Chapter Nine: The Naked Maiden! [Part Four]

Still need to reach 60 votes by midnight, so adding three extra chapters as a guarantee plus two explosive chapters for a total of five. Continuing with the fifth now.

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"This is impossibly hard," Baitong murmured in surprise. Even silver mechanoids should sustain minor damage from direct energy pistol fire, yet not even a mark remained on this crystal-like monolith.

Leaf Chen holstered his weapon and approached the towering structure. He ran cold fingers along its surface, feeling no energy fluctuations at all. With seconds left of his overhuman state, he braced himself and pushed with every ounce of strength in his body.

The monolith didn't budge an inch.

Furrowing his brow, Leaf spotted twin nearly transparent windows on either side. His form blurred as he dashed to the eastern window.

Can't go through? Then climb it!

His ring transformed into a blood-red warblade. Vaulting upward, he struck the window with a crisp crack but sensed no energy resistance. Planting his palm against the ledge, he swung himself onto the 1.5-meter-wide windowsill.

The temple soared over 100 meters tall - everything was magnified to monstrous proportions.

Leaf gripped his blade carefully. Rather than hacking downward which might destabilize him, he moved it leftward across the window.

Crack!

The blood-red blade struck with such force that his arm tingled from the backlash. The nearly transparent surface splintered into web-like cracks but the blade's edge slid off due to its slickness, screeching harshly against itself.

While the temple walls were incredibly hard, windows were only about 1% as strong. A second strike shattered it completely.

"Broken," Leaf hissed through gritted teeth. His veins bulged as he slammed the blade again. The once-transparent window exploded into a jagged gap wide enough for one person to squeeze through.

"Hurry up and climb in," Leaf called down to Baitong who was waiting below on the windowsill. Through the cracked glass, they could see inside - the immense chamber contained a crimson carpet 12 meters wide with dozens of gilded chairs lining either side. At its far end sat a thronelike dais carved from crystal, covered in intricate geometric patterns radiating imperial majesty.

Most striking was the woman suspended in midair within a two-meter diameter water orb above the dais. Her naked form clutched her knees as she crouched there, black hair cascading past porcelain skin shimmering with an almost divine glow.

"Woah..." Baitong gaped openly before Mo Fen could cover Gaozhu's eyes.

"Shh little man," Mo Fen warned.

"Why can't he look?"

"Because I'm older. That's appreciation," Mo Fen declared solemnly.

Gaozhu glanced at the crystalline column supporting the water orb, noting its strange black sigils. In this metal city of machines, a stone platform seemed suspiciously out of place.

Leaf leaped downward through the shattered window. The temple showed no signs of activation - if energy crystals were exhausted and security systems inert, they had time to explore.

Following Leaf's lead, Baitong and others descended onto the carpeted floor. Gazing at the woman's youthful form preserved against impossible odds, questions arose about why she remained undecayed through eons.

"This stone platform doesn't belong here," Mo Fen observed. The ancient Greek symbols carved into its surface suggested it had been deliberately placed in this central location.

Leaf tested the platform with his warblade but found no reaction despite the blade's ability to cleave stone like paper. When he reached the column, rows of tactile buttons arranged in patterns caught his attention - each marked with distinct glyphs.

"These aren't just decorative," Mo Fen realized after close inspection. "This is an activation mechanism."

"You mean we can free her?" Baiti asked eagerly.

"Probably," Mo Fen admitted cautiously while Gaozhu scratched his head, uncertain whether to be alarmed by the woman's preservation or wary of potential dangers.

"I don't care about ancient civilizations," Baitong protested. "She's just too pretty not to save!"

Four hands shot up in agreement - Leaf included. The group exchanged glances before Leaf fixed on the woman's face through her parted thighs, his eyes widening with recognition.

"There is no way I'm leaving without her," he declared firmly.

"She's some kind of city AI goddess," Leaf explained. He recalled the exact replica statue back at the Chinese Base City - this was a sentient intelligence meant to control entire urban systems.

Mo Fen examined the Greek script on the column, frowning as his knowledge proved insufficient for translation. "This language is ancient even by human standards."

Leaf stepped in with a shrug. "Well, I'm not exactly an expert in deciphering dead languages either."