Klopp was a busy man, and after the short debriefing, Sein took his leave.

The knight overlord informed him that a Golden Apple was already being prepared, and Sein would soon receive it.

As for the Magic Cube, Klopp could not guarantee that Sein would get to keep it. If the Magus Civilization absolutely needed to reclaim it, Sein would be compensated with something of equal value.

Since Sein had exceeded expectations in his mission, that compensation would almost certainly be a true world-class secret treasure, not some half-finished artifact.

Sein left Drifting Cloud World with Titanfang.

Along the way, Titanfang told him it no longer went by that name. From now on, it would be called Aetherend. This seemed like a choice made to cut ties with its past under the Gallant Federation.1

Skyhold, however, kept its name. It was an indecisive robot who still clung to the past.

Sein took the chance to ask about their casualties.

Breaking free from the Gallant Federation, even with the Magus Civilizations support, had come at a devastating cost.

Nexon had once boasted more than a hundred Rank Four or higher intelligent robots, along with nearly a million low-level robots that had awakened self-awareness.

By the time they reached the Magus Civilizations territory, only thirty-one of the higher-tier robots survived, including Aetherend. They had actually lost more than eighty percent of their stronger kind.

The toll among the lesser ranks was just as grim. Barely a hundred thousand remained fit for combat.

Fortunately, Aetherend and the others had preserved many of their central databases, the so-called black boxes.

With those, any robot with less severe data corruption still had a chance at revival.

As for ordinary robots that had not awakened, their numbers were still considerable.

Before leaving Nexon, the far-sighted Skyhold had arranged for more than a dozen production lines to be moved.

Most of those, however, had been destroyed during the breakout.

To Skyholds surprise, it and the others managed to repair the two or three lightly damaged production lines and get them running again.

Now, in the planes allocated to the intelligent robots by the Magus Civilization, and with ample resources supplied by the alliance, Skyhold and the others quickly expanded the number of ordinary robots to nearly three million in a short span of time.

Unfortunately, these were mindless machines running only on programmed instructions, not truly kin in their eyes.

Aetherends arrival at Drifting Cloud World had been partly due to Klopps summons, but also because of its own desire to reclaim the Magic Cube and awaken more of its kind.

But Sein had already handed the cube over to the Magus Alliance.

Skyhold and Aetherend would have to wait longer to awaken more of their kin.

Thanks to the relatively intact data preserved in the black boxes, the intelligent robots were slowly rebuilding their numbers.

Still, if they wished to rise as a force of their own and walk toward prosperity and strength, the Magic Cube was absolutely essential.

Aetherend even considered trading away the Resonance Blade, the world-class secret treasure in its possession, to Magus World in exchange for the Magic Cube.

If there is any news about the Magic Cube, Ill let you know right away, Sein said. And one more thingits not thirty-one Rank Four or higher survivors. You have thirty-two.

He then beckoned Sky Tyrant forward from the distance.

Originally, Sein had planned to bring Sky Tyrant to this meeting on Drifting Cloud World.

But with Aetherends unexpected appearance here, Sky Tyrants presence was no longer needed to prove Seins success to Klopp.

Seins assault on Nocchi had been mainly to rescue Sky Tyrant, so that he could use it as proof that he had carried out his mission behind enemy lines.

Had he known earlier that Aetherend and the others had already made it safely into Magus Civilization territory, he probably would not have persuaded Clint and the others to storm Nocchi.

Fortunately, the outcome had not turned out badly!

Rescuing Sky Tyrant only boosted Seins standing among the Nexon robots, and the spoils from Nocchi more than justified the efforts of any Rank Four or Rank Five powerhouses who took part.

Among the intelligent robots, Sky Tyrant had once belonged to Skyholds faction.

But now that their race had been so severely weakened, the two leaders had begun working side by side without reservation.

It no longer mattered which faction anyone had once stood with.

They were all on the same side now.

Greetings, Boss Titanfang, Sky Tyrant said, its mechanical eyes flashing.

The powerful yet simple-minded construct could not hide its excitement at being reunited with its leader.

Mm, Aetherend acknowledged calmly.

It was not that Aetherend was cold, this was simply how it always carried itself.

It reminded Sky Tyrant that it had changed its name to Aetherend and asked that the old one no longer be used.

Understood, Boss Aetherend. Sky Tyrant scratched its head with its claw. That seemed to be its habit.

Sein, too, had grown used to calling it Titanfang, and the sudden name change felt hard to get used to.

But he did not dwell on it. With his mission finally concluded, a wave of relief washed over him. At last, he could return to Magus World.

This is my crystal ball contact. If you need anything, just reach out. Ill be happy to help. Ill visit your plane in the future if I have the time. Sein said with a smile. And give my regards to Skyhold and the others as well.

Aetherend nodded silently, watching as Sein gradually faded into the distance.

***

Taking advantage of the teleportation array outside Drifting Cloud Plane, Sein quickly reached the outskirts of Magus World.

The repercussions of the Clash of Civilizations were far-reaching.

For one, Magus World had severed all direct external teleportation links.

Knights and mages could still travel to other planes through the cross-planar teleportation arrays housed within major divine towers or knightly orders.

But returning to Magus World from another world meant arriving in the space beyond it and then passing through the planar barrier to reenter.

Sein suspected this one-way setup might be tied to the recent rebellion of those two major allied planes.

No one could say which ally might turn traitor next.

The Gallant Federation feared Magus Worlds decapitation strikes above all else, while Magus World dreaded the possibility of war reaching its homeplane.

The Magus Civilizations devotion to its homeplane far surpassed the Gallant Federations attachment to theirs.

With that in mind, no precautionary measure taken by the Magus Civilization could really be seen as excessive.

1. Titanfangs new name actually means might that shakes the sky. I was thinking of names like Skysunder or Skyrend, but that would make it sound like brothers with Skyhold. So I ended up picking Aether, which is a fancier substitute for Sky, and paired it up with Rend.