"What happened?"
The black-haired boy held his head. He had just been preparing to seize Honjou Nia's Spirit Crystal when he felt a sharp pain in his brain, as if his skull had been torn apart.
"To launch an attack on me without a sound, is it a curse? Or does he have a special ability like a Stand?"
The black-haired boy attributed his splitting headache to an attack from another system holder, but he could not confirm how that person had launched the attack on him. The best plan for now was to leave this place quickly and find a way to recover. After all, he felt that his soul and existence had been severely torn.
Shido also recovered from his daze, then looked at the crazed Honjou Nia and decided to join forces with the other Spirit girls to subdue her first.
Takamiya Mio, who had been observing the scene from the airship, also felt a moment of dizziness. She attributed this inexplicable mental dizziness to the exhaustion caused by not having slept for a long time.
Even Tokisaki Kurumi, who possessed the power of time, did not notice anything amiss.
No one in the entire world would remember that this world had once been on the verge of destruction.
Caelus lowered his hand, watching the world that had returned to normal, and watching the boy quickly evacuating Tengu City.
"His luck is really terrible. Out of a one-in-six probability, he chose the worst existence. Even with time reversal, there is no way to fully cure him. It can only temporarily stabilize his state, but it won't be long before he remembers what he saw before and falls into chaotic madness again."
Caelus withdrew his gaze and stopped paying attention to the world he had reverted to the past. Others were only indirectly affected and could be cured through time reversal, but that poor boy had directly faced the God of the Unity of All Things. Even with the power of time allowing him to regain his clear self for a certain period, he would soon see the insane and chaotic pollution spread along the timeline again, causing him to twist and fall once more.
At this moment, Caelus sat cross-legged beneath the Kabbalah Tree of Life. Even though the culprit who caused all this was dead, and the power it possessed had been distributed, just as it had said, the separated parallel worlds were difficult to unify without its help.
Although Caelus had the power of Finality, of the Unity of All Things, the time and energy required to make so many parallel worlds return to one were immeasurable, and he could not just sit here forever.
So since they had already been separated, let them stay separate and evolve more possibilities.
Caelus wanted to completely sever the connection points between the many parallel worlds, making each world completely independent and allowing the worlds to self-propagate and grow.
At this moment, the artistic conception of Abundance was constantly washing over the power of Nihility within the Contradictory Spiral, converting all that Nihility from a null attribute into the power of Abundance.
"All futures are pointed toward the same possibility, and all demands are bound to the same extraordinary path. All living beings should have their own paths, and all living beings should have their own thoughts of sublimation. Walking one's own path is the beginning of true sublimation."
The power of Abundance emitted a verdant green light. Caelus swung the Contradictory Spiral in his hand and severed a branch. The thousands of worlds carried on that branch were scattered. They lost all connections, lost the originally fixed path forward, and from then on were no longer bound by the script, allowing them to walk different paths.
"Sacrificing the vast majority of intelligence and possibilities in exchange for the so-called path of sublimation is a path from existence to nothingness. It conflicts with and opposes the path I walk, so it should be cut."
Caelus swung the Spiral of Contradiction, which had turned from green to gold, once again. Then another branch fell, and another large area of worlds was freed from its shackles.
"With the complete separation of space-time, the originally fragile connections are severed. At that time, starting from the solar system, the rifts in space-time will continue to spread until the entire universe is continuously divided, forming large areas of parallel universes."
"During this period, because space-time is fragile, it may still be very easy to break, but it will gradually grow and fill itself in the future. In the end, this universe will continue to expand, forming a multiverse worldview."
Caelus destroyed the Kabbalah Tree of Life and the Path of the Flaming Sword that symbolized moving toward the gods. In the end, all the worlds it carried lost all connections, and only the trunk of the Kabbalah Tree of Life remained standing in this world.
It should be explained that the Kabbalah Tree of Life is not a tree in the physical sense or in any other form. It is a symbol, a concept of existence.
After thinking for a moment, Caelus took out something that had remained unused in the system.
[Curio: Energy Potato]
[Effect: As long as it is planted in soil, it can quickly take root and sprout without the need for water, sunlight, nutrients, or any other requirements. The secondary Energy Potatoes grown can be used for consumption and energy needs.]
[Evaluation: This is a marvelous potato created by a crazy neighbor with a pot on his head. The original intention was merely to find a substitute for sunlight.]
Caelus directly created a patch of soil and then buried the potato within it.
The potato quickly took root and sprouted in the soil, with one potato after another growing within the earth. More and more potatoes took root in this world of infinite light, and their originally dusty gray appearance gradually began to become transparent and filled with brightness.
Finally, these potatoes climbed onto the already severed Tree of Life and began to continuously absorb its concepts and nutrients.
As the potatoes continued to take root and sprout, Caelus took out the Apple of Eden he had obtained after completing the hidden quest.
To his surprise, when the apple was taken out, Caelus found a note attached to it.
Nothing was written on the note. There was only a drawing of a cartoon pigeon lying on the ground with its wings raised, giving a thumbs-up.
Caelus put the note away and then ate the apple.
The Apple of Eden is also known as the forbidden fruit in stories. It symbolizes both temptation and the fall, but at the same time, it represents humanity's pursuit of knowledge and the unknown.
This apple would not grant Caelus great power, nor would it provide an incomparable status. It merely offered a small bit of help.
And that was to give Caelus the knowledge he needed upon eating the apple.
Caelus ate the apple, tasted its sweetness, and obtained the knowledge he required.
He began to interfere with this world of infinite light, making the potatoes growing in this light the foundation for every world. These potatoes, which could grow rapidly and were each filled with powerful energy concepts, would provide the initial energy for the worlds' growth.
"So, before each parallel world fully grows, could it be said that every world is actually a potato server?"
["It seems... yes."]
"Oh! Then I can only hope they don't suddenly disconnect."
["Disconnecting is unlikely, but some bugs might appear. Because the underlying energy all comes from Energy Potatoes, this causal connection has been established, so some bugs will occur, causing them to fall into strange world interstices or directly into other parallel worlds. Those world interstices seem to be existences called the Adjacent World within the parallel worlds of the Spirits, but they've become a bit strange now due to the disconnection and growth of the various worlds."
"Ah? How did The Backrooms get involved? Caelus! What on earth have you turned this world into?"]
"I don't know. This knowledge was given to me by the Apple of Eden. As for why there are bugs? You'd have to ask God."
["Oh! God!"]
(To be continued.)