Chapter 588: [The Journey of Sun] [2] [Communal]

I silently sat on my throne with the feeling of defeat burning deep in my soul.

The situation I was in was nothing but a cave of despair. I was in a body which wasn’t mine, living a life that didn’t belong to me with no information about why.

’Why am I in his body?’ I thought, rubbing my cold face with my warm hands. ’...Why would I be stuck in this world?’

My understanding of the situation was limited, but it wasn’t low. Through the powers that I had inherited, I could feel tiny cracks in the world’s reality.

If I had to guess, because of Amun-Ra’s decision to become an Outer God, he deliberately broke his own reality.

By doing so, his powers, which were bound to the upper limit of this world, could break through.

’...It’s like breaking a box so the thing inside it has more space to grow.’

But by doing so, Amun-Ra also got the attention of other forces that were outside of reality.

Along with it, I also knew that after failing his ascension to the Outer God level, Amun-Ra made a deal to keep a part of his soul safe.

....A deal with someone who was also capable enough to send a soul to a different reality while ignoring the laws of time and space.

’...Azrael.’

But that begs the question, why would he do such a thing?

What would he gain from sending me here, into the body of a God, especially at the end of his life?

’That bitch had fate on his side, so he decided to do whatever he wanted.’

I let out a sigh and got up from the throne. Sitting here wouldn’t help me in any way.

’I should check around the place,’ I thought, clenching and relaxing my fist. ’This absurd amount of power is really something.’

Taking a deep breath, I tried to get a hang of the body while thinking of a way to disguise myself to blend in with the common people.

If I walked outside looking like the Sun God himself, the entire world would kneel before I managed to ask a single question.

Just as the thought surfaced in my mind, an uncomfortable feeling rang through my left eye.

My left eyeball rotated in its socket, and when I checked my reflection, it had turned a deep emerald green.

’...Is this Hathor’s authority?’

I made my own guess as I touched around the eye, and as though it had accepted my previous wish, the eye glowed gently.

A floral light covered my body, turning it into that of an ordinary man.

I looked at the bronze skin on my body before nodding to myself.

’...This will work.’

I gave my new appearance one last look before stepping away from the mirror.

The divine pressure that had constantly leaked from my body was completely gone.

Even I could barely recognize myself.

’Perfect.’

With a thought, I willed my body to rise from the ground before gently floating high above.

Finding a window on the upper end of the room, I willed my body to move through it.

BOOOMMM!!!

A supersonic boom echoed as my body hurtled through the sky.

The speed at which I was travelling was much greater than I had anticipated.

’Stop!!’

My body came to a halt as gently as a feather.

The palace had already become a tiny speck on the horizon.

I had only intended to move a few hundred metres. Instead, I had crossed what looked like an entire kingdom in less than a second.

’...Uh, good for me?’

I looked down at the city beneath me, stretching farther than the eye could see.

Millions of people moved through wide streets lined with sandstone buildings.

Massive temples pierced the clouds while countless ships sailed along the Nile that split the kingdom in two.

’...I overshot by a little...or maybe by a lot.’

Taking a deep breath, I decided to be more careful.

’Move... slowly.’

The instant the thought formed, my body obeyed.

This time, I drifted forward like a feather carried by the wind.

"...Much better."

As I flew over the city, I noticed something strange.

...Everyone seemed happy with the lives they were living. Merchants, soldiers, children, no one looked sad.

Sure, almost all of them looked like skeletons, with many being far past the point of malnutrition.

....Yet, they were all happy.

’...Is there some kind of magic that’s keeping them happy?’

I didn’t think my guess was that far off because I could feel a vivid veil over the city that carried the distinct scent of Amunet.

My thoughts were interrupted by a loud cheer below.

I lowered my gaze as a wide square filled with thousands of people came into view.

At its centre stood an enormous golden obelisk.

Priests dressed in white robes surrounded it while chanting ancient prayers.

Golden light slowly climbed across the carvings covering its surface.

’...A pillar?’

I slowly descended.

The moment my feet touched the roof of a nearby building, no one even glanced in my direction.

Hathor’s disguise truly worked as I blended into the crowd like any other traveler.

While walking on the stone road, I looked around the place filled with people.

My eyes landed on a signboard, and surprisingly, I could read the foreign language.

’The City of Memphis....’

It was a name that I had heard back on Earth.

Ignoring the weird happiness around me, I kept walking through the streets.

The scent of the Goddess was much stronger here than it had been from above.

I was now sure Amunet was behind it.

She was always depicted as a goddess with a heart of gold, someone who loved mortals and shared their pain.

’Why would she do such an evil thing?’ I thought grimly, looking at barely alive people still laughing and working.

Lost in my own dilemma, I arrived where the golden pillar stood.

It rose hundreds of metres into the sky, its polished golden surface reflecting the sunlight so brightly that people had to shield their eyes.

Priests in white linen robes circled its base while chanting in unison.

"Glory to the Sun."

"Glory to the Great Ennead."

"May the light never fade."

All around the structure, thousands upon thousands of people knelt in prayer.

Looking at the fanatical devotion of the people, I couldn’t help but wonder,

’What was Amun-Ra’s plan to become an Outer God, though?’

Was it simply to absorb every living thing on the planet, including the gods?

No. These kinds of things were far too complex to be accomplished with just this.

There had to be a ritual or a condition that needed to be fulfilled to reach that rank.

I quietly moved around the pillar as I tried to determine what the engravings carved into it meant.

’...They do look like runes, but with different variations.’

Thousands of symbols covered the obelisk from its base all the way to its peak.

At first glance, they appeared completely random, but the longer I stared at them, the more familiar they became.

’...Wait.’

My footsteps slowly came to a halt in a relatively less crowded area.

I reached out and lightly touched the cold golden surface.

The instant my fingertips made contact, the world around me froze.

One of the countless hieroglyphs suddenly detached itself from the pillar.

It floated before my eyes.

The strange symbol slowly unfolded like blooming flower petals before rearranging itself into something I could understand.

Like I expected, they were runes but not ordinary ones.

They were divine runes.

’So that’s why I couldn’t recognize them.’

They weren’t written in any mortal language.

Each hieroglyph was an entire concept condensed into a single symbol.

Even with Amun-Ra’s body, I could only understand a tiny fraction before a sharp pain shot through my head.

"Gh..."

I immediately withdrew my hand, and the world returned to normal.

Sweat dripped down my forehead.

’...Just looking at them hurts.’

I finally understood why Isis had been unable to question Amun-Ra properly.

The knowledge itself wasn’t something ordinary gods could comprehend.

’...Just like anything else, this place also needs fuel to work, and the faith of the people is that fuel.’

Now, it made sense why this place was kept happy with Amunet’s help.

Looking at the pillar, a thought surfaced in my mind.

’What if I destroyed it right now?’

With the power flowing through this body, I was certain I could reduce the entire structure to dust with a single thought.

I slowly raised my hand and gathered energy in the palm of my hand.

The power of a thousand suns flowed through my body, condensing at one point.

But before I could fire, a voice all too familiar echoed in my mind.

’Don’t bother with it,’ Amunet’s voice echoed in my mind. ’It will trigger a defence system that is capable of killing even your soul.’

’...You are keeping tabs on my thoughts, huh?’

I asked back while ignoring her earlier comment. I really wanted to see whether she was bluffing or not.

CHIRP!!

Just as I was about to pull the trigger, a gentle chirping echoed in my mind.

From the centre of my chest, a blue-coloured silhouette floated out.

’...Liraz?’