In the distant memories of the past, within the divine throne domain. Amidst the churning sea of runes, atop a grand pedestal, Osiris—the Arbiter of History who had endured countless cycles of reincarnation—was now facing the moment of his end. Although he had long accepted his fate with calm, the unexpected twist that followed left this Lord of Revelation unusually panicked. "Lord of Knowledge... you... you didn’t perish completely… "You deceived Radiant Cold and the Earth Mother… you… deceived me…” Clutching his forehead, Osiris spoke through clenched teeth, his voice trembling from the piercing headache. Deep within his consciousness, a calm voice responded serenely. “But I paid a heavy price, didn’t I? To deceive them both, I had to sever nearly all of my power. I lost everything... leaving behind only faint traces of my divine consciousness and divinity, hidden deep within the thoughts of you… my beloved child… Living in fear for over a billion years, terrified that you might discover me and crush me… but fortunately, that never happened.” “You… you implanted a blind spot in my mind when you created me... just to hide your divine consciousness!” Osiris continued shakily, to which the Lord of Knowledge still replied in a composed tone. “Isn’t it normal for a father to prepare a small home to dwell in, within his child? I’d say the furnishings here are quite nice… my residence melded almost perfectly with the structure of your overall will… Even if someone could perceive it, they could not comprehend it.” The Lord of Knowledge went on, explaining that when he had split and created Osiris, he had deliberately left a flaw in Osiris’s thinking—one that allowed a trace of his consciousness to hide undetected. Since the flaw was innate, Osiris himself could never realize it. All this time, the remnant will of the Lord of Knowledge had disguised itself as part of Osiris’s own consciousness through complex encryption. Even the God of Lantern, though capable of perceiving Osiris’s thoughts, could not grasp the presence of this will—the information was simply too complex to comprehend. After all, to see is one thing, but to understand is quite another. “It was you… you’ve been interfering with the fates I wove! You’re the reason every cycle of fate strayed off course… the reason chaos always triumphed in the end…” Osiris continued in horror, but the Lord of Knowledge's tone remained unshaken. “Not all of them… only one-third of the fates were tampered with. I subtly influenced you to interfere. Perhaps within that third lies the success you’ve always longed for…” He elaborated: the Lord of Knowledge’s influence caused the failure of nearly all destinies Osiris had crafted in past cycles. Creating fate was an extremely delicate and precise task. Even the smallest tampering with a single link could lead to total collapse. “My interference wasn’t merely to disrupt your control over reincarnation. It was also to make you realize that something was wrong with the universe—so you would seek higher knowledge and power to uncover the anomaly… I urged you long ago to explore the power of Silence, and placed countless opportunities before you. Yet you resisted them all… “But it seems that, at the final moment, you could no longer resist.” The Lord of Knowledge murmured in Osiris’s mind. When the three Primordial Gods originally agreed to split themselves, they performed a synchronized division ritual to prevent betrayal—if one stopped, the others would as well. Under the mutual supervision of the other two deities, the Lord of Knowledge had little room to act. But through intricate schemes, he managed to preserve a sliver of his divine essence, hiding it in Osiris by introducing a minute alteration during the creation process. It wasn’t enough to alter Osiris’s autonomy—his independent will remained intact. Across countless cycles, the Lord of Knowledge had been tempting Osiris to fuse with the divinity of Silence. Because the main god of Silence kept changing, such opportunities arose often. Still, Osiris resisted—until the end of his life, when he, unwilling to accept repeated failure, conducted an experimental fusion that brought unforeseen consequences. “Urgh… divine fusion… So that’s the key to reactivating your power? Get out… GET OUT!” In agony, Osiris tried to expel the presence of the Lord of Knowledge. But it was useless. Once fusion with Silence began—even mentally—it drastically strengthened the Lord of Knowledge's presence in his will, pushing beyond Osiris’s control. All main gods carried traces of divinity in their minds. This was the Lord of Knowledge's plan: if Osiris never fused with Silence, he’d never uncover the hidden consciousness. If