Game of the World Tree

The clear and coherent section of Ouros’ fragmented memories ended here.

What followed was a chaotic storm of fragmented, disjointed scenes, as though an external force had invaded and corroded the fabric of his recollections.

Still, even from these broken snippets, Evé could still piece together Ouros’s subsequent actions.

He sought out the sacred vessel used by their Divine Matriarch as her incarnate body whenever she performed a divine descent, which was safeguarded within the Church of Nature, and also discovered the core fragment of the Scepter of Life that was believed to have been destroyed during the Heavenly War.

After acquiring the sacred vessel and the core fragment, Ouros then began to enact his plan to resurrect their Goddess.

That is, by using their Matriarch’s incarnate body as the primary container, he would store within it the divine power he received from the worship of his believers and ultimately ignite the divine flame of life and nature within the vessel.

This act could indirectly reawaken the dormant divinity within the World Tree’s true body.

If proven feasible, their Matriarch could then use this incarnate vessel as her foundation to fully reawaken herself.

This was a common method employed by the believers of Gods of Faith to resurrect their gods, and although the World Tree was an ancient deity, She had dabbled in the path of faith, making this plan theoretically feasible.

Typically, for a faith-based deity to return, their divine kingdom must remain relatively intact. Only then could the cycle of faith of their respective believers be restored when the divine flame was reignited, thereby ensuring the smooth reawakening of their divinity.

Unfortunately, the World Tree’s divine kingdom had been destroyed by the other gods during the war.

Thus, doubts arose about Ouros’s plan once again:

“Ouros, reawakening Her Grace using the method you proposed is indeed a possibility. Alas… the Matriarch’s divine kingdom was destroyed by those traitorous gods during the war. Without an intact divine kingdom as our foundation, how can the Goddess return through this plan of yours?”

Despite facing such skepticism from the other demigods, Ouros responded calmly:

“The issue of having an intact divine kingdom is not a problem, for I already have one that originally belongs to Her Grace, the Divine Matriarch.”

“A divine kingdom that originally belongs to the Matriarch? Could it be… you’re referring to the sealed realm the Divine Matriarch once bestowed upon you?”

“Precisely.”

“But if I’m not mistaken, that realm has already merged with you, becoming your own divine foundation ever since you began walking the path of divine faith yourself…”

“So what?”

“If you truly intend to use this realm as a substitute for our Matriarch’s divine kingdom, then you must understand that there will be consequences. By doing so, you’ll effectively destroying your own divine foundation, which essentially means death for demigods like you.”

“I have never feared death. The elven race cannot survive without our Divine Matriarch’s guidance, and her return shall ensure those traitorous god’s will pay for what they’ve done. For that, I am willing to give up everything! Be it my life or my eventual descent into darkness just to resurrect our Divine Matriarch…”

༺⟐༻

The remaining fragments of Ouros memories became even more increasingly disjointed and chaotic.

Evé continued to walk along the continuously collapsing passageway as she moved deeper into the remnants of Ouros’s mind.

Along the way, she saw glimpses of his actions where he sacrificed a huge portion of his own life force to forcibly extract the ‘divine kingdom’ that had already fused with him and transformed it into a demi-realm tethered to the realm of Seigües.

He then used his own flesh and blood to create countless half-elves, while the demi-realm rapidly evolved. His divine essence merged with the demi-realm’s provenance, further perfecting its already well-established fundamental laws.

At the same time, three hundred of his own followers also entered this demi-realm, and became the pioneers of a new civilization, sparking the flames of faith amongst the newly created half-elves who inhabited the realm.

Yet Ouros’s consciousness did not fully perish.

By leveraging the power of the Abyss, it somehow lingered in a peculiar, twisted form.

After all, their Divine Matriarch’s resurrection still required his guidance, and only he, as the demi-realm’s master, could oversee the entire process.

Hence, to ensure her smooth reawakening, he was willing to fall into darkness.

