Shepherd Tantra

Chapter 1298 The Seventh Beast of Great Sin

"—my lord."

Just as Aiwass was pondering, Don Quixote suddenly spoke up: "This is Plato's legacy to you."

The Governor of Light, dressed as a White Moon Knight, knelt on one knee, planted the Holy Sword in the ground, carried the Holy Shield on his back, and raised a beautiful radiance to the Deer-Headed Giant as if offering a treasure.

This scene was witnessed by many Parthians in the city.

They were unaware of the cause and effect of the matter, and because they were too far away, they could neither hear the conversation nor see Gray Sky's true face.

However, this scene was so visually striking—

The radiant knight removed his armor, revealing a handsome face. He held a holy sword and shield, and a saintly halo of thorns adorned the back of his head. He knelt in reverence before the stag-headed giant.

The enormous deer-headed man wore a black crown formed from a halo of thorns, and behind him were six enormous white wings bound and restrained by black thorns. He looked down at the knights, and slowly knelt down, extending his hand to the knights below.

The light shield and black wings were mirror images of each other, as were the halo and black crown on their heads.

"This, this—!"

Many master painters who painted miniatures were shocked.

They spent their entire lives trying to achieve the "sacredness on paper" through color and brushstrokes. If they couldn't reach this point, they couldn't advance to the fifth level... Just like Agnes in the past, they had to transcend their past and come into contact with true beauty in order to take this step.

However, people cannot specifically describe things beyond their imagination.

At their level, what constrains them is not technique, but rather their knowledge and imagination.

Not all artists can be like Agnes, who can freely abandon everything and travel the world on foot to gather inspiration.

From this perspective, what constrains them from pursuing ultimate beauty is precisely their past life experiences, relationships, and overly conventional values.

But this scene has deeply moved them all.

Their intuitive understanding of the path to beauty led them to believe that this scene was a spectacle on par with that of a pillar god.

Ignoring their own perilous situation, they each conjured up their own canvases and began to depict the beauty they saw.

Some focused on depicting the unusual holiness and eeriness of the stag-headed giant; others recorded the scene of the knight offering his gift while the giant looked down in homage; still others focused on depicting the small knight's grand offering to the divine giant, down to every detail of his moon-white robe; and some emphasized the mirror image of the giant and the knight...

Not just artists.

Composers, screenwriters, sculptors—and other professions along the path of beauty—have also found strong inspiration in it. It's as if this scene touches upon some underlying logic of the path of beauty.

Without a doubt, after today... many fifth-level "masters" will be born here.

Their paintings will also provide evidence from multiple perspectives of what happened here.

Aiwas, of course, had no idea that he had simply bent down to pick up something, which had activated the inspiration of so many extraordinary beings on the path of beauty.

He merely picked up the fragments of the Geometry of the Celestials from Don Quixote's hands.

The fragment, now held in Aiwass's hands, seemed so tiny.

It is not a perfectly regular gemstone. It is neither a regular tetrahedron of fire, nor a regular hexahedron of earth, a regular octahedron of wind, nor a regular icosahedron of water.

It is a special dodecahedron—it is composed of only curves.

[Fragments of the Celestial Bureau - Fragments of Number and Geometry]

[—The laws of numbers and space, the remnants of the power of the Geometry Archon. Used properly, one has the potential to become either a Geometry Archon or a Number Archon.]

"finally……"

Aiwass exhaled, revealed the card of the Flame Butterfly Lia, and affixed it to the fragment of the Celestial Realm left behind by the Geometry Celestial Realm.

But it didn't react at all.

The elements do not match, and the concepts conflict.

The Fire Fragment could be compatible with Yulia... but the complete Geometry Celestial Fragment was unusable.

"……what?"

Aiwas paused for a moment.

But he quickly realized that the fragments of the astronomy left behind by the Geometry Astronomy were different from the version in the game.

He tried to sense it and felt the immense magical power of light and darkness, which were in a strange and stable state, from the fragments of the Celestial Bureau.

In the game, he left behind fragments that are usable by all four elements.

