Chapter 1379.2
[O’ descendant who has found my remnant will.]
A charming, beautiful voice began to speak. It didn't sound like the corpse was talking, but rather the will the owner left before death. It was speaking directly into Davey’s mind with seemingly prerecorded words.
[The fact that you have awakened my specter and found my corpse means that you must possess some degree of divinity.]
“Oh?” Davey clasped his hands behind his back and listened to the will of the long-perished divinity with interest.
[Many forbidden truths exist in this world, but most of them were buried before they could see the light. I am a sinner... My people received an eternal curse because of me. I earnestly hope that my people have found salvation by now.]
‘Oh yeah? Vampires caused a big war, and half of them died. Salvation my ass.’
He kept that unnecessary thought to himself. There was no point in saying it anyway, as the will wouldn’t hear it.
[If you forever remember the long-forgotten truth about my people and me, spreading it widely across the world, I will give you a corresponding reward.]
Following its words, white mists began to coalesce above the corpse. It started to take a human form, its hand pointing toward an empty wall.
[There I have hidden an artifact containing my essence. I’m sure you can figure out how to use it yourself. O’ young divinity, I hope you will remember the sad past I left behind.]
“Hmm. So, the reward is in here, eh?”
The mist scattered again, as if its final task had been completed.
However, the voice didn't disappear.
[The world is built upon countless sacrifices.]
The power from the corpse kept speaking, but Davey was no longer listening.
[That sacrifice was not just of mindless creatures. The Primordial Goddess sacrificed many beings to sustain the world. After that, it even protected creatures by sacrificing those who could not be saved. Ah, how tragic. They were born unwillingly, then forced to sacrifice themselves unwillingly. Though I was born a creature, I ultimately reached divinity.]
Davey placed his hand on the wall and quickly scanned it with divine power, only to let out an exclamation. “Oh! Interesting.”
[I was once the most devout believer of all, yet upon learning the cruel truth, I rebelled against it.]
“So, this is how you open it?” Completely ignoring the voice, Davey tweaked the wall, adjusting the interior with his divine power. “That’s a weird way to design it.”
Clank!! Screech!!
The wall began to move as it reacted to his divine power.
Meanwhile, the specter of the true ancestor continued to speak.
[At last...]
“Huh? There are more locks?”
Davey had broken the first seal with divine power, but there were three more remaining seals. He concentrated even harder, working on unraveling the seals.
[Therefore, the Primordial Will...]
“Seriously, why’s this so complicated?”
Clank!! Screech!! Screech!!
The second seal was released.
Satisfied, he concentrated harder to release the remaining seals.
[O’ young divinity, I earnestly wish—]
“Oh. This one should be easy.”
[I earnestly wish—]
“Wow, how’d he design this? What a clever bastard.”
[I earnestly—]
“Oh. It’s open.”
A brief silence fell over the area.
[You son of a bitch!!!]
Davey turned his head with a blank look, and the specter of power, which had flowed out and coalesced from the corpse, materialized as if looking right at him.
[Hey! Listen up. You better focus if you don’t wanna die.]
“What the hell did you just say to me, you little ghost? I don’t care to take advice from a guy who killed countless people. I’m busy as hell, so get out, you punk.” Davey waved him off and turned his back again.
[How dare...]
How the will still lingered didn't matter. Davey knew there was likely a way to figure it out. That was why he wasn't that surprised.
Yet, unlike Davey, the specter couldn't let the situation go.
The specter instantly coiled around Davey, suppressing his divine power and attempting a tug-of-war.
[You are a disrespectful young divinity. Those who turn away from the truth can never grow. It is a necessity to learn, even if it is a painful truth to hear.]
“I don’t care!”
Boom!!
Frustrated, he flung the specter away. The specter realized it had been completely overwhelmed in the power struggle. It had no power left to begin with, yet was trying to save face.
“What. Why the face? What are you lookin’ at, punk?”
It had no response.
“Listen, true ancestor. Whatever truth you hold, it has nothing to do with me. I already know about the many divinities who sacrificed themselves to maintain the world, so stop with the pointless talk and just achieve nirvana already. Just move on and stop causing trouble. Why are you acting like every creature out there died only because of you?”
Facing that line of questioning, the specter violently shook.
[If you know the truth, why are you so cavalier about it? Do you know how many divinities sacrificed themselves to protect those creatures? I couldn't stand it, so I rebelled and rose against the Primordial Goddess.]
He must’ve paid the price for his sins, having his entire race cursed.
The Goddess Freyja of long in the past was truly efficient to the point of being cruel, and was a being who didn’t empathize with the emotions of creatures. His outcome was essentially inevitable from the moment he set foot on that path.
She loved creatures more than anyone, but she loved the existence of created beings as a whole, not individual lives. At least, she was like that in the beginning.
