Chapter 23: One Shall Stand, One Shall Fall (Part 4)

Inside one of the mechanical supercarriers, away from the catastrophic war raging on outside the safe haven of the Wall of Ramiel….

A 35 meters tall gray mech built like a demonic knight with emerald crystals decorating parts of its body and forming a pair of arm blades could be seen standing in inactive state inside the loading dock of the launch catapult of the said supercarrier with many cables attached on its body.

Yet this war machine, which was in slumber since the final battle began, had begun to stir awake…

[Igniting Ace Getter Ray Furnace….]

Shiiiiing…..

Following a certain system maid's voice, the cables all around its body detached at the same time as a melodious hum began to resound from its three interlinked engines accompanied by intense glow from its pair of yellow visors and the emerald crystals all around its body, a sign of its awakening.

[Getter Ray Output Stabilized at 2700%!]

[Linking Zhen Extremities Neural Nodes…]

Its fingers started to twitch and moved, showing dexterity even beyond that of a human.

[Neural Nodes Achieved 100% Synchronization!]

[Activating V Shift Armor….]

Then the war machine's dull gray color shifted into a combination of red, silver, and brass shining in metallic gleam which further improved its already formidable figure.

But this change in color wasn't just to enhance its looks and it would be proven in the battlefield.

[V Shift Armor Functioning at 100%!]

[Initiating Final Total Check!]

[0%....]

[50%...]

[100%!]

[Final Total Check Completed! System All Green!]

[Master! Project Ace Final Adjustments have been completed!]

And with a voice brimming with absolute confidence as if victory was already in her Master's hands, she declared the completion of Ace!

The machine that would put an end to the struggle of her Master's enemies!

["As always, thanks for your hard work, Theresa! Without you, we absolutely wouldn't be able to complete this project in such a short time span"]

Ryoma's gentle voice resounded from the crimson weapon of mass destruction, sincerely thanking his most trusted assistant for her aid because if he had to develop Ace only by himself and his dearest wife, it would take at least years before they could successfully build it.

[Fufufu~ you're welcome, Master! But there is no need for such an excessive praise because as your system assistant, it is my duty to lend you a hand in everything with my absolute best]

She responded with modesty towards her deare– respected master's expression of gratefulness, showing her professionalism as his one and only system maid.

But on the inside…..

'[Ahh~ I'm being praised again~!]'

Flying through the seventh heaven she did….

'[Ah! Theresa NO! You need to focus to deal with the crisis at hand!]'

The Grand Finale of this universe was already in sight so she couldn't afford to be distracted by her perverse thoughts!

["Now It's time! Theresa, begin the Finale!"]

And her Master's order saved the day before she got drowned further inside her degenerate delusions, making her regain her absolute focus.

[Your wish is my command!]

Because she had been waiting for this moment! No more distractions! No more watching from the sidelines like before! It was time for her to shine as the flag bearer of the end of the universe with a new body personally built by her dearest Master!

Zone D, Getter Emperor's Forces Final Line of Defenses...

A white sphere floating calmly in space began to unfold, extending into three pairs of gigantic white wings, pure and majestic akin to an archangel.

From within the unfurled wings, a pure white machine with a crown of gold adorning its head was revealed, hands holding a pair of elegant white rifles.

And unlike the pale white mechanical goddess of death who could give any living being a sense of utter dread upon gazing upon her form, this graceful white machine would give them the feeling of peace and safety, as if a guardian angel had come to protect them from any harm even though it wielded weapons of mass extinction in its hands.

Indeed, a guardian angel! If that psycho murder hobo is her Master's blade, then she is his protector! The one who protects him from any harm and corruption!

How would she do it? By destroying the sources of harm from existence of course!

[Stars Align!]

As the archangel commanded, the five planetary supercarriers stationed in the final line of defense moved, aligning themselves in a certain formation.

It was barely noticeable but when someone from beyond the solar system saw the formation, it oddly resembled a pentagram.

An angel and a pentagram…. truly an odd combination….

[Converge!]

Then emerald energy tethers were fired off from the five supercarriers, converging towards the center of the archangel's back. And as a result, the pure white wings of the mechanical guardian angel began to shine brilliantly as her energy skyrocketed beyond limitations.

[Twin crusade rifles docking commence!]

Following that, she combined the twin rifles in both of her hands before docking the fused rifles into the circular glowing emerald crystal in her chest, enabling her to utilize her overcharged energy reserves with them.

[Finding targets….]

