Infinite Paths: The Raging Phoenix

Gasping for air, Rain struggled to draw breath into his lungs, each inhalation was a laborious effort as waves of pain washed over him in relentless torrents. The world around him blurs as he battles to maintain consciousness, his vision swimming with dizzying swirls of darkness threatening to engulf him.

With sheer determination, Rain focused his remaining strength on the task at hand. Despite the overwhelming anguish coursing through his body, he summons the remnants of his power, channeling it into a desperate attempt to heal his grievous wounds and dull the intensity of the pain.

"That was an insane technique… in any case, hurry up," Elisabetha said. "He is regenerating."

Rain was still trembling thanks to the pain, but he forced himself to head to where the machine god's body was supposed to be… he only found a stain on the wall of metal… but there were numerous purple shards slowly moving together to the center of the stain… that should be the core of the machine god, where all of its information was stored.

"I was expecting something more… I don't know what I was expecting," Rain said. "Something big enough to store data of millions of years would become bigger even with the technological advance, but if it was created with some magical properties, then things would be different."

"You should use Information Extraction again in each fragment," Elisabetha said. "I will organize the data into files using your mental landscape. After all the data is extracted, the machine god will cease to be, and then it will stop working."

That made sense, so Rain began to work on that… It was weird to think that an enemy like that was just a massive amalgamation of data, and without that, it couldn't even be considered an actual living being.

As Rain used the technique on the fragments, they began to fall apart one after the other, and Rain also obtained something else from it aside from all that data.

The skill Teleport leveled up.

The skill Pocket Dimension Leveled up.

The skill Portal Conjuration leveled up.

…

The Space Manipulator path leveled up.

The Space Manipulator path leveled up.

…

Since the enemy had full control over space, those skills gained one hundred levels, and so did the path, but Rain didn't unlock a new one… he was quite certain that Loks could bend space better than him still, though.

"I guess I will have to study the files to learn further…" Rain though.

When all the fragments were destroyed, the structure began to return to normal… the metal began to expand in all directions, and then the giant robot also began to fall apart… Although Rain thought that things would be noisy in his mental landscape, it looked like the machine god didn't assume a form there… he was truly gone, with not even a spirit left behind.

"Ugh… time to bail before the other machine gods realize what had happened," Rain said when all the parts of the giant robot split, but then he finally found the relic that they wanted.

The moonbow emerged like a celestial phenomenon, a breathtaking display of nature's artistry that captivates all who behold its splendor. Against the backdrop of the night sky, the moonbow manifested as a delicate arc of iridescent hues, its ethereal beauty rivaling even the most vibrant stars.

Silvery moonlight, filtered through the veil of mist and moisture in the air, serves as the catalyst for this wondrous spectacle. As the moon's gentle rays, the droplets suspended in the atmosphere, they scatter and refract, creating a spectrum of colors that dance and shimmer across the night.

Shades of pale silver and shimmering white form the bow's outer edges, while hints of pastel hues – delicate blues, soft purples, and whispers of pink and green – adorn its inner curves.

"She is unconscious as well… but it doesn't look like she is like Marie," Elisabetha said. "Loks didn't use her too many times."

"All right…" Rain said and then used Telepathy. "The battle is over. Enter the portals."

"It was about damn time," Terra said.

"How were things in your end? Why didn't you say anything until now?" Seara asked.

"We will talk about this later," Rain said.

Using space magic got much easier… Rain didn't feel any strain in his head and the side of his pocket dimension increased by five times. Rain also teleported directly to their base, and he only felt a bit dizzy… the mission was over, but once Rain relaxed, he had no idea for how long he slept, but he could tell that it had been a long time since he didn't even dream.

He spent the whole time in a deep slumber, and when he woke up, he felt really annoyed by his stomach groaning endlessly.

Before leaving his tent, Rain checked his body… his right arm was back to normal… even his face was completely fine. While his counter stopped most of the damage that Loks could have caused, it still hit him, and it was a blow that could have exploded his upper body instantly…

"You are finally back to the world of the living," Elisabetha said. "You stayed out for two weeks."

"... I am not surprised," Rain said. "I take it that nothing major happened."

"I don't know. I am not interested in anything that isn't related to the enemies," Elisabetha said. "So, I have been busy focusing on checking the data that we obtained from the machine god. Still, there is too much…"

Rain decided to check his mental landscape and soon furrowed his eyebrows. Elisabetha truly managed to turn all the knowledge of Loks into a library, but it was the size of an endless sea. It was hard to tell when he would be able to obtain all the data. It was also hard to tell how many times that will have to happen.

"Can you organize this by date?" Rain asked. "I am interested in learning about the start of the machine gods."