In the embers that gradually cooled after the extinction of all things, the corpses of the old gods ruled the ashes of the world, and something that "grew" from the corpses constructed fakes and phantoms of the past between the ashes - after stripping away all the mythological aura, after recombing the information that was currently available, Duncan's "Deep Sea Age" took on the most real and chilling side.

He could certainly describe the age in gentler terms, or explain the state of the gods at the moment in some acceptable way, but that didn't change the nature of the matter.

He stood up and scratched the goat's neck—the former "creator" looked up and observed Duncan's expression: "You look preoccupied. ”

Duncan sat back down, and after a moment of silence, he suddenly said to himself, "...... The whole world is a bunch of embers that are gradually being extinguished......"

"I've heard Lucretia mention that." The goat's head said immediately.

Duncan nodded, didn't say anything more, but reached out and dug it in his arms, and after a moment of fumbling and pulling out two things.

One of them is a "round ball" that is emitting brilliant light, which is an ancient star that has been reduced countless times, and the flames on its surface are flowing, and the gentle light flame is constantly erupting, refluxing, and surging, as if it is maintaining the "operation" of the star.

This is the "gift" that Vanna received from Taregin, the former sun of the Senjin people.

The other is a delicately cut, about the size of a fist of pale gold crystal, it has irregular, asymmetrical dozens of planes, each side presents a smooth and perfect texture, and the crystal seems to hide a very delicate and subtle structure, like a hair from the center of the crystal to diffuse, forming a three-dimensional grid structure that is wrapped in the crystal.

The goat's attention was first attracted by the "little sun", but then it landed on the strange pale gold crystal, and after a moment's pause, he wondered: "What is this?" ”

"If the 'civilized world' is divided, this should be some kind of 'blasphemous archetype,'" Duncan said casually, "it's something that was separated from the sun's body when it fell from the sky—and before the flames burned it out, Ay 'picked it up'." ”

The goat's head was stunned for a moment, and then finally recalled the scene at that time-

At the last moment, the Sun Heir tried to escape from the Dream of the Nameless One, but was intercepted in the sky, and he gave the freak the final blow in the mythical form, and the thing fell from the clouds in all parts, and in the center of the fragment seemed to be a shiny thing thrown out, but the situation was chaotic, and the thing only flashed in the sky for a moment, and was "swept away" by a dark green flame, and no one noticed...... But that's what it is?

A sound of flapping wings came from the side, and Ay fluttered her wings and flew to the nautical table, it tilted its head to look at the strange crystal it had picked up, and after observing it for a long time, it stretched out its neck and pecked the surface of the crystal with its beak: "The crystal is full of hatred!" Crystals are filled with hatred! ”

Duncan ignored the stupid bird's noise, he looked at the crystals in front of him and fell into thought, but his mind recalled the strange umbrellas held in the hands of the tall, thin men in black called "sun residues"—he remembered that inside those strange umbrellas, in addition to the mechanical and electrical structures that were far more elaborate than their time, there were also crystal structures that had been cut with extreme precision.

This crystal-based "blasphemous archetype" seems to be the unique "technological creation" mastered by the "Black Sun" and its descendants and remnants.

A long time ago, after seeing the strange umbrellas in the hands of those men in black for the first time, Duncan realized one thing - those followers of the sun have technological creations in their hands, which means that they are not a barbaric and chaotic primitive race, and the advanced manufacturing skills embodied in these blasphemous prototypes actually show an extremely advanced civilization.

Or rather, the "afterglow" left by an extremely advanced civilization.

And now, after witnessing the truth of the Great Annihilation, Duncan has a new understanding of the matter.

The collision and annihilation of the world brought about the Deep Sea Age, and the world that occurred was not only the homeland of the elves and the Senjin, the warrior who threw the sword, but also his own home world, which was obviously destroyed during the Great Annihilation, and by this reasoning, every race in this world today, every relic style, every unexplained and contradictory historical record, probably represents a destroyed civilization.

Some of these civilizations may come from different planets in the same universe, but those that are so deviated that they can pollute other "heritages" are clearly from universes with different laws.

So the black sun...... And which universe is the orphan?

Duncan frowned slowly, he gently rubbed the surface of the crystal, and said to himself thoughtfully, "So they are also the Lost......"

