Chương 80: Paradox
Adam wasn't the only reason some members of the pantheon had been brought together like this.
Gaia had gathered them for another purpose.
Within the centre of the World of Gaia… was the personal dimension she'd set for their discussion.
There were quite a few attendees.
The two of the maidens of Aphrodite, mainly Urania and Pandemos… Hephaestus Terran, Void, and…
…Goldsun Loki.
An spearman with his face covered by a helmet leaned back informally on his seat while waiting.
The others didn't seem to like him much.
"What did this bastard do this time?" The Sword Goddess was the first to ask as Terran interacted with his wives. The Goddess in the appearance of a sportswoman stopped her some assuming things:
"He hadn't done anything."
"It's no secret that he used his power again. Am I supposed to believe that nothing had happened?"
"Hey, you say it like I'm a mess or something~? Do I look like your older brother?" Void pointed her sword at him in frustration, but stopped before it reached his helmet. This wasn't out of courtesy.
They were just a bad match up…
Loki's way of killing people was different from her ways of stabbing them in the face with a sword.
The man wasn't that strong, but he was poisonous.
"Stop it. I'm the one who requested him to use his powers." Gaia spoke to make Red Rabbit stand down. The eyes of those present widened when they heard someone like her had 'requested' this.
How was that possible?
Gaia was someone who separated her feelings from her work. To the point that it was absolute.
She was unable to bend to rules to her whims.
And the laws of time and space were one of those laws that couldn't be recklessly violated by Gods.
"Did you get permission?"
"Lady Clockwork and Lady Consistency are giving an exemption. All rules regarding timelines and probability are off. And thanks to Pandorica being cut off from the rest of the world, it had become easier." She explained fast without missing a beat.
Her mouth mentioning two particular 'Gods'.
Every Attribute God had a deep connection to Gaia on some way, but the two 'ladies' differed a bit.
The twin Goddesses of Time and Space were both conceptual entities, unlike light and darkness.
One could perceive visual phenomenons, but time and space only existed in the mind of the watcher.
Thus, their Attribute Gods were also like that.
Only Gaia, who was also both real and imaginary at the same time, could communicate with them.
"Why…?" Void asked the question both Terran and the two Aphrodites had in their minds towards this.
What had actually occurred?
Gaia revealed everything to them without missing one detail. From the cause to the effect of it all.
She manifested a screen that showed the image of a man holding someone up by the neck viciously…
…then a light erasing the target from existence.
The more they heard, the more they couldn't believe what they were hearing from her mouth.
It was a situation that was too shocking.
"So… you're saying he FIXED a paradox?" This conclusion was something they didn't expect.
All of them looked at Loki with widened eyes.
He waved back at them in response.
Gaia understood their suspicions, so she didn't leave it at that. Her request wasn't so simple.
She brought up two images before them.
Portrait pictures of those crucial to her topic.
One was a man who didn't seem that old. He wore a priest uniform while looking with a kind gaze.
The second was someone closely related to the disaster, who was also known as 'Clara Arcadia'.
"I need all your powers to stop this paradox from happening again." Gaia spoke to the rest of them.
It was a request given straight from her heart…
Void stopped threatening Loki and came towards her. She nodded while allowing her to continue.
She started to explain shat happened in a more detailed form. Going from the beginning to end.
First starting with 'Linda Arcadia'.
As they all knew, she had used the distortion phenomenon that had happened recently to reincarnate her daughter. She was originally intended to grow up to face an incoming disaster.
One that they had simply called a 'Demon Lord'.
Gaia schemed to have Linda destroy the man, but it looked like her calculations had been too skewed.
The disaster coming to the nation was too strong.
Her words depicted the scene of the kind-eyed priest shoving his hand into her gut and cutting Linda into ribbons. This scene had almost driven Gaia into madness trying to find her own solution.
At least, that was until she saw an ordinary soul she'd held from entering the world and tested it.
This 'ordinary soul' was actually Adam Graham.
She gave him a small role to play in the narrative written in her book of fates, but he surprised her.
Doing the impossible and changing the outcome.
Gaia had originally thought that things would end with this, because she'd replaced Linda with Adam.