Then her scanner swept through the whole battlefield, trying to find the most suitable pick to open the curtains of the finale…

The crimson tides stuck in a stalemate with the mechanical armies? No, an opening using them would be too underwhelming and they were still useful to nurture the mechanical armies even further.

How about Diebuster who was tag teamed by one of her Master's machines and that mad woman? She wanted to pick it but it was too agile and she was afraid that she would accidentally hit her Master and ironically that despicable iceberg, she didn't want to make her Master sad after all.

And it wasn't like she would be able to annihilate that psycho with this because that woman's existence is linked with her Masters, what a headache….

[Well that one should suffice! Target Lock-On!]

Indeed, there was still another final champion of this universe clashing with her Master's divine beasts, The Variable Gravity Well. And annihilating that oversized alien bug should be quite adequate as a grand opening!

[Powering up!]

Then white particles began to converge inside her combined twin rifles muzzle, making them shone in an ethereal yet ominous white glow…..

[50%...]

[100%....]

It had reached 100% but the charging didn't stop.

Because a mere 100% wasn't enough to kill that beast!

[250%...]

[500%...]

Even after the twin rifles themselves and the pair of hands holding them had shown signs of breaking apart, the converging white particles didn't stop. Instead, their pace became even more rapid as if a dam containing them had been broken.

[For the sake of my Master's Evolution….]

For her one and only Master...

[Perish! O Champion of The Universe!]

Bearing the sin of eradicating one of this universe's final hopes of salvation was a cheap price to pay!

[9999%!]

[FIRE!]

And as both the archangel herself alongside her twin rifles had reached their critical limit, the converging particles were finally released from their chamber in the form of a colossal pure white pillar of light which tore through the void, annihilating everything in its path towards the unsuspecting guardian beast!

Ssshhhhh...…

[Structural Damage had reached 85%! Initiating emergency repair protocols!]

[Phew, it still needs a lot of improvements…]

The twin rifles had been shattered to dust, her wings had been broken into pieces, and her own mechanical body was almost turned into scraps with smoke coming out from within the cracks laid all over it.

Quite a disastrous backlash for the prior full burst attack…

Ä̵̢̧̪͙͙͇̥̫́̋A̴̦̾̓͛͝Ạ̸̮͓̤̓̈́̀͊̌̓̿̃͂̒ͅĄ̴̗͍̻̠͓̪͋A̴̢̘̥͇͍̻͉͚̤̲̒͐Ä̴̡̹͎̯́̋̎̿A̶͔̦̖͇͖͆̑̏͊͝Ḁ̴̢̛̳̖̦̭͝Ả̶̺̗̓͋̓̈̆͝A̸͍͖̋̍̾̒A̵̘̼͎̙̋̿̒̉͠A̸̧͋͑͑A̴̧̻̬͌A̶̗̲̙̺̺̰̬͐̎̍̀ͅA̴̳͑̒̕A̷̛̦̲̭͎̦͎͚̞̾̈͆͜͝A̷͎͓̹̬͈͓͑́Ą̴͍̮̙͉͙̦̟̲̍͆̆̿͌̐͝A̵̲̘̼̼͐̿̑̐͆̈̓̕͝ͅA̷̢̪̘̼̣͖̺͂̕͠Ä̴̢̳͕̟̗̰̩̝̻̣̒͊̔̏͂̑͛̃͠A̶̧̹͉͕͛̌̇̇̅̉̊̅͒͘.......................

But it was worth it!

[Now it's your turn, Master!]

She had done her part and now it was time for her Master to end everything once and for all!

========================================================================

Even after living for hundreds of thousands of years, journeying through countless worlds floating inside her Great Mother's embrace to purge living beings who dared to defile her pure sky….

"Tch! It slipped away again!"

Diebuster had never fought opponents that were this annoying!

While she outclassed the blasphemous pair in speed and strength, they fucking teleported away every damn time when she almost scored a clean hit to one of them! Furthermore, she had no way to prevent their escape tactic by locking the space like usual because the battlefield she was in had disabled her space-time altering abilities!

And as they knew that they couldn't contest her in melee because of their shortcomings, they began using underhanded tactics such as run and gun alongside laying down traps.

BOOM!!

"UGH!! Another one?!"

Just like now a proximity mine containing blasts of soul corroding energy had just exploded right in front of her face as she almost bisected the blasphemous invader's platinum machine because that traitorous wench swapped its position!

Good thing that she managed to get away with only small parts of her soul in her hands tainted with the encroaching corrosions which could be easily removed with minimal losses.

