Chapter 452: Choice

Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Pranav

The petals of a black rose fluttered with the wind, falling with the fading golden glow.

In just a single instant, the God of Holy Light’s incarnation died, even though this was a powerful incarnation with a Main God’s power level.

The snow-white-robed Ayer simply sat there in his rowboat on the River Styx. This scene appeared mysteriously poetic, making one feel the sadness of passing time.

The River Styx continued to quietly flow, just as it always had for countless years. At that time, right after the mortal plane of Eich was created, Creator Goddess Eich left her two daughters behind and then completely vanished.

Once this new world was completely formed, an “ecosystem” with the mortal plane at its core was naturally formed as well.

If I had to use an analogy, this was like the Solar System from my original world. The mortal plane was like Earth, being the location that was most suitable for lifeforms to live and reproduce on. All other dimensions, such as the Elemental Planes, upper planes, lower planes, and so on, were similar to other planets and planetary bodies like the moon, Mars, and so on.

Of course, the core of this new ecosystem was the most useful currency in all the planes – souls.

Unlike the Solar System that was all one dimension, when numerous dimensions became intricately connected to a certain extent, dimensional walls would evolve and harden to the point of completely blocking off attempts to spy and observe from other dimensions. Apart from dimensional will-level existences, few would be able to influence other dimensions.

However, the newly-born mortal plane possessed an unending treasure trove of new dimensional laws and soul resources. Souls were the best currency in all the planes, while dimensional laws were an important resource for strengthening other dimensions. This newly-born mortal plane that didn’t possess any dimensional laws or a dimensional will was just like a newly assembled computer built by a novice which went online for the first time without a firewall. Countless dimensional invaders and conquerors instantly swarmed to possess the mortal plane for themselves.

This was something that was destined to occur to all newly-born dimensions. In fact, dimensional merchants even came up with a term for this, “Dimensional baptism.”

“Only by surviving the baptism will the dimension be able to evolve its own mature dimensional walls. If it doesn’t survive… the dimension will naturally become nutrition for other dimensions.”

In the very first generation on Eich, the mortal plane’s abundant resources and weak dimensional laws attracted countless invaders. However, thanks to the hard efforts of the Goddesses of Chaos and Order as well as the Gold Species, the mortal plane of Eich managed to survive through the most difficult time of being a newly-born dimension.

And, the power of the invaders caused countless Gold Species to go exist. This was the foundational reason why both the Goddesses of Chaos and Order sought to have a highly effective society with powerful individuals. This was simply an instinctive response to having the society’s lives being threatened.

In “Eich’s Seven Calamities” from the game, it should be remembered that there was a certain calamity between the “Fourth Calamity: Demons’ Return” and “Sixth Calamity: Chaotic Warfare amongst the Gods”. That would be the “Fifth Calamity: Dimensional Invasion”. But actually, this was only some “seeds” left behind from eons ago being revived, as these revived individuals began summoning their own species. Yet, these dimensional invaders would bring about far greater trouble and calamity than even the demons.

From a certain standpoint, these “suddenly revived seeds” were meant by the game developers to remind the “game players” and “Gods” to not forget about their existence.

Yet, it was evident that nobody truly took the threat seriously. The Sixth Calamity was classified as yet another normal part of the Holy War. The end result was that in the “Seventh Calamity: Armageddon”, these dimensional invaders viciously made their presence known yet again. But this time, everything was over.

The Seventh Calamity was the final ending.

“The Goddesses of Chaos and Order will revive and continue their ancient war from the first generation. All the Gods will directly begin fighting in the mortal plane, causing countless fissures in the land of Eich. An endless number of Dimensional Doors from other planes will open up as powerful species from other dimensions transform the mortal plane into an utter living hell. There’s no so-called Eighth Calamity because the world has already been sliced up into several thousand pieces. Who would still be around for such a calamity?”

It could be said that destroying the world of Eich was mostly because of the Goddesses of Chaos and Order. At the very least, since they were both half of the dimensional will of Eich, they were the most responsible for causing the destruction of the mortal plane’s dimensional walls protecting it from dimensional invaders. Still, it couldn’t be forgotten that it was also the fault of these invaders from other planes. They were just like dimensional locusts that would leave nothing behind.

It could be said that unlike Roland who only “slightly” understood the overall situation, Ayer who had survived since the very first generation had seen far more of the big picture.

Of course, Ayer already knew about the true identities of the so-called “great precognitors” of the Order Faction that came before Roland. The Armageddon that Roland told Ayer about and the seemingly unreasonable “dimensional invaders” gave Ayer a tremendous sense of danger. Roland was limited to only worrying about Armageddon itself, so he wouldn’t care what happened after the Seventh Calamity. Yet, Ayer saw a tremendous amount of danger.

Ayer had never talked about this with anyone before. Nor was there any need to tell anyone. Ayer had already seen through everything. No matter which enemies came in the future, Roland would simply face them. Some depressing statements would better be left unsaid.

“It’s still the River Styx…”

Back in the earliest generation, the River Styx originally carried countless hopes. It was the place where souls returned to and were newly born. Although life in Eich was the most difficult in that time, the overall constant increase in the total number of souls was the best evidence that this new plane was beginning to flourish.

