**Chapter 725: 25. The Spreading Not Me**
“Angels?”
As soon as these words were spoken, not only did Fisher’s expression change slightly, but Renee and Gouwen were also affected.
Gouwen looked incredulously at the black mycelium beside him, again pinching the removed mycelium powder with his fingers. He could only confirm that these fungi were alive, yet no matter how he thought about it, he could not compare them to the angels they had seen with their own eyes tens of thousands of years ago.
After feeling the texture passing under his fingertips, Gouwen quickly raised his eyes to look at Fisher, exchanging a glance with him.
“Ku ku.”
In this spacious area behind the door, the pulsating mushrooms occasionally gave a sensation like breaking pustules, making Fisher’s brows furrow, while David lightly reached out to stroke the mushroom bubble in front of him, softly saying to Fisher,
“Mr. Fisher, although I do not wish to admit that these things in front of us are the Holy Spawn, there is a feeling that always tells me they are…”
“The angels.”
In the next moment, a faint glow shot from David’s eyes. The light swept up and down the mushroom packages in front of him, and after a brief pause, another beam of light shot out from them, outlining bright contours out of thin air.
If those black mycelium formed mushroom packages represented a body of swollen flesh, then what David outlined was the muscles and bones of an individual. Under the bright light, a basic human-like frame began to take shape.
Moreover, David even imitated the actions of the simulated figure. As a result, Fisher was able to see the figure raise its arms to block, its body slightly curled, as if facing some terrible enemy.
“Based on the concentration of mycelium in the mushroom packages, one can generally outline a human form, and the remaining less dense areas were formed later. In other words, Mr. Fisher, these protruding mushroom packages are parts of the angels’ bodies.”
“These… are all the work of Hamon Hamon.”
“Yes, all of this was done by **me**.”
At that moment, a calm female voice suddenly echoed behind Fisher. Turning around, he happened to see Hamon Hamon, depicted as a woman with a snake body. She admitted to Fisher’s speculation, not showing any more emotion, simply stating,
“I have checked the rest of the parts; there are no critical areas damaged. We can continue with the banquet now.”
“Banquet?”
Gouwen stood up from the mycelium spreading on the ground, squinting at Hamon Hamon and asked,
“So, we are continuing your banquet on these angels’ bodies?”
“Corpses?”
Hamon Hamon tilted her head slightly, extending her finger towards the mycelium on the ground, she questioned,
“They are not dead; you should be easily able to check that. They are all still alive.”
“You…”
Gouwen wanted to say something, but Fisher raised a hand to stop him because from Hamon Hamon’s eyes, he genuinely realized she was in doubt.
Did she really believe that these angels were not dead?
“Hiss, hiss.”
Hamon Hamon flicked her snake tongue, looking at the mushroom packages that David had outlined into human shapes, seemingly reminiscing about something, she said to Fisher and the others,
“Thousands of years ago, I fulfilled my covenant with Dream by coming to settle accounts with the traitors who stole the results; I used Dream’s method to place a tiny part of my power into the body of the Trans, sending it into this world. But that Trans resisted me for a long time, and his willpower was much stronger than I had anticipated, causing the power I left in his body to never grow robust…”
“Until that war.”
The Mythical War, huh.
As Hamon Hamon spoke, she stepped forward, making gestures to lead the way. Fisher caught a glimpse of her snake tail cautiously sliding past the protruding mushroom packages, as if afraid to touch them.
“The war was started by you, caused by the moon. You brought down terrifying powers for the fragile humans, igniting long-standing grudges between demigods and mythical beings, spreading the whirlpool of war throughout the world.”
“That wasn’t me; that was my predecessor.”
“Wasn’t it you?”
Hamon Hamon only calmly countered the question. Renee paused for a moment before replying,
“No, no, it wasn’t.”
“Is that so?”
