"If you're asking what that actually means specifically..."
Anathasia continued casually while taking another bite from her cookie.
Her voice came out slightly muffled before she swallowed.
Roselia leaned forward attentively while I continued absentmindedly stroking Grace's hair as she slept peacefully on my lap.
Meanwhile, Noah and Hinami quietly excused themselves while Anathasia continued speaking.
"Back then, we basically had the original four Outer Gods."
"Continuity, Finality, Equilibrium, and Causality."
"Right?"
Roselia nodded slowly.
"Mhm. Then Sir Kyle eventually became the Fifth through Stillness later on..."
Anathasia nodded in approval before popping the rest of the cookie into her mouth.
"Yes, exactly that."
"But now that Continuity exists independently out there again..."
"...I'm no longer carrying the role I held since the Great Recreation."
She paused briefly.
"I've basically returned to being the indivisible oneness where everything emanates from."
Her gaze briefly shifted toward me.
Our eyes met for a second before her hand suddenly reached toward my face-
-and grabbed my cheek for absolutely no reason.
"With me returning to being the Source again, Kyle's also back to being the actual Foundation."
"The original four Outer Gods can finally exist properly now without the two of us bleeding into those positions."
Anathasia casually tugged my cheek while gesturing vaguely with her free hand.
"Think of it like this."
"The four Outer Gods are the pillars."
"Kyle's the Foundation those pillars stand on."
"And I'm basically the sun that gave everything necessary to even build those pillars back when the solar system was still forming."
She paused briefly before glancing toward me again.
"Foundation excluded, he's weird."
My eyes narrowed immediately.
"What's that supposed to mean...?"
Anathasia continued pulling at my cheek while speaking.
"Kyle's closer to The Constant."
"So he's automatically disqualified from being one of the four pillars."
"That's why he's weird."
"Especially with all the Stillness and Cessation stuff."
She shrugged casually before finally letting go of my cheek.
Across from us, Roselia rested her chin against her hand while staring thoughtfully at the teapot sitting on the table.
"Basically..."
"It's more like a restructuring of positions."
"Things were honestly kind of messy before."
Anathasia reached over and grabbed another cookie before nibbling on it this time instead of taking a full bite.
Roselia slowly nodded before leaning back and lifting her teacup again.
"What does that mean for everything else?"
The room fell silent for a moment.
Then Anathasia suddenly smiled brightly.
"It means everything might eventually start pulling back toward me to become one again."
"You know."
"Gnosticism-type stuff."
"Wasn't that basically how their cosmology worked?"
Roselia's teacup immediately stilled.
My hand froze midway through stroking Grace's hair as I slowly turned toward Anathasia.
"...Say what?"
"What exactly is that supposed to mean...?"
For a brief moment, everything became completely silent.
To the point that Grace stirred slightly on my lap before slowly pushing herself upright while rubbing her sleepy eyes.
"Hn...?"
"Mom? Dad...?"
She let out a soft yawn.
"What happened...?"
My expression softened almost instantly as I turned toward her.
A hand gently brushed a strand of hair away from her face.
"Right... good morning."
"Sleep well?"
Grace slowly nodded before glancing toward Roselia and then toward Anathasia beside me.
"Why's everyone so quiet...?"
Nobody answered.
The silence stretched a little longer before Anathasia casually waved a dismissive hand.
"Kidding, okay?"
"Obviously I'm joking."
"Why would I even do something like that?"
She reached over and immediately began squishing Grace's half-asleep cheeks.
"I love my daughters way too much for that."
"And besides..."
"Who's going to annoy Kyle if I disappear?"
Roselia visibly relaxed at that while quietly letting out a sigh of relief.
Meanwhile, I simply stared flatly at the white-haired menace currently squishing Grace's face.
"The first reason was already enough..."
"...but seriously?"
"What?" Anathasia glanced upward toward me before casually collapsing stomach-first onto my lap after finally letting go of Grace.
"Can you really blame me if I wanna see my hubby flustered every now and then?"
"...Why am I not surprised anymore?"
Anathasia remained sprawled across my lap on her stomach, white hair spilling over the edge of the couch while her face stayed buried against a pillow she had randomly materialized out of nowhere.
