Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 659 - 658: It’s All Over

Dark clouds hung low, pouring rains fell crashing down, and the entire White Sand Region was shrouded in endless darkness. Beneath the whirlpool-like clouds, the curtain of rain seemed to hang like an ocean suspended from the sky, so dense that one might wonder if breathing would become impossible in it. Amidst this apocalyptic darkness and storm, countless bizarre limbs were growing, and countless indescribable entities congregated with joyous exuberance in the rain, with all who witnessed this—soldiers, officers, war engineers from the Iron Throne—left with an indelible mental shock.

All the Iron Throne passengers underwent a sanity check, and now the entire train was enveloped in an upbeat, optimistic atmosphere.

"Deactivate the Mind Protection System," Commander Maryland felt unprecedented clarity in his mind and judged that the onboard mind protection system was no longer useful, thus issued the order.

The indescribable structure was still in motion, hanging down from the whirlpool at the cloud top like a massive deep-sea creature licking the land with countless tentacles. But it wasn’t the only large structure emerging from the cloud mass—as lightning cracked, during the brightest light, Maryland could see many smaller humanoid entities threading between the tentacles, seemingly carrying various tools, busily engaged in that chaotic gluttonous feast. With the powerful vision of a Transcendent, Maryland discerned that some of the forms resembled Miss Tiel from the territory.

But other forms weren’t so easy to describe... They had various strange limbs patched onto their humanoid bodies, and some didn’t seem fitting to be called limbs at all, almost like... they grew randomly...

Those were the allies of Cecil, the sea demons from the deep sea.

Thank heavens, this formidable race was allied with Cecil.

The adjutant approached, with a touch of perplexity on the young officer’s face: "General, do we need to do anything now?"

"No, just wait for the rain to stop," Maryland replied to the adjutant.

"Yes, General."

Both raised their heads simultaneously, looking through the train windows covered with reinforced barriers toward the distant gluttonous feast.

At the center of this dark rainstorm, in the core area of the warping field which was nearly fully transformed into a Water Elemental Realm, the tentacle-formed "forest" completely isolated the Artificial God from the external environment. Three thousand two hundred Tidal Banshees collectively simulated the colossal "Sea Emperor" beast, using its unprecedentedly large body to cover this region. Within the hundreds of tentacles that the Sea Emperor hung down, rune brilliance flickered, layer upon layer of illusory fields interwoven to form an impenetrable barrier, rendering all of the Giant Stag’s desperate struggles futile against the powerful barrier.

And within the area covered by the Sea Emperor, inside the barrier, the sea demon General Vanessa, bearing the title of Deep-sea Leader, was directing the deep sea warriors in completing the final handling of the "food."

The torrential rain environment was a "simulated ocean" created by the elemental warping field, within which the sea demons could move freely. At that moment, they were traversing the rain as if swimming in the ocean, using their long-handled charged energy blades to slice through the massive body of the Giant Stag still instinctively struggling.

This was a dangerously demanding task. Although the Giant Stag was already dead, the immense life force and magic power remaining within its body continued to sustain the flesh, allowing it to survive independently for a while even after being cut apart. Facing such an opponent, even the powerful deep sea warriors, despite having home-field and ambush advantages, couldn’t prevent some casualties.

Near the shoulder and neck of the Giant Stag, a too-brash deep sea warrior swung the energy blade in his hand, cutting open a piece of still undulating flesh. A blinding arc of electricity burst from the wound without warning, striking the unlucky sea demon squarely, who only managed a scream before exploding into splintered water, dispersing into the air.

The nearby busy sea demons saw this scene, and several yelled out: "Ah—failed fish life, zero points out!"

This was a widely circulated sarcastic phrase in sea demon society, used to mock those sea demons who carelessly died due to negligence.

Vanessa, just swimming by from nearby, swung her snake tail and picked up the fallen warrior’s blade. She gestured towards the soldiers with a reminder: "Maintain order!! Unless you’ve never died before!"

The soldiers scattered hurriedly, continuing their missions to cut the Giant Stag’s body or deal with the "trouble products" spawned from the Giant Stag’s blood. Vanessa casually tossed the recovered blade to a sea demon beside her—a sea demon transformed into a Sea Devil with numerous tentacles, each tentacle clutching several blades.

"Take these weapons back; don’t drop a single one. Let them collect them after they’re resurrected."