he did, it would awaken that hidden will, overwhelming him. And all the while, Osiris had been subtly influenced, tempted at critical moments. “There’s always a bigger boss? So this is the real reason behind it all? Hey! You doing okay, old man?! Don’t you lose to that older-old man!” Seeing the situation unfold, the lingering will of Manitou—existing in soul-flame form—shouted anxiously. Osiris, still struggling, managed to respond. “Initiate... now…” “You’re not escaping either!” At that moment, the presence of the Lord of Knowledge surged within Osiris’s will. The moment Osiris finished speaking, his mouth was no longer under his own control—it shouted at Manitou in a different voice. In an instant, Manitou felt an overwhelming force pulling at her. The soul-flame making up her will began trembling violently, as if everything she was was about to be drawn into the twisted Osiris before her. “Damn you… you old old man!” Without hesitation, Manitou triggered the self-destruction program Osiris had left for her. With a flash of violet light in the space, dense and arcane symbols lit up across Osiris’s body, linking together into crackling fissures. Brilliant violet light burst from the cracks. “AAAAHHHH!!!” Clutching his head, his body splitting apart, Osiris rose from the Throne of Fate. His figure swelled and distorted rapidly, the rifts multiplying as purple runes spilled out like blood. Clearly, Osiris’s failsafe had activated—his godly body began to collapse. The safety mechanism he had devised to prevent catastrophe was now functioning. The Lord of Knowledge tried to stabilize the divine body but was unable to do much. “Farewell…” Seeing this, Manitou immediately triggered her backup plan. She remotely activated her divine body in the Nether Realm, drawing her will back toward it. At the same time, all that occurred within the throne domain was being recorded and transmitted outside. “Nothing can leave this place!” Just then, from the chest of Osiris’s expanding, twisting body, another faceless visage emerged and bellowed in a deep, hollow tone. Osiris had arranged for his death to be a gradual disintegration rather than an explosive end, to minimize cosmic consequences. But this also gave the Lord of Knowledge an opportunity. Before Osiris’s body was fully destroyed, he seized control over part of his divine power and prevented any data from escaping the divine throne domain. He also used a trace of higher-order divine knowledge to attract Manitou’s residual will toward him. The Lord of Knowledge realized he couldn’t be reborn in a single stroke under Osiris’s safeguards. So he resolved to keep this secret sealed. The perfect state of “Revelation” was one in which no one knew of his existence. He manipulated everything from the shadows as the ultimate mastermind, never revealing himself until the very end. “Damn it…” Suddenly, Manitou felt the force pulling on her surge dramatically—so strong even her divine body couldn’t counter it. She realized she might not be able to escape this space. “Don’t… look down on me!!!” With a furious roar, Manitou unleashed a massive divine explosion through her divine body, attempting to forcibly open a path between the Nether Realm and the divine throne domain. But perhaps due to her weakened will, she failed to contain the divine power. It went berserk, shaking multiple realms and scattering her fragile consciousness. Her faint soul-flame was torn into even smaller fragments. “Pathetic…” Seeing Manitou self-destruct, the Lord of Knowledge sneered, then began drawing all the fragments toward himself. Manitou’s residual will swiftly faded. With that threat resolved, the Lord of Knowledge turned to deal with another urgent matter. During the clash—while Manitou fled and the Lord of Knowledge tried to stop him—Osiris’s suppressed will finally seized the chance to reclaim partial control over his divine power, allowing him to act once more. However, at this moment, Osiris did not rush to attack the Lord of Knowledge. Instead, he immediately began adjusting the succession arrangements he had prepared for his heir! “The successor’s… fate… shall fall into shadow... “Only then can there be a sliver of hope… for this universe… urgh…” As Osiris modified his final arrangements, the Lord of Knowledge had just about finished dealing with Manitou. He hastily turned his focus back, once again pressing down on Osiris—resuming the struggle for control over the crumbling divine body. “Your fate is sealed. Cease your struggling...” Amid the violent clash of wills, the twisted and shattered giant body before the divine throne began to tremble. Then, losing balance, it fell from the platform into the sea of