Because the gods elsewhere didn't want to get involved. They would never allow Karen to suddenly teleport eight million people to their territory!
"That's why I said you shouldn't have come." Adam said, then gave a wry smile. "Mitra's second attack will affect the entire Evergreen State. You should be staying in New Sprout City to deal with the aftermath and protect your citizens and employees, instead of coming to New Asia to rescue some civilians who have nothing to do with you. You should know that even if you defend New Sprout City with all your might, you may not be able to stop the aftermath."
Hayden and Karen now understood, exchanged a glance, and realized that Adam was indeed right. This was truly a problem.
Should all eight million citizens of New Yatu be relocated to New Sprout City? That's probably unrealistic. New Sprout City is already at its limit, accommodating 700,000 people. There's no way to force eight million people in, not even to avoid the aftermath of a wave of unrest, because the city's barrier design and configuration are simply not up to par.
As for the Peacock King's Peacock Palace... it's even smaller, only able to hold a maximum of a few hundred thousand people. After all, the Peacock King is a martial artist and doesn't like to occupy territory.
Borrowing territory from allies? Right now, the only ones they could borrow were Miktra or Freya. But Mitra's next attack could come at any moment; Hayden wouldn't have time to negotiate with allies then!
Karen was never one to give in easily, yet even she, after sorting through these complexities in her mind, was momentarily at a loss—what should she do now? Karen's knowledge told her that she now had only one choice. But her mind didn't want her to choose that. Besides, if Karen were capable of coldly calculating human lives, she certainly wouldn't be the Karen she was today.
At this moment, it was Hayden who, after listening to Adam's words, rubbed his temples and calmly asked, "How do you know so much about what kind of attack Mitra will use next?"
"Because I understand the political thought process of the gods better than you do. And because after becoming the ultimate being, I gained excellent eyesight." Adam looked up at the night sky, "So now I can see the slightest movement on the moon even standing on the ground. Therefore, I know that the [Vajra Pestle] attack just now was just Mithra's greeting. He will only unleash his true power later."
"So, my friends, of course I won't stop you from rescuing people, because I don't need to stop you at all—if I can withstand Mitra's next real attack, the remaining people of New Yatu will have a chance to survive. If you think I can't hold them off, you should hurry back to New Sprout City and do your best to strengthen your defenses. Don't be greedy."
Adam waved his hand as he said this.
"Don't stand here wasting our time, and don't get involved and ruin my plans. Unless you want to try fighting me now and see if you can knock me down."
This is obviously the least realistic option. Adam's words now actually sound somewhat like well-intentioned advice.
But Hayden wasn't stupid. He clearly understood who was responsible for this mess: "Adam, you're playing the good guy now, but in reality, this situation has forced you, me, and even the entire population of Evergreen State to face a life-or-death crisis, and it's all your fault."
"Stop joking, buddy." Hayden's words unexpectedly made Adam's lips curl into a smile. "If it weren't for this damn fate, who the hell would want to go toe-to-toe with Mitra?"
Adam's words were truly the honest truth from the bottom of his heart. Unfortunately, it was precisely because of this honesty that Hayden understood even more clearly that this man had absolutely no moral sense. He was the most selfish person imaginable. Even if he were to be killed by Mithras, Adam would not believe in guilt or punishment; he would only see it as part of the survival of the fittest, a cruel twist of fate, and would not believe that he had committed any sin.
So after a moment of silence, Hayden asked, "Faced with Mithra's serious attack, what are your chances of winning?"
"It's hard to say." Adam was honest; at this point, he had no reason to lie. "Probably 20% or 30%."
Perhaps that's why he's now gathering his strength while running to chat with Hayden. That's why, during this conversation, he's advising Hayden and Karen to return to New Sprout City and hold their ground, instead of dragging them down with him.
Because selfishness has its origins and reasons, and this was likely Adam's last conversation with Hayden, and perhaps his last chance for an honest conversation. Having become a perfect being, Adam probably already had a vague sense of his impending demise.
