Chương 221

The howling winds battering the Beaked Peak were cold enough to cut through Orion's warming charms, helping him overcome the adrenaline of the skirmish and chill the sweat on his brow. He stepped over the smoldering remains of Neoas's armor, keeping his eyes fixed on the anti-air array that sat at the center of the ridge. It hummed with a steady vibration, its brass rings slowly spinning around the core of pristine quartz, and, from the data he could gather, it was still very much operational.

That needs to be dealt with first. Despite that urgency, Orion's academic curiosity clashed with his exhaustion. He had spent weeks battling the Iron State's creations—from underground golems to complex deadman switches—but he had never had the chance to examine a pristine, high-level piece of their strategic weaponry. Although he knew he should work quickly to disable it, even destroy it if necessary, that seemed like such a waste.

"Give me some space and keep an eye out," Orion instructed his squad without looking away from the machine.

"Selene, monitor the airspace specifically. This might take me some time, and even if it's friendlies coming, I want to know well in advance."

"You got it," Dorian grunted as he moved to the edge of the plateau, choosing a spot that would give him a clear view of anyone trying to climb Beaked Peak from the north. Given how much his defensive skills had improved, Orion felt confident he could probably hold back anything below tier three, at least for a while. Once he was sure the others had it, he engaged [Hypotheticism], allowing it to map the machine's intricate design. Hmm, this might be worse than I expected.

I need to break it down into specific parts, or the data will be too messy to be useful. Unfortunately, this machine ran on Silence, just like every other piece of Iron State technology so far, so removing the outer plating required significant effort. Using micro-pulses of localized gravity, he carefully unlatched the heavy brass planes, lifting the metal away without triggering any hidden pressure plates or deadman switches that he was sure were present.

I can't sense anything, but these guys have proven to be incredibly paranoid. I'm not going to take the risk. It took several minutes, but finally, he managed to reveal the internal architecture. Unsurprisingly, it was a marvel of magical engineering. Thick, insulated copper wiring connected the alchemically altered Silence from the pressurized tank to a complex array of crystalline focusing lenses. It was built to vaporize the liquid anti-magic into a high-frequency beam that could reach miles into the sky.

But as Orion traced the energy flow, a fundamental discrepancy drew his attention: there was no runic enchantment carved anywhere he could see, yet this couldn't be the result of a single spell cast on the machine. And there definitely wasn't enough circuitry to explain what it was doing. Magic needs a driving force, whether it is Intent or Knowledge, Orion thought, his brow furrowing. A machine can channel energy using runes, but it cannot conceptualize a spell with the limited ones carved here.

The golems in the factory were clunky because their logic gates were almost entirely mechanical. To seamlessly combine the physics of this array with the Silence's anti-magic properties, it needs an extremely complex processor, and I seriously doubt the Iron State can produce such a device. If that had been the case, they would have already won. They'd essentially be a tier-one civilization on the Kardashev scale, meaning they'd far surpass any defense Cyril could mount.

But that hadn't happened, and every piece of evidence he possessed indicated that it was several orders of magnitude beyond the Iron State's manufacturing capabilities. That didn't mean they hadn't found a new way to provide enough computing power, however. The artifact was clearly operational, and the data he received showed it could unleash massive destruction against any airborne threat. That source had to be somewhere.

Following the main mana conduits down to the base of the tripod, he expected to find some kind of perfectly cut high-tier mana-quartz serving as an artificial logic core, similar to his Computing Crystal. Instead, he discovered what appeared to be a pressurized alchemical glass cylinder. More curious than before, Orion adjusted his gravity field, peeling away the last layer of protective lead lining. What the hell have they done? I've never heard of liquid being used for computing, especially fast-moving liquid.

But this thing has to work somehow, doesn't it? Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. Suddenly, the machine's humming sounded less like a mechanical vibration and more like a low moan. Inside the glass cylinder, suspended in a viscous nutrient fluid that emitted an eerie green glow, was a human brain. Orion took a moment to process what his eyes were showing him.

It was so far removed from what he'd expected that he didn't know how to react, but eventually, he forced himself to look beyond the surface level. The brain was heavily scarred, its delicate grey matter pierced by dozens of thin copper needles wired directly into the array's brass circuitry. The cerebral cortex glowed with a familiar grey light each time the brass rings above it completed a rotation.

"Holy shit, these bastards really have no boundaries," he cursed, suddenly feeling much better about having killed a whole team. Not that he'd regretted it, but cooking someone alive had to be one of the worst ways to go. This horrifying spectacle erased any negativity he might have had about his methods. Luna, who had moved up behind Orion to get a better look at the technology, let out a gasp and covered her mouth, stumbling backward. Dorian turned toward the sound, his eyes fixed on the glass cylinder.

The color drained completely from the heavy fighter's face.

"By the Goddess... is that…?"

