Teleporting back to my temple, the first thing I did was to throw the new system core into the Nightmare Tower.
Herma already has full control over the tower's system, and with its infinite mana and processing power, she can simulate, test, and optimize the system's code in a fraction of the time it would take me to do it manually.
Moreover, I left the floor designing to Herma; she can be very creative with her torture methods and floor layouts. The last floor she designed was a giant library, but every book was empty, and the only way to get out was to write a novel with a good plot, but she made it so the longer you write, the weaker you get, until you can't even lift a pen. The fun part is that the exit is right in front of you, but you can't reach it unless you finish the book.
Anyway, I instructed her not to tell me about the floor themes in order not to spoil the surprise.
I plan to challenge the Nightmare Tower after the barrier falls; after all, I'm the master of the tower, but I only conquered the first floor.
How embarrassing.
"Ahem... anyway," I cleared my throat, shaking my head to get rid of the distracting thoughts. "Vicky is waiting for me."
But before going to see the surprise my sister had for me, I opened my inventory and took out the reward of my silver divine rank.
The Black and White Orb.
I held it in my palm. It was perfectly round, the size of a large marble, and was split perfectly down the middle. One half was an absolute, light-devouring black. The other, a radiant, eye-searing white. The two halves swirled together, not mixing, but dancing around each other in an eternal, silent struggle. It was cold to the touch, yet a strange warmth emanated from it. It felt... balanced.
"What are you?" I whispered, my divine senses trying to analyze it.
Whoosh!
"Eh?"
Suddenly, the orb shot out from my hand and started to float in the middle of my room, spinning faster and faster. And before I had the time to react, the orb suddenly shot towards my crotch.
"!!!"
I didn't even have the time to scream; the orb merged with my womb.
"AHHHHHH~!"
An indescribable sensation flooded my body. It wasn't pain, not exactly. It was the feeling of two opposing, yet complementary, forces waging war inside me. Ice and fire. Silence and sound. Nothingness and everything. My vision went black, then white, then black again. My body convulsed, and my mind was thrown into a vortex of contradictory sensations. I felt myself being torn apart and stitched back together in a single, agonizing, exhilarating instant.
Then... silence.
I collapsed to my knees, gasping for air, my body drenched in cold sweat. I felt... different. Changed.
I stumbled to my feet and walked towards the full-length mirror in the corner of my room. I looked... the same. My silver hair, my crimson eyes, my voluptuous body. But my aura... my divine presence... sorry, not the whole 'me' but a part of me.
My womb.
It had changed.
I could feel a duality within me now. A void. A source of creation. The Black and White Orb had fused with my Dimensional Womb, transforming it into something... else.
I focused on that new sensation, and suddenly, the world around me changed. The colors drained away, my opulent room becoming a landscape of whiteness and blackness. The light from the torches was swallowed by an oppressive darkness. And in the center of it all, I could see... them.
Two figures.
One was a woman of pure, radiant light, her form shifting and indistinct, her beauty so intense it was painful to look at. She was grace, creation, order.
The other was a being of absolute, perfect shadow, a humanoid void with no discernible features. It was silence, destruction, chaos.
Light and Dark. Creation and Destruction.
"What... are you?" I asked, my voice trembling.
They turned towards me, and I felt their attention, their focus. The light being's gaze was warm, loving. The shadow being's gaze was cold, empty.
"Hello, Mother," they spoke in perfect, chilling unison, a harmony of a choir and a whisper from the void. "It is good to finally meet you."
"!!!" My breath hitched.
"Mother?" I repeated, my mind struggling to process the information. "I... I don't understand... I'm pretty sure I didn't fuck a black hole and a star... Yet."
"Heheh... That is... a crude, but surprisingly accurate, way of putting it," the Light being chuckled, a sound like wind chimes. "We are not the children of the current you. We are the children of a future you. A possibility."
"A future where you win," the Dark being continued, its voice a soft, sibilant hiss. "A future where you transcend. Where you become more than a goddess. You become... a principle."
"Ugh..." My head was starting to hurt. "Principle? What are you talking about? You both talk in riddles."
"Sorry, Mother, this is all we could tell you," the Light being apologized, her form glowing brighter. "We are the echoes of the choice you will make. The path you will walk. We are not real. Not yet."
"For now, we are just... a possibility," the Dark being explained. "A seed planted in your womb. When the right choices are made and the right conditions are met, we will be born. We will be your children."
"Why me? Why now?" I asked, my heart pounding in my chest. I have given birth to many children, but this... this is different.
"Sorry, Mother, it was our fault," the Light one spoke, looking down in shame. "My little sister here found a way to send a small piece of our consciousness back in time, to see you and give you a... a head start. A warning."
"A warning for what?" I demanded, my patience wearing thin.
"It's related to your memories, Mother," the Dark one replied, its form coalescing slightly, becoming a perfect mirror of me, but made of pure shadow. "Your memories were taken and sealed by a primordial god."
"Really? I thought I gave away my memories in order to be reborn into Lilith's world."
"Both," they said again in unison.
"If you want to find that god and recover your memories, Mother," Light said, "you'll have to go to Earth; that god is hiding there."
"Earth?!" I gasped, feeling a shiver down my spine. "Do I really have to go back to that boring shithole?"
I have no idea what happened to me on Earth, but just the thought of going back there made my soul feel disgusted.
Unfortunately, I have to go back. Lilith is still there waiting for me to save her.
"Fine, I will go," I let out a sigh.
"You believe us?" Both of them asked, surprised.
"Did you two pop out of my womb?" I asked, crossing my arms under my breasts.
"Yes."
"Then you are my children. And a mother always believes her children. No matter what."
"..."
They didn't say anything, but I could feel their happiness, their love. It was strange to see my children from the future, but it was wonderful.
"Okay... but there is still one thing I don't understand," I said, my eyes narrowing. "Why did you two decide to go back in time and tell me this? Why not just let me figure it out on my own?"
"Because something happened when you recovered your memories, Mother," Dark said, her voice filled with a cold anger. "We don't know the whole story, and you never told us, but... You became... different. You changed into a cold, emotionless being. You were no longer the mother we knew and loved."
"So we came back to make sure that doesn't happen," Light added, her voice filled with a desperate hope.
"... I see."
A cold dread settled in the pit of my stomach. The idea of a future where I lost myself, where I became a stranger to my own children, was more terrifying than any god or any army.
"Don't worry, my dears," I said, a small, sad smile on my face. "I won't let that happen. I promise."
"You have to, Mother," they said, their forms starting to fade. "You without your horniness and lustfulness is just not... you."
"Hehehe." I chuckled. "Yeah~... Just thinking about it is scary."
"Goodbye, Mother," they said, their voices echoing in my mind. "We love you."
"Love you too."
And then they were gone.
The black and white world vanished, and I was back in my room, my knees weak, my mind reeling from the conversation.
"Well... that was... a lot," I muttered, running a hand through my hair.
My children from the future. A primordial god hiding on Earth. A warning about losing myself.
It was a lot to take in.
"Damn, I forgot to ask them about their 'father,'" I sighed, then I shook my head, forcing myself to focus. "I can't deal with this now. I have a barrier to check. And a sister to 'surprise' me."