Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 806 Has the God Come?

The Tywell River was not peaceful tonight. There seemed to be a dark tide stirring beneath the dark water. The skeletons that had been buried deep in the river due to various accidents or man-made conspiracies for many years came back to life at this moment. They opened their green eyes and stared at the people who were confronting each other on the river, as if they resented that they could always stand in the light and never saw a trace of dirt hidden in the dark. But what those ancient resentful souls could not witness was that the light was also disappearing. The silver moon in the sky gradually rose, and it disappeared into the depths of the heavy clouds. The Tywell River lost the moonlight, and the shadows of all the characters, including the shadows of buildings, the outline of the river bank, and the distant Tower Bridge... all turned into silent lead blocks.

The black-haired, brown-eyed knight looked up at the blonde saint. He was tall and sturdy, wearing a heavy armor and holding a sword and shield, giving people a sense of security like a mountain. However, his eye sockets were deeply sunken, and under his sparse eyebrows were a pair of dim eyes. It looked like he had been through several fierce battles and was already exhausted, but still had to force himself to stand up and face this cruel battlefield. At this moment, the saint also raised her eyes and looked at him. Unlike the knight, the latter's sea-blue eyes showed more guilt, self-blame and deep gratitude.

Even in the forged history - or in the history known to ordinary people, the mechanical saint Midai of the Steam Cult and the Holy Creation Knight Dayang have always been bound together, as if when one of them appears in the scene, the other will definitely not be missing. When the saint spread the gospel of steam to the believers, the knight silently watched not far behind her, and when the knight fought against the evil god's believers, the saint personally stepped onto the dangerous battlefield to heal his wounds... It was not until the Steam Holy War that this pair of close partners or lovers parted ways and took different paths. The inside story is also a mystery that many historians have tirelessly explored but have never solved.

Only a few people can see through the fog of history and the lost truth.

After staring at each other silently for a while, the two of them withdrew their gazes at the same time, then turned around and saluted tacitly, paying respect to the leader above. The Holy Creation Knight Dayang held the sword with his left hand and knelt on one knee to perform the knight's salute, while the Mechanical Saint Midi placed her right hand on her chest and slightly bent her knees to perform the religious salute.

"Long time no see, Midai, Dayang." The corners of Tiantis' mouth slowly curved into an arc, and she seemed somewhat happy: "I never thought that I would have the day to fight alongside you. To be honest, not having the time to give you the code name of philosopher while you were still alive is one of my few regrets so far."

It means that Dayang and Midai have already reached the standard of philosophers of the society, but the sudden Steam Holy War led history to another completely opposite path, which made the two of them fail to obtain the code name of philosopher until they died in that cruel battlefield. Is this the meaning of "Ungranted Philosopher"?
Saint Mida smiled slightly, while Knight Dayang shook his head slowly. Both of them used this way to show that they did not care about such trivial matters, because they, like those like-minded companions, were pursuing their ideals rather than illusory honors.

"It seems that I am a little paranoid." Tiantis said, "In this case, why not lend me your power again. Although it is indeed unpleasant to repeat the past history, as I said just now, only by overcoming your own mistakes can you become mature. Now, it is your turn to prove it."

The last sentence was obviously said to Gloria and the other strangers, because her sight was already far away. Across the wide surface of the Tywell River, Gloria saw an unquestionable calmness buried deep in those dark eyes: "I activate the effect of Mida. When this card and [Holy Creation Knight - Dayan] are on the field at the same time, you can activate a continuous magic card [Enigma Secret Book] from your deck to your magic trap area."

At this moment, the air seemed to be stagnant. Even the most slow-witted and cautious Alice could sense that the atmosphere was a bit stiff. Not only did her friends show nervous expressions, but even the expressions of the Mechanical Saint Mida and the Holy Creation Knight Dayan on the opposite side became wrong. Should we say they were serious or solemn?

Saint Midai raised her staff high and pointed at the void behind her. The gears on the top of the staff suddenly made a clicking sound. The place where the miniature steam engine originally gushed out the burning white mist suddenly released a long beam of pure purple light. The beam fell into the darkness, and along the space between the bridge frame and the water surface, a heavy code that seemed to be made of steel was outlined. The code was facing the crowd and slowly opened along the middle, but it didn't feel like opening a book. It felt like a tightly locked mechanical door was opened with a key. There was a sound of gears biting and bearings turning. On the spine of the book, tiny brass pipes extended along the intricate and deep patterns on the cover, and at the end, milky white gas was discharged, creating a sea of ​​steaming hot air, as if there was an invisible steam engine hidden in the code.

