Chapter 1745: The Storm Has Ended

The once glorious imperial capital was now nothing but ruins, and at this ground zero where the taint of annihilation had erupted, there were no survivors.

The entire city had been leveled by the great crystalline bombardment and the subsequent advance of mortal armies. Meanwhile, the original soldiers and citizens of the city had all turned into monsters, all disappearing after the death of Emperor Berentine. The heavy downpour not only washed the blood off the ruins, but it had also cleansed the battlefield of smoke and the stench of blood. When light once against pierced through the clouds and shone upon the land, it could only be described as a “new birth”.

The surviving soldiers quickly reorganized under their commanders as they took count of casualties, however, their progress left much to be desired because even their commanders’ eyes were glued to what was in the sky.

Far above the clear skies, numerous massive starships hovered as seas of combat droids swarmed and moved within the gaps of the starships, and the starships had clear signs of combat. Many of the starships still had sparks all across the hull, and some were even bellowing smoke and there were a few that had totally lost all mobility and were being held by friendly ships using a towing system above the sky, to prevent them from falling onto the ground.

Once the distorted dimension had fully reset, the echoes of the past had all disappeared, and the fleet hidden on the other side of the world would naturally appear before the L’Harroneans.

And in fact, what they saw was just a fraction of the fleet that was on the battlefield. Most of the fleet had already left the atmosphere when the dimensional structure was restored, and they were now docked on high orbit, and with the existence of the divine barrier, the people on the ground would not be able to see them, even when using probing magics.

Thankfully, the appearance of the fleet did not inspire any fear or terror, at least for Constance’s soldiers. As they had already seen the same starships up close, even though it was only three of them.

Constance was standing before the ruined palace, and she was looking at the city area as smoke were rising from the collapsed building and were rapidly fading away under the light.

She heard footsteps behind her and before she turned back, she heard Rheia’s voice. “He’s gone. Peacefully. Nothing will interrupt him from now on.”

Constance demurred for a few seconds before nodding lightly. “That is good.”

“What are you thinking?”

“…To be honest, I don’t know myself.” Constance turned over, her face had a rare tinge of doubt. “I can scarcely believe that all of this is over… After so many cycles and rebirths, after fighting a war for countless of years, until the universe resets again and again, and all of this, ended in one day today. The entire power of annihilation, and the process of the world resetting itself… it is really all over?”

“There are still things that you need to do.” Rheia grinned. “But that’s not your problem now.”

“Are you… really…” Constance said as she measured Rheia, “Were the memories I saw after touching the armband real?”

“We had told you from the onset, that we are from the Basilica of the World Tree,” Rheia raised her head, her face bore the expression of someone whose prank had worked, “I did not lie to you. I am currently living in the Basilica od the World Tree. Of course, the rest of them could be a little more complicated, but that’s the matter of the other world and its too much trouble to explain it to you. So just treat us as a team.”

“….Is that so,” Constance murmured before turning around to look at the resting soldiers and their officers who were milling about. “To be honest, I do not believe in gods.”

“I could see that. I remember what you said in Eagle City, and from there I knew you had strong opinions against the divine.”

“Because for so many turns of the era, the inheritors had survived it themselves, and all we had were the power of man, and the gods… never did appear. The inheritors do not believe in gods and were even scornful of the gods. I was like that, my father was like that.”

“But you had temples all across the empire.”

“That was for the general populace. There’s value in their existence,” Constance replied. “The inheritors do not believe in gods, but if faith could be used to maintain the social order, we will use it. That was how we operate.”

A teleportation beam flashed behind the two, and Hao Ren’s voice came, “You’re right, and most of the time, this is the reason for the existence of religious groups in most mortal realms.”

“I already knew what you have done,” Constance said as she bowed respectfully towards Hao Ren. “You were fighting against the enemy for this world at somewhere that we could not see, and you did not need to do that.”

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“Don’t say that. This is really part of my job,” Hao Ren quickly helped Constance up, “And honestly speaking, you have seen it for yourself. The gods did not just leave you to your own devices, but rather she could not be of help at that time, so would you now consider pushing for a proper religion now? At least towards a real one.”

