Chapter 734: The Root of the Divergence
“Underground civilization?”
The turnoffs on the North Slope Mine. The cluster of grottos threading through the Impassable Mountain Range. Roland had never found a geological process that could account for either — no collapse pattern, no water erosion, no tectonic shift that produced forms like those. He had assumed at first some species of oversized demonic beast, boring through the rock for nesting. But perhaps those tunnels were not holes at all. Perhaps they were corridors.
“People at the time didn’t recognize it for what it was,” Pasha said, “and made no attempt at communication. Our forms were so different that the early records classified them as a new type of demon — which is why the histories diverged so badly from what was true. It wasn’t until the final phase of the second Battle of Divine Will that a breakthrough came.” A pause. “By then, Taquila was the only holy city left standing. The Union had reached the moment of survival or extinction.”
“What breakthrough?”
“The Quest Society, working from the remaining lithographs, decoded the method of storing a soul and verified it using an unhatched original carrier. From that discovery, the Three Chiefs began the research into what became the God’s Punishment Army transformation.”
Agatha said quietly, “I knew nothing about that.”
“Soul Transfer was the Union’s most closely guarded secret — classified two levels above even the God’s Punishment Army plan, which used witches as its subjects. At that time, only the Three Chiefs and a handful of senior officials had been told. I learned it myself only with the fall of Taquila.” Pasha’s voice was steady and gave nothing away.
Roland turned a question over. “So Natalia supported the God’s Punishment Army plan initially? And — what is an original carrier?”
“She supported it because no other options existed yet. As for the latter —” Pasha’s tentacles curled slowly inward and then spread again, a gesture he was beginning to read as something like resignation. “It is what we look like now. This body. This shell. The evidence that the underground civilization once existed. Their only remaining tombstone.” A brief pause. “It is a long story, Your Majesty. Allow me to tell it properly.”
Roland poured himself a glass of Chaos Drink, settled back in the chair, and listened.
“The Quest Society followed the clues left on the lithographs and learned that the vanished civilization had left a city somewhere in the Impassable Mountain Range. They searched for a long time without result. Then someone thought: this civilization moved underground. Perhaps the city is underground as well.”
“The expanded search found it. Four layers, with an area roughly half the size of Taquila. Every layer was threaded with turnoffs and hollow chambers — the complexity of a maze, and one that would trap a person permanently without a witch capable of sensing direction. The Quest Society gave it that name: the maze ruin.”
“Before they could fully explore it, the demons took Taquila. The survivors fled. After considerable cost, we reached the maze. The plan was to take the original carriers stored there, withdraw to the Hermes Plateau, and build a new Holy City on the eastern coast to restore the Union’s reach.”
“No one anticipated what we found next.”
Pasha went quiet. The scales across her body dimmed — not a trick of the light curtain, but something that seemed to come from within the shell itself. Even without a face, grief had its textures.
After a long moment, she resumed: “The maze ruin was intact. More than intact — it was a new city in everything that mattered. Besides the original carriers, its lowest level held three things of extraordinary importance: the magic core, the central carrier, and the recorded history of the vanished civilization.”
“And it was then that we understood: they had intended to lead us there. Since the first Battle of Divine Will, they had been trying to bring us to that place. The maze ruin had been prepared for us.”
“For what purpose?” Tilly asked.
“For revenge.” A different voice, colder and more clipped. “They wanted us to destroy the demons. To take vengeance for the extinction of their people.”
“That is Lady Natalia’s interpretation,” Pasha said, with a gentleness toward the other voice that suggested long habit. “It is not what the documents state explicitly. They may simply have wanted their civilization to be remembered — to be passed forward. In any case, from the remaining records, the Quest Society recovered an enormous body of research on God’s Will and magic power. To help us understand, the civilization had translated most of its conclusions into the form of lithographs.”
“And the record of the magic core,” she continued, “is the precise point at which the Queen of Sunchaser and the Queen of Starfall City could no longer agree. One of the most important passages in the lithographs states: ‘Magic power offers infinite possibilities, and the pursuit of God’s Will is the ladder to mastering magic power.’”
Roland felt the conversation arrive at the thing it had been moving toward. “What is the magic core? Does it connect to the Instrument of Divine Retribution?”
