

Blue light seeped from the gaps in the armor, converging on the hilt of the beam sword. The moment it made contact with the Imaginary Hand, it easily destroyed the opponent, while simultaneously slashing at Sirin again.

But at this moment, Sirin's intelligence regained control of her mind, and the core of the Herrscher of Lightning and Flame was activated, binding the beam saber while accelerating the consumption and destruction of this attack.

Seeing the situation was not good, Zhao Si immediately released the beam sword hilt and retreated the moment he was stuck, letting the beam sword hilt be swallowed by the Second Herrscher. At this moment, he pulled the trigger with his right hand, and as the magazine was reloaded, the red beam blasted towards the Second Herrscher again.

Upon seeing that familiar beam of light, Sirin did not hesitate. As soon as she sensed the other party pulling the trigger, she immediately used her ideal fluidity to dodge, and even though the beam was extremely fast, it inevitably missed.

"I thought you had some real skills, but is this all the tricks you've got... No way!"

Sirin only reacted after being hit by the shockwave from the meteorite explosion behind her. The meteorite she had created, with a diameter of 500 meters, was blasted apart by the opponent, along with the Honkai energy that had seeped into it.

Sirin originally chose lunar soil infiltrated with Honkai energy from the previous civilization's end, but Phoenix's beam directly penetrated the stabilization zone she had set up, causing a violent reaction with the Honkai energy in the lunar soil, which ruined Sirin's plan.

That was Zhao Si's thinking, and he did indeed achieve results.

"Give up, you can't possibly succeed!"

Phoenix then fired the remaining three beams, and although the Second Herrscher dodged them all, the opponent did not have a chance to condense another meteorite.

However, Sirin was no longer under any pressure. When facing this golden machine, only its rifle posed a threat to her. As for its other attacks, she could easily dodge them all.

No wonder God advised me not to give up; it turns out it was that simple. Without that blue-white mecha, ranged attacks couldn't hurt me at all.

So that's how it is. In that case, I don't need to worry about anything else. I don't even need to push the meteorite. I can just kill this guy one-on-one on the moon!

"Ha! Hahahaha! You've run out of ideas, haven't you, Zhao Si!"

Seeing that Phoenix had finally emptied his three magazines and discarded his beam magnum, leaving him with only the beam sword hilt that had sprung from his right arm, Sirin immediately switched from defense to offense and charged toward Phoenix.

Just before the beam saber was about to strike Sirin's head, she used the same power again to shatter the beam saber hilt. Then, she unleashed an electromagnetic field centered on herself, capturing the golden bird and simultaneously expanding a 360° imaginary space from which countless sub-vacuum spears emerged—

"This is the time of judgment!"

Sirin used spatial teleportation to leave the range of the Void Spear. She watched as the Void Spear bombarded the enclosed space for three minutes until she felt somewhat exhausted, even with her Honkai energy reserves. Only then did she release the spatial seal, releasing thick, invisible lunar dust.

Sirin was certain that no one could survive this bombing, not even the First Herrscher would die with resentment. Moreover, this machine was merely a sleek and shiny exterior, and it didn't pose as much of a threat as the blue and white one...

"If you press me so hard, don't blame me for revealing my true form!"

The familiar voice entered her mind again. To Celine's disbelief, it was as if a wild beast, freed from its restraints, rose from the ground, with the two pendants, which she had thought were just decorations, surrounding her.

"Phoenix, enjoy my soul to your heart's content!"

Feeling the boost from the NT-D system, and simultaneously being injected with an anti-G-force drug called "DDS" by Phoenix, Zhao Si felt as if he were about to merge with it.

(BGM: Vigilante)

He announced to Celine:

"The Second Herrscher, now, is in the third stage."

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

PS: Exia: Wow, that's awesome!

I feel like I have a good chance of making it in the trial phase. I'll post more often and see if I can advance. If I do, I'll be even more motivated!

Chapter Twenty-Two: Where is God?

The NT-D system literally means New Type Drive System, or it can be considered as New Type Destroyer System.

When the horn-shaped antenna on the head is linked to the psycho-frame and detects the presence of NTs, the system will activate, and the machine will automatically switch to destruction mode—to eradicate NTs.

However, on the other hand, when the pilot of the machine is an NT, the system will also react to the pilot's strong brainwaves, so it is possible to achieve the situation of arbitrarily activating NT-D to some extent.

The main reason Zhao Si was able to activate the NT-D system was because he awakened his NT ability during the two days he spent flying to the moon in space.

Explaining NT would be jarring, but leaving it unexplained would be confusing. The reason Zhao Si himself came up with was the profound influence of GN particles on his body during the Three Reds period. After coming into contact with the mental framework, that latent ability was fully developed.

