How a Villain Defies Destiny Chapter 169

[The other gods don’t care what happens on the surface as long as a new god isn’t born.]

 

‘But you said Lord Nanna’s ultimate goal is to create a new god!’

 

So I had thought all the gods would naturally collude to impose sanctions on Nanna, yet they supposedly had no interest.

 

Anger surged up from deep in my chest because of the selfish attitude of the gods.

 

Even knowing that Kephri was reading my emotions and thoughts exactly as they were, I was so angry I could not restrain myself, yet he simply continued speaking in his consistently indifferent tone.

 

[That’s only my conjecture as well; there’s no solid basis. The gods in Dilmun are probably regarding the things Nanna has done as merely light pranks.]

 

‘After issuing a strange oracle and rewinding the time of the surface several times, no one is suspicious?’

 

[Even that is a trivial matter to the gods.]

 

‘Come on, are the gods really omnipotent?’

 

The heat boiling inside eventually went beyond anger and turned into absurdity and a sense of emptiness.

 

It was because their behavior of dismissing and overlooking the very problem they were most wary of, even while their own colleague was causing it, felt worse than humans.

 

In response, Kephri spoke of the difference in perspective between humans and gods.

 

[Humans perceive time as flowing from the past to the future, but in the heavens and underworld where time does not exist, it looks a little different.]

 

He said that for the gods, countless possibilities so numerous that they cannot be recognized all at once exist simultaneously without being separated into past, present, and future.

 

[Imagine it like the game you played, where the situations that change according to choices are all playing at once.]

 

‘That’s a bit…’

 

[The reason the gods in Dilmun don’t take much interest in the surface is also because of that.]

 

From the perspective of the gods, to whom everything seemed to happen all at once, the surface was merely a busy, bothersome, and noisy place, so unless a major problem occurred, they usually did not even bother looking around carefully.

 

[Excluding the peculiar Astarte, it is safe to say there are no gods who observe the surface at all.]

 

Yet because Astarte was currently confined to the underworld, she could not inform the other gods of Nanna’s eccentricities.

 

[Therefore, this is the first and last chance to sever the connection between Nanna and this child on the surface.]

 

‘No. Why are you only telling me this important thing now!’

 

There is a saying that to deceive the enemy you must first deceive your allies, but if he had at least given me a hint I could have prepared my heart!

 

Such complaints arose, yet the moment I heard the words that followed, I could not offer any rebuttal.

 

[Because you’re bad at lying.]

 

It was far too accurate.

 

[Nanna is suspicious and cautious. Even now he is letting his guard down thanks to the uncertain appearance you have shown.]

 

While feeling a sense of awe toward the one who had deceived the careful Nanna, and at the same time feeling uneasy as if I had been treated as bait, Kephri’s talk continued.

 

[Keep this in mind. If we fail this time, there will be no next.]

 

Hearing those words, the pressure grew even heavier.

 

From one corner of my mind, an anxiety even rose that this might not be reclaiming the death flags Selene and Yves had uttered earlier.

 

“Ugh…!”

 

From between Selene’s lips, a suppressed groan of enduring pain burst out.

 

I flinched along with it.

 

[Continue.]

 

Even though I knew I must not, I had almost stopped the absorption while looking at her suffering, yet Kephri, who seemed to have noticed my feelings, spoke dryly.

 

[Laura, stop right now!]

 

In contrast, Fenrir’s extremely passionate voice slammed into my mind.

 

[An enormous amount of divine power that a human body cannot endure is flowing into this woman.]

 

Even though he had said it was bothersome, Fenrir had apparently been observing quite carefully; the moment Selene groaned, he jumped in.

 

[If this continues, her body will be destroyed!]

 

Even so, I could not bring myself to let go of Selene’s hand that I was holding.

 

It was because of Kephri, who offered cold advice whenever my resolve wavered.

 

[The moment you stop absorbing the divine power, the time of the surface will turn back.]

 

‘I know.’

 

Biting my lower lip tightly, I ignored Fenrir’s cry and continued absorbing the divine power in silence.