The black-haired, brown-eyed knight thrust his heavy sword into the dark river surface with his backhand, and silently pressed the switch on the hilt. Then, the built-in miniature steam boiler started running at full power, and endless steam gushed out, gradually turning the area into a scorching white ocean. The river water was boiling, and the roar of the steam boiler was like the roar of a giant beast at the bottom of the river, tearing open a deep crack. In the crack, a heavy stone slab that seemed to have been weathered and eroded for countless years slowly emerged from the white mist.

As it gradually rose to the highest point in the sky, everyone heard a crisp clicking sound, and a visible crack appeared along the middle of the stone slab and quickly spread out. After the dense and complex cracks like a spider web occupied the entire surface of the stone slab, it shattered with a loud bang, revealing the interior that was sealed by rocks and dust: it was a huge magic card, and the card depicted a tall and majestic figure bathed in countless sacred white lights. It was clearly just a back view, clearly just a picture, but it gave people a feeling of being distant, solemn, dignified and holy.

"Then, I activate Dayan's effect. When this card and [Mechanical Saint - Midei] are on the field at the same time, I can activate it and add a Ritual Spell Card [Deus Ex Machina] from the deck to my hand."

Tiantis said coldly, her voice unconsciously taking on a convincing calmness, as if every word that came out of her mouth was the unquestionable truth. Since she evaluated the believers of Spacetime Enigma as a group of foolish lunatics, then that was their nature, and there was absolutely no other possibility.

"Ritual magic card? What does she want to summon?" The genius player pinched his chin and thought: "The mistake made by the Witch Society? The most dangerous and difficult enemy? And, why do the names Midai and Dayan sound so familiar?"

[Enigma Secret Codex/Continuous Magic]

"It is said that after the Steam Holy War, there are still some crazy people in Platinum City who are obsessed with crazy ideas and firmly believe that the reverse flow of time and space will lead them to the correct future. They call themselves 'Time and Space Enigma', and this 'Secret Codex of Enigma' is the book they use to spread this foolish idea to all living beings in the world. It's ridiculous, isn't it? Because people always want to move forward, but they are willing to trap themselves in a river of the past."

Tiandis stretched out her hand, and the ritual magic card floating in the air quickly shrank and fell into her palm. Tiandis gently pinched it with the index and middle fingers of her other hand, and put it in front of her eyes to examine it carefully, as if she wanted to see something from the sacred back depicted on the card.

Everyone held their breath. When the black code was slowly opened, they saw that there was nothing on the papers. Only a dark purple prismatic crystal was quietly floating in its arms, emitting circles of mysterious and deep phantom light.

【This card cannot leave the field and is not affected by the effects of other cards. As long as this card exists on the field, when you activate a Ritual Magic Card, the opponent cannot activate the effects of Monster, Magic, or Trap Cards. You can also exclude cards on the field, hand, or graveyard that are excluded to meet the needs of activating the Ritual Magic Card. The effect of this card name can only be used once in a duel. When a Ritual Magic Card is successfully activated, for every two cards excluded face-down to meet the activation requirements, randomly select a card on the opponent's field, hand, or deck and send it to the graveyard. The effect of the card sent to the graveyard by this effect and its same name card is invalidated until the end of this duel. 】

"I never thought that I would meet you again in this way one day." Tiandis said softly, as if talking to himself, or talking to the majestic giant in the card: "In fact, after the battle, I hope you will not have any chance to come back to this world in the future, but... this is a game after all, so it doesn't matter."

"You can also use your power to tell those who still have innocence and fantasy in their hearts what the price of realizing their ideals is."

Tiantis slowly raised the card above his head and said calmly: "Then, I will activate the ritual magic card [Deus Ex Machina]." Here it comes!

