Chapter 1312
A Reunion After a Long Separation
It was less an impalement and more a devouring.
The Sin Thorns burned like dry firewood, transforming into black smoke.
The clam shell acted like a pump, continuously absorbing this black smoke. This suction, in turn, fueled the flames. The giant formed by the Sin Thorns gradually twisted within the vortex of suction.
After a certain stage of absorption, the clam shell suddenly spewed water.
The water landed on the ground but did not spread out to flood the towns. Instead, like cannonballs, it shot into the depths of the earth in columns.
Like insects scalded by boiling water, countless Sin Thorns quickly emerged, baring their fangs and claws.
The moment they crawled out, Eivass captured them with the Authority of the Sin Eater Beast and pulled them onto the Sin Thorn giant. Immediately, the water on their bodies dried up, and they joined the burning.
The information was decompressed by the fire, turning into dirty yellow and black smoke.
And at this moment.
“—Are you really going to do this, Eivass?”
Suddenly, a voice, once familiar yet now somewhat strange, echoed from the void.
It was not an illusion.
Even Lily couldn’t help but widen her eyes.
This was a miracle only she could witness and understand—
As the black smoke gathered, an ethereal, mist-like humanoid form gradually coalesced.
It was a piece of information released by Eivass when he used the initial fire to burn the Sin Thorns.
However, this piece of information did not belong to an Abyss Heavenly Envoy…
“…Alas.”
A sigh emanated from the smoke.
As the flames burned, the humanoid form became clearer.
“‘Saving the world is by no means easy; it requires overturning the limits of the impossible. And the most important thing is not to invert the means and ends along the way…'”
An old, dignified, and elegant voice spoke, “I hope you still remember this sentence.”
It was an old man.
An old man wearing a top hat and holding a cane.
It was…
“Professor Moriarty.”
Eivass murmured, “No… Father.”
This was Moriarty, whose soul had originally transformed into Sin Thorns, then was devoured by Eivass, thus turning into mana!
After being devoured, he did not become a part of Eivass. Eivass neither obtained his memories nor merged his soul. Only this information was stored within Eivass, exchanging for the mana capable of blocking a meteor that could destroy a country.
And now… with the residual Power of the Abyss Heavenly Envoy, along with the Heavenly Envoy Authority, being decompressed by Eivass, resulting in a surge of even more immense mana, that part of Moriarty’s existence was “ransomed” out!
Seeing the professor, now reduced to a mere afterimage, Eivass’s eyes momentarily blurred.
When they had defeated Old Moriarty in the past, they were in a state of unyielding opposing forces, good versus evil. Eivass had to use every means possible to defeat the powerful and deeply oppressive Moriarty before confronting the Fallen Heavenly Envoy, deeming it impossible to let Moriarty off the hook.
Moreover, Eivass at that time had not yet grasped the full truth…
After that, he had no time for grief before preparing to face the Fallen Heavenly Envoy.
Because Eivass had no time to stop.
He had no time to shed tears, nor time for sorrow. He couldn’t stop even for half a step; even half a day of rest was considered a luxury.
—And now, the Ouroboros Ring ritual had come to a close.
Until the arrival of the Ring Heavenly Envoy, there would be no more variables; and Eivass was already aware of the Ring Heavenly Envoy’s plan to use him as a vessel for the Void.
Now, Eivass only needed to await the day of the final battle.
…Precisely because of this, seeing Moriarty again brought about a feeling of nostalgia and melancholy in his heart.
Now, they had no conflicts based on interests, positions, morals, or ideals. All that remained was nostalgia itself.
“You are not allowed to cry.”
The old man’s expression turned stern, feigning severity, “You are now a demigod on Earth, how can you still act like a child?”
“…Of course, I won’t cry.”
Eivass took a deep breath and showed a sincere smile, “It’s just a shame that you couldn’t witness my wedding with Isabel.”
“No, I saw it.”
Professor Moriarty smiled.
He even slightly tilted his head, took off his top hat, and bowed from afar to Lily.
His smile was so cheerful and sunny, so much like Eivass, and even his voice momentarily turned into Eivass’s clear, youthful tone, “‘Because we are one.'”
In the echo of this voice, many other existences were mingled.
It was as if countless beings were speaking simultaneously.
“…This is?”
Eivass’s heart trembled violently, his emotions momentarily in turmoil.
He was certain he had never consumed so many people—
…No, wait?
Had he really not?
“They are the sacrifices that were once offered to the Abyss Heavenly Envoy.”
As if guessing Eivass’s thoughts, Professor Moriarty spoke, “No energy in this world is born from nothing, nor do souls vanish into thin air. Even I, who turned into Sin Thorns, am not I within you? Part of my soul became mana, and part became pure information…
“Similarly, it is the same for those souls sacrificed to the Abyss Heavenly Envoy. These souls did not return to the Origin River. So where did they go?”
