The Ankh, the Symbol of Life, was engraved on Nial's Odyssey seed.
It hadn't changed anything about the Odyssey seed, and it looked like it didn't have any special effect, almost as if it was just some decoration.
Yet, with numerous memories flooding Nial's mind, the Ankh began to glow as well.
The memories the Odyssey seed transferred to him activated the Ankh. It began to glow brightly all of a sudden, and it released a terrifying amount of vigor.
Nial could only feel the endless pain because of the memories that pierced into his mind without permission. At first, he didn't even realize that something about the Ankh was changing, let alone that it released vigor.
This vigor was absorbed by the Odyssey seed, which began to pulsate all of a sudden.
The Ankh is the Essence of Life, and it began to affect the Odyssey seed in weird ways. Due to this, Nial's perception of living existences around him skyrocketed.
The anatomy of every single Original in his surroundings was clear to his [Mana Sense], and nothing could escape his 'sight'.
But even if he was able to perceive everything in his surroundings at this moment, it was impossible for Nial to digest all the information he received.
His mind was already overflowing with the memories of the late Darkness God, who had been quiet since the day Nial had left the Darkness Domain, where his Primary Trial of the Gods had been held.
'Did Silvian's appearance indirectly trigger the transfer of the late Darkness God's memories?' Nial could only think before a new wave of memories flooded him.
Through all these memories, Nial gained lots of knowledge. However, this knowledge was mostly based on what he saw during world-destroying wars and large-scale battles where millions of beasts and members of races were slaughtered mercilessly.
Death was what the God of Darkness had been the most familiar with. To him, Life was never something that accompanied him. While he stayed alive, the people around him died.
Not even one of them had died because of old age. Everyone had been assassinated by his enemies, or captured, tortured and finally presented to the God of Darkness.
Numerous terrifying memories of the God of Darkness' loved ones losing their lives in the most harrowing ways had entered Nial's mind.
He felt pity for the late God of Darkness because he could tell that there was not a single time in Damian's life, where he had been truly happy and had enjoyed his life with his loved ones.
All of them had died a painful death; killed at the hands of those who hated the God of Darkness for his power, his goals, and for his desire to change the way everyone lived.
His desires and plans had been of noble nature, in the beginning. However, Nial could clearly tell that the God of Darkness had been led to the path of Darkness by the things that had happened to him.
'If my family were to face a fate like that of yours, I would end up, just like you.' Nial thought even though he knew that he wouldn't be able to act like the God of Darkness.
The memories of Damian's life clearly showed that he had been able to cope with the death of all his loved ones with only one aim in mind. He was consumed with the thought of revenge, and snatching everything that belonged to his enemies, which was enough to dispel his grief.
However, that wouldn't be the case for Nial.
The moment something was to happen to his family, Nial would never be able to forgive himself for not being able to protect them, let alone the perpetrators for what they had done.
'Allowing them to die would be way too nice… They might wish to die, after what I would do to them, but their life would continue…just a bit different than what they could hope for.'
Nial's thoughts turned darker the more memories the Odyssey seed shared with him.
The memories made Nial uncomfortable because he felt as if he was prying into the past life of someone else, watching the most personal memories of another being. However, they were also a clear sign that he had to become stronger to protect his family, and that he had to find and pay more attention to himself.
He was not supposed to repeat the mistakes made by the God of Darkness.
These thoughts drove Nial forward and cemented his decision to become stronger and to find and protect his family better. They allowed him to not get affected by the emotions associated with the memories that continued to flood him.
Nial digested all the memories. He embraced them tightly and tried not to forget the smallest detail in order to learn from the mistakes the God of Darkness made, followed by the knowledge Damian had amassed during the eons he had been alive.
At the same time, the engraving of the Ankh continued to shine brightly. Unbeknownst to Nial, it released enormous amounts of vigor.
The vigor nourished the Odyssey seed that kept pulsating. Small, and extremely tiny changes were occurring to the Odyssey seed.
The Fragment of the Darkness God was slowly transforming. It showed signs of gaining life and becoming something it was never supposed to be.
Earlier, the Ankh had been nothing more but an accessory, but the vigor that spread through Nial's entire body right now indicated that things were changing.
While the flood of memories slowly died down, the Ankh didn't show signs of dimming down.
On the contrary, when Nial was able to sense the Ankh, he could sense that Life itself had begun to flood his body.
Every single cell in his body was invigorated which meant that Nial's mind was freed of its exhaustion, and his Mana core could absorb and annex far more mana than usual.
His Mana veins which were still not fully matured underwent tiny changes with the overflowing vigor that spread through his body.
The blood that had trickled down his nose, eyes, and ears had died down. While he had looked weak just a few moments before, his current presence had changed completely.