He would wait.

He would watch.

He would endure until the very day their Divine Matriarch truly reawakened once more…

Until that day comes, he could not afford to disappear yet!

༺⟐༻

As Evé ventured deeper and deeper, the memory fragments became fewer and increasingly more disjointed.

She saw the invasion of those foreign gods.

The emergence of the demi-realm had drawn the attention of faith-based deities, who sent out some of their believers to investigate.

Next, Evé witnessed the civil strife between those three hundred ancient elves and Ouros.

These elves finally discovered that Ouros had been secretly draining the life force of the beings that inhabited the demi-realm.

His modifications to the church’s core beliefs also crossed a line that these ancient elves could not tolerate.

“Lord Ouros, you have gone too far…”

“Our primary goal is to resurrect our Divine Matriarch, not to exploit these poor innocent people by secretly siphoning their life force just to accumulate divine power!”

“Not to mention, you’ve diminished the importance of our Divine Matriarch’s existence and completely replaced her by using the title of the God of Creation for yourself!”

“What are you trying to do exactly? Are you planning to hoard the divine power we accumulated just for your own divine ascension?”

“If that’s the case, then we shall never allow it!”

The three hundred ancient elves were rightfully furious, yet Ouros only responded in a cold and dismissive manner.

“And if I am? What of it?”

The ancient elves could not accept such answer.

Thus, war broke out.

However, as the sole master of the demi-realm, Ouros crushed their rebellion with ease.

This entire war against the three hundred ancient elves was, to him, little more than a farce, and so, peace returned to the demi-realm, though the local inhabitants quickly noticed that the ‘Divine Beings’ had somehow disappeared altogether.

Staring at the lifeless bodies of his former followers, killed by his own two hands, Ouros could do nothing but fell into silence.

“…I’m

he whispered.

“My actions have drawn the attention of those traitorous gods. This was the only way to divert their vigilance.”

“Those traitors will never allow the resurrection of our Divine Matriarch. A selfish, power-hungry demigod is a more acceptable distraction to them.”

“The title of God of Creation never referred to me. Our Divine Matriarch is the true creator of this world, and thus the only rightful deity of creation…”

“I never wanted to drain the life force of all the living things that inhabit this realm…but without sufficient divine power, the Her Grace’s reawakening is nearly impossible…”

“Besides… I don’t have much time left…”

Ouros sighed deeply, lowering his gaze to his body.

The body he was using was a vessel he had pieced together through unconventional means.

Half of his form was now marked by sinister, spiraling patterns and shrouded in a black miasma.

It was the corruption of the Abyss.

The Abyss held mysterious power and despite its inherent malevolence properties it waThe body he was using was a vessel he had pieced together through unconventional means.

Half of his form was now marked by sinister, spiraling patterns and shrouded in a black miasma filled with corruption.

The body he was using was a vessel he had pieced together through unconventional means.

Half of his form was now marked by sinister, spiraling patterns and shrouded in a black miasma filled with corruption.

The body he was using was a vessel he had pieced together through unconventional means.

Half of his form was now marked by sinister, spiraling patterns and shrouded in a black miasma.

It was the corruption of the Abyss.

The Abyss possesses mysterious powers.

It can preserve the will of an existence that should have already died, but at the same time, it also relentlessly erodes and assimilates its host to its malevolent tendencies.

Eventually, such evil power would consume him entirely, making him one with its darkness as he falls into complete depravity.

“Mother… will I ever see you again?”

༺⟐༻

Ouros’s memories ended there.

When Evé finished traversing his memories passageway, Ouros’s mental world finally reached its limit and completely collapsed upon itself.

In a brilliant explosion of light, like radiant fireworks scattering across a dark sky, Eve’s consciousness was suddenly torn from the collapsing mental world and returned back to reality.

E

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【 I AM WILLINGTOGIVE UP EVERYTHING 】

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