Thank you all for contributing 90 spirit stones to my story!As promised, here's your bonus chapter. 🙌Next bonus chapter will be unlocked at 110 spirit stones!
[Current:90/110]
Also if I get another 10 reviews for this story I'll upload 2 bonus chapters
[Current: 11/20]
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Chapter 51 - Artistic Interpretation of History (Part 2) (Bonus chapter)
In the Year 204 of the New Spirit Era, the Divine Cataclysm brought about the apocalypse.
The entire world was shrouded in an atmosphere of death and destruction. Black smoke filled the air, obscuring the sun and hope. The streets and alleys were strewn with ruins, collapsed buildings, bones, and bloodstains.
Survivors looked around in confusion, unable to determine whether time had leapt forward a hundred years in an instant or if a hundred years had passed normally, with only their memories of that century lost.
However, the feeling of "loneliness" they felt was real; everyone was gone.
As time passed, the survivors began to lose their sanity, becoming incoherent and wandering through the wastelands like living corpses.
Eventually, human survivors and high-level aberrant beasts alike perished one by one...
The latter part of the historical film depicted a twilight scene with a ruined skyscraper and two figures.
They were the last of humanity, the male and female protagonists of the film.
Unfortunately, the storyline revealed that these two had a familial feud, and they clung to life simply to see the other die first, enduring for decades.
For the human race, it was a stroke of luck that the two were a man and a woman.
In the film, the two remained silent, walking into the laboratory together. They combined their DNAs to cultivate a batch of embryos, using the resources they had accumulated over their lives, and sealed them in a cryogenic chamber.
After completing their task, the two returned to the rooftop, sitting ten meters apart.
Below the high building lay a pile of skeletal remains.
Together, they gazed at the sunset, without embracing or leaning on each other.
Their bodies gradually withered and exhausted, slowly losing their vitality...
The film ended with a stark, emotionless subtitle:
"If there had been one more person, they would not have sat together watching the sunset."
An unknown amount of years later, the embryos began to take on human shapes. Instinctively, they opened the incubation chamber, stumbling out like chicks breaking through their eggs or crabs walking clumsily.
They emerged from the oppressive, cold, and dilapidated laboratory.
A ray of white light symbolizing hope shone through.
The world outside was lush and green, teeming with wildlife and vibrant with the songs of birds and the scent of flowers.
The world was successfully reset, and civilization was reborn.
The experimental subjects crawled out of the incubation chambers, their well-trained brains imprinting the process of "birth."
They learned to produce human companions using the chambers, though they later mastered or discovered the true methods of reproduction. Still, they preferred the initial practices.
In this way, the
The final scene showed human silhouettes.
Their fingertips once again reached towards the
The film ended here, leaving an infinite realm of imagination for the future.
The artistic processing was excellent, with perfect special effects and all aspects rated top-notch.
As Luo Bai was about to close the video, the screen suddenly went black, revealing several lines of white text.
"An extra scene?" Luo Bai wondered.
The white text no longer seemed like artistic processing but appeared to be serious historical records.
[New Spirit Era, Year 404: A mysterious woman manipulated thousands of dead puppets to bomb the Sacred Tree, triggering the arrival of the Divine Sentinels, the Infernoids.]
Doomsday Code –
[New Spirit Era, Year 508: Aleister the Invoker sacrificed the Level 7 Fortress
Doomsday Code –
[New Spirit Era, Year 612: The Jester of the Stigmatika Theater Despia, Aluber, opened the
Doomsday Code –
[New Spirit Era, Year 717: Mai-Hime Lulu led an AI Awakening Frenzy, with all AIs uniting against the
Doomsday Code –
[New Spirit Era, Year 835: Level 7 Fortress
Doomsday Code –
[New Spirit Era, Year 944: Mathmech Circular triggered a Cybernetic Revolution, bringing about a data storm to sweep the globe, resulting in the complete crashing of electronic devices for three billion people, industrial collapse, and a year-long global blackout and network shutdown.]
Doomsday Code –
[Every apocalypse disaster, we have withstood.]
[Old Apocalyptic Samsara is on the verge of revival, while new ones are brewing.]
[We should inherit the will of the heroic spirits and bravely write our own stories.]
"Whoa, those are quite the series of disasters."
Luo Bai looked at the white text on the black screen with a sense of awe, quietly sitting like a child waiting for an Easter egg.
Yet, there was no sign of tension on his face; he was enjoying his meal immensely.
Apocalypse, Samsara, it all sounded grand and impressive.
