[Vol. 8] Chapter 256: The Twilight Council and the Forbidden Mystery
“Huh?”
Caught off guard by that unexpected answer, Violet froze for a moment, then finally turned her head and looked straight at the goddess beside her.
“What do you mean? What do you mean by ‘retreated’?”
Sethlin nodded and confirmed again.
“Just what it sounds like. She withdrew and left the territory of the Azure Sky Kingdom. It’s even very likely that She pulled her avatar out of this world entirely and returned to one of Her lairs outside the realm. This probably happened not too long ago.”
“This has been confirmed many times from the mouths of captured followers of the Goddess of Desire, and even from those directly linked to Her. Their divine powers are indeed gradually fading. I also haven’t sensed that annoying divine energy in a while. There’s a very high chance this is all true.”
“...?”
Logically, this should’ve been good news. But when something is too unusual, there's always a catch. And this clearly didn’t feel right.
Violet had been in contact with Sethlin and knew well the situation between the two gods involved in the Azure Sky Kingdom conflict. As the highest-ranking god on the side of Chaos, the Goddess of Desire, [Dysaer], was no weaker than the former Goddess of Earth.
Even though her true form was blocked outside the world by a barrier, she could still send avatars and channel divine power into the world. Unless she clashed directly with Sethlin, who now ruled the Azure Sky Kingdom, her influence wasn’t much different from showing up in person. After all, even just an avatar of a Main God was almost unbeatable in this world.
She had only arrived a few months ago, but with her ability to stir desire and chaos, she had already built a huge and fast-growing church within the Azure Sky Kingdom. Many weak-minded winged people had been swayed to join her, which created big problems for Sethlin, the goddess protecting that nation.
In a way, the fight between the church of the Goddess of Desire and the official Azure Sky Kingdom government was as intense as the full-scale wars between the world’s major powers.
With a main god as their backer, if it weren’t for Sethlin keeping things in balance, those people might’ve already come out in the open and started seriously challenging the current rulers.
And yet, right when her church was growing stronger and her influence spreading wider, the one behind it all, the Goddess of Desire… just ran away?
It didn’t make sense. Gods don’t need followers, but they still benefit from them. The more believers they have, the more power they get. For a true god already at the top of the world, faith is one of the few things that still matters. [Dysaer] was no exception.
Now that she gave up her church and fled, she not only lost a huge number of followers and faith power she had worked hard to gather, but she also created a crisis of trust that would make it much harder for her to gain followers in the future. That’s a huge loss.
As an experienced god, the Goddess of Desire definitely understood this. So if she still chose to leave, it meant that either staying would’ve brought her even bigger losses… or—
“It means she must have a more urgent and important goal, something that could bring her far more value than just faith.”
“Exactly. That’s not hard to figure out.”
Sethlin and Violet exchanged looks, both understanding something in that moment. Violet’s expression grew more serious.
“Did you find out what it is?”
Sethlin nodded slightly and answered with a thoughtful tone.
“I had a vague feeling about it during the few times I fought with [Dysaer], both in the open and in secret. Now that she’s done something so strange and illogical, it really confirms my earlier suspicions. I think… the invasion of the Azure Sky Kingdom wasn’t her main goal. It was just something she stumbled into along the way. Her real intention was to search for something.”
As if suddenly realizing something, the priestess frowned deeply and corrected herself in a low voice.
“No, no… it’s not her who was searching. It’s the Twilight Council that’s looking for something.”
“Remember? The time [Dysaer] appeared on your side was almost exactly the same time those people were setting a trap to ambush me. It’s very likely that she and the God of the Wilds entered this world at the same time, using similar methods, partly to complete some mission, and partly to distract you as a main god, so that you wouldn’t have time to come help me, reducing the chance their ambush would fail.”
“And these two events are very likely just parts of a much bigger plan. That would explain why she gave up her growing power and influence so easily, because leaving was always part of the plan.”
“The Twilight Council... if that’s true, then this whole thing is going to be even more troublesome.”
The goddess looked thoughtful, then quickly added more:
“We still don’t know exactly what the Goddess of Desire was searching for inside the Azure Sky Kingdom, but after questioning a few of her high-ranking followers, I was able to piece together a few clues.”
“The Azure Sky Kingdom lies at the far south of the world and is made up of a hundred thousand floating islands. The land there is very different from when the Goddess of Earth was still around. Based on other information I’ve gathered over the years, it’s not hard to guess the following. The formation of those floating islands is likely connected to the great disaster caused by the gods a thousand years ago.”
“Before the gods went to fight the source of that disaster, they probably hid certain things on the land that is now the Azure Sky Kingdom. Those things later became the reason for more fighting and chaos, which may have triggered the formation of the floating islands.”
“You’ve been there before, so you should know that many of those islands still have ruins from ancient times. Some of them were used to seal away parts of Seth’s broken soul, but others… are hiding different things.”
“[Dysaer] made such a big show, spreading her faith, fighting me openly, not just to gain power, but likely to keep my attention focused on her. Meanwhile, in secret, her people were searching the floating islands for something. And from what we’ve found out so far, that ‘something’... probably isn’t a physical object.”
“Not a physical object?” Violet raised an eyebrow.
“If the gods left it behind before going to battle that unspeakable threat, then it’s likely something deeply connected to it. If it’s not a physical thing, then it could be… a kind of power passed down, or maybe… knowledge?”
Knowledge or a legacy…
The young priestess began to think deeply.
First, the time [Dysaer] showed up in the Azure Sky Kingdom was almost exactly the same time Violet was being ambushed by the Twilight Council. Because of that, Sethlin didn’t have time to help in the battle. But at the same time, the Council also lost the help of a god-level ally. It’s hard to say whether that was good or bad for either side.
