Herebia’s mind spun but all she can feel is a slight breeze. She was enjoying the wind but she could tell that this was no ordinary wind.

Perhaps, it was divine wind? Nah.

It was the wind of time.

The wind passed her as with the progress of time. Herebia stayed in this state and she did not know how long it will last. It seems to last for a eternity. It also seems to last only in the blink of an eye.

Herebia threw all of her thoughts back and enjoyed this time of hers. She did not mind it being an eternity or only being a second. This was a relaxing feeling, a soothing one. Back in the days, she was quite stressed to even dare to relax.

Inwardly, Herebia sighed and she turned melancholic.

She remembered... her sin. Perhaps... she was the one who caused all of the four bloodlines to be wiped out by the humans.

Shaking her head, Herebia stopped thinking too much about it. It was what she did. For no other apparent reason than her greed. Yes.

It was greed.

This was Herebia’s sin.

As Herebia relaxed through the void, a voice could be heard whispering.

“Wake up.”

It gradually grew and became louder as Herebia slowly opened her eyes.

“Wake up, It’s time.”

Herebia felt herself awakening and the feeling of the wind disappeared. Herebia was quite disappointed but she shook her head helplessly.

!?

She can shake her head? Herebia discovered that she could. She had once again connected to her limbs and the feeling of her hands and her feet slowly returned to her.

Her vision turned from black to blurry and from blurry to clear. What she saw in front of her was the True God of Light, seating in the table that they previously used.

Herebia realized it and she inwardly sighed. Ah... I have woken up.

Thinking about it, the feeling of that deep slumber gave her was soothing. It was a relaxing time. Herebia now knew that the time spent their was only for 1000 years.

But... while she was in there, it felt like she was in there for an eternity already or for only a single second. It was mysterious.

She thought about it even more and came to a realization. That... was the place of rest.

It surely was a relaxing place. The place where the dead goes.

Aven looked at her and formed a thin smile. “Actually, you were correct yet not correct. That is indeed where the dead goes but for only those who I approve. The others go to Sabbath.”

True God Aven clarified Herebia’s guesses. Sabbath. She was familiar with this word. Not only do demons reside within, another True God was guarding the resting place of the damned.

Thinking about gods, Herebia suddenly realized that a she could ask questions about them from this person in front of her. After all, Aven is a True God.

“Say, Aven, what happened? Why did the three of you fell out?”

Aven’s smile turned expressionless and he sighed. A True God sighed. Aven knew what herebia was poking at and he was reluctant to answer. But, he realized that this woman would probably know about it in the future.

So why not be the one to tell her himself?

Herebia looked at Aven as she waited for an answer. She knew that this topic was a sore spot towards this god but she couldn’t help herself from asking.

“It was because they broke the first rule. That’s it.”

Herebia touched her jaw and mused to herself. The first rule... huh... Wait.

God’s have rules?!

Incredulous! Preposterous! They are the most powerful beings on this continent! They could do everything they want!

Aven shook his head. It seems that he was reading Herebia’s thoughts. Realizing this, Herebia tried to think of dumb things which she found out that... she has no idea of.

I can’t think of dumb things? Does this make me a genius who always thinks of good things or make me a great grand ninny who can’t even think of something dumb?

Anyway, Herebia tried to clear her thoughts as Aven started to explain.

“We do have rules. We also cannot do anything we want.”

Herebia sighed. So even gods have limits. Herebia was satisfied with this questions and decided to stop this Q&A.

Aven could read Herebia’s mind, and he understood what Herebia wanted. This Q&A section was now over. It’s now time for official business.

The first topic was:

“What do you want me to do down there?”

Aven touched his chin and spoke in a calm manner.

“I want you to collect the four Crystal Shards. That’s it.”

Herebia looked at Aven and thought about it. The four Demigod Gems... It couldn’t be that easy right? Even with the help of the Chaos Tome, this task is still quite hard.

“What about the Nine Seraphic Swords? Do I need to collect them too?”

“Collect them if you want. I don’t care.”

Herebia’s mind jolted and she realized something. If this guy doesn’t care about them then...

“You... you’re not the one who made those Seraphic Swords?”

