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[Translator - Kiteretsu]
[Proofreader - Kyros]
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Chapter 202
"Is the ancestor really a mermaid? With fins on their lower body?"
Johannes glanced at Violet’s legs as he asked, and she nodded.
"Yes. To be precise, 'mermaid' is just the closest term that fits within human concepts. In reality, they were closer to water spirits."
Violet's lower body briefly transformed into water, then condensed from her feet upward, forming the shape of a tail fin.
She was about to fully take on the appearance of a mermaid when—
"Ah. No, I can't do this. It's too creepy…"
As if she couldn't stand the sight of her own body changing, she quickly reverted to her human form.
"Creepy? What's wrong with being a mermaid?"
Johannes, clearly disappointed, questioned her reluctance, but Violet seemed unwilling to transform any further.
"I’ve never liked fish. Especially fins… they’re just…"
"Come on, don't be like that—"
"Enough. If she doesn’t want to, leave it be."
Kaylen raised a hand to stop Johannes.
"Thank you for understanding."
"More than that, I have a question."
"Go ahead."
"Earlier, you said you were a descendant of the Water God. What exactly is the Water God?"
"Oh, the Water God…"
Violet took a moment to organize her thoughts before answering.
"The deity who once governed this world—eventually, they fell and became the Dragon God."
"So, you're saying the Water God became the Dragon God?"
"Yes. The Water God originally ruled over the world, starting from the first continent, the Water Continent. But over time, they transformed into the Dragon God."
Kaylen fell into thought at her unexpected words.
'I'd never even heard of a Water God, yet they supposedly ruled over the entire world?'
And now, the underwater continent was the so-called first continent?
Kaylen's thoughts drifted to the Celestial and Demon Continents.
He had always assumed that those two were the first lands to exist, but…
"Violet, do you know about the Celestial and Demon Continents?"
"Of course. How could I not? Those foreign lands that fell from the sky are the cause of all the trouble."
"They… fell from the sky?"
Violet raised her hand and pointed toward the heavens.
"According to merfolk records, the Celestial and Demon Continents are known to have descended from the sky."
"…That doesn’t make sense. If such massive landmasses crashed down, the planet wouldn't have survived."
"You're right. If not for the intervention of the gods, the planet would have been destroyed. However, the Water God cooperated with the Outer God, the Celestial God, to minimize the damage and successfully anchor the two continents."
Kaylen's eyes widened at the mention of an 'Outer God.'
He had always believed the Celestial God to be the Creator, yet now he was hearing that they weren’t even a god of this world?
"The Celestial God is an Outer God?"
"Yes. The Celestial God's symbol is sunlight. And as you know, the sun exists beyond this world."
"…That’s true."
"In the beginning, the Water God, who ruled this world, and the Celestial God, who came from beyond, worked together closely to stabilize the continents. But…"
A deity who once governed the planet’s waters.
And a deity who descended from beyond the stars.
At first, the two worked in harmony to establish their rule.
But the sky cannot have two suns.
As the world stabilized, the two supreme gods began to view each other as enemies in their struggle for the position of the highest deity.
"And that was when the Water God began to change... Though the Celestial God had come from beyond this world, his power over the sun was overwhelming, gradually surpassing the Water God, who had long reigned as the planet's deity.
At this rate, the intruder would drive out the one who had been rooted in place.
The Water God had accepted the Heaven and Demon Continents, which had fallen from beyond, yet now the Celestial God sought to suppress him. The fury he felt toward the Celestial God was immense.
"So, the method he chose... was to transform himself into a god specialized in battle—a Dragon God."
"He became the Dragon God for that reason?"
"Yes. And in order to become the Dragon God..."
Violet furrowed her brows, her voice sinking.
"He devoured all the merfolk—his own descendants."
"The merfolk?"
"Yes. Most of them were unable to resist and were wiped out. The once-glorious underwater civilization came to an end…"
Hearing those words, Kaylen thought of the other elemental continents.
'So, just like the Wind Continent that once belonged to the elves and the Earth Continent that only had traces of gnomes… the Water Continent was also destroyed by the Dragon God.'
Three continents had already been annihilated.
It was reasonable to assume that the Fire Continent had met a similar fate.
"But if the merfolk were wiped out… then how is it possible that your ancestor was one of them, Violet?"
"Not all of them perished. The Celestial God did not simply stand by and let it happen."
Realizing that allowing the Dragon God to consume all of the merfolk would put him at a disadvantage, the Celestial God took some of them under his protection, preventing the Dragon God from absorbing them completely.
"Abandoned by our creator but saved by a god from beyond… Since then, my people have followed the Celestial God. And his decision proved to be correct—having failed to absorb all of the merfolk, the Dragon God was ultimately defeated by the Celestial God."