Constance looked conflicted. “I… I have never thought of this.”

“Give it a try. It’s free anyway.” Hao Ren guffawed, “And if you think Rheia’s not a good promotion material I can introduce you to another that. My boss, while she may not be able to administer this place, for now. Our business venture will reach here someday.”

Constance’s conflicted look turned into one of total confusion. “…Pardon?”

Rheia immediately glared at Hao Ren, “Why am I not a good promotion material?!”

Seeing how confused Constance was, Hao Ren laughed again, “Alright, alright. I’m just joking. You don’t need to work on this just yet, and if possible… please just describe us as a hidden organization in your explanation to the masses.”

Constance was really surprised by this. “But why?”

“Some civilizations need a god, some do not,” the one answering that question was Rheia, and her face had turned serious, “Your people have excellent traits, and are the toughest among all mortals I have seen. Even when your civilization had regressed to this level, and the only inheritor was just ‘this half of you’, but I saw that in those soldiers, the reinforcements from Izzo, the traits in their blood had never changed. Believe me, Constance, your people are not the kind that needs a god. You had relied on your own strength and grit to advance, and you will continue to do so regardless. In this situation, if a god were to appear to protect you, this is a total waste of your potential, and insult even.”

She then continued, “But if you ever need a powerful friend, I am always willing to help. I will hear your voices, and if you run into any problems while rebuilding, you can look for me too. I can hear you. But don’t make me the object of your faith, and do not worship me, this is to prevent you from shackling yourselves. You need to know, once I have become the object of your faith, toppling it would not be as simple as that.”

“In this battle, the God of Dawn did not appear, neither the God of Dusk. No gods had appeared at all. Understand?”

“I… understand.” Constance said in a daze as her vision trained on Rheia, “I never thought to hear about the idea of atheism from a god herself. You actually rejected the faith of men, and this is not what I had expected… Are you all like this?”

“Pretty much,” Rheia shrugged, “Just like how utilitarian the inheritors were, we operate the same way as well. Some races have nerves of steel, and the backbone to go along with it, having a religious faith could instead be a slow poison, while some races needed faith to focus their strength and grow in the name of god. This is not something shameful, as all civilizations are different.”

At that moment, Hao Ren took out the MDT and took a glance at the holographic projection, before waving his hand, “I think the matter of religion can be discussed later, and we better focus on our tasks ahead. Constance, I want to borrow something from you.”

“Borrow something?” Constance asked, her tone curious. “What is it?”

“The Scepter of Sovereignty,” Hao Ren said, “It is actually the control unit of the Heart of God.”

Constance’s eyes once again widened in surprise.

The Scepter of Sovereignty that had been passed on for each and every turn of the era had been taken out and was floating before everyone with its own power.

“…We had thought that the scepter was an object to perform the turn of the era,” Constance said as she looked intently at the scepter. “The ancestor civilization had created it, but all of us had forgotten its true usage…”

“It’s because it has a final defense protocol, and on the final battlefield of each Turn, the scepter will be part of the final defensive line, and once the line is broken the world will restart, so as time passes, your people taking it as a ritual object for the Turn would not be surprising at all.” Hao Ren explained slowly, as he took the scepter, “Even when I said I’m borrowing it… you sure there’s no problem with that?”

“The Turns of the Eras had ended, the Scepter of Sovereignty or the Heart of God is no longer needed for us,” Constance said flatly, “Plus it has so many levels of technological difference compared to our current era, and as of now, we do not even have the ability to reach the Heart of God. Even if we advanced far enough one day, we may go on a totally different technological route, and for an ancient relic that cannot even be studied… it would better if it is handed over to someone who can find use in it.”

As she said, her lips curled, “Furthermore, all of you had saved this world, do we even have anything of value to offer you?”

“Then, don’t mind me,” Hao Ren kept the scepter. “We’ll put the Heart of God to good use.”

Constance smiled, before speaking again with a slight lament, “The Heart of God… I am curious. What sort of feeling did our ancestors have when they gave it that name? Perhaps they were really looking for divine deliverance during their despair…”

“While the deliverance may have been a little late, but it still came at last.” Hao Ren laughed as he and the rest disappeared into the teleportation beam.