Divinity (2)
The Auterica Dimension.
The Grand Temple of Roselia, situated in the holy land at the heart of the Eon Continent.
“You have come, Saintess.”
“You’re working hard again today, Archbishop. How is the Saint doing?”
“He remains the same. There is clearly no particular problem, and yet... I cannot understand why he will not open his eyes.”
The two, who had met before a lodging in that innermost place, stepped into the room.
An interior decorated with neat yet elegant furnishings.
On the large bed set within, a man lay sleeping as if dead.
“Haa, it’s exactly been a week as of today, hasn’t it?”
“That is correct. It has already been that long.”
Saintess Liesta approached the bedside, let out a sigh, and stroked the man’s face.
A platinum radiance clearer than that of any priest in the church flowed through her hand, but the man lying there with his eyes closed—
Saint Heinrich still did not stir in the slightest. ‘What in the world is going on...?’ It had been around the evening a week ago that they realized something was wrong.
Heinrich, who had lately been spending busy days traveling to and from another world and preparing for the war against the Immortal King.
He had fallen into a deep sleep without any warning whatsoever.
At first, they had not thought much of it.
They had simply assumed that all the fatigue he had accumulated had caught up with him at once.
But when that sleep began to last three days, then four, the Main God Church had no choice but to start feeling a sense of crisis.
“Could the Immortal King perhaps have used some sort of trick?”
“This is the Grand Temple of Roselia, in the very center of the holy land. And we can sense no energy of any kind, let alone dark magic or a curse...”
“You never know. The Immortal King of this era does have a record of infiltrating the Grand Temple at will, doesn’t he?”
“Mm, I cannot deny that. Then shall we proceed with a more detailed and precise examination?”
At the words of the archbishop, who was in charge of the Grand Temple of Roselia’s infirmary, renowned even outside the church, she paused while pouring out her worries.
Then, heaving sigh after sigh, she slowly shook her head.
“...No, no. For now, let’s trust him and wait just a little longer. If the Saint was in the middle of doing something, our interference might get in his way.”
In truth, she already knew this was not something to worry about to such an extent.
If there truly were a serious problem with the Saint, there was no way she, the one closest to the Main God, would fail to notice. ‘But what am I supposed to do when I’m worried anyway?’ Still, there was no helping the fact that reason and emotion were different things.
All the more so when not much time had passed since the previous pope, who had been like her only family, had passed away.
Liesta sat in the chair beside the bed, clasped Heinrich’s hand tightly in both of hers, pressed it to her forehead, and closed her eyes. ‘There really isn’t a big problem, right? Please wake up safe and sound soon. Don’t worry me so much.’ The Saintess quietly offered a prayer while holding the Saint’s hand.
Following her, the archbishop behind her also closed his eyes and recited a prayer.
However, no matter how much this was nursing, an existence such as the Saintess could not remain holed up here forever.
In the end, she looked at Heinrich’s face once more, then forced her reluctant feet to move and left.
Woooong—
How much time had passed after Liesta had left?
Within Heinrich, who had been sleeping quietly, an extremely faint yet immense change began to arise.
***
While carrying out this matter, the avatars who harbored seeds of divinity, including Heinrich and Hans, all fell silent at once. ‘I thought it would be over quickly since it was an abbreviated procedure, but it’s taking longer than expected.’ Fortunately, he could still continue operating the avatars that did not possess divinity.
Well, even then, all they could do was shut themselves away in their residences in a state close to hibernation. ‘If powerless guys collapse just anywhere for no reason, they’re liable to die on the streets.’ Since he had not intended to completely fuse all the divinities from the very first attempt, he had never expected it to take this long.
To begin with, he knew better than anyone that he still lacked both the qualifications and the preparation to combine into one the seeds that had been born in different environments and had hardened firmly. ‘If I open up their breathing room like this now, they should be able to grow more vigorously later.’ What he was doing was work to lay the foundation so that the seeds of divinity could properly blossom.
By opening pathways between the divinities that had been cut off, so they could stimulate one another.
