Chapter 2226: "Jenkins's" Pistol |
The Difference Engine's words cut to the heart of the matter. While humanity had dominated both the past and present worlds, the introduction of supernatural elements made it uncertain, even to Jenkins, whether society could ever replicate its previous trajectory.
As for its claim that he couldn't return... Jenkins had long since stopped thinking about going back. He had no desire to simply transplant his old world here as a monument to his nostalgia.
"And so what if I can't? At least I've actually seen it. All your grand designs are just that—designs."
Jenkins's voice was calm, but the world behind him was shattering even more violently. The sickly yellow light, a symbol of the apocalypse, had eroded the dreamscape until only the world cast in his shadow remained intact. All else was on the verge of vanishing.
It was as if he had returned to the eighth-level Mysterious Realm, only this time, he was facing the core of the Difference Engine itself.
"After I eliminate you, I will have millennia to construct the world I desire, using the entire material plane as my blueprint. At that point, the model's parameters can be adjusted based on real-world conditions. We build models to guide the future, not to define it. Therefore, the gap in our understanding is not as vast as you think."
Behind Jenkins, a colossal iron tree faintly materialized, but it was ultimately unable to withstand the power of a fully realized Calamity Beast.
"I haven't lost the argument," Jenkins declared, "but I'll concede the first round to you."
With those words, Jenkins swept his hand through the air, and the shared dreamscape shattered. As the dream's initiator, even if he was outmatched within its confines, he still held the power to bring it to an end.
His fingertips had already turned to metal, and the transformation was rapidly spreading up his arm, creeping toward his heart.
A thunderous grinding of gears roared from within the sphere. Jenkins tried to pull his hand back, but it was fused to the orb's surface.
He gestured with his free left hand, and the backpack Chocolate had left on a nearby rooftop soared toward him. The pistol he had forged in the foundry fell from the bag and into his waiting palm. Bullets cast from special alloys automatically loaded themselves into the chamber.
His expression was ice-cold as he leveled the barrel at the sphere—
Boom!
He pulled the trigger, but there was no ordinary gunshot. Instead, the very fabric of space shattered as the bullet flew out. The rupture affected both Jenkins's hand and the sphere, forcing them apart as they recoiled from the splintering fragments of reality.
It was as if the world were a painting, and Jenkins's shot had ripped a hole right through the canvas. The eerie spectacle lasted several seconds before reality stitched itself back together, leaving a noticeable dent on the metal sphere's surface.
The sphere tried to retreat, but Jenkins unhurriedly raised his pistol and fired again. Papa Oliver and the others, who were closest, saw fractured black lines spiderweb across Jenkins's own hand at the moment of discharge. Once more, the shot ripped a fissure in space along its path.
The metal sphere dodged the bullet, but it was caught in the shockwave of shattering space and forced to ascend high into the sky. It did not, however, retreat entirely.
Jenkins aimed his pistol skyward again, offering an explanation:
"I once entered a Mysterious Realm teeming with possible futures, where I met an alternate version of myself. That 'me' attempted to shoulder the burden of all sin to defeat the Calamity Beast. He learned the principles of machinery from a splintered core of the Difference Engine, and then, using the metal left behind after that core 'died,' he combined it with his own knowledge of gears and mechanics to forge a gun."
In two of the three possible futures, that version of Jenkins possessed the gun. It was both a numbered artifact and a unique manifestation of his abilities. This meant that if the current Jenkins hadn't interfered with fate, that other Jenkins would have inevitably wielded the pistol as his ultimate weapon.
Jenkins had touched the space-shattering pistol in the Mysterious Realm, so he understood its entire construction. He wasn't that Jenkins, so he couldn't fully replicate the terrifying weapon's power. However, with the help of the foundry's keeper, the gun he now held was formidable in its own right.
The pistol in that possible future required no physical bullets, as it was an extension of that 'Jenkins' himself. The gun this Jenkins had forged, however, was fundamentally a material object and needed physical ammunition.
In the foundry, he had used his leftover materials, combined with a demon's cocoon, to craft a few more bullets. He also had a single special round from the Blood-Cure Town. This was the extent of his remaining firepower.
Jenkins didn't care to compare the pistol's power to his former White Bone Holy Sword, but in terms of sheer destructive force, the firearm was by no means inferior. The weapon's design was the culmination of that other Jenkins's power and wisdom, much like the great bronze book was for him.
