Chapter 839: Chapter 839

"Mining ship on the Storm Sea."

Endir looked at the young man before him, his voice tinged with a touch of surprise, "So those miners could accomplish such a thing? What did you use to convince these crew members, most of whom haven’t even been to school and have spent their lives mining at sea? Idealism? The future? Or is it your concept of changing the world?"

"Mr. Mayor, we do not understand the grand ideals you speak of,"

The Black Shadow standing behind the young man took over the conversation this time, his voice calm and hoarse, "We just want to survive. Whoever can show us a way to stay alive, we will follow that path."

"Nisen, I remember you."

A cold breeze brushed against Endir’s plain robe as he observed the Shadow, "I also remember you when you were just a perceptive young ship captain, and then Skone encouraged you to learn and improve yourself."

"It’s kind of you to remember,"

Nisen’s tone was even, "I took Mr. Skone’s advice, learned a lot, and summarized a lot on my own."

"That’s a good thing,"

Endir sighed softly, then he asked, "It seems you dislike life within the Eternal Divine Nation? There should be no hunger there?"

"It’s true there is no hunger there, but there is endless work,"

Nisen paused briefly, speaking slowly, "We couldn’t rest, see a future, or even freely choose to die. If you went there, your soul would be imprisoned in a closed space, endlessly working. You wouldn’t like it there either. The Eternal Divine Nation needs machines and slaves, not people."

He looked at Endir, "There is no hunger there, but also no hope, at least not for us, sir."

Endir opened his mouth slightly, and finally, he began to speak slowly, "But there, you indeed do not have to suffer from hunger or wander the streets anymore."

"Some might like such an ’afterlife’,"

Nisen responded, "But there are many more people like me; we want to live and eat to our fill."

"That wish is good. Once, Skone wanted to achieve that goal,"

Endir looked up at the surrounding empty golden city, "but he ultimately failed."

"Initially, Skone’s and my plan was,"

The elderly man lifted his hand, pointing towards the end of the street, to a part of the city,

"We marked an area to establish an Industrial District, which could resolve the scarcity of industrial goods in Wint City and solve the employment issues for some non-mining workers. Initially, mining supported the industry, being responsible for the early investments in research, development, and infrastructure.

"Later, as the industry developed and could produce cheap, durable mining parts, it could support mining in return, then the whole city’s economy would grow, social development would improve, and everyone could have a regular job and income."

Endir bowed his head, looking at Nisen before him, "Do you know why we failed?"

Facing his question, Nisen opened his mouth but did not speak again.

The Skone era was indeed the best era of life for the people of Wint City, and he did not know the deeper reasons for Skone’s failure.

"Actually, the reason is simple,"

Endir sighed lightly,

"In our plan, to ensure the people of Wint City had absolute control over United Industries and to ward off the encroachment of the Rockville Energy Group, United Industries was non-public.

"And during this plan’s execution, what was the annual gross profit margin of United Industries?

He raised two fingers, "Two percent,

"That was the financial data Skone managed to squeeze out by various means, and the actual dividends available for the major shareholders were less than one percent.

"And in the years Vincent has been in power, through stock acquisitions, financial maneuvers, and stock market operations, what was the highest single return the shareholders of United Industries ever obtained?"

He paused slightly, his fingers unchanged, "Two hundred percent."

"People are always creatures driven by benefits, so Skone’s removal was an inevitable outcome,

"You overthrew United Industries and established United Mining, United Food, United Finance; the result would be the same, only repeating the path Skone and I once took,"

He lowered his hand, hands behind his back, looked up at the reflection of the city in the sky, and sighed softly, "This is why I wanted to establish the Eternal Divine Nation. At least, I can keep the people who should have starved from hunger; such are the rules of this world, always so."

Nisen opened his mouth, feeling that what Endir said made sense, but also feeling something was amiss.

"If it has always been so, does it make it right?"

