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Chapter 410: Rumours from the Past

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The Fifth Elder laughed, [Money is not a problem so you can rest assure that we will reward him very handsomely if he works for us. In fact, if you can make him submit to us as a subordinate, not only are we going to reward him, but we will also reward you… how is that?]

Kira secretly smiled to her heart, I love my job.

“Like I said earlier, he fights the same style as Siva so if you provide him with enough help aside from his reward, I’m sure he will agree to my urging.”

[Done… when can you contact him?]

She beamed, “Right now.”

It was still unknown now, but this meeting has the significant impact in the future of Terroa... and Siva was unaware that while he unknowingly has been freed from AG’s claws, it was The Union’s fangs that were already sinking on his skin.

Whether they were aware of what this will entail, it was still a matter in the future.

*****

Asgard

‘Cortana, send Lily a message and tell her that I will come back to Mandy after checking the Asgard.’

[Yes sir.]

Siva appeared with a flash of light and with him, he brought a 10m large piece of metal in front of the old man who was bewildered at first, but then was aghast at the sight of him and his ‘delivery’.

“My Lord.”

“Akhenaton. Status report.”

“4000 dead, 2 buildings damaged, 3 island towers destroyed, 3 warships are down; and 6000 Mobile Suits and one Colossal Warship harvested, Milord.”

Siva’s brows twitched. He didn’t think that Asgard will be attacked this heavily. But the last item really astounded him.

“A Colossal Warship is harvested, you say? It didn’t try to self-destruct?”

“It couldn’t, Milord. My avatar body currently holds its heart in its hand as we speak.”

Siva’s heart lurched. This was quite a harvest.

“Bring me to it.”

With a flash of light, Siva vanished and reappeared in front of the Big Black Ball in the Sword God Island district.

There was the 1km large ‘still injured’ Golden Idol and below it, suppressed, was a warship of a size that will surprise everyone in Terroa. the Golden Idol’s hand was pierced into the ship’s belly and the ship itself was still squirming as if it was trying to morph while being suppressed.

“I can’t release this warship or it will devour the Big Black Ball. I have the feeling that it will morph into something close to that Gyoolu if that happens.”

“Right.” Siva was still shocked by the sight in front of him.

It was simply too large to be called one and recent memory compared this warship’s size to Battleship Dust Aegerion owned by Haven Dust Company.

“Is this the only one of its kind?”

“’Tis the only one of its kind I’ve also seen in all my years, Milord. Originally, this warship was heading straight to Aarun but it just had to come closer to the Asgard and seemed to have been attracted to the Big Black Ball. As soon as I determined where it was heading to, I immediately moved in and came to suppress it. But as a result, I was unable to fend of the attacks to the rest of the Asgard and thus the extent of the damage we received. I have been unable to comply with your orders, Milord.”

Siva patted the ‘butler’s’ shoulder, “Don’t be hard on yourself, Akhenaton, you did the right thing. If you didn’t move in to immediately suppress it, then I could only imagine the devastation it might have caused to the entire Asgard. That would have been a really unfortunate disaster. I’m really thankful to you this time for your quick action.”

Butler Akhenaton knelt in one knee and offered his sincerest gratitude with a cupped hand. It was one of those archaic displays of a warrior’s obeisance to his lord master.

“Stand up, Akhenaton, please…”

“My Lord is really compassionate and generous. I am in awe at your kindness.”

Siva’s face twitched. As much as a reliable ‘servant’ Akhenaton is, he was still too old fashioned to his own tastes… especially when they are in a moment of between a servant and a lord.

“It’s just a simple gesture. No need to make it big.”

Siva dismissed it with a show of indifference to his acquiescent display of fealty.

Then, he stared at the squirming Colossal Warship that in one look should be around 800-900 meters in size. It was already halfway its morphing phase so its shape was an awkward half-hominid and half-warship state… with its face on the ground and the hand of the Golden Idol piercing its back into its belly, holding its plasma core, suppressing it.

“So it wished to reach ascension and gain free will by devouring this thing.” Siva stated with a fact-full of a tone. “It’s just like what that dwarf, Gafgarion, told me back then… Universe Spirits have versions as well and this one right on front of us is just one of the many variations of their species.”

(AN: in our story, the only dwarf ever mentioned is the one sitting on a flying manta ray in VOL6-Ch5)

“Universe Spirits, Milord?” Akhenaton blinked, “Our universe is still capable of birthing one? The last I heard of a Universe Spirit is at the time before my own ascension ceremony.”

Siva tuned to him, not saying anything. He turned his attention back to the struggling colossus and stayed quiet for a few seconds before he heaved a deeply held sigh.

“Know that the Trinity Gods are no more and Terra, most especially, are now gone. In this universe, no one is overseeing the creation of new life anymore with this planet being the only existing stronghold that can support the actual propagation of [Life]. So with that said, with no one to supervise the Will of Mana (creation of life), it was easy to imagine just what the future of this universe will be.”

