Come to think of it, both the God Almighty and the Celestial Worthy—those old rivals—had left behind countless contingencies for their own resurrection and to hinder the other's return.
After His fall, God hid the "Blasphemy Slates" and concealed the formulas of the Old Ones, forcing later ancient gods to tacitly permit the birth of the "Omniscient and Omnipotent One," allowing the "Ancient Sun God" to relatively smoothly reclaim authority.
The Celestial Worthy, on the other hand, sealed all Sefirot aside from the Chaos Sea and the Sefirah Castle before death, leaving the true gods who wished to become Old Ones or prevent the apocalypse with no choice but to nurture a "Lord of Mysteries"… thus paving the way for the Fool's rise.
These were all overt strategies, with the gods having limited influence. The real obstacles to each other's resurrection lay in their mutual schemes.
So the Celestial Worthy implanted the Error Uniqueness into the Chaos Sea, allowing the Ancient Sun God to resist God's awakening within himself…
And in return, God had prepared the "Mirror of Arrodes" in advance to help the new Lord of Mysteries block the Celestial Worthy's revival.
Moreover, based on Ebner's deduction, the Sefirah Castle's repeated "release" of transmigrators who never ended up on the Path of Calamity was likely due to interference from God as well.
Overall, the Celestial Worthy's method to hinder God was simply implanting Error; all His other moves were aimed at His own return.
God, in contrast, had only one route for resurrection through the Ancient Sun God. Most of His focus was spent trying to stop the Celestial Worthy's return…
The so-called "God Casket" was clearly a way to remove some of the necessity of the Lord of Mysteries… to delay the Celestial Worthy's resurgence as long as possible. But it didn't seem to be all that successful…
Of course, none of this was clearly spelled out in the original novel—Ebner's thoughts were simply deductions based on all the intelligence he had gathered.
If that experiment eleven years ago really was led by one or more gods, trying to use the special souls inside the God Casket—or something else—to connect with the Sefirot… then why was only five types of Sefirot pollution observed in Bianca?
Where were the Brood Hive and the River of Eternal Darkness?
Maybe this is what Lilith meant when she asked me to investigate what was missing from the God Casket?
And then there's the last question: if the Tenebrous World really was connected during the ritual, then Roselle's adopted son Yaldabaoth was almost certainly part of it… With someone so important, even if he wasn't consumed by the ritual, the god who led it would've taken control of him… Yet he's still active, and not long ago even cooperated with many gods to ambush the Mother Tree of Desire…
Many thoughts erupted in Ebner's mind at once. It wasn't until Fors asked with concern, "Are you alright?" that he calmed his emotions, sat back down, and smiled. "I'm fine. I was just thinking about some… unexpected things."
"Is it about the Tenebrous World? What exactly is it?" Fors thought for a moment and asked curiously.
Ebner shook his head solemnly. "Don't look into it. It's not something you're ready to understand."
Fors wasn't someone who insisted on uncovering everything, and this wasn't a particularly amusing topic either. Seeing how serious Ebner was, she nodded and returned to Roselle's message.
"Emperor Roselle also said that his adopted son Yaldabaoth was accidentally released from the God Casket by the Goddess of Fortune. But that elf king's subordinate god somehow stripped the Tenebrous World's brand from him and arranged for him to be reborn in the Abyss, where Roselle eventually found him…"
Stripped of the Sefirot brand? Was that done using the Pure White Eye? Then where did that brand go after the Fortune Goddess died?
Is it still on her corpse… or was it released?
Hmm… I remember my recent target—the sea monster Segust who inherited the Prophet trait stripped from the Fortune Goddess—used bizarre mental manipulation to control Vice Admiral Deepsea… and King of the Five Seas Nast speculated that this power came from the God of Heartlessness…
That so-called God of Heartlessness is probably the Mother Tree of Desire… but the Tenebrous World can't be ruled out either.
If I go bold with my assumptions, maybe that sea monster inherited the Tenebrous World brand along with the Fortune Goddess's traits.
And maybe that's the basis of its cooperation with the Delien family. The Prime Minister from that family received massive support from both the Blood Worship Cult and the Mother Tree—probably because of their contributions in this matter…
If the Mother Tree of Desire really obtained the Tenebrous World brand through that sea monster… did she already begin corrupting the Tenebrous World?
If so, then the threat she poses is far greater than imagined… No wonder all the righteous gods, evil gods, and Outer Gods alike united to trap her…
But that Tenebrous World brand also passed through the hands of a transmigrator… Is it really fine?
As his thoughts swirled, Ebner realized he was going too far, fabricating wild speculation. If this kept up, he'd be afflicted with "Hanged Man Syndrome." He quickly reined himself in and continued listening to Fors:
"Before the Dread Duke Yaldabaoth, there were two other special souls who once left the God Casket.