"But what does this have to do with me, a small store manager?"
Luo Bai thought to himself, putting the last piece of grilled chicken breast into his mouth.
Just as the white text finished scrolling...
"Click———-"
The film made a crackling sound.
The next second, the screen went black and a raspy voice came through.
"Oh? There's more Easter eggs?" Luo Bai said, watching the screen with interest as he picked up his drink.
"Click———-"
"Kshaaaahh———-"
The raspy voice came through in intermittent bursts.
[Can... Can you hear me...]
[We... survived... research...]
[Cierra... is afraid of us...]
[God... is scared... Hahaha...]
The voice on the black screen suddenly erupted into maniacal laughter, then quickly fell into a state of vigilance and fear, with increasingly heavy breathing.
[Apocalypse... Samvarta... Samsara...]
[Be careful...]
[...That one... might also have reincarnated... AI... is Lulu...]
[Ending the apocalypse... the only way...]
[Commander... 24... Open the Star Gate...]
[On behalf of all mankind...]
[With God...]
[Duel...]
[Khhk...]
The monologue abruptly stopped, as if someone had suddenly choked their throat.
"I… what is this…" Luo Bai stared at the black screen, his pupils losing their luster.
He kept murmuring, as if trying to piece together the unsaid words from the black screen.
"Samvarta... Samsara..."
"Alterlife... Reincarnation..."
"Winda, Aleister, Aluber, Lulu, Dingirsu, Circular..."
"Apocalypse..."
"Ka... possessing humans..."
"Anyone might be a reincarnator..."
"Any AI might be Lulu..."
"Old Apocalyptic Samsara is on the verge of revival, while new ones are brewing..."
"The Apocalyptic Consciousness never ceases, the only way to end it is..."
"Awaken the Commanders, Open the Star Gate..."
"Represent all of humanity, and duel... with Gods..."
...........
"Hey, wake up!" Melonica waved her hand in front of Luo Bai.
"Whoa!" Luo Bai jolted awake, drenched in cold sweat, feeling a bit dizzy.
Seeing him like this, Melonica's brows furrowed in confusion. "What have you been staring at the black screen for?"
She had come to consult Luo Bai (the supposed teacher) about some duel-related issues, but when she arrived, she found him staring blankly at the screen, so she waved her hand to interrupt.
"That voice was too eerie." Luo Bai said, shaking his head and catching his breath.
He wasn't surprised by Melonica's arrival; he merely saw it as a regular visit from a store employee.
"What sound? What are you talking about?" Melonika's brows furrowed further, becoming even more puzzled.
"This." Luo Bai said, pulling the video progress bar back.
But what he saw made his eyes widen in disbelief.
After the video ended, the white text and that raspy voice on the black screen had completely vanished.
"Who gave you this tablet?" Melonika's face suddenly changed, and she asked coldly.
"Who gave it to me?" Luo Bai furrowed his brows, clutching his confused head. His pale lips were slightly cracked, and his voice was weak and slow. "It seems to be... 4... 4275..."
"My... exclusive... AI assistant..."
Some name changes have been made, basing it on the OCG, to follow the story. I wouldn't have changed it if it was just censorship (like Winda), but it's kinda hard to translate places like "Stigmatika Theater Despia", as using its card name "Despia, Theater of the Branded" is difficult for a story.
Here's a list of the name changes:
Rilliona, the Wondrous Magistus Witch Wardrobe
-Turned to Rilliona, the Crystal Witch. Based on her base Japanese name, Cendrillion, the Crystal Witch.
Despia, Theater of the Branded
-Turned to Stigmatika Theater Despia. "Stigmatika" is the other name for "Branded", an archetype which was apparently likely based on the Christian Stigmata, wounds that correspond to the crucifixion wound of Jesus Christ. It also shows its connection with Dogmatika.
Mai-Hime Lulu
-Based from Virtual World Mai-Hime – Lulu. The card would still have the "Virtual World" part, but the one mentioned here is a character.
True King of All Calamities
-Turned to Vicarius Filii Dei. Censored in the TCG due to religious censorship, but it's called True King VFD, the Beast here in OCG.
Dingirsu, the Orcust of the Evening Star
-Turned to Sheorphegel Dingirsu, based on its Japanese name. Would still name it with the Orcust when used as a card, but when referred as a character, it'll be the Sheorphegel.
Star Relic
-Just the other name for World Legacy. I don't know where that "Star Gate" mentioned in the story comes from, but my hunch just tells me it's connected to the World Legacies, so I used their other name here.