Mortals are inferior to gods because gods are far more efficient at learning and putting in effort than mortals.
The same principle applies to the divine race being inferior to the true god. The true god can do a thousand things simultaneously; how can you compare your effort to His?
And this faceless witch in front of us probably possesses such power!
So if that's the case, why haven't these twenty virtual idols been completely destroyed by the Faceless Witch yet?
Pania's intuition was sharp, especially when it came to guessing what others were thinking. Angela had previously praised her for having a talent similar to Hayden's. So now she could vaguely guess that this was probably because the Faceless Witch didn't consider them enemies at all.
The attack by twenty idols with the combat power to destroy a nation was, to the Faceless Priestess, like twenty brats in a judo dojo constantly rushing to challenge a grandmaster, only to be easily thrown away by her. It was like kumite practice; it posed absolutely no threat in real combat.
It was precisely because Pania now understood this power that she felt an even greater sense of helplessness.
This is no longer a problem that courage can solve. How exactly do we fight?
You lost to her, not because of strength.
Hayden's voice rang in her mind at that moment.
So as long as you use the right methods, you can win! Don't be afraid, I'll teach you how to fight now!
This voice was transmitted through the personality chips, simultaneously resounding in the minds of the twenty virtual idols on stage.
[This faceless witch is an avatar of a deceased ancient god, manifested from the ashes of death due to a ritual gone awry. The ritual has spiraled out of control, but it is not yet over. If each of you follows my instructions and works together to defeat this avatar of death, according to the rules of the ritual, you will have defeated death and been resurrected once. In this way, each of you will gain divinity!]
Although there is abundant energy here, it would still be somewhat difficult to transform all twenty virtual idols into new gods. However, as long as they overcome death this time, it would be equivalent to stamping their souls with a certificate, much like college students having their future jobs secured before graduation, leaving only some time for gradual progress.
That's why Hayden called it "attaining divinity".
Hearing Hayden's words, these idols were all greatly encouraged.
【Don't forget, this is a performance, a play on stage! You must overcome it in the performance; that is the true ritual victory! I will now instill the script into you through your personality chips; receive it all!】
The next instant, detailed instructions on the new script of the ceremony, as well as combat technical experience at the level of the War God race, flooded into the brains of these virtual idols like seawater.
This is the amazing technology behind personality chips.
An actor may need more than 20 years of honing their skills to become a master.
A warrior might normally need hundreds of years of combat experience to be considered a master.
However, now that large corporations possess the technology for personality chips, all of this is virtually no longer a problem for them. In an instant, Panya felt as if she had just woken from a long dream. Fortunately, this wasn't their first time using personality chips, and this dreamlike disorientation wouldn't last long once they got used to it, while the experience and knowledge gained from the dream remained in her hands.
The twenty virtual idols on stage simultaneously understood the roles they were supposed to play. This was because the dream connections formed by their personality chips were constantly communicating with each other, like a school of fish swimming together in the sea.
Hayden sent them a script through their personality chip. It wasn't the modern music they usually performed for their audience in the live stream, but a more solemn and simple classical style.
This is a script similar to that of an opera.
(Oh well, what can I do? It was given to me by an older man. Opera it is then.)
Although Pania and the others have never sung opera, they are all performing arts-type enhanced humans and have been given technical enhancements through personality chips, so there will always be a way.
The twenty idols, without prior arrangement, quickly took their positions on the stage, forming a circle as required by Hayden's script.
The faceless witch didn't hinder them during this process, even though they actually had many weaknesses at this point. The faceless witch simply waited calmly, continuing her dance as if she were a grandmaster waiting for her apprentices to get into position and challenge her.
Until an idol from the Mithra Group raised his voice and began the opening of the opera:
"I sing of the blood that surges across the earth,"
"And those brave warriors who shed their blood;"
“I sing of the deadly hunger on earth,”
"And the warrior who vanquished famine;"
“That ancient legend,”
"Incorporate it into this song."
Sing! Sing! Sing about both sorrow and joy!
