Chapter 148: Polar Opposites

Seventh Day of the First Month, Age of Mythology.

The ride to Enlin went smoothly, but she needed to catch another train due to scheduled train maintenance. She only needed to wait an hour for the next train ride. So Lea is just sitting on the bench with her legs crossed, playing with The Plague Garden. And trying to ignore the presence of the massive pillar of ice in the sky.

Since words of it had spread, many are wondering what that is. Not Lea's concern. She just wants to go to Empire's Edge to murder a bunch of people in a grand showing of power and insanity.

Though sensing a powerful entity was not what Lea wanted to do today. While having her daily fill of mental energy, she was trying hard to ignore the person in a trench coat opposite her.

He had his face hidden by his fadora, so Lea couldn't see his face. Nor could she read his thoughts, showing that he was something far more than she could handle. He was here before her, and he had not moved a muscle for twenty minutes straight.

But that's fine, I have Mard Awalan with me... Lea thought, hugging the jiggling slime more... besides, Veil is working as intended.

Just waiting and hearing gossip is quite boring; she decided to get some newspaper to read, paying 2 Drach for today's news and a magazine.

It was nothing special, just the usual political scandals and new notable noble houses rising. Renlou is a militaristic nation; you can get everything through military merits. It has the largest noble population in the world, though most are second-class citizens by other countries' standards.

But what hooked Lea the most was the paranormal segment. With very primitive photos of what was happening...

A village was destroyed near the Great Forest, the culprit was captured on camera, but it wasn't a human. But a hulking beast with a screaming human face on it, reportedly ran off into the woods. Lea knew very well that this was a Horror.

Other paranormal stories also detailed the appearances of strange ghosts or monsters, haunted places, or entities of unknown origin roaming around.

"Oh?"

Lea put down the newspaper and smiled. She sensed that she was transported to a different location. No...

A world entirely fake, but still life-like enough to deceive all of her senses. Except for her passive consumption.

She could feel that only three people here were real. Lea herself, The Plague Garden, and...

The man sitting opposite her.

"It is quite easy to find you, Haser Pnimalom the Faceless Twilight.", he lifted his head up, staring at her with his soulless golden eyes.

Lea immediately realized who he was... Solafant, the Demigod of the Abyss. That explained why her powers didn't affect them; all of his Paths have nullification effects.

Why here and now?

"Psst, call them Void Touched.", Bashie Mahzala whispered.

"What do you want from me, Void Touched?", she tilted her head. She covered herself in armor, getting ready for a confrontation.

"I want to request your help in the upcoming fight against The Still Fantasy.", they replied.

"What do I gain from it?", she came up right to his face in a split second, "From someone like you?"

A person living for so long would have a skeleton in their closet. She exerted the ring's power over them, creating an illusion of her mansion. Tricking all of their senses into believing that this place is the Dream World.

Lea could feel that they believed they were in the Dream Realm, manifesting the lie of Veil. Making it all too easy to drag Solafant into the real Dream World. For them, Lea just overrode their own domain. A display of how incomprehensible and powerful a Star God is, reminding him of The Demise Ground.

"I am Haser Pnimalom the Faceless Twilight of Judgement, Malediction, and Veil. I see all falsehood and lies; no one shall escape from my Judgement."

The Cursed Constructs of the mansion writhed in response to her statement. Even if it was just an act.

Solafant then spoke in a more respectful tone, "Please, my lord. Do you not feel about the injustice of the innocent lives at stake? Facing an enemy that threatens to destroy the world—"

But she cut them off, "Do you call a natural disaster evil? Do you call misfortune evil? Do you call everything that opposes you evil?"

That was how the Great Old Ones felt to Lea. From the God of Water, The Three Rings, The Golden Order, and now The Still Fantasy. What good is it to fight against the strongest Star Gods?

Hey, Bashie, are you a Great Old One? Lea asked inwardly.

"Nope! I can compete due to Big Boss, but in raw power I'll be wiped out in no time!!", the Jester enthusiastically replied, "But here, where their Light is sooooo far away, I might have a chance!!"

With that, she stepped back. Then a maw made of Cursed Constructs came from beneath Solafant, attempting to snap their legs off.