A Tidal Banshee with a pale purple tail swam over from afar, holding a short staff with intricate designs, the bubbles around her inhabited by many sample pieces of meat cut from the body: "General, the cut meat pieces have undergone preliminary identification."

"How are the results?"

"Delicious!" The sea demon with the purple tail nodded vigorously, then wrinkled her brow, "But the texture isn’t great, and the energy is rather mixed. This thing resembles some kind of composite product, and the technology is quite immature. Additionally, its regeneration is limited, and it should have surpassed its threshold by now, with its regenerative capability rapidly declining—it’s entirely inferior to the Big squid..."

"Hmm... not surprising, after all, this is a ’counterfeit product’ created by humans," Vanessa commented offhandedly, "Poor quality is expected, but at least it’s a large amount, isn’t it? Furthermore, can this thing power the reactors?"

"There shouldn’t be an issue, but it requires an extra extraction process, otherwise it might exert certain pressure on the reactor," the sea demon with the purple tail stated earnestly, "If the Rainbow Light Technology transmitted by Tiel can be smoothly implemented, our energy conversion efficiency will increase by over thirty percent, making this batch of new fuel quite economical."

"Very good, then collect them all—after returning, some will be used to replenish consumption and some will power the reactor. The distribution specifics will be decided by the Queen."

"Yes, General," the purple-tail sea demon nodded, then glanced at the Giant Stag being cut up, "Truly incredible... the land civilization this season could create something like this. I always thought their technological level was very low, and yet they’ve produced the Rainbow Light Device, and created this thing... I wonder if the technology to create this thing can be made public. If it can, it might resolve the problem of Big squid production shortage."

"I’m afraid not," Vanessa sighed, "I’ve heard the technology to create this ’god’ is exceedingly cruel and dark, not only against the humans’ moral views but also disdained by the Queen. We’re here just to dispose of these ’technical products,’ whereas the technology itself... should just disappear."

The purple-tail sea demon blinked, mumbling, "Couldn’t even accept it themselves, yet they still made it; humans truly are an odd race..."

"Their race is divided; it’s one of their traits, no help for it," Vanessa mentioned, "Those humans we’re collaborating with are merely one of their many groups, and similar groups exist quite widely in human society... Trying to understand their distinctions is quite complicated."

The purple-tail sea demon pondered, letting out a regretful sigh: "Sigh... it’s rare to see such good culinary skill."

"Indeed, it’s rare to see such good culinary skill."

...

Everything has ended.

In the Silver Castle’s Velvet Study, the holographic projection device displayed the latest information sent from the Iron Throne.

The world was shrouded in darkness, with violent storms lashing the White Sand Region, as gigantic deep-sea creatures descended amidst the rain—a grand feast was the ultimate fate of the Artificial God.

To Gawain, this was truly a scene filled with hope; unfortunately, the imagery was too impactful, seemingly unsuitable for public disclosure given the current societal context.

"We can consider how to proceed with the publicity," Gawain tapped the table lightly, drawing the attention of the two Guardian Dukes (Grand Governors), "The disaster wrought by the Oblivion Association has just begun to come to an end, but in order to ensure a smooth resolution, we still have much to do."

Duke Baldwin took a gentle breath but couldn’t help asking, "Is that what you refer to as the ’Sea Demons’?"

"That’s right, Sea Demons, a deep-sea clan that appears in many legends, but unlike most legendary clans, they truly exist and have already established a certain connection with us."

Baldwin seemed to want to say something but hesitated, while Victoria spoke directly, "Is there a risk?"

"Engaging with any other race carries risk, but sometimes we have no choice, and in my personal judgment, these Sea Demons are worth trusting—two years ago, the southern borders had already established contact with the Sea Demons. We have had some technological exchanges, albeit on a small scale, but at least it has reached a level of equal dialogue."

Baldwin and Victoria exchanged glances, seemingly slightly relieved, but their spirits still somewhat tense.

Gawain, of course, knew why this was.

He spread his hands, leaning back in the high-backed chair, "I know what you are worried about. To be frank, they are an extremely powerful clan. Although their domain is in the deep sea, if they wished, they could indeed stir storms on land... storms of all kinds. But we must recognize a fact:

"Whether we like it or not, such powerful races exist in the world—the Sea Demons exist, the Dragonkin exist, and some races that only exist in legends perhaps also exist somewhere. They might live far away, but if they wish, they could come to this Loren Continent, while we... cannot even venture beyond the coastline.

