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Chapter 413: Zodiac Artifact

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Siva wasn’t surprised with her reaction.

To her, and to all of Terroa, her ascension to the [Path of Immortality] was the most important thing to consider for the sake of the continuation of the entire Terran Civilization.

Gabriel was already halfway and is on that last step into becoming a full Immortal; Gaia was still on her earliest step, the first step, in fact, and so her case was a little bit more special.

During the Ascension Ceremony, the most crucial and most difficult stage was the early stage since it was the time where the ascender was the most vulnerable to corruption.

Gabriel’s was protected by Janus, who fought with and distracted the Demons by facing Mefisto.

Why did Gyoolu attack Alexandria?

Half of the reason is because Gabriel’s Ascension Ceremony happened at the same time as Janus and Mefisto fought. When the battle concluded, he immediately knew from Janus’s memories that one of his ‘apprentices’ was undergoing ascension.

As such, he hurriedly sent Gyoolu for the attack but little did he know that [Siva] was also there and that from Janus’s memories, his Legacy Holder is also in Alexandria… thus the events that unfolded.

It was a bout of luck that [Siva] managed to retain a tiny fraction of his original strength, although it was the last of it, before sending Mefisto to the moon and giving him grave injuries —with half the credits given to Janus’s tinkering of his twin guns, [Eibon and Steve].

The same way, Gaia’s ascension was important to Terroa so having the protection of Siva was one of the biggest blessings for this momentous event.

The very survival of Terroa itself may lay on what her fate will be after this ascension.

“Then I will start now.”

“I know you can do it.” Said Siva, nodding, “There are nigh-limitless amounts of resources that your Enchantment Temples can pull out… the sooner you can give me one spell formation, the better.”

“Give me five days for the first one.” Gaia was on a toiling spree, personally creating a Mana Gathering Spell Formation while personally teaching Scion a thing or two about the Elven Path of Magic wasn’t a small thing. It was exhausting. Only because she’s an Elf loved by Mana that she can stay awake for even a year without sleep and still feel okay; such was the miracles ‘Mana’ are capable of.

She was on the verge and can ascend anytime but with Siva’s current strength, they both knew that waiting until Siva can at least use Tier-5 Magic was the best time to undergo her ascension.

With that talk out of the way, he then finished his recording of the outline of a Mana Gathering Spell Formation and faced her, “Regarding that location you told me about my search for Zeta…”

Gaia immediately and respectfully replied to him, “I have used the last of my [authority] to find out the location where you can find a clue about him but I discovered that he was long dead. Thus, I can only inform you about a location of a Primordial Device that once belonged to the Felyne Race.”

Felyne Race…. another one of the races that Siva had a very bad premonition of…

Siva’s silence caught Gaia’s attention so she could only avert the topic away from anything that had to do with the results of his rampage back then.

But upon the mention of the Felyne Race —having very close relations to the Vulpine Race— Siva was startled as he recalled his few memories when he had visited their star systems back then.

In fact, he had a very close relationship with the Felyne Race because it was there that he’d spent a good time with one of his disciples.

The Felyne Race was like the Vulpine Race—a half beast, half-hominid race.

Both races were small and shared their distinctive beastly ears, whiskers, and tails, but only one of them were physically weak.

Of the two races, the Vulpine Race excelled with their unique Magic while the Felyne Race had a strong inclination to being masters of the art of assassination —they’re soundlessly agile!

In fact, it wasn’t only them. There are other races that shared the same characteristics of having half of their physical features comparable to beasts and animals and in fact, one could even say that while they all differ on what beast or animal features they all have, they are all generally categorized as being part of an entire “race” of half-beasts.

As such, their general classification as the [Divine Beasts Race] —with the “Vulpines” and “Felynes” being nothing more than ‘tribes’ and not an actual racial division.

Siva once had disciples from both races, but the one that he had a strong impression of was that lad from the Felyne Tribe.

That’s why he felt some sort of pang of something when he thought that they, too, are now extinct.

He couldn’t help but cringe at the thought of his own doing. And yet, he also couldn’t help but feel that those were all nothing more than the results of a bitter war.

“The Primordial Device… My Lord…”

Siva blinked just as he was caught on his own sets of memories.

His voice stern, he prompted, “Tell me about it.”

Gaia heaved a deep breath and began to explain in a slow and cordial manner, “While it is true that the device belonged to the Felyne Race, this was a device that also had ten more other races’ magical technologies installed in it… an invention with a clear collaboration from a total of twelve races from different parts of the universe. I discovered it from an ancient temple that did not belong to any of the Terrans that came to this planet from the groups that included us… the survivors of Terra.”

The [Ragnarok] happened in Planet Terra and it was also there that Siva’s rampage had begun. The mass exodus of the survivors was partly because of Siva’s violent explosion and also of the pursuit of the Demons who sought their eradication.