The task of slaying the Demon Lord in his hands.
Even if he died, there wouldn't be much of a problem. She just had to try again with another.
But the first thing she did was see the results that would happen while her daughter left the nation.
It seemed like the little princess, Lucia, had been put under Clara's influence and took the fall.
The death of her daughter was substitute with the earlier approaching death of a mere side character.
An extra she put no value in.
As a way of giving her mercy, she sent her someone that could save her from demise.
But things still came to a worse conclusion.
And it wasn't because someone she liked died.
Rather, the woman who was supposed to be the true 'Villainess' under the surface died instead.
She showed a similar scene of the woman who'd worshipped her 'Father' being murdered by him…
A cruel and senseless death…
The crux of the issue was the cause of the paradox. It seemed like the Demon Lord had gained insight to a new facet of his power. One that was so devastating that even the Gods felt repercussions.
The pantheon looked closer at the image at hand.
After the first victim, the second one to fall under the powers of the Demon Lord was very familiar.
The one to die was… the woman called Clara.
"Now this is a problem." Terran interjected. He'd immediately understood the biggest point here.
As all of them had a limited omniscience, they had a clear understanding that she was Adam's enemy.
Someone who had easily sent assassins at him.
Saving her wasn't something that would benefit anyone, but it had to be done to stop the paradox.
"I don't understand it." Pandemos leaned forward while the rest were thinking up a few strategies.
"Which part?" Urania's eyes shifted to her.
"How can death lead to a paradox?" This question was something only she couldn't comprehend.
"It's because this man is erasing their souls. Doing so is creating a paradox." Terran tried clearing it up.
"That's what I mean. Gaia, you have influence over every aspect of the world. If a soul is missing, just fill it with another. Mortal souls on their own can't be THAT irreplaceable." She made a good point.
It was true that the Demon Lord's ability to erase souls was a bother, but it wasn't too crazy a Skill.
There had been figures in the past who could distort time and space, but that was usually nothing they needed to worry about. The godly concepts of time and space would punish them.
The same way they did with Goldsun Loki.
But Gaia shook her head.
"There's a reason for this."
"And that would be…?"
"The 'Simul Soul Reincarnation Phenomena'." Even though she gave no further context, Pandemos immediately connected the dots. She looked at Gaia like the woman was crazy beyond measure.
"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!"
"Pandemos, stop." Terran held her back, but it looked like she was too angry to consider him.
Urania was also having a hard time holding back.
And so was the Sword Goddess too.
But rather than looking at the sportswoman, she turned her head back to the trickster of the Gods.
The anger of those present shifted to both of them.
What Gaia had said was something that shouldn't have happened. It was an ordinary phenomenon.
The only way to produce it was by joining hands.
Mixing together the cycle of reincarnation and paradoxes. Thus, the 'Simul Reincarnation' theory.
Loki was the first to defend her: "Too many Ascenders have been making new life after crossing over. The amount of souls just wasn't enough on its own. So I just helped her a bit."
"You created an even bigger incident than that time the entire world was restarted to clean your mess."
"This wasn't supposed to happen."
"SHUT IT!" Void was livid while emanating a power that could destroy the World of Gaia with a swing.
Even Loki couldn't speak in front of such an aura.
The Sword Goddess held her head and continued:
"So you're saying because there were more children than you expected, the amount of souls were inefficient. So you used his power to reincarnate the same soul in the same timeframe."
"Exactly." Gaia couldn't have said it better herself.
"Then…" Void continued: "…the Demon Lord erased a soul you had already reincarnated twice over. I'm guessing this is the cause of the paradox. It's like having the 'effect' when the 'cause' got erased."
"Exactly." Loki parroted. Even using the same gestures of the sportswoman hiding behind him.
"And this soul in question is who exactly?"
"Clara Arcadia."
"Motherfucker!" She slammed the table and put all the blame on Loki for agreeing to even 'help' her.
"I'm not a 'mother fucker', I'll have you know. I'm more into virgins." The trickster messed around.
"You think you're funny?"
"I try." He waved his brows with a dirty smirk.
"You two. Don't… This is my own fault." Gaia looked down from knowing her fault, but Void stopped her:
"This is all HIS fault. I've told him before that his powers only cause harm, but he STILL uses it."
