Witch, Fireball and Steam Evil God

Chapter 384 This is a trial

It seems the special citizens of the City of Truth genuinely believe they've offered an irresistible deal, and they make no secret of their desire for the black cat perched on Ethan's shoulder.

"I reject."

Ethan gently stroked the black cat's head to comfort it.

However, he had to admire the technical skill of these people. No wonder Xiao An was in a state of unease when he received the summons. They extracted shadow energy from the fallen fragment No. 009 and created a creation specifically designed to counter shadow energy.

An eternal and perfect empire.

This is their description of creating the observer force.

This was clearly not the answer the seven First Class citizens wanted to hear; their fervor vanished, replaced by a sinister expression.

Ethan ignored their expressions and turned to Merlin, “The VIP package you set up for the shelter is still in effect, but it looks like you’ll need some additional services before that.”

The situation here is worse than Ethan imagined.

The shelter was eerily quiet. The residents did not seem to panic at the sudden appearance of the enormous creature on the surface. There was no one else in the house except for the seven people and Merlin.

"It's regrettable, Mr. Ethan, that you've chosen self-destruction—"

These citizens, who had lived for hundreds of years, finished their last words. Ethan walked straight past the slowly falling bodies. Until the moment their lives were extinguished, they were still carrying out the written procedures, and naturally they had no fear of death.

The moment they complete the summoning ritual, they have fulfilled their mission.

The next experiment was the moment when their envisioned eternal, perfect empire would be tested against the weapons of war they had created.

Ethan climbed the stairs and soon understood why the shelter was so quiet.

Stepping out of the meeting room in the committee area, what came into view was a scene that would make Buffett ecstatic.

Human body parts, organs, and flesh were scattered everywhere and had already been dismantled before his arrival. The moment simulation number 53 was completed, the seven special citizens initiated the destruction plan.

The hardest-hit area is the area outside the committee area, which is the lounge used to broadcast the "Otherworld Broadcast". Although the broadcast has been suspended for a long time, the shelter residents, still hoping, still gather here, looking forward to the moment when the broadcast will be broadcast again.

Unfortunately, they were met only by a white beam of light that pierced through the ground and descended upon them.

As "puppets" with no surplus value, they were recycled.

Ethan didn't stop; he walked towards the surface, knowing that the ruler of the Eternal Empire was watching this place at that very moment.

"Stay here and don't move."

Ethan picked up the increasingly frail black cat and placed her on the steps leading to the ground.

The weak black cat clung to his ankle, tilting her head back and staring intently at Ethan's face with her heterochromatic eyes. The closer they got to the ground, the stronger the unease became. In all the years she had known Ethan, she had never felt anything like it before.

This was an unequal encounter.

They were summoned without any preparation. Ethan had only just regained some of his lost memories. Their opponents, on the other hand, had been preparing for this day for hundreds of years. They had created artifacts to counter shadow energy and set up a summoning ritual in an unfamiliar place, waiting for their arrival.

This made her feel terrible, and to this day, she still doesn't know the true nature of the enemy.

"I will go with you!"

"have a good rest."

His warm, yet undeniably authoritative tone, and the gentle caress of his hands as he stroked the black cat's head, gradually calmed her down.

She suddenly understood what Winter had said before Ethan woke up, and she also understood why she always accompanied Ethan in the form of a cat.

The black cat gently rubbed against Ethan's palm, but the feeling didn't last long.

She watched as Ethan opened the gate to the surface, his figure disappearing into the blinding light.

Above the surface lies the City of Truth, which was destroyed hundreds of years ago, and the ruins of the streets still faintly reveal its former glory.

Ethan looked up and saw the "angel" that occupied the entire sky. Its structure contained descriptions of angels from many church texts, yet it was also fused with machinery and metal. It was a contradictory aggregate pieced together by two completely different aesthetic styles.

Before the "angel," the entire city appeared incredibly small. Its outstretched wings formed a cage that enveloped the city. Its eyes were covered by a seemingly soft yet exceptionally clean white fabric. It hovered above the city, possessing a massive, cold, and sharply defined inverted pyramid-shaped body.

At this very moment, the image of the City of Truth is also reflected in the sky above another city.

Holy City Ohm.

The center of the empire and the universe, at least that's what the inhabitants here believe.

They have different characteristics: humans, orcs, or completely mechanical creations. The only thing they have in common is the mechanical prosthetics installed on their bodies that replace some of their functions. Most of them wear collars, and the numbers floating on the collars are their identification numbers.

As the sky changed, they all looked up at the sky.

More creatures have entered the "arena".

This scene was familiar to many of them, who had once wielded weapons against incomprehensible beings for the sake of their beliefs. All their resistance only made them realize one thing—their insignificance. Before this empire destined to rule the world, their beliefs and resistance were insignificant.

These machines, which were later installed on them, helped them better understand the empire's grand ambitions.

"The Arbiter".

They were no strangers to the presence that hovered above the City of Truth; whenever it appeared, it represented the destruction of a civilization... and also, its rebirth.

That is the sharp blade that carries out the will of the empire, and it is like a natural enemy to any civilization, because it always has an energy field that completely restrains a certain civilization, or rather, the Arbiter itself exists to destroy a certain specific civilization.

They saw a destroyed city and a tiny human youth.

However, some astute individuals had already noticed something unusual—the young human was standing in front of the door of a shelter, and they saw a deep darkness hidden behind the door, which almost immediately reminded them of a starship disaster that had occurred hundreds of years ago.

An observer also perished along with the starship.