In that Realm of possibilities, the other Jenkins had held back, not daring to unleash the weapon's full power within the city, which was the only reason this Jenkins had managed to stop him. But now, he had no such reservations. His arm felt like an extension of the gun, the flow of his spirit seamlessly blending flesh and steel—
Space fractured along the bullet's trajectory, like a crack spreading across the surface of a mirror. This time, the metal sphere didn't dodge. A translucent, gear-shaped black shield bloomed in front of it.
When the bullet hit the shield, everyone witnessed a psychedelic explosion of colored blocks, like a swarm of butterflies made of light bursting in mid-air. It was silent, dazzlingly brilliant, and carried an inexplicable, profound terror.
The bullet and the barrier seemed to annihilate one another. From behind the dissipating shield, the sphere finally launched its own attack.
Jenkins couldn't recall many times he'd seen a Calamity Beast unleash its full power; they were either completely dominating their foes or being utterly suppressed. Now, as the ascended Difference Engine attacked, it was no longer with simple metal tentacles or clouds of toxic smog.
The group on the ground watched as the sky itself began to descend, the star-filled expanse drawing ever closer.
"The space... it's shifting!"
One of the demigods cried out, but it was all he could say. As the night sky descended, the black voids between the stars drew terrifyingly close. The sinful power of the Calamity Beast was so immense that its mere proximity was enough to corrode their very souls.
Seeing this, Jenkins ignored the metal sphere and instead fired three quick shots into the sky. Three bullets streaked toward the cosmos. It was only several seconds later that the sound of space cracking reached the ears of those on the ground.
Three massive holes were torn in the canvas of the heavens, and the sky's descent abruptly stopped.
"How many bullets do you have left?" Jenkins heard Papa Oliver ask from behind.
"Three forged rounds, and the one special one. This isn't going to work..."
He abruptly swung his right hand through the air, and a spiraling, fiery-red greatsword materialized in his grasp. He met the metal sphere head-on, striking it just as it lunged for his face.
With his left hand, he aimed the pistol at the sphere as it reeled from the sword's impact. Another crack echoed through the void. The bullet found the dent left by the first shot, boring its way deep into the sphere's core. A moment later, the orb exploded before their eyes.
Billowing black smoke surged toward them, but the demigods behind Jenkins quickly summoned a powerful wind to blow it away.
"Is it over?" Gilbert asked incredulously.
"Of course not. That sphere was just an avatar. The true core is still hiding among the stars."
The sphere's destruction triggered a further shift in the Mysterious Realm. The spatial fractures finally tore all of Nolan apart. A great collapse started at the Realm's edge and spread inward, consuming the entire world. Everything tumbled into the void. After enduring an impossible strain for so long, this pocket dimension at last returned to peace.
They all noticed the world disappearing around them, but there was nothing they could do. They could only watch as their surroundings dissolved into nothing, the void swallowing matter, space, and time itself. In the end, only the circular patch of ground beneath their feet, shielded by the demigods' power, remained.
The world fell silent. In the vast emptiness, only the stars overhead continued to glitter. The cosmos resumed its descent, closing in until it seemed they could almost touch it. They stood on their circular platform, adrift in a sea of stars.
In the black silence, the behemoth lurking among the stars grew clearer. Still, no one showed a hint of fear or dread. They were prepared for this. This would be the most glorious battle of their lives.
Jenkins bent down and pulled a mirror from the backpack at his feet. It was a dying gift from the old demigod of the Artisans' Guild, a mirror that could directly reveal the Difference Engine's true core.
He hung the mirror around his neck and aimed it at the starfield. It immediately projected a beam of light, pointing into the darkness between the distant stars. Jenkins raised his pistol and fired, but this time, nothing happened.
"Two bullets left," he thought. He dismissed the sword, transferred the pistol to his right hand, and kept his left arm securely around the squirming Chocolate.
Chocolate had been struggling to leap from his arms for some time, but Jenkins held him back. The cat couldn't understand his master's intentions and even began to imagine that Jenkins disliked him and was refusing his help.
But Chocolate was a supremely confident cat, and he quickly arrived at a different conclusion. Jenkins must be worried that a strike from such a "great" feline would frighten the machine into fleeing. He was simply waiting for a critical part of the core to appear before unleashing him.
"Meow~"
Yes, that had to be it. Satisfied, Chocolate snuggled back into Jenkins's embrace, silently awaiting his moment to strike.
"You said you wanted a final battle," Jenkins called out. "So why are you hiding?"
Jenkins shouted into the starfield, his gaze fixed on the beam of light emanating from the mirror on his chest. He didn't know how durable the core truly was, but he was certain the Difference Engine couldn't afford to completely ignore the threat his pistol posed.
With only two bullets left, Jenkins knew he wouldn't get many more chances.