Then, the silent young boy beside slowly spoke up, looking calmly at the elderly man before him, "If the rules of this world are for most people to be hungry, poor, and cold, then is that rule right?"

He looked up at the man’s white hair, "The United Industries you speak of belong to the people of Wint City, but are they truly Wint City people’s United Industries? Would an industry belonging to the people of Wint City let its owners starve to death? Were those who starved to death meant to die?

"United Industries only belongs to a select few,

"The Divine Nation you’ve established is essentially just a replica of this miserable world,

"Your so-called ’not starving to death’ is actually forcing them to work, then earning food in reality to feed the Eternal Divine Nation, sustaining its existence.

"They are essentially still ’earning’ food for themselves, just omitting the process of eating and using the would-be mealtime for endless labor. What they receive is even lower than when they were alive.

"You have essentially turned potentially rebellious people into slaves and machines forever subservient to the Divine Nation, into undead whose life and death you can decide with a word.

"Is this your ideal realm? This is your salvation?

"Is this your Eternal Divine Nation?"

The cool wind brushed the young boy’s tender and thin face, "In the second grade social studies textbook, they teach us if we encounter unfair things, we must bravely point them out and help and change within our own capabilities."

Looking at the young boy’s tender face, the elderly man opened his mouth but ultimately said nothing.

"Do you lack the ability to change things?"

The boy calmly gazed at him, "You’ve been the mayor for decades, you’ve even been able to construct an Eternal Divine Nation that doesn’t exist in this world; for your own purposes, you can ruthlessly kill your closest friend, you can extend your reach across the entire city.

"You keep saying you want to build a heavenly kingdom on earth where no one goes hungry, but what you’ve built is a monster even more extreme than United Industries.

"In your divine nation, the wealthy can have everything they desire, while those who produce everything to sustain the existence of the Eternal Divine Nation barely manage to sustain their lives.

"I think Skone certainly didn’t agree with your plans, otherwise, you wouldn’t have resorted to killing him.

"You are the co-founder and a representative of United Industries, your power, your honors, and your status, all stem from the ’status quo’ of this world; you can’t make up your mind to shatter these things that have been supporting you,

"Yet you feel the reality is far from your own ideal,"

The boy slowly grasped the knight’s sword behind him,

"You want to change the world, but lack the courage to shatter it.

"So instead, you curled up in your comfort zone, using the power of divine beings to fulfill a twisted dream.

"Even in this nation of distorted dreams, you didn’t have the courage to shatter the rules; instead, you strengthened them, making those trapped souls work even more ’extremely’ for you."

The boy’s tone paused, he lifted his head, looking at the magnificent city before him, in his spiritual vision, these seemingly splendid buildings were nothing but clusters of twisted, decaying flesh emitting an uncomfortable aura,

"You’ve already lost the ideal of changing everything and the courage to fight against the world; you’ve long indulged in the embrace of power and benefits, yet you still deceive yourself.

"Even if all of Federation entered the Eternal Divine Nation, would they all gain an eternally hunger-free future? As a creation of divine beings, can the Eternal Divine Nation truly be governed by humans? Do you really trust the Eternal Radiance?

"You gave yourself ’let them no longer be hungry’ as a reason to convince yourself, but in actuality, you’ve indulged the Eternal Secret Teachings to cause the death of even more people.

"Beneath the banner of your grand ideals, it’s just a way to satisfy your own desires.

"You’ve never even lowered your head to look at the people struggling to survive at the port, nor tried to understand what they really want.

"Sitting comfortably in the Mayor’s Mansion in the Cloud District, you could decide their life and death with a wave of your hand,

"But if you genuinely cared about these struggling people, had any contact with them, or listened to their stories, you could easily have guessed my arrangement in the Storm Sea.

"Unfortunately, you did not."

The silent cold wind swept through the streets, dispersing the boy’s voice and stirring the old man’s and the boy’s hair.

Captain Nisen stood behind He Ao, watching it all unfold.