scripts below. The grotesquely swelling form continued to sink—deeper and deeper—into the abyss, past the divine throne domain, and into the void of the Realm of Knowledge, the Sea of Cognition. There, the body began disintegrating further. Divinity peeled away from the divine vessel: some converging toward the places Osiris had previously designated, and some dispersing, flowing into the endless sea of cognition alongside the accumulated filth of divine blood. Meanwhile, in the material realm, a catastrophic upheaval was also taking place. “Rest well... my child...” Within the ruined divine body, Osiris’s will had fully dissipated. The Lord of Knowledge now held complete control over the form. Though this decaying husk had little remaining power, he would soon need to abandon it. But before that, he had one more task: to peer into Osiris’s final will and see what last measures had been enacted in resistance. With a single glance, the Lord of Knowledge saw everything Osiris had arranged for after his fall, including the emergency changes made upon discovering his presence. Chief among these was the appointment of the next arbiter. “I can’t allow you to get your way so easily…” Utilizing the last remnants of divine power within Osiris’s body, the Lord of Knowledge began overriding the revised succession plan, reshaping it to fit his own vision. He continued adjusting it until the divine power had nearly dissipated—he managed to alter most of the plan, except for one key component. Because this part of the plan eluded his understanding. Or rather—it was completely unknowable to him. “Changed the time and place the successor will arrive… and cast their fate into the shadowed pantheon? Heh… You truly gave it your all to prevent me from interfering, child… A shame…” With a final whisper, the Lord of Knowledge's consciousness separated from Osiris’s decayed divine form, slithering like a sea serpent into the boundless Sea of Cognition. For the first time in a billion years, the god of “Revelation” had fallen. And the Lord of Knowledge—who had long parasitized that god—now began moving independently. He would drift, hidden within the minds of all sentient beings, quietly setting his plans in motion. And the crux of that plan lay with the successor from another world, who would soon arrive in this universe. … Time returned to the present—deep within the mind of a sleeping girl, inside the divine throne domain. In that vast darkness, countless shifting purple runes floated freely. Amid these drifting symbols stood a figure, gazing into the expansive void. It was less a figure than a humanoid mirage. Countless interwoven geometric shapes and lines assembled into an ever-shifting, glimmering symbol—a chaos of figures stacked from bottom to top, forming the vague outline of a “human.” This “humanoid” was the Lord of Knowledge. After betraying both the gods of Revelation and Silence over seven millennia ago, he had now once again revealed a faint presence—this time within the world. The seeds sown in the distant past had finally begun to sprout. After more than 7,000 years of preparation and plotting, his plan was nearing its end. Now, he lay hidden within Dorothy’s consciousness, patiently awaiting the completion of the grand ritual. “Very soon…” Within the mental space of the newborn god of Revelation, the Lord of Knowledge surveyed the ritual’s progress. Very soon, using this puppet body, he would seize the final fruit and return to the world in his full power. “Soon? Not necessarily…” Just then, another voice echoed through the vast mental space. Unlike the Lord of Knowledge’s rasping, stuttering tone—like a scratched disc—this voice was crisp and bright, brimming with emotion. It was a young woman’s voice. Hearing this, the ever-shifting symbol-figure turned to face the source. And what he saw was a silver-haired girl, dressed in a flowing gown, slowly walking toward him. Her form and face were identical to the master of this consciousness space. It was Dorothy—or more precisely, the true Dorothy, her will untainted by the Lord of Knowledge. “Ah… Miss Dorothea Mayschoss. The young Arbiter of History. Noble descendant of Hyperion. Great Successor of Heaven… a visitor from beyond. A pleasure, truly. It seems you were prepared for my methods all along. As expected of the one chosen by Osiris. A fine strategist indeed…” The Lord of Knowledge responded with calm courtesy, bowing slightly as he spoke to Dorothy’s uncorrupted consciousness stepping forth from the darkness. Dorothy paused slightly at his demeanor, her expression mildly surprised, but she responded in kind with a flat tone. “One of the Revelation fragments left to me by Heaven's Arbiter