Leave a comment

There was a rush of mana from the massive rift, taking shape into dozens—no, hundreds—of magic rifles.

It was like an entire army, poised to fire.

The black armor raised its arm, giving the order. The magic guns roared to life, unleashing a deafening barrage of gunfire. Shields, helmets, barriers—it didn’t matter. The bullets tore straight through everything.

There was a possibility that a long-range attack like the earlier one could have made a difference, but the sheer number of rifles firing in unison was too overwhelming.

“What’s that spell?! Is that a combination of magic storage and mana materialization?! And at this scale?! And they’re all such complex devices?!” Wulbent struggled to comprehend what he was witnessing. It defied everything he knew about sorcery.

For a single person to open a magic storage of this magnitude while simultaneously materializing so many intricate weapons? It was supposed to be impossible.

“This shouldn’t exist! This kind of magic shouldn’t—” His words were cut short. A bullet split his head apart.

“Centipede.”

Another rift opened near the black armor’s hand, releasing a surge of mana that quickly began to take shape. When it was fully formed, it revealed itself as an even larger magic gun—one with six rotating barrels. A gatling gun.

The black armor gripped it, and the barrels began to spin. Once they reached the necessary speed, the gun fired.

The weapon, massive and segmented like a centipede, spewed a relentless stream of destruction. The six barrels fired in sequence, creating an unrelenting torrent of bullets.

As the black armor turned, soldiers fell in droves, mowed down like blades of grass. The floating rifles continued their assault as well. With just one spell, the lone black armor had become powerful enough to overpower an entire army.

Granleuche’s forces had no hope left. Normally, they would have retreated in such a situation—but the fort that was supposed to protect them had already been reduced to rubble.

There was nowhere left to run.

Wulbent was already dead, and with him, any chance of stopping this monster. It was only a matter of time before they were all wiped out.

“Stooooopppp!” A desperate cry rang out as someone rushed forward to challenge the black armor.

It was Fred. Despite having been shot down earlier, he was once again surrounded by that golden light, soaring toward the black armor like a meteor.

The black armor turned, aiming Centipede directly at him.

“Caladbolg!”

Fred’s sword began to glow, expanding in size as it swallowed the incoming bullets. He closed the distance and swung his massive blade—but the black armor dodged with a flap of its wings.

Fred turned swiftly, ready to strike again, but before he could, one of the magic rifles emerging from the rift fired.

A bullet pierced through him.

Losing control of his flight, he spiraled downward, but before he hit the ground, his body began glowing again. Then, suddenly, he stopped mid-air—only to shoot back up, launching another attack.

The black armor’s eyes narrowed. Such an unusually fast recovery was alarming. Letting go of Centipede, the black armor dismissed it entirely.

Fred swung his sword at full speed, but the black armor effortlessly dodged once more. As he passed by, the black armor took note—his gunshot wounds had completely healed.

“That magic is coming from Granleuche’s army… So there’s healing magic that can reach this far¹.” The black armor traced the source of the mana keeping Fred alive, tracking it back to within Granleuche’s ranks.

“I’m not done yet!” Fred pressed forward, continuing his assault, but the black armor blocked every strike with a conjured magic blade.

No matter how much power was infused in Fred’s glowing sword, his movements were far too predictable. His rapid healing posed a more pressing issue.

“Hornet.” The black armor’s wings flapped as it ascended higher, and more guns emerged from the massive rift—each equipped with a set of wings. They took flight immediately, circling above Granleuche’s army before unleashing a relentless barrage.

Previously, the rifles had all fired from a fixed position, but the Hornet rifles moved freely, locking onto targets with deadly precision and firing with even greater power than before. It didn’t matter how quickly Granleuche’s healers worked—Hornet’s attacks killed instantly.

“Stop attacking them! I’m your opponent here!”
“You say that while everyone continues trying to attack me?” the black armor retorted. “Not to mention, you have an entire army, and I stand alone.”

More of Granleuche’s soldiers fell, and as the stream of mana healing Fred intensified, the black armor honed in on the source of the magic.

