Chapter 129: Chapter 99 The True Name

Walking through the abyss where there was no form or fixed matter, Laine and Cronus drew ever closer to the core.

Visible to the naked eye, the strange characters in the surrounding space increased, along with a tone imbued with corruption and desecration that also began to resonate, echoing the distorted noise in this limitless void.

But this time, Laine had recognized their origin. After Mnemosyne had lost her “Memory,” “Innate Script” and “Language” were her only remaining Divine Duties. However, the power of the former paled in comparison to the three maxims on the Oracle Stone Tablet, and the latter, without the cooperation of “Speech,” seemed much weaker.

From this perspective, perhaps the twelve Titans were originally paired in twos, their Godhoods complementing each other. In the original myths, if the God of Meteorology, Crius, had not been confined to the Abyss after his defeat, maybe he would have united with the Goddess of Justice and begotten the three goddesses symbolizing the seasons of “Spring,” “Summer,” and “Autumn.”

Of course, whether it was the original him or the now him, the Abyss was probably his only destination. From this point of view, his fate was indeed deeply intertwined with Cronus.

Maybe the relationship between the two as sovereign and servant could even continue, who knows.

But all this had nothing to do with Mnemosyne anymore. As the God of Script willingly renounced her identity as a Titan deity, she changed after being assimilated by the Abyss. As the first deity of Tartarus, the two portions of Godhood that peeled away from her were gradually corrupted over tens of thousands of years, taking on the hues of the Abyss. Henceforth, the script and language here took on a special meaning.

Yet, as Laine had previously surmised, script of the Abyss could at most serve as a ‘name’ and held no other significance.

This would grant the beings born later in the Abyss, as well as the lives that emerged in new worlds powered by the Abyss’s energy, unique names endowed with power. Yet at the same time, once their one-of-a-kind names were controlled by other lives, it would make them more susceptible to their influence and control.

Based on past memories, Laine had given them a fitting term—True Name.

“We’ve arrived, a truly wondrous sight.”

Halting his steps and observing everything before him, Laine couldn’t help but marvel sincerely.

The greatest artist is always nature herself. Here, perhaps due to the brief convergence of the source of Order, everything looked more familiar than the rest of the Abyss, much more comprehensible.

‘Stars’ twinkled in the sky above, while the chaos-colored liquid churned at his feet, gathering into a sea. At the center of the ocean, a naked female being floated there.

The reason for describing her as ‘female’ was because the current Mnemosyne bore no resemblance to her past self. Bizarre, eerie, inscrutable, and in comparison, even the Hekatonkheires seemed more divine. Her very appearance was a taboo for mortals.

Of course, she was no longer called Mnemosyne. The instant they laid eyes on the being before them, a new name emerged in the hearts of Laine and Cronus.

Mother of Demons, Moya

Just as the first Primordial God, Gaia, had been chosen by the world to solely conceive the initial sky, sea, and mountains, Moya was destined to give birth to new gods, a duty assigned by Tartarus.

As for whether these Abyss-born deities possessed the immortal essence, akin to those of the outer world, Laine couldn’t tell. Maybe they did, maybe they didn’t, but it didn’t matter—time would provide the answer.

“Wonderous? Ha, I can’t feel it at all.”

“Had I not witnessed it with my own eyes, I would never believe that my once beautiful sister would become like this. Even though she has not yet awakened, I can already foresee her hatred towards you.”

With a twitch of the mouth, the sight of Moya alone was enough to inflict spiritual harm on a deity, and Cronus truly didn’t understand how Laine could utter the words ‘a truly wondrous sight.’

“I’m not talking about her, of course, though to speak of her might not be entirely inappropriate. Both extreme beauty and extreme ugliness are marvels carved by the world’s divine craftsmanship.”

While that’s what he said, Laine’s aesthetic sense was still intact, so his gaze quickly shifted above Moya.

At this moment, the gestation of the Mother of Demons was nearing its end. Over an epoch of lengthy time, Mnemosyne’s past had nearly been scrubbed clean.

It might have been more than just ten thousand years. Even amidst the Abyss’s distorted chronology, Laine could vaguely sense the passage of time here. At least several million years had passed for the mightiest of the Primordial Gods to fully assimilate a lesser god of the mortal world.

This was the fundamental disparity between them. The mortal world was ‘the face of the world biased towards Order,’ while the Abyss, it was ‘another subject part of the world biased towards Chaos.’