What's the point of being selfish if it only brings no benefit other than dragging your old friends down with you?
Even so, Adam didn't think there was anything wrong with the various evil deeds he had committed in his previous thirty-odd years of life. He probably still thinks that persuading Hayden to go back and save his life was a good deed.
This infuriated Hayden.
This extreme anger could sometimes drive Hayden's thinking, making his mind work fast enough to accomplish things that others considered impossible.
Power doesn't come from anger. Hayden didn't have that kind of cheat code.
Anger merely fueled his bizarre imagination.
"it is good."
So finally, Hayden spoke.
"Adam, now I'll show you how I, Hayden, can defeat you."
…………What?
Upon hearing this, not only Adam, but even Kallen and Pania in Angela's arms were momentarily stunned. How could Hayden possibly defeat Adam and Lilith, whose combined strength was almost equivalent to two main gods? It was simply impossible!
...But then again, Hayden himself said he could do it, so who dares to say that Adam and Karen, who know him best, definitely couldn't? Who dares to say that Hayden absolutely wouldn't suddenly pull something out of his pocket and beat you up?
"No, no, no, no, do you really have to trick me at this time!?"
For a moment, even Adam began to panic. If Hayden could truly fight him to a standstill, regardless of the outcome, Adam would be utterly powerless against Mithra. His chances of winning would instantly plummet from 30% to zero. Such a death would be utterly unjust.
Hayden ignored Adam. He turned to Karen and said, "Karen, we're not going back to Newbud. We'll leave it to Alastor and Abigail, and trust them and the defenses we've built ourselves."
"Of course I believe you, but I don't understand what you mean." Karen was still confused. "What's your plan?"
Hayden's plan was simple and straightforward:
"We can't take eight million people with us, so we'll just deploy our defenses directly in New Atlanta. We'll repair the city's defenses, repair the equipment, and use the people, energy, tools, and everything else in this city—to protect its own inhabitants!"
Karen then understood what Hayden meant by "defeating Adam."
---------------------------
Meanwhile, on the moon, 384400 kilometers above the Earth's surface, the white celestial maiden Mira was hurrying along at Mithra's lunar base.
The Mithra Group bought the entire moon hundreds of years ago and has built many structures on it. There are currently many employees and production bases on the moon. In the full-force attack by Adam and Lilith, many insignificant employees and equipment were damaged. However, such a minor matter doesn't require Mithra's personal attention.
Although Mira is not a god, as the most important secretary and agent of Mithra Bodhisattva, she has always been deeply trusted by Mithra Bodhisattva. In fact, she is the medium between the Bodhisattva and mortals, and is a saint representing the Bodhisattva.
Although she wasn't actually Mithra, she was almost, nearly—already an incarnation of Mithra. When she went out to perform official duties, it was practically as if Mithra himself had appeared. Therefore, she was an extension of Mithra's divine authority, like a tentacle stretched out by Mithra.
So how will Mira handle the situation with New Yatu and Adam? It's actually quite simple: if you've been slapped in the face, you have to retaliate, otherwise the whole world will laugh at you and doubt your abilities. However, it's not convenient to directly mobilize the entire group's resources right now, nor can you make too much of a fuss, otherwise the outcome will be similar.
Therefore, Mira is now flying towards Mithra's "own" military base on the moon. She is looking for a divine warrior who, although belonging to the company, was previously more directly under Mithra's own control.
Passing through countless sentry posts, corridors, and rooms, Mira finally entered the central headquarters of the Moon's Central Security Bureau. The supreme deity who sat there year-round represented the highest military authority under Mithras. Unlike most of the new gods who usually appeared human, this deity had blue skin, seven topknots on his head, and was extremely tall. Even in silent meditation, his body was constantly engulfed in crimson flames.
"King Ming!"
As a celestial being who was almost an incarnation of Mithra, Mira did not need to be overly respectful to this wrathful king.
