Chapter 183 Embers

In the afterglow gradually cooling after the annihilation of all things, the corpses of the ancient gods dominated the ashes of the world, and some things "grown" from the corpses constructed imitations and phantoms of the past between the ashes—after stripping away all the mythical auras, and reorganizing the information currently available, the "Deep Sea Age" before Duncan's eyes presented the most real and chilling side.

Of course, he could use gentler words to describe this era, or use some more acceptable ways to explain the state of the gods at this moment, but this could not change the essence of the matter.

He stood up and scratched the goat-headed man's neck—this former "creator" raised his head, observing Duncan's expression: "You seem preoccupied."

Duncan sat back down, and after a moment of silence, suddenly opened his mouth as if talking to himself: "...The whole world is just a pile of embers that are gradually dying out..."

"I heard that phrase from Lucrezia," the goat-headed man immediately said.

Duncan nodded, said nothing more, but reached into his arms, and after a moment of searching, took out two things.

One of them was a "sphere" emitting brilliant light, a primordial star that had been shrunk countless times, its surface flowing with flames, and gentle light and flames constantly erupting, returning, and surging, as if maintaining the "operation" of the star.

This was the "gift" that Vanna obtained from Tarekjin, the former sun of the Senkin.

And the other was a delicately cut piece of pale golden crystal, about the size of a fist, with dozens of irregular, asymmetrical surfaces, each presenting a smooth and perfect texture. Within the crystal, there seemed to be a very precise and subtle structure hidden, like filaments spreading outward from the center of the crystal, forming a three-dimensional grid structure encased within the crystal.

The goat-headed man's attention was first attracted by the "little sun," but then fell on the strange pale golden crystal, and after a moment of愣, he was greatly puzzled: "What is this thing?"

"If divided according to the 'civilized world' classification method, this should be some kind of 'profane prototype'," Duncan said casually, "This was separated from the body of that sun spawn when it fell from the sky—before the flames burned it to ashes, Aier picked it back."

The goat-headed man was stunned for a moment, and then finally recalled the scene at that time—

At the last moment, the sun spawn tried to escape the Dream of the Nameless, but was intercepted in the sky. He, himself, in mythical form, gave that freak the final blow, and the thing fell apart from the clouds. At the center of its fragments, there seemed to be a glittering thing甩 being thrown out, but at the time the situation was chaotic, and that thing only flashed in the sky, and was "swept away" by a团幽 green flame, and no one noticed… So it turned out to be this thing?

A sound of flapping wings came from beside him, and Aier fluttered her wings and flew to the nautical table. She tilted her head and looked at the strange crystal she had picked up, observed it for a long time, and then stretched out her neck,啄ing the surface of the crystal with her beak: "Crystal is filled with hatred! Crystal is filled with hatred!"

Duncan ignored the stupid bird's chatter beside him. He looked at the crystal in front of him and fell into thought, but in his mind, he recalled the strange large umbrellas held by the tall, thin, black-clothed people called "sun remnants"—he also remembered that inside those strange large umbrellas, in addition to mechanical and circuit structures that were exquisite beyond the times, there were also crystal structures that were cut extremely precisely.

This kind of crystal-based "profane prototype" seemed to be the unique "technical creation" mastered by the "Black Sun" and its offspring and remnants.

Long ago, after first seeing the strange large umbrellas in the hands of those black-clothed people, Duncan had realized one thing—the fact that those sun followers possessed technical creations meant that they were not a barbaric and chaotic primitive tribe. The advanced manufacturing techniques embodied in these profane prototypes actually demonstrated an extremely advanced civilization.

Or rather, the "twilight" left behind by an extremely advanced civilization.

And now, after witnessing the truth of the Great Annihilation, Duncan had a new understanding of this matter.

The collision and annihilation of the worlds brought about the Deep Sea Age, and the worlds that collided were not limited to the homelands of the elves and the Senkin. The warrior who threw the longsword, and his own homeland world, were obviously destroyed together in the Great Annihilation. And extrapolating from this, every race, every relic style, every inexplicable and contradictory historical record in this world today probably represents a destroyed civilization.

Some of these civilizations may have come from different planets in the same universe, but those with extremely large deviations, enough to contaminate other "legacies," obviously came from universes with different laws.

So the Black Sun… from which universe is it an orphan?

Duncan slowly frowned, he gently抚摸着 the surface of the crystal, and muttered to himself thoughtfully: "So they are also lost ones..."

"Who?" The goat-headed man didn't react for a moment, but quickly understood the captain's meaning, "You mean the Black Sun and its freaks?"