Of course, ordinary deities were even weaker; they were merely ‘deputies of some authority on one side of the world.’

“Is there anything we can do?”

In front of them, the last bits of chaotic flow still seeped into the body of the Mother of Demons, awaiting the right moment for her rebirth. But witnessing all this, Cronus felt a surge of murderous intent.

Even though she was once his sister, she would be a Demon God beneath the will of the Abyss in the future. From the perspective of the newborn Moya, Laine might be the object of her hatred. However, from the Mother of Demons’ perspective, he who sought to steal the power of the Abyss might be the real enemy.

By comparison, the Spirit Realm was far beyond the borders, while Cronus was within arm’s reach.

“There’s no way around it, the entire power of the Abyss is concentrated around her, even ‘Order’ has been forced out. Let alone an incarnation, even if my true form were here, I’d have no way to deal with her for the time being.”

Shaking his head, Tartarus was different from the other Primordial Gods, and Laine had no intention of provoking Him either.

“Let go of those thoughts, after all, this is the interior of the opponent. It’s only because the instinctive consciousness of the Abyss is not active that we’ve been able to come this far.”

As he spoke, Laine looked above the Mother of Demons. There, corresponding to the chaotic currents around Moya, floated an indescribable, indefinable orb of void-light above her, which was the “Order” that had separated from the Abyss.

Interestingly enough, the force of Chaos would inadvertently take on a serpentine form, and so would Order. Laine could clearly see the coiling, serpentine presence within the orb.

“That is your target. Its part of the Abyss’s power will transform into the void that carries the new realm, along with the primal matter and spirituality, while your destiny, forever imprisoned within the Abyss, will become this fourth pillar, completing the creation of the world.”

“However, given that you first embraced the Abyss and then seized its power to evolve the world, life within Tartarus may well become hostile to you and the beings within your world in the future.”

“Let them be hostile, that is exactly what I want. If I can’t gain the ‘sovereignty’ of the Abyss, even my reborn sister won’t be able to touch the fringe of the Great Divine Power.”

Nodding, Cronus seemed to have regained his past fighting spirit.

“The power of my new realm originates from the Abyss, which means that I and It can devour each other. Though I’m far from matching It, unlike Its primitive and obscure thinking, I possess wisdom. I believe that even if I am not equal to It at the beginning, I will be the ultimate victor,” he declared.

“Give it to me,” turning to Laine, the former Divine King could hardly wait: “Your promise, the power to break free from the Abyss after I am assimilated by it.”

Nodding slightly, Laine extended his right hand. Immediately, a fluctuating power, most of its imprint erased, wafted towards Cronus, and as the power drifted out, the avatar also became much more ethereal.

Having received this power and sensing that only seventy percent of it was unclaimed, Cronus pondered for a moment. He divided it equally into ten parts, then merged it into himself. The next instant, his form, which had been difficult to observe, solidified.

“Your Spirit Realm has seven layers; do you have any advice about my world?” he asked before the beginning.

“I can only talk about my intentions at the time.”

“Numbers start at one, are established at three, materialize at five, thrive at seven, and reach their peak at nine. I don’t like extremes, so I only opened up seven levels of realms, but as for you, it naturally depends on your own ideas,” explained Laine.

He lightly offered his advice but had no intention of making a decision for him.

For mortals, it is because numbers have special meanings that they are used.

But for them, it is because they imbue numbers with special meanings that they possess power.

Therefore, no matter how many layers Cronus chooses to build, it won’t affect the strength of the new world’s power, only the structure of the world.

Each layered realm has its own, and in self-recycling, there’s always an advantage. Even the legends from the later East speak of a trinity of realms: The Sky, Earth, and Man.

“Then let it be nine layers.”

“The one who always wins thinks of moderation. But I, I like the extremes,” Cronus decided resolutely.

Making his decision, Cronus no longer hesitated. His half-real, half-illusory figure leapt towards the distant orb of light.

He had already thought it through: nine layers of realm, the full force of power, he would leave out the third, fifth, and seventh layers. He would construct them with the thirty percent of Laine’s power and encase his own realms with his, and then they would each develop independently, having nothing to do with each other.

In his own territory, he would not lose to anyone else.

As for making a move on Laine, Cronus had not even considered it. Until he was sure he could completely defeat this enigmatic Ancient God, the former Divine King would only be wary of him, not hostile.

In this world, there were many worthy adversaries to face, with the Abyss being the most immediate one. Rather than establishing an inscrutable enemy, the present foes required more attention.