The Heavenly Martial Empress Returns: An OP Xianxia Returnee LitRPG

Chapter 174: A New Plan To Revive The Mechanical Gods

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(Bing Xue’s POV)

Today, a lot happened—perhaps too many things at once. The night had finally fallen, and as I left my Doppelgangers to protect my city and the surrounding area, while I also monitored other areas of the world to see if everything was alright, I had a conversation with my family.

I had kind of already explained them various things already, including the origin of that young man whose power could match mine, if not surpass it. They already knew who he was, but we were all in such a hurry we had little time to sit down and talk.

But after everything happened and both my Sect and the government started working on everything, I finally had time to return to my Golden Pagoda with Merneith, who had ended up being caught in the middle of everything.

I reinforced the city's defenses and also my surveillance, but I can’t just do everything myself or humanity will get conceited, so I also let the agents, knights, and other members of this country handle things on their own.

“So many damn crazy things happened today…” said Ruby as she was eating ramen, slurping the noodles and drinking the broth. “But the craziest one was a future son of my sister appearing out of nowhere... And then superheroes and villains straight out of a comic book appear from mini portals! Like, seriously?!”

“I had always thought that these parallel timeline worlds were generated from something in history going differently,” said my mother. “That something different happened through our natural history or even prehistory. But this world with superheroes and so on doesn’t seem to be that way, right? It’s bizarre.”

“I guess that theory has been debunked with what happened,” I said, eating meat-filled dumplings and then drinking some green tea. “These parallel timelines might be more derivative than what we believed. But for now, no more gray portals have appeared so far, so for now, they’re the only threat.”

“The good thing is that they came with superheroes too…” Juan sighed in relief. “They’re handling the villains, right?”

“They aren’t the most efficient, but they’re at least taking it as their responsibility to take them down,” I explained. “However, they’re cowards that hesitate to kill evildoers; that is something I cannot really understand… So I’m using my Doppelgangers to finish these monsters off. While helping or reviving any victim I find and bringing them to safety. Because they were more than we expected and can camouflage among humans, it’s dangerous to even step out of your house, so the King issued a curfew for the rest of the night, which might extend until tomorrow.”

“Well, I hope everything is alright…” Urbosa sighed. “Hm, but what about our son?”

“He’s fine,” I said. “Yeah, it was a rough beginning. But he’s healthy and okay… I also want to talk with him and make him see reason, but it seems he really doesn’t want to. At the very least, he has calmed down and doesn’t act hostile anymore.”

I wanted to meet him; of course I did. I wanted to listen to his past; I wanted to comfort him; I wanted to do so much, but he didn’t want to cooperate. And I wasn’t going to start fighting with him again because I wanted to force him into becoming friendlier or something.

Unfortunately, this is an issue that can only be solved with time. At the very least, I don’t have to worry about him as he’s strong, stronger than me, and he also doesn’t have bad intentions either; he wants to protect this world as well.

However, whenever the opportunity arises, I’ll go help him, and we’ll talk. I’ll try to slowly, step by step, reach his heart and let him open up to me... or, well, us.

At least, it is confirmed that he’s Urbosa’s son, and he seemed to have reacted much differently with her than me.

I can already guess I died in that timeline before he grew up enough, so he probably barely knew me... But Urbosa? He definitely remembered her a lot, and with sorrow in his eyes.

She most likely also died… He did say everyone died, so that means that he was the lone survivor of Earth.

This is a future where Seth didn’t come from either; it’s another separate timeline… One where my death caused the end of everything.

So that means that I am truly the only one that can protect everyone and everything from destruction?

…

No, he’s here as well, even if he was unable to protect the world he came from, which was already ruined.

Now that he’s here, he’ll definitely use his strength to protect this one.

Hah, so many things to think and worry about…

I think I need a summer vacation or something.

Maybe if we go inside my Inner Realm and I accelerate the time there, I’ll be able to rest my mind and soul, and everyone else can also rest.