“Think of the core as an artificial Magic Cyclone — not bound to a witch’s body, capable of shifting its configuration at need. This device alone overturned nearly everything the Union believed it understood about magic.” One tentacle extended toward the light curtain. “The phantom instrument we are using to speak right now is a small-scale magic core. When the situation requires, it can be converted into other forms. The Instrument of Divine Retribution is the largest magic core in the ruin.”
A universal terminal. Roland saw it immediately — the superiority over a witch’s inherent and fixed ability, the vast effective range that dwarfed the five-meter limit. In industrial terms, in military terms, in any terms: the magic core was categorically more powerful than any individual witch. The comparison between them was the comparison between a fixed tool and a reconfigurable one.
“But that is only the first level of use,” Pasha said, and her voice carried something that might have been the echo of an old excitement, worn smooth by time. “Just as the relationship between original awakening and full evolution, the lithographs predicted: with sufficient deepening of magic power’s development, one day we might reach equivalence with God—”
She stopped.
The pause had a particular quality. Not searching for words, but arriving at a loss she had lived with for a very long time.
“You ran out of time,” Roland said.
“Yes. At first we didn’t know how long the path would be — a century, or a millennium. And to approach the core directly was fatal: several Quest Society members died trying. Witches could not touch those instruments. We needed a solution and found only partial leads. The lithographs were limited — to access the deeper documents, we had to follow their specific instructions. Only when enough people had merged with the central carrier could we begin to understand their language and proceed further into their records.”
“But we didn’t have time. Three years passed while we worked through what we had. Common people who had joined us earlier were beginning to resist our authority. The number of witches needed for the merger was unknown. Our resources could sustain only one research attempt. If things continued as they were, the Union’s great plan — to restore order across the continent — would collapse before we reached the answer.”
“And the most irreconcilable problem of all: Lady Alice’s God’s Punishment Army plan contradicted the underground civilization’s recorded principles at their foundation. A witch who abandoned her body to become a God’s Punishment Warrior would not only forfeit the possibility of further evolution—” Pasha paused, and the weight of it was deliberate. “She would lose God’s Will forever.”
Chapter 734: The Root of the Divergence
Translator: TransN Editor: TransN
“Underground… civilization?”
Roland could not help but think of the turnoffs on the North Slope Mine and the cluster of grottos running through the Impassable Mountain Range… In his memory, no geological movement could create such unique landforms. At first, he thought that they were created by some sort of mutant hybrid demonic beasts. But according to what Pasha said, maybe they were traces left by the underground civilization?
“At that time, people didn’t realize it, nor did they intend to communicate with it. Our forms were so different that we even considered them as a new type of demon, which was why there was a huge deviation on the recorded history. It wasn’t until the final phase of the second Battle of Divine Will that there was a breakthrough discovery.” Pasha’s voice was low and deep. “By then, Taquila was the only city left of the three holy cities. The Union had reached a vital moment of survival or extinction.”
“What do you mean by a breakthrough discovery?”
“With the help of the remaining lithograph, the Quest Society figured out the way to store souls and verified it on an unhatched original carrier. Since then, the Three Chiefs embarked on the research for the transformation of the God’s Punishment Army.”
“I know nothing about that…” Agatha said surprisingly.
“Soul Transfer was the top secret of the Union. Its classification was even two levels higher than that of the God’s Punishment Army plan in which witches were used as the experiment mice. At that time, only the Three
Chiefs and a few senior officials knew of it,” Pasha replied. “I only learned this astonishing information with the fall of Taquila.”
“So Natalia supported the God’s Punishment Army plan in the beginning?” Roland asked, frowning. “What’s an original carrier?”
“Because she was left with no choice. As to the latter… it’s what we look like right now.” Her tentacles drooped more and her body got closer to the light curtain. “My weird, ugly shell is the evidence that the underground civilization existed. It’s the only tombstone that it left. It’s a long story. Your Majesty, please allow me to slowly tell you.”
Roland nodded, poured himself a glass of Chaos Drink, leaned back in the chair and began to sense the consciousness transmitted from Pasha.
“According to the clues on the lithograph, the evanescent civilization left a city in the Impassable Mountain Range. The Quest Society searched for a long time without gaining anything. Then one day it occurred to them that since this civilization was used to moving underground, could this city be built underground as well?”
