Ashes Of Deep Sea Chapter 652

Chapter 652: Chapter 649: The Postponed Doomsday Chapter 652: Chapter 649: The Postponed Doomsday In the embers that gradually cooled after the Annihilation of All Things, the carcasses of ancient gods ruled the ashes of the world, and from those carcasses, certain things “grew,” constructing the counterfeit products and illusions of bygone times among the ashes–after stripping away all mythical auras, and after rearranging the intelligence currently in hand, the “Deep Sea Era” before Duncan's eyes revealed its truest and most bone-chilling side.

Of course, he could describe this era with gentler sentences or explain the current state of the gods in ways that people might find more acceptable, but that wouldn't change the essence of the matter.

He stood up, scratching the neck of the goat-headed figure–the once “creator” lifted his head, observing Duncan's expression. “You look weighed down by heavy thoughts.”

Duncan sat back down, and after a moment of silence, suddenly murmured to himself, “…the whole world is just a pile of embers slowly dying out…”
“I have heard Lucrecia mention these words before,” the goat-headed figure immediately said.

Duncan nodded but said nothing more. Instead, he reached into his bosom, fumbled for a moment, and drew out two things.

One of them was a “sphere” emitting brilliant light, a miniatured Ancient Star with its surface alight with flames, its gentle flame continuously erupting, recirculating, and surging as if maintaining the “operation” of a star.

This was a “gift” Fenna had received from Tarrikin, the sun of the Senkin People.

The other was a delicate, pale golden crystal about the size of a fist, irregular and asymmetric with dozens of planes, each presenting a smooth and perfect texture. Within the crystal seemed to hide extremely intricate and fine structures, like filaments spreading from the center of the crystal outwards, forming a three-dimensional grid enveloped within the crystal.

The goat-headed figure's attention was first captured by the “miniature sun,” but then it fell upon the peculiar pale golden crystal and he puzzled over it for a moment. “What is this?”

“If we categorize it according to the 'civilized world's' methods, it should be some kind of 'profane prototype,'” Duncan said offhandedly. “This came from inside one of those Scions of the Sun when it fell from the sky–before the flames consumed it, Ai Yi 'picked' it back up.”

The goat-headed figure paused, then finally remembered the scene–
The Scion of the Sun attempted to flee from The Dream of the Nameless in its final moment but was intercepted in the sky. At that time, I, in my mythical form, dealt the freak its final hit. It burst asunder and fell from the clouds, and from the center of its fragments, it seemed a shining object was flung out. But the situation was chaotic then, and after that object flashed briefly in the sky, it was “swept away” by a tuft of dark green flames. No one paid it any attention… So it turned out to be this thing?

A flapping of wings joined the conversation from beside them, as Ai Yi fluttered his wings and flew onto the navigation table. He cocked his head, looking at the peculiar crystal that he had picked up, and after observing it attentively for quite a while, extended his neck and pecked at the surface of the crystal. “The crystal is full of hatred! The crystal is full of hatred!”

Duncan ignored the foolish bird's clamor beside him and gazed at the crystal in front of him, lost in thought, his mind replaying memories of those lofty and thin men in black carrying peculiar large umbrellas–they were called the “remnants of the sun.” He remembered that inside those peculiar umbrellas, besides the exquisitely crafted mechanical and circuit structures far surpassing the era, there were also precisely cut crystal structures.

This “profane prototype” based on crystal seemed to be the unique “technological creation” controlled by the Black Sun and their descendants and remnants.

Long ago, after first seeing those peculiar umbrellas held by the men in black, Duncan had realized something–that these followers of the sun possessing a technological creation meant they were not a primitive and chaotic tribe. The advanced manufacturing skills embodied in these profane prototypes indicated rather an extremely advanced civilization.

Or rather, the “afterglow” of an extremely advanced civilization left behind.

And now, having witnessed the true nature of the Great Annihilation, Duncan had a new understanding of the matter.

The collision and annihilation of worlds had brought about the Deep Sea Era, and the worlds involved in the collision were not limited to the homelands of the Elves and the Senkin People. The warrior who threw the Longsword, along with his own homeland, were clearly destroyed in the Great Annihilation. By this reasoning, every tribe in the current world, every style of relic, and every unexplainable and contradictory historical record likely represented a civilization that had been destroyed.

Some of these civilizations might have come from different planets within the same universe, but those greatly deviating and capable of contaminating other “legacies” were obviously from universes with different laws.

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

Duncan slowly furrowed his brow, gently caressing the surface of the crystal, and murmured thoughtfully to himself, “So they are also The Displaced…”

“Who?” The goat-headed figure didn't catch on at once, but soon grasped the captain's meaning, “You mean the Black Sun and their freakish offspring?”