"You saw what just happened. By the will of the Bodhisattva, as a manifestation of the power of Mithra, you are to kill those two villains to demonstrate the Bodhisattva's might. However, their power seems somewhat strange. Are you confident that you can defeat them?"
The blue-skinned King of Light had opened his eyes. Almost the instant he opened his eyes, an immense and dense divine power emanated from him. All the demons and monsters of the heavens trembled in fear. Even the gods standing before him felt their own insignificance and bowed before the majestic power of the King of Light who severed evil.
"That is not an unprecedented superpower. When the Peacock King and his wife merge, they also exhibit similar power."
The chief of the Eight Great Wisdom Kings, representing the strongest military force of the Mithra Group, the Immovable Wisdom King, slowly spoke.
"Bodhisattva, there is no need to worry. I will go and behead the evildoer, and then return quickly."
290: Fudo Myoo
When Hayden is determined to do something, even without sufficient evidence, people sometimes believe him and are willing to do it. Now that he says he will deploy defenses in New Atlanta to protect the remaining citizens, Karen will not waste any more time.
First, she began broadcasting a message on the StarNet Marketplace. The reason for broadcasting on the marketplace was that things seen there were often the first to be seen worldwide. The message announced that Karen's trip to New Seattle was solely for humanitarian aid to civilians, and not to help Adam, this suddenly rebellious individual.
Whether the gods believe this news or not is their own business. At worst, they can all set up a battle. After all, there are always some rules within the capitalist gods. Once the stance is taken, everyone will try their best to play by the rules… at least for the time being.
Hayden and Karen have enough time for now.
With a wave of her hand, Kallen sent 36,000 clones flying from her body to various parts of New Asia Metropolis. This was god-level power; Kallen's multi-threading allowed her to create tens of thousands of clones to handle various matters... Even so, no one dared to say that this was necessarily enough.
"I'll also go out and make some arrangements myself."
So Karen spoke to Hayden while glancing at Adam in the distance.
“Hayden, if he wants to harm you, don’t hesitate, teleport back to Newbeam immediately. I don’t like to say this, but in my heart, your life is indeed more important than eight million people.”
She said this intentionally, intending it for Adam to hear, as a warning.
However, Adam found this quite amusing: "Karen, I know you all see me as a bad guy, but can you so-called good people please put your hands on your conscience and think about it? When have I ever really harmed my friend? I've never harmed Hayden, have I?"
Strictly speaking, Adam didn't really seem to have "harmed" Hayden... but Karen wasn't stupid either.
"Even I know that 'not harming the other person' is not the definition of friendship."
So she coldly retorted,
“Adam, you’ve never had a true friend. You’re about to be killed by Mithra, and everything you’ve selfishly built up for yourself will vanish into thin air, leaving nothing behind. The only person in the world who might mourn your death is Hayden. You’ve already suffered enough.”
As soon as she finished speaking, Karen took flight. She preferred direct action to wasting time arguing. The reason she was giving Adam this final tirade was probably because they had been classmates and, for the time being, friends, and today might be their last.
However, Karen's act of lashing out and running away was indeed a bit unethical. Although Adam was usually very shrewd and rarely showed his emotions, he couldn't help but feel a little annoyed after hearing Karen's words.
"How old are you to say such childish things? Do you think you can last forever? Do you think that just because you save people's lives today, they will be truly grateful to you tomorrow?"
So Adam mocked Karen's retreating figure, but it was clear he was actually a little vulnerable.
"You don't really believe that most people in this world are kind, and that it's all because of the evil of capitalism that things have become like this, do you? Don't be ridiculous. All of humanity is pretty much the same. If you ever fail, all those people you once helped will turn around and curse you for misleading and delaying them."
Actually, what he said wasn't entirely without merit. However, Karen had already flown away.
Hayden didn't answer Adam either. He sat down cross-legged in the square in the center of New Seattle and began to perform the ritual for the "Great Project" he had just come up with—yes, this guy was now even daring to come up with a "Great Project" on a whim, practically going mad.