"Regret is useless at this point. What we need is a plan of action. If we don't do anything, we might have to go through another 'RESET' again." The entire pantheon felt the danger in Terran's words.
This wasn't the same as altering a timeline.
A full 'RESET' wouldn't affect one realm, it would turn off the entire universe and start from scratch.
Gods like the Sword Goddess would able to ignore the influence of this, but the rest of them would vanish. Restarting the universe meant everything that was considered 'abnormal' would be cleaned.
And they were peak of such 'abnormality'.
Attribute Gods like them were deviants that had went against the laws of nature to attain Godhood.
Which meant none of them would survive…
At the very least, their fates would alter to make it so they were never able to achieve their positions.
Thus, the 'RESET' needed to be stopped at all costs. Even if it meant helping out Adam's enemy.
"So how are we supposed to stop this? What's the future we're currently on course for?" Void spoke.
"Clara is going to get killed again."
"Then I'm going to descend- No, we should all do that. I know the stress it puts on you all, but the alternative is not existing anymore." This was a legitimate fear the whole pantheon was feeling.
Unlike Loki, who had survived a reset, the trio excluding Gaia were aware they were newbies.
They wouldn't be able to survive such an event.
Void, the strongest among them, was also willing to cooperate. This should fix the problem easily,
So long as they killed the evil Demon Lord with their own hands, they shouldn't need to vanish.
At least, that was their initial plan.
But the words Loki spoke made the sweat:
"You think that hasn't been attempted before?" It was at that point they realised he was different.
Goldsun Loki was a deviant of time and space. He was the oldest Attribute God to have ever existed.
Even older than Gaia…
"What do you mean?" An ominous feeling arose in Void's heart when she saw the eccentric smile.
"Do you REALLY think this was the first time I'd been asked play with paradoxes?" He looked at Gaia, but she seemed ashamed to even speak further. As upholding the rules was sole duty.
To have even given him a request to create a paradox, rather than fix one, was too much.
Void threw him to the side and knelt in front of the sitting figure of Mother Nature. She spoke to her:
"What happened?" The girl looked into the lowered eyes of the woman, and a simple reply was given.
It wasn't exactly a complicated answer to give, but the contents were too unreasonable to believe…
"You died." Gaia shook the whole pantheon.
Nobody could believe it, but she still continued:
"You had all died fighting."
"Nonsense!"
"I'm-"
"You think I'll believe that!?" Red Rabbit had never been so confused in her entire life at this moment.
She… lost…?
To whom? To that mere mortal human?
"It doesn't matter if you believe it or not. Go die and bring them along for the ride. Even I won't be able to save you this time." Loki interjected. He didn't seem bothered if she believed him or not.
There was nothing to lose even if they all died…
The only thing he was uncomfortable with was how the woman was recklessly treating Mother Nature.
"…How did I lose?" Void managed to speak, but her voice gradually lowered in reluctant acceptance.
"You were killed before you could use your power."
"I know he's coming now."
"That's not the point. There's a lag between descending and manifesting. Before you are even able to form a fleshly body, that guy finds and kills you. Even if you managed to descend properly, I'm sure both of you would take Pandorica with you."
This only made sense because she was too good at destroying stuff. To the point her power would only worsen the issue. She was so strong that getting her assistance was a ticking time-bomb.
"…What about the others?"
"They gave him a run for his money, then died. I don't have to explain how it happened, right?"
"Alright… Then how are you planning to deal with a mortal this powerful?" Void gradually accepted it.
"There's a lot of fun ways I can use, but too bad that doesn't include killing him as a baby. If he wasn't an Ascender, this would be easy…" Loki stretched while seeing his role here had ended.
"Do you have a plan?"
"A pretty good one, even if I do say so myself."
"What's the chance of Adam surviving it?" The words felt strangely concerned for his well-being.
"…About 70%?" Even though this wasn't too high or low, this much was enough for Red Rabbit.
She saw him walk off with a sinister grin.
The rest of the pantheon could only sit and discuss some tactics for if he failed to do what he set out.
No one knew the next paradox he'd create…
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