novelraw Chapter 702: Discourse on Deities
Chapter 702: Discourse on Deities
Fisher narrowed his eyes, looking at Ramastia who had just announced Her name before him. He still found it a bit unbelievable, and Ramastia wasn't in a hurry either, merely waiting for him to accept it himself.
Until a good while passed, Fisher couldn't find even the slightest difference between Her and the Teresa in his memory. She was still just as young and warm, not even her appearance had changed in the slightest, as if stepping right out from his memories.
However, because of this, Fisher conversely confirmed that the person before his eyes was indeed not Teresa, but an avatar of a deity.
He somewhat dazedly massaged the space between his brows. While withdrawing his gaze, he asked Her in a low voice,
"What happened just now? What's the situation in reality right now?"
"...You succeeded. The assassination of Dagon by Heon and the others failed. Although the Crevice sustained some damage, it was preserved. Anyone related to you survived, including Elizabeth. But her prosthetic eye has already vanished, and the remaining laws within it were mended onto Xuan Can's body."
"...Were you watching the whole time? Just watched the Chaos Species outside assault Dagon's main body like that?"
"No, I only just broke free from the Ultimate, and only just arrived. When I arrived, you had already entered the Death Crevice to save Elizabeth; everything was achieved by you."
"..."
Obvious distrust flowed in Fisher's eyes, yet when his gaze fell upon Her smiling face that was exactly the same as Teresa's, he couldn't say anything again.He had no choice but to stand up and look around. But beside the fluorescent light floating in mid-air near Ramastia—which he didn't know what it was formed from—there was no other light source here. Thus, everything around was deathly silent darkness; even the gaze of a Mythical Rank couldn't see through it.
He could only lower his head to look at the black crystal material he stepped on beneath his feet, not knowing if the darkness was formed by this architectural material. He also took the opportunity to ask again,
"Where am I right now?"
"In the Spirit World."
"I need to return to reality right now, there are still unresolved matters over there..."
Saying this, Fisher lifted his leg, preparing to leave. Behind him, Ramastia's body didn't move. She merely opened Her mouth behind him, saying,
"You temporarily cannot return yet. Before Heon died, It issued an instruction through the Authority of Death to kill you. Since Hela currently possesses no consciousness, the Authority of Death will execute Its instruction. Once you return to reality, you will be hunted down by the Authority of Death, exactly the same as when you were chased by Death initially..."
Fisher's motion of turning his head to leave paused slightly. He had an impression of this matter, but still couldn't help but look back at Ramastia behind him.
He remained silent for a moment, then suddenly asked,
"Was this also planned by you?"
"Why do you say so?"
His face cold, Fisher walked back in front of Ramastia, looking at Her and saying,
"Earlier, when I confronted Pisces, he clearly stated that a Whale-kin had gone to the Sea of Souls and used his compatriots to threaten him. Moreover, Xuan Can below suddenly appeared, and Jasmine also suddenly became aware that residual laws existed within Elizabeth's prosthetic eye... This indicates that Gou Wen in the Spirit World contacted them. As a deity capable of conversing with the Whale-kin, you're saying you didn't know?"
Ramastia smiled bitterly a bit. Shaking Her head, She said,
"I genuinely didn't know, because the words Pisces told you were false..."
Fisher froze for a moment, then immediately furrowed his brows, asking,
"What do you mean, what was false?"
Ramastia stood up, speaking softly,
"Given Gou Wen's current state, it's impossible for him to still possess the ability to go to the Sea of Souls to threaten the Chaos Species. He was indeed worried about the situation in reality, which is why I could only put aside the tense situation at the Ultimate at this moment and come to the periphery of the world, thereby securing the opportunity to save you... What I mean is, the one who conversed with Jasmine and Xuan Can in reality earlier, and prepared the life-saving medicine for you, wasn't Gou Wen, but someone else entirely."
Fisher was thoroughly left speechless. His pupils quivered as he looked at Ramastia before him, struggling with difficulty within his mind to recall details from the past to determine the truth or falsehood of the god before his eyes.
But after all, he was fighting inside the Crevice earlier, and didn't understand the situation down below very much, nor had he asked Jasmine and the others personally. Thus, he couldn't be certain of either conclusion.
He wasn't sure if it was Ramastia who was lying, or the one who conversed with Jasmine and Xuan Can who was lying. But if it was like this, then what exactly was that thing?
Looking at the suspicion and wariness on Fisher's face, Ramastia, bearing Teresa's face, smiled and said,
"Actually, in your heart, you've probably harbored doubts towards me early on, right? In your eyes, we, along with your creator, that Transferred Person, only view you as a tool to resolve the World-Ending Prophecy?"