once belonged to my grandfather Hyperion. Later, he entrusted it to the then-unstained Lord of Chalice, Tiametta, hoping it would protect her mind from any anomalies that might arise during the Eclipse Ritual. And yet… Tiametta still fell into corruption during the Eclipse Calamity, becoming the Mother of Chalice. Why was that? Why didn’t that Revelation fragment work as my grandfather had intended?” Standing her ground, Dorothy calmly posed her question. The Lord of Knowledge, as if expecting it, replied evenly. “As I thought. So it was the third Revelation fragment that aroused your suspicion. Seems you never trusted it fully—so you put precautions in place before absorbing it, didn’t you?” The Lord of Knowledge spoke knowingly. Dorothy didn’t confirm it directly, but instead posed a sharper question. “As one of the Primordial Gods, you deceived everyone. What is your true goal?” “My goal?” The Lord of Knowledge paused slightly, spreading one hand as he replied gently: “My goal is to bring this billion-year-long divine ascension ritual to a close—To rise to a higher realm, to become true unity, true truth… To become the ultimate supreme divinity… The Chaos Divinity.” He spoke with serenity. Dorothy furrowed her brows slightly and continued. “So this entire universe is nothing but a ritual ground—a stage for creating the Chaos God. You deceived Radiant Cold and the Earth Mother, faked your sacrifice to preserve your consciousness, and now… you plan to become the will of Chaos once it takes shape. You want to reclaim your place as a Primordial God in an age without them, and in doing so, become the highest being in the cosmos—able to control all other divine powers… to become Chaos.” Dorothy laid bare his ambitions. If the Lord of Knowledge were to reclaim the Primordial throne now, no being would be able to stop him. But the Lord of Knowledge showed no particular reaction. He merely replied calmly. “Sharp as ever… Just as I’ve always observed, Successor…” “So… everything was your doing. The third Revelation fragment you set a trap in—at the moment of the Eclipse Ritual, it was your trap that prevented Tiametta from receiving the protection she needed. That’s why she fell and became what she was back then.” Dorothy continued questioning the Lord of Knowledge, her voice sharp, while his reply remained as calm and unshaken as ever. “That’s right. When Osiris was on the brink of demise, he realized my presence by merging minds with Gitche Manitou—but that also triggered my power. I erased Manitou’s will and took control of Osiris during his fall, altering many of the arrangements and safeguards he left behind. Among them… was the so-called third divine fragment. Yes, it did indeed contain traps I implanted.” “That fragment was something my grandfather found. Was his acquisition of it also orchestrated by you?” Dorothy continued asking sternly. The Lord of Knowledge responded without hesitation. “Correct. It was I who guided Hyperion to Osiris’s legacy. From the moment he began to shine in his own era, I had already taken notice. I observed him for a long time and recognized he had potential to inherit the Lantern’s legacy. A fine piece on the board. After separating from Osiris, I drifted in this world in a form of pure, incomprehensible data, buried within books and minds alike. Long before Hyperion became a god, I had already infiltrated the minds of him and those around him, subtly shaping his cognition and way of thinking—until he found the third divine fragment of Osiris, accelerated his rise to godhood, and fulfilled what he believed to be a grand achievement.” The Lord of Knowledge spoke slowly, as if reminiscing. But after hearing this, Dorothy’s expression turned even more serious. She pressed on. “So… the reason my grandfather took the risk of performing the Eclipse Ritual… was because of you. You altered the message Osiris left behind, and you manipulated his judgment.” “Exactly. As I said before—your grandfather was an excellent pawn. Even easier to control than Osiris. He completed almost everything I needed. I owe him much… Truly… the most magnificent Emperor of Light.” As he said this, the Lord of Knowledge’s tone lifted slightly—there was even a hint of mockery. But Dorothy didn’t react to it. Her expression remained solemn as she asked again. “And what was your purpose in doing all of this?” “Purpose? Isn’t it obvious? To bring about the current situation. To prepare the final stage of this long ritual.” The Lord of Knowledge spread his hands slightly, his tone growing subtly profound as he continued. “The Eclipse Ritual led to Hyperion’s downfall, accelerated the growth of the Egg of Chaos, and caused Tiametta’s