"But trying to distort the consequences of sin and allow the entire South America to survive the deadly tsunami is certainly impossible. Ultimately, even if you kill Smoke Mirror, the gates to the artificial underworld won't close on their own. The trouble that begins with the sacrifice of life can only end with life itself. The Supreme One will never forget, will never forgive lightly, and even the messengers of the Outer Gods cannot negate the price!"
Hearing this, Hayden looked at Angela beside him: "Is that so?"
Ange tilted her head: "This is a rather complicated issue. Specific situations need to be analyzed specifically; there's no simple answer."
“Of course I know the price is unavoidable,” Mickett said expressionlessly, “but I really do want to see.”
A degree of surprise finally appeared on Remiel's snake-like face.
What does Micket want to see?
360: The future is uncertain
While Hayden and his companions went to question Quetzalcoatl, Karen and Panya were certainly not idle either; in fact, they were probably even busier.
Pania immediately did what she did best, flying around the slums outside Aztland Island, transforming into countless forms to guide the impoverished people in their emergency evacuation. Pania had already proven her skill in this area during the "New Asia Flame" incident, and moreover, she was indeed a god within the Smoke Mirror Company in a broader sense, making this kind of work in South America incredibly efficient.
In less than twenty minutes, Panya used her divine power to relocate all the people living by the lake to a distance of over a hundred miles. There were quite a few people who refused to move even during the disaster… but at this point, there was no time to consider human rights. With a wave of her hand, Panya summoned them all away.
Karen was tasked with preparing for the upcoming battle against the Smoke Mirror. She took over control of [Dream Flower City], moving the massive flower and tree fortress to an abandoned slum, placing it atop the former guerrilla base. Karen then unleashed her divine power, causing the already small fortress of [Dream Flower City] to further expand. Countless roots and vines sprouted from the city, eventually forming massive walls of plants that surrounded the entire lake.
This plant wall is not merely a physical entity, but also a conceptual barrier. Karen has decided to confront the death tsunami controlled by the smoke mirror here.
Just then, Hayden and the others returned. Hayden, Angela, Mickett, and Amm—the same people who had left with them.
Karen stood on the plant wall, manipulating the reinforcement barrier as she casually asked, "Any good news?"
Her tone was so dignified and matter-of-fact, it was as if a wife were speaking to her husband of many years... and indeed, that was pretty much the case for them.
“I guess so.” Hayden shrugged. “Quetzalcoatl refused to come and help, but told me that the Smoke Mirror’s true form is the entire ecosystem of South America, an artificial system that He once created… Thinking about it carefully, this is basically an AI rebellion.”
"The Smoke Mirror's core is the entire South American ecosystem? No wonder one [Dream Flower] couldn't break it." Karen frowned upon hearing this, then gently pressed her forehead. "But that's perfect. I've just used [Dream Flower] to completely control this small part of the natural environment and ecosystem around Aztland Island."
"Arcane magic is essentially about standardizing, improving, and integrating the power of these ancient gods. This way, at least we won't be trapped in the enemy's home turf during the upcoming battles."
Although the entirety of South America is within the Smoke Mirror's domain, at least here, in this small area of the battlefield, is a domain created by Kallen using her great industrial magic, the Dream Flower. Therefore, in terms of terrain, the upcoming battle is at least evenly matched for both sides.
perhaps.
"And now I have a second plan."
Hayden pointed behind him. He and Karen were talking alone, but Mickett and Am were further back.
“I can use Amu as a terminal to re-hacker the artificial underworld in South America. If I can disrupt the artificial underworld, I can greatly reduce the power of the Smoke Mirror without even destroying it.”
However, Karen's mind worked very quickly, and she immediately understood Hayden's entire plan. She shook her head and said, "No, how can we let a child take on the risks of combat? He could die."
“I didn’t want to either, but it was her own choice.” Hayden scratched his head. “I want to respect her choice. Even if a child’s choice is full of ignorant nonsense, I want to believe in the possibilities of the future.”
