The black iron torrent moved slowly through the mountain valley, silently, as if composed of the dead.
They put away their battle flags, symbols of glory, and their cold, indifferent faces, though different, remained aloof. The usually sharp-tongued "hunters" were unusually silent, conserving their energy while carefully observing their surroundings, all in pursuit of their ultimate goal.
Medici, the noble "Red Angel" and leader of "Red of War," was just like any ordinary mortal general. He did not reveal any extraordinary abilities and patiently concealed the sharpness of the mythical creature. Together with his taxi soldiers, he measured the eve of victory with his own two feet.
Roman Ambrose was right beside Him, running alongside Him, unlike the "Planets Walker" who was adept at manipulating space.
"stop."
In the mental link, brief bytes were transmitted to the ears of both soldiers and generals simultaneously, regardless of rank, and the entire formation immediately came to a halt.
Black iron filled the ravine between the two mountain peaks, and the dampness that had accumulated in the valley after the rainy night solidified towards the direction where the army was stationed, quickly forming a thick fog.
"Hopefully their dog noses aren't that sharp."
In the mystical mist imbued with spirituality, Medici wiped his longsword, his eyes, stained crimson by corruption, gazing into the distance.
"We've definitely been discovered, but there's nothing they can do about it." Roman also stared in that direction, carefully avoiding certain details as he followed his spiritual intuition. "The Creator himself is on the border, Antigonus is confronting the servants of the true gods, 'Night' and 'Storm'. Although Friedrich is not as good as Antigonus, he has a way to trick the Creator into temporarily descending and simultaneously dominating two fronts."
"Baranka single-handedly held off six angels, only managing to hold them off until now thanks to the protection of the 'Mother Tree of Desire' and our wariness of the Northern Continent..."
Roman said calmly.
"The 'Bound God' is finished. Even if He lasted a few more years than Fabti, He is not a complete Sequence Zero after all, and He doesn't even have the chance to continue resisting by relying on His personhood."
"I even suspect that His true consciousness died at the moment of the birth of the 'God's Abomination'. Now, like Fabuti in the 'Abyss', He is nothing more than a puppet of the 'Mother Tree of Desire' within the barrier. Although He cannot control Him flexibly, it is not a problem for Him to exert some of His essence through the sharing of the past in the heavens and the resonance with the 'Shadow World'."
"'The Abyss'…" Medici sighed silently.
If, in the Creator's camp, besides the two eternal allies, there is any other mythical being with experience in contact with source matter, it can only be Him.
Although Antigonus and Roman accepted the blessing from the Source Castle, it was more like a "mysterious" small privilege bestowed upon their confidants, a kind of pity.
The term "Abyss" here refers not only to a specific area in reality, but also to the top of a path, and can currently be considered equivalent to Fabti himself.
It is abnormal for an "Abyss" to be independent of the continents and have an area comparable to that of the continents. This is something Medici knew clearly when he accompanied the Creator to fight the aliens in the Third Age.
The area was filled with intense and dangerous pollution, far exceeding the limits that a normal sequence zero could withstand. In the end, even the Creator himself was helpless and could only temporarily put that sea area aside in the face of an even greater crisis.
It is likely that Fabuti had already made contact with the "Shadow World" during the Third Age. Later, as the barrier weakened and strengthened, the infiltration of the "Mother Tree of Desire" caused Fabuti to become a puppet of the "God of Lost Heart." At the same time, the "Shadow World," which was sealed away in the Western Continent, was also drawn into the true abyss and began to return to its source.
Thinking of this, Medici couldn't help but curse.
"These hybrids are another problem caused by neighboring routes."
Listening to the complaints that were practically meaningless in the social circles of mythical creatures, Roman's lips slowly curled up.
"Don't rush. If we're talking about making contact through source matter and adjacent pathways, besides the Creator and the teacher, you're probably the only one still alive, right?"
"Perhaps there's also Chik and the 'Hidden Sage'?"
He turned to look at his companion beside him, his expression serious.
"When you were corrupted by the 'City of Calamity,' did you sense the authority of Chick and the 'Witch'?"
After all, every mythical creature contaminated by the source matter has gained some special qualities, whether good or bad.
Some became even more powerful individuals, while others became puppets, turning into the tentacles of the source matter in reality; in any case, they all became stronger.
"roll!"
