Gao Wu: You have science, and I have magic!

The dust on the temple platform floated like fog in the zero-gravity environment.

As soon as Ye Qingzhou's boot soles touched the metal surface, slight vibrations spread like ripples, awakening the dormant lighting system.

Blue and white light bands lit up one after another, outlining the contours of three mechas - they were not parked there, but grew together with the platform like ancient trees taking root.

Chu Yao's terminal slipped from her fingers and was caught by Lao Chen just before it flew away. Her eyes were full of surprise: "The vital signs readings... these mechas are alive!"

Cecilia stood at the front, her long fiery red hair fluttering in the wind inside her protective helmet.

Her eyes were fixed on the six-winged mecha in the center. It was gilded all over, and the light wings that converged on its back were longer and smoother than those of the Seraph. Embedded in its chest was a diamond-shaped core that was the same origin as the Temple Crystal.

When her shadow fell on the mecha's feet, its core suddenly pulsed, like a sleeping giant's breathing being disturbed.

“Stand back!”

Ye Qingzhou grabbed Cecilia's shoulder armor.

His extradimensional mark burned on his wrist, and some primal warning ran up his spine.

The energy fluctuations emitted by these mechas are of the same origin as the Temple, but they are extremely hungry, like predators awakened from hibernation, thinking only of hunting and devouring.

But, it's too late.

The six-winged mecha's eyes suddenly lit up with golden light, and its pupils shrank as if a living creature had awakened. Liquid light seeped out of the gaps in the armor, condensing into countless golden ribbons in the vacuum, and wrapped around Cecilia.

“Don’t touch!”

Ye Qingzhou's warning came to an abrupt end.

The golden thread penetrated Cecilia's protective suit like a phantom and sank directly into her holy marks.

There were no wounds, no pain. Instead, her body stretched out as if a long drought had finally brought rain. Her white hair glowed red again, and the golden lines at the corners of her eyes weaved into more complex patterns.

The mecha spoke.

The ethereal voice resounded directly in everyone's consciousness, like the harmony of thousands of different tones: [Bloodline certification passed. Claudius sequence, seventh generation mixed-blood descendant. ]

Cecilia's pupils dilated, and her lips moved silently, uttering an ancient family secret: "The new... and the old..."

【New and old.】

The mecha continued: [Like a spark of inheritance. ]

It suddenly knelt on one knee, and the core module in its chest blossomed like a petal, revealing the internal biological neural connection interface. The cockpit was actually a pool of flowing golden liquid.

Lao Chen's particle rifle was already loaded: "What the hell is this? How can a mecha... "

"and many more."

Ye Qingzhou held down the barrel of his gun.

The super-dimensional seedling of Suanni was growing wildly in his consciousness, transmitting intermittent images.

Six hundred years ago, the first group of human explorers discovered the holy relics... The founder of the Illuminati Church inserted a metal probe into the spine of the remains of the superdimensional... Golden liquid gushed out of the wound and was collected in a crystal vessel...

“Holy Fire Liquid.”

He looked at Cecilia fiercely: "The 'holy blood' that your family has inherited from generation to generation is actually the cerebrovascular fluid of the super-dimensional beings."

"Now I know why only members of the Claudius family can pilot the Seraph."

Cecilia's voice was surprisingly calm.

She slowly unbuttoned her collar, revealing a glowing diamond-shaped mark between her collarbones, exactly the same as the mecha core.

Chu Yao suddenly screamed. She knelt on the ground with her head in her hands, and the terminal screen exploded with snowflakes and noise.

Some powerful mental fluctuations are seeping in from the outskirts of the temple - a fleet-level neural interference weapon.

"The Covenant's identification signal!"

Lao Chen rushed to the communicator, his face showing shock: "How did they find this place?"

"it's me."

Chu Yao curled up in pain: "The chip... the chip my father gave me has always been a dual-frequency transmitter... Professor Morris... ah!"

Her eyes suddenly rolled back, and her voice changed into the cold tone of another person: "Student Chu Yao, thank you for your excellent navigation work."

Ye Qingzhou understood instantly that Professor Morris from the Star Alliance, Chu Yao's mentor, the always smiling old scholar had been using her from the very beginning.

When he turned his gaze to the edge of the platform, twelve Covenant assault ships had already broken through the outer perimeter of the temple, and the neural pulse cannons on the bows were charging.

Cecilia suddenly jumped towards the opened core cabin of the six-winged mecha. The golden liquid boiled the moment she touched it, forming a cocoon-like wrapping layer.

"Ye Qingzhou! The other two!"

Her thoughts penetrated his consciousness directly: "The Messenger Mecha needs blood or super-dimensional mark to recognize its master!"