These words finally struck a chord with Karen, causing her to turn around with a melancholy expression on her face: "Hayden, I know the saying that 'the new era will not be created by the old.' But we are not old. We are young people now, and we cannot place our expectations for the future on children."
Hayden and Karen are only in their early thirties. By children's standards, they are certainly not young, but by the standards of politicians, they are among the youngest.
“I know your expectations for Isham, you can tell from the name you gave her. But Isham is not yet a representative of the future and victory. It is irresponsible to place the hopes for the new era on a child.”
As Karen spoke, she glanced at Am in the distance, her hand unconsciously touching her belly. Although it wasn't outwardly visible, her and Hayden's child was right there.
A god's body can be adjusted to be almost completely unaffected by the side effects of pregnancy, and the belly won't swell significantly. A combat-oriented god won't even experience a decrease in combat power until delivery. However, this also prevents Kallen's mammary glands from enlarging—but we won't discuss that now. The key point is that Hayden actually understands what Kallen is trying to convey.
The new era won't be created by the elderly, but Ismail Sabri Yaakob is probably not yet a representative of the future and victory. So who are the "young people who haven't lived in the past"?
“That’s why I’m going with her,” Hayden sighed. “Besides, Miktikashiva said she would help.”
Karen raised an eyebrow: "Fine, I won't argue with you about that. I'll hope your operation succeeds, while preparing for the worst-case scenario with the Smoke Mirror. Twenty minutes left, do you think you'll make it?"
“It’s hard to say.” Hayden also glanced back at Mikt and Am in the distance. “Mikt Tikahiva said her plan still needs some preparation.”
That being said, Mickett didn't actually waste everyone's time.
Even before Hayden agreed to take her along, Mickert had already outlined her proposed improvements:
“Isham’s connection to the artificial underworld has been severed, and her personality is no longer the same as mine. Using her as a terminal to reconnect to the artificial underworld is unreliable. My connection is being monitored by the smoke mirror and is also unusable.”
"But the artificial underworld was not created in the void, but rather a separate realm established within the collective consciousness of Aztland in South America. Just like the Smoke Mirror, as the present embodiment of the system's overall consciousness, it can easily manipulate me, this condensation of the past."
At this point, Mickett chuckled self-deprecatingly.
“Aren’t you leading a group of poor people? They are certainly part of the current collective consciousness in South America, so you can use them as a springboard. I, Isham, and a large group of poor people, using all three springboards together, can bypass the smoke mirror and directly hack into the artificial underworld.”
"As for what you can do after hacking in, and how to weaken the smoke goggles, that's none of my business, right?"
If you think about it carefully, Miktikahiva's self-awareness is entirely derived from the condensation of the artificial underworld in South America. Having Hayden and his team hack into the artificial underworld and mess around was essentially messing around inside her real brain. The fact that Miktika herself seems completely indifferent is actually quite frightening.
So after listening to Mickett's words, Hayden rubbed his temples: "Using a springboard carries a high risk of death, so ordinary civilians can't be allowed to do it. To use a team ritual to invade the realm of collective consciousness, all participants' minds need to be as synchronized as possible, otherwise it's easy to explode. This is not easy."
Micket responded with a sneer: "When I saw Isam fighting the main god before, wasn't she able to unite five hundred mortal warriors together? Use them."
Indeed, this was certainly the most obvious solution. Hayden himself had already thought of it long ago, without Mickett needing to say it. But whether it could be done, whether it could be done well, and whether it could unite everyone were matters for Am to judge. If Hayden waved his hand to summon Todd's guerrillas, only to find they couldn't coordinate, and the ceremony failed, resulting in everyone being blown up, then there would be no laughing matter.
"I'll go tell everyone."
But Amu did not hesitate or waver. After returning to Dream City, she immediately flew to where the guerrillas were resting to explain the current situation and the current plan to them.
Mikert didn't follow; he just watched from afar, only seeing Amu fly among the guerrillas and see the ordinary people talking to her with great joy. These people liked her, not revered her.
