When Gray's ice claws got stuck on the edge of the Xingyuan rift, mucus was oozing out of the crack, carrying the smell of the disinfectant that Elaina often used. Ryan's holy sword was against his throat, but the blade was buzzing due to some kind of genetic resonance - the cloned heart in Gray's chest was beating in sync with the "Raine-ω" code under Ryan's reverse scale scar.
"Cut it..." Gray's mechanical voice was mixed with the noise of a chainsaw, "Just like you did to Liria..."
The holy sword suddenly deflected on its own and cut off Gray's left arm. At that moment, Ryan saw that what was seeping out of the remains of the ice claw was not engine oil - it was Elena's DNA mucus, which was climbing up his reverse scale scar along the hilt.
(Lyria embryo reaches out from the incubator—Gray's ice claws pierce the observation window—the smell of disinfectant mixed with dragon blood—)
"What the hell is this?!" Ryan's scar suddenly vibrated quantumly, and fragments of Liria's memories from her infancy emerged.
Gray's body burst into a crazy laugh as if his gears were stuck. He used his broken arm to poke into the crack of the abyss and pulled out a bundle of nerves wrapped with the Holy Seal of the Church: "Dear brother... Haven't you recognized your brother's blood yet?"
The neural bundle suddenly folded quantumly, dragging the two into the depths of the rift. There were 299 broken clone pods floating here, each containing the remains of a young Gray, with Elena's star chip inserted in the spine.
"When my mother transformed me for the first time..." Gray's ice claws tore open his chest, revealing the words "Lyria Protector β" engraved on the mechanical heart, "You were still soaking in Lyria's culture medium..."
Raine's holy sword suddenly lost control, and the "Raine-ω" code on the hilt split into blood. He saw inside the sword - Elena's mechanical spine was wrapped around two gene chains, connecting Gray and Liria's baby data respectively.
"Lies..." Black mucus oozed out of Ryan's reverse scale scar, which condensed into Elena's afterimage in the air, "Don't believe him..."
Gray's ice claw suddenly accelerated quantum speed, piercing Ryan's shoulder blade and nailing him to the cloning chamber. A holographic image emerged where the mucus splashed - Elena 20 years ago was holding baby Gray and sewing the fish tail of Liria's embryo to her uterus.
"She begged me to protect you..." Gray's mechanical pupils split into the Holy Seal of the Church, "But you have forgotten her pain..."
The Star Abyss rift suddenly collapsed, and Liria's complete body fell from the void. Her fish tail swung out 299 genetic chains, each of which was entangled with the remains of a Ryan clone. The "III" brand on her forehead fired a holy light cannon, but Gray blocked it with the remains of his ice claws. In the sparks of the collision, Ryan saw the words engraved on the inside of the ice claws: "My brother's fault."
(Young Gray slaps the glass of the operating room—Elena's mechanical finger is pierced by Liria's fish tail—The judge's mask drips with mucus—)
"You are the first container..." Ryan's scar spurted out the Star Abyss Core Fluid, corroding Gray's mechanical joints, "Mom used you to experiment with genetic chimera..."
Gray's body suddenly rose up, and his ice claws pierced into Ryan's reverse scale scar. In the pain of genetic resonance, the two saw the memory at the same time - Elena knelt in front of the judge with blood all over her body, exchanging Gray's first-generation clone for Liria's right to live.
"She chose you..." Gray's vocal cords suddenly returned to human voice, and a sample of Elena's tears oozed out of the tip of his crampons, "But the church needs something more perfect..."
Liria's Holy Light Cannon charged again, this time aiming at Gray's core. Ryan's Holy Sword blocked on its own, and the code on the hilt mutated into "Ellen-β" - Ellen's remaining chip screamed deep in the scar: "Can't kill! The resonance will detonate all the clones!"
Gray's mechanical heart overloaded at this moment. He grabbed Ryan's wrist guard and pressed it against his chest: "Take it... This is Mom's last..."
The moment the heart was pulled out, all the clone pods in the Xingyuan Rift exploded synchronously. Ryan saw the truth engraved on the surface of the heart - the controller that Elena had modified with her own spine was remotely suppressing Liria's Matrix Protocol.
"She never... gave up on us..." Gray's body fell into the abyss of the rift, and Ice Claw finally ejected a memory capsule - which contained the real birth video of Liria.
The moment Ryan caught the capsule, Liria's Holy Light Cannon shattered his defense barrier. When he was dying, he activated the heart controller - Liria's "III" brand suddenly collapsed, and the fishtail's Holy Seal of the Church faded, revealing the dragon gene embroidery sewn by Elena herself.
"Brother..." Liria's voice was like a human cry for the first time, and the holy light cannon barrel softened into a baby's arm, "Where is mom..."
The remains of Gray's ice claws suddenly flew back from the abyss and pierced into Ryan's reverse scale scar. In the bright light of genetic resonance, Elena's DNA sample merged with the scar, forming a new controller mark on Ryan's chest - the shape was exactly the handprint that Liria grasped when she was a baby.
Branch undercurrent:
Selina found Gray's ice claw fragments outside the Xingyuan, and inside them was a distress signal from Misha's consciousness. And under Liria's faded holy seal, the fragments of the Judge's mask were slowly emerging, with "Maternal Override Protocol Activated" engraved on the surface...