The catalyst for her change was likely the goddess's descent that had happened ten thousand years prior. In fact, without that incident, Davey might not have been granted so much power by her.
“I know all about it. Someone went completely nuts as a mad angel, going on a rampage. Even the thought of what happened then could still give me nightmares, you asshole.”
[Then...]
“It’s all been resolved already.”
The specter couldn’t believe it.
[What?]
“Neltarid saved all the sacrificed souls, and the system has now been changed. Don’t you think it's too late to be doing this now?”
[Changed? The world's system? No way! Unless the Primordial Will itself changed, that’s impossible!]
“It changed. Goddess Freyja changed, too.”
The specter shook violently.
[That... What...]
“Goddess Freyja was familiar with your will. However, a god without emotion simply considers the most efficient process, which resulted in many beings being sacrificed.”
It was rendered speechless again.
“But the sacrifice wasn't simple. After going through all those trials and errors, the goddess finally created a divinity with complete emotions not long ago and is slowly changing the world.
“So, stop being a latecomer now. Do you even know how many beings have died until now because of the specter you created here?”
In a way, the specter of power the Primordial True Ancestor left behind was Aeria’s mortal enemy. After all, it was what caused Empress Redimia to die.
That wasn’t all, either. Even after that, the cursed specter had unintentionally fortified the canyon with its barrier, threatening all ordinary creatures that approached.
“Right now, I really feel like tearing you apart, but I’m holding back out of the kindness of my heart. So just shut up,” Davey coldly barked.
[...Changed, you say? Has everything been reconciled with the truth and returned to the right track? Then, what was my purpose in waiting for a divinity to inherit my will for all this time...?]
The mist muttered hollowly and visibly faded. The specter had waited for an immeasurable amount of time with a singular purpose, and the fact that its purpose was already resolved greatly invalidated its existence.
“More importantly, why did you bind my mother-in-law's soul here? What gave you that right?”
Clank!!
Davey finally broke the last seal, revealing a tiny space. Inside lay a uniquely shaped artifact. It was sure to be the best divine object—the greatest relic—left by the True Ancestor.
While it didn’t look that valuable at first glance, Davey could instinctively feel that it was an incredible artifact.
[What are you talking about? I never bound anyone's soul.]
However, the jerk was completely unaware of the trouble he had caused.
“A woman died because of the power you left here. Her soul has been bound here for over a decade,” Davey coldly informed him.
‘Does he not even know that the power flowing from his corpse is connected to someone else right now?’
The will moved and looked at the corpse.
[How can this be? This change was not my intention...]
“Hah. Whether you intended it or not, you probably ended up capturing her soul while absorbing the power to maintain the specter. Unintentional, but still.”
The specter violently churned, then abruptly cut the string connected to Empress Redimia.
“Hey... Hey!! What the hell are you doing, you crazy bastard?!”
[I see now. As someone who hated sacrifice, I somehow ended up doing the same thing after all...]
The voice rang with bitter regret. Yet, that wasn't what mattered to Davey. The moment the string connected to Empress Redimia was cut, her soul would be dragged into the River of Souls soon. That soul string was what kept her from that fate, and since that insane will had suddenly cut it without asking, the consequence was obvious.
“You crazy piece of shit!! You can’t send that soul up right now!”
When Davey roughly grabbed the will and violently shook it, it tore and scattered little by little in all directions.
“How are you gonna take responsibility for this?!”
[All the power remaining in me will soon disappear, anyway. The result would be the same, regardless of whether I cut it now or later.]
“I need to find a way to temporarily hold the soul back!”
As Davey snarled in anger, the will expressed confusion.
[That’s strange. You have a Holy Mother, and you even possess the power to handle souls, so why are you worried?]
“What?”
[A Holy Mother is a sacred soul that can embrace all things. If you have a child who has become a Holy Mother, you can temporarily house that woman’s soul in that child's body. I don’t see what there is for you to agonize over.]
“A Holy Mother? Who are you talking about? Josiah?”
[You keep saying strange things. No, not the vampire. The beastfolk girl is a Holy Mother. Don’t tell me you didn’t know that?]
The specter informed Davey with incredulity, barely maintaining itself with the little power it had left.
“What are you talking about? Why would Aeria be a Holy Mother?”
[A being who gave birth to a child with divinity—what else could a Holy Mother be? You fool. Anyone can tell just by looking, so you must not be a normal divinity either, since you don't know.]
It scoffed and slowly scattered.
[Hmph. This is boring me, so why even bother? I wanted to tell you more, but you can go figure it out yourself.]
“Hey... hey, wait a minute!” Davey urgently tried to grab it, but the will gave him the middle finger and completely scattered.
At the same time, the physical body of the Primordial True Ancestor also rapidly withered, then turned into light and disintegrated.