She told them that there was a plan to defeat the Smoke Mirror, that the chance to win was here, that the opportunity to achieve fairness and justice was here, and that everyone needed to work together.
"Humans can become power, and people are power. We are the collective of human beings, a collective of warriors who believe in a progressive future and fight bravely and fearlessly! Today, we will wage war against death and darkness, and we will bring a new wind to South America!"
Am said to all their guerrilla fighters
"We will blow away the fog! We will create the future together! We will defeat all those useless old things! We will create a new nation of freedom and equality, where there are no blood sacrifices and no forced sacrifices for the God-King!"
She didn't actually say anything particularly profound, nor did she explain any specific operations or theories. When she spoke to the guerrilla fighters, she simply ignited their emotions. The guerrilla fighters surrounded Amu, cheering and shouting battle cries.
Hayden and Mickett simply watched from a distance.
However, Hayden asked after a while, "Mikttikashiva, I'm curious what you thought when you saw her."
Mickett's lips curved into a smile: "I'm surprised, even shocked. Because something copied from my personality, memories, and genes can be so childish. Mr. Hayden, you raised her, didn't you? Isn't that your responsibility?"
"First of all, I didn't teach her. Secondly, there's nothing wrong with being naive. Children can always look to the future and say auspicious things."
As he spoke, Hayden smiled. Although a critical battle was imminent, he smiled nonetheless, displaying a hint of Angela's usual enigmatic demeanor.
"The point is, although you probably don't understand the joke, I see another possibility of you in her. She is someone who, although still arrogant and with many problems in her personality, is already kind and full of life."
For a moment, Mickett remained silent. After a while, she said, "She actually has no technical skills, no practical political ability, no power, and no theory. Her slogans only offer emotional value. If Isham were to become the new ruler of South America, she would only make things worse. She's simply not cut out for this."
"Smoke Mirror is about to devour everyone, so don't say the situation is getting worse. How could it get worse? In short, let's defeat Smoke Mirror first, and we can think about what happens next later."
Hayden shook his head.
"Besides, what's wrong with her? At least she treats everyone fairly and considers herself equal to these people. If the enemy attacks, she'll charge ahead and retreat last. A ruler who can do that isn't incompetent. As for the rest, we'll help cover some of it, and her companions will help cover the rest—don't treat her as an isolated individual, Miktikahiva. Let me tell you honestly, many of these anti-corporateists are incredibly knowledgeable and skilled. They'll build a new nation."
“She’ll make mistakes,” Mickett said. “A lot of mistakes.”
“Mistakes don’t define a child,” Hayden replied. “Neither does the past. You’ll understand when we’re all alive tomorrow morning.”
After that, Micket finally stopped talking.
She watched from afar as Isham rallied the guerrillas and gave a speech to boost morale. After a long while, she said, "Well, this is probably the first time in my life that I'm so looking forward to tomorrow."
And so, the operation to hack into the artificial underworld in South America officially began.
Hayden and Am selected four hundred guerrilla fighters to participate in the ritual magic. These four hundred people came from all walks of life in South America. Some had always been poor, struggling in the slums, and were eventually fortunate enough to be recruited into the guerrillas by Toddler; others were former middle managers in the Smoke Mirror Company who had fallen due to office politics.
Because they represent a variety of identities, they can serve as a pseudo-symbol of the "South American collective consciousness," used to access the true realm of South American collective consciousness through magic. Essentially, this is also a form of necromancy. Hayden and Am will personally perform the spell.
Mickett cannot participate in casting spells because she is too easily detected by the smoke mirror, but she will always be there to watch and provide technical guidance.
Let bygones be bygones.
At the very least, she will witness this to the end.
————————————————————————
At the same time, almost as Hayden and the others began their necromancy ritual, Hela's delaying time with the Blood Styx Memory finally came to an end.
The tsunami of the dead continued to spread, crossing the great lake outside Aztland Island. Beyond the lake, the first thing to be hit was, of course, the tree wall that Karen had just built.
