Volume 9: Fate of Destiny Chapter 19 If you can only choose one between love and future...
Mason has had the Black Apple for quite some time, but he has never used this device that can theoretically answer all difficult questions.
Mason didn't use it when the plane fusion encountered trouble, he didn't use it when Mephisto's mischief almost made all the operations fail, and even when this decisive battle was about to happen, he still had no intention of using this thing.
But the master's words just now gave him a reminder.
When Mason first witnessed the World Impact in the Pirate World and Gotham World, he realized his fate when he woke up in this dark age. He has been moving forward bravely until now, and has given his own near-perfect answer to the difficulties of the impact. Now, he only needs to kill Mephisto and the Star Society to complete the "main mission" of this journey.
In a stand-alone game, this is already the final stage of the plot, and it would be a pity to hold such an important prop but not use it.
After all, he is not a hardcore person who pursues all trophies, right?
Of course, there is a very practical reason why Mason has never used Hackintosh. Not only does the information label of this thing indicate that it is risky to use it, but also Heiqi's "on-site teaching" tells him that using Hackintosh to get answers is indeed a risky thing.
Hei Qiyi asked a question concerning the future, but the forbidden knowledge backfired on him and he almost couldn't maintain the circle, causing the Ancient God's appearance to be completely released.
With Mason's limited strength at the time, he would probably have lost half of his life in the face of such a backlash.
But now it's different.
He has achieved fruitful and substantial growth in all aspects. After joining forces with his "Mason Family" to defeat Void Mason, he received the gift of power, which allowed him to improve his ability manipulation to a considerable level.
He thought he should give it a try.
Of course, to be on the safe side, Mason would not directly ask for an ending to everything like Black Strange did. That would be too crazy and meaningless.
The captain was convinced that he could win.
The fact that Madeline's Phoenix Judgment failed to erase his future already proved one thing: he would win, but to what extent that was not Mason's concern.
"So, let's be realistic."
Mason blew out a puff of smoke and reached out to touch the black apple in front of him, but before he could touch it, the door of the small conference room was suddenly pushed open.
Mason, the alchemist wearing a wizard hat, peeked inside. He was holding an antique medicine box in his arms and was obviously here to deliver something.
Then he saw Mason holding the penguin umbrella and preparing to touch the black apple.
"Hey! Are you going to die?"
The alchemist exclaimed, stepped forward and pushed Mason's hand away. He said:
"Can you use this thing at will? And you don't have an answer you're desperate for, right?"
"I feel like saving this obvious 'game-clearing tool' for last is a bit disrespectful..."
Mason curled his lips and said:
"So there's no harm in trying. Why not increase your chances of winning?"
"It should be used for important things, right?"
The alchemist thought about it and thought that this was a reasonable explanation. He then took out his pipe and put it in his mouth, then said to Mason:
"I mean, ask something interesting or less exciting, like who sent us here?"
"You're hoping I'll die, aren't you?"
The captain complained:
"If I dare to ask such a question about the outside world, I will probably die on the spot, not to mention whether Black Apple can give an answer.
I plan to ask it how to destroy the old devil's damn "Mephisto Network". He told me before that the minds of Mephisto in countless dimensions are connected together, which means that this "transcendence" operation is not actually prepared for a single Mephisto.
This was a common plan for all of them.
Even if we kill the old devil who dominates the Star Society, sooner or later there will be other devils who will take over this banner. Wouldn't it be equivalent to working in vain?"
"Why are you asking me this question?"
The alchemist complained:
“Isn’t the simplest way to do this the wait for the old devil to complete his transcendence?
All the Mephisto's temporal and spatial entities in all the worlds were merged into one, and when they became a complete entity, they were killed, and all the Mephistos died."
"You are talking nonsense!"
The subject snorted and said:
"I can't think of raising a big daddy while I still have the advantage. I understand the concept of transcendence. Although Hei Qiyi hasn't taken that step, he already has the qualifications. He just doesn't want to take that step purely because of the emotional injury.
He is so powerful. If Mephisto is really freed, the price I will pay to kill him will definitely be ten times higher."
"Well, that makes sense."
The alchemist nodded, blew out another smoke ring, blinked and said to Mason:
"But I suggest you change the question, do you understand what I mean? Change it to a question that is more valuable and more important to you, such as Ciri's perfect resurrection...
