The True Creator's words became smooth and fluent.
Edward stiffened. In the original story, Klein had experienced this exact phenomenon when speaking with the True Creator in the Forsaken Land.
The "True Creator" was the other side of the Ancient Sun God—the part that had been born from the god's corpse. The side filled with hatred, cursed venom, and the master of degeneration.
Yet within Him still lingered remnants of "Dark Angel" Sasrir's consciousness—in other words, that too counted as a remaining piece of the Ancient Sun God's mind.
So the one speaking now…
"You are the Ancient Sun God?"
"The Sun God was merely my earliest title. After leading humanity to defeat giants, elves, dragons, and countless other mythical creatures, I became the Lord who created all, the Omniscient, Omnipotent God. Or, you may address Me as—'God.'"
Then He again asked, "Was it Adam who told you to pray to Me?"
"Yes."
As for this particular "monster of a man," Edward truly respected him from the bottom of his heart.
"But He merely told me to pray to You, nothing more."
The countless brass eyes quieted.
The shadowy curtain that draped the chamber shook very slightly, never fully still—like He had fallen into deep thought.
After a moment, He said faintly, "I understand now."
Understand what?
"This is His test of Me."
Edward froze. "Test? Test what?"
"To test My current state, to test My attitude toward you, to test My attitude toward Him…Of course, most importantly—He is testing whether I know where the thing that person left is hidden."
"That person…"
Edward asked gravely, "Just who exactly is 'that person'? I have heard this phrase many times. I only know He seems to have made some sort of deal with all of you, and He seems to have some connection with me…But to this day, no one has told me directly who He is."
The True Creator fell into an extremely long silence.
After quite some time, that ethereal, unreal voice finally spoke—slowly, "He came from a world outside this one. When the Outer Gods fought against each other in the beginning, they tore the barriers between worlds—and He happened to be swept into our world."
"He wished to return to His own world. So He chose to cooperate with us—helping us deal with the Outer Gods' invasion, while gaining the power to return home. Thus, we made a pact."
Edward was shocked. After thinking a moment, he asked, "He…earned your trust that easily?"
"Of course not."
Those many eyes continued, "Do you recall how I described Him…'The Source of The Apocalypse.'"
Edward halted. "The apocalypse…isn't that referring to the Outer Gods?"
"Perhaps from the moment He arrived—it no longer was."
"???"
"The Oldest One awakened within His body."
"The Oldest One—"
Why is it always the Oldest One?!
Edward's pupils dilated instantly, the hair on his arms standing up, his spine going cold. In a sense, this was far more terrifying than Klein learning of the Primordial God Almighty awakening from the True Creator.
When Primordial God Almighty revived within the Ancient Sun God, the harm was limited—it only ruined this one being.
Aside from slamming shut the lid of the future God Almighty's coffin, that "God" might not necessarily have done something unimaginably horrific.
But "The Oldest One" awakening was something entirely different.
"When The Oldest One awakens, It shall converge all, fusing the entire universe back into One. That will be the true end of this entire world."
The information came too abruptly—too terrifying. Edward swallowed with a dry "gulp."
"A-and…then?"
"Then He proposed an idea—that He wished to use the power He controlled to resist the awakening of 'The Oldest One.' That was how our deal began."
He paused slightly.
"But as for that idea itself—I do not know it."
"Because not long afterwards, the Primordial One also awakened within Me. So I summoned Leodero, Aucuses, Herabergen, Medici, and Ouroboros, along with the gods and Kings of Angels whom Amanises invited, and we founded the organisation 'Rose Redemption'—attempting to resurrect Me through My own assassination, in order to oppose the awakening of the Primordial One."
"…Later, I became split into the negative, fallen Grisha—who retained human nature—
and Adam—who held only divinity and reason. And our memories shattered, each inheriting only a portion."
He skipped over the whole "Rose Redemption betrayed me" portion with not a trace of emotion—only endless silence.
Edward looked down, contemplating for a long time.
"Then…what is the thing that Adam is trying to test You for?"
"I don't know. I only know it involves the transaction and scheme back then…but I no longer possess that segment of memory." His voice grew heavier and heavier, "I only know that your appearance might be connected either to that person, or to that 'something.'"
"Then why are you so sure I'm not him?"
"Because inside you…there is no trace of the 'Oldest One.'"
Edward clenched his fist. "But what if…that person also used some kind of 'death and resurrection' method to shake off the Oldest One's revival, and became a new 'me'?"
His heart pounded violently as he said this—because he recalled the description of his own "Dullness" trait: due to contamination of a higher-level corruption, he had become immune to other pollutions.
Then in the universe of Mysteries…what possible level could be higher than the Oldest One?
"…I have considered that possibility."
