Chương 216: LOG-207.

The mech was powered by a prism. It was kind of an obvious conclusion, in hindsight. Though I hadn't been able (nor truly willing) to crack open the reactor nestled near the rear of the machine's jet-like torso, the energy readings emitting from the thing had been, upon inspection with one of the countless tools littering Epsilon's little makeshift garage, near identical to those currently attached to Eyes, Horn and Head.

The end result allowed for an actually incredibly impressive degree of transdimensional manoeuvring on Atoll's part, something that must have surely taken no small degree of willpower and awareness of oneself. Which made sense.

Broken and mentally scarred as the shattered Pearl was, in the following thousands of years following her injury she had been all but forced to find ways of reaching into and controlling the facility around her, both to keep the Burning out and maintain some semblance of function within the place her fragmented mind had somehow spread out into in the process.

That must have translated into at least some level of introspective observation, allowing her to come to the same conclusions I had regarding the existence of the self, though it was impossible to tell how conscious Atoll had been of her own learning, or if she even had been doing it intentionally, considering her confusion at her shattered state.

More likely, part of her had done so, possibly of its own volition, while other pieces had attended to separate matters like maintaining some semblance of mental cohesion, or keeping the metaphorical and literal lights on. And with the introduction of Rose's essence stabilising those fragments, albeit not relinking them… Well, evidently she had gotten her act together, at least somewhat.

Regardless, as far as I could tell, and she had been able to explain, Atoll had figuratively reached out from her own little pocket within the Warp, expanding her infospace 'body' until she could successfully reach the powerful but unintelligent domain mirroring the prism used to power Epsilon's machine.

As was generally the case, reality found itself influenced by its immaterial counterpart, and the actual digital code engraved within the remains of her gemstone had effectively jumped ship, settling within the mech suit's core instead. It was part of why she was rhyming, apparently. Her very thoughts were being filtered through an anchor that hadn't been fundamentally designed for what was effectively her soul. Like someone trying to move about in an incredibly ill fitting suit.

Still, the implications alone were staggering, and in a better universe, I would surely have published the information somewhere and found great acclaim. After all, it was solid, material proof that Gems existed beyond their gemstones, and could survive even the aforementioned anchor's complete and total destruction, given the right circumstances.

Alas, at least for the time being there was no one I could gush to about our findings that would truly understand what I was talking about, and so I settled instead on making myself a promise to eventually write a book or something about everything I had learned, perhaps after returning to Earth. Those thoughts faded somewhere into the background as I looked upwards, frowning ever so slightly as I did so. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

The sky was the same smoldering red hue as the last time I'd seen it, though this time I didn't settle for just cracking a door open and taking a peek. Instead, I stepped out into the open, answering the immediate attention of a few nearby echoes with an unimpressed look, even as deep within the back of my mind a tune began to form. To call it such was a bit of a misnomer, of course. The signal didn't truly have any rhythmic or musical quality to it.

In truth it was just noise, an unending hum that I had tweaked and toyed with until it proved capable of being emitted through a lightform, rather than the transceivers and broadcast stations inherent to Atoll's former body. For just an instant, the melted things that had turned my way moved unopposed, floating through the air like puppets on strings. Then I opened my mouth.

As if an invisible wave had struck them, the flaming holographic Pearls were thrown backwards, living and dying screams drowned out by violent impacts as several slammed into the ground or other obstacles hard enough to discorporate their bodies entirely. The sound was not a sound, there was no tone to be detected in the air around me, no beat or volume to be heard and listened to. Instead, the signal travelled somewhere in between the Warp and the material world, forming a dome of protection around my form.

Violet was the second one out the door, my creation immediately darting over on fluttering wings to settle atop my shoulder, glancing about curiously as she did so. A wary Patina was next, summoned weapon clutched in tightly clenched fingers as she hurried over, soon followed by the Big Three as they gingerly squeezed their massive bodies through the comparatively tiny doorway.

Last but not least, I found myself staring as Atoll's mechanical chassis ducked underneath the exit, the possessed exoframe stepping out before straightening back up to its full height, shining blue optics staring up at the flame consumed sky. Turning away from the ghost imbued machine, I raised a hand, drawing the attention of the three large Gems slowly lumbering to stand around me, their eyes, previously flickering about to take in their surroundings, now focusing upon a single pointing upwards.

Across the scorched and barren landscape, a black city stood surrounded by a lifeless desert. Undoubtedly the location of the Burning's source, both due to basic logic, and Atoll's own confession. I could only make out bits and pieces of it from where I currently stood, thanks in large part to the veritable ocean of floating bodies dotting the landscape. Bodies in between us and our objective.

Thoughts rose up unbidden, plans forming as I slowly lowered my arm, finger unerringly gesturing towards the distant colony center. With any luck, this would be a short trip. Until we returned, Shell would find herself in charge of the remaining Pearls that had proven unwilling to follow us, left within the deepest parts of their home and protected by the very signal my own had been based upon.

A risk to be sure, but considering our own presence on the surface would no doubt be attracting the majority of the swarm, it would be a greater danger not to bring as much firepower with us as possible. Besides, she had earned that much trust at least, thanks to her good behaviour.

"Baroques, clear a path." Focusing back on the world around me, I watched as Eyes, Horn and Head all took a singular step forward, the modified Pearls evidently having been waiting for the command, before visibly bracing themselves as the prisms embedded within their gemstones began to shine with a prismatic light. CRACKCRACKCRACK. In rapid succession, three almost invisible spiralling lines flew outwards with a roar of displaced air, growing harder and harder to make out as they rapidly spread apart.

In the first second, dozens upon dozens of flaming echoes found themselves mulched into nothingness by raw, unrestrained telekinetic force. By the next minute, hundreds of thousands of the creatures found themselves being forced aside as a translucent tunnel was formed by the trio of walking artillery pieces I had brought into being through my own talons.

Inspecting the newly made structure for a moment, I took in the sight of entire armies worth of ghostly translucent Pearls desperately beginning to press themselves against its unseen walls, conjoining so tightly in certain areas that, at least from this distance, they almost appeared more like blood than anything else.

Then, I started walking, and the rest of my party soon found themselves following along behind me, eyes wide at the sight of the parted sea of red surrounding us from all sides, yet failing to get through the Big Three's combined prism enhanced might. Good, that was the easy part done with. Now for the rest.