Chapter 463
"There's no way around it, she's Charlotte. The infectious energy that other idols unleash with [Flow State] is just her normal baseline. And this kind of atmosphere, temperament, and ethereal charm is very difficult to convey through normal images."
"This is something that Yayoi and the others, or rather, Magical Girl, all have similar 'troubles' about."
"The projection technology we're seeing has been improved again. It doesn't need a shining base or magic formulas to achieve a level comparable to the tour we had six months ago. I think I saw some news about it online. This technology is probably being prepared for the Shining Tour three years from now."
Once this technology is fully implemented, it will be a revolutionary innovation, equivalent to the evolution of key forms of communication, allowing people to experience the true beauty of Magical Girl without leaving their homes.
With some improvements, it's entirely possible to create venues in various cities that incorporate projection technology. By obtaining authorization from the Magical Girl organizing the tour, the live broadcast could be simultaneously streamed there, and cheaper tickets could be sold. Fans could then experience an immersive concert just like everyone else.
Even if the technology matures in the future, projectors with similar effects could be sold directly to the public. This would be just like watching TV series on a website. You could subscribe to a membership or buy online tickets to watch concerts, which could solve the predicament of many popular idols' tickets being in short supply and fans having to risk their lives to grab them.
Xu Ling's mind wandered. She looked at the fairy-like beauty in the projection and suddenly felt a strange sensation of being submerged by the torrent of time. The terrifying and desperate world-ending war half a year ago was still vivid in her mind. No one could have imagined that after that, the world could become even better.
Humanity, under the will of the stars, has achieved unification, and the occasional local wars that were once heard of no longer exist.
The technologies discovered in the ideal world were applied to various fields, leading to rapid advancements in medicine and agriculture. Countless incurable diseases were conquered, food production capacity was further optimized, multiple clean energy sources were unveiled, many ethereal technologies came to the forefront, and the social security provided by the world government became more generous.
This is the best of times. The existence of Magical Girl idols has even eliminated the risk of material abundance leading to spiritual scarcity. Their songs, dances, and dazzling performances seem to control the baton of human civilization, harmonizing the noise within it and maintaining a dreamlike, unchanging state of civilization.
But...
Unexplained, subtle ripples stirred within my soul.
A few strands of inexplicable melancholy rose in Xu Ling's chest. She gazed at Charlotte, as if searching through this flawless woman for another equally beautiful figure, a thought that even she found somewhat absurd.
But the next moment, the arrow, which had been hidden for half a year and lingered like a ghost, suddenly took shape and reappeared in a moment of distraction.
In her Sea of Consciousness, the Magical Girl who stepped out of the anime grasped the longbow. Her gaze was as firm yet sorrowful as in her memory. With a bang, she released the bowstring, and her whole being dissipated like a wisp of smoke.
Thus, the Wish Technique, accumulated over six months, pierced the sky like an arrow, crossed the gentle spring rain, flew away from Vienna and Austria, and went to an unknown place, leaving no trace.
The girl stood there, bewildered, blinking. Looking at Charlotte's stunning beauty, she patted her cheeks in annoyance and muttered to herself:
"No way, Xu Ling! You're Yayoi's only supporter, how can you be so captivated by other women!"
Pei Xiaotong was completely oblivious to her "unfaithful" cousin. She was staring blankly at the Doomsday Diva on the projection screen, her mind completely blank of Charlotte's words, her mind filled only with Charlotte's moving pink lips. Clearly, she was utterly bewitched by beauty and beyond saving.
Austria. Saint Wolfgang, Austria.
Many people online know that this is Charlotte's hometown, but thanks to the special laws enacted by the government and the respect the people have for her, the town has not become a tourist hotspot overcrowded day and night, and still maintains its original quiet and peaceful appearance.
If you want to say what's different from before...
That probably means there are more Charlotte -themed buildings now, with a bunch of themed cafes, record stores, photo studios, merchandise shops, and video galleries...
Even the originally playful celebration stage has been expanded by the local government to be more professional and luxurious, and the surrounding area has also been expanded into an amusement park dedicated to the annual celebration.
It's fair to say that as soon as you step into the town, you can hear Doomsday Diva's familiar voice playing on any record player. Coupled with the special effects of the Shining Protection notes, the town gives people a subtle and abstract feeling of having completely become Charlotte's fan base.
At this moment, children from the orphanage are playing on the lawn to the east of the chapel. If you cross the tall mountains and forests where the snow has just melted, you can see a lake like a sapphire. The clear water ripples with the wind, and a few small boats and ferries glide by slowly. Occasionally, birds fly by, making it look exceptionally beautiful.
