—————————————————————
...That being said, upon returning to Newbeam City, the same problems inevitably arose. Moreover, the situation in Newbeam City was not very optimistic.
The Peacock King and his wife were defeated, as were the three princesses of Guanyin Bodhisattva. Neither of them returned.
Karen returned unscathed, but she had still lost. Such a huge blow might have taken a toll on her mental state.
So when Hayden returned to Newbeam, the first thing he wanted to do was go see Karen. Alastor and Abigail both needed to speak with him, given the truly dire situation. But Hayden still told them, "I have to see Karen first."
So no one dared to say anything more.
Karen had only been back from the moon for two hours and was still in her room. Hayden went in and saw Karen sitting in a chair by her bed, seemingly lost in thought. She might have cried, but at least her face wasn't dry. Her expression was serene.
“I’m thinking,” Karen said in a muffled voice. “I don’t need anyone to keep me company.”
Hayden entered the room, closed the door behind him, found a chair at the other end of the room and sat down, then said, "I traveled through time in Japan's [Land of the Dead], back to the time of the war between the old and new gods four hundred years ago, and stayed there for twenty years."
Even with her complicated feelings, Karen couldn't help but pause in surprise upon hearing this: "Huh?"
“I had some dealings with Mitra from four hundred years ago and roughly understood what kind of person he was. Then four hundred years ago I summoned Angela’s true form, but she didn’t fight Mitra… Anyway,” Hayden sighed, “I originally wanted Angela to regain her full power and go to Japan, but now she’s gone.”
Karen remained silent. Both of them were silent for a while.
The word "fate" carries a connotation of escapism, which is why neither Karen nor Hayden truly liked it. But their current situation is precisely a case of fate playing tricks on them.
A daughter who lost her biological parents, and a son who lost his adoptive mother on the same day.
After a while, Kallen said, "So even the power of angels cannot defeat Mitra. My father used the [Dream Flower] technology to help me merge with my mother, which should have restored an angelic power stronger than his own at his peak, but he was still defeated by Mitra. Moreover... I think Mitra did not use his full strength."
That's really bad news.
Four hundred years ago, when the angel Raphael was defeated by the eight great bodhisattvas, it might have been because He had no intention of fighting, or perhaps the time was not yet right… But Mithra now has certainly progressed to a level truly comparable to a combat-type angel. The fact that the Peacock King failed to defeat him proves that Mithra has indeed become that powerful.
Spanning four hundred years, Hayden has absorbed the suffering of humanity and rebuilt himself. He has gained new power; he now possesses the strength to fight Mithra—but if Mithra fully unleashes the power of [Reincarnation], can Hayden defeat him?
This is not something that can be done by brute force or force. Fortunately, Hayden did have an idea, which he had come up with after thinking about it for four hundred years in the time tunnel.
But there's no rush to tell Karen this now; we can discuss it with everyone later. Hayden simply asked her, "So what are you planning to do?"
The invincible father, possessing the strongest fighting power, has been defeated and disappeared. Mitra's power and domineering nature have reached a point where there seems to be no way to counter it. Now, what does Kallen intend to do?
"Is there even a need to say that?"
Karen said coldly,
"Of course we must continue fighting Mithra. If there's no way, we'll look for solutions; if we can't think of a solution, we'll research it. The whole world is Mithra's enemy now, so we'll unite the whole world. I will not stop until the very last breath."
In some ways, Karen and Mithra are quite similar. Like Mithra, she is extremely skeptical of superstition. She genuinely doesn't believe there's anything in this world she can't solve, even though she has witnessed her invincible father's downfall.
This personality trait has its pros and cons, but Hayden has decided to treat it as a strength for now.
“I can understand if you don’t want anyone around right now,” Hayden said. “But it sounds to me that you need someone who can give you advice. And coincidentally—oh, I have an idea.”
“Your idea might not be reliable,” Karen muttered, but she still turned to her husband. “Tell me about it?”
“We’ll tell everyone when we go out for the meeting later. This isn’t something the two of us can handle.” Hayden shook his head, then suddenly changed the subject, “The important thing now is, I’ve traveled back twenty years, and I haven’t seen my wife for twenty years in my subjective timeline. Shouldn’t she come over and give me a kiss now?”
"...I'm not in the mood for that right now."
Despite saying that, Karen still opened her arms and gave Hayden a big hug.
No matter how great the difficulties are, no matter how tough and invincible Mitra is, a loving hug can always relieve stress.
The two hugged comfortably for a while, then Karen remembered something else and said somewhat awkwardly in a low voice, "Actually, something very subtle happened during the battle with Mitra. Just before Mitra was about to use the attraction of [Reincarnation] to pull me in, the child in my belly actually emitted an extraterrestrial force that shook his gravitational field."
Even though Hayden had just experienced four hundred years of time travel, he was still taken aback when he heard this: "Huh??"
After all, it sounds really weird.
Fortunately, he quickly remembered Angela's words and suddenly realized, "No wonder Angela kept urging us to have more children! She was planning all this!"
If Hayden really had twenty children ahead of schedule, they would probably all rush in and block the cycle of reincarnation for a while.
However, Karen disliked this line of thinking at all and immediately said unhappily, "This approach is absolutely unacceptable. What are we fighting for? How can we use any means to achieve our goals? No, no!"
There are some things Karen would never do, no matter what. Even if the sky were to fall, she would never compromise. Even if the world were to explode tomorrow, there are some methods she would never use.
Many people would say this is foolish. Sometimes it might indeed be bad. But for Hayden right now, it's a trustworthy and good thing. Karen is fine as she is, yeah.
“Never mind what I said. Actually, I didn’t really intend to do something like that.” Hayden quickly shook his head. “I was just thinking—ah, Angela really did foresee a lot. Your father probably guessed some things too, but he just didn’t tell us.”
“Nonsense.” Karen leaned against Hayden, somewhat annoyed. “These guys from outer space are all riddle people. They don’t say anything. If someone dies, they don’t even know what happened. I don’t know what their current situation is.”
Although Kallen witnessed the final battle between the Peacock King and Mitra from afar, she didn't see clearly what ultimately happened to the Peacock King. Neither Hayden nor Kallen believed that Mitra could kill an angel, and that Hela, who had merged with the Peacock King, should be in a similar situation.
"If we're lucky, he might be sealed by Mithra. We can free him by defeating Mithra."
Hayden frowned.
"If we're unlucky, then heaven really knows where they've gone."
Perhaps Mithras tore open a spacetime portal and threw the immortal angel directly into it. Since he's immortal, Hayden remains relatively optimistic in this regard.
But then again, speaking of the world exploding tomorrow...
"Oh, right. I have some bad news."
Karen frowned: "Go ahead and tell me. I've already heard enough bad news today, one more won't make me afraid."
What a powerful statement. So Hayden said, "Asmodeus told me, and I myself believe, that Angela's disappearance and the activation of [Reincarnation] mean that the true Outer Gods and the end of the world may be coming soon—and I mean 'soon' literally."
Karen remained silent for a moment, then covered her face with her hands.
Father's gone, mother's gone, and that wasn't enough; Mithra is invincible, and no one knows how to defeat him, and that wasn't enough either; now this shocking bad news has arrived. I've had enough.
Even so, Karen would still complain while earnestly facing these terrible problems.
That's just how she is, and that's why she's good.
--------------------------------
It's quite a coincidence, actually.
Meanwhile, above the moon, in the Tusita Palace,
Mithra also had his own troubles.
This is not because he had just finished fighting the Peacock King, really not.
The battle with the Peacock King and his wife was entirely within Mithra's predictions; he had foreseen it would happen. The course of the battle, the victory or defeat, and the outcome were all exactly as Mithra had anticipated.
There's nothing to be afraid of, nothing to be surprised about; everything is going according to Mitra's plan.
...He even knew perfectly well the consequences of defeating the Peacock King, the angels, Raphael, and completing the time loop. Because he possessed eyes that could see through time, he was fully aware of all this. Everything was part of Mitra's plan.
So now, Mithra sat in his secluded chamber, eyes closed in meditation. He knew what was coming, something very troublesome, so he had to be prepared. Although he had been preparing for four hundred years, more was always better.
Therefore, Mithras observes spacetime through his mind's eye by closing his physical eyes, observing the outer universe from the cliffs at the edge of spacetime. This is one of the reasons why his prophetic abilities are stronger than Hayden's, because Mithras has spent years meditating with his mind's eye, deliberately keeping his eyes closed and his vision blocked, so that he can constantly use his mind's eye to glimpse the future and the outer universe. He can see the scenes of the outer universe more clearly than Hayden.
This is a method that Hayden neither has the time nor wants to do.
The outer universe. It is so strange, so unsettling, yet it feels instantly...familiar, like the blurred boundaries of memory, so distant yet unreachable. Anyone with precognitive abilities has seen this place in their dreams, though they may not have known it at the time. Like a low whisper in a dark room, it responds to the call of people's hearts.
Mithra's mind now lingers here. In exploring this outer universe, nothing should be treated lightly. For the sights, visions, symbols, and concepts here are beyond the full comprehension of even the most powerful prophets, who merely struggle to find what they seek within a vortex devoid of fixed patterns.
He saw some hazy, indistinct visions, but without a doubt—it was Earth, only it looked different. He saw flames among the stars, no living things on the ground, and the sky burned away.
...He felt that even now, he was being watched.
On the other side of the outer universe, there are also other beings, like spirits, gazing at us from the other side.
【Are you ready? 】
That being was waiting. Mithra had seen countless spirits, but this one was very different; the difference was so vast that it defied description.
He has been waiting.
You are not ready yet.
After a brief pause, He said again,
But the time has come.
His words were cryptic, but Mithra probably understood what He meant. Some fluctuations, some power, had gently pushed his mind back from the outer universe.
Meanwhile, Mitra received an urgent report from his subordinates at the lunar base:
"Your Excellency, all our monitoring instruments have suddenly detected a massive fluctuation in spatial energy. Its source is from another star system; the fluctuation was weak at first, but it's gradually getting stronger, as if something is rapidly approaching our solar system..."
"I see."
Mitra replied,
"Keep monitoring, and report any changes to me immediately."
That being said, Mitra already knew what this sign meant.
The day of reckoning has come.
Volume Ten: The Last Days of Fire
431: The Beginning of the End
I've been watching.
He had a dream underground.
The enclosed space was filled only with darkness, showing no sign of change. Time must have stood still here.
Everything remained unchanged, endlessly repeating the same moment.
But He is watching now.
He had a dream deep in time.
He dreamed of the past, and in the past dreamed of the future.
I dreamt that I was walking among mortals, and that I used the body of a doll to recognize and love people.
Don't machines dream?
However, while imprisoned underground, He once had a dream.
A happy dream.
So it doesn't matter.
Even when imprisoned and sealed, He remained at peace. No matter how many years must pass, He will never forget this dream.
...There was only one person He still couldn't let go of.
She made a promise with him, but when he needed her most, she was powerless to help.
This is the only thing I can't let go of.
—I want to see him again.
So today He is also waiting in slumber.
Waiting for him to call again.
--------------------------------
Hayden is back.
Moreover, as soon as he returned, he grabbed Karen and told everyone that he needed to hold a meeting immediately.
Fortunately, his friends were also really curious about what had happened. Hayden didn't beat around the bush and explained his trip to Japan and his time travel experience.
Everyone was completely bewildered halfway through, including Karen.
After hearing this, Pania rubbed her face and said in astonishment, "So not only did we lose Angela, our most important fighting force, but we also discovered that Mitra is really stronger than the whole world combined, and the Outer Gods are going to come and wipe us all out?"
"That's not entirely fair, because I've become very strong now too."
Hayden clenched his fist.
"I should be able to handle two or three Bodhisattvas by myself now. It's just a pity that there aren't many Bodhisattvas left to deal with, and the strongest Bodhisattva is ridiculously strong... But in terms of pure power changes, our combat strength has actually increased."
At first, Abigail didn't speak. Only then did she frown and say, "Angela is gone, does that mean our entire company's perpetual motion machine is gone too?"
Unexpectedly, Karen shook her head first: "Our main energy supply is now the [Dream Flower] system, so there shouldn't be too much of a problem. Besides, although Angela has disappeared, the Tree of Life at the core of [New Sprout City] is still functioning normally."