Aven shook his head and clapped his hands. Entering the residence was Minela who brought a tray. It was filled with a pot of tea which Minela poured to the cups of Herebia and Aven.

Minela bowed towards Aven after serving the tea and left the residence afterwards. Herebia took the cup and raised it to her lips as she took a sip.

“It was not made by me. I only make God Blades.”

Herebia placed the cup down and mused to herself. So those God Blades were from you... Wait!?

“You mean that what you create is only God Blades?!”

Aven looked at Herebia as if he was watching an amusing show. He drank a mouthful of tea and simultaneously placed it down on the table.

“Yes.”

“Then... then who created the Crystal Shards?!”

Shrugging his shoulders Aven tossed the cup in the air. The cup slowly turned to motes of light as well as the cup within Herebia’s hands. Aven stood up and faced his back towards Herebia.

“I don’t know. Follow me.”

Herebia stood up from her seat while her soul was shaken. It was too shocking. Because... Even a god does not know the origin of the Crystal Shards!

She also placed the probability of this guy lying but... what would he gain? He was a god and Herebia was only a mortal. There was no need to lie to her if he answered. If he didn’t want her to know the truth, he could’ve just refrained from answering.

After all, a mortal can not force a god to answer!

Slowly regaining her calm, Herebia followed after Aven. They passed through many residences, and they arrived at a wide field. In the center of the wide field, a humongous magic circle could be seen.

Aven stopped for a moment and then turned back to look at Herebia.

“It’s time for you to descend.”

“One last question.”

Aven paused for a moment and then nodded his head. Not hesitating any further, Herebia voiced her concerns.

“Is... is Sequestia still alive?”

“Sequestia? Yes, she’s still alive.”

Instantly, a weird expression appeared on Herebia’s face. That was because, the sole reason for her death was Sequestia. She was the one who cut off her escape route when she fought the Faerie Queen and was thus impaled by the power fo the Wind Crystal Shard.

Sighing softly, Herebia erased those thoughts. She had a mixed feeling when Sequestia prevented her from escaping but within her heart...

There was no speck of hatred.

Aven looked quietly at Herebia who was musing to herself. After waiting fo a moment, Aven finally spoke.

“To descend to Exaltia, I must reconstruct a physical body for your soul first. Even though you have a body in here, This is the land of the dead, not the living. There is a fundamental difference as that physical body of yours now is made of your soul.” saying that Aven gestured Herebia to the big magic circle. “What I mean is, if your physical body were damaged now, the soul would be affected.”

Herebia proceeded forward as she absorbed this information to her mind. She planned to ask something but she found out that after entering the magic circle, she could not speak.

“You cannot speak in there because your body is being reconstructed. There will be a slightly distortion towards your soul and that will render you literally speechless for the entire process.”

Aven walked towards the side and watched the entire process as he flicked his sleeve and a table and chair materialized in front of him.

“That will last for a while. Oh and, that will definitely hurt. It will feel like your body is being stripped cell by cell and reconstructed tissue by tissue.”

After saying that Aven clapped his hand and Minela arrived swiftly. Just like before, she delivered a cup of tea to Aven and retreated after delivering it.

Even if Herebia could not speak, she could still hear. After realizing that Aven just inserted her to a gruesome torture chamber, and the guy in question had the leisure to drink tea, Herebia ground her teeth in anger

She was about to curse at Aven because even if she cant talk, Aven could just read her mind. But... the pain came quickly.

Herebia’s face contorted as she experienced the pain. Aven’s description is by no means an exaggeration. It really felt like every cell of her was being scraped off and then pasted again in order to scrape off again. It was an eternal cycle of pain.

As she could not speak, Herebia’s scream was one of deathly silence. Aven looked at the sight and chuckled as he helplessly shook his head.

The reason for them not being able to speak was not because of the soul distortion. What Aven said before was completely bullsh*t. It was because their scream would be too loud and is quite unbearable. So... Aven decided to cut off the sound inside the magic circle.

Aven’s followers view him as a god who makes a trial towards his subjects. They will be challenged by countless hardships which they must overcome in order to gain the recognition of this god.

In reality though, Aven has a sadistic nature. He enjoys watching others suffer. While drinking tea, which is another one of his addictions, he watches his subjects suffer. But the only thing remarkable about him is that his challenges does not really cross the lines of those followers of his.

