Chapter 843

【 A FRAGMENT OF THE PANTHEON’S CORE 】

As the radiance faded, Diana found herself standing inside a magnificent and majestic temple.

Looking around, she noticed that it bore a strong resemblance to the Pantheon in her memories, but its decorations featured far more floral patterns and motifs. Through the gaps between the temple pillars, she could see the vast, star-studded sky.

As a demigod who had once frequently entered and exited the Matriarch’s Divine Kingdom, Diana was no stranger to that expanse of stars. Each of those points of light was a manifestation of the radiance of faith belonging to the believers connected to their Patron Deity’s network of faith…

However, the colors of the stars differed from those in Diana’s memories. She remembered that, a thousand years ago, the radiance of faith within the Divine Kingdom had been green. Now, however, it was an interweaving clusters of gold and blue.

The golden light made up the vast majority. From it, Diana sensed a familiar power. Although its color was now different, she quickly recognized it as the radiance of faith belonging to the believers of the Goddess of Life.

The blue lights, however, were far more mysterious.

Its radiance was noticeably brighter, and it gave Diana a profound sense of unfamiliarity.

Although there were far fewer blue stars than golden ones, even with a demigod’s enhanced eyesight, Diana could still discern at least several million of them at a glance…

What exactly was this blue starlight?

Could it be…?

Diana had a faint guess in her heart.

“Those are the radiance of the Chosen Ones. Each one represents a Chosen One who is active within the Seigués Universe.”

An ethereal and melodious voice provided the answer.

Upon hearing that familiar yet unfamiliar voice, Diana’s body could not help but tremble.

No longer able to suppress the excitement in her heart, she swiftly turned toward the source of the voice.

“Divine Matriarch!”

At some point in time, Evé had already appeared before her.

Diana’s voice was choked with emotion as she knelt before Evé, but she was quickly lifted by a gentle force.

“Diana, how do you feel?”

Evé raised her hand slightly and asked with a smile.

“I’m fine Your Majesty. I feel wonderful right now. Being able to see the Divine Matriarch again makes me truly happy!”

Diana nodded repeatedly as she spoke with excitement.

She looked nothing like the queen who had once ruled an entire kingdom. Rather, she resembled a child who had returned home after being away for a long time and was overjoyed to see a beloved parent.

Upon hearing Diana’s words, Evé nodded slightly. Then, her expression became solemn.

“Diana, the current state of your soul is still somewhat weak. So for the time being, simply stay here in my Divine Kingdom and rest properly.”

“Thank you, Divine Matriarch!”

Diana gratefully bowed.

The Divine Kingdom was filled everywhere with the divine power of a True God and accumulated power of faith. For a demigod, it was indeed the most suitable place to recuperate.

Although Evé had already used her divine power to heal the injuries on Diana’s body and soul, that power had ultimately come from an external source. Moreover, Diana’s body and soul still lacked sufficient adaptation to it. Therefore, she would have to become familiar with her strength and body once more before she could recover from her weakness.

“However… your weakened soul doesn’t seem to have been caused entirely by external forces. Can you tell me what happened?”

Evé looked at Diana and asked softly.

Hearing her question, Diana’s expression immediately became muted.

The Moonlight Queen placed her right hand against her chest, and her palm gradually became ethereal.

Then, under Eve’s astonished gaze, Diana “reached” her right hand into her own chest and pulled out an object radiating a faint, ghostly glow.

It was a fragment of crystal, seemingly the remnant of something that had shattered. It was irregularly shaped, with platinum-colored radiance continuously flowing through its center. Upon closer inspection, the radiance resembled fine sand, accumulating at the bottom of the crystal. With nearly ninety percent of the entire crystal already occupied by this radiance, the fragment appeared almost completely filled.

The moment Evé saw the object, she felt an inexplicable tremor deep within her heart…

That sensation seemed to originate from the memories she had inherited from the World Tree.

“This is…”

Eve’s gaze narrowed slightly.

“Divine Matriarch, this is a fragment of the Pantheon’s core, left behind after it shattered! At the end of the war, the Pantheon was destroyed and its core shattered. I used all my strength to seize one of the fragments.”

Diana spoke respectfully.

A fragment of the Pantheon’s core!

Evé suddenly understood, realizing what that inexplicable tremor had been.

Her predecessor had once been the ruler of the Silver Era and the previous master of the Pantheon. In fact, the Pantheon’s core had originally been under her predecessor’s control.

Whoever controlled the core of the Pantheon controlled the Pantheon itself, which also meant becoming the Master of the Era.