The professor explained patiently.
“…So that’s why you stopped me from absorbing the information of the firstborns?”
“Because there might be corrupted information… I believe we cannot be careless.”
Professor Moriarty said gravely, “I originally did not intend to appear. But seeing your reckless actions, I couldn’t help myself. These Sin Thorns, compressed by the ancient people, I believe it’s best to annihilate them completely—some things need not be remembered. If you are unwilling to bear this great sin of ‘parricide,’ then let me do it.”
“…Alright.”
Eivass’s heart tightened, and he realized he had perhaps become too arrogant.
Perhaps by becoming a true god on Earth in a very short time, he felt he was omnipotent—this arrogance was Eivass’s own Great Sin.
Because in a sense, “believing miracles will happen” was itself an arrogance of refusing to accept reality.
Professor Moriarty’s appearance reminded Eivass of his own mechanism of devouring and transforming Sin Thorns—the fact that the Sin Eater Beast’s transformation rate was too high meant it couldn’t be reversed, perhaps implying something.
He hadn’t expected to be reminded of this by his foster father in the end…
Professor Moriarty clearly sensed that Eivass had sobered up and nodded with satisfaction and pride, “I know you are very intelligent, Eivass. With just a word, you understand everything…
“…Now it seems the ‘Doomsday’ I foresaw was probably the world being frozen by Amber. How ironic, the Evil God I always wanted to defeat was actually the one who sacrificed himself to save the world.”
Professor Moriarty, today, had also come to understand all the buried truths along with Eivass.
“After this… what are your plans?”
Eivass asked seriously, “Do you need me to cast you into the Origin River? The impure sins have now been borne by me, and you can now reincarnate or become a Heavenly Envoy.”
The old man remained non-committal, only laughing heartily, “Don’t you know the answer to this question yourself?”
—Yes, Eivass did know.
Professor Moriarty disdained dwelling on his own life and death. As for reincarnation and future lives, or glory and riches after death, they were all fleeting to him.
Now that he knew the origin of the Doomsday and saw Eivass walking on the path to eradicate the Void, this “failed Savior” had no lingering attachments.
He looked at Eivass, who still hadn’t made a move, and reminded him, “You can seal them and bury them at the bottom of the sea. Just think of it as changing their tomb. Now that the Authority of the Abyss Heavenly Envoy is with you, it means no new Abyss Heavenly Envoy will be born in this world… Using the remnants of the Forbidden to seal them is just right.”
“Yes, I was about to do that.”
Eivass nodded and replied softly.
But in the blink of an eye, Professor Moriarty disappeared again.
No goodbyes, no embraces, nor did he say where he was going. Just as he always did when he left home for a long journey.
If Lily hadn’t also seen him, Eivass would have thought it was just his own hallucination.
“…Heh.”
Suddenly, Eivass let out a relaxed sigh, his gaze shifting from the
indifferent arrogance of a god back to clarity and gentleness.
…In front of his father, he would always be that immature child.
Eivass casually pinched his hand, and the dim yellow smoke was separated from the black smoke, solidifying out of thin air into irregular pieces of Star Ice!
Other Sin Thorns were also continuously extracted and burned by Eivass, after which their information was eternally frozen and sealed with Forbidden power.
Compared to the previous technology of “Sin Thorns,” “Star Ice” was a technology developed by the Great Abyss, belonging to this era!
A fleeting thought suddenly crossed Eivass’s mind:
Perhaps…
The reason this desolate world, which had nothing, attracted an Outer God like the Candlemaster was because the Sin Thorns attracted the Sin Eater Beasts who used them as food!
Then, if this world were to be destroyed again, what would Star Ice attract?
The Heavenly Envoy Fragments of the Abyss Heavenly Envoy were far more powerful than one-fifth of the Geometric Heavenly’s fragment—by continuously draining and expelling the mana left behind by the Great Abyss, the “Pearl Clam” kept spitting out more and more water, forcing out more and more Sin Thorns.
As the smoke continued to rise, rain clouds gradually gathered in the sky!
Then, rain as precious as gold quietly sprinkled down over all of Anxi.
It was not violent, nor dirty, but as gentle as silk, with a hint of the sea’s saltiness.
People knelt on the ground, praising this miracle. They did not know its origin… nor what they would see when they woke up tomorrow morning.
By the time all the Sin Thorns were extracted, Eivass had been busy from noon until late at night.
All preparations for the miracle were complete.
“—It’s almost time.”
Eivass murmured softly.
(End of Chapter)
