"Ebner…" He answered the Goddess, paused briefly, then added, "and Alvin as well."
Having just cleared the massive RPG titled Alvin's Memories, Ebner now understood clearly that the Wanderer Alvin—or rather, that incarnation of "himself"—had enjoyed an extremely good relationship with the Goddess.
By comparison, "Ebner" had merely been passively receiving Her generosity and favor.
Of course, now Ebner was Alvin, and Alvin was Ebner… With Ebner as the dominant side, there was essentially no difference between them. Just as Alvin had said before vanishing, he had entrusted everything he possessed to Ebner.
After thinking for a moment, Ebner asked cautiously, "Is the leader of the Royal Faction of the Life School of Thought, the Pale Empress Sia Palenque Egers, Your incarnation?"
Although the "protagonist" Alvin in the "game" had not noticed this detail, Ebner—who could pause the "plot" at will and examine all kinds of information—had already picked up several subtle clues.
And it was only after Alvin traveled across the Southern Continent and helped Sia Palenque Egers advance to angelhood that the Goddess had begun paying attention to him.
"Yes. Sia is a vessel created by Vicente, using His blood and Gregrace's blood, combined with the power of Creation, to help Me grasp the Death Uniqueness as well as a tributary of the River of Eternal Darkness," the Goddess replied with a smile, making no attempt to deny it.
"Later, I placed a portion of My own spirit—one already contaminated by the Unknown—into the vessel, and used 0-08 to bestow upon her a personality.
"However, even as a vessel, she still cannot escape the erosion of the River of Eternal Darkness. Like the son of Death, she dies once every few centuries and loses most of her memories.
"And when she encountered Alvin, it happened to be during one of those periods of memory loss."
So You had already extended Your hand into the Death pathway… And even now You still have not fused the Death Uniqueness, instead allowing only the vessel to wield it—most likely because the main stream of the River of Eternal Darkness remains sealed by the Sefirah Castle, making it impossible to accommodate… and because You intend to advance to an Old One in the "correct" sequence.
By transferring the portion of Your spirit contaminated by the Unknown into Sia, You not only reduced the corruption You Yourself bore, but also used her to resist the erosion of the tributary of the River of Eternal Darkness—truly killing two birds with one stone.
And now that I think about it, that incarnation of "me" probably encountered You in the Southern Continent due to the convergence effect of the Unknown as well.
As these thoughts fell into place, many long-standing questions Ebner had carried were finally answered. Still, a few doubts lay beyond the reach of Insight, so he asked again:
"Then why did You previously 'hint' that I should pray to You, retrieve Despair Nightingale's soul from the waters of the River of Eternal Darkness, and in doing so expose a secret You had concealed for many years?"
The Goddess smiled faintly and said, "Some information had to be leaked to make that Giant vigilant, to force Him to finally make up His mind.
"After Vicente entered the depths of Calderón City and fell into prolonged slumber, Badheil carried out several investigations there, yet achieved nothing.
"After all, it is a Sefirah. Even in an incomplete state, it is sufficient to drag a True God into ruin.
"And He does not know of the existence of 'Liu Bo'… In His eyes, the only being capable of retrieving the Death authority from the River of Eternal Darkness is the future Lord of Mysteries.
"Therefore, My earlier manipulations of the River of Eternal Darkness could only allow Him to sense unusual disturbances within Calderón City.
"His response was to dispatch Beyonders of the Night Watcher and Corpse Collector pathways to monitor the surrounding area… The couple you saved in Tingen are currently performing that task.
"Once you complete the ritual to advance to Miracle Invoker, the entire world will inevitably take notice… And Zhou, who will enter here tomorrow to obtain the Bizarro Sorcerer formula, will naturally also be watched by interested parties.
"One of the main ingredients of Bizarro Sorcerer—the 'true soul of a Spirit World plunderer'—exists only within Calderón City, so Zhou will inevitably have to enter that Spirit World city later…"
The Goddess stopped there, but Ebner had already fully grasped her plan and exclaimed:
"And the Mystery aura on Klein will not escape the perception of the gods. His entry into Calderón City, combined with the disturbances of the River of Eternal Darkness, will certainly lead the God of Combat and others to mistakenly believe that You are grooming the Lord of Mysteries to help You obtain Vicente's legacy and the Death authority!
"In reality, You have controlled Death for more than a thousand years. Even without accommodating it, Your mastery far exceeds what the God of Combat imagines.
"No wonder You insist that Klein take a trip to the Evernight Kingdom—this is to cement the appearance of cooperation between You and the Lord of Mysteries.
"Furthermore, the Abraham family's reemergence at this moment, combined with Alvin's advancement to angelhood, will further muddy the waters, leaving the other gods uncertain whether You support me becoming the Lord of Mysteries, or whether You are merely stirring chaos to shield Zhou."
The Goddess neither confirmed nor denied his deductions. Instead, she asked calmly,
"After that historical projection of Zaratul entered the Land of the Unknown, it was completely polluted and assimilated, wasn't it?"
Ebner was startled for a moment, then realized what she meant and nodded.
"Yes. Because it was only a projection, after months of erosion it has come entirely under my control.
"However, his main body has already fallen completely into madness. That projection can no longer exert any real power."