Clearly, our lovely and respectable "Red Angel" is not interested in answering her friend's question properly.
The "City of Calamity" is not only a symbol of cholera and strife, but also contains the concept of yin and yang. If other mythical creatures, at their end, at most become feminine beings full of maternal radiance, which is still understandable to mortals, then the path that Medici is on may very well lead to the most unfavorable yin-yang being in the end.
In the conservative era in which the Creator lived, this was commonly known as a transvestite or a pervert.
However, his anger vanished in an instant. He touched the crystal ornament on his earlobe with his other hand and gave a mocking smile.
"Heh, it's uncertain what I'll become in the end, but you'll never experience this feeling in your entire life."
Roman chuckled and clapped softly.
"That's true, I can't compare to you, and it's not a good job either."
"You know, I'm mediocre. I got to my position entirely through nepotism. I'm not even a tenth as good as Bethel Abraham, let alone a teacher."
"Besides Amon's envy and Bethel's ambition, these two mentally unstable madmen crave it. I really can't think of any normal person who would gamble their entire fortune on a bleak future. That kind of deadly work is better left to teachers."
"As for me…" Roman drawled, "I think that after the teacher succeeds, He shouldn't mind giving me another Sequence 1 of the adjacent pathway so that I can continue to serve Him. That way, I can understand a little of what you feel."
"You?" Medici raised one eyebrow.
He responded with a sneer, patting the scabbard of his sword slung across his waist intermittently.
"You are indeed quite suitable to be the 'mysterious waiter'. You've been doing it for thousands of years, so you're at least very experienced."
"Thank you for the compliment."
Roman gave a perfunctory nod, raised his loosely clenched hands, and plunged them into the air, tearing open space without any warning.
The desolate mountains and fields disappeared in the cracks of reality, replaced by a ruined but still magnificent city-state.
The capital city of the highlands is surrounded by mountains. The "bound god" used some unknown method to combine the capital city and the mountains into one through a large-scale ritual. Any living creature, whether in the real world or the spirit world, will be affected by the power of the ritual the moment it enters the ritual area. It will be born with different emotions and thoughts, and will unknowingly bypass the barrier or die in the traps lurking in the mountains.
Now, Roman Ambrose has cheated by tearing open a temporary passage for the army of Trensus before the direct contact ceremony, allowing them to bypass the last line of defense left by the "Bound God" on the highlands.
The gap isn't large; it only allows two people to pass through at a time.
As Medici passed through the gap, he noticed that, despite being in the same mountains and rivers, the cliffs on the other side of the barrier showed faint signs of human carving, but were covered by dense moss. The closer he got to Him, the more moss covered the traces, as if the tragedy of the Highlands kingdom gradually declining from civilization and restraint to barbarity and madness was unfolding before Him.
Medici did not sigh. He issued another command through the mental link, and the black iron torrent that had been stagnant for a long time started again, quickly passing through the gap and reaching inside the barrier.
This time, they no longer concealed themselves. An endless flame rose from the ground, and iron and fire clashed in the thorn bushes that sprang up out of nowhere. The "hunters," "schemers," "harvesters," "iron knights," and "war bishops," led by the "conquerors," brandished longswords and military banners. They themselves transformed into a single spear, mercilessly plunging into the enemy ranks.
The timing was perfect.
Before the real conflict erupted, the "Bound God," realizing the approaching "Red of War," suddenly issued a divine decree to eradicate heretics.
His student, the "Immortal Princess" of the Highlands, had her fig leaf torn off by her teacher, who had transformed into some unknown monster. The goddess of the kingdom fell from her throne and into the mud, where she was bullied by madmen and beasts.
This is the scene that "Red of War" witnessed upon its arrival.
Surrounded by "divine abominations" and several demigods, the "immortal princess" Renette Tinicul, desperately protecting her students and juniors, was covered in wounds. Her bright and elegant face was almost shrouded in despair, her dry golden hair was tangled up, and her eyelids kept drooping, about to cover her blood-red eyes.
His plight received no sympathy from any of the "hunters," and another war surrounding the "divine evil" had already begun.
Most of the "Reds of War," under the leadership of the "Red Angels," surrounded the "God's Abomination" and his entourage. Two blurry figures emerged from the strange crystal worn by the Red Angel, attaching themselves to two high-ranking officers of the "Reds of War." They unleashed power comparable to that of angels, leading a small force to surround Renette Tinicol, who was trying to escape in the chaos.