"Yeah, they are using a brain as a biological processor," Orion replied. His academic fascination with the Iron State's methods was suddenly replaced with a much more primal disgust, but he pushed it down, reminding himself that he was working on the clock. Leaning closer, he had [Hypotheticism] analyze the mana flow tearing through the organic tissue.

"Its conscious mind has been completely erased," he eventually concluded in a clinical tone, somewhat relieved that whoever that might have been wasn't trapped in some kind of eternal torture.

"It's just a living computational core now. The Iron State couldn't figure out how to make a machine cast magic on its own while running the Silence, and they don't have the technology required to make an advanced enough computational crystal, so they bypassed the problem entirely."

"This is not the first of its kind," Selene murmured, and Orion knew she was seeing far more than even he was.

"They harvest minds to bridge the gap between their mechanics and the Field."

"It makes perfect sense," Orion continued, feeling several pieces click together to form a very ugly picture.

"The console in the observatory. The seamless integration of the deadman switches. The sheer adaptability of their magitek. How they managed to control Behenien." He hesitated to add more, feeling like he was meandering too far into speculation, but the possibility was too overwhelming to keep to himself.

"It would also explain how they came to create the Silence. It is so antithetical to magic that we were having a lot of trouble figuring out how they first made it, but if they are willing to abuse biology this far, they might have just gone through trial and error until they synthesized it." In an instant, Pauline appeared beside him. She stared at the brain with an unreadable look, and he knew she was recalling the centurion she'd fought in the factory.

It had been far more advanced than anything else the Iron State had displayed, and there was a strong chance it had been operated by a similar device. It did speak, after all, and nothing I've seen so far suggests they are advanced enough to create virtual intelligences of that level. Or any level, really.

"We can't leave it like this," Luna said, trembling with a mix of fury and profound pity.

"Orion, can you... Can you save them?" Despite the horrifying reality they faced, Orion felt oddly flattered that she thought he could do something about it. But when he looked at the copper needles piercing the brain stem and traced the integration of flesh and metal, he knew it was impossible. It wasn't even about too much damage being done, since he was confident his mother or Elder Verali could find a treatment for any living being, regardless of their condition.

It was simply that the brain was no longer hosting a human consciousness.

"No," he finally admitted.

"The biological life support is inherently tied to the array's power cycle, and if I remove the needles, the tissue will die. If I unhook the cylinder, the fluid will drain, and it will die. It cannot survive outside of this machine."

"But leaving it like that is torture," Dorian said, his jaw set.

"I know," he replied. Reaching into the wiring with a thread of telekinesis, he identified the primary mana feed connecting the alchemical battery to the biological core's life support. Orion closed his eyes, pausing briefly to silently apologize to whoever this person once was—an Iron State dissident, a captured druid, a forgotten civilian. Who they used to be was long gone, but that didn't give anyone the right to mistreat their body in this way. Without further hesitation, he snapped the main wire.

The low hum of the machine stopped instantly, and the grey light pulsing within the brain tissue flickered, faded, and disappeared completely. A moment later, the brain sank slightly into the viscous fluid, finally at rest. A heavy silence settled on the Beaked Peak as they reflected on the life that had been so abused.

"We need to take it back to the Observatory," Orion finally said, his voice flat and devoid of emotion. Unfortunately, his coat's pockets couldn't widen enough to swallow the artifact whole, and he lacked any other spatial magic useful for this kind of thing.

"I can put the Silence tank inside the void-silk bag to prevent a leak, but I can't fit the processing core or the emitter. And if we dismantle it further, we risk losing the structural evidence."

"I will carry it," Pauline said, clearly realizing where he was going. The shadows under her cloak expanded, spreading across the snowy ridge like spilled ink. The darkness climbed the brass tripod, wrapping around the quartz emitter and the glass cylinder. With an unnatural sound, the entire anti-air array sank into the two-dimensional shadow on the ground, disappearing from the physical world. Orion nodded in gratitude and stepped back, brushing the snow off his shoulders.

The usual academic curiosity that motivated his every move had been completely overshadowed by a cold rage, and he felt the need to do something about it, anything. Walking to the edge of the ridge where Dorian had stood guard, he looked north. The vast expanse of the Ironwood stretched beneath them, and the horizon was still obscured by swirling pillars of black smoke.

Deep in the forest, the Iron State was moving its fortresses through ancient woods, harvesting the land, and fueling its war machine with the lobotomized minds of its victims. Stopping them has always been a priority, but now it's an absolute necessity. They must not be allowed to survive this conflict. It was a harsh realization, especially for someone like him who'd dedicated his life to science, not to conflict, but it was unavoidable, given what he'd seen.

A high-pitched sound caught Orion's attention, and he looked up. Piercing through the cloud cover, streaks of light shot across the darkening sky. It was the Sanctum's reinforcements. Hundreds of witches on brooms flew overhead, passing in tight military formations. They charged straight toward the Ironwood canopy, unaware of the deadly trap they were heading into. The anti-air trap had been taken down, saving their lives momentarily, but the danger lurking in the trees was worse than they had ever imagined.