The Crimson Nova
The Crimson Nova
"A part of the tomes belonging to the Disciples of Glory have records and knowledge from other religions. These records aren't part of the official scripture, but every high level clergy studies them to get a better understanding of what happened in the past. This includes stories and myths," Big Beardy explained slowly. "I've read this from the tomes; that a small sect in the south of Holletta had propagated a story about the Manular Nova.
Hao Ren's ears perked up. "Tell me more."
"The Manular Nova is also called the Manular Banestar. It was a story from the south of Holletta and was part of the heresy used by a heretical sect to influence the people. The stories say that in the east of the skies, lay a hidden, ancient Banestar that was playing dead. It was called 'Manular', the eye that the goddess of creation left to monitor the world after the destruction of the old world. This Banestar was as red as blood, and it was engulfed by a flame that burned for eternity. Ten thousand years ago, the prelude to the goddess's destruction of the world was the appearance of the star in the sky. With Manular's gaze, the land went ablaze. After the apocalypse, the goddess closed her eyes, and the Banestar returned to slumber in the darkness as well. But after a period of time, the Manular Nova will reappear as it did 10,000 years ago, heralding the end of the world."
Hao Ren rubbed his chin. "Seems like it's very close to the records of Tannagost... A supernova?"
"Seems very close indeed," the MDT agreed. "I've calculated the timeline of Tannagost as well as Holletta, and the incident happened at the same point of time. The crimson supernova recorded probably refers to the same thing."
A bold assumption appeared in Hao Ren's mind, and it seemed plausible with all the evidence he had at that moment. Trying his luck, he hypothesized, "Could that be the goddess' real form?"
The MDT appeared to immediately catch on to what Hao Ren had in mind. "Based on the scene you saw last time?"
"If what I saw was real, then the goddess of creation is probably on an oceanic planet that's covered by a sea of blood. At least the color matches. Perhaps some sort of supernatural power allowed this planet to be seen like a star elsewhere." Hao Ren nodded. "All this... is just too coincidental. Both Tannagost and Holletta saw a red supernova before they were destroyed. Seems just too fishy to me."
"But therein lies a problem," the MDT reminded. "Both Holletta and Tannagost are at least a billion of light years apart. Even light would need billions of years to travel that distance. So, that's to say, after Arkana I or Manular went supernova, it would take tens of billions of years for the Hollettans and the Tannaeans to see it. If that's the case, the speed of the First Born's apocalypse and the supernova is simply too horrifying."
"What if the First Born only went on a rampage after being exposed to the crimson light?" Hao Ren rubbed his chin.
The MDT agreed with the theory. "Hmm.. there's a possiblity. If the goddess of creation is a real god, then anything to do with her may indeed defy the laws of the universe."
Lily chomped on the rabbit leg as she listened to Hao Ren and the MDT discuss about the goddess of creation. She suddenly looked up. "Can we pinpoint its position with the information we have?"
"We won't be able to triangulate its position with just two points I'm afraid." Hao Ren waved his hand. "You'll need at least four points. And we don't even know how far the crimson star is from Holletta or Tannagost. We only know that the explosion could be seen from both planets. Hence, we need to look for two other points in space based on the supernova's timing. Only then can we discern where it actually is. Besides, this is also based on the waxing and waning of the glow being on a regulated rhythm. If it's random, then there's no way to look for it."
"If it's even there in the first place," the MDT interjected. "From the various reports... after the supernova, the star was no longer visible. It could very well have been totally annihilated."
"There should be something left." Hao Ren shook his head. "Even just debris will do. At least I'll have something to show Raven 12345."
At the point, Big Beardy spoke and his voice was grim. "You think that the Manular Banestar is the goddess of creation herself."
Hao Ren then remembered he had a member of the clergy next to him and quickly added, "It's just a possible home for the goddess of creation... While this may be heresy, you know just as well that the history of the Disciples of Glory have been spotty, so we need to look at this from all angles. Say... what became of that heretic cult?"
"Them? Heh, after years of doomsday predictions and none of them happening, their heretic pope ran out of ideas and couldn't come up with an explanation. So, he found a convenience excuse to expunge his heretical scriptures, and he was beaten to death in front of his house by a bunch of disenchanted followers. We were lucky that we managed to recover two of their tomes."
Hao Ren had cold sweat running down his forehead. "Well... that's one lesson to not dig your own grave..."
"So, this supernova will be included in our future searches. At least we now have something on the goddess of creation." The MDT's surface glowed blue as it included the data regarding the supernova into its system. It then tapped Hao Ren on the shoulder. "Say... your plan should give this star a proper designation, right? The Tannaeans called it Arkana I, the Hollettans called it Manular, we should have a unified term for it."
Hao Ren rubbed his chin again as he demurred. "This star is as red as blood, and it heralds death and destruction. How about we call it the Red Comet?
Lily smacked him on the arm with her tail. "Copyright infringement."
"Then... Sparkly Red Star?"
Lily literally bit into the bone of her rabbit leg as she heard this. "Mr. Landlord, give it some more thought."
Cold sweat quickly formed as Hao Ren tried to figure out another name. "If we are to go by Hollettan myths, this star is in the east... so shall we call it Eastern Red..."
Lily gave out a long sigh. "Can't we just call it the Crimson Nova? If you want it to sound cool, adding Nova will do the job..."
The MDT quickly filed the name as Lily rolled her eyes at Hao Ren. "Your naming ability is worse than a husky."
Hao Ren was stunned. This dumb lass had previously been so indignant when someone called her a doggie, but now she was so proud of her own identity... This was clearly a case of cognitive dissonance!
Hence, the star, which appeared in the legends of both the Hollettana and Tannaeans was named the Crimson Nova. As of now, Hao Ren had no way to work on this celestial body, so he just bookmarked it until he could gather more information on the star when he came across the opportunity.
Two days later, a message came from the Petrachelys. The mass production of the interference formula for putting the First Born into slumber and the cognitive suppression device (i.e. an imitation of the Sacred Sarcophagus) had been completed. Hao Ren now planned to visit New Aerym and activate his one billion tenants.
Y'lisabet knew that she was about to go back to see her people, and had woken up early to doll herself up. At least now, she looked the part of a princess, rather than the runt who kept having soot on her face. Y'zaks would also be tagging along. He wanted to see how Helcrown was doing.
Aside from that, Lily and the Nangong siblings also joined the party. The husky was a given. Going out without her was nearly impossible. Nangong Sanba wanted to see things for himself. He had never seen the one billion tenants on Hao Ren's planet, and Hao Ren thought it was high time to show the demon hunter what an "inspector" actually did.
Nangong Wuyue's reason to visit was rather simple: she missed New Aerym's vast oceans and planned to go for a long swim, to enjoy some time as a mantis shrimp...
The rest stayed home to look after the house. Besides, the teleportation gate to New Aerym was just in the basement. This was not a long voyage in any case, not for this bunch who were capable of cross-dimension teleportation.
As Hao Ren led his crew down and was about to activate the teleporter, Rollie appeared out of nowhere. The cat girl happily circled around Hao Ren. "Big Boss Cat! Are you going out to play?"
Hao Ren did not understand her. "No, I'm not going out to play, I'm going out for some business..."
"Meow? So you're playing business?" She seemed to have totally misunderstood him. Happily meowing, she put on her collar and passed the leash to Hao Ren. "Bring me along! Bring me along!"
Hao Ren was taken aback, but something then struck him as he nodded cheerfully. "Come on then, let's go!"