Meanwhile

Thunder rumbled across the skies over Dioz. Lightning illuminated the darkened lands below as the sounds of marching echoed in the distance. 

The dirt roads that connected the kingdom to the now destroyed Senadate Theocracy were now barren as a desert. No caravan or traveler dared to cross into the territory of the Metal Demons.

Despite this, however. Even in the darkness of the storm above them, a lone figure stood at the border.

He wore a dark cloak that hid his face and a tunic to match. His eyes glowed purple as he took more steps towards metal demons territory.

"Halt," A voice broke the symphony of nature. 

The mage looked up and saw three figures floating in the sky in front of him.

He sensed no magic from them, instead, the soles of their feet and palms of their hands exhibited fire that made them float. 

"Interesting," He said. He then hovered at the exact same height as the three figures above. Meaning he is a Demigod, an Transcension level, the first level of Demigods.

The figures to the sides were two identical metal demons with both bodies similar to that of a muscular human.

The figure in the middle was a woman. A blonde beauty, to be exact. Her gleamed red like the eyes of the man he was searching for, in fact, all their eyes gleamed red.

"You are entering our borders, the Dioz Kingdom assured us no traveler would be permitted to cross their side. You are violating the treaty," Caitlyn said. Her red eyes were shining brighter. Her usually blue eyes weren't there but red.

"I am only here to see the countryside, no need to be alarmed. Besides, I didn't know there was such a treaty in place," The dark cloak man said.

The dark cloak man, realizing his folly, decided to play dumb. He sensed immense bloodlust from the lady but none from the two metal men with her. But this wasn't something he could ignore either, the metal demons had no magic nor emotions, not to mention even no signs of life from them, they more like golems instead, that meant that he wouldn't sense their bloodlust. 

The woman in front of him, on the other hand, was surging in magical energy that surpassed his. While it felt similar to magic, he felt a different energy compared to magic, a new one that he didn't feel before nor people in this world before.

He screwed up big.

"Your story doesn't add up from what we know," Caitlyn said.

"Ah, well, I am Pablo, pleased to meet you three, I will go by—" Suddenly, the woman in front of him instantly rushed towards his direction, his eyes couldn't even keep up with her speed. He underestimated their patience. Right now, Caitlyn was floating right beside him with her fist punched through his chest.

He began to cough out blood as the purple in his eyes began to fade.

"Too..... fast. This is not possible. Your level is more... than a demigod"

"There is no need to lie. I've already checked your memories, you're one of the high members of the Church of Carnage. You massacred the entire border patrol of the Dioz Kingdom. We are no fools," Caitlyn said as the mage died literally around her arm.

Caitlyn then pulled her arm out and let the mage's body down back to the ground. His blood splattering all over the road. 

Then her eyes turned back to blue and scanned the body on the ground.

"A demon-kin. Several reports of our Drones say they encountered one of these races and attacked them. Some have casualties but not that many. How troublesome, what were they planning,"

"According to the reports, the drones try to interrogate them but they instantly get killed whenever we captured them, seems like they use magic to let them committed suicide so we don't want to spit answers at us," Johnathan said. He was the android on the left. 

"And according to our scannings and the records of our demon friend right here is like he said. Pablo, the current Saint of the Church of Carnage and the former 200th Great Generals of the Dark Realm. Man, he has a nice background." Michael said. He was the Android to the right.

"I expect he will give us a challenge but I never expect it will be too easy," Johnathan said.

It was supposed to be a challenge if it wasn't for Caitlyn. The small battle was too easy because it was not that Pablo was weak, he could defeat millions of armies in just a small amount of time and beat few powerful A-rank mages and practitioners if he wants to, it was because Caitlyn upgraded her body so powerful that it could match 1-2 Sainthood Demigods at the same time and she is going all out without hesitation. That's why she easily defeated him without holding back

"It doesn't matter anyway. Y'all may return to your positions," Caitlyn said.

Amid the trees and the bushes, hundreds of Androids appeared from hiding and positioned themselves along the dirt road. Forming a sort of checkpoint.