"Everything in the Deep Sea Age comes from the destroyed worlds during the Great Annihilation. Even the ancient gods are just powerful individuals who survived, half-dead, after the Day of Destruction. The Black Sun could not have been created out of thin air—this crystal should represent the former civilization of the 'sun spawn'."

"...But now this 'civilization' stands on the opposite side of us, and their very existence is a kind of destruction to the entire real world," the goat-headed man thought for a while, and slowly said, "The Black Sun hopes to extinguish itself, and its offspring are obsessed with destroying the real dimension and 'rebirth' the Black Sun from the ruins of the mortal world—they may have once been a very glorious civilization, but now they are all insane from top to bottom, and it is obviously impossible to coexist with the mortal world."

"That's right, they cannot coexist. There are many things in this world that cannot coexist with the civilized world, dangerous ancient gods, shadows in the spirit world, and those things in the sub-space... But have you ever considered a deeper level—why can't these things coexist with the mortal world?"

The goat-headed man was呆 for a moment, and seemed to be falling into thought.

"All things are 'ashes' left after the Great Annihilation. The corpses of the gods opened the current Deep Sea Age from the ashes. In theory, the current Deep Sea Age is already the product of mutual integration, transformation, and compromise of various worlds in the Great Annihilation. In other words, since the Great Annihilation has ended, since the Third Long Night has successfully reshaped the world, then the existing things in the world are already the result of 're-balancing', and should no longer produce the same mutual pollution and erosion as when the worlds collided…

"But the fact is that there are still ancient gods like the Black Sun, and there are still many 'pollutants' that will cause disasters as soon as they appear in the real world. This pollution is exactly the same as the 'erosion' that appeared around Selantis during the Great Annihilation, giving people the feeling as if..."

Duncan stopped here, seemingly unable to find a suitable description for a while, but the goat-headed man beside him suddenly said: "As if the Great Annihilation never ended?"

"Yes, as if the Great Annihilation never ended," Duncan slowly nodded, and said with a particularly solemn expression, "It was only postponed, temporarily isolated somewhere, and slowly released into the world over time. Erosion still exists, and the conflicts and pollution between different worlds are still slowly progressing. The Third Long Night forcibly 'kneaded' the embers together, but in this barely 'kneaded' order, the opposition and destruction at the bottom of all things are constantly going on..."

The goat-headed man gradually reacted: "This corresponds to the 'Twilight' mentioned by the Doomsayer..."

"Self-pollution and self-destruction are the destined direction of the Deep Sea Age. The Day of Destruction was already destined at the beginning of history. The apocalypse pollutes history and will eventually chase from the long river of time—this has been the 'preaching' content of those Doomsayers all along," Duncan slowly nodded, "All along, this kind of doomsday theory has been驳斥ed by mainstream society, but after understanding the truth of the Great Annihilation, and combining it with the various 'characteristics' of the current Deep Sea Age, I have to start seriously considering the doomsday theories of those狂 people."

Speaking of this, he paused, and continued in thought: "Perhaps this is not a doomsday theory, but just some objective description of the Third Long Night... The Third Long Night was an incomplete and unsuccessful Genesis, it did not fundamentally solve the 'conflicts' caused by the collision of multiple worlds, but only provided a buffer zone, in order to allow this world to find a way out on its own within a ten-thousand-year period... Therefore, a Fourth Long Night is needed."

"...Do you think this 'way out' has appeared?"

"No," Duncan shook his head, "Those Doomsayers seem to know something, but they only know what the 'hidden dangers' left by the Third Long Night are, and they know that the conflicts and collapses at the bottom of all things in the world are slowly progressing. If they really knew how to solve this problem, they would not use the Annihilation cultists and sun spawn as cannon fodder, and they would not let them go to the Dream of the Nameless to look for answers.

"The information they provide to the Annihilation cultists and sun followers is ambiguous and vague, and it doesn't sound like a clear guidance with a definite purpose, but more like they are doing some kind of test. This shows that those Doomsayers themselves don't know what the correct direction is."

The goat-headed man was silent for a while, and suddenly asked: "What are you going to do with this crystal? If it is really some kind of profane prototype… then the longer this thing stays in the real world, the higher the risk will be, even if it is placed on the Vanished, it may not be safe after a long time."

Duncan thought for a while, and slowly raised his hand.

Strands of flame rose from his fingertips,渗透ing into the crystal.

"I'm very interested in their secrets."

(End of this chapter)