Chapter 573: Chapter 573
Ahekator withdrew her divine kingdom and stood upon the turbid sea, gazing toward the sky. Wherever her eyes fell, she saw both the past and the future!
Then, she raised her hand!
And pulled fiercely!
The entire space twisted like a canvas, while the surrounding scenery flowed like silk ribbons!
In the blink of an eye, Ahekator had crossed the turbid sea and arrived in the star realm!
The moment she arrived, a powerful will swept over her.
Ahekator glanced toward the center of the star realm with eyes full of disdain.
The will immediately withdrew.
It pretended not to have noticed Ahekator’s arrival.
Snap—
Ahekator pulled at time once more. In the future, a fold appeared in the star realm before her eyes.
Ahekator stepped forward calmly, entering the fold!
A straight passage appeared before her. For a powerhouse of Ahekator’s level, the passage could be considered narrow and elongated.
Its width was only ten meters.
The walls on both sides were styled like bookshelves, packed with a dazzling array of books.
Though only ten meters wide, its length seemed infinite, and its height reached endlessly upward.
On Magic Theory, Magic Dynamics, Fundamentals of Mechanical Design, Electronics and Elements, all the way to 500 Convenient Home-Cooked Dishes, Zhou Gong’s Dream Interpretations, Five Thousand Years of Chinese History, then Dimensional Collapse, Fundamentals of Two-Way Foil Design, and also Spiritual Inquiry, Travels in the Spirit Realm...
The books covered every conceivable category. It seemed as if anything one could want was present.
One even had the illusion that
as long as one sought the answer to a question, an answer would inevitably be found.
Even if that answer should not have existed in the first place.
If an ordinary person arrived here, they would likely have lost their mind long ago, overwhelmed by this vast sea of books.
"Yogg."
"Didn’t you want to see me? I’ve come—why don’t you come out to greet me?"
Though Ahekator’s tone was calm, it carried an irrefutable authority.
The vast sea of books gradually widened.
From the far end opposite the sea of books, a special figure appeared. It possessed six arms and six eyes, with a tall, slender form. Two pairs of eyes were on its head, and another two pairs were on the ribs beneath its armpits.
Its six arms consisted of one normal pair of human-like hands, with two additional pairs of slender arms extending from the upper and lower shoulder blades on its back.
Yogg, the Knowledge and Wisdom entity, the six-armed, six-eyed demon of knowledge.
Yogg dragged its form forward. Its voice emerged from the surrounding books. "Ahekator, it’s been a long time... The last era in which you appeared was five thousand years ago."
Ahekator: "You know I have no interest in your disputes."
"As long as time remains stable and complete, and no one disrupts the order of spacetime, I will not involve myself in your conflicts."
"However."
Ahekator’s tone shifted. She raised her right hand, and a black-haired girl was extracted from a segment of stopped time.
"The second forbidden ritual is not something this child could trigger."
"It was you, wasn’t it, Yogg?"
One of Yogg’s eyes turned toward Yuna.
Yuna’s expression was still filled with anger, but it was frozen anger. Her time had been locked at a moment not long ago, rendering her unable to move.
"It was me. She is my disciple."
"But activating this ritual was her wish. Fulfilling my disciple’s wish shouldn’t be considered excessive, should it?"
Ahekator’s eyes narrowed slightly. "Are you planning to play dumb with me?"
"I may not know about others, but as the Moon of Knowledge and Wisdom, how could you not know what would happen upon activating this forbidden ritual?"
"Reenacting the past, altering the order of spacetime."
"Disrupting spacetime would inevitably draw me out... Don’t tell me you didn’t know."
Yogg crossed and interlaced two hands before itself, fingertips tapping against each other. "Ahekator, you truly are clever. I enjoy conversing with intelligent beings—we can skip much unnecessary effort."
Ahekator’s tone was cold. "Spare me the nonsense. I hate being schemed against the most."
"You’re so confident in scheming against me? Then I am equally confident in shifting a Moon’s position."
Ahekator raised her hand, pointing at Yogg. Ripples danced at her fingertip.
