Chapter 528: Within the Illusion
The one wielding the Spear of Longinus was a young man dressed in white.
He looked gentle, almost scholarly, with a lazy indifference in his eyes, as though even hurling a divine weapon across the sky was barely worth the effort.
Behind him stood a girl in green. Her panicked, pitiful expression stirred a natural sense of protectiveness in anyone who saw her.
Their identities were obvious.
Adam and Eve.
In other words, Adam was the one attacking Lilith.
Beneath their feet hung an enormous moon.
Adam stood upon a black moon.
Lilith stood upon a white moon.
Black moon, white moon.
Seeing the twin moons, Ryuunosuke immediately recalled the ancient legends recorded in various texts.
The notions of a black moon and a white moon appeared in many stories, even in the anime and books from his previous life.
Could this be the scene of Adam and Lilith's first clash?
A deafening impact shook the void as the colossal Spear of Longinus smashed into Lilith again.
Yet Lilith did not move at all.
Black spikes erupted from the white moon, intercepting and deflecting the spear.
Each collision scattered strange motes of light.
Those motes gathered in midair and rapidly condensed into stones of different colors.
"Infinity Stones, huh?"
"So this is how they were formed?"
Ryuunosuke watched the battle unfold and lowered his gaze.
Around him floated countless stones, each one radiating a familiar aura.
"Child, did you see that?"
A gentle voice sounded behind him.
"Back then, he was the one who stopped me from entering Earth."
"This world belongs to us, but he defied the will of God and tried to keep it for himself."
"Because he fell in love."
"He fell in love with my body."
"That woman was nothing more than a bone taken from his body and transformed, yet she had an affair with him."
Lilith's projection reappeared behind Ryuunosuke, speaking slowly, her tone tinged with hazy confusion and grievance.
"God?"
"Aren't you supposed to be the gods in this story?"
Ryuunosuke's lips curled in a faint, mocking smile.
Lilith's projection showed no reaction at all.
At this moment she was more like a program than a person.
She ignored Ryuunosuke's attitude completely, repeating the script she was meant to imprint into his mind.
"Adam, do you truly wish to be my enemy?"
"We should never have met in the first place."
A clear, cold voice rang out.
This time it came from the Lilith standing on the white moon, her words echoing across the void.
Adam did not answer.
He simply hefted the Spear of Longinus and swung it toward her again.
The spear howled forward.
Countless black spikes surged up from the white moon to meet it.
The two forces collided.
This time, both weapons shattered upon impact.
Fragments of light swirled together, recombining into a single white crystal that slowly began to fall.
Ryuunosuke tracked its trajectory and watched it descend toward the world.
It fell toward the East Blue.
"The Heart of Eternity is also a product of their battle?"
He could not help the shock that rose in his chest.
The system had told him before that the five Hearts of Eternity were keys that could open the Gate of Rules.
Through that gate, and with the system's help, one could travel across countless worlds.
In other words, the Eternal Hearts were fundamentally objects that broke through the boundaries of the rules themselves.
So why were they born out of a battle between Lilith and Adam?
Did that mean that a clash between the two of them had already exceeded the rules of this world?
If that was the case, then…
"Crystals of Rules."
"These can also be called the Hearts of God."
"Child…"
Lilith's voice droned on.
Ryuunosuke really did not want to listen to her indoctrination.
She insisted on calling him "child" in almost every sentence, as if repeating it would make the title real.
Did anyone actually buy into that and truly see themselves as her child?
The message she poured into his mind this time was simple.
When Adam and Lilith's powers combined, the result would be a so called Heart of God, also known as the Heart of Eternity.
Such things were not allowed to exist or appear.
That, she said, was Adam's purpose.
Why he wanted to prevent their existence remained unclear.
The battle that followed was like a broken recording.
Adam attacked.
Lilith repelled him.
Stones fell.
Another crystal formed.
Again and again.
By the time the sixth star was complete, both Adam and Lilith surged toward the Blue Planet below.
In order to occupy more of Earth's seas, Lilith split her body apart.
Her power divided into four parts, which fell and became the four Laugh Tales.
They descended upon what had been the greatest kingdom in the world.
Because of their fall, Roy and the others would later encounter the Kingdom's Guardians.
From there came the rise of the World Government and the birth of the Void Century.
All of it had been erased.
The rulers of the world would never allow ordinary people to know of such beings.
"Child, everyone in this world is my child."
"What I must do is protect you."
"But what Adam wants is to destroy this world."
"I believe you should be able to make your choice now, right?"
Lilith's projection spoke again, her soft voice wrapping around his mind.
Ryuunosuke blinked.
The next moment, he realized he was back in the canyon.
The illusory cosmos vanished.
Lilith's projection detached itself from the withered root system and stepped in front of him.
She was very close.
If Ryuunosuke had not witnessed her earlier transformation, he might have mistaken her for a real woman standing in front of him.
He had to admit, the projection of Lilith was stunningly beautiful.
It was a beauty that felt beyond human, something higher and more refined.
Her completely bare form awakened a primal impulse in the depths of the soul.
"And the price?"
Ryuunosuke lifted his head and calmly asked those three words.
He had a natural resistance toward this beauty.
He had lived two lives.
He had a wife waiting at home in his previous world.
He was not someone who would be easily shaken by a pretty face.
More importantly, after seeing what she truly was, a faint disgust lingered in his chest every time he looked at her.
"I need your soul, fused into mine."
"In that way, we can be together forever."
"And you will also receive my power."
Lilith's projection spoke without hesitation.
As she did, countless fine threads sprouted from her body, reaching toward Ryuunosuke.
A sizzling sound crackled through the air.
The Yellow Springs Contract in his hand erupted.
Sword light flashed, cold and merciless.
In an instant, every last thread was severed.
"I am not willing to pay that price."
"Lilith, Adam."
"Your existence looks like an unstable element in this world."
"In that case, would you two kindly leave?"
Ryuunosuke's tone was calm, but the air around him detonated.
His aura roared upward, surging into the sky like a tidal wave.
"Hm?"
"How very interesting."
The First Generation watched Ryuunosuke, the playful smile on his face widening.
He had expected Ryuunosuke to refuse.
What he had not expected was that last line.
This man had clearly discovered something.
Otherwise, he would never have dared to speak so directly to Lilith's image.
It seemed this projection was about to lose its temper.
Time to withdraw.
"Ryuunosuke, I will leave the rest to you."
The First Generation glanced at him one last time.
His figure blurred and vanished.
The Lilith projection in front of Ryuunosuke twisted.
Countless tentacle like roots erupted from the surrounding tree mass and surged into her body.
In an instant, her form swelled and warped.
What now stood before Ryuunosuke was a towering humanoid abomination.
Its skin was bark, its limbs were bundled roots, its head a mass of writhing branches.
It looked like some ancient tree spirit, a monster out of a Black Mountain ghost tale, looming over him in the canyon of Laugh Tale.
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