Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 813 Until the perfect moment?

In an instant, the sky darkened again, a darkness deeper than the night. It was not simply a loss of light, but a transition into some more distant and more primitive realm, such as... the universe?
That’s right, as soon as you look up, you can see the universe.

Countless stars twinkle on the magnificent deep purple curtain, forming a long river across the dome. Its brilliance is hard to imagine unless you see it with your own eyes. But when you look closely, you will find that they are not stars, but brass spheres rotating counterclockwise. The reason why they twinkle with the brilliance of stars is that the hot steam ejected from the huge exhaust holes on the surface of the brass spheres is reflected and scattered by the mysterious light from the universe, and falls into the glass-like naked eyes to form such a magnificent and beautiful sea of ​​light.

Although they were not real stars, these brass spheres also moved in an orderly manner, as if following certain specific laws and jointly maintaining the basic principles of this universe. Some of the spheres were planets, with beautiful gear-like rings surrounding them. Their jagged edges slid layer by layer against the deep purple background of the universe. The distance swept by the arc trajectory each time they slid, if calculated by astronomers' formulas, would probably need to be measured in millions of miles; some of the spheres were stars, and their size and specifications were so huge that the mere existence of them was enough to terrify the mortals on the ground looking up, who could not imagine what kind of terrifying and surging power was wrapped under those tightly-fitted steel shells; and some of the spheres were comets, with the roaring sound of the steam engine and piston device inside, dragging a thin cloud-like tail flame, whistling past the edge of the gear ring and the steel star, drawing a straight track under the vast curtain.

The cultists of Spacetime Enigma once described the world as a machine that operated based on cold basic rules and logical underlying codes. Scientist Babbage once envisioned a machine that performed digital calculations through the meshing, rotation, and translation of gears. He believed that its birth would revolutionize the social rules of the entire industrial age and push steam civilization to a more glorious peak, and named it the Difference Engine.

As time passed, the cultists of Spacetime Enigma still lingered in the false vision depicted by the secret book, almost crazy. People had no way of imagining what Babbage was thinking when he said that, or did he think that the difference engine was just a beautiful but vain imagination? But at this moment, some tiny human beings were lucky enough to witness the results of the unification of the two theories with their own eyes. In this field pioneered by Alexander the God of Steam Engines -

Differential closed universe.

Gears meshed, steam roared, and in the violent storm visible to the naked eye, the majestic body of Supreme Alexander slowly rose to the highest point of sight, overlooking the mechanical universe that was stagnant but eternally running. Even at such a long distance, everyone could still clearly see that the golden light flashing in his eyes had gradually changed to a purer and more solemn platinum color. Not only his eyes, but also the steel armor covering his body, the gears and pipes connecting the joints, and the steam towers that were in operation... Every part of the castle, fortress, or giant that could be seen by the naked eye was coated with a layer of brilliant divine light after fine polishing. Those condensed and pure light threads flashed like lightning, and even outlined the shape of the skirt armor blades from the waist armor downwards, as if this god who was born to control steam and machinery was wearing a platinum-colored glorious armor, which looked so sacred, so majestic, and awe-inspiring, even dared not look far away and could not be blasphemed.

As these majestic and sacred platinum lights gradually covered the body of Supreme Alexander like a coating, strange changes also took place on His huge arms. The roaring steam towers slowly moved to both sides and separated in the rolling and boiling hot fog. The armor plates below cracked with a crackling sound. Steel pipes came out of the cracks and connected with the openings between the gaps in the armor plates. They were connected to Alexander's palms through several consecutive transfer points. The next moment, countless blue-green liquids burst out from the power furnace in the heart area of ​​his chest, and continuously injected into his arms through pipes, and finally gathered in the palm of his hand to form a semicircular blue-green crystal, as if symbolizing the gathering of blood and the core of energy, surging with tidal heartbeat and breathing.

Under the waist armor, the area that was supposed to be empty suddenly made a rumbling sound, and a steel foot that seemed to be made up of steam towers and power furnaces slowly stretched out. Key parts such as the knees, heels and soles were wrapped in a thick layer of mechanical structure. There were also pipes that injected blue blood to provide it with power. It looked full of technology and power.

The head shaped like an airship was also covered with platinum-colored light. Two sharp horns shining with golden light extended forward and upward in a V shape, piercing the sky. Clusters of brilliant light streamed out from the pointed helmet on the top of the head, spreading out backwards like a lion's mane, and flying high in the cosmic air currents formed by star particles and comet tail flames, like a flag guiding the direction; behind Him, on the pure white wings that manifested holiness and divinity, millions of white flying feathers broke away from the wing surface at the same time, and fell down like a dreamy white rain, leaving only a hollow wing bone extending lonely in the void, but its color was not the paleness of bones, but a cold and serious luster like steel.

With a crackling sound, tiny exhaust holes opened up on the surface of the wing bones, but what erupted from them was not scorching steam, but beams of radiating platinum flames. These flames formed new feathers, which were stacked on top of each other, allowing the pair of shining and gorgeous platinum fire wings to hold up the majestic body of the Mecha God, standing tall in the center of the starry universe. A slight stretch of it set off a terrifying cosmic storm, and the continuously gushing flame particles pushed the invisible gravitational tide to sweep in circles, washing the gears, rings, and steel surfaces of the planets and stars, causing all tangible matter to tremble, as if the universe was welcoming the same moment of rebirth and destruction.

The machine god Alexander clenched his iron fists, slowly opened them to both sides, put his feet together, and tilted his head slightly upward. His posture seemed to be embracing the universe, and also seemed to be reborn from human fantasies and wishes. The brilliant mane woven from light threads behind his head fluttered like human hair, and his eyes flashed with the light of reason and the flame of divinity. From every part of his body, one can see an unparalleled greatness and shock. He is a god composed of a body of steel and armor of glory, steam blood and a mechanical heart. He is the creator of reality, the controller of time and space, and the only symbol of absolute order and absolute reason.

"Transformation... Completed..."

The steady and heavy sound reverberates in every corner of the differential closed universe, like the sound of steel and the ensemble of gears, meshing the listeners’ heartbeats and breathing until they become part of this ancient creation machine.

"Human, I am... Perfect Alexander..."

"Now... I will lead you... to experience the deepest and most intense despair..."

　Give me some meow
　　
　
(End of this chapter)