TGS - Chapter 198

Chapter 198: Resolution and Return

This year, a couple busy reviving their family business had a daughter.

They didn't plan to spend much energy on her, but they had high hopes for this beautiful child. When she opened her eyes for the first time and saw the world with her blue chalcedony-colored eyes, her young parents named her Lotus.

Thousands of miles away, on land that once belonged to Solancia, archaeologists were exploring an ancient Solancian ruin.

According to incomplete records, this place was once a border city of ancient Solancia, named Kadera.

The Kadera ruins are one of the very few ancient Solancian sites that have survived to this day. The extent of the damage was quite severe, with only a few stone pillars remaining, some of which were half-collapsed and crooked—a scene of broken walls and ruins.

Based on the reliefs on the stone pillars and other historical materials, people believe that this site was a temple during the ancient Solancian period, a place of worship dedicated to the River Goddess Lotus.

Recently, the archaeological exploration had made new progress.

They discovered an underground chamber behind the ruins, which could be determined to be the temple's storeroom. One could imagine how many ancient artifacts were inside, waiting to see the light of day again.

The work proceeded in an orderly and cautious manner. At critical moments, they hardly dared to breathe.

Inside the ancient chamber, where a few ventilation holes had been opened, the sounds of quiet discussion could be heard from time to time, until someone, in a hushed but unmistakably excited voice, called to their companions: "Hey, come quick! Creator, you'll never guess what I've found!"

Several colleagues gathered around.

They saw a mirror.

Under normal circumstances, this mirror—judging by its material, it looked a bit like a gold-inlaid bronze mirror—could never have been in such a state.

It was clean, with a distinct luster, clearly reflecting a person's image. There was no damage or any other marks left by the passage of time, only a thin layer of dust on its surface. It looked as if it had just been placed there.

But for some reason, no one present found it strange. They were too busy marveling at the exquisite craftsmanship of ancient Solancian artifacts and lamenting the demise of this ancient civilization. They took the bronze mirror out of the chamber along with the other excavated relics.

When the mirror finally saw the light of day, the ornamentation on the ouroboros's eye and the frost-blue gemstone on the mirror's surface complemented each other, its edges shimmering with a faint light.

Before long, the bronze mirror would be sent to the national museum, where almost all the ancient artifacts from the Solancian era were housed. It would stay in a display case in the museum, becoming a backdrop for countless tourists to visit and take pictures with.

Until one day, twenty years later, a young woman with black hair and blue eyes walked past the display, stopping before the case where the mirror was placed, and saw in it a reflection of her future.

At that moment, the gears of spacetime and destiny began to turn.

In just an instant, these images flashed before Lotus's eyes outside the star gate. She understood the reason for her past transmigration and also saw the past and future of that world.

In a world without gods, the Princess of Solancia was assassinated with poisoned wine by the usurper before the war even began, making an early exit from the stage of history.

A few years later, starting with an uprising led by a slave leader named Shalu, slave rebellions broke out across the kingdom. Solancia was in internal turmoil, and at this critical juncture, it was faced with foreign enemies. It ultimately perished under the joint invasion of the Sanur and Kasnie.

The land was divided between Kasnie and the Sanur. But soon, the two peoples who were once allies became enemies. Kasnie initiated the war, forcing the Sanur tribe to retreat to the northwestern wasteland, thereby monopolizing the vast and fertile territory.

However, the good times did not last. Kasnie was only a temporary resident of this land. Before a few generations had passed, a people from the northern snow plains defeated it, and the territory changed hands again.

Over the long course of generations, the occupiers of this land changed several times. Even though the slave kingdom was buried in the dust of history and feudal empires arose, a nation like Solancia, which had stood strong for a millennium, never appeared again. There was never again such a civilization.

And what of the Solancians who originally lived on this land?

Some of them stayed, and as time passed, they inevitably forgot everything about their ancestors. Others left, scattered, and integrated into other regions. No one was left to attest to Solancia's former glory.

Lotus's gaze followed the descendants of one branch of the Solancian nobility.

She watched them leave their homeland, wander to foreign lands, and intermarry with other peoples. Later, even their descendants did not know their connection to the extinct ancient civilization. They lived near the lands their ancestors had inhabited and took on their own surnames...

That surname was one Lotus knew all too well.

It was the surname she had used for twenty years before she transmigrated.

Before this, Lotus truly had no idea that her origins had such a connection to ancient Solancia.

Destiny is full of such coincidences. A descendant of ancient Solancia had, in some wondrous way, returned to the Solancia of another worldline.

Lotus shifted her gaze from the world's past to its future.

She had long since decided not to return to her original world. Thus, on this worldline, starting from the museum trip, Lotus would cease to exist.

Even in a world without divine power, there are some strange tales that science cannot explain. The "Case of the Disappearing Museum Girl" quickly became one of them.

