Mage? Magic Engineer!

Rorschach’s speed before he hit the ground was...

He had no idea. He was just in it for the thrill. ’Anyway, this body is a sculpted, ultimate... oh, right, that was the one shipped to space. This one, the one currently plummeting to the ground, is the body of a "perfect being."’

The so-called "Axiom" is conceptually similar to Plato’s "Theory of Forms," which posits that all things are imperfect copies of their archetype. And the Creator is the light of truth.

This very point held true in the Otherworld, where the "Original Scripture" existed.

On the other hand, the descriptions of the Mother Goddess seemed to paint her as their very antithesis—the pinnacle of imperfection, the end of all Original Scriptures... Thus, Her authority over "mutation" was not only a manifestation of chaotic, unrestrained proliferation but also implied another kind of opposition.

Of course, Rorschach’s current body wasn’t a perfect paragon of all humanity either. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to establish a subordinate relationship and control it. It was like the ideal gas law equation; to fit the special case of "Rorschach," the result of Axiom Creation had many corrective factors added, which compromised its absolute and sacred nature.

Meanwhile, the Mother Goddess’s power, which had unconsciously invaded the physical world, was also degraded. It had to be mediated through the flesh and blood of mortals, giving it form, boundaries, and patterns. It was no longer completely and utterly malformed and chaotic.

And so, the two sides came into fierce, intimate contact.

In an instant, the Shield enveloping Rorschach released all its energy, hitting the "Abyss" with a massive explosion. He had already made his decision back in the Boundary Land while observing the most severely mutated part of Ovord: he would use the simplest, purest potential energy to break through the fog and the Flesh and Blood Carpet.

Although this body wasn’t made of tungsten steel, Rorschach had continuously stacked Shields on himself. While passing through the Transformation Dust Layer Flow, he had even absorbed a great deal of energy, which, thanks to his mastery over Magic Power, he gathered and compressed into his shielding.

A Starship’s shields would grow thinner and thinner while crossing the layer flow. As Rorschach passed through, the front of his Force Field was forcefully molded into a high-energy-density "warhead."

A dual impact of physics and Magic!

Unfortunately, in his past life, Rorschach had just been an ordinary engineering grunt. He lacked the skydiving experience of rich guys and had no practice being a missile. He failed to adjust his posture correctly and ended up accidentally crashing into the deepest and largest crater.

A small, blue mushroom cloud rose into the air.

A sharp, shattering shockwave spread out from the epicenter. Instantly, it was as if "geysers" had erupted all over the dead city’s surface. Crimson liquid and shredded flesh spewed from holes in the ground, shooting tens of meters high to release the pressure wave from the impact.

The impact also pulverized numerous monsters, returning them to the viscous earth to be gestated anew. Many of the crooked buildings collapsed completely. At this point, the city of "Ovord" could likely be wiped off the map for good.

The release of immense energy vaporized the fleshy sludge around Rorschach, revealing the structure beneath and expanding the cavern several times over. However, what surprised Rorschach was the carpet’s unimaginable regenerative power. The pulpy liquid and charred fragments were immediately absorbed by the cavern walls, which then turned from deep crimson to the pink of fresh meat. They began to swell, enveloping Rorschach at the center, layer by layer.

Embedded in the fleshy wall, Rorschach felt as if he were being constantly sucked on. The thick, putrid stench was tinged with a sweet, coppery odor. Beneath him, conventional biological tissue had merged with inorganic matter. The dislodged sand and soil now had fascia and veins, and it pulsed and contracted beneath his feet with a steady rhythm.

The entire space beneath the city—Dark Rivers, caves, and tectonic fissures—had transformed into biological structures, all undulating in unison.

’Truly disgusting...’ Rorschach could even feel that the very organization of Magic Power here had been rewritten, especially for Natural System Magic. If he were to cast a spell, a new power would take control, drawing upon archetypes that didn’t belong to the Original Layer and, of course, producing an entirely different effect.

’Is this the Domain of the Earth Mother Goddess?’ Rorschach was tempted to cast a spell for real just to see what would happen, especially a Divine Art related to Deryats. But his duty was to "put out the fire." If he experimented recklessly now and something went wrong, there would be no one to bail him out.

