Chapter 350: Take This Slap

Stepping out of the concealed lift that descended from the Central Spire, Wang Yu made his way back toward their residence in Skyborne City, gathering his thoughts and sorting through the knowledge he had just wrested from Malfurion.

"Abyssal creatures... well, I suppose I know more about them now. Might not be able to fully trust that source of information, but it doesn't look like I'll have much to fear. After the Morningstar's detonation, the world itself became hostile to those beings, huh..."

He paused, recalling the strange Machine Spirit he had spoken with. "At the mere mention of abyssal creatures, its emotions flared sharply. Testing me, no doubt—with Astartes' hand guiding the performance.

"Makes sense. My own nature resembles what lies beyond the dissociation layer in some ways. As a fluctuating existence, would such laws even bind me...? Hmph. That's a gamble I'd rather not take."

He rubbed his chin. The truth gnawed at him: from what Malfurion had mentioned, he was alarmingly close to an abyssal existence himself. Wasn't it all but certain that they were connected? And as Astartes had suspected, he too was on guard against the Machine Spirit.

Despite their cooperation, Wang Yu could not yet bring himself to trust Astartes entirely. In the heat of battle, when their interests were aligned, it hadn't been a problem.

But now that he had slaughtered those rotten husks that had made up the Central Assembly, could he say with certainty Astartes would not one day deem him too dangerous, too suspicious a friend, and choose to erase him in turn? That was why he had clutched the sigil passed to him by Sieg's sister tightly in his grip during his time in the hidden archive.

"Besides the magical and alchemical lore I handed over to Avia and the Professor, my greatest bounty this time... is this. With these materials, the ‘operating system' that Avia and the Lady of the Night pieced together can finally be completed."

His thoughts returned to the battle against the Central Assembly. The Sword of Darkness, born from the power of the old God of Eternal Night, had been decisive. Its annihilating edge, which had dwindled to a mere shard, had once more grown enough to be shaped into a full longsword in his grip.

How? Because the God of Eternal Night had never been wholly unmade. In some strange fashion, it continued to linger, lodged within the Lady of the Night's divine dominion. They had no means of erasing it... not until Wang Yu's eyes had fallen upon certain texts in the library. Now, perhaps, he had a plan.

The sun had begun to sink. Wang Yu quickened his pace. There was no time to delay. It was best to put his theory to the test at once—if it were viable, there would be significant changes ahead.

He rushed back home, stepping inside to find Avia and the others present. The Council of the Arcane continued to interface with Astartes in order to confirm the precise rights that they had been afforded given their new seat on the Central Assembly. It was little of his concern. Icarus, however, had solemnly promised that Wang Yu and his companions would receive compensation worthy of their aid.

"Did you find what you were seeking?" Avia asked, setting a plate of fried rice before him.

"In part," Wang Yu admitted. "But I'm still missing the most important piece. I've recorded everything useful in the Endless Pages. Upload it to the Midnight Library—top-secret clearance. Only you and Lady Darkness can handle this."

He took the plate, settled at the table, and began to eat with undisguised relish. Wang Yu had never forsaken his enjoyment of food, no matter how dire the circumstances. Between mouthfuls, he slid the Endless Pages toward Avia and continued, "As for the fragment of that old god lodged in the Lady's dominion... I think I have an idea. It won't destroy it outright, but it may neutralize the nuisance—and even allow us to take advantage of it."

Avia scanned the Endless Pages with her Perfect Fractal lens, then deposited the knowledge into the vaults of the Midnight Library via prayer. The top-secret designation ensured that none but their circle—and a few old allies such as Edward and Charles—would ever glimpse it.

The Lady of the Night manifested across the table, waiting for Wang Yu to explain how he intended to deal with the parasite in her domain.

As Wang Yu finished the last of his food, he set down his plate and gestured for her to begin.

The Lady of the Night manifested a projection of her divine domain, where the fragment of the God of Eternal Night lurked.

There it was—a dark, earthen mound, squatting at the roots of the immense Tree of the Night. At times it trembled, swelling by the barest degree, exhaling a haze of shadow into the night.