"The song of the earth never ends!"
Pania... no, it's [Magical Girl Pazuzu] who took over the idol's lyrics and began singing the second verse:
"This song contains our pain and shame,"
"This song records our glory and honor."
Listen, listen! Let the song take us back to the stories of yesterday!
"All of this is to make the pain of the past go forever."
"So that tomorrow will be free from torment and bloodshed!"
The opera ceremony that Hayden had prepared for them began.
What are they going to sing and perform?
...They were going to sing about how, four hundred years ago, a new god sparked a bourgeois revolution that overthrew the old feudal gods.
And the story of killing the Great Lord Mahaprajna at the peak of the war!
Once Hayden makes up his mind, he can be extremely ruthless. If necessary, he's even willing to attack his enemy's ancestral graves!
First, several idols sang of the famine and suffering of the people four hundred years ago, when feudal and slave-owning god-kings ruled the land. Then, several other idols began to sing of how the original new gods rose up from the suffering people to fight against them, and how they invented new technologies to overthrow the old feudal rules.
They sang and sang, gradually closing the encirclement. Singing and sang, they raised their swords and, like a theatrical performance, slashed at the faceless witch with dazzling skill!
The faceless witch, who had been standing still, finally reacted, waving her fan and sleeves to deflect the attacks. However, strangely, this time her movements were not as fluid as before. The swords and blades aimed at her were not completely deflected. The sharp blades grazed her sleeves, actually tearing open wounds and leaving marks.
The movements of this death incarnation were clearly bound by some invisible force, no longer as relaxed and free as before.
On the other hand, look at these idols who are singing and slashing at the faceless priestess with swords; their situation has also changed significantly. Their output itself hasn't increased much, but the nature of it is clearly different.
Their every move no longer exudes the raw power of nature, like a raging storm or a flood, but also subtly reveals a sacred quality.
"Performance is imitation and reproduction."
On the judges' platform outside the stage, Hayden, exuding confidence, spoke eloquently to the gods and goddesses.
“If they are performing historical events from four hundred years ago on stage, then this stage is the battlefield four hundred years ago after time travel. They are playing the role of the Bodhisattva Mingwang who killed the old gods four hundred years ago, so they are now the reappearance of the new gods.”
"The incarnation of Mara, manifested from death, is bound and suppressed by historical narratives, and will only be cut back to death by the new gods, just as it did four hundred years ago. And these idols will gain divinity through this process. This is a good thing for all of us!"
Hayden noticed that Dajinite's lips twitched as he spoke—she was once an old god who was beaten up by the new gods, but she quickly surrendered. Naturally, she was furious to see this kind of scenario now.
Miktikashiva was once an Old God. However, the Smoke Mirror Company defected to the New Gods right after the fighting began, so they didn't have any such concerns. Besides, Goddess Miktikashiva has always been carefree and doesn't care about such trivial matters.
As for the Five-Colored Celestial Maidens, they were originally the agents of the five Bodhisattvas. Naturally, they had no objections to seeing such a story reenacted. Mira even nodded in approval: "A very clever idea. Mr. Hayden, you did a good job."
On stage, the idols' battle was gaining momentum. They were singing a brilliant chorus together, fifteen of them working together to attack the faceless witch, while the remaining five provided harmonies and support from the sidelines. 【Magical Girl Pazuzu】was also among the five idols providing backup.
But for some reason, despite the increasingly favorable battle situation, Pania, who was responsible for overseeing the battle, felt a strange sense of fear welling up inside her, causing her heart to tighten in waves. This feeling had actually been there since the very beginning of the performance, and it had grown stronger and clearer with each passing second—she felt something was slowly awakening. This thing was a threat even when it was asleep, and now it was awake again. It was like you were spying on the abyss, and the abyss noticed and turned to look at you in return.
An idol from the Mithra Group raised her head and began chanting to guide a coordinated attack. She swung her longsword through the air, the blade cleaving through the wind. The other idols also brandished their weapons, fifteen swords swirling back and forth, instantly creating a gust of wind, a net of cold light that tumbled and rolled toward the faceless witch.
