Chapter 490
Chapter 490
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 490
Chapter Title: Divinity (2)
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Au Terica Dimension.
The Roselia Grand Temple, situated at the heart of the holy site in the middle of the Ion Continent.
"You've arrived, Saintess."
"You've had another hard day, Archbishop. How is the Saint doing?"
"The same as always. There's clearly no major issue... but I just can't figure out why he won't wake up."
The two people, who had met in front of one of the secluded lodgings, stepped into the room.
The interior was tastefully decorated with neat and elegant furnishings.
On the large bed at the far end lay a man, asleep as if dead.
"Haah, it's exactly a week today, isn't it?"
"Yes. Has it really been that long already?"
Saintess Riesta approached the bedside with a sigh and gently stroked the man's face.
A brilliant platinum glow, clearer than that of any priest in the Church of the Main God, flowed from her hand, but the man lying there with his eyes closed—Saint Heinrich—showed no reaction whatsoever.
'What in the world is going on...'
They had noticed something was wrong about a week ago, around evening.
Heinrich had been busy lately, traveling back and forth to the otherworld and preparing for war against the Immortal King.
He had fallen into a deep sleep without any warning signs.
At first, they hadn't thought much of it.
They figured the fatigue he'd accumulated was just catching up all at once.
But as three days turned into four, even the Church of the Main God began to feel a sense of crisis.
"Could the Immortal King have pulled some trick?"
"This is the Roselia Grand Temple in the middle of the holy site. There's no trace of black magic, curses, or any other energy..."
"You never know. The Immortal King of this era even infiltrated the Grand Temple at will, didn't he?"
"Mm, can't deny that. Shall we run a more thorough examination, then?"
She froze at the words of the archbishop, who oversaw the infirmary at the renowned Roselia Grand Temple.
Then, with deep sighs, she slowly shook her head.
"...No, never mind. Let's trust him a little longer and wait. If the Saint is in the middle of something, our interference might disrupt it."
In truth, she already knew there was no reason to worry this much.
If there were a serious problem with the Saint, she—as the one closest to the Main God—would have sensed it.
'Still, how can I not worry.'
But reason and emotion didn't always align.
Especially since it hadn't been long since the previous pope—practically her only family—had passed away.
Riesta sat in the chair by the bed, clasped both of Heinrich's hands, pressed them to her forehead, and closed her eyes.
'You're really okay, right? Please wake up safe and sound soon. Don't make us worry so much.'
The Saintess quietly prayed while holding the Saint's hand.
The archbishop behind her closed his eyes and recited a prayer as well.
But no matter how much they called it nursing, a Saintess couldn't stay glued here indefinitely.
In the end, she gave Heinrich's face one last look before forcing her reluctant feet to move and leaving the room.
Woooong—
How long had it been since Riesta left?
A faint but monumental change began stirring deep within the quietly slumbering Heinrich.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ While handling this matter, Heinrich, Hans, and all the avatars bearing seeds of divinity had fallen silent at once.
'I thought this abbreviated process would be quick, but it's taking longer than expected.'
At least the avatars without divinity could keep operating. That was a relief.
Though "operating" mostly meant holing up in their lairs in a near-hibernating state.
'Weaklings like them would drop dead on the spot if they collapsed anywhere carelessly.'
I hadn't planned to fully fuse all the divinity from the start, so I hadn't anticipated it dragging on like this.
I knew better than anyone that my qualifications and preparations were still insufficient to merge seeds that had hardened separately in different environments.
'I need to give them some breathing room now so they can grow even stronger later.'
What I was doing was laying the foundation for these divinity seeds to properly bloom.
By forging paths between the severed divinities, allowing them to stimulate each other.
To minimize the incompleteness caused by the limitations of avatars.
Drip—
'Hm?'
Something felt off earlier, and sure enough, blood was trickling from my nose and mouth.
As the seeds began reacting, the burden on the central main body was reaching its limit.
'Not yet. Just a bit more...'
But stopping now would be a shame—the seeds that had started responding were showing unusual activity.
Especially the main body's divinity at the center, shaking violently as if something inside was about to break free.
'Almost there. Really, just a little more!'
I could sense it instinctively.
If I missed this moment, who knew when another chance like this would come.
I couldn't let it slip by.
With that resolve, I clung desperately to my sanity, relying on the "Great Spirit."
"Kuhk!"
Blood surged from my throat like a waterfall.
At the same moment, something dormant deep within popped open, and an inexplicable sense of omnipotence swept through my body, surging to the crown of my head.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ Conditions achieved. Potential blooms. Acquired Special Skill 「Faint Divinity」. I had no time to pay attention to the system message floating before my eyes.
The omnipotence surging to the crown of my head—through the Baihui acupoint—pierced the veil blocking it and stretched toward the high sky, the vast universe, and the entirety of the dimension encompassing the world.
'Ahh.'
Enlightenment piercing through my entire soul.
Was this what they called omniscience?
All principles and laws of the world unfolded before me at a glance, and I could grasp the complex flows of fate and causality as naturally as breathing.
And thanks to that, I understood.
That my current, woefully incomplete state wouldn't sustain this moment for long.
And that the instant it ended, all these insights would vanish like illusions.
'Not much time left.'
As truths jumbled chaotically in my mind.
I conceived the most efficient way to make use of this situation.
Now, closer to omniscience than ever before.
What more could I do?
What was the most urgent matter to address?
'Reverse Heaven Leader.'
