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Chapter 377: Protector of the Stars
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Gaia, losing her playfulness and her smile, she slowly floated down until her attractively delicate toe touched the marbled floor of the warehouse where they are currently, and proceeded to bow her head in a submissive gesture.
“Gaia of the High Elves, one of the standing leaders of the Circle of Magi, servant tool of the Creation God, Janus, and Grand Patriarch of the Enchantment Temple, greets the last of the Trinity Gods, Siva of Destruction, representative of the Mortals of the Fallen Mitra… protector of the stars.”
For the last four words, there was a pause that brought forth a feeling emphasis to it.
Siva looked down on the bowing Gaia and if one other person was to see this now, they’d at least try to bite their ancestors thinking how did this black smoke-skinned individual referred to as a higher existence than a High Elf?
Elvira, Goddess of Flora and Rain, was one of the beloved daughters of Terra. The race that she started was one that holds the highest of affinity of all the races with affinity to Mana.
Why is it that a High Elf is bowing with so much veneration, fear, and even respect towards the Apollo Race which is not only of the lower status race in the hierarchy of the Gods that they came from, but was actually even cursed and is weak beyond compare from her?
She may not look like it, but Gaia’s stats, if she’d even measure it, would at least show a reading that is bordering 1000 with MANA and 800+ on the other stats.
These are the stats of someone who’s ready to take on the ascension ceremony to become a full-fledged reincarnated Immortal.
Why would someone like her bow her head to a lowly plebeian like Siva?
“Fallen Mitra…” Siva murmured, “It has been a very long time since I last heard of that place.”
Gaia trembled and she lowered her head again.
This time, it was even lower than before, “I seek your forgiveness if I offended you, My Lord…”
Although she was a High Elf, she was innately still a “Tool” who gained its own sentience.
In front of Siva, her beautiful features were but a shell made up of an attractively arranged flesh.
To Siva who had seen and tasted the Universe of Terra during its most brilliant era, a High Elf of her quality was nothing more than ‘common’.
It should be noted that back then, the Gods and Immortals that existed are all blessed by Mana, and that they have divine charisma that Siva was so defenseless against, he couldn’t help nod in appreciation to their beauty, even go as far as to be entranced on them.
Mitra was a land of mortals. As such, it was very susceptible to corruption… which means they’re all innately vulnerable to temptation.
This is the reason why it was all easy for mortals to be tempted by these attractions, especially by the Devil Gods who specialized in this.
But it was also because of that that Siva already saw, smelled, tasted, touched, and heard all the limits of temptations could give to a mortal.
—and it all happened in Mitra, one of the lands where mortals thrived.
He couldn’t help but feel ironic with the titles as well as the address she gave to him.
Siva chuckled and didn’t blame her, “Don’t you worry. Mitra has indeed fallen. Heh. It’s really a pathetic title now. The stars that should have been protected are now eaten away by the dark side of the universe and the people who wanted to protect them all were killed by the very person who led them.”
Gaia remained silent.
[Protector of the Stars] was an unofficial title he was given when he had reached Immortality in the times before Ragnarok.
Mitra… was the planet he was thrown off to and he vanquished the demons out of that system as soon as he ascended to Immortality. He was the only Immortal born in that Star System and so, with what he’d gained and the liberation from the Demons that he provided, he also gave the Mitrans the chance to ascend to Immortality, and even established the Star System of Mitra as his personal stronghold.
Here lies the fortress of the first mortals who’d achieved Immortality! In other words….
Siva started the generation of Immortals!
The path of immortality started with him.
Years passed and many other Immortals were born on Mitra until it was attacked by the Demon Armada which then led to the Mitra Stronghold joining hands with the other Gods and Immortals of other Star Systems and Galaxies to resist the spreading corruption of Lucifer’s darkness.
This then led to an all-out war against the Devil Gods Race, and eventually, to Siva adventuring out into the cosmos to try to expand the wisdom to ascend, to spread the path of Immortality, and to become stronger… until the day that he saw the painful scene of his mother dying as soon as he came back.
—which led to the events dubbed as Ragnarok.
“It’s an old memory.” Siva bitterly said.
