【 A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 】

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After erasing the memories of the Einherjars who had chosen to resurrect in Seigües, she sent them back to the World Tree.

Their number was slightly over twenty thousand, with their average strength hovering around the upper Silver rank, and only a small fraction managing to reach the Gold rank.

By her rough estimates, reviving them would cost a little over five hundred points of divine power.

This was acceptable and well within the limits of her capacity.

After all, the holy statue brought back by the Frost Elves alone contained far more than this amount of faith power once it had been fully converted into divine power.

Not to mention the immense surges of faith that erupted among the elves at three critical moments: the instant Evé descended into the Abyss, the moment she slew Apophis in a single strike, and the time she purified the corruption afflicting the Frost Elves.

Across these three moments, the Frost Elves experienced three successive transformations in their faith, each one deeper and more resolute than the last.

By the time they returned to the world of Seigües, every one of them had become at least a devout believer, with more than one fifth having directly advanced into the ranks of fanatical believers.

If not for the extremely special conditions required for the birth of a saint, Evé believed that saints like Alice might even have emerged amongst them.

And even though the fanatical believers accounted for only one fifth, this was already an astonishingly terrifying number.

One must understand that even after more than four years, Evé still had fewer than five thousand fanatical believers in total. Now, in just a single stroke, the number had increased by forty thousand.

It was a truly shocking numbers.

The power of faith provided by several shallow believers could only equal that of one devout believer, and even ten devout believers might not necessarily rival a single fanatical believer.

Such a conversion efficiency was likely achievable only by Frost Elves who had been tempered for thousands of years in the Abyss.

These elves, who had long forged unbreakable wills amid countless crises, possessed not only exceptional strength but also extraordinarily firm faith.

Thus, the power of faith brought about by the sublimation of their beliefs at that instant was immense.

In this whole operation, the life force she absorbed from eliminating the Black Tide, combined with the faith power provided by the Frost Elves, was all converted into divine power. Not only did it fully offset the expenditure she incurred from performing cross dimensional teleportation and divine combat, but it also left her a substantial surplus.

Evé planned to convert all of this power into divine power and store it within the Garden of Eden.

Moreover, aside from these elven believers, it was foreseeable that once those Einherjars who had chosen resurrection were reborn, each of them would likely become a fanatical believers as well.

That was another group of over twenty thousand.

The explosive growth in the number of elven believers filled Evé with satisfaction.

Another piece of good news was the return of her first elven demigod, Aurora.

Now, it was time to meet her properly.

With this thought, Evé summoned the Fairy King, Feynir.

“Feynir, summon Aurora.”

Feynir bowed respectfully and departed from the Garden of Eden.

“As you command.”

Watching the little king fairy leave, Evé nodded to herself.

Although she could have directly transmit her order within Aurora’s mind, now that she had Feynir as her chief administrator of the Garden of Eden, Evé was quite content to delegate such matters to her.

༺⟐༻

Evé did not wait long before Feynir returned.

With her came Aurora, the Star of Dawn, her face filled with excitement and heartfelt sincerity.

“Goddess, Lady Aurora has arrived,” Feynir said respectfully.

Evé nodded lightly and looked toward the beautiful demigod who had entered the supreme temple.

As their gazes met, Evé saw Aurora’s eyes instantly fill with tears.

Aurora dropped to one knee and spoke with a trembling voice.

“Divine Matriarch… Your Majesty, at long last… I have finally, finally met you once again.”

Evé gently waved her hand, and a soft force slowly lifted Aurora up.

“Rise. You must be tired from your ordeal.”

Aurora rose gratefully.

“Thank you, Matriarch.”

Watching Aurora stand once more, Evé pondered briefly and decided to speak plainly about certain matters.

“Aurora, as a divine emissary of the World Tree, I believe you can vaguely sense that there are some differences about me.”

“There is something I must tell you first. I am, in the end, somewhat different from the Matriarch you once knew.”

After hearing Eve’s words, there was not the slightest hint of surprise on Aurora’s face.

She nodded gently and, under Eve’s slightly astonished gaze, spoke with deep devotion.

“Goddess, regardless of how you were in the past, the you of today is the Divine Matriarch we have awaited for so long.”

“Henceforth. Your Majesty, may I, Aurora the Star of Dawn continue to serve you, and continue to become a pillar of your strength?”

Meeting Aurora’s pure, fervent, and intensely hopeful gaze, Evé sighed softly and nodded slowly.

“Of course.”

“As the Guardian tasked with protecting the Azurefrost Clan, and as a Demigod of the World Tree, you are naturally my divine emissary.”

