Chapter 659 The Forty-Third Battle: The Dawn of the Demonized (6200)

Filled with dread that everyone would eventually become a Zhuzhou, Funiya piloted her mecha and quickly departed, fleeing the original Zhuzhou and heading to the front lines.

This time, she planned to block the pursuing Divine Will and any possible Calamity Realm experts. Undoubtedly, it would be a difficult battle, but compared to facing a Zhuzhou, it seemed far easier.

"Why are you running? It's as if I'm going to eat you..."

Shaking his head slightly, Su Zhou was a little dissatisfied with Funiya's attitude. "That girl isn't even willing to call me 'mentor'!"

As for Calamity Realm experts, Su Zhou didn't think they were likely to appear. After all, every Calamity Realm expert in this world was a high-level leader, and they wouldn't waste their time chasing after a group of demonized people.

On the other hand, the Solar Emperor, with his mysterious soul possession technique, and his desire to use the demonized to test Su Zhou's strength, would definitely shift his focus to this city if Su Zhou hadn't annihilated his avatar in the Radiant Light Tower.

Funiya and Cicero should be strong enough to hold off this wave of attacks.

Su Zhou could see that the demonized people in the city were enthusiastic and in high spirits. His appearance had given them a backbone and support, and they were no longer panicking. Having a pillar of support and confidence was different from before.

The city, abandoned because of the Demon Moon's light, was called the Wandering Land by the demonized. More than fifty thousand demonized people had gathered here. If it hadn't been for their momentum being too great, quickly attracting the attention of the Asmodei Empire's officials, perhaps more than one hundred thousand demonized people would have been drawn here.

With so many people, food was also a problem. Fortunately, the Wandering Land's ecological module was still functioning relatively well. Origin Energy-accelerated crops, along with Origin Energy beasts hunted along the way, could barely supply these people.

They had indeed worked hard to get here.

But now, the hardship was about to end.

At this moment, Cicero, who had already gone deep into the front lines, was loudly rallying the crowd. In just a few short months, they couldn't train tens of thousands of demonized people into an army that followed orders, but they had at least gathered a group of brave demonized people with powerful Origin Energy techniques who dared to fight the army.

This group was the prototype of a demonized army. Under the leadership of Cicero and Funiya, they had defeated several units that had tried to exterminate them, and they had defended the mobile city, giving Funiya enough time to restart it.

But because of their outstanding achievements, the formal Central Army had been dispatched to exterminate them… If they couldn't hold on, they would naturally be destroyed, but if they could, their team was destined to become famous!

"Rise up! We will begin our counterattack!"

He strode among the groups of demonized people wearing simple clothes. Cicero's voice was like thunder. The middle-aged mercenary could clearly see that the people beside him didn't even have complete clothes. Their skin, exposed to the air, was dark or purplish, full of scars and scabs. The flesh warping brought about by demonization was everywhere.

"Prepare the Origin Energy cannons!" he ordered, his pace unwavering.

The launch of Origin Energy cannons required a large amount of Origin Energy crystals for filling. Cicero knew very well that these demonized people couldn't have Origin Energy crystals rich enough to use as ammunition. Therefore, if they wanted to fire the cannons, they had to use their own power to fill them.

Fortunately, demonized people could more or less master some Origin Energy. Relying on the number of people taking turns, they could always fire normally.

The man didn't feel anything was wrong, because he would personally be responsible for filling the largest city defense cannon. Only Cicero, who had advanced to the Mind Light Realm and condensed a preliminary Mind Light Body, could fill such a behemoth.

And in the places Cicero passed, people kept getting up and following him.

They were simply dressed, with gaunt faces and warped bodies, but their expressions were firm and taciturn. Only when they got up to leave their families would they whisper a few simple words and phrases that ordinary people could hardly hear.

Cicero didn't know what these demonized compatriots were saying at first, but he knew that every demonized person who went to the battlefield with him would say this. Children would say it to their parents, fathers would say it to their wives and children, wives would say it to their children, and old people would say it to young people.

Whether friends or strangers, they were all whispering. This scene was almost like cultists communicating with each other in incomprehensible alien languages, but Cicero knew that this was not the case. Those short words were very simple, even simpler than anyone imagined.

"Revenge!"

Cicero stood at the front of the team, leading everyone forward, toward the front lines on the edge of the city. The middle-aged mercenary roared loudly: "The time has come!"

"Now! Avenge those villains and nobles who don't treat us as human beings!"

"Revenge!" "Revenge!" "Revenge!"

Everyone closely following behind him also roared in unison: "Now!"

The demonized are the fuel of the city.

The demonized are the bullied weak.

