Chapter 417: Chapter 417: Moving Chapter 417 – Simultaneously All these battles were happening. And now that time had passed, these battles were unfolding at the same exact time. Though, some were still searching for their target, like Solaris and Noelle who were tasked to retrieve the Spirit Origin from the Queen of Hearts. A daunting task. But one these two were ready to take. They were not the only ones, for Alice and Aurelia — tasked to find the Life and Protection Origins — were also still in their pursuits. They had some initial clues about where they were, but nothing else. As for those who found their targets and began their battles, each of them did their task in a way that perfectly matched their own nature and concept. If one were like The Records, able to see anything happening inside the universe, then one would notice how each of the Silver Goddesses handled their tasks. One of such scenes was occurring in a world called Terra. The world was rather bizarre by human standards, as it was entirely made of earth, with not a single body of water visible no matter how hard one looked. Only sand. Only dunes. There were seven suns in the sky, and the world didn’t have a night cycle. The inhabitants of Terra lived in perpetual light. Their skins were black, blessed by the suns. From outside, they looked like any human, though inwardly they were nothing like such. They had evolved in order to survive without water. Their organs were made of sand, mud and clay, giving them incredible flexibility. They had no mouth, only eyes to see and a nose to smell the direction of their path. From what Zara knew of these beings, they were ones who never ate. They only used earth affinity to replace their body parts if they failed to function. And yet they lived in perfect harmony, managing to communicate through a sign language made with their bodies. Looking at them, Zara could feel that no emotions coursed inside them except one. If one could even call it an emotion. And all of that was possible because of one single thing...an Origin... The Origin of Perseverance. This one was an origin none of them held, but one Noah wanted the moment he heard about it. And the particularity of the Origin was that it was not a being who used it... ...the origin was in the hand of the World’s Will, making this world quite a unique one. Zara watched all of this from the void, silent and unseen. Knowing the character of the origin, she knew that a negotiation would be a fool’s dream. So, without wasting time, Zara’s body began to descend upon Terra like a falling star. In that process, her body began to steadily and unhurriedly bloat until she looked like a humongous balloon about to burst at a single touch. She burst completely, creating a rain of falling rocks that glowed with a distinct color unique to one emotion. The rocks slammed on the world’s barrier but went inside easily, even though the world was a high-ranked one. The Will sensed something wrong, but it was far too late. The rocks dispersed themselves and landed on different parts of the world, creating a huge event that would be recorded in that world’s history. After everything calmed down, the local residents began to inquire about what fell from the sky. Already, some of them began to form a myth and belief around that event, gathering people with the same beliefs to form a group. The group was looked down upon by others, proud ancient ones. But no matter what happened, all of them sent their men and entered in contact with the world of emotions by collecting the rocks. They felt euphoria. But they were not ready to feel anything else except perseverance in their hearts. Thus, the world — Terra — was becoming corrupted. Zara had acted, but she was not the only one. Virgo too acted. And her way was much more subtle than her emotional sister. She was tasked to retrieve the Origin of Gold held by one of the leaders of the human faction. At that moment, she was already inside that world that was riddled with many weak and strange species. Virgo thought with her skin color she would receive second glances. But she found instead that she was...quite normal in front of these people. So she walked inside the world safely, into the main city inside the Gold Empire, looking at how everything was covered in gilded luster. It was like seeing Apollonia Elizabeth. It hurt to see so much brightness. Clearly, the inhabitants were swimming in luxury, all caused by the Origin of Gold held by Midas, The Hand of Gold. While walking, with a sweet in her mouth, Virgo began to think of how she should take down this empire and also the concept she had awakened. The concept of Decadence. ’Too much of anything is a curse. And failure to uphold what matters because of the idiocy of life is a poison.’ She thought. Excess and neglect. These two aspects would make anyone fall into decadence and that, with their own hands. No one would put a sword at their neck for that. Not at all. They just needed a little bit of a push, and they would cause their own ruin. So Virginia Ti Ranneth Vaelgrim, Elysiari of Decadence, wife of Noah Vaelgrim and inhabitant of Laeh... ...began her mission. Every one of her steps pulsed with power, everywhere her eyes rested upon would be marked by her skull, and every mouthful of breath she took corrupted the air. Soon, the Gold Empire would fall into decadence caused by their greed for more gold and their failures to do what truly mattered. And that... ...only because of themselves. And not because of a certain crimson-skinned woman. Not at all. ... Coming back into the depth of the void, Noah could be seen sitting on the corpse of a void beast. All around him, dozens of these same creatures lay dead, floating in the void aimlessly, their nightmarish bodies shredded to pieces in a way that was a crime to one’s eyes. All of their hearts were gouged out and placed just in front of Noah, pulsing with a strange chaotic power. Around the Progenitor were his faithful maids, now in their Elysiari form instead of lotuses. They sat silently, a chill rising inside their hearts at the sight of those hearts, waiting for their master to finish digesting the information he just gathered by trying to look at the fates of all the void beasts. It was weird to say that, for these creatures held no fate, no causality, not even a single thread of destiny. Noah was flabbergasted the moment he finally noticed it. It was completely inconceivable. How was it possible for creatures to be born fateless? To exist without a single thread? No. The real question was how he didn’t manage to notice the abnormality of Noelle before she became an Elysiari and thus gained a fate? Noah did not know, but it was far from logical. He was the owner of Providence, he was he should have sensed it. But he didn’t. It was as if something — or someone — had so thoroughly clouded his mind that he was blind to such an obvious thing. ’What is happening, Providence? Why was I not aware? And why do these beasts have no fate?’ Staring at the hearts and their remains, Noah had the impression that these beasts were not meant to be inside this universe. That made them unworthy to affect the threads of the universe and thus fateless. They were anomalies. [I know not, Noah. I am as confused as you, at this moment.] Providence answered. [But you have no time to ponder upon these. You have managed to obtain the Void Lord’s existence after torturing all these beasts, now you have your target for the origin.] Noah frowned, ’Who said the Void Lord has the origin? For all we know, this is just a slightly stronger void beast who liked to play king.’ [Maybe. Maybe not. In any case, that’s your only lead, my dear.] Noah’s frown tightened exponentially, before he released his brows and exhaled softly. He stood up from his seated position and looked deep into the moving void. He didn’t know, but he felt danger and apprehension. It was rare for him to feel that way. Very rare. But Noah only crooked a smile and cracked his neck. "Ladies, things are going to get messy," he whispered, "Will you be able to follow my pace?" The maids grinned, "We are ready anytime you want, master." Noah mirrored their grin and looked at the hearts of the Void in front of him. "Perfect. But first, let’s do something about these little things." —End of Chapter 417—