Of course, he wasn't just imagining things. Now, Hayden's eyes were fixed on the distance, as if trying to see through the Earth's atmosphere and the interstellar dust of the universe, all the way to the empty, dark vacuum between the galaxies, a place no wizard or arcane mage had ever seen, to see beyond the curtain of the world, to see the trajectory of fate... Even so, fate is, in fact, something woven by people themselves.
So Hayden has already gotten busy and started planning for the next phase.
Everyone else was busy, while Adam had both made a fool of himself and had nothing else to do—his divine power was now self-sufficient, and accumulating it was the best way to prepare for the next battle. There was no other power he could use here, and Hayden and the others had no intention of helping him.
Perhaps because he might really be dying, for a fleeting moment, a genuine sense of sorrow arose deep within Adam's heart. Unfortunately, for a soul so accustomed to solitude and selfishness, this feeling was only momentary, and he himself didn't truly understand it.
Instead, Lily, who was beside Adam, comforted him: "Don't think too much, darling. You're right. Everyone's going to die anyway, and nothing will be left. They think they're struggling, but it's all in vain. Even if we perish today, these capitalist gods won't prosper for long. This whole world will soon be destroyed."
These words hardly seem like comfort. Although Adam was selfish, even a human being, knowing that others would die sooner or later when he was about to die, wouldn't seem particularly happy.
Besides—"You're saying the world will soon be destroyed?" Adam suddenly felt a little strange upon hearing this. "How long do you mean by 'soon'?"
Lilith glanced at Angela, who was holding Pania's head in the distance: "Soon."
Angela probably heard Lilith's words too. But Angela didn't even turn her head; she simply said, "You underestimate these human life forms. Their souls also contain divine glory. If you underestimate human courage, wisdom, and love, even angels will be defeated by humans."
"Besides... whether this world is destroyed or not is not something you can decide."
Just as Angela uttered those last words, Adam, Lilith, and even Pania's head, which Angela was holding in her arms, all truly felt at that moment that she represented something incredibly huge and extremely distant, and was like a tentacle extending from that thing.
Adam was naturally startled. But for some reason, Lilith seemed quite pleased. Her face radiated an immense, almost uncontrollable joy.
"Since you put it that way, I'll give you a prophecy as well."
Then Lilith smiled and said,
"When these humans even kill you, this world will end."
Only Adam and Pania could hear what they were saying (Adam and Lilith were now two main gods, capable of protecting their privacy). They couldn't fully comprehend these cryptic, mad words, but they both felt a chill run down their spines.
Unfortunately, as Adam and Hayden had said before, while the mysteries of angels and Outer Gods are interesting, now is not the time to ponder them.
“That’s not something you can decide. Lilith, face your own death first.” Angela raised her head and looked at the moon in the night sky. “Your test has begun.”
As she said, the second wave of Mithra's attack has already descended from the moon.
————————————————————————————
Mithra Bodhisattva maintains a permanent garrison of 100,000 divine soldiers on his lunar base. However, he certainly wouldn't deploy all 100,000 soldiers this time; otherwise, even a battle that should have been prestigious would become humiliating. And for Mithra in this battle, preserving face is precisely what he needs most. He needs to demonstrate to all the gods of the world that he remains the strongest in the world.
Therefore, Fudo Myoo only brought one thousand Vajra warriors with him this time. Moreover, these one thousand Vajra warriors did not launch an attack directly.
When a new god of war, a general-type warrior, leads his army into battle, his tactics resemble those in ancient historical novels. When led by a war god, the new god's army doesn't fight as normally as usual; instead, it forms a "grand project," or "formation," together with the core new god. Within this formation, the new god's army is no longer individual soldiers, but a unified whole with the war god.
This is why the army of the War God race is not easily wiped out by powerful single-target god enemies.