complete fall into corruption. That alone bound most of the forces that could have obstructed me. Micula was needed to suppress the surging Egg of Chaos. Heros had to seal Tiametta and stabilize both Micula and Gitche Manitou. Selene had to conceal the World Wound and the leaking corruption… “Look—after the Eclipse Calamity, by this Fourth Epoch, there’s no longer a single Main God left who is free to act. That gave me all the room I needed to maneuver. Had even one of them remained free, I wouldn’t have been able to orchestrate all this…” The Lord of Knowledge went on calmly—and he wasn’t wrong. Had a Main God intervened during Dorothy’s attempted fusion of opposing divine natures, her success would’ve been impossible. The Eclipse Calamity had indeed reshaped the universe’s power structure. “So it really was all your scheme…” Dorothy murmured gravely. The Lord of Knowledge had manipulated the world’s structure by tampering with Heaven’s Arbiter’s final arrangements, embedding himself in the minds of others and nudging events in his desired direction. It now seemed even the prophecies seen by Shepsuna and Viagetta might have been tainted by his influence. After all, in the Arbiter’s original plan, Tiametta was never meant to fall. “A scheme? No… this is fate. I am the Lord of Knowledge. I am fate itself, child…” His voice grated like a scratched record, but his tone remained eerily calm. Dorothy, however, quickly countered. “Fate itself? How arrogant. But unfortunately for you, from this point onward, things won’t go according to your plan. I’m not fully under the control of your trap-laden divine fragment.” The Lord of Knowledge paused slightly, examining Dorothy’s willform closely before slowly speaking. “Before performing the god-ascension ritual… you sequestered part of your consciousness within your mind—into the dark domain shaped by Selene’s divinity, didn’t you? Using it to hide… and avoid the traps embedded within the divine fragment. What I see now… is that hidden part of you.” He gave his analysis. Dorothy responded with a faint smile. “Yes. But that’s not all…” “Not all, hmm… let me think. What other methods did you use to prepare for me…? Ah—of course. You must have borrowed your most trusted ‘Information Channel,’ didn’t you? Used it to link your will to another consciousness, forming a neural network to isolate your core from external influence… just like when you resisted the Young One…” Lowering his voice, the Lord of Knowledge observed Dorothy’s expression. And when she heard him mention it, her eyes widened, visibly stunned. “You… you know about the ‘Information Channel’?!” “Naturally. You seem surprised? Understandable, I suppose. In your mind, the concept of the Information Channel has always existed only as a mental construct—you’ve never spoken it aloud. So, you’re shocked that I know one of your greatest trump cards…” The Lord of Knowledge continued speaking slowly. With every word, Dorothy’s eyes widened even further, her expression increasingly dumbfounded. And then he dropped another bombshell. “Stunned, are you? Not unexpected. Anyone would be, having their final card exposed. Especially you ‘transmigrators’—When someone else knows about your so-called ‘System’… You all tend to react the same way…” As he said the word “System,” his voice suddenly shifted—from its usual garbled rasp into a cold and steady tone. And Dorothy instantly recognized it. It was the exact voice tone used by the "System" prompts within her mind! “You… you’re actually… ah!!!” Realization hit her like a thunderclap. Her expression twisted into one of horror—and at that very moment, a sharp stab of pain pierced her mind. Her entire willform flickered uncontrollably. Dorothy could feel the neural network she had built through the Information Channel beginning to collapse. Even her consciousness hidden in the dark domain was becoming dangerously unstable. “You… you are the System? You’ve known about me from the beginning…” Through the searing pain, Dorothy spoke in a broken voice, barely forming her words. But the Lord of Knowledge answered with ease, as always. “Yes… and no. Strictly speaking, I am a part of your System—an extremely important part. And yes, I’ve been aware of your presence ever since you arrived in this world.” Gazing at Dorothy, the Lord of Knowledge began to walk slowly, reminiscing as he did. “Seven thousand years ago, I was in the midst of seizing divine power from Osiris when Gitche Manitou intervened. That gave Osiris a chance to alter his posthumous arrangements. After I regained control over his ruined body, I reversed some of those changes. But one critical alteration… I was unable to undo. It was… the timing and