Chapter 1216
A New Fallen World
Chapter 1216 A New Fallen World
The world of frames is slowly coming to a close.
The frantically spinning sun and moon finally stopped, and the sky over Seria, which had been accelerated to the point of near depletion, regained its original light and color, but the world had been completely transformed.
Although the walled city still stands, the social classes that supported Casagra have been emptied out. The gladiatorial pits still exist, but the will to drink blood deep within the foundations has been burned to ashes. The stone bricks in the pits no longer tremble, and the maddening cheers no longer echo from the stands.
The thirsty people have disappeared.
Xia Xiu raised his hand and gently beckoned.
The four civilization-suppressing weapons on the orbit simultaneously ceased their patrols, and their massive, continent-covering armed forms began to shrink, with wings, claw shadows, snake tails, and giant humanoid silhouettes folding back layer by layer.
The four weapons of civilization suppression transformed back into their unarmed, girl-like forms, falling from the sky and disappearing one by one into the writhing shadow beneath Xia Xiu's feet.
Soon, the shadows returned to calm.
Xia Xiu clapped his hands, his tone as relaxed as if he had just finished dealing with a minor, not particularly difficult, matter.
"knock off."
Angolan sat not far away, still somewhat dazed.
He witnessed firsthand the removal of the bloody divinity that had weighed on everyone in Seria, and he also witnessed the world undergo an accelerated purification process in a short span of time—a process long enough to rewrite the structure of civilization.
That power had exceeded all his previous imagination of what a strong person could be.
The champions of the arena, the high-riders of the city-state, the thirsty ones beneath the sacred pit—compared to the man before them, they were like the moon and a grain of rice.
Angolans even developed an instinctive fear.
This fear is not cowardice, but rather the simultaneous reaction of body and soul when a living being sees a truly superior being.
Xia Xiu's gaze fell on his face, and he saw that the child was sitting blankly on the ground, covered in blood, with many broken bones. Poor Lao Jiu had really suffered a lot.
"As you wished, I have cleaned up this world. The assimilation structure left by Casagra has been removed. There will be no more coronation in the Holy Pit in Seria, and no one will be forced to engage in bloody battles anymore."
Angolan's throat moved; he wanted to say a lot, but the words stuck in his chest, and in the end he could only squeeze out a dry response.
"thank you……"
His voice was hoarse, and his tone carried an unusual sense of panic and helplessness.
"I...I don't know how to say it, and I don't know who you are, but I can feel the connection between you and me. I just want to know, how are the people who followed me doing now?"
Xia Xiu smiled.
"When I made my move just now, for convenience, I sent them and all the people in this world who haven't been completely assimilated by Casagra to the accompanying ships outside the sky. As for the residual pollution on them, I've already taken care of it."
"They're still alive, though their condition is certainly not good. After all, this world hasn't given them many good days. But at least from now on, they don't have to worry about being dragged back into that damned order by the Holy Pit, the Blood Nails, and the cheers from the stands."
After speaking, Xia Xiu looked up at the sky.
The next moment, a massive, silver-gray ship broke through the crystal wall system and slowly descended from outside the plane.
The Sword-class frigate pushed through the clouds, casting a large shadow over Seria. Its sharp and slender armor structure shimmered with stable light patterns, like a giant sword falling from the sea of stars.
Angolan stared blankly up at the frigate hovering above the mountain pass, its belly hatch slowly opening, and a wide tractor beam descended.
Soon, a dense crowd emerged from inside the ship.
They included miners, gladiators, serfs, fugitives, mothers holding children, bewildered old people, and insurgents who had just been prepared to die alongside Angola in the mountains.
Many people still don't understand what happened.
Like a flock of lambs just dragged back from the slaughterhouse, they were bewildered, terrified, and weak, but their eyes gradually brightened when they saw Angola standing on the mountainside again.
Someone shouted first.
"Angola……"
Then, more voices rose up.
He's still alive!
"We're still alive..."
"Where is the Holy Pit? Where are those sounds? I can't hear them anymore, I can't hear those damned cheers anymore!"
The crowd began to stir.
Some people knelt down on the ground, hugging their loved ones and wailing.
Some people touched the back of their necks and chests and found that the burning pain that had lasted for years had really disappeared, and they collapsed to the ground as if all their energy had been drained.
Some insurgents staggered toward Angola, trying to help him up, but instinctively stopped when they saw Xia Xiu beside him.
Xia Xiu did not stop them.
He simply stood there, watching the group of people dragged out of the bloody order of Seria, and calmly said:
"Now, you are free."
……
……
Time flies, the sun rises and the moon sets.
A month has passed since Xia Xiu liberated Seria, and the survivors of Seria have given the day Xia Xiu descended a name—the day the Crimson Crown fell.