"One was the progenitor of the Phoenix, Gregrace; the other was the Elven King, Soniathrym.
"They correspond to the River of Eternal Darkness and the City of Calamity, respectively.
"They don't truly perish upon death. Their spirit and will return to the God Casket. As long as they return to the Western Continent and their respective Sefirot, they can be revived… Just like how the Spirit World never fades and the Seven Lights endure."
Fors paused to sip her tea, then added, "Ugh… The last part might not have been meant for me, but for the one behind me… You know who."
Even though she was certain Ebner knew the great being backing her, she still didn't dare say the Fool's name aloud.
Ebner didn't have time to worry about her caution. He was once again shaken by the revelations in Roselle's message and began wondering if he'd missed anything in the original novel during his past life.
So the Phoenix progenitor Gregrace and the Elven King Soniathrym were both special souls from the Sefirot?
That explains a lot. Gregrace's deep connection to the River of Eternal Darkness probably allowed her to unleash one of its branches across the Western Continent in the Second Epoch using Door's Uniqueness—even while it was still sealed!
And Bansy's projection of the City of Calamity is likely tied to Soniathrym too. Back then, the seas belonged to the elves!
Hmm… Maybe I wasn't wrong earlier. As an ancient god, even with a special origin, the Elven King wouldn't know about the potion sequences, so he probably instinctively gathered Calamity traits—but ended up letting the Tyrant take dominance, with the Red Priest and others incomplete…
Of course, maybe that was intentional. Perhaps isolation by the Sefirah Castle made him less loyal to the City of Calamity.
Still, his unique nature tainted the high sequences and possibly the Uniqueness of the Red Priest pathway. That led to the Red Angel getting trapped and abandoned by Adam—becoming a "necessary sacrifice."
But before dying, the Elven King had the Queen of Calamity and the Goddess of Fortune break through the siege and take the God Casket back to the Western Continent… That means his residual spirit and imprint returned to the Casket, trying to revive through the Sefirot.
Unfortunately, the Casket is now empty… Who knows where that residual spirit ended up…
As for Gregrace, the Phoenix progenitor, she probably never truly died. She may have never returned to the Casket… But her contingency plan was apparently hijacked by the transmigrator Vincent Miranda… I wonder if the corresponding River of Eternal Darkness brand also changed hands…
Hmm… Maybe it ended up with the Goddess.
With that thought, Ebner deeply felt that the Fortune Goddess's casual "box-opening" had exposed the God Casket's secrets prematurely, altering the world's balance in ways unimaginable. The current divine landscape might be completely different from the original novel's.
Compared to that, Roselle's so-called "arrangements" and the threat of releasing Mr. Door to trigger the apocalypse seemed trivial… After all, he was always in the open. It would be nearly impossible for him to hide things from Adam or the Goddess—or the one who knew him best, the Calamity Seal…
None of them would allow him to carry out such a world-ending plan. They likely wouldn't stop him directly either—they'd just use him to dig a "pit." The only question was: who would fall into it?
With a sigh, Ebner stood up. After getting Fors's consent, he touched the Blessing of the Goddess of Beauty on his forehead, and used its power to cast the secret technique "Charm Human."
As Fors's gaze grew increasingly dazed, Ebner hypnotized her, implanting the suggestion to forget everything related to the Sefirot and replaced it with fabricated memories.
He used "Charm Human" first to improve the hypnosis's effectiveness—after all, even though Fors trusted him greatly, she still had subconscious resistance toward being hypnotized. That resistance could ruin the suggestion.
"All done. You can go to the underground hot spring now… When you wake up in the water, you'll only remember the revised memories."
After planting the suggestion and watching Fors leave the study, Ebner "purchased" a pen and paper, sat at the desk, and began to think and write:
"There are seven special souls from different Sefirot in the God Casket… Now confirmed are: the Elven King from the City of Calamity, the Phoenix from the River of Eternal Darkness, and Yaldabaoth from the Tenebrous World—though his brand was stripped by the Fortune Goddess...
"If the God Casket releases one soul at regular intervals even without deliberate unlocking…
"Then who are the most likely candidates for the Nation of Disorder, Knowledge Moor, Key of Light, and Brood Hive?"
At that, Ebner first wrote the name "Night Emperor" Trunsoest. After his fall, his Uniqueness-bearing item, "Trunsoest's Brass Book," had been corrupted by the Nation of Disorder and became a terrifying sealed artifact capable of affecting divine battles even inside the Sefirah Castle—highly suspicious.
Next, he jotted down "Hidden Sage," but immediately crossed it out. Judging from that evil god's interest in Bianca, He seemed to be investigating the secrets of the experiment himself. If He were one of the souls from the Casket, He wouldn't act this way…
His birth might be related to the souls inside the God Casket, but he likely wasn't one of them.
As for the Key of Light and the Brood Hive… there were still no leads at all.
(End of Chapter)