Those time travelers that year

Matera is most famous for its cave dwellings. These cave dwellings have been remarkably well-developed and have existed for over 200 million years, which is truly astonishing. Of course, in modern times, few people live in these ancient dwellings anymore, and they have become a scenic feature.

There are many, many of these ancient buildings here.

Similarly, in this world with hidden supernatural powers, these caves are no longer ordinary caves; some even conceal mysterious forces. Naturally, such places are unknown to ordinary people, and the Italian magic society actively seals them off.

Unfortunately, the blockade imposed by mortals has absolutely no effect on extraordinary beings.

And so, led by Athena, the two easily wandered around and arrived at a completely different street. The surrounding buildings were much older and dilapidated, as were the streets themselves, and there was no longer any sign of other travelers or local residents.

It was like encountering a ghost.

This wasn't an encounter with a ghost; rather, the two had entered a strange space, a mirrored world superimposed on the outside.

To get here, one either had to tear through the spatial barrier to enter, or one had to take the correct 'path'. Tearing through space directly would have caused too much noise, so Athena led Sharl as if wandering aimlessly until they reached the actual 'path' and entered.

"We've arrived!" Athena said, and at the same time she stopped.

Ahead lay a cluster of collapsed buildings—well, not really buildings anymore; it was more like ruins. The only intact thing here was a statue standing on a stone pier, a statue of indeterminate gender, but with wings on its back.

“This is the ‘helper’ you’ve been looking for?!” Charles looked at the statue in surprise, especially at the stone base beneath it, where the name Lucifer, written in Latin, was faintly discernible but still visible. “…What kind of expression should I make?! Although you only mentioned it casually before, I really didn’t expect that after coming here, you would actually intend to summon this one.”

"Is that strange?!"

"Of course, I thought you would go looking for summons like Theia and Thetis..."

“I am also quite familiar with this one!” Athena laughed. “You know, she is the offspring of Aurora—in Roman times, she was the goddess of the morning star.”

"Although my interactions with this person, who is the third generation Titan, Phosphorus, are not very 'enthusiastic,' I must say that, in terms of both fame and power, he is a perfectly qualified collaborator."

513.Lucifer

Lucifer is a Latin word composed of lux (light, genitive lucis) and ferre (to bring), meaning messenger of light, originating from Roman mythology. The word Lucifer is translated as Lucifer.

In ancient Greek mythology, Lucifer, corresponding to Phospholos, was a Titan of the third generation and the god of the morning star (Venus, which appears at dawn). He is also known as Eωσφ?ρο?-Eospholos, meaning "of dawn."

Of course, ancient Greek civilization has vanished, and even ancient Rome, which inherited it, disappeared completely into the dustbin of history after a period of glory. Lucifer, the god of the morning star, is more often seen as the arrogant one of the seven princes of Hell.

In fact, the inclusion of Lucifer in Christian mythology is a misrepresentation. The original Bible did not mention Lucifer as a seraph; rather, due to translation issues, Lucifer was transformed into Lucifer, and this is used in Isaiah 14:12 in the Latin Woolgavian and King James Versions.

This passage from Isaiah was originally intended to satirize the Babylonian king, but the bright star mentioned in it was mistakenly translated as Lucifer.

However, some also say that Lucifer was first used as the name of the devil before his fall from grace by early medieval church fathers. The true Lucifer, the Morning Star, is likely a derivative legend from folk mythology.

In short, the arrogance of the Pride, who has been incorporated into Christian mythology and was once the vice-ruler of the Kingdom of Heaven, later leading one-third of the angels to fall into hell, actually originated from ancient Greek and Roman mythology and folk derivatives.

Similar accounts exist in Canaan, Egypt, and Persia. In ancient times, the Canaanites believed that the Dawn Star was a god called Heleel, who rebelled out of jealousy of the sun god's superior glory, but ended in a disastrous defeat and was thrown from the sky.

From this perspective, all charlatans throughout history and across the world are actually shameless individuals who spout nonsense and plagiarize widely.

……

“In terms of divinity, this one can be traced back to a very distant time, and in ancient Greece, he was indeed a god I knew!” Athena said, looking at the statue. “Actually, relatively speaking, I prefer to call him Forsytheros rather than Lucifer.”

“The third generation of Titans, Morning Star - Forthforth.” Charles nodded, then muttered, “This circle is really messy!”

"Well, myths and legends can change over time."

"Then why would there be a statue of the Morning Star in Matera—is it really just a coincidence?"