I had been considering doing this: let the kids grow up inside my Inner Realm so they come out ready to face this dangerous world.

Because raising babies while all of this is happening is not a good idea…

Not wait until they’re adults, but at least until they can walk, talk, and defend themselves a bit better.

I’ll have to talk about this with my wives first, though.

“It’s alright, Urbosa; he’s fine,” said Merkite. “And he was super strong, so I’m sure he’ll be fine anywhere. You said he looked a lot at you, right? So I bet he wanted to be with you, but he’s a bit… well, he’s wounded in the heart, right? So let him grieve first, let him calm down, and move on. You know how men in our tribe are, always holding up their feelings, trying to look tough outside.”

“Right… I guess he’s truly my son,” Urbosa patted her belly. “Or well, the son of another version of myself… I wonder if it's even right to call him my son when my own is right here, slowly growing inside my belly.”

“If the other version of ourselves was so similar, I think it’s fine,” I said. “And honestly… Just thinking about him makes me really proud, if not a bit frustrated. Haha… He’s amazingly strong. And he has so many incredible techniques. He inherited our powers and elevated them to a completely different realm. He’s done what I’ve been trying to do all this time, that young man.”

“I… I think he was quite handsome,” smiled Urbosa. “He really took a lot from you, honey. He had your charm and beauty.”

“Aw, don’t say it like that; he also took a lot from you too! His cute ears, tail, and fur, his eyes and his nails, his powers too—he definitely had the wolf bloodline,” I said. “And he seemed very proud of his appearance as well.”

“It makes me… happy to see how our baby will turn out. But this time, let’s not leave him alone,” Urbosa said. “Whatever happened to us in that timeline, we definitely cannot let it happen to us in this one.”

“Yeah, we won’t,” I nodded. “I swear.”

“Ugh, to think I only have these photos to see how my brother looked like!” said Hekita, who was rather frustrated as she checked her smartphone.

She already had one, which my sister had gifted to her, and the very day she got it, she registered to several social media sites and was looking at the news of today.

I don’t know if it’s okay for a kid to get into the internet so soon though… I better monitor her, so she doesn’t get into shady pages.

“But yeah, he’s so handsome!” she said. “And cute, my little brother! I want to meet him so badly! I wonder if we could arrange a meeting?”

“I really don’t know,” said Urbosa. “He’s… he has his own problems right now, dear.”

“But I want to see him! He was so tall, and his tail was so big and fluffy! To think our fur could gain mommy’s hair color. So he’s silvery-white furred! Such a rare color!” said Hekita.

“Yeah, he’s quite the looker,” nodded Merkite, giggling. “So my baby will also be like him then? Wow!”

“I wonder how our kid is going to look now…” Mursha wondered, drinking a huge jug of cold goat milk. “Hmm, at least I know it’s going to be as cute as Bing Xue.”

“Ooh! Fiery Hair wonders the same,” Fiery Hair nodded. “Can’t wait for cute babies…”

They’re really looking forward to it, even more after seeing him.

“I forgot to ask him his name though…” I sighed. “If we knew, we could have called our son like him then… Or maybe not? I wonder if that would have changed something.”

“Maybe that’s why he didn’t say his name,” said Urbosa. “Perhaps he’s waiting for us to name our kid to confirm if he’s truly a parallel, future version of our kid or not.”

“Hmm…” I nodded. “You’re right.”

As we talked, I noticed Merneith’s face was constantly changing and becoming more uncomfortable.

“I feel quite embarrassed to be at this family dinner…” Merneith muttered. “Is it really okay for me to be in here? I can’t see anybody else but your family, Bing Xue…”

“Well, for now, I think it’s ok if you stay with us,” I said. “The family that came with you from your own world is in jail, so… I guess I thought it was alright if you became my family for now.”

“Y-Your family?! Really?” Merneith gasped. “But this is…”

“It’s fine!” Hekita said it happily. “Merneith’s my best friend, so I think it’s fine, right? And Anubis and Ra are also friends.”

