Accompanied by a whistling tear through the air, the heavy alloy greatsword plumted towards the earth like a star falling from the sky, crushing a giant demon that resembled a heavy battle tank into two with ease, despite its edgeless blade. And then, with a thunderous roar, Fenna slamd her fist into the ground, creating a terrifying shockwave that turned the weaker demons gathered around her into nothing more than a fine powder.
A bizarre, shrill scream rose from behind, and a missile, brimming with filthy energy, struck from a tricky angle. Fenna quickly got up, but before she could raise her hand to block it, a swift shadow surged in from the side, a two-handed greatsword glittering with silver light intercepting the treacherous sneak attack. Then, several marines wielding enchanted steel swords rushed in and minced the demon, which had launched the attack from a short distance away, into a pulp.
Fenna looked up at the shadow and nodded slightly, "Quick reaction."
Amber’s face broke into a happy expression. She nodded enthusiastically and then couldn’t help but admire Fenna with a look of astonishnt and envy, "You’re really... even stronger than I imagined."
"Not bad, I’m in a good state today," Fenna nonchalantly twirled her alloy greatsword and backhandedly thrust it into the mist beside her, impaling an Abyssal Hound that had just taken shape from the thick fog. Then, with a light flick on the hilt of the sword – the demon was ground into fine dust, "And these demons are not that strong... far weaker than the enemies I’ve been facing recently."
Amber’s expression seed to stiffen for a mont, but she recovered quickly and returned to her post – continuing to direct the soldiers to clear away the roaming demons near the entrance of the cave, while organizing battle personnel to rest in rotation and reinforce the defenses.
Fenna also lifted her greatsword once again, but just then, she felt sothing and her gaze sharpened slightly, looking towards the depths of the fog.
For a mont, she thought she saw a figure – a hunched figure in tattered robes, moving across the stone beaches of the canyon.
The figure seed oblivious to the fierce battle around him, to the demons and church warriors that were nearby; he looked like a phantom, hastily crossing through the mist from another dinsion of ti and space.
This lasted only for an instant – when Fenna blinked again, he had disappeared.
Then, a frightful demon composed of countless interweaving skeletons, appearing like a sinister "bone sphere" with a diater of three ters, erged from the dense fog not far away. The hollow roar from within the bone sphere forced Fenna to suppress her doubts for the ti being and raise her sword to face the enemy...
During a series of dense musket shots, the strange demons that crawled from the black gate hadn’t yet stabilized their form when they were torn to shreds by bullets fired by the toy soldiers. Accompanied by commands and whistles, the toy soldiers, their bodies painted in colorful and garish paints, quickly reford their ranks and began digging entrenchnts on the ground, pushing carved wooden cannons into position.
Maurice watched curiously, then reached down to pick up a toy soldier, examining it closely in front of his eyes. The tal plate on his forehead receded, and among the rapidly spinning gears and vibrating springs inside his skull, a set of precise lenses were chanically extended to focus on the toy soldier.
The toy soldier struggled forcefully, using the butt of the rifle to hit Maurice’s fingers, creating a series of tallic "clang" sounds as wood t tal.
Maurice released the toy soldier and flexed his fingers before turning to the "Witch of the Sea" beside him, who was constantly directing various toy soldiers, paper tanks, and paper soldiers to set up positions with a conductor’s baton, "...quite irritable."
"...Could you stop constantly grabbing my soldiers for your research?" Lucrecia glanced at Maurice helplessly, "Why don’t you study those demon remains instead? They’re all over the place here..."
"What’s there to study about demon remains? Every now and then, they show up on the ship," Maurice casually took out his pipe but rembered that he was currently in "Casting Body" and had to reluctantly put the pipe back in his pocket, "I would like to ask you about puppetry technology when I have the chance. The techniques you use seem related to Academy techniques, but the approach is different..."
"Once things here are settled, of course we can talk – I’m also interested in the Casting Body you’re using," Lucrecia replied casually, "I’ve had quite a few dealings with the Academy of Truth. I know about your ’Divine Arts’ that temporarily transform part of your body into chanical form, but to have the entire body ’Cast Transford’... I’ve never seen that before."
Maurice smiled, emitting a buzzing sound from the vibrating springs in his throat. But just then, sothing he caught a glimpse of with the corner of his eye interrupted what he was about to say.
