[Path of Abundance, unlocked.]
[God loves the world, so He says let all things return to the living; let all living beings have something to love, let all who give have something to gain. Love, hate, passion, enmity, greed, anger, ignorance, and rage are all causes for living beings, and all are the fruits of living beings.]
Cracks appeared on the mask on Caelus's face. From those cracks, branches stretched out, bearing large fruits. That bloodthirsty maw, which looked terrifying to behold, slowly closed, replaced by a smile of compassion for all living beings.
Countless negative emotions turned into nutrients for the branches. The fruits they bore began to rot and eventually fell to the ground. The seeds took deep root in the earth, germinated, grew, and finally blossomed into flowers.
It caused the desperate to rekindle hope, the fearful to regain courage, the resentful to return to peace, and the numb to see what they loved once more.
The emotions of all living beings bore the fruits of all living beings.
[System: "Why is this a gift from The Achiever next door? Where did this God fleece this from? Then again, if He had sent His own blessing, it would have only exacerbated monism, since the foundation of His mythology is actually that of a Creator God, who could also be considered the One who unites all things."]
Caelus put away the Eater of Emotions Mask covered in branches. He had just had a completely different experience, though it was still very small, turning into a seed buried in his heart, waiting for more nutrients to be poured onto it.
"Having accepted someone's gift, I must get to work."
Caelus closed the book and then walked forward. His figure gradually faded until it turned into transparent ice crystals, shattering in the midday sun. Those countless tiny ice crystal fragments fell to the ground and disappeared.
At this moment, there were no more Wyverns in Orleans. Instead, there were all kinds of chaotic, dark, writhing shadow monsters. Dark Jeanne, who had nominally led the Wyverns and intended to bring the fires of vengeance to this world, had disappeared. Standing at the forefront was the Heroic Spirit Gilles de Rais, wearing a wide mage's robe, his eyes filled with chaotic and twisted emotions, and his body mutated to resemble a soft-bodied invertebrate.
And there were those Heroic Spirits summoned by the Holy Grail who had followed the original Dark Jeanne. Now, there was not a trace of reason in their eyes, and their bodies had also mutated and twisted.
"Jeanne! Jeanne!"
Gilles de Rais, having lost all sense of self and reason, his emotions completely chaotic and twisted, could only maniacally shout the word "Jeanne." He then led the mass-produced twisted monsters and those mutated Heroic Spirits, charging toward Marseille.
Just as Nyarlathotep, who was hiding in the shadows and preparing to watch a good show, was about to set off, a spiral-shaped longsword suddenly flew in from the distance.
The spiral sword looked to be moving very slowly, with gray-black particles floating on it. But in the instant she saw the spiral sword, Nyarlathotep felt her body being struck. She looked down and found that her body had been pierced; the spiral sword was pinned into her body, pinning her to the ground.
When Nyarlathotep tried to resist, the power of nothingness emerging from the spiral sword constantly scoured the chaos and distortion within her body, even increasing in frequency, eventually forming a huge vortex in the surrounding area that was invisible to ordinary people but was truly devouring everything in its vicinity.
What surprised Nyarlathotep was that the speed of the vortex kept increasing, causing the power eroding her to accelerate rapidly as well. From being able to easily suppress it at the beginning, she could now no longer suppress it, and it began to assimilate the chaotic power within her.
It was not that the power eroding her had become stronger; it was that she herself had become weaker and weaker under the envelopment of this vortex.
"Why have you started interfering, you boy of nothingness? The Savior hasn't even joined the battle yet, so why are you so impatient? Didn't you just want to be a spectator?"
Nyarlathotep could immediately tell who this attack came from and asked with some surprise.
"Someone paid for your life, the price was right, so I came."
Caelus walked within this vortex composed of nothingness, slowly heading toward the center, calmly explaining as he walked.
"Mem, when you were looking at my past stories earlier, weren't you curious about what the scabbard I bought for 1000 System Currency was actually for? Now I can reveal the answer."
"An ordinary scabbard certainly wouldn't cost 1000 System Currency, but the effect of that scabbard is 'Hidden Edge.'"
"While it can perfectly adapt to any sword weapon, it can also allow the sheathed sword to continuously accumulate power. That power can both hone the sword itself and provide assistance when the sword is drawn."
"Although once it has been nurtured for a certain amount of time, the accumulated power reaches its peak, and drawing the sword at that moment will break the scabbard, it is precisely because of this nearly one-time-use nature that the power of this single strike will be greatly amplified, and the characteristics of the sword itself will be greatly strengthened."
Nyarlathotep felt this body gradually beginning to fall apart under the erosion of the vortex, and even that chaotic power could not spread out to cause pollution to the surroundings, because everything was being eroded and assimilated into nothingness by the void.
"Sheesh, what did that dove give you to make you use a one-time move against me?"
"A power that is both opposite to and similar to the power of The End you gave me: all returns to one, all returns to the living; one is all, all is one."
Nyarlathotep saw the pitch-black, writhing blood flowing from her wound drip onto the ground, causing the land that had originally been assimilated and collapsed by the void to heal, even blooming with flowers and growing green grass.
"Nothingness itself is existence, and existence itself also has nothingness. All things must not go to extremes; one must seek the way of Equilibrium within it."
"...You should just go find Equilibrium and walk the Path of Equilibrium. I think He would definitely appoint you as an Emanator."
Nyarlathotep quipped.
"You know about my universe?"
"I know some information, but don't worry, I cannot interfere there. So why don't you walk the Path of Equilibrium? I believe you would be a very good Emanator of Equilibrium."
"I am just borrowing the philosophy and unique nature of the Path of Equilibrium to balance the power within me; I am not actually a believer in Equilibrium."
Caelus said this very straightforwardly, then came before Nyarlathotep and looked into her pitch-black eyes. He then opened his hand, on which lay a small, tender white flower.
He placed this small flower on Nyarlathotep's chest. Even though the pitch-black, filthy blood touched the flower, it could not contaminate the pristine white bloom.
Thank you for the gift you gave me. This is what I am giving to you, a graduation gift for this stage.
A flower that bloomed from the void.
An existence born from the void, just like me.
Nyarlathotep reached out, picked up the flower on her chest, sniffed it gently, and said with a smile, "To exhaust all the evils of all worlds within your body just to give me a flower like this, which can exist even in the void, is really not worth it."
"I think it is worth it. If you hadn't sent The End, God wouldn't have sent me Abundance. This is a return gift for the gift you gave me. I wish for you to always remain yourself amidst the twisted chaos."
Nyarlathotep stared blankly at Caelus, who was speaking to her earnestly. In the end, she said nothing and simply gazed at the man before her, as if she wanted to deeply imprint him into her eyes.
Afterward, this avatar completely collapsed and turned into void. Strangely, the white flower also vanished.
Only a faint floral scent remained in place. It was a whisper of fragrance, like a murmur drifting in the morning mist. It was so faint that it almost melted into the wind, yet it made one unable to forget.
(To be continued.)