Whether it's a Beastmaster upgrading their Great Sin Beast or other classes using Celestial Fragments to enhance a skill, these are excellent, top-quality universal materials—their effect is to increase damage from the four elements.

Elemental damage is a relatively rare multiplier. Elemental damage amplification stats are seldom seen on purple-tier equipment, making the boost extremely significant.

In short, when unsure what to do, focusing on farming Geometry Celestials is a fairly stable way to improve your character. As long as your damage output is primarily based on one of the four elements, you'll see a significant boost. Therefore, Geometry Celestial fragments are among the most consistently priced items during raid auctions.

However, the fragment that Geometry Celestial left for Aiwas is quite different from the one in the game.

In the game, the "Ether Dodecahedron" has straight lines.

But it is bent at this moment.

...The difference is probably that the geometric astronomical figures in the game did not successfully merge.

The Geometry Astronaut in the game doesn't actually use the Analytical Cannon. It's simply a giant, constantly reconfiguring crystal geometry that switches its structure and then slices into different attributes.

This is a very simple yet somewhat troublesome Celestial. It's simple because it doesn't have any particularly complicated mechanics; basically, it's just a matter of "dodge whatever comes out, and attack whatever comes out."

The problem is that it is immune to the vast majority of damage.

The Geometry Astronaut changes color randomly every four attacks. It only takes 44% physical damage and light/dark attribute damage. It can only deal double damage to Geometry Astronauts whose attributes are countered by the wind → earth → water → fire → wind relationship. In addition to the countered spells, Geometry Astronauts are immune to other types of elemental damage. In fact, it absorbs damage of the same color and element and heals itself four times.

而祂的狂暴机制，就是它如果吸收了足够多的同系元素，就会触发相当有威胁的全体伤害——触发线分别是恢复本体总血量的1/64、1/32、1/16、1/8。前三次时都必须交大减伤才能过，第四次时强制团灭。

Therefore, the safest strategy is for the entire team to slowly whittle down the opponent using only physical attacks and light/dark attribute spell damage, without casting any elemental spells. This basically makes the game easy.

If the game were played strictly according to the established mechanics, then anyone who loses focus and makes a mistake would really suffer from high blood pressure. —Although Aiwas doesn't quite remember the plot, judging from its inability to absorb light and dark elements, the Geometry Astronomical Bureau is probably incomplete.

At least He doesn't have an etheric form. Otherwise, He should be able to switch into a dodecahedral form that absorbs light and darkness.

"...Could this be the real dodecahedron?"

Aiwass was deep in thought.

The dodecahedron...in Plato's theory, it represents ether.

The "ether element" is actually a semi-new theory, and the spells based on this theory are called ether magic.

This world is composed of six elements: wind, earth, water, fire, light, and darkness.

However, whether it is the Geometry Celestial or the "Endless Knot Aishiping" that Aiwass saw in the ascension ceremony, they can only control the four elements of wind, earth, water, and fire.

The elements of light and darkness cannot be explained by the theory of the four elements. This is because the four elements can transform into each other and cyclically restrain each other, but light and darkness can transform into each other and restrain each other, and they cannot participate in the system of the four elements at all.

From an alchemical perspective, light is merely a component of fire. Therefore, the new era's elemental magic system established a theory—that both light and darkness belong to "ether."

Aether is a special spiritual particle capable of shifting between two polar states. It randomly transforms into light and darkness, much like a diode. Upon contact with other ether particles, it exchanges the energy it carries, instantly changing its state. In its natural state, the elements of light and darkness constantly exchange, achieving a macroscopic equilibrium.

Therefore, "tainted" damage can corrupt and evil what was originally pure and holy, while "holy" damage can purify things like the undead and curses. This is because these two elements are inherently mutually neutralizing and transforming.

This is a legacy left by the "Nameless Tower" where Plato resided. Therefore, the elves are particularly adept at using etheric magic. Some of the ancient techniques used by the elves belong to runic magic, while others belong to etheric magic.

When Aiwas was learning advanced divine arts, he thought the elves intended to teach him this. In the Primordial Era, it was called the "Tai Chi Method," but the principle was the same.