My endlessly expanded consciousness rode the threads of karma he had left in the world.
My mortal enemy, the archfoe I must utterly destroy.
Simply learning about him wouldn't mean much.
The key was to properly record that information so I could access it even after this awakened state ended.
'...This?'
Fortunately, I already had the necessary materials.
Or more precisely...
As if it were fated, they had been in my grasp from the very beginning.
'Fruit of Myth.'
My consciousness, sweeping through the world's causality, halted at one point.
The trait I had gained after Heinrich encountered the "Fruit of Myth" in the Pantheon—a trait that had been marked with a question mark until now.
The miraculous proof born from the influence of divinities originating from countless dimensions.
「Mythic Record」
It emanated a strong presence, drawing my consciousness toward it.
I delved into it as if entranced.
'So this was the key.'
The deeper I went, the more fragments of countless worlds flashed by around me.
At the same time, I understood its true nature.
This was, quite literally, a record containing the history of worlds.
Tales of gods from various dimensions and the worlds they ruled.
'Wait, don't tell me this is the Akasha System's...'
At that point, my consciousness, touching truth itself, instinctively derived the answer.
The Akasha System, encompassing all dimensions including Earth.
This 「Mythic Record」 was essentially a terminal linking to its inscribed Akashic Records.
Though limited in capacity, the possibilities were endless.
It might even allow circumventing the system, once thought an absolute law.
'To think he was creating something like this. What the hell is the Reverse Heaven Leader...'
At that moment.
Familiar landscapes began flickering amid the countless fragments passing by.
Scenes all too familiar to me.
'Earth?'
America, China, Japan, Romania... and Korea and other countries.
Landscapes from various places and time zones jumbled chaotically.
'No, wait—something's off.'
But thanks to my expanded consciousness, I soon realized that these worlds... these 'worlds' weren't the Earth I knew.
The past trunk was indeed one.
But from some point, the worlds began branching into multiple paths, each diverging in their own directions.
The Earth I knew as reality was merely one of them.
'Year 2000 AD.'
The point when the anomalous phenomenon of "otherworld transfers" occurred on an Earth devoid of any mysteries.
That exact moment was the singularity of this world divergence.
And as I calmly observed the worlds, I soon identified who—or what—stood at the center of that phenomenon.
'Regressor. Reverse Heaven Leader.'
These weren't mere parallel worlds.
Unresolved karma and tangled causality.
This was a phenomenon that could only arise if someone rewound a single world multiple times.
'Insane... how many times did he rewind time?'
Naturally, I also understood the nature of the dreams I'd been having.
By contacting the Akashic Records through the Fruit of Myth, I had experienced remnants of previous worlds in the form of dreams.
In other words, all of them were worlds I had actually experienced... or was meant to experience.
'......'
I quietly watched the flowing worlds.
My parents' smiles from my dreams flickered by.
Moments of ordinary college life, and the time I jumped into society early as a freelance video editor.
And the countless versions of myself passing through those timelines.
'Wait.'
Then, a sudden thought struck me.
'If all those were real events...'
Innumerable Earth worldlines flashed by.
Earths from time periods similar to the present, alike yet different in many ways.
But the instant those worldlines uniformly reached their "end."
The exact same scene awaited me, stamped as if from a mold.
[■■■■■—!]
The end of the infinitely diverged worlds.
I locked eyes directly with the pupils filling the skies over countless Earths.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ A pristine white space devoid of anything.
The Reverse Heaven Leader, who had been quietly meditating with eyes closed, snapped them open.
'Someone has touched the worldlines. They haven't fully reached the divine throne yet, but...'
He could sense it instinctively.
Even with his eyes and ears blinded by the laws of causality, and shackles binding his entire body, he was the closest thing to a "god of Earth"—the only being to have blossomed divinity on this planet.
"The Archfoe, after all?"
That was the most likely suspect right now.
No one had ever fully achieved divinity across the countless Earths he'd traversed.
If there was potential, it had to be the variable of this timeline itself—the Archfoe.
Whether Hwetal, Phantom, or the otherworld's Saint didn't matter.
"...Ha! So you've finally made it this far."
As he grew stronger with each regression, the obstacle blocking his path grew stronger too.
All the karma accumulated from his struggles transferred wholesale to the Archfoe upon rewinding.
There had been cases where divinity seeds were planted before, but this was the first time one had sprouted.
To him, unable to wield his full power due to causal constraints, it would be a formidable opponent.
'No, it's still fine. The grand plan is progressing more smoothly than any previous loop.'
It was true that unforeseen variables had derailed plans quite a bit.
He hadn't expected such massive damage even after preemptively preparing the "most perfect" countermeasures for every possibility.
But since he'd accounted for that and prepared thoroughly, the overall situation wasn't all that bad.
'This time, I'll end it for good.'
Constantly rewinding time was reaching its limit.
No matter how much he plundered energy from other dimensions or sacrificed countless lives as offerings, he was the one who had to bear it all in the end.
If he weren't an angel bearing divinity, he wouldn't have made it this far.
'If they've touched the worldlines... they'll learn all the truths.'
And in doing so, they would confront "those eyes"—the very reason he had no choice but to act as he did.
"I wonder what choice you'll make once you know the truth. I'm quite looking forward to it."
The Reverse Heaven Leader murmured softly, closed his eyes again, and surrendered to the flow of the world.
The shackles binding his body and soul—and his divinity—were beginning to rattle ever so slightly.
Now, truly, it wouldn't be long.