In order to extract energy from death, Mitra Corporation and Smoke Mirror Company now use the names of dead gods and demons for all their new virtual idol costumes. They use these names as beacons and the faith of the living as hooks to extract energy from death.
In this tournament, Hongye used the name "Bo Xun" as her guiding light, using her own bloodline as a Bo Xun member as a medium and the adoration of her fans as a hook, unexpectedly pulling Bo Xun's shadow out of death.
Hayden, however, is now doing the opposite.
“I use your name as a beacon, the connection between the name of the god Mara and you as a medium, and the song of Angela as a hook to forcibly pull your soul from death and infuse it into a new body.”
Professor Albion once said that life is composed of three essential elements—at least for the vast majority. To create life, all three elements must be present simultaneously. The same principle applies to resurrection.
Hongye's current body is a clone; it's fake.
The memories in her mind now are copies, not the originals—a soul is just a soul, and does not contain memories.
And she now truly carries the original, authentic soul.
Does this truly mean that the autumn leaves have been resurrected? This is a very complex philosophical question.
At least Hongye herself was stunned for a while: "Using the connection between Prince Bojun and me as a medium? But the [Bojun Divine Image] has disappeared. Where did you get this medium from...?"
A person standing in the corner of the room, someone whom Hongye didn't know before, finally spoke up: "I am the medium."
He was a man around twenty years old. Tall and slender, with dark eyes and black hair, he looked very young. But the resolute expression on his face was the kind that only someone who had spent years fighting giant beasts would possess.
“My former name was Alastor, and I once borrowed the name of your monarch, Mara.”
The young man smiled slightly as he said this.
"The new name that the Mithra Group has given me is [New God - Great Free Heaven Mara]. Needless to say, they never expected that I had already used this name before."
Hayden spent nearly two years trying to revive Alastor Diragh, and now he can finally stand on this earthly land again, with a body, able to walk, speak, and continue to fight.
Hayden has now brought him in to help resurrect Momiji, hoping to use Alastor's special identity and nature to find Momiji's soul in death. This should have been impossible, but since Momiji could pull Mara's shadow from death, the reverse should also be possible. So Hayden rewrote the ritual, recreating it on entirely new principles, based on a principle that no known magic had ever tested, and resurrected Momiji.
This technology is obviously not perfect yet, and not every dead person's soul can be pulled out of death by a living god... but at least it is a glimmer of hope, a hope for the future.
Hayden had already slapped death hard across the face.
Even knowing all this, Kureha was still very confused: "Even so, why did you resurrect... me? Just because I'm suitable for this experiment?"
“That’s only a small part of the reason,” Hayden shook his head and said calmly. “When I was on stage discussing the cost of life with you, I had already decided to try to resurrect you afterwards. Because I was unhappy.”
……ah?
"Those big companies can use addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and monetary amounts to calculate the value of human life. They may have their own set of principles, but why should I follow their standards?"
Hayden crossed his arms and gave a smug smile.
"I don't want you to die. I'm disgusted by your fate and feel it's unfair, so I'm trying to resurrect you—who dares to say I'm wrong?"
Despite this, the other three people present couldn't help but chuckle—of course, it was all good-natured laughter.
"As for the last reason, it's something that's more profitable."
Hayden ignored them, waved his hand, and continued speaking.
"The Mithra Group is extremely wary of Mara, the Paranirmitavasavartin. Although Mara was an old god and demon king who was an enemy of the new gods, this wariness is rather strange. They have gone so far as to want to completely hide the name of Mara or even rewrite history. That's why I wanted to ask you, the person involved, to find out what the Mithra Group is trying to hide."
Hongye didn't answer Hayden's question directly. She stared at Hayden blankly for a long time, as surprised and incredulous as if she were seeing him for the first time.
After standing there in a daze for a while, Hongye finally sat up straight and bowed respectfully to Haiden.
"Even a cup of tea should be repaid with a spring of gratitude. Moreover, Lord Hayden has not only resurrected me, but also protected my clan from being implicated. As long as it is something you want to know, Momiji will naturally tell you everything she knows."
