Naless Death narrowed his eyes.
"A test. What kind?"
"Fifteen thousand years from now, when the barrier I’ve created lifts, you’ll need to defeat Barbatos. If you manage that, I’ll give you the information you need."
He stared at her, silent for a mont.
’Barbatos... I think I could defeat him even now, if I pushed myself. But that far in the future...’
He looked at the back of his palm, where a number had been tattooed: [15,000].
"This number," he said, "ans that at the end of fifteen thousand years, Berserker will have absorbed all the chaos elentals from the Voraka Site. That’ll give him the strength he needs for the final fight."
"Correct," the Supre of Water replied with a small nod.
"But once the chaos elentals disappear, the Eternals will be able to detect the Ashes hidden there. They’ll co."
"Yes, but not instantly."
He frowned.
"What do you an?"
"The Eternals aren’t omnipotent, not their ability to detect sothing at least.
"When the chaos elentals vanish, there’ll be a delay—a single instant—before they sense the Ashes.
"In that mont, you’ll need to defeat Barbatos. Only then will I tell you how to place the Ashes into your Cosmos."
Naless Death looked at her as if trying to gauge whether she was serious.
"So, you’re telling I have one instant to win a fight, and only then will you give the information I need to control the Ashes? Doesn’t that seem a bit... needlessly complicated? The universe is at stake here. It’s not a ga."
"One, I don’t care about the universe. Two, this is how you’ll prove to your Path is strong enough to warrant my interference."
He opened his mouth to argue, but her body suddenly slumped forward.
The glow in her eyes dimd.
Leonora’s body began to fall, but Naless Death moved quickly and caught her before she hit the ground.
He looked down at her and then toward the furnace, the flas inside still crackling softly.
"Fifteen thousand years, huh," he murmured to himself. "That’s more than enough ti to prepare."
He stepped outside the forge and raised his hand.
"Heavenly Record."
[Yes?] the familiar voice answered.
"If I created multiple Heavenly Records like you, how many of them could I connect to at once?"
There was a long pause.
[...What exactly are you thinking?] the voice sounded stupefied, as if wondering how did he even co up with such thought.
"You’re an independent entity, capable of using Nine-Fold Resonance like .
"Since you can connect with , I managed to use Eighteen-Fold Resonance by combining both of our Nine-Fold Resonance," Naless Death explained.
""So, theoretically, if I made nine Heavenly Records and resonated with all of them, wouldn’t I achieve Eighty-One-Fold Resonance?"
[....Let check.]
The connection went quiet as the Heavenly Record began calculating.
Naless Death waited, pacing slowly outside the forge.
He knew the idea was wild.
Creating one Heavenly Record had taken everything he had at the ti.
However, now that he knew what his Path was, he would have an easier ti creating more Heavenly Records.
He could create infinite number of Heavenly Records given so ti.
However, he wouldn’t be able to connect with all of them.
The number he could connect with would depend on his Existence Level.
After a few minutes, the voice returned.
[....I’ve found the answer.]
Naless Death stopped pacing.
"So? How many can I connect to?"
[Uhm, are you sure about this? It might have so side effects—]
"How many?"
[....Eighty One]
Naless Death made a quick calculation in his head.
"So with you and pitching in, I should be able to achieve seven hundred forty-seven-fold Resonance."
[Correct.]
The Heavenly Record sounded resigned, like it had already given up on convincing Naless Death to follow a more normal path to power.
But to its horror, he wasn’t finished.
"You can use my abilities, so start creating the Heavenly Records.
"I’ll handle the last part myself since only I can do it as I’m the one who created my Path. Also, do another calculation for ."
[What do I need to calculate?]
"How many Heavenly Records can connect to each [Heaven]?"
Currently, there were nine Heavens that Naless Death had created.
[Why?] Heavenly Record 1 sounded confused.
"Connect as many Heavenly Records as you can to each Heaven, then use multi-fold Resonance to increase the speed of ti passing inside them.
"That way people inside them will grow stronger fast, and I will be able to get a lot of techniques."
[....Okay.]
Heavenly Record 1 had a single thought.
Was Naless Death even right in the head?
Who ca up with absurd plans like this?
...
Universal Will POV
The Universal Will stared at Naless Death, almost on the verge of tears.
Why?
Why couldn’t this bastard just rank up like a normal god?
Why did he always have to go round and round, skipping all common sense?
’...Maybe I should’ve let him die at the hands of the Supre of Shadows.’
As if that weren’t enough, the Universal Will already had its hands full.
The Supres were moving in the secret, planning things it couldn’t yet see clearly.
And now this.
At least until now, Naless Death’s madness was limited to the Voraka Site. But soon he would leave, and—
’No. There is still hope.’
’He can still fail. If he can’t defeat Barbatos, this entire plan will collapse.’
The Universal Will wasn’t concerned about its own safety.
It wasn’t afraid of dying. It just didn’t want to work more.
It really, really didn’t want to work more.
...
Kevin (Apostle) POV
Kevin stood silently in front of the observation glass, arms folded behind his back.
The transparent wall stretched from floor to ceiling, revealing the distant red planet suspended in the void beyond.
Thin tendrils of red mist drifted across its surface, but they were fewer now than before.
He watched it closely, as if waiting for sothing—anything—to change.
The room around him was quiet except for the rhythmic hum of the station’s core reactor.
Dren stood a few feet behind him, fidgeting slightly.
Sweat beaded on his forehead, despite the controlled temperature.
He hadn’t expected Kevin to show up in person.
Apostles were haughty beings who rarely intervened with matters unless it was for Quests or an order by their Witch.
"What happened to the ant that ca out of the Site?" Kevin asked.
"It’s corrupted by Berserk Death Elentals. But it’s retaining its sanity in ways we didn’t expect."
Kevin turned slightly, raising an eyebrow.
Dren continued quickly, "It’s a Berserker Ant. We think it could be useful in the war."
"Useful," Kevin repeated. He said it flatly, as if trying out the word.
Dren gave a cautious smile. "Not just useful, it could be potentially a frontline combatant in smaller skirmishes. We’ve already started adapting so of its techniques into modular battle systems."
Kevin looked back at the planet.
"And the Heavenbreaker we sent inside?"
Dren’s posture straightened, and the sweat on his brow seed to montarily vanish in the rush of excitent.
"He is still inside. Based on initial plan, he should exit in about fourteen to fifteen thousand years. It could take longer, but it wouldn’t be more than twenty thousand years."
Kevin said nothing.
Dren took that as a cue to elaborate.
"He’ll co out at Peak Stage 4. We’re confident about this."
Fifteen thousand years to peak Stage 4 was nearly unheard of.
Only the heirs of Hegemony Empires could manage anything close to such a feat.
Dren was excited to have a talent like that in their hands.
"What about his planet? Have you found it?"
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