And through that, to minimize the imperfection born from the limitation of being avatars.
Drip, drip— ‘Hm?’ No wonder something had felt unpleasant; blood had been streaming from his nose and mouth for a while now.
As the seeds began to react, the burden being placed on the main body at their center was gradually surpassing its critical point. ‘Not yet. Just a little more...’ But the movements of the seeds that had been responding for some time now were too unusual to stop here.
In particular, the divinity of the main body situated at the very center was shaking violently, as if something within would awaken at any moment. ‘I’m almost there. Really, just a little more!’ He could instinctively sense it.
If he missed this moment now, there was no telling when such an opportunity would come again.
He absolutely could not let it pass by.
At the moment he clung desperately to his thread of consciousness by relying on “Great Mind” with that resolve—
“Kheup!”
Blood that had risen up his throat poured down like a waterfall.
At the same time, along with the sensation of something sleeping deep within him bursting open, an indescribable sense of omnipotence swept through his entire body and began to surge toward the crown of his head. 《Conditions have been met, and a possibility blossoms. You have acquired the special skill “Faint Divinity.”》 He had no time to pay attention to the system message that appeared before his eyes.
The center of his head—
The Baihui acupoint (百會穴).
The omnipotent sensation that surged there pierced through the veil blocking its path and extended into the high sky, into the vast cosmos, and across the entire dimension that encompassed the world. ‘Ah.’ Enlightenment pierced through his entire soul.
Was this what one called omniscience?
All the principles and laws of the world entered his sight at once, and he could grasp the complex flow of fate and causality as naturally as breathing.
And thanks to that, he understood.
That in his current, utterly incomplete state, this moment would not last long.
And that the instant that time ended, all his enlightenment would vanish like an illusion. ‘There isn’t much time left.’ Amid all kinds of truths flowing chaotically through his mind,
I thought of the most efficient way to use this situation.
Now that I was closer to omniscience than ever before.
What more could I do?
What matter needed to be handled most urgently? ‘The Beoncheon Society Leader.’ My endlessly expanded consciousness climbed along the causality he had left behind in the world.
My enemy, and the mortal foe I had to destroy without fail.
Simply finding out about him would not mean much.
What mattered was properly leaving behind the information I gained, so that I could confirm it even after this awakened state ended. ‘...What is this?’ Fortunately, the materials needed for that had already been prepared.
To be more precise...
As if by predetermined fate, they had been in my hands from the very beginning. ‘The Fruit of Myth.’ My consciousness, which had been scanning and moving through the causality of the world, came to a stop at a single point.
The trait Heinrich had obtained after encountering the “Fruit of Myth” in Pantheon, which had been displayed only as question marks all this time.
Proof of a miracle born under the influence of divinities originating from countless dimensions. “Records of Myth.” It was emitting a powerful presence and drawing in my consciousness.
As if entranced, I burrowed into its interior. ‘So this was the key.’ The deeper I went, the more fragments of countless worlds brushed past around me.
At the same time, I could understand what this thing truly was.
This was, literally, a record containing the history of worlds.
A story of the gods of various dimensions and the worlds they ruled. ‘Wait, could this be part of the Akasha System’s...’ By that point, my consciousness, which had brushed against truth, instinctively derived the answer.
The Akasha System, which encompassed all dimensions, including Earth.
These “Records of Myth” were no different from a terminal that connected to the Akashic Records in which it was inscribed.
Although there was a limit to their capacity, the things that could be done with this alone were endless.
Perhaps it might even be possible to bypass the system that had been regarded as an absolute law. ‘To think he was making something like this. Just what is that bastard, the Beoncheon Society Leader...’ At that moment,
Familiar landscapes began appearing in the countless fragments that brushed past me.
Scenes that were far too familiar to me. ‘Earth?’ America, China, Japan, Romania... and Korea, as well as other countries.
Scenery from various places and time periods was jumbled together dizzyingly. ‘No, wait. Something’s strange.’ But thanks to my expanded consciousness, I soon realized that the world... no, the “worlds” were not all the Earth I knew.
