Clockwork Bride

Page 255

When talking about the sun these days, Mithra is the first thing that comes to mind. Karen sincerely hopes that this reversed Sun card signifies the defeat of Mithra and His power.

Then, the third card, the reversed Emperor. The meaning of this card is self-evident.

Just as Karen reached out to turn over the last face-down card, a deep, ethereal, and chilling voice spoke behind her—

"That day is approaching."

Karen immediately turned around, only to see Hayden frozen in his chair, his eyes half-closed, as if in a dream.

"……what?"

But Hayden seemed not to hear Karen's question. His half-open eyes reflected a light like distant stars. Then he continued speaking, in that same vast and ethereal voice:

"On the day of reckoning, the fire will burn like a furnace... The arrogant and wicked will be burned to ashes, leaving nothing behind... Even the sun will be dimmed..."

He's making a prophecy! And it's the most traditional and oldest kind of prophecy!

Karen had seen a lot in her life, but this was the first time she had ever witnessed a prophecy spoken in a trance-like state. Moreover, the prophecy sounded like it was recounting the fall of Mithra. This immediately filled Karen with joy.

Unfortunately, she didn't have a long time to be happy, because Hayden's prophecy was not yet finished.

"At that time, heaven and earth will shake, flames will burn the universe, and all things will have no way to escape the calamity... for the invincible sun will still hang high, and only the blood of the moon can set it... and the set sun will also rise again because of the blood of man..."

"...The blood of the flowing moon is the beginning of the world's end...The blood of the sacrificed man is the end of the world's end...The day is coming..."

Suddenly, the eerie, chilling sound ceased. Hayden's head snapped back up. He was awake.

He woke up and saw Karen standing next to him, dumbfounded.

"……Is there anything wrong?"

This is a very serious matter.

Is humanity on the verge of extinction?

Is this prophecy true? Is the world about to end?

Fortunately, Karen was never the type to panic at the mere mention of a doomsday prophecy.

Fortunately, in Karen's view, prophecy is always something that can be changed, and she is the kind of person who wants to use prophecy to strangle fate.

She doesn't believe a prophecy can determine the entire future!

"You just made a prediction."

So Karen calmly said,

"The kind that sounds really bad."

Then she repeated the prophecy to Hayden himself. The terrifying words sent a chill down Hayden's spine.

A prophecy that the world seems to be on the verge of destruction.

...But what do these enigmatic words actually mean?

"I don't know what most of it is saying. But I can always pick out the keywords."

Hayden rubbed his temples.

"On the day of reckoning, the fire will burn like a furnace, and the arrogant and wicked will be burned to ashes... This can actually be seen in the current situation. Mithra wants to overturn the table and stop playing the game of capitalism, so a world war would naturally be a reckoning with the gods of capitalism... If the whole world is destroyed by the war of the gods, it will naturally fit the rest of the descriptions."

"The invincible sun still hangs high... so Mithra will indeed win? But what exactly is the Blood of the Moon? And whose blood is the Blood of Man?"

The "Invincible Sun" most likely refers to Mithra, which is easy to guess. However, the prophecy is vague about how to defeat him, and it seems to have some strange additional conditions.

In fact, prophecy has always been such a thorny thing. There are no answers, only new puzzles.

At the same time, Karen reached out to turn over the last tarot card in the spread on Hayden's table.

The card was the Grim Reaper, and it was even reversed.

...What does the reversed Death card represent?

That was really hard to guess. Fortunately, Hayden and his team always managed to solve problems using simple, painstaking methods.

"The reversed Emperor, the reversed Sun, blood and the Moon, and then the reversed Death... Can you make any connections to these?"

Hayden scratched the back of his head again and then asked.

“I guess I’m thinking of something similar to what you are,” Karen sighed. “Ancient myths of Central and South America… and then there’s the Smoke Mirror Life Construction Company.”

The connection between the old myths of Central and South America and these elements is indeed very strong. Hayden was well aware of this as well.

"This is actually good news for us."

So Hayden went on to say...

"We need to form alliances with other large companies to deal with Mitra. We can start with Smoke Mirror Company."

"in other words,"

But Karen coldly retorted,

"You're going to go find that vampire again—to get closer to that female [Grim Reaper], aren't you?"

indeed

But to be honest, Hayden had no desire to confront the goddess of death, Miktikashiva. He was actually a little afraid of her.

However, sometimes, in order to defeat a sun that is at its zenith, you have no choice but to unite with another sun.

