Clockwork Bride

Page 203

After Hayden finished speaking, he turned and looked outside. He gazed at the ruins on the seabed, which had been destroyed by the stillborn infant god, and then raised his hand.

The place has been completely destroyed; there is nothing there now, but Hayden can still see traces of what was left there before.

Nothing truly disappears. With a blink, shifting his focus, he saw the seeds he had sown on the seabed.

He had previously scattered countless seeds on the seabed for the grand engineering ceremony.

This event has already been firmly recorded in time and space! If we don't use it now, when will we?

Wisdom is about making good use of what you have, rather than mindlessly craving more.

So Hayden now reaches out to time and space to call upon the power he already possessed.

"Brave and proud Lord of Flowers, grant me divine power to relieve my bitterness!"

Looking to the past is to move towards the future.

The seeds Hayden sowed on the seabed were Karen's hopes for the future of the land.

"Bloom, flower of dreams! Born from the vanished past, purify this land, and then guide her toward the future!"

He cried out, reaching out to the seeds sown in the past.

And so the world responded.

Five-colored light burst forth in the next moment, shaking the ocean and the land.

227: Dreams Bloom in the Sea of ​​Death

"What on earth is going on?!"

Although today's events had already made Astaroth lose her composure, her shock and confusion were now even greater than before.

A few minutes earlier, Hecate (Abigail) had suddenly lent her an interest-free loan so she could redeem one of her pieces of equipment. This already surprised Astaroth enough.

And now? As they fought, suddenly a circular gap opened in the night clouds above their heads. Yellow, black, blue, red, and white light streamed down from within.

Centered on the Fallen City—the towering Tower of Babylon—the entire Dead Sea region, from the clouds to the atmosphere, from the sea to the land, has had all dust and pollution absorbed and purified.

Not only that, but five-colored flowers bloomed from the ground, from the sea, and even from the cities corrupted by the underworld. The streets and buildings that had just been relentlessly invaded and seized by the undead were now covered with brightly colored flowers.

The two fallen angels were bathed in five-colored divine light. When they looked up, they saw countless light petals falling from the sky, like fluttering snowflakes.

"This is the Dream Flower... a divine artifact from the Peacock King's daughter."

Abigail reached out and caught a falling petal. Although she knew Hayden would cause trouble, she never expected him to create such a scene.

As for Astaroth, her feelings were even more profound. The Dead Sea was her only remaining possession, and she was the Earth Mother Goddess. As the Dead Sea's pollution was purified by the Dream Flower and its life force began to recover, Astaroth felt the earth's ley line energy gradually surging towards her. After just a few breaths, her previously damaged, magnificent clothes and jewelry began to automatically repair themselves, and the power of her divine artifacts became three times stronger than before!

In contrast, the Dead Sea Child God's power was rapidly weakening. The blooming Dream Flower possessed the power of "purification." The Dead Fetus God, a monstrous amalgamation of corrupted natural spirits, was immediately weakened upon encountering this power of "purification." Moreover, since its physical body and spirit were originally intertwined, the Dream Flower's power even began to subtly tear its spirit and flesh apart.

This stillborn baby is probably in as much pain as a whale coming ashore.

Despite this, its ferocity did not diminish with its power. The infant god let out a horrifying scream, wielding the [Divine Punishment Sword] and continuing its fierce battle with Astaroth. Astaroth sneered, summoning a divine spear she had just redeemed, and thrust it directly at the stillborn child!

Come and fight!

To be able to fight another kin (even if it's just a chimera-like hybrid) was a challenge she had longed for. Although Astaroth was still a step behind the stillborn goddess at her maximum output, now that she had replenished her energy, she was able to fight with great vigor. Her spear thrust backward, but it struck first, faster than her thoughts, her cloak billowing like clouds, each strike carrying the force to split mountains and cleave seas.

The stillborn deity possessed absolutely no martial arts skills. It clumsily wielded the [Heavenly Punishment Sword], meeting the attack head-on. The two divine weapons collided, instantly creating a series of thunderous roars.

"Too slow!" But the Goddess of War laughed loudly, rushing in close, her spear spinning rapidly, like a storm of flying daggers, slicing large pieces from the young god's body, and for a moment even knocking it staggering.

