“Sink together with the City of Steam!”
The shaman coldly spat, turning into a streak of light as he soared into the sky.
He wanted to escape through a crack in space!
Michael unfurled his wings and rose to give chase.
Ning Busan grabbed his wings. “What are you doing?”
“The Crown of the Divine King must be on him. We can't let him escape,” Michael said, frowning. “Once he leaves, this pocket world will have nothing supporting it, and we'll all die here.”
Ning Busan grabbed two of Michael's wings and scrambled onto his back. “I can't use magic right now. Carry me.”
Michael: “...”
He was an angel, not a flying mount!
Why did it have to be in such a bizarre posture?
Michael's wings kicked up a howling gale as he flew after the shaman's retreating figure, carrying Ning Busan.
As the rules collapsed, the city began to sink, but at the same time, the magic within Ning Busan and Michael surged back like a flood.
The shaman had already stepped into the spatial rift, but the air around him suddenly twisted, as if an invisible giant hand were binding him.
The shaman whipped his head around, staring at Ning Busan. “You can use the power of rules as well?”
“What, are you scared? Good, you should be!” Ning Busan sneered, the Jinge Sword appearing in his hand. “Let's see if I don't beat you to death!”
He was a proud demigod. What was so strange about him being able to use rules?
He had been suffocatingly frustrated during this entire time!
Ning Busan suddenly leaped into the air. Holding his sword high above his head, he slashed down with a pillar of golden light that transformed into a massive sword shadow, cleaving toward the shaman.
In a fair duel where both sides could use magic, the shaman was utterly suppressed.
Only after Ning Busan had finally vented his anger did he say, “Hand over the Crown of the Divine King!”
The shaman's body had already been punctured in several places. He said tremulously, “I am!”
“Impossible!”
“I! Really! Am!”
“Im! Pos! Sible!”
Michael: “...”
“Presumptuous!” The shaman finally couldn't help but explode. “I am the artifact spirit of the Crown of the Divine King!”
The artifact spirit separated from the shaman's body, turning into a brilliant silver light that floated in the void.
The silver light suddenly expanded, sweeping Ning Busan and Michael into a brand-new space of rules.
This was a boundless silver world. There was no sun or moon in the sky, only countless twinkling stars, and the ground was as smooth as a mirror, reflecting their silhouettes.
The artifact spirit's figure coalesced into a giant statue of a god, wearing a crown and holding a staff, its gaze cold and majestic.
Ning Busan: ?
Although he had no proof, he reasonably suspected that the artifact spirit had stolen the image of the Silver-Crowned God.
“Here, I am the rules!” The artifact spirit's voice boomed like thunder, shaking the very space around them.
Waving its staff, countless silver chains rose from the ground, attempting to bind Ning Busan completely.
However, the moment the chains drew near Ning Busan, they were actually twisted by an invisible force, freezing mid-air.
It was as if they were obstructed by a different set of rules.
“How is this possible?” The artifact spirit's voice was filled with disbelief. “You can actually create rules within my domain?”
Ning Busan's gaze was sharp as a knife. “Your domain?”
He pressed his palms together, and a deep blue light suddenly diffused from them, turning into countless intricate runes that merged into the silver space, actually resonating with the surrounding rules.
The silver ground cracked open, and the deep blue runes formed spatial rifts, like a giant spiderweb that bound the god statue the spirit had transformed into in reverse.
This was far from enough!
Ning Busan manipulated a whip made of rules, lashing the artifact spirit mercilessly while asking with absolute provocation, “Whose domain is this now?”
He had to admit, beating someone up on their own turf was incredibly satisfying!
“Ying ying ying ying ying...” The artifact spirit suddenly burst into loud wails. “It's you! It's you! You've finally returned!”
“To be able to create new rules in my domain, there could be no one else but you!”
With a thud, the artifact spirit fell to its knees, its voice filled with fanaticism and respect. “My God, you have finally returned!”
Ning “Fake Silver-Crowned God, Real Cannon Fodder Vessel” Busan: “...”
How did a life-and-death battle suddenly turn into a massive family reunion?
Ning Busan felt genuinely puzzled. “Don't you think it's a bit late to only recognize me now?”
And the key point is, you got the wrong person!
The artifact spirit said tearfully, “I only developed self-awareness after you left. I had no idea what you looked like, nor had I ever felt your aura.”
Ning Busan asked, “Why did you develop self-awareness?”
The artifact spirit murmured, “Because of your obsession.”
In the deep expanse of the vast universe, across a distance of billions of light-years, the Silver-Crowned God had caught a fleeting glimpse of a strange world.
There, the brilliance of magic had never shone, and the world was ruled entirely by the laws of nature.
Yet, life and order had been born from it.
Since then, the Silver-Crowned God had conceived an idea: he also wanted to create a world without magic.
So he took off the silver crown from his head, opening a domain within it that was completely insulated from magic, replicating the scenes he had witnessed in that other world.
Thus, the City of Steam rose.
Steel gears turned amidst roaring rumbles, and steam billowed beneath the sky. They should have had the chance to develop into a new world.
However, an accident occurred.
One night, toxic gas from a metal factory leaked silently, causing everyone in the city to die.
The City of Steam carried the god's expectations and obsession. In order to correct everything, the silver crown developed self-awareness.
The artifact spirit forcibly modified the rules of this place, creating a temple. Using the identity cards and the furnace as vessels, it altered the memories of the deceased and trapped them here, looping them year after year.
After listening to the artifact spirit's story, Ning Busan sighed. “The dead cannot be brought back to life. Did you do all of this just to give this city a future?”
“Yes.” The artifact spirit's voice was filled with dejection and self-reproach. “I knew you expected the City of Steam to be the beginning of a new world. Unfortunately, I failed to fulfill your wish.”
This was the obsession of the Silver-Crowned God, but was it not also the obsession of the artifact spirit?
“It's fine. I have already seen their future.”
Ning Busan's shoulders suddenly began to shake, and laughter welled up from the depths of his throat. At first, it was a low chuckle, but it gradually became loud and unbridled.
He repeated once more, “I have already seen their future.”
The artifact spirit asked, “You have?”
Ning Busan took a deep breath and slowly raised his hands. A soft white light emerged from his palms, gradually expanding to form a circular screen of light.
Inside the light screen, images began to flow.
These were fragments extracted from Ning Busan's memories.
In the sky, massive metal aircraft roared past, letting out low rumbles. On the ground, towering skyscrapers stood tall, and the streets were bustling with heavy traffic.
People dressed in simple clothes held rectangular metal devices, staring down and operating them with focus. The city at night was brilliantly lit, with neon lights flashing as if stars had fallen to the earth.
“That is a world without magic,” Ning Busan said in a light, cheerful voice, carrying a trace of pride, almost as if he were showing off.
“Humans have no magic power, nor do they have the protection of gods. But using their own wisdom and hands, they created miracles that can rival magic. And that is—”
“Science!”
Rate on N.U.
