Chapter 197 – The Nameless Ones

Ardenia, which had crossed over from Arthalia during the era when Hans was active, was a time when Alter lay dormant in a frozen state within the Imperial Tomb ruins.

It was a point where over a hundred years were still needed before Rian would be born and his fixed history would begin.

Although it was a period when Alter’s history was fixed, since that Domain was limited to the Imperial Tomb ruins and Alter’s dreams, the possibility of Alteration still remained in the outside continent.

Thus, if history changed significantly as the Seed of Evil spread, it could branch off rather than connect to the already fixed histories of Rian and Alter.

[First, you… die.]

I dealt with the dragon before me, which was clearly infected by the Seed of Evil.

Crunch.

Simply by stirring killing intent, Duren’s [Great Sun Tathagata Sword] and Hans’s [Mahesvara Heaven Divine Art] manifested Heart Swords and killed the dragon.

[The problem is that if we kill all the Seed of Evil infected beings like this, and even those who must appear in the fixed future die, the plausibility will be disrupted….]

“If a being that should exist disappears, can’t we just recreate them? With the Authority of those who have joined your Stellar Body, it should be fully possible.”

Mirkala, hearing Non’s muttering, offered a clue to solve that problem.

[Indeed, it should be possible.]

The Spirits of the Creation-series Constellations forming the Dream Chaos Divine Realm had already all achieved Spirit Overlay.

Henrietta’s [Yeto Myriad Life Palace] could recreate life, and Rough’s [All-Purpose Restraining Rope] could recreate fate, allowing them to create beings to replace the dead.

Adding to that, Utangka’s [Primordial Heaven Calamity] for the soul, and Non’s [Limitless Unfathomable] to imbue the flesh with time itself, they would become indistinguishable from the originals.

Finally, with Nyarlathotep’s [Simulacrum], which forms Hyu’s [Duality], they could even surpass the originals.

However, there was no need to add Hyu’s Authority.

The goal was to compensate for the absence of those who must exist in the fixed future.

Creating beings surpassing the originals would be putting the cart before the horse.

[Thank you, Mirkala.]

“Eep…! It’s nothing.”

When I expressed gratitude by calling her True Name, Mirkala blushed and bowed her head.

Previously, I hadn’t called her True Name because it was essentially no different from a Summoning Right to borrow her power someday.

But now, having reached a level where even True God-level power isn’t particularly helpful, I simply called her True Name.

[Now, even if we kill all suspected Seed of Evil infected beings, there should be no problem.]

Zzzzing.

The All-Seeing Eye specified the nameless ones of Ardenia who met the conditions for Seed of Evil infection.

Regardless of fame, if they had no name, they were deemed to harbor the Seed of Evil and were killed.

Afterwards, as planned, the Authority of the Spirits belonging to Dream Chaos was used to create replacement beings to fill the vacancies left by the dead.

The number of those killed reached tens of thousands.

And if we add the nameless ones similarly killed by Dice’s hand in Arthalia, that number would increase even more.

In the midst of Altering history, their lives were infinitely light.

The perspective from which I viewed the world was gradually becoming more trivial.

A world filled with things that could be killed, revived, and newly created to replace at any time.

I could now understand the Twelve Constellations of the Heavenly Palace who sought to Ascend by sacrificing Earth.

To them, the beings of Earth must have felt this way.

[

Do I really need to protect Earth?

What was I just…!]

The thought that suddenly arose chilled my mind as if cold water had been poured over it.

The consciousness that viewed everything as trivial and the consciousness that was horrified by such a change were in conflict.

This was absolutely not a natural change.

No, it’s natural for a being of high Grade to view beings of lower Grade as trivial.

Even now, if I let my guard down even slightly, a feeling arises within to regard the abnormality as normal.

‘This is strange.

It’s not strange.

It’s strange!’

Forcing myself to concentrate my consciousness and using Hyu’s [Duality] to awaken a consciousness separate from the existing one, I probed my inner self and finally managed to discover only the traces of that change.

‘Why is the Seed of Evil inside me…?’

That was clearly a trace left when the Seed of Evil was transmitted.

And the Seed of Evil infection that had hidden within Lee Hanseong’s consciousness was starting not from the outside, but from deep within him.

‘That should be where Mirinae, connected to the Constellation Descent, is located, right?’

