This villain is too popular.

Chapter 223 The Foundation for Godhood Belonging to the Heavenly Dao

'Dimensional audience'—this is the unique 'foundation for godhood' that Heavenly Dao understands it to be.

And he not only thought it that way, he also did it.

Because without the existence of the 'popularity system', the Heavenly Dao might never have reached its current level.

Therefore, in a sense, isn't that seemingly ethereal 'popularity' also a special kind of 'belief'?

After all, gods can gain various powerful abilities through the devout faith of believers.

Tiandao also gains various magical abilities and boosts through the 'popularity' given to him by the audience in the dimensional world.

In essence, there is not much difference between the two.

The Heavenly Dao understood early on the importance of 'popularity' to itself, which is why it spared no effort to stir up trouble and gain even more popularity.

Therefore, even the current "High Above the Sky" storyline, which he personally directed, was designed specifically for him to achieve this goal, and is a "famous scene" in the second season.

The audience in the dimensional world all believed that the 'heaven' that the Heavenly Dao wanted to surpass was the 'heaven' of the Steam City.

In reality, the "sky" of the steam city is very, very small in the eyes of the Heavenly Dao, and is not worthy of being called "high".

What he truly seeks to challenge and surpass is the 'Heaven' where the 'God of Machines' resides, summoned by Ivan before him.

The perfect technique, Purgatory Rashomon, was the first 'gift' that Heaven offered to the gods.

Because he wanted to personally verify whether the crazy idea in his mind truly had the potential to bring down the gods.

The answer to this question will appear soon.

Boom!

As the Heavenly Dao activated the technique, the quantum cube behind him suddenly expanded at a visible speed, releasing a heart-palpitating energy fluctuation from the constantly rotating quantum cube.

Sensing this special energy, the hundred-meter-tall divine phantom hovering above Ivan's head in the distance seemed to be drawn to it.

So much so that the enormous eyes, flowing with star energy and data, slowly turned towards the giant quantum cube at this moment.

And with a divine indifference, he surveyed the enormous, constantly spinning object before him.

At the same time, Ivan, who had already accumulated enough power, raised the golden energy greatsword in his hand, which was formed from countless quantum bees, and slashed down at the Heavenly Dao with a blank expression.

He will now unleash divine punishment upon the blasphemers before him!

Just as the golden greatsword sliced ​​through the air, the quantum cube behind the Heavenly Dao suddenly erupted with violent fluctuations, and an invisible black star energy wave began to spread rapidly in all directions like ripples.

The next second, everyone, including Chen Kong, Danica, and Vivian, felt as if they were being enveloped and dragged by an invisible hand.

Then, they were instantly plunged into a pure black space.

Within this space, the Heavenly Dao stands before a unique gate.

Dark red, blood-like clouds swirled around the red-lacquered pillars beside the gate.

The twisted black horns growing at the top are faintly visible in this eerie red mist.

The entire door resembled a gaping maw of hell, ready to devour everything in sight, where even light lost its meaning.

Just as the viewers of the anime were wondering why this change had occurred.

Information about the perfect Heavenly Dao technique appeared before them.

【Name: Perfect Spell - Purgatory Rashomon】

【Effect 1. Rebirth: Forcibly drags the target into a special 'purgatory' space.】 【Effect 2. Illusion: Past sins and obsessions will be magnified infinitely within Rashomon.】

【Effect 3. Judgment: Creatures in purgatory will suffer an endless baptism of 'slashes'】

[Description: 'What humanity fears most is not death, but confronting one's truest self.' — Tiandao Siming]

Under the influence of the power of the Rashomon in Purgatory, Ivan and the Heavenly Dao appeared simultaneously in this strange space.

The physical rules here are distorted by the Heavenly Dao using a permanent vector force field, causing everyone's senses and memories to be infinitely amplified.

Even Ivan, a cyborg known for his rationality, was affected to some extent by being in such an environment.

In a daze, a large number of strange yet familiar fragments of memory flooded into Ivan's optical sensors.

These fragments of memory were traces of his life as a 'human' before he became an AI Star Envoy, memories he had long since formatted and should have completely forgotten.

In the scene, Ivan as a child neither underwent so-called android modification nor completely abandoned so-called humanity.

Therefore, back then he would be overjoyed to receive a mecha model and would cry when scolded by his mother.

But everything changed when the Cult of Mechanics discovered his talent.

The Iron Dome family forcibly took him away from his parents and shut the cold alloy door shut, silencing his last cry.

In order to help Ivan overcome his human weakness and acquire the 'rationality' that a qualified cyborg envoy should possess.

The Iron Dome family forced him to undergo so-called 'mechanical modification'.

Lying on the operating table, Ivan endured countless excruciating pains, until his once warm emotions and flesh were ultimately replaced by cold data and machines.

Over time, he gradually got used to the weight-bearing capacity of the metal skeleton, adapted to the precision of the electronic eyes, and gained the powerful strength that countless people dream of.

However, at the cost of all this, Ivan lost his sense of self and became a rational 'tool' needed by the 'family'.

And within the Iron Dome family, a behemoth bound by 'data encoding', people's edges were slowly worn away.

Ivan never considered whether this was right or wrong.

Because at this point, he had completely lost the criteria for judging a 'human being'.

All that remained in his mind was a fervent thirst for 'knowledge' and a blind obedience and absolute worship of the 'god of all machines'.

At this moment, under the influence of the 'illusion' power of the Purgatory Rashomon, the emotional fragments in Ivan's mechanical database that should have been deliberately sealed away began to grow wildly like sparks that had been suddenly ignited.

The despair on the operating table, the resentment of being abandoned, the bewilderment of losing oneself.
These emotions, which shouldn't belong to an android, are now slowly eroding his core programming.

[Warning. Emotion module abnormally activated. Core logic disordered]

The piercing alarm echoed in Ivan's mind, but he paid no heed to it.

Even his sword-wielding movements became strangely hesitant.

Just then, countless dark slashes appeared around the Rashomon Gate of Purgatory, raining down on Ivan.

Each strike landed precisely on the joints of Ivan's mech.

This not only caused physical damage, but also gradually infiltrated his consciousness along the energy circuit above, amplifying the surging negative emotions.

,,,

(End of this chapter)