Even the mysterious Chairman of the Twilight Council took action during that battle, showing how important it was. Yet they still chose to send a god-level member like [Dysaer] to do something else at the same time. That shows that, to the Council, both events were equally important, or maybe the thing [Dysaer] was doing was even more important.
Violet still didn’t fully understand what the Twilight Council was trying to do, but she wasn’t completely in the dark anymore. If they really are surviving gods from after that great disaster, then their main goal is probably “survival.” And that goal is likely tied to the terrifying being that destroyed so many gods back then.
To survive, there are really only two options: weaken your enemy, or make yourself stronger. So whatever [Dysaer] is searching for, it’s likely meant to help with one of those two goals.
Heron had told her before that the Twilight Council is enemies with the [World Sustainers], and both sides are very focused on the ancient ruins that contain the remains of the [World-Eater Serpent]. So it’s likely that those ruins contain something very important, something that could help with either survival or victory. Something truly powerful.
Could that thing be the Serpent’s body itself?
No… the answer couldn’t be that simple. It didn’t match everything else they knew.
Then one final detail stood out, [Dysaer] didn’t come earlier or later, she came at this exact time to search for that thing. That means this wasn’t something that could be done just anytime. It probably required a special condition to be met first.
And since the timing was so close, the “thing without a physical form” that the Council wants is probably closely tied to the ruins that were just recently unearthed, and that they’re now watching very closely.
Something with no physical form, connected to the ruins, and powerful enough to shake the world… something even gods would desperately want...
Could such a thing really exist...?
It actually does!
Suddenly, the image of the mysterious writing she had seen carved into the stone inside that ancient hall flashed in the priestess’s mind. Everything that happened afterward, the way all the gods were alarmed at once, it all came back to her like a flash of lightning.
Her eyes went wide.
“Is it… the [Forbidden Words]!?”
“Violet, what did you say?”
Sethlin was also surprised, but the black-haired girl quickly began to explain.
"What if… the thing the Twilight Council is looking for is actually some kind of special content written in the [Forbidden Words]?"
“……”
The Goddess of Life, of course, had already discussed this mysterious writing in detail with a few of her allies not long after the strange events first began. Now, Violet’s bold theory made her fall silent for a moment, but at the same time, she unconsciously began nodding while thinking it over.
It was clear that, while the idea sounded wild, it actually made a surprising amount of sense.
"You're right… it's very possible. In fact, this might be the most likely explanation right now. There are very few things that gods cannot obtain or understand, and [Forbidden Words] is definitely one of those rare things."
The green-haired goddess looked slightly excited, as if many things that had confused her before suddenly became clear.
"Impressive, Violet! How come I didn’t think of that?"
“Hehe, that’s because I’m smart~” Violet said proudly.
Ignoring her friend’s smug tone, Sethlin’s mind continued racing, and she began filling in more details to support the theory.
"Now that I think about it… when I fought [Dysaer] before, she tried to invite me to join the Twilight Council. She said their plan was already reaching the final, most important stage. And if it worked, it would change not just our world, but all worlds. Looking back, that kind of massive effect really does match the rumors about how dangerous the [Forbidden Words] is."
"Oh?"
Violet raised an eyebrow in surprise, then smiled a little to herself. She remembered how [God of Wilderness and Savagery] had also tried, more than once, to convince her to join the Twilight Council before they became enemies.
From that, it was easy to tell, the Twilight Council must be short on power. Even though they seem to have at least ten god-level members, they’re still trying to recruit more gods, no matter if they stand for order, chaos, or neutrality. That likely means they still don’t have enough strength to complete their goal.
Violet couldn’t help but tease, "So how did our great Goddess of Life respond? Don’t tell me you actually said yes~"
"Of course not..."
Sethlin gave a helpless smile, then quickly turned serious again.
"Even though she seemed sincere, [Dysaer] kept avoiding key details when I asked important questions. I couldn't bring myself to trust her. Also, judging from the Council’s actions so far, I get the feeling that their so-called grand plan might involve terrible sacrifices, possibly even built on mountains of corpses. That’s not something the power of Life can ever accept."
"Now that I think about it, they may really be planning to use the [Forbidden Words], or the power behind it. That force is too dangerous. Even though I don’t fully understand what it is, I can feel that if anything goes wrong, it could lead to the total destruction of our world."
"That really sounds like something a god of order would say~" Violet smiled, but her mind kept working nonstop.
If everything they had guessed so far was correct, and the Goddess of Desire was searching for something written in [Forbidden Words], then that idea opened up many more clues to follow.
For example, what if the power behind the [Forbidden Words] is actually something strong enough to fight against the same terrifying force that once destroyed the gods?
That would mean two incredibly high-level forces exist in this world, and they are probably opposites.
For some reason, Violet suddenly thought again about what she saw inside Serpent's Heart. The image from the past that she could barely glimpse using the power of the [Anchor of Time].
She remembered that giant, sky-darkening serpent spinning through the air, fighting against Light.
The [Forbidden Words] was found in the ruins where the remains of the Serpent were buried. It was hard to believe that was just a coincidence.
She also remembered the short part of the script she had been able to translate back then. It mentioned something called the “Ring of Heaven and Earth.” What was that ring? And how was it connected to these two opposing powers?
Thinking about this, Violet couldn’t help but ask a question, one she had actually asked before.
“Sethlin, what is the [Forbidden Words]?”
As if she had expected this question, the Goddess of Life shook her head without hesitation.
“No living being knows where the [Forbidden Words] comes from. At least, not that I’ve ever heard of. It’s like the [Ancient Niel language], no one knows how that came to exist either. Both of them don’t just represent language, they represent rules themselves. In fact, they might have existed even before the gods were born.”