The Smoke Mirror Life Construction Company originated from the ancient Aztec pantheon. Their existence likely conceals secrets of the Old Gods, or even the Outer Gods.

Can the Dark Sun, sacrificed with blood, become an effective force against Mithra?

We can only take it one step at a time for now.

Volume 8: The Sun of Blood

301: Have twenty!

Several more days passed.

Thanks to the efforts of several gods, the more serious disaster problems in New Jersey and the entire Evergreen State have been largely resolved—at least the affected people have food to eat, new houses to live in (although they are plants), they don't get sick, and they can be assigned meaningful jobs.

In fact, at this point, it's more accurate to say that "New Sprout City" is increasingly resembling a traditional "nation" than a business like "Flower Magic Company." Indeed, they now effectively control 200,000 square kilometers of land. Calling the entire Changqing Prefecture an "independent nation" wouldn't be an exaggeration.

As for the complete restoration of all the buildings, equipment, and property in the state, while perpetual motion machines and time magic could achieve something—at worst, simply rewinding the time of matter—it would still require considerable effort. Moreover, time magic cannot simply rewind to resurrect the dead. Because their souls have been captured by Mithra's "reincarnation," they will not return; it will only rewind to create millions of vegetative state bodies.

The gods of New Sprout City have been busy with these matters lately, each one keeping occupied—except for poor Pania, whose divine body reconstruction will take a long time. Once completed, Pania should be able to level up significantly, but she probably won't have any roles for a while.

On the other hand, as the situation temporarily stabilized, Karen, who was usually the busiest, finally began to have time to care about another matter, one that was less important in comparison, but was actually quite important.

She was indeed pregnant after all. Although the gods didn't need to worry about pregnancy symptoms, and a powerful god certainly didn't, this matter couldn't be ignored.

...What should we do about this child?

To be honest, Karen wasn't keen on having children right now. While she wouldn't object to having a few kids with Hayden in the long run, the world was on the verge of chaos, and everyone needed to fight against Mithra. At such a critical and dangerous juncture, wouldn't having children just create unnecessary weaknesses?

Peacock and Hela also dared not have many children for the same reason.

So after thinking it over today, Karen still feels that—it's not time to have a baby!

Anyway, she doesn't need to do anything particularly terrible like an abortion. She can just use time-stasis magic to distort time, "sealing" the embryo in this instant, and then remove the magic after the war. For a powerful being like her, this is a piece of cake.

However, Hayden had a different opinion: "If I wasn't pregnant yet, I would agree with you, that having a child isn't urgent. But now that I'm pregnant, I don't think there's any need to be too anxious or stressed."

“I know you’re worried that the child will become our weakness after birth, that the enemy will kidnap him and use him to blackmail us, and so on…” Hayden frowned at this point, “But you often tell me to have confidence. By the same token, we should also believe that we can protect our child, shouldn’t we? To actively seal away our child out of fear and worry would only disrupt our peace of mind.”

Karen immediately raised her eyebrows: "These are two different things. Being confident doesn't mean taking unnecessary risks. Being confident doesn't mean being arrogant enough to think you can definitely protect the child. I don't want this child to be in danger for no reason."

As she said this, she subconsciously clutched her stomach. Although she had only been pregnant for less than two weeks, and the embryo had just implanted and was less than a centimeter in size, Hayden could tell that Karen was actually taking this pregnancy very seriously and cared about it a lot.

If she truly felt the child was a burden, why keep it inside her body instead of quickly transferring it to a culture tank for static sealing? She explicitly stated the child was a weakness, but in reality, it's probably because Kallen was worried about its safety outside and preferred to seal it within her own body. After all, her god-like body was the safest place, safer than any fortress or stronghold.

However, Karen's words made sense, and Hayden really didn't know how to persuade her for the time being...

...Until Angela peeked in with a lunch tray: "I think I heard two people arguing. What happened?"

Hayden and Karen stopped immediately, almost perfectly in sync. They weren't really arguing, but neither of them really wanted Angela involved... Unfortunately, it was too late.

"That's it, I understand."

Angela carefully examined Hayden and Karen, then immediately nodded and said, "Ms. Karen, how can a child be a weakness? I disagree with that conclusion. As long as one is strong enough, a child will not be a weakness."

There was silence.

For some reason, Angela sometimes somehow figured out what had happened, no matter what. Sometimes Hayden and Karen even suspected that Angela knew more than she claimed.