“I-I guess…” Merneith nodded. “Well, thanks. But don’t think I have nowhere to return; El Cairo’s also like my home… or I like to think it is.”

“Of course,” I nodded. “It is your home too, without a doubt! For now, however, shall we go to my Inner Realm? The Mechanical Gods fragments are still there, and I’ve gathered quite a lot of interesting materials we could use to improve and repair them, or even revive them.”

“That sounds great,” said Merneith. “And sure! Let’s go. I came here for that very reason after all.”

Once we finished having dinner, Merneith quickly followed me to my Inner Realm. I left the portal open too, so anybody that wanted to see entered right after we did. Hekita was also invited, as we needed her help too.

“Oh, this is…?! I thought they were still a pile of scrap?!”

Merneith gasped as we moved through the large palace within my Inner Realm; the “pile of scrap” that the Mechanical Egyptian Gods had become was now much more different.

I had repaired them however I could. Although their parts were still separated, I polished, restructured, and reformed their forms to their original shapes.

So instead of being piles of malformed metal, it was as if Merneith had been given all the pieces to build something with them.

“Oh, the Mechanical Gods had been repaired much more than I imagined…” she said. “Although they aren’t back together, with these pieces laid out on this flat surface, it could be possible to reassemble them if we use the technology of the pyramids.”

“So it’s possible!” I nodded. “I had been trying to revive them myself, but it proved impossible. I think the pyramids could help, but I believe they’re missing something important.”

“Important?” Merneith wondered.

“They lack hearts! They have none…” Hekita said.

“Hearts?” asked Merneith. “Wait, you mean the cores they possess? Right, they aren’t here…”

“I tried to reconstruct them,” I explained. “But it was impossible; the cores of Mechanical Gods are composed of crystalized causality formed from belief, faith, and a “story” related to the god’s mythology. Not something I could replicate. I could probably make new ones, but they would be completely unrelated to these Gods.”

“Hmm…” Merneith nodded. “So that’s what’s missing, that Spider-Monster; did she eat them?”

“She did,” I nodded. “When I took a piece of her soul, I was unable to reclaim what she took from these machines, so they are still like this… By now, she must have already fully assimilated their Stories. So… recovering them to what they used to might be completely impossible.”

“T-This… I see…” Merneith smiled a bit. “I had already given up on them completely, to be honest, but to see that the materials are mostly all repaired, it’s nice… Did you add new materials?”

“I added special alloys and crystals from my Inner Realm that came from Murim,” I explained. “They had become several times tougher, more flexible, and could possibly hold Immortal Ki within their systems now.”

“Ooh…” Merneith was surprised. “Hekita, what do you think we should do?”

“Huh? But shouldn’t you be deciding this, Merneith?” Hekita tilted her head.

“Yeah, maybe, but at the same time, I just… don’t know,” Merneith sighed. “So I’m also asking for your opinion.”

Hekita wagged her tail, getting happier she was being relied on.

“Well! If you say so… Hmm!” She looked around. “I think we could revive them, but they might become different… I have an idea though! Although I was able to help Anubis evolve and be repaired on my own, I might need help to do it for these… With mom and my aunties! Mama, remember how they received the divine power of the Beast Gods of Elios?”

“Oh?” I gasped. “Wait, you don’t mean… Hekita, I think you might be onto something.” I nodded.

“Right? Let’s call them over!” said Hekita.

Those that received the Divine Beast Gods of Elios’ blessings and powers, if they use this very power to crystalize into new cores for these Mechanical Gods, could be reborn as new machines.

At the same time, if I help by adding my own Faith and Divinity, then it would be possible for them to not grow weaker from doing this, and these Divine Beast Gods could even revive through the machines.

Maybe, I am not too sure. As long as their essence remains, it could allow for some sort of revival, a recreation. However, I don’t know if my girls would like to pilot them?

Maybe some of them would enjoy it, but I think they like to fight physically better.

Well, it’s not as if that matters; I believe Hekita could control them anyway; we’ll have to see.

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