Chapter 82: The Perfect Machina Type Cataclysm–Class Starbearer

Chapter 82: The Perfect Machina Type Cataclysm–Class Starbearer

Rocks fell like raindrops, and the island crumbled as if the end of the world had arrived.

The open-air training grounds where the Children of the Stars once trained had been smashed into a pockmarked wasteland, utterly unrecognizable. In the distance, the cafeteria was pulverized like a soft cake, blown apart into pieces amid continuous explosions and raging flames.

Yet neither of these places had suffered the worst.

As one of the two areas singled out for special “attention”, the outer staff dormitory zone on the ground had now been almost completely destroyed. One of the largest dormitory buildings had even been sheared diagonally in half by some enormous boulder, exposing its honeycomb-like rooms inside.

“Help—help me!”

“Medical team! The west sector needs support!”

Amid the overlapping screams of countless outer members of the Embers base, Tendou slowly walked to the outer gate and lifted his head to look at the sky above.

There, directly overhead, a massive floating island revealed a staggering tip of its iceberg-like bulk through the thick storm clouds.

At the top of the floating island stood a group of people wearing Starbearer Association uniforms, gazing coldly down at the Embers base below, where explosions and flames continued to erupt.

In their eyes, those outer Embers members—faces pale with terror as they fled in all directions—were nothing more than insignificant cockroaches. If they died, so be it; they were not worth wasting expressions on.

And yet, among this group of indifferent onlookers, two people displayed entirely different reactions.

One was an Association member from the Deep Blue Metropolis Branch—Gohn.

The other was the Clockwork Knight from the Steam City Branch—William.

The former wore an expression of disgust; the latter, one of pity.

“William, they’re just a bunch of self-degenerate wretches,” said Benjamin, who stood beside him, noticing William’s reaction and offering what he clearly thought was a kind reassurance. “There’s no need to sympathize with them.”

But William did not quite agree.

“No, Captain. I feel that among them, there must still be people worth saving, so—”

“There is no ‘so,’ William. Watch your place.”

“You are merely a branch vice-captain. And Lord Byron… is an envoy from the headquarters.”

“You have neither the right nor the standing to question Lord Byron’s decisions or methods.”

Before William could finish, Benjamin—who had been gentle a moment ago—suddenly turned cold and cut him off. Faced with the contempt for life in Benjamin’s eyes, William could only swallow his words, his expression complicated, as though he were seeing this captain—suddenly parachuted in from headquarters to Steam City—for the first time.

Meanwhile, Isaiah—codename Sea Spider, captain of a Deep Blue Branch special operations squad—noticed Gohn beside him turning to leave and immediately barked out, “Gohn, where do you think you’re going?”

Gohn didn’t stop. He didn’t even bother turning around. Instead, he pulled one hand out of his pocket and waved it dismissively at Isaiah behind him, his attitude blatantly arrogant, making it clear he had no respect for this so-called squad captain at all.

“It’s a slaughter with no suspense. What’s there to watch?”

“A match is only interesting when it’s fair, even if that fairness exists only on the surface.”

With that, Gohn deliberately found a relatively flat rock and lay down on it without a care in the world.

This casual, discipline-defying behavior instantly darkened Isaiah’s expression.

It made him feel that his authority as captain of the Deep Blue Branch’s Third Squad had been openly challenged—and, worse, that he had embarrassed himself in front of Lord Byron.

After all, what chance did a man who couldn’t even control his own subordinates have of impressing headquarters?

Isaiah had been counting on this precious opportunity to make a good showing before Byron, the headquarters’ envoy—so that he might earn the man’s favor and finally enter the headquarters he had long dreamed of.

Therefore, seeing Gohn make a mistake at such a critical moment, Isaiah immediately prepared to teach him a proper lesson.

However, before he could take any action, the headquarters envoy, Byron, who had been focused on controlling Heavenfall, unexpectedly spoke up.

“Let him be, Isaiah. Since Gohn wants to rest, then let him rest for a while. Don’t disturb him,” Byron said calmly. “After all, his task… is far more crucial than yours.”

“…Yes,” Isaiah replied stiffly.

Again.

It was happening again!

Watching this headquarters envoy show Gohn that same near-indulgent tolerance without the slightest restraint, Isaiah’s face twisted with resentment.

At the same time, as if on purpose, Gohn—lying atop the rock—chose that exact moment to smile at him, the mockery in it unmistakable.

In an instant, Isaiah felt an inferno of rage ignite in his chest.

Why?