Speaking about the corrosion, it was the one making this battle extremely horrendous for herself because no matter what she did, she couldn't resist the corrosion save for severing parts of her soul contaminated by it.

And as a result, she couldn't use her potent psychic power to further enhance her offense and defense because it was linked to her soul and the cold soul corrosion of the traitorous wench would absolutely exploit it to empower itself.

Indeed, if the soul corrosion ability to bypass her resistance wasn't enough, the corrosion could become stronger as it taints more souls, she noticed it after she lost her right calf. And thus, she couldn't afford to make it even more powerful by feeding it with her own psychic power.

So how about using ranged attacks just like the pair did if she couldn't get close to one of them?

"HOMING LASER!"

A string of dark purple light was fired off from each of her fingertips. splitting off into hundreds of millions of branches which chased down the pair of blasphemous lovers as if they had a mind of their own.

And if one of her lights managed to hit them, she was pretty sure that it would be enough to cripple them and gave her the opportunity to finish them off.

IF they successfully hit them of course….

["Gate Guardian, Garmr!"]

The traitor's lover summoned the ashen guardian wolf alongside the gates once more to protect themselves against the incoming barrages.

Yet, even though her rains of purple rays successfully obliterated the pair's barriers, their powers had been consumed by a lot, making the treacherous bitch able to refract the rays into each other by conjuring formations of numerous ice mirrors and erase them for good.

And that was the result of trying to use ranged attacks…..

A spectacular failure! She needed to deal with one of them first before attempting to use it so that the two couldn't cooperate in handling her overwhelming firepower.

BANG!

"Same tricks won't work twice!"

The platinum invader once again shot his gunlance immediately as a counter offensive with the assist of iceberg hails from the traitor. But this time, she was already prepared for it and used miniature black holes to devour the incoming soul corroding projectiles.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

But the disgusting invader kept shooting his gun, bullets after bullets even if they weren't close in landing a hit. Hell, he somehow kept switching his gunlance with a smaller side arm as if it would make any changes!

"DON'T YOU KNOW THAT IT'S USELESS?!"

So charged towards the pair again she did while exchanging bombardments upon bombardments against the blasphemous couple within the seemingly pointless goose chase where both parties couldn't land a single hit against each other.

Still, a foreboding feeling couldn't help but grow time and time again as she spent more effort to deal with the pair, as if something was amiss but she hadn't found out what that was….

"Wait…."

And the ever growing uneasiness finally made her stop her chase against the pair, cleared her head from her burning anger and made her realize the true goal of this war.

"The traitorous wench isn't my priority!"

Indeed, she wasn't sent here by her Great Mother to purge that traitor, it was to prevent the emergence of her Great Mother's nemesis from its cocoon!

Alas, she realized everything too late…

"No..."

She saw it, the pure white light of extinction that tore through the voicd from within the giant emerald wall….

Everything in its wake were eradicated without mercy whether they were her own brethren or its allied mechanical armies….

Ä̵̢̧̪͙͙͇̥̫́̋A̴̦̾̓͛͝Ạ̸̮͓̤̓̈́̀͊̌̓̿̃͂̒ͅĄ̴̗͍̻̠͓̪͋A̴̢̘̥͇͍̻͉͚̤̲̒͐Ä̴̡̹͎̯́̋̎̿A̶͔̦̖͇͖͆̑̏͊͝Ḁ̴̢̛̳̖̦̭͝Ả̶̺̗̓͋̓̈̆͝A̸͍͖̋̍̾̒A̵̘̼͎̙̋̿̒̉͠A̸̧͋͑͑A̴̧̻̬͌A̶̗̲̙̺̺̰̬͐̎̍̀ͅA̴̳͑̒̕A̷̛̦̲̭͎̦͎͚̞̾̈͆͜͝A̷͎͓̹̬͈͓͑́Ą̴͍̮̙͉͙̦̟̲̍͆̆̿͌̐͝A̵̲̘̼̼͐̿̑̐͆̈̓̕͝ͅA̷̢̪̘̼̣͖̺͂̕͠Ä̴̢̳͕̟̗̰̩̝̻̣̒͊̔̏͂̑͛̃͠A̶̧̹͉͕͛̌̇̇̅̉̊̅͒͘

Her comrade, the one aimed by the light of extinction, tried to divert the impending doom with everything. Gravity control, orbs of destructions, energy beams, layers of meatshields formed by its own brethren, and more were smashed towards the incoming light of extinction yet nothing seemed to be able to turn it away or stop it.

So it did the most obvious thing, evading the light….

