Chapter : 1337

  "King Liam has been busy," Lloyd said. "He made a big speech with King Yuto. Everyone is very excited about the army alliance."

  "That is for the public," Amina said dismissively. "Armies are loud. Armies are clumsy. My father prefers a different kind of power. Information."

  "I heard," Lloyd said. "A secret deal."

  Amina nodded. "Yes. While King Liam was shaking hands with the barbarian from Muramasa, he was exchanging letters with my father. A pact of shadows."

  "Intelligence sharing," Lloyd guessed.

  "Correct," Amina said. "Zakaria has the best spies in the world. The Whispers. We know things before they happen. We know what the enemy is eating for dinner. We know their favorite color. We know their fears."

  "And what does Bethelham offer in return?" Lloyd asked.

  "Technology," Amina said. She looked at him pointedly. "Innovation. And... access. My father wants to know about the Devil Race. He wants to know about their magic. And he wants to ensure that if the North falls, the South is prepared."

  "So he is using us as a shield," Lloyd noted. "Smart."

  "Pragmatic," Amina corrected. "But it benefits you too. You need to find the Seventh Circle. You need to find their nests. My father's spies can help you do that. They can be your eyes in places you cannot reach."

  Lloyd leaned back in his chair. "So, we have Muramasa for the fighting. Zakaria for the spying. And Bethelham for... what? The planning?"

  "The heart," Amina said. "This is where the war started. This is where it will end. And you, Lloyd, are in the middle of it all."

  "Me?" Lloyd pointed to himself. "I'm just a soap merchant."

  Amina laughed. It was a nice sound. "Do not play the fool with me, Lloyd. You are betrothed to me. That makes you a link to Zakaria. You are the King's special agent. That binds you to Bethelham. And you are a warrior recognized by Muramasa. You are the knot that ties these three nations together."

  Lloyd groaned. "That sounds like a lot of responsibility. I hate responsibility. It ruins my skin."

  "It is your fate," Amina said. "My father sees you as a bridge. King Liam sees you as a weapon. I see you as... a partner."

  Lloyd looked at her. Her eyes were serious. She wasn't playing games right now.

  "A partner," Lloyd repeated. "I like that better than 'weapon'."

  "The engagement helps," Amina added. "It gives my father a valid reason to help you. He can say he is protecting his future son-in-law's interests. It is a good excuse."

  "I am glad my fake marriage is useful for international politics," Lloyd said dryly.

  "It is very useful," Amina agreed. "But be careful, Lloyd. You are standing at the center of a very complex web. If one string breaks, the whole thing can tangle. You have to balance the King's demands, my father's expectations, and the sheer loudness of the Muramasa warriors."

  "I can handle it," Lloyd said. "I'm good at juggling. I once juggled three apples. I ate one while doing it. It was impressive."

  Amina smiled. "I am sure it was. But this is a web of alliances, Lloyd. It makes us strong, but it also makes us vulnerable. Secrets will be shared. Trust will be tested. You must be the one who keeps it all together."

  Lloyd looked at the tea in his cup. It was a web. A big, sticky, complicated web. On one side, the brute strength of Muramasa. On the other, the cunning spies of Zakaria. And in the middle, Bethelham, trying to hold the line.

  "It's a good plan," Lloyd admitted. "We can't fight alone. We need friends. Even if some of those friends are scary spies and loud giants."

  "Exactly," Amina said. "The Devil Race thrives on division. They want us to fight each other. They want us to be alone. By uniting, we take away their greatest advantage."

  Lloyd stood up. "Well, I guess I better get to work. Being a geopolitical linchpin sounds exhausting. I need a nap."

  "Go," Amina said. "Rest. But remember, Lloyd. The eyes of three kingdoms are on you now. Do not trip."

  Lloyd walked away from the garden. He felt the weight of the alliances pressing down on him. It was a safety net, yes. But it was also a trap. If he failed, he wouldn't just let down his King. He would let down three nations.

