Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 1325 Do you want to become your god?
It is said that the essence of fate is the unexpected, because only when mortals encounter unexpected situations do they suddenly remember that there is a force guiding their lives, and become angry or sad, cursing or disheartened. Whether this statement is right or wrong, Lin Ge has no intention of judging, but it certainly reflects his current mood.

The air was thick with the bitter smell of dust and gunpowder, and the occasional muffled explosion or the sound of collapsing buildings in the distance served as a reminder that the battle was still ongoing. A chilly wind blew up the hem of a dark coat and ruffled the slightly disheveled hair on the young man's forehead.

Shock, bewilderment, hesitation, and perhaps a touch of guilt… these emotions had never been so intense, as if they had never existed before today; as if they would never exist after today; but only at this moment, right here, suddenly they were all born and then erupted. At every stage of his life, Ling had experienced this feeling.

Sometimes it's wandering in a downpour, when someone smiles and holds an umbrella for you, softly asking, "Will you come with me?" The rain is torrential, the streets are deserted, and raindrops drip from the eaves into your collar, chilling you to the bone. Sometimes it's standing before a tombstone, listening to the wind whistling through the oak forest, occasionally recalling his voice and smile, the oak leaves rustling, carrying the scent of damp earth and grass. Does the young man like this feeling? Not really; but does he hate it? There seems to be no reason to hate it. The only thing he knows is that whenever this feeling arises, it signifies a huge change in his life, as if the pointer of fate has suddenly begun to turn, snapping forward.

And the last time is now.

It was when the blue-haired girl suddenly appeared and asked him, word by word, "Where are you going?"

She stood a few steps away, seemingly appearing out of thin air on this desolate land. Her long, blue hair swayed gently in the wind, which smelled of gunpowder, like the strings of a poetic harp. The white dress she wore, which seemed to have never changed since they met, stood out against the gray background, appearing exceptionally pure and isolating her from the surrounding ruin and chaos.

The girl's eyes were clear, and she was staring intently at Ling Ge with a calm that seemed to know everything.

"Where are you going, Ling?"

She asked again, her voice so clear, as if it came from a dream. For some people, dreams are indeed more profound than reality.

He should have realized it sooner. Lin Ge couldn't help but think; nothing could be hidden from her. His loneliness and pain, self-blame and sorrow, confusion and determination—everything was laid bare before the girl. Because they were the people who understood each other best in the world. They had once comforted each other's hearts with body heat in an endless night, filled the void in each other's souls with overwhelming emotions, and explored the secrets of human birth and the meaning of world destruction with surging energy and boundless passion. These philosophical metaphors ultimately boiled down to instinct, but the instinct of mortals is never to escape loneliness, but to enjoy it. Therefore, it should be said that they were defying their own instincts.

All life comes together ultimately to defy the fate predetermined from the moment of birth, but such resistance is often futile, leaving only a deep and unresolvable emptiness.

The young man understood this, and felt regret—not for the cruelty of the truth, but for not realizing it sooner, which led him astray so many times. He shouldn't have resisted, because that's how mortals are, that's fate. He told himself, and also to Saint Charlotte—

“I’m going,” he said calmly, as if discussing dinner, “to end that battle.”

“That’s fine, but at least you should tell me first,” Saint Charlotte’s tone was as calm as if she were discussing tomorrow’s weather. “What do you plan to do?”

Lin Ge silently showed her the game console and cartridge in his hand.

The oddly shaped machine lay quietly in his outstretched palm, its casing reflecting a cold, hard metallic sheen in the dim light. The small cassette tape, like a sleeping seed, was embedded at one end of the machine.

This is actually a misleading statement, but as mentioned earlier, the two of them have no secrets from each other. Saint Xialia had already seen through the young man's intentions, so her gaze never lingered on the game console or cartridge for a moment. She remained quietly and gently watching the young man's face, carefully sketching down every detail of him and keeping it in her heart until it became her most precious memory.