In the initial oral accounts compiled by the survivors, this day was described as the end of the old world, because from that day on, the Holy Pit no longer drank blood, the stands no longer cheered, and the Red Crown no longer bestowed its crown.
The corrupt god of thirst was purified by angels from beyond the heavens, and Seria's population was reduced to only one-tenth of its original size.
Naturally, the once towering city-state altars were demolished, noble palaces were converted into warehouses, hospitals, and temporary council chambers, the chains in the mines were broken, serfs were redistributed their land, and the surviving artisans began to repair canals, wind towers, smelting furnaces, and transport tracks.
Angola naturally became Seria's new master.
No one objected to this.
After Angolan became the ruler of the world of Seria, he began to work on restoring order and production to the world of Seria.
He dismantled the largest gladiatorial arena of the old era and rebuilt the camp. He personally led people to clear the ruins and distributed the usable stones, metals and water pipes one by one. He first restored food, water, medicine and basic defenses, and then rebuilt the settlement and roads.
Seria doesn't need a new gladiator king; it needs order, production, and things that allow people to survive.
During this month, Xia Xiu was not idle either.
He personally removed the alien implants that had penetrated deep into the skulls, nerves, and souls of all those in Seria who had been nailed with bloody nails.
The first person to undergo the surgery was from Angola.
It must be said that the Bloody Nails technique is indeed difficult to deal with.
That thing is no longer just a simple, torturous metal nail; it's a neural implant circuit. For many people, the nail has replaced part of their brain function, and forcibly removing it will result in immediate death or personality breakdown.
If Xia Xiu hadn't achieved a miracle, if he didn't have the [World Modulation Mode] and [World Bubble: Master Creator], and the authority of the Fifth Saint of Desire Flesh to control the flesh of gods, he wouldn't dare say that he could handle these things 100% harmlessly.
Fortunately, he had many survivors, so dealing with the thirsty ones was a piece of cake for him. In this way, during this period, he pulled out the bloody nails one by one for all the survivors, truly liberating the people of Seria from their suffering.
For Angola, this event was more unsettling than Xia Xiu's destruction of Casagra.
Destroying enemies only proves Xia Xiu's strength, but breaking the old shackles on the people of Seria proves Xia Xiu's greatness.
Therefore, Xia Xiu told him everything.
About his origins, about the perfect embryo, about the son of Abraham, about why he came to these fallen worlds to seek them…
After hearing this, Angola, like his other sons, knelt on one knee, lowered his head, and solemnly pressed his hands, which had once torn apart countless shackles, to his chest.
“Father, everything I have with the people of Seria belongs to you from this day forward.”
Xia Xiu simply smiled, reached out and patted the other person's shoulder, helping them up. And just like that, the ninth perfect embryo officially returned.
Today is the day Xia Xiu leaves Seria.
……
The plains at the foot of the mountain.
The place has changed. The death ground where the rebels were finally besieged has now been replaced by a new monument. Those who died before the Red Crown fell are buried beneath it. There are no blood cups, no iron hooks, and no gladiator-style sacrifices in front of the monument, only broken old weapons.
Angolan stood before the monument, his injuries mostly healed, and the bloody nails in his skull had long been removed. He was still tall and fierce, but he was no longer driven to the brink of rage by pain as he used to be.
Xia Xiu stood beside Angolan, then turned to his father and said:
“Father, the sacred pit of Seria has been completely sealed off. The granaries, workshops, canals and mines of the old city-state have also resumed operation. The people who were enslaved in the past are relearning how to farm, forge, build roads and live. I will govern this world well and will not let it become the blood and food of any god, noble or madman again.”
“The people of Seria will always stand by your side, just like me. We will remember who pulled us out of the Holy Pit and the Red Crown, and we will wait here for your return. When you summon me, I will bring a Seria that has risen again and give you my answer.”
Xia Xiu looked at the child who had just returned and nodded.
"Govern this world well, don't let hatred become a new shackle, and don't let victory become a new holy pit. I still need to find the other lost perfect embryos. Until I return, govern Seria well, he will become the cornerstone of your future legion."
Angolan lowered his head.
"Yes, Father."
Xia Xiu didn't say anything more.
Above the sky, the Sword-class frigate slowly lowered its tractor beam, and he stepped into the light, his figure rising into the sky.
Angolan stood on the mountain's edge, with the newly revitalized Seria behind him, the newly built roads, the distant fires rising from the furnaces, and those who were no longer sent to the arena.
He watched the ship take off, see it pass through the clouds, break through the crystal wall system, and finally disappear into the depths of the starry sea.
……
……
Soon, the outer glow of the Crystal Wall system was left behind by the Sword-class frigate, and the surging light of the Etherian space layer once again covered the field of vision. The ship, like a silver arrow piercing through the dark currents of the deep sea, continued to move forward along the course calibrated by Eden.