Her parents reported it to the police and hired people to search for a few days. When they got no results, they stopped investing pointless money into it.

They complained to each other a bit, held a ceremonial funeral, and then wasted no more energy on the matter.

In the eyes of this couple, who valued their careers above all else, a perfect daughter in whom they had previously invested considerable resources was certainly important. But now that she was missing, there would be no further returns, so it wasn't worth expending more resources on her... Of course, perhaps they felt a little sadness when reminiscing about the past alone, but who could say.

Two years later, the couple had another child.

Just as they had once done with Lotus, they planned this boy's entire life, raising him to be another family showpiece and a perfect heir. Until they passed away in a nursing home in their later years, the couple remained proud and satisfied with the son they had raised.

—This was the future without Lotus.

The vision ended. The newly ascended Creator God had no particular thoughts on the matter.

Although she had never received any warmth from her parents growing up, it was undeniable that she had never been mistreated either.

"I wish you the success you desire in your careers."

This world had no concept of divine power, but a blessing made from outside the star gate by a Creator God from another spacetime would always have some unusual effect.

With this, Lotus no longer had any attachments to her original world. She turned her back to the star gate and stepped back into the long river of spacetime.

The silhouette of 【Destiny】 had not yet left. It watched Lotus quietly.

"Is this the choice you have made?"

Lotus said calmly, "Yes."

【Destiny】 sighed. "Having lost the mirror of 【Spacetime】, this will be your last time coming to the torrent of spacetime outside the world. If you do not go back this time, you will never have the chance again."

Lotus understood this.

Similarly, if she chose to go to her original world, she would never have the chance to return to Alyuin's side, because the bronze mirror did not exist in the timeline after the museum transmigration. In this matter, there had only ever been a choice between two options; it was impossible to jump between them.

Thus, Lotus turned a deaf ear to 【Destiny】's sigh, offering only a polite smile in return.

She walked through the long river of starlight, returning to the space outside the star gate of Alyuin's spacetime.

Just as Lotus was about to pass through the star gate, 【Destiny】 remained where it was and spoke slowly, "The existence of a Creator God means disrupting the balance. Whether it is Klotho or the Primordial Water."

Lotus's fingertips had already touched the curtain of light at the star gate, but she was in no hurry to enter. She turned her head to look at the tall silhouette of 【Destiny】.

"What are you trying to say?"

The pale, bright silhouette said, "For both humans and gods, the 'self' should be very important. If Klotho perishes and you still exist, you know what that means... 【Destiny】 has decreed that a Creator God should not remain."

"In comparison, returning to your original world and accepting your own destiny is the better path."

Lotus listened, unmoved. "Thank you for the reminder."

Clearly, she had no intention of doing as suggested.

In the endless river of stars, Lotus took a step forward, passing through the rippling curtain of light.

Faintly, she could still hear 【Destiny】's whisper. It said—"That's not bad either."

---

In the Kingdom of the Gods, the incarnation of the Earth Goddess Suojia was coiled atop her own temple.

Her true body was in the underworld, guarding the sealed Kasnie Creator God, while her divine serpent incarnation was coiled on the temple, basking in the white light, serving as a force to guard the floating island of the divine kingdom and prevent some minor Kasnie gods from launching a sneak attack.

Under the eternally bright celestial light of the divine kingdom, the divine serpent was leisurely tapping its tail when, suddenly, its movements stopped.

Divine power.

A divine power that was both strange and yet somehow familiar, carrying a deterrence of a completely different level, instantly covered the entire floating island, making it impossible for a god to even think of resisting.

Suojia had personally experienced the pressure of the Kasnie Creator God. She immediately determined that this power belonged to the rank of a Creator God, but—Perseus was still sealed right under her true body's nose. Where did another Creator God come from?

Could it be a hidden move from the Sanur?

But their pantheon, along with their human civilization, had been completely wiped out.

Just as she thought of this, the sudden pressure quickly softened, as if the deity who had released it had just realized it would frighten the gods, becoming harmless and difficult to perceive.

The next moment, Lotus appeared in the sky above the Temple of the Earth.

"Suojia." Lotus nodded slightly.

The pupils of the divine serpent incarnation narrowed into a thin line. Because her ability to sense divine power had been stripped away by Perseus, she couldn't actively perceive Lotus's changes now, but when she thought of the pressure that had just descended—

"You found it, or should I say, you are..."

Lotus smiled, raised her hand, and pressed it lightly against the divine serpent's scales. A wisp of chaotic-colored divine power separated and lifted the curse of deprivation that Perseus had previously cast.

As soon as her ability to sense divine power was restored, the divine serpent incarnation subconsciously detected the change in Lotus.

