Clockwork Bride

Page 194

Hayden had never seen such cold, displaced anger and tantrums.

However, such outbursts of anger were indeed more terrifying. Because Hayden had realized that the female evil god's anger was not directed at him, but at "fate."

Hecate had spent countless years planning and countless hours preparing. She was just a hair's breadth away from severing the knot of fate with her sword.

However, because of Hayden's interference... no, because of the tricks of fate, this opportunity slipped from her grasp and even ran to a place she could probably never reach again.

This anger was not just directed at Hayden alone, but rather a hatred of the heavens, a hatred of the cruelty of fate, and an extreme resentment towards the unpredictable "destiny" on a scale unimaginable to humankind.

Some say that prophets are messengers of destiny. They not only have the ability to foresee destiny, but are also guided by destiny in their observations. When a prophet observes destiny, destiny is, in fact, also arranging the prophet's own destiny.

No one knows if this claim is true. But if it is... then the evil goddess who originally planned to escape fate but was ultimately toyed with by fate at the crucial moment and failed—is now going to take her anger out on Hayden, the messenger of fate!

The cold words had barely left his lips when the overwhelming power manifested once more. The shadowy figure of the Dark Moon rose behind the Nameless Goddess, transforming into wave after wave of moonlight that crashed down upon Hayden!

This nameless demon, with her terrifying tenfold power and her rage against "fate," is now unstoppable!

Without saying a word, Angela grabbed Hayden and the unconscious "little girl" and ran away, having no intention of fighting the female evil god head-on!

In fact, if Hayden's grand project were still functioning properly, even if the nameless goddess's energy increased tenfold, Hayden could still defeat her. Targeted, ultimate modern arcane magic is no joke.

But he had never imagined that there could be such a thing as "nameless." The program they designed this time was completely incapable of dealing with this oddity.

Could Hayden rewrite the program to re-lock the nameless goddess using a different method? Theoretically, yes, but it would require several tests—the problem is, he simply couldn't possibly write a new program on the fly during battle!

Thanks to Angela. Although she no longer had a restraining effect on the nameless goddess and lacked an energy advantage, she was able to dodge the fluctuations and sharpness of the Dark Moon like a falling leaf. All these attacks barely grazed past Angela, failing to hit her.

Even the nameless goddess, who was in a fit of rage, was secretly surprised when she saw this.

Although Angela was completely overwhelmed and unable to retaliate, in the eyes of the nameless goddess, few of her kin could evade her enraged attacks in this way, especially now that her power had greatly increased. With such power, she should not be a nameless being.

(Who is this guy?)

She couldn't help but ponder,

(I initially thought this maid was just a weak comrade under Peacock's command, but her level of power seems to be no less than that of a King-level Fallen Angel. And... I feel like this aura looks somewhat familiar?)

In an instant, the names of several fallen angel comrades from the past flashed through the nameless goddess's mind. But no matter how hard she tried, none of them seemed to match. What was going on?

The more she thought about this problem, the more alarmed she became.

Could it be... could it be that this strange maid is the very thing fate is using to toy with her?!

————————————————————————————

In short, the current situation is very troublesome.

Angela, along with Hayden and the "little girl," flew away through the underwater ruins, while the Dark Moon Light transformed into aerial bombardments and a rain of swords, relentlessly pursuing them from above.

Hecate is the triad goddess of the sky, the earth, and the sea. When she is angry, her wrath is equivalent to a triple natural disaster: a violent typhoon, a tsunami, a volcanic eruption, an earthquake... these are the things that should have been there.

She is no longer Hecate, but an unnamed goddess. But for some reason, her energy has increased nearly tenfold, and her attacks are far more terrifying.

Fortunately, Angela flew very fast. Enveloped in emerald light, she flew faster than the speed of sound, completely ignoring inertia and Newton's laws, flying however she pleased, turning at an absurd speed. Even the Dark Moon's sharpness and fluctuations couldn't keep up with her.

However, simply running away won't solve the problem.

"Master, if I may be so bold, I probably can't defeat her in my current form."

Therefore, Angela also spoke very frankly.

"Do you have any other means of harnessing power? For example, by borrowing Miss Karen's strength, or something like that?"

Hayden shook his head somewhat awkwardly: "There's no way."

To reverse time in the entire underwater ruins, he undertook a monumental project to temporarily sever the causal relationships of this region from the rest of the world. This would allow him to use magic to interfere with time in the entire area and prevent his target from escaping... But who could have imagined things would turn out this way?

“Strange. I can now understand why Hecate was able to sever her own name and essence to escape my sympathetic magic lock. But why did her energy increase tenfold after the severance, instead of weakening?”

