Infinite Paths: The Raging Phoenix

The area was covered by dark ice, and the temperature of the planet decreased even more after the impact. To the point that even the machine god was unable to see or feel what happened to Rain and the weird creature.

Considering the energy readings, it felt like none of them had been killed, and with a blast of that level, it was quite weird that Rain survived… The creature was basically made of ice, so it wasn't surprising at all.

The machine god wanted to use his power to clean the area and confirm what was going on, but soon, the massive block of dark ice that covered an area of kilometers began to crack… like glass; the ice began to shatter in all directions.

The sound of the shards falling around almost sounded like a calming song that eased one's heart, but Rain didn't look like he found that sound that much pleasing… the machine god found him standing with his right arm completely messed up while the presence of the creature was slowly disappearing… It seemed that he had killed the creature, but he didn't get any stronger.

"This is confusing. According to the reports, you should have gotten considerably stronger after this."

Rain clicked his tongue in annoyance while he was holding his right shoulder with his left arm.

He was trying to heal himself as fast as possible, but the power of the ice of the creature froze the cells in his right arm to the point that even restoring them was getting difficult, and the process had gotten dozens of times slower… from a distance, it looked like Rain's arm had become an ice sculpture.

"We understand how to make an organic body obtain Power by adding more information to it that would benefit the said body. Still, the ability to absorb that much energy from the enemies that you defeat apparently has a cap. This is a bit disappointing… I suppose it can't be helped. There are things that are possible, and there are others that aren't.

I hope that one day, a race that can absorb energy better than yours will emerge. I should talk with the others to genetically engineer them using your people as a basis. Using all the data that you offered us, this should be possible. Anyway, I should at least honor you a bit by showing the power of the machine gods."

In the next moment, Rain suddenly felt a shiver… his gut feeling was telling him to run away as fast as he could, but he knew that he couldn't do that. Their future depended on it.

While looking around, something weird soon began to happen… the red sky suddenly started to get dark… little by little, it got darker as if something ominous was approaching. Before long, Rain suddenly began to see a giant face that covered the whole sky approaching him and seeing him from above… at that moment, Rain couldn't help but open his eyes widely in shock and let his mouth hang open.

After looking up at the sky, Rain saw a colossal humanoid face, its features etched from gleaming metal, looming ominously. This face was rather a daunting construct of darkness and mystery. Its metallic surface reflected no light, casting an eerie shadow over everything below.

The eyes, deep and cavernous, are like two endless voids devoid of any discernible emotion or intent. Instead of pupils, they emit a faint purple glow, adding to the surreal aura emanating from the behemoth. Wisps of purple miasma curl and twist around its contours, swirling ominously as possessed by otherworldly energy.

Its mouth, a gaping chasm in the metallic facade, stretches wide across the sky, giving the impression of an eternal scream frozen in time. From within this abyssal void emanates a low, rumbling hum, vibrating through the very air and sending shivers down the spines of those who dare to behold it.

"What do you think? Do you still have the idea that you can face us?"

"I think that is one big body. Are you trying to compensate for something?" Rain asked.

Rain saw the eyes of the creature flowing, and then a massive dark purple cannon was fired toward him… the entire atmosphere vibrated thanks to the attack, and the gravity of the entire planet increased for a moment…

Rain escaped the attack by teleporting away, but he still saw the power… it opened a crater of the same level that the dragon god created when he defeated Arel for the first time… the crater was one hundred kilometers wide, and the depth was impossible to tell… the attack was instantaneous, and it hadn't to be charged.

"I guess it is to compensate for something," Rain said, and then the big eyes in the sky turned to the right to see him. "I guess that even if you are a machine, as a guy, you would feel conscious over that kind of thing."

The machine god fired the dark beam several times in a row to destroy Rain. At its core, the beam harnessed the concept of gravitational manipulation to an unprecedented degree. Gravity, as we know it, is the force that attracts objects with mass towards each other.

However, in this instance, the beam functioned as a distortion of space-time itself, manipulating the gravitational fields in a manner that defied normal interaction.

The key to its devastating capability lay in its ability to negate matter. Matter, the fundamental substance of the universe, is subject to the influence of gravity. However, by concentrating and condensing gravitational forces to an extreme extent, the beam effectively nullified the presence of matter in its path.

This was achieved through a complex interplay of theoretical constructs, perhaps involving the manipulation of gravitons, hypothetical particles that mediate the force of gravity.

By generating a field of negative gravitons or by inducing a state of quantum instability within the target material, the beam could effectively erase the matter it encountered from existence, rendering it intangible and allowing the beam to pass through unimpeded.