However, during the Thousand-Year Holy War, the Pantheon was shattered in the battle between the World Tree and the Heavenly Gods and the current Pantheon had been reforged by the Eternal Lord using the fragments of the destroyed Pantheon.

However, the Pantheon had been personally forged by Neo, the King of the Gods. Its might and mysteries were far beyond those of an ordinary True Divine Artifact, and it was certainly not something that even a mythical being at the rank of Higher Divine Power could completely restore. For this reason, many Ancient Gods now mockingly referred to the current Pantheon as the “False Pantheon.”

Evé had learned all of this after ascending to the rank of Higher Divine Power, through conversations with several independent True Gods who had visited her, particularly the Ancient Gods.

And now, what Diana had brought her was a fragment of the Pantheon’s core from before its destruction!

At this moment, Evé also understood why Diana’s soul had been badly damaged.

Even in its shattered state, the Pantheon’s core was ultimately an object of the Higher Divine Power level. So placing it within one’s soul would place an enormous burden on its host’s body. While a True God might be able to withstand such power, but a mere demigod like Diana was simply not strong enough for such feat.

However, what was strange was that this fragment did not need to be stored within one’s soul and Diana’s actions seemed more like an attempt to conceal something…

Curious, Evé took the fragment of the Pantheon’s core from Diana’s hand and the instant she touched it, she immediately sensed a familiar power within it…

“This is…”

Evé looked at the platinum-colored radiance and narrowed her eyes slightly.

That power was none other than the power of the Eternal Lord, Etriōu!

—No.

More precisely, it was a projection of Etriōu’s power!

In an instant, Evé understood what had happened.

The Eternal Lord had reforged the Pantheon using its shattered fragments, thereby becoming the master of the current Era. The new Pantheon itself had also been reborn from the Pantheon of the past.

Thus, the core fragment obtained by Diana had most likely formed a faint resonance with the current Pantheon, allowing it to automatically project a portion of the Eternal Lord’s power.

This was probably why Diana had placed the fragment deep within her soul. If she had not concealed it within her divine soul, the projected power would have been detected by the Eternal Lord. In that case, Etriōu would certainly have attempted to reclaim this fragment in order to strengthen the Pantheon.

Of course, now that Diana had entered Eve’s Divine Kingdom, which could block the perception of other gods, she could naturally take this fragment out directly.

With the fragment in her hand, Eve’s mood instantly became excited.

Since this fragment could project the Eternal Lord’s power, that meant the current Pantheon’s core was still derived from the shattered core of the original Pantheon. In other words, if Evé wished to, she theoretically had the ability to influence the current Pantheon through this fragment!

Of course, this would only allow her to partially influence it, not control it. Nevertheless, it presented Evé with an opportunity, and a possibility…

Perhaps she could use this fragment to bypass the Pantheon and merge with the Core Origin of the Seigués World that was being suppressed by the Pantheon!

Merging with a world’s origin was extremely important to Evé’s advancement.

As the World Tree, although she had yet to decipher the specific method of ascending to Greater Divine Power from the blue sphere that she suspected to be the key left behind by Neo, the King of the Gods, one thing had already been confirmed: merging with a world was a prerequisite for ascending to Greater Divine Power!

At least, that was the case for the World Tree.

With this thought, Eve’s mood became increasingly cheerful. She had recently been troubled by how to bypass the Pantheon and attempt to merge with the Core Origin of Seigués, yet she had never expected Diana to bring her such an unexpected gift!

However, the Pantheon fragment’s function was not limited to this alone…

Looking at the platinum-colored radiance that had spread across nearly ninety percent of the fragment, Evé narrowed her eyes slightly, deep in thought.

This radiance… was probably a reflection of Etriōu’s progress toward ascending to Greater Divine Power.

Among the memories Evé had inherited from her Predecessor, the Pantheon’s core was also connected to the position of Greater Divine Power in some way. In certain memories she had seen, before her predecessor’s death, the fragment of the Pantheon’s core had likewise been almost completely covered by a golden-green radiance symbolizing the World Tree…

Based on these inherited memories, it was not difficult to infer that the Eternal Lord’s progress toward ascending to Greater Divine Power had probably already approached ninety percent!

However, as Evé carefully observed the changes in the radiance within the fragment, she discovered that its transformation seemed to have come to a halt…

This discovery caused Eve’s brows to rise.

“Divine Matriarch… you should have realized it as well. This radiance represents the Eternal Lord’s progress toward ascending to Greater Divine Power. And now… His ascension has likely encountered some difficulties!”