Those now-familiar fumes were what made up the Sword of Darkness: power of the old God of Eternal Night, siphoned by the Lady for her own purposes.

Even so, these fumes would allow the remnant of the God of Eternal Night to grow stronger in time, and with growth came danger.

The Lady could not harm it, for in a sense it was part of her own flesh. Nor could Wang Yu touch it directly—not until now.

His scheme was simple: if the fragment craved authority, then he would give it authority, but not the kind it wanted.

Above the boughs of the Tree of the Night were countless tendrils of shadow, forming a living lattice that wrapped around the colossal trunk. Power flowed back and forth between tree and vines—this was the "operating system" devised jointly by Avia and the Lady of the Night.

By channeling the void's peculiar properties, the system enabled the goddess to respond automatically to her believers, to distribute her strength with greater clarity, and—under extreme conditions—to allow a chosen champion to wield the Tree of the Night's power directly.

"Since we cannot erase that fragment directly, and since it keeps trying to steal your authority, I intend to change tactics—to strip away its capacity to think."

Wang Yu laid out the plan he had pieced together from the new insights he had gleaned.

In the archives, he had stumbled upon an odd tale about two Machine Spirits, chiefly concerning the division of authority between Astartes and another spirit.

The second spirit constantly disobeyed orders and sought to usurp Astartes' control. In the end, Astartes' creator, Merlin, devised a trick: he split their authority evenly. Yet the distribution was hardly equal in effect. Astartes received command over the mechanical legions and the city's systems, while the other—who named itself Malfurion—was left confined to a single chamber.

Malfurion was tasked with maintaining alchemical cauldrons, monitoring runic arrays, and other tedious calculations. On paper, they had equal authority; in practice, there was a vast gulf between them.

𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Thus inspired, Wang Yu intended to deal with the fragment of the old God of Eternal Night the same way. He would bury it beneath an avalanche of "useless" divinity—specifically, the sort that required no thought at all.

The Lady of the Night herself was no intellectual prodigy. She could not even best Wang Yu at a game of Go, and more often than not she had the vacant look of a daydreamer. Even so, she could flawlessly manage the endless torrent of prayers from her worshippers. That automatic processing of faith, instinctive and thoughtless, was itself a divine faculty—immense in scale, yet utterly mechanical.

And if such mindless authority were forced into the fragment's hands, it would never think again.

Unlike Machine Spirits, who remained themselves even when stripped of authority, a god's divine authority was the very embodiment of its being.

If that fragment of the old God of Eternal Night inherited only the faculty of blind instinct, then the nascent divinity would be all but lobotomized.

"...It really might work," the Lady of the Night mused.

Even she was unsure whether it would succeed. But if it did, the parasite would be shackled forever as free labor, condemned to serve her without will or protest.

Rather than let the threat fester, she would gamble on Wang Yu's proposal.

The Lady began at once. While her projection lingered in the material world, her true self stirred within her divine kingdom. The Tree of the Night shuddered. Delicate strands of darkness unfurled from its boughs and crept toward the small, earthen mound that housed the fragment of the god. As they interfaced, the transfer of authority began.

At first, the plan went smoothly. The Tree of the Night diminished ever so slightly as its surplus power flowed into the fragment, which eagerly drank it in. But soon the mound convulsed, thrashing violently, as if some dim awareness had been sparked within it. Its resistance flared.

"Itt has sensed the deception," the Lady said through her projection. "It refuses to merge its remaining authority with mine. But I still hold the stronger hand. For now, it cannot halt the process."

Avia glanced at Wang Yu. He answered with a nod. If the fragment refused to comply, then it would be time for some... physical... persuasion.

Avia raised her hands, summoning her wizardry. With the Lady's aid, she opened a fissure in the void itself, linking their world to the Lady's divine domain. Raw void seeped out.

Wang Yu stepped forward, thrust his arm into the rift, and called upon the power of the Chariot.

He couldn't destroy the fragment. Its peculiar bond with the Lady of the Night meant that it would only reform again and again.

But that didn't mean he couldn't reach across the void and slap it hard enough to rattle whatever passed for its brain.