With a whistling sound that rent the air, the heavy alloy sword slashed towards the earth like a star falling from the sky. The heavy sword had no edge, but it tore a giant demon that was like a heavy chariot into two halves easily like cutting butter. Then, accompanied by a loud thunder, Fanna punched the ground. In the horrific shock wave, several weak demons gathered around her were crushed into powder by the shock wave.

A strange and sharp whistle sounded from behind her, and a missile containing foul energy attacked from a tricky angle. Vanna stood up quickly, but before she was about to stretch out her hand to block the missile, a swift black shadow rushed over from the side, and a two-handed sword with shining silver light blocked the sinister sneak attack. Then several marines with enchanted steel swords rushed forward and chopped the demon that launched the sneak attack not far away into small pieces.

Fanna looked up at the shadow and nodded slightly: "Very fast reaction speed."

Amber showed a happy look on her face. She nodded happily, and then couldn't help but look at Vanna with an expression of amazement and envy: "You are really... stronger than I thought."

"Fortunately, I'm in better shape today." Vanna casually spun the alloy giant sword in her hand, and stabbed it into the mist beside her, piercing through the head of a Deep Hound that had just formed from the thick fog. Then, she flicked the hilt of the sword with her other hand - the demon was instantly crushed into fine dust. "And these demons are not very strong... much weaker than the enemies I've dealt with recently."

Amber's expression seemed to freeze for a moment, but she quickly recovered and returned to her position - continuing to command the soldiers to clear out the roaming demons that appeared near the cave entrance, while organizing the fighters to take turns to rest and strengthen the defense.

Fanna also raised the giant sword in her hand again, but at this moment, she seemed to suddenly feel something, her eyes slightly condensed, and she looked into the depths of the fog.

At a certain moment, she thought she seemed to see a figure - a figure in a tattered robe, walking hunched over the rocky beach in the canyon.

The figure didn't seem to notice the fierce battle around him, nor the demons and church warriors who were nearby. He was like a phantom emerging from another dimension of time and space, and hurriedly passed through the mist.

It lasted only a moment—when Vanna blinked again, he was gone.

Then, a terrifying demon that looked like a three-meter-diameter "bone ball" made of countless stacked bones emerged from the thick fog not far away. The hollow roar coming from the inside of the bone ball forced Vanna to temporarily suppress her doubts and raise her sword to face the enemy...

Amid a series of dense musket fire, the strange demon that crawled out of the black gate was torn into pieces by the bullets fired by the toy soldiers before it could stabilize its form. Then, accompanied by commands and whistles, the toy soldiers covered in colorful paint quickly reorganized their troops, began to dig fortifications on the ground, and pushed wooden artillery carts onto the battlefield.

Morris watched the scene curiously, then reached out and picked up a toy soldier from the ground and put it in front of his eyes to observe carefully. The metal plate on his forehead retreated backwards, and between the countless rapidly rotating gears and vibrating reeds in the cranial cavity, a set of precision lenses was pushed out by the mechanical arm and focused on the toy soldier.

The toy soldier struggled hard for a few times, and began to hit Morris's fingers with the butt of the rifle in his hand. The collision of wood and metal made a series of "clang clang clang" sounds.

Morris let go of the toy soldier, flexed his fingers and turned his head to look at the "Sea Witch" who was using a baton to control various toy soldiers, origami chariots, and origami soldiers to set up positions: "... She's quite irritable."

"... Could you please stop capturing my soldiers for research?" Lucrecia looked at Maurice helplessly. "How about you go and research the remains of those demons? They are everywhere here..."

"What's so good about studying demon wreckage? There are always some on the ship," Morris took out his pipe, but when he put it in his mouth, he remembered that he was currently in the "casting state", so he had to put the pipe back into his pocket in disappointment. "I want to ask you about puppet technology when I have a chance. The driving method you use seems to be related to the academy's technology, but the route is different..."

"Once things are over here, of course. I'm also very interested in the casting you used," Lucrecia said casually. "I've had a lot of dealings with the Academy of Truth. I know you have this kind of 'divine art' that can temporarily transform part of your body into a machine, but 'casting' the whole body... is the first time I've seen it."