In the surging ominousness, I hastily unfolded Hyu’s Enigma.

Adding Hans’s Sensory Realm Heaven to elevate it to the level of Authority.

Whoosh!

My gaze left the Altering history and turned toward the frozen outside reality.

In a reality where everything was still, only the Outer God’s True Body and the Chaos Constellation’s True Body moved, continuing their struggle.

By now, the Outer God’s True Body was gradually pushing back the Chaos Constellation’s True Body.

It was because part of the Chaos Constellation had been infected by the Seed of Evil.

Inside the Chaos Constellation’s True Body composed of Galaxies, nameless stars were growing like malignant tumors, gnawing at the Constellation’s power.

More precisely, both the Seeds of Void and Seeds of Evil that had died early by his hand during the Historical Alteration had been incorporated into the Chaos Constellation, gradually contaminating the Constellation’s True Body.

‘Why did I forget about this until now?’

Wasn’t it a phenomenon experienced repeatedly that if you save beings who should die during Historical Alteration, or kill beings who should live longer prematurely, they fall under the influence of the Chaos Constellation?

I should have realized long ago that dealing with them in the recorded past of history couldn’t be true disposal.

Foolishly, Lee Hanseong had killed and incorporated them, ultimately infecting even the Constellation’s True Body with the Seed of Evil.

‘No, the usual me would never have made such a mistake!’

Grasping my shaken mind amidst self-reproach for the mistake, I traced the causality.

And I realized the cause that created this situation.

‘Ah, so that’s what it was.’

The moment the stars of Awakened individuals who belonged to the Galaxy Guild and were incorporated into the Chaos Constellation on Earth in reality were reborn as the Outer God’s Apostles by the Seed of Void, the Chaos Constellation was already contaminated by the Void.

And that contamination, concentrated on Lee Hanseong’s consciousness embedded in the Twelve Constellations’ records for History Fixation, likely caused him to forget several facts.

Thus, the more Seeds of Void were killed in history, the more the Chaos Constellation’s contamination increased.

The moment the Seed of Void transformed into the Seed of Evil with the addition of Cheonak to the Outer God, the contamination must have become severe enough to affect Lee Hanseong’s thinking and the Chaos Constellation’s True Body.

The decision to massacre the nameless ones so easily was clearly guided by the Seed of Evil influencing his thoughts.

Killing them all simply because they risked Seed of Evil infection was a choice inconsistent with Lee Hanseong’s Identity.

If the contamination had been just a bit greater, it might have become irreversible.

No, perhaps it was precisely because this was the last Branch Point where reversal was possible that Lee Hanseong could realize his own abnormality.

‘Damn it!’

If I had continued History Fixation without recognizing the contamination, the Chaos Constellation would have been defeated by the Outer God.

The Infinity embedded in the Chaos Constellation must have awakened Lee Hanseong.

But even though I barely recognized the contamination and regained my senses, the situation wasn’t good.

‘How, what should I do? To change this situation, how on earth…!’

The Seed of Evil had already spread considerably within the Chaos Constellation, enough to affect his consciousness.

And the consciousness that regained its senses was only the part that touched the Enigma and escaped outside history.

I needed to find a countermeasure against the Seed of Evil immediately here.

My heart grew impatient.

While shifting perspectives here and there, searching for a breakthrough as I observed the outer universe where the Outer God and the Chaos Constellation’s True Body fought.

‘Ah.’

Suddenly, the process of the Seed of Evil multiplying became fixed in my sight.

The scene where the darkness of the Abyss harbored by Evil Nature spreads, erasing the star’s name, and only then does Seed of Evil infection occur.

‘The name is the key.’

If not only the nameless ones but even named beings can have their names erased and become infected.

Conversely, couldn’t giving a name to a nameless being purify the Seed of Evil?

Feeling a premonition that this was the correct answer, I began giving names to the nameless stars, one by one.

‘Your name is ‘Yuzef’.’

‘Your name is ‘Kamaris’….’

‘Your name is….’

…….

And that, too, was the correct answer.

The newly named stars could escape the Seed of Evil contamination.

For stars that had lost their names, I helped them regain their names through Blundell’s Abyss.

For stars that originally had no names, I erased the contamination step by step by giving them new names.

Of course, doing so couldn’t regain the advantage that had shifted to the Outer God.