Rather than the four elements, souls were the most basic and important resource in any plane. Souls could become powerful individuals or provide the power of belief. A sufficient number of souls was a measure by which a dimension was healthy or not.

And, only Ayer knew that over the recent years, the River Styx’s total number of souls had gradually yet constantly been decreasing, and that the mortal plane’s dimensional walls had constantly been weakening. This was the best evidence that Roland’s prophecy was likely to be real.

The reason for this? There could be no other explanation for this other than the two “dimensional will” sisters that were getting ever closer to waking up, meaning that their appetites constantly increased as they ravenously devoured soul shards to help wake themselves up.

Ayer felt very close to the Goddesses of Chaos and Order. But this time, he felt that they were in the wrong.

“…Mortals aren’t beasts to be trained and raised. Even if they are the parents that gave birth to us, they don’t have the right to turn us into their soul food. No, if they truly were parents worthy of respect, how could they possibly give such a cruel order? There’s no worthy parent who doesn’t love their own children!”

Ayer recalled Roland’s angry roars as if he was right next to Ayer. While playing with the black rose in his hand, Ayer couldn’t help but recall the oath that Roland swore at the River Styx, a soul oath that Roland had carved deep into his soul.

“…I swear that I shall bear any crime and distort karma in order to change fate so that the mortals may survive this calamity!”

Finally, Ayer raised his head.

“Alright, Roland. I’ll believe in you this time. I’m gambling everything on you, so you absolutely cant let me down.”

The black rose’s petals began to fall. Ayer watched with head tilted as the petals were blown away into the air. Sunlight actually shone into the deep abyss. Ayer, who typically always had an icy expression, paused in surprise for a moment before revealing a rare smile.

“I bet that my hometown, the Sanri Mountains, will be having a wonderfully clear day tomorrow again. I should have paid a visit there first…”

When the final rose petal was blown away by the wind, the river was covered with floating rose petals. The entire River Styx suddenly stopped, and the rowboat on the river lost its rower. The rowboat simply stayed still on the river.

Ayer’s final words that he spoke to the world was actually an unimportant complaint. Perhaps it was his dissatisfaction that he had kept bottled up for eons already.

“Mother Goddess (Goddess of Order), Sister Cynthia. Perhaps all of us were born because of you, but you don’t have the right to have us die because of you. Perhaps mortal lives seem unimportant to you, yet they’re working so hard to survive. The seemingly light weight of their souls is everything for them…”

The River Styx’s silence didn’t continue for long. It then started moving again as the Dwarf God and the twin sister Nature Goddesses of Joy and Laughter observed. The River Styx started flowing in an abnormal direction, straight into the unknown void.

Although the three Gods here to observe already knew that this would be the result, they and all the ancient existences were still shocked to their very cores to see the ancient and unchanging River Styx beginning to flow into the unknown void. The more ancient the existence, the more shocked the existence was.

And, what shocked the ancient existences even more was that the white-robed Death God on the rowboat had transformed into nothing more than sand that was scattered in the wind. Right after that, the rowboat he left behind also flowed into the pitch-black unknown void.

At this moment, all lives stared in confusion at the sky. Although they didn’t know what had happened, they instinctively felt sorrow and despair. The meteor that streaked through the sky, signifying a God’s death, actually covered half of the entire sky.

“A God has died! The most ancient God has died! The Death God, the very representation of Death, has died!”

What would happen, theoretically speaking, if the God of Law who represented Justice and Fairness started to break his own laws? What would happen if the God of Holy Light who represented Purity and Cleansing became tainted?

Death.

What would happen if the Goddess of Order chose to compromise with Chaos? What would happen if the Goddess of Chaos decided to use numerous rules to restrict herself?

Death.

What would happen if the Death God who represented Death and Eternity decided to break the “status quo” of the River Styx, to disturb the eternity of the Cycle of Reincarnation for the dead?

Death.

The undefeatable Death God was already part of the River Styx itself. He was a part of the Cycle of Reincarnation. And the moment that he acted to change the Cycle of Reincarnation, he became someone who was attempting to harm the Cycle of Reincarnation. And, he had the Divine Concept of Guardian of the Cycle of Reincarnation, which he would be forced to carry out – an obvious contradiction. Under the power of this contradiction, “deleting the contradiction” became the only possible solution.

“Please die for the sake of everyone’s salvation.”

The crazy lich Roland who always joked around ridiculously actually had such a serious expression upon his first meeting with the Death God. Roland lowered his head and requested Ayer to die.

This was the first time in Roland’s life that he had ever lowered his head to someone, along with the only time.

Roland didn’t lie to him. There would be no meaning to lying to Ayer.

Roland didn’t praise him. Glory held no meaning to Ayer.

Roland didn’t beg him. Other people’s attitudes were meaningless to Ayer.

Roland didn’t hesitate. That was because this was the only solution.

Indeed, that was just how cruel reality was. This was the worst possible type of request to make.

“Please die for the sake of everyone.

“Please die so that we may survive.

“Please die so that the world you love will have a sliver of hope.”