Fisher regained his senses. Sneering, he said,
"What else? If it wasn't because reality and you share an interdependent relationship of 'if one falls, the other is in danger', and I have people I care about in reality, do you think I would have fought tooth and nail until now for the World-Ending Prophecy? No, Ramastia, I think you see it very clearly... Otherwise, you wouldn't have assumed Teresa's appearance to evoke my beautiful memories of her and make me feel friendly towards you, aiming to trick me into continuing to work my life away for you and repay the crimes."
Strictly speaking, this moment should only count as the first face-to-face conversation between Fisher and Ramastia.
Earlier, when She sprayed him with water beside Jasmine, there was an interaction, but after all, the situation regarding the World-Ending Prophecy at that time wasn't clear, and he hadn't spoken with Ramastia.
Yet along the way, Fisher had already learned about the deeds committed by the deities from various places, hence his current thoughts.
The deities indeed committed unpardonable crimes...
The deities stole precious treasures; this should be counted as the first. The deities betrayed the invading gods from the Outland; this should be counted as the second. The deities imprisoned Heon's sister Hela, reducing Her into a tool to fulfill the rule of death; this is the third.
Anyone with a discerning eye could tell that this demise was caused by the sins committed by the deities. Fisher knew this clearer than anyone else.
Although Fisher was determined to fight to resolve the World-Ending Prophecy, it was absolutely not for this group of deities. Let alone that along the way, the deities hadn't cared about anything, hiding behind the scenes like hands-off managers, throwing everything to the living beings within reality, and dumping it on Fisher. This made it even harder for Fisher to trust Ramastia.
Ramastia was slightly stunned, then shook Her head and raised Her hand, saying,
"Just as I said earlier, what appearance I take in your eyes isn't determined by me, but by yourself. And at this moment, my true body is right outside this architecture. You've already tasted the feeling of looking straight at a deity earlier; to protect you, taking on an avatar to meet you is by no means a fault..."
"Yeah, deities truly possess vast magical powers, rendering them far beyond reach..."
Fisher simply looked at Her and opened his mouth, mocking Her in this manner. Ramastia, however, stood up and suddenly asked while smiling at him,
"Fisher, in your eyes, what kind of existences are deities?"
"..."
"You should be aware of many mysteries of this world already, but ultimately there is still a small secret you do not know... Do you know where the place you are currently standing is?"
Hearing this, Fisher looked at the spacious surroundings, only to see that within this pitch-black inverted triangular space, as the fluorescent light beside Ramastia slightly elevated, a bit of an outline was revealed. Ramastia walked beside one of the slanted crystal walls, reached out Her hand to stroke over it, and then said softly,
"This is the altar used for assemblies when the Ramastia people still existed."
"The Ramastia people?"
"Yes, a civilization as insignificant as can be on a planet in the darkness beyond the Barrier..."
Smiling, Ramastia turned Her head, nodding while saying,
"Beyond the Barrier, lies a vast, boundless universe. The distances there are too expansive; even if light traveled within it, it would take tens of billions of years to reach the edge. And the world encased by the Barrier is merely an imperceptibly tiny corner hidden within its darkness...
"And within this almost boundless universe, occasionally some incomparably powerful living beings are born: They possess wisdom and mighty power that minuscule souls simply cannot imagine. They warp everything around them at every turn, causing weak living beings to be unable to comprehend their existence even if they just look at them... But they genuinely exist, living within that truly expansive dark space."
Fisher narrowed his eyes, saying,
"These are the deities, correct?"
"Correct..." Ramastia nodded, saying as if in praise, "However, this is merely a collective term. Deities refers broadly to those powerful existences that roam unhindered through galaxies, far surpassing ordinary individuals.
"A civilization formed by a race accumulating for tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands of years, is still hard-pressed to contend against our authority. Because of fear, because of excitement, because of curiosity, we were crowned with such a name. But in truth, we are not a single race. On the contrary, every deity is different from each other, and they might even be unacquainted with, or lacking understanding of deities too far away."
Her pale hands lifted slightly. When She withdrew them from that black crystal, the black crystal abruptly burst with a radiance exactly the same as the fluorescence just now.
That radiance continuously spread upon the surface of the architecture, gradually forming rows and columns of pictures that Fisher completely couldn't understand... or were they texts?
The glowing text on the walls crisscrossed, continuously circulating within this expanse of darkness, forming sparkling and translucent phantoms, just like reflections seen in water, conjuring non-human aquatic creatures with an average size of around two to three meters one by one.