 

“Her fingers…”

 

At that moment, Yves’s small muttering, like talking to himself, reached me.

 

Only then could I notice that powder was scattering from the tips of Selene’s fingers. 

 

Exactly as Kephri had warned before, her body itself was truly crumbling.

 

[Tell the child beside you to heal her with sacred power. She won’t last long, but it will serve as first aid.]

 

“…Lord Yves, please use sacred power to heal Selene.”

 

[Laura! Even if you recover her with sacred power, it’s only buying time. Before long her body might disappear.]

 

I knew that as well.

 

Yet because I could not disclose what conversation I had exchanged with Kephri, I could not properly explain a single thing.

 

“Even so, I still can’t stop yet.”

 

In the end, the only words I could say toward Fenrir, who was urgently trying to stop me, were just these.

 

[You…]

 

Then Fenrir, who had been about to rebut something, swallowed his words.

 

He also knew that I was the one who had tried harder than anyone to help Selene, and seeing the serious expression on my face he seemed to think I must have something planned.

 

“It must be painful for Selene too, but please endure. I pray that today… will finally be the day we escape from these damned games of the gods.”

 

It was a remark no different from blasphemy, yet in the urgently unfolding situation no one pointed it out.

 

“…”

 

Selene, who was enduring the pain while clenching her teeth, merely nodded weakly.

 

‘If only I could take even a little of the pain she must be feeling.’

 

Unlike her, who was struggling, I alone seemed far too fine, so I felt an unnecessary sense of guilt when Kephri said something unexpected.

 

[You have already done enough.]

 

‘I haven’t done anything.’

 

Of course I was absorbing the divine power, yet I was merely a kind of passageway sending Nanna’s divine power to the nameless god.

 

‘Unlike Selene, I don’t feel any particular pain…’

 

[First of all, the fact that this child has endured without dying until now is thanks to your ability.]

 

‘What’s preventing Selene’s body from crumbling is Lord Yves’s sacred power.’

 

[Before that, if you hadn’t been holding this child’s soul, time would have already turned back.]

 

‘What? Why?’

 

While I was puzzled by the content that was not easy to accept, he explained the regression in detail.

 

[In order to turn time back, this child’s soul and body must necessarily be separated.]

 

He said regression was a phenomenon similar to death. Because Selene’s soul had to be detached from her body and sent to the fixed point in time where Nanna had granted the blessing.

 

[For reference, your unique ability is not simple immortality; it is the ability to separate or connect human souls.]

 

In other words, simply by my body being in contact with hers, the ability was activating, so even while her body was crumbling regression had not occurred for Selene.

 

Moreover, once a unique ability was granted, it could not be changed, so as long as I was holding Selene, the regression was completely sealed, he said.

 

That was why in the current situation the only decisions Nanna could make were two.

 

Either sever the connection with Selene, or have all of his divine power stolen.

 

Originally, if it were Nanna, he would have noticed the strange signs early and withdrawn the blessing, yet judging by how he was pushing to the limit, it seemed he was serious, he added.

 

‘But earlier you said the complete reset that was Lord Nanna’s trump card wouldn’t that make this useless?’

 

It was a worry that suddenly occurred to me.

 

Right now I was blocking Selene’s unique ability, yet if Nanna’s authority turned time back to before the oracle was issued, everything would become as if it had never happened.

 

[It’s fine. That is also the same as breaking the pact, so Nanna cannot directly reset time.]

 

Moreover, even as the god who ruled time, he could not completely control the time of the surface, he said.

 

According to him, when a major event that affected the heavens or underworld, where time did not exist, occurred, the time of the surface also became fixed.

 

Countless possibilities existed not as states but as confirmed events, and the fixed timelines that even Nanna could not touch were only two.

 

The first was the primordial period when the dimensions were separated.

 

And the second was the time when a new god was born.

 

That was why he could not turn time back to before the nameless god appeared.

 

‘Indeed, if he could have turned time back to before a new god was born, he wouldn’t have gone through the bothersome act of issuing an oracle and eliminating the mages.’