"It's safe now."
The Goddess spoke softly and gently put him on the ground.
Ashen stood frozen, not exactly sure whether he was still shocked by that beast's appearance or by the fact that he had really survived.
"...Thank you."
In the end, he settled for a simple thanks to the one he owed his life to.
The Goddess simply nodded and kept looking at his face, almost as if she were waiting for his next instructions.
Something Ashen found quite wild, considering he hadn't known her at all before this; and he certainly didn't remember doing anything worthy of the gaze she was directing toward him.
He looked around, and seeing no threats, he slowly asked, "...If it's appropriate, can I ask you a couple of questions?"
She blinked twice before nodding.
"Yes. They would not be able to catch up to us now. You can ask anything. I will answer to the best of my abilities."
"I see…"
Ashen was a bit overwhelmed by the almost eager undertone hidden behind that expressionless voice. More than anything, he was simply trying to confirm something.
"Those demi-humans… and you… are you part of the Custodian Order?"
When he saw Regina, he was almost sure of it, but his last encounter with the Order had been back in 1202.
That was more than eight hundred years ago. Anything could have happened since then, so it did not hurt to make sure.
"Yes. We are the Custodian Order."
She paused for a moment.
"And I am their Goddess."
'...Sure enough.'
Ashen sighed.
Last time, they had tried to murder him and Seraphine. They had even tortured them to the point of insanity.
This time, they had saved his life.
Ashen truly did not know what to think of this mysterious group. Aside from that, another detail kept bothering him.
"...You call yourself a Goddess. Does that mean you are also an Outer God?"
Based on the power she had displayed, she definitely fit the description. But Ashen couldn't feel the corrupted mana that was the signature of those beings from her.
So, admittedly, he was confused.
"No."
The white-haired girl did not seem offended by the comparison to those insane monsters. She merely shook her head and clarified.
"Based on the circumstances of my creation, a native God would be a more accurate description of my being."
Ashen's eyebrows creased at the sheer amount of information contained in that answer.
'So there are Gods native to this planet after all…'
Ashen wasn't overly shocked by this revelation.
He knew of Secrets' story through his Twin, and how his home planet had Sane Gods who worked toward the prosperity of their world and its protection.
Why wouldn't Earth have Gods that belonged to it as well?
'Those Outer Gods were probably natives of other planets at some point in time too. Probably.'
'They couldn't have simply spawned from nowhere.'
But another question quickly surfaced.
'Where are they, then?'
Aside from the Goddess standing before him, there had been no sign of any native God on Earth.
Even this one had supposedly been created. She wasn't a natural existence.
Ashen wondered how, and when, something like that had happened.
'Wait…'
He suddenly remembered something.
'When they were coming after my Blood Origin during the History Fragment, wasn't it for some kind of God Project?'
"You said you were 'created.' That means your birth wasn't natural… can I ask how you were created?"
"Yes."
Her answer came almost immediately.
"You can ask anything."
Then, in the same matter-of-fact tone, she began explaining the purpose behind her existence.
"My creation began with a single goal."
"To free this planet from every Outer God, and to act as Earth's guardian after the repelling of the alien invaders is accomplished."
She spoke of her own conception with the same deadpan expression one would use to describe the weather.
"To accomplish this goal, the Custodian Order embarked on a quest to forge a God."
"They excavated the most precious metal known to Earth and forged my bones from it. Then, they engraved them with ancient runes."
"They harvested the organs of numerous Sacred Beasts and implanted them within my body."
"They extracted the magic circuits from the corpse of the Magic Goddess and made them my own."
"My brain was cultivated using genetic material and neural blueprints gathered from the most brilliant members of the Thalassai Clan."
"My bone marrow was grown from the cells of the Primordial Vampire."
"My flesh, skin, vessels… everything, even my digestive and immune systems, as well as my lungs and all the way to my senses and voice."
"All of it was plucked from the finest, most suitable creatures that this planet's history had known."
"And my heart, alongside my blood…"
For the first time since he had encountered her, her gaze softened.
She looked directly at him.
"It comes from the Origin Blood of the Primordial Vampire."
"..."
Ashen did not know how to answer that, but she wasn't finished.
"Finally, I was given a soul by Miratheris through an Equivalent Exchange."
"And the moment I was born, the brain of the Dream God was used to place me within a dream."
