Chapter 460
As for the Calamity Clan, whose status is even higher than this, they naturally regained the memories erased by [Nothingness] and remembered this incredibly terrifying Savior.
Thus, the powers of [Herdi] began to work in conjunction with the other Disaster God to deduce the outcome. Using only the shortest time units that humans could not comprehend, they locked onto the beginning and end of the future dream, guessed the core reason for the [Child of Man's ] inexplicable disappearance, and finally drew a conclusion.
--We can't beat them, we simply can't beat them.
In the future path simulated by the [Blood of Sighs], the Disaster Group not only successfully outmaneuvered the Savior, usurped the body of his daughter, and obtained this vessel with Supreme Lord potential, but also continued to merge and evolve in the end, surpassing its most prosperous stage. Its status, Combat Power, and overall strength were enough to rank it first among the Shadows of Many Realms.
But what was the result?
This retired Savior, whose soul was shattered and no longer at his peak, cursed by the Mother Sea and corrupted by the [Void], still overcame numerous disadvantages and used his last breath to kill them nearly ten million times. He was even undergoing a process of ultimate sublimation, understanding and mastering the power of the [Void], growing stronger with each battle.
Even if she were to drag it out until her soul was completely consumed, the remaining obsession of the other party resonated with the stars, weaving together a solitary savior figure devoid of wisdom and thought, possessing only fighting spirit and killing intent, which nearly wiped out the entire horde's health bar.
And this is already the lower limit of this person's Combat Power.
According to the disaster group's repeated calculations, even if all the blessings of humanity were stripped away and the opponent's Magical Girl powers were deprived, this Savior could still do the exact same thing and create the exact same miracle using Martial God Skill.
As for now...
This Savior was blessed by the stars ahead of time, receiving a world-class radiant spell enhancement, and then encased in a terrifying machine god that looked almost as large as a galaxy. Who could imagine the scene of her unleashing Martial God Skill with this? It was far more powerful than the one in that future route!
On the other hand, having lost Chu Wangshu as their supreme vessel and stripped of their status as [Child of Man] Disaster God, and having just broken free of their seal, they are extremely weak, far from their full strength. What difference is there between staying here and courting death?
Therefore, the moment they remembered this god of death, the disaster group betrayed their teammates and fled without hesitation.
Although the swarm cannot suppress its instinctive desire for evolution and covets Chu Wangshu, their ability to be patient and cunning is evident in their collaboration with the sunflower in plotting to usurp Chu Wangshu's body.
So what if we can't beat Chu Yuanqing?
No matter how strong the opponent is, the curse of the Mother Sea is inviolable. The swarm can leave this world, drag it out until Chu Yuanqing dies, and then make a comeback to attack Chu Wangshu. Staying in the same place to fight to the death would be going against their desire for evolution.
Unlike the calamity groups that were ravaged by Chu Yuanqing in the first and second playthroughs, the five foreign Disaster God have not yet established a corresponding database. In the past, they have been able to devour any civilization and planet without any difficulty, so they appear to be very brave.
While the local calamities fled in terror, they maintained the attitude of those in power who preyed on the weak. They stepped forward in unison, like five giant, pitch-black planets falling, carrying billions of demons, facing Laevateinn's sword head-on without flinching, attempting to overwhelm others with their power!
In the next instant, every rust-like mark on the seemingly tattered Mythical Weapon suddenly burst into flames, transforming into deep, pitch-black dots that illuminated star systems one after another, as if billions of red giant stars were exploding infinitely. With a simple cleavage, the entire "bubble" was severed, erasing any trace left by this catastrophic swarm.
Laevateinn destroys fate and cause and effect, locks the escape route, and stifles life.
The Martial God Skill shatters the vacuum and energy, imbues it with personal will, and severs immortality.
The concept of human reason protects the Sea of Stars, the entire world, and directs the destruction brought about by all power and strength towards the mother sea beyond the boundary membrane.
Therefore, one sword.
It was just a simple, unadorned sword strike.
This calamity horde, which had traversed millions of worlds, absorbed the essence of numerous civilizations, and unified the five sequences of Disaster God, was reduced to a handful of ashes in a tiny "bubble" within the Mother Sea, becoming nourishment for the stars.
There's still one problem the disaster group hasn't truly realized: the reason they survived being killed millions of times in that future dream wasn't just due to the Mother Sea's corrective power, but more importantly, because this planet, and indeed the entire world, was far too fragile.
So fragile, Chu Yuanqing's output is always limited to a certain threshold, forcing him to engage in a war of attrition.
Now, the pure white authority bestowed by the stars, and the racial concept refined by the magic of all humanity, allow her to grant the world a brand new set of rules, seamlessly transferring all destruction and attacks capable of destroying stars and the earth's surface beyond the boundary membrane.