Those creatures were all translucent. It was unknown if they were inherently like this or if it was caused by the projection. Fisher didn't know if they had heads, and even if they did, he didn't know which side it was on. One side was large and the other small. On the slightly larger side, there was a protruding triangular structure, and beneath that triangular structure stretched thread-thin multiple legs or tentacles.
"Deities are born from different places within their respective universes. Some of us are born from darkness devoid of visible stars, some are stars, and some are even more exaggerated, acting as the core of an entire star... star system... Of course, there are also deities inherently existing on planets. Among them are a few lucky ones; life actually gestated on the planet they were born on...
"Deities have no society and no morality. From the moment they exist, because they are a solitary god, they don't know what meaning is. Some deities act relying on instinct, some deities are fervently devoted to searching for meaning... Of course, there are also more deities who want to do nothing, just lying at their birthplace until changes occur; there are also deities roaming around everywhere, obliterating any planet and civilization blocking their path without a care, just like crushing bugs...
"And I, was born on a planet so old its age is unknown. That should be considered my home, its entire skin covered by water. Ever since birth, I rested in silence at the deepest place there. Occasionally leaving the water surface, embarking on journeys in the universe, and then feeling tired after a long expanse of years, to return back to where I was born to rest anew...
"During the tens of thousands of years since the last time I returned there, intelligent beings were born in the water."
Along with Ramastia's soft whispers, all the surrounding phantoms became vivid. Fisher saw groups of 'triangular subnautical people' swimming in the water. They gradually grew, loving art, drawings, and architecture. They used a type of crystal native to the planet as the cornerstone of their technological development. They used crystals to create buildings, store information, and forge musical instruments and various machines...
"Ever since birth, they discovered me, and after a long silence, I also heard voices existing besides mine. I merely felt curious, and thus generated communication with them when this civilization began to sprout. Until they developed language and culture, from fearing me, doubting me, to finally accepting me, I gradually became a part of their civilization. I thereby gained a name, 【Ramastia】, and they called themselves the Ramastia people...
"In their language, Ramastia means 【mother-like】. Therefore, actually, the first name I was endowed with by civilization wasn't 【deity】, but 【Mother】... Most deities don't care much about civilizations composed of weak living beings. To Them, they are merely weak and foolish ants... But just as I said, there are simply too many deities in the universe; there are always outliers, and I am one of them.
"I loved them like I loved my children. They didn't know how to dispute and fight, and their numbers were also very small compared to races of other civilizations. They never left the ocean their entire lives. Because I frequently used avatars to meet with them, and could always let them see the appearance they wanted to see, I was thus also called the 【God of a Hundred Faces】... They were just like children swaddled by a deity like me, not knowing how to grow up, just happily living like that upon their home planet..."
Fisher opened his mouth, suddenly understanding why earlier in the Spirit World, he saw the language Ramastia used.
The 'Divine Language' used by this deity originally possessed unique significance. It wasn't born to converse with other deities, but was a language once used by the civilization by Ramastia's side. However, as times changed, and so much time passed, even the three demigod offspring She created couldn't fully learn this language...
In the entire world, only Ramastia was still using this language. It was evident enough how important that civilization was to Her.
"But..."
"Yes, but everything has a turning point, just as all beauty will eventually disappear..."
Ramastia looked affectionately at the phantoms flowing past in the space, as if those living beings surrounding Her main body in the water hundreds of thousands of years ago were still by Her side at this moment.
But now, both She and Fisher were in the pitch-black Spirit World, and this architecture was only left with ruins, lying in mid-air parched dry.
Ramastia withdrew Her gaze, loneliness in the depths of Her eyes.
"Such quiet times will pass no matter how long they are. I witnessed their lives spanning hundreds of years passing generation after generation... Until the day the star in the sky finally was to be eclipsed by another planet and satellite after several eras. In the days when the Ramastia people prepared to hibernate, an uninvited guest arrived from beyond the sky... A deity, one of my future 【allies】."
"Allies?"
"There is more than just me as a deity in the universe. Their personality traits and characteristics are all somewhat different. Civilizations between star systems fight for resources, culture, and survival, and the reasons deities fight are even stranger... I mean, we also have disputes, especially the truth you already know, that authorities mutually repel each other. But in the universe, no one knows that this thing called 【Authority】 truly exists; it's only within the Barrier that they manifest and are utilized."
Ramastia waved Her hand, seemingly afraid that the scenery would touch Her feelings further, so She turned off the projections of those Ramastia people. Only then did She continue to speak.
