Machina Arcanis: Two Worlds Collided
Chapter 150. The Wrathful God

Nothing happened. The stone remained unmoved, as though no force had touched it.

Zetius grimaced. “Open the bloody door!” he snapped, pounding his fists against it, venting his frustration.

Heavy thuds echoed through the chamber. That had become clear, the stone was thick. Solid.

After a moment, he found himself calming down. His thoughts slowly began to realign.

“I hate puzzles,” Zetius muttered, now attempting to decipher the runes carved into the door. His fingers brushed against the rough stone surface.

He slouched, squinting at the markings. “This is gibberish,” he groaned like a whiny child.

Cubie tapped him on the shoulder a few times.

“Huh?” He spun around to meet her gaze.

She pointed sheepishly toward a narrow slot on the doorframe, then toward the long sword on the ground.

Eventually, it clicked.

“Ohhhh!” Zetius chuckled, slapping his forehead.

As he approached the sword, a loud bell chimed from above, causing him to flinch.

Then, without warning, a dark mass plunged into the ground.

Wind howled and burst outward with the blade as the centre.

The tall, slender knight returned, rising from the shadow. His helmet appeared untouched. He raised his blade, pointing its tip directly at Zetius in dignified demeanour.

“You should never retrieve my heirloom,” the knight bellowed in defiance.

“Damn it,” Zetius cursed, shifting into a defensive stance.

“Time to fight!” he cried, surging forward.

In a single stride, the knight closed the gap. His heel twisted as he swung the blade in full force. Zetius ducked low and countered with a fiery punch.

“Futile!” the knight snarled, spinning his blade into a swift parry.

The loud clanking sound rang out on impact.

Zetius moved in close, launching a barrage of strikes. Fire coiled around his fists.

But the knight had grown visibly more agile. He spun and backhanded Zetius square in the face.

“UGH!” Zetius grunted. Numbing pain exploded across his cheek. He tasted iron as he crashed to the ground, landing hard on his backside.

“Zetius!” Cubie zipped behind, her face etched with concern. A thin trail of blood dripped from his nose.

The knight gripped his long blade with both hands and propped it against his chest.

“Your soul is tainted with greed and power, you unholy adventurer.”

“Stop saying the same shit!” Zetius roared in annoyance, springing back to his feet.

For a moment, the hall descended into chaos. Zetius and the knight danced in a whirlwind of blows. Zetius’s strikes weakened over time, while the knight grew faster, stronger.

He adopted.

As the battle dragged on, Zetius’s breathing became ragged. His limbs sluggish.

“So annoying!” Zetius growled, retreating from a sweeping blow.

His boots landed atop a flame pillar, knees bent, ready for another burst.

“Ah! Zetius!” Cubie’s cry snapped his focus.

His head snapped toward her. “NO!” he bellowed.

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The knight had her by the hair, yanking her upward.

“You scum!” Zetius roared. Hatred ignited in his chest like wildfire.

With a massive burst of fire, he launched himself toward the knight’s back.

“FOOL!” the knight shouted, throwing Cubie aside and turning just in time.

The blade came cleaving.

But Zetius twisted mid-air and rolled outside its path. The weapon struck nothing but wind.

SLAM!

The knight’s knee crashed into Zetius’s stomach. Blood spewed from his mouth.

The red eyes beneath the helmet blazed with malice.

The knight seized his collar, smashing his gloved fist into Zetius’s face.

Zetius’s body slammed into the stone floor. The rock cracked beneath him.

His ears rang. The world spun.

He fought to steady himself, rolling to the side, just narrowly avoiding another crushing blow.

Crack!

Zetius felt the vibration through the floor.

His vision blurred, but he could still see it, that pair of devilishly red eyes.

The knight pulled back his fist, ready to finish it.

Pure survival instinct surged.

Zetius raised two fingers.

“Empyr—UGH!”

The terrifying crunch rang out as the knight struck him with terminal speed, his entire weight behind the blow.

Cubie cried out, lifting her hands, desperate to conjure a defensive spell. But in this realm, she was powerless.

Zetius’s fingers faltered and sprayed to the side as his consciousness slipped away.

The knight rose slowly as Cubie collapsed to her knees beside Zetius’s body.

“Time to perish, weakling!” the knight bellowed sharply, turning toward the blade lying on the ground.

As he reached out for the hilt—

Cubie zipped forward with defiant speed, snatching the blade away just in time.

But she was too slow.

The knight’s long arm grabbed her by the clothes and yanked her back.

He hurled her to the floor with a loud thud. The heavy blade clattered across the stone.

“Do you have a death wish too, little girl?” the knight asked coldly, stepping toward her. His back hunched forward, terrifying and ruthless.

“I’m not afraid of you!” Cubie snarled, baring her teeth as she scrambled onto all fours.

The knight’s boot slammed into her stomach, sending her rolling across the floor. She whimpered, clutching her belly in piercing pain.

“Heheh,” the dark knight let out a satisfied chuckle as he retrieved his blade, admiring its rusted length with almost reverent awe.

Then he turned toward her, eyes gleaming with killing intent.

“I suppose you’ll be the first to receive the honour of death.” The Dark Knight quoted in reverence. He placed each foot on either side of her, towering above. Cubie gasped for air, too weak to resist.

He raised the blade in a reverse grip, its tip poised above her chest.

“May the darkness welcome you, little one—”

A crackle of blinding white lightning flashed at the edge of his vision.

Fear spiked through him, an ancient terror he thought had long been buried.

“The wraith of Zeus? No… it can’t be—?!”

“GET YOUR HANDS OFF HER!” Zetius’s voice cracked like thunder — loud, furious, divine.

A violent shockwave of lightning burst forth, flinging the knight across the room.

“AHHHHHHH!” he screamed in agony as raw electricity surged through him.

Zetius stood tall, his eyes glowing with searing white light. His white hair fluttered wildly in the tempest, crackling energy whirling around him.

Bolts arced from his fingers, discharging thousands of volts into the knight’s body, pinning him mercilessly to the wall.

Zetius’s scream echoed, his fingers burning with excruciating pain. But his wrath... his wrath was greater.

Only when the knight crumbled into a pile of ash did the lightning finally stop.

Zetius’s hands smoked, glowing red with heat as he dropped to his knees.

“Zetius! Are you okay?” Cubie limped toward him as the final sparks faded away.

Zetius grimaced, shaking from pain. “Ugh… I can’t feel my fingers,” he hissed, biting down on his teeth.

Cubie’s eyes widened in panic. “W~what do we do?!”

“Quick! Grab the blade, Cubie,” Zetius commanded sharply, trying to push himself to his feet.

A jolt of pain shot through him, staggering his stance.

“A sign of extreme mana exhaustion,” he muttered, voice ragged as he was analysing himself even through the agony.

“Let’s hope this works…” He gathered what mana he could.

“Iasis!” he chanted the healing spell.

Glowing green leaves materialised and drifted gently around his injured arm.

Bit by bit, his charred fingers began to mend. The blackened skin softened, flushed with colour once more. He flexed them cautiously — still painful, but functional again.

Meanwhile, Cubie snapped out of her daze. She scooped up the long sword with both hands, struggling under its weight.

“Zetius, it’s super heavy…” she grunted as she dragged it toward the stone door.

Then, it stopped.

The blade stuck unnaturally, resisting her effort.

Cubie turned, only to see a gloved hand gripping the blade’s edge.

The dark knight's hand.

Seemingly untouched. Unscathed.

Her face turned white as a sheet, petrified.

The Dark Knight of Nyx. He was eternal, like the returning night itself.