Hamon Hamon did not press the topic further, continuing to recount the past war,
“The war continued for a long time. The angels beside the Trans sensed danger and built numerous shelters in the Spirit Realm as a retreat. But a retreat is merely a retreat; war does not allow for retreats, especially not for the angels, who saw themselves as supreme creators.
“As the war continued, the angel casualties grew, until you, or rather your authority, your predecessor, the one they, used authority to invade the crevice and sealed the demons, resulting in the destruction of the material boundaries, and the angels’ homeland fell…”
“At that time, that powerful angel beside the Trans was present; he was right there where the Holy Realm fell, also affected by the collapse of the material boundaries.”
Fisher and Gouwen’s footsteps halted abruptly, as if they simultaneously realized something.
Ten thousand years ago, the five of them acted together.
Hela, Fisher, Gouwen, Tang Zeming Asuka, and Mikhail.
The Trans to whom Hamon Hamon’s power was entrusted was Mikhail. Therefore, the powerful angel beside the Trans she spoke of was…
“Michael.”
“Michael was in the Holy Realm when it fell?”
“Dad.”
Hamon Hamon nodded and continued,
“The great harm inflicted on that angel during the fall of the Holy Realm gave me the opportunity to awaken. It also tore a massive wound from that Trans’s heart. I crawled out from that wound and, as I had hoped, began spreading destruction in this world.
“My chaos began to contaminate the consciousness of the Trans; my creations began to alter everything he had created. They opposed me, and you all should know what happened afterwards. I and everyone with me were sealed here and have not left since until the external network allowed us to see the light of day again.”
When Hamon Hamon mentioned these things, her expression was neither sad nor happy. Despite discussing content closely related to her, it sounded more like a third-party description, having little to do with herself.
Fisher quickly found the key in everything she said and asked,
“So, after you were sealed, what exactly happened during the time locked together with the angels here? Why didn’t you continue your past mission but instead invite us to your banquet, even daring to kill the Incarnation of the Ocean?”
“My power instantaneously contaminated everything here; everything began to change, spreading Not Me… In fact, later on, the shelter that sealed us also completely changed its nature due to my power. It was no longer a cage for me, but something I simply didn’t wish to leave.”
Indeed, upon entering here earlier, the very surface of the shelter had even grown a massive eye, clearly showing it was in a state of deep pollution.
But if that was the case, why didn’t Hamon Hamon want to leave?
Why did she suddenly seem entirely different from the destructive foreign deity of the past?
Fisher did not pursue the question further because as Hamon Hamon wobbled ahead, he was increasingly approaching the so-called “reason.”
At this moment, they had already crossed many mycelia. The surrounding mycelia grew thinner, revealing an extremely clean ground.
On the other side of this great door was a cylindrical space, approximately dozens of meters high. Upon arriving here, Hamon Hamon finally stopped her forward steps since meeting Fisher.
She abruptly halted here and said to Fisher and the others,
“We have arrived.”
Fisher looked up, only to see that at the midpoint of the cylindrical space, everywhere connected white mycelium that was completely different from the black mycelium ahead, covered every visible part like a spider web.
Not far in front of them, at the end of the white mycelium, which looked like a throne or a bed, a true angelic figure emerged.
“That is…”
In the center of that white mycelium, there was a strikingly beautiful red-haired angel, whose gender was indiscernible. He wore a set of tattered angel armor, with his eyes tightly shut, and on his pure white skin were cracks like those seen on broken ceramics.
The angel, known among the seven archangels, had not changed in appearance compared to ten thousand years ago. However, at this moment, he had lost an arm, and his ethereal wings had disappeared, with his halo also dimmed.
He lowered his head, keeping his eyes tightly closed, with his remaining arm embracing a motionless human male, who similarly had his eyes closed.
This man bore many embedded cybernetic implants that lessened the scent of humanity emanating from his body. Yet, upon closer inspection, he was also using one arm to tightly embrace that angel from behind.
It was indeed Mikhail and Archangel Michael.
They were truly still alive?