He was clearly the captain of the Deep Blue Branch’s Third Squad, yet whether it was the Deep Blue Branch President, Dotray, or the headquarters envoy standing here now, Byron—they all treated Gohn with almost limitless indulgence, forgiving him again and again for every act of insubordination and willfulness.

Just because Gohn was younger than him?

Just because he was the only person in the branch with a 100% mission success rate?

But if those missions had been given to him, Isaiah could have done them just as well!

If he had been allowed to freely choose missions—If he had been granted the same near-limitless allocation of branch resources—then he might well have achieved a perfect completion rate too!

Damn you, Gohn. Don’t ever let me catch an opening—otherwise, I’ll make you pay!

Lying on the rock, Gohn could more or less guess what Isaiah was thinking from his darkened expression, but he couldn’t care less.

In his view, the moment Isaiah chose to curry favor with Byron in exchange for a chance to enter the headquarters, Isaiah had already surrendered in his heart to the other competitors.

And in this arena called life, someone who had cast away both confidence and dignity was fated never to stand on the same stage as him again.

Yes, Byron—acting as the “referee”—might have the power to influence the direction of a match.

But that only worked when the “athlete” himself possessed a certain level of strength.

With Isaiah’s current ability, a single referee named Byron wasn’t enough to save him.

Not to mention… who Byron would choose to help was far from certain.

At that thought, Gohn didn’t even care whether Isaiah could hear him or not, and burst out laughing without restraint.

That laughter, when it reached Isaiah’s ears, shattered the last of his self-control.

He was just about to completely tear off the mask and give Gohn a painful lesson when Byron, standing at the very front, suddenly spoke again.

“Alright. I’ve already cleared out most of the star energy detection devices below.”

“Once that guy comes out and I hold him in place, you’ll find an opening and deploy the four Starbeast Induction Devices.”

“Yes.”

Isaiah and Benjamin answered in unison, then turned and walked toward the four massive Starbeast Induction Devices—each towering nearly ten meters tall.

But at that very moment, a resounding dragon’s roar suddenly rose from the Embers base below.

Not long after, before the stunned eyes of Isaiah and Benjamin—a gigantic mechanical dragon, its entire body forged from special metal, burst out from the Embers base amid explosions and raging flames.

As the colossal mechanical dragon ascended skyward, and as the familiar figure standing atop its head came into view, Byron’s expression turned feverish with excitement.

“So you did come out at last,” he said, voice trembling. “Embers’ Doctor— no—”

A sharp grin split his face.

“One of the Grand President’s former students.”

“Zmey Gorynych, a Perfect Third-Order Machina Starbearer who’s titled as the Dragon Mechanic.”

Amid Byron’s excited words, the Doctor, standing upon the mechanical dragon, ignored the massive boulders flying all around him.

He flew straight up above the clouds, locking eyes across the air with Byron, who stood atop the floating island.

Neither of them spoke.

Yet an invisible clash of pressure silently erupted between the two.

At the same time, including Benjamin and Isaiah, the vast majority of the Starbearer Associations present were forced to their knees, their bodies completely out of their control under the gaze of the mechanical dragon beneath the Doctor.

Only Gohn and William managed to withstand that invisible pressure and barely remain standing.

Gohn, who had already climbed down from the rock, was gripping a red card tightly in his hand, staring excitedly at the mechanical dragon beneath the Doctor, as though weighing whether—if he could secretly manipulate the match as a referee—there might be a chance to turn weakness into victory.

William, on the other hand, clenched his teeth and planted both hands firmly against the Second-Hand Greatsword embedded in the ground, barely preventing himself from kneeling.

For one who upheld the knight’s creed, kneeling before an enemy in “submission” was absolutely unacceptable.

Noticing the state of these two, the Doctor showed a trace of surprise—and, rarely, offered extremely high praise.

“Byron, it seems that in order to obtain the ‘key’ in my possession, you truly did find two rather outstanding helpers.”

“One is a madman who pursues extremes at any cost. The other is a fool who chases fantasies without restraint. They… both possess the potential to reach perfection.”

“After all, perfection has never descended upon mortals who hesitate and look back.”

“And this is the true reason why you have always fallen short of me.”

Byron did not agree with the Doctor’s assessment.

He slowly removed the mask from his face, revealing beneath it a terrifying, fully mechanized visage.

“Is that so?” Byron said coldly. “Then why is it that this ‘mortal’ you speak of has now trapped your powerful ‘dragon’ right here?”

