Free Web NovelChapter 2639: Chapter 1775: Flesh is Weak
Duanmu Huai pointed at that gigantic metal machine.
"It wasn’t built specifically to target Humans. Any living thing that touches it will be infected and then converted, that’s all. There’s no malice toward Humans, much less some grand conspiracy. It’s purely... bad Luck, that’s it."
"So these people ended up like this just because their Luck was bad?"
"Yeah, that’s exactly it."
Duanmu Huai let out a sigh.
"You know, when it comes to beings like Deities, Demons, or Magicians, there was once a civilization that analyzed them and gave them a title that really fits—Reality Benders."
"Reality... Benders?" ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com
"Right. Look, whether it’s Deities or Demons or Magicians, or Superpower Users and the like, their biggest trait is that they can do things that are impossible in normal reality, yeah?"
"Yeah."
Hei Chuan Chi Yin nodded. After all, what Duanmu Huai said wasn’t wrong.
"So put simply, these beings use their abilities to warp reality so that reality manifests in the way they want. Just like that thing."
Duanmu Huai pointed at another group of Humans in the distance who were screaming as they transformed into machines, while Roster had already curled up into a ball, covering his ears and trembling.
"From the standpoint of reality, there’s no way flesh can turn into metal, right?"
"That’s true."
"So any being that possesses this kind of non-real Strength is a Reality Bender. It’s just that Magicians and Superpower Users are lower-Level Reality Benders, while Deities are higher-Level Reality Benders."
At this, Duanmu Huai fixed his gaze on that machine.
"And this thing right here is one of them."
"Mr. Duanmu, you mean... this is a Deity?"
It had to be said, this really left Hei Chuan Chi Yin utterly stunned.
"Yeah. But this is only one part of it, not the complete entity." ƒree𝑤ebnσvel.com
Duanmu Huai certainly knew what this was, because right before he crossed over, the section he’d just played in the game was exactly this questline. And this Deity had caused quite a stir among the players, because at first many of them had mistaken it for the actual God of All Machines.
After all, according to what the players had dug up before, the God of All Machines worshiped by the Mechanic Religion didn’t exist at all, and there was indeed no projection of this Deity in Subspace. Logically speaking, with that many oil men worshipping in droves, by Subspace rules a projection of the God of All Machines should definitely have emerged there.
But in reality, there was no God of All Machines in Subspace, so everyone figured something was off. Later, they discovered that The Emperor had deliberately fabricated this image to trick the oil men.
So when the players discovered this Deity, they found it absurd, with a strong sense of Li Gui suddenly bumping into Li Kui.
The Mechanic Religion had been shouting about the God of All Machines for ages, and it turned out there really was a God of All Machines in this Milky Way after all.
This was the kind of mess that doesn’t clean up easily.
Incidentally, after this, Humans also developed a faith in this Deity, and their Church itself split into two factions. What they had in common was the belief in mechanical supremacy: flesh and the body are unclean and evil, and they long to reassemble and gather the scattered pieces of the Deity to resurrect it.
Among them, the Gears Orthodox advocated "Flesh is Weak," mechanical Ascension, and considered fully converting Humans into machines their ultimate goal. They were also the faction that had infiltrated the Mechanic Religion the deepest at the time—after all, that bunch of oil men had already modified themselves to be barely Human to begin with.
The Maxwellism Church, on the other hand, favored the worship of informationization. They believed that the essence of Deities is knowledge, information, and data. Their goal wasn’t to turn Humans into machines, but to connect all Human minds together and then use a vast amount of data and information to reconstruct the Deity’s true form.
Hmm... how to put it, it was basically a battle between materialism and idealism within religious belief?
And the God of All Machines they worshiped—also known as the God of Shattering. According to the intel the players had obtained, it was the Deity of cogs and gears, machinery and electronics. Above the Great Abyss it wove order and laws, forging every physical rule so that all things could operate, symbolizing order and rationality. Its birth long predated the Milky Way, and thus also long predated the Subspace Evil Gods.
Of course, as a pure, conceptual Deity, the God of Shattering had only one kind of influence—to mechanize everything completely. Just look at this mechanization virus: no lifeform can resist this kind of conceptual contamination and Reality Bending. Even a Demon from Subspace would have to flee in panic if it ran into it.
Because as Subspace entities, they actually have even less resistance than Humans in the Material Universe to this sort of concept-level, dimension-reducing strike.
However, long before Subspace even came into being, this God of Shattering had, quite literally, shattered. According to those raving Believers, that was because the God of Shattering had once fought a great war against the God of Flesh. It shattered itself completely and created a vast network to seal the God of Flesh within.
And of course that God of Flesh had its own faith and its own faction called the Flesh Cult. Their doctrine was the exact opposite of that of the God of Shattering—the Flesh Cult exalted the strengthening of the body, striving through extreme physical evolution to break through limits and reach the Domain of Deities. Not only that, they believed they could attain Ascension and become Deities themselves by devouring the flesh of Deities.
As a side note, although there’s no solid proof, there were rumors that the Tyron Swarm was formed from the leftover scraps of the God of Flesh.
The fortunate thing is, one of these two Deities is shattered and the other is sealed. If both were still active, the Subspace Evil Gods wouldn’t even have a seat at the table.
If you compare the Milky Way to a village in the Universe, the Subspace Evil Gods at most are the local bullies; while these ancient Evil Gods... they’re at least central-government-Level beings.
"There are actually that many..."
After hearing Duanmu Huai’s explanation, Hei Chuan Chi Yin was left dumbstruck, at a loss for words.
"The Universe is a boundless sea; no one knows what Monsters are still lurking in it. But no matter who comes, the mission of the Tribunal will always be the same—at any cost, to be the Guardian of Humans and annihilate any existence that threatens Humans. That was true in the past, and it will be true in the future."
As Duanmu Huai spoke, he stood up and looked toward the gigantic machine before him. By now, almost all the people in the square had vanished, while that immense device of metal, gears, and clockwork was spinning madly, spewing steam, and then...
"Woooooo—!!!"
A horn-like wail blasted out from within, and then, as if in response to this call, the surrounding buildings, machinery, and even vehicles were all drawn straight toward the gigantic metal machine as though pulled by a magnet. They crashed into it and were ground apart and devoured by the spinning gears and chainsaws on its surface. Gradually, the metal machine grew larger and larger. In the blink of an eye, it had become a towering mountain!
"M–Mr. Duanmu!? What do we do now?"
Staring at the colossal monstrosity before her, Hei Chuan Chi Yin clenched her hands nervously, while Duanmu Huai simply shook his head.
"Don’t panic, Chi Yin. You remember what I said before, right? Whether Deities, Demons, or Magicians, they’re all Reality Benders. Do you remember what that means?"
"It... it’s a distortion of reality? You mean this gigantic Monster in front of us was also created by twisting reality?"
"Exactly."
Duanmu Huai snapped his fingers.
"Since they warp reality, what we have to do is simple—just reshape reality."
As he spoke, Duanmu Huai calmly gave the order.
"Activate the Reality Stabilizing Anchor."
