Chapter 588: Monstrous Personal Decisions

“…Pandora, what do you need?” My mother asks as I step into her room. I see Evangeline sitting on her lap, eating fruit in a way that’s almost kind of funny.

It seems my mother really adores Evangeline. It was a good idea to keep her at my castle as a gift for my mother. Seeing Evangeline like this, she loses the image she usually projects.

Because instead of Evangeline giving off the impression of a princess being fed, she looks like an amusing pet getting treats. And her expression only reinforces that image of an adorable little animal.

“Mother, I was just thinking about something… anyway, it’s something pretty… intense? I found some very interesting things you had kept hidden.” When I say this, my mother furrows her brows at me.

“Oh, yes, I was going to talk to you about that! You’re grounded, Pandora.”

“W-Wait, what?! No way!! Grounded? But I’m already an adult!! Besides, I’ve been helping you so much! So why ground me out of nowhere?” My tail curls around my waist in discomfort at that.

“It doesn’t matter that you’re an adult now. Are you going to defy me? I want you locked in your room for the next five months. I didn’t want you messing with that seal, and you were quite rebellious about it.” When she says that, my mouth falls open.

’What the FUCK!! I’m getting punished like a child… Tsk…’

“Mother, that’s unfair… really unfair—”

“Pffhahahahahahaha!” Evangeline bursts out laughing, cutting me off, while my mother strokes her head with a smile. It’s clear my mother doesn’t care about my outrage, so I fall silent.

“Now, Pandora, about what you wanted to talk about?”

“!!!” I’m floored by my mother’s hypocrisy—grounding me and then asking what I wanted to say. But she’s still my mother, so I take a deep breath. Five months is nothing here in the Abyss, so I decide to just continue.

“I was just thinking that I want to eat the Abyss.” I state my plan rather succinctly.

“?” When I say that, my mother’s eyes go wide, and Evangeline sits up, looking at me in confusion.

“From what I discovered about the Abyss, I realized that if I use my true form, I think I can eat the entire Abyss from the outside. It’ll kill everything inside, but it’ll also give me a ton of levels, passives, and skills!!”

“And so I wanted to move your castle out—move the whole castle outside the Abyss. That way, only the important ones get out, and the rest can just die…” I have no idea how many levels I’d gain from that, but I think it’d be a lot.

“Hold on. How exactly did you discover you could eat the entire Abyss just from learning a few more things?” She asks as I lick my lips, already imagining the taste.

“Actually, it’s tied to two factors! First, I’m the Goddess of the Apocalypse! I have a certain ’capacity’ to end non-physical things. The Abyss has already passed what you could call its ’limit,’ but it’s still here.”

“The Abyss isn’t going to just self-destruct for no reason, but it’s already exceeded the limit an environment should exist within. So it falls under the ’crosshairs’ of my title, which naturally gives me the ability to destroy it without causing a universal imbalance!” The reality is that the Abyss currently does more harm than good to the universe.

“Besides, from the outside, it doesn’t extend infinitely. So from the outside, I can completely devour the Abyss, which will obviously kill everything inside, but it won’t affect anything externally!” My mother looks around.

“…” She seems thoughtful. This is still kind of her home, after all. Even though I doubt she likes this place, it’s still where she’s lived.

Evangeline, who has nothing to do with this, just keeps staring at my mother, who looks genuinely contemplative. But since I’m saving her castle, I think she’ll agree.

“Can you really eat this entire place?” She asks a very practical question, and it’s important. After all, if it’s uncertain, I doubt she’ll agree.

“It’s possible.” From what I’ve discovered about the Abyss, I realized that devouring it, fortunately, won’t make some avatar of the Primordial Goddess come after me because, in truth, this is a service that balances the universe.

Meaning, I’ll be doing something good for the universe, since the Abyss damages the universe’s border with the Limbo, which is bad. But no one fixes it because it’s difficult and costly to attempt. And I, by sheer luck, can do it because of the Devourer passive.

“Pandora, are you sure about doing this? There’s a lot of useful stuff here—a lot. It’s like destroying a piece of this universe’s history.” Her question catches me off guard, but it makes me smile.

Why would I even care about the universe’s history? Wouldn’t it be ironic if I, of all people, cared about the history this universe built? History is the past, and clinging to the past doesn’t help anyone.

“I don’t care! Honestly, I’ve already discovered a lot of things! And I discovered what mattered.” Here in the Abyss, I talked with the Primordial Goddess, learned more about how the System works and how levels work.

I learned about the Primordial Goddess’s avatars and how they function, I learned the fundamentals of creation with my mother, I also discovered my true form, and created a powerful new element.

I started forming a relationship with my sister, got much stronger, and consolidated my power as a goddess. I learned a lot more about magic and improved my mana manipulation.

I obtained my divine weapon, learned a lot about monsters, learned a bit about my race and how my mother built it. I also managed to gain some knowledge about the goddesses’ past and the fact that there used to be many more of them.

I also learned some facts about my mother and her past when she was inside the fundamentals of creation, and there was also what I learned about the previous Goddess of the Apocalypse.

And of course, there were also those unpleasant sexual experiences with that spider woman and that tentacled slut!! But thanks to them, I created the Doom element, which can destroy anything that exists. So I guess it was a fair trade!!