“No!” Athena shook her head. “For a disobedient god like myself to descend into this world, one of the conditions is that I want to descend. However, in this world, a disobedient god must have a medium for descending—the range of such mediums is very broad. As I mentioned before, it could be an altar, a divine artifact, or even a specific location… anything that can be associated with a related ‘concept’ is acceptable.”

"And here, in this ancient town... you can guess why it was chosen as the best place for the Morning Star - Fosforos to descend."

"And the reason for this is that it comes from ordinary mortals. This is a 'miracle' that is one in ten thousand, created unintentionally by ordinary people."

"Sorry!" After much consideration, Charles still couldn't figure out why such a coincidence would occur. Although he knew that the descent of a disobedient god required a specific medium, and that medium was not fixed, like the sun gods of Rhodes Island, whose descent was supposedly due to a girl with the same name and the existence of Rhodes Island—it was utter nonsense. And disobedient gods were precisely that kind of nonsense. "I can't figure it out."

"After the millennium, to be precise, 2002..." Athena candidly revealed the answer: "A sensational and controversial film produced by Hollywood star Mel Gibson."

"Wait a minute!" Charles asked incredulously. "This is utter nonsense! A movie, what does it have to do with this Morning Star?!"

“Yes!” Athena pointed to the ground. “Here, in this city, history can be traced back to a long time ago, to Greece, Rome, and so on, which became the sphere of influence of various religions… and the morning star has different but closely related identities in various religions.”

"In addition—mythology is influenced by humans, and the rise of this city is actually all due to that movie. Unconsciously, this city, which should not have allowed the arrival of disobedient gods, has, by chance, already had enough conditions."

Matera gained popularity because of Mel Gibson's 2002 Passion of Christ production.

Gods originated from mythology, and mythology originated from humankind.

"It feels... incredibly forced, no, this is just sophistry!" Even so, Charles still couldn't understand why this was happening.

"You're so annoying!" Athena kicked Ciel. "As long as there are enough conditions, don't worry about all that other stuff."

"Are you sure that being here will bring down the Morning Star, and not some Jesus Christ or something?!"

“That holy son cannot possibly descend!” Athena said. “Even if he did descend, so what… With you and me joining forces, can’t we send him back?! Besides, what kind of disobedient identity could that holy son use to descend?! The God of Christ, apart from those 'angels' who can escape mythology through corruption, don’t even think about it! — So, don’t waste your time.”

——————————Divider Line——————————

The idea of ​​Lucifer, the Morning Star, descending seemed utterly absurd to Ciel, but even more absurd was that Athena considered it a certainty. After much deliberation, Ciel chose to trust the judgment of the Goddess of Wisdom; after all, a little more chaos in this chaotic world wouldn't hurt.

On the contrary, the summoning ritual seemed to have the air of a cult.

First, Athena personally drew an inverted heptagonal magic circle around the statue, with the statue at its center. After completing the drawing, Athena slightly cut her arm, letting blood drip onto the seven points of the heptagon.

Then she had Ciel summon it himself, reasoning that when it came to the similarity of power, Ciel was closer to the Morning Star than Athena, and the success rate would be greater.

Using the power of the abyss, trace the magic circle, then ignite it with the Primordial Flame.

The abyss is equivalent to the darkness of human nature; it is the aggregate of human nature, and also gluttony, greed, sloth, lust, pride, envy, wrath...

The First Flame represents light, a light in the darkness, and is also the origin of hope and the end of despair.

514. Lucifer

Although this ritual of summoning a disobedient god seemed incredibly absurd, Ciel thought about it carefully and realized there were plenty of absurd things out there. Like Bubble, which just comes running over after you read its ID card—it's completely illogical.

If Bubble, one of the evil gods in the void, can be so hospitable and unpretentious, perhaps the disobedient gods of this world are similar, the kind who can just jump down at will.

Otherwise, there wouldn't be rebellious gods running rampant in this world, giving rise to generation after generation of god-slayers.

So, suppressing his inner complaints, Charles still stood in front of the seven-pointed star, facing the angel statue at the center of the seven-pointed star array. He half-squatted down, placed his hand on the seven-pointed star array, and injected energy to activate the Abyss and the First Flame.

In the twilight-like glow of the first fire, Ciel began to chant softly:

“??, ??? ?? ?! ??? ??? ? ??? ?. ??? ?? , ??? ? ? ? (Bright star, son of the morning, why have you fallen from heaven? Why have you, who conquered nations, been cast down to the earth?)”

“You said in your heart, I will ascend to the heavens, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, I will sit on the mountain of assembly, on the northernmost reaches.”

“I will ascend to the highest clouds, I will be equal with the Most High.”

Boom!!!

