Chapter 844

【 ATTEMPTING FUSION 】

Diana was about to bow and take her leave after handing over the fragment of the Pantheon’s core to Evé and telling her everything she knew concerning the Eternal Lord. However, before she could do so, Evé suddenly called out to her once more.

“Diana, do you know anything about the Thunderspark Clan and its Guardian, Donar?”

Evé asked.

As of today, most of the elven clans had gradually returned to the World of Seigües. Yet, of all the clans that had once inhabited the Elven Forest, the only ones from whom Evé had still heard nothing were the members of the Thunderspark Clan and their Demigod Guardian, the Sword of Judgment, Donar.

Although the Elven Faction had already regained its former glory, and even if the Thunderspark Clan were to return now, it would no longer be capable of bringing about a tremendous change to the Elven Forest in a single stroke as the RageFlame Clan and AzureFrost Clan had once done, Evé still paid close attention to the whereabouts of every elven clan.

After all, the elves were her people.

Every clan that returned represented a fragment of the Elven Faction’s former strength, and Evé naturally had no intention of overlooking even the smallest trace of their whereabouts.

Unfortunately, Diana could only shake her head regretfully.

“I’m sorry, Matriarch. I don’t know anything about the Thunderspark Clan either.”

She paused for a moment before continuing.

“But I remember that after you fell a thousand years ago, we the Clan Guardians decided to try to awaken you through our own respective methods. To prevent ourselves from being captured by our enemies and having our information extracted, we also did not tell one another about our respective plans.”

“In other words, none of us knew where the others had gone.”

Hearing Diana’s words, Evé felt somewhat disappointed.

However, this was also within her expectations.

Even the Shadowshade Clan, which had left the World of Seigües together with the Thunderspark Clan, had no idea where the latter had gone. It was therefore only natural that Diana, who had spent the past thousand years separated from the other Guardians, would know nothing about them either.

At the same time, however, this only made Evé feel increasingly puzzled.

Every other clan, including the Shadowshade Clan, had left behind traces of their existence, no matter how carefully they had concealed themselves. In fact, by following those traces, it was even possible to gradually retrace their movements and determine where they had gone.

The Thunderspark Clan, however, was different.

There were no traces or any clues that could point to their whereabouts.

They truly seemed to have vanished into thin air, leaving behind not even the slightest trace of their existence.

Evé’s expression gradually became more solemn.

A thousand years was a long time, but it was not long enough for an entire elven clan to simply disappear without a trace.

It felt…

As though the Thunderspark Clan had ceased to exist entirely.

Evé slowly nodded.

“I understand.”

After answering her final question, Diana bowed respectfully before leaving the temple.

However, she did not leave the Garden of Eden. Instead, she settled down within one of its forests, choosing a secluded place to recuperate. Having suffered considerable injuries during her long journey, she intended to make use of the abundant faith power and divine power permeating Evé’s Divine Kingdom to gradually restore her strength.

As for Evé herself, after carefully digesting all the information Diana had brought back, she also gained some ideas regarding her next course of action.

Now that she had obtained a fragment of the Pantheon’s core, in theory, she already possessed the means to bypass the Pantheon’s suppression over the World of Seigües and directly fuse with the world’s core origin.

Under these circumstances, the matter of investigating the mysterious blue sphere within her could be put aside for the time being.

Fusing with the world’s origin was the foundation for ascending to the rank of Greater Divine Power. Only by merging with the world’s origin could Evé obtain complete control over the World of Seigües and truly establish herself as its master.

There was, however, one problem with fusing with the World of Seigües.

Apart from the Eternal Lord, she might also encounter resistance from the other True Gods.

This was quite troublesome.

After all… the World of Seigües did not belong to a single entity.

Even the Eternal Lord, despite possessing overwhelming strength and having established the Pantheon, could only suppress the world through the authority of the Pantheon. He could not simply choose to become the world’s absolute master.

Of course, this was also related to the fact that the core origin of the Seigués world had yet to recover after a thousand years.

As for Evé, if she wanted to increase her chances of successfully ascending to the rank of Greater Divine Power, and if she wanted to establish a more solid foundation for herself, then the only suitable world she could choose was the World of Seigués…

From this perspective, she herself had no choice either.

If she wanted to continue advancing, this was a path she would eventually have to take.

“Well, I can begin the fusion first. The process won’t happen all at once, and it will still take some time.”

The fusion of a world origin was naturally not something that could be completed overnight.

Even if she possessed the fragment of the Pantheon’s core, she still needed to proceed carefully. Once the fusion began, her connection with the World of Seigües would gradually deepen.

Thinking of this, Evé’s gaze became slightly more profound.

