Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 1334: Is it getting harder and harder to understand?

In the highest heavens, the deadly battle between gods seems to have no end.

In this mortal world, life either gathers in groups to welcome new life, or wanders alone, awaiting death. What is the force that distinguishes these two? Is it battle? Is it fate? Or is it the loneliness that mortals cannot yet comprehend? At least for now, Linge knows nothing. Perhaps one day in the future he will suddenly understand, just as a question that troubled him for a long time in his childhood will suddenly be resolved the moment he grows up. But no one can guarantee that he will still have a future, just as no one can accurately say when they will become an adult. Everything is unknown, waiting to be awakened.

The giant scythe danced, its blade like fire, slashing, stabbing, summoning a mighty dragon to become a tide, or soaring down like a meteor with a roar. An elegant yet deadly dance bloomed in the sky, the raging black flames gently licking the girl's skin, leaving cold wounds that would silently heal and vanish in the next moment. The string of fate, plucked by pale fingertips, deflected every oncoming attack, negating every wound inflicted by the scythe. The giant serpent, its head coiled in a ring, slowly turned, its cold eyes always watching from the shadows. When the enemy showed a weakness, it would emerge without hesitation from the neglected corner, branding its fangs, symbols of misfortune and tragedy, onto the fragile body, only to be mercilessly crushed in the next moment. The wounds were then covered by black flames, instantly burying all traces.

Both sides are driven by an unwavering will to fight, showing no mercy whatsoever, with each attack aimed at killing the other. Yet, both are also bound by the belief that they cannot afford to lose this battle. The essence of the Girl's Royal Power lies in the heart, and its power is the power of the heart. As long as one's heart refuses to admit defeat, is unwilling to admit defeat, and cannot admit defeat, then no matter how severe the injury, it will be healed in an instant. Even life and death can be reversed with the birth of a single thought, and then this endless battle can continue.

Neither could persuade the other, neither could defeat the other, and neither could kill the other. In this sense, the battle seemed meaningless. Yet the two figures continued to chase, intersect, collide, and confront each other in the sky. The giant scythe suppressed the snake's body, while the snake's fangs bit into the scythe blade. Behind the trembling, wailing weapons were two equally calm and equally resolute faces.

Meteors in the universe pursue the meaning of a fleeting moment, and perhaps it is the same for these two people. Even if the outcome is decided in just a moment, it still means that they have defeated each other in that brief instant.

Mortals once abandoned their ideals and beliefs, embarking on the battlefield solely for profit and desire, but in the eyes of true gods, they have never been so important.

So important... that I'd risk my life for it.

……

Shinolema stopped, his face expressionless as he gazed at the enormous, solitary celestial body below. It was unimaginably vast; even from a cosmic vantage point, only a tenth of its form could be discerned. Beyond his sight, cold arcs rotated outwards along a fan-shaped tangent, the curved surface of the planet slowly rising, like the rotation of a planetary gear, gradually reflecting the scene behind the celestial body into the knight's snow-white eyes. It was a cold, awe-inspiring, indescribably massive matrix, along with countless meticulously arranged transmission, energy storage, and launch units, together forming this unstoppable war machine that traversed the cosmos.

The alien philosopher—Dyson Sphere.

Silently hovering in its orbit beyond the Mirror Star, its colossal form nearly as wide as a continent on the planet, casting a shadow that covered thousands of kilometers of its surface, it had remained unseen by mortals on land only because of the darkness. But now, that veil of darkness had vanished, and this magnificent celestial body, appearing like a giant compared to the Mirror Star, openly flaunted its existence, even obscuring the light of the sun and moon. From the western continent to the eastern continent, from the lonely sea to the stars, a breathtaking solar eclipse was unfolding. The creatures on the ground looked up in terror, witnessing the heavens being devoured by an enormous black disc, sunlight sliced ​​into tiny golden rings that danced around the disc's edge. The mages on the ancient astrological towers were driven to madness, raving about the coming of doom and the prophecies of the Moria's destruction; while the scholars at the Royal Observatory searched through historical records but found no similar accounts, thus concluding that they were experiencing a miracle that would never happen again in the history of civilization.

However, who could have imagined that this was merely a man-made technological relic, about to bring the battle between the two gods to a close?

The stage is ready; it is this empty universe.

Empty wasn't an adjective, but a factual description. Hino's gaze swept across every corner of the horizon. The once familiar star map was unrecognizable. Within countless light-years of the naked eye, apart from Mirror Star, the Dyson Sphere, the Sun and Moon, and a few other celestial bodies that had survived, all other stars were gone, vanished without a trace. On a vast canvas, only a profound, chilling emptiness remained, along with the occasional drifting fragment of stardust emitting a faint, cold light—like the ashes of the universe. The distances between stars were vast and desolate, sending a chill down one's spine.

After this battle, mortal astrology or astronomy will be rewritten, and familiar constellation names such as Uranus, Ancient Knights, or Frost Queen will be erased from textbooks, all by the knights of the Gostaff family.

When Calabos awakened, primordial darkness engulfed the universe, disrupting the balance between light and darkness. Terrifying tides began to engulf the stars in this region, threatening to spread to even more distant galaxies. Once the primordial darkness completely consumed most of the light and heat in the universe, firstly, the broken balance would be difficult to repair, potentially causing the extinction of species and the collapse of civilizations in a short period; secondly, Calabos's power would expand to an unstoppable level, which his companions on Earth alone would be absolutely unable to withstand.