But they turned into an avian form, flapping their wings to get out of trouble. They opened their beak and chanted.

"By the Empty Throne, I deny this space!!"

Lea instantly felt a clash between the powers of two Divine Domains. It made her mansion tremble, her Cursed Constructs shattering one after the other. As if they were opposites of each other.

Shit, this is bad!

She immediately banished them out of the Dream World, and she was banished out as well. From what Lea felt, the Divine Domain of the Abyss could nullify her Divine Domain, and for her, that is nothing more than a death sentence.

She couldn't even put a Hex or Branding on Solafant due to their Paths. Making it tricky to deal with.

She put away the illusions, returning to the fake train station. Immediately put The Plague Garden on her shoulder.

"I was just about to let you off with some light punishment.", Lea sighed, keeping her act as an aloof god. "But you forced my hand now."

"Wait, we can still talk!!", Solafant panicked.

But Lea already grabbed the person beside her... then she used Soul Morph on the fake human. In front of Solafant, she turned it into an arrow.

Summoning Houyi from her shadow, she drew her bow. Imbuing it with all the Paths that made up her bow.

Soul Morph not only applies to herself, but she can use it on others as well. She only needed to touch them.

And instead of aiming for Solafant, she aimed for the ground.

"WAIT—"

BOOM!!!

The entire fake reality broke, returning to the real world. Lea instantly changed back into her human form, still casually sitting on the bench reading a newspaper. While Solafant was not as composed as before, they were shaking.

Though still, that was very rude...

She created a Cursed Construct bird, imbuing it with Cloak so nobody noticed it. She shared a fragment of her Soul with the bird, sending it flying over to Solafant.

"This is a bomb.", she spoke through the bird, "I can curse this entire city if I want to, all depends on how you act."

"You are... crazy.", they muttered under their breath.

"Three.", Lea began the countdown.

"No, I apologize for such rudeness.", they changed their tune real quickly, "But that..."

She landed on his shoulder. Thanks to Solafant's imagination, Veil's lies about her being a Star God empowered her. So much so he opened up his mind for Lea...

'Too troublesome if I escalate things further...'

That was the tone of someone without remorse. The destruction of this city was troublesome, an outcome they don't want, but not because they care about this place. But there is something worth looking over. From the wandering thoughts Lea caught... Solafant is an affront to a certain god, a very powerful God of Equilibrium.

Their entire existence, though undetected, it is very simple to rat them out.

Operating the ring, giving more power to her existence, Lea took in a deep breath.

"I call upon the Divinity of Equilibrium."

I haven't done this for a long time...

"The Three in One;

The Light of Salvation and Balance;

They who Reigns over Order."

She spoke The Three Rings' Honorific Name. Solafant widened their eyes, getting ready to flee. But Lea wouldn't let them just run away like that; the bird exploded into Cursed Constructs, binding them in place.

"The Void Touched who opposes you, the evil in my and your eyes.", she spoke calmly through the bird.

Lea herself stood up, staring down at the being bound in chains. With the constant flow of curses, Solafant couldn't risk dying from them, allocating most of their strength to countering the curses, not letting them transform to escape. Lea doesn't have quality, but she certainly has quantity.

"Praise the Lord..."

In an instant, Lea could feel that oppressive gaze over this entire city. But she acted as if nothing had happened, stood up, and retracted her soul fragment, letting Solafant run away.

She headed over to a bakery in the train station, looking at what they had. She picked up some perfectly baked golden bread, and much more colorful breads she had in Southern Renlou.

"How much are these?", she asked the clerk, who flinched upon meeting her gaze.

"One Drach and three Hern, miss.", he replied nervously.

"Thank you.", Lea nodded.

She got three loaves of sweet bread and one sandwich. Seeing that there was no "blank" in the vicinity, Solafant had run away after Lea called upon The Three Rings.

Lea came over to the ticket booth.

"Can I get a renewal now?", she handed her ticket over to the table.

"Of course, miss.", the receptionist answered, though there was a hint of surprise in her voice, "From Enlin to Brigou... please wait a moment."

After waiting for a few minutes, she got a new ticket for the ride.