location of the transmigrator’s arrival in this cycle. “Osiris, by leveraging his earlier contract with Baybokah, cast the transmigrator’s fate into the shadow of the God of Night—making it completely hidden from me. With my remaining power, I couldn’t retrieve it. “It became the greatest ‘unknown’ in my entire perception. The transmigrator’s destiny was fused with shadow. I could no longer see when—or where—they would arrive. I couldn’t prepare accordingly. “But… that didn’t stop me from deducing possibilities. After all, the only thing that can block my insight is shadow at the level of a Main God. Therefore, the future transmigrator—or the person carrying their soul—must either be the new Main God of Shadow, or the divine offspring born from their divine womb…” The Lord of Knowledge spoke slowly. The successor transmigrator Osiris had chosen before his death was the most vital part of his entire contingency plan. And the greatest variable. For the Lord of Knowledge, it was a subject of critical focus. His ideal scenario? To locate the transmigrator the moment they crossed over. The transmigrator’s fate was entwined with the divinity of Shadow, and thus the Lord of Knowledge could not directly perceive it through prophecy. Since the only thing that could block his insight was a Main God-level Shadow authority, the transmigrator was either the future Main God of Shadow—or the child of that god. When a Shadow deity carries a divine offspring in the womb, mother and child are one. As destiny settles upon the child, the mother can provide the utmost concealment, shielding them from all prying eyes. “Osiris intended to use Shadow to shelter the fate of his chosen heir—and in that, he succeeded. Whether it’s Baybokah or Selene, without the aid of a powerful Lantern, I can’t trace their paths or destinies. “Baybokah was manageable. Using Hyperion’s purge of the Baybokah progenies, I was able to confirm the heir wasn’t among her divine children. The issue lies with Selene. I don’t know when… where… how, or with whom… she might have birthed divine offspring. Once she prepared herself, she could easily create an avatar imbued with the majority of her power, temporarily handing off the task of concealing the shadow realm’s rupture to that avatar. Then, in secret, she could retreat to some corner of the inner realms and silently give birth to a divine child. “No one would notice. Even monitoring the Nation of Night nonstop would be futile. So yes… the one part of Osiris’s plan I failed to rewrite—it did serve a purpose…” The Lord of Knowledge spoke without emotion. Osiris’s divine body had crumbled too quickly for him to fully corrupt every part of the plan. He speculated that Selene might have chosen to birth the transmigrator both due to sensing the fated ripple within Shadow and from accessing information Osiris had left behind—information the Lord of Knowledge didn’t manage to alter. The specifics remained unclear, even to him. But it no longer mattered. As he spoke, the Lord of Knowledge slowly scrutinized the flickering, unstable form of Dorothy’s will. Her consciousness was writhing in pain, unstable and disintegrating. “From a fate-based perspective, Osiris hid you well. But I didn’t rely solely on fate to find you.” As he spoke, he extended one hand—composed of abstract, ever-shifting symbols. In that hand, a small glowing orb appeared, woven with countless intricate powers. “This is…” “This… is what you transmigrators call your ‘System.’ The so-called ‘System’ is a construct formed through the power of beyond-world forces, absorbed during the process of transmigration. With the aid of various gods, it is used as a critical tool to amplify the transmigrator’s variable potential. “Most believe Systems only last for one reincarnation cycle and then disappear. But in truth, they leave behind remnants. I encrypted and hid these remains, gradually compiling them… into this. “This is the residue of past Systems used by other transmigrators across other cycles. While no longer functional, I refashioned it into a detector—one that can scan beyond the universe. Because every System, when activated, draws on power from outside the universe. This detector allows me to sense System activity. If any System is in use, I receive the corresponding signals.” The Lord of Knowledge introduced his creation with an air of satisfaction. Dorothy’s eyes widened in horror as she listened. “When the System activates… don’t tell me… back then… in Pritt… outside Vulcan Town… you were already—” “I had already taken notice of you,” the Lord of Knowledge finished her sentence casually, then continued his explanation. “Selene cannot leave the Nation of Night indefinitely. She