Origin was the most fundamental element of a being's existence. This was something he knew way back when he was a mere mortal ranker. The first time he peeked into his origin still remained a profound memory.
From time to time, he would check his origin out of curiosity and every time he visited, the changes on the inside reflected the changes outside.
Eventually, he stopped visiting.
As mysterious and as beautiful it was, it didn't have any usage beyond the mystical scenary.
He came to realize that had he taken more time during level 9, he could've reached divine rank without having to tap into the origin.
In that sense, the origin view was useless.
Throughout the celestial ranks, Varian hadn't once touched it, treating it as a relic of mortal levels.
Upon returning to the divine ranks, however, things changed.
In the state which stood at the very top of the universe, the existence of an Origin was a constant reminder that there existed an enigma he had no clue of.
What was explained in simple terms by Logos and seen Varian as a mysterious but simple thing now seemed impossibly complex.
A Vuja De experience.
"Her Origin has a slight crack." Varian spoke, eyes fixed on the dying woman. "Just one crack."
There was hope in his voice and light in his eyes. Without realizing, he tightened his arm around Isadora's waist, as if he was clutching at the last straw.
"A crack!" Isadora said in despair, her eyes dimming further. "A crack cannot be repaired. Origin cannot be touched. You know it cannot be repaired."
Varian broke free from her and walked up to Aurora. With a tap on her forhead, the power of divinity rippled in waves of silver before the divine vision manifested in the hall.
A glowing prism whose three roads each represented an avenue, each road divided into lanes with each lane representing the path.
In the territory of divine ranks, the lanes were beginning to merge. The distinction was nearly blurred in rank 2.
Red, Yellow and Blue. The prism let out soft light, driving away the stubborn darkness in the hall.
The shining sphere of white on the sage avenue. Her origin was regressing! Bit by bit, inch by inch, it was heading towards the state of a celestial.
Isadora stepped forward, eyes shaking as she couldn't bear the sight.
The origin which was always perfect and flawless had a small crack. That crack was leaking a brilliant speck of light every moment, which dispersed away into the void. And the origin grew dimmer and dimmer.
As this exchange continued, the internal state of origin was in constant flux.
The simplest change was Miss Calamity's affinity toward Sage Avenue. She was continually losing it.
The deeper change was her 'Existence'. It was being erased to the deepest degree.
If the body of a being was destroyed, their soul could be resurrected.
If a soul was being destroyed, the space-time curvature could be twisted to flow back to save the soul.
If a being was banished to a space or time, they could be pulled back. Or if they were confined from existence by the laws of Order and Chaos, such laws could be erased.
But if an origin was gone, nothing could be done. It's the deepest death in the universe with no hope of saving.
"It's cruel." Isadora muttered, her ruby red eyes filled with tears. "She doesn't deserve this."
She had come to console Varian, to tell him it's not his fault and he must live on without guilt. But she herself was entrapped by deep grief.
Varian's eyes slowly grew firm and he raised his hand. The origin magnified under his vision and the crack was exposed bare.
A red gash on the white sphere.
The power of space-time emerged from him, creating a field around the origin. Then, the flow of time reversed.
Varian fused all his paths to boost this and poured out everything he had.
The origin didn't even fluctuate, as if it wasn't in the same space-time domain at all.
Narrowing his eyes, he invoked the shards of Jai Empire. Even though he had grown tremendously strong, they were as useful as before.
'Thank you, Eshala. Thank you, Sameal.'
With this new field built from the power of shards, the origin fluctuated slightly and the time around it began to regress.
Since the elements in this special region were purely the individual avenues and origin, the time reversal was much easier than in real world.
A few minutes later, Varian's face turned sickly white and the Origin reached the instance of crack formation.
Isadora stood silent, eyes transfixed on Aurora who seemed completely fine.
"Arghhh!"
The instance was unfolding in front of Varian.
The pure Origin was having a slight crack. The pure white sphere was tained with a mark of red.
This happened when Asherah initiated integration with Aurora. She wasn't a daughter after all. Technically, she was considered to be a clone that was given autonomy.
Her origin was deeply connected to Asherah. If the integration continued, her entire origin would've dissipated as the existence of Aurora would integrate into Asherah.
Varian tried to reverse this instance but it was impossible to do. All he could do was push back every time the instance rolled forward and run the crack formation again and again.
He already tried this to save Aurora before. Every power in his arsenal, every sliver in his posession, every idea he could think of.
He wasn't fond of giving up even in normal situations, much less in a critical moment like this.
And yet, Primula had the reason to say what she did.
Despite his efforts, he failed in every single one of them.
"Arghhh!"
Varian pushed back the origin to the instance of cracking once again and unleashed the power of Logos.
His own origin was simultaneously existed in multiple locations thanks to the slivers of Order and Chaos. It was the most intricate application of slivers he had known.
It's also the thing that gave him hope. If slivers could affect origin, then perhaps they could also heal Aurora.
That's what he believed but—
The order and chaos slivers covered Aurora's Origin, trying to patch up the crack in the critical instance.
It worked and the origin didn't crack. But that's only for a moment before the power of slivers dissipated and the frightening red crack emerged.
The power of Samsara too poured out, trying to help. It too managed to patch up the crack before its power dissipated and the origin resumed cracking.
Varian used the power of six slivers and still failed.
The most torturous thing was that while his divine paths didn't work at all, the slivers had some effect. But not enough. And he didn't know how to make them work.
It wasn't his proficiency in the slivers. There's something else. Something he didn't understand.
If only the power of slivers didn't dissipate like a handful of sand thrown into a flowing river…
Varian's eyebrows knit together as he tried to find a solution. Nothing came to mind.
Origin was a mystery to the world. Always in reach but beyond understanding.
There's no one he could turn to help either.
No one knew researched about the Origin. No one could research an object which allowed them to just see without any chance of interacting.
"I will save her." Varian muttered, holding her feeble hand.
It was warm, soft and gentle. But if he stopped the inflow of vitality or slivers, it would crack like dried land before disintegrating.
"Origin…won't stop me."