Chapter 684: Fleshly

Grey chuckled at Axion-9’s warning, clearly not caring enough about Trexlor-1’s reputation for it to mean much yet.

Axion-9 remained serious, the smaller mechanical pieces around his frame shifting in slow, precise patterns as his attention stayed fixed on Grey.

"You do not understand the true extent of Trexlor-1’s ability as a Mech Tech, and to be honest, neither do I. No one outside of perhaps his own ancestors truly does."

Grey gave him a lazy look that suggested he was still waiting to hear why any of this mattered, but Axion-9 continued without taking offense.

"What I can tell you is that there is a rumor from when he was a child, one that claims the first vessel he ever created was baptized by the Cyclopes."

That finally got Grey’s attention, his expression sharpening slightly as the word registered. Axion-9 noticed the change and hesitated before continuing, sounding less certain now than he had when speaking about Trexlor-1’s standing among the Para Bots.

"I cannot say whether the story is actually true, as even to me it sounds somewhat fanciful, but it is said that his first true vessel was born from an epiphany profound enough to call down Brontes. Years later, he managed to do the same with Steropes."

Grey’s eyes narrowed while Axion-9 folded two of his mechanical limbs closer to his core.

"The only one he has yet to call down is Arges. However, I have received enough intelligence to believe that if Trexlor-1 has not already succeeded, then he is likely to do so in short order while participating in the Genesis Games."

For the first time since Trexlor-1’s name had come up, Grey looked genuinely serious, enough that Axion-9 seemed to expect some profound realization from him. Grey stared back for another second before finally speaking.

"What the fuck does that mean?"

Sabrina rolled her eyes and shifted slightly.

"There are basically two kinds of Cyclopes in Greek mythology. The ones most people think about are the giant one-eyed monsters, they’re mortal and strong, but they’re not really on the same level as the actual gods."

Grey looked toward her, and Sabrina lifted a hand as she continued.

"Then there are the children of Gaia, who are siblings to Kronos and the others. There are specifically three of them, Thunder, Lightning and Bright, or Brontes, Steropes and Arges."

Amunet’s attention moved toward Sabrina with genuine surprise, while Grey’s expression slowly changed as the connection started making more sense.

"They’re also the ones who forged Zeus’ lightning," Sabrina added.

"You know your ancient lore?" Amunet asked.

Sabrina blinked at the question before giving a small shrug.

"I wanted to become an anthropologist, though that’s not really the same thing as mythology in a lot of cases. Old history just interested me."

Grey nodded slowly as he worked through what she’d said. He had only perked up in the first place since hearing Cyclopes immediately made him think about the Titans, but now that Sabrina had filled in the details, Trexlor-1 suddenly sounded a great deal more interesting.

These weren’t simply monsters from some old story, they were beings born from Gaia and tied directly to the same generation as Kronos. More importantly, they were apparently legendary craftsmen themselves, which made Trexlor-1 calling down two of them through his own work considerably harder to brush aside.

"Well," Grey eventually said with a shrug, "it’s not like I have beef with the guy anyway. Who cares how great he is?"

His eyes brightened a moment later.

"Unless he is a she."

Grey’s imagination immediately wandered toward what a female Para Bot might be capable of with all those extra appendages, only for several sets of eyes to turn toward him before the thought could develop much further. He coughed and looked away, silently complaining that he was apparently never going to be free to think his own thoughts again.

And he hadn’t even married any of these broads yet.

Grey’s brows furrowed. ’Yet?’

He shook his head, deciding that particular thought needed to be buried before it caused problems of its own.

"Anyway, aren’t you being a little too free with information about your own Race’s top dog? You know all of this is being recorded, right, so what happens if he hears about it and decides to come after you?"

Axion-9 gave a low mechanical chuckle, apparently finding the concern almost funny.

"Our Race does not involve itself in the same petty squabbles common among fleshly creatures. Trexlor-1 likely does not take you very seriously in the first place, so why would he care about me repeating information that is already publicly available?"

Grey’s interest disappeared almost immediately.

"So a he..." He waved a hand dismissively, looking considerably less curious than he had a second earlier. "Never mind."

Axion-9 stared at him for a moment as though trying to understand why that one detail had changed the entire direction of the conversation. Grey leaned back instead, seeming to remember that Axion-9 might still be useful for something.

"Why don’t you tell me about the other Betting Favorites, then?"

Axion-9 actually seemed prepared to answer, several of the smaller mechanical components around his body shifting as though he were already organizing the information.

"There are—"

Grey lifted a hand before he could get any farther. "You know what, I actually don’t care enough for this."

He crossed the room toward the nearest couch and dropped heavily into the cushions, sinking into them with a long exhale as the exhaustion he’d been ignoring finally caught up with him. Within less than a minute his head had tipped back, his breathing had evened out, and a faint snore began leaving his mouth.

Axion-9 watched him for several seconds before slowly turning toward everyone else, apparently trying to decide whether Grey had genuinely fallen asleep in the middle of their conversation. Nobody looked particularly surprised, which seemed to answer the question for him.

His mechanical gaze eventually moved across Amunet, Sabrina, Elowen, Mauve, Amara, and Lilac, lingering just long enough on each of them for several expressions to begin tightening.

"Are you part of Grey Temolt’s harem?"

Sabrina’s mouth twitched, Amunet looked dangerously amused, Elowen’s cheeks picked up a little color, while Lilac immediately seemed to regret being included in the scan at all. Axion-9 studied their reactions with the same detached seriousness he’d used while discussing Trexlor-1, apparently unaware that he’d wandered into much more dangerous territory.

"I do not measure these things by fleshly standards, but my understanding of fleshly creatures is that he has good taste."

Axion-9 nodded once as though he’d just completed a perfectly reasonable assessment, while Sabrina stared at him and Amunet raised a hand to hide the smile pulling at her lips. Grey remained completely oblivious to the conversation happening around him, already snoring comfortably into the back of the couch.