Lola Stuart had been rather troubled lately.
She had been searching for Edward Alexander for decades, yet every time, the trail went cold somewhere in the English countryside.
Though the combined pursuit of the entirety of Christianity and most of the magic side had long since erased all traces of Edward Alexander's magical presence, as a magician, Lola knew that as long as a magician's magical signature remained, they were still alive. The moment they used magic again, their magical aura would inevitably leak out.
The Church's celestial and faith-based systems could then immediately locate them.
Under her leadership, the Puritan Church had claimed to have completely eliminated Edward Alexander—that was what the world believed.
But even without any trace, Lola was certain Edward Alexander was still alive.
If the magic side's countless detection methods couldn't find him, then he must have hidden himself within the scientific side's camp.
At present, the only place that the magic side's surveillance could not reach was Academy City.
To all magical observation, Academy City was a complete blind spot—a dark zone of the magic world.
The power of science was something that magicians could never comprehend. The two belonged to fundamentally opposing realms.
Lola clasped her hands together, kneeling before the statue of Christ, murmuring softly.
"I must admit, that man Aleister, the so-called King of Science, has managed to develop the scientific side to rival the entire magic world in only a few decades. Remarkable."
She didn't truly understand science, but even from the words she had read, she fancied herself capable of grasping its magnificence.
Concepts such as the Big Bang, the Big Crunch, and the Unified Field Theory… nuclear fission that probed into the very root of matter and energy.
She had no doubt—the true power of that man, Aleister Crowley, had already reached the realm of a Magic God.
And it was a power built upon science—something entirely beyond the understanding of a demon of the magic side such as herself.
After all, she had met Aleister through one of those devices called "communicators."
As a demon embodying the concept of "the Abyss," she should have been able to locate anyone—but she could not sense Aleister's existence at all. It was as though he did not exist within the present world.
At this rate, she thought, in a few centuries more, that King of Science would stand as an existence equal to a Magic God.
"Edward Alexander… you must be hiding within Academy City. Hehehe… once I find out where you are, I'll drag you out myself."
Lola muttered to herself, occasionally giggling. She didn't even notice the man sitting calmly on one of the pews among the praying believers, watching her intently.
Noah gazed at the golden-haired girl's adorable yet eccentric manner with amusement.
Lola Stuart—of course, that was the name recorded for her as the Archbishop of the Puritan Church. Her true name was Stuart, or, translated from Hebrew—Coronzon.
Her first summoning into the physical world had taken place during the great internal conflict of the magical order known as the Golden Dawn.
That order had represented the single greatest congregation of magical talent in history—dedicated to studying every possible path to the power of the Magic Gods.
As more and more powerful magicians joined, conflicting ideals grew, dividing the organization into countless factions.
Even the three founders began to harbor discord among themselves.
Then came the arrival of Aleister Crowley—hailed as the most brilliant magician of the century. His understanding of magic was so advanced that it surpassed even that of the three founders.
He quickly attracted many followers.
The three founders, feeling their authority and fame threatened, began plotting against him, obstructing his research at every turn.
Frustrated by their sabotage, Aleister finally declared open war on them.
The Golden Dawn split apart completely, and the conflict escalated into a full-blown magical world war—even the Church's intervention could not quell it.
At that time, over seventy percent of the world's magicians were disciples of the Golden Dawn.
The war soon spiraled beyond control. In the chaos, one of the three founders was slain by Aleister himself.
Yet Aleister alone could not defeat all three magicians of equal standing.
His faction eventually collapsed, and his followers scattered in all directions to save their lives.
At that time, Aleister was completely immersed in his newly created Tarot, attempting to use his new magical system to summon the world's most primordial spirit in North Africa, Egypt.
Upon learning of this, one of the three founders of the Golden Dawn, MacGregor Mathers, acted first. He summoned a demon never before observed by the Christian Church and instructed her to disguise herself as the spirit Aleister sought to summon—thus leading him to his downfall.
