Chosen: Beyond Fate

Chapter 92: Liberation

When the aberrant sage descended, everything fell under control. The unexpected shift came without warning.

Ji Jue felt as if his reason and perception had betrayed him. He could hardly believe it. The workshop personally created by the sage was now attacking Mercury?!

He froze in place, stiffly turning his head to look at the Seer. But the Seer said nothing more.

Cracks surfaced across the broken skull. Behind that shattered face, a radiance more dazzling than anything Ji Jue had ever seen shone through.

He once again sensed an unprecedented, immense rhythm. It shrouded the heavens, blanketed the earth, filled the entire rift realm, permeating everything. By sheer force, it halted the operation of all spirit matter circuits and, in reverse, obstructed the workings of creation itself.

At this very moment, the creator of the workshop was being suppressed by the workshop, as if she was imprisoned within a cage. No, it would be more accurate to say that Mercury had been bound and imprisoned by the workshop all along.

Even the changes that greeted the outsiders after they entered the core were not meant to repel invaders, but to seal away the many lingering Ember remnants left behind by Mercury...

And yet, her soul was preserved, not allowing her to fall into that abyss of nothingness. Between the tragedy of having nothing and the tragedy of futile struggle, they chose a brand new tragedy that was neither. Between two bitter fruits, they planted yet another seed of bitterness.

“How pitiful, all of you,” the Seer murmured, gazing at the colossal being imprisoned high above the firmament.

From endless cycles of torment and reincarnation, she had lost everything. Even the pride she once held in her own resolve and determination had been worn away. Over four hundred years, she wandered alone through pain and despair, reduced to this state.

Even her sense of self had been completely eroded, ground away bit by bit. What remained was only obsession and countless creations that could neither choose their birth nor find release in death.

All these years, everyone had been trapped in this hell, day after day, struggling without end, as though they had all the time in the world. But nothing in this world lasted forever. What seemed eternal would eventually be annihilated. What felt infinite would one day run dry.

She let out a weary sigh. “It’s time for this to end. For you, and for us.”

What rang out from the ruins was the final tolling of a bell. To the rift realm, to the workshop, to the earth, the heavens, and all creations, to Mercury herself, it delivered its last proclamation like a dirge.

Atop the shattered bell tower, the old, cracked bronze bell trembled with all its strength, calling out to everything again and again in hoarse cries. In accordance with the promises made across countless cycles, it announced the arrival of the final ending.

And so, all things awakened from torment.

The first to surge was the ocean. From beneath the nine layers of earth, boundless spirit matter came rushing forth. In the depths of the sea, countless ashes, silent as mountain ranges, rose once more, stirring up violent, chaotic currents. The clarity and splendor were gone, replaced instead by the frenzy and blood-red hue accumulated over more than four hundred years.

They surged and churned, rising from the boil. Countless colors had once flowed within the purest spirit matter, but in the end, all that remained was the crimson forged through endless cycles of destruction and rebirth. It rampaged and rushed forward, spreading across the land and drowning everything in this ocean of pain and despair.

Within that blood-like sea, innumerable shattered souls opened their eyes.

“Ah... finally...”

“Much obliged.”

“Seer... Seer...”

“Where... Where are you...”

From within the heavy haze and disorientation, Ji Jue once again heard those hoarse voices. They overlapped in a chaotic and frenzied manner, as if all reason and logic had long since been lost, yet they were still clinging with relentless persistence.

They were filled with despair, and yet, they expressed such joy and elation, as though after endless waiting and torment, the long-awaited end had finally arrived.

The blue light of the devil’s work ball poured over Ji Jue frantically, sustaining his sanity and consciousness as it shouted, “Snap out of it, kid!!! You’re too deeply bound to Mercury’s workshop right now! Cut the connection immediately, do you hear me?! Otherwise, you’ll be dragged in and melted down with it!”

Ji Jue was still resonating with the workshop, as if he himself were part of it, feeling the wails rising from that boundless crimson sea. Yet just before his reason and soul could completely melt away, everything came to an abrupt halt. The workings of the workshop itself severed all intrusion and impact. In turn, it enclosed him within it.

Only the slow trickle of blood from Ji Jue’s nose fell down his face. He gasped with difficulty, raising his head, and saw gray light gathering and spreading through the air, interweaving into the outline of steel until it formed a crude body.

Then, it donned a solemn white robe. Just like the sage’s rebirth in ages past, that posture and appearance caused even the devil’s work ball to fall silent.

The Seer glanced back at him. Her aged face, riddled with cracks, looked as it always had. “Don’t worry, you’ll be fine. It’s only a trace of lingering resentment that doesn’t belong to you. There’s no need to grieve over it.” ƒrēewebnovel.com

A piercing shriek rose from the sea of spirit matter. A massive, worm-like creature emerged once more from the submerged city. The monster that had once hungrily chased Ji Jue’s group when they first entered the rift realm now writhed within the blood-colored sea. Countless iron fragments and tissues sloughed off its swollen body, crumbling into dust.

The mutation began again, yet what was born from that shattered form was an endlessly extending chain, stretching toward the remnants of Mercury in the heavens to bind, encircle, and endlessly entangle her.

Then came the second creature. From the collapsing earth, a grotesque, turtle-like abomination roared, its pain and hatred transforming into chains that rose into the sky.

Hundreds upon thousands of hideous birds devoured one another in the heavens, merging and transforming. Like links in a chain, they locked together, wrapping around outstretched hands one after another.

