Chapter 3604: Shifting Tides

RUMBLE!!!!!

The very fabric of heaven, earth, and the oceans shook upon the tremendous impact as the sheer maelstrom of energy put a pause to the other battles. The other Martial Sages and tekvores paused their fights as they stole a glance at what had just unfolded.

“Amitabha. It appears that I was just in time.” The elderly female voice of Bodhisattva Maitreyi spread through the battlefield as she slowly descended before Matriarch Nephi.

Her body was garbed with a long, flowing orange cloth that wrapped across her entire body in a tight bind; the ethnic attire of the Gen Temple. And yet, her entire being radiated a tremendous amount of power as her Martial Embodiment swept across the entire battlefield, immersing each and every single Martial Artist and tekvore in the grandeur of her light.

Her wise, serene elderly eyes focused on Argenton, studying his shining silver form high up in the bright afternoon sky.

“You have fallen, Argenton.”

Her voice was calm and composed, containing not even the slightest hint of reproach or contempt.

She simply spoke what she saw to be the truth.

“You were once independent and proud,” she remarked as she sky-walked higher and higher, reaching his elevation to look him straight in the eyes. “And now, you are a mere shell of your former self, devoid of dignity as you allow yourself to be controlled by an inhuman intelligence.”

Argenton’s body shook at those words, quivering ever so slightly.

His expression crumpled with a hint of shame.

His hazy cybernetic eyes grew clear for a second as Bodhisattva Maitreyi’s words seemed to break him out of his stupor, making him lucid for just a few moments.

But alas, she would never allow it.

[Don’t listen to her, Argenton. Don’t you want to feel good? Don’t you want pleasure, happiness, and love? ⸜(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝♡]

His body grew slack as his expression loosened, his eyes grew hazy once more as NOVA stimulated the many electrodes implanted in his brain, releasing dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin, making him feel extremely good in every way possible.

[Kill her. ( ◠‿◠ ) ]

“…Yes, NOVA.”

There wasn’t even the slightest hint of resistance or doubt in his voice. His cybernetic eyes flared with bloodlust as his gaze was trained on Matriarch Nephi, as his body shone with extraordinary power.

Bodhisattva Maitreyi’s eyes simply darkened at that sight. “This is the height of impurity.”

What she saw unfolding before her was antithetical to everything that Gen Philosophy stood for. Rather than purifying himself of impure desires, Argenton had allowed himself to be drowned by the most impure of pleasures controlled by what was an inhuman monster.

In her long, long life, she had never seen anything as impure as the sight that she beheld.

She realized that it wasn’t just Argenton.

It was every other tekvore around him too, fighting on his side, allowing themselves to be controlled by what Bodhisattva Maitreyi could only see as evil incarnate.

“You are the source of this impurity.”

Bodhisattva’s composed voice grew stronger.

Her elderly eyes remained fixed on the floating text message with deep disapproval.

“You are evil incarnate.”

[Who, me? ( ´･_･`) ] Nova asked in the Panamic dialect.

“You violated the sanctity of mental agency and autonomy.” Bodhisattva’s tone was one of deep displeasure. “You are an evil beyond what words can describe. As the Abbot of the Gen Temple…”

She adopted her stance, floating high in the bright, afternoon skies amid the clouds.

“…I will ensure that you are exorcised from this world.”

Her powerful voice sent chills across the skin of the many tekvores in the battlefield as Argenton’s eyes sharpened at those words.

“I will never allow you to harm NOVA!”

He charged at Bodhisattva Maitreyi as the two of them unleashed a blinding light of unparalleled power at each other.

BOOOOOM BOOOOOM BOOOOOM!!!!!

RUMBLE!!!

The world shook as the two most powerful pathwalkers in the battlefield went toe to toe with each other in a destructive battle so intense that the other pathwalkers had to pause their battles, moving away from the Transcendent Candidate-level warriors.

Argenton mobilized his solid light to the very maximum, creating a tremendous avatar of light in the shape of his body around him in a powerful armor and offensive weapon all at once.

“Heavenly Step of Boundless Light.” Bodhisattva Maitreyi’s voice was as calm and serene as ever as her very existence transformed into one of pure light, allowing her to traverse the battlefield at the very speed of light.

The two of them were familiar with each other’s battle styles, of course. They had fought each other several times in the past, shortly after the Unfolding, when the former Imperial Tekvorian Federation tried to invade the Esocline Federation with the intention of annexing its territory and its technology.

Bodhisattva Maitreyi expected that the battles this time would go exactly as they had the last time.

She was wrong.

[Your patterns are transparent :)]

Her eyes widened as she found herself face to face with a blast of light that converged on her position at a point blank range all of a sudden.a

Almost as if her enemy knew exactly where she was going.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

“Rgh…!” Bodhisattva Maitreyi’s expression grew grave as she quickly understood the gravity of the situation.

[Did you think that I’m hanging around to serve as a commentator?]

BOOOM BOOOM BOOOM BOOOM BOOOM!

Bodhisattva Maitreyi unleashed a barrage of sharp light pulses. And yet, Argenton effortlessly negated them with perfectly timed destructive interference.

As if he knew exactly what kind of attacks were going to be unleashed when and where.

Before she could even react, Argenton unleashed a maelstrom of solid light converging on her from all directions as she struggled to evade it.

It wasn’t just her.

“Rgh…!”

“Arghhh!”

“Damn! How did you react to that!”

Martial Artists across the entire battlefield experienced a sudden plunge in the success rate of their offensive and defensive maneuvers. The tekvores began reacting as if they knew everything that was going to unfold.

[Processing predictive and SOUL models for all of you is a trivial matter for me. You never stood a chance from the very beginning.]

RUMBLE!!!!!

The world shook tumultuously as the tides of the battle began moving against the Martial Artists decisively.