We don't actually need to kill all of Mephisto, that's just an option.
Our goal has always been clear, which is to overthrow the Star Council. Now that the impact has reached its fifth round, even if the other Mephistos are willing to inherit the old devil's legacy, they are already powerless.
That will be the trouble of the next era, Mason. Didn't you say that you are only responsible for reversing the Dark Ages and you are too lazy to get involved in the next era?
Trust the wisdom of future generations. Saving your lover's life is the most important thing now."
"You are asking me to choose between my future and love. Alas, this is an eternal dilemma."
Mason shook his head and sighed.
"But I only have one chance to ask, and I have to give up the other one, which is really difficult."
Although he said it was difficult, Mason actually didn't hesitate much and placed his hand on the extremely smooth surface of the black apple.
The moment his fingers touched this thing, a chill from the bottom of his heart ran along the touch of his fingertips into Mason's heart, making his body tremble as if he had drunk an iced drink in a gulp in the cold winter.
That is a cold that cannot be avoided.
Even the mind was frozen, and the force continued to grow stronger as the contact lasted, as if forcing Mason to ask the questions in his heart.
If he hesitated any longer, the captain had no doubt that his soul would be frozen here.
No wonder Black Strange had such a hard time using the Black Apple. Mason believed that this power derived from the mysterious Wall of Origin could not be resisted by sheer strength.
It works directly on the existential level.
"Ask! Hurry up, your water bodies are no longer stable, they are crystallizing, damn it."
The alchemist, who had set up a small camera nearby to record this important moment as valuable research material for the cosmic artifact, urged:
"It hurts you, it forces you to ask questions, to not fight the force, to make your choice."
"Shua"
A black light lit up and intertwined on Mason's five fingers that were placed on the surface of the black apple. The five fingers had been completely frozen into a crystal clear posture at the molecular level, and they continued to emit a chilling cold air, like some kind of cruel ice sculpture.
However, the light seemed to represent that Mason had completed the standard use process of this cosmic artifact and entered the final stage of obtaining the answer.
The ice on his fingers was melting, which made the alchemist quite curious. He guessed that this should be the power recovery of this unique cosmic artifact after completing this "mission".
It's like a tool that was made is finally used, making it "happy" and getting the "satisfaction" it deserves.
After a few seconds, the black light wrapped around Mason's fingers dimmed, and the Black Apple returned to its calm state. When the captain opened his eyes, the answer he was given seemed to remain in his pupils. Those complex words and graphics danced in front of his eyes, giving him a standard answer.
"This thing is a scam!"
Mason released his hand and gave his own assessment.
He took out his notebook and started writing, while speaking to the alchemist who was eagerly waiting for his answer:
"I have roughly figured out how it works. Did you see how I was frozen just now? The backlash from accepting forbidden knowledge is constantly released as the questions you want to ask become more complex and obscure. The more complex the questions you ask and the more they involve the truth of the universe, the greater the backlash you will have to endure.
Just like Hei Qiyi's previous question about the real future directly caused him to suffer backlash damage close to his life limit. If I follow your suggestion and ask who sent us here, my existence will be wiped out on the spot.
It's not that it wants to hurt me.
But I simply can't bear that level of real answer, symbolic! This thing is also based on symbolic effectiveness, but this actually answers your question from the side.
The guys who sent us here are quite powerful, at least at the level of cosmic gods. But don't worry, this thing won't give you an answer immediately when you have a question in your mind, there is a confirmation process involved.
From this point of view it's quite smart.
After all, it is something that can only be used once in a lifetime, so it is nice to have a sense of ritual.”
"Who asked you that?"
The alchemist scratched his head and complained:
"What I want to hear is what you chose between the future and love, you bastard! What I want to hear is gossip, okay? Who the hell cares about the working principle and user manual of the hackintosh?
Is that something that ordinary people can use? Hurry up! Tell me, do you choose to be a cold-blooded bastard who abandons love in the name of the future, or a brainless lover who is willing to abandon the future for love? "
"Trust me, you'll need this knowledge."