Abigail watched the fight from the back row, a sense of感慨 (gan3 kai3, a complex feeling of mixed emotions, including regret and reflection) running through her mind. It seemed that Astaroth was indeed better suited to straightforward combat than politics and business.

However, this era is so wicked; to become powerful, one cannot avoid engaging in commercial and political intrigues. The former Earth Mother Goddess, the once glorious Goddess of War, has no choice but to put on a smiling face and do business in this era, and even bankrupts herself in the process.

She shouldn't have done those things at all. Astaroth should have been enjoying what she liked and was good at, just like she is now.

Perhaps everyone else in the world is the same—if they can.

Abigail shook her head, casting aside these somewhat sorrowful thoughts, and reached out to begin weaving a new spell.

The enhanced Astaroth alone is not enough to defeat the Dead Sea Child. Hayden still needs her help a lot.

At this very moment, the same thing is happening at both the top and bottom of the Fallen City Tower.

The impoverished slums, once the most severely corrupted by the underworld, are now overflowing with the largest number of Dream Flowers. Five-colored divine light, capable of repelling all poisons and demonic influences, blooms abundantly from these flowers, driving back all spirits and ghosts.

The material world, which was gradually being pulled toward the underworld, is now being pulled back by the Dream Flower, which possesses purifying power. The two forces are pulling against each other like a tug-of-war.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, some people in the slums acted swiftly. Under the guidance of the Sofia Order's experts and scholars, the union workers were able to quickly install the thirty mithril pillars around the base of the tower.

These iron pillars are each engraved with specific and different star symbols, and they must be precisely placed in the correct positions calculated mathematically. The mysterious power they contain is enough to allow Hayden to complete the great engineering ritual that he had previously failed to fully accomplish.

Meanwhile, the automatic writing devices at the experts' disposals were frantically writing the runes Hayden had requested. The computers beside them were churning out astonishing amounts of data.

Hayden could not have done this alone without these workers making and installing the hardware, without these experts helping with the calculations, thinking, and enchanting, and without them helping to fine-tune the details of the ritual through remote control within the system.

The Great Engineering is the highest level of arcane magic, a ritual that requires the convergence of cutting-edge industrial arcane abilities. Hayden was able to use the Great Engineering to manifest a gigantic hand of starlight and wreak havoc on a great demon underwater, but even such a simple action becomes extremely complex within the ritual system. Even with the Sophia Order's supercomputers, these details still require human intervention for adjustment.

To use a somewhat imperfect analogy, it's a bit like piloting a giant robot, whose manufacturing, development, energy, maintenance, and remote system support all rely on the industrial power of modern society. Great engineering projects are essentially like invisible super robots.

Despite the immense power these new capitalist gurus wield, no single god can accomplish these tasks alone, just as no one can be an expert in every aspect of the world. As a result, all the most successful new gurus are actually masters at recognizing the value of others and utilizing their abilities.

So Hayden closed his eyes, silently thanking himself for all the help he had received so far. He not only wanted to thank those who were also fighting hard in the Fallen City, but he also had to thank himself for his connection with Kallen.

Hayden now possesses enough wisdom to see clearly the causes and effects that connect people—these relationships, these connections. Those causes and effects are like countless colors, like the flowers of Karen, painting the world into a magnificent landscape. These connections between people radiate the brilliance of life, a radiance of unparalleled beauty.

No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main—Hayden now truly understands the meaning of this ancient poem. And the brilliance of these lives is the source of Hayden's strength and motivation.

Relationships between people can promote mutual growth.

Hayden opened his eyes and turned to look at the very center and deepest part of the underground fissure beside him. It was now empty, but Hayden could see the memories of the world, so he could see what it had once been like. He blinked, shifting his focus, and saw that there had once been a tiny, black, coal-like stillborn spirit.

The deepest part of this underground fissure is the core of the earth's veins, which must have once been the earth's womb that gave birth to the stillborn god.

The stillborn child hates this world, hates other life. It is a lonely nothingness. Perhaps it would have been better if it had never existed, but now that it exists, it is even more aware of its own nothingness, knowing that it is merely a mistake, a bug in the world. Such existence itself is probably torture.