Hayden was utterly baffled by this. If Hecate hadn't suddenly become stronger after abandoning her name, and her total energy hadn't increased dramatically, then even without a specific countermeasure, Hayden and Angela should have been able to defeat her head-on. How could things have turned out this way?

"This is probably because she abandoned her spiritual essence and became more integrated with this material world."

Angela sighed at this moment, her voice tinged with sorrow.

"Fallen angels are actually not suited to survive in this world. If their pure spiritual bodies are not replenished, they might run out of energy after fighting for three minutes in this world. To adapt to this world, they must accept the properties of matter and reduce their spiritual purity. This way, they can obtain more energy in this world."

what?

Ah, I see.

Hayden was taken aback at first, then suddenly recalled the medicine he had taken from the cult, and the scene of the battle between the two ancient gods from beyond the heavens five thousand years ago. At that time, the two ancient gods, who were originally more spiritual, had to accept the properties of matter and reduce the purity of their spirituality due to insufficient energy. In this way, they could obtain more energy from matter.

Lowering quality in exchange for quantity; lowering one's level in exchange for energy and current strength.

So when Hecate was forced into a corner and had to abandon her name and essence, wasn't that a similar operation?

“She has now completely abandoned her essence as an angel and is now an unknown person.” Angela’s voice was unusually cold as she said this. “She is beyond saving.”

For some reason, when Hayden heard Angela's somewhat riddle-like words, an inspiration flashed through his mind like lightning.

He suddenly understood one of the reasons for the nameless goddess's recent outburst of anger, and also grasped the implication of Angela's words:

This nameless goddess has lost the immortal body of the ancient gods from beyond the heavens.

She's like Pazuzu now; she could be physically destroyed.

...provided that Hayden and his men have that much power.

"Hmm? Wait a minute, if the immortality of the ancient gods from beyond the heavens is an indestructible essence, then even if it is cut off, it cannot simply disappear into thin air."

Then Hayden suddenly realized...

"Where have Hecate's essence and those powers gone?"

Angela looked at Hayden with a strange expression, then handed him the unconscious "little girl" she was holding in her left hand: "Miss Abigail, now of course Miss Hecate."

She frowned, thought for a moment, and then added, "She's a fallen angel now... Oh dear, this is a bit awkward..."

Oh

...That explains a lot of things.

Hayden cursed himself inwardly for being an idiot, but at the same time, he realized a way to solve the problem.

They lack sufficient power to defeat this nameless goddess, and they can't draw strength from the outside, right?

What about going inwards?

217: Super Hecate Battle!

In her deep sleep, the "little girl" felt pain scratching at her temples, making her mouth dry.

She could feel her strength draining away, for reasons unknown, as if she had lost something, as if someone had stabbed her again, tearing away a piece of flesh. This not only wounded her deeply, but also made her body even hungrier, more lacking, and more empty.

She needs replenishment. She needs to fill the void within her...

What happened?

So she was puzzled and increasingly uneasy in her half-awake, half-asleep dream.

And so her divine power moved at will. Soon she saw, in her dream, what was happening outside her body.

The ruins, billowing smoke, stretched as far as the eye could see, an endless expanse of desolate ruins. Looking up, countless moonlight swords seemed to rip through the darkness.

Immediately afterwards, a series of exploding, eerie blue orbs burned through the hallucination.

what on earth is it?

This is beyond just being uncertain about the future.

She was not just uneasy, she was terrified.

She could vaguely hear Hayden and Angela talking, and hear Hayden say that he wanted to borrow power.

As for whether she was willing to help, of course she was, since it was her business. But where did she get the power to fight a demon god?

Now, all she could feel was an ever-widening lack of power, the emptiness expanding ever higher. What had been cut off and discarded was like bad debt bonds being dumped—how could it possibly possess any power?

This shows your lack of imagination.

However, the next instant, she heard Hayden's voice in her mind.

Names have power, and the essence of the ancient gods from beyond the heavens is even more so.

Did she really hear those words? Or was it just a voice in her head?

In any case, her current state of mind is no longer a secret.

She already knows who she really is.

(But I am empty.)

But she still sighed inwardly.

(I am now nothing more than fragments cut off during the bone-scraping treatment, a substitute bearing the name of a fallen angel, a broken and empty shell.)

She now understood why she had been so hungry before. It was because she had become a substitute long ago. Because all the hunger, lack, wounds, and emptiness of the fallen angels had been transferred to her. Now, even the essence and name of "Hecate" had been given to her.