Time seemed to slow down. Ye Qingzhou saw Lao Chen pounce on Chu Yao and use his body to block the first wave of nerve impulses.

Afterwards, the Covenant assault ship released dozens of mechas, painted in a strange purple-black color. At the same time, the streamlined silver mecha on the left side of the platform suddenly opened its eyes, and its iris was a blue triangle that was the same as its own super-dimensional mark.

He leaped forward, unleashing the full power of his martial arts.

The young seedling of Suanni screamed in his consciousness, guiding the way forward.

When the Covenant mecha's ion cannon was about to hit his back, the Silver Messenger suddenly raised his arm. No energy weapons were fired, but the gravity in the space where the attacker was located suddenly increased twenty times, and the seven mechas were instantly crushed into metal pancakes.

【Super Dimensional Imprint Certification Passed.】

The voice of the silver messenger flowed through Ye Qingzhou's mind like a spring: [Skywalker system activated.]

Ye Qingzhou did not hesitate. He crashed directly into the opened core module and was wrapped in ice-blue liquid.

Unlike Cecilia's golden cocoon, the feeling here was like sinking into a polar glacier - cold, sharp, and penetrating.

Countless streams of information washed over his nerves: Skywalker's control methods, weapon systems, space jump capabilities... and a deliberately hidden data packet marked "Big Filter Protocol".

On the other side, Chu Yao suddenly stopped twitching.

She stood up mechanically, drew Lao Chen's ion dagger from her waist, and walked towards the emerald green mecha on the right side of the platform.

Her eyes were still rolled back, but her movements were terrifyingly precise.

“Stop her!”

Cecilia's voice came through the communication system of the Messenger Mecha, echoing with metallic resonance: "That is the Star Weaver. Once it is controlled..."

Skywalker's gravity manipulation takes three seconds to recharge.

Ye Qingzhou watched helplessly as the controlled Chu Yao stabbed the dagger into the core cabin of the green mecha.

Spider-web-like cracks spread across the emerald green surface, and when Chu Yao pressed her hand on it, purple-black mucus oozed out of the cracks.

The Star Weaver stood up trembling, but its movements were twisted and unnatural, like a puppet being pulled by strings. The originally beautiful leaf-veined patterns on the mecha's shell now seemed to be infected with a virus, turning into hideous blood vessel-like protrusions.

【alarm.】

Skywalker's voice rang in Ye Qingzhou's mind, [Void contamination detected. Initiating purification protocol.]

The hatches of the Covenant assault ship were all open at this time, revealing the modified launch pad inside and a series of transparent culture chambers, each with a humanoid creature floating inside.

Ye Qingzhou's super-dimensional vision saw through the disguise and he immediately knew that those were human test subjects who had been forcibly fused with the super-dimensional fragments. Their painfully distorted faces proved that the fusion was not successful.

“Morris…”

There was murderous intent in his eyes.

Skywalker's weapons systems automatically locked onto the main ship, but some stronger instinct made him turn towards the Star Weaver.

The mecha was supposed to have the ability to repair and create, but now it has been twisted into a weapon.

Chu Yao was trapped in the head cockpit, and purple-black nerve tentacles were drilling into her seven orifices.

Cecilia's six-winged mecha, named "Holy Chant", suddenly took off. When the light wings were fully unfolded, some kind of golden sound waves spread out in a fan shape. The Covenant mechas that were hit stiffened one after another, and the cockpit covers automatically popped open, and the pilots inside held their heads and screamed.

But this had no effect on the controlled Star Weaver, and the purple-black mucus formed a protective layer.

“I can clean up the pollution!”

Cecilia's voice was filled with pain: "But it requires direct contact!"

Ye Qingzhou immediately understood her plan. Skywalker stretched out his hands and created a gravity trap around Star Weaver, slowing its movements ten times.

At the same time, he initiated a space jump and instantly appeared in front of the main ship.

The Covenant's defense system didn't even have time to react before Skywalker had already placed his hand on the bridge observation window.

Inside the ship, mechanical tentacles appeared under Professor Morris's white coat, and blue light of data streams flashed on his facial skin from time to time.

When he saw Skywalker, he gave a strange smile, his lips moving as he spoke something.

Ye Qingzhou understood the lip language: "You are too late, the sowing is already completed."

Skywalker's gravity control ability was fully activated. The entire main ship was compressed into a metal ball with a diameter of ten meters, but Ye Qingzhou knew that this was far from enough - Morris was not a human, or even a living creature, but some kind of advanced artificial intelligence carrier.

Sure enough, as the metal sphere disintegrated, dozens of data streams escaped to other warships through quantum communications.

The Chant had already broken through the Star Weaver's defenses, and Cecilia's light wings pierced directly into the opponent's chest, with the golden sound waves and the purple-black mucus fighting fiercely. Chu Yao twitched violently in the cockpit, and something was moving under her skin.

