Chapter 135 (2/2)

‘Archid text.’

I read the contents.

-Thee, tell me the being that you want to kill.

“…”

As I kept my mouth shut, the blood-knitted text string scattered once in the air and gathered again. It became a new sentence.

-Or, put it on your tongue, the being that you want to let it live.

The authority of the god of life was more like a terrible fear for the living. Naturally, the one who could give life also had the power to take it away again. Its area of manipulation ranged from the moment life was born up to the last moment when it would ultimately fade. Whether that was a real deity or a sacred beast that was controlled by it… It would never propose something to anyone if it couldn’t do just that. Nevertheless-

‘… I shouldn’t carelessly use my tongue here!’

I was in a similar situation to Igras-Sho’s behavior, in which it left three holy wounds on my finger without asking. The god of life was an aristocrat by comparison. It didn’t engrave a gift on my body and wouldn’t allow itself to be held back or rejected regardless of what my answer was going to be.

‘That saying just now is recommending me to make a wish!’

The behaviors of such gods were like a vicious loan recommendation. Regardless of whether one needed it or not, it meant to give them a credit line first so that they could use it as much as they wanted. Of course, if they fell for their words and used them carelessly, the terrible doom that was suspended would come for them.

‘But honestly, it’s a problem that it is desirable.’

Just as I had contemplated with Igras-Sho, an idea indeed came up in my mind as I heard the suggestion.

‘If Mercadius could be finished for good with this…!’

If I could borrow a god’s power to blow away its existence without a trace…

‘But it’s a no-no.’

A trap would always accompany such an easy method that had reached a point where it would even twist any existing principles. I lowered my impulse and talked to it carefully.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t need it right now.”

Then, without even waiting for a moment, blood droplets formed the next sentence.

-However, I can see traces on thy body of many gods already passing by.

The only thing that possessed my body was Igras-Sho… What did it mean by a lot of deities? Did it consider me touching the sacred items as an act of being in contact with gods as well? Blood droplets spoke as if to answer my question.

-The most concentrated one is ‘magic,’ and the next is ‘luck.’

The god of magic, Igras-Sho. The god of luck, Ramang-Schurt.

“… For the one that oversees luck, I had only touched its sacred item.” – It isn’t so, mortal. There will be no trace left like this just by contacting the object. The god of luck has given you an eye even for a moment.

The god looked at me in person?

– He would have intervened directly in you by touching the odds.

I understood what it meant. Perhaps that was the reason why the sacred item came out of all the rewards I chose. The god must have touched the case of [Random Card of Fate] coming out among many SSS-Class items, beating the rare probability.

– And, there is another deity.

Right before my thoughts were about to get complicated- Bloodstreams continued to assemble the texts.

– It’s so faint that it took me time to notice, but what must this be? The breath of a deity is embedded deep in your soul. The identity is…

For a while, a smooth drawing of an Earth-equivalent punctuation mark (‘······’) was embroidered in the air.

– Ah yes, I have identified it. it is ‘Time.’

God of time?! The moment I heard the keyword…

‘Ah!’

The knowledge I already knew overlapped with the existence mentioned by blood droplets. At that moment, my head cleared up, and I came up with one hypothesis. A piece of thought passed by as quickly as light. I remembered her words that told me the true meaning of the successor.

‘The successor has experienced an average of 3,000 regressions per cycle so far.’

Repeated regression. The countless reversal of time. What would be the driving force that made it possible to repeat it thousands, tens of thousands of times? In addition to that…

‘The Emperor managed to evacuate only the spirit of the successor to the far past.’

Starting from the distant future, when the empire was being destroyed, they returned the soul to an ancient time where the existence of Mana was not yet known to anyone but the successor itself. How long of an interval of time did the soul leap through? What was the reason why such an ambitious thing was possible?

‘The Empire had borrowed a god’s power!’

While I was lost in thought, the blood droplets made a few more sentences.

– It is very faint, but it’s a trace all too familiar to us. – The time that makes all the changes is an essential factor for any deity. – As I did, other gods would have had no choice but to be attracted to your soul.

Then it continued to tell me something that felt inevitable.

– But others wouldn’t have noticed it except me. This is because there is no other deity that cares as much about the mortals as I do. – That’s inevitable. I tell you, all life deserves to be respected!

It was a famous epigraph from the scriptures of those who served ‘Rom.’

‘Every life deserves to be respected.’

However, that blood drop omitted the sentence that followed it.

‘And only the scheduled, inevitable death guarantees its respect.’

The blood droplets, as if to entice me, created new sentences once more.

– You shall climb to the top of this Tower and move on to the next level. – From then on, many gods can watch you from closer and give you more. – Won’t you serve me before that happens?

It was an outright temptation.

-You may forget the god of time for a moment. I don’t get involved after death. In this life, why don’t you serve me only while your flame of life is still lit? – The most powerful weapon for a living being is life, and the most vulnerable vital point is life as well. If you’re a mortal, choosing me is the wisest path to take.

I spoke politely but clearly without room for any misinterpretation.

“I’m sorry, but I have no intention of entrusting my existence to a great deity.”

The blood droplets didn’t give up.

– Look. -‘ Magic’ lost its most potent leg. – ‘Luck’ was banished from the valley of convergence. – ‘Time’ was nailed to a repeated loop. – The sword of ‘Battle’ is rusty and broken. – ‘Mind’ has lost the foundation to prove itself. – ‘Space’ has split into numerous debris and scattered.

Currently, the god of life was talking about the disastrous fall of the exiled gods. They had been swept away with the end of an era. It all happened in the distant past before the material world even began. Nevertheless, they were immortals who are still called great beings.

‘But anyway, being exiled goes for the god of life as well.’

I gathered my strength and said it once again.

“I’m sorry, but I…”

At that moment-

Boosh!

The heart vines laid on the floor and ceiling began to burn at once.

‘What the hell is this?!’

The scar on my finger opened as if it were tearing apart, and more blood gushed out. A much thicker and more turbulent text than before asked me in the air.

– Would thee, indeed, refuse even my last offer?