The thin atmosphere of the ionosphere was torn apart by the roar of the dragon riders, and Selina's crystal dragon wings dragged a fluorescent blue tail flame as they cut through the clouds. She bit the vampire beacon in her mouth and fired the last three reverse scale missiles at the flagship of the Church: "Shoot at the reactor for me!"
The Type III Holy Seal shield suddenly exploded on the missile's trajectory, and hundreds of dragon knight tentacles stretched out from the flagship's abdomen. Those things didn't look like mechanical creations at all - the end of each tentacle was embedded with a quantum projection of the Lyria embryo, and the resonance waves generated by the fish tails detonated the missile in mid-air.
"Switch to barrage suppression!" Selina's mechanical prosthetic limbs grabbed the out-of-control Dragonborn recruit on the flank, and her crystal wings swept away the slime missiles that were flying towards her. "Don't stare at their eyes!"
It was too late. The recruit's protective mask was shattered by the resonance wave, and his pupils instantly split into Lyria's fluorescent blue: "Sister... why did you abandon me..." The energy beam of the Holy Light Cannon burst out of his throat, blasting his two teammates into quantum dust.
(Misha's fragments of consciousness scream in the data cage——Gray's ice claws pierce the incubator——Elena's mechanical fingers dig out the reverse scale——)
Selina's tail strangled the rebel's neck, and black blood splashed on the wings and condensed into a miniature holy seal. She suddenly realized that this was not blood - it was Misha's consciousness data stream, which was corroding the crystal scales: "Ryan! Your girlfriend is playing tricks!"
Ryan's Star Abyss Holy Sword pierced out from the lower cloud sea, and the moment it cut off the flagship's tentacles, the "Timeless ω" code on the hilt burst into ripples of time and space. The slime barrage of the dragoons suddenly stopped, and each bullet reflected a scene from the Industrial Revolution period - young Elena was welding fragments of the Dragon King's skull into the spine of the first generation of dragoons.
"The resonance point is in the left wing engine!" Irene's remaining chip screamed in Ryan's scar, "Use Selina's reverse scale frequency!"
Selina's crystal wings suddenly flapped uncontrollably in the opposite direction, throwing her to the left wing of the flagship. The slime from the dragon knight's tentacles splashed on the wings, and the crystal scales began to quantum disintegrate. Misha's consciousness emerged from the debris: "Save me... They are rewriting the agreement..."
"Sending a distress signal at this time?!" Selina inserted her mechanical prosthetic limb into the engine cooling vent, using the force to swing away the rushing dragoon, "I'm not your exclusive customer service!"
Ryan's holy sword split the slime barrage, and the moment the blade touched the flagship armor, time and space folded again. They fell into the cloud data space, where 299 fragments of Misha's consciousness floated, each nailed to the dragon cavalry core by a "III" chain.
"Brother... let's go..." All the fragments of Misha spoke at the same time, their voices mixed with the frequency of Liria's lullaby.
Selina's crystal wings completely disintegrated, and the debris condensed into the Star Abyss Key in the air. She grabbed the key and inserted it into the flagship console, and the entire data space suddenly went berserk - the dragon cavalry core extended the Vatican optical cable and transformed her mechanical prosthesis into a holy light cannon barrel.
"You like transformation, don't you?" Selina turned her gun around with a grin, "I'm going to give you a big one!"
The energy beam of the reverse scale penetrated the data space, and the left wing of the flagship in reality exploded. But the real terror came from the cracks - Liria's complete body appeared in the quantum storm, her fish tail wrapped around the mask of the first judge, and the "III" brand on her forehead emitted resonance waves.
Selina's mechanical prosthesis suddenly grabbed her throat, and the Holy Light Cannon aimed at Ryan uncontrollably: "Fuck... This girl is rewriting my neural protocol..."
Ryan's holy sword pierced into the resonance wave trajectory, and the blade collided with Liria's mark to create a vortex of time and space. In the crack, he saw the most desperate truth - the cores of all the dragon riders were embedded with fragments of Misha's consciousness, and these fragments were being reorganized into the final version of the Matrix Protocol.
(Gray's ice claws are engraved with the termination code—Elena's tears drip on the star chip—Liriya's embryo's fish tail slaps the culture medium—)
"Selina! Wing fragments!" Ryan's symbiote's right arm grabbed the crystal scales floating in the air, "There is Misha's key inside!"
Serena used her teeth to tear off the mechanical prosthesis, and the black blood that spurted out dyed the crystal fragments red. The fragments suddenly reorganized into a complete projection of Misha's consciousness: "Attack the third pattern of the brand... Gray left a backdoor..."
Liria's resonance wave reached its peak at this moment, and all the dragoons exploded synchronously. Selina grabbed Ryan's ankle and threw him towards the wreckage of the flagship, while she rushed towards Liria in the quantum storm: "I'm on credit... Remember to erect a monument for me!"
The moment her body hit the "III" brand, the crystal fragments burst out Gray's frost code. Liria's fish tail suddenly froze, and a crack appeared on the Judge's mask - inside it was suspended the star chip left by Elena, engraved with the "Matrix Agreement Termination Key".
"Mom..." Lyria's crying suddenly returned to human frequency, and the quantum storm stopped abruptly.
Selina's body disappeared in the bright light, and the last scale fell into Ryan's palm. Inside the scale was engraved a bloody last word: "Don't believe anyone's tears."
Branch Undercurrent
Gray's ice claw wreckage rose from the flagship's debris, and the fluorescence of "Key activated" appeared on the surface. On the other side of the abyss, Liria's frozen fish tail was oozing Elena's DNA mucus, gradually condensing into a new judge mask...