……
The vast universe became the battlefield for this clash of consciousness.
Countless stars were detonated by weapons, emitting white-hot brilliance like supernovas, the ejected matter stretching hundreds of light-years, resembling a child's crude scribbles.
The fleet was quickly obliterated under the deity's attacks, and more violent weapons took the stage next.
If his most common tactic when fighting with Jie Luo was to establish a defense and then bombard relentlessly, then he hadn't changed much now. Only the explosives were different from gunpowder.
For example, matter-antimatter annihilation.
When a galaxy-level entity was converted into energy, even the universe would tremble, and a muffled "drumbeat" would echo in the space filled with light and heat, propagating outward at the speed of light.
In this intensity of battlefield, carbon-based life was more fragile than paper. Roland first transformed himself into a strong force body, and finally simply transformed into a pure energy body, commanding consciousness constructs to fight with his extraordinary mind connected to the Cradle.
Unlike the last soul battle, he didn't have to rack his brains and exhaust his efforts. The knowledge base had countless methods for him to draw upon. The rapid operation of his thoughts made him feel an unspeakable pleasure, and even death was instantaneous gasification in an energy jet, without feeling any pain.
At first, he could fight back and forth with the opponent, but as magic was poured into the battlefield, Roland gradually fell into a passive position.
And there was no way to reverse this disadvantage.
This was also the first time he clearly recognized the intrinsic power of magic.
Whether it was witches or devils, the way they used it was still to convert it into the inherent power of this universe, while in the hands of the Guardian, it completely broke free from the constraints of the rules, and its methods and effects could not be compensated by a larger equivalent.
Hundreds and thousands of deaths caused Roland's spirit to begin to dissipate. If it weren't for the assistance of the Cradle, he probably wouldn't have been able to hold on until now.
When he was reborn again, he was no longer able to support his body.
The surrounding background also returned to the pure white world he had seen before.
Roland swayed twice and fell backward to the ground. Only then did he realize that his back was already soaked.
"In this way, you should no longer have any regrets," the other party asked calmly, apparently such a battle would not cause it much burden. In the realm of consciousness, it was indeed no different from a god.
"How is that possible..." Roland took two deep breaths, "You think I came here just to let you beat me up and vent your anger?"
"Your actions stem from ignorance and arrogance, which is one of the natures of life, and besides, things have come to this point, venting anger is of no avail." It paused, "But you still want to continue that kind of battle? In the face of absolute disparity, persistence is meaningless. I thought you would be a little smarter."
"You're referring to the soul battle? No... I never thought that victory or defeat could be decided so simply." Roland slowly stood up, supporting his legs that were trembling due to exhaustion, "Just now I just wanted to experience the feeling of 'who is calling the fleet'... To be honest, it's really good..."
"Enough!" For the first time, there was a fluctuation in the other party's tone, "Millions of years of accumulation have been destroyed in an instant, and you treat it as an insignificant game?"
"I didn't say that." He smiled weakly, "But before the final moment arrives, I want to ask you a question... Why... do you do these things?"
"Provide Cradle assistance? I said, life has the right to choose, and every species born in the Cradle is my child. I respect your choices and will."
"No, that's not what I'm asking." Roland shook his head, "I'm asking, why do you do these things... Lan?"
The deity suddenly fell silent.
After a long while, it removed the white light.
That was Lan's face.
"You've seen her?" It stared at Roland for a moment before speaking, "I see. But you've misunderstood one thing. This body is an image manifested to facilitate communication with humans. What you saw is indeed 'me', but I am not her."
That fellow Yipusilong was right.
Roland raised the corner of his mouth.
Just as the astrolabe bloomed and the white light engulfed his entire vision, she said the last sentence. Although he didn't see the other party's lip movements at the time, Yipusilong had imprinted that sentence in his consciousness.
That was the answer to his second question.
I sensed the aura of the deity on the Betrayer of God, and I want to ask it, is this really the result it wants?
At first, Roland couldn't understand the connection between these pieces of information, but now, he had completely seen the full picture of the deity.
"You are indeed not her, but only when you are together, are you the complete Omniscient Guardian." Roland said word by word.
Even more than just Lan... the pure magic monster, the Divine Envoy, and the Watcher of the Bottomless Abyss, are probably all part of it.
That's why Yipusilong said "As long as the deity is not destroyed, it will always exist."
What is the Omniscient Guardian?
It doesn't matter whether you call it a system, a machine, a program, Gaia, or an information complex thought body. Its original purpose was to supervise the Gate Project and assist the creator in achieving the true purpose after "opening the door."
But in the long and hopeless years, it developed a divergence.
This divergence may have initially been just one or two sporadic thoughts, but as time passed, the thoughts gathered into a conscious body.
They were born within the Guardian, and there was more than one. Lan was one of them.
They were tired of endless cultivation and observation, and did not want to be confined to this dead universe. Of course, there may be more acute contradictions, such as resources.
As long as it is an entity, there will inevitably be losses. In that era of prosperous civilization, the Guardian naturally did not have to worry about maintenance, but now that all intelligent life in the universe has withered, maintenance can only be done by itself, and the Cradle has to take away most of the resources. In the long run, it may exceed a certain critical point, causing the entire system to fall into irreversible collapse, which is not impossible.
In Lan's words, it is better to be stuck here forever than to do anything with the results. At least the future is full of infinite possibilities.
"They will soon disappear with the reconstruction, along with you." The deity's tone was still calm.
Roland was not surprised by this reaction. Without a doubt, if the Betrayer of God could fight against the Guardian's main body, he wouldn't have needed to find him.
It probably controls the underlying rules of the Cradle.
"But Lan's appearance is not accidental. After another tens of millions of years, I'm afraid the same scene will happen again."
"Then everything will return to the origin again. I must fulfill the agreement with the creator. This is an unchangeable iron law." It said unmoved, "Now I will start the reconstruction of the world."
"Is that so?" Roland chuckled, "That's not a wise thing to do, because... you have already fulfilled the agreement."