“My Lord, you mean…”

Siva didn’t look at him and continued, “Authentic and genuine [Universe Spirits] are special for they are birthed naturally in the essence of Mana. They are born from conditions impossible to imitate but to create an artificial one is also simple enough. But to give those artificial ones a ‘true sentience’ is the hardest challenge for them since artificial Universe Spirits does not have their own ‘soul’ to house their sentient personalities —their actual spirits.”

Akhenaton maintained his subservience, reverently looking at Siva’s back with an attentive silence.

It was unknown if Siva was talking about this topic scientifically… or if he was referring to the process of crafting Universe Spirits as actual ‘beings’ of the Terran Universe.

After all, if this topic is shared to the world outside of Terroa, that would have been a ground-breaking scientific discussion subject.

Have humanity’s technology advanced to such an extent that talking about creating an “AI” is equal to the actual creation of life itself?

If so, then would that mean that every ‘living being’ in this universe are artificially created life?

If so… then would that mean that Terroa is a real and actual artificial world created by mankind to serve as a challenge to the faith and belief of the modern world’s definition of God’s abilities?

Or…

Talking about it ‘figuratively’ as a game element and an aspect of this game world —so would that also mean that before the death of Terra, [Life] was an abundant force, and that [Death] was merely a large part of its cycle………...disrupted and controlled by the very person who created them, [The One]?

The process of creation of life —the very edict and law of the Will of Mana— without Terra, is forever a halted process.

Akhenaton didn’t understand it all, but the fact that no one is creating life in the Universe anymore is a matter that even he understood very well as one of the powerful citizens of this universe.

Thinking about it, Akhenaton suddenly had an idea.

“My Lord, based on your words…… then does my current condition mean that I…”

Siva turned back at him but he didn’t say a thing.

Akhenaton, however, was 50% sure that his doubt was already confirmed.

So the question is, why, then, was he locked in this why by Janus and weren’t destroyed just like other corrupted Immortals?

Before he could even did deeper in this question, he heard Siva continue, “Naturally born ‘Spirits’ are born with a complete sentience, with their weakness being the fact that they don’t have a physical body that can support their lives… thus, they enter The Cycle as soon as they are born, gaining their ‘souls’ and becoming new born infants in this physical world.”

Akhenaton closed his eyes and understood as he murmured to himself, “The Grand Cycle…”

“Right.” Siva affirmed, “But in that cycle, there are a very select number of special cases where a newly born Universe Spirit gained a physical body and so are able to form their own souls through that lucky instance… I’ve only heard this from another’s lips before, but after the war broke out, I confirmed the existence of the proofs of these rumours myself.”

Akhenaton was confused but he remained silent.

“Do you know how many Universe Spirits are born naturally from the very beginning of the universe until now that gained a soul on their own and lived outside The Cycle? Eight. The first case was until now is an unknown existence, but the second case is actually the first generation Devil God… Lucifer.”

Listening to his words, Akhenaton was aghast. It was easy to imagine just how much their universe had decayed ever since Lucifer emerged.

Not everyone knew, not even Siva, but Janus and Terra knew that the one who manipulated the rare conditions that birthed Lucifer was The One —the actual creator of their Universe, Pegasus.

Lucifer was the first Devil God… and with him was the emergence of the rest of the Devil Gods; so is the creation of the LAGRAM Alliance —the union of the Demon Races.

From Lucifer, born, was Mefisto… the bane of the Gods —even Siva.

The Demons’ reproduction rate is fast but they are merely multiplying in numbers and not actually creating new life.

And that also included the current Terran society.

When they hunted down Terra, they also stopped the Universe from moving forward and what’s left in it now are nothing more than squirming ants that had nothing left to do aside from multiplying.

Even the children of [Light] are nothing more than ants with a different attribute as well.

If the Universe was a bucket and that Mana is the water in it, then the particles of dirt in the floating in the air and in the water, everything that’s inside the bucket, are its citizens —including the Demons. As the [Sustainer of Life] is no more, then there is no more source of fresh water to refill the stagnant water inside the bucket.

Worst, instead of preventing the stagnant water from collecting dirt, the Demons were even dirtying the water in the Universe even further.

From the original numbers of living beings in the Terran Universe, after they died, they became the specks of lights in the Memories Archive.

(AN: this is the same narration in Labrador’s first emergence in our story, VOL6-Ch39)

One speck of light is one [memory] —a person.

Undergoing the Cycle of Reincarnation, the soul is recycled but the memories are erased… becoming nothing more than bubbles retuning to the surface of the stagnant water in the bucket that when it lost its ‘life’, it pops out, and the ‘specks’ of memories it carried returns back to become another particle in the archive at the bottom of the bucket.

But because of the nigh-unlimited numbers of the Demons, whether they live or die contaminates this universe… and it was anything but a good thing for the survival of this universe.

Siva knows it —he remembers it now.