The ancient machines of the elves are basically driven by ether magic—the ether element, which can change states instantly, is a perfect logic switch.

This is why the Geometry Astronomical Bureau disperses the four elements into the material world, while retaining the "Etheric Dodecahedron" for itself...

Essentially, it is a geometric astronomical system of a large computer, and its core driving logic comes from etheric magic.

—If the Butterfly of the Rebels cannot use this fragment of the Celestial Realm, then why did Plato specifically leave this fragment of the Celestial Realm for Aiwass?
At that moment, however, Aiwass suddenly realized something—

At this moment, the Celestial Knights and the Silver-Crowned Dragon of the Dream Realm are still fighting against the Crimson Calamity.

In other words, the Heavenly Master of the War Path has not yet fallen.

So, the Geometry Celestial, the Gray Celestial, the Fallen Celestial, the Blood Celestial, and the Flame Celestial—that's only five. Why does Sand Clock claim that six Celestials have already died?

Could there be a great abyss within?

However, Aiwass did not hear the announcement of Yuan Tiansi's death... He was certain that he had not missed the announcement of the Sand Clock, nor had he lost consciousness at any point.

—Then there's only one answer.

The power of Yuan Tiansi has been released into the material world, impacting the barrier of balance... but it is not completely dead yet!
Although Aiwas had already transformed the remnants of Yuan Tiansi's soul into Sin Thorns, using them as nourishment for his own soul; although the Celestial Power possessed by Yuan Tiansi had been released into the material world, raising the power level of the Twilight Path; although Yuan Tiansi's whale head and tentacles had been completely shattered...

...but it still had a breath left!

The giant body he was using still had life in it!

Or rather, this was to ensure Aiwass's continued existence.

Aiwas's sacrifice was too thorough; Yuan Tiansi was unable to successfully resurrect him. This giant's body, this headless, forbidden body, was merely a vessel for him to "temporarily store" Aiwas's soul.

Aiwas needs to rely on the power of "forbidden" to build a new body for himself once again!
What materials should be used?

The Geometry astronomy department provided the answer.

"How could I forget..."

Aiwass sighed, realizing the most crucial point.

—This fragment of the Celestial Bureau was used by the Geometry Celestial Bureau to allow Aiwass to reconstruct his body.

【Yin Yang Harmony (Gold): When your path is in balance, all your mana pools become colorless mana pools. The colorless mana pools are the sum of all your paired and opposite colored mana. When your mana pools are colorless, any mana-consuming action can gain different buffs by consuming an additional 1/2/3/4/5 times.】

This is a path characteristic that Aiwas once acquired.

It freed Aiwass from the constraints of the mana pool attribute, while also requiring Aiwass to maintain a balance in his path, and providing Aiwass with the simplest means to increase priority... This is one of the path characteristics that Aiwass uses most often.

However, it has another important point, and that is its name.

This indicates that Aiwass's soul has achieved a state of balance between yin and yang.

Therefore, it is impossible to rebuild Aiwas's body using only the power of the forbidden path!
—So, how can Aiwass be reborn from a state without a body?
Think of this.

In the giant's hand appeared a card called Sin, one that Aiwass had never used before:
The card depicts Aiwass in a white robe, holding an open Book of Law in his hand, with a tranquil blue magic circle floating behind him.

As the card was activated, hovering and rotating in the air, its attributes were revealed to Aiwass. The tranquil, azure magic circle in the image turned crimson, and streaks of crimson lightning began to flow, even causing the white robe's hood to flutter in the wind—

[The Great Sin: Moriarty (Star)]

【Level: 49】

[Transcending the Path, Without Attributes]

Upright: Ivy Lee

[Effect: Seals the weakened illusion into a Tarot card, giving it command]

[Reversed: Lord of Sin]

[Required: None (5)]

[Chanting, Enchantment, Summoning, Lasting Effect]

[Effect: Transforms the user into Moriarty, the Beast of Pride, who is considered a summoned creature; this effect can only be used when all other six elemental Beasts of Sin are on cooldown.]

This is a fact that even Aiwas himself had long forgotten—

—There are actually seven beasts of great sin.

(End of this chapter)