"Everything in the world is fearful."

"Even the gods."

"The gods fear: for they are by no means eternal creatures, for they are not immortal beings, for they have never escaped the lord of end and death."

"They entrenched themselves on their thrones, wore great crowns firmly on their heads, continued the fire of their reign with the burning and mourning of billions of races, and became the noblest lords and prisoners without hesitation, until the final hour came in the mouths of your races."

"But despite this, they are by no means eternal."

"They cannot overcome their own nature, just as they cannot overcome end-of-life and death."

"They're just: gods."

"From the most distant times, from the time of the collapse of heaven that these races can never comprehend, God is a being that can be killed, it can be watched, threatened, and even completely erased, forgotten for eternity."

"There has been more than one god who has finally fallen to this fate: they can be the true pioneers of the subspace, the creators of countless races in the mortal world, or the stars and devouring predators, the kings of destruction who single-handedly shake the entire galaxy."

"But they all died, they all died as a god, and they became the bones at the feet of their successors, and the stories and foils of countless ridiculous paintings."

"They are not eternal, and though the crowns and thrones they hold will last until the end of all things, they are only the users of the crowns and thrones, not the owners, and their own consciousness, though invincible, is not as perfect as their crowns and thrones."

"What really matters is the crown and the throne, which will enjoy eternity, and which will usher in splendor and exaltation, triumph and unity at the end of the day, not the gods themselves."

"The crown needs to imprison a head, the throne needs to sustain a reign, and the existence and death of the god who reigns over the world is not a question of real value."

"For, no matter what will and ambition the king has, when he finally chooses to sit on the throne and put on the crown, his past and self are irrelevant, his mind is destined to defeat the crown, his will will will not be able to leave the throne, and his name will be completely erased from the past and the future."

"Then he became: God."

"The crown will give God the true name, and the throne will give God supreme authority, which is the reward that God deserves, because if there is no god to sit on the throne and bring the crown, then the throne and the crown are only the most precious treasures, and only when someone sits in that position, they will be sublimated into the nightmare of countless races."

"Therefore, when another king goes to the empty throne and takes up the crown, all that is in his mind will be satisfied, and the kingdom of his heart will be established, but he will not find one thing: true eternity, and contempt for the end."

"For it is the crown and the throne itself that are in charge of these things, not God."

"Authority is eternal, but God is not."

"Therefore, the gods will fear, they will fear their real threat, they will abandon their burdensome powers, they will indulge in the playful, meaningless, so-called eternal game to avoid the great end that belongs to the gods alone."

"No one expects the end, not even the gods themselves."

"But no one can stop the end of the end: not even the gods themselves."

——————

The twisted god of steel crawled through the halls, brazenly manifesting its indescribable, blasphemous aesthetic.

This strange being, which calls itself [Vashtor], is a unique product that can only be born in the wildest fantasies of every Omnisaiah believer, a stain that is enough to cause cracks in the foundation of faith in countless world-casting worlds, and its existence even makes the Spider Empress feel an almost irrepressible desire for destruction, and only that deep-rooted rational thinking can make Morgan suppress the urge to chant an elegy of destruction.

It itself, like any being of the same level, is as vague as the concept of an absolute form, but when it leaves its realm in the Soul Forge and comes to the Genetic Queen in order to show respect and sincerity, and to ensure a smooth conversation, it has to temporarily contain its existence in an equally terrifying body.

The profane steel body that emitted steam and smoke was as huge as a knight's mecha, and on the biochemical mechanical limbs that resembled human muscles, there were strange dark technology creations, the creator's pupils burned like bright lights, and the same flickering jaws constantly churned and churned like a dry cough like a gear stirring flesh, its slender arms hung down, and its sharp claws could scrape the ground, and it itself relied on these sharp claws to shred the long-dead cast sage, The bull-like hooves crushed the followers of Omni Saiah and brought them to the desolate stone hall.

It was so tall, its high-arched spine seemed to be in the same position as the ceiling of the main hall, and the hideous shadow engulfed the genotype and her attendants, and although there was a huge round table between them, she was still too close to this bottomless bastard in Morgan's eyes.

