Wasteland Echoer.

Chapter 695 A Temporary End

"This is... the power of Ato. He used the Lord of Night to create his own unique power. Should I accept this power? Or do I have no choice at all?" Wright murmured to himself.

Fortunately, the effects of "MB-1035-A: Eternal Sleep Influus Dust" will not dissipate for another half hour. In other words, these humans and lost souls lying on the filthy, blood-stained cement floor will have to wait for more than 40 minutes before they wake up.

This ensured that the changes occurring in Wright would go unnoticed by anyone, thus avoiding many troubles later on.

Soon, the violently expanding muscles and abnormally proliferating limbs and bones burst his clothes, tearing the cheap clothing, which was made of low-quality materials and barely kept him warm, to shreds.

His body swelled to ten meters before slowly stopping, seemingly because the dark magic power within Ato's body had finally ceased its struggle with the red magic power within Wright's body and gradually merged together, thus bringing this terrifying anomaly to an end.

For Wright at this moment, if he was once like an insignificant drop of water flowing into a vast ocean, then from now on, all the power within him will converge into a tsunami, giving him the right to dominate the fate of the entire world.

Now, he was enormous, his muscles bulging, and his head, which barely retained a human-like face, housed a pair of terrifying ruby-like eyes. His hair, like that of Ato before, had all transformed into small, Medusa-like snakes, entirely crimson, writhing wildly, flicking their tongues, and dripping with acid powerful enough to corrode steel, used to protect this all-powerful head.

Unlike Ato, whose body was a combination of beast and "monster," Wright's body still retained the outline of a human. A slight crimson halo flashed, and suddenly, scales as dazzling as gems and as sharp as blades appeared on his body, making him look exactly like he was wearing a suit of armor that only ancient warriors of the Flame Empire were qualified to wear.

However, behind that domineering and bizarre body dragged a straight crocodile tail covered in tangled fur. It seemed that Ato had not taught Wright any "levitation" skills; that straight tail, like a masterpiece of steam-powered industry, could not bend at all, and could only accompany his body forward without hesitation, until survival or destruction.

Just as Wright was about to forcefully chant the incantation to dissipate the red demonic energy within his body, a surge of powerful and domineering dark energy instantly rushed into his head.

"Woo—" A long, drawn-out wail, like the mournful cry of a wild beast, or even more like the sound of a whistle summoning a soul, instantly filled the entire "magnificent building." Countless plumes of black smoke billowed from his seven orifices, between his palms, and even from every crevice of his tail and pores, like a factory that never stops producing day and night emitting "discordant sounds" that disrespect nature.

The sound that pierced through the entire building, and even the entire city, swept across the remnant of the human spirit of Crusde, the last remaining fortress of civilization, and one of the few large strongholds in the wasteland era. As Wright pointed his hands to the sky, dark clouds gathered again, and lightning struck once more.

This time, they all surrounded Wright's new body, causing these horrifying, mind-blowing scenes to reappear in the world.

Fortunately, unlike Ato, Wright possessed an exceptional mental control that surpassed even that of gods and creators from the moment he came into this world. Even as these domineering forces, capable of corrupting everything, constantly assaulted his brain and spirit, he was never restrained by them, nor did he become intoxicated by them.

Instead, as the terrifying flowers of lightning converged, and the horrifying darkness created by the clouds threatened to engulf the entire city, he chose to clench his fists and chant incantations of the Creator and the Goddess of Light:
"The darkness of thunder is the opportunity for corruption."

"A chaotic thing, the source of disorder."

"It was not God's will, nor His word."

"It begins in darkness and ends in holiness."

“Things of light, seeds of light.”

"The darkness finally gives way to the dawn."

"The words of Eternal Light, the things of Eternal Light."

"The fate of the mechanical element, the end of the mechanical element."

As Wright chanted the incantation, a series of notes from the universe began to emanate from the vast underground space of the "Magnificent Tower." The girls who had died long ago reappeared in the center of the hall as ghostly blue souls.

This time, however, they no longer serve the dragons, nor the struggle between Atlanca and the "Dark Night Investigation Team," nor the ambitions of the lost souls like Ato. Instead, they simply want to pull Wright back from the beastly state forged by dark forces to the real world.

These azure-blue maidens began chanting the same words as Wright, their voices imbued with holiness, adding a touch of sacredness and solemnity, like an orthodox hymn.

Soon, solemn notes rose from the rubble and blood-stained ground, soaring over man-made thorns and flames. In the smog-shrouded, restless city, they began to fill every ruin destroyed by the "End of Ashes" with joy and grotesqueness, to sing praises to the dead souls, and to awaken the innocent who had fallen into slumber.

