Although it was the last royal-exclusive machine of the Great Stone Dynasty, the construction history of the Doomsday Emperor was longer than all its predecessors. Back when the first emperor of the Great Stone Dynasty was still alive, the Doomsday Emperor had already entered the research and development stage, even though at that time, magitek armament technology was far from mature, and magimechs existed only in the imaginations of magitek engineers.

Shortly after the founding of the Great Stone Dynasty, something extremely strange happened on the Ice Continent: for three days, the sun was not seen in the sky, nor were the stars or the moon. The entire sky was blood-red, as if the end of the world was about to descend.

At that time, the newly established Great Stone Dynasty—from the emperor down to the commoners—was gripped by terror. Countless sages, astrologers, mages, and magitek engineers searched for answers from every conceivable direction, but there was not a single clue for them to base any speculation on.

On the fourth day, thunder suddenly shook the sky, and a ball of fire fell from the heavens, crashing down within the territory of the Great Stone Dynasty. In the days that followed, the strange phenomenon in the sky gradually faded. His Majesty, the founding emperor of the Great Stone Dynasty, personally organized an expedition, gathering all the strongest individuals in the land, and led them himself to the place where the fireball had fallen.

For ordinary people, the incident quickly passed, and no news ever emerged afterward. But in the memory bank of the Doomsday Emperor, there is the only record of that event, for that is the origin of the Doomsday Emperor. At the site where the fireball landed, this highest-ranking expedition of the Great Stone Dynasty discovered a gigantic flesh sphere radiating the aura of life. After examination by all the magitek engineers and mages, it was unanimously determined that this thing was most likely the final remains of a fallen deity.

On the Ice Continent, gods are invincible beings, embodiments of the rules themselves. No one has ever truly seen one, yet even the mightiest kings can feel their awe-inspiring divine power. What does the remains of a fallen god mean? Even after thousands of years, the knowledge of this secret still shakes Adam Bennett to his core, let alone those who witnessed it firsthand at the time.

In the end, the founding emperor of the Great Stone Dynasty made a decision that seemed insane but was in fact the wisest: he immediately announced the formation of a research team independent of the royal magitek corps, handed over the divine remains to the newly established magitek research group, and sealed all information about the event.

From then on, this magitek research group became an independent entity, receiving the richest resources from successive emperors of the Great Stone Dynasty, and began researching how to transform the divine remains into a weapon. This was a blasphemous decision—no emperor of the Great Stone Dynasty ever dared to leak a word of it. Every magitek engineer selected for the research group would vanish from the world, never to be seen again.

Countless cutting-edge magitek technologies and devices were continuously funneled into this team, and countless new technologies developed by them spread to the outside world, but the magitek research group itself always remained hidden in the shadows of history. Even during the reign of George Washington I, when the Five-Star Council had complete control over the Great Stone Dynasty’s government, they still knew nothing of the research group’s existence.

Magitek armaments, artificial souls, magitek nerves, eternal energy furnaces, magic stacking, magitek spatial distortion technology... one new technology after another was bestowed upon the divine remains. Yet even by the time the Great Stone Dynasty collapsed, the Doomsday Emperor never had a chance to appear, despite the magitek armament being declared complete in the dynasty’s final years.

As for how these six royal-exclusive machines were transported into this extremely secret labyrinth, there is no record in the Doomsday Emperor’s memory bank. But even this much was enough for Adam Bennett to process for several hours. When Adam Bennett fully understood what he had gained from this adventure, a sunny smile appeared on his youthful face. He piloted the magitek armament and slowly walked from the Doomsday Emperor’s throne back to the hexagonal platform.

Luke Thompson watched as Adam Bennett disappeared into the body of the Doomsday Emperor, then saw the gigantic statue stand up and perform many incredible actions before approaching him. He felt extremely fortunate that he hadn’t been scared witless by such a scene. At that moment, Luke Thompson somehow became clever and uttered a sentence that changed his life.

“Mighty ancient deity, please forgive my intrusion! None of this is my fault—it was that brat from the Lundak family who caused all this, and it has nothing to do with me. I beg you, please spare this humble ant before you.”

Chapter Sixteen: Barfidi’s Chains of the Mind

Luke Thompson was a rather despicable person; this was evident from his vile act of sending his subordinates to their deaths while seizing the chance to escape himself. He volunteered to be a servant to Adam Bennett, but Adam Bennett never trusted him. The young man of the Lundak family was no fool—placing trust in such a person would be a true test of one’s intelligence.

Luke Thompson might never know that this shameless remark of his actually had the power to turn the tide, making Adam Bennett suddenly want to give him a good beating. Having just sworn allegiance, he immediately betrayed his master at the first sign of danger, and even changed his address to “that brat from the Lundak family”—how could anyone tolerate that?