Even after transforming into the battle-hardened Dragon God, the Water God had lost.
In the end, he was defeated by the Celestial God, and it seemed that the supreme deity of this planet had been decided.
"At least, until a new continent suddenly rose from the ocean…"
The second continent to rise—was the Fire Continent.
The Celestial God was startled by the emergence of a divine land beyond his control, and he sought to claim dominion over it.
However, his authority did not work properly in that place.
"The ones who ruled over the newly risen Fire Continent… were the dwarves. They flourished for ages, reigning over the continent."
For a long time, the dwarves dominated the Fire Continent.
But their seemingly eternal prosperity abruptly ended when the entire continent was engulfed in flames, leaving no trace of them behind.
"In order to investigate the situation thoroughly, the Celestial God dispatched us, the merfolk. While his authority did not function there, my people were still able to travel across the land.
At that point, the Celestial God had not yet considered the possibility that the Fire Continent had been created by the Dragon God."
That land had been nothing more than an enormous trap—one meant to devour the remaining merfolk.
Most of the merfolk who set foot on the burning land to investigate were swallowed by the Dragon God's flames, vanishing completely.
"Aside from a few survivors, the merfolk were completely annihilated there."
Having consumed both the dwarves and the merfolk, the Dragon God then disappeared without a trace.
And before long, yet another new continent was created.
"So, the Wind Continent where the elves lived, and the Earth Continent where the gnomes once thrived… were all created by the Dragon God?"
"…Yes. The Dragon God blocked the Celestial God's interference through some unknown means, creating elemental continents to amass power.
The Celestial God did not sit idly by and attempted to intervene in various ways.
However… his authority could only manifest briefly in moments of crisis when a continent was on the brink of destruction."
Hearing this, Kaylen recalled Benedict, the High Elf who had once been a Holy Emperor.
When the Celestial God could only intervene during the destruction of a continent, Benedict became his follower only after the elves were nearly annihilated.
"And after gathering the mana of the four great elements from the four continents, he challenged the Celestial God once more..."
In the end, the Dragon God was defeated again. However, unlike the first battle, the Dragon God, having conquered four continents, had grown so powerful that even the Celestial God was pushed to the brink of destruction.
"But he still won. The Celestial God, I mean."
"Yes. But even after eradicating the Dragon God... this continent emerged."
"This continent... You don't mean the Averia Continent, do you?"
"Yes. Along with humanity, who could wield the mana of all attributes."
At that moment, the Celestial God realized something.
What the Dragon God sought to gain from the Averia Continent…
Light and darkness mana.
If he allowed the Dragon God to absorb them, just as he had with the four previous continents...
Then he would never be able to defeat him.
"But unlike the previous continents, the Celestial God realized that his authority worked on Averia. So, he began planning differently than before."
With that, Violet gestured to herself.
"One of those methods was engraving the bloodline of merfolk into some humans."
"...I see."
So that was why Violet, who had no apparent connection to merfolk, had awakened their powers—it was part of the Celestial God's design.
As Kaylen listened to the long conflict between the two deities, which had begun when the Water God was still in power, he let out a sigh.
"Haa..."
Could they truly stand against two absolute gods who manipulated the fate of an entire planet?
He felt his confidence waver.
"Thanks for telling me, Violet. Do you have any other information?"
"I'm sorry... I don't—ah!"
Violet's hand turned into water and flowed onto the ground.
Then, before long, it reformed into the coffin of Erenstein that she had absorbed earlier.
"Our original reason for going to the Water Continent was to forge the Divine Water Sword, right?"
"That's right."
"This coffin contains the purest essence of water mana."
The materials needed to forge the Divine Water Sword had finally been gathered.
But Kaylen's expression remained dark.
'Even if the sword is completed, will it be enough?'
Even if the Divine Sword could suppress the transformation of the Six Swords and prevent the Dragon God from absorbing more power, he wasn’t sure it would be enough.
'Even if I master the Six Sword Path and God Slaying, as I saw from Erenstein... I might not have enough aura.'
As his thoughts drifted to the amount of aura he needed, Kaylen's gaze naturally fell to the Six Swords etched into the floor of the sanctuary.
The vast aura that Erenstein had gathered over a thousand years, which Kaylen had yet to fully absorb.
If he took it in, perhaps—just perhaps—he would be able to wield his sword against an absolute god.
'Wait.'
Staring at the Six Swords engraved into the ground, Kaylen's eyes suddenly lit up.
'...There might be a way to survive this.'
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[Translator - Kiteretsu]
[Proofreader - Kyros]
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