The centaur charges through the enemy ranks like a tempest.
Her silver body reflects the gleam of the ice, four hooves shattering the frozen earth. Each thrust of her blade breaks Corrupted apart in her wake.
Rosetta bursts from the encirclement like an arrow through ice, scattering the horde behind her in a whirlwind of severed limbs and shattered parts.
On the battlefield of Sophiasburgh, nothing can withstand her.
Charge with me!
Hahaha! Eat this, you freaks!
—!
The sounds of combat tear through the polar wind as green and red auroras writhe violently overhead. Mina swings her ice-breaking hammer, crushing a Corrupted to the ground. Though its head is slick with black mechanical oil, her grin only sharpens, wild and feral.
With this array boosting me, I'm unstoppable! Let me show you the real power of my Arctic relic—this ice-breaker!
What are you doing, Dr. Mina? The array isn't calibrated for humans! Stay put and don't move!
Are you nuts? You expect me to just stand here as target practice?
Ignoring a panicked Dr. Bear, Mina backhands another Corrupted into the frozen sea and immediately opens her comms channel.
Hey, Asimov. Cut to the chase, what is this "Amalgamation" tech, really?
Is now really the best moment for a theoretical discussion?
I've vented enough steam for now. Dr. Bear, you're hooked into the array, aren't you? Cover me for a minute!
...Sigh. Just don't do anything crazy, alright?
Time to feel this Ursa's fury, Punishing Virus!
...?
Alright, out with it! I hate being kept in the dark!
...
The Chief Technician lets out a sigh.
I'll send you a detailed report later, but put simply, Amalgamation technology is a bridge connecting individual M.I.N.D.s. Its ultimate objective is to construct a vast consciousness network: the Amalgamation array.
I saw that much firsthand. Everyone linked gets a massive power boost... even starts using tech they shouldn't understand.
It's not just enhancement. It is completion. We previously misidentified the instability in the Arctic Route Union's humanoid-hybrid M.I.N.D.s as a flaw. In reality, it was a deliberate design gap.
Are you saying they engineered humanoid-hybrids specifically for Amalgamation?
Correct. Bionic machines possess dedicated Amalgamation access points. Non-humanoid collectives induce M.I.N.D. instability, but these perceived defects perfectly complement Amalgamation's requirements.
The technology's purpose is to construct a macro-array from countless individual nodes, recalibrating each unique entity—from individual to collective, and back again.
So after the Amalgamation, they become "complete"... That explains the historical obsession with perfecting humanoid-hybrid frames.
"Ultimate Amalgamator Malkuth"—a term Mina recalls from the manuscript during her talk with Asimov. This, she now understands, is the key. "Complete" doesn't just mean the Amalgamator is finished; it means the entire system, including its subordinate frames, is now whole.
Shared consciousness, mutual reinforcement—that is the true purpose of Amalgamation's power. A communal existence defines Malkuth's core strength.
But if that's the ideal... what's with the red aurora? What kind of Amalgamation is the Frostheart Emperor running?
A corrupted variant.
Similar to Amberia's prior misuse, while she employed the power of Amalgamation, her core methodology was appropriation, subsuming other nodes within the array as mere extensions of her own will.
But wouldn't that break the proper connection between the Amalgamator, the humanoid-hybrids, and the bionic machines?
Connection is not the requirement. He only needs to activate the combat modules.
Immersion in anger teaches hatred, a principle applicable to any thinking entity. Complex consciousness synchronization is unnecessary. Implanting a single, dominant emotion or command suffices.
No synchronization needed... Wait, so he doesn't need an anchor like Derek in our case...
Indeed. I suspect our initial activation failure was within his anticipated parameters.
Hmph. Too bad for him we got it working in the end... Speaking of which, what exactly did you connect to handle the processing load?
A large-scale server cluster, provided by an associate who operates under the designation "The Unwinged".
The sounds of battle swell once more into a furious roar. Despite the counteroffensive, the two sides remain deadlocked, neither able to gain the upper hand.
Hmph. We'll hash out the details later!
Hang on, Dr. Bear! I'm coming to back you up!
Can't you just stay back, Mina? I told you the array isn't for humans!
Stop your nagging!
