To cause the land of "Fertility" to decay and collapse… could that have been the ritual for accommodating the "Uniqueness" of the Twilight Giant pathway?
And a ritual to accommodate a Uniqueness is essentially a simplified version of a godhood ritual…
That means, for the God of Combat to ascend, He at the very least plunged a continent into "Twilight," forcing the living beings upon it into overall decline and collapse? The current state of the "Forsaken Land of the Gods"… He must have played a tremendous role!
Was this the true reason He joined the "Rose of Redemption"?
"…We are redeeming ourselves, and at the same time preserving the balance of this world…"
"…Division and estrangement are, without question, the most fundamental order…"
"…This is also His belief…"
"…It cannot be denied that we all harbor our own dark thoughts and desires, but that is perfectly natural…"
"…Death and blood are inevitable. Under the name of the 'Rose of Redemption' we march forward…"
Ebner recalled the descriptions of the "Rose of Redemption" from the original work, and now he had a much deeper understanding.
Not only the Angel Kings like the "Lord of Storms," "Eternal Blazing Sun," and the "God of Knowledge and Wisdom" bore dark intentions of their own—most of the other attendees were surely waiting for such an opportunity as well!
That included the Goddess and Lilith, the "Ancient Sun God" Himself, and even "me"!
The countless schemes buried for millennia in the original text… this was where they began.
After mulling this over, Ebner's thoughts turned back to the matter of the God of Combat slaying His mother, Omebella.
This completely defied Ebner's former understanding of Lord of Mysteries.
"Combining what the original said with Lilith's attitude toward Omebella… there are roughly two possibilities.
"First: the God of Combat, Badheil, killing His mother—the Goddess of Harvest, Omebella—was an agreement between mother and son.
"Badheil used it to obtain His mother's portion of the 'Hand of God' and conveniently complete the ritual to accommodate the Uniqueness.
"As for Omebella, She very likely used the opportunity of being killed to cast off the 'Hand of God' characteristic that had fused into Her, and then by leveraging the process of dying and reviving, play the role of the 'Naturewalker,' thus digesting the Sequence 1 characteristic She had obtained from Lilith.
"Mm, from Sequence 9 up to Sequence 4, the 'Mother' pathway manifests aspects of 'Life'… But the Sequence 4 'Ancient Alchemist' ritual requires extracting three hundred years of one's own lifespan to refine a 'Stone of Life,' a material for 'resurrection' of others…
"That is a very clear turning point between 'Life' and 'Death.'
"Then comes Sequence 3 'PallBearer,' and Sequence 2 'Desolate Matriarch.' Just from the names you can see the association with death, decay, and withering—manifestations of 'Death.'
"So, Sequence 1 'Naturewalker' is most likely a synthesis of the prior Sequences… After all, life and death, decay and flourishing, are all parts of 'Nature,' all parts of the 'Cycle.'
"And the beginning of each new cycle is the 'Mother'!
"In short, a bold assumption: the Naturewalker may have 'Cycle' abilities similar to the Black Emperor, capable of reviving after death.
"The God of Combat knew this, and that's why He never doubted the later identity of the 'Earth Mother.' In His difficult moments, He even invited the 'Mother' to stand with Him against the Goddess.
"But what He hadn't expected was that Lilith had likely tampered with the 'Naturewalker' characteristic He had deliberately left behind, so Omebella may have been replaced midway through Her 'resurrection.'
"She fell completely, with deep resentment, perhaps even towards Her son. The lingering spirit in the Desolate Matriarch characteristic evolved into Silver City's 'Parricide Curse.'
"If this hypothesis stands, then logically it all makes sense… but still, something doesn't quite fit…
"After the first layer of the Dream Labyrinth Tower, Lilith openly proclaimed Her revival, even ostentatiously displaying closeness with the Goddess. She invested in me just like the 'Earth Mother.' She didn't seem to care that others might question the Earth Mother's true identity.
"That runs counter to the purpose of tasking me with the long-term mission of finding Omebella's soul stone… unless She has deeper considerations.
"And the second possibility is that the God of Combat, Badheil, and the Harvest Goddess Omebella had no such tacit understanding…
"Ancient Gods were scarcely human, with little affection for kin. Killing one's family for the sake of rituals or characteristics is not unimaginable.
"Giants, Elves, Vampires—those humanoid races may be better off, but Magic Wolves, Undying Birds, Aberrants, Demons, Dragons… their kinships were surely messier still.
"So for one reason or another, the God of Combat killed His mother, seizing the characteristic. For reasons unknown, He then tacitly allowed Lilith to assume the title of the Harvest Goddess, becoming the later Earth Mother.
"This is why the Earth Mother in the Fourth and Fifth Epochs was largely neutral, only leaning slightly to Badheil's side, and why Badheil never doubted Her—He already knew.
"This is why, after sparking the war that swept the Northern Continent, He did not initially invite the Earth Mother, only doing so when He began to lose ground.
"Of course, it could all have been part of His plan… only for that plan to be 'absorbed' into the Goddess's greater scheme.
"A reasonable reconstruction would be: the God of Combat deliberately allowed rumors that the Earth Mother was not Omebella to spread, making the Goddess believe She had an opening and pushing Her to secretly ally with Lilith…
"That way, the Goddess would not endlessly hide, fearing to fight two foes at once. Instead, She would lure both Lilith and the God of Combat into Her divine kingdom, then suddenly team with Lilith to strike Him down. That was His chance.
"But He did not foresee Lilith truly siding with the Goddess, nor Her true betrayal.
"That's why, in the Dark Kingdom, He bitterly cried out Lilith's name…
"This interpretation also explains why Lilith was unconcerned about the secret of the Earth Mother being Herself, and even now having me search for Omebella's soul stone—all of it just a smokescreen, a 'reasonable' way to leak the secret to the Goddess…
"Of course, the Goddess must have already known. This was all a play staged for the God of Combat… a trap.
"But the one problem with this theory: why would the God of Combat trust Lilith?
"After all, Lilith's aim in the War of Gods was the Uniqueness of the 'Moon' in the Goddess's hands. Whichever side She joined, She had a chance at it.
"In such circumstances, betrayal is expected. Just look at the 'Lamp God' during the battle between the Fool and Amon in the Source Castle—how he hopped from side to side with every promise.
"Lilith, of course, is far more decisive than that foolish Lamp God, but the God of Combat surely wouldn't trust Her blindly… unless they had a powerful 'constraint'…
"Mm… the Brass Book of Trunsoest? Did they use 0-02 to establish rules like 'we shall not attack each other'?
"But Lilith probably found a way to bypass the restrictions of that 'Rule Book'…
"If so, then it becomes 'reasonable'… but that's still based on the original novel's logic… and now, with 'me' in the picture, the factor cannot be ignored…
"Perhaps Lilith and the Goddess's schemes have long since diverged from the original…"
Turning these thoughts over, Ebner sighed. Perhaps the so-called "original" could be discarded entirely—his butterfly wings had stirred far too much.
"Do you have any other requests?" At this moment, High Ginnam saw Ebner lift his head and softly asked.
Ebner thought for a moment, then "sincerely" said:
"May I ask you to display the mythic form of the Sailor pathway, so that I can study it?"
…
East Chester County, inside the Hall family manor.
Audrey suddenly jolted awake from sleep. Opening her eyes, she was startled to find Susie arched in a defensive posture, facing off against a shadowy figure in the room.
(End of Chapter)