always has to return. But the transmigrator—you—must walk through the vast world and fulfill your fate. When you stood at that cliff’s edge and used your System to speak a word of alien power, I sensed you. That’s when I began infiltrating your mind and embedding myself into your System. Otherwise, where do you think that fragment of higher divinity within your System came from? Ordinary Systems don’t contain divinity, you know.” Watching Dorothy’s crumbling, flickering consciousness, the Lord of Knowledge spoke with cold amusement. And now, at last, Dorothy understood why her defenses had failed. The prerequisite for isolating part of her mind in the shadow domain was that her original consciousness be untainted. But the interference hadn’t begun with the trap-laced divine fragment. It began the moment she entered this world—before she ever became a Beyonder. From the very start, her consciousness had already been influenced. As for the “Information Channel,” the structure created by the System—it had already been corrupted by the Lord of Knowledge. Naturally, it failed her completely. The “System”—once her greatest advantage—had become her deepest trap. Now, in total despair, with her final trump card shattered, Dorothy could do nothing. Even the form of her mind was falling apart. She could only float amidst pain and static, her words halting and distorted. “So… my entire… journey… all of it… You orchestrated it from the beginning? All of my… victories… were secretly supported by you? Just to push me to ascend… fuse the divinities… and become the vessel for your resurrection…?” “No, no… don’t belittle yourself, my child. Once I confirmed your existence and left a safeguard within your mind, I never intervened again. You must understand—I valued you because Osiris chose you. Because you were a transmigrator capable of creating the greatest variables. “But you were never my only option. You… the Young One… or even some puppet I could groom—any could have served my purpose. “In truth, I was more inclined toward the Young One. He was already formed on the divine throne, merely sealed. Resurrecting through him would have been easier. He was born strong. You, on the other hand, required extensive cultivation. I invested most of my efforts into the Young One. As for you, I only laid down a contingency at the start. “I helped the Young One break his seal. Most of Hafdar’s work—yes, I was the one assisting him in secret. Alone, a ‘Gold-rank Silence’ could never have expedited the Young One’s growth like that. I merely followed through on Osiris’s arrangements and accelerated them. Even if you had never visited Heopolis or met Viagetta, the Young One would have broken free eventually. “But what surprised me was… how fast you grew. Your rate of development forced me to re-evaluate you. You freed the Young One before I did. Your actions disrupted my plan—slightly. But not beyond recovery. “I originally backed the Young One because he could instantly manifest great power. I never imagined you’d grow so quickly. By the time the Young One was free, you were already his equal. That’s when I decided to stop supporting him exclusively—and instead… observe. To see who would emerge stronger. For only the strongest could serve as my vessel. “You both received minimal assistance from me. But you triumphed. Now you understand, child—I only placed a safeguard on you at the beginning. You became my vessel because of your own strength. And I am… quite proud of what you’ve become.” As he spoke, the Lord of Knowledge raised his hand and pointed at Dorothy’s failing mind. Then he whispered. “So now… I reward you. By making you a part of me.” At that final utterance, Dorothy’s will collapsed completely—shattered and dispersed within the vast mindscape. Now, in this infinite space of consciousness, only one existence remained. The Lord of Knowledge. “The time has come… I return at last…” His whisper echoed through the void. And in the divine throne domain, Dorothy’s slumbering physical body underwent a dramatic transformation. The glowing cracks on her form expanded rapidly—until her entire body, like a porcelain doll, crumbled to pieces. From the shattered fragments, a torrent of dark-purple, twisting, abstract symbols erupted and scattered into the sea of scripts below. Immediately, that sea of scripts began to be polluted, as strange colors rapidly spread outward like a contagion. The eruption… the expansion… the source of those twisted symbols swelled rapidly, forming a flood that swept across the entire sea of scripts. The Throne of Fate and the Throne of Hollow Remains collapsed within that tide, dissolving into the cascading waves of scripts. The