TGS - Chapter 176

Chapter 176: A Past Life?

Lotus raised her hand, but Alyuin pressed down on her fingertips.

"Let me do it," the Princess said, drawing the longsword from its rack with a reverse grip. The tip of the blade was bright as snow as she pointed it straight at the shadow's throat.

Alyuin's gaze was colder than the glint of the sword.

Kill her. Kill this shadow.

The shadows of the Kasnie gods possessed no divine power. Even death had no effect on their true bodies. They didn't even consider it death, but rather a "return."

The shadow paid no mind to Alyuin's undisguised killing intent, speaking only to Lotus. "Are you just going to watch her offend a god like this?"

What was this enemy god talking about?

Lotus turned a deaf ear and said succinctly, "She's all yours, Alyu."

The Snow Goddess incarnation had a mind to do it herself, but she figured Alyuin would much rather finish this person off with her own hands.

It wasn't just Perseus's various schemes; the memory of Asilu leaping from the roof of the opera house was infuriating enough.

Hearing this, the shadow's eyes darkened.

Alyuin, however, raised an eyebrow and sneered. "Did you hear that?"

Then her expression changed, a severe coldness instantly covering her beautiful face. Without a moment's hesitation, she cleanly and decisively swung her sword, slitting the shadow's throat.

Seeing that the other party had no intention of revealing more, and having little confidence in her ability to trick the Goddess of the Mind into talking, she decided it was better to just kill her. It would make up for the regret of not having eliminated Asilu with her own hands last time.

In front of Lotus, the Princess held back her strength, not severing the neck completely.

But the shadow stared at Alyuin, its smile unwavering even as blood spurted from its throat.

The shadow smiled, letting out a broken, airy sound.

"Vent all your anger on this shadow... As for me, if I can kill you once, I can kill you a second time..."

Its night-dark eyes turned to the River Goddess. "If you change your mind, you're welcome anytime..."

"Live well... Unless absolutely necessary, I don't want to see you fall in a divine war. After all, even if a new Lotus were to be born, there would still be a slight difference, wouldn't there?"

Expressionless, Alyuin raised her hand and struck again.

The shadow of the Goddess of the Mind fell backward onto the ground, blood gushing from the two wounds, its expression unchanged.

Only the light in its eyes had dimmed, signifying that its consciousness had vanished and the shadow had returned to its true body.

"Those Kasnie folk are really unpleasant to listen to."

Alyuin flicked the blood from the tip of her sword and couldn't help but frown. "What does she mean, 'even if a new god were born, there would still be a difference'? To say something like that, in that tone... it's simply—" Her voice, laced with anger and disgust, paused as if searching for the right words. "Nonsense. Who does she think she is?"

Lotus's attention, however, was on the previous sentence.

If I can kill you once, I can kill you a second time. What did that mean? Could it be referring to the venomous snake attack in Senna City? Other than that, Alyuin had never faced any other life-threatening crises.

Lotus's intuition told her something was wrong. The connection seemed tenuous, but there was no other better explanation.

Unless it was a thousand years ago.

Alyuin's past life, or something of the sort.

But when Suojia spoke of Lotus's experiences before she became a human-god, she had never mentioned Alyuin.

If she really had a past life, then...

Lotus found it hard to describe her current mood. A strange thought popped into her head: Had the Death God been born back then? What exactly was the mechanism of reincarnation for the Solancians?

And there was Perseus's claim to have killed her once before.

Killed her. Once.

At this thought, Lotus's breath caught, and a faint, sharp pain pricked her heart.

Subconsciously wanting to confirm Alyuin's existence, she tightened her grip on their clasped hands, took the Princess's chin, and kissed her. The movement was a bit rushed, but the Princess adapted well, readily returning the kiss.

The dead shell left by the shadow still lay opposite them, looking for all the world like it had died with its eyes open in grievance.

Of course, the human and god embracing at that moment paid it no mind. They finally separated after a long while, the urgent need for confirmation having faded. They buried their faces in each other's necks, breathing deeply, as intertwined as two blue herons with their necks entwined.

Alyuin said in a low voice, "You can't believe anything the Kasnie gods say. They're probably just trying to spread false information to unsettle us. Don't you take it to heart either."

"Look, I'm perfectly fine, aren't I?"

Lotus: "Mm."

Whether it was true or false couldn't be determined yet. In any case, she certainly hadn't come to reveal information out of goodwill. Compared to a show of force or a friendly gesture, what the Goddess of the Mind's shadow said was almost illogical, as if spoken on a whim.

Would the Kasnie pantheon be making a new move?

Alyuin had someone dispose of the body left by the shadow and threw the wooden box far away, just in case it contained some strange device.

As if such a bizarre visitor had never appeared, the grand army continued its rest and soon resumed its journey home.

---

After several days of hard travel, the Solancian army that had campaigned in the Sanur wilderness returned to Digebia City with a large number of prisoners, horses, and spoils of war.

With the threat from the Sanur largely eliminated, the city defenses on the northwestern border could be appropriately reduced. The vast majority of the troops were gathered, preparing to head once more to the very front lines to confront the Kasnie army in Surinia.

Inevitably, they also had to consider sources for new soldiers and the procurement of more military equipment.

Conscripting new soldiers was a given. Following procedure, they could basically be sent to the battlefield after some simple training.

In particularly urgent situations, anyone who could pick up a weapon could join the fray, but the death rate was astonishingly high—this was usually the case for slaves used as cannon fodder.