“A collaboration of twelve races?” Siva’s brow creased. He went into a deep contemplation for a few seconds before her next words woke him from his thoughts.

“The temple was obviously from the Primordial Era as it has the traces of it on its walls. Right after I’ve discovered it, I took the device to the headquarters in the Southern Isles and lifted the entire temple up along with the area it was built into, and made it into a floating island on top of a mountain.”

Siva blinked, why does that place sounds familiar?

“Hagonoy?”

Gaia was deeply surprised by this and she asked with a beautiful blinking expression, “So you have been there before? Yes. It is exactly in Hagonoy. I discovered the place around three cycles ago.”

One Cycle = 1000 years. Siva looked at the blonde Elf with big boobs and was then reminded that she was an old lady at the same age as this universe.

It was a weird feeling.

Siva recalled the information he had on the temple they saw in the floating island in Hagonoy and was then reminded of that ‘emblem’ that appeared on his body when his curse flared up for the first time.

The emblem was of a crescent moon, a star in the middle of the moon, and a tear drop at the bottom.

It was on the walls of that temple in Hagonoy.

He also recalled the altar in the temple and right now only patched his and Volt’s earlier guess that there was something else that the altar and that old temple were used for. The vines and dust on the floor and walls of the temple showed its age and it was only now that he realized how old it really was.

It was a temple that had existed from the Primordial Era! As it turns out, the temple was for storing that device. But what is that device had to do with his mission to find the already long dead Zeta?

While Siva was wondering, Gaia went on further, “I have already studied the device and tested it once during my days being bored, and had discovered all of its uses… actually… its only use…”

“Only use? Elaborate.”

“It is a Time Gate Device.”

“Time gate device?” Siva’s mind reeled and all his emotions were stirred as his eyes shook at what it meant to have a ‘time’ included in its function.

He boomed in front of Gaia, holding her shoulders and asking with an urgent tone, “A Time Gate? Are you perfectly sure that it can open a Time Gate?”

“I am, My Lord, I wouldn’t be lying about this when it has something to do with why I am begging for your protection during my ascension.”

Opening up a [Time Gate]… Siva suddenly recalled that rumor about a Goddess who lost her lover but one day was seen happily enjoying life with him.

Then he recalled Gaia mentioned something about it having something to do with the Vulpine Tribe.

Siva began to murmur, “Vulpines’ racial ability to see the Memories of Mana; Felynes’ racial ability to blend with Mana…” Siva stopped his muttering and then released the flustered Gaia, “Tell me if I’m not mistaken... does that device also have Elvira’s crest and the Dwarf Race’s emblem?”

Gaia stiffly nodded. Siva stepped back and fell into a daze as his mind was filled with Samantha.

“Sam…”

His curse? Screw it… if there was a chance he can save Samantha’s “soul” sooner than he can make it seem to be, then why wouldn’t he exert his all to make it happen a lot faster?

Siva didn’t mean to murmur her name but hearing it made Scion tighten up her grip on his sleeve. She didn’t say a word and only looked at the ‘faceless’ mask of Siva —this increasingly becoming unstable ‘Siva’— yet couldn’t find in to her to pry anything to latch into and so could only bite her rosy pink lips and endure the jealousy in her heart.

“Lord Siva… how did you know about the device having the crest of my Ancestor?”

Siva somewhat recovered from his stupor and also managed to control his emotions, feeling the hand that tightly held him closer to her heart… Siva was feeling guilty so he held her hand and told Gaia:

“I don’t know the specifics… since this was during a time when I was yet to attain my Immortality back then…”

Siva told her a story about a pact between sisters; a rumour of a story about twelve sworn sisters that dearly loved and worshiped Mother Terra as the Goddess amongst Goddesses.

It was the story of the Zodiac Sisters —Goddesses of the Great Star Circle.

The “Great Star Circle” was a place.

He’d been to its ruins before… and of the twelve Zodiac Sisters, he had only met six with half of the sisters having died from the scattered skirmishes against the Demons before the dawn of Ragnarok.

Felicia of the Felynes…

Charina of the Aspis…

Euphrosyne, Aglaia, Thalia… Graces of Olympus…

………and Elvira, Goddess Mother of the Elves…

These were the six that Siva managed to meet at the time… they were considered his ‘allies’ and the six of them supported him when he was spreading the Path of Immortality amongst the stars.

But although they’ve met, Siva was never close to any of the gods and these Goddesses, aloof to the very marrow of their bones, were so proud and so egotistical that Siva was disgusted by their faces.

As such, although they supported him as Immortals are added manpower to their forces, they were not close in the slightest… not even a few words even after thousands of millions of years of cooperation.

When Siva told Gaia and Scion of their history, the story also included that rumour about a Goddess who had lost her lover but was soon discovered to be living a life with him away from the frontlines.

Scion found the story lovable as she kept a watery set of eyes, close to tearing up.

Gaia, however, was frowning… as so is Siva.

“When I tried the device, I never dared to enter it.”