To put it bluntly, this means leaving her with all the mess and the hollowed-out shell to bear.

...Thinking about it carefully, isn't this just capitalist-style manipulation? Nameless Dark Moon, you're really despicable now!

In short, even if such an empty shell has "potential," it is currently powerless.

However, Hayden laughed in her mind.

That's why I said you lack imagination in some areas. Isn't an empty shell easier to fill?

In the illusory dreamscape of his mind, Hayden reached out and gently pressed his hand against her forehead.

A life must have a name to define itself; without a name, it is not a true birth.

You may be nothing more than a wrecked shell now, but the past is past, and I now give you a new, true name.

This is tantamount to creating new life. It is already the power of a god, something Hayden could never have done on his own.

But doesn't he happen to be holding a grander project than any other? And this project just happens to be missing a name to adjust and lock in.

Therefore, Hayden was able to inscribe a new name on the forehead of her soul with blood and secret fire.

From this day forward, your name will be "Abigail Hecate".

Who would so simply and crudely mix two names together, only adding a period in between?!

She really wanted to complain. But sadly, this simple and crude approach actually worked. Since ancient times, the names of gods have often been haphazardly mixed together like this. For example, Amun-Ra, Horus-Ra, Pallas-Athena, and Zeus-Amun.

By mixing the names of two gods together, they can be considered the same. Human imagination hasn't progressed at all in this respect for thousands of years!

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The nameless Dark Moon relentlessly pursued Hayden as he fled, blasting the entire underwater ruins into rubble in its wake. No matter how fast Angela flew, the nameless goddess never lagged behind by even a street's distance.

But this time, when Darkmoon caught up with Angela and Hayden, the latter didn't run away again. She saw them land back on the ground. Hayden sat cross-legged on the ground, his hand pressed against the "little girl's" forehead, his eyes closed, seemingly doing nothing, only able to feel the magnificent engineering of the underwater ruins still calling to him.

So without a word, the Goddess of the Dark Moon immediately made a sweeping gesture towards them—was she going to give Hayden any chance to pull off some crazy maneuvers? The cosmic rays drawn from the moon and stars could kill Hayden and his companions as quickly and horribly as if they had been thrown into a microwave oven.

But Angela was clearly prepared. She drew a complex circular seal in the air, forming a semi-transparent red protective barrier. The Dark Moon Light struck like lightning, like a stone hitting an egg. Fortunately, the barrier successfully blocked most of the firepower. The remaining power pierced through Angela's mechanical body, causing several malfunctioning sparks to fly from her.

She couldn't help but sigh, "Oh dear, this body is still not very durable. It's really causing some trouble."

The nameless god stared coldly at her, a flicker of surprise in his eyes. Then, a chilling and even more ferocious beam of cosmic light once more blasted towards Angela and Hayden. The earth shook violently, dust and debris flying everywhere. When the dust finally settled, the place where they stood had become a smoking volcano.

But Hayden and the "little girl" were unharmed. Only Angela's mechanical right hand had a few cracks caused by overload.

"That's impossible. Your current defensive capabilities are simply insufficient to withstand my attack. That wizard, on the other hand, is clearly busy casting other spells."

The nameless Dark Moon finally couldn't hold back any longer.

What have you done? Who are you?!

“Hmm.” Angela frowned. “I only requisitioned some things that were still usable (access permissions).”

what! ?

Although she didn't fully understand, Dark Moon quickly realized a possibility: "...You wouldn't be using that fallen angel's body as a magical artifact, would you?"

The body of a fallen angel is certainly a powerful thing. The nameless Dark Moon relinquished her angelic name "Hecate" and her angelic essence; those things now belong to the "little girl," and if used properly, they are indeed powerful artifacts.

Even so, the Dark Moon Goddess still found it incomprehensible: "Her body is nothing but a broken, empty shell, possessing only the attributes of a fallen angel. It lacks the energy of the Secret Fire, its form is severely damaged, and even its true name and self are incomplete. Where did you draw so much energy from?!"

This "little girl" is ultimately just an empty shell.

Just minutes before, they shared the same existence, hence their identical appearance. But the now nameless Dark Moon wasn't stupid. Though their bodies were the same, the part to be severed had long since been hollowed out. So, despite having the same hair, the nameless goddess's hair looked like swirling flames, while Abigail's was scorched and black. The nameless Dark Moon's sharp eyes burned with intense light, while Abigail could only keep her dim eyes closed, unable even to regain consciousness.

"Wrong. Nobody here. I have never drawn any energy from anywhere. Rather, I am responsible for the outflow of power."