If, before, the divine power field unconsciously emitted by the River Goddess was like a smoothly flowing great river or a clear, tranquil lake, with dangerous undercurrents hidden beneath the calm, then the Lotus of this moment was "emptiness," was "nothingness." It was completely impossible to sense what direction her authority might take.

The Creator God of Solancia.

That was the only possibility.

Suojia murmured, "Incredible. How did you do it?"

Although she had previously, in a joking tone, asked the God of Wisdom to think of a solution, everyone knew that the situation before them was a dead end.

No matter how wise one was, one couldn't conjure a Creator God within a year, unless the Primordial Water was already a conscious god, and they were the ones to awaken it.

Lotus said, "We can talk about that later."

The newly ascended Creator God waved her hand, and a water mirror formed at her side. At first, it shimmered with a chaotic, hazy halo, but in the blink of an eye, it became clear and transparent, distinctly reflecting Alyuin's figure.

In the water mirror, Alyuin was dressed in light armor, her hands resting on a table, facing a topographical map. She was saying something to the generals gathered around her. It seemed she was holding a military council.

The reflection in the mirror was perfectly detailed. The princess's black hair reflected fragments of sunlight. A small strand of hair that had escaped her ribbon swayed gently behind her ear. Her golden eyes would sometimes rise in question, and at other times, they would be half-lowered in thought.

Just then, Alyuin seemed to sense a gaze and sharply turned her head, her eyes quickly scanning her surroundings—of course, she found nothing.

Having confirmed Alyuin's current situation, Lotus felt relieved.

After returning to the world's interior, her specific point of arrival was not the same location and time as when she left. She opened her eyes in the Kingdom of the Gods, and more than two months had passed since her departure.

It seemed that things on Alyuin's end were still on the right track.

Lotus let the water mirror hang there, and with her left hand, she swept through the air on the other side, opening six more water mirrors in succession, each showing the situation of the absent Solancian main gods.

The Goddess of Love was sleeping in her temple. Also recovering in their own temples were the twin Sun and Moon Gods and the Death God. As for the God of Sky and the God of Wisdom...

Lotus looked at the water mirror.

"They're in the distant sea... no, in the distant sea of the mythological space. What are they doing?"

The divine serpent incarnation shook its head. "In human mythology, the Primordial Water is far beyond the land and sea, separated by the celestial canopy. En said he was going to try to contact the Primordial Water to see if he could borrow the power of the Creator level."

After sealing Perseus, the Solancian main gods had free time, and several of them joined in the extermination of the minor Kasnie gods.

The battle was completely one-sided. All the Kasnie gods who dared to show themselves within Solancia's borders were wiped out.

There were also some minor gods who were unwilling to participate in the divine war and hid in foreign territories. The Solancian pantheon would not deliberately go to eliminate them. In any case, once Kasnie fell, these minor gods with weak divine power would dissipate along with it, unless some surviving Kasnie people merged their faith into Solancia's, allowing them to be assimilated as Solancian gods.

Although the difference in combat power between the two sides was huge, the number of minor Kasnie gods was too large, and it was very time-consuming. It wasn't until a few days ago that the protracted divine war on the earth finally came to an end.

En destroyed the mythological sacred pillar on the Kasnie island. He gazed in the direction of the distant sea for a long time in deep thought, then turned and set off with the God of Wisdom on a journey to find the Primordial Water.

Lotus looked at the water mirror again.

Obviously, the two of them had made no progress and were still wandering aimlessly in a vast, empty sea in the mythological space.

Suojia wanted to facepalm as she watched, but unfortunately, her divine serpent incarnation had no hands, so she could only flick the tip of her tail.

Lotus said, "Let's have them come back."

Before her voice had even faded, the image in the water mirror went blank. The two deities who had been flying over the sea just a moment ago appeared in the sky above the temple, staring wide-eyed at the divine serpent.

Immediately after, the twin Sun and Moon Gods and the Death God, who had been in their respective temples, were also moved over. Lotus hesitated for a moment, but still brought Adia along.

With that, all the main gods were gathered.

Although the Earth Goddess among them was a divine serpent incarnation, and the Goddess of Love, Adia, was still asleep, her hands folded over her abdomen, she looked as serene as a sleeping beauty under the bewildered gazes of the other gods.

The main gods looked at each other in confusion.

What happened?

...This was probably the most decisive and quickly assembled meeting the eight main gods had participated in since the birth of the Solancian pantheon.

Lotus restored her colleagues' ability to sense divine power. Once they could send out their perception, the change in Lotus was clear to see. Without her needing to explain in detail, they all understood.

As for the several senses Adia had been deprived of, Lotus also healed her injuries, including her severed arm. Wounds that even the Sheep God couldn't heal were a simple matter for a Creator God.

When Adia awoke from her slumber, she was baptized by a flood of information.

Good news: After you fell asleep, we killed those two Kasnie gods.