“Since the Ancient Gods and some of the Gods of Faith did not participate in the siege when my predecessor attempted the fusion a thousand years ago, that means my predecessor becoming the master of Seigües was still acceptable to quite a few mythical beings.”

“In that case, perhaps when necessary, I should formally reveal my true identity to the public.”

Her predecessor had once attempted to fuse with the world’s origin.

Although that attempt had ultimately failed, the fact that many Ancient Gods and Gods of Faith had chosen not to interfere was significant.

At the very least, it proved that not every True God viewed the World Tree as an unacceptable threat.

If she openly revealed that she was the successor of the World Tree, perhaps she could gain the support, or at least the neutrality, of some of those ancient beings.

“As for those enemies of the World Tree…”

Evé’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“They were my predecessor’s enemies a thousand years ago, so they are naturally still my enemies now.”

“There is no need for me to concern myself with what they think.”

Having inherited the World Tree’s authority, she had also inherited the conflicts and grudges accumulated by her predecessor.

There was no point in avoiding them.

Moreover, after everything that had happened, those ancient enemies would eventually discover her existence regardless.

Rather than conceal herself indefinitely, it would be better to take the initiative and determine the situation herself.

Evé pondered for a moment.

In a certain sense, she could also be considered an action-oriented person.

Once she had made up her mind about something, she rarely liked to drag matters out unnecessarily. Now that she had obtained the fragment of the Pantheon’s core and confirmed that it could potentially help her bypass the Pantheon’s suppression, Evé considered the matter briefly before deciding to act.

However, before attempting the fusion, she first needed to make proper arrangements for the other matters at hand.

The process of coming into contact with the world’s origin might take a considerable amount of time, and attempting to fuse with it would certainly not be an easy undertaking. Once she entered that state, she would inevitably have to devote a significant portion of her consciousness to the fusion.

During this process, Evé also had to ensure that she had no other worries holding her back.

After thinking for a moment, she first summoned Kelez and ordered him to properly settle the Titan, Imheter.

By now, Imheter had already arrived at the Elven Forest as well. He had come alone as a Demigod, with one of Evé’s incarnations accompanying him. Crossing the continent was therefore not only safe, but would not take very long either.

At present, he was already waiting in Florence.

After sensing the situation within the city, Evé even discovered, somewhat strangely, that the Titan had already been surrounded by a group of enthusiastic players.

Although Imheter had not accepted her faith and therefore had not obtained NPC privileges, that had not stopped the players from approaching him in the slightest.

To the players, the fact that he was a genuine Titan and a powerful Demigod was already enough to arouse their curiosity.

As a result, Imheter had quickly become a rather unusual presence in Florence.

Contrary to what had originally been agreed upon, after arriving in the Elven Forest, Imheter did not request to live somewhere where he could see Diana.

Instead, he intended to settle down somewhere within the forest.

As for this lovesick Titan, Evé had no good advice to offer him.

Diana clearly had no feelings for him, and Evé naturally would not force the two of them together.

After all, matters of the heart could not be resolved through divine authority.

She could only hope that, after spending enough time in the Elven Forest, Imheter would eventually move on from this relationship that was destined to bear no fruit and find a new purpose for himself.

After settling the Titan and giving the Fairy King Feynir some instructions regarding the players’ plans for activities in various human kingdoms, Evé also reminded Feynir to awaken her promptly if anything major occurred.

With these matters arranged, Evé finally put her mind at ease.

The preparations were complete.

It was time to begin.

Evé returned her attention to the fragment of the Pantheon’s core.

She closed her eyes and extended her consciousness into it.

The core fragment itself relied upon the power of the soul for nourishment and even for the gradual seizure of control. It was not simply an object that could be manipulated with divine power alone. To truly establish a connection with it, Evé had to use the power of her divine soul.

As her divine soul power slowly poured into the core fragment, its radiance soon became even more brilliant.

The originally dim fragment began to glow with an increasingly dazzling light, and mysterious fluctuations spread outward from it.

At the same time, Evé’s consciousness seemed to sink deeper and deeper into the fragment.

Faintly, she sensed that somewhere within the unseen depths, an invisible connection was gradually taking shape.

It was extremely weak at first, almost as though it could disappear at any moment.

Yet, it was undeniably there.

Evé’s expression became slightly solemn.

In the next moment, she once again sensed the Pantheon suppressing the origin core of the World of Seigües.

Through that mysterious connection, a faint rhythm gradually reached Evé’s consciousness.

The Pantheon, which had once completely isolated her probing power and prevented her from approaching the world’s origin, now seemed to have loosened slightly.