"But before that, Lord Hayden, do you know what the title 'Paranoid Freedom' actually means?"
Hayden never expected Hongye to ask this question. He frowned and said, "The term 'Paranirmitavasavartin' is originally from Sanskrit. It means that one does not need to enjoy pleasures, but can find joy in the happiness of others and obtain one's own joy and freedom through the happiness of others. Hence the name 'Paranirmitavasavartin'... Ah."
At this point, he realized what was going on.
No wonder
No wonder the Mithra Group is so wary of the name of Mara, trying to cover it up as much as possible, and even creating a new Mara idol to erase the real Mara's traces in history.
If a person's happiness does not need to be obtained through their own exclusive enjoyment, and if everyone can find joy in the happiness of others... it is clear that a social system based on private ownership would be fundamentally untenable.
"The Supreme Being Mara... represents a political line different from capitalism."
185: The Road Ahead
"His Highness Mara is not a god who descended from heaven, but he is not a purely human god or a nature god either."
Now that things had come to this, Hongye no longer concealed anything and recounted the ancient secrets to Haideng in detail.
"He is the son of a hybrid of a human god and a fallen god."
Hayden didn't react much to this, as he didn't really understand it.
Angela, who was just watching from the sidelines, seemed slightly surprised: "Oh?"
At the same time, another person standing in the corner of the room stroked his long white beard and uttered a word that even Hayden had never heard before: "Marsh was a Nephilim? The Mithra Group has kept this a secret very well."
Nephalem, also transliterated as "Nephalem" or "Nephalem," refers to the hybrid offspring of ancient gods from beyond the heavens and humans, or gods and humans. These beings are, of course, gods. Strictly speaking, Kallen, being the daughter of the Peacock King and Hela, could also be considered a Nephalem.
This was considered quite obscure and secretive knowledge in ancient times, unknown even to Hayden—not because Professor Albion was hiding it, but because such knowledge was so esoteric that it was rarely taught. Life is finite, but knowledge is infinite. If Hayden wanted to learn all of Professor Albion's knowledge through normal means, it would probably take him over thirty years.
But that's a digression. That's not the focus right now.
The key point is that the extraterrestrial gods are all 100% non-human, and they are not life forms born from this world at all. Humans and their offspring will inevitably observe and contemplate this world with very special eyes and ways of thinking.
"Lord Mara rose to power six hundred years ago, becoming one of the many feudal god-kings and overlords in Asia. However, unlike purely human gods, nature gods, or otherworldly gods, Lord Mara was concerned with the technological development of mortals..."
Hongye stopped abruptly and shook her head.
“No, I’ve presented things in the wrong order. It’s hard to understand this way. It should be said that although the capitalist revolution was first promoted by the Mithra Group four hundred years ago, modern arcane research was first promoted by His Highness Mara. During his reign, he always paid close attention to the progress of magical research among mortals and invested resources in supporting it.”
"In the feudal era of the past, almost only the gods, that is, the nobles, could use magic. The proportion of mortal magicians was extremely small, and their combat strength was mostly not high. Therefore, many gods were not interested in the development of magic among mortals."
"However, His Highness Mara noticed the rapid development of magical technology among mortals more than five hundred years ago. At that time, the gods were the nobility, and the top combat power that originally belonged only to the gods gradually began to be transferred to the hands of common mortal arcanists as arcane magic developed."
Hayden nodded in understanding. Although he didn't know Mara's secret, he at least understood history.
In the classical magical era, although the gods all possessed magic, the proportion and number of mortal magicians were very small. This was because ancient magic required exceptional talent and ability, making it as rare as poets and musicians.
There are certainly bad poets and bad musicians, but bad classical magicians are more likely to kill themselves and are of no use at all.
But arcane magic is different. Arcane magic is a new magical technology that can be mass-produced, reproduced, and calculated. After the development of arcane magic, it can even be said that the number of mortal spellcasters began to grow explosively.
Although the earliest mortal arcanists, five or six hundred years ago, were far less powerful than the divine mages, their sheer numbers were still useful. Soon, some god-kings realized that incorporating these mortal arcanists into their own armies would make attacking other god-kings much easier.
