Need an indestructible body? Seek the essence of "solidity," "stability," or even "immortality" from the abyss and imbue it.
Need pure destruction? Find essences related to "destruction," "annihilation," or "void" and infuse them into cannons and blades.
As long as the Phantasm Armant, as a living being, can recognize and understand the abyss's countless possibilities, its power will co not from its creator, but from the world itself!
Thus, Ravenna made a decision.
She resolved to beco such a "living being."
She decided to beco the Phantasm Armant, to beco Ansel's weapon itself.
Destroying her external shell, using the Nidhoggur that can decompose into the smallest units as her soul carrier, abandoning the stable and safe Heavenly Road, she imrsed her soul... into the abyss!
Ravenna's peril in choosing the abyss far exceeds that of most extraordinary beings who venture into it, for even when they descend into the abyss, their souls remain within the most suitable vessels.
However, Ravenna's chosen vessel, the Nidhoggur, is so minuscule and unstable that even fifth-stage extraordinary beings cannot detect it, and it can only fully bear a soul when gathered together.
Her soul, housed in such a fragile vessel, should be devoured the mont it touches the abyss.
If extraordinary beings navigating the abyss are like paper subrged in water, destined to disintegrate eventually, then Ravenna is like the tiniest paper fragnt thrown into the water, utterly incapable of withstanding the abyssal torrent.
This is why Ansel considers her actions reckless, sothing even Flalle might not have conceived.
Perhaps in this world… only Ravenna could achieve such a feat.
Once she sets her sights on a goal, no matter the cost or sacrifice, she will act to realize it. …When that goal is himself, she becos so admirable that… Ansel doesn't know how to face her.
"Venna, honestly, how long did your soul, your consciousness… remain in the abyss?" Ansel suddenly asked.
"I don't know. In the realm of taphysical concepts, ti doesn't exist."
Ravenna closed her eyes. "It felt like I drifted for a long ti, yet also like it was just... an instant."
"Was it smooth?"
"Not at all. I can feel that I failed the first ti."
"...The first ti?" Ansel was montarily stunned, then quickly understood and sighed softly, "You and... Helen, huh."
"I split a part of my soul for Helen, but Helen is a fragnt, incomplete. We overlooked this... neither of us is stable."
Ravenna whispered, "Even though I successfully transferred my soul to the Nidhoggur, it still collapsed upon contact with the abyss."
"We are not complete."
"So now you are..."
"Helen is , and Ravenna is also ," Ravenna said calmly. "You don't actually need to use two nas."
Just as Flalle's creation "Annelisa" is entirely Annelisa, Helen and Ravenna are essentially the sa soul. It's just the different experiences and mories have shaped different personalities.
"If you need..."
The petite woman paused, then turned and whispered in Ansel's ear:
"In special monts, calling you by a different na isn't out of the question."
Your next chapter is on empire
"...Daddy."
Ansel placed his hand on Ravenna's shoulder, his tone subtly nuanced: "I think I still know too little about you, Venna."
" too," Ravenna smiled faintly. "It wasn't until I t you that I realized the emptiness and shallowness of my life."
Leaning into Ansel's embrace, she spoke softly but firmly: "So, I will defeat this fate that seeks to make everything follow a predetermined path for you."
At this mont, a terrifying fluctuation emanated from the deep pit.
"Hehehe... Hahahaha! What a marvelous thing! Truly an extraordinary, wonderful thing!"
The maniacal laughter echoed over the ruins.
Ephesande, who had been struck down to the ground by Ansel, floated back into the air. Her hair was disheveled, and she was covered in blood, yet there were no visible wounds.
However, upon closer inspection, one could see a pink mark running from her left shoulder to her right hip. Ansel's previous strike, infused with six lethal essences, had indeed caused her real damage, almost slicing her in two.
Madness, arrogance, disdain... and the severe injuries suffered while attempting to glimpse the seventh stage, along with her suppressed power, had brought Ephesande to this state.