The demonized are the dregs of society.

The demonized are untouchable pariahs.

The demonized… the demonized… Yes, although the demonized were not without fault, a demonized person, once crazed, was enough to destroy a street, to break through the line of five fully armed soldiers.

Once a demonized person lost control, it would be a small natural disaster, a man-made disaster that would cause losses to others.

Even the demonized themselves accepted that they were indeed useless people who should be excluded from society, that they were indeed lowly people who should not be near crowds. They even had to admit, admit that they deserved it, that it should be so.

Becoming a demonized person was their own bad luck. Most demonized people didn't even have anger, only lamenting why they were the unlucky ones.

They were about to be tamed, to become true, self-recognized inferior, self-recognized lowly human-shaped beasts—they were indeed at fault, so this was probably karmic retribution.

—This difficult world does not love its children, and the demonized are the offerings of all things to the world.

There were even such crazy remarks, clamoring above it.

Until a city belonging to the demonized appeared.

A city without any other ordinary people, entirely composed of demonized people, where even if they went crazy, even if they warped, it was only the demonized people's own fault.

Until, ordinary people were unwilling to let the demonized even have this dilapidated, almost abandoned city, angrily wanting to exterminate them all, not allowing them to have any possibility of living with dignity.

Only then did the demonized truly become astonished, shocked, and then, angry!

Only then did they finally understand that simply giving up would ultimately leave them with nowhere to go.

At this moment, the pursuing fleet had already appeared on the horizon, just beginning to show its prowess. Cicero took the lead in pressing his hand on the energy-gathering crystal of the city defense cannon in front of him. On the cannon barrel, the filled Origin Energy crystals shone with light. This light was not dazzling, but it illuminated faces filled with determination and anger.

Without cannonballs, they would use their own Origin Energy and souls as cannonballs.

Without city walls, they would use their own flesh and bones as city walls.

Standing at the front lines, they could see that the sun had set, darkness covered the world, and under the dim moonlight, the light of dazzling battleships rose from the distance. Their engines howled and roared, rushing in like a collapsing mountain and a tsunami.

"Fire!"

But, with a concise and powerful command, the atmosphere began to tremble.

Streaks of Origin Energy arcs drew bright arcs of light in the dark sky, crossing most of the field of vision like rainbows, and projecting toward the fleet.

Thousands upon thousands of dazzling meteors burst forth and fell, carrying shock waves and explosions that made the atmosphere roar.

The formation of the distant fleet was a little scattered, but still solid. They raised Origin Energy shields, but their speed inevitably slowed down.

But this was not the end.

"Continue!"

Cicero ordered again. The first batch of demonized people who had fainted from Origin Energy overload were carried down by others, and the second batch of demonized people came to the front, silently supplying their own power to the Origin Energy cannons.

Then there was another round of howling and explosions.

And in this howling and explosion, a giant red and white mecha was speeding through the night sky. Funiya wanted to intercept the fleet while it was being slowed down by the city's artillery fire, trying not to let the city enter the range of the ship cannons.

At the top of the command tower, Su Zhou overlooked all of this.

"The demonized have never resisted before."

He murmured to himself, his tone carrying an indescribable emotion: "For thousands of years, they have always felt that becoming a demonized person is shameful, a bad thing that causes trouble for others. They are inferior, self-deprecating, and self-abasing. They are willing to be trampled on with the mud, and they dare not take a step forward even if they die. No one is more lowly and humble than them."

"But now, they have courage."

Because, they have hope.

Su Zhou silently surveyed the hearts of the people in the entire city. He could feel that there was willpower condensing, a pure radiance.

Why can't the demonized move forward?

Because they don't know where the road is, they can't imagine a better future. Just like the demonized people in this Wandering City, before entering this city, they could never have imagined that they could be treated fairly, that there could be a city where no one would discriminate against them, where they could live like human beings.

The medicine needed to cure self-abandonment is hope.

With hope, there is a wish.

With a wish, people will take action.

Of course, some people may choose to pray to the gods, expecting the gods to fulfill their wishes for them.

But others will choose to stand up and innovate.

"I don't need to be a god, Yala. I can, but there's no need."

Su Zhou murmured to himself. He stared at the sparks that were igniting throughout the city and smiled softly, "I just need to let them know that they can have, may have, and will have a better future—they deserve all of this."

"Then, they will reach out and take that future for themselves!"

"God does not save those who do not save themselves. This is true in the multiverse, and even beyond the multiverse."

And the crimson serpent spirit lay prostrate on the man's shoulder. It wagged its tail, its eyes distant: "Even if you make a wish, you should at least state the wish and location clearly when you pray, so that the gods who have time will fulfill it."