Therefore, Xinuo had no choice but to intervene, using the most forceful means to stop the spread of darkness. She not only intercepted the tides unleashed by the primordial darkness, building a dike alone on horseback, remaining unmoved amidst the raging tides, letting time wear them down, but also, after the dark currents subsided, personally annihilated those celestial bodies that had been eroded by the primordial darkness and whose nature was beginning to change. In the end, when she quelled this crisis that could have threatened the balance of the universe, only the visible parts of the celestial bodies in this star field remained, like embers of a calamity.

While this would still have some impact on mortal civilization, it was far better than letting the primordial darkness recklessly devour the light and heat of the universe. What made Hino vaguely uneasy was that, after Caraboss became a complete monarch, he was, in a strict sense, the absolute controller of the dark forces. If He intended to control them, the primordial darkness couldn't have spread so rampantly, unless He had only used it as a delaying tactic from the beginning, and the target of that delaying tactic was naturally Hino himself. Ietta couldn't possibly defeat Caraboss, unless… was he truly powerless to change anything? Even possessing the power of victory…

Gazing at the empty universe, the young knight sighed dejectedly. Just as she was about to look away, her peripheral vision caught a glimpse of something unusual. In the far distance, a colossal cosmic beast, unimaginable to those on Earth, seemed drawn by something, slowly but steadily approaching this star system. It was an extraterrestrial monster devoid of intelligence or reason. Could it have been attracted by the magical fluctuations during the previous Dark Tide? But now, there was nothing in this star system that it would care about…

Hino hesitated, unsure whether she should intervene and drive away the extraterrestrial monster. Allowing it to roam freely across the star system would pose a significant threat to Mirror Star, which had lost the protection of its stars. However, time was of the essence; the battle on the ground was still escalating. She needed to eliminate the threat posed by the Dyson Sphere as soon as possible and then return to Mirror Star to support her companions…

This contradictory thought lasted for less than a breath. The next moment, Xinuo was suddenly astonished to find that along the path of the extraterrestrial monster, countless violent magical energies were expelled from its body and solidified into a stable form the instant they touched the void of space. They began to attract the surrounding scattered magical energy and celestial debris to gather around them and expanded at a visible speed, gradually releasing light and heat... The behemoth seemed unaware of the changes it had caused and continued to move forward, leaving behind a string of gradually brightening points of light, like seeds being sown.

This is... the birth of a star!?
As stars fall, new stars are born, filling the void in the universe. Although their birth is currently slow, like newly born fireflies, their light faint, as more and more extraterrestrial monsters are drawn in like whales following ocean currents, soon the stars will once again flourish and shine, illuminating the world…

So that's how it is; this is the balance of the universe...

Having witnessed firsthand the universe's spontaneous maintenance of balance, Xinuo seemed to have gained some new insights into the relationship between the two ancient laws of chaos and order. But now was not the time. She no longer paid attention to the whereabouts of the extraterrestrial monster, but instead turned her gaze back to the artificial celestial body silently rotating in the boundless universe. It was so enormous, so awe-inspiring, and so... lonely.

Because no one is with me.

Hino only discovered this upon closer inspection: the war fortress was completely empty. Like a ghost adrift in space, it was driven by an unyielding will, its movements solely fueled by its true master, the Dark Witch far removed in the mortal realm. Even across light-years, she could control the unmanned Dyson Sphere; her mental strength, willpower, and magic were unimaginably resilient. However, the objective distance was too great to be overcome by mere willpower. Thus, the Dyson Sphere's actions were so rigid and sluggish, mechanically firing its cation-destroying cannons at ground coordinates, while the interstellar patrol fleet and mechs that should have been its escorts were nowhere to be seen.

As for where the original pilots and combat personnel of the Dyson Sphere went... there's no need to speculate. In the disciplined Witch Society, only the Dark Witch Carabosse herself had the authority to transfer her subordinates from their posts—perhaps repatriating them, perhaps deploying them to other battlefields. In any case, an empty Dyson Sphere was left drifting in space. This was good news for Hino. She wasn't afraid of the Dyson Sphere under human control, and the interstellar cruise fleet and mech units posed no threat to her. However, if those fanatical and loyal Society members really fought desperately to stop her, it would likely delay the battle considerably and introduce unexpected twists and turns.

The only thing she couldn't understand was why Caraboss would do that.
Although that would kill many, many more, given the Dark Witch's consistent coldness and ruthlessness, Xinuo believed she wasn't lacking in decisiveness. Or perhaps, even a heartless Dark Witch, after too much contact with mortals, would suddenly feel sadness and hesitation at some point? The emotion expressed in that instant was neither kindness and mercy, nor compassion and pity; if she had to find a suitable adjective, Xinuo thought it would be… impulsiveness?

All emotions that arise in a moment are impulses.

The young knight sighed silently, feeling that she understood the dark witch less and less, and of course, she might never have the chance to understand her again.

The Dark Witch infused a portion of her spiritual power, willpower, and magic into the Dyson Sphere, making it the heart, flesh, and breath of this giant artificial celestial body, thus enabling her to control it across light-years. However, this came at a price: if the Dyson Sphere were destroyed, she would suffer a backlash, forever losing this part of her power.

In this war, even the slightest imbalance can determine the final outcome.

The knight shook his head slightly, dispelling all the confusion in his mind. Then he raised his spear high, and the Holy Spear White Thorn radiated a pure and intense light. The spear seemed to be forged from solidified starlight, and countless tiny points of light scattered from the spear tip, like a galaxy flowing into the void. The light grew brighter and brighter, gradually dispelling the cold darkness of the surrounding universe and illuminating the huge metal shell of the Dyson Sphere with a bright white light.

“In the name of Gostaff,” the girl said softly, her snow-white eyes lowered and her fiery hair flowing, “let this war come to an end.”

As the last syllable fell, the power concentrated at the tip of the spear, enough to reshape the stars, erupted with a deafening roar.