“Dad! Mom!”
Upon seeing that pair embracing within the white mycelium, David could no longer contain himself and floated forward. His call for Michael and Mikhail resonated with the Emhart in Fisher’s arms, and he pushed his head out as he watched David rush towards them.
He should have known that when he heard Hamon Hamon recount the angels’ war, he should have known that Gabriel might have…
Thus, at this moment, Emhart’s expression grew somewhat complicated.
But as David gradually flew towards that direction, the breeze lifted by his rapidly moving body gently blew forward, causing the figures of Michael and Mikhail embracing to sway.
Fisher’s pupils constricted, and he softly shouted,
“Don’t move! David!”
“Mr. Fisher?”
“Rumble!”
David’s forward motion stuttered slightly, but above him, the thick, heavy white mycelium suddenly came to life. Sensing David’s approach, a fist made of mycelium smashed down towards the halted David.
“Whoosh!”
Fortunately, in the split second before that fist landed, Fisher became a blur and swiftly grabbed the stunned David, pulling him back.
“Boom!”
That enormous mycelium exploded with power equivalent to the Nineteen Rank, but thankfully, it was not fast, and Fisher had plenty of time to pull David away.
However, as they attempted to retreat, more fine mycelium inexplicably spread from that pristine white mycelium towards Fisher and David, as if angered and unwilling to give up.
“Woo…”
Furthermore, Fisher heard the sound of humanlike whimpering from that mycelium.
These things…
Fisher frowned and had already brought David back to Renee and Gouwen’s side. As he stared at the pursuing white mycelium, he was about to draw his Fluid Sword when Hamon Hamon already stood in front of them.
“Zz.”
Strangely, when those mycelium merely approached Hamon Hamon, it seemed that a chemical reaction occurred out of nowhere, initiating extremely drastic changes.
It began to produce thick smoke, as if being burned, and with the smoke spreading out, the trailing ends of the charging mycelium bizarrely transformed into some sort of colorful crystals.
Hamon Hamon’s authority had activated, and Fisher sensed the emergence of this authority’s power. Being particularly sensitive, he noticed it was similar to the chaos he had felt before.
“Click, click, click!”
Afterward, the crystals were dragged down by gravity towards the ground.
“Woo, woo, woo~”
Watching the damage occur, the colossal white mycelium in front let out subtle whimpering sounds but no longer chased forward; instead, it cautiously withdrew the pursuing mycelium, and that previously fallen giant fist slowly lifted back to mid-air.
“Over there.”
Strangely, after that gigantic fist was raised, the clearly defined forms of Michael and Mikhail suddenly disappeared.
“Dad… Mom!”
David’s analytical processor seemed to overload, leaving him stunned in place, while Fisher, who had just seen Michael and Mikhail being blown by the breeze, wore a grim expression.
He looked at Hamon Hamon, who stood silently in front of them, and confidently stated to her,
“That white mycelium is Michael and Mikhail, isn’t it?”
“…”
In the next second, on the surface of that white mycelium, patches of colorful mycelium began to float up.
Under the manipulation of the mycelium, those mycelial particles condensed in the air like obsessions or phantoms, forming the scene of Michael and Mikhail embracing that they had just seen.
That scene was calm, unchanged in any way, as if time had been frozen by those mycelia, forever capturing their figures in that moment.
Hamon Hamon did not respond immediately to this but stared at the distant solidified image, and her eyes for the first time sparkled with a lively light.
She remained silent for a long time before finally snapping out of some thoughts and reflections.
“Hiss… hiss…”
She flicked her tongue, looked at Fisher, and nodded, saying,
“That’s right, Mr. Fisher. That is the angel and the Trans I am hosted within.”
Fisher raised his gaze towards the enormous white mycelium above. From this angle, the thick mass of mycelium resembled the embracing posture of the two below, just like an enlarged outline of a hug, narrating the story before they became like this.
(End of Chapter)
