Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic

Chapter 1787 - 1786: Shadow of the Deep Sea

At the critical moment, Shard opened his protective hands, actively embracing the darkness before him. As the darkness swallowed him, a silver radiance emerged from his body, and the blazing Fire of the Primordial even overshadowed the light of Silvermoon. Shard became like a burning orange torch, and the flames rising to the sky instantly illuminated the entire sky.

This was something even Shard hadn’t anticipated. He had originally planned to combat the darkness with the glimmer of his body and the Divine Afterglow after being engulfed by darkness, but unexpectedly, the Primal Fire was more sensitive to the post-apocalyptic darkness.

Without his needing to do anything, the roaring flames scattered the dark merman, the embodiment of black light, before him.

The merman, ignited by the flames, was forced to retreat and reformed into Mrs. Lemer’s merman form after turning into black water. It let out a menacing call towards the blazing Primal Fire on Shard, but neither its own shadow nor the tendrils lurking in the darkness dared to approach Shard.

Though Shard didn’t understand why the reaction of the Primal Fire was so overwhelming, he knew that this was not the time to explore. The Great Sin Chains flew out from both his hands simultaneously, instantly entangling with the tentacles behind the merman. The fiery stream of the Fire of the Primordial spread along the runes of Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Arrogance, and Apathy towards those dark shadows. In the light of the flames that illuminated the entire square, the merman’s body retreated in horror even before touching the Primal Fire.

But it quickly regained its composure, absorbing the tentacles and shadows into its body, and the darkness that covered the sky returned to its form. As the yellow sand once again shrouded the sky, returning Saint Delan Square and the sand-buried City of the Apocalypse to their original state, the merman opened its mouth, and the final darkness from the Age of Apocalypse transformed into a terrifying stream of light converging at a point.

This strike was enough to corrode and pierce any defense in front of it, and Shard realized he couldn’t block it no matter what. But fortunately, he didn’t need to, because the only flaw of this near-world-ending strike was its slowness.

All the sorrow and pain of the Age of Apocalypse, the wails and mutations after the earth and sky were destroyed, ultimately coalesced into Shard’s perception of the apocalyptic power:

"Black Moon!"

Injured all over, his right eye barely seeing ahead, Shard held the midsection of the black wooden long staff with his right hand in a javelin-throwing stance. Mustering the last breath, the Brass Life Ring reappeared and floated behind him. As the Spirit Rune of Termination glimmered, the enormous Black Moon Insignia flashed beneath his feet. With the throw of the long staff, the strike caused a sonic boom merely from its power.

Whoosh!

The Yggdrasil’s Staff transformed into black light, piercing through the charging mouth of the merman, pinning it directly to the ground. The dark power gathered in the merman’s mouth attempted to destroy the staff but couldn’t shake it in the slightest.

With the staff penetrating the ground, the Black Moon Insignia symbolizing Termination appeared intact beneath the merman. As the Black Moon Insignia emerged, the black merman’s body began turning to ashes from its mouth, dispersing in the gale.

As its body dissipated in the wind, its two scaly hands still made a grabbing motion upward, distinctly the struggling gesture of the Drowned One instinctively.

Shard looked dazedly at this scene in the sandstorm, but ultimately, no one saved it, and it vanished completely.

The accumulated darkness transformed into chaotic energy, returning to the dried Age of Apocalypse. Having used all his might for this strike, Shard lay back on the ground, unwilling to move again, not bothering to check the result.

The temporal exploration of the Bygone Era: Sixth Era did not restrict Shard’s stay time. Even after defeating a formidable enemy, as long as Shard didn’t verify the situation, Tree Father wouldn’t forcibly make him leave. But staying here was a punishment in itself, as stamina and spirit couldn’t be replenished. Thus, Shard only rested on the ground for half a minute, coughing blood while struggling to rise and limp to the place where the merman once stood as the dust settled.

Like last time, because of Shard’s powerful throw, Yggdrasil’s Staff was directly pinned to the ground. And beside the black staff, the gust couldn’t move the card fallen on the ground.

The card’s back was identical to the Roder Card and the Impermanence Card. Picking it up and flipping it to the front, the top of the card face was inscribed in gold-lined Delarion script:

"Shadow of the Deep Sea"

On the card face, Mrs. Lemer’s transformed gigantic black merman looks up from the seabed. Its silhouette almost merges with the ocean’s darkness, merely looking at it evokes an instinctive discomfort.

On the front’s lower part, three lines of text are written:

"Before the apocalypse arrives, melt into the deep sea and fall into the darkness of the soul."

"The calamity of devouring all darkness originates from Coldwater Port."

"Desiring to become one with darkness to hide in the deep sea and evade calamity, yet unaware it’s inherently part of the disaster."