“Old Chen!”

Ye Qingzhou called out through the public channel: "Can the Stargazer still move?"

In answer to him, there was the roar of engines. The wrecked research ship rushed out from the side of the temple, and the belly turret fired precise ion beams, destroying three escaping Covenant warships.

"I was waiting for you to say that!"

Lao Chen's roar was accompanied by the rhythm of artillery fire: "What about that girl?"

Ye Qingzhou looked at the two entangled giant mechas, and he suddenly remembered the "Great Filter Protocol" in the Skywalker system - that was the ultimate defense mechanism left by the super-dimensional civilization, which could completely purify the void pollution, but everything has a price...

“Cecilia! Don’t use the purifying power of the chant!”

He rushed to the battle area with all his strength: "It will trigger..."

All of the light wings of the Holy Chant suddenly pierced into the Star Weaver's chest, and the frequency of the golden sound waves increased to a level visible to the naked eye, forming a ring-shaped shock wave in the vacuum.

The purple-black mucus evaporated under the pure extra-dimensional energy, and the parasite in Chu Yao's body was forcibly extracted and turned into ashes in the golden light.

But what followed was an overload on the Star Weaver's core, and being contaminated, it chose to self-destruct.

At the moment of the explosion, Skywalker deployed a gravity barrier to direct the shock wave towards the remaining Covenant fleet.

When the light faded, only a charred skeleton remained of the Star Weaver, but the core module was miraculously intact. Chu Yao curled up inside, protected by a layer of emerald green light film.

The state of the Holy Psalm was frightening. Three of the six wings were broken, and golden liquid oozed out from multiple wounds, condensing into pearl-like particles in the vacuum.

Cecilia's voice was weak but firm: "I saw... there are people behind Morris... they call themselves 'reapers'..."

The Stargazer approached with difficulty, and Lao Chen used a tractor beam to pull Chu Yao back to the cabin, and the medical AI immediately began a comprehensive scan.

Ye Qingzhou connected to Shengyan's emergency system and found that the situation was worse than he had imagined - the purification pollution had consumed a lot of Cecilia's vitality, and her biological signs were plummeting.

“Hold on.”

He channeled Skywalker's energy into the chant, "You're going to be fine."

【warn.】

The two Mechs sounded the alarm at the same time, [Void beacon activation detected. Coordinates: Cygnus β-307. Repeat, detected...]

Chu Yao suddenly sat up in the medical cabin, her eyes clear but full of fear: "It's not a beacon! It's a cage! Those lunatics are going to release it!"

Her terminal automatically projected a set of data - the Covenant's years of research on super-dimensional relics ultimately pointed to a horrifying conclusion: the so-called "living super-dimensional beings" were actually some kind of existence imprisoned by a super-dimensional civilization, and the relics of the three major forces were by no means keys, but locks.

Cecilia's chant suddenly shook violently.

Her voice was transmitted directly into Ye Qingzhou's consciousness through the neural link: "I saw more memories... The remains of the superdimensional being first discovered by the Church of the Gods were the guards of the prison! It volunteered to stay and maintain the cage to prevent the universe from ending, but the people of the Star Alliance drained its energy..."

Skywalker's holographic star map suddenly updated, marking the truth of the three star roads - the coordinates of three giant cages.

β-307 holds the "Devourer", the Orion Arm holds the "Twister", and the third road points to the edge of the solar system and is marked as "Watcher".

“The Omega Protocol…”

Chu Yao trembled as she read the mark at the end of the data: "Activate when all three cages are broken... This is..."

“The Great Filter.”

Ye Qingzhou finally understood the meaning of the hidden data packet. What the super-dimensional civilization left behind was not only treasure and legacy, but also a fuse - the ultimate means to completely reset the entire star field when the experiment got out of control.

The temple suddenly shook violently, the platform began to disintegrate and reorganize, and the three messenger mechas were pushed towards the center by an invisible force.

Skywalker's systems indicated that some kind of interdimensional communication was being established - a warning from the Watchers.

Cecilia's chant suddenly broke free of the traction, and the remnants of the Light Wings deployed at full strength: "Something is coming! Prepare to fight!"

The space outside the temple seemed to be cut open by an invisible blade, and a purple-black tide surged out of the crack.

This is a terrifying strategic-level weapon, which is materialized from pure void energy, forming the shape of a giant hand, and rushing straight towards the messenger mecha.

Skywalker's gravity weapons fired at full force, but to little effect. The sound waves of the chant barely dispersed some of the energy bodies, but more purple-black tentacles entangled them.

At the critical moment, unexpected reinforcements appeared at the edge of the battlefield. (End of this chapter)