The result is that the output is completely unlocked.
When combined with the radiant Light of the Soul, such extraordinary results were achieved.
There's no escaping it.
Chu Yuanqing looked up and saw the enormous Shining Mech, so vast that it made the galaxy seem narrow, also gazing into the distance. Its fluorescent blue compound eyes flashed blood red, like a rising sun. The solar furnace on its chest was running violently, and the powerful energy turned the soul steel red. Its wings spread out like a peacock, and its tail covered Andromeda with a roar as strong as steel.
In the next instant, Charlotte, Chu Wangshu, Tang Liuli, Xie Qingxuan, and Kiriwake Yayoi, who were inside the solar furnace, were all transferred back to a Flash Dance base on the planet.
Meanwhile, the wings of the machine god were shimmering with brilliant colors, like the intense fluctuations of etheric particles that shimmered like rainbows. Under the pilot's will, they roared forward, transforming this behemoth into a speeding meteor. With the help of the entire world, it surpassed the speed of light, spectacularly piercing through the boundary membrane, surpassing the stars, and arriving at the Mother Sea.
A shift in perspective, a reversal of dimensions.
The human-defined concepts of time and space vanished; infinite colors illuminated all directions; thunderous breaths swept across the illusory seawater; and abstract dimensional spirals formed intersecting tributaries, leading to all sorts of colorful lands.
Ahead lay an impassable road. Unlike the calamity horde, which had devoured too much knowledge and essence of civilization and was intimately familiar with the Mother Sea, no matter how powerful the Savior shrouded in a Shining Mech was, he could hardly escape this unfamiliar barrier.
Even at the moment of stepping out of the boundary membrane, the [Heart Forging], the other blessings, the thoughts of all humanity linked together, and the assistance of the stars, all seemed like an unstable network, gradually blurring the connection and causing the Soul Steel of the Machine God to flicker between light and darkness.
Even more terrifying is that the curse of the Mother Sea and the erosion of [nothingness] have gone further, making the soul blessed by the pure white authority increasingly weak.
Chu Yuanqing made no further move. It seemed she had foreseen this scene. She raised her fingertips, and her vast arm rose as if to capture the stars. A wisp of pure black spread like the aurora, just like an eraser erasing a pencil drawing. The scene before her eyes, beyond the comprehension of the human brain, melted into the purest and most colorful universe.
The next instant, the boundary membrane behind her, nourished by the absorbing foreign horde, expanded dramatically under her will, directly incorporating the boundless territory expanded by [Nothingness] into the "bubble"!!!
The mountain cannot see me, so I come to see the mountain.
So what if we can't get out? We can still expand our territory.
"[Nothingness] gazes upon me, and naturally... it can also gaze upon you."
These words fell slowly, like a curse binding fate. The spreading boundary membrane, riding the trajectory of [nothingness], suddenly intercepted and blocked the calamity on the infinitely extending road, strangling its destiny by the throat.
Even someone as powerful as [Herdi] could not have foreseen this unexpected event. It involved the supreme authority within the Mother Sea, and its timeline, destiny, and cause and effect all became chaotic and disordered gibberish. The calamity was as if its eyes had been blinded, and it could only be swallowed up by [nothingness] amidst wails and screams.
At this moment, even the corrective power of the Mother Sea could not save the lives of the horde.
The ultimate enemy, who had been entangled with her since the first playthrough and caused her to lose everything and die countless times, was utterly annihilated with a single finger that reversed the use of the [Void] power.
Shining Mech, standing tall in the universe.
The stars joyfully devoured the nutrients left behind by the disaster, rapidly replenishing the energy consumed in expanding vast territories and continuously spreading the boundary membrane. Trillions of brilliant lights shone brightly across the boundless universe, illuminating the blue star like a vibrant gem.
Humanity's thoughts began to break down, the outer shell of [The One Truth] withered like down feathers, the inner armor formed by [Pure White] peeled away and dissipated, and the immeasurable soul steel within began to dim. It seemed that even after the supreme glory had passed, twilight was still inevitable.
That immeasurable blessing, with the collapse of Laevateinn, was like a torrential rain flowing into the Sea of Stars, all handed over to the World Consciousness.
Chu Yuanqing walked out of the solar furnace alone. She picked up the Lantern Gem that had never been intact since its birth, and stroked its smooth surface with her fingertips, absorbing all the ether and pure white authority into it.
The lantern began to tremble violently, resist, and wail, like a child reluctant to part with its mother.
"It'll be ready in a minute, sweetie."