The residents of the holy city suddenly realized that this was a hunt for the "black hole".

Before long, with the help of the mechanical collar, they could see more clearly and see the true nature of that "human".

Darkness spread across the land, creating a stark contrast with the holy white light; even the sky above the holy city turned into a clear distinction between black and white.

"You went through all that trouble to summon me, aren't you going to say anything?"

The echoes of darkness reached the ears of every resident of the holy city, sending chills down their spines despite the distance of several star systems. Just as the residents were lost in despair, the response from the mechanical shrine dispelled their fear, reminding them of their identity as citizens of the Empire. Now they no longer had to face the darkness and terror alone.

I want to know your reasons.

Ethan received a response from the "angel," a gender-neutral voice that was difficult to distinguish, and its voice was omnipresent, as if it had always existed in his mind.

"Is it because we destroyed and recycled the simulation facilities, or because of the way we treated you?"

The voice was filled with confusion, as if it genuinely wanted to know his answer: "What if we changed the simulation materials, making them look more like machines or wood?"

Almost at the same time, another thought popped into Ethan's mind.

It was an evaluation report devoid of any emotional coloring, explaining the reasons for using "synthetic humans" in Simulation 52. The core purpose of this simulation was to make contact with a believer of the Society of Truth, as being of the same race would create a greater sense of kinship. It also contained some experimental details that the special citizens had not had time to tell anyone.

This simulation was created even earlier.

When the Observer 003, who unexpectedly arrived in the First Age, discovered the existence of humans and the Old Gods, it was put on the agenda, and it was not until the Sixth Age, the most suitable time, that it was carried out.

It seems that for that "eternal empire," a thousand or two thousand years is not a long time.

The ultimate goal of Simulation 52 is to incorporate it into the Holy City's territory, just like with other civilizations before it. They have already formulated a plan for its subsequent development, and it will become the Holy City's outpost for studying mysticism and the Old Gods.

During the long process of exploration and expansion, the holy city discovered some special entities.

In many civilizations, they exist as deities.

That is the source of all mysticism, the energy form that the Holy City has yet to fully grasp, and the only existence that can threaten them.

From a series of assessments and data, Ethan understood why they were communicating so proactively.

They desperately wanted to obtain information about the Old Gods.

Ethan, unfortunately, became the weakest one.

They deliberately left the inviolable Shadow World, broke through the barrier created by the Right and Middle Gods in a human way, and descended into the world that belongs to humans. All of this became illogical and incomprehensible errors in the calculation.

But it is precisely because of these "errors" that the computation became possible to capture and study, breaking their long-held assessment that the Old Gods were "incomprehensible," "unknowable," and "uncommunicable."

The consumables in simulation #52 successfully communicated with the Shadow, and even discovered that He was more empathetic than most humans.

What surprised them even more was that He actually had the idea of ​​helping the refuge.

Of course, there's no point in trying to salvage some analog consumables.

If Ethan truly cares about humanity as he appears, then the Holy City could offer him a more meaningful solution.

He can serve as a model to help humanity understand His existence, unravel the mysteries of occultism, and bring blessings to more people.

Ethan and the "angel" exchanged only one sentence, yet their information was being transmitted and communicated efficiently through their thoughts.

He felt as if he were communicating with an AI that had no emotions at all.

Without anger or hatred, and without threats or insults, it seemed to be actively seeking solutions, even though many of its proposed solutions were provocative.

But Ethan believes it wasn't intentional.

Because it has already eliminated unnecessary negative emotions, and simply conveys a fact to him from an objective perspective.

The "angel" will take him and Xiao An back for indefinite research, depending on the progress of the research.

To prevent them from engaging in extreme behavior during the experiment, they may be restrained.

He can choose between "surrendering" or "resisting and being captured and retrieved," because according to calculations and assessments, shadow energy has nowhere to hide in the face of the "angel's" energy field.

Ever since the fragments of Observer 009 were recovered, the Holy City has been preparing for this day.

Before this moment arrived, they had gone through 3.81 million battle simulations to ensure a 100% victory.

The mind actively answered Ethan's question and sincerely advised him to choose the "surrender" option, as it would save both sides a lot of unnecessary trouble and minimize the potential harm to him. After all, they did not want the research sample to be damaged during the transfer.

Ethan rarely experienced such smooth communication, and he felt he needed to do something to repay the other party, and tried to answer some of the questions raised by the other party.

For example, unexplained errors in calculations.

He walked toward the "angel".

At the same time, the residents of the holy city, gazing at the sky, noticed the changes in Ethan.

They clearly saw the shadow that had spread across the ground, corresponding to the Arbiter, rapidly receding, while Ethan, stripped of his magic, was walking toward the "angel," like a believer who had been inspired.

"Because this is a trial."

In an instant, the "angel" who sensed the disturbance launched an attack.

The chains that filled the sky poured down like a rain of light, leaving the entire world in a single color.

Time seemed to stop at this moment.

The inhabitants of the holy city gazed at the sky filled with a rain of light, an energy powerful enough to destroy a civilization, before which even shadows could not hide.

However, the sound continued.

"This is a trial designed to help us understand the soul."

A crack appeared in the sky that was dominated by white.

It was no longer shadow energy; instead, it was another form of energy that they could not comprehend.

The crack became increasingly prominent, stretching across the entire sky.

Then, more and more cracks appeared, until they stretched across the entire city, forming a web that left them breathless.

The sound of the mirror shattering and breaking followed.

Their sky was shattered.

(End of this chapter)