“Welcome home, Star of Dawn.”

Upon receiving this recognition, Aurora was once again overwhelmed with emotion, tears streaming down her face.

“Thank you, Great Matriarch.”

“Address me as Your Grace or Goddess for now as my revival still needs to remain a secret.”

“Understood, Your Grace.”

Watching the elven demigod gazing at her with an excited and fanatical expression, Evé found herself somewhat unaccustomed to it for a moment.

She realized that the devotion these elven divine emissaries held toward the World Tree was far stronger than she had originally imagined.

After a brief pause, Evé asked the first question that concerned her most.

“Aurora, now that you have returned, I would like to learn more about the current state of the elven race.”

“Aside from Ouros, the Dark Wanderer and Uria, the Child of Earth, do you know the whereabouts of the other emissaries?”

This was the information Evé had long wished to obtain.

After the fall of the World Tree, the elvenkind had still possessed eight demigod emissaries.

By relying on the power of these demigods, the elves had even managed to hold out in the Elven Forest for a period of time.

However, after Eve’s revival, not a single demigod had come forth to pledge their loyalty.

Evé had vaguely learned that, within the past few centuries, some of these demigods seemed to have fallen at the hands of Uller’s divine emissaries. Yet the orcs were notoriously poor at preserving their history.

Their records relied largely on murals and oral tradition, and those murals all appeared nearly identical to one another, making it impossible for her to determine exactly who had perished or under what circumstances.

Likewise, the elven records regarding the fate of the Elven emissaries were equally unclear. Large gaps existed where crucial details should have been, as though entire chapters had been deliberately removed or rewritten, leaving behind only fragmented and ambiguous traces.

Of course, Evé now understood that this obscurity was most likely intentional. The surviving demigods, having embarked upon different paths of their own, had likely erased these records to prevent interference, all in service of a single shared objective: the eventual revival of the World Tree.

After hearing Eve’s question, a trace of dimness passed through Aurora’s eyes.

“Your Grace.”

“After your eternal slumber, Lord Vulcan, the Flame of Civilization, and Lady Anemiya, the Paragon of Nature, fell in the subsequent wars against enemy demigods.”

“Her Majesty Diana, the Moonlight Queen, ultimately chose to remain here in the world of Seigües together with Lord Ouros in search of a way to revive you, Your Grace.”

“Lord Donar, the Sword of Judgment, and Lady Eris, the Shadow of Night, instead chose to lead a portion of our people to other realms while the interdimensional passageway had not yet fully closed, in order to preserve the fading embers of elvenkind.”

“As for Uria and myself, you already know our fate.”

Listening to Aurora’s account, Evé felt a subtle stir in her heart, as one familiar figure after another surfaced in her mind.

They were the eight demigods of the elvenkind.

According to their order of precedence, they were as follows.

Diana, the Moonlight Queen, guardian of the Moonlight Clan and the Elven Royal Court.

Aurora, the Star of Dawn, guardian of the Azurefrost Clan.

Anemiya, the Paragon of Nature, guardian of the Galewind Clan.

Donar, the Sword of Judgment, guardian of the Thunderspark Clan.

Uria, the Son of Earth, guardian of the Rocksand Clan.

Eris, the Shadow of Night, guardian of the Shadowshade Clan.

Vulcan, the Flame of Civilization, guardian of the Rageblaze Clan.

Ouros, the Dark Wanderer, guardian of the half elves.

Amongst them, Diana, the Moonlight Queen, was also the first queen of the Elven Kingdom. She was deeply respected by the other seven demigods and was often addressed as “Your Highness.” She was also the leader of the eight elven demigods.

Aurora, the Star of Dawn, and Anemiya, the Paragon of Nature, were the demigods personally bestowed with power by the World Tree after the Moonlight Queen, and were especially favored.

As for the remaining elven demigods, aside from Ouros, who had received divine favor, all of them had first grown on their own to a rank close to, or already reaching, demigodhood, and were only later elevated to demigod status or had their power reinforced by the World Tree.

After hearing Aurora’s words, Evé nodded slightly.

This was the first time she had gained a clear understanding of the fate of the elven demigods, and likewise the first time she had truly grasped the trajectory of the elven race itself.

The outcome left her with a sense of melancholy.

What could be confirmed was that among the eight demigods, at least four had already fallen completely.

Currently, aside from Aurora, only Donar and Eris, who had left the world of Seigües, and Diana, whose whereabouts were unknown, still remained.