Invisible evil intentions transformed into the most vulgar of words. Even Roland felt that he was far too vicious and selfish to ask someone else to die so that he may survive.

But even if he could go back to this point in time, he would still make the same decision and speak the same words. That was because he had no other choice at all!

Back at that time, Ayer hadn’t responded. After that, the more that Roland noticed that his scheme seemed likely to succeed, the more Roland started urging Ayer to choose death.

Perhaps Ayer had made his choice already from the moment that he didn’t choose to kill the lich that made such insane statements by the River Styx.

“It’s time for the old Cycle of Reincarnation to begone…”

“It’s time! This is what we’ve waited for our entire lives! The time for a new Cycle of Reincarnation to be created!”

Ayer’s final sigh echoed at the same time as Roland’s angry roar on the battlefield.

Back in the world of Hell, the Dimensional Door which suddenly opened up, sending the River Styx pouring in was already the best indication of what had happened.

Every single drop of the River Styx was directly absorbed into the new land of the dead. This helped to transform Roland’s Soul World illusions into reality. The River Styx which would be the most vicious toxin for anything living was the nutrition that the new country of the dead needed the most.

The dead started crawling out of the River Styx. This newly-born country of the dead had now become a part of the Cycle of Reincarnation after receiving the River Styx’s nourishment. This new land became more active as it became more real.

Yet, Roland’s current situation wasn’t all that good. Once his undead armies showed off their completely undying properties, all enemies’ gazes settled directly on him.

All the existences here knew that no matter how ridiculously powerful a Soul World’s effects were, the entire Soul World would vanish the moment that the Soul World’s controller died. And, no matter how powerful the current Hell was so far, it was still currently all part of Soul World.

The God of Holy Light’s incarnation blocked the Devil King who was the Lord of Lies. On the chaotic battlefield, the Chaos Evil War God Donatis who swore to kill Roland unhesitatingly charged directly at him.

While the battle between the demons and devils still raged on, Donatis’s charge directly tore a huge fissure through the battlefield. His greatsword was rapidly getting closer to Roland.

Yet, it was as if Roland didn’t even notice the approaching threat. He simply stood there quietly, looking at the white ice crystal floating in front of him.

The white ice crystal was actually giving off a black glow. This gem wasn’t beautiful at all, yet it mysteriously managed to attract everyone’s attention.

This ice crystal had just arrived together with the waters of the River Styx. This ice crystal was the final foundational piece that Hell had lacked.

Roland opened the notebook in his hand, causing the other two ice crystals tucked into the pages to begin floating. The ice crystal that was water blue gave off a faint icy chill.

“Aylos. You had to die for your husband’s revival.”

I muttered that to myself as I recalled coming to that decision when I sent such a message to Aylos. [TL note: yes, the narration suddenly goes from third to first person. Sorry if it’s a bit jarring.]

“I really am a terrible person.”

That was how I forced Aylos into her own death.

Now, I could only smile bitterly as I lightly stroked the ice crystal which had been colored water blue with her soul. I felt that I was far too villainous compared to Aylos, who had been willing to sacrifice everything for her love.

Right now, I was also currently holding the God Equipment Ocean Bottle, which I also received on the River Styx just now. It had been filled with the divine power of the Queen of Storms, and currently inside were furious waves as if the God inside was venting his anger and dissatisfaction.

Another ice crystal floating in midair had a golden glow to it, as if it was a sun that dispelled the darkness around it. Yet, it wasn’t as blinding as the light bulb in the sky.

“Estrada has to die, because the Holy Light requires salvation.”

The ice crystal of Holy Light felt cold to the touch. Yet, there were no tears representing weakness in my eyes. The holy battle hammer on my back even faintly resonated, as if it was consoling me and telling me not to think too much into things.

Of course, how would I dare to think too much about things right now? I had no time left.

The Death God’s soul contained far too much power of death. His white ice crystal had already been tainted completely black. In just a short few minutes, the crystal was already beginning to crack.

Unlike the other souls, Ayer’s soul was far too powerful for the container. I needed to complete my ceremony before the ice crystal broke.

“The mortals require salvation. The Cycle of Reincarnation must be ended. That’s why Ayer must die.”

These three ice crystals whirled around me as their three different colors began distorting this entire world. The prelude had now concluded. There had been too many sacrifices and losses along the way. It was now time to complete our ideal, it was now time to change the fate where everything would be destroyed! At the very least, it was time to make their sacrifices worthwhile!

Imperceptibly, a silver-robed masked individual had arrived behind me. He had arrived here simultaneously with the other Ayer Faction Gods, yet had maintained an abnormal silence.

Currently, this God wearing a faceless mask appeared to be trembling as if he was laughing maniacally.

Faced with the Chaos War God’s charge, he suddenly tore off his mask, revealing the face of a skeletal lich. The moment that he ascended to Godhood, that was the true appearance that he would have for eternity. All illusions were now transformed into reality.

The final empty ice crystal floated in front of him, as my voice and his spoke in synchronicity. Our faces also became identical.

“All criminals shall be judged. All Divine Laws shall become the very dimensional laws of this world. That’s why, Wumianzhe… Wumianzhe Roland must die!”

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