Transformers: Survival of Defective Products

Chapter 161 The Enemy of the Sky - An Unrepentant Admission

As the thirteenth day drew to a close, the gravitational vector departed from the third space bridge.

She walked alone out of the main Crystal City area and along the road leading to the memorial area.

Night had fallen. The distant lights between Iron Fortress and Crystal City flickered intermittently on the horizon, while the third space bridge in the distance was still undergoing final stabilization calibration, with occasional faint lights flashing behind the buildings.

They will arrive in Aquitron tomorrow, before the formal trial begins.

If the bridge hadn't thrown them into the earth's crust, if the coordinates given by the jazz had held, and if the Quintessons hadn't sensed it beforehand...

Great, all the conditions sound very unstable.

The guide vector walked along the edge of the memorial area and finally stopped in front of a tombstone.

Sentinel Prime's tombstone is quiet, almost indifferent, compared to the overwhelming power and imposing presence he had during his lifetime.

The monument is made of a composite material of dark metal and stone. The inscription is handled with restraint, neither praising excessively nor deliberately defaming.

Cybertron ultimately reserved a place for him, so that future machines would know: he had changed Cybertron and made Cybertron pay the price.

His double-edged sword lay before the tombstone.

The thick, silver-gray double-ended blade had become dull, the serrated edge was submerged in the night, and the gold handle in the middle had lost its luster, like an old scepter that had been cold for a long time.

It once shone brightly, with pale golden energy patterns. When Sentinel Prime held it in his hand, it was like a command, and also like a judgment.

The vector looked at it for a while.

She fell into a deep sleep after killing Sentinel Prime, and didn't have time to attend the funeral or come here.

The vector felt neither relieved nor saddened by this; Sentinel Prime was not an object of pity.

He gave Cybertron a more respectable new coat to what he had once rebelled against—rank, lineage, and power.

Yin Xiang looked down at the tombstone. The night breeze blew from the edge of the memorial area, gently brushing the top of the tombstone.

He raised his hand, his fingertips hovering above the tombstone, but he didn't touch it.

What you couldn't do, I will do.

After saying that, she turned around and prepared to leave.

Just then, a very faint thud came from behind.

The vector stopped.

Before the tombstone, the long-silent double-edged sword trembled slightly for a moment.

At first, only a faint golden light appeared at the middle of the handle, and the cooled metal inside regained its warmth.

Then, the light extended along the spine of the blade to both ends, spreading to the thick blade surface and serrated edge, illuminating the long-darkened patterns section by section.

The vector slowly turned around, and the double-edged sword rose from in front of the tombstone.

An old weapon that had been silent for too long finally found a new wielder.

The next second, it flew towards her.

He subconsciously raised his hand and grasped the gold handle in the middle.

As the weight settled in her palm, her entire body seemed to pause subtly.

The weapon was lighter than she remembered, perhaps because she had grown up.

History and power were condensed into the sword, the pale gold patterns continuing to shine in her hand, finally completing a belated continuation.

The vector stared at it for a long time before finally managing to utter a sentence:

"...What do you mean by that?"

The tombstone did not answer, nor did the double-edged sword; it simply gleamed silently.

-

Meanwhile, deep within the source of the spark.

The spark of Sentinel Prime was originally resting quietly in that light.

The embers after death do not have the complete form they had in life; they are more like the true form left after stripping away the outer armor, power, ambition, and voice.

Even so, Sentinel Prime is still Sentinel Prime—proud, aloof, and unwilling to back down.

He has been here for some time.

The source of the spark was quiet, or at least it should have been.

Until one of the primordial beings in the void suddenly said, "How about we go and beat up Sentinel Prime?"

There was a brief pause in the surrounding area.

Sai Tianjiao suddenly raised his head.

"Maximus the Great," she said, "you've finally offered a suggestion that's barely readable."

Emperor Maximus laughed heartily: "I always have good suggestions, it's just that you don't know how to appreciate them."

Zhen Tianzun remained silent, but he had already followed Sai Tianjiao when she set off.

Huan Tianling, who was originally drifting on some unknown edge, changed his form slightly upon hearing this, suddenly finding a more interesting form of entertainment than silence.

"Beat up a leader who's already dead," Huan Tianling said lightly. "That sounds like there's a lot of room for change."

Master Titanium sighed, his voice likely filled with disillusionment towards his colleagues: "What are you guys up to now?"

Maximo shrugged innocently: "Just doing some historical follow-up."

Titanium Master: "You call beating up 'tidying up'?"

Yin Tianxing slowly turned his gaze from a distance.

His voice remained gentle as he pondered for a moment before saying, "This particular point in time is indeed special."

Wuchangtian was also present, but did not rush to speak.

The name Quintesson carries an inescapable origin for him. He created life, and he also left behind embers with irresponsible consequences.

Now, those consequences have come full circle, dragging Cybertron back to the courtroom.

Therefore, Xianjue Tian did not stop him.

Rui Tianxiao watched in silence.

Wei Tianxing seemed to want to say something, but then felt that this was not the right place to mediate a fight.

Jing Tianwei seriously assessed whether their joint trip would turn into some kind of strange, temporary combined operation.

A moment later, they actually came to a consensus.

All twelve of them went.

Yu Tiandi had just looked up when he only had time to catch a glimpse of Sai Tianjiao's fist.

Strictly speaking, there is no physical harm in the ordinary sense within the AllSpark.

But the original creators were clearly very good at maximizing the space between "not causing permanent damage" and "hitting hard".

When Sentinel Prime was overturned, Maximo laughed without any of his original demeanor.

