No one understands the mysteries deep within the flow of Magic better than a goddess who wields the authority of magic.
After hearing Emirmina’s extraordinarily serious explanation, Kamel immediately realized the gravity of the matter. Simultaneously, he found himself with a new doubt: "...Have you never seen such a rift in the kingdom realm before? As far as I know, you frequently wander the border areas between the divine realms, observing changes in the deep sea..."
But Emirmina did not answer him. The expression of this former Supreme Magus suddenly turned somewhat peculiar. She stared intently at the Deep Blue Rift emerging from the distant vortex, seemingly aware or conscious of something, yet also trapped in a state of confusion.
Meanwhile, the War God Pope Malm Dunite, who had brought everyone here, broke the silence: "This thing does not belong in my lord’s realm. I don’t even know where it’s from... It may have existed here for hundreds, even thousands of years, and after my lord’s fall, this place lost control, and the divine realm gradually ’drifted’ near this rift..."
As he spoke, a tremor suddenly came from beneath everyone’s feet. Kamel hurriedly led the explorers to retreat, and the next moment they saw a slight collapse from the edge of the divine realm again, turning into dust that drifted into the depths of the cloud sea beyond the border.
This process of endless disintegration and dispersion continues, and it is likely to persist for a long time.
Kamel looked at Emirmina, who seemed deep in thought, yet as he was about to ask her a question, Malm Dunite’s voice rang out again: "I want you to see more than just this rift."
"More than this rift?" Kamel couldn’t help but ask in astonishment, "Is there something else here?"
"Yes, something else I do not recognize—whatever it is, I don’t think it belongs in ’the realm of the Goddess,’" Malm Dunite nodded slowly, turning toward the distant cloud sea and watching its dim, chaotic margins, "It cannot be seen yet, but if we calculate the time, it should be appearing soon..."
"Not visible now?" Kamel asked curiously, with some guesses rising in his heart, "Could it be that thing..."
"That thing approaches here periodically, it’s just that I’m trapped here and lack the means to ascertain its relative position to the divine realm or its trajectory..." Malm spoke slowly, suddenly raising his finger towards the distance, "Ah, it’s coming..."
As the voice of the War God Pope fell, the members of the scouting teams all looked in the direction of the spectral finger, while two points of arcane radiance within Kamel’s head intensified. He ’stared’ at that dim, chaotic border, when suddenly, a line of light began to slowly ’rise’ from the end of that border—
The first thing to appear before everyone was a bright beam of light, piercing through the chaotic realm of the deep sea and dispelling the dim environment at the edge of the cloud sea. Following was a series of flickering lights around the beam, as if outlining a massive silhouette. As the towering shadow behind that silhouette gradually neared, its astonishing figure started unveiling itself to everyone.
Kamel saw a gigantic arched edge covered in unknown material first protrude from the dark border, slowly ascending above the cloud sea, followed by a vast alloy structure supported by which was "Steel Ground," like an oddly flat giant ship or a floating rootless island amidst chaos and the cloud sea. It presented some irregular outlines at the displayed portion, seemingly part of a larger structure or pre-allocated areas for docking with other structures.
This massive, almost city-sized object continued to float up, as the material of the cloud sea’s edge was disrupted by its immense border, lifting silent airwaves and scattering the uncountable dust, which then flowed down like water along the edge of the alloy structure. Kamel strained to gaze at the end of the distant cloud sea, watching the scene on the surface of that "Steel Ground." He saw flickering lights, barrier-like shields, and towering structures resembling buildings. In areas further away, he vaguely noticed objects of differing color along the ground’s edge, seemingly foreign and not belonging to the structure itself, as if inadvertently ’hooked’ on its margin.
However, that was beyond the ordinary limit of vision.
A few suppressed gasps came from under the heavy, sealed helmets of the White Knights, and the voice of the powerful Combat Monks, Quinn, sounded low: "Holy Light... what is that thing?"
"Whatever it is, it’s not a divine realm, nor the remnants left by any realm or God. It’s obviously in motion..." Kamel muttered, turning his gaze towards Malm Dunite again, "Will it crash into us?"
