The Forging

Returning to the time when the ancient gods on the earth had just begun their revival, Eirin, with the assistance of Toyohime, teleported to the Lunar Capital. There, she saw the site prepared for the liberation of Chang'e.

At the bottom of a massive crater tens of kilometers in diameter, a steel bridge had been erected over the Abyss of the Seal, which led directly to the lunar core. Standing by the bridge were several moon rabbits and a young girl dressed in formal attire—it was none other than Princess Kaguya in her magnificent robes.

"Lady Eirin..." Seeing Eirin approach, Princess Kaguya spoke with a smile. Eirin responded with a nod.

"Mhm... Are you ready? Little Princess..."

"Kaguya is ready and can begin at any time," she continued, her eyes filled with earnestness and fervor. Looking at Princess Kaguya, a trace of complexity appeared in Eirin's eyes.

"Though we have made many preparations, no amount of emergency measures can be called perfect when facing Chang'e. Becoming a temporary vessel for Chang'e carries an inherent and indelible risk, even though Uka-no-Mitama-no-Mikoto has already established a contract with her..." Eirin spoke in a serious tone, looking intently at the princess. Princess Kaguya responded with a firm voice.

"It is fine, Lady Eirin. Besides, the situation on the ground is not optimistic. We no longer have the luxury of time to make perfect preparations. Furthermore, Kaguya believes that Mother can control the situation, and Kaguya truly wishes to be of help to her."

"Yes... you are right. The current situation does not allow for perfect preparations. If it weren't for the fact that Chang'e is currently too weak and Reisen has lost her aptitude, you shouldn't have been the one to take on this task." Eirin sighed as she looked at the determined princess.

The method Eirin and the others were using to release Chang'e was the same as what Ao and his group had done before: providing Chang'e with a body so she could break through the seal on her own. Princess Kaguya would serve as the temporary vessel.

Using Princess Kaguya as a vessel for Chang'e was a choice born of necessity. During the process of repairing Reisen's body, Chang'e had also restored all the messy physical modifications the lunarians had performed on her. Consequently, Reisen had lost her aptitude as a vessel. Due to the destruction of the old Lunar Capital, a vast amount of technology had been lost, including the modification techniques for Sub-Princesses. Thus, it was impossible to replicate a Sub-Princess. Furthermore, because the modification process was inherently painful, Miketsu believed that Chang'e would not want to see the moon rabbits suffer such torment again.

Therefore, with Sub-Princesses unavailable, only a true princess could serve as Chang'e's vessel. However, while both Kaguya and Princess Kaguya were clones of the ancient Priestess of Chang'e, there were differences between them.

Kaguya was created by Eirin, whereas Princess Kaguya was created by the Lunar Capital. Due to the disparity in technical skill, Kaguya's aptitude actually surpassed that of Princess Kaguya. Consequently, considering the possibility that Chang'e might break her promise after possession, her strength would be relatively weaker if she used Princess Kaguya as a vessel.

While the cooperation between Miketsu and Chang'e was based on trust, they had to consider the worst-case scenario. If Chang'e turned against them after her release, the only thing Miketsu had to counter her was the divine soul release.

However, Miketsu had to save the divine soul release for the final confrontation with the Great Snake. Therefore, Chang'e's release had to be timed shortly before Miketsu's scheduled divine soul release. If something went wrong with Chang'e's release, Miketsu could release her divine soul to re-seal Chang'e and then proceed to deal with the Great Snake. Otherwise, Miketsu might waste the divine soul release on Chang'e and be unable to handle the Great Snake later.

Although this meant Chang'e would possess a superior vessel this time, her power was expected to be even weaker than when she possessed Reisen due to the severe damage to her origin. Thus, Miketsu was confident she could more easily and quickly re-seal Chang'e if she failed to keep her word.

"Very well... time is pressing. Let us begin," Eirin said finally with a serious expression. Princess Kaguya nodded and walked toward the steel bridge spanning the Abyss of the Seal.

Under many watchful eyes, Princess Kaguya walked slowly, step by step, to the center of the bridge. Then, she looked down into the bottomless, pitch-black abyss. After taking a deep breath, she threw herself downward, plunging straight into the darkness.

The world of darkness expanded rapidly in Princess Kaguya's eyes. Amidst the whistling wind, she fell toward the bottom of the abyss. After an unknown amount of time, she saw a silvery-white light at the end of the darkness. Immediately, her entire body was enveloped in the soft silver glow.

At the edge of the Abyss of the Seal, Eirin, Toyohime, and numerous moon rabbits waited for the result. Amidst the spreading anxiety, a beam of silvery-white light shot out from the darkness at the bottom of the abyss, destroying the steel bridge. Then, before the eyes of the crowd, the white light exploded, revealing the figure of Princess Kaguya.

At this moment, Princess Kaguya's physical form had not changed much. She was covered in a faint silvery-white glow, and her long, black hair had been dyed silver. Her eyes were overflowing with silver light, and her previously gentle face had become indifferent, seemingly devoid of any emotion.

Seeing her like this, Eirin and the moon rabbits understood that she had been possessed by Chang'e. Countless moon rabbits instinctively began to pray and prostrate themselves. Even the usually calm and composed Eirin could not help but clench her fists. She was now waiting for Chang'e's stance; whether Chang'e was friend or foe would be decided in these few seconds.

Unlike the previous time she emerged through Reisen as the Moon Feather Princess, Chang'e did not forcibly transform her vessel's body, nor did she use her power to crystallize the surroundings. Using Princess Kaguya's body, she silently surveyed the area before focusing her gaze on the distance—the edge of the Lunar Secret Realm.

"Princess Kaguya" flew toward the distance, trailing a streak of white light across the sky. Seeing the direction she was heading, Eirin breathed a long sigh of relief and spoke with a smile.

"Phew... Good. Everything is going smoothly..."

Flying to the edge of the Lunar Secret Realm, "Princess Kaguya" began to look down at the scene below. Numerous wide workshops and massive, glowing furnaces were visible; this was the workshop complex of the Lunar Capital. Outside these workshops, mountains of black metal parts and forged blocks were piled high.

Looking at these hills of ancient god remains, "Princess Kaguya" said nothing. She spread her hands, the silver light in her eyes intensifying. Then, all the dark metal parts and blocks rose into the air under an invisible force and began to be reforged and assembled. At an unbelievable speed, the remains were joined together by a powerful and precise force, rapidly taking shape. Watching this from afar, Eirin could not help but remark with admiration.

"I see. So this is the mainframe of the alien civilization, the terminal for all the moon rabbits? To think that a single being could store the knowledge of an entire civilization... No... perhaps she herself is the manifestation of that entire civilization..."

Chang'e was the mainframe of the alien moon rabbit civilization. As a single individual, she possessed the knowledge and technology of the entire civilization. With this incredibly advanced technology, her own immense power, and a computational capacity exceeding that of a supercomputer, Chang'e was like a super-factory. She was single-handedly forging the remains of Miketsu.

With absolute precision and efficiency, even in her weakened state with a damaged origin, she displayed an industrial capacity far exceeding that of the entire Lunar Capital. Under Chang'e's personal forging, Miketsu's remains were rapidly taking shape. The forging process, which was originally estimated to take half a year, was now shortened to less than half a day.