The Pure White Witch lowered her eyes, coughed up blood, and whispered gently. She deliberately crushed her own Soul Flower, ignoring her collapsing consciousness, and completely destroyed this blooming flower, grinding it into powder devoid of any will, cause, or connection. She then filled the gem with it drop by drop, finally restoring it to completeness and perfection.
"You're free now. In the future... you might become the Lantern Fairy of the next Pure White Witch, right?"
"Remember to get some sunshine; the world is a beautiful place."
As she spoke, she tossed down the pure white gem, which was forced to transform into a shooting star, swept into the blessed tide, and merged into the Sea of Stars, gradually disappearing from sight, just like... that past that was once again swallowed by [nothingness].
The stars rejoiced, and the remaining materials from the machine god were drawn towards the boundary membrane, slowly forging the outline of a dimension surrounding the border.
Chu Yuanqing was forgotten. Like a doll about to break, she waited to wither away in the cold, desolate starry sky. But her golden eyes remained bright, burning, and calm, almost as if only a few wisps remained, using the Light of the Soul to prop up her consciousness, as if she was still waiting for something, continuing to resist the embrace of [nothingness].
As time passed, when this body was completely shattered, leaving only half a face and a golden eye, the shining city wall that guarded the world was finally built. And at that very moment, a majestic and immense will, turning the gears of fate, looked out from afar across endless distances.
The gaze of the Sea of Truth is so vast.
The world has become irreversibly frozen and stagnant.
The corrective power that had usurped the authority of the Disaster God seemed to have been triggered by some mechanism. The moment the Shining City was completed, it was magnified countless times, turning the entire world into a movie, with time flowing backward: 1 hour, 2 hours, 3 hours, 4 hours...
The world repeats itself, and fate returns.
The corrective power of the Sea of Truth acted like a director, erasing the Origin point the Shining Mech, preventing Tang Liuli and Kiriwake Yayoi from activating their thinking and reaching a new consensus.
And so, time continued to pass.
This time, "pure white" failed, Charlotte alone carried out the function of [lighthouse] on another Sky Stage, thus triggering the Contract Chain once again.
Chu Yuanqing used the ring made of pure white debris to support the erosion of the Great Cataclysm, and once again made a pact, taking over the function of the [Lighthouse]. Alone with his sword, he protected the planet, Sweep the universe, and killed the internal and external disaster groups. It was as if the Worldline were converging, and the same ending was still achieved.
The only difference was that there were millions more casualties and the battle lasted an extra quarter of an hour.
And so, time turned back again.
This time, the Great Cataclysm occurred a quarter of an hour earlier. Three of the twelve Disaster God who were bound by the Magical Girl with their lives broke free and rushed to the Sky Stage of the Holy United States, directly attacking the Doomsday Diva.
Chu Yuanqing entered the scene ahead of time, first slaying three Disaster God, then nine Disaster God who had just broken their seals. The horde of foreign calamities had just brought about Great Cataclysm, and upon seeing this, they all chose to retreat, only to be chased down by her with her sword. A quarter of an hour later, the Worldline converged again, and the corrective force continued to rewind.
This time, the retrospective period was longer, there were more factors involved in the intervention, the potential pitfalls were larger, and the "bias" towards the disaster group was heavier, yet it still failed to return to the original Worldline of non-interference balance.
The same applies to the hundreds, thousands, and tens of thousands of subsequent interventions.
No matter how much harm is done, whenever all living beings weep, grieve and despair, and the stars dim, that collapsed Pure White High Wall will descend again, burning everything with her, turning the tide, wiping out the disaster, preserving the flame of human civilization, and locking in the lowest possible bottom line.
And so, after the 10001st failure, the rewind of time suddenly froze.
If we compare the correction to a virus scan of a computer, then Chu Yuanqing is an inescapable, stubborn virus. As long as she has a breath left, all of humanity can stubbornly unleash miracles beyond limits, causing the Worldline to return to the CG of Shining City time and time again.
This caused the corrective force of the Sea of Truth to change its course.
That is, to bring forward Chu Yuanqing's destined death.
This is the simplest method. The mechanism of the Sea of Truth did not do this immediately because it could withstand the backlash of 17 years of corrective force and the erosion of 17 years of [nothingness]. The "share" that would be consumed to interfere with Chu Yuanqing was too great.
The Sea of Truth is devoid of emotion and bias. Its reason for correcting the essence of the world is to maintain macroscopic balance. However, if too much "share" is used in the correction process, it will in turn disrupt the balance, which is tantamount to putting the cart before the horse.
Therefore, only after confirming that it would be impossible to correct the world without killing Chu Yuanqing beforehand did the invisible hand that manipulates time choose to take action against this Savior.
Time passed once again.
