Chapter 594
Death of the World
—Forbidden.
This was the first time Eivass had clearly learned the former name of the Twilight Path and the Origin River to which that path belonged. Before this, Eivass only knew that five Pillar Gods were born from the “Cicada Molting” event—Pillar Gods of Adaptation, Twilight, Wisdom, Power, and the Beast Path were all born from the molting. Eivass did not know if those paths had previous owners or what their names were.
“…Error.” Eivass murmured.
The Origin River of the “Adaptation” Path was “Survival,” and the Origin River of the Transcendence and Metamorphosis Paths was called “Easier.” Both were easy to understand. But why did “Twilight” and “Forbidden” belong to the “Error” River? Was there an essential connection between them and error?
In an instant, Eivass suddenly thought of the words spoken when the Ring Heavenly Envoy manifested:
“—When the world changes and reincarnates, worldly affairs remain eternally unchanged.”
“—The righteous will remain righteous, and the wicked will remain wicked. Kings will always be kings, and slaves will always be slaves.”
“—No one rises, no one falls, and all things never change. The universe has already solidified, like an Amber Egg; the world reincarnates eternally, just like the Ouroboros Ring.”
At that time, Eivass didn’t understand the Ring Heavenly Envoy’s meaning, but now… after obtaining information from Professor Moriarty, Eivass seemed to grasp some key points. Eternal reincarnation…
“…I have a question.” After a moment of silence, Eivass asked, “In your worldline… is there also a ‘Twilight Path’ and ‘Amber’?”
“Yes,” Professor Moriarty replied with certainty, “but I’m not sure if It has always existed.”
“I think, if the world continuously reincarnates and cycles… is the ‘world’s first return’ related to the birth of Amber?” Professor Moriarty’s thoughts were clear: “He is the perfect and flawless God, the God who has reached the Peak; He became the strongest at the beginning of His birth. Does this indicate… that there is a possibility that He was not born at the end of the First Era, but was born in the year 2000… and returned to the past, tearing apart the future?”
“Then, if ‘Twilight’ belongs to Amber, who does ‘Forbidden’ belong to?” Eivass countered.
The Sapphire Bird shook its head: “I don’t know. Although I witnessed the birth of Amber and the changes of Paths, I did not see the existence of the old Pillar Gods. And I basically did not see the ascension of the other Pillar Gods… After Amber, only the Beast Lord of the Beast Path was born.”
“I can also tell you that the name of that Origin River is ‘Creation.’ I think the Fairy, Witch, Werewolf, and Child of the Moon of the Path of Love… should all have been born this way. This information, Dad can tell you anything you want to know. It doesn’t matter.”
“…Because knowledge is poisonous, right.” Eivass said slowly. The Sapphire Bird smiled and nodded.
—This is an open plot. Eivass knew that he was undoubtedly a key pawn in the games of many great existences. If he wanted to seek freedom and transcendence, he had to pursue the truth. But the more information he knew, and the more complete the truth he pieced together, the more he had to consider and think about.
He hadn’t understood the Ring Heavenly Envoy’s plan before. But now, he seemed to understand some of it… The Ring Heavenly Envoy believed that “reincarnation” was meaningless, perhaps because the entire world had already coiled into a ring. However, the “Metamorphosis” he pursued was still in the history of Professor Moriarty’s world.
This at least explained one thing—that the Ring Heavenly Envoy had failed, and the world had still undergone eternal recurrence. At least in the worldline where he failed to devour Eivass, he had undoubtedly failed. He also understood why the Nine Pillar Gods had initiated the Ascension Ritual to deduce the past and future. He even partially understood Professor Moriarty’s motives—it was precisely because he, as a “Savior” who had witnessed the end of the world, would firmly adhere to “early death.”
From this perspective, it could at least be confirmed that Old Moriarty did not live again from the First Era. He should have appeared directly on the young Moriarty like a “transmigrator.” When Moriarty was still studying under Cardinal Loki, his personality was clearly normal and not paranoid. Only after Moriarty came into contact with the founder of the Golden Dawn—who was also Freya’s mother, Anna Kingsford—did his temperament begin to change drastically. At that time, Eivass felt that his foster father couldn’t possibly be heartbroken… that was simply unreasonable.
And now, Eivass had finally sorted out his thoughts. Jacob and James had both belonged to the Golden Dawn. The original founder of the Golden Dawn was Anna Kingsford from the Rose Cross. This meant that James’s technology and rituals were very likely taught by his wife. And both the Rose Cross and the Golden Dawn knew about the existence of “Divine Entities.”
If, hypothetically, the Divine Entity was originally a fragment of the Ring Heavenly Envoy… or more accurately, a fragment of the Samsara Heavenly Envoy. Then why not call it a “Heavenly Envoy Fragment” or some term related to “reincarnation”?
—Divine Entity. The divine being summoned by Jacob did not seem to be any kind of entity. Whether it was the version summoned initially, bestowing mysterious knowledge upon Jacob; or the version merged with Eivass’s soul.
…But what if this was actually a universally known “reference”? Could it be possible that the original “Divine Entity” was the residual soul merged with Moriarty? Perhaps Moriarty did something with Madam Kingsford after getting to know her. As a result, the “Savior” soul that returned to ancient times descended upon Moriarty. This caused Moriarty’s personality to change drastically, and he practiced Cardinal Loki’s teachings of “early death” almost fanatically.
It was as if he had been transmigrated…
—Wait, wait? Eivass suddenly froze. At that moment, he felt a chill down his spine. He suddenly looked up, looking at Moriarty in disbelief. Did his foster father leave Avalon so suddenly… because of this? He left Eivass, wanting to independently observe how much “Eivass who suddenly awakened” knew and what he could do! He wanted to judge which era Eivass’s knowledge belonged to!
“You should be able to understand now why I want to obtain the power of ‘reincarnation’,” Professor Moriarty said slowly, “To change that destined ending, to uncover the truth of ‘Forbidden,’ I must return to the past—it doesn’t matter if I sacrifice the present and future for it. All things will perish. As long as the fundamental problem is not solved, all prosperity and hope are false.”
“Even if it is related to the secrets of multiple Pillar Gods, I must do it, I must achieve it.”
“If the world repeats itself in the year 2000… this world, which has already been altered by me, will also be disrupted in the future. Perhaps the ‘variable’ that was fortunate enough to survive until the day of Twilight’s birth will not be born.”
“Ignorance might also be a kind of happiness. Knowledge is poisonous… the deepest poison is the poison of ‘meaninglessness’.” The bird smiled, but there was no warmth in its eyes: “If this world must be restarted… then everything now is destined to disappear.”
“Whether it’s dying early, dying late, suicide, assassination, death by illness, or reaching the end of one’s life… none of it has any meaning. The world will be reborn in the next cycle, or even the cycle after that. There will always be a cycle where the world does not encounter the day of destruction… We must first obtain information from the past to have a chance to change the future.”
“Didn’t you ask me? To what extent must it be corrected to be considered perfect? I do not seek perfection—what I desire is merely ‘continuation,’ merely ‘survival.’ It is not even related to my individual life or death, but to the ‘Death of the World’ a century later, which ‘James’ could never see.”
“…So that’s how you think.” Eivass murmured softly. If the theory of “early death” were extended infinitely… what if the entire world were on the verge of extinction? That would mean that “early death” could also be applied to the entire world. Killing the old world for the sake of the new world.
(End of this chapter)