At that moment, he suddenly realized where that intense sense of division came from.

It was the inconsistency between words and actions, the bright lights shining on decaying flesh, the brilliance filled with filth and shadows below.

The old man watched the boy before him, his calm face flickering with varying shades of emotions.

Eventually, those expressions turned into a long sigh,

"Although I don’t want to admit it, I must admit, child, you are very astute,"

He paused, his expression gradually turning cold, slowly he said, "So you, an idealistic hero of justice, represent the people of Wint City to vanquish me, this hypocritical devil?"

"Ideals, power, benefits, you speak of these, in the name of ’justice’, arrogantly deciding the fate of people,"

He Ao slowly drew the knight’s sword from behind, the blood-colored butterfly on his shoulder slowly spreading its wings,

"But I am just an orphan come to collect a debt.

"In your decisions, my parents were probably just useful pawns; you might not even have bothered to look at their photos, might not even remember their names clearly, but to me, they were my home, my family, my everything.

"A life for a life, a debt to be repaid, that’s all there is to it."

The cool breeze brushed past the boy’s scarf, stirring his messy hair and the paper butterfly’s wings.

Shadows overlapped behind him, they were Alice who lost everything to become the keystone of the Inner Church, the densely hung corpses in the church, numerous incomplete, barely discernible figures.

In this world, there are no grand ideals, just the humble wishes of ordinary people desperate to live decently stacked together.

"It seems there is no room for negotiations between us,"

Endir watched the boy before him, the golden podium lifting him up high; he looked at He Ao, raising his hand, his white robe rising without wind, the huge painting still hanging over his head; his expression slightly silent, "To be honest, you remind me of us at the beginning. Skone will like you after you descend into Hell."

"I have just returned from Hell, right here on this sea,"

The boy looked at the old man lifting his knight’s sword high, "I can send you down to take a look first."

"Child, you are not aware of what you are facing,"

Endir shook his head, "In front of the Eternal Divine Nation, B-level strength is no different from an ant. I really admire your courage, and you certainly caused me a great deal of trouble, but, it’s all over now."

He gently raised his hand, the entire gigantic golden city trembled instantly.

Countless radiance surged between the cities, terrifying majesty permeating every corner of the streets.

The entire golden city rose up again, completely revealing itself from the fog.

Flickering golden thunder gathered above the city, intersecting with the thunder covering the entire Storm Sea.

"Vili, look up at the sky."

The blonde girl quickly advancing through the crowd looked up, following the direction Lena was pointing.

The blizzard was still cascading from above, but the now crack-filled sky was devoid of dark clouds.

Golden brilliance tore through those cracks, constructing the illusion of an inverted city.

It was a magnificent city of gold, where countless terrifying bolts of golden lightning twinkled within, the twisting oppression spreading downward with the blizzard, lingering in everyone’s hearts.

"What is that? The reflection of Wint City?"

Gast also looked up at the golden city above.

Vili slightly opened her mouth, looking at the city obscured by golden lightning, her voice lowered, "Eternal Divine Nation."

Accompanied by a booming sound, a hair-thin stray golden lightning bolt descended from the sky, striking a nearby towering abandoned building.

In the drifting silence of the snowstorm, the brilliant golden light instantly exploded, engulfing the entire building in an instant.

Just in the blink of an eye, when the light dispersed, what remained of the grand building was nothing but empty ruins.

Everyone stared dumbfounded at all this, and some even trembled and fell to their knees, prostrating themselves on the ground.

"The sky is falling! Run!"

At that moment, a loud shout rose from the crowd.

Vili looked up again at the golden city in the sky.

That city, suspended in the sky, was descending at a speed visible to the naked eye, the golden lightning enveloping the whole city getting ever closer to the ground.

The dreadful majesty carried a breath of death as it descended step by step.

Accompanied by a fierce explosion, a bucket-thick bolt of golden lightning fell from the sky, directly striking the youth standing at the center of the square with an air of destroying everything.