"Is it the power of faith?" Suddenly, she revealed the truth that the young man was trying to cover up.

Strangely, although his intentions were seen through and exposed, Ling's first reaction was neither surprise nor helplessness, but rather a somewhat relieved smile, which served as his answer.

Since leaving the Heavenly Sanctuary and returning to Mirror Star, the young people have been pondering a question: how will they fight against the Witches' Society after losing Alice's game console and cartridges? Although the Eastern Continent is not within the Witches' Society's sphere of influence, and the combined forces of the Order and the Axis powers are focused on fighting the Allied Forces, they are temporarily safe. However, nothing is absolute. Given Tentis's ruthlessness and decisiveness, her determination to implement the Eden Plan, and that real-world plan whose name is still known but whose details remain unknown, everything suggests that the battle between the travelers and the witches will continue until the final victor is decided.

In theory, only the power of young girls can counter the power of young girls, but unfortunately, the powers of order are all cursed, their strength reduced to less than one-tenth, and most of them are not combat-oriented powers—of course, the powers of young girls are not Alice's game, there is no distinction between combat and support types, their strength is determined only by their minds and whether they have the will to fight. Unfortunately, from this point of view, apart from Xino, everyone is probably inferior to that dark witch, let alone Tentis.

Lin Ge had to find another way. He first drew inspiration from Sister Livia. The experiment by the Cursed King Chenos, using the power of faith to create an artificial monarchy, wasn't exactly a success, but it wasn't a failure either. While the Holy Son Gabriel couldn't contend with a true maiden monarchy, he already possessed power surpassing that of ordinary true gods. And Alexander, the psychic machine born from the faith of millions, was, to date, the only enemy that had put immense pressure on the Witches' Society. Human faith truly had its mysteries; after all, even a maiden monarchy could be eroded and anchored by the power of faith.

But at the same time, it is also dangerous. What fate awaits those who attempt to use the power of faith to achieve certain goals? The wanderer Rochelle serves as a cautionary tale; Linge still vividly remembers the regretful and sorrowful look in his eyes before his death. Unity is essential for unity of purpose, but when the hearts of the masses are united, can the individual will still maintain its individuality?
Long ago, the traveler predicted that Ling would go down this path, and now it seems that he was both right and wrong.

Linger did want to use the power of faith to fight the witch, but unlike Rochelle, he did not force others to have faith; his only goal was himself.

The specific application of the power of faith, namely the ritual of invoking the gods, is fundamentally divided into two parts: internal and external. The external source refers to the input of external magical power, forming the material body of the deity. Alice's game console and cartridges, essentially equivalent to the sacred artifacts of the fantasy kingdom, contain the immense magical power of the young girl's kingdom; there is no more suitable external container. The internal source, on the other hand, is the strong and pure power of faith, forming the inner foundation of the deity. It embodies the idea that the deity will listen to the wishes of believers, thereby determining the direction of its creation of a divine kingdom. For example, the followers of Alexander the Machine yearn for the era of steam and civilization to last forever; thus, Alexander returns time and again from the cycle of time, unable to be completely defeated…

However, Alexander the Machine God's power was essentially due to the sheer number of believers in the Steam Church, whose faith provided an exceptionally vast amount of power, which gave Him the ability to create something from nothing. In contrast, Linger attempted to use his own faith to replace the prayers of millions of people. There was no precedent for this in history, or rather, no one was willing to try it; they didn't even dare to have such an idea.

This is a personal ritual to invoke the gods.

Of course, if one pursues perfection, there are many more options. While the worship of the Creator Goddess is taboo in the Eastern Continent, and no one dares to touch it except in the mysterious paradise of Assyria, who cares about such things when faced with a life-or-death situation? Therefore, the inhabitants of Cloud Whale Sky Island, the young soldiers who frequently listen to Medien's sermons, and the students in the school could all become vessels. Even more extreme, artificially creating a group of followers of the Goddess within the rebel army wouldn't be impossible. But that would be far too cruel.

