Chapter 147: Dark Master

Honestly, Lea doesn't give enough fuck about what is happening in the Western Sea. She knows the gods could properly handle it, maybe...

So Lea decided to ignore the doomsday event and go on her merry way... not my problem, for now. She dropped Houyi into her shadow and released Right to Slaughter. And it was about time the other churches came.

Lea sighed and fluttered her hair using her hands. Then she turned around.

"You are quite late.", she said nonchalantly with a smile, "I am Mercedes Dantes, Envoy of the Everflame and the Executor."

She could recognize the outfits of the Three Rings, the crazy bunch, the war-hungry ones. It seemed like she was the representative for the Temple.

"Tell us what happened.", the rough-looking man from the Three Rings stepped up, "We need as much information as you can give."

"Someone targeted the Temple of Fire, I came and faced off against...", Lea stopped speaking, shaking her head, "No, that isn't important right now, you all see that?"

She pointed at the sky-piercing pillar of ice. Everyone turned and widened their eyes in shock. That size was completely unnoticeable until now...

Taking the chance, Lea used Veil and Light to make the flaming eye emblem glow, activating it at the same time, as well as channel a bit of her own power to make her eyes light up as well, "Heed my words. As the Envoy of Flame, I am the voice of the Everflame."

The three tensed up, bowing slightly. Though not their god, it was still a Divine Message from a god from their perspective, at least.

"The Sky had opened up, welcoming Outsiders from beyond. Do what you must, but know that the Everflame of Justice shall stand with humanity, and the Shadow of Righteousness shall defend mankind."

The emblem has the same messaging power as the normal kind, just that hers sends a message directly to Novala. So that he knows when to act as well.

"I will be returning to the city now, since something more urgent than this is happening."

In actuality, she doesn't care. She'll let more qualified people do the job.

=0=0=

Dawn arrived in Anle after finishing all her work. With the news of The Faceless Twilight being a partner and counterpart of The Sacred Flame, her slight smear campaign had come to a stop. Lest she wanted to make enemies with the Temple of Fire.

Every time she passed through the teleportation gate, she marveled at the alien technology. Her divinity gives her an accurate blueprint of the silver gate, but it is impossible in the current era. Maybe something in the future.

Her mind quickly left the gate; her pale golden eyes stared at what was in front of her.

"What the fuck?", she whispered.

Dawn stood frozen at the teleportation gate, staring at Anle.

This wasn't the city she remembered.

Renar had been elegant in its industrial way, copper pipes running along Victorian buildings, steam vents releasing white clouds at regular intervals, clockwork mechanisms visible through glass storefronts. Everything was brass and bronze and warm light from gas lamps. The streets were cobblestone, worn smooth by centuries of use. The city had history in every brick.

Anle looked like history had been deleted and rewritten overnight.

The streets weren't cobblestone. They were smooth, some kind of dark material Dawn didn't recognize, perfectly flat and unmarked. White lines divided the roads into sections, though Dawn couldn't guess their purpose.

The buildings were tall. Not the four or five stories of Renar's townhouses, but genuine towers of glass and steel that reflected the morning sun in blinding sheets of light. Some had surfaces that seemed to glow with internal illumination, something more efficient than lightbulbs.

Street lamps weren't lamps at all. They were sleek metal poles topped with fixtures that emitted harsh white light without any visible flame or mechanism. The light was too bright, too clean, casting sharp shadows that looked unnatural.

And the signs.

Every building had them, rectangular panels that moved. Images shifted across their surfaces, advertisements displaying products in vivid color that shouldn't be possible. One showed a glass bottle of something pouring itself. Another displayed text that scrolled upward continuously.

Dawn saw people walking beneath these signs, most barely glancing at them. As if moving pictures were normal.

Vehicles rolled down the divided streets, not steam carriages, but sleek metal boxes on wheels with no visible horses or engines. They moved silently, or with low mechanical hums, obeying the white lines painted on the road.

One passed close enough for Dawn to see inside through its transparent windows. The driver wasn't holding reins. Their hands rested on a circular device embedded in a panel covered with glowing symbols.

"What the hell did Charlotte do?", Dawn breathed.

This wasn't progress. This was a century compressed into two days!

A woman walked past wearing clothing Dawn had never seen, tight dark pants that weren't a dress or skirt, a white top with no corset, shoes with thick soles that looked molded from rubber. She carried a rectangular device in her hand, staring at its glowing surface while walking, completely absorbed.