“And as long as I can obtain the ‘key’ you carry, then even if I am merely a mortal, I will still have the chance to make up for my flaws and forge that supreme, unparalleled ‘perfection’!”

What Byron did not expect was that the Doctor showed no anger at this faintly provocative statement.

Instead, with deep regret in his voice, he said, “Byron, it seems that even after fifteen years, you are still just as incapable of recognizing reality.”

“You should understand this: if you were truly capable of forging ‘perfection,’ then you would not need the key I hold.”

“And if you are incapable of forging ‘perfection,’ then even if you obtained my key, you would still be unable to do so.”

“In this regard, you don’t even see things as clearly as the two juniors behind you.”

“After all, they have always been very clear about what their ‘perfection’ truly is.”

“…”

The excitement on Byron’s face gradually faded, replaced by an inexplicable gloom and icy indifference.

He raised his hand.

The massive floating island beneath him began to tremble violently.

Moments later, a gigantic mechanical fortress—constructed entirely from cutting-edge technology—split apart from within the floating island itself and emerged in full view.

Byron stepped forward and stood atop his mechanical fortress.

The terrifying pressure of a High Level fourth-order Starbearer caused even the surrounding clouds to twist and distort.

Staring straight at the Doctor standing on the head of the mechanical dragon in the distance, Byron said coldly:

“Gorynych, whether someone has the quality to reach perfection or not is not for a homeless dog like you to decide.”

“Once I obtain the key you’ve hidden on your person, I will make that judgment myself.”

Boom!

As a bolt of thunder tore through the clouds, Byron and the Doctor, with uncanny mutual understanding, both began to ascend, rapidly pulling apart in altitude.

They knew very well that a battle between the two of them—even its mere aftershocks—would be enough to utterly annihilate everything around them.

Because in order to emphasize the danger posed by fourth-order Starbearers, the Association had even bestowed upon them a special title.

That title was “Cataclysm.”

And although the Doctor was only a Perfect Third-Order Starbearer, in terms of raw power, a Perfect Third-Order was fully equivalent to a Fourth-Order existence.

In other words, the Doctor was likewise a Cataclysm-class Starbearer.

When two Cataclysms collided, all they would bring to everyone else was an even greater catastrophe.

Thus, moving to a battlefield far away from the others was a mutual, unspoken understanding between him and Byron.

Before a cataclysm, all else are ants—that was no empty saying.

As the Doctor and Byron, those two terrifying Cataclysm-class Starbearers, completely vanished into the distant clouds at the edge of the sky, the Starbearer Associations left behind on the floating island were finally able to catch their breath.

After a brief respite, they immediately began carrying out the orders Byron had left behind, rising and moving toward the four enormous Starbeast Induction Devices not far away.

However, during this process, one person once again chose not to follow the rules.

“Gohn! Why are you lying there again?! Have you forgotten what Lord Byron said?!”

Seeing Gohn return once more to lie atop the flat rock, Isaiah—now without Byron present—could no longer suppress the fury boiling in his heart.

Yet in the face of Isaiah’s near-devouring rage, Gohn’s reply was lazy, but carried an unquestionable firmness.

“Come on. You want me to lure a bunch of Starbeasts to attack a group of people whose strongest are only at the second-order? How is that any different from having someone beat up the opposing athletes before the match even begins?”

“You should know that all the authority I have as a referee comes from the audience’s belief in ‘fairness.’”

“And once the audience believes my judgments have lost their fairness, then I—as a referee—naturally lose the very reason for my existence.”

“Therefore, no matter how important the match is, the first thing I have to consider is not how to defeat my opponent, but how to make the audience believe the match is fair—and agree to let me take the field.”

“Because only then can I exercise the power they have entrusted to me.”

At this point, Gohn—already lying on his side atop the rock—yawned, scratched his slightly itchy back, and said lightly,

“Isaiah, I’ve already pretended not to see you going off-field to beat up the other side’s athletes.”

“But if you insist on dragging me into this filthy operation as well, then you’d better be prepared to be beaten to death by me first.”

“After all, the audience’s eyes are sharp. You might be able to fool yourself, but you can’t fool them.”

With that, Gohn ignored Isaiah’s ugly expression entirely and began to snore.

That damned bastard—

He actually fell asleep at such an important, critical moment!

And it was right after Gohn finished speaking that William, who had been walking toward the four Starbeast Induction Devices, suddenly stopped, a thoughtful look crossing his face.

“What the hell is wrong with you now?!”

Seeing William also come to a sudden halt for no apparent reason, Isaiah—his mind completely consumed by rage—no longer cared about maintaining any “comrade’s dignity” and roared at him outright.