Familiar faces flashed through his mind: residents gazing at the sea of ​​clouds from the sky island, children with stubborn eyes in the youth army, students listening attentively in class... Their trust and reliance should not become cold fuel.

What Linger wanted to save was people, not an empty world.

If someone is destined to pay the price, he hopes it will be him. But the young man doesn't approach it with a saintly sense of sacrifice, nor does he feel there's anything to be proud of; it's simply... taken for granted.

Perhaps long ago, young people stopped seeing "themselves" as a price to pay.

But what he doesn't care about, someone else will always care about, and care about very much.

“You shouldn’t have done that, Ringo,” Sainte-Charlie said softly, her voice like a sigh. “It won’t work.”

“It works,” the young man said, as if to prove his words, or as if to echo his inner determination. The game console and cartridge in his hands gradually emitted a faint white light, pulsating rhythmically, as if in harmony with his heartbeat: “I’ve tried it. The power of faith can indeed awaken Alice’s game console and cartridge…”

“That’s not what I meant.” Saint Charlotte suddenly interrupted him, saying each word clearly, “Even if your faith can awaken Alice’s game console and cartridges, it doesn’t mean you can create a deity modeled after Mother. Because Mother is a unique existence in this universe. She is the prototype for the laws and the form of magic. She stands at the origin of all extraordinary powers, untraceable, unsurpassable, and unimitable.”

The essence of the power of faith is conception, not tracing back. Therefore, what is ultimately created is just an empty shell that has a similar appearance to the goddess but a completely different core.

An empty shell cannot defeat the Dark Witch Carabosse.

Upon hearing this, Ling fell silent. He knew Saint Charlotte was right, but he had already devised a strategy. If he ultimately couldn't create a deity modeled after the goddess, then he would change his object of worship to… himself.

To believe in yourself, to become a god, and then to save everyone—doesn't that sound like a beautiful fairy tale?
The only problem is that... the ritual of invoking the gods requires believers to have absolute trust, reliance and faith in their gods, but the young man is not sure if he really trusts himself as much as he imagines.

Despite remaining calm throughout.

Despite being consistently reliable.

Although he has always been the backbone of everyone, someone they trust and rely on.

On the contrary, he might be a very insecure person.

When the Church of Our Lady of the Heart was forced to close, and his sister felt angry and aggrieved, he told her to accept reality, but inwardly he despised his own weakness; when fate repeatedly shattered his peaceful life, forcing him onto a path destined for ups and downs, he calmly declared that he would complete this journey and eventually return to an ordinary life, while inwardly mocking his own submissiveness; when Rochelle summoned the divine and Nimscher was plunged into an unprecedented snowstorm, he deeply hated his recklessness, and inwardly he also hated his own indifference; when loneliness struck, he feigned strength; when the night was still, he couldn't sleep; he suffered in confusion, grieved in pain, became muddled in grief, and finally lost himself in a state of muddled confusion…

Does someone like this really deserve to be a god?

For the first time, he felt...fear, an emotion that rarely appeared in his life, yet it was so real, as if it had always been there, only that the young man had never noticed it.

At that moment, someone gently grasped his hand, their fingertips touching his slightly cool skin, conveying a warm feeling.

"It's ok."

Saint Charlotte said gently, just as she had gently comforted Ietta before. Her hand overlapped his, covering the small game console and cartridge. A glimmer of light shone through her fingers, reflecting in her clear eyes: "It's alright, Ring. If, if you believe that the power of belief can create miracles, then please believe me."

She said to believe in me, not to have faith in me.

"If you're willing to believe in me, it's like a million people believing in me; if you wholeheartedly support me, it's like ten million people supporting me; if you see me as a savior of the world, it's like all living beings in the world are praying for my salvation. This world is sometimes sad, but most of the time I feel its joy, just like the love you once gave me. Like you, I also want to save everyone, so—"

"Please let me become your god, Ling?"

Give me some cats