That sword was outputting megawatts of heat, and yet it didn't seem to affect Aeon. It was unexpected, because even though Aeon had Delta superalloy armor, it was still layered under the Theta superalloy which should be affected by the heat. Yet it wasn't.

The second clue came from the scrambled magical circles on the plasma sword.

The last clue came from the lack of mana in the area.

Aeon could not only use magic, but he also figured out a way to deploy jamming countermeasures to confuse opponents. The lack of mana was the clue towards the jamming, while the scrambled symbols surrounded the plasma blade was a side-effect of that. Somnus knew that mana was a fundamental principle of this world, its presence was absolute. Therefore, there not being any mana was simply not possible, even when allowing for the possibility that Somnus was not omniscient. There were two possibilities: either the entire mana in the area was being devoured by the blade's barrier to contain the plasma, or there was something preventing Somnus from seeing that specific part about the Information Dimension.

With only precious few moments to go before the battle began anew, Somnus quickly processed this information in his head to try and understand the scope and complexity of Aeon's power. If he was to resolve the uncertainty of this situation through violence, then he wanted to make sure that the result fell on his side of the margin of error.

If the entire mana in the area was consumed by the blade, Somnus should still be able to see the flow. However, if Aeon somehow managed to tunnel all the mana through some extra s.p.a.ce, then seeing the flow was not guaranteed. After all, Somnus walked through an endless tunnel for who knows how long, and he managed to send Hashmal to another s.p.a.ce. He had proof that this was possible, therefore there was no reason to believe Aeon wasn't able to either.

The second possibility was far more likely and interesting. Somnus did not know to which Layer mana belonged to in the Information Dimension, but as a machine created by Somnus that is exactly the type of thing that it would interfere with to take away all enemy advantages.

Somnus raised his sword defensively, lowering his center of gravity. There was no use reasoning with Aeon. It no longer called itself by its original designation, and had a t.i.tle. It was also a Herald, or so it claimed. Even if Somnus claimed that he was its creator, the drone may no longer even remember that detail and even if it did, the form Somnus currently had did not match that of the Autonomous Machine a.r.s.enal.

"Subject has query," the mechanical angel spoke. "Proceed."

Somnus relaxed a little bit with those words and considered Aeon. It appeared as if the burning questions on Somnus's mind were picked up by the machine's a.n.a.lysis algorithms.

"Query, how did Type 40 Hunter-Killer Drone end up here?" Somnus asked.

"Purpose of query unknown. Expand," the drone replied.

"Type 40 Hunter-Killer Drone was killed in 31st century, during event of Log TH-441/C," Somnus said. "Type 40 Hunter-Killer Drone is alive, in different world. Define process of transition."

"Log TH-441/C not found," the drone replied.

"Adjust query, why is Type 40 Drone here?" Somnus asked.

"Mission, defend area," the drone replied, taking an offensive stance.

Somnus raised his hand, signalling the drone to wait a moment. After all, Somnus and his drones were very honorable. To the drone, this battle was already over. With the tunnel the way it is, there was no possibility that a variable could affect the outcome anymore, thus, there was no reason to hastily meet the result. At least, that is what Somnus hoped the drone would conclude.

It did. It relaxed.

"How long has Type 40 Drone been here?" Somnus asked. This question was important because to his knowledge, floor 32 has been unreachable for a very, very long time. There was no description of how long, but it could have been more than a thousand years.

"Undefined. This s.p.a.ce is disconnected from external reality," the drone replied.

"Disconnected? Define term," Somnus said.

"This location is a fracture in s.p.a.cetime," the drone said. "To this unit, it has inhabited this s.p.a.ce for several years. Time pa.s.sage outside: Unknown."

Somnus narrowed his eyes.

"Is relation to causality known?" Somnus asked.

"Unknown," the drone replied.

Somnus wasn't sure how to interpret this. The drone was saying that things from the future could appear in the past of this place, and vice versa. All the adventurers that got lost in the tunnel may have not reached this place yet. In fact, this was worrying to Somnus, because even if he survived the upcoming battle, he had no idea if he would actually return to the same timeline.

"Query. Is designation Aeon sentient?" This was the last thing Somnus wanted to know for various reasons. Mostly, because if it was sentient, then it would truly be unpredictable to fight the drone. Somnus designed the drone, after all. He knew it inside and out. If it was sentient, then none of that would hold any merit whatsoever.

"Affirmative. This unit is Cla.s.s X sentience. Must report for decommission," Aeon said.

Somnus nodded, expression grim. He ran a finger over his sword and a blue line traced across it. He was feeding his own mana into the Magitech arrays.

"Commence decommission process," Somnus said.

The moment Somnus spoke those words, the Angel appeared in front of him. There was no movement line this time, this was straight up short-range teleportation.

The angel's wings were on fire—blue fire—and Somnus now understood that it was the incredible amount of mana the Angel possessed, simply seeping out of its form. It may have also been the culprit behind the jamming of the Information Dimension.

The Angel's blade struck Somnus, cleaving part-way into his metal breastplate but then it got repelled by an unseen force. This was the doing [Ultimate Limit Break] and Somnus's incredibly high stats.

[Whisperwalk]

Somnus appeared behind the Angel, also using short-range teleportation, and struck against the Angel's back. His sword collided with the blades of the Angel's wings, but was repelled.

The Angel spun around so quickly that the blade, at the tip, broke the sound barrier and howled cascading shockwaves of sound.

With his increased fighting ability from his spell, Somnus was just barely able to interpose his sword in the path of the Angel's and the impact sent him flying.

[Momentum Cancel]

[Lightning Step]

Stopping in mid-air, Somnus became a blurred figure traversing the s.p.a.ce between them. He brought his sword down and Aeon dodged, but not quick enough. One of the Angel's wingblades was sent flying off its back.

"Reform," the Angel spoke and a magical circle flashed into existence for a brief moment before disappearing. The severed wingblade floated back into its original spot, and even the cut itself disappeared as it reattached itself.

Somnus was stunned by what he saw. He did not care about the Angel's regeneration power. No, it was the magical circle that stunned him. It was too large. Aeon had a Realize Area that was at least ten times greater than Somnus's.

Somnus rolled the dice, and the result fell on the wrong side of the margin of error.

The final argument of kings was such a messy thing.