Devouring—without question, it was an exceedingly powerful ability.
While gaining new powers, it could also, to some extent, discard the drawbacks of what was devoured; that was why they weren't afraid of seawater.
Who knew—perhaps one day they would give even themselves a surprise.
With the devouring ability as a base, tremor and darkness were only a beginning.
Brandon White and Angel Zhixin had left, but Skyler Quinn and the other two were left adrift, uncertain.
If they hadn't guessed wrong, that angel was probably from another world, wasn't she?
That "great platform" Brandon had once mentioned—the one that could link the myriad worlds.
After all, they had never truly seen it. Even though the world had already changed like this—Devil Fruits, Imperial Relics, armored suits appearing one after another—there were still people who harbored a sliver of doubt, thinking that perhaps there was no such platform that connected the ten thousand realms.
That all of this was merely the ability of the [Authority of Nature].
But in truth—what difference would that make?
If everything really did come from the [Authority of Nature], wouldn't that only make Brandon's power more terrifying?
If Brandon knew what those people were thinking, he would be speechless.
Did he need such lies to set off his abilities?
From the moment he had communicated with Earth's consciousness and learned that his future would inevitably be as the main god of Earth's civilization, he had long since disdained deceiving others with falsehoods.
A civilization's main god—his attitude and character often determined the direction of that civilization; his subjective will became that civilization's tag.
In the eyes of other civilizations, Brandon's will would be the tag of Earth's civilization.
Just as Holy Keisha's justice had set the justice-tag upon angelic civilization, and Morgana's evil and fall had set the evil-tag upon demonic civilization, and so on.
Therefore Brandon did not want to treat others with lies, and he disdained lying.
When faced with certain questions, he might choose to answer honestly, or he might choose not to answer—but he would never choose to lie.
Brandon didn't know why Earth would grant such a crucial power as the [Authority of Nature] to him, or why it regarded him with such closeness and gentleness. But since he enjoyed such treatment, he would give his all to guide Earth's civilization to become stronger.
Skyler and Chris Frost both turned to look at Firewing. If there was anyone in Huaxia who might know the newcomer's identity, it could only be Firewing.
Among those in contact with Brandon after the resurgence of spiritual energy, she had been the one to see him the most.
"Don't look at me like that. How could I possibly know—uh, wait."
"I think… I actually do."
Firewing had been about to snap at the two for staring, but after thinking a moment, she realized she might really know.
The very first time, when Brandon had asked her for a list of figurines to materialize, "angels" had been among the entries—specifically, the three angel kings from Xiongbing Lian.
Later, curious, she had asked Brandon about angelic civilization in that series, because she had learned those worlds weren't mere fantasy but truly existed.
Naturally, that made her curious.
Back then, Brandon had said—
"The strongest warriors of the known 'Transcendent Universe,' and also the most beautiful angels."
"They fight for love, for justice—without hesitation."
"They have the fairest faces and figures, kind hearts, ageless visages, endless lives; they never curry favor or chase fame and profit. They see through true love among mortals and are willing to descend to the human world for it, swearing to protect—even if the one they love is poor, is a nobody, is living a miserable life."
"In the beautiful wishes of humankind, if every civilization wished for such a thing, then one civilization would surely realize it—that is the angelic civilization."
Firewing recited Brandon's words from memory, one by one. She didn't think she was praising them—she was describing them as objective fact.
The fairest faces and figures, kind hearts, ageless visages, endless lives; never currying favor or chasing profit.
Fighting for love and for justice, with no thought of turning back.
Descending for love, not caring about the other person's identity or personality…
Such a beautiful kind of being could probably only exist in a world of imagination.
By contrast, even without the resurgence of spiritual energy, there had always been things within humanity that clashed with morality; the internet seethed with quarrels and outrage—people eager to slap even a dog twice if it wandered past.
After the resurgence of spiritual energy, those quarrels had, oddly enough, quieted.
"Matters of other worlds aren't for us to take part in. What we should focus on is what's in front of us."
Firewing shook her head and looked toward the mutant orca and the mutant giant octopus.
"One thing we can be sure of—after seeing Brandon, the mutant orca is not going to stab us in the back."
Even now that Brandon had left, the two mutant sea beasts remained in a daze, their bodies trembling on instinct.
"In that case, let's continue."
She glanced at the other two.
"The sooner we finish this, the better."
Skyler nodded, a spark flickering in his eyes.
When Brandon returned to the villa with Angel Zhixin, the first thing that met the eye was a pair of Pikachu chasing each other in circles. With those familiar, adorable faces—if not for an angel's natural reserve, she would have scooped them up and cuddled them on the spot.
Angelic civilization had also purchased Pokémon, but perhaps because they were too irresistibly cute, neither Holy Keisha nor the Tianji King He Xi had considered sending them over for research.
As a result, Angel Zhixin—who spent nearly all her time in scientific work—seldom had opportunities to interact with them.
She could have chosen to keep Pokémon by her side, but thinking of how long she stayed in the lab, she worried they would be lonely, and so she gave up on the idea.
"Brandon, you're back?"
"Is that a guest?"
Doraemon, who had been playing games, heard the sound of the door and came out of the room—straight into Angel Zhixin's line of sight.
Though Doraemon wasn't a Pokémon, that round head, that perfect fusion of cat and tanuki, those blue-and-white colors—there was a different sort of cuteness there.
In some people's eyes, it was not one bit inferior to a Pokémon. At least, in Brandon's eyes, that was true.
Angel Zhixin watched the way her gaze slid from the Pikachu to Doraemon and could see at a glance how much she liked the little robot.
But after a few seconds, doubt suddenly appeared in Zhixin's eyes.
Involuntarily, she stepped closer, examining Doraemon's body from left and right.
"Don't stare at me like that. It's embarrassing."
Doraemon couldn't help taking two steps back. Though it was a cat-type robot with a more feline aesthetic, it still felt a bit shy under Angel Zhixin's gaze.
"How strange."
Zhixin tilted her head, as if she hadn't heard Doraemon at all.
If she wasn't mistaken, this cute blue-and-white cat should be a robot, its various parts composed of technologies at differing levels.
Those technologies were even more advanced than those of angelic civilization, and yet—at the very least—she could still tell it was technology.
But this… was strange.
(End of this chapter)