Thus, mortal arcanists began to become part of the divine armies. With increased power, their political influence naturally grew exponentially. This new mortal class composed of arcanists became fertile ground for the emergence of capitalism.
"His Highness Mara realized long ago that the technology of arcane arts is developing at an increasingly rapid pace, and the number of mortal arcane sorcerers is also growing. Moreover, this trend is like the wheels of history, impossible to truly stop. If this continues, one day, a fierce conflict will erupt between mortals and gods over the struggle for power and wealth, leading to war. What should be done about this?"
Hongye sighed softly as she finished speaking.
"In the end, His Highness Mara came up with the idea of using a large-scale magic to emit a mental resonance wave, intertwining the consciousness of everyone who receives the wave to form an organic and united collective consciousness, sharing everyone's joy and experiencing pleasure together. My happiness can become the collective happiness, and my interests can become the collective interests. In this way, there will be no gap in power and wealth between individuals in the whole society, nor will there be class contradictions."
Hearing this, Hayden and Alastor exchanged bewildered glances.
This magic sounds familiar. It even sounds a bit like the modern astral network... except that they are very different in reality.
While you can exchange information online, you can never truly empathize with someone, and the amount of information you can share is limited. Furthermore, the internet hasn't prevented the gap between power and wealth; in fact, it might have widened it. The Mitra Corporation, which controls the internet, has become the world's most powerful and wealthy conglomerate.
Similarly, if Mara had actually created his ideal "Otherworldly Freedom" magic, all the power and resources of this group would ultimately have been concentrated in Mara's hands, because he was the master of this magic. He was the source of these spiritual waves.
Of course, Mara could be a wise ruler. He could be a relatively selfless and intelligent ruler. Mara might not even use this magic to control others—but even so, there would certainly be many who wouldn't want to weave their personal consciousness into this grand magical collective consciousness. At least Hayden himself didn't really want to.
Even if Mara didn't want to use this magic to control others, as the master of this great magic and the source of the mental waves, he could control them if he wanted to. It wasn't a question of whether or not to do it, but rather whether or not it could be done.
Under the right circumstances, even the most valiant and intelligent leader of a group can stray from their original path. No matter how pure their motives or ultimate goals they believe themselves to be... regardless of whether Mara's thoughts are good or evil, even if his initial intentions were well-intentioned, it's far too easy for him to create a dystopia.
In fact, it's quite obvious that he ultimately failed. Even Hongye didn't know whether it was due to insufficient technology, not having reached that stage of development, or whether it was overthrown by the New God bourgeois revolution before that point.
Even so, Mara did leave a way out.
Other-centered freedom is clearly a path different from capitalism. Hayden didn't even know what to call it. True socialism? Magical collectivism?
"No wonder the Mithra Group wants to completely erase Mara's traces in history, and would rather create a random Mara idol than change his name and image."
Hayden stroked his chin, finally understanding.
"After all, capitalist values are based on private ownership and individual freedom, which are completely mutually exclusive and incompatible with the ideas of Mara."
Therefore, no matter what, the Mithra Group must bury the path left behind by Bo Xun.
However, after hearing this ancient story, Hayden also felt... this path held no appeal for him whatsoever. He didn't want to lose a part of his own will and be absorbed into a massive magical collective consciousness. Hayden didn't even want to be the one holding the controller.
Even Alastor frowned upon hearing this. He was an even more radical activist than Hayden. But clearly, even Alastor thought it was a bit too much.
"No wonder the Mithra Group has given me the title of 'Great Free Heaven'. What they want to remove is not 'freedom' but 'otherhood'."
Alastor, who had already become the new god Mara, murmured.
“Since ‘othering’ means there can be no private ownership, this is a struggle over a line of thought, or even a doctrinal struggle.”
So, that's the truth.
This is the greatest enmity between the Mithra Group and the Heavenly Emperor Hevajra… at least that’s all Hongye knows. After all, she’s not exactly a big shot.
“We can’t directly apply Mara’s path. Besides, it probably won’t work in practice. However, it’s not without its value for reference and learning.”
