Chapter 1079. The Beginning

The experiment that once created the Light God restarted again on this very island.

As tentacles writhed forth and burrowed themselves into the body of Dawn One, crimson and violet capillaries spread like eagle talons across its circular form.

Dawn One hadn't made a single sound throughout the ordeal because, unfortunately, Charles had taken away its ability to speak.

The same fate awaited the other five Dawn Spectres that had just gained their fleshly bodies.

Lily looked up and watched the awe-striking spectacle unfolding overhead. Her voice trembled as she muttered, "Without Dawn One...there'll be no more sunlight on Hope Island."

The entire island beneath her trembled once again, and Charles' voice echoed around her like noises from stereo surround, "Are you still thinking for their sake now? It doesn't matter. Without the sun, there would be no more idiots burning themselves to death every year.

"Also, even if Hope Island can no longer cultivate banana trees and other fruits, they can still plant black rye. No one's gonna starve. The islanders will probably feel a little panic. But that's insignificant compared to what you are doing."

Lily was no longer the naive child she once was, so she understood it was not an insignificant matter as per Charles' claim. The disappearance of Dawn One would sure bring about earth-shaking changes to Hope Island.

However, the master of Hope Island clearly thought otherwise and didn't seem to care. Compared to the entire fate of the Subterranean Sea, every other thing was indeed insignificant.

In the distance, the gates of the towering arch split open to reveal a capsule pod made from living flesh.

"Go up now. You're the last. Your place has been prepared," Charles said.

Charles' words pulled Lily out of her thoughts. She nodded and began walking toward the arch.

Along the way, she spotted the Sottom kings gathered around a music box, preparing their instruments for the final step of the experiment.

Then, she saw the corpse of IMF's God Paiper being hauled ashore and Charles extracting its divine blood.

And then, finally, she saw the flesh tentacles dragging all six Dawns to the ground. Every step of the Foundation's original process was being mirrored at this very moment.

As one of the witnesses of the experiment, Bandages was considering other problems. He turned toward Charles and asked, "You...must have considered this... Someone might come... to stop... the birth...of the Light God...just like...before..."

When the Light God was first created, 005, alongside Edikth and the others, had sealed Him inside Fhtagn. If Lily truly became the next Light God, there was no guarantee that the same situation wouldn't occur.

Charles' voice then traveled into Bandages' ears. "Yes. I'll try to stop them. But if I really can't...I can only discard this plan. After all, this is just yet another contingency plan."

Bandages nodded, and his face was devoid of emotion. He glanced once more at 134 and the others who were preparing their instruments in the distance before he quietly turned and walked toward the dock.

This place was turning into dangerous territory soon; he had no intention of dying just yet.

At this point, Lily reached the capsule pod and, without any hesitation, she climbed in and lay down. The writhing flesh and pulsing veins then closed in and enveloped her.

Lily closed her eyes and allowed the warmth to surround her. Memories of the past began to play in her mind.

"Join my crew. My ship needs a gunner."

"Lily, do you trust me?"

"Lily, I'm so sorry that I can't be of help..."

"Lily, you were always worried that your parents from that parallel world would be terrified of you, but now, you're human again. You can go back to their side now.

"You and your mice friends have been extremely helpful to me over the years. To be honest, it was really too much of me to ask you to go on expeditions with me when you're still so young."

"I could have let you leave the ship, but I didn't do it. This is what I owe you."

Lily slowly closed her eyes. Despite the passage of time, the fire that had burned in her since the very beginning hadn't changed.

Soon, Lily felt as though she was slowly sinking into a warm liquid. Within that warmth, she could feel something else swimming slowly.

When it finally gently brushed across her skin, Lily could feel that it was similar to what seemed like a palm.

Just then, a special harmony drifted through the fluid. A girl's voice that sounded crisp and clear like silver bells was accompanied by the melodious notes of the bone flute and the ethereal sound of a music box

Lily's flesh and soul, and even the hands swimming around her, began to sway and moved with the rhythm of the music.

The music's tempo soon accelerated. The peaks of the island quaked in response to its rising crescendo.

When the music finally reached its climax, the "hands" around Lily swiftly fused into a sharpened cone and pierced into Lily's nape and stabbed into her brain.

In that split second, the pain felt like a drill was being plunged into her heart, and her bones were being scraped hollow.

However, it was only the beginning. Soon, more and more "hands" pierced her skin from every angle, impaling her petite frame again and again until not an inch of skin was left untouched.

The divine power of the Light God within Lily started to stir. They poured outward from Lily's body in an attempt to protect her. However, the cones that had pierced her body seemed to act like some sort of magnet and redirected that divine power elsewhere.

Not only her power was being drawn away; even Lily's consciousness itself was being drawn out from her. She could feel her awareness being fractured into seven pieces, each one dragged in a different direction.

It was a bizarre feeling. It felt as though she had seven eyes at the same time, and each of them was feeding her a separate stream of sensation.

She felt as if her consciousness was being scrubbed clean and reforged.

Perhaps this is all but a step into becoming the Light God. It's nothing much.

Seven different voices rang in Lily's consciousness.

All of a sudden, time seemed to have accelerated as seven different feelings suddenly merged again in a split second.

When Lily finally regained her vision, she could see the island once again. But compared to before, the island was significantly smaller by a large margin. It felt as though she only needed to take a few steps to cross the island and enter the sea.

At the moment, she was at the very center of the gigantic, metallic arch gates—the very same place where the previous Light God was born. Only then did realization dawn upon Lily. Her vision wasn't through "sight;" she no longer had eyes.

Gazing into reflection on the sea's surface, Lily could finally see her appearance.

She was now a massive, luminous sphere, as large as the Light God back then. The only difference between her current form and the Light God was that some parts of herself were stitched together with squeezed flesh and blood.

Crimson blood gradually dripped down and fell off her radiant, glowing form. It looked as though the sun was crying tears of blood.

"Did it succeed?"

"Did it succeed?"

Two different voices resonated in Lily's mind. Hearing this, Lily's guts wrenched into a knot.

"Who are you?"

"Who are you?"

"I'm Lily."

"I'm Lily."

"No, you're not Lily. I recognize this voice. You're Dawn One."

"No, you're not Lily. I recognize this voice. You're Dawn One."