divine throne domain was in the midst of destruction. That endless tide of distorted information spread out in all directions, invading every domain… Unlike seven thousand years ago, when the Lord of Knowledge had only activated his consciousness through mental fusion—this time, fully fused with divine essence, he now wielded unmatched power throughout the entire cosmos. This power was rapidly expanding into every domain, and by now, nearly every sentient being’s mind had already fallen under his control. No one could react. No one could stop it. “Damn it… there’s still a deviation? Seriously… You Hyperion bastards…” In a coastal town in the current realm, Beverly stared out at the ocean and land as they deconstructed and reassembled into abstract symbols. She muttered helplessly. Meanwhile, atop Holy Mount, Phaethon could only watch as his fellow cardinals crumbled into raw data, their forms deconstructing. The Grand Cathedral’s radiance, once brilliant, distorted into pages of luminous scripture, turning on their own as if leafed through by unseen hands. All he could do was sigh. “Sigh…” In the Nation of Night, within the ruins of the divine temple, the moonlit-white goddess stood in silence, watching as her black night sky turned into pages—each etched with bizarre, twisted runes. She could feel her domain being consumed at a terrifying rate, the suppressed corruption surging forth in rebellion, and yet—she was powerless to stop it. “The secret you’ve been guarding is meaningless now, Selene…” “……” In the night sky, runes gathered into a proclamation-like sentence. But before this declaration and the collapse of her realm, the Mirror Moon maiden remained silent, saying nothing. … “Come now… grow! Riot! Be truly born! This universe is your feast—devour it all, become the ultimate! Our ultimate!” Amid the proclamation echoing across all realms, the primal earth began to shake violently. Endless mountain ranges in the depths of countless domains cracked wide open, and from those rifts surged indescribable filth—murky and corrupt—engulfing mountains and merging into oceans. The walls between all realms began to fracture. That viscous mud, which first spilled from the Stone Prince, now oozed from every rift across every boundary… the physical realm… the Nether Realm… the mental plane… the Dreamscape… All realms, all borders, all distinctions… began to blur… began to collapse. In an indescribably abstract process, the entire cosmos became a vortex—everything within churned, stirred, and dissolved into one thick, turbid slurry. The Lord of Knowledge had catalyzed the growth of the Egg of Chaos. He could see the power of Chaos breaking through all seals, stretching its claws toward every corner of the universe, devouring all. He could see the remnants of Radiance… the Night Moon… Steel… and so on, all struggling vainly at the end of days—only to be ruthlessly crushed and consumed by the power of Chaos. He could see Chaos engulf everything, eliminating every distinction, every barrier, every realm. The myriad returned to three, three to two, two to one… and one to Chaos. He would become that final one. He was Chaos. He could see himself fusing with Chaos, becoming the will of Chaos, becoming the true God of Chaos. He could see that as the God of Chaos, he was no longer bound by this universe. At last, he would be free—free to invade other universes. He could see himself using the power of Chaos to invade one universe after another, assimilating every divine power and all things, rendering them into Chaos. He could see that as he continued devouring, his strength grew ever more immense—ascending to a mightier Chaos God—and finally challenging the summit of divine order in the endless cosmos beyond. He would triumph. He would bring every universe, everything, into himself… He could see— —a girl standing before him. She wore a white dress with a dark overcoat, silver hair cascading down, a small round hat atop her head, and black boots on her feet. Crimson eyes stared at him curiously, and she opened her mouth to speak. “Your plan sure is… ambitious, Old Old Deng.” (T/N: Deng 登 = Ascend. Dorothy probably mocked his goal and turned it into his nickname.) “…Huh?” Suddenly, all that the Lord of Knowledge had seen—all those countless visions across time—vanished in an instant. He found himself standing once more in a familiar void, facing a familiar girl. Delving into his memory, tracing back through eons of awareness, the Lord of Knowledge realized. This was the consciousness space he had once inhabited—before his full awakening. And the girl before him… was the master of that space, who by all accounts should no longer exist. Dorothea Mayschoss.