Adia: "Well done."

Bad news: Perseus escaped, but she deceived the rules and ascended to become a Creator God under the name of Klotho, making a comeback.

Adia: "? 'Bad news' doesn't even begin to describe it."

But there's more good news: We sealed Perseus and are using the time to find a way to deal with her.

So, as you can see, Lotus is now the Primordial Water.

Adia relaxed.

"Please, couldn't you have just said it all at once?" She leisurely fiddled with her newly grown arm, her tone returning to its usual languidness. "Thanks to you, I can wake up to victory. Thank you, Lotus."

Regarding Lotus's new divine position, her colleagues were more curious than anything else, besides being surprised and relieved. After all, achieving the status of a Creator God in two months sounded like a miracle.

If she were to explain in detail, it would inevitably involve her past as a person from another spacetime, so Lotus simply gave a brief account of the discovery of the underwater temple and her act of creation after rewinding spacetime.

There was always the illusion that she was telling a story.

And the main gods were very much like people listening to a story, left wanting more.

"So you were the one who built these temples and the stone platforms we were born on." Adia's focus was a bit off. "I must say, it suits my aesthetic very well."

The Sun God's focus was even more off: "Lotus has merged with the Primordial Water, which means your seniority has increased?"

Anmila had a sudden realization. "Ah. Before, she was our younger sister. Now, she's our grandmother."

According to human mythology, if the Primordial Water had its own personality, it would indeed be the grandmother of the twin Sun and Moon Gods, and the mother of Sky, Earth, Love, Desire, and Death—the true Mother Goddess of Solancia.

Lotus: "..."

She was sorry; she shouldn't have had such high expectations for her colleagues' points of focus.

Finally, it was the Sky God, En, who stepped forward. With the tender face of a baby, he spoke with the gravity of an elder, "Since you now have the power of a Creator God, can you kill Perseus now?"

—While she is still sealed.

A glint in her eyes, Lotus teleported herself and the other main gods to the underworld.

Suojia's true body was guarding the sealing crystal by the river of the underworld. Seeing that all the gods had arrived, she pointed to the crystal and said, "During this time, there has been no change in the seal. However, through this layer of mist, I can't see Perseus's condition inside the seal."

Lotus stared intently at the interior of the sealing crystal.

After the seal was formed, layers of clouds and mist appeared inside the crystal, obscuring the figure sealed within.

Previously, none of the main gods could see through this strange mist, but now Lotus knew that it was a manifestation of the Kasnie Creator God's chaotic power.

Her gaze easily pierced through the mist, and she saw Perseus's face. Those deep blue, almost black eyes stared straight ahead, the smile on her lips unchanging, as precise as if measured with a ruler.

Suddenly, the deep blue eyes shifted, meeting Lotus's gaze directly.

Lotus's expression tensed.

Without a doubt, Perseus was conscious at this moment. She had not lost consciousness, but was merely immobilized by the seal.

If Lotus were to act now, she would have to break the seal from the outside before she could attack the Kasnie Creator God, which would instead give Perseus, inside the crystal, an opportunity to exploit.

Understanding this, Lotus watched coldly for two seconds before withdrawing her gaze.

You can stay in there for another half a year.

Seeing her expression, her colleagues knew that taking action now was not feasible.

But it didn't matter. It was just a matter of waiting a little longer.

The Solancian pantheon had now swept away its decline. With one Creator God plus seven complete main gods, on their home turf, were they really afraid of Kasnie's lone god?

Those who were supposed to guard the crystal guarded the crystal, and those who were idle remained idle—the consistent style of the Solancian pantheon.

Lotus fiddled with the bracelet on her wrist and decided to return to the mortal world to see Alyuin.

Although she could have teleported, Lotus flew for a distance first.

During the flight, she half-closed her eyes and looked at her own hand.

Instantaneous movement, dispelling negative statuses, healing injuries... these were originally completely unrelated to the authority of the River Goddess, but the current Lotus could do them all.

Because she was a Creator God, she controlled the chaotic power of "nothingness." The process of creation itself is from nothing to something, giving birth to all things from nothingness. On the lands of Solancia, Lotus was omnipotent.

It was indeed as 【Destiny】 had said: a Creator God is an existence that disrupts balance.

Killing another Creator God didn't seem difficult to the current Lotus. After all, she had the home-field advantage, and the Solancian pantheon was stronger than the Kasnie pantheon. The odds of victory were clear at a glance.

But the problem was, after killing Perseus, when only one freely moving, unrestricted Creator God remained in the world... what would happen to Lotus?

【Destiny】 had reminded her that the "self" was very important.

Lotus suddenly stopped, hovering in place.

After a long moment, she closed her eyes and teleported.

Right now, she just wanted to see Alyuin.

Very much so.

Previous Table of Contents Next