Accumulating these ‘flecks’ dirties the water further and in due time, the stagnant water will dry up and the future of this universe will end.

The “Demons” broke the balance and the struggles now —the struggles known to the real world as the ‘game’, RPG: Terroa— were nothing more than the closing act of the real play above that stage known as Planet Terroa.

“So, Milord, in other words, this demon is…”

“An artificial Universe Spirit created by the demon armada… or if I should put it in other words, it was the same to all other Colossal Warships.”

[Boss, you mean to say that this thing is just like me as well… like how I was addressed by Gaia, with a physical body as our difference?]

Cortana was standing on Siva’s left and Akhenaton on his right, both of them behind him. Cortana still carried the cat in her bosom, purring without a care to their topic of discussion.

‘That’s the difference between the two of you. And it was also the difference between you and that girl in the mothership.’

[I see.]

He knew she read his thoughts.

‘Right, that’s a Universe Spirit made by the demons and is also the ‘spirit’ of the mothership itself. The fact that you were able to suppress her even within her own body was nothing special because even in the old days….. you are special. Your very nature itself was made with the purpose of suppression.’

Cortana was The Warden’s [Tool]. The Warden’s purpose was to suppress this Universe; to prevent anything from contaminating “The Net” of the real world.

By that very logic itself, Cortana’s specialty, or the core of her existence, was centered on that very concept —suppression.

In truth, however; the Warden, the Sustainer, and the Creator —all of them— were a single package program and originally doesn’t have any distinction within them the likes of [Tool] or even [Authority].

Originally, they were just that —their role was their own names— nothing more.

What changed that?

What gave them sentience?

What gave the ability to develop awareness?

What gave them a capacity to think for themselves?

What made them gain their egos?

“By consuming an essence core of a Primordial God-level existence such as Gyoolu, they can get a chance to ascend from being mere creations, into being sentient beings. I never would’ve imagined it that the experiment I have in mind and the reason I kidnapped a Supreme would actually be happening here in Asgard.”

The reason why Siva took El Bravo Supreme was this very thing’s goal itself but in reverse.

Reversing the process of a spirit’s ascension…!!

His reason was simple: it was all for Samantha.

She’s alive, here, somewhere in the vaults of time.

The War of the Braves was over 56 years ago in the Terran Calendar.

Siva believed that if the Memories Archive of this universe remembers everything, then there is a big chance it ‘remembered’ Samantha.

If he can extract ‘her’ from that timeframe, then he can still save her fate in the real world… because the humans of this world held the 200+ years more advanced stages of Genetics and Bio-Mechanical Technology.

With the help of Cortana’s superb data processing capability, he believed that ‘saving’ her would only be a matter of time.

And not only for Sam; with the help of this data he can accumulate with this mission, he can also help his own parents to escape their confinement in this artificial world of Terroa, in the Genesis Chamber, and that world outside of it.

With the help of his knowledge of the past, he was aware that there are races that specialized in the art of “Summoning Magic” and they can conjure the ‘spirits’ of the Elements, or of a long-dead person, to fight for their stead.

The attack of Labrador in Alexandria was one of his anchors to this thought; if an [ability] could grant a person his capability to summon True Dragons that had a real body but without a soul… then perhaps the entire process can be reversed as well.

Although it was far from his true goal in regards to Samantha’s situation, Siva believed that if there is one thing that this world had that was worth of his praise, then it is the fact that all of it was ‘magical’ in essence and that there was an equivalent aspect of this world’s elements in the real world.

Thus, there was a tiny chance that Siva could bring them back to life as a complete person and with all of their memories intact.

Even if he fails, at least his understanding of this ‘concept’ will deepen to more than just knowledge like how he has it today.

Back in The North, the other Siva was told that she was here, 56 years ago, and he can find her there.

“There was once a rumour about a Goddess who’d lost her lover during a defense from the demons’ attacks on a front line. In her desolation, she had gone missing for quite some time… until the day that their friends saw her lover again, alive, with she herself by his side… smiling.”

“Milord?” Akhenaton was confused with Siva who murmured this rumour.

In terms of age, Akhenaton was younger than Siva by perhaps hundreds of millions of years.

For the emperor was born during the last stages of the war while Siva fought in the frontlines and spread the Path to Immortality in the stars even during the first era where demons have yet to truly raise their war banner.

Thus, it was no wonder he was unaware of that particular rumour… besides, Siva himself was not sure of it as well.

He just remembered it.

“Nothing… it’s nothing, really. It’s just some rumor from the old times, nothing more.” Siva heaved one deep breath before asking, “How long can you put up this suppression?”

“As long as nothing strong attacks the Asgard, I can remain here indefinitely. But sir, repairing the golden body would have to be delayed for an even longer time from our original predictions.”

It has only been a whole week since the fight in the Walled City of Alexandria in The North, and there was a 30day forecast to repair Akhenaton’s golden avatar body with an estimate of the Island Fortress’ defenses fully activating within 20 days as well.

.

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