Tears streaming from her eyes, Emily rushed out to throw herself protectively over Arcadia. She cradled the priestess in her arms and shouted into her shoulder, "It's all right!" But it wasn't. Of course it wasn't. How could it be? Emily saw everything from the monitors. The moment the nukes went off and the remains of the Arsalan capital. Up to the point when the shockwave reached the drone transmitting the footage. It was not all right. It was a calamity.

But such a sad attempt at comforting did not get through to the priestess. She screamed, fists flying at Emily who hung on to the priestess as if she was the only life-saving device in a vast and turbulent ocean.

Overhead, the drones carried on uncaringly.

[Comms: Somnus, Gram. Reboot complete. EMP damage: 23%. Acknowledge.]

[Comms: Somnus, Gram. Target annihilated. Shockwave speed: 301.2 m/s. FOB Alpha outside thermal radiation zone. Acknowledge.]

[Comms: Somnus, Gram. Shockwave impact at FOB Alpha: 1 hour, 24 minutes. No overpressures expected.]

Finally, Arcadia calmed down. More precisely, she pa.s.sed out. Emily's tears fell on the priestess' cheeks, and then she looked up to Somnus. "Why?" her question was a breathy whisper.

"Reason: First Strike against potential threat," Somnus' mechanical voice shook the area.

"There was no threat!" Emily hissed through her teeth. "Thousands of people just died!"

"Threat: Designation "Herald"."

"No! It doesn't work like that! There was no Herald there!" Emily's face was twisted into a grimace of disbelief. "You killed everyone in that city for nothing!"

"Input discarded. Reason: Irrelevant."

"Irrelevant!?" Emily blinked, eyes wide. "How can you just... be so cold? Does life mean anything to you?"

"Queries discarded."

"Somnus... what you just did released the Herald, don't you understand that?" Emily asked, marshalling all her mental fort.i.tude to attempt to explain the concept to the warmachine.

"Negative. First Strike success rate: 100%. Designation "Herald" survival rate probability: 0%."

"No. No!" Emily shouted between sobs. "It was not there. It was not hiding in the city. It was not sleeping under the city."

"Define: Location of designation "Herald"," Somnus rumbled, the missile silos opening once more with a loud hiss.

[Weapons: Missile Silo #2, ready for launch.]

"I don't know! But now it will surely appear. There are rules that cannot be broken!" Emily shouted. "Countries and nations exist to keep the Heralds at bay. If one disappears..." she trailed off and looked towards the sky.

The sky brightened all of a sudden. Golden rays of light pierced the gathering clouds as they swirled into themselves like a giant vortex in the sky.

[Radar: Weather anomaly detected.]

Gale force winds blasted the area causing the trees in the distance to sway. Emily cradled the unconsciouss priestess closer to her bosom and ducked her head. Her lips moved, but the howl of the wind silenced her voice.

"Machine G.o.d Somnus," an all-present voice echoed through the area. "What you have done was a mistake. Your existence is an affront to heaven."

A golden figure descended from the clouds. The figure had eight arms and three eyes, one in the center of her forehead. Her long, golden hair shone in the darkness caused by the cloud cover, glimmering like jewels spread across the sky. In her black eyes, the stars twinkled.

[OPCOM: Target unfindable. No EM radiation. Camera error.]

[Camera: No errors detected.]

[OPCOM: Anomaly detected. No EM radiation detected. Request a.n.a.lysis.]

[Heuristics: Camera not malfunctioning. Anomaly cannot interact in 3+1 dimensions. Threat level: 0]

"G.o.ddess Heptia..." Emily whispered as the winds died down.

[Target information updated: G.o.d.]

"Are you truly a G.o.d? Is that what gives you the hubris to deem it fit to attack my city?" The G.o.ddess asked as she hovered in mid-air. Her eight arms merged together until they were just two.

"Negative. Designation "G.o.d" Threat Level: 0. Designation "Somnus" Threat Level: 10."

[Comms: Somnus, Gram. s.p.a.cetime distortion detected at location of ground zero.]

[FOB Alpha: Area temperature decreasing rapidly.]

[Probability Matrix: Likely cause: designation "Heptia".]

[Comms: Somnus, Gram. s.p.a.cetime distortion detected at location of ground zero. Uplink available.]

[Uplink: Uplink failed.]

[FOB Alpha: EM interference detected.]

[Probability Matrix: Likely cause of jamming: designation "Heptia".]

[OPCOM: Desgination "Heptia" is engaging in hostile action: Electronic Warfare. Engage target.]

The lasers came to life with a dull red glow. The silver armor of the warmachine was momentarily painted with the color of malevolent destruction. The batteries released a loud hum as they charged to their peak capacity and then spat out twin lances.

Instantaneously, the laser struck the air before Heptia, coiled around her and then shot into the sky. Slowly, the laser beam swirled around its axis until it came down and cut a straight line across the ground, leaving molten slag in its wake before blasting off into the distance and fading out.

[Weapons a.n.a.lysis: Laser trajectory recorded as straight with no deviation. Target impact. No effect.]

[Optical a.n.a.lysis: Laser trajectory recorded as distorted. No impact on target.]

[System Error.]

[Probability Matrix: Likely cause of data mismatch: s.p.a.ce distortion.]

"So belligerent," the G.o.ddess scoffed and gestured with her hand.

[Armor: Section F - H critical damage.]

[Hydraulics: No response.]

Somnus' left legs were completely blown off by an invisible force, including a small chunk of its left side. The cut was so precise and perfect that it formed a perfectly straight line. The bits and pieces crashed into a factory and a storage facility behind it, crus.h.i.+ng them and several dozens of drones working near the site.

Emily trembled in fear, still protecting the priestess with her own body.

[Designation "G.o.d" Threat Level updated:

]

The G.o.ddess hovered closer to Somnus and placed a hand against the center of its body. "Are you ready to listen, Machine "G.o.d"?" The last word was filled with mockery and sarcasm.

"Declare purpose," Somnus' voice was quiet and clear.

"I have taken the effort to restore my city to the way it was," the G.o.ddess said, caressing Somnus' irregular curves. "I have named it "Insomnia" in your honor."

"Declare reason."

"You released the Herald," she whispered. "You will be the one that will conquer it."

[Comms: Somnus, Gram. s.p.a.cetime distortion detected at location ground zero.]

"Now go to your city, Somnus," she said as she floated towards the sky. "Unmake the wrongs you have done, and be a good King. I give you this blessing." A golden glow appeared in the darkened skies and glittering motes fell from the sky.

[Congratulations! You are now able to gain levels!]

[Target: EM Radiation detected.]

[Railgun: 480mm HE loaded.]

"Request denied."

A crackle of electricity spread thunderous shockwaves through the area as the railgun charged and expelled a ma.s.sive slug. The echo of the shot sounded like the flapping of wings, disappearing into the distance. The slug impacted with the G.o.ddess' form and shrouded her in a ma.s.sive fireball. The detonation was so powerful it peeled off the top layers of the FOB's outerwalls facing the G.o.ddess' direction. The dark clouds overhead were blown away and it was a clear sky once more.

[You have gained a level! x999]

"You will regret this..." the voice came from nowhere and everywhere.

"Negative."

Where Heptia once floated, nothing but sparkling dust remained. The dust flew into the sky.