Above him lay the vast sea of stars, endless in its brilliance. Behind him surged molten Tartaros—or perhaps it should now be called the Primordial Highest Heaven—the space within that dimensional interstice no ordinary person could see.
Without a doubt, this was where Rovi had been before he encountered the Spirit of the Void.
Above the ground, at the outermost edge of the atmosphere.
Only one step from the universe.
"So... how did I fail again!?" Rovi sank into deep thought.
He had clearly calculated everything and worked out the entire process. Yet only this result, only this final factor, had been something he failed to anticipate.
Yahweh—or rather, the Spirit of the Void—had indeed been about to kill him.
To him, killing Rovi would have been as simple as brushing away an insignificant speck of dust.
He was, at the very least, an existence stronger than Chaos at full strength.
A three-percent stellar Chaos could destroy a primordial-class Zeus with a single glance. Killing Rovi, who was still half a step away from the primordial, should have been just as easy.
Yet of all things, he had not killed him directly. Instead, he had chosen to "test" him.
A thousand lives. Ten thousand lives...
Again and again, Rovi courted death and failed to attain it.
In the end, he "somehow" passed the test.
"What the hell—"
Feeling the power inside him, even greater than before, Rovi did not know whether to laugh or cry.
There was no doubt that he had now truly become "Yahweh."
The "Spirit" of the Void had granted him the name of the one true God, and the fusion of his Saint Graphs across countless lives had also allowed him to glimpse the primordial scenery.
His strongest Machine God state had advanced another half step on top of what he already possessed, truly reaching the primordial scale of the stars. Even his slightly weaker human form now held the power of a primordial embryo.
A true "planetary-class life-form."
Equal to Tiamat, the Sea of Chaos of Mesopotamia. Equal to the Almighty God Zeus.
Compared to them, what Rovi lacked was only familiarity with and mastery over that higher, stronger power.
For anyone else, for any other god, such a tremendous advancement would have been cause for wild joy. But for Rovi...
it still could not compare to the satisfaction of dying.
Fortunately, the primordial level was still far from truly undying.
The road to seeking death... still held opportunities for him.
"Spirit of the Void, I'll remember you!" Rovi muttered under his breath and shook out his hand.
His cloak billowed. The returned Lord of Hosts and God of All Machines was still dressed as before.
He removed the iron mask from his face.
His gold-and-red eyes looked down toward the earth below.
With a single glance, he took in all the changes in the world.
His consciousness had passed through long ages. He had drifted through the Sea of Imaginary Numbers for only an instant. How much time had passed in the present world?
Rovi did not know.
But the Norse lands he could see from here no longer looked anything like they had immediately after Ragnarok, when the old gods had vanished and the new gods had appeared.
The snow and wind that had once never melted from the surface of the sea had already thawed. The layered snow mountains retained white only upon their peaks. Human habitation flourished, and cities stood in rows.
A clear wind swept past. The Storm Divine Race patrolled between heaven and earth, yet no longer showed themselves in visible form. They merely operated the laws of the stars through the mechanisms of nature.
The essence of a planetary god that directly resonated with the planet was different from the gods naturally manifested by the Age of Gods. Their foundation was the seed in their chests. They did not need to absorb humanity's faith in order to maintain the existence of their personalities.
They existed, and yet it was as if they did not.
Only the occasional incident—someone meeting a god in a dream at midnight, forming a bond, and giving birth to a demigod child—served as proof that the Storm Divine Race still existed in the world.
Rovi did not disturb them.
He merely turned his gaze to the northern polar region. Brilliant auroras could be seen there, with invisible ripples spreading layer upon layer.
The newborn rules pinned in place by the Holy Lance had already taken root.
And they were still continuously expanding, spreading toward countless places where the Age of Gods had faded. Though it was still early, they already showed signs of covering the entire globe.
All was well.
Everything was developing exactly as Rovi had envisioned when he left.
The god who created the rules of the planet's surface could indeed be called "unique" in a certain sense. By some strange twist of fate, the name "Yahweh" had become worthy of him in both title and reality.
After one final gaze, Rovi withdrew his sight. He had no intention of interfering.
At the very end, he only searched for Skadi's shadow.
"Asleep... has she entered metamorphosis?" Rovi saw her in the Land of Shadows. She was sleeping in its deepest depths, under Scathach's protection.
Skadi was undergoing a transformation of growth.
Rovi still did not disturb her.
He only shook his head, then turned and walked toward the Primordial Highest Heaven behind him...
...