What truly interested Rorschach was how the Mother Goddess’s power altered the workings of the ambient Magic Power and how it influenced Natural Spells. He began to channel Su Sheng but stopped short of releasing it, all while trying to sense the Tree of Law in the Boundary Land that was bound to the spell.

’No response from the corresponding node, but the Magic can still be released... Hmm, what it would actually do if I let it go is another matter.’ After flirting with disaster, Rorschach confirmed how the Mother Goddess’s power was interfering: it seemed to be tampering with and contaminating the link between a Caster and their Spell Scripture. Furthermore, this contamination was widespread; the response of any spell involving Her authority seemed to be affected.

’Damn, what a familiar method. Isn’t this just like that... Cyber Great Wall...’

Just as Rorschach thought of something he shouldn’t have, the mutated flesh around him intensified its "massage." The living cavern seemed to be trying to expel him as a foreign object, yet at the same time, just like the Wine God before it, it began to covet the avatar Rorschach had created with Axiom Creation.

These two contradictory reactions resulted in a tug-of-war—Rorschach’s upper body was lifted up while his lower body was sucked downward.

Having figured out the parts that interested him, the Great Mage dared not delay any longer and officially began his operation. In this moment, Rorschach was a janitor, and he planned to proceed step by step:

The initial impact was to break up the "stubborn stains," and the results were pretty good. When he had descended to a lower altitude, Rorschach had detected that its power-transmission network was still fairly distinct, and that last impact had successfully shattered it. The second step was to completely remove the "stains." Once he had cleaned away all the disgusting visible matter, he would perform a final sterilization to eliminate any potential contamination.

He pushed aside the fleshy walls and raised a hand. Two black spheres appeared above his palm.

This was the signal that he was switching from the "Rorschach-1 Missile" to the "Rorschach-Brand Vacuum Cleaner." He didn’t intend to throw them out like he had on the Gaseous Plane; instead, he would continuously control and enlarge the "miniature black holes."

The surrounding matter, saturated with the Mother Goddess’s power, began to be twisted and drawn in. As soon as anything approached the small Black Balls, its form would immediately collapse, and it would be sucked in as a fluid-like substance.

"What was that just now?" The Mages inside the "boat" were shocked and uncertain. They could feel the room, already on the verge of collapse, shaking violently. An unprecedented shockwave had directly shattered the two layers of defenses they had painstakingly erected.

The entire Flesh and Blood Carpet now seemed to be in unimaginable pain, convulsing uncontrollably. The overgrown flesh buds had become enormous, each one the size of a child.

They were now like food being processed in an open digestive system. "Villi" were constantly peeling away their outer walls, transporting them toward the cavern where the blue meteor had just crashed.

While the monsters were merging, the Casters had gotten a brief respite. A few of them had worked together to barely patch the Lonely Boat with a token Protective Force Field and, more usefully, cast a Floating Skill, which allowed them all to float away from the dangerous, flesh-covered ground.

The rest were busy researching escape routes, trying to use a Teleportation Array. However, they discovered in despair that all coordinates were severely jammed. The one time they got a reaction, it wasn’t a success—before the Magic Array could fully activate, a foul stench spewed forth from the other side. It seemed the Mother Goddess’s power had tampered with the destination.

This dispiriting discovery had no effect on Richard.

He stood at the highest point of the drifting "house-boat," constantly watching their surroundings and fending off monsters. Richard wasn’t a navigator trying to steer everyone out of the danger zone; his conviction lay in finding the person who had initiated the ritual.

At this point, in Richard’s eyes, whether the ritual could be stopped and everyone could survive was no longer important. Making sure the person who had doomed an entire city received their just punishment—that was what mattered most.

He saw a dim, black hemisphere rise on the horizon, eclipsing even the faint light of dawn.

The entire Flesh and Blood Carpet began to surge toward the lightless sphere, moving faster and faster, until it was flowing in waves like a flood. Fortunately, the wreckage he stood on was being held aloft by the other Mages, allowing it to remain stationary relative to the ground’s frame of reference.

Countless fragments of buildings flew past him. Suddenly, the sharp-eyed Richard spotted something: on a piece of housing wreckage that had just gone by, there appeared to be a person lying prone.