Magical Girl's Knight Brother

Chapter 546 "The Ark"

A god who relinquished his divine power and authority transformed into a mere mortal and arrived in a world devoid of supernatural beings, attempting to lead its inhabitants in rebellion against a false god.

This is truly a complicated matter.

"No wonder you're with these... rebels," Tang Zijun said, glancing back at the large group of rebels. Noticing Tang Zijun's gaze, several others also looked over, but their eyes quickly shifted away after landing on Scáthach. This showed that Scáthach's status among the group was much higher than they had imagined.

"Strictly speaking, I founded the 'Rebel Army,' but it's still too difficult to use these people to fight against that guy... For now, I can only take it one step at a time."

"How long have you been in this world?" Tang Zijun asked.

"I can't remember exactly. You know, ever since that intelligent entity mastered the laws of time in this world, time has become a mess. But I can tell you that I've been here since the intelligent entity started its war with humanity."

Although Scáthach has lost her powers, her body is different from that of ordinary people, and she still has a long lifespan.

Tang Zijun noticed this as well, but he quickly noticed another issue. "Since you were here when the war started, you must have participated in the fighting, right?"

To Tang Zijun's surprise, Scáthach shook her head slightly this time.

"I did not participate in the war, and I cannot participate in the war."

"I no longer have the power to rule the Shadow Kingdom as I once did. With this body, I am no match for that AI. And if I fall into its hands..."

Scáthach paused here, giving Tang Zijun time to fill in the blanks, before continuing after a moment.

"So I can only wander in the shadows, helping those who resist, whether it's intelligence, technology, or resources. As long as there is hope of ending all this, I will seize it."

"But you should know that the gods of the era have grown into a behemoth that these humans absolutely cannot resist. To kill a god, one would at least need to be a demigod."

"So I started trying to contact my old friends in the dream world."

"You can contact the gods of the dream world!?" Tang Zijun's eyes widened, her tone tinged with excitement.

"I'm sorry, the way I contacted you might be a little different from what you expected," Scáthach said calmly. "In this world without supernatural energy, to break through the barriers of this world, I also have to go through the rules of this world. So I restarted a scholar's research in this world—research on consciousness uploading."

"Consciousness uploaded...Ark Knight?" Tang Zijun raised an eyebrow.

"Yes." Scáthach nodded. "The Ark Church was originally founded by me. Our goal is to cultivate a group of 'knights' who can go to the dream world."

Tang Zijun opened her mouth upon hearing this. "No wonder I always felt something was off. At first, I thought it was the translator's fault, but there was always something strange about it. 'Ark Knights. Ark,' that word should be a transliteration from Chinese, right?"

"Yes, I brought that word with me too." Scáthach did not deny it.

"But shouldn't you use Old English or Celtic dialects?" Tang Zijun's expression was somewhat strange.

Scáthach explained, "This plan was devised by Bai Ze. To the gods, the wasteland is also an ark, so we used Bai Ze's language, and it's just the written form. There's no need to make such a fuss."

"Okay, my question." Tang Zijun shrugged. "Getting back to the point, given the current situation, in hindsight, your plan to contact those old friends has probably failed, right?"

"We were so close to success, but the AI ​​detected our movements, so we had no choice but to send out the Ark Knights to fight them."

"The good news is that I destroyed most of the research data and altered some of it, making the AI ​​believe that this was just another human rebellion. The bad news is that I have completely lost the ability to connect with dreams."

Scáthach sighed, but quickly smiled again, her gaze falling on Tang Zijun. "But what I didn't expect was that instead of my old friend from the dream world, I would be greeted by you, the god of the reversed world."

"To be precise, I am a human from the real world." Tang Zijun waved her hand, then said, "Actually, you can't be considered a failure, because although you couldn't connect to the dream world, the gods of the era accidentally helped you accomplish all of this."

As she spoke, Tang Zijun gestured with her chin toward Yedi, indicating that Scáthach should look in that direction.

"You mean the guy that little girl is holding?" Scáthach said softly without shifting her gaze. "I saw him. In fact, I noticed him the first time we met—she's also a member of the Knights of the Ark, isn't she?"

Tang Zijun nodded, not hiding anything. "I found her in the dream world. At that time, I wasn't sure what she was or what her origin was, until the gods of the era extended their reach into the real world... thanks to your shadow."

Scáthach's gaze flickered away upon hearing this, seemingly a little embarrassed. "Our initial plan wasn't like this." "I know," Tang Zijun replied, arms crossed. "But now that things have come to this point, let's not dwell on the past plans."

"What do you want to do?" Scáthach asked.

"You should say what you want to do," Tang Zijun countered.

Scáthach answered without hesitation. "I want to return to the Dream World. Since things from the Wasteland have already been sent to the Dream World, the company should have reacted, but we haven't heard anything from them for so many years. I'm a little worried."

"I understand, I can take you to the dream world," Tang Zijun continued. "But before that, I need to establish a firm foothold in this world. At the very least, I don't want the hands of the gods of the era to be able to reach into the real world again."

Hearing Tang Zijun's firm words, which also carried a hint of anger, Scáthach looked puzzled.

"I've been wanting to ask this for a while now: you're clearly a person in the mirror, yet you have a human body, radiating an aura of desire, but without a trace of negative energy. What exactly are you?"

"Just think of me as a human who has gained the power of greed. I am merely... an existence that exists in response to a boy's prayer." Tang Zijun smiled.

He paused for a moment, then stretched out his hand, and a black card shimmered with a deep light on his fingertips.

"What do you mean by this?" Scáthach raised an eyebrow, but did not reach for the card.

"I guess you could say it's returned to its rightful owner," Tang Zijun said, keeping her arm outstretched. "This was originally yours, wasn't it? Having a deity on our side gives us an extra bit of strength."

Staring intently at the card, Scáthach's fingers trembled involuntarily, but the next moment, a slight smile played on her lips, and she slowly shook her head. "Forget it."

Scáthach raised her head and said softly.

"As I said, given the current situation, it's best to keep this force with you."

Tang Zijun licked her lips. "Uh, you might not understand, but I don't really lack 'forms' here, I mean..."

Scáthach's expression turned somewhat subtle upon hearing this. "You probably don't understand, but the divine power you've relinquished isn't something you can just take back. This isn't armor that you can put on and take off at will."

"But didn't you just use that power? And you even killed a 'god' with your own hands," Tang Zijun asked, puzzled. "I was merely borrowing your power," Scáthach replied. "My divine power has been altered by the shadow and by you. Although it remains largely the same, it's completely different. Didn't you notice that the beings I killed cannot be absorbed into cards by you?"

Tang Zijun's heart stirred, and her gaze turned to the temple of the god of harvest.

Indeed, according to the usual procedure, after defeating an artificial god with a temple, one should be able to convert the opponent's energy into cards, but this time it seems that nothing has happened.

"Have you figured it out? My power has taken your form. Even I cannot forcibly wield this divine power unless you so choose." Scáthach smiled faintly. "That's why I thank you—you didn't refuse me."

Silently lowering his head, Tang Zijun put away the card. He had indeed intentionally not put it away before; to put it bluntly, he just wanted to see what this strange woman was up to.

And now, the outcome of events has proven that this strange woman is none other than Scáthach, who has disappeared from the real world for a long time. Just then, Raison's voice drifted over from afar.

"Gentlemen, let's talk on the way. If we don't set off soon, we might not be able to leave."