But at least it could buy time until Lee Hanseong completed his Ascension.

* * *

Thus, while part of the consciousness remained in the outside reality, giving names to the stars infected by the Seed of Evil within the Chaos Constellation.

As the contamination of the Chaos Constellation’s True Body decreased, Lee Hanseong’s contaminated consciousness within history also regained its original Identity and way of thinking.

[Ah… what have I done.]

Non’s Stellar Body, having wiped its face once with a palm in the bitterness of being tricked by the Outer God’s scheme, began to exert power in a different way than before.

Just as it had replaced the nameless ones killed in Ardenia, it sent clones to other continents to create beings to replace the already killed Seeds of Void and Seeds of Evil.

Up to this point, it wasn’t different from before, but the next part was crucial.

[As atonement, I grant you another chance.]

By linking the stars that had escaped the Seed of Evil through naming with the replacements in history using Primordial Chaos Divine Art, the originals and replacements were Unified.

Since all had received their names from Lee Hanseong, they were all Familiants subordinate to him, like Lycan.

[Mirkala. Your name is Mirkala.]

“This is… you’ve given the girl her name again!”

[Now the Seed of Evil cannot invade you.]

Since the Seed of Evil can erase the names of even named beings and infect them, even named beings strengthened the power of their names by having their existing names bestowed again by Lee Hanseong.

First Mirkala, then the Contract Spirits who had joined Non’s Stellar Body, and afterwards, beings belonging to the Chaos Constellation including Dice, were given names.

Thus, time passed quickly just by the act of naming.

Before long, over a hundred years passed, and the fixed histories of Rian and Alter connected without discrepancy to the preceding history.

The time had come when Rian completed the Titan and finished his 6-Star Promotion.

* * *

Oooooong!

Rian, aboard the Titan, realized something was calling the Titan.

―Someone is calling me.

The direction was toward where the Steel Holy Land was located.

Clank― Clank―

―【Dig】.

As if entranced by something, the Titan headed toward the underground passage where Slaughter Dolls were mining resources, widening the passage with earth-sinking magic as it passed.

“Your Majesty?”

Alter tried to follow behind, but the passage the Titan passed through was blocked by a suddenly risen wall of minerals, preventing him from following.

“This is… what on earth?”

Not a simple natural phenomenon, but a clear act of will.

But precisely because of that, there was a way to deal with it.

“Providence Proxy.”

The myth that even proxies the will of God, Providence, assimilated with the will controlling the minerals and created a passage through which Alter could pass within the blocked passage.

Thud. Thud.

Only after advancing deep underground for quite a while longer.

Alter could discover Rian’s Titan, stopped before a massive underground cavern.

“This place… is it the Steel Holy Land?”

―Indeed. Your Majesty.

The Titan’s voice answered Alter’s muttering.

A space of Miracle where ore veins generate in midair.

On the Reverse Side of that Miracle, of course, existed the Apostle of the Steel Throne.

The True Body of Deus Ex Machina was right here.

Thump-thump!

The sound of a pulsating heart came from the center of the cavern.

I expected an iron heart, a steel heart like an Iron Heart, but what actually entered my sight was the heart of a massive creature composed of living tissue.

Half-rotted, neither fully alive nor dead, but it was clear at a glance whose heart it was.

“Dragon… heart?”

Judging by the Grade and size contained within, it was clearly the heart of a Divine Dragon far surpassing Lord-class.

But as I gazed intently at the dragon heart, specific information naturally flowed into my mind.

‘Tiamat’s heart.’

The information that the owner of that heart was Tiamat, the Apostle of the Wheel Constellation.

“No, more than that, where is Deus Ex Machina?”

―Over there.

Only after hearing Rian’s words did my gaze, which had been forcibly focused solely on Tiamat’s heart, widen to the surroundings, revealing something.

Deus Ex Machina, in the form of a mechanical automaton half-melted similarly to the heart, had installed various steel hoses and pump devices around the heart and was focused solely on operating them.

Bzzzzzzz!

Part of the steel hoses pierced Rian’s Titan, absorbing the power of Eternal Magic.

“Your Majesty?”

Alter immediately tried to attack the steel hoses embedded in the Titan.

―Wait. The time has not yet come.

Rian stopped him with shocking words.

―First, we must help that heart recover. Otherwise, the Ardenia Continent will be destroyed.