When Evé had revived, her only believers had been Samuel and Alice.

This indicated that the remaining demigods had either already fallen, or, like Aurora and Uria, had entered places capable of blocking the network of faith and shielding themselves from the sight of true gods.

Now that the revival of the elvenkind had become almost common knowledge throughout the universe, the fact that they still had not returned at this point was not an encouraging sign.

It was highly likely that they too had already perished.

And even if they had not fallen, it was very possible that they had encountered some tremendous trouble which prevented them from returning.

This also included the believers they had taken with them.

“Aurora, do you know which realm Donar and Eris went to?” Evé asked.

Although the universe here in Seigües was practically a miniature version compared to the universe on earth, the number of realms here was still astonishing.

It was just that most of them, much like barren planets in earth’s universe, were also unsuitable for sustaining life.

Even so, this universe still contains many realms suitable for life. Among them, there are at least over a thousand worlds rich in life and natural energies that would be suitable for survival alone.

Of course, if their goal was to escape, Evé did not believe that those two elven demigods would simply choose any realm suitable for elven habitation.

What they chose would certainly be sufficiently hidden as well.

“I am sorry, Your Grace. In order to prevent our movements from being traced by our enemies, we were not aware of one another’s final destinations. Even regarding the methods chosen to revive you, we did not know each other’s plans at all.”

“Uria and I were merely exceptions. It was only because we happened to choose the same Abyssal world.”

Aurora replied.

Evé nodded gently, feeling a trace of disappointment in her heart.

However, a new thought quickly arose.

Perhaps she could ask Hela to investigate the elven souls in the Netherworld.

Under normal circumstances, souls without a divine kingdom to return to would mostly return to the Netherworld after death.

So by examining the situation of elven souls there, it might be possible to infer the whereabouts of those two elven demigods.

With some luck, even Diana, whose location was unknown, might also be found.

Compared to possibly of them already dead, Evé still hoped that they were all alive out there somewhere.

“I understand. I will find a way to locate them,” Evé said.

After speaking, she pondered for a moment, then asked the second question she most wanted answers.

“Aurora, do you know why the gods betrayed the World Tree and besieged the elves a thousand years ago?”

Why had the gods surrounded and attacked the World Tree?

Evé had asked this question to many mythical beings, and even later posed it once to Azazel.

But the answers she received had all been largely the same.

That the gods feared the World Tree’s growth would raise Seigües overall energy level, thereby threatening all the gods of faith.

Yet Evé always felt that something about this explanation was amiss.

To be safe, she wanted to hear it once more from Aurora.

“Your Grace,”

Aurora replied respectfully.

“I know that the gods claimed they feared your growth would cause the energy level of the World of Seigües to rise, which would in turn lead them to lose control over their believers stationed here.”

“But… that was not the key reason. Or rather, it was not the primary reason. It was merely their pretext.”

Aurora spoke, her teeth clenched in fury.

“The true reason was that you were at a critical moment in your ascension to Greater Divine Dower, and thus, those Gods of Faith in the Heavenly Realm… did not wish to see you succeed.”

Her predecessor was about to ascend to greater divine power a thousand years ago?

Evé was momentarily stunned.

She had previously entertained such a suspicion, but with her lacking any concrete evidence, it had remained only a passing conjecture of hers.

She had not expected it to be true.

Aurora was not finished.

Her expression grew even more indignant.

“They… no, the Eternal Lord sought to steal your ‘key’ to greatness, and that was why he united with the other gods of humanity against you.”

“Before your ascension, you once told me a few things…”

“You had already sensed that when the Creator formed the universe, it was predetermined that within this small cosmos, there could be only one Greater Divine. Beneath the Greater Divine, all are but ants, unable to truly control their own fate, destined only to reincarnate endlessly.”

“And now, that position has become vacant.”

“You told us that you had already obtained the ‘key’ to greatness, that you had fulfilled all the requirements to become Greater Divine, and that you only need to take the final step to undergo transformation, gaining the ability to change the universe and the power to help all beings change their destiny.”

“You said that you would become the ‘True’ World Tree.”

“You also said that the ‘world’ was much larger than we had imagined, and that after achieving greatness, you would take us to see an even greater ‘world.’”

“It was at that moment that the Gods of Faith decided to betray you.”

“Your Grace…”

“Etriōu is exceedingly ambitious. His objective was never to prevent your influence over Seigües in order to maintain control over his believers.”

“He sought to replace you, to achieve the status of the one and only Greater Divine.”

“He wished to become the next Lord Neo, to become the true master of the universe.”

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