Gloria couldn't help holding her breath. Saint Shallia on the field had a nervous look in her eyes. Rolena clenched her palms, feeling that the origin stone in her right eye was throbbing uncontrollably, but it was not because of excitement or fear, but because of some more primitive and pure instinct, which even she herself couldn't explain clearly. In the opponent's monster area, Saint Midai and Knight Dayan raised their heads at the same time, looking into the distant and ignorant night, and found that the dark clouds covering the Tywell River had dissipated at some point, but there was no silver moon in the sky, let alone stars, as if they had predicted the future scene in advance, so they fled here in a hurry, leaving the quiet night in this desolate place.

Including Lingge, the other spirits who had not yet entered the duel field could only watch from the sidelines, but they could smell something unusual from the reactions of these people. Only Alice was still nervous, looking around, not knowing what was going on: "What, what happened? So what kind of monster is Tiantis going to summon?"

"It's not a monster." The black-haired girl's mouth drew a playful arc. "It's a god. Although I hate those evil gods and false gods, including the imaginary gods that religious fanatics long for to come day and night, in my eyes, they are just termites attached to fear and faith. Only this guy, I am willing to admit that He may indeed have some divinity. Although He has used it in the wrong direction, I can't blame Him. After all, the so-called god of believers is only born to respond to the call of believers."

As she spoke, she gently pressed the magic card in her hand on the duel disk and said slowly: "The ritual magic card [Deus Ex Machina] can only be activated when [Mechanical Saint - Midei] and [Holy Creation Knight - Dayang] are both on your field. According to the effect of this card, in order to meet the needs of the ritual monster's advent, a total of 22 monster cards in the hand, field and graveyard must be banished. However, because I have the continuous magic card [Enigma's Secret] on the field, I can banish the cards in the deck instead. So, I banish the top 22 cards in the deck face down to activate this card."

As soon as he finished speaking, cards flew out from the deck on the Duel Disk of Tentis, but they were not sent to the Exclusion Area as Tentis said. Instead, they burned to ashes directly in mid-air, and then fluttered away like pieces of black snowflakes, gradually blending into the night and disappearing without a trace.

"Those cards—" Gloria opened her eyes wide in surprise when she saw this scene. Her eyes flickered frequently, indicating that the girl was not calm at the moment. She did not expect that Tiantis could be so cruel as to do such a cruel thing: "Don't they represent the feelings between you and your companions? For the sake of victory, you are willing to abandon even these precious things?"

"Because this is the reality." Tiantis looked indifferent. Her face even looked a little cold in the flying black snowflakes. Perhaps this is her nature: "You want to win without paying something, losing something, or sacrificing something. There is no such cheap thing in the real world. What's more, what is discarded is only the appearance. The truly important things have been kept here by me a long time ago."

She pointed to her head, which meant: memory.

Anyone can sacrifice, anyone can lose everything and fly away, leaving the living to continue to uphold their ideals, but memory is something that is inherited with time. Sometimes the longer it is, the thinner it is, and sometimes it is just the opposite. The more it settles, the more unforgettable it is. Tiantis is obviously the latter. Otherwise, there would not be so many deceased philosophers in her deck. Since she is on the same great path as them, she will also bear their expectations and wishes.

Sacrifice and ideals, mistakes and growth, have never been antonyms, on the contrary, they are so close that they are indistinguishable from each other. But Miss Gloria, who has lost her soul, and your newly-acquainted friends, will you understand this truth?
"That's too sad." Gloria whispered, her gray bangs covering her eyes. "Memories alone are not enough. Sometimes the more memories you have, the sadder you are..."

A mind that escapes from its original intention.

Tiantis slowly raised her head and saw that the sky above her head was breaking. A palpitating breath gradually descended. She grinned and said, "Then let the outcome of this battle prove it, Miss Gloria. If you want me to believe that you are right, then try to defeat me. The premise is - to overcome this mistake."

Without waiting for Gloria to answer, she raised her hand and pointed straight to the sky, her voice distant and ethereal:
“The combination of steel and gears, the master of machinery and time.”

“Reality beyond reality, rationality beyond rationality.”

"The absolute purity is order, the flawless is eternity."

"I woke you up from the chaotic vortex of time and space because I knew you were looking forward to this moment."

"You never lived, but you never died; you never came back, but you never left."

"Now, cross the endless end of time, tear apart the infinite boundaries of space, and move forward towards your ideal country again."

"Steam Engine God——"

"Alexander."

　Give me some meow
　　
　
(End of this chapter)