Mason looked at the alchemist meaningfully, then he coughed twice and said:
"Of course I made a choice. I asked it how to destroy the Mephisto Network, and this bastard gave me a 'standard answer'. Do you know what I mean?
The standard answer does not mean it is the correct answer or the most efficient answer.
It told me that all Mephistos are creatures of hell, and when they become lords of hell and possess the divinity of hell, their existences are bound to the hell of their respective planes.
The most interesting thing is that the principle of effectiveness of the "comprehensive concept" of hell is quite complicated. To put it simply, its concept is effective in all planes where hell legends exist, so it can be regarded as that each dimension of hell is connected.
Black Apple suggested that I completely destroy the hell dimension where Mephisto is located. The moment the symbolism it carries is destroyed, Mephisto's life, which is based on the eternal existence of hell and will not die, will come to an end.
The dimensional destruction of Lord Fate will directly affect the other planes where Mephisto is located.
Such a shock of mental and existential power would not kill them, but it would completely collapse the Mephisto network they shared.
In this way, the efforts made by Lord Fate to transcend will no longer be inherited by other old devils, and they will be transformed from a whole into independent individuals again. "
"That's it?"
The alchemist widened his eyes and said:
"Didn't we agree to find a way to kill them? This only gives a way to weaken them."
“No, no, no, the essence of the standard answer lies here.”
Mason shook his head and explained:
“Don’t forget the big environment we are in. When the integration process of the New Utopia Plan is pushed forward to the end, all parallel planes will merge into a complete universe!
In this independent and complete universe, the concepts of hell in each plane will be merged together to form a 'only hell'.
Since even hell is unique, there must and can only be one individual among the remaining Mephistos who dominates the hell dimension they are in.
This is not based on their will but on the laws of the universe. Whether they like it or not, they must kill each other until the last Mephisto is left.
Although the result is the same, it is a completely opposite concept to the "transcendence" of unity of all bodies.
The solution proposed by Black Apple is that we kill the strongest Lord of Fate, and then leave everything to the true and cruel fate. Those bastards will all die!
And they will die at the hands of their other selves.
Tsk, I have to say, this solution is quite interesting for "punishment". It seems that Hackintosh read my disgust for the old devil, so it gave me the most vicious of all the feasible solutions.
Blowing up Mephisto's hell dimension sounds difficult, but with the help of Galactus, this condition is not difficult to achieve. It is just a matter of finishing off the enemy after the war.
How hard can this be?
"Hmm... so you finally chose the future between love and the future?"
The alchemist looked at Mason with satisfaction and disdain. He complained:
"I thought you were a pure love person, but I didn't expect you were also a profit person. Bah, Mason, you really disappoint me."
"Don't be disappointed yet."
The captain shook his head and stroked the black apple in his hand that no longer responded to him. His "quota" had been used up, and this cosmic artifact would no longer be available to him.
Mason said to the alchemist:
"The reason why I chose the future instead of my poor love is not because I don't care about Ciri's life or death, but because I choose to believe in the wisdom and means of my family members.
I believe that even without Hackintosh, you can eventually give me a perfect solution and use your wisdom to help a poor man like me solve my problem.
This is the plan I chose for Ciri, not relying on external things, but relying on the unity and potential of the entire Mason family. "
At this point, Mason reached out and placed his hand on the beautiful medicine box that the alchemist brought this time. He patted it, winked at the alchemist, and said:
"See, you didn't let me down, did you?"
"Okay, okay, I admit that what you said makes sense and it touched me, but the fact is, don't be too happy yet."
The alchemist snorted rather proudly, then sighed and said:
"I did make the resurrection potion you wanted, but to be honest, I have no idea how effective it will be. After all, the situation with Ciri and the other two mentors is very complicated...
The erosion of Mephisto's power alone is a problem that is difficult to solve perfectly, and we have very little time. I can only do my best in the limited time.
Maybe I’ll disappoint you, but I’ve already…”
"So I said I would trust your wisdom without reservation!"
Mason interrupted the alchemist's "disclaimer" and, as the alchemist stared in amazement, stuffed the penguin umbrella into his hand, then grabbed his left hand and placed it on the black apple.
He winked at the alchemist and said:
"Let's get started. What are you waiting for? My love is left to your wisdom to save. Come on, ask it your questions, Mason MacJack Cooper."