But in truth, however, to him, his memories of being insolation wasn’t even his own and that in his time… there are actually three ‘him’ existing in this body and that all three of them had their own different sets of (connected) memories.
Rex Kingsley’s life in the real world and when he first arrived in Mitra… was his mortal’s life.
The Rex Kingsley who traveled the stars trying to spread the Path of Immortality was his life as the Immortal —a divine being!
And then his ‘life’ —no— his memories just right before Ragnarok, right before his isolation, are all memories of the one the Primordial Gods and other Immortals all called Siva… The Destroyer.
His madness, his rage, his fury, his power… are all recognized to have been dreadful by both all Demons and Gods, thus he was recognized as a [God] which represented the [End] of anything he came across with—
—thus, his moniker “Siva of Destruction” which became his title and also his personal cross!
Was it really an old memory?
To Siva —the Rex Kingsley of now— who only regained his real personal memories at the very last moments of the War of the Braves, just right after Terra sealed his powers as a [God], it was all just about a month or two ago.
His memories of everything, now that he had recalled everything, were as fresh and new as just that long ago.
The anchor he had, in fact, was the last moment when he saw his mother got bombarded by all those Gods and Immortals.
But now…
Now that he had learned of the truth…
He now accepted the truth: it was him, the true cause of the Devil Gods winning in that war.
And the reason why the Gods and Immortals are all now all down to only their temples, churches, and their miserable number of descendants.
Is this the main story of the game?
Perhaps, probably no, but it was part of history.
“If I hadn’t rampaged back then, it would have been possible for the Gods and Immortals who had remained to fight the Devil Gods Race a bit longer than back then… Heh….. engrossed with so much regret and shame to what I’ve done, I chose to seclude myself in that island and never again revealed myself. I never would have even imagined that you’d all lump me with that kind of title if I hadn’t returned because of her.”
—Samantha.
She was the one who pulled him out of there.
The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
—even so, my memories of my time in isolation felt like it wasn’t even mine.
“It was actually the surviving Primordial Gods at the last moments of the war who gave you your title, My Lord. They also recorded the events of that time and piled it into a set of recoverable and traversable memories. It was also them who labeled that event as Ragnarok.”
By now, Gaia’s voice that was supposed to be layered with waves of Mana and sounded very ethereal and angelic was gone. She was nothing more than a mortal in front of the current Siva.
Siva had a tinge of sadness in the glint of his red eyes which vanished in the darkness of the complexion of his skin.
“56 years ago, when I reemerged, I had bitterly learned that I am the last Immortal existing in the universe and the rest of them had chosen to go into the Cycle or have entered the [Cage] prior to Janus’ arrangements. But…”
“But…? Isn’t the [cage] the last hope of Janus?”
Siva looked at Gaia and shook his head, “This [Cage] that Janus set up is his greatest failure.”
He then looked at the ceiling of the warehouse, murmuring, “And I know he’s already aware of this mistake.”
For a god to commit a mistake was blasphemy to their general belief but who could blame him?
The person —the entity— that made him commit this mistake was on the level of a God as well.
On the level of mortals, all is equal regardless of their social class.
In the level of Gods, regardless of the origin, all is equal as well... Chaos Gods, Primordial Gods, Trinity Gods, Immortals… all is equal in strength and only their divinity and immortality differing in their “source of origin”.
[Immortals] are all people who defied the natural order of the Cycle of Reincarnation, upon which on the moment they died, there’s a large chance that they will retain their memories on their first reincarnation.
[Chaos Gods] are ‘Gods’ born of power and the essence of the universe which they represent; a path of life, a virtue of a trait, or the cumulation of thoughts and will of living creatures —or the so called “consciousness” of a single thought.
[Primordial Gods] are ‘Gods’ born from Terra’s blessings, the supposed ‘original’ citizens of the universe —their essences represents the virtue of the will of Mana that can create many mortal civilizations with but a single drop of their blood.
And the Trinity Gods, the three supreme beings that serves as both guardians and overseer of the life of the universe.
Unlike mortals, ‘Gods’ are born without parents.