A fresh wave of energy flooded Nial, but at the same time, the dark energy of his Odyssey was subconsciously released.
The Ankh had forced his Odyssey seed to pulsate, absorb the surrounding mana, and create dark energy.
Excessive dark energy was released from the Odyssey seed. It spread through his body and merged with the seemingly endless vigor the Ankh radiated as well.
When his entire body was filled with mixed dark energy and vigor, traces of the same merged energy were released from his body.
"What is going on with him? Why is he releasing this eerie, and gloomy darkness…wait….why does this darkness feel so warm?" Silvian mumbled in confusion.
He was still right in front of Nial, and he had noticed that something was going on with the blind man. However, he actually had no idea what exactly was going on.
'Are his memories not resurfacing? If not, what exactly is going on?' Silvian was still sure that the incarnation of Damian was right in front of him.
The warm darkness he released felt just like dark energy. The only difference one could perceive was the fact that the dark energy was warm and overflowing with vigor.
Something like that shouldn't be the case, which was why Silvian stayed by Nial's side and waited for his old friend to get back to his senses.
After the pain of digesting all the memories he had received subsided, Nial felt much better. It didn't take him long to get back up from the ground and take a few deep breaths.
The Ankh was still activated and was influencing his Odyssey seed. However, that was not something Nial could change, not right now, at least.
He had to accept it for the time being, which was how Nial could focus on organizing his thoughts, his memories, and everything he had just gotten to know.
With his feet firmly planted on the ground, the huge contrast in his vigorous and somewhat gloomy presence attracted the attention of quite a few people.
Many looked over, just to see that Nial had stopped bleeding from his nose, ears, and eyes. Contrary to before, he looked much more energetic now as if he could lift a shuttle all by himself.
"Silvian, you old bastard. What the hell are you planning to achieve by incarnating?" Nial asked the moment he got back to his senses.
His own memories and the memories of the late Darkness God were still tangled and he was having a hard time separating them.
Thus, Nial didn't even realize that he was speaking to Silvian as if he was Damian who was speaking to his old friend, the God of Satins and Devils.
"Damian?! Is that really you? Are you for real?" Silvian asked, his eyes widening in astonishment and joy.
He smiled brightly, and grasped Nial's shoulder tightly, ignoring the gazes they received from the others.
"I'm not Damian." Nial merely answered, his expression souring when he felt how strong the Sacred Knights leader's grasp was. "Now let me go."
Silvian acted instinctively when he heard Nial's command. It was exactly the same way in which Damian would speak, and act. Coldly, yet still somewhat nicely.
Damian, the Ruler of Darkness was an odd fellow. However, he was loyal to his friends, and would never abandon them.
That was also why Silvian couldn't help but be overjoyed to see that his old friend had returned.
From the memories Nial had just received, he knew that Silvian was one of Damian's few friends.
And for Damian to consider Silvian a friend was definitely not a simple task.
Nial might not know how they have become friends or why exactly the late Darkness God liked him, but from the memories he had received, Nial could tell that Damian genuinely thought of Silvian as a friend.
'I will decide on my own, whether he is trustworthy or not.' Nial thought before thinking that it might be fair to give Silvian a little bit of trust, for Damian's sake.
"What do you mean, you're not Damian? Don't make jokes right now. I can clearly tell that your dark energy is Damian's, and you know my name as well.
Not a single human has ever called me by my true name!" Silvian looked at Nial in suspicion.
He believed that Nial, or to be precise, Damian, was fooling around with him.
"I won't explain it to you. Just know that I go by the name Nial Orin and that I know quite a lot about you The God of Darkness died a long time ago, and I won't go by the name Damian." Nial replied in a calm and convincing tone.
He knew that he was playing around with his words just now which could be easily misunderstood.
However, that was exactly what Nial wanted to achieve just now.
By revealing a part of the truth while sending out confusing messages, Silvian would still believe that he was Damian, just a different one.
'So he means that his memories are not fully awakened and that his life on Mundra before he awoke his memories are affecting him enough to change his identity?
Is he abandoning the legacy he created as the Ruler of Darkness?' Silvian couldn't understand Damian's reason behind whatever he was doing.
However, it was not as if he had the right to say that his friend's decision was wrong, or ridiculous. After all, he had chosen to incarnate as a human being as well.
Nonetheless, Silvian still had many doubts when looking at his old friend. Just one look at the expression on Nial's face prevented him from saying anything.
'Just like Damian…' He could only think before he heard what Nial had to say,
"Won't you start explaining your reasons for incarnating on Jundra? Don't even think of lying!"
The source of this c𝐨ntent is fre𝒆w(e)bn(o)vel