At this moment, Lute was consumed by rage, never having anticipated that things would escalate to this point.
Although she had confidently flaunted her "predictive abilities" and foresight to Twenty-Three, the reality was, as Number Zero had pointed out… Lute's predictive ability was incomplete; she could only see fragmented glimpses.
However… Lute could rely on her formidable calculation abilities to deduce the cause and effect of the entire event from the fragments she saw.
Number Zero's approach differed; he could directly perceive the complete data chain, a fundamental difference between them.
If Feng Bujue were present, he would have likely seen through this already. If Lute truly possessed superior foresight compared to Number Zero, she wouldn't need to perform any "screening" at all; she could simply predict Gui Xiao's location and then concentrate all her forces to encircle and capture him.
Evidently, she had only just pieced together the data chain after spotting Gui Xiao. Even so, there were still many aspects she couldn't account for, such as… the Golden Maggot One before her.
"Trying to run?" A furious roar echoed from the cocoon that Lute had transformed into, followed by a sudden movement.
The cocoon, roughly the size of a car, hovered in mid-air without touching the ground; and its speed of movement… was surprisingly fast.
The Golden Maggot One, a robot that moved by pulling levers, could never be particularly fast, nor could it fly, so… before it could land, Lute had already caught up.
"Tch… she actually caught up so quickly…" Matcha Su no longer appeared so composed, hastily using her hands to respond.
The robot's upper body spun one hundred and eighty degrees in response, and with a lift of its arms, the [Great Wheel Flying Fists] were launched with a bang.
(Great Wheel Flying Fists, one of Mazinger Z's signature moves, a derivative of "Rocket Punch". When using this technique, the power concentrates on the 360-degree rotating arms, bringing them to a standstill and using the resulting centrifugal force to launch the flying fists, resulting in three times the destructive power of a normal Rocket Punch.)
Shh—
An odd sound echoed as another layer of metallic spider web peeled off the cocoon and shot through the air.
The Great Wheel Flying Fists collided with the web, immediately halting. The metallic web's resilience was astonishing; the flying fists seemed to poke into a wad of chewing gum, unable to penetrate it. Even more troublesome… the fists were now stuck to the web, unable to be retrieved.
"As expected…" Lute muttered to herself.
At this moment, on her tactical analysis interface, the Golden Maggot One's danger level had dropped to "low." Clearly, the previous situation had been a mere coincidence. Because Lute's fourth form was almost immobile, and its attack methods were limited, it was perfectly countered by the Golden Maggot One. If Lute were in another form, even the tenth form, she might not fear this robot.
Clang—
The Golden Maggot One bent its legs and landed steadily. At this point, its appearance was even more bizarre; in addition to the misalignment of its upper and lower body, its arms were gone.
"Hmph… scrap metal is scrap metal…" Lute quickly pressed on again; in those few seconds, she had already swallowed the robot's arms into her cocoon.
Shh—
Another metallic spider web covered it, and this time, Xiao Tan had no time to react.
[Warning, the machine body is facing severe physical damage, please initiate emergency ejection protocol.]
"Ah… I'll initiate it even if you don't tell me…" As Matcha Su spoke, the operations on her hands were already completed.
In the next second, a "bang" was heard, and a safety pod ejected from the robot's crotch. After flying for more than a hundred meters in the air, it crashed into the wall of a building, with Xiao Tan's miserable cries constantly emanating from inside the pod throughout the process.
"Very good… that annoying guy is gone." Matcha Su's gaze sharpened as her hands became a blur, rapidly tapping on the control panel. "This grandma will fight you to the death!"
Undoubtedly, she was prepared to perish together with the opponent. Just as she had said earlier, she would die, but she would die in the robot…
[Output power has reached its peak, positron cannon has been activated.]
[Warning, target distance is too close, please confirm whether to force activation.]
"Hmph… die, monster!" Matcha Su decisively completed the final step of the operation.
Unexpectedly, in that instant…
Bang, another safety pod ejected from the robot's back, and she was also ejected from the Golden Maggot One.
"What's going on? I didn't do that kind of operation?" Due to the acceleration, Matcha Su was still a little dizzy in the pod, but her mind was still relatively clear. She didn't remember pressing the combat pod's emergency ejection button.
[I don't cry_da_da_da
Because I am a robot, a machine_da_da_da
But I understand, that burning friendship, fighting evil together with you.
I don't speak_da_da_da
Because I am a robot, a machine_da_da_da
I am gold—gold! maggot_one!]
Intermittent singing once again came from the Golden Maggot One's loudspeaker. It was unclear whether it was a circuit malfunction or if "it" was saying something.
The tall figure trapped in the gradually collapsing metallic web ejected the safety pod in the instant before its destruction and launched the positron cannon at the close-range enemy in accordance with its final instructions.
Beep beep beep—
Lute seemed to have detected some terrible situation and cursed in a low voice, "Damn it…"
Boom—
The light waves of the explosion soared into the sky, illuminating the night.
The intense light made it difficult to open one's eyes, and the surging air waves rolled out.
At the center of the explosion, the Golden Maggot One and Lute's third form had perished together.
"Oh… this time it should be resolved, right…" More than ten seconds later, Xiao Tan, who came out of the safety pod, muttered as he looked at the cloud of dust permeated with electricity in the distance.
Matcha Su also came out of another pod at this time, and her location was not far from Xiao Tan: "Yeah… it seems like we were saved by some strange guy…"
"Hey!" Da Fentian shouted from the other side of the street, "Can you two come over and help? There are still dozens of enemies to deal with here!"
At this time, the number of Derivers on the street had been reduced by more than half, leaving only about forty people. It seemed that the Golden Maggot One's previous indiscriminate bombing had been quite fruitful. Moreover, R2-Ling Feng had also joined the battle just now, reducing some of the pressure on the Four Heavenly Kings of the Gods.
"It's not over yet…" Twenty-Three's words poured cold water on the players, "It's… far from over…"
"That's right…" Lute's voice rose again from the center of the explosion, "This is just the beginning…"
The smoke and electric clouds gradually dissipated, and what appeared before everyone's eyes was a brand new Lute. She had regained her female appearance and had a pair of huge butterfly wings on her back. Her liquid metal body had turned dark gray, a clear difference from her original silver appearance.
"Snap," Lute snapped her fingers as soon as she appeared.
A white beam of light suddenly appeared and exploded dozens of meters behind her on her side.
There was no one there originally, but after the beam of light appeared, a figure staggered backward from the edge of the beam of light, spitting blood and falling to the ground.
"You're smarter than you look… Chi Tie." Lute turned her head and said, "Trying to sneak past and wake up Gui Xiao?" She snorted coldly, "Do you think I'll let that happen?"
Chi Tie had blood on the corner of his mouth, and his left arm had completely evaporated. He smiled miserably, covered his left shoulder, and fell to the ground, no longer making any futile struggles, but said: "Heh… I thought I could do it… I'm sorry, everyone… I really can't stand up this time."
Gui Xiao's current location was two hundred meters behind Lute, while the players, the Z organization, and Origin's Derivers were all in front of Lute. Everyone could see that Lute had intentionally or unintentionally set up a line of defense. Since she merged with her clone, she had been guarding this line, and she had not given an inch even when facing the Golden Maggot One's impact.
"The entertainment is over." Lute said, "As for my farewell party to this dimension… there have been enough surprises."
Before she finished speaking, the butterfly shadow shifted swiftly.
In this flash of lightning, Twenty-Three had already sensed the opponent's approach, and she immediately crossed her hands in front of her chest to make a blocking gesture.
However, Lute just stretched out a finger and gently tapped her arm… A violent energy explosion instantly erupted, blasting off Twenty-Three's two forearms.
Twenty-Three spun and flashed away, but Lute's butterfly shadow drew a patch of colorful dark light, following her like a shadow.
Boom boom boom—
A series of explosions sounded, and Twenty-Three retreated steadily. She concentrated all her energy on self-healing and dodging, but she was still gradually falling into a desperate situation.
"Lan Kick… White Lightning!" Ling Feng saw that his superior was in danger and immediately stepped forward to help, but…
"The technique name is quite cool." Lute sneered, she shook her butterfly wings and used a burst of air to deflect Ling Feng's attack.
Ling Feng's momentum was not exhausted, and it was precisely the gap when he was unprepared. White Lightning returned like lightning, instead slashing himself.
However… his actions were not without meaning, at least Twenty-Three was temporarily freed from the continuous offensive.
"Ling Feng… you just guard the players, I'll deal with this side…" Twenty-Three said, while casually tearing off the protective suit on her body that was already in tatters, abandoning this bloated outfit.
"Oh? Have you finally made up your mind to die?" Lute said coldly.
"If I die here, I don't have to think about how to cross ***-004." Under Twenty-Three's protective suit was a one-piece black leather catsuit, which was the same look as when she appeared in "Ascending the Tower Record". But at this moment, she was covered in scars and looked extremely disheveled. Dried blood and scorch marks from the high temperature had already stained her whole body.
"Hmm… you're right." Lute grinned, "Then I'll fulfill you!"
Whoosh—
Just as Lute was about to kill again, suddenly, a ray of golden light flashed.