It seemed to Hao Ren that the translucent shadow had said something to him before it vanished. He was certain he had heard a few words, but he could not make of what that meant nor why she did it.
Everything had quieted down and Vivian had absorbed the light dots. Hao Ren shook his head, trying not to think about what he had just heard and seen. "Is she dead?" he asked.
"Not really," Vivian shook her head and pointed at herself. "She has come home. Here."
"So you got her memory?"
"Some and it's better than what I expected," Vivian said with a sigh of relief. "At least I now know what this so-called 'evil spirit' is all about."
"Tell me later." Hao Ren noticed that Vivian was exhausted judging from her expression. The magic circle had drained her. The space began to fall apart as the living tissue was wilting and cracking. It was as if watching plants withering in a sped-up video, the organ turned black, decomposed, drifted out into the low-gravity space before falling towards the chaotic arc into the center of the planet, all happened so fast. Hao Ren quickly held Vivian. "Let's get out of here," he said.
He tucked the MDT in his pocket and lunged out with Vivian to the outside. On the outside, he found that the tentacles that connected like a cable bridge to the organs began to break apart. The living tissues that once held the 'prison' in place also began to disintegrate. Debris were falling like meteorites from above. He could vaguely recognize the debris judging from their red color; they were body pieces of the demon-god Vivian.
Vivian was nervous. "Is this planet going to end just like this? Is this place the weakness of the First Born?"
Hearing that, Hao Ren quickly sent out the probes and checked the situation in other parts of the planet. He breathed a sigh of relief. "The damage is local and only to this space. This space was where heterogenization and the severe union and distortion between Vivian MK-II and the First Born happened."
Vivian tweaked him on his arm. "That's a bloody weird name!"
Over on the safe island, a massive water enchantment was shielding them from the chaos in the surroundings. Nangong Wuyue was looking into the distant battlefield anxiously. She saw the demon god disintegrating and knew that Hao Ren and Vivian had made it. Only when the two of them came back safely, she breathed a sigh of relief. As always, Lily was the one jumping up to Hao Ren. She went around and sniffed him for a while and then looked at him, whose clothes was tattered. "Dang! You look like shit!"
"Just some minor bruises and it's already healed," Hao Ren said as he looked at the others. "Are you guys okay?"
Hessiana came out from behind Turcan and Kassandra, feeling embarrassed. She tucked away her bat wings and bowed her head. "Ma'am Vivian, I'm sorry that I was of no help."
"It's okay. You've done well, much better than I did last time," said Vivian, smiling. Hao Ren looked on, noticing Vivian's changed attitude towards Hessiana; she was a lot gentle this time. "What about others?" Vivian asked.
Nangong Wuyue raised her tail and wagged a couple of times. "We're fine, except Sanba. He is still disoriented. Probably the mind control thing is still ringing in his head."
Nangong Sanba was lying on the ground with a figure-4 leg cross. Hao Ren gave him a sideways glance. "More like he is faking it. A good beating is all it takes to shake him up."
Nangong Sanba quickly bounced up. Nangong Wuyue saw it and was furious. She rolled Sanba up in her tail and spun him at 120 round per minute.
Lily looked into the battlefield in the distant. It was crumbling. Organ fragments and broken tentacles were falling towards the red chaos, which was near to the planet's core where more organs of the First Born and pieces of the planet's crust remained. The First Born would soon consume the last pieces of fragments of the planet to convert it into nutrients. So the questions remained: was this planet-eating behemoth still safe, and had the fighting awakened this dangerous creature?
"There are a lot to do, such as keeping the planet intact." Vivian nodded to others. "Gragon's lullaby will last for a while. Let's go back to the underground city and then think of a better plan."
They returned to the underground city the same way they got in. While ascending the vertical passage, Hao Ren noticed that the tentacles on the walls looked somewhat different now. Some had turned into grayish white, the color of death, with many cracks on them. These tentacles were connected to the huge organ down below. When the huge organ necrotized, these tentacles broke apart and were discarded. They were not the only nerves connected to the underground city though. Many more tentacles were still alive, so that the ancient 'lullaby' could continue to suppress the First Born and everyone could breathe a sigh of relief.
As long as the baby did not wake up, things would be fine.
Back in the underground city, Bonia and Gezer were still with the ancient souls. The two had been waiting for them for a long time. Gragon, the ancient Sun Dynasty monarch came up to greet Vivian. "My Lord, it seems you have retrieved your thing."
Bonia peered from behind Gragon. "There was an earthquake just now! The roar of the monster from the cave was so terrifying!" She was still in fear.
"It's over," Vivian said, patting Bonia on the head. She then looked up at Gragon. "Keep the lullaby running for a little longer as we have things to discuss. Gezer, take Bonia and return to the surface, then go to the tribal base and wait for us," she ordered.
Gezer left the underground city with the little saintess. Meanwhile, Gragon had come to an old structure with Hao Ren and the others. The structure was the only real building in the entire city where real people could stay. It had doors and windows, and a large circular assembly hall where the ancient sages gathered and sacrificed themselves to power the 'lullaby'. Their bones had turned into ash and the ceremonial vessels and scriptures that used for exalting the Goddess had broken. Gragon pointed to a chair at the end of the assembly hall and said to Vivian, "I was last sitting there, watching you walking towards the Throat of Toka."
He died on the chair but his body had returned to the soil. What was left was only a few tattered fabric still hanging on the chair. That position had a perfect view of the Throat of Toka that was lit up by the electric arcs.
Vivian gave Gragon a subtle nod. As if Gragon had understood what she meant, he dismissed and sent away the other ancient souls. After the ancient souls left, Vivian spread out her hand and said to Hao Ren and the others, "First thing first; I'm the Goddess that they are talking about."
"You are the Goddess of Creation?" Lily jumped to her feet in disbelief. "You are out of your mind."
"Not a Goddess of Creation." Vivian shook her head. "I'm talking about the one who closed the heaven, led the people, build Dorasil, and protected this planet. Their original belief was in the Goddess of Creation, but they mixed up ten thousand years ago; they mistook me as their Goddess of Creation. More accurately, they mistook part of me as their Goddess. In fact, when I arrived on this planet, I was just trying my best to preserve the ecosystem of the planet."
Lily grabbed her hair. "Wait a second! You're confusing me. Did you say that you are a goddess but not a goddess at the same time? What the hell are you talking about?"
"Ten thousand years ago, forty-eight hours before the fall of the Goddess of Creation, I passed through the Wall of Reality into this universe," Vivian said while looking at Hao Ren; Hao Ren knew about this long time ago, but not what she was going to reveal soon. "However, something happened during the passing through. Earth was not the first place I arrived; the first destination was here, Inferno, where I split into two."