“After extending the search area, the witches finally found this magnificent city. It consisted of four layers with an area of about half the size of Taquila. On each layer there were countless turnoffs and hollow cavities, which were as complex as a maze. Without the guidance of a witch who could sense directions, one could easily get lost and never get out. For this reason, the Quest Society also called it the maze ruin.”
“Unfortunately before the Quest Society could carefully explore it, Taquila was occupied by the demons. Everybody had to escape from home. After paying a heavy price, we finally arrived at the maze. According to our plan, the Union would take away the original carrier stored in the maze, leave for the Hermes Plateau, and then build a new Holy City to restore orders at the east coast of the continent.”
“But no one would’ve guessed what would happen next.”
Pasha paused and the scales on her body dimmed. Even without looking at her facial expression, Roland could sense the grief in her heart.
After quite a while, she resumed transmitting. “Although it was after an interval, the Quest Society found the maze ruin that had been preserved in good condition. One can even say that it was an entirely new city. Besides the original carrier, the bottom layer of the ruin stored many unconceivable secrets, the most important three of which were the magic core, the central carrier, and the record of the evanescent civilization. Afterwards, the idea came to our minds that as early as the first Battle of Divine Will, the underground civilization had intended to lead us here.” Pasha inhaled deeply. “The maze ruin was prepared for us.”
“What for?” Tilly could not help but ask.
“For revenge.” Another voice appeared in everybody’s head. Compared with Pasha, this witch’s tone was much colder. “It hoped that we could destroy the demons and take revenge for its clan’s extinction.”
“It’s only Lady Natalia’s speculation. It wasn’t recorded in the document.” Pasha waved her tentacles like shaking a head. “It could be that they simply wanted their civilization to be passed down. Anyway, from the remaining record, the Quest Society retrieved many research materials related to God’s will and magic power. In order for us to understand the details, most of its conclusions were expressed in lithographs.”
“And the record about the magic core is the very root of the divergence between the Queen of Sunchaser and the Queen of Starfall City. One of the most important messages in the lithographs is, ‘magic power offers infinite possibilities and the pursuit of God’s will is the ladder to mastering magic power’.”
Roland sensed the key point coming. “What’s the magic core? Does it have anything to do with the Instrument of Divine Retribution?”
“You can take the core as an artificial Magic Cyclone. It’s not confined to a witch’s body and can adjust its forms at any time. This bizarre device almost overturned the Union’s knowledge system.” Using one of her tentacles to
point at the light curtain, Pasha said, “For example, the phantom instrument we’re using for our communication is a minor scaled magic core. When necessary, it can be converted into other instruments. As to the Instrument of Divine Retribution, it’s the biggest magic core in the ruin.”
“I see…” Roland instantly realized the superiority of this instrument. Compared with the witches abilities which were inherently unchangeable, the magic core was virtually a universal terminal. Most of all, its effective distance far exceeded the five-meter limit. Either for production or for military use, it was way more powerful than the witches.
“But it’s just the primary usage of the magic power. Just as the relationship between the original awakening and the high evolution, the lithograph predicted that with the deepening of the development of magic power, one day we could finally be equivalent to God…” Pasha said with a sense of loss as if she was not saying something significant. Instead, she sounded like someone who had lost their way.
Roland realized the point of her last words.
“But you ran out of time.”
“You’re right. At first, we didn’t know how long it would take for that day to arrive. It could take a century or a millennium. In order to approach the magic core, several Quest Society members had lost their lives. Obviously, witches can’t touch those bizarre instruments. We wanted to solve the problem, but didn’t know how to do it, so our exploration came to a dead end. The lithograph could only show very limited information. If we were to carry out our research, we had to follow their instructions. Only when there were enough people integrated with the central carrier, could we comprehend their language so as to further read their more profound documents and records.”
“But we didn’t have enough time. We’d spent three years figuring these things out. Many common people who had joined us earlier tried to get rid of our control and knowing how many witches were needed to integrate with the carrier remained unknown. But at that time, our resources could only sustain
one attempt of research. If it went on like this, the great plan of the Union to restore order would have lost its foundation.”
“The most important thing is that Lady Alice’s plan of the God’s Punishment Army has an irreconcilable conflict with the concept recorded in the underground civilization’s documents. If a witch abandons her body to become a God’s Punishment Warrior, she’ll not only lose the chance to be promoted,” Pasha paused, then said, “but also lose God’s Will forever.”