Crossover: The Problematic Human of Arcadia — Shaper of Anime Worlds Chapter 550: Machine Gods

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Hers slowly surfaced from a hazy stupor and opened his eyes.

"You're awake."

The voice was flat, stripped of emotion.

Hearing that faintly familiar tone, Hers jolted fully alert and snapped his eyes wide open.

He was in a dark, damp prison cell, lying on a gray tal cot. His wrists and ankles were shackled to the fra, fixed in place like livestock on a butcher's board.

Hers glared at the man standing before him.

"You!"

Black hair. Black eyes. A sleeveless black shirt exposing lean, sculpted muscle.

There was no way Hers could forget that face.

The new leader of Arcadia. The man who had defeated and captured his incarnation.

His only crushing defeat in nearly ten thousand years.

"How does it feel?"

Ryo didn't react to the glare. Instead, he smiled brightly, his eyes carrying a kind of fervor that made Hers' skin crawl.

"How does what feel?" Hers didn't want to answer, yet the reply slipped out instinctively, like he was facing Zeus himself.

Ryo's smile widened.

"Being a machine."

Hers' mouth fell open. Despair flooded his eyes.

A full minute passed before he choked out, voice trembling, "Can you… unshackle my hands?"

Ryo raised a brow and flicked his wrist. The cuffs binding Hers' wrists sprang open.

Hers pushed himself up and sat on the cot. His hands trembled as he lowered his gaze.

In that instant, he learned the true aning of utter devastation.

What use is a man without his symbol of manhood?

"Why…" His eyes reddened as he looked up at Ryo, grievance practically pouring off him.

"Tools don't need unnecessary features."

Ryo's expression was almost pitying, but his eyes were cold.

"Put it back," Hers pleaded. "I'll follow your orders."

He had already realized that his connection to his true body had been severed.

An incarnation turned into a machine god, its authority stripped and seized. The loss would ripple back through their shared spiritual foundation and achievents.

As Hers, he understood better than anyone what his true self would choose.

Even if it ant losing authority. Even if it ant splitting into another Hers.

The original would never willingly beco a machine god.

"I'll think about it."

This ti, Ryo wasn't brushing him off. If Hers perford well enough, he didn't mind reinstalling a few "extra features."

"Thank you," Hers said with a bitter laugh.

"You're welco."

Ryo adjusted his glasses. Honestly, he hadn't expected Hers to change so quickly.

But thinking about it, that was only natural.

After a man suffers a pain he was never ant to endure, he tends to… evolve.

"Get used to your new body. I'll be taking you for so tests later."

"Fine."

Ryo nodded slightly, then glanced at Ares sitting on a tal platform nearby.

"That goes for you too."

With that, he left the cell.

Once he was gone, the atmosphere grew even heavier.

"Well, brother, you don't look too happy."

Ares, now sporting a bronze-toned complexion, grinned from the edge of his cot.

Hers looked at him. For once, they really were brothers in misfortune.

"And you're thrilled?"

"Of course not. But I don't really care." Ares shrugged and opened his mouth wide. "I've still got my tongue! That's more than enough for to be a lady killer."

Hers had to admit, that was a solid point.

Ares laughed. "Look on the bright side. So what if we're machines now? It's not the end of the world."

He puffed out his chest proudly.

"Back then, Athena pinned to the ground in front of the Twelve Olympians and beat one-handed. Then she skewered with the Spear of Victory and wrecked both my kidneys. I still had a great ti afterward."

Hers couldn't help but retort, "That was because Aphrodite knelt in front of Athena and begged for you. That's why Athena removed the remaining divine power from your body."

Ares lifted his chin smugly. "Exactly. I can get another man's wife to plead for my kidneys. Can you?"

Hers bristled. Was that a jab at his past… capabilities?

"It's just Aphrodite. I've slept with her too!"

"Sure," Ares nodded. "You did. But did she ever beg for you? Athena's pinned you down more than once, hasn't she?"

"…"

Hers fell silent.

His lips moved, but nothing ca out.

There was no arguing with soone that shaless.

You can't outdo a man who has no bottom line.

Then a thought struck him.

Wait. Aphrodite was married to Hephaestus.

And Hephaestus was Ares' full brother.

Hers blinked.

Actually… maybe he wasn't the most miserable one here.

His mood steadied almost instantly.

Deciding not to engage further, Hers turned his back on Ares and even set up a soundproof barrier to block out any more verbal harassnt.

He focused on familiarizing himself with his new body.

Ares burst into laughter and did the sa.

Without realizing it, both of them began carrying out Ryo's earlier command: assessing themselves.

---

Outside the prison, in a shadowed corner.

Within a world of darkness.

Ryo stood beside Leticia, silently observing the two gods sitting back to back inside the cell.

"Looks like the technique works perfectly."

It wasn't that Ryo doubted the thod he'd obtained through the forum.

He simply needed to confirm whether the machine gods he created retained independent will or posed any hidden risks.

But judging from the current situation, even a hothead like Ares and a habitual slacker like Hers were unconsciously following his instructions.

That was reassuring.

Still, there was no guarantee issues wouldn't arise later. To be safe, Ryo planned to keep them under strict surveillance and station them far from Arcadia's headquarters.

Only then would he feel secure.

Of course, the modified Cleansing Formula had proven incredibly effective.

But it wasn't cheap.

Ryo glanced at the forum interface only he could see.

The points balance displayed a clean, unmistakable number: [133,000.]

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