Chapter 44: Refinement and Temptation, Persistence of Self-Existence
The seven miserable souls are the natural chips and pawns in the gamble between Mephisto and Calvin. Counting Calvin and the devil himself, they just form the basis of the holy number "9" that symbolizes extreme change in Tzeentch.<
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A stage built with souls as sacrifices slowly kicked off, and the dojo where two extraordinary beings used their will and behavior to debate each other began.
This is the fall that the devil prepared for Calvin, and it is also the place of promotion that the devil prepared for himself.
There are two existences, one person and one demon. The moment the bet was established, his soul was already caught in an eternity-long but fleeting chess game under the double witness of the evil god and the emperor.
The first life.
Calvin wakes up in an unknown world after having all his memories sealed.
As the son of a governor, he was born with a privileged life. The smallest position among many brothers allowed him to fully enjoy the favor of his parents without having to worry about the future.
But he is not a character who is willing to be inferior to others.
The glory of the family comes from the sacrifices of his ancestors, and the responsibility of his bloodline made him understand the meaning and price of nobility.
He was not physically strong, but when he came of age to begin his education, he clearly expressed to his father his desire to become an Astartes.
Of course his parents who doted on him did not want their young son to bear this price, but at his insistence, his father still went to great lengths to invite a veteran who was lucky enough to survive the elimination of the losers.
This soldier with a special origin will be responsible for training his combat skills and serve as his mentor to cultivate his body and skills.
In this way, he began a growth path that was completely different from that of his brothers, and a spiritual journey to the stars began.
The constant baptism of will in the cold and heat could not make him retreat, but his physical weakness blocked his progress. Years of training made Calvin strong enough to pass the famously harsh selection.
However, limited by his ordinary qualifications, whether he can pass the more dangerous transformation surgery later depends on the favor of a thing called "luck".
Calvin ultimately failed.
After passing the difficult selection process, they were picked up from the planet by an airship belonging to the Emperor's Angels and arrived at their palace soaring in the starry sky.
His failure was due to genetic surgery modification after passing the selection. It was not due to lack of talent or lack of physical development.
The reason for his failure was simply the innate rejection of his own genes and Superman's organs.
Since the first organ was not implanted, the violent rejection reaction has been struggling throughout his body's immune system.
Pharmacists also tried drugs and other interventions, but when a third organ was implanted in the first stage of surgery, the redundancy his body could allow finally came to an end.
Extensive organ failure and genetic disintegration were about to go out of control. The withdrawal of sedatives caused him to be awakened from deep sleep by severe pain.
"You failed." The pharmacist informed him of his impending death through the thick glass of the life-support capsule.
At the last moment, he could clearly feel the regretful gaze from the pharmacist, and he could also vaguely detect a hint of teasing from the expression on that familiar face.
"Do you regret it? You could have had a better life experience." The pharmacist asked.
"No!" Calvin struggled to exhale the last breath of blood-foamed air from his lungs, and then lost the last sense of this body.
There are burst fragments falling from Calvin's soul on one side of the chessboard, and the demon's size on the other side of the chessboard grows accordingly.
Second life.
It's still that unknown planet, but Calvin's identity has become the eldest son of the governor.
He also has the ideal of longing for the stars, but because of the continuation of his family, he must give up his vision of becoming an Astartes and become a qualified Imperial Governor.
Ever since he was sensible, he has set strict demands on himself according to military standards. Over the course of more than ten years, he has become tenacious, optimistic and cheerful. He is a qualified leader and commander in the eyes of everyone, and naturally also in the eyes of his father.
Qualified successor.
But the disaster still came. The alien invasion was like thunder, and the orcs were like endless green waves, completely destroying the defense system of his planet in a few days.
Calvin led the remaining defense forces on the planet to fight against the orcs, and was eventually surrounded and killed in an unknown corner of the hive city.
"Do you regret it?" The orc warlord who knocked him down with his own hands was holding a huge power ax and looking down at Calvin who was lying on the ground dying.