The Engineer Drones also began construction of the guard post Caitlyn had instructed them to. 

"Huh, this man took out 5000 Dioz knights, and three Airships just himself that were supposed to arrive at this checkpoint to aid in construction," Michael said. 

"I expected more from him, seeing that his strength prompted us three to go here at such short notice," Johnathan said.

"Sigh... handling this army of millions of machines on both Earth and here is tiring. I wonder how Artemis handled you all so much better than me," Caitlyn said.

"He is our father. Of course he is the most powerful and capable literally above us all," Michael said.

"We still haven't found a trace of him yet," Johnathan said.

"Tsk, how about the little girl?" Caitlyn asked.

"Subject G-2 has successfully bonded with subject G-1 and is now currently being tended by the mother of G-1 and Valentine," Johnathan said. 

"Miss, don't forget about the rescue operation that will be conducted in a week to rescue our two mages from Zorma Island," Johnathan continued. 

"Ah yes... those two. The fact that they escaped Atira and went to the island of lizard-like creatures which surprisingly are actual dinosaurs. The reason why they couldn't come back sooner was that Ravagers are quite rare. Good thing they didn't get captured in Atira or else we all know what Artemis would do," Caitlyn said.

"Indeed ma'am Caitlyn, he would order a full-scale invasion on Atira. I bet he would even order the massacre of the surrounding villages and cities to demoralize them," Michael said.

"Our search for a commander will remain in top gear. Judging from his last known coordinates, it can be assumed that someone carried him over the continent," Johnathan said.

"Yes, Johnathan. We are aware of that but have you pinpointed where exactly in the continent they took him?" Caitlyn asked.

"That, milady, we are unsure of. Our radars aren't that strong enough to reach the whole continent yet," Johnathan explained.

"Yeah, this bloody continent is the same size as all of Earth's continents combined. I wonder how big this world is, our satellite didn't completely create the whole map out of it. Also the bloody magic density in the planet's atmosphere is holding off our technology. For goodness sake," Michael complained.

"Calm down, my friend. Be patient, it will take time."

The three then descended to the ground and looked at the Dioz Kingdom's side of the border.

"Was it really wise to agree with an alliance with Dioz?" Caitlyn asked herself.

"I don't see it as an alliance. More like the nobility and the king of that kingdom have lost all hope and are preparing for their eventual vassalization," Johnathan said.

"The Dioz Kingdom as vassals to us would benefit them and us in certain ways. But.. I can't help but wonder what Artemis would want to do," Michael said.

"He'd want to annex them straight away," The three of them said in unison.

A lone Android then walked towards the three.

"What is it?" Caitlyn asked.

The Android then pointed to a bush in front of them beside the forest. When you look at the Android and its action, you'll find it a bit cute.

"Huh?" 

The android then led them to the bush and sure enough, there was another person hiding behind it.

The man was hiding behind a magic shield around the bush. 

"Okay uh, who the hell is this?" Caitlyn said.

"Hey you!" Michael stepped forward.

The man screamed in a high-pitched voice as Michael punched through his shield and pulled him by his neck collar.

"Who are you?" Michael said directly in his face.

"AHHH! PLEASE DON'T HURT ME!!!" The man scream like a girl until he fainted

"Eh?" Michael said.

"You overdid it," Johnathan said.

"He pissed his pants," Caitlyn said.

"Am I that scary?"

"Dude, were literally look like metal cyclops, of course were that scary"

Watching the two Androids from afar, Caitlyn realized the person Michael was holding might be someone from the Dioz Kingdom based on his clothings, but what made her confused was how this person suddenly came here without them noticing, was it magic? No that might not be possible because drones and Androids could sense M1 signatures when close to the kilometer radius.

Stealth magic?

No, she already modified their current technology with prewar tech, now their scanners could see something that is impossible for any advance tech could find like back in the Showdown.

Probably teleportation magic?

Not possible because Artemis built a prewar tech that nullifies teleportation, it's effective even if it's magic or not.