Chapter 130. Global netizens: "What the hell is an Eternal King??"!
United States.
"So the deadlock has been broken?"
Five-star General Glas slightly frowned.
"Of course!"
The white-haired old man beside him nodded: "The hardest part is always from 0 to 1. As long as there's a beginning, with that person's ability, there will definitely be no problem afterward."
"But that's exactly the issue—how did that person go from 0 to 1?"
His gaze turned to the Celestial Curtain, where it was like a reenactment of the era of great expansion of primitive humans millions of years ago, leading to countless mass extinctions of species.
Glas fell into deep thought.
...
"How the hell did they pull it off?"
By the maple-leaf veranda.
The officer next to him, an Ox Demon, respectfully poured another bowl of sake. Nurarihyon drank while feeling a bit puzzled.
Compared to the timeline perspective of a long-lived species like him, the development speed of humans was truly bizarre.
Just a second ago they were in a semi-slavery system, riding horses and shooting guns, then the next damn second they were launching satellites into the sky.
In just a blink of an eye... ["Holy shit, humans already went to the moon?"]
But still, this level of absurdity was too much…
Looking at the 'Human Machine Species' in the Celestial Curtain, which had evolved to the point their appearance was no different from ordinary humans—
It was genuinely hard to imagine that just a few decades ago, their level of civilization was only around the 16th century.
In fact—
During the Empress's era, they had even been beaten back into the primitive age.
Many people had that same question.
But some had already speculated this outcome.
"So it really is like that, huh?"
Standing atop the corpse of a demon, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka murmured while watching the great decisive battle within the Celestial Curtain.
At the same time—
Across the entire world, regardless of status or authority, everyone had their eyes fixed on the Celestial Curtain.
Awaiting the final outcome.
...
Celestial Curtain.
Amidst the majestic and grand background music.
[Genesis Mountain.]
[A mountain like a colossal god seated on the land, overlooking all creation.]
["You finally made it, Onii-chan."]
[At the mountain peak blanketed with eternal ice and snow for hundreds of millions of years, the Empress slowly rose from her throne.]
["Yes, I'm here, Kaguya."]
[With silver-streaked sideburns, Raku Sou still wore his usual calm smile.]
[Behind him, countless elite humans were so excited they could barely hold it in. Even the Divine-like Mechanical Bodies surged with emotion.]
[The greatest law in the world is the principle of equivalent exchange.]
[In just a few decades, from lowly beings cowering in caves, now they dyed the heavens and earth with blood, exterminating myriad races—how could there not be a price to pay?]
[Behind every machine that annihilated powerful races, were piles of human corpses of the defeated.]
[Humanity had even come close to destroying their own species.]
[The cost was unimaginable sacrifices, countless lives buried—finally, the time for harvest had arrived.]
[They raised their heads high, looking toward the one who stood atop the stars, ruling over both past and future, truly the strongest, the ruler of the world——Kaguya Artosh!!!]
[But...]
[In the Empress's eyes, they were never there.]
[That tall and slender figure rose, seemingly born with magic power, supreme, irresistible.]
[Dignified, resplendent, proper, casually displaying her innate nobility and unabashed ambition.]
[She only glanced faintly at the lineup capable of toppling gods, showing a thoughtful look, and lightly nodded: "Onii-chan, so it was you who took the core of the EX-Machina kind?"]
["Has the missing heart been completed, has perfection been achieved, and have humans truly evolved into perfect humans in the truest sense?"]
["As expected of onii-chan, even defective products like EX-Machina could be exploited as trash to overturn the situation."]
.....
"Ohh, so that's how it is."
Someone suddenly realized: "So that's it, no wonder earlier there was that intentional display of collecting the EX-Machina core."
"That's right, EX-Machina really shone brilliantly in the earlier part."
"Tch, Kaguya is still damn cool—no matter what version, she always looks coldly down on the world. Even a god-slaying EX-Machina is just a failed product in her eyes."
"Eternal King is the real monster. To think he perfected EX-Machina and completed ascension while still being a mortal—can only say, truly worthy of the title Eternal King."
