Chapter 2003: Nephilim Reveals The Truth
Chapter 2003: Nephilim Reveals The Truth
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“You’re not wrong. In the ancient past, millions of years ago, Gods were known as Humans. They were, after all, the original Homo sapiens,” Nephilim explained. “The races they engineered to terraform this planet were shaped in their image, built from their own DNA: Elves, Humans, Dwarves, Anima… and the countless races between these four main tribes. All of them were crafted using Human genes. With their incredibly advanced cloning technology, they created the peoples you know today and used them as cheap labor—cheaper than machines. They cloned entire civilizations into existence simply to harvest their Faith and grow stronger. And… I believe Terrarium may not be the only planet where they’ve done this.”
“…” I fell silent, the truth sinking in like cold lead.
The fragments we had all pieced together over time had pointed here, and now Nephilim’s confirmation made everything click with terrifying clarity.
“The Gods, across millions of years of interstellar travel, have engineered countless forms of life to extract the richest energy from living beings,” Nephilim continued. “They’ve even perfected a method to trap souls in perpetual agony within compressed spaces, creating cores that generate immense power as the souls exhaust themselves endlessly, trapped in cycles of torment and despair for thousands of years without escape. Most of their modern technology runs on these devices, even their titanic Heavenly Domain Fleet.”
“That’s horrifying,” I sighed, “but I had already suspected it. Every Orichalcum Golem we’ve destroyed, every construct they’ve built… they all contain those bizarre cores. When shattered, they release floods of tormented souls. And that doesn’t even account for the False Gods we were forced to put down.”
“Indeed,” Nephilim nodded. “And that’s merely the surface. Armageddon and the other great spirits who fought alongside her were artificially engineered. The Gods studied the native spirits of Terrarium, reverse-engineered their biology, and fused them with technology—pieces of metal and magical materials that could turn ethereal and merge with the spirits themselves. They were likely born from the agony of thousands of souls inside their terrifying Soul Forges: mountain-sized contraptions where millions of souls are burned alive, their suffering converted into energy and repurposed.”
“H-How do they even get so many souls?!” Ignatius asked, voice trembling.
“Cloning,” Nephilim replied. “They clone themselves endlessly, just as they cloned the tribes of this planet, along with most animals and magic beasts they introduced. A clone born inside a tube, if created properly, is always assigned a soul. Every living being has one, no matter how it is made. The people on the surface are fortunate—the Gods have never been stalled in their expansion like this before. Terrarium, if that was even its original name, has proven the hardiest, toughest, and most stubborn world they’ve ever encountered. Likely because the planet itself is a living being, unlike others that are often just masses of gas, rock, or lifeless matter. Long ago, for reasons unknown, this world developed its own soul and became a living organism. Overflowing with supernatural energies like Mana and Spirit Energy, Terrarium has birthed monstrous entities that even the Gods, in their millions of years of existence, have struggled to defeat. The Original Demon King was one such being—a colossus so immense it annihilated many of their fleets and slaughtered dozens of Gods before it could be stopped. Even then, they could not destroy it completely. Its soul shattered, but its body fell into eternal slumber, becoming the Demon Continent. From its living, breathing flesh, demons were born and multiplied.”
“W-Woah, slow down—you’re dumping all of this on me right now?!” I groaned, facepalming. “Damn it, and my friends all left!”
“It is better this way, Sylphy,” Nephilim sighed. “There are truths I would rather keep between the two of us—revelations that could shatter people’s perception of reality. You, having reincarnated from another world, are a far better candidate to hear them. Especially since your original world, based on the memories you shared about those ancient ruins, was likely one of the planets the Gods once colonized and terraformed… only to abandon it once most usable resources were drained.”
“W-Wait… WHAT?!” I screamed, disbelief crashing over me. “T-That’s…! Wait…! That actually makes sense! Is this why Magic was dying in my original world? Why magicians were so rare, why monsters and magic beasts kept vanishing…?”
“Your planet was once brimming with magic and life,” Nephilim said quietly. “Over millennia, they extracted it all and left behind a husk. Through sheer stubbornness, the descendants of their slaves survived generation after generation until you were born there. That… is likely what happened. But it’s only my theory. Take it with a grain of salt.”
“Holy shit… I guess tonight really is the time of revelations,” I breathed heavily. “Wow… I hadn’t thought about my original world in years, and you just dropped that bomb out of nowhere… But it fits. Why would humans—and even the fae, who were so much like elves—exist on a completely different planet? It never made sense… unless we were planted there.”
“Indeed,” Nephilim sighed. “And that truth isn’t even everything yet. Do you know why the Gods chose the long game instead of leaving or attacking with full force? They are afraid. Afraid the planet will birth an even more terrifying Demon King. They are not benevolent. They have no desire to live in peace with this world, let alone nurture their creations, you, the tribes, any of us. No, they are not acting out of kindness. Though they may… care, to some small degree, after millions of years of boredom, their true motive is far colder. Terrarium might be the most precious planet they have ever discovered. Their ultimate goal is the core of the world, where the planet’s soul resides. They have already scanned it and learned the core is made of an extraordinarily rich, divine material capable of revolutionizing their technology—granting them the power to travel through dimensions and planes. Once they secure it, they plan an interdimensional conquest, using the core as fuel for their next ascension.”
As Nephilim’s words settled, I fell silent, letting the weight of it all crash into my mind and heart. My original world being an abandoned, terraformed colony made horrifying sense. And this planet harboring something so precious in its core—something the Gods craved more than anything—was another staggering revelation.
That they were Gods? I had already suspected that much; it wasn’t the part that shook me deepest.
But the rest? Too insane. Too terrifying.
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