  Chapter : 1338

  "No pressure," he muttered to himself. "Just the fate of the continent resting on my ability not to screw up. Easy peasy."

  He walked back into the palace. The celebration was winding down. The flags were still flying. The web was spun. Now, they just had to wait for the spider to come. Or rather, the devils. And when they did, Lloyd hoped the web would hold. Because if it broke, he was the first one who was going to fall.

  Lloyd sat in his private workshop back at the Ferrum estate. It was quiet. The only sound was the scratching of his quill on paper. But his mind was loud. His mind was replaying a memory. A terrifying, awe-inspiring memory.

  He closed his eyes and saw it again. The sky above Ashworth ripping open. His father, Arch Duke Roy, turning into a storm of steel. The demon Beelzebub, a creature of pure sorrow and destruction. The clash of their powers had shaken the earth. It had warped reality. It was like watching two gods have a fistfight.

  Lloyd opened his eyes and looked at his hands. They were shaking slightly. Not from cold. From fear.

  "I am weak," he whispered to the empty room.

  It was a hard truth to swallow. Lloyd had power. He had two Transcended spirits. He had Void powers. He had defeated assassins and monsters. To the average person, he was a monster. But compared to his father? Compared to Beelzebub? He was an ant.

  If he had stepped into that battle, he would have died. Instantly. He wouldn't have even been a speed bump. He would have been a stain on the ground.

  This realization sat in his stomach like a cold stone. He had been arrogant. He thought his clever tricks and his spirits were enough. But there was a ceiling to his power. His human body was fragile. It could break. It could bleed. It could burn.

  "I can't fight them like this," Lloyd thought. "I can't dodge an attack that covers the whole sky. I can't block a punch that shatters mountains. I need armor. I need something better than skin and bone."

  He stood up and paced around the room. He looked at his spirits. Fang Fairy was fast. Iffrit was strong. Bingyu was controlling. But they were external. If he got hit, he went down. He needed a shell.

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  He remembered his past life on Earth. He remembered technology. He remembered machines. In that world, humans were weak, but they built things that made them strong. They built tanks. They built jets. They built exoskeletons.

  "That's it," Lloyd said. His eyes lit up. "I don't need to become a god. I need to build one."

  He grabbed a fresh sheet of paper. He dipped his quill in ink. He began to draw.

  He wasn't drawing a sword. He wasn't drawing a shield. He was drawing a suit. A suit of armor, but not like the ones knights wore. This was different. It was sleek. It was mechanical. It had joints and pistons. It had thrusters.

  "The Aegis," Lloyd muttered. "A shield that fights back."

  He sketched furiously. He drew the helmet with a glowing visor. He drew the chest plate with a core for a power source. He drew the arms with built-in weapons.

  This was the answer. If his body was weak, he would build a body of steel. If his magic wasn't enough, he would amplify it with engineering. He would combine the arcane arts of this world with the mechanical genius of his old world.

  "It has to be fast," he mumbled. "It has to fly. It needs to be able to tank a hit from a dragon."

  He drew layers of armor plating. He made notes about alloys. He needed metals that could conduct magic but were harder than diamond. He needed Adamantine. He needed Mythril.

  The fear in his chest began to fade, replaced by the excitement of creation. This was what he was good at. He was an engineer. He was a builder.

  "This isn't just armor," Lloyd realized. "This is a tank you wear. This is a fighter jet you put on like a shirt."

  He looked at the drawing. It looked impossible. It looked crazy. But it was the only way. To survive the war that was coming, he needed to be more than a man. He needed to be a machine.

  "Project Aegis," Lloyd declared. "Phase one: Design. Phase two: Build. Phase three: Don't die."

  Chapter : 1339

  He pinned the drawing to the wall. The figure on the paper looked powerful. It looked unstoppable. It looked like the future.

  "Father has his steel blood," Lloyd said. "Beelzebub has his darkness. I will have science. And a lot of heavy metal."