As the scorching sun's rays temporarily faded, the entire city began to be enveloped in a bluish halo, carried by sacred sounds. "Forbidden things, forbidden sounds."

"Elysia, the City of Hope".

“Wash away sins, cleanse the sinful body.”

"Shackles of Light, Den of Greed."

"A rustling thought, a moment of acidic corrosion."

"The giant waves have passed, and the ancient slumbers."

“Vast and barren land, bald patches of soil.”

"A dazzling metropolis, a magnificent city."

"Hope has arrived, and hope has come."

"The still sand clock, flowing eternally."

hum!
hum!
hum!
After three loud buzzing sounds, Wright's body began to shrink rapidly like a deflated balloon, its scales began to fall off one by one, and its straight tail suddenly broke off, as if it were performing a very bizarre trick.

At the same time, the shattered dimensions that had just lingered between the "magnificent towers" seemed to be absorbed by some mysterious force, and began to gradually dissipate in the distorted illusions. The "dust of the eternal sleep of Infreus" also detached from everyone's bodies and drifted outwards, like brilliant and dazzling fireworks lit in the long night, rising suddenly into the air in the shape of a circling eagle, and then exploding.

While "Eternal Sleep Influus Dust" has the effect of instantly putting any living being into a deep sleep that is difficult to awaken, its inventor, Levver Rurik, a student of Ivanov, developed a new function in the midst of a boiling silence: its superb "purification ability".

In the later period of the Steam Age, around the end of Ivan XXV's reign, an "Ivanov virus leak" occurred in the "Deep Ruins". In order to suppress the evil effects of this accident and to buy time to end the "New Construction Project", Ivan XXV chose to find the most suitable "inhibitor" among a group of strange inventions.

Therefore, he chose Levville and his original invention, the "Flower of Eternal Sleep." At that time, Emperor Crusad, as the overlord, forced Eventre and Genie to send top scientific teams to the "Gorilla Palace" in Icefall City to jointly deal with the leak. Although the Crusad Empire's hegemonic ambitions were already riddled with problems, and the entire empire's finances, economy, and military were in decline, with undercurrents surging within.

However, driven by a sense of responsibility to humanity and a commitment to human civilization, and through the joint research of scientific teams from three countries, Levville successfully used the blood of the dragon race, along with the catalytic effect of "otherworldly water" boiling at 500 degrees Celsius, to create a new "inhibitor," namely "Eternal Sleep Influus Dust." This was successfully sprayed by the Aerospace Force onto the "Deep Ruins," temporarily alleviating the crisis of the "Ivanov virus" leak and, in a mysterious way, delaying the outbreak of the "New Era Crisis."

Unfortunately, Ivan XXII was a mad emperor with extreme ambition, while his great-grandson Ivan XXV lacked the talent and courage. When the materials for the "inhibitor" were exhausted and the empire's finances were insufficient to support its further production, the "heartless virus" lurking deep underground and within the lava broke free of its restraints.

The colossal crown fell from the feet of the dead double-headed eagle, and the sunflower's radiance flickered for only a brief moment before fading away forever. The daylight created by the "Heavenly Punishment Fire" did not truly save this dying empire.

In the provinces of Icefall, North and South Karlov, Konig, and Water, humanity lost consciousness, succumbing to the "Heartless Virus" and turning into bloodthirsty beasts. As [Order] utterly collapsed, the old, still-roaring steam age ended, and the wasteland era, forged by death, blood, and despair, descended…

"Is this... a dream?" Wright suddenly woke up from his daze. He coughed several times, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and wearily propped himself up to look around.

The irritating smell of "involute flowers" had completely disappeared. It seemed that the "Eternal Sleep Infreus Dust" had completely completed its "purification" mission, disappearing entirely and clearing away the dense "heartless virus," "ancient power," and all sorts of indescribable filth.

The Nabusk soldiers lying on the ground around him, as well as Dak, Hoshino Shota, and others, who had been motionless and almost silent, began to breathe heavily. Some soldiers even started snoring and muttering in their sleep like the roar of a train. Wright breathed a slight sigh of relief.
"At least, they survived this chaotic battle."

However, before he could catch his breath, an exceptionally heavy, deep, and rough voice, with a slight tremor of demonic energy, reached Wright's ears:

“But the old order has already collapsed, hasn’t it? [The Order], Light Socrates.”

A psychedelic and chaotic distorted light flashed through the small door of the "Between of Truth," and soon, a lost soul wearing a deep red wolf king hood, with a huge physique and a height of nearly two meters, walked towards Wright with firm and powerful steps, the dull sound of military boots hitting the ground.

Thank you to reader 20221205220219504 for the monthly ticket.