A pce greeted him under the broken tree.
Countless vines, each thick as a person intertwined to form the giant structure. The vines pulsed like they were the lungs of giant creatures, changing the color of the building from a holy silver to deadly red.
Even then, it looked beautiful, stunning even.
The road to the pce was paved with a sea of flowers. As he moved forward, the flowers swayed gently to the side, making way.
Varian stepped onto the road without making a sound.
The giant turtle on which the pce, roads and the estate was located shrank into its shell at their contact.
As powerful as it was, the rank 1 creature had no thought of resistance. It neither activated the defense arrays on its shell nor did it send a message to itsdy.
Trees on both sides of the road were pristine, their crystalline branches swaying with the wind, gem-like leaves fluttering and glowing fruits emitting a tantalizing aroma.
The fruit was condensed with purest of vitality and aura.
Ingesting just a single fruit would push an ordinary man to into a rank 7.
There was no hardship to be endured, no millennia to be waited.
Everything in the universe did follow a cause and effect, however. Something didn''te out of nothing.
''Or did it?'' Varian''s musings grew more abstract with his power.
Was the universe created from something? If it was from nothing, did it have a creator?
If it came from nothing, then was it all there was?
Then what about God''s Eye? It''s a crack in the universe. If there''s a crack, then it meant there was something outside.
So it didn''te from nothing after all?
Varian plucked a fruit, crushed it without any hesitation. The power of soul and vitality in the fruit dispersed, shimmering softly as it did.
There had to be a price for the power. The price for this fruit was paid for by a billion lives the roots of the tree sucked away.
The melting fruit smelled sweet. Inaudible to most people but clearly heard by him were the whispers of souls that long perished.
"Do I need to break the pce too?" Varian asked, face in but tone solemn.
The main door of the pce flung open.
A gorgeous, volouptus elven beauty in golden robes faced him. The long green hair reached her feet, the silver eyes gleaming as she stared at him with a stern gaze.
All Mother Asherah.
"You shouldn''t havee."
Her voice was like the song of birds, the sway of branches, the rustling of leaves.
"It is a terrible decision, Konstant Varian." When she spoke, it seemed like mother nature itself sang a luby.
Instead of the authority exuded by tyrants that forced obedience, she exuded charm. Charm mixed with gentleness.
Even the fiercest of men would submit themselves to her. It wasn''t just lust, it was also a sense of safety she gave off, like a mother did to her infant child.
Varian felt her charm and hated her more for it.
He wanted to ughter her right away. He owed Aurora a lot for what she did. And even if that debt didn''t exist, he wouldn''t let her be harmed.
And Prim…
There''s not even a question of letting someone who put her in a difficult position off.
Varian had to kill her. No, an easy death wasn''t enough. He had to put her through hell, let her taste the pain when her sould would shatter in a million pieces before piecing back together, again and again until the pain of living was unbearable than the oblivion of death.
But.
"Our meeting was inevitable." Varian looked at her with a dry expression. "Your actions made it so."
"Huh?" A sneer formed on the All Mother''s face. "Another sermon on how wrong I was to sacrifice the lives I did?"
Varian took a deep breath, trying not to clench his fists and smash her face with his knee.
It was an easy temptation. me her for everything, make her the sole reason for all mistakes and end her to proim everything was now fine.
Things were rarely as ck and white as they first seemed.
If he hadn''t gone to Purgatory, perhaps he would have attacked her without even bothering to speak.
But he had been there. He had seen the fanatics of Undead in Purgatory. He witnesed their true nature. He knew what they wanted to, what they could do, and he knew they wouldn''t be stopped by anything other than equal force.
Perhaps it was not all Undead. Yami wasn''t like that, was she? Or maybe she was?
He''d never know.
What he did know, however, was that without a proper deterrent from Genesis, Mors would cut down every hint of life, turning this region into a graveyard. It''d be another sea of bones and rotten flesh. Zombies, vampires, skeletons moving around without
Varian looked at the woman once again.
She looked better than ever. Prettier, holier, stronger. But what wasn''t so obvious was the madness behind her eyes.
He peeked into her soul through those silver eyes.
Hers was a disturbed, confused soul.
