Chương 16: Signs of the end of times
"Oh really? And how would you know? You still haven't explained what you were doing at my house!"
"Look, that doesn't matt--"
"Well, to me, it does. I need explanations!"
Cora remained quiet for some time. The abbot looked on with interest, not saying a single word. Gradually, a smile appeared on his face.
"I'm just trying to protect you!" snapped Cora.
"From what? Besides, how can you even protect me, as weak as you are?"
The abbot's smile vanished and he coughed slightly before saying, "Enough! I have to remind you that you are not as powerful as you think you are. There are things that can destroy you, not just physically but emotionally as well. You might appear tough because of your cultivation level, but you are still a child. Some things are beyond you."
"What kind of things can destroy me physically?"
The abbot took out a small piece of paper from his spatial ring. To Ryan, it appeared as if it appeared from thin air, and this was even more surprising than the teleportation talismans.
"This is a normal piece of paper. Here, touch it", said the abbot, as he handed the paper to Ryan.
Ryan took the paper and confirmed that there was nothing special about it, nor were there any hidden weapons of sorts. After confirming, he returned the piece of paper. "Is this the weapon that can destroy me? I'm sorry but even guns cannot--"
Before he even finished speaking, Abbot Heavencloud imbued some ki into the piece of paper, and then threw it towards Ryan with unmatchable speed. The paper had a soft glow that was clearly visible, and as it flew towards Ryan, it turned into a beam of light! With a whooshing sound, it slightly changed its trajectory and grazed his left cheek, continuing unabated. It kept flying until it embedded itself in the wall behind him, leaving crevices in the wall. Ryan's left cheek began bleeding, while his mouth was agape with horror and shock.
"Like I said, you are not as strong as you think you are, child. Anyway, I mentioned before that we have a new mission, and that the planet is in trouble. Come, let me show you something", said the abbot, walking towards the scroll in the glass casing.
As he reached the glass container, the scroll vanished from the container, appearing in his hands. Ryan and Cora walked towards the abbot, who stood there looking thoughtful.
He unfurled the scroll and handed it over to Ryan who began to read the contents aloud. "The immortal, the mortal apprentice and the transcended. The appearance of the immortal will herald the beginning of a disaster. A mortal apprentice will be chosen, but before he breaks out of the shackles of mortality, a transcendent demigod shall descent. Thus chaos shall reign, beginning with planet Earth, and then spreading all over the seventeenth universe."
The other two remained silent as Ryan finished reading the scroll. He rolled it and handed it over to the abbot, who had a stern look of his face.
"What does this mean? Who are these immortal, mortal apprentice and demigod?" asked Ryan, confused.
"That was something we have been trying to unearth all these years. We only managed to figure it out quite recently. After the meteor shower, we realized that the stars had aligned. The presence of an immortal on the planet made the air heavier. It was something only people like us could detect, since we have various methods of divination", explained abbot Heavencloud. He went on, "We began searching for the immortal and it took us a year to find him, or should I say 'it'? After finding the immortal automaton, we also found you. A sixteen-year-old child who has a first level cultivation base."
"So you're saying I'm the mortal apprentice?" asked Ryan, a bit confused.
"That is entirely correct", replied the abbot, while Cora looked downwards.
"Where does she fit into the equation?" asked Ryan, pointing towards Cora.
"That is a complicated story which she has to explain to you, in private. Right now, we have a problem. With the immortal automaton incapacitated, if anyone decides to attack us, we are vulnerable."
"Wait, what happened to Myra? I saw he was switched off."
"So its name is Myra? I guess you learn something new every day..."
"You haven't answered my question!" yelled Ryan.
"Calm down, I will answer your question. It seems before falling to earth, the immortal had been damaged. The damage got worse every time it fought. On earth, there should not have been anything powerful enough to challenge it, but..." the abbot hesitated.
"But what?"
"Humans are very inventive creatures. Someone created an automaton that can pose a threat to an injured immortal, rather, the damaged automaton!"
"When I met Myra, he could repair himself. Why wasn't he doing so?"
"I do not know. However, all I know is that the immortal could not use its full strength due to the damage. If it was at full strength, the result might have been different."
"So how do we fix Myra?"
"Let us speak to your grandfather first. It seems he might know something about that", said the abbot as he began to leave the room.
"What about the mural?" asked Ryan, pointing to the mural hanging on the wall.
The mural depicted a brave warrior, with silver hair and a bronze armor. The warrior was fighting against what looked like three hideous monsters. They had green skin, their chests were bare, and they had small horns on their heads. The warrior was wielding a long black spear.
"Oh, that is the founding patriarch of the Exquisite Martial Sect, from planet Khami. Do not worry about the mural for now. It will do you no good to know about what it represents."
Cora started walking and Ryan soon followed. There was something about the mural that he couldn't wrap his head around. He couldn't tell what it was, so he just let it be.
"You still haven't explained about the demigod!" said Ryan as he rushed to catch up.