But the Spider Empress was not alarmed, and she was even able to stroke the hair of the Virgo next to her for comfort: as a response to the unexpected situation just now, and the terrifying creation in front of her, the firepower organization of Virgo, which was enough to drown thousands of Astarte warriors, had been completely spread, and in terms of volume alone, it was not too much inferior to the Creator.

But neither Morgan himself nor Vashtor seemed to have taken this terrible firepower into account, and the Creator simply glanced at the Spider Queen's first creation with a critic's gaze, and gave an opinion mixed with the sound of roaring gears.

"Nice idea."

"But you can do so much more: now that you've opened the fusion of psionic and mechanical, you don't have to be so stingy with psionic power, you can give it more power, terror and power: you know what to do, you know how to make it a real scourge."

"Its ceiling will be more terrifying than those chief demons who flaunt their might in the sea of souls, it can single-handedly drag ten sectors into the waves of the sea of death and blood, and you can create it like that, because in your mind, you hold that knowledge."

Morgan blinked, an icy wave churning in her eyes.

What does my creation have to do with you, demon? 】

"Of course it doesn't matter, I'm just giving a suggestion that you can interpret as a necessary kindness, a kind of foreshadowing for our next transaction to go smoothly: in your race, such a step seems necessary."

With a wave of his hand, Vashtor dispelled the dust kicked up by his footsteps, and pointed to the goods on the table, continuing his story and his goodwill with an unquestionable authority.

"Just like these things you ordered, they can indeed achieve the effect you desire, similar to [Spirit Bone], and they can be produced on a large scale, but if you add the ashes of the Spirit Race in the right proportion when creating this raw material, then its effect will be far beyond your imagination, and it can even produce extreme resistance to the subspace."

"The ashes of the self-proclaimed Ark Spirits and Harlequin Troupe are the most effective in this regard, those who wander in the savage world are a little worse, and as for the self-proclaimed orthodox Comorian races, if their death is accompanied by absolute pain, then their ashes are also the best building materials."

"Of course, it all depends on your own ideas, I am just giving an opinion, and it is not up to my will to decide whether you will choose this path, and whether you will swallow the fruits of success or failure."

"Now, I think you've seen my sincerity: Shall we begin?"

"Or do you need to ask for advice?"

Morgan's brow jumped, and she admitted that she was slightly intrigued by the words of the object in front of her, but she did not want the maverick demon to be complacent: although with the help of some special means in her mind, she could confirm that every word of the demon in front of her was indeed true and reliable.

As a demon, this is a rare miracle.

The Spider Empress was silent for a moment, she could feel the demon's pupils staring at her, waiting for the conversation to really open, for Morgan's answer and nod.

【……】

Morgan wasn't silent for long.

So, what do you want to talk to me about, or trade, demon? 】

"A simple equivalent exchange."

[Simple? 】

"It depends on how you choose: I'll make every detail of the deal clear, but it's all your responsibility to promise the deal, and whether you'll benefit from it: I'll take my fair share, and I'm not interested in whether you get more or less."

The voice of the Creator rumbled from the loudspeaker in the room, and at the same time whispered in the voice of static electricity in the Spider Queen's armor interlocutor, and the Spider Queen listened with the most careful attitude, and she mentally reviewed all of Vashtor's words over and over again, carefully looking for possible mistakes and traps, probing for the most likely hidden tricks in the words of the Creator.

The Creator sensed this cautious and wary attitude, but it did not reciprocate with any anger, on the contrary, in its cogwheel tone, it actually reflected a fluctuation that was closest to the concept of pleasure.

【……】

What do you want to trade? 】

Every word of the Second Legion Master took place after a long silence, and she expressed her thoughts in staccato phrases, her brow furrowed and the flickering psionic energy of her fingertips never faded.

"This."

The Creator was succinct, his hooves hidden in the flames and smoke clattering on the stone slabs, and the twisted creature climbed onto the marble platform behind the round table, the top of which was obscured by a large curtain, and only a large cage could be faintly seen.