He spoke with a moment of hesitation. "But it's very unlikely."
"Why?"
"Because you are far too 'clean.' Whether it was the 'Rose Redemption' that I once planned, or any other method, death-and-resurrection could only temporarily delay and resist the revival of the Oldest One or the Primordial One. It could never fully eradicate them—one can't avoid that, the higher the sequence, the closer one gets to It."
Edward secretly let out a breath of relief. No one wanted to loop back in some convoluted twist, only to suddenly become somebody else's substitute!
True substitute literature!
"What happened to that person later?"
"I don't know. That too was part of the transaction and scheme."
All those bronze eyes simultaneously looked toward Edward. "But I feel he is still somewhere in this world. If his plan fails—then when the barrier shatters a hundred-plus years later, when the Outer Gods invade—when all the Sefirot is pried open—then perhaps the Oldest One's aggregation effect will instantly trigger. Every person, everything, will converge in an instant. And countless years later, when everything disperses again—what emerges would already be a new universe."
"So Adam wanted me to pray to You…to find him?"
"Not necessarily."
He answered, "The him who only has godhood and rationality—has always desired to grasp everything solely in his own hands. He would never place his hopes on a transaction from thousands of years ago."
"He'd rather find the thing that person left behind, and if possible…he'd rather seize the initiative. But compared to Adam, I am more inclined to believe in the judgement that the complete 'me'…made back then."
"So—you cannot come to the Forsaken Land of God yet."
"…"
Edward suddenly recalled that future moment when Ouroboros had brought him to the Forsaken Land of God—and at that time, the Russian priest and the True Creator should already have been integrating—so perhaps that order had been given by the Russian priest?
But when I went to the Forsaken Land of God, I found nothing…
Wait.
I remember there had been a strong "sensation"—and when I followed that sensation, I eventually arrived at Chernobyl—the entrance of the Chaos Sea.
But since there was an Amon there, Edward decisively chose to chicken out and run away, so until now he still didn't know whether that sensation had been Amon messing with him—or something else entirely.
Now that he thought about it, it might really be connected to "that thing left behind by that person."
If that was true—then maybe I don't need to go via the Forsaken Land of God, but instead go straight to the bronze giant door beneath the abandoned vampire castle and visit the Chaos Sea—now that I recall, when I went to the abandoned vampire castle underground, I also felt a special kind of sensation.
Thinking of this, Edward shook his head inwardly: No…those are matters for later. What I must consider now is how to advance to Sequence 2 as soon as possible, complete Deconstruction on the barrier of the Mirror World, and then find Lilith!
Since the path of going to the Forsaken Land of God to find the Dark Demonic Wolf was cut off, then the only route now was to keep hammering Zaratul!
Since that's the case, stealing the Antigonus family notebook…I can't leave that entirely to Roselle to fumble with by himself anymore. I have to find a way to help him.
At this moment, he suddenly felt a surge of spirituality—that was the sign of the "Deconstruction Scholar" potion digesting further—this time it directly pushed the digestion progress to three-fourths. But his spiritual intuition told him—what the True Creator (Ancient Sun God) had just said—there was still some distance from the final truth.
"The Lord who created everything…the Omniscient and Omnipotent God…"
Edward earnestly spoke this string of titles. "Then next…is Adam possibly going to take some further action against me?"
"Perhaps. But he likely won't kill you. After all, you are the only one in thousands of years who could be related to that person. The only clue."
…Should I feel honoured or something?
Right then, all the bronze eyes suddenly trembled at once—full of madness and rage. That ethereal voice became strained again—
"He…is about to awaken…good…bye…beware…Adam."
The instant the voice fell, the vanished malice flooded out again. Strings of illogical murmurs mixed with "Cyka blyat"-style cursing filled the underground chamber.
He had returned to that mad state without reason—full of hatred and rancour—the True Creator who commanded corruption.
Ten-plus minutes later—
Those bronze eyes closed one after another—the murmuring faded—until the final eye closed—the candles in the altar suddenly swelled—forming a single hidden eye behind the curtain—and then disappeared completely.
"Oh right, Amon told me to tell you—what's the point of blocking the Forsaken Land's entrance? If He wants to enter, He enters. If He wants to leave, He leaves. If you're so capable, why don't you try to catch Him next time?"
"Yes, He provoked exactly like that."
"CYKA BLYAT!!!"
At the end—He forcefully spat out a final Russian-style curse—and Edward could clearly hear the fury embedded in that last sentence.
Sigh...rest in peace, Amon.
Edward gave The Hanged Man's statue a deep bow. "Thank You for tonight's answer. Farewell, Lord who created everything, Omniscient and Omnipotent God."
———
[Note]: Don't forget to VOTE. It keeps me motivated.