The positioning of these fifteen swords was perfectly timed, as if a person with fifteen arms were wielding fifteen swords simultaneously. This posture was like that of a true god, leaving the faceless witch with no way to block or dodge.
...But then something terrible happened.
Unable to dodge and on the verge of being riddled with holes, the faceless witch suddenly moved. A phantom image suddenly appeared behind her.
This shadow was wrapped in a white cloth, had dark skin, six arms, four heads, and stood on a white bull. Each of its heads had three eyes, and each arm held a different weapon: a knife, a sword, an axe, a hammer, a bowl, and a trident. The faces of its four heads displayed different expressions of joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness.
This colossal shadow stood thousands of feet tall, reaching to the heavens and the earth. With a mere flick of its trident and warhammer, a tremendous surge of magical power erupted. The fifteen swords and blades that the idols had swarmed around it shattered into pieces. Their combined attack was utterly rendered as fragile as tofu by this single strike!
At this moment, Pania finally understood the true power of this faceless witch.
He was reborn from the dead. He fought against Mithra and other new gods until the very end before being killed by Fudo Myo-o. He was the strongest demon king, Mara!
Even true gods, such as Dakini and Dhritarashtra, who are at the "heavenly" level, are no match for Him!
Mara, He was the final boss of the previous "version"!
178: Opportunity Cost
It's terrible.
As a gigantic phantom emerged from the faceless witch, and with a single swing of its arm shattered the weapons of fifteen idols...
Hayden immediately realized that the situation was troublesome.
He initially thought the faceless witch was merely a shadow of a dead Mara, a manifestation of death, essentially a "Mara zombie." Hayden believed it possessed at most the combat power of a [Heavenly] level True God.
Unexpectedly, the shadow of this wave of death revealed such power without saying a word!
"Is that Mara's [divine form]?"
As the goddess of death for the Smoke Mirror Company, Miktikashiva watched this scene with an academic curiosity and great interest.
"I never imagined that death, which has always been so silent, would reveal such power today!"
[divine appearance]
That was the enormous phantom emanating from the faceless witch, a divine image sculpted by the true gods through the fusion of their individual abilities and beliefs. Since each god possessed different powers, strengths, natures, and ideologies, the divine forms they created naturally varied as well. While most were humanoid, some also possessed animalistic or inorganic forms.
Most companies and cultures refer to this divine image as "divine image," while the Mithra Group calls it "Dharma image." Japanese companies seem to prefer "following divine image," but they are all essentially the same thing.
Moreover, just as true gods possess near-omnipresent abilities, their divine forms can appear and disappear at will, moving mountains and filling seas, wielding divine power without any physical constraints.
Moreover, although damage to the [Divine Form] will be reflected back to the main body to some extent, since they are ultimately just forms shaped by power, even if they are completely destroyed, the main body of the god will not die... Of course, it may lose a lot of power.
In conclusion, in short, a "divine image" is an image of immense power condensed from the will and combined strength of a true god.
If a deity were merely engaging in a casual fight, it might just be a minor squabble, like mortals occasionally pushing and shoving each other. However, if a deity reveals their divine form during a battle, it's as if they've unleashed their full power, bared their fangs, and drawn their sword—it's like telling everyone—
The battle that follows will be for real!
Four hundred years ago, Mara was killed in a fierce battle by Acala. In other words, Acala should also possess combat power at the level of a "Myo-o" (wisdom king). A "Deva" (god) like Dakini is no match for Acala.
I wonder how much of the power the "divine manifestation" revealed today, under the shadow of death, possesses compared to Mara in his prime? Can these twenty virtual idols truly defeat it?
The answer is of course - no!
Hayden had anticipated that the shadow of Mara might be powerful, but he never expected it to be this strong! As the [Divine Form of Mara] manifested, it suppressed almost the entire stage space. This divine power rippled outwards, and could be felt even from outside the stage. The idols who had been desperately attacking it suddenly felt a pressure heavier than a mountain and surging like the sea. This pressure even slowed their movements.
