what? !
This question shocked Hayden.
What's going on today? Why are Alastor and the goddess Mikt fixated on this?
Where is justice?!
“Don’t be surprised, Mr. Hayden. Your life factors, your current genetic makeup, do indeed have this value to a deity like me who studies the magic of life.”
Noticing Hayden's astonishment, the goddess Mikkelsen smiled slightly. She gently cupped her face, a seductive, playful glint in her eyes.
"Such a price doesn't actually mean you lose anything; it's not even a price, and it won't deprive you of anything. Just one night of pleasure to fill my emptiness—you can't even trade that?"
The vampire goddess's pale red eyes shimmered with longing, reflecting Hayden's face.
"I am the master of the Smoke Mirror Life Construction Company, and I will definitely let you experience the thrill of being at the limit of life."
Although the two were separated by a large dining table, their burning gazes made them seem as if they were only inches apart, allowing Hayden to feel even the scorching aura of the goddess Mikket. He knew that this was the burning desire and divine power of the vampire goddess.
This time, I'm not planning on getting married. Isn't it better to just do something comfortable together?
You have no reason to refuse, do you? You're not some virgin who's afraid of being taken advantage of.
—The goddess Mikt's eyes seemed to be saying these words.
However, looking at her sweet smile and hearing her seductive words, Hayden felt a chill run down his spine.
The sweet sound that flowed into his cochlea and stirred his brain did indeed give Hayden an urge to jump up. But at the same time, the wisdom of his soul was also knocking on his head in an instant, sending chills down his spine.
The supreme wisdom made Hayden feel as if some dark, viscous shadow was constantly emerging from the goddess's body.
"Allow me to refuse."
So Hayden quickly shook his head.
If one is truly seduced by this evil god, the price will be far more than just a moment of pleasure.
"Actually, I have a better proposal."
He had to refuse and then offer a better solution.
"A better proposal?"
When the goddess Mikkelsen saw Hayden's refusal, she immediately showed a look of disappointment.
“Mr. Hayden, I don’t think there’s anything else I would want more.”
She didn't seem very interested in Hayden's supposedly better proposal.
But Hayden insisted on telling her that there was.
Otherwise, how could he have regained control of the deal?
"But I have something you need more."
So Hayden said.
Moreover, what he wanted to talk about was not the Secret Fire, but what he had gained from the Dead Sea incident.
That was something that the goddess Mikkelsen absolutely could not refuse.
236: Miktikahiva
What is needed more?
Hayden's words made the goddess Micket frown.
Actually, she didn't completely disbelieve him. Like Karen and Alastor, the goddess Mikt sometimes had more faith in Hayden than Hayden himself. This was because Mikt had also witnessed Hayden doing incredible things.
For example, secret fire, and ritual magic for resurrection.
Therefore, the goddess Mikkelsen always had some extraordinary expectations for Hayden.
Even so, she still found it somewhat amusing when she heard Hayden say, "I have what you need more."
"What do you have that I need more?" So now, the goddess Mikt asked, "Is it some new achievement in life magic?"
She asked the question, but her expression was somewhat dismissive.
“Miktikashiva, don’t you want a vibrant, real life?”
So Hayden frowned as well.
Don't you want to satisfy your eternal hunger?
This question caused the goddess Mikt to narrow her blood-red eyes.
"Of course I want to. But what can you do about it?"
"Even the Secret Fire can't truly satisfy me. Just like the dishes you gave me last time, they only temporarily suppressed my hunger. Are you planning to cook for me every day? Or do you want to use resurrection magic to give me true life?"
Although Goddess Mikette said this, her expression was dismissive. This reaction, combined with her previous tone, immediately made Hayden understand her unspoken meaning: "Do you think I can't do it?"
The goddess Mikkelsen didn't say that. She simply shifted her position in the dining chair, rested her chin on her hand, and sighed, "Mr. Hayden, I'll stop with the riddles and be frank with you—resurrection magic is useless against me. Otherwise, I would have bought it from you right after the last 'World's Number One VTuber Tournament'."
That makes some sense.
If Mikkuri was enjoying her vampire life and didn't want to be resurrected, then it might be understandable that she hadn't discussed the deal with Hayden. But in reality, Mikkuri clearly didn't like being a vampire, or at least not an undead creature.