Dawn looked down at her own dress, the latest Renar fashion, elegant and practical.

She suddenly felt like a relic.

Dawn's divine senses flared, analyzing the technology around her. The buildings used electricity on a scale she'd only theorized about. The vehicles ran on controlled combustion engines beyond anything Ryteline had achieved. The glowing screens were...

Her mind stuttered. She didn't have words for what the screens were. Light trapped behind glass? Controlled somehow to form images?

Charlotte gave them this. All of this. In just two days.

Dawn clenched her fists.

She'd spent months developing the land telephone. Years researching, experimenting, failing, iterating different things.

Charlotte had just... handed an entire technological revolution to one city overnight.

"Excuse me, miss?", young man approached, wearing a uniform Dawn didn't recognize, clean blue fabric with silver trim, "Are you lost? You look like a tourist."

Dawn stared at him, "What... what is all of this?"

He smiled proudly, "This is Anle! The Chalk Princess herself blessed us with her grace. Isn't it amazing?"

He gestured to the towers, the lights, the moving vehicles, "In just two days, we've entered a new age! The Church of Progress says this is just the beginning. Soon, every city will look like this!!"

Dawn felt something cold settle in her stomach.

Every city.

Charlotte wasn't just advancing Anle. She was demonstrating to the world what technology could do. 

And Dawn, who'd worked so hard to be the pioneer of progress, realized she'd just been made obsolete. But instead of feeling depressed over something so little, she thanked the man and began to analyze and take notes of everything around her.

Although as advanced as this city might be, Dawn can certainly improve upon it. She can trace the electrical lines toward a massive powerplant. With just a glance, Dawn can see it is working at maximum capacity, struggling to provide energy to the city.

Seastones are too inefficient and expensive. That boiler with extra steps originally needed uranium or any other radioactive material to work; to find it is difficult...

However, Dawn can use another material in place of both.

Solafant had shared with her information about Divine Domains he knew of, and the fact that a person can carry more than one Divine Domain. Why doesn't she use one?

Dawn knows one she can get right now; it also fits perfectly with what she wants. The Divine Domain of Elements, it was near Ryteline.

With that, she made her way to the very obvious silver fortress outside. If anything, Charlotte is a very showy person. She left the alien city behind.

Who is that?

After getting to the fortress, Dawn saw a tall man with black hair standing in front of the entrance with his arms crossed. Wearing a black robe that honestly looked like a cultist's.

"Hm?", he turned around, staring at Dawn with glowing red eyes.

In an instant, she saw through what this person was. A being made of energy and fire, one so pure he was like a torch burning, the only one burning.

"Who are you?", Dawn asked cautiously.

"I don't have to answer that question.", he snapped back, firm and a bit prickly.

Then, the gates opened; the man ignored Dawn and walked in. Seeing that Charlotte is already waiting with a smile.

"Welcome, my best friend!!", Charlotte immediately hugged the unknown man, half a head taller than her.

Dawn was agape; that woman is actually showing affection?! That sociopathic Monarch who only thinks of herself above all else was being comfortable with someone else!!

But what Dawn was thinking is very different... She has friends?!

"So, what name should I call you on this planet?", Charlotte stepped back and jumped around the man happily, "Or will you go by Fthaggua?"

"It should be a short trip, though I have to wait for when the train makes its next round over here.", he responded with a smile, "And quit being so overly affectionate, you bitch."

Charlotte just shrugs, "I mean, it could leave some misunderstandings since you decided to look like a man this time, but do I care?"

"No.", Fthaggua answered. He stayed silent for a moment, then spoke with a hint of grandeur, "Ah, I'll give you the honor of granting my name this time."

"Then...", with a smile, Charlotte spoke in a kind of tone that was gentle and sweet, something Dawn had never seen before, "Celosia, your name here will be Celosia."

"Thank you, my friend.", he smiled.

For the first time, Dawn saw how Charlotte treated someone she saw as an equal, a friend. That affection is something the Monarch deemed this world was not worthy of. That gaze was completely different as well...

Dawn had known this for a long time; Charlotte saw the people here as toys or something inferior...

"Ah, I forgot you were there.", Charlotte addressed the princess, "Let me introduce you to my best friend, Celosia."

And that tone changed to a more detached one.