I also got rid of the other Pandoras in the Sea of Consciousness, finally gaining 100% control over myself, becoming complete, which elevated my power and freed me from the chains that bound me.

And above all, the most important thing that happened was gaining the ability to use a certain “divine authority.” When I was weak, “Goddess of the Apocalypse” was just a title.

But now I literally have authority over the universe’s balance, able to bring about the end of certain things or the beginning of new ones. And that’s very interesting because I’ve become an essential part of this universe.

From a mere Demon King who was like a natural disaster serving a planet’s balance, I’ve become a goddess who can maintain the balance of an entire universe.

“…How long will it take?” From what my mother says, I take it she’s accepted. But I’m not sure how long it would take. After all, I need to move this entire castle out of the Abyss, and unfortunately, getting out is harder than getting in.

“I just need to move the whole castle outside the Abyss!! And I need you to have whoever you want to survive stay inside the castle—like Baeh’Wa… but it’ll probably take a while. I’ll have to move this giant structure out, after all.”

“Very well, then. Do it after your grounding is over. I’ll try to help you move the castle out by providing the necessary magic.” She waves her hand in acceptance, even though I sense a certain reluctance in her voice.

“…Fuck,” I mutter, unable to escape this stupid punishment.

’At least I’ll get to eat this whole place.’ I didn’t like the Abyss much anyway. I went through some unpleasant things here, and I can’t wait to taste this entire place, and I can’t wait to see how many levels I’ll gain from doing it.

“Oh, Mother, but there is a problematic point. If I eat the Abyss, when we fight the goddesses, there’ll be no place to recover or flee. Not that I plan to run, but I’m just making it clear.”

“Either we fight and win, or we fight and die. There won’t be any second chances!!” I tell her, taking a deep breath. When the fight starts, there’ll be nowhere to retreat. After all, the Abyss—the place that makes the goddesses most cautious—will be gone.

“…That’s fine. It’s pretty obvious, and I think it’s time to put an end to this for good this time. Neither side needs another chance! Now, go to your room. I want to enjoy my time with Evangeline. Besides, where are you going to move my castle?”

’…’

“I’ll think about it!” I could move it to three possible places: my universe, the planet with all the races, or I could create an artificial mini-planet. Any of the options seems great, so I’ll look into it later.

——————————————————————————

Galaxy’s Note

Hello, readers!!! I’m here to let you know that the Abyss Arc is coming to an end! The beginning was a bit complicated and not as perfect as I would have liked—my health wasn’t in a good place, so I ended up making some decisions that didn’t follow the best course.

But as the story progressed and the Abyss became more defined, I managed to improve things quite a bit. And anyway, the beginning wasn’t so bad—some important things happened, and I used the start to give our protagonist even more determination!!!

The Abyss Arc basically started around Chapter 470, and now, at Chapter 588, it’s reaching its conclusion! It hasn’t completely ended yet, but there are only a few Chapters left until this arc ends and a new one begins!!!

A lot happened in the Abyss Arc! Pandora grew immensely and became much stronger, and as promised, we explored various aspects of the goddesses—even the Primordial Goddess made an appearance!!

The past won’t change the future of the story, so showing everything about the goddesses’ past isn’t necessary, but I did show important facts, like the goddesses’ past relationships and the reason for their hatred—those were the most relevant factors. Around Chapter 588, Pandora solidified her understanding of what the Abyss truly is and made an important decision!!

Will the story have only about four more arcs? I can’t say for sure, since it’s a long work—but as those of you who are further along know, every progression in the story is real and pushes the narrative forward!

Pandora is now approaching the conflict with the goddesses, who are the main final antagonists of the story. That means we’re getting closer to the end!!

My original plan was for Pandora’s story to reach around 800 Chapters—or something close to that. Now that we’re at Chapter 588, we’re not that far off! Honestly, even I’m surprised I’ve managed to take this story this far!

Of course, I don’t guarantee the story will reach 800 Chapters, nor do I rule out the possibility! It all depends on what Pandora still needs to achieve her goal!!

I want to thank everyone who’s been following along! And I hope the Abyss Arc has been an enjoyable read for those of you going through it. Despite the rougher start, I believe it delivered on what it promised—maybe not exactly as expected, but still faithful to the premise. And it ended up being a pretty long arc, too—over 100 Chapters just in this part!!

And even though Pandora doesn’t seem to have “changed” that much personality-wise, we can see she actually changed a lot in the Abyss! To the point where she now makes a choice that will casually wipe out trillions of lives.

Showing that even though personality-wise she sounds like the Pandora of the past, she has indeed grown mentally, becoming colder, more pragmatic, and more monstrous than before, hiding her inner violence much better than she used to.

Acting like a rational monster instead of letting her instincts dictate much of her life like in the past.

I won’t give any spoilers, but I hope you’re looking forward to the future! It holds many things!! And I’ll try to make the fight against the goddesses the most memorable fight in the story! So keep an eye out for that!!

Anyway, I just wanted to share this update, especially because I had given this particular arc a lot of focus, and I hope you’re satisfied with the outcome of the Abyss Arc!! And may the future of this story be magnificent!

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep