The twelve True Gods knew sothing else.
That was a secret known only to those who had befriended the three dragon kings in an era when the Charioteer still lived and the Dragon Kingdom had not yet been established.
Since "Frost" is the controller of ice, she holds concepts like "Stillness", "Hatred", "Lant", "Annihilation"; while "Char" is the master of flas, representing "Passion", "Joy", "Intensity", "Rebirth". They form a set of perfect Dual Aspects.
Whenever the power of "Frost" strengthens, her vitality weakens, and "Char" weakens accordingly, while his will and vitality grow stronger; the reverse is also true. Like cold and heat—similar yet opposite, unable to coexist—they are like the two poles in an hourglass.
Just as winter and sumr alternate, spring departs and autumn arrives.
Then what about their brother, the Black Dragon known as "Ash"?
No doubt, he cannot form the Dual Aspects alone because the other aspect that should correspond to him died before it was even born.
And the power he holds is called "Corruption".
—It is the Corruption of the path of downfall.
The reason this world is filled with curses, corruption, and lantation is that even the many True Gods cannot turn things around.
Simply because from the beginning, the pure dragon, the creature without scales or blemish... was never born.
The reason why he beca the ruler of the Dragon Kingdom is singular. Because he would not weaken, nor alter his will, and he would never be subject to others.
Because he is the ever-stationary hourglass that will not turn by itself. He is like the difference between the mirror and reality.
For Ash, the Charioteer was like an older sister to him. They correspond to each other as Dual Aspects, possessing mirror-image powers.
And indeed, they did form the Dual Aspects in reality.
With the oppression of the Goddess of Purity, there has always remained two-thirds of the sand in the hourglass unspilled—this implies that the Charioteer held twice the power of Ash at her peak.
The power of purity suppresses the power of corruption.
Thus beings like "Sisyphus" and organizations like the "Legion" could be born.
... But after the Charioteer perished, the sand ran out.
The "Path of Ascension" founded by the Charioteer and the "Path of Corruption" created by Ash were thus established.
Just as it is said in "On the Mysteries of Fate and the Dice’s Halves," "to ascend is to leap, to descend is to step by step."
Compared with the corrupt who can grow stronger over ti, the path of ascension is actually the bleaker one.
Any creature that steps off the "common line," corrupts and activates its soul, faces an irreversible choice.
If they ascend, the major attributes enhanced after reaching the silver tier will always be "Will"; and upon reaching the gold tier, their insatiable desires will be completely solidified, while all other desires gradually diminish.
A desire so intense that it wants to change the entire world, a will so resolute it wouldn’t alter its path, and compared to these... extrely feeble power.
Fortunately, this intense craving can awaken the Book of Truth.
If it weren’t for the Elental Power provided by the "Heart of the Void," stolen back by Protheus, then Transcendents at the gold tier simply wouldn’t have Elental Power, let alone a noble false body. They’d only possess powers slightly stronger than the silver tier, a little more enhanced attributes... and that’s it.
Compared to the intense desire that cuts deep to the bone, these powers are far too scarce.
And besides this desire, they had nothing and could do nothing.
So after their ascension to godhood, they could walk the Righteous Path with dignity and diligence.
It was because they were so difficult and so fortunate that they could transform the world, using the power and authority they desired and adhering to their original ideas and wills, instead of becoming corrupt after becoming gods.
This is also why among the earliest deities, there were simply no so-called "Evil Gods."
"Evil Gods" are not gods with evil powers, but gods with improper conduct.
They either commit evil acts using their divine authority; or the clergy under them commit so many atrocities that they are directly wanted by the local Orthodox Church for an entire church; or they completely abandon their duties, thus plunging the world into chaos.
One of the main duties of the Orthodox Church is to eradicate and exterminate the Heretic Church.
According to the constraints of the "Chrono-Law" ceremony, if a True God wants to take action personally, they must first destroy all the churches of the opponent that are still operating normally and holding worship services; or cause them to no longer have bishops or higher-ranked clergy—since only bishops can establish new churches and operate them. A re Priest standing in a church does not count as the church being "in use."
Although the Forefather granted those who reach the position of Stigmatization the gift of "Elental Power," greatly increasing the number of Transcendents who chose the path of ascension, it also made those ascenders less pure.
Deities are the highest-ranking civil servants in this world.
After the death of the Charioteer, the chanically operated "Chariot" only chooses souls that already et the standard to be granted the Book of Truth.
It cannot educate and cultivate "slightly qualified" souls like the Charioteer did, nor will it weave a brand-new Book of Truth for talented individuals one-on-one. It can only "select Fragnts of Truth with one click" for suitable candidates.
Thus, the number of ascenders must be increased so that the developnt of the world will not stagnate—because only when gods of the relevant fields appear will ambiguous concepts solidify.
And the solution Forefather ca up with was to "significantly improve the treatnt of ascenders."
That is, to provide the world with Elental Power.
A power that allows Dyed Souls to easily crush the "fallen."
Indeed, this greatly increased the number of ascenders, but it also caused Ash so dissatisfaction.
From the ti they launched the Heaven Seizing Expedition, the terrifying ratio of new ascenders to the fallen of over 1:50 in the first year fell back to 1:20 in the second year and continued to decrease each year. This was still the case even though becoming a fallen would get you "Emperor’s Favor," and Ash encouraged his people to beco the fallen.
—This also beca the foundation of courage for the fragile Elves to leave the Empire and live independently.
For the Elves, who were all ascenders, this was akin to having a "customized cheat."
But after leaving the Empire, the Elves did not discriminate against the fallen. Because at that ti, the term "fallen" originally ant "people with horns on their heads." They were just a little hotter tempered.
—Those were "Ash’s" horns.
Wings, tentacles, curved horns, fangs, claws, scales, venomous blood—these [appendages] were a part of Ash. They were gradually gravitating towards Ash, or rather... Ash had the power of all the fallen.
In the aesthetics of the Elves, these belonged to the cooler category—because the Elves were almost all dragon worshippers. Dragons naturally satisfy the aesthetic preferences of Elves, just like humans like cats.
After the Elves arrived in Aesirland, they also established a complete tradition. And here, the ratio of ascenders to the fallen beca 9:1.
And at that ti, many people embarked on the path of ascension not because they "wanted to beco gods to transform the world"... but simply because "it seed more profitable than the path of the fallen."
Since then, the birth of Evil Gods began to erge one after another.
They didn’t think that "gods" should bear any responsibilities—or rather, they weren’t here for this responsibility from the start.
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