"He, or they, whichever you prefer, is the First Herald of Flame, Envoy of the Madden Flame, Commander of a Thousand Flames, Second to the Pale King, the Vampiric Lord—", but her words were cut off by Celosia, covering her mouth.

"Stop it, we need to stop that giant pillar of ice...", he pointed at the Western Sea.

Dawn also followed, seeing a growing ice dome in the sky. How had she missed it?

"I need your firepower. The Still Fantasy isn't something this world can handle.", he explained.

"You should ask Astrelnoia.", she pointed up at the silver moon.

"No.", he shook his head, "For something that had conquered Time, I need someone blessed by Time. Symbolism and all of that stuff."

Charlotte rolled her eyes, "Right, this universe's power system is wonky as fuck. Guess I'll get the flamethrower."

Before she went back in, she turned to Dawn, "Oh, and why are you here?"

"I need help with this.", Dawn took out a flyer from her pocket, "It's the Wondertainment Troupe again, and they are announcing their big show."

Taking the flyer, both Charlotte and Celosia looked at it. It was a normal flyer announcing an upcoming play, still with the two tragedy and comedy masks, with a title named "Saga from the Blue, First Act" in bold, popping gold in front of a stage. Flashy and attention-grabbing.

"I must say, they are pretty good at graphic design.", Charlotte commented.

"Oh, The Black Sayer's symbol is on here.", Celosia pointed at the symbol below the title.

It was a speech bubble with a black dot in it.

"It's going to be a problem.", he noted, "I suggest burning it all down."

"No!!", Dawn snapped, "My people will be there!!"

"I'll just be there; I have something in mind.", Charlotte snapped her finger, "My dear Knight, a pair of headphones."

A drone came over and delivered a pair of headphones. Charlotte then gave it to Dawn, turning on the music while stepping back.

Dawn was a little confused at first, but the more she listened, the more she realized what Charlotte was trying to do.

"This... could work. Using music to disrupt their plan.", she stared at the Monarch, "But how?"

"You should learn fairly fast with Progress. And I have some people to teach you.", cutting her palm with her nail, she used Salvation and Exchange, offering her blood to teleport Walpurgis Festival to her side, "Since it's fun, I'll help you."

"And me?", Celosia frowned.

"Of course, dealing with a Great Old One trying to turn the world into a decorative piece too.", she rolled her eyes.

=0=0=

After writing a report for the Temple and a meal, she went to catch another train to the next stop, Enlin. She didn't plan to stay in the first place.

What her Sixth Step ritual for the Path of Divinity seems simple at first, but it is not. To spread her name far and wide, to be either feared or revered, so that she is in the back of everyone's mind.

The main part is "in the back of everyone's mind", being known as the God of Vengeance or Goddess of Justice isn't enough; that is only the easiest condition. She has the force of the Temple doing the preaching. The second condition is a third of the way done; framed as an unstable god, she had generated a lot of fear and reverence, mostly fear.

The third condition means that she needs to be in the back of everyone's mind, something they wander into occasionally every day. The fastest way is to cause an incident so large the world cannot ignore anymore.

Lea looked at her hand; to other she was just holding a pebble, an ordinary-looking rock. Because it is one at the moment. But it used to be the container for a Saga.

You could find these powerful objects in seemingly the most random places. A pebble on the side of the road is no exception.

She was getting to know more about these Sagas, stories of the past before the Blackout, forgotten by all - they contain knowledge and power of an almost entirely different world. And they have different types.

Right to Slaughter could be called Enhancement, strength enhancement, granting a deeper understanding of biology, making her more effective against humanoid. It would've had a demerit, that being constant bleeding, but due to her body containing no actual blood, it doesn't affect her in exchange for a weaker effect. She could offer a portion of her lifeforce to get it to operate at maximum capacity, but that's pretty painful.

And this one could be called a Summoning.

Hunter's Parade is its name; from what Lea got from Ideation, it could summon ten wolves at its lowest setting, and hundreds with maximum power. The price was that each wolf needs to eat at least one person, or else they will devour their owner.

For the title as the Goddess of Justice, Empire's Edge is more than enough.

In a land where self-righteousness rules, The Faceless Twilight would kill all. For her justice has no rules - if they are evil to someone, if they call themselves evil...

Then I will kill every last one of them.

She picked up a book from the onboard library, a small booklet about legends and myths of the world. After all, she would become the embodiment of the Boogeyman...

That is the way of The Faceless Twilight.