"Hm!? Is that his presence?" In the depths of the Land of Shadows, Scathach suddenly opened her eyes. She shot to her feet, her slender, graceful figure tightening faintly beneath her bodysuit.
A hint of surprise appeared on her lovely face beneath her falling long hair. Though that presence had vanished in a flash, she had indeed felt it...
"After several centuries, that man has returned?"
"If he's back, then we'll meet sooner or later."
"This time, in pure martial skill, I won't lose!"
Scathach was eager to try.
And beneath the aurora in the polar region that later generations would call "Avalon," a pair of eyes slowly opened as well.
...
"Oh my... what a familiar presence. Has the original owner of this place come back?" A frivolous voice spoke, and within the space established and expanded by the Holy Lance, the person who had filled it with flowers swayed lightly. "But from the look of it, he doesn't seem to care about this place?"
"That Storm God-King. That one true God, 'Yahweh.'"
"Well, that works out for me. After drifting for hundreds of years, I finally found a place to latch onto. I'd rather not lose it!" The beautiful figure, youthful and graceful in appearance, stood atop an ivory-white tower. Her white hair drifted around her, and a touch of smugness showed in her ruby-like eyes. "Still, it seems the world from now on is going to become quite exciting."
"Quite a few monsters have been startled awake."
"Don't you think so, Fou?"
"Fou!" The small white beast shook, shrinking at her feet with an utterly terrified expression.
It feared the existence that had manifested and returned.
And at the same time, it feared the other existences that had reacted...
...
Deep beneath Avalon, enormous antlers shifted. The supreme god of Celtic mythology, the horned god Cernunnos, opened his eyes.
...
In outer space, on the lunar surface, a vast cube faintly manifested along with a crisp electronic tone. It was the Moon Cell, which had once blocked the main body of the Vanguard of the Umbral Star. "New planetary life-form detected on the surface... Detecting, detecting... Sole life-form of Mercury. Agent of Mercury's will. Type Mercury, UO—correction: UO of the Oort Cloud, approaching!"
With a humming sound, a meteor fell toward the earth from the vast universe.
...
At the same time, in the distant East, atop a pavilion veiled in misty rain, nine golden, downy tails swept through the air. Someone looked up at the moon and stars and let out a frivolous, alluring voice.
"My, my~~~ It seems something very interesting has descended."
That swaying voice echoed on high for a long time.
...
In the land where the Buddha descended to the world, someone joined their palms and lay quietly beneath the bodhi tree.
...
Countless humans, countless gods and demons, all raised their eyes in that moment.
This time, Rovi's return was different from before.
Rovi, who had entered the Primordial Highest Heaven, naturally sensed it all at the same time. He silently noted those existences down, but in that moment, he merely smiled and let it pass.
He noted them down because they all possessed the ability to kill him, and could serve as targets for his next round of "courting death."
No matter how many times he failed, Rovi would never give up!
As for why he smiled and let it go, it was because compared to them, Rovi felt that the "people" beside him were more important right now.
Within the world covered in lava, a hazy mist that had not existed before now permeated the air, a phenomenon born as the lava gradually solidified.
The molten Tartaros had absorbed the seeds and prayers from the earth. Just as the primordial world had gradually stabilized, this place, too, had begun the evolution of a planetary body from chaos toward order.
The lava underfoot had gained a slight sense of solidity.
Rovi, in human form, walked forward slowly—
"AAAAAAAAA!" A clear voice came from the depths. It was the voice of Mother Goddess Tiamat, primordial mother goddess of Mesopotamia, still babbling like an infant.
But immediately afterward, another panicked voice echoed out as well. "Ehhh!? Don't come any closer—"
Golden hair swept through the air, and the figure dodging and weaving looked like a hamster scurrying everywhere.
Ereshkigal was very frightened of the figure "chasing" after her.
In her impression, Mother Goddess Tiamat was an existence that would destroy the gods.
Although the gods of Mesopotamia had long since been dispersed, and the ones who remained had already hidden themselves in the Inner Sea of the Planet,
that lingering impression and fear could not be erased.
Even if she had once wanted to chase after the other party at any cost, even if she had prepared herself to fight her, that had been for Rovi. For the one beloved by the goddess, the one who had given her warmth.
Now, encountering her again, Ereshkigal no longer had that previous purpose, nor the courage she had possessed back then.
Of course she was afraid. Of course she wanted to hide.
Under the suppression that the primordial exerted upon the gods derived from itself, Eresh did not even think about how this was clearly Rovi's "world," yet Tiamat was here.
In the blink of an eye, the golden-haired goddess saw Rovi approaching.