The girl lay in a lifeboat on the lakeshore. Her features were exquisite, her skin delicate, and her eyes were so beautiful in the light that they didn't seem like lenses. They looked as if thousands of silk threads were intertwined and floating in the waves, making people want to drown in them. Her raven-black hair and her light dress spread out like a velvet carpet.
This scene, like a lotus flower blooming in a mirror, perfectly complements the peaceful and tranquil atmosphere of the town, as if time itself has stood still.
The sunlight streamed down from the horizon, casting golden arcs across the lake.
These shimmering lights danced and moved like living fairies, spreading across the entire lake with the ripples, winding around the slowly drifting boats, as if yearning to touch the fingertips of those inside.
Time sequence, destiny, cause and effect, dimension, heaven and earth, law and principle...
Those countless powers were imbued with spirituality, spontaneously intertwining into a continuous net, constantly showering this [Child of Man] with the most tender and loving care.
This is a magnificent phenomenon that no one in the world, Magical Girl, blessing maker, or even the stars themselves can fully comprehend.
All of this stemmed from a fleeting shift in her thoughts.
Chu Wangshu snapped out of her daze and sat up from the small boat. Her hair swayed and her skirt fluttered. The billions of laws that could tear apart galaxies and boundary membranes converged into one, and the countless powers that had been fluttering around were like joyful angels, bowing their heads and kissing her fair collarbone, turning into a tail-like imprint, and obediently quieting down.
--[The Supreme Proof].
"Supreme Lord..."
The girl murmured to herself, her feelings complicated.
Half a year passed in the blink of an eye. The legacy from the Nameless Savior had completely merged with her soul, allowing her to naturally integrate and digest ninety percent of the blessings bestowed upon all of humanity in the first playthrough.
Subsequently, the stars bestowed upon her the blessings of many Disaster God, causing the sequence of [Child of Man] to mutate and collapse into her Soul Flower, being torn apart, dismantled, reconstructed, and then woven back into this body based on idealistic life.
This triggered an unstoppable chain reaction, causing the other Disaster God powers to be "absorbed" one by one, and integrated into the Magical Girl's power.
This also includes the five sequences of extraterrestrial calamities, which, in terms of their powers, are [Gospel], [Elegy], [War Calamity], [Compassion], and [Rebellion].
It was the combination of these powers, along with the nature of the calamity swarm, that triggered the Great Cataclysm phenomenon, which theoretically could destroy all worlds in the nearby mother sea ring.
Even so, they were still successfully devoured and contained by the thirteen Disaster God powers that "betrayed" one after another, and were transformed into pure nourishment in this evolution, sublimation and metamorphosis that Chu Wangshu himself could not understand.
Ultimately, together with all the forces, they formed this legal imprint called the [Supreme Proof].
Chu Wangshu thus continued to grow stronger in a very abstract exponential curve during her leisurely time of traveling, performing, working, and going out with her mother and younger colleagues, until she herself was completely bewildered and unable to understand it.
This stems from the uniqueness of the one true self, the doting love of the stars, the gift of the Nameless Savior, and even more so from the extraordinary flames refined by billions of civilizations through endless lamentations and the passage of time behind the seventeen Disaster God.
Favorable timing, advantageous location, and harmonious relationships.
This extraordinary fortune, one of the most rare in the entire Mother Sea, silently descended upon this tiny world through a series of miracles.
Chu Wangshu was puzzled by this.
This engraving was created on its own a week ago.
What follows is the call from the Mother Sea and the truth, which constantly reminds and guides us.
She began to instinctively know that as long as she left her home planet, followed the call, ascended to the end of the Sea of Truth, and left this imprint containing countless stories and epics, she could infinitely extend the principles of law, truly ascend to godhood, and transcend into the eternally great, forever immortal... Supreme Lord.
That was destined to be a long and arduous road.
But for those who attain the [Supreme Proof], time has no meaning; reaching the summit is already predetermined.
Even at the moment the imprint was created, the Supreme Lord's cause and effect and destiny were completely locked in. Even if there were another terrifying being far superior to the Disaster God, who reversed and altered the timeline and history of this world, it would not be able to stop her from ascending to the truth.
Strangely, whenever I start to wonder and think about what it would be like to truly become the Supreme Lord, a strange feeling of bitterness, unease, and awkwardness always wells up in my heart.
This is not normal.