Their root-like past was clearly one.
But the worlds that began branching off at some point soon started extending in different directions.
The Earth of reality that I knew was merely one among them. ‘The year 2000 AD.’ The point in time when the anomalous phenomenon called “transfer to another world” occurred on an Earth where no mysteries had existed.
That very moment was the singularity of this world divergence.
And as I calmly observed the worlds, I soon came to understand who existed at the center of that phenomenon. ‘A regressor. The Beoncheon Society Leader.’ These were not simple parallel worlds.
Karma that had not yet been resolved and causality tangled in disorder.
This was a phenomenon that could not have occurred unless someone had rewound a single world over and over again. ‘Insane. Just... just how many times did he turn back time?’ Naturally, I also came to know the true nature of the dreams I had been having.
Through the Fruit of Myth, I had come into contact with the Akashic Records and experienced the remnants of previous worlds in the form of dreams.
In other words, all of them were worlds that I had actually experienced once... or should have experienced. ‘......’ I quietly gazed at the worlds flowing by.
The smiles of my parents that I had seen in my dreams flickered before me.
The moments when I had lived an ordinary university life, and the moments when I had entered society early as a freelance video editor.
And the versions of myself within the countless times now brushing past. ‘Wait.’ Then, suddenly, a thought struck my mind. ‘If all of those things really happened...’ Countless Earths along innumerable world lines brushed past around me.
Earths from a time period similar to the present, similar in many ways yet also changed in many others.
But the moment those world lines all reached the “end” at once—
An identical, uniform scene awaited me. [■■■■■—!]
At the end of the countless diverged worlds.
I found myself staring directly into the eyes that filled the skies of countless Earths.
***
A pure white space where nothing existed.
The Beoncheon Society Leader, who had been quietly keeping his eyes closed, snapped them open. ‘Someone has made contact with the world lines. It seems they haven’t properly reached the realm of the divine throne yet, but...’ He could instinctively feel it.
Even if, by the laws of causality, his eyes and ears were blinded and his entire body was shackled, he was still the being closest to an “Earth God,” the only one on this Earth who had blossomed divinity.
“Is it the adversary, as expected?”
For now, that was the most likely possibility.
In the countless Earths he had passed through until now, not a single being had achieved complete divinity.
If there was a possibility, then it could only be the adversary, who could be called the very variable of this timeline.
Whether that was Hahoe Mask, Phantom, or the Saint of another world, he did not know.
“...Ha! So you’ve finally made it this far.”
As he grew stronger by turning back time, the opponent standing in his way also became even stronger.
The karma accumulated through his struggles was transmitted in its entirety to the adversary the moment he regressed.
Still, while there had occasionally been those who harbored seeds of divinity, this was the first time anyone had reached the stage of making one sprout.
For him, unable to use his full power due to the restrictions of the law of causality, that meant the opponent would be all the more difficult. ‘No, it’s still fine. The grand plan is proceeding more smoothly than in any other round as well.’ It was true that the plan had gone awry many times due to unexpected variables.
He had never imagined he would suffer such great damage despite having grasped every possible contingency and prepared the “most perfect” response in advance.
But since he had prepared thoroughly while taking even that into account, the overall situation was not so bad. ‘This time, I will end it for certain.’ Continuing to turn back time was gradually reaching its limit.
No matter how much he plundered energy from other dimensions and offered countless lives as sacrifices, in the end, he was the one who had to bear all of it.
Had he not been an angel who harbored divinity, he would never have made it this far. ‘If they made contact with the world lines... then they will learn the whole truth.’ If that happened, they would also come face to face with that “eye,” the cause that had left him with no choice but to do this.
“I truly look forward to seeing what choice you will make after learning the truth.”
The Beoncheon Society Leader murmured softly, then closed his eyes again and entrusted himself to the flow of the world.
The shackles that had wrapped around and restricted his body, soul, and divinity were trembling little by little.
Now, truly, there was not much time left.