Now that Fudo Myoo has descended to Earth with a thousand heavenly soldiers, those soldiers immediately began to set up a vast mandala array around New Jersey. With the array in place, Adam and Lilith would have no way to escape (although they had no intention of escaping and nowhere to run), and it was also to let the world see the power of Mithra Bodhisattva.
So after the formation was set up, the Vajra Warriors did not attack. Instead, Fudo Myoo descended first, landing in mid-air in New Asia, at a height similar to that of many tall buildings.
Unlike most of the new gods who appear human, Fudo Myoo's appearance has many inhuman qualities. His skin is blue, glowing with crimson flames, and he is extremely tall. Even without using any transformation effects, he is still over three meters tall. Few people would intentionally modify their genes to look like this... unless he was a true, specifically designed new god for combat from the very beginning.
Despite this, Fudo Myoo did not rush into battle. Instead, after descending, he first glanced at Adam and Lilith, who were also taking flight, before speaking:
"Adam Smith Apsara, Alicia Clari Kazmuk Apsara. I am the Immovable Vajra Messenger under the Bodhisattva of Light Mithra! I have come here by the Bodhisattva's command to destroy evil and sever wickedness. If you two disperse your divine power and surrender to the Bodhisattva's compassion, there is still a glimmer of hope for your survival. Otherwise, the entire area within ten thousand miles will be reduced to dust in an instant, and no one in heaven or on earth can save you! Do not let your own greed ruin the lives of millions of people in Changqing Prefecture!"
Wow, that sounds so righteous and high-sounding!
Adam was already annoyed by what Karen and Hayden had said earlier. Now, Fudo Myoo's righteous criticism only made Adam feel more annoyed and amused: "So, all for the sake of the people's lives! So it was I who threw lightning at New Asia? Wasn't that vajra thrown by Mithra?"
Adam had just asked Hayden the same question. He was also quite curious how Mithra's own wrathful deity would respond to the same rebuttal.
As expected, Fudo Myoo calmly uttered some astonishing words that far exceeded Adam's imagination: "The Vajra Pestle was originally intended only for the two of you. If you had not resisted and had obediently surrendered and awaited your deaths, there would have been no aftershocks. The entire city of New Asia has now been wiped out, and millions have suffered heavy losses and casualties from the aftershocks, all because of your vigorous resistance."
This was truly astonishing—even Adam couldn't have imagined that the King of the Mithra Group would utter such astonishing words. Now, hearing it, he couldn't help but feel a genuine admiration for the Mithra Group's domineering nature... as well as a vague sense of unease rising within him.
When did Adam start to forget this feeling? — Yes! The capitalists of the Mitra Group are indeed this domineering! Even when they kill people, and the aftermath spreads and kills civilians, it's all because you dared to resist! This domineering nature is truly enviable!
At the same time, it made Adam want to punch it!
“I currently have almost two combatants at the level of [God-level]. And you are just a Mingwang. Even with the Mithra amplification, you are at most at the level of the Peacock Mingwang.”
So Adam clenched his fist, assumed a fighting stance, and responded with a cold laugh.
"After two god-level combatants blast you apart, will Mitra personally intervene? Or will he have to hold his nose and let me go?"
Surprisingly, the usually wrathful Fudo Myoo began to laugh upon hearing Adam's words.
"The Peacock King is merely a swordsman. He may be good at duels and assassinations, but how can that compare to my strength as a fierce general on the battlefield?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Fudo Myoo drew a longsword from his spatial storage. A sword wielded by a three-meter-tall man would clearly be considered a giant sword by a normal person. Moreover, like Fudo Myoo himself, the blade was enveloped in a layer of blazing crimson lotus flames. These flames were not merely flames; they contained boundless divine power, as if a black dragon king, like a giant serpent, coiled around the sword, releasing countless magnificent phenomena.
This is the symbolic weapon of Acala, the sword of wisdom that breaks through the three poisons of greed, anger, and ignorance—the Kurikara sword!