Deep in the dim cave, next to the black gate, on an open area of ground, a figure seed to have abruptly appeared.
The figure was cloaked in a tattered white robe, standing as if he had been there for a very long ti, and neither the surrounding demons nor the "soldiers" summoned by Lucrecia seed to notice this unwelco guest – he just stood quietly on the battlefield, his out-of-place appearance seeming like a phantom cast from another dinsion of ti and space.
He appeared to be observing the black gate, maintaining a gaze that did not waver.
Yet it was only for an instant – when Maurice blinked again, the strange figure had vanished.
Lucrecia suddenly noticed Maurice’s strange behavior and imdiately turned her head after the soldiers had eliminated another demon erging from the black gate, "What’s wrong?"
"...A figure appeared near the black gate," Maurice said gravely, "but disappeared in the blink of an eye. Did you not see it?"
"No," Lucresia shook her head, her brows slightly furrowing, "Damn it, I wasn’t paying attention in that direction..."
"...It’s alright," Morris glanced at the "witch" and waved his hand, "I got a picture."
Lucresia’s expression froze: "Picture...?"
Morris nodded, and at the sa ti, a series of gears turning and chanisms clicking started emanating from within his body. Then his entire jaw joint dropped down in a rather horrifying manner—revealing a dark open slot from which a hand-sized photograph slowly erged.
Morris pulled out the photograph, waved it in the air, and, with his other hand, casually reattached his jaw joint. He then handed the photograph to Lucresia: "It’s not very clear, seems like there was interference, but you can still make out a white shadow."
Lucresia took the photograph with a strange look on her face, noting the fuzzy figure near the Black Gate, but her gaze couldn’t help returning to Morris: "...Why do you even have that feature..."
Morris smiled faintly: "I’ve told you, I had many adventures when I was young..."
Lucresia: "..."
...
Duncan felt, vaguely and indistinctly, that when he withdrew his hand, sothing had quietly changed—whether it was his own fate or the future of the world, he couldn’t clearly define what it was.
He rely had this profound sensation that the decision he had just made was extrely crucial, whether for good or ill.
He looked up and saw the dark red core still peacefully floating nearby; the light within the core flickered, waning and waxing, while the majestic "mountain range" behind the core settled down, its surface array of lights sowhat dim.
His refusal had not "angered" the ancient deity; it seed simply...confused.
After a good while, the core finally spoke: "Why?"
Then the light inside the core grew slightly brighter than before as it continued, "Theoretically, having the Shelter repaired should align with your wishes—you have already saved three City-States, and ’taking over’ this world would ensure a more thorough salvation for all City-States, safeguarding them from becoming out of control or polluted for a considerable length of ti... I have calculated all possibilities, and you should be pleased with such an outco, so why would you refuse?"
Duncan was silent for a mont, then suddenly asked, "And then what?"
The dark red core appeared slightly perplexed: "Then what?"
Duncan’s tone was even: "After this ’considerable length of ti’ you speak of?"
The dark red core fell silent, its slowly pulsating light seemingly reflecting its hesitation.
"I don’t know if there are other solutions—perhaps your proposition truly is the best choice at this stage, perhaps everything will indeed develop as you say, but for now... I cannot agree to it."
Duncan spoke calmly while taking a small step back.
Consider it intuition... I feel there is a major issue with your ’plan,’ and I believe there are other ways—not just resetting this Shelter and struggling to survive."
He paused, looking earnestly at the flickers of light within the core.
"Moreover, just like your reaction just now—it’s obvious, even you cannot be certain what will happen after this ’considerable length of ti.’ Maybe my takeover could indeed bring the Shelter back to its optimal state and rectify all its current shortcomings, but even you cannot assure how long a Shelter, repaired in such a way to conform completely to the ’blueprint,’ will last—
"The sun once deed ’eternal’ has extinguished twice, the frontier fog known as ’Eternal Veil’ has been collapsing continuously over the past few decades, the gods are gradually dying, and you are well aware of your own condition—all things are perishable, and I don’t believe that just by taking the place of the ancient kings and gods, I could change all that... After all, as a ’world’ for all beings to thrive, this ’Endless Sea,’ in terms of both resources and space, is simply too... cramped.
"And speaking selfishly, I do not wish that after taking over everything, in another ten thousand years, I would find myself in your position, watching the Shelter descend into its end once again—at that ti, whom would I find to ’take over’ all this?"
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