Yogg fell silent for a brief moment facing Ahekator.
After a while, it spoke again slowly. "I believe you possess that capability, but killing a Moon would not be an easy task even for you."
"If we were both to suffer heavy losses, you should know what consequences might follow."
"The version of you from the other timeline would not let such a perfect opportunity slip."
Yogg’s five fingers tapped rhythmically against its knuckles.
"Ahekator."
"Our world’s incompleteness bears some fault on your part as well. If you had not established contact with infinite timelines back then, the uniqueness of our world would not have been fragmented."
"Certain knowledge would not have been buried forever in another timeline."
"I am only interested in knowledge, so I wish to help you regain control of that other timeline, assist you in resealing it, or directly killing the Ahekator of that timeline."
"The order of time would then be restored."
Yogg’s fingers continued tapping...
However—
With a crisp crack.
Bang!
Its fingers suddenly fell to the ground one after another. Severed limbs scattered across the corridor... spilling countless tiny characters.
Ahekator merely kept her single finger raised.
"I dislike that condescending tone of yours."
"But your proposal is indeed quite interesting."
Yogg paid no mind to its severed fingers. It simply bowed and spoke gently. "You should be able to see future scenes. Does the scenery of this future align with what you hoped for?"
A Moon bowing to another.
Yuna’s pupils contracted slightly.
She had only just regained consciousness. The moment she did, she saw Yogg conversing with Ahekator.
Only now did Yuna realize that Ahekator was no ordinary god.
Her status.
It might be equal to a Moon’s—or even above the Moons.
Ahekator’s left eye gazed into future spacetime, looking toward the future.
In terms of time, Ahekator considered her mastery absolute. The power of ordinary diviners could not compare to her own observation of the future.
Even with interference from the January Moon, the April Chaos Moon, and the July Dark Moon causing some fluctuations and obscurations in the future.
As long as Ahekator anchored her own existence, knew whether her future self still existed, and received some information from her future self, she could roughly determine how to make decisions.
"Hmm, I understand."
"Tell me the details of how to proceed."
...
[Tea Room]
In a resplendent golden tea room sat a girl with short golden hair and a figure wrapped in chaotic gray mist.
"Mr. Egrimas, do you not like drinking tea?" Liora asked.
Egrimas sat curled on the sofa, holding a teacup in hand.
"No..."
"The tea is excellent, but the chaos within it is even more worth savoring."
Egrimas’s will observed the chaotic floating tea leaves in the cup. Within each leaf was a miniaturized world, inhabited by countless tiny residents even smaller than bacteria.
As the leaves drifted, these residents grew, iterated, and developed at astonishing speed...
"You have good taste. These are world teas I prepared specifically for you. Observing the tea is like observing a miniature world. Unfortunately, most people don’t understand its profundity. Those who don’t observe carefully probably just drink it as ordinary tea."
Egrimas: "You are quite attentive."
"Remembering clients’ preferences is my habit."
"Our last transaction was very pleasant, Mr. Egrimas."
Liora held her teacup with both hands and took a small sip.
Egrimas: "Aren’t you going to ask what kind of deal I intend to make this time?"
Liora: "In business, the greatest taboo is acting with excessive haste."
"You were the one who arranged this meeting. If you wish to speak, you will tell me sooner or later."
Egrimas’s mist swirled, his tone carrying a slight note of appreciation. "Hehehe."
"Actually, you have quite the talent to become a Moon. It’s a pity... the May position was taken by Yaromoki."
Liora smiled faintly. "At that time, I was not yet prepared. I would not compete for a position with such slim odds without proper readiness."
Egrimas also emanated an intent of laughter. As a mass of chaotic gray mist, its emotions could not be discerned from form.
But its will allowed others to feel it empathetically.
"This time, the transaction I seek you for... is also related to this matter."
Liora: "A transaction related to a Moon position?"
Egrimas: "Correct. It is an opportunity for you to become a Moon."
Silence—
Liora, who had been about to sip her tea, froze mid-motion.
