Witch, Fireball and the Evil God of Steam

Chapter 1089 - 268: Desires of the Old Gods (Part 2)

As for the demons of those three major factions...Among humans, there are also fanatic believers of the Old Gods. The followers of Father of War Kaisaros paint their bodies with red pigment, while followers of Celestial Father Bazatous either transform themselves into writhing masses of flesh or become emaciated to the point of being all skin and bones.

The images of those fanatic Old God’s followers are far worse than the demons.

"This civilization is alive."

The demons possess thoughts; they have desires and ambitions, which propel civilization forward. They flexibly use the powers of other Old Gods and are open to technology from the Holy City. The new things that come to the Demon Capital all bear their intense imprint.

Ethan understood Lindong’s insight.

This is a planet inhabited only by demons, but it should never be called a "Death Star."

In the past, all civilizations touched by the Old Gods ultimately became Death Stars after being baptized by the powers of the Old Gods. Just like the Kania civilization destroyed by Bazatous, although from a biological perspective, those Kania people transformed into tumor-like beings are still alive, they have achieved eternal life as they wished. However, their life state is forever frozen at the moment of their transformation.

Moreover, these "Death Stars" would never change before Bazatous fell.

The land corrupted by Anapolis is the same. Those people, in their desire for science, turned their bodies into metal creations. Subsequently, a "metal plague" turned everything on the planet into cold buildings, turning the whole planet into a sophisticated machine, and all living beings into components within it.

But demons are different.

They appear only to have changed in form and shape; they have formed hobbies and social customs inherent to demons but still possess characteristics of higher civilizations.

"Remember the three trials of the abyss?"

Lindong asked.

At that time, she was also part of it. The demon library prepared by Sincaro for them was undoubtedly the most ingenious trial, as it was during this trial that they learned information about the "Ancestors."

There was a string of erroneous code there, which made Ethan question the very existence of the "Magic Realm."

"Ethan, what do you think the ’Ancestors’ really are?"

A year later, Ethan once again heard questions about the ancestors; only this time, the question came from Lindong, not Sincaro.

Although in the final trickery trial, Sincaro intended to replace the position of the "Ancestors" in its heart, it was evident from the timeline that Sincaro couldn’t be the "Ancestors" he spoke of.

The Lord of the Holy City, in order to explore the secrets of the Old Gods, used test subjects to attract all the Old Gods to an empty world. Those test subjects became the True Gods and Middle-Level Gods in human eyes, and under the mutual influence of both powers, the "Magic Realm" emerged.

"If viewed from the perspective of time, the one most fitting the identity of ’Ancestors’ should be the probe sent by the Lord of the Holy City to the ’Magic Realm’ for observation and recording, later known as the God of Truth."

Lindong began her analysis, "But there are still many places that don’t make sense, right?"

In Sincaro’s memory, the "Ancestors" endowed it with humanity. It was almost exactly what Ethan had done to Bazatous, Anapolis, and Kaisaros—transforming them from incomprehensible, unknowable existences into artists, adventurers, and radical politicians.

They were also affectionately called "Old Ba," "Old An," "Kai," and so on.

It was for this reason that Sincaro was particularly fond of Ethan.

Unfortunately, its twisted and pathological psychology, as well as its strong possessiveness, made it very hard for normal people to befriend it. In the trickery trial, Sincaro not only wanted to become friends with Ethan but also wanted to be his only friend.

Could Lindong tolerate this?

She got furious on the spot.

How can you be so selfish?

At that time, she wanted very much to spit in Sincaro’s face, leading to her losing the ability to think and analyze calmly. Moreover, she hadn’t yet retrieved the memory and mindset belonging to the first tier.

But when she arrived in the demon capital and reflected on the trickery trial’s encounters, she had different thoughts.

"If by ’Ancestors’ it meant the God of Truth, Sincaro wouldn’t have believed that the ’Ancestors’ were already dead. And after cooperating with the Lord of the Holy City, it should have known the complete information about the ’Ancestors,’ only regrettably finding out that its best friend was just a slightly special exploratory individual following the Lord of the Holy City’s orders."

This is the part that Lindong always found illogical.

If Sincaro realized that its best friend turned out to be such a pitifully small being, why obsess about bringing it back to life?

"Yet from behavior, the God of Truth most fits the concept of ’Ancestors.’"

Ethan said.

In Sincaro’s memory, it was the "Ancestors" who called upon the Old Gods to transform that empty world into what it later became—coinciding with the experiments initiated by the Lord of the Holy City using the test subjects imbued with Old God genes.

"So, the God of Truth is both ’Ancestors’ and not ’Ancestors.’"

Lindong said, "The many places that don’t make sense exist because we’ve always regarded Sincaro as an Old God."

Thus, they were convinced by Sincaro’s memories, believing that the past reflected by Old God memories must be real.

However, the demon capital—this still living civilization—suddenly made her realize everything.

"After partnering with the Lord of the Holy City, Sincaro knew everything, including the true identity of ’Ancestors,’ but it refused to believe any of it... You know, some patients with severe mental illness, their brains will fabricate a false reality for them once they refuse to believe a fact. What it said to you in the trickery trial was precisely its truest thoughts."

At that time, Sincaro believed it had surpassed the past, while the reality was, its brain refused to accept the truth, wanting to create a new reality, and Ethan was the most suitable candidate.

He fits the "Ancestors" in its heart better than the false exploratory probe controlled by the Lord of the Holy City.

"’Ancestors’ were born because of the God of Truth, now existing as a concept in Sincaro’s mind."

Thus, everything the Demon King did becomes explainable.

The Old Gods’ evaluation of Sincaro as "crap" just became an obstacle preventing her from understanding the truth, mistakenly thinking everything Sincaro did was purely out of its perverse taste, convincing everyone that it was inherently antisocial, existing only to make everyone displeased.

Because Old Gods don’t need motives, only humans do.

Prior to this, no one would seriously consider why the Old Gods acted this way.

They are inherently chaotic projections, naturally unintelligible by human thought.

But Sincaro, however, was exactly an Old God with human thoughts.

And this, is the greatest difference between Sincaro and other Old Gods.

With human thoughts, it had desires, thus it would evade, distort those realities it was unwilling to accept.

And precisely because of this, a civilization destined for destruction survived by transforming into demons.

With human thought, Sincaro became the most selfish of the Old Gods.

Lindong overlooked the demon capital, the demon beings resembling humans.

She knew that at some past point, Sincaro also overlooked these beings existing because of it.

The demons regarded Sincaro as their master, revering it as their creator.

When Sincaro looked down at these worshipful living beings, it conceived a thought.

It wanted demons to become the rulers of this world.

To surpass the "Magic Realm," surpass the "Holy City," and reign above all life.

This is the greatest gift a creator can give to its children.

Even if it would be despised by its kind and labeled as "crap."

...............

Meanwhile, in a certain place in the demon capital, the eye lurking in the darkness was staring at the unceasing light before it, unabashedly showing greed as if admiring a perfect piece of art.

"Neither you nor I can achieve our respective goals."

The mysticism derived from the Old Gods and the science governed by the Lord of the Holy City, "We both need everything we know from each other, so... unite with me, Messiah!"