Therefore, it hates the world, hates its own nothingness, and hates others for making it exist.

Hayden now sees all of this clearly. These are things that have happened in the past and are happening now. He can see why all sorts of causes and effects occurred, and why this bug was born from such a grand project.

The stillborn spirit never existed. Although it was conceived in the womb of the Dead Sea's ley lines, it never came into being, so it was merely a stillborn, a stillborn earth spirit. Though it was erroneous, it was once nothingness.

It was because Hayden had used a great engineering ritual to pull the natural spirits of the past into the present, which inadvertently led to their "birth".

Conversely, Hayden only needs to find something in the core of this ley line that has a strong causal relationship with it, is older than it, and is connected to its "unborn" state. He can then adjust the goals and direction of the great project and use this power to pull the natural spirit back to its original, unborn state... and such a thing does indeed exist.

For example, the [Divine Sword of Heavenly Punishment], which fell here five thousand years ago, could serve as such a medium. It witnessed the history of this stillborn child being nurtured by the earth, making it older than anyone else. Unfortunately, the [Divine Sword of Heavenly Punishment] is now in the hands of the Dead Sea's young god, and Hayden doesn't expect Astaroth to be able to take it away.

So Hayden came up with another idea.

Time passed quickly. Before long, the workers and scholars in the lower districts had prepared the necessary conditions for Hayden to continue the great project. At the top of the tower, the battle between Astaroth and the Dead Sea nymph was also reaching its climax.

So Hayden sang:

Time flows like water, overflowing and vast, like the ocean.

"But that remaining radiance on the seabed is also something that is eternal and unchanging."

"The footprints of time are like the stars in the night sky,"

"For all eternity, it will never be forgotten."

"So, O universe, heed my call! Let her guide us, beyond time, back to the distant past!"

As he looked at the tiny, stillborn spirit from the past, he casually picked a dream flower from the ground, where colorful flowers bloomed.

Using the Dream Flower as a medium, Hayden is able to summon it.

He called upon the name that was causally linked to the stillborn infant god and connected to its "unborn" state:

"Karen!"

This is something probably no one would have expected. Even if many people saw it with their own eyes, they wouldn't understand what Hayden was doing.

But no sooner had Hayden finished speaking than the power of the great project began to take effect.

Astaroth, who was engaged in a fierce battle with the Dead Sea infant, was the first to notice the change in the situation. As the battle raged, she noticed that the stillborn fetus's movements suddenly paused, losing its previous momentum and strength.

Next, Abigail noticed something strange about the situation: an invisible force was slowly pulling the stillborn fetus down like a rope, as if trying to drag it back to the seabed. However, this scene didn't seem like a physical pull; rather, it was like a film rewinding.

The scene was as if someone had pressed down on the timeline of the Dead Sea nymph, dragging it back frame by frame. Soon it was forcibly pulled down from the Tower of Babylon, dragged back into the Dead Sea, dragged back to the seabed, dragged back underground. This great magic of time pulled its present back little by little to the past, back to the womb of the earth where it was conceived, before it was even born.

Astaroth might not understand yet, but Abigail immediately realized that Hayden was behind it all.

However, there was someone even more surprised than her.

"...Hayden, what's the situation on your end?"

Responding to Hayden's call, one of Karen's divine avatars descended upon the scene. She had initially assumed Hayden was facing some urgent situation requiring assistance, hence the avatar was still fully armored—but in the blink of an eye, she found herself underground, surrounded by dream flowers, and a spirit-like stillborn fetus being pulled into the deepest part of the earth by the power of the Great Project.

What did Hayden call her here for? To finish off the enemy and get the kill?

Strangely enough, as a true god, Karen could sense a faint connection between herself and the stillborn child, a connection that seemed very close.

So the verdant goddess of flowers turned and glanced at Hayden, exchanging a look and a thought with him. Given their destined connection, why bother with lengthy discussions on the battlefield? In an instant, she understood why Hayden had called her.

Even Kallen, after understanding the reason, was momentarily stunned: "...Huh?!"

At this moment, Karen understood why Hayden had called her. Because the Dream Flower alone wasn't enough; her karmic connection with the stillborn was more direct than the Dream Flower itself.

