Seeing Clara step forward, Donatan tried to keep calm. "Little girl, the bond between you and your robot is touching. But unfortunately, your robot's programming is malfunctioning. Let me fix it—and it'll still be your Svarog."
As a follower of Qlipoth, Donatan was greedy but not yet cruel to children. After he took full control of the automatons and Belobog, he'd return Svarog to Clara. What kind of "Svarog" that would be, well… that's another story.
After all, no one who defied him—especially a robot—would be left unpunished.
Seeing that Donatan wasn't attacking Clara directly, Svarog's tone relaxed slightly: "I ask that you stop. Your actions may bring irreversible damage to the Interastral Peace Corporation. My calculations show that even if you seize control of all automatons in Belobog, your probability of success remains zero."
Hearing those words, Donatan couldn't be bothered to waste time talking anymore. He immediately activated the source code, attempting to take control of all the machines present.
However, the moment he activated it, he froze. Neither Svarog nor any of the other automatons reacted in the slightest.
At that moment, Svarog spoke up: "Regretfully, this source code would have been capable of controlling all automatons, including myself, one month ago. But due to the Trailblazer's influence, the programming of all Belobog automatons has since been fully updated. The code from 700 years ago is now obsolete."
In fact, Svarog's system update—along with every automaton in Belobog—had already been completed back when Pei Guang and the others were busy fighting their way across the Luofu.
As for how that was achieved? It all went back to when Pei Guang used the threat of his Star Destroyer to force Svarog's hand.
At the time, Svarog accessed the starcruiser's verification system to run a full diagnostic. Upon confirmation, it verified that Pei Guang did indeed possess the power to completely and effortlessly annihilate the planet.
Because of that, it autonomously added three directives to its core code: one to protect Pei Guang, and two to protect March 7th. The third directive… protect March 7th.
While Pei Guang's starship had no direct ties to any Aeon, the fact that it could function at all—and its internal AI system—was definitely connected to the Aeons.
For example, the power system: the Star Destroyer originally had no energy source, and Pei Guang would have needed to find one manually to get it working.
Even if energy was found, it still required personnel to operate, because—as per classic game design—a powerful tool like that shouldn't be usable so easily by a player.
Although Pei Guang was a player, this world wasn't a pure video game. While the systems accommodated game-like mechanics, they still followed certain rules of reality. Besides, Belobog's threat level really didn't call for a starship.
So at the time, Pei Guang said, "By all logic, a thing like this should have tons of limitations… But for some reason, I can still use it."
That was indeed what most players would experience. As it turned out, a few "spectators" who loved chaos had taken an interest and decided to act as a power source just to watch the show.
Additionally, because the original starcruiser AI was not truly intelligent—just a highly user-friendly system tailored for players—one Aeon who sought the truth of the universe had installed the most advanced AI in the universe into the ship.
This made the interface even more user-friendly, while also allowing for better observation of player behavior, and in the process, gave the ship many additional functions.
So when Svarog connected to the Star destroyer's system to verify it, it ended up interfacing directly with the most powerful AI in the universe.
Even that short connection gave Svarog an immense boost. Though the effects didn't show immediately, they would later bring significant changes.
Svarog came to understand the terrifying complexity of the starcruiser's programming. Even just observing the system's logic and recording a bit of its "scraps" had drastically upgraded Svarog's own internal systems.
Once it confirmed that this upgrade improved combat performance, it rolled the update out to every automaton.
To Svarog, continuing to use outdated programming when better code was available went against the foundational logic of the Path of Preservation. Better programs meant better preservation.
This directly rendered Donatan's source code useless. The code he had could only control units based on the old systems, but now that Svarog had updated the entire framework, the original code was irrelevant.
Sure, Svarog's AI wasn't entirely immune to hacking—but old source code alone was absolutely incapable of taking control of Svarog or any of the automatons in the underworld.
"What's going on…?"
After Donatan tried using the source code and realized it was completely ineffective, he refused to believe it and tried again—still nothing.
"How is this possible?" Donatan frowned deeply.
According to records, Belobog's automatons were built on this very source code. How could it be useless now?
Watching Donatan repeatedly fail to activate it, Svarog calmly spoke up, "All Belobog automatons have replaced their underlying programming. The source code you are using can no longer control us."
"Employee of the Interastral Peace Corporation, I advise you to stop attempting to occupy Belobog. These actions will only lead to losses for the company—and ultimately, yourself."
As a machine, Svarog still hoped that this corporate agent wouldn't make reckless decisions. After all, Belobog was aiming to one day reach the stars.
For the sake of Belobog's future, it was in Svarog's best interest that the company didn't end up suffering significant setbacks here.
According to its calculations, unless a major variable occurred, this man's continued aggression would only reduce Pei Guang's opinion of the company.
If Pei Guang ever truly decided to go to war with them, there was a high chance Belobog would side with him. The outcome of the future was uncertain, but if that situation ever came to pass, it would certainly not benefit Belobog's preservation.
Unfortunately, Svarog's words only sounded like mockery to Donatan.
"Hah. You've got some tricks up your sleeve, I'll give you that. But these little tricks only serve to piss me off. It doesn't matter. You're just a machine—you don't understand how the company really works.
Even if we can't control you tin cans, this planet will still fall under our control in the end. And when that day comes, you'll be the first one I dismantle. No one can stop me. Not even those Trailblazers."
Donatan was done holding back. Though he really wanted to tear Svarog apart right now, company protocol still had to be followed. No matter how overbearing the company was, it still claimed to follow the Path of Preservation.
This planet had also technically been developed by the Trailblazing faction. Even if that faction was too busy to care at the moment, completely ignoring procedures and rules might give those justice-obsessed Trailblazers a reason to interfere.
That would spell trouble for the company, and even more so for him personally—it would be seen as a failure to perform his duties properly. He had to avoid that at all costs.
Just as Svarog was about to respond to the man's threats, it noticed something odd in the distance.
Three familiar figures were crouching and creeping their way toward them—two familiar, one not so much.
They were none other than Pei Guang wearing the "Simulated head" that mimicked Sampo's face, and Stelle and March 7th, both wearing black head coverings.
Seeing this, Svarog's system nearly crashed. Its logic module asked it: "Do you really believe there are three Trailblazers disguised right now?"
Clearly, a less intelligent automaton would've answered "no." But Svarog wasn't the same as before. It had developed—become more analytical—and instantly recognized that yes, these were indeed three Trailblazers in disguise, openly creeping up on Donatan.
It knew all three—Sampo, Stelle, and March 7th—and had even chatted with Pei Guang and March 7th just the day before. But it couldn't understand… why were Stelle and March 7th sneaking around with Sampo? And both wearing masks?
Its database contained plenty of information on Sampo. According to everything it had, that man was not a good person. Why were two of the Trailblazers who often worked with Pei Guang now running around with someone like him?
Svarog thought it over for a moment—then it understood.
It completely understood.
That person wearing Sampo's face wasn't Sampo at all… he was the Trailblazer, Pei Guang!