Diana spoke.

Eve’s gaze immediately became sharp.

She looked at Diana, who continued:

“Divine Matriarch, after the war ended, I inadvertently learned of some of the Eternal Lord’s actions through his former Angel subordinates. I also discovered certain things through the occasional intelligence provided by Lord Imheter…”

“Tell me.”

Evé stroked the Pantheon fragment as she spoke.

Diana continued:

“Ever since the Eternal Lord began spreading his faith throughout the universe on a large scale, the proportion of his projected power within this fragment of the Pantheon’s core has continuously increased… I suspect that his method of ascending to Greater Divine Power is very likely connected to his faith.”

“However, his faith may have encountered some difficulties, causing his progress to come almost completely to a standstill.”

Eve’s heart stirred upon hearing Diana’s words.

“This stagnation… approximately when did it begin?”

“About four hundred years ago.”

Diana answered.

As she spoke, she sighed.

“If it had not stagnated four hundred years ago, he would probably have already ascended to Greater Divine Power by now.”

Four hundred years ago…

Eve’s heart stirred as she began reviewing the history of Seigués Universe that she knew.

During the years since her awakening, she had studied quite a great deal of information, including the history of the entire continent. As she reviewed that history, Evé noticed an interesting detail…

Four hundred years ago, a major event had indeed occurred on the continent: Specifically, the Holy Maniya Empire had split apart from within.

At the time, the reigning Emperor of the Empire, Heinrich, had left behind no heirs. During a hunting accident, he fell from his horse and broke his spine. He died suddenly a few days later without leaving behind any imperial decree.

Shortly afterwards, the Emperor’s two uncles then fought over the throne and instigated a civil war.

However, the ultimate victor was neither of Heinrich’s uncles. Instead, it was an elector house supported by the Eternal Church, which consequently provoked the dissatisfaction of the imperial family and the nobility.

Soon afterward, the imperial family broke with the Eternal Church, and the entire Empire descended into a thirty-year war of succession.

In the end, Heinrich’s young nephew seized the throne and reconciled with the Eternal Church. However, the southern regions of the Empire completely broke free from its rule, declared independence, and formally established the Kingdom of Aries.

The central authority of the Empire was also greatly weakened, while the power of the local nobles was strengthened. From that moment onward, the Eternal Church’s control over the continent also began to decline continuously… right up to the present day.

It could be said that the result was a complete lose-lose situation.

It was worth mentioning that many “forbidden books” written by those dissatisfied with the rule of the Eternal Church recorded that the Eternal Church had begun to fall into corruption after that war.

War, division, corruption…

Could it be that the corruption of the Church had caused the Eternal Lord’s difficulty in ascending to Greater Divine Power?

The moment this thought appeared, Evé immediately rejected it, because if that were truly the case, then as long as the Eternal Lord remained clear-minded, he would inevitably make adjustments accordingly.

Oh, no…

—Wait.

Urinos once said that the present state of the Eternal Lord seemed to have been corrupted. If that was the case then, could it be that he had already lost the ability to correct himself?

Evé pondered silently.

This was indeed one possible explanation, but deep down, she still felt that something did not quite add up…

She felt as though she had grasped something, yet whenever she tried to think it through, it seemed like she was trying to discern flowers through a veil of mist…

However, one thing could already be confirmed: the decline of humanity’s faith truly did affect the Eternal Lord.

“However…”

Diana suddenly changed the subject.

“About six years ago, the Eternal Lord’s progress toward ascending to Greater Divine Power seemed to begin again. Of course… it was at a very slow pace.”

…Six years ago?

Eve’s heart skipped a beat.

Six years ago… was precisely when she had arrived here in Seigués.

So if something major had happened in the Seigués Universe, the only possibility was her return.

“More specifically, what changes have occurred over these past six years?”

Evé asked.

“It has gone from slow to faster. However… compared to four hundred years ago, it is still very slow. But if it continues accelerating at its current rate, he will probably return to his former speed within ten years and completely succeed within seventy years. If the acceleration continues to increase, then it will be even faster, and he may very well succeed in less than twenty years…”

Diana said.

Seventy years… twenty years…

Evé frowned slightly.

In other words, she had at most seventy years, and at least twenty years, to ascend to Greater Divine Power. Otherwise, the path forward would be completely blocked by the Eternal Lord.

Of course, this was assuming that everything proceeded smoothly for Etriōu, and that his rate of advancement did not accelerate even further.

At this moment, Evé felt that perhaps her plans concerning the fusion and subversion of the Seigués World needed to be further accelerated…

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