Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic

Chapter 1972: Chosen of Space

The butterfly wings beat, and his body slowly rose into the air accompanied by countless transparent, luminous Red Butterflies, until the Crimson Moon in one corner of the starry sky came to hover behind his back.

Now that the conditions for "United as One" had been fulfilled, and the special environment of the large Chimeric Lock - Fairy Tale Town and Maze Lock - Green Island had also met the special requirement of a "stable space outside the Material World."

All those within the "Seven-in-One" had, at this moment, already grasped "Mending and Ruptures," and the Symbol of the Ancient God Power was already in their hands.

The red Crystal Treasure Bead the Order had left for the Red Butterfly had originally been nothing more than a transparent glass sphere, said in Legend to be a materialized space fragment left behind when that Ancient God – the Primordial Rift – was creating space, and it was the red mist within that the Old God had used to fill it with Power. Once Grace and Helen absorbed this portion of Power, besides further purifying within the two sisters the attribute corresponding to the Red Butterfly, making them seem more like the living, it could also grant them other formidable Powers, such as Creation Space.

At this moment, the Crimson mist within that Treasure Bead was drawn out by Shard’s Power, and, with his inhalation, seeped into their shared soul.

One hand gripping the now completely transparent "glass sphere," the other clutching that string of Girard Stone, the Rift worn before his right eye. Shard looked at those High Ring Sorcerers below who were staring up at him, looked at the Giant Tree below, and at the entire island:

"This time, is it finally my turn?"

His heart thudded rapidly; whether his thoughts and plans could be realized now depended entirely on whether the actions to come would take effect.

Shard drew in a deep breath:

"I, the Red Butterfly of United as One, the Trinity soul hereby proclaims..."

He gulped down great mouthfuls of air, and the Spirits entwined with his soul began to resonate their Power with his declaration. A pale Gold Glimmer radiated from his body, drifting across the air above the island together with that swarm of Red Butterflies, riding the wind. Layer upon layer of overlapping voices of prayer, from who knew where, resounded. The wind rose here once more; the blood-red canopy of leaves in the wind rustled, and the light motes scattered by the Red Butterflies in the gale drifted down in abundance to cover the sky.

The glass sphere in his right hand floated before him as Shard loosened his grip. With a light tap of his fingertip upon the orb, Grace and Helen’s Power once more stained it red. The debris of space, under the infection of the Miracle Element, slowly began to Transform toward a normal space. Though this was not Shard’s own Power, he could clearly feel that the blood-red Treasure Bead, newly born before him, would be something that could be placed anywhere to form a stable Subsidiary Space wondrous item.

"In the name of the Ancient God, the Primordial Rift, Creation Space."

The Gold streams of light scattered around his body finally formed, around Shard, a colossal, semi-transparent Golden Cubus with its apex pointing downward.

In that instant, all who were watching this scene widened their eyes:

"Is the God Summoner finally about to become The Chosen One?"

The Church’s Circle Sorcerers merely waited quietly for the result, whereas the Grand Witches, their hearts full of delight, watched the scene before them. On the island, the others who awaited the outcome each harbored their own thoughts and private intentions; as for Miss Danester, whose beautiful face had been dyed red by the Glimmer of the Red Butterflies filling the sky, she murmured to herself:

"Shard is going to become The Chosen One?"

"First of all, he is not Shard."

Luviya likewise raised her head; together with Angelina and Mia at her side, she watched the man surrounded by Golden Glimmer:

"Secondly, he will not succeed. A God Summoner will not be The Chosen One."

Almost at the very moment Luviya’s words fell, Shard’s originally stable figure at the top of the Giant Tree, with wings sprouting from his back, suddenly collapsed. Then Shard and the weakened Megan together plummeted toward the ruins of the banquet hall below; if not for the Maze Lock still maintaining its hold, the two of them might even have been smashed into serious injury.

The effect of "Maze Lock - Lovers of the Bell Tower" was forcibly dispelled by another Power that Shard could not possibly contend with. Holding Megan, Shard landed beside "Edwards," who was still bound by blood-red Chains, and he felt as if he had just been abruptly kicked out of the "United as One" state.

"What situation is this now?"

Startled, he raised his head to look upward. At the same time, Megan and Audrey, in his arms, who could hardly move due to having consumed too much and from having drawn too close to Shard’s soul just now, both said together:

"Why was I also..."

Shard’s original plan had been for him to conduct the Chosen One Ceremony while in the "United as One" state. In this way, although the components participating in the Ceremony would include Grace and Helen, they would likewise include himself, who absolutely could not become The Chosen One; they were a single whole. And using the Philosopher’s Stone to stain the Love God’s Sting, even letting Audrey and the others jointly participate in the Ceremony, on the one hand was in hopes of obtaining a stronger Power, and on the other hand was with the intention of thereby provoking an even more severe conflict with the rules of The Chosen.

So he had originally thought that what would follow would either be an outcome where the ceremony could not be carried out at all, or one where, although the ceremony was completed, the qualification of "Chosen of Space" would vanish automatically after it ended, because Shard himself was included among those who completed it. Never had he expected that the Chosen One Ceremony would actually forcefully kick him and Megan/Audrey out.