As they walked towards the room while he spoke, they arrived at Pistareen’s office and sat on the long couch, having Scion bring them tea as she sat down next to him. Siva, of course, preferred blend and she happily made him one.

He looked at the ceiling as he sipped his cup, and as he removed his faceless mask, he brushed off his smoky hair to the back of his head, massaging the nose-bridge that had somehow ached in turn.

Siva’s complexion was really ‘dark’ and the hair that looked like a smoky supersaiyan on his white cloth ‘armour’ accentuated something akin to a dark-ish scent of violent handsomeness.

The Siva right now had something different to the ‘Siva’ that they’ve been looking at from before, but they don’t know why or what it was that became a difference between the Siva of then and now.

His (fake) elegance was still there with his fancy way of ‘lifting’ and drinking on his cup.

His legs were crossed and his back straight; there, he seated, right in the middle of the couch, a Siva in front of Gaia radiating a true air of authority.

She actually blushed seeing him.

Of course, Scion didn’t speak a word of it.

When that seemingly long-short moment passed, a clear sound of the cup hitting the saucer rung and Siva continued, “I’ve never really known nor did I spend as much as a single time digging through all these secrets and rumours back then. But now that I think about it, given the time of the Gods and the fact that there is no reason to fake something like that… majority of the rumours back then may have been… perhaps… true occurrences.”

Gaia sipped her tea elegantly and then put her cup down with a clear gentle ding.

“I’ve only ever tested it once but even then, I had to pay a great price to activate…… and dispel it.”

“The Time Gate?”

She gave a nod.

He sipped his blend full and finished it. Then Siva crossed his arms as he leaned back on the couch.

She said, “The [Time Gate] created by the device is stable enough to exist for a few seconds but to make it last for longer than ten hours was its limit or else, the Time Gate will begin to collapse and a spatial turbulence will occur, resulting to instability in the local spacetime.”

“How large is the impact area?”

Her expression went a drastic change, “Five miles wide in one second.”

Siva let out a choking sound, referencing some of the few similar events regarding local spacetime instabilities to his experiences.

Having found few related occurrences where high-level magic spells of some Gods backfired due to miscalculation or lack of theoretical mastery to its supposed correct formulation, he couldn’t help but cringe at the memory.

One second, for a supposedly stable [Time Gate], causing a 5km implosion damage, was scary given his current level of durability.

After calming himself, Siva said, “Now that we are aware of the risks, what’re the pros, then?”

“Before that is the condition of activation.”

“…”

“One must have something —any item— that’s old enough to be called ‘Ancient’ by Godly standards.”

“Considering that it’s made by the Zodiac Sisters, it’s not surprising…”

Gaia had a look that she wanted to ask what was this “Zodiac Sisters” he was talking about, but she saw how Siva was not interested on talking about it now so she could only reign in to question it.

She said, “—and that item will be the offering and as well as like an anchor to a specific time frame the Gate Summoner required to access.”

“How did you know all this?”

“I experimented.”

“You said you only opened it once.”

“I only opened it successfully once.”

“…”

“I’m sorry, it was too long ago.”

“Haaaaaaa~h, continue.”

“Yes.” Gaia heaved a deep sigh and her healthy bosom jiggled as he exhaled. “When I offered one of the oldest trinkets we have on our vault, it will request for a specific [time] to open the gate… but I was afraid to go there myself so what I did was to write down current and past events into a piece of parchment, stacked it into a box, and sent it to an old version of me with no memories of receiving any of it.”

Siva realized where she was heading with this. It’s one of the paradoxes that revolved around the issue of ‘what if’ in regards to time travel.

“So…?” Siva urged, unable to hide his curiosity.

“I received it.” Gaia said, seriously, “and a sudden surge of memory entered my mind on that very same moment as well.”

Siva narrowed his eyes, “In short, you just created a parallel universe.”

“I don’t know what happened to the ‘me’ who never received the box in her memory… but I felt that in that very moment itself as well, there was another ‘me’ who rejoined another set of same memories, and that is the reason why I became aware that I’ve never received any box in my original life.”

Siva understood her point. Disregarding the fact that what happened to her will never happen to him since he exists in the real material world and this very concept of Time Travel itself was limited only to this game world, he knew that the reason why Gaia was able to differentiate her ‘two lives’ is solely because she was a ‘unique’ existence even to this universe.

If it was any other NPC, then they’d probably say something like: “this is the thing I got back then” or something else but closer to it nonetheless.

Yet if it was to happen to a player, there are three possible events that may occur…

First, the “bad event” = The [Butterfly Effect].

Since the players are not part of the control of the codes of this universe, they won’t make a parallel self from the moment they ‘experienced’ the Time Gate; meaning, they will be ‘there’ in history itself; and this can ultimately change the entire past of the game as well as the fate of the NPC population of this game’s universe —with only them and the rest of the player population experiencing all the changes themselves.

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