Chapter 49: The Power of the Shade of Time
"Lady Istaroth, I'm counting on you..."
Looking at the beam of light that was about to return to Heaven, there was no mercy in the girl's eyes. Even though Ishtar was on the verge of leaving the Lower World, she still had no intention of letting her off the hook.
Within Barbara's body, a flickering golden light suddenly emerged, chasing after Ishtar in the sky at a speed completely invisible to the naked eye.
"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!"
"That wretched little brat!"
Inside the white pillar of light, Ishtar was still incessantly cursing Barbara, who had so easily killed her. Her face was written over with resentment and indignation.
All the blood and effort she had poured into the Lower World had vanished into thin air in a single night, and in her mind, she had done nothing wrong!
"It's not my fault... It's all that brat's fault!"
"If it wasn't for her, how could I be going back?"
"Yes, it's all her fault!"
Ishtar did not stop her vitriol, as if by shifting all the blame onto Barbara, she could remain that high-and-mighty, invincible goddess.
Only this time, Ishtar seemed to be mistaken, and gravely so...
"Eh? What is that?"
Ishtar suddenly stopped her verbal abuse because, on her way back to Heaven, she felt something strange following her. And that gaze...
It was exactly the same as the look Barbara had given her earlier!
It was the girl's swaying Killing Intent!
"She wouldn't really try to make a move on me now, would she?"
Children of God possessed the ability to kill deities. While that was the claim, whether it could be done was another matter entirely, as no Child of God had ever been born in the world before; Hyacine and Barbara were the first two.
Furthermore, how could a human use the power granted by the gods to rebel against the gods?
It made no sense!
But since the opponent had already come knocking, Ishtar couldn't just sit there and watch them kill her, could she?
"I'd like to see which fool has the guts to try and kill me!"
The resentment and indignation remained, but another emotion joined them on Ishtar's face: fury!
Before, because of Barbara's presence, she hadn't dared to show it too openly. But now that she was halfway back to Heaven, why should she be afraid?
But in the next second, Ishtar regretted it, for she saw the figure hidden within the cyan radiance...
How should she describe it?
The moment she saw the person before her, it was as if she saw the sands of time constantly flowing, the clock on the wall slowly advancing... Beyond that, she saw many images, but without exception, they were all related to time.
Without a doubt, the being before her was a deity in charge of time—one of the highest rank!
"But why? Why don't I know you!"
As the golden light dissipated, the goddess of time finally revealed her true form to Ishtar.
Though the white-haired goddess's Authority was time, her beauty was even more staggering than that of Ishtar, a Goddess of Beauty.
A sense of divinity flowed through her attire of woven white and gold, while the massive ring ornament behind her head seemed to reject everything around it, as if saying 'Time permits no desecration.'
To put it simply, she was a deity of exaggerated magnificence!
In all the eons Ishtar had lived, she had never seen such an overwhelming existence. The time around her seemed to have nearly condensed into physical substance!
And she radiated an incomparable sense of pressure!
Even as the deity she once was, she might not have been able to stand as an equal to the god before her!
"Who exactly are you?"
The pressure grew heavier. Cold sweat even began to bead on Ishtar's forehead, and her eyes were filled with dread, betraying the turmoil in her heart.
"Who am I? Does that matter?"
Even while following the pillar of light shooting into the sky, the white-haired goddess maintained her constant elegance, showing no panic whatsoever at the situation.
"What matters is that you bullied my child and made her unhappy, right?"
Though a smile hung on her face, the chill surrounding the goddess was far more intense than Barbara's. Even the light beam carrying Ishtar back began to slow down...
Wait!
Slowed down?
The sudden turn of events caused Ishtar's face to change drastically.
If she were back in Heaven, she might have the power to clash with this goddess, and it would be uncertain who would emerge victorious.
But now, the light beam had not yet returned to Heaven. Ishtar was still within the bounds of the Lower World!
"You're actually stopping time at a moment like this?"
The timing was exquisite, preventing Ishtar from using her Divine Power as freely as she could in Heaven.
It was this subtle difference that decided the victory between them.
"Of course. After all, my child is watching; I can't let her down!"
The instant the goddess finished speaking, Ishtar's surroundings changed immediately. Although the pillar of light was supposed to be returning to Heaven, the light now flowed entirely back into Ishtar's body.
The power of time acted upon Ishtar, heartlessly stripping away everything that belonged to her.
"No! You can't do this!"
"I am a goddess! The world cannot bear the consequences of killing a goddess! Everyone will die together!"
Feeling the changes in her body, Ishtar lunged frantically toward the white-haired woman. Yet that distance of less than a meter became an insurmountable chasm in this world.
Ishtar had no way to stop her own demise...
Because this wasn't death; it was a reversal!
Her life was regressing toward its most primitive state at a rate of billions of years per second.
"Don't try to deceive me like that!"
"Killing a deity would indeed cause unprecedented consequences, but I haven't killed you, have I~"
"I've merely returned you to your original form so you can grow once again. You should really thank me..."
"I've helped you shed the filth of the Lower World and return to being a pure deity."
Under the torrent of time, Ishtar's body gradually became transparent, as if she would vanish from the world in the next second.
The white-haired goddess floated in mid-air, quietly watching the other party curse and wave her arms hysterically, as if watching an unevolved ape.
Five seconds.
In only five seconds, Ishtar would completely return to the beginning.
It was at this moment that the white-haired goddess spoke.
"Remember my name: Istaroth."
"In your next life, don't make my child unhappy again... otherwise, I won't be as merciful as I am now."
Time has always heartlessly taken everything from others.
Only occasionally, it shows a tiny bit of favoritism...
Then, the goddess named Istaroth looked toward the City on the earth with its high tower, and her silhouette gradually dissipated into golden points of light.
"Honestly, not even a 'thank you'..."
"But it's fine. I'll just have Venti pay for it."
"At the very least, he'll have to do some proper work from now on~"
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T/N: If you spot mistranslation, do tell me.
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