"Oh dear," he said, "it's a terrible sight."

Yutiandi said coldly, "Maximo."

"Don't be so fierce." Emperor Maximus walked around to his side. "I came here specifically to visit you."

Immediately afterwards, he sat directly on Yutiandi.

Sentinel's Enemy: "..."

Sai Tianjiao stood aside, his gaze cold and fierce: "You actually let what they left behind continue to live in your hands."

The flame of the Sky Enemy contracted slightly.

Zhen Tianzun stood behind Sai Tianjiao, silent as an old black monument.

Huan Tianling watched with great interest, her form swaying slightly at the edges.

Master Titanium did not participate in the action, but only looked at Yutiandi with a deep gaze.

Inside the source of the spark, images of the outside world appear at this moment.

Sentinel Prime saw his own tombstone, and the Graviton standing in front of it.

The double-edged sword lit up again, detached from the tombstone, and fell into her hand.

Maximo remained seated on him, looking up at the scene, his tone languid:

"Your knife has chosen her."

Yutiandi stared at the pale golden light.

"It didn't choose her."

Sai Tianjiao looked at him: "Then why is it lit?"

The Enemy of the Sky remained silent.

He knew better than anyone that the sword hadn't betrayed him.

It was his weapon, which had followed his commands, will, and ambition, as well as the part of his ideal that he truly wanted to drive the Quintessons out of Cybertron.

It now responds to the index vector, not because it negates everything about him.

Rather, it was because a part of his heart, a part that even he himself was unwilling to acknowledge, recognized that she was qualified to continue the unfinished battle.

Sentinel Prime found this absurd and incredibly jarring.

Because that machine was a defective product that he wanted to get rid of himself.

It was the flaw in his power structure, the anomaly he refused to acknowledge, that ultimately led to his death.

And now, his sword gleams in her hand.

Huan Tianling tilted her head slightly to look him over: "Are you unhappy?"

Yutiandi coldly replied, "You're quite free?"

"Otherwise what?" Huan Tianling answered sincerely, "Especially now."

Yin Tianxing then spoke up: "She is not a native spark of this universe."

Sentinel finally looked at him, and Maximo's smile widened.

"Oh, this part is interesting," Maximo said. "You didn't know that, did you?"

Yin Tianxing's voice remained gentle: "She comes from another world. A dazzling and mature soul was drawn here and fell into that defective machine."

Master Titanium glanced at Yin Tianxing but did not deny it.

The light of the Sky Enemy's spark paused for a moment.

Huan Tianling chuckled: "So you were humiliated by a soul from another world back then."

Maxim added, "He's just a little guy who, not long after arriving on Cybertron, was forced to climb up from a defective position."

Yutian remained silent.

Finally, Wuchangtian spoke:

"She wasn't designed to be a leader, nor was she named Origin. But she did get there."

Sai Tianjiao scoffed, "This is much more aesthetically pleasing than many artificially created powers."

As Sentinel listened to them, he suddenly realized something else.

The Graviton Vector is frighteningly young for Cybertron's age.

She confronted him, sabotaged his schemes, and ultimately killed him, not even fully entering Cybertronian form.

This realization left his entire spark blank and silent for a moment.

Maximo looked down at Sentinel Prime, whom he was using as a cushion, and gave a wicked smile.

"So, Sentinel Prime," he said, "if you had known she was so young, would you have held back?"

Sai Tianjiao looked at Yu Tiandi, and so did Master Tai.

Zhen Tianzun didn't move, but a hint of curiosity appeared in his eyes.

Yutiandi remained silent for a long time.

Then he said, "No."

Without remorse, he will not offer himself a belated act of kindness.

Maximo burst out laughing: "Alright, it's still Sentinel Prime."

Yutiandi said coldly, "Judging by what you've done, you have no right to judge me."

Maximo shrugged, then smiled and glanced down at the spot where he was sitting—on Sentinel Prime.

Sentinel's Enemy: "..."

If the source of the fire could still generate a genuine surge of qi and blood, he would probably have been so angry that he would have restarted the game.

Master Titanium closed his eyes, really unwilling to admit that Maximo was also one of the original creators.

He looked at Sentinel Prime and said slowly, "You won't hold back, and that's the problem."

Yutiandi turned his head with difficulty to look at him.

Titanium Master continues:

"You knew what it meant to resist foreign domination, and later you also knew what you were copying, but you just wouldn't stop."

Sentinel Prime has no need to refute this.

That's just how he is.

He once raised the banner of resistance, but desire transformed resistance into rule, victory into order, and finally he became an unchallengeable class.

This is his failure and his sin, but it doesn't mean he will bow down and beg for forgiveness from that defective product or humbly repent.

Yutiandi looked at the image outside, where Yinxiang was holding a double-edged sword.

Much later, he said, "If she can't hold on, she'll die in Aquitron."

Sai Tianjiao glared at her, then clenched her fist again.

Sentinel Prime didn't back down, nor did he look at her: "I'll see if she can accomplish what I failed to do."

Maximo patted him on the shoulder, as if praising an extremely stubborn stone.

"That sounds awful."

-

Outside, in front of the tombstone.

Yin Xiang held the double-edged sword that had been relit and remained silent for a long while.

The power of the old era was forced to be wielded in a different way.

The vector looked at Sentinel Prime's tombstone, scratched his head, and said:

"Since you don't object, I'll take it with me."

This time, the battle sword gleamed faintly in her hand.

The vector retrieved it and turned to leave.

She will take this weapon from the old era to disrupt the new courtroom set up by the Quintessons.