"These races truly exist. We, being confined by the ocean and the limits of our own civilization, should at least be grateful that they harbor no hostility toward us yet.

"But this ’absence of hostility’ wasn’t earned by us; it’s a gift of fate.

"We can only do two things: First, face this reality, for avoiding or feigning ignorance will not solve the problem; Second, develop ourselves, do not stop at this momentary peace, do not be blinded by temporary prosperity. Beyond our sight, the world is vast, and to survive long in this vast world, development is the only truth."

Gawain spoke plainly, and to the two Grand Governors, these straightforward words might even seem somewhat undermining to their confidence as humans.

Admitting one’s weakness is hard, and even harder for people like them.

But some facts need to be acknowledged, as the motivation for development often comes from recognizing one’s shortcomings. This is precisely what humans on this land lacked after being confined inland and enjoying peace under layers of protection for seven centuries. From a certain perspective, it was also one of the causes for the Anzu Kingdom’s decline.

Sea Demons are a peace-loving race. These creatures from the deep sea, with their whimsical thoughts, lively and friendly nature, are precious allies of the Cecil Principality (now the Cecil Empire). However, as Gawain said, this ’friendliness’ wasn’t something humans fought for, but a matter of luck.

This is why Gawain values the ’technological cooperation’ between the Cecil Clan and the Sea Demons so highly. Even if it’s only a few key technologies, it means that humans at least have the eligibility to "dialogue" with these deep-sea creatures.

If the Cecil Clan didn’t have even the Rainbow Light Technology back then, no matter how friendly those deep-sea creatures were, would they have been interested in a tiny principality far on the land?

They likely wouldn’t waste a glance at backward humans on the land, delaying their squid hunting.

Development is the only truth, and the Cecil Clan knows this, and they’ve already tasted success from development. But most of the country’s population doesn’t know it yet. The two Grand Governors before Gawain might be among the wise ones of this majority; they’ve already sensed a hint of urgency in ’social progress’. Yet, to make them more deeply aware of the importance of development, to broaden their horizons, Gawain needs to show them something more intuitive.

Baldwin beside him revealed a thoughtful expression, while Victoria also understood the purpose behind Gawain’s words.

At that moment, the two Dukes suddenly had a feeling—that Duke Gawain Cecil, brought back from the dead, truly seemed like an elder in the family, tirelessly maintaining the continuity of this ’family’ and constantly finding ways to educate and guide those unruly kids, needing to pay attention to guidance, warning, and preaching, tirelessly reminding them: "Don’t touch this; don’t touch that; don’t neglect your studies; be cautious of dangers; exercise your body; eat more vegetables; live in harmony with your siblings..."

But no one listened to him, and the unruly kids tore down the house and burned the kitchen and granaries (the Eastern Holy Spirit Plain grain production area), forcing the old ancestor to get up at over seven hundred years old to put out the fire...

The two Dukes instinctively looked at Gawain, simultaneously realizing how challenging it was for this founding hero.

Gawain noticed the change in their expressions and felt gratified that his efforts to guide and transform these two old aristocrats were yielding positive results, but he soon felt something was amiss with their gaze...

...

At the same time, in the shadow realm, deep within the defied Fortress.

In the void space of Dark Chaos, giant stones and islands of various sizes floated, forming a fragmented land. A vast area of ancient warship wrecks, emitting a faint glow, circled a giant stag’s corpse that radiated white light. In this seemingly eternally silent space, Amoen, the Giant Stag, slightly opened his eyes, with crystal-like pupils reflecting images that flashed continuously:

Trains covered in steel armor and barriers raced along the tracks, with the wrathful Artificial God in relentless pursuit behind the armored train.

The mortal’s cannon positions opened fire with all their might, bombarding the divine evils and divine catastrophes attacking the line.

The pouring rain came down, as spatial rifts unfolded in the thick clouds, indescribable alien limbs hung down from the sky, tearing at the stag’s corpse, feasting amidst the grand meal.

In the rift deep underground, within the collapsed and cracked ancient palace, a vibrant yet eerily bizarre plant grew among the rock walls, with countless vines spreading from its surroundings. This plant was enormous enough to cover half the rift, and a shocking tear and burn mark could be seen stretching from its base to its top.

Scenes flashed by, eventually fading into nothingness.

After a prolonged deathly silence, those crystal-like eyes dimmed, and Amoen, the Giant Stag, closed his eyes once more, with the white glow around him slightly dimming.