Nisen, standing behind the youth, immediately shouted.

At the same time, a blood-red paper butterfly also flew towards the youth’s head.

But the lightning was so fast that before anyone could react, it reached the youth.

Under Nisen’s horrified gaze, the golden lightning dissolved into the void around the youth just as snowflakes melt into flowing water, causing him no harm.

This time, even the face of the Elderly in a plain robe in the sky showed a look of astonishment.

The youth’s mouth curved into a slight smile, and Nisen, who was behind him, vanished into a shadow. Then he dashed out in a leap, reaching the Elderly with one stride and swinging at his cheek.

The Elderly lightly flicked his wrist, and a snow-white frost sword appeared in his hand, blocking He Ao’s Knight’s Sword. Then he used the momentum to leap backward as countless bolts of golden lightning struck down at He Ao in the air again.

This time, the lightning also seamlessly merged into the space around He Ao, as if it had never appeared.

The Elderly stopped his footsteps on the ground, looking at the gold brooch on He Ao’s scarf, his mouth slightly open.

"You don’t believe in Eternal Radiance, and it’s clear that Eternal Radiance doesn’t trust you either."

He Ao stood where Endir had been just moments ago, casually waved his sword, revealing a smile.

The Leader of the Ancient Teachings, Bright, was chosen by Eternal Radiance to replace Endir as the ruler of the Eternal Divine Nation.

That was what he said before he died, his being ’favored’ was the reason.

But clearly, Bright directly entering the Eternal Divine Nation in an attempt to seize control from Endir was an impossibility, as he was struck down instantly by the Eternal Divine Nation.

So, Eternal Radiance gave him a ’Prop’ that could protect him from attacks by the Eternal Divine Nation.

Although Endir tried hard to prevent the Eternal Divine Nation from developing its own consciousness and being directly controlled by Eternal Radiance, they still couldn’t avoid Eternal Radiance using the same source of power to create an amulet that could be immune to attacks from the Eternal Divine Nation.

And this brooch was that amulet.

He Ao harbored this guess in his heart, which made him dare to enter the Eternal Divine Nation, and the sense of affinity that came from the Kingdom, if present at all, proved this point.

Of course, the brooch also had an ’anti-forgery’ measure, which was that it needed the power of Eternal Radiance to activate and bring people into the Eternal Divine Nation.

However, this was not an issue for He Ao; he had grown accustomed to resisting the corruption of Eternal Radiance.

Besides, He Ao felt that Eternal Radiance seemed to quite fancy him; had he killed Endir and decided to switch allegiance to Eternal Radiance, perhaps he could directly gain control of the Eternal Divine Nation.

Eternal Radiance was straightforward, a potential friendship to develop in the future.

Endir rose to his feet, glanced at the snow-white longsword in his hand, gave a slight shiver, and raised his head to look at He Ao, the same painting still floating above his head.

He directly lunged forward, thrusting his sword at He Ao.

He Ao met the incoming snow-white longsword with the tip of his Knight’s Sword, imbuing it with Divine Sense through a Strengthening Magic Array, then spun around and brought his blade down in a slashing motion.

Endir quickly withdrew his sword, holding it horizontally in front of him.

With a crisp clang, the snow-white longsword was cleaved in half by the Knight’s Sword.

Endir hastily retreated, but still, the tip of the Knight’s Sword grazed his face, leaving a trail of blood.

"Was the B-level from the City Defense Army you lured to his death?" He Ao flourished his sword, positioning it behind his back as he stared at the elderly man before him.

He had searched through many documents about Endir but never found any indication that he could be a Transcendent. However, from the recent battle, it was clear that Endir was indeed a Transcendent, and not the kind bestowed by Grace, nor like any Eternal Secret Teachings Transcendent He Ao had encountered before.

He continued, "Did you use some method to absorb his Talent Sequences?"