Xia Xiu raised his hand, and the [Black Seal] reappeared in his palm.
Forgrim, Mortalius, Angola.
Three of the five children lost in the corrupt world have been found. Now, it's time to find the fourth Calabash Brother.
The black mark didn't keep him waiting long.
The jet-black mark vibrated slightly, and a faint sense extended from its depths, passing through the turbulence of the subspace, crossing several plane folds, and finally locking onto a mid-level plane that had also been corrupted by the womb of the Great Old Ones.
The Sword-class frigate immediately adjusted its course.
After a few breaths, the crystal wall system in front began to appear, and the layers of world boundaries, like transparent mountains frozen in the void, were gradually cut apart by the high-energy field at the bow of the ship.
Xia Xiu's great spirituality entered into it first.
He saw the fourth world.
That was a place completely different from the previous corrupted planes.
The land is dominated by continuous, rugged mountain ranges and deep canyons. The massive mountain ranges, like iron-cast spines, run from one end of the continent to the other. The peaks are covered with snow all year round, and the mountainsides are shrouded in clouds and mist. In the lowlands and valleys, there are temperate forests, grasslands, streams, and a few plains that can support large-scale settlements.
The habitable areas here are not large.
Most human city-states were built on mountains, using cliffs, canyons and natural highlands to construct defenses. Stone fortresses were embedded in the mountains, like giant fortresses growing out of the rock strata.
What truly caught Xia Xiu's attention was the underlying technology of this world.
—Steel, steam, gunpowder.
Black smoke from blast furnaces rises from the mountain town, spreading with the mountain winds towards the gray sky; huge gear elevators are embedded between cliffs, pulling mine carts across suspension tracks; steam locomotives drag heavy ore and shells, roaring along the steel rails in the valley.
Artillery positions were scattered across the high ground, and the borders between city-states were fortified with trenches, fortresses, observation towers, and long-range artillery emplacements.
Xia Xiu's great spirituality continued to descend, and soon locked onto several key locations.
One of the city-states was situated amidst rugged mountains, with high walls rising layer upon layer along the rock face. The city was filled with stonework, elevators, foundries, and artillery drill grounds. It was clearly one of the most powerful mountain city-states on the continent and the place with the most concentrated engineering system in the world.
Further away, a vast mountain range spanning the borders of multiple city-states is constantly radiating spiritual energy from rare metal veins.
Those mineral veins were divided and contested by countless mines and fortresses, and the underground was filled with tunnels, tracks and steam drills. The entire mountain range was like a steel corpse that had been gnawed at by various forces for hundreds of years.
Deep within the mountains lies a black fortress.
The fortress was built at the intersection of cliffs and canyons, with its outer walls so thick as to be almost exaggerated. Layers of gun emplacements, crossfire points, underground bunkers, and inner and outer defensive rings were nested together.
Xia Xiu's great spirituality continued to spread downwards, across mountain ridges, city-states, mining areas, and misty valleys, and soon he saw the war that was taking place in this world.
The art style here is completely different from that of Seria.
Between the mountains, a battle line stretching for tens of kilometers resembled a wound torn open by gunpowder, lying across the iron-gray land. Trenches were dug layer after layer into the frozen soil and rock, and barbed wire, bunkers, artillery emplacements, and steam pipes formed a complex network.
The cannons are roaring.
Rows of heavy artillery opened fire from behind the mountains, shells trailing scorching red flames across the gloomy sky, crashing into the opposing defensive positions, exploding into clumps of mud, rubble, metal, and flesh.
Armored forces are advancing in the lowlands.
Those tanks were not simply steel vehicles, but war machines that combined steam boilers, runic armor, rivet plates, and gunpowder turrets. Their tracks crushed the frozen ground, their chimneys spewed out black smoke, and their short-barreled cannons on both sides of the hull constantly spewed fire.
Further away, bipedal steam-powered soldiers crossed the valley.
They are tens or even hundreds of meters tall, with huge boilers hanging on their bellies, and exhaust pipes on their backs like a row of iron spines. Every time their legs land, they shake mud and gravel outwards.
The mechanized soldiers, with long cannons mounted on their shoulders and chainsaws and battering rams hanging from their arms, moved slowly forward under the cover of artillery fire, like a group of iron giants crawling out of an industrial nightmare.
In the sky, airships with steam trails emerged from the clouds, their belly hatches opening as rows of incendiary bombs and armor-piercing bombs rained down on the mountain fortress; small propeller-driven aircraft weaved through the artillery fire, their machine gun ammunition belts spitting out golden light, intertwining with the black bursts of fire from ground anti-aircraft guns.
This is a war between engineers.
This is a decadent world dominated by engineers.