Hayden shook his head before continuing to speak to Red Leaf.
"To be honest, I still have a lot of questions, but I can tell you're still very tired. Get some rest now, and we'll talk later."
In fact, he was just as exhausted and even weak as the newly resurrected Momiji. This experimental resurrection ritual was by no means something that could be performed easily, even though Angelana was basically responsible for providing the power.
However, Hongye did not nod directly.
Instead, she swayed as she rose from the altar, walked down, and then surprisingly knelt on one knee before Hayden, bowing her head and saying:
“Lord Hayden, my real name is Momiji Akika. Momiji is just the surname of a branch of the clan, and my given name was previously concealed to prevent magical tracking.”
Uh, why are you telling me your full name now?
Ignoring Hayden's confused look, Hongye Qiuhua continued with something even more outrageous: "I am but a humble woman. From now on, please allow me to serve Lord Hayden as his ninja, and I will serve him to the death."
……ah?
what! ?
"Lord Hayden not only resurrected me, but also protected my clan from being implicated. It would be shameless of me not to use this life for you."
Hongye said in a very serious tone,
"This life, saved by you, is now entirely at your disposal. You can use it however you like... Hmm? What's wrong? Why is your expression frozen?"
Hayden was speechless.
What kind of development is this?
Before he could refuse, Alastor spoke up to remind him, "Comrade Hayden, Miss Hongye is no longer a person in the social system. The Mitra Group has already declared her dead; in fact, it would be more troublesome if she weren't dead."
In other words, if Hayden were to abandon Momiji now, she would be in a worse predicament than death. Of course, Hayden already knew this would happen, so he never intended to abandon Momiji in the first place—but Hayden certainly didn't want to become her lord and vassal!
Unfortunately, Hayden was too tired right now, his head was throbbing, and he simply didn't have the energy to argue with this stubborn ninja who came from a samurai background.
"...Don't call me sir."
Hongye immediately nodded obediently: "Yes, Mr. Hayden."
Hayden opened his mouth, about to complain, when a wave of dizziness rushed to his head, as if he hadn't slept for two whole days. He couldn't help but give up on arguing: "Sigh... Go to sleep first. We'll talk about it later."
Hongye nodded obediently and, under Angela's guidance, dragged her newly resurrected body to rest.
Hayden was completely bewildered by Hongye's sudden show of loyalty, as if Long Aotian had never seen anyone bow down and become his follower for the first time.
However, in reality, Hongye was secretly pleased with her decision.
There was a question she wanted to ask, but ultimately decided to keep it to herself for now and wait for the right opportunity. After all, she knew that the level of trust between her and Hayden was far from sufficient.
The question is—what exactly does Hayden want to do next?
You resurrected me, a man who deserved to die, and even Alastor, who was listed as the head of a terrorist organization... Even someone like me, Kureha, can see now that you don't just want to stand out in the Mitra Group and fight for power.
You have married the most powerful ancient god-king, leading the lower classes of society (the werewolf gang), the outcasts of society (the demi-humans), and those who rebel against modern society (Alastor and his group), and even have an incredible maid (Angela) by your side—in other words, you are no longer a pawn on the chessboard.
Therefore, Hongye really wants to ask: What do you want to do with this world? What do you want to do with the people? What kind of king do you want to be?
However, if she asked these questions now, Hayden definitely wouldn't answer; he'd probably just give her a piece of his mind. So, Momiji decided to keep them to herself for the time being. That's why she said she wanted to serve Hayden as a ninja.
A ninja is not a samurai. A ninja's relationship with their lord is merely a contractual one; a samurai, however, must uphold a loyalty that is more important than anything else, a loyalty they will pursue for life. If Hayden demonstrates the qualities of a virtuous ruler that satisfy her in the future, then Kureha will consider taking this step again.
...So, don't be fooled by the morbidity of the new capitalist gods; the minds of the old feudal gods are basically all flawed as well.
After Hongye was led out of the room by Angela, Hayden and the other two looked at each other for a while before sighing and slumping into their chairs.