"It won’t. It will orbit near the boundary slowly. At times it gets very close, but doesn’t crash—it seems to accurately gauge the distance between itself and the divine realm, approaching and receding according to a strict cycle," the former War God Pope shared without reservation the observations borne from his long-time loiter at this location, "It gives an impression of being ’alive,’ although I haven’t seen any life... or anything akin to life on it. Of course, it’s possible that the shallow understanding of mortals blinds my eyes, in this realm of gods... many things aren’t understandable through mortal intellect..."
"Lady," Kamel turned to Emirmina’s direction, "Do you have any..."
He halted mid-sentence, seeing the "Supreme Magus" widen her eyes, watching the massive shadow ascending from the depths of the cloud sea with great astonishment. And, perhaps it was a delusion, but he even sensed from this Magus some kind of uncontrollable... anxiety and fear.
But Emirmina ultimately snapped out of it. She seemingly overcame that deep-seated anxiety emanating from her soul and heard Kamel’s call. Fixating her eyes on the "Steel Ground" that remained gradually approaching near the cloud sea’s boundary, some "veil" enshrouding her memory was lifted. Her eyes widened gradually, and she softly gasped, "I know now, I realize what I overlooked... I’ve seen this! I’ve been seeing this thing all along! For countless years, it’s been patrolling between the divine realms!"
Kamel was greatly amazed: "You’ve seen this? It’s been patrolling between the realms? But neither you nor Mr. Deer ever mentioned..."
"It erased its presence in our memories!" Emirmina finally found the missing piece of the puzzle. The shielded and obscured portions of her memory vividly surfaced, "’God’ cannot see this; only mortals can!"
Kamel felt the flow of Magic Power within him undergoing slight disruptions. An unfamiliar, soul-deep tremor shattered his mind with tremendous intensity—had he possessed a respiratory system, he would have gasped in shock. He then quickly gathered his thoughts, staring at that Steel Ground oscillating through the cloud sea, speaking rapidly: "This exceeds all our planned contingencies... what is happening here must be reported immediately!"
"I’ve already contacted Cecil Castle—I hope Gawain in Talronde can also receive the message in time," the Goddess of Magic said immediately. "Additionally, the people in the Typhon Empire should be informed as well. Emperor Rosetta Augustus is a mortal capable of overseeing the situation."
"I’m currently composing a message to Lady Windsor Maple on the other side of the portal," Kamel swiftly said, surrounded by rapidly changing magic symbols. This ancient Arcane Master was bypassing ordinary communication devices and directly using his mastery of Magic Power to contact the personnel on the other side of the portal. Meanwhile, he also kept an eye on the colossal object operating in the sea of clouds and, after a brief pause, suddenly asked, "Can secular material exist in that chaotic space outside the kingdom?"
"Secular material? Certainly, it can exist. Although this is an area where the boundary between the physical realm and the non-material is extremely blurred, secular material will not disintegrate upon contact with the environment of the deep sea. It’s just that this place is within the ’radiation range’ of many kingdoms, and ancient Thought Echoes linger everywhere, which can easily cause some..." The Goddess of Magic explained subconsciously but suddenly caught herself midway, looking at Kamel with a peculiar expression. "Wait, are you planning to explore... that’s too dangerous! Everything about that object is unclear, and not even the Goddess of the Night knows what dangers it harbors. It operates outside the kingdom and could venture anywhere..."
This Supreme Magus spoke with an extremely solemn expression: "Outside the kingdom is the vast and endless ’The Deep Sea,’ the ripple at the world’s bottom layer. Though I often wander around there, the area I can explore is negligible compared to the entire deep sea—the depths are a mystery even to the Goddess of the Night. It’s too soon for you..."
"I understand. I wouldn’t risk using my own or others’ lives for such peril," Kamel said, somewhat surprised by the Goddess of Magic’s very mortal-like nervous reaction, but he quickly collected himself and, while shaking his head, continued, "But we still have to do something... I have a detection plan."