There were more. Those dying, those mutated, and even those who still retained human forms, bathed in the blood-like sea, one by one embraced the Ironification Syndrome that had once filled them with terror. Shedding their flesh, they transformed into chains, winding themselves around the sage and binding it within this rebellious prison.

Amidst the collapsing buildings and surging blood, Ji Jue saw a familiar figure once again.

“97?” he muttered.

That middle-aged man with the deformed arm was climbing upward with all his strength, heading for higher ground. Camp members followed behind him.

When he lifted his head, he noticed the gaze cast down from the core in midair. It seemed he saw Ji Jue, and he waved vigorously.

As if saying goodbye, he shouted something at the top of his lungs, but Ji Jue couldn’t make it out clearly. All he could see was his smile, looking relieved at his newfound freedom.

Filled with joy, 97 spread his arms wide, allowing the surging crimson spirit matter to swallow him whole. Within that blood-red tide, his body swelled violently, mutated, then shattered. In the end, he merged into the rising chains. Thread upon thread, like a rebellious net rising from the earth itself, they wrapped around the sage.

Only then did realization finally dawn on Ji Jue.

“The camp? What about the people in the camp?” He staggered forward, grabbing the Seer by the collar[1], no longer able to restrain his anger. “What exactly are you doing?! No matter how great your plan is, does it really have to cost them their lives?!”

“Their lives?” The Seer turned back in confusion. Seeing Ji Jue’s furious expression, she slowly seemed to understand what he meant. “I see. Thank you, Ji Jue, for still regarding us as people like yourself, even now. Thank you for the pity and compassion you’ve given us. But for there to be death, there must first have been life, mustn’t there? Do you think that what we are now counts as living? Do you think we have ever truly lived?”

From the moment of their creation, everything had already been decided. Day after day, they ran along predetermined tracks and lives, until they wore down, broke apart, and were reforged into new forms, then cast once more into a cycle with no visible end. As tools, all of this was only natural.

But why were they given souls? Why were they made to understand what “self” even meant?

“We were shaped in the form of humans, yet we never once wished to become human. To us, living and dying have never held any difference. For tools, living like humans is far too painful. What you call ‘living’ feels like hell.”

The Seer turned back, gazing at the rift realm, now utterly unrecognizable. “We were born as part of this hell. But even hell should have the freedom to choose whether to persist or to end. This isn’t just my decision. It’s the collective choice of all tools. If our world was never meant to exist, then returning to nothingness is the only correct answer.”

Ji Jue slowly let go, exhaustion weighing on him. As he looked into those calm and resolute eyes, he couldn’t help but ask, “Seer, who exactly are you?”

The Seer fell silent. Then, unable to hold back, she let out a self-mocking laugh.

“A liar who carried the hopes of all her companions, yet failed to fulfill them. A traitor who was entrusted with a mission by her master, only to betray it. A tool that has gone out of control. Nothing more.” free𝑤ebnovel.com

That was her answer. Yet another lie.

Ji Jue shook his head. Thinking carefully, ever since they met, he truly couldn’t tell whether she had told him more truths than lies. He should have known from the start not to trust a charlatan who spoke in riddles.

The answer had been right in front of him all along.

The one figure missing from countless shattered timelines, the one crucial role absent from every cycle of the town. The only creation that had broken free from its original path and design and had chosen its own life and future.

Was she the puppet that bore the name Mercury? Or the core of the workshop, entrusted with everything after inheriting Mercury’s memories and obsessions?

Perhaps she was also the convergence of all the shattered souls and lingering obsessions within the rift realm.

She was all of it.

This was the final, unconscious divine forging carried out by Mercury after gathering every cause and consequence. She was another result born from that endless, grand alchemical process. She was the Divine Creation known as the Seer.

And now, the authority and power to decide everything had manifested in the Seer’s hands. The supreme control capable of commanding the workshop, governing the rift realm, and bringing an end to the pain and endless cycles.

Flowing mercury slowly rose from the ground, taking the form of a slender, austere scepter. She held it with utmost care and presented it before Ji Jue.

“Do you remember our agreement, Mr. Ji? Now, within the workshop’s foundational command structure, you who have inherited Fluid Alchemy and Pacifier possess authority equal to Mercury herself. You are capable of making the decision that a tool like me could never make, of issuing that command. Are you still willing to grant mercy to us inhuman things?”

For four hundred years, there had been day after day of torment and waiting, endless repetition and cycles. From the moment the creation that called itself the Seer came into being, it had been hoping and waiting.

Outsiders came again and again, only to die or leave. None had ever cast even a glance upon these puppet creations, nor shown any care for this barren and broken rift realm.

Until once more, she sensed the gate to the real world open. He was a soul unlike any before him, flickering faintly in the darkness yet shining with incomparable brilliance. He was the only outsider who would truly feel pity for creations, who, even in the face of suffering and temptation, would still offer mercy.

It was not just the furnace that, once awakened, gave everything in relief. Any creation, upon realizing the true nature of Deus Ex Machina, would offer gratitude and recompense from the bottom of their heart. If he had not truly regarded those ignorant, unfeeling machines and creations as companions, how could he be moved by the cries of mere puppet constructs?

Through her tears, she had already seen the long-awaited dawn of an ending.

“What we long for is not so-called freedom, nor a painful existence like that of humans. We simply wish to return to silence, to meet the end that tools are meant to have.”

The Seer lowered her head, humbly pleading, offering everything to the one she had chosen as the wielder of control, the master capable of presiding over the workshop.

“Please, grant them release. Please, grant her release.”

1. It seems that the Seer has recovered her body after the reset and is no longer just a head. ☜