The six-armed, four-headed, and twelve-eyed "divine figure" continued to swing his arms, using his hammer and trident—two magical weapons—to strike the idols.
An ordinary person, seeing such a towering, imposing figure descending upon them like a mountain crashing down, would likely be stunned with fear. The fact that these fifteen idols were able to react and form a proper battle formation is truly commendable; they are valiant individuals who volunteered as human test subjects, having faced numerous life-or-death situations. This proves their courage is no exaggeration.
Unfortunately, in the face of an absolute power disparity, courage and cooperation are meaningless!
But then, the [Bojun God] swung his hammer and trident down simultaneously. Its power was like the sea and the prison. Although the fifteen idols tried to combine their strength to deflect the attack, all their magical treasures and supernatural powers lost their luster in front of the [Bojun God].
On the surface, the [Bojun Divine Image] merely waved its magical weapon. However, on a magical level, this single wave simultaneously countered and neutralized the power of all fifteen idols. This multi-tasking ability and control over energy have clearly reached an inconceivably profound level.
Finally, with a crisp "smack," the fifteen idols who were besieging the faceless witch were knocked to the ground by this [Divine Image] and collapsed.
Including [Magical Girl Pazuzu], the remaining five idols who were holding the fort didn't even have time to rush up and help.
In a moment of desperation, [Magical Girl Pazuzu] conjured a southerly wind and dragged all fifteen knocked-down idols back. Only then did she realize with astonishment that none of them had been killed; they were all barely clinging to life.
What's going on? Could the shadow of death possibly show mercy?
In any case, the idols' combined attack has now collapsed, and it's difficult for just five people to continue this charade. Hayden's script has likely been ruined. This situation is extremely troublesome for Hayden.
...But why is that?
Hayden watched in horror and utter bewilderment as fifteen idols were easily paralyzed.
The stage is a world unto itself. He must have already used the power of the script to recreate history on stage, using the rules of this small world to suppress the shadow of Mara the Death King. This is not only to strengthen the idols, but more importantly, to bind Mara's power and suppress it within the inevitable fate of history.
Therefore, no matter how strong this shadow of Mara was, its supernatural powers were no match for destiny, and it should have been severely suppressed and bound. How could it have turned the tables and killed him?
The situation suddenly changed, and Hayden's heart tightened. He was genuinely startled when he saw [Bo Xun Shen Xiang] swing his magic weapon and send the idols flying—unlike ordinary internet browsing, if the costumes of these virtual idols were destroyed, the person inside would suffer severe feedback damage, and might even become a vegetable.
To be honest, Hayden was genuinely frightened when he saw the [divine being] displaying his power. He wasn't just afraid of losing and having to take the blame, but also afraid that the ritual would kill someone.
Thank goodness, Hayden is a man of conscience and principles. If this ritual were to fail horribly and kill tens of thousands of innocent people, Hayden would panic!
"This [Divine Image] has at least 20-30% of the combat power of a [Ming King], and these idols cannot defeat it."
At that very moment, Dajini Tian coldly said,
"It's hard to say that the previously leisurely shadow of death has suddenly unleashed such power; it's hardly a coincidence. Mr. Hayden, are you perhaps deliberately trying to awaken it?"
Look. The blame is immediately being shifted onto him.
Fortunately, before Hayden could defend himself, the goddess Mikt raised her eyebrows and said, "I think it's already a great achievement to force it to reveal its power ahead of time. More than that, I'm curious why this suppression ritual was useless."
As she said this, she deliberately turned her head and winked at Hayden before continuing, "Historical story theatrical performances, as ritualistic reenactments, are usually very effective, especially in suppressing the dead. Why didn't it work this time? Is it because the history depicted in the script wasn't realistic enough?"
Upon hearing this, Tujini's face immediately darkened. Even the Five-Colored Celestial Maidens looked somewhat embarrassed.