Chapter 2234: A Dignified Exit |
Nine stone slates spun around Jenkins in the sea of stars. He reached out and tapped each one in sequence. A visible spiritual light, following the touch of Jenkins's glowing golden fingers, sparkled on the surface of the slates. Purple, gold, green, yellow, red, black, white, blue, and rainbow—the nine-colored lights were not intense, but they were exceptionally eye-catching.
The moment he touched them, he understood the full purpose of the Doomsday Document, as if experiencing the "omniscience" of his deified state.
When all nine slates were gathered, if obtained by the Savior's side, they would enhance the power of the holder's Savior abilities. If obtained by the Calamity, they would accelerate the Calamity's influence on the world.
At the same time, because the nine slates possessed the dual nature of a Savior's Prophecy and a World-Ending Declaration, any single slate could temporarily seal a Beast of Calamity before the apocalypse. After the apocalypse arrived, any single slate could become an avatar of a Beast of Calamity.
Never before had a Savior or a Calamity obtained all the Doomsday Documents. However, there had been instances in the past where a Savior used a single Doomsday Document to temporarily seal a Beast of Calamity.
So Jenkins guided the nine slates with his finger, sending them flying slowly toward the black metal sphere imprisoned by the golden pages. The sphere was far larger than any normal human, but the slates continuously grew in size as they flew through the sea of stars.
When the nine-colored lights all shone upon the surface of the metal sphere, each slate was large enough to cover it completely.
The slates of [Twin Demons], [Real Illusion], [Undying Man], [The Stranger], [Hero], and [Uncrowned King] formed a cube, encasing the sphere.
The slates of [World Tree Seedling], [Destiny's Stage], and [The Unknown Path] surrounded the cube, forming interlocking equilateral triangles that enclosed it.
"It's useless, Savior! I am no ordinary Beast of Calamity. I possess power rivaling the first three Calamities! I have long known of the Doomsday Documents; they cannot seal me. Even if you defeat me, I will return in decades, or in millennia. You cannot seal me forever, just as no civilization of the past could ever truly seal me."
"This is bad. If we don't seal it completely, it will cause trouble again sooner or later."
Alexia remarked from beside Jenkins.
"Then what do we do?"
Papa Oliver, standing behind him, realized the problem as well.
Jenkins turned to look at the people around him. Bathed in his power, they all understood that if the Difference Engine was not sealed completely now, they would have to face its rampage again in the future.
A train whistle blew as it came to a stop on an ethereal energy track encircling the round platform. The door of the lead car opened, and Jenkins smiled as he watched Magic Miss and Silver Flute Miss step out, followed by Mr. Hood, who was being supported by Mr. Black Cat and Mr. White Cat.
Everyone was smiling back at him.
"You'd better give me a title for this."
Magic Miss didn't forget to remind him.
"Of course."
"Then this is for you."
Magic Miss walked up to Jenkins and tossed him a small pouch. Inside were fragments of a stone tablet. After a moment's thought, Jenkins took out the fragment of the Creation Slate that the Star Spirit had given him. The two pieces immediately resonated with each other.
"You mentioned a fragment of this slate, so I went looking for it. I never expected to actually find it. No one else could comprehend its power; they all thought it was just an ordinary stone, but I saw something different in it..."
Magic Miss smiled smugly.
"I used the mysteries of time and space I saw within this stone to gather my friends and the power of the Orthodox Church to build this train that traverses the Mysterious Realms. By using the resonance between the Heart of the Ocean and the Heart of the Machine, we were guided to the location of this Mysterious Realm. Oh, and that group was always trying to use the Heart of the Machine to find the Heart of the Ocean. I never thought I'd be the one to turn that against them in the end."
Jenkins had once asked Magic Miss to use the Heart of the Ocean to reverse-track the Heart of the Machine and pinpoint the Difference Engine's location. He hadn't expected her to actually succeed.
"Now the slate is returned to its rightful owner. Since I was able to comprehend something from it, you certainly can too. Savior, hurry and find a way to seal the Calamity. This battle needs to end."
Jenkins held both slate fragments in his hand. Everyone watched him with curiosity, even his cat, wondering what discovery he would make.
He blinked, and only Hathaway and Alexia, who were standing nearby, caught the complex expression that flickered across his face for a split second.
"So that's how it's done."
Jenkins said with a smile, but Hathaway watched him in surprise. She could tell his smile was a facade.
With those words, Jenkins pushed off the ground, soaring high into the sea of stars until he was before the pattern of slates—the cube nested within the triangle.
