'It counted all three missions as completed, so Liara truly was just a person that was, depending on how you look at things, unlucky or lucky enough to have her soul fused with the fragments.'
'But what about Lieara, what about the strange behavior Liara had when we first met, how she acted similarly to Lieara, and why is Lieara's soul different from hers so much and so akin to the soul fragments in the vortex?'
"The behavior can be explained, it's very likely that the fragments in Liara had a sort of connection with the fragments you hold, which was why Liara acted and spoke in a manner similar to Lieara back then, as for Lieara's soul being so similar to the fragments inside the vortex, I'm afraid I have no answer to that question."
Aethion's voice echoed in Reign's head as the latter merely nodded and got ready to undergo the evolution.
He knew that during the evolution, he would once again be able to see Raziel, the ancestor of the Nephilims. He would have the chance to ask him some questions that had troubled him and get answers.
Reign sat down and initiated the evolution, as did Laura.
A bolt of lightning appeared over his head before an illusionary figure of an angel appeared behind him. The angel was the protection the system made for him, nobody under Tier IX would be able to so much as get close to Reign with the angel guarding him.
As for Laura, a demon appeared behind her. The demon's hands were crossed in front of his chest and he stared at the angel that was behind Reign. The two obviously didn't like each other, and if one were to look more closely, they would realize that they were merely avatars that two powerful figures had sent here.
The system had used its influence to get two avatars from Saints to guard the two, and thanks to the system's interference, none of the two Saints knew where this place was, nor what Reign and Laura looked like.
They only had one mission, stand guard while the two were undergoing their evolution and make sure nothing happened to them.
Lightning suddenly flickered around Reign as both the angel and the demon stared at the lightning bolt in slight astonishment as they could sense the aura of a god coming from it. Their faces were grave as they realized that Reign was a person marked by a god, and not a weak one either.
Laura had a phantom of a demon above her that was overlooking her evolution, but the phantom was meek and dared not act mighty when in the presence of two Saints.
As a former possessed, Laura didn't have any marks from gods like Reign and the others, instead, she would gain the protection of a demon during her transformation, a phantom of the demoness that possessed her, one that had no intellect and was formed by pure demonic energy.
During the leveling phase, that would be enough to help her out, but later on, once she became a Transcendent, a being in the same realm as the demoness, she would no longer get the help of the phantom, instead, it would be a mark of the demon hunters, the power of a god that would be helping her.
Demonic energy spread out from Laura and caused her body to become demonic as the evolution started, as for Reign, wings made out of light and darkness came out of his back as his form suddenly changed.
Unbeknownst to Reign, he was now in his transformed state. He was no longer evolving as a human but as a Nephilim.
His wings glowed with their respective powers as soul power emanated from him, causing the two avatars to stare at him in shock.
After all, Nephilims were rare creatures, and even Saints would die before seeing one in their entire lifetime. To see a Nephilim in the leveling realm going through an evolution was something even rarer and the two stared at him as if they had forgotten why they were here.
They were trying their best to see everything that was happening around Reign. The evolution he was going through wasn't simply one where mana would go into his body and change it from the inside and outside.
As a Nephilim, Reign was now undergoing a much more advanced evolution. During his evolution, one could see the laws made out of the abilities he had to appear. The laws of light, darkness, lightning, and the ethereal and ever-changing law of souls.
The two Saints were fully engrossed in looking at the laws that were appearing briefly in order to maybe get some benefits from them.
Just as the protection Reign and Laura had received was a reward from the system, the two avatars were doing this as it was a request from the system, a simple mission that also acted as a reward for what they had done in the past.
The rewards were the laws that appeared, and how much the two were able to benefit depended on them.
Inside Reign's consciousness, he was in complete darkness before he opened his eyes, finding himself in a place he had never seen before.
'No, I have seen this, I've seen it in the memories.' Reign thought as his eyes widened in shock.
A city that was entirely made out of white marble, one that shone as if it was a place where gods and angels resided was in front of him. He was standing atop the highest tower in the city, a place where one could see the entirety of the enormous city that seemingly spanned hundreds of miles around.
"A beautiful sight, isn't it?" Raziel asked as he appeared next to Reign who nodded absent-mindedly.
"What is this place, this city, I have seen it once before, but it wasn't like this, it was in ruins, almost completely destroyed."
"There were no people present, this palace was half-destroyed, and this tower was almost entirely gone from what I remember."
"Of course, that is because you saw the state of the city much later on, this is the state of it back when the empire was at its peak, when it was a behemoth in this world, controlling a third of it."
Reign gulped as he imagined an empire that was that large. He knew this was Earth, and he knew it was even larger than Earth was right now, which meant that the territory that this empire controlled was much larger than the entirety of Earth before the game started.
"You know, badmouthing a god is not something you should be doing, I think you might be the only one crazy enough to do such a thing," Raziel said, which made Reign's mind turn blank as he remembered what he said during his battle against the demons.
"I – I know, I have no idea why I actually said such things, they just-"
"It's fine, I made sure 'he' wouldn't do anything to you, but I won't be helping you out the next time, this was mostly because you were badmouthing a demon god, and I don't really like those bastards."
Reign gulped as two chairs appeared from mid-air. Raziel sat down, and he motioned for Reign to sit down as well.
"You managed to notice the true nature of the artifact and the souls, good job, I was worried you might get tricked by them."
"You knew about it?"
"Reign, I'm older and more powerful than you could even comprehend, checking up on my Nephilims from time to time is something I do on a regular basis, it's boring when you don't have anything to strive for, a new realm to break into, more powerful enemies to fight against."
"In the last couple of eons, the main way I would get rid of my boredom would be by checking out what my Nephilims are doing, or occasionally watching two civilizations have a war while I act as a divine oracle for both of them."
"What, what is the connection with Lieara and the soul inside the vortex, why are they so similar?"
"Well, it wouldn't be fair if I destroyed the path laid out for you and told you everything ahead of time, right?" Raziel asked Reign, to which he responded by furrowing his brows.
"So, the system really does have everything planned out for everybody."
"No, not everybody, only for a selected few."
"And it isn't everything, it's not like the system can control everything you do, no, it will simply place some … how could I call it … arrows to point you in the right direction."
"It's similar to when you play a game, the main quest is there and will not change, but the side content, the time it takes you to get to the end, as well as the path you take to the end, is up to you."
"The system likes to play around with those it likes, to make the best possible paths for them in order to make them utilize their full potential."
"That is one of the reasons why me and the system hate each other and why we would do whatever it takes to destroy one another."
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