They are like mushrooms, with the right settings and environment, or certain conditions are met, a ‘God’ will be born on certain places, events, or even in the very fabric of time and space.
Whoever it was that set the Terran Universe in this manner truly had a complete system of this so called [Echelon of Divinity].
In terms of strength, they are all similarly equal and their only differences being the origins of their existence as well as the relevance of their divinities in the complex cycle of the universe.
How can mere Immortals fight off against Gods?
This was why.
A God’s mistake may be considered a miracle by mortals but for those in the same level of Gods, a mistake is a mistake.
It is an opening—
—an opportunity to exploit….!
—a grievous and dangerous chance…!!
To call Janus’ greatest and supposed fool proof plan a mistake was unthinkable to Gaia who had served Janus and retained these memories until even after she had emerged from The Cycle.
Gaia gasped, “What do you mean My Lord? It’s his greatest work… it was supposed to be his last card in the defense of Terroa.”
It was clear she was panicking but Siva ignored her since to him, he had seen so many mistakes committed by a God —he even once saw a very strong and primordial species of reptiles be put into the books of extinct animals just because a God accidentally inhaled a meteor pollen and so sneezed that same pollen on their planet.
He can even remember his regret of not having even just one of those reptiles as pets.
“Janus failed to account the small possibility that amongst the Gods and Immortals he’d chosen to protect were the Devil Generals’ vessels.”
Gaia’s eyes widened and her face contorted to pain and regret. Why would Siva lie to her?
“The defilers… they… they…”
Siva realized just by looking at her that she had not the slightest of ideas as to how Sefirah had come to be in the planet.
He explained, “Janus was so afraid that I will run amok as soon as I regained my memories in the wrong moment so to make sure that I don’t get to destroy the planet longer, he slightly opened the cage to let the Gods and Immortals choose their vessels to materialize in Terroa.”
As a third party who was observing the events in Terroa from Siva’s point of view, [he] of course had long since deduced the reasons behind the steps Janus had taken.
His plans are all very detailed and meticulous but he never realized that his plans have already been jeopardized by Sefirah.
With her ability to infiltrate and corrupt a female, whether they are a divine or a mortal, in extreme secrecy, it wasn’t hard for her to actually get on the bus and escape Siva’s wrath, 56 years ago.
“That step of him was supposed to stop all of the people trying to awaken my inner demon but it unexpectedly backlashed and in the end, I came to realize where Janus had committed his greatest mistake. Perhaps, only upon his last moments did he realize his mistake.”
—or perhaps even earlier... perhaps the reason why he opened the cage was because he had already realized this mistake?
—but no matter what, it was too late now.
—the Devils are rising and another war is about to descend… a war to end all future wars.
Gaia remained silent. Of course she also felt the moment that Janus died —or got absorbed. She felt the loss since he was like her parent for she was part of him before; she was part of what his divinity represented back then.
“This is perhaps just a prelude.” Siva finally said.
“Prelude, My Lord?” Gia momentarily paused, “I don’t… I mean, are you perhaps referring to the incoming attack of the demons?”
“Yes. Perhaps Janus may have also thought of this [Cage] plan failing so had arranged backup plans of having himself absorbed so that he can lead Mefisto’s thoughts towards that backup.”
This wasn’t a lie. It was his conjecture.
Gaia said it earlier; Janus had long set up that [Memory Crystal] to act in that manner as soon as someone who had received his legacy came close to it.
—and that voice that whispered to Amanda…
Although the resonance made when it activated revealed the location of the [Memory Crystal] to the Demons, it also served as a mask to hide the fact that Janus was using his own ‘memories’ to mislead Mefisto into his backup plans.
Siva was sure that it was Mefisto who whispered to Amanda earlier. If his guest was right, Mefisto was being led by the memories he got absorbed from Janus.
—if I can do it selectively, then Janus can erase selected memories pertaining to his reasons behind his plans.
This is the reason why no matter how much Siva had hated the Gods and Immortals back then, he can’t seem to hate Janus so much because he knew that all his actions were for the sake of the survival of Terroa.
Terra was like his sister, he’ll never do anything that would hurt Terra’s precious children.