Like all those who are about to die, when Calvin heard these words, the memory of this life flashed across his eyes like lightning.
"No!" He replied.
And the sound of the orc swinging his battle ax at his head was the last memory in his life...
The third life.
Calvin became the second son of the family. He was born with rich emotions and was quick to learn, especially good at handling government affairs.
When he was playing with his brothers when he was young, he vowed to become a qualified governor.
But as he grew older, he realized that it was the glory that belonged to his elder brother. As he gradually became silent, he did not forget his childhood ideal.
But his relationship with his brother eventually led him to devote his unplaced energy to theology.
He finally completed his theological studies before the sector bishop grew old and became a glorious imperial priest.
Under the arrangement of his teacher and parents, he boarded a spaceship to study in Terra on the eve of the orc invasion.
He dreamed that he could use another direction to help his brother continue the family's glory and career, thereby serving the emperor and the empire.
But who would have known that this separation would actually be an eternal separation between heaven and man.
The vastness of the empire made it slow for the bad news of the disaster to be conveyed. Only later did he realize that his family no longer existed. He was disheartened and became one of the countless silent scribes in the Terra Theological Seminary.
As an old man, he never married and naturally had no children. Before the end of his life, he donated all his property to the poor people in the empire.
In the chapel in the slums of Terra, he completed his last mass and anointing with the help of an unknown priest.
"Do you regret it?" The state priest who had been silent all this time suddenly asked, leaving Calvin in a daze after reciting the emperor's holy words.
He recalled his short and simple life, and finally lamented the impermanence of fate while strengthening his original vision.
"No! I won't regret it!"
He uttered his last voice firmly, and when the priest gradually showed his unwillingness, he closed his tired eyes permanently...
The reincarnations continued again and again, but the answer from Calvin never changed.
When the devil first saw the crack in Calvin's soul, he felt a little proud and secretly happy.
But in the process of those fragments being disintegrated and discarded, the golden essence of Calvin's divine soul gradually became purer and dazzling under the refinement of reincarnation.
Seeing that the place of reincarnation he had carefully prepared gradually turned into a support for Calvin's soul cultivation, the demon, who felt that the situation was out of control, began to forcibly interfere with Calvin's destiny of reincarnation in it.
A more tortuous and unfortunate fate has become a lingering haze for Calvin in the future world. But no matter how the devil manipulates fate, Calvin in this world has always maintained his original intention and has not turned towards evil.
There was a slight wavering.
The holy number "nine" eventually became the total number of reincarnations that Calvin could achieve despite the devil's helplessness.
And the devil himself was bound by his own customized game rules after Calvin completed his ninth reincarnation, and became a bargaining chip placed on the scale in the bet of this game.
"No! This is absolutely impossible!" The great demon Mephisto howled at the top of his lungs.
On the seat opposite the chessboard in front of him, Calvin's golden soul is exuding the brilliant brilliance of humanity and divinity in a purer and taller posture.
At this point in the gambling game, the outcome of both sides is clear.
But the devil at the end of his rope obviously doesn't respect the rules enough. He also wants to use the vague definition of numbers in the rules to make more struggles.
"The game is not over yet! Let's continue!" The devil is still trying to struggle, but the balance above the chess game has begun to tilt.
The eyes of the emperor's icon suddenly lit up in the real space, and the black light representing his divine will formed the power of judgment and judgment in the subspace.
At the moment when the devil tried to rewrite the rules, this sacred existence that had been silent finally woke up and began to perform the supervisory duty of witnessing the bet.
"It's funny..."
An equally powerful force appeared out of thin air, rushing towards the top of the chess game from the depths of subspace.
The Emperor's mighty power became particularly active after feeling this power, and took the lead in sending protection to Calvin's soul.
But unexpectedly, the target of this force was not Calvin himself.
After it appeared, did it land directly towards the mad demon? At the moment when the emperor's power had no time to react, it took the lead and annihilated Mephisto's soul.