"But jokes aside~"
"It just means I can laze around more since emanative absolutes are static-"
"Why does everything somehow devolve back into your laziness...?" I cut in while ruffling her hair.
She kept her face buried against the pillow.
"Cause... existence reflects where it came from..."
A tired sigh escaped my lips.
"That explains absolutely nothing."
"And why are you exhausted already?"
"I feel like I'm being used as a lore dump device," she muttered into the pillow. "It's exhausting explaining philosophy..."
After a moment, she finally lifted her face and looked up at me.
Her crimson eyes met mine directly as she stared for a few quiet seconds without saying anything.
Then-
"...Damn, you're gorgeous."
"Alright. Go to sleep."
I briefly grabbed her face with one hand.
When I glanced toward Roselia, she was already looking the other way with her eyes tightly shut while still holding her teacup. Her shoulders trembled slightly like she was actively resisting the urge to leave the room entirely.
Beside me, Grace had already turned away too while trying and failing to suppress her gagging sounds.
Only for Anathasia's fingers to suddenly wrap around my wrist as she pried my hand off her face before casually licking one of my fingers.
My expression flattened.
"...What are you doing now?"
"Licking."
"I can see that. I'm asking why."
"I don't know."
Across from us, Roselia abruptly stood from the couch while forcing a strained smile onto her face.
"I will... be taking a short bathroom break. Please excuse me."
The moment she finished speaking, she briskly walked toward the office door.
Grace cleared her throat shortly afterward before quickly standing as well.
"I-I think I'll go explore the city for a little while too."
"Catch you later, Mom. Dad."
And just like that, the two of them vanished from the office almost immediately.
Silence settled over the room afterward.
Anathasia finally stopped licking my finger before wiping her lips against the back of her hand as she pulled away slightly.
Then her expression softened.
"Jokes aside..."
"The Fragment of Continuity already found its new permanent vessel."
I looked down at her, one brow slowly raising.
"...That fast?"
Anathasia casually snapped her fingers.
A transparent floating display immediately materialized in front of us as she leaned back against the couch.
"That fast."
The feed flickered to life.
Within it, the Fragment of Continuity streaked across an entirely different Demiurge's Image before descending toward a distant planet.
The perspective shifted rapidly afterward.
Towering monolith-like mountains came into view, their peaks stretching endlessly into the heavens while thick clouds covered their middle sections like drifting oceans.
Figures calmly walked atop the clouds themselves.
Then the feed shifted again.
A world of hellfire replaced the scenery. Rivers of lava flowing beneath a crimson sky while entities cloaked in dense black air wandered across the burning landscape.
Another shift.
The Fragment of Continuity now tore across broad daylight like a falling star, trailing every color imaginable across the sky.
People below stopped and looked upward in shock while cultivators standing atop the clouds silently observed its descent.
"A cultivation world," Anathasia casually explained while watching the feed continue cycling through different perspectives.
Men clad in elaborate eastern robes appeared onscreen next, long hair flowing behind them while they stood atop mountain peaks with their hands clasped behind their backs.
Their garments carried intricate ornate patterns woven into the fabric.
"A place where transcendence is treated as the ultimate form of enlightenment."
She paused briefly.
"...Basically like those wuxia novels I've been reading lately."
I slowly turned toward her.
"...You were into manhwas just recently."
"I know."
Anathasia immediately raised a finger before proudly lifting her chin.
"I've finally evolved into a light novel reader."
"It's the peak and second-to-final stage for avid literature enjoyers like myself."
I shot her a deadpan glance as a tired sigh slipped from my lips before returning my attention toward the display floating in front of us.
The Fragment of Continuity had already vanished the moment I blinked.
The feed shifted again.
This time, it showed a small child with salmon-pink hair and fiery golden eyes quietly sitting on the ground while watching ants crawl in neat little lines across the dirt.
Then-
A sudden flash of light filled the display.
It vanished just as quickly as it appeared.
But the little girl remained exactly where she was, still staring silently at the ants as though nothing had happened at all.
"Anddd there we have it."
Anathasia casually snapped her fingers once before leaning closer toward the floating screen and taking a large bite from her cookie.
"The First Outer God of Continuity is officially here."