If only Siva could see the smile of victory from Janus just before he was absorbed… he would be rejoicing at his declaration.
"You may have won this battle but I won the war. My legacy is my true will and also my true soul. Without my legacy, even with the help of your stupid father, you will still be unable to leave this place. "
It was Janus’ declaration back then. And even on his very last moments, Janus still requested for Siva to forgive him.
Perhaps the visions were coincidental, but he’d been able to see the real reasons behind Janus doing what he did back then.
Instead of the Demons getting Terra, it was still better to put her to The Cycle, and make her a mortal than her power, corrupted and enslaved.
Siva didn’t see Janus’ last moments but knowing him and his nature, it wasn’t hard for him to land to this close with everything that had transpired.
“Anyways, now that I’m back… there are a lot of things to be done here now.”
When Siva spoke to here, Gaia was granted the permission to stand from ceremony.
“My Lord, as you may know, we cannot let the Memory Crystal in my possession to be taken away by the Demons… nor by any other race.”
Siva was still on his Black Knight Armor so when he turned to Gaia, it means that his intimidating presence was focused on her as well.
Gaia shivered at the thought of meeting his red eyes in the slit on the Y-shaped opening of his helm so she lowered her gaze.
“Do you mean that there are also others trying to get their hands on the crystal?”
“In the Inner Continents, yes, there was.”
“Who?” Siva’s tone was a hiss. He was irritated.
“The Dwarves.” Gaia said, “They said they want to use it to power their hearths and recreate the long lost art of Rune Crafting.”
Siva scoffed, “They probably have no idea how to actually craft and forge a true Rune-weapon. I have seen even Gods and Immortals have much difficult time trying to complete just one Rune so how can they think that a mere crystal can help them fire their hearths to create one? It’s just an excuse to use the crystal’s power to satisfy their own greed and fill their pockets.”
Gaia lowered her head, not daring to speak.
“Perhaps the Inner Continents have been in so much peace lately that they thought the war with the Demons has already ended? They dared to still have thoughts about mother’s treasure!”
“My Lord, please don’t kill them. They may be greedy but the Dwarves of Duren are still very useful for providing the people of the Inner Continents the equipment necessary to fight off the continuous invasions of the Dragon Race.”
Siva’s eyes lit up.
“I haven’t been to the Inner Continents this time but is the barrier wall still holding up?”
“60% are still intact.”
“And the other 40?”
“…”
“…”
“You cracked it, My Lord, back when you went on another rampage 56 years ago.”
—shit. Did I?
Just like he said, his memories of when he was in isolation and when he emerged from it were both his and not his alone.
There are parts that he clearly remembers but there are more parts which he didn’t.
It was obvious this was one of the latter.
“What about the Dragons?”
“At least you killed their only Elder Dragon so they became silent for a time… not until thirty years ago.”
Siva searched his mind of anything he’d picked up that is relevant in Terroa History, 30 years in the past.
“Oh, it’s somehow close to the time when the King of Jeremiah went missing.”
“Altair? I think I’ve heard he’s been wandering in an island in The North around five years ago.”
Siva realized, this was SSSSSSS-CLASS info right here and now. It should be noted that not even the Humans know where Altair is despite their extensive information network.
How could Siva know that this was also part of the Grand Quest of Terroa which The Union and the Blue Card Legion was chasing after, for all he knew is the route of the Round Table they got from the members of The Legion they tied up back then?
And given that he had also taken his memories back, he also remembered a few confidential things that only he knows.
“I need to meet him.”
As soon as Siva said so, he immediately got a weird feeling, so, even with the walls blocking his vision; he turned to the direction of the north horizon as if to see something.
‘Isn’t this a flag?’
[Yes sir, it is a flag.]
‘Oh, long time no talk Cortana.’
[I know you’re aware of me, sir. I can read your mind, remember?]
‘I know. I know. So, how’s the prototype?’
[It’s already done.]
With Cortana manipulating his own player panel, pulling an item from his inventory in but a speck of an instant, Siva became excited.
‘Hehe… show me.’
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NavPix – Lily…. Online…….
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Next Chapter: Consolidating plans, walking, breathing in the air…
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