Machina Arcanis: Two Worlds Collided
Chapter 103. The Clash of Celestius: Aries vs Sagittarius

A few moments earlier…

Lupus tore through enemy defences, her arc boots flashing through the still air, leaving destruction in her wake. She leapt from one explosion to the next, cutting down the opposition with brutal precision.

Beneath the dense canopy, a hazy figure moved at blinding speed. A hostile mobile suit caught the heat signature and surged towards it.

They hovered above the trees, scanning the branches.

Suddenly, Frain launched 50 metres into the air, her battle axe gleaming with deadly intent.

Caught off guard, the Armatus tried to retreat. Too late. Her axe spun and embedded into his hull, smashing into his chest — instantly fatal.

With perfect control, Frain landed lightly before coiling again, launching herself back into the air.

“Yaaaaaa!” she roared, bringing her axe down like a thunderbolt, shattering the enemy’s shield and cleaving the Armatus in half.

As she descended again, another unit fired a plasma cannon at her.

Frain’s eyes widened. She brought up her axe to block just in time.

The blast struck squarely, sending her spinning and crashing into the ground.

“Frain!” Lupus shouted, blasting towards the shooter. The enemy fired again, but Lupus activated her arc boots and shifted mid-air, dodging the blast.

A high-pitched shriek cut across the battlefield as her boot sliced the enemy apart. Landing smoothly, she bounded through the trees toward Frain.

The lioness staggered to her feet. Lupus was already there, pulling her up.

“You okay?” Lupus asked, scanning the surroundings.

Frain, her face streaked with soot, gritted her teeth. “I’m fine,” she said, raising her axe.

But the Armatus fleet — nearly fifty strong — didn’t press the attack. Instead, they began slowly drifting away.

“Huh? Are they pulling back already?” Lupus muttered, her golden eyes narrowing. “No sign of Rhok either. What’s going on?”

Then Frain froze, pointing at the shimmering distortion in the air. It flickered like heat haze, warping the light behind it.

“Lupy, look!”

“A… portal? Unbelievable. Lunarius Canis said portals are too unreliable for transport. Unless… It’s someone much, much more powerful,” Lupus murmured, stepping protectively in front of Frain.

A dark crimson rift opened. From it stepped a regal figure — tall, refined, his white beard and golden eyes unmistakable.

“Celestius Ignius… you’re alive?” Lupus gasped.

“Child,” Ignius said calmly. “Call your cruiser. Bring Aurelia to me.”

Lupus’s long ear twitched, “But, Celestius Ignius, we’re escorting her to Celestius Vivian—”

Frain sniffed the air and cut in. “Lupy… I don’t think he’s on our side.”

Ignius stood tall, the enemy fleet at his back.

A devious smile curled across his face.

“I hate repeating myself, child.”

His hair stirred with mana, and his eyes lit with power.

“Begone—Empyrion Dismember!”

Time slowed.

Lupus shoved Frain aside and activated her boots. “Phoros!”

The arc barrier shimmered around her as the fiery beam lanced through space.

Shatter!

Her spherical barrier crumpled. Instinct took over. She jumped—

—but not fast enough.

The beam severed both legs above the knees.

“Lupus! No!” Frain cried, watching her fall in a spray of blood.

Something inside Frain snapped. Something primal.

A guttural growl escaped her throat as power surged through her limbs.

“You…” she growled, teeth bared.

Crawling forward, Lupus cried out, “Frain! Stop! You’re no match—ah!”

“What a mindless beast,” Ignius muttered. “But I’m in the mood for a workout.”

He clapped his hands together. “Dynamis.”

His golden eyes flared as a red scarab materialised in his palm.

Recognising the spell, Lupus cried, “Frain, he’s using a might buff! Run now!”

“I’ll rip you apart!” Frain screamed, charging.

Her axe arced toward him.

“Magnetos,” Ignius countered.

A force field flung her back, the axe deflecting away.

Before she recovered, Ignius flew forward and landed a brutal punch to her chest. Her breastplate cracked as she crashed through trees, leaving a trail of ruin behind her.

A wet, gurgling sound escaped her lips as blood welled. Her body convulsed.

“No… Frain, my baby…” Lupus sobbed, desperately crawling on the ground.