Roman, the "Planets Walker," simply watched all this quietly, neither offering help nor intending to leave.
Sometimes He would admire the valiant backs of Medici as he fought the "god-like" Sear, and sometimes He would look up at the sky, watching to see if a red moon would suddenly appear there.
But more often, He turned His gaze to the dilapidated ruins outside the capital of the Highlands.
On those moss-covered cliff faces, the outlines of huge, bound statues remain, but their faces are obscured.
Each of them is adorned with roses and thorns, resembling the image of the "bound god" in Highland mythology.
These statues symbolize the saints and wise kings of the highlands and are a record of their history.
However, as the "indulgence" faction has grown stronger and stronger until it has completely gained the upper hand, it has taken away the discourse power that the "moderation" faction has insisted on for thousands of years, and all the imprints of civilization are no longer esteemed.
The pillars of the hall, the foundations of the houses, and the walls of the academic tower all fell into the hands of wild beasts and birds. The only remaining function of the halls that were once built by scholars and craftsmen was to shelter the local people from the rain and cold.
As a "Planetary Traveller," a former "Recorder," and an old man who emerged from the Dark Ages, Roman couldn't help but leave the absolutely safe edge of the gap and, in the most unpretentious way, walked to the ruins.
This ruin is at least twenty times larger than the city-state where He originally lived, and the traces of the broken civilization are endless, both in His mind and in reality.
The illusions of the past and the reality of the present merge into one, ultimately forming an endless wilderness that stirred the indelible emotions within His heart.
"One hundred and eighty-one years," Roman said.
This is how He deduced, after getting up close to the ruins, the time when the building began to decline and was completely abandoned.
On the yellowish-brown soil, one or two exquisite mosaic tiles still hang alone and stubbornly.
Upon close inspection, the faded porcelain shards still reveal some images depicting the true meaning of "temperance," using lines instead of words to write the most precious maxim that has always been upheld by the "Rose School."
"The body is a prison of the mind, and the world is a prison of the body."
"Madness is restrained, desire is suppressed..."
Roman silently filled in the missing second half of the proverb on the mosaic tile, paused for a moment, and continued.
"The cage severs freedom, and freedom replaces shelter…Tolzner seems to have forgotten the more important part of teaching His believers."
But what if the "bound god" didn't warn believers about what He considered more important, and what if He did warn them anyway?
Roman looked up at the sky again; the red moon hung high in the sky.
The battlefield seemed to have tilted, but it didn't matter anymore, because at the edge of the barrier, the curtain of shadow was slowly advancing, and the black-armored supreme being was stepping over the bones and blood of heretics and traitors, coming step by step.
The weakening of the barrier was inevitable; Torzner's initial choice, or rather, his birth and life, were original sin.
As long as He exists, the "bound ones" exist, and the calamities symbolized by the "Mother Tree of Desire" will still descend upon the earth; it is not up to Him to decide these things.
"Red of War" prepared to launch a final attack on the projection of the "Bound God" summoned by "God's Abomination," with high-temperature air currents roaring and surging, sweeping indiscriminately in all directions.
The scorching wind raged wildly, and the twisting space around Roman helped him avoid danger, but there were no more ruins to be found.
Hot winds swept through the cracks in the broken walls, accompanied by the collapse of bricks and stones, and the last batch of tombstones that represented the most prosperous era of the Highland civilization disappeared.
At this moment, the roar of disaster seemed like the desperate cries of the "bound one," His last struggle to seek help.
The Hanged Man, barely able to save himself, witnessed it all. His eyes, which existed behind the veil of shadow, glanced at Roman, at a witness to the end of a civilization.
He let out a heartfelt sigh.
...
puff!
The black sword pierced Renette Tinicol's long, fair neck. The old man, huddled in his black robe, tightly embraced the blonde, blue-eyed, doll-like little girl, stifling her cries and letting his tears soak his wrinkled hands.
Friedrich Zarathustra's dark, bottomless eyes reflected the tragically defeated "Immortal Princess." He lowered his head, stroking the girl's soft golden hair. Based on a fleeting glimpse of the future, a slight smile appeared on the corners of his mouth, which were completely hidden by his white beard.
It seems He... has obtained an incredible treasure.