After reading these sentences, Mrs. Lemer’s two segments of memory suddenly appeared in Shard’s mind.

The first memory undoubtedly took place in Coldwater Harbor.

In the final battle incited by the Song of the Mermaid of the Crimson Cult, Mrs. Lemer, along with countless citizens either tainted by the curse or possessing merman bloodline, step by step entered the yellowish ocean against the backdrop of a dim sky.

Not only the power of the merman-worshiped [Lord of the Crimson Spiral], but also the power of [Fury Storm] and [God of the Deep Sea Drowned], one of the three evil gods of Coldwater Harbour, were affecting this murky yellow sea area of Coldwater Harbor. The mermen, cultists controlling the water ghosts, and circle sorcerers summoning thunder and storms fought together against the True God Church.

Of course, the battle of the circle sorcerers bore no relation to the drowned women, as entering the sea only led to painful drowning, and in the deep sea, beneath the profound darkness, was an unimaginable devouring darkness.

Shard was quite shocked:

"Wait, during last year’s battle of Coldwater Harbor, wasn’t there only the Crimson Cult of the [Lord of the Crimson Spiral]? Didn’t the other two cults not even show up?

I totally don’t remember the existence of the other two cults at that time, why... Did Long-Haired Luvia do something extra, making her handling of the Coldwater Harbor incident more difficult? Or was it that her handling of the Coldwater Harbor incident was not in the summer of 1853, but a year or two later, causing the three rival cults to unite, which led to the emergence of additional cultists?"

The possibilities were indeed numerous, it could be that time fermented resulting in the three cults uniting for common interests; it might be that Luvia handled the Chosen One in a different order than Shard did, forcing the three evil cults to cooperate due to the appearance of the Chosen One. What could be confirmed was that the trouble faced by Coldwater Harbor in [Bygone Era] was far more terrifying than Shard’s experience.

The second segment of memory was clearly happening in the Tobesk City that Shard was familiar with.

He still took Mrs. Lemer’s first perspective, watching "himself" disembark from a small boat on the Terael River on a starless night where the sky already had yellowish traces, then entering the city for a massacre and soon clashing with the True God Church.

At that time, "Mrs. Lemer’s" strength was even greater than what had just been displayed, which indicated that even those evil objects with apocalypse power in the Age of Apocalypse could not achieve their peak state.

Thus, even when the Thirteen Rings Sun Church’s "Sunlight Greatsword" appeared, within Mrs. Lemer’s memory, it surprisingly could not suppress her for a moment. Yet in the midst of the most intense fighting, a dazzling golden meteor streaked across the night sky.

Subsequently, a massive "Sunlight Gun" descended from the sky, destroying half of a street while penetrating and pinning down this terrifying gigantic merman.

At the end of this memory, amidst the blinding golden thunder, Iluna appeared with a solemn face, looking nothing like the lively seventeen-year-old girl Shard knew. She obviously appeared over twenty years old, all traces of youthfulness shed, with a sharp aura and undisguised powerful strength, prompting other circle sorcerers from the church, including "Sunlight Greatsword," to bow and greet her.

Meanwhile, Long-Haired Luvia also appeared wearing a hood. Iluna gave her a rather cold nod, clearly knowing the Female Diviner but not having a cordial relationship.

The memory ended, and the content of the second memory revealed more information about the Bygone Era: Sixth Era:

"Did the cultists actually launch an attack on Tobesk?"

This was completely unimaginable within Shard’s Sixth Era experience. Although the church never played a decisive role in each Chosen One story, the church had not faced any significant loss till now, and instead had largely prevailed over the cultists and illegal circle sorcerer organizations.

The order of the Old Continent’s circle sorcerer and mysticism led by the Three Major Academies and the Church of the Five Gods remained unshaken by any power in the "Present World".

These pieces of information, combined with Iluna’s mature appearance in the memory of "Mrs. Lemaire the Merman," suggested that if in the Bygone Era the opening of "Whispering Verses" also took place in the summer of 1853, then it indicated that the Bygone Era’s "Whispering Verses" lasted significantly longer, and it was impossible for six Chosen Ones to appear in less than a year as the Outlander experienced.

And in the Bygone Era: Sixth Era, the church apparently lost its leading and control over the situation step by step during the prolonged confrontation.

Shard took a deep breath, looking at the card in his hand, with endless worries and troubles overwhelming him. Having witnessed apocalypse, he became more anxious about the actively approaching future:

"Last time there were two segments of memory, this time also two segments, is this the hint Yggdrasil’s Key and Tree Father want to give me?"

The white mist was sweeping in from around, and the square that was corroded by black water and destroyed by energy bombardment was being restored as if time was flowing backward. He looked at the gradually blurring familiar square before him, at his own dilapidated house, his thoughts on preventing all this and guarding everything he had at the moment became even stronger.