518 Great Calamity
After Henrietta made her offer, Vaan fell silent. He contemplated the value of her offer, but he couldn't accurately gauge its value due to his lack of
knowledge.
Nevertheless, Henrietta quickly understood that even if she offered a True Divinity-rank energy cultivation method on behalf of her master, Vaan wouldn't recognize its value unless she made him understand the greatness of True Divinity first.
'He doesn't know what it means to be a True Divinity; it seems he isn't a Reincarnator from my world... How shocking,' Empyrean Scarletsea uttered.
She had strongly suspected Vaan's accomplishments were all thanks to his advantage as a past-life Reincarnator.
However, she realized that might not be the case. But if Vaan achieved everything with sheer talent alone, that would be truly unbelievable.
Even the primordial gods born at the beginning of time didn't have such heaven-defying talents for learning.
'Explain the realms of energy cultivation to him. Let him understand what it means to be a True Divinity in my world. Consider it a gift on our part. Furthermore, we have to expose my existence sooner rather than later if we want to gain his trust,' Empyrean Scarletsea instructed.
'Yes, Master, Henrietta complied. It seemed her master had already made her decisive.
At the same time, her master surprisingly had the same thoughts as her.
They couldn't sell something valuable unless they made the other party understand how valuable it was.
"A True Divinity in my master's world is a being that stands at the peak. True Divinities are godly existences that can live as long as the sun and moon and dictate the life of countless starfields," Henrietta explained.
"Your master, you say?" Vaan raised an eyebrow, not expecting her to expose the hidden existence backing her so soon.
However, Henrietta was calm since her master had already permitted her to speak.
"That's right," Henrietta admitted with a nod before introducing her master, "My master, Empyrean Scarletsea, was once a revered Empyrean God in the True Divinity Realm. She had been sharing my body and guiding me on the path of cultivation since the appearance of Gehenna."
"Once? Empyrean Gods must not be all that great if they could still fall to such a state," Vaan casually commented.
However, under his casual look, he was intentionally provoking a reaction with such a remark.
"You...!" Henrietta felt angry by Vaan's remark on her master's behalf, but she quickly held it in.
Although Vaan's remark was rude, she had no words to refute it.
After all, even she did not know how someone as powerful as her master could have her physical body killed and her soul shattered into pieces.
But as a True Divinity, even though Empyrean Scarletsea's true soul was shattered, she wouldn't die. It would just be a split in her divine consciousness. As such, there was still a chance for her soul to be reformed entirely once her soul fragments were collected whole again.
That was what it meant to be a True Divinity – it was an existence that had touched upon the secret of the everlasting and became eternal.
'Let me talk to him,' Empyrean Scarletsea requested before mentioning, 'You're already at your limit.'
At that moment, Henrietta's legs were shaking from feeling weak in her knees. Just like her master had said, she was at her limit and barely hanging on.
Just because she realized the root of her problem around Vaan didn't mean she could easily overcome it.
She already did well not to have another episode of erratic behavior as she battled her own feelings.
'Yes, Master,' Henrietta complied.
Shortly after Empyrean Scarletsea took over Henrietta's body, the surrounding aura completely changed.
It became incomparably heavy and oppressive.
However, it only lasted a moment before the aura was drawn back inside Henrietta's body. But as a result, several strands of her hair turned scarlet red, and the center of her pupils lit up with a crimson glow.
Although Empyrean Scarletsea wanted to minimize the side effects of her possession by keeping a tight leash on her power, it still strained Henrietta's body to some degree.
Considering Henrietta's soul was also put into a state of unconsciousness after the switch, her body also adopted some of Empyrean Scarletsea's unique traits.
Her dark purple eyeshadow and black lips also turned red, in addition to the changes to her hair and pupils.
The entire vibe Empyrean Scarletsea gave off was completely different to Henrietta. As such, Vaan's expression turned solemn.
"I don't have a lot of time. So, let us talk quickly. And if possible, alone," Empyrean Scarletsea informed.
Vaan nodded seriously and gave Astoria a glance before she took it as her cue to leave.
Although Astoria had a lot of questions on her mind after everything that unfolded, she knew she could only ask the two people later.
Nevertheless, once Astoria left the great hall floor, Empyrean Scarletsea began her round of questioning.
"How much do you know about the Divine Realm and the power differences in that place?"
"..." Vaan furrowed his brows.
"It seems you truly know nothing. I apologize for assuming." Empyrean Scarletsea once again confirmed Vaan wasn't a Reincarnator from the Divine Realm before she said, "Just as you said before, True Divinities aren't all that powerful."
"At the very least, before the Great Calamity struck us, Empyrean Gods like me, who were at the peak of the True Divinity Realm, truly once believed we were invincible. After all, we were the strongest beings to rule the vast sea of stars."
"But as the saying goes - there is always someone stronger. I just didn't think such a saying would still apply to us, Empyrean Gods. We were completely helpless against these unknown beings that suddenly appeared," Empyrean Scarletsea sighed.
"Great Calamity, huh? In other words, your world got invaded by more powerful beings from the outside. I take it that these unknown beings came from Chaos?" Vaan guessed.
However, Empyrean Scarletsea shook her head.
"You certainly catch on quickly," Empyrean Scarletsea briefly praised before saying, "You are right to guess they came from outside our chaosverse. However, I cannot confirm whether they came from Chaos."
"Are you implying they could come from somewhere other than place Chaos and our chaosverse?" Vaan frowned.
If that were true, where could such a place be?
He was told that only an endless sea of nothingness lay beyond the boundary.
The source of this c𝐨ntent is fre𝒆w(e)bn(o)vel