Chapter One Hundred Fifty-Two: The Death of Minerva

Incredibly, as if connected by a marvelous circuit, the crystal actually extended a green luminescence, entwining around the Priestess’s smooth finger like a delicate vine.

“Buzz!”

Behind her, a pair of pure white wings emerged beside her ears and head, a sanctified white-haired woman with six wings slowly rose from above the crystal, transforming into an ethereal figure.

“God of Sky!?”

The priests let out astonished gasps at the height of their surprise. At the moment Vilyric took over, a tremendous repelling force from the barrier pushed everyone away except the Priestess, and the devout believers of the God of Sky unhesitatingly knelt, their heads pressed to the ground.

“Great God of Sky, we welcome your arrival!!!”

The deity did not respond to the fervor and reverence of her followers; her calm gaze swept across the crowd, quickly settling on the nearby black-haired girl with a smile.

“First meeting ~ enigmatic being.”

Vilyric curiously gazed at the illusion that was almost identical to the statue of the deity. She was unsure… why such a huge reaction had suddenly occurred just from touching the barrier?

“Are you Minerva? God of Sky, or should I call you the Archangel Guardian of Xi Fu?”

The breathtaking angelic apparition smiled back, bending slightly in a somewhat odd gesture. Though Vilyric had never seen it before, she instinctively recognized it as a form of etiquette.

It was as if this action was a universally acknowledged principle, a code named “礼.”

“I am Minerva, yet I am not. Since you can speak my true identity, you must have encountered my master, Xi Fu; may I ask how they fare now?”

The Withering Goddess was still outside fighting the High Priest, Minerva couldn’t possibly be unaware of that. What she referred to was undoubtedly the Life Goddess, Xi Fu Lin. Although both figures emerged from the Earth Mother Goddess, the Archangel seemed to lean more towards the latter.

Otherwise, she wouldn’t have chosen to respect Xi Fu Lin’s wishes, shattering and sealing her away.

“She’s doing fine, but we have a lot of people here—are you sure it’s okay to discuss this freely?”

Just as Vilyric pondered this thought and looked back, she found that a faint white halo had enveloped the area around them unknowingly, encompassing her, Minerva’s illusion, and the crystal, even temporarily excluding Xiao Guang.

Moreover, with such a situation, how come the Little Dragon Daughter wasn’t in a rush to inquire through the Contract?

The Archangel smiled as she explained.

“No need to worry; this is a pseudo-divine realm I temporarily constructed using my master’s divine power. While crude, it does allow us to manipulate the flow of time and sever external perception; you can understand it as we are communicating at super-high speeds—outside, it is merely a fleeting moment.”

“So convenient…”

That previous illusion created by Xi Fu also seemed to have a similar name and effect; no wonder they were both from the era of mythology.

[In that case, Xi Fu Lin, do you need to get a bit closer to talk to her?]

The Priestess, just about to pull out a statue identical to the illusion before her, was interrupted by Xi Fu Lin’s gentle voice ringing in the air.

“No need for such trouble… Minerva, long time no see.”

A beam of azure light slowly rose from the top of the statue, forming a goddess illusion that was almost identical to the Xi Fu seen earlier in the vision—just slightly blurred, oscillating back and forth intermittently, much like a shaky signal.

“My master… indeed, it has been a long time. I apologize for failing your request and not preventing the Withering Lady from making grave mistakes.”

“Don’t say that; you’ve done very well… You left your avatar here, but what about your real body? Where did the other gods go?”

Minerva hesitated for a moment before letting out a sigh.

“My master, we all underestimated the malice of the world. Your fall was merely the beginning; the intricacies are too convoluted to explain right now, but most gods have perished, and the few that remain face various limitations. Our era… has come to an end.”

Xi Fu Lin, undeterred by such remarks, stared intently at the Archangel’s illusion.

“So what about you? What has happened to you?”

“…”

The angel fell silent, but both Vilyric and Xi Fu Lin, who was conversing with her, already understood the unsaid truth behind the silence.

“Really… even you have… who did this?”

“I’m sorry, but after my body left me behind, it went with the other gods to the battlefield of twilight. Because the realms are separated, I do not know what happened there, but at the moment of my body’s fall, I certainly felt the last thoughts conveyed from that side.”

“A longing, reluctance, and an unmistakable hint of fear.”

“…”

This time, it was Xi Fu Lin who fell silent.

After a while, she let out a mournful sigh.

“It seems the world truly has abandoned us gods… You left a fragment of your soul here in advance, presumably for that event. I know what you’re thinking, but this responsibility should not fall on Vilyric… Never mind, we are short on time, let’s start as soon as possible.”

With that, Xi Fu Lin’s illusion dissipated, returning to the statue. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to chat more with her old friend, but maintaining this pseudo-divine realm consumed enormous energy, and Minerva was effectively burning herself to keep it until now, while constructing a virtual body through sealing was far too difficult for the current Xi Fu Lin.

Both sides were pushing their limits.

Although they had returned to the seal, Vilyric could feel Xi Fu Lin’s consciousness still quietly watching the Archangel’s figure, as if wanting to imprint her into the depths of memory.

“What the heck… why did the atmosphere suddenly get so heavy…?”

As if deliberately jesting, the black-haired girl scratched her head and looked back into the eyes of Minerva’s avatar.

“So, were you waiting for me on purpose? What was that matter?”

Pulling her spirit back from the slight sadness, the self-proclaimed God of Sky did not feign mystery or profundity and spoke honestly.

“To be frank, at the beginning, the fragment of divine thought I left was not intended to wait for a mysterious existence named Vilyric; as for who it was truly for, someone who knows so much like you must have already guessed.”

“…Xi Fu Lin, or rather the life aspect of the Earth Mother Goddess?”

Minerva chuckled and nodded.

The reason Vilyric could guess the answer so quickly was mainly because she suddenly recalled that prophecy said to be handed down by the God of Sky a thousand years ago, learned from Sigrid’s mouth.

The seeds created by Xi Fu Lin might not represent such a simple meaning as the Priestess initially thought.

This pure embodiment of life authority under a fragmented state may perhaps only be created by Xi Fu Lin, who was once one of the primordial consciousness of the Mother Goddess representing the aspect of life.

Vilyric wasn’t quite sure what Minerva and the Life Goddess Xi Fu had discussed back then, but they couldn’t have just been unprepared for an unexpected situation. It was highly likely that the awakening of the Withering would indirectly lead to the awakening of her counterpart, who was sealed — Xi Fu Lin.

This was a signal, telling the consciousness of Minerva’s avatar far away in the Temple of Sky that she had awakened.

Thus, the meaning of the prophecy was that once this seed was found, the related persons should be brought to Sky City, to the [Temple of Sky].

The essential purpose of this approach was to allow Minerva to see Xi Fu Lin again as soon as possible and activate the counterplan they had left.

When Xi Fu Lin entrusted the seed, she hadn’t told Vilyric about this; perhaps at that time, she hadn’t fully recovered her memory and only vaguely remembered that it needed to be done.

On the other hand, she was likely also cautious, just as the Priestess had been on her guard against this sealed item of unknown origin for a long time.

This matter was probably the secret that Xi Fu Lin had continually concealed from the Priestess.

   

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