Myriad Devils-Chapter 266: The Branch

Five years after arriving on Mythralis, and sixty-three years after setting out for the Eternal Antiquity Prime region...

It had been two years since he was brought aware of an opportunity to transform his abstract soul into a paradisical soul.

During this time, the principles of Fate, Destiny, and Inevitability had been enlightened to 21%, whilst his principle of fire remained at 20%.

Though this difference might appear slight, it was a clear difference, and it would only continue to become more pronounced with the passing of time.

Simultaneously, without focusing much on it, he had also enlightened one percent more of his principle of death, reaching 19%.

Maybe it was because of the deaths that had been preordained during this time...

Anyway, standing at a mortal height, his wife stood a head or so lower than him. Looking into her eyes, his hands wrapped around her waist, he sighed and said, "I can’t help but feel unwilling to separate from you."

Although it was really her brilliant mind that he did not wish to separate from, since this was her own mind, it could be viewed as him not wishing to part with her as well.

Her tender lips curled upwards, and her blanketed gaze broke away from his. Leaning into his embrace, she rested her head on his chest.

"It will only be for a short time," she said, "When the next member of my lineage is born, I’ll be the first Saintess who can effectively retire."

"Thereafter, I can spend, at the very least, one cycle of eternity, at your side..."

Anon did not know whether to laugh or cry.

"A short time?" He doubtfully tilted his head.

Following the trajectory so far, the sixth Venerable Saintess would only be born on the 54th cosmic cycle, which was eight cosmic cycles away...

Each cosmic cycle was 129,600 years.

Eight of those were...

Was he really so wet behind his ears to believe that such a time was unprecedentedly long?

The hundred thousand years he spent in the Supreme realm had flown by. He was solely focused on comprehending the Bladed path.

The four hundred and some years in the Inverted Sky Dimension had felt longer than the time he spent in the Supreme realm.

He couldn’t even begin imagining how long living through eight cosmic cycles would be, but now he was told that this was a short time.

To laugh at such a reality, or cry in dismay, he really didn’t know.

Seemingly sensing this, Astaria chimed in, "Well, actually, in the days you spent on Earth after your otherworldly ascension, the 47th cosmic cycle had begun. It’s only that, there’s a buffer of ten thousand years across the cosmic space when entering a new cosmic cycle."

Did she say this to make him somehow feel better?

That so-called ’buffer’...

His consciousness had not experienced one-tenth of that time.

Not even one out of ten parts...

What kind of buffer was that?

His wife’s intentions were pure, so he could only sigh in dismay. He found it funny, and an idea suddenly struck.

"Before that buffer comes to an end, I will transform my abstract soul into a paradisical soul." Anon proclaimed.

"And when the cosmic space officially enters the 47th cosmic cycle, at the very least, within the cosmic space, not even those bloody Overlords will be a threat to me."

Astaria heard those words and embraced him even tighter, seemingly unwilling to let him go.

Anon smiled at this, but inwardly he pondered, ’Even with a shared consciousness, I could not derive why she seems to hold me so dearly.’

Objectively speaking, if she were not the Omniscient Saintess spoken of by his True Father, at most, she would be an object that he would seek to tame.

Even if she were to become his wife, he would not feel any particular way toward her.

Obviously, his celestial nature would adore her beauty, but that would be all there was to it.

His inherent nature was unique, and what made him love was different than what would make others develop love. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

She had coincidentally met all those requirements, but to him, it was strange.

From her perspective, what would make her love him the way she did?

Because they had shared a single consciousness, her love for him could not be hidden.

If she didn’t have a speck of love for him, he would’ve discerned that as well.

Maybe, due to his inherent nature, he simply couldn’t understand what made other creatures develop love.

So he stopped thinking about that.

When they separated, he made his way to the World Tree.

Mythralis was the center of the Eternal Antiquity Prime region, and the World Tree had an influence on all spaces within this region!

In fact, all spaces within this region were segmented into thirty-six so-called Heavenly Abodes, or Heavens.

The 9th, 15th, and 33rd Heavens...

Anon was about to venture into these Heavens.

This was the beginning of a desperate attempt at grasping an opportunity for paradise.

However, before Astaria’s stunned gaze, when Anon appeared before the towering tree, he suddenly lowered himself.

"W-What are you doing?" She blurted out in shock.

From the World Tree, a power greater than anything Anon could confront, burst forth with kaleidoscopic colors.

His entire sense of self grew dazed, and he was prevented from dropping to his knees.

Rather than Astaria, it almost appeared that even the World Tree did not dare accept the act of kneeling towards it, at least, not from him.

Not from this existence...

With his knees straightening by an unknown power, standing upright, Anon chuckled lightly, his eyes filled with amusement.

"I only sought to follow your Elven traditions and kowtow toward the World Tree. I thought, maybe if I begged and prayed, the World Tree would allow you to come with me."

There was a sly smirk on his face, as if all this was an amusing jest to him.

However, Astaria’s face was pale, almost exaggeratedly so.

All he intended to do was kowtow, so what was wrong with that?

’Such a reaction is a little too much.’ Anon thought.

Thrum!

Bringing him out of his thoughts was a powerful gush of wind that originated from the World Tree, lashing against his skin.

His attention was drawn away from Astaria’s reaction and toward the World Tree itself, or more so, a single branch no larger than a forearm, that slowly fell toward him.

Almost instantly, he could deduce the purpose of this branch.

This was a branch of the World Tree, and since his wife was essentially the embodiment of the World Tree itself, it felt like a piece of her as well...

Softly wrapping his fingers around it, Anon smiled, tenderly pressing his lips against it in a gentle kiss.