The Creator lifted the curtain and saw that what it was revealing was a cage of the near impossible: a prison made of pure black steel and weathered stone columns, its intricate structure telling of its ingenuity, but its simple and visible appearance made it seem like some kind of patchwork of improvisation.

Of course, in front of the prisoner it was carrying, these contradictions were not worth mentioning: the Spider Empress's pupils dilated the moment she went under the curtain, for no other reason than the fact that a cage about the size of a war engine was actually being held......

An asteroid?

Yes, an asteroid.

As ridiculous as it sounds, both its true appearance and the flickering perception of the progenitor are certain of one thing: this is indeed an asteroid that has been captured in a strange way by the Lord of the Soul Forge and imprisoned in a prison of contradictions.

Vashtor's voice sounded at the right time.

"Allow me to introduce you to this object: it is called Plague Heart."

"Its history is far further than anything you can find, it was born in an ancient time of gods, heaven and miracles, and was tucked away in a place where it is almost impossible to find it, with high hopes and missions placed on its founders."

"In the long years of alternation of countless races and civilizations, even the depraved hedonists who imprisoned it in the first place have long forgotten the history and truth about it, and its cage has rotted in the eternal cycle of reincarnation until it has completely turned into a scorched earth, so that it can escape the obstacles of its cage and come to the galaxy again."

"Countless overlords and warlords once held its authority, and even the master of the Rotten Garden sent his men to pursue this power, and the name Plague Heart was born at that time, but in the end, it came into my hands."

"In order to completely remove the traces of decay, I soaked it in the soul furnace countless times to ensure that it was now the same: absolutely cold and pure, and could be used as part of our transaction."

The words of the Creator echoed in the Spider Queen's ears over and over again, and Morgan used a moment to clear her confusion, slowly narrowing her eyes, thinking about the value and pitfalls between these words, and also thinking about whether she still had the ability and confidence to end the transaction at any time.

This time, she was silent for an extraordinarily long time.

[I have a problem, demon. 】

[Answer them, or we will immediately end the conversation.] 】

Vashtor didn't reply, it just returned to Morgan, a vague sound between his voices, in response to Morgan's words.

"Please."

"As long as I can answer for you right now, I will disclose it."

【……】

Morgan was lost in thought, a torrent of thoughts churning in her mind, sweeping up waves of roaring waves: she had too many questions to ask, but they were either too detailed, too obvious, or would reveal her lack of confidence.

Eventually, after a brief but intense period of reflection, the Spider Empress was left with one last priority in her mind, a question that was all the more important because of her selfish nature, involving her sensitive and cautious mind.

She looked at the Creator and spoke.

[Why, you chose me?] 】

What is the meaning of those names you have revealed to me? 】

——————

【Domination of the Two Realms】

【The Prince of the Three Kingdoms】

[The one who eats relatives, the minister who kills the king]

【King of the West, King of the South】

Over and over again, Morgan recounted these titles in his own mind, hammering and honing their authenticity, pondering the meaning behind each word.

Some of them she understood, but others made it feel a certain dazed and familiar, as if they did have some connection to her, but she had lost that connection at some point.

It even made her irritable.

So, after a short period of thought, the Spider Queen decided to solve the problem of these titles for her first, and then think about this transaction that was advancing in the middle of surveillance.

"Ah, it was my negligence."

Morgan had expected to be greeted with a stunned, a laugh, or simply a sound of gears mixed with irony and ambiguity, but what happened was a little simpler and more bizarre than she had imagined.

Faced with this question, Vashtor hesitated for a rare moment, and instead of answering immediately, as usual, it was like a machine that had stopped running, and after a moment of real silence, it lit its pupils again and apologized.

"Allow me, then, to make up for this oversight, and answer it for you."

The little pleasure that once existed had been completely lost from the friction of its gears, and now the Creator stood in front of Morgan, ten meters away from her, and his gestures were absolutely rigorous and formal, as if he were dealing with an adversary worthy of respect.

