"So itâs said, humans are always contradictory."
"When something doesnât belong to you, you detest it intensely, and then the next step... is wanting to make it something you can control."
Many things were like this, and Laine was no exception, hating something often only because it wasnât under his control. Like now, âunchangingâ and âchangingâ, the criteria that determined the order of all things... It was almost self-evident what these three Divine Artifacts together aimed to counter.
After repeatedly confirming that nothing untoward remained in the Divine Artifact following its absorption of the Fantasy World, Laine then sent it back to the Spirit Realm.
Once Hemenuâs affair was concluded, another âfeastâ awaited it, so it was best to assimilate the gains of this trip quickly. After all, unlike the other two Divine Artifacts, it was perfected step by step, enduring the entire second epoch.
Rapid growth necessarily required more time to adapt, to avoid leaving behind any problematic aftermath. Especially as part of the three Divine Artifacts, if it had any issues, it would likely affect the other two as well.
"Finally, we come to the source of all this."
Suspended in the void, Laine at last turned his attention back to the matter at hand.
He had originally ventured here on a spiritual journey to inspect memories concerning Zeus, but he hadnât anticipated the journey would take such an unexpected turn. Although the outcome was equally favorable, he couldnât simply forget his original purpose.
Athena was no longer here since, after all, whether it was Laine or her, they hadnât truly entered this place in their physical forms.
As the Master of Spirituality, Laine could maintain this âspiritual journeyâ state, his consciousness separate from his Divine Body, but Athena couldnât do the same. Thus, when the moment of the worldâs destruction came, she had already returned to her body on a remote island overseas. And those memories, once shielded by the power of the world, were naturally acquired by both of them.
With no high powers to cloak and distort them, everything became clear. In nearly an instant, Laine had reviewed that segment of the past. Stay connected with empire
Asgard, Odin, the World Tree, Sacrifice, ritual... until Metis was offered as a Sacrifice to Chaos, in exchange for Zeusâs ladder to kingship.
Upon seeing this content, many of Laineâs doubts were immediately resolved. The most pressing was the recent changes in the laws of the Abyss and Hell.
One day hundreds of years ago, a new rule was written into the foundation of the world, relating to âSacrificeâ. Although the World Master could actively choose to accept or decline, to respond or ignore, this change had indeed occurred. (See 3-83)
Previously, Laine had speculated whether this was because the two were of the same origin, that both worlds had naturally evolved the ability to accept sacrifices, allowing beings from one world to offer existences from the other as Sacrifices... but upon closer thought, it didnât quite add up.
Now, however, it seemed that all this originated from the Sacrifice ritual personally involving Chaos, influencing the shifts in the underlying rules of many worlds. When the world itself performed the Sacrifice for the first time, that act became an ordained law.
Itâs likely that independent realms like the Land of Eternal Night also developed similar capabilities, only Laine had been unaware of it earlier.
As for why the Underworld lacked it... it could only be said that its status as a standalone realm still had some shortcomings, otherwise even with just half the authority, Hades wouldnât have missed touching upon that grand realm.
After all, the Divine King is never the present worldâs master, yet the King of the Underworld is indeed the embodiment of the Underworld itself. So the absence of similar changes in the netherworld seemed understandable.
With the first mystery unraveled, Laineâs second question was about the âfated deathâ on Athenaâs person.
It seemed normal, Zeus had swallowed Metis, so Pallasâs birth was thus rendered impossible, and his fated âdeathâ was only natural... but upon closer inspection, it was full of loopholes.
Gods are immortal, hence any possibility would only be postponed, never completely cut off.
So what if swallowed by Zeus, or even imprisoned in Tartarus? As long as Metis still lived, there was a chance of release, and thus a chance for Pallas to be born. Yet his fate was already âdeadâ, recognized by the world as an unalterable outcome.
This implied that even Chaos denied his existence, to the point that attempting to ârebirthâ him through any means would only bring about the worldâs own Destruction.
Laine had not understood why a being once favored by the world would instead invite its malice... but now it was clear to him. Metis became the Sacrifice, and the moment the world accepted it, Pallas was deprived of any chance of birth.
The world wouldnât deny its own actions. If Athenaâs destined brother was still born, it would be tantamount to negating the present world itself. Unless Chaos itself broke its own rules and âreleasedâ Metis â but this was undoubtedly impossible, and without surprise, Pallas had no more opportunities to be born.
"This indeed poses a problem... I had previously wanted to bring him back to âlifeâ in another way, to then challenge the predetermined fate of the present world."
Furrowing his brow, Laine found it a bit troublesome.
Now this âarrogant divine kingâ prophesied to emerge had been definitively negated by the world, and if he wished to be born, he had to do so within the Laws of Chaos World, otherwise he couldnât inherit this segment of dead fate, creating a catch-22 situation.