It is part of the manifestation of the contract between the evil god Tzeentch among the many authorities. The emergence of this power is also the manifestation of the numerous contradictions between Tzeentch's own will and authority.
This force did not try to continue to violate the rules, but put the power and soul left behind by the clean demon on the balance.
His respect for the rules after his appearance allowed the bet to continue. Under this action, the Emperor's Icon had no reason to personally enforce the rules and returned to cold silence.
And it’s not the end of everything.
The side of the scale representing Calvin was falling heavily. At the moment when the bet was about to end, this force took Mephisto's place and sent a question to Calvin who had just escaped from the chess game, catching him off guard.
Question:
"Hero of mankind, your determination shocks me. Your quality is worthy of praise.
As another witness to this bet, I hereby invite you: Are you willing to enjoy the glory of the gods?
Or let me make it clearer, are you willing to become a member of the gods?"
——
Become a god?
This idea appeared in Calvin's mind, and it was not without its temptation. After all, it represented detachment and meant that his life form would enter a higher dimension.
But almost as soon as this thought appeared, Calvin was keenly aware of the heavy price behind this seemingly generous gift.
"Can I still retain my will?"
Calvin looked at the person in front of him and asked this question involving the most core interests under the witness of the emperor.
As expected, this being was silent in the face of Calvin's questioning to the core.
It's not that it doesn't want to deceive, but it can't and doesn't dare to hide anything under the witness of the Emperor.
Granting Calvin, a being who already possesses the essence of a divine soul, to be upgraded and become his follower, there are only advantages and no disadvantages to him.
But what He wanted was a ready-made helper rather than a new enemy. This kind of gift naturally has genealogical constraints. How could it be possible to allow Calvin to have a completely independent will?
"Can I still guarantee absolute rationality and maintain absolute independent thinking?"
Calvin asked again, and the answer he got was a silent negative.
He smiled, and the so-called temptation to become a god disappeared in his mind.
If he cannot have his own will, what kind of god will he become?
If he cannot retain absolute rationality and independent thinking, then after becoming a god, is he still not himself? I am afraid it is just a manifestation of the countless wills of the gods.
"Then this god, it's okay." He looked at the existence in front of him and gave his answer.
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"You know how rare this opportunity is... The projection of the evil god stared at Calvin without any more advice.
But in countless timelines, the same question has come to the same answer in different contexts.
"Well, excuse me..." The projection disappeared from the place after saying this, as if it had never been there.
He cannot interfere any further, because the Emperor's will is watching.
Being able to have such close contact with Calvin, now I think it is not so much the tacit understanding between the two parties based on abiding by the rules, but rather the emperor's absolute confidence in this special soul.
The balance of the bet finally slipped, and everything owned by the demon Mephisto was obtained by Calvin at this moment.
The chess game and the illusion turned into ashes after losing their power support, disintegrating and dissipating little by little in front of Calvin. And Calvin's soul also returned to his body and landed in the direction of reality.
This special duel and conversation finally came to an end. Calvin, whose consciousness returned to reality, slowly opened his eyes, kneeling on one knee and looked at the silent icon in front of him, and then turned to look at the person beside him.
Location.
The location where the great demon Mephisto used to be is now gone. There are only traces of ashes left on the ground to prove its existence.
The blasphemy and pollution originally caused by the evil spirits in the King's Hall spontaneously burned under the sight of Calvin.
The souls of the seven victims under the icon have disappeared, and the remaining bodies have also been reduced to ashes in the flames.
On the psychic crystal coatings of thousands of Heavenly Punishment Weapons that have been contaminated by demons, the contamination of the demons has also disappeared;
These weapons, made of special materials that can carry psychic energy, have returned to their original blank state without any energy imprint.
The celebrations on the surface continued, and the hymns in praise of the Emperor were so loud that the breeze was singing in the corridors outside the main hall.
Calvin stood up slowly, took one last look at the hall in front of him, and then left this place that was once full of sin and blasphemy with the same firm steps as when he came.