Even when she witnessed Hayden's resurrection magic, and was deeply impressed, she always treated it merely as a means to make new money, never considering using it for her own benefit, and never even discussing its potential with Haitang. Thinking about it, there seems to be only one reasonable explanation:
Miktikashiva probably doesn't believe deep down that she can be resurrected.
Such "confidence" is surely not without reason. Why does she think this way?
Hayden, in fact, did have an answer to this question.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have said such boastful things to the goddess Mikkuri, like "I have what you need more."
"You don't believe you can be resurrected,"
Therefore Hayden said,
"Just because you've never had a life?"
That's how he revealed the answer.
It turns out that Miktikashiva is also an "Unborn One".
——————————————————————————————
Modern mega-corporations, the gods of capital, generally hide the secrets of their myths, preventing these secrets from being known to the general public.
But for the gods themselves, these secrets are much harder to keep hidden.
Hayden is not a god, but he now possesses sufficient power and status to explore these secrets. And how could he claim to have gained wisdom if he lacked the resolve to utilize these resources? So Hayden did indeed use them; he had already done so long ago. Since the events of the Fallen Angel City, he had requested access to the Peacock King's archives to seek the knowledge of this fallen angel.
Over the course of several months, Hayden's understanding of the mysteries of ancient mythology had greatly increased. He had already studied the secrets of the goddess Mekt during this time, and with his newly acquired wisdom, he looked into the abyss of Mektikashiva's dark history, into her ancient secrets from hundreds, even thousands of years ago, and sought traces of her life in the cosmic memory.
If he doesn't even understand the other party's true nature, how can he have the confidence to come and talk to Goddess Mikt about this kind of business, saying that he wants to give her what she needs more?
The light of wisdom can illuminate the darkness of history. In this abyss, Hayden's gaze finally pierced through the darkness. Ultimately, he saw the truth in the shadows.
The truth is that Miktikahiva never actually had any life.
She died before she was born. She died while still a fetus, and became the goddess of death as a deceased person.
Doesn't this sound a lot like a certain Dead Sea nymph?
However, Miktikashiva is not an accidental occurrence like the Dead Sea Child Goddess; rather, it is the opposite. She was deliberately designed and shaped into this form.
Because Miktiti Kahiva is an ancient goddess of death in Central and South America.
Smoke Mirror Life Construction Company is a unique anomaly among modern mega-corporations. Many of its top executives are ancient gods, especially its chairman, Smoke Mirror Tescarripok, who is the only pure ancient god in the world. Moreover, he rose to power by betraying their original god, Quetzalcoatl, during a war four hundred years ago.
This kind of rebellious behavior is not uncommon among the ancient pantheons of Central and South America. This is because the ancient gods of Central and South America have long been engaged in continuous warfare and turmoil. Every few centuries, their current chief god would rebel, be killed, and dethroned by a new chief god. The old gods here have never established a stable rule. This place has always been a land of chaos.
Therefore, in order to enhance their divine power and defeat other gods, blood sacrifices and human sacrifices were commonplace among this pantheon. Moreover, all these gods were constantly pondering where they could extract more power to forge even stronger weapons. Ultimately, and naturally, some gods set their sights on the power of death and the underworld. Because they were so eager for quick success and instant benefits, even more so than the gods of capitalism, and even more ruthless than the gods of feudalism.
Just as the Dead Sea Child Gods were born by chance, these gods deliberately created Miktikahiva.
"So you already knew."
The goddess Mikkelsen didn't seem surprised. She had long suspected that Hayden might investigate her history beforehand; in fact, it would have been foolish not to.
The two stared at each other silently for a moment, then the goddess Mickett spoke first, asking, "Mr. Hayden, what is a vampire?"
This question is practically a Zen riddle.
Fortunately, there is a standard answer to this question. So Hayden answered directly: "An undead entity that must absorb the life force of other humanoid beings to sustain its activities, while being completely unable to generate its own life force. This should be considered the standard definition of a modern vampire."
Blood here is merely a metaphor for life. In fact, the goddess Mikkuri also frequently ate meat. As for why these undead creatures, who must absorb the life force of other humanoid beings, can still legally exist in this modern society, there are complex reasons. First, not all humanoid beings are granted human rights by modern society; for example, demi-humans are not legally human. Second, this capitalist era naturally allows people to freely trade their life force.
You're poor, you're bankrupt, you can't afford to treat your son—hey, why don't you go find a vampire and sell your blood for a price?
Therefore, vampires can certainly live peacefully in this era, and are even considered a kind of god. They are not particularly strange things; they are just living corpses that humans turn into after death.