The cube and triangle used all nine slates. On each face, the Savior's emblem faced outward, while the inscribed text faced inward. This was an upgraded version of the method he had used before to construct the metal block that sealed the godhead. He had seen the information for it on the first floor of the Secret Trace Library in the Sage Church—a document the gods had clearly intended for him to find.
Black light shot out from the seams between the slates. The Difference Engine had not given up the struggle.
"I did not lose to you! I lost to fate!"
A phantom appeared behind the seal—the full manifestation of an enormous, indescribable metal body. It was the complete form the Difference Engine had spent tens of thousands of years constructing, buried deep beneath the soil of the material world.
Now, that body had been summoned forth, with the slate seal embedded in its very center. The form blotted out the starlight. Black spiritual energy gathered within the slates, and then, drawing on the Difference Engine's entire body, all of its spirit, and its most potent calamitous essence, a beam of light shot toward Jenkins in the sea of stars.
Jenkins just floated there, not even attempting to dodge. This time, he didn't hold his cat down. Instead, he patted its little head, and the cat happily spat out the bright yellow orb.
As Chocolate watched with excitement, the primordial moon manifested in the sea of stars, and the small, bright yellow orb blocked the column of black light.
"What? The Devouring Moon Spirit..."
From all over the colossal body that obscured the stars, thousands of fine black beams converged and shot toward Jenkins. This time, he didn't even need Chocolate. Jenkins raised a hand and fired a streak of golden light. The black and gold energies collided in the sea of stars, scattering into motes of dual-colored light that promptly vanished.
"Our story is coming to an end, Difference Engine. It's time for your curtain call. Don't make such an undignified exit."
Nine Savior's emblems appeared beneath Jenkins's feet before entering the slates one by one. The slates shimmered with light, pulling at the Difference Engine's massive body and absorbing it into the seal as well.
Then, the great seal—the cube nested within the triangle, formed by the nine slates—floated before Jenkins.
Jenkins glanced back at everyone behind him. For some reason, Hathaway felt a sudden tension, as if Jenkins were saying goodbye.
"It's all right."
Alexia took Hathaway's hand.
"But..."
"He made a promise, so we have to trust him."
Jenkins turned back, and with a gentle wave of his hand, three keys were summoned forth—
[The Key of the Gate], [The Silver Spoon], [The Key of Evolution]
Of the three keys, [The Key of the Gate] came from a clue provided by Magic Miss, [The Silver Spoon] was obtained from a Mysterious Realm, and the final one, [The Key of Evolution], was a Cursed Item that Papa Oliver had contained. Each key possessed a different power; the first two were more inclined toward "space," while the latter leaned toward the concept of "evolution."
His gaze fell upon the floating keys. Jenkins first grasped [The Key of the Gate]. Waiting for the great seal of the cube and triangle to drift before him, he aimed the black iron key at the cube's center, the tip pointing directly at it, and gave it a gentle counter-clockwise turn—
Click~
The original power of [The Key of the Gate] was to open any door that embodied the concept of a "lock"; even arcane locks and seals could potentially be opened by it. But now, under the influence of Jenkins's power, the key's concept was reversed. [The Key of the Gate] locked the seal before him, constructing a true gate with the properties of a spatial seal.
The seal's volume instantly shrank by a third, and the key dissolved into motes of light in his hand. Black iron patterns appeared on the surface of the nine slates, runes forming chains. The key's entire power had been used to construct the seal.
Next, he grasped [The Silver Spoon]. He watched as the seal of the cube and triangle stabilized, the black spiritual light no longer able to leak out as it had before. He aimed the small silver key at the cube's center, its tip pointing directly at it, and gave it a gentle counter-clockwise turn—
Click~
The original power of [The Silver Spoon] was to open a path from the material world to the outer void, even to the realms of the masters. The exotic species had once tried to use this key to invade Nolan, but their plot was foiled by Jenkins, Mr. White Cat, Mr. Hood, and the others. The key also possessed a certain "lock-picking" ability, but while [The Key of the Gate] was inclined toward "doors and locks," [The Silver Spoon] was more aligned with "space and paths."
Under the influence of Jenkins's power, the key's concept was reversed. [The Silver Spoon] locked the space where the seal resided, cutting off all paths from within the seal to without, and from without the seal to within.
The seal's volume instantly shrank by another third, and the key dissolved into motes of light in his hand. Silvery-white patterns appeared on the surface of the nine slates, runes forming chains that intertwined brilliantly with the black iron patterns.