But let's put that aside for now. Clearly, Angela has a different perspective on the argument between Hayden and Karen. And Karen has a very ominous feeling about it.

"Powerful? What do you mean by powerful?"

So Karen raised her eyebrows and asked,

"Are you trying to say that as long as we are strong enough, we don't need to worry about our children becoming a weakness? What are you trying to do now?"

Angela shook her head and replied with a smile, "Of course I wasn't talking about you and Master. When I said 'powerful enough,' I meant your child. And I don't need to do anything. What needed to be done was already done when I blessed Master."

“Hayden’s children are certainly not a weakness or a burden.”

Then Angela said happily, as if she were saying 2+2 of course equals 4.

“It’s the same even before you’re born, Ms. Karen.”

Even before being born, it won't be a weakness or a burden... It's strong enough...?

Karen and Hayden exchanged bewildered glances. But their imaginations quickly ran wild. Karen, in particular, was quick to react. Two seconds later, she realized Angela might be talking about something, so she immediately used her divine sense to probe her own stomach, checking for the implanted embryo.

Although this behavior was very strange, Karen still tried to send a telepathic signal to the ten-day-old embryo: "Can you hear me?"

Less than a second later, Karen's guess was confirmed. She felt a telepathic message transmitted from the embryo, saying to her: "...Mom?"

No matter what, this situation is really quite frightening—an embryo that is only ten days old has self-awareness and can even speak telepathically, which is really a bit too much!

Even Karen couldn't help but scream, "Miss Angela, please explain!"

However, Angela didn't quite understand why Karen was so surprised: "Ms. Karen, this is what they call 'born holy.' Is there something wrong with it?"

Sages are born with knowledge. The children of the divine, of course, know many things before birth; they are born with the ability to speak, to use telepathy, and even to possess immense supernatural powers! This is what is meant by innate divinity!

"I have blessed the master's cells. As long as the other party is an organic being, he can have offspring with any woman. Moreover, the offspring will be connected to the innate primordial energy of the upper realm, with an inexhaustible source of vitality. They will also possess unfathomable intelligence, thus being born with knowledge."

Angela explained happily.

"Moreover, they all develop their own unique talents and strengths based on their parents' different gifts. They not only possess power in the embryonic stage, but also grow stronger over time. This is what is known as a 'perfect creature'!"

Perfect Creature

The innate "primordial man".

Simply put, it's what Adam tried to become.

While perfect beings may differ in strength, it's reasonable to assume that even the weakest perfect being wouldn't be weaker than a [minor god-level] being. Even if... it's currently just an embryo... less than a centimeter in size.

"Therefore, the master's child is certainly not a weakness, nor could it be a burden."

Therefore, Angela made these remarks as perfectly natural.

“They possess power, and that is power. Master, you can certainly have twenty more children. These children will only benefit your goals.”

Is this your plan to have me give birth to twenty Primarchs and then conquer the world?

Anyway, Hayden and Karen are now... well, to be honest, they're both a bit speechless.

Honestly, this is a bit too much.

"Are you going to tell me next that he only needs three months to be born, that he can run and jump as soon as he's born, that he can grow to adult size in a year, and that he can even take the Universe Ring and the Heavenly Silk to kill a dragon and bring it back to make a belt for me?"

Hayden asked listlessly.

As for Karen, she was even a little annoyed.

"What are you doing?! Whether I want to have a child or not has absolutely nothing to do with how strong the child is! I want to have a child, not a tool!"

That being said, Angela's thought process is different from humans, and she couldn't understand why Karen was so angry: "Tool? Why do you call me a tool? Of course, the master's child can't be a tool. But isn't the point to let you have a child in peace?"

In the end, only Hayden was able to control the situation: "We've gone off-topic. Karen, just like you said, power doesn't matter at all. Angela can bless our child with innate holiness, which can't be a bad thing, but the key is still your own plans and choices. How exactly do you intend to treat this child?"

“I’ve already said it. Regardless of strength, I don’t intend to use children as tools.” Karen shook her head. “I want to freeze and seal this fetus for now. After we finish the war, end this catastrophe, and create a better world, then…”

However, before she could finish speaking, Karen felt a protesting mental wave emanating from the embryo in her womb: "Mom, I don't want to be sealed away."

Clearly, this child, born with knowledge, did not want to be frozen in stillness. He wanted to be born quickly, to come into this world as soon as possible.