"That's right. Vampires are dead people who devour the living."
The goddess Mikkelsen summarized it this way, but she didn't seem angry.
"And I devour both the living and the dead. I am the true vampire who devours all souls and carries all the power of blood sacrifice; I am the goddess of death who was once a weapon."
This is the essence of Miktitikashiva.
Over a thousand years, her original creator perished amidst war and rebellion. Instead, she continued to devour, consuming countless humans, ghosts, and even many gods. This cannibalism fueled her ever-growing power.
As she had told Hayden before, she was actually just an empty vessel, a result of the war of the Old Gods itself, a monster that had gathered a large amount of death and corruption.
The more she eats, the stronger she becomes. The goddess Mikkuri doesn't actually have a specific purpose in constantly replenishing herself; she simply continues to consume blood and flesh to ward off hunger and grow stronger.
The Dead Sea nymphs of the past also devoured souls. In a sense, the goddess Mikt is its complete form after a thousand years of growth. When she was first created by the ancient gods, she was even more coarse and twisted than the Dead Sea nymphs. It was because she devoured so many, and through a thousand years of changes and various accidental magical interventions, that she finally became what she is today, a great goddess. Of course, there were countless coincidences and miracles involved in this process.
But fundamentally, she was still a cruder Margaret, only she had become extremely powerful after a thousand years of development.
That's why Hayden told her, "I have already resurrected the Unborn."
Just a few months ago, Hayden managed to bring life to the stillborn fetus of a fallen angel and the infant god of the Dead Sea. Even by Hayden's own demanding standards, this would be considered top-tier resurrection magic. His current magic should be able to similarly grant life to Miktikashiva.
He thought that would be enough to convince the goddess Mikt—but she shook her head instead.
“Mr. Hayden, of course I already know about your new achievements in [Fallen City]. Not all gods care about what you do, but I’ve been following you like a fan.”
That sounds a bit scary. But that's not the point that Goddess Mikt wanted to make.
"I know you once resurrected the unborn, but that method won't work on me."
She sighed as she said this.
"The method you used to resurrect the unborn last time was actually a great project that altered the past, giving life to a being that never lived, thus changing history, right?"
“That stillborn fetus had no history to begin with. You rewrote its history, gave it a new life, and gave it life from the start—it lost nothing for it. But what about me?”
Miktikashiva became the Goddess of Death as a dead person, devouring the flesh and blood of millions of souls. After a long period of time and countless miracles and coincidences, she finally settled into her current form and gained her current rationality, and is no longer a purely insane monster.
(Of course, she's still a bit crazy now, but at least she's more socially aware.)
If she made Hayden rewrite her origin story, how could she still be the person she is now? Wouldn't that be equivalent to deleting the current goddess Mikkuri and replacing her with a new version?
"Even without considering philosophical questions, even if the new me is still the real me, doing this will cost me too much power. Even if I want life, want to truly live, I don't want to become a powerless poor person."
The goddess Mikkelsen took a sip of tea, raised an eyebrow,
"I would rather endure eternal hunger than live in poverty."
This makes things very complicated.
The Dead Sea nymph had nothing, so it was certainly a good thing that it gained life and was transformed into Margaret.
But the goddess Mikkert already possessed almost everything. Hayden wanted to erase her past achievements; even if he gave her life, she wouldn't want it.
Hayden could indeed give Mikkelsen what she *needed*—life. But she *didn't* want it!
Hearing this, even though Hayden had made many preparations, he was speechless for a moment.
He had investigated Miktikashiva's history and secrets beforehand, and considered whether his magic could resurrect her, but he forgot to take this into account.
"What if we upload your consciousness first, then use a spell on your body to revive it, and then download your consciousness back?"
“No, this is no different from changing bodies. I’ve tried it too. It can’t solve the hunger that is fundamentally caused by death.” Goddess Mikt shook her head. “I even tried cloning myself as a substitute to overcome death and be resurrected. You saw the result, it just made me and the clone devour each other.”
She paused here, then gave a self-deprecating laugh: "I don't even know if I'm the original me now. Maybe I'm already a clone, and I've already eaten the original—but so what?"
Miktikashiva didn't really care about her own identity. She was, from the very beginning, just an empty vessel, a hybrid monster. From the start, she wasn't sure where her "self" came from. She only cared about not losing her power.
Hayden listened with a chill running down his spine. How could he possibly help such a monster?