Chapter 781 Little Centipede ?The vaults were scattered in different sections of the sea of destruction and the distance between them was surprisingly wide; if he were to measure it, he would say it was as wide as a thousand light-years across between him and the closest vault, the farthest ones were as far as millions of light years away, making Rowan wonder where this sea of destruction was truly located. Transporting the Spirit Guises through the sea of darkness would be challenging, he could only send them across one at a time because of his limited consciousness power. He would need to physically move the Spirit Guises through the sea of destruction to assure their safety. For an instant, he contemplated using a single Sovereign to transport the Spirit Guises to their destination, but that would defeat the purpose of his stealthy actions and reveal himself to the God King. From the sudden death of the universe, the so-called Great Worms, the vaults, and the unknown formations and broken Wills hidden inside the decaying blood of the universe, Rowan knew that somehow Trion was in the center of all of it. Rowan bowed his head in thought for a moment before coming to a conclusion that with these new changes, it would be more efficient for him to evolve and free up more consciousness powers first, before sending the Spirit Guises to their destination. He was making massive progress in collecting information and the materials he needed for the creation of his Forge, and this was presently the best method for him to use until something unexpected happened. Perfectly imitating Boreas and designing his Forge was taking much of his consciousness power, if he went ahead with his plans to kill Volgim and take over his duties, then he would strain himself to the extent that he might make a mistake while slowing down the creation of his Forge. It was important that he evolved first and regain access to his Primordial Record before taking more drastic actions. The changes in the universe meant he had little time to make his plans and less time to execute them. At first, he had thought that he might have thousands of years to slowly uncover the secrets of Trion, silently replace all the gods, and kill Golgoth in his sleep, but it would appear that his father would not allow him the time to make this dream a reality… shame that. Rowan would be leaving Circe without any guidance for the moment while he focused everything he had into ensuring that he completed his Forge and evolving. He did not even consider undertaking his evolution in the open even though the universe was now proclaimed dead, and could no longer watch or react to his actions. The death of the universe did not make him let down his guard. What it meant was that there was something more powerful than the universe and it meant he needed to be more careful than before, especially if it was related to his father who was linked to this powerful force. 'The old man had found a bigger thigh to hug, it just meant that he needed to make a bigger hammer to crush said thigh.' Sending a message to Circe to be more careful in her dealings in the next several months. Rowan entered deep into his consciousness and began to design his Forge. Every single second brings rapid progress but leaves him a bit vulnerable to the outside world. It was a risk that he simply had to take. ? The goddess Minerva was troubled. It was rare that she had issues that worried her to this extent, not after her Mirror of Fate was taken from her. Without those powerful eyes, she could no longer see far, and although that came with a lot of problems for her, it also carried its unique sets of advantages. For one, she was no longer troubled by events she had no way of controlling or manipulating. She became as blind as the rest of the damned puppets sitting on thrones of madness. Nevertheless, Minerva was a spider who was most comfortable in the midst of her web, and she had spread that web wide open using any resources she could come across. One of these resources was a certain creature she had caught at the Nexus where Rowan had escaped from. This creature took the form of a gigantic centipede whose evolutionary abilities were unparalleled. Minerva did not know who created it, but she could detect a portion of her power inside of it. Using this power she had been able to influence the creature, bending it to her purposes and making it call her— Mother. At first, the creature had been a side project, she wanted to unearth the mysteries of its birth, but after every test and obstacle she placed on its path was crushed with ease and its evolution did not slow down after all these years and was, in fact, becoming faster, she began allocating more importance to it. Seven years ago, she fully merged this centipede with her Divinity and it became a thread in her massive web. With every year that passes, the importance of this thread was growing and she had the hopes that one day it would be able to replace one of her essential pieces, Telmus. Regardless, she needed to find the true origin of this centipede. Discovering it inside the Nexus meant that it was likely a creation of the Third Prince that had escaped during the destruction of the Nexus. Minerva knew she was called a partner by this enigmatic being, but she was not foolish, she more than anyone else knew how depraved and powerful the Third Prince and his brother Golgoth truly were. Vanishing from the fields of Elysium did not take her to the sea of destruction for she had no vault, instead, she arrived at the foot of a great mountain. Immediately the smell of decay assaulted her senses, this was a familiar scent, one she found more natural than anything else in creation. Everything dies, including the gods themselves in time, and Minerva could smell the rot in everyone. She was finding it harder to resist surrendering herself to Golgoth, the smell of death around the God King was so intense it left her reeling. Minerva flew a few inches above the ground towards the mountain before she stopped before a massive opening that led to a dark cave. The opening of the cave was filled with bones and decaying flesh from millions of bodies. All these bodies came from animals, humans, and everything in between, with the curious characteristics of a missing head. The beast only devoured the head of its victims, and Minerva had never needed to feed it, hunting was an integral part of its nature and the entire continent was its feeding ground. She had told the beast that it could prey on anyone weaker than itself, including the members of her bloodline, discovering early enough that the beast was smart and would never attack anyone more powerful than itself. She looked around the mouth of the cave noticing hundreds of thousands of new bodies, some were Mages and Dominators, but most of them were Demons. The beast was becoming uncomfortable, killing had become too easy for it, but it needed more sustenance to fuel its growing power, but the best prey for it to grow was unavailable. Trion was not filled with gods which was the preferred prey of the beast, and only the powerful bodies of Demons could slake its hunger for a while. "Little Centipede, come on out." Minerva called out in a sing- song voice, "Help me to figure out this thing that troubles my soul." There was silence for a few seconds before the cave began to vibrate and then slowly closed. The Great mountain rippled as if it was made from water and the gray of the mountain stones began to transform into a shade of yellow and red. Right above where the cave had been, two massive pincers that were at least a mile long erupted from the mountain and two large eyes opened above the waving pincers. The grand mountain began to slowly collapse and it expanded until it was now resembling an entire mountain range. "Hello mother, do you now know why the winds smell so… delicious." The mountain was revealed to be the centipede who had been relaxing after a hearty meal. He brought down a single massive pincer whose end was as sharp as a needle and reached down until it was a few feet in front of the goddess.