Fortunately, when it was decided from the beginning that Dorothy and Lecia would assist together in performing the ceremony, it was precisely in consideration of the worst possible outcome.

At this moment, only he, Megan, and Audrey had detached from the "United as One" state; the progress of the Chosen One Ceremony itself had not been interrupted. In the center of the massive golden cubus in midair, a figure still floated.

In Shard’s pupils was reflected the girl whose back bore even more magnificent crimson butterfly wings, whose face combined the features of Lecia and Dorothy, and whose red‑gold hair swayed on the wind. Glimmer and red butterflies coiled about her; in the Chosen One Ceremony, she was the true protagonist.

Golden streams of light, upon the surface of that golden cubus which was gradually becoming solid, formed ancient runes symbolizing "space." As the cubus completed its solidification, completely "sealing" the girl within, a six rings life ring dyed gold appeared above the golden cubus, and rotated from vertical to parallel with the space below.

Hum~

White daylight from the heavens finally cast down from the center of the black vortex in the sky, shrouding the colossal golden cubus above the treetops.

The holy song was chanted; the gale forced everyone to narrow their eyes. Splendid light swept across the whole island, the snow ceased, the yellow sand stilled, the blood‑fog halted. Holy light manifested in the air alongside the red butterflies, while that enormous Six Rings Life Ring spun and expanded rapidly within the heavenly radiance, its dazzling spiritual light echoing with the white light pillar and the golden streams.

In the end, the life ring turned into thirteen varicolored points of light. The strange sigil formed by those thirteen points descended along the heavenly radiance, continuously falling until it enveloped the golden cubus and branded itself upon it.

As the pure‑white light pillar gradually shifted into a golden hue, the solidified cubus once again began to turn illusory. Within the nearly chaotic brilliance where gold, pure white, and the Four-Color Aura intertwined, the thirteen points of light arranged in a circle drew inward, expanded, drew inward, expanded. The cubus within that light, like a cocoon wrapping a butterfly, produced a first crack amid clear shattering sounds.

Pure‑white light wings unfurled from that mass of colors, as if to veil the entire night sky. When the chaotic colors flowed along those wings and dyed them, what finally unfolded were two gorgeous, holy, and solemn red‑gold butterfly wings.

The red butterfly broke the cocoon; the phantom of the golden cubus ultimately transformed, in the hands of that girl whose back sprouted wings anew, into a hovering dark‑gold cubus.

It was as if the original cubus had become smaller, yet also as if the girl’s palm had grown immense. The secrets of space are known to none; she seemed as tiny as a grain of rice, and at the same time as vast as a Titan Giant out of legend.

Golden ripples spread outward with her grasp upon that dark‑gold power, diffusing in all directions. A force as though it had traversed from antiquity rippled across the entire island. The fractured space was being knit together anew, and the unnatural spatial phenomena born of the Maze Lock were also gradually vanishing.

The girl smiled as she gazed downward; her emerald eyes outshone any green gemstone, and her red‑gold hair was more dazzling than a rainbow beneath the dark night sky. Her skin was as pale as milk, and her enormous crimson butterfly wings seemed, with every beat, as though they could stir the undulations of space itself.

The Chosen of Space looked down upon the island from that high vault of heaven; the spatial dislocation born of distance rendered her figure all the more dreamlike. The Red Butterfly Group danced in her wake, and the blood moon was celebrating her. Yet all of this was not over; the black vortex in the heights, ever larger and ever more voracious, still persisted.

No one spoke at this moment. The girl whom Shard for the time being did not know how to address lifted her head to look into the heights, hesitated slightly, then lowered her gaze to him.

"She is seeking your aid. It is no longer only the space of this island that is about to collapse; the space of the Green Lake Region in the material world is about to collapse as well. Relying solely on the power of the newly reborn Chosen of Space is not enough to swiftly mend this place—she needs you."

"Edwards," bound fast in those blood‑red chains, unexpectedly spoke. Shard gave him a startled glance, then gently released Megan from his arms.

"Go."

The Witch said softly:

"I will be here watching you. Go, my lover, my Knight—the world needs you."

The girl in the sky had deliberately not dispelled Shard’s Maze Lock, yet that lock was almost unsustainable in any case. The state of "Divinity Overflow" had long since ended; if all those spells had consumed Shard’s own Spirit rather than others’, he would have collapsed into sleep already.

He took out the pink perfume bottle and drained the liquid inside in one gulp, then looked toward Iluna atop the bell tower a kilometer away. The girl, already rested, nodded to him. Shard drew in a deep breath and once more flew into the night sky.

Silver white thunder appeared separately in his left and right hands. Exhausted to the limit, Shard stirred the Spirit that had only just recovered, and with all his strength hurled those two bolts of thunder in different directions.

One flew downward, one soared into the heights. The silver white thunder pierced through the debris that had been sucked into the sky by that pull; the two light traces seemed to herald that an entirely new story was about to begin.