Varian tried to just read everything. But the soul of the god was different from living beings. Even with the power of a rank 2, Varian couldn't just read away the memories. Of course, he could try to brute force his way through. But that risked collapsing the entire memory and destroying the soul before anything valuable could be obtained.
So, Varian started by checking the memories of every day. Thanks to his enormous soul power, he could check the memory of a millions years in an instant. So, even though there was memory of billions of years, he quickly progressed.
The older the memory, the harder it was to get started. Varian started from the newest.
The dead god stayed in this sealed area of the forbidden region for billions of years. No one came here ever. Not a single soul.
Soon, Varian dialed back, reaching the first 100 millions of the forbidden region's creation. This was as ancient as history could get. Still, nothing happened. The days passed with the dead god simply meditating or staring into the distance. And then, as Varian got into the first 10 million years, the world in the memory shifted. It was right in front of the dead god. But as if it was deceived his senses, the dead god didn't even react to it.
But Varian did. He could barely see it as even his brain were unable to interpret what he saw. They were receiving the sensory information but somehow his soul was rejecting it.
Pushing his soul to focus, Varian tried to see it. The thing that his soul instinctively shielded him from. "You…" He could barely see it. Very, very vaguely. A pair of eye—
"Huh?"
The eyes turned to him.
The memory shattered and Varian crashed to the ground, bleeding from his eyes and ears.
"W-What happened?" He muttered in confusion. Kacha! Kacha! Kacha!
The sound of glass breaking rang from the side. Varian tried to stand up but his body ached as if he was a mortal who ran a marathon. "Urgh!" He urged his paths, his slivers, even his authority as the owner of the forbidden land. But all he felt was fatigue. The exhaustion extended from the depths of his soul and wished for him to rest forever.
Using all the strength of a rank 2, Varian lifted his head. And saw the final thought of the dead god break down. "No." If he used the life-death slivers, there's a chance to save him. "H-Hold on!" Varian tried to raise his hand or at least, he tried to. The dead god raised his head, half of the silver light gone. As his entire being was melting and breaking down, his expression was unclear. "A-At least try…" With a crash, the dead god exploded. A brilliant silver light shone over the entire forbidden land. In Elysium, Ariel looked up at the sky and started sobbing without even realizing why.
"I…" Varian realized he could move his body. Did he recover? No, it would have taken weeks to recover by himself. That silver light…
"Thank you." Varian tried to search for the traces of the dead god. But not even a speck of silver was left. Rumble! The forbidden area rumbled, moving slightly. The power which restricted rank 2s to enter was loosening.
Soon, the forbidden region would lose the protection it once had. The alliance's rank 2s would not go against the heir and invade his land. Moreover, the rulers of the alliance planned to fuse this region with Eternal Spire to build the battle ground against the emperor.
There would be no rank 2s coming from Jai Empire either. There's only low rank 2s there.
But…
Varian placed his hand on his chest. His heart was thrashing as if it had gone mad and his palms were sweating like an anxious mortal.
Not only the God Emperor but those eyes…eyes that were integrated into the world…
With the god breathing his last, he was left alone to face these two. [You're not alone.]
(I'll always be with you! Not just unto death but even after death cause your soul will be with me, hehehehe~)
Varian responded to their enthusiasm in a cold tone. "Do you have anything to say about it?"
(Why would me coming into existence destroy the universe? The old bastard had gone senile!)
Samsara didn't seem to take his words seriously.
On the other hand, Logos' reply was much more sober. [My memories have nothing like that. But if he says so, there must be a good reason. What I can assure you is that the slivers themselves are not going to be responsible. In the first place, the slivers are a medium, not independent actors. It might sound silly to you but this is engraved deeply in our existence. It is what makes us us.
When the tribes got the slivers, they were very weak. If the slivers wished to, even though we weren't fused yet, could've destroyed the tribes and ruled the world.
The slivers didn't act.]
Varian narrowed his eyes. "Then what about you pushing me on this path?"
[It was the call from the universe which sensed its eventual doom. Slivers are ultimately a part of the universe. I acted to prevent the destruction of the universe.]
"But the god emperor is protecting the univer—"
[He might not be the savior you think he is.]
"…" [Of course, he might not be the destroyer either. The fate of the universe is completey blurred at this point.]
Varian exhaled deeply. "I want some apple pie."
The surroundings changed and a tear-stricken angel appeared in front of him. "Ariel."
"Ah?"
"If anyone from the alliance tries to attack, use…" Varian wanted to give her Aphosis' seal. But he realized it shattered. "Haaa~" Varian clenched his fist and his divine power condensed into a medallion.
"The barrier should still work but just in case, use this if any rank 2 attacks." The angel caught the medallion with a confused face. "Rank 2? Wait…rank 2…did you defeat th—"
Varian vanished without answering, like always. "Hey!" Only the reverberating voice of the angel was left in the forbidden region.