From Evé’s perception, if she forcibly inserted her power into it now, she could even shake the entire divine temple.

However, she did not do so.

To begin with, the Pantheon was stil under the control of Etriōu. So even if Evé took advantage of his lack of attention and shook it a few times, that was all she would accomplish.

More importantly, it was still impossible for her to seize control of the Pantheon from the Eternal Lord. Attempting to do so would only expose her presence and allow Etriōu to sense her intrusion.

Therefore, Evé quickly withdrew her probing power from the Pantheon and carefully avoided its perception.

Instead, she chose to bypass it and continue probing toward the space beyond the Pantheon.

Her consciousness continued to penetrate deeper.

Deeper…

And deeper still.

After an unknown amount of time, Evé finally arrived in a fantastical space.

Within this dimensional space, countless multicolored halos constantly danced through the air. At times, they spun slowly. At times, they intertwined with one another. At other times, they suddenly leapt through the void like living ribbons of light.

They were beautiful and mysterious.

At first glance, they were almost like the aurora Evé had once seen in the Far Northern Arctic.

Of course, this was not an aurora.

It was the power of the world’s core origin.

More precisely, this was the space in which the core origin of the World of Seigües was housed.

Evé’s consciousness settled within the strange space, and a trace of solemnity appeared in her heart.

Reaching this point was entirely within her expectations.

Even without the Pantheon’s core fragment, as long as Evé was sufficiently careful, she could still relatively easily reach this place.

The crucial part was what came next.

“Looking” at the multicolored origin power before her, Evé continued controlling the core fragment, using its power to conceal her presence from the Pantheon.

At the same time, she established a connection with her main body.

A vast amount of divine power surged around her.

Then, within the origin space, roots began to grow one after another.

They were roots of the World Tree.

As they slowly emerged, the surrounding space began to tremble ever so slightly.

Gradually, faint ripples spread throughout the origin space.

At almost the same instant, as though it had sensed something unusual, the Pantheon suppressing the core origin began to tremble slightly.

Evé’s heart tightened.

She immediately strengthened her control over the core fragment.

Divine power surged violently, and the radiance surrounding the Pantheon’s core fragment gradually intensified. The dazzling light flowed around the fragment like countless strands of divine energy, suppressing the fluctuations it had caused.

As that radiance continuously circulated, the Pantheon’s trembling slowly subsided.

Only then did Evé relax slightly.

By this point, the ripples in the origin space had already disappeared.

In their place, however, there was a new slender root.

It quietly extended through the void, appearing almost insignificant compared to the vast sea of multicolored origin power surrounding it.

Yet this seemingly ordinary root was extremely important.

It was a root of the World Tree.

It was also the tool Evé was using to attempt to fuse with the core origin of the World of Seigües.

At this point, Evé had already completed most of the preparations.

She concentrated her attention and cautiously moved the root toward the origin power.

This was a process that required extreme caution.

One careless mistake could cause the entire origin space to shake.

Once the origin space began to tremble violently, the Pantheon would easily react. If the Pantheon reacted strongly enough, it could in turn alert the Eternal Lord to the disturbance taking place here.

If Etriōu discovered that Evé possessed a method of bypassing the Pantheon and touching Seigües’ core origin, then all her previous efforts might be wasted.

Therefore, Evé did not dare to be careless in the slightest.

She carefully extended the root, continuously approaching and probing.

A little…

A little more…

And a little more.

The root advanced with almost imperceptible movements, gradually closing the final distance between itself and the world’s origin.

Finally, after slowly inching forward, the root pierced into the core origin of the World of Seigües!

In that instant, a sensation of being enveloped by warm and boundless power emerged within Evé’s soul.

It was an indescribably wonderful sensation.

The nourishment of countless laws naturally flowed through the root of her main body as it entered the world’s core origin. Every strand of divine power seemed to be immersed in an endless sea of warmth.

Evé felt so comfortable that she nearly wanted to moan aloud.

It was truly a wondrous sensation that was difficult to describe with words.

At this instant, Evé seemed capable of sensing the rhythm of the entire World of Seigües.

She could vaguely perceive the vast world beyond this space.

The forests.

The mountains.

The oceans.

The countless living beings scattered throughout the world.

Everything seemed to be faintly connected to her through this root.

For a brief moment, Evé even felt as though she had become one with Seigües itself.

It was almost impossible to tear herself away.

After entering the core origin, only the final step remained.

Evé concentrated her mind and began the fusion.

Although it was called fusion, it was actually more akin to absorption.

Following Evé’s will, the multicolored origin gradually became attracted to the World Tree’s root.

Little by little, strands of origin power began attaching themselves to the root.

Of course, they would not be absorbed immediately.