Morris smiled, a reed-like humming sound coming from his throat, but at this moment, a sudden scene caught his eye and interrupted what he was about to say.

Deep in the dim cave, in an open space on the side of the black door, a figure seemed to appear suddenly.

The figure was wearing a tattered white robe, as if he had been standing there for a very long time, and neither the surrounding demons nor the "soldiers" summoned by Lucrecia seemed to notice this uninvited guest - he just stood quietly on the battlefield, out of tune with the surrounding environment, as if he was a phantom cast from another dimension of time and space.

He seemed to be observing the black door, and remained staring at it motionlessly.

However, it was only a moment, and when Morris blinked again, the strange figure disappeared.

Lucrecia suddenly noticed Morris's abnormality. After commanding the soldiers to eliminate another demon that came out of the black door, she immediately turned her head and asked, "What's wrong?"

"...A figure appeared near the black gate," Morris said solemnly, "but disappeared in the blink of an eye. Didn't you see it?"

“No,” Lucrecia shook her head, frowning slightly, “Damn it, I wasn’t paying attention to that direction just now…”

“…It’s okay.” Morris glanced at the “witch” and waved his hand. “I took the picture.”

Lucrecia was stunned: "Shoot...?"

Morris nodded, and at the same time, a series of clicking sounds of gears turning and mechanisms switching began to be heard inside his body. Then, his entire jaw joint fell off in a very horrifying way—a dark opening was exposed, and a palm-sized piece of photo paper slowly spit out.

Morris pulled out the photographic paper and shook it in the air. With his other hand, he put his jaw back together and handed the photographic paper to Lucrecia. "It's not very clear. It seems to be disturbed, but you can still see a white shadow."

Lucrecia took the photo paper with a strange expression and saw the blurry figure near the black door, but she couldn't help but look at Morris: "...Why does it even have this function..."

Morris smiled slightly: "As I said, I had many adventures when I was young..."

Lucrecia: “…”

※※※

Duncan seemed to vaguely feel that when he withdrew his hand, something was quietly changed - was it his own destiny, or the future of the world? He couldn't tell what it was.

He just had a feeling that the decision he made at this moment was very crucial, whether it was good or bad.

He looked up and saw that the dark red core was still floating calmly nearby. The light in the core flickered, while the towering "mountain range" behind the core had quieted down, and the array of lights on its surface looked a little dim.

His refusal did not "anger" the ancient god. He just seemed a little... confused.

After a long while, a voice came out from the core: "Why?"

Then, the light inside the core became a little brighter than before, and it continued, "In theory, repairing the shelter should be in line with your wishes. You have already saved three city-states, and 'taking over' this world can save all city-states more thoroughly, and they will not be threatened by loss of control and pollution for a long time... I calculated all the possibilities, and you should be happy to see such a result, but why did you refuse?"

Duncan was silent for a while, then suddenly asked, "And then?"

The light in the dark red core seemed a little confused: "Then?"

Duncan said calmly, "What about after what you called 'considerable time'?"

The dark red core fell silent, and the slowly flickering light seemed to show its hesitation.

"I don't know if there are any other options. Perhaps your proposal is indeed the best option at this stage. Perhaps everything will develop as you said, but at least now... I can't promise you."

Duncan said calmly, taking a small step back.

"Just call it a hunch... I feel like there's something seriously wrong with your 'plan'. I think there's another way - not just resetting this shelter and continuing to survive."

He paused and looked at the few faint lights in the core very seriously.

"And just like your reaction just now - obviously, you are not sure what will happen after 'a long time'. Maybe my takeover can really restore the entire shelter to its best condition and make up for all its current defects, but even you are not sure how long a shelter that has been repaired and completely conforms to the 'blueprint' can operate -

"The sun that was once thought to be 'eternal' has gone out twice. The border fog known as the 'curtain of eternity' has been collapsing for decades. The gods are gradually dying. You are also aware of your own situation - everything is perishable, and I don't think I can change all this as long as I sit in the position of the ancient kings and gods... After all, as a 'world' for all living things to reproduce, this 'boundless sea' is too... cramped in terms of resources and space.

"And from a selfish point of view, I don't want to be sitting in your position again in another ten thousand years after I take over all this, watching this shelter fall into the end again like you - by then, who should I find to 'take over' all this?"