Even so, it had calculated that it wouldn't be able to evade direct hits into most parts of its body in time because of its sheer size and speed.

Was it the end?

Had it failed its duty to protect its Great Mother?

"No my friend, dying is not an option!"

While the guardian beast was lamenting its own fate, it felt a strong gravitational pull from its comrade. And judging from the force it received, it seemed like its comrade nearly used all she had to save itself!

Ą̴͍̮̙͉͙̦̟̲̍͆̆̿͌̐͝A̵̲̘̼̼͐̿̑̐͆̈̓̕͝ͅA̷̢̪̘̼̣͖̺͂̕͠Ä̴̢̳͕̟̗̰̩̝̻̣̒͊̔̏͂̑͛̃͠A̶̧̹͉͕͛̌̇̇̅̉̊̅͒͘...

Thus, hope was rekindled inside the guardian beast's heart as it empowered the gravitational pull of its comrade by resonating it with its own. And with this speed, the beast should be able to evade most of the extinction ray save for the outermost parts of its shell!

Nevertheless, the two champions weren't only struggling against the extinction ray from the beginning…

["You keep forgetting us again, again, and again…"]

And losing their focus against their former threats was proven to be catastrophic…..

["ORA!"]

BAM! BAM! BAM!

Ą̴͍̮̙͉͙̦̟̲̍͆̆̿͌̐͝A̵̲̘̼̼͐̿̑̐͆̈̓̕͝ͅA̷̢̪̘̼̣͖̺͂̕͠Ä̴̢̳͕̟̗̰̩̝̻̣̒͊̔̏͂̑͛̃͠A̶̧̹͉͕͛̌̇̇̅̉̊̅͒͘

Six stellar sized ice fists and a vermillion bird slammed themselves directly into the defenseless body of the retreating beast again, again, and again, making it shriek in pain and rage as it got pushed once more into the path of the light of purification.

"CURSE YOU!!"

Diebuster tried to fire barrages of destruction ray towards the intervening pair of mechanical divine beasts while putting more strength into her pull so that her comrade might still be able to be saved.

But unfortunately…..

["Averting your eyes in a death battle…."]

["Ancient beings like you are prone to a rookie mistake too, huh?"]

The blasphemous pair's voices resounded in her ears as she sensed their sudden appearance right behind her, holding the cross halo of the traitorous wench side by side in a quest to pierce her head.

"Foolish Invaders! After running away like rats all this time, you finally got a sliver of courage to approach me?!"

It turned out these blasphemous scums really desired to perish. Very well! She would gladly grant their wish!

CLANK!

The cross's advance was brought to a standstill as its tip had been caught by a terrifyingly dense orb of singularity she conjured on its tracks.

"THIS IS THE END! INVADERS!"

And using this opportunity, Diebuster turned her body to face against the pair, her bigger than planets palms were opened and charged with immense power as they loomed over the two blasphemers, trying to crush them until not even their subatomic materials remained!

["That was a good moment to reply using his lines!"]

["Dear, not now please… Ragnarok: Overdrive!"]

The gleam on the ashen runic pattern decorating the traitorous goddess's dark inner frame intensified.

Ssssshhhh…

And overwhelming ashen aura burst forth from all around her body soon after, pushing back and corroding the incoming palms of decimation while amplifying the already extremely potent corroding ability of the cross in the pair's hands, making them successfully weaken and pressure the crimson giant's singularity barrier.

"URRGH! FUTILE ATTEMPT TO DELAY YOUR DEMISE!"

Yet faced with such excruciating soul searing pain, the crimson champion of the universe managed to regain her composure and put more power into her corrupted palms even if she must sacrifice them for good.

Because it was a dirt cheap price to pay for the salvation of her Great Mother!

["Sigh…."]

The platinum knight lamented his fate…..

["Fine…. My dearest wife is not a woman of culture it seems…"]

No, not because a pair of planet sized palms were going to crush this machine of his into smithereens, but because his dearest wife wouldn't let him do a Jojo reference even though he had the perfect opportunity!

["Then let's end this!"]

In any case, even if his death goddess previous outburst was really the nail in the coffin for Diebuster…..

But a nail still needs a hammer to pin it down, no?

["Weapons Carousel System…."]

Rebellio's most prized innate ability, the one that enabled it to amplify its offensive power and speed by 20% each time it swapped weapons until it reached five stacks.

And obviously, it had undergone meticulous modifications from its Master and his maid, enabling it to stack its power endlessly even if it needs to contain the excessive amounts of powers inside his hangar space as the machine might implode because the power stacks don't improve its durability.