However, things did not go as Mathers had planned. Coronzon failed to seize Aleister's body and was instead forced back, nearly destroyed in the process…
The commands of a summoner were something no summoned entity could defy—it was a tenet etched into the very existence of demons.
This principle stemmed from the will of a Super-Primeval God—an order that the infinite superdimension itself must obey.
Just as angels must serve their god, demons who receive compensation must fulfill the summoner's command.
Only the will of an equal Super-Primeval God could defy such an existential law.
In order to better fulfill Mathers' order, Coronzon concealed herself within a piece of parchment and infiltrated England.
After a series of intricate events, she obtained a physical body—becoming the first great demon not through possession, but by naturally possessing her own corporeal form.
Once she had a body, she began demonstrating her magical talent from the lowest ranks of the Puritan Church. Her gifts were quickly recognized by its bishops, who began cultivating her.
Rising through the hierarchy at an astonishing pace, she soon surpassed all the bishops and became the Archbishop herself.
Then, using the influence of the Puritan Church, she united numerous magical societies to defame Aleister—turning him into a pariah, branded by the world as the most evil magician of the century.
The entire Christian Church, along with nearly all of the magic side, soon joined in the crusade to hunt him down.
In the end, Aleister was driven to the brink of death after years of relentless pursuit, cornered in a rural cowshed in the English countryside.
There, by sheer coincidence, a doctor known in medical circles as Heaven Canceller happened to pass by.
And soon after, in the Far East, a city of science—Academy City—was born.
"Ah~ Edward, Edward… I can hardly wait to see how miserable you'll be when I finally find you. Even Aleister won't be able to save you~"
Lola giggled dreamily, hugging herself as her body writhed in delight like a worm.
"Hehehe…"
A quiet chuckle came from behind her.
Her whole body stiffened, pupils contracting—but she didn't lash out. Instead, she turned slowly, feigning the innocent panic of an ordinary girl.
"Who's there?!"
Yet inside, her heart plunged into infinite depth.
There was someone behind her—and she hadn't noticed. No, not even the faintest trace of their existence could be sensed!
Who could it be? She was the Great Demon Coronzon!
For something—or someone—to escape even her perception, to seem as if they didn't exist at all—
Such a being was beyond the reach of even the greatest human magicians!
Not even the heretical gods could achieve this!
A magician capable of concealing their existence to the level of the divine?
At first glance, Lola saw what seemed to be an ordinary young man.
But after a single second, her vision shattered.
From the boy's form radiated endless beauty—and with it, endless evil. Infinite possibilities, infinite timelines, infinite laws, infinite worlds…
Just one glance filled her mind with an incomprehensible flood of information. Her thoughts froze, her eyes went blank.
In that final instant, when her gaze met his, her consciousness fell completely into the depths of his eyes.
She could no longer think, nor feel, nor even remember herself. Her mind became void.
Her awareness was pulled apart—stretched across infinity.
She saw boundless space-time, infinite causal lines, countless great universes, endless planes, limitless cosmologies, infinite origins.
At the very end of everything, she reached the terminus—the root of all that is, the boundless primordial end.
Kabbalah, Ouroboros, Akasha, Dream, Alpha, Alaya…
At the origin from which infinite universes and worlds are born, their incarnations turned their gaze upon her.
"Ah… ah… ah…"
The instant their eyes met hers, all that she was disintegrated and reformed—her will and awareness utterly meaningless before them.
They were untraceable, unknowable, unspeakable, and incomprehensible—beings that transcended all sense and logic.
They surpassed both form and formlessness, idealism and materialism.
A mere thought from them could shatter infinite universes; another could give birth to infinite worlds anew.
Worlds, universes, humanity, civilization, gods, laws—all of it was but illusionary foam beneath their omnipotence.
And yet it did not end there—for beyond even them, another opened his eyes.
Where his gaze reached, even the distinctions between the tangible and the intangible, the ideal and the real, were but fleeting reflections of his thought.