"In any case, what arrived outside the orbit of my homeland back then was a deity from within our star system. He brought me a message: a war between deities had broken out in this direction of the star system, and They needed my help."
"A war between deities..."
"Yes, and it was a war you would find hard to imagine. It was a war between a ten-billion-year-old star system and another ten-billion-year-old star system. The number of stars merely caught in the crossfire alone was as many as ten to the eighth or ninth power. Compared to my hometown, that was truly a massive sea of fire endlessly spreading in the universe. The source of the dispute was the fall of a higher-dimensional deity. Its downward plunge induced a spatial disorder, and simultaneously brought a mystery related to the universe itself... A mystery regarding the Creation."
"What is higher-dimensional again?"
"You don't need to understand, it's not important, child. You merely need to know that deities will also fiercely fight over precious things, that's enough... Just as ants of different colonies will fight fiercely over a dropped sugar granule, humans will attack each other to snatch land, the Halian Universal Alliance and the Annihilation Fleet will attack each other for the ownership rights of a star and its planets... Deities will also do the same, and similarly will unite, oppose, and attack each other."
Fisher couldn't quite understand the meaning of some nouns among them. Stars and planets he understood though. Earlier at the Sanctuary, the full name of the massive star ring encasing the entire reality was the 【Planetary Ring】, and the sun should be a star.
And this system was wrapped by the Spirit World within the Crevice, possessing only one sun, one moon, and one native planet. And beyond the Barrier, there should be even more systems like this. According to what Ramastia said, there should be so many it's immeasurable.
"So, the deity of that... star system you were in issued an invitation to you hoping to ally with you, and you agreed."
"It was that I had to agree. The flames of war between deities were unimaginable and hard to suppress. Countless civilizations had already been caught in the crossfire, and the edge of the war flames was also only a few hundred light years away from my homeland at that time... To shelter the Ramastia people, I had to agree to participate in this dispute, forming an alliance with the deities of the same star system. But looking back after the fact, participating in a war to stop a war, this might be right, but it is also extremely foolish...
"After repeatedly weighing the pros and cons at the time, I finally decided to join the war, participating in the war with the purpose of sheltering my planet. Therefore, during the long hibernation era of my subjects, I left the freezing sea surface, charged toward the universe, and rendezvoused with other deities among the star system. There were many deities originating from the depths of the star system participating in the war alongside me. You should have already heard of or even become very familiar with some among them. They are respectively..."
"The End of Impurity, the Three Sisters of Death."
"The Vehicle of Usurping Life, Vadon."
"The Spreading Non-Self, Hamon Hamon."
"The Chaotic Guidance, Kqiu."
"The Mirror, Dagon."
"The Fate Star, Anabatos."
"The Starbed, Ouyun."
"The Hundred Faces, Ramastia..."
Ramastia's voice suddenly paused, before She softly said,
"And then is the leader of the alliance we have never met, the core of the entire star system, possessing more than two authorities...
"The Scarlet Dream Illusion... None of us know Its true name. I originally had the opportunity to meet It, but my intentions didn't align with that, so I gave it up."
As those familiar deity names were spat from Ramastia's mouth one by one, a secret buried within the past of this world was finally unveiled by Ramastia.
That is to say, the two factions of deities currently attacking and defending against each other inside and outside the Barrier, they were once allies fighting side-by-side?
No wonder Heon said the deities betrayed Them. But what exactly was going on? Could it possess some connection to some precious mystery They fought over back then?
Wait, a precious mystery?
This keyword seemed like a beam of inspiration striking Fisher's forehead, causing him to involuntarily associate it with those special traits he possessed in the past, and a deduction also surged into his heart.
Could it be, he himself was related to that war?
Fisher paused slightly, cold sweat uncontrollably breaking out on his forehead. He raised his eyes, looking at Ramastia and questioning,
"Could it be I am exactly the treasure harboring the Creation Mystery from after the death of the higher-dimensional deity you fought over earlier?"
Hearing this, Ramastia smiled faintly. Fisher still thought his deduction was correct, his heart stopping for a second. Yet it seemingly still couldn't explain why Heon and Usurping Life's Vadon were so unfamiliar when they saw him back then, after all the situation from that time hadn't been explained clearly by Ramastia to him.
Thus, Fisher was brewing his language, just about to ask again, but Ramastia suddenly shook Her head, saying,
"No, Fisher..."
"You are far more precious than that thing, precious by ten thousand times, a hundred million times, and more."
(End of Chapter)