As time passed, the core origin would gradually merge with the root. At the instant the fusion was complete, it would be completely transformed into Evé’s power.

Only that final moment could truly be called absorption.

Before that, it was more akin to assimilation and preparation.

During this process, Evé could not allow herself to be disturbed by external forces.

Otherwise, she might end up like her predecessor, with all her previous efforts coming to nothing.

Of course, “disturbed” here did not mean that Evé could not shift her attention away from this place, nor did it mean that she could not do anything else during the fusion.

Rather, it meant that the root within the origin space could not be disturbed.

As long as the fusion itself remained stable, Evé could still maintain her awareness of the outside world and even deal with certain matters when necessary.

After beginning the fusion, Evé carefully sensed the situation.

Soon, however, a trace of surprise appeared in her consciousness.

Completely merging with the core origin would take at most a year.

This was far beyond her expectations.

Moreover, Evé soon discovered something even more surprising.

If she could further manipulate the power of the Pantheon and use it to reduce the suppression imposed upon the world’s origin, she could accelerate the fusion process even more!

This was truly unexpected.

For a world on the level of the World of Seigües, fusing with its core origin should have been an extremely difficult undertaking.

Evé had originally estimated that the process might take decades or even centuries.

Yet the reality had completely exceeded her expectations.

What should have been an incredibly long process might actually be completed within a single year.

And if she could further make use of the Pantheon’s power…

Perhaps the time required would be even shorter.

This was truly unexpected.

After carefully sensing the situation, Evé understood why.

It seemed that because her predecessor had once attempted to fuse with the core origin, the origin power of the Seigués world had become extremely familiar with her existence and was therefore much less resistant to her.

In other words, this was a benefit left behind by her predecessor.

However, that was only one factor. In addition, it seemed to be related to the fact that Evé’s power had accelerated the recovery of the world’s magical power.

During the recent years in which the origin of the World of Seigués had been recovering its strength, much of the power it had regained had been obtained from the void through Evé’s [Absorb] ability. As such, this had caused the restored origin to become even more compatible with Evé.

To put it in an inappropriate analogy, it was like a dog that was frequently fed naturally developing a sense of closeness toward the person feeding it.

Evé’s expression became rather complicated at this.

Previously, whenever she thought about how the Seigués world had seemingly been taking advantage of her by repeatedly drawing power from her, she could not help but feel that she was being exploited.

Yet now, that very same circumstance had instead accelerated the origin’s convergence toward her…

It could be considered an unexpected boon.

However, just as Evé was preparing to see whether there was any way to accelerate the process even further, waves of prayer suddenly reached her consciousness .

It was Feynir calling for her.

Evé’s heart stirred. She used divine power to conjure a concealed barrier, hiding the root within the origin space.

The fusion continued.

Even if she left, it would not stop, although its speed would decrease somewhat.

As for Evé’s consciousness, it returned to the Garden of Eden.

With a flash of radiance, her divine power manifested an incarnation within the Supreme Divine Temple, appearing upon her divine throne.

At this moment, the Fairy King was already waiting there.

“Your Divine Grace!”

Feynir pinched the hem of her skirt and respectfully bowed.

“The Death God’s Envoy, the Demon Wolf Fenrir, requests an audience with you. He is currently waiting for you outside, in Florence.”

The Demon Wolf Fenrir?

Could it be… that something had happened with Hela?

Evé checked the Casket of the Dead through which she maintained contact with the Goddess of Death, only to discover that there were no new messages in it.

She pondered for a moment before lightly nodding.

“Bring him here into my Divine Kingdom.”

The Demon Wolf Fenrir was one of Hela’s direct subordinates and had known Evé’s true identity for a long time, so there was no need to hide anything from him.

Of course, at this point, there was no longer any need for Evé to continue concealing her identity either.

“Your divine decree shall be obeyed, Great Goddess.”

Feynir respectfully bowed before slowly withdrawing.

Not long afterward, the Fairy King entered the temple once more. This time, however, there was an imposing demon wolf beside him.

It was none other than the demigod guarding the Church of Death in the World of Seigués, the Demon Wolf Fenrir.

However, this one before her was merely an incarnation of his.

He came before Evé and immediately bowed deeply, speaking with respect and a hint of urgency in his voice.

“Merciful and Great Goddess of Life, the Church of Death requires your assistance…”

Hearing the suppressed anxiety in his voice, Evé manifested divine power to soothe his divine soul before asking:

“Do not be anxious. Tell me, what happened?”

“Your Grace Evé!”

Fenrir said urgently:

“The Church of Darkness has launched an unprovoked attack, and we have lost contact with Her Majesty Hela…”

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