Chapter 1003 Fragment
The three couldn't believe what they just heard from Almira. It was a sudden revelation which is why the three were shocked after hearing it. Queen Tanya has a little idea about Almira's real identity but after the confirmation, it was now clear as day for her.
"You heard everything correctly. I am one of the fragments that the Goddess of Death divided from herself to ensure that she will be able to fulfill what she failed to do during her time as a goddess. I am one of the shards that became a human version of her that still has the power of the former goddess of death. It's a minor magic and it is enough for me to use basic ones at that allowing me to understand the limitation of having less magic."
"What about the others? Since you said you are a fragment, that must mean there are other parts of her, right?" Izmir asked.
"Indeed. However, I am not sure who and where they are right now. The only thing I know is that the main body or in other words, the original body is currently residing in a realm, protecting and recovering all of the wounds that the main body sustained during the Primordial wars."
"How long have you known this? Based on how you act around the mention of the Goddess of Death, you looked like you are fine with discussing it."
"I have known this since the very beginning. After all, I still have all the memories of the original. You can say that I was born again with all of my memories intact but with my powers gone. It has been like that since the previous loops of this world."
Queen Tanya frowned and looked at Almira with a confused look on her face. "What do you mean previous loops?"
"Oh yeah...I forgot that you all have no idea about the previous regressions of this world and how many times it has been reset. But yes, it has been undergoing several resets and loops on multiple occasions. Every loop caused the world to return to the way it was before everything occurred. But the future progressed differently before."
"Everything has been undergoing this cycle until it reached the final loop which is this current timeline we have."
"Final loop...then that means there is no more possibility for us to reset the timeline and fix everything again?" Manato's Mother asked.
"Indeed. This is the final chance to fix everything or put a stop to the Goddess of Life's plans. Thanks to what Manato did earlier, our deadline has been extended for a bit more. However, that is not the final solution to all of this, it only gave us a bit more time before the Goddess of Life resumes her initial plans."
"A little bit of time is plenty of time. Seeing how the Goddess of Life demolishes Manato in the process just speaks to how useless Manato is against her right now. Even though his weapon is almost complete, it is not enough to fight against the goddess and stop her plans. Thanks to the extension, we will need all the efforts to complete his weapon and ensure that the next time we face her again, we don't need to rely on the same tactic as that will no longer work again," Queen Tanya glances at Manato who is currently being healed by Pixie who managed to survive the onslaught earlier.
"Excuse me for asking this, Almira-san but how come you are not able to defeat your sister? I saw your battle from the mansion and yet you didn't inflict any fatal attacks against her. It was like you are specifically avoiding damaging her..." Queen Tanya asked.
"See this?" Almira pointed at her wounds that are healing slowly. "These wounds are supposed to be the same wounds that I inflicted on my sister. If I wound her, those wounds will then be inflicted on my body as if I received those wounds in the first place. So what would happen if I kill her?"
"You die," Izmir answered.
"Indeed. Although I am fine sacrificing myself, we can't get rid of both of us in the process and we needed at least one goddess to make this world remain balanced. If both of us die, then this world will be destroyed in the process and the elder gods will not even bother to care to replace us," Almira explained properly.
"Then why is your sister more inclined to kill you in the process? Shouldn't she be the same as you? Can't kill each other?"
"Unlike my sister, she can kill me anytime without any sort of problem like mine. This is a curse that she cast on me back then when I thought it was a harmless prank from her only to learn it was a real curse that I have to suffer until she dies. As for the reason why she is inclined to kill me even though we are siblings? That is something that I can't tell right now. The time is not yet right and I am bound by this curse as well."
"If killing the Goddess of Life is out of the question for now. Then...is our next plan to find a way to revive everyone?" Izmir asked Almira.
"Yes. But like I said, the place that has the ingredients we needed is somewhere else and someone has to go and fetch them there. However, none of us are qualified to reach there except for one."
Almira's gaze then landed on the unconscious Manato.
"My son is the one who will be capable of reviving everyone? Just where is it?" Manato's mother asked, worried for her son who was lying unconscious.
"The place...is somewhere that we have found before but due to the restrictions, even I couldn't enter it. But since Manato had a small reaction to it before, he has the potential and he is the one we can rely on for this task.?He needed to be the one who would get the material we needed for him to revive everyone. As for us, our only task is to remain here and keep an eye on the condition of everyone who died. But for now, our only choice right now is to heal Manato and undertake the task of doing this once he is awake."
Everyone turned to look at Manato sleeping quietly as his wounds were being healed. His breathing is slow but they are steady. He might have suffered severe wounds but he will survive. One thing is for sure, his journey has yet to end.
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Nobuhiko glanced at the Goddess of Life now currently on her soul form. She is currently healing after suffering some wounds from the attacks that her sister inflicted on her during the conflict and to acquire the power of the Tree of Life.
"So you are saying that we have to wait another month again to return to that tree?" Nobuhiko asked.
"The Altar of the Life present at the very top of the Tree of Life is broken and will take approximately 1 month before it will return to its former glory. Until then, we can't do anything. And without it, healing my injuries will also take some time. That accursed sister of mine...even when she became a human, she still managed to injure me like this..." The Goddess of Life couldn't hide her anger.
"Goddess, I know you must feel frustrated but how about we get rid of them right now? Since you killed many of their people in one go, shouldn't we be fine killing them all while they are down?"
"Ha, if even myself can't defeat my sister, then even your helpers won't even be capable of fighting that monstrosity that is my sister. She is in a league of her own. If not for the curse that I gave her back when we were still kids, then she would be killing me now. I am fortunate that I made her get those curses or else, I am a goner by now."
As the two are currently discussing things, Janus listens on the side. Although he is not sure what the goddess said, he clearly heard that she killed most of the allies of Manato which means some people have died in the process when fighting against the Goddess of Life. He clenches his fist, not knowing what to do. Although he betrayed his friends to serve the Goddess of Life, this is not part of what he had in mind. He wasn't on board in killing his friends for this sort of job at all.
But what can he do? He is only a young man without anything that can influence his actions and even if he tries to defy the goddess, there is only death awaiting for him. He is torn in this choice but there is nothing much he can do about it. The only thing he can do after hearing this news is to lament and despair, knowing that he also contributed to their deaths.
This content is taken from fr(e)ewebn(o)vel.𝓬𝓸𝓶