She stared at Egrimas before her.
Then, she slowly set down her teacup, folded her hands on her fair legs, and asked seriously, "Which Moon?"
"October."
"Barnei, the Moon of War and Fire."
Egrimas’s response was direct.
Liora glanced left and right, then raised her hand to affix several golden talismans to the area.
This place was actually very secure.
The conference room was Liora’s unique divine authority—a barrier specifically for transactions. It was not bound by the world’s rules and served as an absolutely neutral zone. Only invited individuals could enter.
Within the conference room, no form of eavesdropping was possible, and no force could be used.
Transactions concluded here would carry absolutely binding contractual conditions.
Neither party could violate them.
Yet even in such a secure space, Liora still affixed ninth-tier isolation talismans.
"What do you need from me?"
Egrimas’s mist shifted. "You don’t need to provide too much assistance. You won’t need to get overly involved in the matter itself. What I wish to trade for is what comes afterward."
"If you become the October Moon."
"I need you to form an unconditional alliance with me and join forces to confront Yakathicta."
Liora paused, then carefully and rigorously confirmed, "September—Luck and Harvest Yakathicta."
"Besides her, there is no other Yakathicta we would need to ally against, correct?"
Liora: "If I do not accept your deal."
"After learning this information, couldn’t I simply wait for Barnei to disappear and then seize the opportunity to inherit the Moon position myself?"
Egrimas: "You are not the only god who wishes to become a Moon. But if you accept the deal with me, I will guarantee that you become the October Moon with one hundred percent certainty."
Liora: "It seems you hold absolute confidence that Barnei will die."
If she sold this information to Barnei,
it would likely be worth an astronomical price.
If Barnei proactively initiated war against Egrimas, Egrimas should not be able to defeat him so easily. Barnei possessed divine authority granting undefeated status in wars he initiated.
However, since Egrimas had told her this,
he must have made ample preparations.
He might even be prepared to act against her if negotiations broke down.
The Egrimas before her suddenly felt extraordinarily dangerous.
"Yakathicta is your enemy, isn’t she..."
"Actually, during May, it wasn’t that you weren’t prepared. You had been ready far earlier. But Yakathicta appeared out of nowhere and seized the Moon position that should have belonged to you."
"That was a position that should have been yours."
"After missing that opportunity, you no longer had time to prepare a second time for the May position."
Egrimas spoke in a low voice. "Yakathicta is the common enemy of both you and me."
"Even if you do not intend to deal with her now, in the future... after you find another opportunity to become a Moon, even after you truly become one, you will still have to face her."
"I am merely advancing this alliance a little earlier."
"Opportunities to become a Moon do not appear easily. If you miss this one, who knows how many tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of years you will have to wait for the next. Or you may be forgotten by the world and gradually fade away in the process."
"Our deal only lasts until the battle with Yakathicta ends. Once Yakathicta falls, you will be free, and there will be no further connection between us."
"You should be able to calculate the pros and cons clearly."
Liora paused. What Egrimas said was correct.
She would become a Moon sooner or later, and she would have to face Yakathicta eventually...
Yet in truth, the grudge between Yakathicta and herself was not particularly deep. They did not even have many interactions. It was simply that Liora unilaterally disliked Yakathicta—that person who could live a good life relying solely on her own luck without any effort.
Becoming a Moon without needing to make any effort at all...
Yakathicta was the person Liora hated the most.
But Liora had only planned to show Yakathicta some color after becoming a Moon herself in the future. She had never thought of actually killing her and causing her to fall.
Moreover, Yakathicta’s luck was not so easy to deal with.
"If you are worried about that person’s luck, I have my own methods to handle it."
"She is my nemesis, but I am also her natural enemy."
Egrimas said calmly. The mist tapped against the tabletop, making the atmosphere even heavier.
Liora took a deep breath. Then, her gaze gradually turned resolute.
"Very well."
"I can accept this deal."
"If I can successfully and completely become the October Moon, I will ally with you."
"But on top of that, I have additional conditions."