...
Shinomiya residence.
The blonde maid withdrew from her thoughts, glanced at Kaguya rolling around on the bed, and muttered.
My version of Kaguya-sama is seriously so damn useless.
.....
Celestial Curtain.
["Long time no see, Kaguya."]
[Raku Sou, with graying hair and a spine straight like an old tree, looked at the woman before him.]
[The woman before him—unchanging in beauty, her eyes like a cold lake.]
[Cold!]
[So cold that no words could describe it.]
[It was the chill of someone who stood high above, gazing down upon the world—too lonely, too powerful, the loneliness at the extreme of a planetary champion, the ruler of the world.]
["Yes, as expected, the only one who can stand before me is you, Onii-chan."]
[Saying that, the Empress suddenly paused.]
[She felt something familiar, as if she had spoken these words in the past.]
[She stared intently at the current Raku Sou, frowning slightly.]
[There was no trace of mechanical modification—he looked exactly like a normal human.]
[To perform such terrifying modifications on his kin, but not on himself?]
[Was it responsibility, or fear of death?]
["Wait… the mind!"]
[The majestic Empress lost her composure and raised her hand, firing a blast of black-red light.]
[But it was like hitting an illusion, piercing straight through, destroying the grand palace, tearing through several mountain ranges, then vanishing beyond the horizon.]
[Silence.]
[A long time later, the Empress spoke, word by word: "So you actually gave up your body?"]
[For the first time!]
[The man who always stood tall like a monument bearing the fate of an entire race—smiled.]
["Yes."]
["The more I researched, the more I understood the body has limits."]
["But while human strength has limits, the spirit is limitless."]
["Where the heart aims, there lies the reach of power."]
["This is Spiritual Ascension."]
["My great wish allows absolutely no one to obstruct it. Whoever stands in my way…"]
["Even if it's you—I will not allow it."]
[The Empress raised her hand, and thousands of cannons fired simultaneously. Countless beams, far thicker and more destructive than the previous energy blasts, were unleashed without restraint, ravaging the land.]
[The Genesis Mountain Range, which had existed for hundreds of millions of years, now appeared pitifully weak, fading like an illusion into the earth and sky.]
[But.....]
[The man's tall figure emitted a faint glow, illuminating layers upon layers of scenes, half-real, half-fantasy.]
[Easily altering the surrounding environment of heaven and earth.]
[Icy blue phantom butterflies fluttered and danced, interwoven in mid-air.]
[Where he stood seemed to lie outside of dimensional space, adjacent to the present world but not overlapping with it.]
[No matter how powerful Kaguya was, no matter how exaggerated her destructive force—none of it mattered.]
[As if not existing in the same phase, everything passed through like an illusion.]
["That's enough, Kaguya."]
[The man gave a soft laugh.]
[It was a power entirely different from the overwhelming aura Kaguya continuously released.]
[Kaguya snorted coldly, her body slowly floating upward, looking down upon the world arrogantly.]
[The world seemed to be split into two halves by them.]
...
First was Mechanical Ascension, and now comes this—just looking at it, it's already infinitely powerful—Spiritual Ascension.
"Reality Marble, this is definitely a Reality Marble, isn't it?"
Someone shouted in shock.
"No, it's not the same, completely different. On the contrary, it's more like Avalon, more like the Ideal Land from legend."
"Exactly, the legend of the Eternal King—it says he sleeps within the Ideal Land, right? Even Avalon is formally called the Ideal Land because of him."
"Stop talking, all of that doesn't even matter. Have you guys still not realized the key point?"
...
United States.
Top secret conference room No. 23.
The power center of the world-dominating empire—the United States.
Anyone sitting here was a figure who, if they stomped their foot, the whole world would tremble.
Right now, all of them stood up in unison, looking up at the Celestial Curtain in disbelief.
A long time passed.
A senior military figure—Armsteshu—trembled as he lit a cigarette: "If I remember correctly, humans in that world originally couldn't use magic, right?"