"Su Zhou, what are you going to do next?"

Su Zhou didn't speak.

He reached out his hand.

Not long ago, Urmas from the Seaside Capital provided him with a gift from Rozelia.

The Calamity Realm expert with a complicated past was very satisfied with what Su Zhou had done. Now, the eyes of the world were focused on the Radiant Light Society. The Seaside Capital had successfully moved its city body to the sea surface. Even if the Imperial Navy went all out, it would be impossible to stop the Seaside Capital from leaving.

Moreover, the Imperial Navy was originally divided into three parts and could not go all out.

And this gift was the Origin Energy engine design based on the 'Primal Dawn Holy Rock.'

Rozelia knew that Su Zhou had recently obtained a large piece of Primal Dawn Holy Rock, and this gift would definitely be useful.

Although he didn't know that the Primal Dawn Holy Rock had been used by Su Zhou to merge with the Kindling Divine Tree, turning it into a Divine Tree Seed and reviving the Divine Tree, this design was indeed of extraordinary significance to Su Zhou.

Because, this design, in essence, was one of the top-level Divine Abilities that the Kindling Divine Tree possessed when it was still alive.

"Eternal Light."

Closing his eyes, Su Zhou reconstructed the meridians of the Divine Ability in his mind, and he began to simulate the structure of the Holy Sun Crystal in his body, assimilating the Divine Tree Power in his body with the power of the Kindling Divine Tree.

What was the world of Aeon like in the beginning?

Su Zhou guessed that it must have been a world of darkness.

Because only in a world of darkness would the Divine Tree absorb the chaos and darkness, then ignite itself, transform into light, and provide the energy needed for the survival of the myriad beings it nurtured, thereby creating an entire world.

God said, let there be light. This was the beginning of creation.

And if it was the World Tree, then it would transform itself into light.

This was the original intention of kindling, burning the firewood of chaos to illuminate the world.

And on the Aeon Continent, named 'Eternity,' the Divine Tree that released light withered for some unknown reason. Its corpse was ignited and used as the sun to continue illuminating the world, and its spirit transformed into the Demon Moon. Although it brought disaster to the world, it was essentially just an accident caused by excessive blessing.

Su Zhou wanted to reproduce that light.

Without accidents, without malice, without the disasters and curses caused by excessive blessings, ordinary Holy Sunlight.

He wanted to show the light that the Kindling Divine Tree wanted to show to the world when it transformed into the Holy Sun.

He wanted to let this land, where even survival had become a great problem, and which was full of disasters and hardships, know that the original creator of all things actually loved them.

Even the demonized were included.

So, in the man's gradually crystallizing palm, a faint light was condensing temperature and power between the mutual refraction and focusing of countless crystals… then, after thousands upon thousands of overlaps and focuses, this ray of light ignited the Origin Energy.

A spark of fire lit up at the top of the Wandering City.

Then, it burned fiercely!

In the center of the distant Radiant Light Mountains, above the tower, the sapling of the Kindling Divine Tree seemed to sense something. The petite Divine Tree shook its branches slightly, causing the flames burning on its branches to sway, as if it was echoing its 'father' on the distant shore.

And at the same time.

"Heave-ho!"

Below the city, Cecilia, Cicero's daughter, was working hard to drag a demonized warrior who had fainted from Origin Energy exhaustion onto a hospital bed.

The little girl, who had joined the medical team, was now working hard, helping the wounded and caring for the injured. She did not stay in the safe rear because she was the leader's daughter.

Her father was on the front lines, doing his best for all the demonized people, including her future, so she should also do something, for herself, and for the father who was working hard for her!

Continuous explosions were faintly coming from the distance. The vastness of the blasts and rumbles could not have been produced by the city's incomplete city defense cannons. Obviously, it was Funiya's power.

She was fighting the commander of the fleet. Cecilia had already imagined the scene of the two fighting, the red mecha and the powerful professional fighting each other, the giant Mind Light Body roaring in the air, like mountains and flowing clouds interlaced, stirring up the sky with thunder.

Although Funiya was a bit crazy, she was indeed a good person. She did even more than her father.

Cecilia knew that, in order to live up to their efforts, all the demonized people were doing their best like her, in order to be able to live a stable life in the future.

"But, why?"

Hastily receiving another fainted demonized person, a bearded uncle, Cecilia dragged the stretcher with some difficulty to the safety zone deep in the city for care.

In the process, the girl couldn't help but think: "Until now, I still don't understand why those bad people wanted to kill us when we didn't do anything."

"We just picked up an abandoned city and raised ourselves by farming and hunting. We didn't interfere with anyone, did we?"