"Who?" The goathead didn't react for a moment, but quickly understood what the captain meant, "You mean the Black Sun and his freaks?" ”

"Everything in the Deep Sea Age comes from the worlds that were destroyed during the Great Annihilation, and the ancient gods are just powerful individuals who are half-dead and remnants after the Day of Destruction, and the Black Sun cannot be created out of thin air - this crystal should represent the civilization of the 'Descendants of the Sun'."

“…… But now this 'civilization' is on the opposite side of us, and their very existence is a kind of destruction for the whole real world," the goathead thought for a moment and said slowly, "The Black Sun wants to extinguish itself, and His Descendants are obsessed with destroying the reality dimension and causing the Black Sun to be 'reborn' from the ruins of the earthly world—they may have been a glorious civilization, but now they are crazy from top to bottom, and it is obviously impossible for them to coexist with the earthly world. ”

"That's right, you can't coexist, there are many things in this world that can't coexist with the civilized world, dangerous ancient gods, shadows in the spirit world, and those things in the subspace...... But have you ever thought about it a little deeper – why can't these things coexist with the earthly world? ”

The goat's head froze for a moment, and seemed to begin to fall into thought.

"Everything is the 'ashes' left behind after the Great Annihilation, and the corpses of the gods opened the current Deep Sea Age from the ashes, theoretically, today's Deep Sea Age is the product of the mutual integration, transformation, and compromise of the various worlds in the Great Annihilation, in other words, since the Great Annihilation has ended, since the Third Long Night has successfully reshaped the world, then the existing things in the world are already the result of 'rebalancing', and should no longer produce the same mutual pollution and erosion as when the world collided......

"But the truth is that there are still ancient gods like the Black Sun, and there are still many 'pollutants' that can cause disasters just as long as they appear in the real world, and this pollution is the same as the 'erosion' that appeared around Silantis during the Great Annihilation, giving people the feeling of ......"

Duncan stopped at this point, as if he couldn't find a suitable description for a while, but the goat's head next to him suddenly spoke: "It's like the annihilation is not over at all?" ”

"Yes, it's as if the Great Annihilation is not over at all," Duncan nodded slowly, his expression extremely solemn, "It was just postponed, temporarily isolated somewhere, and slowly released into the world over time, erosion still exists, the conflict and pollution between different worlds are still going on slowly, the third long night forcibly 'pinched' the embers together, but in this barely 'pinched' order, the opposition and destruction of all things have been going on non-stop......"

The goat's head gradually reacted: "This corresponds to the 'twilight' mentioned by the last preacher......"

"Self-pollution and self-destruction are the destined direction of the Deep Sea Age, the Day of Destruction is already doomed at the beginning of history, the end of the world pollutes history, and will eventually chase from the long river of time - this is the content of the 'preaching' of those Last-day preachers," Duncan nodded slowly, "This kind of apocalyptic theory has always been refuted by the mainstream society, but after learning the truth of the Great Annihilation, combined with the various 'characteristics' of the current Deep Sea Age, I have to start seriously thinking about the doomsday theory of those madmen." ”

Speaking of this, he paused, and continued in thought: "Perhaps this is not some doomsday theory, but just some kind of objective description of the third long night...... The Third Long Night is an incomplete and unsuccessful Genesis, which does not fundamentally resolve the 'conflict' caused by the collision of multiple worlds, but only provides a buffer zone for the world to find its way out of itself within a period of 10,000 years...... That's why the fourth long night is needed. ”

“…… Do you think this 'way out' has emerged? ”

"No," Duncan shook his head, "those Last Word Preachers seem to know something, but they only know what the 'hidden dangers' of the Third Long Night are, and they know that the conflict and collapse at the bottom of the world are slowly going on, and if they really know how to solve this problem, they will not use the Annihilation Cultists and the Children of the Sun as cannon fodder, and they will not be allowed to seek answers in the dream of the Nameless."

"The vague information they provided to the Cultists of Annihilation and the Followers of the Sun sounded less purposeful and more like a test, suggesting that the Missionaries themselves did not know what the right direction was."

The goathead was silent for a moment, then suddenly asked, "What are you going to do with this crystal?" If it's really some kind of blasphemous archetype...... The longer this thing stays in the real world, the more dangerous it will be, even if it is placed on the Lost Homeland, it may not be safe for a long time. ”

Duncan thought for a moment and slowly raised his hand.

Wisps of flame rose from his fingertips, seeping into the crystal.

"I'm intrigued by their secrets."

(End of chapter)