His will defined existence itself—the origin of all primordial beginnings.
Endless time and endless cosmos, even beings as great as they were but fleeting mirages within his dream.
He was the infinite primordial unity of the multiverse—everything existed because of him.
He was the Super-Primeval God above all Super-Primeval Gods.
He was the Heavenly Principle of the Teyvat Multiverse—everything existed by his decree.
Before him, even eternity itself had no meaning—merely bubbles on the surface of water, vanishing in an instant.
He had many names. One among them was God—the Lord whom all angels and demons alike served as insignificant servants.
Noah watched silently as Lola's consciousness spiraled into an endless cycle within his divine presence.
Even a demon as powerful as Coronzon could not withstand the sight of a Magic God—let alone him, a being beyond even multiversal structure: the Super-Primeval God of Super-Primeval Gods.
Phanes, Orphic, and Buer were embodiments of Truth and were Super-Primeval Gods as well—but they existed within him.
They were gods of the multiverse—while he was the multiverse itself.
Even a mere ripple of his divinity could cast her into an endless cycle of Teyvat's reality.
After all, he was Teyvat itself—to gaze upon him was to gaze upon the multiverse of Teyvat.
And now, Teyvat existed as a multiversal structure—the nascent form of a true multiverse.
But to a demon, daring to peer upon God himself was a transgression beyond measure—a self-destructive defiance of existence's very order.
With a single thought, Noah released her from the eternal loop.
Lola's blank eyes regained focus—only to be filled with boundless terror and fanatical awe. Her body collapsed to the carpet with a thud, trembling violently, gasping for breath as sweat drenched her pale pink clerical robe.
The soaked fabric clung tightly to her perfectly proportioned body, making her look less like a nun and more like a succubus.
"God… You… You truly exist…"
Lola trembled as she prostrated herself before Noah, her heart pounding so fast it felt ready to burst.
Now that she possessed a physical body, the biological reactions of that body were fully real—down to every last trembling breath.
At this moment, she could no longer find words to describe what she felt.
God truly existed.
All her years of devotion to God had been nothing but ritual and performance.
She had always known there was no such being as God—that the modern Church was merely a creation of magicians and believers alike.
Over the countless centuries, with the rise of countless heretical deities, the true history had long been buried deep beneath the world.
But now, she realized—the God described in the Scriptures, the omniscient and omnipotent one, was real.
Those so-called Magic Gods were nothing but magicians who had stepped into the divine realm.
The endless universe itself had been born from but a single thought of His—fragile as a fleeting dream or illusion.
No, not merely possible—this world was surely created in but a single thought of His.
Those false gods merely stole a fragment of His boundless power.
Noah stood up, stepping before the trembling Lola, who still knelt upon the carpet.
"Oh? Do I not exist, little Coronzon? As a demon, do you not believe in the God you claim to serve?"
Though this world truly had no God…
The sound of His words—the divine resonance—made Lola's heart seize in terror. She felt as though she might vanish the very next instant.
Her existence depended entirely upon His will.
"All-knowing and all-powerful, my Lord God! Little Coronzon never doubted Your existence! I have always believed, always longed to serve by Your side—no, no! To merely bask in Your radiance is already my greatest honor!"
How could a mere demon like her possibly serve God?
Only beings such as the Super-Primeval Gods who governed creation itself were worthy to stand before Him.
She wanted to slap herself for daring to utter such blasphemous words earlier.
Who was she? What rank did she hold? How dare she presume?
In the cosmology of the Church, the hierarchy of existence was strict and absolute—like the Kabbalah itself, where the lower could never overstep the higher.
Noah extended his hand, lifting her chin gently as one might stroke a small, frightened creature.
"Enough, little Coronzon. I will reclaim this world and return it beneath my radiance."
"I grant you authority to gather my faithful and restore unity to the divided Church. And one more thing—end the conflict between faith and science. Let the world become one."
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