Beside him—
An elderly man with silver hair gulped and nodded.
Armsteshu looked around and hesitantly said: "In other words, we could do it too?"
No need to even think about it—once the body is abandoned, lifespan definitely wouldn't be just a measly hundred years.
That's right.
To them, combat strength wasn't the concern at all.
Who are we even talking about here?
The Eternal King of legend, the one who slaughtered all the gods, buried the deities—a King who ended the Age of the Gods.
Their very existence wasn't even on the same level as His.
Abandoning the mortal body was unshackling, to Him.
But for them—it might as well be suicide.
Let alone the fact that this was power so absurd it defied reason.
"As it stands, the path of Spiritual Ascension is purely idealistic."
"The current analysis from the supercomputer indicates that, for the path of Spiritual Ascension, the body is meaningless, magic is meaningless, and you don't even need to comprehend any sort of idealistic principles."
The only young man present, dressed like a scholar, stood before the screen explaining: "There is only one thing—The Spirit!!
Meditation, life and death, separation, torture.....
Every method you can think of—or not think of—to refine the inner self.
From absolute hell, in despair, condense the light of the spirit—that would count as merely taking the first step."
"And if you want to reach the level of departing from the body, to manifest independently, then you must…"
"Alright, no need to go on."
One of the big shots interrupted him.
Just hearing it, they already knew—it's a game not meant for them.
"Then what about Mechanical Ascension?"
If immortality was possible, a mechanical body wouldn't be unacceptable.
The young man shook his head: "Mechanical Ascension—based on our current level of science and technology, not likely to happen in the next two hundred years."
"Then how the hell did the backward humans of that world manage it?"
The old tycoon slammed the table.
"In truth, the key reason that world was able to achieve Mechanical Ascension—wasn't even the core of EX-Machina, but…"
The scholarly young man timidly pointed up at the sky.
"...Him!"
Oh. Okay…
Everyone in the room collectively showed a disappointed expression.
....
From all directions, countless people were watching.
In the Celestial Curtain, the greatest battle in the history of the planet—and also the cruelest—had begun.
[The Empress flicked her sleeve coldly, the myriad races roared, the violent force burst forth like a dark cloud overturning all of space.]
[From many years ago, the Empress had used unmatched divine power to establish her supreme majesty.]
[She had even caused countless races to abandon the gods who created them, to collectively kneel beneath her throne, believing in the inevitability of conquest.]
[And when Raku Sou ascended into the sky, heading to his own battlefield—]
[The Perfected Humans were also ignited, charging against the myriad races, plunging the entire planet into a sea of blood in an instant.]
[Heaven Strike!!!]
[A Flügel-kind emitted endless light, with four pairs of wings, roaring as it unleashed a killing move, evaporating both enemies and oceans alike.]
[Immediately after—]
[Four of humanity's Perfected Humans activated mechanical arrays, encircling it, and unleashed their strongest single-target annihilation techniques, completely erasing the Flügels and the surrounding mountain range.]
[All across the planet's battlefields, countless mighty beings fell.]
[The entire world became a sea of blood, the corpses of races scattered everywhere.]
[A Titan was nailed to the peak of a massive mountain, its headless shoulders stretching across the entire range.]
[A Dragon King was slain in the high skies, its colossal corpse speared through the planet's crust, crashing into the deep core.]
...
Tokyo.
An abandoned factory.
Muzan stared blankly at the sky, feeling his insides tremble uncontrollably.
By his ability level, he ranked among the top of the Heroic Spirits shown on the Celestial Curtain.
When it came to survival and immortality, he stood out even more—placed in modern society, as long as he didn't foolishly rush into the regular military, he could run rampant.
Yet if thrown onto that mythical battlefield—at best, he'd be cannon fodder.
A stray bullet, and he'd be done for.
A long while later—
He silently retracted the foot he had extended to go out and finding 'food', quietly returned to the factory, and slipped back into his gaudy kimono.
In this cold world, only crossdressing could give him a shred of warmth.