Chapter 1103: The Shattered Mirror of Delusion |
"When any organization grows large enough, its members inevitably fall into power struggles — because the wills they champion diverge.
At the time, the Mirror People — their desires surging — split cleanly into two ideological factions.
One faction leaned traditional. They believed devotion alone was the key that could open the gates of the divine. They chose to continue spreading faith and praying day and night according to the Mirror People's existing path, pursuing the purest road of memory to the bitter end.
The other faction believed their faith's scale simply wasn't large enough to attract the Benefactor's gaze.
But reality was cruel. [Memory] had never appeared. The faithful dwindled by the day. Under these circumstances, the Mirror People couldn't possibly expand their faith's scale — let alone summon divine mercy through greater devotion.
So the radical faction devised a plan. They decided to...
...fabricate a God Descent!"
"?"
'Faking a God Descent — now that's something...'
Their intentions were still born of devotion. But using [Memory]'s devotion to pull off a [Deceit]-worthy feat... Sure enough, devotion taken to its extreme became blasphemy!
Cheng Shi wondered what the Fun God would think of it. He hadn't descended during that era, but when the scene replayed in the Void Era, He'd surely be delighted.
After that idle digression, Cheng Shi continued listening to Aph Ros:
"Only if a god truly manifested and responded to the world would more followers come to worship. And once the faithful grew in number again, the god might genuinely answer the call.
These radical Mirror People, drowning in extreme devotion, could seemingly already see the moment a new god descended upon the world.
They kept trying to recruit others, but this near-blasphemous behavior terrified the traditional Mirror People, who firmly resisted and refused.
Countless veteran Mirror People personally stepped in to reason with them — trying to prevent the radicals' sacrilege from ruining the conservatives' devotion. And the radicals did indeed appear to back down. All went quiet.
But it was all a façade. They knew tradition's shackles had already made the conservatives rigid. So instead of proselytizing, they secretly began scheming in the shadows.
They spent a full year preparing. When the second year's grandest collective prayer day arrived, they launched their God Descent operation!
But by coincidence — or perhaps the accumulated years of devotion had finally moved the divine, or perhaps He'd finally deemed this memory worth recording — on that very same day, as all the Mirror People chanted in unison, as the radical faction's mirror guardians splashed the Revealing Potion onto the glass... [Memory] truly cast down His gaze.
The God Descent appeared.
A ray of holy light poured over the altar, affirming that massive mirror forged from countless prayers, and bestowed upon it true meaning in faith.
Memory Delusion was born.
But the conservatives who witnessed it didn't believe it was a genuine God Descent. They assumed the radicals had revived their scheme within the organization and orchestrated everything — albeit with breathtaking results.
The radicals thought likewise. Most participants believed this was the fruit of a year's planning — they just hadn't expected the effect to far exceed their wildest expectations.
Only the radical leader knew it was all real. The god had truly descended. He prostrated himself, crying out [Memory]'s name, urging everyone to greet the true god together. But the conservatives couldn't let this farce continue. They had to ensure this scandal was strangled within the Mirror People's 'home' before word spread.
And so, a battle between convictions began — with both sides fighting over the enormous mirror.
Neither side knew the mirror had already been imbued with new meaning. The conservatives wanted to erase the stain on their faith, to prove their purity and atone. The radicals, rallied by their leader, were electrified — wanting to seize this god-blessed mirror and become the legitimate conduit to the divine.
Both sides' obsessions blazed. They grappled and tangled, and in the chaos — shattered the mirror.
Conservatives and radicals each claimed a fragment. And so, Memory Delusion broke in two on the very first day of its existence.
The names of those two shards were, naturally, the most fitting commentary He could give this memory."
Cheng Shi was stunned.
The Dreamless Mirror and That Dream My Nightmare!
The former represented the conservatives' devotion — their flawless dedication to memory granted the Dreamless Mirror its power to perfectly reproduce memories without omission.
The latter represented the radicals' ambition. "That Dream, My Nightmare" — the [Memory] followers corrupted by desire truly had a devout dream. But everything they did was, in [Memory]'s eyes, a genuine nightmare. Even though [Deceit] hadn't yet been formally named by Origin in that era, the opposition between faiths had already left ample traces throughout history.
So this was the truth behind the Mirror of Delusion's shattering. No wonder the Nightmare Shadows inside That Dream My Nightmare reeked of [Corruption] — it truly had been tainted by [Corruption]'s influence.
At this point, Cheng Shi finally understood why Aph Ros had practically "destroyed" the Mirror People yet never faced consequences from [Memory].
Because when He split Memory Delusion in two and bestowed each half, He'd already turned the page on this memory — filing it away in His Collection Hall. To Him, even faith being blasphemed was still a memory.
Moreover, Aph Ros's involvement bore no "malice." The desire He'd stoked had merely intensified the forms of devotion slightly.
But if [Memory] had already closed the book on this, why had [Time] imprisoned Aph Ros?
Cheng Shi looked at Him in confusion. Aph Ros read his puzzlement, and His expression grew complicated, tinged with bitterness:
"After the incident, I assumed the era's masters didn't oppose my identity or my actions. So a few hundred years later, when I came across a group of traveling bards who'd gathered out of shared devotion..."
"..."
'Dude — you went at it again?!'
Cheng Shi's scalp went numb.
Someone dancing on the edge of death without dying wasn't proof of being destined to survive — it just meant they'd gotten lucky.
Getting lucky once was one thing. But what made you think you'd get a second chance?
'Did you think you were like me — a sacrifice blessed by [Fate]?!'
Besides, [Time] wasn't [Memory]. [Memory] would pick up pieces of the past that interested Him. But the moment [Time] saw the evolution of His Existence warped by desire...
'Well — you've seen the result yourself.'
Cheng Shi's mouth twitched. With a half-smile he asked: "You helped again?"
Aph Ros laughed bitterly and shook His head:
"I didn't even get the chance. He locked me in this eternal prison before I could.
He said:
'You pollute the world with desire, taint devotion with pleasure. The paradise you seek does not reside within Existence. And where your Gate of Joyous Lust leads is most certainly not a reality the world would welcome.
Since you find [Memory] and [Time] so fascinating — then stay here, and experience memory and time for eternity.'"
Aph Ros grew increasingly agitated. By the end, He'd cast off every trace of bitterness, His face burning with fury:
"Even if I intended to help — I hadn't yet influenced His followers! On what grounds did He imprison me on fabricated charges?!
I! Will not! Accept this!"
"..."
Cheng Shi understood Aph Ros's point. But dude — the one you "provoked" was [Time]!
It bore repeating: future and past were nothing more than [Time]'s labels on Existence. He may well have already seen those bards' future — or perhaps the evil fruit of Aph Ros's meddling had already manifested in one of His simulations.
So the imprisonment looked "fabricated" — but could just as well be seen as prevention.
But Cheng Shi couldn't say any of this. Saying it would be tantamount to defending [Time].
Even if he was a [Time] follower, even if the answers he sought were with [Time] — here, on Dolgod's soil, he could only be Aph Ros's ally. Every strategy for approaching [Time] had to serve one purpose: joining forces with Aph Ros against this world-destroying demon king.
...