"So here comes the question… In the depths of the 'Unknown,' the existence that makes me transmigrate again and again this way… the one who can pollute others with just His name—'Liu Bo'—what exactly is He?
"That has to be a power belonging only to the Old Ones, right?
"And what's more—since 'I' am one who revives in targets precisely because of His 'pollution,' how is it that as my Sequence rises, I gradually diverge from Him, to the point that once I reach demigodhood, I can actually be polluted by Him again!
"Also, as I expected, the 'Calamity Seal' incarnation was deliberately arranged! When I saw the spells recorded in the latter half of Banquet of Blood, I had already suspected as much… Now it's confirmed.
"I just didn't expect that the ancestor of the Sauron family was actually trained by me myself…
"No wonder, back in Backlund, when I conversed with the fused angelic evil spirit of Sauron, Einhorn, and Medici, the one leading the conversation asked about Rhine, and upon hearing of his fall, asked about the relics he left behind…
"At that time it must have been Sauron's soul speaking, and He wanted to retrieve Soniathrym's Soul Stone?
"Makes sense. That stone bore the imprint of the Sefirot, the City of Calamity. Maybe it would benefit Him, even help Him shake off Einhorn and Medici."
"But still, I keep feeling that the 'me' in the Rhine era probably hadn't deliberately plotted this 'investment' into Sauron… Most likely, it was the more cunning 'me' from the Fifth Epoch, taking advantage of an unintentional act, turning it into part of a greater scheme."
As his thoughts turned rapidly, Ebner lifted his head toward Yaloran, signaling he had finished digesting the last part and was ready for her to continue.
Yaloran gracefully set down her teacup, organized her words, and said:
"Back to 'Oliver'—that is, you during your 'God of Luck' era…
"As for your experiments concerning the Tenebrous World and Yaldabaoth, I don't know the full details… Only that you placed the imprint of the Tenebrous World onto a sea monster… Hm, likely the very one that later provided you with the 'Prophet' characteristic.
"But for the part involving me, I can tell you in detail."
Here, Yaloran's tone shifted, and she smiled, asking:
"By the way, have you guessed who I really am?"
Hearing this, Ebner studied her face again, then said uncertainly:
"You are… the 'Queen of Calamity,' Cohinem?"
"You actually guessed? Have you recovered Alvin's memories?" For once, Yaloran looked genuinely surprised. But then she shook her head and dismissed it:
"Unlikely. At your current level—just newly Sequence 4—you could at most recall about a hundred years back… so…"
Here, she suddenly turned to gaze toward the left side of the church, as if she could see through its walls to the reflection in the lake outside—the Elven Trial Temple.
"I see… That temple retained traces of you—or rather, of the 'Unknown's' power. She must have used that to briefly escape this Nightmare of mine.
"So then, you must have encountered her somewhere in the Collective Subconscious Sea, and from our similar faces deduced my identity?"
Yaloran spoke with a dawning expression of realization.
"And you and her…?" Ebner asked, feigning curiosity, playing along.
"She and I are both 'Cohinem'… just different personalities of Her." Yaloran chuckled softly here, then shook her head.
"I had thought our greatest divide was over you… but I never imagined that she, too, regards you as the most important person… That when danger comes, you're the first one she thinks of!
"Of course, of course! When she altered the activation incantation of your 'Trial Temple' to be 'Cohinem,' I should have realized.
"How laughable! If that's the case, then why were she and I once irreconcilable enemies?
"Surely it can't have been just over whether or not to carry out Soniathrym's final task."
What on earth is this? Madam, could you maybe explain it in a way I can actually understand? The way you're putting it, you're making me sound like some scummy homewrecker stirring up drama between two goddesses…
Ebner grumbled inwardly, though outwardly he waited for her laughter to subside before asking seriously:
"What exactly happened?"
Yaloran sobered and answered:
"The 'Queen of Calamity' you met before, and I, are both Cohinem—two opposing personalities of Hers.
"Cohinem originally had no such mental affliction. But when fleeing the Elven Court with you, She was struck by the power of the 'Dark Angel' Sasrir, planting the seed of future fracture.
"Later, during the days of hiding with you from pursuit, working together to expel excess characteristics, Her mental division worsened… until you opened the 'God Casket,' which caused the issue to fully erupt.
"You've seen the murals inside the Trial Temple—you know that after you opened the God Casket, She broke with you…
"But in truth, it wasn't She breaking with you—it was me and her breaking with each other!
"Because of irreconcilable contradictions, she and I could never merge, only fight endlessly. The final result was loss of control and a fall.
"But before we fell, each of us seized the body briefly to leave behind contingencies…
"She hid within the Book of Calamity, continuing to guard the God Casket. I, meanwhile, entered the Golden Goblet I loved most, leaving you clues to find me.
"And indeed, you soon did. You found me and helped stabilize my half of the soul…
"Then you told me that you had experimented with Soul Stones imprinted with Sefirot, and discovered there was a chance to use those imprints to pry open the authority of the 'Unknown,' thereby enabling my 'resurrection.'
"But at the time you only had Soniathrym's Soul Stone. If you stripped off its City of Calamity imprint, the Elven King would truly never resurrect again.
"You had once been His attendant god, and could not bear to cut Him off completely… and besides, if you did so, she might also be provoked…
"So you waited until the special soul with the imprint of the Knowledge Moor left the God Casket. Only then did you strip that imprint, merge it into my soul, and with the 'Unknown's' help, I entered a long resurrection state—finally succeeding in reviving in the Fourth Epoch, within the body of a girl.
"By then, you were already a Vampire Duke. After finding me, you gave me the name I bear now.
"Later, because of the imprint of the Knowledge Moor, I walked the path of the 'Seer,' but it also left hidden dangers.
"Mm… Since I advanced to demigod using Rhine's blood as a foundation, I retained some ability to commune with the 'Unknown.' I suppressed problems like my incomplete spirit, the conflict between my soul's essence and my pathway, and the contamination of the Sefirot imprint.
"But not long ago… my authority to access the 'Unknown' suddenly vanished…
"Many problems erupted all at once. At the same time, the 'Hermit' tried to seize the opportunity to locate my true body, in order to steal my Knowledge Moor imprint, along with the Knowledge Emperor characteristic Roselle had placed with me.
"So I was forced to hide inside this Nightmare cloaked in secrecy, sending only a projection to seek you out—to help me resolve the current crisis."
At this, Yaloran's blood-red eyes fixed on Ebner, full of expectation.
Ebner, however, had only one comment on her story:
What a f**ing melodrama!*
There's no way he could believe two ancient gods' attendants would actually play out this kind of "soap opera"!
Either someone was pulling the strings behind the scenes, or the melodrama was just a façade—beneath it lay deeper causes.
Compared to divine romance, I'd much rather believe the 'God of Luck' once used Yaloran as a lab rat, to test out his transmigration-reincarnation system; and that Yaloran, as a split personality of the Queen of Calamity, leveraged the God of Luck to revive herself and become an independent existence.
"I remember, when I encountered Cohinem in the Collective Subconscious Sea, she warned me—not to trust her other self completely…"
(End of Chapter)