As he spoke, his gaze fell on the Explorer Golem with its round brass shell and long mechanical limbs quietly waiting behind the scouting teams. A ’hand’ with complex symbols extended from its brass body and connected with the surface of the Magic Power energy box Kamel was dragging behind him, replenishing its Magic Power.
Apparently noticing the change in the surrounding atmosphere, the magic artificial intelligence emitted a series of gibberish sounds from within its highly intelligent and autonomous framework. Its long mechanical limbs swayed slightly in place, and the symbols on its shell flickered repeatedly.
Outside the kingdom, the gigantic object operating within the cloud sea slowly swept across the area where the War God’s Divine Realm was continuously collapsing, surpassing the closest point to the kingdom’s realm. As it came, it stirred up a silent wave of wind in the cloud sea, beginning to gradually move away.
"...This thing has a high cost, but Lady Windsor will understand my contingency action—we don’t have time to ponder over it," Kamel said, reaching out towards the Explorer Golem. The invisible Magic Power lifted the mechanical device, transforming into The Sculpture Hand to raise it into the air. "Hopefully, it can complete the mission safely—otherwise, I’ll have to deduct it from my own wages..."
He lifted his arm, and The Sculpture Hand was about to toss the magic artificial intelligence when the voice of the Goddess of Magic suddenly came from the side: "Wait a moment."
"Lady?" Kamel paused his motion. "Lady, we need to understand what that thing is; the magic artificial intelligence is for situations like this..."
The Goddess of Magic snapped her fingers before Kamel could finish speaking. Instantly, another stronger force of Magic Power materialized in midair, dispelling The Sculpture Hand Kamel had created and catching the round Explorer Golem: "I know, my point is let me do it—with such adverse spellcasting environments, I should be more ’accurate’ than you."
As she spoke, she raised her finger. The Explorer Golem, held by The Sculpture Hand in the air, finally reacted. It emitted another series of gibberish sounds from within, and then its long mechanical limbs quickly retracted beneath its belly, transforming into a round mechanical ball, leaving only a multifunctional detection arm extending into the air, waving twice in the direction of the Goddess of Magic to indicate its readiness.
With that, the Goddess of Magic stretched her hand towards the distance, and The Sculpture Hand formed by invisible Magic Power swiftly swept across the sky.
The Explorer Golem, contracted into a mechanical ball, instantly passed through the invisible boundary of the kingdom’s border, flying over the roiling, invisible sea of clouds towards the distant ’Steel Land’ that was slowly moving away.
Kamel watched the scene intently, and what he feared did not happen—the surface of the ’Steel Land’ neither launched interceptive missiles nor unleashed high-energy beams, nor did any warning sentry guards emerge to eliminate intruders.
The mechanical ball landed directly on the surface of the Steel Land, landing lightly with a final cushion of Magic Power.
It swayed in place, extending long mechanical limbs from beneath its round brass shell. Then, the autonomous Magic Puppet crawled a few more steps in place, as if calibrating its position and autonomously determining its next exploration plan. Then it swiftly headed towards the depths of the Steel Land—at the same time, the entire ’Steel Land’ was moving increasingly out of sight, flying towards the chaotic darkness at the cloud sea’s end and slowly sinking into the cloud sea.
"...I can feel the signal from that magic artificial intelligence getting weaker," the Goddess of Magic broke the silence and said, "In the deep-sea environment, orderly Magic Power signals attenuate rapidly. Next, it’ll depend on that magic artificial intelligence’s own skills."
Kamel was silent for a moment and couldn’t help but turn towards the Spiritual Body of Malm Dunite: "You said that thing appears periodically and approaches, right?"
"Yes," Malm confirmed firmly. "Even though there’s no sun or stars here, I have a way to calculate time—every two days, that thing ’floats up’ and approaches from the chaos. For nearly a year, this pattern hasn’t been broken."
"Great," the Goddess of Magic sighed softly, "then we shall wait for it to reappear."
With that, she looked down at Kamel floating beside her.
"In the meantime, we can start setting up your laboratory, Kamel."