Ignius approached, adjusting his coat into place.

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“You traitor!” Lupus growled through the pain. “How could you side with Dunkelheit? How could you betray your empire!?”

He raised a finger toward her.

“Begone, Stellius. Who are you to question me? My mission is beyond your understanding.”

Hopelessness welled inside her.

“I’m sorry, Jack… I couldn’t protect her. I couldn’t come back,” she whispered, closing her eyes.

Mana swirled as glowing butterflies formed around Ignius.

Then—

A breeze swept through.

Warm. Calming.

Everyone froze as sparkling holo-particles drifted from the sky — beautiful and divine, like a miracle.

Ignius caught one on his palm, eyes wide.

“So it’s reached this far? Impressive. Both empresses are truly powerful… However, they are too powerful to coexist.”

The mana-falls were windswept remnants of a great battle far across the world.

Snapping from his reverie, Ignius said, “Oh yes. Where were we?”

Light built in his palm. Lupus shut her eyes, a single tear slipping down.

—“Phoros!”

An unfamiliar voice cut through the air.

A man in a ragged cloak stood before her. His dark hair danced in the wind as he raised an arc barrier.

“Hang in there, bunny girl,” Jovian said firmly.

“You… You’re Celestius Jovian!” Lupus exclaimed.

Jovian gave her a calm smile.

Ignius cocked his head. “Instead of ambushing me with Shadow Step, you wasted it to save a dying Stellius?”

“Tsk.” Jovian sneered, lifting a rippling blade. “Ziyue, how’s the lioness?”

Crouched by Frain, Ziyue worked quickly, checking her vital signs. “She’ll live.”

Frain groaned. “Who are you?”

“Later,” Ziyue said. “Your fight’s over.”

“Ziyue, get them both to Vivian!” Jovian barked.

“I won’t let you! Empyrion Dismember!” Ignius fired again.

Jovian dashed between them. “Phoros!”

The beam tore through his barrier, tearing it apart.

“No!” Lupus screamed.

But Jovian deflected the blast with a spinning arc blade, stumbling back but holding firm.

“Well done,” Ignius clapped. “Now that’s impressive.”

“Sir Jovian! Be careful, he has Dynamis on!” Lupus warned, as Ziyue lifted her over her shoulder. She was stronger than she looked.

Jovian nodded. “Ziyue! Teleport now!” he shouted, crouching low before charging forward.

Ignius attempted to stop the women from escaping, but Jovian’s relentless close-quarters assault kept him distracted.

A leg came at him — Ignius blocked with his arms. “Uhh!” he grunted, teeth clenched, as burning pain surged through his limbs. Jovian’s strike knocked him off balance.

"Huh?! Those arc boots were absorbing all light, I couldn't read his movement properly." Ignius analysed.

In the next instant, Ignius retaliated with a slicing burst of flame. Jovian flipped backwards three times in quick succession, evading the attack.

Meanwhile, Ziyue conjured her portals ahead of her. A stray beam veered dangerously toward her and Lupus.

“Watch out!” Frain shouted, shoving them both. Ziyue and Lupus tumbled through the portal.

The air rapidly heated as destabilised atoms collapsed into a shockwave. It launched Frain fifty metres into the air before her body slammed into the ground and rolled across the dirt.

“If I didn’t have my Might Buff on, my bones would’ve snapped... How did he get so strong?” Ignius muttered, flexing his arms experimentally.

Through the corner of his eye, Jovian spotted Ziyue successfully escaping through the portal — but the lioness had not. He clicked his tongue in frustration.

“Celestius Ignius, how are you still alive? The D’Arcane should have killed you when you unleashed the Light of Punishment,” he asked, raising his short blade.

Ignius exhaled deeply, then stood upright with grace. “I’ll enlighten you, then. I sacrificed the Primordial Essence. After all my research, I’ve discovered that I could cast a spell with it anyway — you knew that, didn’t you?”

Jovian found himself agreeing. The twelve Primordial Essences they had acquired were incompatible with them. It was never a fair exchange — it was theft from its rightful owner, taken after his death.

“Zetius’s Essence was never meant for us!” Jovian declared. “Even so, you destroyed half the Armatus fleet during the Battle of Germund. Now you stand with the enemy! How do you justify that?!”

