The Cradle of Godslayers

Ash's BannerOn the seventh full-moon night of the New Era, Alice burned the last Church flag atop the Ice Rose Lookout Tower. Ash fell onto her silvery white hair like a gentle snowfall. Below, in the reconstruction zone, cold luminescent streetlights—remodeled by Seline—cast their glow over clone girls as they cleared the frozen earth with godslayer chainsaws. The sound of blades slicing through ice resembled a bizarre concerto.

Kane's mechanical ocular implant glowed red in the night. His right arm was encased in the bronze arm-guard left by Ash; the whir of internal gears resonated in tandem with the distant howling of ice wolves. The ceramic effigy he had brought back three months ago from the Terminal Throne still radiated warmth—it trembled now in the leather pouch at his waist, a premonition from Lia.

"Radiation levels are abnormal in the northeast," came the report as Seline's mechanical bee swarm swept across the night sky, projecting blurry images: a twisted metal church spire piercing through the ice, its surface covered in pulsating flesh tumors.

Alice's scepter drew a line of frost on the ground. "It's the 'Cradle.'"

Flesh SanctuaryInside the church, the interior resembled a gigantic womb, its fleshy walls coursing with fluorescent green fluid through embedded blood vessels. Switching his ocular implant to thermal imaging, Kane saw hundreds of embryos bobbing within sacs, their spines sprouting the Church's latest model chainsaws.

"Genetic coding indicates these are third-generation godslayers," Seline noted as her mechanical arm collected viscous mucus samples. "They're fused with your silver blood, Ash's brand, and…"

Suddenly, all the sacs burst in unison. The embryos tumbled onto a carpet of flesh, their umbilical cords automatically linking to the church's neural network. At the center, one embryo opened six compound eyes and, in a childlike voice intermingled with electronic tones, said, "Father, you're late."

Reverse ResonanceKane's bronze arm-guard ejected chain blades, yet he found himself unable to strike down the visage that so eerily resembled Lia's face. Then the embryo's chainsaw spine abruptly elongated, piercing his scapula as fresh blood blossomed on the flesh-carpet in patterns reminiscent of ice roses.

Alice's scepter froze the chainsaw, only to reveal that the ice was now rebounding upon itself. Seline's mechanical bees crashed into the fleshy wall and self-destructed. In the ensuing burst of flame, a horrifying truth was unveiled—the church's neural network vibrated in perfect synchrony with Kane's bronze arm-guard.

"Ash's relics have been modified!" Seline's hacking program infiltrated the inner core of his arm-guard, and a holographic screen flashed an encrypted log:[To the unfortunate soul who finds this: If my ashes glow within the Church, it means those bastards have tampered with my grave.]

The embryo's compound eyes began to weep silver blood, and the flesh-carpet suddenly cocooned Kane. Within that cocoon, Lia's ceramic doll glowed, and a million voices erupted in his mind: "Brother, this is our sin."

Birth of the Sin-BornAs Kane tore through the flesh cocoon and burst forth, the bronze plating on his right arm had fused with flesh. The embryo's chainsaw spine coiled around his neck while its compound eyes replayed Ash's final memories:

On a stormy night at the pyre, a young Ash trembled as he raised his sword; Elena mouthed, "Protect her," just before the sword fell. In that moment, Church scientists emerged from the shadows and confiscated Ash's gene samples.

"You used his blood to create me," the embryo suddenly hissed in a smoky voice identical to Ash's. "Surprised?"

Alice's scepter plunged into the flesh-carpet as ice roses grew in reverse along the neural network. Seline's mechanical bees collided with the embryo's compound eyes, and upon contact with silver blood, they were assimilated into metallic flesh.

Whispers of the Old GodAt that moment, the church's dome collapsed, and from the irradiated clouds, countless neural tendrils descended. Kane's bronze arm-guard lashed out uncontrollably at the embryo, and as it pierced the creature's heart, he received a pulse of information:

From the deepest reaches of the Church, where the remains of the first-generation godslayer were impaled on a cross, its face a grotesque fusion of machine and flesh bearing a wry smile, a voice echoed through the church without moving its lips:"The vessel will eventually be filled, and the torch is destined to burn."

The embryo's body dissolved into silver sand, merging into Kane's bronze arm-guard. All the ice roses on the flesh-carpet withered simultaneously, collapsing into black seeds. Then Lia's ceramic doll emitted a piercing shriek: "Hurry! They are awakening!"

Blood Moon HomewardAs the modified battle tank burst beyond the church's perimeter, the entire frozen plain began to collapse. Tens of thousands of black seeds burst from the soil, growing into giant trees of fused flesh and metal, their neural tendrils from the crowns piercing straight into the irradiated clouds.

Seline's mechanical eye recorded a data stream: "Energy readings are equal to the explosive yield of the Terminal Throne… No, they're still climbing!"

Alice slotted her scepter into the vehicle's weapon bay, and Ice Rose shells thundered toward the nearest flesh-metal giant tree. Instead of sparks, the explosion showered thick silver blood, which congealed midair into the face of Ash.

"Do you like the gift?" that face sneered familiarly. "The real battle is just beginning, rookies."

Kane's bronze arm-guard retracted automatically, revealing inner inscriptions—Ash's final testament carved with the Church's Inquisitorial Sword, which also serves as the title for Volume II:

The Old God Awakens