The Goddess nodded slightly and said evenly,
"After this, release that projection and leave it here as a… quest NPC for Zhou."
"You intend to create the illusion that Zaratul himself has also been released?" Ebner immediately caught her meaning and asked thoughtfully.
"After you become a Miracle Invoker, using the assimilated Zaratul projection to pull a real Zaratul out of a historical gap will not be difficult.
"And with the projection acting as cover, no one will be able to see through your transformation into Zaratul… Even Amon would require His true body. A mere avatar would be unable to 'decode' it."
The Goddess replied in a voice gentle as a nocturne.
Ebner had no objection to this request and nodded in agreement.
She had already helped him so much; repaying her now was only natural—especially considering the friendship between "himself" and Sia Palenque Egers.
With the matter settled, the Goddess appeared to feel that today's exchange was sufficient. She waved her hand, and a massive writhing mass suddenly manifested before the two of them.
This indescribable thing was the mutated Zaratul, now completely motionless and extraordinarily docile, as if fast asleep.
"Take a Sequence 2 characteristic. I will restrain it so that it does not awaken easily… I remember Alvin 'recorded' many such methods, and as a Cognizer, you should not lack these kinds of abilities," the Goddess instructed softly, her voice like a night song.
Hearing this, Ebner and Alvin simultaneously pinched their chins—their movements perfectly synchronized.
Then they… or rather, he… gave in to a sudden bout of mischief and began playing rock-paper-scissors with himself.
Under the Goddess's faintly helpless yet indulgent gaze, Ebner ultimately emerged victorious and executed a secret technique to "steal" a characteristic across space.
Strictly speaking, this technique had evolved from the one Lion Leon once used to cut out his own brain.
Originally, its success rate had been extremely low, and failure would immediately alert the target, eliminating any second chance, rendering it largely impractical.
But now, with the Goddess forcibly "lulling" the monster into sleep, Ebner could repeat the attempt freely until it succeeded.
After roughly three minutes and dozens of attempts, he finally succeeded. A crystal-clear Beyonder characteristic, shaped like a heart, appeared in his hand.
Tiny bubbles continuously surfaced upon it, and within each bubble seemed to exist a dreamlike illusion—beautiful and unreal.
With the main ingredient secured, the Goddess waved her hand once more, making the Zaratul-mutated monster vanish. She then produced a small vial filled with blood and handed it to Ebner.
"This is Antigonus's blood. In terms of potion harmonization, it is superior to that of the Umber Wolf Kotar."
What a considerate elder sister—afraid her younger brother might become over-nourished, so she let him bleed a little! Ebner silently mocked to himself, then accepted the vial and began harmonizing the Miracle Invoker potion.
As for the other two supplementary ingredients—Worm of Time and Worm of Stars—they were provided through the goodwill of Flora Jacob and Alvin himself.
Very soon, a bottle of dark, unfathomable liquid—seeming as though countless eyes were opening simultaneously—was poured into a prepared container.
Ebner lifted the container, but did not drink it immediately. His pathway-switching ritual was not yet fully complete.
After thinking briefly, he first released the historical projection of Zaratul from the Pure White Eye and seated it where Alvin had previously been. Only then did he turn his gaze toward the parchment on the ground—more precisely, toward the second "door" upon it, the symbol representing Undying.
Seeing this, the Goddess gently shook her head.
"Now is not the right time for Vicente to 'resurrect'…"
I understand—the God of Combat and that Chief Inquisitor have been watching him closely. Reviving him now would only result in his death once again…
But after the Chief Inquisitor learned that I am Vicente, Rhein, and the God of Luck Oliver, he still did not inform the God of Combat?
His relationship with the God of Combat must be extremely subtle…
Since the Goddess and Lilith allowed him to escape, they must have been certain he would not speak!
Then he truly is very likely the Giant King Olmir—but why does the blood on 1-42 have nothing to do with him?
And why are the Goddess and Lilith so certain he will not reveal anything? This concerns the very core of the Goddess's scheme—there is no room for the slightest carelessness… And neither the Goddess nor Lilith are beings who rely on chance.
Then there is only one answer: the Chief Inquisitor's actions appear to be self-directed, but in truth are completely controlled by someone else… Adam?
Narrowing his eyes, Ebner pulled back his wandering thoughts and nodded toward the Goddess.
In the next instant, Ebner and Alvin vanished from the Evernight Kingdom and appeared atop the main peak of the Hornacis mountain range.
The core members of the Abraham family had already been camped there for three days.
Looking down at the clansmen below, Alvin solemnly nodded toward Ebner at his side. Ebner, putting on a show, met his gaze in return, then used the illusory Eye of Omniscience and the White Angel as fulcrums to pry loose power and perform a worldwide broadcast.
Only angels and higher beings could "see" or "hear" this broadcast—but that was more than sufficient.
…
At the same moment, in Backlund, in Trier, in Saint-Milone, and in Feynapotter City, various "beings" suddenly halted what they were doing and frowned.
"Abraham? This family has produced another angel after its ancestors, bringing the glory of the past back into reality once more?"
Many existences, gazing at the sudden vision, murmured to themselves in unison.
…
And at that very moment, Alvin Abraham raised the potion bottle without hesitation and poured the liquid inside straight into his mouth.
(End of chapter)