The Spirit Cataclysm of the Capital was the trigger that ended the Second Epoch, forcing humankind to migrate westward and start afresh. Such a montous event was bound to attract the interest of many scholars, but none had been able to co to a convincing conclusion about what had happened back then.
The only thing known about the Spirit Cataclysm of the Capital was that it was likely related to the Savior’s depravity, but it was unknown how these two matters were tied together. The world leaders were reluctant to spread word about the Savior lest it lead to pandemonium, so most books had rely described it as a mana calamity.
But today, Roel was privileged to learn what happened in the execution of the final plan’s second half.
“Roel, do you rember what I said the final plan’s goal was?”
“Yes, it’s to absorb the Savior’s power and create a new god to defeat the Mother Goddess.”
“The bulk of what we have talked about thus far concerns the first half of the final plan, but the second half’s new god is extrely important too.”
“Isn’t that person Carolyn?” Roel asked with a perplexed frown.
However, Antonio shook his head and replied, “That was the initial plan, but when they tried to put it into action, they discovered that it can’t be done.”
“It can’t be done? Why? There’s no one more suitable than Carolyn, right?”
“In terms of absolute strength, yes, but that’s the biggest bottleneck too.”
As Antonio further elaborated on the matter, Roel soon understood why Carolyn was not a suitable candidate. Ultimately, this was a problem of ‘capacity’.
Both the Savior’s and the Mother Goddess’ powers originated from Genesis Goddess Sia, which was why awakeners of the Kingmaker Bloodline could, theoretically, absorb their powers. But when Charles and Carolyn tried to pull it off, they realized that the amount they could absorb was severely limited, and it was difficult to control the absorbed powers.
That was why Carolyn, despite having absorbed a lot of the Savior’s mana, still had to rely on her own powers during her battle with Roel. Even soone as overwhelmingly talented as her struggled to control the Savior’s powers.
Furthermore, while Carolyn gained new ans through grasping control of the Savior’s powers, it didn’t fundantally strengthen her. There was a subtle but significant difference between the two.
The goal of the final plan was to create a new god capable of standing on equal ground with the Mother Goddess and the Savior so as to change humankind’s plight. Just because Carolyn grasped so of the Savior’s powers didn’t make her an existence on par with them.
Upon realizing this issue, Charles and Carolyn quickly investigated the matter, and they arrived at a simple conclusion.
“Only soone with the powers of the Ascarts and the Ackermanns can properly absorb the Savior’s power and possibly ascend to godhood.”
“Soone with the powers of the Ascarts and the Ackermanns? How… does that work?”
“There are several ways to pull it off, but the easiest one is matrimony between the two clans,” Antonio said.
“!” Roel widened his eyes.
He suddenly recalled the advice he had received from Ro Ascart’s soul fragnt back in Saint Freya Academy’s Night of the Demons.
Ro Ascart had spent a lot of ti researching the disappeared Twilight Sages Assembly to make sense of their lost lineage, and in the process of doing so, he obtained one of Charles’ docunts. The docunt ntioned how the Ascarts and Ackermanns had to combine their bloodlines to find their past glory.
It was on that basis that Ro requested Roel to ‘conquer’ Lilian.
While Roel had sohow accomplished that mission years later, the reason Charles had said those words in that docunt remained a mystery to him. It was only when he heard about the final plan now that the reason finally dawned on him.
I see! The docunt Ro found back then was likely a torn page from the final plan’s proposal, Roel thought with a nod.
But new doubts quickly surfaced in his mind.
“It still doesn’t make sense. If the Ackermanns and the Ascarts united in hopes of conceiving a child for the final plan, why did the Ascarts flee and seek the Theocracy’s protection in the early years of the Third Epoch?” Roel asked with a frown.
“Simple. The plan wasn’t put into action because the odds weren’t in our favor.”
“The odds?”
“The most straightforward way to bring the strengths of both clans together is through childbirth, but the chances of it happening naturally are abysmally low. The Ascarts and the Ackermanns had already fallen into decline, so there weren’t many suitably-aged individuals around. Thus, they opted for another thod—artificial reproduction, otherwise known as the Nurturing Plan.”
“Artificial reproduction? Is that possible?” Roel frowned upon hearing those words.
Attempts to artificially reproduce a life was bound to involve human experintation, and that was a huge taboo.
On top of that, the goal of this artificial reproduction was not to nurture an ordinary human being but one who possessed specific powers. There was an imnse difference between these two. The forr was an attempt to simulate a favorable environnt for reproduction outside of the womb, whereas the latter was equivalent to playing god.
There was only one person in the Sia Continent whom Roel knew possessed such powers—the Mother of All Lives, Genesis Goddess Sia. Not even Banjol, with his Divine Domain, could pull off sothing as delicate as this.
Roel shook his head as he denied the possibility of the matter.
However, Antonio tossed out a surprising answer: “Artificial reproduction has remained out of our reach even to this day, let alone in the Second Epoch. But what if Sia is the one to nurture this child?”
“Sia?” Roel had no idea what Antonio was getting at.
Antonio’s words sounded utterly ludicrous to him.
Sia is no longer around, and of the Two who have inherited Her strength, the Savior has lost his sanity, whereas the Mother Goddess is in hibernation. It was impossible for Them to be involved in the Nurturing Plan…
Wait a mont!
Realization suddenly struck Roel, and he widened his eyes in astonishnt. He subconsciously glanced at Carolyn.
Antonio nodded in affirmation as he said, “Yes, the Nurturing Plan involves having Carolyn collect and cleanse the Savior’s mana. While the Mother Goddess has inherited Sia’s power to create new life, the Savior has inherited Her power of governance and nurturing.”
“Governance? I see…” Roel murmured in a daze.
He suddenly rembered his encounter with the Savior in the Witness State, as well as the ideology He embraced. Thinking about it now, the Savior sought to implent a hierarchical governance system, which was in line with the authority he wielded.
It might just be possible to pull off the Nurturing Plan with such power in hand, and Charles had an ace up his sleeve too.
Charles had used the remnant of a Life Tree to simulate the environnt where Sia had first created life during the inception of the world. This greatly boosted the Nurturing Plan’s chances of success.
With this, all of the problems surrounding the final plan had been resolved.
“…”
Antonio and Astrid’s explanations ca to a halt.
Roel fell silent, as his heart quivered in awe for how ticulous Charles’ revised final plan was. He had previously thought that the notion of creating a god on par with the Mother Goddess and the Savior was a delusion, but the thoroughness of the final plan sparked a ray of hope in him.
It was a stretch to say that the final plan was foolproof—there were elents of luck involved too—but it was theoretically possible to pull off. Should they succeed in the endeavor, it would change humankind’s fate for good.
Humankind would have an expert of Carolyn’s caliber, as well as a god who had absorbed the Savior’s powers. In terms of fighting prowess, they would be able to stand their ground against the Savior and the Mother Goddess.
That should guarantee humankind’s survival, thus liberating them from the doomsday prophecy that had haunted them for thousands of years.
Charles’ revised final plan was a ray of hope in humankind’s darkest ti. Just thinking about it made his heart quiver in excitent. However, he dragged himself back to reality and asked the most crucial question of all.
“So, why did the final plan fail?”
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