However, Endir’s combat skills and strength were not formidable, nothing like the Archbishop who nearly drove He Ao’s clone offspring to a dead end.

"Talent Sequence 180: Saint, this is not a combat-oriented Talent Sequence,"

Endir wiped the blood from his face and looked at He Ao, "And it seems that just with B-level strength, I truly can’t defeat you. I wanted his Talent Sequence for only one reason,"

He lifted his head, glanced at the painting above, and suddenly withdrew his hand, "Little guy, you really are strong. I hadn’t planned on using this state at this time."

The "Baptism" painting in the sky suddenly shattered into fragmented radiance, merging into the body of the elderly man in cleric robes.

In that instant, a distorted yet holy power spread from his body, bolstering his entire form.

Realizing something was wrong, He Ao immediately took a step back, widening the distance between them.

Then, in that fleeting moment, the elderly man’s body suddenly collapsed, an endless brilliance, like a tidal wave, engulfed the surrounding buildings.

Soon after, this brilliance swiftly ascended, reconstructing in the golden city’s sky.

A colossal and ethereal figure in cleric robes, several meters tall, formed in the sky, adorned with scattered radiance like tassels upon its body.

This figure bore a human-like form, but subconsciously, it was impossible to associate him with a ’human’. On that seemingly holy and white face, there were no features or flesh, just a mass of broken, twisting geometries reflecting a faint radiance, continuously writhing.

As He Ao’s eyes settled on this figure, feelings of sanctity, ethereality, nobility, radiance, and numerous twisted perceptions surfaced in his mind.

It was as though he was facing an angelic envoy of a Divine Being, an indestructible barrier, with twisted power compelling him to prostrate before this ineffable, vast entity.

Distorted praises exploded in He Ao’s mind, blood tears seeping from his eyes as his body flickered momentarily.

Having learned to recognize angels after his venture in the Main World’s Underground Palace, He Ao distinctly sensed that this colossal phantom was like 009-2, also an Incomplete Angel.

Only, 009-2 possessed Positional Grade, whereas the ’phantom’ before him seemed incomplete in that aspect.

So that "Baptism" was in fact a sealed Incomplete Angel-level Item.

When he first saw "Baptism," he hadn’t felt the painting’s corruption because its core had already been assimilated and controlled by ’Endir.’

Because of one Angelic item, Endir could deviate from the Eternal Ancient Teachings, establishing a new Sect of the Eternal Radiance.

He then had the opportunity to conceive and establish the Eternal Divine Nation.

This was the origin of everything.

He Ao watched the giant phantom above his head, countless thoughts flashing through his mind.

At that moment, the immense phantom also looked down towards him.

The contamination invading his mind intensified abruptly.

He Ao immediately realized something, attempting to dodge, but as he raised his head, he suddenly found the space around him had solidified into twisted geometries.

Then he felt a tightness around him, having been grasped by the huge phantom,

"Your resistance to corruption is surprising,"

The phantom’s face, now completely turned into geometries, flickered rapidly, its vast, hollow voice booming in He Ao’s mind, "All is over, child."

He slowly clenched his fist.

The blood-red Paper Butterfly instantly lost its color, turning pure white. Terrifying power transcended the boundaries of reality and illusion, gripping He Ao’s spirit, threatening to tear both his body and soul apart.

"It’s not... over yet..."

A hoarse voice struggled to emerge.

Crimson radiance burst forth from the youth’s chest in an instant, tearing open his clothes to reveal blood-colored patterns beneath.

Blood traced these patterns, sketching out a twisted figure resembling both a weapon and writhing tentacles: the ’K’ character.

In that moment, a vast red radiance, traveling through time from a remote space, descended.

In the snowy mountains on the outskirts of Rock City.

Countless exotic beasts prostrated in the tall forests, and in the center of their gathered sight, the towering abandoned building, the figure within abruptly tensed.

Crimson brilliance continuously emerged around him then vanished into the void.