****************
On a remote planet, a good distance from earth, a young man was sitting on a throne made of bones. The young man had short, blonde hair and he was a bit tall. Looking at him closely, he appeared to be in his early twenties. He was wearing jeans and a jacket written 'Yankees' in red bleeding letters. He suddenly sneezed!
"Eh? I'm quite a distance from earth, so why would I be catching the flu? Wait a minute, I'm an ascendant! My body's natural resistance to trifling viruses and diseases is off the charts, so why was I sneezing just now? Don't tell me someone is saying something bad about me? Damn it, if I find out who they are, I'll use their souls as fuel to concoct my elixirs!" declared the young man, aloud. He sneezed again.
"Your Excellency, ummm, are you okay?" a gruff voice asked, sounding hesitant. The owner of the voice was tall, well built with rippling muscles, and bare chested. He was wearing animal skins to cover up the important bits. Besides his green skin and the horns protruding from his head, there was nothing out of the ordinary about him.
"I'm fine!" exclaimed the young man, clearly in a bad mood. He continued, "What's taking you so long? How long has it been since I told you to mobilize your forces? If it takes you so long to prepare for an invasion, then it's actually very easy to wipe you from existence!"
"Well, your Excellency, you sent some of our forces to conquer planets quite far from here. It might take them some time to return..."
"So you're saying it's my fault then? The fact that you're clumsy is my fault?" snapped the young man.
"We do not dare to say that, your Excellency, please forgive us", said a second voice. Surrounding the throne were five more people, being of the same race as the first speaker. They were all green, with horns protruding from their heads. Besides the first speaker, there were four male and one female. The second speaker had a wrinkled face, showing he was quite old.
The young man sighed before speaking, "I might have to do this by myself then."
He stood up to leave, but the second speaker suddenly said, "Ummm... your Excellency, you know you're not allowed to just walk into someone else's domain without invitation? You--"
"So what? Earth is my home planet, there's no ascendant on earth right now! I can actually claim it as my own, can I not? Tell me, Rill, do you not believe I can transcend and become a demigod?" asked the young man.
The old man who had been called Rill frowned slightly, and then answered, "Your Excellency, you know that's not the point..."
"You just frowned again, didn't you? Talking to you is really useless", said the young man, as he pointed towards Rill.
"Your Excellency, please calm down. I can exp--"
Before Rill finished speaking, a blood red vortex appeared on top of his head! His pupils vanished, and froth formed on his mouth. Bags suddenly appeared underneath his eyelids, and within seconds, he was dead! His corpse remained standing in its original position. The other five suddenly became afraid, and they all knelt down.
"I really hate it when someone frowns when you're talking to them. Do I always have to kill someone to remind everyone who the person in charge is?" asked the young man, clearly frustrated.
"Your Excellency, please forgive us..." said the remaining five, who were kneeling on the ground.
"Fine fine. Since I can't bloody leave this planet, might as well as make the best of the remaining time. I will be going into secluded meditation. If anyone wants to die next, come and disturb me. Mondo, you're now in charge, and you're taking over from Rill as my new advisor. Handle everything while I'm meditating. I will emerge once I break through to the demigod realm!"
"Yes, your Excellency!" said the man with the rippling muscles.
The young man vanished, leaving only five people and a corpse in the room. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, but no one said anything out of fear. After a few minutes, Rill's body vanished as well.
******************
"What on earth? Who made this robot?" asked Michael, shocked.
"According to Myra, it was Dr. Kovakk", replied Ryan.
"So it was John? Why did he alter the design for this Sage Pixin? And when? The rocket thrusters are damaged! It's a wonder it can even fly. Wait, what is this component, and why is there no battery pack?" analyzed Michael.
"Anyone in the immortal realm of cultivation can fly without using external materials", spoke the abbot, who was standing next to Cora.
"Immortal?" asked Michael.
"Grandpa, what did you call Myra?"
"A Sage Pixin? I'm the one who designed it, after all. Decades ago, I made a bet with John over a football game. If I had won the bet, we would have renamed the company from PI Robotics to APK Robotics, using the first letters of our surnames. However, losing the bet meant I would have to design a sage robot, and load the operating system with wise quotes and stuff. I lost the bet, and the robot was called the PI XIN, nicknamed Pixin."
"But Myra is not from this planet! He's from another planet called Khami!"
"Huh? How do you know about all these things, Ryan?" asked Marjory.
"Ummmm, so..." stammered Ryan.
"Get to the point young man!" snapped Michael.
Ryan sighed, before responding, "Remember the meteor shower that destroyed our house? I found Myra among the debris, and something else. After talking to him, he told me a lot of things, and even protected me."
"Was he at the farm too?" asked Michael.
"Yes, sometimes he was, sometimes he was not."
"Can you fix the damage on the automaton?" asked the abbot.
"I can, but I don't have the equipment to do it right now. I also do not have the material used to make the damaged component", replied Michael.
"I know where we can obtain the material. As for equipment, we have a place with a lot of it", said the abbot with a wide smile.
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