A broken spirit.
Asherah…was on the verge of insanity.
Someone who spent all her life creating could not bear to kill so many. But she had to do it to protect even more from dying.
There was no one else who could do the job.
"You are trying to protect." Varian spoke, trying to control his own killing intent.
Asherah shook and then her eyes grew bloodshot.
"No." Her voice was hoarse, the softness gone. "I am trying to kill. As many as I can. As soon as I can. To grow stronger. That''s the only thing I''m trying to do."
"No need to do that now. Give me back Aurora and Prim. I''ll…not kill you."
Miss Cmity''s aura was weak but Prim seemed fine. He wanted to take revenge for what Aurora had to go through.
But killing Asherhah? The woman who saved genesis from turning into burial grounds?
"I''ve taken down the tree. It''s revenge enough. Give them back and this matter will end here." Varian said softly, but there was a hint of anger in his tone.
Was it really so hard to swallow his hatred? Was everything he went through so worthless that he couldn''t even hold back his anger?
He knew perfectly well why she did what she did. So, why couldn''t he calm down? And just let it be?
''Because she harmed Aurora!''
Varian''s aura fluctuated, the killing intent surging like a tide threatening to drown the ind of reason.
Asherah didn''t seem to care. With a raise of her eyebrow, she said. "And the defense against Mors?"
"I''ll take care of it." Varian patted his chest. "Nexus will listen to me. I''ll make them. Everything will be back under control. Trust me."
"Trust you?" Asherah covered her mouth, her eyes glowing with derision. "You of all people? Someone who disappears for a thousand years without notice when even the trash who went to God''s Eye returned. The same you who didn''t even show his face when the empire needed him the most. Trust you? Put the lives of all these people under your whims?"
Varian''s fists clenched, his eyes narrowing. "There are reasons. Good reasons. Important reasons."
"And there is reality. Undeniable reality." Asherahughed, a mockingughter filled with disbelief. "If somethinges up again, something with reasons, you''ll vanish again, won''t you?"
Varian remained silent.
"Get out of here. An irresponsible man like you…is not qualified to lecture me. The alliance is dead, so is your authority."
"Asherah, I don''t want to kill you."
"Kill?" The All Mother looked at him with gleaming silver eyes. Her eyes were shining with madness. "Don''t think highly of yourself. You''re not sparing me. I''m sparing you. And only because of the goodwill Keman showed you.
I''ll treat it as hisst wish."
Varian sighed deeply.
She didn''t even know he had the slivers. But again, he didn''t seem to care about anything at this point.
"I didn''t want to do this but…"
Varian''s right eye glowed a dazzling white and his left eye went pitch ck. A fearsome pressure descended on the region.
Seven divine paths were unleashed and instead of acting seperately, they were already working together, trying to behave like an Avenue.
It wasn''t a perfect attempt. But it was better than what even most high rank 2s could try.
Asherah''s eyebrows jumped at the disy of that power.
Raw. Potent. Godly.
Space and Time emerged, locking the entire region, cutting off any possibility of escape and safeguarding the pce.
Order and Chaos built a formation, enveloping the region.
Varian didn''t show any explosive emotion. He tilted his head, looking over her shoulder into the interior of the pce, straight at the pirs where a woman and girl were imprisoned.
Prim had signs of vitality loss. There were dried tear marks on her cheeks. But other than that, she was fine.
Aurora though…Aurora''s divinity was fading, carried over from her to Asherah through a nearly invisible link.
Her realm had fallen to low rank 1.
Strapped to polished barks with vines, she was trapped in a cage.
The always energeticdy curled up weakly, trembling every moment, a pained groan leaving her lips as her energy continued to be sapped away.
"She was born for this. She returned to me when I needed her the most, when the alliance needed her the most. By giving up her own, she''s going to save all these lives." Asherah smiled, pride leaking through her words. "I am proud of her. She will be a hero in the tales toe."
The power of Samsara emerged, slipping into the formation. The power of life and death filled the ce and through cooperation through order and chaos, acted on the All Mother.
The smile on Asherah''s face froze.
"Hero?" Varian took a step forward.
The world shook. Gently. Then violently.
"She only wanted to be a princess."