But how could they store such imaginary concepts like Rebellio's power stacks inside of it? Simple, the hangar can store Ryoma's units with all of their armaments. And the power stacks, in an essence, count as Rebellio's armaments so they could be stored perfectly inside the limitlessly sized hangar space!

["Limiter…"]

And within this not so brief battle with the crimson super robot, he had switched his weapons….

For God knows how many times....

Then what would happen if he unleashed all of the sealed stacks?

There was a very high chance that he might be turned into gigantic fireworks alongside his wife and Diebuster if he used the unsealed powers for a prolonged period of time.

But….

He only needed one strike!

One moment!

Less than a millionth of a nanosecond was enough!

["Release!"]

BOOM!

"Huh? Where?!"

Her palms had smashed the singularity orb halting the lovers advance yet she was bewildered as she couldn't feel the blasphemous pair's remains in her hands as if they suddenly vanished into thin air right before her eyes!

Where did they escape to?! Teleporting away again?! Or was it just their illusion?!

[["You are already dead!"]]

Nevertheless, the unison voices of the couple from behind her answered the questions haunting her mind even if that answer only further drowned her into confusion.

She was already dead? What a joke! Did they think that they had claimed her life simply by trying to backstab her again?

"Wha–"

But when she wanted to retort and strike again, complete darkness cut her off from reality, sending her into the cold embrace of the netherworld.

Ä̵̢̧̪͙͙͇̥̫́̋A̴̦̾̓͛͝Ạ̸̮͓̤̓̈́̀͊̌̓̿̃͂̒ͅĄ̴̗͍̻̠͓̪͋A̴̢̘̥͇͍̻͉͚̤̲̒͐Ä̴̡̹͎̯́̋̎̿A̶͔̦̖͇͖͆̑̏͊͝Ḁ̴̢̛̳̖̦̭͝Ả̶̺̗̓͋̓̈̆͝A̸͍͖̋̍̾̒A̵̘̼͎̙̋̿̒̉͠A̸̧͋͑͑A̴̧̻̬͌A̶̗̲̙̺̺̰̬͐̎̍̀ͅA̴̳͑̒̕A̷̛̦̲̭͎̦͎͚̞̾̈͆͜͝A̷͎͓̹̬͈͓͑́Ą̴͍̮̙͉͙̦̟̲̍͆̆̿͌̐͝A̵̲̘̼̼͐̿̑̐͆̈̓̕͝ͅA̷̢̪̘̼̣͖̺͂̕͠Ä̴̢̳͕̟̗̰̩̝̻̣̒͊̔̏͂̑͛̃͠A̶̧̹͉͕͛̌̇̇̅̉̊̅͒͘...

Alas, she was fortunate to perish first because she wouldn't be tormented by the agonizing scream of her comrades as the white torrent of light slowly melted its shell, flesh, and soul bit by bit until nothing was left.

Except for the black hole it formerly carried as it oddly stood strong without showing any fluctuations even after being bathed by the light of extinction.....

But it wouldn't be for long….

Thump! Thump! Thump!

As it began to pulsate like the heart of a living being right after the pair champions of the universe had been put to rest forever, as if the death of the two was just a trigger for another beginning.

And indeed it was….

CRACK!

The battle hadn't ended yet!

====================================

[Catapult 1, Gate Open!]

Sounds of gears turning echoed as the launch catapult gate loaded with the crimson mechanical knight opened, unveiling the vast expanse of space tainted with ethereal emerald glow from the cosmic phalanx formations.

The launcher rails and muzzles then extended outwards. Their aim? The grotesquely pulsating blackhole.

[Powering up launch catapult 1!]

Arcs of electricity danced inside the launch catapult, flowing through the rails and walls to create an immensely powerful electromagnetic field in order to deliver the loadout with the fastest speed possible.

Yet, no matter how much energy this mechanism was charged with, it wouldn't be able to propel its package to exceed the speed of light, it was never meant to do so.

Because the one who chose this launching mechanism only did it for its aesthetics and resemblances to many launching mechanisms in the Gundam series.

No more… No less…

[Catapult charged! Course Clear! GE-004 Shin Getter Ace. Please Launch!]

["Ryoma Nagare. Shin Getter Ace. Let's put this universe to rest!"]

And as the war machine built to end the struggle of The Will of The Universe was finally launched towards the unknown attempt of its retaliations….

["Let's begin the second phase!"]

Thus began the next and the last stage of this final battle!