  He sat back down at his desk. The fear was gone. Now, there was only work. He had to figure out the hydraulics. He had to figure out the power supply. He had to figure out how to make it cool enough so he didn't cook inside it like a potato in foil.

  "It's going to be expensive," Lloyd sighed. "Mei Jing is going to kill me when she sees the budget."

  But he smiled. It was worth it. Survival was priceless. And besides, giant robots were cool. That was a universal truth.

  The drawing was done. Now came the hard part. Details.

  Lloyd spent the next few hours dissecting his own idea. He needed to figure out how to make the suit move. In his old world, he would use servos and motors and batteries. Here, he didn't have batteries. He had magic stones.

  "Spirit stones for power," Lloyd noted. "High density. But how to transfer the energy into motion?"

  He sketched a system of artificial muscles made from enchanted silver wires. When mana flowed through them, they would contract, pulling the limbs. It was like human muscles, but metal.

  "Hydraulics for the heavy lifting," he added. "Oil pressure. Or maybe water pressure using a mini water-spirit engine? No, too complex. Stick to oil."

  He drew the joints. They had to be flexible but protected. If a joint got hit, the suit would freeze. He added overlapping plates of armor, like the shell of a lobster.

  "Defense is key," Lloyd thought. "I need energy shields. I can use the spatial runes I learned. Maybe integrate a mini-void barrier generator."

  He was getting excited. The possibilities were endless. He could put a flamethrower in the wrist. He could put a lightning gun in the shoulder. He could put a cup holder in the cockpit. Okay, maybe not the cup holder. Focus, Lloyd.

  He looked at the helmet design. "Heads-up display," he muttered. "I need information. I need to see behind me. I need to zoom in."

  He thought about his [All-Seeing Eye]. If he could link his eye to the suit's sensors, he would be unstoppable. He could see weak points and the suit would aim automatically.

  "Auto-aim," Lloyd chuckled. "That's cheating. I love it."

  But then he hit a problem. The weight. The suit would weigh tons. If he walked in it, he would sink into the ground. He would crush floorboards.

  "Flight," Lloyd decided. "Anti-gravity runes. I need to make it light. Or I need thrusters to keep it hovering."

  He drew jets on the back and feet. He would use fire crystals for propulsion. It would be like riding an explosion. Dangerous, but fast.

  "This is going to require materials that barely exist," Lloyd realized. "I need heat-resistant alloys. I need impact-absorbing gels."

  He started making a shopping list. It was a terrifying list.

  ● Refined Adamantine (Expensive)

  ● Star-Metal (Very Expensive)

  ● Dragon Scales (Do I have to kill a dragon? Maybe I can ask Bingyu nicely for some ice scales?)

  ● High-grade Spirit Stones (I have those, thanks to the farm)

  "I'm going to bankrupt the soap company," Lloyd sighed. "I need to sell more soap. Maybe I can invent shampoo. Or conditioner. People love soft hair."

  He looked at the blueprint again. It was ambitious. It was arrogant. It was perfect.

  The Aegis wasn't just a weapon. It was a statement. It said that humanity, with all its frailty, could stand toe-to-toe with monsters. It was the triumph of intellect over instinct.

  "Beelzebub won't know what hit him," Lloyd grinned. "He'll be expecting a spell. He'll get a missile to the face."

  He rolled up his sleeves. The design was solid. Now he needed to prototype. He would start small. Maybe build a gauntlet first. Test the strength. Test the magic circuits.

  "Ken is going to want one," Lloyd realized. "If I build this, I'm going to have to build one for everyone. A squad of armored Wraiths. That would be terrifying."

  He imagined his team in power armor. Jasmin with diamond-coated gauntlets. Ken in a heavy assault suit. It was a glorious image.

  "One step at a time," Lloyd told himself. "First, I build mine. Then we worry about mass production."

