Steampunk Era: Mad Abield
Chapter 1074: Section 676: Who Knows (Part 1)

Chapter 1074: Section 676: Who Knows (Part 1)

If anything is more terrifying than becoming a deity, it is probably that the planet beneath our feet has gained self-awareness, and all things parasitic on it, be it Chaos, humans, or even bio-humans, are unaware that the planet beneath them has developed a will.

This will, someone once hypothesized, is Gaia.

The great destruction dragged the entire planet onto an unforeseen path, Fate was no longer elusive, and legendary tales of Chaos, magic, and immortality were no longer mere embellishments but the most natural occurrences in the world.

Just like Malin’s Susu.

Malin knew all the stories that happened to her when she entered the chapel.

He was moved by her perseverance; without her sacrifice in the first era, human civilization might have already been destroyed. The deeds of the Nameless summoned by her on this planet are countless. Whether it was Master Wu or the Lord of Justice, this righteous preacher had always been mending the cracks in the sky.

However, he was still an outsider, always being rejected by the planet. The Nameless understood this, and more so when the final battle began, when Subspace and Earth fully interfaced, Earth’s will would become the final Guardian, destroying everything if it couldn’t protect it all.

The Nameless didn’t want to waste their powers pointlessly. He even agreed with the Goddess of Fate’s plan, making great sacrifices alongside Malin’s biological father to save humanity.

Raphael, Malin’s father, willingly was enlightened by the Nameless. He lost all memories of his homeland; these memories were completely obliterated because he didn’t want to bring Chaos into his universe. Thereafter, he united with Malin’s mother, giving birth to Malin’s body... a very tragic child.

He was destined to become a legendary child from birth, a child who ignites the divine flame.

The cost is that every ascension is a parting of life and death, with success being the only option, as failure means death.

Raphael believed that he and her child were destined to become the saviors of the world... and indeed, he did it, that one-meter-tall Mars is his progeny.

Earth’s civilization had redemption opportunities even without Malin.

However, in Malin’s timeline, this child failed, and the Goddess of Fate... no, Susu naturally summoned Malin’s soul.

This is the authority of the Goddess of Fate, but Malin’s arrival changed too much of destiny, causing Susu’s rational soul to become inevitably twisted and mutated. Although the fate divinity protected her from a completely deformed demise, she could no longer be considered... life.

And when Malin came to the chapel, Susu became even more distorted, with her appearance beginning to shift towards a chaotic mutation, thus Earth’s will began to loathe this Goddess of Fate. When Malin ascended to godhood, he was eager to connect with Malin, in its eyes, whether it was the Nameless or the Goddess of Fate, or those original deities, they were either disliked for being foreign deities or distorted from too much contact with Chaos, ultimately repulsed by it.

A cold planetary will, Malin didn’t have the time to educate this infantile will properly, tossing a few World Tree fruits to make it contently fall asleep—you see, this is an infant with no basic consciousness, it despises foreign deities and the lives of deities tainted by Chaos, all are merely its instincts, just as its instinct is to drool over the energy within the World Tree fruits.

This doesn’t resemble a life form at all, more like a... creature dominated by its instincts.

So, it wasn’t until today that Malin first felt he truly was not a qualified kindergarten principal.

Ah, nearly forgot, there are the Thanan too—besides, the Thanan must have also linked with the Goddess of Fate after Malin’s unexpected deep dive, their wise ones knowing the ultimate battle will undoubtedly take place in a few years, tearing apart everything in this world, and thus they made their choice.

Artificial deities seemed a good choice, as for the mixed beliefs of the Western Human World, the Thanan’s faith was purer, more capable of enhancing a newborn deity’s strength.

All of this was under the control of Susu’s rational soul, except she... misjudged Malin.

Yes, misjudged Malin, misjudged his love for her, misjudged Malin’s love for this world, and more mistakenly... she misjudged whether Malin and her would make the same choices on certain matters.

She forgot, ultimately, that Malin thought as a mortal, while she... she had been a deity for so long that she had lost her humanity.

Standing in the small square outside the chapel, Malin lit a cigarette for himself.

Thanks for the invitation, the first cigarette after becoming a deity, it felt quite good.

While Malin sneered in his heart, he expressed some contempt for the so-called divine ascension effects in novels he had read.

No majestic tremors, no kingly aura, nothing at all.

Jason and Sostak No.3 didn’t even realize the Malin in front of them had achieved true heroic godhood.

You see, this is a deity who has not mounted a divine throne, although Malin knew he could now grant divine arts to a target, but... who would respond to him.