Although she didn't want to lose human warmth and physical sensation, she chose to put all the power outside of Magical Girl into the imprint, only endowing them with the spirituality to protect their master.
But at this stage, so-called intuition, emotion, and premonition cannot be without origin. Even if the answer is unclear for a moment, one can easily understand cause and effect, fate, and time, and instantly grasp the reasons behind them.
What's strange is that she simply couldn't trace the source of these intuitions.
Is it because of supreme authority?
Chu Wangshu couldn't help but let her mind wander.
The Sea of Truth is the cradle of everything, endlessly gathering and creating laws. Therefore, even the calamities born from the shadows of all worlds, whose essence is disorder and chaos, call it the Mother Sea.
However, just as humans, born on Earth, will eventually develop weapons to destroy planets as civilization progresses, the Sea of Truth also has a "cancer" that threatens itself. The most dangerous and famous of these is the Chaotic Entropy, which is incomparable even to the combined Entropy of Chaos countless calamities.
This is the afterimage of the withering of the infinite world, and the cancer of truth born from the fusion of the law that is constantly being abandoned and multiplied by the Sea of Truth. Wherever it passes, the law is destroyed, all living beings perish, leaving only the shadow of chaos, which is endlessly snowballing and destroying everything.
According to the valuable information provided by the Mother Sea in the [Supreme Proof], if it is allowed to proliferate indefinitely, this cradle of the origin of all things will eventually become empty, cease to function, and be destroyed.
In order to eliminate this calamity, the mechanism of the Sea of Truth instinctively began to save itself, which in turn gave rise to several fundamental principles.
For example, the [infinite] is responsible for reversing destruction, regenerating energy, reconstructing tributaries, and giving rise to all things.
For example, the [order] that stabilizes all abandoned legal principles, and balances the instinctive expansion of the Sea of Truth.
For example, what was initially used to eliminate the Entropy of Chaos and destroy these "cancer cells" instead grew and thrived in the process, becoming the ultimate opposite of the concept of "existence"—[nothingness].
These principles reside at the source of the Sea of Truth, and are referred to as the supreme truth.
If these things are involved, it's perfectly normal that those who haven't reached the same stage won't be able to find the reason.
"This is so troublesome."
Chu Wangshu thought for a long time, then frowned her cute face, muttered something, and looked up at the sky.
A gentle breeze swept across the mountains and waters, carrying the laughter of children from afar. She cleared her mind, listened quietly, and her mood became peaceful. For a moment, all she wanted to do was give up.
What supreme, what eternal, what the end of the Mother Sea, what great existence...
These things were all too distant and too abstract for her, who was only 18 years old.
How can one comprehend truths that are broader, more vast, and more indescribable than the universe if one hasn't even lived a full life?
Chu Wangshu is ultimately special. Even though she has obtained overwhelming power that is too great and can distort people's perceptions, her uniqueness as the only true self allows her to maintain her most original self.
Therefore, she really didn't care about these things at all. In fact, in order to maintain a sense of novelty and surprise, she even stuffed a bunch of ridiculously high-level instincts, statuses, powers, and realms into the imprint.
The girl's thoughts were simple: the world was at peace, disaster groups no longer existed, and humanity was free from any crisis. Now, even if she had to give up Magical Girl and [Supreme Proof], she wouldn't mind simply being Little Idol that few people knew about.
Now, her mind is filled only with songs and dances, beautiful scenery, her mother's love, her senior's advice, and her fans' affection.
So, since you'd feel uneasy about becoming some kind of supreme being, you might as well not go at all.
Unless the world encounters an enemy that even the Shining City cannot stop, she could stay on this planet carefree until she's a hundred or eighty years old before pondering these profound matters.
With so much time to spare, of course we should relax and be happy every day.
After thinking it through, all she wanted was to go to the chapel, find Charlotte's mother and Sister Ellie, and stroll around the greatly changed town with the children, playing everywhere.
Just as her thoughts settled, the engraving on her collarbone began to flicker slightly.
Immediately afterwards, boundless radiance solidified the universe and spacetime, dimensions were peeled back like an onion, revealing Thousand Faces, and the threads of cause and effect and destiny were drawn into the pupils, naturally magnifying the field of vision, and in an instant, it froze on the arrow that had not yet entered the town and was stuck in one space.
Chu Wangshu curiously reached out, and the arrow obediently fell into her hand. She murmured:
"Strange, didn't the stars already send out all their blessings? Why is another one coming?"