  Chapter : 1340

  He picked up his quill again. He started calculating the mana consumption rate. It was high. Very high. He would need a massive power core.

  "Lilith Stones," he whispered. "I can use them to manage the power flow. They can act as the regulators."

  The pieces were falling into place. His journey to Zakaria, his business, his powers—it all led to this. The Aegis was the culmination of everything he had learned.

  "Okay," Lloyd said, slapping the table. "Let's build a giant metal suit."

  He felt a renewed sense of purpose. The fear of his father's power was still there, but it was no longer paralyzing. It was fuel. He would take that fear and forge it into steel. He would build a shell so hard that nothing in this world could crack it.

  He looked out the window. The moon was high. It was late. But he couldn't sleep. The engineer in him was awake, and he was hungry for progress.

  "Time to get to work," Lloyd said. And he began to draft the schematics for the left boot. It was a small start, but every giant robot started with a single bolt.

  Lloyd’s workshop looked like a hurricane had hit a blacksmith shop and then a library exploded on top of it. There were gears everywhere. There were scrolls scattered on the floor. There were half-eaten sandwiches on the shelves.

  In the center of this chaos sat Lloyd. He looked terrible. His hair was a mess. He had dark circles under his eyes that were big enough to carry luggage. He hadn't shaved in three days. He looked like a mad scientist who had forgotten what the sun looked like.

  On the table in front of him lay a metal helmet. It was sleek and silver. It was beautiful. But the back was open, revealing a complex nest of wires and glowing crystals.

  "Okay," Lloyd muttered. His voice was raspy. "Attempt number four hundred and... I lost count. Let's try again."

  He picked up a small, glowing blue stone. It was a Lilith Stone from Zakaria. He had spent a fortune acquiring these. They were supposed to be the answer. They were programmable magic stones. They were supposed to be the brain of the Aegis.

  Lloyd carefully placed the stone into a socket in the helmet. He grabbed a fine silver tool and touched the crystal. He closed his eyes and focused his will.

  "Protocol Alpha," Lloyd commanded in his mind. "Target acquisition. Track movement. Adjust visor opacity. Go."

  He pushed his mana into the stone. The helmet hummed. The eyes glowed blue.

  "Yes," Lloyd whispered. "Come on. You can do it."

  The helmet turned slightly. It seemed to be looking around.

  "Target the apple," Lloyd ordered. He pointed to an apple sitting on a stool across the room.

  The helmet swiveled. It faced the apple.

  "Good," Lloyd said. "Now, calculate distance."

  The helmet buzzed. The light in the eyes flickered.

  "Distance," Lloyd repeated. "Calculate. Basic math. Come on."

  The buzzing got louder. The blue light turned a little purple. Smoke started to curl out from the socket.

  "No, no, no," Lloyd panicked. "Don't cook. Do not cook the brain!"

  He tried to pull the mana back, but it was too late. Pop. A small spark jumped from the stone. The light died. The helmet slumped forward, looking very sad and very dead.

  Lloyd stared at the dead helmet. He dropped his head into his hands. "Damn it."

  He had the body. He had built the limbs. The hydraulics worked. The armor plating was strong. But the suit was a statue. It couldn't move effectively because it had no brain.

  In his old world, computers could do millions of calculations a second. They could balance the suit, track targets, manage power, and play music all at the same time.

  Here, he had rocks. Smart rocks, but still rocks.

  "The Lilith Stones are too simple," Lloyd complained to the empty room. "They are single-threaded. They can do one thing. 'Look at apple.' Good. 'Calculate distance.' Good. 'Look at apple AND calculate distance?' Brain melts."

  He picked up the burnt stone. It was hot to the touch. It was ruined. That was another hundred gold coins down the drain.

  "I can't pilot the suit manually," Lloyd reasoned. "There are too many systems. I can't control the leg servos, the balance thrusters, the vision, and the weapons all with my own brain while trying to fight a demon. I need an operating system. I need an AI."