This time, time was no longer measured in days; several months passed in the blink of an eye, and the scene was frozen on that summer afternoon.
Sea Capital is an old residential area on the outer ring road.
The cicadas chirped noisily, the banyan trees were lush and green, and the old-fashioned electric fan whirred.
Are you going to work today?
"Something came up at the company."
Even if today is the anniversary of my mother's death?
"... Move aside, if you won't go, I will."
The gears of fate began to turn. The father and daughter, whose relationship had frozen due to misunderstandings and untold stories, parted hastily after exchanging only a few words, never revealing the softness beneath their sharp edges and icy exterior.
Chu Wangshu carried her suitcase back to her school dormitory and began secretly rehearsing in the dance studio, preparing for her performance in the audition for "Flash Dance".
On the same day, Chu Yuanqing, who arrived at the company by subway, was fired by his boss and had no choice but to go home first.
What should I do about the insurance costs?
This retired Savior, who had concealed all his sharpness and was tormented by the curse to the point of becoming increasingly weathered, opened his door with the heavy thoughts of a middle-aged corporate slave. As he entered, he glanced at the balcony, where a job advertisement for "Flash Dance" that was floating on the railing was just swept away by the wind and flew high into the air, like a migratory bird separated from its flock.
The next day, forcing himself to stay awake, Chu Yuanqing went to various company interviews. Exhausted after half a day, he walked into a supermarket.
"Hello sir, your supermarket points have exceeded 1000 points. Here's a free 'Dream Treasure' card for you."
Chu Yuanqing lowered his eyes to look at the piece of paper the cashier handed him. His handsome, weathered face was calm. He politely nodded his thanks, accepted the free gift, and walked back into the sweltering summer heat as the automatic door jingled.
Without thinking too much, he casually scraped it open with his fingernail.
Congratulations on winning the prize: 100,000 yuan.
This poison from the Sea of Truth, packaged as an unexpected gift in life, instantly covered the insurance costs and even left a considerable surplus.
Thus, the idea of using the Lantern Gem to transform into Magical Girl was nipped in the bud.
Time passed.
Chu Wangshu took the stage on the day of the second Public Performance.
Chu Yuanqing, whose soul was on the verge of complete collapse, was arranged by the corrective force to have a natural car accident. In his shock and surprise, thinking of the insurance payout he could leave to his daughter, he did not resist and calmly faced death.
But that's not enough. Just like in the future dream simulated by [Blood of Sighs], the Savior, whose physical body was destroyed, returned to the Miracle High Wall and regained all his blessings and powers. This time travel is the same situation.
Once the other party recovers to their full strength, they will be able to easily detect the sealed calamities and Disaster God, learn all the truth, and then, for the sake of their daughter, humanity, and the stars, rise from the ashes and be reborn, bringing the Worldline back to the same ending, rendering the previous attempts to induce them futile.
Therefore, the Sea of Truth took advantage of the opponent's weakest moment, catching them off guard and obscuring their perception after merging with [Pure White].
Chu Yuanqing looked down at the clear blue, peaceful, and gentle world, drowning in the illusion of sweetness, and smiled with satisfaction. His last obsession crumbled, causing the high walls to shatter, collapse, and crumble.
On the same day, the Savior of the first cycle passed away, and the Pure White High Wall that had protected the world for 17 years suddenly collapsed. The twelve Disaster God that had been sealed were broken, and a vast tide of calamity began to overflow, with blessings falling into the world each choosing their own master.
Upon learning of his father's death, Chu Wangshu was directly stimulated from the moment he Lighting Up to the moment he fully bloomed.
The sunflower was born prematurely, and when the crisis arrived, it used the excuse of "resurrecting its father" to lure the disaster swarm into taking over its body.
At this point, the overall situation was settled. Without the chain reaction following Chu Yuanqing's participation in "Flash Dance," Xie Qingxuan, Kiriwake Yayoi, Tang Liuli, and Charlotte's memories of the first timeline had not been revived, and even the latent blessings had not been fully activated. The premature collapse several months earlier made the "Flash Dance" project a complete failure.
Even without extraterrestrial swarms, humanity currently has absolutely no chance of turning the tide.
However, the mechanism of the Sea of Truth, which determined to anchor this Worldline, pushed forward six months into the future.
The fiery clouds that should never have reappeared suddenly swept across the entire planet at the most desperate moment, shaking the universe, projecting a boundary membrane, illuminating the nearby Mother Ocean, as if to burn away all things in the universe, wipe out the disaster horde and the Disaster God in one fell swoop, and flatten the progress bar completely.
Here, time seemed to stand still once more.
The corrective force of the Sea of Truth retrospectively checked itself, searching for "bugs," and finally... settled on a face that was all too familiar.