The little girl blinked, and fate began to lock in. Time rewound, freezing above the Vienna DC Tower. The view continued to fall, and Xu Ling's face came into view. Cause and effect continued to be traced, unfolding many scenes, rewinding to eight months ago, ending with that ray of white light of unknown origin.
This is...
[Pure White] Before it collapsed, was this a blessing bestowed upon this fan sister?
Chu Wangshu still felt something was amiss, so she continued to probe the source of this blessing, pondering:
"Wish Technique? A one-time blessing, that sounds interesting. I can give it to Sister Liuli to play with."
"However, why did it take more than half a year for that woman to receive a blessing, and why did she suddenly come to me? Moreover... I can't even see what she wished for, and she herself has forgotten it. This is too strange."
Such a thing is completely unbelievable for Little Moons now. She can understand and control cause and effect and destiny, and after the imprint is formed, she has her own timeline, axis and law. If she wants, she can even easily reverse the time of the entire universe, or actively split and weave new Worldline.
Considering that she can be considered Magical Girl, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call her the goddess of Magical Girl.
Therefore, the abnormality of the Wish Technique was to her the same as the Sea of Truth discovering a bug of the level of Chu Yuanqing —a situation that required testing with antivirus software.
"Could it be that the signal the disaster group sent to outer space last time attracted an even more powerful Disaster God, who has started to cause trouble quietly?"
Upon Chu Wangshu could no longer sit still.
The power of disaster swarms is mysterious and unpredictable, strange and bizarre; some of them can be activated without any ripples or signs.
For example, take the power [Elegy] from the extraterrestrial calamities. When it is activated, fate and cause and effect are locked. By the time you hear the Elegy playing, everything is already beyond redemption. No matter how you try to save it, everything will rush toward tragedy. Even a true Utopia will fall apart and become a hell.
This is a force of fate that strongly interferes with the natural order, yet it originates from the concept of tragedy. Therefore, it cannot be easily refuted by the forces of fate. Furthermore, the Disaster God itself does not even need to take any action during the process, which shows how bizarre it is.
The reason they were able to win so easily back then was mainly due to the Shining Mech linking the thoughts of all mankind. The cause and effect of the entire civilization and race were intertwined into a single and strong bond, naturally resisting such authority. Under normal circumstances, even the covenants within mankind might have inexplicably collapsed.
"No, I need to find out why."
Even a lion uses its full strength to hunt a rabbit.
The Sea of Truth is so vast; we cannot ignore the possibility of any crisis just because we have become stronger.
Chu Wangshu unfolded the Lotus Realm, its black and white colors staining the planets, galaxies, universe, Shining City, and boundary membrane. The ouroboros-like markings enveloped and swallowed them. Just like the Sea of Truth judged this "bubble" in the past, she reenacted the world, rewound time, and searched for the unknown bugs.
Even more coincidentally, because of her suspicion of the Disaster God, the first thing she examined was the battle that had decided the fate of humanity half a year ago.
At that time, she had not yet received the gifts of the stars, and she only possessed the power of the [Child of Man] Disaster God. She was far from realizing her full potential. Humanity's ultimate victory had too many unexpected and lucky elements, and there was indeed a possibility of oversight.
Thus, the past unfolded once again. From the perspectives of Astrid, Charlotte's mother, the various Captain-Class Witch, and even some ordinary people, she witnessed, as if watching a movie, the Disaster God uprising, the extraterrestrial enemy, the Great Cataclysm, the birth of the Shining Mech, Charlotte's transformation into the [Lighthouse], the defeat of the enemy, and the true construction of the Shining City.
The more Chu Wangshu read, the more confused and bewildered he became. The beginning and end of the process were clear, and the logic of each link was sound. The Disaster God had indeed died completely, leaving no way out.
But...
The whole process was as beautiful as a fairy tale. The Magical Girl who participated in suppressing the twelve forbidden lands almost didn't even use [Great Full Bloom], yet they successfully held back the riot of the twelve Disaster God.
Pure white down feathers scattered across the sky not only protected against the backlash from the disaster, but also miraculously protected everyone when the Great Cataclysm destroyed many cities, continents, and islands, creating a miracle of zero casualties in such a terrible disaster.
When the extraterrestrial calamities and the twelve Disaster God attacked together, their power, enough to tear the world apart, was blocked by the remaining protection of [Pure White]. Even when Charlotte was about to pay the price of being a [Lighthouse], the radiance of the other side still appeared in time, obscuring the distracting thoughts of all mankind and protecting her soul.