"Rovi—save me, uwaah!" The goddess threw herself straight at him, curling tightly into Rovi's arms as she shrank back and trembled.
Rovi paused.
He had not expected that after so many years, Eresh would still be this afraid of Tiamat.
So the instant he met Tiamat's pink starry eyes, full of confusion and bewilderment as she chased after her, Rovi could not help laughing.
At first, the laughter was low and restrained. Then, as if he could no longer hold it in, it grew louder and louder.
Her eyes seemed to ask, What's wrong?
"No, it's nothing." Rovi waved a hand as he spoke.
"Damn it... how dare you laugh at me!" Curled in Rovi's arms, the goddess of the Underworld felt Rovi's presence, and her fear gradually faded. Eresh, who had finally realized what was strange about the situation, puffed her cheeks slightly, a faint blush rising on her lovely face.
Though she did not know exactly what was going on, once she realized Tiamat would not hurt her, the laughter made her embarrassed and annoyed.
"Good." Tiamat revealed a faint smile.
The Mother Goddess... could actually smile?
Eresh quietly lifted her head, and happened to see that scene. A deeply astonished expression appeared on her face.
It was indeed something worthy of astonishment.
The primordial mother goddess had embraced "resentment" toward all things, and without the concept or understanding of life and death, she should not have had many emotions either...
"You too. Good girl."
A gentle touch came from the hand resting on her head. Eresh stared blankly at the soft palm that had descended onto her, at Mother Goddess Tiamat bending down to look at her with gentle, loving eyes.
Eresh froze.
Then the blush already present on her face suddenly grew even deeper.
Mother Goddess is patting my head?
Has she... forgiven me? Forgiven me, one of the gods who once betrayed her...
"Wake up. Tiamat has already left." Rovi shook Eresh, whose face was blank and dazed, yet faintly delighted.
"Eh!?" The goddess let out a startled cry, only then abruptly realizing that she had been staring into space for quite some time. Tiamat had already "floated" off somewhere else.
The primordial mother goddess, with long hair flowing like seawater, wandered through this Primordial Highest Heaven. Her graceful body, covered in dragon scales, swayed and bloomed. At times she bent down, shifting her raised hips backward to reveal the butterfly-wing curve of her back. At times she stretched lazily, her slender waist twisting, lovely amid the glow beneath the lava... like a curious child, innocent and pure.
The Mother Goddess had found her place to belong.
Eresh smiled.
Because she knew that she, too, was the same.
"Rovi." She lifted her head, still curled in Rovi's arms. As her red capelet swayed, her slender waist rested against him.
"What is—mm!?" The question he failed to finish came to an abrupt stop. Rovi widened his eyes, staring at Eresh as she suddenly lifted her face and kissed him.
Her red lips were moist and soft. Her lashes trembled faintly at such close distance...
The goddess's face flushed scarlet.
But there was not the slightest retreat on it.
She had wanted to do this for so long. She had hoped to do this for so long.
Eresh repeated that to herself in her heart.
In the thousand years after leaving the plains of Mesopotamia, through endless longing and wandering...
She had once thought she had obtained the sun.
She had believed that she could become the sun of the Underworld as well.
But only after leaving Rovi did Eresh realize that the sun in her heart was, in truth, only his shadow.
He was her light and shadow.
She liked him.
Liked him as the world embraced the sun.
"AAAAAA—" Tiamat looked over and tilted her head, her delicate face filled with confusion.
The molten Tartaros held streams of fire that rose and fell among the still-surging mud and flame.
Crimson light and shadow suspended in the heavens overflowed into the present world. Though the people of the present world could not see it, they could vaguely sense a scarlet shadow covering the sky.
...
"A blood moon hangs in the sky. Tanlang lies in the north. A sign of great ill fortune. A suitable time to raise arms."
"Qin shall march east and sweep away the six states!"
In a towering hall, someone looked up at the blood moon.
"Long live Great Qin!" Beside him, someone cried out like a mountain roar. "Heaven's mandate has already revealed itself. All under heaven shall belong to Great Qin!"
"Nonsense, but true enough." Dressed in black robes embroidered with the spread-wing dark bird, the figure lowered his gaze beneath the swaying bead curtains of his crown. "The moonlight tonight is excellent."
"We have heard that in this world, there were once immortals who neither aged nor died, who fed upon the years and endured eternally. Yet now they have all vanished from sight."
"Zhao Gao, do you know where the immortals of today have gone?"
---
T/N: VOLUME 3 END!!!!! phew
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