“All things from the Deep Sea Era originate from the worlds destroyed in the Great Annihilation; even the ancient gods are but the powerfully individual remains barely alive after the Day of Destruction. The Black Sun couldn't possibly have come from nothing–this crystal likely represents the former civilization of the 'Scions of the Sun'.”

“…But now this 'civilization' stands in opposition to us; their very existence is a destruction to the entire reality,” the goat-headed figure pondered for a moment, then slowly said, “The Black Sun wishes to extinguish itself, while Its offspring are fixated on destroying the reality dimension, allowing the Black Sun to 'be reborn' from the ruins of this world–they might have been a glorious civilization once, but now they're completely insane from top to bottom; clearly, coexistence with this world is no longer possible.”

“Exactly, unable to coexist. There are still many things in this world that cannot coexist with civilized worlds: dangerous ancient gods, the shadows in the Spirit Realm, and those things in Subspace… But have you ever considered something deeper–why can't these things coexist with the earthly world?”

The goat-headed figure was momentarily stumped, seemingly falling into contemplation.

“Everything is 'ash' left from the Great Annihilation. The corpses of gods have sparked the current Deep Sea Era from the ashes. Theoretically, today's Deep Sea Era is already a product of the merger, transformation, and compromise of the various worlds from the Great Annihilation. In other words, since the Great Annihilation is over, since the Third Long Night has successfully reshaped the world, then the things that exist in the world now are the results of a 'rebalancing.' There should no longer be the same kind of mutual contamination and Corrosion as when worlds collide…

“But the truth is, ancient gods like the Black Sun still exist, and there are still many 'pollutants' that would bring disaster simply by appearing in the real world. This pollution is no different from the Corrosion that appeared around Silantis during the Great Annihilation; it feels as though…”

Duncan paused here, seemingly at a loss for the right description, but the goat-headed figure beside him suddenly spoke up: “As though the Great Annihilation never really ended?”

“Yes, as though the Great Annihilation has never ended,” Duncan slowly nodded, his expression particularly grave, “It was only postponed, temporarily isolated somewhere, and with the passing of time, it's been slowly released into the world. Corrosion still exists, the conflict and pollution between different worlds are still ongoing, the Third Long Night forcibly 'squeezed' the remnants together, but beneath this forcefully 'squeezed' order, the fundamental opposition and destruction of everything continue unabated…”

The goat-headed figure gradually caught on: “This corresponds with what the Doomsday Preacher mentioned about 'twilight'…”

“Self-pollution and self-destruction are the predetermined directions of the Deep Sea Era. The Day of Destruction was destined from the beginning of history, infested by the apocalypse, and will ultimately chase down from the river of time–this has always been the 'preaching' of those Doomsday Preachers,” Duncan slowly nodded, “For a long time, this apocalyptic philosophy has been repudiated by mainstream society, but after understanding the truth behind the Great Annihilation and combining it with the various 'traits' of today's Deep Sea Era, I can't help but start to seriously consider those madmen's apocalyptic theories.”

Having said this, he paused, continuing in thought, “Perhaps this isn't really an apocalyptic theory but rather a kind of objective description of the Third Long Night… The Third Long Night was an incomplete, unsuccessful act of creation; it didn't fundamentally resolve the 'conflict' caused by the collision of multiple worlds, but rather provided a buffer zone, intended to let the world find its own way within a span of ten thousand years… Hence, the need for a Fourth Long Night.”

“…Do you think this 'way out' has appeared?”

“No,” Duncan shook his head, “Those Doomsday Preachers seem to know something, but they only know what the 'hidden dangers' left by the Third Long Night are, aware that the world's underlying conflicts and collapses are slowly advancing. If they truly knew how to solve the problem, they wouldn't consider Annihilation of All Things cultists and Scions of the Sun as cannon fodder, nor would they send them into The Dream of the Nameless in search of answers.

“The information they provide to the followers of Annihilation and the Sun is ambiguous and vague, sounding not like a clear guide but more like a test. This suggests that those Doomsday Preachers themselves don't know which direction is the correct one.”

The goat-headed figure fell silent for a while, then suddenly asked, “What do you plan to do with this crystal? If it truly is some kind of profane prototype… then the longer it stays in the real world, the greater the danger becomes. Even if it's kept on Homeloss, it might not be safe after a long time.”

Duncan thought for a moment, then slowly raised his hand.

Threads of flame rose from his fingertips, seeping into the crystal.

“I am very interested in their secrets.”

Chapter end

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