Smoke Mirror strolled leisurely atop the black, vomit-like tsunami of the dead. Only when it saw Karen standing on the tree wall waiting for it did Smoke Mirror laugh and say, "Peacock's daughter, are you planning a second round? You think building a tree wall will make you win?"
As He spoke, He waved His hand boastfully: "I have just devoured all the other Aztec gods, and also all the offline divine avatars who came to witness the ceremony today. I am now stronger than I was an hour ago, and I am already the strongest being second only to Mithra! And after I have completely devoured the entire South American continent, I will be invincible!"
“Being invincible isn’t something you can just boast about, Smoke Mirror.” Karen clenched her fists, channeling divine power and light into them. “It’s something you earn through fighting.”
361: Oh no!
war!
Now that we know that war is inevitable and that it is time to fight, all we need to do is defeat the enemy decisively!
Without saying a word, Karen threw a punch at the smoke mirror.
The force of the fist tore through the sky and evaporated the lake water. Before the fist even touched the smoke mirror, millions of tons of lake water mixed with the many undead spirits that had swelled within it were instantly evaporated into nothingness.
Keep in mind that the Smoke Mirror had just devoured a massive number of gods and their clones. These undead, vomited out of the artificial underworld, attached themselves to various substances on Aztland Island and reappeared in the mortal realm, possessing at least a fraction of the combat power of major and minor gods. They could easily destroy a great god simply by ganging up on them. If Pania were to face these undead alone, she would likely be defeated in five minutes.
You have to understand that Pania is a powerful god, and she has a lot of combat experience, making her much stronger than many gods who can't fight.
But then, Karen's fist slammed towards the undead. In the instant it struck, the eyes of those echoes of the underworld—Mercury and Thor's clones, Huhunab's spirit—that the Smoke Mirror had devoured and then spat out, all revealed terrifying expressions before turning to dust inch by inch. Their lingering will within the artificial underworld had now completely vanished, along with their physical form and spiritual energy.
Because Karen's fist is the [Five-Colored Divine Light] that dispels evil and reveals righteousness, and the [Dream Flower] that transforms filth and poison into life.
Behind these echoing divine spirits lay countless more gods and warriors, recently devoured by the Smoke Mirror. Their spirits were now being swept away by Kallen's fist energy. This seven-colored fist energy swept across like a rainbow, evaporating the underworld and lake water wherever it touched, transforming into flowers, trees, and life force; not a single spirit could survive. Finally, her seven-colored fist energy transformed into a sky-piercing rainbow, piercing the heavens. With a series of shockwaves, the hundred thousand-strong army of spirits was scattered and transformed, leaving not a trace of resentment.
What kind of strength? What kind of domineering power?
"Wow, this is interesting."
Smoke Mirror watched as the first wave of undead tsunamis he had sent forward was blasted away by Kallen's punch, and raised an eyebrow.
"I have the [Dream Flower] technology that your man sold to Miktti Kashiva before. I was prepared to counter your transformation technology... How come I couldn't resist it this time?"
Karen's Dream Flower City can transform all the pollution and deadly toxins of South America into life. The Smoke Mirror also used a portion of the principles of her Dream Flower technology to reverse this, dissolving the life force and rapidly converting it into artificial underworld resources. Theoretically, it should have a restraining effect on the Dream Flower, but this time it couldn't be stopped.
“The last time I couldn’t move you with the Dream Flower was because I was targeting the entire artificial underworld. It was too big and too heavy,” Karen replied calmly, standing on the plant wall. “Now you’re spreading that enormous underworld sun around, trying to devour the whole country. Isn’t that just courting death?”
"And let me tell you something else, Smoke Mirror—do you think that just because you have the [Dream Flower 2.0] technology that Hayden sold, you can completely restrain me?"
At this point, Karen gave a cold laugh.
"You think you can use the technology from several years ago, the [Dream Flower 2.0], to restrain my ever-evolving [Dream Flower No. 11], and to compete with my specially developed [South America Edition]?!"
The countless dream flowers planted around the lake emitted a white light, echoing Karen's words, and her momentum and power continued to grow, just like her ever-changing and endless new technologies, just like her endless flowers, plants and trees, rising up like mountains from the plains!
Unfortunately, this didn't scare off Smoke Mirror.
"It's just that we didn't restrain each other. I'm still stronger and have more energy than you, Peacock's daughter, don't be too happy yet."
The dark sun still stood atop the giant wave of death, its hands behind its back, relaxed and unperturbed.
"You said that if I disperse the power of the underworld, you will convert it. Hmm... that seems to be true. When soldiers come, we'll block them; when water comes, we'll dam it. Your father and you are both the most outstanding divine generals, capable of mowing down millions of dead; your divine power, which is good at playing with earth and wood, is indeed very good at resisting underworld tsunamis... Hey, it seems you really do have a way of restraining me?"
Despite this, a genuine smile appeared on Smoke Mirror's face; he was actually quite happy!
Meanwhile, Karen, perched atop the tree-lined barrier, was also ill-suited to launch a preemptive attack. Both gods stood within their own constructed ecosystems, enjoying home-field advantage; defense was more suitable than offense for either... However, Karen had originally intended to stall for time. Hayden was hacking into the artificial underworld of South America. So, this wasn't necessarily a bad thing.
Then she saw the smoke-glasses figure reach out, stir and pull at the dark, deadly tsunami mud...
...Then the black mud coalesced into a beautiful, pale woman with dazzling long blonde hair, a voluptuous figure, fiery red eyes, flawless snow-white skin, and lips redder than blood.
It was a Mikrit clone that Kallen was already used to seeing. But... it seemed different from usual. The power and aura emanating from her were stronger and more domineering than that of a typical clone Mikrit—like a true god, Mikrit Tikashiva!
In an instant, Kallen felt the pressure—the pressure of facing two god-level enemies at the same time! This pressure and her intuition made her realize immediately that she could no longer delay!
Karen immediately unleashed a second punch at the smoke mirror! The life force she had been accumulating while speaking erupted once more like a volcanic eruption! The earth's primordial energy, imbued with the aura of a ruler, seemed to ignite like boiling oil in a flame, transforming Karen's fist and her entire body into a gigantic torch. This primordial fire of the earth, comparable to the sun of the underworld, could temporarily illuminate the darkness projected by the underworld!
Her punching power was comparable to that of the Peacock King, and even a supreme god couldn't withstand it unscathed. However, just as Kallen's punch struck the Smoke Mirror, Clone Micket reached out and, together with the Smoke Mirror, blocked Kallen's fist! A punch that a single supreme god couldn't easily withstand was blocked by Clone Micket and the Smoke Mirror together!
"You said I can't beat you if I spread out both of my divine powers, and that seems to be true. Well then, I'll bring some of them back now."
The person in the smoke-glasses smiles and makes a hand gesture.
"Go, my dear daughter, my [God of War from the Underworld]!"
In the blink of an eye, this new Micket had already raised its hand and slashed at Kallen. The dark, oppressive power of the underworld struck down like a meteor, undoubtedly possessing the power of a chief god. The Smoke Mirror had actually managed to create a chief god-level Micket while simultaneously allowing the tsunami of the dead to spread uncontrollably!
Fortunately, Kallen was able to withstand it. She raised her hand to catch Mickett's attack, like a pillar supporting the falling sky. The entire lake, the surrounding plant walls, and the earth itself trembled in the aftershocks of this attack. A truly god-level attack had been blocked by Kallen!
But at the same instant, before Kallen could regroup her power, the Smoke Mirror unleashed its own god-like power, slamming it squarely into her! From its hands erupted lightning and dark flames—the manifestation of the "Black Sun." Attacking simultaneously with Mickett, even someone as powerful as Kallen couldn't mobilize her power in time.
Although she immediately used her other hand to block, in the struggle, Karen felt a sharp, burning pain in her arm and fist, and blood spurted out. Her body, harder than any metal in battle, was not immune to the smoke goggles' attack. Karen was injured.