Ignius grinned. “You fail to comprehend the bigger picture — the grand cosmic scale, Jovian. I am no longer bound by empires that collapsed under their own weight, upheld by the fragile minds of mortals.”

He lunged forward, his fist ablaze. Jovian dodged, his footwork fluid and fast.

“Stop running!” Ignius roared, landing a back-kick onto Jovian’s crossed arms.

The force flung Jovian backwards, his heels dragging twin furrows in the blackened earth.

“Then who do you serve?!” Jovian demanded, frowning. In the corner of his vision, he saw the lioness struggling to stand.

“Eyes up, Jovian!” Ignius snapped, flicking his fingers. A concentrated energy beam shot toward Frain.

“Damn it!” Jovian shadow-stepped, expending a massive surge of mana to intercept and carry the lioness away from the deadly blast.

He studied her injured form — her eyes shut tight. Another burst of light hurtled toward them.

“Sorry, little girl,” Jovian muttered, then threw Frain to the side. His palm glowed with mana.

A dark portal materialised beneath her as her arched body dropped into it.

The aftershock knocked Jovian back slightly, but he held firm.

“This is all I can afford for now, lioness. I hope you find your way back,” he prayed silently.

“Dark Teleport? He used it perfectly in real-time combat?” Ignius observed, intrigued. His eyes gleamed with a mix of wisdom and genuine curiosity.

Unlike standard portals, Dark Teleport didn’t require precise calculations. Mana usage was slashed by a quarter, but it randomly displaced the caster within a hundred-kilometre radius. It was a perfect spell for the Celestius of Transportation.

“Now it’s just you and me,” Jovian declared, straightening up. His eyes blazed with fighting spirit.

“I can’t say I’m not impressed,” Ignius said, clapping slowly.

Jovian glared at him. “Ignius, who is your master? Yourself?”

Maniacal laughter echoed across the battlefield.

“How narcissistic you think I am. No... I serve a higher purpose,” Ignius replied, a slow smile stretching across his face.

“I am the prophet of Gaia.”

His words rang out like a divine revelation as he raised his hand toward the sky.

Behind him, the mana-fall cascaded like a curtain — majestic and terrifying.

“Impossible. The gods no longer exist! You’re delusional!” Jovian snapped. But deep down, something stirred within him.

Celestius Ignius hadn’t saved Germund when he unleashed the Light of Punishment — both sides suffered devastating collateral damage.

What had been his true motive? To serve Gaia? The embodiment of life? It seemed absurdly contradictory…

“It’s impossible to make sense of a lunatic like him…” Jovian concluded in his mind.

“I’m not here to debate, child. I’ve got places to be, and a divine mission to fulfil,” Ignius snapped, flicking his fingers.

“Ares’ Empyrion!” he chanted, his voice echoing through the battlefield.

A barrage of fireballs slithered through the air, smashing blindly into the ground. Jovian hurled himself backwards, backstepping with speed. His agility let him evade the flames darting from every direction.

“I can’t fight him at long range! Damn it!” Jovian growled, teeth clenched in frustration, as the distance between them grew wider and wider.

Minutes passed. Trees splintered and burned into thick black smoke. Dirt blasted into the air. Explosion after explosion rocked the ground, flattening the landscape until all that remained was a scorched wasteland of ash.

As the smoke began to clear, two figures remained standing amidst the destruction.

“Ignius! I’ll stop you, no matter what!” Jovian roared, clutching an orb in his hand. A whirling breeze of raw arcane swirled around him. His cloak billowed with an eerie, strange aura. His long, wavy hair danced erratically in the storm of energy.

“Huh? Don’t tell me... is he going to sacrifice his Primordial Essence?” Ignius muttered, eyes widening with astonishment.

“Nyxion Abyssos!” Jovian cried out, unleashing the power of the Primordial Essence to extend the effective range of the Night Abyss.

A black mist erupted, engulfing them both.

***

High above the battlefield, Rhok sat atop one of his Armatus units.

“Pull back! Stay out of the mist!” he bellowed over the comms.

The Armatus fleet drifted away in formation, responding swiftly to the order.