"We just want to live. Why do some people want to stop us?"

This confusion lingered in the girl's heart. She wiped a handful of sweat and did not think deeply.

Because there was no answer to this question, even if asked, it would only be 'it has always been so.'

The world of Aeon has always been so.

So it was as if it were the truth.

A dark cloud shrouded the heads of the demonized, blocking the light and bringing endless night. Even the humble wish to live was not allowed by the darkness. It wanted to devour all the demonized and turn them into its own nourishment.

Perhaps, this was only because the dark cloud itself wanted to live, so it regarded the demonized as the price and nourishment.

But even if 'it has always been so,' it does not mean it is correct.

Just as Cecilia called out 'heave-ho,' mustered her strength, and was about to push the fainted middle-aged demonized person from the stretcher onto the hospital bed.

Suddenly, a light pierced through the rocks and walls, through the steel and pipes, from above, and went straight to the safety zone deep in the city.

It was a colorless, soft light with a hint of warmth.

Where the light passed, it seemed that nothing had changed, but suddenly, a demonized person who had been in a state of Origin Energy disorder and unconsciousness suddenly groaned. These demonized people, who should have been sleeping for several hours and waking up with a splitting headache and aching all over, woke up from their comas in a daze, and then looked at their hands in surprise.

They were no longer in pain. The light brought flowing Origin Energy, permeating their muscles, taking away all stagnation and corruption, the Origin Energy that caused the demonization disease, and also taking away their accumulated fatigue.

"Ah?"

And Cecilia was even more stunned as she stared at her arm. The little girl's right forearm should have been covered with deformed scales and skin folds, which was proof that her ancestors had some kind of dragon bloodline inheritance, but the demonization disease showed the glory in the bloodline in a deformed way.

But now, these deformed parts of the body were gradually receding, like a reversal of time. The Origin Energy carried in the light flickered, smoothing out the pain, reversing the mutations, and resurrecting the dying, as if all the injuries had never happened.

Warm light filled the entire city.

"This, what is this light?!"

On the front lines, Cicero, who was persevering to not fall down, suddenly felt a surge of energy. The extreme emptiness brought about by the exhaustion of all Origin Energy had originally made him hungry and painful, but now, the light restored his strength, making the commander's spirits rise, so that he would not fall to the ground on the spot.

He raised his head in surprise, but before Cicero could turn his head to look in the direction of Su Zhou, the middle-aged mercenary saw a magnificent golden-red mushroom cloud rising slowly from the distance, the light was incomparably dazzling, and the sound, after quite a while, came rolling in with the shock wave.

Funiya had won—with the artillery support of the Wandering City, the pursuing fleet could not catch up with the city, nor could it help the fleet leader defeat the pioneer explorer. They had failed, so they slowed down and glared hatefully at the departure of the demonized people.

In the deep darkness, the entire city was silent.

Everyone raised their heads and looked at the top of the tower that was lit up.

The white-haired man raised his right hand, and brilliant starlight shone in his palm, burning fiercely, like a newly born holy torch.

In the almost lightless dark night, Su Zhou lit a star.

Illuminating the dawn of the demonized.

Then, there was a mountain of cheers, reaching the stars and clouds.

—Holy Sun Calendar, 8284, February 12th.

Year of the Disaster Moon, Winter.

The Radiant Light Society was established in the Mist Mountains. Professor Svetlye pierced through the mountains, allowing coastal air currents to interact with the continent, forming a barrier of raging winds surrounding the old Mist Mountains, now the Radiant Light Mountains.

In the same month of the same year, the demonized city, the Wandering City, set out from the noble territory in the southern part of the Asmodei Empire and headed toward the Radiant Light Mountains. The Fifteenth Army Group was ordered to attack and was defeated on the eastern side of the Norsen Plains.

In March of the same year, the Radiant Light Society accepted the Wandering City to stop on the outskirts of the Radiant Light Mountains. Professor Svetlye took action to transform the city, igniting the Kindling Holy Fire for the Wandering City, proving it to be a sheltered land.

In September of the same year, the Radiant Light Society continued to grow, with more than 100,000 demonized people of all kinds flocking to the Radiant Light Mountains from all directions, and establishing villages and cities in turn under the guidance of the Radiant Light Society. The demonized residential circle surrounding the Radiant Light Mountains had taken shape.

The Radiant Light Society officially became a large force spanning the southeast and dominating the eastern region.

On September 16th of the same year, the Great Chieftain of the Northern Barbarians personally arrived at the Radiant Light Mountains to seek an audience with Professor Svetlye.

Allies were astonished.