In response, William said calmly,

“Mr. Isaiah, I believe Mr. Gohn is right. I might be able to deceive myself, but I cannot deceive the audience outside the field.”

“Likewise, a knight’s justice is to swing his sword at a fully armed enemy—not to bring down the blade upon defenseless civilians.”

“Failing earlier to persuade Lord Byron already meant I had somewhat betrayed the justice in my heart.”

“If that is the case, then I cannot continue to compound one mistake with another.”

“I know that on the battlefield, all means can be justified in the name of victory. But a righteous knight should not use that as an excuse to deceive himself—much less to deceive others.”

“So, I can watch you lower those four Starbeast Induction Devices that symbolize the ‘butcher’s blade,’ but you cannot expect me to pick up that blade myself.”

“I’m sorry.”

Hearing William’s words, Isaiah was completely stunned.

He truly could not believe that in the cruel Starbearer world—one filled with danger, intrigue, and endless schemes—someone as foolishly idealistic as William could even exist.

The knight’s code?

No—someone as stupid as you, how did you even survive until today?!

Yet before Isaiah could voice the thoughts raging in his mind, Gohn—who should have been fast asleep not far away—suddenly spoke up again.

“Well now, who would’ve thought that among this bunch of idiots, there’d be someone as interesting as you.”

“Looks like the dragon-riding guy was right—you really do have the potential to achieve perfection.”

“It’s just a shame you seem to have awakened a little too late, and ended up walking the wrong road for part of the way.”

In response, William—who had already fully come to terms with his own heart—remained completely at ease.

“Yes, in the past, I did indeed commit many wrongs and took many detours.”

“But once I truly started a family, and had my own daughter, I suddenly realized my mistakes and began doing everything I could to correct them.”

“After all, as a father, the first thing I must do is set an excellent example for my daughter. Otherwise, she would never feel proud to have a father like me.”

“So that’s how it is…”

Gohn rolled over and sat up, lifting his head to look at the resolute Clockwork Knight, William, standing in the pouring rain.

“No wonder someone once told me that humanity’s most precious treasure is never intelligence, but their rich emotions.”

“If it were a calm, rational Machina, it would absolutely be unable to understand such a foolish idea of yours.”

“After all, changing oneself for the sake of others is no different from asking those Machina to tear down their own base code and rewrite themselves from scratch.”

“Both are equally foolish acts, tantamount to suicide.”

“But…”

Gohn stood up. Ignoring Isaiah, who was glaring at him with bulging eyes, he walked alone to stand before William, staring straight into William’s clear eyes.

“You should think this through carefully. Although I pursue fairness and will, to a certain extent, refuse the temptations of capital, that does not mean I will oppose capital itself.”

“In other words, even if I know someone intends to harm players off the field, at most I’ll warn them—I absolutely won’t risk my life to help them.”

“Because to properly host a match, having spectators alone isn’t enough. You also need the operation of capital.”

“Thus, compromise—and being compromised—are both essential qualities a referee must possess.”

“But you’re different. Right now, you’re practically putting yourself over an open flame, and you could lose your life at any moment because of it.”

“After all, even the weakest, unarmed civilian—given the right conditions—still has a chance to kill a fully armed knight like you.”

Faced with Gohn’s well-intentioned warning, William answered without the slightest hesitation:

“As long as the knight’s code lives within my heart, this body… has no need to return home.”

Hearing this, Gohn froze for a moment, then couldn’t help but sigh.

“…I see. No wonder that dragon-riding guy called you a fool. You really are stupid beyond saving.”

Although Isaiah, Benjamin, and the other Starbearer Associations nearby could not understand the meaning of William’s words—Gohn understood it instantly.

What William meant was that, rather than take up the butcher’s blade and return home with a living body weighed down by guilt and sin, to regret it for the rest of his life—he would rather lay down that blade, and die in a foreign land with honesty and justice, free of shame.

In the former case, the person lives—but the heart is already dead.

In the latter, the person dies—but the heart… remains alive.

Yet even though Gohn could understand William’s thinking, he could not agree with it at all.

After all, if you’re dead, what meaning is there left in talking about whether the heart lives or dies?

But disagreement did not mean that Gohn failed to appreciate William.

“Alright then. Since you’ve already made up your mind, go do as you wish.”

“And if your body really does remain here, don’t worry—if conditions allow, I’ll make sure to bring your heart back.”