"Please forgive me, Queen of Bondage."

"Out of some habit and negligence, I have used the titles you can only pick up in the future to refer to your present state: but given the state of time in subspace, you are worthy of these titles now, but you are not aware of it."

"You are nobler, more important, and more pathetic than you think."

"Maybe in some ways, you are the same as those blood brothers in your mouth, a peerless weapon created by your genetic father, but you are fundamentally different from them, a ravine-like difference."

"Their future is free, and yours is imprisoned."

"Their mission is to take it, and yours is to do whatever it takes to preserve."

"They are the sacrifices needed for a war destined for greatness, the bargaining chips at the mercy of an exchange that will eventually collapse, and their fates will be forged with the laughter of the gods and their own blood."

"But you are different, you were born for the future that was not expected, for the choice that everyone feared, for the decisive swing of the sword of the king after the defeat of the war, and the red line of reason between the two sides after the transaction was broken, your fate will be decided by others, and the choices of those blank masses and your consciousness will determine what kind of existence you will become."

"To put it simply, your brother is your father's sword for conquest, and your presence is your father's detonator who is ready to drag everyone into destruction in order to prevent the complete failure of his plan."

"You have such a destiny on your shoulders, not only you, but another of your blood relatives."

【…… Who is he? 】

"I can't say that this is beyond my authority and risk assessment, but you will soon know the name of the man who will be imprisoned on the border between death and life until the kingdom you have built together comes to an end: this is the punishment he will end."

"And you, the executioner, are one of them."

"You will execute him as an envoy of the father of your genes: for he has failed."

【……】

Morgan's pupils twitched, and she didn't delve into the question, for she had already guessed who this brother was: who else needed her to be the executioner?

At the same time, the Spider Empress also had to sigh: compared to other existences, this Lord of the Soul Furnace was indeed much more honest and even sincere, although this could not erase its essence as a demon at all.

Her pupils grew colder.

[Continue to answer my question, demon, you have been avoiding it.] 】

"I can guarantee I don't."

Vashtor's voice became a kind of low, slow tempo, making it impossible to tell whether it was hiding or angry.

"To the best of my ability, I'll tell you."

[Then speak quickly.] 】

"Okay."

"In the subspace, there is a distinction that you don't know yet: although the kingdoms of the gods are extremely chaotic and intertwined from an outsider's point of view, their respective realms are incomparably clear, but you can't see them."

"There is only one palace of chaos, but around this palace of the end there are eight realms, each of which will have a lord, a throne, and a crown, of which four crowns will already be placed on the heads of the gods, and the fifth will soon have its wearer."

"That is to say, among the eight realms of Chaos, in fact, five already have or will have their masters, and although the four gods who have come to the king have tried all kinds of ways to get their hands on other realms, their real land is only the one they claim to be kings, because they can never be united, and any god who sets foot in other realms will be quickly and mercilessly besieged."

"In this case, the remaining three realms remain their own blanks, and they are not taken away by any of the gods, but continue to wait for their masters: in the eight-pointed stars of Chaos' move, these three blank realms occupy due east, south, and west, respectively."

"As for the fifth deity who is about to ascend the throne, it has predetermined the throne due north, which is the authority of the end and death, the music of betrayal and loneliness."

"As for the remaining three crowns, they are opposed to the fifth, a loneliness created by greed and hatred, a kingdom of eternal futility, eternal dullness, eternally self-destructive, a desire that devours all, and a hatred that burns all things."

"This is the kingdom of due south, and this is where your power will take root."

【…… It's mine? 】

"Yes, that land will plant your banner, but it will not be firm, you will not have the blood and claim to rule there, you can only become a firm tyrant, and use power and violence to drive the power of that land: you will not be the king there, but you will be the supreme there."

"Because you've taken over there in the only way Chaos can admit it."

【……】

Morgan blinked.

For a moment, she wanted to ask what the so-called "right way" was, but she held back the desire because it wasn't necessary.

She spoke, pointing to the heart of the series of tirades.

[But, according to your previous words, I will have another land, a realm that belongs to me: corresponding to you? 】

"That's right."