"A dream that spanned thousands of lifetimes."
Ashen's eyes slowly widened.
"Each lifetime was used to teach me something I would need to accomplish the goal I was created to achieve."
"Techniques. Strategies. Knowledge. Experiences."
"Every conceivable situation I might encounter was made into a lifetime for me to live through."
"I was made to live, to learn, and to begin again. One lifetime at a time."
Her expression remained unchanged.
But there was something strange about the way she said those words.
…Something almost mechanical.
"When I finally woke up…"
A pause.
"The Custodian Goddess, and Earth's guardian, was born."
"..."
Ashen felt himself turning speechless, but didn't think about pitying her or offering words of concern. This was a story that went far beyond what mere words could convey.
And her nonchalant way of describing it made him realize that she did not need his concern in the first place.
"I understand."
So, he focused on something else.
"But I couldn't help but notice that the way they treat you isn't befitting of your station. At least, that vampire didn't show any respect when she spoke to you."
"That is natural."
She tilted her head slightly, as if considering his words, before nodding.
"During my creation, two protocols I cannot go against were implanted in me."
"One is that I am forbidden from harming any native creature of this planet."
"And the other is that I must always act toward the goal of eradicating the Outer Gods above all else, even if doing so contradicts the first protocol."
"Ah."
Ashen quickly understood.
Of course, they wouldn't let such a powerful being roam free without some form of control after putting so much effort into creating her.
"So, it is not strange that they do not respect me, and that they lack fear toward me."
She said it without the slightest trace of resentment.
"They do not need to consider my feelings, as I would do my duty regardless of anything."
Then, after a brief pause, she continued.
"The second reason is that, after my creation, I was unable to fulfill the reason for my existence."
"They turned resentful and disillusioned."
"And one way for them to vent their frustration over the wasted resources and time was to make their disappointment and disdain known to my being."
'Ah, fuck…'
Ashen swept his hair back with an irritated snort.
'And there goes the tiny bit of appreciation I had for you, Custodian Order…'
'Haah… what do I even do now…?'
He was getting overwhelmed by the bombardment of new knowledge, so he decided to consult the regressor inside him.
'You have any idea about all of this?'
{Not truly. Parasitic Sovereignty and his cronies invaded three years from now. They did plenty of damage, and it took a couple of years and the combined might of humanity to kill them all, but neither the Custodian Order nor any Goddess appeared at that time.}
'They invaded years from now…'
Ashen's expression grew thoughtful.
'That means these guys were holding them back until then, and they probably eventually died doing so. That's also why you didn't know about their existence.'
'They died silently while everyone else remained ignorant.'
'This little Goddess included.'
{That is the most logical conclusion. I wouldn't forget an existence with this much power if I had encountered her.}
Ashen's expression fell.
For some reason, he found himself unwilling to accept that the fate awaiting his savior was a silent death in this wretched land.
'Haah… why am I getting this mad over something that hasn't even happened yet?'
'And no matter how grateful I am for her saving me, I'm reacting way too strongly to this.'
{It's your blood.}
'...?'
{Your blood is reacting strangely to her.}
Ashen tilted his head in thought.
'Oh. Is it because we have both consumed the same Origin Blood?'
Ashen knew that the poor primordial vampire had been helplessly played by Regina and the Time God's heart before losing his Origin Blood.
His Beholder had shown him the original fate of the man he possessed back then, after all.
And now, due to his Innate Skill manifesting an additional drop, the two of them had the exact same blood flowing through them.
'I don't know what to think of this situation…'
The two beings—one a tall man and the other a short girl—gazed at each other silently for a brief moment.
'Hmm… is that also why she's displaying so much goodwill toward me?' he wondered.
Ashen thought that maybe that was also why she had come to save him, but then he remembered her protocols and shook his head at the thought.
Instead, another conjecture formed in his mind.
"So, the reason you came to save me… despite the apparent dissatisfaction of the Custodian Order…"
The Goddess finished his unspoken thought.
"Yes. We had been silently observing you for months, and I judged that saving your life was imperative to the salvation of this planet."
"According to my calculations, the extinction of this planet's natives was an inevitable event."
"That was before meeting you."
Her white eyes remained fixed on him.
"Now, there is a minuscule chance."
"So, I judged that your life is worth more than all of the Custodian Order's combined."
She paused.
"Including my own."