As for Herebia, she was not an avid follower of Aven. So naturally, she stared daggers at the god who was busy sipping tea while watching her suffer.

Thus... time passed as Herebia soundlessly screamed in pain.

* * * * *

Huff... Huff...

While exhaling and inhaling large quantities of air, Herebia did not forget to look at Aven with a menacing look. She was prepared to unleash a few [Chaos Spears] towards this god.

She had recovered her mortal body and the information of the Chaos Tome was within her head. She could easily blast out some of the spells of the Chaos Tome towards Aven if she wanted to.

Even if she could blast them at him, she knew that her efforts wont even dent that guy’s armor.

“He he, try it. If you could at least injure me then I wont be petty and award you with a God Blade.”

Hearing the guy in question’s provocation, Herebia hesitated for a moment but proceeded onwards. After all, what’s there to lose?

Herebia raised her hand and pointed a finger at Aven. She was prepared to unleash her most powerful magic towards this god, because she knew that even with it she could at most dent that guy’s sleeve.

The elemental particles in the air congealed at the tip of her finger and formed a black orb the size of a fist. Beneath the orb was a black magic circle. The orb sucked in the elemental particles indiscriminately as fire, water, wind, and earth entered into the ball.

The energies inside the black ball was in chaos.

There were no dominant type of energy as all energy nearby was sucked within it.

This was the Chaos Tome.

Aven smiled and casually raised his hand. “[Zera]? That still wont be able to split my skin.”

Herebia’s eyes constricted as Aven guessed her killer move. This move was called [Zera] because of specific reasons. This move embodies Herebia’s past.

“Try it. [Zera : Death]!”

Peng!

The black ball exploded and countless rays of black energy shot off from the black magic circle in Herebia’s finger tip. The rays emitted an aura of death that could exterminate any normal living mortal. If this move was unleashed on a war, this would surely annihilate a thousand or so enemies.

The black rays, which was as thick as an arm, sped forth like coiling black vipers. They sped through the air, seemingly hissing.

Aven looked at the black rays in admiration. He raised his hand and a shining light coated his hand. He waved it in the air, meeting with the black rays which caused a explosion which buffeted the air around Aven.

After the explosion subsided, Herebia’s eyes constricted as she saw that only white dents, like knife marks, were present in the True God's armor.

Aven shook his head and stayed silent for a while. “You know... the Celestial Codex succeeded.”

Herebia processed Aven’s meaning and she shook her head dejectedly. She thought, ‘So that’s why.’

“Don’t be discouraged. I know that your Chaos Tome is still not that complete. Later when you descend down there, I am extremely sure that the human’s magic will be of help to you.” Aven smiled and waved at Herebia. “Come, now that you have a physical body, It’s time to send you off.”

Staying silent, Herebia hastily followed after the departing back of Aven. She stepped onto the shining tiles of Divas and proceeded onwards. Herebia was someone who rarely appreciates art so the lavish designs of this place did not really daze her. Of course, she still could somewhat know that Aven did not spare any effort when he designed this place.

Slowly, Herebia adjusted her understanding towards this True God. Her impression of this True God could be explained in one sentence.

‘A sadistic god who loves to drown himself in tea and is a big spender in renovations.’

After a while, they arrived again at another open area. Just like before, a huge magic circle was in the middle of the open area.

This time, Herebia was alarmed. Seeing this magic circle, she shivered and hesitated whether she should make a run for it or not.

Just as she was about to retreat she finds that the servant of Aven, Minela was behind her. A foot descended towards Herebia’s back and like a sack of rice, she was thrown towards the magic circle.

“Damn you, you big sadist!”

Herebia could not help but curse out. She flew and entered the magic circle and as she was about to unleash more curses, she found that like the first magic circle, this was voice proof.

“Sadist, huh? Meh. Good luck in there. Oh and, that portal would definitely shred your skin and grind your guts while it will hammer your brains. You need to be disentegrated cell by cell for this to work. You think it will be easy just like your ‘Exodus’?” Aven looked over at the screaming Herebia and snorted.

Well, technically she wasn’t screaming. She just had her mouth open without any sound exitting it whatsoever.

And thus, Herebia painfully descended to Exaltia.