The Creator nodded, its massive head turning at a suspicious angle.

"You don't seem surprised?"

[I will not be surprised if any words come out of the mouth of the demon, I will listen to your story, but I will not immediately take it as a real future.] 】

"A wise choice."

There was a light smoke from the Creator's chest, and it raised a hand to continue its tirade.

"As I said, apart from the soon-to-be-returned Fifth Deity and its opposite, the King of Due South, there are only two unclaimed realms left next to the palace of Chaos: due east and west, and their names are Malevolent Skill and Invisible Twist, if you call them harmless words."

[Then I guess you are the claimant of the crown of malevolent skill, and although you have not really received this authority, you can already wield some of its powers?] 】

"So it is with the gods."

The roar of the Creator was like a rather ironic laugh.

"Yes, even though I'm the chief candidate in the Domain of the Orthodox and the most likely to ascend to that throne, I'm still not a true god, but because there are no other contenders yet, or because I have a huge advantage among all the candidates, I can still mobilize a little power temporarily."

"Because I have the key to that crown."

【Key?】 】

"The crown doesn't care who wears it, no matter what kind of past you have, what means you use, as long as you win the competition, defeat other potential candidates, and get the key that corresponds to the realm and the crown, you can walk on the throne that belongs to you."

"The key is so important, when you become its owner, you can already be called a god in a sense, and you can even divide an independent territory and kingdom in the subspace, and no existence can easily touch its land."

【……】

With the thoughts of the genetic protogen, it was a task to sort out these uncomplicated words, but Morgan was still silent for a long time, and it took her a long time to calm the turbulent waves rolling up in her heart, and maintain the indifference and composure on her face at the very least.

After momentarily ignoring the terrible meaning of these words, the Spider Queen was able to focus once more, following the words of the Creator and contemplating the heart of the topic at this point.

She was soon found.

【Key?】 】

[What's that like?] 】

Do I own it? And you use this to infer that I am your kind, your mirror image? 】

The Creator shook his head.

"I have another way of judging who you are: but I can't say, I can only tell you, that the keys to each crown are different, they have no fixed existence, appearance, or even concept, but when you realize what your key is, you can come to the same ranks as me."

"It won't be long, and you'll soon realize your strength and power."

"Trust me, you won't refuse it."

【……】

[How long will it take soon?] 】

"About a century, or a little longer, mortal time doesn't mean anything to me."

【……】

Morgan took a deep breath.

[One last question.] 】

Can you tell me now why I have this key, or this ...... Qualification? 】

The Creator's blasphemous body trembled at the sound of its laughter.

"On this note, ask your creator, who knows better than anyone that he is the real creator, controller and even beneficiary of it all, and that he is far more powerful and crazy than you think."

——————

"You know what."

"The gods fear your Maker."

"They are terrified of the flames he stole from the subspace, priceless treasures he has stolen with vileness and power."

"When he can master this flame, he can create a real threat to the will of the four gods, he can reverse the logic and structure of chaos itself, and he can issue proposals and threats to the void, because the four gods will maintain a certain compromise posture towards him."

"He stole the flames, he was the Prometheus who fell into madness."

"He had stolen too many things, too important things, so many and so important that they could only be vaguely referred to by the word flame, and his great cause was run by these stolen sparks, and his plan continued in an orderly manner."

"And you."

"It's his treasure, too."

"And you."

"It's also part of the flame."

"He stole you out of subspace, and there are other things that are just as important as you."

"So now, the four gods are prematurely focused on the real land, prematurely confronting each other with your founder, clash and compromise in silent contests again and again."

"The purpose of the four gods is nothing else."

"The steps of the four gods are coming for you."

"They want to take you away, but your creator has created a terrible trap with you at the center, and even the gods dare not step into his schemes."

"They're afraid."

"Because ......"

"You, and your future."

"It's the existence that terrifies the gods."

"So."

"The gods thirst for you."

"Follow you."

"Around you."

"At the same time, I am afraid of you."

(End of chapter)