“Die alreadyyyyy!” Fred swung his sword downward, then pulled it back up at a different angle, releasing a massive V-shaped slash of light.

“That will never hit me.”

He was sure there was no way to dodge such a wide attack— But then, the black armor’s limbs and head detached from its torso, flying in separate directions. The V-shaped energy slash passed harmlessly through the empty space.

Fred’s eyes widened as he witnessed the superhuman maneuver. The black armor’s body parts reassembled seamlessly, as if nothing had happened.

“You’re not human?!”
“I don’t remember ever claiming I was,” the black armor replied. “And have you really learned nothing about this world?”
“You’re a monster!”

The black armor summoned a sniper rifle, its barrel locking onto Fred.

“Hah!” Fred twisted his body to the side, narrowly dodging the incoming magic bullet.

“Are you sure you should’ve dodged that?”

The words made Fred’s blood run cold. Then he noticed— The healing had stopped.

“Rachel!” Panic surged through him.

He turned in a daze, scanning the battlefield for Rachel. In the distance, he spotted her on her knees, clutching her shoulder where a bullet had struck her. But—it wasn’t a fatal wound. She could still heal herself.

Relief washed over Fred. But just as he exhaled—

A Hornet rifle shifted its sights toward her. A relentless barrage of bullets filled the air. The deafening gunfire echoed across the battlefield. By the time it ended, Rachel’s body was unrecognizable—a gory mass of shredded flesh.

“Racheeeeeeel!!” Fred’s anguished scream rang out. But the black armor remained unfazed.

“Dorcus.” The black armor flapped its wings, closing in on Fred. A massive pair of mechanical scissors materialized in its left hand.

“Kuh!” Fred raised his sword to block— But Dorcus sliced straight through it. Along with his left arm.

“Urghhaaaahhh!” Fred screamed in agony as his severed arm spiraled through the air, leaving a trail of blood behind it. But the scissors weren’t finished.

“Over here, you monster!” Before the black armor could land another cut, Fred hurled a cloth bag at its face.

A brilliant powder spilled out, glowing the moment it hit the air.

Ground Mana Crystals.

The bag had been inscribed with a spell—activating a powerful magical flare. A magic flashbang.

Had it been ordinary light, it would have had no effect on the black armor, which could sense mana. But because it was magic-infused, it disrupted its perception, throwing its senses into chaos.

Before it could recover, Dino arrived on horseback, grabbing Fred and making a quick escape.

By the time the black armor’s vision returned, Fred had disappeared from Granleuche’s army.

The flashbang had also momentarily disabled the Hornets, but the army was already decimated. The counter-revolutionary forces would finish the rest. However, the black armor was not satisfied. Fred had escaped. That was unacceptable.

“Tear them apart and cover your beak in blood.”

The black rift vanished, replaced by a floating magic circle.

“An insatiable thirst is the greatest luxury.” A massive cylindrical structure emerged from the magic circle. The barrel of a giant gun². “The feast has begun.”

“Aethon.” An unimaginably massive bullet fired. The impact crushed Granleuche’s army and obliterated Fort Napretep in an instant. That was the day Fort Napretep fell³.

1. Robinxen: As a hero party he is properly stacked, he’s just fighting a post-endgame boss… it’s like Omega in Final Fantasy and Ort in Nasu’s work. It’s just not meant to happen.
2. Robinxen: HELL YEAH! WAVE MOTION CANNON! FIRE! Reminds me of that scene in Misfit where I was highly suspicious of the structure of the castle because it looked like it could fit a giant artillery in, and then it turned out it did. Or when in Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere they do the quasi-legal upgrade to their gravity systems to create a holographic graviton cannon on the Musashi.
3. Silva: ~Fin~

   That’s the end of the line for Automata Maid.

   Afterstory (Silva’s imagination): Natalia has become a Demon Lord and conquered the world.

   Robinxen: Actually read the chapter update post for more details if you want the full story.

Support Us

Unlock Early Access ------- Select Project ------- Project Gender Bender Project Necro ∴ Support your favorite series and unlock chapters before the public release.