“It’s just that no matter how I think about it, if that really happens, it might not be such a good thing for your daughter.”

William smiled, then raised the pink children’s watch on his right wrist.

Amid Gohn’s expression—ugly as if he’d just swallowed a mouthful of filth—William said with unmistakable pride,

“No. I think that if she knew what her father had done, she would be incredibly proud, telling everyone she meets that she has such an outstanding father.”

“Just like how I can now tell everyone, with absolute pride, that I have such an adorable daughter.”

“……”

“Damn it, why does it feel like I’ve stuck my nose in where it doesn’t belong again? You’re nearly twice that Heavenly Mechanism's Feline age, yet somehow what you say sounds almost the same.”

“Hey, Isaiah—when that second-order Dream Starbearer comes out, then send someone to call me.”

“You should know that if I want to hold her back, I need to get a good sleep now. Otherwise, there’s a real chance I’ll suddenly doze off in the middle of the fight.”

With that, Gohn didn’t bother checking whether Isaiah had heard him or not, and immediately flopped down to sleep.

And this time, Gohn truly fell asleep.

As for Isaiah, although he very much wanted to not call Gohn later—so that Gohn would be punished afterward by the headquarters envoy Byron—in the end, he still didn’t dare do it.

Because among the second-order Starbearers present, only Gohn had the ability to hold that monster at bay.

Still, what he thought in his heart didn’t mean he would say it out loud.

“Damn it… that Cataclysm Starbearer was right.”

“You two—one’s an incomprehensible madman, and the other’s a hopeless idiot.”

“Perfection? To hell with perfection! All I know is that as long as you’re alive, whether you achieve Perfect Awakening or not doesn’t matter at all!”

With that, Isaiah led the others to begin installing the pre-prepared Starbeast Induction Devices.

Stationed high in the air, they didn’t need to worry about the massive numbers of ocean-type Starbeasts that would be drawn in by the devices.

Thus, even if this artificially induced Starbeast tide couldn’t completely destroy the Embers base below, it would still be more than enough to drain what little defensive strength the base had left.

. . .

Embers Base—Ground Level, at the Main Gate

“Tendou, do you think the Doctor and the rest of us… can get through this safely?”

After dealing with the final boulder falling from the sky, Chen Xing sheathed her blade and asked gravely, facing Tendou’s back.

At the same time, everyone else among the Children of the Stars—including Chen Kong and Jing Liuli—instinctively gathered around Tendou.

Although they still didn’t fully understand what was happening, the terrifying meteor-like rain of boulders earlier—and the mechanical dragon that had suddenly appeared beneath the Doctor—made it clear that what was unfolding today was anything but ordinary.

So they instinctively turned to Tendou, hoping to learn from him what they should do next.

Because their trust in Tendou had long since been carved into their very bones.

It was as if, as long as Tendou was there, no matter how twisted or arduous the road ahead might be, he would surely lead them through the long and perilous darkness and toward a bright, radiant dawn.

Hearing Chen Xing’s question, Tendou turned around and calmly looked at the hopeful gazes of the Children of the Stars.

After a brief pause—just as anxiety spread across everyone’s faces—Tendou suddenly smiled.

“Don’t worry. Whether it’s you, or the Doctor—everyone will be fine.”

“Because the tomorrow that belongs to you… I’ve already seen it.”

At Tendou’s words, including Chen Xing, all ten of the Children of the Stars present instinctively let out a breath of relief.

Even though they knew that what Tendou said might only be reassurance—for some reason, when those words came from Tendou’s mouth, they were indescribably… comforting.

<+>

Note:

The perfection that they are talking about is the Star Origin Perfect Awakening.

Every Star Origin is unique, achieving a Perfect Awakening is extraordinarily difficult. Most Starbearers only reach Low-Level Awakening. Those considered geniuses can attain Middle-Level Awakening, while only the absolute elite—such as Branch Presidents of the Starbearer Association or individuals of comparable status—are capable of reaching High-Level Awakening.

A Starbearer who manages to reach the Perfect level is super rare, the only one shown so far is the Doctor and the Starbearer Association Grand President.

In the entire Deep Blue Metropolis, Gohn is currently the only Starbearer with a real chance of achieving a Perfect Awakening. However, his condition is extremely strict: he must maintain a 100% victory record across a large number of battles and matches. If he suffers even a single defeat, the possibility of a Perfect Awakening is lost permanently, and the highest level he can reach afterward is only High-Level Awakening, not Perfect.

That's why the Association is being so indulgent toward him, allowing him to choose his mission and all of that.

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