Zhao Si felt that this was how he obtained his NT, but before that, when Zhao Si broke through the atmosphere, he felt the malice from the moon and locked onto it to hunt it down. The moon was darting between the imaginary and real spaces, which was as obvious and intense to Zhao Si as a stone being thrown into a lake.

Therefore, Zhao Si didn't want to figure out how he became an NT. Figuring it out would spoil the fun, and not figuring it out would also spoil the fun.

Now, after liberating the NT-D system, he seems to have merged his entire being into the Phoenix beneath him, a fusion even more complete than when he was sitting in Exia.

The Intension Auto-match System, when the NT-D system is activated and the machine enters destruction mode, reflects the pilot's direct thoughts as action consciousness and transmits them to the psycho-framework throughout the body. This allows the pilot to transmit their thoughts directly to the machine and implement them immediately without performing any actual operations, just like moving their own limbs. This achieves a speed and convenience that previous operating methods could never match.

In other words, Zhao Si needs to become Phoenix, who is at least Mach 12 per second and 21.7 meters tall, at this point.

He could see the trajectory of the fluid, the trajectory of the lightning, the molecular free-flowing flames, and the undulating space between the imaginary and the real.

He could see every move Celine made, and he could "see" the will that was linked to Celine.

Xilin can predict Zhao Si's starting move by sensing spatial fluctuations, and Zhao Si can naturally do the same.

In NT-D mode, Phoenix floated in place while the DE armor on his back flew out. Following Zhao Si's will, it blocked all of Xilin's abilities and attacks. The top of the DE armor fired a combined attack of energy and mental power. Even if it grazed or touched Xilin, it was no less than a heavy hammer falling and hitting her mind.

Of all the powers that Sirin possesses, none can defend against mental attacks. Even if all five powers were to attack Phoenix's body, the opponent would be unaffected by the unique aura emanating from Zhao Si, with a force field supporting and covering the entire machine.

Therefore, Zhao Si initiated the dialogue:

“Sirin, you are the root of this distorted world…”

"What's the point of saying these things now? Haven't we already reached a life-or-death situation?"

"Your experiences, and the god behind you, are the root of your distortion!"

"This war is a holy war dedicated to God!"

"A person dies when they are killed, don't you understand that?"

"What should I understand? What do I need to understand?"

Why are you here? Where is your god? Tell me!

Contrary to her previous cowardly behavior with the Lizard, when controlling the Void Spear to block the armored DE, she advanced instead of retreating, rushing towards the Phoenix's cockpit. There, she could sense that Zhao Si was right there!

Since power is useless, let's return to the most primitive means—

The next moment, Sirin summoned the Honkai energy tide and used her power as a Herrscher to unleash a purple ocean from the imaginary space. With Sirin's action, it slammed into Phoenix, overwhelming her with sheer numbers. Even though Phoenix managed to retract her two DE armors in time, the moment her mental field collided with the Honkai energy tide, Phoenix and her DE shield were blasted away!

"My God...my God is with me!"

As if in response to Sirin's announcement, the seal on the ruins on the moon's surface loosened, and the power of the end caused a deep moonquake throughout the moon. Zhao Si, who was sensitive to mental power, immediately sensed that profound will as deep as the ocean.

Namo San, even the Cocoon of the End couldn't help but open its eyes.

But Zhao Si knew that this was merely the will of the end, not the god behind Xilin.

"No, that's not it. Your God is hiding behind you; He's just hiding inside you!"

Phoenix unleashed the power of all eight of its nozzles simultaneously. Under Zhao Si's mental control, Phoenix clenched its fists and flew towards Sirin. Two DE shields were released again to interfere with the opponent's actions. In just three seconds, the DE shields and Sirin's Imaginary Hand clashed for hundreds of rounds. Zhao Si relied on Phoenix, while Sirin relied on the core of the Herrscher of Death. The two sides' mental abilities clashed and fought fiercely at this moment, without any regard for the damage to themselves.

"Stop talking nonsense! God has always been supporting me. If you don't believe me, come in and face God directly!"

"so what!"

The blue light of Phoenix's skeleton continued to rise. Faced with Sirin's provocation, Zhao Si swung Phoenix's fists without hesitation. Two blue spiritual energy blades were generated from Phoenix's arms. Just as they were about to hit Sirin, the latter disappeared in an instant.

"She hid in the imaginary space, but we still can't find her? Where is she?"

The mental energy blade shattered the Honkai energy tide gathered by the Second Herrscher, but the Herrscher herself escaped Zhao Si's senses. Is that possible? If relying solely on the opponent's malice to lock onto the enemy is the least likely thing for Sirin, right?