[Vol. 9] Chapter 46: The Cost of Help
The priestess was almost certain that Hen must also have a deep connection with this organization. After all, Carinvega’s soul from another world was brought here by her, and many things that happened before could not be separated from that person.
Maybe this was Hen’s real ally. As for whether the Twilight Council or the World Sustainers had noticed their existence, the answer was most likely no.
After all, Violet had dealt with both groups in different ways, sometimes even directly fighting them. With what the priestess knew about them, if they really were aware that such a hidden force was secretly stirring things from the shadows, many of their actions would have already changed long ago.
Even though she had outlined a rough picture, it was still mostly bits and pieces. After thinking it over, Violet found it hard to dig any deeper, so she simply gave up on continuing down that path.
She calmed her mind, took a step forward, and the scene around her shifted once more. In the next moment, she was already back at the bottom of the deep sea, where the evil god’s tentacles rested.
Moraya was still floating there with her eyes closed. But compared to her messy, awkward state at the beginning, she had now gotten used to the environment. Sitting cross-legged, streams of mysterious power flowed toward her like ocean tides, causing her aura to rise higher and higher.
Her body didn’t grow any tentacles. Even though Octavier had forcefully brought Moraya here, that didn’t mean they planned to pass their divine seat to her. In this world, aside from the most important golden and silver light that seemed to suppress everything in this place, there were also countless leftovers, “remnants” that might have fallen here from the Battlefield of Divine Catastrophe.
These remnants were fragments of divinity left after the gods had fallen. They could also be seen as the source of power for God’s Chosen. Because they had been cut away from the battlefield, they hadn’t been reclaimed. Instead, they gathered here and formed a massive power.
This was what Moraya really needed to absorb and inherit. Such an enormous power of origin, combined with the constant uplifting influence of that golden and silver light, was an incredible treasure for any being. The only problem was whether one could endure it.
As for the exact benefits, Violet couldn’t promise anything before it was over. But it was certain that Moraya’s strength would improve greatly. Even if she couldn’t leap straight to the top, she could at least make rapid progress, maybe even open the door to that higher realm.
That was why Violet had said earlier, “Do you want to become a god?” She hadn’t been fooling the snow girl. Every long journey begins with a single step. If the Nameless Demon Lord from the Ancient Spirit Realm had gotten such a chance back then, maybe she wouldn’t have needed to study that forbidden method of stealing existence, and could have stepped onto the divine path much more easily.
So Violet quietly waited again for about half a day. Finally, Moraya’s surging aura calmed down. The young girl slowly opened her eyes, and sharp lightning-like light flashed within them. A shockwave exploded outward!
Six glowing ribbons of light waved around her, and starting from them, the seawater instantly froze into extreme ice that spread for ten thousand meters in just a blink!
Luckily, the priestess had already used the power of [Feather Robe Graria] to separate the seawater, so she wasn’t affected. Sitting on her shoulder, the little creature tilted its head curiously, looking at the frozen sea before them with the innocent look of a bystander enjoying the show.
But the power came and went quickly. Before Violet could even react, it pulled back, and the seawater returned to normal.
A vacuum zone spread out, covering Moraya’s body. As if waking from a long dream, a trace of loss flashed across her face. Only then did she notice the black-haired girl still standing quietly at her side, as if she had never left. Moraya forced a faint, slightly reluctant smile.
“Miss Violet.”
“Congratulations on your breakthrough. But… you don’t look very happy about it?”
The snow girl nodded, then hesitated for a moment before finally speaking.
“You’re right. Truth is like poison. The more of it one knows, the easier it hurts them.”
She suddenly said this strange sentence. Seeing that the priestess only nodded slightly without replying, Moraya spoke again.
“Just now… I saw them.”
The black-haired girl raised her brows slightly.
“Octavier?”
The true name of a god was once again spoken as if it were nothing. But this time, the deep sea did not stir up even the smallest ripple.
The whispers and dark waves had all disappeared. In fact, the huge tentacles that had been crawling across the seabed had already vanished into bubbles the moment Moraya opened her eyes after her breakthrough. Even the countless strange creatures in the sea were gone.
This meant that the Inner World had already faded away, and they had returned to the world beneath the icy seas of the far north.
They had quietly left.
As if both women understood without needing to say it, neither of them mentioned this again. After a while, Moraya looked deeply at the black-haired girl in front of her.
“Miss Violet, you are also a god, aren’t you? The trial they mentioned doesn’t match what really happened. Originally, all of this should have been faced by me alone. But you stayed by my side from beginning to end, and the difficulty was far too low. A trial set by a god could never have such a big flaw. The only explanation is that power equal to or greater than a god interfered.”
The priestess didn’t confirm or deny it. She just spread her hands casually and said,
“Gods are not the only highest beings in this world. If you like to call everything beyond human understanding ‘god,’ then yes, you can call me that.”
“...?”
Moraya seemed surprised by this answer that was neither a yes nor a no. She paused, then her gaze fell on the little wooden puppet idly sitting on the priestess’s shoulder. Soon, as if she understood something, she nodded slightly and didn’t press the question further.
“The sea goddess I saw was only a divine thought they had left behind earlier. It would only be triggered when an inheritor who passed all the trials appeared, and then it would be delivered directly into their mind.”
“It contained the reason for the creation of this special space, some secrets from ancient times, and they also told me to keep traveling the world, to search for spaces like this one and complete the trials there. Only by doing so could I grow stronger step by step. Besides that…”
Moraya suddenly stopped, as if remembering something. Her expression looked hesitant, and her eyes shifted between the priestess and the little dull creature on her shoulder. Violet quickly noticed her unease and simply smiled calmly.
“Why are you hesitating? Don’t hide it. You’re wondering why I’m helping you so much, right? Afraid that I’m being kind for no reason, since we’re neither family nor close friends, and that I must have some hidden motive… isn’t that it?”