The mighty empress of the era... wounded to this extent by two "brats" who had not inherited any power.
"Is this what Flalle was working on, hmm? Did he get into trouble because he created this? No... it doesn't matter, hehehe... it doesn't matter. I will kill...
kill my damned daughter! Then I'll pin you down in the largest square of the empire and fucking rape you! This armant will also be mine!"
"Seventh stage... the empire... beyond the abyss!"
Boom—!
A torrent of blood flas surged into the sky, almost as if venting sothing, threatening to burn the heavens to ashes.
"All of it... is mine!!!"
"..." Ravenna, sitting in Ansel's lap, frowned, "She's completely lost it."
She and Ansel had been chatting earlier because they both realized that after that strike, Ephesande could no longer restrain her power.
She was on the brink of complete madness. Now, not only was she unleashing flas that could incinerate the sky, but the entire imperial capital was shaking violently under her gravitational pull, as if struck by a massive earthquake. If Ephesande exerted her full strength, the entire capital would be torn apart in seconds!
And this… was with her power being suppressed.
If Ephesande were still a sixth-stage divine species, there would be no chance of victory.
As Ephesande recklessly unleashed her power in a frenzy, Ansel and Ravenna were not idly chatting.
The God from the Machine was also accumulating its final strength.
"Ti is running out..."
Ansel sighed and then shouted to Evora, who was struggling to resist Ephesande:
"Evora, hold on for ten more seconds, just ten more seconds!"
"You damn dog, Ansel, go to hell!"
In Ansel's arms, Ravenna's form beca even more ethereal... This ti, she seed even more ghostly than when she appeared before Evora, as if she would completely dissipate with a touch.
Ravenna was a genius, but not a deity.
The fact that she had transford herself into the God from the Machine through countless secret tos in the Hydral estate's underground library over three years was already a miracle among miracles. Repeatedly seeking power from the abyss, finding essences, and incorporating them into herself… had already brought her to the brink of disintegration.
Now, Ravenna could not maintain the Phantasm Armant for long. When the God from the Machine descended here, Ravenna's soul also entered a countdown to self-destruction.
Ravenna did not tell Ansel about this... This foolish boy, who could already choose to let go for his father, would certainly lose the will to persist if he knew.
I told you, Ansel. I will bring you the power to shatter fate.
Ravenna knew that Ansel, who foresaw the future, valued her so highly because she had unparalleled achievents in that future.
But she didn't care, because that future wasn't hers, nor was it what she needed.
Her ideals and Ansel—she would not accept lacking either. For her ideals were reflected in Ansel's eyes, and Ansel was her ideal.
This was Ravenna Ziegler's resolve, to beco the greatest anomaly in all the rationality that fate had arranged.
To beco the God from the Machine, solely for Ansel.
And... to find more, more crucial essences, for defeating the current Ephesande required—
"Venna."
As Ravenna murmured in her heart, her form becoming even more ethereal, Ansel suddenly spoke:
"Do you think you can deceive a second ti?"
"..."
Ten seconds.
Ravenna did not answer, and Ansel smiled as he posed another question.
"Do you know who I trust the most?"
Nine seconds.
"Ansel!!!!"
The blood flas in the sky transford into an inverted sword of judgnt, plumting towards Ansel!
"Not sure if you'll be angry, but that person…"
"Isn't you yet."
"YOU! OLD! HAG! I'll twist your head off and feed it to the dogs!"
A girl's furious roar approached from afar.
"How dare you... harm Ansel!"
A wolf, having traveled a thousand miles, trampled over the ruins, leaping from the edge of the pit towards the sky, charging unhesitatingly at the descending sword of judgnt.
"So, for you to receive the sa treatnt as Seri in the future."
He grabbed the dazed Ravenna's hand, pressed it to his heart, and smiled gently:
"We have eight seconds left."
*
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