Chapter 1319: The Mechanical Emperor and the City of Morning Star

Deep Dark Heaven... the divine kingdom of the Evernight Goddess?!

Upon hearing these words, Derrick instantly fell into a dazed state. He had never imagined that Mr. Tower would bring him into a true god’s divine kingdom to advance—even if this truly was the most "pure" darkness environment...

Looking at Ebner, who crushed the card in his hand and "summoned" into reality a statue over three meters tall, clad in red armor that shimmered with a metallic sheen and wearing a fully enclosed helmet, "Sun" Derrick asked somewhat worriedly:

"T-this... can the ritual really be completed here... Mr. Tower?"

Ebner grabbed the "statue’s" hand while turning his head to look at Derrick, smiling as he said:

"Don’t worry, Mr. Fool and the Goddess are allies...

"And the Goddess has tacitly permitted our intrusion."

Hearing mention of Mr. Fool, Derrick finally gained a bit of confidence, thinking that perhaps that existence had reached some understanding with the Evernight Goddess, which was why Mr. Tower had brought him here.

After "filling in the blanks" like this for a while, and seeing that Ebner showed no nervousness at all as he tossed the statue into the "illusory" door, Derrick finally mustered his courage and followed him into the divine kingdom of a true god.

In the next moment, he found himself within endless darkness.

Faced with such an environment, which he was instinctively afraid of, Derrick subconsciously tried to use the abilities of a "Sun Priest." But he quickly discovered that no matter how hard he tried, the surroundings remained "pure" darkness—his "Sun" domain abilities seemed completely ineffective here.

Fortunately, Derrick quickly realized he had done something foolish. So he knelt down in the darkness, sincerely thanked the Goddess and Mr. Fool, and then fumbled through his belongings to take out the prepared "Light Priest" potion and drank it without hesitation.

...

On the other side, Ebner located the "Mechanical Emperor" mech statue he had just thrown into the darkness. Then, with a leap, he landed on its shoulder, while within his own "White Tower," he began constructing the model of the "Revival Technique" that several generations of himself had worked together to finally complete.

Only this time, the core "Resurrection Miracle" of the secret technique was no longer provided by Zaratul, but instead came from one of Arvin Abraham’s four "resurrections" as a "Miracle Invoker."

—This was also one of the main reasons Arvin had been revived first. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

With prior experience, Ebner was extremely familiar with the process this time. He extended a finger and directly tapped the statue’s forehead. At that spot, a gemstone that pierced through the darkness and radiated the light of civilization suddenly shone brightly.

It was precisely the soul stone left behind by one of Liu Bo’s reincarnations—the "Mechanical Emperor," Lucien Evans.

At this point, the secret technique was successfully constructed. The processes of tracing back and restarting, connecting to the "River of Eternal Darkness," resurrection, becoming a clone, and so on all activated one by one...

The entire process went extremely smoothly, until the final step of spiritual synchronization, when Ebner finally saw within his mental world the "Mechanical Emperor" Evans, with his brilliant golden hair.

The other’s appearance had long been within Ebner’s expectations, so he wasn’t surprised. He simply said calmly:

"Do you have any unfulfilled wishes?"

Evans sighed upon hearing this. "As expected, the one who understands ’me’ best is myself... You’ve blocked all the arrangements I made. I have no way to contend with you now."

"If you could stop communicating with those ’souls’ you modified, your words might carry a bit more credibility," Ebner chuckled lightly, then added, "This is within the Goddess’s divine kingdom."

Evans fell silent for a few seconds, then shook his head. "It seems I’ve completely lost... Without ’support’ within concealment, it’s impossible for me to take the lead in the fusion with you...

"However, since you can revive me within the Goddess’s divine kingdom, it means you’ve already brought those children out of the Forsaken Land of the Gods. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have let you take away this body of mine containing the soul stone.

"That’s good. Very good!"

His greatest scheme had actually been here: if his later self had chosen to "revive" him before bringing out the "City of Morning Star," then, as the one with home-field advantage, the "Mechanical Emperor" could have used the power he had previously dispersed into the souls of all the city’s residents to seize dominance in the fusion.

Moreover, bringing the "City of Morning Star" out of the Forsaken Land of the Gods indeed required the power of the "Mechanical Emperor"—this had been an agreement he made with the True Creator before his death.

But he hadn’t expected Ebner to solve this problem using the "Transformation Belt," and that the True Creator, due to Ebner having sided with Him in the previous battle at Indo Harbor, did not make things difficult—once He sensed the aura of the "Mechanical Emperor," He simply let it pass.

However, the "Mechanical Emperor" was, after all, a heroic figure who had lived for hundreds of years. After his moment of emotion, he no longer dwelled on it. After all, the contingencies he left behind were merely a gamble—since his later self had cracking them, he would accept the outcome.

After thinking for a moment, he answered Ebner’s original question:

"Since the ’City of Morning Star’ has already left the Forsaken Land of the Gods, I don’t really have many regrets... I only hope you will treat them well...

"Oh, I misspoke. After the fusion, you will also be the ’Mechanical Emperor,’ so naturally you won’t mistreat them...

"Then, the only thing I’m still concerned about is ’Vaollet’... You seem to have received most of my memories, so you should know who it is.

"It may now be in the hands of the True Creator—it is the hostage ensuring that you and I fulfill that promise."

So the True Creator’s ’trust’ in me comes from holding a hostage... Ebner nodded thoughtfully. Although after the fusion he would remain the dominant self and wouldn’t value the so-called "Vaollet" as much as the "Mechanical Emperor" did, if it was within his ability, he didn’t mind rescuing it.

However, why does the "Mechanical Emperor" refer to Vaollet as ’it’? Does that mean that even this so-called concern is just treating it as a useful ’tool’ or ’pet’?

That doesn’t quite match the memories I obtained...

Just as Ebner was growing suspicious, the residual consciousness of the "Mechanical Emperor" Evans had already completely dissipated, merging into Ebner’s mind.

At that moment, Ebner obtained Evans’s complete memories and fully took control of the "mechanical body" he had left behind, turning the "Mechanical Emperor" Lucien Evans into one of his "clones," just like Arvin Abraham.

Only then did Ebner realize in astonishment that Lucien Evans’s "mechanical body" was not merely that statue...

That was just one of the mechanical bodies he used for external activities.

The true body of the "Mechanical Emperor" was, in fact, the "City of Morning Star" itself!

(End of Chapter)