And training required the consumption of money and provisions.

In terms of military supplies, the wealth obtained from the Sanur had relieved a great deal of pressure. At least for the time being, they wouldn't have to worry about it, but it was inevitable that their resources would eventually run thin.

At a time like this, some of the small vassal states surrounding Solancia sent supplies. The amounts varied, but they all expressed their support.

These small states knew very well that if Solancia were defeated, the only fate awaiting them would be the destruction of their own nations. If Kasnie had the ambition to annex Solancia, would it really spare the small countries?

Therefore, they had definitely staked everything on this.

In contrast, however, some small states hesitated and ultimately sided with Kasnie, providing them with money, provisions, and military equipment, all for the sake of continuing to be a stable vassal state after the war ended.

After all, Solancia had previously been facing attacks from both the Sanur and Kasnie, and internally, there was the standoff between the Princess and Horst. The situation was far from good.

On the other hand, even if they didn't say it aloud, the rulers of these small states were somewhat dismissive of Alyuin, looking down on her.

A woman in power, leading troops into battle.

What did it matter if she was of the legitimate royal bloodline? She was probably no better than Horst.

A kingdom like that could never achieve final victory, no matter how you looked at it. It was better to start surrendering to Kasnie now and secure their own thrones in advance.

As for whether Kasnie would discard them after winning, they had barely considered the possibility. In any case, it was just a matter of switching allegiance to another powerful nation. As long as they could continue to enjoy power and wealth in their own little corner of the world, did it matter who their overlord was?

The attitudes of these countries, and their support for Kasnie, whether overt or covert, were all laid out before the Princess.

After reading it, Alyuin showed no expression, only saying lightly, "I've memorized all these names."

Hearing this, the messenger hesitated. "Should we issue a proclamation from the Royal City?"

"No need. Let them be smug for now," Alyuin said.

Afterward, almost without stopping, Alyuin led her army to the City of the Sun God to rendezvous with the garrison there.

At the same time, the Royal City would dispatch another contingent of reinforcements, also heading for Surinia, vowing to stop the Kasnie army beyond the kingdom's central line.

They could not be allowed to break through Surinia's defenses.

Otherwise, the checkpoints further on would be even harder to hold. By sailing up the Yilu River, the Kasnie could fight their way to the Royal City on warships. Although the fall of the Royal City didn't mean a total defeat, everyone knew very well what it represented.

The two reinforcement armies rushed toward Surinia from the northwest and northeast, respectively.

Meanwhile, the Snow Goddess incarnation went ahead, taking the Sheep God to meet with the other major gods, including herself.

En asked gravely, "Does she have healing abilities?"

Suojia was amiable and kind. "How remarkable, you actually managed to poach a Sanur god. She looks like a poor little thing... Dear, would you like a sweet biscuit?"

The God of Wisdom was direct. "Can she be trusted? This isn't some contingency plan left by the Wolf God, is it?"

Lotus: "Her divine core is in my hands, and the tribe that worships her has joined the Solancian army. There won't be a problem."

At the same time, she shot a look at the Sheep God, signaling her not to take Suojia's sweet biscuit. A potentially useful healer had finally arrived, and she didn't want the sheep to pass out just yet.

Yes, pass out.

The Earth Goddess's desserts had a record of knocking out deities!

However, perhaps because the sheep's eyesight was poor, she completely missed the hint. She timidly accepted the sweet biscuit and popped the whole thing into her mouth.

Immediately after, Sheli Pu: "..."

Help, is this poison? My throat feels like it's blocked—

At least she didn't faint.

Lotus facepalmed.

After a brief introduction, Sheli Pu was taken away by Emute to try and heal Suriel and Adia. The latter might have already fallen into a deep slumber, but the Sun God could still be saved.

Sheli Pu would not enter the domain of the Kingdom of the Gods for the time being. Instead, Anmila would bring the injured out. Her divine core was also handed over to the Death God, so if the Sheep God made any strange moves, Emute could react immediately.

Of course, the likelihood of that was practically nil.

After settling the matter of the Sheep God, Lotus glanced at Suojia, wondering how to ask about Alyuin's possible past life.

She decided to start by talking about the Kasnie gods.

"Are the remaining gods from those two pantheons still within Solancia's borders?"

En replied, "The Kasnie gods are. All three are traveling with their army, as if they have no intention of hiding."

He paused slightly.

"The Sanur Wolf God, however, has disappeared."

"Without a trace?"

"None. He's nowhere to be found within our borders, but he doesn't seem to have returned to the wilderness either."

After fleeing his battle with the God of the Sky, Huracan had vanished without a trace, as if he had evaporated from the face of the earth.

The Solancian gods almost thought he had slipped into the void where the Kingdom of the Gods resided, or had carved out a battle dimension to hide in. But there were no fluctuations from the unique force fields of a divine battle dimension in any direction, so that theory was debunked.

While the Solancian gods were discussing this issue, in a forest outside Surinia, a young wolf poked its head out from behind a tree.

There was nothing special about it; it looked like an ordinary animal that had been separated from its pack. But its eyes, fixed unblinkingly on the sky, betrayed something different.

That was the direction in which Emute and the Sheep God had departed.

"Damn it..."

A curse in the Sanur language escaped the wolf's mouth.

The young wolf retreated into the shadows of the deep forest and quickly vanished from sight.

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