As the chanting reached this point, a deafening thunderclap suddenly resounded from nowhere. The thick, murky white fog that had been hanging above this alternate dimension of Matera City dissipated after Charles began chanting, revealing a pitch-black night sky.

And at this very moment, in the darkness of night, a golden star is shining with its own unique brilliance.

Xia Er could sense that the golden star was echoing the seven-pointed star array from afar, transforming into a beacon and issuing a call.

Soon, the golden star shone with unparalleled brilliance, and beside it, countless stars twinkled and shimmered, forming a dazzling galaxy. Both Charles and Athena, who was watching from the side, could sense that something was approaching using the beacon formed by this golden star and the seven-pointed star array.

“?? ? ??? ???. ? , ??? ? ? ? ?? ?? (A strange sight appeared above. There was a great red dragon with seven heads and ten horns, and on its seven heads wore seven crowns.)”

As the chant of the Charles echoed, the golden stars shone ever brighter. Soon, amidst the dawn-like light, the phantom of a red dragon appeared in the sky.

“??? ??? ?? ?? ?? ? ?, ??? ? (Its tail dragged a third of the stars in the sky, crashing to the ground)”

This is an enormous dragon that occupies all the sky within sight. The galaxy formed by the twinkling stars makes up its body. It has seven heads and ten horns, and each head is adorned with an illusory crown.

At this moment, golden stars slowly descended, landing on the central head of the dragon and disappearing into its crown. Then, the seven-headed dragon that had dominated the sky began to move its body.

“(And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought against it.)”

"They did not win; there was no place for them in the heavens."

Roar X7

Above the sky, a colossal dragon formed from stars roared, its seven heads burning with resentful rage as it dragged its star-like body downwards. Soon, the dragon's body began to crumble, each scale transforming into a shooting star that streaked across the heavens and plunged below the horizon.

In an instant, the Milky Way surged and stars fell, and a dazzling meteor shower appeared in the sky.

“The great dragon was that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who deceives the whole world. It was hurled to the earth, and its messengers were hurled down with it.”

“He seized the dragon, that is, the ancient serpent, also called the devil, or Satan, and bound it for a thousand years.”

Roar X7

As the song of Sharsong reached this point, the dragon in the sky had completely shattered, and even its seven heads began to disintegrate and dissipate, becoming part of the shooting stars. Only the central dragon head, adorned with a crown of golden morning stars, stared intently down below, its head, formed from a cluster of stars, displaying unmistakable fury.

'You dare to sing of my past!?'

A woman's voice, filled with extreme arrogance, began to ring out.

"How dare you!"

Unfortunately, Charles ignored it, as did Athena. Of course, the Greek goddess of wisdom, at that moment, looked up at the dragon's final head, which transformed into a shower of stars, with a rather amusing, or perhaps gloating, expression.

But Ciel continued to sing, completely ignoring the raging anger that was spreading from him.

"Throw it into the bottomless pit, close the pit, seal it with a seal so that it can no longer deceive the nations, until that thousand years are over. After that, it must be temporarily released."

Finally, Charles stood up, raised his head, and gazed up at the last star in the night sky, shining with a golden light like the dawn. He loudly sang his final words: "I, Jesus, have sent my messenger to you to testify to these things for all the churches. I am the root and offspring of David. I am the bright morning star."

As soon as the words were spoken, the arrogant voice uttered a curse, and then the last star in the sky began to fall, plummeting towards where Charles was.

The light flashed and vanished in an instant; the seven-pointed star array turned to ashes, while the statue in the center was enveloped by a golden pillar of light descending from the sky. Then, the statue, amidst the golden light, also vanished into nothingness.

Where the statue had turned to ashes, a figure dressed in black appeared.

She was a woman with waist-length black hair as black as night, dressed in a gothic outfit of the same black color but embroidered with gold patterns. Her eyes were the color of dawn, filled with an intense arrogance, as if she held nothing in the world above her. After she appeared, golden stardust began to appear around her, and faint hymns echoed around her.

Upon her arrival, her first glance fell upon Charles, who, though outwardly composed, still harbored a hint of surprise in his eyes. She strode up to him and arrogantly demanded, "Is it you who chants that damned language?! Who gave you such audacity!"

The voice was very authoritative, as if the speaker at this moment were a powerful and illustrious king.

—If it weren't for the fact that this person, who is only about an inch tall, is pretending to be a little adult with his head tilted back...

Reality is truly a sad story.

515 Arrogance

Reality is always bizarre. Just like you don't know that a silver-haired girl who looks over 1.5 meters tall is actually a mischievous evil god who specializes in killing the dead, you also can't imagine that she actually has a black doppelganger with a set of white teeth who looks exactly the same!