“I know this sounds a bit strange, but,”

At the same time, Hayden also spoke up and gave the answer.

“Karen, you are this spirit’s half-sister. It was born 5,300 years ago when the blood of the Peacock King and another ancient god from beyond the heavens mingled, and was conceived amidst the pollution in this Dead Sea vein. That is why I must call upon you.”

This is why Karen was initially taken aback after understanding the reason.

228: Great Achievements

Half-sister?

This claim is truly bizarre. This stillborn child is the spirit of someone from over five thousand years ago; Karen isn't the older sister, is she? Shouldn't she be the younger sister?

But this is just the perspective of a normal person.

Karen and Hayden were very familiar with each other, and she had always understood the worldview of classical magic, so she almost immediately understood what Hayden meant:

This stillborn child hadn't been born for five thousand years, only to be born today. Kallen, on the other hand, was born thirty years ago, existing before it. Therefore, in the concept of classical magic, she is naturally older, the elder sister.

Continuing along this line of reasoning: While Kallen wasn't born five thousand years ago, this stillborn infant was also considered unborn at that time; her state in the past could be considered unborn. From the perspective of the universe at that time, Kallen and this stillborn child were essentially the same.

They have a very similar connection, which allows Karen to act as a medium to return stillborn babies to their state before they existed.

This was still a similar magic to ancient sorcery, only of extremely high purity. So much so that even though Kallen understood it immediately, she was still shocked.

Although Karen is the true goddess, Hayden has gone further than her in this metaphysical realm.

"Even if it's theoretically possible to do this, your actual magical manipulation is far too risky. Why do you always resort to these dangerous, extreme micro-management techniques?"

But she still had to complain a bit about Hayden.

"If the ritual fails and the magic doesn't work, you might be killed by the out-of-control stillborn fetus! Instead of calling on me, you might as well call on my father's power!"

After all, the Peacock King is definitely something more real, more ancient, and more causally related to this stillborn fetus than Karen. Besides, he's also more powerful.

Hayden dared not tell Karen that he had already been killed once by this stillborn fetus. However, hearing Karen's complaints, a warmth rose in Hayden's heart: everyone knew how much Karen hated using her father's power. Now, however, she had spoken these words out of concern for Hayden.

Because Hayden was far more important to Karen than her pride. Karen might have some reservations about other things, but when it came to Hayden's life, she wouldn't hesitate at all.

So Hayden naturally had to tell her, "I chose to call upon you because in this magic, the trust and care between us is certainly more powerful than the time the Peacock King lived."

That was probably a bit too much, so much so that even Karen was stunned. After a few seconds of bewilderment, she came to her senses and angrily slapped Hayden: "Don't you think before you speak?!"

But Hayden didn't think he was wrong—he was just telling the truth! They were very understanding of each other, and their relationship was one of mutual trust and camaraderie. Like Hela had complained about, why hadn't they started dating yet?

It's probably mainly because they all have things more important to them than dating, marriage, and having children.

For example, the situation right now.

After calming down, Karen turned her head and looked again at the stillborn god that had been pulled back into the ground, seeing its shriveled and swollen body.

This deformed, bloated, grotesque, wet, and clearly underdeveloped monstrous fetus was so enormous and twisted that even the gods would feel disgusted by it. The thought of being related to this terrifying monster by blood only intensified that feeling of disgust.

...That being said, Karen is Karen after all; she is always compassionate. In this respect, she is even more straightforward than Hayden.

Although the stillborn child was hideous in appearance, it was now being pulled back underground by the power of the Great Project, its strength being divided by the Dream Flower, and its original ethereal and weak state gradually being restored by the reversed time and space. No matter how fierce this Dead Sea Child God was, it could not defeat the targeted, cutting-edge industrial arcane magic. Now it had almost no existence left, and could only struggle in pain, whimpering, curled up in a ball, looking as if it had been skinned alive, trembling.

It is a monster born from the pollution of the new gods' industry, and also a mistake arising from the fighting and strife of the old gods—it is both new and old, truly the karmic burden of the gods.

The bug in the world, the error of existence, the divine evil—its very existence disrupts the boundary between life and death, dragging the underworld into the human realm.